#chatgold finally sails

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: Captain Hardrock

Directory | Riposte

“Hey, Nino, where's your boy?” Alya asked as Nino adjusted the loudspeakers.

Kitty Section – the group their classmates had formed – was going to play as part of the city-wide concert Paris was going to enjoy today, and they had been invited on board of the Liberty, Juleka's mother's house-boat, where the group would be at. And, currently, they were helping organize everything so it would make for an awesome concert.

“He had something to do with his pops, he's coming after,” he said, testing the connections were alright. Alya winked at Marinette while doing a fist pump.

“That's great news, huh, Marinette?”

“Yeah!” the girl replied, smiling. “It's always great when Adrien can hang out with his friends!”

She walked away, picking up stuff while humming a melody, ignorant of the look Alya was giving her.

This girl's level of denial is amazing.

Suddenly, the box Marinette was holding to act as an improvised bin was taken off her hands.

“What are you doing, buccaneer?” Anarka, Juleka's mother, said, grinning.

“Oh, uh, cleaning?” she said. While the place was nowhere close to a pigsty, it was absurdly disorganized and could use a dusting or two.

“Ha! We don't clean here! Didn't ya hear from Juleka?” Anarka said, throwing the box in such a way that everything Marinette had collected became spread around the deck. “We keep it lively here! Everything goes on the Liberty!”

“Bonjour!”

Marinette gritted her teeth. Even here, she couldn't get rid of that.

“A princess is coming aboard!”

“Chloé?!” Marinette exclaimed, groaning.

“Aw, what?!” Nino complained.

Juleka walked up to her mother and pointed at Chloé.

“Everything goes on the Liberty except her,” she said, and Anarka nodded. She had heard enough of what the rich girl had done to her daughter, and there were limits on what she'd allow.

“Ugh, no red carpet?” Chloé complained as Ivan confronted her.

“Chloé, what are you doing here?”

“I'm here to see Adrien, obviously!”

“Huh? How'd you know about that?!”

“I heard he was coming and decided to grace your pitifully small concert. Aren't I the nicest?”

Ivan didn't bother with answering, knowing that the truth would come in by one ear and out of the other.

Instead, he grabbed her by her arms, effortlessly lifted her, put her back on the dock, and with Juleka and Mylène, pulled the plank.

“HEY!” Chloé shouted, as her plans were so easily foiled.

----

Since they had time to kill, Anarka decided to instruct the neophytes in the art of sailing (mostly Alya and Marinette, since Nino was still busy with the sound system) about some of the things that helped her run her house-boat.

“See, mateys, never put metal next to the compass, ya hear?” she said, holding a metal statue of a hand throwing the horns, and putting it closer to the compass. “The metal attracts the needle, like a magnet.”

“Whoa, it's going totally crazy!” Alya noted, picking the hand from Anarka and seeing the compass needle turning every which way around. She gave a knowing grin at Marinette. “Remind you of anyone in particular? Maybe a blonde someone??”

“You mean you and Nino?” Marinette innocently replied, and Alya began to blush heavily as this particular attempt to poke fun at her friend backfired. “Wait, neither of you are blonde.”

“No!”

----

“Those idiots are gonna regret kicking out a VIP like me!”

Why couldn't she just grab the earrings and leave?

“Chloé, you weren't invited! Let it go!”

Seriously, what was the use of being the voice of reason for a girl that refused to listen?

“Oh! Yoo-hoo, officer! I want to file a complaint!”

And, as luck would have it, it had to be the one officer that would likely take Chloé at face value.

Tikki prepared herself. Someone was going to get akumatized out of this.

----

Adrien played the last notes of the song, feeling his father's piercing glare behind him.

“Let's stop here,” Gabriel said, and he began to stand up when his father's next words cut through him. “Practice more and play it for me later.”

“But père! My friends' concert! You promised!”

Seriously, what was the use of Gabriel promising anything when he would just as easily break that promise without a thought?

“Not after that poor performance,” Gabriel replied, and Adrien felt ready to call BS on that. “You need focus.”

Gabriel left the room, followed by Nathalie, and Adrien remained sitting, crushed by yet another broken promise and losing the chance to be with his friends for his free time. With no one else in sight, Plagg slowly came out of his hideaway and floated towards Adrien.

