Nathalie and Gabriel froze.
"What did you- what did you call me?" Gabriel's icy voice was close to inaudible, but it was all Chat Noir heard.
"I- I didn't mean to- you just-" Chat Noir stuttered.
Gabriel took a step back, processing.
His son was Chat Noir.
Chat Noir was his son.
It made sense, although it confused him all the same.
Nathalie looked to the other heroes, who didn't seem to have heard anything that had just happened. She looked to Gabriel, who was staring into space, breathing heavy breaths. He looked at Chat Noir.
"You are not my son. You will never be my son." Gabriel said quickly, his words jumbling together slightly.
He took something small and shiny from his pocket. A tiny dagger with a small ball on the end. His fingers grasped around it, and his hand pressed forward into Chat Noir's lower stomach. Chat Noir screamed, feeling the object press sharply in the stab would. His knees gave way and he collapsed onto the ground.
"You are not him!" Gabriel screamed. He buried the object further into Chat Noir's stomach and twisted it agonising, feeling sick rage coursing through his veins.
"No, sir, don't!" Nathalie cried, trying to pull Gabriel's arm away.
"I can do what I want, he is my son! He will pay for being Chat Noir! For defying me!" Gabriel screamed.
He pulled the dagger out of Chat Noir's stomach, seeing that the little ball was no longer on the tip of the blade. He aimed and attempted to stab Chat Noir's head with the dagger, but Chat Noir dodged.
The other heroes tranformed and rushed over with panic stricken faces.
"Sir, stop!" Nathalie cried, trying to remove the dagger from his hand.
Rena Rouge pulled Nathalie away, and King Monkey and Ryuko pried the dagger from Gabriel's grasp. Gabriel shook them off and threw punches and kicks at Chat Noir, trying to hurt him in a way he will never recover.
Pegasus and Viperion took his wrists and pushed him to the ground. Carapace ran over to Chat Noir and helped him walk to somewhere safer.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
...
Ladybug landed on the building and spotted the Miracle Box on the other side. She walked over to it, and picked it up. She opened it and checked all of the miraculouses were there, and closed it again. She took her yoyo and zipped to the Agreste mansion, spotting the police cars heading in the same direction.
She landed beside the wall and looked around, trying to make sense of the situation. There was blood splattered beside where Gabriel was, and he was being restrained on the ground. Nathalie's mouth was moving, and she looked like she was talking into her hand.
"What happened here?" Ladybug asked Rena Rouge.
"Gabriel attacked Chat Noir with this little knife thing." Rena Rouge said, gesturing to the bloody blade Ryuko was holding.
"Where?"
"He attacked Chat Noir over here." Ryuko gestured to the splattered blood on the floor. "He got hit in, I think, his lower stomach."
"No, no, no!" Ladybug muttered to herself.
She looked around for Chat Noir, but didn't see him anywhere.
"Chat Noir?" she called out.
"I'm here." his voice was strained and rough.
"Are you okay?"
Silence.
Ladybug passed the Miracle Box to Ryuko, and looked around the wall, seeing Chat Noir sitting on the steps to the mansion with his hands over his face. Carapace was trying to comfort him, but it didn't look like he was succeeding.
"Hey kitten..." Ladybug said, sitting on the step above Chat Noir.
She crossed her legs and let him rest his head on them. She gently pulled his hands away from his face and wiped some of his tears away.
"Just wait a little bit longer, they will be here soon."
"No... no... please..."
"What is it?"
"Don't- I don't want to go to the hospital-"
"But, you have too. You have been... injured again."
"B-but then they're going to ask me a bunch of questions- and- and- my identity- and I just can't deal with that. Please, Ladybug, please, don't make me."
"But then how are you going to heal?" Ladybug asked, looking at the stab wound Carapace was covering with a towel.
"The miraculous will help me heal, like it did last time. And- and you can help, like you did last time." Chat Noir said.
"Last time?" Carapace asked, concerned.
"Yeah, he had been... stabbed before. In that same spot..." Ladybug said.
"Ouch..." Carapace said, pressing the towel a bit harder to keep pressure on it.
Chat Noir whimpered, his nails digging into the steps as he shut his eyes tight.
"You're going to be fine, don't worry." Ladybug said, running her hands through his hair in a soothing way.
