Chapter 1: Prologue
Summary:
Crimson Beetle had always looked forward to the day he'd be able to tear the cursed butterfly broach off of Hawkmoth's chest to put an end to the bastard once and for all. He never thought of the severe ramifications that this would send out on a larger scale.
Notes:
+Chapter Posted: 7/4/23
+I'm sorry for not having any new updates as of right since I'm just now beginning to edit and arrange all of my drafts, even rewriting several chapters. I decided to add a Prologue since I felt most of the events in the story wouldn't make sense without it. I'll do my best to finish as soon as I can.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The Day of Hawkmoth's Defeat - April 1, 2023
Paris, France - Somewhere around the Eiffel Tower - 6:07 am
The air was thick with the scent of ash and burning infrastructure, and Maestro, as Crimson Beetle, had to cover his nose lest the smoke invade his nostrils.
Looking over to Chat Noir, he could tell that his partner and best friend was in the same spot, coughing his lungs out like there was no tomorrow. Despite the immense difficulty in breathing, both teenage heroes had their eyes on Hawkmoth, the object of their hatred and misery. The object of every Parisian's hatred and misery.
The supervillain had finally decided to take a final stand to seize the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous and with Mayura, used the Peacock Miraculous to create a sentimonster more powerful than anything they'd ever faced. The Sentimonster -- Pyromight -- was a massive humanoid monster completely composed of fire, smoke, and ash. The flaming beast had been setting the surrounding buildings, roads, and plants ablaze and causing wonton destruction with every fiery step it took.
Using Cataclysm was already out of the question, seeing as the monster would spin out of control and Chat Noir would be incinerated upon contact.
It was around midnight when the ginormous amok had begun to rampage around the city, destroying whole city blocks and undoubtably killing many civilians with ash poisoning and even death by flames.
It wasn't until the fourth hour of battle, and the sixth time recharging their powers that he Chat Noir finally gained the upper hand in the fight and broke past the flaming abomination that Hawkmoth was using as a shield (the coward) and charged at him head on without any hesitation. Not with the enemy right in front of them. Not when their last chance at victory was only an arms' reach away. Not when they finally had a golden opportunity to put an end to this nightmare.
And they did.
The hand to hand -- more like staff to cane and yo-yo to fan-- fight was not pretty by any means. Both he and Noir had taken pretty heavy hits while delivering harsh blows on their opponents as well. The orange skies, ash-stained air, and the inferno like battlefield didn't make things any less harsh. Maestro tried to ignore how his feet field stepping on the molten sidewalks or how he could feel the heat from large fires radiating in uncomfortable waves and focused on what was truly important -- bringing the duo down.
All he could think about were the countless lives that Hawkmoth had taken over his three year reign of terror, starting with Stormy Weather all the way up to now. All he could think about was the terror and despair that Mayura and Hawkmoth spread throughout Paris. All he could think about was how everyone was depending on them and putting their hopes and prayers that they'd win.
Those motivators gave him the strength to muscle on even though his body was exhausted. Distantly, he regretted not bringing any of the temporary heroes as reinforcements. But Maestro, had rushed to do damage control the minute he saw Pyromight from beyond the peaks of the houses, that he hadn't been thinking of anything else.
But all of that felt like background noise now that he had the Peacock and Butterfly broaches in his hand and Dusuu and Nooroo were near catatonic.
But what he couldn't believe were the disheveled forms of Gabriel Agreste and his assistant laying prone on the street. Adrien's father was the supervillain they'd been fighting for years and the assistant he'd begun to see as his maternal figure was entirely complicit.
Everything was so raw that Maestro couldn't feel proud of their victory.
Maestro had no idea what time it was and the horrified gasps, shocked murmurs, and shuttering cameras trying to get a good angle of Gabriel fell on deaf ears.
Chat Noir fell to his knees as if the world had come crashing down on him and let out a loud sob.
He couldn't bring himself to ask his feline companion what was wrong, to focused on how utterly devastated Adrien would be when he found out the man that he spent the majority of his life trying to please and accept was the man responsible for ruining the lives of millions of people.
That was when everything that happened during his time as a hero finally caught up to him as reality finally begun to sank in. Maestro promptly doubled over and threw up.
Notes:
+This chapter is incredibly short due to the fact that this is meant as an interlude before the main events take place and the catalyst of the story. I'm aware that this chapter should have been published way before I posted the first draft of Chapter One, but after seeing the season five finale of Miraculous Ladybug (ugh), I realized that writing this was essential because not only was it handled poorly, but I'm going to be re-editing all of my chapters to this fic before posting what will be Chapter Four. I would also like to mention that this fic disregards the season four and five and completely disregards the season five finale since it was horrendously bad.
Chapter 2: Media Storm - Paris Edition
Notes:
Chapter Posted: 3/16/23
Word count: 3845+Yes I created this because I binged watched all the Marvel movies in a marathon and thought that the elements of the miraculous would fit nicely.
+This is a side project of mine but I have no problem updating this if it gains traction.
+About half the class has turned sixteen including Maestro (who turned sixteen on April 28th) so they should be in Lycée but I decided to keep the name College Francois DuPont.
+I was actually inspired by a Fic I read while back called “ the reports associated with my existence have been significantly misconstrued” which had amazing social media representation and world building as well as a natural DC crossover. Chefs kisses all around 😘
Tap this to see content warnings
CW: brief mentions of grief, mentions of terrorism, implied child abuse, and some angst.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
De : Mary Weslume
Hawkmoth, the publicly known villain of Paris, was brought to justice four hours ago
After three years of pain, death and misery, our heroes have put an end to Hawkmoth once and for all.
Parisians and the rest of France were shocked to learn that the Hawkmoth Terror had come to an end. At 6:30 p.m., Beetle, Chat Noir, and law enforcement apprehended the masked villain, who turned out to be none other than famed fashion designer Gabriel Lafayette Agreste.
The fate of the Agreste brand and his son remains uncertain. Following a police investigation into the Hotel Agreste, Emilie Agreste's body was discovered and rushed to hospital where she was declared brain dead. She died several hours later because her body was off the homeostatic regulator.
This tragic event left many questions unanswered. What will become of the Agreste family? How will this affect the fashion industry? Will justice be served for the victims of Hawkmoth's reign of terror?
For more information on this developing story, please click on the link provided.
Published at 10h00 Copy Link View Comments 403.6k
(Tweets translated from French to English)
The Day We’ve Been Waiting For
The LadyBlog
Alya Cesaire | 56,000 shares
This just in! Parisians everywhere are breathing sighs of relief now that Hawkmoth has been detained. In a shocking turn of events the man behind Paris’s darkest era was the world famous Gabriel Agreste. Words cannot express the surprise and horror that I and millions of people feel today. Even now, it’s difficult to comprehend the fact that after a very three long years, Hawkmoth’s reign has come to end.
According to statements released by the Département de Police, DGSE, and the Direction de la Sécurité Territoriale several facts have been confirmed:
- After the police raided the Agreste Mansion, a secret location within the strong hold revealed hundreds of butterflies. It’s safe to assume that this eerie basement was his base of operations. Links to the pictures and statements are here: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3
- Agreste had been preserving the comatose body of Emilie Agreste (more information here) in a glass chamber that served the purpose of regulating homeostasis. Unfortunately, the hospital she was taken to had declared her brain dead and she passed away three hours later. The lead investigator suggests that the disappearance of Emilie Agreste over a year ago was the motive behind Hawkmoth’s obsession with obtaining the miraculous of Crimson Beetle and Chat Noir.
- M. Agreste’s assistant Mlle. Natalie Sancoeur was the villain, Mayura. She showed up on the scene about six months after Hawkmoth’s debut. She was mostly on the sidelines on the field but transcripts of her interrogation state that she covered Agreste’s tracks and was the mind behind his more destructive schemes. She will also be charged with terrorism as well as numerous other charges.
- The person behind discovering Gabriel’s secret identity was a man named Gaspard Guillaume, the bodyguard of Adrien Agreste. During an interview M.Guillaume he recounted that he saw Gabriel venturing into a door behind a painting of his wife and followed him. M. Guillaume had enough sense to record the interaction between Agreste and Mlle. Sancoeur. He states that he took pictures of his surroundings and notified CB and CN during the next akuma as well as the police. Link to the interview here
- His wife, Emilie Agreste has been found in his basement, if it could even be called that. An underground network of tubes, butterflies, and a high voltage energy supply connected to a device that stimulates a person's homeostasis. His wife's homeostasis. This revelation led to the police suspecting Gabriel of murdering his wife and hiding her in the basement of his home to hide the evidence.
It is clear that Gabriel Agreste has dug a hole so deep that he has no hope of climbing out. Taking in consideration excessive property, mass murder (dare I say genocide), terrorism, attempted murder of two child superheroes, and the most recent child abuse claim, it’s safe to say that Natalie Sancoeur and Gabriel Agreste will never see the sun again. More on this story here
Be sure to follow the LadyBlog’s official Twitter account @LadyBlogNews
Posted April 1, 7:36 pm
11,745 comments ❤️8,926 Likes Sorted by: Time
More on Adrien Agreste: Guilty or Innocent?
By News To You Network
As we were all made aware, earlier this month Hawkmoth was caught, arrested, and revealed to be our very own Gabriel Lafayette Agreste. During these past few years, Hawkmoth has carved himself a very special place in the hearts of children and adults alike. With him in confinement, there have been families who have called for his execution via guillotine with the justification that people close to them being killed during akuma attacks. Although they were brought back by Crimson Beetle’s miraculous cure. Death is a very common omen here in Paris as most people have died more than twice.
But where does the fate of his son- Adrien Agreste lie? Was he complicit or not?
Adrien Agreste
For those of you living under a rock, Adrien Louis De Vanilly Agreste is a sixteen year old French born Parisian model. His deceased mother Emile Agreste née De Vanily was a renowned English actress with her films in London giving her massive amounts of fame throughout England. At such a young age, he has already achieved high accolades in the modeling industry. But his credits aren’t only tied to the Gabriel Brand. Anyone who keeps up with his social media accounts would be aware that the young Agreste has been featured numerous magazines such as Délice D'orchidée, Vogue Paris, La Mode, and even Style Queen Magazine. (You can find his instagram here and his Twitter here). Links to the magazines are here: x x x x
Questionable rumors aren’t new to him as he has been in the center of the public since he was ten. But the most earth shattering of the bunch has to be the most recent one: Adrien Agreste aiding Hawkmoth in terrorizing Paris.
While his loyal fan base are hesitant to believe this theory, there is a small amount of the Parisian population who want him to be tried along side his father and assistant for his supposed crimes. But other than word of mouth and blood relation there is no real validity or substance in these accusations. In fact, there may be reason to believe that Adrien is just as much of a victim as the rest of Paris.
- Firstly, going over his past modeling shoots and commercial bookings, several eyewitness accounts from staff and set have reported that the boy was forced to work more hours than the law allows considering he is still a minor. There have also been claims that Gabriel Agreste booked model shoots scheduled for odd hours, ranging from early dawn to late at night, times where a growing teenager should still be asleep. So already we have forced child labor and violation of labor laws.
- Secondly, his attendance at College Francois DuPont. The young Agreste was officially enrolled at this gifted school when he was thirteen and has attended there ever since. But recent events reveal a very disturbing pattern. The staff and teachers were willing to acknowledge that Adrien was constantly being pulled out of school for random photo shoots during administered exams, schoolwork, or during lunch. Many students who agreed to be interviewed also theorized that Gabriel was holding the threat of being pulled out of school permanently over his head. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Gabriel has akumatized his classmates more than any other person in Paris. Purposely turning Francois DuPont into a cesspool of negative emotions doesn’t do well for creating a safe environment. Child endangerment should be added to the list of charges.
- Thirdly, his home life. Tack on the possible negligence, child labor, and child endangerment, M.Guillaume better known to the public as “Gorilla” told the CPS department about Adrien’s rabbit diet and how he was only allowed a specific number of calories a day. It doesn’t matter what anyone tries to claim about this boy because the signs of child abuse are as clear as day. Chloe Bourgeois, the daughter of Mayor Bourgeois confirmed that this had been going on since Adrien Agreste was ten years old. Gabriel Agreste is already facing fifty-seven charges so what’s one more for child abuse?
People have attempted to claim that fact he was never akumatized is proof of his supposed guilt, but the fact that was able to evade his father’s grasp while living in these conditions is remarkable. Arrangements for Adrien’s new guardianship and his testimony against his father and assistant are still being kept hidden from the public but it has been theorized that his former bodyguard, Gaspard Guillaume will be his legal guardian until he turns eighteen. Fans are adamant that this is true since as of April 10th all of his social media accounts have been changed from ‘Agreste’ to ‘Guillaume’.
Follow us on our Twitter page @NTYNFrance for more stories like this one
Published April 11th, 9:45 am
Three weeks Later - April 27th
Paris, France - Sabine & Tom Boulangerie Passterrie - Maestro’s bedroom - 4:00 pm
Truly, it had been a far messier media circus than he anticipated.
In the weeks following the defeat of Hawkmoth and Mayura, a lot had happened. So much had happened that Maestro Dupain-Cheng found it difficult to wrap his head around.
Gabriel Agreste had been the only suspect that he and Chat Noir (who was Adrien) could think of. With the now disgraced fashion designer possessing a book about past miraculous holders Maestro had been all for investigating the matter further. They only dropped it when Gabriel Agreste was akumatized, believing it to be a false accusation. Looking back on it, it was really the wrong call to make.
Seeing as he had been right the first time, it was that piece of evidence on April 1st that unleashed an unstoppable tsunami of emotions that flooded Paris and France at large. Now that the man was being locked up and awaiting trial, that had been the final spark that resulted in bursting emotional epiphanies.
Fights between friends erupted, several couples were being divorced, relationships were ruined, people were fired, and kids finally expressing their valid anger and sadness. Everything seemed to shut down as every Parisian worked through the emotions they had worked so hard to bury.
But it wasn’t entirely melancholy. After the first week of very much needed negativity, jubilation had been quick to follow.
Practically everyone was calling loved ones from all around the globe which resulted in high phone traffic. Alya had called him to complain about how the LadyBlog crashed after releasing the announcement. Loud and rambunctious parties were thrown that lasted from as late as 10:00 pm to as early as 4:00 am with thousands of people in attendance. The police didn’t even bother writing up noise complaint fines as they too were participating. All over the internet, people were making up memes of Hawkmoth/Gabriel Agreste and “Things We Can Do Once Gabriel and Natalie Are In Prison”. His parents had been called in as caterers for thirteen different parties and events, so they were raking in dough by the thousands. One guy had ordered five hundred muffins and passed them to anyone he could find while singing a popular French song ‘Papaoutai’ by Stromae. Schools were closed for a week due to teachers and students alike calling in sick, possibly from partying too hard and not getting enough sleep. Various bourgeoisie and royalty related hashtags were trending on Twitter and instagram with each trying to secure the number one spot. #Off with his head was holding on tightly to first place.
To say it was a frenzy of emotions was the understatement of the century. Especially for Maestro.
The butterfly themed villain had been the bane of his existence since the raven head had been chosen to wield the Ladybug miraculous at twelve turning thirteen years old. Three weeks ago, he honestly couldn’t believe what was happening in front of him as he tore that damn broach off of of Hawkmoth’s tacky costume. Because he was under the pretense he’d be stuck fighting a losing battle until his adult years.
Everything had been a blur after that. Documenting both Nooroo and Duusuu’s statements for an official police report, participating in interviews for numerous news channels and stations for his take on the situation in place, he and Chat Noir revealing their identities to each other, and tending to the traumas of both Peacock and Butterfly kwamis left him drained until his body eventually gave out and shut down.
Maestro proceeded to sleep for thirty-two hours straight, a sensation he missed from all the time spent doing nightly patrols around the city. When he he woke up, he still felt exhausted but the designer couldn’t deny that he felt far better than he had in years.
When the initial shock of saving an entire city and defeating a violent emotional terrorist finally wore off, his floodgate of tears finally opened. Clutching both broaches in his hands, Maestro finally cried. He cried real tears for the first time since he watched Master Fu disappear from his life at the subway after Miracle Queen. All the emotions he had kept locked away in his heart finally breaking through when he came to terms with the fact that he and Chat Noir were free now.
Hawkmoth had been like a weight on his shoulders that threatened to crush him, something that kept him from being truly happy and being able to enjoy life. Now it was all over. Tikki and the other kwamis had cuddled him as he cried tears of anguish and muted joy. Nooroo and Duusuu sobbed with him, their gratitude at being freed from their cruel holders becoming too much to bottle up.
***Three weeks later and Maestro was fairing a lot better than he has in a long time. While he still had a lot of unspoken traumas he needed to work through (possibly with the help of a therapist), he knew it in his heart that everything would be okay. In fact, after his meltdowns and abnormally long naps, the teenager decided that thrusting himself back into fashion designing was the best way to cope. Especially now that he had free time. But more than that…
Maestro scribbled in his sketchbook in front of him as he sat on his chaise, determined to find an escape from reality, even for a short while. The other kwamis in the room offered suggestions of what colors and sizes he should use for his latest project.
"Tikki, I already told you that it’s fine! Really!” Maestro tried to convince the kwami of creation exasperatedly as he watched the red goddess keep his attention away from his sketches.
The tiny deity wasn’t having any of it, though. “No way, Maestro! After all the trouble you went through to bring Hawkmoth to justice, you deserve a break. You can always research other miraculous another day,” her argument was backed up by the other animal themed gods who voiced their agreements. The “research” in question was handing precariously in Tikki’s tiny arms.
He turned away from Tikki to face the other kwamis who were out and about from the miracle box and rubbed his eyes. “I know taking breaks is important, but I'm still freaked out about finally arresting Hawk- I mean Gabriel Agreste. Not to mention the fact that Adrien was under the roof of serial terrorists for years, Tikki. I can't go back to a normal life after this mess,” he said with imploring as he carded his hand through his freshly cut hair since it had been a while since he last got a haircut. Maestro understood why they were pushing this as it had been a while since he was allowed leisure time. But Adrien's radio silence amidst the chaos of the press and media was very concerning. He hadn't heard a word from his best friend in a while.
Shaking his head to dispel the clawing at his insides, Maestro threw himself back into designing. The noirette was in the middle of planning a new clothing line of ‘Fuck Hawkmoth,’ ‘Long Live CB and CN,’ and ‘Off with His Head’ merchandise. Those tags and slogans were becoming increasingly popular with the Parisian youth and elders alike. Getting his spark of creativity, Maestro jumped onto the trend and released several pieces, bucket hats, hoodies, dress shirts, sweaters, t-shirts, and even jewelry. Orders were coming in like there was no tomorrow, people wanting at least one piece of the collection before it went out of stock on his website, and the designer was having difficulty staying on top of it all. He was on the ninth box of orders which was ready to be shipped off and delivered. The back breaking work was not without reward. His Hawkmoth merchandise gained him a hefty online following on his official MDC accounts and a generous sum of money.
