I was in a rush to post the last chapter I forgot to speak to you all!

Akari Mavis: I haven't had a Spanish class since Junior year, so forgive me. Los superhéroes eventualmente aprenderán por qué los exorcistas son duros con Akuma. A partir de ahora, ambos piensan que el otro está loco. Gracias por su comentario! Estoy feliz de que te guste esa historia hasta ahora! Del mismo modo, no soy bueno en español, así que usé un traductor para que me ayudara. .

Alexc1209: Yeah, poor Sabrina is tragically gone. The hospital is less of an Akuma Farm and more like a feeding ground.

jy24: Better get a torch ready soon buddy.

EllaWaterfall2: That time is drawing closer than you think :)

Boi: BOI! Thank you! Also, sorry to say, yes that was Sabrina. The poor, meek girl that we all know and love is gone forever RIP.

It's time for…Detective Marinette's introduction!

Chapter 18: Investigations

Upon releasing his suspicious to his closest friend, Pierre, Dr. Léon dove into his newfound investigation. Pierre was hesitant to aid him. He even found his claim to be ridiculous. Which from a certain lens it kind of was. The only thing he had to go on was their patients' word. Esther and Pierre's patients feared Lucia. And the last person that she tended to had died. From a logical standpoint, it was a stretch.

"I wouldn't call her an Angel of Death quite yet, Léon." His friend advised him. "Many people have died under nurses and doctors alike. What, are you going to go after everyone who had a patient die on them? That includes yourself, you know."

Pierre was right. Painfully so. Yet he couldn't stop this feeling in his gut. As soon he saw that image, he knew that there was something was wrong with the nurse. The only things that aided his suspicions were the strange black stars and his patient's fear.

Currently, he was sitting at his office on his computer. Pierre and the Intern, Lambert, were sitting across from him. There were papers scattered in front of him. Considering the lack of evidence he had against Lucia, the best action he could take against her was figuring out what she was "allegedly" injecting into the patients. If he figured out what disease was spreading, then he could find a way to counter it.

Considering that there were only two cases involving these strange stars and only one of those cases died, it didn't cause any sort of urgency. It was mostly phenomena that were felt around the room. However, at the end of the day, it was a disease that needed to caught early before it was too late. The good thing about this was that so far they collected a range of symptoms: weakness, fatigue, dizziness, any cold symptoms, vomiting up blood, and discoloration of the skin.

He sent Lambert out to go retrieve any cases (deceased and alive) that matched all these symptoms. Especially any cases from a year ago. It was unlikely that Nurse Lucia was the same doctor. How would one even fake a foul played death in the first place? Yet a dear friend of him always liked to remind him a quote from the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes.

"When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Even so, if she was (an unlikely reality) then what was her motive for this? Revenge? No patient deserved to be injected with unknown diseases. It was just unethical and illegal. Was this some sort of elaborate scheme to get back at the hospital for doing her wrong? Motives aside, if his gut was correct and there was something wrong with this nurse, then he was duty bound to do something about it.

"Where's that intern of yours, Léon?" Pierre hummed as he scanned the files. His glasses rested on the bridge of his nose. The doctor looked up and clicked his tongue. "Scrolling through social media, I see?"

"I have a suspicion."

"You always do." Léon glared at him and playfully stuck his tongue out at him.

"I just find it impossible that there is not a single image of this woman."

Pierre sighed. "Some people are more cautious about those kinds of things, Léon."

"I get that but still not even a family picture-" He suddenly gasped. As soon as he said that he scrolled down to see an uploaded image. It was a large picture of the Bonnot family. He could spot the parents and Lucia's husband, but he finally got to see Olivia. Or at least who he thought was her.

Pierre looked up again at the screen. "Oh my."

"Identical twins…" Léon eyes widened when he spotted the same spider necklace on Olivia.

Knock Knock

They looked back to see the skittish intern holding a box of files in his hand. "I'm back," he announced himself. "I found those files like you asked of me." With the new information reeling in his mind, Léon got up and walked over to see the files. Lambert let the box down on the table for them to scan through. "The one interesting thing that I'm sure you'll find is that, in every case, Nurse Lucia was involved."

"Olivia." Léon corrected as he thumbed through the files.

"Olivia?" Lambert repeated.

