Hello! I still can't really figure out how to write author's notes on here, but I just wanted to say a few quick things before the chapter starts.
Firstly, I had this chapter penned way before COVID-19 hit, so it is in no way meant to reflect or express any kind of opinion on the current crisis, so please be aware of that. Our medical professionals are doing an essential and difficult job, and Medicina is in no way meant to be a judgement or criticism of them, I only thought it would be an interesting approach to an Akuma and nothing more.
Secondly, I wanted to say thank you so much for your reviews! I always appreciate constructive criticism, and it was so nice to find that so many of you liked my story, because I really didn't expect it! I planned the first version of this story originally in 2014, when we barely had PVs, an online game and the Quantic Kids to the fandom, and its taken me this long to get this far because I didn't feel like I was any good at writing, and i certainly wasn't motivated to write so much content. Your reviews have really cheered me up and given me reason when I'm not confident in myself or my work, and I'd like to give a special shoutout to yellow 14 and bunnywabbit29, who have commented on nearly every chapter with their nice thoughts and insight. I look forward to your comments every time I upload something new, and I just wanted to say thank you so, so much for keeping this story afloat. Without reviewers like you, I don't think I would have had the inspiration to keep writing, so really, thank you.
And well, um, that's all I wanted to add! I hope everyone likes this chapter, and that you're all home and safe! Enjoy! ヽ(´∇`)ノ
/
As luck would have it, finding Chat again wasn't too hard, as he hadn't been looking for Tikki at all. He'd been following Marinette.
Now, as he assured her, he hadn't been following her because he didn't trust her or because he thought she was useless, which of course he absolutely didn't think, but only because he was concerned for her safety, and he would not make a very good hero if he knowingly let someone into a dangerous, and possibly highly traumatising, situation without any kind of supervision. He didn't want to tell her that actually he had already been looking for Tikki before he found out there was an Akuma, since early that morning in fact, but he still hadn't found her, and adding a time constraint was unlikely to make him more successful. He also didn't want to tell her that he'd definitely noticed her arm was in a sling. He didn't think either would help his case.
"Chat Noir." Marinette said as she sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. "Stalking someone isn't exactly great hero practice either."
Chat held his hands together like he was praying and placed him over his nose, pointing at Marinette with them clasped in an 'are-you-sure' sort of motion. "But could you call it body-guarding though? Doesn't that seem more appropriate for what happened than stalking?"
"No." Marinette said curtly. "As you are not my bodyguard, you're the city's only available superhero who is supposed to be helping me find a way to defeat the villain possessing my mother! And you're doing a really bad job, you butthead."
"You're the butthead." He said, not quietly enough as Marinette gave him a glare. "Okay, I'm sorry, but I was worried about you, and I've got no idea where to even start looking for Tik— I mean the missing Kwami— I mean the missing person, and looking after you seemed like the smarter decision! I meant it yesterday when I said the world's better with you in it, Mari."
Marinette, ignoring the blush beginning to pepper her cheeks, breathed deeply. "Fine. Well kitty, while you were doing the exact opposite of what you were supposed to be doing, I was doing I agreed to do."
Chat leant against the alley wall. "Cool, cool. What's the plan, Boss?"
"We're going to trick Medicina into sealing up her own Akuma object." She said, pointing at the bandage, still looped like a scarf around the Akuma's shoulders.
Chat frowned. "Uhh, not to be negative or anything, but how's that going to help anything? You know I can just break it?"
Marinette nodded. "Yeah, I thought of that, but what do we do with the butterfly afterwards? We can't risk Catclysm-ing it, we don't really know what that'll do, and we've got no way to contain it once its free. No, first we need to stall for time." She crossed her arms, best she could. "Besides, haven't you noticed? Medicina's been putting people into the goop, but she won't put their whole bodies in, she always keeps at least the nose above the pile. She can't get them back out once they're fully engulfed. See, watch how she reacts if I just—"
Marinette looked around the alleyway, picking up a lid from one of the nearby dustbins. She aimed it, as well as she was able to, and threw the lid at the nearest goop accumulate, watching as it sank all the way in. Medicina's head whipped around at the motion, and Chat and Mari hastily ducked back into the alley.
The Akuma flew over, hands clutched together. "Oh my, oh dear, oh no, more contamination, higher risk of infection, I have to— oh but I can't— oh dear— oh—" She fretted, tapping the goop with her finger tips before the purple mask outline reappeared. They watched as Medicina seemed to argue with Hawk Moth, before gradually settling back to her cheery, relaxed self. "Oh! Well, I'll just section this area to quarantine then!"
Marinette spun back to Chat the second Medicina turned away to shift her sludge. "See? Stuff sinks right in, but once it's in, it's in. She can't pull it back out or she'll get stuck too. She never puts more than a hand in, I'm guessing that if she reaches past her gloves, she can't get back out."
