Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You are nothing,” spat Lila. “You will always be nothing . And I’m going to prove that to you.” 

Marinette played her part well. A weak little girl, scared yet defiant. Tears shimmered in her bluebell eyes, and her hands were shaking. 

“I told you that if you crossed me I would take away all your friends. Now you’re all alone, unloved and weak.” 

Marinette forced her chin to wobble, pretending to withhold tears. She wasn’t crying, and the only thing she was trying to contain was her laughter. She began to sink down to the floor, keeping her back against the wall. 

“Stand up, bi*ch!” When Marinette didn’t move, Lila struck her across the face. A red mark blossomed, and Marinette released a single tear. 

Lila smirked, looking at the bluenette. 

“Oh, is itsy bitsy snookums hurt?” 

As if. Marinette had broken her nose for the first time at age three. Her cousin Jasper had broken it, and she had broken his right back. 

Neither of them had cried. After all, it was just a broken bone. Crying was reserved for important things, like...well...nothing. Crying wasn’t allowed. 

“Every single day, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You will wait in this bathroom for me every single day. Tell anyone, and I will have you expelled.” Lila reached up and slapped her own face, smirking sadistically at Marinette. 

“After all, you’re beating me up, and that’s grounds for expulsion,” she said, mock-sweetly. 

“F*ck you, Rossi.” 

Smack.

Marinette had matching handprints on both of her cheeks. 

“Yes, that is what Adrien will do, when his father tells him to. But you? Nobody will ever touch you.” 

Marinette growled as Lila left the bathroom. Tikki flew up, taking a photo before using her magic to heal both of Marinette’s cheeks. 

“Marinette, this is going too far! Lila is physically harming you now! You need to tell someone!” 

Marinette closed her eyes, releasing a cold laugh. 

“You heard her. She’ll get me expelled.”

“Marinette, your well-being is more important than a silly school!”, Tikki protested. 

“No, Tikki. Let me tell you a story.” Tikki finished healing Marinette’s cheeks, settling in the bluenette’s hands. 

“Once upon a time, there was a group of kindergarteners. They were small, and easy targets for bullying. In the first month of school or so, there was an older boy. He was probably in grade 5 or 6, and it seemed like he was 15 feet tall,” Marinette paused, taking a breath.

“He had red hair, and big front teeth. He was throwing mud at the kindergarteners. As another clump of mud hit a blond girl—Rose, actually—, a growl emerged from the group of kindergarten students.” 

Marinette had somehow decided that she was telling the story like an outsider, not the main character. But it worked, so she continued. 

“A small girl—the smallest in the class—marched forward, her pigtails swinging. Her large blue eyes had a fire in them, and she squatted. It has always been said that kindergarteners were never grossed out, and it was true in that moment. The girl pushed her sleeve back, grabbing a large handful of mud.” Marinette smiled at the memory, and she realized that she still remembered how the mud felt.

““You think it’s so funny, picking on kids younger than you?”, the girl said. The boy had laughed, his mouth wide open. The little girl smirked widely, and her fellow kindergarteners shuddered. Leaning back, the girl channeled all her strength into her arm. There was a distinct squelch, and the red haired boy sputtered, spitting the wet mud out of his mouth. The girl’s eyes danced, and she shook her hand off.” 

Tikki laughed through her cringe, having been on the receiving end of Plagg’s mud pie tosses many times. 

“The little girl spoke, and her voice was hard. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I don’t like bullies. You weren’t picking on someone your own size, so neither did I,” she said.” 

“Marinette, the little girl was you?” 

“Yes, Tikki. I threw mud at a bully. I kinda wish I could throw mud at Lila, actually. Anyway. Baby-Marinette leaned in, her five-year-old face as patronizing as it could get. “Isn’t it fun?” , she had said. Glaring, the boy pushed me into the mud. The mud splashed around me as I fell, getting all over my clothes. I began to pick herself up, but the older boy did something he would regret forever. He held me down in the mud with his foot, laughing. Until something happened. A lanky blond girl came forward, her hands on her hips. Tossing her long blond ponytail, she pulled out a phone.” 

Tikki gasped, and Marinette smiled. She continued, a fond smile on her face.

““You have five seconds to remove yourself from Marinette before I call my daddy,” the blond girl said. The boy scoffed, presumably hiding his jealousy. A kindergartener had a phone? No fair, right? “And who is your widdle father, then?” The blond girl touched an icon, showing it to the boy. “Andre Bourgeois, of course. And then I’ll call my mother, Audrey Bourgeois. And then, you’ll be expelled. Does that sound like fun?” Chloé Bourgeois giggled, and she told me later that at the time, she had assumed that having one of Paris’ biggest power couples as parents wasn’t a big deal.” 

“Chloe saved you?”

“She did, Tikki. That’s when we became friends?”

“But she bullies you!”

“It was an act. She cried in my room about it later. The first time, she felt so bad that she threw up.”

“Poor Chloé! But why did she bully you, if it hurt her—and you—so much?” 

“It was part of an act. You’ll find out what it was for soon enough. “ You-you-you can’t do that,” the boy stuttered. Chloé smirked, pretending that she was talking to a penguin. Not that being a penguin was bad, it was just the first animal she had thought of. “Just watch me, peasant,” she replied. It was the first time Chloé had ever used the word peasant. She cried after that, too. She began to walk around the boy, clucking her tongue. “Ripped jeans, ragged sneakers, a t-shirt for a band nobody has ever heard of, and a backwards baseball cap. Who’re you trying to impress, hmm? By the looks of it, I’d say one of the Sancouer-Kurtzberg sisters. Tell me, is it Nathaly, or Nathania?” She said that she had been completely bluffing, but it worked. The boy stared at her in shock, completely freaked out. “What in all of the world are you talking about?” To anyone else, it was confusion. To Chloé, a politician's daughter, it was a deflection, apparently. “I’m talking about your crush on Nathaly Sancouer-Kurtzberg.” Her voice was loud, and her grin as wide as the sun. The boy shook his head, confused. “I like Nathania, not Nathaly.” ”

Tikki laughed, facepalming. 

“He really fell for it? Just like that?” 

“I know, right? I’m still, to this day, amazed. Chloé smirked, and the boy visibly ran over what he had said in his head. Then he ran. Nino chased after him, before smiling at his classmates. “He’s gone,” were Nino’s only words, but it was enough. A month into grade 5, Nicholas Robertson switched schools, and only a handful of people knew what happened. Chloé and Marinette had stood up for themselves, and their class. They soon became best friends, alongside Nino, and roamed the playground. They never played games, though. No, they were the Destroyers. And they destroyed bullies.” 

“So you, Chloé, and Nino were in charge of the playground?” 

“That’s right, Tikki. We were best friends, platonic soulmates, a third of a whole, whatever. But then, in grade 3, when the Destroyers were 7, we broke. 

It wasn’t that we had moved on, it was rather that we couldn’t. Chloé’s parents were splitting up, and she used it as a refuge. Nino kept staying because he had nothing better to do, even though defeating bullies had become boring years ago. He had treated it like a phase; like something to grow out of. And I held on because my friends were still holding on, and I wasn’t ready to lose them. There was a big fight one day, which caused many things.” 

Marinette sighed, eyes downcast. 

“Nino gave up, focusing fully on his music. That was one Destroyer gone. Chloé left school for a while, dealing with the aftermath of her parent’s famous divorce. That was another Destroyer gone. And I was left, picking up the torn pieces of paper my friends left behind. The Destroyers had vanished. When the news spread throughout the school, bullies came out from hiding. We thought that they had disappeared, but no. Wherever there were differences, whether it was our appearance or something else, there were bullies. The bullies picked on everyone, but there was one that was as formidable as the Destroyers themselves. McKaylia Johnson. She was so pale she could blend in with the clouds, and people swore up and down that, when she was mad, they could see her veins.” 

Marinette rolled her eyes at the memory of the girl, scoffing. 

“She had been waiting for this day for years; the downfall of the Destroyers. Soon enough, the whole school quaked in her path. Even students older than her didn’t dare cross her, for fear of what would happen. Her favourite targets were the class below her. The class of the Destroyers. When the Destroyers disbanded, everyone assumed it was a mutual decision, made out of the fact that they were older now. Nobody knew the truth. I clung to the wisps of the Destroyers. Of course, I was still friends with Nino, nothing could ever change that, and I was still BFFs with Chloé. 

But there was something that was no longer there, something that I craved. It wasn’t being correct, or being feared, or even having power. I wasn’t sure what it was. But the second I confronted McKaylia, the answer snapped into place. It was justice. “The Destroyers may have disbanded, but our beliefs are still the same. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I don’t like bullies.” As I spoke the same words I had so long ago, (it was actually only like, 3 years) the class knew what they had to do.” 

Marinette paused, and Tikki squirmed. 

“What happens next, Marinette?” 

The bluenette smirked, returning to the story.

“The one question was, though, who would do it? Who would step forward? 5 minutes later, the answer was clear. Alix Kubdel. And Nathaniel Kurtzberg.” 

“Alix...and Nathaniel? The painfully shy, introverted Nathaniel?” 

“Yeah. That’s another role, by the way. Nath was always naturally introverted, but never shy. The two redheads—Alix was a natural redhead before she started dying her hair—stood beside me, one on either side. I automatically grabbed their hands, interlacing my fingers with theirs. Leaning in close to McKaylia, I smiled, and everyone afterwards said it was rather sardonic. “And that’s what you are, McKaylia Johnson. No matter what form the Destroyers are in, we will always stand by that, and for that. I’m giving you a warning. Stop what you’re doing now, and switch schools. Or, you could continue, and face our wrath. Face the wrath of the Aces.” I had chosen the name randomly, remembering what my grandfather had said long ago. ‘The Ace of Spades is the most powerful card in the deck. Remember that, my Ace of Spades.’ Then he tucked the card into my pocket, packing up the rest of the cards. I still remember my words back to him, Tikki. ‘What about all the other Aces? Are they as powerful as the Ace of Spades, grandpa?’ He chuckled, nodding. 

“Only if you want them to be, Marinette.” And I did. McKaylia Johnson ran that day. A week later, Chloé came back, and the Aces were formed. There was Chloé, or The Ace of Hearts. Alix was known as The Ace of Clubs, and Nath was The Ace of Diamonds.” 

Marinette pulled a worn playing card out of a hidden pocket, flashing it at Tikki.. 

“And I, Marinette, The Ace of Spades. The most powerful card in the deck. The Destroyers had fallen, and from their ashes, a new group arrived. They were more famous, more powerful, and much more deadly. The Aces were in charge.” 

“Wow! But that was in grade 3, right, Marinette? What happened to the Aces?” 

Marinette laughed, hooping Tikki gently on the nose. 

“Well, Tikki, it’s a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it now?” 

“I do, but the bell just rang, and you’re going to be late for class. Maybe tell me after school?” 

Marinette gently placed Tikki back in her purse, standing up. 

“Thank you, Tikki.” 

“For what, Marinette?” 

Marinette smoothed out her blazer, and adjusted her pigtails. 

“Distracting me, and helping me remember. It’s nice to remember times where everything was normal.”

“Will you tell me the rest of the stories?” 

“Of course, Tikki.”

Chapter Text

“Oh good, you came,” snapped Lila. 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Lila,” sassed Marinette. 

Yes, she had gone to the bathroom. Yes, she had listened to Lila. Yes, she had a plan. Her phone was taped under the counter, recording. Nobody would be able to find it; the janitor had made sure of that. Marinette put her purse on the counter, letting Tikki phase through quickly. 

“Pass me your bag.”

“No.”

Lila slapped Marinette, holding out a hand. 

“Yes.” 

“I’d rather not, actually.” 

Marinette had learned the hard way that A) Lila wasn’t strong enough to actually hurt her, and B) if she protested, Lila would get irritated, and rush. 

“Hand it over, bi*ch.” 

“I’ll pass.” It was actually slightly amusing how hard Lila was trying, and how much Marinette was goading her. 

“Now, you puttana!” 

“Really, Lila? That’s the best you can come up with? Wh*re?” 

The bluenette smirked, looking at Lila.

“Cazzo si,” spat Lila. F*ck you .

“Bafangu chooch,” Marinette replied in perfect Italian. She could faintly hear Tikki cackling in the background, and she cracked a slight smile. F*ck yourself, jack*ss.

“Mangia merde e morte.” Wow. Eat sh*t and die. How classy. 

“Vai all’inferno, Lila.” Burn in Hell.

“Preferirei davvero di no, sai? Ora consegna la tua borsa, cagna.” I’d really rather not, you know? Now hand over your bag, bi*ch. Marinette’s mind translated the words automatically, and she laughed. 

“Jeg tror faktisk, jeg vil beholde den.” Whoops. By the look on Lila’s face, that hadn’t been Italian. She ran over the words, realizing it was Danish. 

“Mi dispiace per questo. A volte mi confondo sulle 17 lingue che parlo. Ho detto che avrei preferito tenere la mia borsa.” I’m sorry about that. Sometimes I get the 17 languages I speak confused. What I said is that I will actually keep my bag. 

“Pensi che mi importi, cagna?” You think I care, bi*ch?

“Sì, in realtà.” Yes, actually.  

“Shame. I don’t.” Oooh, they were back to French. Yay!

“Neither do I,” grinned Marinette. 

“Tch.” Lila spun a ring on her finger, the gaudy star now on the inside. She struck Marinette across the face, splitting the skin. 

“That was just rude, Lila.” 

“Doesn’t matter. Just like you don’t matter,” spat Lila. 

“Uno reverse card,” smirked Marinette. Lila grabbed the bluenette’s bag, dumping it out on the counter. 

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief when Tikki didn’t come tumbling out with her phone and power-up macarons. Lila picked up the phone, then dropped it to the floor, “accidentally” stepping on it. Marinette raised an eyebrow at Lila, not caring. It had been a decoy, anyway. Did Lila really think that she had a first generation iPhone? For shame. 

“You carry macarons in your purse? What, are you trying to get fat?” Lila had opened up the box, and now she was running her finger along each one, crunching the middles as she went. 

“Aw, and they’re in rainbow order, too! How sweet!” 

Lila tossed them in the trash, and Marinette made a mental note to rescue them later. Lila slapped Marinette’s face again, another cut forming. 

Then the sausage-haired girl sauntered out, leaving Marinette alone in the bathroom. She checked the stalls before sitting down, holding her hands out for Tikki to land in. The kwami did so, and Marinette began her story. 

“Three years. The Aces had roamed the halls for three years, defeating bullies. We had grown until we were the most powerful people in the elementary section, and then some more. There was no reason to reintroduce ourselves, for everyone already knew us. The Destroyers were a thing of the past, and one that nobody ever mentioned. One day, the sound of flesh slapping flesh rang in the air, and I cocked my head to the side. As quick as a fox, and as quiet as a mouse, I crept along, opening up my camera app. Swiping, I got to the video setting.” Tikki settled in, excited for the story. 

“Video. On. Microphone. On. Bully. Present. The Aces. Closing in fast. I knew that wherever my fellow Aces were, they had their phones at the ready, just like me. At the start of grade 6, we, The Aces, had offered a deal to all the bullies. Stop bullying, and we would rehabilitate you into the social ladder. Continue bullying, and your parents will get new jobs in America. It was easy, really. Now there was just one bully left. Marcus Sanberg. I entered the locker room, keeping out of sight. All four Aces had told the school board cameras were needed, but nothing had happened. Nathaniel had even offered to get state-of-the-art ones for free from his grandfather. But no. All four Aces swooped in at the same time, surrounding Marcus. Alix pulled the beat up student out of the way, crouching next to him. “Sanberg.” My voice was cold, as cold as it could get. “We told you to stop. Now, we’ll make you stop.” The Aces had never resorted to violence, instead choosing to make people disappear. Sure, my mafia family could have helped with that, but the Aces preferred to do it all by themselves.” 

Marinette paused as Tikki began to speak. 

“What do you mean by that, Marinette? 

“You’ll see, Tikki. Nino Lahiffe stepped in, taking the crying boy out of Alix’s arms. They would go to the nurse’s office first, then the principal. Amara Westing was the best principal ever. She had accepted the Aces without a fight, and hated bullies as much as we did. Her 15 year old daughter had committed suicide after her bullies told her she was worthless. Marcus was quivering after three minutes, nodding to what Chloé and I said. Marcus Sanberg disappeared that day. Finally satisfied that all the bullies were gone, the Aces stepped down. Three years of terror. The Aces made way for a new group. The Royals. Chloé. The Yellow Queen. Nathaniel. The Blue King. Alix. The Red Queen. And moi, Marinette. The Black Queen. We were no longer the Aces. No, we were the Royals now.”

“But you’re not a Royal anymore! What happened? Did something happen?” 

“Not exactly. Age 5 to age 8. Three years of the Destroyers. Age 8 to age 11. Three years of the Aces. Age 11 to age 13. Two years of the Royals. Now? Now we were going to be the Normals. I linked my fingers with Chloé and Nathaniel, stepping forward. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I am the Black Queen. And now, I’m going to be normal again.” I looked into the camera, then stepped back again. It was Chloé’s turn. “My name is Chloé Bourgeois. I am the Yellow Queen. And now, I’m going to be normal again.” ” Marinette did a different voice for Chloé, and Tikki giggled. 

“When both Nath and Alix finished their mini-speeches, I stepped forward again. 

“That’s right. The Royals are retiring. We’ve been around for so long that we never got a normal childhood. Now that Dupont is safe from bullies, we realized we had a choice. Continue being the Royals, or become normal.” ” 

Marinette smiled softly, and only people who really knew her would realize it was a sad smile. 

“As Chloé began to speak, Marinette closed her eyes. “We have rules, though. No bullies. No lies. Or the Aces will return. And an angry Ace is scary. Don’t do that.” Chloé closed her eyes, signifying she was done. “This is our chance to say goodbye,” Nath said, then closed his eyes. “Goodbye, Dupont. And thank you,” Alix ended. She shut her eyes, and Marc shut the camera off. “We’re done. You guys did great.” Alix rolled her eyes, laughing. “Of course we did, idiot. We’re the Royals.” We all laughed, then started crying. To make our breakup seem real, we needed to play certain roles. Chloé would become a brat, I would become a sweetheart, Alix would become a classic sporty kid, and Nath would start blending into the background. To make it even more believable, we weren’t allowed to wear our colours. Sure, we could wear variations, like pale yellow, gray, or pink, but no wearing colours that belonged to the Aces. And the most important thing of all. No seeming like friends. That one would be hard. As we aired the video on the school website, comments began pouring in.” 

Marinette adjusted, trying to remember the comments. 

“We’ll miss you! You saved me from a bully once. Thank you. 😦😫😭😭 (my reaction to watching this video) You guys were amazing. Oh thank goodness! finally, the overbearing pieces of crap are gone! (that one got a lot of answers, Tikki, yelling at the person) Please, you can’t stay? It’s going to be so weird without you! Dudes, are you sure? I’m kinda lost as to what everyone will be doing after you guys leave. Is it permanent? You guys were around for a long time. Thank you for everything you’ve done. You will always be in our hearts! Alright we all know you four aren’t dead, but you may as well be. It’s kinda baffling. The Royals? Being regular students? *weird exploding sound* whoops that was my mind. The comments made us cry even more. People would miss us? Now that was a weird thought. We had always assumed that they were tolerated at best, hated at worst. Not….liked? We collapsed onto the floor, Marc standing awkwardly off to the side. He marched over, standing right in front of us. I still remember what he said, and what his expression was.” 

Marinette laughed, and the purple butterfly she hadn’t seen fluttered away. 

““Mari. Nath. Alix. Chlo. Get a grip. You might not be Royal anymore, but if anyone still sees you like this, that’s almost 9 years of work down the drain. You can’t show weakness, even—especially now that you’re normal students. We all know that sooner or later, there’ll be a new kid, and nobody will tell them about the Rules. You guys’ll have to return, and you guys’ll have to be tough.” We nodded, untangling our limbs from each other. “Now prepare yourselves. You’re going to have to get these roles perfect. Alix, up your competitive levels. Chloé, up your bratty-ness. We all know that you have an inner rich spoiled brat. Let her out. Nath. This is going to be hard for you. Retract your sass. Retract everything. You have to be able to become one with the background. And Mari. You’re used to playing roles, because of your summer job. But this is long term.” When Marc said ‘summer job’, most people would assume that I attended acting camp or something. But no. As the youngest female heir (that could walk at the time) to the Cheng family mafia, I’ve gone undercover many times. This was just another mission, but it was possibly the most crucial of all. It was the mission of the Normals. And we’ve been like this ever since. The spoiled, bratty, bitchy one, the sweetheart-pushover-doormat one, the competitive one, and the forgotten one. We don’t chat, and sometimes I wonder how their lives are doing. Like, how is Chloé’s parents' disaster of a marriage affecting Chloé? Do Nath’s parents pay attention to him? How are the twins doing? And I see Marc at family meetings, but how is he handling his crush on Nathaniel? How is Nathaniel handling his crush on Marc? Are they still dating? Have they broken up? Are they having troubles with their relationship?” 

Marinette started to hyperventilate slightly, and Tikki flew up next to her. 

“Marinette, please, calm down.”

“You’re right, Tikki. Can you pass me my phone, please?” Tikki nodded, the tiny god took a picture of Marinette’s cheeks before handing the phone to the bluenette. She began to heal Marinette’s cheeks as the girl started a breathing program on her phone. 

“Tikki, I have an idea,” she said. 

“What is it, Mari?” 

“I think it might be time for a change.” 

“Please don’t cut your hair, Marinette!”

“No, Tikki, not that,” Marinette replied, giggling. 

“Then what? Are you going to get 15 piercings?”

“Guess again, Tikki.” 

“I give up, Marinette!”

“I think that it might be time to do something drastic.” Marinette stood up, making her superhero pose, before looking at Tikki, who was floating beside her. “I think it’s time to bring back the Aces.”

Chapter Text

Lila Rossi hadn't come to school in a week, and Marinette was confused as to why. The bluenette sighed as she entered the bathroom, just as she had done for the past 14 days.

Lila was waiting for her, and Marinette startled slightly. She hadn't expected Lila to be at school.

The sausage haired girl began threatening Marinette hurriedly, almost as if she had something to do.

There was no physical violence in this threatning, for which Marinette was glad. Tikki would get a break for once.

When Lila left the bathroom after around 5 minutes of verbal harassment, Marinette Dupain-Cheng smirked from her seat on the floor. Lila’s reign had gone on far too long. The girl had already destroyed the majority of her friendships, (AND HER COMMISSIONS SKETCHBOOK) and now Lie-la had threatened her again. Her chuckle was dark and ominous, a promise of what was to come.

“Lila, Lila, Lila. How you will regret your words," she said with a smirk. Tikki was mildly terrified at the ice in her chosen's voice.

Chloé Bourgeois stepped out of a stall, smirking as widely as Marinette. As she offered a hand to the bluenette, she asked the question that would begin the revolution. Marinette hadn't planned on Chloé being in the bathroom, and she startled slightly at the abrupt appearance of the other girl.

“Well, Dupain-Cheng? What’s going to happen?”

Marinette took Chloé’s hand, standing up. The bluenette reached into her bag, hand brushing past the pins she had kept there for so long.Chloe nodded cordially to the bluenette, then pulled out her phone and exited the bathroom. Marinette was quick on her heels, but turned towards the library. She pulled out her phone, scrolling to the bottom of her messages app. she tapped on a group chat from many years ago, fingers shaking as she typed out a message.

The Court
~
Black Queen has renamed group chat: The Royal Aces
Black Queen: This has gone on long enough.

Marinette had no reason to specify what she was talking about. Her friends knew what she meant. At the bleep, Chloé’s eyes widened. This chat had been abandoned for over two years at this point.

Red Queen: Lie-la?
Blue King: Duh. Who else?
Yellow Queen: Arson?
Black Queen: No arson, Chloé!
Yellow Queen: None at all? No accidental burning of Lie-la’s house?
Red Queen: No.
Black Queen: Library. Now. Old spot. It’s time we meet again.
Yellow Queen: we're back, bitches.
Red Queen: did you just…?
Yellow Queen: i did. fight me, kubdel. i dare you.

Marinette stalked to the table next to the window, seething. Chloé walked into the library, spotting her old friend immediately. Alix and Nathaniel were quick to follow, and they all sat facing Marinette. The bluenette sat up even straighter, raising her chin.

“The court is in order.”

The three teenagers facing Marinette felt their eyes widen. Chloé was the first to break the silence that had come after the bluenette’s announcement.

“After two years?”

Marinette nodded once.

“Dupont still knows us. And the ones that don’t will.”

Chloé grinned at that statement, looking at the pink-loving girl in front of her fondly.

“It’s time for the little bitch to learn,” Alix said. “And we’re going to teach her.”

Nathaniel nodded, grinning. He snapped to attention when he heard the words she spoke, the ones that they hadn’t used since the last liar.

“We promised Dupont that the Aces could always return. But it’s not time for the Aces. We need the Royal Aces.” Alix’s eyes widened slightly, but she nodded.

“Get Aurore on the blog. I’ll write the message myself.”

Chloé nodded, finally happy. The court was back together, and she didn’t have to bully her best friend anymore. Marinette began writing the letter, her cursive jagged, a promise of what was to come. It was the cursive that Marinette had practiced, making sure it was worthy of school royalty.

The Court is back in session,
The Aces are out to play,
Security is a falsehood,
The liars are going to pay.

- The Royal Aces

Marinette nodded as she worked, writing out a rhyme that only she could hear.

“Get Aurore and Mireille to publish this at midnight. On the dot. Mass text, too. Whole school. Have the deck pins ready, Ace of Hearts.”

Chloé nodded at the bluenette’s instructions, noting the use of her code name. She had two, just like the rest of the group. Alix was the Ace of Clubs and the Red Queen. Nath, being the only male, was Ace of Diamonds and the Blue King. Chloé was the second in command of the group, which meant she held more power than the other two. Her code names were, in her opinion, the best, but that was just her.

She took pride in being the Ace of Hearts and the Yellow Queen.

And of course, that left Marinette. The leader. Ace of Spades, the strongest playing card. And the one that meant the most to the students of Françoise Dupont. The Black Queen. Marinette had ruled with an iron fist against bullies, only stepping down when they were all eradicated. Chloé was snapped out of her train of thought as Marinette said something.

“Uniforms tomorrow, my friends. We’re going to show Dupont what being a Royal Ace really means, and what happens when you piss off all four of them.”

The Aces stuck together, no matter what. Irritate one, you were suddenly on the bottom of the food chain. Irritate two, you were so low down on the food chain nobody noticed you. Irritate three, you were virtually dead. Even the teachers listened to the Aces. They could sit you in the back of the class, for the rest of your school life.

Irritate four Aces, well, that had never happened. Nobody had ever pissed off an Ace, either. That was a new level of terrifying. Even the Aces were at a bit of a loss as to what to do. But not for long. A closed pin was pressed into Chloé’s hand, and she startled slightly. Looking at the pin, the blond heiress smirked. It was her pin. She tucked it into her bag, noticing Alix and Nath do the same.
Nath smirked, pushing his hair out of his eyes. 

“It’s takedown time.”

They stayed in the library until lunch ended, and then even for a bit more. It didn’t matter, because the Aces never got detention. To outsiders, their conversation just sounded like chatter. But to someone who knew the code, it was planning. Planning, and plotting. Revenge was in the air, and somehow, perhaps miraculously, the library stayed empty of students.

“Guys. I’m MDC. The sketchbook Alya tore up? Not a sketchbook. That’s around a tenth of the designs for my website, including 15 celebrities that need outfits by next week.”

Marinette finally said her reason for needing Lila gone, and Chloé understood immediately.

“How many people know, Mari?”

Marinette pressed her lips together, a grim version of a smile.

“You. Nath. Alix. Gabriel Agreste. Your mom. Jagged and Clara. That’s it, and don’t tell anyone.”

Chloé leaned back, impressed. She had no doubt that Marinette was MDC, it made too much sense to even attempt to deny.

“And Alya ripped up one of your commissions notebooks?”

The bluenette nodded, a single tear falling from her eye. She whisked it away sharply, not even acknowledging it.

“That bitch. Can we please sue her?”

It was the only boy in the ground who spoke. Chloé nodded.

“Mari, do you want to sue as yourself or MDC?”

Marinette tilted her head to the side, looking at Chloé.

“Both. I can delay our class’ orders, send them an email. I’ll sue them as Marinette for destruction of property, MDC for….Chloé? What can I sue them for as MDC?”

Chloé grinned. She had memorized the majority of the French laws by grade 3, all of them by grade 6. She knew all the bylaws and loopholes, and how to get away with arson. (Not that she ever had needed to, but she did set fires.)

She quickly explained every single detail of what Lila Rossi could be sued for, and then some more that Lila could be fined for.

Chloé was the smart, intimidating one, Marinette was the clever, brutal one, Nathaniel was the terrifying, sneaky one, and Alix was the bossy, cruel one. They all complemented each other beautifully. Because they were the Royal Aces. And the Royal Aces didn't lose. 

Chapter Text

Chloé tapped on the group chat icon, typing a message.

Yellow Queen: Nath, I’m picking you up first. Be ready in 5. Alix, you’re second. 7. Mari, 10.

Marinette smirked as she read the message. The Court was back. And they were taking Chloé’s limo, just like the old days. She pulled on her blazer, looking in the mirror. The bluenette had finished the outfits 4 hours after she had gotten home from school (read: plotting) and she fell asleep right after the outfits had been delivered. She was wearing a white dress of her own design (duh), and she loved it. It was sleeveless, tight(ish) to the waist, and then it poofed slightly.

