Sorry again how long this took, and I've got a side story in the works plus my novel so sorry all. Will try and ge the next chapter out as fast as I can and a new chapter for a few of my other projects and the endings of Amphiba and Owl House were amazing!
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As Kagami walked through her house, she kept her mind on her goal. She was a female Japanese teen of average height with has creamy-pale skin with a light dusting of light-brown freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, sharp and slanted moderate vermilion eyes, straight black hair with blue reflections in a bob style with her bangs swept to the left in a face-framing way. She was dressed in a simple robe and walked silently, each step measured and all her mental efforts were towards not letting her phone call with her friend cause her temper to completely go wild before she talked to her mother. As she moved she was getting even more worried about just what else this liar might have done that Marinette hadn't told her.
As she moved closer to low Japanese music being played and she sighed. Her idea to try and trick her mother was something that she might do, but she took a deep breath and looked at the door to her mother's office silently for a few moments and sighed. Ka-san won't be too happy about this, but if I frame this the right way then maybe I'll be able to get her permission. She thought as she knocked on the door and the music stopped. "Ka-san, I'm sorry to bother you but there's something we need to talk about."
"Come!"
Kagami opened the door and walked into a room, her mother sat on a recliner with her cane next to her, dressed in a simple white robe with a white cloth over her eyes. Next to her was a small computer that she had been speaking to and a brail tablet to let her 'read' the words of the reports. Her mother, Tomoe Tsurugi was a pale-skinned slender Japanese middle-aged woman of average height with long black hair with dark blue reflections arranged in Chignon style.
Tomoe 'looked' towards Kagami and scowled, Kagami hiding a cringe before regaining her strength.
"You should be in your room getting ready to sleep, why aren't you?" Tomoe asked softly and Kagami swallowed.
"After I came home I checked my local social media….. Adrien has disappeared after a bad photo shoot, and his Official Accounts are silent. I wouldn't be too… surprised about this but a schoolmate's account said he wasn't in on Friday," Kagami said and Tomoe 'looked' at her for a few moments.
"I see," Tomoe said and she put down her tablet.
Kagami looked at her mother and tried to figure out what was going through her head. She might obey whatever her mother decided and most of the time she understood what her mother meant, but sometimes it was hard to even understand what was going through her head. She demanded perfection from Kagami and tried to stomp down on anything that she didn't like about Kagami, and she retaliated by hiding from her mother what she didn't like and doing what she wanted not her mother. Kagami knew that eventually the two of them would have a confrontation about it, but for now, she was content to let it lie.
Tomoe meanwhile sat there and thought about her options. Adrien was a prominent piece in her plans; if he had run away from Gabriel's sub-par parenting then she would have to rethink her Paris campaign, at least her secondary objective. But if her daughter found Adrien she could maybe score some points with either Adrien or Gabriel depending on what Adrien was doing, and what his plans were. If this was nothing more than a tantrum then Gabriel might take her ideas for a formal engagement between their children, with Kagami having a controlling share in the House of Gabriel of course.
"Gabriel has to be looking for him, but how can we find the boy first?" Tomoe asked and Kagami looked at her mother and cleared her throat. "What would you do to succeed where his father failed?"
"I could get to his school before practice and talk to Adrien's friends and maybe see if they know anything, maybe stay out longer and try and talk to a mutual friend, see what they know" Kagami suggested and Tomoe looked at her daughter and kept her face calm.
"No, training and Monday's schedule after is already set," Tomoe said and Kagami looked at her mother, surprised that she didn't want Kagami to look into this, she knew that Tomoe had plans for their stay in Paris and Adrien seemed to be part of it but how she didn't know.
"Yes ka-san," Kagami said and looked down.
"Do it tomorrow, instead. I expect you to report on what you find," Tomoe said and Kagami bowed, a smile on her face.
"Yes, Ka-San," Kagami said as she left the room.
Tomoe sat there and cleared her throat, a small tracked drone with a single manipulator on a crane with a camera and clamp on the end came over, with another tracked drone with a basked on its back beside it.
"Go and get my tea, and play Relaxation mix 3, second collection," Tomoe ordered and she sat back. After the song started to play for a few moments a beeping was heard and she nodded. "So she's gone, good. Program email, address Kyodai. 'The younger has fled, the plan will need to change…. Prepare to send in rival, will need to think about other problems. Will update when data is available.' Send message once time is 6 AM at destination."
As Tomoe leaned back as the drones returned with her tea she sighed. The work to regain an old family passion was something that would never be easy, but then the best things in life to gain never were. She wondered again if she should bring her daughter into her world, but then the girl hadn't learned to be a true Yuki-Hime yet, she still had a heart. And that wasn't what she wanted her heir to have, soon she would have to try and destroy it, but it had to be in the right way of course.
