#ladybug luka

“I mean, I’m down for anything.” He said, resting his arms on the top of his guitar. “Wouldn’t Adrien be the better person to ask?”

“I will, when he gets here. where is he?”

“Stealing something?” Marinette opened her mouth, brows raised in confusion. “I have no idea. I don’t ask anymore.” Luka answered before the question could be asked.

“Fair enough.” Everyone learned that the Italian teen was strange in his own way.

A red car pulled up to the gangplank of the Liberty and Adrien climbed out, Kagami following.

“We broke her out!” Adrien announced, closing the door behind Kagami, still in her uniform from school. “Sorry we’re late.”

“What do you mean you broke her out?” Alix asked, walking over.

“Technically, Kagami is supposed to be at fencing practise. Since the Tsurugi car is voice activated, tricking it to go somewhere else wasn’t that hard.” Adrien explained.

“You’d think okaa-sama would have realised that’s what happened the last time and fixed it, but it still worked.” Kagami said, looking proud.

“We’re glad to have you, regardless.” Luka said, getting up and sliding the strap of his guitar over his head. “You, though, could really give more explanation.” He said to Adrien, who just gave him a mischievous smile.

“I mean, I didn’t lie. I did steal her.”

Luka rolled his eyes, putting his arm over Adrien’s shoulder. “You’re a brat. Come on, let’s start rehearsal.”

They’d only just gotten started when suddenly, Jagged Stone appeared, grand piano and all to ask the Captain of the Liberty to be his guitar player. Since when did the mother of the Couffaine siblings know Jagged Stone? Luka was questioning that, but he kept getting distracted by Adrien losing his mind. He’d forgotten Adrien kept missing a Jagged Stone concert.

“Did you fire your guitarist again?” His mother asked, looking annoyed.

For a grown man, Jagged Stone looked like a very scolded child. Luka knew the look, rare as it was that he and his sister got scolded. “No.” the rock star said, clearly lying. The Captain wasn’t impressed.

“Is this really my life? Your mom knows Jagged Stone?” Adrien asked, looking betrayed.

“Don’t look at me like that, I didn’t know.” Luka defended himself.

“Marinette!” Jagged yelled, spotting the designer.

“Marinette?” Adrien asked.

Luka wondered if Adrien knew that Marinette had done work for the rockstar, like the album cover.

“Any chance you know any guitar players?”

“Well…” Marinette leaned over, past the line of them to look at Luka.

He wanted to agree but his mom looked so annoyed at the rocker. He had so many questions. He knew before she became a fully licensed captain, she went to law school at her parents’ insistence and the promise she could do what she wanted if she passed top of her class. She did but she had done a few things during her schooling years that made her parents question to keep their promise. Clearly playing with Jagged had to be one of them.

“Come on, Marinette,” Jagged begged, playing his emotions on the piano, “I need help and someone who won’t eat – I mean, quit when the going gets tough.”

Ok, now Luka was sure Jagged was lying about his guitar player quitting. The huff and toss of her hands showed his mother thought the same.

Before Marinette could say anything, suddenly an angry voice called from above. “Jagged Stone! First, you fire me and now you’re coming to grade schoolers for my replacement?”

“Vivica? Is that you?”

The person standing on the mast was dressed in black, their grey, almost pale purple skin with music notes on their skin and the star shaped guitar case making Luka worried. When Akumas had items with them, things got unpredictable. He shared a glance with Juleka as he started to push Adrien behind him, while his mom exploded.

“I knew you were lying; you ship rat! You dropped her, like you did me!”

Like he did, what? God, Luka had so many questions for his mother. At the moment, he was hoping his mom would back off once the Akuma, Desperada as she called herself, turned her attention on her, but it was Captain Aranka Couffaine. She was never one to back off. In a weird trumpet sound, his mom was hit, disappearing as a sticker that appeared on Deserada’s case.

Oh, this was not good.

___________________________

At the expense of Kagami and Rose – god, Luka was gonna have to remind his sister to focus, either on not despairing or not trying to kill Desperada over her girlfriend – Luka managed to pull Adrien away while Catseye attacked the Akuma. The minute a well-aimed attack on the bridge Desperada was on caused it to crumble, they followed Catseye down into the sewers. He left Adrien in a utility room; glad he didn’t question why they both didn’t hide together in the locker. He’d given his sister his guitar to keep Desperada distracted and nearly crashed into her when turning a corner.

“She’s got a lot of the others as stickers. Thankfully, she didn’t go chasing after anyone, more focused on finding you.”

