3rd POV
Aisling and Jacques shuffled uncomfortably as they watched the irate guardian pace back and forth behind her desk.
"So let me get this straight. I give you two orders to keep your eyes open for any potential, temporary, allies and you respond by getting Chloe to give me a recommendation to take a new hero on full time and then BRING HER HERE!?" She yelled slamming her hands on her most recent design. The two teenagers flinched and nodded to each other. They had prepared for this conversation, including the terrifying wrath of the former superhero. Aisling stepped forward and took a deep breath. This was it, she thought, all those years in a posh boarding school in Belfast preparing her for law school had lead up to this.
"Madam, we need a third member, between Monarch and Khaos we're spread too thin. We can't do this on our own, it's worked for us for a little while but it's only a matter of time before we can no longer withstand it. Please keep in mind the fact that we are TEENAGERS. We are barely equipped for this as we are-" Marinette cut her off.
"I was younger than you are when I got started, and Adrien and I dealt with Sentimonsters and Akumas both just like you and we came out fine." Aisling bristled under her reticent exterior but tamped down her emotions.
"Madam when you were dealing with them they were on the same side. You never had to deal with two separate, psychotic, supervillains creating other supervillains who were hell bent on killing you, each other, as well as the opposite supervillain that gave the other person their powers while taking the whole of Paris down with them. Quite frankly madam you had one, maybe two major villains who were working together to obtain your assets for what ended up being a noble, while misguided, cause. We have two people who hate us and each other who want to watch the world burn. We. Need. Help. And all that aside if we use the asset that Jacques and I have been discussing then we can use it's ability to try and find the kaleidoscope and ostentation." Aisling was still bristling internally but so far as everyone could tell her tone hasn't even changed.
Stella, who was listening from the other side of the door frowned in confusion. '"Kaleidoscope?" "Ostentation"? "Assets"?! I thought that this was a school not some kind of weird spy agency!' She thought as panic began to build.
"What asset were you discussing?" The woman, Stella assumed that it was Marinette, asked sounding resigned.
"The mouse, when we're on patrol she can use multitude to help us look around the city and cover infinitely more ground! I've been doing the math and if we were to have the ability to look in multiple places at once we'd be able to find them MUCH faster, maybe even by the end of the year!" Jacques' voice chimed in excitedly. There was a long and thoughtful pause.
"Alright, but only if Plagg and Tikki agree that this is a good idea." Marinette's voice said sounding pleasantly defeated. Then two small voices chimed in.
"Marinette, we've all been working on finding an ally and this girl is perfect! She's kind, daring, and has a clear sense of justice! Not to mention that I'm fairly certain that she and Mullo will get along well!" A squeaky, feminine voice said.
"Not to mention we're getting tired of doing all the heavy lifting around here, it wouldn't kill us to have someone cut down the workload." A small, masculine voice said lazily.
"Plagg you are the laziest little pox I've ever met, that is not what we practiced, c'mere to me!" Aisling's unmistakable voice yelled in annoyance.
"Even Miss Bourgeois liked her, and she didn't even like Bridgette for an ally role and she's your DAUGHTER." Jacques said. Aisling's head snapped over to him away from her current struggle with Plagg.
"It's interesting that you'd bring Bridgette up there friend, especially when you were so against her joining us in the first place." She said teasingly. Jacques turned red and stuttered, "Sh-Shut up!" Stella heard a shuffling from inside the room. She was about to walk away when she heard someone clearing their throat. Inside the office Marinette returned the miracle box to the safe and placed the mouse miraculous into a small round box.
"Okay, you can go get her now." She said a voice heavy with defeat. Stella stared up at the annoyed Adrien with a look of sheer rebellion as she tried to explain herself and why she was in front of Marinette's office. Unfortunately this look gave way to one of sheer confusion and panic as the doors to the office swung open to reveal a scene of frozen and controlled chaos. In the office sat Marinette who was staring at a box on her desk in abject anxiety surrounded by half finished fashion designs. Jacques stood with his hand on the door handle staring at her and Adrien with wide eyes as a small red thing floated by his head. Meanwhile Aisling was frozen holding a small black cat-like thing in one closed fist while pressing on its head down with the flat palm of the other hand and staring at Stella with a horrified expression.
"I er......... I was just looking for the restroom..........." Stella muttered nonplussed.
(Meanwhile)
"I don't know guys.... you know I don't like horror games, especially that one." Iris said nervously as her friend Maria held out her phone with the title screen for the latest version of the horror game Akuma Watch,which consisted of acting as a security guard in the Paris wax museum during an attack by Puppeteer, for Iris to take.
