Chapter 2: Send in the Clones

"My powers might be gone but I can't just stand by and do nothing!" said Reflekta Adrien (who had been left standing by the pile of lockers he had hoped to clear with a Cataclysm). "I've gotta get Reflekta back for the way she tricked me, too."

He started to run, but the platform heels tripped him. "Who invented these things?"

Adrien made his way carefully to the locker room where many victims were still gathered.

"If you want your faces back then listen up, have you ever heard of safety in numbers?"

"Anyone who's taking fencing grab a saber, too."

In the main courtyard, Reflekta Ladybug hurled her yo-yo at Reflekta over and over. Each time, the akumatized villain deflected it with an expert shot, then fired back.

Ladybug dodged as best she could, but the bulky dress make it awkward. Finally, Reflekta tagged her with a shot. All that happened was that the closest black spot on Ladybug's dress disappeared.

"It looks like I'm immune to your attack," said Ladybug.

"And I can deflect your yo-yo every time," said Reflekta. "It's a stand-off."

"Not so fast," said Ladybug.

She leaped, closing the distance between them. They fought hand to hand, with Ladybug trying to get the zapper and Reflekta grabbing for the earrings. It seemed that Reflekta was a bit stronger and better at hand-to-hand combat. Reflekta was getting the upper hand and Ladybug was struggling to keep her Miraculous.

"I'm gonna take your earrings as a trophy!" said Reflekta.

"Time to face off!" called Adrien. "Catch her!"

A crowd of Reflektas charged at the akuma.

"Yeah, get her!" said Reflekta Ivan.

"Run on!" said Reflekta Nino.

Reflekta disengaged from Ladybug and tried to get away by leaping from one head to another. Those who had sabers thrust them through the edges of her wide skirt. The unbalanced weight tripped her. She fell to the ground and got dog-piled by her many copies.

"Lucky Charm!" called Ladybug. She got a permanent marker. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Ladybug ran up to the pile of Reflektas. She found the one on the bottom who had sabers run through her skirt.

"Ladybug, she stole my ring!" said Adrien.

"Cat Noir, is it - is it really you?" asked Ladybug.

"Can't you tell by my swagger! Am I still the cat's meow or what?" said Adrien, making moves like Chat Noir.

"I don't know what to say," said Ladybug.

"How about a thank you for getting you out of that tight spot!"

Ladybug would have teased him, but she was in basically the same boat as he was. "Thanks."

She turned to the captured villain.

"Before I break your akumatized object, tell me what you did with Chat Noir's ring," said Ladybug to Reflekta.

"No, I'll tell you nothing."

"I'll draw on your face with this maker," Ladybug threatened. "Then nobody will look like you any more."

"I hid it," said Reflekta. "You won't find it before Hawk Moth does."

"When you cure her she'll forget everything," said Chat Noir. "But Hawk Moth could see through her eyes. He knows exactly where it is."

"We'll find a way to get it back, I promise," said Ladybug.

She pulled the cap from Reflekta's bracelet and smashed it. Purple and black magic flowed off the villain and she reverted to Juleka.

"Better hide before I do the fixing charm, Chat Noir," Ladybug said. "You'll go back to your civilian identity since you don't have your ring."

Adrien ran off, still stumbling with the shoes.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" said Ladybug, throwing the marker into the air.

Marinette persuaded Vincent to take new pictures of the group of friends in the park after school. They wouldn't count as official school pictures, but they were still pictures that included Juleka that they could all share.

"Okay, we're all good here, ready?" asked Vincent.

Everyone was in position on and around a park bench. Everyone butChloé and Sabrina, who were nowhere to be seen.

"This photo was a good idea, Marinette!" said Adrien.

"Thanks Adrien!" said Marinette, blushing.

The photographer snapped several pictures. Looking through the images, Juleka smiled to see herself clearly photographed for the first time.

"The class photo curse is broken!" said Rose.

Rose put an arm on Juleka's shoulder, which Juleka didn't mind at all.

Chloé marched up to them, followed by Sabrina and Mr. Damocles.