She looked to the road, and saw a few police cars turning the corner quickly.
"Are you sure you don't want to? They can make it stop hurting." Ladybug said, trying to convince him to get help. She didn't want to force him, though. He had had enough trauma recently.
"I don't want to, please..." Chat Noir said, shaking his head.
Ladybug shut her eyes for a moment, making a quick decision.
"Carapace, take one of the other heroes and take Chat Noir somewhere safe. You should be able to contact me through his baton. Call me if anything, anything, happens"
Carapace nodded and called Rena Rouge over. Together, the pair helped Chat Noir jump onto the roof, then run somewhere. Ladybug opened her yoyo, making sure she could track them.
She walked over to the police who were getting out of the car. She explained the situation and saw Gabriel and Nathalie get into two separate police cars, and get driven away.
...
Lila woke up unwillingly. Her phone was buzzing and she didn't want one of the kwamis looking through her phone. She looked at the contact calling her, and frowned when she saw an unknown number was calling her. She pressed the 'answer call' button.
"-eed your help. Police are coming. Tell no one." Nathalie's voice came through the line.
Then the line disconnected. The room was silent.
"Lila? What are you going to do?" Nooroo asked, hovering beside her.
"This is a big decision. If you choose to help them, you'll be a criminal. Oh! I don't want you to become a criminal! Please don't go, Lila!" Duusu said, her eyes dampening.
Lila was silent, thinking. If she didn't go, life would continue as normal, sort of. If she did help them, they would be free, and would probably try to take the miraculouses off her. Or, they could help her improve her powers.
Improve her powers, for what? What did Gabriel and Nathalie want? Curiosity sparked in Lila's chest.
"I'm going to go, to see what they want." Lila said to the kwamis, choosing her words carefully.
"No!" Duusu cried.
Nooroo was silent, too used to not being allowed to give his opinion.
"I'm going to go, to see what they want." Lila repeated, as if she was trying to convince herself of her decision. "Yes. Duusu, Spread My Feathers! Duusu, Nooroo, Unify!"
Lila widened her eyes as a wave of drowsiness passed over her, like when she had used both the miraculouses at the same time earlier. She shook her head and opened the window, stepping out into the night. She heard sirens, and followed the sound.
...
Chat Noir let himself be carried away by Carapace and Rena Rouge. He could tell they thought he was making the wrong decision, but he really didn't want to go to the hospital.
He didn't want to put his identity in jeopardy, and he had already recovered from a stab wound before. The only difference was that this time he was stabbed with a little dagger. He would recover even faster, surely.
And he had never really been to the hospital much. He couldn't remember the last time he had gone, or if he ever had. His father had always called doctors to the house, to keep him safe.
Safe.
As if he was ever safe at home with all those secrets.
Hospital itself seemed like such a frightening thing to him. All alone, with his life resting in the hands of someone he barely knew. It reminded him too much of when Hawkmoth and Mayura had kidnapped and tortured him. He didn't want to remember that.
His hands pawed helplessly at the wound as Rena Rouge pressed a towel into it. He whined as Carapace and Rena Rouge carried him as they jumped over a building and landed, gently putting on a roof. Rena Rouge pulled his hands away from his stomach, and made him lie on his back.
Chat Noir brought one of his arms over his eyes, so the other two heroes didn't see him cry. His toes curled and his back arched slightly as they moved the towel, keeping pressure on it and soaking up the blood that was oozing out.
...
Ladybug looked at the police cars as they drove Gabriel and Nathalie away. Several police officers stayed behind, cutting off the area with police tape. She looked to the other miraculous holders beside her.
"I'm not sure how dangerous this new Butterfly and Peacock miraculous holder is, so, as a precaution, let's say they are very dangerous. Make sure you watch your backs and tell no one about your identity. If you get any information and want to get it to me, tell Alya Césaire. She's the Ladyblogger and will be able to post information on the Ladyblog." Ladybug said, despite knowing all the other heroes knew Alya personally.
"Did you see what the miraculous holder looked like?" Ryuko asked.
"I'm pretty sure the holder was a she. I think they also had long brownish hair, too." Kink Monkey said.
"It looked like she was roughly our height." Pegasus said.
