Chapter 3: The Paris Class goes to Gotham

Marinette took a sip of coffee as she waited for the bus that was supposed to arrive outside the school to take them to the airport so they could fly to Gotham.

Three weeks ago, when Mlle. Bustier told the class they would go to Gotham; almost no one could believe it. Most had forgotten about the contest since Marinette never talked about it, secretly hoping that people would forget about it after Marinette had lost the contest. Still, Lila wasted no time taking credit for getting them the trip to Gotham despite not having done anything other than forcing Marinette to do all the work. 

The following weeks were filled with extra English language lessons and presentations about what to do if they ran into any of Gotham's rogue gallery since Ladybug wouldn't be around to use her miraculous ladybug power to heal them if something happened as well as getting all her commissions that needed to be done, or far enough ahead of schedule that she could take the week off. 

Marinette thought about giving Aurora the dragon miraculous to hold off akuma until she could teleport back to Paris. Still, while she trusted Aurora enough to use the dragon miraculous, it wasn't enough to leave her with the miraculous unattended.

It was the Sunday they were supposed to leave, and Marinette was sitting on her balcony watching people gather outside the school, waiting for the bus. This was one of the times she was thankful for living across from her school. She could wait for the bus in the comfort of her own home until the bus arrived without having to stay with her classmates.

Alya looked up at Marinette's balcony and saw Marinette looking down at them. She glared up at Marinette, who smiled back and raised her cup. Alya huffed, pulling out her phone and quickly typing away on it. 

Marinette heard her cheap phone vibrate on the small table behind her a few seconds later.

Shortly after Lila turned everyone against her, her classmates bombarded her phone, social media, and website for commissions with awful messages and reviews. She deleted all of her social media and changed her number. However, being class president meant she had to be a part of a class group chat with her number attached to it. So, she got a second number for her private matters and a cheap phone for her old number for anything school-related.

Marinette checked her cheap phone and saw a message from Alya.

Enjoying looking down on us lowly peasants, Queen Bitch?

Marinette smirked and texted back.

You called yourself a lowly peasant, not me… lowly peasant.

She watched Alya's eyebrows frown as she read the message before glaring at her again. Marinette tilted her cup back and finished her coffee before returning to her room. She felt her cheap phone vibrate in her pocket but didn't check it.

Marinette still had 15 minutes until the bus arrived, so she checked her bags to ensure she didn't forget anything. Once she made sure she hadn't forgotten to pack anything, she checked to ensure that she still had the Ladybug miraculous on her ears and the cat miraculous on the chain around her neck, not that she ever took either off. She also grabbed the horse miraculous, which looked like a regular pair of sunglasses, and hung it on her shirt collar, and grabbed the mouse miraculous, putting it around her neck next to the cat miraculous.

"Okay, that should be everything," Marinette said confidently.

"Are you sure?" Plagg asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Marinette replied.

"Are you really sure?" Plagg asked.

"Yes, I'm really sure. Now stop trying to get me to freak out and get in the bag," Marinette pointed to a black leather bag she used as her carry-on.

"Buzz kill," Plagg replied before flying into the bag. "Oh, Camembert."

"Don't touch the Camembert until we're on the plane. Adrien is going on the bus with us and smells that stinky cheese; he'll suspect something. Got it?" Marinette warned.

Plagg didn't reply, but she didn't smell the stinky cheese either, so she took his silence as agreement. 

"I'll make sure he stays out of it," Tikki said before flying into the bag with Kaalki behind her.

"That means you three have to stay out of the cookies, sugar cubes, and emmental cheese until we get on the plane as well," Marinette smirked, stopping Tikki, Kaalki, and Mullo right before they entered the back.

"Of course."

The three kwamis smiled innocently at Marinette, but the little glint in their eyes told her they planned to snack on their favorite foods while Plagg couldn't. 

"Uh huh," Marinette replied before looking at the rest of Kwamis, "Okay, quick review of the ground rules. Wayzz is in charge while I'm away. You can watch whatever you want on my computer but can't buy anything. Keep the volume down, and don't make too much noise. I'm supposed to be gone, so there shouldn't be any noise coming from my room, and I don't want to come back to my parents telling me that my room is haunted, understand?"

The Kwamis all gave some form of affirmation. 

"Good. Foods in the box next to your miraculous box. That's all your food for the week, so don't eat it all at once, okay?"

"Oh, come now, we're ancient deities? What makes you think we don't have any self-control?" Sass asked.

Marinette gestured to said box where Xuppu and Trixx were already opening it. The two kwamis stopped what they were doing when they felt everyone's eyes on them.

"Proves nothing," Sass crossed his arms in defiance. 

"Sure it doesn't," Marinette replied, then heard the bus pull up across the street. 

"Alright, that's the bus. I love you guys, and see you in a week."

She grabbed her suitcase and bag and ran downstairs. When she got to the bus, everyone was already boarding the bus.

"Oh great, she made it. Here, I thought her perpetual lateness would make her miss the bus," Max muttered, seeing Marinette get in the back of the line through the bus window.

"Perpetual?" Kim asked.

"Never ending or changing," Max defined.

"Yeah, but she does live right across the street. So, it'll be hard for her to miss it," Kim replied.

"She's missed enough classes to say otherwise," Max retorted. 

Marinette got on the bus after everyone else, sitting in an empty row at the front. 

Once Marinette was seated, Mlle. Bustier stood up from her seat and did a quick head count. 

"Alright, that should be everybody," Mlle. Bustier told the bus driver. 

The bus driver nodded and started the bus, taking them to the airport. 

Once they arrived at the airport and went inside, Marinette took out her school phone. She checked everyone in for the flight from her phone. 