"Her real name is Olivia Bonnot."

Marinette let her fatigue showed through and fiend sickness to get out of going to school that morning. She felt guilty lying about it, but there were more pressing things to focus on. Her mother had lightly scolded her for overworking herself and ordered her to get some rest. So, with a pile of pillows under her blanket, Ladybug left her home and went off to investigate. She soared off to the police station.

She landed in front of a large tan building. Over the doorways were three of her nation's proud flag waving in the breeze. She strolled up to the glass double doors. The heroine ignored the stares of her fellow citizens as she strolled through the open doors. Inside there were groups of people around. Everyone was running back and forth. Everyone was busy. She reached the receptionist area where she saw all the distraught people sitting around and waiting. Some were angry and others were shaky. She could feel the desperation in the air.

One woman noticed her, she had makeup running down her cheeks and a handkerchief in her hand. "Ladybug!" she got up and ran to her. And a horde of people followed.

Everyone came to her about their complaints. She successfully had gathered a large crowd around her. All their complaints filled the air as everyone spoke at the same time.

Soon it was, "Ladybug, find my cat!" and multiple variations of "I can't find my keys!". Some seemed like they were serious. Like the man who complained that their son was in deep trouble. When asked further, they revealed that the children were in fact perfectly safe, but had accidentally bumped their heads or fell off a stair (see the singular there). Hell, even a man was holding some poor pizza delivery boy by the shirt and claiming that he should be arrested for forgetting the pepperonis. I can't believe they have to deal with this on the daily.

"Make way people make way!" The crowd was forcefully parted by a young, dark skin woman. She wore a gray suit with a badge hanging around her neck. Her chestnut, curly hair was pulled tight in a ponytail, revealing a skinny, warm face. Big, round hazel eyes watched amusingly at the spectacle before her. "Ladybug, welcome. I'm Inspector Victoria-Françoise Vidocq." she presented her hand to shake.

Ladybug gladly took her extended hand as she looked up at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The Inspector smiled before turning to the crowd. They were all still talking. The woman sharply raised her hands. "One at a time!" she pointed at an old man, "You first!"

"I lost my keys and I need someone to let me into my house."

Victoria smirked, "Have you checked your pockets?"

The man gasped and looked at her as if she said something scandalous, "Why of course I—" he dug into his pockets and stop. An embarrassed blush appeared on his face as he pulled the bundle of keys out.

Victoria pointed to the next person, "My cat was playing in the yard and now he's missing!" the man explained with a huff.

"Did you check the large tree in your yard, Monsieur Jefferson?" Jefferson opened his mouth before closing it and shaking his head, "Go check and if he's there, we'll have the fire department come get him."

A woman came forward with her complaint next, "My husband left for work three hours ago! And he's still not back."

The officer sighed and shook her head, "Madame Rachel, please remember that your husband works until 18. It's only 15." the Madame looked over at the clock and opened her mouth with a small 'o'. "If he doesn't get home in time, then, by all means, come back okay?"

Ladybug watched this whole exchange with her mouth slightly adjured in shock. This woman…she really has it together. Victoria then wrapped her arms around the crying woman and lead her over to her co-worker. She spoke softly and as gentle as possible with her.

"It'll be okay Madame. Describe your son to him and explain what happened." She passed her along to the man and they walked away. The crowd was now completely gone. The Inspector rested her arms on her waist before turning back to here. "Now…to what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise visit?"

Ladybug smiled nervously, "I'm here about the recent cases."

Victoria's smile turned sorrowful, "I figured," she turned away before gesturing her to follow, "Come follow me."

The heroine followed her. They walked through the department and came upon a large room with dozens of desks. They were all stacked with papers and fellow officers speaking to families. The wall to the left of her was just a long glass window. She noticed other people walking briskly up and down them. Even seeing some people being escorted in handcuffs. Victoria made her way over to a desk at the end near the end of the room. It was pushed up with another desk. At the side of them was a small chair. She pulled out her spinning chair and sat in it. The inspector gestured to the provided chair for her. Ladybug sat down and crossed her legs.

"So what do you know, Ladybug?"

"As much as the public knows. 14 recent people went missing. The most recent one being the kid, Jean Duparc."

