AN: This takes place concurrent with "The Press Conference" and the first chapter of "Monkey Games."

Replies to reviews of "Monkey Games" chapter 1:

To anonymousfriend27: To be honest, part of the inspiration for the bear was the story of a bear who became the "mascot" of a Polish military unit during World War 2. The bear would carry artillery rounds to the front lines, which I thought was a criminal underuse of your bear!

Viperion strummed contemplatively on his lyre, considering the melody for his next song. He sat with his back resting against the guard wall on the apartment building roof that they had chosen for their patrol location. To his left, the Seine stretched out in both directions, with two of the bridges in sight. He watched a pair of tour boats make their way slowly down the river. In the foreground, he could see the Liberty resting easily in its slip. Although the road ran below them, he could tune out the car noises easily and focus instead on the gentle breeze rustling through the tree leaves and the delicate sounds of the river. It was a peaceful location, one that he had discovered months earlier on a slow patrol night, and which he still returned to on occasion when he needed to work through a creative slump.

"Shouldn't you be watching our assigned section?" his companion asked, rousing him from his reverie.

"Music helps me focus," he replied, smiling up at her easily. "My music lets me read people's feelings and emotions, to tell when they are upset or happy. Like now." He played an excited tune that grew somber near the end. "I can tell you are antsy while we wait for something to happen. You like action more than sitting around. But I also sense loneliness in you, that you don't want this to end because you don't want to be alone."

Ryoku was silent for a minute. "Do you have any idea how disconcerting it is when you do that?"

The communicator in Viperion's ear clicked once, cutting off his reply. "Check in, people."

"This is Viperion," he responded immediately, keying the communicator. "Everything is quiet along the Seine." He tuned out the rest of the conversation as his attention was drawn back to Ryoku, who had drawn her sword and was fidgeting with it in her grip.

"It is probably going to stay quiet," Ryoku observed, arching an eyebrow at him while testing an offhand strike.

"You think they are overreacting?"

"Probably." She nodded. "You know how Marinette gets. The girl's one of my best friends, but she is too good at assuming the worst."

Viperion frowned contemplatively. "I suppose so," he finally agreed. "But have you seen Rena Rouge's wall? It looks like a spider-web, with everything this… Lynchpin has his hands in." He shrugged. "If I thought an evil mastermind was targeting me or my friends, I'd probably go a little overboard, too."

"Why do you think I'm here?" she retorted, pirouetting around an imaginary enemy and thrusting with her sword. She stopped suddenly, cocking her head.

Viperion frowned and remembered the voices speaking in the communicator, just in time to hear Rena Rouge say, "We had all the pieces."

Ryoku whirled around, anger flashing in her eyes, glaring out over the river, staring at nothing. "You had all the pieces," she retorted bitingly. "You did. And you neglected to share with the rest of us. And our friends suffered because you didn't want to share! I–"

Viperion sprang to his feet, crossed the distance between them, and put a finger to her lips, cutting her off mid-rant. She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth as though to bite his finger. He shook his head as Carapace cut in on the communicator.

"Easy there, Ryoku," Carapace told them. "How do you keep a secret? By telling nobody. That's what kept us safe before we defeated Hawk Moth: if any of us were Akumatized – and all of us were at least once, remember – we didn't know who Ladybug was so we couldn't target her directly. Anansi and Rena were keeping this investigation as close to the vest as possible so Lynchpin wouldn't realize they were on to him."

King Monkey interjected, but Viperion tuned it out. He looked at Ryoku's angry expression and quickly pulled his finger back, putting both hands up in a placating gesture. "I know you're upset for our friends," he told her. "I am, too. But what's done is done. All we can do now is look to the future. And help them out now."

Ryoku nodded, frowning. She opened her mouth as though to say something, but shut it again when they heard Rena Rouge's voice over their communicators. "Heads up, guys. Queen Bee just gave the signal for Adrien to start the press conference. Call out anything unusual."

Viperion affixed his lyre to its spot on the back of his suit, stood up, and joined Ryoku, looking out over the city in opposite directions. He allowed his eyes to wander over the streets and buildings on the city-side of their perch. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell if any of those present even knew the press conference was happening, let alone were watching or listening to it live. When he had expressed as much at their planning meeting earlier in the week, Rena Rouge had simply stated that, "Lynchpin will be watching it. Count on that." So here he was, standing beside his stoic partner, watching ordinary people go about their ordinary lives.

"I wish we knew what we were looking for," Ryoku muttered under her breath.

"Anything unusual…" Viperion responded. He tensed as a car approached a red light at high speed. On instinct he reached for his wrist to activate Second Chance, only changing his mind at the last minute when the car screeched to a halt.

"Does a random fog bank rolling down the Seine from upstream count as unusual?"

"There is fog in the morning sometimes," Viperion replied offhandedly, "but it's a little late in the day for it. And there wasn't any fog this morning. Why?"

