Things felt perfect...
Too perfect.
It was like when there was a break in akuma attacks before a big battle back when Gabriel was hawkmoth. The lack of recent attacks since Lilias fuck up told Adrien that something was going to happen. He didn't like this, it gave him anxiety as if he needed any more of it.
Standing atop one of the taller buildings of the city, Cat Noir watched over like a silent guardian of sorts. He just knew that something was coming... something was going to happen. He felt like an idiot for getting carried away with that kiss on the rooftop with Luka. The news knew about Viperion and Cat Noir's romance and under any other circumstances he wouldn't care. But the fact Luka could potentially be used as bait to get to him since it was public knowledge...
That worried him.
"Kitty it's late, patrol ended ages ago. Ladybug said it's fine for the night-" Luka said, watching his kitten concerned.
"I know... I just feel like somethings going to happen..." he replied.
"I understand that but even if something does happen we have the upper hand remember?"
Adrian sighed, getting off the railing of the building and turning to Luka.
"I know but this is Felix and Lila... Felix won't go down without a fight and Lila would do anything to see ladybug dead. I'm just worried for you guys, Lila's targeting Mari and Felix will probably target you. They both know either way I'll be affected by it. I'm the weak point here..." Adrien rambled.
"Hey, there is one thing they don't have" Luka replied.
Adrien looked up at him, slightly confused.
"Knowledge... we know more about the miraculous than they do, and we know their identities. Ladybug was able to make the magic charms and get a power up, so who's to say you can't? If worst comes to worst I'm sure one hell of a cataclysm would set things straight" Luka explained.
Adrien looked down at his hands. Luka was right, they did have the ability to power up if they needed to. Felix and Lila didn't know a thing about that, all it would take is some major anger and concentration for him to cause a city destroying cataclysm.
That was a last resort though, he didn't want to hurt anyone in the process.
Whatever they were planning, he just hoped it didn't involve anything earth shattering...
Under the cover of night the two I'm question had snuck out past their bedtime, and met in a dark alley. Felix had a plan...
"Alright you got me out here this late, what is it?" Lila sighed.
"Do you want ladybug gone or what?"
"Yeah yeah, just get on with it"
"Listen... I think I know who they are..." Felix said.
Lila was definitely listening now, this could change everything.
"Oh? Who are they?" She asked.
"I have reason to believe that Cat Noir is Adrien. You see... we both have connections to the peacock through Gabriel's previous use of it. He wasn't aware of it at the time but after his disappearance he became aware of it. When he came back and we met up again we talked about the whole Gabriel thing and it all started to make sense. Cat noir vanishes the same time Adrien does? Adrien isn't spotted leaving the house when he ran away because he was Cat Noir when he did. How else would he have found out about Gabriel if he didn't already know about how miraculous' work? His excuses had me for a bit, I'll admit that. But the more I think about it..." Felix explained.
"Adrien? Cat Noir? They're like two different people. Adrien has always been so... polite and Cat Noir is a total goofball, there's no way" Lila replied.
"That's what he wants you to think. What better way to hide your identity than play up a certain part of yourself. I've known him all my life and I can tell you straight up that he's definitely a bit like cat noir under the model boy brand"
The more Felix explained it and thought about it, the more it made sense. And soon one thing clicked into another and she started making connections.
"And that would mean Viperion is-"
"Luka. Adriens a total hopeless romantic. He wouldn't kiss Viperion if he wasn't Luka. He'd never cheat" Felix explained.
"And ladybug?"
"You won't like this, but I'm pretty sure Ladybug is Marinette"
That name made Lila's blood boil. Her pointless hatred for Marinette and her hatred for Ladybug only deepened.
"What-" she snarled.
"I'm serious. Marinette is ALWAYS with Adrien and Luka ever since Adrien came back, they're always sneaking off together, always whispering under their breath to each other. You yourself said that she runs off in school and vanishes for ages until conveniently after the akuma attacks. You never see Ladybug and Marinette in the same place... unless Rena is there too. And her power is illusions..." Felix explained.
