Chapter 60: Puppeteer 2
Hey everyone I'm back with a new chapter. So I finished Season 5 of Miraculous Ladybug and it was wild. That and the Miraculous World Paris Special. Needless to say I'm gonna have my work cut out for me when I get there. In the meantime please Review and Enjoy.
We find ourselves in Adrien's room as he and Plagg are playing piano together when they hear a knock at the door.
Yelping Plagg quickly hid as Natalie came in.
"Ready to go Adrien?" Natalie asks.
"Nathalie, since this is gonna take a while, can I bring a friend?" Adrien asks and Natalie nods her head.
At Alya's place, she and Sam were playing the dance video game but Sam was struggling.
"Oof Alya has this one in the bag." Faang snickers when Sam's phone goes off.
Pausing the game, Sam answers it.
"Hey Adrien, what's up?" Sam asks.
"Sam, I'm heading back to the Grevin Wax Museum do you want to come with me?" Adrien asks.
"Uh well, you see…" Pausing Sam glanced at Alya. "I'm kinda with Alya right now. Unless you don't mind her coming?"
"Can I bring two friends?" Adrien asks and Natalie nods fine with that.
Gasping Alya quickly took out her phone getting an idea.
In Marinette's room, we see Marinette sewing something at her desk when she gets a video call from Alya.
"Hey, girl." Marinette smiles.
"Marinette, you are coming with me and Sam to the Grévin Wax Museum. Adrien invited us!" Alya said surprising her.
"Uh but I uh…" Marinette stutters.
"There's no saying no. We're coming to get you now. You don't have a choice, girl!" Alya insists.
Getting the hint, Sam looked to Marinette. "What do you say Marinette comes too? She can—"
Before Sam could finish Alya shushes him telling him to keep the details to a minimum. "She can make it more fun. You know Marinette."
"Can we make it 3?" Adrien asks.
Rolling her eyes, Natalie nods.
"But Marinette! What about my superhero costume?" Manon asks in a huff. "No one ever pays attention to me."
"Sorry, guys. I'm looking after Manon this afternoon. Go ahead without me." Marinette said.
As Alya looked at Sam, he shrugged before looking at Adrien on his phone.
"Would four work? Actually, more like three and a half." Adrien requests.
"I'll see what I can do," Natalie said.
Soon the 5 of them were riding in Adrien's car to the museum.
"You leave Adrien alone, and then, I'll leave Marinette alone…" Alya whispers to Sam but unfortunately, Manon overhears them.
"Hey! Why are you leaving Marinette all alone? Don't you like her?" Manon asks getting Marinette's attention.
"Huh, what're you guys talking about?" Marinette asks.
Acting quickly Alya elbows Sam to not spill the beams. "Uh, nothing. Nothing at all." Sam cringed.
"Don't worry, Manon. It's just that Alya and Sam are boyfriend and girlfriend, and they probably wanna spend some time alone together. Without us." Adrien assumes making Marinette sigh in relief.
"Really? But I thought you and Marinette were boyfriend and girlfriend." Manon said making Marinette squeak embarrassed. "She has lots of photos of you all over her bedroom."
"That's because she loves fashion and I'm a fashion model." Adrien laughs.
"But then why are there so many hearts drawn on them?" Manon asks.
"Those aren't heart! Those are, uh, upside-down spades! I was just coming up with some new, uh, patterns, for my fabric designs." Marinette laughs nervously before covering Manon's ears. "What are you guys doing?"
"Nothing Marinette. Nothing you need to worry about." Alya assures.
"Yeah it's just your imagination Manon," Sam said.
Arriving at the museum, they are greeted by a woman with brown hair and glasses, wearing a red dress. This was Veronique.
"Hi Veronique," Adrien said greeting her.
"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Adrien. I'm sorry, but a piece of your statue went missing yet again. Just goes to show how popular you are." Veronique said leading them inside.
As Marinette led Manon inside her eyes were glued on Adrien.
