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maraschinomerry · 1 month

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Little Pink Heart

Pairings: Anthony Lockwood x fem!reader, implied Locklyle

Summary: following a fatal Ghost-Touch, Lockwood and reader must figure out how to manage love and life after death

Content: reader's death, ghost!reader, grief, angst, bittersweet, not a happy ending, established relationship

A/N: Please please be aware that this fic has some very heavy content, don't feel obliged to read if you could find it upsetting! That being said, this is as much about exploring the concept of Visitors' sentience that Jonathan Stroud introduced and building on what we saw with Annabel Ward as it is about the angst and the grief. This is dedicated to @bella-rose29 for mentioning the idea of ghost!reader and giving me inspiration (bonus angst: listen to Someone New by Freya Ridings while you read)

Word count: 4.9k (my longest fic yet!)

Taglist: @neewtmas @marinalor @ettadear @honey-with-tea (let me know if you want adding or removing!)

The click of the key echoed through the house as you opened the door. Dusk was falling, the fine mist that had settled tinted a soft blue. As much as you didn't want to go inside, you fancied staying out here less.

“Don't linger, darling,” your boyfriend, Anthony, murmured as he passed over the threshold. His hand slipped into yours and he led you in. The house was cold and dim in the fading light, and from the fine layer of dust and lack of personal effects it was clear that it hadn't been inhabited for some time. It was a shame that the owner, who had seemed like a nice enough young woman, had had to move out of her family home, but you couldn't help but be grateful. You and Anthony had only just got your licences, and with no links to any agencies nor desires to join them you'd decided to try and set up your own. That took time, though, and money, and though Anthony had a little equity in his house you'd agreed to take a couple of small, private cases to make up as much as you could. That was how you found yourself here, ready to earn a reasonable sum in exchange for eliminating a lone Type Two. A few jobs like this would help set you up nicely.

The kitchen was slightly warmer than the rest of the house, the west-facing windows having allowed in the last of the sun before it dipped behind the trees in the distance. Together you set up your kit bags on the table - you didn't have much: a few handmade salt bombs, filings and chains, a few flares only in case of emergency (they'd cost far too much to waste) and of course your rapiers. Lockwood pulled something extra from his bag, a small plastic-wrapped packet. Bourbon biscuits.

“You're the best,” you smiled as he opened the packet and offered one to you, which you bit into quickly.

“I know,” he grinned back, brushing a stray crumb from your lip. You blushed.

The owner of the house had provided a floor plan, but her account of the Visitor had been so inconsistent and vague that it was difficult to pinpoint a possible location for the Source. Anthony spread the roll of paper across the table, and you wrapped your arms around his waist, peering over his shoulder at the diagram. There were two floors and a basement, but the latter had been gutted a month ago ready for renovation so there was nothing in there at present.

“Let's start upstairs and work our way back down,” Anthony suggested. “More likely to find something in one of the bedrooms.”

“True, but it's a lot of wasted time if we don't. Why don't we split up and take a floor each?”

His expression soured, and he moved closer, taking your hand again and rubbing small anxious circles above your thumb. “That's smart, but I hate the idea of leaving you on your own.” Even when he didn't agree with your ideas, he always found a way to compliment them. Just one of the things that made you love him all the more.

You squeezed his hand reassuringly. “It won't be for long, and I'll call for you the moment I find anything suspicious.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” You leant forward and placed your lips delicately on his. He held you close, your hands on his chest, one of his on your waist and the other fidgeting with your necklace. It was one he'd bought for you, a small pink gemstone in a heart shape on a simple silver chain. His promise to always love and protect you. Not a day had gone by since that you didn't wear it. He nodded at last; he knew he would, he'd do anything you asked of him in a heartbeat. It still worried him not to be by your side, but he trusted that you were a good agent who could handle yourself and that you meant it when you said you'd call for him. His only condition was that if the Source was more likely to be upstairs, that would be where he'd look.

So it was that you found yourself, torch in one hand and the other on your rapier, exploring the ground floor. The silence was oppressive, seeping the confidence from you with every step. Not a ticking clock, not the creaking of the old building settling, not even the residual hum of electricity or plumbing, just the occasional thud from your boyfriend upstairs. Working quickly, you ruled out the dining room and bathroom. That left the lounge. The air smelled musty, and a shiver ran through you as you entered. That was never a good sign. You pulled out your thermometer and watched the temperature drop the further in you went.

“Anthony?” Your voice felt deafening against the quiet of the room, but you knew it hadn't been anywhere near loud enough to travel upstairs. No, this was silly, you could handle this. There were no signs of a spirit yet, for all you knew the change in temperature could be from the wind blowing down the chimney into the empty fireplace. You flicked the torch off, using your now free hand to hold your necklace, grounding yourself as you tuned in and listened. There was nothing at first. You wondered whether Anthony was having more luck upstairs; so far down here had been thoroughly useless. Maybe you should go and check on him. But then you heard it. A tragic, gut-wrenching wail, getting closer.

“Anthony?” you called again, louder this time but as steady as you could. There was movement above. He'd heard. So had the spirit, the wailing definitely nearby now. You pulled out your rapier.

The temperature plummeted.

A screech, so close you would have felt the breath on your neck had it come from a living being, made you whirl round. Your rapier clattered to the floor. Shit. Stay calm.

“Anthony!” you yelled, not caring how scared you sounded. His footsteps rattled down the stairs. He was so close.

You lunged towards your rapier.

The Visitor lunged towards you.

Lockwood was in the back bedroom when he heard his name. All his senses were immediately on high alert - you were the only person he allowed to call him Anthony, so he always reacted differently to his first name anyway, and under the circumstances hearing it immediately made him fear the worst.

“Y/n?” He crept out onto the landing, slowly pulling out his rapier and listening intently for any more noise. It was moments like these he was grateful not to be a Listener, he could focus on you and not the sounds of the house's history. He was only two steps onto the staircase when his name came again, louder and more panicked. Without a second thought he ran down the stairs, only holding back enough to make sure he didn't fall. His blood ran cold when he heard you scream.

You tried to both duck and spin as your hand came into contact with the hilt of your rapier. The blade sliced upwards, connecting with the Visitor, but it was too late. Its clawing grey hand clutched onto your shoulder moments before it disappeared. You screamed as tendrils of ice shot through you, radiating outwards from the spot. Through the fog of pain that had suddenly engulfed your brain you heard Anthony, close by now, yelling your name. You had to go to him. He'd know what to do. Everything would be okay.

You took one step, then another. Your torso was going numb, your entire arm having already fallen victim to the plasm which was turning your shoulder a violent shade of blue. One more step, and your legs gave out. You just about made out the silhouette of your boyfriend in the doorway, rushing towards you as you slumped to the ground.

“No, no, no, y/n!” Anthony's face swam into view, trying to mask his utter horror for your sake. “It's going to be okay, darling, I'll go and get help.”

The fingers of your good hand twitched towards his and he took it immediately, despite how cold it was. You struggled to focus on him through your tears, and noticed the same in his eyes. “Ant-” Your voice was failing fast.

“Shh, I've got you.” He cradled your head, his own tears mingling with yours on your cheek, but you could barely feel them. Almost everything was numb. The blue had spread across your chest, and the little pink heart stood out starkly against it. “I'm so sorry, my darling,” Lockwood said softly. He choked back a sob as he leant down, placing a kiss into your hair. You wanted to do the same, to speak to him, to do anything.

His face was the last thing you saw before everything went black.

—

You had no idea how much time had passed when your vision returned, a room slowly materialising in front of your eyes. It was a bedroom, filled with knick-knacks and bathed in a warm golden light. It looked familiar, but you hadn't been here when it went dark, you'd been… somewhere else. It was so hard to remember, but you knew there had been a dark, dusty room and a feeling of agonising cold. And a person. There'd been someone there, someone you needed to say something to. Now here you were, everything feeling so normal yet so bizarre; you were still you, still able to move and see and hear, but there was a disconnect between those sensations and reality. Nothing felt real. You looked around again, desperate for answers.

There.

Perched on the edge of the bed was a boy. His crisp white shirt was a stark contrast to his dishevelled dark hair, doleful brown eyes and the deep eyebags beneath. He looked exhausted, like he'd barely slept or eaten. There was something in his hand, balanced carefully on the tips of his fingers: a necklace, with a little pink heart. A spark of recognition bloomed in the back of your mind. That was your necklace. It was important. He had no right to be holding it. You drifted forward. The boy looked so familiar. Oh. The icy feeling rippled through your chest again, and you remembered. He'd been there when that feeling had taken over your body until you couldn't feel anything else. Rage boiled in your veins, and a snarl crept onto your face. But then, as quickly as it started, the anger subsided. He'd not caused it. He'd held you so gently, cried as everything faded. You knew him. You opened your mouth, finally ready to speak.

Lockwood stared at the tiny gemstone in his hand, unsure whether he wanted anything to happen this time. He'd secretly slipped it from you before DEPRAC had arrived, and spent the past few weeks periodically taking it out of the little silver-glass box in his bedside table. Part of him desperately wanted you to come back, to let him see you once more, but the other part knew it would hurt so much. What if you didn't recognise him and turned violent like so many Visitors? What if you didn't because you didn't recognise anything, just hung there as a shadow of your former self? What if you did, and he had to live with putting you back in the case and removing you from his life all over again?

The decision was made for him when a soft golden glow appeared in the corner of his bedroom. There you were. Tears welled in his eyes as the image of you sent him spiralling back to that day: your edges were a little fuzzy but everything else was the same, from your outfit to the scared look in your eye to the dark patch spreading from your shoulder. You looked at him now and he was relieved to watch you processing your surroundings. The person he knew was still in there, you weren't just a hollow shell. Suddenly you snarled and he flinched, fingers twitching towards the silver-glass case.

You moved closer.

You stopped.

Your face fell.

He watched the glimmer of recognition in your eyes, and the tears he'd been holding back spilled out along with all the things he'd wanted to say for months.

“Oh my darling, I'm so sorry. I should never have let this happen, I should have been there for you, and-”

He paused. You were mouthing something. Over and over. Your death loop, he presumed. God, just putting death in the same sentence as you stung.

“I'd give anything to be able to hear you right now,” he said, voice wavering. You stopped, giving him a sad look. The realisation that at the very least you could understand him, even if you couldn't communicate fully, hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Lockwood!” a boy's voice called from outside. You both looked at the door and your anger flared again. The boy on the bed shook his head.

“He's a friend,” he told you reassuringly, before calling back, “One minute, George!” You waited in the corner, puzzled. The boy, Lockwood (you knew that name, didn't you?), gave you an apologetic look. “I'm sorry, y/n, I've got to go. I'll explain soon, I promise.” He dropped the necklace into its little case and clicked it shut, and you watched the world dissolve.

—

You still weren't sure how much time had passed when you found yourself back in that bedroom, but it didn't feel like very long. The last rays of the sunset poked through the gaps around the drawn curtains, the room lit instead by a lamp on the bedside table. The boy, Lockwood, was sitting on the bed again holding your necklace, but this time he looked at you almost immediately. His hair was a little neater, his eyebags more pronounced.

“Hi,” he said quietly. “Sorry if I disturbed you, I don't… really know how this works.”

You knew he couldn't hear you, but you gave your message again anyway.

“Maybe I should see if George knows how to lip-read,” he chuckled wryly. The sound reminded you of home, wherever that was. Things were still hazy, but part of you had a feeling this was it. Here, with this boy. “Which reminds me,” he continued, “I did promise to tell you about him.”

You settled into the space in the corner, allowing Lockwood's low, gentle voice to wash over you. It was incredibly calming. George was his new housemate, he told you, who'd been living here for about a month. It was all very confusing - it had felt like both minutes and years had passed since you were last here and the same before that, but he explained that the other boy had moved into the house in mid-September, and the last time you'd been here was a week ago in late October. Where was all the time going?

“I have no idea whether you experience time when your Source is contained, whether you're aware of what's going on in between or remember things from last time,” he admitted. Source. You knew about those. They were what you'd been looking for that night in that dark old house. A spirit had been tied to it, and you had to seal the Source to get rid of it. But you'd failed and it had found you, and now… your chest tightened at both the memory and the realisation. Nothing felt real because you weren't. You were just a Visitor. You continued to listen numbly as Lockwood kept talking. Not much wonder he'd recoiled when you first appeared, he'd seen what the touch of a ghost had done to you and without knowing you'd almost inflicted the same fate. You vowed in that moment that no matter what, you'd never let that happen.

The next few months saw Lockwood getting you out every chance he got. Bit by bit, he helped restore your memories and did his best to accommodate you even though the two of you couldn't properly communicate. He set up a little daily tear-off calendar on his dresser so you could keep track of how long it had been between visits, and stored his kit bag in the bottom of his wardrobe so you could move more freely around the room. Eventually, you'd come to remember him more. Not just the events from the night you died, but him. Your boyfriend, Anthony. You wanted nothing more than to be close to him, to be a comforting presence, but you knew you couldn't. Not only because you couldn't touch, but because deep down you knew that as much as you treasured being able to keep him in your life (or rather, afterlife), you had to let him go sooner or later and he needed to do the same with you. He'd been followed around by grief since long before you met him, and you hated that you were adding to it. You were just glad to see him slowly improving week by week - his face was a little brighter, and it seemed George was making sure he stayed fed. You'd have to thank the other boy if you ever got chance. Anthony said the two of you would have got along if you'd met in life, and even now George's obsession with the Problem would have made him your biggest fan, but their friendship was too new and besides he wasn't a Listener either so you'd not be able to tell him anything.

“I've got something to show you,” Anthony announced as you materialised one sunny day in late spring. He sat down with a large pink folder and patted the space next to him on the bed. You tilted your head in confusion.

“Come on,” he sighed fondly, “you never had any sense of personal space before, don't start now. Just no hugging.”

You glowed a little brighter and drifted over, your legs disappearing into the mattress until your torso was level with his. Being careful where he positioned his arms, he angled the folder towards you. It was a photo album, labelled in handwriting you recognised as your own. Page by page, he took you through your memories, giving you time to linger on each one: you as a baby, then a toothy toddler with your first pet; your family and childhood friends; Polaroids of your first team in training to become agents. His hands trembled a little as he reached the next section. On the left were four photos: the team you'd transferred to, the one he'd been training with; a slightly blurry action shot of the two of you sparring for the first time; a goofy photo he'd taken of you cartwheeling down a grassy hill after a case; your team all proudly holding their Grade Four licences. On the other side, surrounded by two styles of hand-drawn hearts, was the two of you hugging on the steps of 35 Portland Row, Anthony's lips pressed in a smile against the top of your head. You remembered that sensation well, a frequent occurrence right up until the moment you died. The rest of the album was full of photos of the two of you, ones taken by others and candids you'd snapped of each other. You felt a pang of regret that you'd never get to take any more.

Anthony turned another page. Hold on. You knew for certain there were no more photos. You looked sideways at your boyfriend, and he gave you a bashful smile. Pasted across a double spread was a copy of a certificate from DEPRAC, confirming A.J. Lockwood & Co Investigators as a registered agency. Inspector Barnes, who you vaguely recalled meeting once or twice, had signed as the licensing authority. Anthony and George had put their names down as the founding members. But then underneath that, in Anthony's familiar hand, he had added an extra section. Honorary Member: y/n y/l/n.

He looked at you so lovingly. “We did it, darling.”

You would have reached for his hand if you could.

—

Weeks began to pass before Lockwood got you to visit again. He'd have spent every day with you, but business was good and he owed it to you to make a proper go of it. In the meantime, George talked incessantly about Visitors which gave Lockwood a chance to think about you. Each time he finally got to see you again he'd apologise profusely, and you'd repeat your death loop back to him. He tried so hard to figure out what you were saying - his Sight was good, you were as clear as day and he knew your every quirk and mannerism, but he just couldn't put the movements of your lips to the right sounds.

Everything changed the day he met Lucy Carlyle. From the moment she set foot in his living room, he felt like he was supposed to have met her. The feeling only grew when he gave her the interview tests - plenty of people had passed through, some with better Talents than others, but none had come even close to the Listening abilities of the girl before him. When she spoke of the gentleness she found in his uncle's pen-knife, he knew he had to hire her.

Lucy managed to defy even his high expectations on the Annabel Ward case. He kept his focus on the young woman's spirit hovering at the end of the corridor, rapier levelled in case the details of her aggressive nature were true, but he couldn't help but think of the first day he brought you back and how quickly you'd retreated and shown a level of sentience he'd never expected from a Visitor. Was this poor woman the same? Lucy's eyes were closed, listening intently.

“She's in pain,” she said softly.

“Of course she is, she's dead.”

“No, something's different.”

He was intrigued instantly. “What's different?”

She shushed him. “I can almost…”

Annabel launched forward, sending Lucy crashing through the wooden railing in her attempt to dodge the grasping hand. Déjà vu overwhelmed Lockwood, your pained eyes flashing across his mind as he staggered backwards.

No.

He'd already lived through this once and regretted the outcome every day since. Now was his chance to redeem himself. He sprang towards the ghost, fending her off with his rapier, pulling Lucy from her desperate grip on the picture frame as soon as the coast was clear.

“Did it touch you?” he asked in a panic as she clung to him.

“Course not, I'd be dead.” Didn't he know it. The more she explained how she'd connected with the spirit, the more sure he became. Later, when they experimented with Annabel's necklace and he listened to Lucy describe the scene in such detail, he knew for certain.

“He loves me. You love me, don't you?” Her hand stroked delicately across his cheek, and he fought the urge to lean into the touch. For that brief moment, he could pretend it was you, still with him, saying those words. Perhaps with Lucy's help, it could be.

—

It had been a while. The trees outside Anthony's window were tinted a beautiful copper. You couldn't wait to hear his updates this time.

“There's a sadness, but so much love too. She feels very kind.” That wasn't Anthony's voice. Something was wrong. There was a girl sitting beside him on the bed, holding a little pink heart on a chain. Your necklace. You grew defensive, preparing to strike.

The boy looked up and saw you glaring. “It's okay, darling.” The girl followed his gaze. “Lucy, this is y/n, my late girlfriend. Y/n, this is our new associate, Lucy. She's a Listener.” Ah. Finally. You settled back down and took in the girl properly. She was pretty, with a warm brunette bob and a blue jumper which made her eyes pop. She smiled up at you, a genuine friendly smile.

“Nice to meet you,” she said sweetly. Anthony gave her an encouraging nod. You noticed that he seemed a little nervous, but there was also a calmness to him that had been missing for the past year. If that was Lucy's influence, then she was alright in your eyes.

Anthony spoke to you again. “She's brilliant, connected with a Visitor on our last case and I thought maybe she could finally help us figure out what you've been trying to say.” You nodded in agreement, and the girl closed her hand around the necklace.

You weren't sure whether you were in Lucy's head or whether she was in yours. The two of you blended into one as she ventured into your memories. Anthony's room melted away around you, sending you back to that cold dark room. You bristled.

“It's a bit different having her in the room with us,” Lucy murmured, eyes closed. “Let me know if either of you need me to stop.”

Anthony glanced at you, flickering slightly but still present and unagitated. “We're okay, go on.”

Meticulously, she described what you were both experiencing, or in your case reliving. It was hard knowing you were getting closer to the agony all over again, but it was important for your boyfriend to finally have a chance for answers and closure, so you kept the inevitable moving along.

“Anthony?” Lucy said softly, the same way you had. By the look on his face, it seemed he was realising now what you had at the time - that you'd tried to call him and hadn't been loud enough, that if only you'd tried again straight away, maybe you'd still be alive. “Anthony?” she called again. “Anthony!” You heard your own scream echo in your mind, felt the cold grasping your shoulder. The boy reached out and gripped Lucy's free hand, never taking his eyes off you. The gesture was supportive for her, but meant for you too. A tear rolled down his cheek. Lucy's breathing was shallow.

“It hurts,” she gasped, “and she's scared.”

“I should have been there quicker.” His voice was shaking with emotion, barely able to get the words out.

“No, there's no anger. She knew you were coming, and having you there through the end was a comfort.”

Anthony swallowed thickly. “Her death loop. Can you hear it?”

She opened her eyes and watched you as you spoke, the words spilling from her lips a second after.

“It's okay. It's not your fault.”

The boy broke down, his sobs rattling through the small room. Lucy held out her arms and he folded into them. She threw you an apologetic glance, and you said it again to her. “It's okay. It's not your fault.”

They were still hugging when, with his and your permission, Lucy gently slipped your necklace back into its case.

