Marinette stared at her phone.
She tried to call Theo again, but she was sent straight to voicemail. Alya groaned and kicked a can, running her hand through her hair.
"I should have known. I should have known", she ranted. "Why did I believe him? I should have stayed with him."
She breathed in, and remembered that Marinette had tried to stop her from travelling to Hawk Moth's lair to begin with.
"I should have listened", she added. "I didn't know I wouldn't be able to take him with me."
Marinette closed her eyes and suppressed her panic. She felt tears well up between her eyelashes. Sometimes, you had to take decisions where you lost either way. Sometimes, the cards you were dealt were just bad, and you had to pick the lesser evil.
"We need to get Chat Noir", Tikki said. "We need to find Plagg. I don't know what he did, but Hawk Moth was furious."
Marinette weighed her options. She could rescue Chat Noir, wherever he was, but it would mean leaving Theo at Hawk Moth's mercy. She could look for Theo, but how long could Chat Noir resist that voice in his head?
She opened her eyes.
That was a stupid question.
"Are you saying we should abandon Copycat?" Alya exclaimed. "Then I'll get him. A circular window in the Défense, facing the Eiffel Tower. I'll find it!"
"I'm abandoning no one", Marinette exclaimed. "I'm getting them both."
She grabbed Tikki and started running towards the bakery. She had left her Miraculous home, and she would need it.
Nino and Alya raced after them.
"You can't get them both", the boy said. "There is no time. We can find Copycat!"
"I can and I will get them both", Marinette snapped. "Theo first, because he is a civilian, and I asked for his help, and I am not leaving him behind." - Theo himself obviously didn't agree with that point of view, but she was not about to give up on him. - "And then Chat, because I trust him to handle himself."
How long could he resist Hawk Moth's voice in his head? Forever. Chat Noir was much stronger than he gave himself credit for. Maybe he was scared, and maybe that Akuma was playing tricks on his mind, but this wasn't just a dark spell that could twist a person until it was lifted. That Akuma was a spirit that pitted its anger and malevolence against Adrien's will and endless kindness. It was outmatched.
"Marinette!" Alya yelled, grabbing her wrist and stopping her dead in her tracks.
Her friend turned, panting.
"You are not alone", the blogger said. "We are going to help. Now, tell us how."
Nino took a step forward, putting one hand on Marinette's shoulder and squeezing Alya's hand with the other.
They would never change their minds, the young hero realized. And she did not want them to. She could trust them. Maybe there was very little they could do, but they were in this together.
"Alright. Alright. My Miraculous is hidden at home", she explained, pulling Alya towards the end of the street. "I'll get it, and I'll go straight to the Défense. The two of you… You'll need to find Chat Noir - Adrien - and make sure he stays safe until I can get to him. I'll give you his email."
"I'll need my bubble thing", Nino told Alya as they ran. "And, Marinette, what are we up against?"
The plastic tube changed hands, and the boy shook it. It was empty.
"We are up against at least two evilized people and..."
"Plot Hole and Plot Bunny", Tikki cut in. "She is very strong, and he is a powerful illusionist. I believe this was meant to be Hawk Moth's endgame. He gave them more magic than he usually does. They even have special attacks, which you should be extremely wary of. But those spells come from Hawk Moth's Kwami, and using that magic will exhaust them, just like Lucky Charm does Ladybug."
"Their… Wait, their Kwami?" Nino asked. "You mean, like you and the flying cat? I thought you were on the heroes' side."
Marinette was slowing down, panting. Paris' streets were not as long in her memories, and she was exhausted. She saw Tikki hesitate. The Kwami looked down, face twisted in sadness.
"Usually", she said. "One of us has been captured by Hawk Moth, however. It's… A long story."
She peeked at Marinette, who realized Tikki had never shared Argus' story with her. The teenager's week had been so long that she felt like she had known about it forever, even though Plagg's revelation were still recent.
"One of the previous heroes was corrupted by an Akuma", she told her friends so Tikki would not have to. "That's what Hawk Moth is. The oldest, the strongest. He moved from host to host since Ancient Egypt."
She was still trotting. It was the fastest pace she could manage.
"Previous heroes?" Alya asked, frowning.
"Yes. They worked as a team, and… The woman died in battle, and Hawk Moth used that grief to get into her partner's mind."
"Aricia and Argus?" Nino asked.
Both Tikki and Marinette turned to him, startled.
"It's on Alya's blog", he said. "Their names. And pictures."
"What?" the young heroine exclaimed.
Where was that link? She was sure she had seen every corner of the blog. Finding that page could have come in handy earlier.
"She died?" Alya asked, dejected. "People thought they retired."