"Look Marinette, we get to go in, even though it's closed! It's like we're princesses." Manon said but Marinette was focused on Adrien. "Hey did you hear me?"
Behind them, Sam and Alya were walking together.
"Remember, we can't tell Adrien. Marinette's the only one that's gotta spill the beans to Adrien— not us! So no matter what Adrien asks you, just deny it. Okay?" Alya reminds.
"Relax Alya, I'm really good at keeping secrets." Sam reminds.
"Yeah, your secrets. But this is someone else's. Just do this for me." Alya said.
"Okay. Okay." Sam said in defeat.
As Manon runs ahead she notices a statue of Jagged Stone standing atop a statue of his crocodile Fang making her gasp.
"Mr. Jagged! Can you give me an 'autygraph,' please?" She asks but he says nothing. "Why isn't anyone paying attention to me today!?"
Laughing Veronique walks over. "That's because it's not the real Jagged Stone. It's a wax statue of him. The Grévin Wax Museum is the Kingdom of Illusions!" She declares.
"Whoa! But he looks so real!" Manon said before making funny faces at the statue.
"The museum opened in 1882. We have about 200 wax statues on exhibition at any one time. We bring new celebrities in on a regular basis, the most recent one being Adrien." Veronique said leading them further inside.
"So if I've got this right, you and Alya wanna spend some alone time together, yeah?" Adrien asks.
Pausing Sam remembered Alya wanted him to deny everything but he knew he needed to say something.
"Uh no we came for…another reason," Sam said.
"Oh? Wait does it have something to do with Marinette?" Adrien asks.
"You could say that. Marinette's got a few things on her mind and I think she needs some help." Sam said.
"What's wrong? Does she need my help?" Adrien asks as they enter a room full of Paris celebrities.
"Uh I'm not sure if you and I are thinking about the right kind of help," Sam said.
Slowly turning around Adrien sees Marinette freak out.
"Uh, Manon! Come here!" Marinette said running after her.
"Does she hate me?" Adrien asks.
"No, I would definitely not go that far," Sam assures making him sigh relieved.
"You sure? I'd be really bummed if I knew Marinette didn't like me." Adrien admits giving Sam an idea.
"Well, maybe you should try talking to her," Sam suggests.
Rewinding a bit we see that while the boys were talking, they didn't know Marinette and Alya were talking.
"Why did you and Sam invite me here?" Marinette asks.
"I've got it set up girl. Today is the day you can finally pour your heart out to Adrien." Alya said.
"Wait what?" Marinette panics.
"We'll take off, leaving you two solo. Then you can spill your beans." Alya said
"No! Not like that! I'm so not ready. I'd have to practice first and wash my hair, and I'm not even wearing my lucky socks." Marinette said.
"It's up to you, girl. But I'm just telling you: today's the day." Alya whispers.
As Marinette looks ahead and Adrien glances back at her, she panics.
"Manon come here!" Marinette said running over to Manon who was in front of a statue of Nadja.
"Look, Marinette! My mommy's a famous person too." Manon points.
"Yeah. Yeah right okay." Marinette sighs as they all step into the elevator together.
Leading them to the workshop, they see a giant vat of wax.
"Welcome to the workshop! This is where our sculptors create and repair all of our statues. And this is where we store our wax. It comes straight from our very own beehives up on the roof of the museum." Veronique explains before leading them to Theo the man in charge of the sculptures.
"So I heard we have to do your hand again. Right, Veronique?" Theo asks and she nods.
Walking over to a statue head of Thomas Astruc, Sam couldn't help but be impressed.
"Wow even the hair looks real," Sam said.
"It's genuine yak hair," Theo said when Sam noticed something covered in a tarp. "Uh please don't touch that one. I'm almost done repairing that one."
"Sorry," Sam said leaving it alone while Theo put Adrien's hand in a container and poured wax in it when Veronique's phone rang.
"We have to leave you for a while if you don't mind," Veronique said.
