"Chaton," Ladybug grumbled, eyeing the very new model of phone he'd placed into her hands. "I'm really not okay with this. We really should have talked about this before you bought them."

He sighed. "I tried to talk to you about it last night. Several times. When you weren't transformed and didn't pick up your on your yo-yo."

She sighed, opening the screen. "Only one number?"

"And you can call or text." Chat smirked. "I did buy both phones and the minutes with euros. Although I guess we ought to try to stay as cryptic as possible, just in case someone is paying attention."

"Kitty…" Ladybug shook her head. "You paid too much for this…"

"For peace of mind and a little extra sleep?" Chat smiled, one gloved hand slipping easily onto her shoulder. "I think that's worth it."

Ladybug shifted her weight, settling the hand that held the new phone at her hip. It was going to be hard enough to hide this extra phone from Alya without a whole new set of questions. "What do I owe you?"

He shrugged. "Just an answer when I text. The cost wasn't really an issue for me. I've...had allowance money in a savings account that was looking for a good use."

"You didn't use all your savings, did you?"

Chat burst out laughing. "Was that what you were worried about?" A grin slipped into place with a shameless wink to match. "Not to worry, Bugaboo. I still can afford a nice date with you, anytime you want. In fact, now you can even text me."

She pushed back his nose, much too tired for him to start in with the flirtatious antics this early in the morning. "Why text when we can talk now?"

Chat's brows rose, blinking as he backed up to full height.

She sighed...bringing him back to business. "I won't have much more time before someone will be missing me...Did you notice anything on the news?"

"There wasn't a lot of chatter out there…just the one story about the poodle on the Ladyblog."

"That's the one with the mirror, right?" Ladybug frowned, meeting her partner's gaze. "Was the plant near a mirror, too?"


Chat Noir vaulted easily across the few blocks from the school towards the park. There wasn't nearly enough time before class at this point, but if they didn't find out now, there was no way either one of them could focus.

There would be no way that they could try to plan how to deal with this thing.

Ladybug had sped on ahead, entrusting him with both their phones simply because he conveniently had pockets.

When he landed beside her on the balcony, she was already looking at the plant again. A gloved finger was poking at the grey frond. "It isn't really stone-like," she murmured, pressing the leaf again as it bent just slightly against the pressure. "But it is pretty rigid."

Chat Noir peered inside. "Sure enough, there's a mirror that is pointed this way."

Standing beside him, Ladybug blanched. "If I had my doubts before, this would fix that."

"You and I just had just come rushing past when you noticed it, right?"

"Yeah…" Ladybug nibbled her lower lip, deep in thought.

Chat looked away, desperate to stay focused. "So why didn't it keep attacking?"

She shrugged, her arms crossing over her chest. "And how did it move all over the place without anyone noticing? The reports I keep seeing had the dog frozen in place about three neighborhoods over."

He shook his head, puzzled. This was really bizarre. But he would be lying if he said he didn't mind the less frenetic pace of the investigation. It was nice to just be able to linger by her side without the mad, headlong rush into danger.

"So we know it appears near mirrors." Ladybug paced the small metal floor. "And it sounds like there may be some sort of line of sight to the attack based upon the dog and how we found this plant."

Chat's eyes followed her, before peering back at the mirror. "And it has to be an Akuma, doesn't it? I can't think of anything outside of magic that might do something like this."

"Honestly, Chat," her blue eyes narrowed, "I can only hope you're right. Then we have at least some idea of what we must be working with…"

Scowling back towards the mirror, Chat's claws bit into the brick. He could have sworn he'd seen a weird glimmer in the glass out of the corner of his eye.

Ladybug sighed, her pacing growing more agitated by the second. "We don't know how it moves. We don't know what it does…"

His ear twitched, the hairs at the back of his neck standing on end.

Ladybug peered back at him, her nose wrinkling up in that adorable little way it always did when she was a little puzzled. "I don't even think we could begin to guess what it wants."

Hissing, he rocked on his heels to pick up momentum, tugging her out of the way and into his arms just as the rail across the street took on a grey cast compared to all the neighboring balconies.

Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him, slightly breathless as she pushed herself out of his hold.

Chat's grin sharpened, claws slipping down to clasp the balcony door handle.

"Well, my Lady, I think we're just about to find out."

She slipped behind the brickwork, crouching low as she summoned her Lucky Charm.

Her gaze darted everywhere, searching for something that would make the small reflective disc she'd received make a little more sense.

He gripped the handle a little more tightly when her gaze slipped back up to his, wringing her hands around the slim disc. "Anything?" he mouthed.

Ladybug shook her head, nodding towards the door.

Chat sighed, hoping that whatever she would need to take this Akuma down would be in there.

He would definitely be late enough for class as it was.


Author's Notes:

I'm doing what I can here, but I am dealing with health issues that might delay my posting schedule. Please bear with me, even if I need to slip behind the curve.

I have a plan and I will stick to it. :)