A/N: It has nothing to do with the story, but I have seen some things from the series on Twitter and the truth is that I am very ashamed of what they are doing. I haven't seen much, but each thing I've seen is more nonsensical than the one before and on top of that they have destroyed Adrien's character.
Thanks to Katherine.
"I got it." says Max, stopping typing.
I'm lying on his bed because I have nothing to do, I have no clue about computers. That and that I'm on my period, which means my belly hurts a lot. And the back, the legs and I have nausea. This month already hit hard. Hence I'm lying in someone else's bed.
"Have you hacked the police yet?"
"No." he answers, showing me a flash drive. "It is much easier and safer to do it this other way. You, Bunnyx, go to the police and insert this pendrive into one of the computers."
I nod, pretending I know why that would do something.
"You know I see your face, don't you? I made a virus. The moment you put this pen in one of the police computers, the virus will enter their internal network and make a copy of all the files. Do you understand it like that?"
"Yes, but I can't transform today. Everything hurts."
"You have to if you want to know what information the police have on Hawk Moth." I groan. I don't like it at all. "I'll bring you an Ibuprofen and we'll wait a while, okay? We can do our homework in the meantime."
That's worse!
I don't say anything. He gets up and goes to wherever they have the medicines.
I have made little progress with the study techniques manual. I've tried and it doesn't work. I get distracted a lot and there are many things I don't know how to do because I got distracted in class and I didn't understand the explanation. Anyway, Chloe and I agreed to read the test questions, so I really shouldn't be doing this. The problem is that I know I'll feel bad, like when I cheated on Max's exams.
He returns with the promised pill and a glass of water. I take it quickly.
He sees Fluff, who has been placed on the desk.
"I'm sorry, Kwami, I had completely forgotten about you. Want something?"
Fluff shakes her head and Max sits down at Fluff's desk and starts doing something else. Wasn't it over already?
He treats her normally, much more than my brother, who already knew of her existence.
Max has always been very into logic, statistics, and specifically technology. I think that after the initial shock (the akumas, us) he has gotten used to magic and he has accepted Fluff almost without thinking, his schemes were already broken.
"What are you doing now?"
"Search about our duties. What else am I going to do while we wait for you to feel better?"
I don't wanna do homework. I wanna sleep. I'm knackered.
His authoritative look makes me resign myself. I can't get rid of this.
"Let's start with French." Starts on. "We have to make a text commentary on the fragment that we have read in class. You have been there."
Yes, but I wasn't paying special attention to what they were reading aloud.
"What work was it?"
No fucking idea.
"The little Prince?"
Max seems to get annoyed by that. He blanks his expression and takes a long breath.
"Do you really think that was remotely similar to The Little Prince?"
That is a no. Okay, so some other classic work. Any, the first one that comes to me.
"The Count of Monte Cristo!"
"Les Miserables." He answers very exasperated.
I'll never pass. It's something I have to accept. High school is not for me. I'm going to be seventeen soon. Maybe I should drop out of school and that's it.
"No," Fluff says suddenly.
"No what?"
"I know that face and I know that you are thinking something pessimistic. Not that I care much, but you shouldn't do something like that to your friend."
Oh really? Now you worry? I literally lied to Chloe about something super important yesterday. It's not like we're friends though.
"What if we start better with mathematics? They suit me very well."
I know. That's why I copied from his exams and not from someone else's.
Max brings a chair from across the room and sets it next to his.
Before starting, he explains to me all the formulas and steps to follow to solve the problem and then we spend a long time doing the exercises.
We're about to start with history when Fluff interrupts us.
"You're better now, aren't you?"
When I think about it, I see that I feel better. Less dizziness, less pain everywhere, good.
He get up and take the flash drive.
"Do I have to put a password, follow some kind of indication or something like that?"
"No and no. Like I said, you just have to put it in a computer. And that's it. If I were you, I would think more about how to get into the police station without being seen."
Shit. It's true.
I transform and enter the burrow.
First of all, I decide to appear at night, because surely there are fewer people. Quite possibly there are security cameras, so I look where they are all before entering the police station. As expected, there are none in the bathroom, but there are people in the security room. The glow from my portal might alert them.
I got this!
First, I need a tool, something that I can use to cut a cable and make it look like a rat. I borrow it from a store, I'll return it later.
Second, I make the portal small and just behind the monitors, in such a way that the light seems to come from the screens.
The fear of getting caught makes all my muscles tense and my hands shake a little. I'm risking a lot by doing this.
