(A week later)
The week after Reflekta's akumatization had been curiously uneventful, save for the akumatization of Manon as Puppeteer the Friday after. But other than that it had been quiet, giving Ladybug and Chat Noir the opportunity to get some more training in with Master Fu. The results had been worth it when they managed to bump up their score against the practice Gumm-Gumms from 8-2 to 6-4. It wasn't much, but it was an improvement from the first time they faced off against the practice versions of their future foes.
But they were in for a nasty surprise in the form of their most challenging akuma to date, Vanisher. As to how this akuma came to be, let's just say that there had been an incident that caused a spat between Sabrina and Chloé…
A few days prior to the one week mark after Reflekta, Sabrina had gone to Le Grand Paris to spend time with Chloé like they would normally do. Immediately, they decided to play their favorite game of impersonating Ladybug and Chat Noir; Chloé dressed as Ladybug and Sabrina dressed as Chat Noir, while Chloé's butler had taken the moniker Big Mustachio. As they played, Sabrina couldn't help being giddy as she and Chloé looked for their 'enemy' since this one of the few times that she and Chloé were on equal footing in their friendship.
"Aha! There is Big Mustachio!" Chloé exclaimed after they rounded a bend, pointing at a Groucho glasses-wearing Armand as he entered the elevator and pressed the door button. Just as Chloé and Sabrina ran towards the 'akuma', the elevator doors closed just before they 'caught' him, letting Big Mustachio 'escape'.
"Drat! He's getting away!" the heiress whined, slamming her fist into the closed elevator door out of frustration.
"It looks like he's heading to the dinning hall. We can take the stairs and cut him off!" Sabrina suggested, channeling her inner confidence to offer her input and stay in character. Her efforts were rewarded when Chloé's eyes lit up at the idea and turned to face her partner.
"Excellent idea, Chat Noir!" Chloé praised, making Sabrina smile at the sound of her best friend liking her idea. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" the Ladybug cosplayer cheered, leading the way while a glee-filled Sabrina followed behind.
Wasting no time, the two girls raced down the stairwell to try and make it to the dining hall, going as fast as they could until they reached their desired floor. But just as they ran out from the stairwell, they only had seconds to look around until Chloé's eyes had found…
"Jagged Stone!" Chloé cheered, much to Sabrina's sudden confusion before she saw that the rockstar was indeed in the dining hall and in the middle of an interview with Nadja Chamack.
"Ladybug! What are you doing here?" Jagged Stone greeted Sabrina's best friend, seeming to think that she was the actual Ladybug despite the numerous differences in their appearance.
"Um…" Chloé trailed off, looking down at her attire and realizing why Jagged had mistaken her for her idol. But after a few seconds had passed, Chloé regained her usual confidence and made her way to the rockstar. "When I found out you were here, I knew you'd wanna see me! I had to come say 'hello'." the heiress lied as she walked up to the rock star until she was just a foot away from him, rolling with the set up given to her.
Seeing her bestie's plan, Sabrina had no choice but to follow behind and nervously wave at Jagged form behind Chloé. Whether Chloé released it or not, she was playing with fire and Sabrina was more nervous of how she would react after everything was all said and done.
"Well, you did the right thing." Jagged Stone said, still not realizing that he was talking to an imposter instead of the real Ladybug. "Hey, what's the dealio with your hair?" the rockstar questioned, noticing 'Ladybug's' different hair color and making both girls nervous.
"Oh, ah…" Chloé began, realizing that she might be caught and immediately trying to think of a good excuse. That is… before Sabrina saw Chloé notice Jagged Stone was with Nadja Chamack and the camera was now focusing on her.
'Oh, no.' Sabrina whimpered in her thoughts, knowing just what Chloé would do now that she had a camera on her.
"Well, the old hair was so drab. This color is amazing, don't you think?" Chloé fibbed as she sat herself on the couch where Jagged Stone and Nadja Chamack were on, settling in the middle of them with a flip of her 'new hair'.
"I got a few minutes to spare. I'm sure you'd jump at the chance to interview me!" the Ladybug impersonator offered, continuing to play herself off as her idol.
"Hey, wait! I thought you're coming by to say hi to me?" Jagged Stone protested, not quite liking that his interview was being taken over by the supposed Ladybug.
"And I did! Now where were we?" Chloé questioned with a wink to the camera, eager to continue pretending to be her hero.
Seeing where this was going, Sabrina had decided to move away from the soon to be disaster and tried to find Big Mustachio to get Chloé to keep playing their game. Thankfully, it had been easy to find Armand since his hiding place was only behind the service elevator. But by the time she did find him, Chloé was already a good few minutes into an interview with Nadja and giving her an autograph.
"Chloé, I found Big Mustachio!" Sabrina cheered, grabbing Armand's arm as her shout drew everyone's attention onto her, and subsequently the cosplaying Chloé.
"Chloé? But-" Jagged Stone pondered out loud, not getting why 'Chat Noir' would be calling 'Ladybug' Chloé. But the same couldn't have been said for Nadja Chamack
"You're not Ladybug! You're a fake!" Nadja exclaimed when realizing the truth, snatching the pen out of Chloé's hand with a glare at the blonde with Jagged copying her when he saw that she was right.
"No, I'm not! I'm Ladybug!" Chloé protested as she stood up from the couch, trying to defend herself. "Look!" the imposter said before she took out her toy yo-yo and started bouncing it up and down in an attempt to prove she was Ladybug.
Unfortunately for Chloé, she unintentionally hit Fang's head each time the yo-yo went towards the ground, annoying him enough to bite the yo-yo's string and eat it. Without the main weight of the yo-yo, the remaining string flew up at Chloé and ended up hitting her in her eye, bringing tears to it after the initial sting.
Now being humiliated, Chloé ran off crying while taking off her mask, Nadja Chamack and Jagged Stone laughing as she left the room. Seeing her friend so upset, Sabrina released Armand and followed after her in hopes of making her feel better. The chase had continued until they reached Chloé's room, where the heiress angrily stomped through the door now that her crying had stopped.
"But, Chloé, you shouldn't have pretended to be Ladybug! You knew that it wouldn't have ended well, right?" Sabrina said to her best friend, not leaving the doorway as she pointed out that Chloé's recent embarrassment had been her own doing. Needless to say, her words had only made things worse.
"It would have if you didn't open your big mouth!" Chloé shouted at Sabrina, turning around to face her with a raging glare. "But that's the problem, isn't it? You never know when to be quiet! That crocodile has a larger brain than you!" the heiress insulted Sabrina right before she threw the remaining yo-yo string at her. Normally, Chloé's insults would have stung Sabrina less, but this time felt more hurtful than before.
"Get out! I never wanna see you again!" Chloé demanded a now heartbroken Sabrina, who followed her best friend's orders and closed the door.
