Marinette Dupain-Cheng was known for being a talented hard worker. Over the course of three years however her life had changed. Starting at the beginning of High School a new student's arrival had derailed the fragile beginnings of friendship that had started to blossom in her class. Lila Rossi, a foreign dignitary's daughter had arrived in Ms. Bustier's classroom. From the moment she arrived, Marinette had tried to make her feel welcomed. However she did warn Lila that lying about herself (especially in connection to famous celebrities) was not only unnecessary but could also lead to large consequences for Lila. Frustrated that Lila couldn't wrap the tiny bluenette around her finger she made it her mission to ruin Marinette. Attempts at expulsion were met with resistance by her wealthy target, Adrien Agreste. The blonde fool however offered himself up on a silver tray though to ensure Marinette was brought back to class. No matter how hard she worked, Lila could not get the tiny pest removed from her orbit.
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Lila soon began to wrap the class in her web of lies. Promising introductions, jobs and rewards to her would be followers. Her web grew stronger as she began to demean Marinette and snip the ties that bound the girl to her classmates. Marinette, always one to try and defeat the enemy with words over actions, grew somber and quiet. The first year revolved around Lila's many experiences with celebrities and charities. Earning her the favor of those around her. Sophmore year saw her slowly escalate to casual mentions of threats from Marinette; faux texts and emails to make it look as if the bluenette was striking at her when no one was looking. The isolation began to take a toll on the mental fortitude Marinette thrived in. By the end of of Junior year, Marinette was secluded and abandoned by the friends who had known her since diapers, they watched as Lila and her loyal attack dog Alya took their aggression out on the poor girl; always available for snide remark, a blatant lie and even rough shove, kick or trip. Marinette took the "punishments" in stride and opted to focus on her career. Working with Jagged Stone had given her numerous connections that increased ten fold by the time she was entering her Senior (final) year of High school. She no longer had time to think of the times spent mourning the loss of fake friends and coat tail clingers.
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As Marinette focused on her next presentation, she informed her parents of the Zoom call with numerous connections planning the next gala event which will be introducing her new charity. Aurora had teamed up with TVi's Nadja Chamack to create a blog focused on young up & coming entrepreneurs to keep an eye on. The next session would be doing a live feed of the call that focused on Marinette's design process for the creation of the new logo for the charity to be created by Bruce Wayne, Jagged Stone, Amelie Graham DeVanily, Prince Ali, Clara Nightengale & even Gabriel Agreste. All of whom would be on the call while Marinette discussed the focus of the charity, and demonstrated live how her creation came to be. Marinette was nervous to be not only live streaming with such big household names, but also that this would also be telecast live on Aurora's new blog platform for the world to access if they chose to.
As Marinette still worked in the shadows under the pseudonym MDC she was going to be working with her camera covered but still live streaming her shared screen directly to the viewers/participants and as such asked that her parents please make sure not to disturb her during the hour and a half she was scheduled to be on the Zoom meeting. Her parents agreed that the time window was perfect as that would be right during the dinner rush and they should be plenty occupied to keep their curiosity at bay until dinner together that evening. No one could have predicted the hurricane heading their way in the form of soon-to-be former classmates.
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Marinette sat at her laptop as she dialed into the meeting with her tablet that would be screensharing the design process as well. While she waited for the arrival of her the other guests, she ensured that the mask she occasionally used for public appearances as MDC was looped over her laptop camera eye to block the view of herself & her room so as not to give away any hints to her identity. Slowly the participants gathered. A rather raucous group of young men were heard joining before Bruce Wayne could quiet them down.
"I do apologize Ms. MDC, my boys are such huge fans of yours that they would not pass up the opportunity to see your creative process in person. I do hope it okay that they join us this evening?" Bruce glared at the boys through the screen to show them that they were indeed connected with others around the world. The room immediately fell quiet with nervous chuckles and blushing men everywhere in view of the camera.
"Sorry about that ma'am" Dick Grayson called out.
"I am okay with them being there Mr. Wayne. I do hope they will enjoy the process along with the viewers on the blog. Trust me when I say, if I can handle Jagged and Fang, I think your boys will be a walk in the park." Marinette smiled even though no one could see it. It warmed her heart thinking of her honorary Uncle Jagged, months away from his wedding to Penny Rolling. Marinette was the designer and still had some work to complete for Fang's ring bearer outfit before starting on Luka's tux as best man.
