The French Superhero Job By: Haphira
Ladybug deals with another unusual Akuma, but this time, a particular team gets sent to Paris, France and they are determined to help Ladybug out.
Can the Leverage team help Ladybug or will Hawkmoth come out victorious once and for all?
Ladybug huffed when the Akuma shot out a beam of light at a group of tourists; they disappeared for a moment before a new group of people took their place.
Okay, something to do with displacing people, I guess, not too bad of an Akuma, Ladybug thought. Then the group yelled for her.
"Hey, red superhero! Come here! Where is this place?" The black man called out in English. The rest talked among themselves for a moment as they surveyed the area. The Akuma leapt away to cause more trouble, and Chat Noir took after him, yelling, "I've got this, Milady!"
Ladybug sighed and swung over to the new group and landed in front of them.
"I'm Ladybug. You were brought here because of Akuma. Once I defeat it, you will return to where you are from," Ladybug told them in heavily accented English.
"You are French?" The beautiful dark-haired woman asked. Ladybug nodded.
"You are in Paris, France." The group looked at each other for a moment, then turned to the older brunette man of the group.
"I'm Nathan Ford, you can call me Nate." Nate offered his hand in greeting. Ladybug took it and looked to the beautiful woman again. She smiled.
"I'm Sophie, this is Alec Hardison, Parker, and Eliot Spencer," pointing at each person when she called their name. Each gave a little wave as their name was called.
"Nice to meet you," Ladybug said.
"What's the situation here?" Nate asked, eyebrows furrowing in concern.
Ladybug sighed, "A madman is abusing a power to create Akumas that cause destruction and to try and get my Miraculous."
"What's so special about you?" Eliot questioned, looking Ladybug over.
Hardison elbowed Eliot in the side and quickly apologized. "Sorry about him, he has no manners."
Ladybug laughed. Brushing her hair out of the way, she showed them her earrings. "This is what the madman is after; my earrings have lots of power; they give me the ability to fight as a superhero."
"Magical jewelry, huh?" Sophie commented, a sparkle in her eye.
"No, Sophie, we are guests here, no snatching," Nate said. Sophie pouted a little but smiled again.
Ladybug smiled tensely. Then the yo-yo at her hip rang. Taking and opening it, Ladybug answered, "Bonjour, Chat."
"Ladybug, I lost the guy, going to our usual place to meet up."
Ladybug sighed and pinched her eyebrows together.
"I'm going to be a bit late, don't do anything rash until I get there," Ladybug said, looking agitated.
"Phss, you worry too much, Milady. Anyway, I'll meet you there, don't be too late!" Chat said, seeming to ignore everything Ladybug just said, then hung up.
Ladybug looked at her yo-yo phone and closed it as another sigh escaped her lips.
"Is everything alright, Ladybug?" Sophie asked, concern covering her features. Ladybug gave a tight smile.
"Nothing I can't handle."
Sophie and Nate look at each other.
"If you need helpâ" Sophie started.
"No, you are a civilian, I can't let you get hurt here." Ladybug interrupted. Nate and the others looked at each other for a moment, then back to Ladybug.
"Well, we aren't really civilians." Hardison started. Confused, Ladybug raised her eyebrow as if urging them to continue.
Nate stepped forward and held out a card. Ladybug took it and looked at it. The card read, "Leverage, helping people in need, (xxx)xxx-xxxx."
"Leverage?" Ladybug questioned, the word sounding slightly off with her accent.
"We provide a set of services that help people who aren't in a position to help themselves. We have particular skill sets, we acquire something of value and use it to achieve our desired outcome." Nate said, looking intensely at Ladybug.
"What aren't you saying?" Ladybug questioned, now suspicious of the group.
"We are thieves," Parker stated. Ladybug looked on guard now.
"The rich and powerful take what they want; we steal it back for you. Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. We provide⌠Leverage." Nate cut in, noticing how defensive Ladybug was.
