Final Battle

Set in the middle of PatBC Chapter 10

Tom had started the day nervous. Today was the day they would take Mr. Agreste- Hawkmoth- down. Tom had never been in a combat situation before, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Wayzz had told him just to rely on instinct, but he was pretty sure that his instinct in squaring up against just another man versus a superpowered villain wasn't exactly the same thing.

The akuma attack mid-morning, right before they would have headed out to confront Mr. Agreste, had thrown him off. He and Sabine spent a lot of time pacing, watching the television in the corner of the room and occasionally dashing downstairs to check on their workers. Tension mounted as the akuma fight dragged on, and there were several close calls that had them chewing on their fingernails and itching to dash out and help.

"At least Chat Noir still has his head in the game," Fu said from where he had settled on the couch. He had a scroll open in his lap, and a notebook next to him for the translation. Tom had tried to peek at it, but Fu wasn't writing in a language that he recognized. "I was worried that he wouldn't be able to get down to work today, but he's still focused. I've only seen a couple mistakes."

Tom just nodded and glanced at the TV again.

"Ladybug was overly concerned about Chat Noir at the start of the fight and that was distracting her, but now she's settled down to business," Fu continued. "They're getting close, I think. The fight will be over soon- oh, and there she goes with Lucky Charm."

It didn't take long for the fight to wrap up after that, and then Ladybug and Chat Noir were bounding back across the city towards the bakery. Tom and Sabine hurried to get lunch on the table for the two of them, and food for the two tired kwamis. Adrien seemed more out of it now that there wasn't an immediate threat present.

Hopefully he would be able to focus again once they got to the mansion. Out of the four of them, Adrien as Chat Noir was the best fighter. They were planning on there not being a whole lot of fighting, of course, but they had to be prepared in case something went wrong.


Tom steadied his breath as he stared down at the Agreste mansion. He had transformed alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir, and then together they had headed over. The two teens had left him standing across the street so they could circle around and get in the mansion through Adrien's bedroom windows without being detected.

Up on the rooftop, Tom shifted anxiously. He didn't particularly like being up so high, even when he was transformed and largely invulnerable. From here, he could see Sabine, transformed and crouched on the mansion's roof. She was largely hidden from the ground, and that was just the way they wanted it. He could also see the people in the street below, finally emerging from the buildings they had taken shelter in during the akuma attack. Some of them were pointing to the two police cars slowly pulling into position in front of the mansion, but for the time being most weren't paying that much attention. In the park, he could see Fu settling down on the fountain so he could keep an eye on the whole thing.

Tom's shell let out a beep- his signal from Ladybug and Chat Noir that they were in position- and he gave a huge leap, crossing the street and dropping down into the Agreste courtyard. He expanded his shield just a bit, then squared his shoulders and strode up to the giant doors.

He knocked, then waited. A glance up told him that Sabine was peering over the edge of the roof, ready to activate her Mirage as soon as he saw the doors open and gave the signal. She was also ready to be backup as needed.

Truthfully, Tom wasn't sure how much help either he or his wife would be as backup if things went sour and the experienced superheroes- his daughter and Adrien, he still wasn't fully used to that- needed help. They had had months and months of fighting experience, and he... well, he and Sabine had none. Still, seeing her calmed his nerves, and Tom turned back to the door with the steeliest glare he could muster.

The door opened to reveal Nathalie, Mr. Agreste's assistant. Her eyes went wide as she took Tom in, and then her shoulders slumped and she let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, I was wondering when you would come," Nathalie said, composing herself quickly and speaking quietly and quickly. "I've been hoping- anyway. Are the police-?"

"Just outside the gate," Tom assured her. "Do you think you could get Mr. Agreste to come out without tipping him off that we're here?"

"Of course." Nathalie glanced around, then turned back to him. "Are the young superheroes here as well?"

"They'll be joining me shortly," Tom assured her. Nathalie nodded, then vanished back inside. The door remained slightly open, and Tom could hear her talking to Mr. Agreste. He didn't sound happy about being interrupted, and he was definitely not happy that someone had gotten past the gate. Still, he eventually relented.

As soon as Tom heard the distinct clack-clack of Mr. Agreste's shoes coming towards the door, he signaled Sabine. There was a quiet whistling from above, and then an orange ball sailed over to the side of the house. Seconds later, the Mirages of Ladybug and Chat Noir jumped over the wall and landed on either side of him, far enough back and out that Tom wouldn't accidentally hit either of them. They settled into place just before Mr. Agreste flung the doors wide open, a scowl on his face.

Tom took great pleasure in watching the color drain from Mr. Agreste's face as soon as he spotted the superheroes standing at the door. His mouth worked wordlessly for a few moments as he spluttered.

"But- but you aren't a hundred eighty years old!"

