#catfoxbee

Me: *explicitly states in the summary of CatFoxBee that the fic has an OT5 pairing*

Actual review:

OWO

Whelp, this is the end of the main CatFoxBee story!  That doesn’t mean that I won’t do one-shot stuff set within the CatFoxBee ‘verse, either showing stuff I didn’t show within the main fic itself, stuff set in the future, or whatever.  However, first I plan to actually update Five Minutes and Kitten of Mine before I go that route.  Anyways, enjoy:

The weather was trending towards summer, and the sun was beginning to hold a little of that beating heat that it would blast Paris with in just a month or so, but up on her balcony there was a nice breeze keeping things a pleasant temperature.  All of the windows in the house below were open to enjoy the nice day, and Marinette could hear the sounds of Alya and Adrien puttering around in the kitchen.  From the occasional smells that drifted past, it looked like Adrien’s current cooking lesson was going well.

“Can you pass me the spade?” Chloe asked.  Marinette found it next to her knee and handed it over.  Her girlfriend frowned, tip of her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth in concentration as she dug up a flower that had died, then widened the hole to plant a replacement.

Marinette had just decided that Chloe was too damn adorable when she did that and was leaning in to kiss her when her phone went off.  She sighed and looked up, seeing a tiny red and black form separate from the kwami cuddle puddle on a cushion on her chair.  Tikki lazily floated over to where her phone was sitting on the table next to the chair and checked the caller ID.

“It’s Nino.  Want me to answer it for you?”

“That would be great,” Marinette answered, continuing to repot the plant she was working on.

Tikki swiped to answer, then tapped to put Nino on speakerphone.

“Mari!  Please tell me you’re alone!” Nino squawked through the phone, stress making his voice squeak slightly.

Marinette couldn’t completely hide her smirk, although she did her best to keep it to herself.  “Just me, Chloe, and the little buddies.”

“Marinette there is a tiny floating talking turtle in my room what do I do?!”

Marinette’s smirk widened as four small heads perked up, and a chorus of “Hi Wayzz!” came from the kwami.

“Hi everyone!  He’s freaking out a lot for someone who has met kwami before,” Wayzz’s voice came from the phone.

“It could be worse, Marinette threw everything in reach at me when we first met,” Tikki sympathized.

“Marinette why is there a kwami in my room?!”

Chloe was shooting Marinette a suspicious look, which wasn’t helped when the girl’s smirk widened yet again.

“The Guardian felt you did a good job of being Ladybug for a day.” Well, after Marinette had a long talk with him, anyways.  “Enough to make it a full-time thing.”

“Marinette, I’m not a hero like you guys!”

Marinette snorted softly. “I felt the same thing at first. I even tried to slip the earrings into Alya’s bag.  If I can be a hero, so can you.  You’ve already more than proved you’re up to it.”

“I… I…” Nino stuttered, lost for words.

Marinette hummed thoughtfully.  “Patrol with us tonight.  See what it’s like when we’re not in a fight.” She paused, then went on.  “Nino, we’d love to have you with us.  And this way, the five of us… we’re all in this together. In every way.”

“… Alright.  I’ll patrol with you guys, then decide.”

“For what it’s worth, Nino…” Chloe piped up.  “You’ll be a great hero.”

“… Thanks, Chloe.  I’ll see you guys soon.” A few seconds later, the call ended, and Chloe immediately shot Marinette an amused look.

“You had something to do with that.”

“Of course I did, but Nino can’t prove that.” Marinette grinned.  “The Guardian was ready to retire, anyways.”

Sorry this took so long, real life has been kicking my butt.  This is the last real chapter, all that’s left is an epilogue.

By the time they made it to Marinette’s balcony, she was beginning to shake and sniffle in Chat’s arms. Vixen glanced between all of them, then gave a decisive nod.

“Chat.  You and Queenie comfort Marinette.  Scarabee and I will get the dog settled up here, we can’t bring her into the house until she’s been washed and de-fleaed, especially not with the bakery on the first floor.” She shot Scarabee a reassuring look. “She’ll be fine up here, don’t worry. We’ll get her some blankets and food and water, and she can sleep under the awning in case it rains.  You stay up here with her, I’ll go grab what she needs.”

The other three nodded, and Scarabee set the dog down, sitting in one of Marinette’s chairs and ruffling her ears to keep her occupied.  Vixen opened up the hatch to Marinette’s room, slipping down the ladder easily and registering Chat jumping down carefully after as she headed for the trap door to the rest of the house.

Her worry about where to find old blankets and having to hunt for them was appeased when she spotted Marinette’s parents bustling around the kitchen, making dinner.  Sabine looked up and shot her a warm smile.

“How did the fight go, Alya?”

Vixen started, tail lashing in her shock.  “Uh…”

“Oh, don’t be surprised. You three weren’t being very subtle when you suddenly stopped coming around in costume and started dating Marinette normally.”

“… Please don’t tell anyone,” Vixen squeaked.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us,” Tom said, wiping his hands clean and moving to give Vixen a one-armed hug, then a reassuring pat to the shoulder.  “All of you.”

“Besides, someone has to look after all of you.  I don’t know how you got these abilities, but giving them to teenagers and expecting them to go out and fight with no support system in place for between fights?” Sabine gave a very unladylike snort.  “I’d like to give them a piece of my mind.”

“Ladybug’s mentioned a Guardian before…” Vixen said weakly, then winced, ears laying back and tail tucking between her legs.  “Actually, um… here’s the thing… Marinette was tonight’s akuma, so…”

Now Tom and Sabine looked genuinely alarmed.  “What could have happened to her to cause her to be akumatized?”

“We’re… not entirely sure yet.  Chat and Queenie are with her upstairs right now.”

Tom and Sabine shared a look.  “… How did you purify the akuma without Marinette as…”

Vixen winced.  “Nino stepped in to do that.  I think he’ll be glad to give Marinette back her… powers,” she said carefully, not sure how much was safe to tell them.