Ladybug looked thoughtful. Sophie sighed quietly, glad that Ladybug didn't immediately dismiss them. Ladybug thought it over; it seemed like they were genuine about helping, and the way things were going with Hawkmoth was at a standstill.
"Ok, I could use your help," Ladybug concluded. The group turned to face her.
"What is it that you need?" Parker asked.
"I need you to find and break into Hawkmoth'sâ that's the madmanâ lair and steal the butterfly brooch, the Miraculous book, and the peacock pin," Ladybug said, looking determined. Maybe with their help, she could defeat Hawkmoth once and for all. She described each jewel in detail and the book so they would know what to look for.
Nate looked intrigued. "Okay, we will make a plan. You stall the Akuma. Do you have any suspects that we could look into?"
Ladybug thought for a moment, "Gabriel Agreste." Even with Chat Noir's hesitance, it was her best lead so far.
Nate nodded and started looking up information on Gabriel Agreste from his phone.
"Here's my number to text me, let me know when you see the Miraculous and book." Sophie smiled as she nodded.
Ladybug smiled back. She felt a surge of hope; maybe this could be the last Akuma she ever had to fight.
Ladybug gave a salute and flung her yo-yo to latch onto a building pretty far away and disappeared in the sky, off to meet up with Chat Noir.
The Leverage team looked at each other, then to Nate. It was time to plan a heist. Gathering the group up on a bench, Parker handed Hardison a laptop that she stole from⌠somewhere, and he quickly got started on pulling up schematics of the Agreste mansion.
"Alright, there are entry points here and here," Hardison pointed on the screen. Parker leaned over, eyeing the ventilation shafts.
"The mansion has some serious security; we will need to be careful."
Nate looked contemplative, and Eliot crackled his knuckles.
"Any foot security?" Eliot asked.
Hardison nodded, "Just one, seems like a bodyguard for his son." He pulled up a picture of the bodyguard, and Eliot hummed thoughtfully.
"Ex-COS, the French military." The team stared at him.
"What? It's a distinct shoe." Eliot defended.
"OK," Sophie clapped her hands together, "What's the grift this time?" She looked exceptionally happy about this job.
"I've got it," Nate said, and the group huddled together to listen to Nate's plan.
"Sounds good for me!" Parker chimed in after Nate explained.
"You're just happy about the vents," Hardison smirked.
"Like you aren't happy about playing with the security in the mansion," Eliot added.
"OK," Nate called, "Let's go steal a Miraculous jewel."
When Ladybug reached the Eiffel Tower, she could see Chat Noir pacing back and forth on the top balcony. Ladybug landed with a thud, and Chat turned to her with a wide smile.
"Milady!" Ladybug sighed.
"Hello Chat, what can you tell me about the Akuma?" Chat Noir pouted for a moment, arms crossed on his chest.
"What? Not happy to see me?" Chat asked, tail flicking back and forth in irritation.
"Chat, there's an Akuma. Can you focus for a minute?" Ladybug said plainly, trying not to get annoyed with Chat.
Chat Noir looked mad for a moment, then smiled, "Of course, Milady, after we beat the Akuma, we can go on a date to make up for your attitude."
Ladybug wanted to throttle him, but refrained. It wouldn't help matters even if it would feel good.
"So, about the Akuma?" Ladybug ignored Chat's words, trying to get back to business.
"Well, it's a teleportation Akuma, it transfers people from one spot to another," Chat said flippantly, waving a hand in the air in a careless manner.
"Close enough," Ladybug whispered to herself, still annoyed by Chat's behavior. "Where did you last see the Akuma?"
Chat Noir stilled for a moment and shook his head, "It went to the west toward city hall."
"Guess we go to the city hall and start from there." Ladybug gripped her yo-yo and threw it to the nearest building, and off she went. Chat Noir followed soon after.
By the time they reached city hall, it was apparent that the Akuma had been through there. Following the path of destroyed buildings and groups of confused people, Ladybug found the Akuma about to use their power on a bus full of children. Ladybug leapt into action, hitting the Akuma with her yo-yo, distracting it.