The skirt was gathered at the waist, giving it the appearance of slight pleats. It fell to her knees, and she smoothed the tulle down. Alix’s and Chloé’s were the exact same, down to the colour. Oh, but Alix was wearing shorts underneath. So was Marinette, but she wasn’t telling anyone that. The blazers were where their outfits differed. Marinette’s blazer was a pure black denim, so black it was scary. Alix’s was a blood red denim, matching her hair. She had dyed it last night to match. Chloé’s was yellow denim, but not her traditional bright yellow. A deep, golden, strong yellow. They all had a white symbol appliquéd on the back, matching their “suit”.

Marinette’s was a spade, Chloé’s a heart, Alix’s a club. Underneath the symbol, embroidered in white thread, said the one thing the students feared the most. 

Royal Aces. 

Those were the Queens’ outfits. Then there was the King. Black jeans. White shirt. A deep blue tie, matching his blazer. Darker-than-navy blue denim, with a white diamond on the back. The words were the same as all the other jackets. 

Nathaniel pinned his pin on, unknowingly doing it at the same time as all the other Royals. The golden crown winked up at him, the blue gems tantalizingly shiny. The Blue King ran a finger over the pin, and grabbed his bag. Lila Rossi was going to have a hell of a time figuring out this one. He hopped in the waiting limo, sitting across from Chloé. 

“Chlo. Good to see you not in sunglasses for once.”

She wrinkled her nose at him, tossing him a belt. 

“Put the belt on. It’s the final accessory.” Chloé tossed her hair, which was loose for once.

Nathaniel noted a yellow golden belt on her, matching her blazer. He slid the belt into place, admiring the final result.

“We look good.” 

Chloé scoffed, but nodded.

“Of course we do, Nath. We’re the Royal Aces. We’ve got Marinette, or rather, MDC.”

Marinette’s design business had blown up in the past year, but she had chosen to stay anonymous. The only people who knew she was the elusive designer MDC were Gabriel Agreste, Audrey Bougouris, Chloe, Alix, and Nath.

Her parents probably suspected, what with all the international shipping she had been doing, but had never asked her. Somehow, they were already at Alix’s house, and the red haired girl hopped into the car. 

“Blue, Yellow.”

Chloé didn’t respond, only tossed a belt at her. 

“Put it on, Red Queen. No time to chat. We need to get to Mari’s house.”

The limo practically purred through the streets of Paris, never stopping. Marinette slid into the car, already holding her hand out for the belt. 

“Thank you, Chlo.”

Marinette would be lying if she said there were no butterflies in her stomach, but she wasn’t scared. No, it was the opposite. It was excitement. She—they were finally going to take Lie-la Rossi down. She slid into her spot, looking at her three friends. 

“Are we ready?”

She got a chorus of nods from the Aces. 

“Then let’s rock this.”

She put her hands in the center of their little circle, and it suddenly felt like it hadn’t been four years since they had last done this. Chloé added her hands, making a point. Alix added her hands next, making another point. Nathaniel made a flat line with his hands and hovered it underneath the three girls’. All four teenagers smiled softly, remembering when they had made the handshake. It resembled a crown, just like their symbol. They had been 10 the day Chloé suggested a handshake, and Marinette remembered her reaction vividly. The four had stayed up all night creating it. Five years later, it was muscle memory. The limo pulled up in front of Françoise Dupont, and they could hear the chatter inside the school stop at a single cry. 

“Aces. Are. You. Ready.” It was Marinette who voiced their war cry, just like always. 

“Ready, Black Queen.” Nathaniel’s reply was soft, his mind elsewhere. Chloé elbowed his ribs gently, bringing him back to reality. 

“The Yellow Queen is ready.” Chloé’s reply was a traditional one for the group, and Alix was quick to voice her answer as well. 

“Red Queen is in position. Let’s go in.” 

The chauffeur opened the door, and Marinette stepped out of the car. Chloé quickly followed, standing beside her. Nath and Alix flanked them, bodyguards as much as royals. The second they were in the school, Chloé silently looked around, not moving her head from where it was held. It looked like the whole school was in the courtyard, except for their own class. She could tell that Marinette noticed the same thing, because Chloé watched her best friend’s brow crinkle slightly. After a long moment, the bluenette spoke, and nobody dared to breathe. 

“We are the Aces. And we have returned.”

That was all she needed to say, because it was the Aces. As Marinette had said earlier, ‘everybody knows the Aces. And the ones who don’t will.’

The leader of the group stayed in position, not moving. The second the crowd noticed, a hush fell over them again. Chloé spoke up this time, knowing that Marinette would say no more. 

“You’ve read the announcement, you know what to do.”

The blonde snapped once, and all attention was drawn to a redheaded girl who stepped up next to the group. She was holding a large bag, and the older students gasped. They knew that bag. Alix spoke this time, the switching of speakers keeping the students on their toes. 

“These pins are everything. They are safety, they are popularity, they are what will keep you alive. For every person that gets one, there will be another person safe. You have a week to convince us that you should get one.”

Nathaniel spoke up, addressing the younger half of the crowd. 

“Ten years and younger don’t need these pins. The Royals aren’t cruel.”

They had decided on a safe age, because the elementary students, despite attending the same school, had no need for them. Marinette spoke again, her voice just soft enough that the room had to be silent to hear it. 

“There are 300 pins. Teachers will need them too.”

With a flick of her hand, Sabrina melted back into the crowd, and Marinette continued talking. 

“And don’t think of ambushing Sabrina. Those aren’t the real pins, anyway. Now. For the last announcement. For students that have been here for more than 3 years, you will remember us. For new students, we’ll introduce ourselves. We are the Royals. You will also hear us called the Aces. Two years ago, we disbanded. We wanted to live like normal students. But in light of recent events, we have made a decision. The court is back in session, and the Aces are out to play. Security is a falsehood, and liars are going to pay.”

Marinette paused, letting Chloé continue. 

“Now, we’re not going to tell you our names. That’s up to your friends.”

Alix hopped in. 

“Cross us and die. We have nothing to lose. You have everything.”

Nathaniel made the next statement, waiting a beat before starting. 

“This is a warning, Françoise Dupont. Rumours will be squashed like a bug. The Royal Aces hate lies, and there are a lot here.”

Marinette finished the statement at last, releasing the anxious teenagers. 

“Remember, these aren’t empty threats. These are promises, made by the Royal Aces. And the Aces don’t break promises.” 

Chapter Text

Ayla grabbed Nino’s arm, not noticing how pale he was. Adrien was behind her, looking a mix of confused and mad. Alya hadn’t seen the Aces, but she had heard the speech. The voices sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place them. 

“Nino. What was that? Who are the Aces?” Alya was whispering, because although she didn’t know what was going on, her spidey senses were telling her it was safer to stay quiet. Adrien echoed her, asking the same thing. Kim spoke up, and apparently had no qualms about being loud. 

“The Aces are dangerous.” Juleka spoke next, her voice shaking. 

“They’re like the Plastics, everything. An irritated Ace makes Regina George look like a cuddly puppy.” Alya frowned, not understanding. 

“But all of those cliques got torn down. Bullies never last.” Max shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose. 

“The Aces aren’t the bullies. They stop the bullies. They get bad teachers fired and look cute doing it. They’re called many things, but when they wear their Ace jackets, we call them Ace of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs, and the Ace of Diamonds.” Alya frowned, but nodded, she was starting to get it. 

“And they were wearing their Ace jackets today?” Rose nodded, whimpering. 

“They weren’t just wearing their jackets, Alya. They were wearing the uniform. This is serious.” And...Alya was lost again. 

“And they’re also the Royals?” Nino nodded, still pale and quavery. 

“They have two nicknames each. The leader is Ace of Spades. Her Royal name is Black Queen. She’s famous. The second in command is Ace of Hearts. Her Royal name is The Yellow Queen. Then there’s the two secondary Royals, but they have just as much sway as the Black Queen herself. There’s The Ace of Clubs. Her other name is the Red Queen. And then there’s the only male. Ace of Diamonds, Blue King. They’re all best friends, they all hate bullies, and if one gets irritated, your social life is over. They’re terrifying, and they rule the school. Cross them and you’re dead.” Alya raised an eyebrow, not believing him one bit. 

“How much sway can a stupid clique have?” The class fell silent at her comment, and she spun. There, in the doorway, were four teenagers. Marinette, Chloé, Alix, and Nathaniel. 

“A lot, Alya. Be careful.” The warning came from Rose, who was suddenly hiding behind Juleka. The four teenagers took a step in, letting Alya look at what they were wearing. 

“Marinette, what are you wearing? It looks like a paper bag. And matching with Chloé and Alix? You hate them?” Half of the class gasped, but the reporter had no idea what she had just said. 

“I’m sorry, Alya. I don’t think I asked for your opinion.” Marinette’s voice was cold, colder than Alya had ever heard it. Marinette put a paper on Mme. Bustier’s desk, not letting Alya see the back of her blazer. 

“Well, I gave it to you. Take the jacket off, it looks stupid.” The rest of the class gasped, and Marinette raised an eyebrow. She marched forward, offering a hand to Alya. As Alya took her hand with disgust, Marinette began to speak. 

“Let me reintroduce myself, Alya Césaire. I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and these,” Here she gestured to the other Aces, who were flanking her again. “These are the Aces.” Alya scoffed immediately, not believing her. 

“Really, girl? First you bully Lila, now you’re pretending to be special?” Marinette frowned, and Chloé put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Pretending, Césaire? Puh-lease. Marinette’s the Ace of Spades.” Exasperated, Chloé turned to Nino. 

“Didn’t you tell her anything, Lahiffe?” Nino nodded, standing up straight. 

“I told her about all your guys’ names. I didn’t get to the part about who you actually were, though.” Chloé’s eyes narrowed, and she frowned. 

“We’ll deal with you later. Now we have to deal with this mess.” Alya started laughing, but there was a hysterical note to it. 

“There is no way that Marinette is a “Ace”, as you called it. Are the Aces really even a thing? You should take off your costumes, guys.” The whole class gasped, and Nino grabbed Alya by the arms. 

“Babe, stop now. One irritated Ace is scary. Two is terrifying. Three is peeing-your-pants level. Four hasn’t ever happened. Don’t be the first.” Nathaniel looked at Alix and Chloé, who nodded. Marinette smirked, but it was Chloé who spoke. 

“It’s too late for that, Lahiffe. She’s past four irritated Aces. What we have here are three pissed off Aces, and one who’s almost there.” At that, Rose started crying, and both Lila and the teacher chose that moment to walk in. Caline Bustier looked at the situation, silently judging it. When she looked at the paper on her desk, however, she gasped. Caline may have been a young teacher, but she knew the Aces. She read the note scrawled at the bottom of the page, and her hands started shaking. 

So you know the Aces.

They’re not just here to play

Come and pledge your loyalty,

You have until today. 

~ The Royal Aces

(The end of today)

It was a clear threat, but it was the Aces. The heiress daughter of the Mayor of Paris and a fashion designer, (Chloe) the daughter of the best bakers in the country, who also happened to be close friends with both Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale (and one of 5 heirs to the Cheng Mafia) (Marinette), the daughter of a museum curator and one of the world’s best doctors, (Alix) and the grandson of a massive software company. (Nath) All-in-all, the Aces themselves were scary, and that was without their falimies being counted. Mme. Bustier was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do as the Aces said and break the law, or cross the Aces and probably get fired. And then get arrested for breaking the law, because the Aces knew everything.

Lila Rossi was pissed. The second she walked into a room, she should be fawned over, and she had made that clear from the start. Instead, Rose was crying, Adrien looked confused, Alya was facing off with Marinette, and the whole class was shaking and pale. Except for seven people. Ayla, Lila, Maribrat, Chloé, Alix, Nathaniel, and surprisingly, Sabrina. Lila stomped her foot, wanting people to look at her. And look they did. Maribrat, Chloé, Alix, and Nathaniel were all wearing coordinating colours, and it looked like barf. 

“Marinette, how could you? You said we were walking to school together, but you never showed up!” The Aces all raised an eyebrow in unison, something that they had practiced. 

“I’m sorry, Lila, but you never asked me to walk with you. Besides, I already had plans with my friends.” After hearing that statement, Lila pulled out the fake tears. 

“B-b-but I’m your friend too, and friends are supposed to walk to school together!” Rose stopped her own crying and went to comfort Lie-la, muttering things about how mean Marinette was. 

“Lila, I couldn’t have known you wanted me to walk with you, because you never told me. Next time, don’t be afraid to ask! I know how hard it is to walk alone with your arthritis and tinnitus, after all.” Lila nodded, grinning inside. Maribrat was so easy to manipulate. 

“Oh yes, my arthritis is so bad it hurts to walk sometimes! You know, my doctor said I might have to go into a wheelchair soon!” Marinette tilted her head, and Chloé recognized the look in her bluebell eyes. She was about to go in for the kill. 

“I’m so sorry about the wheelchair, Lila, but I have one question.” The girl nodded through her crocodile tears, pretending to be forgiving. 

“Why does arthritis in your wrist prevent you from walking, Lila?” Chloé grinned, and she knew it was reflected in Alix and Nath. 

“You must be mistaken, Marinette! I don’t have arthritis in my wrist, I have it in both legs!” The second Lila said that, she remembered. She had told the class long ago that she couldn’t take notes because she had arthritis in her wrists. 

“Really, Lila? I thought you couldn’t take notes because of your arthritis!” The Aces had her backed into a corner, and the only way to get out was—wait. There was no way. It was the Aces. The Aces swept out of the classroom, leaving only one thing behind. A playing card. When Alya picked it up and read it aloud, the class fell silent. 

The Aces stick together,

Like tigers in a pack.

You only get one warning. 

You should watch your back. 

~ The Ace of Spades

Nino snatched the card, inspecting it. Years of experience taught him what to look for. The Aces’ symbol, as familiar to him as the feeling of headphones around his neck. He found it on the other side of the card, and he grimaced. Four symbols, corner to corner. In the center of the square they made, there was a crown. 

“They used the dual symbol, and she signed it Ace of Spades.” At the confused faces of his girlfriend, his best friend, and his girlfriend’s best friend, he explained. 

“The Ace of Spades is the most powerful card in the deck. And for the other question, The Aces and the Royals are the same people, but they’re different groups. The Aces hunt, while the Royals watch. The two groups have different symbols, because they’re needed at different times. The Royals have a crown, and the Aces have a spade, a heart, a diamond, and a club, making an empty square in the middle. But the fact that they put them together? This is a warning.” He read the words underneath the crest, first quietly, then louder. 

“The Royal Aces.” 

Alya scoffed, but quickly stopped laughing at the look on her classmates’ faces. “What does this mean?” 

Nino frowned, but it was Rose who answered. “It means we’re in trouble.”

Chapter Text

The classroom was silent, waiting for something to happen. It was Alya who broke the silence, her inner reporter needing all the details. Grabbing Nino, she sat at a random desk. 

“So. All of you. Explain.” 

And explain they did. Rose started, narrating the first part of the story. The one that started 9 years ago. 

“When we were little, we were all friends. We’ve been in the same class since diapers, actually. Even Chloé. There was once an incident when we were only 6. A couple of big kids were bothering us, bullying actually. Nobody knew what to do, until Marinette said something. Marinette used to be the shortest kid in our class, just so you know. So this short little six year old marched over to them, and just….told them to stop. At first, they just shoved her over, but then Chloé backed up Marinette, and the bullies stopped. They didn’t want to mess with the mayor’s daughter, and the somehow scary-looking 6-year-old just cemented their fear. It was like that for a long time. They were our protectors.” Rose took a breath, almost lost in her memories.

“And then there was McKaylia Johnson. That girl was horrible. She was a year older than us, so she was in fourth grade. And again, Marinette tried to stop her. Chloé wasn’t there because her parents were splitting up, and Marinette couldn’t do it alone. And then Alix and Nathaniel came to help, and once Chloé returned, they were called the Aces. There were four of them, just like the four suits in a deck of cards. Marinette was the Ace of Spades, the strongest card in the deck. They got stronger, and older, until we were suddenly in grade five and the Aces were the most popular kids in the elementary section.” Nino picked up the next bit of the story, nodding at Rose. 

“The first day of grade 6, there was a new boy, and he beat everyone up. The Aces stopped him, and got him expelled. But that wasn’t enough. They used their connections to get the enabler teachers fired. Like superheroes, they saved us. Soon after, we didn’t need them anymore, and they retired. After that, they had a new name. The Royals. Marinette was the Black Queen, because her colour was black. Chloé was the Yellow Queen, because her colour was yellow. Nathaniel was the Blue King, and Alix was the Red Queen.” 

Kim began to speak, his excitement making his voice rushed and loud(er). 

“The next year, in the middle of grade 8, they made an announcement. The Royals were stepping down. The Aces, too. They wanted to have a chance to be normal students. They weren’t leaving completely, though. They left strict rules in place to make sure they were never needed again. No bullies, or they would come. Everybody followed the rules, and the Aces changed. Nath started blending into the background, Alix started being Alix, Marinette became the clumsy, pink-wearing, stuttering girl she is today, and Chloé started bullying Marinette. But the Aces never returned.” Max wrapped a hand around his friend’s mouth, taking over. 

“Then, in grade 9, Alya, Adrien, and Lila came. Now it’s the middle of grade 10, and suddenly, both the Aces and the Royals are back. The reason we’re worried is because an irritated Ace is dangerous, but all four of them looked Pissed Off. If you have a pin, you’re safe. If you don’t, you’re in the crosshairs. The older students remember them and they can assure you that they were terrifying. With a single tap on their phones, your entire life could be destroyed. But they were fair, too. You heard them out there. The elementary kids don’t need a pin, because it would be useless for them to have one. The Aces don’t plan to involve them at all.” Juleka continued, her voice quiet. 

“The scariest thing about them? Once they’re mad, they have no mercy. They’re completely ruthless. And they all have even more connections than they did in middle school. By the looks of this note, they’re out for blood. And the fact that Marinette signed it as she did is bad. The Black Queen is scary. She can smell fear. But the Ace of Spades? She is fear. She commands it.” 

Rose had more to say, but Alya looked like she was going to explode. She nodded at the reporter, who looked at the notes she had taken. 

“So Marinette is the leader?” The whole class nodded, and Alya gulped. 

“And she’s friends with Chloé?”

 The class nodded again. 

“And they’re called both the Royals and the Aces?” The class nodded, save for Nino. 

“Not anymore, apparently. The note says The Royal Aces. They’re more powerful with this name, because it’s less confusing. The Royals, and the Aces, being the same people? Confusing. The Royal Aces, though, that’s scary.” 

Alya nodded, but her frown was still deep, 

“And Marinette is called the Black Queen...because?” 

Nino answered in one breath. 

“Because she was the Ace of Spades. The suit called spades is always black, and the ace is the most powerful. Hence, The Black Queen. When she became a Royal, however, she couldn’t be an Ace anymore. So they all changed their names. From Ace to Queen. Or King, technically.” 

So Marinette was the Black Queen, who was the most feared person in school.

 Sabrina piped up, the whole class turning to her in shock. 

“The clumsy stutters weren’t the real Marinette. The real Marinette is graceful and elegant. She and Clara Nightingale wrote the rhymes for the card.” 

Sabrina was a genius, and that was the reason she had the first pin. In three sentences, she had said the truth about Marinette, avoided the word ‘lies’, and reminded the class of her connections. 

“Why is Nathaniel an Ace?” 

Nino nodded, thinking before he answered. 

“Nobody knows. But one thing is for certain. He’s the sassiest of all the Aces. Remember, his grandfather makes software and his mother is Nathalie Sancouer. He’s also one of Marinette’s best friends.” 

True friends, he added in his head. Not like them. 

Kim reminded the class of something extremely important.

“They’re mad. You saw them.”

Before the class could start to wonder why, the announcement bell rang, and the whole class paused. The announcement was a traditional one from them, spoken in an electronic voice. 

By now you’ve heard the news

The Aces have returned 

We’d thought you’d learnt the lesson

The council has adjourned.

The Royals are not happy

Our return was fully earned 

Our trust from you was thrown away, 

You’re under a liar’s sway.

~ The Royal Aces.

“Woah. They just rhymed a crazy amount of times. Alya, Adrien, Lila, you need pins. Fast. The Aces are going to wreck you all.” 

Nobody knew who spoke, but the whole class reacted.

 Lila gasped. “Somebody dropped a pin off at my house this morning, but I threw it away because I didn’t know what it was!!!” 

Her crocodile tears came faster and stronger, and the class rushed to comfort her. All except for one student, standing in the shadows at the back of the class. Pulling out the phone they had been given, they typed a message. 

Jewel: Lie-la saying pin was dropped off at her house this morning and she “threw it away” 

Jewel: awaiting instructions, court

Black Queen: Don’t pounce yet, Jewel. 

Blue King: We need more ammo than that. It’s obvious she doesn’t have a pin. 

The spy groaned as she heard Mylène’s offer. 

“I’ll go through your trash for you, Lila! I wouldn’t want your sensitive sense of smell to get affected!” 

Jewel: Mylène is offering to go through Lila’s trash. 

Yellow Queen: OH NO SHE DOESN’T

Black Queen: Chlo. One step ahead of you. 

Red Queen: Jewel? Suggestions? 

Jewel: Yellow? Can you change the trash pickup to right as school ends? Yellow Queen: gimme 5 and i will

Yellow Queen: Done

Black Queen: Perfect. 

Black Queen: Nath, we need a pin that will look like a knight’s pin but then change to a massive LIAR pin in 24 hours. How fast can your grandpa get on that? 

Blue King: fast. asking him rn

Yellow Queen: What’s the plan, then, Mari?

Blue King: He says he’ll have it ready by 6 am if he works all night. 

Yellow Queen: I’ll pay him. Nath, will e-transfer work?

Blue King: yup 

Yellow Queen: Great. 2000 enough? 

Red Queen: *wheezes*

Black Queen: Alright. So. The trash goes out, Mylene can’t find the pin. (duh, there never was one) She tells Lila, and makes Lila ask for a new one. We agree when she asks, give her the fake pin, say that if she wants to survive, she needs to keep it on. it fuses shut, and she’s forced to wear the same shirt again. The next day it turns to a Phinoccio pin, and she has to wear it all day. It’s perfect.  

Yellow Queen: That plan is so dumb it might actually work. 

Red Queen: actually, it just seems dumb. This is Marinette we’re talking about. 

Black Queen: I will sic Jagged’s crocodile on you. 

Blue King: Save it for Lila, Mari. 

Jewel: gtg

Jewel: time to suck up to lie-la again

Red Queen: XD i love how our phones no longer autocorrect Lie-la 

Yellow Queen: yeah it is pretty awesome

Blue King: focus, ladies. Eyes on the prize here?

Red Queen: sorry, your majesty

Black Queen: I will remove you from the group chat if you keep talking. We’re literally standing next to each other. Phones down. Now.

The spy slipped back into the crowd of students, going to the front lines where she belonged. And one Adrien Agreste watched Juleka hide the phone, frowning.

“It’s ok, Lila! If you can’t find the pin we can just ask the Aces for a new one! If they already gave you one, they’ll for sure give you another!”  

“You’re right. After all, they already gave me a pin!” 

Ha. Ha. Ha. Juleka tapped the end recording button on her phone, then uploaded it to the chat. After all, she had learned from the best. Lying outright to her classmates was painful for the black haired girl, and she adjusted her coat uncomfortably. Her hand brushed the pin attached to the inside of her coat, and she swallowed. Lila was going down. 

Chapter Text

The next morning, there was a table in the courtyard. The Royal Aces were sitting behind it, their hands steepled.
Their uniforms were different from yesterday’s, and if anything, they were much nicer. Black capri leggings (jeans for Nath), and white shirts. The girls’ shirts were all matching, save for a few details. Short sleeve white shirts, long-ish, with a small breast pocket. The necklines and arm hems were the respective colours of the aces, and the rim of the pocket was the same colour as well. The symbol on the breast pocket was a new one. A spade, heart, or club, with a crown in the center.

The jackets were the same as yesterday’s, but a different style. With Chloé buying the material for the outfits, Marinette had a lot more to work with. The denim was the same colour, but it was more of a “denim jacket” style than a “blazer”. Nathaniel’s shirt looked like a sports jersey, with a blue diamond over his heart. Unbeknownst to the students, the back of all four shirts had their last names on them. Dupain-Cheng, Bourgeois, Kubdel, and Kurtzberg. The tiny letters were embroidered right below the neckline. Marinette, Chloe, and surprisingly, Alix, (they had no idea her hair was long enough for this) were all wearing high ponytails. The elastics were the same colour as their symbols, just like always. For the RAs, nothing clashed, and all their outfits were tailored to them, by MDC.

Around 150 students had already received their pins when Lila and the Akuma Class walked in. Tikki buzzed in Marinette’s pocket, outright mad that the liar had shown her face. Tikki wasn’t the best about the Lila lying situation, if everyone was being honest.

Ladybug had dropped the bee miraculous off at Chloé’s house last night, and the positive effect it had on Chloé was amazing. She was positively beaming at the lunch table. The blonde girl hadn’t even transformed, it was just knowing that Ladybug trusted her. Getting to see Pollen was just a bonus.

Marinette grinned as she watched her best friend. Marinette didn’t move as Lila approached, and the only sound in the room was Chloé’s nails tap-tap-tapping against the table. Nath put a hand on her leg to steady her, and she shot a grateful smile at him. As Lila reached the table, one of Marinette’s eyebrows raised. Slowly. This was part of the plan they had made. Nobody would speak until Lila spoke. They were not going to make the first move. And that was made clear around two minutes after Lila had arrived. She finally broke, ending the silence.

“I’m here to get a pin.”

Chloé scoffed, and Marinette poked her under the table, her nails sharp. The bluenette tilted her head, ruthless and commanding.

“And why is that, Lila?” Her voice rang out in the quiet room, and Juleka met Alix’s gaze.

Both girls rolled their eyes, smirking. Juleka had approached them as they approached her, her wanting Lila’s lies to stop, and them wanting her taken down. They came to an uneasy agreement, Marinette not fully trusting the girl. As Juleka looked at Marinette, she forced herself to fall back into the role she had to keep. She sneered at the bluenette, trying to look down on her. She was jolted back to attention as Lila spoke again.

“Because you gave me a pin before, but it got thrown away and then the garbage truck came!” Marinette nodded.

“I remember that pin. Too bad you threw it away. Luckily, we have another. Don’t remove this pin, because we will know and we will come. This pin is everything. Act like it.”

The sausage-haired girl was shocked into silence as Nathaniel handed her a pin. Was….was Mari-brat falling for one of her lies? It certainly seemed so. Careless as she was, Lila Rossi missed the calculating looks in the eyes of the Aces, and the uneasy glances of her classmates. The Aces had never handed out a pin that readily before.

Alix spoke, her voice hard. “Put it on, Rossi.”
The girl complied, not noticing the heat it gave off.

Nathaniel watched closely as the pin welded itself shut. “Hey Lila?”

“Yes, Nathaniel?”

“Don’t get it wet.”
The sausage haired girl nodded, simpering.

“Of course! You know, even if it did break, my great-uncle is Nathan Sancouer! You know, the electronic maker? He could fix it in a pinch, even though it’s not electronic!”

Nathaniel nodded. Yes, he knew his grandfather. Quite well, actually. His mother, Nathalie, allowed him to use his father's last name for school, keeping Sancouer as a middle name. They had just tweaked a few highly classified records, adjusted the census of France, small things, really. He stood up, ignoring Chloé’s hand on his knee. Leaning over the table, he rested his fists on it.

“Yes, I know Nathan Sancouer quite well, actually. Lila, he’s not your great-uncle.” She looked at him, then brought tears to her eyes.

“He-he-he is, actually! I see him every Sunday for brunch!”

The RAs rolled their eyes, but they were all celebrating internally. Lila had just walked herself into a hole. And they were about to fill the hole with water.

“Hmm. That doesn’t make sense. You see, on Sundays, he sleeps until 1pm, and then boxes for the rest of the day. So I’d say, no, you don’t know my grandfather.”

Lila whipped her head around, glaring at him.
“What. Did. You. Just. Say.”

Chloé smiled pleasantly, not moving from her seat.
“He said that Grandpa Nathan is his grandfather. Get over it already, would you? And move along, your outfit is hurting my mind.”

Having spent so much time together, all four teenagers had started calling each other’s grandparents ‘grandpa’ and ‘grandma’ (Nath), ‘granny’ and ‘grampy’ (Chloé), ‘gran’ and ‘gramps’ (Alix), and ‘nonna’ and ‘papa’ (Mari). But their favourite honourary grandparent was both Marinette and Marc's maternal grandmother, popo. The leader of the Cheng family mafia had practically adopted the RAs from the beginning, almost more readily than the parents. Because the Aces were practically a mini-mafia in their own right, and Marinette was clearly the leader. No matter how unspoken it was.

“Oh, is he your grandfather, too, Chloe? And he is actually my great-uncle, which shows what you know!”

Alix laughed, knowing that it was impossible. Nathaniel was the third child of an only child of an only child. Meaning that although Nathaniel had siblings, his mother, Nathalie, was an only child, and so was her father. Nathan Sancouer was literally related to seven people. Marinette scoffed as well, dumbfounded as to how Lila was so dumb.

“Grandpa Nathan is an only child.”

Lila glowered at the bluenette, quickly thinking of a cover story.
“I-I-I know that! My grandmother and his wife are sisters!”

At this, all four Aces laughed out loud. Nathan Sancouer was gay. His only child, Nathalie, was born because of surrogacy.

“NATHAN SANCOUER IS GAY, YOU IDIOT.” A student in the crowd randomly shouted, and Nathaniel looked over to the culprit.

He rubbed his forehead, pinching his nose.
“We were just getting to that point, Marc. Way to take all the fun out of it.” His words were harsh, but the tone was anything but.

The blue haired boy waved, grinning. “You’re welcome!”

