Ghosts of the past
Marinette and Kagami were walking down a long, white hospital hallway. Marinette had her gaze on the floor.
“You know Mari, maybe you should consider putting your base in Miracle.” Kagami suggested, breaking the streak of silence that the two had kept for several minutes.
Marinette shrugged, her eyes remaining on the floor.
“Your friends are here, I’m here, the hospital your dad is kept at is here. And I think you’ve worked well with my team. What is keeping you in Paris?”
Marinette remained silent for another minute.
“I just… I grew up here. A lot of bad things happened here. Luka’s here. God forbid I ever run into him or Juleka. Why do you think I’ve avoided any establishment that has anything to do with music? My mom died here. In this same hospital, actually.”
“You can’t escape forever. Before you took this case, you’d have to travel to visit your dad and weren’t able to do so as often. He’s not going to be here forever. Why not move here while he’s still around to spend as much time with him as possible?”
Marinette raised her head up, turning to look at Kagami. “Your points are good. I guess I’m just… scared.”
The two turned a corner, entering the first room on the end of the new hallway they entered.
Sitting in the hospital bed was the rather large Tom Dupain. He wasn’t as muscular as he used to be, his skin holding a sickly complexion. Despite this, a warm smile formed on his face upon seeing the two enter.
“Mari! And Kagami! You been taking care of my girl, Kagami?” Tom asked with a kind tone.
Kagami nodded with a small laugh. “She can take care of herself. Rather good at it too.”
Marinette waved, remaining silent.
Marinette’s lack of a response caused Tom’s smile to twist into a frown. “What’s wrong, Mari?”
Marinette shrugged as she took a step closer to the bed. “We’ve had a lot to deal with recently. First we’re sent to catch Viperion once and for all, then Gabriel Agreste and Hayden Allard go and get murdered. We were going to focus on Agreste, but Lila then demanded we turn our attention back to Viperion. Luckily Chat came in with a small lead on his identity, but it’s still been a rather cold trail.” Marinette went and sat in a chair that was placed next to the end of the bed.
“I never liked that girl, Lila.” Tom shook his head. “You knew her in high school. I remember you always saying she was super mean and bossy. How’d she manage to get such a powerful role? You’re both the same age.”
“Because she’s very pushy.” Marinette answered. “If there was one thing Lila has always been good at, it’s getting what she wants.”
“Mhm.” Tom nodded. “So she’s getting mad at you for not catching this Viperion guy? Hasn’t it been over two weeks since his last public appearance?”
“That’s correct.” Kagami confirmed. “We’re not sure why he’s taken a step back. But she still wants us to catch him. That’s our job, too.”
“Maybe you should just let him be until he bothers anyone again.” Tom suggested.
Marinette gasped with a shocked look accompanying it. “What?! Dad! That’s not how this works! We’re cops! We catch the bad guys whether or not they’re currently acting. If someone has committed a crime at one point, that makes them guilty for the rest of their life and they still need to be brought to justice.” Marinette said firmly, slamming her fist into her other hand.
“Maybe I just don’t get this law stuff.” Tom let out a deep laugh, which quickly became a small cough.
Worry replaced Marinette’s look of shocked anger. “Dad! Are you okay?”
Tom nodded as he finished off his cough. “I’m fine, sweetheart. Just been a little short of breath lately.”
“You’ve been talking with the doctors, right?” Marinette asked.
“Not like I’ve a had a choice, sweetie.”
“Sir, how long do they say you have left?” Kagami asked quietly.
This question clearly shocked Marinette, who shot an angry glare at Kagami.
Tom looked at the bed. “They say 6 months at best. At worst, 2 months. The cancer isn’t progressing super rapidly, but it isn’t go slow either.”
Marinette threw her arms around herself in a hug. “Maybe you’re right, Kags. Maybe I should move here.”
“I’d love to have you, sweetie. But I don’t know how quickly you’ll be able to move.” Tom replied.
The chair Marinette was sitting in slightly shook as she stood up abruptly. “We should leave.”
“Marinette, we haven’t been here very long.” Kagami gently protested.
“We have a shift tomorrow. It’s late, we need to sleep.”
