7:54 PM

Adrien raced for the rooftop door that would lead back into the hotel, knowing that's where Hawk Moth would have gone. He should have risked taking Hawk Moth's Miraculous while he'd been frozen, despite not knowing what that would have done to Danny or the imprisoned kwami. He should have known what Hawk Moth would do once free, attacking not him but the more vulnerable Susan to distract them. He should have realized that Hawk Moth would know of Randy's smoke bombs from his earlier appearances and would use that to his advantage.

He should have anticipated all of that, and he hadn't.

Of course, until Danny had reached up and pulled him out of Dracona's talons and through the rooftop, he'd been contemplating the best use of his Cataclysm. Collapsing the roof below him wouldn't have guaranteed escape, not when Dracona would fly, and he hadn't been sure he wouldn't accidentally touch something organic if he'd tried to strike anything else. Activating Cataclysm when Hawk Moth came to take his ring would have bought him five minutes, and his plan had come to rest on hoping for rescue within those five minutes (and subsequently asking Randy for a weapon he could safely destroy).

But even though his partners had come through for him, none of this had ended well.

When Hawk Moth had tackled Randy and slipped a smoke bomb from one of his pockets (and who knew what else; Randy hadn't exactly gone through his pockets that Adrien had noticed), Adrien had still been moving towards Susan. He hadn't acted fast enough to stop her from being attacked, even when he knew how quick Hawk Moth could be. It would be different if Ladybug were here, but she wasn't, and he knew how important it was to get Susan medical attention when all the damage done couldn't be reversed.

He hadn't reached Susan before Jake. He hadn't even made it to her side before Randy had been back on his feet, grabbing his arm and saying he'd take care of this, that Adrien—Nino, because he hadn't trusted them with his name—should go after Hawk Moth. Danny had said he and Jake would find the akuma and bring it back to him, but Adrien had been willing to let the akuma go, let Hawk Moth go, to try to save Susan, even when he wasn't the best equipped to do that.

First aid training would have gotten him only so far.

Hawk Moth was out of sight by the time Adrien flung open the door and bolted into the stairwell. He took the stairs two at a time, but the only footsteps he could hear was his own, and he didn't catch any fleeting glimpses of anyone else.

That meant Hawk Moth would have transformed, and Adrien had no idea who he was beneath the mask. Adrien could hope to get lucky and catch someone with his build in one of the hallways, but he wouldn't know for sure, and even if Hawk Moth had exited the stairwell on the top floor, he could easily have gone for the elevator or another staircase if not back to his room.

He'd hesitated, and now Hawk Moth was gone.

Adrien stopped, scanned for hidden cameras on the off chance that he'd be lucky and Hawk Moth hadn't seen one, but of course there was nothing, at least not where he stood right now, and any blind spot would have been noted by Hawk Moth. He'd likely scouted out the entire building before using it. But if he'd deemed it safe to transform, then it was safe to Adrien to do the same, even if that meant he couldn't take a look at security tapes to figure this out.

Adrien sat down on the stairs, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. "Claws in, Plagg."

"Did you want me to stick close to the ceilings and zip through the rooms?"

Adrien's lips twitched into a smile and he looked up. Plagg didn't often to volunteer to help like that without saying he'd do it in exchange for camembert. "He won't still be Hawk Moth."

"So what's the plan?"

"What I mentioned to Danny before he took me back up to the roof," Adrien said quietly. "Get a copy of the hotel registry. It might not lead to anything—this still might not be his hotel—but I can't think of anything else. Danny said he was happy to go to the surrounding hotels, too, and get copies of their registries, but I just don't…. What if it doesn't help? Is it worth stealing that information, compromising all those people's privacy, if it doesn't help us? He might not have used his real name."

Plagg snorted. "Why would he be that careful right now? He didn't know you were here."

"But he had to know that others would be. He was trying to draw people out. I'm sure he was looking for something to use against us, maybe even another Miraculous." Adrien groaned and buried his head again. "I was so close. I should have just risked it and taken his Miraculous. At least then I'd know his face. I don't know how I'd find him from that, but it would've been better than nothing. I could've talked to Nathaniel and commissioned a drawing to give to Ladybug, and—"

"You and the others still stopped him from getting what he came for," Plagg interrupted. "You know he's here. You know he's close. Do you really think he's going try something a third time? No. That's too risky for him. He'll lay low. So, if you get a list of names and room numbers, I can look for Nooroo and report back."

