(A/N) Thanks to my betas, Miabrown, Marby, and Khanofallorcs!

Well, so much for THAT test.

He'd found a Holder for the Ladybug Miraculous quickly. That girl from the bakery would do nicely.

The Black Cat was proving trickier.

Apparently, an old man on the ground, straining to reach his cane wasn't even worth stopping for, much less helping. Granted, he didn't see any kids around; it was just random adults. Which was weird since he was right outside Collège Françoise Dupont and he was pretty sure Bakery Girl was running here to her class.

Though, she seemed like she was late… maybe he should've waited until lunch period to try the test. Most of the students were probably inside by now.

With a sigh, he got up and trudged off. Hopefully whoever held the Butterfly Miraculous now would wait just a little longer before activating it.

He didn't notice the small box he had left behind.

Adrien sighed as he sank into the car seat.

Of course Nathalie and Gorilla caught him. His father probably hadn't even noticed he was gone, but those two? They actually looked after him. They'd notice — especially Gorilla.

Though he had a feeling Gorilla hadn't been the one to draw attention to him being gone. His job might be to protect Adrien, but well… even he seemed to realize that the lockdown his father had put him under wasn't so much 'protecting' him as 'stifling' him.

At least, that was what he thought from Gorilla's facial expression, body language, and him very conspicuously going to the bathroom for an extended period of time right about when Adrien would need to leave in order to run to school.

Unfortunately, Nathalie wasn't so lenient.

He played around with the box he'd scooped up as he ran to school. He'd intended to bring it to the lost and found (assuming a student or faculty member lost it, judging by its location), but it looked like he wouldn't get the chance.

Maybe she'd return it for him?

"Hey, Nathalie, I know you probably won't let me head back there but… could you at least make sure this gets to the school? I think someone left it behind and I wouldn't want them to not get it back because of me."

She was silent for a minute. He didn't even think she heard him at first.

Finally, she let out a deep breath and stuck her hand back. "Very well. Give it to me."

She brought it up in front of her where she could see it.

And choked and spluttered.

"This- how did you- where did you get this?!"

Adrien blinked, surprised. Why would just a small box — albeit a very ornate one — garner such a strong reaction? "I found it on the ground just outside the school."

She turned halfway around in her seat, her face deadly serious. "Adrien. Do you remember anyone around? Anyone at all?"

"I- I mean, there were some random people, but I don't-"

"Adrien. This is important. Think."

He closed his eyes, concentrating hard.

But-

"Sorry, Nathalie. I don't remember. I wasn't paying attention to that."

She stared at him a moment, searching his face, then nodded. "Very well. They may have left already in any case."

"They who?"

She ignored him.

"Nathalie? What's up with that box?"

She pulled out her phone. "Mr. Agreste? I've got something you need to see."

She refused to acknowledge him for the rest of the car ride.

He stopped trying after the third attempt. Clearly, he wasn't going to make any headway like this.

It was like talking to his father; once he made a decision nothing Adrien said or did would sway him.

When they entered the house, Nathalie headed straight for his father's study. He tried to tag along but-

"Adrien. I must speak to your father privately."

He frowned. "Is this about the box?"

She just turned around, closing the door behind her.

With a sigh he walked to his room, depositing his school bag on the floor before making a flying leap onto his bed, burying his head in his pillow.

What was Nathalie hiding?

Why was that random box so important?

And why couldn't he go to school?

He'd always had a very… constrained social circle, limited to Chloé, and occasionally Félix, whenever he happened to visit. It could get lonely sometimes and he really wanted to spend time with more kids his own age, but he'd at least always had them, plus his mother.

A deep ache filled his stomach. She'd only been gone a couple months, but it felt both like no time had passed at all, and like an eternity.

And when she passed away, so it seemed had his father.

He'd ordered a full lockdown, not allowing Adrien to see ANYONE but Nathalie, Gorilla, and himself. Not that that meant much. He seemed to live in his study now.

Adrien had been trying to give his father space.

But… while his father had lost his wife... he'd lost his mother.