With a heavy heart and dragging footsteps, Sabrina made her way to the elevator and climbed inside to make her way to the lobby and exit the building. But once the doors were closed, she started weeping to herself, using the minimal time she had with no one around to see to do so. She had most likely lost her best friend… who could blame her for crying?
After taking the rest of the day and that night to get the despair out of her system, Sabrina had decided to make things right between her and Chloé the next day. When arriving at the hotel in hopes of settling the matter before school started, she was pleasantly surprised to see Chloé's Aunt Artemis coming to the hotel too. The older woman was always kind to her when they spoke, so Sabrina was glad to see her.
Upon finding out that Artemis had come to the hotel because of the previous day's events, Sabrina had felt a bit more confident to know she would try and help expedite her and Chloé's make up. But when they arrived at the room, Sabrina was disheartened to find Chloé unwilling to talk to her, all while she gave the bespeckled girl the silent treatment.
"Sabrina, who? I don't know any Sabrina." Chloé said from her side of the room, not even taking notice of Sabrina's presence as she kept looking out the windows.
"Chloé!" Artemis nearly growled, standing next to her pseudo niece as she glared at the girl for being so rude.
"But, of course you do, Chloé. It's me." Sabrina protested, her voice nearly cracking as she took off the rose pin that Chloé had given her a while back. "Your BFF!" the ginger-haired girl exclaimed, hoping that her words would persuade Chloé. But after nothing happened, Armand; who had been at the door and holding it open for Sabrina, had approached Chloé.
"You should talk to her, Mademoiselle. She's right here." Armand whispered to his superior, clearly hoping to have the two girls make up and be friends again.
"He's right, Chloé. Don't be so petty to your best friend." Artemis agreed, making a smile appear on Sabrina's face with their joint efforts. However, it all came crashing down when Chloé finally turned away from the windows and looked at Sabrina.
"I don't see anyone, she must be invisible! As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't even exist!" Chloé announced, breaking Sabrina's heart with her dismissal while an appalled Artemis and Jean stared at the blonde with shock.
Seeing that she wasn't welcome by her former BFF, a distraught Sabrina backed away from the doorway and closed it behind her. Wanting nothing more than to run home and throw herself into her pillows and cry, Sabrina covered her face with her hands as she hurried to the elevator, trying to stop the tears from her eyes. But as she entered the elevator cabin, Sabrina had failed to see the akuma fluttering in before the doors closed, trapping the corrupted insect with the bespeckled girl. And she only had seconds to wipe away some of her tears before the akuma entered her rose pin, turning it into a deep purple before the telltale purple butterfly outline appeared on her face.
"Vanisher, I am Hawkmoth." the silky temptress voice of Hawkmoth greeted Sabrina, her vision turning black around the edges as she focused on the new voice in her head. "Your best friend has shunned you for something that wasn't even your fault, and now considers you non existent!? How appalling!" Hawkmoth exclaimed, sounding sympathetic to Sabrina's pain and catching her attention even more.
"I can grant you the power to make her life a living nightmare and never be able to trace it back to you!" the resident super villain offered, filling the bespeckled girl with a sense of glee at his words. "But in return for this gift, you must bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. So, are you interested?" Hawkmoth questioned, even when he already knew the answer when sifting through Sabrina's thoughts via the psychic link between them.
"You got a deal, Hawkmoth! I can't wait to teach Chloé a lesson she will never see coming!" Sabrina agreed as a dark smirk appeared on her face while she turned into Vanisher, eager to use her new powers to her advantage.
Fueled by her hatred of her former best friend, the newly akumatized Vanisher had sworn vengeance against Chloé and decided to make her life a living Hell. This led to her sneaking into the heiress's room and spying on Chloé after she had come back from school, the blonde brat now searching her closet for something to wear for school the next day. So as the invisible akuma sat on her former best friend's bed, she was buzzing with energy and eagerness to carry out her plan of tormenting Chloé.
"Ugh, this is rubbish! I don't have anything to wear!" Chloé complained from inside her closest, Vanisher watching her in silence. "This outfit is way too pink! Those red heels are so last season! These brown heel ankle boots didn't cost nearly enough. And these red pumps are never in season!" the heiress whined as she tossed out the corresponding clothing items to her complaints, all of them passing right in front of the observing Vanisher before she decided to start torturing her former friend.
"Agh, I hate all of these!" Chloé exclaimed in frustration, prompting Vanisher to slide off of her bed and shatter a glass on the other side of the room to mess with her victim. "Huh? Is someone there? Anybody?" the blonde brat called out as she poked her head from out of her closet, unaware of Vanisher watching her as she looked around to find the source of the sound.
From her vantage point, Vanisher watched Chloé as she searched for the source of the shattering in her ensuite bathroom, still holding the red pumps in her hands. Using the opportunity presented to her, the invisible akuma walked over to Chloé's vanity and threw one of them many cosmetic bottles sitting on the vanity at the blonde. When she was hit by the bottle, Chloé fell to the ground before Vanisher shoved the rest of the bottles to the floor, followed by her walking out of the bathroom to mess up Chloé's bed. After pushing the pillows and ottoman to the floor, the transparent akuma decided to finish her tormenting by picking up Chloé's shoes and running to the balcony with an evil laugh.
"Hey, wait!" Chloé cried as she chased after the flying shoes, only to be too late to save them from Vanisher when she tossed them away. "Come back, shoes! It's not true, I love you!" the heiress whined in despair at losing her designer shoes, all of which made Vanisher ridiculously happy as she laughed at Chloé's unhappiness before continuing her tormenting of the blonde brat.
Vanisher's torment of Chloé had lasted long and hard for the rest of that day. So much so that when Chloé had gone to school the next morning and arrived for class, she was almost falling asleep midway through working on their current assignment. Needless to say, many of the students had noticed her current state of tiredness and were quick to make a mental note of it for later discussion… Alya and Marinette were not among them.
"Whoa, look at Chloé." Marinette whispered to Alya, causing the both of them to look and see Chloé about to nod off while the entire class just kept working on their tablets.
"That girl's a total rag." Alya remarked, looking away from her work and glancing at the heiress out of concern.
"Maybe she's missing her BFF?" Marinette theorized, trying to think of a possible solution to Chloé's current exhaustion.
"Sabrina has been absent since yesterday." Alya noted before Ms. Mendeleiev, who was substituting for Ms. Bustier, had told them to be quiet, causing both her and Marinette to nervously giggle at her as an apology. But just as they did, the exhausted Chloé's hair was suddenly pulled by an invisible hand.
"Ow!" Chloé yelped, now wide-eyed thanks to the tug on her blonde locks. When her hair was no longer being pulled, Chloé rubbed her head to soothe the lingering pain as she looked around for the person who had done the deed.
