A/N: So, I had a tumblr request to write something for QueenofHearts7378's Secret Quartet crossover, featuring Danny Fenton, Jake Long, Randy Cunningham (Randy Cunningham:9th Grade Ninja), and Adrien Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug). I'm attempting to keep this short because if I don't it'll wind up longer than Mirrored.

Timeline: mid-late S2 for AD:JL, mid-late S2 for RC:9GN, pre-S2 for ML, late S3 for DP

For the purposes of this story, Danny and Jake already know each other. If you've read Mirrored, please pretend this occurs after that. If you haven't, it's not necessary; that knowledge is all you're going to need. Also, Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth in this fic.

Thursday, 4:36 PM

Jake picked up what looked like a jar of inky sludge and muttered to Fu, "Are you sure this is what we need?"

"I don't pick the spell ingredients, kid," Fu replied. "Put it on my tab, will ya, Sabrina?"

"Sure thing," the vendor chirped, and Jake reluctantly put the jar in his pocket. If it broke in there, he'd have to say goodbye to this jacket. Basilisk venom wasn't exactly known for being easily washable.

While Fu and Sabrina chatted about some upcoming poker night—all the more reason for Jake not to get involved—Jake turned to see who else he recognized at the Magus Bazaar. They'd already been to visit Veronica, who seemed to be doing a steady business today, but there weren't too many vendors Jake knew personally. Most of them—

"Hi, Jake!"

He turned, spotting the speaker more by her enthusiastic waving than anything else. Sara skipped up to him, full of smiles, while Kara trailed in her wake. "Hey," he said as the Oracle twins stopped next to him, "how have you been?"

"Same as usual," Kara answered flatly.

"No more kidnapping attempts," giggled Sara. She bounced on her feet. "School's been great, too!" Her eyes flashed gold, and Jake's stomach sank as she added, "You'll be busier than us once the attacks begin."

"What attacks?" Jake asked, but Sara just shrugged and smiled.

"Don't get too worked up about it," Kara said. "You'll have friends to help you out."

He hadn't seen her eyes glow, but there was no doubt in her voice. They knew he worked with Trixie and Spud more often than Haley if he could help it, so if Kara had come out and said it, it had to be related to a vision. Which meant it probably wasn't as obvious as Trixie and Spud or Fu, but he only had so many friends, and only so many of those who actually knew about the magical world.

Unless someone else was about to find out.

He groaned. "Aw, man, that's just great." Just what he needed. More attacks, coming at what would probably be a very inconvenient time, and no idea who was behind them. Not that that was unusual, exactly, but if it was bad enough that Sara had seen it….

"Hey, girls," Fu said, and Jake realized he'd finished his conversation with Sabrina; she was already talking to another customer. "You keeping out of trouble?"

"Mm-hmm. Everything's been going smoothly for us!" Another flash of gold. "But you'll need to beware of the butterflies!"

Fu blinked, clearly not understanding the vision any better than Jake, and looked at Kara. "Any good news?"

"We'll call you if we get anything else," was their only reply, which meant no in Jake's book. Not that that was fair. It wasn't like the twins could control their visions. "Come on," she said to her sister, and she dragged Sara away even as Sara's eyes glowed gold again and she shouted at them that they 'haven't fought anything like these monsters before, so it should be fun'.

Jake stared after them as they disappeared into the crowd until Fu said, "C'mon, kid. We better hit the books. This might be a tough one to crack."

"Aw, maaaan."

Friday, 11:27 AM

Randy was regretting sneaking onto McFist's private jet.

When he'd heard Bash bragging about the huge party he was going to throw at his place while his parents were away, Randy had immediately assumed that McFist was going to check out something big for his next WND. It was always in Randy's best interests to derail any and all plans for Weapons of Ninja Destruction as soon as possible. That was why he'd cut class, suited up, and headed to McFist Industries on a recon mission.

He'd gotten there in time to see McFist boarding the jet, yakking away on his phone and ignoring everything else around him. There had been no time for reconnaissance; it had been all Randy could to do slip in before the door shut. He'd crammed himself into a cargo compartment and been there ever since.

