Chapter 28: Doubts
Luckily, Tom did not pry into their situation, he knew of their... predicament and did not give in to mostly Max and (the luckily-conscious again) Kim's complaints to hear the video. They did not manage to shut them down, but not many people listened to them anyway.
"I think our best option would be to explore the tunnels further north, near the mansion," Alya thought aloud when they had a calm minute again.
"Kim said most tunnels in the north and west are destroyed," Chloé objected, "and he's watching our every step now. I think it would be too suspicious trying to snoop around in random tunnels."
"That may be right," Alya murmured, "but I actually have no better idea."
"You can always come back and go over the streets?" Nino suggested as well.
But Adrien shook his head instantly, remembering they could not all see him. "That's out of question guys, too obvious. The streets are full with Akuma, they'd attack us the second one of them spots us. I still vote for the tunnels." He touched the paper again, drawing comfort out of it.
"And what about Kim, Adrikins?" Chloé shook her head as well. "Or do you want to knock him out again?"
"No," he groaned and slumped with his back against the wall, watching the ceiling intently. "I just think the tunnels are our best option."
"And what if you tell the others as well?" Nino suggested, "They could surely be a great help, although it seems Max and Kim know the tunnels the most. Or Kim does at least."
"Out of question," Adrien sighed. "No one can know. They'd try to help and be a noose around our neck."
Chloé huffed and picked at her nails, clearly annoyed.
"Mari?" Alya asked, getting their focus back to their leader who had been lost in her thoughts the entire conversation. "What do you think we should do?"
"Tunnels," she stated immediately, watching the people in the cave flutter and chat and be normal. Adrien felt her mind wandering here and there, unfocused.
"Mari?" he asked and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back. Her gaze flickered down to the spot their skins touched and she furrowed her brows. "What is wrong?"
Marinette sighed. "I don't know what to do, how to defeat him. He's strong, his Akuma are strong and nearly unstoppable. I fear someone will get hurt very badly before we manage to end him. If we can manage to stop him. And even though... "
The others next to them were forgotten, his whole focus switched to Marinette and her worries echoed in his own mind.
"Even though I know he's the bad guy, I can't stop worrying about him. Something seems off."
"Why do you think that?" Adrien asked, laying his head to the side, watching her gaze flicker up to his eyes.
"We're similar, Adrien. Gabriel and I," she said. He wanted to object, but she cut him off, "Don't tell me we're not. Talent for fashion, even if I can't compete to his, the passion is the same. We have a similar C.V., he was extremely in love with your mother before they got together, he founded his own business in his dream job, was determined to get through with it. He's stubborn and would do anything to protect the ones he loves...
"We think the same way and that's why I can't help but wonder... what if there is more? He wants to get your mother back, but... is he really able to sacrifice all of Paris? Or is there something we did not even think about?"
There was silence when he thought it over.
"I don't want to fight him. I don't want to... end him. The last months, I got to know him better and he's still one of my friends, he's your father and part of our family, Adrien."
"And you think there is more?"
"Yes," she nodded and averted her gaze again. "I know that."
"Maybe we can just catch him and get his Miraculous and... look what'll happen?" Nino suddenly suggested and ripped them out of their bubble.
"Oh, Nino!" Alya screeched in their ears and all three winced at the sound. "They had a moment, why did you do that?! Have you heard what she said? 'Our' family!" Then she squealed again and Adrien blinked, fighting against his incoming tinnitus.
"Okay, okay," Chloé growled, "No one ever said anything about killing him or the like. I thought snatching his Miraculous was the plan all along?"
Sighing, Adrien shook his head. "Yes, we never intended to do anything like... killing him. We don't scoop that low."
"But we never really knew what to do either," Marinette said and curled up against his side. "I know we have to fight him, but I don't have to like it, do I?"
"No," Adrien sighed and placed a tender kiss on her scalp.
"Okay, I guess you are sweet again, but can we focus back on the mission?" Alya objected, huffing in their devices. "We established we will take his Miraculous away, but other than that? Do you really think the tunnels are the safest way?"
"Yes, I think so," Marinette nodded against his chest, and he felt the determined spark again. "We need to get under the mansion as soon as possible. I suggest we wait until everyone is sleeping and do a first exploration tour of the nearer grounds. Nino, which ones would be the best to approach the mansion?"