"Alright, I checked us in. Does everyone have their boarding pass that I emailed you?" Marinette asked.

"I don't have it? I think you forgot to email it to me?" Lila said.

Marinette had to keep from rolling her eyes. She knew she emailed everyone their boarding pass, double-checking the email addresses she sent them to and ensuring they were sent.

"We can get your boarding pass printed at the kiosk. If anyone else wants or needs to have your boarding passes printed, follow me?" Marinette started making her way to a self-service kiosk.

"I don't trust that you sent me the right boarding pass," Alya said, following Marinette.

Alya's comment about not trusting Marinette to send her the wrong boarding pass seemed to make everyone else think that Marinette had done the same to them. After a few seconds of hesitation, everyone but Mlle. Bustier and Adrien followed Marinette to the kiosk.

Upon seeing nearly everyone follow her to the kiosk, Marinette muttered, "Why did I even bother sending your passes?"

After about 15 minutes of printing all the boarding passes, they checked their bags and headed for security. They arrived early enough in the day that the security line wasn't very long.

When Marinette got to the front of the line, she took out all of her electronics and took off her shoes, putting them in a bin that would be passed through the X-ray machine. She purposefully didn't take off the horse miraculous, hoping no one would say anything since there was a full body scanner and not a metal detector.

No one said anything as she walked up to the full-body scanner. She held up her hands as it showed on the machine. After a few seconds, she was asked to step out of the machine and off to the side.

"Is something wrong?" Marinette asked. 

"Can I see your left wrist, please?" The security guard asked.

Marinette raised her left arm, and the security guard held a metal detector wand to her left wrist.

The wand beeped, and the security guard asked, "Can you rule up your sleeve?"

Marinette rolled up the sleeve of her dark blue jacket, revealing a vertical scar on her wrist.

"Do you have metal pins in your wrist or something?" The security guard asked.

Marinette's eyes widened in realization. She had forgotten about the metal plates and screws in her wrist that broke when Kim pushed her down the stairs at school. Naturally, her fall down the stairs contributed to her clumsiness, and Kim didn't get in trouble at all.

"Oh, yeah, I broke my wrist about a year ago and needed screws and plates. Sorry, I forgot to mention that earlier," Marinette said sheepishly.

The security guard sighed. "You can go."

"Thank you."

Marinette quickly grabbed her things and left for where some of her classmates were waiting. 

"What took so long? Get caught for trying to smuggle something?" Lila asked.

"Just asking about the metal in my wrist," Marinette held up her left wrist.

"Are you still complaining about that?" Kim groaned. "It's been over a year. Let it go."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Our gate is 36C. I'll be there if you need me."

She walked away, ignoring Mlle. Bustier's calling her name.

It was still a couple of hours before their flight, following the airport's website together three hours early for an international flight. When Marinette reached her gate, she found a corner and sat down. She took out her sketchpad and put in her earbuds. She kept the music low so she could still hear if one of her classmates decided to try and sneak up on her. 

Marinette noticed the rest of her class arrive at the gate about thirty minutes later. She briefly wondered if they somehow got lost in the airport but quickly noticed most of them had coffee cups in their hands. She saw Lila and Alya walking in her direction with coffee cups without lids. 

However, they weren't apparent about their movement toward Marinette. They walked down a couple of rows of seats, acting like they were looking for a place to sit, before turning into Marinette's row. 

Marinette decided that would be an excellent time to use the bathroom. She put her sketchpad away, grabbed her things, and got up. She went to the bathroom, taking the long way around to avoid Lila and Alya. She almost cleared the seating area when Mlle. Bustier stepped in front of her.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng," Mlle. Bustier said sternly, "You shouldn't walk away from the group. What if something happened to you? No one would be around to help you. You know how clumsy you are. If you got hurt, I could get in serious trouble."

Marinette barely stopped her eyes from rolling. She wasn't worried about something happening to her while she was away from the group. She was worried about what would happen while she was with the group. 

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Mlle. Bustier asked.

Marinette was about to mutter a sorry but shrieked when she felt a hot liquid splash onto her back. She clamped her hand under her mouth to suppress her shriek and arched her back, trying to escape the hot liquid. 

Once Marinette got her shriek under control, she removed her hands from her mouth. She quickly removed her jacket, revealing that the black shirt with the cover art of one of Jagged Stone's albums was short-sleeved and tight around her well-toned biceps. She turned around to her back. She wasn't surprised when she saw Lila kneeling, holding her knee, and an empty coffee cup on the floor.

Lila had "accidentally" bumped her knee against a hardcover suitcase of one of the people sitting down and stumbling, spilling her hot coffee onto her back. 

The initial heat of the coffee came from the force of the liquid pushing the fabric into her back for a brief moment. The coffee seeped into her shirt wasn't hot since only a small amount made it onto it.

Marinette pulled on the back of her shirt and lifted it to get a look at her back, making the front of her shirt pull tight against her well-defined abs and ride up slightly to reveal the bottom set of her abs. 

"Wow," Alix whispered, seeing Marinette's abs. 

She knew Marinette was relatively fit from when she tried to knock her over a few weeks back, but she hadn't expected her to be that well-toned.

Alix wasn't the only one staring at her abs. Several classmates were also staring at her, equally shocked by how toned her muscles were when they all thought she had a lithe figure.

Marinette didn't notice her classmates' stares as she was busy looking at her back. Her back was a little red, though it wasn't anything to be concerned about. It would be a little uncomfortable for a few hours, but the healing boost she gets from the ladybug miraculous would fully heal the light burn by the time they got off the plane in Gotham. 

"I'm going to change my shirt," Marinette stated, walking to the bathroom.

As Marinette walked away, she heard Lila start crying her crocodile tears and whimpering about her injured knee. 

