Tikki just laughed again. "I don't care if she does it as long as it it doesn't go too far."

"Okay, Tikki let's go," Marinette said as she grabbed her purse. Tikki quickly kissed Plagg on the cheek and flew into her owner's purse. Marinette then headed downstairs.

Meanwhile Iris was walking down the streets of Paris admiring all of the changes. It amazed her how things changed within the six years she was gone. There were more people and the technology. Pain poked her head out of Iris's purse. Her eyes widen. Everything was so bright and colorful compared to Fudel Era Japan. She would have to educate herself on the new technology.

Iris eventually stopped in front of her favorite department store. She smiled to herself. A day of shopping sounded wonderful. She glanced around no one was paying attention to her. Iris was worried this disguise wouldn't work. Someone was bound to recognize her. Going into this store made it even more risky. She befriend some of the people that worked here. She took a deep breath and went inside. That was six years ago she should be fine.

She went upstairs to the woman's department. This department store had high end and low end clothes. Iris liked shopping here because of the workers. They generally treated everyone the same. Usually high end stores look down on you if you didn't make enough money. Iris went to a rack with some low end clothes on it. Despite what Fu said Iris was going to watch his money. She felt guilty for spending it. As she searched a nice memory popped into her head. She remembered that sometimes she would take Adrien with her while shopping. He was generally good, but sometimes he would run off. She then laughed to herself that he would play hide and go seek (not telling her) in the clothes racks. She would have to bribe him with ice cream so he wouldn't tell Gabe. Iris pushed those thoughts away quickly before she got sad.

She found some clothes and went to try them on. Which brought back memories of shopping with Gabe. She quickly pushed them aside. She liked everything she tried on and bought it all. She also got her own sunglasses, a sun hat, shoes, a purse, underwear, and PJs. She needed everything. Right before she left a dress caught her eye. Iris knew it was one of Gabe's designs. She touched it and rubbed her fingers against the fabric. She was in love. His style was still the same.

"That's pretty," Pain whispered as she poked her head out of the purse.

Iris smiled. "My husband designed it."

"Oh, yeah you said he was a designer and owned his own fashion company."

"Yeah.." Iris let go of the dress.

"Get it."

Iris looked down at the kwami. "But people could recognise me in it. I was a model for him.."

"Who cares! If you love it get it!"

"It's not cheap."

"Fu doesn't care."

Iris caved in and bought the dress. She didn't even need to try it on. His clothing always fit her regardless of her age.

Plagg rolled his eyes, not pleased with Tikki's answer. Unfortunately, he didn't get to say as much before Marinette called Tikki to her purse. 

Adrien casually headed downstairs and out the apartment door rather than the bakery door as Marinette talked to her parents. He walked around the building to wait near the entrance to the bakery. He would have gone in and said hi, but he didn't want to distract them from their work. 

They headed to one of the nearby cafes to get lunch.

After shopping Iris decided to have some lunch. She found a nice cafe and took a seat outside. When she sat down outside and a waiter came by and took her drink order.
 
She held up her menu and Pain sat behind it.  The little kwami was looking for it and freaked out that you could order a basket of bread.
 
"But you just ate some earlier today," Iris said.
 
"Bread is my life," Pain replied.
 
"I can tell.  I'll get for you."
 
"Yay!"
 
Iris just smiled.  Pain reminded her of a little kid.  Adrien would get this excited, when they got ice cream or candy.
 
"What are you going to get?"
 
"I'm not sure."
 
Pain looked over the menu some more wanting to help.
 
Iris stared at her for a second.  The last time she was active she was in Japan.  "Pain?"
 
"Yeah?"
 
"How do you know French?"
 
"Because I'm magic!  We know our master's language the moment we see them."
 
"So you chose me from the start..?"
 
"Yep!"
 
"Do you need more time?" asked the waiter.
 
Iris nearly jumped out of her seat.  She hoped that he didn't hear her talking to Pain.  She glanced at the menu and ordered her entree and the bread.  Pain went through the table and floated down below.  The waiter took the menu and walked away.  Iris breathed in relief.  She would have to be careful.
 
She leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her wine.  It was a really nice day. Maybe they should go for a walk later tonight.  She let out a sigh.  She wished Gabe was here with her.  She was glad she had Pain talk to, but it wasn't the same.
 
