Chapter II

Ladybug leaps from the lavatory and makes her way to the roof, where she encounters a skittish-looking Cat Noir. Ladybug greets him, "Cat Noir, you're here, good! Whoever broadcast that message into our heads and killed that publisher must have been akumatized by Hawk-Moth!"

Cat Noir replies, "I've been thinking exactly the same thing, bugaboo!"

Ladybug rolls her eyes, because she hates it when he calls her that. "The problem is where to start," Ladybug begins, suppressing her annoyance, "We haven't the slightest clue where to find him."

"He's an elusive one, isn't he?" Cat Noir states, "I respect that, but don't worry, we'll sniff him out."

As Cat Noir finishes speaking, a voice pierces his mind, "Ladybug and Cat Noir, it's about time you showed your masks. Alas, I'll see your faces too before long. Surrender your Miraculous now, for if you don't, there will be more bloodshed…"

"We'll never give you our Miraculous!" Cat Noir pronounces with defiance.

The voice cackles, then says, "Perhaps you can learn a thing or two from this lovely teacher…"

Ladybug and Cat Noir gasp at once, "Mrs. Bustier!"

Thunder strikes, and a dark shroud eclipses the sky, submerging the whole of Paris into an eerie darkness. Moss and mildew sprout up on every surface of the school so that it is hardly recognizable. The rest of the lights in the school go out, and Ladybug and Cat Noir jump down into the school courtyard, where a number of menacing devices have appeared. Cat Noir's hairs tingle. He doesn't like this one bit. It's a scene straight out of a Spanish Inquisitorial dungeon.

Most of them, Ladybug and Cat Noir fail to recognize or even figure out how they work. Yet Ladybug and Cat Noir hope that they won't find out. There are iron cages hanging from the ceiling by thick metal chains, and there is a wall upon which a variety of strange tools are hung. Among these tools are every shape and size of blade. There are dull blades, razor blades, jagged blades, thorny blades, crooked blades, hooked blades, saw blades, and even blood-stained blades. There are daggers, dirks, and athames. There are swords, sabres, rapiers, and great cleavers. There are spiked maces, blunt hammers, and deadly clubs. In addition, there are all manner of torture devices: chains, belts, gags, drills, hooks, and a variety of other tools neither Ladybug nor Cat Noir can even recognize or understand.

Of the many other torture devices, there is a guillotine and a tall metal pole with several metal limbs, each having a chain and a barbed hook on the end. On one hook, a teacher that neither Ladybug or Cat Noir recognize hangs dead with a hook pierced into his throat, leaving a trail of blood dribbling down his bare and battered chest. In one corner, there is a gallows where two lifeless bodies swing limply in the nooses. Slowly, the bodies turn around, and Ladybug recognizes the deceased faces of Ivan and Kim. She gasps in terror. He killed them! They were her friends! Ladybug looks to Cat Noir who is equally disturbed. Surely he didn't know them like Ladybug did… did he? Either way, this villain is going to pay! But either way, once the akuma is purified, she'll just use her lucky charm to put everything back to normal, and Ivan and Kim will be alive and well again. Yes, they'll be fine once she uses her lucky charm. They aren't dead. They aren't really dead. At least, that's what Ladybug tells herself. It's all she can do to keep her mind focused.

Ladybug and Cat Noir burst into their classroom, and Ladybug discerns that she is standing in something viscous… something sticky… "Blood!" Cat Noir shrieks, jumping back in fright. He tenses, beginning to get queasy. He's never done well around blood, especially not in amounts like this! The floor is flooded with it, and there are stains all over the desks and walls as if people had struggled to escape, but were met only with deadly lacerations. Cat Noir wonders what could have possibly happened to his classmates, and he fears the worst.

Cat Noir feels a drip on his head. He looks up and screams. Mrs. Bustier has been nailed to the ceiling by her wrists and ankles, leaving her body hanging arched. Her lifeless eyes stare down at them, and Ladybug feels her blood-pressure rising. Mrs. Bustier's body is cut open at the throat and torso. She is no doubt the source of the pool of blood beneath their feet. One of her intestines dangles from the rip in her belly, dripping blood from the end of it. A small chunk of guts slips free from among Mrs. Bustier's entrails. Cat Noir jumps out of the way as it hits the floor, splashing blood onto Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Cat Noir wipes the blood splatters off his face and promptly vomits. "Hang in there, kitty; it's just a hair-ball," Ladybug encourages, "On the bright side, I guess I don't have to worry about the blood stains!" She indicates to her bright red super-suit with a meager smile. Ladybug doesn't show it, but she is beginning to doubt herself even now. She has to protect her friends. She has to defeat this akuma. She has to prevent Hawk-Moth from getting her Miraculous!

"Come on, Cat Noir. We've got to find the akuma!"

Cat Noir stands up straight and says, "I'll be fine. Besides, my breakfast was only slowing me down!"

"Whatever you say, tough guy…" Ladybug jests. They exit the classroom together, and Ladybug says, "It's so dark. I can barely see ahead."

"Allow me to light the way, m'Lady." Cat Noir insists, whipping out his baton and twirling it in his hand. He presses one of the buttons, and like a flashlight one end of the baton produces a bright green beam of light.

"How come mine doesn't do that?" Ladybug whines.

"How come mine doesn't de-evilize akumas?"

"Fair enough…"

Cat Noir illuminates the courtyard, which makes the torture devices and the dead bodies look even more terrifying than before.

Ladybug suggests that they split up to cover more ground, but Cat Noir tries to protest, saying that they should stay together, insisting that you never split up in a horror story!

"What? Are you some kinda scaredy cat?" Ladybug taunts, turning away from him.

"No, I'm not scared!"

"Then why did you scream like a little girl when we found Mrs. Bustier?"

"You may not know any of those people like I did," Cat Noir accuses, "but those were my friends and teacher!" Cat Noir is shouting now. How can she be acting like this when people are dying left and right? They were people he knew. Does she even care about the people of Paris? Have the horrors they've seen already driven her mad?

Ladybug stops in her tracks. Those were his friends… and his teacher, which means… which means Cat Noir must go to her school! He might even be in the same class as her! But, he probably isn't in her class. In fact, he's probably in a different grade altogether.

Ladybug takes a deep breath; she has to keep her cool. If she starts freaking out, who knows how Cat Noir will react. She will need his help to take down the akuma. They cautiously make their way down the stairs, expecting something to emerge from the shadows and attack them at any moment. Instead of some horrible monster emerging, the cacophonous sound of a shriek pierces their ears. Ladybug recognizes the voice immediately. It can only be her best friend, Alya Cesaire.