"No, I am not," Tom agreed, wondering where on Earth Mr. Agreste had gotten that idea. A hundred eighty years old? Perhaps the question was some sort of strange diversion technique or something. "But never mind that. You have some things that aren't yours. Kindly turn them over now."

Mr. Agreste gathered himself and glared up at Tom. "I'm not simply going to turn anything over. And I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm rich. I don't need to steal anything."

Behind Mr. Agreste, the real Ladybug and Chat Noir moved into position at the top of the staircase, but Tom didn't let his gaze flicker towards them. He briefly noted that Nathalie had come out of the office again and had clearly noticed the dual set of superheroes, but she wasn't saying anything. Tom then noticed that Mr. Agreste had gone for something in his pocket, which wasn't a good sign.

"So if we're done with this ridiculousness, I'll thank you to leave the grounds," Mr. Agreste continued, the tone of his voice turning icy. Still, Tom could hear the nerves under the bluster. "Now."

Above them, something creaked. Tom glanced up briefly to see panels opening in the domed roof, and missile rigs emerging and turning to aim at Tom and the two illusions behind him. He fought down the natural panic that immediately welled up. Plagg had disarmed the missiles. He had nothing to worry about. Besides, he was wearing a magic super-suit.

That would also never stop being weird. Thankfully that was only temporary.

"I think you know full well what I'm talking about," Tom said, matching Mr. Agreste's icy tone. He kept his gaze on the other man, refusing to be distracted. "You've been caught, Hawkmoth. Turn your Miraculous over."

Mr. Agreste's expression immediately turned nasty, and he mashed the Launch button on the remote he had been carrying with a dark smile. "I think not."

Nothing happened. Mr. Agreste's expression wavered. He mashed it again, glancing a little frantically up at the roof, where the missiles were smoking rather morosely. One slid forward and clattered to the ground uselessly, breaking apart as it did. Mr. Agreste's eyes went wide and horrified for a moment, and then he recovered, scowling and drawing himself up, fingering something under his necktie. "Nooroo! Transform me!"

A purple light started to surround him, starting from his feet, and Tom resisted the urge to stumble backwards, his eyes widening in horror. They had hoped to avoid this- why weren't the other superheroes acting-

The familiar whizz of a yo-yo zipping across the entry room was music to Tom's ears. In a second, Mr. Agreste- Hawkmoth- was restrained. He stumbled and swore as the cord tightened, struggling to loosen the cords binding his arms to his sides. His transformation was still going, slower by far than the instantaneous transformations that Tom had seen before.

Was it possible that the butterfly kwami was causing the slower transformation? Could it resist, just enough to try to give them the upper hand?

Chat Noir vaulted across the room, eyes laser-focused as he slid up behind the still-transforming Mr. Agreste. There was a dark haze around his hand as he brought it up to shred the (rather ugly) peppermint-striped tie around Mr. Agreste's neck that was clearly hiding the Miraculous. Scraps of the fabric fell to the floor in shreds as Mr. Agreste tried to wriggle and twist away from Chat Noir, managing to duck away and keep his Miraculous the first time. Chat Noir swiped again and this time, his aim was true. The pin ripped away from the disintegrating remains of Mr. Agreste's collar.

Tom had only had a moment to feel victorious when a wave of purple magic, destabilized by the slow transformation and the Miraculous being torn away, flashed outward and hit him with the force of a speeding car, making him stumble even with the protection of his turtle shell shield. The illusions behind him vanished in a flash of orange smoke as the magic hit them, and the whole house shook with the force of the magical whiplash. Several more missiles were dislodged, clattering to the courtyard below, but Tom could barely spare them a thought.

Because he hadn't been the only one affected by the whiplash. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been hit even harder, both knocked off of their feet and thrown back several meters. Ladybug's yo-yo string had gone slack with her surprise and Mr. Agreste was shaking the loosened strings off, kicking them away and scrambling away.

And then he was lunging straight for Chat Noir, who was still clutching the butterfly pin in his fist.

Several things happened all at once. Tom lunged after Mr. Agreste, even though there was no way he would be able to intercept the other man before he reached Chat Noir. Chat Noir realized what was going on and scrambled backwards, eyes wide as he moved away as fast as he physically could. And Ladybug flipped herself upright in one fast move, her yo-yo flying out before her feet even hit the ground. Just before Mr. Agreste reached Chat Noir, the yo-yo caught him again.

(Tom took a moment to be proud of how fast she had recovered from her fall. That was his little girl, refusing to let a supervillain keep her down!)

Mr. Agreste didn't fully stop moving even with his arms bound to his sides, lunging forward and making Ladybug stumble as she tried to slow him down. Chat Noir took the opening, as small as it was, and rolled to his feet, beating a strategic retreat so he could keep the Miraculous away from Mr. Agreste. He dashed to Ladybug's side to try to help her out, but there was no need. She had pulled out the second yo-yo to anchor herself, meaning that Mr. Agreste couldn't pull her around anymore.