She had spent so much time raising her, did she make a mistake on her choice? The girl was being the proper amount of defiance and loyalty but Still, with time, she would either become who she wanted or she would be a failure and have an accident. But Tomoe had done too much to let that happen, somehow Kagami would walk the family's road, and once she was in too deep, she would have no other choice but to go only on way. Still, I wonder how the other is doing? Tomoe thought as she leaned back and drank her tea.
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Ondine looked at her room and smiled, she and Bolla had put everything back into the 'pocket' and put a list of what piles they had made so they could get the things out if they needed them. And she looked at the dress that she had claimed, each of them was truly beautiful and she wondered how or when she might wear them but something her called her to them. She remembered that Kim's friend Marinette….. she was a budding fashion designer maybe she could fix them for her. But that was later, now she had to handle what the Mage had told them.
"This convergence what will happen exactly?" Ondine asked and Bolla looked at her and sighed.
"The Fey will get excited and a lot of them will rampage, ancient seals will be undone and magic will be more powerful," Bolla said and Ondine looked at her with a confused look.
Ondine tried to understand what Bolla said and she remembered a book that she read for school, a Mid Summer's Night Dream, and wondered.
"Wait, Fey? Like Oberon and Titania, Fairies?" Ondine asked and Bolla looked at Ondine in confusion.
"No I mean the Fey, non-Sentient energy life forms that bond with animals and humans, overtime they merge … some say if they merge with a human the human is consumed or the Fey are consumed… it wasn't clear to the Magi," Bolla said and Ondine looked at her shocked.
Ondine tried and failed to think how something like that could have been kept secret from the world, but then the Miraculous had. She went still and looked at Bolla and swallowed. "You said human, what about animals, what if they merge with animals?"
"That's the source of a lot of monster legends. And me and my holders during the last war? We stopped a Thule plot to send a lot of Fey-Animals against the Allies," Bolla said and Ondine looked at the Kwami and shook her head in awe.
Ondine just sat down on her bed and laid back, trying to wrap her head around this new information. Bolla had been active during WW2, and that meant the Seven had been as well. Since they weren't in any of the history books about the Supers of WW2, that meant they stayed in the shadows and struck down anyone who dared to get in their ways. And since they've stayed alive through that and other wars were but harvest for them since they stole their extended lives. They would still know how to stay away from the public eye. And that thought caused her to stop thinking, the way she had fought Nekhbet hadn't been silent or hidden, it had been loud. So why…Ondine paled as it hit her. "Oh, they wanted to talk to Hawkmoth."
"What… oh. Oh!" Bolla said and she realized what Ondine had.
"We've gotta talk to the heroes about this, and the Fey!" Ondine said and she shuddered.
"Yeah, we gotta warn… oh, they know!" Bolla said as her eyes went still, suddenly everything crystallized in her mind. Everything was explained, why they had been at those locations over the years, what they had done and why they were here.
"What do you mean?!" Ondine asked as Bolla shot into the air and started to fly around, a strange look on her muzzle.
"The Seven, they came here to take advantage of the Convergence! They want to harvest mana for something!" Bolla said and Ondine went still as she tried to understand what Bolla meant and she suddenly swallowed.
"What can they do, anything like the Wish?" Ondine asked and Bolla looked at her with a confused look on her face.
"What Wish?" Bolla asked and Ondine looked at the Kwami in confusion and
"The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, supposedly they can be used to make a wish that will always come true, even alter reality itself," Ondine explained and Bolla looked at her in shock before nodding.
"So that's the last resort he mentioned. No…. they like to struggle for their goals. But maybe they want to cast a spell, overpower it or something. They've gotten copies of a lot of magical knowledge over the years," Bolla said and Ondine looked at Bolla and tried to figure out everything the Seven could do and came up with too many dark ideas.
Bolla meanwhile tried to figure out when the Seven had learned about the Convergence and what they planned to do with their harvest.
The magic of Atlantis was something that was both wonderful and terrible, and the foes that they faced were just as bad. From the Fey to traitors, the Kwami and their partners fought to protect their people, when the Fall happened she was so sad, and to watch as their home became nothing more than myth had been even worse.
But to see what Magic was capable of over the years, it had been beyond anything he thought the masters of old were capable of. The times Magic had saved lives and towns, the way villains tried to exploit it, and rituals to get around problems they had to power their goals. The Convergence was something that if they did it right, the Seven would harvest a lot of power, power to do practically anything. I can't let them do that! We need to reach out to the other Kwami and their partners, they have to help us, they can. Boll thought as she looked at Ondine as she laid back on her bed and tried to figure out how to handle anything.
