Chapter 11: Determination

Abeille Renarde responded to an urgent call from Polymouse, meeting her on a rooftop.

"What's wrong, Polymouse?"

"I was attacked on my regular patrol route!"

"What attacked you? An akuma?"

"I don't think so. It was a guy in a dark blue costume with peacock feather markings. He had a purple face like Mayura."

"What did he do?"

"He caught me by surprise from behind and tied me up with my own jump-rope. I was stunned for a minute until I realized I could shrink out of it."

"You're sure it wasn't an akuma or a sentimonster?"

"He didn't try to take my Miraculous. In fact, he left an envelope with me."

"What?"

Polymouse handed over a manila envelope. Inside was a collar necklace, and a note.

Abeille read the note. "Dear Ex-Ladybug, I don't need this anymore, so you can have it back. It wasn't Adrien on the train. Signed, Ex-Flairmidable (Félix)."

"What does it say?" asked Polymouse.

Abeille gasped out, "F-Félix Fathom. He says it wasn't Adrien on the train! He stole the Dog Miraculous and he's returning it!"

"Do you believe it?" asked Polymouse.

"First we need to test if it's real," said Abeille. Would you help? I'm dual wielding already. Try putting on the collar."

Barkk appeared in a flash of light.

"Barkk, welcome back!" said Abeille, giving the kwami a hug.

"I'm so happy to see you again, Guardian," said Barkk, wagging her tail.

"Can you tell us anything about what happened after you were stolen?"

"Adrien renounced me as soon as he could," said Barkk. "I haven't been active again until now."

"I got a message that it was actually Félix who stole you," said Abeille. "It could be a lie, Adrien playing tricks on us, but... this makes a lot more sense. Monarch used all the powers he could when we fought him and got the Rabbit Miraculous back. If he had access to you, he could have touched the ball to the Rabbit Miraculous beforehand, and Fetched it back again."

"If he thought of that," said Barkk.

"Also, Monarch doesn't seem to know my identity," said Abeille.

"I agree," said Polymouse. "He kidnapped Marinette to try to get your secrets out of her."

"Yes... yes he did. So the person who stole my Miraculous isn't a loyal ally to Monarch, or he would have told him. Félix fits that role. When Félix was here making trouble for Adrien, he offered Hawk Moth a deal: helping to steal Chat's and my Miraculous in exchange for a piece of jewelry. That must be the Peacock, which he's using now!"

"We owe Adrien an apology. We've been rough on him all this time," said Polymouse.

"Aaah, you're right! I made a terrible mistake accusing him. And I think I've been too suspicious of Gabriel Agreste. I thought he might be Monarch just because of Adrien."

"He could still be Monarch. He's not a nice person," said Polymouse.

"He was akumatized in front of everyone. That would be hard to fake, since he doesn't have Trixx. There's one other thing: The Collector rejected the akuma and it purified itself. I've never seen that happen before. Deep down, he must have a pure, forgiving heart."

"Gabriel with a pure heart?" said Polymouse. "No way! This is the man who wanted to cut down the trees in Paris and sell air in bottles!"

"You have a point. Still, he got akumatized, and he fell into the sewer and could have drowned."

"How did Félix end up on the train instead of Adrien?" asked Barkk.

"I don't know – but Félix is known for his impersonation schemes. I'll have to ask Adrien... if he'll speak to me."

"Good luck," said Polymouse.

"Do you have another holder for me?" asked Barkk. "Maybe the real Adrien?"

"I can't ask him to do that," said Abeille. "Not after all this..."

"What about the holder who helped us against Penalteam? Miss Hound?" asked Polymouse.

"That was a one-off," said Abeille. "I think she has divided loyalties. What I'd rather do is let you keep Barkk, too."

"Really?" asked Polymouse

"Yes, I'd love that," said Barkk, wagging her tail again.

"The unified powers compliment each other well. You could shrink down and get into anywhere, touch something with the ball, and Fetch it out."