"No!" Mr. Agreste protested, half-stumbling and half-shuffling towards Chat Noir, who immediately darted away. "No!"

"Chat Noir, can you go open the gates?" Ladybug asked. She shifted her stance, tightening her grasp on the yo-yo that was holding Mr. Agreste fast. "The police are waiting outside."

Chat Noir nodded. He darted towards the door, handing the Butterfly Miraculous to Tom as he passed since Ladybug had her hands full, and then headed towards the gate, where Officer Raincomprix and several other officers waited. Tom could tell that Chat Noir was struggling to keep a detached, professional expression on his face.

The poor kid. They would have to hope that wrapping everything up here didn't take long.

Mr. Agreste was still twisting, scowling at Ladybug as he did. He seemed to be mouthing something, twisting his hand so that the palm faced Ladybug. When nothing happened, another round of swearing filled the room.

"Don't you dare try using some magic spell on me," Ladybug spat, yanking on her line and sending Mr. Agreste stumbling. "You've lost. Accept your defeat now."

Instead of giving in, Mr. Agreste's wriggling and fighting increased when he saw the police approaching through the courtyard. Tom couldn't help but wince when he spotted the blood on Mr. Agreste's neck from where Chat Noir's claws had nicked the skin earlier. It was fairly obvious that it wasn't a serious injury- the man was still twisting and trying to fight, after all, and the wounds were hardly gushing- but he knew full well that Adrien would probably feel bad about it later on.

"No! You can't take me! What will happen to Adrien?"

Tom barely restrained the urge to growl at the man. Now he was worried about his son? It was a little too late for that. Hawkmoth had been attacking the city for the better part of a year, and he had been planning the attacks for several months prior to that. He had had plenty of chances to reconsider what he was doing, and instead he continued down the path to becoming a supervillain. He had even created akumas that had gone after his own son. Tom had to wonder how much of the concern was legit and how much of it was just a show in order to try to get a lighter sentence later on.

At least Chat Noir was out of earshot. He was talking with the police officers as they came up the steps, and had clearly missed his father mentioning him. He would have a hard enough time as it was without his father acting all fatherly at the very last minute.

"I just wanted to get my wife back- to get my son's mother back!" Gabriel continued. His white shirt was getting progressively more stained with blood now from the scratches on his neck as he fought, though Tom could tell that it looked worse than it actually was. "She was trapped when we were trying to recover the Miraculous. If you take me away, Adrien won't have any parents left!"

Tom took hold of Mr. Agreste's shoulder, effectively stopping him from fighting further. Mr. Agreste swore again- Tom had to fight down the urge to scold him about his language, there were kids around- but finally stilled, scowling as the police stepped inside. As Officer Raincomprix clicked the handcuffs closed around Mr. Agreste's wrists and Ladybug retracted her yo-yo, he deliberated for a second. Should he say something about the efforts going on to free Mrs. Agreste from the temple trap?

Mr. Agreste's face crumpled as the police took firm hold of him, and Tom's decision was made. This was a man in pain, even if he had been a supervillain and even if he had completely failed to take his son into account when attacking the city. It would be cruel to not tell him.

Besides, knowing that there had been other options that didn't include becoming a supervillain and losing everything would be a punishment of its own.

"I was just trying to get my wife back," Mr. Agreste repeated hollowly. He still looked desperate. "I wasn't intending to hurt anyone."

"We are looking at old scrolls and legends to try to figure out how to free your wife from the trap in the temple," Tom told Mr. Agreste quietly, so the police behind him wouldn't hear. "We started researching possible solutions as soon as we figured out that it had happened. All of this could have been avoided if you only reached out to the Tur- er, to me in the first place instead of setting supervillains on the city. You could have had your wife back without losing everything."

At that, Mr. Agreste's eyes went wide, and then he looked like he had had all of his energy and all of the fight sucked out of him at once as his shoulders slumped and his head dropped. Tom couldn't be positive about what the other man was thinking, of course, but he suspected that Mr. Agreste probably had a whole lot of regrets right about now. Had he simply used the Miraculous to find the Turtle and tell him about Mrs. Agreste and turn over the Miraculous and the scrolls, he could have gotten his wife back without breaking his son's trust and without destroying his own life.

Tom stepped back then, allowing the police to pull Mr. Agreste forward towards the police car waiting outside of the gate before following them to join his daughter and her partner. As the police passed Ladybug and Chat Noir, Tom could hear Chat Noir suck in a sharp breath, his eyes going wide. One glance told Tom that Chat Noir had finally caught sight of the blood on his father's neck.

Oh, that wasn't good. They would have to leave soon, before Adrien could start breaking down.

