"Hey, could we maybe go without the tranq. gun?" Chat said, backing up.

Lady hefted it over her shoulder. "No can do. The only way we can tackle something that size is with this." She turned to the zookeeper who was wringing his hands and looking out the dirty windows. "Thanks for this, I'll return it as soon as we de-akumanize your son."

"Be gentle with him, won't you?" he met her eyes, deep with worry. "I don't remember what it's like to be possessed, but I'm sure it wasn't fun."

"Of course," Lady affirmed.

Chat and Lady Bug walked out of the zoo and surveyed the street. There were no unusual sounds coming from anywhere anymore. The street was pretty empty for a weekend, but it was still early.

"Let's get on a roof," Chat suggested.

They found a fire escape on a nearby building and began to climb. Chat went first, agile and quick. Lady Bug followed, towing the large tranquilizer gun on her back and struggling to maintain balance. Chat grabbed her arm and pulled her up on the roof.

"So," Chat began. "What does this kid call himself?"

Lady smiled, "Well, his name is Tom, but he calls himself the WarRhino."

The sun was just rising over Paris making the rooftops glow red like fire as they walked to the edge of the building.

"That's so cheesy," Chat said. "I could have come up with a better name than that."

"Says the boy who's called Black Cat," Lady teased poking his chest.

"Says the girl who's called Lady Bug!" Chat cried trying to poke her back but she maneuvered around his finger and laughed.

"I never said his name was cheesy-"

There was a boom from across the city, and their heads immediately swung in the direction of the sound. A plume of smoke swirled high into the sky.

"There!" she cried. "He must be at someone's house from the look of it."

Lady Bug pulled the gun around to check the needle and Chat jumped back.

"What's the deal?" Lady said. "Why are you so scared of this thing?"

Chat straightened from his defensive pose and crossed his arms. "My Lady, have you never seen an movie before? Usually, if there's a tranquilizer gun, the person who gets shot is not the target."

Lady laughed, "Oh kitty cat, you watch way too many cartoons. It has the safety on. Besides, don't you trust me?"

Chat's face changed and he bowed and took Lady's free hand, spun her around and dipped her like they were dancing the tango. They were nose to nose as he said, "I would trust you with my life, Lady."

Lady Bug couldn't help it, heat rose up to her cheeks. His eyes suddenly that close spurred feelings in her, no matter how much she told herself otherwise. It wasn't right to feel this way when you had a crush on someone else. Was it?

"Lady?" Chat said cautiously as he straightened.

Lady Bug remembered herself and smiled as she always did when this happened.

Pretend to shake it off, it's nothing.

"We better get going," she said.

Chat nodded, "Yeah, of course."

And they were off. They bounded off walls and over rooftops, Chat keeping a close eye on Lady Bug's expression the whole time. He was used to her brushing off his attempts at flirting. Still, he couldn't help but watch her face to maybe glimpse a hint that she was hiding her true feelings. Chat always carried that hope in him.

He didn't even realize that they arrived at their destination until Lady came to an immediate halt, causing Chat to trip over himself and tumble into a crouching cat position.

"Of course," Lady sighed. "It's the mayor's house."

Chat turned his attention to the matter at hand.

"Don't you think it's kind of suspicious that the akuminized people keep going after Chloe?" Chat speculated.

"Not really," Lady smiled to herself.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, clearly whatever is causing these possessions is always seeking revenge against her. It's not hard to believe that she spurs that kind of emotion in people, is it?" Lady said.

Chat nodded. "Makes sense. She almost made me do her homework once."

"She almost makes me want to turn around and let the Akuma do what it wants with her, doesn't she?" she laughed.

Chat smiled, "Hey, who's the real villain here?"

They made their way inside, but the place was deserted. As always the mansion looked spotless and bright. The only imperfection was the gaping hole leading to the kitchen.

"I don't think anyone's home," said Lady. "Maybe the WarRhino left too." She turned to Chat who was frowning and listening to the air intently.

Lady shrugged and began walking towards the hole when Chat grabbed her arm and pulled her up to him.

"Hey!"