"When would we need that?"

"Recovering lost objects stuck somewhere inaccessible, or stolen objects locked away. Even our lost Miraculous if we could find Monarch's lair and raid it."

"I'm a bit scared of dual wielding, but I'll try."

"Say the names of the two kwamis, then 'Unify'. To release it, say the names and 'Divide'. Order doesn't matter. The magic will read your intentions."

"Mullo, Barkk, Unify!"

The new form was gray and brown, with dog ears instead of mouse ears. She still had the jump-rope belt, and there was a small pouch for the ball at her waist.

"How does it feel, using two Miraculous at once?"

"It feels a little strange. It takes more energy, but I can handle it."

"What will you call yourself?" asked Abeille.

"Polydog? No, it sounds too much like polliwog. A Pekinese is a small dog, so I'll be Polypeke."

"Polypeke sounds great. Would you mind staying here while I make the call to Adrien? I'm nervous and I need some moral support."

Adrien was in his room when the call came in on his cell phone.

"Adrien, I need to talk to you."

Adrien recognized the voice and remained silent. He wanted to talk to Ladybug, but he had orders not to.

"This is Abeille Renarde – I used to be Ladybug. I really need to meet with you face to face – I owe you an apology."

Adrien had gotten used to finding loopholes in his orders. For example, orders to him as Adrien didn't apply to Chat Noir. He chose to make another distinction, because he really wanted to talk to her. She wasn't Ladybug La Renarde, or Belle Abeille now, so...

Adrien asked, "What about meeting at the Grevin Museum?"

"The Grevin Museum? Why there?"

"I could get into trouble if I'm seen with you. If we meet in the Gallery of Celebrities I could pose as my statue."

There was a pause for a moment, and Adrien wondered if he had embarrassed her.

"You don't have to do that. I can look like someone else with an illusion," said Abeille. "Like an older blond woman wearing a red-and-white striped dress."

"That works. I can be there in an hour."

"Ok, see you there."

"He wants to meet at the wax museum?" Polypeke asked. "That's strange."

"I think it's pretty sus," said Abeille. "I'm not sure this isn't a trap."

"What if give you backup? I can get into the ventilation system and cover the whole building."

"Can you get around the building quickly?"

"I can get my copies small enough that air currents from the AC will blow us around."

"Thanks, I appreciate your help."

Right before the appointed meeting time, Polypeke got her copies into place.

Abeille Renarde invoked "Mirage" and got into the disguised form that she had promised. She entered the Celebrities Gallery and found Adrien.
Even thought this could be a scheme, Abeille would act as if she believed him (for now).

"Adrien, your cousin Félix sent me this note, confessing to what he did. He framed you for stealing the Ladybug and Dog Miraculous. I'm so sorry I believed it was you!"

"It's not easy to forgive," said Adrien. "Your suspicions got around at my school, and cost me friends."

"I'm really sorry about that. How did it happen that Félix was on the train instead of you?"

"I didn't want to go on the worldwide promotion tour, and Félix convinced me that if he took my place he could talk to my father and get out of it more easily than I could. The Risk infection was probably working on me, making me more willing to go along with a dangerous plan."

"Why did he really want to go on the train?"

"I don't know. He must have been up to something, probably just mischief against me and my father. He couldn't have predicted you would go on the train and offer him the Dog Miraculous. He just took advantage of you."

"He certainly did. I'm furious with him."

"If you could let people know that I'm on your side, totally against Monarch... maybe through Marinette? I know she's an ex-team-member of yours."

"I will," Abeille Renarde said.

"All this time, only Lila believed me and supported me," said Adrien.

"I've had some issues with her in the past, with her lying about me. You need to be careful about her."

"That's what she told me you would say. She said not to believe it."

"But Adrien..."

"I can't talk about it."

"Mr. Mayor, this is our new display of the Paris Protectors," said Veronique proudly. In the center was the original figure of Chat Noir, with a new covered wax figure next to him. Arranged around the room were more covered figures.

