Inconsistency

by Gale-Dragon

Tired of all the Dupont Staff salt and incompetent teachers? Well, it's time for a Lila's Lies are Exposed fic that removes the over-saturation of salt by having the teachers do their jobs to both protect their students and discovers the extent of Lila's lies. Guest-staring some fang-tastic characters working as Private Investigators!

5. Chapter 5

Inconsistency. Chapter 5.

~}I{~

Of course, the first stop on Jazz and Jade Turtle's list was Marinette. That didn't surprise her in the least. All she asked her Uncle Jazz was, "How long have you known I was Ladybug?"

Jazz casually pointed at the bluette's earrings when he said, "Since yah debut, but only 'cause Ah personally know yah." He flashed a small smile when he added, "If yah had been a stranger, Ah would've had ta seek yah out. Like Ah did Chat Noir, tha other Holders, and Hawkmoth."

Marinette glanced to the side when she grumbled out, "You mean Mr Agreste..."

Tikki's antennae drooped at these words. The red Kwami watched as Jazz pulled his little niece into a hug. Jade Turtle was confused by this action.

Marinette buried her face in the man with the dread's chest when he said in a caring tone, "Ah'ma not surprised yah figured it out after what happened." He rubbed the teen's back in soothing circles when he added, "And tha reason why Ah couldn't tell yah is the same as Prowler, it's a yahr battle. Yahrs and the Miraculous. Ah can't interfere unless yah get seriously hurt as yah and not as Ladybug."

"I know, Uncle Jazz..." Marinette said softly. She pulled away slightly but not enough to break the embrace when she said, "You have to follow the Rules and as much as you wanted to you can't. Plus I have to do this on my own."

Jazz ruffled the bluette's hair with one hand and a small smile, "Yah might not have meh or our Clan, but yah're not alone." He looked at Tikki with that smile still on his face and said, "Yah got a Kwami," He looked back at his little niece when he added, "And yah got an entire team of Miraculous Holders. So yah're not alone in yahr fight."

Marinette smiled as small tears peeked out the corners of her eyes. She gave the man with the blue visor another hug when she said, "Thanks, Uncle Jazz." The taller of the two hugged his niece back with a soft smile.

Tikki couldn't hide her happiness over the gesture, while Jade Turtle Placed a hand on his chin as he watched the scene before him.

}I{

Over the next hour, Jazz and Jade Turtle handed out the Miraculous, informed them of their current mission, where they wanted them to meet the rest of the Team before they started and told them to talk to Officer Prowl when they got to the meeting point. The Guardian of the Miraculous was still not 100% on board with this, but if it'll end Hawkmoth's reign and retrieve the missing Miraculous, he'll go along with the plan.

Jazz was more than happy to hand out the Miraculous to the people he chose.

Alix got the Horse Miraculous. She called this Hero Ponix.

Kim got the Dragon Miraculous. He called this Hero Sharyuu.

Kagami got the Snake Miraculous. She called this Hero Tiitrusuneeku.

Mylene got the Sheep Miraculous. She called this Hero Tiny Lamb.

Ivan got the Rooster Miraculous. He called this Hero Garnet Spur.

Rose got the Monkey Miraculous. She called this Hero Wild Thing.

Nath got the Fox Miraculous. He called this Hero Rouge Kit.

Since Luka was on an overnight school trip, Juleka got the Pig Miraculous. She called this Hero Autumn Hog.

Marc got the Tiger Miraculous. They called this Hero Tyger's Nyght.

Chloe got the Bee Miraculous, which filled her with so much joy. While she couldn't be Queen Bee again, she decided Annabella Bee would be her new hero persona.

Max got the Rabbit Miraculous. He called this Hero Dynasty Clock.

Markov got the Mouse Miraculous. He dawned the Hero persona Computer Mouse.

The last handout was... Odd... At least in Jade Turtle's opinion. He and Jazz somewhat crashed the Cesaire family dinner. However, the Guardian of the Miraculous had the strangest feeling that their arrival was planned that way. Alya, of course, was ecstatic at the prospect of being a hero again after being inactive for so long.

However...

Jazz somewhat smirked as he pointed past Alya, who turned to look at who he was pointing at. Nora blinked in confusion when she realised what was going on. The kickboxer pointed at herself in disbelief, Alya followed her older sister's lead in the same emotion. Jazz smiled and nodded.

Nora was very unsure about this whole thing but accepted the Ox Miraculous anyway. Alya looked dejected, at least until Jazz gave her the Dog Miraculous. The middle cesaire was a little confused by the Miraculous choice though.

The Cesaire parents told their older daughters to be careful while the twins cheered them on.

And now for the final stop, Nino's place. Which confused the Guardian of the Miraculous. All the Miraculous have been handed out and they should be heading to wherever Chat Noir is living.

Nino wasn't that surprised by the two's appearance at his window and left so when Jazz told Plagg to come out of hiding. The Kwami was quick to defend this decision from Jade Turtle, claiming that Adrien was practically assaulted with so much horrible news on the same day that he couldn't possibly continue as Chat Noir or even go through with the attack with a clear head! Plagg claimed that it would be completely possible that Adrien might Cataclysm his so-called father.

Jazz more than agreed with the Kwami and insisted that Chat Noir needed to take a break for his mental health. He then added off-handedly that Nino would be more than willing to kick Hawkmoth's ass in Adrien's place.

Jade Turtle had to concede. He didn't like the idea that someone knew who Chat Noir was, but he understood why the Miraculous was given to the red-capped teen.

Jazz grinned when he said, "Yah know tha words, so say'm and let's meet up with tha Team!" as he thumbed the window.

Nino nodded as he looked at the Ring of the Black Cat and said, "Alright! Plagg! Claws Out!" Nino's Black Cat outfit had more of a punk-like aesthetic than Chat Noir's. His black boots with the cat paw-print treads had silver studs along the seams of the surface. Loose black leather slacks with neon green claw scratch designs on the legs. Wore a loose, midnight black, long-sleeved shirt paired with black clawed gloves and had on a back leather jacket with the sleeves torn off. During the transformation, Nino flipped the black hood up onto his head and causing the black cat-like mask to appear over the upper half of his face. The cat ears on the hoodie perked up almost immediately as soon as the hood was up. And lastly, a black chain-like belt appeared with the leftovers trailing behind him like a cat's tail appeared.

With that done, the Guardian of the Miraculous, Jazz, and Leopard Noir headed off to their meet point with the rest of the team.

}{ Five Minutes Later }{

The Miraculous Team was waiting on the roof of a building three blocks away from the Agreste estate with Officer Prowl.

Rouge Kit was looking through his flute as he would a telescope at the targeted location when he said, "From what I'm seeing, the guy's got the usual security up... Did either Mr Agreste or even Ms Secretary notice that neither Adrien nor the fake Gorilla returned?" This Fox Hero had an appearance similar to Rena Rouge but is red, has a furred jacket and the fox tail is attached to the jacket. The new Fox Holder looked at the rest of the team when he added, "A little... Weird don't you think?"

Wild Thing was looking through a pair of binoculars at the Agreste estate when she replied, "Under normal circumstances, yes. But this is Mr Agreste we're talking about..." She lowered the binoculars when she added as she glanced at the Fox Holder, "Still... How does a parent not notice that their child hasn't been home over the past week?" She wore what looked like a light brown one-piece bodysuit with fur accents paired with dark brown elbow-length gloves and knee-high boots with monkey treads, had a simple red sash wrapped around her main body like a sari that was tied closed with a brown rope that had the leftover trailing behind her like a monkey's tail, had on a mask that covered the upper half of her face, and her blonde hair was tied up in a pair of buns that looked similar to monkey ears.

Autumn Hog shrugged when she got out, "If Mr Agreste is Hawkmoth, then that's a factor." The colour palette for her bodysuit was more on the muted pink side of the spectrum paired with a pair of greyish-black gloved to her wrist and ankle boots of the same colour with cloven hooved treads, she had splotches of white and brown scattered all over her outfit in random patterns of different sizes, wore a muted pink mask over the upper half of her face, and she had muted pink streaks in her black hair that was tied back in a corkscrew aside from her bangs that fell over her face. She ran a hand through her hair when she added, "But then there's Nathalie, who should've noticed..."

Ponix huffed when she got out, "Unless she's in on the Hawkmoth thing." Her outfit was similar to Pegasus' design but the sections that were brown on his costume were white on Ponix's, the ankle boots and gloves she wore were a shade of golden brown, the mask she wore was black with indents around the right eye for a golden monocle to be put in place with little grooves to keep it in place no matter how much the person moved, and her loose short hair was black with three white streaks on the left side of her head. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and then stated with a growl, "She could be Mayura. She certainly fits the criteria for her..."

One of Computer Mouse's Clones scurried over to Ladybug and asked, "How long until Chat Noir arrives?" This Holder opted to activate his ability and easily had 20 or more Clones gathered together like a swarm. Computer Mouse was grey with adorably bright pink eyes that pierced through the black mask he wore with cute little mouse ears that looked attached to the sides of the mask, limbs that looked like little claws, a wire trailing behind the Mouse Holder like a rat's tail, and pink wings that looks pixelated. The thing that surprised everyone was the fact that the little wings worked! Computer Mouse and his Clones were able to surrey on the ground and in the air with ease.

Officer Prowl stood beside Ladybug when he stated, "Jazz said that they are less than a minute away." He glanced at the red-clad hero when he added, "However..."

Ladybug looked up at her uncle when she asked, "What does 'however mean?" Jade Turtle, Jazz, and Leopard Noir landed on their building as if on cue. Ladybug's immediate response was, "Wait! Where's Chaton?" She could feel her heart sink into her stomach. Ladybug wanted to do this final battle with Chat Noir by her side as they promised.

Leopard Noir glanced to the side when Jazz explained, "Chat had an unavoidable circumstance happen and he's not goin' to be able to use the Miraculous of the Black Cat fur a while." His expression softened when said, "Ah know yah two promised each other yah would face Hawkmoth together, but it'll be hard for him ta fight in his condition."

Ladybug could feel dread building up in her gut when she asked frantically, "Is he alright?!"

Jazz's lips pressed into a line before he said carefully, "He'll live, but he ain't in any condition ta wield any Miraculous fur a good while." He didn't like how his little niece was feeling.

Leopard Noir stepped in by saying, "Listen, I'm not replacing Chat Noir, just stepping in for him until he's better. Once he's ready to return, I'll let Plagg take the Miraculous back."

Sharyuu took a step forward when he said, "Well, long as you know that." Despite the name he chose, his main colour for his hero suit was a deep red with black zig-zagging lines accenting his muscles on his arms, legs, and chest, a gold glove that reached halfway to his elbow on his right while the glove on his left was black, the boot for his left was gold that covered his calfs while the right was black, the element icons showed proudly on the centre of his chest, the mask he wore was black which paired nicely with his deep red hair that was styled in a wolf shave with the tips dyed gold, and had a ribbon-like belt that had alternating deep red, gold, and black zig-zag colours that wrapped nicely around his waist with the leftovers trailing behind him like a flowing tail. He folded his arms when he asked, "You got a name?"

"Leopard Noir," The temporary Black Cat Hero said with a small bow.

Garnet Spur and Tiny Lamb were uneasy that they suddenly got a new Black Cat for this big battle. (Garnet Spur's hero outfit is the same as the Canon design for Courage {note how I'm not saying the first part of his name} except there isn't a scarf around his neck and his hair is blazing red without the mohawk. While I think that design looks wrong for Marc, I feel like the design would look a lot better on Ivan so that's what I'm going with). Tiny Lamb's hero suit was a combination of black and white with the main body of her suit being white and the limbs being black, paired with white gloves to her wrists and ankle boots with hoove print treads, had a white wool-like hood that covered her bleached hair and the miraculous, wore a black mask that covered half her face, and had on a grey belt that held her weapon in place. They were glad that Ladybug and the Guardian of the Miraculous were here.

Tyger's Nyght couldn't help but say, "As long as everyone is up to taking the dick down, I'm fine with the change to the cast of characters." Their hero suit's main colour was magenta with broad black stripes along his back, arms, and legs, the section for their chest and stomach was kaki, wore a pair of black knee-high boots with tiger paw-print treads and magenta strips on the sides, their messy black hair had magenta highlights and lowlights, and a magenta mask that covered half their face.

Dynasty Clock checked a pocket watch when he stated, "I highly doubt anyone here would say no to pumbling Mr Agreste's posterior, or rather, Hawkmoth's." His hero outfit appeared to be a three-piece suit which had a main colour of sky blue with white and black accenting the trims and edges, his sky blue ankle boots had rabbit paw-print treads, wore smooth white gloves that matched his bowtie, his hair was as white as snow that was styled in a pair of cornrows that ended at the edge of the top of his head before they pointed upward a little like rabbit ears, and wore a black visor that covered the upper half of his face. He closed a silvery-white pocket watch that looked nothing like the Rabbit Miraculous, placed it in his breast pocket, and added, "Mind if I inquire how hard we are allowed to kick?" as he looked at Jazz.

The man with the dreads smirked when he stated, "Killin' 'im is off the table, Obviously. Nothin' lethal, of course. His limbs gotta stay attached, but it's fine if ya break some bones. And that also applies to any partners he's got."

Tiirusuneeku raised a brow when she asked, "You are aware you told us not to kill either Mr Agreste or Mayura twice?" Her bodysuit had teal as the main colour with thin black lines that mimicked snake scales, her chest and stomach area was a lighter shade of teal while the rest was a teal four shades darker, solid black gloves with the Snake Miraculous on her left wrist and a matching band on her right to balance the appearance out, solid black knee-high boots, wore a teal mask that covered half her face, her waist-long hair that was tied back in a high ponytail was a black to teal gradient and had her bullwhip docked on a gold belt.

That smirk was still on Jazz's face when he stated, "Ah know what Ah said. But there is a difference between killin' and dealing a lethal blow."

Annabella Bee folded her arms in confusion when she asked, "Aren't they the same thing?" Chloe's new hero suit, which made her new Annabella Bee persona possible, was based more on the Green Orchid Bee rather than the typical black and yellow bees. The main colour of her suit was a lovely shade of metallic green with her knee-high boots and gloves being a solid shade of black. She had a white belt around her waist and white lines at the helm of the boots and gloves to break the colours up. Her blonde hair had emerald green highlights. Lastly, her mask was also metallic green with chrome blue lends to emphasise her blue eyes.

Jazz tilted his head to the side in amusement when he asked, "Is there a difference between an insult and teasing?"

Annabella Bee thought about that for a bit before she realised that the man with the dreads was right. And she also understood why he had to say not to kill or deal a fatal blow. They might lead to the same thing but the how it happens is different. Annabella Bee looked at Jazz, who still had that amused look on his face, when she said, "Alright, We'll keep the damage on the dicks to non-lethal." Jazz smiled at this.

Nora, with the Ox Miraculous activated, couldn't help but ask, "So it's fine if we clobber them as long as we don't mess with anything internal or make an open wound that's big, right?" Her hero suit just screamed wrestler with her midnight blue ox-themed luchador mask and bodysuit, a muted red belt, gloves, and calf-high boots that break up the suit a bit, and had some dark blue streaks that accented her muscles.

Jazz shrugged his shoulders with that smile still on his lips when he stated, "Pretty much. Ah need him alive when he's brought inta custody. Mayura is a little up in tha air at the moment."

Officer Prowl moved towards the man with dreads when he stated, "The police will take custody of her after the battle." Jazz looked at the policeman when the taller added, "Unless it's proven that she had any involvement in Mr Garde's death, she will remain in the police's custody until her trial and afterwards."

Jazz nods when he says, "Fine by meh, and if she did have a hand in that, Ah'll have ta preside over her trial. Sound fair?" Officer Prowl agreed to that.

Alya, with the Dog Miraculous activated, stood off to the side trying to settle her nerves as to what would happen. Her dark brown hair which was white at the tips was tied back in a high ponytail. Wore cocoa brown berries with a pair of pointed black ears propped on top. Had on a German Shepherd-like mask that covered the majority of her face. Her Hero suit looked more like a military uniform with a cocoa brown and black colour pallet. And had black boots with dog-print treads. This is the final battle! Hawkmoth will be taken down in this fight! It will all be over after tonight! But… Alya glanced at Rouge Kit. Maybe she was being a little petty or was simply attached to the Fox Miraculous, but she felt like she was given the Dog Miraculous out of Bitty or something. "You okay?" Alya somewhat jumped at the sudden voice. She turned to see Autumn Hog standing there.

