Chat Noir swore under his breath as he dodged yet another too-close swipe from the oversized blade. The Akuma had been thankfully turned the wrong way, but that hadn't stopped Chat from noticing the telltale reddish glow of Ladybug's detransformation. Chat prayed that Tikki ate as quickly as Plagg as he cartwheeled over the Akuma's head, dragging his claws across the creature's pauldron in an attempt to dislodge or weaken any part of its armour.
All he wanted to do was to go to Marinette's side and defend her against this hulking brute, to make sure that she was safe by keeping her beside him. But even in the depths of his instinctive drive to protect, he understood that his distance was the only thing keeping the Akuma away from her right now. He knew she was vulnerable, and he knew her best chance was to bide their time until she could suit up again and rejoin the fray as Ladybug once more. That was his best chance at protecting her.
And that was his job, wasn't it? To protect his Lady? Chat smirked to himself and flipped up over the Akuma's head, watching it flicker and glitch out of focus before appearing just a step behind where he'd land. Using his staff to leverage himself out of harm's way, Chat leapt up onto a building instead, taking the brief reprieve to catch his breath, and perhaps catch sight of Marinette.
"Come back here you 8-bit pest!" The Akuma roared, running to the foot of the building and glaring up at him. Hawkmoth's mask appeared across his face and the Akuma sneered, snarling to himself.
"Aw, come on, I'm at least 32-bit," Chat retorted, flicking his tail over the edge and leaning against his staff in a facsimile of casualness. If I can just distract him for long enough… Please hang on, Marinette. Chat risked a glance up toward the Eiffel Tower as if he could see her huddled against the beams, but of course, he couldn't; even his cat eyes weren't that good, and he'd rather not risk drawing the Akuma's ire in his Lady's direction. Time to play the knight in shining armour, after all, Agreste.
Alright, he had to look for where the Akuma butterfly was housed. That would surely help Ladybug when she could get back into the action. Chat Noir peered back down at the Akuma, but… Where did it go?
He'd realized his mistake too little, too late. The by-now-familiar fizzle of the Akuma glitching back into existence behind him was his only warning before Chat felt something sharp dig into his side and pitch him off the edge of the building with all the force of a charging bull.
Distantly, Chat heard a scream as he fell.
Marinette...