Last night turned to hell for Claude. Still disappointed in his heinous actions to attempt harm on a sweet, misunderstood girl (hell, how can his parents not see Lila has manipulated them), his parents decided to ship him off to a strict military school to reform him. Poor boy begged that they listen to his side of the story. That he didn't do anything wrong, he was the victim of sexual assault, and that he was the good son they raised.
But his words fall on deaf ears. His parents had fallen into Lila's web of lies believing their son sexually harassed her, befriended a bad influence like Marinette to bully Lila out of envy. They turned their backs from him. Their decision was final.
Claude didn't want to be shipped off to a military school, to be treated like a problem student in need of a good whipping. He knew that he'd eventually fall apart, his negative emotions spilling out in waves and become a dangerous akuma. He contacted Marinette and informed her of what was going on, pleading something needed to be done to stop this.
Marinette thought it over and suggested he'd come stay with her at the massage shop. She instructed him to pack his things and wait for her to arrive as Ladybug. She'll give him a miraculous to use if one needs to go jumping from one rooftop to another with super-human agility whilst carrying luggage and supplies.
When she had arrived in the middle of the night whilst the whole city was sound asleep, she lend Claude the tiger miraculous. After he transformed, he got his luggage together and, with Ladybug beside him, both friends fled into the night. Due to the tiger's speed, it was difficult to keep up with Claude because he playfully challenged Ladybug for a race. Eventually, he won.
The kwamis gave a warm welcome to the poor boy, helping him get settled in as he set up his sleeping bag in another room. Claude thanked Marinette for her help, said goodnight and retired early. All of that leaping from one rooftop to another can really make one exhausted.
Next morning, things got worse. The Akuma alert was like a loud alarm clock, awakening both Marinette and Claude with a frightened start. This new Akuma called himself the Slavemaster. To his horror, Claude recognized the Akumas is his own father, Gideon Montagne.
The man's outfit changed to that of an old-fashioned American country attire, the type most people see in those Civil War documentaries when a slaveholder or an overseer are in strict control over the slaves. Slavemaster was hellbent on doing his job by taking his rage out on innocent civilians in order to lure out Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Marinette knew she had to stop him at once. Claude wanted to help, but she strictly told him to stay hidden as she didn't want to risk his safety. She contacted Zoe, whom had been entrusted with the bee miraculous for quite some time, and fled to the scene of the attack.
Slavemaster began his rampage upon the civilians of Paris. Using his whip to flog either a real problematic brat or a kid having a harmless argument with a parent, whilst brainwashing the children's parents to sadistically watch or go after more children to discipline them. All the while demanding his son be found and brought to him, so he can publicly humiliate and punish him for his disobedience.
Thankfully, Ladybug and Vesperia had come just in time to prevent the villain from spreading his toxic influence. The bee themed heroine threw herself against Slavedriver's body, colliding herself on him with full force. This led to them exchanging a fist fight as the two struggled. Ladybug tended to the victims, then ushered them to find someplace to hide as she engaged in physical combat against the brainwashed father.
Chat Noir showed up not long after, but he seemed off his game throughout the entire fight and had ended with him getting smacked around more often than usual. Vesperia proved to be a much more suitable partner than that stupid cat. She broke a nose or a jaw if she couldn't sting him or tricked him into running into a wall. Eventually, Slavemaster flogged the bee heroine across the waist, leaving an ugly wound in its place. Then, he backhanded her in the face with a shocking amount of strength and sent her flying.
The confrontation between Ladybug and Slavemaster was brutal, causing civilians to wince whenever they watched their beloved hero getting flogged or punched. It grew worse when Slavemaster ensnared his whip round her neck, intent on strangling her whilst he reached for her earrings.
Fortunately, Vesperia returned and grabs a nearby trash lid. She strikes a blow directly in the bastard's face. Upon impact, he released his hold on Ladybug, who heavily gasped for air. With the enraged akuma's attention on him, Vesperia kept his distraction on her long enough for Ladybug to summon her Lucky Charm - a giant folding fan.
Ladybug shouted loud enough to get Slavemaster's attention, using it to shield herself from a violent flogging. Once the sharp edge of the whip's end cuts through the fan's center, she grabs it and yanks it out of Slavemaster's possession. He tried to retrieve it, only to be paralyzed by Vesperia from behind. Ladybug snapped the whip in half. In doing so, the small akuma erupts from the weapon and tries to fly off.
