Marinette flicked her pencil back and forth, letting the erasure hit the desk with a thump before bouncing it to the other side. Her fingers were dancing on the table, nails too short to make any sort of satisfying sound. She glanced at the clock on the wall and watched as the seconds ticked by.
The bell rang and Madam Mendeleiev began calling out names in her strict voice.
"Césaire." A beat of silence and the teacher looked up from her clipboard. "Alya Césaire?"
Several people shifted in their seats, but knew better than to speak up in the strict science teacher's class. Which made it easy for Marinette to hear the woman's grumblings about how the absence wasn't even called in.
The bluenette stared at the door, almost expecting her friend to burst in with a wide grin on her face about evidence and her investigation of the superheroes' identities. She had no such luck, even as she briefly recalled a name getting called to the Headmaster's office that sounded like Alya's. Marinette could only really talk to Tikki if she was in the bathroom, but the speakers in the bathrooms were pretty faulty...
Marinette felt her phone buzz and her brow furrowed as more notifications rang out into the class.
Mendeleiev scowled. "Turn off your phones or put them on silent. I won't have you on Instagrams or Chat Snaps while class is in session."
Which was when the projector decided to whirl to life and a black screen with a glowing purple wifi signal and big letters spelling out 'Starting Stream' was shone on the board . Murmurs broke out in class, until a high pitched gasp broke the uneasy silence.
"L-look at your phones!" Rose stammered.
Marinette felt a rock drop into her stomach, but she unlocked her phone and found the exact same screen that was on the projector.
"This better not be your doing," Mendeleiev jabbed a finger at Max, who looked as though his ghost had already left his body with his wide eyes and perspiration gathering on his face.
He shook his head rapidly. "I-I di-idn't d-do an-nything!" The prodigy was shaking so badly he could hardly get a word out.
"No one else can hack my computer-" Mendeleiev's words died as the screen faded from black and into some sort of video feed, focused entirely on a single person with a stylish black domino mask.
"Shit." Someone in the class whispered. Marinette dimly recognized the voice to be Alex's.
The akuma gave a cheeky grin and a one handed jaunty wave.
"Alya," Marinette breathed out, and in the absence of air something else squirmed into her lungs, curling and coiling until she felt her lungs choked off, until she couldn't breath.
It had hardly been a week since the last akuma.
Marienette thought it was a one in a million chance for two kids in the same school to get akumatized in a row, much less the same class. It seemed almost impossible that a third was happening by mere chance.
Once was a chance. Twice was concerning. But three times was the beginnings of an unnerving pattern.
Marinette wondered if Hawkmoth already suspected her.
. . .
The screen flickered and transitioned to show a grinning girl against a plain background. Her eyes glowed dully, but it might have just been a reflection from a monitor.
"What's up, Paris?!" She posed with two fingers. "Lady Wifi here, saying hi to all the new viewers!"
Her black domino mask scrunched up as she winked. "But let's skip past all that boring promotion stuff and skip straight to the scheduled content y'all want."
"Two new heroes recently popped up in Paris in defense of the city from crazy monsters." An image of Ladybug and Chat Noir battling Stoneheart and the Bubbler popped up in a corner of the screen. "But the Supervillain Hawkmoth still isn't backing down. The superheroes have been able to fight them off so far, but are they really the ones meant for the job?"
The camera zoomed in on Lady Wifi's face as she raised a brow. "Several viewers have pointed out flaws in the hero duo's strategies and lack of experience. Ladybug messed up somehow on the first Stoneheart attack, which led to the duplication of the monster. Not only that, but the 'heroes' are withholding valuable information."
"How can the people of Paris possibly trust someone they don't even know? We don't know what motivates them, or even if they are qualified for the job in the first place."
"No," Lady Wifi shook her head. "We can't trust the superheroes."
"Which brings us to our next segment! The only way to trust someone, is to get to know them. That means, I think it's time for us to match a name to their faces."
She grins, a perverted imitation of joy that stretched unnaturally on her face as her eyes held a maniacal glint in them. "That's right, it's time to find out what's underneath their masks!"
"But first, let's hear a word from our sponsor: Hawkmoth!"
An image flickered open to the butterfly approximation of the known terrorist's face.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir give me your miraculous!"
"Thank you, Hawkmoth!" Lady Wifi beamed. "Because of him, we'll finally be able to discover their secret identities!"
