Chapter Text
“Rena, circle around and cut them off,” Ladybug hissed through her earpiece. “We can’t have them meeting up with the akuma before Viperion frees the hostages.”
“Copy that,” the fox heroine’s voice crackled before she cut off her end of the signal.
“Sounds like a good plan,” a familiar voice said casually from behind her. “Too bad we’ll have to crash the party.”
Ladybug didn’t bother turning around as she wound up the string of her yo-yo. “I was wondering when you would show up.”
She could practically hear his smirk. “Well, it just so happens that you have something that I want. You should be careful. I have a habit of taking things without asking.”
Ladybug scoffed. “As if you could ever get both my earrings off of me. We both know I will be the one to return your miraculous to the miracle box.”
“I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree, m’lady.”
A pair of sleek black boots appeared at the edge of her peripheral vision, but she refused to glance at him and let him win this game that they kept playing.
“Why do you continue resisting?” he asked, sounding almost curious as he strode towards her. “Surely you must know that at some point we are going to win. Hawkmoth will create a villain you can’t defeat and we’ll take your miraculous. This will all have been for nothing.”
Ladybug lifted her chin. “I find the most repulsive villains to be the ones not tainted by Hawkmoth’s influence.”
He jerked back and she fought back a smile at actually getting a rise out of him.
“Wind Dragon!” Ryuko shouted from somewhere in the distance.
The heroine fought the urge to flinch, simply holding her hand out expectantly.
“Why?” Chat repeated.
Staring straight ahead, she whispered an answer. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.”
With those words, a harmonica dropped into the palm of her hand.
Dropping it to the ground and crushing it with her foot, Ladybug grinned up at Viperion’s bright green eyes. “Took you long enough.”
He snorted. “Sorry, I thought you might want a few seconds for the dramatic effect.”
Ladybug snatched up the escaping black butterfly with a casual twirl of her yo-yo.
“Well, it’s been fun,” she turned, dipping into a sarcastic curtsy for the resident villain. “But it seems it’s time for us to go.”
Chat bowed back, that stupid smirk still stuck to his stupid face. “A pleasure as always, m’lady. Let’s do this again soon!”
“How about not,” Viperion muttered.
“They’re getting closer and closer,” Master Fu ranted, wringing his hands. “I don’t know how long we can keep this up with only three holders out in the wild.”
Marinette shoved down the knot of nerves quickly forming in her stomach, forcing herself to focus on the goal: reassuring Master Fu that they had everything covered.
They did not in fact have everything covered, but now was not a good time to mention that.
“It’ll be fine,” Rena reassured him, resting an black glove on the guardian’s arm. “We’re getting faster at taking the akumas and villains down each time.”
“Some day they’re going to overwhelm you,” Master Fu whispered. “They’ve already found me once, stealing the Cat and Turtle, snatching them away just like-”
“Don’t worry, Master,” Viperion interrupted, plasting a comforting grin to his face. “Chat and his sidekicks are no match for us.”
The guardian nodded absently, staring down at his bare wrist. Marinette forced herself to steel her face as her partners glanced at her for help.
They all knew it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed by the rogue holders. Three heroes didn’t exactly stand a chance against five villains and their infinite army of possessed civilians.
But Master Fu was grieving the loss of his kwami and companion. The loss of Wayzz and Plagg had struck him hard and it was all they could do to convince him not to take their miraculous and flee the city, leaving Paris at the mercy of Hawkmoth.
“Hey,” Marinette interrupted, placing a hand on his arm to block his line of sight. “Rena, Viperion and I have this covered. Trust me. We can call on Pigella and Tigresse if we have to. Still, Chat and his minions were running like scared little kittens after today’s battle.”
Master Fu stared at the ground for a long moment and the apartment fell into a heavy silence as he considered their words. Marinette fiddled with her earrings so her anxious hands could have something to keep them occupied.
“Alright,” the guardian sighed. “I’ll trust you to have this covered. For now.”
Marinette grinned, quickly getting up to usher her friends out the door of this apartment.
“Thank you, master!” she called over her shoulder.
The guardian didn’t reply.
As soon as the door was latched behind them, all three heroes breathed a sigh of relief. They quickly darted into an abandoned alley, calling off their transformations.
“Another crisis averted,” Alya grinned, holding her hand out for their customary fist bump.
Weakly returning the gesture, Luka slumped against the wall. “Let’s see how long it lasts.”
“Nice job team,” Marinette forced herself to infuse her voice with some sort of enthusiasm. She pulled out a macaron for Tikki, who looked just as exhausted as the rest of them.
“I want to sleep for an eon,” Trixx muttered, snatching the package of raisins from Alya’s grip and zipping away to confer with the other kwamis.
“Same,” Alya muttered, watching them leave. “Can the villains please just give up already?”
“I’ll be sure to ask them during our next battle,” Luka joked. “In the meantime, I’m going to head home and take a nice long nap.”
“Hey! No need to shove it in our faces,” Alya groaned. “Some of us have class.”
“Couldn’t be me,” Luka grinned, sticking his tongue out smugly.
“You just needed to rub it in, didn’t you?” Marinette jumped in halfheartedly.
“You know it,” he winked. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to think about you taking your math exam today as I’m leisurely strumming on my guitar, watching the waves go by.”
“Thanks,” Marinette rolled her eyes.
Collecting their kwamis, Alya and Marinette waved goodbye before racing to school.
“Hopefully Madame Bustier didn’t notice we’re gone,” Alya huffed, racing up the steps two at a time.
“We’ve been gone since lunch,” Marinette sighed. “I’m pretty sure she noticed.”
“A girl can hope, right?” Alya asked sheepishly.
With a laugh, Marinette darted around the corner, ramming face first into an extremely solid other person. She tumbled backward, bracing herself to hit the ground. At the last second, a hand coiled around her wrist.
Eyes widening, she glanced up at her rescuer. “Thank you for that- Adrien?”
Wordlessly, the model helped her to her feet.
“Oh my gosh I am so sorry,” she blurted, the words cascading from her mouth before she could stop them. “I was just coming back from something and I didn’t mean to-”
“Don’t mention it,” the model whispered, yanking his hand back as if he were scared to touch her. He turned away, racing down the corridor towards their classroom.
“Thank you?” she called after his retreating form.
Alya raised her eyebrows as she emerged from her hiding place around the corner. “Was it just me or did he seem more skittish than usual?”
Marinette shrugged. “Well, he’s headed in the direction that we’re supposed to be going in, so I guess we’ll have to follow him.”
Alya yawned as they stumbled up the stairs. “I swear, if I ever get my hands on Hawkmoth and his crew, I’ll-”
“Murder them and then make them all stay awake for weeks, in that order,” Marinette jumped in. “Yeah, I feel you.”
Adrien glanced back at them once before slipping through the door. He slid into his seat beside Nino, who immediately leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Nino had somehow been enlisted into Adrien’s emo brooding cult sometime after the start of the year. The two of them kept to themselves, barely bothering to acknowledge the presence of any of their classmates as they whispered messages back and forth.