The ladybug themed heroine caught it in her yoyo, then performed her spectacular superpower to cure the black butterfly of its corruption and purge the area and its victims nearby of the recent damages caused by Slavemaster, who is soon changed back to his normal form.
The end of the battle was bittersweet. An angry Ladybug scolded Gideon for his mistreatment toward his son, wondering how or why he would believe the worst of him on the word of a stranger. He could've at least trusted his son to hear his side of the story. The idea of military school is too extreme and cruel.
To her surprise, Gideon denied anything wrong going on in his family, shaking his head at her as if she were a mere child who is speaking stupid nonsense. He told her to stop asking ridiculous questions and warned her to stay out his family affairs because it's none of her business. When Ladybug tried pressing further, he threatened her with legal action. She could only frown in disgust as that apathetic excuse for a father departed.
Chat Noir, on the other hand, didn't understand why his lady would defend a problem child when he was the cause of a dangerous akuma because his selfish actions have caught up with him after attempting to harm Lila. It was obvious he was trying to shift the blame on Claude.
Vesperia was so pissed that she began verbally chewing that damn cat's head off. The sheer audacity of his gaslighting a victim of sexual harassment and injustice made her physical being burn with rage. The bee heroine's hand moved faster than she expected as she punched the incompetent black cat right in the face. He clutched his bleeding nose, whining in pain.
If Chat thought Ladybug was going to defend him and lecture Vesperia for her rotten attitude, then he was mistaken. Nothing but disappointment and disgust seen within those cold blue eyes. Then she left, but not before she did a 'Pound it' with Vesperia instead.
Upon returning to the massage shop, the two girls met up with Claude and, to their surprise, Alain and Allegra. Both of them wanted to drop by for a visit and make sure they're okay, double checking to make sure that nobody followed them and having brought bags of freshly cooked breakfast foods in containers and thermoses containing orange juice.
Moments later whilst sharing a delicious meal around the small table, everyone exchanged furious scowls or yelled in disappointment as Marinette and Zoe took turns explaining the aftermath of today's Akuma battle.
"I'm sorry..." Claude lowered his head, ashamed of his father's actions. "He's more concerned about protecting our family's reputation. Any incident could make him look bad to the public. Anything I do, if it's either harmless or fighting back against a bully, my parents treat me like I'm jeopardizing their public image."
Marinette had been told that Claude when they first met that he had come from a wealthy family, and rich snobs like his parents whose only concern is reputation makes their lack of concern for their child totally neglectful and selfish. "That's horrible..."
"I just can't believe that stupid cat has the nerve to blame you for your father's akumazation!" Alain growled, pounding a fist on the table and causing several cups and silverware to shake.
"Hey, don't shake the table!" Zoe chided, holding her cup so it wouldn't tip over when Alain had punched the table. "Most heroes would never ever gaslight a victim. What on earth made Chat Noir think it's okay to use you as a scapegoat?"
"Because of my running away..." Claude frowns, sadly gazing at his reflection in his cup. Perhaps Chat Noir was right when he said it was his fault that his father got akumatized. If he hadn't left, innocent people would never have gotten caught in his father's attack.
Allegra seemed to know what he was thinking and placed a gentle a hand on his shoulder. "Stop blaming yourself! If you had stayed, you could've been sent to military school. Hawkmoth is at fault for brainwashing your father. So don't you dare believe what that piece of trash thinks." He nodded and she pulled away. "Not only that, but Chat's been acting really strange during the fight. Whatever is going on his private life, he hasn't been concentrating recently."
"Whatever it is, I'll find out the next time I speak with him," Marinette assures. The next time she sees that darn cat, not only will she give him the lecture of a lifetime but find out what exactly is upsetting him. "Now, let's discuss our plan."
"What plan?" Tikki questioned. The rest of the kwamis were given a nice plate of some tasty waffles to eat, courtesy of Alain's superb culinary skills. "What are you going to do now that you're stuck here in Master's old headquarters?"
"Our plan is to find a way to expose Lila once and for all!" Everyone else nodded eagerly at Marinette's announcement. "And clear our names too!" She shares a determined look with Claude.