Setting a timer, Theo placed it next to Adrien. "It'll ding when it's over. We'll be back as soon as possible."
"Take your time," Adrien said as the two of them left.
As Manon scanned the shelves of heads she saw Sam's head among them.
"Hey I didn't know Sam was famous," Manon said.
"Boo!" Sam said revealing it was his head making her scream at first before laughing.
"My turn! My turn! I wanna play statues, too! Marinette!" Running over Manon grabbed Marinette's hand. "C'mon! Let's go and play hide and seek and statues in the museum!"
"We can't, Manon. We came here to keep Adrien company." Marinette gestures making Manon sigh.
Seeing an opportunity, Alya looks at Sam and winks.
"We'll play with you. Marinette, you take good care of Adrien. He must not get bored a single second!" Alya calls out as she and Sam grab Manon and lead her out.
"No! Don't leave me alone with him!" Marinette said running to the door but it was too late.
As she turns she sees Adrien frown realizing he heard her. "I mean…that's not what I meant to say." She stutters.
"Are you mad at me, Marinette?" Adrien asks making her knock over a bucket of fake eyes.
"Huh?! No why would you say that?" Marinette asks.
"Well Sam and I were talking and…" Adrien starts.
"Whatever the two of you said it's not what you think," Marinette assures.
"Oh, so that means you like me, right? I was afraid you didn't like me." Adrien said.
"Of course I like you—I mean like but not like that." Marinette chuckles nervously. "What I mean is, you're not exactly a good friend,' you know?"
"Oh uh okay." Adrien said saddened to hear that. "But then, if I'm not a good friend, what am I to you?"
"You're…" Struggling Marinette had no idea what to say. "Toilets! I need to go the toilet right now." Marinette said sprinting out the door leaving Adrien alone.
Flying in, Plagg picked up a wax head and lifted it up in front of Adrien.
"Oooh, Aadrieeen! What is it with the girrrls? At least you don't have these kinds of troubles with cheeeese." Plagg said in a ghost-like tone making Adrien smile.
"Stop pranking, Plagg. Put that head back down before you cataclysm it." Adrien said before thinking about Marinette. "I'm sure I did something to mess up our friendship by accident. I'm so clueless about these things." As the timer went off, Adrien takes his hand out. "I gotta make it up to her."
Meanwhile, in another room, Manon ran into a room with Alya and Sam right behind her.
"Manon! Where are you hiding?" Alya calls out.
Giggling Manon decided to hide among the statues.
Upon entering Sam saw the room had wax statues of Ladybug and Cat Noir in the middle and surrounded by former villains: Lady Wifi, Rogercop, The Mime, a mummy from The Pharoah, Darkblade, Pixealator, Antibug, Puppeteer, Guitar Villian, Reflekta, Gigahurt, Princess Fragrance, Evillustrator, Gamer, Dark Cupid, Kung Food, Volpina, Timebreaker, Simon Says, Mr. Pidgeon and a strange villain Sam had never seen before. He had blue skin, a red tunic, a circular symbol on his chest, and a bubble wand in his hand. But to his disappointment, he also saw no sign of a Silver Claw statue.
As he walked in, he didn't notice, Manon posing in between Ladybug and Cat Noir like a statue.
"What the? Who's this guy?" Sam points.
"Oh that's Bubbler. When Nino was akumatized he turned him that guy." Alya said surprising him.
"Nino was akumatized? When?" Sam asks.
"Not long before you and your family moved here. It was insane. It was Adrien's birthday and his father wouldn't let him have a party. When Nino tried to ask him personally he said Nino was a bad influence on Adrien and threw him out. When he turned into Bubbler he trapped every adult in Paris in a bubble and sent them floating into the sky so he could force all of us to go to Adrien's house and give him a party. Even though we all were just doing it because we didn't want to be trapped in bubbles too." Alya explains.