Alya was of course completely enamored with him.
“Pinch me if I say anything stupid,” her best friend whispered as they slid into their seat beside the mysterious pair. She leaned over the edge of their desk, casually using her arm to prop herself up.
Nino’s ears tinted red as he broke away from his discussion with his best friend. “ Heyyyyy Alya.”
Adrien glanced cautiously between the two lovebirds, looking like he might interrupt. If he even thought to ruin this for Alya, Marinette would end him.
However, Nino probably wouldn’t be too happy if she tackled his best friend just to stop him from talking.
Luckily, Adrien seemed to realize that there wasn’t any actual harm in Nino and Alya’s ‘flirting.’
“How are you both doing?” Alya asked beaming as she glanced at Adrien curiously. “I didn’t know Sunshine had a photoshoot today.”
“Well now you do,” Adrien mumbled, glancing away as he slouched in his seat.
“We’re doing fine,” Nino interrupted, his lips locked in a smile so bright it could rival the sun. “Thank you so much for asking.”
Alya ducked her head, a blush spreading across her cheeks. “I hope you two didn’t get caught in that akuma attack today. There was a whole hostage situation, and the entire villain squad showed up. It was a nightmare.”
Nino froze, his blush vanishing in an instant. “You didn’t get caught in it, right?”
“No, thankfully,” Alya lied. “Although I heard that Ladybug and her team were able to save anyone involved.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Nino chuckled loudly. “Not that I had any doubt in the talent of the heroes. Obviously.” His face grew redder with every sentence. “They’re pretty good at their jobs. Not that I would know that personally or anything, just-”
Adrien finally had pity on his friend, elbowing him in the ribs.
Nino let out a sheepish chuckle, turning to face the front of the classroom as Madame Bustier reentered the classroom.
Alya pumped her fist in victory, officially dubbing that interaction a success.
Adrien awoke to something shaking his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes, slowly sitting up in bed.
“Seriously Plagg,” he groaned, eyes watering as he squinted at his clock. “It’s almost five AM.”
“Well then it’s quite unfortunate that your father decided to get up early,” Ryuko said, frowning down at him. “Gabriel sent out the alert over fifteen minutes ago to prepare for another attack. You’re supposed to be awake.”
Adrien jolted out of bed, quickly pulling on a pair of sneakers and a sweatshirt. He wasn’t going to feel them with his transformation, but in the likely chance that his father decided to draw this battle out, he would prefer to not be stuck in the middle of Paris while waiting for Plagg to recharge.
Sending a wistful glance over his shoulder at his bathroom, where his toothbrush was waiting, Adrien stuffed a wheel of camembert in his pocket.
“Who knows,” Adrien shrugged, forcing himself to grin with optimism he didn’t feel. “Maybe this time will be the one.”
Ryuko blinked, unimpressed. “You say that almost every time and it hasn’t happened yet.”
“It doesn’t hurt to have a positive outlook?”
“You phrasing that like a question isn’t helping your case, Adrien.”
Ignoring her, Adrien leaned down and gently nudged Plagg awake. The kwami yawned and rolled over, not even bothering to open his eyes. “Five more minutes.”
“Plagg, we have to go now,” Adrien hissed. “I’m late already.”
With a sigh, the kwami floated upwards. “You owe me so much cheese for this, kid. Five am? Is your father insane?”
Adrien opened his mouth to respond before closing it again.
Plagg let out a pained huff. “You know what, I don’t think I want an answer to that.” He waved his tiny paw in impatience. “Alright, kid. Let’s get this over with.”
Ryuko tapped his windowsill nervously as he called on his transformation.
Together, the two of them leaped across a city, joined quickly by Carapace who looked as though he was seriously considering risking Hawkmoth’s wrath and just going back to bed.
“Let’s get this over with,” Ryuko sighed. “Hopefully this one will go better than last time.
It didn’t.
“That was pathetic,” Hawkmoth spat, pacing across the tiled floor later that morning when they were back in the mansion.
Adrien held his head steady, barely daring to blink. On either side of him, Nino and Kagami stood frozen as they awaited his father’s verdict. They knew better than to argue with the head supervillain of Paris.
“The three of you were barely trying,” his father raged, hands curled into fists. “That was one of my most powerful akuma yet and all three of you were absolutely useless.”
“We will not tolerate such disgraceful performances again,” Tomoe agreed from the corner. Natalie nodded, not even bothering to look up from her tablet.
Kagami bristled to his left, clearly biting back a retort. She didn’t make a sound, but her mother seemed to sense her fury and fear anyway.
“We have been training for months, Kagami,” her mother snapped. “And yet you cannot take down one untrained boy with a lyre. You’re the weakest dragon yet.”
“Lahiffe,” Hawkmoth’s voice echoed through the empty halls. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your hesitation today. Remember exactly what you have to lose.”
Nino shrank back, eyes dropping to the floor. Gabriel smirked, taking a twisted sort of pleasure in his fear.
“You both shall be punished,” he decreed, as if he were some sort of tyrant staring down at his subjects from a dark throne.
“Father, no!” Adrien cried, breaking through the suffocating silence.
Hawkmoth turned towards him, locking cold gray eyes on his son. It wasn’t every day Adrien dared to defy him.
“What is it, son?”
HIs voice carried some sort of mock affection as if he were listening to a request from his normal son in their normal family.
Adrien took a deep breath.
“It was my fault, father.”
Hawkmoth’s eyebrows rose skeptically. “And do tell me, Adrien. How exactly was this your fault?”
Kagami sent him a frantic glance, but quickly ducked her head when she noticed Hawkmoth lurking behind her.
His father nodded for him to continue.
“I ordered that they hold back,” Adrien declared. “I know I was straying from your plan, father, but I thought that maybe-”
“You thought that you had a better plan than me,” Hawkmoth interrupted coldly.
Adrien kept his eyes locked on the barren gray wall across the room as he nodded. “Please do not punish them for my mistakes.”
Everyone in the room held their breath as Gabriel considered the request.
“Your reckless choices disgrace the memory of your mother,” Hawkmoth said finally. “You deserve to be punished.”
Adrien let out a sigh of relief. At least his friends would be spared.
“However,” his father paused for emphasis, “perhaps the best way to remind you to change from your current ways is not through punishment, but rather by teaching you a lesson.”
“That would be wise, father,” Adrien responded hesitantly.
“Good.”
Hawkmoth considered Nino for a moment and Adrien could tell it was taking all of his best friend’s effort not to squirm. The supervillain tapped the boy’s shoulder and snorted in amusement when Nino recoiled.
He turned towards Adrien, losing interest in Nino’s discomfort.
“Your actions affect others,” he lectured. “Even though this so-called ‘plan’ of yours ruined any chance to acquire the miraculous, it was your subordinate’s carrying out your orders that led to our defeat today.”