—

Now that the secret was out, you really did become an honorary member of the agency. Sure, you couldn't exactly contribute to the cases, but other than that the whole team treated you as one of their own. Anthony always waited for your opinion on big decisions, which you could make quite apparent with how happy or angry your energy was. George was absolutely fascinated by you, and took every opportunity to quiz the others on your awareness of various things and how you reacted to his experiments. Lucy often got you out on her own to have another girl to talk to. In return, of course, she'd fill you in on any gossip they came across or funny things that happened on cases that the boys were too embarrassed to tell you about. Through it all, you watched the three of them grow into a little family. Anthony and Lucy especially had clicked with each other; they reminded you of how you and he had been. That realisation filled you with a mixture of relief and melancholy. You loved Anthony so much, all you wanted was for him to be happy, but you'd be lying if you didn't wish it was you putting the light back in his eyes.

He sat you down shortly after New Year. His face was sombre but hopeful, and he fidgeted with his ring. Part of you could already tell what was coming.

“I don't really know how to say this,” he began hesitantly, “but after everything we've been through, you deserve to hear it.” You waited patiently for him to find the words he needed. Really, you had all the time in the world.

After a few moments, he spoke again. “I promised to always love you, and I will still keep that promise until the day I die…” But. There had to be a but. “...but I really care about Lucy too, and I just-” He didn't need to finish the sentence. And technically he was single. And he stood a chance of having a life with her. And she wasn't going to keep him tied to his past and his grief.

“It's okay.” Now he knew what your death loop was, he could tell what you'd said, and the way you'd limited it to just those words was a reminder of how remarkably well you understood everything that was happening. How you were as close to being a person as you could be, how it wasn't close enough.

“Promise?”

You touched the hollow of your neck, where the outline of a little sparkling heart sat against the darkness.

He nodded in understanding and reached for the silver-glass case. “Thank you, darling.”

“It's okay.”

It's not your fault.

#lockwood & co #anthony lockwood x reader #anthony lockwood #fem!reader #ghost!reader #angst #lockwood and co fic

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ririchanva · 4 months

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Chapter Sixteen: Travelling to New York~! (Part Two)

░❇┊Previous┊❇ ░ ❇┊Next┊❇ ░ ❇┊Masterlist┊❇ ┊AO3 ┊❇░

░❇ Buy Me Some Coffee~? ❇░

Chapter Warning: Violence, mentions of drug use, mentions of torture and abuse, almost character deaths.

A/n: Key notes about this chapter:

There has been some changes in previous chapters. Please go back and read from Chapter Six and onwards to understand more of the changes made. This includes possibly of Marinette’s family.

Spoilers possibly for just MHA manga and Miraculous s5, since writer has already caught up with EVERYTHING.

Not heavily World Heroes Mission based. Will just have more background on Rody and that’s pretty much it.

Considering at this point that Class 1-A are on Nabu Island, the villains Nine and his group won’t be there. Meaning they’re just gonna have a fun yet boring time with no danger. Meaning that Katsuma and Mahoro Shimano wouldn’t have met with any of them. But maybe in the future?

Humarise are not gonna be present but they shall be mentioned.

Introducing of not just the Ghost Force, but Pixie Girl and The Sorcerer as well.

The Native American Miracle Box will be revealed along with the Guardian.

This chapter is pretty long. Considering this story hasn’t been updated for a LONG good year or two...and the fact it was supposed to be a two-parter...yeah, you’re gonna have a day or so to finish this chapter.

That’s pretty much it. Other than that, grab your snacks and buckle up~ We’re gonna have a wild ride this chapter~

�� Sparrow informed them that their ride arrived and to everyone’s surprise, it was some sort of party bus. The Parisian and Japanese teens were all amazed…well, some were.

“As much as I’m excited to go to a dinner with famous heroes, I-I feel guilty that we left Chloe behind.” Sabrina said in worry, looking out the window to see the sight of the New York buildings and signs, her eyes sullen.

“I know. But I’m sure she’ll be up and better tomorrow for the tour of the city. Apparently one of the United Heroez will be showing us around,” Nino piped up, peeking over the red head with a grin, “I really wanna meet Rock Lock!”

“Isn’t he in Japan now?” A hum came from Kagami, tilting her head.

“Oh yeah...” Nino scratched his head, before snapping his fingers with a grin, “What about Captain Celebrity?”

“Ew, why him?” Nathaniel huffed while rolling his eyes, “I’d rather have Dean Gate. He’d actually give us a good tour with interesting, historical facts and fun trivia!”

With everyone talking about what to expect on this trip, Adrien noticed how Marinette was pretty quiet. It concerned him, so he ended up scooting next to her.

“Everything okay, Bug?”

“Just…I’m worried about Rody. He seemed off since coming here. I wonder if it’s because we’ve uprooted him from his home and family.” She looked to her partner, “I feel guilty about it. Kinda makes me think even more how I keep dragging everyone into this mess when they could be living normal lives and without danger on their backs.”

“They knew what they were signing up for, Marinette. That’s the risk they were willing to take. It’s the same for me,” Adrien assured her, taking her hand with a gentle smile, “I’m your partner. I’ll always have your back. Just as the team who are also our friends have our backs.”

Marinette smiled, nodding her head while squeezing his hand in return, “Thanks, Adrien. I needed to hear that.”

“We’ve arrive~” Amelie spoke up from the front of the bus, smiling.

Everyone peeked out the window, eyes widening at seeing what seemed to be a familiar large building that had the words Atrium of Equity over it.

“Are…are we really going in there?” Marc asked with awe, green eyes filled with wonderment.

“Looks like it. I’m so hyped!” Nino cheered in excitement, “Never tried fancy food before, especially foreign food! I bet it’s gonna be delicious! AND we get to see the inside of the Headquarters of the United Heroez?! DOUBLE BONUS!”

“Considering we’re meeting other heroes, it’s best that you all should be in your hero attire.” Uncanny Valley spoke up politely, although everyone froze in place at being told this.

“As in…using our Miraculous?” Adrien asked.

“It’s gonna be weird that myself, Tsukuyomi and Uncanny are out and about with civilian looking people going into our HQ, you know?” Sparrow explained with a shrug, “Even if it is a private dinner, there are reporters and rabid fans that tend to sneak around, trying to get a glimpse of us and get some intel to sell to the media. Don’t want you exposed in case you do the whole secret identity thing.”

“Sparrow has a point,” Izuku agreed calmly while adding, “And we don’t want to draw attention since some of us have recognizable faces. Such as Shoto-kun and Kacchan…”

"Or Adrien, Kagami, Chloe and Felix.” Nino finally understood, looking sort of worried now.

“Not all of us have a Miraculous in hand.” Felix pointed out, while Marinette sighed.

“This is a dilemma…”

“Maybe not.” Aizawa spoke up, holding the Horse Miraculous in sight, “I could go back and ask Fu for the box and you can distribute who gets what. That way, everyone won’t be revealed of their true identities.”

Izuku leaned over Marinette for a moment, whispering something into her ear as the girl looked at him strangely, as if asking he was sure what he’s asking of her. Smiling, Izuku just nods his head, which made Marinette sigh, looking like she conceded to whatever he requested.

….Which made Shinso uneasy.

“So, I suppose we should figure out who has what Miraculous. Including the upcoming Guardians,” Marinette looked to Kirishima, Momo, Bakugo, Adrien and Izuku with a smile, “We are Guardians, after all.”

“That’s a quick change of your mind. Any particular reason?” Fei asked, tilting her head before Marinette smiled weakly.

“Master Fu is right. Me and Adrien aren’t alone in this anymore. And considering we are the New Guardians soon, it’s best if we are prepared for anything.”

“That…sounds like a good idea,” The Chinese girl nodded, smiling and patting her shoulder, “You’re growing to become a good leader, Sister Marinette.”

“But just in case, perhaps it would be best just for tonight you go as some other Miraculous Hero,” Izuku piped up with a smile, “We don’t want rumours spreading about Ladybug and Chat Noir being here and not in Paris.”

“As much as I hate to part with Tikki, if it’s only for tonight…” Marinette hummed, looking at her Miraculous.

Adrien hummed, nodding, “Agreed. I just got Plagg back too...”

“But we have to be lowkey right now,” The pigtailed girl looked to Izuku then nodded, “Alright, let’s do that.”

Aizawa, transforming into Mustang, created his voyage and peeked into the portal. Everyone could hear him talking to Fu on the other side, jumping in while Izuku somehow jumped in afterwards. This confused the teens for a moment…except for Bakugo.

The blond was even more suspicious about his childhood friend and what he was up to, but didn’t speak up. He’ll have his chance sooner or later.

Fei quickly raised her hand up all of a sudden, making Marinette and Adrien look at her strangely.

“E-everything okay?” Adrien asked her, while the girl shook her head.

“I wish to go back to the hotel and stay with the others that we’re left behind.”

Izuku popped his head out from the portal for a moment, almost as if he was expecting her to say those words.

“That’s fine. Here, I’ll help you get back there to join Chloe-san, Shoto-kun and Rody.”

Offering his hand out, Izuku smiled while ignoring the way Shinso and Marinette were giving him looks. It was fine. It was for him to know and for them to find out eventually.

Adrien watched as Fei was pulled into the portal, then leaned over to Marinette to whisper to her.

“What made Fei want to stay back anyways? I thought she would be excited to meet American heroes?” He asked inquisitively, watching his partner’s facial expression.

“Dunno. But she must have a good reason for it.”

“Yeah, but…how come Izuku seemed so chill of her going back?”

“I wish I knew…”

After a few minutes, Izuku and Aizawa came back through the portal and closed it, showing they had the Miracle Box before handing it over to Marinette.

“Alright, let’s see…” Marinette hummed, looking through the Miraculous and glanced at her team and friends.

And so, the distribution of the Miraculous began.

“Well, didn’t expect this kind of change from you.”

“Does it look bad?”

“…On the contrary, my dear kitty cat, it suits you~”

“Call me that again, and I’m gonna pull your “tail” off, Dragon Breath.”

Adrien, who was holding the Dragon Miraculous with the Hero Name: Dragon Knight, laughed softly as he looked at a very annoyed Cat Heroine. Marinette opted to switch Miraculous with Adrien considering she lent the Ladybug Miraculous to someone else for the night, and opted the name Lady Noire as her heroine name. Adrien was told by Izuku that he should have the Dragon for the time being, saying that since he was good at fencing, this would be a good temporary Miraculous.

The blond dragon hero pursed his lips at seeing people looking at them, and had to glare protectively at some eyes wandering over to Lady Noire while walking to the Atrium of Equity. Especially the male kind.

“Chill out, my scaly friend~ You’re gonna shoot lasers with those eyes. Or breathe fire, whichever comes first,” Nino, now donning his Peacock counterpart as Feathertop, patted at Dragon Knight’s shoulder while walking side by side each other.

“I do have to ask…how come you didn’t want to wear a Miraculous yourself?” Dragon Knight turned to Izuku, raising a brow.

“It’s because I’m already well known of being someone that is mentored under All Might. So it’s not that odd that I come as Deku rather than a Miraculous Hero.” Izuku explained, shrugging his shoulder, “The one’s that need to be hidden are naturally Kacchan, Eijiro-kun, and Momo-chan~”

“Swapping Miraculous is really fun! It’s kinda like a costume party, don’t you guys think so?” Rose, now dressed as the Bunny Heroine: Bonnie Blanche, chirped sweetly while hugging Shinso’s arm happily.

Juleka, dressed as the Mouse Heroine: Whisketeer, just gave a small smile in agreement. She was unsure when Rose told her to have the Mullo for now, but she couldn’t argue when Rose gave her that trusting smile.

“Weird you’re not wearing a Miraculous, Hitoshi.” Feathertop pointed out, while the Brainwashing quirk user shrugged.

“Aizawa pretty much wanted me to appear as his protege tonight. So I had no choice in the matter. But I’m more concerned that Midoriya doesn’t have use of a Miraculous tonight.”

“Why?” Cape Crusader asked.

“I thought he’d want to ask me to borrow Fluff. Surprisingly he didn’t.”

Izuku smiled innocently as he heard this, while Shinso was glancing down at the blonde girl now adorning the bunny motif of a Miraculous. Honestly, he thought that Izuku would’ve been reckless and give the bunny miraculous to Alix. However, Alix ended up with the Fox Miraculous of all things, donning the hero name: Trickster Tails while Rose had Fluff instead.

Shinso had a look of dread at the thought that Rose now held the very Miraculous he came here with. The pit of his stomach grew heavy at the thought of the outcome of their futures now, what was Midoriya thinking—

The brainwasher snapped out of it when a certain green haired hero nudged him.

“Loosen up a bit, will you? You’re making face as if I have some ulterior motive of some kind~” Izuku giggled, but yelped when he felt a smack to the back of his head.

“Idiot. Don’t draw so much attention.” Bakugo, dressed in the Ladybug attire with the hero name: Boom Beetle, said sternly, making his childhood friend pout.

“Why in the world do you have the Ladybug Miraculous?” Dragon Knight asked curiously, while Boom Beetle shrugged.

“Beats me. All I know is that the Nerd told me and Spots to swap Miraculous for the night.”

“Aaaaand the reason that we’re missing the Tiger and Bee Miraculous?”

“I asked permission from Lady Noire if Chloe could have the Tiger for tonight and provided Shoto-kun the Bee Miraculous,” Izuku said easily, making Hitoshi glare at him which made the green haired hero laugh, “Don’t look at me like that! Trust me, it’s necessary~”

“Either way, let’s not make any sort of scene tonight, okay?” Lady Noire said quietly to them, giving a look especially to Izuku.

“Agreed. We are here to meet the heroes and observe. If we act like fools in front of them…” Kagami, now the Rooster Heroine: Onagadori, piped up with a stern stare until she felt the hand onto hers.

Kirishima, now adorned in the Turtle Miraculous with the hero name: Rockershella, just smiled at her, “Take it easy, this is just the first night. I know we have to make a good impression~”

Onagadori just gave a look, “I know how excitable you can get.”

“Give me a little credit, Dori-chan~” Rockershella chuckled, “I’ll behave.”

“But I won’t~” Trickster Tails cheekily said as she stood by Nathaniel, who managed to get the Ox Miraculous and going with his hero name: Cobalt Bull

“Al—I-I mean, Trickster Tails, please behave.” Marc, who got the Horse Miraculous from Aizawa and named himself the hero: Star Stallion, said quietly as he felt eyes on him and making him even more nervous.

“Yeah, we shouldn’t make it so known that we’re sort of new with our Miraculous right now,” Cobalt Bull murmured, his ox like tail swishing a bit.

Izuku hummed while hopping back for a moment, walking side by side next to a Dog Heroine, giving a cheeky grin.

“So~? Didn’t I tell ya you’d have a Miraculous in the right moment~?”

Lupina, the new Dog Heroine, raised a brow, “Sure…but why did my name have to be close to my old Fox persona?”

“Irony?”

“…You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?”

“Maybe~?”

Lupina huffed, almost trying to stomp her foot onto the male’s, but Izuku chuckled and avoided her hit.

Ubayagi, a heroine with the Goat Miraculous used by Momo, looked anxious.

“I-I do not know if I should be wearing such a Miraculous on me,” She would state quietly, eyes darting around in worry.

“I think it suits you. Although I will have to admit, this is a very rockin’ style for me.” A chuckle came from Luka, who had the Monkey Miraculous and named himself: Howler.

Bonnie Blanche noticed that the new Pig Heroine looked nervous, and smiled softly, “Sab—er, Glitter Gilt? You doing okay?”

Glitter Gilt looked up at the Rabbit Heroine and nodded slowly, “I’m fine. Just worried about Chloe again…”

“Chloe will be fine. She has Shoto, Fei and Rody with her. She should be safe in that hotel with them, especially when the three of them have a Miraculous each.” Felix, having the Snake Miraculous and went with the hero name: Neim, assured the girls while walking side by side with Cobalt Bull, “But if you would like to call them up to check on her?”

“I can do that later. B-But gosh, we have nothing like this in Paris.” Glitter Gilt murmured, while Feathertop agreed.

“Totally. Yo, LN, why don’t we ever have our own brand of an HQ sometime huh?” The Peacock Hero grinned, while the Cat Heroine rolled her eyes.

“Sure. I’ll be sure to ask the Mayor to build us a HQ for the whole world to see and let the bad guys come knocking on our door~” She said sarcastically, making Boom Beetle snort.

“Yeah, why do the United Heroez basically place their base to the public? Isn’t the point to hide from the enemies?” Cobalt Bull asked out loud, “Why make it easy access for anyone?”

“It’s in order to create a better public image to the people. If we are easy to locate for people in need to find us and assist them, the better.” Uncanny Valley chirped immediately, “Originally, the Homebase used to be inside a sleeping volcano. But, due to one of our enemies finding it, All Might suggested to just create the Atrium of Equity to show we do not fear evil and make it a Symbol of Hope for all.”

“All Might did?” Dragon Knight asked curiously, looking at the thinly man, “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Not at all. Especially when we’ve got the best of the best protecting this place,”

All the young heroes looked towards All Might, who approached them with a smile.

“You might not know this, but my dearest best friend was the very person that started up this place and has had people improve on the Atrium of Equity for years to keep it secure and protected,” He explained, and smiled when he caught eyes with Izuku, “And now his daughter is one of the people that took over that job. She’s actually my unofficial niece and god daughter, who’s also here to join us for dinner.”

The current One-For-All user paused, almost going rigid at the implication.

“…She’s here?”

Everyone else paused, looking at the now nervous Izuku and Lupina staring at him in suspicion.

“Uncle Might!”

Boom Beetle started grinning with a chuckle, “Oh, here it comes.”

Lady Noire raised a brow at the spotted hero. However, she blinked in surprise when a pretty blonde girl with blue eyes behind her glasses walked over towards them excitedly. She jumped to hug the frail looking All Might happily before looking at the teen heroes with a big smile.

“Oh my goodness! Are these the new heroes you were telling me about? It’s nice to meet you all!” She seemed to be looking around for someone before looking back at All Might, “Uncle Might? I thought Deku would be with you?”

Lupina’s face contorted into annoyance as she snapped her head to Izuku, who was now hiding behind both Dragon Knight and Lady Noire.

Toshinori chuckled, “Um, yes? Well actually he’s—”

Izuku pinched the feline like heroine, who yelped and looked back to him. The green haired boy giving a “please help me!” look, begging for her to step in.

Coughing for attention on herself, she then spoke loudly to All Might and the new girl before the former Number One Hero could say anymore.

“HE, er, w-went to the toilet! Yeah, he ate something bad this morning~” The female feline laughed loudly, while Izuku was quick to hide himself now behind Shinso, Bonnie Blanche and Whisketeer.

All Might raised a brow, looking concerned.

The bunny dressed heroine looked to Boom Beetle with questioning eyes.

“So she knows Deku, huh?” She asked, making the spotted hero nodded.

“Yup~ Somehow Deku managed to charm her without knowing and has been calling for him ever since. It has been, hm, maybe almost a year?” The boy in red and black explained, then chuckled in amusement, “Kinda surprised that the nerd never noticed her gooey eyes on him every time.”

Lupina, on the other hand, was feeling a burning sensation in her stomach. She was almost tempted to throw her ball at the girl’s head talking with All Might about “the boy that saved her and her Daddy” with giggles and perfect smiles.

Onagadori had to chuckled under her breath, “This is going to be amusing.”

The Turtle Hero beside her sighed, knowing this night might be either a huge success…or a huge disaster.

Rody blinked slowly as he looked at the spread before him, then looked back at the three sitting on the bed with plates on their laps.

‘Damn, rich kids.’

Fei recognized the look, although kept quiet since she was used to it, thanks to her Baba being pretty wealthy himself.

“You…don’t hold back on room service, huh?” Rody breathed out, Pino already diving into the bowl of grapes happily while flapping her wings, showing her hungry excitement.

Somehow this amused both Pollen, Roaar and the hidden Renlings.

Todoroki tilted his head, “Well, Chloe-san did want to have enough to eat while you tell us your story.”

“My Queen is always so thoughtful~” Pollen sounded while nuzzled into Todoroki’s red and white hair, watching all of them in fascination.

Fei chuckled, looking secretly at her zodiac animal friends, sort of pitying that only she can see them.

“Either way, the story will either be entertaining or majorly boring. But yeah, dinner and a show~” Chloe clapped her hands together before grabbing for some sushi, Roaar resting on her lap, “So start~”

“Where to begin…” Rody scratched his head, thinking for a moment.

“You could try some of these?” Todoroki offered a plate of crackers with caviar, cheese, salmon and other assorted things on them.

Rody stared for a moment, “…That looks fancy expensive.”

“Shoto-baby, I was talking about Rodykin’s story,” Chloe sighed before Todoroki shrugged and took a cracker.

‘Are those gold flecks on the salmon cracker?!’ Rody thought wildly, but then coughed and kept his focus.