Hearing this, Sam couldn't believe it, such a big fight happened and he never even knew about it. It was then that he remembered Ladybug and Cat Noir were a team from the beginning. He wasn't.
"Hey, what's on your mind?" Alya asks.
"It's nothing it's just seeing these villains, villains I don't even know, it makes me realize…it's always been Ladybug and Cat Noir, right from the beginning those two were the heroes Paris needed and it's like Silver Claw is just the third wheel," Sam admits.
"Really? So when I turned into Lady Wifi did Ladybug or Cat Noir wait for me to help get me back into school?" Alya asks.
"Well, no," Sam said.
"What about when my sisters went on the rampage? Did Ladybug or Cat Noir come to me so I could help save them?" Alya asks.
"No," Sam said.
"And did Ladybug and Cat Noir save Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen Bee when they were akumatized by Scarlet Moth on Heroes' Day?" Alya asks.
"No," Sam said.
"Exactly. Silver Claw did those things. I know that and so do others. Sure he wasn't here from the beginning but who cares? He's here now and that's what matters. So stop being so down." Alya smiles cupping his cheek.
Leaning in she kisses Sam on the lips and he instantly forgets all his troubles.
Suddenly Alya moves in and tickles him making him.
"What in the?" Sam laughs.
"Oh no I've been akumatized again. Now I'm tickle girl! You better run or I'll get you!" Alya laughs as the two ran out smiling but unfortunately, Alya was so focused on cheering Sam up that they forgot about Manon.
"Come on, what about me!? Why doesn't anyone wanna play with me?" Manon whines.
Turning around she notices the Puppeteer statue. Walking up to it she pulls the wand out of it and grins.
At his base, Hawk Moth sensed her emotions.
"A little girl who feels all alone. Children cannot be disregarded. Well, she can count on me to give her my full attention." Hawk Moth said before turning a butterfly into an akuma. "Fly away my little akuma and prey on her despair!"
Flying out the window, the akuma flew to the museum and entered Manon's wand.
"Puppeteer, glad to see you again. So, no one wants to play with you, huh? I'm giving you the power to play with them." Hawk Moth offers.
"We'll have lots of fun." Manon grins before transforming back into Puppeteer.
Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Marinette was sitting in a stall trying to wrap her head around what happened.
"Ugh! I'm so tired of not being able to just tell him how I feel! But I'm so scared, Tikki, always so scared he'll reject me." Marinette groans.
"You're overthinking it. You should try a game where you play a different character." Tikki suggests.
"You mean like role-playing?" Marinette asks.
"Yes, and you're playing a super cool character who isn't afraid of anything," Tikki said.
"Yeah, role-playing. I can do that." Marinette smiles.
In the elevator, Adrien and Plagg were talking about the same issue.
"Seriously, who cares about friendship?" Plagg asks.
"Marinette's important to me, so I'll do whatever it takes to make her feel good when she's around," Adrien said.
"Like giving her cheese?" Plagg asks as the door opens.
"Like, cheering her up. Making her laugh, doing pranks like you always do for me." Adrien said when he noticed Marinette from across the hall.
"I'm super cool. I'm super cool." Marinette mutters to herself.
"Watch this Plagg," Adrien whispers before posing.
"What exactly are you doing?" Plagg asks but Adrien shushes him.
"I can't let her think it's the real me." He whispers giving Plagg the hint to disappear as Marinette walks in their direction.
"I'm super cool. I'm super cool. I'm super—" Opening her eyes she sees Adrien in front of her making her panic, but he didn't move making her think it was his statue. "Oh, it's only a statue. How come I didn't see it earlier?"
Walking up to him, Marinette couldn't help but smile.
"Wow it looks so real." Reaching out she touches his cheek. "The wax is nearly as hot as skin." Leaning in she took a sniff. "It even smells exactly like him."
Breaking character for a brief second, Adrien wondered what she meant by that before she walked around to begin role-playing.