“Father- wait!” Adrien cried desperately.
“You’ve done enough, Adrien,” Hawkmoth said dismissively. “This is your punishment.”
Smirking at the fear in Nino’s eyes, the supervillain held out his finger. A pure white butterfly fluttered across the room, landing on the tip of his finger. A wave of purple energy washed over the akuma, leeching the light from its wings.
“Let this be a reminder to all three of you,” Hawkmoth declared. “Your actions affect others. You serve one purpose and one purpose alone: to acquire the miraculous. Do not fail me again.”
Then he shoved the akuma into Nino’s chest.
Violet bolts of lightning snaked across the boy’s skin. Nino dropped to his knees, his anguished scream boring its way into Adrien’s brain.
Kagami didn’t flinch as the supervillain stepped towards her, akuma waiting on his fingertips.
Adrien wanted to scream as his only other friend joined Nino on the ground, but he couldn’t make a sound.
How could he even dare to fight back? All three of them were trapped, woven into Hawkmoth’s web.
Tomoe didn’t acknowledge her daughter as she followed Mayura and Hawkmoth from the hall, leaving Adrien to offer what little comfort he could to his friends.
It was at times like these when Adrien felt the influence of the miraculous the strongest.
From deep inside him, a fury at the mess that he had allowed himself to get entangled in his father’s schemes and he had brought down Kagami and Nino with him. It clawed at his throat, making him restless and leaving him pacing across his bedroom floor.
His two best friends were sprawled across opposite ends of the sofa, still unconscious from his father’s “punishment.” It would take them at least another half an hour to regain consciousness, probably more.
Apart from having to watch his two friends collapse in pain and fear, the worst part was the waiting.
Every time, the pair would smile at him and squeeze his hands and tell him that they were fine and everything was going to be okay. Only their eyes and the little ways Nino still tensed when he moved betrayed their agony.
Sometimes he wondered how long ago Kagami’s mother had rid her of that habit.
They never blamed him. At least, not out loud. But sometimes Adrien prayed that just for a second they would.
That Kagami would scream at him for being the one to selfishly ask for someone to share his burden with. That Nino would snap at him for bringing him within Gabriel’s reach in the first place.
After all, he was the reason they were hurting. He was the reason that they had become pawns in his father’s game.
Without him, all Kagami would be punished for were mistakes during training. Without him, Nino would be able to sleep at night without wondering whether this was the time that Hawkmoth made good on his threats and finally hurt his family.
Maybe that’s why he ran.
The seconds ticked in his brain as he called on his transformation and practically dove out the window. Every cell in his body screamed for him to run so he could finally be free of this prison, even if it was only for a little while.
The streets of Paris were not a friendly place to the villain who terrorized them on a daily basis, but tucked between the overgrown vines of a balcony that overlooked a small cafe, Adrien almost let himself believe that he could someday be a part of it all.
The chatter from the patrons washed over him like a comforting wave. A couple in the corner joked about their upcoming anniversary, while a group of teens in the corner swapped quips.
He peered over the edge of the railing at a loud guffawing. A boy with bright teal hair and laughter in his eyes playfully elbowed one of his classmates in the ribs. “She’s got you there, Nette.”
“That’s not true,” Marinette shot back, her smile too wide to actually be angry. “Pickles are the superior vegetable! It’s not weird for them to serve them with breakfast! Especially if we’re having breakfast at 11 am.”
Alya rolled her eyes. “Come on, girl. You know I’m right with this.”
“You’re not!” Marinette protested. “And Luka would be agreeing with me right now if he had any brain cells.”
“It is true that I do in fact lack brain cells,” the boy -Luka, presumably- agreed. “Although the fact that you like pickles is making me question your brain cell number.”
"Excuse you!" Marinette laughed. "I think you're just jealous of my superior taste."
Alya wrinkled her nose. "I can assure you that is not the case."
The three of them laughed, their shoulders relaxed and the giggles coming easily. Adrien would give his soul to be able to see Kagami and Nino that happy for just one day.
Luka launched the pickle from his plate at Marinette, who shrieked joyfully and ducked behind Alya.
Alya fixed a glare on Luka as he snatched the pickle from Alya's plate. "Don't you dare."
With a sigh, he ducked back behind the railing, wrapping his arms around his knees. He let out a long sigh as he glanced at his watch, unable to stop the restlessness threatening to overwhelm him.
He had a whole half hour left until his friends were due to wake up and Adrien needed to feel like he was doing something good.
It just wasn't fair how these three could so casually laugh and enjoy life, completely unaware of the agony that haunted every second of his friend's waking moments.
Letting out a deep breath, Adrien climbed to his feet. He perched on the edge of the railing, ignoring the gasps from the patrons below. Scanning the rooftops for some sort of escape, he extended his baton, launching himself across the street and onto the roof of a bank.
He couldn't keep doing this. At some point his father would find some reason to get angry about his runs and punish Nino and Kagami for his mistakes.
But for now, it felt so good to just be selfish.
So Adrien let himself run, leaving all of the conflicted feeling and selfishness behind, even if it was just for a moment.
"Stay here," Marinette hissed to her friends, who were still recovering from the Great Pickle War. "I'm going to go trail Chat Noir."
"We'll be right behind you," Luka promised, accidentally streaking pickle juice across his forehead as he fought to get the vegetable from his hair.
Marinette scooped up her bag with Tikki, grabbing one final bite of her sandwich to go.
Alya squeezed her hand. "Remember not to confront him. This might be a trap. Wait for us to catch up."
"I will," Marinette promised.
Darting down the nearest alleyway and ducking behind a dumpster, Marinette called on her transformation and began heading in the direction that Chat Noir had gone.
With her yo-yo increasing her speed, she caught up easily and hung back while he leapt over rooftops towards the suburbs.
Chat Noir froze, his ears twitching at some noise she hadn’t heard.
Ladybug silently looped her yo-yo around a nearby chimney to stop herself from hurtling past him.
Suddenly, Chat Noir stepped over the edge of the store they had been standing on and onto the small lawn below.
That’s when she spotted him.
A small boy, likely no older than nine with dirty red hair and a battalion of freckles on his cheeks clutched at his leg at the edge of the sidewalk.
Ladybug readied her yo-yo, preparing herself to leap around the corner of the building and snatch up the little boy in her arms before Chat Noir could attack.
Patience, she reminded herself. Wait for the right time.
Straining her neck, she peered around the corner to watch.
The little boy’s head jerked up suddenly as he spotted the villain making his way towards him. His sobs suddenly cut off, making way for whimpers of terror.
Ladybug gripped her yo-yo tighter.
“Shhh!” Chat whispered. He bent down on his knees in front of the boy, holding out his hands in surrender. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The boy scooted away across the cement, closer to wear she was hiding.
“I promise,” Chat said gently. “You can hold my baton if you want.”
The boy’s whimpers cut off as he skeptically eyed the weapon. “How do I know it’s not going to explode or something?”