“Hey, kid, don't take it too hard, K?” he said, in an uncharacteristically mollyfying tone; after everything he had seen Gabriel do, he knew Adrien wasn't going to take it well.

Much to his surprise, Adrien didn't answer, which left him worried.

“Are you okay?” he asked, approaching him further – until he saw Adrien was checking something in his phone.

“What do you think, pink dye or blue dye this time?” Adrien seriously asked. Plagg felt a bit weirded out by the question.

Well, at least he wasn't moping about it...

----

Nino's phone sounded out and he quickly picked up: by the melody, it was likely Adrien.

“Hey, man, what's up?” he asked, and Marinette and Alya turned to look at their friend, waiting for news on when he would arrive –

“Oh, no way, really?” Nino said, his upbeat expression turning sour. The girls knew what it meant. “Your pops is hella harsh.”

Nino listened a bit more.

“My favorite color? Why do you need to know my favorite color?” he asked. And he was as mystified by the request as the girls... before he listened to Adrien's answer.

Which made him turn in shock and alarm.

“ADRIEN, PUT THE CREDIT CARD DOWN!”

Whatever it was that Adrien wanted to do, Nino convinced him to, at least, hold off on it for a while before he did something drastic, much to the girls' relief, before Anarka came by again.

“Marinette, right?” she said, and Marinette nodded.

“Yes, uh, captain?”

“Since I relieved you of cleaning duties, would you go to Luka's cabin and tell him we're waiting for him for the rehearsal?”

“Sure!”

Anarka gave her directions to Juleka's brother's room – which, given that they were still in a house-boat, wasn't that hard – and off she went, knocking on the door before carefully opening it.

“Hm?” she mumbled, noticing there was someone meditating on the bed.

Oh! A cute boy...

She may love Chat Noir, but that didn't mean she was blind to anyone else's looks.

Then the cute boy – who had to be Luka – opened his eyes and smiled.

Gah! Cute boy looking at me!

And thus began one of the problems she'd always hated.

“Ma-Ma-Marinette!” she tried to present herself. “Uhhh, your mother told me to tell you to join the blood-GROUP!”

WHY AM I LIKE THIS? she thought, blushing heavily. The moment she calmed down, though, she was able to look down and away. What a great first impression, Marinette.

----

Being interrupted in his meditation by a pretty girl was not what he expected to end up with, much less his sister's friend that had helped her with the photos. Seeing her blush and shake her arms around was somehow a great combination of cute and funny, but it was clear that she didn't think the same, because she now looked unhappy.

“The group is waiting for you,” she managed to say. He thought he'd try to break the ice with a small joke.

“Hi, Ma-Ma-Marinette!” he replied – and immediately realized he had screwed up.

AHH! he thought. Instead of laughing, Marinette now looked even unhappier than earlier. You made her sad, fix it, quick!

Quickly looking around, he picked up his guitar and pick and showed them to his guest.

“Sorry, I communicate better with this. Wanna hear?”

“Okay...” she replied. Alright, he had a chance to fix it, he couldn't waste it!

----

As the last notes of the song Luka had chosen vanished, she felt her mood rise in happiness. He was an artist with his guitar!

“That's amazing,” she praised. “How'd you do that?”

“Music is clearer than words,” he replied, smiling, as he began to stand up from the bed. She looked around, and noticed a familiar poster.

“And you like Jagged Stone?”

“He's my favorite singer.”

“Mine too!”

Smiling, Luka gave her the pick he had just used to play his song.

“You can keep that if you want. I have plenty.”

Marinette admired the object in her hand. It was a simple pick: triangular, plastic, with a drawing that resembled Jagged Stone. But Marinette knew that it hid that, much like her own needles, it could create works of art in the right hands.

“Oh! Thanks!”

“Let's go join the 'blood', funny girl,” Luka said, opening the door, and Marinette felt her heart doing a skip... before she began to slap her face.

What are you doing?! she thought. Your heart belongs to Chat Noir!

She knew Pollen was looking at her with bemusement, but it wasn't as if she could explain what was going on to her!

----

“This year for the Music Festival, the City of Paris has organized a whole series of free concerts with great stars in prestigious places!” Nadja Chamack happily proclaimed in her news cast. “You'd have to be a complete loser to miss it!”