There were around four people—excluding the other RAs—that could sass a Ace and get away with it. Marc had been one of them since always, what with him being both Mari’s cousin and Nath’s best friend outside of the Aces. Sabrina was one of them as well, and Aurore and Mirielle automatically got away with it. Sometimes friends were allowed to, like Adrien (for Chloe), but they weren’t speaking to him until his ‘high road’ crumbled from the earthquakes they would cause.

Lila ‘hmphed’, then whirled, flouncing off. Flouncing really was the only word for it. The rest of the school laughed, all lining up to get pins. Marinette and Nathaniel handed them out, while Chloé and Alix kept track. Sometimes, people would try to get two pins, for their friends who had screwed up in the past.
The bell rang, bringing the RAs back down to earth. They handed out pins to the last of the students, looking at the list. Alix would consolidate the list in class, only leaving the people without pins. They walked up the stairs, nodding to Ms. Mendeleiev as they went. She smiled at her favourite students, tilting her bag of popcorn at them. They laughed, continuing to their classroom. Bustier. They pulled open the door, walking over to her desk.

“Bustier. Did we not make ourselves clear yesterday?”

The teacher, unfortunately for her, had not pledged her loyalty yesterday. Caline steeled her spine, getting ready.

“I respect your warning, but I have a job. And that job is to teach my students, no. matter. what. So I am aware you all have lots of power, but please. Sit down. I am still your teacher, no matter who you are.” The whole class was taken aback, but for different reasons.

For the class, they were surprised that Bustier had just crossed the Aces. For the RAs, they were surprised because apparently their teacher did have a spine. Alix recovered first, then placed a pin on her teacher’s desk.

“So you do have a spine, then. Use it.” Caline nodded, internally thanking Mendeleiev.

The purple haired teacher had told her to stand up for herself, knowing that the Aces would appreciate that. The four kids walked to the back of the classroom, taking the back two desks. Today, Mari and Nath were seated together, across the row from Alix and Chloé. Sabrina sat in the row in front of them, Juleka next to her. Seeing as that was Juleka's usual spot, nobody thought any less of it.
The rest of the day passed without anything unusual, unless they counted the lack of Akumas. Soon enough it was patrol time, and Ladybug shot up on top of the Louvre. Scanning the rooftops, she quickly found Chat Noir. A few swings of the yo-yo, and she was next to him.

“Hey, Kitty.” Chat Noir looked at his partner, smiling when she sat next to him.

“Hey, M’Lady.” She smiled at him, but her mind was elsewhere. “Are you ok, Ladybug?”

She didn’t answer, jolting to attention when Chat nudged her shoulder with his.
“Oh! Yeah, sorry. I’m fine. Are you, though? You look worried.”

Chat shrugged, and it was her turn to bump his shoulder. “I guess worried is a good way to put it. In my school—no, I won’t give away any personal information, Ladybug—there were these kids. One was kinda ignored all the time, one was a brat but in a good way, one was really sporty, and then the last one was a total sweetheart. She’s the best friend somebody could have. Anyway, apparently they’re all friends? And they rule the school? And I told Ma—the last girl I was telling you about, I’ll call her Pink, for this conversation. So Pink is now like, out to get this lying girl, and I’m just worried. Worried because she said she wouldn’t go after her, and worried because she hates C—Yellow. But now they’re friends. And they control the whole school.”

Marinette frowned. That sounded a whole lot like the Aces to her. Pink? Yellow? That could totally be her and Chloé. It fit, too. But it couldn’t be—Chat had called Dupont an elementary school. And she had created an illusion that she wasn’t Marinette. He could have been lying. She stood up, offering Chat her hand.

“C’mon, Chat. We have to patrol. You can tell me more about them on the way.”

He nodded, standing up. They took off across the rooftops of Paris, but they had both lied. Neither of them mentioned the Aces again.

Chapter Text

Lila Rossi was standing in her room, fighting with her pin. It wasn’t coming off from her shirt, and she couldn’t wear the same shirt twice. Sighing, she pulled the shirt off, over her head. She would have to wear a hoodie and say her pin was underneath. The second the built-in heat detector noticed a change in temperature, it did two things: sent a notification to Nathaniel’s phone, and began playing a song.

“Lila put your pin back on, pin back on, pin back on! Lila put your pin back on, put it on right nowwwww!”

Glaring at the pin, Lila grabbed it, but it was too late. The song, based on “Polly put the kettle on”, had already wormed itself into her brain. She pulled the shirt on, but not before dousing it in deodorant. The irritating song stopped, only to start up again when she lifted it away from her chest. She sighed, hearing her mother’s voice yelling from the room next door.

“LILA ROSSI, TURN THAT NONSENSE DOWN RIGHT THIS INSTANT! I AM TRYING TO GET 5 MINUTES OF SLEEP BEFORE I HAVE TO LEAVE FOR CANADA!”

Every month, Lila’s mother left for a week, to visit Lila’s older sister. Genivia Rossi was 21 years old, and had taught Lila everything she knew about manipulating people. Via lived with their aunt and uncle, who kept her close at all times. The last time they had seen each other was three years ago, just before Nathaly and Nathania Sancouer had convinced everyone that Genivia was a liar.
Wait.
Sancouer.
Seriously, how obsessed was this family with the names starting with ‘Nath’? There was Nathan Sancouer, then his only child, Nathalie, then her three children, Nathaly, Nathania, and Nathaniel.
This was too much.
“Sorry, Maman!” The brown-haired girl looked somber, for real this time. When would her mother ever pay attention to her, at least in a positive light? Right. Never. Thanks to Genivia, all Mme Rossi ever thought of when she saw her daughters was ‘disappointment’. Which was why Lila acted up. Lila shook her head. No time for real emotions.
She walked out of her apartment door, not bothering to say goodbye to her mother. She looked at the granola bar she had grabbed for breakfast, then groaned. Pecan Walnut, the worst flavour. Jamming it into her backpack, Lila began the 5 km walk to school.

On the other side of the city, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was crouched on the floor, poking Chloé’s shoulder.
“Chlo. Wake up.” The blond girl grumbled, rolling over. Marinette looked at Alix, who raised an eyebrow. Rolling his eyes, Nath tapped his phone, then put it next to her ear. An irritating song rang out, and just about everyone in the city began to wonder if Nathaniel had an obsession with the song Polly Put The Kettle On.
“CHLOÉ, CHLOÉ, WAKE UP NOW, WAKE UP NOW, WAKE UP NOW! CHLOÉ, CHLOÉ WAKE UP NOW OR WE’LL BE LATE TO SCHOOLLLLLL.” A hand shot out of the blankets, snatching the phone out of Nath’s hand.
“Fuck you, Kurtzberg.” The redhead laughed, then flopped over, his back against the ground. Using Chloé’s stomach as a pillow, he pretended to snore. Alix and Marinette shared a look, practically reading each other’s minds. Then they dove at the sleepy teenagers, tickling them.
The Aces may have been terrifying and formidable, but they were still teenagers. Teenagers with a sense of humour. Chloé squirmed away, practically dying of laughter.
“Nooooooooo! No tickles!” The two ticklers grinned, then abandoned Nath on the floor, moving to Chloé. Chloé caught Nath’s gaze, and the boy nodded. She twitched her eyes over to Marinette, the most ticklish of the four. He pounced, and Marinette was reduced to a pile of laughter.
“Ok ok ok! Truce!” By that time, all four kids had tears pouring out of their eyes from laughing so hard.
Nathaniel nodded, offering the bluenette his hand. She took it, standing up before yanking it. He toppled to the floor, laughing.
“Well played, Mari.” She curtsied demurely, before looking at her phone. All traces of humour in her gaze were gone when she realized the time.

“Frick. We’ve got a meeting with the heirs and Simone in like, 5 minutes.”

The Aces sprung into action, Nath booting up Marinette’s computer, signing in. As that loaded, he yanked on his newest outfit. Marinette finished changing first, her years of practice coming in handy. Yanking a brush through her hair, she clipped a barrette in and left it. Chloé and Alix finished getting dressed a minute later, and all four Aces linked arms. Spinning to look in the mirror, Alix gasped. These were the best outfits yet. Pure black skinny jeans, and floaty white blouses with embroidered details in their colours. Nathaniel had black skinny jeans as well, and a casual white t-shirt. The shirt had blue stitching and a faint blue diamond on the back. Chloé’s fingers were already dipping in and out of her hair, and in no time at all (literally) all three girls had intricate french braids.

“Hello? Is anyone else here yet?” Marinette sprung to the computer with a cry of delight. She turned on the camera just as the other three Aces sat down. The girl on the screen—Bridgette—looked like an older version of Marinette.

“Hey, Bridge!” Bridgette smiled, her eyes crinkling as she waved.

“Mari! How’ve you been?” The younger girl shrugged but smiled back.

“Eh. There’s a liar, and the Aces are back together.”

“YES!!! I thought that was you, Chloé! Nath my man! Alix! How are you guys!” Just as the Aces were about to answer, another person joined the meeting. Marc. He smiled at everyone, waving.

“Bridge! It’s been like, forever!” The blue-haired boy grinned widely upon seeing his cousin.

“And it will be forever until we get started if you two talk.” Jasper. The only Cheng heir without the famous blue-black hair, instead sporting white-blond hair. His younger sister, Taylor, crowded the screen, and everyone smiled at the seven year old.

“As much as I hate to admit it, Jasper is correct. Marinette, you called us here. Why?” Bridgette spoke, glaring at Jasper. Despite both being heirs no matter what, they hated each other.

“I’m waiting until pópo gets here. Then we’ll start.” Marinette answered quickly, hoping to defuse the situation.

All of the other kids nodded, and Taylor piped up. “Why does Grandmother have to be here for this?”
Jasper hissed, shaking his head at the young girl. “Because Grandmother needs to be here, Taylor. Now shush.” The girl nodded just as the matriarch of the Cheng Mafia entered the meeting.

“Wai pó!” Marinette waved at her grandmother, and Simone Cheng smiled at her grandchildren.

“Hello, everyone. Marinette, you called a meeting.” The girl nodded, worrying the end of her braid.

“Yes. As you can see, Alix, Chloé, and Nathaniel are behind me. There’s a liar at school, and there’s only so much time before she lies about something more important.”

Simone smiled at the RAs, already typing on her keyboard. The woman may have been in her early 70s, but that didn’t stop her from understanding technology as well—possibly better—than her grandchildren.

“More important than what?” It was the oldest heir that spoke. At 16, Bridgette was only a year older than Marinette and Marc. Jasper was around 10 months younger than her. Once Bridgette was born, the other three heirs had been born in quick succession. Jasper, Marinette, Marc.

Marinette shrugged.

“She’s going to start using bigger lies. Bigger connections. Apparently, she’s had tea with two prime ministers and a queen. What’s next? She’s pópo’s friend? She’s a mafia heir? She’s the mafia leader?”

Marc spoke, nodding. “It does seem likely that Lila will try to become bigger. If she knows anything about mafias, she’ll know that ours is the biggest. And as much as I want her to die, I don’t want her to die at the hands of another mafia, one who thinks she’s important.”

Simone nodded, pursing her lips. “Thank you, Marc. As the Aces are back together, it is safe to assume that Marinette and Lila do not get along. Marc, is there a way to—” The teen was already shaking his head.

“No. I’ve made it clear that I dislike Lila. It’s safest for someone else to do it.” Years of training taught them all to practically read each other’s minds, and even though Simone hadn’t said the plan out loud, they all knew what she meant.

“Jasper, then.” The blond boy nodded, sighing.

“Bracelet?” The code word for befriending the enemy. Operation Friendship Bracelet, as the heirs called it, was the official term.

Marinette shook her head, frowning.

“Arrow. I’m sorry, Jasp.” She really wasn’t. Well, maybe she was, just a little. Even Jasper didn’t deserve to have to date Lila, even if it was fake. Operation Cupid’s Arrow. It was the one operation they all hated, especially Jasper. Woo girls—sometimes boys into trusting and loving them. Then get the information they needed, break the hearts of their girlfriend/boyfriend, and sometimes break their own. At age 7, Taylor had never had to do that. But one day.

Luckily for the Chengs, wooing people fell easy to them. With high cheekbones, large blue eyes, and delicate features, they could capture a person’s attention and keep it. Even Simone called them ‘heartbreakers’. Jasper flopped onto the table, his dramatic, goofy side showing momentarily. Jasper had never really been the same after his last Arrow mission. Contrary to popular belief, the Cheng family did actually possess hearts. Everyone had warned him that falling in love with a Giovanni was a bad idea, but no! He didn’t listen. Jasper barely made it out alive once Alexander Giovanni realized who he was. Falling in love with the heir of the Italian Mafia was not a freaking good plan. It was also incredibly Romeo and Juliet like. And that was without counting the fact that it was pure cliche. Two mafia heirs fall in love, and then it all goes south when the leader of one of the Mafias finds out. 

There was a big fight after Annie betrayed Jasper. A single day after Jasper told Annie who he was, Alexander Giovanni attacked him. The last memory Jasper had of Annie was of her and her father, his hand on her shoulder. She smiled at Jasper, smiling softly. 

“Try to make sure that people are on your side before telling them your secrets, Jasper.” 

“Annie! Please!”, Jasper had begged. The redheaded girl spun to look at him, her emerald green eyes flashing. She had crouched to where Jasper was kneeling, bound, and took hold of his chin.

“Oh Jasper. Sweet, naive Jasper. Only my friends call me Annie,” she had said. “But for you? Anabel Giovanni will always be your enemy.”

The 13 year old girl, a year younger than Jasper, stood up, turning towards her father. She looked down at Jasper, kicking him in the ribs. The boy watched as her and her father disappeared into the sunset—classic—, and when he was sure he was alone, he began to cry. Jasper’s soul died that day.

He hadn’t done another Arrow mission since.

“Fine. If I must. What exactly am I doing, by the way?” Bridgette smirked.

“Making Lila fall in love with you, not falling in love with her, and then betraying her at the right moment.” Jasper was the least likely to be recognized as an heir, or even a member of the Cheng family. He shrugged.

“Alright. And we’re sure Bridgette can’t do this?” Marc shook his head.

“We’re sure. To our extensive knowledge, Lila Rossi is not attracted to women.” Chloé’s hand shot in the air, and Simone nodded at her.

“Yes?”

“Lila Rossi will only date someone who will A) bolster her reputation, and B) is famous. Which is covered by my first point. But Lila will only pretend to like someone if it benefits her. Take Adrien, for example. She’s all over him, and why? Because he’s famous. So basically Jasper somehow has to become famous.”

The blond boy grinned, running a hand through his hair.

“And who’s to say I’m not already famous?” Taylor grabbed his hair, pulling it gently.

“You’re not, dummy.” They all laughed, laughing even harder at Jasper‘s pout.

Marinette grinned, her mind lighting up.

“He will be soon. Jasper, how well can you model?” As he got up and struck a few moves, Simone looked curiously at Marinette.

“Why, Marinette?” The girl spun in her desk chair, smirking.

“Because I’m the fashion designer MDC. He can model for me for a few months. It’s perfect.” Bridgette dropped her textbook.

“Is that the reason shipping was free and everything was a quarter off?” Marinette laughed, nodding.

“Yup,” Marinette popped the ‘p’. “So, Jasper Miller-Cheng? Will you become a model for MDC?”

The boy nodded, and they got down to business.

Nathaniel’s grandfather would revamp MDC’s website, Chloé would be paying for a room that Jasper could stay in, and Alix, well, Alix would do something. After a month of modeling for one of the best fashion designers in the world, Jasper would switch out of his online school—all the Cheng heirs had done online school at some point— and move to Dupont.

There was just one thing that needed to happen for this whole thing to work.

Lila needed to take the bait.

Chapter Text

The RAs sat behind the counter of the bakery, chatting. Jasper was on the Zoom camera, and Nath was setting up a powerful projector. 

Marinette had suggested (read: forced) the nurse that because Lila had so many allergies, he should give her special lunches. 

And then, the next day, her family’s bakery catered a massive lunch. 

Chloé was the one to find out what Lila’s favourite kind of granola bar was. 

Alix was the one who had bought them all. 

They had no way to know if Lila was going to buy anything from the bakery, but it was better to be prepared. 

Luckily, Lila was the most predictable girl ever. 

Lila Rossi was 5 minutes away from school when she realized that she wasn’t wearing a hoodie. 

Crap. 

Pausing, she looked back towards her house, then towards the school. Her stomach growled and she glared at it angrily. Because of all her “allergies,” the nurse had given her special foods to eat early on in the year. And because Lila didn’t feel like eating 4 chickpeas and a carrot, she would have to go hungry until around 16hr. 

Her stomach growled again, and she looked at the Dupain-Cheng bakery across the street. 

Was it worth it?

Yes. 

Slipping into the bakery, she reached up to hold the bell. It wasn’t that she was going to steal anything, she just didn’t want anyone to be alerted to her presence. Buying a 6 pack of muffins, she made it out the door safely. 

All four RAs stood up from their positions behind the counter, flipping the camera back around to face them. 

Marinette scowled at Lila’s back. 

Explaining to Jasper, Nath spoke. 

“So, that’s what Lila looks like. Hopefully that helps. Now, we’ve got to get to school.” 

Jasper nodded. “And I’ve got to get on a plane. Mari, when will the new line be finished?” 

She shrugged. 

“If I skipped school, I could get it done today. But since I can’t skip school, they’ll be done by tomorrow, I’m planning to work all night anyway,” Marinette said. 

“That’s ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Mari, you can’t do that. Can’t Uncle Gabriel or my mom help you?” 

“Nope. Gabriel’s mad because I’m technically competition now, and I haven’t talked to your mom in around a month.” Marinette popped the ‘p,’ flopping onto Chloé’s shoulder. 

“Couldn’t Gabriel ruin your reputation though? He knows your identity, right?”, Alix spoke, confused. 

“He legally can’t. When we signed a contract that said we were in no way affiliated with each other, he also signed something that said he wasn’t allowed to share my identity with anyone. I could sue him for a ton of money if he did. A TON.” 

Nathaniel and Chloé nodded, confirming what Marinette had said. 

“Ah,” Alix said. “That makes sense.” It really didn’t. 

“So, yeah. The factory is already making thousands of outfits, but I always make the versions that are actually modeled.By the way, Chlo, do you want to model my female line?” 

Chloé stared at Marinette, who smiled. 

“YES! YES I DO!!! Thank you so much, Mari!” 

The bluenette laughed gently, prying Chloé off of her. 

“Awesome. You and Jasper will be modeling alongside Janie and Douglas,” Marinette said.

 Alix tilted her head. 

“Janie and Douglas?” 

“My...how to put this politely…plus size models. MDC fashion has almost every size available. Only the maternity wear is remaining.” 

Nathaniel smiled. 

“That’s really nice of you, Mari.” 

The bluenette shrugged humbly. 

“I didn’t want anyone to be left out. Also because generally larger people are discriminated against, even though the larger clothes take more fabric, they still cost the same amount. It’s kinda like pink tax. People shouldn’t have to pay extra just because they‘re different. Now. C’mon. We’ve gotta get to school. Nath—Nath, are you crying?” 

He shook his head, laughing. 

“No, I’m merely getting dust out of both eyes at the same time." He rolled his eyes. "Yes, you idiot.” 

Grabbing Marinette’s offered hand, he went to push off the floor, then gasped as Marinette pulled him up literally singlehandedly. 

“Um, Mari?”

 She looked back, then realized what she had done. Apparently, her superhero strength had popped in for a visit. She had just basically picked Nathaniel up from the floor with one hand. 

“Whoops. Mafia training?” 

Chloé shook her head, standing up herself. 

“No freaking way you got that from training. That’s like, superhero strength. You literally pulled Nath off the floor with one hand. And you did it easily.” 

Nath nodded. "Yeah. No way that was mafia trianing. Marc can't pick me up, and he has even more training than you." Alix looked at him funny, and he shrugged.

"What?"

“Um…OMG THAT’S THE BELL!” 

All four Royal Aces spun, then basically all began freaking out. It was Jasper‘s voice that snapped them out of it, however. 

“Will you all freaking shut up. Because you’re all at Marinette’s house, you can all freaking walk to school. And yeah, I know you have a limo, and a reputation thing-y to uphold, but I don’t care. All four of you are slipping from “fashionably late” to “actually, late slip, late. You might be the Royal Aces, but so help me if you screw up I will do everything in my power to keep it that way.” 

Then he hung up. The RAs looked at each other, then nodded. 

“Let’s go, ladies!”, Nath spoke, already at the door. Luckily, they had gotten ready before the meeting, otherwise they would be very late. 

The RAs arrived just as Homeroom started, opening the classroom door. Mr. Damocles strode towards them from beside Bustier’s desk, frowning. 

“You four! You’re tardy! To my office this instant!” 

As he marched out the door, expecting them to follow, Alix did the unthinkable. She shut the door behind him, locking it. He might have had the key, but it was the thought that counted.

The class burst into laughter, then remembered it was the RAs. The laughter faded, only to start back up again when Nath spoke. 

“Don’t try this at home, kids,” Nath said, smirking. The RAs swept to the back of the classroom, smirking as they went. 

The mood in the classroom was lighter than it had been for a while, thanks to the fact that the Royal Aces had done something a student would. It made them seem like humans, which was exactly what the RAs wanted. 

Make sure they seemed human.

Untouchable humans, but still actual people. 

Lila swept in soon after, sitting next to Alya. The RAs were pleased to note she was wearing the same shirt as yesterday. 

Perfect.

They had a job, after all. 

There was no room to get soft. 

Chapter Text

MDC Releases New Spring Line!

Jasper Miller; MDC’s Newest Teenage Model

MDC Introduces New Model!

Jasper Miller Takes The Fashion World by Storm!

New Model for MDC? 

New Model, specially chosen by MDC!

Famous Designer MDC Has Signed New Model!

“Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! I’m Nadja Chamack, live from Paris. MDC has just released their new line, with a big surprise! The elusive designer has selected a brand new model, and we were lucky enough to get an interview! Here he is now! Jasper Miller, welcome! Tell me, how does it feel to be the next Adrien Agreste?” 

Jasper sat down on the chair, smiling. 

“Hi, Nadja. It’s great to be here,” Jasper said. Shrugging, he spoke. “Am I the next Adrien Agreste? That seems a little far fetched. I’m just the new model for Ma—MDC.”

 He winced at his slip-up, and Nadia leaned forward in her seat. 

“Do you know the identity of MDC?”

 Jasper shook his head, then shrugged. Adjusting his hair, he yanked out the ear piece. Marinette’s screaming was giving him a headache. 

“Kind of. MDC seems so formal, you know? It’s better for a business, but not so good for chatting. The models that they work with are allowed to call them Mar, for reasons I am not aware of. I will say, they’re lovely.” 

Deflection. Hopefully. 

“But identity? Have you met MDC in person?”

“Technically, yes. But they always wear a mask.” 

Darn, maybe the earpiece would be useful. He couldn’t remember what to say next. 

“Are there any clues you can give us as to their identity?”

 Right, that was the next thing. 

“No, but I will clue you in on a secret.” 

Nadja nodded, eager for anything. 

“MDC recently had a sketchbook destroyed by people they thought they could trust. There were many designs for both celebrities and their website in that book. It’ll be hard to recover from that.”

 Nadja gasped, frowning. 

“My goddaughter also had that happen to her. It’s a tragedy. Please, when you have a chance, send my apologies.”

 Jasper nodded, somber. Noticing the air of sadness in the room, Nadja tried to cheer it up. 

“So, Jasper. Where will you be attending school now that you’ve moved to Paris?”

 Ah yes, right. He had moved to Paris, hadn’t he?

“I will be attending school at Françoise Dupont. MDC hopes that even though I’m apparently famous now, I can still live a normal life.” 

Looking down at her paper, Nadja smiled. 

“Now, isn’t that the same school as Adrien Agreste?” 

Jasper nodded pleasantly. Seriously! Enough with the Adrien stuff! 

“That is. I was quite lucky to be accepted, actually. There are many famous people there, including Chloé Bourgeois, Aurore Boreale, Nathalie Sancouer’s son, Officer Rancomprix’s daughter, among others. It’s amazing, really.” 

Nadja nodded, but internally frowned. Jasper Miller seemed so...humble. Just like Adrien Agreste. 

“Both you and Adrien are top models for different companies. Do you believe there will be a rivalry of some sort between you two?”

 Now that was a good question.

“Oh gosh, I hope not. I’ve always looked up to Adrien, and I hope we can be friends.” 

PFFFFFT. He hadn’t heard of Adrien Agreste before Marinette started talking about him 24/7, but it was part of the role he needed to play. 

“What a lovely sentiment. Do you have any last words for our viewers?”, Nadja smiled, looking at Jasper. 

“I’m sure I can think of something. Wait, can I? Let’s see…it’s good to be cautious.” 

He winced. Those were terrible last words.

“Well, on behalf of everyone in the city, welcome to Paris.” Jasper nodded gratefully, smiling. 

“Thank you, Nadja. It was great to meet you.” 

A few seconds after Nadja finished returning the statement, the cameras stopped rolling. 

As Jasper exited the building, camera flashes went off left and right. He kept walking, not willing to stop. 

He had a job to do. In, out, and no murder. He knew he would be in at least one newspaper by tomorrow. That was the life of a model, apparently. He stepped into the waiting limo, waiting until it started driving to scooch forward. 

Nathaniel held his hand out for a high five. 

“Nice job!” 

It had been around 3 days since Jasper had arrived in Paris, and two since Marinette had released the new line. As they pulled up to Dupont, all four RAs hopped out. Now? They had to spread some rumours. Sure, it was beneath them, but it would be fun.

“No way, girl! You really met Jasper Miller?”, Alya asked, hounding Lila for details. 

Apparently, Lila had already begun spreading rumours. 

“Yeah! He asked me on a date, as well!” 

“Oh my gosh, girl! Can I interview you about that?” 

“Of course, Alya! Anything for a friend!” 

Turning on her camera, Alya began to speak. 

“Hey, Ladybloggers! Today we come from Françoise Dupont high school, where a very special girl attends! Everyone, this is my best friend, Lila Rossi! And she had the experience of a lifetime a few days ago. Jasper Miller asked her on a date! Tell me, Lila, what’s it like to be the girlfriend of a supermodel?” 

Lila fake-giggled, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. All this attention was worth wearing the same shirt two days in a row. 

“Well, Jasper is super sweet. I showed him around Paris when he arrived, and he said he was super grateful to me! He’s already brought me flowers!” 

“Awww. Is he basically the perfect boyfriend?”

 Lila nodded, simpering. 

“He really is! He’s already taken me to meet his family, and they’re so nice! You know, his twin sister is like, crazy amazing. She wanted to be best friends with me, but I told her that I was already best friends with you! And then she hugged me, and said that being regular friends was fine, too!” 

“She sounds awesome! What’s her name?” 

Lila winced, but masked it with a giggle. 

“You won’t believe it, but it’s Lola! Our names are so close! It’s amazing!” 

Marinette muffled a snort. 

If Lila had ever met Jasper‘s actual sister, she would have a completely different opinion. Taylor was adorable, but she had just learned how to tackle someone properly. 

The whole family had bruises. 

“Oh my gosh! That’s amazing! It’s almost like you two were meant to be together! He’s coming to our school, did you know that? I mean, of course you did, you’re dating!” 

Marinette loved how in less than 2 minutes, it had progressed from “asked me on a date” to “took me to meet his parents”. 

Freaking impossible. 

Lila paled at Alya’s words. It was one thing to lie about a person nobody would ever talk to, but to have the person she was lying about start to attend this school? That was not good. 

“Actually, he’s switching here because of me!”

 Alright. That was enough. Marinette stalked forward, her metaphorical tail twitching in anger. 

Seeing the bluenette, Ms. Mendeleiev walked towards the edge of the balcony. Clapping twice, she dully announced something that made most of the students groan. 

“Excuse me. The bell has rung. Please make your way to your classrooms.”

“Well, you heard it here first! Don’t forget to come back for exclusive Ladybug content!” 

Shutting down the livestream, both girls made their way to Ms. Bustier’s homeroom class. Mr. Damocles was waiting by the teacher’s desk, and he smiled at the girls. 

The RAs walked in last, raising their eyebrows at the principal. The four had made it to their seats when he spoke. 

“You four! You disrespected me yesterday, and you will not get away with it again. I will be calling your parents.” 

Nathaniel raised a hand, waiting for Damocles to nod at him before speaking. 

“Is there any way you could possibly call one of my older sisters? My mother is Gabriel Agreste’s assistant, and he hates it when she has to take a call. And my father is in the Supreme Court, suing an American company on behalf of Gabriel.” 

Damocles grumbled, but nodded. 

“All right.” 

Chloé’s turn. She spoke, not even raising her hand. 

“My mother is preparing for Paris Fashion Week, and my father, the mayor of Paris, has a press conference. So please don’t call either of them. I would hate for my father to be forced to stop funding the school.” 

Damocles paled, looking at Marinette. 

“Any excuses you want to use?” 

Marinette shrugged. 

“Well, let’s see. No, but because it’s nearing a few holidays, my parents are swamped already as it is. I’m pretty sure my Grandmother has a meeting with Justin Trudeau today, but you could try her. Just remember time zones and all that crap.”

The whole class looked at Alix, waiting to see what she would say. 

“Oh, you can call my parents. But you’ll have to do it soon, because my mother has a brain surgery scheduled in around 13 minutes, and my father is in Egypt along with my brother. Again, time zones.” 

Damocles frowned sadly, resting a hand on Alix’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry to hear that your mother is in need of brain surgery. However, that will not get you out of punishment.” 

Alix laughed dryly, shoving the man’s hand off her shoulder.