He had originally planned on reading through the grimoire he and Chat Noir had managed to retrieve from Mayura and Hawkmoth, but the kwamis adamantly opposed this, citing that Maestro needed to save his strength, not just for his wellbeing, but for the numerous press conferences and interviews he'd inevitably be roped into attending. Maestro groaned, dropping his head into his hands, wanting for nothing more than for the ground to swallow him whole.
“Guardian,” Wayzz hovered closer to him while crossing his adorable little arms, “It has been three weeks since Hawkmoth was taken down. You’ve pushed yourself past your limits for the past couple of years. I’m telling you this as an ancient god: you need a break,” the turtle kwami’s voice left no room for argument. Maestro opened his mouth to try anyway before Pollen beat him to it.
"We’re all excited by the idea of more miraculous being out there and the possibility of having more siblings, but we can’t make you do more than you already do for us, my king,” the bee themed animal goddess’ eyes were sincere and full of concern that it made Maestro pause momentarily. The noirette was aware that the kwamis felt like they were burden on him. Sure, placing tiny gods with the most powerful weapons in existence was a lot of pressure on a fifteen-year-old kid set to turn sixteen the next day, but he would never change a thing!
Maestro’s eyes softened as he addressed the kwamis, “Guys, your concern means the world to me. It does. But helping you isn’t a burden. You may be ageless beings but I want you to be happy too,” the designer smiled slightly as Duusuu burst into tears at his declaration.
”You’re so kind and noble! Your heart is made of gold!” The blue peacock kwami wept loudly and grabbed Daizzi in a hug. The pig kwami was slightly startled but soon accepted the gesture and comforted the emotional goddess. It had been far too long since any of the kwamis were able to hold Duusuu during her emotional outbursts. They missed this dearly.
"Take it from us Guardian,” Maestro’s attention was soon grabbed by the kwami of illusion who seemed very laid back as he flew in circles in the air, “You’ve earned a vacation. Just take it easy for a while”.
"Yeah!” Xuppu chirped in agreement. The monkey was currently dancing along the teenager’s arm while, “Just have fun being kid! Getting into trouble, goofing off, and taking risks even though you’ll regret them later. Hawkmoth’s gone so now there’s nothing keeping you from being happy! Your birthday’s tomorrow for crying out loud!” The monkey ended his part by laughing his little head off.
Maestro sighed, knowing that the animal themed gods and goddesses weren’t going to let this go. Seeing as more of them were in agreement with Xuppu that he needed time to be a teenager, he finally relented.
The noirette sank down on his chaise lounge and began folding more pieces of merchandise into an empty cardboard box in front of him. The kwamis watched him curiously before he looked up at them with a smile, “Maybe you guys are right. A hiatus does sound nice and it’ll help clear my mind,” god knows how much of a scrambled mess his brain is from all the stress.
”Don’t worry, Guardian! We’ll help you with that,” Stompp offered before diving into the pile of merchandise clothing and assisted Maestro in folding them and placing them in the box. The other kwamis quickly following behind to help the noirette speed up the process. They joyous atmosphere was enough to lift his spirits and take his mind off his problems for a few hours. It was going to be all right.
{Transcript of the Official Statement from Head of the School Board Pierre Janvier, April 17 2023}
Following the defeat of a national terrorist and the subsequent lifting of oppressive atmosphere in Paris, it has been decided that several trips away from the city would be appropriate for students to properly process their excitement.
Statistics have shown that teenagers and high schools have had the highest rates of akumatization in Paris. To help them recover from this traumatizing ordeal, a four-month long trip for students to discover more about the world around them as well as compensation for the emotional ramifications they’ve suffered has been proposed.
Different countries will be chosen at random and the selected high school will be going abroad there. Several permissions must be signed as well as at least four chaperones to eligible to attend. A passport is a requirement to be able to get on the flight. Hotel arrangements, tours, and passenger seats will all be funded by the school board as well as the government.
This is not just a paid vacation. Students will be expected to shadow a chosen school in the country they will be staying in as well as complete online assignments on Google Classroom to keep up with their curriculum. A written essay on their experience is expected to be submitted to the school board which will have the same grade weight as a final exam.
After the last couple of years of chaos, this seems like an appropriate decision to make for the Parisian youth. More information will be provided by your respective schools.
Head of Commission Scolaire,
Pierre Janvier
Replies/comments to this tweet:
(Tweets translated from French to English)
Notes:
+Male!Marinette’s name is Maestro because it’s Italian in origin meaning ‘master’. Considering the fact that Tom Dupain is half Italian, it would make sense for him to want his child to have an Italian name.
+I used a fake tweet generator. The link is here and free for use: https://www.tweetgen.com/
+I gave Adrien’s bodyguard a name because I was not going to have him being called ‘Gorilla’ for the entire story. That and the fact that Gaspard Guillaume has a nice ring to it.
+After sitting on it for a while (and using picker wheel), I decided that social media and news media would be a big part of this Fic because let’s face it, these are teenagers and Marvel Movies themselves have a lot of emphasis on the media. Plus it looks cool.
+Maestro sleeping for thirty two hours straight was just his body’s way of catching up on all of the all nighters he pulled while he was Crimson Beetle.
+The entire city is high on emotions right now and I imagine it will last for months to come.
+Direction de la Sécurité Territoriale: The French equivalent of the American FBI which operates under the Ministry of the Interior.
DGSE: (Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure) The French equivalent of the American CIA and is attached to the ministry of the Armed Forces.+ I used @adorelvcas from Twitter and Instagram for Adrien’s face claim because he looks like Adrien’s real life equivalent. Since this is the Marvel Cinematic universe, I will be using face claims for every major mlb character to act as their realistic counterpart.
+After debating on it with my sister for a while, this became a Post-Hawkmoth defeat story because I’ve never seen one of those featuring Male Marinette before. Next update should come in a week from now.
+My tumblr is now up and I will answer asks, submissions, and more about this Fic: www.tumblr.com/lily-pad-amphibian
Chapter 3: Jet Lag from Paris to Manhattan
Summary:
My tumblr: https://lily-pad-amphibian.tumblr.com/
For asks, lore, and more about this story
Notes:
Chapter Posted: 4/14/22
Word count: 5523+Back with the tweets again! Little snippets of the akuma class using Twitter to document their time in America will be a regular thing throughout this Fic 😁
+Maestro is not so subtlety throwing shade at Lila on Twitter. I thought it would be hilarious to open the chapter by demonstrating Maestro’s distaste for Lila.
+I used embedded links for the class’ clothing because I wasn’t about to sit down and describe it all in vivid detail. Besides, the story seems more alive with actual pictures. More on Maestro’s clothes, since he is Marinette’s male counterpart, I don’t think his style of clothes would change because of his gender. Hence, the sunflower shirt and sneakers.
+The Charles de Gaulle Airport is a real airport located in Paris, France. Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, in French Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, formerly known as Roissy Aéroport, it is the largest international airport in France serving Paris and Île-de-France region. CDG Airport is located 23 kilometers (14 miles) northeast of Paris, in the town of Roissy. Charles de Gaulle Airport is named after Charles de Gaulle, who not only was the leader of the Free French Forces during WWII, he also founded the French Fifth Republic and was the president of France from 1959 to 1969. CDG Airport is a hub for Air France, Air France Cargo and FedEx Express and a focus city for airlines such as AirFrance Hop, easyJet and Vueling. I’m using real world locations in this Fic because as it’s overlapping with the MCU. I added in the addition of pictures because it makes this project that much more fun to write.
+The Museum at FIT is best known for its innovation and award-winning exhibitions, the museum has a permanent collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the eighteenth century to the present.
+ The Central Park Zoo is a 6.5-acre zoo located at the southeast corner of Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Tap this to see content warnings
CW: brief mentions of grief (losing a parent), mentions of terrorism, implied child abuse, angst, and mentions of therapy.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Replies/Comments to this Tweet:
Day of the Trip - April 30th
Paris, France - The Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport - Waiting section - 6:24 am
The tall noirette teenager stretched his limbs to relieve the numb feeling coursing through his muscles. He truly despised waking up so early in the morning. The feeling was amplified after one too many early bird akumas.
Maestro opened his exhausted eyelids and surveyed his surroundings. Students and random passersby alike chattered aimlessly, their words bleeding into other sentences leaving behind an incoherent string of rapid French that he couldn’t understand.
His classmates were the most enthusiastic of the bunch.
Alya was practically vibrating in her seat next to him as she eagerly shoved her phone in Nino’s face as she squealed about all the places they’d be visiting during their stay in Manhattan.
He could faintly pick up the sound of (gag ) Lila’s voice as she prattled on about how her very close friends at Balenciaga wanted to offer her a modeling job in the States but had to decline due to wanting to stay in Paris with her friends to anyone who would listen.
Kim and Alix were loudly arguing over who could eat the most American food.
Nathaniel was quietly sketching by himself with his earbuds in. It was clear that he was in ‘do not disturb’ mode.
Max was adjusting Markov’s camera settings and memory disc, presumably as a means to properly document their vacation for the media journal he and Sabrina were working on.
Speaking of Sabrina, the ginger was currently revising the pre planned schedule that he, Sabrina, and Ms. Bustier meticulously put together.
Rose was firing questions at Juleka as to what they should do once they landed on American soil while Juleka was communicating with unintelligible mumbles that only the pixie blonde seemed to understand.
Mylene and Ivan were playing digitized tic tac toe on Ivan’s phone as they waited for their flight to be called.
Chloe sat on the other side of the waiting area, completely uninterested in what the others were doing, and her eyes glued to her phone screen. Her ankle monitor was noticeably absent.
The other classes were practically vibrating with adrenaline as they were about to attend Francois DuPont’s first abroad school trip - but the students of Bustier’s class were the most eager.
Maestro finally tuned into the conversation that Alya was having with Nino when the reporter turned her attention to him and chirped, “I seriously can’t wait to take pictures of everything in New York. It’s still so unbelievable that we’re actually going to the States!”
The noirette smiled brightly at Alya. He may have been tired but this trip (vacation) was something he was looking forward to just as much as his best friend. “I’m pretty stoked, too. The aesthetic will look great for my instagram and Twitter”.
“I’m looking forward to the opera and broadway the most. It’s bound to inspire me for potential film ideas, but I’m mostly in it to chill,” Nino chuckled and leaned back into the comfy chair.
“What I’m really excited about is the Museum at FIT. Only the greatest works of fashion get featured there. I’ll be looking at America’s greatest fashionable items! I’m so glad I brought my sketchbook!” Maestro gushed as he could almost see himself wandering around the museum like a kid in a candy store.
Alya playfully rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics and a smile graced her features. “You are such a fashion enthusiast”.
“Babe, I don’t think you should be calling someone an enthusiast after you fangirled over the Avengers for fifty minutes straight when you found out we’d be going to New York”.
“Don’t judge me Nino! You were just as excited as I was! You can’t tell me that Captain America isn’t your favorite”.
“Captain America? That man’s costume is an eyesore . I can’t believe the Avengers are willing to be seen with him in public. It looks like America barfed all over him.”
“Take that back! He’s a national treasure!”
“Never!”
In his hair, he could feel Tikki, Pollen, and Longg chortling at what they were hearing. Maestro always had a sharp tongue whenever it came to costume design. He was like Edna Mode in that way.
Further bickering between Maestro and Nino on the topic of Captain America’s poor fashion choice came to a halt when they heard a voice that they hadn't heard in weeks call out to them.
“Hey guys!” The trio turned around to see Adrien bounding towards them, taking long leaps. That was all they needed to jump out of their leather seats, sprinting in the blonde’s direction. The teenagers nearly toppled over as they all embraced each other in a heartfelt hug.
“Dude, I was so worried when you weren’t answering my calls or responding to my texts!” Nino exclaimed after they were done crushing Adrien. “Don’t scare me like that!”
“I’m so sorry about your da- M. Agreste. I knew he was a terrible parent but I never thought — I hope you’re okay, Adrien.” Alya placed her hand on the blonde’s shoulder, her wide gray eyes looking at him with melancholy.
Adrien put on his most reassuring smile to try and ease his friends’ worry, “It has been… a lot. With the media, press, and the brand closing in. I’m supposed to begin therapy when we start the new school year.”
Alya, Nino, and Maestro exchanged looks. The noirette was aware that Adrien’s living situation was… bleak at best and abusive at worst. Gabriel Agreste oppressed every aspect of Adrien’s life, both as Hawkmoth and his ‘father’. He could tell that the former model was in more pain than he was letting on. Therapy was probably the most effective way for him to heal.
Maestro stepped forward and took Adrien’s hand in both of his. “Adrien, no matter what happens, we’ll always be on your side. We won’t rush you,but you can come to us if you need someone to talk to.” Blue eyes met green with a promise. Chat Noir and Crimson Beetle against the world, always and forever.
Adrien's lips curled into a smile. It was small but genuine.
The quartet of friends were soon joined by the rest of the class, as their little reunion garnered the attention of those around them. The students of Mme. Bustier’s class fretted over Adrien, having been worried sick due to his radio silence over their two weeks off school.
Chloe seemed to be at a loss for words and looked to be contemplating what she could say to comfort her former friend. Her eyes caught Maestro’s and she scowled, turning away from the class’ frenzy altogether. She was clearly no longer interested in saying what she planned to say.
Mme. Bustier clapped her hands loudly, bringing the class’ attention to her. “Alright, class. Make sure to stay with your seating buddy when we board the plane. And pay attention because our flight could be called at any time. There will be no running on the stairs, no horseplay, and no fighting. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Madame,” the class answered.
They moved to stand next to their assigned seating partner; Nino with Kim, Adrien with Alix, Ivan with Juleka, Rose with Nathaniel, Lila with Mylene, Max with Mme. Bustier, Maestro with Sabrina and Chloe with Alya.
The class collectively winced when that pairing was made, knowing that the aspiring reporter and bourgeoisie girl absolutely hated each other. Maestro and Lila nearly being paired up also brought tension into the class. Luckily, the picker wheel landed on Sabrina, saving the noirette from an insufferable plane ride.
Ever since Officer Raincomprix forbade his daughter from spending time with Chloe Bourgeois after Queen Wasp, Sabrina really began to crawl out of her shell. Without Chloe domineering the redhead’s actions, Sabrina slowly began to thrive. Anyone with half a brain and one eye could see that their friendship was incredibly toxic and debilitating for her. The teachers began intervening and separated Chloe and Sabrina at every turn. Maestro was pretty sure he spoke for everyone (besides Chloe) that forcibly destroying their “friendship” was for the best.
Maestro didn't object when Bustier selected Sabrina and him to be partners the day before. The ginger haired girl was far more pleasant to be around when she wasn’t waiting on Chloe hand and foot. While some of his classmates were more hesitant to accept her in their friend groups due to her history of being complicit in Chloe’s schemes, Sabrina and Max got along like a house on fire. Rose and Mylene were also willing to extend an olive branch.
Speaking of which, Miss Rich and Terrible looked less than pleased with her pairing if her glaring daggers at Alya was any indication, which she had no problem obnoxiously voicing. “Madame, why do I have to spend my time with this wannabe?! This is exactly why I wanted to ride first class! Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” Chloe flipped her hair and side eyed Alya who glared and muttered something that she would never repeat in front of her parents.
Mme. Bustier’s ocean blues sharpened slightly, and her smile straightened ever so slightly. If Maestro’s superhero career hadn't depended on his ability to read people to gauge the next akuma, he would’ve missed it. “Chloe, we’ve been over this. If you have nothing nice to say about your classmates, then keep it to yourself.”
Maestro fought the smirk that was forcing its way on his face when Chloe glowered in anger and humiliation, hating that she’d been chastised publicly in front of their class who she viewed as beneath her high heels. “Sorry, Madame,” the heiress looked constipated at having to apologize. Maestro remembered a time when Mme. Bustier wouldn’t have blinked twice at Chloe’s insults. Their homeroom teacher always encouraged them to invite Chloe to class outings and be open to forgiveness when Chloe did something that was below the belt. But a lot has changed since then.
Chloe’s involvement in the nearly deadly train accident a year ago severely shifted the way people viewed her. Those who were unfortunate enough to be present on the train filed lawsuits against her for endangering their lives with a stolen miraculous. For once in her life, Chloe had dug herself a hole too deep to crawl out of even with Mayor Bourgeois’ help. For years, Chloe’s behavior was overlooked, brushed underneath the rug, or in work case scenarios – ignored, so the fact that she was up to her shoulders in legal woes came as such a surprise.
When Chloe didn’t return to class for a few days, everyone had assumed that she was hiding out in her father father’s hotel to wait out the media circus that erupted after Maestro, as Crimson Beetle, read her the riot act on live television and told her off for the filth that she was. With Nadja Chamack recording the verbal beatdown.
Watching Chloe be completely decimated in court and appointed with an ankle monitor at all times felt like a long time coming.
In the not so shocking ruling, the judge presiding over the case declared that Chloe's pattern of behavior over the years had exacerbated and led to near-grievous manslaughter. Her selfish and borderline sociopathic behavior was left unchecked for so long that her antics had escalated to a dangerous level.
The character witness testimonies of Chloe’s trial caused a severe backlash. The testimonies detailed at length the cruelty that Chloe had shown others, which led many to question the adults surrounding her. What exactly was happening behind closed doors for her antics to reach such a devastating level? Maestro didn’t have all the details, but he heard via grapevine that Chloe had court mandated therapy sessions and weekly visits from Services de Protection de L’enfance to locate the source of the cesspool of negativity that was fermenting in her home life.
Francois Dupont’s staff also had the book thrown at them during urgent inspections done by the board. The very long list of complaints was far from pretty and the school board’s evaluation of the lycée resulted in nearly every policy being changed. Bustier and other teachers had been pulled out of school for several weeks to attend meetings with the Commision Directors concerning their conduct. Whatever they discussed in those meetings irrevocably changed the way Francois Dupont operated.
TikTok of Francois Dupont graduates admonishing the school quickly went viral. Various alumni had alleged that the blatant elitism, classism, and favoritism had been present in the school years before Chloe even began attending. One former student -- Allan Montgomery -- had asserted in his very scathing recollection about his time as a student that the lawsuits and catastrophic downfall of the cursed school was inevitable.
