Carapace ran behind the elevator, where he found Alya huddled on the ground. "Babe?!" he cried, running forward to pick her up. "Are you okay?" His eyes frantically scanned Alya for damage.
"I'll get through this. Ladybug will fix it. Go make this worth it, though, OK? Don't worry about me." She reached up and cupped the side of his face.
"You should at least transform to keep from getting hurt as bad, though… is Trixx ready to go?"
Alya nodded and whispered her transformation phrase. There was an orange flash of light, and Rena Rouge stood up. She gave Carapace a hug and whispered in his ear. "Go get 'em."
"I don't believe I've seen you before." Hawk Moth stood at the ready as Mister Bug leaped toward him. "No matter - I can get your Miraculous! You walked right into my trap!"
Mister Bug sneered. "The only person who is leaving here without a Miraculous is you, Hawk Moth. I've waited a long time for this. Longer than you realize." He flung his yo-yo at Hawk Moth, who knocked it aside with his cane.
Mister Bug dove at Hawk Moth, tackling him. The two grappled on the ground, clawing at the other's Miraculous.
"What's the matter, Ladybug? Couldn't your friends get the job done?" Mayura smirked and crouched in a fighting stance.
"Are you kidding me? They left me to get rid of the weakest link so I can warm up!" Attitude came easily in the face of danger, even with the pain from Chat getting ragdolled by the sentimonster still racking her body. Ladybug hoped she could back it up and not let her friends - or Paris - down. She holstered her yo-yo and bounced on the balls of her feet to focus on the fight ahead of her.
"You mock me now, but you won't mock me when I get your Miraculous!" Mayura charged at Ladybug and drove her back into a support beam.
The impact knocked the wind out of Ladybug but she was able to reverse the hold and pin Mayura against the Tower. Mayura retaliated by kicking Ladybug, driving her away. Ladybug rolled on the ground and stood up. She dusted herself off and went for Mayura again, intent on defeating her and getting her Miraculous before Mayura could do the same.
Carapace was using his shield as a weapon against the akuma. Since he had already been hit by the blast, he didn't feel the need to get out of the way of any beams. Punches, however, were a different story. Training with Alya wasn't the same as training against Nora, and it showed. The akuma didn't hit as hard as Anansi had, but Nino still didn't get out of the way of all of them. It's a shame turtles weren't better fighters. Crawling into your shell and hiding didn't make for the best offense.
The akuma didn't seem to have any other weapons than its fists, so Carapace just dodged as best as he could while trying to find the akumatized object. His plan was to use Shell-ter to trap everybody together so Ladybug - or Mister Bug - could come purify the butterfly. Timing had to be important, though - he couldn't defeat the akuma if both Ladybug and Mister Bug were occupied. If the butterfly escaped and multiplied, they would be in more trouble than they could handle.
He stole a glance over his shoulder. Mister Bug and Hawk Moth had either fallen or jumped off of the Tower platform they were on and were now grappling near the Pont d'Iéna. Ladybug and Mayura were having a standoff. Carapace grimaced. He was already feeling slightly anxious due to the akuma linking him to Rena Rouge. Even though he was an experienced DJ who could read the room and adjust on the fly, things were a bit different in the heat of battle.
He felt warmth on his chin. He ducked under his shield and touched his lip to see what it was. He gasped when he brought his hand back and saw blood on the tips of his fingers. He glanced back and saw his girlfriend, who had crept out from her hiding place and was sitting down, silently rocking back and forth. Whatever the heroes were doing, this wasn't working. He blocked another shot from the akuma, then ran back to Rena Rouge and scooped her up. He banged his shield three times in succession - their predetermined signal to retreat and regroup - and ran for cover.
Rena touched him on his chin. "Sorry… I was so focused on dealing with the pain from the blows you were taking that I bit through my lip." She smiled sadly. "I couldn't even stop you from getting hurt out there when I was getting hurt for you."
"Relax, it's OK. We'll get through this." He took a few steps behind the service elevator and waited for the others to arrive.
Ladybug broke off her fight with Mayura and followed and Mister Bug as the heroes gathered behind the service elevator.
"This is getting very difficult! I don't know how on Earth we're going to pull this off!" Ladybug frowned. Carapace was rubbing circles on Rena Rouge's back. Rena Rouge was huddled up in a ball, shivering. Chat Noir and Mister Bug were standing there with similar poses, looking at her. "Here goes nothing… Lucky Charm!"
Two pairs of red-and-black-spotted handcuffs appeared.
Ladybug's shoulders drooped. She had gotten Lucky Charms that weren't immediately obvious in the past, but she had hoped for something straightforward. "What are these for? Are we supposed to chain ourselves together or something?"
She stuck her head around the corner and tried to assess the situation. Her eyes kept getting drawn to the akuma, then flicking over to Hawk Moth. She retreated to her spot and concentrated. The constant undercurrent of love and admiration, that she now recognized as Chat's feelings, was nice but wasn't helping her figure anything out so she did her best to suppress it. After what felt like an eternity, her mind lit up. "OK! I've got it! We put these handcuffs on the akuma. This will let us restrain it and we can figure out where the object is so we can break it. Once we break it, we'll be free of these effects and can finish off Hawk Moth and Mayura! Rrrrgh… I wish we knew who the host is for the sentimonster! They're probably much easier to beat than Mayura. We've got to keep trying! Are you guys ready?"