"Maybe we can set a trap, to lure her out?" Viperion suggested.
"Yeah!" King Monkey said.
"Do any of you know each other's identities?" Ladybug asked, thinking.
"I know Ryuko is Kagami-" King Monkey started.
"Hey!" Ryuko said.
"Oh, right, sorry..." King Monkey said.
Ladybug looked back at the mansion, ignoring the bickering happening next to her.
"Did any of you notice that Hawkmoth and Mayura were trying to push us closer to the window?" Ladybug asked, remembering how Hawkmoth and Mayura had been quite defensive of the wall in the office.
"Yes. Perhaps they were hiding something?" Pegasus said.
Ladybug nodded. "Let's take a look."
Ryuko looked at the Miracle Box in her arms, and followed Ladybug and the other heroes as they climbed in through the broken window.
"Hang on for a minute." Officer Raincomprix said, standing in the way. "This is a crime scene!"
"We understand, we just want to look around." Ladybug said.
Officer Raincomprix raised an eyebrow. These people were superheroes, and should be able to look around, right?
"I'll let you look around, but I'm coming too."
Ladybug nodded. She looked around the office, seeing glass shards on the floor. She walked over to the far wall, seeing a portrait of a blonde woman.
"Do you know who this is?" she asked.
"Since this is the Agreste mansion, I think it would be safe to assume that this is Emilie Agreste. She is- was Gabriel Agreste's wife." Pegasus said.
Around the room, three walls were damaged with cracks and bumps, evidence of the fight that had taken place there. The wall with the portrait seemed almost perfect.
"Hey, maybe there's something behind the portrait!" King Monkey joked.
Ladybug's eyes widened as she realised it was likely. She used her fingers to pry open the side, and gasped when the painting swung open like a door. She looked inside, seeing a safe. She frowned, and stepped out of the way so that Pegasus could look at it.
"Fingerprints here... and here..." he muttered, squinting at the keys.
He pressed a few in a random order, and a small red light flashed, showing him it was wrong. He rearranged the numbers and pressed them again, and a green light flashed instead. He opened the safe, and looked inside it at the contents within.
"Tibet..." Ladybug read, looking at the front cover of the book. She scanned the other objects in the safe. "I don't think there's any supervillain-y things in here."
"There has to be! The guy has a secret safe and he doesn't have any secrets in it? That doesn't make sense!" King Monkey burst.
"Maybe we just need to dig a bit deeper." Ladybug looked at her yoyo. "Lucky Charm!"
A colouring book fell into her hands. She frowned, flicking through the pages, seeing the same black and white image printed on each of the pages.
"There are numbers. Maybe it's a code?" Ryuko asked.
"Not a code. One of those colour-by-number things." Pegasus said.
Ladybug picked up a pencil from the desk and quickly scribbled on the page using the key.
"These triangles have numbers, but the numbers aren't assigned to any colour." she said, pointing to the blank spaces on the page.
Pegasus looked over her shoulder. "That's it!"
"What?"
"That's it! The portrait!" Pegasus said.
He pointed to the portrait, then the colouring book. Ladybug held it up, and marked the uncoloured triangles on the portrait.
"Hang on for a minute, let me recharge quickly." Ladybug said as she jumped out of the window and detransformed.
King Monkey looked at Officer Raincomprix. "So, I hear you're a police officer. Let's talk about that."
Officer Raincomprix sighed, and examined the portrait closely. A few minutes later, Ladybug returned.
Viperion stepped forward and pressed the marked triangles, jumping back when a small sound was heard. A small circular platform appeared where he had been standing on the floor.
The heroes and Officer Raincomprix looked at it, baffled. Ladybug stepped on it, followed by King Monkey. There was no more space on the circle. A whirring sound was heard, and the platform lowered, bringing Ladybug and King Monkey down.
Pegasus, Ryuko and Officer Raincomprix stared at them in surprise.
"He's Batman!" they heard King Monkey yell just before the floor sealed up again.
...
Lila landed on a street lamp and thought about how she could get Gabriel and Nathalie free. Lila looked at her fan, and plucked off a white feather. She looked at it, unsure of what to do next. Normally, the feathers were dark when they gave people powers, so maybe she should trap it in darkness?
