#and i’m lucky in that a lot of the standard triggers are unlikely to work on me. but i can’t tell them what will work

[adamantine-ribbon]

i’m a person who needs to yap but has no one to talk to

[pretchatta]

swoon june day 4: battle couple

a mandalorian au

rating: general; kanan jarrus/hera syndulla; 1200 words

---

Kanan’s ears were somewhat cushioned from the sounds of the battle by his helmet, but it was loud nonetheless. He peeked his head over the debris he was using as cover to get a better look at their situation and was rewarded with the beskar ringing from the impact of a blaster bolt. A lucky shot; no way could a stormtrooper have done that on purpose.

His clan were responding to a distress call from a civilian ship that had been attacked by the Empire. The ship’s hyperdrive had been damaged, making it all too easy a target for the Imperials to shoot down. It had crashed in an open, grassy plain on this remote planet in the Outer Rim. Kanan didn’t know why the Empire was targeting them, but the passengers were lucky Clan Syndulla happened to be passing through the system.

There wasn’t much in the way of natural cover, but the impact of the ship had sent debris in a wide area. The wreckage looked badly damaged to the point that Kanan held little hope that anyone had survived it. Now they were here, however, he knew none of his clan would leave until they had checked for sure.

“Kanan,” a voice crackled through his helmet comm. “You and Hera check the east side of the crash for survivors. Numa and I will take the west. Gobi will cover us.”

“Copy that, Cham,” Kanan replied.

The stormtroopers were closing in, shooting indiscriminately at the crash site to hit either survivors or rescuers. The deep bellow of Gobi’s heavy machine gun started up and there was a temporary lull in the troopers’ attack. Kanan signalled to Hera and the two of them took off at a sprint towards the east side. Seeing her orange- and black-painted armour in the corner of his eye was as comforting to him as the weight of the blaster on his hip.

When they reached what remained of the shuttle they immediately saw their fears confirmed; the passenger area on this side had collapsed completely on impact. There was no way anyone could have survived, but Hera flicked on her helmet’s torch to peer inside anyway.

Kanan suppressed his discomfort at the sight of her exposed lekku protruding from the back of her helmet. He knew why twi’leks, unlike humans, couldn’t cover every inch of skin with beskar, but it didn't make him any happier about it. It was all the more reason he should be watching her back right now.

She turned back to him and started to shake her head, but stopped suddenly to point behind him.

“Kanan, look!”

He turned his visor to where she indicated. His helmet display highlighted the terrain features for him: rocks, crash debris and–

“Is that an escape pod?” he said out loud.

As he watched, the hatch opened and someone stumbled out of it. They were immediately beset by blaster fire and ducked to the ground, crawling frantically around the pod to use it as cover. From the proportions of the figure Kanan guessed it was a human child, no older than seven or eight standard years. Even from this distance he could see the child was shaking with fear.

No-one else emerged from the pod.

Beside him, Hera was moving. “We’ve got company!”

She was already shooting at the squad of stormtroopers that were advancing on their position. He joined her, pulling out his blaster and hitting one squarely in the chest. Neither of them bothered to find cover; they’d already been seen, and the few shots that managed to hit them merely pinged off their beskar.

They took out all but two of the white-clad soldiers, and Kanan suppressed a sigh as they continued rushing forward. Did they not teach anything at the Imperial Academy? No mere stormtrooper could take on a Mandalorian in hand-to-hand combat and win, never mind two like Hera and Kanan.

To Kanan, fighting with Hera was less like working with another person and more like having an extra limb. They’d done this together so many times that they each knew what the other was doing without having to even look.

The first trooper to reach Kanan lunged at him with the butt of his blaster. Kanan caught it and ducked as the second swung a punch at him. Hera caught the fist and snapped the trooper’s arm in a direction it wasn’t meant to go, making the soldier cry out in pain. Kanan, still holding the first trooper’s gun, pointed out the flaw in his manoeuvre by grabbing the trigger and shooting the attacker at point-blank range. He held him in place so that Hera could throw her opponent over him and the pair went down like a sack of duracrete.

It had only taken a few seconds, but it was enough for more Imperials to realise they were there. Heavy cannon fire peppered the ground around them and they dived for the base of the wreckage.

“I’ll lay some cover fire, you get the foundling!” Hera shouted to him.

He nodded and was already preparing to run when her words fully sunk in. “Wait – the foundling? It’s a foundling now?”

“Pretty sure the parents are dead,” she said with a shrug, “and what else are we going to do with it?”

“That’s gotta be a record. We haven’t even made contact yet and you’ve already adopted it.”

“You can check the history books later.” He could hear the eye roll through the comm. “Are you going to rescue him or leave him to the Imperials?”

“Okay, okay, I’m going!”

Hera started shooting and Kanan sprinted for the escape pod. A few blaster bolts glanced off his armour, but he made it to the child with no direct hits.

“Hey kid, I’m here to rescue you,” he said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. “Was there anyone else in your escape pod?”

The child looked up at Kanan with wide, fearful eyes. They were a bright blue colour, and Kanan could almost see a reflection of his own green-painted helmet with its dark T-shaped visor in them. The kid shook his head, more of a shiver of fear that sent his long, dark hair flopping around his face.

“Alright. Hold on, I’ll get you out of here.” He scooped the child up against his chest, feeling his thin arms and legs lock around his neck and chest. Kanan was surprised the child was trusting him so readily, but it was making his job a whole lot easier right now so he didn’t dwell on it.

What wasn’t making things easier were the stormtrooper reinforcements that were beginning to surround them.

“The west side is clear, no survivors.” Cham’s voice came through his helmet comm, tight with the tension of the battle.

“East side is clear too, but we found an escape pod,” Hera reported. “One survivor, Kanan’s getting him now.”

“I’ve got him,” Kanan said quickly, “let’s go before these reinforcements box us in.”

“Alright, everyone get clear and rendezvous on the Ghost.”

Cham’s orders were exactly what Kanan had hoped to hear. Double-checking the child was secure in his arms, he pressed a button on his vambrace and the engine of his jetpack flared to life. As he shot into the air, the four other Mandalorians joined him, leaving behind the thwarted, grounded stormtroopers to watch their fiery trails rise and soar out of sight.

---

Continued here!

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis Specials 2

Ok! I am issuing a spoiler warning as this is suppose to be set after season 3 and before season 4. However, I have tried to make so you lovely people can read it :D Anyway, I hope you peeps enjoy reading this. As a lot of you know, I'm not impressed with the New York special. There was a lot of cringy moments and honestly I felt like it was hyped up but didn't mean standards. Let's not get me started on the likes of Alya and Nino. I expected something on the lines of that with Alya as that's been her dynamic for most of season 2 and 3 but Nino, you disappoint me *shakes head in shame* anyway! There's none of that in here! Hope you peeps like it :D also I hope you like the chat names for Adrien, Kagami and Marinette. I'm especially proud of Dangernodel as it's a pun on Danger Noodle and Model. I laughed for about 5 minutes straight.

Edit: This is now the updated verison of the NY special

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heroes Unite (New York Special)

"Since Paris doesn't want us, we go to the moon just like in my favorite book!!" Mr Pigeon declared as he stood on the Eiffel Tower as it headed to space. He looked down and narrowed his eyes as he noticed Anatis and Lady Noir hanging from the tower with Anatis' yoyo. Anatis was looking round trying to formulate a plan to defeat Mr Pigeon with his lucky charm. 

  "Annie, he won't be able to breath in space and neither will we," Lady Noir gasped as Anatis's luck vision lit up the book in Mr Pigeon's hand, a pigeon and the tower itself. He looked at his lucky charm, causing it to light up as Mr Pigeon made some terrible pun but he smirked."You have a plan right?!"

  "Of course I do, kitty," He replied, retracting his yoyo so they began to free fall. "We need to bring him back to earth before he hurts himself,"

  Lady Noir nodded and took out a triangle of cheese that was purple in color. At the same time, Anatis took out a macaroon that was the same colour. The two of them ate them and shouted out the words 'power up', transforming them into their flight suits. Like most of his special forms, his basic suit was the same but he had a helmet on over his face and his spots were a glowing blue. He also had blue detail on his mask, gloves and boots as well as a backpack on his back which gave him blue insect wings that glowed. Lady Noir had a similar base outfit to her normal design as well but she had more green detail across her outfit and also had a backpack on her back. She got bright green batlike wings and she had a helmet on her face too. Unlike Anatis though, who's hair stayed the same as his normal form, her hair became a glowing blue. The two sped off towards Mr Pigeon and the two.

  "What's the plan?" Lady Noir called out.

  "The akuma is in the book. I need you to destroy it as soon as he's distracted," Anatis yelled back, getting a nod of Lady Noir. He glided across to the tower and ran up it, throwing his yoyo round Mr Pigeon's hands. He used his lucky charm to secure it to the tower and scared the pigeons enough to cause them to fly. Using the coverage that the Pigeons provided, Lady Noir called on her power and grabbed the book, destroying it and releasing the akuma. Anatis freed his yoyo and caught it, purifying it and freeing it. He grabbed his lucky charm and threw it in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

  The item burst into the magical swarm of bugs and spread around fixing everything. Lady Noir and Anatis landed on the tower as Mr Pigeon turned back to normal. Anatis picked up the book and placed it back in it's place. Lady Noir walked over to him and smiled.

  "Good job today, Annie," She grinned, making him look at her as he raised an eyebrow.

  "Isn't it my job to tell you that?" He asked in a playful manner. She giggled a little before gently nudging him.

  "You can still tell me that if you want," She grinned. He smiled before ruffling her hair, making her purr a little.

  "Good job today, Kitten," He smirked before his earrings beeped their first warning. He frowned and turned to her, taking out his yoyo. "Sorry, Kitten, I have to go. You still up for patrol tonight?"

  "Of course. Usual time and place?" She asked, getting a nod of him as her ring beeped. "Cool!"

  "See you there then," He replied, getting a nod of her before he left the office and dived off the tower, swinging off into the city. Lady Noir let out a little sigh as she watched him go before jumping off the tower and heading to a nearby alleyway. She dropped her transformation and caught Plagg. He let out a tired sigh but peaked up the moment she handed him a chunk of cheese. 

  "You're the best, Dollface," He grinned as he began to devour it. Marinette smiled sweetly before slipping him into her purse and began to run off. She had to return back to school since the akuma had been defeated but even then, Mr Pigeon wasn't considered a high threat to her or Anatis. They had come up with a code in case they needed to contact the other before they arrived. Code Grey was for weak akumas such as Mr Pigeon and was named after him. Code Black was for akumas on the same power level as the likes of Lady Wifi. Code Yellow was for akumatized miraculous holders, named after Queen Wasp. Though Chloe had come leaps and bounds since the incident. She was actually been nice but not because of got her any favors but just to be nice. Sure, she still wasn't perfect. She messed up but since becoming friends with Marinette and Luka, Chloe was working on been a better person and unlike most people, Luka was not afraid to tell her off. If she threatened to call her father, he countered with a threat to call the Captain, which worked every time. As for the next code, that is code silver and was for high powered akumas such as Party Crasher. The next code was Code Blue and it meant either Mayura or a sentimonster and their final code was Code Purple. That was only used if Hawkmoth himself made an appearance. They came up with the codes after heroes day as that was all unexpected and they wanted to be better prepared. Anatis had also started to train the temp heroes both in combat and in calming techniques. They needed to be in control of their emotions. Sometimes, him and Lady Noir spend a good hour of so meditating together during patrol. They would often go through the battles and try to work out how to prevent future triggers. Thanks to Alya, they had set up a page on the Ladyblog to help people work through their emotions in a healthy way. However, they still hadn't found a way to prevent Mr. Ramier from been akumatized. They tried a lot but he seemed to have different triggers that weren't necessarily related to pigeons. However, they would go through the battle tonight. Marinette slowly down a little as she saw a new Adrien poster, making her smile and take a picture of it before she opened her messages.

  Purrincess-Nettie: @Dangernodel Saw your latest poster. Love the new outfit in it

  Dangernodel: Thanks @Purrincess-Nettie. Though I always prefer your stuff

  Purrincess-Nettie: That's because I'm a genius when it comes to making clothes

  Dangernodel: #truth #preach

  Marinette giggled and shook her head before continuing to back to the school. She skipped over to Alya as the class began to head into the library. Chloe waved at her, making her smile and wave before she sat down next to Adrien and Nino. Alya sat down next to them and gently leaned on Nino's shoulder as Mr Damocles cleared his voice.

  "As you all know, this week coming is the french American friendship week. You all did wonderful on your projects and as a reward, we have arranged for a five day trip to New York. Now you will be expected to do some school work and experience school in New York but this will also serve as a reward so we will be visiting famous locations and there will be free time to enjoy what New York has to offer," He explained, making the students grin excitedly before he handed permission slips to Miss Bustier. "We have already arranged a place to stay and the flights are booked. We just need your parents' permission to say you can go. Miss Bustier is going to hand the slips to you. Your parents will need to sign them by this weekend. A letter detailing the trip is also attached. Yes, Marinette?"

  "Are we the only class to go?" She asked, making Mr Damocles smile.

  "No, Mrs Mendeleiev's class will also be going," He replied, making her smile. That meant Luka will be going as well, along with Marc and Aurora. "We've already given out their permission slips and were about to give your class yours but Mr Pigeon interrupted us,"

  At that, the whole class groaned in annoyance. Marinette took the permission as Adrien sighed, looking sad. However, Lila went to reject the permission slip as Miss Bustier handed one to Kim, who happened to be next to her.

  "Oh, I'm so sorry but I can't possibly go to due to my charity work," She lied but Mr Damocles cleared his throat.

  "Miss Rossi, we are aware that you are not allowed to go so please don't make up some story," He stated, making her frown. Marinette held back a smile. Lila didn't have as much power as she thought she had. She still hadn't been fully exposed yet but almost everyone took her stories with a grain of salt. Mr Damocles moved past her and handed slips out to the others as Lila continued to frown.

  "What but sir, I'm not ly-"

  "Expect you are, Lila," Marinette pointed out with the rest of the class nodding. Lila glared at them before huffing and folding her arms. She did actually want to go to New York but since she had been targeted by a number of akumas, her mother didn't want her to go too far from home. She had hoped to convince the class that she had to stay behind for a charity event so she could be the talk of the class but hardly anyone took her stories as fact anymore. Even Alya was taking her stories with a grain of salt. She huffed and crossed her arms as Marinette smirked at her before turning to Adrien. "Are you ok?"

  "My father isn't going to let me go," He sighed, looking down as Nino rubbed his back. Marinette frowned deeply before grinning at him and winking in a very Lady Noir style.

  "Leave that to me, Adrien. I'll convince him to let you come to New York," She grinned, making him sigh and shake his head, claiming it was no good. "Hey, you're my friend and I will not take no for answer. You know how stubborn I can be,"

  "Everyone knows that," Alya joked, making her laugh before looking at Adrien and giving him a reassuring smile. "However, she won't be alone in this,"

  "Damn right," Kim nodded, pointing to himself. "We're gonna help. Right, Alix?"

  "Getting Adrien's dad to let him go will be a piece of cake," She grinned as the rest of the class cheered.

  "Guys, I really appreciate it but this is my dad we're talking about," He stated but then he noticed the grin on Marinette's face.

  "Which is why we're bringing in the big guns," She smirked, already texting on her phone. Mr Damocles went to tell her off but she grinned. "Kagami is down with helping us convince your father to let you come with us. Chloe, you ready to help?"

  "Of course, I am," She grinned, making Marinette smile.

  "Trust us, Adrien. We're getting you to New York,"

  "Thanks, Marinette," He grinned before looking at the rest of the class, apart from Lila. "Thank you all of you,"

  "Now that's been sorted," Mr Damocles stated. "Miss Bustier won't be able to join us due to medical problems but Mrs Mendeleiev will be substituting for her,"

  Instantly, the class groaned but Mr Damocles hushed them.

  "Now we need those slips in as soon as possible so please remember to get your parents to sign them," He explained, just as the bell rang. The class got up and left the room, heading to the locker room. Marinette grabbed her bag and skipped outside to meet Kagami. They needed a plan to get Mr Agreste to let Adrien go to New York. She hummed to herself as she sat on the bench, texting Kagami to meet her there before sending a text to her parents. A few seconds later, her mother buzzed back with permission. All she needed to do now was to get them to sign the slip.

  "Mari!!" A voice called out, making her look over. Luka waved as he walked over, making her smile and jump to her feet. She threw herself at him, causing him to laugh as he caught her. "You ok? Your heartsong is so loud and exciting,"

  "We're going to New York!!" She grinned, making him laugh. "Please tell me you're gonna be going right?!"

  "Of course. I've always wanted to visit," He smiled, holding her waist. He quickly realized and blushed, moving his hands. "You're able to go right?"

  "Yep," She grinned before frowning a little. "But I'm meeting Kagami to try and work out how to get Adrien's dad to let him go. Wanna join us? We're making a plan,"

  "No plan, Marinette," Kagami stated as she walked over before nodding at Luka. "We head to Agreste Manor now and we don't take no for an answer,"

  "Uh... no plan?" She gasped, not expecting that but Luka gave her a gentle smile. "You know what! Yeah, let's go!!"

  "That's the spirit," He smiled before looking at them. "Still want me to come along?"

"Damn right, you're my emotional support musician," Marinette grinned, grabbing his hand and dragging him off. Instantly, his face flushed, causing Kagami to rise an eyebrow and follow them. She took her phone and began to text as she followed them.

  DragonQueen: @Dangernodel heading to yours to take down your father. Also does Luka like Marinette? I think they would make a cute couple

  Dangernodel: @DragonQueen I believe he does but seems to lack the confidence to tell her. I think he believes he's not good enough for her #lies #lukanette4ever

  DragonQueen: Should we try to set them up together?

  Dangernodel: I wouldn't set them up. That could backfire and hurt both of them in the long run but encouraging them could help. No to been pushy but yes to suggesting romantic things to them

  DragonQueen: I see. We don't directly interfere but we encourage from the sidelines

  Dangernodel: Exactly. Great minds think alike, my dragon

  DragonQueen: Oh stop it, you danger noodle

  "Kagami!! Come on!!" Marinette shouted, causing her to look up and join them. Luka's face was bright red but he was holding Marinette's hand and she seemed quite happy to do so. Nodding as she walked over, she reminded herself. Encourage from the sidelines. Enough to help but not to hinder. 

  (***)

  "So that's why you should let Adrien go to New York!" Marinette gasped as she came to the end of her speech. Luka was staring at her with amazement, Kagami was nodding and Mr Agreste had his classic stony glare across his face. Marinette swallowed as she looked at him. He didn't looked convinced at all. Marinette couldn't help the thoughts that flooded her mind as she realized Mr Agreste was probably going to say no. Adrien would be so sad because he wouldn't be able to go to New York with his friends or his girlfriend. She went to add more to her argument but Mr Agreste held up his hand, silencing her. She nervously bit her lip as he glared down at her.

  "Young lady, I -"

  "We won't leave here until you agree to let Adrien go!!" Marinette declared with an expression of pure determination. "He deserves to go on this trip!!"

  "Then it's a good thing that I've decided to let Adrien to go along with his classmates," Mr Agreste declared, making the three teenagers blinked as he smiled in a way that made them a little uneasy but the three of them just thought it was because he never smiled.

  "You... have?" Luka asked as Marinette blinked.

