"Why can't you just trust me?" I yelled at Ladybug.

She sent me a glare that would've made the grim reaper run from her in terror. "You haven't given me a reason to!"

"Pushing you out of the way of a falling chunk of concrete isn't enough proof that I'm not going to betray you?"

"One time that you've done something even remotely heroic doesn't make up for everything else!"

"Everything else?" I repeated, a little miffed at both the phrase 'heroic' and her continued opposition to me. "What has 'everything else' been? Not bending to your will? Having a mind of my own? Not seeing you through rose tinted glasses like everyone else in this damn city?"

"Rose tinted-" She shook her head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm so sorry I don't treat you like a goddess. Is that what you want me to do?" I growled sarcastically. "Sorry I don't treat you like you're perfect like every other person in Paris. That must be such an inconvenience for you."

If it were possible, her glare turned even darker. "Do you think I want them to treat me like I don't make mistakes? I know I'm not perfect!"

"Could've fooled me," I muttered. Little miss goody two shoes.

"I can't believe you actually pinned the akuma victim to the ground!" Ladybug snapped, dragging me out of my thoughts. "Did you have to flash your fangs like that? Were the claws really necessary?"

I bristled at that. "Excuse me for taking a different approach when yours didn't work," I replied coldly. "Sometimes asking nicely doesn't work."

"That doesn't mean you have to resort to acting barbaric and scaring the daylights out of them!"

"It's not like I hurt the poor girl."

"She was bleeding!" The red and black clad heroine glared at me.

"The wound wasn't very deep! Besides, you did lucky charm and it went away, so I don't see the problem." Briefly, I wondered if Ladybug had a problem dealing with blood, but shrugged the possibility off as she continued her lecture. Had she changed back to her normal self then fed her kwami and changed back to Ladybug just to hunt me down and yell at me? The thought made me smirk, an odd sense of pride going through me. Did I really infuriate her enough to make her want to track me down at inconvenient times?

Chat jumped down between us, sending both of us disappointed looks. "Seriously? I leave for five minutes and you're back to arguing already? Do I need to set up a round the clock supervisor for the two of you?"

Ladybug scowled. "It's not an argument if one party doesn't talk."

"Hey, I'm just letting you say everything you have to say. It wouldn't be very polite of me to interrupt, would it?" I wasn't sure why, but that seemed to vex her further. Her eyes blazed and I tried an innocent smile when Chat sent me a look that screamed 'really?' Honestly, he should've been happy I'd kept my mouth shut, otherwise, his 'lady' would've been called a few choice words and then some.

"This has gone on long enough!" Chat snapped. "I don't care how you do it, but the two of you need to work this out."

"But Chat-" I argued at the same time Ladybug practically screamed, "What about Volpina?"

I bit my tongue to keep from snapping at her again. Why was my being a fox still such an issue? Hadn't I proved that I wasn't like Volpina? Was she really so afraid of the very unlikely chance that I'd betray her? Had I done something other than show up as a fox -which I had no control over- to earn such burning hatred and suspicion? Shaking my head, I stepped away from them both. "You're being ridiculous."

Paris' favorite heroes stopped their argument long enough to send me curious looks. "What?"

At least she knows I was talking to her. I shook my head again. "It's funny. You honestly think I'd work with someone like Hawkmoth and you don't even know how he's destroyed my life. He's a horrible person."

This seemed to catch Ladybug's attention. "Why do you take the akuma attacks so personally?"

I stiffened, my mind going blank. Personally? Did I take the attacks personally? I didn't think so. "We're supposed to prevent the akumas, aren't we? What you two do is reactive, not proactive. It certainly hasn't been very productive either. I don't take anything Hawkmoth has done personally." Except killing my brother, but you don't need to know about that.

"You seem to be more affected by them than we are." Ladybug continued, clearly having gotten a new idea of what she might be able to use against me.

"If the two of you want to keep waiting for Hawkmoth to make the first move and eventually mess up, I won't stop you, but I'm trying something else." I turned and started away from them.

"Vixen, wait!"

I stopped, sending Chat a questioning look.

He stepped forward then seemed to realize that was a bad idea and stopped. "You can't go after him on your own. Let me come with you, at least."

