Chapter 21: Reflekta
"Chloé, you look great in this dress." Sabrina commented.
"Thank you, Sabrina." Chloé replied. "I want to look my best for the school picture."
"You're doing a good job at this." Sabrina said.
When it was time to take the picture, Juleka Couffaine was ignored by Vincent, the photographer, until Marinette informed him about her. Once that was settled, Vincent started defining places for the students. At some point, Vincent was satisfied and was about to take the class picture but, as he was about to do it, the battery died. Upset at this, Vincent instructed the students to stand still while he left to pick an extra battery. Unfortunately, Juleka needed to go to the bathroom.
'Oh, no.' Chloé was worried as she thought it over. 'I feel an akuma will come from this.'
"What's wrong, Chloé?" Sabrina asked.
"Hopefully nothing, Sabrina." Chloé answered.
As time passed and Vincent returned, he insisted on taking the picture without waiting for Juleka to return. He even ignored Marinette Dupain-Cheng's protests on the matter. "I've gotta do something!" She exclaimed.
"Yes." Chloé agreed. "Let's get out of here before Juleka gets akumatized!" She said and ran away.
"Wait for me, Chloé!" Sabrina screamed and ran away as well.
"Cowards." Marinette muttered. "I'll go check upon Juleka."
"I'll go with you, Marinette." Rose Lavillant replied. In the bathroom, the two girls found a closed door and opening it, learning the handle was broken from the inside. They also found a strange girl in dark pink. "Juleka?" Rose asked.
"Not anymore." The character answered. "I am Reflekta. Nobody has ever noticed me but those days are over cause from now on everyone will notice me because everyone will look like me. Time to get a new look!" She said and then pointed a ray at Marinette, who became another Reflekta.
"Juleka, no." Rose pleaded while starting to cry.
"Rose, I'm sorry I'm about to erase your beautiful looks but everyone will notice me." Reflekta said as she was about to turn Rose into another copy but Marinette intercepted the beam. Since Marinette was already another Reflekta by then, being hit by the original Reflekta's power a second time didn't do anything.
Meanwhile, as most of the other students were waiting for a resolution regarding the class picture, Superbug and Catgirl showed up, surprising them. "We saw two girls running away from here and thought it could be an akuma." Superbug explained.
"Chloé and Sabrina were worried about that but they're overreacting." Kim calmly replied but then everyone saw Rose and what they believed to be an akuma showing up. "But I may be wrong."
Superbug then turned her attention to Rose and the "akuma" next to her. "Release that girl, akuma." She ordered.
"No!" Rose screamed. "She's not the akuma!"
"That's right, Superbug." Marinette added and Superbug recognized her voice. "A classmate of mine, Juleka Couffaine, was akumatized into Reflekta and has the power of making people look like her."
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Superbug asked and Marinette nodded. "Why was Juleka Couffaine upset enough to be akumatized?" Superbug already knew but couldn't let it be known by people who didn't know her secret identity.
"Once again, her face didn't appear in the class picture." Rose explained.
Suddenly, a beam turned Nino into yet another Reflekta. He tried to run in terror but ended up falling down. "How do people walk in these things?" He asked while thinking of the platform shoes that came with being a Reflekta.
Other students also started running away and Reflekta turned as many more as he could into copies of her. "Marinette, do you just look like Reflekta or are you under her control?" Catgirl asked.
"My looks are all that changed, Catgirl." Marinette answered and then noticed other transformed Reflektas still trying to run away. "Don't bother." She told them. "Reflekta's power can't do anything else to people already transformed into copies of her."
Superbug perked upon hearing that. "I can use that." She said and dragged Marinette to another room and Catgirl followed them. After the three of them were in a place with nobody else in sight. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you please be my human shield so we can defeat Reflekta?" She asked.
Later on, while Reflekta was asking for the remaining untransformed students, Superbug and Marinette showed up. "Reflekta, Hawkmoth told you to get my Miraculous, right?" Superbug asked.
"Yeah." Reflekta answered and tried to hit Superbug with her beam but it hit Marinette instead and, since she was already another Reflekta, it didn't do anything. "Coward. Hiding behind a human shield is something I expected from bullies like Chloé Bourgeois, not from superheroes."
"Today's superheroes are more pragmatic than those from the Golden age, Couffaine." Superbug justified herself. "And she's a volunteer."
"Anyway, tell my copy to stand aside, or else..." Reflekta demanded.
"Or else what?" Marinette defiantly asked. "You already transformed me."
"I can transform your family." Reflekta pointed out.
"And then what?" Superbug asked. "Even if she steps out, all you can do to me is to transform me. Won't it make my earrings dissapear?"
That question made Reflekta nervous. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" She screamed and kept shooting Marinette until Catgirl's stick stretched long enough to break Reflekta's weapon, which also turned out to be where the butterfly was.
Superbug was quick enough to scream "Lucky Charm!" (it was a hand mirror, not that it made a difference) and use her yoyo to purify the akuma. "Miraculous Ladybug!"
Everyone who was transformed returned to normal. "Yeah, I can walk again!" Nino shouted in celebration.
Superbug and Catgirl left, hid in some alley, detransformed and went back to school. "Chloé! Sabrina!" Adrien exclaimed.
"We saw Superbug and Catgirl leaving and decided it was safe to return, Adrien." Chloé said. "What happened?"
"The bathroom door broke and I missed another class picture." Juleka sadly answered.
"I think I can help with that if the rest of the class agrees." Chloé replied.
Contrary to what Marinette expected and feared, Chloé's plan didn't involve anything like throwing money around or invoking her "credentials" as the Mayor's daughter. She just asked her driver to take a picture of the class (after getting her classmates to agree) and Juleka's face actually appeared. "Thank you, Chloé." Juleka said.
"You're welcome." Chloé replied.
"I have to admit, Chloé." Marinette confessed. "Your plan was even better than mine."
"And what was your plan, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé asked with a haughty tone. "Something needlessly complicated like stealing Vincent's pictures, I presume."
"Chloé, Marinette would never steal." Adrien defended his girlfriend.
"Thank you, Adrien." Marinette nervously replied. 'He must never know.' She thought.
"Okay but I'm still sure Dupain-Cheng planned to do something needlessly complicated." Chloé commented and practically every other student nodded. "Anyway, I'll see you all at the Grand Paris work experience."
At the hotel, Chloé, Sabrina, Tikki and Plagg were discussing today's events. "Chloé, I'm glad you helped Juleka but, did you need to talk to Marinette like that?" Tikki asked her wielder.
"Old habits die hard, Tikki." Chloé justified herself.
"Do you really think pigtails would steal?" Plagg asked out of mild curiosity.
"To help people she considers friends?" Chloé asked in reply. "Definitely."
'And to think Marinette could have become my wielder.' Tikki thought in horror.
"Sabrina, have you wondered how things would be if Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been chosen to wield the earrings?" Chloé asked, unknowingly making the kwamis worried.
"She'd figure out convoluted ways to use the lucky charms." Sabrina answered.
"Probably." Chloé commented.
Tikki decided to change the subject. "Chloé, are you worried about the work experience at the hotel?"
"No, Tikki." Chloé answered. "It's not like a celebrity would appear by then of all days.
End chapter
