Chapter 10

(Day of unveiling)

Miguel's alarm went off waking him up around 6 in the morning. Groggy as he was, he quickly showered and dressed. He was excited about this morning, today was the morning of the unveiling of Ladybug and Cat Negro's statues. The only thing he was more excited about than that was seeing his senora at the unveiling. After getting ready for school after the unveiling, he transformed and began making his way quickly to Central Park. When he got here, Ladybug wasn't there, but Michael Norman, the sculptor was along with half the city. As much as Cat Negro loved the attention, he was disappointed to see Ladybug wasn't there.

"Cat Negro, do you know where Ladybug is?" Michael leaned over and asked him.

"No, but I'll be enough for now." Cat Negro said trying to hide his disappointment.

"It's just I wanted to ask her to autograph the picture I used as inspiration for her statue." Michael said holding out the photo he had taken of her the week before when he had her and Cat Negro pose for positions.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be here." Cat Negro said.

"Maybe we should go ahead and start, it might bring her faster." Mayor Harrison suggested looking around for her.

"Please, Mr. Mayor, just a little longer. She's going to come I can feel it." Michael begged.

Cat Negro scanned up and down the sight line along the trees for another few minutes, but there was no sign of Ladybug. Five minutes later, Mayor Harrison started the ceremony.

"It is only appropriate that we, the citizen of New York city pay tribute to our city's great protectors, Ladybug and Cat Negro." Mayor Harrison announced as the statues were unveiled.

As Cat Negro looked around, he hoped for at least a last minute appearance from Ladybug, but she didn't come, not even when the crowds finally started to die down. Michael was the only one that stayed behind longer than anyone.

"These statues are amazing." Cat Negro complimented Michael.

"Ladybug didn't show up." Michael said disappointed. "I just want her to know that everything I had went into her statue. I wanted her to know what it is she is to me, and I'm sure if she knew, she would find that maybe she and I belonged together."

Cat Negro felt a flare of hot agitation burn in his face. "Hey hate to burst your bubble, but you know that Ladybug and I, we're a thing."

"Really?" Michael asked looking surprised.

"Yeah, we're so enamorado ." Cat Negro said giving him a smug grin.

Michael shoved him off and stormed off in a huff. Cat Negro said he may have gone a bit far, but he was not about to let someone else move in on his senora. He watched as Michael stalked off and finally made his way home to finish getting ready for school. As he was walking up he heard the same story in everyone's conversation.

"What's going on?" he asked Martin when they met up at the door.

"Haven't you heard, Cat Negro went into the Museum of Natural Science and History and stole the Scream." Martin said showing him the news feed.

Miguel was in shock at what he was seeing. He saw a Cat Negro in the museum, but it was not him, he hadn't even been anywhere near the museum that morning. He watched as the feed showed another video of the robbery.

"This painting is the cat's meow." The fake purred racing out the door.

'Cat's meow?' Miguel thought in shock. "I've gotta go to the bathroom." Miguel said quickly running in. 'Not only is this guy a fake, he's a terrible fake.' He thought in disgust.

Once he was safe in the bathroom, he transformed and quietly slipped out the window and headed for the museum. When he got there, he saw his father there along with half the police force guarding the museum. As soon as they saw him, they had their weapons drawn.

"Whoa easy guys, I'm not who you think I am. The one who got away was an imposter, I'm the real Cat Negro." He said making his way down. "I came to help you catch this guy. I have knack for this kind of thing, you know animal instincts." He said to his father.

"Follow me." Sheriff Willis answered. "Thank you Cat Negro."

Inside, Sheriff Willis showed him to the art hall where the robbery took place. Cat Negro stepped in and looked around. What caught his eye was something the police would have over looked but looked all too familiar to him. Because he had seen it earlier that morning. A lollipop-stick with a ladybug on the tip. Suddenly he heard the laser wall activate at the entrance, locking him inside.

"Hey, I told you I'm the real Cat Negro, I'm so much cooler than that guy." Cat Negro yelled feeling outraged.

Sheriff Willis pretended not to listen as he headed back outside. Cat Negro knew he only had one way out.

"Cataclysm!" he summoned.

Taking a leap, he swiped the laser points and they each popped, one by one until the laser wall came down and he was able to make his escape. He raced further up the stairs and out the windows of the domed ceiling. Taking a hiding spot behind the pillars around the outer rim, he pulled out his communicator and called Ladybug.

Ladybug, thankfully, picked up. As Sheriff Willis radioed for backup, Ladybug got call come through on her communicator. "Cat Negro where are you?" she asked heavily concerned.

"You know I'm innocent, don't you mi amor." He asked over the video chat.