Ondine didn't expect anything like this when she and Kim went out for supper. She had fought with Ladybug and Chat Noir and the others, she had
A ringing caused them to turn to Ondine's cell phone and she smiled when she saw who it was before she answered it. "Kim, hey! How are you?"
"Great!" Kim said and they heard the sounds of things being moved about and Kim trying to keep something or someone from making a mess. "Sorry I wasn't able to contact you, I was near the Akuma today and my phone died on me, must have left an app running last night."
"That's fine…. I just had to stay home today anyway, I mean what we found….. you doing okay?" Ondine asked and Kim chuckled through the phone.
"Yeah, I'm fine really!" Kim said and Ondine smiled as Bolla watched.
"So what's up?" Ondine asked as Bolla looked at her before starting to smile.
"Just wanted to talk to you, and make sure you were okay at that school of yours…" Kim said and Ondine blushed and looked down at the floor as Bolla started to grin.
Bolla looked at her new holder and grinned. She liked it when they knew how to have fun, even more, when they had someone to care about, that always seemed to keep people from going down the wrong path.
"Everything's fine, after practice tomorrow want to maybe get lunch?" Ondine asked and Kim sounded happy on the other end.
"Yeah, that sounds great, my treat!" Kim said quickly and then Ondine and Bolla both heard a crash over the phone. "Sorry, wild animal got in, gotta go!"
Ondine fell back onto her bed and hugged one of her pillows and blushed as she giggled. It was hard to get a date with Kim with how the city's been lately, with how Hawkmoth seemed to be stepping up more. She looked up at Bolla who grinned back and for a moment she went still as she saw Bolla's grinning face.
"So who's Kim?" The innocent question with the look on her face caused Ondine to blush hard and hide her face as Bolla laughed lightly.
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As Lila came into her room she sighed and collapsed onto her bed and stared up at her ceiling. Her mom had come back early from work, she didn't know how to feel about that. Happy she hadn't been ordering takeout or planning how to handle Adrien when her mother returned and heard them?
She giggled, wondering how her mother might react, she had been fooling her for years, leaving behind a trail of destroyed do-gooders and leaches who probably were all doing minimal wage or something, and with her changing the contact information the schools couldn't even try and track them down.
"Still enough about my memories, I need to actually do this paper on my own. She had to give everyone a different topic to write about, I can't get one of those idiots to write for me!" Lila growled and shook her head. At least I can make something up easily enough for the meat of this stupid paper! She thought as she looked at her pen and smirked as she grabbed her laptop and turned it on, grabbing a wire and connecting one end to the pen, the other to her computer as it turned on, quickly downloading what she had said into the microphone and smirked.
She leaned back and sighed, that was done, getting that program and microphone pen was one of the best decisions she made. With it, she was free for the rest of the weekend! She wondered if Hawkmoth would contact her again, she would love to twist and use him to hurt Marinette. Or maybe she could get an Akuma and destroy Marinette's home first, making her family homeless? Of course to do that she would have to finish off Ladybug first or could Hawkmoth recall the Akuma so the damage would remain… could that work? He's never tried that before, if Ladybug capturing the Akuma had nothing to do with the repair work she did, then the plan would be nothing but a waste of time. But we could learn something about Ladyslut! All we need to do is wait and sooner or later she'll make a mistake and then we'll win! And when he takes over, I'll have a place in whatever he does next, and then I'll make Marinette a slave, her dress work is something at least. She thought as she giggled. As she leaned back she missed a form flying by her window, the same thing her mother had sent out their windows earlier.
It flew into Dolores's room, and in the light revealed it to be a stone bat that landed on her desk. As Dolores walked into the room wearing a black robe that went to the floor she towed off her hair before she stopped as she saw the stone bat. It sent two beams of energy from its eyes into her's and she stood there before the energy died down before she reacted. "What did they mean, harvest mana? What are they going to do ….. No. The question is what is going to happen in this city?"
As Dolores looked out her window, she wondered just what was going on and how she could profit from it. She suddenly felt her body spasm and she clamped her mouth shut by sheer force of will as she felt such pain as she dropped backward onto her bed. As she thrashed about her eyes were molten steel as the pain intensified, once she changed skins this would be a thing of the past for the next thirty years!
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Kagami got out of her car and looked toward the Bakery and smiled. She might be here on 'orders' from her mother but she was happy to have a chance to visit a friend's house. As she looked at her car she looked around and nodded. "Testu, go to the school and wait for me there."
"affirmative!" the car said and it drove towards the school.