Adrien felt like punching the TV screen, but instead he chose to hit his table in annoyance.

“Why do you mock me, Nadja?!” he called the reporter out, even if he knew she couldn't hear him.

“Hey, at least you can watch online!” Plagg tried to console him, but Adrien wasn't going to take it.

“I only cared about my friends' concert, Plagg. I'd sneak out if Père wasn't gonna check on me later,” he replied, annoyed with his kwami partner.

“Is that all? Then I'll give you a private concert!”

Plagg cleared his throat and –

“CHEEEESE! You astound me!”

Adrien quickly covered his ears. He really understood now why Plagg was the Kwami of Destruction. He was destroying his ear drums, his brain, and the good name of music itself with this outright abomination against nature he was belting out. He didn't even have the decency to speak of something nice!

He wasn't one to scream imprecations. The one time he had told his father (through Nathalie) to fuck off was one of the few times he had.

But here and now? It deserved the cluster bomb of unprintable words that poured out of his mouth.

----

As she saw her brother coming out from under the deck, and into the stage, she could tell he had had a life-changing experience. The fact that he was blushing like mad made it obvious what it was.

“You met Marinette, didn't you, Luka?” she teased her elder (by just a few minutes) brother, who looked away, still embarrassed.

“Shut up.”

----

Alya watched as Marinette coming from the cabins' section, and noticed how intent her best friend seemed in looking at the stage.

“Whatcha lookin' at?” she asked, looking in the same direction as her, and realizing someone new standing with the others. Quite the nice-looking boy, if she had to say it.

“Hm? Oh, was I staring?” Marinette said, shaken out of her stupor.

“Is that Luka?” She gave Marinette a teasing look. “Is your compass moving towards a new statue?”

“Whaaat?” Marinette waved her away. “No! That's not – I just think he's cool! And nice. And so mature! He's really got it together.”

----

Meanwhile, on the stage, someone had not got it together yet.

She's looking at you, keep it cool man! Ahhhhhhhhh!

Fortunately, by the time the sound was on, and his mother picked up a microphone to act as MC, he was able to redirect his nervous energy towards what it really mattered right now.

Which was giving an awesome concert.

“Alright, First Mate Luka! Whenever you're ready!” his mother announced, and he readied his second pick of the day. He had to begin this in the most awesome of ways if he wanted to impress Marinette! He brought it down –

“STOP RIGHT THERE!”

– and he stopped.

“Huh?!”

Everyone looked to the dock, where a police officer they were quite familiar with stood, showing his badge and speaking through a loudspeaker.

“Mme. Anarka, we've received a noise complaint!” Officer Roger Raincomprix shouted, leaving everyone dumbfounded – particularly since they had not even played a single note.

“A noise complaint?! From who!?” Anarka demanded.

“Yoo-hoo!” Chloé called out from the police car.

“Oh C'MON!” everyone who had had the displeasure of knowing the rich girl yelled in unison.

----

As Anarka turned to the intrusion, the officer continued to speak.

“Mlle. Bourgeois has been traumatized by your playing!” the man yelled, and her daughter's bully hid her false tears behind her hands.

“It's true! They deliberately tried to deafen me with their music!”

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! We haven't even played yet!” Anarka shouted back through her ship's bullhorns.

“I have a witness, Madame!” Raincomprix said. And that really irked her.

“Ha! I knew you were a landlubber, but I didn't know you were a bootlicker too!”

She knew she had hit a nerve when the officer cast away the loudspeaker.

“Oh, you wanna go there?!”

“Bring it, you scally wag!” she dared the man, who immediately pulled out his ticket book.

“No authorization to dock here, no concert! And the mess! And the decorations!” He began to write down. “A ticket for your attitude, for provocation, for my sea sickness, and cuz I can!”

He realized too late that he would be unable to actually hand the tickets over, given that the plank was now missing. So, he resorted to folding them into planes and throwing them at Anarka, who surprisingly waited for them to reach her before balling them up, throwing them away... and exploding.

“YOU BILGE RAT SCUM!”

“And one for name calling!”

Then a black butterfly landed on her ship's binnacle.

----

He had to admit that this was... strange.

He prided himself in ensuring everything remained organized and in place, as it was the only way to make sure all worked as expected.