When Marinette returned from the bathroom with a new shirt on, thankful that she remembered to pack an extra shirt in her bag as a precaution, Lila was sitting down with an ice pack on her injured knee, with Sabrina holding onto her foot to keep it elevated. Alix, Alya, Juleka, Kim, Max, and Rose surround Lila as she regaled them about when she met Bruce Wayne with her mother at a gala when she was younger. 

Lila made sure to mention that she was only about 7 or 8 when she met Bruce, that it was only for a brief period, and that she didn't remember many details about the gala itself. That way, if someone brought it up to M. Wayne while they were in Gotham and said he didn't recognize her, it could be attributed to M. Wayne forgetting about a brief encounter with a diplomate's child. Something he probably has had many of.

As much as Marinette hated to admit it, Lila's lying skills had improved compared to when she first arrived at her school. Gone were the days when Lila would make outrage claims with little to no research backing them up and simply hoping no one would bother to check them or no one could check them. Now, she told lies that were nearly impossible to check the validity of and were said in such a way that if anyone did manage to prove she was lying, Lila could say she actually said something different and that person had misremembered or misheard what she said, or Lila had said the wrong name/event by mistake. 

So, instead of claiming she was childhood friends with M. Wayne's youngest son, Damian Wayne, she claimed she had met M. Wayne as a kid years ago. It doesn't bring quite as much attention as the other childhood friend lie, but it still garnered much attention while being a much safer lie.

Marinette had no one to blame except herself for Lila's increased lying capabilities. When Lila first arrived at school, she had called out almost all of Lila's lies as they were pretty easy to poke holes in. Even as Lila got better at telling lies, Marinette put in the extra effort to do more research to keep trying to catch Lila in her lies. But every time she did, Lila would give some lame explanation for the inconstancy between her lies and the truth that the others ate up without second thought. They would then yell at Marinette for being too hard on Lila and being jealous of her closeness with Adrien despite not having started dating yet. 

Eventually, Marinette got tired of everyone just accepting Lila's poor excuses and getting angry at her for trying to show them the truth that she more or less stopped trying to expose her lies. However, by that point, Lila had sharpened her lying skill to a razor's edge against Marinette's attempts to discredit her. Though, that didn't mean that Lila could let her guard down. While Marinette wasn't putting in as much effort to expose her lies as she used to, if Lila got a little too careless, she had no problem calling her out on her lies. 

Marinette sat down at the end of the row, hanging her jacket over her armrest to dry out. She gave her jacket a solemn look before sighing. The jacket was ruined. She could save it if she were at home or school, but she was at the airport and had no plans to do laundry for the week she was in Gotham. It was a shame, too. The jacket wasn't anything special, just a plain dark blue jacket she got on sale, but it was comfy and soft. It's why she took it on the trip. She should have known not to have things she likes around Lila.

Tikki, Plagg, Kaalki, and Mullo phased through her bag and rested against Marinette's thigh. Her bag blocked the Kwamis from the view of her classmates. She smiled down at them and took out her phone and earbuds. She started playing a movie on her phone, turning on the subtitles and resting her phone on her thigh so the Kwamis could watch, too. She put her hand on her thigh next to them and started taking turns petting or scratching each of their heads. They stayed like that until it was time to board the flight. 

Thankfully, boarding was a relatively uneventful procedure. M. Wayne booked the class business class seats. So, while Lila complained about not getting first-class seats, as Wayne Enterprises could certainly afford it, one of the flight staff shooed her forward and onto the plane. 

On the plane, Marinette sat down in her assigned seat. Her seat was three rows ahead of her classmates and on the right side of the two-aisle plane, while her classmates sat on the plane's left side. She silently thanked M. Wayne for booking them on a flight with assigned seats and allowing them to pick their seats, by which she meant that she took the liberty of choosing her classmate's seats for them. She ensured that any amenities her classmates might need were closest behind them, so they had no reason to be near her for the entire flight.

The miraculous wielder spent the nine-hour flight from Paris to Gotham watching movies and videos on her phone, listening to music while sketching, or browsing fashion articles. She considered taking a nap but decided against it out of fear of allowing one of her classmates to mess with her. 

When the plane landed in Gotham, the Paris group left and headed to the baggage claim area. They grabbed their bags before heading to the pickup area where a Wayne Enterprises bus should be waiting.

Stephanie and Damian waited in front of a large bus outside the airport exit, with Stephanie holding a sign that had "Collége Françoise Duponet" written on it. They saw the French class walk out of the airport, and Stephanie called out to them and waved, getting their attention.

"Remember to be nice," Stephanie reminded Damian through her smile as the French class approached them.

"I know how to be civil, Brown," Damian replied, uncrossing his arms and letting them rest at his side.

"Nice and civil are two different things," Stephanie retorted quickly before the French class reached them.

"Bonjour, les élèves du Collége Françoise Dupoent sont les bienvenus á Gotham," Stephanie said and smiled brightly, while Damian kept quiet and had a bored expression on his face.

"I'm Stephanie Brown, and this is Mr. Wayne's son Damian."

"Bonjour," Damian said dryly.

He clearly didn't want to be there, but his father and Harley thought having someone their age greet them would be good. Why they thought Damian was a good choice was beyond him. It was probably one of Harley's ploys to get him to interact more with people his age and make more friends. 

"Préférez-vous continuer en françis ou en anglaise?" Stephanie asked.

"English would probably be best since we'll not likely hear or see a lot of French while in Gotham," Mlle. Bustier said. 

"That's true. The only French you'll hear around here is foul language," Stephanie replied.

The French class gave her a confused look at her joke.

