Forty-Two: Forced Focus

Author's Note: Turning to his skills as a model, Adrien is forced to watch passively as Ladybug teases out more information from Manon.

Ladybug danced around the statuary hall, trying to keep Manon in my line of sight while avoiding blasts of energy repeatedly sent in her direction. Years of model training were being tested to the limit, with only my promise to Ladybug rooting me in place in the pose of my wax doppelgänger. It wasn't easy one to keep, for every latent feline instinct was screaming for me to leap in and provide protective cover for Milady.

Ignoring the developing muscle aches, I focused for a bit on what I could actually make out of Manon, her form shrouded in that odd hidden-but-present floating spotlight. If my math was right, she was now a teenager, much the age we had been when Master Fu had selected us to be holders. Her mother remained a force on Paris television, though Ladybug and I had managed to avoid her repeated public requests for another intimate interview; seeing as though the only other time we'd agreed to it had akumatized her a decade earlier, it seemed like a prudent precaution.

The brilliant light of the spotlight hid most of her figure, as I suspected was the intention, but she did appear to be attired in what might pass as a "typical" Miraculous costume. What I could see of the blue, orange and white form-fitting outfit covered her completely, and I had to assume her face was masked. As she turned to take another potshot at Ladybug, I caught a glimpse of something sparkling along her wrist.

Bracelet? I thought. That would make sense in an oddly warped way.

If she was a holder, though, she was operating under principles that seemed quite different than how my Cat Miraculous had worked when I was her age. Without knowing what sort of kwami she was paired with, it was difficult to determine whether I was seeing the normal enhancements a Miraculous granted a holder, or if she were using her superpower. Plagg had already told me that this Miraculous was not from the box Master Fu guarded, and as Ladybug knew far more about the kwamis it held, I assumed she'd already come to the same conclusion – if Tikki hadn't already informed her of the same thing.

So, I thought. Not an akuma, but a holder. With powers like ours, purrhaps.

The light surrounding Manon was bright enough that my eyes were trying to water in self-defense. I silently prayed a teardrop wouldn't form and break my cover as I pressed on trying to divine more about our new nemesis.

If I cautiously make the assumption that she has the same restrictions on her power that we did at that age, she can't be using her superpower repeatedly, I reasoned silently. That beam she's shooting has to be part of her base powers? Is that even possible? I wondered. And does it run her kwami down? Maybe more slowly than her superpower, but drains it nonetheless?

It was clear there were more than a few unknowns to us surrounding Miraculous in general. It felt safe to err on the side that her jewel granted her abilities that were different than ours. I thought my next conversation with Plagg was going to be quite interesting.

I knew I needed more information immediately, though, and it appeared once more Ladybug was clearly on the same page as she continued to pepper Manon with questions. "What happened to you, Manon?" she asked again. "This is not the little kid I saw at our last encounter."

"I am as far from that person as could be," Manon said. "I refuse to be left out any longer."

"Left out?" Ladybug asked as she scooted away from another blast, hiding behind a wax statue of the current president of France. "Of what?"

"Everything," Manon said tartly. "I intend to be the main topic of conversation in Paris – that is, just as soon as I eliminate you and your partner from the scene."

Eliminate? My ears would have gone straight up at that.

"Eliminate?" Ladybug echoed my though as she peered out from her hiding spot. "Why? Is that what all of the machinations have been about – to shove Chat and I out of the spotlight?"

Unwittingly, my eyes darted to that hidden-but-present spot hovering over Manon. She means it literally, I thought as I hastily tried to recompose my face.

"The two of you have been in the way since I was a kid. My mother's obsession with the Heroes of Paris pushed me out of her life completely; I intend to correct that, with interest."

She wasn't wrong, for aside from Alya, Nadjia had been pursuing the story of Chat and Ladybug for as long as we'd been on the scene. It troubled me to think we might have created a rift between mother and daughter, however much it had been out of our personal control.

"Is that why you went after the Ladyblogger?"

"Yes. I knew she had access to you, though I wasn't aware she was also Rena Rouge," she laughed cruelly. "Or that she was getting married to Carapace. That turned out to be an unexpected bonus."

Oh no, I thought. She knows their identities. That makes this a bit more difficult…

"I don't understand how she didn't recognize you at the craft festival," Ladybug said. "She was trapped with you inside that ice cube of a carousel while Chat and I fought Stormy the first time."