"What is it, Chloé?" Ms. Mendeleiev questioned the blond brat as she walked up to the girl's desk, her attention having been pulled away from Alya and Marinette thanks to Chloé's shouting.
"Someone pulled my hair!" Chloé exclaimed, looking at Ms. Mendeleiev as she replied to the question. At Chloé's answer, the science teacher immediately looked over at Mylène since she was the only person in reach who could have done it… visibly at least.
"I didn't do it, Ms. M." Mylène protested, not wanting to be punished for something she would never do.
"It wasn't her, it's-it's some invisible mystical being!" Chloé exclaimed, standing up from her chair and unintentionally defending Mylène as she tried to explain what was happening to her. "Like a leprechaun. Or a unicorn without the horn." the heiress elaborated, only to give her classmates the perfect opportunity to start laughing at Chloé with how ridiculous she sounded.
"Quiet, everyone! Eyes on your papers!" Ms. Mendeleiev ordered the class, to which they immediately quieted down. But just a second after they did, the invisible presence of Vanisher had returned after her hair pulling stunt and grabbed at the blond brat's purse, trying to take it off her.
"Oh, it's happening again." Chloé cried as she grabbed onto her purse to keep it from being taken, only for her to fall to the ground opposite of her desk with wail when it was suddenly let go.
"Chloé, sit down!" Ms. Mendeleiev demanded the heiress, not believing the girl's story for even one second. Out of all the teachers in the school, she was the only one not afraid of what Chloé's father could do to her.
"I can't!" Chloé shouted, her attempts to get up to her feet halted when her invisible assailant had come around the desk and continued her torturing of the heiress. "My purse is beating me up!" the blonde brat exclaimed, her claim proven true when the unseen akuma had begun to repeatedly hit her with the purse.
Just as the purse had been drawn back to hit Chloé again, the screaming heiress had used the break to run to the corner of the classroom, the other students watching with concern. As she did, both Adrien and Marinette kept watching the strange situation with suspicion while a cowering Chloé kept an eye on her abandoned bag on the floor next to her desk. Unfortunately for her, the invisible akuma had abandoned that approach and moved around the classroom to pick up Juleka's pen and throw it at Chloé like a dart. When the writing utensil just missed the blonde brat's nose, Vanisher's torment continued when she threw more pens at Chloé, making her run down the steps with a scream.
"Chloé, we don't run in the classroom!" Ms. Mendeleiev shouted at the girl just as she reached the ground floor of the classroom, clearly blind to what had just happened to Chloé. "Get back to your seat!" the science teacher ordered, pointing to the girl's seat to further convey her demand.
Seeing no other choice, Chloé started walking back up the stairs in the middle of the classroom to do just that when Vanisher decided to strike again. This time, she tried to take Chloé's sunglasses from her head, leading to the invisible akuma having to fight with the heiress for them when she felt them being removed. Using the struggle to her advantage, Vanisher had led Chloé over to Miss Bustier's desk by the grip she had on the glasses, making the blonde brat crash into it. Seeing the new position Chloé was in, the invisible akuma had abandoned the sunglasses and instead tugged on the hair tucked behind Chloé's ears, making it fly up and down in the air.
"Compose yourself, Miss Bourgeois." Ms. Mendeleiev commanded in a last ditch effort to have order restored, all while Vanisher finally let up on her victim so that Chloé could stand back to her full height again.
With her new freedom, Chloé immediately fled from the room, her hands held in front of her to ward off her invisible assailant while the majority of the class laughed at her. Now that her victim had left the room, Vanisher followed Chloé and had accidentally brushed her hand along Adrien and Nino's desk as she did, moving the model's tablet to Nino. Seeing the strange sight, Nino stopped Adrien's tablet from moving any further while the class watched the door close resoundingly behind the unseen akuma, confirming Chloé's claim.
"Tikki, we've gotta get outta here." Marinette whispered to her kwami, now seeing the threat to Chloé was real and understanding that the only way for this to be possible was an akuma.
"Miss, please, I have to go to the restroom." Adrien requested as he gathered his things, having come to the same conclusion as Marinette and deciding to take immediate action."Thank you." the green-eyed boy added after he walked past Ms. Mendeleiev, walking out of the classroom without being given permission and closing the door behind him.
"So do I, please?" Marinette asked, standing up from her seat as she raised her hand into the air.
Thankfully for Marinette, Ms. Mendeleiev had let her leave the classroom too and wasted no time in racing to the girls bathrooms to transform. But she was surprised by the sight of crude drawings of Chloé and multiple instances of her name being scratched on the walls and stall doors when entering.
"Somebody seems to have it in for Chloé." Tikki observed, flying out of her holder's purse and floating next to her as they both took in the sight in front of them.
"Looks like it. But the hard part's going to be finding out who doesn't." Marinette remarked, just before her cell phone suddenly rang, prompting her to pull it out of her purse and see that Jim was calling her. With a slight grimace, the designer answered it and allowed Jim's face to appear on her phone screen. "This is not a good time, Jim." the red-tipped haired girl said, greeting her brother in a less than ideal way.
"What do you mean? It's lunch time on your end, right?" Jim asked, confusion written across his face with the greeting he received from her.
"Yeah, but duty calls." Marinette replied, sighing in slight exasperation as she explained.
"A new akuma?" Jim questioned, all too familiar with what the phrase usually meant for his sister.
"Most likely." Marinette confirmed, nodding as she spoke.
"About time Hawkmoth broke the silence after a week with no akumas." Jim remarked, surprised with how long the quiet had lasted this time since Marinette and Chat Noir were barely given a break until Puppeteer.
"I wasn't complaining. I was enjoying the reprieve before he decided to make a new akuma!" Marinette exclaimed, having not liked the fact that the silence had been broken again, and because of Chloé of all people. "And an invisible one at that, too." she added, causing an impressed look to appear on Jim's face at the mention of the akuma's power set.
"Looks like Toby will be updating the list." Jim reflected, knowing that would be exactly what would happen when his best friend found out about the new akuma. "Wait, how do you know there's an invisible akuma running around?" the Trollhunter questioned, now realizing that the fact of Marinette knowing there was an invisible akuma around didn't make sense.
"Because they seem to have a vendetta against Chloé, and just attacked her in class. In broad daylight!" Marinette replied, explaining how she knew about the new akuma in the first place. "Plus I'm looking at a graffiti display that confirms my theory." the designer added, turning her phone to show Jim the graffiti in front of her.
"Chloé, again!? When is that girl not causing trouble for you!?" Jim exclaimed, honestly wondering if Chloé had been created and placed on Earth just to be a nuisance to those around her.