“Kagami is right honey, you just got here.” Tom said gently.
“I’ll see you again in a few days.” Marinette marched towards the door, exiting swiftly.
Kagami sent a sad look at Tom. “I promise I’m doing my best. I’ll help her. I swear.” After she spoke, she took her exit as well.
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“So it appears Viperion is continuing his pattern of not murdering anyone.” Chloe began. “For a while, he’s mostly only been doing small robberies. Last night me and Alix caught him on Harpner street again. Wasn’t sure quite what he was doing, but he didn’t get to do it as we ran after him. He once again got away. But he seemed to be on the phone with someone before he noticed us. Said something about ‘dad’. That could mean a lot, but maybe he was talking to his mother or a sibling?”
Chat looked at Chloe as she explained. That had been one he had gotten from Luka last time they talked. Chat was surprised he was willing to insinuate he had a sibling. But Luka insisted that Chat was right before, lots of people had siblings. And both his parents were out of his life, so that helped throw things off.
“I’m starting to agree with Lila.” Ladybug commented as she looked down at a notepad. “How the fuck has he been in front of our faces so many times, and escapes every time? It just doesn’t make sense. We’re all good at what we do. What does he have that makes him so special?”
“Maybe he’s a siren or something. Brainwashing people with his beauty into letting him go.” Kim joked.
Chat sent an angry glare at Kim.
Kagami noticed the interaction, but didn’t say anything. She looked at Ladybug, who was too distracted to pay attention to the two.
“We don’t need jokes, Kim.” Ladybug scolded. “We need action. Seems Chloe and Alix just got Lila her second lead. But we’ve got to actually do something with these leads.”
“I got you the records from all medical practices in France.” Sabrina piped in. “There was only four people that even remotely fit what you’re looking for, and none of them live in Miracle.”
“So he’s not diagnosed then. If it’s even true.” Alix said.
Ladybug looked up from her notepad, her gaze immediately locking on Chat. “You’ve been awfully quiet, Chat.”
This statement caught Chat off guard. “I-I just don’t have anything to say. We wait till we run into him again. Now we look for any suspect fitting the previous mold and add the fact that he may have siblings, assuming he wasn’t lying.”
“Yeah, sure. Sabrina, get on that.” Ladybug ordered, which prompted a nod from Sabrina. “But you haven’t had a lot to say at all lately. About any of our cases.”
“We’ve basically run to a dead end with my father. He wasn’t exactly a well-liked man. But I don’t think anyone exactly had it out for him enough to kill him.” Chat replied.
“Well, Lila wants us to focus on Viperion right now.” Ladybug responded. “We can’t rest until we catch him and he’s behind bars for the rest of his life. Hope he has a pretty face cause they don’t allow costumes in prison.”
“Oh I’m sure he does.” Alix said in return, prompting a weary stare from Adrien. “Not that any of us would know though! Cause he’s always wearing a mask.”
“We’ll find out eventually.” Ladybug’s flat, unamused voice said. “Now everyone, let’s get to work.”
Kagami studied Adrien’s face. Was that… relief on his face? This wasn’t the first of his weird actions. But they had been amplified as of late. There had to be a reason.
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It was about 6:26PM. The crew had gotten off work a bit earlier that day. Marinette and Kagami were both in Kagami’s living room. Both were currently sitting on their phones.
“Hey Mari.” Kagami began as she put her phone down.
“Hm?” Marinette asked, placing her phone beside her. She looked at Kagami.
“Have you noticed that Adrien acted a little weird today?”
“How so? He’s always weird. I mean, he’s been kind of quiet lately. I pointed that out. But other than that, not really.”
Kagami bit her lip. “Whenever comments were made about Viperion. Like when Kim made a comment about him being beautiful and brainwashing people, Adrien sent him an angry glare. And then when Alix replied to your comment about a pretty face, Adrien looked at her as well. And after you seemed to brush that off, he looked relieved. I don’t know Adrien super well but… I’m beginning to believe he knows more about Viperion than he’s letting on.”
Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Look, Adrien can be a bit of an airhead sometimes, but he’s a very skilled cop. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to keep information about a wanted criminal whom he’s investigating from us. Especially when Lila is on our ass.”