"Shhh," he tightened his grip. "Don't you think it's too quiet?" he whispered close to her ear.

"He probably moved to another room if he's still here," she managed to say under her breath.

Chat stayed quiet but didn't let go of Lady's arm.

"You might be right," he finally said. "I don't hear anything."

He relaxed and released his grip, and she had to stop herself from being a little disappointed that he was letting go.

"I guess he's not here-" Chat began and then a heavy gust of wind hit their necks. It was moist and warm, like someone's breath.

"Oh. There he is," he said without turning around.

"Look out!" Lady yelled, but it was too late, WarRhino reared it enormous head and knocked Chat in the air. He gave out a cat-like screech as he went tumbling.

The creature turned to Lady then and barreled towards her. She evaded just in time but something fell from her arms.

Chat landed on his hands and feet and looked up to realize that Lady didn't have the gun. Searching the room, he found it right underneath the WarRhino.

"This kid doesn't mess around," Chat said.

"What do you expect from a boy who chose to turn into a rhino," said Lady from across the room.

Chat smiled slyly. "I still have more muscles than him, though." He flexed and Lady rolled her eyes.

Chat ran up to the WarRhino, whose attention was on Lady Bug and slid right between his massive legs.

"Nice one!" Lady cried out as Chat swept the gun from the floor and stopped in front of the monster boy.

"Not so nice from this position," he said as he scurried up and away quickly before being trampled. He tossed the tranquilizer to Lady with a wink and she readied it.

Another roar and the WarRhino was charging again.

"Fire!" Chat screamed and Lady pulled the trigger.

Click. Click.

Click. Click. Click.

"What?" she said.

WarRhino ran full on into her and pushed her into the air. She landed less gracefully than Chat but not too painfully.

"The gun's empty!" Lady said rubbing her butt as she stood up. "I'll handle this guy, you figure out what happened to the needle," and she somersaulted and landed across the room on top of a table.

Chat backed up into the doorway and surveyed the lobby. There was no trace of a needle.

It was only when the world began to tilt that he realized where it was. Chat looked down at his own leg.

Just as he thought. It was lodged in his thigh.

"Great," Chat said.

He continued to back up into the next room and flipped over a chair by accident. All he could see now was the ceiling which began to swirl into different shapes and figures.

"Ugh, here it comes. Just like the movies."

First it was Paris, made of flames and shadows burning on the ceiling before him. The city extinguished and transformed into the night sky with hundreds of twinkling stars, each as bright as the next. They began to dance and form circles and shapes until finally the stars swirled and formed into Lady Bug's face, smiling down at him. He reached his arm up to touch her, but his arms were made of lead. He resolved in just looking.

"Lucky charm!" was all Chat heard as the world blurred and went dark.

... ... ...

Adrien woke up batting his eyes trying to see where he was. It felt cold and the lights seemed to be out.

"Lady Bug?" he called.

There was no answer.

He heard Plegg fly up to him from somewhere.

"There's a light switch over there," Plegg said and then flew off again.

"Why didn't you turn it on?" Adrien protested as he stood up slowly. His muscles were heavy and slow, the medicine still having an affect on him. He felt the walls and slid his hands up and down until he found the light switch.

Turning around, he realized why Plegg was so lazy. They were in a food storage closet, which he and Lady agreed was a good place if they were close to detransforming during a mission.

"Glad to see that you're any help," he said to Plegg. He didn't respond as there was an entire wheel of cheese in his mouth.

Adrien pressed his ear against the metal door and listened. Someone was snoring on the other side.

"Must be Lady," Adrien murmured.

He turned to Plegg, "Time to transform."

Plegg protested something unintelligible but was sucked into Adrien's ring anyway.

Fully transformed again, he stepped up to the door. Pressing against the cold metal he pushed and it gave way immediately and swung open.

The mansion was in perfect condition and the hole in the wall was gone. It looked like the Mayor and his daughter was still not home even though it was already mid afternoon.

Chat smiled at his luck and almost missed the sleeping girl on the floor.

"Huh?" he looked down and there she was with a Kwami sleeping on her stomach.

It was Marinette.