It was enough to coax a brief chuckle out of Adrien; trust Plagg to completely ignore legality and the questionable morality of this idea.

"It's like knowing you can buy cheese somewhere on the block, or somewhere in the store, and not knowing precisely where to find it. You don't need to unmask Hawk Moth right now to get closer to the truth."

"What if Ladybug thinks I wasted this opportunity?"

"She's not that sort of person." When Adrien raised his head, Plagg continued, "You're doing her a disservice if you think she'll jump to blaming you for not doing on your own what you haven't managed to do together."

"But this is the closest we've ever been to getting his Miraculous."

"And it's the closest he's been to getting yours. You've been close to Hawk Moth before. You'll get close to him again. Ladybug will be happy that you made it out of this with your identity intact."

Adrien smiled; it really was nice to hear that. "Thanks." Plagg opened his mouth, maybe to demand his camembert, but Adrien added, "I'm not going to make it out of this with my identity intact, though. Not completely. I want to tell the others who I am. They deserve to know."

Plagg, who hadn't closed his mouth, just said, "Having allies isn't a bad thing. If you and Ladybug ever work with more Miraculous users, at least one of you will know who they are."

"So you don't think telling these guys is a bad idea?"

Plagg shrugged, as best he could ever shrug, and flicked his tail. "They know about the magical world, are already keeping secret identities, and have done their best to help you. You could make a worse choice than them." He paused, then added, "Besides, it's not like they don't know what you look like without a mask on. If they hang around here and look at any of the signs, they won't need to be geniuses to figure out your real name."

Adrien winced. "Good point."

"Can I get some cheese before we go back up? Since I make such good points and all?"

Adrien glanced towards the roof. "Do you think Susan will, um, need help we can't give her? Should I have called an ambulance the moment I realized I wasn't going to catch Hawk Moth?"

"They would've done that already if they figured they needed to."

"Randy doesn't have a phone right now. Remember what he was saying to Jake before?"

"Remember when I told you the Ninja had magic? Or at least magical artefacts helping him to use magic? Some ninjas know the art of healing. It's a handy thing to have in the field. Even if this one doesn't, the others had phones they could've given him, and Susan might've had a phone with her, too." Plagg zipped closer. "You've decided to trust them. You can trust them. The fact that Hawk Moth escaped doesn't mean they can't trust you, and Susan will recover even without Tikki's—Ladybug's—magic. We have enough time for you to give me some cheese."

Adrien wasn't about to argue that, so he pulled out some cheese for Plagg as his way of saying thank you and then got to his feet and started climbing the stairs. He'd transform again before going back out; he was sure Susan would keep his secret since she was Jake's mother, but he hadn't exactly scouted the area for cameras. Once he'd assured himself that Susan was all right and he helped her get oriented again, they could fill her in on in what had happened. It was kinder for someone to do that rather than to leave them to find out themselves on the news, though he and Ladybug usually passed the task off to friends or family or a helpful bystander because they didn't have the time to stick around.

If Jake and Danny were successful in finding the akuma, he'd have to figure out a way to contain it until Ladybug could purify it. He'd never heard if the others had found anything suitable. There hadn't been time to ask. If only Hawk Moth had recalled the akuma—

But he hadn't, which meant this problem remained.

One thing at a time.

One step at a time.

"Plagg, claws out!"

7:58 PM

There were noticeably fewer people out on the streets as they got nearer to the gala, but Haley still hadn't expected to run into a blockade when access hadn't been restricted earlier. Rotwood split off—she saw him heading for a cluster of people, no doubt to start spreading rumours that were too close to the truth to be of any comfort—and McFist engaged the security officer in conversation. She dawdled nearby, and when he pulled out his wallet, she ducked into the forbidden area and sprinted for that initial patch of ice.

Just because she usually didn't break the rules, didn't mean she couldn't.

Besides, this wasn't nearly as bad as setting a building on fire.

Haley didn't wait long before she started lobbing Ninja Cold Balls. Most of them were aimed behind her because she had been followed, but as the balls burst apart and spread ice, it grew into a meandering pathway that followed her zigzagging run. It didn't make a particular pattern and certainly wasn't the giant rink that McFist and Rotwood had been envisioning, but the result was a ribbon-like trail that stretched from one side of the cordoned-off area to the other. She hurled the last Ninja Cold Ball at someone who'd tried approaching her from the side and slipped away, running for cover.