"So, why don't we just get the bandage, put it in one of the goop piles, push it in with a stick or something, and just leave it there? Then we won't need Medicina involved at all." Chat argued. "Or we could always take the gloves away."
Marinette shook her head. "No, she can still move the wet stuff, she either turns it into those gross babies or mixes it up with her skirt, so there's still a chance she could gather it out. We could also lose it very, very easily, and trying to get her gloves off her is a surefire way to end up captured; the glitter comes from them, and she could always have more. So, no, that doesn't work." She pointed across the road. "More importantly, look, see where my friend Rose is? She's the one with the short blonde hair."
Where Mari was pointing, Rose was still stuck in her own personal snot stack, hardened and immovable. She'd passed out from shock or fear or exhaustion, it was hard to tell from where they were standing, but her head was rolling to one side and she was definitely dribbling. Juleka, ever the loyal one, was kicking the stack with all her might, making no dent in it whatsoever.
"I see her." Chat said, still not understanding where Marinette was going with her plan.
"Medicina can harden some of that stuff, but I haven't once seen her un-harden it. If we can trick her into hardening a pile that has the bandage in it, she'll never be able to get it back out." Marinette finished. "That should give us enough time to find Ladybug's Kwami— seriously, stop trying to pretend I didn't hear you say the word, you've said it in front of me more than once— and fix everything!"
Chat Noir crossed his arms, choosing not to say anything about the Kwami comment. "It's not a bad plan, but still the problem that once it's in, we won't be able to get to it either, and then the Akuma will multiply, and then the city is finished. France probably too, also."
Marinette shrugged, wincing at how the action made her arm throb. "We'll have to hope Lucky Charm will have a solution for that, or that Cataclysm can break through the sludge. We won't know if the Akuma can multiply once its trapped in there, so if it can't, that might buy us some more time too. It's the best I've got for now, how about you?"
"Oh, I've got nothing. Plans are not really my area of expertise." He flexed his arms. "I'm the brawn, not the brains. The cat-attack." Marinette raised an eyebrow. Chat coughed. He stopped flexing.
She tapped her foot, nervous and fidgety, "So my plan then?"
"Yeah okay. I do have one more question though." Chat said, slowly.
"Mhmm?"
"How are you going to convince her to do any of this?" He looked at the Akuma with reservations. "She doesn't really seem the type to do favours."
"Oh that." Marinette grimaced. "I'm going to take a leaf out of Alya's book."
"Huh?"
"I'm going to try to charm Mrs Dupain-Cheng."
—
Mari took a deep breath. Perhaps one of Tikki's powers was level-headedness, because as it turned out, without her, Marinette found herself shaking like a leaf. She tried to convince herself it was just the blood loss as she stepped out from the alley and marched herself towards the Akuma, not the fact she was doing exactly what she'd promised not to do: getting up, close and personal with another super villain monster. She was going to get a verbal beating from Alya for sure, not to mention her parents, classmates, Ms Bustier, herself…. she was trying not to dwell on exactly how many people she was never going to hear the end of this from.
"Marinette, my darling! I was beginning to wonder where you'd wandered off to, you missed my demonstration! How's your arm, sweet pea?" Medicina cooed, floating down to fuss over her as Mari walked over, "I'll heal you now, my little love, now I've shown my other patients how to properly behave, let's get you into—"
"Wait! Mama!" Marinette blurted, already too tense.
Medicina blinked. "Oh! Yes, sweetheart? What is it?"
She was really struggling to think of something witty to say. This was not one of her better plans. "I… um, I wanted to ask if you'd uhh… show me how your… how your medicine works? I'm really curious. I'd love to know more about your, uhh… magic uh, snot." She said pulling a face she hoped looked honest. One of her eyes was twitching from the strain— god, she wished she'd written a script.
Medicina broke out in a smile so bright it could put Adrien Agreste to shame. "Oh, Marinette that's wonderful! I'm so glad you're finally thinking about safety! Let's see, we can start with— Oh no, wait, how about— Oh! Oh,, actually you might find this more exciting—" Medicina stopped, and hummed discontentedly.
A purple outline of a butterfly appeared in front of her eyes, and her expression soured. She went to open her mouth, but flinched violently, like she'd been struck across the cheek with a hardback book, before steeling her gaze into something harsh. "Say that again? I can't say I agree with you." Another crack across the cheek. "Ah! I'll have you know what I do or don't do with my daughter is my business alone, thank you."
Marinette risked a glance at Chat, on the roof behind Medicina. She wasn't liking how Medicina had phrased that, or how dark her tone was, and could already feel nervous sweat running down her neck.