Chat smiled. Not a taunting smirk like the ones she was used to, but a gentle, reassuring grin that made Ladybug’s heart skip a beat- or it would’ve if this wasn’t clearly a trick.
“That would be a cool feature, wouldn’t it,” he chuckled. “But alas, my baton is totally safe for brave boys to hold while I check on their leg.”
He held the weapon out in offering.
Hesitantly, the boy reached out and took it.
“That’s it,” Chat urged, creeping forward and kneeling before the twisted leg. He glanced up at the boy for permission. After a second the kid nodded.
Ladybug forgot to breathe as Chat gently felt along the boy’s leg.
“What’s your name?” the villain asked, sending the boy a friendly smile.
The boy bit his lip before answering. “Isaac.”
“So what are you doing all the way out here, Isaac?” Chat asked, gently rubbing his hands into the boy’s ankle.
The boy flushed. “ Léo and I were having a race and he dared me to find Hawkmoth-”
His eyes widened as he remembered who he was talking to.
Chat chuckled but it felt more forced this time. “Trust me kid, as fun as that challenge sounds, I wouldn’t recommend actually going for it.”
Absentmindedly he rubbed a freshly formed bruise on his cheek that Ladybug was fairly certain had not been there during yesterday’s battle.
Noticing the boy’s expression, he smiled reassuringly. “Then what happened?”
Isaac turned the same color as his hair as he mumbled something under his breath.
Chat laughed. “What was that?”
The boy’s face was on fire. “I got lost and tripped over my curb and fell down. That’s where I hurt my leg.”
Chat grinned. “Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us.”
Isaac hesitantly smiled back at him.
They were both silent for a moment before the villain whispered, “Okay so this next part is going to hurt, so I want you to grab my hand and squeeze as long as you need to.”
The boy nodded solemnly, taking Chat Noir’s hand and sucking in a nervous breath.
With his free hand, Chat pressed his fingers into Isaac’s leg. He gritted his teeth as the boy practically mauled his hand to get through the pain.
Ladybug felt every muscle in her body tense with Isaac’s strangled cries, but Chat hadn’t done anything awful- not yet at least, so she didn’t move.
“All done,” Chat announced. He looked more than a little relieved to have his hand back.
The boy beamed up at him.
“It looks like you might have rolled your ankle,” Chat explained. “It’ll get better with ice. Do you need me to call your parents?”
Ladybug watched, almost in awe, as Chat Noir punched the numbers into his staff as the boy rattled them off, getting him to laugh as they waited for help to arrive. It was jarring to see him so unlike the cocky and calculating villain that she had fought one too many times.
If she was honest with herself she found it a little cute, the way he seemed warm and welcoming and acted like a complete dork.
But Ladybug wasn’t that honest with herself about her feelings.
Isaac was in the middle of explaining how his grandfather had once known a man who was obsessed with making the perfect bread when a van pulled up.
The door was flung open. Out climbed a woman with her hair pulled back into a bun, wielding a can of pepper spray.
“Get out of here, you monster!” she screamed, racing towards her son. “I’m not afraid to use this!”
Smiling sadly at the little boy, Chat fled over the rooftops.
Watching him go, Ladybug felt a tang of remorse. She stepped from the shadows, trying to shake the feeling off as she greeted the concerned mother with a friendly wave.
The fury and fear slid from her face. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here, Ladybug.”
Forcing a smile, the heroine greeted the woman and explained the situation. Laughing with relief, the Isaac’s mother quickly hurried to start her car.
Unsure what was bothering her, Ladybug carried the little boy into the car. He didn’t say a word as he buckled his seat belt.
“You were very brave today,” she grinned down at him.
He watched her as she awkwardly began to close the door.
At the last second, he grasped her fingers. Gesturing for her to lean in, he whispered in her ear.
“Can you tell Chat Noir thank you?” he whispered.
The sentence didn’t entirely seem to fit in her rapidly crumbling perception of the world, but what else was there to do but nod.
“Promise?” Isaac whispered.
Still stuck in her daze, she whispered back. “I promise.”
Marinette could barely focus during the next few days at school. Her thoughts were a million miles away as Alya ranted about how Nino had smiled at her in class that day when passing back their math exam and WHAT IF HE LIKED HER BACK SHE MIGHT EXPLODE OF JOY. Her heart wasn’t in it when she teased Luka about how extremely old he was.
Unfortunately, her friends were starting to notice.
“Alright, what is up with you?” Alya demanded, slamming her hands against the kitchen table of the Liberty . They were supposed to be ‘planning their next move to take down Chat Noir and his gang,’ but this brainstorm session had quickly turned into a game of How Many Swear Words Could Alya And Luka Fit On The Chalkboard.
Marinette flopped over, burying her face in the table. Hopefully that was an acceptable response.
“See what I mean?” Alya turned to Luka, spreading her arms as if to say ‘I told you so.’ “She’s been acting all weird since Monday. Well… weirder than she usually does.”
Luka nodded sagely. “I see your point”
“I’m not acting weird,” Marinette said far too quickly.
Both of her teammates raised their eyebrows skeptically.
“I’m not ,” she repeated.
“Spill.”
She glanced between the two, looking for any means of escape but it was no use. The two of them were determined to get their answers.
Technically, Marinette knew that if she told them to drop it, they would without hesitation. But maybe this would be a good way for her to figure out what she was supposed to do with the realization that Chat Noir was actually not an awful person surprisingly.
“Do you ever…” she began hesitantly, unsure of how she wanted to phrase this, “think that maybe the villains aren’t entirely evil and stuff?”
Marinette grabbed an orange from the bowl in the middle of the table and set to work removing its peel.
She wasn’t sure if she was ready for her friend’s answers.
“I mean,” Alya began hesitantly. “Do good people possess babies with evil butterflies and force them to do their bidding? Do good people steal miraculouses from helpless old men?”
Do good people help lost boys find their parents after they’ve sprained their ankle? Marinette’s brain whispered.
“Technically-”
Luka cut himself off as they both turned to him.
“What were you going to say?” Alya prompted.
He examined the paint on his fingernails, picking at a place where it was sloppily done as he contemplated his response.
“They’re kids like us, aren’t they?” he said finally.
“We’ll I sure hope Hawkmoth isn’t,” Alya snorted.
Luka chuckled. “You know that isn’t what I meant.”
Alya sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. I think that’s where the situation gets way too complicated. Because on the one hand, they are teenagers and are allowed to make mistakes. But on the other hand, they are willingly aiding a terrorist.”
“Who knows,” Luka smiled weakly. “Maybe they’ll realize the error of their ways and join the squad.”
He didn’t look very hopeful.
Alya slid onto the seat beside her and gently laid a hand on Marinette’s arm. “What’s this about?”
Marinette shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking a lot lately.”
“Uh-oh,” Luka teased. “You know it’s bad when she’s thinking. ”
“Hey!” Marinette protested weakly.