"Good evening Mrs. MDC." a familiar and unexpected British voice sounded from behind Amelie. "I do apologize for crashing the party but as with the Wayne children, I too am interested in seeing your process up close."
"Felix." was all Marinette could say. They had come to an agreement to be cordial to each other once it was clear that Adrian was a coward who could/would not stand up to his father. Gabriel still insisted that Lila Rossi was a good role model for his son to emulate and honestly as of late, Marinette could see that Adrien had fallen farther down the rabbit hole of her stories. He was never outright cold or rude but just very dismissive.
As if conjured by thought alone, Gabriel Agreste soon logged on with Adrien, Natalie & even Gorilla by his side.
"Good evening Agreste family & household. I believe we are awaiting just a few more members to join us, we will begin shortly. As a reminder this call & presentation is being recorded in Zoom as well as live streamed for the Young Entrepreneur blog hosted by Aurora BeaurĂŠal and TVi's Nadja Chamack." Marinette calmly reminded all participants.
"ROCK -N- ROLL lil lady" shouted Jagged as the final participant to join the gathering exactly on time, thanks to Penny in the background. "How's my favorite niece? Ready to kick this party into gear and rock this new charity plan?"
"Honorary Niece Uncle Jagged. And yes, let's begin." Marinette lead the group through a reminder of the charity's focus - anti-bullying & the many ways the charity would function. They discussed fundraising between all of the founding members and how the funds would be distributed, the programs that would be provided etc.
Marinette was beginning the design process for the logo on her tablet when the Zoom meeting went decidedly off-course.
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The trap door to Marinette's room flung open and smashed the floor so hard her entire room shook. Marinette startled a squeak before being picked up out of her chair and thrown the the ground. Her tablet that had been in her hands previously smashed the ground, cracking and sending rather loud noise through the presentation. All participants of the meeting looked up in shock at the disruption only to realize that they could not see what was happening due to the camera still being covered. Jagged immediately motioned for Penny to call the police to Marinette's home in fear of an attack against his favorite designer. Adrien hearing the shouting ran from the room to change into Chat Noir away from the eyes of his family.
"What the hell did you think you were doing sending Lila a message to kill herself 15 minutes ago you slimy no good pest?" Alya screamed in Marinette's face as she struggled against her hold.
"What are you talking about Alya? I have been in a meeting for nearly an hour?" Marinette protested as she grabbed Alya's hips and thrust to send her off balance enough to get out from under her hold.
Alya jumped back up and kicked Marinette square in the chest sending her flying into her laptop, dislodging the mask and giving all of the viewers of the presentation & at home a clear view of the attack. Marinette recovered quickly and ducked under a fist coming towards her face. "Marinette you are such a liar. I can not believe I ever thought you were a good person. To think you told Lila that her relationship with Gabriel was something perverted and that Adrien would be better off dating a whale. You disgust me!" Alya landed a blow to Marinette's stomach causing her to double over and reveal large bruises in the shape of shoes going up the base of her spine. Marinette squealed when her hair was roughly pulled back and Alya clocked her in the mouth with a fist.
Marinette shoved Alya away from her and ran towards the trap door to her room, only to realize it was blocked by Lila. "How the hell did you get up here to my room Cesaire & Rossi?"
Lila just laughed and pointed behind her, showing the rest of the class minus Chloe, Nino and Juleka. "We know when dinner rush is for your parent's bakery Mari-trash. All we had to do was come in through the side door to be unseen."
"What do you want?" Marinette asked, backing away from Lila as Alya came up behind her and put her in a hold restricting her arms.
Lila grabbed Marinette's hair and pulled her away from Alya. Leaning in towards Marinette as she backed her up against the desk, she whispered, "I want you realize that the 3 years of torture I have put you through with lies and threats, cyber bullying and even suicide baiting was nothing compared to what I'll do if you don't leave school, heck even Paris. Your parents have a nice bakery now, best in Paris even, but I will not leave them out of our game any longer. It's time you truly understand what being alone feels like."