"My thoughts exactly, big bro." Marinette sighed out just before her phone buzzed again, a notification appearing on her notifications and obstructing Jim's face on the screen. Pushing on the notification, Marinette was greeted by the sight of a set of pictures depicting what has been happening to Chloé, unnerving the girl a bit.
"Things are escalating rather quickly now!" Marinette exclaimed, not liking what was happening… even if it was Chloé getting a little taste of karma. "I got to go, Jim." the pigtailed girl said, pushing the photos away so she could see Jim clearly again.
"Totally understand, Marinette. Go kick some akuma butt!" Jim encouraged, knowing that she and Chat Noir would win like always.
"Say 'hi' to Toby for me! See you tonight." Marinette farewelled before she hung up, putting her phone back into her purse once again. "Time to transform!" the designer announced to Tikki as she pulled out her runestone necklace and clasped her hand over. No sooner than she did, her Ladybug disguise had taken full effect and allowed her to finally say…
"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette proclaimed, transforming into Ladybug and heading over to Le Grand Paris to put a stop to this madness.
Unbeknownst to Marinenatte, the class including Ms. Mendeleiev had received the pictures too, their phones dinging to alert them much to their confusion. This also applied to Adrien, who had been in the boys' bathroom when he found himself opening his phone to see the pictures that had been sent to him.
"Something really strange is going on." Adrien reflected after he skimmed through the set of pictures of Chloé, pulling out his runestone necklace and clasping his hand over it to activate his Chat Noir disguise. "Plagg, claws out!" the boy proclaimed after the disguise was in place, transforming into Chat Noir before he went off to find out what was causing harm to his childhood friend.
After the two teens transformed and left the school, they headed to Le Grand Paris to find and help Chloé. When they arrived and met up, the two heroes perched themselves on the roof of the hotel and saw André Bourgeois giving out a press conference.
"Damaging my daughter's reputation is the same as soiling my reputation as the Mayor of Paris. And an attack on Chloé is an attack on Paris." André announced to the press from his podium in front of the hotel, angry that his daughter had been put in danger. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Ladybug and Chat Noir leapt down from the roof and landed behind him, the audiences at home watching the announcement witnessing them too while they had caught Mayor Bourgeois's attention.
"We'll find the culprit, Mr. Bourgeois. You have our word." Chat Noir promised, he and Ladybug standing at the hotel entrance and making the Mayor smile at their presence.
"Thank you for coming so quickly." André thanked as he stepped off his podium, turning away from the press and walking up to the two heroes.
"It was no trouble at all, Mayor Bourgeois." Ladybug assured, even if she would rather do anything than be Chloé's bodyguard.
"André!" a voice off to the Mayor's right shouted, causing him and the two heroes to turn and see someone coming towards them.
"Artemis! Thank goodness you're here!" André praised when he recognised who was coming towards them, now walking over to her to meet her halfway. Her hair was in its usual braid, and her attire for the day consisted of a pair of black cargo pants, black heeled combat boots, and a navy blue short sleeve shirt. On top of the shirt, was a black leather biker jacket with blue flower embroidery on the front, sleeves and collar of the jacket, and dark blue spinel silver stud earrings adorning her ears. It was one of her more casual outfits.
"I came as soon as I heard about Chloé's assault at school." Artemis explained, which was accompanied by Mayor André giving her a hug. "Where is she?" the Changeling in disguise asked, pulling away from the hug as her concern for her honorary niece bled through into the open.
"In her room at the moment." André responded, stepping back a bit to fully release Artemis from the hug. "She's absolutely terrified!" the Mayor of Paris wailed, concerned for his daughter until he noticed the two heroes looking at them in confusion.
"Oh, where are my manners!" Mayor Bourgeois exclaimed, now seeing that introductions were in order. "Ladybug, Chat Noir, this is Artemis. One of my oldest friends." André said, introducing the respective parties to each other.
"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Ladybug greeted Artemis, holding her hand out to her.
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you as well." Artemis replied, taking Ladybug's hand and shaking it before the gesture was followed by shaking Chat Noir's hand. "But I believe we have bigger problems at the moment." the graying brown-haired woman pointed out, getting down to business as per usual.
"Yes, of course!" André agreed, willing to take Artemis's straight-to-the-point attitude to heart in this circumstance before she turned to face the still surrounding press.
"Scram, you vultures! Go pester some else for a while!" Artemis yelled at the crowd, making them scatter like rats when hearing her demand and leaving the heroes in surprise at the result. "Lead the way, André." the Changeling in disguise instructed as she turned back around to face the rest of the group again, prompting André to nod at her before leading them all to Chloé's room.
"By the way, Artemis, I noticed that Rayla isn't with you." André voiced as they walked through the empty lobby and headed to the elevator.
"Due to the circumstances, I thought it'd be best if she stayed at home." Artemis explained as they arrived at the elevator door, pressing the button to summon the cabin to take them up to the top floor. "Not to mention how hostile she and Chloé are to each other. I'd rather not have to deal with one of their spats while trying to figure this situation out." the older woman admitted in an exhausted voice, rubbing her aching temples with her hand just as the elevator door opened.
"Probably for the best." André reflected as they and the heroes stepped into the elevator, knowing full well of what happened when Rayla and Chloé had their legendary clashes. With that being said between the two friends, the elevator ride and rest of the trek to Chloé's room was spent in silence, which would soon be interrupted when the group stood in the middle of the seemingly empty room.
"Chloé, my darling. I have brought special guests for you." Mayor Bourgeois called out into the room, causing Chloé to poke her head from out behind one of her couches and see them, her eyes lighting up when they landed on Artemis.
"Auntie Arty!" Chloé exclaimed as she ran out from her hiding spot and tackled her pseudo aunt in a hug. "Thank goodness you're here!" the heiress wailed in relief, glad that she was there to help protect her.
"It's nice to see you too, Chloé" Artemis replied as she hugged the girl back, a small smile on her lips at the show of affection. "But remember not to ignore who else is in the room too." the graying brown-haired woman remarked as she pointed to Ladybug and Chat Noir as they stood off to her right, making Chloé even more excited when seeing them.
"Ladybug! I knew you'd come to save me!" Chloé cheered before she repeated what she did to Artemis, which had a much more unwelcome response from Ladybug when she tried to push the blonde brat off of her. "You know, considering what good friends we are!" she added, pulling back from the tight hug she had Ladybug trapped in; much to the superheroine's slight relief, while still keeping a tight grip on the red heroine's arms.
Even after Chloé fully let her idol go of her grip, she still hovered around her while the group walked over to the girl's closet, where Chat Noir opened the door to investigate the space. Meanwhile, Chloé was constantly taking pictures of an exasperated Ladybug, with Artemis and André standing on the sidelines as they watched the heroes work.