It was one of the reasons why he disliked the heroes – they threw off his plans to succeed.

And no, he wasn't a control freak like that employee of his had once said when he thought he was away. He was lucky he was only fired for putting two mannequins for that expo in the wrong order. That would teach him for misrepresenting his boss!

But now... he was in the hands of a woman that thought herself an anarchist – and actually followed on it with her children! He had even akumatized one of them. It was a wonder they weren't a wild bunch.

Well, he could roll with it.

“Captain Hardrock, I'll give you an indestructible ship to blast your music for all to hear!”

“Oh, yeah, that's a way better plan! I was just not gonna pay the tickets.”

Given what he had learned, he seriously doubted she would have had paid the tickets, anyway.

----

She smirked at the losers in the boat. They thought they were smart for pushing her out of the ship? Well, now they would learn to respect their betters!

“Bet you wish you'd let me on now~!” she sing-sang.

“BOOOOO!” Césaire, Couffain and Lahiffe booed. Ugh, seriously, here she was, lowering her standards to raise theirs, and that was how they thanked her?

Then her eyes turned to the guy next to Couffaine.

Whoa, wait, who's that?! He's cute! Dresses like trash, though.

“Who's that?” the cute boy asked, pointing at her.

“You know, her,” Couffaine said.

Yes! Try not to swoon from my name alone! she giddily thought; she knew all boys were in love with her, they just needed to meet her to prove it!

“Chloé Bourgeois.”

Immediately, the cute boy's face turned into something that, if she didn't know better, she would say was disgust. Which, in the Chloé equivalent of a Central Processing Unit, was something that could not be processed.

“Oh, her,” he said, and the Chloé Processing Unit was unable to register the fact that he sounded like he disliked her, since it was impossible.

“What's that look for?!” she asked.

The sorry excuse for a boat suddenly began to shake and transform into something like a ship from those pirate movies she saw. She barely remembered them, 'cause the only good thing about them was the cute boy that was the hero, but she did remember him piloting a ship like the one that now held the losers.

“Oh no!” Dupain-Cheng said, as the cute boy looked to the back of the ship.

“Maman?!”

She looked to the back, and saw a woman wearing some atrocious get-up that she wouldn't get caught in dead, along with make up that made her look like a clown and hair that looked like it was one of those characters in that super-boring thing she saw Adrien watching one day before she got him to change the channel.

“Your mother has set sail, cut-throats! I am Captain Hardrock! There'll be only one concert in Paris!” She began to turn that wheel-thing, and the boat began to move. “Next stop, Jagged Stone and the Eiffel Tower!”

“Chloé, that means your father is in danger!” Tikki said, popping out from her bag.

“Meh, just his lame orchestra.” Seriously, why did Tikki care about that? It wasn't made of important people, after all.

“What about that XY guy you like so much?” Tikki asked.

She panicked.

“Oh no, not XY!”

She couldn't allow this Akuma to hurt her favorite singer!

----

“To your instruments, sailors! Blast the decibels!” Captain Hardrock declared, but her children and the rest of Kitty Section laid down their instruments and looked at the Akuma.

“Maman, no,” Luka declared, trying to get her to stand down. Unfortunately, Akumas were not known for peacefully standing down.

“A mutiny, is it?!” She waved her spyglass, and suddenly chains flew out from somewhere in the ship. “Liberty! Capture these rats and send them down the hold!”

One chain went around Ivan and Mylène, who were face to face.

“OUCH!”

“Are you okay, Ivan?”

Another, around Juleka and Rose, with the former hugging the latter from behind.

“JULEKA!”

“It'll be okay, Rose.”

The third, around Marinette and Luka, who were (fortunately for their sanity) back-to-back, although that didn't keep them from blushing.

“Omigosh I'm so sorry!” Marinette babbled.

The last chain went for Nino and Alya, who were placed in a 'compromising' position.

“I'm not touching I swear!” Nino said, looking everywhere but the girl that was now 'trapped' between his legs.

Quickly, the deck below them disappeared, causing them to land in the cabins that had been turned into jails.

----

“Paris is once again under threat of attack,” Nadja Chamack said, matter-of-factly, as the title under her stated No Fun Allowed.

Finally! An excuse to get out! Not the one he wanted, of course, but it still worked out the same!