Luka took a long sip of his orange juice and wearily set it back on the table. “Anyway, right now I think that we should just focus on taking Hawkmoth down. Unfortunately that means that Chat Noir and his sidekicks are our enemies. We can’t afford to get distracted with sympathy when we’re the only thing standing between them and the destruction of Paris.”
They sat there unable to come up with a response for a long moment. The only sound was the ticking of the clock and Juleka and Rose’s laughter from the deck above.
Alya buried her face in the wood. “I hate this.”
Marinette blinked, trying to jolt herself back to reality. “What?”
“I mean, I hate how uncertain all of this is.” Alya twisted her glass of orange juice in her hands. “I’m so sick of trying to find an answer to all these questions that we keep asking, only to find more questions. I wish we knew anything about what we’re up against.”
“I wish there was some sort of way to get out of this stupid cycle of fighting and only barely winning,” Luka jumped in. “I mean, I wouldn’t trade anything for you guys, but sometimes I wish…” he let out a deep breath. “I wish we could be normal, you know?”
“I get it,” Marinette sighed, something like guilt twisting in her chest.
The three of them sat there and stared at Marinette’s orange peel, the gentle strumming of Juleka’s guitar filling the empty air.
Ladybug found him in an alleyway, tucked away from the rest of the world.
He tended to do this after a long battle. She would look away for a moment and he would vanish into the labyrinth of Paris. She used to think it was some sort of attempt to lure her into a trap but now she wasn’t so sure. The way he was curled up against the brick wall made it seem more like he was hiding from something.
She felt his eyes on her as she landed on the pavement beside him.
“Come for round two?” he muttered, not bothering to get to his feet.
“I’ve come to see if you’re okay,” she admitted.
“Like I believe that,” Chat scoffed. “What do you want?”
She settled on the ground beside him.
“Isaac says thank you.”
Chat’s head shot up. “What?”
On any other occasion she would have congratulated herself on finally getting a reaction from him.
But things like that didn’t feel like they mattered now.
“He made me promise to tell you,” she admitted.
“You were following me, weren’t you?” he murmured. “I should’ve known.”
“Well, what did you expect me to do?” she asked. “Let you wander around Paris unsupervised? For all I knew, you could’ve been going to hurt someone.”
“Glad to see you have so much faith in me.”
“Well, you haven’t exactly gotten a gold star in ideal citizen behavior.”
Chat snorted at that.
They both were silent for a minute. Ladybug made use of the time rearranging the positioning of her fingers.
“So, what is this really about?” he asked finally. “Because it kinda seems like you’re checking in to make sure I’m still an awful person.”
Okay so that hit a little too close to the truth.
“I guess seeing you help Isaac made me realize that I’ve kinda never actually spoken to you apart from threats.”
Chat Noir sighed. “Well, unless you want to get Carapaced, we should probably make this a one time thing.”
“Carapaced?” she echoed.
Chat Noir froze. “I shouldn’t have said that.” He stared off dramatically off into the distance, eyes locked on some invisible foe. “Not everything is as it seems, Ladybug.”
She peered past him, trying to discern if anything had actually captured his attention or if he was just trying to be theatrical.
His lips twitched.
Ladybug fought to keep a stoic expression on her face, unsure of why this was such a challenge.
He glanced over at her, eyes sparkling with poorly concealed amusement. They both tried to hold it in for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“You’re so dramatic,” Ladybug wheezed. “Did you seriously just say ‘not everything is as it seems?’
“Well how did you expect me to respond?” he guffawed. “You’re the one who chose to confront me in an alleyway . What kind of teen movie cliche is that?”
“Well, where else did you want me to talk to you?” she pointed out. “Mid-battle?”
“Hey, that’s the only part of it that’s actually fun,” Chat protested. “You’re always so serious during fights. You should try to actually have fun with it sometime.”
“You try it when you’re the only thing protecting your friends and family from Hawkmoth,” she shot back, her words coming out much sharper than she had intended.
Instead of looking insulted, he just looked… resigned?
“Yeah, I may know a thing or two about that.”
Marinette resisted the urge to rest a hand on his arm as Chat’s face slipped between sorrow to anxiety to determination in a matter of seconds. He was unexpectedly bad at hiding his emotions for the second in command of a group of supervillains.
She took a deep breath, unsure of whether she was overstepping her boundaries. “Chat- why are you doing this?”
The villain froze, considering his response for a long moment.
“You’re not the only one with people you want to protect,” he said finally.
“You do realize how vague that sounds, right?” Marinette pointed out.
Chat Noir let a cocky smile rest on his lips. “What can I say? I’m a vague man.”
Ladybug almost jumped at the laugh that slipped out of her chest. “What does that even mean?”
Chat Noir attempted (and failed) to send her a mischievous wink. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
Ladybug giggled, opening her mouth to continue the banter.
A loud boom in the distance cut her off.
“Akuma,” Chat breathed.
In an instant, their smiles were gone, replaced with resignation.
“We better get going then,” the villain sighed. “It was nice talking to you, Ladybug.”
“It was nice talking to you, too,” she replied on instinct, getting to her feet.
A flash of surprise flickered across his face. She was stunned to realize that she meant it.
Nino slammed his palms against the tabletop. He met Adrien and Kagami’s eyes with a look of dire seriousness. “Kiss, marry, kill. Ladybug, Rena Rouge, Viperion.”
Adrien and Kagami exchanged a glance. Nino had been trying to convince them to join in with his “normal teenageer activities that we couldn’t do with anyone else without Hawkmoth attempting to add them to the villain squad” for the past month and this was by far the strangest.
After Uno for obvious reasons.
“I still fail to see the importance of this game,” Kagami took a long sip of her orange juice. “Statistically we have little to no chance of doing any of the following with any of the hero squad.”
“It’s for the experience, dudette,” Nino explained for what must have been the five millionth time.
“You seem to use that excuse quite a lot,” Kagami pointed out.
“Well that’s because it’s true,” Nino teased, adjusting his cap with a grin. “Besides we all know you’re just stalling.”
Kagami folded her arms. “Perhaps I’m just not interested in any of the heroes in that way.”
The pair’s banter faded to the background as Adrien stared across the almost deserted cafe.
Early 2000s pop songs played over the radio, failing to drown out the clamor of a pair of five year olds blowing the paper off their straws and into their dads’ faces. A single cashier stared impatiently at the clock from behind the counter, brushing their neon blue hair into a ponytail.
Overall it was a happy scene, but not nearly enough to get his mind off his odd confrontation with Ladybug earlier that day.
She seemed… off.
Maybe she was just as tired of their constant jabs as he was. Adrien massaged his forehead.
God, he was exhausted.
“Sounds like you’re trying to hide a secret crush to me,” Nino teased good naturedly.
Kagami sank lower into her chair, cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “I don’t see the point behind this game. I can’t even ask the question back to you because everyone knows that you would rather be going out with your classmate.”
