Miraculous Raccoon [Completed]

The Locked Labyrinth

"Ladybug and Chat Noir are in the subway system," I whisper quietly to Raya, the pudgy raccoon kwami floating above my hand. I had ducked around a corner to the outlet with bathrooms while they were chasing after someone who was akumatized. A guy called Minatour who could turn things into labyrinths.

"Are you thinking you can help them?" Raya asks doubtfully and self-deprecatingly. "They have actual miraculous. You just have a knock off one, remember?"

"Raya, you're not a knock-off miraculous. Just because it doesn't match up with what they want as their top-level miraculous doesn't mean we can't do good things," I say. "Remember we just saved someone from being hit by a train yesterday?"

"Yeah, but you didn't really use any powers. You were just a little faster because of me," Raya says, ears and tail still dropping.

"Did you see Michael selling Mystique bracelet miraculous?" I ask. I hold up my wrist, showing the two grey and one black bangles I'm wearing on my wrist. "I've seen dozens of people wearing them. We might not be as well known as Ladybug and Chat Noir, but people still appreciate what Mystique does for the people of Paris, Okay?" Raya sighs and nods, barely letting a smile return to her face. "Better?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm better, thanks," Raya says, floating up around my head again. I smile.

"That's what partners are for!" I assure her.

"What about White Fox?" Raya asks. I sigh and shrug.

"He's different. Let's go check on Ladybug and Chat Noir and see if they need some help," I tell her, avoiding the topic of White Fox. Appearances by White Fox were never a sure thing. His excuse is the limitation of his kwami, that he had a longer recovery time between transformations, but he never explained anything more. Not that I can really blame him. He doesn't know much more about mine. Just that I have one minute after I use my power before I change back.

When I reach the spot where people would normally get on a train, there is a large, locked door. "Oh, that's not good," I say, running up to the door and pulling on the large round knocker.

"You already know it's going to be locked," Raya says, floating behind my ear.

"Yeah, I know," I sigh, "but I have to try it anyway, right?"

"This must be the exit!" I can hear Ladybug on the other side of the door. They must have gotten through the labyrinth quickly. The door shakes.

"It's locked!" Chat Noir says.

"And you've already used Cataclysm. I told you, you should have saved that for when we really needed it!"

"Well excuse me, my lady, but if I hadn't used it, we would have been crushed by that falling wall!"

"Oh, you're right," Ladybug huffs. "And it was my lucky charm that got us here. We're both going to change back soon."

"And we don't have anything to recharge. Looks like you're stuck here with me. At least there won't be any secrets between us anymore," Chat Noir flirts. I can almost hear the unamused look Ladybug must be giving him from this side. I pull my purse around and start digging around for my leftover dinner. I know I have a cookie in here.

"You said Tikki likes sweets, right?" I ask Raya quietly. She nods. "And Plagg likes cheese."

"Camembert. He would never shut up about it," Raya says.

"Well, I don't have that, so he's going to have to deal with some mozzarella, okay, we should be good," I say. "Raya-"

"Wait, the cameras, remember? You have to find a blind spot. Over there, behind the column."

"Right, right," I say taking off in the opposite direction. I knew several people who worked security and they had already noticed some things with Mystique popping up around me. I tried to brush them off as coincidences, but I couldn't give them more to go off of. I backtrack through a blind spot, putting my bag to the side so the food would still be there after I transform. I can hear the banging at the labyrinth door as Chat Noir and a Ladybug try to get out.

"Ready Raya?" I ask. She nods. I hold my wrist up with my bracelets. "Stripe up!" There's a dark light that pulses from one of my grey bracelets as Raya spins into the bangle and I can feel the rush of energy flow into me. Furry ears, black mask, grey suit with a black and grey striped tail. Batons form in my hands and I press buttons on the sides to extend climbing hooks before I run towards the labyrinth door.

"Keystroke!" I yell, swinging one of the hooks to hit the handle of the door. There's an echoing click as the locking mechanism unlocks and the door swings open. Ladybug and Chat Noir stand there, open-mouthed and staring at me. "Come on, you don't have much time left," I tell them, holstering my batons in my belt. I wave them over and grab a cookie and some cheese out of my bag. "Here, take these. There are bathrooms just around the corner. Quick!" I prompt as I hand Ladybug a cookie and Chat Noir the cheese.

"Uh, right, thanks!" Ladybug says, accepting the cookie and taking off to where I pointed the bathrooms were.

"You're a lifesaver," Chat Noir says with a wink and a salute, running off as well. I check around the station, then duck back into the blind spots from the camera. My bracelet flashes the one black stripe down the middle of it.

"Yes, I know," I mutter, double checking that no one can see me. "Stripe down," I say and Raya comes back out of the bracelet, falling into my open hands and panting.

"That was really intense. Are you going to be okay?" she asks me between breaths.

"Yeah, I'm fine for a moment. You rest," I tell her, picking up my purse and tucking her into a side pocket. I've barely taken ten steps up to the platform when Ladybug runs out. "Woah! Ladybug!" I say, surprised. I hadn't expected her to be able to recharge that fast. Tiki must be a quick eater. I expected to be out of here already. Not that I had thought this through very much.

"Oh, hello," Ladybug says, waving slightly. "You didn't happen to see a raccoon girl, did you?"

"You mean Mystique?" I ask. My head is starting to get light headed. "She hangs around in the subway, but vanishes pretty quickly. Did she help you out?"

"Yes, she did. So she's been around for a while?" Ladybug asks. I shrug.

"Couple months, I guess," I say. There's screaming and a crash coming from further down the station and Ladybug gets back into superhero mode.

"Thanks for the info. I better go take care of a big problem. Bug out!" she says, with a wave. I wave back and catch myself against a column.

"You need to find somewhere to lay down," Raya says poking her head out from my bag.

"I'm fine," I say, pushing myself upright again, fighting against the dizziness as a streak of black runs into my field of vision.

"Hey, you alright there?" Chat Noir asks. I look up at him, eyes wide in an attempt to stay conscious.

"Yeah! I'm fine! Ladybug went that way," I say, pointing the direction she had gone and where the Minotaur roars are coming from.

"Right, thanks!" he says with another salute before he takes off. I walk around the column and feel the exhaustion fall over me. I lean against the column and slide down the rough surface, the cold cement feeling nice as I close my eyes and fall asleep.