"Never mind," Stephanie sighed, "I'm sure that you're all tired from your flight. So, let's get you to the hotel so you can relax and unpack."

She gestured to the bus, and the French class started to board the bus.

Stephanie and Damian both noticed that while Mlle. Bustier waited by the entrance to the bus, counting the students as they boarded; Marinette stayed where she was and pretended to be looking at something on a cheap phone. 

The two vigilantes could tell she was looking at nothing on her phone. The screen was lit, but her eyes weren't moving, simply staring at the screen. They wondered why she faked looking at her phone, but they didn't have long to ponder it. Mlle. Bustier called her name to get Marinette's attention before boarding the bus herself. Marinette put her phone away.

When she started to make her way toward the bus, Marinette turned to look at Damian as she felt a familiar energy coming from him. After becoming the Guardian of the Miraculouses, she started to be able to sense people's energy. Tikki told her it was an ability that Guardians gained to assist with finding proper miraculous wielders. 

The energy felt similar to Plagg's, but he only had a small amount. She wondered if he had come in contact with something magical recently or if it was the residual of something powerful a while ago. It was difficult to tell which with her limited practice of the ability.

Damian noticed her staring at him for a second and asked, "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," Marinette replied and boarded the bus. 

Damian scowled at the reply but got on the bus after her, followed by Stephanie.

The bus itself was rather large, so the group of 17 fit easily. There was an aisle down the middle of the bus with two chairs on each side and ten rows deep. 

The front row of the bus was left unoccupied, and Stephanie asked Marinette, "Do you want to sit here with me?" 

"Uh, sure," Marinette replied, a little surprised.

Stephanie smiled, sitting at the window seat on the left side of the bus. Stephanie padded the seat next to her, which Marinette took, resting her leather bag in her lap.

"Damian, you can sit next to me," Lila said, gesturing to the empty seat beside her. 

Marinette thought about commenting on Lila having a boyfriend, who sat in the row behind the liar, but Damian didn't even bother giving Lila a response. He plopped down into the aisle seat across from Marinette.

Once everyone was seated, the bus driver closed the doors and drove to the hotel.

Stephanie noticed the bag, and her eyes widened slightly. "Is that a CDM bag?" 

Marinette stiffed slightly. "W-what?"

"That bag looks like the one on CDM's website."

Marinette started to panic slightly. She had forgotten that the bag she brought with her was a previous version of a bag that she had made for a CDM commission, and she had posted pictures of the commissioned bag on her website to showcase her work. She also didn't think anyone would have the eye to spot that both bags were so similar.

"Marinette, have a CDM bag? Please, she is nowhere near important enough to get a commission from CDM. Lila can't even get one," Alya, who sat only a couple of rows back, spoke up.

"Nor will she ever," Marinette thought inside her head.

"Who's DCM or whatever?" Damian asked.

"She's a reclusive fashion designer that's been blowing up for the past year. She has made outfits for Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, and even the Prince of Achu Kingdom has had a commission from her. Tim and I have been trying to get a commission from her for months. Still, you have to know somebody who's already had a commission done to get invited to the list of people who are notified about her commission slots. She only has a couple of commission slots open at a time, and they get snatched up instantly," Stephanie replied with a groan of frustration.

"Why the hard process for such a commission? Seems like she is hiding something," Damian said.

"Well, no one other than Jagged Stone knows her true identity," Stephanie replied.

"How does that imbecile Stone know who MDC is? He isn't exactly known for his skills at deduction," Damian asked incredulously.

"He was CDM's first client," Marinette answered, "Apparently, they are pretty close, and he sees her as a niece or something."

"And how would you know that? Do you know Stone well?" Damian raised an eyebrow in suspicion. 

"It is mentioned in several fashion magazine interviews with Jagged, and I've done some designing for him myself. In the past, I made his Eiffel Tower sunglasses and an album cover for him."

"Really? I don't remember that being in any of your essays," Stephanie chimed in.

Marinette opened her mouth to speak, but Damian plainly stated, "So, you're CDM."

Marinette nearly jumped out of her skin.

"No, no, no, no," She repeated quickly. She also stuck her hands out and shook her head as she denied it. "Why would you think that? I just said that I had done some work for him in the past."

While denying her second secret identity, she noticed Damian's eyes lock onto her left wrist. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly before flicking back to her eyes. It was so subtle and quick, lasting only a fraction of a second, most people would have missed it, but Marinette's trained eyes from her time as Ladybug and avoiding her classmate's pranks at school caught it.

Marinette blushed slightly and quickly pulled her hands back, shoving them into her lap. She forgot that she wasn't wearing her jacket, which usually covered up the surgical scar on her left wrist.

Damian's change in expression was so small that she couldn't figure out what it meant. 

"Marinette can't be CDM," said Sabrina, "She's an awful designer."

"Yeah, she had a website up to sell her awful designs, but she shut it down because of all the bad reviews she got. She couldn't sell anything," Alya added.

Marinette's face grew redder. However, it wasn't from embarrassment but from anger. Her classmates had been the ones to leave those awful reviews. Max even made a bot to leave tons of terrible reviews on her site. She had done her best to delete them, but Max's bot made a new one as soon as she deleted one.

"Then I guess I was mistaken," Damian said, though a hint of confusion detectable in his voice.

Stephanie was also confused. The website hadn't come up when Barbara looked into Marinette, nor had she mentioned the failed enterprise in her essays. The website must have been down for a while, and it must have been a reasonably touchy subject for her, not to mention it in her essay. 

Marinette let out a sigh of relief and frustration and slumped back into her seat. She was relieved that her secret identity of CDM wasn't exposed, lest Lila and her sheep destroy it, but also upset that Damian took their word for her incompetence as a fashion designer so quickly.