I cut all the wires I see, so they can no longer see what the security cameras are outputting. None of the guards are alarmed. I enter my burrow and from there I see them act: they call a technician.
I learn the route that all the people here take from the bathroom to the nearest computer. There's a man nearby, but if I'm careful, he doesn't have to know I'm there.
The next thing is to move through the corridors without anyone seeing me. I find it a bit difficult, although I don't really have a problem.
I insert the flash drive and the screen goes crazy. Luckily, it has no sound.
Ten minutes go by, if my watch isn't wrong, and I know it never is, until all the windows that had been opened are closed. I take it out and put it in my pocket.
The next thing is to get to the bathroom again before the lady who is going to throw her guts in the toilet does. I hurry up and arrive on time.
I only relax when I'm back in Max's room.
"You took a short time. It's been easy." he deduces.
"Yes, very easy." I say with all the sarcasm I can muster.
Fluff shakes her head.
"He knows what sarcasm is, Kwami."
It's so weird calling her that. When I thought about introducing them, she insisted that I not say her name. She said that I had already made that mistake with my brother and the girls. My father knows it too, but not because of me.
Max inserts the pendrive in his computer and begins to search the information of the many cases that are there. He must have enormous ability.
I sit down and start to read the progress in the homework that he has done while I was gone.
He takes the notebook out of my hands.
"No."
I don't know what else to do, so I look at his screen as he goes from place to place.
Search Butterfly Society and there are no results. Strange, since we have found something and we are not cops nor do we have their resources.
Next up is Hawk Moth, and even weirder, there's nothing there either. Is there nothing on the terrorist who has been attacking the city for almost a year?
"I don't understand." Max whispers.
"Why there is nothing? Has your virus malfunctioned?"
He denies with the head.
"No. There is a lot of information on all the cases. Like this one here, for example."
He hits a file and I see what it says: "Twenty-two-year-old stranger found in the Seine." Accompanied by a hideous photo of a poor dead girl.
I shake my head. Couldn't he have taken another?
"You mean Hawk Moth hasn't been investigated?" I ask.
"It seems. Let me try one last search."
He types "akuma" and this one is different from the other two: more than fifty files appear.
The oldest one is called "Stoneheart". So they have gathered information about the akumas.
Max opens Gamer's and we read what's inside.
Information about Max himself. Several pages telling about his life, his likes, information about his parents, academic record...
What does this mean?
My friend is petrified, seeing how they have investigated him in this way. For his sake, I close the file and continue down. How far have they come? Have they checked on Marc yet, which was yesterday?
But what I find is much worse: us.
I enter mine. Not much information, luckily. Just a personality analysis, an approximation of my height and age and little else.
But I'm surprised to find it. Nothing about the terrorist and nothing about who saves everyone's ass in the city. What are they about?
In the end we didn't finish our homework, Max was too nervous. I made him a relaxing tea and we played video games for a while before I had to leave.
Today the teacher has announced that there will be a new student and Nino has not been there, which means that the new is going to sit near us. I'm willing to hunt down that girl for Kagami before Marinette does, now that I know she's actively going against her and Chloe.
Speaking of Chloe. I have seen that she has greeted Nath as if nothing had happened, which means that something has happened. I'm curious, but I'm not going to ask. I will not meddle in their relationship again.
Bustier arrives with a girl with long brown hair and olive skin. She wears a blue jumpsuit and an orange cardigan. She smiles as if her life were in it. I understand that's how it is for her: she has to make a good impression in her new class.
"This is Lila." introduces the teacher. Considering how the last one was, I understand that she does it herself. "She is the daughter of the new Italian ambassador and she has just arrived in the country. Give her a warm welcome."
To that, everyone says good morning, like we would a teacher, which is a little weird.
I'm surprised that she is the daughter of the AMBASSADOR OF ITALY. In what world would you send this girl to fucking akuma high school? What thinking mind has decided this?
Lila, as she had already guessed, sits in Nino's seat. Who knows what she'll do tomorrow.
Alya opens her mouth as if she's going to talk to her, but Chloe beats her to it. She pats Adrien on the head twice. Without her saying anything, he understands what she wants.
"Hi, I'm Adrien." he says with the most charming smile he can do. I know it well, many of those smiles have been directed at me.
The only reason not to choose it would be that she was a lesbian.
The girl smiles much better than she did before.
"Hello. I don't want to upset you but I think I'm going to need some help catching up."
"Sure. The sooner the better. We can meet after school if you want."
Did she just get Adrien alone in the first five minutes after meeting him? That's going to piss off a lot of people: her fans, Marinette... This girl is going to end up on our side.