She leaned forward, eyes flashing purple. Her grin was the same one you could find on the cat that was hunting the rat. "Now, let's go get a peek!"
. . .
The school's administration was acting like a chicken with its head cut off. No one could figure out what to do with us, the students, in the face of an akuma that didn't seem to interrupt the educational environment to an extreme. Really, the only thing that was interrupting class was all the teacher's projectors getting possessed to show supervillain/terrorist propaganda. So the staff couldn't decide if they needed to send the students home or keep teaching.
A few of the students took advantage of the confusion to escape: Chloe, Sabrina, Marinette and, oddly enough, Adrian. Rose and Alex and Kim all were loudly panicking, even if Kim seemed to be in resolute denial about that fact. Max and Julika were sitting still as statues.
I wasn't sure how I felt about it.
I stared at the screen with wide eyes and hazy vision, but my hands weren't trembling.
I felt a hand touch my shoulder, light as though it were a hummingbird touching a flower to drink. It left little tingles in its wake. "Are you okay...?"
It was Ivan, with his big eyes, wary and hesitant.
I wasn't shaking. My heart wasn't beating like a professional drumcore all decided to practice on it at once. My breaths didn't come any quicker than normal. I was fine. Which didn't make sense because there was an akuma, why would I be fine? "I- I'm not sure."
Ivan nodded. "It's kinda weird, isn't it?"
"...yeah." I whispered, somehow knowing entirely what it was. It was the strange deescalation. Stoneheart was terrifying- a blatant monster. Bubbler was more subtle, but he still managed to take the entire city hostage. Now this... Lady Wifi, some sort of influencer. She seemed even less intimidating, like just a girl in a costume. Despite her blatant Hawkmoth worship- which was also weird- she hardly even seemed like an akuma at all.
Maybe that was the most unnerving thing about it. It would be difficult for the superheroes to punch possessed people in the face if they still acted relatively normal.
...Unless the screens had some sort of latent mind control to brainwash the masses as Lady Wifi made more and more announcements.
n̴o̴ w̸o̵r̸r̷i̷e̶s̵
I don't smile, instead I let the gratitude drift towards Knight, who was curled up somewhere in my bag. Knight was so quiet, sometimes it was easy to forget they were there until they decided to speak up. They truly were my soulmate. I dig into my bag and find them curled in a bed of shredded discolored paper scraps, the blue and red lines faded into gray. Their glowing eyes blink up at me from the depths of forgotten schoolwork. I rubbed between their horns with a finger and felt a soft pleasure in return.
It wasn't enough to put me at ease completely.
"...I have to go." I got up from my seat. Madam Mendeleiev was still arguing over the phone and glared at me, but didn't stop me from walking out the door.
I glanced at my phone as the door shut behind me, half expecting to see a "starting soon" screen. My home screen -a picture of my old dog- showed up along with about eleven notifications. Mostly from the family group chat. It buzzed again. Make that twelve. That one was from Nino.
Family Chat
Mom
Where are you?
Dad
Just got out of a meeting, what's wrong?
Chase
School
Mom
There's an akuma. Where's Keana?
Chase
I think science class
Dad
Are you all ok?
Mom
There was a broadcast over all the technology. Chase go find her. Stay together.
Chase
Im not sure if its coming to the school.
Keana
Im good. outside my class.
Chase
ok, im coming. Stay put.
The rest of the texts were from Adrien and Nino. Adrien had gone to hide with his bodyguard so ' Gorilla won't have an aneurysm from anxiety .' Nino was wondering why I left. I replied quickly ' meet with my bro.'
The hallways were empty, all the students either gone, hiding, or in class. I spotted Chase down in the courtyard, standing near the lockers. I went down the stairs two at a time, letting the thwomps of my steps echo.
Chase was standing a lot more nonchalantly than the set of his mouth and curve of his brows suggested he was feeling. "Let's go home."
A black blur drifted in my peripherals. Knight. I glanced at them. They floated, motionless, particles bobbed next to them. They seemed remarkably two dimensional as every scrap of light that touched them was eaten. They didn't even leave a shadow. They might as well be the shadow of some other being, hidden from sight.
Something wrenched inside me.
"I-I'm not sure."