Hearing a threat to her parents and their livelihood, Marinette snapped. She thrust her knee up into Lila's sternum, grabbed her hand hard enough to break the hold and thrust it behind Lila's back pulling hard enough to dislocate the Italian girl's shoulder. Alya seeing this rushed "save" her poor friend from the perceived bully, only to be forced back with a high kick landed straight to her jaw. The Italian screamed bloody murder and struggled to free herself from the tiny blunette. The children from Mrs. Bustier's classroom rushed up the stairs, just as Chat Noir entered Marinette's room from the balcony, freezing all movement from the group.
"What the hell do you all think you are doing?" Chat's voice boomed. Seeing the struggling Italian still in Marinette's hold, he calmly walked over to the ladies and using his tail secured Lila while directing Marinette to sit by her desk.
"This cretin has been threatening our friend for years. Just tonight she sent Lila a text message with detailed instructions on how to properly slit her wrists" Rose squealed.
"We just wanted to teach her a lesson about how this kind of bullying won't be tolerated." Kim answered.
Chat shook his head completely surprised at the depths his "friends" would go to. "So you feel it is okay to not only break into her home and assault her but to not even consider whether she actually did it?"
"Of course she did it, we saw the text come through and Lila start shaking when she received it" Ivan jumped in.
"So in a city terrorized by an emotional terrorist who uses negative emotions as fodder, your first thought instead of reaching out to the police was to assault someone?" Marinette asked calmly from the desk, rubbing her stomach. "I have NEVER laid a hand on anyone other than in self defense during an Akuma attack before tonight. Though I would say this was just as much self defense as any of those times as well. I have known most of you since we were in diapers and you still believe after how badly I was bullied that I would stoop so low as to disparage someone, let alone attack them? All of you can get the hell out of my room, my house & my life right now! If I see any of you ever again I will make you rue the day you started sending me death threats, stomping me into the ground with group "punishments", destroying my homework and designs. I have so much proof on all of you that you will be seeing the inside of a jail cell for years to come. GET OUT!"
"Oh but don't go too far" Marinette's father's voice could be heard from the bottom of the stairs. "We have some visitors who wish to speak with you, don't we Office Raincomprix?"
Sabine pushed her way into Marinette's room and took stock of the damage to her daughter. "You did good Bao Bao. You held your own until someone could help you." Sabine grabbed Marinette into a fierce hug before noticing the shocked faces on her daughter's laptop. "Uh oh. I think your secret is out MDC."
Marinette squeaked and quickly turned to the laptop realizing for the first time that not only were the participants still connected, but they were seeing her identity for the first time. "Ummm, hi." Marinette spoke with a fierce blush that could rival her Ladybug uniform.
"I believe we should call a halt to the planning of our charity until MDC has a chance to collect herself." came from Bruce's connection, though it was a much more elderly voice who spoke up.
The class seeming to realize that Marinette had in fact been in a meeting gasped while being herded down the steps out of her room.
"Lil Lady I am already on my way. Lawyers en route as well." Jagged spoke. "Want me to bring Fang?"
Marinette shook her head smiling fondly at the over zealous rock star. "I always love seeing Fang Uncle Jagged, but if he can't be calm enough not to get akumatized again, then I think it's best he stayed home."
"Thank you everyone for joining. I guess the secret is out. Please call me Marinette. I will contact everyone to reschedule our meeting for the charity in the near future." Marinette smiled to the camera, waiting for the participants to disconnect.
"I should be going as well. Are you sure you're okay Marinette?" Chat asked distracting Marinette from the screen of participants who still seemed in shock at seeing their charity leader in such an awful situation.
"I'll be okay Chat Noir. This is nothing new. The beatings have been happening for a long time but the accusation that I was suicide baiting her when I was the one receiving those messages, that's new. I think it's time that this group of heathens found out the truth. Adrien wanted the high road so she could expose herself but that only works with tabloid stories. Not actual malicious human beings who take pleasure in other people's misery to make themselves feel bigger, taller, stronger. He will either forgive me or he won't, but I am done doing things his way while he gets to sit on his "perfect" throne and be ruled by his father's misguided attempts to protect him from the world." Marinette realizing she is still connected to the live stream and call squeaks. "Sorry Mr. Agreste, but it's true. You have sheltered your son from most of the world's atrocities to the point that when he graduates next year he will be ill-prepared for criticism and worse, gold digging sycophants."
Chat's head drooped as he listened to Marinette's rant about his civilian side and slowly perked up as he heard her rip into his Father for his treatment of the model.