Carapace was breathing heavy from his battle with the akuma. He sucked on his lower lip. "As ready as we'll ever be, Ladybug."
Rena Rouge whimpered.
Carapace looked over at Rena Rouge and frowned. "I think maybe we can just let her rest for a bit and I'll try to stay out of harm's way in the meantime. Even with one person resting for a bit, we're still evenly matched."
"It will have to do for now." Ladybug and Mister Bug cast their yo-yos to get to the sentimonster, who whirled and lunged after them. They were able to use the sentimonster's bulk to screen their approach from the akuma, and when they got close, they each put a handcuff on one of the akuma's wrists.
"Go finish up with Hawk Moth, Mister Bug! I've got this!" Ladybug grabbed the loose handcuffs and used them to attempt to hook the akuma onto the scaffolding of the Tower.
The akuma furiously tried to shake her off, firing off blasts indiscriminately. Ladybug struggled to hook the wrists of the akuma to the Tower before it was too late. Her earrings chirped.
Mister Bug landed in front of Hawk Moth. "I should have stopped you a long time ago. Luckily for me, it is a long time ago, and I get a second chance!"
"I don't know who you are or what you have against me personally… but give me your Miraculous." Hawk Moth's mask did nothing to cover his sneer. "You used Lucky Charm… you will time out soon and I will be victorious!"
Mister Bug's earrings chirped. "It's OK, I've got all the time in the world." His voice was cool, but his nerves were on high alert.
Neither of them expected a rogue blast from the akuma to hit them. It was Hawk Moth who recovered first. "Well, well! Looks like we are at an impasse. Anything you do to me will be done to yourself! You wouldn't want to take yourself out, now, would you?"
"You'd be surprised, Hawk Moth." Mister Bug lunged at him and swiped wildly at his Miraculous.
Hawk Moth parried with the ball end of his cane, but when he connected with Mister Bug, he only succeeded in knocking the wind out of himself.
"We'll see who wants this more. I bet I do." Mister Bug wound up and punched Hawk Moth square in the face.
Mister Bug's nose started bleeding. Hawk Moth gasped.
Mister Bug smiled, but there was no mirth behind it. "Feels pretty good, actually. Come here, coward. What's the matter? Afraid of getting yourself hurt? You've always been so high-and-mighty, always sending others to do the jobs you couldn't stomach doing on your own. Sitting up there on your throne, minions and gofers and henchmen at your beck and call… you don't even know what you want anymore, do you? You just enjoy the power… enjoy telling people what to do… enjoy bossing them around. Well, it ends now!" His earrings chirped again. He took advantage of the gobsmacked look on Hawk Moth's face and flung his yo-yo out to tie up Hawk Moth's legs, yanking them out from underneath him.
"Stop! You'll only hurt yourself if you keep this up! You don't want to get hurt!" There was a desperate undercurrent to Hawk Moth's words.
Mister Bug could feel the fear and confusion emanating from Hawk Moth. "You've been hurting me for years." There was cold steel in Mister Bug's emerald eyes. "But I'm willing to take some punishment now for letting you do that to me for so long. I deserve it. And… I'm also saving myself from getting hurt five years ago, too. This is my second chance at a happy life, and I'm going to take it!"
"What are you talking about?" Hawk Moth asked, terrified eyes scanning the area for help.
"I don't care if you understand or not." Mister Bug punched Hawk Moth in the face again, then spat out a tooth. "I don't need you. You know who needed you? Your son. But your son was too blind to see who you really were. Where your priorities lay. You hurt him, and you'll just keep on hurting him if I let you leave here with that brooch today."
Hawk Moth's eyes blew wide.
"This is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me." Mister Bug reached over and plucked the Miraculous from Hawk Moth's costume. A flash of purple light later, and Gabriel Agreste lay dazed underneath the Tower platform, legs entangled in yo-yo string. The former Hawk Moth's kwami zipped into the purple jewel.
The sentimonster clobbered Mister Bug, sending him flying into the air. Gabriel buckled in pain and screamed.
"No!" Mayura yelled. She raised her arms, and the sentimonster disappeared in a puff of magic. She ran over to Gabriel and sat him up.
Ladybug had just succeeded in getting the akuma secured to the Tower when a wave of grief flooded her to the point where she couldn't stand up. She sank down to the ground. What had happened to cause that? Was it a side effect of the akuma blast? She looked over and saw Chat Noir standing in front of… Gabriel Agreste? What? Chat's right hand was bubbling with black energy. Before she could register what was happening, Chat lunged forward toward Gabriel with his hand outstretched. Mayura thrust herself between them and was hit by Chat's attack. She screamed, and her transformation dropped, revealing… Mr. Agreste's assistant?
What was going on here?
Rena Rouge and Carapace ran over and joined Ladybug. Rena's hand was over her mouth, and her eyes were glistening.
"I always knew he wasn't the greatest parent, but… a supervillain?" Carapace's voice was quiet.