"The two to your left. But did Kim not tell you that they are blocked?"
"We'll see, I guess," Chloé huffed and moved to stand up. "I'll go back to work and when I'm finished, you'll hopefully be finished with your cuddle-thing there as well." Then she turned and heaved the blanket aside they had hid behind and stepped back into the cave.
Marinette moved to her earpiece to cut it off and Adrien followed. He heard the beginning of one of Nino's complaints, but he turned it off nonetheless.
"Is Chloé still angry?" she asked instantly and turned back to watch him.
"Angry?"
Huffing, she rolled her eyes. "Well, jealous, disappointed and just... still in love with you?"
He needed one, two seconds to progress that. "W... Chloé... she still is?"
Sighing, Marinette nodded. "It's not that easy to forget a love."
"Did she... really love-love me?"
Marinette sadly smiled up at him, "Sorry, kitty, but did you really not think about that? She literally clung to you from the very first second and she called meetings a 'date' and tried to impress you. She tried to make other people jealous of her and even tried to kiss you several times."
Groaning he slumped forwards, pressing his forehead to his knees. "I never thought of her like that. I feel bad now."
"I know," she sighed and pecked his cheek as well, shoving his shoulder away with her jaw. "And that's part of the reason I love you. You're too kind, Minou."
"Haha, that's very sweet of you," he grumbled, but leaned into her touch and slumped over into Marinette's lap. "I'm a bad friend."
"I know," she smiled and placed her cheek atop his head, drawing her arm around his shoulder. "But I love you nonetheless."
"Thanks," he grumbled and buried his shameful face in her thigh. Which bought his mind back to their shared night and he cursed his hormones. He placed a light kiss to the fabric under his face, drawing satisfaction out of the shiver that ran through her at his touch. Maybe they could use the time until they needed to get back to work.
:
Chloé had decided to stay behind to take care of any eventually-following classmates (Max and Kim). They could not risk getting caught again and, in case something happened, she would be able to join them soon.
Now, when everyone was asleep, Marinette and Adrien crouched over the unmoving bodies, careful not to touch anyone or make a single sound.
Snaking around her snoring father, Marinette made sure to keep eye-contact with Chloé next to Kim. She was awake, but yawning. She had had a long day and Marinette kind of pitied her, but they had a job to do.
Nodding, Chloé waved her off, telling Marinette that she was indeed fine and Marinette smiled. Despite her past, Chloé had changed over the last weeks. Sure, she was still mean and more than a bit... unfriendly towards others, but she was reliable. And honest. That was what Marinette valued. They could work on her attitude later, when everything was over.
She quickly turned around her father and stepped over Kim, who had tried to stay close, most likely 'keeping watch' over them, but his deep breathing and snore every now and then told her he had fallen asleep as well.
Good, we're working with idiots.
Laughing under her breath, she shot a not-so-angry glare to her partner who smirked evilly. Rolling her eyes, she focussed her gaze back to their surroundings. Trying to find small spots between the sleeping people, she noticed some were not as asleep as she wished them to be. They would be no problem if they stayed silent.
In no time, they had reached the first tunnel Nino had described to be their first try to get to the mansion.
Adrien by her side, she quickly slipped inside and waited until they rounded their first corner and she switched her flash light on. Both winced at the sudden light, but were quick in adjusting.
"Okay, we're ready," Adrien murmured, informing their other teammates over his earpiece.
"Great, now go ahead, there are only a few turns until you must be directly under the place in front of the mansion and further down under the hotel," Alya said, obviously having changed positions with Nino.
"Okay, we're on our way," Adrien answered and smiled at her reassuringly, taking her hand and lead her forwards. "Do you still think something is wrong?"
"Yes," she sighed. "It's complicated to explain though.
"Is it that uneasy feeling you're practically radiating? I first thought you were anxious, but it's not anxiety," he asked and lightly squeezing her hand in his.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Alya interrupted.
Huffing, Marinette glared to the side, hoping Alya would get her angry stare without being present.
"Nothing of importance," Adrien answered instead, but Marinette felt his curious stare, his mind poking lightly.
"You're right, I just can't help but feel at unease," she finally admitted and blinked up at Adrien. Instead of looking at her, full of concern, his gaze was soft, tender, understanding.
Thanks.