"What electives do you have?" I intervene. "If they are not the same as Adrien's, she'll need the help of someone else."
She looks at me for the first time, like she's been paying attention to nothing but him.
"Physics and chemistry."
I shake my head. I think none of the four have those subjects. I have sports and art, Adrien shares sports with me and Greek with Kagami, who also has Latin. Chloe chose geography and economics.
Even my friends. Nath has art and geography, Max technology and technical drawing and Kim is the same as me.
"Thanks anyway."
She looks at all of us with a smile and then her eyes go to my hands.
"What's that?"
She is now drawing everyone's attention.
"Nothing, just that I cut myself on a broken glass."
I say it calmly. I no longer need to hide it. My companions must have figured out the real reason.
The rest of the morning is the new one very attached to Adrien while he explains everything to her. Both Kagami and Chloe agree with that. I think we've all thought the same thing: since she's new, she still hasn't chosen a place and we can have her join us, like Adrien did.
I wait until it's time to eat. I want to discuss with the girls what we found out yesterday. I could have called them, but I think it's better in person than on the phone.
At recess, we leave Adrien alone with Lila, he's going to show her around the institute, and we go to the bathroom.
"Is this going to become our territory?" Chloe wonders aloud.
We wait until the people stop coming, of course, since class has just finished, while Chloe touches up her three hundred kilos of makeup and Kagami takes the opportunity to pee. I hold our meals.
I speak to them when we are alone and I have locked the door from the inside.
"Yesterday I discovered something very important." They both nod, listening to me. "The police are investigating us. Not to Hawk Moth, us."
"What?" Chloe is surprised.
Kagami's expression doesn't change, as always, although she raises a hand, as if to stop me.
"You are saying the police are on Hawk Moth's side. Because investigating us instead of him sounds like one."
"I think so."
That makes her frown.
"I do not understand. The role of the police is supposed to be to protect people. They tried at first. I thought they were only apart because we told them to."
"Well it's not. They have data on us and a base with people who fit the data. They have your foot number, Kagami. Your feet are too big for your height, they say."
Chloe lets out a laugh. I was amused too when I saw it.
Kagami gives us both a menacing look and continues the conversation.
"Do you think we should go talk to them, ask them?"
I shake my head.
"No. That would only give away that one of us has broken into a police station and illegally obtained information about their investigation."
She nods.
"I don't think we should do anything. I just wanted you to know, so you'd be warned. We must be very careful."
Kagami almost seems happy when she speaks.
"Let's meet the new girl!"
We found them at the bench where we ate yesterday. This is going to be our territory.
The new one doesn't stop... dropping. She talks a lot.
"Hello!" She greets "I was telling Adrien how Eros Ramazzotti came to sing on my fifteenth birthday."
Oh. Looks like someone is going to take away Chloe's status as a spoiled rich kid.
Wait. That makes me the only normal person in a group of rich kids.
"Yes. It's very interesting." Adrien says in the most fake tone I've ever heard from him.
With his eyes it seems that he asks us for help.
We sit on the bench and start our lunches.
"What is your favorite color?" Kagami asks.
Thus begins her interrogation with the intention of friendship. The rest of us don't pay attention.
"Well, Jagged Stone was at my birthday party. So I win." Chloe boasts. I think Lila doesn't hear it.
The other blonde nods. It's almost certain that he was there.
"You didn't throw a party for your sixteenth birthday, did you?"
"No. My mother banned me from parties after what happened… at that one."
The boy nods again. I know which party she means. The photos were all over the Internet and the truth is that I was very sorry.
"It doesn't matter, it's not important. The important thing is that I want to get a manicure."
Very important. Super important. Life-and-death.
"And you are going to come with me."
This sentence would alarm me if it weren't for the fact that it points to Adrien. It doesn't mean me.
"I? Why?"
His expression is just like mine would have been. It's funny because it's not me.
"You must have a perfect look for the following season. You said you had already started the diet. You will have to get a manicure and cut your hair."
His mouth hangs open, as if he wants to say something and can't find the words.
Finally, he sighs and answers.
"Okay, Chloe."
His resignation makes me laugh. Even though I don't like Adrien at all, seeing someone else like that is a lot of fun.
"But you have to watch an anime marathon with me after the manicure."
Oh, I didn't expect that. It's a... What are they called? otaku? I didn't expect something like that from the little prince of Paris.
"Which?"
Chloe seems more used to resignation.