The fact that the ice was incredibly slippery and that made following her more difficult was a bonus.

She kept running until she was far enough ahead to take a corner and lose everyone behind her. An alley wasn't a dead end when you were a dragon, at least not when it was somewhere without cameras, so she was on the rooftops by the time someone ran by below.

Haley took a moment to catch her breath, dismissing her wings so she could lie flat on the roof and stare up at the sky. She had no idea if Rotwood and McFist would be able to do anything to hold up their end of this plan. She had no idea how Jake and the others were faring. She had no idea if Gramps and Fu and Sun—

Haley wrinkled her nose. Something smelled like stale gasoline and…. Ethanol? No, that wasn't right. She wasn't sure what it actually was, but whatever it was, it was foul. She sat up, scanning the streets below before she realized the thrumming she could hear wasn't coming there. Haley looked to the skies.

The dragon that glided towards the site of the gala wasn't terribly big. It was smaller than Jake, maybe half his size. It tilted, circled the building, and then settled on the roof with something that would more appropriately be called a crash.

One wing never folded, and after about ten seconds, the other wing creaked out to join the first. The dragon perched there like a gargoyle, although the image was completed when it spouted a brief flash of fire instead of water.

Haley barely took the time to make sure the coast was clear before she jumped off the roof, calling out her wings as she fell to soften her landing. They disappeared as her feet touched the ground, and she kept running. She wasn't the only person heading back to the scene, even if the crowd was thinner than it had been earlier, so her haste didn't make her stand out. Ahead of her, people were already starting to gather and point upwards….

This couldn't be McFist; there was no way he'd be able to act this quickly, even with his resources, and this was beyond Rotwood. It had to be—

"There you are, kiddo!" McFist said, catching her arm and jerking her back painfully as she ran past him. He didn't seem to notice her whimper, instead pointing up at the building and the dragon that loomed over them all. "Look what Viceroy made! A Robo-Dragon! I've already called him and informed him he's getting a bonus. He was too startled for words. It was great. He's never speechless. I had to reward it, though. This is quick work, even for him, and sending it here to test it out on the NYC Ninja was a stroke of genius—mine, of course, but I didn't think he'd manage it."

Viceroy.

The person who helped him with the Sorcerer.

"I can't get him anything," Haley said in case McFist decided to ask.

He glanced down, realized that he was still holding her, and let her go. She prodded at her arm and winced. She didn't think he'd done this intentionally, but bruises were going to be the least of her worries for a while. She was lucky he hadn't dislocated it.

"Sorry," he said, and he sounded like he meant it. "I was just excited. Couldn't find Rotwood, and you're the only other one who knows the plan."

This hadn't been the plan, though. Had it? She didn't really count this as false advertising, but—

"I've paid them all off if you're worried," he added, nodding at the security officers. "Money doesn't just talk. Works great for this kind of thing, too."

Haley nodded absently, scanning the crowd. "Rotwood's over there," she said, following a glint to his monocle and raising her hand to point him out to McFist. "He's getting blustery. I guess a robotic dragon is an effective way to shut down his claims about a real one."

"Nice work. Come on."

Haley held her ground. "Can I borrow your phone? I need to call someone. I'll give it back, I promise."

She wasn't sure if it was a sign of trust or the foolishness of the rich that McFist dug it out of his pocket and handed it to her without asking any questions—or without sticking around to listen in, as he started walking off to give her some privacy. She walked in the other direction, keeping an eye on the crowd and her surroundings while she waited for Fu to pick up.

When he did answer, he didn't say hello or the usual Fu here. He didn't say anything at all, and she realized it must be because he didn't know the number. "It's Haley," she said, and then the rest of the story spilled out of her in a torrent. The bare bones of the plan Nino had sketched out before they'd split up. How she'd gone from distracting two people to making promises in return for their help. Gramps hadn't been entirely happy to hear that (Fu'd put her on speakerphone once she'd started talking), since he still wasn't thrilled Jake had taken Rotwood to the Magus Bazaar in the first place, but he agreed that taking Rotwood back was a fair price for his silence.

He was even less happy about what she'd promised McFist, him being even more of an outsider than Rotwood, but Fu assured her he had something that would do the trick in reserve—he had a stock in case things ever went south and they couldn't wait three weeks for him to brew something—and they both agreed that it was better than what McFist had initially asked for.