"I had to put out an emergency call to all the biggest designers." André regaled, him and Artemis watching as Chat Noir had started digging into the empty closet to try and find a clue, only to come up empty handed. "Can you imagine? My daughter wearing department-store clothing? How humiliating." Mayor Bourgeois nearly wailed, causing Ladybug to sigh at his words in annoyance when she went to look for clues as well, leading to Artemis clearing her throat to draw her friend's attention to her.
"Considering the situation, André, I'd say that's the least of our worries." Artemis spoke up, giving him a pointed glare while Ladybug walked over to Chloé's television and turned it on. Once she did, the screen split into four sections to show various areas in the hotel, allowing multiple vantage points to see where the invisible presence could be hidden.
"Have you had any run-ins with anyone lately?" Ladybug asked Chloé, the group having all moved to the heiress's seating area to see if they could spot the unseen akuma.
"I never have run-ins with anyone." Chloé replied, blatantly forgetting what had happened the previous day and earning a raised eyebrow from Artemis as she leaned against the wall near the T.V.
"Chloé…" Artemis drawled out in a warning tone, causing Chloé to look over at her aunt nervously. "I think you and I both know that's not true." the Changeling in disguise said, pushing herself off of the wall to stand up straight and cross her arms over her chest as she stared down at Chloé.
"So unless you want to be constantly attacked by an invisible foe for the rest of your life, I'd suggest you be honest with the heroes here to help." Artemis added, making an ultimatum that she was sure would get Chloé to comply. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work.
"But I AM telling the truth, Auntie Artemis! Everybody absolutely loves me." Chloé protested, willing to go to any length to make herself seem innocent and undeserving of her recent harassment. At the sight of Artemis's narrowing eyes and now stormy pout, Ladybug knew that there was something the blonde brat was hiding and soon noticed something on the ground near her feet. Bending down to pick it up, she was quickly met with the sight of a photo of Chloé and Sabrina, allowing the gears in her mind to start cranking overtime.
"Really? Not even with your closest friends?" Ladybug questioned Chloé, handing the picture to her whilst still crouching to the ground.
"Ah, Sabrina?" Chloé remarked, only to drop the photo back to the floor with a giggle. "Impossible. She adores me, I'm her idol!" the heiress denied, to which annoyed Ladybug even more as she sighed again before turning to André, now seeing that Chloé wouldn't be giving them an answer that would help her and Chat Noir with this new enemy.
"Your daughter's safe here with the doors and windows locked Mr. Bourgeois. This enemy may be invisible, but it can't go through walls." Ladybug reported after walking up to Mayor Bourgeois and Artemis, hoping to get far away from Chloé as soon as possible. But not before Chloé tackled the spotted heroine into a hug once again.
"I'm sure you'll make my life perfect again! Just like it was before!" Chloé exclaimed, grateful for the help in restoring her life back to the way it was. Wasting no time after Chloé's cheering, Ladybug pushed the blonde brat off of her and stomped away, pulling Chat Noir along with her by his arm as she led them to the exit.
"Is something up? You seem… a little upset." Chat Noir noted after they exited the room, concern for his partner bleeding into his voice while they didn't see Artemis following behind them, quietly closing the door behind her.
"She's hiding something. I can feel it." Ladybug replied in a tense tone, stopping midway through the hallway as she calmed down enough to think up ways to get the information they needed. "Maybe we can ask the hotel staff if they know anything." the spotted heroine mused out loud, letting Chat Noir in on her thought process to provide some sort of feedback.
"Don't bother. Chloé's got eyes on the whole hotel and will know if someone squeals." Artemis spoke up from behind them, making both heroes turn to see her in the hallway with them. But when she gave them the unintentional feedback, it did dishearten the two heroes a bit.
"Well there goes that idea. How are we going to find out if Chloé's lying or not, now?" Chat Noir wondered out loud, pointing out that they were back to square one again.
"The hotel staff might be scared to talk, but I have no such qualms." Artemis assured them with a smirk, soon walking towards the elevator. "Follow me." the graying brown-haired woman instructed, waving them over to her.
At the invitation, Ladybug and Chat Noir followed Artemis as she led them to the elevator and used it to arrive back in the Le Grand Paris's hotel lobby. Once they had reached the ground floor, Artemis kept leading the way until they reached the front desk, followed by her walking around to behind the desk and opening up the computer used by the concierge. Quickly typing in the master password that André had given her for emergencies, Artemis soon accessed the computer and pulled up the security footage of the previous days.
"In case it wasn't obvious, Chloé did have a run in with someone earlier this week." Artemis said as she sifted through the saved footage, Ladybug and Chat Noir standing on either side of her as they watched her work. "And I unfortunately have a pretty good idea of who it might be." the Changeling in disguise admitted as she moved the mouse to click onto a footage clip from two days ago… the day of when Chloé and Sabrina impersonated the city's heroes.
"What are they doing?" Ladybug asked out of concerned curiosity when seeing Chloé and Sabrina dressed up as her and Chat Noir, not sure of how she felt about it.
"The reason why Chloé didn't want to tell you about her run-in was most likely because she didn't want you two to find out that she and Sabrina like to play dress-up and pretend to be you two." Artemis explained, having known Chloé long enough to know her usual go-to tactic to avoid being embarrassed. "It was one of their favorite things to do after you two made your first appearance." the older woman added, a fond smile appearing on her lips when making that elaboration as they kept watching the feed.
"And they roped in Chloé's butler into this?" Chat Noir questioned, pointing to the monitor as it showed them Armand entering the elevator before Chloé and Sabrina chased after him.
"Someone had to play the bad guy." Artemis said with a shrug of her shoulders, not knowing how else to explain his involvement. "But this happened two days ago. And is the event that most likely sparked this whole mess in the first place." she elaborated, refocusing them back to the task at hand.
"How do you know?" Ladybug asked, trying to piece things together herself.
"Keep watching." Artemis instructed as she pulled up the footage of what had happened in the dining hall that day. From there, the three of them watch as Chloé tries to pass herself as the real Ladybug while Jagged Stone is having an interview with Nadja. When seeing Chloé try to pass herself off as her, Ladybug was not very happy to say the least… she was infuriated. But when the feed reached the part of Chloé running off after being exposed, Artemis shifted the feed to show what had happened in the blonde's room before turning off the feed completely with a sigh.
"Chloé and Sabrina have argued so much before that I'd even go so far as to say that it's 'the norm'." the older woman explained, knowing just how dysfunctional the two girls could be. "But it was different this time. More… heated than the ones before." the Changeling in disguise added, a thoughtful look on her face as she tried to further explain the situation.
"But then Sabrina came back the next day, which I had arrived after hearing what had happened with Chloé's failed impersonation." Artemis continued as she pulled up a new set of footage, this time taking place in Chloé's room the previous day when Sabrina had tried to make peace with Chloé. "I think it was the final nail in the coffin." the older woman stated after they watched the feed of what happened, followed by Artemis turning it off once it was finished.