Chase faced me. His eyes scanned my face, darting around to find something- I wasn't sure what. He closed his eyes. "Keana. I know you want- feel obligated, really,- to help. But-"
I shrank in on myself. "I want to, I-"
"You don't know what you want." Chase glared. Then he sighed, a sharp breath. "I want you to be safe, Mom and Dad and Pax and Jane all want that too, even if they don't know everything."
I couldn't meet his eyes. "..."
"Look," he placed a hand on my shoulder, "I can't promise I won't worry as much once I know you can actually protect yourself. But you need to actually be able to protect yourself: you need to practice."
"I have practiced-"
"The first time you transformed you didn't even look in a mirror." Chase deadpanned. "And the first time you left the house while transformed, you came back ten minutes later and a recording of you popped up on a blog that regularly gets thousands of views per hour."
I bit my lip, ears tinged red. "... I need to at least try."
"You don't even know where the akuma is."
Neither does Ladybug and Chat Noir , I wanted to say. But I had no way of actually knowing that. They could be fighting the akuma right now, for all I knew. Maybe my presence would be more of a hindrance than helpful.
"Fine."
Knight drifted in my hair.
I walked home feeling like I was leaving something to doom itself.
. . .
They met at the Eiffel Tower, a landmark that consistently seemed to be close to the action, but also relatively safe from most threats that couldn't climb or fly.
The metal support beam vibrated under Ladybug's feet, announcing Chat Noir's presence just as well as a pun would.
Ladybug turned. "You took your time."
Chat Noir had a cheeky smile on his face. "I got here purrfectly on time, bugaboo."
"Let's get this party started, then." Ladybug sighed. "I'm pretty sure this akuma is Al- Ladyblogger. Lady Wifi is fixated on learning our identities. Do we have any clue what her powers are?"
". . ." Chat Noir wasn't smiling anymore, instead he had a peculiar expression on his face with his brows furrowed.
"Chat Noir? Anyone home in there?" Ladybug felt a twinge of irritation in her chest.
The blond shook his head. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something. Why don't we-"
"We can talk about it later." Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Do you have any idea what her powers are?"
Chat Noir hummed. "Something technology based: she managed to take over everyone's screens."
"But 'technology based' could mean a lot of things..." Ladybug frowned. "I don't know if she'll target anyone besides us and I don't know how or why she got akumatized. It probably has something to do with our identities. We don't have enough information."
Ladybug remembered how often they messed up with Stoneheart. She failed to capture the akuma, and they made it stronger with each one of their attacks. Chloe almost died on the news- it would have been a grimm beginning as protectors of the city if Ladybug had been just a few seconds later.
"The only way to find out about Lady Wifi's powers is to fight her." Chat Noir rolled his eyes. He twirled his baton, fumbled it and almost dropped it off the Eiffel Tower, but managed to catch it last second. "Don't overthink it, M'Lady."
Ladybug felt her eye twitch. How can he be so flippant...?
She glared at him. "I'm not overthinking it. We need to have an actual plan other than 'fight her and hope it ends well.'"
Chat Noir crossed his arms. "I wasn't saying it's the plan. We don't even know where she is."
The wind howled- they were high up in the air, without much that could serve as a windbreaker. Chat Noir was still now and he was staring at the ground that seemed to get further away the longer he looked.
"The only way for us to know where she is is when she'll broadcast her position to us." Ladybug eventually spoke up.
"Don't you mean if?"
Ladybug shook her head. "Her only goal is to reveal our identities and then take our miraculous, and she has to fight us to do both of those things. I don't think she has any way to track us, so we have to go to her."
"..." Chat Noir had his brow furrowed.
Ladybug sighed. "Chatton, stay focused."
"Sorry," he mumbled, shoulders slouched. He looked like a dejected puppy. Maybe he should have had the dog miraculous, Ladybug thought, it would match his personality better. If the dog miraculous existed, anyway.
"I have a plan." She announced. Chat Noir visibly perked up.
Which, of course, is when a broadcast popped up on an electronic billboard that was in sight. Ladybug and Chat Noir shared a glance, and propelled themselves off the Eiffel Tower in order to get a closer look.
They landed, just as the Akuma's face popped up on it. Lady Wifi wasn't in the same room as last time. She was in some fancy room, it almost looked like a high end... hotel room.
Ladybug resisted the urge to slam her hand against her forehead. She recalled her last conversation with a sleep deprived Alya, who had been fanatic about learning the identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir, mostly Ladybug. She had suggested Chloe, mostly as a joke and to get some of the suspicion off of herself. She didn't think that it'd lead to...