The outrage from both the media and parents was insane and Francois Dupont's reputation was officially solidified as absolute rubbish. In the days following the TikToks accusing the school, more than half of the students were transferred out, their parents no longer trusting the staff with the safety of their children. The school had to be closed for several weeks due to the increasing size of the wild mob and their threats to burn the school to the ground.
When Mme. Bustier returned (Maestro suspected she had been given a severe warning), she was quick to intervene when there was a conflict. This is in stark contrast to her usual "let them figure it out for themselves" approach. She even sent Chloe to detention after the blonde decided that the best way to make herself feel better about her current situation was to make everyone else feel worse. And it wasn’t like Andre Bourgeois could follow through with his threats of shutting down the school either. With the mayor being under public scrutiny over his daughter flying off the handle, any move made by him that would enable Chloe’s brattiness would result in the end of his political career.
Maestro assumed Mme. Bustier felt primarily responsible for Chloe's fate, and that her enabling techniques, which resulted in people nearly being murdered in a train catastrophe, were what shook her up. Her approach of making amends was to scold Chloe anytime she said something overly nasty.
For the first time in years, Maestro had felt some pressure leaving his shoulders, especially since Madame Bustier had stopped pushing her "All the Maestros of the world need to be patient with the Chloes" rhetoric and was forced to be a good role model herself.
When their flight was called over the intercom, Maestro proceeded to follow Mme. Bustier to get their boarding passes checked and walked down the long hallway that led to their plane. He had to squint his eyes slightly to prevent the sun from shining into them due to the abundance of windows.
Sabrina turned to him amidst the chatter of their classmates. “Hey, do you wanna play animal crossing with me when we board the plane?” she asked.
Maestro’s cheeks flushed slightly, and he chuckled, “Sure thing Sabrina. But you have to help me with setting up my island.” Animal Crossing was pretty popular, and it was absolutely Sabrina’s favorite video game aside from Roblox. Heaven knows that there was no surpassing her when it came to video game wealth. Not even he could beat her, and he was a video game enthusiast as much as he was in fashion. Sabrina made a great gaming buddy as well as Max and Adrien and Maestro enjoyed playing with her.
Sabrina’s eyes lit up with joy as she rambled about her newest skins and purchases in the game and Maestro listened intently.
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Manhattan, New York - Kimpton Ink 48 Hotel - Lobby - 1:30pm
“Man, am I glad to finally stand and stretch after sitting all day,” Kim said, his back audibly cracking as he stretched his sore muscles.
The former akuma class were all situated in the hotel lobby after arriving by coach bus a few minutes prior. Maestro agreed with Kim’s sentiment, especially with how sore his limbs were. He couldn’t wait to start exploring the city with his classmates tomorrow.
Alix snorted as she grabbed her luggage, “What’d you expect? We spent seven hours in the air cooped up in our seats with no end in sight. Of course you’re going to feel sore.”
“Yeah, but I bet I could get to my room faster than you even with sore muscles,” Kim boasted proudly, causing Max to facepalm. The action nearly knocked off his black rimmed glasses.
“You do realize that Madame Bustier has yet to deliver our room keys right?” Max stared at Kim unimpressed.
“Max, if you’re afraid that Alix has no chance against me, just say that.”
“As if! I’d beat you in a race any day!”
“Keep dreaming short stacks!” And as if to emphasize his point, Kim held his hand to measure Alix’s admittedly unimpressive height.
Maestro snickered at Alix and Kim’s bickering. Truly they could turn anything under the sun into a debate, argument, or competition.
“You guys are so funny!” Came Lila’s shrill and unwelcome voice. To her it may have sounded sweet but Maestro’s ears found it as more of a screech.
Lila had her long brown locks in a neat high ponytail with parts of her hair framing her face. Thankfully they lacked her signature sausages that the Italian always insisted on wearing.
Kim ground his teeth together while Alix looked to be stomaching the venom she wanted to hurl all over Lila. “You two sort of remind me of Bucky and Steve,” her eyes widened in faux surprise and she gasped with her manicured hand over her mouth as if that slip up was accidental. “Whoops! I shouldn’t have said anything!”
The reaction was instantaneous. The class clamored up to Lila, curious about the information she ‘accidentally’ revealed.
“Girl, you know the Avengers?! Personally?!” Alya screeched in excitement. Heroes were her passion after all.
Lila smiled sheepishly, as if flustered by the sudden influx of attention on her. She was the perfect picture of an embarrassed innocence. “Well, yes I do. But they want me to keep it on the down low. Since they have so many enemies, they’re worried I might become a target.”
Sabrina sighed like she was already done with everything having to do with New York despite being there for an hour. Max facepalmed and this time he did knock his classes off his face. Kim was making gagging motions and Alix looked just about ready to leave altogether. Maestro shared a weary look with Nino and Adrien, both wanting to sink into the floor in second hand embarrassment.
Lila may have half of the class enthralled by her, but there were those who knew better (Adrien, Max, Sabrina, Chloe, Mme. Bustier and himself) and those who didn’t think she was a liar but disliked her due to viewing her and a self centered braggart (Nino, Alix, and Kim). He suspected that Juleka was also aware of Lila’s lying habits but was keeping quiet to avoid upsetting Rose.
“You’ve got to give me all the deets girl! Everyone knows the Avengers are the best superhero team out there!” Alya exclaimed, completely enamored by the fact that her other bestie knew literal superheroes. It made Maestro wish so hard that they would encounter the Avengers in public so Lila’s lies would be exposed to the entire class by someone she used to gain more popularity, no matter how unlikely that was.
Really, Maestro’s luck operated in very unconventional ways.
“Sure thing Alya. But we need to do it in secret. Someplace where prying ears can’t hear,” Lila whispered with her finger on her lip in the universal signal for silence. Clearly, she understood the risk of associating herself with some of the most famous people in the world while in the primary country of their operations and this was her way of covering her tracks. Maestro could admit that she’s gotten more clever over the years.
Well… almost.
“Mlle. Rossi, I’m quite certain that we’ve had this conversation when we explained the guidelines of this trip. We’re no longer in Paris, meaning that your condition will just get you into heaps of trouble. Am I understood?” M. D'Argencourt’s voice was clipped as his eyes narrowed at Lila in annoyance, presumably miffed about the rule she’s already broken only an hour into their stay in New York.
The fencing instructor’s words only served to confuse the students but Lila growled and lowered her head at the thinly veiled scolding, “Yes Monsieur.”
Maestro stifled a sigh of relief, glad that M. D’Argencourt managed to put an end to another one of Lila’s fibs. The other teachers who taught their class hadn’t believed Lila’s claims of having a ‘lying disease’ and made sure to monitor her closely ever since her attempt at getting him expelled. Tikki, Longg, and Pollen clearly agreed with him, if their near silent sighs of relief were anything to go by.
Before asking his parents to sign the permission slip, he did extensive research to understand what he should and shouldn’t expect. And one of things he should expect are purse snatchers which were abundant in this part of Manhattan. With that in mind he forwent his signature black cross body bag he used for transporting Tikki and the other kwamis around with being seen. His hair made for the only decent alternative with how thick it was. Though, he had an irritating itch on his scalp for hours and couldn’t wait to scratch it.
He was drawn out of his musings by Mme. Bustier approaching after getting their reservation and room keys from the receptionist. “Attention, students. I’m going to hand out your keys to your hotel rooms. Make sure to keep them with you at all times. Two people maximum per room. The person who has the same room number as you will be your roommate for the duration of this trip.”
Their homeroom teacher passed out their keys and let them shuffle around to find someone that had a matching room number. The lobby was a lot less crowded than it had been before since Mme. Mendeleiev’s class already received their keys and filtered out of the reception area to find their rooms. Even with less people, including M. Haprele and M. Guillaume, the bountiful amounts of luggage in every corner filled the otherwise large room to the brim.
Maestro locked at his designated room key, the white tag attached to the cold number spelled out where he would be staying. It was only a matter of who with.
He swiftly maneuvered around the suitcases littering the ground, his eyes surveying his friends as they paired up with their roommates. Rose and Alix gathered their belongings as they prepared to head up the stairs, Max and Nathaniel were roommates, as were Sabrina and Alya, and Lila and Mylene. Kim, Ivan and Nino were triple bunking. Juleka wasn’t sharing with anyone and Chloe had her father pay for her own hotel room in the luxury suite coupled with room service, so she had no roommate either. That only left—
“Looks like we’re roommates, Beetle,” Adrien chirped and held out his keys to show the white tag with the matching room number on Maestro’s.
“Just know I call dibs on the bed next to the window, alley cat,” Maestro playfully flicked his friend’s forehead.
Adrien pouted playfully and for a minute, he seemed to forget all about his father and Mme. Sancoeur. “No fair! The window bed is the best bed. It has the perfect view of New York!”
“That’s exactly why I called dibs on it,” Maestro stated like it was obvious.
“Come on, Beetle! Please!”
“Sorry but no-can-do. You snooze, you lose!”
Adrien groaned in defeat.
Maestro was completely unapologetic as he made his way to the stairs, tugging along his large red suitcase and other bags of luggage. Adrien followed closely behind, pulling his two suitcases on his own after refusing M. Guillaume’s offer of shouldering them for him.
“I can’t wait to see the Central Park Zoo tomorrow. It’ll be nice to finally go out and see a ton of places while we’re here,” Adrien said as they rounded the second flight of stairs.
“Me too. Plus it’s twice as large as the local zoo Alya’s dad works for,” smiled brightly at witnessing Adrien’s excitement. He found Adrien’s enthusiasm refreshing. Considering what he’d been through for the past month including grieving his mother, Maestro was thankful for any kind of distraction, no matter how small or brief it may be.
“They've got sea lions, monkeys, and even a panther,” Adrien squealed happily. “I’m sure with Plagg’s influence the panthers will view me as one of their own!”
Maestro raised a thin eyebrow, his grin still in place. “By that logic, every animal I come across should be falling over their feet to get to me since I’m pretty much the personification of life and creation.” Courtesy of the Ladybug miraculous.
“Now that you mention it, you’re kind of like a Disney princess,” Adrien said with amusement.
Maestro cheeks reddened with confusion at the ex model’s claim as he squawked, “I’m a what now?”
“A Disney princess,” Adrien tapped his chin thoughtfully. Or as well as he could seeing as his arms were preoccupied with hoisting his suitcases up the polished staircase. “You’re kind, always willing to help others, animals seem to adore you.”
“You’re making it sound like they worship me or something.”
“It’s true,” Adrien said, still trying to convince Maestro of the point he was trying to make. “When you, Kagami and I hung out in the pet shop to avoid my bodyguard, all of the puppies, kittens, mice, snakes and basically everything alive had their eyes on you. It was really bizarre at the time. Kagami thought so, too.”
“I never noticed,” Maestro hummed. It wasn’t a lie. He’d been solely focused on making sure that Adrien enjoyed himself on what was supposed to be his day off from modeling. Looking back on it, every time he petted a puppy or focused his attention on a pet, they’d be especially delighted. At the time Adrien and Kagami weren’t in an official relationship, both too scared to bite the bullet. Whenever they felt like disobeying authority, the three of them would spend the day running all over the neighborhood and act like the reckless teenagers they were. When the trip came to an end, he hoped that they would resume their escapade shenanigans.
“I rest my case. Maestro Dupain-Cheng, you are a Disney princess,” Adrien laughed.
Their conversation came to a halt when they arrived on the fourth floor. Maestro spotted Chloe struggling to pull her large suitcase up the stairs.
Maestro and Adrien were the last pair to leave the lobby and their classmates most likely reached their rooms already to begin unpacking. He wanted to reach their room, which was on the third floor, to get the unpacking over with, but that seemed to be a moot point with Chloe blocking their way to the final flight of stairs.
They watched on for several seconds as Chloe strained her arms in a failed attempt at heaving her luggage up the stairs. She took on several ridiculous positions, the most notable being her back against her suitcase as she tried to shove it up the much too high steps with her knees slightly bent. Needless to say, the bag refused to budge an inch. Chloe’s beige stilettos didn’t make the task any easier.
“Ugh, why won’t this stupid thing move?!” she exclaimed in frustration as she threw her hands in the air.
If he were in a better mood, Maestro’s body would’ve been wracked with laughter at the sight of Chloe doing physical labor. Who’d have ever seen the day? But since his body ached all over and he desired to lie down on his light-as-air mattress to maybe squeeze in three hours of additional rest before dinner, his patience was running thin. Very thin.
Adrien must have had the same idea when he leaned in slightly to whisper, “…Should we…step in…?”
“Yes, we should,” Maestro grumbled, seeing no other choice. The elevator was an option, but it was packed with people who’d already checked into the hotel. No thank you.
They set their luggage to the side as they approached Chloe, who looked like she had run — and lost — a marathon.
Hearing their footsteps, Chloe straightened out her designer clothes and tossed her blonde curls over her shoulder to look presentable. She turned to face them and Maestro caught her slight eye roll as she addressed them. “What are you guys looking at?”
Maestro ignored her unamused tone, “We’re going to help you get your luggage up to your room. You're holding us up.”
Adrien shuffled uneasily. It had been a while since he’d last spoken to Chloe. The two didn’t talk much these days.
She regarded him with suspicion, waiting for the other shoe to drop, “Really?”. Maestro had never been enthusiastic about lending her a helping hand in the past, so he wasn’t offended by her tone of voice.
“Adrien you lift that side and I’ll get this side,” the noirette moved past her and positioned himself at the lower end of the rose embroidered suitcase at the bottom of the staircase while Adrien occupied the higher end.
“Three, two, one, lift!” Using their impressive strength, both ex heroes raised Chloe’s suitcase off the ground. The bundle was heavy, but not enough that Adrien and Maestro felt the need to slow down as they hobbled up the stairs with Chloe tracing behind them. Years of superhero activity and additional magic from their respective miraculous boosted their strength and endurance levels to an all time high. Carrying luggage up a flight of stairs severely paled in comparison.
“What floor are you on?” Adrien asked Chloe.
“I’m on the seventh floor, which is the luxury suite,” Chloe stated in her usual haughty voice.
Maestro blew the stray locks of hair from his eyes as he worked with Adrien to reach the seventh floor. The entire time, he could feel Chloe’s eyes on him as he held up his end of the suitcase. It wasn’t entirely new. He’s caught the blonde staring at him absentmindedly when she thought he wasn’t looking. His eyes are also guilty of wandering over to Chloe. But it wasn’t like he did it on purpose! She just so happened to be in his line of sight so he couldn’t help but take in her visage. It was…complicated.
And as usual, Chloe's eyes remained locked on him while she regarded him with an unreadable expression.
Three minutes later, the triad finally arrived on the seventh floor. Maestro and Adrien placed her suitcase on the polished marble floor as quietly as they could to prevent a loud thump.
“Phew, now that that’s taken care of, Let’s go finish hauling our stuff into our bedroom,” Adrien spun on his heel and made his way down the steps to get his luggage.
Maestro moved to follow him, wanting to get to their room already. Goodness, he had so much to unpack and organize that it was going to take him the better part of two hours to sort it all out-
“Dupain-Cheng.”
The addressed teenager looked over his shoulder slightly from his spot on the first step as he clutched the railing. “What is it?” he inquired with an eyebrow raised.
Chloe fumbled with her hands for a minute as if she was having difficulty getting the words out of her throat. What she said next left him at a loss for words.
“Thanks.”
His eyes went impossibly wide and his mouth hung open. Did Chloe Bourgeois — the Chloe Bourgeois — just thank him for his service?! Willingly?! Was there another Mayura active?! Because Chloe was acting more like a sentimonster that was tasked with replacing her.
Maestro opened his mouth to respond, but Chloe had turned around and marched briskly to her suitcase and began wheeling it to her suite.
The noirette always believed that Chloe was allergic to manners and basic decency but it looked like he’d been mistaken somewhat.
He filed away that interaction to reflect on it later.
The next two hours were spent neatly folding away clothes, arranging supplies, and tucking away money. He and Adrien joked and laughed the entire time, reminiscing over the more light hearted memories they had during Hawkmoth’s reign.
Adrien struggled to compose himself after a particularly rambunctious bout of laughter before quieting down.
Maestro placed the last of his shirts — his favorite gryffindor themed t-shirt — neatly into one of his draws.
“Finally done!” Maestro grunted as he threw himself onto his bed, the fluffy cotton mattress hugging him as he sunk into it. The feathery sensation was comfortable enough that he had no doubt he’d be lulled to sleep easily tonight.
“You almost finished, Chaton?” He turned his head to the left to look at Adrien.
“Yeah I am,” the blonde paused before fishing into one of the bags he brought with him and pulled out a flat box wrapped in yellow polka dotted wrapping paper with a red stick on bow. “Here. This is for you.” Maestro sat up from his pillowy heaven and strode towards Adrien, who held out the present for him to take.
The noirette tilted his head curiously as he examined the gift. “What is it?”
“Your birthday was two days ago and I wasn’t able to give you your gift. Consider this a late birthday present,” Adrien explained.
Maestro sat on Adrien’s bed and began peeling off the wrapping paper and removing the stick on bow. He folded the paper and placed it to the side. Opening the white box, the noirette eyes landed on a baby blue beanie tucked inside of it. On the rim the word ‘designer’ was spelled out in cursive with thick black thread.
“It looks amazing! I needed a beanie to complete my hat collection!” Maestro smiled jovially and caught Adrien in a massive hug. “Thank you so much!”
Adrien chuckled as he returned the hug.
Notes:
+The Chloe x Maestro bit was really short because I wanted to hurry and get this chapter out due to accidentally posting in while it was still a draft. There will be better ship moments and the Avengers make an appearance soon.
+I *was* thinking about making this an Alya bashing and class bashing fic but there is so much of that already and I decided to write them as ordinary teenagers: ones that make mistakes due to poor decision making and learning from them (yes that includes Chloe as well). I'm not going to nerf their intelligence like the writers did for them in canon. Besides I love Alyanette friendship, and it makes for great drama considering how close they are. Plus the herd mentality in canon is really annoying to sit through.
+Considering the way Lila carries herself when around her classmates, I feel like the class reception should be split up depending on their own personalities. One of the biggest gripes I have with this show is a lack of individual thought and how characters seem to just go along with majority. And I never understood how anyone could like being around Lila. Like, sure, she is nice and does claim to help with charities, but all she really does is talk about herself and how great she is. She constantly makes promises that have yet to be delivered, makes people do things for her (after using crocodile tears), and makes convenient excuses to get out of actually helping her classmates. Obviously with Lila's track record, she shouldn't be as adored as she is. In real life a person like that would be scorned by the masses. Not to mention the outrageous stories she tells about her life. Some people would pick up on the fact that she's nothing but a liar.