"Stop playing around and calling me mi amor. What's going on?" she said sounding truly concerned for him.

"I'm gonna find the guy who framed me and save my tail. I'll call you back as soon as …" He was unable to finish as he heard a chopper coming up from behind him.

He took off trying to lose him, but they these guys were proving persistent. Finally, he lost them by slipping into the subway and quickly changing back. Heading up through another entrance, he hid behind another building and opened his jacket to talk to Plagg.

"If you want my opinion, I'd say the thief was akumatized." Plagg said swallowing another piece of camembert.

"Pretty much figure that one out." Miguel said thinking about what he had found in the museum. "See that lollipop-stick?" he said holding it up. "I saw it this morning, Michael Norman, the sculptor. I should've known. How did I not see that jealousy coming a mile away?"

"Yours or his?" Plagg joked.

"Haha, very funny." Miguel said pushing Plagg down and then finding a safer place to transform.

Once he was transformed he quickly made his way to Michael Norman's workshop. Glancing inside, he knew he was in the right place seeing a shrine made for Ladybug.

"Te tengo Dupli-Cat." Cat Negro grinned.

He pulled out his communicator for another call to Ladybug. "Cat Negro, what's going on?" she asked sounding worried.

"I found his den." he answered quietly.

"Who?"

"My Dupli-Cat." He answered.

"I'm not following." Ladybug said sounding confused.

"If you had been there this morning you would know what I was talking about." Cat Negro answered not meaning to guilt trip her.

"Just tell me where you are." Ladybug said sounding like she begging him.

"No, this is between me and him. I got myself into this mess and now I'm going to get myself out." Cat Negro answered before hanging up.

As he made his way inside, he noticed a note on a box in the center of the studio. Opening it, he read the note.

"Cat's got caught?" he read confused.

Out of nowhere, the box opened and chains clamped around his wrists. As he pulled at the chains, he was wondering aggravated how he was constantly getting himself caught today.

"Cataclysm!" he summoned. But just as he was about to destroy the chains, he felt someone grab his arm and direct his cataclysm to a board, wasting it.

When he got a look at them, he saw his doppleganger, or rather, his Dupli-Cat.

"What Ladybug sees in you I'll never understand, you a fool who fell so easily into my trap." Dupli-Cat snickered. "Although what she sees I don't care. Because soon, things between you and her will be over."

Cat Negro tried to grab his weapon but when he reached behind him, his rod was gone.

"Looking for something? Which should I use, mine or mine?" Dupli-Cat said holding up two rods, his and Cat Negros.

Cat Negro's communicator rang again, it was Ladybug looking for him.

"Ladybug, I caught my copycat, Michael Norman's workshop." Dupli-Cat answered.

"I'll be there in a minute." She said hanging up.

"No Ladybug don't! It's a trap!" Cat Negro tried to warn her but it was too late, she hung up and Dupli-Cat stood there grinning darkly.

"Too late, Ladybug is on her way which was my plan from the start." Dupli-Cat laughed.

"She won't be fooled, she knows me too well." Cat Negro said full of confidence in his senora.

"I know you well too, but from now on, Ladybug will love me and not you." Dupli-Cat said looking at the photo of Ladybug where Cat Negro figured out the akuma must have been hidden.

"Right, she loves me, which is why she'll be able to see right through you." Cat Negro shot back hiding the fact that Ladybug, though she did care about him, she didn't love him.

Dupli-Cat then knocked him to the ground and made a move for his ring, but thankfully, true to her word Ladybug showed up when she said she would.

"There you are." He heard Dupli-Cat say with infatuation in his voice.

"Wow Cat Negro, he really looks like you." She breathed as she approached them both.

"That's because I am me." Cat Negro said agitated.

"Where's his akuma?" she asked Dupli-Cat.

"In his ring, take it." He said showing her his hand.

For moment, she looked like she was hesitating, questioning herself if the one she was talking to really was her partner or if the one she was about to de-akmatize was him. She was about to take the ring when she saw the paw pads start to flash and disappear.

"He even has the same powers as you." She said sounding suspicious.

"Incredible isn't it?" Dupli-Cat said with a smile.

"If you don't believe I'm the real Cat Negro ask him about our love for each other." Cat Negro whispered to her catching her by surprise. "Have I ever lied to you mi amor?" he winked. He knew this was the best way for her to see that he really was him.

He, the only real Cat Negro would never lie to her about anything, no matter what. Leaning in closer to the Cat on top, she smiled.

"I hope you didn't tell him about us." She smiled. "Remember, we made a secret promise."

"Yeah of course I remember." The other guy answered nervously.