Nino froze in his seat. “Wait, everyone knows?” He buried his face in his hands, his ears glowing bright red. “...even Alya.”
Kagami shrugged. “Perhaps. It’s fairly easy to tell when you have a crush on someone. Not that I have anything to compare it to. You haven’t had a crush on anyone else I know.”
“Ha ha !” Nino laughed triumphantly. “If you believe that then you’re more oblivious than I am!”
Kagami’s gaze darted quizzically between Nino and Adrien. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Nino smiled, resting a playful hand on her shoulder. “You’ll figure it out someday, dudette.”
His mind blurred as the two of them teased each other, smiling half-heartedly at their antics.
Part of Adrien had always harbored a sort of secret fantasy that he would be able to negotiate with Ladybug to sneak them both out and away from his fa- Hawkmoth. Lord knows they both deserved it.
But all three of them had some sort of weight around their ankles, dragging them under the surface and into the abyss of Hawkmoth’s schemes. For Kagami it was her mother. For Nino it was his family.
For Adrien, well, it wasn’t like he had a choice. His father needed him. It was as simple as that.
“You know I am not interested in anyone like that,” Kagami reminded Nino, her tone yanking Adrien back to reality.
Nino grinned, clearly attempting to look mysterious. “It’s a good thing I wasn’t talking about you then.”
Adrien zoned out as his friends flicked the paper off of their straws at each other’s faces, hands curling into fists as he spotted the edge of a bruise peering out from underneath Nino’s sleeve.
He tried not to look. He really did. But he couldn’t stop himself from noticing the fresh scabs dug into Kagami’s collar.
If it wasn’t for his father then this wouldn’t have happened. His father was the reason that all three of them tensed in unison when the door to the cafe slammed open when a pair of bouncing eight year olds led their grandfather inside.
“Is my father the villian?” Adrien burst out.
Nino choked on the glass of ice water he’d been drinking.
Kagami calmly reached over and smacked his back several times until he caught his breath.
“Thanks, man,” Nino wheezed, wiping the tears from his eyes.
Kagami settled back with a satisfied smile. “No problem.”
“I’m sorry,” Nino said, turning back to Adrien. He flattened his palms on the table and lowering his voice to a whisper. “I thought you asked whether your father is the villain? ”
Adrien shivered a little at Nino’s words. It felt so much more real when one of his best friends finally said it out loud.
“That’s what I said,” he agreed, almost grinning at the forbiddenness of even asking that question.
Nino reached forward, pressing his palm to Adrien’s forehead. “Dude, are you feeling okay?”
Adrien rolled his eyes affectionately. “Guys, I’m being serious right now. Are-” he hesitated. “ Are we the bad guys? ”
Kagami and Nino exchanged a glance he couldn’t interpret before turning to face him, eyebrows raised in the same slightly-incredulous expression.
The pair both gestured for the other to speak first, resulting in a tiny rock-paper-scissors battle that ended up with Nino as the victor.
“Well,” Kagami began with a sigh, twisting her hands. “I kind of thought it was obvious.” She hunched up her shoulders like she was almost ashamed of her words.
“How?” Adrien breathed, almost awestruck. He leaned in, electricity raced through his veins and making him want to race across the rooftops.
Nino bit his lip, refusing to meet Adrien’s eyes.
“Adrien,” he said nervously. “You know neither of us are here by choice, right?”
“Yeah,” Adrien said slowly, stretching the word out. He hated how it sounded like a question.
“Well,” Nino sighed. “Does forcing two random teenagers to essentially become your personal soldiers seem like a ‘hero’ thing to do?”
He couldn’t answer that.
Nino didn’t stop talking. “As much as I love you, bro, the only reason I’m here is because your father would send an akuma after my family if I so much as set a toe out of line.”
Suddenly, the realization felt a little less freeing.
“Yeah,” Kagami twisted her fingers together. “My mother basically marched up to your father and offered me as another part of his akuma squad as some sort of business arrangement. She has zero interest in stopping any of this.”
Adrien sunk into the cushion of his chair. “Oh.” He buried his hands in his hair, suddenly hating the sensation of the artfully styled curls against his skin. “Oh, god. We need to get the two of you out.”
Kagami let a disbelieving laugh escape. “Where would we even go?”
That… was an excellent point.
Gabriel Agreste had eyes on every escape route. Practically daring Nino and Kagami to try to escape.
It was so horrible, yet so like him that Adrien wanted to throw up.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” he muttered.
“Please don’t,” Kagami ordered, reaching over and carefully resting a hand on his shoulder. It was the kind of move that would feel awkward and ingenuine from anyone else, but was just the way that Kagami showed love. “This ja cket cost €300 of my mother’s money and it would be quite irritating if I had to replace it.”
Adrien choked out a laugh.
Nino reached across the table and squeezed his hand gently.
It was just like Kagami to make sure he was okay when she was the one literally trapped here because of his stupid father. Nino and Kagami deserved so much better than this, and yet both of them were comforting him. He was half the reason they were in this mess in the first place.
Adrien forced himself to sit up straight, determination flooding his veins. “I’m going to get you two out of here,” he declared.
Nino snorted. “That’s a sweet sentiment, dude, but I don’t think it’s very likely.”
“It will,” Adrien insisted. “I’ll find a way.”
“Okay,” Kagami said slowly.
Adrien ignored their skepticism. He would figure something out.
Even if it was the last thing he did.
Every instinct in his body screamed for him to curl into a ball, but Adrien forced himself to keep his back ramrod straight under the weight of his father's gaze.
Nino and Kagami stood at his sides, faces wiped clean of any hint of emotion as they buried themselves in another world where they were anywhere but here. The only break in their unnatural stillness was the slight tremble of Kagami's fingers.
Adrien's shoulder throbbed with the reminder of how Rena Rouge had rammed it out of it's socket. His nerves still hadn't caught up with the miraculous cure, sending phantom aches through his muscles. He tried to blink away the way the world blurred without betraying what he was doing.
The click of his father's cane set a tempo that his heart met three times as fast, circling behind them like a snake about to strike. The rhythm cut off and Kagami fell forwards, hands instictively reaching out to catch herself, but she pulled them back.
Adrien's breath caught in his throat as the cold metal of his father's cane pressed between his shoulder blades and knocking him off balance.
Not as hard as it could have been, Adrien noted as he fell to his knees. He still cares about me. He's being gentle.
Nino tumbled to the ground, actually needing to catch himself before his face collided with the tiles. Momentary panic was shuffled away as he yanked his hands back.
All Adrien could see was his father's boots as he kept his head bowed. The gentle clickety-clack finally stopped right in front of him, cane slamming into the tile with a reverberating thud.
"Are you three even trying," Hawkmoth snarled, a droplet of saliva landing a few centimeters from Adrien's knee. Slowly, Adrien raised his head.
Hawkmoth paced back and forth, hands tearing through the air. "After months of training, and almost a full year of akumas, you three, even with the help of an akuma, haven't managed to get your hands on a single miraculous."