“Woohoo! Plagg, I'm ungrounding us!”

“Wohoo,” Plagg repeated: he was still salty about Adrien's complete lack of enthusiasm over his cheese song. But he still complied when Adrien called out the magic words, and Chat Noir jumped out of the window, using his baton to quickly reach his target in one of the Seine's docks.

“I can even check in on my friends–” he thought, but then an unwelcome sight showed up next to him.

“SCAR?!”

“There you are, alley-cat!”

“Good feeling gone,” Chat Noir complained.

----

In the jail that was also Luka's room, Marinette and Luka were struggling to get out of the chains trapping them together, unsuccessfully, as they were too tight to slip out of.

Marinette noticed, from the corner of her eye, Pollen slipping out of her purse and opening the lock with a bit of magic, causing the chain to fall from around them.

“Wow! How'd you do that?” Luka asked, surprised.

“It was–” Pollen began to speak, only for Marinette to quickly grab and muffle her, to avoid her from blowing up her secret identity. She then cleared her throat, in an attempt to mask the error.

“Erm, with this!” she said, showing the pick Luka had given her earlier.

“You're amazing, Marinette!” he said, standing up and opening one of the windows. Before they could jump, though, heavy steps sounded near the door. “Here she comes!”

And he waved her towards the bed.

Marinette jumped under just as a boot opened the door, followed by the Akuma.

“Traitorous knaves!” Captain Hardrock declared, aiming her sword at Luka. “Capture him.”

Under the bed, Marinette silently bid Pollen not to make a noise, which the kwami fortunately understood, knowing that they were in a pickle.

“That girl... she won't be able to go far,” the Akuma said, before dragging Luka away.

As soon as she was certain she was on the clear, Marinette transformed, and Marigold jumped out of the window, giving a way round to mask where she was actually coming from.

She really didn't want to give Hawkmoth ideas about her identity!

----

Atop the Liberty's deck, things weren't going very fine for the heroes, as they were unable to get closer to the Akuma without her using her power.

“Capture them!” she ordered, and chains flew at the two. Chat Noir was able to deflect them by twirling his baton, but Scarlet Lady, less skilled, quickly got her arms trapped.

“Hey!” she shouted.

“HA!” Marigold shouted, and a strike of her spinning top broke the chains holding Scarlet Lady.

“Marigold! You made it!” Chat Noir exclaimed, relieved.

“Haha! It's harder to sneak away than I thought!” Marigold said, scratching the back of her head.

“Ha! That just proves how much of a new-bee you are!” Scarlet Lady laughed, but Marigold glared back at her.

“Must be easy for you since you don't have friends,” she retorted.

Further discussions had to be put on hold when Captain Hardrock interrupted with a repetition.

“Capture them!”

Deflecting the chains, Chat Noir turned to Marigold.

“Got an idea where the Akuma is?!”

“Somewhere on the barge!” She had not been looking when the Akuma landed, but it was likely somewhere near the wheel.

“Then I can settle this with a Cat–”

“NO!” Marigold shouted, using her spinning top to catch Chat Noir's arm. “She has hostages! They could drown if you sink the ship!”

Chat Noir gulped at how close he had been to make a mistake.

“Oh! Good catch!”

“So? The cleansing spell will bring them back,” Scarlet Lady said. She said it in such a nonchalant tone that Marigold (who had known what little regard she had for other people's lives when The Gamer attacked) was shocked.

“Huh?!”

“Good lord, Scar, no,” Chat Noir said, disgusted.

The group split off: Chat Noir went up to distract the Akuma, while Marigold (and Scarlet Lady) went down to free the hostages.

----

Chat Noir put all his fencing skills into fighting Captain Hardrock. It was a bit hard, as most of his training was about dodging and thrusting, and this required more like parrying and slashing, but he was doing fine.

“Scally wag! Landlubber! Bilge rat!” Captain Hardrock insulted.

“That's bilge cat to you!” If she was going to insult him, at least she should use the proper insults!

----

“Scarlet Lady!” Rose and Alya exclaimed, as Marigold tensed her string.

“Let's get you out of here!”

With quick swings of her weapon, the chains holding the teens were broken down, and they stretched out a bit before they got ready to leave.

But Luka had something else to do, and picked Marigold's hand.

“Marigold! Is Marinette okay?!”