"There she is!" Chloé said, pointing at Marinette.

Mr. Damocles said, "Young lady, I have been presented with photographic evidence that you broke into my office today."

Marinette's heart sank. Chloé's video clip! She had forgotten about that in all the confusion. The phone had disappeared when Reflekta transformed Chloé, and the Miraculous Ladybug charm had restored it.

"Umm..." said Marinette. "I was..."

"I am going to have to give you an hour of detention," said Mr. Damocles.

"Do my ears deceive me?" said Chloé. "A mere hour for a hardened criminal? She was going to steal the camera. I overheard her plotting about it with Rose."

"The punishment for theft is suspension for one week," said Sabrina, showing the rulebook.

"I wasn't going to steal it," said Marinette.

"That's right, Marinette didn't say anything to me about stealing," said Rose.

"For all you know, she was just going to leave a note asking for a re-shoot, for my sake," said Juleka.

"Well, Marinette?" asked Damocles. "What were you doing in my office? Did you touch the camera?"

Marinette hated it, but she had to admit what she did. "I was going to erase the class photo that didn't have Juleka in it, so that it would have to be done over."

Her friends gasped at this.

"You were going to destroy my hard work?" asked Vincent. He glared at Marinette.

"I'm sorry," said Marinette. "I don't know if I really would have gone through with it if I wasn't interrupted. My conscience was telling me it was wrong."

"You deserve to be suspended," said Vincent.

"I believe that is correct," said Damocles.

Marinette looked at the ground. She did deserve consequences, but she was going to be in so much trouble with her parents...

"Hold on," said Alya. "A one-week suspension is too much. It was for a friend, and in the end no harm was done."

"I'll call Daddy if you don't punish her," threatened Chloé.

"You're just a witness this time, not the so-called victim," said Alya. "Mr. Damocles, remember what happened the last time you gave out an unfair punishment, to me? Do you want to risk another akuma?"

"Or two," said Nino.

"Or three," said Ivan.

Others spoke up, until there was a chorus of voices. Chloé started to dial her father, but gave up when everyone glared at her.

"All right," said Damocles. "Five one-hour detentions, one each day for the next five school days."

Marinette sighed. "Yes, Sir."

"I'm not going to give any of you copies of these park pictures," said Vincent spitefully. "I'm going to delete them."

The classmates groaned.

"Please don't punish my friends for what I did," said Marinette.

"You could have asked me nicely in the first place," said Vincent. "Now it's too late. I've had a horrible day. I've struggled to line you up, been turned into a pink dolly, nearly had my work deleted, and got talked into wasting more of my time by the same sneaky little minx who messed with my camera. Goodbye."

Vincent stormed off. Damocles followed him. Chloé smirked at Marinette and left also, followed by Sabrina.

"Thank you for trying," said Juleka. "I guess the jinx is still on."

"Don't say that!" said Rose. "You were in the pictures even if we didn't get to keep copies."

"Why not just take some more pictures for ourselves with our cellphone cameras?" asked Adrien.

That is what they did, getting many pictures to share with Juleka included.

Marinette was in many, trying to smile. With the encouragement of her friends she eventually cheered up.

That night, a cloaked figure broke into the school's locker room and headed for one of the lockers.

"This should be the one," he said to himself. "I've accomplished two things today – I have Chat Noir's ring and I've narrowed down the set of Ladybug suspects to girls at this school."

As he reached to open it, a yo-yo zipped around him and bound his arms to his sides. Ladybug leaped at him and stuffed a cloth into his mouth before he could utter his transformation phrase.

A young man in a ski mask opened the locker and felt for the ring on an upper shelf. He put it on.

"The stake-out paid off, m'Lady. Claws out!"

"Turn on the lights and let's see who we've got," said Ladybug.

Chat Noir turned on the lights. Ladybug pulled back the hood of the cloak.

"Father? You're Hawk Moth?" asked Chat Noir in shock.

"Adrien? You're Chat Noir?" asked Ladybug.

The End