"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" The ladybug kwami asked.
It ended up being the usual exchange of ideas that won't work. Lila is too clever to be caught and careful to not leave evidence. And with Chloe now as her partner in crime, the brat will use her father to get herself and Lila out of trouble. Adrien will most likely erase any evidence they could use against Lila. He's so stuck in his high road principle that he can't even see the suffering Lila has caused because he refuses to not antagonize Lila because he claims 'her lies aren't hurting anyone' even though they clearly DID hurt them. So many authority figures in their lives have constantly let them down, as a result of either sheer stupidity or the fear of losing their jobs. Allegra and Alain have never told their families about Lila, fearing the witch might try to manipulate them as well.
All thoughts were drowned out by the sound of the TV turned on by one of the kwamis and the news was broadcasting the usual boring stuff. Weather, today's events, etc. Until...
"And now for a special report..." Clara Contard reported. "Last week, we received word that Japan was targeted by a group of international hackers, under the name Medjed. These terrorists waged a cyberwar against a group of famous vigilantes called the Phantom Thieves and Japan itself. These Phantom Thieves are known as modern day Robin Hood figures because they apparently make criminal confess their crimes by 'changing their hearts.' How this is done, isn't explained. However, if not for them, three dangerous criminals would've continued harming innocent victims to this day - a PE teacher who sexually assaulted high school girls, a con artist masquerading as a painter to plagiarize his students' work, and the boss of a crime syndicate who targeted and blackmailed minors to do shady jobs..." Even Contard herself displayed an expression of pure disgust at the mention of these three felons, no doubt having read the reports about their heinous crimes.
Marinette suddenly found herself intrigued; her attention now intently focused on this strange story.
"Anyway, Medjed threatened to ruin Japan's economy unless the Phantom Thieves revealed their identities to the public. They demonstrated this threat by causing a blackout in Shibuya. The day before the deadline, July 21st, Medjed's website was hacked, leaving a logo belonging to the Phantom Thieves all over the site. Whether this was done by the Phantom Thieves themselves, or a fan, no one knows for sure, but what mattered was that Medjed was stopped, and Japan's economy remains stable. Moreso, the personal information of a man, revealed to be a Medjed member, was illegally publicized. The police tracked down this man and arrested him. Power has been officially restored to Shibuya afterword. There were no other damages due to the hackers' actions, thank goodness."
Marinette stares, still in silence. For some reason, she was curious about these Phantom Thieves. Since Contard had finished her report about the events in Japan, the bluenette decided to get some more info on this topic. As she searched around on her laptop, her queer actions caught the attention of her friends and the kwamis.
"What are you doing?" Zoe asked.
"Doing some research about those Phantom Thieves," Marinette responded.
Tikki looked puzzled. "Why the sudden interest?"
"Just out of curiosity..." And most likely, out of an idea which Marinette concocted up in her mind. She wanted to be sure if what the news media meant was absolutely real before making rash decisions.
Multiple news reports from Japan talking about the Phantom Thieves had to be translated in the French language. And she was able to gather a lot of information, some which included videos taken from the confessions of two of the criminals the Phantom Thieves had targeted in the past.
Just like Contard had said, the Phantom Thieves are a group of vigilantes, caring about stopping injustice and helping the victims. They make the bad guys confess their crimes by changing their hearts. No one knows how this is done, but Marinette has a suspicion they could be using some sort of magic with their kwamis to do this. That's the only solution she came up with. Why else would these villains suddenly confess their sins? It has to be kwami magic.
In April, the first target was an Olympic volleyball athlete, Suguru Kamoshida, who was teaching as a PE instructor at a place called Shujin Academy. Turns out he was physically abusing the students involved in the volleyball and sexually harassing the female ones. It had gotten so bad that one female student tried to commit suicide in broad daylight by jumping off the rooftop but thank heavens she survived. Apparently, the school administration was very well aware of the abuse, but willingly turned a blind eye in favor of Kamoshida because he made the school famous. Especially when they had covered up the suicide incident in order to protect the school's public image. What's worse, even the parents of the victims knew about the abuse, but they allowed Kamoshida to do whatever he wanted.