"Oh wax statue of Adrien. Your wax is so soft, your yak hair is so silky, your eyes are so green. Oh, shall I be a statue, too! Everything would be so much easier." Wrapping her arms around Adrien's neck, she embraces him. "Why haven't we been molded together in the plaster of destiny? Marble to marble, wax lips against wax lips, entwined for eternity…" As she leans in to kiss him, Adrien breaks character and jumps back.
"Eternity sounds like a long time," Adrien said making her panic. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, it was just a prank, that's all."
"Not funny! Not funny at all!" Marinette said pounding his chest briefly before sitting down trying to hide her face.
Sighing Adrien sits beside her. "Forgive me... even after all these months with you guys I guess I'm still not used to being a good friend." Adrien apologizes.
With Sam and Alya, Sam was trying to hide to avoid Alya's tickle attacks.
"Come on Sammy. Come out come out wherever you are. I'm not gonna hurt you." Alya teases slowly walking through the halls playing a villain.
Smirking Sam was about to come out of hiding when he heard Alya gasp. "What in—" Before she could finish she froze in place.
Eyes widening Sam saw Lady Wifi and Bubbler come to life and using his wand Bubbler trapped Alya in a bubble making Sam gasp.
Giggling Puppeteer flies in. "This is so much fun."
"Puppeteer, don't forget to bring me back my little toys, Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Silver Claw's Miraculous." Hawk Moth reminds.
"I'm gonna play with you, and you, and you," Puppeteer said bringing every statue in the room to life.
'Oh no. I gotta transform and fast.' Sam thought before running off.
In the other room, Adrien was sitting with Marinette.
"Were you serious when you were talking to the statue? I mean, me as a statue?" Adrien asks.
"Serious me? You gotta be kidding me? I'm the Queen of Pranks." Marinette said with a fake laugh. "I knew you were pranking me so I wanted to prank you back. Gotcha!"
"So you didn't really mean all the things you just said?" Adrien asks.
"Of course not, I was role-playing. I was in love with a statue, not with you." Marinette said standing up. "If I'd feel anything for you, it wouldn't be like for that statue, rather like, for a... regular human being."
"Okay so…as I am a human being you must still like me a bit then, right?" Adrien asks.
"That's right, I like you a little bit, just like a regular human being," Marinette said nervously before turning away. "Can somebody throw me into a vat of wax right now, please?" She mutters when she notices Sam running towards them with a terrified look on his face.
"Marinette! Adrien!" Sam panics running up to them.
"Sam, what's going on?" Marinette asks.
"We gotta run now!" Sam said.
"Run? Run from what?" Adrien asks standing up.
"From him!" Sam points behind and the two gasp to see Hawk Moth standing in front of them.
"Hawk Moth?!" Both teens said in disbelief.
Spinning his cane, Hawk Moth attacks them but Adrien grabs a parasol from a wax statue of Aurore and blocks it.
"Sam! You take Marinette and go get some help!" Adrien orders when the speakers turn on.
"Oh no. You're gonna stay and play with me this time!" Puppeteer's voice echoed from the speakers.
"Manon?" Adrien and Marinette gasp.
"Not anymore, she's Puppeteer right now." Sam said.
"That's right and I want to play with you and all of my statues," Puppeteer said as Adrien clashed with Hawk Moth.
"I'm gonna go get help!" Sam said running off.
"Me too! Be careful Adrien!" Marinette calls out.
"Don't worry about me." Adrien smiles.
As Sam ran into the Janitor's closet he lets Faang out.
"Bet you're really happy there's no statue of us in this museum right now." Faang assumes.
"Yeah well we hopefully we can hold our own with the others. Faang, Teeth Out!" Sam said as he transformed into Silver Claw.
Running into the elevator, Marinette waited for the doors to close.
"Tikki, Spots On!" Marinette calls out.
As the statue of Hawk Moth clashed with Adrien, he knocked him to the ground but just as he was about to strike Ladybug swung in and grabbed Adrien pulling him to safety.