Victoria leaned back and drummed her fingers against the metal desk, "Jean was reported missing when he didn't get home Sunday night. It's been two days since then and he still hasn't turned up."

"The news said there was nothing to tie the cases in, is this true?"

The inspector closed her eyes and drummed her fingers as she hummed. "They all went missing at night in a manner of a couple of days. It's tiny but it's the only thing so far." How do that many people vanish so quickly? And under such a short amount of time too.

"Leads?"

"Barely. Only one ties a few in and not all." Ladybug rose an eyebrow, "a few reported hearing gunshots before. Yet we didn't find any blood or bodies…yet."

Marinette felt her insides turn at the thought. Sometimes in the few detective shows and movies she saw, she forgot that people out there did commit such atrocities. Her eyes darkened at the reminder of her recent failure. She didn't know how Hawkmoth did it. She wanted to know why. What was going through his mind when he decided to do that? How could I not notice sooner? Had she become too complacent with the almost cartoonish ability of his powers? Of her powers? Everything seems too pure before this.

Remembering where she was, she shifted in her seat before looking up at the officer. The woman was staring at her with an unknown expression. "And the families?"

She closed her eyes and sighed through her nose. "They're all waiting and on edge."

"What about the Duparc family?"

"They're tearing at the seams." She looked over her shoulder for a moment before turning back to her. "They're here talking to another officer."

Ladybug leaned forward, "Can I talk to them?" Victoria hummed and nodded.

They got up and the Inspector lead her away. She ended up reaching a room with another glass wall. Inside was a long oval table with black chairs around it. Siting to their back to the glass was a man dressed in black. In front of him was a family of three. 4, she corrected herself. The eldest woman looked as tired as she images. Her dark eyes had deep black bags underneath them and her hair was a mess. She looked like she had been crying for hours. Next to the mother, sat—what she assumed to be—the father. He looked just as worn at as his wife. The man's eyebrows were furrowed. His bluebell eyes looked dull and weak. Next to him was another girl, a teenager. She had glittering blue eyes and straight brown hair. Her eyes remained down and a shadow seemed to be looming over her.

Victoria reached the door to the room and opened it. She lightly knocked on the door to alert the family. Her expression was sorrowful again. The mother looked up and saw her and gasped. She placed her hands on the table and pushed herself up to stand.

"Ladybug! Did you—" the heroine shook her head sadly. The woman looked utterly defeated before flopping back down in her seat. Her husband wrapped an arm around her and held her close.

Marinette walked in the room and around to the grieving family. She kneeled down and held the hand of the mother. "No, but I'm here to help. What happened?" she cut right to the chase.

"He―" she choked up and diverted her gaze down.

"It's okay, just breathe. Take as much time as you need." Ladybug reached up rubbed her back in an effort to soothe her pain.

"He…" she hesitated, "He was staying at his friend's Elliot's house a few nights ago. We were supposed to get him yesterday morning." she let out a broken sigh, "He called me to go get him. I should've…" she choked before shakenly continuing. "I told him I'd be there in an hour. Then things got hectic at work and I didn't remember until I got home and―" She finally broke down into a sob. "―It's my fault he's gone!"

Ladybug patted the woman's back before hugging her. "It's not your fault. You're only human. It's okay." she gently shushed her as she let her cry out on her shoulder as she went over the details. He was last heard from yesterday. I need to speak to this Elliot soon.

"I'll find him." she bravely declared. Jean's family turned their attention towards her with wide eyes. "I promise you I will."

After speaking with the family, Victoria provided her with the address of Elliot before offering to take her there. She wanted to decline but decided that it would've been better riding with an Inspector than by herself. So, she was gladly riding shotgun in an officer's car. The radio was playing soft, quiet tunes. It was nice to see the world from below in a car. She was used to running everywhere or just "flying".

She glanced over at the driver and saw a small smile on her face. "I never thought I'd have Ladybug in my car. I'm just glad that it's in the front and not the back."

Ladybug laughed nervously. "Oh, never back there. I swear!"

Victoria laughed, "Good, good." they turned a corner as the woman changed the topic. "It never stops to make me glad to have three capable superheroes in our city."

The girl smiled nervously and hesitated before correcting her. "Six. There's six of us now." Although, hopefully, it'll only be five. She did not want to activate Alya while the Exorcists were in town.