“Lucky me.” He said, lifting his jacket for Tikki to come out. “Alright, Tikki, Spots On!” once changed, Scarlet Bug pulled his yoyo off his waist and called out, “Lucky Charm!” the spotted copy of Fu’s gong landed in his hands.

The two heroes shared a look. During Syren, they realised even though Juleka knew about Fu, for some odd reason, he didn’t trust her. He didn’t allow her to sit in on Guardian lessons, even though he had to know Luka shared what he learned with her. He kept saying that the Black Cat couldn’t be trusted, that Plagg couldn’t be trusted. It made no sense and made Luka madder than he’d been in a while. They’d been trying to avoid being around him, not since the few lessons Juleka could join where they’d been taught about Unification. They were told under no circumstances could the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous be Unified and the Cat one shouldn’t be used at all in one and the look Fu had, made Juleka want to be no where near him, and Luka agreed. However, the old man held the other Miraculous and they knew they’d need to support. They’d need more time.

“The Snake Miraculous.” Juleka said, the thought obviously hitting them both. “Second Chance will help us when Desperada gets the better of us. But, even if it’s just us, it’s still a risk with only 3.” She thought out loud. “We should pick someone else too.”

“Turtle?”

Catseye shook her head. “Too risky. She could keep hitting us and we’d be stuck. We’ll have to think about it. but, I don’t know if we should trust the Snake with someone knew.”

She had a point. According to Fu, the Snake Miraculous was a difficult power to understand, along with the Rabbit Miraculous. Trying to understand the power of Miraculous was hard enough on the first try, let alone something as powerful as the Snake.

“You take it. Adrien is still ok and we know he’s good with Plagg.” Amazing really, since he’d used Black Hole and Cataclysm in the same transformation and only left with a 3-day long migraine and a weak body. Not great, but Adrien would know his limits now.

“When we figure out the other one, we’ll decide who’s the best fit.” Juleka stated.

They could just make out the awful picking of Luka’s guitar as they headed away from the scene, trying not to worry when it went quiet not long after. The streets along the massage parlour were still, so no one noticed two teens rushing inside.

“Choose the Miraculous well.” Fu told them as he opened the box, the drawers sliding out in their spiral.

Luka picked up the Snake Miraculous, getting this odd sense that he’d held it before. well, he had, when picking the Miraculous up to exam them during training, but this felt like when he picked up Tikki’s box. All that time ago, opening the box and finding earrings, he felt disappointed, like he’d been expecting something else from the same box. Holding the Ouroboros bracelet, it felt like his whole body was saying, ‘finally’.

But, that didn’t make sense. He’d only ever wielded the Ladybug, so why was he expecting to switch Tikki out with the Snake’s Kwami?

“We can’t use Wyazz.” Juleka said, seemingly not bothered by her brother’s sudden silence. “as much as Shelter would help, we’d no doubt be pelted with attacks until the time was up.” her red-brown eyes glanced over each Miraculous carefully. “Trixx and his illusions could help but being on the attack would be more helpful.”

“Ox?”

“Ivan would be a perfect fit, had he not gotten stickered protecting Mylene.”

Luka watched Juleka pick up the Tiger Miraculous. Her eyes glazed and Luka weirdly got the feeling that what he felt holding the Snake Miraculous, is what she felt holding the Tiger.

“The Tiger Miraculous’ power is more destructive that Cataclysm. While it can’t destroy an akuma, in the wrong hands, it will cause irrefutable damage.”

Honestly, seeing how Desperada could easily shot them if they weren’t careful, going full force sounded like a good idea.

“You take the Snake.” Juleka decided, turning to him. “I’ll take the Tiger. We’ll have Adrien take the Cat and…Marinette, the Ladybug? That was the choice right?”

They’d had the discussion before, what would happen if they needed to do another ‘switch Miraculous’ situation like what he did with Adrien when Juleka was glittered. Luka knew it was a matter of time before he had to pass the Ladybug to someone and with how much responsibility there was in using it, they needed someone they could trust and could handle it, so they decided Marinette was their best bet. Surprisingly, Chloe was their second choice. Even though she made a mess of things with the Bee Miraculous after her father’s akumatization, Chloe learned quick with a Miraculous like the Bee. If she hadn’t wanted her mother’s attention, the two felt like things would be different. They wouldn’t have a chance to test that out now, though.

“Ready when you are.” Luka said, watching the lights burst from the Bracelet and Panjas Bracelet.