"Look." Ryoku pointed down at the river to the right of their position.

Following her gaze, Viperion could see thick fog covering the entire river, stopping in an even plane around 15 meters above the water level, moving slowly downriver. The fog stopped in a sheer wall where it reached the riverbank. The boats that had been motoring upriver disappeared into the fog. Tuning out the traffic noise from below and focusing on the river itself, Viperion couldn't hear a sound from within the fogbank.

He narrowed his eyes. "That definitely doesn't look natural," he told her. "We'd better call it in."

Ryoku nodded and tapped the button on her communicator. She looked confused. "I… I think we have something unusual by the Seine. Viperion and I are going to investigate."

"Let us know if you find anything," came back Rena Rouge's response.

"How should we do this?" Ryoku asked, tensing her legs and dropping to a crouch. She held her sword loosely in her right hand.

Viperion thought for a moment. "This could be anything… I'll start my timer when we get closer," he decided.

Without waiting for a response, he leapt off the roof, slinging his lyre over a telephone wire and riding it over the street like a zip-line. On the other side he let go with one hand and dropped to the ground. He rolled to his feet and took off at a sprint the moment he landed, with Ryoku landing a couple meters in front of him and matching his pace. The two heroes tore across the park and reached the water's edge just ahead of the line of fog.

"Second Chance!" Viperon shouted, charging his bracelet.

1. "I'll try lightning first," Ryoku told him. She held her sword up and shouted "Lightning Dragon!" A lightning bolt shot down from the clear sky and struck her sword, which was encompassed by crackling yellow-white lightning. She turned toward the fog and brought her sword down to point at the closest edge. With a thunderclap the lightning arced from the sword into the fog. The fog remained in place, but a moment later they heard an explosion followed by a chorus of screams. Smoke billowed up above the fog.

Viperion glanced over at Ryoku, who stared back at him with an expression of horror on her face. Without thinking about it, he wound the bracelet back to the beginning of the timer.

2. "I'll try–"

"–lightning first," Viperion finished, giving her a rueful grin.

"Don't tell me," she replied, raising an eyebrow at him, "it didn't work the first time?"

"… You could say that. Try wind and see if you can blow the fog out of the way."

"Right… Wind Dragon!" Ryoku pointed her sword at the fog and spun the tip in a tight circle. A tornado formed from the crossguard, shaped by the spinning sword blade, and cut a hole into the fog. Ryoku shifted her aim, moving the tornado in an arc. The tour boat in front of them was pushed sideways and nearly capsized before Ryoku lifted her sword and stopped the tornado.

"That explains the explosion," Viperion observed, nodding to himself.

Ryoku turned to him, eyes widening in shock. "Wait, what ex–"

3. "I'll try–"

"–lightning first," Viperion finished, releasing his bracelet and smirking at Ryoku.

"Don't tell me," they both said together. Ryoku stared at him for a beat before punching him in the shoulder and shaking her head, chuckling.

"How many times?" she asked next, concern in her eyes.

"This is just the third time," he assured her. "Lightning didn't work, wind tunnel didn't work because there's a tour boat right there." He pointed a little to their right. "Try going wind and blowing it all away."

Ryoku shrugged. Turning toward him and smirking, she declared, "Wisdom comes from experience, so I bow to your greater wisdom!" She held her arms out and shouted, "Wind Dragon!"

At once she vanished in a puff of air and flash of light. Viperion held a hand up to cover his eyes as the wind around him picked up. It instantly ramped up to gale-force, blowing across the river and pushing the fog in front of it. The tour boat rocked sideways as the wind blew past it to either side. Viperion took a few steps back, dropped into a sprinter's stance, and raced at the river, taking a flying leap as he reached the edge. He landed on his feet on the tour boat's roof, ran across it without slowing down, and leapt into space. Beyond the tour boat he could see a pair of smaller boats as well as a wooden raft with a single passenger holding a pole.

"There!" he shouted, pointing at the raft. He held his arms out and twisted his body to face where he had pointed. He felt the wind pick up behind him, pushing him in the direction of the raft. He pulled his arms in, bent his knees, and braced for the landing.

Viperion landed on one side of the raft and took a single step forward to regain his balance. At the same moment, Ryoku rematerialized on the opposite side of the raft, her sword out and pointing at the man in the middle of the raft. The raft rocked back and forth a couple times as it adjusted to their added weight, causing Ryoku to stumble once and nearly tumble off the deck.

The man in question looked around forty years old and wore a black suit coat with a grey dress shirt underneath and a black cape hanging from his shoulders. A gold eight-pointed star pendant with a red ruby set in the center hung around his neck from a black ribbon. A black-handled sword was fastened to his belt.

"Who are you?" Ryoku demanded. "Were you responsible for this fog?"

The man fell to his knees and held his hands out toward them. "Please!" he begged. "Don't let her find me!"