"I wouldn't count the other three as heroes. More like disturbances." the Inspector spoke honestly.

"They mean well. They're…new and not really used to the job yet. But they're capable." She remembered how Kanda single-handedly took down Riposte. And their group's teamwork (without her and Chat, of course. The two teams together just made a mess). We've gotta work on that.

Victoria shook her head. "It's just…I don't trust them. Ever since they arrived, I feel like more bad things have happened."

Ladybug said nothing further on the subject. She had nothing to add really. It's not like she, herself, really trusted them as well. And with their methods. Slamming people, and stabbing people, even ripping limbs off. She shuttered at the memory. Sure, they sometimes harmed the villain, but not to an extent to where it leaves them scarred or…dead. It shook her how they fought to kill and not to disarm. Did they not understand that the Akumatized victims had feelings? That they were human too?

"I don't understand. Why are you protecting the Akuma?"

"No, she just reverted back to human form! Are you idiots blind?"

"My eye isn't reacting to her."

"Yeah, but it doesn't react to these things anyway."

Something told her that she was missing a puzzle piece here. The clues didn't make sense. They implied that an Akuma could revert to human form and an eye—Allen's eye—could react to it? But that only confused her even more. She saw how they looked at everyone with an untrusting gaze. Could it be…the akuma they know is different? But that, to her, was impossible. She only knew one type of akuma. Those butterflies.

She felt a prickle down her spine and looked out the window. There it was again. That feeling of someone watching her. She felt it in her room and now again here. Ladybug scanned the world around her and spotted two red dots shining from a dark alleyway. It looked like some short figure was standing there. She locked her eyes with it and felt her skin grow cold. However, the contact didn't last for long as they turned again. They were gone, but the effect was still there.

Who…was that?

She was forced to forget when they arrived at Elliot's house. They drove up to a tiny quiet house. It was milky white with a large porch. On the porch, there was a rocking chair and an old couch. Spotted on the railings were multiple flower pots. Each with a unique color. Victoria stopped the car and they got out. The Inspector scampered up the steps—her heels clicking along the way—and rang the doorbell. A melody rang out for a second. Inside, they heard a young male shout before the door swung open.

In the doorway, stood a short, tan skinned boy. He had short curly hair that was combed to the side. His ears were pierced and held tiny hoop earrings. One hoop in his left ear and two in his right. His eyes were a fiery hazel and bore at her with boredom. Underneath his right eye was a small mole. The kid crossed his arms and glared at the officer before he noticed her.

His expression brightened considerably. "Ladybug! Wow, I'm so honored to have you here. What brings you?" he seemed bouncy and excitable.

"We came to ask about Jean." Victoria huffed.

His smile fell and he looked back at the officer, "I already told you. I have no idea where he went."

Ladybug hummed and nodded, "I see…Was he acting strangely in any way before he left? Or while he was over?"

"No! He was his usual self as always." The kid looked to the left and placed his fingers over his chin. "Although, he was tellin' to me about some girl that kept gawkin' at him recently. I forget what her name was." Ladybug quickly filed the information in her mind.

"A girl with a crush maybe?" the inspector inquired.

"Or a stalker," he suggested harshly. Victoria hummed in agreement.

"What does she look like?" the Inspector asked.

He clicked his fingers together a few times. "Blonde? No, Ginger. She goes to our school."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Wow, that magically narrows it down." she deadpanned, "It's not like there are millions of gingers at Collège Françoise Dupont." she exaggerated.

Elliot huffed, "I think her mother died recently or somethin'?"

Her eyes widen as a name popped in her head. She could only think of one redhead that recently lost a parent. Sabrina. She kept her mouth closed as she watched the Inspector and Elliot scratch their heads over it. It wasn't right to withhold information from the authorities but she had a bad feeling about the grieving girl. Something about her just rubbed her wrong. This was the first time she felt this way towards the ginger. She always knew her as the lackey of Chloé. A tiny minion that followed her every move. But now…she couldn't explain it. Maybe it was guilt?

"Is the interrogation over, officer?" he droned.

Victoria nodded, "Yes. We'll be leaving." she turned away and Ladybug was about to follow her.

"Oh, Ladybug. You don't have to go as well. Why don't you stay and—"

He was interrupted by a loud shout. It sounded like that of an older woman. "Elliot! I can't find the remote!"