Having adults who knew what you were up to as a superhero was going to take some getting used to.

Speaking of Nino... “Um, that’s part of why I’m down here.  Nino kind of… picked up a stray dog that got dragged into the fight.  We don’t want to bring her inside because of the bakery, that and she could really use a good bath and flea treatment, so we were just going to get her settled on the balcony with some food and water and a couple blankets.”

“Thank you for thinking ahead.  Tom, can you help her find the old blankets?  I’ll put some leftovers in a bowl that the dog can have.  All of you are staying for dinner, right?  Don’t bother coming down, we’ll bring up plates for the five of you so that Marinette doesn’t have to get up.” Sabine started rummaging through the refrigerator.  “Just make sure to call your parents if you plan to spend the night. We trust you kids to not get up to anything, or at least to use proper protection if you do.”

“Mrs. Cheng!” Vixen squawked, tail lashing in agitation, and tried to ignore the sudden howling laughter in her head, courtesy of Trixx.

“What?” The small woman looked far too innocent as she dumped some rice, steamed vegetables, and chicken in broth into a bowl, another filling up with water in the sink. “I’m not ready to be a grandmother just yet, so it’s important to practice safe-“

“Okay it’s been great talking to you thanks for being so understanding but I have to get back to the others!” Vixen yelped out hurriedly as she snatched up the blankets Tom had just pulled out of a closet and two bowls, juggling them for a brief second before darting up the stairs to Marinette’s room as fast as she could.

Tom and Sabine shared an amused look, then broke down into laughter.  “No need to scare them off, sweetie!”

“Come on, what’s the fun of Marinette having four boy- and girlfriends if we can’t tease them all?” Sabine shot her husband a wicked grin full of mischief before pulling out more ingredients for dinner.

Five hungry teens ate a lot, especially when four of them were superheroes.

************************

Vixen glanced at the trio on Marinette’s bed on her way back up, and her ears pinned to see that Marinette had her face buried in Chat’s chest, soft sobs shaking her body.  Chat and Queen Bee were pressed as close to their girlfriend as they could get, and Queenie was hissing softly into her burner phone she kept for use as Queen Bee, clearly angry but not willing to yell in case she upset Marinette further.

The fox-themed hero flicked an ear in Chat’s direction, and he looked up to murmur softly.  “Delayed reaction hit once she came out of shock. Queenie’s on the phone with the police, she’s pulling every string she has to get those guys in lockup.”

Probably just the word of one girl wouldn’t be enough in most places, but at this point Paris had a special dispensation for akuma-victims, and any akuma that was furious enough to go right after the reason for their akumatization instead of the local heroes were more likely to be believed.

That, and as heroes they were used to giving reports to the police for more serious akumatization reasons.

Sad as it was, Marinette wasn’t their first victim who had been akumatized because they were attacked, and those akuma always, always went after the ones who wronged them first.

“I’ll check the submission for the Ladyblog later and write up an article then, if there’s any video of Scarabee I’ll put that the official story is Ladybug was out of town and needed someone to fill in for her,” Vixen replied, then leapt up through the roof hatch onto Marinette’s balcony.

It didn’t take them long to get the dog settled, although they had to hand feed her because she wanted to scarf down all of the food at once, and neither of them wanted her getting sick because she ate too fast.

“What are you calling her?” Vixen asked as she finished tucking a blanket around the dog with Scarabee.

“Marinette already named her,” he chuckled, ruffling the dog’s ears before following her to the hatch. “Fenrir works just fine.  Besides, she doesn’t know it’s a boy name.”

“Fair enough.” Vixen shrugged, carefully climbing down the hatch and waiting for Scarabee to finish closing it behind him before worming her way into the pile on the bed. Scarabee hesitated, and she snorted before using her tail to yank him after.

Queen Bee tapped ‘end’ on her phone call and huffed.  “Okay, we’ll have to give our statements tomorrow suited up, but the police will be on the lookout for the assholes.  Thankfully they already have profiles from the last incident, so they know who they’re looking for.” With a tired sigh, she handed the phone to Chat, who set it on Marinette’s nightstand, then dropped her transformation.

Vixen and Chat did the same, and Alya looked over at Scarabee.  “It’s easy, just want the transformation to end.”

He nodded, and one wash of red sparkles later, a tiny red and black figure shot over to Marinette, smacking into her cheek hard enough to make an audible sound.  The girl jumped, pulling back from Adrien’s chest, then brought both hands up to cup Tikki and bring her around, where the kwami leaned in and rested both tiny hands on the end of Marinette’s nose.

“I’m sorry…” Marinette whispered, then swallowed and repeated it a little louder, voice hoarse. “I’m so, so sorry, guys.  I wanted to tell you, but-“ She stopped as Tikki laid a tiny hand gently between her eyes, then leaned in to press forehead to forehead with her Chosen.

“I already explained that it was me who kept urging you to keep your identity secret,” Tikki said. The little kwami took a shuddering breath, then continued.  “I was wrong. Maybe if I hadn’t been so insistent, tonight wouldn’t have happened.”

“Mari?” Adrien reached out to gently tuck a loose lock of hair behind her ear.  “What exactly happened?  For you to be…” He trailed off, unable to finish.

Marinette cupped Tikki a little closer and closed her eyes, taking slow and deep breaths to steady herself. “I was on my way back after my last delivery.  They cornered me in a street where I had no way out, and nowhere to duck into so I could transform.”

Alya hated, hated to ask, but she had to.  “Did they…”

“They didn’t get to me.” Marinette gave a wry look.  “I hate to say it, but Hawkmoth… actually saved me.  They ran as soon as the akuma showed up.” She shook her head.  “I tried to fight the possession, but all I could do was get my Miraculous off and send Tikki to go find you guys.  After that… it’s kind of a blur.” She swallowed. “Did I… Did I hurt anyone?”