The new Pig Miraculous Holder brushed her bangs out of her face when she got out meekly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..."

Alya waved a hand when she said, "It's okay, I... Was already on edge..." She couldn't help but feel that this person felt familiar for some reason, and she didn't know why.

Autumn Hog gave a small nod when she said softly, "You too, huh?" She shrank a bit before she said, "It's the final battle with Hawkmoth... How can we not be nervous."

Alya felt the subtext meant that they were using these Miraculous for the first time. The blogger never saw these heroes before, so she can assume that they are either new Holders or they've been Heroes before and are using new Miraculous. Alya couldn't help but say, "But I can't help but feel excited about it."

Autumn Hog flashed a small smile when she nodded.

Ladybug called the Miraculous Team to circle around for the battle plan. Once they made a nice little semi-circular circle the red-clad hero turned to Jazz when she said, "Magi Guardian, you can start."

Jazz let out an audible sigh when he said, "Yah don't have ta be formal." His hands glowed a soft blue light before he clapped his hands together. The light became brighter as Jazz parted his hands a bit, somewhat curling his palm and fingers. A light blue orb of light formed between the guy's hands. Jazz then turned his palms up causing the orb of light to float. The man with the dreads smirks when he says, "Alright, Ah'ma gunna transfer tha plan to yah and some extra information that'll be of use fur yah all. Plus tha temporary removal of tha timer and limits fur yahr Miraculous, it'll wear off when tha sun rises before yah ask."

The orb then split into multiple little lightning bug-sized lights and then they scattered. The small orbs flew right towards the Holders. All but Ladybug were a little apprehensive about the orbs coming towards them. The other Holders were unsure what to do when the orbs stopped before them, so they followed Ladybug's lead. The red-clad hero extended her right hand and touched the orb with her index finger. The other Holders did the same, and the promised information filled their minds.

Images of how to use their respective Miraculous weapons and special abilities flashed through their minds.

Images of the plan to take down Hawkmoth flashed through the Holders' minds. There was an additional plan to fight Mayura if she was there. Even images of a backup plan were shown. And a plan C. Everything was well thought out.

Officer Prowl opened his eyes when he asked, "Everyone understand what we are to do?"

Nora raised a hand when she said, "I do." She lowered her hand when she asked, "I couldn't help but notice that Mr Magi Guardian was conspicuously missing from the Plans we saw."

Jazz tilted his head to the side when he said with a serious expression, "Ah know Ah came up with these plans, but in tha end... This is a battle that involves tha Miraculous and Ah'ma not allowed ta interfere in it unless either Hawkmoth or Mayura does direct harm ta a member of muh clan or Mate." He sighed before he added, "However, we can use that ta our advantage should all tha plans somehow fail."

"How?" was the response from all the Miraculous Holders, minus Ladybug and Officer Prowl.

The red-clad Hero nodded when she looked at the policeman and asked, "You're coming along to implicate that 'Last Resort' if we can't take Hawkmoth down." Ladybug looked uneasy when she stated, "Normally, we would discourage civilians from putting themselves in danger. However... If that is what's needed to get the Magi Guardian involved if it becomes necessary..."

Officer Prowl gave a sharp nod as Jazz looked at him. The stoic man then stated, "I will not be reckless in that. I will only try to goad Hawkmoth to do some kind of attack on me or block him from harming one of you Holders."

Jazz was serious when he stated, "And Ah'll be there before anyone can blink." He then added in that same tone as he kept his eyes on Officer Prowl, "But don't take taa much damage. Healing spells have their limits and Ah don't want that ta happen."

"Understood," Officer Prowl stated when he looked at Jazz. The homicide officer then added, "Do you have any information on how we can get inside the Agreste manor without using the Horse Miraculous?"

Jazz smirked as he pulled a small, blue, crystal cube out of his pocket. He then said, "Way ahead of yah. This one's got enough juice for two trips, so yah can use it ta get in and out of that oversized cage." Jazz handed the crystal cube to Officer Prowl when he added, "The police HQ are eagerly awaiting all yah with Hawkmoth and are ready in case he tries something."

Officer Prowl nodded as he turned his attention towards the Miraculous Holders. In a serious tone, the policeman asked, "All right, is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded.

Officer Prowl held the crystal cube at chest level and stretched his arm out. The next thing everyone knew, a swirling blue portal appeared a metre in front of the homicide officer. Other than Ladybug, the Miraculous Holders were awestruck by what they were seeing. Officer Prowl pocketed the crystal cube when he stated, "The other end of this portal is in Adrien Agreste's room. Since he is not there, it should be a good starting location for us."

As everyone got ready, Jazz tapped Officer Prowl on the shoulder to get his attention before saying, "One last thing before yah head inta battle." When the taller of the two turned to the shorter, Jazz gripped the police officer's collar and pulled him down for a full-lipped kiss.

Clearly, Officer Prowl wasn't expecting this, and neither were the Miraculous Holders. Jade Turtle turned red and averted his eyes. Nora turned pink before she instinctively covered her younger sister's eyes with her hands while Alya tried to wiggle out of her older sister's hold. Sharyuu let out a wolf whistle. Everyone else pretty much turned pink at what they were seeing. Ladybug was almost as red as her outfit when she got out in embarrassment, "Oh for the love of! Really?!"

When the kiss ended, Jazz licked his lips slightly as he pulled away and Officer Prowl was able to process what happened. The homicide officer's face turned red when he got out in a flabbergasted tone, "Jazz! What was that!? Why did you do that here of all places?!"

Jazz smirked as he released his grip on the taller's collar when he said, "A lot of yahr co-workers and a few of yahr higher-ups are a little superstitious. They're sort of connected meh kissin' yah ta them having successful ends ta operations tha police plan." He shrugs before adding, "Don't ask meh how they've come ta that conclusion, but they paid to keep that luck going by kissing ya before tha scheduled OP."

Officer Prowl looked annoyed by what was said. One of his brows twitched as he asked with his cheeks still red, "Please tell me that they don't inform you on what operation they are planning... Or that they are actually paying you for... That..."

Jazz folded his arms when he said with that smirk still on his face, "Ah told'm Ah don't need payment ta kiss yah. All they needed ta do was ta give meh a call ta say they needed a little luck on those days." He moved one of his arms so he could use that hand to curl his index, middle, and ring fingers against his palm as his pinky and thumb extended and held that hand close to that side of his head like one would a phone. Jazz pulled his hand away when he added with a half-shoulder shrug, "So Ah decided that you all could use a little extra 'luck' fur this."

Officer Prowl frowned when he stated, "It seems I have something to discuss with my co-workers after this..." His cheeks were still pink.

Ladybug pinched the bridge of her nose when she said, "Can you two lovebirds have this conversation later? We have a terrorist to apprehend!" Something that the red-clad hero said registered with Officer Prowl before he stared at her with wide eyes. Ladybug quickly covered her mouth when she realised her slip-up, but it was too clear that it was too late.

The other Miraculous Holders knew something was going on but weren't sure what.

Leopard Noir took a few steps closer to the portal. He could see Adrien's room through the portal, but it was what he was feeling that was coming from the portal that sent chills down his spine. Leopard Noir couldn't help but comment, "Uh, is it me or is there some... Funky air in Adrien's room?"

While the other Miraculous Holders were confused by the comment, Jazz seemed to understand when he walked over and said, "Makes sense yah can feel it. The Miraculous of the Black Cat also represents Death, so yah would be able to tell if someone died in a location."

Leopard Noir looked at Jazz and then the portal when he asked, "So... Hawkmoth killed the Gorilla inside the mansion... Right?" The Temporary Black Cat Hero wondered if Sentimonsters or Golem leave the same feeling in an area when they 'die' like a human can.

Jazz continued on his path when he replied, "Most likely, since he has tha Peacock Miraculous." He noticed the somewhat perplexed look on the black-clad hero's face and stated, "Golems, and Sentimonsters by extension, can leave an 'aura' when they 'die', but only after they become true sentience. Like Marques Garde, or Gorilla, had acquired during his life and experience."

Leopard Noir was starting to understand this whole thing a little better.

When Jazz got to the portal, he paused and looked into it. He could sense more than the 'Aura of a Dead' Sentimonster coming from the portal. Keeping his focus on the blue swirl with the image of a room inside, Jazz asked the Team, "Quick question before all head in. Does anyone know if there were any other deaths in tha Agreste Mansion?" When he got 'Nos' from everyone present, he then asked, "How about anyone from tha Agreste Manor who went missing within tha past five years?"

There was only one person everyone could think of, Emilie Agreste. Gabriel's wife and Adrien's mother.

Jazz's expression went cold when he stated, "Slight change in plans. Yah all will still fight Hawkmoth and Mayura, but Ah'll be searching far tha source of the other 'Aura of tha Dead' that's also lingering in tha mansion."

Oh... That had a clear message... And an even clearer meaning...

Annabella Bee couldn't help but growl out in a combination of anger and frustration, "Is today Break Adrien with Emotional Destress Day or something!?" No one gave an answer nor did anyone question how the Bee Holder knew what happened to the blonde model the past 24 hours.

However, Leopard Noir couldn't help but think, 'Wait... If the Miraculous of the Black Cat can allow one to feel the Aura of the Dead... Then how come Adrien never noticed it? Given his overly strict schedule, he couldn't have happened to be out of the mansion every time he had to become Chat Noir...' There had to be a reason why Chat Noir never noticed the aura of his probably dead mother in his former home.

Ladybug bit her lip before she told the other Holders, "Okay, you all can go all out but we have to capture them alive. We can... Tell Adrien about his mother after everything settles..."

Jade Turtle's lips pressed into a line after hearing this... Information. He debated on talking to Ladybug about not telling Adrien about his mother, to spare the poor boy even more emotional pain, but... Jade Turtle lowered his head when he thought, 'No... He deserves to know... Yes, it will hurt him greatly but at least he will have closure... And can start healing…' Soon everyone entered the portal into Adrien's very spacious room for the Final Battle.

}I{ Meanwhile }I{

Al poked his head into Adrien's room to see the teen, still dressed in the day's clothes, lying on his bed and staring at the opposite wall with a depressed expression. The blonde man was now worried about his ward. Al glanced down at the scrapbook from Marques Garde's secret safe in his hands. D gave it to the blonde man, telling him that Adrien needed to look through it to understand why it was important. And that's what Al was going to do.

The blonde man took a step into the room when he got out softly, "Hey... Adrien... Do you mind if I talk to you for a bit?"

That seemed to snap the blonde boy out of his little daze to look at the other. Adrien sat up and wordlessly ushered Al in. The blonde man walked in and sat on the teen's left when he said softly, "I know how it feels to lose... people close to your heart..." Adrien didn't respond. Al glanced to the opposite direction of the teen when he added equally as softly, "Even the ones you think are artificial..."

Adrien looked at the taller blonde and saw the expression on his face. 'He... Really does...' The teen thought before his attention to the scrapbook in the man's hands. Remembering that was the same scrapbook from the Gorilla's secret safe, Adrien asked, "Why did you bring that?"

Al looked at the item in his hands when he asked, "Tell me the truth, before you learned what Mr Garde was, did you ever thought that he only cared about you because it was his job?"

"I never did..." Adrien answered immediately without really thinking about it. He never once thought that his bodyguard put his job over anything else regarding him. In fact, Adrien saw first-hand that more often than not that the Gorilla wanted to do more but couldn't because of the job, he even snuck a few things to the teen he knew Mr Agreste disapproved of. However... Adrien slumped when he got out bitterly, "But then again, Father and Mother probably made sure to order him to care for me." He pulled his legs up to his chest at those last words.

Al stared at the teen from the corner of his eyes before he said, "That wouldn't be possible even if they did..." He then looked forward as he ran a thumb over the scrapbook.

Adrien glanced up at the taller man when he asked, "What do you mean? Sentimonsters have to follow whoever holds their Amok? Father probably had the Gorilla's Amok."

Al hummed slightly when he said, "Well, that is true and I can make an educated guess that Mr Agreste did have the Amok at the beginning and the end of Mr Garde's existence, but there is one thing that no one can order Golems to do." He looked directly at Adrien when he stated seriously, "No one can order a Golem, and Sentimonsters by extension, to act on or feel any type of emotion."

Adrien was confused when he asked, "What does that mean?"

Al gently explained, "When Golems are created, the creator can give them whatever attributes the creator wants them to have. Whether it be Strength, extra limbs, element proofing, hell, I've even met a few Golems that have high intelligence. But the one thing that can not be given to a Golem during its formation is "emotions''. The Golems can only gain these when they start becoming self-aware. I'm not sure if it's the same way with Sentimonsters, but from what I'm aware of, those can emulate a person's personality if they are ordered to "Act like or similar" to someone."

While a little sceptical, Adrien's curiosity was peaked when he asked, "Really?"

Al nodded when he said, "Really." His eyes softened when he explained, "While the time it takes for any Golem to become self-aware, or sentient, varies due to several factors, one of the key factors for a Golem to become sentient is for the Golem to develop emotions." Al shrugged his shoulders when he stated, "I'm not an expert in that field, but given how fast Mr Garde became sentient, I can assume that he was given his grounding object, or his Amok, for extended periods of time."

Adrien was stunned at this information but he couldn't help but ask, "But... How could you tell he was a Sentient Sentimonster?"

Al smiled softly when he said, "His secret safe." This confused the teen as he lowered his legs over the edge of his bed. The older blonde explained, "Think about where the safe was hidden and what was in it. Would anyone order a Golem to install a safe there or order them to keep those kinds of items in a safe?"

Now that Adrien thought about it... Yeah, it was strange. In fact, it was something that really shouldn't be there. The safe and the items, they wouldn't and shouldn't even be there! Unless... "The Gorilla put in the safe and kept those items in it by his own will!" Adrien realised in shock.

Al nodded when he said, "Correct. He treasured these items and wanted to protect them, so he made the safe, put it in such a strange location, and kept those items in it, all on his own. By his own choice." He placed a gentle hand on the teen's shoulder when he added, "Mr Garde cared about you, not because he was ordered to, but because he genuinely cared about you." Al held up the scrapbook when he added, "And if that's not proof enough, this is proof that Mr Garde became his own person."

Adrien hesitated before he timidly took the scrapbook. The teen then stared at the blank cover for a few seconds before he finally opened it to the first page. To Adrien's surprise, the page was covered with pictures of him as a baby. He turned the page and saw even more baby pictures of him but with some little notes and comments next to a few of the photos. The notes were basic information like 'First steps' or 'Favourite toy of the week', While the little comments were cute little commentary regarding what baby Adrien was doing like having an arrow from the words 'Rather finger paint than eat' to the photo of baby Adrien with his mashed food everywhere but his mouth in little hand print shapes.

Adrien's eyes widened when he recognised the handwriting as the Gorilla's. He turned the page to see more pictures of him growing up. There was a picture of the first time he met Chloe, which was noted as such. Adrien turned the page and was surprised by how the Gorilla was able to take all these pictures without anyone noticing. He turned another page and couldn't help but smile fondly when he saw a photo of when he and Chloe first met Sabrina, which was noted as such.

If an outsider were to look at this scrapbook, they probably would've thought that the owner was the main child's parent.

Adrien then got to a page that had a photo of the inside of Tom and Sabine's bakery. He read the little note next to that photo that said, 'Delicious Goods! Need to find a way to bring Adrien, Chloe, and Sabrina here. They have the flavours they love!" Adrien paused as he checked the date on the image. 'He... Went to the Dupain-Chengs' bakery five years before I met Marinette? Oh! The sweets he started sneaking to us around that time! They were from the Dupain-Chengs' bakery!' the teen thought when he realised why he was quick to gravitate to the bakery as soon as he ate a sweet Marinette brought in. He felt a little embarrassed that he didn't notice that the sweets the Gorilla brought him, Chloe, and Sabrina, during their playdates were the same ones from the bakery Marinette's parents run.