"You're lucky you're pretty," spoke a girl who was walking by her table.  Iris looked up and her mouth drop.  The girl was with a boy who happened to be Adrien!!!  Which meant that this girl was Marinette!  They sat down at a table that was near her.
 
Pain popped out from under Iris's sun hat.  "Iris, Tikki and Plagg is with them!"
 
"Huh?" she looked up at the kwami.
 
"They're Chat Noir's and Ladybug's kwamis.  Oh!!  Is that your son?"
 
"Yes.." Iris was grinning.  He looked so handsome.  She fought the urge to go over to him and hug him.  Staying hidden was going to be difficult.
 
Her food finally arrived and she couldn't help, but watch them as they ate.  Pain was down below eating her bread.  She looked over at the couple's table and saw Plagg and Tikki.  She wondered if she should go over and talked to them.  Would it give away Iris's identity?  But it was too late.  Tikki spotted her!  Pain gasped.  She realized that she wasn't hiding her presence. 
 
Tikki and Plagg floated over to her. "Pain!!"
 
"Hi guys," the bird kwami said cheerfully.
 
Tikki hugged her.  "I'm so glad you're back!  We missed you so much."
 
"I missed everyone too." Pain let go of her.
 
Tikki noticed she had a basket of bread next to her.  "Where's Fu?"
 
"Um, I'm not sure. I'm with my new owner, but she has to remained anonymous.  The brothers have seen her civilian identity."
 
Tikki nodded her head.

Plagg floated nearby as Pain spoke. "So, did the brothers break the curse?" He asked, curiously. 

Adrien and Marinette chatted as they ate, enjoying the nice day. Every so often, Adrien felt like someone was watching them. He casually glanced around the cafe a few times but couldn't pinpoint anyone that looked like they were paying attention to them. It was unnerving, but he shrugged it off and joked around a bit to try and distract himself from the feeling.

He had just gotten his credit card back when a loud roar echoed through the city, shaking the objects on the tables of the cafe. Adrien looked at Marinette as he stood. Sounded like the brothers were making their move. "I guess it's time to go," he said. He could feel movement as Plagg slipped back into his pocket from wherever he'd gone. No use worrying about that right now.

"Uh....." Pain spoke. It would be easy to say yes, but she was terrible liar. She started to shake due to nervousness.

Tikki raised an eyebrow. Then there was a loud roar. "We'll catch up later. Let's go, Plagg." The two of them returned to their owners.

Marinette nodded her head and stood up. She could tell that was not an ordinary roar. The two of them ran down the street and went into an alley to transform.

The strange roar confused Iris until she saw Adrien and Marinette leave. They looked like they were in a hurry. She then felt Pain under her hat (she put on the hat she bought from earlier). Iris slowly realized that the brothers were now making their first move.

Pain poked her head out from under the hat. "Looks like it's time for Peacock to make her debut!"

Iris nodded her head. She asked for her check and told the waiter to keep the change. She then got up from the table and headed in the opposite direction from Marinette and Adrien. She found an alley way to transform in. She just stood there.

Pain came out from the under the hat. "Well?"

"Well what?" Iris asked confused.

"Aren't you going to transform?"

"I was waiting for you."

"Oh!" Pain gasped. "I never got a chance to explain your powers!"

Iris sighed. 

"Sorry, I'm forgetful." Pain had tears in her eyes.

Iris gave her a comforting smile and patted her on the head. "It's okay. I am too."

Pain smiled. "Okay. Yes I can make you transform, but it's better if you active it. To transform you say Pain, it's show time. As for your weapon. You get two fans and they basically function as you think they would as a weapon. As for you for main attack your two fans will formed into a giant fan. It will create a giant gust a wind as you wave it and shout, Wind Tunnel."

"Gotcha."

"Oh!! Just so you know that after you use your main attack you have 5 minutes left until detransforming.

"Why?"

"Because you're using my energy while fighting. Using the main attacks takes a lot of energy. The brooch will warn you, when you're about to loose power. Once you loose the transformation, I need to recharge by eating food."

"Okay then. I guess I have to carry around bread with me."

"Yep. Any other questions?"

"No I think I got it."

"Alright, let's get the show on the road!"

Iris just smiled at her joke and then took a deep breath. "Pain, it's show time!" Pain smiled in returned as she got pulled into her miraculous. Iris was engulfed by a bright. She was now Peacock.