“Are… you sure? Adrien is a man who is very firm in his beliefs. What if he thinks about Viperion differently than we do? And if he’s getting mad at Alix and Kim for jokey comments, it could be likely that they know what he’s hiding.” Kagami said slowly.
“I don’t know.” Marinette admitted. “If he’s hiding something, maybe I should ask him directly. Adrien is terrible at lying when he’s being directly confronted by me. I just find it hard to believe he would do something so astronomically stupid. Are you suggesting he’s covering for Viperion? But why would he do that?”
Kagami paused for a moment. “I’m not actually sure. But if he knows more than he’s revealing to us, I’m sure there’s a reason. He’s a good guy.”
“I’ll get it out of him.” Marinette stood up.
“Wait— right now?”
“Why not? Ladybug is going to pay a little visit to Adrien’s hotel room.
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Viperion was lying flat on the bed in the hotel room. Adrien sat at the end of the bed.
“You look tired.” Adrien pointed out.
“I’ve been regularly scaling three floors of a building while avoiding being caught by anyone. Of course I’m tired. Shit’s not easy.”
“I could always go to your house. You said you told your sister.” Adrien offered.
Viperion shook his head, pushing himself to sit up. “No way. She may know about this, but she isn’t happy. She doesn’t entirely trust you. But mostly, she doesn’t trust that you won’t get caught by your coworkers.”
“Three of them are in on it. As long as Ladybug doesn’t find out, we’re good.”
Viperion shrugged. He adjusted his hood, which remained over his head. “Hey, I have something to show you.”
Adrien watched Viperion in interest as he re-adjusted himself to sit on the end of the bed next to Adrien. Viperion pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Adrien noticed the pure black case, laughing. “Pure black? You’d think someone like you would have a much more interesting phone case.”
“Hey, I do have an interesting one. It’s blue with music notes on it. This is just the one I wear on it when I bring it out as Viperion. Special looking cases are easier to identify. I actually don’t normally even bring my phone with me as Viperion. I just brought it today because I wanted to show you something.”
“Risking your safety even more for me, are we, Luka? Your sister is right. You have lost your mind.”
“Maybe so. But you found it.”
“That’s so cheesy.” Adrien laughed.
“It’s also true.” Viperion was doing something on his phone as he spoke. He seemed to quickly find what he was looking for. He handed to phone to Adrien.
Adrien looked down at the screen, seeing a paused video that appeared to be a camera pointing at the floor.
“Press play.” Viperion urged gently.
Adrien did as instructed, pressing play on the video. As soon as he did so, the sound of a beautifully soft guitar melody flooded his ears. A soft gasp released from him. Adrien remained silent, allowing the full two minute video to play. Once it finished, he handed the phone back to Viperion, looking up at him.
Viperion returned a gentle smile. “You said you wanted to hear me play. I don’t think scaling a three-story building with a guitar on my back would exactly be easy. So this is the next best thing.”
“It’s… beautiful. You’re right. You are very talented. Are you sure you don’t want to be a musician?”
“I don’t like the spot light.” Viperion replied.
“You’re a world-famous criminal. That ship has sailed.”
A husky chuckle came from Viperion. “People don’t know who I really am as Viperion. Viperion is famous. Not me.”
Adrien snapped his fingers. “That’s true. Maybe you could rec—“ Adrien paused his words upon hearing a noise come from the door.
“Adrien, what is that?” Viperion asked cautiously.
“The door isn’t being knocked on. It’s being opened. And there’s only one person that has a key to my hotel room.”
Realization struck Viperion, panic forming on his face.
Unfortunately, neither of the men got time to act before the door opened. Who walked through it was none other than Ladybug.
“Okay, Adrien. Sorry if this is a shock I texted you like 5 times and you didn’t answer but I need to talk to you—“ Ladybug cut herself off once her eyes observed the scene. She followed her immediate instinct, which was to pull out her gun, pointing it at Viperion.
“What are you doing here, snake? Get away from him—“ Ladybug stopped speaking once again. She observed the positions the two were in. They were sitting next to each other. Neither seemed hesitant or in danger. They were… relaxed.