"Go and find a place to hide. I'll handle this." Ladybug said putting him down.
Nodding Adrien ran off and entered the elevator that Marinette used.
"Plagg, Claws Out!" He said transforming.
Throwing her yoyo, Ladybug ties up Hawk Moth just as Silver Claw and Cat Noir show up.
"Whoa, what did I miss?" Silver Claw asks pretending to have just arrived.
"You captured Hawk Moth?" Cat Noir said amazed.
"I wish," Ladybug said pulling on her yoyo causing the wax statue to break.
"Oh a wax statue." Cat Noir said.
"Yeah that makes a lot more sense." Silver Claw deadpans.
"The Puppeteer is back! She must be here somewhere." Ladybug said.
"We need to find her and save her." Cat Noir said.
"That statue came from the Heroes' Room. I bet that's where she is." Silver Claw said.
"After you milady." Cat Noir gestures as the three of them race down the hall.
As they made their way down the stairs, Ladybug noticed something.
"Jump!" Jumping up at the last second, they avoid a sneak attack by Lady Wifi and Giga Hurt causing Giga Hurt to be paused and Viruses to attack Lady Wifi.
Using this opening Silver Claw slashes the Lady Wifi statue in half. 'That was for Alya.' He thought.
Looking around Ladybug noticed the Puppeteer statue and threw her yoyo at her catching her.
"Darn it. It's just her statue. Look the wand is missing." Ladybug said letting it go.
"Then this Puppeteer must have taken it. That's where the Akuma is." Cat Noir said.
"But where's the real Puppeteer?" Silver Claw asks when all the statues start moving and surround them.
"Okay, who wants to play red light, green light?" Cat Noir asks as Guitar Villian and Dark Cupid attack Ladybug while the mummy attacks Cat Noir and Silver Claw fights with Darkblade. "No? How about Hopscotch?"
"Enough jokes Cat Noir!" Using her yoyo, Ladybug knocks them both back.
As Silver Claw slashes Darkblade in half he comes face to face with Bubbler.
"I don't think I've met this one." Silver Claw said.
"Silver Claw this is Bubbler. Bubbler this is Silver Claw." Cat Noir introduced.
"Be careful, his bubbles are dangerous. They gave us a hard time." Ladybug said kicking back Rogercop.
As Bubbler hurled a bubble at Silver Claw he popped it with ease.
"Only because you didn't have me yet." Silver Claw smirks racing in dodging all the bubbles and slicing the statue of Bubbler in half.
"Aw man dude if you were around that battle would have been so much easier." Cat Noir chuckles.
"Can you boys focus? A little girl needs our help." Ladybug said as Cat Noir whacked Timebreaker.
"You know, Milady, the worse the situation, the more I realize how amazing you are." Cat Noir said as Silver Claw slashed Dark Cupid.
"How do you do that?" Ladybug asks dodging an attack from Pixelator.
"Do what?" Cat Noir asks.
"I mean so much to you, how is it so easy for you to say these nice things to me, even in the worst situations? Ladybug asks slicing the mummy. "The really important things are the hardest things to say."
"It's precisely when something is important, that it's important to say it, no matter what." Cat Noir said taking down Rogercop.
"Can you two save this for later? We gotta move." Silver Claw said slashing down Timebreaker.
Suddenly from the stairs, Thomas Astruc's head and a bunch of eyeballs were bouncing down the stairs.
"The workshop!" Ladybug gasps. "She must be there."
"Let's go." Cat Noir said kicking back the Mime.
As Ladybug sprinted out, Cat Noir and Silver Claw were right behind her when the Mime threw a rope grabbing them both.
Jumping on them, Kung Food, Princess Fragrance, Volpina, and Reflekta pinned the two heroes down.
Looking over, Cat Noir saw Thomas' head trying to suck the ring off his finger.
"That is gross and wrong on so many levels." Cat Noir cringed.
Running to the stairs, Ladybug waited for Cat Noir before ripping it off.
