I scanned my students. They were busy, still working hard on designing their first project. I had faith that they would be good at this. But because we weren't in an actual classroom and were instead in a penthouse that I reserved for this purpose specifically, we didn't have a bell to signal when the class would be over. I didn't even assign a set amount of time for our classes either. And I had to get out of here early today. There was something I needed to check out.
"Class is over. See you all tomorrow," I dismissed them after giving it a moment's thought on how to get out of here.
I sighed as they all packed up their stuff silently and proceeded to get out of the room and into the elevator to start their journey down to the lobby. A couple of students had remained behind to continue fixing their belongings in order to leave. They would have to wait for the elevator to come back up which meant that I had to wait a bit longer. Whatever the case, I waited until the last kid went out. However, my assistant, Adrien, was another story. He just sat where he was staring at me silently, expecting me to say something I guess. I don't know what he wanted me to say, but I needed him to get out. To do that, I needed to do it in a manner that wasn't blatant in what I wanted. I need to do it subtly. I don't want to become that one teacher with rumours surrounding him on why he's such a jerk.
"You can leave too. I'm not keeping you after class. I know that your father wants you where he can keep an eye on you at all times," he scoffed at the comment I made about his father, looks like he didn't like how Gabriel hovered over him.
"How are you able to talk without an accent, Mr Anael?" he asked.
"What?" He surprised me.
I didn't expect this question from him. It came out of left field for me, but it was an appropriate topic for him to touch on. Everyone in here already knew that I came from Brazil and that Portuguese was the main language there. But because they haven't been over there, they didn't know that English was also one of the most spoken languages along with Japanese and Spanish. Not to mention the hundreds of native tribal languages either.
I thought about the answer for a bit. I let my attention slip to the small box on my desk though. A small blue bird with a silver bottom half acted as a lock. Magnets. I took it everywhere with me, it gave me courage and reminded me of the good things in life.
"Well, when I talk in English, my French accent isn't as obvious but it's still there, even if it isn't as obvious as other French speakers. But you. When you talk, it isn't as obvious. You actually do sound American even," he pointed out.
"My father. He fell in love with my mom while he was on a business trip to America. So I'm technically half American. And because of that, my mom used to teach me English saying that one day she would be taking me to the States. Unfortunately, she and my dad died before they got the chance to do so. And in my mom's memory, I uh. I promised myself to keep speaking English. So I guess the reason why I don't have an accent is that I spent a long time practising it," I explained offering a smile as I remembered my mom.
"I'm sorry to hear about that. I mean, I already knew that your parents died since you were young. With your life story circulating fashion forums and all, heh. But. I mean. I guess I want to say. I know what it's like. My mom disappeared when I was young. My father and I don't know what happened to her. But we still have her in our hearts. And sometimes it also feels that I lost my father when she vanished."
We sat in silence. The memories of our loved ones still in the air haunting us. I hadn't told him everything. About what I really lost. And I don't really think that I would ever tell anyone the full story. Not even the media knew about the tragedy that happened. Maybe it would stay that way. Maybe I was being selfish for preventing the memory from circulating. But it was painful to think about.
"Well, I should get going. Sorry for bothering you," Adrien chuckled nervously as he left.
"Jane?" I called my kwami out once the elevator doors closed.
"I'm in here!" her voice came from one of the drawers in the furniture to the side of me.
I knelt down and gave a little tug at the thing trying to open it. But it wouldn't budge. It was locked. I wonder how Jane even got inside if it was locked. I took out a set of keys and unlocked the thing to slide it open. Once she was out I nodded at her signalling that I needed her help.
"This is huge, Tikki!" Marinette exclaimed as she entered the room she would be staying in for the rest of her time in New York. The grandeur was enough to distract her from what would surely be her sanity breakage.
The room she was staying in was Adrien Agreste's. Surprisingly, his father had allowed for one of the students to stay with his son in the penthouse. Gabriel himself hadn't been to the room since he arrived. He seemed to have been busy with his work for the past week. Which was great for Marinette as she didn't have to interact with someone who was so intimidating, but it was bad for Adrien as he would be interacting even less with his father than he already was. It was a good feeling that he would be sharing the room with a friend to get rid of the loneliness he would have endured had none of this happened.
But Marinette would be thinking otherwise. Her bags were forgotten beside the elevator as she ventured deeper into the apartment to investigate all of the marvellous things that decorated the room. Vases and paintings stood side by side on every wall preventing bareness from threatening the cosy feel of everything. The chandelier above lit up the place with a brightness that could've rivalled the sun itself.
Tikki swarmed around the room as well, joining Marinette in marvelling at the beauty this place contained. Although she was inspecting each of the potted plants that were lending their collective ambience to the room, she was wondering how long it would take her Miraculous holder to think about what this meant and freak out. For now, she was just preparing herself and thinking about how she would be able to calm her down by relaxing a bit.
The golden radiance of the room cast a warm glow against Marinette's skin as the realization of being roommates with her longtime crush slowly began to dawn on her.
The ding of the elevator froze her in place though, preventing her freak out from achieving its full strength. Tikki hearing it too hid inside one of the vases with flowers. Marinette slowly turned over to the elevator as its doors slid open to reveal Adrien Agreste, the owner of this suite, as he shuffled out of the thing.