But then again, Adrien was never allowed to eat sweets before he started public school. So that was a factor.

Adrien went through the scrapbook, amazed how the Gorilla was able to meticulously photograph and note/comment about what he deemed 'important'. He learned how the Gorilla became friends with Tom Dupain, that the bodyguard preferred checking out audiobooks from the library, and that he was happy that Adrien was making friends on his own. That was when he came to a photo that made him do a double-take. Adrien's eyes widened when he saw that the image showed him sneaking out of the mansion from his room, and given the odd angle, Adrien could guess it was taken from inside the house on the same floor as his room. The teen stared at the photo, wondering how and why this was taken. That was when he noticed the comment the Gorilla wrote next to the photo, 'Defying Mr Agreste and sneaking out to go to Chloe's school. Good Luck, Adrien!' That confused the teen before he noticed the timestamp on the photo and it all made sense!

That photo was taken the day he finally worked up the courage to sneak out to go to school!

Adrien stared at the photo when he remembered that it was Nathalie who took the initiative to track him down, not the Gorilla. This meant that he didn't report that he saw Adrien sneaking out... Why? Wasn't the Gorilla under orders to make sure Adrien was safe? And stayed inside the Mansion? So why didn't he report that? Why did he just let him sneak out? So many questions, but no answers.

The last page with photos surprised Adrien.

There on the page were a series of photos of Chat Noir. One of those pictures was of Adrien in a mid-transformation. The teen then noticed the little comment written next to a photo of Chat Noir leaping between buildings that read, 'You protect Paris, I'll protect you.'

Adrien stared at the page and commented longer than he wanted to admit. All the teen could think was, 'He knew!? When?'

Al interrupted the younger blonde's thoughts when he said, "D isn't going to say anything about you being Chat Noir. Not unless you say it's okay, or if you want to talk to someone other than me or Nino."

Adrien looked up at the older blonde when he asked, "He... Looked through the whole thing?"

Al gave a small nod when he said, "Correct. D was just being thorough, like he usually is." The older man waved a hand when he added with a small smile, "It's been a while since something surprised him, so that was amusing."

Adrien couldn't help but smile at Al's little moment before he looked back at the scrapbook and the smile faded.

The older blonde sympathised with the younger before he said, "Mr Garde might not have been human, but that doesn't mean that what he did for you any less impactful or important."

Adrien closed the scrapbook with a heavy sigh. A drop of water landed on the cover. Adrien belatedly realised that he was crying. The teen leaned on the taller person as he let his emotions out again. Al wrapped the shorter blonde in a hug, not caring if his shirt would get drenched in tears. "I'm going to miss him!" Adrien got out between tears, then buried his face in the half-vampire's chest.

Al hugged the teen when he muttered, "I understand completely..." as he remembered the past. Al could clearly remember the two companions he had travelled with in the past that he wished he never parted with. He wishes he could've convinced them to stay with him, or at least knew how to tell them not to leave…

But right now, that wasn't important. what was important was comforting the sudden teen. So Al hugged Adrien until the teen cried himself to sleep.

~}I{ With the Heroes }I{~

As expected, the Agreste Manson had a security system up and activated as soon as it noticed the Miraculous Heroes and the policeman. Although...

"Okay, is this a rich people thing or did the dick go over the top over being paranoid about being discovered?" Sharyuu asked as he dodged an oncoming projection.

Tyger's Nyght pounced on a Gatling gun-like machine sticking out of a hidden compartment in the pillar hard enough to completely dislodge it from its mound when he stated, "My issue is how none of the people who installed all these didn't think it was weird or suspicious that a fashion mogul wanted to have military-grade weapons built in his home." He then heaved the gun at another to destroy both in one attack.

Nora yanked one gun off its mound with a grunt before she hurled it at a stone statue with guns extending out from behind, thus destroying the whole thing. The Ox Holder huffed when she got out, "Out of curiosity, do any of you know if little Adrien knew about the real 'Home Security System'? Or did he just know about the ones everyone could see?" She then threw a sucker punch on a security android in the gut.

Tiny Lamb slashed another android with a black scythe with a white blade when she stated, "Given that there is a literal war arsenal in this place, I doubt Adrien would've left his room due to fear of accidentally activating this shit."

Garnet Spur kicked an android that was coming up behind Tiny Lamb to the ground before he stated, "Yeah, I don't think Adrien knew about all this "Extra" Security in this place."

Officer Prowl fired his gun at a joint on one of the mounted guns. That caused a chain reaction of the gun falling down on top of an android, which fired one round that hit the head of another android that Ladybug was fighting. The red-clad hero gave the policeman a nod of thanks. Officer Prowl returned the nod.

Tiirusuneeku flung yet another android into more androids with the bull-wip. She was glad this was her weapon, very practical and much more useful in a fight than a lyre. Tiirusuneeku quickly looked around the immediate area to see how everyone was doing before checking her Miraculous. So far, So good. Three minutes left before the Second Chance laps. Though, it was clear that it wouldn't be needed, at least for this fight.

While the Miraculous battle started and the two villains were hustling to regroup to make some kind of plan to defeat the Heroes on their home turf, Jazz slipped into Gabriel's home office. The Magi Guardian didn't bother to look around, he walked straight towards the painting of Emilie.

Once Jazz was standing in front of the painting he reached his right hand out, tapped on the frame with his index finger, the frame glowed a soft shade of white, and the entire picture swung open. The safe behind the painting automatically tumbled before the door also swung open.

Jazz's visor gleamed in interest at what he saw. The Magi Guardian carefully pulled the first thick book out and looked through the first few pages. He slid it back into place before he took the other book out. The second had an identical cover to the first. Jazz looked through the first few pages of that one as well. One of his brows rose above his visor before his attention was back on the first 'book.

A gleam of suspicion danced across Jazz's visor.

}{ At the Drac-U-Allies Office }{

D was the only one in the office, too busy going over the information that he managed to find out regarding the fordge image. The program they had for reading the metadata in digital photography was essentially deconstructing the forged image. D was running that on one monitor while he was doing some online digging on the emails that sent the fake image to Miss Bustier and the Dupain-Cheng's bakery website.

D narrowed his eyes at what he was able to find. While he couldn't get a name for the owners of the emails, he managed to discover that the emails were used in prior incidents in other places in Europe. All of them involved schools as D quickly noted. So he did the next logical step... Contacting those schools.

D tapped the desk when he asked into the landline, "And you didn't think the timing of the emails was a little strange?"

The headmaster for the first school on the PI's list, who was quick to call back, replied over the phone, "I did think it was a little too coincidental, but there wasn't a way to prove that they were false at the time."

D raised a brow when he asked. "Judging by your words, you found out whatever was in that email was false at a later date?" This was getting interesting.

There was a soft sound on the other end of the phone before the Headmaster replied, "Correct. I won't bore you with the details, but all I can say is that we confirmed that the information provided by the emails was fake... I simply wished we figured that out sooner..."

D furrowed his brows when he asked, "And what happened to the accused in the meanwhile?" That was how the PI learned what the staff at the school did with the 'Troubled Student' and how all the targeted incidents suddenly stopped as soon as the accuser left the school when their parent had to move for her job. D let out a low thoughtful hum before he said, "Well now, That couldn't have been a coincidence. What happened afterwards?"

The PI could hear the Headmaster sigh before they said, "Aside from re-checking the incidents and the information we received... We sat down with the troubled student and had an open conversation with them. Letting them give their side of everything and explain why they had problems with their accuser." There was another sigh before the headmaster added, "I don't know why we didn't do that from the start."

"And what was the issue between the two?" D asked, wondering how this connected to Dupont and Marinette. The moment it was explained to him, the PI raised a brow when he vocalised in confusion, "I am not sure if it is my ignorance to such things or something, but... It seems rather extreme for the accuser to essentially harass someone over a bunch of lies and falsehoods."

The PI could hear the Headmaster yawn through the phone before he said, "Agreed, but that was the only solid fact and truth we could prove. *Yawn* And when we tried to contact the accuser's mother to get their side, our calls couldn't connect..."

D was quick to say, "I do apologise for the late-night call, but the email addresses that gave you the fake information was recently used to frame another student as something they're not here in Paris. I was hired to find out who would do such a thing."

The Headmaster groaned when they asked, "How bad?"

D narrowed his eyes again when he stated, "Had there not been a few witnesses that could testify to the falsehood of a fabricated photo, the student in question would have suffered emotionally, socially, and their parents' business would have been ruined via a perceived scandal."

"What the Hell?! Are you serious?!" the Headmaster nearly shouted into the phone.

D wasn't affected by the shouting when he replied calmly, "I am. I happened to have been there when the school got the fake image. As you can imagine, they are quite upset over the whole incident and the targeted student was shaken up."

"Shit!" the Headmaster got out in aggravation. They paused before they asked, "Hang on, do you know if a student by the name of Lila Rossi goes to the same school the targeted student attends?"

That was an oddly familiar name to the PI. D was suspicious when he stated into the phone, "Is that the name of the accuser in your incident?" This couldn't be another instance of another job involving the same person, could it?

"As a matter of fact, yes, she is," The Headmaster stated in a serious tone before asking the PI to answer their question.

'Apparently, it is the case,' D thought dryly before he said into the phone, "I can confirm that she attends the same school that the targeted student goes to." It looks like the oldest of the Drac-U-Allies Private Investigators would be calling his youngest siblings regarding their jobs.

But seriously what were the odds of almost every Drac-U-Allies agent's job involving the same teenage girl?

D couldn't help but think, 'I'm going to have to talk to Marinette about anything that could've happened between her and this Lila Rossi… Her progress on the outfits will have to wait.' That was something for him to do after he talked to Al, Bella, and Laura.

}I{ With the Miraculous Heroes }I{

If it weren't for the fact that they wanted to take down Hawkmoth and Mayura as fast as possible, the Akumatized Sentimonster would've been cool. However, the design and colours could've been less... Clashing.

"Hey, Hawkdick! I thought you were supposed to be a competent designer! But maybe we can add it to the list of things you suck at!" Leopard Noir heckled the villain as he slammed his baton on the head of the sentimonster clone.

Nora punched a hole through another sentimonster clone when she got out, "I've never been interested in fashion, but even I know that shit isn't fab!" She then side-kicked another Sentimonster clone.

While Jade Turtle used his shield to keep the Sentimonster Clones away from Ladybug and Officer Prowl. The red-clad hero threw her yo-yo in the air as she called out, "Lucky charm!" In a swirl of red and sparkles, an item landed in Ladybug's hands. In confusion, the red-clad teen asked, "A golf club?"

Officer Prowl looked over the red with black polka-dotted pattern golf club when he stated, "It looks like a nine-iron." Ladybug stared at the taller man, confused as to when her uncle took up golfing. Officer Prowl noticed the look and replied, "I had a case where someone was killed with a golf club. The person was a part of the golfing world, so I ended up getting a crash course in golf."

"Uh-huh..." was all Ladybug got out, not sure if she wanted to know how someone could kill with something like a golf club... Actually, maybe she would be better off NOT knowing how. Ladybug then looked at the nine-iron as she wondered how she was supposed to use this in the fight.

}{ Meanwhile }{

Jazz walked across the metal bridge in the secret basement. He glanced around the area as he continued on the path until he got to a cryogenic tube that stood in the centre of the circular flooring. The Magi Guardian wiped part of the condensation off of the glass to see the body of Emilie Agreste inside.

Jazz scoffed when he muttered under his breath, "So, that's why he wanted tha Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous." He shook his head from side to side with a sigh, not the least bit happy about how bad this got for something that could've been prevented.

Jazz turned on his heels and walked away from the body that appeared to be sleeping. However, that wasn't the case, and the Magi Guardian knew that for a fact. 'Ah wonder if he knew tha price of what he wanted?' Jazz thought as he continued on his way back to where he came in. He sighed as he worked on a way to get the police inside this mansion without causing a panic to the general populous, and the questions he should ask when he presided over Hawkmoth's case.

}{ Back with the Miraculous Heroes }{

As the bulk of the Team fought the Akumatized Sentimoster and Mayura… Ladybug, Leopard Noir, Alya, Sharyuu, and Officer Prowl went after Hawkmoth.

"Water Dragon!" the Dragon Holder called out as his body turned into a surge of liquid and moved to strike. "Ready, War Dog?" Sharyuu asked as he moved his new watery body over towards the Dog Holder. Alya, War Dog, nodded when she said, "Totally! Now, surf it up!" She then hopped onto the water form.

Sharyuu moved, causing War Dog to skid over the surface towards a defensive Hawkmoth. Before the two could hit, the Villain got distracted by Officer Prowl firing his gun at him. The bullets hit Hawkmoth's cane. The sudden vibration caused the villain to drop the only weapon he had right before War Dog punched him in the face. Adding the force from riding the water dragon made Hawkmoth topple backwards. Ladybug used her yo-yo to grapple on Hawkmoth's arms so he couldn't escape. Leopard Noir rushed the villain with the nine-iron raised to strike.

Hawkmoth saw this coming and tried to kick at the temporary Black Cat Holder, but missed and somewhat lost his balance. Leopard Noir was able to dodge while he moved to strike. However, due to neither being able to stop mid-air...

On the other side of the mansion...

Jade Turtle removed the peacock Miraculous from a tied-up Mayura, thus turning her into a tied-up Nathalie. The secretary had a nice bruise near the side of her right eye, part of her lip was swollen, and her left ankle looked like it's been twisted in a way it shouldn't.

Duusuu was confused at what was going on, but as soon as the Peacock Kwami realised that the Guardian of the Miraculous was there, he was overjoyed to the point of tears.

This heartwarming moment was rudely interrupted by a loud, pained shriek of agony echoing off the wall of the mansion.

Everyone froze at that. All processing what they heard. Nora remembered the last time she heard that kind of sound and quickly thought as her eyes widened, 'Oh! Can't say that wasn't deserved, but I hope it wasn't on Purpose."

"Bull-Ring? Are you okay?" Wild Thing asked the Ox Holder in concern.

Nora, Bull-Ring, snapped out of her thoughts and realised the other Heroes had their attention on her. In an unsure tone, the kickboxer got out, "Oh, Uh, I think I know what that... Uh, the noise was about..." She really didn't want to say it.

Rouge Kit let out a nervous chuckle when he said, "Wow, with the way you're saying it, it sounds like someone made a dick move."

Bull-Ring avoided eye contact when she grumbled out, "Possibly..."

Nathalie and Jade Turtle raised a brow in confusion as they tried to figure out what that could imply, but the others understood perfectly. The guys shifted awkwardly as Computer Mouse vocalised, "Ah, right, males would find something like that painful." That got Jade Turtle to understand the implication, and he shifted uncomfortably.

Nathalie was the only one who seemed to be out of this loop.

}{ Back with Ladybug's Little Group }{

"Umm..." Ladybug got out in uncertainty as her eyes were glued to the scene before her, War Dog, Sharyuu, Leopard Noir, and Officer Prowl also had the same look at the red-clad Hero.

Hawkmoth was curled on his side in a fetal position, hands between his legs, eyes wide open but not seeing anything, drool seeping out of his partly open mouth, and was out like a light. The group glanced at each other, none sure what to say about the... Rather painful way they won... Painful for Hawkmoth, as unintentional as it was...

After a few seconds of complete silence, Officer Prowl held up the pair of handcuffs he had on hand. The Heroes nodded in agreement. The homicide officer move to handcuffed the unconscious villain as Ladybug removed the Butterfly Miraculous. Sharyuu and War Dog eyed the nine-iron lucky charm still in Leopard Noir's hands. The Temporary Black Cat Holder noticed the stares before he looked at the ladybird-themed item. Leopard Noir shrugged his shoulders with an expression that read 'Well, not what we planned but we can take it anyway'.

}I{ Ten Minutes Later }I{

The unconscious Gabriel Agreste was almost thrown to the ground next to a surprised Nathalie. Ladybug held up the Butterfly Miraculous with Nooroo floating close by, overjoyed that he was finally free from Hawkmoth. The red-clad Hero handed Jade Turtle the missing Miraculous.

It was over. It was finally over. Hawkmoth and Mayura have been defeated and their Miraculous reclaimed.