“Oh, no. My mother isn’t receiving the brain surgery, she’s the doctor doing it. Her name is Theresa Bonnie Kubdel. Maybe you’ve heard of her.” Maybe. Ha. Everyone had heard of Dr. Kubdel. 

Marinette raised her hand, and Damocles nodded at her. 

“Here”, She handed him her phone, tapping on an icon, “You can call my uncle J. He probably won’t be busy. I just have one question. Could you possibly put it on speakerphone so I can hear too? Sometimes he can be a bit hard to understand.” 

“Fine.” 

The phone rang for about a minute, and just as Damocles was going to hang up, a man’s voice answered. 

“Yo, Marinette! What’s up?”, Marinette placed her fists on the desk, smirking.

 She flashed her eyes up, looking at all her classmates. 

“Nothing much, Jagged. By the way, how’s Penny doing? My mom said that 6 months in, it starts to get harder.”

 Chloé burst out laughing, then reined herself back in. It was so like Marinette to call a world famous singer her uncle. Even if he was, technically. (Well, honorarily.) 

“She’s good, actually! We chose a name, did you hear? Well, of course you didn’t. We chose one today!” 

“Oh my gosh! That’s so exciting, Jagged! What is it?” 

“If it’s a boy, Charles Marin Keith Rolling-Stone, and if it’s a girl, Charlotte Marinette Penelope Rolling-Stone. Charlie for short, no matter what.” 

The laughter was back. But this time it was at Marinette’s shocked face. 

“Those are gorgeous names, Jagged. Marinette here loves them”, Chloè hip-checked Marinette, bringing her back to reality. 

“Hu—oh! Yeah! Those are really pretty names, Jagged. The reason I actually called is because the Aces are back, and Mr. Damocles seems to have a problem. We were wondering if you could possibly vouch that we’re not a problem?” 

“Ayyy! I love the Aces, man! And yeah, Damocles, the Aces are great. You don’t have to worry about them one bit. Now if you don’t mind, please give my niece her phone back.” 

In the background, there was a faint, “Jagged, I told you! You can’t go around adopting people all the time!” from Penny, and a “She’s Marinette! We’re naming our child after her! I can adopt her if I want!” from Jagged. 

“Uh-y-ye-yes, sir! Here you go, Marinette. Sorry.”

 The girl nodded dismissively at Damocles. 

“Thank you.” 

Damocles left the room, seemingly forgetting about punishing the RAs. 

“Alright. Thank you, Jagged. Say hi to Fang, Penny, and Charlie for me, ok?” 

“Will do, Mari!” 

Marinette smiled, then disconnected the call. Adjusting her black off-the-shoulder chunky sweater, she walked to the back of the class. Her hair was in a messy bun today, with two strands framing her face. Chloé followed, Nath and Alix soon after. Marinette was wearing all black, the downside of being the Black Queen. All three girls were wearing sweaters in their colours, whereas Nath had a hoodie. With black leggings/jeans and flats, they looked adorable. But unfortunately, Marinette was running out of ideas. Which was not good. Very not good. 

Ms. Bustier began the lesson, ignoring the chatter that filled the room. 

“Jagged Stone?”

“Marinette?”

“Jagged Stone’s naming his kid after Marinette?” 

“They’re really close!”

“How the frick do you know that?” 

Chloé and Alix sent glares around the room, shutting all the kids up. 

The Royal Aces

Black Queen: thank you.

Red Queen: no problem, Mari.

Blue King: ugh, people.

Yellow Queen: that was kinda awesome, M. 

Black Queen: thank you. 

Black Queen added Jasper M-C

Jasper M-C: hello?

Black Queen changed Jasper M-C’s nickname to Jasper

Jasper: oh it’s you people

Yellow Queen: you people? What are we now, peasants?

Jasper: yes???

Yellow Queen: rude

Blue King: omg stop flirting

Black Queen: no literally everyone other than Jasper and I are peasants

Black Queen: well, Chloé is kinda a gray area

Yellow Queen: no u

Red Queen: wdym you’re not peasants

Jasper: oh well grandma Cheng was knighted a while back 

Black Queen: and this particular knighting kinda extended to us

Black Queen: so technically I’m officially Lady Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Jasper: and I’m Lord Jasper Miller-Cheng

Black Queen: and then also there’s the whole mafia heir shtick. 

Black Queen: a lot of people respect us for that, too (well, Wai pó. They’ve never met us. But they respect our family in general)

Black Queen: so yeah you all are literally peasants

Black Queen: :)

Jasper: (: 

Yellow Queen: ew wtf why is your smiley face backwards

Jasper: (:

Yellow Queen: stahpppp

Jasper: (;

Blue King: ok literally stop flirting 

Red Queen: my mind can’t handle this

Black Queen: y’all if you want a freaking group chat for flirting, effing make one, but no flirting in general 

Jasper: did you literally copy that from discord

Yellow Queen: omg she did

Black Queen: f u 

Direct Messages: Jasper & Yellow Queen

Jasper: We weren't flirting, were we? 

Jasper: i am very confused here 

He really wasn’t. Yes, he loved Annie, but you learn to move on. 

Yellow Queen: idk

Yellow Queen: it wasn’t flirting

Yellow Queen: you put your smiley faces the wrong way

Jasper: no u

Yellow Queen: ;)

Jasper: (; 

Yellow Queen: -_-

Jasper: ;)

Jasper: see now that just looks wrong

Jasper: don’t u dare

Yellow Queen: watch me

Jasper: wait for ittttttt

Jasper: wait for ittttttt

Jasper: wait for itttttttt

Yellow Queen: you look wrong

Jasper: called it

Yellow Queen: ;P 

Yellow Queen: XD

Jasper: ok ok ok 

Jasper: :   )

Yellow Queen: wtf why are there spaces

Yellow Queen: it looks gross please kill it

Jasper: never

Yellow Queen: i hate you

Jasper: I hate you too

Yellow Queen: good

Yellow Queen: wait not good i don’t want to be hated

Read 9:34 am

~

11:44- 

Yellow Queen: please

Yellow Queen: i don’t want to be hated

Yellow Queen: Jasper?

Yellow Queen: please don’t have me

Yellow Queen: *HATE

Yellow Queen: *HATE I MEANT HATE

Jasper: XD 

Jasper: yet you’re not denying the ‘have’

Jasper: so...is there anything you wanted to say?

Yellow Queen: bitch you left me on read for two hours and 10 minutes

Yellow Queen: I can do what I want

Yellow Queen: anyway

Jasper: you counted?

Yellow Queen: . . .

Yellow Queen: no

Jasper: mmhmm

Yellow Queen: 🗡i will stab you

Jasper: no u won’t

Yellow Queen: yes i will

Jasper: i have 14 years of training from one of the biggest Mafias in the world

Jasper: i highly doubt you can stab me

Yellow Queen: i will find a way

Yellow Queen: Mari can help

Jasper: sure. Go ask her

Yellow Queen: fine

Direct Messages: Yellow Queen & Black Queen

Yellow Queen: Mari will you help me stab Jasper

Black Queen: A) why

Black Queen: B) no, we need him

Black Queen: C) please don’t stab your crush?

Black Queen: also Wai pó would not be impressed

Yellow Queen: A) he’s asking for it

Yellow Queen: B) after?

Yellow Queen: C) hmph

Black Queen: so you do like him

Yellow Queen: it’s complicated

Black Queen: it doesn’t have to be

Yellow Queen: yeah it does

Yellow Queen: how do you think your grandmother would react to a mafia heir dating the daughter of paris’ mayor

Black Queen: oh she’d love it

Black Queen: more connections, duh

Black Queen: Jasper would probably love it too tbh

Read 11:52 am

~

12:32 - 

Yellow Queen: I’m just going to leave this and let you think of what you’ve just done, Mari.

The Royal Aces

Yellow Queen: Mari you copied that from discord I know u did

Black Queen: and you used ‘u’ and ‘you’ in the same sentence

Yellow Queen: whatever

Blue King: guys

Blue King: the lunch bell is about to ring

Blue King: prepare for drama

Red Queen: oh look there it is

Jasper: have fun, suckers

Red Queen: you have to fake date Lila. 

Red Queen: who’s the sucker now

Jasper: Still you guys

Yellow Queen: peasant

Black Queen: focus.

Chapter Text

It was time. The first day of Lila’s takedown. The RAs walked into school, smirking. Jasper would show up in about a minute, right after Alix texted him. 

Marinette led the RAs over to where Lila and her lackeys were standing, stopping right in front of Lila. 

“Lila! You heard the news, right? Jasper Miller is coming to our school! Are you excited to have your boyfriend come here?”

 Alright, this was weird. For everyone involved. Marinette had never willingly spoken to Lila before in her life. Alix sent the text, indicating that Jasper should have the limo driver bring the car around to the front. 

“Oh yeah, I’m so happy! You know, Jasper did this for me!” 

“Oh did he now,” Marinette deadpanned. 

“He did!”

 Sure, Lila. 

“I did, actually,” A new voice cut in, and the crowd gasped. Jasper Miller. 

“OMG girl, go say hi to him!”, Alya shoved Lila forward, and Lila stumbled through the crowd. 

“Uh-h-h Alya, that might not be the best idea! You see—”

“Lila doesn’t want to make anyone jealous of our relationship. That’s all”, Lila looked at Jasper, an incredulous look on her face. 

Jasper gently grasped Lila’s shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. 

“Lila! How are you? I know it’s only been a day, but I missed you!” 

“I missed you too, Jasper!” 

Jasper leaned down, his lips right next to her ear. Before training was even allowed to begin, all of the Cheng heirs had to master a certain whisper. Low, dangerous, and incredibly quiet. 

“Oh did you now, Rossi?” 

Lila’s smile froze, wavering, and all four RAs internally squealed. Jasper was even better at this than they had hoped. 

“Alright, folks. Show’s over. You’ll be late to class if you don’t go now,” Alix barked. “Give the couple some privacy.” 

Everyone except for the Akuma class scattered, leaving a practically empty courtyard. 

Adrien approached Jasper, offering his hand to shake. 

“Adrien Agreste.” 

Jasper smiled, and it seemed slightly more genuine than the one he had given Lila. 

“Jasper Miller.”

“I know.”

“I was being polite, Adrien.” 

“Oh were you, Jasper? ” They laughed, both boys seemingly full of blond hair and smiles. 

Nino approached next, brushing past Lila. 

“Hey, dude. I’m Nino.” 

“Nice to meet you, Nino.” 

Both Ivan and Mylene walked up to him, Mylene waving as Ivan shook Jasper’s hand. 

“I’m Ivan.” 

“I’m Mylene. It’s nice to meet you.” 

“Likewise.” 

The rest of the class introduced themselves, before surrounding Jasper (and Lila) and dragging him to the classroom. 

Ms. Bustier smiled warmly at Jasper, contrasting the boy’s inner scowl at the sight of her. 

“Welcome to the class, Jasper. Please, take any seat you want. If you’d like to sit next to Lila, Alya can move. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” Jasper nodded, looking at Lila.

“I’d love to sit next to Lila. Sorry, Alya. But currently Lila is the only one of you guys that I knew more than 5 minutes ago.” 

He wasn’t really sure if his rambles had made sense. But it didn’t matter. 

“Of course, Jasper! I’m so happy you and my girl get along so well!” Jasper nodded absentmindedly, watching Chlo—The RAs roll their eyes. 

Ms. Bustier clapped her hands, pulling the attention away from Jasper. 

“Class, please take your seats. Alya, if you could please move to the empty spot next to Sabrina?”

“Sure! Hey, Sabrina!” The reporter schooched into her new spot, and Sabrina smiled at Alya. 

Jasper held onto Lila’s arm, a perfect picture of a self-assured yet still nervous boy on his first day of class in a new school. 

“Before you sit down, Jasper,” Bustier paused, waiting until Jasper met her eyes. “Please don’t chat to Lila during the lessons. I understand that you two are dating, but no distractions. Understand?” 

The white-blond nodded, smiling slightly. 

“Of course, Ms. Bustier. Talking during class is very disrespectful to both the teacher and my fellow classmates, and I wouldn’t dream of doing it ever.”

  He should have said ‘ever doing it’, not ‘doing it ever.’ Whatever. It wasn’t like anyone here was educated enough to tell the grammatical difference between the two. Well, maybe Marinette, but only because they had the same education. 

The rest of the class passed quickly, Jasper keeping to his promise of not distracting anyone. Soon enough it was time to lunch, and his phone dinged. 

The Royal Aces

Black Queen: Jasp, you have to sit next to Lila for lunch. Don’t let her out of arm’s reach. 

Jasper: ok boss

Red Queen: legit idk if that was sarcastic or not

Jasper: it wasn’t

Direct Messages: Yellow Queen & Jasper

Yellow Queen: hey

Jasper: hi (:

Yellow Queen: ew

Yellow Queen changed Yellow Queen’s nickname to Chloé 

Chloé: so the reason i actually messaged you was to say good luck

Chloé: Lila is……more dangerous than we know. 

Chloé: I’m not saying that Mari’s being cocky, but i think Lila has more up her sleeve. 

[Chloé sent 1 audio file] 

Chloé: listen to this

Chloé: that was her threatening Mari. 

Chloé: listen to her voice

Chloé: she knows what she’s doing

Jasper: she does seem dangerous

Jasper: but you forget who i am, and who Mari is.

Chloé: i am acutely aware of who you are

Chloé: it’s not like i don’t think about it all the time

Chloé: but seriously. Jasp. Don’t underestimate her.

Jasper: i won’t

Jasper: don’t worry

Chloé: i just don’t want you—or anyone—to get hurt

Jasper: thank you

Jasper: but srsly, please don’t worry. If anything happens, i can call in backup

Chloé: you know that’s not going to make me stop worrying

Jasper: not at all?

Chloé: not at all. 

Chloé: you have to go eat with lie-la now

Chloé: don’t get reckless, jasper. Please. 

Jasper: I won’t. 

Chloé: somehow I doubt that. 

Jasper: when have I ever gotten reckless?

Chloé: Annie.

It was a low blow, bringing up Annie. Jasper had trusted another heir, to another mafia. The day after he told Annie that he was a Cheng, Alexander Giovanni—her father—attacked him. Instead of abandoning Jasper, like they should have, the Chengs fought. 

The last time he had ever seen Annie was the same moment she declared them enemies. 

Jasper: fine. I won’t get reckless.

Chloé: promise? 

Chloe swallowed, looking at Jasper. He glanced up from his phone, meeting her eyes. 

Jasper: promise, princess.

Chloé: i thought i was a peasant

Jasper: details.

Chloé: jasper. Be careful

Jasper: I will

Chloé: thank you 

Jasper: of course.

Chloé: literally go eat lunch now, we’ve wasted like 20 minutes texting

Jasper: . . . 

Chloé: what?

Jasper: . . . 

Chloé: OMFG HOW WAS IT ONLY 5 MINUTES HOW—

Chloé: WHAT DID YOU DO 

Jasper: ...idk?

Chloé: ok then

Chloé: go

Jasper: I’m going

Chloé: good lunch

Chloé: *luck, but have a good lunch as well

Jasper: A) that’s like the 15th time you said that, and B) i can’t, I’m eating with Lila 

Chloé: A) i can’t help it if i’m worried, and B) fair. 

Jasper: I’ll be okkkkkkkkkkkkk

Chloé: you say that now, jasper. 

Jasper: princess. I’ll be fine. 

Chloé: ok. I believe you. 

Jasper: thank you, chlo.

Chloé: always.

Jasper: I think I might love you, Chloé. That means a lot. ❤️

Chloé: ❤️ i believe you because I like you you, Jasper. Like, really like you. you’re a big idiot, but I do. Now I’m going to delete this so nobody can ever see it. 

Jasper: :)

Chloé: see? it didn’t kill you!

Jasper: no, I’m dead. This is jasper’s ghost. He wants you to know that—

Jasper: alright sorry my ghost has been contained

Chloé: could i please speak to him?

Jasper: nope sorry i just absorbed him

Chloé: you goof

Jasper: that’s me ;)

Chloé: I can hear Lila calling for you from here. Go pretend to be a loving boyfriend. 

Jasper: yuck

Jasper: it’s actually going to be easy pretending I’m in love with her

Chloé: if you are I’m telling Mari

Jasper: I’m not

Jasper: what i meant is that i can just pretend that she’s you the girl i like

Chloé: that makes sense

Jasper: ok I’m actually going now

Chloé: have fun 🙄

Jasper: omg it’s painful how fake she is

Chloé: I used to be like that, after the Royals disbanded.

Jasper: i know

Chloé: sometimes i miss it, like, having people worship me

Jasper: i know what you mean

Chloé: like, they worshipped the Aces, and the Royals, but it’s different.

Jasper: they worshipped the royals and the aces as a group

Jasper: but they worshipped you as you

Chloé: is it bad that i miss it?

Jasper: not until you let the longing control you

Jasper: the day that happens, it’ll be bad.

Jasper: but until then? It makes you stronger, and that’s what matters.

Chloé: ok

Chloé: good to know

Chloé: thanks

Jasper: any time, chlo.

Jasper shoved his phone in his bag, just in time for Lila to look at him. 

“So, Jasper, you’re eating lunch with us, right?” 

Jasper turned to the boy who spoke, and smiled. Ivan, he thought. Maybe Kim? One of the two massive boys, although Jasper was sure he would win in a fight. While the boys were probably strong, it seemed that they had gone for bulk, not actual strength. That was one of the secrets of the heirs. They were all pure muscle, but looked like weak, skinny, teenagers that couldn’t throw a punch. 

“If you guys sit with Lila, then sure,” he said. 

“Cool! See you in the cafeteria, then!” 

“See you there!” Jasper raised a hand, as if to say goodbye, but didn’t wave it. The boy joined up with a girl with rainbow dreads—Mylene, he remembered. Which meant the boy had been Ivan, which meant that Kim was the one with the blond bit in his hair. 

Lila came up to him, latching herself onto his arm. She pulled him into an empty classroom, and Jasper noticed Juleka right away. The goth was crouched under a desk, in the shadows. She was well hidden, but not well enough. Lila didn’t seem to notice her, however, so he let her stay. 

Jewel: Jasper and Lila just entered the classroom. 

Jewel: commencing call

Red Queen: OMG she doesn’t know

Black Queen: perfect, Juleka. 

Black Queen: we’ll tell her later, Alix. 

“Alright, Jasper ,” Lila said, spitting the boy’s name. “What’s your actual name, and what the fuck are you doing in my school?” 

Jasper hopped onto a desk, causally swinging his legs. 

“Jasper Felix Miller. And I’m doing the same thing you are.” His answer caught Lila off guard, and she stuttered. 

“And that would be?” 

“Learning. Unless you’re doing something else?”

 The sausage-haired girl got into Jasper’s face, poking a finger into his chest. 

“Look here, Jasper. This is my school. I run it. Everyone answers to me.” 

“And what of all the people wearing the pins of the Royal Aces? Do they answer to you?” 

Wow, Juleka thought. Challenging the reign of Lila Rossi already. 

“Of course they do. I have spies in their ranks, spies that they won’t see coming. Spies close to them.” 

“Ah,” he said. “And who might those be?”

“I can’t tell you that.” 

“Classic, Lila. Try to threaten me, but then say, “oh, I can’t tell you that!”. 

He said the last bit in a high, mocking voice, baiting her. “Tell me, when is it my turn?” 

Marinette heard Jasper and Lila’s conversation through Juleka’s phone, and her heart began to thump faster. 

Please, please, please, don’t mess this up, Jasp, she thought. Jasper was good, but easily baited. 

“Alright, Pretty Boy. So I’m lying. What are you going to do about it?” 

Jasper leaned forward, then smirked. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  See, that was how you deflected something. Not “I can’t tell you that”. Ridiculous. How old did Lila think he was, three? 

“Join me, Jasper. Join me or get destroyed when I make everything crumble.”

 Wow, such a tough choice. 

But Chloé had been right.

Lila had tricks up her sleeve, tricks that not even he had seen coming. 

Lila wasn’t just a wannabe, loser, and a social climber. 

She knew how to play her cards, and she knew how to play them well.

Lila Rossi, just possibly, was winning.

Chapter Text

Thankfully, Jasper managed to defuse the situation within minutes after Lila’s threat. 

“May I take a day to think about your offer, my lovely girlfriend?” 

Lila growled at Jasper’s words, grabbing his shirt collar. She yanked him close to her face, looking into his eyes. He raised an eyebrow at her, not blinking.

“I am not your girlfriend, Miller.” 

Jasper brought a hand to her wrist, squeezing the tendon. Her grasp loosened, and then opened. He took her arm, flipping it. The underside was pale, and smooth. 

It would be so easy to snap her wrist and be done with it. 

But he refrained. Lila looked at her hand, then at Jasper. 

“What the fuck.”

He said nothing, waiting. When he was sure Lila wouldn’t speak again, Jasper smiled sardonically. 

“I’m pretty sure we are dating, Lila. Because as far as I know, you always tell the truth. Why would you lie? It’s not like your mother is going to pay any attention to you anyway.” 

It was the truth, but it hurt. 

Lila’s eyes narrowed, and Jasper continued. “She’s too busy with Genivia.” He verbally italicized the word, and the sausage-haired girl winced. 

“I can ruin you, Jasper.” 

“I can ruin you, Lila.”

He wasn’t sure why he had said that, but it had clearly hit a nerve. 

“How—” Lila sputtered. 

“How what, Lila? How am I so handsome? How am I so amazing? How am I a genius?”

Jasper narrowly dodged a punch to the mouth, and even Chloé felt that it had been slightly deserved.

“The way I see it, Lila, I’m just another victim. If you say we’re not dating, that will paint you to be a liar. And besides, I’m just a confused boy who had you come on to me faster than I can blink. Perhaps I heard that you sexually assaulted Adrien and I thought that if I played along, you wouldn’t do the same to me.” 

This time Jasper did get hit. He brought a hand up to his mouth, and caught the single drop of blood that fell. He smirked, licking it off of his thumb.

“So I give you a choice. Keep pretending to be my girlfriend, Lila, or admit we were never dating, and have nobody trust your word ever again.” His voice was so cold that Juleka shivered. 

Just then, Ms. Bustier walked in. 

“Jasper, Lila, shouldn’t you two be in the cafeteria? You’ve wasted a long time in here, doing who knows what.”

Jasper tried not to laugh, he really did. Unfortunately, the effort of keeping laughter in made him blush, incriminating them even further. Caline raised an eyebrow at them, then pointed towards the door. 

“Go.”

Lila brought up tears, falling onto the desk. 

“Oh Ms. Bustier, thank you for coming when you did! Y-yo-you see, J-J-Jasper was t-t-t—”, she wailed, pretending to be too shaken to finish. 

“HE DID WHAT NOW?”, Bustier thundered. Through the phone, Marinette winced. If Jasper got accused of sexual assault, well, that would destroy everything. 

Marinette took herself off of mute, speaking through the phone. 

“Jasper Miller did nothing. I was listening to the whole conversation, and not only did Lila hit him, she also threatened him.” 

When both Lila and the teacher looked around for the voice, Juleka stood up, her phone in her hand. A second later, Marinette and the RAs walked into the classroom. 

Adrien followed, and they all stood next to Jasper. 

“I was standing outside the classroom. Although I couldn’t see, Lila did not say anything about sexual assault until you came in. If they were doing anything, it was completely consensual, unlike the time that Lila came into my house and kissed me without my permission,” Adrien said the last bit sharply, as if he wanted to forget.

Marinette looked back at Adrien in surprise, and he smiled slightly. 

“What happened to the high road?”, she mouthed. 

“It crumbled,” was the response she received. 

The bluenette grinned, nodding at Adrien. She put a hand down, near her thigh, spelling something out in sign language. Soon enough, Chloé handed Adrien a pin, tapping her heart. He pinned it to his overshirt, wearing it proudly. 

Juleka spoke next, her voice loud and clear. 

“I was in the classroom the whole time. I saw everything, and the only time Jasper touched Lila was to remove her hand from his collar.”

 Ms. Bustier nodded, going to her computer. 

“Seeing as there are cameras in the classroom, we’ll just have to check.”

 Caline pulled up the CCTV feed, booting it up. It showed them as they were now, all 7 students gathered around her desk. Lila was pale, and everyone else was smirking. 

Ms. Bustier tapped the mouse a few times, bringing up the video. 

It clearly showed Juleka sitting under a desk, which was actually rather usual behaviour for her. Then Jasper and Lila entered the room, and everything dissolved into chaos. They watched Jasper hop onto a desk, legs swinging. 

There was no sound, but there was also clearly no inappropriate touching at all. After the video, all 7 people turned to look at each other, then Lila. Nathaniel looked at his phone, entering the code to make Lila’s pin begin to shift. By tomorrow, it would look like Pinocchio. 

She had been caught in a lie, and there was no getting out. 

The situation exploded after that, with parents called and the principal informed. 

It was safe to say that Lila had lost some credibility. 

The only part the RAs disliked about the whole thing was that their fellow students weren’t informed. But alas, there was something called ‘student confidentiality.’ 

The day passed without a hitch after that, and finally, it was 19hr. Or as Jasper called it, 7 pm. 

~

It was a patrol late Tuesday night that Chat Noir first noticed it. 

Ladybug had changed. 

Not physically, but mentally. 

She seemed different...stronger, more sure of herself. 

Ladybug had always been in charge, but now it seemed like she was enjoying it. 

In truth, Marinette loved being in charge. 

She relished it, even. 

No matter who she was at the time, whether it was the commander of a cavalry, the heir to a mafia, the leader of the RAs, Ladybug, or MDC, it gave her energy. Energy, and...hope. 

Hearing a scuffle, the bluenette swung into an alley, landing with the grace of a panther. 

Perfect. 

There was a group of attackers, closing in on a small teenage girl. 

She sent a quick message to Chat, telling him to continue the patrol. He knew that she was dangerous in real life, and understood that sometimes she could defend herself better as a civilian.

Tikki had recently taught her how to detransform without the large flash of light, and she utilized the skill now. Pressing a hand to her hip, she ran her fingers along the edge of her gun. When she had realized that some issues were better resolved when she wasn’t Ladybug, (read: when she could do something illegal), she had begun carrying a gun, 4-5 knives, and her bladed fan. 

The attackers froze when they heard a voice ring out in the alleyway. 

“Stop right there, put your hands up, and put your backs to the wall.” 

When none of the people moved, Marinette pulled out her gun. 

“Sometime before next week, please? I won’t hesitate to shoot you where it hurts. Oh, what am I saying. Being shot always hurts.” Marinette paused as the would-be attackers pressed their backs to the wall, and she stepped out of the shadows. 

With black leggings, a fleece hoodie, a Ariana Grande-level high ponytail, and a mask covering her face, Marinette was truly a formidable sight. The only colour on her was a blue-black symbol on the back of the hoodie, only visible in certain lights. 

It was the symbol of the Cheng Mafia. 

“Good,” she purred. Moving so quickly the attackers barely noticed, Marinette kneeled down next to the girl. 15-16 years old, probably. As Marinette helped the girl up, she realized that she knew the girl. Not personally, but she had heard stories. 

But there was no doubt about it. 

She scanned the girl, realizing two things. 

1. she had nothing to defend herself with. No weapons, no hair ties, no zippers, nothing. 
2. She was in incredibly bad shape. Her hair was dirty, her clothes ragged and torn. Not to mention how skinny she was. The girl looked like she hadn’t eaten in forever.  

Marinette spun, pointing the gun at the man who had dared step away from the wall. Apparently he had managed to grab a gun, because now there was a pistol pointed at her head. 

Marinette didn’t even flinch as she shot her gun, knocking the stolen one out of the man’s hand. She grabbed the gun, flipping it so she was holding the barrel. 

The other girl stood, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Marinette, and the bluenette handed the rescued gun to the redhead. 

Anabel Giovanni smiled gratefully, settling into a fighting stance. 

No matter how long it had been since she had been disowned, (close to a year now), a lifetime of Mafia training never disappeared. No matter who you were fighting. Even if it was your older brother. 

Marinette and Anabel disabled the attackers fast, calling the police. Marinette took both guns, somehow making them disappear into unseen holsters. 

The bluenette hopped onto a fire escape, grabbing Anabel’s forearm. 

“C’mon. We’ll be safer on the rooftops.” 

Both girls climbed the ladder, reaching the rooftop fast. Marinette faced Anabel, frowning behind her mask. 

“Anabel.” 

The girl in question nodded solemnly. 

“What the fuck was the daughter of Alexander Giovanni doing there? Why weren’t you fighting back?” 

Anabel winced at the mention of her father, and Marinette tilted her head slightly. 

“He disowned me. That man...apparently he’s my half brother. You know of Alexander. Affairs left and right. When my father found Andrew, father realized that he would be a better heir. And it’s true, he is. Andrew is like a mini Alexander.” Anabel took a moment to breath, knowing that she could be attacked any second. “Andrew convinced our father that I was a threat, and they’ve been sending attackers after me for around 11 months. I came to Paris, but Andrew managed to follow me.” 

Marinette nodded, internalizing the information. 

“So to get this correct, Alexander Giovanni, your father, found a male heir, disowned you, and now has been trying to kill you?” 

The redhead nodded. 

“Lovely. Because you are technically in the jurisdiction of the Cheng, and you are a Giovanni, I will have to take you to Wai—our leader.” 

“Exactly what I didn’t want,” Anabel said. “I’m assuming you’re Marinette, by the way, because Bridgette isn’t in Paris, Taylor’s probably 7, Jasper’s blond, and Marc, as far as I know, hasn’t transitioned to female. And actually, I had a question about that. Why is Jasper suddenly a model for MDC?” 

Marinette raised an eyebrow, flipping up her mask. 

“It’s a long story. And how did you know that Bridgette isn’t in Paris?”

 Anabel laughed, momentarily shutting her eyes. 