And he still needed people.

He couldn't stay locked up in this house forever, slowly going insane with only his spiraling thoughts and memories to keep him company.

*rumble*

What was that?

He ran out the front door, expecting to see… he didn't know.

But definitely not what was actually there.

A giant stone monster?

What the hell?!

Could this day get any stranger?

The police shot at the monster, which seemed like a pretty ineffectual choice to Adrien. If it was made of stone like it looked, that wouldn't do much more than annoy him.

It glowed, growing even bigger.

Well.

So much for that.

Rushing back inside, he turned on the TV.

A surge of excitement ran through him as he listened to the newscaster.

A supervillain? Here in Paris?

Maybe it wasn't a good thing. Wasn't something to hope for. That supervillain was causing a lot of damage, and judging by the police chief's broken arm, had already hurt people.

But Adrien'd grown up on tales of superheroes and supervillains, of good versus evil, of epic battles and the triumph of the best of human nature.

He may have practiced some superhero moves a few times. His climbing wall was great for perfecting the landings.

Of course, not all superhero tropes were created equal. While he liked the regular human superheroes showing how even ordinary (well, for certain values of 'ordinary') people could fight against the most extraordinary foes, he loved seeing people who had superpowers intrinsically fight for what was right as well, his favorite superheroes weren't even usually called 'superheroes'.

When he was a couple years younger and flicking through TV channels, he'd stumbled across a show in a style he hadn't seen before, but had grown quite familiar with since.

A pigtailed teen girl struggling against a supervillain, not knowing what to do, thinking all hope was lost and she'd failed-!

Until a rose embedded itself at her feet.

A mysterious dashing stranger dressed in black giving her the words of encouragement that she couldn't find for herself.

He continued watching, later discovering that the show was named after the titular heroine Sailor Moon.

Tuxedo Mask — at least, while transformed — remained his favorite element of the show, the sort of hero he secretly wished he could be.

Though with a cooler transformation sequence. Tuxedo Mask's was pretty boring. The Sailor Scouts were far more interesting to watch.

He may have made up his own transformation sequence for Tuxedo Mask, practicing it a few times.

A few hundred times.

With what had happened in- in the past few months, he'd stopped watching it.

Stopped daydreaming.

But now it all came rushing back.

He jumped up, about to race out again-

And paused.

What exactly could he DO here?

He didn't have superpowers, and his attempt at karate…

Well. There was a reason he'd dropped the class after a few sessions.

Right now he wished he'd kept at it. Fencing didn't seem like it'd be that useful here.

Oh who was he kidding, even KARATE wouldn't do much. The police had already tried firing at the monster and that only made it stronger.

He'd go and follow it, see what might happen — hey maybe he could still help from the sidelines, and who knew? Maybe a superhero would show up to help! — but somehow he doubted Gorilla would let him.

Look the other way so he could go to school? Sure.

Look the other way so he could follow a dangerous, unknown supervillain? Kiiiiinda went against his entire job.

Though, that didn't stop him from feeling a pang of jealousy when he saw a girl around his age on TV, following the supervillain on her bike. Absurdly dangerous, most definitely, but he'd change places with her in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, all he could do was watch.

A superhero DID show up a short time later. There wasn't much info on her — the only recording was from that girl on the bike from before, and she didn't catch the full fight — but he thought she was pretty cool from what he saw. A bit camera shy, though.

He understood that sort of thing. He'd been pretty anxious whenever the press gathered around when he was younger and less experienced.

Not so much anymore, he was used to it now, even enjoyed it at times, but for someone not used to the attention? It helped having someone there with you for reassurance and guidance.

For him, that had been his mom.

But this girl didn't look like she HAD anyone.

Adrien flicked through the news channels, trying to devour any info on her, the supervillain, all of this, that he could.

And then-!

"A new wave of panic is sweeping across the capital as dozens of people are mysteriously transformed into stone monsters"

Well.

That wasn't good.

Ladybug had managed to take down one supervillain by herself (who was apparently a kid named Ivan who didn't even remember it?) but that many?