"Oh my goodness..." Marinette's eyes widened in horror. Her heart tore in a new way as she sympathized with those poor students, especially for the girl who tried to end her life. Her friends and the kwamis peered over her shoulders, reading what had made her react like this... and their response was exactly the same.
"Holy cow!" Alain's mouth was agape, trying to process this info. "That is just sick!"
"Well, I could certainly believe a principal is corrupt enough to let a pedophile get away with his crimes, especially those sad excuses for teachers," Zoe's rage wasn't hard to hide. "But the parents, too!? This is just like Francois Dupon all over again! Teachers and parents who let the bad guys get away with horrible actions with no consequences."
Pollen felt a nauseating feeling in her tiny stomach. "What about their child's safety? What kind of parents would willingly allow their kids to be subjected to this kind of abuse?"
"I think I know," Claude's interruption brings everyone's rants to a halt. "The kind of parents who would do this only care about their children's futures instead of their present problems. Trust me, my parents are like that too. Not just their public image is their priority, but my present problems are the least of their concerns."
"That issss despicable!" Sass hissed, very closely sounding like a real snake. "How can humans be so twisted and callous enough to abandon their offspring to such cruelties? They have no right to call themselves parentsss!"
"I guess the same can be said for both of your parents, right?" Mullo aims a sad frown at both Marinette and Claude, both real examples of their families having let them down over a monster.
"Wait, there's more!" Marinette continued on reading. A few days later, Kamoshida confessed all of his crimes in front of the entire student body at an assembly. According to witnesses, he seemed like a different person, one whose personality has completely changed. Currently, he's behind bars after the judge sentenced him to life in prison. "Good riddance," she whispered, glad to know this pedophile will never hurt anyone else again.
The next target happened in May, a former artist and elderly man named Ichiryusai Madarame.
"I remember him!" Marinette gasped. "Alix mentioned him once when his art was on display at the Louvre for a limited exhibit." She also recalled how furious Mr. Kubdel was when the paintings had to be shipped back to Japan after Madarame had confessed to plagiarism.
Madarame had made his own fame and fortune by sacrificing the livelihoods of his pupils. He lured promising young artists with talent into his home, a worthless shack, and then stole their work, labeling it as his own. If any of the pupils, he would discipline them as if they were disobedient dogs. Sometimes he'd go so far to have them blacklisted from the art world when his pupils rebelled and left him. One of them even committed suicide because he couldn't stand to see his work published under Madarame's name. What's worse is Madarame made his own foster son a victim, whose late mother used to be a student of Madarame, who gleefully abandoned her for dead when she suffered an illness. Just like with Kamoshida, the old man confessed his crimes after one of his exhibits closed, snot running out of his nose and bawling his eyes out as he publicly lamented for what he had done.
"What a pathetic wretch..." Stompp showed no sign of pity for the old man, and neither did anybody else.
"I just hope his foster son will be okay." Marinette felt sorry for the boy who lived under Madarame's thumb after having lost his mother to that monster.
"But wait, if the foster kid was living with that guy and was abused like the other pupils, why didn't he speak up about it sooner?" Allegra questioned.
"Perhaps he thought nobody would believe him? Remember how nobody believed me whenever I tried to warn them about Lila."
"Well, you got a point."
The third target happened in June, a man named Junya Kaneshiro. His crimes were kept well hidden from the police, even though the police were fully aware of his existence but had trouble arresting him, especially when his crimes were well-known in Shibuya. The reason why is because Kaneshiro had threatened his victims not to testify. Many of his victims were high school students, offered a part time job for a lot of money. Smuggling drugs was the job. Then, Kaneshiro would blackmail the students with incriminating pictures of the minors doing these illegal jobs, threatening their families and their lives. After Kaneshiro turned himself in to the police and confessed his crimes, it made the Phantom Thieves popularity skyrocket.
"I'm just glad I don't have to work for a creep like him, if he ever lived in Paris," Alain said, and everyone else agreed with him.
Medjed was the fourth target which had occurred several days ago. Marinette and the gang were glad to know Japan's economy remained safe. Who knows what would've happened Japan's economy had collapsed.
Each incident had one thing in common - calling cards, directly calling out these villains for their crimes before their confessions. For Kamoshida, lust. To Madarame, vanity. To Kaneshiro, gluttony.