Ladybug slowly lowered her gun, her now angry gaze turning to Adrien. “Holy fuck. Kagami was right. You do know more about Viperion than you’re letting on. Not only that, you’re clearly FRIENDS WITH HIM!” Her voice was now a loud holler.
“K-Kagami? Fuck. LB, please listen to me—“
“NO!” Ladybug hollered. “I don’t care to know what’s going on here. I know what I need to. You’re having a causal conversation with the most wanted criminal in all France! And I’m betting this isn’t the first time this has happened! How long, Adrien? How long has this been going on for?!”
“Just since we first came. It’s only been a month—“
“A MONTH?! YOU’VE BEEN GETTING FRIENDLY WITH A WANTED CRIMINAL FOR A WHOLE MONTH?! God, and to think I was willing to give you some credit! I told Kagami there was no way you’d do something so astronomically stupid, but I was wrong!” An upset laugh came from Ladybug. “Not only have you done something stupid, but you are officially the stupidest person I’ve ever met! So you’ve made a friend. Good for you! But this ends here.” Ladybug marched up to Viperion, attempting to pull him from sitting on the bed.
Ladybug was not successful in this action however, as she was quickly knocked to the ground by Adrien.
“Back off, LB.”
A short laugh came from Ladybug, but was quickly followed by several more, shortly shifting into a string of upset and maniacal laughter. Ladybug put her hand to her head, looking down.
“I can’t believe it.” She said quietly. “You’ve betrayed everything you were ever taught. And for what— a low life CRIMINAL?!” Ladybug screamed. “What could he possibly have that is so fucking special that it makes a world renowned cop break the law to protect him?”
Ladybug pushed herself to stand up. In a sudden movement, she swiftly round-kicked Adrien in the stomach, sending him flying several feet across the floor.
Adrien groaned in pain, causing an angry look to form on Viperion’s face.
“Let me repeat myself.” Ladybug began. “This ends here. I am arresting Viperion once and for all, and Adrien is going to jail for obstruction of justice.”
Viperion dashed over to Adrien, helping the latter stand. “How could you hurt him like that?! He’s your partner!” Viperion scowled.
“He stopped being my partner the moment he began to associate with a dirty criminal like you. Now we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Maybe if you willingly surrender yourself, we could go slightly easy on you.” Ladybug pulled out her gun again, pointing it at Viperion once more.
Viperion shook his head. He took a step away from Adrien, causing the blonde to look at him with confusion.
“I have a better idea, actually.”
“Viper, what are you going to—“ Adrien began.
“Shhhh.” Viperion hushed gently. “Adrien, my gun is on my back belt. Take it.”
Hesitantly, Adrien did as directed, gently removing Viperion’s gun from his belt.
“There’s a pocket knife in my boot. Take that too.”
Ladybug held her gun firmly, but only watched in silence as she watched Adrien remove the pocket knife from Viperion’s boot.
Viperion raised both his hands up. “I’m going to reach into my pocket. I don’t have anymore weapons.”
Ladybug raised an eyebrow, but nodded. She watched as Viperion put his hand into his pocket. He pulled out a small white case.
Upon recognizing what the item was, Adrien gasped. “No! Viper, don’t do this! Please!” Adrien protested.
“I don’t have a choice, little cat.” Viperion removed one of his gloves, tossing it to the floor. He brought the case up to his face, then a single finger up to his eye.
“Please, Viper this isn’t necessary! There has to be another way!” Adrien begged with desperation in his voice.
Viperion didn’t respond, only continued his actions. One eye contact was removed, it was placed in the case. Another eye contact was removed, also being placed in the case. Viperion slipped the case into his pocket, then rested his gaze on Ladybug.
Ladybug’s arms began to shake. “No.” She said softly.
Next, Viperion removed his hood.
“No.” Ladybug repeated.
Finally, Viperion removed his mask. He handed his mask to Adrien, then turned to fully face Ladybug.
“NO!” Ladybug screamed, her gun now dropping to the floor. “THIS ISN’T POSSIBLE NO!”
Luka only shrugged. “Long time no see, Marinette.”
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