"Needless to say, I think it's pretty clear who is attacking Chloé." Artemis concluded, closing the computer now that it was no longer needed.
"You're right. This invisible person is obviously Sabrina." Chat Noir concluded as he stepped back from the computer, a grim look on his face.
"Who's been akumatized by Hawkmoth." Ladybug added with a near growl, glad to now have a name to the new akuma but also angry that it was her sort-of friend that had been corrupted.
Unbeknownst to either of the occupants of the lobby, Chloé was in her room and had watched the whole interaction on her own monitors. Needless to say, she wasn't happy that Artemis had done what she had done and couldn't believe that she thought Sabrina was the one attacking her.
"Impossible! She's too weak to do something so bold, especially to me." Chloé tried to reason with herself, sitting on one of her chairs in front of her T.V. "Auntie Arte has to be wrong!" the heiress exclaimed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking away from the screen out of stubbornness.
"You've been a great help to us, Ms. Artemis. Thank you." Ladybug thanked from the monitor feed, causing Chloé to look back at the monitor to keep watching as the trio in the lobby walked out from behind the desk.
"But there's one thing I'm not getting." Chat Noir spoke up on the feed, making both females turn to face him. "Why are you telling this behind Chloé's back?" the feline hero asked, much to Chloé's surprise that he asked the very question that was on her mind when seeing her Aunt Artemis show them what had happened.
"I've been trying to be a bit of a role model for Chloé since her mother left, but I hadn't been able to come by often this past year due to personal reasons." Artemis explained, placing her right hand on her hip as she took to standing in front of the front desk. "And recently, André asked me to help reign in her unruly behavior after the 'World's Greatest Chef' disaster." the graying brown-haired woman added, making Chloé wince at the mention of that particular day.
"Is that the only reason?" Ladybug asked, Chloé watching as she stood in front of Artemis and sort of mimicking the older woman's pose.
"Of course not." Artemis admitted, much to Chloé's slight relief to hear that her pseudo aunt wasn't just around to keep her in check. "Despite her seemingly-cruel nature, Chloé has a softer side to her that she keeps hidden from others. I've seen it myself." she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she neared the end of her confession.
"It's mostly out of self defense that she takes her anger out on those around her. When Audrey left, Chloé had gained the mindset that she needs to be like her in order to earn her mother's love." Artemis revealed as she looked off to the side, a stoney expression appearing on her face when mentioning Chloé's mother. When hearing her aunt actually saying her mom's name, Chloé winced since she was fully aware of how much Artemis hated her mother, knowing it was a sore subject for the both of them.
"But what she doesn't seem to understand is that Audrey loves no one but herself, and could care less about the fact that she has a daughter. So I'm trying to help her see that." the sea-green eyed woman elaborated from the monitor feed, looking back at the heroes as she spoke.
"No offense, but it doesn't look like it's working." Ladybug responded, offending Chloé in the process.
"It's a process, Ladybug. When someone is trying to change their behavior after acting as such for years, it takes a while for them to learn how to act differently." Artemis said, defending her honorary niece a bit since she was just starting to become more tolerable. And in Chloé's opinion, she thought that she was doing a good job.
"But Sabrina is a good girl, and a positive influence in Chloé's life. The way she had been treated wasn't right, and I want to help try and fix that in any way I can. For both of their sakes." the older woman admitted, causing tears to appear in Chloé's eyes when hearing her words.
"We'll do our best to de-akumatize her as soon as possible." Chat Noir promised from the monitor feed, Chloé watching through misty eyes as he held out his hand to Artemis.
"Thank you, Chat Noir." Artemis thanked as she took his hand and shook it, that being the final push for Chloé to start crying a bit. But she merely wiped her tears away and kept watching the feed, hoping that the slim chance that her Aunt Artemis was wrong would be the actual outcome.
Down in the lobby, Artemis had begun to leave the room now that she had helped the heroes find out who was responsible for attacking her niece. As she did, Ladybug had started walking to the exit while Chat Noir grabbed a rose from a nearby vase before running back over to his partner. When he was a few feet from her, he managed to slow down enough to start walking normally and slinked up to start walking beside her, holding the rose out to her.
"It's not gonna be easy to find someone we can't see." Chat Noir remarked, bringing up the advantage that their new foe had against them as they now stood next to the decorative table in the center of the lobby.
"So we'll just have to wait for her to find us." Ladybug said as she took the rose from Chat Noir's offering hand and instantly put it down in the vase on the table next to her. "But we have an advantage over her since she doesn't know we're onto her." the spotted heroine pointed out before she and Chat Noir started walking to the exit, Artemis starting to walk up the stairs behind them. But neither party had noticed the rose that Ladybug had put into the vase had been lifted up from it, now floating in the air as it was held by an invisible hand.
"And now I do, Ladybug." the voice of Vanisher quietly purred, followed by her face being lit up with Hawkmoth's symbol once it appeared on his face.
"It's time to fulfill our agreement, Vanisher. Chat Noir and Ladybug are at your mercy!" Hawkmoth commanded his latest akuma, eager for her to use her set of powers to take the jewels with ease. "Take their Miraculous and bring them back to me." the resident supervillan demanded, his excitement practically pouring out of him as he spoke.
"They'll never see me coming, Hawkmoth." Vanisher replied in a sinister tone right before the glow around her face disappeared, quickly tossing the rose over her shoulder and letting land on the ground before she crept over to the heroes. However, the sound of the flower dropping to the ground had caught Chat Noir, Ladybug, and Artemis; who heard a quiet voice as she was walking up the stairs, attention, causing them to look and see the rose had been moved.
"The flower. Wasn't it in the just in-" Artemis began from her spot on the stairs, a raised eyebrow at the offending flower while a concerned Chat Noir turned his gaze back to Ladybug. As he did, he suddenly noticed the outline of Vanisher's hand as she tried to take Ladybug's earrings, her fingertips just grazing the jewel.
"Look out Ladybug!" Chat Noir shouted with wide eyes before leaping over to his partner, pushing Vanisher away from Ladybug and leading to the both of them to spring into action as they used their weapons as shields to protect themselves. Just as Ladybug and Chat Noir started circling the area, Artemis had grabbed a hold of the stair railing and lept over it, landing down to the ground before racing over to help them.
Up in her room, Chloé had been watching from her monitor and was surprised by the sudden attack in the lobby. But due to her aunt's reaction, it had lit a fire under the girl's butt to try and do something to help defeat Vanisher.
"If it really is you, Sabrina, then I want to be the one to free you!" Chloé exclaimed, determined to help take down the invisible akuma that is her former friend.