Fei watched him for a moment, then smiled softly, “Take your time. There is no rush.”

She had to give a pointed look to a pouting Chloe for a moment.

Rody felt assured at the Chinese girl’s words, and soon found himself starting his story.

“Okay okay…um, I guess this all started four years ago…I was starting secondary school and my Dad still lived with us. My mom died when my sister, Lala, was born. So it was only us four that lived together in the childhood town my mother grew up in.”

“Ugh, skip the fru fru nostalgia and get to the good part.” Chloe tutted, waving her chopstick at him before Rody raised a brow.

“I was getting to it,” He stuck his tongue out, grabbing a pizza slice close by and chuckled when Chloe gagged at the sight of his food, “Anyways, when I was starting on my first day of school, we were told we’d be getting a new student…”

“Everyone, this is Zoe Lee. Her dad is here for a year for business and she shall be with us until then~ Please give her a warm welcome and be sure to make friends with her, alright?”

“At the time, I didn’t know about her being a daughter of a superhero. Mr. Plastic was assigned to be a temporary hero to watch Otheon and it’s crime level, considering the government decided to try and open it’s doors to heroes…” Rody murmured, coming out from his memories with a thoughtful gaze, “Which, to be fair, made a lot of the locals worried. The Otheon politics at the time were known to be…very shady. So talks of integrating into Hero Society was scary. Especially when people with quirks started to come out into the open and wished to join the cause.”

“Do you have a quirk?” Fei asked curiously.

“Yes, I do now. But at the time, my quirk didn’t manifest yet. I thought I’d be quirkless like my parents. But I’ll get to that part in a minute.”

Rody took a breath, picking at his pepperoni on his pizza before he continued.

“Anyways, when I first met Zoe, she was a little shy…”

Twelve year old Rody raised a brow, looking at the girl fiddling with her hands as she quietly introduced herself in front of the class, eyes down and stuttering in her sentences. It made him feel sorry that she was the new kid and looked as scared as a rabbit.

“And so, I reached out my hand first.”

“Hey, I’m Rody. Nice to meet you!”

“Z-zoe…”

Rody closed his eyes for a moment, having a faint smile.

“We became close since that day. She talked about her life in New York, the amazing stories she created…I knew they were made up, but I just brushed them off as trying to make friends with tall tales. I never thought of it malicious or anything.”

Chloe huffed, “A liar, huh?”

Rody opened his eyes as the light in them dimmed.

“Yeah. We were kids. Kids tended to make fantastical stories just to make friends. Over-exaggerate on things, you know? And while some were unbelievable like how she said she and All Might were like family, or that she has pretty much has meet a lot of famous people while also travelling around the world, I believed her. Because she smiled so happily and made friends because of her stories. We were best friends, we did everything together despite her going over the top with her tales.”

Todoroki, Fei and Chloe saw the way he paused, looking almost…wistful.

“But there was one truth she told. She confessed about being Mr. Plastic’s daughter.”

The young Rody’s eyes widened as Zoe told her secret to him, and the blonde looked nervous.

“Y-You can’t tell anyone, okay?” She said in a quiet whisper, and Rody made a zipping motion with his lips while making another motion as if throwing away the key.

“I won’t! Pinky swear! In return, I’ll tell you my secret~”

“I told her about my quirk. I told her about Pino a-and how my quirk worked, even showing her,” Rody murmured as he felt his bird companion land onto his shoulder, softening, “Our trust and bond grew even more.”

“Alright, so far, Zoe-san sounds like a good person,” Todoroki said with a hum, feeding Pollen some croissants, “You must’ve cared for her very much to share secrets like that.”

“Yeah…I can embarrassingly admit that I might’ve had a little crush on her. Start of puberty, ya know? Where boys don’t think girls are icky anymore…” Rody laughed and smiled, “You know, I gifted her a one month friendship present…”

“Rody! The shoes are a bit big for me!” A young Zoe giggled while Rody looked flustered for a moment, spluttering.

“S-sorry! Gosh I should’ve asked what size you were! B-But I was so excited for my allowance from Dad a-and I knew you wanted to have these shoes for a long time a-and…I decorated them with your favourite colours—”

Zoe softened when she took the shoes from Rody, a fond smile on her lips.

“How about this? I can keep them until they fit me? I can display them in my room like a trophy? A token of our friendship!”

Rody smiled brightly, but then clicked his fingers, “Here! I’ll even sign it!”

Rody chuckled as he leaned back against the headboard of the bed.

Fei thought the story was going to continue being a happy one…until Rody’s smile fell.

“A few months later, however…was when we got another new student…”

“Lila is amazing, Rody! She’s been to New York too!“ Zoe cooed, dancing around her friend, who was frowning deeply, “She told me how her Mom always took her to Broadway to see a lot of shows, she even said one day she’ll take me to see the cast of famous plays! Isn’t this awesome???”

“Unlike Zoe telling her tales, Lila Rossi used her lies for darker intentions,” Rody murmured as he almost crushed the pizza crust he now held in his gloved hand, “Lying with every breath, she used her lies to get out of classes or get people to do things for her. Zoe was the number one person that Lila used in the guise of her “BFF”…which I hated.”

Chloe gulped, as she looked down in shame, reminded of a similar scenario in her head with Sabrina in the past.

Todoroki noticed this and tapped her hand gentle for comfort, while both Pollen and Roaar cooed at the girl in reassurance.

Fei pursed her lips, almost feeling sorry for Rody. But she kept quiet still.

Rody continued on.

“I tried to warn her…but she didn’t believe me.”

Zoe looked at Rody with disbelief, before laughing.

“Oh Rody! You’re so silly! Is it because you’re jealous of her?”

Rody looked surprised at her, then offended.

“No! Look, Z, she’s bad news!”

“She told me that because I’ve been spending so much time with her, you might’ve felt left out. But don’t worry, Ro, you’re still my first best friend! Now I have two~” Zoe reached over and hugged Rody, who pushed her away and stepped back, “R-Rody?”

“You’re not listening to me! Zoe, she’s a liar.”

Zoe frowned, “I don’t get it, Rody? She’s so nice to everyone, why are you being so weird and putting her down like that? If you could only just see—”

“She almost sounds like Cesaire.” Chloe interrupted for a moment, Rody looking confused.

“Who’s that?”

“An unpleasant wannabe. No one you need to worry about,” The blonde responded, gestured for the boy to continue his tale.

“Right. Anyways, I couldn’t convince her or had proof that Lila was lying about everything she said. The sneaky witch is good at her skills in manipulation and charm, and even did research in case anyone tried to denounce her lies. So…I confronted Lila myself…”

The Italian girl’s face contorted into tears, hands over her cheeks and hiccuping with big innocent eyes.

“H-How could you be so mean to me, Rody? A-All I wanted was to be friend with you~ Especially since we both care about Zoe ever so much~”

“I’m willing to be friends with you, if you just stop lying,” Rody spoke with an annoyed tone, “And stop using Zoe to do your bidding! She’s not your servant!”

Lila sniffled, pouting and her lower lip wobbling.

“Oh, Rody! That’s so mean to say~ Of course she’s not my servant, she’s my friend.”

“No, she’s my friend. And I’m trying to save her from your stupid fake promises that I know you can’t give her,” Rody scolded, wagging his finger at her before Lila’s crying face turned stone cold.

“…Huh, I suppose you’re smarter than everyone here. Surprising, but not too surprising,” She wiped her eyes and flipped her hair, dropping her act and folded her arms coolly, “So~? You’re not gonna quit, huh?”

“I’ll expose you, Lila! Just you wait, once everyone knows you lied about everything—“

“And what~?” Lila stepped forward with a smirk, “If you tell, imagine how heartbroken your dear Zoe will be. Especially when she’s told me a lot of things about you~”

Rody paled, but stood his ground.

“I’m not afraid of you, Lila! I’m giving you a warning and a chance to come clean. Otherwise I could just go to the Headmaster right now.”

Lila backed him up against the wall, giving an evil smile.

“And I’ll give you a chance to back down before I make your life miserable. I can take away everything you love dearly with a snap of my finger. You’re either with me, or against me, it’s your choice~”

“She gave me a day to think about her offer, trying to get me to step aside and even join with her. ” Rody shook his head as he came back to reality, looking at the three in front of him, “But of course…I wasn’t about to back down. But that was my mistake.”

Rody was coming into the Secondary School with a pep in his step, excited to tell Zoe some good news when he noticed the stares given to him. Goosebumps formed on his forearms as he heard the whispers, everyone looking at him as if he was some sort of freak of nature.

Frowning, he walked into his classroom and saw everyone surrounding a crying Lila, including Zoe. Everyone looked up when Rody entered, glares all around while Zoe looked…disappointed. Maybe even hurt.

“What’s…going on?” Rody started before Lila started sobbing again, almost flinching as if burnt.

Zoe spoke up instead, “Rody! How could you hurt Lila?”

Rody balked as he stepped back for a moment in shock, “W-what?”

“Yeah! Lila told us what you did, Rody!” One of their other classmates said, some other agreeing, “How you assaulted her even when she tried to extend her friendship to you!”

Rody frowned, narrowing his eyes, “I never hurt her.”

Zoe stepped back to show Lila was raising her wrists up, showing bruises like hand marks around them.

“H-he got so jealous because I’m always hanging around Zoe a-and confronted me to stay away from her. I just…I just wanted to be friends with him too…“ She cried softly, like the good little actress she was.

And everyone believed her.

They looked at Rody like some sort of villain. Including Zoe.

“That day was only the beginning,” Rody murmured, folding his arms once wiping the pizza grease off his fingers, “Everyday, Lila found ways of making me out as the bully, and one by one…all my friends abandoned me. Zoe and I argued everyday about Lila, her taking the witch’s side every time.”

“Ergh, I can’t believe that Rossi!” Chloe yelled, almost smushing her chocolate cake with her fork and stabbing it, “That could’ve happened to Marinette if me and Sabrina didn’t find out—”

“Then what happened?” Todoroki cut her off, wanting to know what happened next while Fei calmed Chloe down.

Rody then chuckled darkly, placing a hand over his face, “And then the worst happened…the day my life went straight to hell…”

Mr. Plastic stood in front of their classroom, everyone whispering in excitement to see a Pro-Hero standing before them. He looked tall and proud, and honestly Rody was a little starstruck despite being suspicious on why a Pro was present here in their school of all places.

The teacher stood nervously in the room, while some of Mr. Plastic’s sidekicks were also present with him, glaring eyes looking around the room for a moment…

….only to land on Rody.

“I’m sorry to disturb you children during class hours, but I have gotten intel about a potential ally of villains that my agency and I are tracking down,“ Mr. Plastic started, before his eyes found who he was looking for, “Rody Soul? Could you please come with us?”

Rody looked appalled, reeling back from his seat.

“W-what? Why me?”

Mr. Plastic narrowed his eyes.

“We’ve got some questions to ask you about your father, Edward Soul.“

The class erupted into small whispers, Rody feeling eyes of suspicion and distrust. Rody had to snap his eyes to Zoe, who was looking down at her desk and avoiding eye contact with him.

Looking back to Mr. Plastic, Rody frowned deeply, “W-what about my Dad?”

“I must insist that you come with us. I do not think you want your classmates to know of your father being a…suspicious character in our radar.” The hero continued on in a bored drawl, although there was a hint of a threat in his voice.

The whispers continued, and Rody felt his stomach drop.

“I always was suspicious about the Souls being weird. But villains? That makes sense.”

“His dad is a crackpot scientist. Probably kidnaps kids for his experiments, ya know? Maybe experiments on his own…”

“Maybe his dad killed his wife? After all, Rody doesn’t have a mom, isn’t that strange?”

“My Mommy told me to stay away from the Soul Family. Their last name is even ominous…”

Rody stopped his story for a moment to take a shaky breath, both Todoroki and Chloe looked worriedly at Rody as if he was going to have some panic attack. Fei even was scooting closer to Rody and placed a hand onto his shoulder for comfort. But the boy assured them he was okay, then continued on with a heartbroken look.

“I went with Mr. Plastic anyways back to my place. Got interrogated like some criminal and even got strapped for a polygraph. Eventually they tried to call my dad…but he didn’t answer.”

Tears welled into Rody’s eyes, but he wiped them away quickly.

“My dad disappeared. Ran off, actually, since he left a note….”

The twelve year old Rody stared at the small note in his hands, shaking as he turned to a stern looking Mr. Plastic behind him. Rody felt so small under the eyes of the hero, even more so when the man towered over him and gave a glare as if Rody was a villain himself.

“Since that day, Mr. Plastic kept his eye on me and watched me like a hawk. I-I had to pull Roro and Lala out from school and daycare since the adults were now also starting to dislike us. Spreading rumours about us and isolated us away from the community,” Rody took out his locket, opening it and saw the picture of his family, “Since my dad left us…life for us has been hard…Him running away confirmed in Mr. Plastic’s mind that he was guilty thus making him a criminal on the run. I had to talk to Zoe one last time to fix everything…“

“You told your Dad that mine was some crackpot working for an occult!?’ Rody yelled at Zoe, who coward away from him in fear, “Zoe! How could you?!”

“But isn’t it the truth?!” Zoe yelled back, her eyes wide with tears, “I always thought it was weird that your dad was usually gone and always had those suspicious things around the house. When Lila told me her theories about it, it had me thinking…a-and I had to tell my Dad since he’s on a mission in finding that cult and your dad was the lead!”

Rody shook his head in disbelief, “My dad is an engineer! He loves inventing, you know that! You’ve seen him work and it’s not dangerous!”

Zoe bit her lower lip, before Rody grabbed her hand.

“Zoe…what did you tell Lila about my family? Did…did you tell her about you being Mr. Plastic’s daughter?!”

The blond shrugged helplessly, “S-she wanted to know more about you and me so…I told her about your Dad, a-and how he’d always have some weird things being made…and a lot of other things…plus, she’s my bestie, I can’t keep secrets from here—”

“Zoe…”

Rody sighed, squeezing her hand.

“Please, Z. Tell your dad that you made a mistake and jumped into conclusions! If we just fix this together...”

Zoe looked fearful for a moment, and Rody thought that maybe he had convinced her that she had messed up and would help him clear the misunderstandings. However, she moved her hand away from and glared with suspicion.

“How do I know you’re not the one lying to me, huh?”

Rody’s eyes looked betrayed and shocked, “Z-zoe…”

“You’ve always had it out for Lila! A-and you’ve changed so much in the past few months, it’s crazy. It makes me think maybe you’ll turn again me next!” Zoe narrowed her eyes and started walking away from Rody, “Stay away from me from now on. Our friendship is over!”

Rody felt his heart sink, especially with the next line spoken.

“I don’t wanna be seen by a freak son of Humarise.”

Rody went quiet after that. Chloe seething in rage and Todoroki looking down, not feeling hungry anymore. Fei just kept quiet still, but her eyes were hard.

“After that, things just went from bad to worse. I eventually was kicked out of school since the Headmaster didn’t want a wacko cult’s son to stain that beloved school of his. Roro cannot be accepted into another school and no one wanted Lala in any daycare center. And…a-and Mr. Plastic’s sidekicks always came around and beat me up. Not just them, some of the people we looked up to as our friendly neighbours in the community would do the same…and the sidekicks would turn a blind eye from it and even join them.”

“W-what?!” Todoroki’s eyes widened as Chloe gasped.

Fei felt sick into her stomach at hearing this. She never thought she would actually find someone that had a similar past like her. She can see where this story was going now.

Rody sighed, looking away, “Yeah…because I’m a bad guy.”

Rody pushed his siblings behind him as three of Mr. Plastic’s sidekicks towered over the kids, one holding a pipe in hand, ready to swing down at him.

After an hour, Rody laid in the garbage with his siblings crying over him in fear and sadness, Rody staring up at the sky with dead eyes.

He soon brought them home, but his eyes widened seeing their house was destroyed. Spray painted words of slurs and curses were all over the house and windows shattered as if rocks were thrown at them. Rody reading each one of the writings.

Humarise Scum! Villain! Crazies!

Rody felt Roro and Lala crying against his legs, the boy feeling his anger rise at remembering the words from the parents of his classmates.

“I heard the father of that family ran away!”

“Edward Soul is a wanted criminal? I’ve always had my suspicions—“

“On top of that, he became a member of Humarise!”

“They were responsible for the incident the other day too!”

“The crazy group that thinks quirks are a sickness?”

“You can’t judge a book by its cover!”

“He was a famous engineer wasn’t he?”

“Kids, don’t play with them anymore.”

Rody looked at the cracked picture of his siblings in his locket around his neck, remembering the tears they shed…and his own.

“Since that day, we lost our home. The very house my mother grew up in. We lost trust in the people in our town…and I never saw either Lila or Zoe ever again. Eventually, Mr. Plastic and his agency moved on to another country, leaving our town became the number one dirt poor place rising in crime in Europe. We were doomed from the start…”

Rody breathed out and glanced up to the three, surprised when seeing Chloe already in tears along with Fei looking pale, while Todoroki stared at him in sympathy. Even the kwamis were sobbing for Rody.

“Ah…S-sorry, I didn’t mean to make you guys sad…must’ve ruined your appetite now.” Rody laughed, trying to lighten the mood but then squeaked when Fei reached out and hugged him.

“I am so sorry you went through all that.” She ended up saying with a choked sound, finding hard to swallow as she was feeling a wave of familiarity of Rody’s situation.

She could’ve ended up like Rody. Well, she did…but then Sir Nighteye and Mirio came into her life along with Marinette and Adrien.

If it wasn’t for them…she didn’t know WHERE she would be today.

It made her thankful that she was shown a better way of life even when she thought she lost EVERYTHING.

“My gosh, that is so sad! Honestly, what you went through is such bullshit! How did those idiot people let this go so far! And to kids none the less!” Chloe growled, then pulled back as she was grabbing her phone, “I’m gonna have to complain! Even tell Marinette—“

“You can’t tell anyone about this!” Rody stopped her with a frightened look, “They won’t get it.”

“But Mr. Plastic isn’t to be trusted,” Todoroki murmured, eyes narrowed, “That’s what I’ve gathered from your story. We should tell Eraserhead and Sir Nighteye at the very least, they’d want to know.”

Fei nodded, “This is injustice! We must at least tell someone we trust and help you! What you’ve been through…it is inhumane!”

Rody laughed weakly, looking at the three of them in disbelief.

“W-why go through the trouble for me? I didn’t tell you my story to gain sympathy points or anything—”

“You’re part of the team now, making you our friend.” Fei said confidently, making Rody stare at her in surprise.

Todoroki agreed with her, “I’ve learnt a lot about friendship and what you went through isn’t it. Maybe this time around, you need better friends. Like us.”

Chloe nodded in agreement, “Yes. From now on, anyone that messes with you, messes with us!”

Rody continued to look at them with wide eyes, the shock soon turning into amusement and awe. He started laughing out loud before falling back onto the bed. The three teens looked confused at the thief, Rody rolling to the side while holding his stomach as Pino was chirping in giggles as well with crocodile tears.

Fei watched Rody and Pino carefully, almost entranced how in sync they were.

Breathing out once he got his giggles out, Rody sat up and wiped his eyes, smiling.

“You guys are so weird.” He then softened, shrugging, “I dunno if I should fully trust you yet, but…thanks. For listening to my story and…feeling sorry for me? I guess?”

“It’s not feeling sorry for you,” Todoroki said as he softened, “But I will say that it was unfortunate you went through all that.”

Fei wanted to say more, but the look in her eyes said everything. Rody managed to catch that look and was honestly surprised.

Did…did she understand him?

Did she go through what he went through to?

‘A kindred spirit maybe…?’ Rody thought, before he then heard the rich blonde speak.

“Makes me wonder how many other people that Rossi managed to hurt,” Chloe murmured, but then looked worried, “If Zoe and Lila know each other and turn out to be besties, how come Zoe didn’t say anything to her?”

That got Todoroki’s attention quickly, “You’re right…if what Rody’s story told us is true, they should’ve been close, correct?”

“It did not seem like they were close, though?” Fei caught on, looking thoughtful, “More like they were strangers.”

“…Unless Zoe knows that Lila was a liar and she—?” Chloe gasped, as she was grabbing her phone now, making the boys and Fei look confused.

“What’s wrong?” Rody asked, before Chloe raised a finger up to him, her eyes looking worried now.

Fei had a bad feeling about this.

Lady Noire blinked in surprise when she felt her communicator of a baton vibrating against her hip, then looked down to it. She turned her gaze at her teammates, already meeting with some of the United Heroez. There was Majestia, Cow Lady, Knight Owl…and Mr. Plastic.

While everyone gathered to go to a room where the dinner will be held, the Cat Heroine stepped back for a moment to answer her communicator.

