Dawn of Investigation

At least two souls knew that some sort of trickery was afoot. Alya Césaire and Cat Noir. The news was widespread and showed on every screen that the news outlets could get their hands on, and because of that, both the leading lady of the Ladyblog and Ladybug's number one partner heard about everything, and they both believed it was a load of bull. Thankfully, Adrien Agreste was left alone to practice piano, but even he knew that the schedule Gabriel had was tight and he would have to return and de-transform from being Cat Noir in less than thirty minutes. He was glad that the timer on his miraculous only counts down after he summons his ability.

Roger Raincomprix arrives at the scene, he was out of breath just from the sprint from his car to the scene. He saw one of his superiors looking at the scene. A man by the name of Pierre Lefevre, he was the capitaine de police. Pierre was a fellow 184cm in height (6' for Americans) and he had black hair with a windswept look, dark mysterious green hued eyes and a grumpy face with some bags under his eyes to accompany it. He had a moustache, but no beard. He wore a black suit and a black tie with a white shirt.

"Oh, captain!" Roger exclaimed. "I had no idea you were assigned this case."

"Lieutenant Raincomprix, I am surprised that the mayor even gave you such a title, bypassing the commissioner and I." Pierre noted in his deep voice, he had a serious tone. "In any case, there is good reason that you have been kept out of the loop."

"Oh? And what is that, sir?" Roger asked.

"You and your daughter have been akumatized. You on multiple occasions, we are of course ignoring that one time a little girl somehow turned you into Rogercop with a doll as you didn't speak the way you did during the first time you were a villain." Pierre chuckled. "Regardless, the point is that Ladybug has saved you and your daughter from the darkness of your emotions and her emotions. It is for this reason that you've been conflicted out."

"But sir... I—" But Roger is cut off.

"Frankly I don't care what you have to say, 'I can do it, sir, I can keep my emotions in check.' Well if you could, you wouldn't be akumatised all the time." Pierre remarked, his voice full of anger.

"It was only three times, sir." Roger countered.

"Precisely, the fact that you remember is enough to have you dismissed. You can't think with a clear head, you don't ease up on simple misdemeanors. Someone drops a piece of paper and you go immediately in and give them a ticket. Has Ladybug not taught you a drop of compassion, have you ever thought 'oh, maybe they are having a bad day?' Yes, the law is the law, but with Monarch messing things up by latching onto negative emotions, we have to stop upholding the law and talk things out instead of drowning people in tickets!"

"I... I had no idea you felt that way, sir, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"You know how it is, I have been busy and you and I don't get to interact as much as we should."

Cat Noir slides down his pole in front of the two. "Hey guys, it is I, the best hero in all of Paris, and the most handsome too."

"Quit the charm, kitty cat, and tell us why you've come here!" Pierre interjected.

"To investigate, naturally, now, I may not be as insightful as Ladybug, I mean have you seen the plans she's come up with?" Cat speaks, and he pauses purposely hoping to be asked a question.

"Oh, I am dying to find out." Pierre relays with some good acting but heavy sarcasm.

Cat Noir then goes on to describe, in his own charming way, how they defeated Backwarder. "And you know what's really funny? When Ladybug and I reclaimed the bunny miraculous, I spoke backwards again, and I wasn't even under the influence of Backwarder's powers!" Cat laughed heavily. He sure does enjoy his own humor, but always too much.

Now Ayla makes her own appearance, and she is mad.

"Ah, the Ladyblogger!" Pierre noted. "Good, now I don't have to go looking for you."

Ayla stomps up to Pierre and pokes him in his chest. "You listen to me, I have known Ladybug before she even gave herself a superhero name, and she has allowed me to interview her twice. I know her very well, and she would never have killed anybody, not even Monarch who has it coming to him more then anybody else."

At the mention of Monarch deserving death, Cat looks down sadly at his ring and a flash appears in his mind that makes him freak out a bit.

"Cat Noir, are you okay?" Roger asked, noticing the distress.

"I'm okay, its just... I don't agree with Alya." Cat adds.

"I didn't ask you to agree. Freedom of the press, you know, I can say what I want and you can say what you want." Alya explained. "As for you, captain, I hope you don't plan on arresting Ladybug for this."

"It doesn't look like I have any other choice." Pierre added. "You claim to be the number one source for the heroics performed by Ladybug and Cat Noir, and I have done what you've instructed and 'stayed connected.' So you, above everyone else, should know that we have what happened on camera."

"Yeah, I saw it, and I bet it was just an illusion!" Alya added.

"Nah, it wasn't. We're doing tests now, but so far, the fingerprints on the body match samples of things we know she's touched at school as well as samples from the place she was staying. We are doing DNA tests to see if she is related to the person who claims to be her mother. Also, the body never disappeared when it was touched, and you should know that illusions vanish upon physical contact." Pierre explained.

Alya was a bit taken aback, and nervous that somehow the events of 'Miracle Queen' had become widespread and that her identity was exposed to more people than just Chloe, Mayura and Monarch. She didn't really have to worry anymore about being Rena Rouge now that Monarch wields the fox miraculous, yet she was still confused how the captain of the police could know such information, did he know that she was the wielder of the fox miraculous before Monarch captured it? Maybe Chloe leaked the information? But if she did, wouldn't more people know? So she asked the question. "How should I know about that?"