Chloe wrapped her arms around Marinette, pulling her over a little so that she could spoon her girlfriend’s side.  “No. You scared the crap out of those guys, and we had to deal with a couple of giant animals, but you didn’t hurt anyone.”

“Actually…” Nino moved up to press a kiss to Marinette’s cheek.  “It was you who defeated… well, you.”

Marinette blinked, confused. “What?”

Alya smiled, pillowing her head against Marinette’s belly.  It was a little awkward, arranging five people on Marinette’s bed, and Nino had to wrap an arm around Adrien to steady him so he didn’t fall off, but all of them felt the need to be close to her.  “When you came up against all of us… you stopped.  You recognized us, and you told Hawkmoth that you wouldn’t hurt us for him.”

“You handed over your akumatized item yourself,” Adrien finished, lifting a hand to gently stroke Marinette’s hair.  “I’ve never seen an akuma fight off Hawkmoth’s control like that.”

“You’re amazing,” Nino murmured, then frowned a bit and scooted down slightly so that Adrien was less in danger of falling off, as his arm was aching already from the awkward angle it was in.  That put him next to Alya, both of their lower legs hanging off of the bed, and let Adrien scoot up a little further to curl around Marinette’s upper body. “Okay, if we’re going to do five-person cuddles, we seriously need something bigger.”

“We can use my room or Adrien’s,” Chloe said, burying her face in Marinette’s hair and voice a little muffled.  “One of us can carry you up, Nino.”

“Stairs are a thing, guys,” Nino said dryly.

“Kind of hard to sneak you into my room through the house itself,” Adrien pointed out.

“Guys…” Marinette sighed, tension slowly leaving her at being surrounded by her boyfriends and girlfriends.  “Back on topic.”

“Yes, My Lady,” Adrien purred, joining Chloe in nuzzling into Marinette’s hair, and thus missing her blush at the endearment.

Alya nuzzled into Marinette’s stomach.  “I’m not going to lie, I at least am a little upset that you kept your identity from us… but I understand why you did it.  I just wish we didn’t have to find out in the way we did.”

Marinette swallowed hard, throat scratchy from her earlier crying, then stroked Alya’s hair.  “I’m sorry.  I really did want to tell all of you, but…”

“I’ll take the blame for that,” Tikki said, floating up to rest on Marinette’s temple.  “Now, if you don’t mind, Nino?  No offense, you’re a wonderful boy, but Marinette is my Chosen.”

“Oh, right.” Carefully, Nino took off the earrings and passed them back to Marinette.  Confused, he paused and then fingered the small holes at the top of his ears.  “Hey, they’re healed up.”

“Consider it a thank you,” Tikki said.  “To save you the grief of waiting for them to heal on their own, since you only got the piercings because of the situation.”

A small voice piped up from Adrien’s shirt.  “Since the ladybug is out of the bag, can the rest of us come out now?”

Tikki sighed and rolled her eyes.  “Oh, fine.”

Suddenly, three blurs shot out, one from Adrien’s shirt and the other two from Alya and Chloe’s hair. All three tackled Tikki at once, knocking her off of Marinette’s head and onto her cat pillow, the lump of which resolved into four kwami having one big group hug, with Tikki at the center.

Nino blinked.  “Wait, all of you have little buddies?”

“They’re bonded to the Miraculouses,” Adrien explained.  “The little black cat is Plagg.  Honestly, he’s a little shit who likes the stinkiest cheese he can find, but…” He shrugged and grinned, reaching out to run a fingertip over the top of Plagg’s head.

“Trixx is the fox. She likes playing pranks, so don’t be surprised if she pulls a few on you.  They’re harmless ones, at least,” Alya said.

“Pollen is my kwami. Horrible at telling the truth, but…” Chloe shrugged and gave a wry grin.

Marinette blinked. “Huh, Tikki’s always been sweet and helpful with me, if pretty cautious.”

“Ugh, you are the lucky Ladybug, you’re the only one who has a kwami who isn’t a jerk,” Alya huffed.

All five teenagers burst into laughter, the last of the tension and adrenaline from the fight fading away.

Marinette’s laughing was interrupted by a large yawn, and she buried her face into Adrien’s chest with a sleepy hum, unable to tell whose hand began stroking her hair but not caring. “Thank you.  All of you.  For being there for me.”

“We’ve all got each other’s back,” Nino said softly.  “It’s why we all work so well together.”  He yawned as well, and shifted to better pillow his head on Marinette’s stomach, next to Alya.

“Gotta love the adrenaline crash,” Alya mumbled.

Chloe gestured for her phone, and Adrien passed it to her.  She muffled her own yawn as she tapped at the screen a few times.  “I set an alarm, we can all take a short nap before dinner.  Marinette’s parents will wake us up if it’s ready before then.”

“Sounds good,” Adrien said as he set the phone back on the nightstand, then pressed in closer.

Yeah, they’d probably have more things to talk about after dinner, but they were finally, finally all on the same page.

Half an hour later, Tom opened the hatch to Marinette’s room, and smiled at the sight of five out cold teens piled onto Marinette’s bed.

Scarabee was frozen, breath caught in a throat made tight by fear as he watched his boyfriend and two of his girlfriends leap into battle like they did it on a daily basis.

… Well, okay, they practically did, but that did nothing to help his nerves!

Chat gave a wild yowl as he leapt off the roof of a building, staff held over his head, and brought it down directly on the snout of the giant serpent looming over the tied-up civilians.

Okay, he knew it was petty, but he had been kinda hoping the snake would get to bite the assholes first. Even it if was irresponsible to sit back and let civilians get hurt.

Scarabee tensed up as the snake shook its head and hissed in pain, then turned and struck at Chat. The blonde was grinning, wide and toothy, and easily leapt out of the way, earning another pained hiss as the snake hurt its snout on the stone wall Chat had been standing in front of.

Satisfied that Chat had the serpent handled, he looked up in time to see Queen Bee flash by overhead, Valkyrie on her heels.  He tensed as Queenie dodged a swipe of the spear, then paled as Valkyrie used the momentum of the swing to shoot a beam at something cowering in an alley.

