Chapter Summary: In which the race ends

Seventy-one percent.

The frequency changed again. Pollen snagged it before it could try to escape her.

Seventy-two percent.

She'd seen something like this before. Her eyes slipping from screen to screen behind her glasses, she coded, re-coded, and then punched in the bypass key she'd discovered through the files. Her fingers worked like weapons, slashing through data to catch yet another connection in the signal.

Seventy-three percent.

Plagg would have been faster at this. Bee had said as much. Pollen drove that thought out of her head as she caught yet another line.

Seventy-four percent.

This was her job now. She'd decided to follow her brother's footsteps. This was her choice.

And she had to be better. She had to be.

The frequency switched once more, and she slipped forward like a striking snake to take it down.

Seventy-five percent.

Bee had left, her voice distracting enough with yelling about some missing yo-yo, and Pollen was alone now - typing and fighting. Sneaking in and striking down the enemy.

"Better than Plagg," she whispered, firing another strike. "I'm better than Plagg. I'll make you proud, brother… by being better…"

Seventy-six percent… Seventy-seven percent… Seventy-eight percent…

His legs hurt. His arms quaked. His head rammed against his skull. He knew he'd broken a rib - wasn't quite sure which one yet. The bullets had hit him with bruising force, but the suit had saved his life. He felt a flicker of familiar agony on his arm. He could feel the suit filling up with warm blood.

So much for holding him together.

The akuma stood silently only a few steps away. Her eyes had drifted unfocused to the controller in her arms.

"Adrien…" his father continued, chin trembling against the ground. "Why are… why are you-?"

"He's with me," Marinette spoke up sharply. She pulled the yo-yo's strings and his father groaned as the wire cut tight on his suit. "He saved my life from your assassins. He's been by my side ever since you started hunting me. He is the reason you couldn't catch me. Your own son has been fighting to bring you down."

The laugh was loud and unexpected, the walls compacting it, ringing the cool stones. His father stared at him, sky blue wild with delight. Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien saw Marinette yank the string even harder. Another grunt escaped his father's lips, but it was followed by more hysterics.

"It's over," Adrien called through the thundering peals of cackling. "You lost. Give us the controller."

"Akuma, self-destruct!" The words flipped so easily off his lips, Adrien felt his body freeze with horror.

"Self-destruct sequence activated," the woman's monotone voice followed and her collar lit up brightly. "Ten… nine… eight…"

"No!" Marinette cried. "Stop!"

"Six… five… four…"

"STOP!"

"Akuma, pause self-destruct." His father called.

"Pausing self-destruct sequence." Her collar continued to blink - waiting.

Green eyes tossing into Marinette's, the look of dread on her face twisted his stomach.

How could he do this…? How could his own flesh and blood have mangled into this monster?

His father grinned from the floor, his triumph palpable. "Thank you, my dear. You just proved me right."

Marinette turned to him, her shoulders were trembling. "What are you talking about?"

"Choices!" The trapped man said brightly, his eyes gleaming at her like a snake. "If this woman died, you'd win. You'd have the controller and I'd be done. But you couldn't do it, could you, Ladybug? You couldn't sacrifice an innocent life. You had a chance to win this, but your own limitations keep holding you back."

"Human decency is a flaw!?" She snarled.

"Of course. Empathy is certainly a drive that effects free will. So is love, hate - any emotion really. Take that away and what do you get?"

"Mindless slaves!" Adrien barked.

"And what's better? But in the meantime, there are riots, school shootings, revolutions, terrorists. You have chaos. This is what is driving our world to the brink of annihilation. The masses rising in panic, killing each other for the sake of what they think is right! And you're just like them, son… you and your brother - and your mother."

"Don't you dare talk about them like that!" Adrien roared. "You are the one who drove us away! You are the only one at fault!"

His father's smile weakened and his voice bit hard. "I knew you wouldn't understand, son. Your sense of self-importance has been inflated with the rest of them. You want this, you want that, you want, and you want, and you'll eventually do whatever is necessary to take it. It is this mindset that is tearing society apart. It is these freedoms that are destroying the very fabric of your precious governments. Corruption is bred from the people."

"And taking free will away creates peace?" Adrien fired off.

"Naturally," his father sighed. "I realized this long ago - even before Emilie left or you and your brother decided to run off to join the delusional. The world is burning under the ramblings of the masses. Freedom of speech, religion, bi-partisan politics - something needed to happen. It needed change. Someone to stand up and rein in the maelstrom of violence. So, I did something about it."

"Kidnapping children-"

"Children who would grow up to spout the poison that's breeding in this society! Children who would grow up with savage ideals! That their opinions are the one true way this world should be run!"