Kagami looked at the bakery and took a deep breath before walking into the building. Sabine saw her and smiled at a new customer. Kagami wondered if Sabine was a worker at the shop, and then remembered how Marinette said her mother manned the counter once when the two of them talked about having family businesses.
"Hello, I'm a friend of Marinette's, I was wondering if I could talk to her?"
"And your name?" Sabine asked as she moved her hand towards a rolling pin she kept behind the counter out of sight.
"Kagami Tsurugi," Kagami said and Sabine blinked before looking at Kagami closer.
"Oh, I remember you! Didn't you do that friendship scavenger hunt with Marinette?" Sabine asked and Kagami nodded.
"Yes, I wanted to talk to Marinette, a friend of ours is missing," Kagami said and Sabine
Sabine looked at Kagami, wincing as she remembered how Marinette had gone on a date with Luka plus Adrien and Kagami as a double date.
"I'll call her, I'm sorry but right now after a….. situation only friends we happened to know well are allowed up to the family apartment," Sabine said as she brought out a cell phone and dialed a number, smiling at Kagami until Marinette answered the call. "Marinette, that friend of yours, Kagami is down here, are you decent?"
Sabine nodded at the reply and smiled at Kagami. "You'll be down in a few minutes, good."
"Thank you," Kagami said and bowed. Sabine chuckled and smiled at her moments before Marinette appeared at the doorway into the apartment.
Marinette looked at Kagami and swallowed, after the phone call last night she wondered if Kagami had picked something up that told her Adrien was here. But the way that Kagami was just standing there, not glaring at her caused her to think that her spiral was wrong and she forced herself to calm down.
"Hello Marinette," Kagami greeted with a smile and Marinette forced herself to relax.
"Kagami, hey how are you?" Marinette asked and Kagami looked at her before a bell rang and a customer came in. Marinette and Kagami stepped aside and she looked out the windows at the park and smiled at her friend. "Come on, let's get over to the park, out of the way so we can talk."
As Sabine dealt with the customer she kept an eye on her daughter and Kagami as they walked away. Part of her was worried about Kagami, she gave off the same vibe that Adrien had the first few times he had interacted with them, and she was worried about just why that was. She looked at Kagami and wondered if she should call on her family to look into Kagami's, but for now, she wouldn't.
As Kagami and Marinette sat down, Marinette sighed and looked away as Kagami gathered her thoughts.
"So….." Marinette began and Kagami interrupted her.
"What are your plans for the liar and that place that tried to shame you?" Kagami asked and Marinette took a deep breath.
Marinette looked around the park, wondering what she could say and how to explain it. She felt Tikki press against her from within her purse and then felt something else pressed against her. Putting her hand into her purse Tikki handed over Marinette's phone and looking at a note app she typed something and showed it to Kagami. "I have a few plans, nothing I want to say at this time until we hear back of course."
Kagami looked at it and nodded after reading the following. 'I don't trust Lila not to be watching us, or your mother for not having spyware on your phone. So talk normally and keep it general.' Kagami looked at Marinette for a moment and nodded as she brought out her phone.
"So you've taken steps to protect your permanent record?" Kagami asked as she showed Marinette her phone with the text, 'Of course, you've been okay?'
"Yeah, with how fast everything was we think we can get a hearing that will hopefully put this all to bed, with the proper people being punished," Marinette said and tipped out a message that she showed Kagami. 'Yeah, and….. promise your mother won't find out.'
"Good. And like I said last night, if you need a lawyer let me know, I know a few who would do some pro bona or take payment from the settlement," Kagami said as she typed. 'Yes, whatever you tell me I won't tell her.'
"Yeah, well I hope so," Marinette said and typed a message. 'Adrien is safe, he came over with a lawyer to help after he gave me some advice that led to Lila's plan. He's also suing Gabriel for abusive behavior, and breaking child labor laws. And Gabriel might have been behind Lila getting me expelled, or she did it for Hawkmoth to use me to spark a mass attack.'
Kagami's eyes widened and she barely kept a snarl from her face. That onna dared to use my friend and hurt her in such a way!? I'll kill her! When I get my hands on her! Kagami thought as she gritted her teeth. It was only Marinette touching her shoulder that caused her to look up at Marinette, the look of worry in her eyes almost caused Kagami to blush before looking away and typing. "Good, very good. You should hire a lawyer through. The good ones can spot a lie, just like my mother. I wouldn't be able to get a lie past my mother, and I doubt that onna would be able to lie that well."
Kagami finished typing and showed Marinette who blanched as she read; 'Yes I mean that.'
Marinette took a deep breath and sat there, trying to think what this could mean before realizing that Kagami didn't want to know where Adrien was, her mother might get it out of her and then use it to her advantage.