Ladybug and the Akuma went on to fight back and forth, with Chat jumping in now and then, trying to find the Akumatized object on their person. Then Ladybug heard it, a notification from her yo-yo that she got a message. Ladybug reeled back her yo-yo and called Chat Noir to cover for her. Chat jumped in, eyebrows wiggling at her as if to say, "watch me, I'm the best," and fought with the Akuma. Ladybug rolled her eyes and leapt away to look at the message. It was a picture of Hawkmoth in full gear, standing next to a butterfly window, the same window in the back of the Agreste manor. Ladybug zoomed in and saw the brooch on Hawkmoth's chest.
Ladybug: The brooch is on his chest, you might need to fight but I'll stall the Akuma and keep him distracted on this side.
(xxx)xxx-xxxx: I'll send our heavy hitter in and have our tech guy do some damage to the security in the house to cause some havoc here
Ladybug: Watch out for his secretary, she might have the peacock pin
(xxx)xxx-xxxx: okay, thanks for the heads up
Ladybug smiled. It was time. She leapt back into the battle, ferociously fighting the Akuma. Ladybug took the necklace they were wearing, the bracelet, and finally the staff they used for their powers.
She single-handedly disarmed the Akuma and put each item back into her yo-yo for safekeeping. Ladybug texted Leverage, telling them to meet her at a park a block away from the Agreste mansion when they finished. Ladybug leapt away from Chat Noir, who had been thrown into a wall and left to try to get out of it. Sighing, she turned and left, heading for the park to meet up with the thieves.
Ladybug landed and looked around. The Leverage team appeared across the park, and Ladybug ran to them, anxious about the Miraculous.
"You got them?!" All of the Leverage team grinned at her. Ladybug couldn't help but smile widely in return.
Nate opened his hand, and in it was a brooch and a pin. Sophie offered up the book, too. Ladybug wasted no time, grabbing both to put on the Miraculous. The two Kwami flew out and looked at Ladybug.
"You saved us!" The blue Kwami said, and the purple Kwami looked around in awe.
"With the help of these people," Ladybug gestured to look behind them at the group who were staring at the Kwami in surprise.
"Thank you." Both Kwami said as they bowed to the group. Ladybug smiled, and the team startled before relaxing.
"What curious creatures. Glad we could help free you." Parker said, poking the belly of the blue Kwami. She giggled, and Parker smiled.
In the background, Ladybug could see what looked like American money being exchanged by Hardison and Eliot, with Hardison looking mildly put out.
Then Ladybug heard Chat Noir yelling for her, and she quickly turned around to face him.
"Milady, what's going on? First, you ran off while we were fighting the Akuma, and now you're with these people?" Chat Noir said with distaste.
"Who is the leather-cat fetish guy?" Eliot asked, not liking the cat's attitude. Ladybug sighed.
"This is Black Cat, my⌠partner," Ladybug explained.
"You don't sound like that is a happy thing," Hardison stated. Chat Noir looked back and forth between the two.
"Hey! What are you guys talking about?" Chat cut in.
"I'm not, he is more of a hindrance than a help, he says he loves me and asks me out even after I've said no," Ladybug replied. Then Eliot did something unexpected.
Eliot turned to the leather cat-boy and punched him in the face. Chat Noir went down hard. Ladybug gasped and stilled. Chat Noir groaned before passing out.
"You just hit himâŚ" Ladybug commented, astonished. Then she laughed, and kept laughing until she was clutching her stomach.
"I'll never forget that, thank you," Ladybug said after she gained control of herself. Leverage all smiled back at her.
"Well, I think I'm ready to go home," Nate said, putting a hand on Ladybug's shoulder, "You did good."
Ladybug smiled brilliantly at him, pulling out the objects to break them one at a time. The Akuma flew out of the bracelet.
A dark butterfly flew up, and Ladybug caught it with her yo-yo and purified it.