Lila enclosed her other hand around it, and watched in awe and it turned blue. She blew it away, and saw it slip into one of the police cars. Lila waited a few moments, and a mask appeared above her face.
"Nathalie-" Lila said, still surprised at what she was doing.
"Lila. You are already learning how to use the miraculous. I'm pleased." Nathalie said through the mask.
"I- yes. How did you know I had the miraculous?" Lila asked.
Nathalie raised an eyebrow. "Other than the heroes, you were the only other person who had known our identities. It makes sense."
Lila nodded. "I am going to make a sentimonster, which will help you get free..."
"Thank you." Nathalie said.
Lila cut off the connection between them. She was still unsure of what she was doing, but she wouldn't go back now. She saw blue bubbles pop inside the car, and then a small bird with a long beak fly out, unlocking the car door. Nathalie ran out and grinned at Lila
Lila couldn't help but feel pride as the first ever sentimonster she had ever created destroyed a car door in a few seconds. Nathalie pulled Gabriel out of the car, and gestured to Lila to come down.
Lila jumped down and picked them up, jumping onto the roof and running away.
...
Ladybug took her yoyo off her waist and called Officer Raincomprix.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"This is Ladybug. I figured I would call you so we can keep in touch."
"Good idea, Ladybug. I've put you on speaker phone so the others can hear you too. What can you see?" he asked.
"So far, nothin-" Ladybug started.
"Hey! Look! There's this glow-y thing at the end of this really big thing." King Monkey said, pointing as a large room with a white cylinder at the end came into view.
"Amazing descriptions, King Monkey." Ladybug said sarcastically.
"Woah, that water looks murky... so, how am I supposed to swim in it?" King Monkey muttered to himself.
Ladybug cast him a concerned look.
"I don't think you will be doing any swimming." Ladybug said to him. She spoke into her bug phone. "I can see a bridge that goes over water. It looks shallow, but it's also murky."
"I suggest you don't go into the water, Ladybug." Officer Raincomprix said through the bug phone.
"We won't, don't worry." Ladybug said.
The elevator reached the floor and stopped. King Monkey and Ladybug stepped onto the metal platform and cautiously walked to the white cylinder at the end. Ladybug took pictures on her bug phone.
They reached the end and looked at the cylinder. King Monkey crouched down and poked it, and stepped back as the white surface slid away, revealing Emilie Agreste.
...
Lila landed on a roof far away, and let Gabriel and Nathalie stand themselves. She snapped her fingers, releasing the amok from the sentimonster she had created. Nathalie looked nervously at Gabriel. His face was pale, and his hand was clenched around a small remote. Nathalie looked at it, and brought his hand closer to her so she could see.
"Sir, what are you doing?" Nathalie asked, trying to get him to let go.
Gabriel continued to stare into space, but spoke to her.
"I'm hurting him." he said, his voice cold and threatening.
Nathalie wasn't fazed.
"What do you mean?" Lila asked, playing with her fan.
"The dagger had the- the thing on it. I don't remember what it was called." he said.
Nathalie's eyes widened. Her mind flashed back to the dagger he had been holding when he stabbed Chat Noir a few minutes ago.
"No, he's your son! You can't do that to him!"
"He is not my son!" Gabriel snapped at her. He met her eyes, and she saw pure rage within them.
"Am I missing something here? I'm confused. Since I saved you, I think you owe me an explanation." Lila said, mainly to Nathalie, as Gabriel was staring into space again.
"We- I made a small device, around the size of a marble, that was designed to cause pain when that button was pressed." Nathalie said, pointing to the button Gabriel's finger was pressed on.
Lila's eyes widened.
"It was on the end of the dagger Chat Noir was stabbed with, and I fear it's now inside Chat Noir." Nathalie continued.
"You fear?" Gabriel said quietly.
"I- what?" Nathalie said, confused.
"You said you fear it is inside him. Why do you fear it?"
"Well, I just didn't know for sur-"
"It is. I know it is. But why do you fear it is inside him? Don't you want him to be in pain? Don't you want him to be punished?" Gabriel asked her.
"Do you? Do you want him to be in pain?" Nathalie asked him, hiding her shock.
"Yes. I do." Gabriel said, pressing harder on the button. "He deserves it."
"For what?" Nathalie said, appalled.