"How are you any different!?" Adrien roared.

"How many have you killed, son!? How many lives have you taken for your precious government!?"

"I am not your son!"

"No," Hawkmoth growled, and his face twisted into something darker. "No, you are just like the rest of them - Akuma, grab him! Activate self-destruct!"

"Re-activating - three…"

"Adrien!" Marinette called, her yo-yo zipping off Hawkmoth's body to fling towards him.

It was slow motion.

He wanted to back away.

He wasn't fast enough.

His body was already at its limit.

Hawkmoth had jumped to his feet, rushing towards the statue - where the gun had landed.

The woman's collar was glowing.

Marinette's yo-yo tossed around the akuma's thin frame just as her hand reached for his arm and the woman was yanked off her feet before she could grab him. The controller fell to the ground. His green eyes watched in disbelief as the akuma flew down the chamber - Marinette's entire strength throwing her away from him.

The explosion knocked him into the air and he landed hard on his back, sliding painfully to the spiral staircase. The heat of it brushed over his cheeks - washing him in the stench of iron and dust. He coughed, he choked.

His eyes swam.

He couldn't think, couldn't breathe.

Marinette! His thoughts screamed. Marinette was closer to the explosion! Where is she?

"Mar… Mari…" Neck turning on the ground, he searched through the dust and creeping fog. His mask, cracked down the middle, was a useless burden now. Reaching up, he ripped it off his face, his eyes blinking in the altered lowlight. The floor spun, but he forced himself to sit up - his body hollering in protest.

He'd crawl to her if he had to. He just had to find her.

Where was she?

Where?

WHERE?

"Your Ladybug made a choice, Adrien. You see now why I am who I am. Needless sacrifices all for their ideals. All for what they believe is right or wrong. So much barbarity that could have been avoided. She made a choice to save your life. You should be grateful her misguided empathy was in your favor."

The voice was like cold ice. It shivered down to his very core.

"Where- "

A figure emerged in the clearing dust, the large gun pointing at a petite raven-haired lying on the ground. A cry spilled from Adrien's lips. Marinette was still, her blue eyes closed. The yo-yo curled uselessly in her unmoving hand. A trail of blood wept down the side of her open lips. On his hands and knees, Adrien blinked through his haze - his heart racing so hard it was puncturing his lungs.

"N-No…" The sob was dry and cracked. "Mar-Marinette…"

Hawkmoth's mask had been torn, white-blond hair spilling over the sides of his thin face. His lavender suit was ripped, blackened on his back and shoulders. He was panting, the gun trembling in his hands.

But he was triumphant, the smile crookedly large on his lips.

"I always knew she was different from the rest. Even when racing in my games, she was marvelous. A woman of power. Ladybug is a perfect name for her. Unbridled bravery mixed with feminine fatale. She will make a powerful akuma."

Despite the pain, the panic, the fear - his hands clenched with a glimmer of hope. "She is-!"

"Still alive, yes." His father finished for him. "Unless you decide she should die right here. Now, be a good boy and hand me that controller, Adrien."

She wouldn't want him to. She'd want him to fight. To find a way to stop his father at all costs. She'd want to die for the sake of everyone. But Adrien's eyes were on her scratched face, the trickle of blood staining her pure skin.

The illuminated statue at the back had fallen forward, the head of it broken on the ground. Many of the beds had hit the electrical equipment around the room, scattering large numbers of plastic and metal wiring. Adrien's eyes searched desperately through the debris.

There had to be some way… some way out of this…

But the gun was still at her head. His father still wore the grin of a conqueror: one who knew he was going to win no matter what happened.

So. Adrien used the stairs to help him to his feet. He shambled the few meters to the controller that was no longer blinking. He almost stumbled to his knees as he bent to pick it up.

The switch was a steady orange - charged and ready.

"Ah, I see it's finally done downloading. Perfect timing." The terrible delight in his father's voice made him sick.

He couldn't win… Hawkmoth couldn't be allowed to win…

But Adrien's body betrayed his rationality, ignored every single thought screaming at him to stop. Think of something else. Anything else.

But he had to save her…

Marinette had to stay alive…

And this was the only way…

He was her hero after all.

"That's a good boy. Mind your Father."

Hawkmoth mocked him, and it burned - hard, dark, and bitter. Adrien's feet dragging, he neared the monster he'd once called 'father' with the controller carefully cradled to his heaving chest. Hawkmoth snatched the device as soon as he was close enough and his foot kicked Adrien heavily in the sternum. He fell to the ground without a fight - his head clacking on the ground. His already broken rib was searing in agony and he choked tightly - tasting iron.

