Chapter 25:
"Hide!" Henry ordered as the Ink Demon shrieked and began to charge at them. Marinette and Henry both dashed towards the Miracle Station nearby, but Chat didn't move. His shoulder was burning and he could feel it slowly spreading. The ink infused in his suit was reacting to the Ink Demon's presence, sending all sorts of confusing thoughts and feelings through Chat's mind. Feelings of hopelessness and desperation, but most overwhelmingly of all, Chat felt anger, anger at the one that had done to this and the need to get revenge. Chat let out a menacing growl of his own and charged at the Ink Demon.
"Chat no!" Marinette cried as she saw him lunge, but Chat didn't even seem to hear her. Chat dodged under Bendy's strike and lashed out with his baton, managing to hit Bendy in the chest. Even though it was a powerful blow, Bendy did little more than stumble back slightly. The Ink Demon let out an angry growl which Chat returned as they once again lunged at each other.
"What's Adrian thinking!?" Henry said in shock, watching the fight. "He's going to get himself killed at this rate!"
"I don't know!" Marinette replied fearfully, trying desperately to think of some way to fix this situation. "He's never acted like this before!"
"There's something wrong with his transformation…" Tikki informed, floating out of Marinette's purse to get a better look. " I didn't notice before because there's just so much corrupted magic around, but something is definitely wrong. It's almost like his transformation has been infected with the corrupted magic somehow."
"Is there any way to stop the infection?" Marinette asked, worried for her friend and partner.
"It's hard to tell…" Tikki replied sadly, looking at Marinette. "But from the way the magic is fluctuating wildly around him…. I don't think there's much we can do"
Marinette swallowed thickly and look back at the fight. Both Bendy and Chat were fighting furiously, but neither seemed able to get the upper hand. Finally, Chat snarled and held up his hand.
"Cataclysm!" Chat shouted. Dark energy and ink began to swirl around his hand. Once everything had gathered, Chat stuck, aiming for the Ink Demon's chest. Bendy was able to bring up his own hand in time to intercept the blow. The Ink Demon let out a deafening shriek of pain as his hand dissolved and the destruction slowly began to travel up his arm. Adrian shouted in pain at the same time and stumbled back, clutching his same hand that was disappearing on Bendy.
At this point, Chat's transformation came to an end. His suit melted away along with the strange anger he had been feeling, leaving Adrian confused and drained. Henry rushed forward at that time and grabbed Adrian, pulling him back from the Ink Demon. Henry grabbed Marinette and pulled both to the Miracle Station. Throwing the door open, Henry could instantly tell that the three of them wouldn't fit. So he shoved the two teenagers in and shut the door, cutting of Marinette's protest.
Satisfied that they were safe, Henry turned back to the Ink Demon, ready to either run or fight if he had to. The Ink Demon was clutching it's injured arm, though it had stopped dissolving a little past the elbow. Even as Henry watched, he could see the arm start to grow back. Bendy looked over at Henry as if sensing his gaze, and gave him an angry snarl. Henry clenched the syringe, though he knew it'd be useless against the Ink Demon, and prepared for Bendy's lunge. But instead of attacking, Bendy just let out a growl at Henry before he turned away and disappeared through an ink portal that appeared on the wall behind him. Henry breathed a sigh of relief at the Ink Demon's departure and turned to face Marinette and Adrian as they came out of the Miracle Station.
"He's gone for now," Henry informed, nodding to the wall where the Ink Demon had disappeared. "Adrian, what were you thinking attacking him!?"
"I don't know…" Adrian murmured rubbing his head as his thoughts finished clearing. "I just felt really angry and I couldn't think straight so I just attacked what was in front of me…"
"I told you that stupid infection would probably mess with the transformation!" Plagg shouted in anger and worry, floating around Adrian in worry. "And now it's spread even farther!"
Adrian's eyes widened in alarm and he immediately looked at his shoulder. Henry and Marinette followed his gaze only to gasp in fear and worry. Black veins were visible coming out from coming out from under his shirt, almost reaching his elbow. And when Adrian looked back up at them, Henry and Marinette could see more black veins on his neck.
"Adrian!" Marinette said in worry, coming over to look him over. "When did this happen?"
"Um, it's from the scratch Bendy gave me," Adrian reluctantly admitted. "But it wasn't this bad this morning."
"You were infected when you rescued me," Marinette realized sadly. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"We had more things to worry about than my injury," Adrian reasoned, pulling back from Marinette. "And besides, there's nothing we can do to stop it so it didn't matter if you knew or not."
"Adrian, we care about you," Henry said, pulling Adrian into a hug much to Adrian's surprise. "I don't know where you got the idea that you aren't important, but you are important to all of us. If you're in trouble, we want to know so we can help in any way we can. We'll find some way to fix this. I promise."
"Thanks, Uncle Henry," Adrian replied softly, finally relaxing and taking comfort from his uncle's hug.
"Always Adrian," Henry smiled as he finally pulled back. "Is there at least a way we can keep your condition from getting worse."
"Don't let him transform again," Plagg said immediately, before dropping sadly. "It causes the infection to spread faster. But other than that… I don't think there's much we can do."
"Then I'll be the only one transforming from now on," Marinette concluded firmly. "You need to take care of yourself, Adrian. You trust me to help keep everyone safe right?"
"Of course my lady," Adrian replied, smiling briefly before becoming serious. "But since you are the only one, you should probably not transform until we need you to."
"Agreed," Marinette nodded. "Let's get back to the others."