It felt like it had been forever. He'd gone from uncomfortable to cramping to numb, and now he wasn't even sure if he'd be able to get out of here once they finally landed.

Which was unfortunate, because he was hungry and he needed to pee.

If he'd known it was going to take this long, he'd have figured out a way to pull out the Nomicon and shloomp the time away.

Too late for that now.

Randy heard a chime and the distinct voice of a Robo-Ape say, "We are approaching our destination. Please prepare for landing."

There was no announcement of where that destination was, and he couldn't hear anything McFist or his wife was saying.

It occurred to Randy that he hadn't entirely thought this through.

Wherever he was, it definitely wasn't remotely close to Norrisville. Which meant he, the Ninja, had left Norrisville unprotected. And, okay, sure, he'd done that before, but only on school breaks, because it was harder for the Sorcerer to stank someone outside of the school. Probably not by much, considering how often he still hit the town, but at least the negativity wasn't right on top of him when the school was empty.

Except this time the school wasn't empty, and he'd just left Howard to cover for him, and he'd told Howard he'd be back by lunch at the latest.

That…definitely wasn't happening. For all he knew, he'd already missed it.

Randy's stomach dropped and his ears plugged as the jet changed altitude. He could feel the speed of the jet now—if there had been room for his body to move, it would have—and then there was a rough jolt. The engine noise cut a moment later."

"New York!" trilled Marci. "Oh, Hanni, I'm so glad you agreed to come. You'll love the show. All of Gabriel's work is exquisite."

"And expensive," Randy heard McFist mutter.

Marci continued on as if she hadn't heard, her voice fading away as they left the plane, and Randy slowly released the breath he'd been holding. He waited a few moments more and then rolled, pushing against the door until he tumbled out onto the floor of the plane. It felt good to stretch. Maybe he should just lie here for a few minutes and process the fact that he was in New York. New York. There was no way he'd get back to Norrisville in time if the town needed a Ninja.

And if he missed his ride back with McFist, he was totally shoobed.

Worse yet, if this trip had been Marci's idea, McFist probably wasn't even here to look into any WND stuff. Viceroy didn't seem to be around, either. Which meant Randy had come for nothing.

"What are you doing here?"

Randy's stomach twisted, and he slowly raised his head. He'd forgotten about the Robo-Ape.

"You are not supposed to be here," the Robo-Ape said, looking down at him.

Randy willed his muscles to move.

They didn't.

"You are the Ninja," continued the Robo-Ape. "I must report this to McFist."

"Or," Randy said quickly, because his voice seemed to be the only part of his body reliably working right now, "you could just take me to him." Every limb felt filled with pins and needles right now, but he was counting on the fact that he'd be able to move before long.

The Robo-Ape considered this for a moment. "That is an acceptable solution." It reached out and picked him up by the back of the suit; he wondered briefly if this was what kittens felt like when they were being carried by the scruffs of their necks. He was pretty sure that actually happened. He'd never seen it, but—

The Robo-Ape started to move towards the exit. Unmasking him didn't seem to occur to the robot, which was good, because Randy wasn't sure he'd be able to stop him yet. A few more seconds, maybe.

Hopefully.

Randy managed to swing his right hand into his pocket. He had a Ninja Electro-Ball in there somewhere. Surely. If he could just— There.

"One more thing," Randy said as he pulled out the ball. "Can you hold this?" He didn't trust his aim at the moment.

The Robo-Ape, which probably hadn't been upgraded in a while, took the Ninja Electro-Ball. Electricity started arcing out of it almost immediately, short-circuiting the robot, and Randy's hair would have stood up if it hadn't been for the Ninja Suit. When the last sparks died away, he reached up and pried his suit free from the robot's hand. If he left it intact, there was a chance McFist would just think Viceroy had messed up and the Robo-Ape had failed on its own.

It was a slim hope, but Randy picked up the spent Ninja Electro-Ball just in case and figured he'd get rid of it when he found a washroom that wasn't on board McFist's private jet. Although…he must still have food on here, and since Randy was alone, everything was fair game, right? McFist probably wouldn't notice.

