Back to Back 2

Orchestration

Ladybug went straight to the Grand Paris Hotel. She had to get the whole story from Chloé herself, so she landed on her balcony and made her way inside.

There she found not only Chloé, but Zoe as well. Both girls seemed unsurprised to see Ladybug walk in.

"I'm assuming you're here because you heard the news," Chloé said, seemingly annoyed by the superhero's presence. "But don't worry, I already handled it."

Ladybug sighed and looked at the girl next to her. "Zoe, do you mind giving us some privacy for a minute?"

"Not at all," Zoe replied. Then she stood up and left the room without another word.

While she was doing that, Chloé turned her head away in disgust.

Ladybug approached her once they were alone. "Okay Chloé, what happened?"

She scoffed. "This ridiculous person in an utterly hideous sweatshirt tried to grab my Miraculous from me. But naturally I was amazing and was able to stop him all on my own."

"Did you see who it was or what they looked like?"

"No. That god awful hood was covering his face the whole time."

She tilted her head. "You said 'his.' You definitely know it was a guy?"

There was a pause for a moment. "I mean, it was probably a guy. In fact, now that I think about it, it was probably Monarch himself. He knew he couldn't akumatize me anymore so he tried attacking me instead. I mean, who else would want my Miraculous?"

Ladybug frowned. That was definitely not Monarch who attacked her.

"So you see?" Chloé continued with steadfast determination. "I can protect the Miraculous all by myself. Monarch won't dare come after me ever again."

"Can you think of anyone else who would want to take it? Is there anyone that you've upset recently?" Once the words were out of her mouth, Ladybug mentally sighed. That list was going to be a kilometer long.

"Of course not! Everyone loves me!"

This was exhausting, and things were only going to get more difficult. "I'm sorry, Chloé," she started gently. "But you know that I need to take the Miraculous back from you."

At the request, her face flushed red and a snarl appeared.

So Ladybug kept speaking. "It's only temporary. You'll get it back once the person who attacked you is caught. Until that happens, I can't risk having you walking around with it."

No words, only the essence of steam coming out of her ears.

"I'm sorry," Ladybug repeated, holding her open hand out.

Chloé glared at her for a few seconds, then hastily grabbed the comb from her hair and slammed it down into Ladybug's palm. "I don't even care!" she screeched. "The last thing I need is a ridiculous Miraculous with a ridiculous power! And I'm way too busy and important to be a part of your utterly ridiculous team of losers! So get lost Ladybug, and take your ridiculously lame Miraculous with you!" Done with her screeching, she turned her head away and crossed her arms with an overemphasized "Hmph!"

Ladybug took that as her chance to leave. So she put the hair comb into her yo-yo and took off from the balcony. She made a quick loop around the block and landed right back on the hotel again, but this time she was on a different balcony. Inside that room was the next person she was looking for. After walking up to her, she retrieved the Miraculous and held it out. "Zoe Lee, this is the Miraculous of the Bee, which grants the power of Subjection. You will use it for the greater good."