6: Rogercop

It was a terrible day. I forgot that today was Career Day.

Ms. Bustier asked us to bring a parent so that they could talk about their job.

The problem… I don't have parents… nor legal guardians. I'm emancipated. My 'aunt' and 'uncle' aren't even blood related to me. They are just supposed to check on me once a week and get updated on my psychological process from my psychiatrist.

Everyone's parents are coming, some are already here. The others will come at different times of the day that were pre-assigned.

I forgot that I was put in the morning group with Marinette, Alya, Sabrina and Chloé. And I'm after Alya…

"Jolene, where is your parent?" Ms. Bustier asks curiously. In the corner of my eye, I see Chloé looking smug, but I ignored it.

Frankly, I don't fucking care about her opinion or comment about my situation.

Taking a deep breath I stood up from my seat and looked at my teacher. Only at her. "I apologize, but my parent will not be joining-"

"I'm sorry I'm late!" A familiar male voice exclaims as a sun kissed, dark haired man with smile wrinkles on his brown eyes grins with perfect white teeth, glinting in the light. "Oh, Jolene, I thought I wasn't going to make it," he sighs in relief as he composes his tie of his navy blue suit.

"Are you, Jolene's…?" Ms. Bustier trails off.

"I'm Chandler Russo, I work in the US Embassy," he greets as he shakes his hand with hers. "I'm Jolene's uncle!"

Ms. Bustier looked at me and I simply nodded as I made my way towards my 'uncle'.

Chandler has always been very friendly and considerate.

He gave me a jar of salt, a loaf of fresh warm bread (from Dupain-Cheng bakery no less) and a new broom. He also helped me change the locks of all my doors.

And he calls me more frequently than Ms. Reid.

Ms. Katherine 'Kathy' Reid, she is more like the silent support.

She's nice, she makes sure to tell me that I need to get more sleep, be more active, and other healthy things.

She's a more-action-than-words, tells-you-things-straight kind of woman. I like her.

But unlike Kathy, Chandler is more… loose and carefree.

The goofy and fun 'uncle'.

When I made it to the front, Chandler leaned down and hugged me.

"Thought I would leave you alone?" he whispers in English.

"I never thought you would come," I replied back and we both pulled apart.

I made sure that we were standing right next to each other.

"Well, hello," Chandler starts as he reverts back in French. "As you know by now, I work in the US Embassy.

"What I do is make sure that all American tourists or even Americans that are planning to stay here for long periods of time, know their rights and to help them should anything occur to them.

"Most of the time they come to me when they lose their passport," he laughs which in turn made my class laugh.

"There are times when it gets boring, but not for me. I get to know so many people, many with different backgrounds and stories.

"Just yesterday, an American band came by, can't tell who, but I got lucky to get several pictures and autographs," he grins. "And that's about it, there's more of course, there are also things about politically sensitive persons and or situations that are very serious to handle. For that type of thing, they have to be well-guarded information that only certain officials are allowed to handle." His face was solemn as I remained passive.

I'm one of those situations… being in the Witness Protection Program and all that.

Then he clears his throat and smiles dashingly at my classmates.

"And that's all folks, and thank you for having me, Ms. Bustier." He nodded at my teacher who only smiled sweetly.

"Thank you for coming," she answers. "Would you like to stay for the rest of the remaining presentations?"

"I would love too," Chandler smiles as I lead him the way towards my desk.

But before I left I saw something shining in the corner of my eyes that caught my attention.

It was a pretty bracelet and I guess I was looking at it for far too long before Chloé snapped me out of it.

"Do you like it? What am I saying? Who wouldn't like it?" She laughs that annoying laugh she always does when degrading people. "I bet your parents are ashamed of their jobs that they begged your uncle to come here instead.

"What are their jobs? Beggars?" She laughs again. "Or maybe you don't have parents and just dropped you off to your uncle because you are such a waste of space," she said in a low voice so that only we could hear.

"Or maybe I was just wondering how such a pretty trinket, could belong to such a hideous human being like you," I replied back in the same way as she did, but with a shit-eating smile.

Then I simply walked away towards my desk where Chandler is waiting for me.

She is not worth getting mad at.

In the background, I heard Marinette tripping and Chloé's annoying voice.

I- I am not a waste of space. I am not a waste of space.

He sat at the empty seat next to it and I scooted closer to him, "Thank you for coming, really," I whispered in English. Thinking about him instead of Chloé would keep me out of a bad mood.

"You're welcome," he replies as he gives me a quick one armed hug.