Wow, apparently her guard had decided to take a dive into the Mariana Trench, because she was trusting this girl—Marinette—way too much.

“Duh? She’s one of The Tiger’s heirs. We keep tabs on all of you. She got a nose piercing, by the way.” 

“I know. Wai Po is pissed.” 

A dark shape zoomed overhead, the pole it was carrying narrowly missing them. 

“Chat Noir! Control your goddamn baton sometime!” 

The black-clad boy vaulted back over to them, and Marinette flipped her mask back down. No reason to tell a superhero who she was. 

“Chat Noir! Thank you for stopping by. Ladybug has a message for you. Rendezvous at the Notre-Dame Cathedral.” 

She purposely named the most-far-away-but-still-well-known landmark, knowing that it would take a few minutes to get there. 

“Thank you, random civilian! Before I go, however, neither of you two are doing anything illegal?” 

Anabel rolled her eyes. Really, for a superhero, Chat Noir was quite dumb. 

“You really thought that we would have called you down here if we were doing anything illegal? Wow.” 

The blond frowned, but shrugged. Saluting with two fingers, he vaulted away. Anabel turned to Marinette, frowning. 

“He does realize that whenever he salutes like that, he’s making the symbol that our spies use to recognize other members of our mafia, right?” 

Marinette stared at Anabel, removing her mask again. 

“He has no idea. I really hope Alexander or Andrew don’t realize that, because he could be killed for it. Alexander has killed for less,” Anabel said. 

“Haven’t we all?”, Marinette didn’t realize she’d spoken until Anabel replied. 

“We have indeed, Marinette. We have indeed.” Marinette half expected a knife to land in her ribs after that statement, and was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t get stabbed. 

Marinette hopped onto another roof, looking at Anabel. 

“C’mon. I’ll bring you to the best bakery in Paris.” 

Anabel nodded, leaping. The two girls jumped across the rooftops of Paris, and Marinette slid into an alleyway. She slipped out of her jacket, tossing it onto her balcony. Her mask soon followed. She pulled on a gray hoodie, grinning at it. It was a hoodie that she had made when she was around 14, possibly 13. Before the Normals were a thing. 

She wasn’t exactly sure why she was trusting Anabel, but it was too late now.  

Luckily, her parents were serving the last of the customers as Marinette and Anabel entered. 

“Oh, Marinette, there you are! We’ll be having dinner in a second!” 

“Perfect, Papa! Thank you!” 

Sabine Cheng turned around, her face paling at the sight of her daughter. Marinette looked down, and realized that she was kinda covered in blood. 

“What the…” then she realized. 

Anabel. Marinette had rescued her from attackers, right? It made sense that there would have been some blood, right? 

“It’s not mine, Maman. Actually, this ties in perfectly with our next subject of conversation, which we shall hold at the dinner table.” 

Sabine knew that when her daughter began to speak more formally, something was wrong. Something to do with the mafia, usually. 

“Alright, dear. Go upstairs and get cleaned up please.” 

“Ok! Papa, will you please add another spot at the table? We have a guest .”

Chapter Text

Marinette and Anabel had just sat down when Sabine thoroughly scrutinized the girls. Specifically, Anabel. 

“Marinette, dear, would you please be so kind to explain why you brought Anabel Giovanni into our house?” 

Marinette stabbed a slice of bread with her fork, looking up. 

“She was being attacked, I rescued her, we had a discussion, and I decided we should feed her.” 

There. Short and tactful. 

“Ah.” 

They ate in silence for around 15 minutes, before Sabine looked at Anabel, smiling. 

“Tell me, dear, how is your mother?” 

Anabel sighed, looking down at her plate. 

“She died when I was around 6, actually. Said something about protecting the bad, whatever that means. I like to think that she’s happier now. She always said that she wasn’t cut out for the mafia.” 

It was Sabine’s turn to look down, and she did so sombrely. 

“She was.” 

“Pardon?”, Anabel inquired. 

“She was cut out for the mafia. She was perfect for it.” 

“What do you mean, Maman?” 

Thomas stood up, beginning to clear the table. He knew what Sabine was going to say next, and didn’t want to be there for it. 

Sabine looked at both girls, smiling sadly. 

“I suppose you girls are old enough to know the truth. Anabel, what do you know about your mother’s childhood?” 

“Nothing. She never spoke of it.” 

“I’ll start at the beginning, then. Simone Cheng had five children. No, Marinette, not four. Five. Two boys, Tim and Simon, and three girls. Myself, Sabrina, and Marianne, for whom both of you are named,” Sabine paused, swallowing, “Marianne fell in love, but Wai Po, our mother, didn’t approve of the man. Ria—that’s what I called her—didn’t care. The couple eloped, and our mother disowned her. We weren’t allowed any contact with her, at all. Not even when her daughter was born, less than a year after all the other Cheng heirs. We had always planned to have our children in quick succession, so that they could grow up close.  We tried to reach out, but mother closed all communications. She didn’t let us even send a message to Marianne. In the process, we learned a few things. Marianne’s father-in-law had just died, leaving her husband the owner of a massive corporation.” 

Marinette frowned, not knowing why her mother was telling Anabel this as well. 

“What was the corporation, Maman?” 

Sabine looked into Anabel’s eyes, wringing her fingers. 

“It was a mafia. The second biggest mafia in the world, to be exact.” 

Both girls sat, dumbstruck. 

Sabine continued, a guilty look on her face.

 “It was the Giovanni family mafia.”

Marinette spat out her water, choking. 

“So...Anabel is a Cheng?” 

“Yes. Her maternal grandmother is Simone Cheng, and her paternal grandfather was Xander Giovanni.” 

“No. I am not related to the Chengs”, Anabel finally spoke, her voice decisive. 

“Not by relationship. My mother made sure of that. But by blood, you’re my niece, and Marinette’s cousin.” 

“Holy shit,” Marinette said.

 Her mother didn’t even scold her, knowing that it was an appropriate reaction. 

“Yes, dear. Holy shit,” Sabine replied. 

“But then why was Jasper on a Cupid’s Arrow mission, if Anabel’s our cousin?”, Marinette frowned. 

“He changed it himself. We didn’t know how to tell him,” Sabine answered. 

Anabel looked at Sabine, squinting. 

“You look like her.” 

“We were identical twins.” 

Twins in the mafia could both help and hinder. They were brilliant fighters, always anticipating each other’s moves, but they were each other’s weaknesses as well. There was also the fact that they could be each other. 

There was that little spark in the twin bond that even the mafia couldn’t stamp out. 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Anabel said. 

She tried to be sorry, she really did. But the only experiences she had with siblings were in the midst of getting attacked by her only brother. 

“Don’t be. Both you and Marinette look like her, which is nice.”

“So in another world, Anabel could have been a Cheng heir as well, Maman?”

“Yes. There could have been six heirs. Anabel could have essentially been the key to joining the Giovannis and the Chengs, due to her status in both the mafias.” 

“But I’m not a heir to either.” 

Sabine’s head whipped around, staring at Anabel. 

“What do you mean?” 

“My father disowned me when he found out that he had a son. Andrew convinced fath—Alexander that because I was a girl, the mafia would fall to pieces. He was the one attempting to kill me in the alleyway.” 

“Your brother, the new Giovanni heir, was in Paris?” 

“Doing Mafia business,” Anabel confirmed. 

Sabine stood up, rushing to the phone. Her voice was urgent, leaving no room to argue. 

“Did he run?” 

“Towards the Eiffel Tower,” Marinette said. 

“Marinette, go get Marc and Jasper. We need Sabrina and Ava as well. I’ll call Simon.” 

“Got it”, Marinette pulled out her phone, placing an urgent call to the RAs. 

“Nath. Are you with Marc?” 

“Yeah, why?”  

“Tell him we’re Leaping.” 

“He’s on his way. Oh! He wants to know if his moms should help.” 

“Both of them,” Marinette affirmed, “Caracal and Jaguar.” 

“Got it.” 

“Thanks. Chlo, I know you’re listening. Tell the same thing to Jasper.” 

“Will do, Mari. He’s coming over now. ” 

“I’m not even going to question how you got that message to him so fast.”

“Good.”  

Marinette took the stairs two at a time, Anabel following. 

“Anabel, how comfortable are you with fighting against your brother?” 

“Can I kill him?” 

“We need to catch him first.” 

Marinette pulled on her black leather pants, the ones with the slits for extra movement. She had left her leggings on underneath, not willing to sacrifice the warmth they gave. 

She pulled on a black shirt, linking the wrist-length sleeves to snug leather gloves. The gloves had slits as well, but in the fingertips. They were perfect for shooting and sleight of hand. 

Her jacket came next. It was like the hoodie she had been wearing earlier, but a jacket. The Cheng symbol shimmered in the light, and Marinette looked at Anabel. 

“Do you want a jacket? I have plain black ones. That don’t have the symbol.” 

“Nah.” Anabel winked, slipping into a logo-ed jacket, “I betcha 5 bucks that Andrew won’t notice me at all. Especially once I take my contacts out.” 

Marinette turned to look at her, an incredulous look on her face. 

“You wear contacts?” 

Anabel popped them out, keeping her eyes closed. She put both contacts into a case before looking up at Marinette. 

Blue eyes met blue. 

“You really are a Cheng.” 

“I’ve been wearing contacts since I was four or five. My—Alexander thought my eyes were going to change to green, like his. Nope. My mother got me contacts, hoping to spare me from his wrath. It worked, but I’m down to my last few pairs.” 

“Ah. So you’ve been hiding the fact that you have blue eyes for...ten years?” 

“Yup. Now let’s go,” Anabel said. 

Marinette pulled her mask down, hiding her features. 

“Wait. You need a name. Garnet is too obvious, and besides, we don’t do gems.” 

Marinette hurtled down the stairs, mulling names over. 

“Ocelot.” 

“Ocelot?” 

“That’ll be your code name for now. Jasper is Leopard, Marc is Puma, Bridgette is Lion, et cetera.” 

“Ah.” 

Sabine exited the kitchen in black clothes, pulling on her mask. She could change in less than 5 seconds, a skill that basically everyone was jealous of.

“Maman? You’re fighting too?” 

“Apparently. Marc and his moms are almost here, as is Jasper. Simon and Bridgette are halfway across La Manche as we speak. Simone is flying in, as is Tim. Sarah and Taylor are staying in America. Anabel, is there any chance that both Alexander and Andrew are in France?” 

“Maybe. Alexander has mini-bases in Lyon and Marseille. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had one close to Paris. Possibly Tours or Orléans, if I had to guess.” 

“Of course they do,” Sabine snapped.

 She made a call, barking out codewords that even Marinette hadn’t learned. 

Marc walked in, his moms following. Marc recoiled at the sight of Anabel, while Sabrina went pale. 

“What is Anabel Giovanni doing in your house, Sabine?”

 The question was directed at Sabine, but Marinette stepped in to answer. 

“Her father disowned her, her brother is trying to kill her, and I found her in an alley.”

 Marc looked closer, frowning. 

“Why does she have blue eyes?” 

Sabine turned around, looking at Sabrina, who nodded. 

“Marc, dear, she’s a Cheng,” Sabrina said. 

“How?” 

Marinette grabbed Marc and Jasper’s arms, pulling them both into a side room. 

“You have perfect timing, Jasper. Wai Po had another daughter. Her name was Marianne, and popo didn’t approve of her marriage. Marianne ran away with the man, and 14 years ago, they had a daughter, who was raised without ever knowing she was a Cheng.” 

“Why is this relevant, Mari?” 

“Go right ahead, dear! All three of you!”

 Chloé, Nathaniel, and Alix burst into the room, and Marinette sighed. 

“Hi, guys. I’m just updating Marc and Jasper, but I guess you can hear it too. To recap, Wai Po has a daughter that she disowned, named Marianne. Marianne has a daughter. The daughter didn’t know she was a Cheng until today. Got it?” 

A chorus of yesses rang in the air, and Marinette smiled. 

“The girl, our cousin, is named Anabel. Anabel Vanessa Giovanni.” 

Jasper paled, looking at Marinette. 

“You—you mean that Annie is our cousin? The same Annie that betrayed us?”

  The Annie that broke my heart was what went unsaid, but everyone heard it. When Marinette replied in the affirmative, the whole room froze. Jasper looked up, then down again. 

“No,” he whispered, “No. No. No. No.” 

At Alix’s nudge, Chloé walked over to him, placing a gentle hand on his back. 

“Hey. Jasper. Look at me.” 

She guided him over to the couch, pulling him down so he was sitting on her lap. His eyes were brimming with tears when he looked up at her, and she hugged him silently. His arms made their way around her back, and he buried his face in her neck, the tears finally falling. 

Marinette led the others out, shooting a thumbs up at Chloé. 

Ava, Marc’s other mom, looked at them, then frowned. 

“Where are Jasper and Chloé?”

 Alix looked at her friends, seeing who would explain. It was Marinette, to no one’s surprise. 

“They’re having a moment, and if anyone dares disturb them, I will kill you where you stand. Got it?” 

All the adults nodded, most of them with a knowing look on their faces. 

“Not like that. Jasper was, understandably, upset about the news, and we all decided that Chloé would be the best at not exactly comforting him, but helping him,” Marc said. 

“Ah,” was the answer he received. 

“Does everyone remember their code names?”, Sabine directed the conversation back on track.

“I’m Caracal, and Ava is Jaguar,” said Sabrina. 

“Puma,” Marc said, barely looking up from his book. 

“Marinette? What’s yours?” 

“Panther.” 

“Alright. So I’m Lynx, Timothy is Colocolo, Simon is Serval, Bridgette is Lion, and Jasper is Leopard. Taylor won’t be coming, she’s too young,” reminded Sabine. 

“Maman, shouldn’t the RAs have codenames?” 

“Good point. Alix, you’re Bobcat. Nathaniel, Margay. Chloé will be Jaguarundi.” 

The three teens nodded, grinning. 

“Oh! Anabel is Ocelot, by the way,” Marinette said. 

“Good thinking, Marinette.” 

Marinette smiled at her aunt, thankful that they had listened to her judgement. 

Somebody’s phone dinged , and they all looked at each other. 

“Bridgette and Simon are on the plane. They’ll be here in 15 minutes.” 

Bridgette and her father had always been close; a side effect of her mother dying in childbirth. 

“Already?” Alix spoke, shocked. 

“Mafia,” somebody answered.  

“Right. I forgot,” Alix shot back sarcastically, “But seriously. They live in London. London is like, what, 6 hours away by car?” 

“By car, yes. But they flew from London to Folkestone, boated across the La Manche, landed in Calais, and now are flying to Paris. It’s faster than just flying across the channel, trust me,” Sabine explained patiently. 

“And they did it in 20 minutes?” 

“Mafia,” somebody said again. 

“Fine. I give up.” 

They all laughed, hanging around until Bridgette and her father arrived. 

~ 

(In the side room, after all the kids leave)

Chloé didn’t say anything, just sat there as Jasper cried, holding him. Granted, maybe she should have said something, but what? She had no experience to go off of. She rested her head on his, closing her eyes. Eventually, Jasper shifted, and Chloé opened an eye. He was watching her, a look of amusement on his face. 

“Hi,” she said. 

“Hi. Sorry about…” Jasper gestured at her now-wet shoulder, guilty, “All that.” 

“I don’t care, Jasper. Are you ok?” 

He nodded, sitting up fully. She made a face, immediately missing how warm he was. 

“Nocomebackyou’relikeahumanhotwaterbottle,” she mumbled. 

“I’m a what?” 

“Hot water bottleeeeeeee. You’re warm and cozy.” 

“I’m what?” 

“Cozy,” she said defiantly. 

“I’m...cozy?” 

“Yup.” 

“But I’m not cozyyyyy,” he whined. 

“I beg to differ.” 

“But I’m not cozy! I’m scary and dangerous!” 

Chloé raised an eyebrow at him. 

“You’re like a puppy.” 

“So first I was a hot water bottle, then I was cozy, and now I’m a puppy?”

“Puppies are always trying to be all tough, but they’re really too cute to be scary.” 

“Is that your way of saying I’m cute?” 

“And if it is?” 

He pounced, starting to tickle her. Chloé had learned the hard way that it was very hard to avoid certain areas while tickling, especially after puberty. But Jasper was doing a decent job of avoiding those areas, probably because he didn’t want to get brutally murdered by Chloé and his female cousins. 

“Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! I surrender!”, Chloé barely managed to get the words out between giggles, and Jasper stopped, his torso hovering over hers. 

She looked up at him, cerulean eyes meeting bluebell. 

He hopped off the couch, helping her up as well. He made it to the door, a hand on the knob, before Chloé grabbed his wrist gently. 

“Jasper.”

 He turned to look at her, and she rubbed the back of her neck.

“I was going to say something but then I forgot so nevermindsorryyoucangonow,” she rambled. 

She facepalmed as Jasper pulled her close. 

“What happens if I don’t want to go, princess?”, he whispered.

“You’re out of luck, both of you. Your moment is over, we need your help.” 

Both Chloé and Jasper turned to look at Marinette, who looked incredibly guilty. 

“I’m really sorry. Like, legitimately sorry. But Bridgette and Uncle Simon will be here soon and we need to get a move on.” 

Her words spurred the two blonds into action, and Marinette pulled Jasper aside. 

“I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”

“I’m getting the shovel talk from my cousin? Who’s younger than me?” 

“Would you expect any less? Now get moving!” 

There was a knock at the door, and the whole room froze, taking a simultaneous breath. 

It was either Bridgette and her father, or somebody that they didn’t want. 

Marinette slipped next to the door, looking through the invisible peephole. 

As the door opened, the whole room relaxed. 

“Bridge! Uncle Simon!” 

“Hey, Panther!”, Simon ruffled Marinette’s hair, and she glared at him jokingly. 

Before Simon and Bridgette could spot Anabel, Marinette dragged her forward. 

“This is Anabel Giovanni, she’s also a Cheng, and her brother—the new Giovanni heir—is trying to kill her.”

“Your explanation gets shorter every time, Mari,” Chloé joked. 

“It does.” 

Bridgette didn’t seem fazed by the fact that they had another cousin. Maybe she already knew. Bridgette knew a lot. 

Marinette and her mother outlined the plan, Anabel adding some things in. 

“So, to get this straight, we’re going to send the cavalry across Paris until Wai Po gets here, and then when she does, we’ll find Andrew, who has been trained as an heir since birth, capture him, and then kill him?”, Bridgette said. 

“Since age 15. Not birth. Andrew’s just a natural,” Anabel muttered. 

“We’ll find Andrew, who has been trained since age 15, capture him, and then kill him?”, Bridgette amended. 

“Correct,” Sabrina said, “Simone will be here in around an hour, and then we can start hunting.”

“Hey, Maman?” 

“Yes, Marinette?”

“We’re going to be doing this all night, right?”

“Hopefully not, but maybe.”

“What do we tell our classmates? Sorry, I stayed up all night tracking a Mafia heir across Paris, so I can’t eat lunch with you today?”

“Seeing as the people you’re going to eat lunch with are all here, yes. Also, Mari, dear, it’s Friday.” Chloé said. 

Marinette nodded absentmindedly, tapping her fingers together. 

Marinette ran up to her room, grabbing her bladed fan and a few other weapons.

When she came down again, everyone else was ready to go. She handed her extra weapons to the RAs, and Marinette definitely didn’t miss Chloé checking Jasper out now that she had a free moment to do so.

“Everyone has their appropriate weapons, yes?”

Everyone nodded, and Marinette started giving them instructions.

“Stay hidden. This is the most important of all. Every inexperienced person will, hopefully, get placed with an experienced fighter. Chloé and Jasper. Alix and Bridgette,” Marinette said.

“Anabel and my Mother. I’ll end up with Nathaniel and Marc,” she finished.

Everyone nodded, shifting towards their partners.

“Great. Can everyone grab their comm and put it in?”

Everyone did so, and Marinette handed a few extras to the people without them.

“Here. Keep them in. Tell Wai Po what we’re up to when she gets here?”

“Sure, Marinette.”

“Thank you, Aunt Ava.”

“No problem, Sweetie!”

With that, they all left the bakery, dispersing into alleyways to find Andrew.

“Tikki, spots on.”

Marinette felt the stares of Nathaniel and Marc, and turned.

“What?”, she said.

“You’re...you’re Ladybug!”

“Stellar observation, Marc. Let’s go.”

The spies took off across the rooftops, staying to the shadows. They tracked any young man they saw, running into Chat Noir only once, after which Marinette told him to take the later patrol shift.

After about an hour, their comms crackled to life.

"Eeryone, Tiger and Colocolo are here. Can you all meet back at the bakery?”, hissed Sabrina through the comms.

“Got it. Heading that way now,” Marinette said.

The trio hopped from building to building, landing on Marinette’s balcony in no time.

“Tikki, spots off.” She fed Tikki, and after eating, she phased into Marinette’s bedroom. Nathaniel and Marc followed, Marinette close behind.

Simone stood in the center of the room, and Marinette hurriedly bowed. Marc and Nath bowed as well, before the two cousins ran forward to hug their grandmother.

“You got here fast,” remarked Marinette.

Alix popped her head in the room, laughing.

“Mafia!”, she sang.

“I’m glad you’ve learned, my young padawan,” Chloé said mock seriously to Alix. She bowed to Simone, smiling at the woman.

Everyone under the age of 17 burst into laughter at Chloé’s statement, leaving Simone bewildered.

Marinette took the extra comms and weapons from everyone, putting them upstairs.

“It’s a Star Wars reference, mother,” said Sabine, laying a hand on her mother’s arm. Sabine had been distanting herself from her family for a long time, especially her mother. But now that her daughter was older, maybe, just maybe, Sabine could start trusting her family outisde of the bakery again.

“Ah. Now that our pop culture references are out of the way, shall we get started?”

“That’s a good idea, Popo. I’ve gathered all the information we have here. You can look over it if you want”, said Bridgette.

“Thank you, Bridgette.”

The girl in question nodded, smiling.

“This here says that Marinette willingly brought an heir to another mafia—our biggest enemy, may I add— into your house. Is this accurate?”, Simone Cheng looked at Marinette, who held her ground.

“I did. She was unarmed, with nothing she could use as a weapon. Her attacker, Andrew Giovanni, made sure of that. She was also starving, and barely strong enough to walk,” Marinette said, her voice like steel.

She met the eyes of her grandmother, not willing to back down.

“Do you think that this was the correct thing to do in the situation?”, was the response she received.

A test , Marinette thought. Everything was a test.

“I do. If I had simply left, allowing the attack to continue, Andrew Giovanni would have gotten the impression the Paris Chengs were weak and didn’t protect their territory, so to speak, and he could have continued attacking other civilians. When I intervened, I made it clear that Paris is the territory of the Chengs and he could not mess with it.” Marinette raised her chin as she spoke, standing up straighter.

Now this was Marinette, Chloé thought. Unapologetic, assertive, and scary. She’s not backing down, and for the love of Queen Bee that was a better speech than most of the ones her father gave.

“Very well, Marinette. Whether or not your decision was the right one will come to light soon. Now where is Anabel?”

The redhead came forward, blue eyes glinting.

“Right here,” Anabel said.

“How willing are you to kill your brother?”, Simone asked.

“Incredibly. And he’s not my brother any more than you’re my grandmother,” Anabel snapped.

There was a quiet ‘oof’ from somebody, and Simone looked around.

“Very well then. Is everyone ready?”

13 sets of blue eyes looked at Marinette, who nodded.

“Let’s do this.”

Chapter Text

“Mr. Agreste, it is time for your next appointment. Shall I send her in?” Nathalie Sancouer poked her head into her boss’ office/room/thing-y, looking at him inquiringly. 

“Hmm? Oh, yes, Nathalie, go ahead,” he said, not even bothering to look up from his tablet. 

“Right this way, Ms. Cheng.” Gabriel’s head snapped up at the name. There was no way a high-ranking officer of the Cheng Blue Eyes had made an appointment without him knowing. 

But apparently she had.

A frail-looking gray haired woman walked in, blue eyes sparkling. She was flanked by two teenage girls, who were wearing masks that Gabriel could only describe as ‘ninja-like’, even though for cultural reasons he probably should not. 

“Lion, secure the room. Panther, stay close.” Simone didn’t bother using codewords, knowing that there was no point. Both girls nodded sharply, the taller of the two veering off to inspect the room. Nathalie quickly joined her, making sure she didn’t go near the portrait of Emilie and by default, Hawkmoth’s lair. 

The girl covered all the windows, dimming the room significantly. She returned to Simone’s side, nodding once when the older woman looked at her.

“We’re secure, Tiger.”

“Thank you, Lion.” Simone turned to Gabriel, the smile dropping off her face. 

“Mr. Agreste. You employ a model under the name of Lila Rossi, correct?” 

Gabriel nodded, slightly taken aback by the woman’s direct approach. 

“Yes, I do.” 

“She has been sexually harassing your son, Adrien Agreste, and we have reason to think she is working with the Giovanni family mafia.” The tall girl—Lion, Gabriel thought—spoke, her voice cold. 

“She’s been harassing my son? Why have I not been informed of this?” Gabriel sounded shocked, but all three women doubted it was real. 

Marinette sneered under her mask, glaring. 

“Due to the fact that you never seem to make time for Adrien, I’m not surprised if he didn’t know how to even approach the subject.” 

Gabriel recognized the girl’s voice, yet couldn’t place it.

“Excuse me?” 

Marinette straightened, her blue eyes glinting like polished steel.

“Call him in here. Ask him yourself. Pull up his sleeves while you’re at it. As far as you can. I guarantee there will be nail marks.” 

Gabriel’s eyes widened, but he nodded. 

“Very well. Nathalie, please bring Adrien in.” The blue haired woman nodded, exiting the room. 

Simone looked at Gabriel, who smiled weakly. 

“Ms. Cheng, is there a way that my son should address you?” 

Classy. Pretend-to-be-asking-for-manners while really asking-so-you-don’t-seem-like-an-imbecile. 

“You are close with the Bourgeois family, are you not?”  

“Yes, although we used to be closer. Audrey is too stubborn for her own good, and it has placed a strain on the family relationship.” 

“Do your children consider each other to be siblings?”

“They used to, although their relationship has become slightly strained over the past few years.”

“Ah.”

“May I ask why you were inquiring about my family’s relations to the Bourgeois?”, Gabriel asked.

“I’d rather you didn’t, but you are of the type that never gives up.” 

“Father? Nathalie said you wanted to speak with me?” 

Adrien walked into the room, his voice quiet but steady. He saw the three women and automatically bowed, drawing on his lessons in etiquette. 

“Yes, Adrien. You just returned from the photo shoot with Ms. Rossi, correct?” 

“Correct, father.” 

“Remove your overshirt.”

Adrien began to take it off, looking confused all the while. He slid it off his right arm last, revealing red cuts. Upon closer inspection, Adrien gasped. 

“Blood? This has never—I mean, she’s never—why is there blood?” 

“Son. Why are there bleeding nail marks on your arm? And why are they bruising?” Adrien winced, but Gabriel wasn’t sure if it was at his tone or the revelation that the marks were bruising. 

“I’m sorry, father! I promise that they won’t affect tomorrow’s shoot! I’ll put an extra few layers of concealer on to be sure!” 

The girl called Lion brought a hand up to her mouth, seemingly containing a gag. 

“You think that’s what I’m worried about, Adrien?” 

Adrien glanced up at his father, timidly meeting his eyes. 

“Yes?” 

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose, setting a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. 

“Nathalie, cancel the shoot tomorrow. It can wait until my son is healed.” 

Marinette barely contained her grin at Agreste Sr.’s words. 

Gabriel Agreste redemption was coming!

“Really, father?” 

“Of course, Adrien. It’s in your contract, after all.” Adrien’s face fell, and Gabriel hastily amended his words. 

“Not that the contract matters. What matters is that you are unharmed.” Adrien managed a small smile, and his father patted his shoulder awkwardly. 

“Who did this to you?” 

Adrien winced, seemingly closing off. He curled into himself, and Marinette almost cried at his expression. 

“Lila Rossi,” he said, his voice small. 

“Lila Rossi? The model? Your classmate?” 

“Yes,” was the timid response. 

“Very well. We will finish this conversation later, as I have business to do.” Adrien nodded, starting towards the door. 

“Actually, Adrien, stay a moment.” 

“Yes, father.” 

“Ms. Cheng, do you mind if my son stays? He will one day be taking over Gabriel , and he must learn.” 

Simone looked at Marinette, knowing that Adrien could figure out who she was. When Marinette shrugged, Simone nodded her consent. 

“I am generally accustomed to younger protégés, as it is best to begin training while the child is still young. But yes, he may stay.” 

“Thank you, Ms. Cheng!” In a normal group of people, Adrien’s enthusiasm would be considered contagious. Simone allowed a minuscule smile, noticing that the boy had picked up her name without being told. He would make a good spy , she thought, if only he wasn’t so recognizable. 

Bridgette pulled off her mask, Simone watching her. Marinette kept hers on, in order to keep at least one person in her life thinking she was normal. She glared at Bridgette, knowing that all the heirs were practically identical. If Adrien had decided to be observant, he would begin to notice similarities between Marinette, Jasper, Marc, and Bridgette. 

“Lila Rossi is working with the Giovanni family mafia, and in doing so she is breaking multiple laws, both unsaid and official.” 

“What do you propose we do about it?” 

Marinette spoke, a wicked smirk underneath her mask. 

“At the school she attends, Lycee Françoise Dupont, there is already a group of students planning how to take her down. Coordinate her laying off with everything else.” 

“Take her down?” 

“Yes. Lila Rossi is a serial liar. Jagged Stone, Prince Ali, Clara Nightingale, MDC, Audrey Bourgeois, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel, Ladybug, Chat Noir, and many others are already compiling lawsuits against her. There are lawsuits about destruction of property, misappropriation of name and/or likeness, defamation, among others,” Bridgette said. 