"I'm sure your designs are amazing, Marinette," Stephanie said softly so that only Marinette could hear, "Do you have any that you are willing to show me?"

Marinette looked at her bag and hands in her lap. Her hands trembled in her lap as she considered Stephanie's request. It had been a long time since she last showed anyone other than her parents, the kwamis, Kagami, Luka, or Zoé her designs as Marinette. The last time she did, all she got back was a destroyed sketchbook and insults.

Stephanie noticed her shaking hands. She gently put a hand on Marinette's bag, wanting to give some physical reassurance without actually touching the nervous girl. She gave her a small smile. "It's okay. You don't have to force yourself. Maybe another time?"

Marinette nodded wordlessly, feeling ashamed of herself. She was Ladybug, one of the heroes of Paris, the Guardian of the Miraculouses, and CDM, a rising fashion industry star, yet she was too scared to share her designs.

Deciding to change the subject, Stephanie asked, "Aren't you cold without a jacket?"

It was late autumn, early winter, in Gotham, so the days were cold enough that people would wear a light jacket but not cold enough to need a heavy jacket. Stephanie wore a purple jacket over a lavender shirt, while Damian wore a black jacket over a deep forest green shirt.

"I have a jacket, but someone spilled coffee on it earlier. I didn't pack an extra but didn't want to wear a stained jacket. I planned to get a new one during our free time," Marinette replied.

"Well, how about after we drop you off at the hotel and get you checked in, we can go shopping for a new jacket?"

"You don't have to do that. I can buy a jacket on my own."

"I'm sure you can, but this is Gotham. It's a dangerous place for its own citizens, much less a tourist. I would feel terrible if something happened to you while you were alone."

"It's fine, really. You don't have to go out of your way for me. It may not look like it, but I can handle myself."

"You may be able to handle yourself, but can you handle the Joker? Bane? Two-Face?" Stephanie asked.

"Can you?" Marinette shot back.

Stephanie opened her mouth, but Damian shot her a look. It was a reminder that while she was Spoiler, she could take on most of the rouge gallery by herself. She, as Stephanie Brown, could not.

"Touché," She sighed.

Marinette smiled in satisfaction.

"But it's still too dangerous for you to go off alone."

"Come on, I'm from Paris," Marinette groaned, "We have weekly supervillain attacks."

Stephanie's eyes widened, and Damian perked up slightly at the mention of supervillain attacks. They knew something was happening in Paris, but they hadn't expected to get to the issue so swiftly.

"What supervillain attacks?" Stephanie asked while Damian reached into his pocket and turned on an audio recorder.

"You don't know about the akuma attacks? Didn't Dick mention them to you after he got back from his… anniversary?" Marinette replied, turning to Damian near the end since he was Dick's brother, and as far as Marinette knew, Stephanie was only an employee at Wayne Enterprises.

"If he did mention it, it wasn't with me around," Damian shrugged.

"Oh."

"So, what are these… akuma attacks? That's what you called it, right?" Stephanie asked. 

"An akuma attack is when someone with strong negative emotions gets possessed by a magic butterfly created by the villain Shadow Moth, who gets his powers from these magical accessories called Miraculouses. The superhero Ladybug and her friends also have miraculouses and use them to fight against Shadow Moth and the people he akumatized," Alya explained excitedly.

"Okay, what happens to a person who gets possessed by the magical butterfly?" Stephanie asked.

"They get superpowers and turn into a supervillain," Alya answered.

"What kind of superpowers?"

"It varies from person to person. The powers also vary quite a bit, and sometimes when a person gets akumatized, they can get a different power than before."

"What happens to the people possessed by the akuma after they are defeated?" Damian asked.

"Well, the akuma resides in an object the person is holding or wearing, so to defeat the akumatized person, that object needs to be broken to release the akuma. Then Ladybug captures the akuma in her yo-yo…"

"Wait, yo-yo?" Damian asked, cutting Alya off, "Ladybug fights supervillains with a yo-yo?"

"Yes, you got a problem with that?" Marinette asked, crossing her arms.

"How does she fight supervillains with a yo-yo? That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard."

"It's a magic yo-yo," Marinette retorted.

"It's still a yo-yo."

"Enough," Stephanie cut in, "Whatever Ladybug decides to use to fight supervillains is up to her."

She turned back to Alya and continued, "So Ladybug captures the akuma in her yo-yo, then what happens?"

"She purifies the akuma, turning it back into a "regular" magic butterfly, and then uses her Miraculous Ladybug powers to fix everything destroyed during the attack," Alya answered.

"How does her Miraculous Ladybug powers fix everything?"

"She releases a swarm of magic ladybugs that go around and magically fix everything. We don't really know how it works other than its magic."

"What about the people who are injured? Does it heal them, too?"

"Yes, as long as the injury was related to the akuma attack, it is healed completely as if nothing happened. It's even able to bring people who died during the akuma back to life," Alya replied. 

  "Memories of the experience, unfortunately, remain," Marinette added solemnly.

Stephanie and Damian both frowned at Marinette's words. Damian unconsciously rubbed the area on his chest where he had been stabbed years ago.

"How long has this been going on?" Stephanie asked. 

"Around three years," Alya answered.

"Three years? And you still haven't caught Shadow Butterfly or whatever his name is?" Damian asked.

"Ladybug isn't exactly what one would call a great hero," Lila said gently, "Don't get me wrong, she gets the job down, but not very well."

"She's also been slipping lately. It's been taking her longer to defeat the akuma since she got rid of Chat Noir. People aren't happy about it," Adrien added bitterly.

"Chat Noir?" Stephanie asked.