Lady Wifi saluted. "What's up Paris? Lady Wifi here, in the Le Grand Paris hotel! A trail of clues led me here. I believe that Ladybug's civilian identity lives here somewhere..."
She started looking through rooms, the camera panning in the dark, uninhabited hotel rooms. Eventually she made it to a room that, while still dark, had signs of someone living inside. The camera zoomed in on different objects scattered in the room. "Looks like we hit jackpot!"
"Chat Noir, we have to go," Ladybug prodded.
The camera jumped as Lady Wifi rushed forward. She slammed a pair of doors open to reveal:
Chloe, in a Ladybug costume, posing dramatically on her balcony. Sabrina was beside her in a matching Chat Noir costume. "AHA!"
Chloe dropped her pose. "How dare you! Barging into my personal space like that?! Who do you even think you ar-AH!"
Chloe was frozen, mid scolding. There was a pause button icon on her head. Sabrina held up her non magic- but still very metal- baton replica over her shoulder like it was a baseball bat and she was about to hit a homerun.
"Release Chloe!" She shouted, then charged. And promptly tripped as a pause icon appeared directly over her foot and stuck it to the ground.
Lady Wifi laughed. "Looks like they aren't the real deal! Only two of the biggest fans of our heroes." Lady Wifi turned to talk to the camera. No, she was talking to them. "Ladybug and Chat Noir, if you don't want anything to happen to these two fans, I suggest you come to the Le Grand Paris hotel in the next fifteen minutes. If not well..."
"I'd hate for this channel to lose monetization." Lady Wifi grinned, eyes glinting purple. "I'll see ya in fifteen! Lady Wifi, out!"
The screen cut to black and then returned to an advertisement of some sort of perfume product.
"We need to go now!" Chat Noir exclaimed.
Ladybug nodded. "I'll tell you the new plan on the way."
. . .
Chat Noir landed on the ground. The sun was high in the sky; it would be rather difficult for him to blend in. That wasn't his role to play, anyway. Chloe wasn't on the balcony anymore. Chat Noir flipped open his baton and texted Ladybug the information.
He entered the hotel. There weren't too many places for him to be sneak attacked in the grand lobby, but Ladybug told him not to take any unnecessary risks. He looked around, largely unfazed by the massive chandeleur hanging in the foyer. Then his eyes landed on the empty room and he realized it wasn't quite as deserted as he thought.
There were hotel staff members - bellhops, the concierge, and various servers- all frozen in various poses. Several bellhops were stuck bent over, picking up bags. A server had dropped a platter and attempted to run, but they were stopped. The platter was frozen mid air, the silverware showered the air. The concierge on duty had their hand just over a hidden emergency button- it looked like it was a desperate lunge.
Chat Noir's fist clenched.
"Don't worry! The heroes are here to save you!" The only response he heard was his own echo.
Chat Noir prowled up the stairs to the second floor- his boots made every step near silent. Any noise he made was overshadowed by the faint hum of air conditioning. He walked normally, perking his ears for any sound of conversation behind closed doors, slowing down at corners so he wouldn't stumble into a trap.
He was bait, but getting caught immediately didn't lend itself to a great distraction or chase.
He purr sonally(heh) didn't think a dramatic streamer had it in them to be patient enough for a sneak attack. But Ladybug told him not to take risks. Chat Noir wasn't dumb enough to need to be told not to take risks. Sure, he wasn't the planner person- he preferred taking action rather than waiting to strike- but that didn't make him reckless (he thought, at least).
His ears perked up and he froze. Was that... laughter? He tilted his head. It was coming from down the hall, probably one of the suites. It cut off and was replaced by a rapid jabbering that Chat Noir could hear just fine, but couldn't quite understand. He broke into a light jog, still not making a sound, until he was right outside the door.
". . .And now you get a taste of your medicine, Chloe Bourgeois! How does it feel to be embarrassed live, for all the world to see?" A pause, soon filled by cackling. "That's right! I nearly forgot you can't speak!"
Chat Noir peaked his head around the corner. The room itself wasn't a suite, more of a mini banquet hall where guests could congregate outside of their rooms. It was dimly lit, with a spotlight focused on a figure in the center. Chloe was tied up to a chair, a classic gag in her mouth, face screwed up in obvious disgust. Lady Wifi stood close gesturing wildly with one hand, phone in her other. She whirled in a circle. Chat Noir ducked back behind the wall, pressing himself against it.