+ Bustier is a good teacher here. I hate the way she handles her class and canon, but I can't deny that the train incident should've been her wake up call to set Chloe straight because now her antics went far past normal middle school bullying. With her shiny new spine, Lila's lies in class wouldn't be able to fly, which is part of the reason people picked up on her lying habits and why trying to get Maestro expelled didn't work.
+Sabrina has her own character now 😃! After binging (and cringing) through Miraculous Ladybug in the name of research, I found it incredibly difficult to stomach Chloe and Sabrina’s “friendship” (aka master and slave relationship). It’s pretty obvious that in more ways than one, Sabrina is a long-term victim of Chloe. The extra homework, constant orders, and being treated as less than is bound to take a toll on anyone. So here, I had Sabrina break away from Chloe’s toxicity that worsened after Queen Wasp and slowly develop friendships with Max, Maestro, and Rose. Max/Sabrina or Maestro/Sabrina anyone??? #FreeSabrina
+Marinette is stated to be and avid video game lover in canon, and I will always headcanon that she has a collection of games that she regularly plays with her family and friends. Animal Crossing and Roblox are the fourth and eight most popular games in France, so I thought it would be clever to add those into the story. Since pop culture references are in the tags, real world games that teens love would make sense in being included. Sabrina being a video game nerd has always stuck with me while watching the show, plus it gives me an opportunity to create bonding time with Sabrina and Maestro. I know that this is supposed to be Chloe x Maestro, but Sabrina x Maestro is really starting to grow on me. What do you guys think?
+Birthdays of the Class: (*) Means they’re 16
Chloe Bourgeois- January 8th*
Max Kante- February 2nd*
Rose Lavillant- February 14th*
Nathaniel Kurtzberg- March 10th*
Adrien Agreste- March 18th*
Sabrina Raincomprix- April 3rd*
Maestro Dupain-Cheng- April 28th*
Alix Kubdel- May 12th
Mylene Haprele- June 27th
Juleka Couffaine- July 9th
Lê Chiến Kim- July 31st
Alya Cesaire- September 14th
Nino Lahiffe- October 12th
Lila Rossi- November 19th
Ivan Bruel- December 10th+As for Chloe, I decided to give her a redemption. But for that to happen, she needs to face actual consequences for her atrocious behavior. Thus, I included the ankle monitor and constant 24/7 supervision. Honestly, I believe that if Chloe was sixteen, she would have definitely be arrested on sight for trying to crash a train with *people*, including Marinette/Maestro and their parents, on sight. The class isn't wrong for not wanting to be around her or interacting with her unless they absolutely have to. Bullying your classmates and making the effort to let them know that you're aware that your behavior is disgusting does not ingratiate people towards you. Before she can be better, she needs to be held accountable for her past actions.
Chapter 4: If Maestro Were a Disney Princess, He'd be Snow White and Chloe Would be the Evil Queen
Notes:
Chapter Posted: 8/6/23
Word Count: 8,687
GOD, I'm so glad to finally get this chapter out. I'm so sorry this took so long. Writing this was like combing the skin of a kiwi fruit. Even now, I still think it can be improved, but whatever. That can be for another day.This chapter won't have as much media posts as the last few because it consists of more words and scenes than the last three chapters.
Tap this to see content warnings
CW: mentions of death, child abuse, terrorism, trauma, angst, and some chloe salt
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Zoo Outing - May 1st
Manhattan, New York - Kimpton Ink 48 Hotel - Living quarters - 7:40 am
Maestro swallowed down his scrambled eggs as he sat with Alya, Nino, and Adrien for breakfast that morning in the hotel’s restaurant. They were unlike anything he’s ever tasted before, mainly because he never traveled to the States before. As Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale’s personal designer, he’s been to many places and had several delicacies there. French scrambled eggs were made differently, he supposed.
He made a mental note to save some of his food for Tikki, Wayzz, and Sass, who were in his pockets. Wayzz and Saa expressed a desire to tag along for their zoo trip. Before leaving Paris, Maestro had promised the kwamis that he’d take two of them, including Tikki, out for each day of their trip so they could get fresh air and explore the streets of New York since they were always cooped up in Maestro’s room.
He tuned into the conversation that Alya was having with them about her journalistic opportunities.
“I’m telling you; it was so crazy!” Alya was in the middle of telling them about her internship at a local media station back in Paris. “I was editing my video footage for a new blog post a week after they were arrested and then I got an email from fucking France 24 about having me intern with them! They said my blog was an incredible source that provided investigators with mountains of evidence against them . The executives were impressed by my professionalism for my age and want to cultivate my talent! My parents are so proud of me!”
“That’s amazing Als! I always knew you’d be recognized for your talent someday. You’re a brilliant journalist,” Maestro congratulated his best friend. He truly was proud of her progress. What started as an admittedly ammateur fan blog became a widely known piece of media and was recognized as a credible source of information by legitimate media houses.
He mentally thanked Trixx for coming up with the idea of telling Alya to upload her Lila interviews onto a separate blog that she wasn’t using. Alya resisted at first, but Maestro pointed out that having celebrity gossip on a blog that was dedicated to research and actual news was disorganized and removing them would make other media houses take her seriously. Fortunately, Alya saw his point and removed the videos onto another fanblog, and pacified a heartbroken Lila that celebrity tea had no place on a news blog with the Parisian heroes at its center. Although he hated manipulation, Maestro hated the idea of Alya ruining her promising future even more and considered this one time the exception.
Nino kissed his girlfriend on the cheek and wrapped his arm around her shoulder “I agree, babe. You're a hard and dedicated worker and you deserve to be rewarded for it”.
Alya leaned into her boyfriend’s embrace as Adrien also gave his congrats, “You’ve come far from the thirteen-year-old who would throw herself into danger to get firsthand recordings of Chat Noir and Crimson Beetle’s fights.”
While Adrien tried to keep his tone light and joking, Maestro and the others weren’t fooled and could tell that any mention of Paris or them made him deeply uncomfortable and slightly nauseous.
Alya’s eyes widened, and she rushed to apologize, “Sorry, Adrien. I shouldn’t have brought him up in front of you. That was so insensitive of me! I’m such an idiot—!”
Adrien gently cut off her guilty tirade and fixed her with an understanding look, “I’m not upset, Alya. It’s just…so much has happened over the last weeks and everyone is talking about my “father” and Nathalie. They are terrorists after all. And after seeing all of those articles about child abuse–”. Adrien then cut himself off before he could get emotional, something he learned from living under a terrorist's roof for so long.
Maestro and Nino rubbed his shoulders in comforting circles, doing his best to let Adrien know that they were there for him if he was ready to talk, while Alya looked genuinely guilty at causing him pain, even if it was unintentional.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could also see Plagg squeezing Adrien’s fingers where they rested on his lap and his nearly silent purring to offer comfort to his Black Cat. Maestro was thankful that he had let Adrien keep Plagg when he tried to return him shortly after they revealed their identities to each other. The blonde had been in tears when he told him that the song of a villain didn’t deserve to keep the miraculous. Maestro and Plagg disagreed, and the cat kwami swore to always stay by his side no matter what. The last thing he’d ever want was for Adrien to hate himself and convince himself that he deserved to be alone.
Once Adrien calmed down a little, the four friends returned to talking about anything and everything. Mostly about how fun the zoo was going to be. It was enjoyable. That was, until a certain someone decided to show their face.
“Morning everyone!” a high pitched, grating voice chirped from a few ways behind their table. Maestro, Nino, and Adrien all fought the irritated groans threatening to leave them at the sight of Lila sauntering to where they were sitting.
The days of the Italian girl wearing her tacky romper and criminally offensive orange jacket were long over. It seems that being a Gabriel model forced her to actually have taste . Small miracles.
“Morning Lila!” Alya grinned happily at the sight of her girl best friend. She then pointed towards the empty chair between Nino and Adrien, “We saved you a seat!” So that’s who the seat was for. He should’ve known. The noirette huffed in irritation and placed his fork down in front of him. This breakfast was ruined.
“Thanks so much, Als,” Lila thanked with a saccharine tone and sat down in her seat, visibly happy at the opportunity to be close to Adrien even though she was aware the blonde had a girlfriend.
When Kagami and Adrien first announced their relationship seven months prior, Lila had not received the news well. The Italian model had been subtly trying to paint a picture of a potential romantic relationship between her and Adrien, most likely in the hopes of rocketing her popularity to reach his. A labyrinth of couples' photoshoots and ad campaigns with very suggestive poses were her main weapons. But, after the first pictures of Kagami and Adrien’s first official date went up on Instagram, Lila’s compassionate and unassuming persona crumbled like sand and for a split moment in time, Maestro thought that she’d show what a vile and hateful person she was.
Unfortunately, the fork tongued vermin had been able to recover in the nick of time and quickly worked up tears about how “she’d missed her chance and I just know Adrien’s in love with me! The relationship must have been arranged by their parents for business purposes. There’s no way Adrien could actually love Kagami ! Not with the chemistry we’ve shared during our time at school together and as coworkers!”
Those were her exact words when all of France was obsessed with #Adrigami.
Surprisingly, her temper tantrum had been cut off by Rose, the number one Adrilila supporter, who had told Lila at the time that it was understandable that she’d be jealous and heart broken, but Kagami’s name didn’t deserve to be smeared just because the fencer was dating the boy she liked. The class, including Alya, had agreed with Rose’s defense of Kagami and gently scolded Lila for her hurtful comments, especially since Kagami was receiving a fair share of hatred from Adrien’s fangirls already.
His classmates were compassionate and well-intentioned people, which is why they didn’t hesitate to comfort and reassure Lila whenever she was ‘distressed’, but they weren’t blind or gullible enough to overlook her more problematic qualities and always called her out whenever she said or did something insensitive.
This was at its peak during Lila’s first year in their class. She boasted of several glamorous connections to begin setting the stage of her lies with herself as the star. However, her excessive bragging and tendency to demand attention every other second only served to illustrate her as a self-centered and condescending braggart. Heck, even Alya, who'd become the liar's best friend, was clutching her pearls at how similar Lila and Chloe were.
It was only when rumors that “the new girl is just a more sociable and friendlier version of Chloe” began floating around the school was when Lila finally decided to pipe down and lay low for a while. Of course, in order to save her crumbling popularity and change the narrative that people had of her, she began lying about taking part in various charities and protests to play up the idea that she was generous, and her kindness was all encompassing.
Though, the damage was done, and Nino, Kim, and Alix had the cotton removed from their eyes.
Which was why her attempt at getting him expelled didn’t work. Since at the time, the school was undergoing extensive evaluations at the behest of the police investigators, media, and parents, the new principal Madame Alaire insisted on calling both Maestro and Lila’s parents to schedule a meeting. Physical assault, cheating, and theft were very serious accusations, and Madame Alaire wanted to have all bases covered. The new school regime followed a strict and diligent protocol, unlike with Monsieur Damocles.
His classmates defended him when the cheating allegations were made since the answer sheet was stolen after the test was already over. Chole had broken into his locker before and vandalized his gift for Madame Bustier and Alya argued that anyone could have placed it there to frame him when Lila tried to accuse him of stealing her “grandmother’s pendant”. Lila’s two other plans had failed, and she wailed about how she was pushed down the stairs, desperate to salvage the situation and at least get Maestro into trouble, but Monsieur Haprele, who had been close to the scene, admitted that he didn’t hear any sounds struggling or screaming. Just complete silence before Lila began shrieking that she’d been pushed down the stairs. There was also the fact that Lila’s clothes and hair were pristine. One would think that falling from a metal staircase would result in serious injuries and ripped clothing. Madame Alaire had marched Lila to the nurse's office to get her checked. Surprise, surprise, Lila had no injuries. Realizing that she had made a grave miscalculation, Lila had tried to excuse the entire mess by saying that she thought Maestro had stolen her necklace, so she pretended to be pushed down the stairs as a little payback while tearfully saying that she never meant for her prank to get this serious. None of the staff were amused, and Lila was given two weeks of detention and had to give Maestro a public and written apology. It took Lila months to run damage control and endear herself to her classmates once again. This time, they kept Lila and Maestro away from each other, as the noirette was giving her the cold shoulder and Lila was being over-emotional about it.
Even though some of his classmates still believed Lila’s lies with a grain of salt, it was relieving to see that they had his back and believed in him. Though they got awkward whenever conflict arose, and Lila pulled out her crocodile tears. But they side eyed her slightly and began realizing that Lila had her own flaws, and she wasn’t perfect.
Despite his friends’ disapproval of Lila’s veiled insults at Kagami’s expense, it became an unspoken rule that no one should mention Adrien’s relationship with Kagami while Lila was in earshot. For the past seven months, it was a rule that everyone followed with conviction.
Everyone, except Maestro, who rested his arm on Adrien’s shoulder and shot him a teasing smile, “So, Adrien? Have you had a chance to call Kagami yet? I know yesterday was hectic and busy, so I was just wondering.”
Adrien glanced up from his plate that he’d locked his eyes on to avoid looking at Lila who was preening and cawing at him before blushing darker than Nathaniel’s hair, “No, I haven’t called her yet, but we were texting last night. She’s enjoying herself in Washington D.C.”.
“Those photos will be interesting,” Maestro's eyes twinkled with mirth as he pictured the very awkward photos that Kagami would post to her Instagram and Twitter. Kagami was pretty, there was no doubt about it, but his friend was not the most photogenic person out there. “Tell her I said ‘hi’.”
He had to physically restrain himself from smiling even wider as he caught the twitching of Lila’s olive eyes. Maestro could feel the heat radiating off of Lila like the wood burning oven in his bakery. Narrow, infuriated orbs stared back at cerulean, vindicated ones. Lila clearly didn’t like being reminded that Adrien was off the market since she had placed all her hopes and ambitions on the off chance that Adrien could be coerced into a relationship with her via Gabriel Agreste.
The harpy nearly succeeded in making her goals a reality but was thwarted when Madame Tsurugi noticed the chemistry brewing between the young socialites and decided that a romantic relationship was inevitable.
The Tsurugi family was one of great influence in Japan and is slowly gaining recognition on the world stage. Compared to literal socialites, an up and coming model with a few dozen features in magazines and ad campaigns, Lila Rossi never stood a chance.
Prestige and wealth were the first qualities that M. Agreste alway searched for in Adrien's associates. Lila had neither and was replaced in favor of Kagami.
Still, even with Adrien escaping farther away from her every passing day, Lila Rossi remained determined and delusional as ever.
Their staring contest came to an end when Lila plastered a smile on her face to cover up the bitterness at the temporary loss of her meal ticket and turned to Adrien, “Well I hope she’s careful, then. There have been a lot of shootouts between government agents and fugitives there. It would be awful if anything happened to her”.
Her voice sounded sweet and concerned, but Maestro could detect the delicately veiled malice and venom at the mere mention of Kagami’s name. Before Maestro could retaliate with a clever retort, Adrien beat him to the punch.
“Thanks for your concern, Lila, but my girlfriend isn’t weak. She knows several forms of martial arts and she has a killer survival instinct. To be frank, I’m more worried about the people who try to cross her”.
Adrien ended with a smirk that made Maestro’s chest swell with pride. Even Nino was impressed and gave Adrien his nod of approval.
Lila gritted her teeth before giving Adrien a bright grin as she gushed, “You’re so right Adrien. You always have so much faith in your friends. That’s my favorite thing about you!”
Hearing the casual dismissal of Kagami’s status as his girlfriend, Adrien’s smirk disappeared, and his brows furrowed in annoyance, Maestro subtly rolled his eyes, and Nino looked like he wanted to melt into a puddle of goo right then and there.
Coughing rather loudly, Alya attempted to cut through the tension that had permeated through their table and change the subject.
“Uh.. Lila! I remember you telling me that Teen Vogue emailed you about modeling for them. Did you answer?”
“Well, at first, I was hesitant to secure a modeling contract with another brand since I was still working for M. Agreste. But after everything that’s happened this past month, I’m considering actually taking them up on their offer. My contract starts this coming September,” Lila batted her eyelashes and smiled at Alya.
“That’s amazing, girl! You do have talent when it comes to modeling, and you already have your own photoshoots to add to your resume. Plus, your Instagram account has stunning pictures that Teen Vogue was bound to notice.”
“Thank you Alya. After everything that’s happened over the past few weeks, I was really worried about what working with a terrorist would do to my modeling career. Luckily my fans were very understanding and so were the executives at Teen Vogue. I just need some time to heal,” Lila wiped away a crocodile tear as she let out little sobs. Alya rushed to comfort her with reassuring words.
Maestro pinched his nose and tuned the two out. The noirette loved Alya like a sister, but her methods of dealing with Lila whenever there was a conflict was only feeding the liar’s already massive ego.
He and Adrien shared a look, thinking the same thing, although he flinched slightly at the mention of his disgraced father.
Before the blonde could dwell on it, thankfully, the server arrived at their table, breakfast meal trays in hand. Setting the food down in front of them, the waiter excused himself to fetch their drinks.
The five teenagers began dining into their food for the next ten minutes, patiently waiting to be cleared out of the hotel and be sent on their way for the first location of their trip.
Midtown Manhattan, New York - 200 Park Avenue - Avengers’ Tower - 8:30 am
When Bruce Banner busted into the Avengers Tower, Tony Stark knew they were in for one giant headache. The man sped over to where Tony Stark was reviewing video footage of earlier that night, abruptly demanding, "Do you know what’s happened in Paris?"
What the hell? Tony turned to face Banner, the questioning look on his face causing the doctor to elaborate, “Do you know about the butterfly themed terrorist that was recently arrested in Paris?”
Tony raised an eyebrow as he digested the information, “There’s a terrorist in Paris? I think we would've known if something as serious as terrorism was taking place in a very populated city. Wouldn’t it be international news?”
“That’s my point. I was recently looking into a mission assignment in France when I was denied access to any information,” Banner took control of the massive computer monitor and began frantically typing on the keys.
Tony was vaguely aware of the radio silence in France. Around three years ago, he’d been looking into establishing a branch of Stark Industries in France for practical reasons. Nick Fury had been suspicious of what was occurring behind the scenes. Of course, the discussion of Paris was completely forgotten after the entire mess that was Ultron and the Sokovia Accords. Besides, there was never any need for them to venture in Paris since there were no assignments there.
“Welcome, everyone to a new show hosted by me, Prime Queen,” One of the large screens plays a shaky recording uploaded years ago– a woman donning bright pink hair, blue skin, a pixel-textured head helmet with a light blue visor, and a deep cornflower blue pixel-textured shoulder pad jumpsuit with a pattern of glowing light blue rectangular outlines connected with lines. “Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news”.
