Le Loup: The rise of the Spade Clan

Chapter 7: A shocking discovery

Tina POV

At night, I decided to go on patrol and find Alex, or any leads on his location. Rodrigo, Adrien and Nino volunteered to join me. 

"Still no sign of Alex?" Nino asked. 

I shook my head. Even with Max's drone, we are getting nowhere fast. We also retraced our steps back to the brothel, only to find it in ruins. 

"Crap. I totally forgot they wrecked the place after Alex went MIA. The footage from the drone showed him getting thrown into a truck." I said.

Suddenly, we saw a group of police cars heading towards the museum.

"Wonder what's going on with them." Nino said.

"Whatever it is, it's obviously bad. Let's follow them." Adrien said as he made his way to the bank. We followed him. 

After minutes of running across the rooftops, we arrived at the bank. There, we saw the policemen surrounding the entrance. Lt Roger called out via his megaphone. We descended from the roof and went towards the police officers. 

"Whoever you are, come out with your hands up."

A throwing knife knocked the megaphone from his hands and impaled the hood of the car. I pulled out the knife and looked at it. 

Stainless metal blade. Smooth black handle.

"This is Alex's." I said.

They looked at me in shock.

"How'd you know?" Adrien asked.

"He showed it to me a while back." I replied.

"You don't think that they used his gear to arm themselves?" Nino asked.

"Or worse, akumatize him." Adrien added.

I pocketed the knife and pulled out my bow.

"Only one way to find out. Let's go." I said and made my way inside the bank. As soon as we entered, we saw Lila and Chloe in their miraculous forms. Alongside them were the thugs from the brothel. 

"Robbing banks now, Lila? It's unlike a young lady like you to take orders from a thug." Rodrigo said as he pulled out his twin Glocks.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Silver Bullet." Lila replied and signalled the thugs to attack us. 

Nino threw his shield at the man in the minotaur suit, who deflected it and tried to ram into him. He quickly vaulted over him and swung his tonfas at his leg. Unfazed, the bull man swung his fist at him. Nino jumped back, dodging the attack.

 Rodrigo  ducked under a staff swung at him by a woman in a fox outfit.  He fired his Glocks at her, but the bullets phased through her. The woman swung her staff again, knocking his guns out of his hands. Cursing, Rodrigo pulled out his baton and fought the woman.

Adrien darted towards Chloe, who threw a bee dart at him. He parried them with his staff and snapped a kick at her. She dodged it and sweep kicked him in the back of his leg. He quickly rolled away from her as she swung her sceptre at him.

I dodged an attack from Lila and fired a volley of arrows at her. She parried them with her yo-yo and threw it at me, yanking my bow out of my hands. I pulled out my pocket staff and swung it at her. She blocked it with her arm and kicked me backwards. As I got back up to my feet, she threw her yo-yo at me again.

Smirking, I caught the string and pulled her towards me. Once she got close, I swung my staff at her torso and flipped kicked her in the jaw, knocking her towards the ground.

"It's over." I said. The others were still fighting the rouge miraculous users. Lila chuckled.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"The look on your face when you meet a shocking discovery." She replied with a smirk.

Before I could process what she meant, a throwing knife grazed my shoulder. I turned around and gasped at what I saw. 

Alex in his Le Loup attire,  standing near the vault. He pulled out his escrimas.

"Alex? Mon loup, is that you?" I asked. He darted towards me and snapped a kick at my stomach, sending me flying into a pillar. 

"I am not you lover anymore. I prefer my lady Lila over you." He said and helped up Lila.

"Alex? What the hell are you doing!? Why are you helping the people who killed your parents and your godfather?" Adrien demanded as he darted towards Alex and swung his staff at him. He blocked it with his escrimas. As the two exchanged blows, I fought Lila.

"What did you do to him!?" I roared as our weapons clashed. Lila smirked and pushed me back. As I regained my footing, she knocked my hood off my head with her staff.

"Oh nothing serious. Just made it look like you will never honour your vow." She taunted. Angered by her taunt, I swung my staff at her again. She summoned a crowbar and swung it at my abdomen, breaking my ribs. As I doubled over, she kicked me in the jaw, sending me sliding out of the bank and into the police van.

As I came too, I saw Rodrigo thrown onto a police car. His baton was snapped in half and his mask was dented. Nino was tossed onto the ground, unconscious. His ninja mask and outfit was tattered and his shield was dented.

Adrien tried to throw a punch at Alex, who slipped under his attack and elbowed him in the arm, breaking it. Adrien screamed in pain and clutched his broken arm. As I darted towards Alex, he threw a smoke grenade at me, blocking my view. As soon as I recovered my vision, he kicked me in the rib cage, breaking them even more.

As I tumbled onto the ground, he grabbed my throat and removed my mask. I pleaded with my tearing up eyes.

"Alex. Please, this isn't you. You're The Vigilante. You can't do this." I begged.

Alex laughed and slapped me across the face, leaving behind a red bruise. He leaned towards me and whispered in my ear the words that broke my heart.

"You mean nothing to me, slut. I should've left you ages ago to their mercy." 

All the memories with Alex shattered as he released me. He removed his mask and kissed Lila, leaving me to feel betrayed and hurt. Adrien helped me up to my feet, glaring at Alex.

"How could you do this to us, Alex? To her?" He demanded.

Alex ignored him and entered the van along with the rest of the robbers. As the van drove off, the crowd were stunned by what they saw. 

"Did that just happen?" Nino asked, after he regained consciousness.

"God, it felt like how Marinette saw me kissing Lila. But this is much more worse." Adrien replied, clutching his broken arm.

I felt like I wanted to vomit. Seeing Alex, the person who inspired me to take up the mantle of Blue Archer. The one who saved me from The Spade King, kissing Lila burned in my memory. I felt like crying.

"There there, Muchacha." Rodrigo said as he hugged me.