With her goal in mind, the blonde had grabbed a second remote from her coffee table and walked over to her closet to open it before pressing the button on the remote. A second later, a secret door in the back of the closet opened up, revealing Chloé's hidden Ladybug costume.
"You didn't get my costume, invisible one." the heiress said to herself with a smirk. "Now you'll have to face me." Chloé proclaimed as she reached into her closet and grabbed her costume, changing into it before making her way downstairs to join up with the heroes and Artemis.
Back down in the lobby, Ladybug, Chat Noir and Artemis were crowded around each other for protection just before Vanisher had started throwing furniture at them. Using their weapons, the heroes quickly deflected the large objects hurtling towards them, defending themselves from being hit. When she saw that approach not work, Vanisher had decided to try and attack the only non-superhero in the trio… Artemis.
"Sorry in advance, Ms. Queen. But I need a distraction!" Vanisher apologized as she grabbed a vase and threw it at the older female, causing the two heroes to turn and face Artemis out of worry. But before either hero could help defend her, Artemis had raised her arms out in front of her and caught the vase with ease, spinning on the ball of her right foot to accommodate for the centripetal force behind the vase.
"Woah! Nice moves!" Chat Noir exclaimed, surprised with Artemis's display of skill and bringing a self-satisfied smirk to her lips at the praise.
"Ma'am, you need to leave. It's not safe for you here." Ladybug ordered, also impressed with her skills but more worried for Artemis's safety if anything.
"I can handle myself, Ladybug." Artemis assured the heroine as she tossed the vase up and down in the air with only one hand, a tired look on her face. "While I appreciate the worry, I'd be a bit more concerned for yourself if I was you." the Changeling in disguise remarked before she threw the vase to the ground and rolled it over to Vanisher, distracting her while she stepped to the side to avoid it and letting Artemis sneak up behind her to restrain the akuma.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Vanisher shrieked, thrashing in Artemis's hold and making it harder to keep her contained.
"I'd call up that superpower of yours right about now, Ladybug!" Artemis strained to suggest, struggling to keep Vanisher in her grip while giving a surprised Ladybug the chance to recover from her shock and call upon her…
"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug cried out, summoning her powers and causing a small container of glitter to appear in the air before dropping into her awaiting hands. "How handy." the spotted heroine remarked with sarcasm, not sure of why she received this particular lucky charm.
"Looking for me Sabrina?" a voice called out, causing everyone to look and see Chloé in her Ladybug costume as she stood at the top of the staircase balcony. "I'm right here, come on!" Chloé taunted, confident in her abilities to help take down Vanisher.
"Oh, no! Seriously!?" Ladybug groaned when seeing the blonde brat, all while Artemis shot her pseudo niece with an incredulous look.
"Chloé, what are you doing here! You need to leave, now!" Artemis warned, her attention in keeping a hold of Vanisher wavering just enough for the invisible akuma to break free from her hold.
Once she was able to move around again, the transparent villain tried to kick at Artemis's face, to which the older female responded by blocking it by making an X with her arms and pushing Vanisher back with said block. The blow then sent the akuma to the floor, making her scramble to her feet before moving to one of the sitting areas of the lobby.
"If you stop this ridiculousness right now, Sabrina, I might let you be my BFF again." Chloé offered as she walked down the stairs to the ground floor, Vanisher reaching the sitting area and picking up a book that was placed on the coffee table.
"You've got no friends left, Chloé!" Vanisher shouted from the sitting area, readying her arm to throw the heavy book in her hand. "And you'll never have any, EVER again!" the akuma threatened with a growl as she started throwing the books at her, which would have hit the heiress if Artemis hadn't run over and blocked them from hitting Chloé. As she does, Ladybug and Chat Noir slip in to help her, Chat Noir joining in blocking the flying books while Ladybug went behind them so she could take Chloé away from the fight.
"I'll make sure of that!" Vanisher added while Ladybug dragged Chloé to a pillar near the lobby exit and pinned her against it to keep her at a distance, letting both Chat Noir and Artemis run towards Vanisher to try and fight her. But once they did, she dropped the book in her hand and moved out of the way, causing her attackers to lose track of her again.
"You don't scare me! Everybody loves me!" Chloé shouted back to Vanisher, distracting Ladybug from trying to get a glimpse of their invisible enemy to turn and face the blonde brat with a glare.
"This isn't a game, Chloé!" Ladybug tried to explain to the heiress, unaware of Vanisher running up to her while she was distracted. Luckily for her, Chat Noir and Artemis had managed to catch the akuma's silhouette moving in the light as she neared her target.
"LADYBUG, WATCH OUT!" Chat Noir and Artemis yelled in warning, giving Ladybug only a second to realize the reason for their shouting before Vanisher grabbed her and restrained her from behind in an iron grip, holding her up in the air.
"It's over, Ladybug!" Vanisher growled as Ladybug thrashed in her hold, making the akuma have to place the spotted heroine on her feet to prevent herself from letting her go. As Vanisher had done so, Artemis slid over to Ladybug's right and waved her arms in the air to catch her attention.
"Ladybug, toss me the glitter!" Artemis exclaimed, prompting Ladybug to nod at her in understanding before she tossed the container to the older woman. Catching the small container with ease while Ladybug continued to try and escape from her invisible captor, Artemis quickly opened the top of it and prepared to throw it.
"DUCK!" the graying brown-haired woman shouted to Ladybug before throwing the glitter container above Vanisher, prompting the spotted heroine to take heed of the advice and bend down to the ground, pulling Vanisher off of the ground too.
When the container passed over the akuma, the glitter rained down onto Vanisher in the process, making an outline of her and revealing her to everyone in attendance. Now that Vanisher's main power was rendered useless, Ladybug threw herself to the ground and rolled out of her captor's arms, escaping the akuma's grip and rising to her feet while her enemy did the same.
"Just because you can see me, doesn't mean you'll defeat me Ladybug!" Vanisher menacingly assured the spotted heroine, only for Chat Noir to step back into the fray and block the akuma from advancing on his partner. "Look who's come to the rescue." the transparent akuma teased the feline hero, all while Artemis used the opportunity that Chat Noir had given her to run back over to Chloé, taking her niece further aside from the battle.
"Chloé, you need to get back to your room!" Artemis nearly growled out once they were hiding behind the pillar next to the front desk, infuriated with Chloé's meddling while Ladybug and Chat Noir started fighting against Vanisher.
"This concerns me too, Aunt Artemis!" Chloé argued, not liking that she had to sit on the sidelines while everyone else fought against her former BFF. Granted, it was most likely due to her ego needing saving in her opinion, but she still felt the need to do something.