"He was Ladybug's original partner. They appeared at the same time and acted as yin and yang with each other. Ladybug has the power of creation, while Chat Noir has the power of destruction. But about seven months ago, Ladybug announced he had to take a leave of absence for personal matters," Alya explained.

"Sounds like he got fired," Damian scuffed. 

"He didn't get fired. He took a leave of absence," Alya retorted.

"Not if it's been seven months," Damian replied, "Besides, pretty boy over there said that Chat Noir was gotten rid of."

Adrien's eyes widened slightly, realizing he had slipped on his secret identity. Though, was it really his secret identity if he was no longer Chat Noir? Ladybug took the cat miraculous from him, and he had no intention of doing any of the asinine stuff that he had to "fix" to get it back. There was nothing wrong with him as Chat Noir, in his opinion. However, he realized this probably wouldn't have been the best time to reveal that he was Chat Noir, so he said, "Chat Noir was just my favorite, is all."

"I thought Ladybug was your favorite," Nino said.

"Things changed," Adrien crossed his arms.

"Okay…" Stephanie said, feeling the slight tension in the air, "You said earlier that it was Ladybug and her friends. So, does that mean there are others, besides Chat Noir, who help her fight the akumas?"

"Yeah, there are other miraculouses that Ladybug gave to people to help her fight the akuma, but she always took them back after the fight," Alya said. 

"How do you know that she takes them back?" 

"Because I was one of the people she gave a miraculous to," Alya replied, "The Fox Miraculous, to be exact."

"Should you be telling us that?" Stephanie asked.

She and Damian were surprised at how easily the wannabe journalist revealed her secret.

"It's not exactly a secret," Alya shrugged, "There was an incident about a year ago where all the temporary holders of miraculous were revealed, so Shadow Moth already knows my identity.

"And he hasn't come after you since then?"

"I don't have a miraculous for him to take, and no one knows Ladybug's identity, so going after me is kind of pointless."

"Did Ladybug at least give you some kind of training or something before giving you the miraculous?" Stephanie asked.

"No, Trixx, the kwami, the being living inside the miraculous and the source of the magic powers, gave me a quick explanation of the powers, and I suited up. The rest came surprisingly naturally."

Damian and Stephanie stared at her in disbelief. There was quite a bit of information in those couple of sentences, and it took them a moment to process it all.

"So, let me get this straight. You were given a magical item with a living being inside of it, which is its own thing, get a brief explanation of its powers, and get told to fight Shadow Moth's akumas with no training whatsoever," Stephanie said.

The Parisians winced at Stephanie's description of Alya receiving her miraculous. 

"Well, you put it like that; it does sound kind of bad," Alya replied, shrinking back slightly.

"Kind of bad?" Stephanie rhetorically asked, "It's not just bad; it's crazy. What was Ladybug thinking? You were what, fourteen or fifteen at the time? You're a random citizen without training being sent to fight superpowered villains. Not to mention a kid. Who sends a kid to fight supervillains?"

"Batman," Marinette said without hesitation, trying to keep a scowl off her face. She wasn't happy about how Stephanie had put her giving out the miraculous to her former friends. Granted, she wasn't wrong, and her point was valid. Marinette could see how her giving out the miraculouses, seemingly random, looked bad and wasn't the best course of action. But that's how she became Ladybug, so she went with what she knew. No offense to Master Fu, but he wasn't the best mentor in the world and didn't really teach her much outside of translating the Miraculous book. 

"Touché," Stephanie replied, "but at least he trains them before sending them out into the field."

"How would you know?" Marinette raised an eyebrow.

"Being a Wayne has its downsides. One of which involves getting to see the bat family on occasion. And as someone well-versed in many different types of martial arts, I can confirm that Robin, at least the current Robin, does possess training in martial arts," Damian answered.

Marinette huffed in defeat. She didn't bother calling him on his martial arts exercise. She could see from one look that he had a fit and toned body under his clothes. Plus, she had Kagami as a friend, so it would be no surprise if the billionaire's son had some martial arts skills.

"Yes, well, there is still a chance that Ladybug might give you a miraculous again, Alya," Lila said to Alya, though it was loud enough for everyone on the bus to hear.

"What do you mean?" Alya asked, slightly confused.

"Well, Ryuko and Viperion have been seen, which we know are Kagami and Luka," Lila clarified, not missing the chance to make Ladybug look even worse than she already was.

Marinette couldn't help but roll her eyes at Lila's comment, which luckily went unnoticed by Stephanie and Damian, who exclaimed, "WHAT!?"

"Are you saying that Ladybug gave a miraculous to people whose identity was known?" Damian asked, cold anger lacing his voice.

The French class was taken aback by the anger in his voice and nodded.

"What was she thinking? Doesn't she know how utterly moronic that is? Is she insane or just an imbecile?" Damian asked.

While the French class didn't understand every word Damian said, they understood enough for Lila to reply, "Both."

"Does she not realize the danger she put those two in by giving them miraculous again? I bet Shadow Moth threatened to kill their family if they didn't hand over the miraculous, didn't he?" Damian continued.

No one answered him, but the looks on their faces were more than enough to tell him the answer.

Damian opened his mouth to continue, but Stephanie cut him off. "Damian, I think that's enough. This might be a sensitive topic for some of them."

She subtly gestured to Marinette, who was gripping her bag in her lap tightly, staring straight ahead with labored breathing.

Damian looked at Marinette briefly before scowling, crossing his arms, and sinking into his seat.

Stephanie let out a sigh of relief that he listened to her. She then looked back at the rest of the class with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. He can be a little intense at times."

"Don't worry about it. It's all cool, dudette. Takes more than that to bother us," Nino waved her concern away.

"Well, that's good. I think we are also at the hotel, so why don't you start getting ready to get off? The less time spent on the street in Gotham, the better," Stephanie replied, and everyone started to arrange their bags for a quick departure.

