Shadybug stared at the person who stood in front of her, shocked into silence. It was literally her, but strangely still, Shadybug couldn't remember the last time she had stood that still.
"Hello? Who the hell are you and what do you mean again?"
"It's literally me, Monarch, using a sentimonster version of yourself, Shadybug," the eerily same person said in response.
"Sentimonster? What the hell does that mean?"
"Using the Peacock Miraculous, you can create beings tied to a particular object, or more than one object."
"The Peacock Miraculous? I don't know that Miraculous even was a real thing. So you're saying that this-" she gestured vaguely to the sentimonster in front of her, "-being is a sentimonster or whatever, and you created it using some bird Miraculous for what purpose?"
The sentimonster version of Shadybug smirked at her.
"To assist you, of course. My akuma can't stay for long if you attempt to conquer the city. After all, Ladybug's still on the loose, and she can undo the damages if she found an akuma. A sentimonster is a bit more...discreet."
"Is it now? I assume you have the object?"
"Indeed."
"Keep it safe, I guess. What can this...uh, sentimonster version of me do?"
"Everything that you can...and perhaps more," Shadybug replied to Shadybug. The real Shadybug blinked in surprised.
"Then lock up the city," Shadybug snapped. The sentimonster smiled then jumped off the roof and went to obey Shadybug's orders. Shadybug gripped her head in her hands, letting a hint of her anxiety at working alone seep through.
"Oh, damn you, Claw Noire, for having been such a good partner," she muttered under her breath. She scanned the view she had of the city for any unlucky sign of him, but she found none and let out a breath of pent-up stress and relief.
"This is utterly ridiculous, why the hell am I worrying over some damn stupid stuck-up brat of a black cat? He was revoltingly pun-basic and his attitude got on my nerves. I should stop...but why aren't I? This is what doing a partnership does for someone."
She stomped around on the roof for a moment then jumped off, landing gracefully and paced through the streets, spinning her yoyo, debating something quietly, then an idea came into her mind.
"What if I just created a sentimonster of Claw Noire? Then I wouldn't have to deal with his crap, but he'd still be useful. I guess that means I have to go steal the Peacock Miraculous from that ridiculous Monarch."
"You shall do no such thing, Shadybug," a voice said from behind her. Betterfly, the good holder of the Butterfly Miraculous, was standing right behind her.
"Oh, just leave off it. Nobody asked your opinion. Why do you care so much, you despicable moth?" she snapped at him.
"Because I work for the greater good, and you and Claw Noire are tyrants. I shall not let your reign continue, Shadybug. It ends now, especially now that you're alone."
"Claw Noire will take my position, Betterfly. And we both know he can't think on his own without destroying shit and showing off."
"Even your swearing is...just awful. You should break the habit."
Shadybug narrowed her eyes.
"Don't tell me what the hell to do," she spat at him, and spun her yoyo at him, hitting him successfully in the face.
"You need to stop this! It's destroying you! Look at your face!"
Shadybug struck him again, ignoring his pleas and she shoved him further back.
"I don't care what the hell you fucking think I should do!" she snapped, summoning up a new lucky charm and striking him in the face with the object she had summoned; a paddle.
"Please! Hear me out! If you just used your Miraculous-"
"For the disgustingly greater good? And risk my life when the Supreme finds out? Never!"
"Please, if we work together, we can defeat him!"
Shadybug whirled and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him off his feet.
"The Supreme is beaten by nobody! I'm not joining you!"
"You could go to their Paris and be happy!"
"I don't belong there! They have their versions of us there, and I wouldn't belong! I'm staying here, where I know I'm safe as long as I serve the Supreme!"
Betterfly tried to reason some more with her, but Shadybug's repeated summoning of lucky charms and striking him back, relentlessly attacking him, told him that Shadybug wasn't going to listen, and that now, it'd be best time to get off her back and run. Shadybug shouted out her lucky charm words and pinned him to the ground.
"Don't you even dare think about running, I am getting your Miraculous today, you stupid, stupid, ugly, revoltingly good butterfly."
"You will never get it!"
"Try me, hmm, and see where that gets you, given I'm the one coming out on top right now, Betterfly," she seethed, punching him in the face then she reached for his Miraculous.
"You already have one, why do you need another?"