"Just stay out of the way!" Artemis stressed as she held Chloé's upper arms in her iron grip, right before Chat Noir was thrown past them and slammed into the wall behind the front desk. Turning to the feline with worry, both Artemis and Chloé watched as he picked himself up and joined back up with Ladybug so they could defeat Vanisher.
"We just have to destroy her bag and capture the akuma." Ladybug said to Chat Noir when he joined back up with her, spinning her yo-yo to stay ready for an attack. But after Ladybug had spoken, Chloé processed the super heroine's words and slipped out of Artemis's hold and walked out of their hiding place. A second later, the Changeling in disguise quickly noticed her niece's absence after she felt her hands hold onto nothing but air, now looking for where the blonde was now.
"Wait, Ladybug! I don't think that's where the akuma is!" Chloé shouted to her idol, pulling out her own yo-yo and mimicking Ladybug. Unfortunately for her, it slips from her hand and it flies into the air until it falls on top of Vanisher's head, drawing the akuma's attention right back at her.
"So, you wanna fight after all, Chloé?" Vanisher questioned in a taunting voice when seeing Chloé back out in the open, immediately going to attack her.
Just as she was a foot away from her prey, Artemis jumped out from behind the pillar and tackled Chloé, maneuvering them in mid-fall so that she would take the brunt of the landing and keeping the girl's head covered by her arms. When they finally landed, they found themselves near the elevators before Artemis quickly regained her bearing and looked over at the heroes just as Vanisher was advancing on them.
"I'll get Chloé back into her room! You two got this?" Artemis questioned, followed by a swift kick to Vanisher's stomach, sending her stumbling back so that she and Chloé could get back onto their feet.
"Without a doubt!" Chat Noir replied as he extended his staff and ran towards Vanisher, using his weapon to restrain her while Ladybug ran over to Chloé and Artemis as they got back onto their feet and headed to the elevator.
"Thank you for the help, ma'am. We'll take it from here." Ladybug thanked Artemis, happy to have had a little extra help in this one.
"You're welcome, Ladybug." Artemis responded with a smile, which was followed by the elevator finally arriving to take them back up to Chloé's room. Once the doors opened up, Artemis placed a hand on Chloé's shoulder and started to lead her inside before she tried to turn back around.
"But wait! The akuma has to be in the designer pin I bought Sabrina!" Chloé exclaimed, telling Ladybug where she believed the akuma was hiding. "It was a gift from me, and she has to be wearing it on her sweater!" the blonde brat elaborated, which only seemed to infuriate Ladybug even more.
"I won't tell you again Chloé, so listen up!" Ladybug growled, having had enough of Chloé's antics for one day. "You need to leave! You're putting us all in great danger! Got it?" the spotted heroine lectured before she pressed the elevator button and made the doors start to close.
"Why aren't you listening to me, Ladybug? I'm telling you, the akuma is in her pin!" Chloé shouted in frustration, the doors closing as she spoke.
"Chloé, calm down." Artemis said to the heiress, the rest of her sentence cut off when the doors fully closed. At the silence that suddenly filled the room upon Chloé's departure, Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whoo, that's better." Ladybug gleefully remarked, sagging over in her now sort of relaxed state.
But it didn't last long when she soon noticed Vanisher and Chat Noir fighting, the akuma having broken free of the hero in black's grip just seconds ago. The fight soon turned to Vanisher's favor when she knocked Chat Noir to the floor, causing him to lose his grip on his baton in the process. Picking his weapon back up, Chat Noir only had seconds to evade another vase being thrown at him, leaping into the air with a backflip and landing on the decorative table in the middle of the lobby. Seeing that her opponent now had the high ground, Vanisher ran towards him and jumped onto the table herself, making him have to jump back to the ground to avoid her. When he did, Vanisher also copied his maneuver and landed right behind him… a vase that had been on the decorative table in her hands as well.
After Chat Noir had seen Vanisher no longer on the table, he looked around to try and find her. This resulted in him missing the glitter-coated akuma as she lifted the vase into the air and stuck it right onto his head, blinding him and making him stumble around thanks to the sudden shift in weight. At the sight of the fumbling kitten, Vanisher chuckled to herself at her clever idea, only for Ladybug to use her distracted state to throw her yo-yo at the akuma's bag. With a quick tug, Vanisher's backpack went flying towards Ladybug, pulling the semi-invisible akuma to turn around to see it land in the spotted heroine's hands.
"Your days are over akuma!" Ladybug proclaimed before she rips the backpack in half, resulting in nothing happening save for the bag's contents falling to the floor.
When seeing her bag destroyed, Vanisher advanced on Ladybug, cornering her against herself and the elevator doors as she tried to grab the heroine. In the split second Ladybug had when grabbing a hold of Vanisher to pin her into the wall, the heroine in red spotted a mass of glitter coating the alleged pin Chloé had mentioned. As she finally pinned Vanisher against the elevator doors, the force of the impact caused the pin to fall to the ground, letting Ladybug stomp it and make the akuma fly out of it.
Just as Ladybug had released the akuma, Chloé and Artemis; who had arrived back in Chloé's room just minutes ago, had been watching the fight from the tv in the heiress's room. Needless to say that when she was proven to be right, Chloé was quite pleased with herself.
"I knew it! So, who was right then, huh?" Chloé cheered as she and Artemis watched the feed, Chat Noir coming into the shot after freeing his head from the vase while the two of them stood in front of the T.V.
"Chloé, you still put yourself in danger." Artemis pointed out, rubbing her forehead as she spoke to sooth an oncoming headache with all that had been going on. "Being right isn't a good enough reason to do that." the woman added as she lowered her hand from her face and turned to look at the girl, her eyes narrowing at a now shy Chloé before they saw Ladybug starting the process to purify the akuma.
"No more evildoing for you, little akuma!" Ladybug exclaimed as she opened her yo-yo to reveal the sparkling pool of cleansing energy inside. "Time to de-evilize!" the heroine in red shouted before she threw her yo-yo toward the akuma, catching it in her yo-yo.
"Gotcha!" Ladybug cheered when the yo-yo was back in her hands. A second later, she released the purified akuma, setting the white butterfly free. "Bye, bye little butterfly," the spotted heroine said as the butterfly flew away, right before throwing the Lucky Charm up into the air.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug cried out, summoning the magic ladybugs and cleansing cure to restore everything back to normal.
Down in Hawkmoth's lair… let's just say that Paris's one true supervillain was seething where he stood as he processed his newest defeat.
"Inconceivable! I was so close!" Hawkmoth roared in anger, lifting his cane to drive it into the ground in his furious state. "I'm not giving up on my quest yet, Ladybug and Chat Noir! One of these days I will destroy you!" the discount Dr. Eggman in a purple suit gravely warned his enemies, despite them not being able to hear him as the lair window closed back up, leaving him in darkness once again to lick his new wounds.