Chapter Text
“ Today is a sad day for the Museum of Medieval Art here in Paris today. It has been discovered that in the last few days a forgery of several key artifacts from the new visiting exhibit of Islamic was exchanged with the originals. Among the artifacts stolen were a vase, a ceremonial robe, and an and ornamented knife. If you have any seen or heard about these missing artifacts, please come forward to the police at once with your information.
The news has upset several museums throughout the Western Asia who had entrusted their pieces to the museum here in Fra-"
The channel changed as Sabine huffed in disgust, “How terrible. I hope that thief gets whats coming to him” she said with a shake of her head, getting back to rolling down the dough for the morning creascants.
“I’m sure they will honey” Tom leaned over and gave her a light kiss on the cheek “but try not to bake angry. You know it always gets into the dough.” he said going back to finishing up the special batch of macaroons his daughter had requested.
Sabine took a deep breath to calm herself before shaking her head, “You’re right, not worth my energy” she shook out her arms to let out the tension. “Marinette is the cream almost done?” she asked with a half turn to her daughter, who was bravely combating the hum of the egg beater. Doing her best to hold onto the bowl and not send the fresh whipped cream across the whole kitchen.
“Al-lm-mos-st don-nne!” she responded letting the beaters come to a slow stop and testing the consistency of the cream. “There I think that’s good,” she said with a smile. Sabine walked over dipping a fresh spoon in and testing the fluffy cream herself.
“This is perfect Marinette! Thank you!” her mother quickly confiscated the bowl before her daughters natural clumsiness could spill the lovely cream she had made. “It’s very generous of you to wake up early to help us.”
“No problem!” Marinette said brightly. She really did like helping her parents when she could… and it didn’t hurt to be in their good graces when she inevitably ended up having to break curfew or miss class.
“Perfect timing too,” Tom said boxing up the dozen macaroons “here you are.” he said with a smile and Marinette came taking them with excitement, “ now try not to drop them all this year sweetie,” he admonished with a loving smile.
Marinette pouted a little “I won’t drop-” her mother and father looked at her with loving but skeptical expressions, “... I’ll try not to drop them” she said sagging her shoulders.
The bell at the front of the bakery rang signaling their first customer of the day. Sabine moved to take off her apron, turning to Marinette, “You should go and get ready dear, thank you for your help!” she said quickly before heading to the front of the bakery.
“Thank you!” Tom said as Marinette was already heading upstairs to her room.
“Sure thing, thank you for the macaroons!” she said before disappearing upstairs to get ready for the first day of school.
Marinette jogged out of her family's bakery to make the short trip to school. Her hands almost crushing the delicate box of macaroons as she focused on not dropping them this year.
“Why are you so nervous about the macaroons Marinette?” the squeaky voice of Tikki asked from her shoulder.
“I bought a whole box of them last year but I ended up dropping almost all of them before I actually got to share any.”
“But you live right next to the school!” she said turning back to the bakery just behind them.
“I know Tikki” she said in a slightly depressed tone.
“But then how did you drop all-”
“I know Tiki” she sighed.
“Wow. You really were clumsy before we met weren’t you?”
“You say that like I’m not anymore...”
The crosswalk turned green and Marinette hurried across to get to class before everyone else.
Marinette felt a ping of pride at getting all the macaroons to the classroom successfully. As students came in she handed them out to each and every one of them, wishing them a happy new school year. She kept an eye on the depleting pastries making sure there was one left over for Alya.
“These are delicious Marinette!” Rose complimented with glee.
“Delicious! I’ll need to drop by your families bakery more often” Nino said polishing off the last of his own macaroon.
“This is great. Thanks Marinette.” Adrian said with that beautiful smile that sent Marinette’s heart racing.
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” the voice called out from the entrance of the classroom. Marinette groaned internally as she turned to see Chloe come marching into the classroom, Sabrina close on her designer heels. She plucked a macaroon out of the box without pause inspecting it for flaws.
“Hey Chloe. Please. Take one.” Marinette said stiffly before offering the box to Sabrina, who mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ before stepping back behind Chloe.