Smiling broadly, he leaned down and pecked her lips lightly.
"Don't you dare to make out now, we have a job to do!" Chloé hissed into their ears and both giggled and stepped away from the other again, getting back to their walk.
The first tunnel led them to a dead end and, deciding they were not able to move the stones blocking their way, they turned back and tried the second one. Halfway through the dark tunnel, Chloé hissed something alarmingly into their ears.
"Guys, Max woke up and alarmed everyone you are missing! I tried to- God, why should I know where Marinette and Adrien are? … Oh, who cares anyway?" the Blonde said, obviously speaking to the few background noises.
"Okay, we'll hurry," she commanded and tugged at Adrien's hand to urge them forward. Soon, they were sprinting along the corridor, the flickering lights from their flashes roamed hastily around the walls and barely illuminating their way.
That was why they nearly rammed into another wall, made out of stone, when they ran around a corner.
Marinette painfully slammed her head against the stone and stumbled backwards, her feet catching Adrien's shoe and both fell backwards, Marinette landing painfully on her butt, Adrien next to her as well, bruising his elbow.
"Ow, what-?" she murmured but when she glanced up, there were glowing red eyes blinking down at her, illuminating the dark corridor.
A startled scream by her side signalled to her that Adrien had found them too and, as if the noise had woken something, the rock, where the eyes were embedded, turned, facing away from them and then the wall moved.
Akuma.
Both scrambled to their feet and ran a few metres down the corridor again, getting their Kwamis out of their pockets.
"Tikki?"
"Plagg-"
"Transform me!"
Ladybug and Chat Noir stood in the hall when the light faded again. Before they were able to do anything else, a roar echoed around the walls and made their ears ring.
"What was that?!" Chloé screeched in their earpieces, obviously, the noise had carried back into the cave, where their classmates and parents were.
"Found an Akuma," Ladybug quickly informed her teammates, "But no need to worry, we can handle that. Chat, the corridor," she ordered and he nodded. They needed to cut off the way into the cave so no Akuma was able to get to the few remaining civilians or any snooping classmates who ran into danger because they wanted to search for Marinette and Adrien.
Chat quickly called his Cataclysm and jumped up, a few metres down the hall to touch the ceiling. Soon everything around them crumbled and both leaped forwards to get out of the way of the falling debris.
Five minutes, My Lady.
"Okay, we destroyed our way back, but we'll purify the Akuma first," she explained to the others. "Then with my cure I can-!"
She was not able to end her sentence. Skulls rolled around the corner they had come from and it frightened Ladybug out of her skin.
"Skulls?!" she called and leaped out of the reach of one halting close by. She tumbled against the wall at her back, not letting the dark holes at her feet out of her view.
Chat next to her gulped when more and more skulls rounded the corner and began to connect themselves in front of them, forming a wall-like creature right in front of them. And again, the glowing red eyes appeared in one of the skulls in the middle.
It was quite creepy. All the skulls, their empty eye-sockets watching them, barely lit in the light of their flashlights, discarded on the floor.
"Any idea?" Chat whispered and shook Ladybug out of her shivering stupor. Her eyes darted quickly around, trying to spot any akumatized object.
But she did not have time, the Akuma lunged back with a gigantic construction of skulls and aimed a heavy blow towards them.
They quickly dived around the Akuma, careful to not touch anything as they still gave her the creeps. And when the arm hit the wall at the spot where they had stood a few seconds ago, the 'arm' crashed against the stone and burst. Many single skulls ricocheted off the walls and the heroes heaved their arms over their heads to not get hit by them in the head.
He's slow. He can't move properly in the tunnel.
Then let's be quick.
Leaping forward, Chat was brave enough to fling his arms around the Akuma's head-bulb-thing. When the Akuma's heads rolled around, trying to fling Chat off his body, Ladybug noticed the tiny, club-like bone sticking in between a few skulls in the place where the creature's spine must be.
That was the only bone that was not a skull and her first guess to be the possessed item.
Got it.
Ignoring the nauseous feeling in her stomach and the angry shivers all over her body, she lunged forward directly in between the skulls, digging deep into the bones. Luckily, her fingers soon grabbed the bone in the middle and the Akuma let loose another ear-piercing scream.
Ladybug did not let go, only tugging fiercer on the bone when it suddenly got free and she managed to smash it on a stone nearby.