“She's okay! She's the one who warned me!” the heroine said, and Luka smiled.

“Wow, that girl is brave...”

Someone else in the room didn't share that appreciation.

Why's he so focused on Clumsinette?! Scarlet Lady thought. She knew what she could do, though! The cute boy would drop the new-bee like a hot potato when he saw this!

“Scarlet Lady will save the day with Lucky Charm!”

“Yay!” Césaire said. At least she had good taste.

Then the Lucky Charm landed on her hand.

“Eh? What's this?”

It looked like the thing the Akuma had used on her, but it was still a mystery.

“Well, save us, hero,” Marigold said, scornfully.

Scarlet Lady was about to make a retort, but suddenly two objects fell from atop.

Chat Noir's baton in its split form.

“Hoho! Your Miraculous will be my war treasure, minou!”

Marigold quickly jumped on the ropes to climb up.

“Chat Noir!”

“That idiot!” Scarlet Lady said, not caring much about him.

The two heroes left behind Chat Noir's baton... which Luka picked up.

“Guys, follow my lead.”

----

Marigold managed to force Captain Hardrock to step away from Chat Noir and freed him, but they still had to deal with the Akuma.

“HAHAHA! Liberty! Onward to City Hall!”

“Oh nooo, not the lame orchestra,” Scar said, once more showing her lack of care for anyone that wasn't herself.

Suddenly, the boat began to lurch.

“Whoa–! What?!” Captain Hardrock exclaimed. Then she looked, and there, at port, the group of 'mutineers' were forcing a large pole into the bottom of the river. “You–! Mutinous scallywags!”

The 'mutinous scallywags' were Kitty Section, along with Mylène, Alya, and Nino, who had managed to enlarge Chat Noir's baton to make it drag along the riverbed, but they had soon noticed a problem: Chat Noir's baton might be nigh-unbreakable, but that didn't make them nigh-unbreakable. It was taking the effort of all seven of them just to keep the thing in place.

“We're gonna be so sore tomorrow!” Luka declared as everyone put their all into forcing the ship to run aground.

“Stop redirecting my ship!” Captain Hardrock shouted, brandishing her large sword and jumping to slash them. “Haaaa! HRK!”

The change of sound was because Marigold and Chat Noir had grabbed the Lucky Charm and jumped so as to drag the Akuma towards the most obvious place for the butterfly to be: the binnacle.

“An opening!” both heroes shouted at the same time, dragging the Akuma away as fast as possible until it slammed into the binnacle.

Unfortunately, they had been going so fast that, while they did manage to chain Captain Hardrock up, they also crashed into each other.

Marigold internally complained: she wanted to get closer to Chat Noir, but not like that!

As for the Black Cat Hero, he attempted to make a sense of where he was until he touched the closest metallic surface.

“C-Cataclysm,” he said, destroying the binnacle and freeing the blasted butterfly.

Fortunately, Scar was actually able to do her job and purified the butterfly before using the Miraculous Cure.

Of course, that was more than enough to set off her hateful side.

“Your hero has once saved the day!” she declared, even though she hadn't even tried to fight the Akuma.

“Uh, didn't we save the day?” Nino pointed out, and Scar glared down at him.

“NO!”

Ignoring the usual, Chat Noir approached Marigold, smiling.

“That makes three Akumas now, right?”

Marigold looked at him, wondering what was going on... until he rose a fist.

“Bien Joué, partner,” he said, and Marigold felt like she had received every Christmas present she wanted for the next decade right now. But, instead of jumping in joy that Chat Noir was finally warming up to her, she mirrored his move.

“Bien Joué!”

And they bumped fists for the first time as Heroes.

----

Adrien managed to return home just a few minutes before his father arrived to his room.

He wasn't sure why the man was so intent on putting up some impossible standards, but, well, he could try.

“Play, Adrien,” Gabriel ordered, and he had an idea.

“Actually, Père, I was hoping we could play together?”

“Together?”

Was he wrong, or was there a tone of something weird in his voice?

“You know, since I can't go to my friends' concert,” he reminded his father.

Gabriel adjusted his glasses as he sat next to him.

“T-That won't be necessary, you may go to your friends' concert,” he decided.

Adrien quickly cheered.

“Really?!” He hugged his father. “Thank you, Père!”