Jade Turtle stared at the two Miraculous that had eluded him for so long, somewhat in disbelief that he finally had them back.

"Guess everyone's ready ta head ta Police HQ?" Jazz vocalised as he came out from behind a corner. He had his arms folded in front of his chest.

Dynasty Clock checked his pocket watch when he stated, "We are. However, due to the battle, we're a little worried about feeling the fatigue during the day."

Jazz waved a hand without undoing his folded arms when he stated, "Ah got that covered. Ah'll give yah them ta yah when tha Duo are in jail."

Officer Prowl and Ladybug noticed how Jazz wasn't smiling. So the policeman asked the Magi Guardian, "Jazz... Did you find the other person who died?"

Jazz scoffed when he stated dryly, "Did and more." He nodded his head towards Jade Turtle when he added, "Hawkmoth had the Miraculous Grimoire and an exact copy of it. Grabbed those for yah, by tha way."

Nathalie was dumbfounded, the Guardian of the Miraculous was surprised, the other heroes were confused, and Ladybug got out in shock, "He made a copy of it?!" Officer Prowl was quick to place a hand on the red-clad Hero's shoulder. This made Ladybug aware of what she was about to do and caught herself before she said any more.

Computer Mouse's clones gathered around Dynasty Clock's feet when he asked, "Excuse me, would it be possible to do this at police HQ? I believe it would ease everyone's minds if Hawkmoth and Mayura are with the proper authorities."

Officer Prowl nodded in agreement as he fished the blue crystal cube out of his pocket. Like before, he opened a portal, except this time to Police HQ. There were officers on the other end of the portal, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of the portal but they quickly readied themselves for the Heroes with the Villains in custody.

Ponix was a little jealous that she couldn't do it, but she didn't know the layout of the Police HQ. She glanced at Dynasty Clock when she thought, 'Got to admit, the guy had a good plan going for Burrow.' The Horse Holder was impressed with the strategy the new Rabbit Holder had with the Mouse Holder.

Soon, Team Miraculous walked through the portal into the Police HQ.

}I{

Al tucked the younger blonde under the bed covers. The teen was still wearing the day's clothes, which was fine for now. Al gently wiped away the last of the tear streaks on the now sleeping Adrien's cheek.

The teen had cried himself to sleep, not that the older man could blame him. Al let out a quiet sigh before he left the room with the Gorilla's scrapbook in hand, silently closing the door behind him.

Al walked into his own room, setting the scrapbook on the desk as he did. He made a quick note to himself for tomorrow, reminding him to call Dupont and inform them that Adrien would need a few mental health days to recover from the whole 'Senti-Gorilla' incident. Al was sure Dupont would allow it, given that the Headmaster and Adrien's Homeroom teacher were there when the incident happened.

That was when Al's cell phone suddenly started vibrating.

Given the hour, the number of people who would be calling the blonde man is very slim. Al checked the caller ID to confirm his suspicions. He hit the 'accept call' icon before he placed the phone to his ear and said, "Hello D, what's with the late call?"

The older Drac-U-Allies member's voice came through the cell phone clearly when he stated, "You know the job that the Dupain-Chengs hired me for?"

Al sat on his bed with a frown when he said bitterly, "Yes, given I was there. Why are you bringing it up?"

D did not hesitate when he said into the phone, "Because it is going to converge with your job and the girls'."

Al's face shifted four expressions in less than a minute. Confusion, realisation, shock, and dismay. Al pinched the bridge of his nose when he said into the phone in annoyance, "You've got to be! If you weren't the one telling me this, I would've thought this was a rotten idea of a joke!"

D's voice came through the phone in a deadpan tone, "I don't blame you. If it weren't for the fact that the question of Lila Rossi attending Dupont came from another headmaster, unprovoked, I would have thought along your lines."

Al sighed when he huffed out, "No you wouldn't. You would've thought that a fourth job involving the same person was too much of a coincidence and wondered if something else was at play. Teenager or not."

There was a short pause before D vocalised in his usual Stoic tone, "My heart feels oddly warm that you know me that well. But, correct, it seems that's the case."

Al rolled his eyes fondly at the first line but hardened his expression at the second line. He then stated, "Bella and Laura have off after they confirm Phantasma's job. We can have them come in so we can share and compare what we have on this Lila Rossi." Al thought about something before he added, "We can access Seras's data at the office and use them too."

D let out a low hum when he stated over the phone, "True, and we're going to have to get Dupont's Headmaster, the Dupain-Changs, Officer Prowl, and Mr Rossi in the same place after we're done." This confused Al before the older Drac-U-Allies member explained, "If the same person is involved in our cases. It would be more efficient and avoid any more things falling through cracks to inform all parties about what we have uncovered."

A fang poked over Al's lower lip before he stated, "Agreed... I don't want to imagine what happened to Seras happens to someone else... More because it WILL Kill them."

"Agreed," was D's only reply. At least before he asked his brother, "One last question, what about Little Adrien?"

Oh... Al needed to think about that since he couldn't leave a currently depressed, emotionally compromised teenager alone.

}I{

The police officers on standby made quick work of Nathalie and Gabriel. Making sure both were completely secure, even if one of them was unconscious and the other was in no condition to move. No one was taking any chances.

After a nice little recharge meal, the Miraculous Team regrouped in the main meeting room at the police station. To discuss how much they should tell Adrien and when they should inform Paris of Hawkmoth's capture, and so Jazz can hand out whatever was needed so the Heroes wouldn't be feeling the battle during the day. During this, Dynasty Clock kept checking the pocket watch he was carrying. It wasn't the Miraculous, so it was a little odd... Meh, the others assumed that the guy was a little OCD. Although, Computer Mouse seemed to know something.

In the end, Ladybug decided to be the one to tell Adrien the truth about his mother, tomorrow night. Officer Prowl and Jazz were co-ordinating an extraction of Emilie Agreste's cryogenically frozen body from the secret basement of the Agreste's estate, and a thorough investigation of the place. It would be more efficient and less publically viewed to use portals, which Jazz gave the police permission to use. However, the Magi Guardian did give them clear instructions regarding the Portal Cubes, namely how long the portals created by those could stay open and how many portals they can create per cube.

By the time everything was settled, it was already 04:30. Jazz handed everyone a wrapped item that looked like blue bath bombs and explained to the Heroes to put them in a tub, pour a little water over them, wait until the bath bomb to expand, and then just soak in the suds until they normally wake up. Though for some odd reason, the Magi Guardian told Bull-Ring and War Dog to share theirs and didn't give Computer Mouse one.

Jade Turtle told the Temporary Heroes that they could keep their Miraculous until he could retrieve them at a later date. This was more than fine with the Heroes.

Soon they all left the police station, but not before they heard Officer Prowl commenting to his co-workers about how they wanted a little extra luck.

}I{

After everyone snuck back into their respective homes, they de-transformed, fed their respective Kwami, and headed right towards their bathroom. The bath bombs they were given had more detailed instructions attached.

'Oh, so it is like a bubble bath,' all the Heroes thought before they got things to do while they soak in the 'refreshing bath'. All were glad they didn't have to turn on the tub to activate it. As soon as they were ready, they poured a glass of water over their respective bath bomb. They watched in amazement at their tubs filled up with a swarm of bubbling suds that glowed a soft hue and smelt relaxing.

The Heroes sighed in relief as they slowly sank into the 'bath', letting the suds wash over their bare skin. The Kwamis decided to join their Holders.

}{

Nora couldn't help but say as she rested her muscled arms on the rim of the tub in bliss, "Damn! This feels better than a normal bath! I wish I could use these after a match." The older Cesaire daughter cracked an eye open to see how Alya was doing, only to see her somewhat absentmindedly poking at the bubbles as Barkk watched in worry. Nora opened her other eye when she asked her sister, "You okay, Als? You didn't get hurt during the fight, did you?"

Alya shook her head before she said, "No... It's just..." She sighed as she pulled her knees to her chest, causing them to be seen above the bubbles. Alya then said, "I just... Can't believe it's all over. No more Hawkmoth, no more Akumas..."

"No more Heroes?" Nora guessed as She followed the pattern. The older sister watched as the younger wrapped her arms around her knees is sadness. Nora poked Alya's leg with her foot to get her attention. Once she did, Nora said with a half smile, "Oh, come on, Alys. There's still plenty of 'hero' thing for Buggy and Kitty Cat to do." She shrugged when she added off-handedly, "Maybe the police can deputize them or something like that."

This got Alya to smile a little. Then the sisters watched Barkk and Stompp Playing with the suds.

}{

Nino leaned back in the tub filled with the relaxing suds as his mind kept going back to the Aura of the Dead he felt in the Agreste estate. Wondering how Adrien didn't sense it when he was Chat Noir. Nino was sure, the black-clad Hero had to have been inside the place at least once or twice with the Black Cat Miraculous active, so he should've sensed the Aura of the Dead that's probably been there since Emilie Agreste 'disappeared'.

"What's picking at your brain?" Plagg asked as he lazily floated on top of the suds with an eye half open as he watched his current Holder while the other eye was closed.

Nino rested an arm on the rim of the tub when he told the Kwami of Destruction, "I'm just thinking about the whole Aura of the Dead thing, Mr Jazz was talking about... And how it connects to Adrien's mum..."

Plagg caught on when he replied, "And you want to know if he's noticed it or not while he's Chat Noir, right?"

Nino nods before he says, "I mean, I noticed it right away even if I thought it was the Gorilla's, so how come he didn't despite living there until a week ago?"

Plagg moved so only his head was visible above the suds when he replied, "I think you just answered your own question." Nino raised a brow at that. The Kwami explained, "He's lived with it since his mum 'vanished', so he's gotten used to it being there despite not being aware of it." Plagg tried to think of something to explain better before settling on, "It's like the noise of a fan or vent, you eventually get used to the sound that it becomes background noise or don't notice it anymore."

Nino seemed to understand when he said, "So he tuned it out without realising it or noticing when he became Chat Noir."

Plagg nodded when he replied, "In a way, I've been doing it for so long that I tend to forget that new Black Cat Holders can't do that right away. So when Adrien never asked about feeling any 'funky air', I didn't think anything of it."

Nino sank into the bubbles when he mumbled out, "That makes sense." He let out a sigh before he said, "I still can't believe how much has happened to both Adrien and Nette recently... Not to mention..." Nino sank until only his chin was above the bubbles when he said sadly, "We're never going to see the Gorilla again..."

Plagg raised a brow when he asked, "You're already assuming that? He was a Sentimonster so shouldn't you be trying to, you know, recreate him?"

It was Nino's turn to raise a brow when he asked, "Can you do that with a Sentient Sentimonster?"

Plagg shook his head when he said, "Nope, it's impossible to do that, but people who have the chance to bring back a deceased loved one would certainly try." He shrugged when he added, "It wouldn't surprise me if that was why Hawkmoth wanted our Miraculous."

Nino let out a hum before he said, "That's a possibility..." He lowered his gaze to the suds when he added, "As for the Gorilla..." He wiped away a tear when he said, "You're right about that Plagg, there's no way we could recreate him... Not perfectly..." Nino hugged himself when he added, "We can't give a copy the memories and experiences he had... We could mess up his personality because we only knew him on a surface level and the people who knew him would only give a copy of what they remembered about him..."

Plagg couldn't help but say, "You have a point there..."

}{

"Max, are you still worried about what you saw in the future?" Markov asked as he floated above the tub. The AI was still a little worried about touching the suds despite being informed that it wasn't really water.

Max glanced up worriedly at his companion when he stated, "How could I not?" He then looked at the Rabbit Kwami, who was playing with the suds with Mullo, when he added, "I also still don't understand why you showed me that."

Fluff popped out of the suds when she said happily, "Because it will be important yesterday!" Her nose twitched before she put a paw to her chin and commented cluelessly, "Or is it next month? Last week?"

Mullo poked his head out of the bubbles when he said, "Don't bother asking for time-related things with Fluff, she has chronological dyslexia."

Markov couldn't help but comment, "That is a few levels of irony."

All Max could do was sigh as he sank into the suds. He knew that what he saw would happen, but the worst part was he didn't know when. 'All I know is that it'll happen during a full moon,' Max thought to himself as he took a deep breath and went back to what he saw in the Burrow.

Lila cackling maniacally. Blood covering most of a familiar pink shoe to a right foot with the foot still inside. People screamed in horror. Blue glass turning red. And the full moon illuminating the Eiffel Tower everyone was at.

Max took a deep breath before closing his eyes and sinking completely in the suds. Markov was concerned while Mullo gave Fluff a 'you've done it' look. Max shot back up when he said in confusion, "Huh? There really isn't any water in this."

Mullo couldn't help but snicker when he said, "Duh, it's a healing bath, no water needed other than to activate it."

Markov used his claw to scratch the side of his helm when he vocalised, "I suppose that it can be categorised as a 'Real Magic' effect." He still had a hard time understanding some of the logic of magic. But no one could blame him for it.

That was when Fluff shot up to grip the AI when she said, "So you can enjoy the bath too!" And then proceeded to yank Markov into the tub full of suds.

Max was already going through the motions of trying to save his buddy before realising that he was too late. Markov poked his head out of the suds, and surprised the teen, when he vocalised, "I am functional! And also rather disoriented from this... It is oddly soothing despite the fact that it has the texture of soapy water."

Max let out a breath of relief when he said, "I agree with you Markov. It feels weird to be inside something with a hydro texture yet not actually get wet from submerging yourself in it." He sat back down when he added, "And it is quite relaxing. I honestly wish that regular baths were like this."

Markov and the Kwamis had to agree with that statement.

}I{

Marinette was staring up at the ceiling of her bathroom as she lounged in the tub full of the relaxing and bubbly bath. She was very mixed about the outcome of this final battle...

On the one hand, she no longer had to worry about Hawkmoth and constantly tried to control her emotions. But on the other hand, Hawkmoth was Adrien's father and wanted the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous to probably bring back his wife. However, on the third hand (possibly Tikki's), the fact that his mother didn't really disappear but was in a hidden basement of the Agreste mansion will also devastate Adrien.

Marinette let out a sigh before she looked at a relaxing Tikki floating on top of the bubbles and asked, "Adrien's not going to take the news of his mother well, is he?"

Tikki looked at her Holder when she said honestly, "Probably not, but it'll be better for him to hear it from Ladybug than the media or tabloids. Yes, he'll be upset and hurt, but he will have closure and can start healing." She allowed herself to sink into the bubbles when she added, "At least regarding Mrs Agreste and the Gorilla..."

Marinette sighed again before she said, "Yeah... I think it'll be a different healing process regarding his father..." She glanced to the side when she mumbled, "I wonder if the dick knew about the price of the wish?"

Tikki was uncomfortably quiet for a few seconds before he finally said, "I don't know... But if he did and didn't care..." She sighed before she added as she hugged herself, "That is something Magi Guardian Jazz will have to find out during Mr Agreste's trial..."

Marinette hugged herself when she got out softly, "That's true..." She and her Kwami lounged in the healing bath until the bluette's phone rang its wake-up alarm.

}I{

Wang Fu couldn't help but stare at the two Miraculous Grimoire before him. Both sitting innocently on the table right next to each other. Same with the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous. Wang took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He then looked over at Wayzz having a little tea party with Duusu and Nooroo with some sweet fruits and green tea. He smiled at the sight.

Wang couldn't believe they were back. That the Grimoire was back. That Hawkmoth was defeated. True, he had to bring Nooroo and Duusu to the Magic Court for Hawkmoth's trial as witnesses, but other than that, it was over.

It was all over.

~}I{~

By the time everyone was at the respective locations at 09:00, they all felt so refreshed that it was like the Final Battle didn't happen and they got a full night's sleep. Man, that 'Refreshing Bath' was amazing!

Along with the new camouflage Miraculous, their respective Kwamis were hidden as the students of Dupont arrived.