“Fenrir, handle these pests for me!”

“Oh, crap baskets,” Scarabee swore under his breath as Valkyrie shot off after Queen Bee again, a flash of orange rushing by as Vixen went to help her teammate, already lifting her flute to her lips.

“Try to distract the giant wolf, and don’t get eaten!” She called over her shoulder.

Scarabee whimpered under his breath as whatever Valkyrie had hit continued to grow, stumbling out of the alley as it grew too large to fit, whines filling the air as a thick coat covered a surprisingly lanky frame.

Weird, Scarabee had always pictured wolves as being bulkier than that.

“Oh no…” He winced as the giant canine stopped growing, back level with the roof of the three-story building that Scarabee was currently perched on.  A head lifted, yellow eyes opened and glowed in the night, and pale fangs gleamed as the wolf snarled.

And it was staring directly at where Chat was currently trying to get the serpent to tie itself into a knot from chasing him.

‘Change of plans, Nino!  You’re going to have to help out after all!’ Scarabee jumped as Tikki’s voice suddenly sounded in his mind, swearing as he hit his head on the outcropping of stonework he had been hiding under.

“But-“

‘Well, if you WANT Chat to have to deal with both at once…’

“Okay, okay, I get it. What do I…”

‘Use your yo-yo.  Don’t overthink it, just run on instinct.  I’ll handle the rest.’

He took a deep breath, unhooking the yoyo and letting it swing down.  It stopped automatically a few inches from the roof, and when he twitched his wrist, it began to spin in a circle and glow.

“… Okay, that’s pretty awesome.” Taking another deep breath, he focused on the wolf, which was beginning to growl, head low and teeth bared as it took one massive step forward.

Another flick of the wrist sent the yoyo sailing out, hooking around the wolf’s muzzle and taking several turns around before the end wrapped around the rest of the string, effectively binding it shut.  He took a deep breath, then ran forward and leapt onto the confused wolf’s head, immediately starting to rub behind an ear bigger than he was.  “It’s okay, big guy.  Come on, no need to get into any fights today.  How about we just sit down and relax?”

Apparently the wolf wasn’t in a listening mood, as it tossed its head, making Scarabee yelp and take handfuls of thick fur, then started to rub a paw over its face, trying to scrape the yoyo string off.  Scarabee hissed as he held on tight, refusing to let it budge.

“Calm down! Easy!  Easy!  It’s not hurting you!” A small note of panic had entered his tone, he knew it, but Scarabee kept rubbing behind one of the giant ears.  Another toss of the head had his grip slipping, and he yelped as he sailed up into the air, only to be jerked back by the yoyo string and land sprawled across the giant wolf’s muzzle.

Dazed on his side and confused on the wolf’s, they eyed each other warily.  Scarabee swallowed hard, but reached out and rubbed a gloved hand over the spot between the giant wolf’s eyes, making it cross them to try and see. “Easy, big dude.  Easy.  See, no one’s hurting you.  That’s a good boy.”

Scarabee guessed that the wolf used to be a stray dog, as slowly, the giant tail began to wag.

Grinning widely, he carefully sat up, straddling the giant nose as he kept rubbing between Fenrir’s eyes. “See, that’s my good boy!  Such a good boy!  Yes you are!  Yes you are!”

The giant wolf’s tail was wagging so hard now that it was slamming into the buildings on either side of the street, and he was beginning to wiggle in glee, giant whines filling the air.

“Good boy!  Can you sit, good boy?  Siiiiiit.” Another whine, and then the massive hindquarters slowly lowered to the ground.  The wagging tail began sweeping cars out of the way, but at least the buildings weren’t being damaged anymore.  “Good booooy! Such a good boy!”

“Hey, so the snake is all tied up now and… Scarabee, what are you doing?”

Scarabee looked over at the nearby roof and couldn’t help a wide, sheepish grin at how utterly poleaxed Chat looked.  “Can I keep him?”

“… They do not make pooper scoopers big enough.”

“That’s what dump trucks are for, bro.  Or… wait, no, that kind of construction equipment with the big shovel on the front. Whatever it’s called.” Cautiously, Scarabee loosened his grip on the yoyo string, putting some slack into what was wrapped around the wolf’s muzzle, then a reflexive flick had it unwinding and the yoyo itself snapping into his hand.

The only change was that the wolf’s jaw dropped and he began to pant happily, eyes nearly shut in bliss as Scarabee kept petting him.

“Okay, you’re officially magic.  Between Chloe and a giant wolf, I think we can all just say that you’re a beast master or something.”

A distant “I heard that!” came, and Scarabee snickered as Chat paled and tucked his tail between his legs.

“Well, I’m screwed as soon as she gets ahold of me.  And not in the good way.”

“Take her shopping, dude. You know she forgives easy if you just know which buttons to push.”

A moment later, Queen Bee arrived, Valkyrie conspicuously no longer chasing her.  “Vixen’s got her chasing illusions of me.  We can’t just keep reacting to her, we have to go on the offensive and get that spear away from her.”

“Um, guys…” Vixen crept out of the shadows, wincing.  “I don’t think my illusions are going to keep her busy long.”

“You’d be correct.” Scarabee went cold as Valkyrie floated down, panting a little but expression unseen under the helm.

All four of them froze, eyeing the akumatized Marinette warily.

Suddenly the akuma’s slight frown deepened, and she sounded confused when she spoke again.  “… I know you.  I know… I know…”

“… Mari?” Chat’s voice was small, and tight, and scared.  “Mari, are you in there?  It’s us. You know us.”

“I… I…” Valkyrie’s voice turned soft.  “I know you.”

“That’s right, baby. It’s us, Mari.  We’re here to help you.” Vixen spoke next, creeping forward a little.