Adrien didn't apologize. It would only make things worse if he did.
"Clearly, you three haven't been training hard enough," he hissed, twisting his cane to reveal it's blade. "After your disgraceful performance today, I think it's time we have a little training session."
Chat Noir hated the rain.
He liked thunderstorms even less.
Ladybug knew this from evenings spent hearing his whispered prayers that his baton wouldn’t slip off of rain-soaked rooftops as she chased him across Paris. She knew it from the way that their gaze would lock in silent solidarity as when her heart pounded in her ears as her yo-yo failed to hook around the drenched chimneys.
When a cascade of flame rained from the sky, the heroes and villains would run out to play.
But when the sky opened up and the heavens poured all their fury from the clouds and gushing into the gutters and sewers of Paris, they retreated back into their homes, bested by the foe that not even miraculouses could defeat- Mother Nature herself.
Unless of course, Hawkmoth forced them out into it.
Personally, Ladybug found it infuriating how a man who never left his stupid lair could call both teams out into the city and only watch from the sidelines as they swore and screamed, even in the pouring rain.
But tonight, as the walls of the bakery shook, mere hours after the nightmare that was the last akuma attack there was no explaination for the alert lighting up her phone.
Chat Noir, Ryuko and Carapace spotted on patrol near the Louvre with no akuma in sight.
With a groan, Marinette rolled over and shot a quick text to her teammates before calling on her transformation and racing out into the storm.
Adrien was shivering so hard it hurt to breathe.
Streams of arctic water raced across the surface of his suit as he struggled against the beating of water trying to force his eyelids closed.
Still, compared to both of his teammates, he had it easy.
“Come on, Nino,” he murmured, urging his friend forward another step. “We’re almost there.”
Nino didn’t respond.
Adrien fought down the rising panic threatening to choke him-focusing instead on holding one of Carapace’s arms in place around his shoulders.
Ryuko, from Nino’s other side, struggled to keep her significantly taller friend upright. Still, she shot him a small smile.
“You’re going to be okay,” she whispered, squeezing Nino’s hand she was using to hold him in place.
Adrien fought to bury the dread in a pit in his stomach. Kagami only sugarcoated things when the situation looked impossibly dire.
Nino let out another whimper of pain from whatever form of semi-consciousness he was in as they took another stride forward.
Adrien was stunned he hadn’t passed out yet. Maybe it would be better if he did, just to give him a momentary relief from what Adrien’s father had done to him.
“We just have to get beneath that overhand,” Kagami crooned, the light from the streetlights betraying the exhaustion in her eyes. “Can you do that for us, Nino?”
Adrien glanced at his best friend hopefully. Nino let out a pathetic little nod.
Slowly but surely, the two of them shuffled him towards the overhang.
As soon as the pounding of the rain stopped, Adrien granted himself only a moment of relief.
Nino collapsed against the wall and the two of them loosened their grips as his shoulders slumped.
“We need to check his bandage,” Adrien said.
Ryuko’s mouth twisted into a grim line. “Our little expedition can’t have been good for it. If we take the bandage off now, we might stop it from clogging the bleeding.”
“I know,” Adrien sighed. “But we don’t exactly have a lot of options here.”
Kagami swallowed and curled her fingers together to stop her trembling hands. Absentmindedly, she reached up and brushed her index finger along the edge of the gash across her chin.
She let out a long breath, clearly forcing her shoulders to relax before nodding.
The two of them crouched down to either side of Nino.
“Nino,” Adrien murmured, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Can you move your arm for us? We need to look at your bandage.”
Nino didn’t move.
Kagami glanced at him, biting her lip. She drew back suddenly, sharpening her shoulders.
“Carapace!” she barked, echoing his fath- Hawkmoth’s sharp tones. “Get up!”
Instantly, Nino straighted, eyes widening with fear and pain.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he begged. “I just-” His entire body relaxed as he spotted the two of them, and he looked seconds away from collapsing again.
Kagami rushed back to his side. “Nino,” she begged. “You need to let us look at your side.”
“Why does it matter?” he asked, eyes fluttering closed. “I either die here or I die there. We don’t have anywhere else to go.”
It was times like this that Adrien wished he could still see the grounding brown of Kagami’s eyes when she was transformed, and not just Ryuko’s lemon-yellow stare. He needed something to pull himself back down to earth as his brain chanted over and over again. Nowhere else to go. All your fault. You dragged them into this.
Nino wasn’t exactly wrong. They couldn’t go back to Adrien’s house. Not unless they wanted to wind up right back in his father’s claws.
And sure, Gabriel would call on an akuma to heal both Kagami and Nino. He couldn’t exactly leave two of Adrien’s friends ( soldiers - Adrien’s head whispered. That’s all they were to his father. Another weapon to be used, then discarded.) injured. Still, nothing had stopped it from happening before and nothing would stop it from happening again.
Kagami’s house was immediately out. Tomoe would merely laugh at their protests before shipping them right on back to Hawkmoth’s headquarters.
No matter how tempting Nino’s apartment seemed, Hawkmoth had his claws dug into every inch of their building. Nino’s family practically worshiped Gabriel Agreste for their son’s “generous” internship. Besides, even if they did believe them, Hawkmoth was fully prepared to remind Nino that his little brother didn’t need all of his fingers to function.
Still, Adrien couldn’t exactly tell Nino that right now.
“I have a plan,” he lied. “But for now we really need to see your bandage.”
With a defeated sigh, Nino peeled his arm away slowly.
Adrien leaned forward to scrutinize the bandage, narrowly avoiding gagging as he realized that the entire bandage was soaked through with blood, a few extra droplets tracing through the grooves of Carapace’s suit.
Kagami sucked in a breath through her teeth.
“It’s bad, isn’t it,” Nino asked.
Adrien pulled his lips back into a tight line, trying to figure out a good response.
“Well, it certainly doesn’t look good,” a new voice said from behind them.
Adrien spun around, entire body tensing as he spotted the silhouette of Ladybug illuminated by lightning.
“What do you want?” Ryuko hissed, drawing her saber and pointing it at Ladybug’s throat.
None of them commented on the way her hand trembled.
Ladybug shrugged, looking far too calm for someone who had a blade centimeters away from their neck. “Some answers.”
“Yeah, right,” Kagami scoffed.
“You don’t have to believe me,” the superhero said. “But it’s the truth. Besides, what could I possibly do to you? I’m here, alone and with backup fifteen minutes out and I couldn’t exactly take all three of you without help” She paused, scrutinizing Nino before amending, “Well, more like two of you. Carapace doesn’t exactly look like he’s in any sort of condition to fight.”
Kagami’s fingers tightened around the handle of her saber.
“Which begs the question of course,” Ladybug continued, ignoring the way the two of them tensed. “Why would Hawkmoth leave his prized soldiers in the middle of Paris with one of them bleeding out from a wound in their side. My guess- and correct me if I’m wrong -is that he has no idea that the three of you are out here.”