  "You three have... convinced me," He stated, smiling in that weird way. "Clearly, the three of you are good friends to my son. Now if you excuse me, I have to attend to some new designs,"

  "R-right," Marinette nodded before smiling. "Thank you, Mr Agreste,"

  He nodded before turning on his heel and walking off. The three of them walked out, still a little shell shocked by the fact that he was letting Adrien go to New York with them. The first one to smile was Kagami though, followed by both Luka and Marinette.

  "We did it," She declared as they walked over to the rest of Marinette's class. Instantly, they began to cheer as they were happy with the outcome. Kagami turned to Marinette and smiled. "I shall inform Adrien of our victory against his father and tell him of your noble deeds,"

  "I mean it wasn't really noble... he deserved to come along with the rest of us and now we can all hang out in New York!!" Marinette grinned, excitedly before turning to Luka. "I'm so glad your class gets to come along as well, Luka! We're gonna have so much fun together!! Oooh we can have hotdogs!!"

  "I can't wait for it either, Mari," Luka smiled. "I've always wanted to see New York..."

  "Oooh! We should do a sleep over on the night before we leave! Then we can get to the coach together!" She grinned, making him smile.

  "That sounds great," He grinned, gently ruffling her hair. "Bakery or the boat?"

  "How about the bakery? We can get some croissants for breakfast," She suggested, making him smile before Juleka cleared her throat, causing them to look at her. Rose was grinning as well.

  "That actually works perfectly because me and Juleka were going to stay over mine," She declared before looking at Marinette. "Plus Luka can help you wake up on time since we all know you're terrible at getting up in the morning,"

  "Hey!! That's not true!!" Marinette gasped as Juleka snored with laughter as she attempted to chase Rose. Unfortunately, she failed to see a loose stone in front of her and tripped over, flailing her arms as she began to fall but before she could hit the ground, Luka caught her.

  "You ok?" He asked with concern as her face turned bright red. She stood up straight and rubbed the back of her head as she smiled nervously.

  "I'm good," She nodded, looking at him before she smiled shyly. "Thank you,"

  "No problem, Mari," He smiled before rubbing his own neck. "Anyway... I better head off. I have a shift to do tonight,"

  "I didn't know you were working tonight," Juleka mumbled, crossing her arms but Luka shrugged.

  "Took on an extra shift," He replied, unlocking his bike. He put on his helmet and turned to everyone. "I'll see you guys later,"

  "Bye, Luka," Marinette smiled as he waved before he cycled off. She let a gentle sigh as she watched him go but jumped when Alya placed her arm around her shoulders.

  "Girl, you have it so bad," She grinned, making Marinette blush as the rest of the class sniggered a little. 

  "You should see Luka," Juleka mumbled. "The love struck fool is head over heels for our favorite baker girl,"

  "Luka... likes me?" Marinette asked but when she thought about it, it did make sense. Luka had wrote songs for her, always complimented her and of course, he had told her that she was the song in his head. She blushed as she remembered the words he said to her when Kitty Section performed at the Kidz plus studio but of course, she had been getting over Adrien then but now... well, now her and Adrien were best friends. He felt her brother and acted like it too but Luka... Luka was amazing. So amazing that she honestly thought he was out of her league and she loved her friendship with him. She felt like she could just be herself and he never thought of her in a bad way. He believed her when Lila returned and stood up for her when she began to bully Marinette again. He supported her and encouraged her but he only liked her as a friend. Besides, he had probably moved on from her. After all, until recently she was tore between him and Adrien. "I mean sure, he likes me. I'm his friend..."

  "Girl, that boy likes you as way more then a friend!" Alya gasped with the rest of the girls nodding.

  "Even I can see how smitten he is with you," Chloe added in, smiling a little. "It's ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous,"

  "But so romantic too!!" Rose gushed, holding her hands together.

  "I would say it is clear how Luka feels about you, Marinette," Kagami piped in, remembering Adrien's advice. Encourage but don't pressure. Help but never hinder. "Maybe you could use the trip to New York to express your feelings to him. Statically speaking, New York is the second most romantic city in the world. The first obviously been Paris,"

  "I d-don't know..." Marinette gasped as a blush came on her cheeks. "What if he actually just likes me as a friend and I ruin our friendship by telling him that I'm in love with him?! What if he rejects me?! Oh, no! He'll hate me and refuse to hang out with me again!!"

  "According to my calculations, there is a 94 % chance that Luka will accept your confession and return your feelings," Max piped in. "There is a 6% chance that he only views you as a friend and 0% chance that he'll reject your confession and end up hating you. I believe it is impossible for Luka to hate anyone, expect XY and Bob Roth but we all know why that is the case,"

  "And Hawkmoth," Alix pointed out. 

  "Yeah but everyone hates Hawkmoth," Kim countered, making everyone nod before turning to Marinette. "Anyway, I'm sure that Luka likes you as way more then a friend. He'll be a doofus not to. Ondine totally agrees too,"

  "Thanks, Kim," Marinette smiled as they walked down the street and towards the bakery. "Alright. I'm gonna head inside. I can't wait to go to New York with everyone,"

  "See you tomorrow, girl," Alya waved as she walked off with Nino. Juleka and Rose said their goodbyes and headed off with Ivan and Mylene. Gradually, the rest of the class waved goodbye and Marinette headed into the apartment. She climbed the stairs and headed into the kitchen, gently kissing Sabine on the cheek before she sat down and began to discuss the school trip with her parents. They were happy for her to go as it was a great opportunity to see the US and it was a reward with the school. They sighed the permission slip and she placed it in her bag, ready for school tomorrow before she ate her dinner. "Actually... would I be able to have Luka round the night before I go to New York? Both of our classes are going and we figured we could do a sleepover so we can both get the coach together,"

  "Well, he'll have to sleep in the spare room but I see no issue with having Luka around," Her mother smiled as her father looked like he was able to explode with excitement. Luka and Marinette had been growing a lot closer and it was clear to him that they had feelings for each other. Been the romantic that he was, he had already attempted to invite Luka to brunch and he fully approved of the boy. He was also so respectful and came across as a kind and gentle soul. "Tom, are you ok with Luka staying over?"

  "Yes! Why don't we have brunch-"

  "Papa, we can't," Marinette gasped, going bright red. "L-Luka isn't interested in me in that way and besides we'll have a plane to catch,"

  "But sweetie-"

  "Papa, we don't want another weredad incident," She stated, crossing her arms. Her father had accidentally walked in her talking with Anatis and jumped to conclusions. He had invited him to a romantic brunch but Anatis had rejected it. He tried to explain that he was just trying to check on Marinette after an akuma had destroyed her room and that he couldn't date her as a superhero. Because of that, he had to rejected Marinette and Tom got akumatized over it. Tom sighed but nodded in agreement. "Good. Now I have home work to do then I'm off to bed. Good night,"

  "Good night, sweetie,"

  ~Meanwhile~

  Luka couldn't help but smile and hum to himself as he cycled down the street. Tikki was sat in his basket, smiling a little as he came to the liberty. His shift had gone well and had been a little short but he wasn't complaining. He took the extra shift so he had decent spending money in New York. He parked his bike and locked it up before Tikki flew up and landed on his shoulder.

  "You're in a really good mood, Luka," She grinned as he headed downstairs. The Captain was out at the studio and Juleka was on a date with Rose so she wouldn't be back til later, which he was glad about. He did not need her to tease him about liking Marinette. 

  "I'm excited, Tikki," He smiled. "I get to go to New York with Marinette and the rest of our friends,"

  "New York?" Tikki gasped. "But who's going to look after Paris?"

  "I already have a plan for that," He smiled, gesturing towards a black and red guitar case. "I'm sure Master Fu will be fine with Kaalki coming to New York with us. I'll also keep an eye with the akuma app. The moment it gets alert-"

  "You'll use the horse miraculous to teleport there, take down the akuma and return to New York," Tikki gasped, grinning. "Very creative,"

  "Well, I do have the goddess of creation as my friend," He smiled, making her giggle. "Anyway, Luka Couffaine will be in New York but Anatis will be in Paris as far as everyone else is concerned,"

  “Well, we better head to Master Fu to ask him for the Horse miraculous,”

  “That’s where we’re going,”

  ~Later that Night~

  Lady Noir grinned as she ran across the rooftops of Paris and jumped across to the meeting spot. There was nothing like the feeling of the wind in her hair as she raced across the roofs. She used her baton to fling herself across the rooftops before rolling on the roof and standing up. She looked around and found that Anatis wasn't here yet. Letting out a little sigh, she sat down on the edge of the roof and smiled as she looked out at the Eiffel tower. It would be weird not been in Paris or meeting Anatis for patrol but she had to be in New York and honestly, she was looking really forward to it, especially with the fact that she will be with Luka. The sound of a yoyo jolted her out of her thoughts, causing her to look and smile as Anatis landed on the roof. 

  "Hey, kitten," He smiled, walking over to her and sitting down.

  "Hey, Annie," She smiled, stretching. "I have some news for you,"

  "Oh?" He asked, looking at her. She nervously bit her lip. Instantly, he felt worried. "Are you ok?"

  "Oh, yeah, I'm fine... look I'm be going away for a few days," She stated, making him look at her as she pressed her fingers together. Instantly, she felt guilty as she realized he would be alone in Paris. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it through. You'll be alone to protect Paris... I'll just cancel-"

  "There's no way am I let you cancel," He grinned, gently nudging her arm with his. "You go and enjoy your trip. As far as I'm concerned, you've earnt it so don't worry about me ok? I can handle a few days without you,"

  "So you're not mad?" Lady Noir asked, making him frown a little. "Or disappointed?"

  "Of course not," He smiled, scratching her ears. She began to purr and nuzzle his hand like an actual cat. "You're allowed to have fun, kitty and if I get really desperate, I can literally phone you and get your location then borrow the horse miraculous from Master Fu and come get you,"

  "Good point," She smiled, feeling a little dumb that she forgot that but Anatis laughed a little, making her smile. "So shall we discuss Mr Pigeon?"

  "Oh kwami. I'm not sure I want to," He gasped, shaking his head as he smirked. "51 times! How is a guy obsessed with pigeons our most akumatized villain?"

  "Tell me about it," She giggled before the two of them began to do really bad impressions of him before laughing. She gently leaned on him as the two of them looked at the Eiffel tower. "At least, he's not very threatening,"

  "True," He replied before looking at her. "So how long you away for?"

  "Five days," She replied, looking at him. "You sure you'll be ok?"

  "I'll be fine," He grinned, placing his hands behind his head. "It will be a breeze,"

  "Ooh, someone's confident," She teased, making him grin before jumping up. "Wanna race to the Louvre? Loser has to buy ice cream!"

  "You're on," He declared, jumping before the two of them ran off into the night.

  ~The Night Before the Flight~

  Marinette laughed as Luka caught a piece of popcorn in his mouth, grinning as he chewed on the piece of candy. He grabbed a piece and threw it towards her. She attempted to catch it but failed, causing him to crack up with laughter along with her before she threw a piece of popcorn at him. It landed in his hair, making her giggle even more. He laughed as well before the two of them flopped down in the beanbags and looked up at her skylight. They had been spending the evening playing video games and watching films but Luka started the popcorn thing by catching one in his mouth and Marinette wanted to see if he could catch one if she threw it.

  "Hey, Mari,"

  "Hmm?"

  "Thanks for having me around," He smiled, turning to look at her. She grinned and turned to face him. He moved and leaned on his arm. "Are you looking forward to New York?"

  "Yeah, I'm not sure how I'm gonna sleep to be honest," She grinned, clearly excited. She was practically vibrating with excitement. "Are you?"

  "Excited? Yeah," He grinned before flopping back down on the beanbags and placing his hands under his head. "It's been a while since I've been on a plane though. In fact, the last time was when I was a kid. We went to go visit my grandpa for his birthday,"

  "Really? Where does he live?"

  "Scotland," Luka grinned. "Right in the highlands too but he's a grumpy old pirate... Scotland is beautiful though,"

  "I bet," She grinned. "I'd love to go to China at some point,"

  "China? That would be exciting,"

  "It really would. Oh, I could go visit my uncle Cheng," She grinned before yawning. Luka yawned as well but before he could get up, she moved and rested on him, making him blush.

  "Aren't I suppose to be staying in the guest room?" He asked as he poked her gently. She looked at him before smiling in a cheeky manner before she snuggled against him. 

  "Yeah but you're comfy," She mumbled, sleepily. He grabbed his phone and set his alarm on it before placing it down. He started to hum gently as he ran his fingers through her hair. Within a few minutes, he could hear light snoring as Marinette had fallen asleep. He smiled gently as he looked at her.

  "Cute," He muttered before closing his own eyes. He fell asleep almost straight away, holding Marinette as he did. Neither of them realized that her parents check in on her and took a photo of the two slumbering teens, cooing over how cute they looked. Once they had disappeared back downstairs, Tikki flew out and pulled a blanket over Luka and Marinette before snuggling back into his hoodie. Plagg, on the other hand, was already napping and dreaming of the American cheeses he would be trying when they got there.

  ~Next Morning~

  "Ah!! We're gonna be so late!!" Marinette gasped as the two of them rushed out of the bakery. Luka was carrying their suitcases and Marinette had their croissants in her hands. For once though, she had been able to get up on time. Luka had helped with that as he often got up early anyway, usually to practice his guitar or his martial arts but this morning, he had woken her up almost as soon as he was awake too. Her father, however, tried to make them breakfast and attempted to get them to stay. Thanks to her mother though, they had managed to escape and were on route to the school. Marinette took out her phone and called Alya. "Hi! We're nearly there. You haven't set off yet?"

  "Not yet, girl but Mrs Mendeleiev is getting impatient," Alya replied as they ran across the road. "Hold up... I think I see you. Mrs Mendeleiev, Mr Damocles!! Luka and Marinette are here!!"

  "Just in time," Luka smiled as they rushed over to the bus driver. "Sorry for been late, sir,"

  "You're just in the time," He smiled, helping them place their suitcases in the luggage area. Luka thanked him and helped Marinette onto the coach. She grinned and took her seat next to Alya as he sat down next to Aurora. 

  "That was cutting it close, Luka," Aurora grinned as the bus driver got on and began to drive. Luka couldn't help but smile as he was super excited. He had the horse miraculous on him and Tikki was happily curled up in his pocket. His phone was set to alert him the moment a live new report or an akuma alert went off and he was going to be spending five days in New York with his friends and of course, Marinette. Not that she was more important then everyone else. Aurora grinned as she gently poked his cheek, causing him to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Sooo... you told her yet?"

  "Told who what?" He asked as he glanced over to Marinette. She was happily chatting to Alya but grinned and waved when she saw Luka looking in her direction. He blushed a little but waved back.

  "That you're in love with Marinette," Aurora gasped in a hushed whisper, making him look at her with surprise. She giggled a little at his expression.

  "That obvious huh?" He asked sheepishly before sighing. "I haven't told her because she's still hung up on Adrien and I don't want to pressure her or make her feel uncomfortable,"

  "Oh, you are too much, Luka Couffaine," Aurora grinned before looking at Marinette. "But I don't think she's... uh... "hung up" on Adrien anymore. Hey, you should totally use New York to confess your love for her,"

  "Well, I kind of already told her my feelings but she hasn't returned them..."

  "Well, maybe that's because she thinks they had an expiry date so she thinks you're no longer interested," Aurora pointed out, making Luka think before gently nudging him. "But at the end of the day, it's down to you. I'll still be your best friend and help you regardless of your choice,"

  "Thanks, Aurora," He smiled.

  "Though... I might steal her away at this rate!!" She grinned, making him pretend gasp.

  "You wouldn't?!"

  ~Meanwhile, on the other side of the bus~

  "Soooo anything interest happen between you and Luka last night?" Alya asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Marinette laughed and gently shoved her, shaking her head. "Come on, girl! Give me the deets,"

  "It was just a normal sleepover, Alya," She smiled, looking over at him. He was talking to Aurora and glanced over to her. She smiled and waved at him, causing him to smile back shyly and wave back before she turned back to Alya. "We gamed, watched a movie, threw popcorn at each other... Luka is really good at catching popcorn with his mouth... and then we went to bed. He was suppose to be staying in the guest room but I kind of fell asleep on him,"

  "So he stayed in the same room as you?!" Rose gushed, making Marinette jump. "Oooh!! So romantic!!"

  "Nooo... it's just what friends do..." She gasped, blushing. Now that she thought about it, it really was romantic and it felt so nice been in Luka's arms and falling to sleep while he hummed softly and played with her hair.

  "Sure," Alya grinned before smiling. "So did you just fall asleep on him?"

  "Well... we were talking beforehand and he was humming and playing with my hair," She mumbled, making the girls go aww. She blushed even more. "W-We're just friends... right?"

  "Maybe but do you want to be more?" Alya asked, making Marinette gasp and look away shyly. Alya frowned a little before deciding to change the subject. "So what's the first thing everyone wants to do in New York? I really wanna see if I can meet Majestia,"

  "Majestia?" Marinette asked, looking at her best friend with a confused look. "Isn't that the superhero from the comic you read?"

  "It is!" Alya gasped, nodding. "But like the miraculous comics, it's based on a real life superhero. Majestia and her sidekick, Uncanny Valley, protect New York, along with Knightowl and his sidekick, Sparrow. In fact, there's a whole super group called United Heroes! If I can, I would love to get an interview with one of them for my blog!!"

  "But isn't your blog about Anatis and Lady Noir?" Rose asked, confused but Alya smiled.

  "Not for that one. I have a lesser known blog called Heroes-Unite. Of course, it's no where near as populate as the Ladyblog but still," She mumbled, blushing a little as the class gasped and looked it up. With minutes, they were all following it. "Anyway, what do you guys want to do?"

  "Me and Juleka want to go to the museums!" Rose grinned, happily before everyone began to tell them what they wanted to do before they all looked at Marinette, who blinked and smiled.

  "Well, other then get hotdogs and hang out with everyone... I really want to take photos of New York. I think I can get some inspiring ones and hopefully I'll be able to make some new pieces based on it,"

  "Aww!! That's gonna be amazing!!" Rose gushed, getting a nod of Juleka.

  "I can't wait to see how it comes out,"

  ~At the Airport~

  "So Marinette seems to think Luka isn't interested in her?" Kagami muttered as she stroked Adrien's hair. His head was in her lap as they were waiting to board the plane.

  "And Luka thinks that Marinette isn't interested in him and that she's too good for him," Adrien sighed as Alya nodded before he sat up. He looked over at where Luka and Marinette were. They were smiling as they chatted, clearly comfortable in each other's company. Nothing like how she was around him. "They would make such a good couple,"

  "I agree," Kagami muttered.

  "We could try and set them up on a date," Nino suggested but Adrien shook his head.

  "If it's to happen, it has to be a natural progression. We can't interfere directly,"

  "But we can encourage," Kagami smiled. "The blueberries deserve to be happy,"

  "Ok, everyone!! The plane is boarding now!!" Mrs Mendeleiev declared, getting everyone to bring to board. Luka smiled and helped Marinette with her case as they looked for their seats.

  "Where are you sat?" Marinette asked, looking up at him.

  "B31," He replied, looking at her.

  "B32! Luka, we sat together!!" She grinned as they walked onto the plane. He smiled as they found their seats. Marinette attempted to lift her suitcase but almost dropped it until he caught it and helped her put it away. She blushed and rubbed her neck. "Thanks, Luka,"

  "No worries, Mari," He smiled, putting his own away before the two of them sat down. Marinette, however, was playing with her hands and looking around. "You ok?"

  "I... I'm really nervous..." She gasped. "Is it hot? It feels hot,"

  "Hang on," He muttered, standing up and turning on the air conditioning. Marinette felt herself cool down as he sat back down before he faced her. "Better?"