"Bye-bye, little butterfly," Ladybug murmured to herself.
"Goodbye, everyone, and thank you," Ladybug said. She called for her lucky charm and received a tea set. She guessed that she needed to go see the master after this. Smiling, Ladybug threw the tea set into the sky and called, "Miraculous Ladybug!"
Ladybugs swept the city, and Leverage smiled and waved goodbye before they too got swept away back to where they were from.
The Leverage team landed back in their headquarters. Immediately, Hardison pulled up information about Hawkmoth in France, but nothing showed up in the initial search. Digging deeper, Hardison found a blog that covered the Akuma attacks from the beginning, and shared it with the rest of the team. They watched from the first Stoneheart Akuma to the most recent Akuma they had been a part of.
"Keep monitoring that blog and let me know if Ladybug makes an announcement," Nate stated. He turned to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.
Parker pulled out a few necklaces and rings that she took from the Agreste mansion and put them on the island in the kitchen. Sophie walked over to look the jewelry over.
"It's no magical jewelry, but it's still pretty," Sophie commented, examining an emerald on a gold chain with a close eye.
"When did you snatch those?" Eliot asked Parker. Parker smiled and started to explain.
Nate hovered near Sophie as they stared at the big mansion in front of them, as Hardison dressed himself in a worker's uniform in the van parked down the street. Everyone was getting ready to storm the building.
"Eyes on the target yet?" Nate asked in his com, everyone gave a negative response, and Nate moved to get in a better position. Hardison chimed up that he was ready, and Nate gave the green light for Hardison to go crazy.
Eliot set an EMP device near the window that was open on the second floor, and that was when things got wild. The EMP took out everything in a block radius around the mansion. The lights that were on suddenly went dark, and that's when Hardison started to work his magic on the security in the mansion.
Nate, Eliot, and Sophie breached the front gate and slowly opened the front door. Eliot went in first to take care of the bodyguard on the second floor. Nate and Sophie went to the study following the blueprint Hardison dug up showing the inside of the mansion. The two split up, covering everything in the study, looking for anything that could give hints to where things would be hidden. Sophie noticed something odd about the painting behind the desk and took a closer look at the picture.
"Nate, look here," Sophie called and pushed the button spots that were slightly different from the rest of the painting. The painting swung open, revealing a corridor. Nate and Sophie looked at each other, then silently walked the hall. Hiding behind the greenery, Nate took out his phone and took a photo of the man in the purple suit and sent it to Ladybug. A minute later, he received a reply.
Ladybug: The brooch is on his chest, you might need to fight but I'll stall the Akuma and keep him distracted on this side.
Nate: I'll send our heavy hitter in and have our tech guy do some damage to the security in the house to cause some havoc here
Ladybug: Watch out for his secretary, she might have the peacock pin
Nate: okay, thanks for the heads up
After quietly sneaking back to the study, Sophie called Parker to look for the peacock Miraculous, and Nate called Hardison to do some damage to the mansion.
Hardison grinned delightedly and got to work messing with the fancy security system, causing the sprinklers to go off, doors opening and shutting down repeatedly, and anything else he thought of.
Meanwhile, Parker was in the vents, as she scurried around and enjoyed how big they were. She saw the secretary under her in the vent opening and followed her to her computer, where she tried to combat Hardison. Parker quietly dropped out of the vent behind the secretary and looked over her chest where the peacock Miraculous sat on the lapel of the secretary's suit jacket.
Then Eliot burst through the door, providing the distraction that Parker needed to swipe the Miraculous. The secretary gasped and stood as Parker took the pin, not noticing her swipe the jewel. Eliot came up to the secretary and knocked her out.
"Come on, we are almost done," Eliot told Parker. Parker nodded and followed Eliot to where Nate and Sophie were. Parker dashed up into the vents and went to the study that held the hidden safe behind the painting. Nate and Eliot were discussing something, then went down the hall, leaving Sophie and Parker to dig around and look for anything of value.
