Ninety-One: Close Call

Chat and Ladybug work fast to relocate the Miracle Box before the akuma can stumble across it.

The late hour accentuated the deadly glow from the flames emanating from the corner of Paris where our apartment was located; as we neared the destruction, the acrid smell of smoke nearly overwhelmed my extremely sensitive feline nose, and the heavy ash in the air made my masked eyes water. It had been a while since Hawkmoth had unleashed an apocalyptic akuma upon us, and as we landed as a trio on the edge of one of the few remaining buildings at the end of our block, I caught the frown of concern on Ladybug's face before her eyes connected with mine. We were on the same wavelength, for both of us glanced toward the structure holding our home, and though it was still standing, more than a few windows had been smashed, and dark clouds of smoke were billowing out into the night.

Looking up and down what was left of the street, I couldn't immediately pick out the akuma, but the smokey conditions were less than optimal, even with my enhanced vision. Turning back to Ladybug, I tried – and failed – to suppress a cough. "You want to go for the Miracle Box?" I managed to finally ask, my lungs burning from the irritation of what we were all breathing. "Rena and I can clear the civilians-"

"No," Ladybug quickly shook her head. "I think you and your Cataclysm might be the fastest path to the box. Grab it and get the hell out of here."

My masked eyes widened. "I'm not going to leave you to fight this alone!"

"I won't be alone," she said between coughs. "Rena's already called in Carapace - he'll be here in a few minutes. Take the box and track down Viperion and anyone else you can get your paws on, then hide until I tell you it's safe."

"Ladybug-"

"Chat, please," she said in the tone that I knew brooked no dissent.

"Yes, Milady," I sighed. "But if I think you are in any danger-"

"Chat."

Torn between my natural instinct to protect my partner and my duty to follow her to the ends of the earth, no matter what, I nodded curtly and readied my baton. "Stay safe, please?" I implored her.

"No promises. Now off with you."

Unhappy but unwilling to cross the leader of our team, I nodded again and then leapt away from the rooftop, helicoptering with my baton across the rubble to an open window on the same floor as our apartment. Despite being under the auspices of doing actual superheroing, I thought it wise not to whip around to my usual protected balcony; I made a clean landing on what was left of the windowsill, and then dropped inside what might have once been a small child's bedroom; while I could smell flames not far away, nothing appeared to be on fire in the immediate vicinity, nor, thankfully, did my quick search turn up any trapped civilians.

I didn't waste any time firing off a blast of Cataclysm at the wall, opening up a space big enough to give me access to the hallway beyond; the cacophony of the fire alarms had me flattening my feline ears as I hurried toward our door, half-crouched in anticipation of some part of the ceiling failing. Which it did; another well-timed blast of my super-power turned it into ash before it hit me, and I had to quickly press myself to a wall to avoid another section as it rained down. Dust filled the air, mixing with the already noxious fumes from a fire I couldn't locate; breathing became nearly impossible, forcing me to shift the baton to rebreather mode and robbing me of a tool to bat away material as it cascaded around me.

Blasting away our door with a touch of my powered-up paw, I leapt through the opening and landed in a crouch in the middle of our living room. The space looked like an earthquake had hit, knocking Marinette's bonsai tree over and dashing framed artwork from the walls into piles of glass on the tile. Another leap and I was through to my old room, one that we had turned into a proper design studio for my girlfriend after I'd taken up residence in her bed. Everything was in a jumble, including the delicate work she'd barely finished before we'd taken off for the interview with Alya. I tried not to think too much about it as I hurriedly used my claws to rake through the debris, trying to get to the secret hiding spot we'd built into the underside of her design table.

While I wasn't much of a carpenter, with a little ingenuity and a kitbashed set of furniture from our local Ikea, we managed to create a false panel at the rear of the footwell that Marinette could quickly pop open with a gentle touch of her foot. The kwamis, of course, came and went as they chose; access to the Box was only needed when Ladybug was calling up one of our part-timer friends and needed to pluck out a jewel. Now, as I crouched in the dark, smoke-filled space, my barely-functioning night vision showed me that the panel had splintered when whatever it was had hit the building; tearing at it with my claws, I revealed the new form the Box had taken on once Ladybug had formally become holder.

Pulling the egg-shaped polka-dotted item from the depths of the cabinet, I took the rebreather out so I could talk. "Is everyone in there?" I practically yelled over the din of the smoke alarms.

The tiny snake-like form of Sass partially phased through the top of the egg. "We're all here, Chat," he replied. "We took refuge as soon as the first wave hit."

"Okay," I said, but not before I had a bought of coughing. "Tell the others to hang on – I'm getting us out of here."

As I started to shift the Box under an arm – and quickly realized how ungainly it would make me – Sass flew up to my face. "Stash it in your baton," he said urgently. "It'll be easier to travel that way."

I blinked, then looked at the Box. "Uh, Sass… this is like a thousand times bigger than my storage compartment."

"And we have a complete universe inside the Box," he countered. "Trust me."

There was no time to argue with the tiny god, so I just nodded; he phased back into the Box as I snapped open my baton to the storage compartment I had and placed the baton on the ground. As a magical space, I knew it held much more than it really should – heck, I'd stuffed several slices of Camembert in there once – but the Miracle Box seemed like it might be a bridge too far. Sighing, and unsure of exactly how it would work, I decided to go with the obvious and tipped the round end of the Box toward the small rectangular space.

My eyebrows went up as the Box effortlessly went into my baton; it didn't shrink so much as it just fit. I assumed it was all part of the magic and decided not to question it. After all, wasn't I a superhero because of my affiliation with a quantic-powered lifeform that defied explanation? Why would this be any different?

Smiling at the new trick an older Chat had just learned, I smiled wider as I snapped my baton shut and then re-triggered the rebreather, for it seemed I had a two-for-one: not only had I rescued the box, but it was also now in a highly secure, secret space. One I could keep a feline eye upon should I, say, wish to return to the action and help the team defeat this latest akuma. And I most certainly wished to kick some akuma ass.

For while I wasn't certain whether Hawkmoth had made the connection between my partner and Ladybug, I was comfortable assuming he had deliberately attacked Marinette's home in an attempt to draw us out. And that had made me an angry kitty – just as I supposed he'd wanted it to.

I'm not sure who drew out whom, I thought as I raced back out into the living room and then threw myself out of what was left of the patio door. For it confirms for us that Hawkmoth is willing to use whatever pressure points he thinks he has against us. It's sad… but now we're warned. And, I thought with a wry smile as I leapt away from the building just at it crumbled into a pile of concrete behind me, we can use this against him. I don't know how, quite yet…

Flipping through the air, I landed down on a pile of roof tiles and then bounded away as the rest of the building collapsed, the cloud of dust billowing around me. I kept running, trying to use what little of my enhanced senses were still useful to pick out our team; bursting out of the avenue and onto the main thoroughfare beyond, I skidded to a stop a few meters from a giant sentimonster that wasn't much more than a sentient wrecking ball. I had a fraction of a second to register said wrecking ball was barreling in my direction before it caught me in the chest, hurling me backwards and through the massive plate glass windows of our favorite pharmacy.

Lying among the shards of glass as I heard the whistle of the ball arcing away, I groaned. "That's gonna leave a mark…"

Author's note:

Thank you once more for your patience! July, 2021 was another Camp NaNoWriMo event, and I'm afraid despite trying to write ahead a few chapters for Roommates, my latest novel ate up all of my writing cycles. I'm back now, though - no more slowdowns until we hit November. -ep