Fifteen minutes later, Randy left the plane with an empty bladder, a partially-filled stomach, and pockets stuffed full of pretzels, nuts, and cookies. He was in some sort of hangar from the looks of it, and it would probably be a hike to wherever McFist was going. A show by some Gabriel guy, according to Marci. It shouldn't be too hard to find, even in New York.

Randy spared a moment to stare at what he could see of the skyline and appreciate that he was in New York City, and then he headed away from the (private?) airport and toward civilization. He might get lost at some point, especially since he wasn't really sure where he was going, but that would be half the fun. This was going to be the cheese. Howard was going to be so jealous.

1:03 PM

Preparations were endless; Adrien was convinced of that. He was supposed to be shadowing Nathalie right now, but he still wasn't used to the time change so he'd claimed he'd wanted time to rest. Not that he was particularly tired yet; that was going to come later. Right now, it just felt like he should be eating supper, not lunch, though if he didn't get some sleep, he would be exhausted by the time the show finally wrapped up tonight.

He supposed he shouldn't complain; one day was going to run into another all weekend, and his father wasn't likely to see their hotel room for more than a few hours any night. It felt wrong, somehow, to pay for an elaborate suite and not take the time to enjoy it, but the advantage was that Adrien had some privacy when he was inside like he was now, and that meant Plagg didn't have to hide for the entire weekend.

Plagg, who had already polished off his camembert, looked over to where Adrien was sprawled out on his bed. "Are you just going to lie there all day?"

"If I go out again," Adrien said, looking at Plagg from the corner of his eye, "the Gorilla will take me straight back to Nathalie."

"That's only if he sees you leave."

Adrien sat up. "Won't that cause a fuss, though? Chat Noir turning up in New York? Alya hadn't noticed anything the last time I checked the Ladyblog, but if she blogs about my disappearance and realizes I'm here…. Plagg, she knows me. As Adrien. If anyone can put the pieces together, she can."

"Or Ladybug," Plagg pointed out, "since you warned her about this trip."

Adrien sighed. "Ladybug's different. And even if she's seen some of my work, she won't necessarily know Adrien Agreste was in New York at the same time Chat Noir showed up."

Plagg hummed. "You're still assuming people are actually going to notice Chat Noir's here in the first place."

"But won't they?"

"People never look up. You'd be surprised what they miss—or accept without blinking an eye if they do catch it. Besides, your English is fine, and you can swing by Chinatown if you want to work on your Chinese." Plagg yawned. "I'm tired of being cooped up in your bag and your pocket. Not counting this room, that's all I've seen for the last day and a half. At the very least, you can get me some more camembert."

Adrien laughed and got to his feet. "Let's see what we can find. Claws out!"

2:19 PM

After a lot of pleading, Jake had gotten his mom to allow him to skip school on account of pressing dragon business. Unfortunately, Fu and Gramps hadn't gotten any farther than when he'd left them last night, which meant dragon business meant spending a lot of time reading books that didn't make a whole lot of sense. By this point, Jake was going cross-eyed. He was convinced he'd have been better off if he had gone to school today.

"I'm pretty sure the only magical creature in the country even remotely related to butterflies is Mothman," Jake muttered as he slammed his book shut.

"This isn't him," Fu said as the chime went above the shop door. "It's not his style."

"How do you even—?"

"Marty has this friend," Fu started, and Jake stopped listening, because if Marty was involved, absolutely anything and everything was fair game. And Fu's story would be at least five minutes long, because anything relating to the grim reaper was—

"Jake!" called Gramps from the front of the shop.

Seizing on the excuse to get away from the books, Jake jumped to his feet and ducked into the front of the shop, careful to keep as much of the back hidden behind the curtain as possible. The only potential customer was a kid about his age, maybe a little older. Since no kid in their right mind would cut class just to spend their time in an electronics shop that was infamous for never making a sale, Jake figured he was dealing with a tourist. Which meant he wanted directions, which was why Gramps had called for him.

"Jake will help you," Gramps said. "Please excuse me; I must get something from the back."