“…Chloe?”

Boom Beetle and Dragon Knight paused, then walked back to where Lady Noire was, peeking over her shoulder.

“Mari—er, what are you wearing?” Chloe’s face was on screen as she spotted Boom Beetle, but then gasped, “Did you swap Miraculous?!”

“Yeah. Some of us swapped, considering Aizawa suggested we should wear disguises to hide our true identities. Tonight, I’m Lady Noire.” The female feline explained, raising a brow as Chloe looked contemplative.

“Is Rossi wearing a Miraculous?”

“Er, yes?”

“Oh thank god, then it’s okay for now.”

“What’s going on, Chlo?” Dragon Knight asked, sort of worried that maybe there’s something wrong.

“Rody told me, Fei and Shoto-baby that Lila and Zoe know each other.”

Boom Beetle raised a brow, “So? They’re friends then?”

“More like they both were the cause of ruining Rody’s life.”

Both the boys froze in shock while Lady Noire placed a hand over her mouth.

“W-wait, what? What do you mean?” She asked quietly, looking confused.

“There’s more.” Todoroki came on screen this time with a serious gaze, “We are also to believe that Mr. Plastic is also a man to be wary off, considering he was investigating Rody-kun’s father.”

“More like framed his Daddy for something he didn’t do without any proof! Ridiculous! UTTERLY RIDICULOUS!” Chloe was screaming now, Todoroki covering his ears for a moment when she continued on, “Rody was a kid! A small young one at that! What could a kid answer when being confronted by someone bigger than him?! Why, I’d totally call my Daddy and complain—”

Todoroki shook his head, turning to calm her down while Chloe kept on shouting, prompting Fei to continue for them.

”Also his “sidekicks” are not very good people. They tend to use their powers for nefarious purpose and prejudice. This was at least four years ago when they were assigned to Otheon.”

Chloe, Fei and Todoroki had to summarise more of what Rody told them, even having Rody confirm it out of the video’s shot.

“Some heroes be like that. Corrupt and pretty much having a big ego,” Boom Beetle said gruffly, glancing over to the American Heroes, “Not too surprising. Not everyone can be as good as All Might.”

“That’s weird. Shouldn’t Lila have said something when seeing Zoe and Mr. Plastic?” Dragon Knight hummed once the explanations were done, tapping at his chin.

Chloe shrugged.

“I don’t think Zoe even noticed her, nor did that man even care. Doubt Rossi cared to know of the girl she used years ago, or even remembers her.”

Chloe turned the call to show Rody, who looked grim.

“Whatever you do, do not let Lila Rossi and Zoe Lee meet.”

And the call was cut off.

All three looked at each other with frowns, Boom Beetle speaking up.

“Shouldn’t be too hard. Although now I’m a little curious…”

“We should get going before All Might or Eraserhead wonder why we haven’t joined them yet.” Lady Noire murmured, taking the boys back to the dinner party.

Feathertop saw them and waved them over, already pulling the Cat Heroine close to him while asking what was wrong.

“Chloe called. Told us that Lila and Zoe know each other, or at least they did know each other but never noticed one another. It’s not a good kind of knowing each other either, according to Chloe. Also, don’t get close to Mr. Plastic.” She explained, while the Peacock Hero hummed, “Rody even confirmed it.”

“Noted. I’ll tell the others discreetly.”

“Thanks.”

The two sat with each other and blinked when they spotted Lupina talking to Zoe of all people, who happened to be here tonight.

Lady Noire had to move closer to listen to the conversation they were having, but squeaked when she almost bumped into Shinso.

“Oh! Hitoshi, sorry!”

“What’s your rush?”

“I’m going to see what Lila is talking about with Zoe,” She noticed that Izuku was nowhere in sight, “Where’s Izuku?”

“He’s in hiding. Dunno why,” Hitoshi hummed, looking around, “Maybe the others might know where he is…”

A question came into Lady Noire’s mind.

“Was Zoe Lee in your timeline, Hitoshi?”

The purple haired male surprisingly shook his head, “This makes her sort of an anomaly. A wild card. As much as Midoriya is.”

“I see. So you wanted to investigate on what he’s up as well as Zoe, huh?”

“I am curious why he wanted to be himself tonight instead of having a Miraculous. I think it has something to do with that girl.”

Lady Noire knew he was right.

“Alright then, then let’s go together. Er, where’s R—Bonnie Blanche and Whisketeer?”

She almost slipped into calling them their real names for a second.

“They went to the girls’ room, don’t worry.”

And so, the two wandered to where Lupina was chatting up with Zoe, already hearing the blonde chirping in a happy tone.

“So, wait, you know All Might for how long?” They heard Zoe asking Lupina, who was flicking her hair back with a proud smirk.

“For a while now~ He has recruited us so we could join under his tutelage and become future heroes~” The Dog Heroine boasted, hand over her heart as she played the role of someone being above everyone while humble.

Lady Noire had to shake her head, not surprised that Lila was back to her old attitude while Shinso just rolled his eyes.

“Oh no~ This could go wrong~” Sparrow murmured under their breath, looking at Uncanny Valley and Tsukuyomi, “What do you think, you two? Should we do something?”

The robotic girl looked confused, “Y-you think we should?”

“No. I was just kidding.” Sparrow sighed with exasperation, hand over the mask, “This whole situation is just plain boring!”

The bird headed hero stopped listening to his companion’s lamenting, his dark crimson eyes following a suspicious looking waiter walking up to Ubayagi. Narrowing his eyes, Tokoyami walked over to him and cleared his throat.

The ginger haired waiter paused for a moment, glancing at the bird boy with a grin.

“Oh! May I help you, sir?”

“What are your intentions on approaching that lady?” Tokoyami was always one to get to the point.

This caused the other male to look amused.

“Just a big fan of heroes, ya know? But I’m also doing my job~”

Tokoyami raised a brow for a moment, before he heard Ubayagi’s voice speak.

“What seems to be the trouble here?”

Somehow this caused the attention of Lady Noire, Boom Beetle, Dragon Knight, Lupina and Zoe.

The ginger haired waiter gave a happy look when he turned to her, taking Ubayagi’s hand.

“Sorry I just…I am amazed seeing a new teen hero up close. It’s nice to meet you Miss…?”

"Ubayagi.” The Goat Heroine murmured, recognizing him as the boy she met a few hours ago.

The ginger haired male smiled, seeing how the girl’s eyes sparked up in recognition. Bingo.

“I’m Andy Baker. Not to sound rude but…don’t you find this fuddy duddy party for you boring?”

“What’s going on?” Feathertop appeared beside his dragon of a best friend, tilting his head and wondering why they haven’t come back to the party.

“What do you mean?” Lady Noire asked at the same time with Ubayagi, as Andy chuckled.

“What I mean is that you are surrounding yourselves with adults that don’t know the meaning of entertaining foreign guests. You’re in New York, the city of dreams~! Don’t you wanna explore the town?” Andy asked as he raised Ubayagi’s hand and kissed the back of it, giving her a charming wink.

Lady Noire had to roll her eyes. He was too much like Adrien as Chat Noir. But it seems that the Goat Heroine was charmed easily, thanks to that.

“I’m pretty sure these old timers can’t show ya’ll a good time. So I offer my services as fun tour guide during your stay~”

This caused Lady Noire to frown, “We already have a tour planned tomorrow—“

“That’s during the day~! But have you never seen the city at night~?” Andy offered, chuckling at the Cat Heroine’s wary gaze, “Besides, I could give ya’ll a hero’s special.”

“How can we even trust a civilian like you?” Boom Beetle scoffed, arms folded.

“A civilian like me~? That’s rich.” Andy soon pulled up something from his pocket, showing them some sort of badge like device with a symbol of a ghost, “I think I can relate to you guys more than you think.”

“Is that…?” Dragon Knight gasped for a second before Lady Noire covered his mouth.

Andy coolly smirked before he hid his item with an innocent smiled.

“So~? How about it? Ditch the coots and have a real party out~?”

“It…is kinda boring?” Feathertop agreed as he glanced over to the rest of the Miraculous Team, some of them looking half asleep while Mr. Plastic was stoically retelling some story of how he saved a few people.

“…Maybe we could go out for a bit and then come back before they know it?” Dragon Knight suggested, “We could even use Star Stallion’s abilities~”

Lady Noire sighed, rubbing at her temple before she realized Zoe was still with them.

“C-can I come?” Zoe asked meekly, although when Andy looked at her, she shrunk back while waving her hands in front of her, “A-actually, forget it! I-I think it’d be better if I stay behind. D-don’t wanna worry Fa—Ah, M-Mr. Plastic and all.”

Something in Andy’s eyes sparkled for a second before he chuckled.

“Well, the more the merrier, right? I don’t mind ya tagging along, Blondie~” The ginger haired male winked, “You can even meet other young heroes our age~”

Ubayagi’s eyes widened, “Wait, wait, we just can’t leave. And we just met you! We don’t know if we could—“

“What are you guys doing?”

Howler approached them along with the rest of the team. One by one, each Miraculous hero curiously came over to see what was taking Lady Noire and them so long. Uncanny Valley and Sparrow even joined, intrigued.

“Apparently this young man wants to take us out to see New York City at night. He…also seems to be a hero, like us.” Ubayagi explained, making Bonnie Blanche squeal.

“Another hero!? Like us!? And going out to see New York at night?!” She clapped her hands in excitement, looking to Whisketeer and Shinso, “That sounds like fun! We should go!”

“But what about the adults?” Cobalt Bull asked, arms folded and glancing at the heroes still dining and talking, “They’ll be suspicious if we’re all gone. Especially Eraserhead and All Might.”

“Would you rather listen to the drivel of that weird toilet hero that talks about how Australia’s water cycle spins the other way?” Onagadori murmured with a raised brow, before looking at Rockershella, “Let’s go.”

“W-would it be manly to just go without telling the heroes?” The Turtle Hero scratched at his cheek nervously, glancing at Boom Beetle, “Are you going?”

“Honestly, anywhere is better than standing around with some wannabe heroes talking about their success stories and glory days,” The blond Ladybug Hero hummed then nodded, “I’m in.”

“Ka—I mean, Boom Beetle!” Lady Noire gaped at him, before a voice piped up beside her.

“I think it’s a great idea!” Izuku appeared between them, looking like he ran a marathon while his eyes were darting around, “Let’s go go go! We can trust him!”

“Star Stallion, could you give us a hand here?” Dragon Knight asked with a smile, already feeling excited.

Lady Noire raised a brow, already seeing that Feathertop agreed with his best friend, the others soon joining in the idea of sneaking out and having some fun. Even Shinso, which surprised the feline girl, considering he was the most paranoid besides her. Although the most eager to get out of here was Izuku. Perhaps it was because he was trying to run away from a certain someone.

Star Stallion squeaked before he nodded, calling forth his voyage but then paused, “Er, w-where are we going anyways?”

“Where else? We can start with Madison Square Garden!” Andy suggested, “We’ll be meeting some of my friends there soooo~ I’ll show ya the way~”

Uncanny Valley tilted her head for a moment with a raised brow, before she glanced at Sparrow with an inquisitive look, “Why aren’t you stopping them? I thought we are supposed to look after them and not get them into trouble?”

“Well if we’re gonna watch over them, we might as well just follow them and make sure they’re safe. Besides, didn’t you want to make friends with them and do something fun?”

Uncanny smiled for a moment, but then paused.

“Sparrow, you cannot reveal your identity…”

“I’ll stay behind and distract the adults. You and Tsukuyomi can follow them~” Sparrow patted the robot like heroine’s shoulders and chuckled, “Have fun, little sis.”

Olivia “Liv” Baker was usually the cool and calm twin.

But that wasn’t the case currently as she watched a portal appear before her and her friend, Mike Collins, and soon her idiot twin brother’s head popped out.

“Got some friends~” Andy jumped out from the portal, as one by one, young teenage heroes were following him out while looking around in awe.

Liv sighed, palming her face with an eye roll before giving a stern look over her brother’s grinning face.

“Andy, I thought you were just getting one of the heroes. Not all of them.”

“One, twenty three? What’s the difference?” Andy snickered, before he tilted his head towards the teens, “Er, you know, you can de-transform out of your hero personas. Not like we’re gonna squeal to anyone who you guys are since we’re all on the same boat. Be better if you went incognito without being bombarded by civilians, eh?”

There were some that were unsure about doing that, although Trickster Tails grinned as she murmured a ‘Trixx, Let’s Rest!’ and transformed back into Alix, the Fox Kwami landing on top of her head.

“Alix!” Lady Noire squeaked out with wide eyes, but soon she spotted Boom Beetle de-transforming, the same with Cape Crusader and Feathertop.

With that said, everyone seemed to change back into their civilian forms. Even Uncanny Valley felt her ‘glamour’ shimmer while Tokoyami pressed onto a necklace he was wearing, and the people that knew him turned to him in shock.

“T-Tokoyami!” Kirishima was the first to speak, staring at the now normal looking boy with black hair and red eyes, “You look…normal.”

“Even if heroes here are not big on the whole secret identity ordeal, I do not want to be approached by the press as Hawk’s intern.” Tokoyami explained, shrugging his shoulder, “Do I look strange?”

“Not at all,” Momo shook her head, smiling, “Although it is surreal since we are used to you with how you truly look. But it does suit you, even though I personally like you just the way you are.”

“Guess I can’t call ya birdhead right now, huh?” Bakugo snorted, making both Kirishima and Momo sigh.

Lady Noire was the only one that hasn’t transformed back, looking at her friends with a frown.

“No point putting ourselves in danger with having targets on our backs,” Nino stated reasonably to her, shrugging his shoulders before he smiled, “Besides, New York TOUR! At NIGHT! This is off the chain!”

“I think we should introduce ourselves first before anything,” Liv glared at Andy before looking back at the others with a smile, “Hi, I’m Liv. I’m also known as Myst in my hero identity, part of Ghost Force,”

“Ghost Force?” Nino breathed out before gasping in realisation,”I heard about you guys! You’re like the upcoming new teen team not affiliated with United Heroez!”

“Not like we could ever join them anyways~ They ain’t cooler than we are,” Andy glanced at Aeon specifically on this one, before smiling at the group once more, “As you know, I’m Andy. Liv’s cooler twin and the hero, Fury! Also known as the leader of Ghost Force~”

“So not the team leader.” Liv grumbled, while the other boy next to her coughed.

“I’m Mike. Also known as Krush. Pleasure to meet you guys!”

“Ah, back’atcha dude!” Nino grinned, fist bumping Mike in camaraderie.

Marinette finally transformed back to her civilian form, before looking to Liv.

“It seems sort of reckless that you revealed yourself to us. What if we weren’t what we seemed?”

Liv winked, “Maybe it’s because we’ve known about you since your arrival. But hey, as my idiot brother said, we’re all on the same side here and wish to meet you guys in person without the Heroez United watching.”

“How come?” Nathaniel asked.

Mike looked sort of nervous now, but then shrugged.

“Heroez United don’t believe children should be trying to be heroes themselves. Which, I guess I can get since we’re minors—“

“Ahhh, those old farts are scared we can do their jobs better! We mostly clean up the city every single day for them along with those two magic duo!” Andy complained, although Marinette perked up at the word magic.

“Y-You guys said there are more young heroes like us? Are they also coming here?”

“Yeah, they should be coming along any minute now,” Liv hummed, looking at her phone, “I think you’ll like them a lot, since they are familiar with your kind of heroism and magic. Ya know, with those flying little creatures hiding in your clothes.”

Almost all the Miraculous holders looked sheepish while their Kwamis peeked out to look at the American trio.

It was then that Zoe let out a soft gasp when seeing Lila for the first time without her Miraculous active, looking shocked.

“L-Lila?”

The brunette looked at her for a moment, raising a brow, “…Do I know you?”

Marinette paled. Oh no.

It was then a whooshing sound was heard and she whipped her head around to see Star Stallion opening another portal, with Izuku popping out with Chloe and Todoroki following from behind him.

“W-wait-wait-wait, what are you doing?!”

Star Stallion yelped as he looked to Marinette, then looked scared.

“A-ah, Izuku told me to not transform back yet and let th-the others from the hotel come join us.”

Marinette wanted to argue and even hit Izuku for that suggestion, but it was too late. She watched Rody hop out, turning back to offer his hand out to Fei, who was stepping forward out of the portal while taking the hand. Everything happened so quickly, with Zoe gasping again and Rody turning to the source of the sound, paling drastically.

Rody was quick to turn to Izuku.

“Y-You didn’t tell me she was going to be here!”

The green haired male shrugged calmly with a small smile.

“If I did, you wouldn’t have come.”

Rody growled, bitting his tongue when he heard someone calling his name again. Slowly turning around, Rody faced Zoe, who was looking tearfully happy.

“R-Rody? Is that…you?”

Awkward silence filled the air as Rody glared daggers at Zoe, who had a look of nostalgia and relief at seeing him.

Fei was at Rody’s side immediately, sensing his distress and seeing Pino looking sick to her wings. The poor bird shook with big fat tears behind her masked bandana that matched with Rody’s red one holding up his hair back. The Chinese girl was quick to touch Rody’s gloved hand in comfort, gaining Rody’s attention. He looked down at her own fingerless gloved hand, then back to look Fei in the eyes, his facial expression soon softened. The feral look in his own eyes disappeared, filling Fei with a sense of relief.

This caught Zoe’s attention, who smile faded slightly.

She ended up coughing to get Rody to look at her again.

“R-rody. It’s…it’s been a long time.”

Chloe and Todoroki noticed this, and the two quickly moved protectively in front of Rody and Fei, Chloe giving the more haughty approach while Todoroki was deadly silent.

“Excuse me, but who do you think you are? Trying to talk to him after what you put him through?”

The other blonde blinked in surprise, before looking strangely at Chloe.

“I’m sorry, dear sister Chloe, but Rody and I have been friends ever since we were kids. We haven’t seen each other in a long time, so of course we—“

“You did not hear what she said, did you?” Todoroki spoke coldly, narrowing his eyes, “Chloe-san and I know about your past with Rody-san. You cannot fool us and say that you two are close friends anymore.”

Zoe almost shrank back at the boy’s icy tone, and everyone could feel how Todoroki stared at her with a dark expression while Chloe seemed to be holding back her anger. Marinette thought Zoe would be dead on the spot with the way they were looking at the now scared girl.

“O-Oh dear…” Mike gulped, almost as if he was scared a fight was going to break out.

Liv pursed her lips, feeling sort of awkward of the tense atmosphere, and glanced to her twin. Only to be surprised how calm Andy was. Even to the point he looked…amused.

It was then a new voice spoke up awkwardly in greeting, making everyone turned to the source and saw that there were two teenagers approaching them. The one that spoke was a long haired blonde girl with bright green eyes, Adrien almost believing that she was a younger version of both his mother and Aunt ( he’s still confused on who should be who at this point) but had some dusted freckles over the bridge of her nose like Kagami. Next to the girl, was a boy with hair as red as Nathaniel’s in a darker shade, but tied in a short ponytail and glasses over his blue eyes.

“Oh~ You guys took your sweet time,” Andy turned to the newcomers, smiling, “Didn’t think you’d show up and continue hiding in the shadows, observing~”

The red haired male that showed up quirked a brow, “Well, our dear fairy wished to meet the Miraculous Holders of Paris, considering we are one of the same with them.”

Marinette and Adrien both perked up at this, looking at the new duo for a moment before the pigtailed girl spoke up almost excitedly.

“Are you…M-Miraculous Holders too?”

The blonde girl turned to Marinette, equally looking excited as she bobbed her head up and down in confirmation.

“I am!” Offering her hand out, the girl smiled happily, “I’m Holly Rosewood. I’m also known as Pixie Girl!”

Suddenly, a small golden creature flew out from the girl’s jean jacket that she was wearing, looking a lot like Tikki but…more Fairy like with a ponytail and little pixie wings.

“And I’m her Kwami of Nature, Florra~” The creature chirped, her wings buzzing behind her.

“Florra?” Tikki popped out from Bakugo’s hair, eyes wide, “Is that you, my friend?“

”Tikki!” The Kwami chirped as the two rushed towards each other and hugging happily, “It has been too long, dear Tikki! Centuries?”

“More like millennia, Florra!” Tikki hummed, Marinette and Holly looking amazed at they Kwamis.

“Oh great.” Plagg popped out from’s Marinette’s purse, looking like around in dread, “If she’s here, then—”

“Hello, Plagg~”

Marinette watched Plagg float out from his hiding place, groaning as a strange owl-like Kwami floated towards him. The creature looked like the night sky, sparkling like the stars.

“Hecca! You’re here as well.” Tikki chirped, looking at the Kwami who was floating back to their holder.