“And what exactly was Ms. Rossi contacting the Giovanni’s about?”, asked Gabriel. 

“The Rossi girl was discussing payment for a murder,” answered Simone. 

“The murder of who?”, Adrien couldn’t help but inquire. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” spat Bridgette. 

Adrien shot to his feet, frantically looking between Simone and his father like a ping-pong match, 

“Marinette? Father, you have to do something! Get her a bodyguard! Send Gorilla! Ms. Cheng, can’t you dispatch a spy or something to protect her? We can’t let her get killed!” 

“Adrien. Sit down. It is not in my interests to let such a raw piece of talent get killed. And do not call your bodyguard by that mundane nickname again.”

“Assassinated,” Bridgette muttered. 

“Pardon?”, inquired Gabriel.

“Pay no mind to my granddaughter. I have no intentions of letting Marinette get killed, whether it’s murder or an assassination attempt. Gabriel, I highly suggest you do not get the girl a bodyguard. It will bring attention to the fact that we are aware of their plans.”

“So you’re using an innocent girl as bait? Marinette can barely lift a...a...a kitchenaid mixer, she can’t defend herself against a highly trained mafia member!”, Adrien exploded, who was standing up again. 

The smaller of Simone’s ‘sidekicks’ rose from her seat, but the other girl held her back. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng can handle herself. Mr. Agreste, please send a copy of the lawsuits to my lawyers before showing it to anyone else,” said Simone. 

“Before I do any such thing, I would like to see proof that Ms. Rossi is actually in, for lack of a better word, cahoots with Andrew Giovanni.” 

“Of course. Lion, dear, play the video.” The girl nodded, removing a small object from her pocket. She placed it near the largest white wall, returning to her seat. Less than ten seconds later, a video began to play. It was filmed from a bodycam, but other than that, Gabriel knew nothing about it.

“Panther, eleven o’clock,” a male voice hissed. The bodycam moved, quickly darting to where the man had pointed. The person pulled out a gun, holding it at the ready. At a signal that the bodycam didn’t film, more people wearing black snuck forward, hiding everywhere in the alley. The cam was placed at just an angle that it could see a few people on the roofs. 

Marinette closed her eyes, remembering the scene as it happened.

She snuck forward, hiding behind...something. She could just see Lila and Andrew from where she was crouching. They were standing near the edge of the alley, hidden from any passerby. Lila handed Andrew something, nodding sharply. 

“Eight thousand, just like we agreed. You will hold up your part of the deal, correct?” Lila asked. 

“Yes. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is as good as dead,” answered Andrew. 

“Not good enough, Romano,” Lila snapped. 

“The Romanos are dead, Rossi. I am a Giovanni.”

“Puh-lease. Everyone knows that Alexander Giovanni has had dozens of affairs. Just because you’re the only one that was stupid enough to challenge his daughter to a duel doesn’t mean you’re a Giovanni,” sassed Lila. 

Marinette looked over at Anabel, the younger girl pressing a hand to her neck. Marinette could barely make out the scar from where she was crouching, but it looked bad. 

Andrew growled, and Lila put a hand on her hip. 

“Now promise me that you’ll kill that Maribrat. By tomorrow night.”

“Deal.” Andrew’s voice was gruff, and Lila knew that she had hit a sore spot with the Romano thing. She grinned widely, nodding at Andrew. 

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Lila said. 

“I would say likewise, but I’m not a liar,” Andrew replied. 

Lila sneered, walking backwards into the normal street. A car pulled up, and with a quick glance behind her, Lila hopped in. 

A group of people blocked the exit to the alleyway, and Andrew frowned. 

“Out of my way,” he said. 

Simone stood up at the same time as Sabine, and Andrew whirled around. 

“What is your business in this alley, Giovanni?”, Simone’s voice was cold, and Andrew oh-so-casually put a hand on his gun holster. 

“I see the little brat warned you,” he smirked. Marinette walked forward, her blue eyes glinting through the mask. 

“Am I the little brat you’re talking about, Andrew?”

“ You!”, he snarled. 

Marinette fingered the edge of her gun, the four notches glinting in the light. Four notches, one for each high-ranking mafia officer she had killed. Other mafias, of course. She would never kill one of her own.

“Oui, Giovanni. Moi. And I sincerely doubt you want to call me a little brat again,” she smirked. 

“And why’s that, little brat?” 

Marinette shot him in the foot. Andrew shifted his weight to the unharmed one. 

“You know, I’d rather you refer to me as The Panther . Has a nicer ring to it, don’t you think?” 

The Panther had a bit of a reputation on the streets of Paris. She was known as ‘the fair killer’, which was honestly a bit unfair, because Marinette hardly ever killed people. Only people who deserved it. But she went with it, because it was one of the least horrible nicknames she could have. At least people knew that she didn’t kill randomly, right?

“You rescued the Anabel brat,” was his only response. 

Annie leapt from the rooftops, landing almost silently. 

“Incorrect, big brother. I rescued myself, The Panther just helped.” Andrew whipped his head around, watching Anabel approach. 

“You’re not Anabel,” he said. “Anabel has green eyes.” 

Anabel removed her mask, shaking out her hair. 

“Incorrect again. I have green contacts , not green eyes. My eyes are the same colour as my mother’s, and her family’s. And I know that my mother would be proud of me, especially after I do what I’m about to do.” 

Annie shot Andrew in the other foot. This time Andrew hissed, and Anabel smiled. 

“He’s all yours, Panther.” 

Marinette nodded, holding up a hand. She looked over to Simone, who nodded once. Marinette carefully removed all of Andrew’s weapons, including the hidden ones. Sabine walked over, carefully tying Andrew’s hands behind his back. She bagged his hands as well, not willing to take any chances. 

“Blindfold him, then cover his ears,” Marinette said. 

Sabine did as her daughter said, knowing the girl had a plan. 

Marinette slung a bag over Andrew’s head as well, tying it just tight enough that any drastic movement would cut off his airflow. 

Nobody ever said The Panther wasn’t ruthless, after all. 

“Perfect. Caracal, Jaguar, Puma, take him to the northernmost safehouse. That one has the interrogation room, remember?” 

By interrogation, she meant torture, but really, what was the difference? They were practically the same thing. 

“I remember, Panther,” said Sabrina. 

“Good. I’ll have Serval come with the car. Remember to shake The Hound every so often to throw him off the scent.” The Hound was a classic codename for any prisoner they had taken, created due to a cat’s dislike of a dog. 

They waited for less than 7 minutes before Simon arrived with the car. 

“Serval, take the long route. The very long route,” reminded Marinette. He nodded as his sister shoved Andrew Giovanni in the trunk of the car. 

“Is that—”

“Yup,” Marinette interrupted. “Don’t start anything until the rest of us get there.” 

“Ok. See you there.”

“See you there,” replied Simone. Marinette turned to her, a guilty look on her face. 

“I apologize for not allowing you to make the decisions, Tiger. I will call Serval back to change orders.”

“No. Panther, you have proven yourself. Granted, you could have shot him higher, but you did well overall. I am glad you are the leader of the Paris Chengs,” said Simone. 

“Thank you, Wai Po.” Marinette bowed, Simone bowing slightly as well. 

“No names in the field, but you are welcome. What is your plan to interrogate the prisoner?” 

“Torture. I want to know how he would have killed me—Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Then I will do the same to him,” Marinette said coldly. Hopefully the Agreste’s hadn’t caught her “stutter”. 

“And if he planned to give the girl a quick death?”, asked Jasper. 

“Then I’ll just torture him for planning to kill a innocent girl,” Marinette replied. 

“Innocent?”, Chloé joked. 

“Ish.”

“Ah,” said Chloé. 

Bridgette shut the video off, looking at the Agreste’s reaction. 

“Was that Chloé Bourgeois?”, asked Gabriel.

“Why on earth would we include the mayor’s daughter in our plans, let alone allow her to come on a mission? Mayor Bourgeois is attempting to eradicate the Chengs from Paris,” Simone pointed out. 

“That girl’s voice sounded very familiar, but I can’t place it. What was her name? Panther?”, Adrien asked.

“Her codename is Panther, that is correct. But even if you did know the person under the mask, we would not tell you, for your own safety,” said Bridgette. 

“Fair enough,” commented Adrien. 

“Ms. Cheng, my lawyers will have the papers to you in no more than two day’s time,” Gabriel said. 

“Thank you. Good day to you both.” 

Then Simone swept out of the room, the teenage girls close to her side. Adrien looked at Gabriel, and Gabriel looked at Adrien. They both turned to Nathalie, who was typing on her tablet. 

“I have typed out a rough draft of both the severance papers and the list of everything we are suing Ms. Rossi for, Sir. I will send them to M. Kurtzberg tomorrow,” said Nathalie. 

“Thank you, Nathalie.”

“Of course, Sir.”

~ 

Simone stepped into the waiting car, Marinette and Bridgette following. 

“Phew. That was stressful. I was sure that Adrien was going to figure out who I was. Thanks for that save, Bridge.” said Marinette. 

“No problem, Mari. I’m glad I could help.” 

Marinette smiled at her cousin before turning to her grandmother. 

“Wai Po, what are we going to do with The Hound?” 

“Leopard, Caracal, Jaguar, Puma, Ocelot, and Colocolo are all at the site already. Bobcat, Margay, and Jaguarundi are all at your house with Lynx.” 

“Perfect.” Marinette grinned, a plan forming in her mind. 

It would be stupidly easy to get the information she needed out of Andrew.

After all, she was a Cheng.

Chapter Text

Lila Rossi’s surprised scream woke up around half of her neighbourhood, and set off three Akuma alarms. 

It didn’t matter.

Lila fell to the bed, dropping her shirt—the same shirt she had been forced to wear for the past week. The customized song began to play, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. 

The Royal Aces had done it. 

She didn’t know how, she didn’t know when, but as Lila picked up the shirt again, inspecting the pin, she realized that maybe, just possibly, they had a plan. 

The pin now was much larger in size, looking more like a bra cup than a bottle cap. But when she held the shirt up to her torso, hands shaking, she breathed a sigh of relief. 

At least it was in the center of her chest, and not off to one side.

Thank goodness for small things, right?

The Italian girl slipped a different shirt on, relishing in the feel of wearing a clean shirt. She had stayed up so late negotiating a deal with Andrew Giovanni, her cousin, that she had fallen asleep with the disgusting shirt still on. The car she had left in belonged to Alya’s sister, who was quick to help Lila get out of an attempted r*pe situation. 

It was easy, really. She had just casually shot out a text to Alya, mentioning that it was getting dark, there was a large man following her, and she was worried that something might happen. 

Nora hadn’t even thought about the details, rushing to “save” Lila. 

And once Maribrat was dead and gone, she would become famous by claiming that she would have been Andrew’s first victim, if not for Nora saving her. Her cousin could protest all he wanted, but honestly, who would believe the word of a criminal and murderer over an innocent 15 year old girl?

~

Marinette was seriously considering chopping Andrew Giovanni’s head off and mailing it to Lila. 

Considering. 

Considering .

Considering.

CONSIDERING.

Not at all making a list of which blades she could use, and which postal service would be best. She glanced at the man in the room beside theirs, scowling him. They had used one way glass, meaning they could see in, and he couldn’t see out. The rest of the room was made out of cement, as was the whole facility. 

Chloé snatched the list out of her hand, Jasper grabbing the pen. 

“Hey!”

“Mari, dear, you can kill him if you want, but please don’t traumatize the innocent gir—Lila. Don’t traumatize Lila,” said Chloé.

“Can I stab him and send her the bloody knife?”

“We’ll see about that,” Marinette’s aunt called from across the room. 

“No,” Chloé said at the same time.

“Please?”

“How about you send Lila a nice photo, maybe one with us flipping her off!”, asked Chloé, mock politely.

“How about I send Lila all of Andrew’s fingernails, still bloody from where I ripped them out,” countered Marinette. 

“I like that idea,” Sabrina called again.

“Marinette no,” said Marc. 

“Marinette yes,” said Marinette.

“Marinette I can and will revoke your killing privileges,” Sabine pointed out.

“Sabine, dear, you can’t do that,” Sabrina said, walking over. 

“I’m her mother,” argued Sabine.

“She’s the official leader of the Paris Chengs, even above Ava and I. You can’t take away her killing privileges.”

“Ha! Take that, Bat-mom!”, cheered Marinette.

“Bat-mom?”, Sabine inquired.

“Bat because Batman hates killing, and he also puts the word ‘bat’ before everything, and mom because Bat-mom sounds better than Bat-maman.”

“Oh my gosh they do put bat in front of everything,” mused Nathaniel.

“Yes, Nath. Yes they do. Please go pick up a Batman comic,” Alix said, skating over with her hands on her hips. 

“I have!”, protested Nathaniel. 

“Which ones then?” 

Nathaniel shrunk into himself, and Alix raised an eyebrow. 

“I may or may not have been reading Batman fanfiction for the past two weeks? So I’ve never actually read any of the comics, but I still know the premise,” said Nathaniel. 

“Oh my god he’s worse than we thought, Chloé.”

“This is unacceptable, utterly unacceptable! You will be receiving a large box within the next two days, Kurtzberg. You will read all the comics that are in the box.”

Marc walked over from where he was sharpening his knife, twirling the blade between his fingers. 

“He can’t. Nath is banned from reading any comics or graphic novels until we’ve finished the Ladybug comics. It’s too easy to unconsciously take inspiration from the art styles and panels.”

“Hmph. Marc, educate your boyfriend in the ways of the Batman universe.”

“I’ll try,” Marc said sardonically. 

In one swift movement, Marinette leapt at Jasper, causing two things to happen. One, she got her pen back. Two, he crashed into Chloé, forcing her to drop Marinette’s list so she wouldn’t be crushed. 

“I’ll take these back, thank you.” Marinette smirked, bowing as Marc and Nathaniel applauded her. 

“Guys! I know why Lila went to Andrew!” Everyone rushed to Bridgette’s side, peering at the computer screen where she had been working. (To be fair, not everyone. Chloé and Jasper were still on the floor, Chloé lying on top of Jasper, but they quickly got up, their faces the colour of strawberries.)

It was Chloé who broke the silence.

“They’re cousins.”

“On Andrew’s mother’s side. Andrew’s mother, Isabella Romano, was the daughter of the Romano mafia leader, before Andrew slaughtered them all.” 

“He killed his blood family? His mafia family?”

“Every single one of them. Lila only slipped under the radar because her father died a few years ago, cutting off their connections to the Romano mafia,” Bridgette confirmed. 

“So Andrew has mafia training from before he became the heir to the Giovanni mafia? And Lila has training as well?”, asked Marinette. 

“No. The Romanos were weak, and any training they may have given their successors is outdated and terrible. Andrew likely was forced to relearn everything, down to the very basics. Lila Rossi has little to no training, it is clear by her stance. Marinette, Marc, Jasper, look at how you’re standing, and then look at Alix’s, Nathaniel’s, or Chloé’s stances,” Simone said. 

They did, noticing the differences. They all had basic training at the very least, but there was a clear difference between the heirs and the civilians. 

Marinette elbowed Jasper in the side, bringing his attention back to the screen. She looked where he had been previously staring, and made a ‘ohhhh’ sound in the back of her throat. 

Simone looked at her, and Marinette shook her head. 

“I just realized something that I should have realized long ago.” 

“Do you mind sharing?” It wasn’t a question. 

‘Jasper is completely, utterly, whipped’, her mind said. 

“The confidence that Lila held while threatening me makes much more sense now. She has practice,” her mouth said. 

“Speaking of that, she’s done it before. Look at these records.” Bridgette interrupted, bringing everyone’s attention back to the screen. 

YYYY/MM/DD

Mila Keller, age 14; racism, verbal harassment, physical assault; comitted suicide 20XX/05/17; 

Lexie Anderson, age 9; repeated harassment; pulled out of school 20XX/12/04;

Ava Vickers, age 13; assault; verbal harassment; racism; changed schools to Shernyville Middle School, VA, USA, 20XX/05/16

Owen Anderson (no relation to Lexie Anderson), age 10, harassment; bullying;

Cooper Henschel, age 12, physical assault; homophobia; transphobia;

Jude Smith, age 11, homophobia; harassment; accused of sexual assault against Lila;

It went on and, until even Simone seemed shaken. 

And then, the last line. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, age 15, harassment; lying; expelled 20XX/03/05; reinstated 20XX/03/05; friend theft; property theft; continued assault; threatenings; physical assault; destruction of property; convinced ex-friends to begin bullying her; hired murderer 20XX/01/23; death will be 20XX/01/25

“I take it back.” 

Everyone looked at Sabine, who was gripping her sister like a lifeline. 

“What do you mean, maman?” 

Sabine looked at her daughter, fury in her blue gray eyes. 

“Kill them all.” 

Her voice was colder than ice, and the majority of the room couldn’t help but shiver. 

“Don’t worry, maman.” Marinette’s grin was terrifying, made out of pure hate and anger. “I will. And Paris will burn in our wake.” 

Sabine smiled tightly, but soon enough she couldn’t handle it anymore. 

An akuma came fluttering down, and everyone—including Sabine—just stared at it. 

“Freaking Hawkbutt.” But she wasn’t fast enough to capture the akuma, and it landed on her mother’s ring. Marc and Nathaniel instinctively stepped in front of Marinette, knowing she would need to transform.  

“Empress Justice, I am Hawkmoth. Your daughter has been bullied and harassed by a liar who is trusted by all. I can give you the power to avenge her in any way possible. In return, you will bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses. Do you accept?” 

Sabine grabbed her head, before making direct eye contact with Marinette. 

The woman was torn between the two options. Accept the akuma and avenge Marinette, or fight the man currently amplifying every single negative emotion in her body. 

She could keep enough of her mind, right?

“Yes, Hawkmoth.” Black light enveloped her, and Empress Justice emerged from the light. 

She was wearing a long black mourning gown, and when she looked up, her eyes were glowing white. 

“Marinette, my darling daughter!” Marinette winced. Apparently parents never stopped being embarrassing. Empress Justice continued. “You have been bullied too many times! I will protect you with my life!” 

“Oh great,” Marinette groaned. “It’s another “protect Marinette at all costs” akuma. Just what I didn’t need.” Chloé held in a scoff, and Marinette pushed past Marc and Nath. 

“Maman, please don’t. I would be happier if you just let the Royal Aces deal with Lila. You’re already helping by being there for me when I need it! And besides, letting me and my friends defeat Lila will be a victory for both of us.” Empress Justice tilted her head to the side, then nodded. 

“You make a good point, Marinette. But it is too late. I will avenge you.” Marinette facepalmed as her mother shot out of the building, through the roof. 

“Alright. Uncle Simon, Uncle Timothy, Aunt Sabrina, Aunt Ava, I need you to stay here with Andrew. Chlo, Bridge, Jasp, Marc, Nath, Anabel, Alix, I need you guys to come with me. Wai Po, do you want to stay here or fight against your daughter, while both of you are being amplified by magical powers?” 

Everyone looked at Marinette funny, and she rolled her eyes. 

“I will fight,” said Simone. 

“Awesome. We don’t need to get suited up, though. Everyone, this is Tikki. Tikki, this is my family.” 

“Marinette…?” Chloé trailed off in the middle of her sentence, and Marinette smirked. 

“Chloé knows what Tikki is.” 

“Yeah. Tikki is what gives Ladybug her powers.” 

“OhmygodohmygodohmygodmycousinisMDC and Ladybugohmygodohmygodoh—” Bridgette got interrupted by Jasper, who put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Bridgette, chill.” The girl in question nodded, then turned to Marinette. 

“Alright, Ladybug. Got a plan?” 

“I always have a plan, darling. Tikki, spots on!” Marinette transformed, but her suit was different than usual. 

The shirt was black with red accents, as were her pants. The pants were a common style seen in the training wings of Cheng mafia bases, baggy and well-fitting. Her shirt was an interesting combination of tight and baggy, but it worked surprisingly well. Marinette flicked her wrist, and a dagger slid out of her sleeve. 

“Oh yeah. This is pretty awesome.” 

Marinette looked in the only mirror at the compound, seeing what style the miraculous magic had put her hair in.  It seemed to be in a single ponytail, placed on the crown of her head. She was wearing charcoal-gray combat boots, and had multiple daggers strapped to both thighs. Her yo-yo was still resting on her hip, and she pulled it out now. 

“Chloé Bourgeois, this is the miraculous of the bee, which grants the power of subjection. You will use it to defeat this akuma, and when the battle is over, you will return the miraculous to me. Do you accept?” Chloé grinned, already thinking of what her new name could be. 

“Yes, Ladybug!” 

Marinette smiled, turning to Jasper. 

“Jasper Miller-Cheng, this is the miraculous of the turtle, which grants the power of protection. You will use it to defeat this akuma, and when the battle is over, you will return the miraculous to me. Do you accept?” 

“I do, Ladybug.” 

“Jasper, this isn’t a wedding. You just have to say yes and take the miraculous. That’s it.” 

Jasper laughed, taking the turtle bracelet from his cousin. It changed shape, and he realized that it was a belt. 

“That’s awesome,” he said. Marinette looked at the belt in surprise, then nodded. 

“Wayzz, Pollen, you guys are supposed to tell me stuff like this,” Marinette joked. She handed out the rest of the miraculous, concentrating hard on which they were the best fit for. 

Nathaniel got the goat, which he was very excited about, Alix got the rabbit, which she screamed for a solid 30 seconds about, Marc received the rooster, Bridgette got the tiger, Simone got the dragon, and Anabel the fox. 

“So now that everyone’s got their suitable miraculouses, we have to go stop an akuma from wreaking havoc on Paris,” Marinette said. She yoyoed out of the building, landing on a nearby roof. Everyone gasped at the sight before them. 

Paris was destroyed. 

Buildings were knocked down all over the place, and there were people lying all over the streets. 

Marinette spotted a small group of people huddled together, and walked over to them. 

“What’s going on, Ladybug?” Marinette looked at her fellow heroes, and they all shrugged. Then Chloé’s face lit up. 

“I know what it is, Ladybug. I know why these people weren’t brutally killed like the rest of everyone.” 

“What happened, Ch—” Marinette trailed off when she realized she didn’t know what to call Chloé’s new hero identity. 

“Honey Buzz.” Chloe turned to the people, looking them over.  

“These people have never bullied anyone before. That’s why they were spared. This is the population of pure-hearted Parisians.” 

Marinette looked over the crowd, inspecting them. There were probably around 100. Almost all of them were children under the age of 5. There was one older girl in the crowd, going around checking on everyone. 

“Juleka?” Juleka looked up at the heroes, smiling at them. 

“I would wave but I’m holding a baby,” she said. Marinette crossed over, the children who could walk moving out of her way. 

“How many are there?” Juleka looked at the baby in her arms, then back up at the hero. 

“There are 205 of us. I’m the third oldest. Marie, the oldest, is in her 80s. There are 102 children under the age of two, 88 under the age of ten, 10 eleven year olds, a twelve year old, a 14 year old, me, John, who’s in his 40s, and Marie.” 

Alix dropped to her knees and retched. A small kid, maybe one, crawled over to the heroes, and Marinette picked up the girl on instinct. The rest of the heroes followed suit, picking up the youngest kids they could find. Jasper had figured out a way to use his shell thing as a bed, and Alix opened her umbrella to do the same. 

Chat Noir leapt down, landing next to Ladybug. 

“Hey, Chat. I’m just getting the rundown from Juleka here. The akuma is called Empress Justice, and she’s targeting anyone that has ever bullied someone else. This is the population that hasn’t.” 

“Oh my god,” Chat breathed. 

Chloé’s eyes went wide, and she screamed. Jasper was by her side in an instant, followed by Marinette, Alix, and Nathaniel. Simone stood steadily, scanning the horizon for any sign of the akuma. 

Marinette put the child down as she started to squirm, and grabbed Jasper’s arm. 

“Soundproof bubble, and make it impossible to see through as well.” Jasper nodded, creating a shell of protection around all the heroes, except for Simone, who dodged it. 

“Méimei oh my god what’s wrong,” Marinette said. Chat Noir’s eyes widened at the panic in Ladybug’s voice, and how she addressed the new hero, but he didn’t say anything. 

“Ladybug. I’m using your transformed name because I know you’re not ready for—” Marinette nodded, cutting Chloé off. 

“Thank you, Buzz.” Chloé nodded before falling to her knees. 

“I know what’s happening,” Alix said. 

“What’s happening, Bunnyx? What’s happening to Buzz?” Marinette began to hyperventilate, and Nathaniel wrapped his arms around her. 

“Ladybug, breathe with me,” he said. Marinette nodded, matching her best friend’s breathing. 

Chloé coughed weakly, and Jasper hurriedly kneeled next to her. 

“Honey! What’s happening!” Well, now they had two panicking superheroes, a dying superhero, a very confused superhero, and the most powerful akuma ever.  

“The Normals! Ladybug, the years that she pretended to bully you! That was enough to trigger Empress Justice’s powers!”, screamed Alix. 

Chloé fell into Jasper, and he tucked a peice of hair behind her ear. 

“Jasp—” Jasper placed a finger against her lips, and she stopped talking. 

“I really don’t want to do this, but identities, guys.” Marinette winced at her words, and looked at Chat Noir. He nodded, quickly exiting the protective bubble. 

“Jasper—” Chloé was cut off by a body-shaking cough, and Alix muffled a scream. 

“I’m here, Xīn'ài.” 

Marinette buried her head in her hands, groaning. 

“I’m going to pretend that I didn’t understand that, alright?” 

Marc snorted, wholeheartedly agreeing with her. 

None of them really needed to hear Jasper call Chloé beloved, no matter how cute it was. 

Chloé started coughing up blood, and the rest of the heroes froze at the sound.  

“Hey Mari?” 

“Yeah, Chlo?” Marinette crouched next to Chloé’s head, waiting for the girl to answer. 

“Can you kill me? It’ll be easier that way.” Marinette stood up, her hand resting on one of her daggers. Jasper leapt at Marinette, pushing her to the ground. Nathaniel and Bridgette had to hold Alix back. Anabel was standing awkwardly in the corner, at least until she exited the dome. 

Marinette flipped Jasper over, staring at him. Challenging him. 

“First off, Jasper, there are so many people that will kill her to get to you if you keep advertising that you love her. No, I don’t want to hear it. You might not realize it yet, but the rest of us do.” 

Marinette turned to look at Chloé, moving to wipe the blood off of her chin. 

“Oh, méimei. If I knew that you would come back afterwards, I would end the pain as fast as I could. But my lucky charm only works on damages done by the akuma, not by another superhero.” 

Chloé nodded, still coughing. She suddenly stopped coughing, and Jasper screamed. 

He landed hard on his knees next to the blond girl, and Marinette shared a wide-eyed look with her friends. 

Jasper was more than whipped at this point. Jasper was in the fully-ready-to-die-for-her, completely-in-love levels at this point. 

Marinette pressed her fingers to Chloe’s neck, searching for a pulse. 

It was extremely weak, but it was there. 

“I have an idea,” Bridgette said. Everyone who could move whipped their heads around to her, and she swallowed. 

“Marinette was the only one that Chloé bullied, right?” When Marinette nodded, Bridgette continued. “What if you forgive her? Like, out loud?” 

Marinette looked at Bridgette, then nodded. 

“It’s worth a shot.”

Chapter Text

Marinette stood up, begging the universe to let it work.

“I, Marinette Regina Simone Dupain-Cheng, daughter of Sabine Cheng and Thomas Dupain, hereby forgive Cassandra Chloé Kylie-Clara Courtney-Claudette Bourgeois, daughter of André and Audrey Bourgeois, for all acts of bullying and or violence against me that she may have caused since her birth,” Marinette said.

They all held their breath, waiting for something to happen.

The shield dropped as they all screamed. Chat Noir and Anabel looked at each other, then at the heroes.

“Is everything okay?”, Chat eventually asked.

Marinette looked up, her normally bluebell eyes pale and icy. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and Chat Noir paused.

“No. My best friend just died because of something that wasn’t even real. I will tear the city apart to find Hawkmoth, and then I will tear him apart too. If you aren’t comfortable with that, fair enough. But I will ask you to leave if you don’t think you can handle it. Chat, there’s something that I never told you, and I swear to god if you make a joke about me loving you right now, I will stab you in the heart and leave you to the wolves.” Chat Noir nodded, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

“I wasn’t going to, Ladybug. This isn’t the time for flirting and jokes.” Marinette smiled at Chat, then took a deep breath.

“I’m a member of the mafia. I’ve been trained to kill since I could walk. So has turtle boy, tiger girl, goat boy, rooster boy, and fox girl. Mme. Dragon is the leader.”

Chat Noir stared at Lion, then at Ladybug.

“You’re a Cheng. You’re all Chengs.”

At that moment, Simone decided that Adrien Agreste needed to join the Chengs.

“How…?” Marinette trailed off as she looked at Chat Noir, who was grinning at his discovery.

“You said that you were all part of the mafia. There’s only one mafia that is at least semi-legally operating in Paris. It adds up,” he said.

“Oh. Huh. Alright, whatever. Yeah. We’re all heirs. Now could we please—” Marinette caught sight of her friend’s body, and broke down again. Jasper caught her as she fell, and she leaned against the blond boy.

“Got it, Ladybug. We’ve got enough people on our team to win,” Chat Noir said.

“No. We don’t.” Marinette turned to Juleka, who had been awkwardly standing next to the heroes.

“Juleka Couffaine, this is the miraculous of the ox, which grants the power of something I’m too tired to remember right now.”

“Might,” Chat Noir mouthed.

“You will use it to aid Team Miraculous, and when the battle is over, you will return the miraculous to me. Do you accept?”

