Chapter Nine

"Okay, I'm a minute from the mansion. Go, Bee!"

Chloe ducked another swing from the latest akuma as she brought her cell phone to her ear. "You got it, Ladybug!" she called, whipping her top back into her hand. "Venom!"

Immediately she felt the rush of power flood her body, churning with all of her spite and raw fury and concentrating into the needle of her top. In an instant, she went from purely defensive to full-on offense, rushing forward and stabbing Hawkmoth's would-be trump card in his side.

Instantly, the bear-themed monster staggered, eyes wide, gasping in a breath before it went still. The crowd cheered, and it was tempting to stand there and bask in their praise as they glanced around curiously for Ladybug, but Chloe knew that their red-clad superheroine wasn't coming.

They had a bigger butterfly to catch than this small fry, and she had to run.

Snatching the akumatized object from the bear, Chloe leapt to the rooftops, leaving the akuma victim frozen for the time being as she sprinted towards Master Fu's dingy little medicine shop. He was waiting for her at the door, his expression grave. Without a word, he accepted the akumatized object and took it inside for safe-keeping, leaving her to get as close to the Agreste Mansion as she could before her time ran out.

"Guys, I'm on my way. I have three minutes left on my timer."

"Rena's illusion ends in ninety seconds. Hurry, Bee!"

Pollen finally flashed back into view a few blocks away from the mansion and dove straight into her purse to rip open the honey sticks that Chloe had shoved there. She could hear explosions and the police that Ladybug had asked to be on standby screaming towards the commotion as she glanced at her phone. Assuming Carapace activated his shield around when Rena's illusion went down, she probably only had a minute left. She forced herself to run faster.

"Pollen!" Chloe cried, shoving her way past the nonplussed bystanders as the mansion came into sight.

"Ready, my Queen!"

"Buzz on!"

People gasped, flinching back as the flash of yellow light surrounded her entire body. She leaped skyward and the ground fell away, giving her a perfect view of the flash of green light flying through the window, then heard another explosion, a cry of "No!", two sets of laughter and the ragged beating of wings. A moment later, she landed on the ledge just outside of the predictably butterfly-themed window, taking in the scene in a matter of seconds.

Hawkmoth and Mayura stood with their backs towards the window, a giant moth hovering around their heads, while Ladybug and Chat Noir desperately defended against the rockets and bullets flying out of the walls and a newly-recharged (and very possibly exposed if Carapace hadn't gotten the shield up in time) Rena Rouge carefully lowered the exhausted and evidently injured Carapace to the ground.

Chloe growled softly. "Venom."

Mayura turned too late as Chloe launched forward, stabbing her weapon deeply into the woman's shoulder. She gasped, her pink eyes blowing almost comically wide as her breath froze in her lungs along with the monster defending Hawkmoth.

"Nathalie!" Hawkmoth cried, whirling towards the bee-themed hero with his cane raised, but it was too late. Chloe's top flew upwards, catching the cane and yanking it out of the supervillain's grip. She grinned, pleased that she had disarmed him.

Only to find that he still held a wickedly sharp rapier in his hand, evidently drawn from the end of the cane. Hawkmoth's eyes gleamed in a way that could only be described as manic as he raised the sword. Chloe quickly tugged on the string of her top, only to find that it was still tangled around the cane, which had gotten jammed in one of the panels that had opened to reveal the room's defense system.

"Sh-!"

"Language, Chlo!"

Chloe startled, gaping up at the black-clad superhero that had intercepted both her and Hawkmoth at once.

"Adri- Chat!" she yelped as he forced his father backwards.

"Adrichat? Well, I like it better than Adrikins, but you probably shouldn't call me that at school, okay?"

"Ugh, would you for once try to take things seriously you mangy alley cat?" Chloe grumbled.

"There she is," he flashed a grin over his shoulder, but, knowing now who he was, Chloe could tell that it was strained. That behind Chat Noir's mask, Adrien was hurting. "Get her Miraculous! Hurry!"

"R-Right!" Queen Bee squeaked, hurrying to the frozen Mayura and tugging the pin from her costume.

An instant later, the giant moth fluttering above their heads vanished in a flash of blue light, and Nathalie Sancoeur collapsed to the floor with a low moan of pain.

Served her right.