"I will not let you display this room," said Mayor Bourgeois.

He lifted the cloth over over the central figure of Abeille Renarde and let it drop again. (This was what Chloé had objected to, that another Bee hero was being honored instead of her). He continued lifting the fabric on other figures, including Barrimaid and Draco Malboy.

"My daughter – I mean, the people of Paris could get akumatized! This will remind them of Ladybug and Cat Noir's disastrous failure, the disastrous loss of half of the Miraculous, that Ladybug was supposed to be guarding! And this may lead to more disastrous disasters! Just the thought of it is harrowing enough. Did I mention how disastrous this could be?"

Véronique said, "No, Mr. Mayor. Not opening this hall would be disastrous for people's hope! I want to honor the heroes we still have. I'm sure they will get all the Miraculous back and the team will be complete again!"

"What if Ladybug fails over and over? What if we never see those superheroes again?" asked the Mayor. "Trust me. Politics is about adapting to the times, and the times are telling us to throw all these away!"

He snatched the brochures from Véronique, but she snatched them back. "You're wrong! These times call for hope. I will show these statues no matter what!"

"You won't if I have your museum shut down due to hygiene problems."

"There are no hygiene problems here!"

"Then there are no superheroes statues. No statues, no hygiene problems. It's the status quo."

Polypeke called Abeille on her communicator, from one of the air vents she had infiltrated.

"Veronique has been akumatized! I think she was upset because the Mayor told her she couldn't open the new hero exhibit."

"What's her object?"

"A handful of brochures for the exhibit. They turned into black cards."

"We'll have to be careful with those. We may have to destroy them all at once, like the Crocoduo record."

"She's heading into another room. One of us should be able to keep track of her."

"What's going on?" asked Adrien.

"There's an akuma villain in the building! You need to get out, or hide."

Adrien nodded, and ran out of the room.

"She's gone into the Paris Protectors exhibit room," reported another Polypeke. "She's taking the covers off the wax figures and putting brochures on their heads. It makes them come to life!"

"So she's Puppeteer 3," said Abiele.

"Yes, but with cards instead of a wand. If we could get the cards off them they would probably go back to being statues."

"That would be nice. We can't fix them if we break them. They can be re-posed."

"I'll multiply down more, and try to hit each card with a ball."

"Good, but be careful."

Chat Noir ran into the room. "Ready to help, M'Lady."

Abiele briefly explained what they were facing.

Moments later, Polypeke reported, "We tagged all the heroes' cards."

"Great work!"

"The fan of cards in her hand is trickier. I'm not sure if I can tag them as a unit, or if I have to do card by card."

"Chat is here now, too. We can get them. Where is she now?"

"Heading towards the Hall of Celebrities."

"What does she look like, in case she tries to hide among the statues for an ambush?"

"Her costume is like dripping yellow wax, and there's a glowing green bracelet on her left wrist."

"Like Viperion! She must have been given the power of Second Chance!"

"Oh no! What can we do against that? Should I try to tag the bracelet?"

"Too much risk of getting caught. If we catch her by surprise I can tie her up with my top string before she can touch it."

"That's risky, too. If she dodges..."

"I'm going to retreat for the moment. Chat and I need to make a plan."

Chat said, "What about Astro power-ups? We can plan up in space."

"Good idea, Chaton," said Abeille.

They ate the power-up food and flew up into space.

Polypeke reported, "She just invoked Second Chance."

"We'll be safe from her up here," said Astro Cat. "We can wait her out for five minutes, and then do a lightning strike."

"Cloaked in an illusion, so she won't know what hit her," said Cosmo-Bee-Fox.

Astro Cat said, "Purrf–"

He stopped, paralyzed by a Venom from behind.

Cosmo-Bee-Fox found herself caught in a tight-fitting Shell-ter bubble. "What? How?" she asked.

