The girls sat on the merry-go-round as the guys stood around it. Felix checked his phone, the time quarter past midnight. The Kwami and Quantic sat in a circle by his feet, snoring. "…"

I suppose we could have given her more time to think about revealing her identity to strangers, but Adrien is still missing and every second he's gone is one more second of my nerves twitching with worry…I'm turning into my father. Great.

"She may not show," Neo said as Larisse and Lyra finished exchanging contact numbers, "we should start the meeting before people get too curious and check the scene out."

"I wonder," Tani redid her braid, "maybe she thinks she's too good to show us her secret identity? I mean, I don't want to assume anything about her, but…"

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's the exact opposite," Victor replied as a cool wind flooded the park, "showing your identity to a group of strangers that already know each other's identities? I'd be surprised if she didn't run home and hide under her bed covers."

"Are you saying that'd be your first reaction?"

Isra raised her hand. "It'd certainly be mine."

Finally Felix heard soft footsteps at the park entrance. The group slowly turned their attention to the dark as a young girl with dark blue pigtails entered the light of the streetlamps. He immediately recognized her big blue eyes and pink coprees. "…Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

The daughter of the bakers. Adrien's friend…the one who seemed to stutter whenever he was around her.

She looked from face to face before giving a tiny wave. "H-Hello." And then she said nothing. Despite being the confident Ladybug with her mask on, Felix could feel her fear from a few feet away, standing out in the open. He glanced at Lyra, who gestured to Marinette with her head, her way of voluntelling him to welcome her.

Because when one think welcoming, one thinks Felix Agreste.

He walked over to Marinette, as though noticing her red earrings for the first time. How had he not connected the dots a month ago when they'd hung out together with her and Adrien's class?

"It's nice of you to show up." He smiled. "And no, I'm not trying to be patronizing. We really are happy to have you here, Marinette."

"I'm sorry I'm so late," she mumbled, "but when I found out you and your friends were really the Quantic Squad, I got so nervous. I…," she glanced at the other over his shoulder, "so those are Mythic?"

Larisse hopped off the merry-go-round. "I'm Larisse. These are Neo, Isra, Stephan and Tani. The Kwami can give you your names afterwards."

"And…Chat Noir?" She looked around the park. "Where's Chat Noir? You invited him, didn't you? We could really use his help finding Adrien. Oh," her eyes widened, "I'm so sorry, Felix. I-I know we can find him!"

"…Yes, we can," he put his hands on her shoulders, "but we'll have to without Chat Noir."

"W-Why?"

Will he kill me when I tell her? What will happen when he eventually found out?

"…Marinette, Adrien is Chat Noir."

She blinked a few times at him. "…"

"…Uh, Marinette? My brother is your partner."

"…What?"

"Adrien Agreste is a superhero."

"…Excuse me-"

He gave her a light but firm shake. "Adrien. Is. Chat. Noir."

"Oh," she smiled, "I thought so. I was afraid I'd heard you wrong."

And then she fainted in his arms.

"M-Marinette?!"

"What did you do to her, Felix?"

"I didn't do anything, Lyra!"

"Oh no, someone call an ambulance!"

"Yeah, Isra, cuz that wouldn't be suspicious!"

Dunk her head in the fountain.

"No, Ben!"

A sharp whistle cut through their bickering, and everyone turned to Tani. "Honestly," she grumbled, "this meeting isn't going to be secret if we keep fighting and all the neighbours come out to investigate." She walked over to Felix, who held Marinette, and placed her hands on the girl's cheeks. Then she smacked them hard."

That sounded painful.

Marinette bolted up to her feet, hitting Felix in her attempt to stand and pushing him over. "What?! Where?! Who?! O-Oh," she finally noticed him giving her a look, "sorry, Felix! I didn't see you there!"

"Clearly. What's with the sudden fainting?"

"I thought you'd told me something completely unbelievable," she awkwardly laughed, "to think that you'd ever tell me that your brother Adrien was my partner, Chat Noir."

"Am I going to have to write it on your arm with permanent marker?" He stood and dusted his clothes off. "Adrien is Chat Noir, and I am Sparrow, and we are a group of heroes out of costume trying to find him."

Her smile faded, and she looked as though she was going to faint again. "Adrien…really is Chat Noir? I…no, it can't be," she steadied herself as Bridgette and Larisse came to her side, "their polar opposites! He can't be Chat!"

"Believe me when I tell you that my brother has a certain humor about him."

The puns we could all do without, but he is my flesh and blood.

"While you try to sort out your feelings," Stephan gestured to the group, "shall we begin this meeting of the minds? Ah," he glanced at Benjamin, "and mime."

"Stephan's right," Lyra sat on the edge of the fountain with Tani and Neo, "we should talk business before our next taxi ride tries plummeting us into the Eiffel Tower."

"Which brings us to the topic of interest," Neo waited for any objections or fainting spells, "who – and what – kidnapped one Agreste son and tried to crash the other along with his companions down to earth."

"HawkMoth," Victor suggested, "he's Paris' big baddy, right? I don't know how he figured out that you two were Sparrow and Chat Noir, but he's got something up those evil sleeves of his…if he wears sleeves. Do we even know what the guy looks like?"

"Purple," Marinette put simply, "very purple."

"No." Neo stood up and faced the group. "This isn't the work of HawkMoth – this is the work of Gigas."