Alix kept the 'gag gift' monocle in her inner jacket pocket while Kalki hid in her bag. Kim wore his gold-chain choker around his neck while Longg happily lounged in his bag. Kagami adjusted the woven bracelet made with red string with snake-themed clips as Sass hid in her bag. Mylene was wearing two new pins on her bandana, both Yin-Yang themed, as Ziggy hid in her bag. Ivan checked to see if his simple band around his left thumb was in place while Orikko hid in his bag. Rose adjusted the pair of rose-themed hair clips that connected to one another via a gold chain while Xippu tried to get comfortable in the pink bag. Nath wore a necklace with an artist's brush charm while Trixx hid in his bag. No one noticed a purple beaded ankle bracelet on Juleka's right ankle as Daizzi hid in her bag. Marc checked the time on a tiger-themed watch on their left wrist as Roarr peeked out of the pocket of their jacket. Chloe seemed to beam as a bee-themed hair clip glimmered in her hair while Pollen happily snuggled in her purse. Max was wearing a brand new blue wrist watch around his right wrist and Markov had a little bracelet with a computer mouse charm tightly wrapped around his claw while both Fluff and Mullo hid in the techie's bag. Alya was wearing a choker with little cell phone designs on it while Barkk hid in her bag as the blogger waved to her older sister, who was wearing a thin pinkie ring on her left hand and knew that Stompp was hiding in the kickboxer's gym bag.

Lucky for Nino, no one noticed the silver ring on his right ring finger and thankfully no one noticed Plagg in his lower right slack pocket munching on Camembert. 'I'm not sure if that's a blessing or a curse,' the red-capped teen thought as he walked into the classroom rubbing the brace wrapped around his left wrist.

"I take it Adrien isn't coming to school for a few days?" Marinette asked as she watched Nino move into his assigned seat.

The red-capped teen nodded as he placed his bag next to his seat. Nino then said, "I can't blame him for wanting some time off from everything, and the teachers are counting it as an 'acceptable' excuse to miss the lecture."

Chloe was the one to say, "I'm glad. Adrikins needs it, especially since..." She lowered her gaze as memories of the Gorilla came to the surface of her mind. Chloe then slumped over her desk, not caring what the others thought. Her heart hurt! True, she no longer needed to worry about Hawkdick but... That didn't make it any better emotionally. Chloe just couldn't believe that the Gorilla was gone, and it hurt as much as Audrey telling her that the only thing exceptional about her was her mother. 'Why is it painful?' Chloe wondered as she rested her chin on her folded arms.

Marinette looked at Chloe for a few seconds before she timidly reached a hand out. She hesitated for a few seconds before she placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder.

Sabrina watched Chloe's actions from where she sat and sympathised with her before she too slumped but not as much as Chloe. Now her mind was flooded with memories of her interactions with the Gorilla. The memory that stood out the most was the Gorilla putting a gentle hand on Sabrina's shoulder. When she actually felt a hand on her shoulder, Sabrina's head snapped to her left, hoping to see the bodyguard there. It was Alya, looking at her worriedly. That was when Sabrina finally noticed that the hand was much too small to be the Gorilla's. It finally sank into the orangette's mind that she wasn't going to experience these caring gestures from the man she came to respect as a law-abiding adult. Sabrina lowered her gaze as she turned her head forward.

No one in the classroom said anything. Not because they didn't want to speak, but because they didn't know what to say.

Soon Ms Bustier walked into the classroom. She calmly informed them that Adrien would be absent from school for a few days, and quickly said that his current guardian was aware of the lecture and was going to watch the recording with Adrien at a later date.

This was good…

}I{

Laura watched the monitors with almost an intense stare. Today was the Recycle Collection Day and that was when they could catch the Recycle Ruiner in the act.

And low and behold!

Laura was quick to hit the Record button the moment she saw Lila start on the process of changing the liner of the rubbish bin in her room. The PI narrowed her eyes as she watched as the brunette just carried the bag of fast food rubbish out of her room without even tying it shut. Laura kept watching the monitors as Lila casually walked past the larger rubbish bin in the kitchen.

}{

Lila walked over to the front door, unlocked it, opened it a crack, and then peeked out to see if anyone was around. When she didn't see anyone after a few seconds, she strolled out with her rubbish in hand. Lila glanced around as she decided on which recycle bin to toss her rubbish in. When she picked one, she walked over to the plastic recycle bin two doors down from her door's right, opened the lid to it, and dumped her rubbish bag in. Lila closed the lid softly, so as not to attract any attention before she walked back to her unit.

'I don't know why they even bother with that recycling crap, it's all going to the dump anyway,' Lila thought as she locked her front door behind her. She then pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to check her messages to see if there was anything from her pawns. Lila clicked her tongue in annoyance when she saw that she hadn't. She was sure that at least her best pawn would've sent a text or left a voice message about how she was wrong about that goody-goody.

But then again, it's only been a day since Lila sent that scandalise image to her gullible teacher, posted it on the school's bulletin board, and plastered it on the website of the goody-goody's parents bakery. So the liar figured that everyone was nearly reeling from finding out that the goody- goody wasn't who they thought she was.

Lila then smirked when she decided to let them stew on that before she returned and rubs salt in the wound. She could practice her questions and responses when she waits.

}{

Laura ended the recording.

She wasn't surprised, just disappointed. But at least that's one job done.

}I{ Meanwhile }I{

"Umm... Are you sure it's alright for me to be here?"' Adrien asked as he walked down a corridor. He was wearing a basic famous person disguise, a red car and tinted non-prescription glasses. He was also different clothing that he usually wore, a blue short-sleeved shirt, kaki camouflage cargos, grey ankle boots, and a kaki vest. Adrien had to admit he was mixed on this outfit. While it wasn't uncomfortable, he had to wonder why Uncle Al conveniently had clothing in his size. But Adrien wasn't complaining.

A tanned woman of average height with short curly orange hair, dark eyes that had a tint of red, wearing a blue blouse with sleeves to her wrists with a white ribbon loosely tied around her neck, semi-casual dress slacks of the same colour, and formal-looking black shoes looked over her shoulder with a smile when she said in a somewhat raspy but feminine voice, "It is, as long as you stay out of the 'staff only' areas." She opened a door and motioned for Adrien to go in first.

Adrien walked into the office and was relatively surprised by how neat it was. As the woman followed in, she closed the door behind her. Adrien looked up at her when he asked, "Why is this office so neat? I thought we were going through new library items and tagging them?"

The woman nodded when she said, "We are, but the items haven't been moved here yet. So I'm going to show you how the process works, what needs to be used, where to put the items after you log them, and how they should be organised." She smiled when she added, "I know it probably sounds boring and tedious, but it'll be a big help." She gave him a playful wink when she said with a toothy smile, "Plus if you see anything that interests you, you can set them aside and check them out when we're all done."

Adrien looked self-conscious when he admitted, "I... Don't know how to check out books... Outside the school's library..." He's also never been to the Paris Public Library before today, though he wasn't sure if it was because of his busy schedule or because his parents didn't want him in a library. Probably both in all honesty.

The woman softened her expression before she admitted, "Nino mentioned that he had to teach you how the system at the school's library worked... I'm going to guess that you don't have a library card?"

Adrien nodded when he said, "No... I don't Mrs Lahiffe..." He was already feeling horrible and this felt like it was making it worse.

The orange-haired woman placed a hand on the teen's shoulder when she said with a smile, "That's not a problem. It's easy to apply for a library card. I can help you with that if you want." Mrs Lahiffe then motioned towards the inner section of the office when she added, "But one thing at a time. So let's get started on the steps."

}I{ At the Drac-U-Allies Office }I{

Al couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose as he hung up with the latest school on the list D made.

Apparently, the emails that sent the forage image to Miss Bustier and posted on the Dupain-Cheng's bakery website were used to send 'information' to other schools all over Europe. Al found the list somewhat familiar for a reason, at least until he looked at the list of schools Lila Rossi attended when Mr Rossi was still with Mrs Rossi and his daughter. Neither D nor Al was surprised that the two lists matched to a point. After some more comparisons, the two PIs quickly discovered a clear pattern. The emails sent their 'intel' to the schools when Lila Rossi attended, the 'intel' always involved the students that Lila had 'Problems' with, and the 'intel' always painted these students in a bad light, Lila continually claimed that these 'troubled students' have been harassing her, and lastly, and most importantly, all the harassing incidences involving the 'troubled student' suddenly stopped the moment Lila Rossi was no longer attended the school and the 'intel' from the emails are discovered as fabricated.

Al massaged his temples for a few seconds before he looked over at his older brother and said with a sigh, "Hey, D, can we take a break from this crap for a bit? I don't think I can handle another phone call until I get something nutritious in my system..." When the blonde man saw that the raven-haired man was still on the phone, he commanded snarkily, "And you're not even listening." Al sighed as he probed his elbow on his desk and rested his chin in that hand as he patiently waited for his brother to finish.

D was writing down what he was learning when he said into the phone, "And did all the incidences with this student suddenly stop the moment Ms Rossi left your school?" He was quiet as he listened to the reply. D's posture stiffened at what he heard before he asked in a slightly surprised tone, "When did That happen?"

Al raised a brow at this.

D wrote what he heard on the phone quickly before he asked, "And you're sure about the date?" He wrote down the response before he asked, "And what did the issue between Ms Rossi and this student turn out to be after the student's family got involved?" D wrote the response down before he asked, "But how did you find out that the photo of this student's so-called affair was fake so quickly after the student's family got involved in the case?" Whatever the response was caused the pen in the raven-haired PI's hand to slide out due to a sudden release on it.

Al lifted his head off his rest in confusion when he saw this.

D quickly recovered when he asked, "If that's the case then... Did anyone from the school even bother to contact the family after the school got these images? Surely such an incident would've prompted an immediate notification to the student's parents or legal guardians." He tapped the pen on the paper as he listened to the response. D's voice was cold when he stated, "Doesn't that go against school protocols?" After a quick response, the raven-haired man stated in that same tone, "And why did you ignore these mandatory guidelines that were specifically designed to prevent such things from happening?"

Al narrowed his eyes as he got up from his desk and walked over to his older brother.

D wrote down the response when he stated, "If that's the reason then it's no wonder your school got in serious trouble afterwards, even if the student's family didn't get involved." He tapped his pen when he added, "Protocols aren't an option and they have to be applied to every student, no matter what kind of job their parent has."

Al was now standing next to his brother's desk when D told the school he was on the phone with to email everything they had on Lila Rossi to the email he gave them before he ended the call. Al folded his arms when he asked the other, "Do I even want to know what happened at that school?"

D didn't even look up when he stated, "Aside from convincing the staff that following protocols will be bad for everyone... Ms Rossi seemed to have taken a picture of the student who called out her falsehoods with their older brothers and framed it as them having an affair with a pair of older gentlemen..."

Al's eyes widened before his face scrunched in disgust when he asked, "And is there a reason why the student's classmates didn't catch onto the falsehood of that image? Assuming that they met these brothers?"

D made no notion of moving when he stated, "Apparently, the image was sent to every classroom except the one that the student was in, with clear instructions to not show that class the picture..."

Al frowned when he asked, "And no one thought That was suspicious because?"

D's computer dinged an alert. He moved to check it when he stated, "We're about to find out." D was quick to pinpoint the information he was looking for.

Al read that part over his brother's shoulder. He raised a brow at what he was looking at before he asked, "And that... Did any of these kids think it was weird? At all?"

D shrugged his shoulders when he said, "I wouldn't know what children or teenagers think, but my guess is that's why no one thought to show the notes to one of the teachers."

Al frowned when he asked, "Okay... But most teens can't keep their curiosity in check, so how could none of these students not ask any of the accused classmates about this so-called affair? Assuming that those kids have met the brothers..."

D read the file when he said, "According to this... The brothers don't live with the family... They were adults by the time their younger sibling attended high school and visited on occasion... But I agree with you on the whole not thinking the notes were weird..." He then looked at the blonde man when he stated, "However, I'm more interested in how and why the school protocols haven't been followed. Had any of them been followed that student would still be alive."

These words made Al pause. After letting that information sink in, the blonde man then asked, "What the hell happened?"

D's attention was back on the computer when he stated, "Suicide... The student made sure to tell everyone in the school 'You did this to me' with how they set their death up... No wonder the family were so upset..."

Al couldn't help but wave his hands in somewhat a distressed tone, "Not to put any blame on them, but did the family do anything to help prevent the suicide? Or noticed anything off about this student?!"

D pointed at the computer monitor when he stated, "From what they've reported, they thought the student might've been exaggerating the issue since they hadn't gotten any calls or emails from the school regarding the situation with Lila Rossi. Their thoughts were a legitimate 'If it was that serious, the school would've contacted us to help resolve the issue or make us aware of it so we can help with it'. Which should've been the case had any of the protocols been followed. The family states in this that they had too much faith in the school regarding the well-being of the students and their system..."

Al folded his arms in an uneasy manner when he said, "Okay, I'm kind of understanding the how it got so bad under everyone's raider but..." He scowled when he asked, "What the ever-loving moonlight was the issue between Lila and this student to warrant such a foul vendetta?"

D looked through the data before he found that piece of information. He raised a brow at what he was reading before he muttered, "Callouts over lies and falsehoods? Is that all?" D looked through the rest of the data, and then read through it again to find out if there was more to the vindictive motive. But there wasn't anything else that was of solid facts...

"D... Please tell me that there is more to the whole thing!" Al got out after a few seconds of silence. He somewhat went into a small rant about what Lila essentially did to the student and caused the student to take their life in the end. Al ended the whole thing by saying, "There has to be a bigger issue between them if there is That big of a vindictive agenda!"

D shook his head when he said, "The only solid thing discovered was the callouts on some lies... They have the student's journal recorded here and they only wrote about the escalating harassment from Lila Rossi and the growing confusion as to why. They noted how the only thing they did against Lila was correcting some things she said... They wrote that one of those tales involved incorrect procedures for something one of their brothers does for a living..."

At ground his teeth when he growled out in anger, "Are you telling me that a child harassed and hounded another to suicide over a few lies?!"

D placed a hand on his chin when he commented in a calm tone that conflicted with his brother's, "It seems like it... As unbelievable as it is..."

The two then looked at each other in a suspicious manner. After what they've learned so far and this revelation...

"Do you think Bella and Laura can start on this a little early? We need to call all the schools that Lila attended after Mrs Rossi left her husband again," D stated in a serious tone.

Al nodded when he stated in an equally serious tone, "You call them, I need to ask the Lahiffes if they can watch Adrien for another day..."

~}I{ Back at Dupont, Lunch }I{~

The hidden Miraculous Heroes had something on their minds that has been bothering them since it happened. Granted the the final battle took their minds off of it, but now it was back in their heads at full force, and they had to know…

So now one of them casually asked the bluette, "Hey, Marinette, what's the relationship between Officer Prowl and Mr Jazz?" The ones who didn't were thankful that they weren't the only ones thinking that.

Marinette raised a brow at the question when she asked, "Why do you want to know that?"

Everyone flashed back to when Jazz kissed Officer Prowl on the lips before their final battle but they couldn't tell Marinette that that was the reason why they were asking.

Thankfully, Sabrina explained to the bluette, "Well, Mr Jazz did seem pretty affectionate with Officer Prowl when we first met him, So I guess we couldn't help but wonder."

'Thank you, Sabrina!' the Miraculous Heroes thought in glee, now having a legitimate reason to be asking the question.

Marinette had an expression that read 'good point' before she finally said, "Oh, they're married to each other. In both the Magical aspects and the human way."

Oh... Oh... Oh! That made sense...Mostly...

"How are they married?!" Miss Bustier's class, Marc, and Kagami asked at pretty much the same time. The rest of the lunchroom gave them a few strange looks but only for a few seconds.

Marinette waited for her classmates to calm down before she stated, "Um, for the human way, it would be similar to how all our parents married, and as for the magical side... It's a little more complex since it all started because of unclear wording on both sides."

That was when Kim said as he tapped his right index finger on his chin, "Ah, right, contracts involving magic are bound by exact wordings. It's why you have to be careful with what you say." Everyone stared at the tall athlete in shock. Kim noticed before he started fidgeting when he said, "Uh, that's how it works, right?"

Marinette saved her childhood friend by saying, "Pretty much. It's why using slang or metaphors in magic contracts ends badly." She shrugged her shoulders when she added, "Wording is important in these kinds of things."

That makes sense...

That was when Chloe asked in genuine interest, "Wait? If the magic side is based on what kind of words that's used... Then how did your uncle and Mr Jazz get married if the wording was bad?"