"Monarch has it. I don't quite remember how and why, but I shall suffice with taking yours, insolent fool," she spat and pinned him more, pressing her lucky charm down harder, then seized his Miraculous.
"No!"
He de-transformed and shock rolled through her facial features.
"Gabriel Agreste? As in, the father of that stuck-up rich spoiled self-absorbed brat Adrien Agreste? My, my, how the tables have turned," she hissed and let him go, taking the Butterfly Miraculous with her.
"You won't win! Ladybug will beat you!"
"With what? Hmm, with the so-called partner she has? Last time I checked, he was in their universe, not ours," Shadybug sneered down at him, and kicked him away.
"Don't-destroy-" he pleaded, but cut off.
"What? Don't destroy something that's already gone? Or are you talking about Paris itself? Either way, you can't stop me with your corny 'positive thinking' and 'the world can change if you change' shit, because we all know this world is screwed no matter what happens, the Supreme will always come out on top," Shadybug seethed and stormed off, leaving him on the roof alone. It was finally quiet in her head when she reached her house. De-transforming in a fit of anger and sheer annoyance, she stalked around the room, pacing the length, debating whether or not just to transform again and rid the city of the pest Ladybug. She sat down and glanced at the broken mirror in her room. Mari closed her eyes and let out a sigh then re-opened her eyes. There were dark black veins crawling up her neck, up her chin and onto her cheeks.
"The Supreme should've warned us that using our Miraculous this way would eventually catch up to us. How could he?" she muttered under her breath.
"Mari!" a voice shouted from downstairs. Her breath caught and she clenched her fists. Her mother was calling for her.
"Yes, Mother, what is it?"
"Get down here and stop neglecting your duties!"
She groaned. She quickly transformed and fled the room just as her mother stormed upstairs to her room and slammed the door open. Shadybug was on the roof, barely holding herself still as she waited for her mother to leave her room.
"That stupid, foolish girl," her mother muttered from underneath Shadybug. Then it was silent. Shadybug knew better than to rush down there; her own mother would trick her into thinking it was safe then she'd come down and her mother would unleash the full wrath of her anger upon her. Shadybug gripped the rooftop shakily as she summoned up a lucky charm and peered down through the X-Ray binoculars she had gotten. Her mother was leaving the room.
"Good. The next time you pull this shit, Mother, I will finally have the upper-hand. He never said I couldn't destroy my own family, now did he?" she muttered bitterly, then dropped down back through her window and glanced around warily. Nothing was out of place and her room was still the same as always. Dreary, bland and gloomy. She de-transformed again and surveyed her kwami for the first time seriously. Tikki was silent as she watched Mari scan her. The Supreme's gag was still on Tikki's mouth as always, but the kwami appeared very tired and a small hint of guilt bit through Mari. Then it faded and she shook her head.
"Someday, Tikki, I'll get us both the hell out of this hellhole. It's not like we have a mother that supports and loves us, right? Yeah."
She patted Tikki on the head, startling the kwami then transformed just as her mother appeared from down below, again.
"What-Mari? Are you...what is this disgusting get-up? God, I knew you were a weird child, but you're just making my point clearer."
Shadybug gave her mother a furious look, summoning up a lucky charm.
"I'm not a weird child. I'm not your little child who just obeyed what you wanted because she was scared," Shadybug said through gritted teeth and pushed her mother back with the handle of the sword she had gotten.
"How dare you treat me like this, you ungrateful child."
Shadybug smirked.
"I'm not doing anything compared to the Supreme, Mother," she snapped. Her mother stepped back.
"You're, ahem, not working for the Supreme, are you?"
Shadybug smirked, spinning her yoyo into a magical shield and glanced at her lucky charm.
"But of course."
She flicked her lucky charm out again but this time, her mother fled downstairs. Shadybug groaned.
"What a missed opportunity."
She stalked out of her room through her window and gazed over Paris from the rooftop, standing in a authoritative stance, radiating power and menace.
"Soon, Paris, you'll be the ones cowering from me, and the Supreme will no longer be in power. I will."
"With me," a quiet voice said from behind her. She whirled around and stared in surprise.
"Chat Noir? How the hell did you get back here?"
"I swapped places with Ladybug. I'm here to change your actions for the better."
"Good luck with that."
"Claw Noire will also assist."
"Just leave off it," she snapped.
Chat Noir let a small smile form on his lips.
"The city's free."