“Indeed. I am owned by my Master, Lord Orion, as he is the hero: The Sorcerer.”

The red haired male coughed, adjusting his round rimmed glasses.

“Y-Yes. My name is Aster Orion. My Kwami is the Kwami of Stars.”

“So you’re her Chat Noir in a way!” Nino pointed out to Holly then back to Aster, clicking his fingers before he then scratched his head, “But I’ve never heard of a Pixie Girl and The Sorcerer before?”

“You wouldn’t have. They like to work covertly in the shadows considering they work with magic, something that humans have a hard time believing,” Liv explained, shrugging her shoulders, “Although that’s kinda bull, considering people see ghosts everyday and everything, so it’s not weird to see magical creatures.”

“Magical creatures?” Marc, who transformed back, asked and Andy grinned.

“Like unicorns and vampires? They’re real.”

“Get out! Seriously?!” Alix balked at him, before Rose started squealing out loud.

“I KNEW IT! I KNEW UNICORNS ARE REAL!” She screamed out, jumping up and suddenly yelping when she landed back down, cracking the pavement under her feet, “O-Oh! Whoops!”

“Super strength huh?” Andy hummed nodding while looking impressed, “Guess I shouldn’t get ya on your bad side huh?”

Rose rubbed the side of her neck sheepishly, while Juleka and Shinso sighed even though they were smiling fondly at her.

“This is so exciting!” Marinette almost grabbing Holly’s hand, but refrained from doing so as she asked, “Does this mean there are other Miraculous holders in the United States?“

Both Holly and Aster looked troubled for a moment, looking at each other silently. This caught Adrien’s attention as he frowned.

“What is it?”

Aster sighed, touching his temple and rubbed it gentle.

“W-well, the thing is…there should be more. Actually, from what we know, there are two Miracle boxes. One of the North American side, and one of the South.”

“I only discovered mine after the previous holder of Florra’s had…um…” Holly averted her eyes down, “That woman found me when I was walking around Central Park a year ago, it looked like she was attacked. Before she...left this world, she entrusted me Florra and said I was to be the new Pixie Girl.”

“Unlike Lady Holly, my Kwami was passed down my family for generations,” Aster continued on, pushing his glasses up, “My whole family are familiar with magic, to the point it is believed my ancestors were all witches and wizards.”

Marinette and Adrien listened carefully while the rest of them were intrigued, almost wanting to ask questions.

“And again, there should be other Miraculous Holders. But they have not shown themselves yet, or…”

“Or there aren’t any.” Marinette breathed out, “Master Fu did say that while the Temple of the Order did disappear a hundred years ago along with the monks inside, there might be boxes that are hidden in other countries. And Guardians in charge of them.”

“You said Master…is he the guardian of your box?” Aster inquired, and Marinette nodded in response.

“Yes. Do you two have a Master?”

“And a Miracle Box?” Adrien added in question as well.

Again, the two watched both Holly and Aster giving each other weird glances.

It was then Holly spoke.

“No. In fact, despite our Kwamis telling us everything we needed to know about our Miraculous, there was no such thing as a Guardian considering we could not find the box they were originally from.”

“Even my family, who are in the know of the Miraculous and the magical world, could not figure out where the Miracle Boxes of the North and South are,” Aster added, frowning, “Pixie Girl and I have been researching and looking for any signs of any Miraculous items or holders for the past year, but sadly, none turned up. Nor any Guardians showed up nor are there any sort of Temple that you have spoken off.”

“That seems odd. I only know my Renlings and my Prodigious are belonging to my country in Shanghai, and originally my previous adopted father was their Guardian. But it has been recently been passed down to both me and my current father, who has the Lion Protector as his his own “Kwami” and is the temporary Guardian.” Fei spoke up finally, and Marinette almost forgot she was there.

“Shanghai?” Holly hummed, tapping her chin and smiled, “So you’re one of us too?”

Fei nodded, “I shall be a Guardian of the Prodigious and the Renlings once I have finished my training. Sister Marinette and six others are also being trained to be Guardians in the future as well. To be our own Order of of the Miraculous.”

Aster and Holly looked at each other for a moment, then smiled.

“Then, I suppose that makes us allies to your New Order, hm?” Aster said, looking to his partner, “My dear Fairy Princess, this would mean that technically, we are Guardians of our own Miraculous.”

Holly grinned, nodding in agreement, “For sure!”

Marinette had to smiled before she came closer to the two, holding both her hands out.

“Then, it is fate that we’ve met today. We would love to have you both on our side!”

The two American duo blinked for a moment, but soon smiled as they soon reached their hand to shake Marinette’s.

“The pleasure is all ours,” Aster said solemnly, his partner giving the same sentiments.

It was then Felix spoke up, “Your accent…”

Aster glanced over to the male, tilting his head as he smiled.

“Ah, you as well? What part of England?”

“London. Yourself?”

“New Castle.”

“What brings you to America rather than staying in the UK?”

“Family reasons.”

Adrien had to sweat drop at seeing the two giving polite yet stern looks at each other, almost as if challenging one another with just their stares alone.

“Hey hey hey! We’re supposed to give a fun tour! Not to be bored to death with serious talk!” Andy came in between Aster and Felix, sighing, “We’re wasting precious time! C’mon, I can start the tour now and get back up the excitement again!”

Liv chuckled, “For once, I agree with my idiot brother.”

Aster sighed, seeing the amused smile on the girl’s face before looking away sheepishly.

“Right, you’re here for a tour! We should be good hosts of our country and show you the amazing things New York has to offer!” Holly clapped her hands together, giving bright smiles to everyone and soon the American teens started to move.

Zoe pursed her lips as she watched everyone, especially when eying Rody and the girl named Fei walking side by side far away from her.

Who was this Fei?

Shinso appeared by Izuku’s side, tapping his arm, “Did you plan all this?”

Izuku just smiled, confirming Shinso’s suspicion.

“Was it wise to let Zoe Lee come along? To see and listen to all that has just happened?”

“Everything happens for a reason.” Izuku explained and soon chalked up a happy smile when Lila slid to his side.

She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his arm and the two now walking ahead, leaving Shinso behind.

The tour was amazing.

The Parisian and Japanese teens were in awe of the sight-seeing, taking in not just the buildings and historical landmarks, but to the people as well. From checking out the Empire State Building light up, to the bright streets that led to Broadway; the group were having a good time and getting to know their new American friends.

They were on their way to their last stop of the tour, all of them currently on a boat to see the lights of the city.

“Coney Island?” Nathaniel repeated what Liv suggested, the girl nodding her head.

“Specifically, we’re going to Luna Park. It’s the best and most fun place to go to at night. There’s a lot of fun rides, games, great food and a lot of things to buy there!” She explained, giving a cheeky wink, “Besides, I heard that Hotdog Dan would be patrolling there. So it would be a good chance to try his magical hotdogs for yourselves~”

“Hotdog Dan?! The Food Hero?!” Nino almost jumped up in excitement at meeting a famous hero, but then blinked, “Hold on, he’s on patrol? Why wasn’t he in the Atrium tonight?”

“To be precise, Hotdog Dan does not consider himself to be part of the United Heroez because he “rather be the hero for the underdogs and those that cannot speak for themselves”. Thus he adopted being a Friendly Neighbourhood Hero of Treats and Tasty Food.” Aeon informed them, almost as if reciting it word for word.

“That’s so cool!” Kirishima said with bright eyes, “I can’t wait to try his food. Why do you say his hotdogs are magical though?”

The Ghostforce and the duo that are Holly and Aster looked at each other, before giggling quietly under their breaths. This caused the other teens to look confused, but the announcement on their boat saying they arrived on Coney Island distracted them.

Soon, all the teens stepped off and the ones that weren’t from New York were once again in surprise at seeing the theme park before them.

“Welcome to Luna Park~” Andy loudly announced, waving his hands up and smiling brightly, “Saving the best place for last~!”

Adrien was about to step forward along with the rest of their friends, but paused when seeing Marinette hesitating by the entrance. He walked over to her, tilting his head.

“Bug?”

“I…is it really a good time to just goof around like this? We’re not on vacation.”

Adrien rubbed the side of his neck. He knew that Marinette was having a hard time letting her guard down, especially when so much has happened in so little time.

Taking her hand, he squeezed it gently, giving an assuring smile.

“What’s one night going to do? Marinette, you’ve worked so hard and went through so much in the past few months. A-and some of them were caused by me at times as Chat Noir…”

Marinette softened, “Chaton.”

“Relax for just tonight. You’re not Ladybug. You’re not the future Guardian in training that needs to be alert 24/7. You’re just Marinette. A normal teenager that should loosen up and have fun for once.” Adrien then smiled, even more so when Marinette squeezed her hand back and smiled softly.

“…You’re right. I mean I’m only a kid once in my life, right?”

“Right~”

“…Adrien, I’m sorry I seemed so…lame these past few days.” Marinette looked almost embarrassed, “And maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on Izuku and Hitoshi too…”

“No one’s blaming ya, Bug. We know how stressed out you are and you take things very seriously. But just for tonight, you can let those worries go and enjoy the amusement park, okay?”

“Yes!” Marinette nodded, soon rushing forward to talk with Izuku, while Adrien lagged behind.

Pausing in his steps once more, he watched as Marinette dragged Izuku to one of the rides, Lila following after them angrily and Bakugo following after them calmly.

Adrien couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement.

That was until he felt a presence next to him.

“That was very mature of you, Adrien. It almost seems like you still have feelings for her.”

The blond glanced over at Kagami for a moment, then shrugged.

“I would be lying if I said that I’ve moved on. But what’s important is…”

Adrien glanced over to Marinette’s smiling face once more, softening.

“I just want her to be happy.”

Kagami stared at him for a moment, but after a minute, she gave one nod and looked away. This caused Adrien to be curious about something.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you still have feelings for me?”

Kagami didn’t hesitate. “No.”

Adrien laughed, “Wow~ That’s cold. No wonder Marinette called you Ice Queen before we went ice-skating together.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, but, I don’t think she meant it in a bad way.” Adrien paused, but then smiled, “Is it because of Eijiro?”

This time, Kagami had a confident smile.

“Yes. I adore him. Much more than I thought I felt with you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

The two heard a voice calling Kagami’s name, and they looked towards the source to see Kirishima smiling while waving his hand, holding some sort of stuffed dragon plush under his other arm.

Kagami closed her eyes, a fond smile gracing her lips.

“Because I am his first and only choice.”

Adrien hummed, nodding his head, “I’m happy for you, Kagami.”

“And I wish for you to find your fated one someday as well.”

With that, Kagami walked forward to meet with Kirishima, who was sheepishly presenting the gift he won from one of the games. His face bright and cheeks glowing in pink, Kirishima seemed like a happy puppy as he was rubbing the back of his head while he talked to her. Kagami was just smiling calmly as he did, but did lean up to kiss the taller boy’s cheek, keeping the toy close.

Adrien just watched on, before glancing at the Ferris Wheel close by, Kagami’s words repeating in his mind.

“My fated one, huh?”

“She keeps staring at us. It’s kinda creepy.”

Rody tilted his head when he heard Chloe murmur to Todoroki, glancing behind them to see Zoe staring at their group while Andy was talking to her, not realising that the blonde wasn’t listening to a word he was saying.

He was thankful that not only did Fei stay by his side during the whole tour, but both Chloe and Todoroki have been preventing Zoe trying to find chances to approach him anytime she tried. He was even joined by Alix and Marc, who he had gotten to know and has become close friends with.

He was lucky to have them. How long has it been since he had real friends?

Rody bit his lower lip, shaking his head from the thoughts.

He shouldn’t get too close. Believing he could be friends this easily with these people that he barely knew was what brought down his whole life in the first place.

Zoe was proof of that.

Fei noticed Rody being silent again, and nudged him.

“If you frown anymore like that, you shall have a soggy face in the future.”

Rody blinked, looking at the Chinese girl strangely before snorting.

“Are you saying I’m going to look like an ugly pug if I keep frowning?”

“It is a fact! Frown lines can produce the more you do, and it adds so much extra skin that will stretch out then wither as you grow older,” Fei said as-matter-of-factly, making Rody laugh quietly, “I am very serious!”

“Haha, s-sure…”

“What she says is true though. That’s why old ladies have make up and do surgeries when they have money,” Alix piped up cheekily, licking her ice cream, “So smile~ We’re supposed to be having fun~ Be kids~”

“Be kids, huh?” Rody looked to the corndog in his hand, Pino deflating from the top of his head. ‘How can I ever go back to acting like a kid after everything? I feel like I lost my chance at that…’

“Yes. Enjoy your youth while you can. You never know what may happen tomorrow, or in the future,” Fei said wisely, as she sipped her soda while staring at Rody, “I have learned to cherish the moments in this time like a gift. That is why it is called, the present.”

“Got that from a fortune cookie?” Rody joked, but his smile fell when she wasn’t laughing.

“My…my first adopted father, who was also my Shifu, had taught me that.”

Alix took this time to skate away and drag Chloe, Todoroki and Marc to some game she wanted to try, while Fei continued her words to Rody.

“When he died, I had lost my way. I was trying to grasp on reality without him in my life. I ended up planning revenge on the ones that took him away from me, calling it justice.”

“…Why are you telling me this?” Rody asked, before Fei shrugged.

“I am just saying, I know what it is like to think that I do not deserve to act my age and grow up too quickly. That I…do not deserve any child-like happiness anymore.”

“…”

Fei glanced over at Rody, then smiled warmly.

“It is alright to be immature once in a while. To have thoughts of being a kid and enjoy life without feeling guilty. It will not kill you to just…not be so on guard to everyone you meet and think they are going to stab you in the back. Otherwise, you’ll lose sight on the people that will be good influences on you.”

Fei immediately thought to Marinette, and had to smile gratefully in thought. The same when her thoughts went to Adrien, Mirio and Sir Nighteye.

Rody watched her facial expression carefully, then felt embarrassed as he scratched his cheek shyly.

“I…I guess I never thought that someone else has kinda gone through something similar to me…”

Fei titled her head, glancing up to Pino, who seemed to be flustered and covering her face with her wings while chirping loudly.

Rody noticed this and was quick to grab his bird, quietening her down and hiding her in his jacket, “A-anyways, should we ride some rides?”

The Chinese girl was about to agree, but noticed that Zoe was coming their way. Rody sensed who Fei was looking at and without looking back, he grabbed Fei’s hand and made his way to the Ferris Wheel ride that was close by.

Zoe slowed her walk as she watched the two disappear into the crowd that was going to line up for the ride, feeling her stomach fall.

“What are you going to say to him?”

The blonde jumped for a moment, turning her head to see that Luka was now at her side, looking at her curiously. Not accusatory as some of the people in this group have so far, but more of quiet observation. So it was kinda a relief for her.

Biting her lower lip, Zoe looked away.

“I just…I-I wanted to talk to him about everything. About us, how we parted ways so badly and a lot of other things.”

The guitarist hummed, crossing his arms over his chest and leg over the other in a lackadaisy manner.

“Your melody is pretty messed up.”

When he saw the confused look on her face, he elaborated.

“I kinda have this talent, see? I could feel one’s tune in their very person pretty well. But yours? It is…strange.“

“I-In what way?” Zoe asked, now curious of the boy.

Luka thought about it for a moment, before he then looked around as if searching for something. Once his eyes landed on what he needed, he soon walked over to a merchant’s booth, asking the owner something. The owner smiled, nodding their head and then pulling out what seems to be an acoustic guitar.

Zoe tilted her head when he walked back to her, and saw that the boy was gesturing for her to sit on the bench that was close by. Once seated, Luka strummed his guitar a little, almost tuning it to perfection.

“See, when I feel a melody of a person, it usually conveys someone’s emotions and what they’re feeling in the moment. An example…”

He looked up, spotting Katsuki and Marinette lining up for some snacks. It seemed the two were playfully bantering with one another, and Luka had to smile. With this, he started strumming his guitar in a fast beat, bobbing his head up and down and tapping his foot in sync. Zoe’s eyes widened in surprise, then noticed that a crowd was starting to form around them, some couples even swaying with each other in an almost swing like dance.

“See? The way that Katsuki and Marinette converse with each other is almost very…excitable,” Luka chuckled, seeing how Katsuki was exaggerating on his annoyance while Marinette teased him.

Zoe looked at the duo, frowning, “They looked like they were arguing though?”

“Nah, they were teasing each other. It may look like they hate each other, but that’s all in good fun. Like the melody I just played.” Luka shrugged, but then spotted someone else, “Oh, how about this tune?”

Unlike his first music, he soon started playing a slow jam, almost as if it was made for some sort of waltz. Zoe raised a brow, looking at where Luka was looking at and saw that Shinso was leaning against a game stall while watching Rose trying to win a stuffed unicorn as her prize by throwing a ball at some pins. Juleka was coming their way as well, holding some snacks that she’s bought for them.

“So, you can feel out people’s feelings and play it in a song?” Zoe concluded, but then frowned, “So why did you say that mine was strange? You can’t read my melody?”

“It’s not that I couldn’t read your melody. It’s just that you won’t let anyone listen to it.” Luka stopped his music for a moment, then turned to look at Zoe, his eyes now serious, “What is there to hide, Zoe Lee?”

The girl almost reeled back in surprise at the almost dark tone that Luka held in his voice, and his eyes staring at her is like staring into her very soul. And that caused her to get up and walk away quickly, Luka’s staring not letting up.

“You’re a dangerous character, Luka Couffaine.”

The blue haired musician chuckled, glancing over to Felix taking a seat where Zoe previously sat.

“I could say that same about you, Fe. But what are your thoughts about Zoe?”

Felix hummed, tapping his chin.

“I don’t have much opinion on her, considering that I haven’t really engaged conversations with the girl. Actually, no one really has except for that Andy bloke.”

Luka smiled, “He seems like a very social guy.”

“A little too friendly of a socialite if I do say.” Felix countered, but the guitarist chuckled.

“Are you suspicious of him?”

“I’m surprised you aren’t.”

Luka shrugged, “He’s harmless. I don’t consider him a danger to us, if that’s what you’re thinking?”

Felix was quiet after that, but soon changed the subject, “Why are you not with your sister?”

“Why are you not with Adrien?” Luka countered calmly, making Felix chuckle as well.

“Adrien is a big boy, he could handle himself. He’s currently being dragged around by Nathaniel and Momo.”

“The same with Juleka. I can trust her to take care of herself and besides, she’s with Hitoshi and Rose.”

The British blond nodded his head, but then turned serious, “How are you feeling of having a Miraculous, Luka? Thoughts? Concerns?”

“If you’re wondering how I’m adapting to becoming a hero, then I can honestly say that I am…a bit overwhelmed,” Luka replied with earnest, placing the guitar away for a moment when he felt Xuppu squirm under his jacket, “I don’t want to disappoint anyone. Especially Marinette.”

“It seems you have a sort of fondness for her,” Felix observed, feeling Sass peeking out from his own breast pocket.

Luka smiled, shaking his head.

“Yes. But I do not want to burden her on my feelings. I know that our symphonies aren’t meant to sync together.”

“You use a lot of music analogies, huh?”

A shrug from Luka made Felix frown.

“Although there is something that is bothering me.”

Felix raised a brow, “What is it?”

“Your melody. It is the same as Zoe’s. Lila’s too.”

“Are you suggesting I’m hiding something?”

Luka was once again silent, making Felix look at him in understanding.

The two stayed quiet after that, just mostly watching their friends enjoy their time in the them park. The peace and quiet did not last, especially when there was a sound of something flying over them, and the two boys glanced up to see a large cart with a man riding on it coming their way.

“I-Is it a bird?” Marinette’s voice sounded from nearby, Luka noticing that she and the rest of the gang were coming over to him and Felix.

“Is it a plane?” Adrien chimed in as well, squinting his eyes at what was approaching.

“Nah, that’s Hotdog Dan~” Andy appeared between the two, arms resting over their shoulders.

They all watched the vendor machine land with a thud, a man dressed in a red shirt covered by his superhero bodysuit, that matched with his orange mask. He also had various cooking tools on his back and a black belt tied to his chest.

“HEY HEY HEY! Hot-Dog Dan is here, so GET IN THE MOOD~! I'm the hero of picnics and tasty foods~!” The man bellowed in joy, taking out two spatulas and showing off some moves while making the hotdogs.

In a flash, a crowd started to form around him, waving money and trying to reach out for the man’s hotdogs.

“Hmm, usually he teams up with Ketchup Boy and Mustard Justice, buuuuut I suppose he really is patrolling solo tonight,” Liv pointed out with a grin, then looked to the Japanese and Parisian kids, “You should hurry if you wanna try one of his magic hot dogs~”

“Ah, but money…” Marc pointed out, remembering that they never really exchanged their currencies just yet with Aizawa, Nighteye and Amelie, but he blinked when Chloe coughed.