"We never made a promise, Dupli-Cat!" she said. Now she knew the truth.

"I love you Ladybug and I'm so much better for you than this mangy alley cat." Dupli-Cat confessed grabbing Cat Negro.

"Sorry, but I'm not into liars. Cat Negro may be annoying but he's never lied to me." Ladybug said defending her partner.

"Thanks, I think." Cat Negro said kicking his imposter off him. "Gracias for having my back."

"Let's wrap this up." Ladybug answered. "Lucky Charm!" she summoned. What appeared was coat hanger. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"If I can't have you then no one will." Dupli-Cat declared. "Cataclysm!" he summoned moving for Cat Negro.

Taking his chains, Ladybug moved between him and Cat Negro making Dupli-Cat break the chains instead. Cat Negro was now free and knocked Dupli-Cat back.

"Where's his akuma?" she asked.

"Photo in his pocket." His ring beeped again. "Let's make this rápido."

"You're going to change back before me." Dupli-Cat laughed.

Ladybug was able to make the first move, but she quickly saw that this was not going to be easy if he had all the powers and abilities as Cat Negro, especially if he had his weapon and Cat Negro's. He forced into a corner and was about to strike but Cat Negro had he back as he pulled him back. Ladybug then tried to wrap her yo-yo around him but he deflected it and tried to catch her again but she was able to make it to the rafters in the ceiling.

"He really is good." She said catching her breath.

"No need to rub it in." Cat Negro answered agitated.

"I told you I was better than him." Dupli-Cat called to her.

"But I'm better than both of you." She chimed taking advantage of his distraction by taking back Cat Negro's rod and tossing back to her partner.

But again they both proved that they were too evenly matched and with one blow, their rods were knocked aside and left to fight hand to hand. Coming down from the rafters, it became apparent that Ladybug lost track of which was which. As Cat Negro tried to strike Dupli-Cat, she literally took a shot in the dark and caught him before he could strike.

"Hey it's me!" Cat Negro odjected.

"No, I'm the real one." Dupli-Cat said tried lie to her.

"Ugggh! Now you're both being annoying." Ladybug groaned. "Show me your ring, how many pads do you have left?" she said.

Cat Negro showed he barely had two minutes. Dupli-Cat had four.

"Cat Negro, scratch attack." She said releasing him.

"Sounds good, I love a good cat fight." He purred.

Cat Negro trusted that Ladybug had a plan, she knew him and he knew her. And it was because of this that he trusted her to always have a plan when things got hairy.

"I always wanted to go fishing." He heard her chime catching a glimpse at her make-shift fishing rod.

He didn't know what she was thinking, but he trusted her.

Cat Negro cornered Dupli-Cat under a catwalk, and Ladybug was able to cast her line and hook Dupli-Cat by his belt and pull him up. Throwing herself under the catwalk, she grabbed the photo out of his pocket and landed by Cat Negro, tearing the photo. When the akuma emerged, she readied her yo-yo for the capture.

"No more terrorizing for you moth." She said opening her yo-yo. "Time to be purified." She said capturing it. "Be free little butterfly." She breathed releasing the white butterfly. "Miraculous Ladybug!" she called as the glow traveled repairing damages and canceling Dupli-Cat's transformation as he fell from the catwalk.

Cat Negro was able to catch him before he hit the ground. "Nice catch." Ladybug praised him.

"I'm just glad you could tell the real cat from the fake one." Cat Negro said in thanks.

"Once I figured out which Cat Negro loved me enough to not lie to me, it was a no brainer." She smiled.

"I have to go, you better stay, I think he's been crushed by his crush." Cat Negro said as his ring beeped showing he had less than a minute. "That makes two of us." He whispered as he looked back before taking off.

As he made it behind the market shop across the street, he realized he had made a big mistake riling up Michael that day. He had let his jealousy get the better of him and it was their jealousy for each other that had caused Hawk Moth to akumatize Michael Norman into Dupli-Cat. As much as he loved Ladybug, it was clear she wasn't going to return his feelings anytime soon. But Cat Negro was not ready to give up on her yet, nor would he ever be. She was his soul mate, she just didn't know it yet. She would fall for him eventually. That's what he would tell himself.

He walked down the street as Plagg ate inside his coat. Not in the mood to take the short way home, he flagged down a taxi and watched as the streets of New York came alive at the mid-day hour. As he arrived at school, he realized he had missed his classes for the day.

"Now what?" he groaned.

Grabbing his book bag from the hall, he headed for the bus stop and caught the next bus home. Safe at home, he went back up to his room and began to wonder how he could possibly balance being Miguel and Cat Negro. But most of all, he wondered if he would ever find out who his red masked beauty was.