Saturday (3)

Lizzie got ready for her first acting gig. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, it was so loud she was scared that it will cause an earthquake, but it didn't, not yet at least. 

She decided to wear some casual clothes since she'd wear the designated clothes when she reached the place where they'd be shooting. Out of nervousness, Lizzie started clenching and unclenching her fists, biting her lip and scrunching her toes. Her insides felt weird and she was feeling queasy. She tried her best to calm herself down, but it didn't really work. 

'Are you alright? You look a bit pale,' Marinette asked as she bought some hot tea next to Lizzie. 

'Very, very nervous,' Lizzie answered as she took a sip of the hot tea. As she drank it, she could feel it burn her tongue slightly, but with all of the nervousness, it didn't even bother her. 

'There's nothing for you to worry about, your acting skills are great, the best in the class, there's really no need for you to worry,' Chloe encouraged as she sat on the opposite side of Lizzie. 

'Thank you guys so much for comforting me, I feel so much better,' Lizzie said as she hugged the both of her friends in a tight hug. 

'That's what friends are for, and we're best friends,' Marinette said with a warm smile that got rid of any doubt that Lizzie had. 

(A/N: If Damian was there to see the smile, he would turn into a tomato, no joke)

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'How are you holding up?' Marcus asked while driving both him and Lizzie to the place where they'd be shooting the final scene that they have to shoot for the episode. 

'I'm doing fine, I have a question though,' Lizzie said. 

'Shoot,' Marcus replied. 

'This show is a live-to-tape, right? I'm just wondering why, wouldn't it be harder like this?' Lizzie asked, curious about it. 

'The crew that is working on this has done multiple shows together and all of them are live-to-tape, they usually like getting the first few episodes ready, then look at the audiences' comments, and seeing how it works from there,' Marcus explained, being very knowledgeable in this field, having grown up with it. 

'What do they do if they knew the audiences' comments?' Lizzie continued asking, she was always the one watching the show, not the one in the show. 

'They might change the script slightly to fit more to the audience, but of course, there are so many different people watching that no one can please all of them, they just fit it into a narrative that would be most pleasing to more people,' Marcus answered as he glanced at Lizzie, flashing her a smile. 

'So my scene is the last scene that needs to be filmed for episode 6, right?' Lizzie asked, returning the smile to Marcus. 

'Yes, and with the editing team doing their work, the episode will be out on Monday,' Marcus answered as he focused on driving again. 

'Could I stay afterwards to see the scenes you'd do for episode 7?' Lizzie asked, hoping to learn from Marcus. 

'Sure, but don't be jealous when I have to kiss someone else, it is a love story after all,' Marcus answered with a small chuckle. 

'I won't, it's your job anyway,' Lizzie answered as they continued talking to fill up the boring trip. 

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'Hey Lizzie!' Clara waved to Lizzie as Marcus and her entered the shooting area. 

'What about me?' Marcus asked with a faux hurt look as Lizzie and Clara hugged each other. 

'We've met on every other shooting, and I've greeted you every time, this is Lizzie's first time acting for a show, I thought putting the spotlight on her would be better,' Clara crossed her arms, looking mad at Marcus. 

'You're the female lead, right? Marcus's love interest?' Lizzie asked before she whispered, 'And you know our secret, right?' 

'Yes, yes and,' Clara leaned in closer to whisper to Lizzie, 'Yes, I know that the both of you are dating, he told me since we are best friends.' 

'I'm glad,' Lizzie nodded as Clara started explaining about acting and how Lizzie would need to be like. 

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'Is that the girl both you and Clara suggested?' the director asked as he appeared from behind Marcus. He looked like he was in his late 50s and he tied his hair back into a ponytail. 

'Yeah, her name's Lizzie, she's our classmate,' Marcus said as he turned around to greet the director, Mr. Popper. 

'She has a bright aura about her, watch out for her, she has the potential to draw people in like you and Clara, her acting skills would be seen soon, but she has the power of a star,' Mr. Popper said as he walked away, waiting for the actors and actresses to get ready with their outfits. 

'Guess I should go too,' Marcus mumbled to himself as he headed to the dressing room. Since this show is a slice of life romance show, the dressing up doesn't take forever, everything needs to look natural. 