"So do you know where Adrien is?" Kagami asked and Marinette looked at her before putting her phone away, Kagami started to smile as she did the same.
"Not right now, no. Maybe that fencing teacher is helping him out, try him maybe. Gossip was at one point he sheltered one of his fencers when his mother was abusive," Marinette said and Kagami nodded with a smile.
As they got up Kagami hugged Marinette and leaned her mouth towards her ears. "Keep fighting, justice will help those who try. And if not, I have an in at my school, you and Adrien would look cute in the uniform."
Marinette looked at Kagami and hugged back, a smile on her face. "See you later Kagami."
As Kagami walked towards the school to continue "Investigating', a small blush threatened to break out as she imagined herself and Adrien in variants of Kagami's outfit and going to class with her. Then Kagami could show her and Adrien around, like the places where students hid from the teacher and then… Marinette held her head as she blushed and she heard and felt Tikki laugh.
Kagami meanwhile walked towards Francis-Duport, a scowl on her face. A few of her teammates might have heard any gossip about what had happened, if they heard anything about how Marinette was expelled she might have a few words with her sensei about this as well. If the school wasn't treating Marinette right then there might be an even bigger problem here than just one student.
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Rose smiled as she looked up at the sky, trying not to let what happened with Lila and Marinette weigh her down. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Marinette wouldn't willingly hurt someone, even if they were after the same guy. But she had been shocked at the speed Mr. Damocles had expelled Marinette, and it wasn't until Kim had mentioned it was illegal that she understood why it was bothering her so much. She didn't want to think too badly of the school, but the way it had been handled was so wrong! And the talk the three of them had last night hadn't helped, with Luka's reaction to everything. So far the band planned to work out their next song and she hoped Marinette would come, they needed to apologize to her for not speaking up!
And her new song was something that would be great, after last night's wave Rose had talked to Anarka about ghost waves and the talks had inspired her. So far she had a general idea about the lyrics and she had been experimenting with the idea of a pirate song so maybe a CD about the ocean and the myths there? She had a lot of material, Mermaids, Krakens and all the monsters of the ocean were possibilities and maybe even legends and strange folktales!
As Juleka came out of the boat and onto the deck she stretched, looking towards Rose, and blushed at how her friend looked as the sun shined down on her. She knew she cared about Rose a lot, maybe even love but she had a few issues with sharing her emotions, and she didn't even know if Rose liked girls! And if Rose was disgusted by that, then she would lose Rose as a friend and she had a thing with that Prince!
Luka walked out onto the deck and saw his sister obsessing over watching Rose as she worked on a song. He shook his head and chuckled, those two were almost as pure as watching Marinette and Adrien dance around each other. He went still and looked around, he thought he had heard that song from last night again, out on the water. As he listened the song's pitch rose higher and kept rising for ten seconds before it went down a good twenty at least and stayed there.
He walked to the boat's railings and looked down at the water, frowning. While he sometimes heard an animal's song if he tried hard, this was different. It was more powerful and it sounded different from a human and a normal beast. He hoped it wasn't something from Hawkmoth, if that was the case then they were all in greater danger, and he hoped that his friend Sass was okay with his siblings.
A call caused him to smile as Ivan and Mylene came towards the boat.
"Permission to come aboard?" Ivan asked and Luka laughed for a few moments before he scowled, Mylene grabbing Ivan's hand as she saw the look in Luka's eyes.
"Yeah, but before we have our practice, we need to talk, all of us," Luka said and Ivan looked back with an even stare.
"About what?" Ivan asked and Luka grinned, all teeth as he answered.
"What happened with Marinette and Lila of course," Luka said pleasantly and Mylene looked at Ivan as he sighed.
"It just happened so fast," Mylene said and Luka looked at her as she spoke. "It was like something out of a bad movie."
Ivan looked away, feeling Ashamed. "Yeah, I mean I didn't expect anything like that from her."
"Marinette?" Luka growled the question and Mylene shook her head.
"No, our teacher. She just called Marinette to the front of the Class, said someone had sent an anomalously said they saw Marinette steel the test answers, then she looked into Mari's backpack upfront for all to see, Marinette then accused Lila of trying to frame her and then Miss Bustier sent them to the principal's office alone!" Mylene said and Luka looked from her to Ivan who nodded.
"The test wasn't even important, it was practice!" Ivan said and Luka looked at him with a shocked expression before sighing and shaking his head.
"And I think Ms. Bustier had the answer sheet after they were all collected too!" Mylene said and Luka looked at her before face palming.