“Vixie…” Valkyrie whispered, then jerked back slightly as Hawkmoth’s sign flashed purple before the glow of her eyes coming from the helm.  Scarabee couldn’t hear what Hawkmoth said, but Valkyrie frowned and shook her head.  “No.  I won’t hurt them!”

A sudden crackle of what looked like purple electricity flashed across Valkyrie’s body, and she screamed as she dropped out of the sky.

Queen Bee yelped, diving forward and catching Valkyrie, lowering her to the street carefully. The rest of them leaned in, Fenrir even lowering his head to sniff worriedly at the akuma.

Valkyrie jerked away from Queen Bee, but didn’t attack, instead heaving and clawing at her own armor with a hiss.  “No!  I will not hurt them for you!  Not them! Never them!”

“She’s fighting him,” Scarabee whispered, then flinched back as another crackle came, accompanied by another shriek of pain.

Valkyrie lay on the ground panting, Hawkmoth’s sigil glowing and pulsing angrily in front of her helm. Slowly, Chat approached and knelt beside her, hesitantly resting a hand on her shoulder.  “Mari.  Mari, listen. I know you’re in there.  We want to help you.  We need your spear.”

The purple glowed brighter, and Valkyrie shook her head in confusion, gasping as another shock ran through her, making Chat yank his hand back with a curse and a wince.

“Mari.  Mari, please.  Please.  Come back to us,” Chat whispered, pleadingly.  “Come back to us, princess.”

Slowly, fighting another shock that tore another scream from her throat, Valkyrie loosened her grip on the spear and lifted it, placing it in Chat’s hands.

“That’s our girl.” Chat gently squeezed Valkyrie’s shoulder, then lifted the spear and tossed it to Scarabee.  “Do your thing!”

Scarabee caught the spear and broke it over his knee, grabbing the yoyo as he had seen Ladybug do several times as a dark butterfly fluttered out of one of the spear halves, swinging it out and catching it.

A flash of energy went up his arm as he reeled the yoyo back in and caught it, settling into the weapon. Curiously, he tapped the top and it popped open, releasing a pure white butterfly that began to fly off.

‘Now just throw the yoyo into the sky and call for Miraculous Ladybug.  I’ll do the rest.’ Tikki told him.

Scarabee nodded and did so, smiling as several streams of ladybugs shot out and began racing to fix the damage.

He then yelped as the giant wolf he had been standing on disappeared, leaving him to drop to the ground next to a dirty, ragged stray dog, who panted up at him adoringly with a doggy grin.

The last thing to be fixed was Valkyrie herself, and his breath caught as the ladybugs swirled around her, leaving behind an exhausted Marinette.

With a groan, she pushed herself up enough to sit, then looked up as they gathered around and winced. “I’m sorry.”

Chat was the first to move, kneeling beside Marinette and scooping her up.  “Don’t be.  Come on, let’s get you home.  We’ll talk there.”

Scarabee took a step after, prepared to follow, when a whine brought his attention down to the stray dog. His heart twinged, and he sighed. “Sorry guys, I can’t just leave him. He fought off the control too.”

Scooping up the (admittedly big) dog like he weighed nothing and holding him up so that he was dangling from his arms, Nino leapt after the others as they all took to the rooftops. “My mom is going to kill me, but he deserves a home for being such a good boy.”

“Vixy?  Queenie?  What are…” Chat paused, staring at his teammates, who were sitting on a rooftop and cheering Akuma-Marinette on.

“Hey Chat.” Vixen glanced over, and grinned at the red and black-spotted figure with him.  “Hey Nino, you look good.”

“It’s Scarabee right now,” He replied, glancing nervously at where Akuma-Marinette had tied up six civilian males and was hanging them upside down from a lamp post.  She appeared to be talking, the tip of her spear slowly moving back and forth a foot or so in front of their faces as she circled them.

Oddly, she had two large ravens sitting on her shoulder, which were eyeing the men hungrily.

“She’s calling herself Valkyrie, so I’m thinking a Norse theme.  She used a couple bolts from the spear to turn two pigeons into the ravens, which she’s calling Huginn and Muninn.  Which, those are supposed to be Odin’s thing, not a valkyrie’s, but…” Vixen trailed off with a shrug.

“But Hawkmoth doesn’t really know his mythology that well,” Chat finished.  “Which we learned from The Pharaoh.” He sighed.  “And just great, more birds.”

“It also means that we should probably expect basically anything Norse-themed to be thrown our way,” Vixen added.  “And I for one don’t want to be fighting The Midgard Serpent or a giant wolf or three tonight.”

“Tikki said before Nino transformed that the akuma is in her spear, so at least we know that.  So, why, um…” Chat gestured at the six civilians being menaced by Valkyrie.

“Recognize them?  You should, they’re the ones that were harassing us on that one date,” Queen Bee growled.

Chat started, taking a closer look.  Yeah, that was them.

“… We think that they attacked Marinette and that’s what got her akumatized,” Vixen added solemnly.  “At least from what Valkyrie said earlier.”

“So, we’re not exactly in a hurry to help,” Queen Bee finished.  “She’s mostly just lecturing them anyways.”

“Um, guys?” Scarabee squeaked, gesturing at Valkyrie, who had just pointed her spear at something and shot a beam at it.

Chat guessed that maybe it had been a rat originally, but the rapidly growing creature quickly shed fur and limbs, turning long and sleek and scaled.

And big.

The giant snake reared up, dwarfing even the ancient Titanoboa as it loomed, scales dark under the street lamps as it flickered its tongue in and out, easily twenty-five meters long, if not more.

“Jormungandr, show them what happens to those who prey on the defenseless!” Valkyrie ordered.

“Okay, Vixen, you are no longer allowed to potentially give her ideas!” Chat gasped, gripping his staff as the giant serpent opened its maw and hissed, revealing rows of long, needle-sharp teeth, the front fangs dripping pale venom.  “Queenie, distract Valkyrie!  Vixen, see if you can confuse the snake!  Scarabee, stay here.  I’m going to try to get that spear.”