Medicina jerked again, the purple butterfly glowing brighter. "Oh, please, there's no need to be so rude. The heroes aren't even here yet, and we can worry about their Miraculous later when they appear. There's no need to rush, so I'll be teaching my daughter proper precaution etiquette for now, thank you." She growled, squinting til her eyes watered as the mask gradually disappeared. She smiled again, all teeth, and turned back to Marinette. "Now then, what would you like to learn about first, my darling?"
"Th-The sludge?" Marinette said, a little wobbly. "I'd really love to know why some hardens and some doesn't. It's um, really fascinating. Love me some goop alright, real big goop fan me. Practically a fanatic about… uhh. Hospital juice."
Medicina clapped her hands together in giddy glee. "Oh, what an excellent place to start! You do take after me. Now, my healing balm is perhaps the most perfect of my safety measures, if I do say so myself! What you first need to know is that the balm itself doesn't just heal, it also calms its patients, acting as both medicine and social care, see for example your little friends—" She pointed to the pile still holding Alya and Nino. "—are almost ready to be dismissed! Just a little more time and they'll be all healed, come on sweetie, look a little closer!"
She floated to the pile, gesturing excitedly at Nino and Alya's heads. Neither of them appeared to be moving, though only the tops of their faces could be seen, but Marinette still clamped her teeth shut to keep from yelling something rude. Their eyes had begun glazing over, Medicina's blue leaking into their irises, as if they'd spilled blue raspberry slush over their eye sockets. There was about a third of white sclera left, and both looked about as blank as a canvas; completely expressionless.
"W-What's happening to them?" Mari said, clenching and unclenching her fists.
Medicina smiled softly. "Well, sweetie, as they heal, they begin to absorb the nutrients in the medi-balm. It's giving them… a new lease on life, shall we say? It's all very scientific, I assure you. They're quite fine."
"Right." Mari gulped. "Of course." She had to stay calm.
"Then, once their time is up, they'll be free to leave, armed with new, proper knowledge on how to stay safe, polite and considerate! Don't worry, they only have an hour or two left to go, it won't be long at all. Time flies when your having fun, isn't that right? Isn't it wonderful, Marinette? What a marvellous thing safety is?" Medicina said, her hands clasped together earnestly.
Marinette nodded, replying in as peppy voice as she could make herself sound with gritted teeth, "Oh yeah, uh-huh, its fantastic. Best thing, just the best thing, I've heard all day, really— um, actually, Mama, what, uh, what about the hardened stuff? Like what Rose is in?" She pointed over at Rose, still still and trapped. "Does that do anything differently to the other— the other stuff?"
Medicina hummed, tapping a finger to her lips. "Well, its not as impressive as the soft balm, but it too serves its purpose. The stoic balm— that's what its called, love— is used to keep a patient restricted while they're being harvested. It's nowhere near as interesting as some of my other measures, are you sure you don't want to learn about my little nurses? I can bring one here to show you if you want, honey? They're very—"
"Woah, wait." Mari whipped her head around, slapping her cheek with a pigtail, eyes narrowed. "Harvested? What do you mean, harvested?" She could see Juleka, who'd now hidden inside the boutique, listening out of the corner of her eye. "What are you going to do to her?"
"It's nothing bad, sweetheart, no need to overreact like that." She floated nearer to Rose's stack. "This little one was already perfect you see, so bright and bubbly, polite, and very safe; short hair, protective gear on and not to mention there's not a single scratch on her! She's the very image of the perfect patient! Ah, I was so lucky to find one like her, see, darling, some of the more, ah… serious injuries—" She pointed to the people trapped in her dress, several of whom had broken limbs still in casts, or deep gashes from the fallen construction poles. One unconscious man had vomit all over his face. "— well, they need more serious medicine. Following me so far, Marinette?"
Mari bobbed her head. It felt like her eyes were pried open with matchsticks, she was staring too hard at Rose, and her head was tethered by a spring, bouncing her thoughts all over the place, but she didn't say that out loud. It wasn't going to win her any points with her demon mother to suggest she was going bonkers.
Medicina carried on, unaffected by Marinette's grim expression. "Patients such as these need to follow the example of patients such as this little one, so, the obvious answer is to take just a little of her perfect recipe, and spread it to my critical cares, as a supplemental dose of sorts! Isn't that efficient? The stoic balm almost works in the opposite way to the medic-balm if that's easier for you to understand; it takes nutrients from the patient, rather than giving them. Not a lot mind you, I'd never be complicit in harming my inpatients, but while it does provide enough nutrients to keep the inpatient alive, of course, needy times must! We never know when a pandemic could hit us, better to be prepared. Do you understand now, Marinette? Why mummy wanted you to know so much about safety? It's very, hmm… life or death, you see."