Parker cracked the safe, and Sophie took a look out the hall to make sure no one was coming. Parker quickly pocketed some of the jewelry, grabbed a heavy book, and opened it. Inside were pictures of superheroes. Parker tucked the book under her arm and whistled to Sophie that she was done and was retreating to the van. Sophie followed Parker and met up with Hardison at the front door, and the three went to the van to wait for Nate and Eliot.
The boys were sneaking down the corridor, where Nate stepped into the open to face Hawkmoth as he yelled at his Akuma. The lights in the room were flashing red, and the security system was still acting up.
Eliot skirted around until he ended up behind Hawkmoth. By that point, Hawkmoth had noticed Nate and fell into a fencing position, drawing his cane back to hit Nate with. Eliot quickly stepped up and punched Hawkmoth in the face. Hawkmoth went down hard. Eliot shook his hand and then rubbed his knuckles.
"He was like hitting stone," Eliot complained.
Nate chuckled, "Ladybug did say that the suits enhanced physical attributes." He leaned down to take the Miraculous off his chest, and he de-transformed into Gabriel Agreste. Gabriel had a purple bruise forming on his cheek from where Eliot punched him.
"Time to get these things to Ladybug," Nate said and walked back up the hall and out of the mansion to meet up with the rest of his team and Ladybug.
Ladybug heard her earrings beep and flew away to transform. Landing a block away from Master Fu's, she walked the rest of the way to his place with a big smile.
"Master Fu! I got them!" Marinette called out as she entered the massage parlor. Master Fu came out from behind a partition screen and looked Marinette over. Then the three Kwamis all came out of hiding.
Master Fu gasped. The purple and blue Kwami flew over to Master Fu, and he held them close, tears running down his face.
"How?" Fu asked Marinette as she smiled at their reunion.
"A group of people called Leverage helped me," Marinette explained the thieves' group and how they helped her get the Miraculous back. All thanks to this last Akuma.
Master Fu sighed tiredly and smiled, "Thank you, Marinette."
Marinette smiled and nodded, happy that all the Kwami were back where they were supposed to be.
Marinette took her earrings off and said goodbye to Tikki before setting the brooch and pin in the Miraculous box, along with the book, set down gently next to it.
"Who was Hawkmoth?" Fu asked. Marinette turned back to face Master Fu after depositing the Miraculous.
"Gabriel Agreste," Marinette said.
"Hmm, I will curse him later. Now, tell me, do you want to share your identity with Chat Noir before I take his Miraculous?" Marinette made a face.
"No, I don't, he wasn't a good partner, and I don't want to get harassed in everyday life either," Marinette said, looking down and fiddling with her hands.
Master Fu asked her to explain, so she did. Marinette told Fu about how Chat had been harassing her and how uncomfortable she was.
"Well, I can tell you his identity. I think it's important to know who he is." Fu stated.
"If you think that it will be the best thing to do," Marinette replied.
Master Fu nodded, "Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste." Marinette stopped moving, thinking things over. Marinette's crush on Adrien died the moment he said to do nothing about Lila.
"Thank you for telling me, but I really don't want him to know that I was Ladybug," Marinette said after a moment of thinking.
Master Fu nodded, "I understand, now that the peacock and butterfly Miraculous are back, it's time for me to move on from Paris." Marinette gave a sad smile.
"I will miss you, Master Fu. Safe journeys." Marinette replied. Fu opened his arms for a hug, which Marinette quickly reciprocated. After a long hug, they parted, and Fu smiled and ushered her out.
"I will miss you too, thank you, Marinette," Fu responded and gently shut the door behind her.
Marinette turned and walked back to the bakery, a bounce in her step, realizing that she could now be a normal girl with a normal life. Marinette grinned and changed direction, heading to a familiar houseboat that is always docked on the Seine. It was time to take destiny into her own hands, starting with telling the truth to a certain blue-haired guitarist.