  "Much,"

  "Is that your first time flying?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Her song was all jittery and nervous. She blushed and nodded as the captain began to talk. "Don't worry. Flying's really fun and I'll be right here next to you,"

  "Thanks, Luka," Marinette smiled, feeling a lot better as the captain began to talk, going through the safety protocols. She did up her seatbelt and smiled nervously as the plane began to move. Luka gave her a reassuring smile and held out his hand. Shyly smiling, she took it as the plane began to speed up. It suddenly jolted, making her squeeze his hand and close her eyes but then it went smooth again. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Luka smiling at her.

  "We're in the air now," He muttered before flicking through the films with his free hand. "Wanna watch Miraculous: The Movie?"

  "Sure," She smiled. He smiled back and pressed play, keeping his hand in hers as they watched the film. Marinette ended up leaning against him and gradually she felt asleep as the plane flew. When she next opened her eyes, she found a blanket over her but the seat next to her empty. She yawned and looked around, noticing everyone else was asleep but she couldn't see Luka. She carefully got up and made her way past the rest of the passengers. Alya and Nino were sleeping next to each other. Rose and Juleka were curled up in each other's arms while Mylene and Ivan snoozed near them. Marc had his head resting on Nathaniel's shoulder and Adrien was leaning against Kagami. Marinette smiled gently before she noticed someone stood at the rear of the plan. She frowned a little but realized it was Luka. He was stood on his own, looking outside the window. She blushed a little as he kind of reminded her of Anatis and how he would stand looking out from her balcony. She walked over and cleared her throat, making him look at her. "You ok?"

  "Yeah... I just wanted to look out of the window..." He smiled, looking back. "It's like a whole different world up here. I like how we're sailing in a sea of clouds,"

  "Yeah?" She asked before looking over. The sun was slowly rising so the clouds appeared in a golden light. Marinette couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped her lips as she glanced outside. It was so beautiful. She felt a sense of calm wash over her as she stood next to Luka and just looked outside. "It's really beautiful,"

  "Yeah," He smiled. "I might write a song about it,"

  "I should make a dress based on it," She grinned, making him smile before she gasped and pointed as a flock of birds flew by. He chuckled and smiled gently as she continued to look. 

  "I'm glad I can share this with you," He muttered, causing her to ask if he said something. He shook his head and looked back out of the window. He glanced down as Tikki gently poked his leg before grinning up at him and mouthed 'tell her'. Luka bit his lip and looked at her. He could tell her that he loved her. The sunrise was really romantic and everyone was asleep so she wouldn't be embarrassed. "Marinette, I ha-"

  Before he could completely his sentence, the plane jolted causing the two of them to be slammed against the floor. Luka gasped and helped Marinette to her feet, making sure she wasn't hurt. The two of them looked outside as a blue man in an orange jumpsuit landed on the wing of the plane but before either could react, he placed his hands on the plane and caused the engine to stop working, causing the plane to go lob-sided and an alert to go off. Luka groaned as his back hit the side of the plane before he looked at Marinette who was stuck against the other side of the window.

  "Are you ok?" He called out, making her look at him.

  "Y-yeah... bit scared though," She replied.

  "Don't worry, sweethearts," A female voice suddenly said, making them look to the side. A girl with three eyes was looking in the window. She was smiling as she looked at them. "We have the situation under control. Dear passengers, united heroes are here to protect you,"

  In the distance, they both heard Alya gasp and squeal with excitement. 

  "Uncanny valley!!" She gasped. "The first superhero made with artificial intelligence! She was built by Majestia... which means...!"

  Both Marinette and Luka looked at each other as Alya squealed but to their surprise, the plane stopped tilting and actually became upright again. As soon as they're feet were on the ground, Luka grabbed Marinette's hand and rushed back over their seats.

  "Are you hurt?" He asked, concern in his face.

  "No, I'm ok," She gasped, looking just as concerned. "Are you?"

  "I'm fine,"

  "Wow, Majestia in person!!" Alya gasped, making them look over at her. "So cool!"

  "Well... at least, Alya's excited?" Luka mumbled as she looked out the window. He rose an eyebrow as Mr Damocles rushed to the bathroom but an explosion outside caught his attention. He quickly got up and looked out a window as a man dressed like an owl landed on the wing with a side kick. Alya confirmed that it was in the Knightowl and Luka found himself impressed as he captured the thief quickly. He watched as the three eyed girl fixed the engine, allowing a blonde woman who he guessed was Majestia to fly up as the plane was fully functional now. She flew over to the window with the three eyed girl and smiled.

  "I'd like to welcome you to the united states and enjoy your stay," Majestia stated as she waved at them before flying off with the thief and the rest of the heroes. Almost instantly, Alya began to fangirl but Luka returned to his seat and turned to Marinette. 

  "You sure you're ok?"

  "Well... that was a bit scary but american superheroes... how cool is that?"

  "It is pretty cool," He smiled, nodding. Fortunately, the rest of the flight was normal and uneventful. They landed with no trouble and got their luggage almost straight away. Once in the airport, the classes were put onto another coach to drive them to the location they would be staying at. Marinette was sat back with Alya while Luka was sat with Aurora, who was happily chatting away about the heroes and the thief who apparently was called Techno pirate but she soon stopped talking and frowned as Luka sighed.

  "You ok, guitar boi?" She asked, making him look at her.

  "Yeah... I just... I tried to tell her but that thief turned up..." He sighed. "Why is it every time I try to tell her my feelings something goes wrong?"

  "Hey, that's not the case. It was just bad timing on Techno pirate's end, not yours," She grinned before gently nudging him. "Besides, your luck will line up. Everyone knows you're the luckiest kid in school so just pluck up some courage and tell her,"

  "Thanks, Aurora," He muttered, looking over at Marinette as she took in New York with glee and awe. His eyes softened as he looked at her. She looked beautiful as she smiled and pointed out things to Alya.

  ~Meanwhile~

  "The little croissants are en route," Sparrow declared in the earpiece as Uncanny Valley flew towards the building's roof. She landed on the roof and turned into her human form. In it, she wore a cute gray skirt with tights and a pink faded t-shirt with three stars on it. Her hair had transformed into dark curls which she wore loose and she had ballet pumps on.

  "Good, don't leave them," Knightowl ordered as the bus came to a stop. Sparrow fired their grapple gun and pulled themselves onto the roof as well before turning into their civilian form. She wore a faded blue jeans with a top that was styled similar to a baseball shirt. It was red on the arms and the main part of it was white but it had a yellow sun in the middle of it. Her hair was tied into two braids tied with leather binds. She grabbed her skateboard and head to join Uncanny Valley downstairs as the french kids came in. 

  "Two of them are missing," Valley stated, looking around before she noticed them at the door. Marinette was attempting to get her suitcase in while trying to get the door to open. Luka was trying to get her to let him help so she could open the door. "There they are,"

  She placed her hand on the door switch and used her powers to cause it to open. However, Marinette ended up tripping and falling over her suitcase. Luka rushed over and helped up as it got the attentions of some of the other teenagers in there. A guy in gray pants, yellow shirt and a dark green jacket walked over and helped them.

  "You guys alright?" He asked, getting a nod of Marinette as Luka helped her collect the things that fell out of her suitcase. She gave him a bashful smile as he handed them back to her. "Hey, nice hair dude,"

  "Thanks," Luka muttered, helping Marinette to her feet before turning to Mason. "I'm Luka. This is Marinette. We're from Dupont high in Paris,"

  "Dude, you're the French kids everyone's been talking about," He grinned, shaking Luka's hand. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Mason by the way. I'm here with my class too. We're from Armstrong High in Queens,"

  "Cool," Luka smiled as Sparrow joined Uncanny Valley. She rolled her eyes as she looked at them.

  "Urg!! Babysitting some tourists!" She groaned, placing her skateboard down and sitting down as she crossed her arms. "Don't they have something better for us to do?"

  "Those two are made from each other," Valley stated as she sat down on the edge of the sofa, causing Sparrow to groan as she looked at Luka and Marinette.

  "Seriously, Aeon, not again!"

  "But I'm programmed to help people, Jess," She replied, a little confused by Jess's reaction. Jess gently placed her hand on her shoulder and smiled.

  "Just stop meddling with people's private lives," She suggested, causing Aeon to frown a little before she nodded.

  "You're right," She smiled. "Let's just follow the orders and protect the tourists,"

  Both girls looked up as Mrs Mendeleiev clapped her hands, getting her class's attention.

  "Listen up, students. You will go to your rooms by groups of four. Everyone, come take your artillery," She ordered, causing the students to come up to her and grab them. Once all of the students had their papers, she narrowed her eyes. "And when I come up in two and half minutes, you better be in your rooms with the lights out,"

  A few of the class moaned and protested as they began to head towards the rooms but Mason leaned over.

  "Hey, blueberries," He whispered, getting Marinette and Luka's attention. "We're throwing a little party on the roof if you're interested. Hang with us but be quiet ok?"

  He smiled and looked over at Sabrina before winking at her then walking off. She went bright red as Alya walked over. 

  "I think there's an American boy who would like to see you there, Sabrina," She grinned as Marinette nodded. She smiled shyly and looked at her feet a little.

  "You... you think so?" She asked as Chloe walked over.

  "It's obvious," She declared. "And he would be totally ridiculous not to like you. Anyway, come on. We're sharing a room,"

  "All of us?" Marinette asked as they headed to their rooms. Luka smiled at her as he walked with Nino, Adrien and Ivan. She waved at him, getting a wave back before they all headed into their room. She closed the door and turned to the other girls. "Ok, what's the plan?"

  "Waiting til Mendeleiev has gone to her room then we're sneaking to the roof," Alya declared, getting a nod of the other two before she grinned at her phone. "The boys are down for it as well,"

  "As are the rest of Kitty Section and the art kids," Marinette grinned as her phone vibrated.

  "Kim and Max are planning to join us too as well as the weather girls and Kagami," Chloe confirmed as Sabrina listened to the door. As soon as they heard the door to Mrs Mendeleiev's room close, they all sneaked out and began to head to the roof. 

  "What's that noise?!" Mrs Mendeleiev suddenly shouted, causing the students to gasp and dive into random rooms. Marinette took a deep breathe as she heard the teacher come out before she went back in. She looked to the side, expecting to be alone and squeaked a little as someone was leaning against the door too. She calmed down as she realized it was Luka, who looked a little startled too before he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

  "Sorry, Mari. I didn't mean to scare you," He muttered before they both noticed they had wondered in someone else's room. The two girls were sat on the bed. One of them glared them while the other looked excited to see them. "Oh, we're so sorry. We were just trying to get to the roof but our teacher heard us..."

  "Uh... hi... I'm Marinette and this is my boy- I mean friend! Uh... Luka... this is my Luka... I mean Luka... just Luka.." She gasped as he waved. The excited girl leaned over and smiled.

  "See... they're made for each other," She attempted to whisper but both Marinette and Luka heard her. Marinette went bright red and started to mumble while Luka went completely silent and a little red as well.

  "I think you broke them," The other girl stated, rolling her eyes. "I'm Jess and this is my sister, Aeon. Anyway, if you want to get to the roof without getting caught, you can take the stairs outside,"

  "Thanks," Marinette grinned before grabbing Luka's hand which knocked him out of his trance.

  "Uh... t-thanks..." He stuttered, making Marinette look at him. He honestly looked like he was about to hyperventilate but he gave her a soft smile. "Withdrawal..."

  "Ah, yeah. You couldn't bring her with you," She muttered, making the two girls raise an eyebrow as Marinette opened the window. "Maybe someone will let you borrow theirs,"

  "Borrow? Withdrawal?" Jess questioned as she looked at them. "Are you... ok?"

  "Oh, Luka's a musician and music helps him... how did you put it?"

  "Music is often simpler then words," He muttered, blushing a little. "I use it talk I guess..."

  "Hmm..." Jess muttered before getting up and grabbing an acoustic guitar before shoving it in his hands. She then grabbed a second one. "Well, let's head to the roof and hear your music. Come on, Aeon,"

  "Yay!!" She grinned, jumping up as Marinette climbed out the window. Luka thanked Jess, putting the guitar on his back before he followed Marinette with the other two behind them. 

  "Wow," Marinette gasped as they got onto the roof. It was lit up with fairy-lights and almost all of the students were there, talking and just hanging. Luka stood next to her and smiled, looking around as well. Alya and Nino were getting selfies with some of the students, the rest of Kitty section were sat with other musicians, playing music and singing. Kim was doing press ups against another kid with a few kids filming. Max was explaining Markov to others as Alix talked to a girl with bright green hair. Kagami was showing off her fencing skills and Adrien was talking in Chinese. Aurora and Mireille were chatting with other students too. Chloe and Sabrina were chatting with Mason and his friend. Jess and Aeon came over.

  "Alright, music boi, let's see what you can do," Jess declared before she sat down and began to play an upbeat song which caused people to begin to dance. Luka closed his eyes and listened before opening them again. He looked around and smiled as his luck vision highlighted Ivan, Rose, a girl with a tambourine and a few other instruments. He walked over and whispered something to Ivan, who grinned and nodded before telling Rose and the tambourine girl then he grabbed the other instrument. He gave Juleka a flute and handed Adrien a ukulele before walking back over as Jess rose an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

  "What I do best," He smiled before sitting down and closing his eyes before tapping his hand against the guitar. Ivan began to play and gradually the others joined in. Luka kept his eyes closed as he took it in before he began to play. The whole song was so upbeat and full of energy that it made people want to dance and clap in time with it. Jess couldn't help but smile as Luka skillfully played a melody that no one had ever heard before joining in. Aeon grinned and began dancing as the tempo got faster and faster. Luka smiled and glanced up at Marinette who was laughing and dancing with Alya and Chloe. He smiled and continued playing before the song gradually came to a natural stop, causing the students to clap and whistle.

  "What was that song, dude?" Mason asked as Jess nodded. "Did you write it?"

  "Uh... I just play what I feel... had to get the rest involved though since there's some many songs out here tonight," Luka muttered, making them raise an eyebrow but Marinette walked over and smiled.

  "Luka can hear the songs in people's hearts," She explained. "What he just played is what he heard in the hearts of everyone here,"

  "Whoa," Mason gasped as Luka smiled before he began to play a solo tune. Gradually, the others joined in again but the music came to a stop as something appeared in the sky. Luka stood up as Marinette stared into the sky. Adrien dropped the ukulele as Kagami stared with wide eyes as a flying machine came towards them. It was red and orange in color and a man with a matching suit seemed to be flying it.

  "What is that?" Luka gasped as the rest of the classes surrounded them. Mason laughed and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

  "That is Hotdog Dan!" He yelled out as it landed. A parasol popped out as it turned into a food van, revealing the man inside. He had an orange and red mask on and was dressed as a superhero. His hair resembled flames and he was grinning. 

  "Hey, hey, hey. Hotdog Dan is here to get in the mood!" He declared, taking out his blades and began to serve up hotdogs. The students rushed over in a swarm and began to get his hotdogs. Adrien grabbed Kagami's hand and rushed over as Rose ran over to buy one for her and Juleka. "I'm the hero of Picnics and tasty food!"

  "Usually, he teams up with Ketchup Boy and Mustard Girl but it looks like he's patrolling solo tonight," Jess explained before she glanced over. "You might want to hurry if you want to try one of his magic hotdogs though. They sell out in minutes,"

  "Magic... hotdogs?" Marinette gasped as she looked over. A boy with red hair took a bit into her hotdog and then to her surprise, he blew out a bit of fire that resembled a dragon. A blonde girl took a bite of hers, which caused her skin to turn a glowing blue. She laughed along with her friends. Rose ate hers and literally lifted Ivan above her head while Juleka's hotdog allowed her to change her hair color into anything she wanted. Adrien literally gave him cat ears while Kagami gained a bit super speed. Another girl had a fire breathing one, allowing her to create a dragon from fire and Sabrina's gave her long hair with flowers into it, similar to Rapunzel. Marinette's eyes went huge with excitement before she turned to Luka. "We have to try those!!"

  She didn't wait for an answer before she grabbed his hand and rushed over to Hotdog Dan as Alya and Nino walked over too. Hotdog Dan frowned as he saw the four of them.

  "Sorry, guys, I only have two hotdogs left for the four of you," He frowned, disappointed but Nino shook his head and took out his cash.

  "No worries, dude. My girl and I can take one," He smiled, buying them before he handed one to Marinette. "You can take the other. My treat,"

  He winked and pushed Marinette's hand away as she went to give Nino a bit of money for the hotdog before Alya handed him half of theirs.

  "Thanks, babe," He smiled as Marinette turned to Luka.

  "Here, you should have it. I can get a hotdog later," She smiled, offering it to him but Luka smiled softly. He picked it up and broke it half. She blinked as he handed her the other half. "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah. There's no way I'm letting you miss out on these ones," He smiled, causing her to blush and smile back as she took the hotdog half. The two of them smiled as they bit into them. Almost instantly, they began to float up into the air. Marinette gasped and flailed around but Luka grabbed her hand as he gasped, surprised at the fact they were floating. Nino and Alya were laughing at their reactions but apparently, their hotdog had the effect of helium. Jess and Aeon couldn't help but laugh as Marinette gasped as she looked down.

  "You were right," She mumbled, looking at Aeon and getting Alya's attention. "Those two are made for each other,"

  "Oh, with those two, things aren't that simple," She explained in a high pitched voice which made both girls give her a questioning look. "Luka has been in love with Marinette for like... forever but Marinette had a huge crush on Adrien. However, she realized that she also had a huge crush on Luka but she wasn't sure how to deal with but then Adrien started to date Kagami and Marinette decided to let him go and move on from her crush on him. She still has feelings for Luka but thinks he only thinks of her as a friend and Luka thinks she's still hung over Adrien. Also they both think each other deserves better then themselves and that's not even including Marinette's crush on our local superhero Anatis,"

  "Whoa... that's complicated," Jess nodded as Marinette began to relax. She spun upside down and grinned at Luka, who laughed a little too much that he floated away slightly. Marinette gasped and grabbed his hand, pulling him back to her. They both blushed as they looked into each other’s eyes, not realizing how close they were. Jess grinned as she looked at them then at her guitar. "Hey, squeaky,"

  "The name's Alya but... yes?"

  "Alya... cool... do they have a favorite song?" Jess asked as Adrien walked over. He took out his phone and showed her a song on his phone.

  "They danced together at Chloe's party to that," He explained, getting a nod of Jess who began to play it. Luka gasped as he heard it. He looked down and saw everyone had started dancing to it as Jess played the song. He looked back at Marinette who was looking at the moon before she looked at him and smiled.

  "We danced to this at Chloe's party," She mumbled, playing with her hands. "It's actually one of my favorite memories despite that akuma. I got to make macaroons with you..."

  "It's one of my favorite memories too," He admitted, blushing a little before looking at her. The moonlight illuminated her, giving her an ethereal sort of glow. Her hair seemed a little bright then usual and she looked happy. Luka gently took her hand in his, making her look at him as he smiled. "Would... would you like to dance again?"

  "Yeah... I would," She smiled, placing her spare hand on his shoulder. He smiled back and placed his hand on her waist as they began to dance. He spun her around, causing her to giggle before he pulled her closer to him. She carefully placed her arms around his neck and leaned into him. She couldn't help but smile happily as he held her close. She closed her eyes as they gently spun round in the air. Gradually, the effect of the magic hotdog began to wear off. Marinette gasped in fear, scared that they would just suddenly fall but Luka gave her a reassuring smile as they slowly descended from the sky. Gradually, their feet touched the ground but instead of separating, Marinette just smiled and leaned against him as the song continued to play. Luka smiled and closed his eyes as they couldn't to sway and move to the music, leaving the two of them in their own little bubble as Adrien and Kagami joined Nino and Alya. Kagami smiled as they watched them.