Marinette couldn't tear her eyes away from Rose. It occurred to her now that Rose was probably unconscious because she was having all her 'nutrients' sucked out, not because she'd fainted. Hell, for all she knew Rose could already be too far gone. It was hard to check for a person's pulse if you couldn't reach their wrist or neck. She chanced a glance at Juleka, who'd pushed herself as far as possible into the corner of the boutique, just under the smashed front window, the moment she'd noticed them approach. With her hands over her mouth to keep herself quiet, she stared at Marinette with wide, watery eyes. They seemed to say a messy mix of 'I'm so scared' and 'please, please help her'.
Marinette slowly walked over to Rose, holding up her hand to her mouth. It was faint, but she could just about feel the heat of her breath— she was definitely alive, even if only a little. Marinette pushed the same hand behind her back, making an okay symbol where Juleka could see. "H-Hey, Ma-Mama? Ca-an I ask you another question?"
Medicina nodded, "Of course, lemon drop, whatever you want to know." She forced away another purple outline, eyes flinching at the effort.
"Uh, um. How do you harden the stoic balm? Can you… un-harden it?"
Medicina made an 'o' shape with her mouth, before pressing her lips together and humming. "Well, now that's a little more complicated. To harden, I click my fingers, like so." She demonstrated with a small piece she pulled from her dress, which once hardened she threw to the floor, leaving a large indent in the concrete. "But un-hardening? I don't have any need for that. Patients like your little friend over there get plenty of sustenance from the balm, and I've no reason to remove her. Besides, my darling, its not appropriate to reach past my gloves— I could allow contaminates into the balm, and I can't be having that."
Mari didn't get an opportunity to enjoy, at least, being right about the gloves before Medicina got very close to her face, their noses almost touching. "Why? Do you want to try?"
"What?" Marinette blinked. "How would I do that?" She said before she could stop herself.
"Well, darling, that's easy! Here." She reached behind her into the med-kit, still strapped to the small of her back. "A pair just for you!" She again blinked Hawk Moth's purple outline away, sweat pooling at her brow, as she gently laid two blue medical gloves in Marinette's hands, her pristine smile pushed as wide as it could go.
She looked at what bore her mother's face with suspicion. "Why are you giving me these? How'd you know they'll even work for me? I'm not one of your nurses."
Medicina pouted playfully. "You're my blood aren't you? If a daughter is to learn her mother's craft, well, what better way than with her tools firsthand! Hmm! Oh, I do make myself laugh."
'Baking is your craft'. Marinette thought bitterly. 'You've never even placed a plaster on straight. Wrong. This is all wrong.' She turned the gloves over in her palm, wishing she had the strength left to rip them in pieces, but she was smart enough to know it would mean nothing. After enough time hero-ing, you learned most childhood pettiness had no place in a fight.
"Try one on, sweetie, let's see if they work!" Medicina said merrily, clapping her hands together gently in a show of support and affection, unaware of her daughter's inner turmoil. "Quick, quick now!" Her eyes were as wide as a dog's were to the sight of a bone, eager and starving.
Mari gulped thickly. She, horrified, tucked one in her shirt and pulled one onto her good hand, struggling a little with the motion. The glove felt tight against her sweaty palm. She could see the blood under her fingernails through the taut blue latex.
"There we are! Now, give us a click!" She held out a lump of goop, freshly pulled like bread-dough from her skirt. She bobbed it up and down in front of Marinette's face, but all it did was make her want to throw up her macaroons. "A nice neat one. Just think of this piece as what you need it to be and presto! Brand new stoic balm!"
Marinette didn't like how she was feeling about this, all twisted and wrong, so wrong, so she spared a quick glance up to Chat, hoping his face would make her feel better, maybe give her an idea to escape. This was too overwhelming, too stomach-turning, and she'd been stupid to think she could handle it, she was Marinette, the failure, the injured, lost her bug, lost her mother, lost her—
Chat gave her a double-handed wave up from his rooftop, only his eyes, kitty ears and hands to be seen. Mari felt a unexpected giggle in the back of her throat. He looked like a bookmark.
It gave her enough to focus. Marinette clicked her fingers.
A whisper of something passed through her, and she stifled a sick retch at the unfamiliar, ugly feeling— this magic was nothing like Tikki's, it's warmth didn't come from sweet honesty, but from inflamed anger, and she didn't like it. It made her furious, not just by proximity, but in the thought that this horrid emotion was coursing through her mother's veins indefinitely, permanently. In some way, she could see how an Akuma could turn a victim with it, it did feel powerful, but Marinette was lucky enough to have felt how true real power was. Power of creation, luck and ladybugs. There was no comparison. This magic was pupated by something bitter, something awful, someone who felt conned and enraged trapping someone who felt lost and alone. It was all there in the seams of the sparkles. It reeked of pollution.