Out flew a dark purple butterfly and she quickly caught it, purifying it.
The skulls, too, turned into a man in a worn out lab coat with a few loose skulls surrounding him, now lifeless and mere bones.
"Pound it," they laughed and Chat looked at his ring when it beeped angrily, showing him he had three minutes left.
"Okay, let me quickly-" she began, but then they heard shouts from the other side of the wall. Their classmates had arrived.
"Uhm..." Chat Noir glanced to her. "Do you really want to restore it? There will be uncomfortable questions."
"No," she groaned and then addressed the frightened man on the ground. "Monsieur? Do you mind waiting here until we will come back?"
The man quickly shook his head, clearly uncomfortable walking around with Ladybug and Chat Noir. Not that he would not feel secure, but heroes meant attacks and fights and some people were better left alone.
"N- No, I don't mind at all. Can you just... leave a flashlight here? Then I'll be fine as I can be," he grinned awkwardly and Chat chuckled, already having picked up their flashlight.
"Sure, Monsieur, there you have it," he smiled and gave one of them to him. "Stay safe and don't worry, LB and I have everything under control," he winked and stepped back.
Smiling, Ladybug nodded in affirmation and then bid goodbye as well. "Soon everything will be over, don't worry."
Both left, hurrying around the corner, and when they decided they were far enough, Chat let his transformation fall, catching a whining Plagg mid-air. "Come on, Plagg, charge up," he urged and held a few pieces of Camembert in front of the tiny spirit's face.
Plagg whooped and hugged the cheese, murmuring something about working conditions.
Ladybug stayed transformed, looking left and right.
"Alya, can you tell us where we are?" she asked into the earpiece, careful to observe their surroundings.
"Eeeeh... somewhere under the hotel? I don't know, the GPS is flickering."
Glancing to Adrien, she shrugged. "But one thing is certain, you're at a position which Kim had said would be blocked."
"Well," Adrien sighed, "they must have mistaken the Akuma for a wall? We did at first too."
"Might be," Ladybug nodded and then frowned at Adrien's hands. The kwami had finished without a word of protest. It seemed even the small gods felt the heaviness of the situation and without complaining, he gulped down the last piece until he told Adrien to transform again.
Suited up, both were careful in walking through the hall. Not only because of any possible Akuma around every corner, but also because the rough and edgy walls soon turned into firm brick, a sign that the tunnel may soon open into a building with an underground cellar, or into the metro.
They hoped it was the second.
Unfortunately, they came to a solid iron door, made with an old-fashioned wheel to open it.
"Alya? Where are we?" Chat asked, eyeing the door warily. A few minutes ago, they had noticed their connection getting worse and Alya's voice was interrupted by crackling interferences.
"Ha... absolutely no... ue. You... ing and... arely able to.." their friend's voice came out of the earpieces, together with a few more unintelligible syllables.
"Okay, we can either get back and wait for Renarde and Bee to join us, or we can get in and observe whatever is behind that door," Chat pointed out and waited for Ladybug's signal.
If they went back to the group, no one knew whether they will be able to come back to this location. Their classmates were already high on alert with their nightly absence and if Marinette and Adrien came back with a formerly akumatized victim it would surely reveal their secret.
On the other hand, they could wait for backup until Renarde joined them again and the two would not be forced to deal with Gabriel and a possible myriad of Akuma on their own.
She decided to just go for it. Alya knew where they were and would surely soon be able to join them, as well as Bee, through the front entrance. They had arranged that in case no one heard about them in thirty minutes, they would come to the rescue.
Until then, they would be forced to deal with Hawkmoth on their own.
Sighing, she finally made her decision. "Let's go in, kitty-cat."
Nodding, Chat smirked and stepped forwards, heavily pulling at the wheel on the door to open it. After a few seconds, she went to help him and they both managed to move the old, rusty mechanic enough to be able to open the door a crack.
They stopped and switched off the flashlight to peek through the slit. Nothing but darkness.
"Can you open the d-" she tried to whisper, not being able to see anything, but she got interrupted, when the door opened itself a few more centimetres. Both leaped back, she stumbled against the wall, Chat shielding her, just in time, because the door suddenly slammed open.
Chat took in a startled breath, being able to see in the dark.