"Bee!" Rena Rouge cried over Hawkmoth's howl of rage.

"What now?!"

"Grab Nathalie and Carapace and get them out of here!"

"What! Why?!"

"Carapace is too hurt to fight! We can't defend him and go all out!" Ladybug called back. "And Nathalie's too much of a wild card! You need to take her to the police, they should be there by now!"

"Yeah, but why moi?"

"Because you're the only one who can! You're Queen Bee, but you have the added weight if being Chloe Bourgeois, too! Now go!"

Chloe couldn't deny that she was somewhat flattered by Ladybug's assertion, even though the cynical side of her hissed that this was Marinette Dupain-Cheng and she just wanted her out of the way so that she could steal all the glory. Then the Queen Bee in her, the side most influenced by Pollen, reminded her that she'd just used Venom for the second time in the last ten minutes. This wasn't just vanity.

Ladybug was worried about her.

It was that oddly-flattering reassurance that sent Chloe rushing to Rena Rouge's side and lifting Carapace onto her back, shrugging the boy's shield over her shoulder. Then she sprinted back to Nathalie - dodging a rocket and a spray of bullets from a mini gun on the way - and slung the woman much less ceremoniously over her other shoulder.

"Don't you dare die while I'm gone," she snapped, making eye-contact with Ladybug as she paused by the window.

"Don't kill anyone while you're gone," Ladybg grinned back breathlessly, leaping over another stream of bullets while her yoyo flew outward to catch the nose of another rocket and fling it skyward, blowing a hole in the roof.

She took care of Carapace first, laying him gently down on a nearby rooftop just as he lost his transformation where they'd all hidden some extra treats for their kwamis as a precaution.

"Will he be okay?" Chloe asked softly as Wayzz twirled into view and placed a limb gently against the boy's forehead.

The kwami nodded, relief shining in his eyes. "It's not too serious. You'd best hurry, Miss Bourgeois. I'll care for my Chosen."

Chloe nodded, rising to her feet.

"Oh, and Miss Bourgeois?"

"Yeah?"

"Leave the Peafowl with me as well, please. There's something I would like to check."

"Sure, whatever," Chloe shrugged, placing the pin on the ground in front of him.

She leaped down to the Agreste Mansion steps just as her comb reminded her that she was down to two minutes.

"Mmlle. Bou- That is, Queen Bee! What's going on?" Officer Raincomprix called anxiously, rushing up the steps.

"Arrest this woman at once," Queen Bee replied briskly. "She is the notorious Mayura, known accomplice of the villain Hawkmoth."

"Wh- But, Ms. Bourgeois -!"

"That's Queen Bee to you, Officer! Now I really must hurry back and assist the rest of my team in taking down Hawkmoth once and for all."

"H-Hawkmoth? He's here?!"

"That's what I just said, isn't it? Now hurry up and create a perimeter, or whatever it is you law people do! We can't afford to let him escape again!"

Her comb beeped again. One minute.

"Hurry!" she snapped, then dumped Nathalie into the hapless Officer Raincomprix's arms and threw her top to launch her back to the rooftop where she'd left Nino.

The DJ had regained consciousness by the time she arrived, and he glanced up with a rueful smile just as her transformation rolled off of her.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad you're here, Chloe. There's no way we could've lasted if you hadn't arrived."

"Spare me the sarcasm," Chloe grumbled as she caught Pollen, hoping that he couldn't see the pink in her cheeks. "Now do you think we could hurry up and get back into the fight?"

Nino chuckled weakly. "Yes, Your Highness," he smiled, throwing a weary salute.

Chloe hesitated, then sat down beside him, plucking a pair of honey sticks from the little lunchbox that Wayzz sat on top of, munching on a piece of… lettuce? Pollen accepted them gratefully, sipping the honey delicately.

Chloe opened her mouth, then closed it again. Pollen smiled up at her with her huge blue eyes, prompting her to try again. "For what it's worth," Chloe muttered, "I'm glad you're not dead, Shellhead."

Nino stared at her, stunned, for a solid ten seconds before he laughed. "That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," he chuckled.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it," Chloe grumbled, turning to glare at the mansion once again.

She could still hear explosions. Unfortunately all that she could do now was hope that they could hold out until she and Nino got back.