"Only five minutes before the heroes get here," Lady Wifi taunted, smirked, sneered, tossed her hair. "Tick Tock. Your time's running out."
She kept talking, bragging for some reason. Chloe must have done something to provoke her. Chat Noir felt his heart beat rapidly, but he pulled out his communicator. Turned down its volume. Called Ladybug. She picked it up without a hello. "Second floor. Room number 225. I think there's 6 windows, east side. Chloe's tied up. I'm gonna go in."
He hung up after Ladybug confirmed.
"-it would be a shame if the heroes never show up-" Chat Noir smirked- monologuing villains always created the best entrance. "-a shame for you-"
"Like a hero would leave a damsel in distress in distress for long!" Chat Noir stood in the doorway, grinning with his teeth. "That would be un-purrfessional-"
Lady Wifi whirled around and fired a pause symbol. He tucked against the doorframe. It whizzed passed.
"Looks like we have a chat chase on our hands, folks!" Lady Wifi grinned at the phone in her hand. Then she pointed at Chat. "I'm gonna put you in your kennel!" She fired two more
"How rude!" He complained, ducking back behind the wall, "I've been purrfectly behaved!"
He started to run down the hall. Seconds later, the akuma came flying around the corner, phone in hand, pause buttons shooting out. Chat ducked and twisted, not losing Lady Wifi but not letting her gain on him either.
One flew right next to his ear and he flinched. He didn't think he could deflect them with his staff. Not without losing his travel method and communication device and weapon.
"Get back here, little kitty!"
No way.
His staff buzzed. Good. That meant Ladybug got Chloe, so his distraction paid off.
He turned a corner just to see a whole barrage of attacks hit the back wall. His heart skipped a beat and he paled a little. She figured out rapid fire. He needed cover, fast. This narrow hallway wasn't going to cut it. Maybe he could-
He stopped. His brain screeched to a halt for a brief millisecond. He thought he was further ahead than that!? How did she catch up so quickly?!
He was stuck mid stride, back foot just touching the ground and front foot just about to hit the ground. He felt like he was going to tip forward in any second, but he remained.
Lady Wifi rounded in front of his vision, eyes narrowed, smile wide. "Ready for your trip to the vet? You need your claws clipped."
Chat Noir glared (good to know he could do that). And worked his jaw. So his face worked. Also good.
"You need to check your facts- I'm pretty sure groomers clip claws-"
The akuma glared "Don't be a troll-"
"Also" he smirked. "Cataclysm!"
Power coursed through him, and his hand holding the ring was wreathed in a bubbling dark energy.
"Cat got your tongue?" He taunted.
She reeled back. "Plot twist!" She cried out. Then turned to her phone. "You see this, viewers? Chat Noir tried to do a thousand IQ play..."
His ring beeped. Dread filled him.
"...without realizing it only saved him an extra five minutes!"
Chat Noir felt his ears heat up. "It'll hardly take Ladybug a minute to beat you."
"Now look who's the damsel," She smiled. Then flicked his nose. "Or should I say purr-ince in peril"
"Hey! Cat puns are trademarked!"
Only to be thoroughly ignored.
"Get your nets, Wifiers! We have a bug to catch!" She made one final pose, before dropping her phone. She turned, leered at Chat Noir. "Now, where to put you."
. . .
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
How could she be so dumb?
Chat Noir wasn't picking up his communicator. And Lady Wifi disappeared.
How could things go so wrong so quickly?
Chloe had been talking incessantly in her ear.
"Thank you so much for saving me! You know, I'm your biggest fan. I made your fan merch website, and commissioned all the costumes and even the little accessories, but you've probably heard of me already, you already saved me, I'm Chloe Bourgeois and-"
Ladybug felt her eye twitch. Then she had an abrupt realization that she was a superhero and didn't have to put up Chloe's... Chloe-ness anymore.
"That's nice," Ladybug's Marinette was showing, but she managed to withhold the eyeroll, "but you need to get to safety so I can take down this akuma." She whipped out her yo-yo and launched herself away, leaving Chloe on a rooftop several buildings away from the action.
