Chapter Text
The last day of summer came and went, and Chloé Bourgeois was looking forward to school starting. Her friend Adrien had finally gotten permission from his parents to attend public school, and he was enrolled both in her school and she'd found out as the Class Rep that he was in her class! It was perfect. She had talked it out with him and he was going to sit in the first row (for an easy escape if things got overwhelming for him) and she and Sabrina would be right behind him for support.
The downside was that she was once again sharing the classroom with the most popular girl in the area. Even if Marinette Dupain-Cheng was too dense to realize just how popular she was, Chloé noticed. Marinette was like the sun, warm and bright and loved by everyone. She had everything that Chloé wanted out of life and she couldn't understand why. The only thing she could do was try and smother Marinette's light and replace it with her own.
The first day of school dawned with mild weather and a text from Adrien saying that his father was talking about pulling his enrolment. She wanted to reassure him that that wouldn't happen, but since Adrien's mother had vanished during the break, she knew that Gabriel had cracked down on Adrien's security for unknown reasons. She just hoped that Gabriel would see sense and adhere to his wife's wishes by keeping Adrien in public school.
She got ready for school and placed her sunglasses neatly on her head before going down to the hotel lobby to meet Sabrina. Her best friend greeted her with a showering of compliments and she flipped her ponytail to show off how perfect her hair was. She'd just gotten the colour retouched and she was very happy with the shade of blonde that they'd achieved.
"I know, I know," she laughed. "Look, the weather's really nice so let's walk. Just don't talk too much on the way."
"Okay, Chloé," Sabrina agreed and they headed off. Chloé waved her driver off and they walked towards the school. She knew Marinette would probably bring something from her parents' cheap bakery, so she had to come up with some way to downplay or ruin that. Several people in her class this year were different from the previous years and she wanted to ensure that Marinette made a bad impression on them. The fresh air, she hoped, would help breed ideas. As they went, she spotted an old man on the ground.
Seeing that people were completely walking around him and one person even kicked a cane on the ground further out of his reach, Chloé kind of felt sorry for him. She tugged Sabrina by the arm towards the man, shouting loudly for people to clear the way. She picked up the cane when she reached the man and handed it to Sabrina.
"Hold this for a minute, Sabrina," she said sharply, prompting the girl to take the cane and nod dumbly. Chloé then helped the old man up and even went so far as to dust his tacky Hawaiian shirt off. "You should watch out for cracks, old man," she told him before snatching the cane from Sabrina and handing it to him. She then turned and sauntered off with Sabrina. "Make a note for me, Sabrina. I need to tell Daddy to have the sidewalks investigated."
"Okay," Sabrina mumbled, pulling out a tablet to do just that.
"And the way people were ignoring a feeble old man like that…utterly ridiculous," she kept her comment low, and Sabrina questioned her softly. She ignored her.
When they got to the school, she went straight to the classroom, realizing that because of the detour to help that old geezer they were about to be late for class. And being late would not make a good impression on her new classmates. She walked into the room just as the annoying, but quiet, music nerd of the class Nino was moving from his usual seat in the back row to the front. Marinette was already there, with her box of bakery treats, in Chloé's seat. She could have sworn she'd put her name there.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she snapped as she approached. The girl groaned and looked at her, muttering something under her breath. "That's my seat."
"But Chloé, this has always been my seat," Marinette mumbled. Chloé started to say that she had marked the seat to be behind her friend Adrien, but Sabrina leaned on the desk.
"Not anymore!" the redhead snapped. "New year, new class, new seats!"
"And besides, I marked these seats yesterday," Chloé snapped. "You can go sit with that new girl."
"There wasn't a name on the seat when I got here," Marinette noted. "But I'll move…if it's that big a deal it's whatever…" the girl picked up her things.
"Hey!" the new girl called, standing up. "Who elected you Queen of Seats?"
"I happen to be the Class Rep," Chloé snapped, moving aside so Marinette could get by. "And if I didn't mark the seats, you were supposed to, Sabrina." That was a lie, but she had to deflect blame for this incident off of herself. She was also tempted to trip Marinette and make a big deal out of things, but Marinette tripped herself and dropped her macarons. Chloé sat down, smirking.
Mme Bustier started talking and the bell rang, but Adrien never came. Chloé slumped in her seat as the lecture went on. When they were dismissed, she handed her iPad to Sabrina, planning to head home and send off the necessary paperwork to her father to prevent the kind of delay she'd dealt with on the way to school from happening again. The table behind her rattled and she looked back to see Ivan stand up and storm over to Kim.
"Kim!" The boy raised his fist and Chloé caught sight of the note he was clenching in his other hand. No wonder Kim was grinning.
"Ivan, what is going on?" Mme Bustier asked sharply.