His teammates nodded, Vixen pulling out her flute as Queen Bee spread her wings, taking off and shooting straight at Valkyrie, orange smoke trailing after her as Vixen began to play.

Chat swallowed hard, gave Scarabee’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then bounded off after Valkyrie, who had just taken off chasing Queen Bee.

“… Chat?  What’s going on?  And what the heck is that?!” Nino pointed shakily at the floating Tikki, still on the floor from where he had fallen off of his chair.

He jerked back as the little red and black thing floated closer.  “I’m a kwami.  My name is Tikki.  Every Miraculous has a kwami bound to it, we’re the source of the powers they hold.”

Nino swallowed hard, then looked at Chat for confirmation.

Chat nodded.  “It’s true.  The kwami are fairly shy around non-Miraculous Holders, which is why you haven’t met ours.  We try not to press the issue with beings who are literally thousands of years old and basically tiny gods.”

“… I’m talking to a god. Who is, like, six centimeters tall.” Nino muttered, rubbing at his face.

Tikki sniffed.  “Six and a half.”

“Anyways, this is an emergency.”

Nino paused, then slowly lowered his hand.  “… So, these kwami… I’m guessing they look a little like the animals you guys are themed after?”

Chat and Tikki nodded in unison.

“… So you’re the Ladybug?” Another nod from Tikki.  Nino swallowed hard.  “And if you’re here, that means that…”

“Ladybug was akumatized. She barely managed to get her Miraculous off and to tell me to go get help before Hawkmoth took her over,” Tikki whispered, drooping a little lower in the air.

“Nino, none of us can purify akuma.  We can’t rescue her without a Ladybug.  You’re the only one we trust to do it,” Chat added, ears splayed and tail tucked between his legs.

“Why me?  Why not Marinette?!  At least she has her ears pierced!”

Chat and Tikki shared a Look.  “… About that…” Chat said slowly.

“Marinette is Ladybug.” When Nino’s jaw dropped, Tikki floated up in front of his face.  “Before you say anything, I’m the one who told her not to tell any of you.  None of the others knew, either.” Nino shot a look at Chat, and he nodded sadly.  “I take responsibility for that.  But right now, Marinette is scared and hurting and being controlled by Hawkmoth, and we need to save her.”

“But… I… I’m not a hero!”

Tikki gave a tiny smile. “Marinette said the same thing, at first.  But right now she needs us, all of us, to be her heroes.”

“I don’t even have my ears pierced!”

They all paused, then Chat slowly looked at his hands.  Specifically, the needle-sharp claws tipping his fingers.  “Nino, do you trust me?”

“… I feel like if I say yes, then I’m going to be in a lot of pain.”

“We’re kinda out of options here.”

Nino winced, a sinking feeling in his gut confirming it.  “… Just make it quick, okay?”

*************************

“I AM NEVER LETTING YOU NEAR A SHARP OBJECT AGAIN.”

“Tikki said I did just fine!” Chat protested, leading the way over the rooftops.

“Other than the fact that it hurt like a bitch and I am still bleeding.” Nino hissed back, the red and black of the Ladybug Miraculous glinting at the tops of his ears.

“You’re the one who said that if you had to get a piercing then it might as well be somewhere cool!”

“Uuuuugh what was I thinking, my mom is going to kill me.” Nino muttered, jumping after Chat across a gap and hoping that he’d be able to make it.  He didn’t trust himself to try swinging around on the yoyo like Marinette usually did.

“Look, when we get there just hang back, okay?  Vixen, Queenie, and I will do all of the fighting, we just need you to purify the akuma at the end.  We don’t need a Stoneheart repeat.”

“Trust me, I am more than okay with letting you guys handle that stuff.  Um… how do I…” Nino shot an uncertain look at Chat.

“Swing the yoyo at the butterfly, the yoyo will do the rest.  Ladybug said once that she tries not to overthink it, as it would just mess her up.” Chat snagged Nino against his side and extended his staff to vault across a large gap.  “And if anyone asks about you, we’ll say that Ladybug is out of town dealing with family stuff or something and you’re just filling in for her.  You need a name, by the way.”

“Um…” Nino wracked his brain, trying to dredge up what little he knew about ladybugs.  “Maybe just Scarabee?”

“Beetle?  I guess it’ll work for a one-time name.” Chat shrugged.

“This coming from the guy who calls himself Black Cat,” Scarabee muttered as Chat set him down and they took off again.

“Hey, Ladybug asked and it was the first thing that popped into my head.  By the time I could think of something cooler it had already stuck.” Chat leapt another gap, Scarabee hot on his heels.  “I left them right… here…”

The two boys stopped, eyeing the decidedly empty roof and the distinct lack of akuma in the air.

“Where…” Scarabee shut up as screaming sounded from several blocks away.

“Bet you a kiss that’s where they are.” Chat shot him a wide, toothy grin before taking off in that direction.

“It’s alright, Chloe. You’ve got this,” Pollen whispered in her Chosen’s ear, pressing a tiny kiss to her cheek before zooming up to hide in her ponytail.

Chloe huffed and turned her nose up.  “Of course I do, Pollen.  It will work out just fine.”

Pollen wasn’t convinced. Chloe was constantly fidgeting with her purse, her shirt, and her hair.  She wasn’t saying it in so many words, but the girl was freaked.

Pollen gently tugged at a lock of hair in reassurance.  While Chloe would have to do this on her own, that didn’t mean she couldn’t offer moral support.

“… Thanks, Pollen,” Chloe whispered.  The girl took a deep breath, schooled her expression, and pushed open the door.

Her father and her future stepmother looked up from where they were bent over something on her father’s desk, heads close in discussion.

“Daddy, I need to tell you something.” By now Chloe was doing everything she could to channel her inner Queen Bee, the same part of herself who stared down dangerous akuma and whose first thought was ‘I’m going to kick their ass.’ “I’m now officially dating.”