  "They appear to be making progress," She stated, getting a nod of Adrien.

  "I'm happy for them," He smiled as his cat ears twitched. "Luka helps ground Marinette but she helps him come out of his shell,"

  "So he's pretty shy then?" Jess asked, getting a nod of the four.

  "Yeah, he only recently started to go to school. He use to be home educated but after some time, he decided to join the school," Alya nodded as Rose gushed over them and Juleka just smiled. "I think shyness kind of runs in the family,"

  "Oh?" Jess asked, looking at her.

  "Well, Juleka is his sister. He's only older by her then a year so he's in the year above us but she's super shy too," Alya replied, nodding towards her. "I often forget they are Couffaines,"

  "Couffaines?"

  "It's their name and believe me when I say, they may be shy but Chaos is in their blood," She chuckled, making pretty much everyone smile or laugh. "I think that's why Rose and Marinette are drawn to them. They're pretty chaotic themselves. Marinette can be really clumsy and Rose... well, she is energy incarnate,"

  "Sound like my kind of people," Jess grinned as Aeon nodded excitedly.

  "You should meet the captain," Adrien grinned, making them look at him with confused expression. "The captain is the head of the Couffaine family. She is literally like a real life pirate. Ah what is it she says?"

  "From Chaos comes creativity," Ivan piped up as he walked over with Mylene. "Marinette's parents are really cool as well,"

  "Yeah, they run the best bakery in all of Paris," Adrien grinned as Jess listened. "The croissants are amazing,"

  "Awesome," She smiled. "So what about you? What's your family like?"

  "Oh... well... um..." Adrien muttered, suddenly looking sad. Kagami frowned and took his hand before turning to Jess.

  "His family is a sensitive subject," She stated in her usual manner. "Could we change the subject?"

  "Yeah, of course," Jess answered, nodding before she grinned. "Why don't you tell us about this Anatis dude you mentioned? You said he was a local superhero? Can you tell us about him?"

  "Yes, we would love to know more," Aeon agreed as Alya practically shook with excitement. "Like does he work alone? Or-"

  "He has a partner!" She gasped, taking out her phone and showing them pictures. "Anatis and Lady Noir! They're such badass and so nice too!! There's other heroes too!! Culpeo, Abellie and Leatherback are part of his inner circle but there's others too like Ryuko and Aspik!!”

  "And we've lost her," Adrien smiled as he glanced back over at Marinette and Luka. They were still dancing and Luka had his eyes closed. Marinette caught Adrien looking and grinned at him as he gave her a thumbs up before closing her eyes and continued to dance. 

  ~The Next Day~

  "Soo how was your dance with Luka last night?" Alya asked as her and Marinette got off the bus. Marinette had been sighing happily all morning but neither girl had a chance to talk. After the party last night, they were all really tired so they went to bed pretty quickly and this morning, they had breakfast with everyone. Alya knew better to talk to Marinette about Luka when he was in ear shot. 

  "It was so romantic, Alya," She smiled, almost walking into something. She shook her head and turned back to Alya, who had gone quiet. "Do you- Alya?"

  "Oh my gosh!!" She gasped, pointing to a teacher. "That teacher over there!! That's Dean Gate aka Doorman. He has the ability to transform any door into a teleportation passage! Oh, that is soo cool! Superheroes don't necessarily need to hide their true identity here!! Amazing!!! Ah, I have to ask him for a quote for my blog!!"

  With that, she walked away as Marinette smiled. Luka noticed and walked over.

  "Alya seems excited," He mumbled, getting a nod of Marinette as Alya talked to Mr Gate.

  "Apparently, that teacher is a superhero called Doorman but his identity is public knowledge,"

  "Really?" He asked, imagining what his life would be like if everyone knew he was Anatis. Marinette nodded. "How strange but I guess he doesn't have an insane miraculous user trying to steal his miraculous,"

  "Yeah, that's true," She nodded, subconsciously stroking her ring before turning to him. "Shall we go inside?"

  "Yeah," He smiled as they walked in, following the other students. Seeing Jess and Aeon there, Luka smiled and waved at them as they walked inside the area. Mr Gate clapped his hands and asked them to follow him as they walked through the museum. Luka couldn't help but look around as they checked out the displays. They made their way over to the special display that had been put up for the French American friendship week. The class came to a stop in front of the display as Mr Gate gestured to it.

  "This is the famous saber of the marquis Lafayette," He explained, pointing towards it before he pointed towards a necklace. "And here is the necklace he presented to George Washington as a symbol of friendship between the French and the American people,"

  Luka glanced over at it and suddenly, it was like a pulse when through his mind, causing him to groan and grip his head. His mind was pounding and he stepped back.

  "Mr Couffaine?" Mr Gate asked, concerned as Marinette gasped, gently placing her hand on his arm. "Are you ok?"

  "Y-Yeah... I just have a headache... I'm fine.." He gasped, looking up. As soon as he saw the necklace again, another pulse hit him and another like a wave, causing him to groan and stumble back as images began to flash through his mind. "C-Can... I get some fresh air?"

  "Yes, of course," He nodded, causing Luka to rush out of the building. Marinette came with him and made sure he was ok. Once he was outside, he pounding headache disappeared, allowing him to breathe in. He assured that he was fine and that it was just a headache before sending her back inside. As soon as she was gone, Tikki flew out of his pocket.

  "Are you ok?" She asked, concerned. He nodded and took out his bottle of water, taking a slip. "What happened?"

  "I'm not sure," He muttered, looking at her. "I just... It felt like... I was getting hit by something... like some sort of energy and there were... images flashing in my mind. Tikki, it felt like magic,"

  "That's strange," She mumbled, frowning. "Think you'd be ok to go back inside so we can look at it?"

  "Sure," He nodded, getting up. She flew into his pocket and he headed back in. He headed back into the room where the display was, noting it was empty. He walked over but groaned again as the pulse hit him again. Tikki flew out and moved over to it, looking at it as Luka gripped his head. "T-Tikki,"

  "Luka!!" She gasped as he fell to the ground. "Luka?!"

  Flashes of the marquis and the necklace flashed through his mind as he gripped his head. His eyes began to change silver as he continued to see them before he started to make sense of them. He saw the Marque talking to a small creature he recognized as a kwami and saw how he used the power to help liberate people. Gradually, the images disappeared and he carefully sat up, scoping up Tikki. 

  "Are you ok?" She asked, placing her paw on his face.

  "Yeah... I think it's a miraculous," He whispered, making her gasp and look at it but before he could explain more, his phone vibrated. He took it out and saw it was an akuma alert. He got up and ran over to a pillar to hide behind. He took out the sunglasses that were the horse miraculous and put them on, allowing Kaaiki to manifest as they changed into normal glasses.

  "Hello, Master Luka," She stated in a bored manner. "You know the words,"

  "Kaaiki, full gallop," He declared, causing her to be sucked into the glasses, transforming him into Appalo. With his transformation complete, he made a circle movement with his hand, creating a ring of energy around his wrist before he threw across the room as he focused on the Eiffel tower. "Voyage!!"

  The ring transformed into a portal which he stepped through bringing him into Paris. It disappeared straight away as he looked down and frowned as the destruction the akuma had been making.

  "Kaaiki, Dismount," He muttered, catching the kwami and give her a baby carrot as Tikki flew out. He turned to the two kwami. "Tikki, spots on!"

  A red light engulfed him, turning him into Anatis before he looked at Kaaiki. She finished the carrot and gave him a nod. He took off the glasses and placed them in his yoyo before diving off the tower and swinging off into the city, following the trail of destruction. He landed on a nearby building as Robustus literally destroyed another.

  "Robustus?" He whispered, frowning as that didn't make sense. Robustus was Max's Robot Markov but they were in New York with the rest of the class so how the hell did he get akumatized in Paris? Frowning to himself, he threw his yoyo in the air and called for a lucky charm. He frowned as he caught a length of rope before looking around. Robustus himself lit up then the rope and then a man on the street who was looking at the monster in shock. Knowing what to do, he swung down and used the rope to tied up the robot before landing in front of the man. His luck vision zoomed in on the man's watch and he frowned as he realized it was discolored.

  "I... I didn't... I don't know how it appeared," The man gasped in shock, making Anatis frown. "I was just feeling low and then the next thing I know that thing appeared,"

  "Can I borrow your watch?" He asked, causing the man to shake and nod but he suddenly tried to punch Anatis, causing him to grab his arm and take off the watch before he crushed it in his hand. To his surprise, it wasn't an akuma that escaped but an amok. He caught it with his yoyo before grabbing the ropes and throwing them up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!"

  The swarm fixed everything and the man looked confused as Anatis bid him farewell before he threw his yoyo and swung off. Once on the rooftops away from the scene, he opened his yoyo and took out the feather, examining it. 

  "Mayura..." He muttered, looking at it with a frown. "But why...."

  His yoyo vibrated, making him open it and click on the notification. It was a live steam on the ladyblog, showing a bright blue villain with four tentacle like arms fighting uncanny valley and Sparrow in the museum. He frowned as he wasn't sure why it was on the Ladyblog but it seemed the villain was similar to Techno Pirate but more powerful. He frowned to himself but then Lady Noir suddenly appeared on screen, throwing her baton towards the villain. However, he knocked it back and grabbed her with one of his tentacle before slamming her into a wall. Doorman appeared on screen, calling for Sparrow, Uncanny Valley and Lady Noir to get through one of his teleportation portal but Techno Pirate grabbed Valley with one of his arms and declared her powers his before throwing her against the wall. He then destroyed Doorman's door and repeatedly fired at them with a move similar to her third eye. Sparrow attempted to jump at him but was caught and throw into a different room. Lady Noir rushed in to help him as Doorman rushed over to Alya, who was still filming.

  "You need to get out of here," He declared, causing the live stream to cut off. Anatis frowned to himself and activated the dimension pocket in his yoyo. He took out the horse miraculous and put them on, allowing Kaaiki to manifest again.

  "Kaaiki," He declared, holding out one of his hands before he held out the other. "Tikki... unify,"

  He held his hands together, changing his spots to white as he merged the miraculous. His boots gained wing like details and his gloves got a white strip on them. His mask transformed into speed googles with darkened lens and he gained the horse shoe on his back. He drew the circle with his hand before opening the portal. He walked through and frowned as he stepped into the museum, just as Tikki manifested turning him into his normal horse outfit. He reached into his pocket and took out a cookie for her. She grinned and took it as he leaned down and touched the dust. Using his horse vision, he looked around for anything to stand out but to his surprise, he found the Doorman under an airplane model. He rushed over and lifted it off him before checking his pulse. Luckily, he was alive. He groaned and blinked as he saw him.

  "W-Who..." He gasped in pain. "A-Are you?"

  "I'm Appalo," He explained as he helped him to his feet. He glanced around and saw no one else in there so he helped Doorman out of the museum and to where the staff were. One of them rushed over and took Doorman off him as Tikki finished her cookie. He took out his communication device and opened it up, tracking where Lady Noir was. Apparently, she was on the New York times building which appeared to be on the other side of New York. A beep made him frown before he looked to Tikki.

  "Tikki, you charged?" He asked, making her nod. "Alright. Tikki, Kaaiki unify,"

  He turned back into his merged form, making a few people gasp before Kaaiki appeared, turning him back into Anatis. He took off his glasses and placed them into his yoyo before he took out a purple macaroon. Doorman rose an eyebrow as he ate it.

  "Power up," He muttered, transforming into his Asteroid form before he turned to the stunned hero. "Doorman, get in contact with Majestia and let her know Techno pirate has escaped and is at the New Times building,"

  "W-Will do," He nodded, getting a nod of Asteroid. "But... what are you going to do?"

  "Help the heroes fighting him," He replied before he broke into a run. He threw his yoyo up and pulled himself into the air before flying off as fast as he can. He reached the New York Times tower, just as Techno pirate grabbed Lady Noir with one of his arms. Uncanny Valley was laid on the floor but she was broken. It appeared that Techno pirate had ripped in half. Sparrow was trapped in one of his other arms but appeared to be unconscious and Lady Noir was struggling as he tightened his arm around her. She gasped in pain as he heard a crunch as if something had broken.

  "Say goodbye to your new friend, kitty cat," Pirate laughed before he dropped the unconscious Sparrow off the building. Lady Noir cried out and struggled even more but Pirate just laughed. Asteroid narrowed his eyes before diving down pass Pirate. "What was that?!"

  He caught Sparrow and flew back up before landing on the roof.

  "Spots off," He declared, changing into his normal form as he placed Sparrow down next to Valley. Pirate turned to him as Lady Noir gasped. "Hey! Big and ugly! Why don't you pick on someone you're on size?!"

  "Annie!!" She gasped in relief. Anatis took out his yoyo and threw it up.

  "Lucky charm!!" He yelled out but Pirate grabbed him around the waist. He grabbed the lucky charm in time and used it to blast a puff of air into Pirate's eyes, distracting him for a few seconds. He wrapped his yoyo around the ariel on the roof and Lady Noir used her baton and cataclysm to escape but it only damaged his arms. The two of them jumped across the roof, spinning their weapons as Pirate blasted them with Valley's power but before he could do any more damage, Majestia appeared and punched him, sending him flying throughout different buildings. Lady Noir groaned as she held her ribs, hissing a little. Anatis turned to her and cupped her face. "Are you ok?"

  "I think he crushed my ribs but..." She looked over at Sparrow and Uncanny Valley, causing Majestia to look over. She let out a cry of despair and rushed over, crying as she held the upper body of Uncanny Valley. They heard the sound of a grapple hook as Knightowl appeared and stopped as he looked at the scene before he rushed over to Sparrow. He held the child in his arms before looking angrily at the two french heroes.

  "What did you two do?!" He snarled, making Lady Noir glare at him.

  "It wasn't us! It was Techno Pirate!" She argued. "In fact, Sparrow would be dead if Annie hadn't turned up! He saved him from been splatted on the ground! Ah!"

  She gasped and gripped her ribs, making Anatis frown. He looked over at the scene before he took out the bike pump.

  "Oh, what are you going to do? Fix it with a magical bike pump?!" Knightowl mocked.

  "Exactly that," Anatis replied before throwing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

  The bike pump burst into the magical swarm, which spread around New York, fixing all the damage before it swarmed around Lady Noir, Sparrow and Uncanny Valley. When it disappeared, Sparrow sat up and looked around. Uncanny Valley was repaired and opened her eyes, smiling as she saw her mother.

  "Rebooting," She muttered as Anatis turned to Lady Noir, who was no longer in pain and completely fixed. 

  "Oh! Man, I love that feeling," She gasped as Majestia turned to Anatis.

  "Thank you but... why are you in New York?" She asked, confused. Lady Noir gasped, panicked but Anatis stepped up.

  "We were following a lead regarding Hawk Moth's identity. I suspected it might have been someone who had connections to New York and Paris..." He muttered, making the hero nod. However, Knightowl was angry as he stormed over.

  "You two are dangerous!" He declared, causing Anatis to step in front of Lady Noir protectively. Sparrow, however, rushed in front of them too. "I suspect that Techno pirate had his power increased because of you!"

  "No, they were j-" Sparrow tried to argue.

  "So are you! You disobeyed and didn't call it in!" He growled before turning to Lady Noir and Anatis. "I don't care why you're here but I'm ordering you to revert to your civilian identities and hand me the source of your power! You'll get it back when you leave. We don't not need amateur heroes running around,"

  "Firstly, you're super rude, do you know that?!" Anatis growled back, causing Knightowl to act surprised. Lady Noir smirked as she realized no one had ever spoke to him in that before. "And secondly, your protege tried their damn best and deserves a better mentor then you! And finally, don't you dare blame us for something that a villain did!!"

  "Why you!?!" Knightowl growled before pointing at Anatis. "You liste-"

  "No, you listen!" He growled. "Me and my partner are not to blame for a villain's actions and neither is your protege! In fact, they tried their damn hardest and probably didn't have a way to contact you but instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt and actually listening to what they have to say, you just assume that their actions were based on childish decisions without even knowing the full facts and to add insult to injury, you actually have the nerve to try and order me about!"

  "Young man-," Majestia started.

  "Anatis! My name is Anatis since neither of you bothered to ask," He declared, making Sparrow, Lady Noir and Uncanny Valley hold back giggles. Sparrow leaned over to Lady Noir.

  "Is he always this sassy?"

  "Oh yeah. You should have seen him when he ripped into the style queen," She whispered, causing Valley to gasp.

  "The Style Queen? As in Audrey Bourgeois?" She gasped, making Lady Noir nod. Both of the New York heroes looked at him with awe. "Wow... he's so cool,"

  "Oh yeah," Lady Noir grinned as Anatis continued to argue with Knightowl.

  "Why you!" Knightowl growled but Majestia placed her hand on his shoulder.

  "Anatis, I understand the frustration but you're not in Paris and you two are extremely dangerous," She stated, making them look at her. She looked to Lady Noir. "I don't know exactly what your power is but I saw what you did to Techno Pirate's arms and you... your power could be used to create danger-"

  "The lucky charm doesn't work that way," Anatis argued, taking a step back as Knightowl growled and stepped forward.

  "I understand but you need to surrender the source of your power," Majestia nodded. Lady Noir looked at him and she could see he wasn't going to win this argument. "We will return it to you before you go home,"

  "That's all great and all," He muttered, looking around as Lady Noir stepped back with him, hissing a little. His luck vision highlighted an air vent. "But we can't trust you. Sorry, not sorry!"

  He used his yoyo to hit the vent, causing it to smoke before he grabbed her hand and jumped off the building. The two landed on the ground and rushed over to the nearest manhole. He opened it and jumped inside with her, following. He heard Knightowl shout at them and follow but he didn't follow them into the sewers. They climbed down the ladder and as soon as they were on the ground, Lady Noir threw her arms around him.

  "I'm so sorry!" She gasped. "I got you in trouble and-"

  "Hey, it's ok," He smiled, cupping her face. "I'm just glad I was able to get there in time... are you sure you're ok, kitten?"

  "I'm fine," She sniffed, nuzzling her hand. "My ribs don't hurt anymore... but why are you here in New York? I thought you were protecting Paris,"

  "I was but... something wasn't right," He muttered, taking out the feather from his yoyo as they walked through the sewer.

  "An amok?" She asked, frowning. "But you took care of it right?"

  "Yeah but it was Robustus," He muttered, making her frown. "But Markov isn't in Paris. I checked to see if he and Max were. Not just that and it was a sentimonster created by some random dude. It seems that it was meant to look like an akuma,"

  "That's... odd..." She muttered, handing him back the feather. "But how did you know I was in New York?"

  "I saw the Ladyblog live stream and used the horse miraculous to get her then located you with my yoyo," He replied, getting a nod of her. "I'm glad I got here on time,"

  "Me too," She mumbled. "According to Sparrow, Techno Pirate was... enhanced somehow,"

  "Hmm," He muttered, frowning before looking at her. "You should head back onto the surface,"

  "What are you going to do?" She asked, worry on her face.