"We are going to see all the new chapters of the animes that I am following. I'm going to stop seeing them until that day."
I finish my sandwich.
This conversation is very funny, but the sight of Kim making out with Ondine in the middle of the patio takes my joy away.
Why? What need is there for all of us to see them kiss? Do they wanna show off to the whole school how happy they are in their relationship? I get nauseous.
I look away. I don't wanna think about it. I don't want to think about what they could or couldn't do.
Kim came looking for me yesterday to pull a stupid prank that didn't work. Remembering the face he left makes me smile. I'm very good.
"And you?"
The blondes' conversation has been cut off. Only Lila's chatter to Kagami can be heard.
When I look at them it turns out that they both have their eyes fixed on me.
Oops. The question was for me.
"What?"
"That if you like it?"
Kim? No! What madness is that? How could I like someone so utterly irritating?
Or maybe she's referring to something in the conversation. Considering that they were talking about manicure and anime, my answer is clear.
"No."
I'm finishing making the outline of what will later be the drawing itself. It's a simple way: a snake devouring a frog. It might be a bit gory for some people, but I like it.
Also, it's a snake. I love snakes, they are silent and deadly. With that elegance that only carnivorous animals have. This one in particular is a green snake that feeds on insects and sometimes frogs.
I have brought three cans of green paint: lime and apple. I want to paint the whole body in the darkest shade and make the scales in the lightest. The frog will be pistachio green, with lime green and white highlights. I have also brought black and brown.
I start to fill in the snake area with apple green. I love the smell of paint, although that's not to say I don't put on my protective mask, and watch the paint add to the wall.
It's a great moment of peace and tranquility, without anyone bothering me, also, because my painting is an elaborate drawing and not just any doodle. Everyone likes to see that a simple (public) wall has been decorated with an elaborate pattern.
But the tranquility doesn't last long, as a group of people begin to shout. The kind of scream of terror I've grown used to. It's an akuma. Damn, now that I'm on my period. It's not the first time, but it always annoys me.
I put my cans down, pretending to be as scared as everyone, and run in the same direction as everyone else. It's a shame to have to leave them there because when I return they'll have been stolen. I would too.
I walk into the first bar I see and run to the bathroom. It's the only place I can think of to transform. I go out into the street through a portal because otherwise it would be too noticeable that it's me.
What I find is strange: nothing. Quiet people, no akuma in sight. I was very fast but I have no idea what happened.
A crowd of people looks up at the sky, or more specifically, at the roof of a building.
There's a person in there. I can't see much from here, just an orange stain.
"I am Volpina, the new superheroine of Paris. I will protect you from everything. From meteorites, like the one now."
Meteorite? Is that what happened? But if a meteorite came close to Earth, they would have said it on television.
"Organized crime, bank robbers... Anything you need!"
People are very happy with what she says. I don't understand anything. What difference is there between her and us? That she will take care of problems not caused by akumas? Something seems strange to me.
People realize who I am and make way for me. I think they expect to see a fight between us.
I do a first jump to one of the reliefs on the wall and a second to where she is.
Now that I see her up close I realize that she is Lila. She has half a covered face, like us, a different voice and skin white as paper, but it's her. Her outfit is fox themed.
"What happened?"
It's a good question, generic and that gives rise to explaining to a tremendous charlatan.
"We should wait for your companions to arrive. I have very important Hawk Moth information to share."
No. That's not a good idea. I have been hiding information about Hawk Moth for a long time for someone to arrive and release it just because. On it depends my very fragile plan.
First comes Ryuko.
Volpina also breaks the news to her.
"With this we can defeat Hawk Moth forever." she assures.
I don't know how to finish him off on my own, nor do I know how to control Adrien's reaction and what I saw in another time line doesn't happen. Even if Adrien doesn't have a miracle, I don't trust him. I don't even know how the reactions of his two good friends, Kagami and Chloe, will be.
Defeating Hawk Moth will develop into a disaster. What I need to control is how that reaction will be. And if she gets in the way, I won't be able to control it.
Then comes Queen Bee.
"Now that we are all here, we can talk." Volpina points out.
I'd like to know how she has obtained the miracle and why now.
"Do you know the guardian?" asks Queen Bee.
Lila shakes her head.
"No. I have not had the honor. And you?"
"Neither." I answer. "How did you get your miracle?"
I know that the guardian gives them in small boxes with something written in Chinese, or at least that's what my companions said. Something is suspicious here, so yeah, it's a test.
She puts her hand to her chest, where she hangs her chain ornament, a fox tail, and what I guess is the miracle.