“Er, we have money~” She pointed towards a relaxed Todoroki, who was already holding out his wallet.

“They’re not gonna accept cards, ya know.” Alix quirked a brow at the rich kids, but then blinked when suddenly Todorki approached Hotdog Dan, who immediately pulled out what seems to be a card-swiping machine, “Huh…guess you can.”

“It shall be Endeavor’s treat.” Todoroki said with a small smirk, Hotdog Dan already prepping some hotdogs for them.

“I-Isn’t your Dad, like, gonna get mad at ya for spending on us?” Nino asked warily, picking up a hotdog already sitting on the waiting line, then passing it on to the rest of them.

“If he gets mad, I’m just gonna tell on him to Mom,” Todoroki pulled his phone out, “Chloe-san taught me how to place her on speed dial.”

Marinette gave a look to Chloe, who gave a sharp smile cheekily.

Once everyone had gotten their hotdogs, all of them took a bite to taste what was so magical about these treats. Nothing happened for a minute, but all of a sudden, Alix hiccuped and a burst of flames, shaping into a rainbow dragon flying around them. Marc’s skin turned fluorescent, almost looking like a glow stick with the shiny teal color, making Nathaniel and Alix laugh. It went on from Kirishima having superstrength like Rose, the two having a competition to who’s the strongest (Kirishima carrying a bench that seated Kagami, Lila and Holly while Rose carried a bench herself with one hand that held Izuku, Andy and Aster), to Sabrina having long hair like Rapunzel, hanging from a lamp post.

When Rody and Fei took a bite of their food, however, they magically felt themselves being lifted off the ground. The two were floating higher and higher, Rody quickly grabbing Fei’s hand from flying far away from him like a balloon.

“D-don’t be flying off like Mary Poppins now!” Rody joked, looking down and was amazed at seeing the sight below him, “Woah! I-I can’t believe I’m flying!”

Pino chirped as she flew in between them, looking happy and so…free.

Fei was glad that when she uses to Prodigious, she knew the feeling of flight pretty well and wasn’t too scared when they started floating like this.

Marinette covered her mouth as she watched them, the magic of her having ice power diminished, “O-Oh! We should get them down!”

“Ooooor, we can set the mood~” Izuku chirped, having wild flaming hair like Endeavor, and soon was pulling out his phone then moved towards Luka, “Hey, you mind playing this song?”

Adrien peeked over Izuku’s shoulder, and blinked, “I…know this song?”

Chloe also looked over, and snorted, “That’s the song I played during my birthday party last time!”

“Romantic~” Rose cooed, then looked to Juleka and Shinso, “Right?”

The two nodded, smiling at Rose before glancing at each other.

Luka looked at the song Izuku was showing, smiling and nodding his head before sitting down on a bench, grabbing the guitar and started to strum. Once he got a melody down, he started playing the song, looking up at the sky to where Rody and Fei still were. At least they weren’t flying into the clouds and still seeable.

Rody heard the music from down below, glancing down to see people pairing up to dance to the song. He raised a brow, spotting various pairs like Lila keeping real close to Izuku (who was looking sheepish but lead the dance anyways) to Marc just being passed around dancing partners from Alix, to Adrien and even to Felix of all people.

“Seems like everyone’s having fun,” Fei hummed, also watching her friends having a good time, not noticing Rody staring at her.

“Did you…wanna dance too?”

Fei looked up for a moment, then blinked when Rody offered his hand to her with a smile.

“Do you even know how to dance?” Fei asked teasingly, but took the hand as Rody ushered her close, his other hand going above her hip while he felt her hand onto his shoulder, “You don’t seem the type.”

“Well, looks like you’re gonna see my skills right now then~” The brunet winked cheekily, before he soon let his body sway, leading the dance slowly to match with the tune.

Fei couldn’t help but look amused, seeing how Rody was trying to be suave even though she saw Pino looking in deep concentration and somewhat nervous. She knew that Pino was Rody’s true feelings, but she didn’t mind.

And so, she leaned her head onto his shoulder as they danced, missing how Rody almost went rigid while his cheeks turned bright red. Pino was trying to lower her loud chirping down by covering her beak with her wings, just as embarrassed as her owner was feeling. Rody looked at the top of Fei’s head in question, but he soon relaxed, pressing his cheek against her hair while closing his eyes and letting the music take them as they danced in the sky.

Below them, Zoe watched them with a sad look in her eyes, her heart breaking the longer she stared at Rody dancing with that girl. No one even noticed her slipping away, walking down to where the boats were and went alone back to the city.

“On this tour, you shall behave yourselves. Unlike last night, you’re gonna be kept under watch at all time. From now on, you’re gonna stay close and not sneak around without permission. Got me?”

Aizawa stared at the teens before him with his angry glowing red eyes, arms folded and standing tall as if intimidating them. The teens looked sheepish, and even looked to Amelie for help, but she just shrugged and smiled in sympathy for them.

Apparently after their night tour, they noticed Zoe was gone and soon were heading back to the city to look for her. Only to find out that the Heroez United had found them first and Zoe was with them. Andy, Liv, Mike, Holly and Aster had left as soon as All Might and them came into the picture, not wanting to be caught by the adults. The rest of the kids were grounded into their hotel rooms for the rest of their night.

And so, today they were having a museum tour with Dean Gate, also known as the hero; Door Man.

Jess, who was out of her hero persona for the day, had joined Aeon and Tokoyami together with Andy, Liv, Mike, Holly and Aster; the American teens trailing behind the tour group idly. But Jess also noticed that Zoe was here today as well.

‘Didn’t think the girl would go back alone last night and rat them out like that. She really isn’t liked at the moment.’ The Native American girl thought, noticing how the teens were not too happy with Zoe being here after tattling on them.

Aizawa sighed, his hair soon flowing back down to his shoulders and eyes returned to normal. He turned to Dean Gate, who looked amused.

“I leave it up to you now.”

“Thanks Eraserhead~ So good to have some young fresh faces to share some history of New York and the background that made this country~” The glass eyed man chuckled, glancing over the kids and nodding his head, “Follow me~”

Dean Gate lead them inside of the museum, starting off some fun facts about the founding fathers and even giving some small pop quizzes to those that were interested.

Rody was about to follow after Fei when he felt a hand grab onto his. He looked over, and his smile turned into an annoyed frown when he saw it was Zoe.

“Rody, please talk to me.” She begged, keeping her grip when Rody tried to shrug her off, “I’m not going to stop until we talk this out!”

“Talk about what?! How you hurt me and messed up my whole family life?!” Rody hissed, wishing the others could turn their heads to notice them, “And there’s nothing to talk about. I don’t wanna interact with you as much as possible!”

“Please.”

Rody stopped his struggle and sighed, closing his eyes before looking around. He soon spotted an open door that led to another part of the museum, then turned to Zoe.

“Fine. Let’s talk.”

He soon led her into the room, not aware that Jess was watching them.

“Hey,” She nudged Aeon, nodding her head to where Rody and Zoe disappeared off to, “Let’s go after them.”

The African American girl looked perplexed, before giving a stern yet amused look to Jess.

“…For someone who told me not to meddle on other people’s private lives, you seem really invested this time around?”

Jess grinned saucily, “I smell drama~ And I’m gonna watch the drama unfold. LIVE~”

Tokoyami heard the girls’ conversations, and looked at Jess disapprovingly.

“We should not eavesdrop on people’s serious conversations to one another. It might be something we should not be listening on.”

“Take a chill pill, Fumi~! This is why Hawks calls ya a chicken~” Jess teased, making chicken sounds while making her arms flap like chicken wings, which irked the bird headed hero quite a bit.

Aeon giggled, but then turned serious, “Fumikage is right though, Jess. What if we heard something we are not supposed to hear?”

“Then we keep the secrets to the grave~ As long as we don’t get caught~”

Felix and Alix were in front of them, hearing everything before they turned towards the three.

“Are you guys going to bother them?” The British blond asked, giving an ‘are you serious?’ look to especially Jess, who gave an innocent look that didn’t fool him for one bit.

“You seriously wanna hear the FASCINATING story of Dean Gate’s love for the doors of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower?” Jess asked, before she then smirked, “Besides~ don’t you wanna get a bit of vengeance towards that girl that got you all in trouble last night?”

This perked Alix up as she smiled, “Like a prank?”

Jess nodded, “Like a prank~”

Felix sighed, but then shrugged, “…Fine. I mean it beats being bored to death.”

“Someone say prank~?” Andy suddenly appeared beside Jess, waggling his brows, “Dude I live for pranks! Who are we pranking?”

“Oh no, we’re lucky enough to be allowed on this tour after last night, you wanna cause more trouble?” Mike asked, while Liv agreed with him.

“What are you guys up to?” Nino had popped up as well, followed by Kirishima and Kagami, “I heard something about a prank?”

Tokoyami sighed, “I advise not to—“

“Thought we’d teach Zoe Lee a lesson about being a snitch on ya guys~ She’s in another room with that Rody guy,” Jess interrupted, giving a cheeky smile, “Ya guys in?”

Kirishima frowned, “Er, it’s not manly to play jokes on someone—“

“Beats going around seeing ancient old stuff,” Kagami tugged at Kirishima’s hand, “What are we doing, anyways?”

Jess smirked, liking Kagami already, “Alright~ Here’s the plan~”

“Alright, you have me. Now what?”

Zoe pursed her lips, almost irritated at the blasé attitude Rody was giving off to her, but decided it was better than blatantly ignoring her.

She sighed tiredly, rubbing her arm awkwardly.

“We haven’t seen each other in a long time, why are you being so cold to me?”

Rody had to grab Pino from his shoulder, the bird squeaking angrily and the brunet hid her inside of his jacket.

“Are you seriously asking me that question?”

The blonde sighed, “Are you still angry about us fighting four years ago?”

“Then you’re not as dumb as I thought.”

Zoe groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Oh my gosh, Rody! Can’t we just forget the past and start over? What happened years ago…that was so long, I barely remember what we were fighting about.”

Rody blinked slowly, then let out a huff of air in disbelief, “You…you don’t remember?”

Zoe frowned, “I don’t…think I did anything to warrant this behaviour?”

Rody chuckled, placing a hand over his eyes as he gave a snide grin, “Of course you wouldn’t. You still haven’t changed.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The blonde asked, offended.

Rody paused, now glancing over at his supposed old friend, then snorted.

“Right…because Zoe Lee could never do no wrong, right? She’s Mr. Plastic’s daughter, a model student that knows heroes and has done many great things~”

A gasp left the girl, staring at him before she huffed, “Rody—“

“You can’t just expect me to just act like nothing happened four years ago! And don’t expect me to just erase all the feeling of hurt and trauma you caused, and pretend to be friends again,” Rody argued, his voice growing louder as he faced her properly, “Did you really think that you didn’t betray my trust back then?! That you stabbed me right in the back and calling me a liar?! You set your precious heroic dad on me for crimes my family didn’t commit! And most of all, you let Lila in your head and change you to this ugly person inside! You’ve become so horrible, that I bet after Lila abandoned you, no one wanted to be your friend because of all your lies!”

As he kept talking, Zoe was moving back away from him, almost being cornered to a wall by the boy who continued on his tirade of everything he kept inside.

“And let me guess? You don’t want anyone to know what I know. Let “bygones by bygones” because “what happened years ago was just us being kids“ am I right?!”

“R-rody…you’re scaring me….”

Rody snapped as he slammed a fist on the wall, almost near her head.

“That’s exactly what Lila tried on me before she showed her true colours.“

Zoe paled, staring at him incredulously while Rody stared back with contempt in his eyes, hovering over her.

“Go on then. Show me your true colours.”

Jess frowned when she peaked at the scanner on her sister’s wristwatch, showing the floating holo-screen of the CCTV inside the room they’ve hacked in.

“What are they doing?” She asked, watching how Rody was yelling out at the blonde, now crying and shaking.

Aeon, Tokoyami, Alix, Felix, Andy, Liv, Mike, Nino, Kirishima and Kagami were watching as well, confused looks on their faces. It was a shame there was no sound provided in the room.

“I am not sure,” Aeon answered, her eyes glowing for a moment as she stared into the wall, “But my scanners show me that their stress levels are high enough to engage into the prank’s first stage.“

“Okay, good. Let’s do this thing!” Jess grinned bringing out what seem to be silver boomerangs in the shape of birds.

“What are those?” Alix asked, while the Native American girl winked.

“Toys to help the prank move along~”

Soon, the girl threw it near the switch that was in the other side of the room Rody and Zoe were in. Once it hit the switch, the lights turned off, and the doors automatically shut. Rody’s eyes widened as he looked around in the darkness, stopping his words and turned to the door. Both he and Zoe rushed towards it, banging and trying to get it open.

“Er… t-they seemed scared, guys.” Nino murmured worriedly, still watching Aeon’s screen from her watch.

“I told ya, we need them scared for this plan to work. That’s when we’ll go into phase two and get them squealing in no time~” Jess explained, tapping at Aeon’s shoulder with a nod of her head, “Aeon, your turn.”

Aeon saluted happily, her forehead glowing as an eye appeared in the middle of it.

“What the heck is with this door?!” Rody murmured, trying to kick at it while Pino was slamming her tiny body onto it with Zoe also trying to push at it with her shoulder.

“I-I don’t know! How should I know?” Zoe grumbled, feeling exasperated and fearful at the same time.

Rody turned to almost yell at her, but then heard Pino let out a scared, high pitched squeal as she pointed at something behind them. The two teens turned, looking back and eyes widening at seeing a shadowy monster like figure appear, raising it’s hook like hand while staring at them with bright white glowing eyes and mouth.

“I am Solitude~ I am here to take captive of those loved by no one~”

Rody stared for a moment, squinting his eyes before his ear drums burst at the sound of Zoe screaming bloody murder, slamming herself onto the door more desperately.

“My god, she looks like she actually pee on herself!” Alix snickered for a moment, Jess and Andy joining her while the others looked unamused.

“Is…this really how friends prank one another?” Kagami asked slowly, arms folded and watching the screen as the “hologram” Aeon programmed going towards them.

“No. This is just straight up being mean,” Liv said disapprovingly, looking at her brother with a frown.

“Guys, this isn’t funny anymore. Let’s just let them out now—“

“What are you guys doing?!”

Kirishima’s words were interrupted with Marinette standing there with a disappointed Adrien, a curious Izuku, a bored Bakugo and both Holly and Aster following behind them.

“N-Nette!” Nino stood up immediately along with Mike and Tokoyami looking guilty, while the rest of them were still kneeling on the floor around Aeon, “We can explain—“

“These guys wanted to prank Zoe Lee,” Felix said bluntly, shrugging his shoulders when everyone looked at him, “What? Was that supposed to be a secret?”

“A prank?” Adrien repeated, looking appalled, “What for?”

Holly gasped, looking at Aeon’s screen, “What….?”

Marinette raised a brow, then looked the screen before her and gasped.

“You call this a prank!? That poor girl looks like she’s gonna go into cardiac arrest!”

“Aw lighten up, it’s only for a bit of fun,~ Jess assured the girl, shrugging, “Besides, wasn’t this the same girl that stabbed ya guys in the back yesterday for telling the adults of you all sneaking off?”

“She has a point. Kinda wanted to get back at her for that,” Alix said honestly, while Izuku shook his head.

“They don’t look like they’re laughing though?” Aster pointed out, seeing Rody trying to calm Zoe down, who was sobbing hard and yelling that she wanted to go home.

Alix started to look guilty now, tilting her head down with her cap, “…Aw geez…”

Andy scratched the back of his head, “I think we’ve gone too far…”

“Unlock the door and let them out,” Marinette demanded, tapping her foot like a scolding mother with her hands on her hips.

Aeon was about to do so, but then the lights turned off above them, the power instantly going out.

Marinette didn’t look amused, “Another one of your pranks?”

“This is not my doing.” Aeon said with fright now, all the teens now on high alert.

This caused her illusion of Solitude to vanish, making Rody and Zoe confused.

Bakugo and Izuku instantly were on guard, looking around while the rest of them were wondering what was going on. Thumping noises were heard from inside the room where Rody and Zoe were in, catching everyone’s attention.

“Break down the door!” Marinette shoulder, already touching at her earrings that she’s gotten back from Bakugo, “NOW!”

Rody heard the thumping sounds, looking up at the ceiling before he turned to Zoe and pushed her back. The two managed to move out the way when the ceiling suddenly collapsed, debris falling around them.

At the opening of the ceiling, there was a strange man, jumping into the room and landing with a loud thud. The man had a mohawk of light cerulean hair and matching eyebrows, and his sclera are dark cornflower blue with light cyan irises. His body was a moderate sapphire blue with light cerulean circuit board patterns and accents running across him. He was dressed in an azureish white bodysuit, and from the center of his lower back extend four long mechanical arms with blue accents. At the end of each arm are two sets of four sharp claws. He seemed to be wearing some sort of cuffs with the number 239 on his chest.

Bellowing a laugh to himself, the monster was reaching his long extended claw arms to some canons on display nearby, and once they touched it, the claws turned into canons as well.

Rody squinted his eyes, tilting his head, “He…looks familiar.”

“He looks like Techno Pirate. But different.”

Rody looked at Zoe strangely, before she sighed.

“He’s a super villain? Enemy to the United Heroez?”

“Don’t know him, don’t care.” Rody stood up, grabbing for Zoe, ”But we should get out of here!”

Suddenly, another explosion happened right beside them, readied teen heroes crashing into the room.

Sparrow was the first to yelp in surprise, “Techno Pirate?! He escaped?!”

Uncanny Valley’s eyes started to glow, staring at the villain for a moment before frowning.

Tokoyami noticed, “What is wrong?”

“He seems more powerful, but I can’t read him fully as if…” She gasped, looking to the bird headed hero now with wide eyes, “Magic is interfering with my scanning tool!”

“Then that’s our cue~” Ladybug shouted, already throwing her yo-yo to stop the villain in his tracks, “Dyna-Cat! Use your power!”

“DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” The cat user yelled, jumping into the fray to reach his hand out to use his ability, but was grabbed around the waist by the villain’s mechanical arm, and was thrown into the wall.

“I do not have time to deal with you kids! I, Techlonizer, am here for one thing only!”

Rody was looking where the man was looking at, and soon realised he was looking at the display that was right next to him. Inside seemed to be a sword of some kind along with a suit and…a necklace?

“RODY, DUCK!” Deku yelled, already pulling Zoe out of the way and trying to reach out for the brunet.

The three of them moved out of the way in time as Techlonizer shot his canon at the display case, shattering the glass around it.

Dragon Knight jumped in front of it along with Feathertop, the two soon charging at the villain with their weapons. Sparrow, Rockershella and Onagadori assisted them, despite being knocked around by the man’s metal arms, making it impossible for them to get close.

“He’s gotta be Akumatized right?” Trickster Tails asked, watching Neim and Pixie Girl distract the villain while the Ghost Force tried to stop the waving mechanical arms trying to hit them.

Ladybug pursed her lips, looking at her yo-yo and debating to use her Lucky Charm.

“Hey! I thought your thing was modern technology?” Sparrow’s voice sounded mocking to Techlonizer, ducking away from the hit from the canons while Uncanny Valley flew over the man.

“What do you plan to use the Saber for? Maybe an antennae?” The robotic girl tried to say as well, watching how Techlonizer grabbed for the sword from the broken display case with one of his arms.

Tokoyami was about to use Dark Shadow to ambush the now distracted Techlonizer, but something caught his eye. Raising a brow, he soon picked it up and saw it was a talon pendant. He didn’t know why, but he felt inclined to keep it. Thus, he pocketed it inside his cape.

“Someone call Doorman and Eraserhead! Tell them to evacuate everyone out of the building and bring the rest of the team here!” Deku yelled, trying to Techlonizer outside of the museum rather than destroy the inside of it more.

“I’ll go!” Krush yelled, the blue ghost hero soon flying off while his teammates helped the team out.

Out of nowhere, a yelp was heard and Uncanny was caught by one of Techlonizer’s claws, grabbing her ankle and pulling her towards him. The robotic like heroine struggled against his hold, suddenly wires were coming off of the claws and attaching to her metallic armoury as if—

“It’s sucking the tech off of her!” Sparrow yelled, trying to get to Uncanny but was easily knocked away by a canon, Sparrow’s body hitting the wall hard.

“YOUR POWERS WILL BE MINE!” Techlonizer cackled, soon throwing Uncanny Valley towards the other heroes, knocking them over.

“LUCKY CHARM!” Ladybug yelled, throwing her yo-yo in the air and letting her magical ladybugs create her object to stop the villain.