There was a cackle that filled the space; a moment later, the spotlight ramped up in brilliance a thousand-fold before it winked out. Standing not more that fifteen meters in front of me was a very normal looking middle-aged woman. "This is why," Manon said, and even her voice was different. "One of my many new talents."

One? I thought. Holy kwami – maybe she has more than a single Miraculous!

I knew that was an option, of course, given how I'd needed to combine Plagg with other kwamis over the years. It was a dangerous prospect at best, and, if Master Fu were correct, not something just anyone was capable of enduring. I wondered now if I was looking at the results of a poorly executed combination.

Another flash and her original spot lit form re-appeared; a fraction of a moment later, though, I heard the telltale chirping from a Miraculous. At least that part seemed to be normal, but it begged the question how Manon had gotten her hands on possibly two jewels at a minimum. I put that aside for a moment, for the five-minute timer Manon had just uncorked created a small opening for us.

Ladybug vaulted into a new position, and then surprised me by leaping to hide behind me. It took an amazing amount of willpower not to react to her touch. As she leaned around me, she whispered just loud enough for my latent feline hearing to pick up. "Get ready."

I leaned ever so slightly into her. Ok.

"Lucky Charm!" she cried out suddenly.

What happened next was a perfectly choreographed effort borne from years of working together.

The room burst into waves of red and white light, brighter perhaps than normal and enough to cover my leap-and-roll behind a robust wax figure of some French dignitary from history; I wasn't as smooth as I would have been as Chat, but I got the job done and came up facing the center of the room. Ladybug had cleverly anticipated that Manon would initially recoil away from the explosion of light and sound, though shequickly recovered, blasting the space with her beam under the assumption Ladybug would be vulnerable in that moment she was summoning her Charm.

Pushing back further into the shadows, I kept my eyes trained on the space I'd so recently occupied. When the light faded, a puddle of melted wax was all that remained. I smiled slightly as there was just a hint of red-and-black in the mess. It was one of Ladybug's more inspired Charms, though she had cut it awfully close.

Manon's electric-colored cloud floated over the puddle and circled slowly. She seemed confused, but I wasn't, having heard the ziiing of Ladybug's yo-yo as she soared up and through the skylight I'd been directly under.

"I couldn't have destroyed the earrings," Manon said, assuming she was alone once more. "They should be here somewhere," she continued as she circled again and then a fourth time. "They have to be here!"

While an increasingly agitated Manon continued to search for any trace of Ladybug, as stealthily as I could as a human, I crept around the perimeter of the statuary room and snuck into a small alcove just off to the side of archway. Thinking I was far enough away, I called out quietly: "Plagg – claws out!"

The glow had barely faded before I felt strong arms wrap themselves around my costumed torso and yank me further backwards. "Keep quiet," Ladybug hissed. "And don't move."

I nodded curtly and pressed myself into her form; despite the obvious danger we were in, part of my furbrain was finding the close contact rather… stimulating. I tried to focus and turned my masked eyes toward the space beyond our hiding spot.

Manon burst through on her cloud vehicle, moving slowly but at too rapid a pace to be actually searching for anything. She was muttering to herself, or worse, was talking to an unknown co-villain we'd yet to meet. I took a chance and slid out my baton, deftly twisting it to let the small disc of a cat tracker fall into a paw. Timing it just right, I hurled the tracker at the receding form of Manon and watched with small satisfaction as it adhered to an upper shoulder blade.

Manon kept moving, so I hoped that meant she hadn't felt anything.

"We might not have the tracker for long," I whispered. "It will go away if she detransforms."

"It should be enough of a start," Ladybug whispered back. "We'll let her clear the building and then pursue."

Snapping my baton open to tracking mode, I nodded and then narrowed my masked eyes when the cat-logo appeared on my tracker. "Gotcha," I smiled, before turning back to her. "What are you hoping she leads us to?" I asked. "And more importantly, where did she get her Miraculous?"

"I don't know the answer to either of those," Ladybug said. "Which tells me it's gonna be a long night."

I felt her press herself against my back to look at the screen on the baton, and was momentarily distracted by her closeness again. "Milady," I purred, unable to stop that either, "she's about to leave the building. We should go."

"Sorry," Ladybug answered before gently nibbling at my human ear. "I just can't resist you, it seems," she said devilishly.

"Dear kwami," I replied, my masked eyes squeezed shut. Of all the times…

"Amen, Chat.," she said, her breath hot in my ear. "Come on, let's wrap this up and get home. I've got a kitty who needs some purrsonal attention."