With no backup?

The supervillain had grabbed her during the fight. It'd been part of her plan… but with no backup, she couldn't afford to make any mistakes, and that could easily have gone wrong.

That was a lot of pressure to put anyone under, especially a kid who looked no older than himself.

Maybe staying up until midnight, browsing online forums, speculating about Ladybug, the supervillain, and the rock monster clone army hadn't been his best plan.

Going to bed early might not have made a difference, though, he was too hyped up.

Still, even exhausted, he was determined to give escaping to school another shot…

...Aaaand was quickly shot down. Turned out Gorilla wasn't going to let him run out there when people were turning into frozen stone monsters. Who knew?

He contemplated trying to turn his bedsheets into a makeshift rope (he'd seen it in several movies and TV shows, it had to work, right?), but eventually scrapped the idea. He may have been climbing the walls of his room, but he wasn't THAT desperate. Yet.

The superhero Ladybug returned, but her confidence seemed pretty shaken. She stuttered and fidgeted in front of the camera a lot and seemed to wilt under some particularly harsh statements by the police chief.

Which - seriously dude? She was TRYING!

But even as unsure as she seemed, she persevered. When the giant butterfly head man, Hawkmoth, tried to blame her for causing the damage to the city, she snapped. She was NOT taking that crap.

Adrien may have jumped up and down and cheered a few times during her subsequent speech, grinning like an idiot. She was AWESOME! And that Lucky Charm thing? Inspired! He wished he knew more of how that power worked. Did she make the plan and then summon the object? That would make sense but from her look of confusion after summoning it, that didn't seem quite right.

Sitting back he sighed. He really, REALLY wished he could be there with her.

A door opened behind him.

He turned his head.

And did a double-take.

His FATHER?! Actually coming to speak to him UNPROMPTED?!

That hadn't happened since-!

...Actually he couldn't remember the last time that happened. It only ever seemed to coincide with him wanting something from Adrien or chastising him for something or other.

Oh no.

He- he couldn't be that mad about him running to school yesterday right?

Or- or maybe this was about the box? There was something unusual about it, maybe he just wanted to know more about it? Or tell him what was so important about it?

Probably not that last one.

A hand rested on his shoulder.

"Adrien, there's something I need to show you."

His father had a secret passage by his mother's portrait.

WHAT.

Seriously, when had he had THAT installed?! Was that just part of the house and he'd altered it to work via pressing part of the painting?!

...Were there more?

He'd scoured the house when he was younger, searching for the cool secret passages that all mansions seemed to have in the movies he watched and books he read. Only to come to the depressing conclusion that that was NOT, in fact, an intrinsic quality of mansions.

Might have to rethink that now.

He fidgeted as they descended in the secret elevator (he was still not over that) into some large, underground chamber.

...Okay, he REALLY thought he would've noticed this place being excavated, it had to have already been here.

Superheroes, supervillains, secret passages, hidden chambers… he was beginning to think he was dreaming. Or maybe trapped in a comic book.

The elevator came to a halt.

Lights slowly came on as they walked down a long suspended hallway.

At the end? A nature area with grass and bushes, some sort of pod among them, a giant window looming over everything.

Was… was his father part of a secret underground cult?!

Was Adrien supposed to be indoctrinated in as its newest member against his will?

Or was he led here as a human sacrifice?!

Normally he'd calm himself thinking that this was real life and not like, a comic or movie — but considering everything that'd happened in the last twenty-four hours (heck, in the last twenty-four MINUTES), that wasn't much of a reassurance.

His father turned around as his own steps slowed. "Keep up, my son. I don't have all day."

With a shaky breath he willed his feet to move.

It- it probably wasn't a secret underground death cult.

There'd be more people around, right? Hooded figures in dark cloaks?

Just his father (and maybe Nathalie?) wouldn't make for much of a cult.

Yeah! So… so there must be a perfectly normal, reasonable explanation for all of this. He didn't have the slightest idea what that could be, but he was sure it existed!

They came to a stop in front of the pod.

...it looked entirely too much like a coffin.