"Hey, Mari. You settling in fine?" Adrien asked as he took off his jacket and scarf to hang them on the coat rack next to the elevator door.
Marinette stared at him. She was speechless as she looked at him. He'd been a classmate of her's for 2 years straight, only disappearing during junior year. This was her final year with him and she, never in a hundred years, ever expected to share the same room with him. Sure she'd dreamt of it, but she didn't think that her imagination would translate to reality. It felt like a reward for everything that she had done as the superhero Ladybug.
But at the same time, it felt like a punishment. Being forced into the same room for the remainder of the semester with the boy who could incapacitate her just by being in her line of sight. To have the boy she liked, look at her every day non-stop and see all of her flaws, that was just the worst form of torture.
"Uh, huh?" she was all she managed.
"Look, I have something to do, I'll be back out in a bit. In the meantime, you can explore the penthouse. See if there's anything that calls your attention."
Marinette stood frozen with a forced grin plastered on her face as Adrien tossed his bag to the side of the elevator and ran upstairs. Once he was gone, she let out a sigh of relief and slid down the wall to sit down.
I didn't even flinch as the throwing knives hit me. One hit me on the chest which bounced off since the edge of it was what hit me. The other one just hit me with the edge but bounced off my mask. And the last knife didn't even reach me, just sailing past me and clattering onto the floor after bouncing off the wall. I looked at the man disappointed in his actions.
"Really? You thought those things would do anything to me?" I inquired with amusement.
"I saw it in a sh-show. I thought that-that it would work?" he stuttered in fear. I could smell it wafting off of him. Sometimes the enhanced senses that came with the miraculous were quite handy.
"Are you asking me? Or telling me?" I scoffed. He just shrugged, trembling. "Throwing Knives aren't capable of killing anyone—" I picked one of them up and twirled it in my hands allowing my claws to connect with them to make some noise, "—Plus, judging by your form and the way you threw them, you haven't even practised with the accuracy. You can't handle these. You don't have the strength to even embed them into a person's skin. But I do. It's a shame really, I thought that you would really give me a challenge for me to train my skills." I narrowed my eyes at him.
In a swift motion, I threw the knife at him causing him to flinch allowing me to close in on him and take him down. I did all this with the help of my natural speed before the knife even arrived at the wall and stuck to it.
"Now, someone like me, who's trained in several martial arts and types of combat, already knows how to use throwing knives. So tell me, where is your employer. I know that you sell trinkets and stuff. Now some of those are special. And you're going to tell me where you get them," I snarled in his face.
"Chill! Chill! I don't know who he is! I just get this stuff in the mail and I'm told to send the majority of my earnings to an address," he pulled out his phone and started to unlock it. "I've seen several other people go there too to pay their dues to the man."
I swiped it out of his hands as soon as he entered the password. I went through several of the things on his phone while keeping him pinned to the floor. There was nothing in the memos or notes, nor any documents downloaded.
"The address is in my contacts written in coordinates…" I hit his head with my hand hard enough to knock him out cold.
I went into Contacts and scrolled through all the phone numbers until I came across one that wasn't written in the standard way. It also had the given advantage of being the only one that didn't have a name on it. Smart. I had to give the guy credit on this one, but the no name was still kind of stupid. He should've at least named it something like cotton candy.
The run to the location wasn't that long. Just a couple of minutes out of my way. Apparently, this guy was a sucker for comic book villain cliches. The address where the guy had to deliver the money was in Hell's Kitchen. Kind of obvious when you think of it. What other places in New York sounded evil? I should've just come here instead. But I still wouldn't have known where specifically to go.
"Allô, Jagg!"
Chat Noir startled me as he came in for a landing next to me. The night was stone cold silent before he popped up. And because I was trying my best to hide in the darkness, I wasn't prepared for anyone to notice me. Even if it was a superhero.
"Shut up!" I hissed.
"Oh, uh, sorry?" he gave me a sheepish grin.
I sighed and shook my head. Why did I have to get stuck with a rookie?
My attention was returned to the apartments below hoping to get a glimpse of anything suspicious.
"So, what are we doing?" Chat peeked over an AC exhaust vent.
"I'm looking into how that woman got hold of an enchanted item. Apparently, someone's been stealing these artefacts to sell in the criminal underworld. How did you find me so easily?"
"Oh, it wasn't actually that easy. You're a lot tougher to track down than M'lady. I guess it's because our miraculi aren't a complimentary pair like mine is with Ladybug's. But I still have a connection with you since you're in possession of a feline mir…"
"Shh," I demanded as 2 people entered the complex.
They were looking around before to make sure that no one was watching. That was suspicious enough for me.
I vaulted across the street onto the roofs of the apartments. I looked behind and saw as Chat Noir lengthened his baton in order to cross the street himself. But I couldn't wait for him. I dropped to the ground silently and skirted around the pool in the middle of the complex before the two men could notice me.
They walked up to one of the doors and knocked.