High school detective, Goro Akechi, made it strictly clear that the Phantom Thieves are nothing more than criminals who deserve to be tried in a court of law because it's a crime to change someone's heart. The police were more interested in witch hunting these heroes rather than doing their job of protecting the city, claiming they're a threat to their law-abiding country.
"Law-abiding my butt!" Alain scoffed. "If the law had cared enough, they could've done something to stop Kamoshida and those other jerks sooner!"
"Perhaps they're dislike of them is out of jealousy?" Trixx suggested, then frowned in annoyance. "Ugh! I'm starting to sound like Alya." The fox kwami wasn't the least sorry to no longer be Alya's kwami. Sure, they had a great time working together in the past. But the reporter's betrayal and abandonment of her owner had left a severe mark on Trixx.
Despite them being deemed vigilantes or outlaws, Marinette could truly see the Phantom Thieves are helping the people of Japan by exposing criminals like this. These criminals were either shielded by corrupt authority figures or too powerful to be caught, so they're doing Japan a favor by saving innocent lives and fighting injustice. What's better is their targets aren't killed, meaning they most likely have some sort of moral code. Maybe that's why the public supports them. The intriguing part is how the Phantom Thieves convince their target to confess their crimes and whatever they meant by 'stealing your heart.' Obviously, it's not literally, so it has to be something involved with kwamis and magic. Considering her everyday life consisting of fighting a butterfly supervillain and wielding the power of a superhero, the idea isn't too farfetched to assume there are other places on Earth where magic is involved.
Unfortunately, there is no proof to confirm this, but Marinette had her suspicions. Nobody knows what the Phantom Thieves look like, but perhaps one of them has a top hat with a mask that resembles those on the logo. Their leader, perhaps? The only solid lead is their calling cards and the only way to communicate with them is through this Phantom Aficionado website, posting a request to ask whose heart you'd want to change if you have a very serious problem.
What if these Phantom Thieves could help Marinette with her problem? What if they could change Lila's heart and make her confess all the horrible things she did? Then Marinette's name would be cleared, and everyone would finally see the truth about Lila and apologize to Marinette for wrongly accusing her. Her expulsion would be rescinded and...
"I know that look," Tikki stares at her, as though reading her thoughts. "You're thinking about asking the Phantom Thieves to change Lila's heart?"
The pigtailed girl wasn't expecting her kwami to figure out her plan so abruptly that she practically fell and landed on her side. "Huh? Wha-? How did you know I-"
"I can read you like a book. It's written all over your face."
Marinette sat up and blushed a bit, looking down. "Yyyeah... kind of."
Before anyone else could put in a word of what their thinking, no doubt finding the idea totally absurd, Alain was quick to chime in. "I think that sounds awesome!" Everyone gawks at him. "Just hear me out! Suppose we do send in a request to change Lila's heart? That'd way, she'll admit what she had done to Marinette and Claude."
"Except we're in Paris and they're in Japan, on the other side of the world!" Allegra pointed out the obvious. "There's no way the Phantom Thieves would help us."
"Not unless we use Kaalki's power to open a freaking portal and go to Japan!"
"And suppose we do that, how do you think the Phantom Thieves will react? How will you explain it? 'Oh, hi there! We're from another country and we just used the power of the horse miraculous to teleport ourselves here and ask for your help in changing the heart of a malicious liar who got my friend unfairly expelled because everyone is super dumb to believe anything the liar says because anything she says sounds like gospel truth no matter how ridiculous her lies are?'"
No one breathed a word after that. Allegra has a solid point. If they do find the Phantom Thieves, what will they say to persuade them to help them? It would be awkward to receive a request from some foreign teens wielding a miraculous to suddenly drop by and ask them to change the heart of a narcissist brat.
"Suppose they turn us down even if we tell them?" Zoe worried. "What if they don't believe us?"
"Don't be silly! You read their webpage; they care about stopping injustice!" Claude argued back. "We should at least try."
"Hold it!" Tikki interrupts, floating high above them to get their attention. "We can't so much as risk revealing Marinette's secret identity to these Phantom Thieves! That's the number one rule, never tell anyone else you wield a miraculous!"