In turn, they filled her in on what Sun had been up to. She hadn't just been seeding her own rumours; she'd been trying to get people away from the scene, efforts that had been stymied repeatedly until an order came from up top that cleared everyone out more effectively than she could've hoped. The official reason given for leaving had absolutely nothing to do with the dragon sighting, which had worked in her favour, but it clearly pointed to someone at the top stalling earlier, and she'd sneaked back to try to find out what she could.

Fu's poker contacts had come up dry in terms of a decent magical containment device, since they couldn't afford to bet on rumours right now. He hadn't had any luck with any of the strings he'd pulled through his contacts at the Magus Bazaar, either, but at least Marty reported the coast had been clear at the shop since Trixie and Spud had left. Whoever had gotten to Susan didn't have friends in the city, or at least not friends that could be spared to find and hit up anywhere of magical value.

Gramps, while he hadn't found Susan, had made a list of ways they could tell Jonathan.

Haley nearly dropped the phone upon hearing that. "Really?" she whispered. She'd been thinking they'd never be allowed to tell him everything, that she'd always have to keep secrets from him. To think that maybe she wouldn't have to….

"I have not always approved of your mother's choice," Gramps said quietly, "but there is no mistaking Jonathan's love for all of you. Jake's position as the American Dragon makes his path increasingly dangerous, and today has shown me that yours is little better. If my little lotus flower is not safe from the perils of this life, then your father must have a chance to choose it for himself."

"He will. I know he will. Jake told all of us about the time he fought the Strigoi and didn't even realize it. And the Jersey Devil." She couldn't keep the smile off her face. "When do you think we can tell him?"

"Once we have Susan with us again."

The words spread cold across her lungs. "Jake's working on it," she breathed. "He'll do this, with his friends. Kara said he could."

"I hate a wet blanket as much as the next person, but she said he'd have help, kid. Not that it would be enough."

"It'll be enough. He'll make sure of it." She finally caught sight of waving in the crowd, and she raised her own hand in recognition. "I have to go. Someone will call you soon. With good news."

"Hope so. Good luck."

"Yo, Haley," Trixie said as she got closer. "Where's Jake? I found that thermos of Spud's he wanted, and he's not answering his phone."

"I'm not sure," Haley admitted. She glanced over her shoulder to the dragon. "That was Spud, right?"

"Got it in one. He'd been working on something for the family restaurant and then decided to repurpose it." Lowering her voice and leaning closer, she added, "Keep this on the down low, but we had to break into the school to steal some stuff to finish it up, so if anyone asks, that's on Rotwood."

"Rotwood might actually cover for you guys if you make a deal with him, you know."

Trixie snorted. "Oh, I am not going there. If Jakey wants to take a trip to crazy town, he can go without me."

"Rotwood's helping me now."

Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Girl, Spud and I caught him yelling about a dragon and a ninja when we got here. That is not helping in my book."

"It's, um, not as straightforward as it sounds." Desperate to change the subject because she was feeling like a fool, Haley asked, "Where is Spud, anyway?"

Trixie pointed across the street to one of the buildings Haley had flown past earlier. "He needed the height for sight lines. Should be coming to join me now that the dragon's grounded. We can take over Rotwood duty if you wanna get this to Jake?" She held out the thermos.

Haley took it. "Yeah, I'll find him. Thanks." She passed Trixie McFist's cell phone and added, "This belongs to McFist. The rich white guy with the prosthetic arm. Loud. Probably accusing Rotwood of making everything up and claiming this is all a publicity stunt. You can't miss him. I made a deal with him, too. Pass that back to him for me?"

Trixie whistled. "What exactly did we miss?"

Haley shrugged. "That's what I want to know, too."

7:59 PM

Susan used the damp scarf to wash away some of the blood (Randy had helpfully wet part of it for her with a well-placed Ninja Hydro Hand), but she didn't dare try standing yet. The Ninja—Randy Cunningham, as he'd promptly introduced himself—had been kind enough to not only heal her wounds but to help her clean up, and she didn't want to worry him by admitting that she wasn't feeling quite as well as he seemed to think.