However, color her surprised that a spotted bicycle pump fell into her hands instead.

“What are you going to do with that?” Dragon Knight asked, the dragon hero raising a brow when he landed next to her.

Izuku paused, looking over for a moment as his eyes gleamed for a second. Almost as if he was using his own intuition right there like how the other Miraculous users do.

“Ladybug—“

Techlonizer cackled once more, suddenly glowing purple eyes appeared around his body.

“NOBODY ESCAPES MY SIGHTS~”

Uncanny was helped up by Tokoyami, and the girl was about to use her own lasers while Rockershella used his shield to cover them, but realised she couldn’t.

“W-what?” She touched her forehead, not feeling her laser eye and gasped.

“Uncanny-san—“ The bird hero pulled her close, using Dark Shadow to deflect the lasers away from them, “Stay low for now.”

“Why the hell is one guy too strong for all of us?!” Feathertop yelled, avoiding being swatted away by the metal arms while both Onagadori and Dyna-cat tried to hold him down.

“It’s over Techno-Pirate! We’ve got you and there’s no where to run!” Sparrow yelled, the other heroes gathering around the villain.

“Did anyone call the United Heroez?” Neim asked.

A chuckle came from the villain, shaking his head.

“Why run~? When I can take my revenge on the United Heroez by destroying their beloved kid heroes~?”

The metal arms started moving again, everyone trying to avoid the hits and the firing of the canons.

“Doorman and Eraserhead should be—“

The Sorcerer was interrupted by a frustrated Dyna-Cat.

“ARGH! SCREW THIS! CATACLYSM!”

Deku’s eyes widened, rushing to stop him.

“DNYA-CAT, NO!”

Techlonizer smirked, grabbing the wrist of the Cat Hero, throwing him to where Zoe was standing. Zoe’s eyes widened, and so were everyone else’s as they watched in horror of a panicked Dyna-Cat heading towards her.

“ZOE!”

Rody suddenly pushed the blonde out of the way, feeling Dyna-Cat’s palm make a connection to his arm, making him yell out in agony. Ladybug felt herself almost faint at the sight of Rody’s arm starting to blacken, slowly turning into ashes as the Cataclysm travelled up to Rody’s shoulder and almost half of his body.

Deku felt his head spin. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Techlonizer grinned, seeing the teen heroes frozen, and knowing this was his chance to escape—

“NOOOOOOO!”

A girl’s screaming turned into a dragon’s loud roar, Lady Dragon charging her way in like it was a bloody warpath, grabbing the villain by her teeth and soaring up the ceiling.

Rody crumbled to the ground, slowly feeling his body collapse in on himself while slowly turning into ashes.

“R-Rody!”

Deku slid to his side, Zoe snapping out of her shock and rushing to his side as well.

The green haired hero looked up at Ladybug and shouted to get her attention.

“USE THE SPELL!”

Snapping out of her daze, Ladybug was quick to use Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, including getting Rody back to normal. But that didn’t stop Rody gasping for air, screaming out and his body went into shock, convulsing and limbs flailing.

“He’s having a seizure!” Neim yelled, already rushing forward, “We must get an ambulance!”

“Kids! Over here!” Doorman yelled, rushing in with Eraserhead and Amelie as the man soon slammed the door and opened it again to create a portal, “This will take your back to the hotel! The others are there, hurry!”

“But—“

“We’ll get the villain. Right now, you listen to the adults and go. Now.” Eraserhead sternly told Ladybug, his eyes glowing red and adjusting his goggles.

Ladybug wanted to protest some more, but knew that Rody needed the hospital now. Nodding her head, she soon rushed with her team into the portal, trusting the adults to handle things for now.

Amelie was activating her wristband, already having her laser set and placed her own goggles over her eyes, “You think that Hawkmoth is back?”

“Doubt it. Someone else is pulling the reigns here,” Eraserhead murmured as he felt Deku pass him, being the last kid to rush into Doorman’s portal.

Doorman closed the door once all the kids were gone and stepped with the two, “So let’s get that villain back before that girl kills him.”

Eraserhead mentally agreed, soon the three racing to catch up with Lady Dragon, not even realising that a shadowy figure with a butterfly on their shoulder was watching them carefully. Although they vanished with an annoyed huff, noticing that the true object they was looking for was gone.

Deku skidded to a halt as he looked around the lobby of the hotel, noticing all the Miraculous heroes he was with (including the Ghost Force, Pixie Girl and the Sorcerer), were powered down and now surrounding a choked up Rody.

Nino was seen at the side talking to the lady at the front desk while Adrien was dialling for an ambulance, probably being told they were on the way.

“Rody, oh god, you saved me!” Zoe sobbed over the shaking boy, placing her hands over her face, “I-I can’t believe it—“

“Move it! Give him some space!” Chloe yelled, shoving her sister away while Todoroki assisted Aster from Rody’s spasms.

Luckily, Hitoshi seemed to be knowledgable into paramedic procedures, and was mostly the one using his quirk to stop Rody’s panicked induced flailing and place him to sleep.

With that, everyone relaxed. Well, except for Marinette.

Sabrina and Rose were comforting here as she seemed to be having a silent panic attack herself, tears in her eyes and looking like she wanted to be sick.

Bakugo wasn’t looking too good as well, considering he was sitting in a corner by himself, hands over his head.

Deku pursed his lips, approaching his childhood friend.

“Kacchan…I—”

“Don’t.”

“B-But—“

“I don’t want to talk to anyone at the moment. Especially to you. Leave me the hell alone for one god damn second.”

The green haired boy backed up with a gulp, nodding his head in understanding and stepping away from his sullen friend.

Alix walked over to Izuku, touching his arm, “You okay?”

Izuku shook his head, “W-we almost got someone killed. I…I should’ve seen this coming but I didn’t…”

The skater girl didn’t know what to say to that, just opting to keep quiet for now.

Adrien was glad that the paramedics came on time, already taking Rody away and heading to the hospital. He paused, looking towards a slumped Marinette on the lobby sofas by herself (since it seemed she wanted to be left alone), and went to sit next to her.

“Bug? You okay?” He asked, Marinette looking up at him with sorrowful eyes, “Oh Marinette…”

“I…I never thought I…I-I was so scared we might’ve gotten someone killed, Adrien!”

Adrien pulled her close, hushing her, “W-well I never expected anyone to be Cataclysm’d like that. That’s never happened before. But at least you’ve healed him with your spell.”

“Actually, there are multiple universes where someone had been Cataclysm’d.”

The two looked to Deku and Shinso approaching them, the green haired male looking forlorn while Shinso looked miffed.

“There were a few that Adrien himself got Cataclysm’d. Some others were you, or Hawkmoth or…” Izuku glanced over at Aeon, who was being looked over by Jess and Tokoyami.

Shinso sighed, “This is why I didn’t want Bakugo to be the Cat Holder. He’s too reckless.”

“This I can agree on,” Adrien nodded, frowning, “Why do I still have the Dragon Miraculous when I could just be Cat Walker again? Why can’t all of us get back our Miraculous anyway?”

Izuku sighed, “It is complicated to explain it all right now. But it is necessary.”

Marinette wasn’t surprised with the boy hiding stuff from them anymore.

“There’s still one thing though.”

The boys looked to Marinette for a moment, as Marinette squeaked in between silent sobs again.

“S-since I did my spell without de-akumatizing that villain…that man is still running around…a-and it’s my fault.”

“That’s not your fault, Bug.” Adrien shook his head, while Izuku and Shinso were silent.

An hour later, the doors of the hotel opened, revealing a tired looking Aizawa and Amelie escorting an angry looking Fei. She looked worse for wear, especially when she was covered in dark substance on her clothes, hair and face.

“W-what happened?” Momo asked, aghast at her friend’s appearance, who seemed to be in her thoughts with how quiet she was.

“The villain escaped. But not unscathed, might I add.” Aizawa glanced at Fei, raising a brow, “You’re lucky he was made from the magic from the Akuma and that armour of his. Otherwise he’d be dead by your claws and teeth with how many animals you’ve transformed into.”

“He got away because of you intervening.” Fei grumbled.

Aizawa closed his eyes.

“He could’ve been killed. And I’m not about to have a young child be prisoned for manslaughter. What would Nighteye think?”

“Enough.” Amelie got in between them, then spotted Master Fu coming their way, “Perhaps with everything going on, we should proceed quicker going to Japan. All Might and Victory are already preparing for departure via Doorman.”

“W-what about Rody?” Marinette breathed out, while Rose, Juleka and Alix were escorting Fei into their room to get her cleaned up.

“Once the doctor gives us the verdict of Rody’s condition, we shall bring him straight to the U.A. Dorms and let him recover with Recovery Girl,” Aizawa explained, but shook his head, “Meanwhile, I should alert Majestia, Knight Owl and the rest that Techlonizer is still at large.”

“But we can help—“ Adrien breathed out, but was surprised when Amelie shook her head, “Mom—“

“Adrien, sweetie. We almost lost one of you today. What if Ladybug’s spell did not work and Rody had disappeared?”

The blond shut up after that, his eyes troubled at the thought.

“This is not open for discussion. You kids are going to U.A. immediately while the adults stay behind to fix this mess.”

“YOU can’t capture an Akuma without me.” Marinette argued, narrowing her eyes up at Aizawa, who glared back.

Master Fu interrupted this time, “My friend, Marinette is correct. Therefore, why not let only a few heroes stay. The rest can leave.”

“No.”

Chloe stepped forward with Todoroki.

“We’re not leaving.” The fire and ice quirked hero said along with the blonde, the other teens listening in.

Nino nodded in agreement, also appearing by their side.

“That’s right! We’re a team! And if one has to fight, we all are fighting!”

Adrien smiled at them, but then glanced at Amelie, who was looking worried.

“Mom?”

Felix slid up next to Amelie as well, touching her hand.

“I know that it would not be right to leave anyone behind when there is a villain on the loose. And it is our job as heroes to take them down, correct?”

Amelie looked like she wanted to agree with them, but then shook her head.

“I’m sorry, children.”

Master Fu hummed, closing his eyes, “Then, I shall take responsibility. For at least just Ladybug and a Cat hero. They are needed to capture and purify the Akuma.”

Aizawa and Amelie looked at each other, the erasure quirked hero then sighed.

“Fine.”

Once Fei was cleaned up, Rose, Juleka and Alix sat on their beds while watching the Chinese girl pace up and down the room. They knew that Fei was worried about Rody, and so were they. Especially with what almost happened.

“I have to see Rody and make sure he is okay. I don’t feel right leaving him alone.” Fei murmured, looking at the Renlings floating above her friends with equally worried looks, “I’m going back for him.”

“Woah, woah! W-wait, hold on a minute. Are you telling me we’re sneaking out? Again?” Alix breathed out, before grinning, “Because I am in!”

“W-what? Sneaking out?” Rose looked worried, feeling Fluff nuzzling into her hair, “D-do you think we really should?”

Juleka looked thoughtful for a moment, Mullo resting on her lap, and the usually quiet girl nodded her head, “We don’t abandon our own.”

Rose looked at the girl carefully, before smiling brightly, nodding her head.

“You’re right, Jules! He’s our friend, and we should go to him. O-Or at least see if he’s okay.”

Fei smiled at her roommates and friends, but then her smile fell.

“Oh, b-but I do not know which hospital he is in.”

“Oh, no problem! I got that covered,” Alix brought her phone up, and soon started texting quickly, “I’ll ask Adrien where the ambulance took him and we’ll go from there.”

Juleka murmured something worriedly, while Rose agreed.

“Juleka has a point. What should we do if we’re caught sneaking out by Monsieur Aizawa or Madame Amelie?” The blonde asked, tapping her chin.

“Or worse, if the others find out and want to come with us.” Fei added, while the three girls looked at her.

“You don’t want the others to know?” Rose asked.

Fei shook her head, “Better to have small numbers checking up on Rody rather than all of us. Don’t want to get everyone in trouble again.”

“That’s a good point,” Alix soon felt her phone ping, and smiled, “Adrien gave us the hospital name. Now we just have to Moogle Map it and we’ll head out.”

“But how will we sneak out?” Rose asked, raising a hand up.

Fei and Alix looked each other for a moment, then grinned simultaneously.

“We might have something in mind. Just follow our lead~”

Juleka and Rose confusingly looked at Alix, then looked to Fei to see if she knew what she was talking about. Only to be even more concerned when Fei just winked.

A knock on the door sounded, the four girls jumped and suddenly quietened down. Alix got up, peeking in the peep hole to check see who was on the other side. Sighing, she opened the door to reveal Adrien and Shinso.

“Just wanted to check up on you guys. Everyone else went back into their rooms,” Adrien explained, the blond glancing over at Fei, “I-Is everyone okay?”

“We’re okay for the most part,” Rose said honestly, smiling softly when Shinso came over and sat next to her, “What about you boys?”

“Kinda reeling about what happened today. Especially with Rody.” Adrien replied, although he glanced at Alix and Fei, before looking back at Rose, “Alix mentioned she wanted to know where Rody’s hospital is. Is there something we should know about?”

“Just wanted to make sure where if we’re gonna see him sometime eh? Especially since the adults and Fei are worried about him,” Alix said easily, although Shinso had to narrow his eyes at her.

“You sure?”

Alix stared at him, raising a brow, “Ya got something to say?”

Shinso returned the gaze blankly, and soon glanced at both Rose and Juleka. He quirked a brow at them silently, Rose giving a cute smile while Juleka gave a single nod.

He sighed, raising his hands up as he leaned back, “Then, I won’t say anything more.”

Adrien narrowed his eyes at the both of them for a moment, but then blinked when Shinso stood up, kissing Rose’s cheek and then patted Juleka’s head affectionately. The purple haired male then grabbed the back of Adrien’s collar as he walked past him, already heading out the door.

Once they were gone, both Alix and Fei looked to Rose.

“Okay, he let that go way too easy.” Alix murmured, while Rose giggled softly.

“He knows to trust us with what we need to do.”

Fei tilted her head, “He trusts you a lot, doesn’t he?”

“He trusts both of us,” Rose gestured to herself and Juleka, who smiled weakly.

“Great! So we go with the plan! We find Rody!” Alix said quietly, already hearing Aizawa down the hall and knocking on doors, yelling out that it was lights out.

The four girls soon got into their beds, knowing that the door was going to open and Amelie was going to check on them. And it happened, the blonde woman peeking in after knocking and announcing herself, checking over the beds to see if they were asleep in bed. All four girls pretended to sleep, but soon sat up once Amelie was gone and locked the door.

“It’s a good thing that we have our Miraculous in hand,” Alix breathed out, already fiddling with her necklace and grinned, feeling Trixx appearing before her, “Alrighty my foxy friend~ Time to get to work.”

Silver grey eyes fluttered open slightly, a groan escaping the other as he stretched his body some. Rody blinked his eyes to clear his vision slightly, knowing his head spinning to the point of nausea.

‘W-where am I…?’ The brunet thought while he touched the back of his head, blinking as he realised that his hair tie was removed, along with his headband and sunglasses.

He relaxed when he heard the familiar chirping sounded above his head with the frantic flapping of wings, Rody spotting Pino with a small smile and held his hand out.

“Hey there, girl. You doing okay?” Rody hummed, feeling Pino landing on his palm and nuzzling into his hand in relief, “I’m okay. Question now is, where is everyone?”

The boy took this time to look around, wondering exactly where they were and why it seemed so…quiet.

He didn’t like it at all.

“Looks like we’re in some sort of hospital. If that’s the case, there should be noises like nurses running up and down the hall and intercom announcements…” Rody murmured to himself, Pino landing on his shoulder while the boy was getting off the bed.

He hobbled towards a mirror, noticing that he was still in his normal clothes, just that his jacket was missing. If he was in a real hospital, he would’ve been at least in some sort of hospital gown. But no.

As he was starting to remember what happened to him before he passed out, he had to lift his sleeve up to peek at his arm, horrified at seeing that the skin almost blacken like coal. Almost in the shape of a gloved hand pressed where Dyna-Cat aimed at. This didn’t look good.

Taking a glance at the door once the shock worn off, he soon walked towards it, opening the door to peek outside. As he suspected, there was no sign of life and the hallways of this so called hospital was dark. Grabbing his jacket and placing his shoes along with everything else back on, Rody stepped into the hallway, noticing how cold it was. It was a good thing that Rody had good sight even in the dark. But he was even more surprised that somehow his sight was more night vision like than normal. Which, to be fair, wasn’t normal at all.

A meowing sound was heard near his feet, and Rody almost jumped while looking down to see what made that noise, perplexed on seeing a cute black kitten with bright glowing green eyes.

Wait, glowing?

“Er, w-where did you come from little one?”

Rody crouched down to the kitten, who tilted it’s tiny head to the side while looking curiously up at him. The brunet smiled as he was about to reach to touch the creature, but then paused as it started meowing at him again. As he listened to it, his eyes widen in realisation. He was silent for a moment as the cat continued to stare, and the boy finally spoke.

“I…can understand you? How?” Rody looked to Pino, surprised when the bird was flying to land in front of the kitten, chirping to the creature as the kitten meowed back to her.

Before Rody could question anything, he heard a thump sounding somewhere down the hall, making him and his companions freeze. Gently picking up the kitten, he soon placed them gently into the inside of his jacket pocket, while Pino hid herself on top of his head. Walking down the hallways quietly, Rody made sure to not let his footsteps be noticeable if there was actually someone on this floor of…well, wherever he was.

He heard another thump again, and then another one after a few seconds almost as if something was banging itself on a hard surface. Maybe it was someone that was trapped inside a room?

This caused Rody to check where the sound was coming from, the sound growing louder as he was nearing to the door that was right next to an elevator. Usually, Rody was a cautious kind of person, always someone that thought before acting out on anything. But somehow he just ended up reaching for the doorhandles and jiggle it, noticing it was locked.

“Huh…wonder why this one is locked…?” Rody hummed, tapping his chin as he heard meowing once more from his pocket.

The little one was poking it’s tiny head out, trying to claw their way up to Rody’s shoulder. Helping the little thing out, he rested the creature onto his shoulder, glad that it’s claws could hang onto the fabric of his coat.

“Should I kick the door down?” Rody said out loud, hearing the thumping suddenly stop.

The kitten purred at him, and Rody snorted.

“Ya know,” He murmured, as he touched the door in front of him, “This would be so much easier if I did what that Cat Guy did to me…—“

“Is someone out there?”

A gruff voice was heard from the other side of the door.

Rody almost jumped back in surprise at the voice, but then was leaning into the door and called out, “U-Um! Are you okay in there?”

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

The voice sounded like a male and was wary, as if suspicious of Rody. Not that the boy could blame him anyways.

“D-do you need help? Lemme get this door open…” Rody was reaching into his jacket pocket, thankful to have a hairpin on him.

He was also glad he had skills to unlock doors during his pick pocketing and thieving days, that he easily unlocked the door and opened it. Inside was an old Native American man with a strong jaw, a big nose, and noticeable wrinkles. He has long gray hair (almost hiding the white big earrings he had) big bushy gray eyebrows, and a mole under his left eye. The attire sort of caught Rody off guard, as the man was wearing dirty-red tunic with black rims and a symbol on the front, a black belt wrapped around his waist, and a pair of dirty-light green shorts. He has black tape wrapped around his lower legs and wears a pair of elf shoes with soles partially broken off.

Somehow he had the aura of that old guy, Master Fu.

“Er, a-are you okay, Mister?” Rody asked, noticing the man was tied up somehow with chains, and the man had to glare at Rody.

“…You are a child?” The man asked in frustrated confusion.

Rody took offense to that.

“I’m not a child. I’m practically an adult.” Rody pointed a finger at himself with a grin.

The man quirked a brow.

“How old are you then, boy?”

“Sixteen.”

“Still a child.”

The former thief rolled his eyes, “If you don’t want my help? Fine. I’ll get myself out of here since I know clearly this ain’t some hospital and some sort of weird prison—“

Rody was about to turn around and leave but blinked when something landed on his nose.

A…ladybug?

“W-where did ya come from?” Instead of shooing it away from his nose, he raised a finger up, letting the little creature land on the tip of his finger instead, fluttering it’s wings gently before closing up again.

The cat on his shoulder meowed at the new creature, the ladybug seemed to be buzzing in reply back.

The man stared at this scene for a moment, then closed his eyes as he relaxed. “You have been touched by the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Cat…from the Chinese box I assume?”

Rody perked up at the name of Miraculous, and then blinked.

“You…know about them? Wait—“ Rody recalled Fei talking about possible Guardians of other boxes around the world, then looked to the man again, “Are you…a Guardian? And do you have a Miracle Box?”