"It's Kim!" He shouted, waving the note. "I'm so gonna—" he pulled his fist back again.
"Ivan! Go to the principal's office!" Mme Bustier pointed at the door and Ivan stormed out. When the rest of the class was gone to their assigned spots, Chloé approached the desk. "Yes, Chloé?"
"I didn't fully see, but Kim wrote a scathing note to Ivan, and that was the likeliest cause of his outburst," she explained. "And did you receive word about Adrien Agreste's enrolment being pulled?"
"As far as I know he should have been here this morning."
"That's unusual, then. He told me that his father had been talking about home-schooling him again this year, but I guess something just came up…," she mused. "I'll check with Mr Damocles after lunch." She walked out of the room and headed for the street. She pulled out her phone and checked the messages. She had a message from Adrien.
'Nathalie and the Gorilla caught me on the way to school and dragged me home…Father was serious about not letting me go to school…'
'Well, the paperwork to withdraw your enrolment either hasn't gone through or hasn't been turned in. I'm double checking with the principal after lunch.' She sent him in reply.
When Chloé arrived at the hotel, her butler was waiting for her in the lobby. She nodded to him and went to the elevator. As always, he followed and took her bag.
"Order my lunch early, Jean-Paul. And get me a petition form and city inspection request."
"Of course, mademoiselle…But my name—"
"Don't care," she snapped as the elevator came to a halt. "Just get it."
"Of course…and a package arrived for you a while ago," he told her as the elevator doors closed and she continued to her room alone.
"A package? It's early for post…," she muttered. She went into her room and spotted the box on her table. "This must be it." She opened the box to find a Chinese styled jewellery box. She paused, but opened the box, curious.
Inside the jewellery box was a gaudy black ring. She grimaced, wondering what kind of idiot would send her a ring like this. She started to look for a note, when the ring started glowing. She hurried away from it, hiding in case it exploded or something. It would be her luck that with elections coming in a few months, some opponents of her father would try to have her killed or something.
"Okay…that's weird," a small voice muttered from the table. Chloé peaked out of her hiding place to see a weird floating cat thing hovering around the table. "I can't have been woken from my nap without someone claiming the ring…Hello?!"
"What are you?" Chloé asked, slowly coming out of hiding.
"Oh! There you are," the creature laughed, ignoring her question. "Where's the food? I'm starving."
"Don't ignore me!" She snapped. "What. Are. You?"
"Okay, grouchy…I'm a Kwami. I grant powers. Yours is destruction. Got it?"
"Wait, what?" She sat down on her couch.
"Great. Now feed me."
"Look here, you ridiculous creature! Give me a proper explanation or get out."
"Sorry kid, you're stuck with me," it sighed. "And show some respect. I'm the reason dinosaurs are extinct!"
"Sure you are. And the only one who needs to show some respect around here is you!" She reached to grab it, but it flew out of reach. She took a deep breath and sat down. "Fine. Don't tell me. I have things to do anyways." As if on cue, a knock came at the door. "Oh, perfect timing. Come in!"
Her butler came in, carrying the papers she asked for and an apologetic expression. She saw the Kwami fly under a pillow, as if it didn't want to be seen, but she wasn't interested in finding out about that since it wouldn't answer her questions anyways. She got up and stomped over to the butler. He should have also had her sushi by now.
"I'm sorry, Mademoiselle…," he started, holding the papers out for her. "The roads are closed, so your sushi couldn't be delivered."
"Why are the roads closed?" she snapped, taking the papers and looking them over.
"There is apparently a monster on the rampage. Your father had the police block the roads and emergency measures taken."
"Oh. Then have that Césaire woman make me a cheese plate or something," she said dismissively, accepting the reasoning. She was already inside and high above ground, so didn't have to deal with a monster. The butler bowed a little and left the room. She went back to her couch and started looking over the papers. "Now…how do I fill this out…?"
"You don't know how to fill out a paper?" The creature asked, flying out.
"Give me a proper explanation or I'm not talking to you," she snapped, looking the papers over a second time. She found instructions on a sticky note and she silently thanked her butler's skill in remembering that she usually went straight to her father rather than filling out stupid forms. She started to fill out the petition details when the news was suddenly turned on. She glared at the little Kwami.
"I'm asking all Parisians to stay in their homes until the situation is under control," her father was saying to a gathering of press. She saw Sabrina's father standing beside him with his arm in a splint and sling. The video cut to a shot of a stone creature tearing up the streets.
"The creature is heading towards the Montparnasse Tower," the reporter said over the video. "Anyone still outside, should avoid that area, as the monster seems unstoppable!" Chloé spotted the new girl from school biking after the monster.