Adrien ground his teeth together.
Ladybug scrutinized them for a long second, finally seeming to come to a conclusion- not that Adrien could figure out what it was.
That was of course the point that Nino resettled on the ground, letting out a whimper that the rain almost covered. Almost.
Instantly all the satisfaction dropped from Ladybug’s face. Her brows furrowed and she finally stepped underneath the overhang. “Is he okay?”
“What do you care?” Kagami snapped.
“Shockingly, I actually have a problem with anyone bleeding to death on the streets of Paris,” Ladybug shot back.
“Well, we don’t need your pity,” Ryuko growled.
“ Clearly ,” Ladybug rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you have a perfectly safe way to reach medical attention for Carapace if I just leave right now.”
“Well, it would be safer than going with you!”
“Do I seriously seem like the kind of person to offer to help you stop your friend from literally dying and then stab you in the back!”
“You don’t exactly have the best track record with looking out for our best interests!”
Ladybug ground her teeth together.
“Here,” she snapped, tossing something at him. Adrien wrapped his hands around it instinctively, not even realizing that it was her yo-yo until he was cupping it in his palm. “Have it as a token of my goodwill or something. Just anything that would let you trust me so we can get out of here.”
Adrien stared at the weapon in his hands, dumbstruck.
“That means nothing,” Ryuko pointed out. “You get your yo-yo back when you transform.”
“Well, if you’d like to be hanging out here when Hawkmoth discovers that his prize sidekicks made a run for it then please, be my guests,” Ladybug snapped. “You’re going to need to have a little faith in me for this to work, okay.”
Kagami let out a long and exasperated breath, but turned to look at him.
“What?” Adrien asked.
“It’s your call,” she said finally.
Chat Noir tensed. “But-”
“Your dad, your call,” Kagami said, her tone not allowing for argument.
Adrien ignored how Ladybug blinked at what was clearly new information for her, instead turning to watch the staggered rising and falling of Nino’s chest.
“We’re going,” Adrien said finally.
Ladybug’s shoulders relaxed ever-so-slightly.
“But if you even think about hurting Ryuko and Carapace,” he continued. “I’ll turn you and your entire team to dust.”
Ladybug set her jaw, but nodded.
Adrien knelt beside Nino, ducking beneath one of his arms and pulling him to his feet. Nino moaned in protest, but Adrien forced himself to keep moving.
“What do you need us to do?” Ryuko asked the heroine, not questioning his decision for even a minute.
“Well, I’m actually going to need to call my team,” Ladybug admitted sheepishly. “So if you could let me use my yo-yo-”
“Not happening,” Kagami interrupted. “Chat, can you toss it over here.”
With what little maneuverability he had left, Adrien passed the weapon over. Kagami flipped the screen open, raising her eyebrows as she scrolled through the list of contacts.
“You seriously have Maman saved in your contacts?”
Ladybug shrugged. “You never know when you’re going to need to call home when you’re on the job, right?”
Kagami didn't justify that with a response.
“Click Viperion,” Ladybug suggested, wringing the water out of her ponytails. She peered over Ryuko’s shoulder as she pressed call.
The yo-yo buzzed for a long moment, before a voice crackled through it.
“How’s everything going, M-”
“You’re speaking to Ladybug right now,” the heroine cut him off.
Kagami and Adrien met each other's gaze for a long second.
Viperion paused for a long moment. “Got it. What do you need?”
Ladybug scanned their surroundings before answering. “A first aid kit, probably backup from you and Rena and, uh,” she sent a sheepish grin that Viperion couldn’t see at the screen. “A place to stash three supervillains, two of which seem to be injured, without jeopardizing my identity.”
She sucked in a hopeful breath through her teeth.
“Excuse me?” Viperion asked.
“Listen,” Ladybug began. “I know it sounds bad- and it is, I can’t deny that, but trust me when I say I have a plan.”
“You know, somehow that makes me feel less confident,” Viperion teased.
Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Please, at least tell me you’re almost here.”
“Rena and I managed to borrow her older sister’s jeep,” Viperion announced. His voice grew grainier as if he was holding it away from his face. “Say hi, Rena.”
“Hi!” Ladybug’s teammate called. “LB, you know this jeep can only seat five people, right?”
“That’s fine,” Ladybug agreed, face barely concealing her relief as a bright yellow jeep pulled up to the curb. “I’ll meet you guys at… wherever we’re taking them.”
“About that…” Viperion began as the car doors swung open. “I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.”
“Tell me about it in a moment.” Ladybug hung up as she ran out to meet them.
Kagami glanced back at him, eyebrows raised as if asking him, Seriously? This is the girl you want me to trust.
It wasn’t like they exactly had any more options.
Rena Rouge made her way over to them. She nodded at Carapace, not even bothering to ask what had happened. “Do you guys need some help getting him into the jeep? Viperion and LB are padding the backseat with some extra towels.”
Adrien let out a deep breath, wanting to refuse but knowing that they needed all the help they could get.
“That would be wonderful,” Ryuko said coldly before he could.
Rena glanced between the two of them and Adrien could practically see her force herself not to ask. Wordlessly, she stepped to Nino’s side, but instead of waiting for one of them to help him up from the other side, she scooped him up in a bridal carry.
“Come on,” she ordered, easily carrying Nino towards the jeep.
Adrien shot off a quick prayer that he wasn’t taking his friends out of the frying pan and straight back into the fire as he stepped to follow her.
Kagami’s still trembling fingers wrapped around his. He glanced back at her, for the first time noticing the fear in her gaze.
“It’s going to be alright,” he whispered, hoping she could hear him over the sound of the pouring rain.
It wasn’t the first time he had made a promise he wasn’t sure if he could keep, and it doubtlessly wouldn’t be the last.
Still, Kagami nodded.
“Let’s go,” she murmured, pulling him towards the car.
The inside of the backseat of the jeep was covered in black fabric and the floor was cluttered with college textbooks and a large duffle bag. A miniature pink, white, purple, black and blue pride flag Adrien didn’t recognize was stashed in the only cup holder not being used to hold a half-empty McDonald soda cup.
He scooted into the tiny middle seat, letting Kagami and Nino sit by the windows.
“You can’t be serious,” Ladybug hissed from right outside the car.
“It’s not like we have many more options,” Viperion sighed. “Besides, Mom and Jules will be careful. It’s not like they’re new to this.”
Ladybug sighed. “You’ve already contacted them, haven’t you?”
“And asked him to bring over the miraculous,” Viperion admitted.
“Fine,” Ladybug sighed. “As long as you’re careful.”
Rena snorted. “When has he ever been the careful one?”
With a glance Adrien was too tired to try and read, Rena and Viperion climbed in the front seat, Rena shooting off a mocking salute to Ladybug as she waved.
He tried to stay awake. He really did. But the twists and turns of Paris all blended together and his eyelids were just so heavy and Adrien felt himself drifting away.