Stephanie took out her phone and sent a quick text to Barbara. 

You get all that?

"Yeah, B, isn't going to be happy about it, though," Barbara said through the earpiece in Stephanie's ear.

Yeah, something is definitely going on in Paris. I'll see if I can't get a little more out of Marinette when I take her shopping to get a new jacket.

"Are you seriously going to take Marinette shopping?" Barbara chuckled.

Of course. You know how cold it can get in Gotham. She'll be freezing the entire time she's here. Plus, since it'll be a part of the French class's time here, I can put it on the company card. ;)

"Clever," Barbara smirked, "Just don't overdo it."

No promises ;P

A few minutes later, the bus pulled up to the hotel. The hotel was The Gotham Tower. The outside lived up to the name, having a gothic look, complete with gargoyles. The French class, plus Damian and Stephanie, got off the bus with their bags and went into the hotel. The hotel lobby was very similar to the Le Grand Paris, owned by the mayor of Paris, though with a darker color scheme. 

Stephanie guided them to the front desk and got their card keys from the receptionist.

"Alright, so for the boys, we have Adrien, Ivan, and Max sharing a room, with Nathaniel, Nino, and Kim sharing the other. For the girls, Alix, Alya, Lila, and Sabrina are sharing a room, with Rose, Juleka, Myléne, and Ms. Bustier sharing a room," Stephanie said. "Your rooms are on the thirty-fourth floor. Marinette, you're in the penthouse on the thirty-fifth floor. You should find a packet with a quick review of safe procedures and emergency contact information."

Everyone perked up at the mention of the penthouse.

"Wait, why does Marinette get a penthouse, and the rest of us have to share rooms?" Alya asked.

"Mr. Wayne decided to reward the winners of the contest with a stay in the penthouse," Stephanie answered, "Though Marinette could have asked for some of you girls to room with her."

Stephanie glanced at Marinette.

"I like my privacy," She deadpanned.

"More like you're just selfish," Alya scuffed, switching to French.

"Mlle. Bustier approved it," Marinette replied in French.

"I most certainly didn't not," Mlle. Bustier said, also in French.

"It was in the paperwork I gave you to look over and sign," Marinette replied.

"I don't remember seeing it."

"It was in there. I double-checked to make sure it was in the stack of papers I gave you."

Mlle. Bustier opened her mouth to say something, but Stephanie cut her off.

"I'm sorry, my French isn't the best, and you all are talking a bit fast, so I'm having a bit of trouble understanding you," Stephanie said in English, "but from what I can understand, there is some sort of problem with Marinette being in the penthouse."

"Yes, I wasn't aware that she would be staying separate from the rest of the class, much less by herself," Mlle. Bustier said in English.

"And I told her it was in the paperwork I gave her to look over and sign," Marinette added, switching back to English.

"Well, this would have been a part of the paperwork we would have had you sign. Whether or not you remember signing the paperwork for it doesn't really matter as it was signed. I would not have a key to the penthouse to give to Marinette otherwise," Stephanie held up the card key to the penthouse for emphasis.

"Yes, well… while that may be true," Mlle. Bustier started to get slightly flustered at her mistake, "I am not sure that I'm comfortable with Marinette being separated from the rest of the class, especially in such a dangerous city."

"Gotham Tower has some of the best security in Gotham, and she is only one floor above you in a penthouse suite, which has extra security since the wealthier guests tend to book those suites. As the teacher, your key card accesses all the rooms you and your students are staying in, including Marinette's penthouse suite. She will be perfectly safe."

"That's all well and good, but I'm more concerned about her sneaking off and causing trouble. She has been quite the troublemaker for quite some time now, and I don't want her getting herself or anyone else hurt."

Stephanie turned to look at Marinette with a skeptical look. She had difficulty believing that the inspiring fashion designer would be a troublemaker. Her doubt grew as Marinette shrank in on herself, trying to make herself smaller under her gaze.

"Okay, be that as it may," Stephanie said, letting the doubt seep into her voice for a second, "she, along with all of you, can't leave this building without an escort approved by WE, remember? That is part of the security plan for this trip, and security knows all your faces. Not many kids besides your class are currently staying at Gotham Tower. So, they won't let any of you leave without an escort. She is safe and cannot cause any trouble. If she happens to break or destroy anything, then a bill will be sent to her parents. You have nothing to worry about."

Mlle. Bustier scowled, unable to find any errors in her logic.

"But isn't it unfair that Marinette gets the penthouse suite all to herself," Alix chimed in. 

"If she wanted to have some of you stay in the penthouse with her, she could have filled it out on the form," Stephanie replied to Alix, then turned to Marinette, "Now, if you weren't aware of that, or changed your mind, we can contact their parents to get their permission, and they can share the penthouse with you. I think there is enough room for five people total in your suite."

"I'll stick with my previous answer of I like my privacy," Marinette replied.

"Well, I can't force you to have roommates, so here's your room key," Stephanie said, handing her the key card.

"Thanks," Marinette took the key card and started heading toward the elevator.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Alya asked, grabbing Marinette's left wrist.

  "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Marinette shouted instinctively in French and ripped her wrist from Alya's grasp, causing the reporter girl to stumble back.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

Realizing what she had just done, Marinette blushed deeply and escaped towards the elevators. Luckily, an elevator was already on the ground floor, so an elevator door opened the second after she pressed the button. She disappeared into the elevator the next second.

Everyone watched Marinette disappear into the elevator.

"Are you okay?" Lila asked Alya, who had stumbled back into her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Alya replied, brushing the nonexistent dust off her clothes.

"Jeez, what's her deal?" Alix asked.