"That's the new chef's daughter…people are getting hurt…," she mumbled. "Hey! You said you give powers, right? What exactly does that entail?"
"I already said. Destruction."
"Specifics, furball," she snapped. "What are the rules? Every superhero has rules."
"Okay, okay, grouchy," Plagg griped before launching into an explanation. "And you just say Claws Out to transform," he finished. Chloé nodded and started to put the ring on. It was a little big for her slender fingers and outrageously gaudy, but the silver colour it had faded to when Plagg emerged was a bit more appealing.
"Is there any way to make this smaller or less…," she paused, searching for the right word.
"Just put it on and transform…its magic will adjust to fit once you're connected to it properly," the Kwami sighed.
"Okay…So cat theme…," she mumbled, holding the ring in place on her middle finger. She sighed, giving up on trying to come up with a costume design. "All right…Plagg, Claws Out!" The black Kwami was sucked into the ring and she was surrounded by green sparks. She watched as the ring became thinner and more feminine looking, snuggly fitting over a black body suit that replaced her regular clothes. When the sparks stopped, she paused to look at herself in the mirror.
Her suit was reasonable, with plenty of amber gems and gold accents. Gloves were over the suit, reaching her upper arm with sharp looking claws extending from her fingers. She flexed her hand a little and the claws grew a little longer with the motion, almost like a real cat. Heeled boots went above her knees, with gold covering her toes and sparkling heels. She was wearing studded bracelets seemingly just for the aesthetic since there wasn't a clear use for them. A long, wide belt was around her waist, tied in a way at her back to hang like a tail. Studded cat ears were on top of her head and she found that there was a little gold cat bell on her collar.
Most importantly, there was a black mask covering a good portion of her face. She fiddled with her hair, seeing her bangs were thicker, part of her ponytail fallen loose to add to the volume and hide her ears. The blonde was a few shades darker than she liked, but the biggest change to her face was her eyes. Her eyes were much more catlike, complete with slit pupils and a light shade of blue instead of whites. "Meow," she laughed, making a clawing motion at her reflection.
She hurried onto the balcony and threw herself off, extending her stick at the last second and using it to vault towards the destruction. As she was going, she saw a flash of red and black just before slamming full-on into another girl. They tumbled to the ground and she barely managed to use her staff to break the fall. She looked the other girl over, taking in the spotted red suit she was wearing. The girl rubbed her neck a little.
"Sorry…I didn't do that on purpose…," she mumbled. Chloé recalled Plagg at she would have a partner to work with.
"You must be the partner my Kwami told me about," she tried being polite, since she knew that acting like herself would give away her identity. "I'm…," she froze, realizing she hadn't even considered what anyone would call her. "A catastrophe…"
"Catastrophe? That's a little…down on yourself…," the other heroine sighed. "Um…you can call me Ladybug, I guess…"
"You know, I like Catastrophe. My specialty is destruction anyways," she laughed. The ground shook, reminding her of the reason they had magic powers. "Let's get going, people are getting hurt. And if we don't stop him, who else will?"
"Right…not sure I'm up for this…," Ladybug confessed.
"Same. But we were chosen for a reason, right? Let's do this," she encouraged, vaulting to a roof. Ladybug joined her after a moment and they headed for the stadium, following the path of destruction. They came to a stop on the roof of the arena and watched a moment as the monster snatched up Kim. "Be careful attacking him…I saw on the news he grew in size when he was shot at," she said lightly.
"Good to know…we should probably go straight in with our powers then?"
"Good idea. I'll distract him and see if my power can do actual damage to him and you come in and use yours?" She suggested. Ladybug nodded a little.
"Lucky Charm!" She called out, throwing her yo-yo into the air. A wet suit dropped into her hands. "Yeah…I'm gonna need a minute…"
"Okay then, that's interesting…," Catastrophe muttered, dropping into the field. Disregarding the fact that attacks made the monster grow, she used her staff to strike at his wrist, startling him into releasing Kim. "Get out of here, quickly," she snapped at the boy. He ran away and Catastrophe jumped back to get some space and avoid an attack from the monster.
Just as she was about to call for her Cataclysm, the monster picked up a goalpost and threw it at her. She dodged out of the way, but heard a scream and looked to find that the goal was headed straight for Alya. She didn't trust her aim to stop the post, so she made a decision. "Cataclysm!" She summoned her power and ran for the goal, catching it with her charged hand and turning it to dust just before it hit Alya. The girl covered her head as dust showered over her. "Sorry about that…it's our first day on the job," she said lightly. "You okay?" Alya nodded a little, eyes wide.
"Well that didn't go according to plan," Ladybug commented as she joined them. "I've figured it out though. He never opened his right hand."
"That must be where the Akuma is then?"