I froze up as a man came out. It couldn't be, I couldn't believe it. I refused to do so. It was the first Miraculous villain I ever fought. Hypnus. But it was impossible, he was back in Brazil incarcerated for the rest of his life. Wasn't he?
For a moment, I forgot about everything and I was sent back to the day when I finally came face to face with him.
"What are you going to do now, Kitten?" Hypnus smiled at me.
"Jagg? What's the plan?" Pasarina turned to me with a worried look on her face.
Hypnus didn't have any minions along with him. That was troubling. His miraculous was all about controlling others and influencing them in order to create stable teamwork. And he always let others do his dirty work. What was he planning? Was this a trap? How do we go about this?
I shook off the worrying. Now wasn't the time for that. All of Brazil relied on me to defeat this man today.
"We don't know what you're planning. But whatever it is, we assure you that it won't work. You will be defeated today. It all ends today!" I gritted my teeth as I took Pasarina's hand in my own. "We will make sure of it."
Everything turned dark. Pain and panic flooded my senses. I don't know how I got here.
The sound of metal shattering and a chain snapping was all I could hear. Over and over again.
"We'll meet again, Jagg."
I was left alone with Pasarina, the love of my life, at my feet. I never wanted to let her do this with me. It was such a dangerous job, but I relented. And now because of me, she was dead. Her miraculous destroyed in the process when I promised to protect both with my life. I failed.
"I'm sorry, Ana," a tiny kwami muttered as it slowly turned into particles of light and disappeared.
"Well, if it isn't Jagg! Welcome, buddy. How was your flight? Or did you come by driving?" Hypnus broke my memories.
I was disoriented. It was him. How could he be here?!
"How are you here!?" I demanded, an edge to my voice.
"Oh, you mean why am I out of jail after I killed your precious girlfriend?" he smoothed over his suit as he walked down the steps.
The goons that I had followed in here ran away, clearly not ready for this level of confrontation.
"Jagg? What's the plan?" Chat Noir pounced down next to me revealing himself to Hypnus.
Jagg? What's the plan? my blood drained. Tears burned in my eyes. I couldn't take this.
"Looks like the little tiger can't swallow what he bit off," Hypnus mocked me. "Lium, Awaken."
My eyes widened. Not only was he out of jail, but he had his miraculous back.
"For the record, I'm sorry about everything that I've done to you," a small kwami with a swirl on its stomach offered before being sucked into Hypnus' pocket watch that was stashed in his pocket with only the chain showing.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Chat prodded me.
I just watched as Hypnus appeared clad in a black and white costume completed with a cape and gold highlights.
"Two on one? Don't you think it's hardly fair?" Hypnus observed.
"I think that the odds look purrty furrtastic for us," Chat Noir smirked and crossed his arms.
"Oh, I wasn't talking about me, kitty. I was talking about you guys."
"Me-Oh?"
"While Jagg there stays frozen with his fears, I will, Control," a giant transparent stopwatch made of energy appeared in the air snagging Chat's attention. "Now take his miraculous and kill him.
Adam, snap out of it!
Jane's plea snapped me out of my funk just in time.
"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir launched himself at me with his hand bubbling with deadly energy that could de atomize me at any given moment.
"Snap out of it Chat! Think about Ladybug, think about what you feel about—agh!" Chat's normal hand had his claws unsheathed and was able to tear the fabric of my costume and opened up 4 gashes on my chest.
Drops of blood splattered on to the floor. I clutched my chest in an effort to stop the cold wind from the cloudy day from stinging it.
"Don't make me hurt you kid," I warned through clenched teeth.
His eyes were glazed over and didn't give any kind of response as he rushed towards me trying to touch me with his hand. Each dodge was barely by a whisker. I wasn't in the position to fight. I couldn't concentrate properly, but if I wasn't having trouble concentrating then this would've been over quickly.
"You're not getting away easily this time, Adam."
"I'm not planning on leaving without you Victor, you killed Ana. You're finally going to pay for what you did. The law won't interfere this time. I've seen how they handled you already."
"You really think that I enjoyed killing her, don't you?" he narrowed his eyes at me. "I loved her more than you did. I never knew who Pasarina was. You dragged her into this. It's your fault that she's dead. THIS IS ALL…"
I punched him in the jaw before launching myself into Chat and did my best to keep his arm pinned under mine. That didn't stop him from scratching me up though. I picked him up and tossed him at Hypnus.
Chat flailed his arms as he crashed into him and accidentally touched him. Horror filled him as Hypnus began to darken and his costume began to turn into dust. Unfortunately, that was all that happened. With the addition of his miraculous watch turning black.
"NO!" he looked at his miraculous. "You'll pay for that," he glared at me before taking out a staff and disappearing.
"Fucking hell!" I yelled out into the sky.
I can't hold the transformation any longer, Adam. Chat Noir's damage is too much for me.
Chat Noir groaned and picked himself up as my transformation wore off.
"Adam?!" he asked in surprise as he saw me.
His miraculous chirped incessantly before falling silent and causing his costume to dissipate as well.
Before me, Adrien Agreste was standing. My suspicions were true then.
"So you are him," I spoke first. "How would you like to be trained by me? I have a lot of knowledge that I've learned in my decade of being a miraculous user."