The boy returned G's bow and actually thanked him in Chinese before turning to Jake. "I'm sorry for bothering you," he said, and it took Jake a second to place his accent as French. "Do you know where I can find a cheese shop?"

Jake stared at him. Why the heck had Gramps thought he might know about cheese shops? "Yo, no offence, man, but that's not exactly where you're gonna find the best scene, y'know? I can give you the down-low on way better places to hang if you're cool with that." He caught sight of the confusion on the boy's face and made a mental note to dial back the slang. "You don't want directions to the skate park or something? A good pizza place? Or, like, a flower shop if this is for a girl? I mean, I guess there's a grocery shop nearby if you really just want cheese…."

The boy smiled. "I promised a friend I'd get him some camembert."

Camembert. Right. Of course. Jake was pretty sure he'd known that was a type of cheese.

"Let me just look this up for you," Jake said, heading over to the computer. He was searching for cheese shops when his phone beeped, and he frowned. "Just a sec," he said. Spud and Trixie knew where he was, and they were in class, so they wouldn't be texting him. As for his family, well, half of them were here, so…

Jake read the text message and blinked. Don't let him leave. It was from Fu. He sent back a question mark and set about—slowly—narrowing down the scope of shops that might possibly sell cheese and were remotely nearby. "Is this something you'd only find in a specialty cheese shop?" he asked, more to keep the kid talking than anything else.

He missed the kid's answer, mostly because his phone started to ring. He smiled apologetically. "I should really take this," he said, and then he picked it up. "Hello?"

"It's his ring." Fu's voice. He must have gone into the back alley, since Jake couldn't hear him from the next room. "The old man's checking on it now, but he thinks he recognized it."

"He thinks he what now?" The question was out of Jake's mouth before he remembered the kid was standing about five feet from him. A quick glance confirmed that the boy was politely pretending to read G's advertisements, so Jake moved to the corner opposite the front desk. "Why?"

"I'll fill you in later, but we're looking at some rare, powerful magic. Ancient stuff. I'm talking older than the existence of the Dragon Council. We only know of seven of these things in existence. That ain't just a kid you're dealing with."

Aw, man, he could not catch a break. "So what am I supposed to do?" Then, in case the kid—magical creature disguised as a kid?—was listening, Jake added, "That's halfway across the city, yo. Can't it wait?"

"Stall him till the old man comes back out front; we'll hit him with a potion, knock him out. He won't have time to react to that, and we'll have time to examine the ring. If we're wrong, I'll see what I can do to get my paws on a mind wipe potion. Some of the boys owe me one, and it'll be faster than brewing one myself."

"But can't I just…y'know."

"You don't dragon up in the blink of an eye, kid. And trust me, you don't wanna let him get the jump on you."

Jake couldn't exactly ask what this ring let the boy do. "But what if I—?" He broke off, hearing the chime above the door, and jerked around in time to see the boy in question leaving. "Aw, man, I gotta go."

Jake shoved his phone into his pocket and ran outside, but the kid was nowhere in sight. It had barely been more than ten seconds, twenty tops, and he was just gone. If Jake had had an idea of where to look, eye of the dragon might've helped, but he didn't, and ear of the dragon was useless unless the kid was talking to himself because Jake didn't know anything else about him. He looped the building in his search and found Fu Dog still in the alley. Jake sighed. "The guy split. I don't know why. Why not wait around if he just wanted directions?"

"Might've been onto you. Us. You weren't exactly subtle on the phone." Fu moved back to the shop, and Jake followed him inside. "He probably wasn't here for directions. He might've been scouting us out if he'd had a suspicion. Destroying the Huntsclan didn't destroy any of the independent bounty hunters or collectors of magical items."

Jake grunted; being reminded of the Huntsclan—of Rose—still hurt. "So what's the deal with his ring?"

Gramps was the one to answer, and he did this by pushing a book under Jake's nose. He ignored the words on the page in favour of the drawing, which showed an elaborate box split into seven coloured sections. Each section held one piece of jewellery, and the one in the middle had a ring. It looked different than the ring on the kid's hand—at least, Jake didn't remember seeing a paw print on it—but considering they were dealing with magic, that didn't mean anything. Too many things could change appearance.