Peacock flew up into the air and heard another roar. She quickly flew into its direction and landed on a building. The roar came from a big cat, but it wasn't an ordinary big cat. It looked like a tiger, but it was black and had red eyes. She just stood there. How was she going to fight this thing?

Chat jumped to a nearby building and looked down to see the large, black tiger-like cat below. Civilians were quickly trying to get as far from the beast as possible while it looked around it for a suitable target. He wondered if large animals was going to be the brothers' theme or if the first attack was too early to tell.

"It looks clawfully powerful," he said as he watched it. The beast was focusing on something that he couldn't quite see from their height. He grabbed his staff, using the camera to zoom in on the area the tiger was looking at. His eyes widened as it the beast crouched and stalked forward. Just peaking out of a nearby bush was the face of a frightened little girl.

Chat jumped from the building without a word, breaking the fall with his staff as he landed in front of the beast. "Hey there. How about you and I play a little game of cat and mouse?" He said, holding his staff in front of him like a sword.

The beast hissed at him, swiping a paw forward with claws outstretched. Chat dodged and hit the beast in the side. This didn't seem too hard. At least, that's what he thought before the beast was completely unphased and turned to quickly lunge at him. It moved too fast for him to move out of the way, so he brought up his staff in defense.

The tiger's paws landed on both sides of his staff, pushing him backwards to the ground. "Well, this was an unfurtunate turn of events..." Chat said with a gulp as the beast glared down at him, teeth bared.

'Adrien!" Peacock screamed in her mind. She quickly jumped down and landed right behind the cat monster. She grabbed a hold of its tale pulled back on it as hard as she could. It yelled in pain and looked at her angrily. Peacock was surprise how stronger she was.

"Why don't you pick on someone you're own size!?" she teased at it and then swung it around and it went flying. Peacock walked up to Chat and helped him up. "What were you thinking!?" Mom mode took over. "That thing is twice your size!" she then hugged him.

Meanwhile Ladybug was standing right behind them. She was filled with shock that someone else beat her to saving Chat. She then quickly felt angry, when his savior hugged him. Ladybug marched over to him and pulled Chat out of the hug. "Thanks for your help." she was trying not be hostile, but she wanted to make it clear that Chat was hers.

Peacock realizing what she just did. She stopped herself from smacking herself. She could not treat Chat like her child while fighting it would give her away.

"Oh, no problem," said Peacock. She looked at Chat embarrassed and came up with a lie. "Sorry about that. I'm a mother and you remind me of my son. I guess my mother instincts took over." she laughed slightly.

Ladybug eyed her suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"I'm Peacock."

"But I thought Peacock was.." Ladybug was caught off by the cat monster's roar. They turned and saw it charging at them. Ladybug grabbed Chat and launched them into the air and onto a building. Peacock floated in the air. Ladybug looked at Chat. "This thing seems to fight like a wild animal, but I feel like it's something more.."

Chat closed his eyes, bracing himself for the attack when suddenly the weight of the monster was gone. He opened his eyes as he was helped up by a woman he did not know (rather than Ladybug) and was quickly yelled at before being pulled into a hug. His mind wasn't sure what to think about this strange situation, but the hug was strangely comforting while the words actually made him feel guilty.

"Sorry... There was a kid in the bushes..." he answered just before Ladybug pulled him out of her grasp. 

Chat took the chance to glance at the bushes while Ladybug questioned his savior and sighed with relief to see the kid had run off while he distracted the beast. That was the most important thing. He looked back to them in time to hear the woman apologize for hugging him. "It's fine," he answered.

He had nothing to add to the conversation, so he listened as the woman called herself Peacock. So she was a miraculous holder too? But that didn't seem right... Fu said the peacock was cursed. Well, curses could be broken...

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Ladybug's words. He nodded, "It's definitely not a normal animal. Maybe they possessed a cat or something and made it more powerful? It would probably take a lot of magic to conjure something like that out of thin air..."

Meanwhile Fu was drinking tea while watching TV. He was enjoying his favorite show until the media interrupted the broadcast. His jaw drop, when he saw a cat like creature attacking a popular shopping area. He looked at Wayzz who was sitting on the table and munching on a carrot.