Soon Sabrina's dad comes forward and starts very straightforwardly, his name and profession, which wasn't hard to guess based on his uniform.

"I believe that every citizen is innocent until proven guilty," he stated with such sincerity that I believe him.

"My bracelet, it's gone!" Cholé's loud outburst interrupted the presentation. "I had it a second ago," then she turned towards Marinette who was collecting her fallen croissants. "You- you stole it!" She pointed accusingly at her. I rolled my eyes. She is an idiot.

"What are you talking about?" Marinette asks as she stands up with her tray.

"You purposely tripped on my bag so you could steal it,"Chloé accuses before she turns towards Sabrina's dad. "You're a policeman, arrest her!"

"My daughter is not a thief!" Marinette's dad defends his daughter.

Roger blows his whistle to diffuse any more shouting. "Hold on, Miss Bourgeois. We don't accuse without proof. Now everyone calm down. Maybe you simply misplaced it."

Cholé gasps like someone insulted her, "You're calling me a liar? Daddy!" She stomps her foot like a petulant child as he looks at her daddy dearest.

Mayor Bourgeois immediately looked at the officer. "Roger, I demand you search this girl!"

"Don't you dare!" Both Chandler and I shouted as we stood up from our seats.

We took a second to look at each other and our sense of justice and understanding took over. We didn't need to consult each other. We are going to protect Marinette and anyone else from bullies like Chloé and André Bourgeois.

Immediately, I took out my phone and I started an audio recording. This could get ugly, knowing Cholé.

"Who told you to butt in, Baudelaire?!" Cholé shouts at me before she gives her dad a look.

"Need I remind you, that as mayor, I am your superior?" André threatens poor Roger.

"But sir, it's against the law. I can't just go…" Roger states reasonably.

"Alright, you're no longer a policeman. You're fired!" André shouts. Chandler and I made eye contact and I pointed at my phone and he nodded approvingly. Unjustified reason to be fired, André is going to have an ugly fight with the representatives.

"Mayor, you can't be serious. Over a missing bracelet?" Trust me, if Cholé is this petty, it is not hard to see where she got it from. But still, this isn't right.

"This is my daughter's bracelet we're talking about. You're incompetent, and you're fired. Get out!" He shouts.

Roger's sad face made me furious. Not at him, but at André.

That man is going down.

Roger pats his daughter's shoulder before making his exit.

"Good. Let's call Ladybug. I'm sure she'll actually do something," Cholé scoffs.

That bitch has no heart.

Her supposedly best friend's dad just got fired because of her! She's- she's- unbelievable!

I felt my hand shaking and I quickly had to calm down.

I can't be akumatized. I can't be akumatized. For Adrien's sake.

"Young lady, I need to search your bag," André orders as he makes his way towards her.

But Marinette's dad immediately intercepts and Chandler makes his way between them.

Cholé, the fake victim that she is, hugs her dad and covers her face against his chest.

Pathetic.

"Don't you even think of going near my daughter or her bag!" Tom yells, his face filled with anger.

"Do you know who I am?" André puffs his chest out.

"And do you remember who I am?" Chandler interrupts, his voice gruff and serious, his eyes narrowed at André.

"Please, gentlemen, this is a school here. Think of the children," Ms. Bustier pleads as she tries to come between the three of them. "I'm sure the bracelet is around here somewhere."

"It probably just rolled out of her bag or something," Marinette offers.

"If I were her bracelet, I'd try and get as far away as possible from that crazy brat too," Alya says. Making her, Marinette and I giggle.

"Hey, Nino's been filming everything," Marinette states and I do remember that when I passed in the front. "We can see what really happened."

Everyone gathered around Nino, as much as we could.

I… couldn't see anything. And I am not going to stand on top of the desks. It's already humiliating that I'm standing on top of the seats.

Damn my short height.

I heard some things and it was silent soon after, "Well, there you have it, Sabrina was holding it." Marinette revealed what I could not see.

"Yes, but I gave it back straight after," Sabrina states immediately. I believe Sabrina. Sure she is somehow friends with Chloé, but she isn't mean. She merely follows her unconditionally, which is rather sad. But for her to steal from Chloé, her 'best friend'. Very unlikely.

"Chloé, why don't you take a look in your BFF's bag," Marinette suggests.

"Are you saying I'm a thief?" Sabrina sass.

"No," Marinette replies. "Cholé is the one calling people thieves without any proof. I'm simply going by what's on the video."

Sabrina makes an irritated groaning sound and accidentally hits Nathaniel's notebook, making some pages fall off.