The mechanic, almost soulless manner the woman speaks in, paired with the eerie glowing of her beady eyes, causes Tony to wince slightly as Banner filled him in, who had a similar expression. “After I temporarily bypassed the media blockage, the woman in the video is Nadja Chamack. She works as a reporter for TV1 News and has her own show called Face-To-Face”. The doctor pulled up an image of Nadja Chamack, who’s normal appearance was less scathing than…whatever that was.
Tony took a seat as his mind ran at a thousand miles per hour, hundreds of questions in the mix. He opted for just one, “How?”
“That was my first question, too,” Banner mumbled to himself as he searched among the many scattered files and papers on the desk before finding what he was looking for and reading off it, “Madame Chamack is quite the famous reporter. The reason for her akumatization was because her boss, Arelette Gabeaud , planned on canceling her show due to Cat Noir and Crimson Beetle walking out on an interview –”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Tony cut him off. He could already feel the beginnings of a killer headache. But he had no idea what Banner was referring to or explaining, and he needed all the details so they wouldn’t be murdered by Fury. “Akumatized? Cat Noir? Crimson Beetle? You're going to have to fill me in from beginning to end.”
“It is a very long timeline, Tony. You have no idea,” Banner gestured with his hands before browsing the French internet before coming across an article from three years ago. “Three years in September, a giant stone monster – Coeur de Pierre or Stoneheart,” an image of ‘Stoneheart’, an enormous mass of stone and rock in a somewhat humanoid shape, “Appeared out of nowhere and began wreaking havoc.”
Tony watched the video with rapt attention while simultaneously feeling his stomach drop to his feet. How could this escape their notice?
An image of two boys: One clad with a ladybug themed ensemble save for his lower arms, neck, legs and obliques , with short black hair and a polka dot domino mask. The other was obviously themed as a black cat, with black cat ears atop his blonde messy hair, and a leather clad bodysuit with a tail belt to complete the look – were brought up on the computer screen which made Tony do a double take.
The goatee man didn’t know which was worse, the fact that there were two more heroes who adored the animal theme just like the kid or the fact that they were put in charge of a civilian population without any backup.
The doctor was thinking the same thing as he grimaced at the picture of the kids who looked no older than thirteen. “After going through a couple articles and videos uploaded to blogs and media stations, ‘akuma attacks’ became a part of ordinary life after a few months. Sightings of the two heroes, Crimson Beetle and Cat Noir, are often in between”.
“You mentioned something about a butterfly themed villain?” Tony urged Banner to continue his debriefing of the – frankly – bizarre situation in Paris that had been brewing under their noses for years. It would have been more preferable to have the entire team present for this revelation, but they were all scattered across the country for confidential missions. They would return for another two weeks. And Tony suspected that Nick wouldn’t appreciate them holding information from him for two weeks just to include the others. Steve was the only one still in Manhattan and he had left earlier to run errands downtown.
“Yeah, he was the one behind the attacks. In the first year, people who’ve been turned reported seeing an unusual dark purple butterfly with bizarre markings before losing consciousness and waking up without any memory of the incident”. Banner’s eyes narrowed from where he had swiped away different photos on several screens. “People who have seen others being akumatized described seeing the butterfly enter a person’s belongings; jewelry, bags, or any item they were holding, before a violet silhouette of a moth appeared over the victim’s face.”
“So, the butterfly – the akuma, has to enter something you’re wearing or anything you’re holding to turn you into a…menace.” Tony stared at the grainy photo taken from someone’s phone of a woman slightly hunched over. Her face wasn’t entirely visible, but the vague neon purple outline stood out against the darker background. The caption under the photo read ‘Taken Ten Seconds Before Disaster’.
“That’s an oversimplification, but basically yes. Once the akuma reaches its target, a brainwashing by memory wiping combination occurs and the victim becomes susceptible to the terrorist’s control. The person behind it later revealed himself and referred to himself as Papillion or Hawkmoth. The name depends on what part of Paris you’re from.”
“From what you’re telling me, a man who calls himself Butterfly has been terrorizing an entire city for three whole years, and the only line of defense were little kids who didn’t lose all their baby teeth yet.” Tony knew he sounded incredulous, but Hawkmoth was an…interesting character to say the least. Of course, he was aware that it didn’t make him any less dangerous. A terrorist creating more terrorists who bend to his will with immense powers shouldn’t be out and about in broad daylight. Of the many adversaries they had faced, Hawkmoth had to be the most unpredictable of them all.
“Not exactly. By the end of the first year, L'unité centrale de recherche d'Akuma , the legislature, and the President officially declared Hawkmoth a national terrorist. From what it says on the Bureau's website, every Parisian is required under law to file and submit transcripts pertaining to akumatizations and be handed over to the Parisian government and the Le Bureau de l'activité Akuma for documented evidence when they arrest him.”
An entire research unit and government branch dedicated to uncovering the mystery of akumas, huh? Tony was admittedly impressed. With the sudden timings of Hawkmoth’s akumas, Paris – and France as a whole – adapted to their hectic circumstances with professionalism and grace.
The same could be said for Crimson Beetle and Cat Noir. The two were very sloppy when starting out. He could easily imagine Hawkmoth not taking the two of them seriously. Being…well… adorable and inexperienced and literal fucking children wouldn’t bode well to pose a threat against a terrorist with godlike power.
“So, Hawkmoth finds victims randomly and turns them into his puppets for his cause. What could he be after that he’d risk being charged as a terrorist in court?” Tony grabbed the case files and skimmed over their contents. Hawkmoth was clearly after something specific. Though it was difficult to discern what it was. The different cases described in the documents were scattered all over the place.
“As far as the data I’ve collected, akumatizations are pretty random. Anyone from an infant to an elderly woman can fall prey to these akumas. However, two things seem to be consistent when becoming an akuma. Firstly, every person who reported their akumatizations to L'unité centrale de recherche d'Akuma remembered feeling a negative emotion before being turned. It wasn't until six months later when psychologists studying former akuma victims discovered that negative emotions were the trigger that drew Hawkmoth’s attention”. Tony watches the screen for a moment.
Something was off with the data. Hawkmoth was hardly the most ruthless person they’d encountered – the top spot belonging to Loki. Tony looked through the files of documented akuma attacks, all from different dates, and began forming a timeline of events in his mind's eye. After organizing the different akuma attacks into their respective places on the timeline, the only other consistency he could find was the fact that the akumas Hawkmoth waged against the heroes increased in severity as time went on.
Only then did it finally click. Hawkmoth wasn’t just ruthless. He was desperate.
“If this has been going on for three years, that means that Parisians have had to repress their emotions to avoid becoming akumas.”
“That was the standard for the first eight months before a special section of therapy was implemented to help the population work through their emotions in a healthy environment.” That made sense. If Paris was populated with over two million emotionally constipated people, the akumas that Hawkmoth could make from emotional outbursts would be deadly.
“And the second pattern?” Tony asked.
“Whenever someone becomes an akuma, they become obsessed with stealing miraculouses.” Banner’s brows bunch together as he runs ‘What are miraculouses?’ in the google search engine. To their surprise, there were no results.
“Miraculouses? What are those?” Tony leaned forward in his seat, curious to know more. He was sure he had no knowledge of what they were, but he could have sworn he heard something about them in the past.
Banner thought it over, “That was the only thing I haven’t been able to figure out. And akuma victims completely forget about the incident, so they don’t remember anything about these ‘miraculouses’. All I know about them is that they're in the possession of Paris’s wonder duo and Hawkmoth was obsessed with obtaining them by any means necessary.”
Tony stroked his chin and hummed. Everything about akumatized victims mostly centered around what upset them in the first place. They aren’t particularly concerned about Crimson Beetle or Cat Noir unless the two are direct obstacles in what they want to achieve. But why did they want the miraculous?
“This Hawkmoth guy doesn’t seem like the smartest tool in the shed. I mean, look at some of these.” Tony snorted as he combed through Hawkmoth’s more ridiculous choices. “An akuma that looks like a ripoff of Harley Quinn, a massive baby with an unholy craving for lollipops, and a man with an unhealthy obsession with pigeons? There is no definitive pattern to how much power an akuma has or their danger level.”
Banner clicked his tongue, “The emotions that trigger akumatizations are also inconsistent. It doesn’t matter what people are upset over. If Hawkmoth can use them, he will. We have no idea of the full scale of his powers, it’s definitely enough to keep Crimson Beetle and Cat Noir from completely taking him down for years . From what I'm seeing, the powers that they get are based on whatever they were akumatized over.”
Tony threw his head back and groaned in misery. Banner looked just as distressed as the situation finally sank in. God, Tony prayed that Nick Fury wouldn’t rake them over coals for this. The S.H.I.E.L.D Director would be absolutely furious (haha) at the Avengers for the lack of knowledge or investigation at the admittedly suspicious media blockage and the fact that an insane full blown terrorist had been using Paris as the base of his operations.
Manhattan, New York - Central Park Zoo - Entrance - 9:15 am
After thirty minutes of watching the streets move by, the tour bus finally slowed to a halt as the driver parked by the entrance of the zoo they were supposed to be touring today.
About time! Chloe grimaced in discomfort as she shuffled in her seat. The egregiously hard material was murder on her poor back! She’d tried convincing her Papa to at least pay for one of the sleek, luxurious coach buses she always saw on the streets whenever she stayed with her mother in New York, but he refused her!
Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and frowned in displeasure. Ever since the incident with the Bee Miraculous, Papa had been treating her differently. He still loved her, but he stopped being indulgent with her material purchases altogether. Not that she had the time to drown herself in the luxuries for the rich and elite.
Most of her time was spent with numerous tutors trying to help her catch up with her studies and schoolwork, since despite being in the tenth/ninth grade, she was so far behind that it would be a miracle if she were to have a passing final grade. Even worse, she was forced to repeat her studies from the sixth grade due to the fact that it had been Sabrina who began doing her assignments for her. Chloe thanked the heavens when the school board decided against placing her in a physical sixth grade classroom. She never would have recovered from the humiliation.
When she wasn’t stressed over the assissination of her previous school report cards, the blonde had to juggle therapist appointments, meetings with police officers and lawyers, and counseling sessions with the school counselor she was made to attend four times a week.
The mountain of lawsuits she found herself buried under was just the calm before the storm. All she wanted was for her mother to pay attention and earn the respect she thought she deserved at the time. Never once did the idea of the passengers on the bus suing her cross her mind. And there were a lot.
The class action suit against her rallied attention from the parents of her classmates, who made numerous phone calls to the head of the school board. What Chloe hadn’t known about, however, were the endless complaints that her classmates and other students of Francois Dupont have made about her treatment of them to their parents. The near fatal train crash was the final nail in the coffin, and their parents bombarded the commission’s office with angry phone calls and emails from absolutely enraged parents, furious as to why this amount of harassment and bullying of their children was able to go on for so long.
To add salt to the metaphorical (though they might as well be physical) stab wounds was every single bullying incident that was ever filed against her from the sixth grade up to the ninth by her classmates and other students was penned down onto her permanent record. Everything from her bullying habits to her extreme entitlement issues, to the video footage of her four month long court trial where every student in the school testified against her, was documented for her next school to see if she were to transfer. Not that any school in the country would accept her with her utterly ruined record.
Considering she had personally harassed literally everyone from those weather girls to the loner under the stairs, her mistreatment of others in the past had come to bite her after all these years. There were enough incidents to fill five heavy duty binders! Even the ice rink she’d attempted to get demolished to build a gym had blacklisted her indefinitely!
After the police did some digging in the school’s CCTV footage, Chloe found out the hard way that some of the bullying incidents would be considered actual crimes in the court of law. So not only was she being sued for the Train Incident, but she was also being charged and sued for various other crimes; theft, fraud (stealing Dupain-Cheng’s hat design), food poisoning, vandalism, wasting emergency resources (pulling the fire alarm), physical assault, abuse of power, harassment and forgery. Chloe wanted to spew when the charges were read aloud to the entire courtroom a year ago. It was enough to start a criminal record. The only thing keeping her from prison was the fact that she was underaged, although the jury and the courts didn’t care about that much.
After the trial finally ended, she was made to wear a court mandated ankle monitor, had to do a monstrous number of hours of community service, and she had to pay back all of the fines from every single person who sued her with her own money. She had to get a part time job at a retail store that only paid minimum wage! The courts wouldn’t allow her father to help her, and Papa had no choice but to agree, seeing as his position as Mayor was nearly in forfeit and his political rivals were enjoying the public scrutiny he was faced with. Her education prospects suffered as well. The courts decided that she wouldn’t be placed in a juvenile detention center if she were to graduate deuxieme and attend a lycée for the criminal and troubled youth for the rest of her high school career! Her! In school full of delinquents! But any slip or major incident on her part would land her straight into a teenaged prison cell!
The only bright spot in her tunnel of despair was Papa spending more time with her. He still showered her with attention, ate dinner with her wherever he could, and even helped her with her studies when her tutors weren’t available. Andre Bourgeois very obviously adored Chloe even before her reckless endangerment of the train passengers, but he seemed to be taking a keen interest in the smaller affairs of Chloe’s life.
She wasn’t complaining, though. It was nice to at least have her Papa on her side when the entire world was against her. Even if he refused to cover for her or overlook her behavior anymore. The last thing she wanted was to cause her Papa any more stress. Especially since child protective services met with them twice a week to gauge whether or not she should be removed from his care! Permanently!
The school board and police investigations into Francois Dupont managed to link about ¾ of the school’s akumatizations back to Chloe and her bullying of everyone around her and the rest of the staff who let it happen. Every teacher, sans Madame Bustier, Mendeleiev, the fencing instructor, and the art teacher were all fired and had their teaching licenses revoked. Monsieur Damocles was also fired for constantly prioritizing Chloe’s whims and demands over the safety of his other students. The parents were apparently not happy at how their children were made to endure Chloe’s bullying for so long because the principal had no spine and was willing to throw them under the bus just to remain on the mayor’s good side. The police and investigators just wouldn’t leave the Train Incident as an isolated incident and wanted to explore (invade) every inch of Chloe’s life when they realized the absolute danger she posed to her peers.
She was removed entirely from the class during school hours and placed into another classroom with just her tutors and student aide as the adults no longer trusted her around her vulnerable classmates. Sabrina especially was kept away from her by any means necessary. The ginger haired girl had changed her number and Chloe was forbidden from contacting her in any way. Not that Chloe minded. The term “abusive friend” was something she never wanted to hear from her therapist ever again when she told him about her “friendship” with Sabrina.
The CPS agent told her father and mother that if there are any more incidents with her, then she’d be removed from their custody and given to her grandmother in England. Afterall, having a child committing crimes on a daily basis doesn’t say anything good about their parenting capabilities.
Despite everything that’s happened, Chloe genuinely loved her father and didn’t want to be separated from him. She promised to be on her best behavior to avoid that happening.
“All right, students.” Madame Bustier clapped to gain their attention. All the rapid chatter died down as they listened to what she had to say. “When we get off the bus, I want you to line up in two rows and wait for further instruction. There will be absolutely NO fighting, NO yelling, and NO bullying. I also expect you to treat our tour guide with respect. Which means no interruptions and no phones should be out when she’s speaking. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Madame,” they all chorused, though Chloe only mumbled her understanding.
Madame Bustier smiled slightly at the confirmation before pointing to the row on the right of the tour bus. “Those of you sitting to the right, please stand up and exit the bus accordingly.”
The students sitting on the right side did as they were told, talking animatedly with one another before the left side was called and followed suit.
Once outside of the stuffy bus, the class organized themselves into two neat lines. Chloe placed herself at the back, not wanting any extra attention from Bustier or the chaperones.
Chloe spotted a woman at the entrance of the massive gate, who wore what the blonde assumed to be the attire of the zoo workers. The fencing instructor (Chloe couldn’t remember his name) glided past them to converse with the lady. They exchanged words in English, before they returned to the group of waiting students.
Standing before the students, the woman introduced herself in French, “Good Morning, everyone. My name is Ms. Alister, and I will be your tour guide for today,” their tour guide flashed her Central Park Zoo employee badge before continuing. “Just a little reminder before we begin, under no circumstances are you allowed to feed the animals without explicit permission from one of our zookeepers. Make sure to stay together as we don’t want anyone to get lost. Any questions?”
It was silent for a moment before Ms or Madame Alister spoke again, “Great! Right this way, students,” she turned on her heel and began walking to the entrance, the chaperones and students right behind her as she began conducting the tour.
Three hours into the tour, Chloe was ready to lose her mind. She had lost count of the exhibits they visited.
They saw the sea otters, bird exhibits with a massive tucan, zebras, penguins at the Polar Circle Exhibit, red pandas, farm animals at the children’s zoo, the weird looking Mouse deer, Fruit bats, Harbor seals, a massive Grizzly Bear, and far many more groups of animals.
Chloe’s feet throbbed and she was glad she’d forgone the pumps she planned on wearing. She would’ve had to get her feet amputated from all the swelling if she’d worn them.
Her mood soured further when she watched Dupain-Cheng laugh with Adrien and their other classmates as they all looked on with rapt attention as the animals in every exhibit clamored for the noirette’s affection. Despite the boundaries and fences separating the spectators from the animals, the harbor seals had no issue plopping themselves on the land to try to waddle over to Dupain-Cheng.
The class of course found it adorable and made comments about the animals being attracted to his personality. Chloe was inclined to agree. As infuriating as Dupain-Cheng’s goody two shoes personality was, the annoying baker boy was so sweet that it was disgusting. Everyone always loved the baker boy.
As usual, the noirette’s cheeks flushed red at the praise. The zookeeper seemed amused at how enamored the zoo animals were with the teenager.
But perhaps what really made Chloe zero in on Dupain-Cheng was how he looked…well Chloe didn’t know how to describe him. During their stroll in the tropical birds' exhibit, many of the toucans flocked over to him and perched themselves on his shoulders and pecked his cheeks with their beaks.
At any other time, Chloe would’ve made fun of him for how silly he looked, but with the bright rays of sunlight casting a yellow glow over his pale skin coupled with his bright laughter and blue eyes, Dupain-Cheng looked…pretty. Chloe found it difficult to tear her eyes away from him. Watching the noirette being compassionate to the birds was like something straight out of those cheesy fairy tales she insisted her father read for her when she was little. All he needed was a red apple and an Evil Queen to complete the look.
Realizing where her thoughts were headed, Chloe felt blood rush to her face, and she turned away from the group. She really needed to stop staring at him, not that she was staring this time. Her eyes just landed on him. That was all.
The class was currently making their way to the zoo’s aquarium, which was also massive. Just how big was this place? Madame Alister led them through the glass doors, the others following behind her easily, while Chloe trudged through the pain of her aching feet to keep up.