“Hello young one. I am Sass.”

“And I’m Roaar!”

“You two better take care of them.” Plagg said as he took the ring from Juleka.

“Not to worry,” Sass said, looking melancholic, “we’ll take the greatest of care with them.”

Luka undid his earrings, passing them to Tikki before slipping the bracelet on. “I know how Second Chance works. Anything else I should know?”

Sass had this weird knowing look. He felt like he’d seen it on Plagg when he was passed to Adrien during Style Queen. “Your lyre, has more functions than you think.”

Ok? Roaar just finished giving the rundown to Juleka and after sharing a look, the siblings got up.

“Sass,  Scales Slither!”

“Roaar, Stripes On!”

Once the lights died down, Luka looked over at the mirror leaning against the wall. Snake green pants were tucked into boots. His shirt was sleeveless, the green and black scales on the shirt shifting in the light, hood on it up much like he’d wear his Scarlet Bug hood, though the shape reminded him of a king cobra. He didn’t have a mask over his eyes, the bangs on his now teal green hair much long and keeping the top half of his face covered. The bottom half was covered by a mask that had fangs printed on it.

Juleka was in a body suit striped with black, standing out against the red purple Juleka preferred wearing. Her hair was pulled back into a half ponytail, a mix of her normal purple and the same red purple of her suit, her hair like a mane. The mask on her face had points like fangs and wrapped around her waist was a tail made of a morning star. Both siblings had gloves with claws, Juleka’s more fitting, but Luka was sure his gloves were for the aesthetic.

“So, what shall you call yourself?” Master Fu asked.

“Viperion.” Luka answered.

“Tigresse Poupre.” Juleka answered. She picked up the two boxes with their original Miraculous, handing him the Ladybug. “We need to go. The longer we put off stopping Desperada, the worst she’s gonna be.”

Luka nodded. They knew it was a risk leaving as heroes from the parlour, but thanks to the multiple entrances the building had, they were able to get out and split up. Juleka headed back to the sewers to get Adrien and Luka headed back to the Liberty. He didn’t know where Marinette had disappeared to but he hoped she went to hide on the houseboat. The area was quiet as he landed, his hearing more pronounced with the Snake affecting him. His nose wasn’t any different, not that he could tell which might have had to do with the mask. He opened the door to the trailer Jagged had driven to beg for help, hearing voices inside.

“Shh!” Nino hissed.

The trailer looked like what Luka could imagine Jagged wanting, all blacks and purples, framed posters of his albums lining the walls. The first one was him and another guitarist wearing masks. He recognised the hair, seeing photos of his mom from when she was younger.

“She really did know him.” He said out loud, hearing someone hit something, the table in the dining nook. He walked over and peeked under, seeing the odd combination of Nino and Chloe under the table. “Hi.”

“Who are you? you’re not an akuma.” Chloe demanded to know.

“Viperion, though, you know me as someone else.” He didn’t see the point in hiding it. last thing he wanted was Alya assuming there was some brand-new hero and going to look for answers. Besides, seeing how the Miracuclass was almost always at the centre of akuma attacks, he was sure they knew how he and Juleka acted and spoke as Catseye and Scarlet Bug and would figure it out themselves.

“Scarlet Bug!” Nino yelped, moving and slamming his head on the table.

“Stop yelling!” Chloe snapped. “she’s right outside!”

“I didn’t see Desperada. Is it just you guys here?” Viperion asked.

“Sabrina was hiding in the bedroom with Dupain-Cheng.” Chloe said, leaning forward to crawl out. “But she came back.”

“Sounded like Marinette jumped in front of Sabrina. Alya is still ok, she’s been posting updates.” Nino continued.

Luka bit his lip under his mask. Not great. Marinette had been his and Juleka’s choice, but if she was stickered…

“There aren’t many hiding spots here. I seem to remember the Couffaine siblings mention how the hid from Hardrock in their own room.”

Nino’s eyes got bright. “In the storage drawer under Luka’s bed! He’s mentioned that most of the rooms are storage, everything they own. It’s kind of a mess, but all the cover would hide us!”