His eye twitched and he sighed. He turned back and yelled back. "It's right in front of you, grandma!" Ladybug giggled lightly.

"I can't find it!" he sighed and looked back at her.

"It seems you're needed." she giggled. "See you later, Elliot."

He nodded mournfully. "Elliot!" Another shout was heard before he snapped and closed the door. All they heard was him yelling that the remote was indeed in front of her. Ladybug smiled and walked away from the house. It only lasted for a second before she frowned. Her mind went over the information she gained. It wasn't anything unusual. Nothing about it explained Jean's disappearance. The only "weird" thing was Sabrina, but it could be written off as a girl with a crush.

Ladybug joined Victoria and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess the only thing left to do is follow the way Jean could've gone home." she mused.

The path to Jean's home almost yielded no results.

Almost.

It was when they came upon a peculiar sight that made it worth it. Along the way, the duo found an empty cop car in front of an alleyway. The entrance was made of the corners of two buildings that were literally destroyed. They were spaced enough for three people to comfortable stroll down the alleyway. The entrance floor was littered with broken brick and dry mortar while it was sealed off with yellow tape. The damage looked as though something large smashed through into the alleyway. The broken corners lined up near perfect to form a large balloon-like shape. Weird.

Ladybug took out her yo-yo and clicked a picture of the irregularity. Victoria followed suit. They looked at each other before walking through the tape and down the alley in search of clues. Marinette made sure to be careful to not trip over the rubble.

This is where she found the next strange sight. A large dumpster had sharp round holes in it. The impossibility of it made her confused. It looked as though someone shot at it. With a cannon maybe. She snapped a picture of that before drawing closer to it. Kneeling before it, she examined the large holes. The ring had some sort of black dust inside.

"What is it?" the Inspector asked.

Ladybug ran her finger across the metal. When she pulled back to look at the dust, she found instead that her gloved finger had been stained with black stars. Suddenly the edges glowed pink before the stars were faded away in a sparkle of pink light. Similar to the light that encased her when she transformed.

"What in the world?" She went back and ran over another opening. She found that the same thing had occurred. Confused, she took a picture of the strange phenomenon. Whatever the stars were, her suit didn't seem to like them as much. The hero ran over another opening to see just the stars this time. She looked back at the Inspector and saw that she kneeled next to her and looked at the stars. "I have no idea what it is."

Victoria hummed, "It looks like dust? But no dust I know does that."

Ladybug nodded. They stood up and continued on their way. The pavement was littered with debris and yellow tape. It looked like a battlefield. In the end, she came upon a dead end. Her eyes widened at the scene. The wall looked worse than the dumpster. It was stained with a reddish brown. Dry Blood, she realized. Beneath the blood stain was a pile of clothes with a yellow letter stand next to it. Across from them was a flat device—cell phone—that was labeled with another letter. There was a black book bag next to the phone that was labeled as well. Kneeling in front of the bag was a familiar redhead. Behind him were two disgruntled officers.

Oh no. "Lavi!" she got his attention. He stood up and looked over at her. She jogged over and stood in front of him with a frown.

"Ladybug! How are you?"

She glanced over at the officers and they shook their head. "Sorry, Ladybug. We couldn't make him leave."

She sighed and turned back to him. "What are you doing here, Lavi?"

He hummed and rubbed his hands together. She noticed how they were gloved with the semi-transparent plastic gloves. "I was originally out to get some air and I came upon this scene. Looks like an akuma at work." he gestured to the scene.

She moved passed him and went closer to inspect. Ladybug kneeled down at the scene. The first items she investigated were the pile of clothes. The shirt was well worn and stained. She lifted it up and found that a large hole that matched perfectly with one in the wall. The shirt's pattern was made up of large black stars. It was tainted with the poor victim's blood. Setting them aside, she pulled the pants up and found that the waistband and back were stained with the same black stars. The shirt, she had assumed, was its pattern, but it looked completely foreign on the jeans. Underneath them was a pile of that same dust. This time it was a large quantity. Strange. She placed the clothes aside and took out her yo-yo. She snapped a few pictures of the scene.

Unknown to her, Victoria had followed her example. She had leaned down and was about to touch the strange dust when Lavi grabbed her clothed wrist. Hearing the sharp gasp, Ladybug snapped her head to look.