Now this caused the old man to look at him wide eyed, impressed.

“Are you perhaps a Holder?”

“Er, w-well I’ve dabbled with two Miraculous once. At the same time,” Rody was still remembering how it was both cool and nerve-racking being Spotted Hood.

“And you are not now?”

“Actually I know a few people, and some that are going to be Guardians—wait wait,” Rody paused at his geeking out as he turned serious, “If you’re a Guardian that means…where is your Miracle Box? And why are you tied up?”

The old man sighed, “It was taken from me. From some villains that wish to make use of it. I am on a mission to find the Eagle Miraculous that was located around here, but I was ambushed by a strange villain that seemed to be under a negative influence. I am assuming a Miraculous was caught into the wrong hands and is being used for evil purposes.”

Rody pursed his lips, “Y-Yeah, it is. B-but we’ve got good guys trying to stop these bad guys and get back that particular Miraculous! I don’t know much of the details, but if we get ya out of here, I can take ya to them. I know there are two people that are from here looking for someone like you. They’re Miraculous holders locally.”

The man hummed, closing his eyes and sighing, “Very well. But how will you free me?”

Rody grinned, already pulling out his Swiss army knife from his coat pocket, “Not a problem~”

“I’m sorry. But visiting hours are over and there is no Rody Soul as a patient here. Perhaps you should re-check where your little friend might be. Have a nice night~”

The four girls walked out of the hospital with frowns on their faces, Alix the first to speak up.

“This is weird. Adrien was sure this is the hospital Rody was checked in.”

“Not to mention that nurse seemed highly nervous when we mentioned his name,” Fei agreed, folding her arms with a look of suspicion, “If he’s not kept in a private room of this hospital, he must be somewhere else. But where?”

“Let’s double check anyways in case he is here and that chick at front desk was lying,” Alix looked to Juleka, “Guess it’s your time to shine, Jules.”

Juleka nodded her head, smiling softly as she looked to Mullo resting on her shoulder.

The Mouse Kwami squeaked, “Let’s do it Jul-Jul~”

Juleka smiled, as she touched the pendant around her neck, “Mullo, Get Squeaky~”

Mullo giggled as they were sucked into the Miraculous, Juleka transforming into Whisketeer in a flash. The Mouse Heroine soon called out ‘Multitude’ and slowly started shrinking with multiple tiny mice were near the girls’ feet.

Alix soon called for Trixx as she transformed into Trickster Tails, using her flute to cover them (especially the tiny Whiskteers) and found a lone window close to them. Trickster Tails opened the window, letting the tiny Whisketeers jump in and explore around the building.

It was then after a few minutes, one of the Whiskerteers popped back out to the other girls, looking frantic.

“We’ve checked all the floors. But there is one place that we can’t seem to get into,” The tiny Whisketeer said softly, Rose letting the little hero rest in her hands.

“Where, Jules?” The blonde asked.

Whisketeer bit her lower lip, before murmuring quietly, “Morgue.”

Fei’s face paled but Trickster Tails nudged her from thinking darker thoughts.

“Then that’s where we’ll check. Rose. Fei. Better power up if we’re gonna face anything.”

The man raised a brow as he watched Rody skilfully unlock all the padlocks that tied the man down, considering that he was chained rather than roped.

“You seem to be very good at unlocking things…”

Rody chuckled, giving a sheepish smile, “Yeah, well, when you’ve lived the life I have…you tend to learn a few tricks in the streets to survive.”

The man softened, almost looking in pity, “Where are your parents? Do you not have family?”

Rody looked calm as he was asked this, already unlocking the last one and watching the heavy chains fall off the man.

“Dad ran off on us. Mum died when my little sister was born. Now, I just take care of her and my little brother. But enough about me, let’s get ya out of here…er, I never got your name?”

“I am Pala. Guardian of the Southern Miracle Box and Keeper of the Miraculous within.” The man introduced himself, bowing his head.

“Rody Soul. Er, Guardian of these guys,” He gestured to Pino, and then to the strange Ladybug that was resting on his hair like some sort of accessory and the kitten resting on his shoulder lazily, “The Ladybug and Cat are kinda new since I’ve just met them today.”

“So you must know the holders of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous?”

“Ladybug, yes. Cat…kinda gets thrown around owners…”

Pala had to frown at this. Although he wanted to say more, he knew that there was no time for that. He was looking around for a moment, now growing a worried expression on his wrinkled face. Rody noticed and asked what was he looking for.

“My staff. It seems that the villains have taken it as well.”

“Well, is it important?”

“Very. Alongside the Miracle Box since it is basically not just a key to it, but in fact, very much a way of tracking other Miraculous in the area.”

Rody’s eyes widened, turning panicked, “W-well then we gotta find it, c’mon!”

Soon, the two were racing out of the room but stopped when a group of strange people appeared before them. Rody’s eyes widened, seeing that one of these people were basically a beast like werewolf or something. The rest was some dude that was mummified with red cloth, a woman with long red hair in a domino mask and a silver haired armoured man with glowing golden eyes.

“Get behind me!” Pala stood in front of Rody, already readying himself to fight.

“The old man escaped huh? And the brat is awake.” The mummy like man snorted, pulling out his katana and looked at the armoured man, “Nine, what should we do?”

The one named Nine sighed, glancing at the woman beside him, “Slice?”

“The higher ups want the man alive…the boy though?” The woman licked her lips, as her eyes glinted with evil intent, “Is ours for the taking. You think he has it?”

“I can feel it…The Type B inside this one…“

The werewolf like beast chuckled darkly, already readying his claws up, “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s grab ‘em—”

“You are not getting this child!” Pala yelled, rushing to attack them head on.

“As if you haven’t learn from the first time, old man. Chimera, let’s grab him!” The Mummy Man yelled, already racing to take the Native American down.

Rody was backing away when the man, Nine, was already walking towards him with glowing eyes, almost hungrily staring him down.

“Don’t worry~ I won’t kill you~”

Slice giggled darkly, as suddenly her hair extended and grabbed for Rody’s wrist and ankles, keeping him still from escaping. Nine tilted his head as he was close, grabbing for the boy’s face and staring at him intently.

“But…I will take your quirk…”

Rody squirmed, feeling something sucking his very being away, almost the same feeling when Dyna-Cat Cataclysm’d him, but it felt slow and torturous. Rody was opening his mouth, wanting to scream but nothing was coming out.

“BURROW!”

Nine narrowed his eyes as he and Slice moved out of the way from a dragon made from fire appeared, as Bonnie Blanche appeared along with Trickster Tails, Whisketeer and Lady Dragon. The Rabbit heroine was holding here umbrella with a wink, opening it before floating herself from any attacks.

“Rody!” Lady Dragon rushed over to him, pulling him away and then transformed into Lady Tiger when Slice came to attack them.

“Out of the way, brats!” Slice growled, but soon screamed out in horror when multiple mouse like creatures were tackling her to the ground.

Nine sighed tightly, although his eyes looked bloodthirsty as the young heroes were trying to escape with the boy.

Rody blinked when Lady Dragon transformed into Lady Horse, letting him ride on her and trying to get to the elevator to escape.

“W-wait, wait! The old man!” Rody tried to explain, but Lady Horse wasn’t having it.

“No time. We need to get out of here!”

Not waiting to chance, she diverted herself to crashing against the nearest window, immediately turning into Lady Eagle and grabbing Rody to fly out the building. Bonnie Blanche hopped after them, using her burrows to makeshift jump portals to land next to them.

Suddenly, Nighteye appeared beside them, as Eraserhead just whooshed past them.

“Ba—Er, S-Sir Nighteye,” Lady Horse yelped, turning back to Lady Dragon in her normal form as she stared at the stoic man, “W-where have you been?”

“Had a mission that needed my attention, and it led me to here,” The glass eyed man said with a stern tone, looking to the teens as Trickster Tails and Whisketeer arrived next to them, “You all may go back to the hotel. Let the United Heroez and other heroes deal with the villains inside.”

“Who are they?” The Fox Heroine asked, watching some United Heroez already coming in.

“…People associated with The League.”

The teens paused, looking at the man in surprise before seeing the same villains now fighting with the heroes.

“We can help,” Bonnie Blanche started, but Sir Nighteye shook his head.

“Negative. You must go back. Amelie-san has already gotten some of the children into one of the heroes’ portal to Japan. Ladybug and Chat Noir will join us soon, considering the akumatized villain is here in this building.”

Rody pursed his lips, looking at the now destroyed and burning building, narrowing his eyes. Shaking Lady Dragon off, he started rushing back into the building.

“Rody!”

“I need to get that old man! He needs to meet Marinette!”

Lady Dragon faltered, biting her lower lip before grabbing her own communicator, and dialling up the very number she needed.

“I’m staying.”

Ladybug softened as she stared at Izuku, one of the only ones that didn’t go through Door Man’s portal. The others were Bakugo, Todoroki and Chloe.

Chat Noir, now in a new hero costume, sighed while rubbing his temple.

“I’m sorry, but only me and Bug are needed for this mission to take down the akumatized villain. The rest can be handled by the adults.”

“Why are you saying that?” Chloe argued, huffing a bit, “Aren’t we a team? We’re supposed to be working together, Adrikins!”

“This isn’t your fight to deal with,” Ladybug replied coolly, but then sighed tiredly, “I…I just don’t want to lose anymore people like how we almost lost Rody.”

Bakugo was quiet, but then spoke up with determination.

“That shouldn’t stop us from doing what’s right.”

Izuku agreed with his childhood friend.

“Indeed. We should fight.”

Ladybug pursed her lips, before looking to Sparrow, Uncanny Valley, Tsukuyomi, Pixie Girl, The Sorcerer and the Ghost Force crew already waiting for them. Sighing, she looked back to Izuku then Bakugo, and slowly nodded.

“Fine.”

Chat Noir tilted his head in confusion, but soon jumped when Ladybug’s communicator sounded, the heroine soon answering it quietly while her partner listened.

Uncanny looked to the bird headed boy, “Where is Hawks?”

“He went to join your mothers and the rest of the United Heroez to find that villain that was akumatized,” Tsukuyomi explained, looking concerned, “We should be joining them soon. Considering that they’ve found him and there are people working for him.”

“Usually as Techno-Pirate, he works alone,” Sparrow noted, but then heard shouting from the entrance of the hotel, seeing All Might looking frantic with Melissa while Mr. Plastic was yelling down at Zoe.

“You useless girl! What happened today could’ve been prevented if you had informed me! Informed the United Heroez! You had one mission to keep an eye on the young heroes and you FAILED that!”

“Zion, please.” All Might tried to coax the man to calm down, Melissa also looking worried.

“Mr. Plastic, we are still in public.” The blonde girl said quietly, narrowing her eyes, “I suggest you stop screaming at your daughter—“

“She is not my daughter. She’s barely anything to me!”

Zoe’s lower lip wobbled, and soon was rushing out of there and through the door, disappearing into the streets of New York.

“Roaar, Stripes On!”

Chloe yelled, soon she was transforming into Empress Tigresse and chased after Zoe while Todoroki followed suit, using Pollen to transform into the Bee Hero: King Stinger.

“You guys, wait!” Ladybug yelled, and soon she and Chat Noir chased after them.

Bakugo breathed out softly, looking awkward while Izuku looked thoughtful.

Door-Man also looked awkwardly at the kids, but soon excused himself to maybe help All Might calm down Mr. Plastic, who was already losing his temper more than ever.

“We should go after them!” Sparrow suggested, rushing out to follow the duo, making the Ghost Force, Pixie Girl and Sorcerer follow suit.

Uncanny saw how Tsukuyomi was staring at something in his hand, which made her curious.

“What is that?” She asked, before the bird headed teen shook his head, placing it back in his cloak.

“It is nothing. Let us depart.”

And soon the two left.

Izuku pursed his lips, knowing that he has the Dragon pendant in hand considering that Adrien had given it to him when Bakugo surrendered the Cat Miraculous back to the other blond. Bakugo said that he didn’t deserve it and that it should belong to it’s original owner.

Izuku, however, knew that wasn’t true.

Turning to the blond, he took his hand, handing him the Miraculous.

Bakugo went to protest but his nerd of a childhood friend smiled.

“There’s no time to think. Let’s be heroes together and help Ladybug and the rest of them!” Izuku said confidently, smiling brightly as he closed Bakugo’s hand around the pendant now resting in his palm.

Longg appeared in between them, looking at Bakugo before bowing their head, “This one is oozing potential. I approve, for now~”

Izuku agreed, and looked to the red eyed blond with determination.

“Ready? Plus Ultra?”

Bakugo was quiet, before sighing while placing the necklace one, “What if I mess up?”

“This isn’t like you. Didn’t you say you wanted to surpass me? Surpass All Might and become the Number One Hero?” Izuku huffed out with a laugh of surprise, Bakugo glaring at him.

“You saw me mess up during the practical tests back in U.A. remember? Twice now going against you and working with you. Then there was Kamino, are you forgetting that?”

Izuku closed his eyes, shaking his head, “Of course not.”

“And now almost killing someone. Having that borrowed power made me almost lose sight of things important around me. How can I be number one hero if I am this damn weak. I always seem to be steps behind you while you run forward each and every time.”

“Kacchan…”

“So no. Don’t give this thing to me.”

Bakugo was pushing the Dragon Miraculous back to Izuku, his eyes sullen before hardening, fisting his hands.

“I’ll use my own power.”

Empress Tigresse bit her lower lip as she finally found Zoe alone sitting on a rusty fire escape, looking sadly at her shoes.

King Stinger was right behind the Tiger Heroine, tilting his head, “Is she alright?”

Sighing, Empress shook her head, “I don’t think so. C’mon,”

The two heroes soon made their way up to meet the blonde girl, causing the said girl to look up at them with tears.

“…What do you guys want?”

“Are you alright?” King Stinger asked softly, tilting his head as his blue eyes stared down at her.

Zoe shrugged, before toeing at her shoe for a moment with a sigh.

Empress held her breath, before calmly talking to her so called sister.

“Look. I don’t know what’s going on with your old man. But you gotta come back with us.”

“Why? It’s not like I’m needed there.”

The Tiger Heroine was about to agree, but her Bee partner was shaking his head to not say anything.

Zoe spoke up again, this time sounding so…broken.

“I wanted to be an actress. I’m good at acting. But I ended up acting all the time. Playing these different roles, trying to please everyone. Being the so called assistant to Mr. Plastic instead of being treated like family, pretending that I’m okay and having to lie all the time just so I can have friends….and I ended up losing one of my very true best friends that was always there for me…I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Empress and King looked at each for a moment, before Zoe started sobbing.

“I-I should’ve listened to Rody back then. I should’ve stood up for myself and be the real me. I just wanted to be accepted for who I am…”

King Stinger noticed something flying their way, and he couldn’t call out in time when the dark akuma of a butterfly embedded itself into Zoe’s shoes.

Zoe’s eyes dulled as a glow shaped of a butterfly magically surrounded her top half of her face, showing that she was under whoever was holding the Butterfly Miraculous’ control.

Empress Tigresse was about to snap her out of it, but King Stinger held her back.

“Wait—“

“I SHALL CRUSH ALL THE SOULS THAT HAVE WRONGED ME! STARTING WITH MY SO CALLED FATHER!”

Darkness of black and purple surrounded Zoe, and the two heroes jumped back away to see the girl transform. She was now all sparkly brilliant amber, with encrusted very light cyan-colored jewels covering her body. Her headdress-like accessory features lightning-shaped horns. Her jacket collar and the backs of her shoes also feature lightning-shaped ornaments.

“I AM SOLE CRUSHER!” The akumatized Zoe shouted out loud, laughing maniacally, “First Mr. Plastic, AND THEN, LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR!”

“Not if we can help it!” Empress Tigresse was raising a hand, calling onto her power, “CLOUT!”

Sole Crusher smirked, lifting her leg up to kick and block. Empress Tigresse’s eyes widened and moved out of the way, but then gaspde when Sole Crusher stomped on a couple of civilians, watching them turn into gold dust and get absorbed into her shoes.

“That’s not good.” The Tiger heroine murmured as King Stinger landed next to her, watching how Sole Crusher had gotten bigger.

“I need more power~” Turning to the heroes, Sole Crusher grinned and stomped over to them, “And you both can give it to me~“

Before they could react, King Stinger felt something around his waist and was lifted into the air while Empress Tigresse was grabbed in the air, thankfully away from the akuma’s foot stomping at him. The two heroes looked up to see that Pixie Girl and Sorcerer saved them.

“Thought you needed a hand~” The girl winked down at the Bee Hero, her wings buzzing fast as they flew higher and away from the angry golden monster.

The Sorcerer was flying next to them, riding on what seemed to be a star shaped staff with Empress Tigresse now riding behind him.

“We must stop this monster, I think I can cleanse the evil out of her, but it shall take me some time!” Sorcerer explained, seeing the akuma was chasing after them, “I am not efficient as Ladybug is with her charm and spell.”

The four then watched in horror as Sole Crusher started stomping on more civilians that were trying to run away, causing the akuma to grow even bigger.

“She’s gonna go after Mr. Plastic!” Empress Tigresse told the three, his eyes narrowed, “Let’s beat her to him first and think of a plan from there! I’ll call Ladybug!”

Rody coughed as he was rushing towards where Pala might be, avoiding any confrontations from the heroes and the villains that were fighting. Apparently there were more of them since there were strange monsters popping up left and right. Nomus, Rody’s mind supplied.

Shaking his head, he soon paused when he saw a figure crawling in pain from the stairwells, and Rody rushed over to see who it was. It was the very man he was looking for…but he looked heavily injured. And seemed to be clutching on something.

“Old man! I’m here!” Rody coughed once more, knowing that fire has broken out in this building, and knew it was going to collapse and be engulfed in flames pretty soon.

Pino was chirping frantically, already using her beak and pull at the man’s hair to help Rody get the guy up and get him out of here. The same with the little black kitten, who Rody named Lucky, who was nipping at the man’s hand and coaxing him to stay away. Rody grunted when he helped the guy up, and noticed large claw marks on Pala’s chest.

And bleeding.

“Shit shit shit…” Rody was shaking, eyes wide and looking around to stop the blood, “I-I’ll get some help, hold on, just d-don’t—“

“Rody Soul.”

Rody looked at the man, who was leaning himself against the wall despite Rody helping him stand to walk, Pala coughing up blood while holding on tightly to what seems to be a staff and something wrapped in cloth. The man looked to Rody, then pushed the wrapped object towards the boy, his eyes full of regret…and acceptance.

“My time has come. And I apologise for passing down this burden to you, young one.”

“What…what a-are you talking about?” Rody stuttered out, shaking his head as Pala was closing his eyes.

“I wanted to find someone that I’ve trained. Someone that I’ve chosen with time and patience. But I suppose destiny had other plans…”

Rody felt his heart constrict, having a gut wrenching feeling that he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.

“But I rather be you than in the hands of the villains.”

“What—?”

“I, Pala of the last Wakan Tanka Tribe, hereby relinquish the Southern Miracle Box, and name Rody Soul as the New Guardian!”

Rody was about to protest, but a glowing bright light came from the cloth as it unwrapped itself, revealing to be a light brown hexagon shaped box. However, the shape changed itself, so now it was shaped like…

“A pilot’s briefcase…” Rody murmured, but then noticed that Pala had slowed his breathing, and the boy quickly checked his pulse.

He waited for a minute, and tried again, but he knew that Pala was gone. Rody bowed his head, holding the briefcase in hand, feeling Pino and Lucky shedding silent tears. The ladybug, who Rody named Lady, just rested against Rody’s head, giving slow beats of it’s wings. Rubbing his eyes, he stood, eyeing the cane like staff next to Pala’s body. Picking it up, the staff shifted into what seems to be a lean bo-staff with a symbol of an airplane on it. Breathing out, Rody clicked at the side of the staff, making it small as he placed it in his pockets.

“…I’m sorry.” Rody whispered to the unmoving body, giving a small prayer of farewell before holding the Miracle Box and rushing out of there, his spiritual companions following after him.

A/n: I lied. This story has been on hiatus for so long (I believe for a year or so now?) that this arc is now gonna take TWO MORE PARTS to finish this arc. So, okay, I’ve written the third part already (kind of, still going to edit), but it seems the next chapter will not commence until next year of February 2024. Reason? I have two:

1. I am currently working on real life stuff (So, yes. I am alive, but will be updating very seldomly until I’ve settled down from my hectic sched).

2. I am currently working on other projects (Which will be announced soon)

So, yes. So be prepared for next year. There will be more Quirk and Miracles content, including the last two parts of his New York Arc, a new chapter banner and some concept arts on certain characters. For those that still follow this story...thank you so much for your love and support.

- Riri-Chan

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