----

Gabriel knew he had very different intentions to what his son thought.

He can't know I haven't played in ten years!

----

After Luka played a few notes, Officer Roger checked the sound level meter he had been assigned for this task.

“Well, it's a few decibels above the limit...”

Chloé was smirking, certain that she would get her way once more.

“But, what the heck, it's the music festival!” the officer said, putting the device in his pocket, much to everyone's joy.

“WHAT?!”

Well, not everyone's joy.

“They're breaking the rules!” Chloé yelled. “Do I need to call my Daddy?”

“Funny you mention that,” Officer Roger Raincomprix said, leaning down to give the spoiled brat a very nasty smile. “My daughter and I looked into it and turns out the Mayor doesn't actually have the kind of jurisdiction to fire me!”

Chloé sweated. So much for her plan.

And, for once, she understood she had lost this round, and beat it back to her home.

Much to Adrien's luck, as he arrived just a few minutes later.

“Hi, everyone!” he greeted as he stepped into the Liberty.

“Adrien!” Nino cheered, and Adrien's eyes went to the deck – and one of the instruments.

“Whoa! An original ZX20.4?! Sick!” he said, approaching the electronic keyboard with awe.

“You can play that, dude?” Nino asked.

“For sure!” He had played on one like this several times, and he had trained to play the piano for long.

“Then welcome to the band, Adrien!”

“Thanks!” he told the unknown boy. Then he asked the question. “What band?”

----

The concert was in full swing, and Kitty Section was now playing what they hoped would be their first hit.

“I Love Unicorns!” Rose sang, surprisingly intense for such a sweet girl. “Almost as much as my girlfriend!”

And she pointed at Juleka, who stopped playing her bass as she turned to look at Rose, both blushing and horrified.

“That's right, Paris, France! I have a super hot gothic girlfriend!” Rose continued, even as Juleka tried to beg her not to put her in the spotlight.

She had picked the bass precisely to stay out of it!

----

The crowd formed in and around the Liberty cheered as Luka's guitar strummed the last notes of the song, and the band bowed to their grateful public.

“That's a wrap!” Luka announced, and Adrien jumped off the stage to meet his favorite fan.

“Marinette!” he said, happy that she had been there to watch.

“Hey!” she greeted him, smiling. “That looked like fun!”

“Yeah, it was great!” he replied, sitting next to her. “I've never gotten to play with others before! Did I look alright?”

Marinette giggled.

“Yeah, super cool!”

“Really?!”

He couldn't think of higher praise.

With the post-concert party going on, Marinette apologized so she could check on the girls, and he kept looking after her, until Luka approached him.

“You know Marinette?” he asked.

“Yeah! She's awesome, right?”

“Oh yeah, really sharp too.”

“Exactly!” Luka did know how wonderful Marinette was!

“Really quick on her feet.”

“You wouldn't believe the plans she thinks up!”

“Very cute too.”

“Gorgeo–”

Wait.

He turned to glare at the sudden rival that had sprung out of nowhere.

What do you think you're doing? he asked with his eyes.

Luka just smiled back at him.

The gauntlet has been thrown.

----

After a long day, Marinette was finally back at home, and she admired the photo that was the jewel of her small collage, hanging next to the mysterious pendant she had received for her birthday.

“I feel so guilty for getting caught in Luka! Forgive me, Chaton!” she said, caressing the photo of her Chat Noir sticking his tongue out.

“You have no reason to feel guilty about liking multiple people!” Pollen cheered from her sit at her knees.

“Really?” Was she blushing? Yeah, she was blushing.

“Of course! It's natural! Queens often have many consorts!”

“Huh?!”

Wait, consorts? As in plural? More than one?

“You have your chivalrous knight to fight for you, and your lovely bard to sing your praises!” Pollen continued, ignoring her meltdown. “And a romantic prince to–”

“You lost me at consort!”

----

Syren

@zoe-oneesama Hawkmoth thinks he's the orchestra director, but he can't play a note worth a damn!

OK, sorry for the wait. I've been visiting family this past week, and having times to sit down and write were not easy to find. But, well, here we are, with Luka's debut.

Next chapter, we'll have what @msweebyness has been waiting for: the first part of the Kim/Ondine pairing's day in the limelight. Hope it's fun!