"And separate you from your wonderful partner? I think not. No, I'll be fine by myself. We both know I work better alone anyway."

"Going after him on your own is suicide!"

I shrugged. "I don't care."

"Vixen-"

"Chat, let her go. If she wants to put herself in danger, let her. Maybe she'll learn a few things."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you so much for the words of encouragement, Ladybug. I don't know what I'd do without you." I turned and walked away before either of them could respond.

"I could always go out and take care of her before she gets here."

Hawkmoth stayed silent, contemplating his companion's offer. He didn't really want some hero to come crashing in and try fighting him. After another minute of thinking, he shook his head. "She'll recognize you. It's not worth the risk."

Fortunately for the young man, Hawkmoth missed the 'you're an idiot' look that had been shot at him. "So you're going to just let her find us?"

"She doesn't know we're here. Even she does manage to find us, it will take time."

The silence stretched between the two of them, the tension becoming thicker as more time passed. "Let me fight her."

Hawkmoth sent his companion a shocked look. "What?"

"Give me your miraculous so I look like you. I'll fight her."

It was silent for a long time after that. Finally, Hawkmoth smirked and chuckled. "You know, you're not quite as useless as I thought."

"Glad to be of service." Came the cold reply.

"Now, if I were a supervillain with a butterfly theme, where would I be hiding?" I mumbled, mentally checking off each part of the city as I searched it. Of course, I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but at this point, I'd take anything that seemed even slightly out of the ordinary. "Honestly, how hard is it to find a villain? He's modeled after a goddamned butterfly."

"Moth." Rhys corrected, floating around me.

"Not the time," I growled back, wondering how I could've messed up so badly that I wasn't to find the one supervillain in the city. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places.

"I still think storming away from Chat and Ladybug was stupid. You could've gotten them to help you."

I took a deep breath and held it to keep from snapping at my kwami. "They're perfectly content to wait until he makes the first move. I am not." Their approach has done nothing but create a status-quo where they idle about, waiting for Hawkmoth to make a move, which they then counter. This leads to a slow, unending war with no real stakes that annoys me to no end.

"I've noticed." She replied, breaking my train of thought and pausing both her floating and pestering. "You should've at least accepted Chat's offer."

"I'm not dragging someone else into this. Hawkmoth hasn't torn their lives into pieces the same way he has for me."

"And how do you know that?"

"I asked." A white blur flashed in my peripheral vision and my eyes darted to the side. What was... "Rhys, fangs out." Once the transformation had completed, I got up and started chasing the thing. As it flitted along a roof, I jumped and pounced on it. Carefully lifting one hand, I peered at a small, white butterfly. Well, that was unexpected. It looks like the akumas after Ladybug purifies them. Could it be one of them? Where would it be… No. There's no way all of this is that easy. "It couldn't be going back to him," I told myself, cupping my hands against the ground and trapping the butterfly again. "Why would it be doing that? He probably wouldn't need it to return to him." I sent the thing a wary look and considered my options. This is the first lead I've gotten in almost a week. I can't just throw this out the window, can I? Cautiously, I released the butterfly and waited for it to get back in the air and get its bearings before following it.

"Why butterflies?" I muttered. "Why not 'follow the spiders?'" Spiders would've at least crawled straight to their destination. Butterflies, however, seemed prone to frolicking around and following every gust of wind. "I don't have time for this," I grumbled, ready to swipe the butterfly out of the air and see if screaming at made it fly any faster.

You don't have much choice other than to be patient. A snide voice in my head whispered.

Eventually, the butterfly ended up leading me towards a building near the edge of town. The building itself seemed to be made out of ivory colored bricks and had vines growing up the sides. I turned, looking around. I could see the Eiffel Tower not far away. Seriously? It took me nearly two weeks to find this place and it was this close the entire time? I'm losing my touch. I watched as some panels retracted into the building, revealing a window that -just as expected- looked like a butterfly. A dark form flew out of it. I squinted to get a better look -though I assumed it was an akuma. Pulling out my fan, I quickly called Chat.

"Vixen! Where have you been?"

"That's not important right now. There's going to be an akuma."

"How do you know?"

How do I- Are you serious!? "Because I found Hawkmoth's lair and I just saw him release an akuma. I don't know where it's headed, but there's an upset person somewhere and they're about to cause havoc. You need to take care of it."