Juleka looked at her brother as Rose looked up with a smile. Juleka
"You're all here, great!" Rose called out and the others all looked I've been working on a… new…. "
Rose trailed off as she felt something hit her head. Her hand shot up and came away with a strange sticky liquid on them. She frowned she turned and paled in fear. Above her was the green tentacle of a strange-looking creature. It looked like someone had taken a crocodile, made it twenty feet high and turned its tail into a snake's lower body, removed its front flippers and placed two tentacles in their place, and added four long tentacles around to its top fin. Surprisingly all four of these were plunging into the depths of the river, and somehow Luka heard another song, a corrupted piece that was slowly gaining strength.
It roared, bringing everyone the attention of everyone around, most people on the streets started to scream and run, Luka only stared at it in horror and Juleka went still as she saw Rose was frozen. The ends of its tentacles suddenly opened, revealing gaping maws and spat mucus at Rose she screamed before she went still as it covered her.
"ROSE!" Juleka cried but Luka grabbed her. "Let me go, let me help her!"
"No, we need to be smart about this! We need to get gloves and keep an eye on that thing!" Luka said as he looked at the monster as it fired more mucus at the people on the bridge, hitting three people as a police officer tried to get the stuff off one of them only to go still as soon as he touched it. Luka kept his eyes locked on Rose, he could still hear her song but it was slower, it was like something was being drained from her.
As he looked around Ivan picked Mylene up and carried her away back to the upper street as Luka pulled out his phone and activated the Akuma alert app. The sounds of something getting out of the water caused Luka to look up and stare as he saw a large green fish head glaring at him as a green arm pulled the creature onto the deck. Luka grabbed a nearby broom as he looked at the creature; it was a large fish the size of a dog that had grown legs from its sides at the center of its body and it had two arms in front of them that ended in claws. As Luka watched more of the creatures pulled themselves onto the deck, some of them where Rose was, those moving between her and the Couffaines and flexing their clawed hands and giving off small growls as Anarka poked her head out of the ship and scowled.
"These things again? Gonna get my blade!" She snarled and ducked back down, never noticing the looks
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Nathalie smiled as she watched a delivery person drop a box into the mansion mail slot. She was sure this was the overnight shipping with the few materials they needed to finally fix the Peacock Miraculous, with this their plans would gain a new dimension, and with her healed health, they would be that much stronger against the heroes. But if only Adrien was here, we would be able to talk to him and explain how Gabriel was just being overprotective, that Lila did everything on her own and lied to Adrien. And if we offer to help Miss Marinette maybe it will convince him we're being truthful. And we need to find him first, I hope he does today. She thought as she got up and walked out of the mansion. The Gorilla was currently away, trying to find out if Adrien was at any one of a few hotels that kept quiet about who was staying within, and they were near police stations.
She also frowned as she remembered getting a message from one of her ears in the company, a few people were nosing around asking questions about photo shoots. With what Adrien had sent in earlier, she knew this was either the police or Adrien's lawyer, a lawyer that was still unknown. This whole thing was all Lila's fault, and she couldn't wait until they had her in their power and they would be able to rework her. As she reached the mail her phone buzzed and she frowned.
"An Akuma alert? He must have found someone to cover our tracks," Nathalie muttered as she opened the app and frowned as she saw the scene by the Liberty. The Akuma was more monstrous than he usually made, was he trying something new, a new tactic he thought up? If he was trying to have Akuma with more physical abilities like that…. What did he call it, Horrificator or something like that, then it might work but something seemed to be wrong here, something that she couldn't tell what but it was there.
She put her phone away and opened the slot, removed the package, and turned around to walk back inside. As she walked into the mansion she looked up and stared, the package falling from her hands as she saw Gabriel standing by her desk on the phone with someone.
"Yes John, I saw the news last night, it's fine. I can't blame you for acts of Villains or whatever they are, unless you were behind this one…. A joke John a joke….. well my sense of humor made my wife laugh," Gabriel said as he turned towards Nathalie and saw the look on Nathalie's face and frowned as she tried to say anything. "John just get the materials to my company in two weeks… five workdays based on the estimated damage alone? Well then…..Oh of course. You've already sent them out by train, and then they'll be loaded onto a plane? Good, just send an email with the tracking numbers, and good luck, hope this was a one-time thing then."
As Gabriel put the phone down he looked at Nathalie before looking at the box and then looking up at her. "Good, that's what we needed? Then I'll fix it now, the first Duel Akuma and Sentimonster will be…. What's wrong Nathalie?"
Nathalie shook her head and looked at Gabriel. "What are you doing here!? Shouldn't you be controlling the Akuma?!"
"What Akuma!" Gabriel demanded and Nathalie grabbed her phone and showed him the scene at the river. Gabriel looked at it and his mouth dropped open in shock. "I did not create that."
Nathalie nodded as they looked down at the monster as it rampaged before Gabriel shook himself and scowled.