"The Seven Miraculous," Gramps said, "were fashioned thousands of years ago. There are rumoured to be others, but no reliable author has been able to record them. Their existence remains a closely guarded secret even in the magical world. Each grants their wearer unique powers, and if used in tandem—"

"Yo, hold it, G. We think this guy had the ring, right? So what powers does he get from it? The ability to become a ghost?"

"It is known as the Ring of the Black Cat," Gramps replied. "It is associated with destruction."

"Of course it is," Jake muttered. He looked down at the picture again. If these things were associated with animals, then— "Wait, this brooch thing looks like—"

"A butterfly," confirmed Gramps grimly. "It grants the power of metamorphosis."

"It can change people? Into what?"

"Anything," said G.

"Great." No wonder Sara had told him to beware of the butterflies. He'd at least heard the superstition about black cats, although now he was pretty sure he knew where it came from. "I'm gonna need more help with this than usual, aren't I?" He groaned, trying to figure out how much danger he could comfortably drop Spud and Trixie into. Or Haley, for that matter. He needed more people like Gramps and Fu and Sun, who had been around the block a few times and could take a few hits.

Although….

"Kara said I'd have friends to help me out, right?" Jake said to Fu. "She did," he added when Fu didn't confirm immediately. "So why not call one of my friends? Danny might be up for it."

"The phantom kid?" Fu looked skeptical. "I thought he didn't like leaving his hometown haunt if he could help it."

"He'll do me a solid," Jake said. He thought so, anyway. Danny didn't owe him, exactly, but they were friends, and this sounded big. Big enough to warrant asking for help, at any rate. Jake knew Danny was good in a fight, which was going to be essential, and being a ghost—a half ghost—might help him avoid some of this destruction that they were obviously going to be facing very soon. "I'll call him."

2:32 PM

After five blocks of jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Adrien had had enough. He stopped, pulled his claws in, and faced Plagg with crossed arms. "So why did we have to run out of there? It was rude. They seemed like nice people."

"It smelled funny."

Adrien frowned. "The shop? A little dusty, maybe, but not—"

"It smelled like stale magic," Plagg interrupted.

Adrien stared at him. "You're making that up."

"And sacrifice my camembert?" Plagg sounded incredulous. "No, that shop smelled like magic, and I got a bad feeling. I've learned to trust those feelings."

"Are you sure that's not just hunger? Or jet lag?"

"Trust me." It was something Plagg rarely asked, but he meant it when he did. "If you meddle too much in the magical world, you'll get mixed up in it."

"But you're magical! Doesn't that mean I'm already mixed up in it?"

Plagg's tail flicked. "Different magic," he said simply. "That stuff? It's not the same as mine. Dig around too much there, and you might find yourself swallowing a truth potion and spilling all your secrets."

"That…that actually exists? Outside of stories?"

"Everything has a grain of truth to it," Plagg said dismissively. "These people might not be bad, but we shouldn't get involved unless we have to." More quietly, he added, "I don't want to lose you."

The possibility of losing Plagg hadn't occurred to Adrien. "You think they'd try to take you? Take my ring?"

"Hawk Moth isn't the only one who knows about the power of the Miraculous," was all Plagg said.

2:48 PM

"Please," Danny begged. "Please, I swear I won't destroy it."

Frostbite didn't look convinced. "The Infi-Map is not meant to be used for trivial purposes, Great One."

Danny had skipped out of school when he'd gotten Jake's phone call, giving Sam and Tuck the heads up before finding Jazz and begging her to cover for him. She'd agreed—they'd all agreed—even though he knew she didn't entirely approve. Frankly, he didn't care. Jake wouldn't ask if he didn't think he needed to. The fact that he had asked meant Danny couldn't turn him down.

The Infi-Map was the fastest way Danny could think of to get to New York. It could find a natural portal and get him to Jake in seconds—or at least a few minutes. That was way better than any other option Danny had, which included flying, stealing the Spectre Speeder, or absconding with the Ops Centre—and though using the jet and auto-Jack would be the faster than using the Spectre Speeder, that was the thing his parents were most likely to notice. He might be able to fly, too, but then he'd be exhausted by the time he got there, and it would take precious time even if he didn't get lost along the way. He had to use the Infi-Map.