The ball of sludge turned to stone as the click echoed out, and the Akuma dropped it next to her own with an elated giggle. Marinette felt sullied.
"Oh, how perfect! Just what I expected from my daughter. Nothing at all that she can't do!" Medicina said gleefully as she swept past Marinette's line of vision, again leaning her face in a little too close. "Now, darling! Enough about medicine! I could go on for hours and hours and hours if we had the time, but we have far more pressing things to discuss than this, don't we honey? First and foremost love, we need to talk about how that arm…"
Oh no. Marinette couldn't afford to be caught up in any sludge. She needed to think of an out, and quick. She ran her options through her head as quick as possible, thoughts hard to catch. She needed the scarf, she needed to get away, and she needed to slow the Akuma down, if possible, but she was short of ideas, and full of panic.
"Sweetie? I've got your balm ready, if you'll just step in right here—"
"Mama, actually, can I have a hug first?" Marinette said in a blurt, as sincerely as she could manage, gulping down her unease and twisting the edge of the glove between her blood-stained fingers. "I always feel better a-af-after one of your hugs."
"Oh, pudding pie." Medicina's face softened in sympathy, and she held out her arms, tilting forward and down at an angle so Mari wouldn't be contaminated by the sick patients in her skirts. "Of course, my little key lime! You can have whatever you want!"
Marinette swallowed, her heart in her throat. She'd decided to wing it. Well, decided was the wrong word; she'd resorted to improvising after failing to come up with anything to do next beyond internal screaming, which had only been getting louder. She knew she had to get close to the Akuma and do something to slow it down before trying any kind of getaway, but for that to work, she needed to keep flexible. She also needed to be mindful of the civilians that were still nearby. Risking Juleka, Rose, Alya or Nino's lives— not an option. The scales couldn't tip out of her favour.
In the end, hug was the best her brain supplied in the moment. Something parental, something familiar. Perhaps subconsciously she was just desperate for one.
Marinette stepped into the hug. She thought she'd have to repress a shiver, try not to back out from repulsion, but instead, she felt herself lean in. Medicina, cursed or not, still smelt like her mum; like freshly baked pastries and herbal tea. Her arms were the same, she laid her head against Mari's the same, her shape, her warmth, her voice— if Marinette closed her eyes, it was like nothing had changed.
But, still it was wrong. Sabine didn't pulse like something mutant, she didn't have distressed people trapped in her dresses, she didn't have eyes that glowed like hell's embers. This wasn't Sabine, Marinette had to remember that. This was a butterfly, pretending, piloting. It was evil, using her mother's face, her mother's tone, her mother's anger for the purposes of something, and someone, sinister. She had to stay strong, ignore the guilty voice in the back of her head that kept reminding her how this was all her fault. Marinette's. Marinette's failure.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I'm so, so sorry."
Medicina patted Mari's back soothingly. "Oh darling, for what? Disappearing? Don't be! All is forgiven now you're here and safe! All is forgiven now, love."
Mari scrunched her eyes shut. It wasn't her mother, same heartbeat or not. She had to strike.
In one swift motion, Marinette ripped the bandage-scarf from the Akuma's shoulders, pushing herself away and running as fast as she could. She spun into the nearest alleyway, clutching the bandage to her chest, panting from the exertion. Her arm ached with throbbing pain, blood seeping through the sling. Marinette swore. She'd reopened the wound by running.
Curiously, Medicina made no immediate move to follow her, and Marinette didn't have the patience to think too much on it, as the Akuma just laughed, like Sabine tended to do when Marinette made a joke or tripped over her own feet for the fourth time in a row. It wasn't ill-willed, if anything it was fondly infantilising, but didn't fill Mari with any kind of confidence either. All she had the time to think of was that perhaps Medicina didn't consider her a threat, or thought this was some kind of game. It could be a good thing, but it could also be very, very bad. It, if anything, made her feel worse.
She looked up at Chat, sat on the roof above her and peeking his head over the side. She lifted the bandage, and he gave her a brief thumbs up, leaning back out of sight.
Now it was his turn.
—
Chat's job was simple; now they knew how the goop worked, and had a means to harden it, they just had to distract Medicina away from Marinette long enough to get a section fused, with the bandage inside. It wasn't exactly what they'd planned, but it would work if they improvised. Medicina clearly didn't know he was here yet, listening to their conversation with all four ears had payed off there, so that gave them another advantage. He watched from the store-tops as Medicina crept towards the alley Marinette had tucked herself in, hands held out like a parent about to scare a toddler into giggles.