Ladybug opened and closed here mouth a few times before any sound would come out. "We still need to figure out how to get rid of the akuma. Let's handle that first. Rena, can you go help Chat out please? Keep him here and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
Rena nodded and went over to Chat, who was standing in front of Gabriel and Nathalie. Ladybug saw rage in his face and was grateful that there would never be any more akumas. Fighting Akumatized Chat would be a challenge she didn't want to face. Underneath the visible rage she felt confusion, pain… and a hint of love. Chat. Her heart reached out to her partner as she tried to give him as many good feelings as possible.
Carapace circled the akuma. "Ladybug, right here! Try its tail!" Ladybug walked over and examined the tail. It vaguely resembled Chat's tail: more like a long belt worn backwards than an actual tail. She gripped it and pulled, causing it to snap off. A dark butterfly emerged from the tail and immediately bolted toward Chat Noir. Ladybug threw her yo-yo and snatched it out of the air, purifying it.
The akuma dissolved in a cloud of black-and-purple bubbles. Ladybug briefly recognized the couple she had assisted the previous night on her way to see Adrien at his hideout. She dropped the dog leash she was holding and grabbed the handcuffs. She pulled and pulled, unable to separate them from the Tower scaffolding. She'd never used her Cure without throwing the Lucky Charm up in the air before, but today was a day for firsts. She yelled "Miraculous LADYBUG!" at the top of her lungs in a last-ditch effort to end this phase of the nightmare.
The handcuffs burst in her hands and black-and-red magical sprites swarmed Paris, setting right the damage that had been done by the battles with the sentimonster and the akuma. Ladybug's heart swelled as it usually did when she watched her Cure take effect. The feelings of love, admiration, grief, and heartache - Chat's feelings that she was just getting used to experiencing - vanished. In their place was a nervous energy similar to how she felt on her birthday just before opening presents.
This was the last time they would face Hawk Moth. Crap! Hawk Moth was defeated - Chat was probably going to hold her to her promise of sharing identities, but given his reaction to Hawk Moth, he probably wasn't terribly eager to do that. And poor Adrien! He was going to need some help, too. Hopefully they would both accept her assistance as Ladybug… but in any case, she could reach out to Adrien as Marinette. Maybe. It's what friends did, and she could be a good friend to Adrien and now that this was all over and they won she could be Adrien's friend! Maybe today wasn't a disaster after all.
Mister Bug leaped back onto the tower and collected his yo-yo, interrupting Ladybug's reverie.
She removed a peacock-shaped brooch from a dazed Nathalie and went over to him. "Ad- Mister Bug... um... I'm so sorry," she stammered.
"It's OK... I knew. I've known for a while," Mister Bug said, frowning. "Not that it makes this easier. I knew I was being sent back to stop my father and get his Miraculous. It's better than what happened in the future. This way, Paris will be spared some of the pain and destruction." And I will be too, was the unspoken message.
She held out her hand. "I'll take the Butterfly Miraculous back to the Guardian. Well done and thank you."
Mister Bug didn't return the gesture. "Yeah… about that, Ladybug. I've got some bad news."
The nervous feeling in Ladybug's stomach grew until she thought that if she opened her mouth, actual butterflies would fly out.
Mister Bug rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ground. "When the sentimonster hit me after I got the Miraculous, I flew pretty far. I don't know if I dropped it immediately, in the air, or when I landed. I'm sorry, Ladybug. I lost it."
Ladybug almost burst into tears on the spot. They had just fought the biggest battle of their lives and won - yet they were no closer to retrieving the Butterfly Miraculous than they were when the day started. At least Hawk Moth and Mayura - her idol Gabriel Agreste and his assistant, her brain helpfully inserted for her - were captured and would no longer be a threat. But in order for the threat to be truly over, they needed that Miraculous.
"Split up." She felt as if someone else were speaking and giving orders. "We need to find it. We can't rest until we do. Take a line from the Tower to where Mister Bug landed. Leave no stone unturned, no rooftop unaccounted for. We don't stop until we have it."
Rather than the action she expected, there was no movement. Chat Noir was still standing in front of Gabriel and Nathalie. The tension in his body made him resemble a coiled spring. Rena Rouge was next to him, with tears freely spilling from her eyes. Carapace shared an equally distressed look.
Ladybug's earrings chirped urgently. She swore under her breath. "Nevermind, we don't have time. We'll have to recharge and double back. Carapace, can you deliver these two to the police?"
"Yes, Ladybug." He gripped Gabriel and Nathalie each by an elbow. "Come with me, please. Don't try anything funny."
Gabriel and Nathalie stood up without protest and accompanied Carapace to the bridge, where Roger Raincomprix was waiting on the other side.
"Kitty? Let's meet back here in an hour. Can you do that, please?"
Chat Noir didn't respond. He only stood there, looking at the spot where Gabriel and Nathalie were.
"Kitty? Crap, I've gotta go. You do too, your ring is flashing. C'mon, Kitty."
"I'll get him." Mister Bug picked him up and launched himself away from the Tower, leaving Ladybug, two confused civilians, one captured Miraculous, and more questions than she was willing to count.