That was a minute ago, but now Ladybug was standing in an empty hallway, on the second floor. The room Chloe had been in was lifeless. There wasn't a trace of Sabrina anywhere, so she must have been kept somewhere else. If she was even kept at all.
Chat Noir must not have gotten away from Lady Wifi. These hallways were the worst place to fight her: cramped, no cover, nowhere to run or hide. Ladybug couldn't decide if a large space with lots of room or a small space with lots of cover would be easier to fight her in.
How could she lead him astray like that? He found the room undetected, but he got caught in the chase. Did she send him to his doom...?
But wait- If he got caught he would be unmasked in front all of Paris. Unless he did something to delay that. Or if Lady Wifi wanted the whole set before she did the reveal.
Ladybug shook her head. She should have been the bait. Chat Noir should have gotten Chloe- he was suited for stealth.
No use for what if's. Fix it.
That sounded oddly like Tikki. Her mind settled. She still had a chance. And she can't lose it.
If I were Lady Wifi, taking a new hostage, where would I go..?
The hotel rooms were too vulnerable with several exits, and the mini ball room was already discovered. The kitchen would be secure, only a few entries and exits. The lobby downstairs was nice and big, with good lighting. Pretty appealing for a youtuber akuma. But vulnerable.
Ladybug's footsteps punctuated the silence and hum of the air conditioner (Chloe's hotel had an air conditioning system. Figures). They echoed in the stairwell, and she cringed at every sound.
The lobby was full of statues. People, wax statues, frozen in place. Ladybug ran to the closest person, his face stuck in perpetual surprise, fear. He wasn't breathing. Ladybug felt his wrist, the pulsepoint. It wasn't beating. He was warm. The blue pause button hovered innocently over his chest. As if it hadn't just.. hadn't just-
Ladybug shook her head and stepped back, vision blurring, lip trembling. A sob worked its way from her throat. She bit her tongue, strangled her scream. She tasted iron.
She thought Chloe had been the only hostage at risk, she was the only one threatened, the only one Lady Wifi seemed to care about. She hadn't thought... didn't think that-
You don't have time for a breakdown: Chat Noir needs your help now.
Something shifted, settled in her chest. Her vision cleared.
She needed to go to the kitchen. There weren't any other options. It was definitely a trap.
The real question was how could Lady Wifi trap something with her skill set, shooting pause buttons that immobilized people. Ladybug didn't think there was any way for her to make some sort of inescapable, unbeatable thing to capture her. The only thing Lady Wifi could hope to do was ambush. And ambushes really only worked if they were unexpected.
So she walked in knowing it was a trap.
The kitchen really only had one set of doors that Ladybug could find. A perfect ambush spot. Lady Wifi would probably be hiding against the wall, so she could shoot without immediately getting spotted.
Ladybug didn't walk in.
She ran, through the doors open, and threw herself to her knees- sliding like a football player going for the final kick of the game. A blue bullet flashed over her head- It would have hit her chest had she come in normally.
" What ?!"
Right corner.
Her momentum faded fast, but she somersaulted into a handspring to dodge the next attack. It fizzled into nothing on the ground. She landed on her feet without a wobble
Lady Wifi growled. "Don't be a cheater! How'd you know?"
A barrage of pause symbols flew at her. Ladybug vaulted over a counter for cover. They popped like bubble wrap when they hit. She picked her head up, flinching back down as five more flew at her. One stuck to a pan that was hanging from a lattice of metal wires. Ladybug's lip twitched.
She snuck her hand onto the counter. Grabbed the first thing she could find, and-
Lad Wifi yelped. "Did you just throw a spatula at me?!"
Ladybug risked a glance. There was a floating metal spatula a few feet away from her. The akuma's mouth was ajar and her eyes were wide.
Ladybug took the opportunity to throw a charcuterie board, cheese and all.
"What-?!" Lady Wifi scrambled to shoot the hefty wooden board through flying swiss, ham, salami, and even dastardly grapes. Most of her shots nailed the food. She lunged to the side just before it flew past and hit the wall she was standing in front of.
Ladybug's eyes fell on a glint of silver. A small carving knife laid innocently on a cutting board. She hesitated, Alya's smile flashed in her mind.
"Cheese? Really?" Lady Wifi shook her hands. "How unprofessional. And here I thought this collab' would get me something good."
Then the warm body without a pulse. Almost cold, stuck. Chat Noir missing.
