"Sparrow. Sparrow, wake up, please!"

He felt somebody shaking his shoulder and reluctantly opened his eyes. The room was as dark as the basement but felt smaller, more closed-in. He still had his night vision on, however, and saw Grypas staring down at him with fearful eyes as wide as his goggles. "I just woke up and…I keep hearing something out there in the darkness."

She helped him sit upright. "Grypas…where are the others?"

"Those shadows must have split us up and spread our teams out through the mansion. This is one of the hallways. How big is your mansion?"

"There are four hallways that connects all the rooms. Any idea what floor we're on?"

"Not yet. I stumbled over you just a moment ago."

They got to their feet and stuck close together as a heavy breathing came from the far end of the hall. "There," she whispered, "I keep hearing someone, but every time I call out I never get any sort of response…except for more breathing."

Sparrow gazed down the hall and noticed a hunched over figure. "Somebody in a suit. It's too dark and I can't see their face. Who did you try calling out?"

"I thought it might be Drako, or Lightspeed back to capture me, or maybe you. Then I tripped over you and had second thoughts." She bit her lip and ran her fingers through her hair. "This feels too familiar, Sparrow."

"You often spend time wandering dark halls?"

The hunched figure dragged multiple sharp objects along the floor, letting out a horrific sound, a mix of creaking and scratching and screeching that pierced their ears. "Okay," Grypas grit her teeth and plugged her ears, "this certainly isn't familiar!"

She had spoken too loudly. The figure froze and hunched up their shoulders. Sparrow zoomed in on their head as they slowly turned.

"…Grypas?"

"Y-Yes?"

"That familiar feeling you have."

"U-Uh-huh?"

"Your vision."

"Which one?"

The figure glowered at them with hungry, glowing yellow eyes.

"The last one."

Grypas thought on it a second. Then she yelped. "Lykanth!"

Lykanth howled louder than ever, so loud that it shook the entire hallway. "I don't understand," she stammered, "t-there are no feathers around!"

Sparrow looked Lykanth over as the werewolf hero bared his fangs. "No physical changes…no akuma involvement."

"Then why is he so mad at us?!"

"Not sure yet," he held out a dart, "but I won't be standing around while he lets out his rage. We need to pin him down and get a closer look."

Grypas had a quivering lower lip as she held her bouncing ball. "Oh, I hate fighting with Neo. It makes me feel nauseous."

"And getting beat up by your possibly possessed step-brother won't make you nauseous?"

"…Um-"

"Rhetorical question." He aimed his dart and fired. "GUM!"

Pink gum exploded from the dart, but Lykanth saw it coming and lunged overhead, leaving the dart to disappear down the end of the hall.

There must be stairs down that way – which means-!

He spun round and gazed down the other end of the hall, where a pair of familiar office doors loomed.

We're close to HawkMoth and-

WHAM!

"Guh," he faceplanted with Lykanth pinning him down from behind, "ouch."

"Stop it, Lykanth," Grypas snapped in as angry a tone as she could muster, "before I have to use my powers against you!"

Lykanth growled at her and made a threatening motion with his claws around where Sparrow's hood covered his right ear. "Think you could speak up?" His voice was so gravely it sounded as if he had swallowed a pound of pebbles. "Not sure our friend here could hear you."

She gulped and whipped her arm back. "Sorry about this!"

Lykanth leaped overhead as soon as she let the ball go. It smacked the floor beside Sparrow and flew back into the air as Lykanth landed a few feet back and howled with laughter. "You thought I was going to wait around until your stupid toy bopped me?!"

Sparrow got to his feet again and held out another dart. "Don't go easy on him, Grypas. Not until we know what's going on."

Lykanth grinned. "You want to know why I decided to attack you two?"

No, I love the suspense.

"You fools," Lykanth stalked towards them, "think you can actually stop me? You think you can actually," he sneered, "bring Neo back?"

Grypas whipped the ball at his head, knocking him back a step. "What are you talking about?! If you're not Lykanth, then who are you?"

"What, you don't recognize me? This is, after all, my powers, my fur, my miraculous."

"…But…that would mean," she gasped, "Luunar?!"

Luunar laughed through Lykanth, and Sparrow realized that his eyes were unnaturally large and an unnaturally bright golden sheen – just as it had been when Tikki and Plagg had to take over Marinette and Adrien. "HawkMoth tried using akuma against you. Le Paon tried forcing you to fight one another. Nothing worked…so together they decided that the best way to defeat heroes is to use their powers against them."

"S-So," Grypas held her bouncing ball close, "that wasn't Dark Dame and Mercury being taken over in the basement – it was Damma and Whipp!"

"Poor little girl," Luunar chuckled, "you have no idea how much trouble you're in. Do you even know how long you've been unconscious in this hallway?"

Sparrow began to pull Grypas back. "We need to get to the office," he whispered to her, "to get inside the secret room where the butterflies are kept."

Luunar. "Do you want to know how long it's been?!"

"Sparrow," she whimpered, "we have to find Ladybug! She can cleanse the akuma from him and help us get to the office!"

"Wish to know just how long I've been here, watching you?!"

Sparrow shook his head. "We have no time to-"

Luunar let out a hoarse laugh. "Long enough for you own miraculous and Quantic to be removed and possessed by akuma!"

The duo froze. Luunar howled.

"At any moment, your entire team shall fall under their control!"