"Come on Iris, it's not even that scary, I already played through the game and it's totally fine." Her friend Lily said reassuringly. Iris' lips formed a thin line and she gulped nervously as she took the phone.
"I-I'm trusting you here Lily." She said timidly as her friends cheered and she started the game. As Iris played the game Lily and Maria gave her pointers as to how to play. It was going well at first, however the second one of the wax statues moved Iris screamed and threw the phone. Maria rushed to catch the launched device before it hit the pavement. Unfortunately instead of her catching it the phone ended up on the grass of the school lawn. A slender, bejeweled, and dark skinned hand lifted the discarded device. The three girls looked up at the girl the hand belonged to and frowned.
"Isabelle give me back my phone." Maria said glaring at her well dressed sister. Instead of returning it Isabelle inspected the screen and began to laugh.
"Wow, you're actually SCARED by this? How pathetic!" She said ignominiously earning a fiercer glare from Lily and Maria as they leapt to Iris' defense.
"It's a horror game Isabelle, she's supposed to be scared, and it's not pathetic to be freaked out by something like this!" Lily snarled.
"Besides, I doubt that you've even played this game before." Maria added accusingly. Meanwhile Iris was gripping her red scarf for dear life between her two hands as it's soft material provided her with comfort. Isabelle, seeing this immediately pointed at her and shouted, "Oh look! She's holding her wittle bwankie! What a baby!" With that final humiliation Iris ran off as tears welled up in her eyes and Maria punched her sister. Somewhere in Paris Monarch approached her open window with a grin.
"Well well, this IS exciting. Two powerful negative emotions at once! The deep seated pain of fear and humiliation as well as the anger of a tormented sibling. Whatever shall I choose?" She drawled menacingly as a white butterfly landed in her open hand.
"Let's leave that hatred and anger to fester a little longer shall we? After all it's better to make those little heroes squirm!" She said closing her hand around the butterfly.
"Go my lovely little Akuma, and corrupt this girl's fearful heart!" As the Akuma flew out of the window to Iris Monarch smiled wickedly, only to lose the grin as a knock sounded at her door. 'Shit really?! NOW!?'
(Meanwhile)
After discussing the situation with the others Stella found herself feeling excited at the prospect of receiving a miraculous.
"So you're telling me that I put on this necklace and become a superhero?" She asked failing to suppress a grin as she looked down at the small round box in the desk in front of her. The small grey mouse that floated over it, and everyone else in the room, nodded. Jacques and Aisling were grinning along with Adrien while Marinette looked dubious and worried.
"Brilliant!" Stella shouted as she clasped the necklace, no longer sporting the circular five rat pattern but a glittering pendant of blue goldstone, around her neck.
"You have to swear to only use your miraculous for the greater good." Marinette said seriously. Stella wiped the grin from her face and nodded stolidly.
"I swear." She said with as much conviction as she could. Marinette nodded in acquiescence just as an alert went off on a mounted tablet nearby. Adrien raced over to it and said, "Well it looks like the new girl is going to have to get some on the job training, there's an Akuma alert by your school." Marinette let out a groan and yelled, "Every time!" Aisling let go of Plagg and tossed him a wedge of cheese.
"Why is it that you kwamis always get lunch but we don't?" She asked bitterly as Jacques followed suit. Stella looked at the mouse and asked, "Should I feed you too little guy?" The mouse shook her head and Jacques said, "Your kwami will still have some charge from the last time he was fed so you won't need it yet." Stella nodded slowly and thought 'This is going to be a steep learning curve......' With their kwamis fed and the location of the Akuma in mind the three of them made their way out of the house and into an alley a few blocks away.
"Okay so this part is easy, you just need to say your kwami's name and the transformation phrase then let the magic happen." Jacques said with a grin. Stella looked between him and Aisling nervously and Aisling shot Jacques a small smile.
"I think we should give her a demonstration. Wanna give it a go Captain?" She asked a Cheshire like grin spreading across her features. He rolled his eyes and nodded to Tikki.
"You ready?" He asked, the little red kwami nodded eagerly and he shouted "Tikki, spots on!" Tikki was sucked into his earrings and he ran his hands through his hair. His auburn hair, which usually flopped into his eyes spiked upwards as if gelled as the tips turned black. His hands passed his face and a spotted mask covered his eyes. He snapped his denim over shirt and it was immediately replaced by a red, Kevlar-like vest with spotted shoulder pads and spots on his sides blocked off by black veins. Red biker gloves appeared on his hands and his pants and shoes were replaced by black pants with red lining and red sneakers. Finally a black utility belt appeared on his waist, he removed his yo-yo and snapped it in the air in front of him with a cocky grin.