"You forgot I can give myself any power," said the wax Rooster Bold. "I chose space flight, and I brought Abeille Renarde and Barrimaid with me for a lightning strike, cloaked in an illusion."

"How did you know where to find us?"

"You can find anyone if you have all the time in the world to look," said the wax Abeille Renarde. "Like Mistress Manipula does."

"You don't have space suits."

"Wax figures don't need to breathe," said wax Barrimaid.

"Our orders are to take you back to the Mayor's office to witness her triumph," said wax Abeille.

In the Mayor's office, Manipula stood behind the desk. To her left, wax Minotaurox had his mallet raised over two hostage sitting on the floor: Mayor Bourgeois and his daughter Chloé.

Manipula smiled at the captive heroes. Chat still frozen by Venom and Abeille encased in a Shell-ter.

"You heroes are the lamest of the lame," said Chloé. "This never would have happened if you had kept me as Queen Bee!"

"You're going to be proud of me!" said Manipula. I've doubled your hero team! If you give me Chat Noir's Miraculous, then Monarch will renounce evil! The Grevin Museum will once again be able to celebrate heroes!"

Abeille said, "That's good, but... Manipula, if you really want to help us like you've always done, then reject the akuma."

Manipula said, "Don't worry, if he doesn't keep his end of the deal, then I'll defeat him with my team of superheroes!"

Abeille was about to remind her that Monarch could take back his power at any time, but then she had an inspiration.

Abeille said, "You're right. With your power of Second Chance, you don't have to rely on his promises. You and your team can find and defeat him yourselves. As my wax counterpart said, you can find anyone if you have all the time in the world."

A mask of light shaped like a butterfly appeared on Manipula's face. Manipula shook her head. "Abeille Renarde is right. I don't have to trust you."

Manipula reached for the bracelet on her wrist. "Second..." She gasped as the bracelet vanished under her fingers. The butterfly mask appeared again and her face contorted as the angry Monarch inflicted pain through the link.

Voices squeaked from the corner of the room. "Fall In! Fetch!"

Hundreds of tiny figures pulled together and began to combine into a single person. As they did, tiny balls shot out in every direction, yanked the cards from every wax hero, and caused them to revert to statues. The cards ended up in the full-sized Polypeke's right hand.

The Shell-ter around Abeille dropped, and Chat Noir woke up from his trance.

"..fect!" Chat completed, then looked around in suprise.

"Here!" said Polypeke, leaping to Chat. "Take these cards and the ones in her hand. If you destroy them all together it will release the akuma!"

Chat grabbed the cards and leaped for Manipula. When he had all the cards in his right hand, he invoked "Cataclysm!"

The purple cloud bubbled off from Manipula, and the megakuma flew off. Abeille captured it in a jar.

"Stick around, little butterfly," she said.

"Pound it!" said the three heroes, bumping their fists.

A little later, Beille Renarde and Chat Noir discussed the case.

"Second Chance is really hard to fight," said Chat. "I hope Monarch never gives it out again."

"I doubt he will," said Beille. "We showed him how dangerous it can be. Even a villain with less of a good motivation gets a lot of time to think without getting any new input from Monarch, and they can turn against him."

"Good point," said Chat.

"I'm not sure what to think about Adrien," Beille admitted. " On the one hand, if the note is real, Félix confessed. One the other hand, an akuma showed up just as I met with him at the museum."

"That could be a coincidence," said Chat.

"I don't know..."

"I say we should give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Anyway, the return of the Dog Miraculous really helped. The person who did that was working against Monarch."

"Therefore, he wouldn't help Monarch at the same time, by giving away the meeting."

"I guess you're right. Adrien is innocent. I'm glad to have someone I really trust to talk things out."

"Glad to help, M'Lady,"

Abeille had a sad feeling that her suspicion and rejection had driven Adrien to Lila. Her crush on him was still over. She was starting to have feelings for someone else... Chat Noir.