She was tired. Her head ached. Her memories were fuzzy, blending together like someone had given her a botched memory potion, and it was difficult to sort through them. She knew the important things, though. She knew she'd become a danger to everyone, flaunted the existence of the magical world, and been saved by her son and his new friends. She remembered the feeling of the wind beneath her wings, the heat of fire warming her from within, vividly enough that the memory warmed her now—or would, if the rest didn't sicken her. She remembered anger and had a vague sense of struggling for control that left her with an impression of pride and foolishness—her own, not Jake's.

"…shoob who totally owes me a new phone and magical air purifier. Since you're his mom, can you nag him for me? I have a feeling that he'll forget."

Susan was saved from answering when the rooftop access door opened and Chat Noir emerged.

He was empty-handed. More to the point, he wasn't smiling.

She didn't need to remember the details to know he'd gone after the person who had done this to her. She'd suspected he wouldn't be successful, not between what she recalled about Hawk Moth's character and what she'd learned from Randy's grumblings. From the way Randy's shoulders suddenly slumped as he noticed Chat Noir's expression, however, he'd held out hope. "Adrien, isn't it?" she asked quietly as the boy reached them. "Thank you for your help."

He froze. Apparently oblivious, Randy corrected her. "That's Nino, actually. Well, we call him that. Didn't I tell you? Anyway, the last guy is Danny."

Nino. So he hadn't wanted to tell them he was supposed to be one of the stars of the show? She could respect that, though she knew she wasn't mistaken; he hardly looked different from his posters to her, though seeing through a subtly woven glamour was something she'd always been able to do. That was the reason she'd found most of her staff. "My apologies," she said as he sat cross-legged on the roof, not looking at either of them.

"No," he said. "No need to apologize." He raised his head, meeting her eyes and then looking to Randy. "My name is Adrien. I was going to tell you all now anyway. I…. I'm sorry about not saying anything earlier."

"What for?"

"For…for not trusting you. And—"

"No, I mean, you don't need to apologize. There's nothing to apologize for. And I dunno if I'd trust those guys either if they tried to drown me, so I don't think they're going to blame you." Perhaps reading—or misreading—Adrien's expression, Randy added, "I got the story earlier."

Adrien opened his mouth, hesitated, and then said, "Thanks." Turning to Susan, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better, but I'll be all right."

"I know you must have a lot of questions," Adrien said, "even if Randy's already filled you in. The memory loss is normal, and you need to understand that everything you did was under Hawk Moth's influence and that you weren't thinking clearly. He knows how to twist people's emotions to manipulate them into doing what he wants."

"No. I'm still partially at fault. There were times when I could almost block him out of my head, and I was aware of what I was doing. If I had been thinking more clearly, I hope I would have known that using you as bait to draw him out of hiding carried too much risk, but I still made that decision."

Adrien blinked. "What?"

"I thought there was a way to defeat him and keep what I'd gained, and I risked all of your lives because of that. Perhaps I wasn't thinking clearly, but Jake was right; some part of me should have known better, and for that, I apologize. To all of you." She raised her head to speak her last words louder as Jake and Danny came back. Jake transformed and ran to her immediately, wrapping her in a hug that made her wonder how she could have been so angry with him before when she'd known he'd acted out of worry and fear for her.

"If this was anyone's fault, I vote we blame Hawk Moth," Randy said.

"Randy's got a point," Danny said. "People make mistakes all the time, but he's deliberately trying to hurt people. You guys need to stop blaming yourselves for everything." Turning to Adrien and holding out his hands, which were cupped together, he said, "We've got the akuma. We just, uh, don't have anywhere to put it."

"You won't need to put it anywhere," Susan said, speaking before Adrien had a chance. She might not know how Adrien usually addressed the problem, but she knew the type. A corruption of magic was hardly anything new, and neither was pouring it into a vessel, even if that vessel wasn't typically alive. "You should just need to purify it and release it."

"That's the problem," Adrien said. "I don't have that ability, or at least I don't think I do. My partner in Paris looks after that."

"Jake can do it."

Jake pulled back from the hug to gape at her. "What?"

"If you stopped listening to music during your training sessions," she chided gently, "or at least kept it low enough that you could still hear what you were being told, then you would know already. Dragon fire is purifying."

"That's why it changed colour!" Danny exclaimed. "I knew that had to mean something." He opened his hands, releasing a white butterfly.

Adrien grinned, straightening as he shed the weight of worry, and raised his hand. "Bye, bye, little butterfly."