“Already campaigning for re-election I see. Didn’t know you were so worried about how much people like you.” she smirked, “Not that it isn’t warranted.” she chuckled in that obnoxious laugh she’s had since 6th grade.
Marinette took a short breath. After a years worth of pep talks from Alya and the class slowly pushing back against Chloe’s iron fisted rule, she was able to remain calm, “No, just trying to do something nice for everyone Chloe. To start off the new school year right.” she said managing to keep a calm smile on her face. She had learned was far more infuriating for the blonde tyrant than getting upset at her.
“Hmph, I’ll be the judge of that!” Chloe declared while Sabrina was already fishing through her bag for a tissue. Chloe took the tiniest bite of the pastry before immediately blanching and spitting it out into the offered tissue “How pedestrian. I think I will go ahead and enjoy the hotels award winning bakers instead.” she said, depositing the tissue and remains of the cookie into the box. Then she sauntered past Marinette, casually bumping into her shoulder.
Marinette scrambled desperately as the box slipped from her grasp, falling to the ground and spilling.
“Whoops. Sorry.” Chloe said her voice feigning genuineness as she sat down.
Marinette's classmates looked down at the box in sympathy. Ivan who still had half of his own Macaroon sheepishly offered it back with a frown. Marinette thanked him for the offer but waved it off. She reached down trying to to salvage at least one macaroon from the box that hadn’t spilled to the floor.
Alya came running into the classroom just as the bell rang out, “Here! Here! Not Late!” she said out of breath. Alya looked out at the others in class who looked at her a little guilty. A few of the boys helped clean up the remains of the macaroons with Marinette dumping the box in the trash. Alya looked sympathetically at Marinette, quickly gathering what must have happened “Chloe?” she surmised.
Marinette nodded rolling her eyes.
“Girl it's a miracle you haven't been akumatized yet.” she held out her hand to help her up from the ground. “You must have the patience of a saint.”
Marinette shrugged secretly feeling elated at the compliment. Alya had done wonders for her confidence, both in and out of costume. As she stood back up she offered up the last unsullied macaroon to her friend as they walked to their own seats, “Saved you one.”
Alya took it gingerly “Oh, don’t mind if I do!” she was about to take a bite before stopping “Did you actually manage to get one?” Marinette shook her head. Without a second thought Alya took the macaroon and broke it in half offering the other half back to Marinette, who took it with a knowing smile. Alya held up her half in a toast, “to another year of friendship.”
Marinette, with a chuckle, ‘clinked’ their halves together before popping them in their mouths. It was amazing a year had already gone by. The days have seemed to fly by ever since Alya saved her a year ago. The akuma attacks definitely had something to do with that, but thanks to her friend, even the mundanity of school’s day to day seemed to just pass in a flash.
After they finished Alya looked around “Huh. I wonder where Ms. Bust-”
Their teacher as if summoned suddenly came bustling into the room at her ‘not-technically-a-run’ jog. Her hair and blouse were slightly wrinkled compared to her usual smart and professional appearance. “Sorry! Sorry! The printer was being disagreeable, let’s get started with role call.” she said with a smile, tucking a loose strand of red hair behind her ear.
Ladybug and Chat Noir went patrolling around the city on their usual route. They had already had an akuma attack earlier that week, so they weren’t expecting anything much out of the night. They had escorted a few people to subways or apartments, Chat had saved a cat stuck in a tree, and they both had to stop a few drunks from starting up their cars. It was all in all a pretty calm night.
At the moment they were taking a quick break near the base of The Louvre’s pyramid.
“So, school started for you yet?” Chat asked twirling his baton aimlessly above him.
“Yeah. Just recently actually,” it was weird knowing Chat in both of her persona’s. She tried to keep things pretty vague when she was Ladybug. That way she could speak more freely as Marinette without giving much away.
“Really? Which school do you go to?” Ladybug rolled her eyes at Chat’s flirty tone. “If you tell me I could drop by, and everyone will know your friends with the coolest cat in town.” he slamming his staff down and flexing his free arm.