"If this is one of those seven's doing, then so help me I will break them! I thought they didn't want them!" Gabriel snarled as the Kwami came out of hiding. Nooroo moved to look down at the tablet and gasped, his hands covering his mouth in horror.
"No….. one of them!?" Nooroo said as Duusuu flew over and started to laugh as he orbited Nathalie's head.
Gabriel and Nathalie turned towards them, and both of them had looks of furry on their faces.
"You know what that thing is?!" Gabriel demanded and Nooroo looked at Gabriel with a deadpan and blank look.
"What do you think we were brought into this world to fight against? But I thought all of them were locked and away," Nooroo said and Gabriel blinked and looked at Nathalie who saw a note of terror in his eyes.
"You've never even said anything about them?!" Nathalie asked and Duusu laughed and flew about.
"How could we whenever we tried you shut us up?" Duusuu asked and Nathalie winced and looked away.
Gabriel turned back to the screen, a scowl on his face as he thought. After nodding he looked down at the package and went over a few plans before he spoke up. "How long did it say that it would take to repair the peacock?"
"Instantaneous once everything is ready, we should do it now. Maybe we'll be able to help stop this," Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and she shrugged. "This might be a side effect of whatever those Seven are after. And if it is and they can't think we're working against them if we try and stop this because they never told us about it."
Gabriel looked at her and nodded before looking at the Kwami floating above with a glare. Nooroo just hovered there as Duusuu laughed and Gabriel thought about the bonuses of finally fixing the Miraculous. "Come, once everything is ready we'll try a new plan, one that I based on deception."
Nooroo followed after them, a terrible feeling going through him. First these unknown Miraculous and their users, now those old things were waking up, he didn't know how this could have happened. Those that are sealed away are sealed to the planet, the mana of the world itself powers them, the …..only way…..for them to break. Nooroo went still and dropped to the ground as he realized just what this meant and then what the Seven were after.
"Nooroo, where are you!?" Gabriel called from his office and Nooroo flew to his user, knowing that he would have to tell him everything once he asked.
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Ladybug and Chat Noir ran over the rooftops, both of them worried about their friends. Marinette had barely come back inside and told Adrien what Kagami had offered her before the alert had sounded. Luckily they had been in Mari's room and they had quickly transformed and dashed towards the Liberty, hoping their friends would be okay.
As Ladybug ran over the rooftops, she was moments from spiraling. She hoped that this didn't have anything to do with Luka being Viperion, there was no way
As Chat Noir ran, he cursed Hawkmoth. The idea about his identity seemed more so, Gabriel knew about how he wanted to play with Kitty Selection and then he attacked the houseboat of two members to draw him out. If they were right then Hawkmoth/Gabriel might think it would draw him out since he sometimes played with the band.
A buzzing told them that his baton was ringing and he looked at it and saw it was Carapace. He activated it as he jumped over a street and Ladybug landed next to him. "Talk to us Turtle."
"Cat, me and Bee-girl are inbound from the east and west respectively, Dog-girl's with her parent, Rena's with family. Last I heard Horse was at base and Monkey was at that thing he had when the lockdown happened," Carapace's voice came out of the baton, Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other and nodded, this might be better or worse than they thought it would be.
"Bug here, the two of us met up once we got the alert and are inbound. You know anything about what we're going into?" Ladybug asked and she heard a sigh.
"Nah Lady-Dude, nothing. The reporters aren't even there yet I guess," Carapace said and Ladybug frowned before wincing as she suddenly realized that from now on Alya would have to
"Anybody have any idea on how to handle this?" Apisera sounded worried and Chat Noir smiled, happy that his sister was finally letting her real self out.
"Let's wait until we see what's going on. Chat and I will move in first, Carapace come in if civilians are there. Apisera stay back, you see a shot take it. Everyone remove earbuds from your tool, this way we'll keep in contact," Ladybug said Chat smiled at her as they heard affirmatives from Carapace and Apisera before Chat Noir turned off the comm function.
Then the two of them each did as Ladybug suggested, and after putting the earbud into one of their ears they nodded at each other before they turned and dashed over the rooftops, not saying anything as they both knew what they needed to do. As they reached the river and saw the large creature as it roared and the smaller ones attacking the Couffaines, Luka and Juleka were using brooms while Anarka had a sword that was wet with blood and she was standing over one of the smaller ones with its left arm cut off and staining the Liberty with its blood.
Ladybug looked from the larger creature to the rest of the scene, and for a moment her eyes saw the people on the bridge and scowled as she saw a policeman with none of the mucus on him but holding onto a civilian with the mucus on and both were as still as the others. So the slime is keeping them still and it does the same to anyone who touches anyone with it on them, but why? The smaller ones aren't trying to do anything to Rose and the large one is only standing there, why? Doesn't matter. Ladybug thought as she looked at the large creature and frowned.