"She's just a selfish attention whore," Alya replied.

Stephanie watched the interaction quietly. She wasn't quite sure what to think of what she just witnessed. None of it made any sense to her. Marinette seemed like a perfectly kind and sweet girl, yet her classmates treated her like she was some social outcast. Granted, it seemed like Marinette wanted about as much to do with her classmates as they wanted to do with her.

She wondered if Marinette had lied about what she wrote in her essays, but she also felt that there was more going on than she saw.

"Okay, well, here are your key cards," Stephanie passed out the rest of the key cards, "Again, there is an information package in your rooms with security and emergency contact information. Also, room service and the restaurant on the fourteenth floor are free; just don't go crazy. Any questions before I leave? No, good."

Stephanie turned and left the rest of the French class before they could ask any questions they actually had.

"What was that all about?" Damian asked when Stephanie got within range.

"Just some classroom drama, I think," Stephanie replied.

"You think?" Damian raised an eyebrow.

"Something weird is going on. And I don't just mean with Paris," Stephanie replied.

"Okay, so what are you going to do?" 

"Try to get to the bottom of it, of course," Stephanie replied, taking out her phone.

She entered the number Marinette gave them for the contest into her phone and sent a text.

When the elevator door opened on the 35th floor, Marinette rushed out of the elevator and to her penthouse suite. She quickly pressed the key card against the scanner. It beeped as it unlocked. She slipped inside the penthouse, shutting the door firmly behind her. She pressed her back to the door as she slumped to the ground. Her breathing was erratic, and her heart pounded in her chest. 

Marinette grabbed her left wrist as she felt it ache. The injury had healed several months ago, but that still didn't mean it didn't ache occasionally, especially during cold weather. Alya grabbing her wrist and her yanking it free only aggravated the tender area.

Marinette also mentally scolded herself for her outburst in the lobby. She knew better than to yell at her classmates, which would only get her in more trouble. Not to mention Mlle. Bustier told Stephanie directly that she was a troublemaker, and her outburst probably reinforced that notion.

What if her outburst got back to Mr. Wayne? What if he thought she was lying about what she put in her essays so that she could get the class trip and send them all home? Sure, she left out the bullying in the essays, but she truly believed most of her classmates were good people, though very gullible. 

Marinette was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Tikki, Plague, Kaalki, and Mullo come out of her bag. She also didn't notice Tikki and Plagg hug her hands while Kaalki and Mullo hugged her head, nor did she hear Tikki calling her name.

Not until all four of kwamis shouted her name did she jolt out of her spiraling thoughts and look at Tikki and Plagg. Kaalki and Mullo came into view a second later.

"Marinette, it's okay. Everything is going to be okay," Tikki rested a tiny paw on Marinette's right hand, which gripped her left wrist so tight her fingers were white. 

Marinette slowly relaxed her grip, wincing at the finger marks on her wrists.

"That will leave a mark. Hopefully, Tikki's healing boost will heal it before tomorrow," She thought.

"Yeah, everything is going to be okay, kid," Plagg said, sitting down in Marinette's left palm and gently nuzzling her thumb.

Marinette started to use her thumb to pet Plagg's head out of habit. Her body started to relax.

"Yes, don't forget we are here for you," Kaalki said, and Mullo nodded in agreement.

"Does your wrist hurt?" Tikki asked.

"A little bit," Marinette muttered.

Tikki, Kaalki, and Mullo all started to massage her sore wrist.

Marinette shifted position. She brought her knees up close to her chest to rest her elbows on them. She kept her left arm out straight but bent her right to rest her hand on her left elbow. She also rested her head on her right arm and watched the kwamis massage her wrist as she continued to pet Plagg with her thumb.

They stayed in peaceful silence for several minutes as the pain slowly faded.

The peaceful atmosphere couldn't last forever. Marinette felt the phone she used for school buzz in her pocket. She sighed in annoyance. She thought about just ignoring it but remembered that it could be someone from WE. She dug her phone out of her pocket and saw that she had got a message from an unknown number. She gave it a confused look and opened it.

Hey, Marinette, this is Stephanie. I was given your number in case I needed to contact you. I'm just checking to see if you are okay since you ran off suddenly.

"Who is it?" Mullo asked.

"It's Stephanie. She's checking to see if I'm okay after suddenly running off," Marinette answered before replying to Stephanie's text.

I'm doing fine. Thank you for checking on me.

Marinette added Stephanie's number to her list of contacts and got another message from Stephanie.

That's good to hear. I know we talked about going shopping to get you a new jacket before getting distracted by the Paris superheroes. I'm letting you know that I was serious about that, and with your classmates distracted with getting settled into their rooms. I think it would be an excellent opportunity to go shopping for that jacket. Gotham gets quite cold, after all.

Marinette thought about it for a second before replying. 

Thank you for the offer, but I'm not really feeling up to it at the moment. You know, jet lag and all that.

  Marinette got up from her spot on the floor. She took the opportunity to look around the penthouse suite. 

The suite was divided into two main rooms. One was a common area that had a large leather couch with two recliners around a glass coffee table. The far wall had floor-to-ceiling windows, with a glass door that led to a small balcony. To the right of the common area was a sliding wall that opened to reveal a king-size bed with black silk sheets. A door in the bedroom led to a bathroom with a shower and a bathtub. 

Marinette's school phone buzzed with another message from Stephanie.

That's understandable. But are you sure that you'll be okay without a jacket?

I packed a couple long long-sleeved shirts. So, I should be fine for a couple days. Marinette replied.

Alright, if you say so.

Thanks anyways. Marinette replied.

No problem.

Marinette didn't feel a reply was necessary, so she placed her school phone on the coffee table and unpacked her bags.