“I think I’ll pass; I don’t need my classmates pity” she teased and Chat faked a wound over his heart.
“Meowch!” he said with an equally teasing smile.
The two chuckled and were about to go about their normal patrol when a soft popping noise sounded out across the city. They both looked to the source to see the bright red firework that shown above the city. “Looks like we have been summoned my lady.”
“Well let’s see what Agent Danton has for us tonight,” the two began zipping across the city at speed.
Last year, Mayor Bourgeois made a campaign promise to set up a special police task force to assist Ladybug and Chat Noir in their efforts to defend the city from Hawk Moth. The promise had all but sealed his reelection and so he got the task force formed as soon as possible.
Task Force A were equipped and trained to help escort civilians away from akuma attacks and cordon off the area. They even worked out a series of flares and other signals to pinpoint the location of an akuma so the heroes could find them faster. Most importantly however, they had started on narrowing down the identity of Hawk Moth after the two young heroes admitted to having no idea where to start.
The firework that just popped was signal that occasionally went off during their regular patrol hours. It meant the task force wanted to meet, but that there was no immediate threat to worry about. The two heroes made good time to the rooftop of the police station the force worked out of. There were a half dozen men waiting on top, most in more militarized uniform of the Judicial Police, and one other in the more casual looking uniform of the Parisian police force. All across the rooftop were various tables with maps and folders weighed down with rocks. All of which were being shifted through and studied by the on call members of the task force.
Agent Danton stood on his own to the side. He was the head of the taskforce and the one that the two heroes most often worked with. He was a fairly stoic late twenty-something who always seemed to be wearing glasses in various states of disrepair. Tonight he had a pair of thin rimmed round glasses with a hairline crack on the right lens.
Chat landed a half second earlier and smiled a bit triumphant in their not really a race, race they had when a firework went up.
“Chat, Ladybug” Danton nodded in greeting. “Welcome, thank you for coming so promptly.”
“Well I was considering taking a cat-nap but I figured it couldn’t hurt to swing by.”
Danton took the pun in stride, only barely wincing before addressing the both of them, “Well, down to business. Have either of you heard about the recent theft from the exhibit from the Museum of Medieval Art?”
“Yes,”
“No,”
Ladybug and Chat answered in sequence.
“Well then Chat, a few days ago an exhibit on Rashid ad-Din Sinan and his order was broken into. A few key historical objects were stolen and replaced with forgeries. Additional robberies have happened every night since, we have reason to believe all were committed by the same thief.”
Ladybug and Chat looked at each other and then back to the Agent kind of skeptically, Ladybug spoke up first “Well, not that we don’t want to see a thief brought to justice, but isn’t this like, regular police work?” When the task force formed a strong line was drawn between what the young heroes could and couldn’t do. They were deputized to protect citizens if they saw a crime happening, or if an akuma was involved. They were to keep away from active investigation of mundane crimes.
“Indeed, Officer Terry?” the Agent turned to the one man in the normal police uniform. He had been standing at attention since the two heroes had shown up.
The officer stepped forward his face breaking out into a big smile “Ladybug and Chat Noir, it is an honor to meet you! My daughter is your biggest fan Ladybug and my son loves you Chat Noir, could I get your autographs for them?” he had two strips of paper and pens for the two heroes.
“Sure,”
“Of course”
The two heroes took the strips of paper and scribbled down a quick signature.
Agent Danton looked frustrated, he often was at a lose for those in the police force who put the two heroes on a pedestal. He prefered to think of them as equals in the war against the akuma. This was a tone difficult to maintain with half the police force was utterly enamored with the heroes, “ Officer Terry. ” he said through clenched teeth.
“Oh, uh, right.” he shifted his voice to be more professional “Last night, during my night patrol I happened to be outside one of the city banks when the alarms were set off.” he explained while carefully tucking the two signed pieces of paper into his wallet. “When I got inside I caught sight of the thief. He had this long shiny knife with engravings on it.” he estimated the length of the blade with his hands.
“One of the artifacts stolen.” Danton explained.