Marinette shook her head when she replied, "The wording wasn't bad, it was unclear... At least, that's how Uncle Prowl, Uncle Jazz, Papa, and Maman describe it." When she was asked what that meant, the bluette explained, "On Uncle Prowl's end, he had a hard time with work partners at the time, so he figured he'd try a partner from the magical side of Paris. When he was filling out the forms for what he was looking for in a partner, he failed to write or mention that he wanted a perfect partner for his job, so by default the 'partner form' was a request for a Romantic Partner or Lover."

Okay, it was understandable as to why it wasn't clear on Officer Prowl's end...

Marinette then explained, "As for Uncle Jazz... It was more because he thought his own Romantic Partner Request form would be voided after he took the position of Magical Guardian of the Paris Area." She tapped the side of her cheek in thoughtfulness when she added, "From what Uncle Jazz told me... Apparently, any potential partners to a Magi Guardian have to meet a certain criteria so they can assist them if needed, and Uncle Jazz didn't have that writen on his request."

Marc seemed to understand when he asked, "Ah, because his request for a partner didn't match what was required for a partner for a Magi Guardian, Mr Jazz wrongly assumed that the one for the Magi Guardian would override his personal one, right?"

Marinette nodded when she said, "Right. It wasn't until after Uncle Jazz was matched with Uncle Prowl he learned that the criteria for the Magi Guardian's partner was simply added to his existing partner request." She tapped her index finger on the table when she added, "I know that after that happened, that section for all Magi Guardians around the world was rewritten to say that the criteria would be added to any existing partner requests."

Rose let out a audible sigh when she vocalised, "That's good."

That was when Nath asked the bluette, "So your uncles accidentally married each other by Magic standards?"

Marinette thought about that for a bit before she said, "Kind of... After the realisation and shock wore off, they agreed to do a trial period before they finalise their marriage on the Magical side." She flashed a nervous smile when she added, "And you already know the results."

"Makes sense," Ivan mused before he bit into an apple.

Mylene had a quick thought at this information and remembered how he acted when he first appeared before them. That was when she asked the bluette, "Um, I've been meaning to ask… Mr Jazz seemed quite affectionate with Officer Prowl, your parents, and you, is that normal for him?"

Marinette nodded, "It is, he's always been physically affectionate."

That was when Alya happily vocalised, "Oh! So he's just like Lila!" That might not have been the best thing to say to the bluette…

Marinette frowned when she almost hissed out, "Do NOT compare Uncle Jazz to that liar! She's nothing like him in any way!"

The group was unsure about what to do when Alya tried to explain, "What are you talking about? They both are physically affectionate, it's not a bad thing."

Marinette glared at the blogger when she stated sternly, "Uncle Jazz is physically affectionate! Lila is Not!"

Kagami was quick to massage the other bluette's shoulders when she asked, "Marinette, what makes you think this Rila isn't physically affectionate?" The fencer was able to catch onto what the usually timid girl was trying to do and wanted to help with pushing that line of thought to get the others sitting in the group to start questioning what they knew.

Marinette folded her arms as she sat back down in her seat and said, "Unlike a certain someone! Uncle Jazz's expressions of physical affection are pats on the shoulders, back, and head, leaning on them from the side, open hugs, and playful pokes. And he does these with people he cares about." She frowned as she glared at Alya when she added, "Also unlike a certain someone! Uncle Jazz doesn't latch onto someone and gives them an out if they don't want the contact."

Alya hissed back in annoyance, "Lila does NOT latch onto people! She just likes to hug her friends!"

Marinette growled when she retorted, "Yeah, right. If that was true, then how come she only does it to Adrien? Because he's the only person I've seen her have her hands all over!"

Alya quickly snapped, "That's because you always get jealous when Adrien is involved!"

The group was quick to act when Marinette hissed out in anger, "It is NOT jealousy!"

Chloe quickly suggested, "Um, okay, can we agree that getting upset about this is counterproductive and fanning the fires?" Everyone couldn't help but stare at the mayor's daughter. Chloe glanced at them before she shrugged and said, "Hey, it's true." The blonde then added as she looked at Alya, "I'm not being a bitch when I say that you two are comparing two completely different people on one thing and trying to say they're similar when they aren't." She then looked at Marinette when she said, "And you feel like someone is insulting someone you care about by saying that they are like someone you dislike, right?"

This caused the two bickering teens to stop and realise what they were doing. They avoided eye contact. Alya out of self-consciousness and Marinette out of annoyance.

}I{ With Bella and Laura }I{

Phantasma let out a sigh as she looked through the still shots of Lila actively looking around before she tossed her rubbish in a recycle bin. The woman in blue shook her head in disappointment before she looked at the two PIs and said, "I know I expected this to be the case but..." She sighed before she added, "But this still can't compare to what you've found out for the Dupont job..."

Bella nodded when she said, "Yeah, no, it's still a bad thing."

Laura agreed when she said, "Lila was putting her rubbish in bins she knew were for recycling. Sure it doesn't seem like a big deal, but..."

Bella finished by saying, "She sabotaged all the effort her neighbours put into the progress of recycling, forcing them to lose out on the perks you give them, losing trust in their neighbours, and don't forget the stuff that happens on your end."

Phantasma nodded when she said, "Yeah, I know. It's what everyone here has to go through every time the recycle bins are used as rubbish bins." She looked at the still shots. Phantasma sighed when she asked, "You two do know that I have to talk to Mrs Rossi regarding this issue, correct?" With a worried look, she added, "Do you want me to tell her about..."

Bella handed Phantasma the contact information for Dupont when she said, "Not about our investigation just yet, but tell her that employees from Dupont came by to inquire about her daughter's constant absences from school and behaviours when she does attend and that they left you the school's current contact info to give to her so they can get in touch."

Phantasma looked over the information when she said, "So, you were given the go-ahead from Dupont but they want her to come to them by her own will to find out the truth."

Laura made a teetering motion with her right hand when she said, "Sort of. They wanted the information to get to Mrs Rossi without it going through her daughter."

Phantasma nodded when she said, "I understand completely. I wasn't planning on asking Lila to pass a message to Cecelia anyway, more so now that I know she's the Recycle Ruiner." She then saw the two off, making sure to add that she'd keep their spy room secure for them.

Bella and Laura thanked the woman in blue and bid her goodbye as they left the building and headed straight towards the Drac-U-Allies office.

On the way, Laura asked the purplette, "Any idea why D wanted us back after we gave Phantasma the proof?"

Bella shook her head when she replied, "No clue, he said something about our jobs converging again..."

Laura raised a brow when she asked wearily, "You don't think..."

Bella had to respond, "We'll find out soon enough..." She sighed before she added, "D already seems to have a plan in place." Laura didn't look surprised by this.

~}I{~

Adrien found the media logging process oddly soothing for some reason. He didn't know why, but it was. Going through a stack of items, separating them by type, checking their genre, organising them as such, logging the information into a computer, and then attaching the corresponding tag for the library to sort at a later date. It fascinated Adrien that there were so many different types of CDs, DVDs, and books out there. That there were genres that he never thought were possible! Adrien never knew there were books that could teach you to do things! Like cooking, drawing, painting, knitting, sewing, stitching, playing games, carpentry, and even working on computer programs! There were even books on how to run a business!

The Public Library had a much, much, much bigger selection than the school library and had more to offer outside the subjects taught at school! Adrien already set aside a few books and DVDs to check out after he gets a library card.

Everything was fine and simple until Adrien came to a book that he couldn't figure out how to log. He looked at the cover for a bit, trying to figure out what it was about, the title of the book was on clear display.

The title was "It's Perfectly Normal. Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender, and Sexual Health." The aurthor and artist were Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley.

Adrien tilted his head to the side as he re-read the title and tagline. 'I know bodies grow up as someone gets older but it doesn't change. Sex? What's that? Gender? The only difference between girls and boys are the chests and voice pitch...' Adrien's mind was barraged with these questions.

"Something wrong, Adrien?" Mrs Lahiffe asked the teen when she noticed him staring at the same book for nearly a minute.

The blonde snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at the woman before he responded, "Um, kind of..." Adrien showed his friend's mother the book when he asked, "What kind of book is this?"

Mrs Lahiffe read the title of the book before she said in a casual tone, "Oh, that's a Sex Ed book." She made a motion with her right hand when she added, "Keep that to the side. We're currently working on a special section for those books."

Adrien blinked in confusion when he asked, "Sex Ed?"

"It's short for Sexual Education," Mrs Lahiffe said before she explained, "That subject teaches about how bodies develop as they hit puberty, what the parts of the body are called, why these changes happen, the differences between genders, and some basic sex safety."

Adrien blinked in confusion yet again when he asked, "Why do there need to be books on that? There aren't that many changes when people grow up."

Mrs Lahiffe raised a brow at this when she asked as she folded her arms, "Oh? What are the changes that happen as you grow up?"

Adrien had this odd expression of cluelessness and seriousness when he answered, "Babies grow into toddlers, then into kids, then into teenagers, then into adults, and then get old. Their voices can get deeper or higher depending if they are a boy or a girl. And they have more responsibilities."

Mrs Lahiffe stared at the teen with a 'is that all?' look mixed with a worried look. She then asked the blonde, trying to keep her tone level, "Okay... What's the difference between girls and boys?"

Adrien's response was immediate, "Pronouns, voice pitch, clothing, and girls get bumpy chests as they grow up while boys don't."

Mrs Lahiffe's widened eyes blinked a few times as she processed... That. "Is... That all you know?" She asked cautiously, hoping that the teen was simply thinking about more differences.

Adrien nodded when he said, "Yup, that's all the difference between girls and boys." He then realised what his best friend's other mother said before he asked, "Wait... Are there more differences?"

Mrs Lahiffe slowly nodded when she said, "There are... Uh, remember when you started panicking when Chris talked about 'That time of the month'?"

Adrien felt self-conscious when he said, "Yeah, and you explained what it meant... But I'm worried about when my period will start... I don't want it to happen when I'm doing a photoshoot or at school."

One of Mrs Lahiffe's brows twitched in uneasiness before she asked, "Um... Why would you, a boy, think you would get periods?"

Adrien responded cluelessly, "Doesn't everyone? Chloe and Sabrina got theirs around four years ago, and they told me that it happens at different times for everyone, so I assume that mine is just really late."

Mrs Lahiffe was awkwardly silent at this. It was clear to her that Adrien had never taught any type of health education. Which, in fact, made it more difficult to explain this sort of thing to the teen in a way he could understand... Mrs Lahiffe placed her hands over her nose and mouth, took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly, removed her hands from her face, and carefully said, "Adrien... People who are born as boys... Can't get periods because they don't have 'the corresponding parts' that causes them..."

"They... Don't?" Adrien got out in a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, he was glad he wasn't going to get a period. But on the other hand, Mrs Lahiffe was implying that there were more differences between girls and boys. And on the third hand, which has to be someone's... It seems like this subject was something important that he needed to know about. It made Adrien wonder why neither of his parents or Nathalie bothered to teach him this. 'Probably didn't think it was important too...' Adrien thought bitterly, internally wondering how no one in the Agreste household thought he shouldn't learn so many important real-life aspects.

Okay, granted, the Gorilla had a legitimate reason. It was most likely he was 'pre-programmed' with knowing of things that were essential and important for his 'job' and probably didn't know what should be taught to another...

Mrs Lahiffe carefully pulled the book out of the teen's hands, getting his attention. She then said, "How about you add this book to your pile? It will... Explain Sex Ed a little better to you than I can." She then added with a weary look, "Just a little heads up, there is going to be nudity in this book, but only for educational purposes."

Adrien nodded before he asked, "Will it also go over this puberty thing?" Mrs Lahiffe nodded with a small smile when she said, "It does because that's part of growing up too."

Adrien felt a little lighter for some reason as Mrs Lahiffe placed the 'It's Perfectly Normal' book on top of the little pile of media the teen made. Then the two continued on their task.

Mrs Lahiffe's phone rang an alert. She checked what it was and saw that it was a text from Al to her and Greta. Mrs Lahiffe raised a brow as she read the text.

}{ Text on Phone }{

Al: Hi, um, I hate to do this... But it seems like all but Lilly of the Drac-U-Allies are somehow working on the same case... One that seemed to ballooned overnight... We might not leave the office for a while, so would it be possible for you two to look after Sunshine a little longer? Maybe a day, a day and a half? If you don't believe me, call either Lily or D. I wouldn't ask either of you to do this if it weren't the case... We should be finished with it before your deadline, so you won't have to worry about Sunshine finding out That way."

}{ With Mrs Lahiffe }{

'It really must be serious if Al is willing to cut it that close,' the orange-haired woman thought before she pocketed her phone and went back to work. She knew that Greta and her could handle this, but it was still a little too close to that day and knew that Al would keep his word.

~}I{~

Lila decided to grab her favourite McWendy King meal. Since she knew that everyone who knew her was at school, she left her unit without a disguise.

Phantasma saw the brunette leave and couldn't help but notice how... Chipper Lila was... The woman in blue narrowed her beady eyes as she watched the teen leave. The building owner knew that the teen's joy couldn't have just been from sabotaging someone's recycle bin. 'So does it involve whatever she's doing at Dupont?' Phantasma thought, wondering how Cecilia is going to react to the information.

}I{ Back at Dupont }I{

"Hey, Alya, can I talk to you for a bit?" Nino asked his girlfriend as they made their way back to class.

The blogger looked up at the red-capped teen when she asked, "Does it have to do with what happened earlier?"

Nino cringed before he shook his head and said, "No, it's about our date night..."

Alya smiled when she said, "Oh, don't worry! I didn't forget. I just hope you don't mind that Nora's going to be chaperoning because you know her."

Nino stared at the blogger as if she grew a second head before he asked, "Uh... Babe... Did you read any of the texts I sent you?" He sounded very confused when he spoke.

Now it was Alya who was confused when she said as they walked into the classroom, "Last text I got from you was when we set the day for our date..." She then had a puzzled expression when she commented thoughtfully, "Which is... Kind of weird that you hadn't texted me since then..."

Everyone took their seats, trying not to eavesdrop but couldn't help themselves when Nino said, "Except I had texted you. Asking you about rescheduling our date because something important came up for that day. You hadn't replied to any of them. I tried calling you but I kept getting a busy tone..."

Alya was the pinnacle of confusion when she asked, "But I hadn't gotten any calls from you either. Are you sure it was my number you dialled?"

Nino nodded when he said, "Unless you changed your number and forgot to tell me...'' When he saw Alya shake her head, he quickly pulled his phone out and went to his texts. "See, I texted you," Nino said as he handed his phone to Alya from where he sat.

The blogger took the phone and looked at the text messages that she never got in confusion. Sabrina looked over Alya's shoulder as she read the texts. The blogger raised a brow as she checked the number for her name on Nino's phone before she said, "It looks right, but..." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked her texts, trying to make sense of this situation.

That was when Alya noticed that Nino's name wasn't in her text section, not just her recent text. She scrolled through all her text chats and couldn't find Nino's name before she vocalised, "What the? I know your number should be here!"

"That's not the only person missing..." Sabrina commented before she took Alya's phone and looked through the list of group texts. "Marinette's name isn't here either..." the orangette said with a raised brow.

As Alya handed Nino his phone back Markov volunteered to check the blogger's phone to see what happened, with her permission, of course.

Soon, it was back to the class lessons.

}I{ With Lila }I{

The liar in question was on her way back home, munching on her chips on the way, when she noticed a little shop that looked tacky in her opinion with the front door wide open. Lila rolled her eyes in annoyance as she walked around the open door only to have her eyes drawn to an item inside.

A beautiful silver bracelet decorated with orange diamond-shaped gems on top of a deep purple pillow inside a single display glass case. The case was propped on top of a display counter table.

'Oh! That would look perfect on me!' Lila thought as she walked into the store and up to the caged bracelets in an almost intense manner. Now she was closer, she could see that there were words etched on the inside in some other language. But Lila didn't care about something like that, all she knew was that she wanted that bracelet. With an almost malicious smile on her face, Lila reached out to the brace as if it were calling out to her.

Suddenly, a pair of gloved hands from behind the counter yanked the glass case out of Lila's reach.