  "I'm gonna follow a lead in the museum. There's something I need to check," He muttered, getting a nod of her. She turned to leave but suddenly hugged him again. He smiled and hugged back before she walked off. Once out of view, he heard her transform back before she ran off. He took out his yoyo and found an exit that led to the museum. He ran towards it and detransformed, catching Tikki before he gave her a cookie and went to climb out of the sewers. He stumbled a little and groaned, making Tikki look at him with concern. "I'm ok, Tikki but I won't be able to use the Horse Miraculous for a while,"

  "Here," She mumbled, breaking her cookie in half and handed him a bit. "I know you need a lot more then just half of a cookie but it should help,"

  "Thank you," He smiled, taking it and gently patting her head with his finger. He quickly ate it then climbed out of the sewers. He rushed over to the museum but frowned as he saw police and another superhero. He recognized them as Snowflake. He walked over and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

  "Yes?" She asked, looking at him.

  "Could you tell me what happened?" He asked. "Why are the police here?"

  "Oh, the saber of the marquis Lafayette, along with the falcon talon necklace was stolen by Techno Pirate but I'm not sure I understand why he wanted them," She mused, making him frown. "Hey, aren't you one of those french kids? I'll get Doorman to bring you back to the dorms! Hey, Doorman!"

  Before Doorman could come over, Luka turned and bolted as fast as he could out of there. He jumped a little as thunder sounded and rain began to fall heavily, soaking him within minutes. He found a place to hide and took Tikki out of his pocket.

  "That miraculous is missing," He stated, causing her to frown. "But I don't understand. Why did Techno pirate go after it and the saber? How did he get increased power? What's the connection?"

  "Well, what do we know?" She asked, making him think.

  "Techno pirate got increased power, stole the saber and the necklace and then disappeared again..." He muttered before his thoughts drifted to Paris and the amok. Why was there an amok made to look like an akuma? What was he missing? What was the connection and why was Mayura active instead of Hawkmoth? Wasn't he able to akumatize someone? Of course, he could. Plenty of dark feelings in Paris so why use Mayura? And why Robustus? He knew it couldn't be Marvok because he was here in New York... but of course, the rest of Paris wouldn't know that. They would just think it was the usual akuma attack but why go through all of this trouble to make an amok look like an akuma? It's almost like... his eyes widen in realization. Hawkmoth wasn't in Paris. He must be in New York and after that miraculous, which means Techno Pirate was akumatized. "Oh no,"

  "Luka?" Tikki gasped, causing him to look at her.

  "Hawkmoth is in New York," He gasped, making her look at him with shock. "We have to warn someone,"

  ~Meanwhile at the Lafayette building~

  "Luka Couffaine?" Mrs Mendeleiev asked as she looked around the room.

  "He's not here," Juleka muttered, frowning. Worry was clear in her eyes as she had no idea where her brother was nor was he answering his phone. The last she had seen him was at the museum when he went out for some fresh air due to his headache.

  "Neither is Marinette," Rose gasped as Alya tried to get through to her as well. She looked at Juleka with worry. "You don't think that horrible villain got them?"

  "I hope not," She mumbled as Jess and Aeon walked in with two women. One was blonde and dressed in green and the other had dark hair and dressed all in black. They seemed to be annoyed with the two girls.

  "You had one mission," The woman in black growled, making Juleka frown as she noticed. "To keep an eye on the French Students,"

  "We did and that's how we discovered Marinette and Luka are in love with each other. We tried to help but Luka got sick and we were interrupted by that supervillain. I still don't understand how he got-"

  "It doesn't matter! You failed and disobeyed orders!"

  "Barb, darling," The blonde woman stated, stroking her wife's face.

  "Mother, I don't understand," Aeon stated, making the two women frown. "You always say that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. What did I do wrong?"

  "My dear, by trying to help the french students, you ended placing them and yourselves in danger," The blonde woman explained as the woman in dark facepalmed. "Doing good doesn't necessarily mean fighting,"

  "Yeah... well maybe we were just trying to help since you know it's our job!" Jess declared, glaring at them. "We're not babysitting... we're super heroines!"

  "Superheroes! Who's mission was to keep an eye on the French students and you failed it!" Barb shouted, making Jess and Aeon look down. "You're forbidden to join in with the hunt for Techno Pirate. You're clearly not ready to leave the nest,"

  "Uh! How I am suppose to be ready when you never let me spread my wings?!"

  "No prohibits Anatis and Lady Noir,"

  "And we almost lost you because of that,"

  "No! We're almost lost her because of Techno Pirate!" Jess shouted, making both adults look at her in shock before she turned to Barb. "Anatis is right! You are rude and you're blaming us for Techno Pirate's actions!"

  "Jess, my word is final," Barb growled before turning on her heel. "Come on, Olympia. We're expected,"

  With that, the two of them walked out of the building, leaving Jess and Aeon alone. Jess sighed, defeated as the news came on. Walking over to the rest of the group, they saw it was the president, explaining that they would be postponing the French American week celebrations until Techno Pirate was captured. Majestia stepped forward, stating that she supported their decision and that it would be too dangerous to have any mass gathering. She asked everyone to keep safe while they would be patrolling the city. Alya sighed softly as the heroes talked on the screen before looking out of the window. She gasped and rushed outside as Marinette walked over to the stairs. 

  "Marinette!! Are you ok?!" She gasped as the rest of the class came out. Marinette looked up and gave them a small smile as Alya ran down the stairs and hugged her. "You're not hurt, are you?"

  "Oh... no... I'm ok," She smiled as she looked up at the rest of the class as they gushed over her, happy that she was ok. However, she looked around at them, trying to see where Luka was. Her eyes widen as she realized he wasn't there. "Where's Luka?"

  "He was with you right?" Juleka asked as Marinette frowned.

  "N-No... he went out of the museum because of his headache but then that villain attacked. I only got away because Sparrow rescued me but I didn't see Luka..." She gasped, taking out her phone. It was low battery but she didn't care. She dialed his number and held it to her ear but to her dismay, it went straight to voicemail. "I... I have to find him!!"

  "Marinette!" Alya shouted as she turned on her heel and broke into a run, heading in the direction of the museum. She didn't understand. He should have answered his phone. The museum was fixed thanks to Anatis but why wasn't Luka answering his phone?! She grabbed a bike and began to cycle as fast as she could to the museum but missed a turning, causing her bike to fall and crash. She weakly looked up but couldn't see Luka anywhere.

  "Luka..." She whispered, looking down. "Where are you?"

  ~Meanwhile in Times Square~

  "There they are," Luka gasped as he saw the heroes. He began to walk towards them but stopped when he saw Techno Pirate walking in the middle of the street. He frowned and ducked behind a dumpster to observe the screen. Techno Pirate was holding up his hands as he walked but weirdly enough, he looked different. His skin was completely black with white lines that resembled a mother board across it. His uniform had turned to a light brown color and he had wings that matched it's theme. He also had a break on his nose. Luka rose an eyebrow as he kept hidden.

  "I wanna surrender!!" He shouted, making Luka frown. "I never wanted to stop the french American celebrations from happening!! If I have to lose my freedom for everyone else to celebrate theirs then fine... I surrender!!"

  He spun around, looking as Luka narrowed his eyes. Something didn't feel right. If he was akumatized then why was he surrendering? What could this achieve? He looked around and noticed that the heroes were gathering around the pirate.

  "Put me in jail!!" The pirate wailed, making him frown even more. Especially when the heroes began to surround the villain. Luka carefully stood up from his hiding place and began to back away. All of his gut was telling him something was very wrong.

  "Don't be scared. I genuinely want nothing more then your freedom," The pirate stated as he looked at the heroes, like he wanted them to be there. He suddenly threw out his arms as eternal arrows appeared. "Liberation!"

  The arrows threw out, hitting each of the heroes as Luka ducked behind the dumpster again, causing one to miss him by inches. He let out a sigh but then he heard the sound of buildings been crushed. He jumped up as Knightowl swung past.

  "Can't park properly huh?!" He shouted, throwing a grenade under a car, causing it to blow up high in the sky. He jumped back as guns literally appeared out of the dumpsters and the manholes then Doorman ran past him, trying to decide where to go. Luka frowned and moved from his hiding place to another, peaking out. He frowned deeply as he saw all of the heroes basically doing whatever they wanted. Techno Pirate was stood in the middle of it, grinning as he looked around until a purple mask appeared over his eyes. He nodded and touched a lamp post, which glowed purple before all of the screens suddenly turned on causing Luka to gasp as it showed Hawkmoth on it. 

  "Anatis, Lady Noir... I'm in New York too," He stated, smirking evilly. "If you don't want the party ruined, you have no choice but to surrender your miraculous,"

  "Tikki, spots on!!" He declared, standing up and transforming into Anatis. He threw his yoyo up to the nearest building and pulled himself onto it, dodging the guns that fired at him before using his yoyo to destroy them. He ran across the roof and jumped off it, swinging off into the city as fast as he could. He needed to find Sparrow and Uncanny Valley as he noticed they weren't there, meaning they weren't effected by whatever Techno Pirate did. He also needed to find Lady Noir as he would need her help too. He swung across the buildings until he noticed someone walking in the rain as if they were looking for someone.

  "Luka?!" They called out, causing his eyes to widen as he realized it was Marinette. He dived down and landed near her, making her gasp. "A-Anatis? Wh-What are you doing in New York? Have you seen Luka?!"

  "Luka's fine, Marinette," He smiled, trying to reassure her. She let out a sigh of relief. "But it's not safe to be out on the streets. Hawkmoth is active in New York right now and his akuma has somehow effected the heroes, making them... well... do what they want,"

  "So they've gone... crazy?" She gasped, looking frightened. He sighed and nodded. "Oh no,"

  "Yeah... I need to find Sparrow, Uncanny Valley and Lady Noir. They're the only heroes who haven't been effected by this," He sighed before smiling. "Anyway, let's get you to a safe place. Are you staying in a hotel?"

  "The Lafayette building is where we're staying," She mumbled, gasping as he pulled her close to him.

  "I'll drop you off on the roof then. Hold on," He smiled, making her blush as she held onto him tightly. He threw his yoyo and pulled her up into the air, rushing through it as he swung through the city. Marinette gasped as she held onto him, feeling a little bit of fear as she did. It was different to swinging through Paris. The buildings were much higher and it was colder too but she didn't have much time to think as they landed on the Lafayette building. Anatis gently pulled away from her and gave her a smile. "Head inside and stay safe, Marinette,"

  "Wait!" She gasped as he went to jump. He turned to her and she blushed. "B-Be careful, Anatis,"

  "I will," He smiled before jumping off the building and swinging off. Once gone, Plagg flew out of her purse as she frowned.

  "Annie needs some help," She stated but jumped as Uncanny Valley literally landed in front of her. She quickly snatched Plagg from the air, hiding him behind her back.

  "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hawkmoth is in New York and we need Lady Noir," She gasped, making Marinette panic.

  "Lady Noir?! Wh-Who's that?!"

  "Lady Noir, your suit's quantum masking is designing to confuse human minds," She stated, turning in Aeon and causing Marinette to gasp in surprise. "But I am not human. Without you, we have no chance of contacting Anatis and I think we will need both of your to defeat Miraclonizer,"

  "Miraclonizer?" Marinette asked. "Do you mean Techno Pirate?"

  "Yes, he's been akumatized which means-"

  "Hawkmoth's in New York. I know. Anatis informed me," She mumbled before letting go of Plagg and turning to him but to her surprise, Uncanny Valley didn't blink or even look at him. "Uh... Plagg? Is she ok?"

  "Oh, yeah. She's fine. She just can't see me because she's a robot," He grinned, pulling a funny face at Valley's confused expression. "Anyway, what are we waiting for? Bug boy's gonna need a hand,"

  "Good point," She grinned, holding out her hand. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

  A green light enveloped her and she transformed in Lady Noir. She took out her baton and instantly called Anatis. He answered straight away.

  "Kitten, Hawk Moth-"

  "Is in New York. Yeah, I know. Uncanny Valley told me," She declared, getting a nod of him. "Where are you? We'll come and meet you,"

  "Excellent. Me and Sparrow are hidden by the dumpsters near the empire state building," He stated, nodding. "Try and stay low. The heroes have gone crazy and are attacking almost everything so please be careful,"

  "I will. See you soon, Bug a boo," She grinned, making him blush before hanging up. She turned to Uncanny Valley. "Alright, let's go and meet Annie,"

  "Sounds like a plan," She smiled before the two of them headed to the empire state building. It took a bit longer then they expected but they managed to move past the heroes without getting attacked. As soon as they found the dumpsters, Anatis grabbed them and pulled them into the alleyway before making sure they weren't followed. Sparrow rushed over to Uncanny Valley as Anatis checked over Lady Noir, making sure she hadn't been hurt. She blushed a little as Valley gasped and muttered something to herself before Anatis moved over to them. He knelt down as Lady Noir joined him. "So what's the plan, Annie?"

  "Incoming message from Hawkmoth," Uncanny Valley stated before projecting the video. Anatis frowned as he watched Hawkmoth declared that they had five minutes to surrender their miraculous or he'll start world war 3. "This is not good. We have no heroes available to help us. They have all been controlled by Miraclonizer,"

  "Not controlled," Anatis muttered, making everyone look at him as he took out his yoyo and showed them a picture of Miraclonizer before he zoomed in and pointed to the necklace around his neck.. "His new look is from that. Judging by his look and his power, it's a miraculous that represents freedom or something on the lines of that,"

  "What do you mean?" Sparrow asked, making him sigh. "And how do you know that?"

  "I was there when he took out the heroes. He used the term Liberation and next thing we know the heroes have gone crazy but when you think about it, what they are doing kind of makes sense. Majestia is trying new things with her powers because she's been freed from her fear,"

  "That explains the moon," Sparrow nodded. "But Knight Owl?"

  "Taking justice to the extreme? Easy, he's been freed from moral code. Similar case with Doorman and the rest," Anatis explained. "And it's definitely a miraculous. That I'm certain about but if we have a chance to save the world from Hawkmoth and his world war 3 plan, we're gonna need to free the heroes. In turn, they can help us,"

  "I take it you have a plan?" Uncanny Valley asked, making Anatis and Lady Noir look at each other. 

  "The plan is to reclaim that miraculous,"

  "Well, that's all good but we can't get anywhere near him,"

  "Well, that's because we need a lucky charm, right Annie?" Lady Noir grinned before he threw up his yoyo and summoned his lucky charm. He caught the key ring of Lady Liberty before frowning. Sparrow pointed to it.

  "That's your plan?" They asked, clearly not impressed as Anatis looked around to see how to use it.

  "We're suppose to beat the most powerful heroes with a key-chain?" Valley asked innocently before blinking. "Interesting,"

  "Yeah, that's the plan or at least it will be once I know how to use it," He muttered, looking down at it. Uncanny projected Miraclonizer again to check on the count down, causing Anatis to look up at her before looking back at the key chain. "Of course... Valley, can you show me the blue prints of the statue of liberty? I need to see how it was built,"

  "Sure," She grinned, projecting the blue prints. Anatis studied it before gasping and pointing to it.

  "Look, there's a ladder leading up to the torch platform. We can use that to get to Miraclonizer undetected," He declared, getting a nod of everyone.

  "We could use the horse miraculous to get in there," Lady Noir suggested but Anatis shook his head, making her frown.

  "I won't be any good in the battle against Miraclonizer if I use it again," He admitted, making her frown but she nodded in understanding. However, Sparrow and Uncanny blinked and looked at them.

  "Why doesn't Lady Noir just use it?" Sparrow asked but Anatis shook his head.

  "The horse miraculous isn't compatible with the cat miraculous," He explained, making the two frown. "As for me, it takes a lot of energy to use it and I've already used it to get here. If I use it again, I won't have the strength to fight Miraclonizer. We have to find an different way,"

  "Ok so what does the horse miraculous do?" Sparrow asked, making the two heroes look at them.

  "Teleportation but you have to know exactly where you're going and right now we can only use it once," Anatis explained, making Sparrow nod before the two of them looked at each as an idea popped into their heads. They both said Doorman at the same time, causing Lady Noir and Uncanny Valley to look at them with confusion.

  "Doorman can turn any door into a teleportal," Sparrow stated, getting a nod of Anatis. "With his ability, we can get into the tower unnoticed,"

  "But Doorman only uses his power to sate his own curiosity now," Uncanny Valley pointed out. "He'll never agree to help us,"

  "And we have no idea where he is," Lady Noir pointed out before she snapped her fingers. "But we could lure him to us. He mentioned that he's always wanted to find out what's in the safe in the statue of liberty but the key is in the Eiffel tower,"

  "Of course! Use his own curiosity against him. Great thinking, Kitten," Anatis grinned, scratching her ears which made her purr before he began to look around. His luck vision lit up a box and some news papers. He grabbed them and shoved them into Sparrow's hand. "Make a gift wrap for this  please,"

  "Uh... right," Sparrow nodded before doing as told. Anatis looked around and a door lit up.

  "Uncanny Valley, would you be able to unlock that door?" He asked, getting a nod of her. She rushed over and unlocked before he opened it to check it. Both Sparrow and Valley turned into the normal forms, revealing them to be Jess and Aeon. Lady Noir rose an eyebrow and Anatis just shrugged his shoulders before the two of them pushed two of the dumpsters by the sides of the door. Jess turned back into Sparrow and Aeon turned into Uncanny Valley as they placed the package down. "Head to Liberty Island. We'll meet you there,"

  "Ok... be careful," Sparrow stated as they ran off before Valley grabbed her and flew off. Lady Noir looked up from her hiding place.

  "So Sparrow's a girl huh?" She grinned, making Anatis shake his head. "Didn't see that coming. Why do you think she disguises herself as a boy? Not that's an issue... I'm just curious,"

  "Curiosity killed the cat, Kitten," Anatis stated, ducking down as the door opened. Lady Noir did the same thing as Doorman poked his head out.

  "Kids?" He questioned before seeing the box. He rushed over and opened it. "We know how fascinating you think keys are so we hope you like this one. Signed Jess and Aeon..."

  He looked at the key chain before jumping excitedly.

  "Of course!" He exclaimed, rushing over to the door. He closed it and reopened it. "That's where I should have started,"

  He disappeared into it, leaving it open. Anatis and Lady Noir followed through but kept out of sight as he searched the office of the Eiffel Tower. He gasped and held up an old looking key. He attached it to the key chain then rushed back over to the door and closed it before reopening it again. He ran out, allowing Anatis and Lady Noir to follow. They tackled him down and Anatis tried him up with his belt before reclaiming the key chain. The two of them ran upstairs as fast as they could as they only had a few seconds left. He burst through the door and jumped onto Miraclonizer, grabbing the miraculous. 

  "I'll take that thanks!" He declared, ripping off him and pushing him off the tower. He turned back into Techlonizer as he fell but landed on his four arms as Anatis turned to Sparrow and threw the necklace. "Sparrow!!"

  She caught it and landed on the ground, sliding down a staircase before jumping and landing. She put the necklace on and the kwami manifested before it turned around and faced her. They looked like a little falcon.

  "Hello, fledgling. To call off my power, just say cool down and to transform say Liiri, wings of liberty," The little creature informed before she took off her Sparrow costume.

  "Liiri, wings of Liberty!" She declared, causing Liiri to get sucked into the necklace before she created a mask that resembled a falcon's beak. She felt magic spread down her arms creating her outfit. It was a brown body suit with yellow and black boots and a black belt. A gray under-jack that resembled tail feathers appeared before a brown jack with tassels on the arms manifested. Her hands got covered with black gloves, completing her transformation into Falcon. Taking a deep breath, she held her hands out. "Cool down,"

  She felt instantly the power of the Falcon miraculous subside before she rushed over to where Anatis and Lady Noir were. They were fighting Techlonizer, trying to get the controls for the nuke off him. He laughed and turned to them.

  "Give me your miraculous!!" 