“That’s wonderful, baby girl!  Do I know him?”

Chloe wasn’t able to completely repress a wince.  “… Yes?  Sort of?” She took a deep breath to brace herself. “I’m dating four people.  They’re all classmates of mine.”

To be fair, there were few things that could strike the mayor of a city that regularly dealt with the results of a supervillain targeting someone’s bad day speechless. Chloe’s announcement was one of those things, it seemed.

Why was this so much scarier than fighting akuma?  Oh, right, because it was generally considered a bad thing to beat up all of your problems outside of supervillains.

Akuma were a lot easier to deal with in that regard.

“You’ve met Adrien, of course.  The other three are Nino Lahiffe, Alya Cesaire, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.  We have already been on a few dates-“ Honestly, mostly movie nights and cuddles, but Chloe was learning that they certainly had their place in a relationship.  Still, it was very nice to be able to show off all of her loves to the world. “-and I felt that you deserved to know, Daddy.”

Her father finally found his voice.  “Absolutely not, Chloe!  It would be one thing if you were just dating another girl, that’s fairly accepted these days, but several people?!  Did you ever think about what this would do to your reputation?  My reputation?  I’d never get re-elected if this got out!  No, you’ll simply have to break it off.”

“She will not, Andre.” Chloe started, having forgotten the presence of her future stepmother.

The woman was standing there, arms crossed and one foot tapping.  Elizabeth, or Beth as she preferred to be called, was American, and while her French was steadily improving from being immersed in it, she still wasn’t fluent yet.  The woman was tall, even slightly taller than Chloe’s father, with long blonde hair that she usually kept pulled back in a ponytail.

In truth, Chloe had no idea how the two had met, or what her father saw in a woman who regularly wore flannel shirts and jeans.  Ever since their introduction, she had been doing her best to avoid Beth.

“Chloe is you daughter, Andre.” Beth still had trouble with tenses sometimes, that Chloe knew, and apparently she hadn’t gotten past it yet. The tall woman prodded a finger into Chloe’s father’s chest.  “Is you… job? Is that the right word?”

“I think you meant ‘responsibility’,” Chloe said faintly, more than a little stunned.

“Yes, thank you Chloe.” She turned back to Andre and continued her tongue lashing.  “Is you responsibility to look after and support her!  No matter what!”

“But… Beth… sweetie…”

“No ‘sweetie’ me!  You support Chloe, or wedding is off!”

“I…” Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Andre caved.  “… Yes dear.”

“Be happy for Chloe. She found people who make her happy, let her enjoy that.” Beth’s phone dinged, and she pulled it out to glance at the time.  “Lunch break over, back to work.  We talk more later.”

“I… yes.” Still a little stunned, Andre turned and left.

Beth let out a long sigh and turned to Chloe.  “I know you do not like me.  I do not blame you, I would not either.  But know that I have you back.”

Chloe looked away, then jumped slightly as she felt a small tug on her hair from Pollen.  “I… maybe we could… spend more time together?” She said hesitantly.

Beth gave her a bright smile.  “I would like that.”

****************************

“It went better than I thought it would,” Chloe said as she continued to run the brush through Alya’s thick hair, gathered it into one hand, then began sectioning it.  “Daddy freaked out, but then his fiancée, of all people, chewed him out for it.”

Marinette raised a brow, but carefully didn’t move from where Nino was brushing her own hair out. They had a little time before school started, so they were passing the time waiting for Adrien to join them by playing with each other’s hair on the school steps.  “Really?”

“Yes.” Chloe flushed a little, even as she began braiding Alya’s hair.  “We’re going shopping Thursday, actually.” She sniffed a bit, turning her nose up slightly.  “The woman has no fashion sense whatsoever, so obviously I’ll have to help her out. Maybe I can convince her to rethink some of the wedding plans to something less tacky.”

“I’m glad it worked out okay for you.  My parents teased me a little, but they were really supportive.” Marinette leaned back against Nino, giving a content hum at the feel of the brush running through her hair, and unable to hide a small blush as Nino ducked his head and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“My family was betting on my love life.” Alya huffed, crossing her arms to sulk.  Chloe poked her in retaliation as she ended up pulling her half-finished braid out of her hands, forcing Chloe to restart it.  “Apparently my mom got closest, she got everyone but Chloe right.  The only one who did bet on Chloe was my grandmother, who apparently liked the 99 to 1 odds.”

“My Mama doesn’t really approve, so she’s taking a wait and see approach,” Nino chimed in.  “She just worries about me getting hurt.”

“Well, if we have anything to say about it, that won’t happen,” Marinette said, twisting a little and tilting her head up.  Nino chuckled and obligingly leaned down to kiss her.

Alya was turning to look indulgently back at her boyfriend and girlfriend, when something caught her eye. She stilled, then tapped Chloe’s ankle where it was beside her hip.  “Chloe? Is that… Adrien, walking to school?”

Chloe looked up from where she had been putting an elastic on the end of Alya’s braid, frowning in concern.  “Yes. Which is-“

“Weird, because normally his dad insists on the limo,” Alya finished, frowning as well.  “And he looks…”

“Something’s wrong.  Really wrong,” Marinette murmured, just loud enough for the rest of them to hear it.

Later, none of them could have said who moved first, but a beat later all four of them were up and running towards their boyfriend.

Adrien looked up at the sudden sound of footsteps, took one look at the four, and his face crumpled.

Marinette was the first to reach him, just as his knees gave out, and she grunted as she caught the brunt of his weight.  Nino was there a heartbeat later, helping her hold Adrien up as he started to sob into her shoulder.  Then Alya and Chloe were there, and the four pressed in around Adrien, holding him from each side as his chest heaved with his sobbing.

“Shh… shh… we’ve got you, babe,” Nino murmured into Adrien’s hair.

It seemed an eternity before Adrien’s sobs died down, and Marinette wasn’t sure exactly how damp her shirt was other than ‘very’ by the end, but finally the blond sniffled and pulled back a little, going to wipe his face on his sleeve and being intercepted by a handkerchief that Chloe shoved at him.  “S-sorry.”