"For defying me! For not giving me his miraculous! For having secrets! For everything! This is all his fault!" Gabriel screamed.
Lila looked at them both, her heart beating quickly.
"Who are we talking about?" Lila asked.
"It does not matter who he is!" Gabriel yelled at her. "He is a failure! He deserves this!"
He lunged at the brooches on her chest, trying to get them back. Lila stepped back quickly.
"You're on your own. I'm sorry, but I don't want this." Lila said, about to run away.
Gabriel chuckled darkly. "But you wanted Marinette to get hurt, didn't you?"
"I- didn't want to hurt her this much!" Lila gestured to the remote in his hand.
"He deserves being hurt this much."
Lila stared at him in horror. He had always seemed like a reasonable person, but Lila was disgusted at what he had become. She ran off into the night, leaving Gabriel and Nathalie to do as they please.
She could have stopped them. She could have turned them in. But then they would reveal her identity, and she didn't want that.
...
Chat Noir sat up and looked at his stomach. He tried to control his breathing, but it was getting hard to breathe without moving his stomach.
"You okay? You look pale." Carapace said looking at his face.
"Well yeah- I j-just got st-stabbed, r-r-right?" Chat Noir said, trying to lighten the mood to distract himself.
"Please don't make jokes, this is serious." Rena Rouge said.
"Oh- o-okay. S-s-sorry." Chat Noir stuttered.
Rena Rouge was about to apologise, when he screamed.
Chat Noir curled up into a ball, gasping, shoving the towel away. He wrapped his arms around his lower stomach and rolled over, trying to rid himself of the sudden agony that exploded in his lower stomach.
"Woah, what's going on? What happened?" Carapace stood up and looked at him, seeing several beads of sweat appear on his forehead.
"I don't know, he was fine just a second ago-" Rena Rouge said, panicking.
She saw the baton on his back and opened it, calling Ladybug.
...
Ladybug looked at her bug phone and saw that Chat Noir was calling her. She pressed the 'answer' button, and saw Rena Rouge's worried face show up.
"Rena Rouge? What's wrong? Is Chat Noir okay? Where is he?" Ladybug asked quickly.
"He- he's right here, but he just suddenly started screaming. I don't know what's going on-" Rena Rouge replied.
"Oh no..." Officer Raincomprix's said.
"What?" Ladybug asked, hoping another problem wouldn't arise.
"Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur. They've managed to escape somehow." Officer Raincomprix said.
"What? No!" Ladybug cried. "Okay, um, Pegasus, you check on Chat Noir. Rena Rouge says they're at the building we were on earlier."
"Okay, Ladybug. I'll be there in a minute." Pegasus said to Ladybug through the phone.
"Good. King Monkey and I are going to come up. Viperion and Ryuko, you go to where Gabriel and Nathalie were last seen. Try to find them again, and bring the police with you."
"Will do, Ladybug." Viperion and Ryuko said through the phone.
"Good. Officer Raincomprix, we'll be right up." Ladybug said as she and King Monkey ran to the elevator and stepped inside.
They got carried back up the the ground and stepped off the platform. Ladybug and King Monkey stepped outside, seeing several police cars drive away with their sirens on, and Officer Raincomprix talking to some other officers. Ladybug put her yoyo on her waist.
"Do you know how they escaped?" Ladybug asked.
"The witnesses say there was a dark figure dressed in blue and purple, and a little bird." Officer Raincomprix said,
"Dressed in blue and purple... that would be the other miraculous holder from earlier. The little bird would probably be a sentimonster." Ladybug thought out loud.
"If they escaped, wouldn't they want revenge or something?" King Monkey piped up.
"Maybe, and the easiest person to get revenge on is..." Ladybug paused as she realised what they may do next. "Officer Raincomprix, have you got this under control?"
"Hopefully. The cars are closing in on the area Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur were last seen."
"Okay. King Monkey and I are going to check on Chat Noir. Viperion and Ryuko are at the scene too, so should be able to help you."
"Oh, yes, Ryuko. She put the red box on the floor over there." Officer Raincomprix said, pointing at the Miracle Box.
Ladybug picked it up the Miracle Box and took her yoyo off her waist, and threw it. She flew after it and heard King Monkey follow her.