Juleka nodded, accepting the nose ring. She slipped it on, nodding at the kwami.

“Hello! My name is Stompp, and I’m the ox kwami! I grant the power of might! To activate this power, all you have to do is say the word ‘magnitude’! Ooh! And my transformation phrase is ‘Stompp, stampede!’ My detransformation phrase is ‘pull up’, which is kinda dumb, but what can you do, amirite? Oh my gosh, I can sense that we’re going to have such a good time!” Stompp giggled, and Juleka grinned.

“Awesome. Stompp, stampede!” Juleka transformed, then inspected her costume.

“Sweet. Oh, and I guess you guys can call me Olly Olly,” she said.

“Like the children’s game?”, Anabel teased. Juleka leveled her with a glare, causing the younger girl to blush.

“Exactly like the children’s game.”

Simone clapped her hands, and all the heroes fell silent.

“We need a plan. Ladybug?”

Marinette looked over all the heroes, then nodded.

“We need to get onto the rooftops, but not before getting everyone to safety. I have food for all the kwamis in my yo-yo. Olly Olly, we’re going to need you to use your power so we can carry more children to the akuma shelters, faster.”

“Got it, Ladybug,” Juleka muttered. She spoke the activating word for her power quietly, then realized it hadn’t worked.

“Magnitude!” Juleka—Olly Olly rapidly expanded in size, until she was around the same size as Gigantitan had been. The black-clad girl gently picked up as many kids as she could safely hold, quickly placing them in the nearest akuma shelter. She made three trips, eventually finding the three pure hearted people above the age of 13 and giving them instructions.

“Perfect. I can summon the food from my yo-yo, and then we need to divide the food by kwami, and keep it on us at all times. I have a feeling that this is going to be the longest battle we've ever fought. ” They all nodded, and Marinette summoned the food. She handed the large bags to all the heroes, other than Chat.

“Detransform and put the bag on, as well as you can.”

Chat Noir closed his eyes, bright flashes of colour appearing and disappearing rapidly. Once all the heroes had retransformed, they took to the rooftops again.

Marinette faltered as she saw the person standing there.

“Nadja? What are you doing here?” Nadja turned Ladybug, with a smirk on her face.

“Waiting for you, Ladybug. Apparently the akuma’s power didn’t affect me, probably because the personality I have on air is fake,” the reporter answered. Jasper attacked her with a shout, tears pouring down his face.

“HER’S WAS FAKE TOO,” he screamed, “IF SHE CAN’T LIVE, NEITHER CAN YOU!”

Marinette made a grab for him, but missed. Anabel backed up, then ran at Jasper full speed. She tackled him to the ground instantly, and even Simone winced.

“QUÁN! CONTROL YOURSELF!”, Anabel yelled. He glared at her, and Chat Noir looked at Ladybug for answers.

“Shell?”, he asked.

“It means both jade and shell, actually,” Marinette replied. Nadja backed away from the edge of the roof, and went to stand next to Simone.

“Nice thinking, Fox girl.” Anabel nodded once at Chat, then went back to controlling Jasper’s movements.

“Goose, actually,” Anabel said.

“Like the game?” Juleka cackled.

Anabel glanced at Juleka, then grinned.

“Exactly like the game,” she answered.

Chat looked at Ladybug, who sighed. “There’s a tag game called Fox and Goose. I have a feeling that she’s making fun of Olly Olly.”

“Oh,” he said. “And Olly Olly is based on a game as well?”

“Olly olly oxen free. You yell it during hide and seek or something.”

The blond boy nodded, then turned to the other three heroes, raising an eyebrow.

“Tiger girl? Rooster? Goat boy? Bunnyx? What are your names? Wait hold on I already know Bunnyx’s name.”

“I wanna be Sunrise!”, Marc cheered.

“I think it’s obvious, but I’m G.O.A.T, short for Greatest Of All Time,” Nath smirked.

“I will be Lion, if Roarr is okay with that,” Bridgette said.

“Hopefully. We need to find the akuma. Nadja, if you could prerecord everything? There’s nobody to watch right now.” Nadja nodded, adjusting her camera. She was a reporter first, but she used to be a camerawoman. She knew how to film something.

“Of course, Ladybug. I’ll stay out of the way as much as I can,” she said. Ladybug nodded absentmindedly, already turning back to the situation at hand.

“Wai Po? Have you spotted her?” The dragon themed warrior looked at her granddaughter, her face showing no emotion.

“Tianlong, and briefly. She was near the Louvre when I saw her. She seemed to be moving at a rapid pace.”

Marinette groaned, quickly swallowing a red macaron.

“Power up!” Her suit changed slightly, gaining goggles that covered her eyes. There were new colours woven into the suit, creating what looked like a heat-sensor pattern.

“I see her. She’s right next to Françoise Dupont. It looks like she has Alya and Lila tied up on the roof, along with a few others in our—their class. Ivan and Kim are there, and so are Nino, Sabrina, Rose, and Mylene.” Nathaniel and Alix growled in unison, causing them to begin giggling.

Marinette backed up a few steps, then picked up Chloé’s body. She yo-yoed through the air, all the other heroes following behind. But they weren’t really heroes at the moment. They were more like warriors, fighting with tears blinding their vision. They landed on the opposite side of Françoise Dupont’s roof, landing in a surprisingly decent battle formation.

Marinette stepped forward, Quán and Chat flanking her. Marinette refused to place Honey Buzz on the ground, instead choosing to hold her best friend tightly. Admittedly, it was a bit jarring to see Ladybug, Paris’ saviour, holding a body in her arms, but that was neither here nor there.

“Empress Justice. Stop. Haven’t you done enough already?” Marinette’s voice broke, and she shifted Chloé so she could swipe at her tears. She gestured to the city, then looked at the akuma—her mother—again.

“Haven’t you done enough?”, she repeated, “haven’t you already hurt enough people? I know you’re a mother. I know your daughter, and I know she wouldn’t want this.” Marinette swallowed a sob. “She wouldn’t want you to hurt the city she loves. The city that she protects and the city that protects her in return. Don’t do this. Please. There are other ways to defeat a bully than just killing her off. Remember? You taught me that.” Jasper gently lifted Chloé out of Marinette’s arms so that she could approach her mother.

Empress Justice faltered, then as Hawkmoth began to talk to her, shook her head violently. Then she drew a sword, slicing smoothly across Lila’s neck. Then Alya’s neck. Then the rest of her classmates.

Although Chat Noir, Alix, and Nath gasped, Ladybug barely reacted.

It was a side effect of being trained to kill.

Then, as if remembering that Nadja was filming, she dropped to her knees and gagged.

To the outside viewer, it looked like it had taken Ladybug a moment to comprehend the murder.

To everyone that knew her identity, it looked like what it was—a facade to hide the truth.

Chat helped Ladybug stand again, not knowing that she needed no help. But she still leaned against him, before standing up fully and turning her yo-yo into a shield.

“Is that all you wanted to do, Empress Justice?” Sabine shook her head before charging at the heroes.

All things considered, that was the absolute worst course of action possible.

Please, charge 8 superheroes, 6 of whom are trained mafia members. Go ahead. It’ll definitely go in your favour.

Yet somehow, it did.

~~~

It had been around 5-6 hours since Marinette had confronted the akuma, and it was safe to say she was exhausted.

Nadja had long since been killed, and all the other heroes were either knocked out or dead, she couldn’t tell. The only ones that were still visibly awake were Jasper, who had very masterfully created a shelter to shield all the fallen heroes, Chat Noir, who was struggling against his bonds, Tianlong, who was in the bubble with Jasper, making sure the living heroes were still living, and her.

Empress Justice approached Marinette, who’s bloody spit splattered the end of the akuma’s white dress.

“You have one more chance to give up your miraculous before I kill you, Ladybug.”

Marinette glared at the akuma, scowling.

“I will never surrender to you, Hawkmoth. And besides, you forgot something very important.”

Empress Justice tilted her head to the side, then rested her hands on her knees.

“And what would that be?”

Marinette smirked.

“Lucky charm.”

The akuma swore.

In one swift motion, Marinette swept the red polka dotted-katanas up through the rope tying her, then scanned everything.

The only thing that lit up was her twin swords, adorned with a modified Cheng mafia symbol and the akuma.

She leapt, blades whirling.

Chat Noir could only watch in silence as Ladybug turned into a tornado with swords poking out. He realized suddenly that in all the other battles, she had been holding back. She had been restraining herself.

Marinette flipped over her mother, grabbing the ring off of her finger as she swung her hands up to protect her head. She crushed it under her heel, cringing as she did so. She never thought that she would break her mother’s wedding ring, but here she was.

“Bye bye, little butterfly.” Then she cut Chat Noir’s bonds, glancing at Lila’s body.

“I’ve never wanted to not do my miraculous cure so much before,” she said. Then she saw Chloé’s body, still held tight to Jasper’s side, and threw the katanas up in the air.

“Miraculous ladybug!” As the bright lights swept through the city, Marinette turned to her mother, who looked down sadly.

“I’m so sorry, Ladybug. But if it’s not too much, I have to talk to you for a few minutes.” Marinette nodded, guiding her mother away from the heroes crowded on the roof.

“I know exactly what happened, but nothing before I killed Lila. I think Hawkmoth was too shocked to take back the memories.” Marinette looked at her mother, and the older woman held her gaze. “He tried to stop me when I killed her. He sat back for the rest of it. I think Lila is working with him. And you probably won’t listen to me because I’m just a civilian who killed all your friends, but he seemed uncharacteristically shocked.” Marinette nodded, pulling a charm out of her yo-yo.

“Thank you, maman. This is a magical charm that will prevent you from becoming akumatized again. I hope it helps.” Sabine smiled warmly, taking the charm from her daughter. She climbed off of the roof herself, leaving the heroes alone.

Marinette spun around quickly, eyes searching for Chloé.

The blond girl was sobbing as she curled up in Jasper’s arms. Marinette approached the two carefully, stopping when she realized they were having a moment. (Again)

~

Jasper looked at Chloé as the miraculous cure swept through the city. He held his breath, waiting for her to wake up? Come back to life? Un-die? Whatever. He was waiting for her to breathe again.

Her first breath rattled in her chest, and she groaned.

“Can I punch Hawkmoth in the throat?”, she asked. Jasper laughed through his tears, nodding.

“Please do, Chlo.” Her laugh was watery, and she buried her face in his neck.

“I’m never going to die again,” she said, her voice muffled.

“Ok, xīn'ài,” he said.

“Jasper?”

“Mmhmm?”

“Marinette taught me how to speak Mandarin.”

Well, now he had two choices. Facepalm and plot how to kill his cousin, or go with it and then kill his cousins later.

A soft press of her lips against his broke him out of his thoughts before he could choose an option. He froze, and Chloé pulled back just as quickly, standing up faster than he would have thought possible.

He stood up as well, but Chloé turned away from him.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that without asking. See you later, Jasper.” Then, pulling out her top, she swung away.

“Frick,” Jasper said.

Ladybug approached him, clapping a hand onto his shoulder much too hard.

“Jasper Felix Miller-Cheng I swear on my very first gun I ever got that if you mess this up I will cataclysm you,” Marinette said, her voice low, dangerous, and terrifying. The bluenette paused as she watched her best friend disappear into the sunset.

“She’ll be in the hotel. I’ll get your guys’ miraculi later. Bring tissues. Your shell works as a hoverboard if you do it right!” The last bit was more yelled then spoken, as Marinette had begun to take off to check on Empress Justice’s victims with the other heroes.

Well, victims minus Lila, if you could even call her a victim. The rest of the heroes had heard what Sabine said as well, and the ones that didn’t were quickly updated.

~

Jasper knocked on Chloé’s balcony door, releasing his transformation. She didn’t look up as she crossed the room to open the door, wrapped in an absurdly fuzzy blanket.

“Hey Mari.”

“I’m not actually Marinette?”

Chloé glanced up, then turned away again.

“Why are you here, Jasper? To rub it in? To rub the fact that you don’t like me in my face? That you were just stringing me along?” Chloé’s voice cracked, but she continued. “Am I just as bad as Lila? I might like you just as much as Normal Marinette’s “crush” on Adrien, but I am not ok with that like she was. That’s not fair for me, and I—” Jasper wrapped her in a hug, cutting her off. Her back was against his chest, and she spun to look at him.

“Chloé, no. That’s not it at all. How did you even get that from a single second of something that was too short to even count?”

Chloé shrugged.

“I guess I’ve been spending too much time with Marinette’s Normals persona,” she laughed. “So you came here to say that? Seriously? I know people that would put it in a text, Jasp.”

Jasper grinned at the familiar nickname, tilting his head sideways.

“I mean...that wasn’t all of it? Marinette also threatened me with death if I messed this up, so…” Chloé laughed, then looked up all of a half-inch to meet Jasper’s eyes.

“Hey Jasper?”

“Yeah, Chlo?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Jasper nodded, not trusting his voice.

Then she kissed him, and it took all of his mafia training not to literally squeal.

He may have still squealed internally.

May have.

Yup.

Chloé grinned as she broke the kiss, and Jasper knew it was mirrored in his face.

“Jasper Miller-Cheng I swear that the second Lila has been taken care of, I will take you on a date,” Chloé said. Then she paused, thinking. “If you’re ok with that and still want to, I mean.”

Jasper nodded.

“Not if I do it first, Chloé Bourgeois. Or Cassandra Chloé Kylie Clara Courtney Claudette Bourgeois, which is your full name, which I think is ridiculously long.”

Chloé frowned, her face moving into that one face she always made when she was thinking.

“Was that a reference from that one Supergirl episode where Kara Danvers has to help Barry Allen get back to his earth because he ran so fast he accidentally world-hopped?”

Jasper nodded, impressed that she knew.

“It was. How did you know?”

“Jasper, I’m a bigger nerd than Mari, Alix, Nath, and Adrien combined. Although Adrien is technically more of a weeb, but is that still technically in the same category as nerdism?”

“Maybe? Oh darn, now I don’t know. Thanks a lot, Chloé. I was perfectly happy without needing to know that.”

“I guess we’ll have to find out together, mon amour.”

“I guess we will, xīn'ài. I guess we will.”

Chapter Text

Chloé bolted upright, breathing heavily. She turned onto her side, picking up her phone to check the time.

4 in the morning.

It had been four practically sleepless nights since the akuma had killed her—school had been closed due to the murders of the students, and the blond girl had only been getting sleep in hourly increments.

She ran a hand through her hair, sighing.

Then she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, crossing her bedroom. Her window was locked tightly, an unconscious precaution against something she couldn’t control, and leaned on the cool glass.

Chloé jolted out of her light sleep, checking her phone. Around an hour had passed since she had fallen asleep (if you could even call it that), and she texted Jasper.

Direct messages

Chloé & Jasper

Chloé: hey

It wasn’t like she was expecting him to be awake, but they all had weird sleeping habits, so maybe he was.

Jasper: hey, bee

Chloé: you’re awake?

Jasper: no i am merely a ghost

Jasper: too soon?

Jasper: too soon.

Jasper: sorry chlo

Chloé: jasper I’m fine

Jasper: tell that to your subconscious

Chloé: hmph

Chloé: I’m more fine than I was yesterday

Jasper: but you’re still not fine

Jasper: well

Chloé: jasper i swear to god do not do it

Chloé: jasper do not

Chloé: don’t you dare

Chloé: it’s too early for this shit

Jasper: hmph

Jasper: it was so good though

Chloé: no.

Chloé: no it was not.

Jasper: hmph again

Chloé: so why are you awake at this ungodly hour? You never specified.

Jasper: training

Chloé: right

Chloé: how’s Mari?

Jasper: i feel rejected

Chloé: oh no my poor baby

Chloé: we must swaddle him in bubble wrap immediately

Jasper: i feel even more rejected now

Chloé: good

Chloé: you deserve it

Jasper: even if I bring you cookies?

Chloé: even then

Chloé: bribing me with cookies no longer works

Chloé: the novelty has worn off

Chloé: puppies, though…

Jasper: your father would attempt to kill me for that

Chloé: he lets fang stay whenever jagged has a concert

Chloé: little bugger ate my favourite shoes

Chloé: but yeah actually i think he might

Chloé: i think the cook is allergic

Jasper: you call the person who makes all your food “the cook”?

Chloé: not normally

Chloé: but yeah she’s Alya’s mom which means she did something wrong

Jasper: i would say be nice because our parents don’t define us but yeah i’ve seen her parenting style

Chloé: thank you

Chloé: being nice takes so much effort

Chloé: like yeesh

Chloé: idk how Mari did it for so long

Jasper: practice, darling. Lots and lots of practice.

Chloé: fair

Chloé: oh btw when are y’all going to “interview” the jerkface?

Jasper: ...12 minutes?

Chloé: shit

Chloé: start without me and i will skin you alive

Jasper: you know it’s a 20 minute drive from the hotel?

Chloé: bold of you to assume that I obey the laws of traffic

Chloé: also I have speedy bike! Speedy bike, jasper. Nobody can tell speedy bike how fast to go.

Jasper: I think the word people generally use is “scooter”?

Chloé: you’re funny

Chloé: but no

Chloé: A) it is speedy bike

Chloé: B) speedy bike is motorcycle

Chloé: because I’m cool like that

Chloé: it’s bright yellow!

Chloé: Nath’s grandpa made it for me!

Chloé: speedy bike, jasper!!!

Jasper: I’m guessing this is a new thing?

Chloé: SPEEDY BIKE!!!!

Jasper: Cassandra Chloé Kylie Clara Courtney Claudette Bourgeois if you use your speedy bike before mine is ready I will hurt youafuhmaovu

Jasper: sorry i had to grab my phone back from Mari

Jasper: she really wants her speedy bike too, i guess?

Chloé: we all do

Chloé: mine was just ready first

Chloé: tell her this exactly:

Chloé: sucks to be you, Mari. You’re just going to have to use your old bike until the new ones are ready!

Jasper: she hmphed and said something about using her commissions money to force a speeding ticket on you

Chloé: I’d like to see her try

Chloé: do not tell her that

Chloé: I do not want to see her try

Chloé: not one bit

Chloé: it would get both of our licences revoked because technically we haven’t had them for a long enough time to legally drive

Chloé: gtg see you soon

Jasper: bye, chlo

Chloé darted around her room, changing into a torture motorbike appropriate outfit as fast as she could. Two perfect eyeliner wings later, she was ready to go. She grabbed her shiny black helmet form where it hung on her bedpost, running down the stairs as fast as she could. (Read: sliding down a fire pole she had installed in that one hole in the center of the staircase.)

And there, in all its new shiny glory, was her speedy bike motorcycle.

She pressed her thumb against the touchscreen, keying in a password to start it up.

Fingerprint checker and a password. (Plus a proximity key in the helmet—courtesy of Mr. Kurtzberg the elder—but if she didn’t know about that bit nobody needed to tell her.)

Nobody was getting onto this bike without Chloé, that was for sure.

Chloé wove through the early morning rush at a very high speed, arriving at the safehouse in a record four minutes. She dismounted, entering the code that would let whoever was manning the computers—usually one of Marc’s moms, or a cousin of theirs—know that one of the heir’s friends had arrived.

She caught a glimpse of one of Marinette’s uncles in a hallway, but didn’t stop to wave.

Chloé screeched to a stop in front of the door, opening it quietly.

“I’m here!”, she whispered. Normally, she would announce her presence more loudly, but due to her lack of knowledge of what was going on in the room, she stayed quiet.

Marinette replied, but didn’t actually look at Chloé.

“Hey, Jaguarundi! Leopard and Puma are sparring in the back room if you were looking for him,” she said.

They had to use code names while physically at the safehouse, due to the fact that it also doubled as a training center for newer members of the mafia. All the heirs had done their original training in China, then switched to the branches they would be living near.

“It’s fine. I should spar later though, actually, it’s been a while,” Chloé said. She had no need to see Jasper and Marc spar again, thank you.

Bridgette walked in with a massive tray of coffee, handing them off to the various people in the room before leaning over Marinette’s shoulder to point something out to her. “Raise the oxygen levels just enough to get him conscious again. He needs to be awake for the interrogation,” she muttered.

The younger of the two girls nodded, tapping the screen in a quick pattern.

“You know, I was going to say superheroing counts as sparring, but then I kinda remembered what happened so I didn’t,” a voice remarked from the doorway.

Alix definitely didn’t even flinch a little bit (she totally flinched) as two knives flew past her face, embedding themselves in the wall less than a centimeter away from her nose. Another one flew a second later, from across the room. This one impaled just above her helmet, and the redhead looked up to see Chloé running at her with a paint gun and a grin on her face.

“Shit.”

“Don’t get paint on the furniture, you two! It’s antique!”, was the only thing Bridgette said. Good, because Chloé hadn’t been planning on it. Just on Alix.

The tiny girl sprinted as fast as she could down the hallway, bursting into the training room.

“Leopard, your girlfriend is trying to kill me!”

Jasper barely saved Alix a glance, smirking widely.

“Good. You probably did something foolish again,” he responded. Then he turned back to the fight, dodging out of the way of Marc’s attack.

Alix groaned, turning to a blushing redhead that had been watching his boyfriend spar.

“Margay? Please?”

Nath shook his head, pretending not to notice Chloé sneaking up behind Alix.

“Depends, Bobcat. What’s in it for me?”

As Jasper had said, Alix had probably done something foolish, which meant that Chloé was perfectly in her rights to attack her with a paint gun.

And if he happened to help his honourary blond sister, then so be it.

“I can help you distribute your comic for a week?”

Chloé shot Alix in the calf, blue paint splattering everywhere. The blue-splotched girl squawked, grabbing a paint gun off of the rack.

Marc snatched it out of her hands as he walked by, shaking his head.

“Ah ah ah, Bobcat. No guns until after lunch. Besides, we’re about to interrogate the Hound, and you said you wanted to be there for that.”

Alix sputtered, gesturing to the paint gun Chloé was holding.

“So why does Jaguarundi get to use a gun before lunch?”

Jasper grinned as he hugged Chloé, dramatically falling over when she pretended to push him away.

“A), because she’s been doing this since she was six, and B), because she had a good reason and all you had for a reason was retaliation,” he said from the floor.

Chloé placed her hands on her knees, pretending to talk to a child. “Plus, I’m more responsible than you.”

Alix laughed, then she lunged at Chloé, using the blond girl’s momentum from dodging to flip her over her head.

“Meh. It’s a tie,” Alix remarked.

The intercom in the training room did it’s equivalent of cracking to life (aka turning on silently and scaring the heebie-jeebies out of half of the room), and Marinette’s voice came through.

“Bobcat, darling, stop flipping your sister. We've talked about this. Margay, can you please corral Puma and Leopard? They’ll take a while otherwise and we need to start on time.”

Nath nodded, shooting a thumbs up to the camera in the room. He took his boyfriend’s hand, barely giving him a chance to put his shirt back on before they were out the door.

Chloé bent into a backbend to get off of the floor, switching into a handspring to stand up again.

“C’mon, guys! We need to go.” Alix shrugged, before tugging a single hair in Chloé’s ponytail to mess the entire thing up. It wasn’t even 7 in the morning yet, and Alix had already antagonized Chloé twice. She really had a death wish.

Chloé ran after her friend, not noticing her phone laying on the training mat.

“Bee! You forgot your phone!”, Jasper called after her. But she was already gone, so he grabbed it for her. Everyone important was already in the room when he made it there, any trainees gone.

Andrew Giovanni woke up in a small concrete cell with a mirrored side. Probably one way glass, if he was being honest. But good one way glass, the kind that was impossible to see through.

“You’re too late, Anabel! I already killed her!”, he yelled.

Anabel tilted her head at him through the glass.

“Killed who, Romano?”, asked Bridgette.

Andrew growled at the name, but replied.

“Father’s youngest child, of course. She was using the surname Zheng, as was your pathetic mother before I killed them both. She thought she could hide from us, protect her little daughter. Malia didn’t even put up a fight. No training, clearly. She was weak.”

Sabine turned to her mother, visibly paling. Anabel turned to Bridgette and Marinette, whose hands were shaking slightly.

“Marinette.” Simone’s voice was sharp, and the younger girl turned to her grandmother instantly. “Knock him out. Fast. We will return to this later. He was aware that this knowledge would buy him time, but this is more important.” Marinette nodded, pumping some sort of gas into the room to knock Andrew out. He was probably holding his breath, but even with practice, you could only hold your breath so long.

“Ava, Sabrina, we need people on the streets looking for their bodies. Simon, figure out where they were living. Sabine and Timothy will take a crew over there later. Bridgette, once we know where they lived, I want you to go into the city’s security cameras and find when he had a chance to attack,” Simone barked. Simon turned to the computers, quickly setting up an algorithm that would search all records—both public and not—for Malia and Marianne’s home.

Ava and Sabrina jogged out of the room, heading towards where the main command room was.

Nathaniel raised a hand timidly, waiting until Simone nodded at him before speaking.

“How do we know he’s not lying?”

Before Simone could answer—Zheng was a variation of the name Cheng, but different enough that it wasn’t obvious, it was used for undercover agents—, Anabel spoke quietly.

“The day before my mother died, well, I suppose she just left, she was muttering something about protecting the bad. I assumed she wanted to protect herself from the mafia, but that’s not it. In Latin, mal means bad. She wasn’t protecting herself from the mafia, she was protecting her unborn child. Malia. She would probably be around 8 right now. If Andrew hadn’t killed her.”

“The same age as Mason,” Chloé said. Most of the room turned to Chloé, the same question repeated on their faces. Who’s Mason? Chloé sighed, and Marinette placed a hand on her shoulder.

“He’s my little brother. He has autism and adhd, so my mom sent him away when he was five or so. If you google him, he won’t come up, because he was registered in the school with a random last name. He’s supposedly an Agreste-sponsored student, like the charity, but our grandparents are actually paying. Although technically he is sponsored by the Agrestes, because Marcus and Helena Agreste are our maternal grandparents. We chat a lot, and honestly if you weren’t aware that he had autism, it’s almost impossible to tell. It was mainly because of how our parents were treating him that caused him to lash out so much.”

Marinette hugged Chloé from behind, and the blond girl smiled shakily. Jasper handed his almost-girlfriend her phone, and Chloé took it gratefully.

“Jasper, Uncle Tim, how long would it take to get him out of that school?”, Marinette asked. Timothy pursed his lips, thinking.

“What school is it, and what’s the layout like?”

Chloé tapped something on her phone, and a quiet ringing could be heard.

“Hey, Mason Jar. It’s Casserole. I know you never check your messages, but I also know you always call me back right after I call you. I need the layout and floor plans of your school. We might be able to break you out of there and bring you back home soon, okay?” Chloé’s voice was soft, and had a gentler quality than most of the room was used to. She hung up, counting down from 10.

Just after she said the last number, her phone rang again.

“Right on time,” she said. She answered the phone, moving to the corner of the room.

“Mason, I need you to breathe between sentences,” was the first thing she said. Then, “yes, Mayonnaise, I mean it. But I need the floor plans to get you out, can you do that?”

She paused, letting her brother talk, then rolled her eyes jokingly.

“No no no, I don’t need the city water supply as well, May. Just the blueprints-floor plans-layout-whatever you smart people call them, okay?” She sighed at whatever her brother said, shifting positions.

“Fine. You can send the garbage routes if you must, Mason Jar. Just soon, please. We need them ASAP. Thank you, Mayo. I’ll FaceTime you later, kay? Alright. Bye. Love you.” Chloé disconnected the call, looking up at Timothy and Marinette.

“If you wanted every single garbage route in Ontario, you’re in luck. I just hope he remembers to get the floor plans too,” Chloé said.

“How is he planning to get the plans?”, Marc asked quietly.

“He’ll just walk up and ask for them. Duh,” Chloé snarked.

“Oh. That works?”

“Not at all. He’ll hack into something to get them, like he always does.”

“He’s a hacker?”, asked Timothy.

“He’s a certified genius,” Chloé corrected, “who happens to be a fantastic hacker. There’s a difference.”

“Right. How did he take the tests?”

“I’m the daughter of the mayor of Paris and the Style Queen herself. My maternal grandparents are more rich and philanthropic than Bruce Wayne. It was easy. The manipulative bully act wasn’t all fake, you know. My mother taught me how to manipulate people from the day I could think for myself.”

Chloé looked down, wrapping an arm around herself. It hadn’t been fake at all. It was all real. She had chosen to act like that, and it had worked. Jasper opened his arms, and she walked into them silently.

“Got it! Bridgette, you’re up,” said a voice across the room. They all whipped their heads around to look at Simon, who had begun to rattle off information so quickly it was hard to understand.

Bridgette nodded, typing as fast as her father was talking.

“I have the camera feeds in the immediate vicinity of their house from within a week of when we think Andrew arrived in Paris. Dad, do you have any photos? I can run facial recognition.” Bridgette didn’t even turn to look at her father as she spoke, instead staring intently at the screen.

“Good thinking, Bridge. They’ll be arriving any second now.”

“Perfect.” And Simon was right. Two photos opened on the screen, and most of the room gasped. The woman, Marianne, looked almost exactly like Sabine. Which made sense, because they were identical twins. Marinette crossed the room quickly, grabbing her mother in a hug as the older woman’s tears began to fall.

And the young girl on the screen, in what was clearly a school photo, looked like the exact opposite of her big sister, Anabel.

Blue-black hair, and vibrant green eyes.

Her hair was in two french braids, and her smirk was undeniably identical to Marinette’s. (and Anabel’s, but she hadn’t smirked yet so they didn’t know that.)

She was clearly related to the Chengs, so much so that half of the room turned to Andrew, ready to murder him where he stood.

“Shit.” The whole room turned to Bridgette again, who was grimacing.

“I found the feeds. Malia—probably—isn’t dead. She was playing in her room when Andrew arrived. If she managed to hide in time, well, 8 year olds are scarily good at hiding. He set off a gas—probably carbon monoxide, or something along those lines—to flush her out or kill her, but she jumped out the window and called the police. They didn’t catch Andrew, but Marianne was admitted to the hospital. They still can’t find Malia, though. It looks like she called the police, let them know what was happening, then evaded any attempts they made at finding the eight year old girl that called them. This was last week, and there’s been no sign of her since.”

“No. There’s been one sign of her.” Everyone turned to Chloé, who swallowed.

“The akuma. Empress Justice. There was a girl that looked like her in the crowd of people who didn’t get killed.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Nobody knew exactly who asked the question, so Chloé glared at them all.

“I’m sorry if you forgot, but no, I did not. Seeing as there were around 100 living people, and you asked about none of them, I didn’t feel the need to. And again, perhaps you forgot, but I was a little bit busy coughing up blood and dying. So maybe next time you should try to be a little bit more courteous before accusing me of something,” Chloé snarled. They all looked properly chastised, and Chloé smiled tightly.

“Moving on, we need to find Malia,” she reminded.

“Right. But she hasn’t been spotted for a week, and she’s evaded the police better than most of us have,” Bridgette said.

“Yeah, but we’re not the police. We’re better trained by them, we have experience hiding from the authorities, the other RAs and I know the city better than anyone, and in case anyone didn’t get this bit, she looks exactly like us,” Marinette said with a grin.

“And Chloé and I also have the advantage of being very well known heroes. Me as Ladybug, and her as Queen Bee.”

“But you have school,” protested Timothy.

“Not for another few days, we don’t. The murders were enough to get it shut down for a week and a half.” Sabine winced, even though everyone had told her multiple times that it wasn’t her fault.

“So what’s the plan of action, Panther?” Marinette turned to Simon, smirking widely.

“Uncle Simon, tell aunt Ava and aunt Sabrina that we need everyone back at the base. Malia won’t come out when there are scary people dressed in black looking for her. We need to look non-threatening. Maman, Wai Po, you two should go to the hospital. Ladybug will escort you in case there are any problems. There shouldn’t be, because Maman is her twin, but we never know. Anabel, I’m going to need you on the streets with me. She’s your sister, and our genetic makeup is the same as half siblings. Chlo, Nath, Marc, Alix, Jasp, I need you guys to do something very important for me. Nath, Marc, Chlo, Jasper, I want you four to find André’s ice cream and get ice cream. Alix, I need you to build a rooftop skating track and practice on it. Okay?” They all nodded, and Marinette smiled.

“Awesome. Now go! Shoo!” They all filed out of the room, and Marinette turned to the people left in the room.

“Why do you need ice cream, Mari?” The question came from Bridgette, and Marinette grinned.

“I don’t. But they need a break. So ice cream. And because it’s soulmate’s ice cream, Alix hates it, so she’s going to skate on the rooftops for a while.”

“You’re evil.”

Marinette curtsied.

“Thank you. Bridgette, I need you to search all the cameras in the city, including the ones in—oh my gosh. I bet I know where Malia is.”

“Where, Marinette?”

“She wasn’t killed by the akuma, which means she was put in an akuma shelter by Olly Olly.” Anabel’s blush wasn’t missed when Marinette mentioned Juleka, and the bluenette filed that away for later.

“There hasn’t been an akuma attack since Empress Justice, probably because Hawkmoth is out of energy. And we all know that the akuma shelters house homeless people when they’re not in use. That’s where we’ll look first.”

It wasn’t really a commonly known fact that homeless people occupied the akuma shelters when they weren’t needed—after all, they were safe spaces with some beds, first aid kits, a bathroom, and some non-perishables—the Karens of the city would freak out if they knew, but it was a perfect use of the space. It cut down on the levels of waste in the city, and helped people in need. And when Ladybug’s power didn’t fully complete the cleanup of the city, the homeless surged out of the shelters to help.

And because the shelters were barely ever checked by the authorities, (they said that because it was Ladybug’s idea, it was Ladybug’s responsibility), it was a perfect place to hide.

“But which one?”

“Bridgette, I can get you access to the camera feeds in the shelters. Anabel and I will go into all of them while transformed to check it out. It’s time for a routine checkup anyway, so we’ll go under the guise of doing that.” Bridgette nodded, moving aside so that Marinette could access the computers.

It took three minutes before they were connected, and Marinette backed away once she was done.

“There we go. Tikki, spots on!” The bluenette transformed, then handed Anabel the fox miraculous.

“Trixx, let’s pounce!” Once both girls were transformed, Bridgette handed them both commas.

“Ready, Goose?”

Anabel looked at her cousin—that was a word she hadn’t used before—and grinned.

“Ready, Ladybug.”

The two exited the room quietly, Marinette opening up a skylight for them to climb though.

“Ladybug, Goose, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Lion. We’re heading towards the shelters along the Seine first.”

“Alright. There’s an average of 5 people per shelter, and shelter numbers 13, 27, 54 88, and 126 have children.”

“Is there a possibility that she’s avoiding the cameras?”, asked Anabel.

“Yes, but it would be hard to avoid them. Shelter number 39 also has children, but it’s a registered family unit. Two fathers, a 3 year old son, a 5 year old daughter, and a 9 year old daughter. No allergies or health concerns, homeless because of a homophobic landlord.”

“Does the 9 year old have any similarities to Malia?”

“She’s managed to keep her face away from the camera constantly. Even sleeping, she doesn’t roll over. Her hair is black like one of the dad’s, but yeah, it’s around the same length. But there’s no blue highlights like ours.”

“The same blue highlights that can easily be dyed away by dark dye like I did in the summer between 5th and 6th grade?”

“Damn. You’re right. And looking at the feed for that shelter, she appeared around a week ago.”

“That’s her. Goose, let’s go. Thank you, Lion.”

“Just doing my job, Panther.”

Marinette smiled, talking off over the city. She stopped at a grocery store on the way, buying a large bag of food. Anabel followed her, and they dropped off food at all the other akuma shelters before heading towards number 39.

They knocked on the door quietly, waiting for someone to answer the door. The black-haired father opened the door, looking outside before opening the door fully.

“Please come in, Ladybug! Are you here to check on the shelter?”

“Thank you, sir.” Marinette walked into the shelter, Anabel following.

“Of course, Ladybug.”

“Oh! This is Goose, she’s one of the new heroes from the Empress Justice battle. Unfortunately, due to circumstances involving one of the heroes that passed during the battle, it has taken us a while to gather our mental health in a way that is beneficial to the community. Sorry, that didn’t really make sense. Sleep has been making fun of me continually for a while. Anyway, I brought food.” Marinette facepalmed, making the man laugh.

“Nice to meet you, Goose. Thank you for keeping us safe during the attacks.” Anabel smiled, nodding graciously.

“Of course, sir.”

“Please, Miss Goose, call me Matthew. And come in, come in!” Marinette and Anabel followed Matthew into the shelter, and Marinette immediately made a beeline for the cupboards. She began unpacking the groceries, leaving a large pack of Oreos on the counter. The 5 year old girl squealed at the sight of the cookies, making Marinette laugh.

“Maisie, dear, don’t harass the heroes,” frowned the father that wasn’t Matthew.

“Sorry, papa. But cookies!”

“I don’t mind, Maisie!” Marinette crouched down to talk to the young girl.

“Papa, Daddy, can I have a cookie? Please?” Matthew looked at his husband, who shrugged.

“Sure, Maisie. Johnny, Jade, Ladybug brought cookies!”, called Matthew. A three year old boy came barrelling into the room and tripped on seemingly nothing. Marinette shot out an arm at the same time as Anabel, and they both caught the boy securely.

“Woahhhh. Johnny, you just touched a superhero!” Marinette laughed as she placed the boy on his feet, holding a hand out to the young girl. Maisie poked the hand apprehensively, and then again.

The oldest child approached the room carefully, and Marinette looked up into bright green eyes.

“Are you Jade?” The girl nodded silently from behind a curtain of hair, and Marinette smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Jade. I’m Ladybug, and this is Goose.” ‘Jade’ looked at Goose, then tilted her head.

But she’s fox themed, she signed. So she could hear, but didn’t speak. Because she had called the police—Bridgette had played the call for them—, the girl was probably selectively mute.

“Yup. Did you know that there’s a game called Fox and Goose? That’s why she’s called Goose, because of the game!”

Like Olly Olly?

“Exactly like Olly Olly. You know, I think you’re the very first person to make that connection, Jade. You must be very smart.”

My mother taught me a lot of things. We played tag a lot, different kinds.

“Your mother?”

She got killed. A man came into our house and attacked her. I called the police.

Marinette silently opened her arms, and the small girl accepted the hug.

“You know, Jade, you remind me of my newest cousin. I just found out about her, even though she’s around your age. Our moms are twins, and I know my whole family is worried about her.”

Is she ok?

Marinette switched to sign language, knowing that Anabel could probably follow.

We don’t know, which is why we’re trying to find her. We have the man that attacked them in our secret base.

The black-haired girl tilted her head to the side, squinting at Marinette.

You have a secret base?

We do. It’s owned by my grandmother, but I’m in charge of it.

Do people work inside?

Lots of them.

Are you dangerous?

That was a difficult question to answer.

Yes and no. We are very dangerous to people who have committed crimes, or hurt people without a reason. But we don’t hurt innocent people, no matter what.

Like the police?

We’re bigger than the police. And more competent. And sometimes we do things that the police are afraid to do.

Like a mafia?

Crap.

Which mafia are you thinking about? There are different kinds.

The ones my mama told me about. She said that she used to be married to a very powerful mafia person in Italy. She was always sad because she said she left something very important there, and she was worried about her husband hurting it a lot. She had a bunch of letters that she wrote to the thing, but she never sent them. I think it’s a person, but she never told me.

The mafia your mama told you about is very dangerous. They hurt innocent people for practice. Have you heard of the Parisian mafia?

Not much, just what my classmates gossip about.

Ok. The basics are that they are a big family, and their last name is Cheng. They have people all over the world, hunting down bad guys like the ones that attacked you and your mama, Malia.

How do you know my name?

If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.

Say it.

Your mama, Marianne, was born into the Cheng family mafia. She married Alexander Giovanni, the leader of the Giovanni mafia, the one your mama told you about. Because of this marriage, Marianne’s mother told her that she wasn’t allowed to talk to them ever again. Marianne had a daughter, whom she named Anabel. When Anabel was 6, Marinanne got pregnant again, with you, Malia. She saw what the mafia had done to Anabel, and she wanted to protect you from it.

Anabel winced here, something that Malia clearly noticed.

Marinette continued. So she ran away to Paris. She changed her last name to Zheng, a variation of the last name she was born with. Then, Andrew Giovanni entered the picture. He convinced Alexander that having a girl, Anabel, for his mafia heir wasn’t good enough, and Alexander attacked her. She almost died, so she fled to Paris, for a reason I don’t actually know. Once Andrew arrived in Paris, he found you and your mama, and decided to kill you. It failed, but it didn’t matter. He had found Anabel, so he decided to kill her. I rescued her, and brought her home. We learned that our mothers were twins, we captured Andrew, learned he was being paid to kill my civilian identity, and today, we learned that you existed. So now we’re here. Your mama is in the hospital, by the way. She didn’t die.

Marinette shook out her hands, taking a deep breath.

Then Malia launched herself at Anabel, holding on for dear life.

When Marinette strained her ears past civilian capabilities, she could hear Malia whispering to Anabel.

“You’re Anabel. You’re my sister.” Anabel only nodded, and Marinette looked at everyone else in the room.

“Sorry about that. I had to talk to Ma—Jade, and that was the easiest way. Our resident computer geek told us that her mother is in the hospital.”

“No problem, Ladybug. When she broke into the akuma shelter 5 days ago, it was easiest just to take her in without any questions,” Matthew said.

“As is a parent’s instinct. Thank you for doing so, Matthew. There is a large possibility that her mother’s attacker could have come after her had she been placed in the foster care system.” Matthew nodded silently, then looked at Jade.

“Thank you for trusting us, Jade. I hope your mother is healthy.”

“Thank you, Matthew, Daniel. You have a very nice family. I hope better luck falls upon you soon,” Malia said. Then she followed the heroes out, having released Anabel from her death grip upon the older girl’s waist. Marinette tapped her comm as they walked outside, updating Bridgette.

“Lion, we’ve found her.”

“I saw on the cameras.”

“How’s Aunt Marianne doing? Is she up for visitors?” Malia glanced hopefully at Marinette, who crossed her fingers that Marianne could see her daughter.

“She should be. Aunt Sabine and Wai Po are at the hospital, if you detransform they’ll probably let you in. You look enough like your mother, and Anabel and Malia look like you.”

“Perfect. Our eta is around 5 minutes, can you let Maman know?”

“No problem, Mari.”

“Thanks, B.”

Marinette released her comm, turning to Malia and Anabel.

“Ready to fly?” Malia nodded, and Marinette crouched down so the black-haired girl could climb onto her back.

“Malia, you need to hold on tighter than you ever have before. Anabel, if she starts slipping, I want you to tell me the second it happens.” Anabel nodded, then, like an afterthought, grabbed onto Marinette’s arm.

“Annie.” Marinette nodded, grinning at her cousin.

“Alright. Let’s go, Annie.” Marinette swung her yo-yo into the air, Annie extending her flute like Chat Noir’s baton. They landed in front of the hospital, and Malia slid off of Marinette’s back.

“Malia, the things you should know about our family is that almost all of us have hyphenated last names, my mother’s name is Sabine, and Wai Po—that means grandmother—‘s name is Simone. My parents, Sabine and Tom, own the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie-Patisserie.” Malia nodded, but still looked unsure.

“Um...M?” Marinette turned to Annie, whose miraculous timer beeped as she shifted awkwardly.

“You still haven’t told her your name.”

Marinette groaned, holding out a hand for Malia to shake.

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the most forgetful, clumsy, awkward person in the world.” Malia laughed, shaking Marinette’s hand.

“Spots off,” Marinette said quietly. Malia jumped at the sudden flash of light, and Marinette winced.

“Sorry about that. The city would freak out if they saw me going into the hospital with two girls under the age of 15.”

Malia tilted her head to the side, black hair cascading down like a waterfall.

But they already saw us, at the shelter, she signed. Annie detransformed, catching Trixx.

“Nope. Although fair enough, because we saw everyone. But I used my illusions,” the redhead said.

That’s cool, Malia signed.

“It is, isn’t it?”, Marinette said.

“C’mon, Malia, Annie. Let’s go see your mom.”

Chapter Text

The first week after the akuma attack passed by in a blur. Their school had closed, due to the non-permanent mass murder of the students and most of the teachers, save for “M. Art Teacher” (it was a joke to call him that at first, then everybody forgot his name) and Mme. Mendeleiv, who had been spared. The new heroes had been to dozens of interviews, and most importantly, they had found Malia and her mother. 

The weekend between the first and second week was filled with emotions from everybody involved. 

The second week was different. The Royal Aces had knocked many things off of their list, and there were some changes that nobody in the school had been expecting. 

First of all, Jasper had broken up with Lila, in front of her posse. It was all over the news, and other than on Alya’s blog, the rest of the articles were painting Jasper in a positive light. 

Second, they had broken Mason out of his school, easily finding a child around the same age and appearance in need of an education to replace him. 

Third, Mason and Malia bonded in a way that Marinette had never consciously seen before, no matter how similar the bond was to that of the Royal Aces. 

Fourth, Juleka had been announced as Jewel, to mixed reactions from the school. 

Fifth, they had three new Court members, and they had gone through another name change, officially changing from the Royal Aces to the Celestial Court, which Mason had suggested. 

Jasper Miller, or the Gray Prince, Adrien Agreste, the Purple Prince, and Juleka Couffaine, the Green Princess. Unofficially, Annie was the Orange Duchess, but as she didn’t attend the school yet, her “knighting” would have to wait. 

And lastly, Sixth. Every single person planning to sue Lila Rossi had came through, giving the legal documents to Marinette, who had asked Annie to keep them safe until needed. 

On Monday morning of the third week, the first day back in school, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had a plan. 

Well, the Court had a plan. 

They had all contributed, all of them. 

The bluenette linked arms with Chloé and Nathaniel as they walked into school in full Court dress, Adrien, Juleka, Marc, and Jasper meeting them at the door. 

Alya marched up to Marinette, grabbing the front of the girl’s dress before anyone could stop her. 

Marinette simply raised an eyebrow, lifting onto her tiptoes slightly so she wouldn’t be choked by Alya’s grip. 

“You-you—you are a horrible person, Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Alya seethed, almost too angry for words. 

Marinette sighed, not answering. Alya let go of the bluenette’s dress, placing her hands on her hips. 

The girl turned to Jasper, face softening. 

“You can come back and date Lila now, Jasper. We can get a restraining order for Marinette, so she can’t hurt you.”

Jasper merely laughed. 

“No thanks. I already have a girlfriend, and she’s not Lila. And the last time Marinette hurt me was right after I broke her nose, at age three. So don’t play that game, Alya.”

“You don’t have to lie, anymore, Jasper. We know you’re still dating Lila.” 

Chloé laughed dryly, wrapping an arm around Jasper’s waist. 

“Actually, I’m dating my fellow model for MDC, who also happens to be both my cousin’s best friend and my cousin’s boyfriend’s best friend,” he said.  

Alya wrinkled her nose at that, clearly not able to work out the logic. 

“And why did you break Marinette’s nose at the age of three?”, she asked, clearly giving up. 

“Oh, because we’re both highly trained assassins who grew up together.” 

“Jasper!”, Marinette hissed, stepping forward. “Not now. What did you want again, Alya?”

The crowd that had gathered gasped as Alya Cesaire slapped Marinette across the face. 

“Go back to Japan, bitch,” the brunette growled. 

Marinette raised a hand to her cheek shakily, they looked up at Alya. 

“You know, Alya, we used to be friends. The first week of our friendship, somebody said something racist to me, and you freaked out. Remember that? You protected me, when I couldn’t. And you said—” Marinette took a shuddering breath before continuing quietly. “You told me that racism would destroy the world, and then you said the same thing you told me on the first day of school. ‘The only thing that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that the good people do nothing.’”

Alya’s face was pale, and she had a hand pressed to her mouth like she might vomit. 

“Believe me, Alya Cesaire, I am incredibly proud of my Chinese heritage. But no. I won’t go back to Japan.” 

The whole school watched as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the Ace of Spades, the Black Queen, and to some, Ladybug, burst into tears and ran out of the room. 

And then, with a fuming Adrien and Juleka leading the crowd, the whole school turned on Lila and Alya, Lila shoving Alya in front of her, not noticing her pin complete its final change. 

The rest of the Court followed, and as Mason, Marc, and Jasper escorted them out, Chloé Bourgeois had a single thought. 

In the end, the RAs hadn’t done anything. 

It was the people. The people had fought.  

And , Chloé added, as an afterthought, they would always, always, win.  

