A/N: I'm back! Whew, what a weekend. I wrote a play in under 24 hours and am sufficiently exhausted, but it was worth it. Hope you all enjoy the next chapter - hopefully it ties up a loose end to a cliff hanger I left in Chapter 4! It's not your average reveal fic since technically the reveal already happened, but nevertheless here's hoping the continuation satisfies.

Thanks for reading, everybody, and feel free to leave suggestions for ideas if one comes to your mind.

Familar Faces: An continuation for Chapter 4 (Trap) for those of you who'd like some closure on that one. Special thanks to The-Unnamed-Artist for suggesting the idea.

Marinette was no longer wearing her mask. Hawkmoth had taken her Miraculous, and had robbed Chat of his too. While Hawkmoth was eager to take their powers, he seemed uninterested in their identities, and had gone to the far corner to inspect the Miraculouses.

Chat sat curled on the cement, hiding his face against his knees with his arms wrapped like a protective shell.

Marinette crouched down beside him. "Are you okay?"

"No," was his honest reply. "We need to get our Miraculouses back somehow."

"My promise still stands. I'll help you. Until the end. You'd do the same for me."

"But I didn't, Ladybug! If I'd known Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste…I should have known. I should have seen-"

"You couldn't have done anything – there was no way you could have known…no matter who you are, Chat. You don't have to hide from me, you know."

"You don't understand. Of all people, I should have been the one to see this coming. I'm sorry; I could have prevented all of this."

Marinette put a hand on his shoulder – he was trembling. "Why?"

Slowly, he lifted his face to look at her, seeming momentarily taken aback at seeing her instead of the familiar alter-ego. And she understood why Chat had been so affected by the discovery that Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste.

Because she was staring into the distraught face of his son.

"Marinette?" he asked. "Is that really you?"

"Oh, Adrien," she said, her voice cracking slightly.

She stared into his eyes, wondering how it was possible that she'd been working alongside her crush all this time. And she pitied him – he'd just discovered his own father was trying to orchestrate a takeover of Paris. Adrien, as Chat, had been waging a war against his own blood without ever realizing it.

And his father stood mere meters away, completely and intentionally oblivious to the fact that Adrien was Chat Noir.

Marinette put her hands on Adrien's. His were ice cold.

"It's going to be okay."

He blinked and stared into her face again, his expression softening. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Because we can still beat Hawkmoth. It's not over."

"I'm not much good to you as Adrien. I just found out my entire life has been a lie – my own father has tried to murder me on multiple occasions. I'm not exactly in the best state of mind. And I can't be a superhero right now, not without my powers."

"And when has that ever stopped you from helping people before?"

"Uh…"

Marinette jogged his memory. "I still have your black umbrella, you know."

"You remember that?" his eyes widened. "It was so long ago."

"I never forget the help of a friend. Can I return the favor?"

Adrien thought for a moment, then shifted slightly and interlocked his fingers with hers. "It hardly seems even – this is so much more of a favor than the gift of a simple umbrella."

"Adrien, don't you see? It was never just a simple umbrella to me."

"Oh."

There was a charged pause.

"So, what do we do?" he finally asked.

"Do you remember the one extraordinary thing your father did when we first walked in here?"

"A few things come to mind, actually," he said dryly.

"Think."

"Well…he wasn't wearing his mask. He knew we'd be taken aback by his revelation of his identity. It disarmed us, and he took advantage of it."

"Exactly. And I think I know how we can get him to drop his guard long enough for me to grab our Miraculouses. Then we can fight him, or escape – he's left no barriers. He's so confident that we can't beat him without our powers. He knows...thinks...he's won. But we can defeat his heart."

"So we don't use force. We do what he did," Adrien said, following. "But what's -" He broke off, understanding. Marinette squeezed his hand encouragingly.

"Oh," he said, his face darkening. "You mean you want me to…"

"It's our best shot, I'm afraid. Distract him, and I'll slip behind unseen. He won't see this coming."

"Marinette...what you're asking...it's going to be really difficult for me. I don't know if I can."

"Do you have a better idea? I don't know what else is there to do. We have a responsibility to Paris to stop your father. That responsibility doesn't vanish with our Miraculouses. Sometimes we have to do the hard thing because it's the right thing. I believe in you. You can't give up."

Adrien tilted his head, looking at Marinette with sad admiration. "You're absolutely right. You're always right."

She touched his cheek and wiped a tear away. "No. Only when it matters."

"Thank you," he said suddenly.

"What for?"

"Being you. Being Marinette. I'm sorry you had to put up with me as Chat."

She leaned closer to him, tucking her hand under his chin. "Between you and me, I enjoyed every minute. Don't you dare apologize for helping me save Paris. Now get up and help me take Hawkmoth down."

Her conviction seemed to rouse something in Adrien. His eyes sparked and he made to stand up. Together they rose to face Hawkmoth, whose back was still to them as he walked to where a computer was set up in the far left corner. The Miraculouses now lay on the work bench in the far right corner – it would be easy for Marinette to grab them if unnoticed.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah," Adrien breathed, frowning and steeling his expression. He was hiding away his anger and grief, smoothing his features. It was something Chat always did before lunging into battle. Seeing it on Adrien's face made all the memories of what he'd done as Chat flood back to Marinette. He'd always had her back.

Now she'd have his.

"Hawkmoth, tell me something," Adrien said, placing his hands behind his back to hide their shaking and walking forward confidently. "I know your quest has always been to recover our Miraculouses. But do you have any idea how easy it would have been to get mine? You could have had it ages ago. If only you'd been more observant. If only you'd been more of a father."

He spat this last word so viciously that Hawkmoth spun around, startled.

His eyes fell upon his son and he froze.

"Adrien? You're Chat? But…that's impossible…"

While they were locked in an eye-to-eye confrontation, Marinette slipped around the side of the room quietly and reached the work bench where the Miraculouses lay. She took her earrings and put them on, then placed Chat's ring securely in her left fist.

"I refuse to stand by and let you enslave innocent people," Adrien was saying. His father was still standing there, unmoving. "I have resisted you ever since I became Chat Noir, and I will still resist you now. There are no masks between us now. No alter-egos. We see each other for who we are, finally. And yet, I see you as a villain. Not as a father. That is no one's fault but your own.

"You obtained power by force. I didn't ask for mine, I accepted it as a responsibility. I even gave my power to you moments ago, when I thought I had nothing to lose. But now I understand. I could lose Ladybug. I could lose my ability to save our city. I could lose my concept of responsibility. And although I may have already lost your love, I am still your son, and I can still disarm you and fight to win back those things I could still lose. Without weapons, using only the truth."

He smiled bitterly and continued. "It doesn't take powers to feel love and loss, father. It just takes the sight of a familiar face."

Like the sight of me, Marinette thought with a smile. Or the sight of Adrien, in my case.

Adrien took a final step forward, making eye contact with Marinette just for a second. She nodded – I have them – and he looked away. She made her way slowly back to where he stood and slipped her left hand into his. Hawkmoth didn't even seem to notice Marinette at all. His eyes were still staring, slightly unfocused, at the blond boy who was standing up to him even now, even when he was probably heartbroken and scared.

Marinette felt as Adrien curled his hands surreptitiously around his ring and squeezed her fingers in thanks.

"And despite all your power, Hawkmoth," he said quietly, "you will never control me again."

He dropped Marinette's hand and cleared his throat.

"Plagg," he said in a dangerously calm voice, "claws out."