"Well that explains why I hate the both of them then... they're the same pathetic person. What about the other heroes?"
Felix shrugged them off, the plan he had only involved the main three. Plus, there were so many and he hasn't met all of Adriens friends so there's no way he'd know everyone.
"They don't matter. Even if Ladybug calls on them they're easy to clean up, listen up here's the plan..."
Lila crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, giving Felix a sly grin. She was so ready for this, the chance to take Maribug down and win over Adrien.
"I'm listening" she said.
"The first of next month. We use a sentimonster to kidnap Luka, and have him be Viperion while he broadcast a deal to Paris. Ladybug and cat noir give up their miraculous or Viperion gets dropped off the Eiffel Tower... without his miraculous-"
"Why don't we just expose him as Luka to the world?"
"Because all his friends would cause a fuss, and they'd probably be able to figure out that if he's Viperion then we are someone who knows him. It's to risky. Anyway we make the broadcast and when they inevitably come running to his rescue, we release akumas onto everyone we can with the goal of them getting the miraculous. Multiple villains at once means they'd need more heroes. But we stop them from leaving the area, by surrounding them. Two against half the city isn't going to work, but they'd be trapped. That way they have no choice but to give the miraculous over to save Luka and to stop the city wide attack" Felix explained.
"Sounds like it could work, they're not going down without a fight though. You know those two" Lila replied.
"As long as we can hold up long enough for them to surrender we'll be fine. Plus we can catch them off guard by revealing to them we know their identities, since they likely know ours"
To the duo, the plan seemed foolproof. And with a while until the first of next month they had some time to prepare and if by some miracle Cat ends up NOT being Adrien etc, they can re think things and try again. It seemed like it would work.
"You've got a plan then, sounds good. But Felix... why do you want the miraculous anyway? We both know I just want to see Marinettes downfall... the little bitch she is-" Lila began.
"You better not even TRY and win over Adrien in this plan, we both know it won't work. He's too hung up on Luka" Felix jumped in.
"Yeah yeah... but seriously why do you want them anyway?"
Felix was silent for a moment. He wasn't stupid enough to reveal he and Adrien were senti, it could jeopardise the plan and buy himself at risk too. But he still had a way to describe it.
"Because... I want to use the wish to reverse the roles. It's always Adrien this, Adrien that... he's the star of the family, he's the face of the family... he's the one that gets praised for every FUCKING thing he does. He could sneeze and not only the media but his mother AND my mother would go apeshit. I've always been second best, I've always been in his shadow, I'm never acknowledged for anything. The only person who acknowledges me is my mother and SHE is stuck in the shadow of her dead sister too. We work so hard for the family and for the company, and get no one ever gives us any credit or acknowledgement. If I have the miraculous I can make a world where those roles are reversed, me and my mum will finally get the recognition we deserve..." Felix ranted.
So that was his deal... as a kid he wouldn't have understood it and just played with Adrien like normal cousins do. But as he got older he started to feel overshadowed by his cousin. Not just because of the fame and praise from the family but because of the senti situation too.
He felt like Adrien was made to be the prefect being of true love for Emilie, the best son anyone could want. But when he was made, he was only made as a mere copy... not his own person. He was just a watered down version of Adrien given to his mother as a gift.
At least that's what he felt, what he thought. He'd been told countless times by his mother that he too was made from love, which is why she loved him. Emilie loved her sister so much that she made a senti human child for her too, twins often have the same health problems so Emilie being unable to carry a child meant her sister couldn't either. So she made Felix for her, Amilie found it absolutely beautiful that she's do that for her. And she treated Felix like her most precious gift and loved him to bits.
But no matter how many times she told him that... he never budged. He always felt the same.
He was just a cheap knock of perfect little Adrien, destined to always be stuck in the shadow of his cousin... that's why he wanted the miraculous.
To fix things.