Her disappointment turned to worry as she looked to Marinette, and full understanding of the risks Ladybug took dawned. Marinette did not know what to say, so she grabbed Alya's hand and squeezed it. Alya squeezed back, putting her other hand over Marinette's and biting her lower lip. Then her eyes went wide and she turned to Tikki.
"You are a ladybug!" she exclaimed.
Tikki blinked.
"I mean, you are Ladybug's ladybug, and Chat Noir has a cat, so Aricia's Kwami would be a butterfly?"
"Yes", the sprite replied in a heartbroken whisper. "She's Makko. She was inside Argus' Miraculous when he was possessed, and she has been a prisoner since then. It is her magic Hawk Moth is using to transform people."
Alya raised a finger, looked around, and dragged Marinette towards the bakery, which was finally in sight. Marinette looked up at the windows, saw no lights, and hushed everyone. She fumbled for her keys and opened the door as quietly as possible.
"Let's try not to wake my parents", she murmured.
They walked in. Alya closed the door and transformed into Miss Wifi.
"This would be Makko's powers, then?" she murmured.
Tikki brightened, flying up and twirling around Alya in wonder.
"Yes", she replied after a moment, looking thrilled.
Marinette tiptoed to the oven. It was still lukewarm, having been on most of the day. She opened it, and reached inside for her Miraculous. She found the earrings were she had left them, pushed in a crease above the door, inside the oven. They had spent twenty hours a day getting roasted, looked perfectly fine, and smelled of bread. She put them on and returned to Tikki and the others.
"So, lemme get this straight", Nino told the Kwami. "We're, like, getting powers from that Makko, even if she's under Hawk Moth's control?"
"She's reaching out!" Tikki replied, beaming. "She can divide her magic, and it's always a little part of her mind. I think we might have released enough for her to start fighting back. She probably picked you because you were close to Ladybug."
Marinette wrote down Chat Noir's email on a sheet of "TS" stationery, and handed it to Alya. She would have loved to hear more, but explanations would have to wait.
"I'm going for Theo", she said. "Text me if you find Chat Noir."
Alya and Tikki gave her grim nods, while Nino hardened, looking around.
"Water and dish-soap?" he asked.
Marinette pointed to the relevant door, and transformed.
###
"Why", Alya told Adrien, "why, why, why, why are you calling me using CHLOÉ's phone?"
The boy fidgeted on his perch atop a golden horse statue. He had left Nathalie and their (unfrozen) chauffeur not ten minutes before, set on finding Marinette and figure a way to sort the mess they were in, from the Akuma thing to Ladybug's missing Kwami, and including the "Hawk Moth talking in his head" situation. The very precious (and waterproof, and apparently beatingproof) Eephone max had started buzzing before he could find a quiet spot to transform into Chat Noir.
He had gotten a text from Chloé (who wanted to know if Akuma-infections of electronics voided the warranty), and several emails on his Chat Noir email. The one only Ladybug was meant to know about. One was from Nino ("Call me, dude"), another from Ladybug ("Got Tikki back, have to rescue someone, sending you help") and the last had been from Alya. It had actually included entire sentences and everything.
Namely, it had said: "Ladybug wants 'Miss Wifi' to join you. She is busy with a problem with another ally. Please contact me".
Adrien had called. He was aware that Alya had powers (and faintly remembered fighting her and Stormy Weather), but the email still confused him more than it reassured him. He also needed to hear a friendly voice.
"It's, ah, I kind of stole it", he replied. "It's a bit possessed. It's a long story. I think I voided Chloé's warranty. I'm rambling. I'm rambling, aren't I?"
"Turn the phone away from your face!"
"She's not joking!" Nino's voice added in the background.
"Alright?" Adrien replied, turning the phone away from his face, belatedly realizing what he had just done. "DON'T!"
Unfortunately, Alya didn't hear his warning and he watched her soar out of the phone's screen, and into the empty air that separated the very high horse statue from the ground. He fumbled with the smartphone and managed to take a picture right before she crashed. It didn't work. He closed his eyes and listened to the impact.
"Ooooow", Alya moaned. "Every. Stupid. Time."
Plagg, who was resting on the horse's head and eating his cheese, sighed.
"Humans", he commented. "Can't land on their feet, ever."
Adrien jumped down.
"Are you alright?" he asked, extending his hand.
Alya looked up, gasped, and crawled away. Which was probably a sensible reaction to finding oneself in close vicinity with Picture Perfect. He sighed.
"I'm… Me", he said, crouching. "I mean, mostly. I have the Akuma under control."
"Ladybug thought you would", his classmate replied. "She said she trusts you."
Adrien's heart melted. He promptly hid that behind a cheeky grin.
"Of course she does. I'm purrfectly able to handle myself."
Alya squinted.
"Okay, it's you. It's really you."
She didn't look pleased, but it was probably because of the pun. Not one of his best.