Viperion let Nino prattle on, staring at Chloe as she climbed out, looking annoyed as she had to dust her capris off. When the mayor had been akumatized, the bumbling man turned out to be quite a formidable enemy. It happened sometimes, the surprisingly hard to beat akumas coming from the most unlikely people. The mayor had already gotten a few people under his thumb, including Catseye, who became a pet to the mayor and his trapped wife. Scarlet Bug had been told by his Lucky Charm that he needed a partner and the Bee made the most sense. It wasn’t until he saw Chloe doing everything she could to break out of her room she’d been locked in that he decided to trust her. She learned quick, taking the trust she’d been given and turning it into power. She helped get Catseye back, got the item so they could break it. but when it was all over, she disappeared. They searched for hours but she’d been at Sabrina’s and the next morning approached her mother’s table and transformed – a desperate cry for her mother to look at her. When the Miraculous Reset restored the Bee, Chloe didn’t even try to beg or bargain.

That’s why when trying to decide who would get the Ladybug, Chloe didn’t leave their mind. She messed up, sure, but she was willing to admit it and while she was definitely using her short-lived hero life as an ego boost, the positivity it gave others was something they weren’t expecting. So, Viperion made a decision then. While Nino made his way across the gangplank to hide downstairs, he put a hand on Chloe’s shoulder.

“Hey, I need to talk to you.” she raised a brow, but turned to face him. “You can probably guess there’s a reason I’m like this right now.”

“Does Catseye have your Miraculous right now? Are you giving me the Bee?”

He shook his head. “Desperada seems smart and she seems quick. Her power doesn’t give us a second chance, so we have to make our own.” He said, lifting his hand to show the jade green bracelet. “But we still need Lucky Charm and the Reset. Chloe, what I’m about to ask you, if you do what you did last time, we can never trust you again.”

Her eyes widened, clearly understanding what he was about to ask. Viperion pulled the lyre off his back, and pressed the diamond at the point of the instrument, the strings rippling before a pool of the same white of the ether space appeared. Luka would later wonder how he knew that. Scarlet Bug hid things in his yoyo and Catseye’s sleeves were like Mary Poppin’s bags in their own right. He was sure other heroes had ways of hiding things on them. but Viperion’s seemed special, not something easy to figure out on the first try. It didn’t matter as he pulled out a black jewellery box and held it out.

“Chloe Bourgeois, with the promise that you’ll return this at the end of the battle, will you accept the Ladybug Miraculous?”

“You, you’re serious? Me?”

“You. Chloe, you were good as Queen Bee, don’t think we don’t remember that. You messed up after, sure, but there’s was something that gave us the trust that if we needed help with this, we could go to you.”

Her blue eyes looked glazed with tears, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. when she opened them, she looked the same determined she did when she was given the Bee Miraculous. “I can do. And I’ll give it back, I swear.”

He extended his hand more to let Chloe take the box from him, watching the red-light spin around her as Tikki appeared and introduced herself. Chloe’s outfit was similar to when she was Antibug, spotted suit minus the jacket, her hair down but pulled back by an antenna headband. In true Chloe fashion though, the collar around her neck was fluffy, like a bee.

“Your name?”

“Ladybird.”

“Alright then, let’s go.”

_____________________

“Why is always the Eiffel Tower? France is gonna have to put money into protecting that thing if a Reset fails one day.” Cat Walker, though Adrien asked to be called Kuro Neko, said, as Ladybird’s yoyo showed Desperada holding her horn like a sniper gun.

“Please don’t, I’m nervous enough as it is.” Ladybird replied in her normal tone.

“The case is where she gets her weapons from, so there’s a good chance that’s the item that needs to be destroyed.” Tigresse Poupre relayed. “We need to throw her off. I’ll use Clout to bring the Tower down. We keep an eye on each other and keep Kuro Neko and Ladybird from being stickered.”

“Right.” Kuro Neko said, shoulders going up in nervousness. “No pressure.”

Ladybird closed the yoyo and looked at him. “We can do this. we got picked for a reason.”

“I’ll set Second Chance now. We’ll have five minutes to bring her down and I’ll keep us alert of any resets we have to do.” Viperion said, calling for Second Chance as the snake moved up on the bracelet, it’s eyes glowing as it slowly moved back. “Ready?”

Cataclysm was destructive but Luka and Juleka realised what Master Fu meant when he said the Tiger was worse. They all thought one of the supports would go down, not most of the famed structure.

“Oh god, Chloe’s dad is gonna kill us.” Tigresse Poupre moaned at the sight.

“Let’s just focus on getting the akuma first, and hope the Reset actually does ok.”