"Shadow beasts? They're going to use shadow beasts!?" Fu spoke alarmed.

Wayzz looked at his master calmly. "It appears so. Look Chat Noir is on TV."

His master looked back at the TV and cringe when he saw the Shadow Beast pinned him down to the ground. He told that boy not do anything stupid. He breath in relief, when he was rescue by Peacock. He stood up. "Wayzz, we need to go tell them how to take this thing down."

Wayzz nodded his head and floated into the air.

"Wayzz, turtle power!" Wayzz shouted and he transformed into Gui (turtle in Chinese). He left his home and made his way to his the action as fast he could.

Ladybug folded her arms. "I don't think that thing is a real animal, Chat." She turned to him ignoring the fact that Peacock was on their team. "I guess we should fight it like an akuma?" Before Chat could respond the cat monster was now on the building. It roar at them. Ladybug jumped and got out her yo-yo. How did that thing climb up here!? 

Peacock gasped in horror. "Oh, no you don't!" she summoned her dual fans and merged them into one giant fan. She swung it at the cat monster. "Wind Tunnel!" A giant gust of wind blew at it and sent it flying back down to the ground. It was immobile for a moment. Peacock landed on the roof and her big fan turned back two. "Well that was a breeze."

Ladybug just stared at her. "Uh, thank you.."

Peacock looked down on the ground and saw the cat monster was getting up. "It's moving again.." she looked back at Ladybug and Chat. "So how do we stop it for good?"

"We don't know," Ladybug replied.

"What!?" Peacock said in panic. She got closer to them. "I only have 5 minutes left!"

"Don't worry we can handle it."

Peacock frowned. "Aren't we a team?"

Before Ladybug could reply Gui appeared on the roof. "Wait!!" They looked back at him and he walked over to him.

"Fu?" Ladybug whispered.

He nodded his head. "Yes, sorry it took me so long to get here. The name is Gui by the way."

Ladybug nodded her head. "Gui,what is this thing?"

"It's a shadow beast."

"What's that?"

"A human that is being possessed by black magic. You need to purify the soul otherwise if you killed it the human will be killed to." Ladybug stared at him wide eye. "The brothers probably chose this method because shadow beasts hunt like wild animals. Once they get your scent, it will track you down and try to kill you."

"You're letting these two teenagers fight this thing!?" Peacock nearly shouted a Gui.

"To be fair I didn't know they would go this route. Besides Peacock, you shouldn't be surprise by this. They did try to kill you too."

Peacock bit her lip.

"So how do I purify it?" Ladybug asked.

"Just like an akuma," Gui replied. "All you have to do is expose its chest and throw your yo-yo at it. The yo-yo will go through its chest and capture the human's soul."

"Alright. Sounds simple."

"You three will be fine as long as you work together." Gui frowned and looked around. Hawkmoth was no where in sight. He was going to have to call him..

"Alright, Chat let's go. We'll take this down like an akuma." Ladybug looked at him and smiled.

Chat listened with wide eyes as Gui explained the shadow beasts. This was much worse than akumas both from the power level and from the victim's situation. At least akuma victims got to choose to agree, even if the choice was a terribly misinformed one. The human in there was forced into a beast form that would hunt down innocent people and heroes alike. He hoped the victim didn't remember anything from their possession.

He snapped back to attention as Ladybug gave the order to go. Time to go in first and give her a chance to create a charm that would help them win. Just like an akuma battle. Except...  "What about Peacock? Do you want her in with me or covering you in case the beast gets past me?"

Ladybug shook her head. "No. We're good." 

"Now wait just a minute," said Peacock. "I can help."

"You're about to loose your powers," Ladybug said with a hostile look.

Peacock just stared at her. What was with her? She seem like a nice person at the cafe. Unless.. Peacock just chuckled to herself. "Go on."

Ladybug looked confused and then turned her attention back to the shadow beast. "Lucky Charm!" she threw her yo-yo up into the air and a rope appeared. She caught it and then look at Chat. "Do your thing."

"And be careful!" Peacock said. Ladybug gave her an annoyed look. Peacock tried not to laugh at this.

Chat nodded and jumped from the building, landing a few meters from the shadow beast. It turned almost instantly to look at him, teeth bared as it crouched and took a step forward. He tensed, ready to move, his eyes scanning the area for something good to use against the beast. There had to be something he could... There!