"What are you thinking, escaped experiment? Multiple sentimonsters?" Chat Noir asked and Ladybug shook her head.
"Doesn't matter, we help the Couffaines. Carapace, Apisera as we discussed, but look at the police officer on the bridge, act based on that, Chat Noir we deal with the things attacking like those things yesterday," Ladybug said and Chat Noir grinned.
"Always love a fish fry!" Chat Noir said as they jumped onto the Liberty and attacked the fish creatures with a laugh; he swung his baton in staff mode and struck one, sending it flying into the bridge and falling into the water. Ladybug lashed out with her yoyo and lassoed one of them and pulled it to her, her yoyo untangling as she punched it over the river to the bank on the other side.
"Reinforcements! Get these things off my ship me hearties!" Anarka called out with a laugh. Luka grinned and slammed down his broom and looked at Ladybug and Chat Noir as they attacked. Like the last time he had been around them both without his Miraculous, he just knew that he had heard their songs somehow before, but he couldn't figure out where.
Juleka kept attacking, trying to get to Rose as the larger creature in the water stay still, not looking at anything as it raised its head straight up.
"So got anyone mad at you lately, anyone at all?" Chat Noir asked Luka as he spun his staff around blocking some of the fish creatures and Luka shrugged before attacking another fish creature, bashing it over its head before he replied.
"No clue, everything was normal then it came out of the river!" He called out. Ladybug heard them and she scowled as she fought the fish monsters. Great, just great. Then that means whatever this isn't an Akuma! It must be that woman from yesterday, but why did she know to attack the Liberty? Could she have tracked Luka? Do we need to give him Sass to block it? She thought as she used one of the fish monsters as part of frail with her yoyo on another two.
Juleka only had eyes on Rose and charged, swinging her broom like a madwoman. When she reached Rose she looked around for anything to clean the gunk off her when suddenly one of the tentacles of the larger creature battered her away and into the air. She flew until she was caught by Ladybug's yoyo and pulled into her arms.
"Rose, we have to save Rose! And the others of course," Juleka manage to get out and Ladybug nodded absently as she set her down.
"Lady-dude, Chat-Dude? Was I seeing things or did that big thing guard Rose?" Carapace's voice came over the earbuds and Chat Noir nodded slightly.
"Bee here, I've got a few of the fishes on the bridge, I do not like how they are looking at the people here, we need help to get rid of them!" Apisera called out and Ladybug looked towards the bridge and saw five of the fish monsters climbing out of the river close to the Liberty and five more on the other side and ten on the other shore.
Ladybug tried to figure out what to do as she spun her yoyo as a shield. Looking around her mind went over all the points before she nodded. "Your right Bee, we need the Snake and the Dragon. Chat, go and get them, have Pegasus deliver them to you and then get over here to help out. Carapace and Apisera, fight to the center of the bride then work out, keep the fish off the victims. I'll stay here and do what I can! And Chat; remember that the Dragon is shedding its scales right now."
Chat Noir looked at her before nodding, understanding just what she meant and grinned. "This Kitty will be back soon with help, good luck M'lady!" Chat Noir called out before he used his staff to jump to a rooftop and speed away.
Carapace meanwhile charged the bridge from the opposite shore as Apisera charged from the Liberty's side. As they attacked the creatures, Apisera aimed for their eyes as the two of them fought. Down below on the Liberty, Luka had moved to the gangplank and tried to keep anything from getting on the ship as Ladybug and his family all fought on, each of them hoping that they would hold out until help arrived.
As Anarka slew another of the fish monsters, she looked up and frowned as she saw a news chopper flying overhead. She wondered where the police were and cursed their cowardice; it was just what she expected from them, but the one time she needed them they weren't here. As she defended herself from another of the fish monsters she promised to do something to them once she survived this, and if her kids got hurt… then not even the Miraculous Cure would help them! She scowled and attacked, wishing that she had some more help, a proper crew to handle these things!
Luka stayed where he was, trusting Ladybug to protect his back. He had heard what she had said and it was bad if he was being brought in. And as he struck one of the fish monsters he paid attention to the thing's teeth he agreed with the idea.
As Juleka looked at Rose and tried to get to her only for another of the fish monsters to get in her way and charge at her. As she dropped back and swung out she wished she had something to burn them with, anything at all that would let her kill them! As she backed up she bumped into someone, looking over her shoulder she saw her mother looking back at her, with two more of the fish monsters coming at her and they nodded at each other before charging their foes.