"Wh-" she tried to ask what it was, but Chat quickly lunged her to the side and she felt that the brick at her back splinter from some kind of impact.
A shadow.
A shadow? Ladybug did not know what to make out of that information, but she had no time to dwell. Chat pulled her away again before a few rocks hit her side.
She would not be able to fight like this! Quickly snatching the flashlight from Chat's hands, she flicked it on, and needed to cover her ears when something suddenly let an ear-splitting scream loose.
Covering their ears, they barely managed to make out some kind of shadow retreating back into the room. "Hurry, after him!" she commanded and both ran into the room that had once been some kind of panic room. Another iron door was closed in a far away corner, but other than a few rusty shelves with old cans, knick-knack and duty boxes, the room was empty.
"He's hiding," Chat murmured and glanced around. Both were equally happy for the flashlight that illuminated the darker parts.
"Is there a switch somewhere?" Ladybug murmured and glanced around the walls, searching for the useful box which would be able to illuminate the whole room.
"There," he announced and stepped around a shelf, reaching for the switch. But before he was able to turn it on, something black grabbed his ankle from under a shelf and pulled him backwards. Landing heavily on his knees and chest, he panicked when said something pulled him further, refusing to let go of him.
He crashed into the rack and was buried by dozens of things, some very heavy, until the creature reached the next shelf that went crashing down on top of him as well. Chat was barely able to cover any important parts, head, stomach, groin, until it suddenly stopped, when bright light flickered on.
Looking past the trash on top of him, he saw Ladybug standing at the switch, breathing heavily, the flashlight still in her hand. A whining sound echoed through the room, most likely the hurting Akuma.
"Have you seen where it vanished?" he asked, standing back up. Ladybug only gestured with a frown to a corner in the room, darkened by a shadow of a shelf.
Flickering his gaze over, he paled. There was a small boy, barely ten years old, dressed in a dark, somehow-moving suit, his midnight hair flowing lightly in a non-existent breeze. The boy crouched in the barely lit corner, shivering, crying, and wincing, trying to shield his eyes from the light.
Chat was barely able to dig himself out of the trash when Ladybug stepped over to the boy and laid a tentative hand on the boy's back. There seemed to be some smoke emitting from the surface of the suit, but the boy appeared to be solid.
"Hey, hey," Ladybug whispered and kneeled down.
The boy flinched and his wincing intensified. Sighing, Ladybug quickly grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, seeing what the boy clutched to his chest. It was a flashlight with black kitties decorating the handle. The possessed item.
Snatching it away from his clutches, the boy wailed and attempted to grab for it, but he was practically blind in the lit up room. Ladybug stepped back and threw it to the floor to step on it. Out came the ever-evil, dark butterfly and the heroine quickly purified that one as well.
The suit of the boy vanished and revealed a pair of green pyjamas. He looked confused, but his gaze soon turned into excitement when he spotted Chat Noir.
"Chat Noir!" he exclaimed and Chat chuckled nervously, stepping closer.
"Hey kitten, how are you?"
"Oh! I'm fine!" the boy told him and blabbered about how he adored the Blonde.
Sure, that was flattering, but he needed to get the boy out of there. Chat quickly took the flashlight from Ladybug's offering hand and held it in front of the happy boy.
"Listen, kitten," he said and bent down, kneeling in front of him. The boy stopped his rant to watch him curious, but in astonishment. "I want you to get out of here. It's not safe in this house. There are tunnels which you need to follow for a few minutes until you meet a man in a lab coat by a wall. Together, you're going to wait for us to come back, understood?"
The boy's curious frown had deepened and he warily glanced between the dark corridor at Chat's back and the hero himself.
"I am scared of the dark," he admitted, taking the flashlight to clutch it to his chest.
Chat chuckled sadly. He had been the monster of darkness, but, in reality, he was just a scared boy. "I'll tell you a secret, okay?" he said instead and shuffled a bit closer, his voice going low.
The boy's eyes went wide and he nodded, stepping closer as well.
"I am scared too. Of the darkness and loneliness." The boy drew in a shocked gasp. "But do you know what helps me?" He shook his head eagerly. "I always remind myself that Ladybug will always save me when I'm in trouble. And you know what? I'm going to come for you if anything happens, okay?"