"Will Silver Claw be able to avoid them?" Ladybug asks but Cat Noir just shrugs. "Doesn't matter we need to hurry."
As they ran up the stairs to the workshop, Ladybug suddenly stopped.
"Wait up! We don't know what we're gonna find behind this door, let's stack the odds in our favor! Lucky Charm!" Throwing her yoyo into the air a cardboard tube appears. "A cardboard tube? What am I gonna do with this?" Looking around she tried to find clues but found nothing. "I'll figure it out. Let's go."
Kicking down the door, Ladybug and Cat Noir ran in to see Puppeteer with statues of Audrey Bourgeois, Aurore, and Phillipe.
"Neener, neener, neeener! I've got tons of friends, but you? No one wants to play with you, Ladybug!" Puppeteer mocks.
"You forget I always have my team with me." Ladybug smirks.
"Oh really? Cat Noir capture Ladybug!" Puppeteer orders grabbing Ladybug.
"What's wrong with you?" Ladybug gasps before realizing what she is dealing with. "You're a statue."
"And wait until you see my big surprise," Puppeteer said gesturing to the one covered by a sheet from earlier.
As it was pulled down Ladybug saw it was a statue of Silver Claw.
"Aw man they did make a statue of him." Ladybug gulps.
Back downstairs, Silver Claw was struggling as Stormy Weather tried to get his bracelet off him.
"Brace yourself, buddy. Moon call!" Taking a deep breath Silver Claw released a sonic howl blasting all the statues sending them flying into the wall and breaking into several pieces.
"Phew. Nice one." Cat Noir said helping him up.
"Alright let's go help Ladybug." Silver Claw said when the statue of her approached them.
"Cleaning done. It deserves a little scratch under the chin before going up, right?" Cat Noir asks as she walks up to him.
Confused she took his hands and leaned in as if to kiss him.
Grinning Cat Noir was more than happy to accept it.
"Oh wow." Silver Claw said looking away from this to give them some privacy unaware that she was going for his ring.
"Is that new perfume milady? It smells like…wax." Cat Noir realizes. "Cataclsym!"
Using his power, he turned the statue into dust.
"Aw, man they fooled us both with that one." Silver Claw said.
"Come on!" Cat Noir said as they ran up to help the real Ladybug.
Up above, Ladybug was dodging Cat Noir and Silver Claw's attacks when several hands grab her and push her against the door.
"We're done playing games." Breaking free Ladybug throws her yoyo knocking the wand out of Puppeteer's hands and to the floor. "Give me that!"
"No!" Puppeteer yells as everyone dives for it.
Worried Puppeteer didn't see who grabbed it when Silver Claw stood up and handed it to her.
"You lose Ladybug." Puppeteer said fleeing back to the door of the wax room.
Ladybug tried to follow but the Silver Claw, Cat Noir and civilian statues surrounded her.
"Now you won't be able to steal my wand again, meanie! Take her Miraculous!" Puppeteer orders.
As they were about to grab her earrings, the real Silver Claw and Cat Noir appeared.
"Back off you pale imitations!" Cat Noir yells whacking Phillipe and his statue. "Only one cat is allowed to have her hand."
"So they did make a statue of me? Where have you been this whole time?" Silver Claw asks knocking his statue back and slashing Audrey's statue in half.
"Thanks guys," Ladybug said standing up.
"I don't suppose you know how to use that Lucky Charm?" Silver Claw asks seeing the tube.
Looking around Ladybug noticed several art supplies including paint, brushes, and cardboard stars. "I do now."
In the wax room, Silver Claw and Cat Noir held Ladybug captive.
"Let go of me!" She yells pretending to try and break free.
"I've almost beat you, Ladybug! Cat Noir, Silver Claw give me her earrings!" Puppeteer orders.
As both heroes reach out, they suddenly stop inches from her ears much to Puppeteer's confusion.
"What's happening Puppeteer?" Hawk Moth asks equally confused.