He jumped as he caught the beast's movement in the corner of his eye, and it missed him. He took the small amount of time the beast was trying to slow and turn to call his power to his hand. "Cataclysm!" he called, bring his hand down onto an traffic pole. The power traveled up the pole, rusting it as it went, and hit the connection between the pole and the traffic light. 

The light fell from the rusting pole, eroding as it went, and hit the ground right next to the tiger beast. The beast was thrown off its balance from the sudden impact. The pole came down a moment later, disintegrating into rusty dust as it hit the beast on the head. It stumbled in a daze and Chat looked up at Ladybug. Her turn.

Ladybug leaped off of the roof and got the rope ready. As the shadow beast stumbled around she threw the rope at one its leg and wrapped around it. Ladybug pulled on it and the beast fell down. She then lift it up into the air and flipped on to its back exposing it's chest area. The shadow beast was now unconscious due to its head hitting the ground so hard. Ladybug got her yo-yo ready. She tossed her yo-yo at its chest. "Target Lock!" It then went inside its heart. The yo-yo then quickly returned for the human soul trapped inside. "Cleanse the soul!" She opened it up and the soul came out and floated away. She tossed the rope into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" a magic filled the air and the black magic that was around the human faded away and the soul return to its body. 

Peacock stared down at amazement. She then heard her miraculous make a noise. She was cutting it close.

"You should head back," said Gui. She just nodded her head and ran off. Gui then dropped down to Ladybug and Chat. "Good job you two."

"Thanks," Ladybug said with a smile.

"I'll give you two an update. Last night the brothers broke the curse on the peacock miraculous and it turned out someone got trapped inside of it."

"It was that girl?"

"Yes. She found the brooch probably during that battle I had with Rin, when he lost the brooch. She's on our side and you can trust her."

Ladybug frowned. "How can you be so sure?"

"Trust me."

"Okay..."

"She also got back to the bee and fox miraculoues and the book. So your current goal is basically stop the brothers from terrorizing Paris. In the mean time I will figure out a way to stop them for good." he looked at Chat. "Tell your father about this." He then walked away.

Chat watched as Ladybug purified the victim's soul. It was kind of unnerving to him the soul had to be removed to be purified. He shivered. It made the stakes feel higher than the akuma attacks for both them and the human victims. 

He couldn't worry about it for long before Gui jumped down to congratulate them and give them a briefing of what happened to bring Peacock into this fight. Ladybug didn't seem the least bit happy about having this new teammate. Who knew why? Peacock seemed very attached to them already for some reason. She'd have to be a good actor to be working against them, and there was no reason for the brothers to let her take everything back to Fu. A better bluff would be to only bring one thing back and say it was all she could get.

That thought was derailed when Gui mentioned his father. He could swear the hair on the back of his neck stood up at the thought of his father joining their team. They didn't need Hawk Moth. They could do this themselves. Peacock was more than enough help.

Chat looked at Ladybug. "I doubt my father would care. It's less trouble not to mention it."

Ladybug sighed. "You need to tell him. I don't care if he helps us or not, but he needs to know about the situation. They're after him too. Do you want him to get killed by a shadow beast?"

Peacock returned to alley she transformed in. The moment she landed on the ground she returned back to normal. Iris went behind a dumpster and pulled her shopping bags. She had to hide them seeing how someone could steal them. Pain went into her hat.

"Good job!" she congratulated her and clapped.

Iris smiled. "Thanks."

"Just think you'll master being a superhero and no time!"

She chuckled at her kwami. "If you say so." Iris then hurried back home.

Iris took the subway seeing how she was a bit far from Fu's. When she entered the house, she saw him sitting in the living room sipping tea. She just sat down in front of the table. She was somewhat mad at him. "I had no idea how dangerous this would get."

Fu sipped his tea and placed it down on the table. "Sadly it's apart of being a miraculous holder."

"I see.."

"Gabriel was upset too."

Iris sighed. 

Fu just smiled. "Don't worry Adrien will be alright with you and Marinette there."

"I hope so." Iris then got up from the floor and took her shopping bags to her room.

Fu sat there for a few minutes before pulling out his phone. He decided to call Gabriel. He doubted that Adrien would tell him anything. Fu dialed his number and held the phone up to his ear.