“This is our aquarium, home to many of our colorful and exotic fishes of all shapes and sizes,” the tour guide spoke jovially. This was no doubt Madame Alister’s favorite place in the entire park. The area was dimly lit, the only source of light came from the luminescent fish tanks installed in the dark walls of the aquarium.
Despite her utter distaste of zoos (courtesy of being required to do community service in one), Chloe found all of the locations they’d visited were aesthetically pleasing to the eye and the lighting was great for her hair, more so than the one Cesaire’s father worked at. She expected nothing less from Manhattan.
The tour guide had no issue with them having their phones out to take pictures, though they were strictly allowed to take pictures of the scenery and animals only. Most of her classmates happily complied and took many pictures since the beginning of the tour but Chloe found that restriction completely ridiculous. But she had kept her mouth shut and dealt with it. Madame Bustier had spent the entire tour hovering around her to ensure that she wouldn’t instigate any drama with the others and the last thing she wanted was to be scolded in front of her classmates like yesterday.
Chloe held her phone in her hands and snapped several photos of various fish in their glowing tanks to put up on her Instagram later. Their tour guide still spoke to the curious students who were scattered around the area, fluttering around the various rectangular tanks embedded into the walls, and snapping pictures of the architecture.
Rose raised her hand, gaining the attention of their tour guide. “Are these fish only found in the States?”
“These underwater creatures come from all over the world,” Madame Alister answered, getting several nods from the students, before Kim also raised his hand.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with the fish, but why is it so dark in here?”
“There’s no biological reason for it. As you can see, these tanks are very bright, so a darker atmosphere will be easier on the eyes.”
Soon enough, her classmates began asking question after question to the tour guide just like they had done with every other exhibit.
“How many fish are here in total?”
“How long have they been here?”
“What’s the largest sea animal that you have here?”
Chloe turned away from the group, no longer interested in the aquarium anymore. Wasn’t this place supposed to be a park? If so, why were they just standing around and asking questions about animals instead of having fun?
A year ago, she would have been more interested in scrolling through social media than spending any time running around in a park . She couldn’t do that here, though. The teachers were expecting a five-page, extensive essay detailing their experiences during their stay in America, so Chloe couldn’t just not pay attention. Especially since she was writing the essay herself.
A rancorous round of laughter behind her drew her out of her musings and she looked over her shoulder and spotted Dupain-Cheng and Adrien beaming at the massive tank they were currently standing in front of.
Chloe gritted her teeth, her eyes practically glowing green with envy at how close the two were and how Adrien seemed so carefree with Dupain-Cheng than he ever was with her.
In the back of her mind, she knew that logically, her jealousy and anger over the boys’ close friendship was irrational. After all, Adrien had obviously treasured her as his childhood friend to the point where he felt uncomfortable speaking up about her bullying until recently.
The Train Incident was the final nail in the coffin and while Adrien spoke to her occasionally, their friendship was officially over by his own choice. What devastated Chloe the most was having to see Dupain-Cheng and his friends consoling a sobbing Adrien over the loss of his friends. “I don’t know who she is anymore” was all Chloe could hear as she cried herself to sleep. She lost the trust of her heroes, her father, her mother only contacted her when the CPS agents forced her too, and now she lost her only other friend who hated what she’d become.
Seeing Adrien being happy and vulnerable with his other friends instead of her tore something apart deep inside her. But the absolute worst part was that the reasonable part of her brain, no matter how small it may be, knew that it was in Adrien’s best interest that she stay away from him for his own well being. With her constantly dealing with the repercussions of her actions and spending time after school at her part time job, it wasn’t like she had any time to initiate contact even if she wanted to.
The other part of her brain was furious, utterly furious with Dupain-Cheng and his friends for stealing Adrien from her. Wasn’t it enough that he was everyone’s golden boy already? Everything that she wanted was everything Dupain-Cheng had and now he and Nino have replaced her as Adrien’s best friend.
It should’ve been her! She should be the one offering support to Adrien with everything he’s gone through. When Chloe woke up to the news that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth and his assistant was Mayura, she wrote out several elaborate and long text messages, most of them asking Adrien if was doing alright. He obviously wasn’t, but what do you say to a person whose father was revealed to be a super villain being charged with crimes against humanity? Days after the reveal, Chloe struggled to decide whether or not she should pay Adrien a visit to let him know that she was still on his side. But her shame kept her from it.
It was something her therapist spoke to her about when she confessed to him about finding it difficult to meet Adrien directly and her jealousy over the fact that he liked Maestro more than her.
Her therapist had gently told her that she was utilizing and her jealousy to avoid confronting the fact that it was her own behavior that led up to Adrien cutting ties with her. And that rationale was the core reason why she kept repeating her poor behavioral habits.
As much as she hated being told the negative truth about herself, Chloe had to admit that he was right and vowed to pay less attention to the two of them so she wouldn’t rebound.
But seeing their friendship right in front of her and knowing that Maestro would let her near Adrien over his dead body, filled Chloe with a gnawing bitterness that she successfully managed to swallow down for months.
Old habits die hard.
The tour finally concluded five minutes later. Madame Bustier and the other chaperones were conversing on lunch arrangements while the students busied themselves by sitting together on the park benches and sharing the photos they took on their social media.
Chloe decided against it, not wanting to use her cell phone data carelessly, instead opting to wait to get back to the hotel to use their wifi.
The blonde sat alone on a bench underneath a massive tree that provided shade from the hot sun, unlike the others who sat with each other. Laughed together. Smiled at each other. And Chloe had no part in it.
The blonde girl never liked her classmates to begin with, deeming them too inferior to bask in her presence. So she couldn’t understand why it felt dark and cold when the sun beamed brightly and the heat that tickled her skin.
Chloe shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind, choosing to pay attention to Monsieur Fencing Instructor's (Chloe still couldn’t remember his name) words.
“Okay, everyone,” their instructor’s voice caused the voices of her classmates to die down as they paid attention to him. “For lunch, we are going to break you up into smaller groups. Your chaperone will take you to a cafe or restaurant to eat at. Lila, Nino, Kim, Sabrina and Juleka are group one with me. Alix, Alya, Mylene, Max and Ivan will be group two with Madame Bustier. Group three will be Chloe, Adrien, Maestro and Rose with Monsieur Guillaume. We will meet back here in exactly one hour.”
The students moved to join their groups. Chloe moved to follow along until she heard sharp intakes of breath.
The long, comforting looks the others were sending Rose, Maestro, and Adrien made Chloe’s eyes roll in irritation. The especially pitying gazes and reassuring shoulder pats Dupain-Cheng received caused a red hot flush to cover her cheeks. The noirette hadn’t even done anything other than being randomly grouped with her, and yet everyone was treating him like a martyr who volunteered as tribute!
Besides, it wasn’t like she had any nefarious plans. She was starving and wanted to spend the hour resting her body against the soft fibers of a high-class restaurant seat, dining on the finest meals Manhattan had to offer.
But as usual, it seems that everybody else had other ideas.
“Why don’t we eat at Applebee’s? I heard they serve delicious food there,” Rose suggested as they descended down the stairs near the entrance, following Adrien’s bodyguard onto the sidewalk.
Dupain-Cheng tapped his chin in thought before answering, “Oh yeah. That’s an American restaurant chain, right? That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
“I was thinking McDonalds’.” Adrien walked with a skip in his step, “I’ve never eaten there before. We can get burgers! And fries! And that ice cream everyone loves!” Adrien gushed about the greasy, disgusting McDonalds’ food, much to Chloe’s horror.
“You’ve never eaten from McDonalds’ before?!” Rose stopped in her tracks and gasped, scandalized. “Everybody should get to eat there at least once in their lifetimes! Their Caramel Frappes are to die for!”
Dupain-Cheng tapped on his phone screen before showing a map of the street they were located at. “There’s a McDonalds’ four blocks from here. The foods’ cheap and it’s close by so it sounds-”
Chloe cut him off before he could finish his sentence, “It sounds ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”
The noirette’s brows creased and he placed his hands on his hips, phone still in hand, “And is that supposed to mean?”
“What I mean is I’m not eating peasant food at McDonalds’! The grease is bad for my skin and the service is terrible. Not to mention it’s utterly lame!” Chloe spoke incredulously, disgusted at the idea of having to sit through a meal as undignified as McDonalds’ .
Dupain-Cheng didn’t share her opinion, apparently, and raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing her cooly, “Oh really? Then where do you want to eat? A fancy upscale restaurant with crazy expensive food?”
The blonde flipped her long hair that was out its usual high ponytail and scoffed at him, “Of course. It’s the place that suits my needs and the only food I’d be willing to dine on. It doesn’t matter if it's expensive, I can pay for it no problem.”
“But we can’t,” Rose stepped forward to try and diffuse the situation, her face the picture of unease at the brewing conflict, “We have limited funds from our parents, and we can’t afford to spend our money recklessly.”
“And we can’t wander off too far because we only have one hour to order food and eat,” Adrien tried to reason with her. Chloe didn’t know how to feel about her childhood friends’ disagreement.
“Not that it’s surprising that Chloe didn’t consider that,” Dupain-Cheng rolled his cobalt blues before typing on his phone again.
“What?”
“This is how it always is with you, Chloe. It’s always about what you want, and you benefit from it without any regard for anyone else,” the noirette said judgmentally, looking up from his phone.
“What did you just say to me, Dupain-Cheng?!” Chloe yelled in outrage. Her loud voice garnered the attention of the passersby. Adrien’s eyes flicked between the two of them nervously while Rose bit her lips. Despite the loud background noise of cars rushing by and the many pedestrians hurrying past them, the silence between the two teenagers was deafening. Chloe could only hope that this wouldn’t reach Bustier or the other chaperones. It had been a while since she had been involved in a conflict with her classmates.
Their teachers began writing her up whenever she instigated any issues and literally every adult in the school was in on it. Even the art teacher had no issues reporting her to the principal when she made a little comment about Juleka’s song lyrics! She was already warned that she was on her last legs, and another write up would mean being shipped off to a strict reformatory school in Normandy!
But she was furious. Any regard for the consequences were damned by her as she restrained the urge to throttle the bastard standing in front of her. Who the hell did Dupain-Cheng think he was insulting?
The boy didn’t so much as flinch in the face of her rage, “Did I stutter?”
“You –!”
“Even after everything that’s happened to you, you haven’t learned a single thing!” he cut her off with his own shout of outrage, ears flushing slightly red.
Chloe sneered at him, having heard all of this before from her therapist, “It’s not my fault that I’m better than you, Dupain-Cheng! And it’s not my fault you can’t afford to eat at proper restaurants!”
“You’re saying that as if it’s my fault! I’m just saying that we have to be practical about our food options and we don’t have time for your stupid demands! GOD, you’re so entitled!”
“How dare you?!”
“You don’t care about anyone but yourself! Having compassion for other people requires a beating heart. Something you don’t have!”
That statement struck a chord within Chloe, and she jammed a finger roughly into the noirette’s chest, “You don’t know anything about me, baker boy! I do have a heart and I am capable of compassion! I thanked you for carrying my suitcase to my room yesterday, remember! Ugh, you are so ungrateful!”
“Having one moment of basic human decency doesn’t make you any less of a brat, Chloe,” he said indignantly and roughly swatted her finger from his chest. “But fine. If you’re such a good person, then what’s the name of our fencing instructor?”
“W-what?” Chloe pushed out.
Dupain-Cheng’s expression of anger shifted into one of vindication as he repeated himself, “What is the fencing instructor’s name? If you aren't self-centered, you should have no problem answering.”
“I-I ah…” Chloe wracked her brain, searching through the deepest depths of her memory as she tried to force his name to come to her.
“Well…?” the noirette probed, triumphant smugness evident in his tone.
“I know his name! It’s…u-uh…” Chloe had no idea what she was trying to prove. And to Dupain-Cheng of all people. But she refused to give him the satisfaction of proving his point. If only to make the gnat eat his words and choke on them.
The blonde fumed up at him as she desperately came up with an answer to dig herself out of the hole she’d created. Dammit, what was his name? She recognized him as their regular PE teacher and Adrien mentioned him all the time when he spoke about his fencing classes. If she remembered correctly, he’d also run against her father in an election before and gotten akumatized over his humiliating defeat.
D’arcy? Darcian? Dareau? No, that wasn’t right. What about…
“Monsieur D’Arnton! That’s what his name is!” Chloe’s proud eureka moment was only met with silence before Dupain-Cheng snorted in amusement.
“Yeah, I’d say that just about proves it.”
“What are you talking about? You asked for his name and I gave it to you,” Chloe sniffed.
Adrien and Rose shared a look, both wincing slightly before speaking up, “Uh, Chloe,” Rose began, shrinking in on herself slightly when Chloe aimed a sharp look in her direction, “That’s not his name.”
Chloe’s haughty grin disappeared as fast as it had come and she whirled on Rose, “What do you mean that’s not his name?!”
Adrien placed himself between the blonde girls and gave Chloe a disappointed look, one that made Chloe want to shrivel like a raisin because she’s had enough of those disapproving eyes, dammit. The teachers, lawyers, judge, jury, strangers, the police officers, therapist, counselors, her mother . She didn’t need it from Adrien, her childhood friend. But what he said next made her freeze.
“His name is Monsieur D’Argencourt, Chloe. He’s been our PE teacher ever since eighth grade. How could you not know his name?”
Chloe’s mouth dropped open, and she struggled to materialize her words. She was never good at handling Adrien’s disappointment in her.
“Because in Chloe’s world, no one is important enough for her to remember their name,” Maestro answered Adrien’s rhetorical question as if it were obvious.
The blonde was about to respond with a string of profanity, but she was stopped by ‘Gorilla’ or Monsieur Guillaume separating the two of them with a grunt that left no room for argument.
Seeing as their conversation was forced to come to a close, Dupain-Cheng turned to Adrien and Rose with a slight smile, “Well since three out of the four of us want to eat at McDonalds’, then that’s where we’re going.”
“Let’s go, then” Adrien sounded genuinely overjoyed at being able to experience something that his father had forbidden him from in the past even if his smile seemed a little strained at the argument taking place in front of him. Chloe wanted to feel guilty at the fact that she was preventing him from doing something he’d never had the chance to. What really put everything into perspective was Gabriel Agreste’s identity as Hawkmoth, because Chole hadn’t known. She hadn’t known about the extent of the abuse that her dearest friend was being subjected to in the confines of the Agreste Mansion. Especially the rabbit diets he’d been on. Being able to eat junk food, or rather, being able to eat a healthy amount at all was a luxury that Adrien never got to experience. And she was about to prevent him from doing it, all because of her… selfishness .
She swallowed the lump in her throat at the idea that she was just causing him more pain than he needed. His mother died for god’s sake! She’d seen how he fought to keep the smile on his face and his facade of happiness to prevent anyone from worrying. He was suffering in silence and Chloe didn’t know what to do.
But she shoved those thoughts aside in favor of balking at Dupain-Cheng turning his back to her as he began to walk away, dismissing her. Ignoring her. Brushing her off!
Chloe saw red and out of an instinct to get the last word, she lunged forward and grabbed Maestro’s phone from his hand, startling the noirette who spun around. He managed to regain his bearings and launched his arm out to rip the phone out from Chloe’s hand, only for her to pull towards her and out of his reach.
“Give me back my phone!” Dupain-Cheng stomped towards her. Chloe was half expecting the cement to crack beneath his feet.
“You know what? It doesn’t matter if you think I’m a bad person! It’s easy for you to judge me when you have everything!” Chloe shouted, grabbing the attention of Gorilla, Adrien, Rose, and some passersby. But Chloe couldn’t care less about the scene she was making in public.
The noirette grit his teeth and glared at her like he wanted to set her on fire with his eyes, “What the hell is your problem?!”
“My problem is that you have no idea what it’s like being in my shoes!” Chloe growled. Because Maestro Dupain-Cheng was blessed with everything that Chloe wasn’t. He had a loving mother, a blossoming career in fashion, and the admiration and respect of everyone.
Dupain-Cheng pretended to want for nothing and yet, he was lucky enough to be handed the perfect life.
In the past, Chloe couldn’t understand why. What was so special about him ? Back in the day, Maestro was just a scrawny kid with shaggy hair and baker parents that everyone adored for some reason. Whether they be teachers or students, everyone had something to say about his talent in fashion design. That wouldn’t have bothered Chloe if not for the fact that nobody spared her, the actual daughter of a rich and famous fashion designer, a glance.
The feeling of jealousy consumed her as she watched Maestro effortlessly gain recognition and praise for his work and his goody two shoes attitude. It seemed unfair that someone who came from such humble beginnings could overshadow her own achievements simply because he possessed a natural talent that captivated others. She couldn't help but compare herself to him, constantly questioning what it was that made him stand out while she remained unnoticed.
Questioning why she always felt a hollow pain in her chest while Dupain-Cheng always seemed so fulfilled.
Maestro laughed sarcastically, “You’re right. I don’t know what you’re going through. I’m not the one who ruined my life over something completely avoidable, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
And wasn’t that just a slap in the face? Chloe ignored Monsieur Guillaume’s attempt at separating them and clutched Dupain-Cheng’s red cased phone in an iron grip. The resentment in his blue eyes made her stomach flip. She was already drowning, and if he hated her so much, he might as well kill her!
“I already heard all of this from literally everyone! I don’t need you to pile onto it as well!” she lashed back.
But judging by Dupain-Cheng’s body language, he’s had enough of her – frankly embarrassing – temper tantrum and her demands for his attention. Expertly weaving past Monsieur Guillaume like a worm, he managed to swipe his phone out of Chloe’s hands due to her slow reaction.
The noirette threw his hands up in frustration, the glass of his patience finally shattering, "I thought that finally facing severe consequences for your actions and getting professional help for your problems would finally make you have some shame and humility for once in your life, but I guess expected too much from someone who carelessly endangered human lives the second she was able to!”
At that, Chloe flinched. Everyone had asked her countless times what she’d been thinking when she paralyzed the train conductor. She never had an answer because she wasn’t thinking, not about the long term. When she had the Bee Comb in her possession, only ideas of how to solve the quickest disaster and gain the recognition she craved from her mother were running through her head. She was so confident in her own abilities, that not once did caution or regret cross her mind. Until it was too late.
“Even after all that’s happened, you still haven’t learned anything!”
Sensing impending defeat, Chloe stalked past Monsieur Guillaume and Dupain-Cheng while trying to hide her stinging eyes. She could feel Adrien’s gaze burning on her skin which made her feel even worse. The flames of her temper were extinguished like a campfire in a thunderstorm.