  "Never!" Anatis declared but gasped as Techlonizer pressed the button, causing the nuke to blast off. Falcon gasped as Anatis narrowed his eyes, a very dark expression coming on his face before he charged at him and began to fight him even more, gaining the upper hand. He wrapped his yoyo around him, allowing Lady Noir to dive at him as she summoned her power. She slammed her hand onto his cuffs, causing them to rust and break then a purple butterfly escaped from them and Techlonizer become Techno Pirate again. A second rope appeared around him as Knightowl appeared, allowing Anatis to remove his. He threw out his yoyo and captured the butterfly as the heroes watched. He then opened his yoyo and freed a now white butterfly before taking the keychain and throwing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybugs!!"

  The key chain burst into the magical swarm and flew through the city, fixing all the damage as Majestia landed on the ground, next to Knight Owl who was watching with slight awe. Both hadn't really been paying attention when he used the power before but now they did. Anatis turned to Majestia with a worried expression.

  "Do you stop the Nuke?" He asked. Majestia nodded, causing him to let out a relieved sigh.

  "I threw it into the sun," She explained, making him smile before turning to Techno Pirate. "Now to deal with him,"

  She took out a phone and made call. Within minutes, a police van turned up and took Techno pirate away, despite his confusion. Falcon walked over to Anatis, looking sad as she looked down and went to take off the necklace but he stopped her and smiled.

  "I think you should keep it," He smiled, making her gasp in surprise.

  "Really?!" She grinned.

  "Yes," He nodded as Lady Noir moved next to him. "I know you'll use it for good. Also if you ever need our help again or vice versa, we can contact each other,"

  He took out his yoyo and showed her that a new contact under the Alias Falcon had been added. She squealed and hugged him, making him laugh before she pulled away and hugged Lady Noir as well. 

  "Thank you!!" She smiled before frowning and looking to Knightowl. "But I disobeyed again, meaning I'll never get my weapons back, will I?"

  "With that miraculous, you won't need them," Knight Owl replied before looking down. "And I was wrong. About all of you. My little sparrow was ready to become a fearsome falcon,"

  "Ahh!! Thank you, Mum!!" She declared, making Anatis and Lady Noir look at each other before they both shrugged as she pulled away. "I mean-"

  "It's fine. Besides, it doesn't matter anywhere. With that outfit, people will know that Sparrow is female and that the original Knightowl is long gone," Knight owl explained before taking off her helmet. "Maybe it's a sign that the time has come to embrace who we really are,"

  "And even though it worries us, the only way for us to let you grow is for us to let you take chances," Majestia stated, gently pressing her head against Knightowl's before they both looked to Anatis and Lady Noir. "Thank you for inspiring them,"

  "And please forgive us for misjudging you," Knightowl added in. "You two have a wonderful relationship and I was wrong to doubt you. You're welcome in New York and I hope we get to meet again but on better terms,"

  "Thank you," Anatis smiled before holding out his fist. Lady Noir placed hers against his as the two of them looked at Uncanny Valley and Falcon before the two of them grinned and added theirs next to theirs. "Pound it?"

  "Pound it," The three girls grinned as he smiled before Lady Noir turned around to Uncanny as she rubbed the back of her neck. Anatis rose an eyebrow as she only did that when she was nervous.

  "About my secret identity..." She mumbled, making Anatis stare at her in shock. "You'll erase it right?"

  "Of course. I understand that your secret identity is extremely important to you so as your friend, I promise I'll erase both yours and Anatis' secret identity as soon as we say goodbye," 

  "Wait what?!" Anatis gasped, shocked. "How do you... know that?!"

  "Your suit has quantum masking but that is designed to confuse human minds. Since I am not human, I can see who you really are," She smiled, causing Anatis to look at her with worry. "Don't worry. I haven't told anyone and I'll delete the information,"

  "Please do. Not even Lady Noir knows who I am nor do I know her identity," He gasped before Lady Noir gently elbowed him.

  "Relax, Annie," She grinned. "She'll delete the info and she hasn't told anyone. It'll be fine,"

  "R-Right... I suppose I better get going... I should return to Paris," He nodded but Lady Noir frowned and grabbed his hand, making him look at her.

  "Couldn't you stay for a little bit?" She asked, making him frown.

  "I wish I could, Kitten but chances are Hawkmoth is probably going to go straight to Paris after this defeat and who knows when Mayura will attack again," He sighed, getting a nod off her. He smiled and gently kissed her cheek, making her blush. "Don't worry. We'll have a full catch up when you're back. I want to hear about the rest of your trip,"

  "O-ok," She nodded, blushing as his earrings beeped. He saluted before throwing his yoyo and disappearing. Lady Noir sighed gently as she watched him leave before turning to the others. "Well, this kitty better disappear. Bye!!"

  She ran off and disappeared as Uncanny Valley grinned.

  "Those two are made for each other," She grinned, making Falcon roll her eyes.

  "You said that about Luka and Marinette as well," She stated before grinning. "Come on, Matchmaker. We better get back,"

  ~Time Skip~

  "Hey," Luka stated as he walked over to Marinette. She gasped and threw herself at him. He caught her and smiled as he hugged her back before he pulled away. "I'm really sorry I didn't answer my phone. I was kind of trapped until Anatis turned up,"

  "It's ok. I'm just glad you're ok," She grinned, hugging him again. "I'll have to make Anatis some special cookies for rescuing you,"

  "Hey, Luka! Marinette!" Jess called out, making them look at her. The Falcon Miraculous was around her neck and she seemed more free in a way. "Hotdog Dan's about to come by. You two should get up to the roof if you want to get some again,"

  "Thanks, Jess!" Marinette called out before grabbing Luka's hand. "Come on! I'll buy us some!!"

  "Are you sure?" He gasped as she pulled him up to the roof. "I don't mind getting them for us,"

  "My treat, Luka!" She grinned as he landed. She ran over and ordered two. Hotdog Dan grinned and gave her two before serving others. Marinette handed Luka one and took a bit in hers, grinning as it allowed her to create fireworks. Luka laughed and took a bit of his, causing him to glow bright green. The two of them laughed before sitting down and watch the rest of the students. Luka smiled as he watched them but blushed a little as Marinette gently placed her hand on top of his, making him smile a little. "I'm glad we got to come here, even if there were some crazy moments,"

  "Me too, Marinette,"

[bat-besties]

Sweet Dreams are Made of This

(Who am I to disagree?)

Deceit/Remy - cuddling for warmth - Space (but not the personal kind)

3k words.

Edited by the wonderful @mariniacipher. 

~

In an isolated expanse of space many light-years away, all is silent and cold. A mere buzzing, as if of gnats, is suggested more than actually heard in the freezing vacuum. 

Three ships are flying very quickly through a comet formation. Two are quiet, not even humming with machinery, deathly and still. They hunt the third with deadly precision. And in the third-

"Right! More right! Go-"

"Can you give me an actual direction- nearer the T-16 system or that-"

"Gurl, we ain't taking the Polar Express to the North Pole-"

"Ssssshut up!"

"Near that rock, near the rock-"

"They're all bloody rocks!"

A human in sunglasses swung his seat around to fire at the ships chasing. He replied in fluent Common, though he kept the cadence of an American teenager to it. "In and out, they said. Like, this wasn't easy. I broke a nail picking the locks-"

"Oh, because human nails never grow back." What we would describe as a humanoid snake sat in the pilot's seat; he would describe the human as a mammal-like Serpentis who’d lost his scales.

"Every time we work together something goes wrong-"

"But you just keep coming back for more, don't you, darling?"

"Calm down, babe, I'll get us out of this one again."

"Just like in Andromeda?"

"Shut up about Andromeda already! We-"

Something shook the ship. They quietened for a moment before the human spoke up again. "If my precious Britney Spears has been damaged-"

"Ssssssss," the Serpentis hissed.

"Fuck you too!" the human replied in English.

The Serpentis flipped a switch. "I'm taking it into warp-drive. Keep them off our tail."

"Get off my tail-" the human grumbled before shooting several lasers in rapid succession behind them.

"What? What does that even mean?"

The human had already lost interest, absorbing himself in shooting and flipping from Common to some human tongue. "Fuck you, robot! Fuck the federation! Fucking-"

The Serpentis focused on flying as the human picked off their enemies, shooting them into safety.

~

Remy sighed, rubbing his eyes under his sunglasses. "Thank fuck that's over. I'm going to rest for a bit, don't fuck everything up while I'm gone."

"Since you asked so delightfully." Dee yawned, revealing gleaming white fangs. "I'm taking us closer to a star, get some light..."

"No way."

"What?"

"Do you think after stealing a gem that big going into civilised areas is a good ideal? Do you? Do you really?"

"Get your fangs out of the wood-block and relax."

Remy responded as he usually did to space idioms, insults, or words he wasn't too sure of: "‘Fuck you’, Dee."

"I'm merely observing that you should calm down," Dee said tersely. "Especially since your reckless behaviour was what triggered the guards-"

"You're attacking me for a little mistake like-"

"You always do sssstupid-"

"Don't hiss at me-"

"At least I ssspeak Common without human slang-"

Remy's expression closed off. "Fuck. You." He spoke in a monotone, his usual phrase delivered with the hardness it originated with.

"Is that all you can say?" Dee spoke calmly but his hands were still slightly shaking with adrenaline, so he tightened them on the wheel.

A passive-aggressive smile crossed Remy's face. "I can say what I like on my ship, can't I? And whose ship is this?"

"We almost got caught back there. You're reckless, your ship is a pile of junk, and I wouldn't work with you if I didn't have to. Get to sleep, and don't tell me where to fly your ship if I'm in the pilot's seat. We'll wait for 300, then I'll start taking us down to trade. As soon as we sell that gem I'm out of here."

Remy turned his back, standing in the doorway with one hand rested against his ship. "Have fun hitchhiking with your face plastered all over the Fed’s channels."

Dee didn't deign that with a response. 

After a moment, he heard Remy leave. His tongue flickered between his teeth in irritation as he got up to adjust the thermostat. Not having the controls on the wheel, as they would be on any Serpentis ship, was yet another design flaw with Britney Spears.

He turned it all the way up, much hotter than Remy liked (honestly, he was like a grandpa with his fuel use for warmth) and got back to his seat.

About ten minutes later, he began to feel himself become drowsy, so he dragged himself back up to go and check on the main heater. Worry curled at the back of his mind, the memory of the crash- but he was sure it was nothing.

It was not, in fact, nothing. The whole system was fritzed. Dee held the back of his hand to the cylinder, but he only felt fading warmth, like a rock left in the sun. "Szzzzzzzzkssssss*."

(*this is not translated for the sake of politeness)

He could’ve probably dealt with a standard issue ship, but Britney Spears wasn't standard issue, it was a glorified bucket. He considered asking Remy for help, running over the cadences of 'your piece of shit ship is broken', but decided he could most likely deal with it himself. 

He was just really, really tired. He wouldn't give Remy the satisfaction of seeing him so out of it. He went down to the engine room to see if he could soak up some heat there.

Stumbling down the steps, the residual heat from the engines washing over him hardly helped. Trust Remy to only insulate his engines, prioritising speed of getaway over any type of comfort.

Dee slumped down to sit leaning his back against the silvery foam, head lolling back behind him to hit it too. Just...a few moments and he'd get up and get the useless human. Just a few moments. 

~

Remy woke up from his sleep because of the cold. He screwed up his face and scrunched up his body under his blanket, turning over. Tucking the thin fleece under his feet, he began to drift again despite a slight shiver, grateful for the warmth provided by the material.

Wait, that was- and he wasn't that happy about it- one of the thinnest blankets on the ship, the thinnest, in fact. He had it because the Serpentis liked the ship warm- 

His eyes snapped open. This was much, much too cold for Dee.

He kicked the blanket off and pulled his leather jacket back on, puffing out some air from his mouth experimentally. He could only just about discern it, so it wasn't as bad as it could be. Dee wouldn’t let the temperature drop this low- Remy’s mind jumped to the worst case scenario- intruders of some sort. It was unlikely, but he hadn’t gotten this far by knowing when to rein in his recklessness- no, ma’am!

He reached for his laser-shooter and toed his shoes off so he could move quietly through the ship. Padding through to the engine room, he found the pilot seat empty- and the thermostat turned fully up. "Use up my fuel why don't you-" he complained under his breath.

Then to the heater: broken. Crap. 

The generators were up, and the engine was still running, but he'd have to check the back of the ship. Worr- curiosity about Dee was also beginning to build.

Holding his laser-shooter out in front of him, he headed down to the engine room.

Dee was slumped by the insulation. His eyes were open, but sightless.

Remy felt a lot of things, but he focused on that, sliding the sunglasses off his own head and gently sliding them over Dee's. "Don't like that. Eyelids, please."

He tilted his head and looked at Dee's chest slowly rising and falling in sleep. The sunglasses made it look worse, somehow, as if this was something Remy had done to make fun of him. As if this was all his fault.

Remy shrugged his leather jacket off with a shiver, tucking it over Dee's body. "Probably the coolest he's ever looked in his life-" His undercurrent of humour didn't even convince himself, but speaking meant one thought at one time and some kind of plan instead of the silence from the other thief. 

"Crap, blanket, should I run and- don't want to leave him- he's not going to move, let's get the-"

His feet pounded up the stairs. He pulled the thickest blanket from the drawer under his bunk, a thick Saeranian quilt from a museum somewhere on Nemos, and ran back down to cocoon Dee in it.

Remy went back a few paces. He sat on his haunches, watching Dee. He had never liked waiting. 

"Wake up. Come on. That quilt it’s, like...a queen wove it for her husband, or something. That has queen hands on it. You're not a king, you're a reprobate... It's really expensive- maybe you could sell it when we touch down?- I want to get new supplies- maybe some new Nemorian music. If they're not still, like, pissed about me stealing the quilt, but they stole it first- embarrassing, tbh. Do you think if I return it to Saeran, I'll get, like, a medal? Nah, the Fed reaches there too, but...maybe I'll find some human music. It's not so far from the Milky Way. A few months..." He popped to his feet, beginning to pace. "Ok, sleeping beauty, I'm not kissing you, so you better start waking up. Or I'm going to start singing." 

When he did, his voice wobbled.

"Maybe I could put some insulation around you-" Remy paused. "Crap, crap, holy fuck! The insulation keeps in the warm, he ain't making the warm!"

He ran his hand through his hair, looking around the room. As if there was something a handy heat source there. Well, he wasn't warm, he was fucking freezing in his T-shirt. But, Remy guessed, since he wasn't unconscious yet...

Gingerly, he slid the sunglasses off Dee. He bit his lip, considering the options- "I'm taking my shirt off," which he did, "you lucky bitch. And my jacket. You keep your shirt, or whatever."

"I don't want to be clingy-" he began to untuck the quilt from the other thief, then sat down by Dee. "But I'm going to-" He scooted up, scrunching his nose up at the feeling of cold scales against his skin, then tucked the quilt back around them. 

"And, uh-" he tucked an arm around Dee, pulling the Serpentis in front of his chest. "I should take your shirt off, but the 'dinner first' rule doesn't apply when the last dinner you bought me was too spicy for humans."

Entangling their legs for maximum skin-to-skin contact, Remy tucked his chin over the quilt, rested his head on Dee's shoulder, and focused on being as warm as possible.

~

Dee woke up to a fragile warmth, like a hesitant sunrise over the deep cold of the desert night. His heartbeat was slow, but consistent. The numbness receded from his fingers. Sleepy, but awake; vulnerable, but safe.

Then he realised that his vision was dimmed. And that something was over his face. "Wha'ssss happening?"

"Uh," a quiet voice came from under his chin. "So, don't freak, but you were like, dying. And I had to make sure you didn't fucking die. So, here we are."

Dee tried to move his toes a little, before realising there was a weight over his legs, and an arm on his chest- and something warm behind him- What-

He pulled the sunglasses off to see a very shirtless, very close Remy cuddled against his chest. There was also a blanket. "Are you..." he said with as much dignity as he could in his semi-somnolent state, "cuddling me?"

Remy gave an awkward, obviously fake laugh. "And what about it?"

Dee was too tired to think through that. He tucked the sunglasses back onto Remy's head. "Not...sssstill mad?"

"Babe, I'm not mad enough to kill you. Like, if I wanted to kill you, I'd shoot you and dump you out the airlock, not leave you here to pollute Britney." Remy shrugged, and the sensation of his muscles shifting next to Dee's skin sent a shiver down his spine. "Even if you did insult her."

"It's a ship," Dee said, subdued still, "Not a person."

"She's a she-" Remy bit back the ‘fuck you’ on his tongue. "Bitch."

Dee hissed a little laugh, like steam leaking out of an engine.

"Are you feeling warm enough now?" Remy asked. "Because we have repairs to do."

Dee shook his head, tucking his head against Remy's chest. "Sleepy. Tired. I forgot the Common word for a moment."

Remy's laugh shook through his chest. "Don't try and hide it. Man, I'm never going to let you live this down."

Dee tensed up slightly. "What, taking my shirt off and getting cuddly with an unconscious bounty hunter, wrapped in a priceless quilt I'm too dumb to know the worth of? Or flying a bucket so bad she doesn't have backup heaters?"

"I'd say you look cuter when you’re asleep, but you do look like a corpse. I wish I had a photo-"

"What, because I don't have those creepy skin-curtains?"

Remy lifted up his sunglasses to wink. "These?"

Dee recoiled. "Simply delightful. Flawless design feature. Never flap just the one of those in my presence again."

"How else would I flirt?"

Dee fixed a look of disdain on Remy. "That's how humans flirt? That's disgusting."

Remy winked again. "Hey, good-looking," he said in English. As he slid his sunglasses back on, he wolf-whistled for good measure.

"Yikes. Is that a mating call?"

"Basically. More like 'Ooo, you're hot'."

Dee wiggled his neck up to look at him scathingly. "But I am cold."

"Attractive! Sorry, hot is a word for attractive in my human language."

"Please stop flirting with me."

"You're so cute and sleepy," Remy said in English.

"’You’ is half of 'fuck you'," Dee said. "And you once said ‘cute’ at... some pretty bags?"

"Look at 'you', all smart and shit. 'Nerd'- that means nerd."

"Szzzzzkssss."

"Szzzzkzzzz."

"That's north, try again. Szzzksssss. It's a swear."

"Szzz-k-shhh."

"Close enough."

Remy grinned. "I'm so fucking smart."

"With an intellect like that, you must have picked up Common in no time?"

Remy laughed, but Dee didn't feel his chest rumble like before.

"Where did you learn it?  I heard the human schools tend to be pretty shitty."

"I practiced."

Dee paused, shifting closer to Remy. "Where do you come from?"

"Why are you a thief?"

Dee laughed. "I want to take things."

"I wanted to leave where I was."

"Why's your ship called Britney Spears?" Dee asked quietly. “Do you know her?”

Remy laughed. "Know her? I'm her best friend. We're so tight, Britney and me."

"I feel like you're being sarcastic."

"She's a singer, babe, a famous singer."

"Ah."

They lapsed into silence, breathing slowly syncing as it condensed in the air before them. Remy blew his out like cigarette smoke, but Dee's wasn't warm enough to yet. Then Dee shifted. "I'm still not awake enough- I might need to sleep like this, if the autopilot will last long enough."

Remy checked a watch on his wrist. "Okay. An hour or so, then I'll start the repairs."

Dee cuddled back into Remy. He felt he should have said something, but wasn't sure what was left to say. The human's eyes closed.

As he drifted off, he realised there wasn't much to say about the episode at all, and it would be another silent beat between them, an invisible complication in their already complex relationship. 