"What's the plan, Ladybug?" King Monkey asked as they ran on the rooftops.
"Plan? I- don't actually know... I just hope that Viperion and Ryuko are able to find Gabriel and Nathalie before they get away." Ladybug said.
They approached the building they had been on earlier and saw a small cluster of heroes gathered around someone lying down.
"Did I miss something?" Ladybug asked as she passed the Miracle Box to King Monkey. He looked at it, confused, then put in on the floor.
"Not really. He says his stomach hurts." Rena Rouge said, trying to get Chat Noir to lie on his back.
Pegasus pulled Chat Noir's right arm away from the stab wound, allowing Carapace to press the towel on it again. Pegasus gently felt around his broken arm, and wrapped a towel tightly around it. Chat Noir whined and tried to kick him away, but King Monkey restrained his legs. Carapace move the towel slightly within him, causing him to whimper.
"Deep breaths, Chat Noir, deep breaths." Ladybug said, crouching down beside his head.
Chat Noir shook his head. If he took deep breaths, his stomach would move, probably creating more pain, and he really doubted he could handle any more.
...
Nathalie gently placed her hands on Gabriel's fist.
"We don't need to do this to him. We can get the miraculouses back. We can still bring Emilie back. The first step, is to take your finger off this button." she said slowly, softly pulling his finger off the button.
"He deserves this." Gabriel said, keeping his finger firmly pressed on the button.
"Does he? Or are you just doing this because you regret what you did to him?" Nathalie asked.
"I- I don't regret it- I can't take it back.-" Gabriel stuttered slightly, looking at her.
She slid his finger off the button, and looked at him.
"If we keep going, it would all be worth it. But, if we give up, we would have pushed your son-"
"He's not my son." Gabriel said firmly and angrily.
"Uh, then we would have pushed him through all that pain for nothing." Nathalie said, slowly taking the remote from his hand and putting it in her pocket.
"So- you- your saying we should keep going? We should keep hurting him?"
"No, no. I'm saying that we press forward with trying to get Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculouses. We can still bring her back, but only if we keep going. If we give up, all of this would have been for nothing."
Gabriel thought about what she was saying.
"But, we have nothin-"
"We have Lila Rossi's identity. And, we have this button, which we will use only if we need to." Nathalie said.
"Adrien. He- he's staying with her. If we get him to give us the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous, we will be able to move forward."
"Yes. But, how will we get him to do that? He is Chat Noir, remember."
Gabriel's eyes went to Nathalie's pocket, where the outline of the remote was visible. Nathalie sighed as she took it out of her pocket.
"We'll use it as little as possible. Just let him get better first." Nathalie said.
Gabriel's gaze hardened again, from a mixture of emotions he didn't know how to decipher. And, he didn't want to decipher them, because then he knew he would feel guilt.
He didn't want to feel guilt.
"He has one day."
...
Chat Noir tried to get his hands and legs free, but he couldn't. Why was it hurting so much more than before? Why wasn't it going numb, like last time? Why couldn't he just pass out already?
He lay his head limply on the roof, completely vulnerable to the pain in his stomach. He felt something press on his stomach and arm, and closed his eyes tightly, biting his lip to try and distract himself. He tasted blood a few moments later.
"No, kitten, don't do that." Ladybug said to him.
He felt her softly wipe the blood off his lip.
Oh, how he would have loved for that to happen any other day.
Chat Noir opened his eyes, and saw Ladybug grimacing as she looked at his stomach. She noticed him looking at her, and gave him an encouraging smile. He tried to return it, he really did, but he simply couldn't smile when he was hurting so much. Ladybug reached down and scratched his scalp.
Oh, how he would have loved for that to happen any other day.
"Don't worry, you're going to be fine." she said to him.
He nodded, and frowned as suddenly, most of the pain went away. He winced as someone prodded his broken arm, and sat up.
"I thought your stomach was hurting?" Rena Rouge said.
"It- it was. It just stopped hurting. Well, most of it anyway." Chat Noir said.
He lay down again as Carapace pressed harder on his stomach.
"Sorry, dude. Did your stomach go numb or something?"
"N-no. I can still feel it, and it still hurts, it just hurts way less than before." Chat Noir said.
King Monkey released Chat Noir's legs and stood up.