"Okay Ash, you done spectating? Because it's definitely your turn." Ladybird said giving his smirking partner a good natured glare.
"That never gets old...." Aisling muttered before transforming. Stella stared awestruck at the two superheroes.
"Alright then! It's your first time so it'll be weird but trust us you'll get used to it." Jacques said encouragingly as Stella looked at her kwami nervously.
"Whenever you're ready just say "Mullo, get squeaky"." The mouse said excitedly. Stella looked at the three of them, Miss Fortune shot her a grin and a thumbs up, and she took a deep breath. 'All right here goes everything.' She thought.
"Mullo, GET SQUEAKY!" A rush of light surrounded her as a tawny suit covered her body. The light faded and she found herself looking down at a sandy brown suit with a white section on the front with studded black cuffs, a matching studded utility belt with what looked like a pink rope around it, and black boots with studs around the rim. Stella raised a hand to her face and found herself wincing as a clawed glove touched what felt like the edge of a jagged mask. Then, much more carefully this time she raised her hands to caress what she felt to be a slight weight on her head. In her hands rested and pair of mouse ears, or at least what felt like them. The other two superheroes shared a grin before Miss Fortune asked the question that they had all been wondering.
"So, what do we call you?" Stella froze and ran through a near endless list of names. ''Shiner?'No that sounds ridiculous. 'Splinter' then.... no I'm pretty sure that'll end up with me neck deep in copyright lawsuits. Then what about.....
"Call me Sunder." She said with finality. Miss Fortune grinned as wide as anything and put her fist out to her. Sunder returned the fist bump and shared one with Ladybird too.
"Deadly. Now let's get going." Miss Fortune said with a nod from Ladybird.
"You might want to stand back a little." Ladybird warned taking a step to the side as Miss Fortune closed her eyes in concentration. Sunder followed suit as Miss Fortune tuned out the world around her and visualized a rooftop balcony that she had seen by the school. With the image still held in her mind she bent down and placed her hand on the pavement before her.
"Black Hole." She intoned trying not to lose her concentration. A yawning void opened up in the ground where she'd had her hand and she took a deep breath.
"Alright, now let's leg it before this closes." She said before jumping into the void. Sunder took a nervous step back earning a lighthearted chuckle from Ladybird.
"Trust me, it's not as scary as it looks and it's totally safe. We've gotta hurry and jump through while we can though because she can't keep it open for long." He said offering her a hand. Sunder nervously took it and let out an immediate yelp of surprise as she was yanked through the apparent portal. The two superheroes arrived on top of a building across from the school on a small rooftop balcony. Miss Fortune was already there and was looking at something in concerned horror.
"C'mere to me Ladybird, you're gona want to see this....." She said not taking her eyes off of what was in front of her. Ladybird rushed to the railing and his breath caught in his throat as he saw an Akuma circling his clearly terrified younger sister. He quickly reached for his yo-yo, not taking his eyes off of the butterfly for even a moment, in hopes of managing to catch the Akuma before it could land. Unfortunately the second that he had whipped the string out to catch it the corrupted insect settled onto Iris' scarf.
"NO!" Ladybird yelled as the yo-yo stuck itself into the wall and he was pulled downwards just as the petite auburn haired girl was replaced by a green skinned girl with snakes for hair and a red blindfold in a suit that resembled an Ancient Greek dress.
"I AM TERRORLYZER! All will know the taste of fear! Starting with Isabelle Lavigne!" The akumatized villain yelled in a hissing roar like an oncoming flood. Miss Fortune and Ladybird both deadpanned and stated, "Yeah that tracks." Hearing this Terrorlyzer whipped her head towards Ladybird and began to approach him menacingly.
"Or perhaps instead I'll start with you." She purred ominously. Ladybird, his yo-yo still stuck in the wall worked hurriedly to get himself free. His akumatized sister bore down on him before he could pull his weapon away and he watched in fear as she raised her blindfold and a green light made its way to him. He clenched his eyes closed tightly in hopes that that would save him but instead he faintly heard a familiar voice call out, "Black Hole!" and a presence appeared between him and the villain. Ladybird opened his eyes slowly, dreading what he would find and gasped in horror as he saw his partner frozen in stone.

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A/N: Okay I know that this is the place from hell to leave a cliffhanger but let's be honest...... I legitimately couldn't find a way to continue this chapter after that last line............ please don't hate me 😅.....