He's not using me as a human sacrifice, he's not using me as a human sacrifice, HE'S NOT USING ME AS A HUMAN SACRIFICE-

"When I- when I told you that your mother passed away… I may not have been entirely truthful."

Wh-what?!

But that meant-!

"She's alive?!"

His father simply moved forwards and pressed a button on the pod.

The cover opened.

Adrien forgot how to breathe.

He hadn't seen her for two months.

Hadn't expected to see her ever again outside of portraits, photos, and films.

And yet, here she was.

But she wasn't moving. No medical equipment was attached to her either.

He tore his gaze away from her. He needed to know. To read his father's expression and know he wasn't lying. "She's ALIVE, right?!"

Father gave a slow nod. "She's in a magical coma… but she isn't dead."

...Magical?

"How…?"

Father stared forwards, lost in thought.

A moment later he sighed. "She used a magical artifact she shouldn't have, did something she should not have done… and paid the price for it."

Turning around, his father turned his attention back to Adrien. "You gave me half of the cure. With your help we can acquire the other half and save her."

Gave him half?

The box!

"Was that why Nathalie was so insistent on taking that box? What was it?"

"It contained a powerful magical artifact known as a 'Miraculous'."

Adrien frowned. He'd heard that term before. "That's the thing the evil butterfly man wants, right?"

Father scowled. "She should've just handed it over. That pesky little girl doesn't know what she's doing!"

Something about that — his tone, his body language, his words — caused Adrien to take a step back.

"Father?" he asked cautiously. "What do you mean? How would that help you? What does Hawkmoth wanting Ladybug's Miraculous have to do with anything?"

Adrien had a bad feeling about this.

In answer, his father took off his candy cane-striped tie, revealing the purple jewel underneath.

"Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!"

A purple light flashed over him.

Leaving a man in a silver helmet and purple coat, a butterfly shaped jewel on his chest.

WHAT?!

Wildly, Adrien's mind cast back through the extraordinary things he'd seen in the last few minutes, the secret passages, the underground chamber, his mom in a coma; all kept secret from the world.

All being recast in light of this new information.

They weren't signs his father was part of a cult.

The secret passage, the underground chamber — both part of a secret evil lair.

And his mother being in a coma?

The hero refusing to give up an item that could cure her?

He'd seen this sort of thing before.

Sometimes the villain wanted an item, wanted something from the hero for a good cause.

But there was often a good reason the hero would fight tooth and nail to prevent them from acquiring it.

"Ladybug's Miraculous, when combined with the Black Cat Miraculous, will allow me to save her."

That was frustratingly vague.

"How? What do you need to do? What are the risks, the consequences?"

His father looked down on him. "I thought you missed her. That you wanted her back. What a poor excuse for a son you are."

"No! Of course I-!"

"Do you wish for her to remain like this forever?"

"No I just-!"

"That Miraculous is the only thing standing in the way of reviving her. We MUST retrieve it."

"We…?"

His father took a small box out of his coat.

A very familiar box.

Being held right in front of him.

"Open it."

It wasn't a request.

Gingerly he opened the lid.

A small black ring with a green glowing pawprint sat in the middle.

"Put it on."

Swallowing hard, he did as his father commanded.

A light shot out.

"Wah-!"

It dimmed, revealing a small black catlike creature.

Who shook himself, looked around-

And locked eyes with his father.

"LET ME GO THIS INSTANT, YOU TERRIBLE EXCUSE FOR-!"

"I forbid you from speaking."

The creature's mouth vanished.

"MMMMM! MMmm- MMMM!"

"Ah… much better."

Adrien just stared, slack-jawed.

"Father, what did you just- what did you just DO?!"

"I shut up an annoying pest. If he insists on misbehaving and acting out, he no longer gets the privilege of having the ability to do so."

WHAT.

Adrien opened his mouth to protest… and then shut it.

If he spoke up, 'acted out'... would his father do the same thing?

He didn't think his mouth could be sealed off.

But he wasn't certain of it.

And there were plenty of other things he could do to him.