Desperada was sneaky, full-frontal attacks to get the horse saddle Lucky Charm Ladybird was given at the start kept ending with Ladybird, Kuro Neko and Tigresse Poupre being caught. Viperion reset each time, before Desperada turned to him, letting the others take lead while he watched. He kept thinking about what Sass said, how his lyre had more functions as he plucked on the strings, struggling to think of a plan. Ladybird and Kuro Neko, for the early entry as heroes, were good, giving it their all with support from the more seasoned Tigresse Poupre, but even all the skills wasn’t enough. Then he noticed it, Desperada was getting distracted by his playing. She might want the Miraculous, but her main goal was going against the person who’d try to steal her spotlight. She had pigeon stickers all over the case and Catseye had left Luka’s guitar to be picked at by the birds as a distraction.

He reset the time, stopping the others from jumping forward. “I know what to do.”

Just like he thought, seating himself and plucking a tune on the lyre got Desperada to fully focus on him, not noticing the staff and yoyo until the knocked her horns out of her hand. Tigresse Poupre was quick, sliding between the akuma’s feet and catching them in the stirps. Ladybird caught one hand with her yoyo but missed the other as it started pulling the case off her back. Kuro Neko already called Cataclysm and Viperion knew in a few seconds if he didn’t move, Desperada would have a new weapon. so, he got one first. The diamonds on the lyre glowed, a handle growing as the lyre got wider, until a crossbow sat in his hand. He didn’t think, so much as shoot the case out of Desperada’s hand, watching Kuro Neko jump to slam his own hand against the case.

“No more evil doing for you!” Ladybird cried, catching the escaping butterfly and releasing a pure white one. She looked giddy as she turned to them. Viperion nodded at the saddle still tangled in Desperada’s feet. “Right. Miraculous Reset!”

The glittering ladybugs fixed everything and left a normal Vivica trying to figure out where she was as the four celebrated their win.

“Thank you,” Chloe thanked, hiding with him in a side street not far from the Liberty, “for trusting me again.”

“Thank you for keeping your promise. You’re a good person Chloe, don’t forget that.”

Tigresse Poupre landed next to him as the mayor’s daughter disappeared around the corner. “That, somehow, didn’t end in disaster. Nice crossbow, by the way. How’d you do that and how can I get that to work for me?”

“You can split your staffs in two.” Viperion reminded.

“As Catseye. I meant for Tigresse Poupre.” She pulled on the tail around her waist. “I mean, a morning star is destructive, but more would be even more insane.”

Luka blinked at his sister. “We’re doing this again? The Snake and Tiger?”

“Well…” Juleka said, “it feels, normal. I don’t know why, but I already knew what to do, regardless of how destructive Clout was.”

She wasn’t wrong. The crossbow thing felt new, but everything else didn’t. it was like becoming Scarlet Bug for the 100th time, he knew where everything was and what fit. Looking at the Snake Miraculous that was starting to beep, the idea that he needed to take it off felt, wrong.

In a burst of light, he and his sister caught Sass and Roaar, who seemed tired but happy. Very happy, like they had the best time. They’d been used instead of waiting in the box, but even that didn’t sound right.

“Sorry it’s not gummy worms.”

Wait…how did Luka know that, that gummy worms were Sass’ preferred snack to recharge? The Kwami gave him a sad smile as he took the chocolate truffle Luka carried when cookies were too hard to carry. The whole situation was…odd. Putting on the earring for the first time, becoming Scarlet Bug, it was such a learning curve. Becoming Viperion, it hadn’t felt like all he learned as the spotted hero all coming to help him. It felt like he knew what he was doing from the start.

“Luka, you ok?” his sister asked, Sass and Roaar looking at him worried.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”

Scarlet Beetle heaved a weary, longsuffering sigh and dropped his head into his palm.  His fingers started massaging his temples, his red-tipped bangs scrunching adorably with the gesture.  Part of her wanted to bat his hand away and sink her own hands in those locks instead – if she could currently move her own hands, that is.  They looked…

…no!  Bad Marinette!  He was the savior of Paris what are you thinking?!

“Why do I feel like you enjoy getting yourself into danger?” he finally asked, looking up at her with a defeated smile.  He crossed the short distance between them and reached up, yanking on the yoyo strings that were currently holding her upside-down in front of him.  She gave a startled yelp as her bindings gave way and gravity did what it did best, but the freefall lasted only a moment.  Scarlet Beetle grunted as he caught her.  She was proud to say she only flailed a little as her arms wrapped around his neck, clinging tight to keep herself from hitting the ground.

…not that he’d let her.  He was too good like that: as often as she’d found herself in sticky, akuma-related situations, he had never let her get hurt.