Well, okay, first things first, he had to get Marinette out of that alley.
Using his baton, he leapt over to the other side of the street, keeping out of the Akuma's eyeshot, before peeping over the edge of the alley at Marinette. She'd backed herself as far into the alley as it went, arm held tight to her chest, the scarf now wrapped around it to strengthen the sling. Chat furrowed his brow; he could see blood leaking through from where he was sat, and that clearly wasn't good. He waved at her to catch her attention, and threw the end of his baton towards her. As soon as she grabbed on, he pulled her to him, and ran as far away as he could before they heard Medicina's anguished cry on discovering Marinette was no longer in the alley. It really wasn't a nice sound; both of them shivered involuntarily.
"Chat." Marinette said, a little breathless. "Stop, stop."
He looked at her, alarmed. "You okay?" He slowed to a stop behind a chimney, lowering her to the roof beside him. "Your arm—"
Mari shook her head dismissively. "I got the bandage. I also got the gloves, on a fluke, here, you take them, you have pockets. We don't need Medicina anymore. We can… take a breather." She passed him the gloves, looking at him pointedly. "If the Akuma starts to multiply, we destroy the object with Cataclysm. We'll deal with whatever happens after, after. But that's last resort, got it?"
"Sounds like a plan, Princess."
The two of them slumped against the chimney and both let out their own long, harrowed breath. Mari let her head lull against Chat shoulder, and closed her eyes. This was not what she'd expected her day to be like at all. She was really trying not to feel responsible, but then again, how else could she look at the situation? She'd been what caused the Akumatisation, that had been her, right? Right when she had no way to fix it too. No superpowers, no healing, no Tikki— god, Marinette could write a book full of all the things she didn't have. She was starting to get angry at how unprepared she was to do anything without Tikki holding her hand. She'd just gotten so used to having a tiny red angel hidden in her purse, guiding her in the right direction, that without her, she was lost— actually, lost didn't even cover it. She was inept.
Eventually, she couldn't stand the silence, or being the only one hearing her thoughts.
"Hey, Chat?"
"Yeah, Mari? What's up?"
"What will you do if we don't find the missing Kwami?"
"What?" He hadn't really thought that far, just assumed that eventually he'd find Tikki wandering around, defeat the Akuma and then bring her back home for cookies and a new a game plan. "Why wouldn't we find her?"
Mari shook her head, twisting the bandage in her lap. "No, it's not about intent, I mean, what if you can't find her. Ever. What if she's just… gone."
"She can't be gone."
Marinette didn't seem to hear him. "What if we never find her? Then what? What if she's really, really lost, or kidnapped, or stolen, or, or—"
Chat's eyes had gone wide. "Mari, you need to calm down, it'll be okay—"
"What if she's dead? Can she be dead?" Mari blurted, clenching her good fist like she was trying not punch something until it bled. "What if we're too late? She's so small Chat, and so precious, and, and—"
Chat stared, watching dumbfounded as Mari sniffled into her sleeves. "M-Mari?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I just don't— " She took a deep breath. "Can't help feeling like a lot of this is my fault."
"What?" Chat stared at her like she'd spoken pig latin. "None of this is your fault."
Marinette barked out a laugh. "Oh, you have no idea."
"What do you—"
She waved off his question. "It's.. ugh. Look, it's nothing, just forget I said anything. Now's, god, now's not the time to be thinking about that, we should be focusing on the mission, sorry." She started checking off options on her fingers, "How certain are we she's not been captured?"
Chat frowned at the change in topic, but allowed it nonetheless. There was no point in making Marinette more upset, and technically she was right that losing focus wouldn't help either of them, but still, he reminded himself to bring it back up later. "Hawk Moth wouldn't still be keeping Medicina around if he had one of our Kwami already, he'd have no reason to be trying to lure Ladybug and I out. Having her Kwami in his possession would be bait enough."
Marinette nodded, eyes fixed on nothing. "Okay. Okay, good. So, then we can assume she's still out in Paris somewhere looking for Ladybug. All we need to do is find her and we're good, right? We're good then?"
"Yeah, Marinette, we're good, but you—" He stood up, wiping a smudge of dirt off her cheek as he got ready to go. "—are staying here."
"What? No!" Marinette struggled to stand up after him. "I can help— She's my— I mean, the Akuma's my mother! Chat, don't you dare."
"I will dare. I will dare, hard." He gently pushed her back down against the chimney, holding her hands in his. "Marinette, you are hurt, you are bleeding, and I can't get you to a hospital right now, so I'm doing the next best thing and keeping you out of the way. I'm going to go search, you are going to stay here and wait for me to come back."
"I will not!" Her eyes were like thunder. "This is my fight too!"