Dee pressed himself to Remy's chest, and heard his heart speed up, and wondered where he was dreaming of running to.

[haikyuupaladin]

Take a Moment to Find Yourself

Today (March 26th) is Epilepsy Awareness Day and I’m continuing my yearly tradition of a new epilepsy fic for a new fandom every year. I hope you guys enjoy this. This is an AU of Growing Pains where the physical effects of Steven’s gem powers malfunctioning manifest as seizures instead. Thanks to @fuckepilepsy and @cisneconcorbata for beta-ing this fic! And a disclaimer that this is not an accurate portrayal of the medical system, though I’m trying to be as accurate from the standpoint of tests required and symptoms as possible.

“-even! Steven! Are you okay?” Steven opened his eyes groggily to Connie’s face on the phone in front of him. He didn’t remember calling her. And when did he fall asleep? Why did his body feel so heavy?

“I’m fine,” Steven tried to reassure Connie, though even to his own ears the words seemed slightly muffled and wrong. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Steven,” Connie started, “I think you just had a seizure, has this ever happened before?”

“What?! No, that can’t be right, nothing like that has ever happened before, and besides, I think I would’ve noticed, wouldn’t I?” Steven asked. Even as he denied it, panic welled up inside him. His words were mostly a failed attempt to reassure himself at this point.

“Oh, Steven,” Connie sighed sympathetically. “It doesn’t always work like that. You lost consciousness, Steven, you probably wouldn’t remember.”

That would explain why he didn’t remember picking up the phone he supposed...“Oh,” Steven said, his voice small. “So… what do I do?” He was completely at a loss. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Sure, he’d been in all sorts of life threatening situations before, but in those situations there was always something he could do and someone responsible for it happening. This was entirely out of his realm of experience and that scared him more than anything. 

“Well, if this is your first seizure, you should probably call your doctor,” Connie told him gently. “They’ll probably be able to give you a better idea of what to do.”

“I… I’ve never been to the doctor before,” Steven admitted, starting to panic even more. How long had this been going on for without him realizing? And what was he going to do? If the first step to figuring this out was seeing a doctor and he couldn’t even do that… 

“It’s okay Steven,” Connie cut into his spiralling thoughts. “I’m going to call my mom, and then I’m going to come pick you up, okay? We’ll figure this out Steven, I promise.”

Steven sighed, relieved that Connie seemed to have things under control. “Okay, thanks Connie.”

“Of course Steven,” Connie replied. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”

“Okay,” Steven replied, as Connie hung up the phone. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time passed by in a blur, and the next thing Steven consciously remembered, he was sitting in Dr. Maheswaran’s office. “I’m going to be quite frank with you Steven, neurology is not my specialty,” she told him. “But we’re going to start with a standard checkup and then I’m going to call one of my colleagues in and we’ll go from there, does that sound good?”

Steven could only nod. He squeezed Connie’s hand to ground himself somewhat as Dr. Maheshwaran walked him through what they were going to be doing. The standard checkup part went by both too quickly and not fast enough. He just wanted this all to be over with.   

“And this is my colleague Dr. Wickersheim,” Dr. Maheswaran told Steven as a man Steven hadn’t met before walked into the room. “He specializes in neurology, and he’s up to date on all the research I’ve done with the help of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, so you’re in good hands with him. I can stay and observe though if that makes you more comfortable.”

“Please,” Steven agreed to Dr. Maheswaran’s offer quietly. “It’s nice to meet you Dr. Wickersheim,” he said, turning to him. 

“It’s good to meet you too Steven,” Dr.Wickersheim said, shaking his hand. “Though I suppose we both wish circumstances were a bit different.” Steven nodded. “Now, today, I’m going to send you for a few more tests if you’re up to that. We’re going to send you for a CT scan, an MRI and an EEG to start off with and we’ll work from there. Dr. Maheswaran told me that your X-Rays showed a crack in your skull so the MRI and CT scan will help us figure out if there’s any long term injuries to your brain or anything similar that we should be concerned about, and the EEG will help us figure out where the seizures are originating from, and maybe what triggers them as well.”      

Steven nodded, though he still wasn’t fully processing what Dr. Wickersheim was saying, nor did he fully understand how these tests were going to work. 

“We’re lucky that today is a slow day in the neurology department, so all of these tests can be done today,” Dr. Wickersheim explained. The CT scan and the MRI turned out to be somewhat claustrophobic for Steven, as he laid inside of two different tubes that scanned his brain for something, he still wasn’t entirely sure what if he was being honest though. The EEG was...weird. A bunch of wires were glued all over his head, and Dr. Wickersheim even glued some to his gem. 

“Normally, we’d only be looking at your brain, but my understanding is that your gem plays a large role in your body’s functioning, so I want to make sure it’s not originating from there as well,” Dr. Wickersheim explained. They flashed lights in Steven’s face, made him blow on a pinwheel, and asked him to try to sleep. He managed to fall asleep surprisingly quickly, but he woke up with a start, nightmares had been keeping him up recently, so that was less of a surprise.

 Dr. Wickersheim turned to him. “It looks like we have all the information we need. The earlier tests showed that you have some scar tissue in your brain, and the seizures seem to be originating from around that area from a neurological standpoint. But when we did the stress test, your gem started emitting signals that seem to trigger the more traditional neurological signals. I’m going to prescribe you a medication that should help, but what would also be a large help would be to remove as many sources of stress from your life as possible. Can you think of anything stressful that happened recently that may have been the trigger for today’s episode?”

Steven shook his head, but Connie spoke up hesitantly.

 “Steven hasn’t been in the best place emotionally lately,” she said. “And, I don’t know if he remembers right now, but he tried to propose to me yesterday. I had to tell him not now, but it’s possible that could have caused it, right?”

Steven’s heart sank. He didn’t remember that. How could he not remember proposing to Connie?! How could he not remember Connie rejecting his proposal?! What was wrong with him that he couldn’t remember two hugely significant events that apparently happened yesterday?! 

“Connie...I’m sorry,” Steven croaked out. “I’m sorry I made you come here with me after that, I didn’t know -”

“It’s okay Steven,” Connie interrupted him. “I want to be here for you. I wouldn’t be here still if I didn’t.”

“It’s unlikely that that alone was a trigger,” Dr. Wickersheim assured Connie. “Although it may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak. A lot of stress induced seizures are caused by long term stress building up, or intense physical stress all at once, though intense emotional distress all at once can’t be entirely ruled out I suppose, can you think of any stressors like that Steven?”

Steven felt the words spilling out of his mouth, detailing his entire childhood from the moment Cookie Cats were discontinued to the present. Dr. Maheswaran spoke up. 

“Steven, you just described a long history of trauma. It’s possible that you have PTSD as well, which combined with your epilepsy diagnosis, it’s no wonder you’re having stress induced seizures. I’m going to call your father and all of us are going to work together to make sure you get the best care possible, okay?” 

Steven nodded, exhausted and reeling from everything that had happened today. It was a lot to take in all at once. Connie placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered, and wrapped him in a hug. Steven hugged her back and sobbed into her shoulder. This was going to be a long journey.

[bluesfortheredj]

can you do a angsty eggsy x reader where reader is a kingsman, and survived the kingsman bombings, goes with merlin and eggsy to statesman, has the showdown in poppy world, but gets caught in the cross fire somehow, its not till eggsy and harry kill poppy that the reader collapses from the wound, fatal maybe, and in eggsys arms reader confesses there love, and screw tildi i dont like her

The members of Kingsman had dramatically reduced overnight, leaving you, Merlin and Eggsy to save the world all on your own. It had been a miracle, or so you’d thought at first, when you found Harry at Statesmen after travelling half way around the world because of a bottle of whiskey, but his memory had suffered greatly after Ginger ale had managed to save him, and he didn’t know who any of you were, leaving Eggsy the most affected.

You watched as day after day he would visit Harry, trying to jog his memory with stories of their time together, how he’d changed Eggsy’s life, become a real father figure unlike anyone else had. Then you’d seen Eggsy’s reaction after each encounter as you stood outside that white door waiting for him to come out, his face turned down into a grimace, tears on the verge of spilling down his cheeks as he looked at you sadly, desperately needing comfort. That was on thing you did well, comforting Eggsy. Not only because he was your best friend, but because you loved him deeply as well. You knew he didn’t feel the same, he wouldn’t be with Tilde if he did, so you stepped up as the best friend and work mate who was always there for him in his time of need.

“Come here,” you smile as Eggsy leaves the room dejected once again. His face falls on to your shoulder as his arms wrap around you tightly, and you give him a comforting squeeze as his body leans against yours.

“I thought I saw something today, something of the old Harry, but maybe I’m fooling myself,” he sighs.

“He’ll come back to you, Eggsy. I know it,” you reassure, stroking his back gently.

“I’m so lucky to have you,” he replies, burying his face into your neck. You bite your lip, stopping the words you desperately wanted to say from coming out of your mouth, then you both part and go your separate ways to your individual rooms once again.

The next day you stand outside that same white room for a longer period of time than usual, his visits only lasting twenty minutes or so, but this one was taking much longer and you hoped this was a positive sign. When the door opens, Eggsy has the biggest smile on his face, then steps aside for Harry to see you.

“(Y/N),” he smiles, holding a small puppy.

“Harry!” you beam, running towards him for a hug. Finally something had cracked, and Harry was almost completely back, aside from the odd visions of butterflies that plagued him occasionally.

This was where the hard work started, now that the team was back together, you had a job to do, and that meant going to Poppy’s playground and confronting the problem head on. You’d found the ruins she’d built her town of nostalgia on, and were making plans to enter when Eggsy stepped on a landmine. Your heart dropped straight down into your stomach as you all realise the situation, but Merlin quickly thinks of a plan, replacing Eggsy on the trigger.

“Merlin, what the fuck?” Eggsy whispers harshly.

“You’ve got a job to do, kid,” he says, nodding towards the gates.

“Merlin, give me the can,” you say, ready to help free him.

“All gone,” he replies, shaking it gently.

“So how are we mean to get you off of it?!” Eggsy asks desperately as Harry now understands the severity of the situation. Your eyes dart between Harry and Merlin’s faces, seeing the knowing look being exchanged between them, and you gasp as you know what has to happen.

“We’re not Eggs,” you whisper. A silence falls over the four of you as you look from one to the other, then all at Merlin as he smiles at you. A few short last words are exchanged, then the three of you spread out along the treeline away from Merlin as he starts to sing to get the guard’s attention. You look away as the men reach him, knowing what’s going to happen next, and then you hear it, the bang echoing in your ears as Merlin sacrifices himself for you all. Out of the corner of your eye you see Eggsy and Harry running out of the bushes, then race to join them, snapping back to the reason you’re out here.

Once inside, you split off from the two men, your choice of attack more subtle than the gadgets and gizmos that they’re using. You’ve always been the one who sneaks up behind targets while everyone’s attention is on the guys shooting their way in, and you take people out quietly and efficiently while Eggsy and Harry keep a close eye on you from the front.

Something hits you in the back, and when you turn to see what it is, there stands a familiar face from your training days. Just as you get up to fight back, Eggsy jumps in having seen you get hurt, and you can only watch as they struggle with each other, Eggsy eventually snapping his neck after fighting one handed. You chuckle to yourself a little as you watch him walk towards you with a smug look on his face, stretching out the hand he’d hidden behind his back.

“Show off,” you laugh as he got to you to help you up off of the floor.

“I know,” he winks. As you take his hand to get up, you cry out in pain, the blood now dripping from your shirt, and Eggsy’s face turns white at the sight.

“Oh, I’m fine. You go with Harry, I’ll sit it out here okay?” you smile, trying to cover up the fact that you were panicking inside.

“I don’t think-”

“Shut up and go save the world,” you laugh, pushing him away. He does as you say and as you sit outside waiting for him once more, you slowly bring a hand around to your back to feel what had happened. There was a large wound, bigger than a standard bullet, that was for sure, and blood, lots of blood. You’d only felt your back for a few seconds, but when you took your hand away to look at it, it was already covered in the warm red liquid.

“Fuck,” you hiss, angry at how you’d let this happen to yourself, and knowing what was most likely to happen next.

When Eggsy and Harry run out of the diner to see you, you’re already slumped down against the wall you were leaning on when Eggsy left you, and he knew this wasn’t a good sign. Harry stood a few steps back as Eggsy skidded over to you on his knees, his arms cradling your body as your eyes fluttered open to see him.

“Save the world?” you whisper.

“Of course,” he replies. You look at his eyes and see a tear escape them, the first one you’d seen come from him, even after all the Harry visits.

“Don’t cry.”

“I’m not, it’s allergies,” he whispers, a half hearted laugh coming from him as he sees you smile, “listen, we’re gonna get you back and then when you’re all fixed up-”

“Eggsy...”

“Shh… When you’re all fixed up I’ll get us tickets to see that band you like.”

“Eggsy...” you sigh, shaking your head slowly from side to side, “you know that’s not going to happen now.”

“It is, what are you on about? Of course it is,” he says, voice cracking as he lets out a small sob.

“Eggsy, you’re a terrible liar.”

“I’m not lying,” he croaks.

“Guess I’d better stop lying to you too...” you sigh, your breathing starting to slow down, “I never wanted to be your best friend...”

“What?” he asks, frowning down at you.

“I wanted to be more… Probably shouldn’t say this someone else’s boyfriend, but she won’t see me again, so it’s fine… I love you, Eggsy Unwin… Always have, always will...”

“(Y/N), don’t...”

“What?”

“Tell me again when you’re better,” Eggsy pleads, the desperation in his voice hitting Harry’s ears and making him look away from the two of you.

“I wish I could.”

“You can, and ya will. Because I can’t live without you, and I don’t want to live without you.”

“Bet you say that to all the girls,” you say, your eyelids now getting heavier with each laboured breath.

“Only the ones I love,” he sobs, shaking his head as he sees your eyes close again, “(Y/N), (Y/N), wake up!” He shakes your body, then holds you tight against his chest, this time not feeling the warmth you gave in your hugs, or the comforting echo of your heartbeat against his as he leaned against you.

[thejarlofwhiterun]

Official review of Galaxy Buds Live:

pros: they sound fine(I have partial hearing loss so take this with a grain of salt b/c my standards may be lower than average), the built in mic is apparently good, everyone says I sound nice and clear, they fit in my ears nicely unlike AirPod Pros which were massive and uncomfortable, I forget I have the Galaxy Lives in where with the AirPods I was readjusting them every 10 minutes to alleviate pain, the case you get with them is much nicer than the AirPod case b/c it isn’t made entirely of plastic, they charge very quickly which is convenient, they look nice in your ear, nicer than plasticy white at least to me, come in a selection of colors (though they may clash with jewelry since they’re metallic if that’s of relevance to anyone), they’re cheaper

cons: 6 hour battery life. I think this is standard for Bluetooth earbuds but my LG Tone Bluetooth headphones that wrapped around your neck had 21 hour battery life so this was a major downgrade for me, i can lose them (and the case) easily, again it was impossible to lose my LG Tones b/c they sat on my neck so this is also a downgrade. Noise cancelling is not good, these aren’t in-ear-canal earbuds so there’s a lot less physical soundproofing, idk what technology they’re using for noise cancellation but whatever it is it’s not good, nothing compared to the AirPods. They sit in my ears nicely but if they get wet or oily they’ll pop out more easily (I have super mutant ear canals so maybe your ears aren’t oily like mine), the touch controls are highly highly annoying, don’t work when I touch them but are triggered if my wet hair brushes up against them, constantly skip and forward and restart podcasts and tracks on accident. Shutting the touch controls off only seemingly works half the time, YouTube is unaffected so I’m always skipping and restarting videos. The click buttons on AirPod Pros were much better. The Bluetooth connection is spotty in a way I’ve never experienced with a Bluetooth device, phone call quality can be atrocious, like the other person can sound like a Charli XCX song sometimes. Putting my phone in my pocket is enough to disrupt the connection sometimes

Overall I would consider returning them frankly b/c there’s a lot of cons, but the thing is my ears are really f*cked up I’ve had surgeries and stuff done on them as a kid I have hearing loss and I think there’s like scar tissue in there and blah blah blah so any headphones that go in the ear canal are like a 50/50 gamble, like I’m lucky I could return the AirPods b/c those were just an absolute no for me. And I love that these Galaxy Lives have nothing to do with the ear canal, they just sit on the outside and pump sound in. I would look into other brands and stuff but I don’t think there’s any design out there like these, I think these are the best i’m gonna get. If someone has cavernous ear canals they should consider the AirPods but I guess I’ll stick with these

[housebeleren]

War of the Spark Limited Card Re-Evaluations

As we get ready to wrap up War of the Spark limited (Already!), I wanted to take a look back and see how I did on my initial card reviews. In this post, I’ll be re-evaluating cards that I think I misjudged, and give new ratings accordingly. I use a 5 point scale, so for this, I’ll focus on cards that had at least a 1 point difference between my initial rating & my new one. The focus will strictly be on Limited, and not the card’s impact on any other format.

Initial Rating: 4.0 New Rating: 5.0

Okay, let’s get this one out of the way, since it’s probably the most obvious miscalculation on my part. Somehow, when I first checked out the set, I was concerned at his 6 mana cost and thought that he wouldn’t necessarily be right for all decks. But somehow I still thought other 6CMC ‘Walkers were fine. No, this one was a total oversight on my part. Ugin’s capacity to runaway with the game is matched only by Liliana and mayyybe Oketra, and he has no color requirements to boot. Point is, there is absolutely no reason ever to not run this card. If you are lucky enough to open it, play it.

Initial Rating: 2.0 New Rating: 3.0

When this card was first previewed, I had flashbacks of Unruly Mob, which was always a card that was totally playable & fine in its respective Limited environments, but never something you were super happy to run. But here’s the thing. A 2/2 for 3 is embarrassing, but a 1/1 for 2 is abysmal, so the floor is lower on the Unruly Mob. Not only that, but getting one counter on these cards, while putting them both on curve, Rising Populace still comes out ahead. The Unruly Mob becomes a 2/2 for 2, which is still only a mediocre filler card, whereas the Rising Populace becomes a 3/3 for 3, which is a solid pick. That alone would make Rising Populace a better card than I was initially thinking, but add in all the proliferate effects White has going for it in War, and this becomes a totally reasonable card that you’re going to put in most decks when you can.

Initial Rating: 1.0 New Rating: 2.5

Okay, I might be overcorrecting a touch here, but this card is way better than I was expecting. Turns out Proliferate is one of the best decks to draft in War, and Blue gets extra points here because it overlaps on both Proliferate and Amass, so this card can go in a number of decks. Plus, this card is fantastic in the Red/Blue Spells deck, particularly if you manage to snag a decent number of Spellgorger Weirds. Yes, there are Blue decks that won’t want this, but enough of them do, I’m confident my new rating is about right. And I don’t feel bad about this one either (unlike Ugin, sheesh), since a lot of people were unsure about this one.

Initial Rating: 2.0 New Rating: 3.0

See above. No, initially I was pretty sold on the White & Green Uncommon proliferate enablers (Grateful Apparition & Evolution Sage, respectively), but I was more tentative about this one. Well, I’ve come around a little, though again, it’s possible I’m a bit too high on it now. Thing is, you really only need to trigger it once for it to have earned its value, and the Blue/Red spells deck will frequently be able to get more out of it than that. This card and Spellkeeper Weird do serious work powering up the archetype while all the while looking so unassuming. It doesn’t always go, but when it does, this card can run away with games.

