'Now tell me, how do you make Paris a safer place?' Lee Mon asked sitting on the armchair in the living room.
'We use miraculous. Those are little objects, usually rings or earring or neckleaces. They give people superpowers and connect them with one animal each. People like that become superheroes. Their job is to catch thiefs and all evil people in Paris. Soon we'll expand and we will be saving all of the France. But now there is too fiew of us, so we can't go too far. And also we will be facing a really strong oponent someday soon.' Master Fu explained.
Lee Mon thought it through.
'What oponent?'
'A really strong one.' Shedis answered as if she knew the answer would be like that. She was probably asking Master Fu this question many times alredy.
'Thanks' the thief said. ' And you want me to join you?' he turned to the Master.
'Yes, that would be the best.'
'Why?'
'There are two reasons: one is that you will no longer be a thief.'
'Or I will be an even better thief with superpowers.' Lee Mon said smiling. Master Fu ignored that.
'The other reason is that you are a good person, and that is the best...'
'The best material for a hero' Atria interupted.
'Material is not a good word.'
'It IS a good word for that. We are your hero-army, not your friends. Well, most of us.' she said, not caring about being a bit mean. Lee Mon could allredy see that the old man cared about two girls.
'What would be my duties if I agreed?'
'You would have to catch all cryminals that you see. You would have to keep your identity secret. And be ready to come when the time comes.'
'When is it? In a week? A month? A year? When? How much time do we have left?'
'You'll know it when the time comes.'
Lee Mon looked at the Master for a moment.
'There is something you are not telling me, isn't there?'
Master Fu didn't answer.
'Like I said, I cannot agree to join if I don't know exactly what I am getting myself into.' the thief said and stood up. 'You can tell me if you change your mind. I'm sure that you'll find me.' he walked out, but stopped at the door. He didn't know the way out. "Doesn't matter" he thought. "I'll get out through the window if I must." Then he left the living room. As soon as he passed the door he heard Shedis say:
'I'll show him the way.' A moment later her footsteps echoed in the room. Lee Mon didn't stop, but she sped after him.
'Hey' she said. 'Why exactly did you say no?' she asked and Lee Mon raised his shoulders. She sighed.
'You know what an ocassion is that?'
'No' he said finally. 'Why don't you tell me?'
'I will. One day the battle will come. Would you rather be the one, who can do nothing, but hide and wait for the nightmare to end, wait for someone else to save him, or the one who fights, who has a choice and power to stop the nightmare?'
He raised his eyes and looked at her curiosly.
'Look. I know, that you can leave Paris. We all can. But who will fight then? The evil will spread all over the country. And yes, you can run away. But for how long? How long can you keep going from one place to annother? Keep hiding? Do you like your present life? Living on a rooftop, stealing, robbing? If you won't fight, then you have alredy lost.' she stopped for a momant to take a breath and went on. 'We too don't know what he is hidding. Do you know how many times I asked him? Tens. Or even houndrets. He won't tell you. He keeps his secrets, so we must live with a terrible question: what is the danger that will come? What will it do to us? Why doesn't he tell us? But I think I know why. There are fiew posibilities. One: he created the evil. He made a misstake and now he is ashamed. It is not easy to get through it. Two: he alredy told someone and lost that person. He is just worried for us. Three: he is affraid that we might get scared and leave, or be too scared to fight. Four: he made a promisse. It is his biggest flaw. He makes a lot of promisses and deals. He probably made one and can't tell anybody. See? Maybe he just can't tell us, not doesn't want to because he doesn't trust us.'
'Maybe you're right.' Lee Mon still didn't look convinced. Shedis sighed.
'Maybe. And maybe you are and I am just too naive? But I just can't suspect a person who saved my life.' Lee Mon looked at her a bit shocked. 'It was a fiew years ago. Back then there were only two superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir. Sometimes two others, Carpace and Rena Rouge showed up. I was so little. My sister, Atria who you have alredy met was turned by an akuma into a supervillain.'
'Akuma?'
'There was a mad maniac named Hawk Moth who had butterfly miraculous. He turned people into supervillains. He used akumas for that: little dark-purple butterflies filled with his own evil. He used people's bad emotions to controll them. He wanted the ladybug and chat noir's miraculouses. When my sister was attacked I couldn't let is pass. I went after her. She took the dearest ones from everybody. It was right after we lost our parents. She closed all the taken ones in a wand. And then... She also closed two heroes there. I went to fight her, but I was too weak. She defeated me and threw of the bridge. I fell in the water. I tried to keep the air... I was drowning. And then someone cought my hand and pulled me out. It was Master Fu. He used his miraculous to do that. He was alredy too old to fight. That is why he didn't join and help. He took me to his house and gave me this.' Shedis showed him the bracelet that he knew. It was the one he stole from her months ago. 'It is a mantis miraculous. Is a twin miraculous. My sister has the same. He told me how to use it and I went to fight. It was hard. It was my first time as a superhero, and Hawk Moth alredy had some experience in making akumas harder and stronger. I don't remember much from the fight, but I did it. Somehow I did it. I broke the wand and freed the people. I hoped that ladybug will catch the akuma, but she wasn't there. She didn't go out. Maybe she just left as her normal self, maybe she didn't ever leave. I don't know. That was the last akuma attack ever. I wanted to give the miraculous back to Master Fu, but he told me that I'll need it someday. But I didn't want to be a hero when my sister was a villain. So Master gave the second mantis miraculous to Atria and adopted us. We were living in a small house, but then our cousin, Adrien Agreste died and left everything for us. His wife Marinette and daughter Celine went missing. We were looking for them but couldn't find them. Uncle Agreste left for Italy before. He said that he has found his wife. He lived in this very house. Eventually we found out that he was Hawk Moth, by finding his 'Hawk Office' like we called it. The miraculous was there, abandoned on the floor.' She finished and the silence fell. They stood in the middle of a corridor. Lee Mon didn't even notice when did they stop. Finally he broke the silence.
'Why are you telling me this?'
'Because you should know the past of the miraculouses if you're supposed to join us.'
'Whooah! I didn't say yes.'
'If you wont join willingly I'll drag you here by the ear!' she warned.
'Why do you want me to join so much?' he asked curiosly ignoring the funny threat.
'Because I need more people who I know I can trust, if I must fight in the battle that is to come. I don't want to fight alone this time.'
'Why do you think that you can trust me?' he asked and his voice softened.
'I don't THINK. I KNOW. When you stole my miraculous and I went after you you didn't do anything to me. Also you saved me from being raped, I know that. You even walked me off so far to make sure I'll get home safely. Yes, you were harsh. But you were kind at the same time. Now I have a question. Why?'
'I... Honestly?' he asked and she nooded. 'I don't know. I just did.'
Shedis raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything. She started walking once again. None of them spoke again untill Lee Mon left. When he was allredy out Shedis stopped him.
'Think it through, will you?' she asked him with hope in her voice. He turned to look at her. She was nearly begging him, or it was only her expression.
'I will' he promissed and went off hidding. He remembered well, that he will have problems after the affair in the shop. He took one cookie out of his pocket and ate it. After all, it was worth it.