She sneaks through the door, heading towards the other room where the siblings trail behind. The upcoming confrontation with them promises chaos, and the fewer witnesses to her words, the better for them. With narrowed eyes and clenched teeth, she has a burning question to ask.

As she looked at Lila and Damian, she saw their peaceful and impenetrable expressions, while Lila’s gentle hand gestures made her appear non-threatening.

Damian stood firm, even though she had just met him this morning, the tension in the room felt eternal.

The door, slightly ajar, silently swings open, heightening her awareness. She surveys the room with its large windows. In a worst-case scenario, she may have to leap from the third floor of the grand hotel without hesitation if she needs to escape.

With only one question left, she decides to ask it.

”Are you Chrysalis,Lila?" her voice dripping with venom as she addressed her.

Who’s expression didn’t change. No fake smiles, only a blank face. Twirling her long hair, which gleamed in the chandelier’s light, she smiled, stepped forward, and fixed her gaze on her.

“If I say yes. How would you handle this? Dupain Cheng,”

Whispers in her ears as Lila taken a hold closer. While she had, the phone nestled against her chest.

Damian’s sharp gaze flickered between Marinette and Lila, confused.

“Chrysalis?” he muttered, the word unfamiliar and heavy. “What is she talking about?”

His voice was low. With the party’s sounds receding, the room fell silent.

He shifted his gaze from Lila’s smile to her.

Damian’s firm command, “Ukth... explain.”

Marinette’s grip tightened around the phone. Before Lila gets to explain, she butted in.

“She ruined everything,” she said, voice low. “My life. My city.”

Chrysalis was not some masked criminal. She was something worse. After Hawkmoth’s defeat, and after Paris thought it could breathe again, Chrysalis appeared. And for six months, she held the city hostage. Not with bombs. With feelings.

Fear. Despair. Anger. Twisted. Amplified. Weaponized.”

Marinette’s breath caught. She didn’t look at Damian, but she knew he was watching.

“Hawkmoth was a nightmare,” she said. “But Chrysalis made it personal.”

The phone pulsed warmly in her palm, like it knew what it held.

“The last time we met,” Damian said, voice low and deliberate, “was on Dinosaur Island.”

Marinette froze.

What?

She saw him—saw them. Damian stood with his gaze locked on Lila like he was seeing someone else entirely. His controlled tone hinted at something more profound.

“You were helping father settle an arms dispute,” he continued.

“Then you disappeared. Just another mission in Paris, you said. Then nothing. No word. No sign. For three years. Only a code. A string of numbers that meant Come to Paris.”

Damian took a step closer to Lila, softer now, but no less intense.

“What happened,… Maya?” he asked. “I promise—I won’t judge. I’m here now. Whatever it is, I’ll keep you safe.”

Maya.

The name struck her like cold water.

Marinette gasped. Each of his words felt like walking on broken glass. It made little sense. Lila—Maya? Nothing made sense around her,and this was another spiral.

Marinette’s heart thudded in her ears. “Maya? That’s—That’s her real name?” she whispered, staring at the girl she thought she knew. The girl who had twisted her life in knots and called it friendship.

Lila—Maya—turned to her, the practiced smile nowhere in sight. No fake tears. No smugness.

Just stillness.

“You always wanted the truth, didn’t you, Dupain-Cheng?”

Marinette swallowed hard. Her fingers curled around the phone, tucked close to her chest. She didn’t know what was scarier—the name Maya, or the look on Lila’s face when she said it.

Her mind is in turmoil, overwhelmed by the secrets, as she discovers her nemesis has an alter ego besides Chrysalis.

Did she want to know, the years of abuse she had gone from this villain? Does she want to understand her reasons? Those thoughts are about to overwhelm her. No words were spoken, only a gaze directed at the villain who had destroyed her life, leading to the loss of her life with Adrien. She gripped the phone, clutching those secrets.

Marinette’s pulse pounded in her ears. Her grip on the phone trembled, slick with sweat and rage. Lila’s stillness. Damian’s narrowed eyes. Truth and manipulation curled like smoke in the room.

Enough.

“You want the damn phone?” she spat, voice low and trembling. “Fine. Take it.”

She hurled it.

The device spun through the air, landing outside the open doors

into the very heart of the gala ballroom.

Sliding across the gleaming floor, it then beeped. Once. Twice.

The tall, elegant main screen, elegantly trimmed in gold in honor of Gabriel Agreste, flickered, preceded by a sudden hiss of static.

The tribute video became unresponsive.

Replaced by something else.

A dimly lit, cold office.

His office.

The face that appeared sent a chill down Marinette’s spine.

Gabriel Agreste.

Gasps rippled like a wave.

“If you’re seeing this… then I am gone.”

“And perhaps, the truth should finally follow me.”

“I was Hawkmoth.”

The ballroom fell into stunned silence—just before erupting into chaos.

Screams. Cries. Scores of Parisian influencers, politicians, and elites were on their feet, shouting for answers. Cameras flashed. Phones were drawn. Security scrambled.

Marinette didn’t breathe. Couldn’t.

He took her hand. Not gently.

Bringing up the rear, Lila/Maya stooped to grab the Damians’ phone off the floor.

A side corridor offered them refuge from the crowd’s advance towards the screen. Crystal-clear, the revelation continued to sound behind them.

Then everything cracked.

A spotlight shattered above the stage. The ballroom lights flickered. From the side entrances, a dozen figures in tactical black, emerged, sharp and ready.

Maya’s eyes sharpened instantly. “They’re here.”

Damian was already moving—one hand snapping to his belt, the other grabbing Marinette’s wrist.

“Move. Now.”

Protecting the rear, Maya held the phone tightly as she used a rolling tray to block an intruder. He went down with a curse.

“Did you really think they wouldn’t be watching?” she snapped.

“Keep the phone safe,” Damian ordered. “This changes everything.”

Despite stumbling, Marinette continued, a whirlwind of thoughts about Gabriel, Adrien, the Miraculous, and the shocking discovery of a secret war in the ballroom consuming her.

She’s left to watch helplessly as chaos engulfs her world, Miraculous, and her parents. Men in tactical military-grade gear are ransacking the hotel, herding civilians with guns pointed at them. What should she do?

Ladybug, where are you?