Initial Rating: 1.5 New Rating: 2.5

So the theme I’m getting here is that Blue is just better across the board than I initially thought. Checks out. In any case, I seriously misjudged this little fella. Sure, in a “normal” set he’d be mediocre, but in this set, he’s one of my favorite early drops. He gets down early, before any countermagic & Toll of the Invasion, and he’s also unassuming enough that people wouldn’t use those spells on him anyway. For that same reason, they’ll also usually not bother spending a spell to remove him. But he’s basically the best drop target for a +1/+1 counter in the format, and even without pumping him up, he will continually pressure opposing Planeswalkers, pecking in for 2 damage more often than you’d expect. Basically every Blue deck will want one or two of these.

Initial Rating: 2.5 New Rating: 1.5

And here we have the first card that lost value from my initial rating. Sure, Rise from the Grave is never exactly a bomb, but it’s usually better than this. The bottom line is, there just aren’t that many good creatures in this set, certainly not ones that are high enough CMC that you’d want to spend 5 mana getting them back. The only creatures that you would want to get with this are the Gods, but they’re never in the graveyard thanks to their damn tricky library-tuck shenanigans. As a result, this card just lacks good targets in this format. It seems much more about building the biggest threat out of something small rather than summoning the biggest threat in one go. I really wish it could reanimate Planeswalkers. Then we’d be cooking.

Initial Rating: 2.5 New Rating: 1.5

Man, I really got these Uncommon Black cards wrong, didn’t I? In my head, this was a 1 mana “destroy target Planeswalker”, but a lot of the time it’s just... not. Besides, we already have Spark Harvest, and that serves basically all the purpose this card was trying to do, especially since Black usually has some fodder to sacrifice when needed. There are times I would board this in against certain decks, but it’s moved from maindeck removal to strictly sideboard in my estimation, so that pretty much says it all.

Initial Rating: 1.5 New Rating: 2.5

I’m usually not a fan of Coercion effects in Limited, but this format has a problem: several otherwise unbeatable bombs that need to be countered or discarded to be dealt with. Also, turns out the Amass 1 is totally relevant. If you can cast this the turn after a Lazotep Reaver, that’s a pretty good curve to start on. Otherwise, it can start an army for proliferating or sacrificing later, which makes this play a lot like a Burglar Rat with an upside, and I’m good with that. I’d run one copy of this maindeck more than half the time, but don’t hesitate to side it out if you don’t see good targets for it.

Initial Score: 2.0 New Score: 3.0

At first I wasn’t super impressed, but I think this is a case where the added text of its ETB ability is distracting from the fact that a 4/3 reach creature for 4 mana is totally a good deal. 90% of the time you’re just going to cast this guy on-curve without another large creature out, and that’s still totally fine. He’s one of the best blockers to protect your Planeswalkers, and he blanks a lot of other early drops as well. He also synergizes with some of the other payoffs that care about 4 power, like Challenger Troll, so overall I’m pretty high on this guy now.

Initial Rating: 1.5 New Rating: 2.5

If there’s a theme here, I think it’s that I seriously misjudged the power of Proliferate in this set. On its surface, this looks like +2/+2 of stats for 3 mana, but it’s honestly not going to be hard to get at least 3 targets out of this, at which point it’s a major buff for your team. Most frequently, you’ll cast this as a way to break parity on a board that’s fairly even, so you can start forcing bad blocks & unfavorable trades for your opponent, and that’s exactly what Green needs to be doing right around the midgame point. I’ll usually run one of these in most Green decks with counters.

Initial Rating: 3.0 New Rating: 4.0

While Nissa may be a format-warping card in Standard, in Limited her uses are a bit more, well... limited. Her ramp is a little less useful here than normal, and getting to her ultimate is unlikely, since you’ll either have lost her or won by the time that happens. No, this is a 5 mana Enchantment that chucks out a 3/3 every turn and you know what? That’s still pretty fucking good. Now I’m in the camp of “Never cut this” whereas before I would say not every deck needs it.

Initial Rating: 2.0 New Rating: 1.0

I’m tempted to bring this down to a 0, just to prove the point that I think this card basically shouldn’t be played. Certainly not in Limited, and not even in half the Constructed decks I’ve seen running it in Arena lately. Turns out, it’s just way too easy to whiff, especially in a format where people run more noncreatures (aka Planeswalkers) than normal. Why keep it at 1.0 then? Well, I think the deck that wants this does exist, and it’s a deck with mostly creatures all in a narrow CMC range of 2-4 or so. But generally just don’t. It’s a trap.

Initial Rating: 1.0 New Rating: 3.0

And now we come to probably my biggest miss of the set. (And I don’t mean Miss Thing, though that also applies here.) No, in my head this was a big do-nothing of a card, but I think I must not have read his -2 ability at all, or something. Because copying your removal is big game. Even copying Contentious Plan is fantastic, and it leaves Ral right back where he was, loyalty-wise. Plus, he starts with enormous loyalty, making him very likely to grant multiple activations. On top of everything, he can help keep opposing Planeswalkers in check with his static ability. If he weren’t multicolored, he’d be even higher.

Initial Rating: 3.5 New Rating: 2.5

Storrev & Ral have opposite problems. In Ral’s case, I undervalued his abilities. In Storrev’s case, I overvalued them. 4 toughness is... tough, because there are a lot of 4 power creatures in the format, so her stats line up poorly against a lot of the rest of the field. Sure, sometimes you’ll reanimate one or two cheap drops, but between all the good blockers & all the good removal, you’ll be hard pressed to really make this the value engine it teases itself to be. Your best bet is to find a way to get some counters on it so you can start making it bigger & bigger. Friends with Pollenbright Druid.

Initial Score: 0.5 New Score: 2.0

My fear initially was that most of the time, you’d play Ashiok, get one activation off, then your opponent would just kill them with a quick attack and it’d all be for naught. However, the format stalls much more than I anticipated, so if you can set Ashiok up behind a couple of blockers, it ends up not too difficult to keep them alive. If your opponent has a kill spell like Spark Harvest, it puts them in a difficult situation. They can’t afford not to deal with Ashiok, because they’ll ultimately get milled out, but they also can’t really afford to waste a kill spell on them, since every other threat is going to be more immediate & pressing. Often, the correct time to play Ashiok is not turn three, but to wait until the point that the game starts stalling out. Don’t get me wrong, not every deck wants Ashiok, and my bump in score does not mean I’m suddenly picking this very highly, but it’s far from the unplayable disaster I initially expected.

Initial Score: 0.5 New Score: 2.5

Oof, never mind. This was my biggest miss. I had a lot of the same issue evaluating Dovin that I did with Ashiok. What I underestimated is how often blanking an opponent’s creature would prove incredibly relevant. Often it’s he difference between stabilizing and not. And if you can proliferate this? Forget it. Dovin is a nightmare to play against, and he’s so easy to cast that the risk of running him is super low. The only reason he’s not scored higher is that in the end, he is a “do-nothing” card, in that he doesn’t advance any game plan. But he stalls your opponent enough to make him worth the spot in most decks.

So that’s it. Hopefully my re-evaluations will prove helpful as I head into the last few drafts of the format.

[andyplayslongwar2]

Hello Commander: Introduction & Operation Gatecrasher

Hi there and welcome to my X-Com 2 Long War 2 replay blog. If you want a character named after you please tweet at me here!

What we’re doing here.

Who? I’m Andy Wallace, a game designer and fan of X-Com. I was thinking about making these posts on my design blog but decided to splinter to a new one. So here we are.

What? X-Com 2 is a sci-fi turn-based strategy game about fighting aliens. It’s brilliant. Long War 2 is a total conversion mod by Pavonis Interactive that adds a lot of new parameters and generally makes the game harder and longer.

On this blog, I will write about my campaign as it unfolds--mission by mission--highlighting the highs and lows of the X-Com resistance force in their fight against Advent.

Why? Over the last two summers, I started a habit of doing one Spelunky daily run every day. I greatly enjoyed the practice of doing one run per day and incorporating the ritual into my routine. I think Long War has potential to fit into my life the same way. I have played several successful vanilla X-Com 2 campaigns (including one recent play-through of the War of The Chosen expansion) and one Long War campaign in the past, and while I love these games deeply, it becomes easy to play for 5 hours at a time. The plan for this blog is to approach the game at a rate of no more than one mission per day. If I win (unlikely) this will take several months. The “Long” in “Long War” is no joke.

One of my favorite parts of X-Com has always been the inadvertent plots that it creates. The scripted narrative of the game nearly always takes a backseat to the one created by the soldiers, who go from rookies to vital members of the team (if they are lucky enough to last) and who faithfully obey dangerous orders, or land critical shots to save their teammate, or even accidentally wander too far and trigger 3 different enemy pods. I always get attached to the soldiers (even the screw-ups) and I want to log their successes and failures.

I am, of course, playing on Iron Man. All of my X-Com campaigns have been played on Iron Man and I strongly believe it provides the richest play experience. Getting to know the soldiers of X-Com isn’t nearly the same if I never have to worry about loosing them. (Full disclosure: in my previous LW game, I did some save scumming because I wanted to reach the end after putting over 100 hours in. That will not be happening this time.)

Basic Stats & Mods

I am playing on Veteran. I have beaten vanilla X-Com 2 and War of The Chosen on Iron Man Commander, the second hardest setting, (I had several Legend--the hardest setting--campaigns, but they all ended in failure). Long War is quite a bit harder and my previous playthrough on Veteran proved to be more than enough so that’s where I’m staying.

Besides Long War 2 I am running several other mods. Most of these are UI tweaks or provide additional costume options. The only exception to this is is An Easier War: Dark Events. By default, Long War 2 has dark events that become permanent if they are not immediately stopped. This piling-on of dark events was more than I could deal with and made the game less fun for me, so I am including a mod that disables this feature.

If people are interested I can post my other mods, but none of them affect game play. The aesthetic mod I’m probably most excited about is Rookie Customization Options, which greatly widens the parameters used when generating new soldiers. The effects of this one are clear in today’s MVP below!

As for game settings settings, I have the following: Graze Band: 0 (default 10) The graze band is a source of stress that I’m not ready for--even in X-Com.

Not Created Equal: Yes New recruits will have slightly randomized stats. I’ve always enjoyed this feature for how it forces me to reconcile what class is best for a recruit versus what class I need.

Hidden Potential: No Hidden Potential causes soldier abilities to go up in slightly random amounts when they earn a promotion (instead of following the standard class progression). This one feels too hard to plan around and I don’t enjoy it as much.

The game started me off in West Africa, so that will be our home base.

Mission 1: Operation Gatecrasher

Date: March 1st, 2035

With the intro out of the way, let’s get to the first mission! I wasn’t sure if I’d be making this blog when I played it, so this one will be light on screenshots, but X-Com came in hot with a nearly flawless Operation Gatecrasher.

Everybody came home and earned their first promotion, giving me a full roster to work with. Thanks to some careful overwatching and a fair bit of luck the squad only suffered one injury: Squadie Xhosa Masango is the first X-Com soldier to take a hit. But she came out in one piece, and was even promoted to be the Shinobi in the group. Shinobi is a dangerous, close-combat role so she’s going to get used to brushing off injuries.

MVP: Sidney Payne

MVP of this mission, is the horse headed Sidney Payne. With a look like this he must have known that he would be drawing attention to himself and he did not disappoint. Payne came out strong, getting the first kill of the mission before saving one of his squadmates with a well placed overwatch shot as an Advent Trooper moved to flank. Sidney was rewarded for this with a promotion to Specialist. Although early on we need medical specialists I am tempted to push him in an overwatch/covering fire direction thanks to his performance on this mission.

Loot was plentiful as well as we were able to recover two weapon mods, an elerium core & a +15 Will personal combat sim.

This was a superb mission, but Operation Gatecrasher has no time pressure, allowing my troops to end most turns in overwatch. This kind of slow-paced mission is a luxury rarely afforded in X-Com 2. Because the squad came out of this one unscathed and without wound recovery time (except for Masango), they will be ready to go as soon as we discover new missions. Even if the next mission isn’t as forgiving as this one, it will allow the new recruits to quickly gain XP as I can field at least two full squads and more if I mix in some rookies.

Back at the Base

I haven’t done much just yet, but I did at least jump start my engineering department. I immediately began work on an Advanced Warfare Center as I find the decreased healing time to be crucial. Next up will be the Guerilla Tactics school. Because I set all of the resistance members in my starting region of West Africa to the Intel task (critical early on), I did what I usually do in Long War campaigns and purchased my first engineer from the Black Market so they can start clearing debris in the Avenger to generate some new supplies.

The cost of the AWS and the engineer was higher than I could pay by about $40, so I decided it was worth it to sell a few of the alien corpses from the first mission... as well as the elerium core I had recovered. A dangerous move and we’ll see if it pays off, but I’m hoping the early influx of supplies and the AWS will be worth it.

Between the AWS and the decision to purchase the engineer instead of the scientist, I am hoping that I can snag a few scientists in early missions as I will start feeling their absences soon.

We’ll see, but for now I’m ready to get started in my corner of the world. For my first research project I went with Resistance Coms, so hopefully we’ll be reaching more members of the resistance soon.

Getting Involved

I am always taking requests for characters! If you want a rookie named after you, tweet at me here: https://twitter.com/Andy_Makes/status/930553472390483969

Until next mission,  Vigilo Confido.

[furynewsnetwork]

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By Kitty Testa

By now you’ve heard of James Damore, the Google software engineer who penned an internal memo for discussion entitled Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber, How bias clouds are thinking about diversity and inclusion. Once unleashed on the Internet, the memo was immediately damned as a sexist, anti-diversity manifesto and sparked outrage.

I’ve read through the memo several times, and as a woman, I would have to go out of my way on purpose to be offended by it.

It seems that the passage that has provoked the ire of many is this section:

Possible non-bias causes of the gender gap in tech

At Google, we’re regularly told that implicit (unconscious) and explicit biases are holding women back in tech and leadership. Of course, men and women experience bias, tech, and the workplace differently and we should be cognizant of this, but it’s far from the whole story. On average, men and women biologically differ in many ways. These differences aren’t just socially constructed because:

They’re universal across human cultures

They often have clear biological causes and links to prenatal testosterone

Biological males that were castrated at birth and raised as females often still identify and act like males

The underlying traits are highly heritable

They’re exactly what we would predict from an evolutionary psychology perspective

Note, I’m not saying that all men differ from all women in the following ways or that these differences are “just.” I’m simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership. Many of these differences are small and there’s significant overlap between men and women, so you can’t say anything about an individual given these population level distributions.

Damore goes on to describe some of the differences between men and women on average, with a variety of hyperlinks as references to support his conclusions. Nothing he states is in any way new, and only recently considered controversial enough to evoke hysteria. Damore was addressing Google’s difficulties in reaching its diversity goals, and was critical of the company’s programs and policies that were clearly not working. He stated upfront that he was supportive of the diversity goals, and wanted to suggest alternative tactics to achieve those goals, and to consider—God forbid!—the costs and benefits of diversity initiatives.

And for this he was fired.

Well, I don’t work for Google and Google can’t fire me, so I’ve given a little thought to how Google can solve its diversity problem. Here are my top five suggestions.

  1. Encourage more male employees at Google to identify as women

It’s my understanding that Google would like to have a workplace that is more equally male and female. I don’t know how members of the other 49 genders fit into that plan, but I’m pretty sure that Google won’t insist that the females that work there actually be female in a biological sense. Google could offer incentives to males who are willing to identify as females—bonuses, perks, Starbucks gift cards, that sort of thing.

If 10% of the men working at Google were willing to do this, it would drastically change the ratio of men to women, and they wouldn’t even have to suffer employee turnover!

You may think this is sort of a cheat, but is it? On the one hand, the dominant culture insists that there is such a thing as being a man trapped in a female body and vice versa, but on the other hand also rebuffs the idea that there are inherent differences between the sexes. So what actually makes a man or a woman is just whatever anyone wants to say it is.

  2. Start their own tech university, and don’t offer Women’s Studies

Google rejects 99% of applicants who apply to work at the company. Google employees report 84% satisfaction with their jobs, and it’s rated one of the best companies to work for year after year. But Google is evidently not a pleased with its workforce and believes it needs a little fine tuning.

Google could easily afford to create its own university to train future employees to the standards they require. They could also populate their university with the mix of people they want to carry forward into the corporate culture. Google U would have the ability to nix majors that women are often drawn to, such as English, Psychology, Social Work and Education, and only offer majors in business and technical fields.

And they could give scholarships to women and others they wish to recruit to engineer their student population to exactly the balance they wish. This would be a tremendous stream of properly trained and selected employees into Alphabet, Inc. It would also give them the opportunity to format their future employees’ minds in ways that will ensure there will never be another divisive opinion bandied about at Google ever again.

  3. Fire a lot of men

Oddly enough, the firing of James Damore was a tiny step toward reaching Google’s diversity goals as Damore is a white male. But it’s not enough. To reach the harmonic balance of diversity, Google should just fire a slew of men and replace them with women. They can’t get rid of Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, because he’s Indian. But they could start with Alphabet’s CEO, Larry Page. He’s a white guy! So what if he was a founder of Google. He’s the personification of the patriarchy. Give him his golden parachute and replace him with a woman.

And then they could have a raffle at Google to see which lucky guys get to keep their jobs. The rest? Happy trails. Go make Facebook or Apple look bad.

  4. Redefine diversity

What is diversity in practice? Is it accepting and treating those around you with respect or is it a kind of social engineering? At Google, it appears to be the latter.

On Google’s diversity webpage, it highlights its special Employee Research groups to “connect with a network of people who share their values of supporting diversity.”

Here are the groups showcased:

Asian Google Network

Black Google Network

Filipino Google Network

Gayglers

American Indian Google Network

Google Veterans Network

Greyglers (50+ crowd, I’m guessing)

Hispanic Googlers Network (HOLA)

Indus Googlers Network

Mosaic

Disability Alliance

Woman@Google

Why does diversity have to revolve around ethnicity and age? Why encourage people to “stick with their own kind” and avoid others? How about a diversity policy that brings people together instead of building walls between them? How about these groups?

D&D Googlers

Google Fantasy Footballers

Libertarian Googlers

Google Scrapbookers

Foodies@Google

Musical Googlers

You get the idea. People like to network with others who like the same things that they do. Ethnic and age diversity will occur naturally within these groups and people will form connections with others they otherwise would not. If what Google is going for is a harmonious community in which people value one another, perhaps allowing them to discover those things they have in common will do more to promote diversity than creating echo chambers.

  5. Treat people as individuals

This is something Damore suggested, and it seems that the company was none too pleased with the suggestion.

Google has more than 57,000 employees, and trying to engineer outcomes for large populations is an impossible task. Yes, Google should be cognizant of hiring biases and paying all individuals fairly. But there are too many variables out in the world that are beyond Google’s control. They cannot create a diversity ratio and expect to achieve it out of sheer will.

There is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that women don’t get a fair shake in tech. (If there is an authoritative study on this subject, I haven’t found it.)  The complaints of women being dismissed and discouraged in technical fields seem to be mostly against educators, start-up ventures and smaller players in the tech world, and not so much against the big tech powerhouses. The chances of working for a Google or a Facebook or an Apple are very low for anyone, and whatever Google does with its diversity goals, it is unlikely to affect most women in tech.

Perhaps some of James Damore’s ideas might gain some traction after all of this attention. Some of his ideas focused on making tech careers more attractive to more women, and also using women’s inherent strengths to improve the tech industry overall. His missive was not anti-diversity; it was simply a different approach, one more focused on individuals and less dependent on the progressive ideology of victimhood.

And that’s what triggered the Internet.

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