"Promise?" the boy asked, sticking his pinky out in front of him, earnestness replacing the anxiousness.
Chat did not want to promise anything he would most likely be unable to hold and he felt bad in doing so. But the boy was brave and he needed to get him out of there. "Purromise," he smiled and hooked his clawed pinky with the one of the boy.
Satisfied the boy flashed him a bright smile and flicked his light on. "I can't be scared when a superhero is taking care of me!" he exclaimed and nodded, stepping to the doorway. Eyeing the darkness anxiously, he flickered the light a few times over the dark walls until looking back to his heroes.
"Thank you and good luck!" he called and then stepped into the caves.
"Brave boy," Chat smiled proudly, but stopped when he caught Ladybug's gaze. She looked angry, but he knew she did not feel so in reality. "What?"
"You should not have done that."
"I know," he sighed, "But he needed that and you know it," he whispered and stepped closer, taking her hand.
"Unfortunately," she said and pecked his lips, rewarding him for his action. "Pound it. But don't do it again, Minou."
"Won't," he lied and stepped away, eyeing the door at the end of the room. "What do you think is behind that?"
She only shrugged and stepped ahead, over the pile of things on the floor. "Only one way to find out, right? But I guess we found our destination."
"Well, the amount of Akuma leaves no shadowt," he snickered.
She stopped in her tracks and turned around angrily. "I can't believe I missed that."
"Oh, LB! It enlightens me you missed my puns!" he giddily exclaimed and she groaned in response.
"Please, Chat, don't!"
"Please, Chat, yes!" he laughed and rounded her to step to the door. "It's only steeling my resolve to make you laugh one day," he snickered.
"Okay, I'm not listening to you anymore," she called and shoved the flashlight into his chest.
"Wow, you're flashing me with your resolution," he smiled and she smacked his arm as well.
"We have a job to do. Concentration now."
Nodding, he saluted, holding the flashlight against his side like a gun or a rapier. But soon dismissed his stance to step to the door. "Ready?" he asked and put his hand on the handle.
She nodded as well and pulled her yoyo out, whirring it at her side, creating shield. They had been surprised two times. The third will not happen.
Then Chat switched off the light again and pulled the handle. The soft pink light illuminated enough of the room behind to tell them nothing seemed to be there.
The whirring of the yoyo stopped and Chat flicked on the flashlight, rounding the door to peer into the empty hallway in front of them. There were polished, old tiles on the floor and bleached walls, once of a creamy colour. Dark squares here and there indicated pictures that had once hung the walls. But other than that, the hall was deserted.
They carefully moved in silence out of the room, through the hall. After a few minutes, they came to a veil, hanging above the entrance to another room. They heard muffled voices of two people. The room behind the veil was inhabited.
Ladybug lightly touched the fabric in front of them, it was heavy and thick. A wall carpet?
Sharing a glance, Chat shut the flashlight off again and Ladybug lightly shoved the hanging away, peeking into the room behind through the slit she created. Now they were also able to hear the voices better.
The sounds gave her the creeps, because she recognized them.
"... this is useless!" the other voice complained with a weird accent.
"I know, but I can't change that. He wants it and it has to be here somewhere," Nathalie said.
"Weird things, the master wants," the first voice growled.
"He's in a bad state. They are draining him. He can be weird if he wants to."
"Yeah, but a watch?"
The two continued their talk, and, shuffling and scraping, told about their search for that ominous watch. Ladybug let the hanging slide back in place.
"Can we slip through?" Chat asked in a hushed whisper and Ladybug nodded. She had seen their hiding place was in a close proximity to a few high, wooden boxes. They looked like they contained paintings and provided a great cover to slip further into the room and get a better observation done.
"There are boxes. Move fast and silent."
Chat nodded and again, Ladybug pushed the hanging lightly to the side, slipping through and quickly leaped behind the boxes, taking a quick glance around in her hiding place.
The veil had been indeed a wall carpet, showing a few, old fashioned twirls and a chess-like pattern. It seemed to be straight out of the 70's. Next to the hanging was another pile of boxes, hiding the movement of the carpet effectively from the prying views of the two people by the door.
Chat quickly slipped next to her and observed the room intently.
Nathalie and Toni.