"Most likely," she agreed, tying the wet suit to the end of a nearby water hose. "Once he drops it, open the tap to make him drop me," she directed the words to Alya. "Here's hoping this works…," she mumbled and Catastrophe noticed a tremor to her voice. She looked at Ladybug and saw that the spotted hero looked unsure. She touched the girl's shoulder, unsure how to word any sort of encouragement, and then she ran towards the monster, letting him grab her with his left hand when he tried.
Ladybug ran forward, holding the wet suit wadded up like a weapon of sorts. The monster opened his right hand and dropped a rock to snatch up Ladybug. "Now!" Alya ran to the tap on cue and opened the valve. The suit filled with water and the monster was forced to release Ladybug. She landed lightly, almost En Pointe as if she was a ballerina.
In a single strike, she destroyed the rock and a purple butterfly flew out of it. What looked like purple goo, but didn't have any substance to it, surrounded the monster and Catastrophe and when it cleared, the monster was replaced with Ivan and Catastrophe fell flat on her butt beside him. Her classmate looked around in confusion and a high-pitched beeping came to her attention. She looked at her ring to see that what had been a full cat print was now down to three pads. She got up and dusted herself off. The butterfly flew out of the arena as she approached Ladybug.
"That was brilliant," she said honestly. "Good job there, Partner." She held up a fist and the other hero took the prompt and bumped it with her own fist. "And now I've got a ball of string at home to chase. See you next time," she said lightly, waving to both Ladybug and Alya's camera before vaulting out with her staff and back to the hotel. She barely made it to her balcony before her transformation wore off. She went inside to find the cheese plate neatly placed on her table alongside her school tablet.
Plagg went straight for the camembert on the tray and she shrugged, going back out to look at the damage to her city. She vaguely saw a purple cloud near the top of the Eiffel Tower, but shrugged it off. Several buildings had collapsed, and parts of the roads below would take weeks to repair. Her request to have the sidewalks inspected would have to wait. She could still put up the petition to make accessibility and respect for the elderly and disabled more commonplace, though, so she went back to filling that out.
The roads remained closed for the rest of the day, while the police put up barricades to help redirect traffic away from the worst damage from the attack. She called the school after lunch to find that they were closed for the afternoon for some repairs to be done. Mr Damocles assured her that Adrien was still enrolled, but that her friend's parents had expressed concern about him attending public school. If he didn't show up for the second day without a reasonable excuse, his enrolment would be dropped. Annoyed with the situation, Chloé turned on the News, hoping to see Alya's footage of the fight.
She was sorely disappointed, when all she saw was random citizens frozen in place as replicas of Ivan's monster form. Her eyes went wide and she barely registered the reporter's words as she narrated the scene. Chloé looked at her ring and then at Plagg, who had ended up eating almost all of her cheese. Fortunately, she'd worked up an appetite and was forced to spend the afternoon at home, so she had been able to reasonably order something from the kitchens.
"Plagg, what's going on?" she demanded. "I thought we defeated him."
"Did you catch the Akuma?" the Kwami asked, looking at the news with equal surprise.
"What does that have to with anything?"
"The Ladybug Holder should have captured and purified the Akuma…otherwise the thing can multiply and lie in wait for the original victim to be transformed again…at which point everyone infected will become his army."
"Ladybug? You mean I can't go out and find the original and destroy it? Or do…anything?"
"I mean…you could destroy it…but that wouldn't destroy the copies…"
"Great…," she moaned, turning off the TV and leaning back on her couch. "This is ridiculous…utterly ridiculous…"
"You could say that…I mean I could go out and try to find this…you said she's going by Ladybug?"
"Yeah…"
"I could try and find her Kwami and we can figure out a plan for you two to meet up or something…," he suggested.
"We might not have time for that. Unless you can sense where the other Kwami is?"
"Nope. It would be total guess work unless she transforms."
"Definitely don't have time for that…and she didn't seem all that confident really…how did Ivan end up like that anyways?"
"Well…the Butterfly Brooch operates on emotions…"
"Kim got him worked up…and then getting punished for someone else's actions…wouldn't be that difficult to get him worked up enough to call the original back…and then Ladybug and I can beat him again and she can capture and purify the Akuma…that would get rid of the copies, right?"
"Well…yeah that would work but you're seriously gonna get him upset again for this?"
"It's the only option right now," she snapped. "I just have to hope that the little red bundle of nerves doesn't call it quits…"
Not far away from Le Gran Paris, the Ladybug Earrings had been returned to their jewellery box and the would-be Ladybug was weeping on her bedroom floor. Elsewhere, a man in a dimly lit basement was cackling madly as an infected butterfly fazed into the gem at the top of his staff for safe keeping.