If Frostbite would let him.

"This isn't a trivial purpose," argued Danny. "I've been asked to help someone save their city. If he fails, the consequences are going to be felt across the country, and that's bound to be reflected in the Ghost Zone. How can you call me the Great One if I can't even help the people who need it?"

"Our realms are mirrored, Great One, but smaller actions can be reflected differently."

Danny frowned. "Clockwork told me that when Pariah Dark reigned over the Ghost Zone, the Real World descended into the Dark Ages. It doesn't need to be exactly the same to be bad. If the Real World ends up under the thumb of another Pariah Dark…." He trailed off, hoping the implications would be enough to seal the deal.

Frostbite's expression didn't change, and Danny was about to give up hope when he said, "Just this once, Great One, I will entrust you with the Infi-Map. But I must come with you."

That…probably wouldn't fly with Jake. He didn't have the best experiences with ghosts, and Frostbite looked intimidating and had ice powers, which was sure to rub a fire-breathing dragon the wrong way. Danny settled for not saying anything. Frostbite took his silence to be agreement, which it wasn't, but Danny didn't correct him. He couldn't afford to right now. Frostbite unlocked the box, handed Danny the Infi-Map, and while he was locking the container again to ensure no one knew of the Infi-Map's absence, Danny whispered, "Take me to Jake Long."

He'd face the consequences later.

3:12 PM

"Let me get this straight," Danny said slowly. He was still in ghost mode, sitting in the back of Canal Street Electronics at a desk beside Jake. The book Jake had been showing him was still open in front of them, for all the good it did. He might as well have gone with Fu to get snacks. He didn't think he was going to be able to do much to help here after all. "You think someone's in town to rob you guys or something, only you don't know his name, where to find him, or even what he looks like because apparently he can shapeshift?"

"We don't know that he can shapeshift," Jake corrected. "But we were told to beware of the butterflies, and, well, they can shapeshift. Well, they can transform you into something else, so same diff."

"Right. Beware the butterflies."

Jake didn't miss his flat tone. "Hey, when Sara says to beware the butterflies, she means it. Her visions always come true. It just might not mean what it sounds like."

Which was worse than no help at all, in Danny's opinion. "Except you think it's about this thing." He jabbed one finger at the picture in the book. "Because you saw a ring."

"The Ring of Destruction," Jake confirmed, tapping a line of text on the opposite page. "I mean, something's definitely up. Normal people do not move that fast. And he came in asking for directions to a cheese shop. How is that not an obvious lie?"

"Yeah, but why pick something so obvious if he's supposed to be good at this type of thing?"

"To make us think that he isn't?"

Danny sighed. "This guy doesn't sound like a ghost, which means I'm not going to be any help finding him."

"Fu's put out feelers. Someone's bound to have something useful for us. In the meantime, we need to have a game plan. Sara talked about attacks, and it sounded like they were coming sooner rather than later."

"And this destruction thing worries you as much as the shapeshifting thing."

"More than," Jake admitted quietly. "Shapeshifting I can get my head around. I can figure out how to fight that, you know? But destroying an entire building with a single touch is different."

An entire building…or a single person. Jake might not say it now, but Danny knew that's what he was thinking. He knew that was the real reason Jake had called him instead of someone else. If this guy could destroy anything he touched, Jake was going to have a hard time fighting him once the attacks started.

But Danny?

It was more than just the fact that the kid—shapeshifter, whatever he was—didn't know his face. It was more than the fact that he could pretend to be an ordinary human before attacking or use his invisibility to gain the upper hand. He could fight without being touched if he had to. He didn't have to stay out of reach but close enough to hit someone with a burst of flame. He was fast, but he didn't have to rely on dodging. Not when he had intangibility.

The best defence against fighting someone with a deadly touch was to be impossible to touch in the first place.

Danny just hoped this power of destruction couldn't somehow cut through intangibility, too.