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After a while, they were ready to start acting. The first few scenes were of Clara's character, Koriana, discussing about her feelings for Mateo, Marcus's character. They recorded that scene first so Lizzie could get used to the environment. Lizzie watched from afar and she could really tell the thing that sets professionals apart from normal people. She tried to learn as much as she can and she wrote it all into her notebook. If she has a second chance to act, she would love that, but if it doesn't work out, she wants to try to make the most of her first time on screen. 

After that, it was Lizzie's scene, so without waiting for a very long time, it was time for her scene with Marcus. She took a deep breath and stepped in, getting ready to give her best. 

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'Hey brother, your sister's back!' Lizzie, or Rosanne exclaimed as she opened the door, carrying her luggage. 

'Huh? Ros? What are you doing here?' Mateo exclaimed in surprise as he turned around to look at Rosanne. 

'I'm coming back for vacation, I thought I'd crash here since I'm paying for half the rent,' Rosanne said as she place her luggage in the fake room. 

'I guess I'd let you in,' Mateo answered, with an annoyed expression. 

'Now, let's talk,' Rosanne said as she sat down next to Mateo with a sly smile. 

'AND CUT!' Mr. Popper shouted as the scene came to an end. 

'How did I do?' Lizzie asked Mr. Popper as she rushed to the director. 

'You were great, but we need to do a few more takes for different shots and angles, Marcus, come here,' Mr. Popper answered before gesturing to Marcus. 

'Yes?' Marcus asked as he approached Mr. Popper. 

'What did I tell you about Lizzie? She has the aura of a star, her acting isn't the best, but she's working really hard for it, she'd make it big in the industry, don't tell her I said that,' Mr. Popper whispered to Marcus. 

'I'm glad,' Marcus replied as he smiled, feeling proud for Lizzie, his girlfriend and first love. Marcus and Lizzie returned to the scene and finished everything else with considerable speed. 

Lizzie was really good and her hard work really paid off, if she didn't do that, she might've not ended up with such good results. After that, she stayed to watch the others act and took notes. 

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'Marinette, Chloe, I need to see the both of you,' Bruce Wayne told the two girls over the phone. 

Marinette and Chloe went to the manor which was very close to their house to reach the Batcave where Bruce was waiting for them. 

'I know who Hawkmoth is,' Bruce said as he led them to a room with computers. 

'Who?' Marinette asked, excited for the information. 

'Whoever that lives in this house,' Bruce answered as he pointed to the Agreste manor. 

'Agreste?' Chloe exclaimed, shocked at the information. 

'I've been looking through security footage for anything that might catch Hawkmoth and I found this, this is footage for the outside of the Agreste Manor,' Bruce explained as he played the security footage. In the footage, there were black Akumas flying out of the window where Hawkmoth did his evil deeds. 

'Oh, well I never expected that,' Marinette said, feeling shocked and trying to process everything. 

'We'll look into it and if our suspicions are correct, we'd bust the secret right open and get Hawkmoth captured,' Chloe said with a smile. 

'I have an idea if this footage is correct,' Bruce said. 

'What might that be?' Chloe asked, curious at the idea. 

'Gabriel Agreste will be going to the gala at the end of the month, we could catch him then,' Bruce explained before adding, 'I already have a plan in mind and all I need you to do is to investigate this lead, make sure Mr. Agreste is guilty of being Hawkmoth.' 

'We shall investigate tomorrow, and we'll report to you about it,' Chloe said as she brought Marinette to another room to calm her down. 

'It's just so crazy that Mr. Agreste did all of this, he wasn't the best man ever, but he didn't seem like he needed to do that,' Marinette said, having a panic attack of her own as Chloe brought some beverage to her. 

'There's motive though, Hawkmoth wanted the Miraculouses to make a wish, I saw how upset Gabriel Agreste was when Emilie died, it would make sense if he wanted to bring her back,' Chloe explained as they pulled out a whiteboard to start writing ideas and planning. 

'Yeah, that might make sense, but we should get some proof first,' Marinette said with a slight smile. 

'First, which Miraculous should we use? Who should we send on this mission? How are we going to sneak in?' Chloe proposed the questions as she listed them on the whiteboard. 

'Since it's a stealth mission, I think one or two people, we can borrow the Dragon Miraculous from Kagami and the Rooster Miraculous could help,' Marinette suggested as Chloe wrote it down. 

'The Dragon Miraculous can turn into water and wind dragons which would be useful to sneak in, the Rooster Miraculous can give the user any special ability, including invisibility which would be useful,' Chloe said as she noted it down on the whiteboard. 