"I wouldn't touch that without gloves, Miss." She watched Victoria glare at him. The inspector grabbed his wrist and ripped it away from her. She then pushed him around and slammed him into the adjacent wall. She kept his arms trapped and ground him into the brick.

"Hands off, bud!"

"Hey, hey, hey. No need to get rough. I was just trying to warn you." he craned his neck to look at the heroine. "Who even is this woman, bug?"

Victoria answered for herself. "Inspector Victoria."

"Another inspector." she heard him mutter in understanding. "Well, Missy. I was just helping."

The inspector smirked, "I don't know. I think this could go down as assaulting an officer."

Ladybug sighed, "Inspector," the woman looked back at her. "Let him go. He's…relatively harmless." Compared to Kanda and Allen, Lavi had only slammed an akuma into a wall and used fire snakes to burn another. Not completely burn though. Compared to the rest, his greatest flaw was that he was only extremely annoying.

The officer huffed and glared at Lavi. She let him go before swiping something from his waist. "I'll be confiscating this.." she looked at her prize and her eyebrow rose in confusion. "tiny hammer?"

Lavi pouted and rubbed his gloved hands together. It looked like he was trying to avoid touching the parts that were truly affected. Like his wrists and lower forearm. "I need that hammer, by the way. It helps me get home."

She scoffed, "Really now?"

He nodded, "Yes…it's a...uh key to my door." Liar. That was the same hammer that he made grow into his weapon. She had no idea how. She suspected it was an advanced form of Chat's baton.

"Then I'm definitely keeping it." she put it in her back pocket and turned away. Lavi sighed and Ladybug couldn't help giggling at the moment. Moving on, Ladybug migrated over to the black book bag. She was about to open it when her eyes found a brown leather tag on the zipper. She took it and turned it over. "Jean Duparc" was embroidered into it. As quick as lightning, she released her hold on the tag and stood up. Backing away, she gasped and ran her eyes over the scene again.

No, no, no. her eyes locked on the bloody clothes and wall. Her heart pounded in her chest. She didn't want to believe it. Those clothes, the bag, the phone, the...blood. It couldn't have belonged to him! But the evidence told a different story. With shaky hands, she reached over and swiped the phone up. The teen hesitated before clicking it on. What stared back at her was a selfie of Jean and Elliot. She gasped as tears formed at the edges of her eyes. Her hand hovered over her mouth and staggered back. The shock nearly made her drop the phone. Nearly. With tears blurring her vision, she tightened her hold on the phone.

"What is it, Ladybug?" Victoria got up and saw the screen. She gasped as well before her expression turned somber. "I guess we found Jean." It can't be. Ladybug stared at the bloody clothes with remorse. Wait, there's no body, surely that means he's fine! she tried to reason. Yeah, no corpse. So that means he's fine right?

Victoria turned to the officers and ordered, "I need a forensic team here now!"

Lavi placed a hand on her shoulder in quiet support. Slowly the reality of it was sinking in, Jean was dead. Someone—Something killed him. She shook her head and denied the truth in front of her. No! That wasn't possible. No corpse means he was still alive. Ladybug gazed at the stains of blood. Hurt…but alive. But for how long?

"So what do we do now?" she looked to the inspector.

The woman turned back to her with a frown, "We wait for forensics to get here. But in the meantime, we question any possible witnesses." she gestured to the buildings beside them. Ladybug looked at them and noticed that some windows had lights on. Whatever made this mess definitely made a lot of noise. But with only three of them and such a big pool of witnesses, how were they supposed to distinguish between the stories? We need someone who saw everything. She turned around and noticed a broken pot on the ground. Dirt spilled out everywhere. A single wilting daffodil laid in the mess. Her eyes trailed up a window that was wide open. There were potted plants on the ledge. Looking down at them was a woman with a fearful look in her eyes. They locked eyes before she scurried away.

Lavi hummed, "Seems we have our key witness." She glanced at him before looking down at the broken pot again.

"It seems so."

We start to see Sabrina's destruction. As for our heroine, it seems she's close in figuring out the truth, but she lacks the necessary clues. Will Lavi explain it to her? Or will she learn the hard way? Until next time!

Ciao-su~!