"Don't you worry. I'll get you fixed up in no time. You'll be my personal akuma, son. You'll guard me to the end of my days and we'll never be apart. Never again." He could barely see the maniacal grin on his father's face.

Balancing the semi in the crook of his arm, Hawkmoth's fingers grab the switch.

Pollen was racing.

Fighting.

Ninety-eight percent.

Almost there… she had to…

She had to…

Ninety-nine percent…

A tiny chirping sound tossed into Adrien's amplifier and his ears perked to listen to it.

Through his foggy eyes, he watched as the orange light suddenly went out as soon as Hawkmoth pulled it. The victory screwed on his father's lips lessened as he glanced down at the unlit switch. He flicked it on and off.

Then again.

His face grew hard with frustration.

"What the-"

"Time's up."

A beautiful voice broke through the shock and a yo-yo zipped forward to sling around Hawkmoth's neck. It lassoed several times, hooking tightly at his throat. The controller and the gun toppled from his arms. She was sitting up, her blue eyes clear, her hands grasping the string of the yo-yo.

"This is for my parents."

She stood, kicking the semi and controller away from him, and yanked hard on the wire. His knees were buckling now - his lined face clenching with ugly surprise and panicking fear.

"This is for all the lives you've destroyed."

She pulled harder and Adrien could only watch as the blood vessels burst in Hawkmoth's wild eyes.

"This is for Adrien."

Marinette let out a roar as she swung the yo-yo's strings up over her head and the weapon lifted Hawkmoth into the air by his neck only to slam his body hard to the ground. He crumbled, his voice breaking in his whimpers, the wires cutting deep into the thin skin of his throat.

"How does the collar feel, Hawkmoth?" She hissed, before flinging her hand to the left and sending his father to the back of the chamber near the broken statue. Marinette stepped forward, heading towards the helpless man. His hands were digging at his throat, desperation and tears running down his ripped mask. She grew closer and he tried to shuffle away from her, his back pressing on the broken statue's body.

He collapsed against it, wiggling for air.

Marinette leaned down to him. Adrien could barely make out her pressing a series of buttons on the burgundy top of the yo-yo. Straightening, she walked away, putting her back to Hawkmoth. Her grip on the string slackened as she met Adrien's eyes. She stopped once she'd reached his side and turned around to face the monster that had haunted her footsteps.

"This is for me," she called softly. "Karma's a bitch."

The explosion rocked the chamber, the yo-yo's top opening in a flashing burst of heat and light. Adrien covered his face with his arm, the sound of it turning his stomach.

He didn't want to look. Didn't want to see it. The echoes of the explosion broke off slowly into a deafening quiet. She stood tall, her eyes glazed with the grueling sight. It was illuminated, the statue's spotlight showcasing the headless body like a proud display. Lifting her hand, there was a buzzing metallic whirl before the blood-stained yo-yo slipped obediently back into her hand. Marinette held the weapon gently at her side, crimson dripping from her fingertips.

There were voices above them, feet stomping closer to the chamber's entrance.

Adrien ignored it.

Ignored all of it except for the woman standing at his side.

Reaching up, he touched her wrist gently and she jumped as if waking from a dream. Glancing down at him, he could see the deep darkness inside her frozen eyes - shock, bitterness, and a hitch of disbelief. He tugged slightly, inviting her to sit. His breathing was difficult, the tightness in his chest sending sharps of agony through his lungs and side, but despite all that, the corners of his lips lifted as she slowly lowered herself to sit beside him.

It was over.

"I…" he coughed and sucked in a hard breath. Marinette's eyes immediately brightened with concern.

"No," she shushed, looking so dazzlingly anxious for him his choking smile grew wider.

"Don't talk, Adrien. You need to stay still. Help is coming-"

"I… I need…"

"What?" She leaned a little closer. "What do you need?"

"Closer…"

When her face was near enough for him, he lifted up a hand and pressed her lips to his. Her small squeak of surprise was enough to make his head whirl. She was here. She was alive and whole. And they survived it.

It all dissolved back to the simplicity he'd felt when he'd first kissed her. Like a piece of a puzzle finally fitting into place. Warm, and soft. Her fingers reached to cradle the side of his face tenderly.

Complete. That was the word he was looking for.

He was complete.

"WHERE THE HELL IS MY YO-YO!? "

Lips jerking apart, both eyes widening in surprise, Marinette's blue gaze slowly traveled meekly to the top of the spiral staircase.

"Oh… Hi, Bee…"

Epilogue to follow