The man, roaming through a box he had pulled from a shelf, was Adrien's photographer, Antonio. He wore a weird, red suit with yellowish stripes raking over his body, a fork sticking behind his ear. Nathalie was suited up as well, wearing a black suit and a clipboard in her hands, roaming through the shelf.
Chat sighed next to her and she understood his misery. These were people he knew, people that had accompanied him through his childhood. It was different fighting people he knew well instead of total strangers.
We can try a sneakattack?
He flicked his gaze to hers and his eyes glowed in the semi-darkness of their hiding spot.
You the clipboard and I the fork?
Deal.
Both sneaked quickly around the boxes, silent as ever. Nathalie was turned with her back to them and Toni was halfway turned, but completely engrossed with the contents of the box, shuffling things inside from left to right.
They quickly made a beeline into the small field where neither of them would be able to see them coming.
Ladybug's luck and Chat's sneakiness from being a cat brought them constantly closer. The two Akuma moved and shuffled around, but neither of them flinched. They were moving constantly on silent feet.
When they were close, they shared a last glance and nod.
That was the second were Toni turned around and noticed them. A startled scream escaped him, but it was too late. Both heroes snatched the items away and broke them. When the dark cloud surrounded the two victims to turn them back, two dark butterflies emerged simultaneously and Ladybug quickly caught them.
"Pound it," they laughed, but then frowned. "Am I mistaken or are these Akuma pretty lame?" Chat sighed, helping a shocked Nathalie to her feet.
"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" she exclaimed suddenly, gripping Chats arm tighter. "You have to help Monsieur Agreste! He-"
"We know," Chat interrupted her, his voice steely. "We're here to help. But know you need to hide. Behind that hanging is a corridor leading to room. At the other end of the room is a hole, leading to the catacombs. Follow that tunnel as well, until you reach a man and a child and wait for us. Don't be scared, we have everything under control."
"Okay," Toni whispered and nodded, his face pale.
"Take this flashlight, it's dark there," he interrupted Nathalie's attempt at backtalk. "Please, Madame. Go and hide. We're here to help everyone."
Ladybug saw the hesitance in the woman's face. Then, Nathalie sighed and nodded. But before she stepped away, she drew Chat in a tight hug.
Chat was beyond startled, and more than shocked, when the woman whispered words into his ear that echoed in his soul and got carried to Ladybug as well. Save your father.
Then she stepped back, straightened her suit and glasses, and followed Toni to the hanging where both vanished behind.
The heroes just stood there, stunned to silence.
"H... How long has she known?" Ladybug somewhen asked, suddenly very pale. Chat was only able to shrug, finally letting the hands he had heaved up to hug her back fall to his sides.
"We can ask her later," he murmured and turned with a still absent frown to her. "After you My Lady," he gestured to the open hole, leading to a lit hallway ending in a few more rooms and a staircase.
"At least we're certain it is the mansion," Ladybug tried to change the topic and stepped ahead, yoyo ready again. "But you were right. These Akuma were too easy."
Silence settled again between the two while they stepped to the edge of the staircase and looked up, fearing another Akuma there. But there was none.
Finally, Chat pulled out his baton as well and followed Ladybug upstairs, turning his back to her. She would watch the front and he the rear. Even if they had cleared the storeroom, they had found Nathalie and Toni in, there was no guaranty the other rooms downstairs were empty as well.
When they reached the top, enough to peek into the room behind, she was relieved to find the hall empty. The only door to their right was ajar, and she quickly moved forwards to peek into the entrance hall of the Agreste mansion.
Her breath hitched. Several Akuma hurried from side to side, some carrying stuff, others coming out of the bureau next to the entrance door, empty-handed.
Well, they would definitely have had more problems, getting through those.
Frowning, Ladybug stepped back to glance at the watch on her compact. Still five minutes left until the others would arrive.
Chat sighed and stepped towards her too, watching her intently while she thought.
They could just step out and alarm about a million Akuma at once, including Hawkmoth. They could try to sneak to the office or the lair, but that might be impossible without alerting the Akuma as well, because only one needed to recognize the heroes, and all of them were going to attack.
Well, the trick is they don't have to recognize them.
Smirking, she looked down the hall. Chat might not like her idea.
OMG, have you seen the new episodes? I totally love them and I can't wait for the next one! I think Despair Bear is my new favourite *_*
The greatest of the great Thank Yous receives Pointeofdance :P