As Tom passed the Butterfly miraculous off to Ladybug, he could hear Mr. Agreste ask the police if they could maybe just say that he was arrested for tax evasion or something instead of for being a supervillain, so that Adrien wouldn't be as affected by public backlash. There was a somewhat derisive snort from one of the officers at that.

Clearly they weren't feeling particularly sympathetic towards the man who had made them work overtime to try to minimize the panic and damage during akuma attacks.

"If you guys- well, if Ladybug and Chat Noir at least- could drop by the police station to give statements sometime this week, that would be great," Officer Raincomprix told the superheroes, pulling their attention away from Mr. Agreste. Chat Noir was visibly working to compose himself as he faced the officer. Behind Officer Raincomprix, another officer was talking to Nathalie and Adrien's bodyguard. "I understand if you aren't ready to talk today. You must be exhausted from the fight earlier."

Ladybug and Chat Noir looked grateful.

"Besides, we have a lot to deal with right now," Officer Raincomprix continued. "We need to find Mr. Agreste's son and talk to him, and figure out all of the legal stuff about who his guardian is going to be now, and- well. The testimony can wait, unless you think that there's something immediate you think we need to know?"

Ladybug held up the Butterfly Miraculous. "We recovered this from Mr. Agreste. It's the Butterfly Miraculous. If you want evidence photos of it now, maybe...?"

Officer Raincomprix reached partway towards the brooch and then paused, frowning when she pulled it back towards herself. "Normally, the procedure is to confiscate items relevant to a crime. But since we're talking about magical artifacts, I'm guessing you don't want this out of your hands? We would keep very good care of it, you know."

Ladybug frowned right back at him. "The Miraculous aren't normal items. I don't want to risk it falling into the wrong hands at all. All it takes is one person being a bit too curious, and then we could have another problem on our hands."

"Then a picture will have to suffice, I suppose." Officer Raincomprix pulled out a small camera and snapped several photos of the Miraculous. "Anything else you want me to look at before we meet again?"

Chat Noir nudged Ladybug, ducking his head to murmur something in her ear. Ladybug nodded and slid an arm around his waist before turning back to the officer.

"Can you check on Mr. Agreste's neck?" Ladybug asked. "It got accidentally injured when we were going for the pin, and it really didn't look great."

"Of course, of course!" Officer Raincomprix assured her. "From what I saw it was largely superficial, but we'll have it cleaned up and looked at by a medical expert as soon as we get back."

Chat Noir looked relieved. Officer Raincomprix looked a little puzzled by that, but thankfully didn't comment.

The other officer trotted up to Raincomprix, whispering something in his ear, and Raincomprix frowned. "He's not here?"

"No, sir."

"If you're talking about Mr. Agreste's son, we made sure that he would be over at a friend's house," Tom told Officer Raincomprix. He chanced a glance towards Chat Noir. He and Ladybug had turned away, and Tom suspected that Adrien's composure was maybe starting to shatter. They should really be leaving soon. "So that he wouldn't be here when his father got arrested, and in case the battle went sideways and there was damage to the house. I would think that Nathalie would know which friend he went to visit. But right now..." Tom glanced at the teens again. "I think we should leave. It's been a long day."

"Of course, of course. Thank you for your help." Officer Raincomprix waved a hand at them and Tom took that as their dismissal. He didn't waste any time in heading over to Ladybug and Chat Noir and guiding them towards the door. Once they were outside, Ladybug wrapped one arm around Chat Noir, Butterfly Miraculous still clutched tight in her hand, and threw one yo-yo. Moments later, they were sailing through the sky.

Tom took his time, leaping up onto the wall and then to the building across the street. He glanced briefly back at the mansion, eyes scanning the scene. The Agreste's roof had gone back to normal, missiles retracted back inside with the exception of the few that had tumbled to the ground. Sabine had clearly already retreated- Tom was pretty certain that he had spotted her flash of orange leaving right after Ladybug restrained Mr. Agreste- and down below, Tom could spot Mr. Agreste sitting in the back seat of one of the police cars. The officers that had escorted him out were standing next to the car, waiting for Officer Raincomprix and the other officer that had stayed back. They were saying good-bye to Nathalie now. Across the street, more people were paying attention to the police cars now. There was a lot of pointing at the police cars and, more concerningly, phones out taking pictures. Some people were pointing after the quickly retreating Ladybug and Chat Noir, and others were peering up at Tom himself.

He wondered how long it would take until someone put the pieces together. Something told him that it wouldn't take long. After all, the superheroes would hardly get involved in the arrest of someone who was being charged for tax fraud.

Sighing, Tom turned and headed after Ladybug and Chat Noir as fast as he could. Dealing with the fallout from Mr. Agreste's arrest would have to wait for another day.

For now, he had to focus on taking care of Adrien.


A/N: There's one more chapter left in this particular series of outtakes, mostly focusing on the immediate aftermath of the fight.

And, as always- I 3 reviews! :)