Chat shook his head. "It's not a debate, Mari, I'm sorry. You are staying here. That's final."
"Chat—"
"No!" He shouted, taking them both aback at his raised voice. "No, I— ugh. No. I'm the only one here with super powers, and as Paris' only available hero, your words, I'm putting my paw down, Princess. You are not coming with me. You're not only injured, but you're too close to this. I'm not going to allow you anywhere near her. That's it. I'll be back to get you after I find Ti— the Kwami, okay?"
"No, Chat—"
"Stop! The conversation's over! I'm going!" He turned away before she could protest any further and jumped to the next roof without a second thought, running as fast as his legs could make him go.
Marinette, on the other hand, was fuming. Yeah, from a heroics perspective, she could see what he was going for with the whole 'keep the targeted civilian out of the firing line' thing, it was smart, but Chat didn't have all the facts, and those facts were she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And you really didn't mess with Marinette Dupain-Cheng when she was mad. Especially if Tikki was on the line.
She looked frantically around the roof top for anything that could help her, before realising there was a fire escape she could use. Getting down it hurt, really hurt, but she managed it, even if she more fell down the bottom rungs than anything else. Brushing the dirt off her sling, Marinette peered around the corner of the building and steeled her nerve. It'd be a fifteen minute walk, or ten minute run back towards the bakery, but if she could get there, she could maybe get a message to Tikki. Her Kwami had no doubt noticed the Akuma by now, and getting reunited would surely be her first priority, so surely she'd be heading that way. It wouldn't be much, but maybe if she put red tissue paper over her balcony light she could make a makeshift Ladybug-signal to catch her attention. Tikki would be sure to notice that.
With a new plan in mind, Marinette took off running. Spots or not, she had someone to save, and Marinette would never willingly let her people down.
—
As ever, finding one little Kwami in a city as large as Paris was about as easy as finding a way out of one of his Father's many photoshoots; near impossible. Chat almost wished he had put a tracker on Tikki when he had the chance, would've saved everyone a lot of time.
Remembering what little he knew of her, again, Chat started by trailing past the city's bakeries, peering in every window and opening as many doors as would open, but he wasn't having any luck. He wanted to blame Plagg for that, but the Kwami in his head was equally as worried. He kept yelling at Adrien to look faster, which not only didn't help, but was giving him a migraine. Neither of them really knew where best to look, and it wasn't like they had anyone to ask for advice. The only one who knew more about Tikki than them was Ladybug, and they didn't have any way to find her either.
He'd started back towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery, as out of sight as possible, before he heard it.
Wailing. Miserable, agonised wailing.
Shooting himself up past the skyline, Chat landed on the corner roof of the street, two along from the boutique, to scope the situation. Medicina was almost exactly where they'd left her, spinning her goop wildly, now forming the globs into more violent shapes: a bat, a mallet, a ball and chain. She'd, in the moments since they'd been gone, had managed to trap a new crowd of civilians with her sludge weapons, mainly reporters who'd come to find out more about the new Akuma. He could see Nadja bobbing in the pile, her mic still held aloft, Alec Cataldi not far behind her.
Medicina seemed to have tipped over the edge. Without Marinette there to placate her, she'd gone full blown Akuma, eyes red like she'd been crying, and she didn't seem to be about to stop moving, too full of misplaced energy. She lobbed goop at every civilian she could see, every nervous peek past a curtain found themselves stolen and dunked in balm, each sinking up to their necks on impact. It was like she was trying to funnel all the built up anger into finally being the villain Hawk Moth had designed her as. She kept screaming too, "My darling! My darling, sick and lost, she needs me, she needs me! Who took my baby, who took my baby away!"
He had to put a stop to it, but how? There wasn't any superhero back up, again, and he could see the police weren't in any position to help either— Officer Raincomprix and his squad had also been newly captured, and he seemed to be trying to give the sludge a ticket for resisting arrest. Chat was alone, with Plagg as exception, again, and the same hollow fear settled in. Being a lone wolf really wasn't his thing, this cat needed company.
Still, that didn't mean he wouldn't do his job. If he could get Medicina's attention, draw her away from the crowd to chase him, he could search for Tikki and keep the Akuma entertained at the same time. It wasn't perfect, and would probably blow up in his face, but it would have to do. He hadn't been lying when he said plans weren't his strong suit.
"Hey, uh… medicine pun!" He yelled from the roof, standing up too fast, and stumbling to put his hands on his hips heroically.
Medicina whipped around, her face a twisted painting of fury. "You!"
Chat grimaced. "Yeah, I know, not my best work, but then, I've never really been a great worker under purr-essure."