The liar was about to protest when a voice with a foreign accent snapped, "What are you doing in here?" That was when Lila saw there was a person standing behind the counter. A tall androgynous person with tanned skin that contrasted nicely with the waterfall of golden locks that flowed over their shoulder in slight waves wore a loose-looking ocean blue shirt with coral pink helms and long sleeves, and piercing emerald green eyes that glared at the brunette over a cloth mask that covered their nose and mouth.

Lila took a step back from the counter at the sudden actions of this person. That was when another figure loomed over her from her right.

This person was also wearing a cloth mask and gloves but he had a different appearance from the one behind the counter. He wore a forest green vest with yellow helms that had a turtle-shell design in black with matching slacks that reached his ankles, had on a pair of black shoes, his arms were lean with muscles, and had black eyes that were also glaring at the teen, and had hair that was a mess of yellow, blue, and red strands that reached his elbows.

The man with the coloured hair narrowed his eyes at the brunette when he snapped in the same accent as the one behind the counter, "We're closed!"

Lila couldn't help but snap back, "No you're not! Your door was wide open! Clearly, that indicates you want customers!"

The man with the colourful hair pointed at the entranceway, more specifically the signs that were clearly visible from the outside that were also printed on the back. One sign read 'Closed' in red letters and the other read 'Cleaning and Taking Inventory' in black letters. Both signs were paired with cute little images of a parrot and a boa emphasising what was written on the signs.

'What the hell?' Lila thought in bewilderment, wondering how she missed these. She then settled on that these people missed her coming in and had just put the signs up.

At least until the man with the colourful hair stated calmly, "If you are unsure of what the signs say... They are telling customers that we are closed for the day because of cleaning and taking inventory." He folded his arms when he added, "We've been closed all day."

The person behind the counter then stated, "We also have a 'no food and open drink' policy," while not so subtly staring at the McWendy King bag in the liar's left hand and the cup of the same brand innocently sitting on the counter next to were the glass case was. They then glanced at the teen before them when they added, "Which is also a sign that's on clear display."

Lila tried to split her glare between the two when she snapped, "Oh if you're supposed to be closed then why is your door wide open?"

The two immediately jinxed, "To air out the place while we clean and it helps with circulating the smell of the cleaning stuff so it doesn't linger."

Lila huffed before scoffing and stating, "Whatever. I'll take that beautiful bracelet if you don't mind." She pointed at the item in the glass case as she did.

The person behind the counter tightened their grip on the glass when they stated, "This isn't for sale, and again, we're not open for business."

Lila pretended to inspect her nails when she said, in a broad tone, "I have money to pay for it." That was true, for once, however, she didn't even know how much she needed for said purchase.

"It is still not for sale," the man with the colourful hair stated as he motioned for the teen to leave and added, "And we are in the middle of taking inventory."

Lila looked insulted when she stated in an annoyed tone, "Hello, I am a paying customer who wants to buy something here." She was wondering if these two even knew how to run a business or something. After all, who turns down a customer for no reason?

The person behind the counter raised a brow when they replied, "We are not open for business today. We're not allowed to sell anything when we are closed."

The colourful-haired man took the drink off the counter, handed it to the teen, and stated as he ushered her out, "And the item you wish to buy is not for sale." When he led the teen outside, he said in a pleasant customer service tone, "So please come back when we are open to stop for anything else you like and have a nice day." With that, he closed the shop's door halfway and placed a sign between the door and doorframe that read 'Closed'. He then placed another 'Closed' sign on the door window.

Lila stared at the door when she fumed in anger. 'How dare these idiots not want MY business!' the liar thought in anger. She glared at the door as she thought back to the beautiful bracelet still on the counter, which in turn, fueled her anger at the fact that these people wouldn't give her it! And she was even willing to pay for it with her own money!

Lila then had an idea. She smirked as she walked away from the store. Lila was going to get that bracelet, and those two shopkeepers would pay for their impudence.

~}I{ Police HQ, Crime Lab }I{~

Officer Prowl walked into the computer space when he asked the person inside, "You messaged me, Ms Frankenteen?"

Sitting in a chair in front of three computer monitors was a tall woman with pale skin, had her black hair in an updo with white streaks, she had a bit of a heavy brow, had a couple of healed stitches on some of the exposed skin of her body. Her outfit consisted of a dark green dress over a light green t-shirt paired with a green scarf, chunky brown sandals, and wore a white lab coat. She swirled around to look at the homicide officer when she said in a bit of a deep yet feminine voice, "I sure did. I have good news, bad news, and weird news."

Officer Prowl raised a brow when he stated, "Bad news first, please."

Ms Frankenteen turned back to the monitors pulled up an image of two and a half fingerprints, and said, "AFIS got three hits for the fingerprints and partial, but they're still open with no suspects that match." She pulled up the three cases in question when she added, "Nothing in your department, but that doesn't make them less serious."

Officer Prowl read the brief summary of the cases on the middle monitor when he Vocalised, "Hmm... Three different cases in three different countries in Europe... And roughly a year between..."

Ms Frankenteen nodded when she said, "Yup, and that brings us to the weird news." She pulled up the items that had their unsub's fingerprints on them when she stated, "All three were Frame Jobs. All involving school-aged minors."

Officer Prowl looked at the pictures of a trophy plaque, a wad of Turkish bills, and 24K bracelet with clear diamond-cut gems embedded in it when he asked, "Aside from the prints, what's the connection between these cases?"

Ms Frankenteen let out an almost mechanical hum before she said, "I think a better question would be how aren't they similar?"

"Please elaborate," Officer Prowl stated as he narrowed his eyes at the fingerprints on the left monitor.

That was when Ms Frankenteen gave the homicide officer the basic rundown on the three cases. The students, that recently have started getting in trouble, were accused of stealing the items, the items were found in the students' bag to the students' shock, the students are suspended from the school they are attending during the investigation, it is later learned that the bags were left unattended for a while right before the school got the accusation, the police either find out that the students had an alibi during the estimated time of thief or wanted to ensure that the students were the actual thief after hearing about their bag being unattended, the police take the students' fingerprints to compare to the prints found on the items, none matched, the police report the find to the school, the school reverses the suspension and clears it from the students' records, the police take the prints of the students' classmates and schoolmates because of their access to the accused students bag, no match is found, case stalls, police puts the fingerprints in AFIS in hopes of finding a match, and life goes on.

Officer Prowl placed a hand on his chin when he commented, "I can assume that these accused students started having trust issues afterwards."

Ms Frankenteen clicked her tongue before she said, "From what I read on the follow-up reports from the officers handling the case... That's a given, and another weird thing they noted." She pulled up the pages from the three cases' follow-up report and stated, "Aside from transferring to other classrooms, keeping others at a distance, and a few 'screw you's towards their former classmates during interactions... There haven't been any more instances of trouble from these students." Ms Frankenteen looked at the homicide officer when she added, "I would normally think that getting suspended made them turn over a new leaf, but given the circumstances of the how..."

Officer Prowl narrowed his eyes when he said, "Someone or somebodies had issues with the accused students..." He suddenly had a feeling of Deja vu before he wondered why this sounded familiar... He then asked, "And the good news?"

Ms Frankenteen pulled up a new window on the right monitor when she said happily, "Found the owner of these unknown prints in The Gabriel Brand's Employee Fingerprint System. Our near mass murderer is a model for them."

Officer Prowl raised a brow in suspicion when he asked, "In their system? I thought Mr Agreste declined our access?" He was hoping the lab tech didn't do any illegal searches for this case.

Ms Frankenteen pressed a button to activate the search on the right monitor when she stated, "He did, but the executives for his company gave us the go-ahead." She looked at the homicide officer when she added, "They thought cooperating with the police would be more beneficial than not." The computer made a ding and a profile picture with the subject's fingerprints underneath. Ms Frankensteen smiled in satisfaction when she said, "And there's our culprit, Ms Lila Rossi."

Officer Prowl's eyes snapped towards the monitor when he got out in a cold tone, "So, it was her."

Ms Frankenteen raised a brow when she asked, "You already suspected her?"

Officer Prowl explained what he meant. Telling the lab tech how this person first came up, that she was having issues with Adrien and his niece, and that Dupont is investigating her due to her mother being unresponsive to their mandatory parent-teacher meetings. Officer Prowl narrowed his eyes again when stated in a serious tone, "But if her prints are the only ones on the stirring spoon used to mix the painkillers into Ms Seras Dracool's coffee..."

Ms Frankenteen finished the line by saying, "Then she was the one who did it... And put a lot of people at risk..." The bolts barely visible over her green scarf sparked slightly when she got out in anger, "I can't believe a teenager did something like that!"

"Neither can I..." Officer Prowl muttered thoughtfully. A hand was on his chin as he mentally went over the facts.

"Huh?" Ms Frankenteen vocalised in confusion.

Officer Prowl explained as he pointed at the three frame job cases on the left monitor, "From what you've found, she has framed others in the past. And from what Dupont has gathered with the Drac-U-Allies, She has also fabricated important documents, lied about her whereabouts, and is keeping her mother in the dark about all mentioned before." He looked at the Lab Tech when he added, "It is a rather sharp escalation of misdeeds, don't you think?"

Ms Frankenteen placed a hand on her chin as she thought about these facts. She then got out, "Now that you say it... Yeah, from framing people to drugging them so badly it nearly kills them..." She made a mechanical hum before pointing out, "But... She still used way too much painkillers... Did she know that Ms Dracool is a vampire?"

Officer Prowl hummed a bit before he said, "I don't know, but I can't help but wonder if Mr Agreste had a hand in possibly pushing Ms Rossi into drugging Ms Seras Dracool..."

Ms Frankenteen smirked as she playfully nudged the homicide officer when she said, "You can ask your hubby to ask Mr Agreste during the guy's trial."

Officer Prowl didn't seem to notice the jabs when he muttered, "I might have to... "He looked at the lab tech when he added, "Thank you for the information, Ms Frankenteen."

The woman smiled when she said, "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Elsa?"

Officer Prowl only responded with a hum.

~}I{ Dupont, At 15:00 }I{~

"Alya, I have finished running a diagnostic on your phone," Markov announced as he flew over to the blogger. He then tapped his claw on the side of his helm when he stated, "Your phone is functioning as normal, but I have to inquire if you had any arguments with Nino..."

This confused the class, especially Alya and the red-capped teen. The blogger couldn't help but say in a tone that was a mix between baffled, confused, and worried, "No... We haven't..."

Nino was quick to throw in, "I can vouch for that..." He raised a brow when he asked the AI, "Why would you think that?"

Max walked over with Alya's phone in hand when he stated, "Because Nino's number has been blocked..." He flashed the screen to the blogger, showing the phone's list of blocked numbers. Alya was utterly dumbstruck when Max explained, "The blocking feature is manual. Meaning that it had to be done with purposefulness."

"I didn't! I wouldn't!" Alya got out in dismay. Her eyes were blown wide, her body tensed, her hands were switching between clenched closed and sprayed open, and she was biting her lips.

That was when Sabrina asked the techie and AI, "And Marinette's number?"

Markov turned to the orangette when he said, "From what I've discovered, only the text conversation was deleted. The contact information is still intact." He shrugged his single claw when he added, "Given their current status, I made a guess they had a spat and didn't want to communicate with each other outside the school."

For some reason, Alya felt like that last sentence stung like a swarm of bees. Marinette, on the other hand, thought about what was said before she commented, "I don't think we had something on that level recently... Unless you count today's but I don't think there was enough time to do that." Now Alya felt the odd pain increase for some reason.

Max undid the block on Nino's number on Alya's phone when he asked the blogger, "Since this wasn't your doing, Alya, I have to ask who had access to your phone that could've done something like this?" He handed the phone back to its owner when he added, "Someone who doesn't want Nino contacting you and visversa and had the motive to delete the text conversation between you and Marinette."

Alya slowly shook her head when she said, "None of them would've done something like that..."

Juleka couldn't help but comment, "But one of them did..."

Rose then added in confusion, "But why? Who gains from Alya not receiving texts or calls from Nino?"

"No one!" Alya immediately stated. She couldn't believe anyone she could trust with her phone would do something like that without her permission or knowlage.

Alix couldn't help but state in a snarky tone, "Except one of them did."

Mylene had an idea as to who might've done it, but... She placed a hand on her chin when she thought, 'But it would've been Marinette's number, not Nino's…'

~}I{ Meanwhile }I{~

A redheaded firefighter in full gear raised his light blue visor to get a better look in the burnt metal bin. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he narrowed his blue eyes at whatever remained in the bin. Thankfully, the thing wasn't full so the fire didn't have as much fuel to work with on top of the current ambient temperature. But even if it wasn't a big fire, it still warranted a call to the fire station to get it extinguished.

'Hm, whoever set this didn't plan it very well,' the firefighter thought as he moved away from the bin to let the arson investigator do their job. The firefighter told the investigator he thumbed towards the front of the store, "I'm going to go check with Chase to see if the owners noticed anything."

The fire investigator nodded their head when they said, "Sure thing, Sergeant Heatwave. Tell your partner I say hi."

The firefighter, Sgt Heatwave, gave a nod before he walked over towards the front of the store, taking note of the visual damage the flames had done. Again, it wasn't as bad as it looked, but it was going to need some repairs. Sgt Heatwave narrowed his eyes at this when he thought, 'Did someone target this shop specifically?'

When the sergeant came to the front of the store, he heard a familiar monotone voice asking, "Is that the only thing missing?" Those words got the firefighter's attention. He was quick to gravitate towards the voice and the store owners.

A police officer wearing a neat and tidy uniform with his short blue hair meticulously combed back and bright blue eyes was looking at the pair of store owners. An androgynous person with long golden hair and a man with red, blue, and yellow coloured hair. Sgt Heatwave stopped when he was next to the policeman, just when the man with the colourful hair said, "It is. We normally keep it in the basement, but we were cleaning and taking inventory today so we moved all items in the basement out."

The policeman wrote the response down in neat and legible letters when he asked, "And was anyone interested in the bracelet?"

The androgynous blonde was the one to say as they waved a hand, "While we weren't open for business, this rude teenager came in and was interested in it. Despite us telling her multiple times that it wasn't for sale and that we were closed."

The policeman continued writing the responses when Sgt Heatwave asked in interest, "Can you give us a description of this teenager?"

The man with the colourful hair replied, "We can do you one better, a video of this brat." He nodded his head towards the inside of the store when he added, "We have security cameras running 24/7 inside our store."

The policeman looked up at the two when he asked, "Would it be possible for you to allow us to access your video security then?"

The androgynous blonde nodded when they said, "Certainly. I'll go pull up the feed from earlier today." They nodded at their partner before heading back inside the store, followed by another police officer.

Sgt Heatwave couldn't help but ask the man with the colourful hair, "Mr Garuda, if I may be so bold as to ask what you and Nagayami mean when you use the word 'rude' to describe this teenager?" The tidy-looking policeman raised a brow as he glanced at the firefighter next to him.

The man with the tri-coloured hair closed his eyes to think when he said, "Aside from telling her we were closed and her not listening when we told her the bracelet wasn't for sale... She brought in food and an open drink from that nearby fast food place, and had a rather unpleasant attitude." Mr Garuda opened his eyes when he added, "But now that I think about it... She came in during school hours..."

The policeman raised a brow when he commented, "I don't recall today being an off day from school."

Sgt Heatwave let out a soft sigh, patted the policeman on the shoulder, and said, "Chase... The teenager was playing hooky." The policeman, Chase, had a scandlised expression on his face.

Mr Garuda couldn't help but chuckle at the officer's sudden shift in emotions before his face went hard when he stated, "Given her 'Mightier than thou' behaviour, I wouldn't be surprised if she was constantly absent from school because she thought it was a waste of her time."

"Hmm, that much of an attitude?" Sgt Heatwave asked with a raised brow. Mr Garuda gave the two civil servants a solid nod.

Chase had a thought before he asked the tri-coloured-hair man, "Is there a reason why you don't have that bracelet for sale?"

Mr Garuda was oddly open when he said, "The owner of the bracelet wanted us to hold onto it while they search for someone to break the curse on it."

Sgt Heatwave raised a brow when he asked as if this whole thing was a normal topic, "What kind of curse?"