If they wanted to stuff their faces at McDonalds’, then fine! Chloe was content to starve herself until they returned to the hotel where she could eat proper food. Chloe stewed in her negativity as she tried to push Maestro Dupain-Cheng from her mind. He was the last person she wanted to occupy her mind with, especially after the tongue lashing he gave her.
Unfortunately, in her frenzy, Chloe hadn't noticed that her shoelaces had come undone, a realization that came far too late as she tripped over them. In the middle of a busy road.
Chloe painfully crashed onto the gravel, grazing her hands and knees. The stinging sensation made it difficult to pull herself back up. But when she finally managed to reorient herself, she saw Gorilla and the others running towards her with panic on their faces.
"Chole! Are you okay?!" Adrien shrieked when he reached her and began fussing over her. Chloe winced slightly as he took her hand in his. The blonde girl wasn't surprised that Adrien rushed to help her. He never liked seeing Chloe physically hurt, even if they weren't friends anymore. What was surprising was Dupain-Cheng giving her a once over with concerned eyes. Those blue bells landed on the rather harsh scratch marks on her palm caused by her fall. Right, he was the ever-compassionate character.
She retracted her hand from Adrien's grasp, just barely covering her wince of pain. "I'm fine. I just have a few scratches. It won't kill me or anything".
"You should run it under cold water, so it doesn't get infected. Maybe we should go back to the zoo and head for the water fountain," Maestro suggested. It honestly threw Chloe through a loop at how Dupain-Cheng could go from scorning her existence to being worried about her. Well, she supposed it wasn't the first time. Before Chloe's foolish stunt with the train, Dupain-Cheng had made a few attempts to reach out to Chloe even though she spat on his repeated attempts. She didn't know why, but the thought made Chloe's head feel lighter.
Rose's shriek of horror cut off any reply Chloe had, "Guys, get off the road!"
All three teenagers turned to their right only for a massive truck speeding right towards them taking up their line of sight. Chloe was rooted to her spot, eyes widening as the truck was not stopping. She vaguely felt a tug on either of her arms as Maestro and Adrien grabbed her and tried to evade certain death. As the truck sped closer, the reality that they wouldn't get out of the way in time hit her like a ton of bricks.
Chloe couldn't believe it was going to end like this. In a foreign country in her most unfashionable outfit in the arms of her former best friend and ambiguous sworn enemy. She could only hope the police could salvage their obliterated corpses for a proper funeral in Paris. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
Then out of her corner of her eye, Chloe saw a man speeding towards him. He was extremely tall and incredibly well built like a quarterback with blonde hair and a sharp jaw line. He was charging towards the three of them with almost superhuman speed. In the blink of any eye, he scooped them up with ease and rushed them to the other side of the road, the truck just narrowly missing them by mere centimeters.
"God, are you kids okay?!" The unknown man deposited them safely on the sidewalk and it took all of Chloe's strength not to collapse on the ground and sob.
"W-we're fine. Thank you so much, sir. You saved our lives!" Adrien was the one to answer the man in accented English. His voiced wavered as they were all shaken up by the near-death experience.
"It isn't a problem. You need to be more careful. You could've been killed or seriously injured!" Chloe grimaced at that. She was internally beating herself up for not paying attention to her surroundings. And because of her negligence, Maestro and Adrien were nearly killed because they were trying to help her! She had to keep herself from doubling over and vomiting.
"We're so sorry. We'll pay attention next time," Maestro assures their savior though his English speaking isn't as advanced as Adrien's.
"I'll leave you kids to it." He checked them over for injuries until his eyes landed on the scrapes on Chloe's hands and her jeans that were now torn at the knee. "It looks like you injured yourself from your fall. Be sure to take care of it before it gets infected.
Chloe could only stare at the man, grateful that her life hadn't ended so abruptly.
Notes (Since I ran out of space in the designated area):
+The consequences of the Train Incident were expanded on further to properly capture the domino effect that led Chloe to the position she's currently in. The repercussions Chloe's facing are harsh but it should be expected. If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of cannon Chloe. And I don't think people realize that it isn't just about Chloe bullying everyone. It's about the fact that after rewatching seasons one and two, she should by all accounts have a criminal record. The crimes she commits and get away with while bullying her classmates have created a two paged list. The overlapping effects of the Train Incident are fairly reasonable because I'd imagine a parent of a student that attends Francois Dupont watching the news and seeing the spoiled brat no one likes making headlines would cause them to question their children about her and the school and everything going up in flames from that moment onwards. I hope someone can explain in the comments the over demonization of Lila in the fandom while Chloe gets relatively none.
+Up to this point, Chloe’s behavior included: theft, vandalism, harassment, intentional sabotage, false reporting, lying to law enforcement, impeding an investigation, false accusations, false alarm, art theft, property damage, libel, breaking and entering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting a terrorist, having someone sign a document under false pretenses which could arguably fall fully into forgery, unjustified firing, abuse of power, bullying, blackmail, academic fraud and EVEN MORE THEFT. And during this entire time, people have been nothing but accommodating of her whims and accepting or outright enabling of her behavior instead of requiring her to face ANY consequences. That's not going to happen here.
+Adding on to the above point, bullying is illegal in Paris and considered an actual crime. If Miraculous Ladybug made any sense, Chloe shouldn't have lasted as long as she did. All it would take to bring her down would be a recording of her behavior and submitting it to the police. Not to mention, any person convicted to bullying can face of to three years in prison and have to pay a fine of over 100,000 euros.
+Alya and Nino are great friends here. And instead of the usual tabloid LadyBlog shtick that is used for Alya, I decided to make her a respectable journalist because that is what Alya was meant to be. I still have her as being gullible to Lila's deception because teenagers do stupid -- very stupid things. Alya just adds all of her Lila interviews on another blog that is barely popular as a way to prevent the risk to her career. And instead of admonishing Maestro for any conflicts concerning Lila, Alya instead tries to deescalate the situation without pointing fingers, much the Lila's annoyance.
+ As for the separate divisions dedicated to akuma activity:
- Le Bureau de l'activité Akuma - A government sponsored faction of the police force that deals exclusively with akumatizations that take place and Paris as well as the documentation for when they occur. Missions include counterterrorism, hostage rescue and surveillance of national threats.
- L'unité centrale de recherche d'Akuma - A research unit consisting of scientists and psychologists specializing in uncovering the secrets to the psyche of akumatized victims as well as how Hawkmoth's powers work. They have succeeded in providing proper therapy for former victims to help them with recouperation.
The process for dealing with akumas in canon is so sloppy and unorganized. Some episodes feature the police taking a stand against the akumas while in others, they're pretty much nonexistent. In the world I'm building, responsible adults are a must.
+Maestro as Crimson Beetle has a different costume design since Ladybug's canon suit has always been plain and ugly. I know most people won't agree with me, but the fanart I used as a description for his design looks infinitely better than the boring solid red with polka dots in canon.
+Also, Maestro can't speak proper English like Adrien and Chloe because he recently began online English Language courses on Duolingo at Penny Rolling's request.
Notes:
+For this chapter, I added in subtle Snow White nuances when it comes to describing the sour relationship that Chloe and Maestro have. Chloe being the Evil Queen who is jealousy of how fair and good Snow White is. While it is never explained why exactly Chloe began hating Marinette in canon, the most likely answer may be jealousy since Marinette has everything Chloe has ever wanted (minus wealth and status). And it's reasonable to assume that she justifies her bullying of Marinette/Maestro because in her mind, it should be her with the happy life and if she can't have it, no one can. I'm doing my best to study Chloe's psychology and what makes her tick, so she doesn't come off as out of character.
+The class's general characterizations are going to be explored more in later chapters, but they ways they perceive Lila are pretty much obvious. It never made sense how the class was able to see her as a person who could do no wrong, a god, a saint, etc. Here, the class picks up on the fact that Lila has her flaws like everybody else; her constant need for attention, her jealousy problems, her lies (to a select few) and her over sensitivity to name a few. Most of them value her as a friend while also calling her out on her less savory behaviors to the point where Lila has to be extra careful with what she says and does, especially how she interacts with Maestro. There are countless fics where Marinette has to be overly cautious with everyone or else she'll risk igniting the ire of everyone, so it's only fair that Lila has to dance to the tune her classmates play for her in at least one fic.
+Yes, there is a new principle at Francois Dupont. There is no reason for Damocles to keep his job when he played a massive role in why Chloe was able to bully everyone for so long. Although it was never confirmed, rumor has it that he quit before they could fire him as a way to avoid child abuse and endangerment charges. The way Dupont is run in canon always felt flakey. Students being sent to the principal's office over minor issues, students being expelled by word of mouth without getting to defend themselves, a student being able to go to another country without permission from their guardian, and a student being able to just skip school for two whole months without any effort to contact their parents. The school was bound to crash and burn eventually. The constant harassment of literally everyone by Chloe's hand was just the final nail in the coffin and Francois Dupont received such severe backlash that the school had to shut down for a while. In canon, all it would take would be a recording of a day in that school for it to be shut down until further notice. That environment is abusive, and I don't think many people realize it.
+As promised, the Avengers (or some of them) are finally here. The man who saved Chloe, Adrien, and Maestro's lives was Steve Rogers if you couldn't already tell.
Chapter 5: Media Storm - Global Additon
Notes:
Chapter Posted: 9/26/23
Word Count: 3,019Honestly, if my future self told me that I'd end up writing a cross over fic of Miraculous Ladybug and the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring Male! Marinette ... I wouldn't be surprised. I've been thinking about writing this since last year. I've only recently been able to publish it.
1) While thinking up face claims for Alya, I was going to originally use Zendeya or Hallie Bailey, but after searching Pinterest for a suitable face, I decided on using Storm Reid for her. Something about her just screams Alya Cesaire for some reason. The former two just seemed a little too adult like for someone who's supposed to be a teenager.
Storm Reid is one of the finest actresses in Hollywood with several prominent acting roles to her credit. After playing a small role in the television film A Cross to Bear (2012), Reid made an appearance in the period drama film 12 Years a Slave (2013). She earned recognition for a starring role in the superhero film Sleight (2016) and had her breakthrough with the fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time (2018).
2) For Marcel, I settled on Cai Xukun for his face claim. I know Marinette is canonically half Chinese, but the show heavily whitewashes her (which is nothing new with ethnic characters). I know genetics can be an unpredictable package, but what doesn't make any sense is for her eyes to be bright blue. Marinette is only half Asian in a way that can cater to the white demographic. Besides most of the face claims for Marinette are fully Chinese.
Cai Xukun is a Chinese singer-songwriter, dancer and rapper. He debuted as a member of SWIN and its sub-unit SWIN-S on October 18, 2016, after participating in the first and second seasons of the Chinese reality show Super Idol. After leaving the group and its company Yihai Entertainment, he participated in iQiyi's reality survival show Idol Producer, finishing first and debuting as the leader/center of temporary Chinese boy group Nine Percent, on April 6, 2018. He was a cast member of variety show Keep Running from 2020 to 2022.
Tap this to see content warnings
Brief mentions of death, cyber stalking, PTSD and assholes on the internet
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Day of The Disaster - May 2nd
Somewhere Above the Atlantic - S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier - Debriefing Room - 12:06 am
When Nick Fury stormed his way into the debriefing room, they all knew they were in for one giant shit storm. Maria Hill cringed and several S.H.I.E.L.D agents took care to swerve out of the Director's way as he stormed over to where she was reviewing footage of Paris being reconstructed in seconds by ... magical ladybugs?
"How the fuck did we miss this?" There was total silence in the room for many moments, Hill briefly making eye contact with Melinda May before glancing over at Lance Hunter, who was very intensely compiling data. When no one promoted to answer (including Hill, surprisingly), Melinda decided that they might as well just get this over with. "It seems that the world-renowned Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancouer were arrested on charges of terrorism with butterflies after three years of taking up the alias 'Hawkmoth' and 'Mayura' respectively." she said matter of factually, looking over at Lance, who had not once acknowledged Fury's existence in the time he walked in. All of his attention was on the screen, replaying and expanding certain frames and moments.
"And how is it that this flew over your heads? There were literally dozens of articles by tourists who were caught up in these attacks." Fury fumed. "This should've been investigated further."
Hill didn't really have a response to that. It all happened so fast, one moment they all had their hands busy surfing through highly classified government data, and the next, Banner and Stark hacked into their monitors to hand over information about the alarming situation in Paris that had recently been resolved. Hill nearly rolled her eyes; they hadn't even bothered to contact Nick Fury himself with their findings. They left it to the agents to break the sensitive news to their irate Director, the bastards. It all went downhill from there.
"Well for one, these heroes are definitely more powerful than they're letting on, I mean, look at this!" Lance jumped in, expanding the screen until it was easily seen even by Lincoln Campbell, who was on the other side of the room. The video was from a news caster's perspective, and it was showing the moments when Crimson Beetle and Cat Noir were fighting a plethora of opponents dripped in scarlet. Hill's never known a regular human that fast, and it was especially shown in the moment when the turtle themed villain (1) threw is shield at Crimson Beetle with high speed, how smoothly and effortlessly the spotted hero dodged it. Lance then fast forwarded to after they knocked down a cupid themed opponent (Dark Cupid, Hill presumes?), how in less than half a second Chat Noir took out his staff from and hit Cupid's arrows out of the air while in midair. The only people Steve's seen to be able to do that were gods and military trained assassins like Loki and Thor or Clint and Romanoff. And these children even did it again less than a minute later.
"And don't even get me started on the coward-slash-genius that is Hawkmoth." Lance put up a picture of a disheveled man in handcuffs being escorted by police and armed military personnel. "This man nearly single handedly shut all of Paris down while barely lifting a finger by using the emotions of people against them. I think it's for the best that the European Union bared interference in Paris. Imagine if any of the Avengers were akumatized," the agent exclaimed, sounding awfully impressed for discussing the Avengers being taken out by a terrorist in hiding. "Whoever they are, we need to make contact with them immediately, because something tells me that having two kid superheroes save an entire city and possibly the world will be of the highest priority for the council (2)."
Fury's eye visibly twitched in anger, his hands clenching behind his back. "Well, since it seems like you want the honors of bringing them in, I'll make this an Avenger Level priority. I want these kids questioned and interrogated, because in case you forgot, Mr. Hunter, we have no idea where they came from, what they're capable of, or what they're going to do now that Gabriel Agreste and his assistant have been arrested. The same goes for Hawkmoth and Mayura." And with that, Fury stormed out, just like he came, muttering furiously under his breath. A few moments after he was gone, there was silence in the Helicarrier as the several S.H.I.E.L.D struggled to understand just what they got themselves into.
"So," Melinda began awkwardly, running her fingers through her hair as she studied the still playing video. "Where do we start?"
The Paris investigation required more trespassing past the international embargo. Stark and Banner delivered the digitized versions of the case files discovered in the files of L'unité centrale de recherche d'Akuma under the Parisian National Registry in order to thoroughly cross examine the akumatizations, their victims, and the Parisian government's attitude to investigating them. They also included the mission reports from the Paris Le Bureau de l'activité Akuma designated to contain and lessen the harm caused by akumatizations. They have seen numerous cases thus far, and each one has added to the abnormality that is Paris. The problem though?
"If we bring down the international blockage that was officially set up by the European Union, any and all information regarding Paris's situation will be leaked into the mainstream media and the internet. The entire world will know. Not to mention we'll have to deal with the wrath of the French government," Hill rubbed away the incoming headache, wishing she had slept well that night. This was a very delicate issue, and one wrong step could spell disaster.
"You heard Director Fury," Lincoln stated as he got straight to dismantling the impressively thorough barrier at Fury's request. Hill sighed and turned to her monitor as she offered her assistance.
Breaking News/Current Events
Leaked Sources Reveal a Truth About Paris That Has Been Hidden from the World for Years
PARIS -- The city known to many as the City of Lights or the City of Love. A popular tourist attraction to foreigners worldwide as well as one of the four fashion capitals in the world. Such a populated city should have nothing out of the ordinary to note. Ever since the attack on Manhattan, New York a few years ago and the subsequent rise of the Avengers, several cities have also undergone catastrophic events, though Paris has never been one of them. Except, that isn't the case at all.
Today, the world is taken by storm by the revelation that Paris was under a terrorist's control for almost four years. Starting with the emergence if Stone Heart -- the first ever beast created by the terrorist -- there have been countless monsters causing wanton destruction since then. Tourists who have visited Paris in the last four years have come forward about being caught up in these attacks, but they weren't taken seriously. After all, a terrorist with the ability to create super humans of any proportion -- weak to potentially world ending -- would be all over international news just like Loki's attack on Manhattan a few years ago.
Apparently, that is not the case as we've seen in France. Mayor Andre Bourgeois and President Emmanuel Macron of France had come to the agreement to implement a media blockage, suppressing any and all information about the existence of Hawkmoth. There are a few theories surrounding why this came to be, though the entire internet has come to the conclusion that it was to keep the Avengers from interfering since at the time, people all over the world were wary of them and their abilities.
The Avengers are also not the only heroes around as of four years ago. Crimson Beetle and Cat Noir, the lesser-known Rena Rouge, Carapace, Ryuko, Pegasus, and Viperion have taken up the responsibility to protect Paris from Hawkmoth and eventually unmask him. Beetle and Noir, though, have more speculation shone on them because of their uncanny abilities. Beetle's ability to summon unconventional objects out of thin air and reverse any physical damage with what people are theorizing as ladybugs and Noir's ability to destroy anything he touches with one attack has left everyone in awe and curiosity. Who are these heroes and where did they come from. What are their goals now that Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur have been arrested? Those are questions that have yet to be answered.
The recounts of Parisian victims and survivors alike puts into perspective just how traumatic these attacks can be. "I can still remember my transformation," a lady told their psychologist, "It was like my negative emotions were being twisted into something that I didn't recognize, too dark to be coming from me. His voice was all I could hear while being a prisoner of my own negativity. I'm still in recovery to this day". Another man interviewed by akuma researchers states, "Watching my wife being turned into a monster by grief was a very difficult experience. She is always so calm and tranquil that it was totally unexpected that she'd be taken advantage of by Hawkmoth after being fired from her job. I love her so much, so watching her regress into such a state was heart breaking.
There are similar recounts all over Paris and by tourists alike who are in motion of pressing charges against the city for not prewarning them of the threat of an incredibly powerful terrorist. The reveal of all of this is very abrupt and sort of left field. But we can only wait to see how Paris, and France as whole, respond to this can of worms being opened so brazenly. Stay in tuned for more developments.
Written by Martha Keener 1:00 am Share Favorite this Article
Is Adrien Agreste an Accomplice to his father?