He smiled, a little less like Chat Noir and a little more like… Someone who wasn't quite Adrien Agreste, model and perfect student. He needed to get rid of some of his personas. That identity thing was getting confusing.
"Yes. You said Ladybug was busy with another ally? What's happening?"
"She can transform again!" Alya announced. "Copycat got her Kwami. But… Hawk Moth got Copycat."
He blanched. Nathalie's "the two creatures chasing you were distracted by another enemy" suddenly made sense.
"He got captured instead of me?"
"He… Sort of", Alya replied.
"Do you know where he is? Where was Ladybug going?"
"The Défense. We don't know more, but it looks like he's held in one of the towers, in Hawk Moth's lair."
Adrien jumped to his feet.
"Plagg!"
"What now? I'm not done eating."
"Then hurry! We are joining Ladybug."
Alya stood, taking her phone out and dialing.
"Nino, he's okay. We're going to the Défense", she said. "Where can we meet?"
Plagg stuffed the rest of his cheese in his mouth and swallowed it.
"Not a second too late", Adrien murmured, raising his hand. "Plagg, transform me!"
The Kwami was sucked into his ring and, a moment later, Chat Noir turned to a gaping Alya, who was holding her phone at the level of her shoulder.
"Okay, it's you, it's really you", she said, grinning.
He bowed.
"At your service, Miss."
She snorted.
"Nino can join us at the Jules Verne bus stop", she told him. "I think we-"
Her phone started ringing. She picked up.
"Yes, what did-"
She paled, listened to her interlocutor, and vanished into her screen. Chat Noir grabbed her phone and pressed it to his ear.
"Alya?" he called.
"Hush, hush", a little girl's voice replied. "The butterflies are looking for us!"
###
Ladybug landed on the highest roof facing the Défense district, and stared at the skyscrapers, from the rectangular buildings covered in tiny darkened windows to the brightly lit bluish walls of the Tour First. How many days had it been since Feathertail had thrown her from that tower? She couldn't remember.
There were no circular windows that she could see. Just squares, endless squares and rectangles everywhere. She had climbed up every facade - the Tour First, the EDF tower, Gabriel HC's, Total's and Areva's and Kid Tv's, and every smaller building in the area - and and found nothing.
She transformed back.
"Do you have any idea of where that window could have been?" she asked Tikki. "There's nothing."
The only "circular" shapes she saw were printed on billboards, or painted on windows, like the enormous "G" logo of the Gabriel brand (it was three floors high, just like the printed illustration for Gabriel's modeling company, which depicted Adrien's profile and a camera and would probably be scraped off very quickly considering the "Picture Perfect" incident.)
Tikki flew up and looked back at the Eiffel tower, then turned to the Défense towers again.
"It would be closed now", she told Marinette. "Hawk Moth only opened it when he wanted to send Akumas out."
"What did you see, then?"
"Not much. The light from outside was very bright, and I was away from the window."
Marinette frowned and inspected each building again, from the left.
"Could it be another tower, closer to the center of the city? Like the Saint-Jacques tower?"
"I don't think so."
The teenager studied the last building.
"About Makko", she said.
"Plagg told you everything?" Tikki asked. "I'm so sorry I did not tell you. I was waiting for the right moment, and…"
"It's alright. I understand. It's… Plagg clearly didn't want to talk about it at all. He kind of brushed over everything."
Nothing, square windows, again. She moved to the previous tower.
"Plagg always does", Tikki quietly commented. "We should have told the two of you. We didn't want to scare you."
Marinette thought about what had happened to the previous Miraculous holders, from Aricia's fate in battle to the way Hawk Moth had gone after Zetta's chosen, Clover.
"I can understand that… With Aricia and Clover dying, I mean, it is scary."
Tikki turned to Marinette, startled.
"Clover is alive", she said.
The teenager whirled to her.
"What? But Plagg said…"
"Zetta got Clover's entire family out just in time. They got new identities and lost their memories of the Miraculous, but they survived."
Marinette nearly felt relieved, but Tikki's distraught expression left no doubt on the darkness of the story, regardless of Clover's escape.
"It's not Clover who died", the Kwami finished.
The girl frowned.
"But why would Plagg…"
Understanding dawned. Plagg wouldn't have named Hawk Moth's actual victim in front of Adrien. He didn't want the newest Chat Noir afraid.
"We'll free Makko", she said, pushing that problem out of her mind and turning back to the buildings.
Theo first. Questions later.
She saw the window instantly. It was a bit like looking for your keys, and seZetta'arching through an entire room for hours in vain, only to discover them on the door as soon as you stopped looking. It was blatant, and right in front of her eyes. It just wasn't a window.
Her legs went weak.
"Oh no, no, no", she whispered. "No, that's just…"
Impossible.
And horribly wrong.
###