As Chase wrote everything down, Mr Garuda stated, "It's under an enhancement curse." The tri-coloured-haired man shrugged his shoulders when he explained, "Might not sound bad, but it can multiply the wearer's current emotional and mental status by ten-fold."

Sgt Heatwave thought about that fact for a bit before he asked, "So if someone were to put that bracelet on while they're a little sad, it can turn it into a depression?"

Mr Garuda nodded before he said, "And annoyance into anger, happiness into very overjoyed, and dislike into hate." He waved a hand when he added, "Any emotions the wearer has while wearing the bracelet will be magnified. Same with whatever state of mind they currently have."

Chase looked up from his notepad when he stated, "That is quite a dangerous curse." He tilted his head to the side slightly when he inquired, "But aside from keeping the bracelet out of the uninformed, why would the owner want to keep it? Even to go so far as to try to break the curse on it?"

Mr Garuda glanced inside the shop when he said, "From what the owner told me and Nagayami, the bracelet is a very potent magical conductor. I don't know the full extent of the potency, but the owner explained that even someone without magic can use any if they wear the bracelet." He shrugged his shoulders when he added, "They had planned to use the thing as a way to make human technology interact with magic better once they got rid of the curse."

Chase was impressed when he said, "That is quite ambitious of them."

Sgt Heatwave had an expression that was the opposite of the policeman when he got out in an unwilling tone, "That's also really bad." When Chase gave the taller man a confused look, the blazing redhead explained, "Being able to use any type of magic while under a curse that enhances their emotional and mental state is a disaster waiting to happen."

The policeman let out an. "Oh," before they stated in a tone of realisation that still had his monotone voice, "We need to alert the Magi Guardian of this..." He went back through his notes when he said, "If the same person who started this fire to get the bracelet wears it, then their desire for whatever they wish to do will be magnified. And adding magic to that will most certainly put Paris in danger!"

"Only if the desire to do so is already there," Mr Garuda stated as he raised his right index finger.

Sgt Heatwave raised a brow when he asked, "Can you explain that a little better?"

}I{

At a construction site near her apartment building...

Lila grunted as she jammed the screwdriver into the lock and used a nearby rock to hammer it in. She smirked as the lock finally broke before she tossed the rock and screwdriver to the side. Lila's eyes lit up in joy as she opened the glass display and took the silver bracelets with the orange gems out.

An overvoice of Mr Garuda was heard saying, "The curse only affects what is already there. If the wearer doesn't feel an emotion or have a type of mentality, then anything regarding those won't be affected and won't happen."

Lila stared hypnotically at the bracelet with an almost evil glee.

Mr Garuda's voice continued by saying, "So if the desire is there the curse will magnify it to the point were the wearer will act on it regardless of any reason not to."

Lila slid the bracelet onto her left wrist with a malicious smile.

Sgt Heatwave's voice came in when he asked, "So the wearer will only be a threat if they were already having desires to do things that could hurt others?"

Mr Garuda's voice was heard saying, "Correct."

The voices ceased as Lila admired her new possession on her wrist. Looking at it from every angle she could manage in satisfaction. Lila smirked when she said to herself, "I was right, this does look perfect on me~."

She then left the construction site, not caring about the display case or the tools she used to break it. Lila knew that those couldn't be used to link her to the theft or the fire, there was no way anyone would suspect her of doing any type of crime. Lila smiled at the pleasant weight of her new jewellery dangling around her wrist when she thought, 'Besides, it was those useless store workers fault their workplace and all its worthless trinkets are in ashes.'

The gems on the bracelet glowed slightly.

~}I{~

As somewhat expected, Sabine Cheng came to school to pick up her daughter. Marinette didn't complain or told her mother that she could get home herself, she knew the reason behind the older woman's actions. So the mother-daughter duo bid the Miracuclass a goodbye and a see you later as they left the School. Everyone then returned to their respective homes.

Alya immediately called a sibling meeting the moment she closed the front door to their family home. Nora, Ella, and Etta came into the living room in confusion. Alya went straight to the point, and asked her sisters in a serious tone which one of them took her phone and blocked Nino's number behind her back.

Etta and Ella looked at each other in confusion, not remembering a time when their 2nd oldest sister didn't have her phone on her.

As the oldest and youngest of the siblings sat on the couch, Nora raised a brow when she asked the middle sibling, "What makes you think any of us would do something like that?"

Alya slumped backwards into the chair parallel to the couch when she said with a sigh, "Home is one of the few places where my phone was ever out of my sight... One of the few opportunities to block Nino's number and delete the text chats on my phone..."

Nora leaned forward, right elbow on her knee, rested her chin on her knuckles, frowned, and asked, "Do you honestly think either of the twerps could do something like that? Or me?" She let out a breath before she stated, "Okay, I'll admit to being a little... Intense with Fly-weight sometimes, but like heck I would purposely sabotage your relationship with him."

The twins then chimed out in unison, "We like Nino! He's Chris's big brother!"

Alya stared at her sisters for a few seconds before she slumped further into the chair when she realised that none of the three would try to sabotage her relationship with Nino...

Nora raised a brow again when she asked, "Hey, Alys, have you ever let any of your friends borrow your phone? Or let them access it for a bit?"

Alya was quick to say, "None of them would've done something like that either!"

Nora narrowed her eyes when she asked seriously, "Are you sure?"

Alya potently nodded when she stated, "I'm sure!"

Nora didn't seem convinced.

}I{ Flashback }I{

"Wow, Alya, that looks amazing!" Lila cooed as she looked at the photo on the blogger's phone screen. It was a sketch of a flowing dress with sequences that were strategically placed all along the dress.

Alya beamed when she flashed the photo so her friend could see it better when she said, "Isn't it? Marinette really outdid herself on this design!"

Lila took the blogger's phone to get a closer look at the photo. As much as she hated to admit, the goody-goody did have a talent for designing. Lila saw the scribbled notes on the side of the image. She immediately took the opportunity to dig at the goody-goody when she commented loudly, "It's amazing, but Marinette's handwriting is pretty bad. Can she even read that?"

Alya shrugged when she said, "She told me she could so it should be fine." The microwave dinged, getting the blogger's attention. Alya smiled when she said, "Popcorn's ready. I'll get it and we can start the movie." She walked out of the living room and into the kitchen.

Lila smirked at this before she quickly went to the blogger's text messages and found the text conversation between Alya and Marinette.

"Hey, Lila, do you want butter on your popcorn?" Alya called from the kitchen.

Lila looked up from the blogger's phone when she replied, "Just a little if you don't mind." Since she had her attention elsewhere, the liar missed a new message appearing over Marinette's number. Without looking at the screen, Lila tapped on the new message, which was from Nino, asking the blogger about rescheduling their date. The liar only glanced on the screen to make sure she was hitting the right things, not noticing that she was doing it to the wrong number, as she watched the kitchen's entrance.

"Extra salt?" Alya called from the kitchen.

"No thanks," Lila replied as she successfully blocked the number with a smirk. Just to make sure her deed was done, Lila checked the text messages. She saw Marinette's message box still there but quickly deleted it. Lila exited the text messaging app and placed the blogger's phone on the coffee table in front of the couch, feigning innocence as Alya walked in with two bowls of popcorn. One in each hand and a different colour.

Alya sat next to her friend as she handed her one of the bowls. As they started the movie, neither noticed that Nora was standing in the other doorway, looking at the two with a raised brow. The kickboxer wasn't sure what she had just witnessed.

}I{ End Flashback }I{

Nora wished she said something when that happened, but she didn't know what was going on at the time. Now she had more information when She asked, "Alya... Does Fly-weight get along with Lila?"

Alya was confused by the question, but replied anyway, "Um, yes... They get along fine, even if Lila is more my friend than his..."

Nora didn't seem convinced when she asked, "Are you sure? No tension or arguments between them?"

Alya shook her head when she said, "No, none. It's not how things are with Marinette."

Nora raised a brow when she asked the blogger to elaborate on that. Alya did, and it made the kickboxer wonder if Marinette's number was the target of the brunette and not Nino's. Nora placed her left hand on her chin when she commented, "I think I have a few questions for Fly-weight during your date."

Alya shifted awkwardly when she said, "Um, actually... We had to reschedule that..." She waved her hands when she said, "Something came up on his end that he couldn't get out of. He's been texting me but they weren't getting through."

Nora nodded her head when she said slowly, "Which made him confront you about your lack of response and revealing that someone blocked his number on your phone." Alya nodded self-consciously. That was when Nora asked, "And why did it take so long for either of you to notice that?"

Alya tried to think about that, but she couldn't come up with a good reason. At least none that has to do with last night's activities...

Stompp and Barrk gave each other confused looks, neither were sure about this situation.

~}I{ At the Dupain-Cheng's Bakery }I{~

"You're kidding!" A regular customer got out in shock.

Sabine was quick to say, "Keep your volume down, you're indoors," as she made the accompanying gestures with her hands. She let out a sigh before she said, "But it's true... we're still... Processing the whole thing..."

A tall, fit man with short dark brown hair that spiked a bit, a gold stud on his right ear, had an athletic build, sharp features, wore a grey shirt covered by a yellow vest, paired with black slacks, gold athletic shoes, and had piercing light golden brown eyes tapped on the counter top of the bar-like section of the Dupain-Cheng's bakery with his right index finger. He let out a sigh before he got out, "Not sure what is more... upsetting..." He sighed again before he added sadly, "That Marques is gone or that he was a Golem the entire time and we didn't realise it…"

Sabine glanced into the kitchen when she said softly, "I think both are upsetting... And I'm not the only one who thinks that..."

Another regular saw and asked, "How's Tom handling that... News?"

Sabine signed yet again before she said, "Marinette is going to be more active with the bakery for the foreseeable future..." She glanced into the kitchen to see her daughter helping Tom with shaping the baked goods. Sabine looked at the regulars when she said, "We're all still... Processing what happened..."

The tanned man couldn't help but say, "I'll bet..." He felt himself scratching the surface of the counter.

Sabine coughed to get the man's attention before saying, "Mr Wolf, we recently cleaned the bar seatings."

The tanned man, Mr Wolf, looked down to see that his dark claws were extended and digging into the solid surface of the counter. He quickly ducked his hands under the counter, resting them in his lap when he got out sheepishly, "Eh-heh, Sorry..."

Sabine's lip twitched slightly before she said, "You can fix it after we close, okay." Mr Wolf let out a nervous chuckle as he nodded.

In the kitchen, Marinette carefully placed the croissants on a cooking tray and Tom placed them in the oven, then set the timer. However…

Marinette noticed the set time and quickly asked her father, "Papa, aren't croissants supposed to be cooked for 12-15 minutes?"

Tom was starting on the cake batter when he said, "Yes or until golden brown. Why do you ask, Sweetie?"

Marinette quickly edited the cooking time on the oven when she replied wearily, "Um, because you set this for 40 minutes..." Once she set the oven timer for 12 minutes, She looked at her father when she added, "I fixed it, so nothing to worry about."

Tom paused in what he was doing when he said softly, "Oh... Sorry... Thanks for catching that, Marinette..." He then went back to prepping.

Marinette watched her dad for a bit with a sad expression. As she moved to start on cookie making, she kept an eye on her father. Tikki slid her Holder an egg as she too watched the baker from where she hid. The Kwami couldn't help but think, 'At least he doesn't have to worry about Hawkmoth...'

~}I{ About an Hour Later }I{~

Jazz looked over this new report before he glanced up at Officer Chase standing on the other side of the desk. The Magi Guardian frowned when he asked the policeman, "This happened today?"

Officer Chase nodded when he said, "Affirmative. The fire wasn't severe, but it did cause the owners to vacate the store and summon the firefighters. It gave whoever set the fire the opportunity to steal the bracelet in question."

Jazz looked at the still shot of Lila inside the store, clutching the display case with the bracelet as she was moving to rush out. The Magi Guardian's visor glinted when he asked, "A little young ta be settin' fires and stealing things..." He tilted his head to the side as he stared at the still shot. Why did this child feel familiar to the Magi Guardian for some reason?

"Sir?" Officer Chase vocalised, getting the man with the dreads attention. He then asked, "Is everything okay?"

Jazz clicked his tongue before saying, "Depends how yah look at it..." He sighed before he said, "Ah' ma gonna have ta get tha Wave Brothers to handle this case." Jazz held up the file for a second after he said those words.

Officer Chase's face scrunched in uneasiness when he asked, "Is that wise to send... Them after a child?"

Jazz placed the file down on the desk when he stated, "A child, No. An object that is both powerful and has a strong curse on it, yes." He intertwined his fingers together, rested his elbows on the desk, and said seriously, "It might be over doing it, but things will get real bad real fast if an item like that gets inta tha wrong hands. Tha Wave Brothers are tha best option fur a situation like this, despite their quirks." A light glinted off his visor when he added, "Just have'ta make sure ta request that they don't harm tha child unless she tries ta actively harm them. "Jazz glanced at the still shot. Another gleam danced across the blue glass of the visor, and stated, "Although... Given this child used a fire as a distraction so she can steal one item..."

Officer Chase stiffened at these words. He bit his lips slightly before he got out uneasily, "Then it should be requested that they use... Non-lethal methods of retrieval… If needed?"

Jazz nodded when he stated seriously, "Better ta be over-prepared than not prepared." He let out a breath when he said, "Chase, yah and your mate are gunna have ta go ta the Wave Brothers fur this..."

Officer Chase let out an uncharacteristic squeak "Me?!" Before he stuttered out, "But you! You are the most qualified! And they would certainly listen to you!"

Jazz let out a breath before he explained, "True, but Ah have a prior commitment. Gotta oversee an important trial in an hour and Ah'm not sure how long it's gonna last."

Despite the uneasiness still in his voice, Officer Chase got out logically, "Ah, that is a reasonable... Excuse to... Not be able to... Negotiate with the Wave Brothers..."

Jazz unlaced his fingers when he said, "Don't worry, Ah'ma gonna write tha entire request down with tha specifics, so yah don't have ta worry about that part." He picked up a pen and started writing on a clean sheet of paper.

Officer Chase shifted uneasily when he questioned, "Um... Magi Guardian, sir, are the rumours about the Wave Brothers... Um, preferred methods of payment... True?"

Jazz let out a hum, still writing, and said, "Ah haven't heard all of those, but yeah, yah're gonna need ta bring yah're mate with yah when yah meet with tha Wave Brothers." He kept writing when he added, "Ah know that kind of payment an't fur everyone, but at tha moment, time is important and tha Wave Brothers need to get on this ASAP." When Jazz finished writing, he folded the paper in half, placed it in an envelope, then started writing on another sheet of paper, and stated, "Ah don't wanna put yah or yahr mate through tha Wave Brothers interests, but that bracelet needs ta be retrieved." He glanced up at the officer when he added, "Ah'll reimburse yah two fur tha inconvenience after tha bracelet is retrieved."

Officer Chase gave a stiff nod when he replied, "Understood, sir."

Jazz made a nice folder to put in the important items and handed it to the police officer when he stated, "Get yahr mate and get ta the Wave Brothers. If yah two can negotiate ta give them tha payment after they get tha bracelet back, do it."

Officer Chase took the folder when he stated, "Understood, sir." He then left the office as fast as he could, without being a hazard to others. He pulled his cell phone along the way, quickly found the number he needed, and placed the cell to his ear.

Jazz massaged his temples before he readied the file for Hawkmoth's trial. He got an alert for an incoming text. Jazz checked the message and saw it was from Prowl. The Magi Guardian raised a brow before he replied to the text. "Sure, Ah'll ask Gabriel Agreste that," he muttered as he typed the text. Once Jazz sent the text, he gathered up what was needed.

The visor of the Magi Guardian glinted in the limited light before heading to The Court of Truth. To oversee the trial of Hawkmoth.

~}I{~

To be continued.

~}I{~

Gale-Dragon: Yeah, things aren't going to be pleasant regarding Lila and her actions in the next few chapters… But up next is mostly a trial chapter for Hawkmoth. I'm going to make one thing clear, I don't have a lot of knowledge regarding how courts or its system works outside TV dramas, so most of what I know comes from those. Plus it'll be Magic Court, where things are going to be rather different from what is used in Mortal Court.

}I{