"Can we show you guys the selfies Ladybug took in the underground thing?" King Monkey asked.
"What? Oh, right. They weren't selfies, they were just pictures." Ladybug said.
She sat down next to Chat Noir and helped him sit up, allowing him to lean on her slightly. Carapace kept the towel pressed against his stomach. Ladybug opened her yoyo, while the other heroes looked at it, seeing her flick through photos she had taken recently.
"That was the swi-"
"It wasn't a swimming pool, King Monkey. I don't actually know what it wa-"
"So, it could have been a swimming pool." King Monkey said.
"Sure." Ladybug sighed. "Anyway, we found out why he might have tried to get our miraculouses."
"We did?" King Monkey asked.
"Yes. This, in the cylinder tube thing, is his wife Emilie Agreste. Maybe he was trying to wish her back... alive? I don't know for sure." Ladybug said, zooming in, letting the others see the photo.
"She looks like she is asleep." Rena Rouge stated. "Perhaps she is in a coma?"
"It's a possibility. Ladybug, King Monkey, did you see her breathing?" Pegasus asked.
"We didn't get close enough. I did see all these little white butterflies, though. I think he was growing them." Ladybug said.
"So, this new miraculous holder, she won't be able to create akumas, since she doesn't have the white butterflies?" Carapace asked.
"Maybe, maybe not. I don't know for sure." Ladybug said.
She turned around, hearing footsteps. She saw Viperion and Ryuko land on the roof, and walk up to them.
"We didn't find them, and there was no sign of them or the miraculous holder." Viperion said.
"The police car door had been crushed completely, and there were two pairs of broken handcuffs lying on the road. Fingerprint recognition proved that they were on Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur." Ryuko added.
"What are we looking at? Who's she?" Viperion asked, looking at Ladybug's yoyo.
"This is Gabriel Agreste's wife, Emilie Agreste. We think Gabriel wanted to wish her back." Rena Rouge said.
Ladybug flicked through the rest of the pictures, so everyone got an idea of what the room had looked like.
"Is that the place where, um, you know, Chat Noir was, uh, tort-" Viperion asked, not quite knowing how to say it without making Chat Noir upset.
Chat Noir wasn't really paying much attention though, but he looked down at the mention of what happened to him.
His mother.
His mother was lying there under the house for all that time.
His mother.
His mother may have been alive all that time.
His mother.
His father may have been trying to bring her back.
His father.
His father had tried to kill him.
His father.
His father had tortured him, helped by his assistant.
His assistant.
His assistant had tortured him.
Why did his life have to be messed up?
...
"Is that the place where, um, you know, Chat Noir was, uh, tort-" Viperion asked, not quite knowing how to say it without making Chat Noir upset.
Ladybug looked at Chat Noir, who had lowered his head and was now staring into space.
"No. Chat Noir was... held in a different place. He was first held in a room of the dome of the Agreste mansion, and then a studio." Ladybug said quietly.
The other heroes were silent, not quite knowing how to respond.
"I think you should all get back to your homes." Ladybug said, breaking the silence. She stood up and picked up the Miracle Box. "I know where you all live, so head home, and I'll collect the miraculouses individually. Make sure to keep a window open so I can get inside without being too loud."
Rena Rouge and Carapace nodded to her and took off towards Alya's house. Pegasus left the roof, then King Monkey, then Viperion and then Ryuko.
Ladybug and Chat Noir were left alone on the roof. Ladybug frowned as she looked at him, still staring into space. She crouched down and wiped away the tears he had silently been crying.
"I'll be back in just a few minutes." Ladybug told him as she called his baton with her yoyo.
The baton and yoyo were now linked. She gave him his baton back and placed it in his right hand.
"Just a few minutes, and I'll be here the whole time." Ladybug gestured to his baton.
He nodded, meeting her eyes.
"Thank you, Ladybug." Chat Noir reached forward and wrapped his arms around her.
"No problem, kitten. I'll be back as soon as I can." Ladybug hugged him harder before letting go.
She took his hand and used it to press the bloody towel to his stab wound.
"Keep it there, okay?"
Chat Noir nodded again, and smiled as best he could when she jumped off the roof with the Miracle Box.
When he was sure she was gone, he let his tears fall.