“…I was just trying to help,” she insisted once she had caught her breath.  She glanced up at him with a pout, and his smile was…less annoyed.

“I need you to help less and hide more,” he said.  He hesitated a moment, and then she would swear his hand caressed her side.  She definitely didn’t hold him a little tighter at that.  She didn’t.  “I need you safe, Marinette.”

“Alya –” she started, but he shook his head.

“I have enough trouble keeping Alya on the sidelines,” he said.  “She’s reckless enough, and I don’t even like her most days.  Definitely not enough for all the gray hair she’s giving me.”

“Is that why you dye it?” she teased, hoping she sounded flirty again as she flicked at his bangs.  He rolled his eyes and squeezed where he was holding her.

“My point, Marinette, is that I can’t be worrying about you as well.  Watching you run into these fights after her like this, completely unprotected…” he said.  “It…distracts me.  You know it does.”

“…but you like me?” she asked, a slight smile curling her lips.  He sucked in a breath, and she would swear his cheeks darkened under the mask.  “M. Beetle, my boyfriend will get jealous.”

“…you don’t have a boyfriend,” he said, an odd note to his voice.  She bit her lip and looked away, her own face flushing at his assertion.

“Not…not yet, no,” she confessed.  “I keep hoping he asks, though.”

“Marinette…” he sighed, looking away.  An explosion sounded in the distance, and his sister shouted for him over their comms.  He winced, and Marinette pressed her fingers below his ear and frowned up at him.  “Paris needs me.  The city…the city comes first.  You know that.”

She was twisting in his arms, laying her head on his shoulder as her arms tightened around his neck.  He sucked in another breath, frozen to the spot.

“I would hope I would understand that,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.  “Just like I would hope someone else would understand that I did.  If…if that was a reason someone might be hesitating.  The thinking I wouldn’t understand.  Because I do.  I –”

It was a bad idea.

Very unprofessional.

Tikki would have Words for him later, he was sure.

But it was too easy to turn his head, for his mouth to find hers and cut her off.  And it wasn’t the kiss she deserved – the one he’d been dreaming of giving her since the moment they’d met – but it would have to do.  For now.  She gripped him a little tighter, and he held her a little closer, and then Cheshire Cat was shouting in his ear again and he had to go.  He pulled away, panting, and leaned his forehead on hers.

“We’ll talk,” he said.  “Later.  We…damn it, Marinette.”

“Go,” she said, her fingers feather-light against his jaw.  He turned his head, kissing the pads of her fingertips, and she smiled.  “I’ll try to stay out of the way.”

“Don’t try, melody,” he whispered, his voice tight.  “Just do it, all right?  If Alya gets hurt, she gets hurt – I’ll fix it later, anyway.  Stop making reckless decisions just because your best friend does.  My poor heart can’t take it.”

“Think what my poor heart does knowing it’s you in the mask,” she tutted.  “I hate watching you get flung around the city like that.”

“Marinette…” he laughed, a little desperately.  She squirmed again until he put her down, but she pecked his lips one last time before patting his shoulders.

“Go,” she said.  “I’ll…can you come by the bakery later?  I’ll be waiting on my balcony.  We’ll talk?”

When Tikki showed up unannounced, Luka's heart sank.

"She's been compromised. Please help her." The tiny red god begged.

Luka nodded and donned the earrings. "Tikki, spots on."

Luka, now Chalybeus, swung off to find Marinette.

He landed on the roof of the school, looking down on the courtyard. Marinette, the akuma, was advancing on a girl from her class.

Chat Noir landed next to him. "Hey, You're Tikki's backup?"

Chalybeus nodded. "What happened?"

Chat sighed. "This…is my fault. Marinette has a bully. A pathological liar that is turning friends against her and terrorizing her. I didn't know and as a civilian I encouraged Marinette to let it go. Something happened and Marinette snapped. I tried to help her fight the akuma. I accidentally revealed my identity and…she sent Tikki away." Chat looked ashamed.

Chalybeus frowned. That was a lot to unpack. He put a hand on Chat's shoulder. "Let's help her so you can apologize."

When they fought, Marinette whirled on the heroes. "You would let her hurt me? She's ruined everything. I've lost work at her hands. My friends hate me." She sobbed.

"I'm sorry Marinette. But I swore to protect you." Chalybeus snatched her purse and freed the akuma.

When everything was restored, he pulled Marinette aside. Before he could say anything, she hugged him fiercely. "Thank you, Luka."

He placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Always Marinette. Come find me later? We should talk."