HeyHeyThrowaway Original Poster | 230.5k followers
After the pictures of Gabriel Lafayette Agreste being arrested and being marched by military personnel (images can be found here) were released online yesterday, one question was stuck in my mind. Could Adrien Agreste have been aware of what his father was doing? And if he was, could he have been aiding his father in terrorizing the city. I decided to do some digging and found much more on the internet concerning Gabriel Agreste and Adrien. It was comically easy, really.
According to what I've found on the web, I managed to find out that:
- English actress Emelie Agreste (Gabriel's wife and Adrien's mother) went missing a year before Adrien Agreste began attending school (Media prints that list documentations of the incident x, x, x; National News that covered it x, x, x).
- Adrien Agreste attends college Francois Dupont where many witnesses have confessed to his absences during akuma attacks and frequently being pulled out of school (Source).
- He turned 16 on March 18th.
- Based on recent information surfacing about his homelife, until recently the only people he's had contact with were his father's assistant (who's also been detained) and his bodyguard (who's serving as his legal guardian for the time being.
- There is an entire hidden lair underneath the Agreste Manor, like holy shit. Gabriel Agreste has the highest electric bill in France with a whopping 50 million euros to keep his entire home running. It's said to be hidden behind a painting of the now deceased Emelie Agreste.
- Her sister Amelie de Vanily had tried to press law enforcement to find her but was given the brush off due to Gabriel Agreste likely bribing them to not pry into it any further.
- For anyone who isn't aware, Adrien Agreste is the face of his father's company Gabriel. The ex-fashion designer had others who modeled on occasion, but Adrien had the most commissions and shoots by far.
If Adrien is always absent during akuma attacks in his school, that casts even more suspicion of whether he's an accomplice or not. And I have no idea whether there is a public record of Adrien Agreste helping his father and assistant that year, but what the hell. The tabloids will answer that for us.
Posted today, 1:30 am.
18,724 comments. Sorted by: Time
Reblog: Is Adrien Agreste an Accomplice to his father?
HeyHeyThrowaway Original Poster | 230.5k followers
New information from inside sources, Adrien Agreste and another student -- Maestro Dupain-Cheng -- were the only people in their class who hadn't been akumatized in a class full of Gabriel Agreste's previous victims. This in itself is very unusual, especially with the toxic learning environment that these students were subjected to until a year ago where Francois Dupont underwent a major overhaul in policies.
For those of you who aren't aware of who Maestro Dupain-Cheng is, he's a French born teenager and a close friend of Adrien's as confirmed by other students. He's also an accomplished fashion designer with many celebrity, magazine, graphic design and film commissions under his belt. At just 16 years old the list of his achievements is long. French Magazines like Bonsoir, Lemon, Amethyst (and more). have several interviews with him and his work (and that's not counting the international publications). He's even mentioned in Teen Vouge's "Young Talent Taking the World By Storm". He's been revealed for being a personal designer for Jagged Stone as mentioned in (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4), he won a contest from Fashion Designer Gabriel Agreste (Who is currently in custody) For more articles with his name and pictures included are linked here: x, x, x, x) and countless others.
Hell, even Anna Wintour and Audrey Bourgeois acknowledged his potential in fashion design.
He went by the alias M.D.C (the initials of his complete name) before being officially credited with his full name for his works due to his age at the time and not wanting the attention on him yet. When reporters inquired who designed certain clothes, celebrities would use this name to allude to him. (Source 1: Interview "M.D.C.: The Designer of Jagged Stone Face Reveal", Sources 2–4: Magazine Interviews and Modeling Shoots at Teen Vogue.)
Maestro Xiaolong Dupain-Cheng
(All pictures are taken from his Instagram @MaestroDesigned and @MDC_Original)
Despite being a very very very talented young man, it is suspicious that he didn't succumb to an akuma at some point in the three years of Hawkmoth's existence. Especially in a school with the recorded highest rate of akumatizations in Paris. According to the Akuma Research Database, Adrien and Maestro's classmates have been akumatized more than once, but neither were documented as akuma victims, which is strange to say the least.
What's more, he is also strangely absent during akuma attacks that happen at Francois Dupont during school hours, despite being in attendance a few minutes prior. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it seems like far too much to just be a coincidence. More on this later.
Posted today, 1:45 am.
18,724 comments. Sorted by: Time
Date: 05-02-2023 01:50 am [UTC]
JustAnAnon
OH MY GOD. Do you even realize what the fuck you're doing?!
Why are you accusing two 16-year-old kids of terrorism? You say you don't want to jump to conclusions, but you are strongly implying that the two of them were helping a terrorist commit war crimes. What the hell is wrong with you?! It's just as likely they, you know, hid during akuma attacks to avoid getting involved in the crossfire. This whole post is disgusting and everything that's wrong with the internet these days.
That is really shitty of you, especially since you could ruin their lives over accusations that are likely not even true. I hope you have a bad day.
Comment Reply Chain View 4,557 Replies Parent Thread
Re: OH MY GOD.
Date: 05-02-2023 01:53 am [UTC]
HeyHeyThrowaway
First of all, if you have a problem with me sharing a theory, get the hell off the internet. You're obviously too soft to handle it.
Secondly, there are various articles and media outlets already speculating the same thing. Less about Dupain-Cheng and more about Agreste as he did live with the man for his entire life. How can I drag kids into the public eye when their existences weren't even private. Fuck the hell off.
Thirdly, I hope you know that false alibies are a thing. Adrien Agreste likely helped his father and assistant. There is no feasible way that he wouldn't have known a terrorist was sharing the same house as him.
Official news outlets are once again reporting on this information. You can't be famous and expect your life to remain fully private, as they say. People are going to be curious. I really just did my own study, compiling public data and drawing conclusions. What anyone does with the knowledge is entirely up to them.
Now go back to what gutter you crawled out of.
Comment Reply Chain View 4,000 Replies Parent Thread
Re: Re: OH MY GOD.
Date: 05-02-2023 01:58 am [UTC]
JustAnAnon
Do you even hear yourself? You're going to ruin the lives of literal children.
"Various articles and media outlets already speculating the same thing."
I didn't realize that the media outlets were the ones conducting the investigations and drawing up actual, solid evidence of these claims. Even a fucking idiot knows that media outlets and articles can just say whatever to boost ratings.
Yes, Maestro and Adrien have been featured in the media before, but Parisian media is way fucking different than Amercian media. Americans are high key animals when it comes to publicity. They also have never been connected to an unhinged war criminal before this, so those situations are in no way comparable.
You're a jackass.
Comment Reply Chain View 3,726 Replies Parent Thread
Re: Re: Re: OH MY GOD.
Date: 05-02-2023 02:04 am [UTC]
HeyHeyThrowaway
I don't even care about this anymore, my guy.
Comment Reply Chain View 3,589 Replies Parent Thread
Re: Re: Re: OH MY GOD.
Date: 05-02-2023 02:05 am [UTC]
JustAnAnon
Well, I care!
As of now, there are multiple stories surfacing about Americans who were caught up in these attacks while on vacation in Paris. There are some fucked up people out there. What if they decide that you're right and try to get revenge. Like seriously murder the two of them?! You'd be responsible for the deaths of two teenaged boys. You are a horrible person.
Comment Reply Chain View 10,602 Replies Parent Thread
Re: Re: OH MY GOD.
Date: 05-02-2023 02:18 am [UTC]
WanShiTong
Yeah, I agree with @JustAnAnon. After checking the internet ... there are a startling amount of child abuse accusations being thrown at Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur by their own employees, photographers, clients, teachers, the media and other students at his school. According to this article, Gabriel has come under fire for his controlling tendencies by the media after a video of Gabriel threatening to pull Adrien out of school began circulating the internet. It's more likely that Adrien Agreste probably knew about his father's activities but couldn't do anything about it as he was being abused until his bodyguard came forth with the evidence of his crimes that forced Gabriel out into the open.
However, the strongest piece of evidence defending Adrien Agreste comes from a blog I stumbled upon: The Ladyblog, who's creator is a teenager named Alya Cesaire. She attends Francois Dupont with Maestro Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. Apparently, she's great friends with them both.
Alya Durette Cesaire
(All of her pictures can be found on her Instagram @Alyablogger and @TheLadyblog)
Her articles concerning the situation can be found here. And I must say, she provides every bit of evidence from the police, the government agents and even public safety commissions. @HeyHeyThrowaway, leave these kids alone. There's already so much evidence defending them. Let the authorities do their jobs and don't jump to conclusions that make you look like an idiot Infront of thousands of people.
Comment Reply Chain View 20,635 Replies Parent Thread
Re: Re: Re: Acutal Evidence
Date: 05-02-2023 02:020 am [UTC]
JustAnAnon@WanShiTong, THANK GOD people like you still exist to balance out the amount of ick on the internet. And providing recepts?
You are a GOD SEND.
Comment Reply Chain View 2,789 Replies Parent Thread
Re: Re: Re: GOD SEND
Date: 05-02-2023 02:25 am [UTC]
WanShiTongI do what I can man. This forum could use good human beings for once 🙄
Comment Reply Chain View 457 Replies Parent Thread
Re: Re: Re: Original Post.
Date: 05-02-2023 02:29 am [UTC]
HeyHeyThrowaway
I still think I'm right. I'll be waiting for the police to confirm my theory.
Comment Reply Chain View 200 Replies Parent Thread
Chloe Bourgeois: The Perfect Example of How Not to Raise Your Children
from the Phone of Gerard Grosnol
Published: 5/2/23
As a native Parisian, I apologize for any grammar mistakes in my writing. The French version can be accessed here.
I know that this is a very harsh titled article, but you will understand why it's appropriate after I explain everything.
To anyone in France, the name Chloe Bourgeois is quite popular. For all the WRONG reasons. Being the daughter of the world renowned Style Queen, Audrey Bourgeois and the Mayor of Paris, Andre Bourgeois, it shouldn't come as a shock that Mlle. Bourgeois would end up being completely spoiled. When I say spoiled, I mean SPOILED.
[Her Instagram has since been deleted. These were just pictures I found of her on the internet]
The Incident
Over a year ago, Chloe Bourgeois gained notoriety in Paris as the Bee Criminal, Queen Bee, and the most hated girl in Paris after causing a train crash during Paris Fashion Week. Fortunately, Crimson Beetle and Chat Noir intercepted her immediately and managed to prevent the near deadly crash just seconds before impact. When questioned about her actions, Chloe [Video is linked here] claimed she wanted to impress her mother, Audrey, who had been disrespectful towards her earlier that day. While it is true that Audrey Bourgeois had been disrespectful and dismissive of her daughter just hours before the disaster, one cannot help but question the sheer violence of this act.
Sources report that Crimson Beetle was outraged by Chloe's behavior, expressing his anger during a live broadcast by Nadja Chamack on Face to Face. Chloe attempted to downplay the incident since no lives were lost, but Crimson Beetle vehemently disagreed, emphasizing that this act of selfishness could have resulted in permanent loss of life.
They reveal that Crimson Beetle was furious. Full blown screaming his head off her as millions watched the Live footage being broadcasted by Nadja Chamack on Face to Face. Chloe tried to claim that it was no big deal since the passengers and driver were saved, but what Beetle said next shook the entire country: "Are you stupid?! Are you insane?! This wasn't caused by an akuma! This was caused by a selfish and unrepentant bully who doesn't value human beings! If the train had crashed, I wouldn't have been able to revive them with the Miraculous Ladybug. THEY WOULD REMAIN DEAD!"
Moments later, Chloe was akumatized into Queen Wasp and engaged in a battle with Crimson Beetle and Chat Noir over the Bee Comb. However, the consequences of her actions had already taken their toll.
Original video source: [Video is linked here]
The Lawsuits
Days following Crimson Beetle's public meltdown, over ninety of the train passengers filed lawsuits against the Bourgeois family on the grounds of negligence, endangerment, attempted manslaughter, destruction of property, and obstruction of justice.
News of Bourgeois' trial spread like wildfire and caught the attention of parents of students who attended the same school as Chloe Bourgeois. At the urging of very concerned parents, the school board launched an investigation of Francois Dupont. What was discovered only served to bury Chloe even further into the ground. The news of Chloe Bourgeois' upcoming trial has sparked outrage among parents whose children attend the same school as her. In response to their concerns, the school board initiated an investigation into Francois Dupont, which uncovered shocking revelations about Chloe's behavior.
The investigation exposed Chloe Bourgeois as a notorious bully who had been tormenting her classmates for years. Almost the entire school had filed several complaints against Bourgeois for the last three years alone. While it was common knowledge that the heiress was typically unpleasant to be around, no one knew just how bad the situation for her classmates was. Since this was made public months before her trial had a set date, the school board found it fit to swiftly punish her. Every mention of her bullying, cheating, lying, and entitled behavior was penned down in her record along with the upcoming video of her trial. She was also made to redo her studies form the sixth grade due to the fact that it was her classmate, Sabrina Raincomprix, completing her work for her.
Considering the fact that Francois Dupont had the highest rate of akumatizations in Paris, the scandal caught the attention of President Macron, prompting thorough investigations into the staff and safety of the students at Francois Dupont. As a result, all but four teachers were fired and had their teaching licenses revoked for failing to adequately address Chloe's excessive cruelty towards her peers.
Chloe Bourgeois now faces a multitude of charges, including theft, physical assault, harassment, assault with a deadly weapon, food poisoning, vandalism, academic fraud, legal fraud, and wasting emergency resources. These charges have resulted in the creation of a criminal record for Chloe, which was established after her trial concluded. Furthermore, the families of her bullying victims have pressed charges against her.
The court has imposed strict penalties on Chloe, including wearing a court-mandated ankle monitor, extensive community service hours, and reimbursing all fines from the lawsuits filed against her using her own funds. Mayor Bourgeois has been prohibited from financially assisting his daughter as demanded by the prosecutors. Additionally, the court ruled that if Chloe graduates deuxieme, she will not be placed in a juvenile detention center but instead attend a lycée for criminal and troubled youth for the remainder of her high school education.
Following the conclusion of the trial, Mayor Bourgeois has faced months of controversy, with some questioning his ability to govern effectively given his failure to properly raise his daughter. Child Protective Services in Paris has expressed concerns about Chloe's well-being, conducting random weekly check-ins to assess whether she should remain in her father's care. Audrey Bourgeois, Chloe's mother, has also faced criticism for her callous comments towards her daughter before, during, and after the trial. While some sympathy has been expressed, it is widely believed that her actions involving a stolen artifact and attempted harm to others cannot be justified.
The Aftermath
From this entire mess, I can only hope that something like this never happens again. So, if you are a parent or are planning to be one, please take this advice to heart. DO NOT SPOIL YOUR CHILDREN. Don't insult and neglect them, don't coddle them or overindulge them. Punish them for their bad behavior to teach them right from wrong. Give them the love they deserve and don't be afraid to hold them accountable.
Overall, Bourgeois comes off as a princess who has never been told "no" in her life, which turned her into an overprivileged, entitled bully. If this was your daughter, could you honestly say that you're proud of her? Would you be proud that she nearly killed people? Would you be proud that the entire country hates her?
To conclude, please don't raise your children like Chloe Bourgeois. She's already more than enough.
[Find all references, news articles, news coverage, and tweets here: x x x x x x x x x]
Notes:
You have no idea how long it took me to figure out how to code smaller texts. Like full on deep dive research until I finally figured out how. Some of you might say I'm being too extra but ... we do everything at 110% here!
Onto the end notes for this chapter <3
1) The "Turtle Themed Villian" the Shield Agents were watching was Shell Shock during Heroes' Day after getting akumatized.
2) The New York Times Article: Finally figuring out how to make text smaller, I decided to test it out by writing a mini article on the topic. It came out very well. For some background information into the world building, akuma victims are frequently studied by psychologists and psychiatrists to make sure they didn't suffer any brain damage or lasting trauma. Both as a way to uncover how Hawkmoth's powers work and how former akamitized villains react to different stimuli. In the show, with abnormal villains continually being created, why haven't any doctors conducted any experiments or do any research? The akuma's could've have been broken down into organized and informed groups sorted by the triggering emotion, the time it happened, who it happened to, and how to beat them. If this had been implemented in the show, fighting akuma would have been ten times easier and the heroes wouldn't be floundering around for how to defeat them. But that's just me.
3) The "Council" in question revealed themselves in the first Avengers movie. I'm sure you all remember that iconic "I am aware the Council has made its decision. But given it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it". If the miraculous existed in the MCU, it can be completely plausible that agencies like Sheild, the Red Room, and Hydra would be scrambling to get their hands on them. The latter two will be a major problem for Maestro and Adrien in the following chapters.
4) The Reddit Forum: This part was SUPER uncomfortable to write. But as this is going to be as grounded as possible, I have to acknowledge all parts of the internet. If this scandal was in our world, people would definitely jump on the internet and accuse Adrien (and anyone associated with him) of helping Hawkmoth just because he's Adrien's father. People have the capacity for cruel and hurtful behavior in communicating with others that is simply unprecedented. Unfortunately, people like this are narrow minded and want to perpetuate a narrative that suits them. I also decided to add the users @JustAnAnon and @WanShiTong defending Adrien and Maestro with actual proof because that's what happens during social media discourse.
5) The Chloe Article: Having someone online criticizing Mayor Bourgeois and Chloe is always a pleasure. There are tons of articles and media analysis on the crappy behavior of celebrities, whether they are adults or children. And after something as horrific as the Train Crash (TM), why wouldn't someone make an example of how children should not be raised out of Chloe. Is it cruel? Yes. But it's not like the writer lied about it. Instead of the term “heroine”, I used “Bee Criminal” because that was what Chloe was considered when the whole mess was going down. Basically, this section came about after the Train Incident went unacknowledged in the show, so this is good food. For Chloe's face claim, I used Amanda Seyfried. I was originally going to use Sydney Sweeny or Sabrina Carpenter, but I couldn't do my girls like that. I had to sacrifice someone.
Amanda Michelle Seyfried (born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery in the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (1999–2001) and Joni Stafford in the ABC soap opera All My Children (2003). She came to prominence for her feature film debut in the teen comedy Mean Girls (2004), and for her roles as Lilly Kane in the UPN mystery drama series Veronica Mars (2004–2006) and Sarah Henrickson in the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011).
6)The Tweets: Come on, we all saw what a major media storm Iron Man's debut and Tony Stark's revelation brought on in the MCU. Having a child duo and occasional team defeating a mass terrorist would dominate the headlines for the foreseeable future. Both in support and in chaos. One of the tweets refers to Chat Noir as Black Cat and Rena Rouge as Red Fox because those are the literal translations from French to English. So, when using English speakers to refer to them, they will use the literal translations of their names. A TAWOG reference never hurt anyone.