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The illusion faded.
Theo's clothes turned to a brown skintight costume, complete with gloves - no wonder Ladybug had not found a pulse: she had been seeing skin! - and rabbit ears flattened over Plot Bunny's hazel hair.
She stared at him.
His eyes went wide as he realized he was on the very last floor of a very high tower, with a very stressed out heroine.
###
"Well done!" Chat Noir exclaimed, bumping fists with Nino, right after closing the Grand Paris' cold room's door over Plot Hole.
They would wait for her ink to freeze, then get her out. Chat didn't want her to turn to an ice statue, and he had chilling memories of that fridge.
He did not believe letting her out would be risky: without the ink, she was as good as powerless. He just hoped Ladybug would join them soon.
"I think I'm, like, gonna crash and sleep for a few years", Nino said, wobbling.
Chat Noir grabbed him and kept him upright.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah. Using the magic, it's just…"
"Draining", Alya filled in when Nino failed to find the correct word.
She was sitting on the floor of the kitchen, leaning against a cupboard. She was entirely herself: shirt, jeans, sneakers, and phone. She was texting, or maybe blogging. Alix was sprawled next to her, and wriggled her toes in her dirty socks. Aurore Borell was sitting on a counter, legs elegantly crossed. Everyone was covered in soap and grime.
Nino was the only one even bothering to stand.
"Thanks for the help, all of you", Chat Noir said. "I don't know what I'd have done without you."
His best friend wrapped an arm around his shoulders, in a reminder that he was aware of Adrien's identity, just like Alya. The young hero was not sure how they had discovered his secret. When he had gotten emails from Ladybug and Alya on Chat Noir's private email, he had assumed his partner had told them. Now that he thought about it, if Marinette had not, his calling Alya as Picture Perfect had been a dead giveaway. And he had not even questioned it.
It had been a long day.
He was not even sure how many days had elapsed since he had been possessed, really.
It had been a long whatever.
"Since when are you best pals with Chat Noir?" Alix asked Nino, eyebrows raised.
"I'm best pals with everyone", he replied, not phased for a second.
His hand squeezed Adrien's shoulder.
"SowhoknowswhoIam?" the superhero whispered, lips barely moving, stuck in a silly grin.
"Notalix", Nino mumbled back.
"Okaythen", Chat Noir replied, pulling away.
He looked down at his stick and called Ladybug. She replied near instantly.
"CHAT?"
"Hello there, my lady. I just wanted to check on you. Have you found Copycat?"
He heard a yell, hurrying footsteps, and squeaking.
"Not yet", she replied. "I've found Plot Bunny. STOP! JUST STOP! JUST…"
Chat Noir waited, eyes wide, listening to the noise of the wind, then to the earsplitting clatter Ladybug's mirror made when it fell.
"Sorry about that", she said when she picked it up. "D'you know what rabbits do when they are threatened?"
"They burrow?"
"They scamper, and please don't tell that boy he could burrow too. I've been chasing him from the Défense to the Champs Elysées!"
"I can get there in five minutes", Chat Noir said. "I'll-"
"Where are you?"
"The Bourgeois Hotel. Miss Wifi and the others helped me catch Plot Hole. You know how revenge is a dish best served cold? Well, we'll keep her on ice until you can get here."
"You w… What? Kitty, I'm happy you're… Ngh."
Adrien heard the recognizable sound of a superheroine sliding down a tiled roof, on her backside. He winced.
"…Back to yourself", she finished in an aggravated voice. "But please, keep it short?"
"She's in the cold room, she can't use her ink", he muttered.
He was happy being back to himself, too. So much that he was getting carried away. He finally felt like he could keep the Akuma in check. It was easier as Chat Noir. He figured Plagg was helping, in some way.
He had three dozen ice puns, but he couldn't let himself be distracted.
"Got you, kitten", Ladybug exclaimed. "Now, where is Copycat?"
Adrien blinked.
"Not you, Chat", she clarified. "Baby rabbits are kittens too."
"Really?"
"Really. I'm going to need the yoyo", Ladybug said. "I'll join you as soon as I'm done here!"
She hung up. He stared at his stick for a moment.
Kittens.
How had he not know that before?
Then, he snapped himself out of the wonder.
"Can you all keep an eye on Plot Hole until Ladybug arrives?" he asked, racing to the kitchen door. "I need to go."
"But you haven't used your special attack", Alya pointed out.
"I know", he said. "But I need to secure the building in case Hawk Moth is around."
He didn't wait for her answer, and ran out of the room. Three corridors away, a soap bubble smashed into him and imprisoned him.
"You're not… Going after… That guy… Alone", Nino gasped from behind him. "No… Way."
