A/N: Thanks once again to all of you who've supported the story through reviews and votes. It means a lot. Enjoy!

Sam, once again consulting her X-Powder, walked with the others down a sidewalk with mild traffic nearby and the Eiffel Tower visible in the distance.

"Same hairstyle and color. And the voice was similar too," Alex said, and the others nodded in response.

"How does no one else notice that?" Sam mused. "Aren't those two heroes celebrities?"

"Definitely. They even have a movie," Clover said, showing a newly-released film ad for it on her X-Powder screen.

"Oh, we are so seeing that ASAP," Alex gushed, gripping Clover's shoulder.

Sam and Clover smiled placatingly and Alex sheepishly released her grip.

"It's an unwritten superhero rule. No one knows the identity of the hero, even if they just put on glasses," Alex said.

Sam raised her brows at that, then noticed they'd arrived at their destination. The school was a tan, three-storey tall building with a blue slate roof and large arched windows. Well behind, and thus unnoticed, Ladybug landed silently from a yo-yo assisted leap and hurried after them.

"This is it," Sam said, "the place with the most incidents."

"Caused by negative emotions. Yeah, a high school makes sense," Clover said resolutely.

They climbed the wide flight of stairs and passed through the giant, open oak double doors. The trio were surprised to find themselves in an open-air courtyard with a few benches and a pair of basketball hoops on opposite sides.

A small fencing class had just ended. Clover whispered something to Alex and Sam, who casually claimed a bench near a green pillar, chatting quietly. Clover climbed a staircase to a second-floor overhang and walked by classrooms.

After a short while, on the ground floor, students exited the locker room, including a boy with spiky blonde hair.

"Same hairstyle and body type as Cat Noir," Sam whispered to Alex, looking down at Alex's phone, careful not to appear to be staring.

"And a ring like him too. Same finger, I think," Alex said quietly. She appeared to be showing Sam something on her phone, but actually snapped a picture.

Ladybug looked down from the overhang across the courtyard with a dark look.

"Spying on Adrien," she said lowly.

"Hey, Ladybug," Clover said from behind her, surprising the younger girl.

"Waaa!" Ladybug exclaimed, then faced the blonde. "Where did you come from?"

"Oh, I was just spying on you, spying on them, spying on him," Clover said, pointing from Ladybug, to Sam and Alex, to Adrien, ending with her arms twisted haphazardly. "Pretty surreal, actually," she added with a grin.

Ladybug shook her head, excused herself, and went down the stairs, followed by Clover, to join Sam and Alex. Not wanting to be noticed by anyone else, Ladybug pointed to the spies, then to the doors, and walked swiftly away. The trio shrugged and followed, then spotted Adrien getting into the back seat of a silver car with an intense-looking driver.

"Psst."

The trio saw Ladybug secluded by the side of the school, hidden from view of the pedestrians and quickly took the stairs down and joined her.

"Excuse me," Ladybug whispered loudly, "why were you spying on that boy?"

"Spying? We were just checking him out," Alex said innocently.

Sam and Clover barely resisted facepalms, while Ladybug glowered profusely.

"Not in that way," Clover said, waving her hands, "he's cute, but too young for us. And she's already engaged," she added, pointing to Alex.

"And the reason we're here, and all the other places we've been," Sam started, "is for investigating spots where akuma incidents took place. Including the bakery earlier."

Ladybug's eyes went wide, and Sam gave a placating gesture.

"We're not trying to expose your identities, Marinette- I mean Ladybug. We're just searching leads to find the mastermind behind yesterday," she said.

"Hawk Moth. We did some research. He's behind all the other incidents," Alex said.

"Take him down and it stops," Clover said with a hand on her hip, "it's what we do," she said with a disarming smile. "Oh, and we promise not to tell anyone your identity," she added.

Ladybug stood in state of turmoil.

They know?! Can I work with them to finally end this? There's been so many close calls...

Then the ground below them opened and the four girls went flying down an incredibly long tunnel, screaming in surprise.

"Sorry!" yelled Alex to Ladybug. "Sometimes they accidentally WOOHP someone along with us!"

"They? WOOHP?" Ladybug asked, eyes bulging as the tunnel walls raced by and they plummeted down the slide.

"Hold that thought!" Sam said.

They reached the end of the tunnel and flew through a trap door opening in the ceiling of a high tech, steel-plated office. The spies landed roughly on a red Victorian couch, while Ladybug twisted in the air and landed in a crouch just in front of them.

"Bonjour, ladies- and Ladybug!" Jerry said in his British accent.

"Jerry!" the spies replied, and jumped up.

They hugged the tall, elderly balding man. He wore his usual black suit with the coat open and sported a pencil thin moustache.

"You came here to see us?" Sam asked.

After being released from the hug, he cleared his throat and went behind the desk to the console and pressed a button.

"Yes, both you and Ladybug. I admit her being WOOHPed worked out quite well. This is a situation only she can handle," he said and looked to Ladybug, "it's an honor, by the way."

"Uh, sure," she replied. "I guess this is WOOHP?"

She glanced to her right out a wall-sized window to see agents in a large room a floor below. There were mostly men in suits and a few women on computers or in discussion.

"Indeed," Jerry replied, "World Organization of Human Protection. I've retired officially, and we're from the U.S. branch, but this office has followed your adventures with great interest. And we have a crisis."

The wall-sized monitor behind Jerry showed a live broadcast of a man on stage in front of Paris' City Hall, agitated by the questioning of a reporter. Jerry raised the volume.

"Some say your policies have failed to make significant changes this term, but you claim that will change," a stocky man with a hat and beard said from the front row of a crowd.

Next to him, a man in a suit frowned at the reporter, poised to remove him.

"A crisis of boredom?" Clover asked. Alex tittered, and Sam shushed her two friends.

The man on stage had a strong build, expressive green eyes, and short greying brown hair. He gave a slight head shake to the man next to the reporter and gripped the podium.

"I'll address that-" he replied before Jerry muted the sound.

"That's the President," Ladybug said, mind working.

"Gabin Maston, president of France, and we believe he's being targeted for an akuma attack!" Jerry said.

The four girls looked at him in shock for a moment. The spies looked at each other and used their X-Powders to change into their uniforms.

"Felipe's team is already there, but if the President is akumatized, it becomes an international situation. Thus WOOHP's involvement."

The door behind them slid open and a muscular man in a suit with shades held three pink heart-shaped backpacks. Ladybug would've chuckled had the situation not been so dire. The spies claimed them and looked inside quickly to examine the contents.

Ladybug heard a beeping from her yo-yo weapon on her hip and darted out of earshot of the others to answer.

"All gadgets are familiar favorites to avoid long explanations. Good luck, ladies!" said Jerry.

A vacuum effect from the above pulled the spies up through the ceiling to a chorus of yells as they went in reverse through the tunnel. Jerry was surprised to see Ladybug still in the office.

"How does that even work?" Ladybug muttered in wonder. "Mr. Jerry, the call I received was from my mentor. Can you send me to him?

Ladybug told him the part of town, and Jerry nodded, studying his console.

"There's something I need to get before going back to City Hall to join the others."

Jerry pressed one last button and the vacuum effect returned. "Good luck, Ladybug."

With a yell, she was pulled away and the ceiling doors closed.

A/N: A chapter without scene changes and a new threat. This ties back into the early chapters.

Just for fun: any guesses why the reclusive Gabriel was out of the house? The answer is less dramatic than you may think. :)

We're nearing the climax. Hope you enjoyed, and thank you.