"Where's Chat Noir?" She said softly, no, not softly. Quietly, with red-hot steel underlying the deceptive volume.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She laughed. "You'll be reunited with him soon!"
She swiped her finger across her phone, and more pause symbols flew out. Ladybug grabbed the knife. She threw the cutting board. Several bullets splattered uselessly against it.
Lady Wifi growled. "Stop being a pest!"
Ladybug rolled to a different island. She threw a frying pan. It clanged against the wall.
"Why is it so laggy?!" Lady Wifi was swiping her finger desperately across her screen. "Ugh, the wifi sucks in here!"
. . .
Sabrina stood barefoot in a dark room. A sparking mess of a machine was in front of her. Her solid metal baton was held loosely in her hand.
A scowl was on her face. "Try using your phone now. Bitch."
. . .
A pause fizzled out. A grape fell to the floor. Then the cheese and ham and the cutting board.
"No, no, no!" Lady Wifi's eyes were wide. "Why isn't it working!?"
A bang came from inside the freezer. Ladybug's head swiveled, only to duck as a glitching pause symbol flew at her. It dissolved before it even made half the distance.
"5G sucks in here, too!" That was Chat Noir, hair ruffled, ring fully charged. He was leaning on his baton with a cheshire grin splitting his face in half. "I knew you'd come to save me. " He winked.
Ladybug wasn't really the one to save him. Someone had blown the wifi router, but it wasn't her. She didn't have the energy to correct him.
"We have an akuma to bust."
Lady Wifi looked at the two heroes, sweat gathering around her collar. "You know what, actually, there's been a last minute reschedule, I can't do the collaboration anymore. You know how it is, conflicts come up all the time-"
She dashed out the kitchen doors.
Ladybug and Chat Noir gave chase.
Lady Wifi turned the corner, chanting some sort of wifi ritual underneath her breath. She flicked her phone. A speed up symbol appeared on her feet. "Yes!" It fizzled out immediately. "C'mon!"
Ladybug threw her yo-yo just as the akuma turned a corner into a corridor full of windows. It bounced off the far wall and-
"Ack-!"
-hit the phone from her hand.
"Chat Noir!"
"On it!" He hefted his baton, extended it, and threw it like a javelin. Lady Wifi was forced back as the hurtling metal missile nailed the phone. It's screen cracked. A small, purple black butterfly escaped from the broken device. Lady Wifi fell to her knees, a dark energy breaking loose from within her.
"Time to de-evilize!" The yo-yo returned to Ladybug's hand just in time for her to throw it forward again. It opened, capturing the akuma. It safely returned to her hand. She exhaled, staring at the cage, holding an innocent butterfly that was forced to carry out the pain and whims of an awful, horrible man. A monster.
She tapped the yo-yo and it opened much like the elytra of a ladybug. The white butterfly fanned its wings, testing the air. Then it fluttered out.
"Bye-bye, little butterfly..." She muttered, watching it until it vanished. She gripped her yo-yo and breathed.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
A flood of red, pink, and white energy exploded from it, accompanied by a swarm of ladybugs. They zipped away, off to fix everything broken, damaged.
The cloud of energy lifted and revealed Alya rubbing her head in confusion.
Chat Noir held out a fist. "Pound it!"
Ladybug stared at it, before eventually giving into the fist bump.
"What... happened...?" Alya's eyebrows were pinched together and she hadn't gotten up from her kneeling position.
Ladybug crouched down. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I-I was getting chewed out by my mom and I stormed off... then..." Her eyes widened. "Was I akumatized, or...?"
Ladybug nodded. "Everything's fine, now. Do you need help getting home?"
Alya's mouth fell open. Stars filled her eyes. "Are you offering to give me a superhero ride!?"
Ladybug smiled. "Yes. I'm offering to give you a superhero ride."
She grinned. "How can I refuse that!"
"Alright." She smiled, and turned to Chat Noir, who was standing in her peripherals. "Is something wrong?"
He straightened up. "No, nothing's wrong , I just wanted to talk with you about something... important." He glanced at Alya, who was staring at the two superheroes without much discretion. "But it can wait until later."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded once, completely serious.
Ladybug let Alya climb up on her back and moments later they were swinging away.
He watched them disappear, unable to speak about his doubts regarding their mutual trust in their partnership in front of someone who could and would spread the sensitive information to everyone they can get their hands on.
A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed. Sorry for this one taking so long, lol.