Chat Noir rolled in the bubble to turn towards him. He was not alone: Alya had followed him.
"We are waiting for Ladybug", she said, walking to Adrien. "That's final. There are things you don't know yet, about Hawk Moth, about everything. There are things we need to talk about, all of us, together. We. Need. To. Plan."
"We can't let him escape after what he just did!" Chat Noir exclaimed. "He went after you and your family! That's what he does. He did it before, with the previous heroes. And…" - And he knew who he was. - "He… Could go… After… NINO, LET ME GO! My dad, the mansion, I…"
His friends looked at each other, expressions going dark and faces going pale. They both breathed in. They both breathed in a second time. Then Alya took a step forward.
"Hawk Moth… Your father… Adrien, I have bad news", she said, reaching for his hand through the bubble.
The blond looked at her face, but spotted a golden sparkle around her throat. He looked down and froze.
He knew that necklace.
"Where did you… Did Father commercialize it?" he wondered, a bit stunned.
He knew it was impossible. It was a custom design, one of a kind, and maybe Gabriel had tried to forget everything about his wife, but that pendant was an important memory. "Your daddy drew this one", she had told Adrien when he was little. "It was the first gift he sent me", she had explained, voice turning to a goofy whisper. "He tried to make it sound like it was not a big deal."
"It's a long story", Alya replied, taking the necklace off and giving it to him. "And I don't have all the pieces yet. But…"
###
Ladybug dragged Plot Bunny to the basement of the Gabriel skyscraper, squeezing one of the boy's ears. The human ones.
He was young. He was younger than she was. He was also resourceful. She had asked why his parents were not looking for him, considering he had been wandering around Akumaized for days now. He had sent an illusion home, and used the "sleepover at friends" excuse.
Parents in Paris were definitely too trusting.
"I was just supposed to question him", he mumbled. "To figure out your real identity! I mean, I have a list of potential Ladybug candidates, and pictures, so I thought he would know, but he wouldn't tell, and…"
She kicked the last door in and entered a small room with walls covered in photographs. There was a desk, and a chair, to which Theo was tied.
"Thank God you're here", he said.
Marinette nearly collapsed in overwhelming relief.
"Just. A. Second", she said, snatching the notebook attached to Plot Bunny's belt and tearing it up.
An Akuma flew out of the pages.
She caught it. She purified it. She fixed everything, watching the ink ropes around Theo disappear. She took a deep breath, standing between the sculptor and a very confused teen boy.
"EVERYONE RUN", she yelled, grabbing the kid's wrist and dragging it out.
They had to get away before Hawk Moth stopped them.
They did.
###
"Are you alright?" Marinette asked Theo, as they watched the teenage "Lucas" enter a police station.
Lucas was a school kid who had gotten a failing grade on his French homework, on the account that he had written two pages of theories in the middle of his book report on les Lettres de mon Moulin. His teacher had not appreciated the digressions (and his forgetting to actually discuss the actual plot of the book), and he had not appreciated the 9/20. He had considered his ideas "very interesting, thank you very much". That was the last thing the boy remembered.
Theo had walked him to the station, while Ladybug found herself a quiet spot to turn back into Marinette. She had barely finished transforming when the sculptor had returned. Tikki had landed on her shoulder, exhausted.
"We need… We need to talk to Plagg", she murmured. "It makes no sense. Nothing Hawk Moth said makes sense. Makko's powers don't work like that."
She looked about to pass out, and closed her eyes, head rolling to the side. There would be no further conversation until she recovered the energy she had lost. Marinette wanted to run off and find some night shop that sold cookies, but she had to make sure Theo was fine first.
She turned to him, waiting for his answer.
"I'm okay", he said, shivering.
He caught her worried glance and straightened up.
"I really am!" he insisted. "Plot Bunny talked my ears off, but they needed me. It wasn't that bad."
You could hear the lie.
"Don't go home", she told him. "Watch the news, wait until… Wait until you hear something good, I don't know what yet."
She tried to walk away, but he grabbed her by her collar.
"Wait a second, where do you think you are going?"
"Chat Noir is waiting for me and I need food for Tikki and-"
"No. No, no, no, you are not running off alone", Theo snapped, waving his arm to stop a taxi.
The car slowed down, and parked next to them.
"So, where are we going?" the sculptor asked.
Marinette stared at him, unwilling to put him in danger again. She was too tired to argue, however. And he had money for transportation. Her pocket money did not nearly cover a taxi fare across Paris.
"Rely on your friends", Tikki muttered.
"The Grand Paris", Marinette said, climbing into the car.
Theo snorted, sitting next to her.
"The Grand Paris", he repeated to the driver.
###