~~~

The mayor of Paris had decided that due to the actions of some students, Franciose Dupont would be closed for another week, which gave the Court enough time to induct Annie, which they had done at the school, with the whole student body (excluding the akuma class, save for Nino) in attendance. Marc had also been inducted, beginning his reign as the Teal Prince. At this point, there was only a week left in school before summer break, but it was the thought that counted. 

A day later, school began again, and Lila Rossi walked into her classroom to a mountain of papers on her desk. 

“Lila Rossi, you are being sued by a great number of people, including but not limited to, Jagged Stone, Prince Ali, Clara Nightingale, MDC, Audrey Bourgeois, Nathaniel Sancouer-Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel-Cheng, the Cheng Mafia, Ladybug, Chat Noir, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Jasper Miller-Cheng, Gabriel Agreste, and the City of Paris,” Anabel said scarily. 

Alya shoved past Lila, getting into Annie’s personal space. 

“Lila did nothing! Why would you sue her?”

“Slander,” Annie said. “Assault, both verbal, sexual, and physical, all of which we have on camera. Destruction of property; plagiarism; suing on behalf of someone you’re shouldn’t be; willingly working with and aiding Hawkmoth; bribing the known terrorist and heir to the Giovanni family mafia; planned murder; and lying, off the top of my head. Lila is also fired, Gabriel Agreste would be foolish to continue working with you.” 

Alya, as was her new go-to move, tried to slap Annie, not anticipating every single person in front of her to have serious combat training. 

Anabel dodged out of the way, tripping Alya. 

Marc “accidentally” spilled a mixture of paint and glue all over her, Jasper having tripped him. 

Marc caught himself silently before thinking better of it and again, accidentally, landed on top of Alya, not getting a single drop of paint on him in the process. 

Chloé accidentally kicked Alya in the ribs, getting a bit of white paint on her shoe, to which she only raised an eyebrow, and said “shame.”

Juleka accidentally dropped a few open packs of glitter exactly where the paint-glue was. 

And when Alya looked up, hoping for someone to help her stand again, nobody did. Marinette stood silently, then, as if coming out of a trance, glanced away from Alya, and turned to Lila. 

“Lila Rossi, you have been served. Please stay where you are, the police will be coming to arrest you momentarily.”

Lila Rossi screamed, louder than she had ever before, and all her classmates took a step away from her. 

As the police entered the room, arresting Lila, Marinette turned to Chloé. 

“I have We Will Rock You stuck in my head right now,” was the only thing she said, and Chloé laughed. 

“I have We Are The Champions in mine,” was the blond girl’s reply. 

“Life is good,” Marinette said, turning to her friends fully. 

“Yeah. Life is good,” Anabel replied. Juleka smiled, resting her shin on the shorter girl’s head. 

Like they were all nine parts of a whole, the Court turned as one, looking at Lila’s lost little sheep. 

Nino grinned, beginning the applause. Rose and Kim followed, then Ivan, then Mylene, then the rest of the class, excluding Alya and Sabrina, who had been Lila’s closest minions. 

Marinette stepped forward, interrupting the apologies that had begun. 

“I know you’re sorry. But you hurt us, a lot. It’ll take time for us to forgive you. How about we see in the fall?”

Everyone nodded solemnly, and Marinette smiled. 

“Alya, could I see you in the principal’s office? Class, go to the park until lunch, okay?”, was the first thing Mme. Bustier said, and the class cheered. 

As Alya got escorted down to the principal, and the class known as the akuma class surged out of the room, towards the park, Marinette grabbed her friends’ hands. 

She pulled them out of the school, all of them pausing in the doorway. Nathaniel pressed something on his phone, a robotic voice echoing out of the announcement speakers across the school. 

The liar’s reign has ended

Her minions apprehended

We bloody hate rhyming

Nath, why did we even do the rhyming in the first place?

We were in grade 3, Mari. We didn’t know what else to do. 

Well, it’s stupid. Let’s stop doing it. 

Fine. 

We kicked Lila’s ass, and now she’s been arrested. 

Have a great day, everyone!

The school’s laughter echoed outside, following the Celestial Court as they crossed into the park. 

“We did it, guys,” Chloé sighed. 

“We did part of it,” Marinette corrected, looking into the sun dramatically. “We still need to defeat Hawkmoth.”

Everyone nodded, knowing it was true. 

Then they were all glancing around suddenly, hearing footfalls. A young blond girl, around the same age as Mason and Malia, ran up to them, breathing heavily.

“Are you Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”, she asked.

“I am, why?”, Marinette said, against her better judgement.

“My name is Margaret Graham De Vanily, and I was kicked out of my house. I need your help.” Marinette turned to the Court, talking without words. 

“Very well. I’ll take you to the bakery.”

Chapter Text

Two years later

~

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the Ace of Spades, the Black Queen, MDC, The Panther, Ladybug, (not that really anyone knew those last three yet) stood in the mirror, admiring her dress.

A floor-length black satin ball gown, with tulle of many different colours covering it tastefully.

There was dark yellow, blood red, navy blue, a deep gray, eggplant purple, forest green, a very dark orange, and a teal, all gently sprinkled with silver glitter.

“I know I’ve said this like 15 times, and I know I designed and made this dress, but damn, it looks good,” she remarked.

“Twenty, actually,” said Chloé Bourgeois, walking over to Marinette.

Chloé’s dress was a dark dark yellow, accented by silver gathers at the waist, matching her eyeshadow. The full skirt looked like it had been dipped in silver, specks of it floating up to the waistline.

“Eff off, Chlo,” Marinette replied.

“Never, darling. What would you do without me?”

“Cope,” snarked Alix Kubdel, another of their best friends.

Alix was wearing black leggings and a red tunic, cinched in the middle with a silver belt.

“Oh that was just rude, Kubdel,” Chloé sassed back.

“Get over it, Chloé,” joked Anabel Zheng, Marinette’s cousin. Annie was wearing a turquoise dress that complemented her hair and eyes. She had a vibrant orange shawl draped over her shoulders, blending with her hair, an intentional design choice.

After the Empress Justice akuma, everyone in the city had been shaken, including Hawkmoth. He had gotten sloppy, and they had caught Gabriel Agreste 10 months ago, the August before their American 11th grade year.

Marinette had rescued the peacock and butterfly miraculouses in the middle of the night, managing to heal Emilie enough that she would wake up with normal medicine. From a magical standpoint, she was healed. From a medical standpoint, well, being in a coma for 4-5 years comes with some health concerns. She had also wiped the memories of Gabriel and Nathalie, ensuring that there would be no disastrous aftermath. She also hadn’t told anyone else who Hawkmoth and Mayura had been, mainly to protect Adrien and Nathaniel, who were the children of Gabriel and Nathalie.

And then they discovered that Malia was a really good fit for the miraculous of the peacock, which was an interesting choice, but so far, it seemed to be a good one.

Margaret Graham De Vanily, Marinette’s foster sister of two years, was holder of the butterfly miraculous

“Never!”, Chloé cried into the air. “I will never...wait, what am I nevering?”

They all laughed, straightening up when a knock echoed through the door.

“Yes?”, Marinette asked.

“We’ve got 15 minutes before the Court speech! Hurry!” Jasper’s voice said from the other side of the door.

Marinette grabbed the handle, then turned to Juleka, who had been getting ready silently.

“Juleka, can you go get Mal, Mar, and May?”, she asked. Juleka nodded, running out the door towards where she knew the 10 year olds were getting ready. Juleka’s dress was a very dark purple, hitting her ankles, with small bell sleeves and elbow-length black gloves. All the hems were sewn with silver thread, and Juleka was no exception to the silver glitter.

“You may come in, Jasper,” Marinette said dramatically, and the blond boy walked into the room. He was wearing a well tailored three-piece suit, black, with silver accents where it was appropriate. His tie was gray, benefiting his status as the Gray Prince of the Celestial Court.

“Alix, Anabel,” he said, nodding at them both. They waved at him before turning back to the mirror, putting the finishing touches on their makeup. Well, Annie was. Alix was just ignoring it all, her natural makeup having been finished a long time ago.

“Mari, where’s Chlo?” Marinette stepped aside, revealing Chloé, staring out the window, lost in thought.

“I think she’s nervous, I just don’t know what about. Can you talk to her while I go get the crowns?” The crowns had been ordered a while ago, and they were all small and silver. Not too ostentatious, but just enough to remind everyone that they were the Celestial Court, that they had been the Royal Aces, that they were in charge.

“Sure.” Marinette smiled before running out of the room, Nath, Marc, and Adrien joining her on the way back to the girls’ dressing room with the crowns.

Marinette nestled the small tiara in Alix’s hair, handing Annie hers, and passing over a bunch of hairpins so that Chloé could place hers how she wanted it.

Nath and Marc got theirs next, then Jasper, then Adrien, then Juleka, who had returned with the three 10 year olds, all wearing black and silver.

“Awesome. Let’s go.”

Marinette turned towards the door, but was pulled back by Adrien, who turned her to look at the mirror. They were all standing there, and Chloé said what they were all thinking.

“Damn, we look good.”

“No. We look more than good,” corrected Nath.

“We look Killer,” said Alix, and Marinette nodded.

“Yeah. We look Killer,” Marinette agreed. And they did.

Marinette, Alix, Nath, and Chloé walked towards the door, everyone else following them. Malia, Margaret, and Mason stopped just before the crowd could see them, but everyone else continued onto the stage.

“Hi, everyone,” Marinette said.

After the cheers had died, Marinette continued.

“Two years ago today, Lila Rossi was arrested for aiding not one, but two terrorists, and verbal, physical, and sexual assault. But that’s not why we’re here. We’re here today because of something that will change. As you all know, I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the Black Queen, and the Ace of Spades. But I am also a teenage girl, with my own issues. I didn't ask to fight Hawkmoth at the age of 13, but I’m getting off track. The Celestial Court is graduating and heading off to university, which means that Francoise Dupont school needs a new Court.”

The crowd gasped, and Marinette turned towards the wings.

“So I want to introduce you all to the Legacy Court. Mal, Mar, May, c’mere.”

The three kids approached Marinette slowly, and the older girl rolled her eyes jokingly.

“Guys, I don’t bite unless provoked. C’mon.” Malia walked over to her cousin, Mason following her closely. Margaret was a bit behind them both, but she caught up in no time.

“Without further ado, ladies, gentlemen, people in between, this is the Legacy Court. Mason Agreste Bourgeois, the Silver Dauphin. Malia-Jade Zheng, the Silver Empress. And Margaret Graham De Vanily Cheng, the Silver Queen.” Marinette took off her crown, the rest of the Celestial Court following.

“Long may they reign.”

The crowd cheered for the new Court. The Legacy Court.

The Silvers, as they were quickly dubbed.

“Long may they reign!”

Chapter Text

Hey, guys!

I just wanted to post about the sequel here, so that everyone knows about it!

Embedded link: Rebel

Non embedded link, if that one doesn’t work: https://archiveofourown.to/works/32244121

Have a great rest of summer if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, and winter if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere!

Remember to drink lots of water and take a break from screens as well!

~ Rosie