"You're... not helping?"

"Goodness no. I was just giving you a heads up. Now, I have a bug to catch."

"Vixen, you can't-"

I hung up and started towards the building. Making it to the side of the building, I clawed my way up the vines and balanced on a ledge below the window. Once I was under it, I jumped and grasped at the bottom of it, pulling myself up and slipped in. It took my eyes a minute to adjust. It was dark inside and there were butterflies fluttering all over the room. I could just barely hear the sound of them flapping their wings. A soft chuckle came from a corner of the room across from me and I settled into a defensive position, holding a fan out.

"I've been waiting for you."

I stiffened, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. Waiting for me? How could he have known I was coming at all? Damn it. Not the surprise attack I was hoping for then. That's okay, I can work with this.

The man I'd come to associate with everything wrong with my life stepped into the light streaming in through the window and…

I was disappointed.

Truthfully, I'd been expecting... something else. He seemed almost laughable. I tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out what to do. Mostly my mind was filled with what improvements I would suggest about this man and his costume. Nothing much. Changing the color scheme. Making the whole thing armored. Getting rid of the cane. And maybe the gloves too.

The necktie pin was okay, I guess.

Dark magic glimmered in his hand and somehow, I found myself not caring. "Who are you going to victimize next? Fashion? Oh wait, what am I talking about? You've already done that." It wasn't until his eyes widened, the magic in his hand disappeared and he gaped at me that I realized I'd spoken out loud. I gasped and slapped a hand over my mouth. And I'm pretty sure I just royally screwed myself. Wonderful.

He rushed at me and I dodged a blast of magic, trying to keep a fan between the villain and myself. I extended it and fastened it into a circle before throwing it. It bounced off a wall and would've taken Hawkmoth out, had he not used his cane as a bat at the last second. I ducked as the fan came back and dodged another attack. He's playing cat and mouse. I scowled, picking up my fallen fan and threw it again. I refuse to be the mouse. Forcing myself to focus, I waited on the tips of my toes and as a wave of dark energy surged from Hawkmoth, I dove under it, tackling him to the ground. His cane came out of his grasp and clattered to the ground a few feet away. I slammed one arm against his throat and held him there, taking a moment to catch my breath.

For a minute, I thought I'd gotten him.

Until a sharp pain exploded in my side and I looked down. He'd grabbed the fan I'd thrown at him and stabbed me with it. The silver fabric of the top of my suit was rapidly darkening with blood. I watched as the liquid dripped onto Hawkmoth's fingers, a cruel smile spread on his lips. "Even after all these years, you still can't beat me."

What?

He drove the fan further in and I fell back, too shocked to scream. He stood over me now, smirking. "You heroes always lose in the end. With how often you told Ladybug she wasn't being smart about fighting me, I'd figured you'd at least bring her along with you." He sighed and shook his head as if I'd disappointed him. "It doesn't matter now. It's not the miraculous I wanted, but it's a start." He leaned down then, his hand going for my throat.

Something in me finally burst my shock bubble and I pushed myself up, effectively surprising Hawkmoth and making him stumble back. Without sparing him another glance, I turned and darted out the window. About halfway down the vines, my hands slipped and I slammed into the pavement. I coughed, forcing air back into my lungs before they could take it and pushed myself back to my feet. I had to get away from here. It didn't matter where I went, as long as I didn't run into anyone on the way.

Blood was still flowing from the wound when I made it out of town. My hand was covered in it and the bottom half of my top was red instead of silver. I assumed the only reason I hadn't passed out yet was because I was still transformed. Almost as if the thought had called her, I was suddenly surrounded by a bright light and my kwami appeared in front of me. "Nydra! Oh my god, we have to get you to a hospital!"

I shook my head, my ears ringing. "They'll ask what happened."

"We'll tell them you were mugged! Nydra, you have to go!"

I shook my head again, this time with less force. "We're nowhere near…" I stopped, clinging to a lamp post to keep myself upright. "Nowhere near a hospital."

"And who's fault is that?" She snapped, crossing her arms. My vision swam and I didn't answer. "Nydra?"

Suddenly, the world spun, my grip on the post slipped and I could feel myself falling, but it was almost in slow motion. "Nydra!" Everything went black.