Suddenly, he was VERY acutely aware of how much bigger, how much taller his father was than him.

How much stronger.

Would Father ever hurt him?

Before today he'd have said 'no, of course not'.

Now he wasn't so sure. He certainly paid no mind to hurting others.

The small cat creature gave his father a death glare, making gestures he guessed would be extremely rude if his forearms had actual fingers to gesticulate with.

"That," his father pointed at the cat, "is a Kwami. They give the owners of their Miraculous powers. Simply say 'Plagg, transform me' and he will be sucked into the ring, much like what happened with my own kwami earlier. Each grants special powers unique to their Miraculous on top of the standard super strength, endurance, and agility. The Black Cat Miraculous gives the power of destruction; simply say 'Cataclysm' and you'll be able to destroy anything you touch. But since you are a child, you will detransform five minutes later, same as that accursed Ladybug."

He could transform?

Gain superpowers like Ladybug?

Become a superhero?!

He glanced at Plagg.

The kwami'd gone still, simply looking at him with lidded, narrow eyes, mouth still missing.

No. Not a superhero. Not while under Father's control.

A superVILLAIN.

He swallowed hard.

He wanted to have superpowers, to run around the city, to fight and be free.

But if he had to be a supervillain, he'd rather not have powers at all.

Hesitantly he grasped the ring, slowly pulling it off.

Too late, his father spoke up. "I wouldn't do-"

The ring was off his finger.

Plagg dropped like a rock.

"WHA-!"

Dropping to his hands and knees he cupped his hands around the violently twisting tiny creature.

His eyes bugged out as he spasmed wildly, flailing uncontrollably.

If he'd had a mouth, Adrien was sure he'd be screaming.

"What's wrong with him?!"

"You activated my failsafe," Father replied. "I wouldn't want you just leaving the ring lying around. Best you keep it on at all times, unless I allow you to remove it."

His father did this? INTENTIONALLY?!

Ok, ok, don't panic! Prioritize. The failsafe activated because he took the ring off, it was meant to incentivize him keeping it on at all times, so…

Fumbling around, he put the ring back on one of his shaking fingers.

Instantly, Plagg relaxed, sinking into his palm, eyes half-closed.

This… this little creature was at his father's mercy.

And it didn't seem like Father had much of that.

"F-father?" he said, looking up at him.

Quickly, he dropped his eyes. Best not to seem like a threat, like he was challenging him.

Maybe Father would assert his dominance by taking it out on him.

Or maybe he'd just take it out on Plagg.

"Please. Please, could you return Plagg's mouth to him?"

"Hmmph. Perhaps later, provided that he's well-behaved. Keep him under control or else I'll do so myself. Right now, I have a task for you."

That normally would not sound ominous.

Normally, his father would not say that after revealing he was a supervillain and torturing someone.

"Yes, Father."

His father smiled.

Adrien's spine stiffened.

"Transform. Let me see what you can do."

Left. Right. Dodge. Jump.

OOPH

He wasn't used to being caned in the stomach.

It didn't hurt much — the Miraculous was pretty protective as it turned out — but it was still a pretty harsh impact.

While he was off-balance Father hit him again, sending him flying into a wall.

And again.

And again.

Each time before he could even begin to recover.

Father walked over to him as he lay on the ground, struggling to get up.

Adrien braced himself for another hit.

"I expect better from you. As an Agreste, and as my son."

He turned his back to him. "We will spar every day until you can put up even a paltry fight. I cannot have you putting up such an embarrassing performance."

Every day?

This was going to be EVERY DAY?!

He understood training. Understood the need to practice to get better. But training was supposed to include guidance, helpful tricks, being shown a few moves. Not just being beaten by a stronger, more experienced opponent.

He grit his teeth. "Yes, Father."

"You need to be stronger if you are to take Ladybug's Miraculous. If we are to heal your mother."

Mom…

He looked over at her, still peacefully sleeping, entirely unaware of everything that had happened.

If she knew, would she be okay with this?

An hour ago, he would've choked at the thought and yelled 'Of course not!'