Pierre, being ever prepared, opens his phone's gallery and therein was an image of Rena and Alya together. "You posted this to social media. Rena allowed you to include yourself and her in a selfie. That means you two are close, and although you didn't share online any information regarding how her miraculous works, it doesn't mean that she didn't share the info with you and asked you keep it a secret."

With one short deduction, Pierre had shown why he had earned the position he was in, and the way he pieced the puzzle together astonished everyone around him. "That's pretty smart of you. A good deduction." Ayla complimented after breathing an inner sigh of relief. "Yes, it is true, Rena told me in good conscience that she has to be careful that her mirages are untouched, even a leaf falling down onto one could cause it to phase out of existence. She told me not to put it on the Ladyblog, but I don't see why she'd ask me that as her illusions are so real that the only way to know they are fake is by touching them."

"Anyway." Pierre continued adding the new information to his notes. "An arrest on Ladybug won't be easy, I dare say it may be impossible. Without her civilian identity, we can't move in on her, and with the distrust from this event, we have already organized for someone good with writing to write a letter. We'll send one to you so you can post it on the Ladyblog, of course, and if you agree with the wording, we'll have it read on the news."

"A letter?" Cat Noir asked. "What will be written in it?"

"For one would be a simple request that she bequeath her miraculous to Scarabella for the time being, and another request would be to show her face to the public so we can process her through the legal system. But I think the law will be moving with or without her compliance." Pierre remarked. "The guys up high in the annals of the law want to do something unprecedented, they are going to do a trial even without the defendant appearing."

"What?!" Alya interjected while cat was in shock, but he wasn't paying attention to what was said after Scarabella's name was dropped, he felt upset that he won't be patrolling with Ladybug or fighting bad guys with her for who knows how long. "You can't be serious, that would be completely unfair."

"They are well aware of that, but the police are also looking into her identity." Pierre added. "The judges up top, including the chief justice, are only thinking of letting things through as we are faced with a crime committed by a faceless vigilante. If we knew who she was, maybe we can have a fairer trial with her in attendance. You and Cat there may be summoned as potential character witnesses, but your words may only be added to a record and you won't get to be in the court itself."

"What do you mean by all of that?" Alya asked.

"Well, most things about Ladybug are unknown. Her name, her address, her age." Pierre noted with emphasis on 'Her age.' (thus the reason its written in bold)

"What has age got to do with it?" Alya inquired.

"The justices want to do the trial in Cour d'assisses. That's why they have me down here to record what I can find, to add it to a record and then three judges and six jurists will determine if said record shows that a conviction can be placed upon the defendant. Of course, Ladybug will have a representative to argue for her side and to point out any discrepancies in the report or even have it tossed out completely by finding some alternate explanation. We already have the means, a lucky charm which has vanished, we have the motive, Ladybug hated the victim's lies and of course everyone saw when she took her opportunity."

"It all sounds ridiculous to me!" Cat finally spoke. "Ladybug would never do anything like what had happened, I'm sure Monarch is behind this somehow."

"It's not like the thought never crossed my mind." Pierre added. "With so many miraculous powers at his disposal, Monarch could make us think anything. And it's not like he isn't above murder, as I'm pretty sure some of his villains have accidentally killed some civilians, and the only reason it hasn't been mentioned is that the miraculous ladybugs that fix the destruction caused by villains also revive those who lost their lives during said destruction."

Cat was still unhappy. "I have to get going now, but is there anywhere we can meet tonight, captain and discuss this further?"

"Throw me your number and I'll call you when I find a place." Pierre relayed.

Cat shared the number to the phone in his staff. Pierre wrote it down. "I'll see you later ally cat."

Cat departs and becomes Adrien again just in time. A few seconds after he de-transforms, his bodyguard opens the door and indicates for him to follow.

"You were saying that you are looking into Ladybug's identity?" Alya asked.

"That's right, and since you are a character witness, I do have to add any statements you make about her to my record." Pierre noted.

"Fat chance, you would probably turn my positive adoration into some negative twist." Alya remarked.

"No, that would be the prosecutor's job." Pierre joked.

"Furthermore, I'd like to tell you that finding out Ladybug's identity is impossible, I should know since I've been trying from day one to figure it out and the closest I got was a history book for 9th grade for the school I go to, turns out she was borrowing it from our school, although why she would choose a book from my school is anyone's guess." Alya noted.

"She write her civilian name in it?" Pierre asked.

"I didn't see it inside, and it's not like I can check, she somehow got it back during or after she battled Pharaoh." Alya said sadly.

"Ah, too bad, well, we'll keep looking over her documented battles and see what we can fish up." Pierre remarked.

"I'm telling you it's impossible." Alya reiterated.

"Maybe, but you can't say she's always been perfect. She's just been lucky is all, but if you've ever gambled then you'd know that everyone's luck runs out and the house always wins, just as lady justice makes sure that the scales are tipped fairly and that everyone gets a fair trail. Good day, and I hope when we meet again, you'd like to contribute to the record I must build." Pierre bowed and departed.

Alya went to the bakery to look for Marinette. There was a lot that needed to be discussed, and Alya, being loyal, would never believe that her best friend in the whole world would ever lower herself to murder anyone unless it was in self-defense.