Alain scowls at her. "Oh yeah? What about the rest of us?" He gestures to himself and his friends. "We know Marinette's secret identity and no harm has been done, because we kept her secret and we've been helping her out a lot!"
"Yes, that's true. But the only reason you found out was because you walked in on Marinette trying to-"
"These guys probably use miraculous just as much as I do," Marinette revealed her theory, hastily interrupting. "I mean, how else can they change someone's heart? Remember we live in a city terrorized by a butterfly supervillain with magical powers to brainwash and transform people into akuma villains."
Wayzz thought it over. "You do have a point. Magic must be involved if these guys are 'stealing' the hearts of bad guys."
"You went to New York and one of the heroes is close to your age and she wields a freaking miraculous!" Alain reminded, growing tense at the red kwami's stubbornness in not allowing Marinette to confide in the Phantom Thieves of her secret identity. "Heck, you also went to Shanghai and befriended Fei, wielder of the Chinese miraculous!"
"Yeah, but neither of them is allowed to know Marinette is Ladybug!" Tikki retorted.
"Well, maybe she could've at least tried to open up to Fei and Jessica about who she is!"
"We can't risk letting that happen!"
"Why not? They're good people and good heroes! Do you seriously not trust them, after all they've done for Marinette?"
"It has nothing to do with trust! It's because of Hawkmoth! If either one of them knew her identity and got akumatized, he would know Marinette's secret and it would be simple for him to steal not just her miraculous, but the others as well!"
"Well guess what, tiny buy! Hawkmoth lives in Paris and has no chance of getting to New York or Shanghai without Kaalki's power to akumatize them!"
"We still can't take that risk!"
Zoe swiftly steps in and breaks it up. "Guys, stop it!" She used her arms to forcibly separate Alain and Tikki when those two got in each other's faces. "We're all upset about what happened these last few days, especially with Slavemaster. And while I do like the idea of asking for help from Japan, it's clear we need to figure out whether we should do this or not. We should probably discuss this at a later time."
Everyone voiced their agreement on putting this Phantom Thief discussion on the shelf for now. Alain looked ready to argue but had nothing to say. Same goes for Tikki. The two backed off but kept their distance from each other. The tiny bug sat pouting on the table, nibbling on the piece of a waffle to calm down.
"Well, how about we go to the costume and clothing shops?" Allegra's unexpected suggestion at trying to change the subject caught everyone off guard. "What I mean is if either Marinette or Claude go out in public, they'll need to wear disguises so no one will recognize them. So maybe Zoe and I will do the shopping, get some wigs, outfits and makeup. Is that okay with you two?"
Claude and Marinette smiled, nodding approvingly.
"Great! Hey Alain, would you like to join us? Going out will cool you down a bit?"
Alain hadn't been paying attention to her at first, as though his mind was elsewhere. When Allegra called his name a second time, he turns around swiftly and agrees to her offer.
After Zoe, Allegra and Alain departed, Claude decided to explore the rest of the shop out of curiosity. Marinette thought of doing some meditating to ease her mind since she had nothing to do, but before she could do that, she suddenly felt dizzy.
What's happening to me? She thought as she looked around and, to her surprise, the world stopped moving, and the atmosphere seemed to darken. Before the bluenette could figure out what in the world was going on, she saw a small blue light appear out of nowhere. Curious, Marinette moves closer to the light, and it transformed into a white butterfly.
How it got inside the shop, Marinette had no answer to that. It wasn't like any of the butterfly akumas she had dealt with. There was something different about this one. Purity and goodness radiated from this butterfly, she didn't know why but she felt sure it does.
"This is truly an unjust game..." The white butterfly's voice spoke in a gentle, feminine voice. "Your chances of winning are almost none. But because my voice can reach you, there may yet be a possibility open to you. Please, let the Trickster help you first. Then you must save him in return."
"Trickster? What are you talking about?" Marinette tried to ask more, but the beautiful butterfly had already faded away.
Then everything returned to normal. She heard the voices of her kwamis engaged in private conversation, Claude exploring the shop and Tikki eating the waffle. It seemed as though nobody else noticed the change either. If she said anything, they'd probably deem her crazy. Trying to forget what she saw, she turned on her iPhone to play relaxing Chinese music while mediating.