He knew his parents after all.

But finding out how little he truly knew his father made him doubt.

His father glanced at him. "You may leave for now. Tomorrow, you go out in the field. Do NOT disappoint."

As he made his way to the elevator, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. "Not while transformed. Say 'detransform' to release it."

"Detransform!"

Plagg spiraled out of the ring.

His mouth was still gone, but he seemed in better shape than he was right after being tortured, at least.

Oh god, Adrien didn't want to risk accidentally upsetting his father but-

"I- I think Plagg's learned his lesson. Please Father?"

He rested his gaze on Adrien for a moment. Then-

"Very well. But if there's one peep out of him..."

"Thank you, Father."

He snapped his fingers.

Plagg's mouth came back. He opened and closed it many times as if testing that it'd truly returned.

"Y-"

NOPE.

Quickly snatching Plagg out of the air, Adrien ran for the elevator.

If he ever got his paws on that candy-cane son of a bitch…!

Plagg floated wildly around the room.

Well. For certain values of 'around'. That complete and utter BASTARD had decided that in addition to preventing Plagg from harming him, from interacting with anything or anyone else except for eating food, and forcing him to hide whenever others were around, he was ALSO on a leash.

Five feet.

He couldn't wander more than five feet away from his Miraculous.

And since that- that torture spell would take effect the minute his ring slipped off of his Holder's finger, that meant he was, in effect, tied to staying within five feet of Adrien.

Adrien…

He didn't really know what to make of the boy just yet.

His father? Very clear opinion on him.

But his son didn't exactly seem thrilled with Candy-butt's actions.

Just his luck. OF COURSE the 'dark power' Wayzz had sensed had stumbled on his Miraculous. Naturally.

He may have been the Kwami of Destruction, but sometimes it felt like he was the Kwami of Bad Luck instead.

Not that assholes getting their hands on him was entirely new, but well, usually they weren't quite as well-versed in putting up safeguards to stop him from stealing his Miraculous back, or in extreme cases, Cataclysming their asses.

He hadn't even been activated when the curses were applied. Which hey, on the upside, meant he didn't have to feel them taking effect! ...On the downside, it meant he didn't know exactly what the curses were or how many of them there were. Some of them he'd been told about, others he'd figured out for himself, but… there could still be others. He hadn't known about the "torture if ring is removed" curse until Adrien actually did it.

Not that that would STOP him from looking for loopholes, but well… not right now. He'd been through quite enough pain already without risking stumbling across a curse that would activate the torture again.

He shuddered.

Kwamis by themselves rarely got hurt. But when a Holder transformed, fusing the two of them together, he'd feel the same pain as the Holder.

The only time he'd felt pain that bad, his Holder had had the brilliant idea to extend his staff upwards a few thousand feet into a stormcloud, just to see what would happen.

They'd both been okay afterwards, but being electrocuted hurt.

"So, uh… is there anything you want to do? Or talk about? Or- or not do, whatever you feel like!"

Plagg blinked.

Adrien looked around awkwardly. "I know this isn't exactly ideal and it sucks and I'm so, so sorry, but is there anything I can do to help?"

"...Camembert."

"What?"

"Camembert cheese. The stinkier, the better."

The kid made a face, but nodded.

Thirty minutes and a trip down to the kitchen later, Plagg was completely surrounded with the delectable aroma of smelly, smelly cheese.

Adrien looked about ready to gag, but gave an attempt at a smile whenever he looked over at him.

A small part of Plagg got some satisfaction out of the kid's discomfort. At least, he wasn't the only one suffering because of the five-foot leash.

"Do you want to watch anything?"

Plagg stifled a laugh. Kid's nose was still wrinkled up from the cheese's fumes and his eyes watered slightly, but he was making a valiant effort to pretend he was fine.

As far as TV went… well. He hadn't left the Miracle Box much and Fu's taste in shows was pretty dull, so-"

"Whatever you feel like. Unless it has to do with cheese, I don't care. ...IS there a cheese TV show?"

"...I'll check the guide."