Armed
Ladybug could only watch as the Akuma held her wrist in a vice-like grip, before they brought their hand up high above their head, a sick twisted grin on their face. Then they brought their hand down.
Marinette sat up in her bed with a panicked gasp. Marinette took a couple of deep breaths, before she quickly checked her ears for the Ladybug earrings, her right hand felt the earring in her right ear. Her left hand felt nothing, Marinette looked at her arm, before the rest of the encounter stormed into her mind.
The Akuma had severed her arm at the elbow and badly mangled the stump to the extent that the remains had to be amputated. In the madness, Marinette hadn't noticed her transformation drop, revealing her identity to the world.
Chat had quickly disposed of the Akuma, before he got Marinette out of the battle zone, the wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous having gone into shock and stopped responding to the world around her.
After that incident, Marinette had been placed on leave, until she could recover, with Tikki flat out refusing to work with anyone else. Marinette closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath, before getting out of bed. Today Marinette was returning to school, most likely will have to respond to whatever lies Lila had been spreading about her.
Marinette slowly changed out of her pyjamas and into her normal ensemble, folding the sleeve of her left arm so that it wouldn't get in the way of her daily business. Everything had been too quiet as Marinette walked into the school, she was early enough that almost nobody was here.
There were times Marinette could still feel her fingers, ever since that Akuma had cut of her arm and exposed her identity to everyone.
Marinette was vaguely aware of the stares she was getting from the other students that were arriving. Marinette couldn't tell if they were staring because she was Ladybug or that they were disappointed after witnessing their Heroine having her arm torn off.
"Alright, let's see it." Said Kim, marching up to Marinette with Alix and Max in tow.
"See what?" Marinette responded, confused.
"Your scars, your battle wounds," Said Kim, "everything you got defending the city."
Max and Alix sat either side of her, with Max next to her stump.
"Fine." Said Marinette, shrugging off her jacket.
"Max, now." Said Kim, as Max started fastening something to her arm.
Marinette felt a sharp burning pain race from her stump to her spine, before the pain vanished completely.
Everyone was silent. Marinette stood up and leaned forwards, her arms supporting her. Marinette looked down and saw a mechanical prosthetic where her left arm used to be.
"So, how does it feel?" Max asked, as Marinette flexed the fingers of her new hand.
"Amazing," Marinette breathed, "I can even feel my fingers touching."
"That's because I linked up a synthetic nervous system to your natural nervous system," Said Max, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "I've been working on it for a while."
Marinette turned and faced Max, her expression neutral, before she grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Thank you." Marinette whispered, before she let go of Max, her eyes wet.
"Well, you're Ladybug and Ladybug does a lot for the city and having your arm removed was likely traumatic and-" Max was cut off by Kim elbowing him.
"I think you're welcome would've done, Max." Said Kim, as Marinette wiped her eyes.
"The arm has an aluminium-titanium alloy as an exoskeleton, with a mix of titanium, aluminium, magnesium and beryllium for the internal skeleton frame." Said Max, as Marinette continued to move her new arm around, "It might take a while for the touch sensors to sync up with the rest of your body, but it should work."
Marinette examined the arm, below the plating of the arm, Marinette could see a couple of lights flickering, closer examination allowed Marinette to conclude that they were little lights that were to show that arm was working.
Marinette was wondering if Max would be upset if she painted it. The warning bell rang, signalling for the students to start heading to class. Marinette made her way there with a spring in her step.
By the end of the day, almost everyone had seen Marinette's new arm, including Lila.
"It's a state-of-the-art creation," Lila bragged, "Pierre was all too eager to help me get Ladybug a new arm."
The class went silent, all eyes going to Lila, Max and Marinette, Max's eyes wide with shock.
"What's it made of?" Marinette asked, looking down at the arm.
"Oh, a mix between Silver and Gold." Said Lila, looking at the colours on the arm.
"So, there's no chance of me ever feeling with my left hand again?" Marinette continued, cocking her head.
"No," Lila simpered, "Pierre can't do that."
Marinette turned and looked at Max, "You didn't tell me you changed your name."
Lila froze, "W-what?"
Marinette turned and looked at Lila, "Max was the one who made the arm, he even rigged it so that I could feel with it. I sincerely hope you're taking medication for your compulsive lying disease, because I think Max would be pretty upset that you claimed someone else did his work."
Lila was silent as all eyes were on her, "W-well the disease is a recent discovery."
Marinette cocked her head again, just as Adrien walked through the door, with Ms. Bustier behind him, "So you're the only known person suffering from it?"
Lila nodded. Marinette let out a low whistle, before she looked at the door and spotted Lila's mother.
"Ms. Rossi," Said Marinette, walking towards the woman, "does the school know you're here?"
Ms. Rossi nodded, "Apparently Lila's been absent from school, but she's been telling me it's been closed due to the Akuma attacks."
Marinette frowned, "Chat and I make sure to keep the Akuma attacks as short as possible, since at least one of us is in school."
Ms. Rossi nodded absentmindedly, "What were you saying she was suffering from?"
"Her disease," Said Marinette, looking confused, "The one that makes her lie uncontrollably."
Ms. Rossi looked at Lila, "Lila, what's she talking about?"
Lila looked panicked, "She's lying, I-"
"You told all of us you had that." Said Alya, glaring at Lila, "You told the school that you had that disease, that you had tinnitus, arthritis and god knows what!"
"Do you actually know Jagged Stone?"
"You said that you did charity work with Prince Ali!"
"How long have you been lying to us?" Alix demanded, glaring up at Lila.
"Since the beginning." Said Adrien, getting a series of looks from the class, "I knew, but I didn't actually think she was hurting anyone, at least up until Piledriver."
Marinette barely contained a flinch at the name of the Akuma that took her arm.
"After they were de-akumatized," Said Adrien, "She said that Lila had deliberately caused her to lose her job, she was the head of estates here. Lila lied about her stealing and Principle Damocles just fired her without investigating."
Everyone was looking at Lila, missing the Akuma phasing through the window, until Lila jumped up and made a grab for it.
Ms. Rossi hooked two fingers onto Lila's collar to stop her and a book flew across the room and squashed the Akuma against the wall. After a moment the book turned black, before it fell still.
Marinette was still, her hand still outstretched from when she threw her sketch book. Marinette looked around, before commenting "I did not think that through."