"I don't know, my wand stopped working," Puppeteer said.
"Surprise," Ladybug said holding up the fake wand. "I swapped them earlier. You lose, Puppeteer."
"Ha! don't care! If you break my wand, I'll just turn them into real wax statues." Puppeteer pulls back a tarp revealing Veronique and Theo dangling over molten wax.
"No! Don't!" Ladybug gasps. "Fine, I'll give you the wand back."
Giggling she reached out to grab it when Cat Noir's ring and Silver Claw's bracelet beeped confusing her. "Huh? Wait a minute. If you're the real ones then that means?"
"Too late!" Using this chance Ladybug grabs the real wand and smashes it releasing the Akuma. "No more evil-doing for you little Akuma! Time to de-evilise!" Throwing her yoyo she captures the Akuma and turns into a butterfly. "Gotcha! Bye-bye little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" Throwing the fake wand into the air it undoes all the damage and turns Manon back to normal.
"Pound it!" All three heroes fist bump.
At his base, Hawk Moth was furious at another defeat.
"Soon, I'm the one who'll pulling the strings, Ladybug, and that day will come sooner than you think!" Hawk Moth vows.
Back at the museum, we see the statue of Adrien standing next to one of Gabriel Agreste.
"There we go. All back together." Veronique said.
"Hey, wait, Manon has to see this! Oh, but where is she?" Marinette asks playing along making the 4 teens chuckle.
Turning around they saw Manon pretending to be a statue as they slowly walk up to them Manon scares them.
"Boo!" She yells making them all laugh.
As they headed back Alya noticed Veronique and Theo walking to the Hall of Heroes.
"Hey you guys you go ahead. I want to check something out with Sam." Alya said grabbing his hand and leading him away.
"Alya, I really don't want to go back in here," Sam said.
"Trust me, yes you do," Alya assures.
As they made their way in they noticed Veronique and Theo were setting up something by Ladybug and Cat Noir
"Alright Veronique, I think we're all good." Theo assures.
"Well then, let's give our sculpture a proper return," Veronique said as Sam gasped seeing it was the statue of Silver Claw posing alongside his teammates. With his right arm reaching behind his back as if to grab his sword.
"Wait what's going on?" Sam asks.
"I know, so embarrassing. But it took a while to figure out the right pose for him. Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Silver Claw are the heroes of Paris. Standing together against their enemies to keep us safe. Be honest what do you think?" Veronique asks.
"I…I love it." Sam smiles looking up at Silver Claw who has a confident smile on him as well.
"Knew you would." Alya smiles grabbing his arm and hugging him close.
After Marinette dropped off Manon with Nadja, it was just her and Adrien in the car together but both were unsure what to say.
"I'm sorr—" Both start.
"You first." Marinette gestures.
"No please. You." Adrien said.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kissed the statue, but I didn't know it was you, and if I had, it wouldn't have been a prank because I—" Marinette starts.
"No, no. It's my fault. When you left the workshop, I was so worried that you were mad at me. It made me do the stupid prank, and..." Adrien starts.
"Of course I wasn't mad at you. I'm sorry that I made you believe that." Marinette assures.
"Is that true? We're still friends, you and me?" Adrien asks hopeful.
"Of course. But, to be safe, maybe we should stop playing pranks on each other." Marinette suggests.
"I know, I'm not good with jokes. The girl I'm in love with doesn't like them either." Adrien said getting her attention.
"The girl you're…in love with?" Marinette pauses.
"Are you okay, Marinette?" Adrien asks.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm glad we're friends." Marinette said halfheartedly.
When they arrive at her home, Marinette goes up to her room.
"You heard him. Adrien's in love with another girl, and me? I'm just a friend." Marinette frowns.
"Oh I'm sure life has a lot of surprises in store for you Marinette." Tikki assures making her smile.
"Yeah I guess that would have been a silly first kiss anyways." Marinette admits touching her lips thinking about if she and Adrien would ever kiss for real.