"It is an inheritance from my grandmother. I just got into town, but I've been wanting to help you for a while."
Nothing in her story is especially curious. It may be that I'm going with my suspicions and the only thing that's unusual is that she suddenly appeared. But the same thing happened with us.
"What are your powers?" Ryuko questions this time.
"Super strength and flying. I have more than one power, like you."
She nods. I don't know what else I can ask her. Although at first she gave me distrust, I think she tells the truth.
"If we're done, I've discovered where Hawk Moth is hiding. Even if he is an adult with a miracle, between the four of us we can take down him. Follow me."
She flies off quickly, making it hard for us to follow. However, that doesn't prevent us from doing so.
It's not long before I realize we're headed for polygons. I know Hawk Moth isn't here, but in his mansion. What is this? Either she is wrong or it is a trap.
I go on full alert.
"One moment." Ryuko asks. "Let's stop."
Volpina perches behind a fireplace and approaches us.
"What happen?"
"I am surprised that Moth hides in such an unprotected place. I have been there several times and there is nothing that can make it a good place. He is not even close to where most akumas have been."
Very well thought. I think the last akuma has helped him with thinking things through before acting.
"Hawk Moth does not have to be near the akumas. I'm sure he controls them from..."
"Wait. There is someone there." says Queen Bee.
We all look in the direction she indicates and, on a roof, there is someone who looks too much like Hawk Moth.
"That is...? It is purple, it has to be him."
And before we can tell her how unusual that is, Ryuko launches herself. I take back what I said.
Queen Bee looks from one to the other, but she doesn't think much of it either and follows her.
I don't care. Has no sense.
I think Volpina is in league with Hawk Moth and that's an akuma.
She turns her back to me and is about to fly again when I speak.
"Quiet." I order. She obeys me. I think she knows I've got her. "That's not Hawk Moth, is it?"
She turns with a smile.
"You have realized? There's a reason they say you're the smart of the group."
She points her flute at me, which seems to be useless, and a bunch of automatic weapons appear pointing at me.
I get scared, of course. But I don't let that paralyze me, but before I start shooting, I open a portal and enter my borrow.
Her power is to control automated objects? Was that the Hawk Moth we've seen? No, that can't be. Magic and technology don't get along. They can't work together. The most modern thing with magic is my watch.
As risky as it is, I'm going to look in another timeline at what her powers are, if not what she told us, and how to defeat her.
I go to the nearest one and search in two days, because her akumatization in that time line happens later, it looks the same though. There she is more careless and I discover that her powers are illusions. We beat her when I catch her, since she doesn't have time to react.
I get out of my burrow and try to do the same (I warn my companions about the trap and the three of us surround her), but something turns out differently: she goes to a television antenna and makes many copies of herself. We don't know which one is real.
This isn't what I've seen in the other timeline.
That is not an obstacle for my mind to work.
"Hey, Bee. Do you think you can get your spinning top through all the Volpinas in the tower?"
She nods and does as I've told her, finding the real one and wrapping her wire around it. As much as she struggles, she can't get free.
The three of us caught up with her and we didn't talk about what the akuma item could be, she told us before.
I undo her pendant and drop it to the ground to step on it.
"No! It's my grandmother's necklace."
So that was true. I don't like having to do something like that, but there's no other way.
I break it and kill the butterfly inside of her.
The girl deakumatizes, Chloe lets go of her and tearfully begins to pick up the pieces.
I'm very sorry. It's her first day and she's already akumatized. I'd like to know what has happened.
Chloe kneels next to her and puts a hand on her shoulder.
"What happened to you?" she asks genuinely.
I think she is curious too.
"Today is my first day at a new school and I was trying to impress a guy when a girl came out from behind a garbage can and started yelling at me that I was a liar."
Did she come out from behind a garbage can? What a strange thing. Was she following her?
"How was the girl?" Kagami intervenes.
"Asian, with two tails and pink pants. I don't even know her."
Marinette. The three of us look at each other. Yes, we agree.
So the boy was Adrien.
"And why did she tell you that?"
"Because I said you were my friends."
Well that's a lie. We didn't know her until today.
"Hey, I have an idea." says Queen Bee. "Let's take a photo all together and she will leave you alone. From today we are friends."
"Oh really?"
Lila takes her phone out of her pocket. She has already accepted.
"Yes, but do not lie again. You do not have to do it to like others." Ryuko says.
She nods and reaches for the camera on her phone. I don't know if she's going to listen to us.
Three of us smile and Lila takes a selfie.