Then everyone gasps at something that I cannot see. "Yes, I did sketch the bracelet, but I didn't do anything else," I hear Nathaniel defend himself.

"Why don't we all see the video more, someone has to be guilty," Chloé demanded and soon some sounds were made and suddenly everyone looked back at me in shock.

"You! How did I not see it?!" Chloé points at me. "You saw how pretty it is and you couldn't help yourself, couldn't you? You stole my bracelet, you thief!"

I slowly looked around and saw Chandler narrowing his eyes at Chloé. He knows I'm innocent.

Then I saw André come at me, his face contorted in anger, "Give back my daughter's bracelet this instant!"

"Get away from me," I growled, making not only him, but everyone else, minus Chandler, look back at me in surprise.

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me old man, get away from my face! Your breath smells!" I puff out my chest as I look up at him, my arms rigged at my sides. My hands curled into fists. I want to punch this bully so bad...

Immediately he takes several steps back in a panic and he covers his mouth. I heard him forcefully breathe out and then he narrowed his eyes at me. "Why you-"

"And before you start demanding me, what actual concrete proof do you have? As far as I know, I simply commented on the bracelet. Or does the video show something else that incriminates me?" I ask drolly. "Uncle Chandler?"

"So far, all accusations are just empty. They have no value and do not prove anything," he informs. "And unless you have a warrant, you have no right to search Jolene, Mayor André Bourgeois," Chandler states in his 'diplomat' voice as he makes his way towards me. "And that includes every single person in this room." He says as he looks at the rest of my classmates.

Then André walks towards Nino who was still recording this whole situation.

"Give me the tape. I'll have it analyzed by professionals," André demands at Nino.

"No way, it's my camera," Nino moves his phone away protectively at his chest.

"Who do you think you're dealing with? I'm the Mayor of this city!" He exclaims as he gets too near to Nino that it could be perceived as threatening. "Where's the school principal? I want to see him now!" He quickly announces as he turns to look at a lost Ms. Bustier.

I saw Adrien sneaking out of the room and I couldn't help the small voice of suspicion leaking through my mind.

He would never steal. He is too nice to do that… but I remember the flying cat that fateful day.

Cats are curious by nature, could that-?

"Um, I am not sure if he is in his office now," She says meekly. "I can call ahead and ask?"

"Allow me," Chandler comes right in. "I know where the office is. Mayor Bourgeois and I can go together and we can finally settle this," He states as he gives a cool look at André.

"Now something that we can agree on," André replies the same way and both men left the room.

Most of my classmates and the remaining adults looked relieved that they left.

Max actually made his way towards me, "I know that you wouldn't steal Chloé's bracelet." He says as he stands next to me.

"Glad that someone believes it," I say wryly. "Thank you for your confidence in me."

"Who do you think did it?" Max asks.

"Frankly, I don't think it was stolen." I frowned.

But before he could say anything else Marinette does something not so helpful.

"See Chloé? I tripped on the bag, Sabrina held the bracelet, Nathaniel sketched it and Jolene commented how pretty it was. We are all suspects."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? I didn't swipe it," Nathaniel says irritated, in all his right.

I was feeling irritated too.

Marinette is a good person, I know she isn't intentionally trying to accuse us, but she doesn't know how to stop.

"And neither did I, but when it comes to Chloé, she could accuse anyone and everyone."

"Fine, since you're a suspect, then you'll have no problem letting me search your bag," Chloé demands.

"Okay, but only if you search everyone else's too," she replies far too fast.

This- this girl is not even realizing how bad this is getting out of control.

"What right do you have to decide for all of us? I am not letting anyone go through my things," I state firmly as I cross my arms against my chest. I saw many of my classmates agreeing with me, though I saw the lost look Alya was giving me and her best friend.

"Marinette, let the adults handle this," Tom says in a firm tone to his daughter.

"Papa, she called me a thief. I'm just defending myself."

"You're also accusing all of your friends like Chloé's doing," Tom continues.

"I'm Chloé's BFF. I wouldn't steal from her," Sabrina states as she gets close to said girl. Chloé didn't object and instead glared at everyone else.

"What about Adrien? He's at least four and a half seconds of that video," Max reports.

"And we haven't seen him since," Kim adds as that is when everyone noticed that our current blond boy is missing from class.

"Oh, not Adrien," Marinette defends. "Why would he steal a bracelet? If anyone's guilty, it's got to be one of us."

"Are you accusing us?" Nathaniel glares as everyone else we're giving Marinette not so friendly looks.