“What did he look like?” Ladybug asked
“Dunno, unfortunately he had a mask on. I yelled at him to stop, but he suddenly slashed the dagger through the air it created this like… ball of shadows?” he said trying to parse his words.
“Ball of shadows?” Chat asked.
“Yeah, kind of like smoke. Anyways he jumped into it it and when the smoke cleared, he was gone.” he said with a shrug. “I tried looking for him, but it was like he had just vanished. Poof.”
Ladybug frowned “Well that definitely sounds like an akuma, but what could Hawk Moth be planning? He hasn’t used his power for petty crimes before...” she said with a frown.
“Maybe he’s hard for cash?” Chat offered.
“In any case,” Danton stepped in, “akuma or not, this seems to be something your better equipped to handle. Can we count on your assistance once again?” he asked with an approving smile.
“You can count on us sir!” Chat said with a wide grin.
“Sure thing, you tell us where to go and we’ll take him down.” Ladybug confirmed.
There was a sudden buzz from the radio left on a nearby table “- ch- hello? Task Force A? ”
Agent Danton moved to the radio quickly, taking up the receiver, “Task Force A here. Report.”
“A silent alarm has been tripped at the Bank of France. We’ve been staked out all night, so we think its the thief we’ve been looking for.”
Agent Danton turned to the two heroes, “Looks like you’ll get your chance sooner than I hoped.”
The two heroes arrived at the ornate building of the Bank of France in no time. After a quick scouting there weren’t any clear points where the building had had been broken into. Which made sense, if he had a knife that could make him disappear, he could have walked in during day hours and then stayed hidden all day before he struck.
“Okay Chat, I think you’ll need to make us an entrance” she whispered and he nodded, carefully cutting a hole into a window for them to squeeze through. They skulked around the halls of the building until they came across the only other soul in the building. He was just stuffing a trash bag full of Euros. He was wearing very… mundane clothes.
When the officer had mentioned a mask she had imagined something flamboyant or over the top thief outfit... but it looked like a normal ski mask over casual wrinkly clothing.
They snuck up on the man from two sides before jumping out dramatically. “We’ve caught you akuma!” she announced.
The man nearly jumped out of his skin, staggering backward and drawing out his knife. “Ladybug? Chat Noir!?” it wasn’t exactly off for an akuma to call their names out dramatically. However, it was usually in villainous excitement instead of fear.
“We’re here to free you from Hawk Moth and stop your one man crime wave!” Chat announced and the man looked between the two of them before drawing himself up taller.
“Y-Yes! I am the- the Cat Burglar! Here to steal your miracles for Hawk Moth.”
Ladybug looked at the man confused, “Our… Miraculous’?”
“Y-Yes! Those will be mine. I knew my crimes would draw you out!” he said dramatically pointing at the both of them. “now you may have expected me to strike here tonight, but! Did you expect? THIS!?” the man drew his blade and cut through the air. The two heroes dodged away expecting some kind of attack.
Sure enough the man became wreathed in a shadowy aura before disappearing from sight.
“Be careful Chat, he’s invisible now!” she said and the two went back to back, expecting some kind of an attack from the shadows.
A moment passed. Then another… and another.
“Is he trying to get us to let down our guard?” Chat whispered.
“Don’t let him...” Ladybug honed her senses, listening for any light footfall to give away the villains position.... but there were none. Then a full minute passed
“Maybe try Lucky Charm?” Chat suggested.
Ladybug nodded, tossing her yoyo in the air “Lucky Charm!” she shouted expecting a bright flash of light with an item to show a path to victory. But her yoyo only spun in the air, falling back down to her hand.
“Is that uh… supposed to happen?”
“No-no! Tikki said the only reason lucky charm wouldn’t work is if there was… no… danger.” Ladybug scanned the room indignantly “Did- did he just run away?” no attack? No Banter? No grab for the miraculous’
Chat stood up from his tense crouch. “Well I’ll give him this much” Chat said, his tone surprised “I didn’t expect that.”
Ladybug slapped the palm of her hand over her face.