“Hey, no, don’t apologize. If something had you reacting that way, it must be serious,” Alya said softly.

Adrien’s face fell, but he seemed to be all cried out for the moment.  “My father… didn’t take it well.  He told me I had to break things off.”

Chloe was just clearly winding up when Adrien held out a hand to stop her.  “I told him no.  And he… he…”

Marinette’s eyes widened as a chill settled into her chest.  “Adrien, what did he do?”

Adrien gave a bitter, choking laugh.  “He disowned me.  Said I’d still get my trust fund and the money I made from modeling, but I’m no longer his son.  He said I have to be out of the house the day I turn eighteen.”

All four of them were stunned speechless.  Chloe recovered the fastest, and in all her years Marinette had never seen the girl that angry.

“He’s dead.”

“Chloe no, we’re not posting your bail,” Alya said automatically.  Her expression had darkened just as much as the blonde’s, but her eyes were far more calculating.

“No one will know it was me if Queen Bee drops his ass off of-“

“No.” Alya cut her off. She was squeezing her phone so hard that Marinette could almost hear it creaking.  “We’re not going to kill him.  We’re going to ruin him.”

Honestly, Marinette had been half in favor of Chloe’s plan (no one hurt her Kitty like this), but Alya’s declaration got her attention.  “What?”

Alya smirked, and there was a fox’s cruelty behind it.  “We are going to ruin him and the entire Gabriel brand.  We will beat him down until he is left with nothing, and we will leave him alive, because there is no point of beating an opponent like him unless he knows, every day for the rest of his life, that he lost.”

Slowly, a cruel grin grew on Chloe’s face.  “I like the way you think, my dear.”

“And how are we going to do that?” Nino pointed out from where he was cuddling Adrien into his chest, soothingly running his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair.  “We’re kinda still teenagers in school.”

“Oh, something like this will take a while.” Alya rubbed her hands together gleefully.  “And we beat him at his own game.  Between the five of us, we could totally build our own fashion empire and crush his.”

“… What,” Marinette said flatly.

“Look, Marinette is a good designer, and she’ll just get better with more practice.  Adrien can model and give insight to the fashion world.  Chloe knows business and politics inside and out.  And Nino and I can handle advertising, social media, and any tech issues.” Alya was now angrily tapping at her phone as she made notes.

“You guys would… seriously…” Adrien stared at Alya, at a smirking Chloe, at Marinette who had a slowly growing grin.

“No one hurts you, babe.” Nino nuzzled Adrien’s ear, making him shiver.  “If we have to create an entire fashion empire to get revenge on the jerk who did, then, well…”

Adrien gave a choked laugh. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“We’re your ridiculous.” Marinette grinned at him.  “You in?”

“… Wonder what she’s looking for,” Vixen mused, tail swaying idly behind her as she watched akuma-Marinette turn slowly in place in mid-air, gaze… well, probably focused downward, it was hard to tell with the helm obscuring everything.

Queen Bee wasn’t sure whether not being able to see Marinette’s face was better or worse.

“Probably whatever caused her to be akumatized in the first place, seems to be the usual motive for about half the akuma we go up against.” Queen Bee shrugged, trying not to be distracted by Vixen’s constantly moving tail, or a little further up for that matter.

Hey, it wasn’t her fault that her boyfriends and girlfriends were all so attractive.  It was totally unfair, especially when they had to be professional and keep their hands to themselves.

Which had been made ten times harder lately whenever they ended up running around in skintight suits.

Totally unfair.

“Oh kwami,” Queen Bee swore as a thought occurred to her.

“What?” Vixen didn’t budge from watching akuma-Marinette, but she did swivel an ear in Queen Bee’s direction.

“You do realize that this means that it’s been Marinette under Ladybug’s outfit all this time.”

The two girls paused as they considered this, and Vixen made a low whine deep in her throat.  “It is not fair that the girl is so ripped.”

“I know!”

Suddenly akuma-Marinette floated slightly higher, then arched down into a dive towards a street forward and to their left.

“Shit!  She’s on the move!” Vixen darted over the roof’s peak, launching herself in a scramble to the next roof along, then yelping as warm arms wrapped around her waist and Queen Bee hauled the slightly taller girl back against her chest.

“I’m faster.  Hold on.” Trying to ignore how Vixen was squirming in her arms, claws glancing off her suit as she tried to find a hold, Queen Bee flared her wings out wide and pushed them as fast as they would go to try and catch up with their quarry.

Queen Bee initially overshot the street and had to arc back around, in time to see akuma-Marinette cutting off a group of civilians that were trying to escape.  Oddly, she seemed uninterested in other fleeing people, hyper focused on a group of young men.

Vixen stiffened in Queen Bee’s arms.  “Those guys look familiar…”

Queen Bee took in a harsh breath as she registered the identities of the six men as the same ones who had harassed them all outside of the theater.  “Think she’s still mad about that one time?”

“You who would prey upon lone girls wishing to walk the streets unafraid have brought judgement down upon your heads!” Akuma-Marinette’s voice rang out, echoing off the buildings with the undertones of power and rage.

A shock of cold shot straight through Queen Bee’s heart, and she gasped and had to set herself and Vixen down on the roof before they dropped straight out of the sky.  In her arms, Vixen was stiff and vibrating with a barely heard growl.  “Do you think…”

“… I think we’ve found the reason she was akumatized.  And suddenly any sympathy I had for them is gone.” Vixen snarled, showing the fangs that her transformation granted her.

“… Want to watch her kick their asses?”

“By the kwami yes.”

Irresponsible and an abuse of their powers and vows to use them wisely?  Probably.

But sometimes, Queen Bee mused as the screaming started (honestly, akuma-Marinette hadn’t even touched them yet), it took something a little more violent to teach a lesson than the law was willing to bring to bear.