Over thirty pairs of eyes gazed around the large bottom level of the Louvre, wandering back and forth in front of the Egyptian exhibit. Kid Mime peeked around the pillar he shared with Sparrow before signing, which way did Mercury go?

No idea, Sparrow signed back, but splitting up is too dangerous. We should start with the exhibit and move upwards after.

Kid Mime gave a thumbs up and pointed towards the entrance of the exhibit, a long hall that led to the main room where the sarcophagus was displayed. You lead, I follow, and hopefully neither of us ends up a zombie.

Sparrow scanned the patrolling citizens and found each of them following a distinct pattern, not a step out of place as they walked back and forth. Stick close, he signed, these people move in only specific routes. He grabbed a dart and aimed at the floor near the center of the room. He spoke in no more than a whisper.

"Smoke."

The dart hit the floor with a ding and let out a thick cloud of smoke with a low hiss, but just as he had suspected, none of the people reacted. He took Kid Mime by the wrist and led them into the open as smoke filled every corner.

It chilled the duo to the bone, knowing how close the citizens were, and how silent everything was save for their footsteps and light breathing. Every time one got too close Kid Mime placed a shield, so the people would have to pause for a second to let them pass, without interfering too long with their patrol.

It took only a moment to reach the exhibit. Sparrow and Kid Mime ran to the end of the hall and peered out around the corners, but there was nobody near any of the displays. Quickly, Sparrow signed, before they notice.

They moved from artifact to artifact, but nothing, not even the sarcophagus, showed any signs of being tampered with.

No feathers, either, Sparrow thought, so nothing in here interests her…?

His eyes fell onto the large tablet hung on the wall not far from the coffin, hieroglyphics lining every inch of the stone – and surrounding some familiar images.

The Egyptian Ladybug and Chat Noir, he smiled, along with Tikki. Funny to think that we got to meet the real Kwami of ancient times no long ago…er, actually, a couple thousand years ago, I suppose, if one thinks hard enough about it.

Kid Mime gave the sarcophagus one final lookover before shaking his head. Nothing. Nobody is here, and I doubt anybody has been here for a while.

Then we move upstairs, Sparrow signed back, and we should wait for Melodie before moving too much farther into the museum.

What if she takes too long?

I would rather wait for her to join us and know most of us are safe than leaving her behind only to find out shortly after that we lost another member of the team.

Kid Mime nodded, and together they dove back into the smoke of the bottom level.

Nothing. Not a thing around here.

They had been searching for half an hour. Melodie had joined them shortly after placing the last of the frozen citizens in the front courtyard. Impressed, Kid Mime asked how she had done it all so quickly, to which she replied, "you would not believe how fun it was to slide each of them on their backs down the stairs and out the door!"

Sparrow sighed. "I do hope we avoided giving them permanent damage."

The trio were standing at the front entrance, gazing out at the citizens that were now a blend of frozen and not frozen people, peacock feathers shimmering despite the lack of light from out of the akuma clouds above. "Funny," she noted, "how not a single one of them noticed me when I brought the frozen people outside."

Sparrow spat out a curse that, under regular circumstances, would mean many a joke about using soap to wash out his mouth. Melodie and Kid Mime turned to him as his fists clenched. "Le Paon is gone."

"What?"

"She has what she wants: the djinn miraculous and its wielder. She also has Mercury under her control. She left the Louvre to meet up with HawkMoth."

"But…what happens to all these people still being controlled by her-"

Thump.

"Wha-"

Thump.

"Who-"

Thump.

"There!"

Thump!

"By-"

Thump!

"The-"

Thump!

"Glass-"

CCRRAASSHH!

The stone monster akuma from before smashed its way through the glass pyramid, bellowing in great rage and tossing citizens aside as though they were mere dolls. Melodie and Kid Mime gawked as a pair of suited heroes went flying into the air, arched over the crowds, and dropped to the entrance-

SPLAT.

Sparrow had no words for the sight of Ladybug and Chat Noir flattened against the glass doors. Had a giant stone monster not been closing in on the museum, he may have smiled, perhaps even chuckled. Instead he could only sputter, "It's not alone."

Sure enough, close behind the stone was a pink monster with orange dreadlocks, spitting goo at a distraught Queen Bee and Ren Ruse while Carapace rode on its back.

"This is an ambush," Sparrow muttered, "to keep us from finding Dark Dame and Mercury." He ran to the doors and shoved them open, tossing Ladybug and Chat Noir to the steps. "Get up, you two, before your team is squashed!"

Chat Noir shook his head and helped Ladybug to her feet. "Sparrow? What happened to all these people?" He glanced behind them and let out a squeak. "Parisians are flying!"

"Stoneheart and Horrificator," Ladybug informed them, "also known as Ivan and Mylene. They teamed up on us and have been chasing us here for the last ten minutes. Every time I try to get my Lucky Charm, one of them attacks-"

SMACK!

Queen Bee smacked into Ladybug, knocking the girl off her feet and leaving Ren Ruse to face Stoneheart on his own.

"You know," Sparrow said, "I may just see the problem here."