'I think I should go and merge my Ladybug power and Rooster power, and Marcus can take the Dragon and Cat Miraculouses' Marinette suggested. 

'I don't think so, think about it, if the missions fails and the two of you get caught, Hawkmoth will have everything he needs to make the wish,' Chloe replied with a serious look. 

'Actually yeah, I'll go with only the Rooster power, Kagami can go with her Miraculous, what about that?' Marinette asked as she wrote a few notes on the whiteboard. 

'Let's use our powers to sneak in through the window where the Akumas come out of,' Marinette suggested as Chloe nodded along. 

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'Marinette texted me, she said she had something urgent to tell me,' Lizzie told Marcus as they took a break. 

'Do you need me to bring you back 'cause it's going to be a bit hard,' Marcus said, glancing at the set. 

'I'm thinking of going to the nearest bus station, just wanted to tell you, I'm going to go, bye!' Lizzie said as she disappeared to the nearest bus station. 

'Where's she going to?' Clara asked Marcus while sipping some orange juice. 

'To the bus station, where she'll get a ride back to her house, some emergency,' Marcus explained as he went back to the set to get ready for the next scene. 

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'What's wrong? I came here as soon as possible,' Lizzie asked as she entered the apartment to meet Marinette and Chloe. 

'Bruce found CCTV footage that showed an Akuma coming out from Mr. Agreste's house,' Marinette explained as Lizzie sat down opposite the two girls. 

'WHAT?' Lizzie exclaimed, shocked at the news. 

'Yep, but the footage is not too clear, so we are hoping to get some more evidence tomorrow,' Chloe explained, ignoring Lizzie's shock. 

'Any plans?' Lizzie asked as she recovered from the shock. 

'Yeah, Marinette, using the Rooster Miraculous and Horse Miraculous, along with Kagami, using the Dragon Miraculous will sneak in, try to get evidence,' Chloe explained as she took out the drawing board with their ideas. 

'I understand that,' Lizzie said as she nodded along. 

'We're going to sneak in through the Akuma window where it's open for forever and easy to sneak in,' Chloe explained as she pointed at the drawing board. 

'I'll be bringing the Horse Miraculous with me to travel,' Marinette explained. 

'That sounds amazing,' Lizzie said before adding, 'I'm going to go to my room and try and find any dirt I can on Gabriel.' 

'I wish you good luck,' Marinette said as she retired to her room as Chloe left to head to her room. 

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Marinette was laying on her bed, her thoughts rushing in her busy head, trying to process everything that happened. It's only been three weeks since she came to Gotham, but she felt like it was three years. 

So much happened in just a measly three weeks, she met amazing friends, she is free from Lila and the rest of the class, she's having fun, smiling for the first time in a long while. A rush of happiness went through Marinette as she thought about the memories she had. 

Then, her thoughts turned to Hawkmoth, and Gabriel. Marinette never expected Gabriel to be Hawkmoth, but there were a few signs. Marinette, unable to sleep, decided to sit up and try and find evidence of Hawkmoth and Gabriel's connection through their behaviors. 

She found that Hawkmoth's villain designs became better after Gabriel's designs improved and also found that the designs are similar. Using her knowledge of fashion, she found similarities in Gabriel's outfits and Hawkmoth's villain's outfits. 

Marinette compiled the tiny scraps of evidence and saved them to tell the others tomorrow before leaving. Finally being tired enough to go to bed. 

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'Marinette said that she'll give the Ladybug Miraculous to me for safe-keeping,' Chloe said as she placed the box that contained Marinette's ear rings on her desk while she went to lie on her bed. 

Chloe wondered to herself what would happen if Hawkmoth decided to attack, but though, too much of a pure coincidence it would be and slept, soundly. 

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Lizzie sat at her desk searching interviews for Gabriel. Did he idolize Hawkmoth? Mention hate for Hawkmoth? Gabriel didn't seem like the brightest in the bunch, so Lizzie thought he'd probably lean more to idolize Hawkmoth since he is Hawkmoth. 

Her results were useful. There was a lot of correlation between Gabriel and Hawkmoth that won't be substantial for evidence that could result with jail, but enough for theories. 

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I know this chapter is short, but I've decided to cut back since always writing 4000+ word chapters been kinda hard for me. Please let me know your opinions, I'll be waiting. Bye! Happy reading. Also, Merry early Christmas!