mind over mask

thirty-seven

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Marinette's POV

Chaos erupts.

Chloe runs away to transform, and I know I have to separate from Damian. It's easier than I thought, because Alya is throwing masks at people, and with the entire senior class rushing towards the exits, it's easy to disappear in the crowd.

I don't want to leave Damian behind, but Paris needs Ladybug more.

I head towards the back exit, and escape to an alley that will give me the shrouded privacy I need.

Tikki flies out of a pocket I had specially sewn for her, and I don't give her any time to talk as I shout, "Tikki, spots on!"

I grab my yo-yo from around my waist, and launch into the sky. I find myself only a few rooftops away from Princess Honey, who is watching Truth Seeker from behind a AC unit.

Every akuma attack, the screams are engrained into my brain, but tonight seems worse than usual. I blink away the emotional pain, and I head towards Chloe.

"Where's Chat Noir?" I ask Princess Honey, crouching down next to her.

"He's not answering me." She says, trying to track his location on her spinning top, but ultimately, she finds nothing.

"Then we assume the worse," I say regretfully. Maybe Adrien is already wearing one of the masks that Truth Seeker has been throwing out.

Truth Seeker stomps around the city, searching for something. Someone, I realized.

"She's looking for Lila." I told Princess Honey.

"Why don't we give Truth Seeker what she's looking for?" Chloe asks sarcastically. Even though we both hate Lila, we wouldn't be so cruel to hand her over to a villain.

Her words struck with me. A plan begins to formulate in my mind. "What if—What if we give her Lila, then?"

"What?" Princess Honey, standing up and away from me.

"Lila wouldn't be harmed. Truth Seeker would reveal her secrets, and then, the akuma's anger would be placated. Then, while she's weakened, we can take Alya down."

I can visibly see Princess Honey considering my words. "It's a ridiculous plan. Utterly ridiculous. But it might work. Hawkmoth would never see it coming."

"See what coming?" A voice asks from the edge of the building. I wish it was Chat Noir, we could use a little lightness for this situation, but instead it's Nightwing.

Robin follows shortly behind.

I start, "We figured out how to take down the akuma. But..."

"We have to hand over a civilian." Princess Honey finishes for me.

"Are you sure this is the best idea?" Nightwing asks. "I got a bad feeling about this."

"If we give Truth Seeker what she's looking for, she'll reveal the secrets she wants to here. She'll be less mad, and then, less powerful. We can take her down easier, and then she won't control more people."

"Who is the citizen?" Robin asks.

I give up, "Lila Rossi."

"Don't you mean Lily Ro—" Nightwing starts, but it elbowed by Robin.

"Who is Lily Ross?" I asked.

Robin says, "It's not important. We'll tell you later."

"Fine," I say, annoyed at their own secrecy. So much for being a team. I guess that's how the Bat's worked.

A helicopter flew overhead us, and I hid in the shadows, as the news broadcasted this live.

"Since you are already so good at finding people, why don't you two go find Lila, while we try to minimize the damage," I suggest to them.

"On it," Nightwing says, prepared to jump off the roof.

Robin grabs his shoulder and gots him back. "No need. She's right there."

Lila running down the street in her heels, her skin suddenly pale, offsetting the orange dress that she wore tonight.

I crouch down, hiding behind the rooftop, and then Chloe does the same, peering over my shoulder.

Nightwing and Robin also hide, as we watch the situation go down.

Truth Seeker grabbed Lila, lifting her up, face to face to meet her. Lila squirmed in vain, struggling to escape.

"The moment it goes too far, we go and save her," I said, not taking my eyes off of Truth Seeker.

"Do we have to?" Princess Honey whispered, so I elbowed her in the rib.

Robin rolls his eyes, "The world would be better off without her."

"Robin," Nightwing emphasized. "What did we talk about?"

"Tt."

I watch in fascination and horror as, Truth Seeker placed a mask on her face, and Lila stiffened.

"Why?" Truth Seeker all but croaked, as she felt enraged and betrayed.

Robotically, Lila says, "Because you were a pawn in my plan. I never cared about you, you just were easy to brainwash and befriend. It was hilarious, because you were a wannabe reporter, and you never double checked your words. I almost lied about everything."

"And what about Marinette?" Alya asked.

"She couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to. And that was a problem. Everyone loved Marinette, 'our everyday Ladybug.' I wanted to be in power, to be the best, and Marinette was ruining that. I needed the class to hate Marinette, and love me. So I made a deal with Hawkmoth to cause akumas, which he agreed to when Marinette  was stopping them before they could even begin."

The akumatized villain stated, "Truth has spoken. And you, Lila Rossi—"

"My real name's Lily Ross." She replied, still under control of Truth Seeker. "I lied about that too. My mother doesn't work for the embassy. She's an accountant."

I turned to Robin, analyzing him. How did both Damian and Robin know about Lily Ross? And how could I not find a single thing on her?

"Do you even know half the people you talk about?" Truth Seeker's grip tightened.

Lila sounded strained when she admitted, "No. Not a single one. I only know Adrien's father. I don't do humanitarian work with Prince Ali, I didn't save Jagged Stone's cat, and I'm not dating Damian Wayne."

Alya's glare hardened, as she finished, "I'm not surprised. You deserve no mercy, only justice."

Truth Seeker lifted her arm, and winded up; I knew what was about to happen.

"Princess Honey!" I shouted.

Truth Seeker threw Lila across Paris, and her screams were lost to the wind.

Chloe took initiative, already running before I yelled at her. She yelled over her shoulder, "On it! I'll take her to the police station!"

I watch as Chloe catches Lila, and she leaps towards her father's offices.

Truth Seeker breathed out, accomplishing her objective. She shrunk a little, but the akuma wasn't gone. She still had to serve Hawkmoth.

A weight was lifted off me, as I know the entirety of Paris saw their conversation.

But this battle wasn't over.

"Ladybug..." Truth Seeker taunted. "You're next."

"Not likely." I muttered under my breath.

Truth Seeker's eyes glowed along with her hands, and every person who was wearing a mask started to walk to the villainized teenager.

"Find Ladybug, and bring her to me." Then, throughly, Truth Seeker commands, "Bring her friends along too. They may be useful."

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