Medicina didn't like the joke. With a cry like an enraged lion, she formed a huge bat with the goop, twice-her-height tall and spiked like a hedgehog, and swung it at Chat. With a yelp, he jumped out of the way, the bat barely missing him by a hair, and used his baton as a bridge to the other side of the street. He glanced at the Akuma to judge her next move, and had to jump back again to avoid a crack to the ribs— she wasn't as kindly as she'd seemed around Marinette, at least not anymore. Her eyes were a permanent blinking shade of angry, like she'd been rubbing them non-stop for an hour.
Chat whistled lowly, swinging his tail. It had a blob of goop stuck to the end. "Wow, you pack a punch! You pack any plasters too, by any chance? I've think I've got a boo-boo."
"Oh, I'll give you a boo-boo, you mangy stray! " Medicina snarled, zooming at him, bat already held aloft. "What have you done with my daughter?"
"Take that as a no then."
There were no openings to retaliate, Medicina was ruthless in her attacks, coming at him relentlessly. Chat almost felt guilty. Maybe she wouldn't have been so upset if he hadn't taken Marinette away, but then, he couldn't have left her there either. It was taking most of his energy to focus on dodging he attacks, very aware that one hit from that sludge-bat and he'd be immobile with little hope of escape, and the Akuma was starting to notice. She switched weapons a couple of times— the tennis racket attempt had been inventive— but when nothing seemed to work, she narrowed her eyes and stepped back. Without a word, she gathered more and more goop towards her, layering it on top of itself until she'd made a bubbling mass growth of sludge that towered above the both of them. It wobbled grotesquely, like gone-off jelly and ice-cream.
"I don't need to hit you, Chat Noir." She sneered. "I just need… sterile conditions. That'll have my little cat infestation problem sorted in no time."
Chat arched a brow, dropping himself on the pavement besides the trapped civilians. "'Don't need to' and 'couldn't if my life depended on it' are too different things, Akuma. I shouldn't have to be the one to tell you that, you're full grown!"
Medicina grinned with her too-white smile. "So prententious. I'll be very glad to have you out of my hospital, Chat Noir." She, with some amount of effort, hefted the goopy growth behind her and began to swing it, clicking her fingers so that floating bulbous bubbles within it hardened to rock. "I think you'll find it much more comfortable… at the morgue!"
Chat crossed his arms and frowned. She already knew he could dodge the bat, why did she think this would work? Whatever that mass was, it was far heavier than the other goop weapons, so why try it? Did she think he wasn't going to move? He wasn't that stupid.
A frightened grunt behind him drew his attention. Chat turned, and locked eyes with Nadja, who opened her eyes as wide as she could. Something in Chat's head clicked.
Medicina wasn't aiming at him. She was aiming at the civilians.
Chat felt his stomach drop through the floor.
Evil though it was, it was smart. He was stuck now, almost literally, between a rock and hard place. If he moved and saved himself, the civilians would be hit by the goop, submerging them in sludge to the point of suffocation or knocking them out cold, or out of life, thanks to those hard chunks, and his miraculous had no power to save them if the worst happened. If he stayed, he'd be hit, and either absorbed into the goop to asphyxiate, or knocked a mile away. It wasn't like he was in a position to measure the force of discus-swung sludge right this second, but he was hoping the super suit would at least keep him alive after a hit like that. He'd had worse right? Ladybug had definitely thrown him off a roof more than once, and he'd survived that, right?
He wasn't kidding himself. It was sacrifice himself, or sacrifice the citizens. Really, he only had one choice.
Chat braced himself for impact.
"Sorry, Cha—" Was all the whisper Chat heard before Medicina swung in his direction, completely missing her intended target, Chat, now that Marinette had pushed him, quite hard, out of the way.
"Marinette!" Chat and Medicina cried in unison, both equally as anguished, neither able to stop the blow, the momentum too far gone.
Marinette flew backwards. Her back slammed against a tree, her body having flown almost ten metres from the road, through the gate and into the park. She gasped at the pain, her neck snapping up. She was definitely going to have a bruise, probably more than one, possibly something broken. Mari slumped at the bottom of the trunk, winded, her make-shift sling nearly slipping off as pain started to buzz under her skin. She really needed to start pushing people out of the way and also getting herself out of the firing line. Practice wasn't making perfect.
She almost wanted to laugh, or cry. Another broken promise, one more to add to the list. First, she'd broken her promise to Tikki, losing her in a river, then her oath to protect, letting her city fall to ruin, those people from the TVi studios, she'd let them down too, and now Chat, again. Here she was, injured twice over, with nothing to show for it except a bandage she couldn't even break and a lot of back pain.
'Rock bottom without a pickaxe.' Mari thought bitterly. 'Where am supposed I go from here?'
Then, as if fate had decided she really did deserve a break, a number of things dropped into her lap.
"…Tikki?"