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The class was arrested that evening. No one but Alya and Lila received more than community service for that particular event as they were not involved in any of the physical violence, however with the live stream broadcasting until Marinette's closure of the meeting, the public from Aurora's blog and the lawyer's of all participants involved demanded further investigation into the allegations Lila and Marinette had each lobbed.
Surprisingly Marinette was booked on Face to Face with Nadja just 2 days after the meeting. And she came with receipts! She showed off the school phone that her classmates had used to bully, harass and threaten her with. She showed off the destroyed sketchbooks that Alya, Lila & Kim had ruined. She brought video & audio recordings from school showing the staff automatically believing Lila without ever asking for Marinette's side of the story. She brought in receipts from the hospital for the multiple visits she had due to beatings and even video of the class attacking her around town. Marinette had said she was going to show them the truth and she went for it, full bore!
Gabriel was so furious at what Lila had been doing that he didn't notice that he had not akumatized anyone in weeks. Looking around his mansion, he saw for the first time the lack of warmth. The lack of family. Gabriel reached his hand out to Emilie's coffin and shook as tears of regret finally caught up with the man. He had terrorized a whole city and justified his actions much in the way Lila Rossi did. They did it because they wanted something. They did it because it made them feel better about themselves and their lives. They did it because deep down, they knew that people wouldn't choose them without fear. Gabriel thought back over the years and realized he had accomplished nothing with his acts other than to drive a wedge further between his son and remaining family. Gabriel made the hard decision and reached for Nooroo's broach. Placing it on he spoke with the kwami about the Guardian and if he & Duusuu could make it to them unseen that evening. Once Nooroo understood what he meant he immediately flew to the broach removing it and gathering Duusuu to return to his home in the box. Gabriel then ventured upstairs for reunion with his son that was long overdue.
Marinette was surprised when the missing kwami came to her with their broaches. She laughed and fed them their fill before allowing them to rejoin their friends. She was even more surprised when Plagg flew into her room with the ring stating that he had felt the return of his brothers and was ready to rejoin them. When asked about his former holder, Plagg simply shook his head, leveled his ears and said he had left while he was in the shower to avoid a messy goodbye with the kid who had lost his way along his sheltered path. Marinette smiled sadly at the kwami and again allowed him into the box while removing her earrings and placing Tikki into the box for a long rest after her loyal companionship for years.
Marinette's reveal on the broadcast and following Face to Face appearance caused a stir around the world. The most sought after designer was unmasked against her will. She had been being bullied and was still actively working to make the world a better place. Marinette spoke with her parents about moving to online education for her final year and the board of Govenor's had no choice but to accept her decision. Not that they would have argued after seeing the vile & despicable way she had been treated for years. Marinette completed her final year of school while the Akuma Class and Francois Dupont defended themselves in court from the likes of lawyers provided by Jagged Stone & the Wayne's.
Jagged's sudden decision to move back home to Gotham gripped the world as he and Bruce reunited and continued to work on the charity they had been discussing during the web call. Marinette soon joined them and spearheaded a grand campaign to raise funds for reporting bullying, treatment methods for victims of bullying and even access to lawyers who would run pro-bono cases against the bullies. Marinette heard her old classmates were all given punishments based on their actions against her but she stopped caring about what happened to them as soon as they broke into her home and corrupted her safe space. She learned via Damian Wayne and Jason Todd-Wayne that Lila had been placed into a psychiatric hospital until such time she was deemed capable of standing trial, which was highly unlikely after Plagg had placed a curse on her to always be able to see all of Marinette's happiness, even when it wasn't public knowledge causing her to always seem crazy. Alya was placed in jail for her part in all of the years of torture. She would serve her 10 year sentence amongst some of the roughest criminals in the world as punishment for all she had done to Marinette. Marinette learned through Felix that Gabriel and Adrien had reconciled with his side of the family. Returning the Graham de Vanily rings and effectively shutting down the business "Gabriel" before joining forces with Amelie to produce film costumes. Adrien was given more freedoms to learn his own likes & dislikes. He went through a rebellious phase that Felix totally encouraged. Especially when Luka appeared and offered to pierce his lip & eyebrow for him.
Marinette moved on. She prospered. Marinette looked back fondly on the Zoom call that brought a Liar & her followers down. Sometimes bad things lead you on the golden path to the Emerald City of happiness.