"I want an attorney," Kim states loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Marinette, stop already," Tom says just a little more firmer as he frowns at his daughter.

I pitied Marinette, but she dug her hole when she said those things.

"We should search the parents," Max adds to the rousing argument.

Alya's mom and Tom weren't pleased.

Poor Ms. Bustier looked so overwhelmed.

Before I or anyone else could do something, the door slammed open.

It's Sabrina's dad, in a futuristic robotic suit that reminds me of Robocop. And his aura was strange.

Wait.

He has been akumatized!

Though, it's not surprising. Especially what André did to him. I don't blame him. I just hope he doesn't hurt innocent people… though I wouldn't mind if he scared André. He deserves it.

"Where is the Mayor?" Roger asks in a robotic voice.

"Dad?" Sabrina gasps in recognition.

"That's your dad?" Marinette asks.

It seems that people who know their loved one very well can recognize them when they are akumatized.

"Hello, may I help you?" Ms. Bustier asks nervously.

"Where is the Mayor?" Roger repeats again.

"I think he already left, sir," Ms. Bustier answers as she nervously shifts her weight.

"Are you lying?"

"Yes… I mean, no."

"If nobody speaks up, I'll arrest you all." He then raises his arms and points them at us, though I saw that they were carefully away from Sabrina and Chloé who was lucky enough to be near her. "Where is your father?" He directs at Chloé.

She crosses her arms and sticks her nose up, "I don't know.

"Mr. Principal, I demand that you find out who stole my daughter's bracelet ASAP! Or your job is on the line!" André Bourgeois' yelling gave away his location.

Roger quickly left the classroom and I could still hear the yells of the Mayor.

Though my irritation went through the roof as André continued to throw in threats.

Good thing that Chandler's phone is recording too.

My classmates murmured to themselves as the adults shared worrying looks.

Marlena Césaire then looked quite angrily at her daughter, "And don't you even think of following that man, Alya!"

"But Mom!" Alya whines. "This is a perfect chance for me to record Ladybug."

"Like those other times?"

I basically tuned them out as I packed my things and waited for Ms. Bustier to announce for us to leave.

It didn't take long when Alix announced that Roger left with Ladybug and Cat Noir not far behind.

Though unlike me heading to the exit, I went towards Mr. Damocles' office where Chandler was there speaking with him as he took notes on his little notebook.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Damocles," He nods before leaving the room and walks towards me. "Saved the recording?"

"Yep, did you?"

"Of course," he nudged my side. "Now I see why you highly dislike that girl."

I scoffed, "That's a tame way to say it."

"Are you going back home?" I nod. "Let me drop you off."

I was going to say no, but thought better of it. "That would be nice. Thanks, Chandler."

"No problem," He says as he leads me towards his parked car.

We talked about sending the recordings and he asked me if I could ask Nino if he could send me the video as to add more evidence of André's abuse of power.

I told him that I'll see if he agrees and all that.

To be honest, I should feel bad for enjoying knowing that André in the near future would have a big scandal that could cost him not only his political career, but also his image.

But I don't.

I don't like people who think that just because they have a type of authority power, they can abuse it and not be punished for those sorts of abuse.

That's just wrong.

So that night when I was drinking some warm tea to calm my nerves at the sounds of multiple helicopters going through, I felt relief when the news showed Cat Noir barging in the City Hall.

I knew things would be alright.

But that was only the beginning.

Chandler, Kathy and I were working together on finishing writing the report to the superior law members of the Embassy about what happened earlier that day.

I had a video conference an hour prior to personally tell my officially appointed lawyer, Ms. Jureau, about what happened that day.

It was safer to stay indoors than traveling to the Embassy after Rogercop made the announcement of making Cat Noir and Ladybug fugitives.

She looked like a stern woman, but she helped me explain what is going to happen now that I present my evidence and Nino's as well.

However, she did say that it will have to wait until tomorrow before Mayor Bourgeois knows what is going to happen to him.

I just hope Chandler shows me a video about André's reaction and what bribes he will make so that he doesn't get kicked out of office.

By the time I went to bed and was ready to sleep, I just stared at the glowing stars that I placed on my ceiling feeling numb.

Would they be proud of me?

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, only for it to prove fruitless.

Another sleepless night, ugh.

Might as well do something productive.

So I got out of bed and went to my desk and continued working on my next video.

More like a short film.

AN: Thank you InuNekoDemoness for following/favorited this story. You're awesome.

Next chapter will be an original that has nothing to do with the series episode. I had always wondered the what ifs...