Chapter 31: The Essence of a Hero
The police dispersed the crowd, turning back anyone who tried to get past the first row of buildings. They evacuated the buildings themselves long before Chat Noir arrived at the scene. The fight between Chat Noir and The Protestor damaged them, littering the streets with glass, bricks, and metal. By the end of the fight, the place was deserted.
One of the two remaining people was a young red-haired reporter, too worried about her heroes to worry about her own wellbeing. Alya got to the river before Chat arrived. When cars began flying, sanity kicked in and she hid under the bridge. She heard the constant fighting above, but could not see it. Curiosity drove her up a few steps, only to rush back down at the sound of destruction above. She could hear Nino's voice in her head telling her to stay put and out of the line of fire.
The fight between Chat and The Protestor was noisy, so Alya looked up in surprise when everything went deathly quiet. After a minute of bouncing on her toes, Alya ran up the stairs, her phone leading the way as usual. She ducked behind the wall when she spotted someone on the other side of the river. She peeked over the side and gasped at watching Hawkmoth stand within Chat's personal space. Chat looking down, cowered before the villain. The akuma watched from the side, tense as a spring. No stranger to filming Ladybug and Chat, Alya had a zoom lens attached to her phone. Hawkmoth's face filled the frame of her phone, his stern expression obvious, even with the gray mask hiding most of his face. Hawkmoth did the talking while Chat looked abased.
Before she could move, a light passed along Chat's body, replacing Chat with a young blond with a familiar profile. Alya panicked when he grabbed his own ring. She was running onto the bridge when Adrien pulled off his Miraculous.
"Goodbye Plagg. I'm going home." Adrien pulled the ring off and Plagg ceased to exist.
The silver ring hovered an inch from the end of his finger. Adrien stared at the spot where Plagg floated a second before. The sudden disappearance of his close friend gave Adrien pause. He will miss him. He has been his friend and companion for many years and losing him was already forming a hole in his heart. His hand closed over the ring, clasping it safely in his palm. What was he -
"Adrien."
Adrien looked up at his father. His blue eyes pale, almost gray. Adrien has rarely looked his father in the eyes, lowering his own gaze during most of their conversations. He could not recall if the eyes were as pale in his father's civilian form or was it the Miraculous that took away the color. Was the Miraculous controlling his father as it did Marinette?
"Adrien," his father repeated. "I am waiting for you to join me and be a useful part of the family."
His father will fill the hole forming in his heart. His father will reward him and shower him with love. Adrien will be the perfect son and will not fail.
Adrien moved the hand clasping the ring above his father's open palm.
"Adrien, no!" a female shout broke through his daze.
He pulled his hand back and looked for the source of the shout. To his amazement, it came from a young woman dressed in her distinctive red and black outfit. The sight of Ladybug running toward them took his breath away. She came. She came!
"Don't do this," Ladybug called as she ran from one car to another, keeping a car between herself and Hawkmoth. "You are Chat Noir, the hero. You are Paris's last hope. Don't give up, fight him."
Ladybug came to fight with him. She hasn't given up on him. He wasn't a complete failure.
"Go away, little girl," sneered Hawkmoth. "This has nothing to do with you. Adrien knows where he belongs."
"You stay away from him!" Ladybug shouted and sent her Yoyo at Hawkmoth, who blocked it with a lazy wave of his cane. The yoyo bounced off to the side and fell to the ground.
Adrien could not remove his eyes from the polka dot yoyo lying on the ground. Why did Ladybug not pull it back to her? He looked over to Ladybug who was now throwing stones at Hawkmoth. Since when was Ladybug blond?
"Adrien," Ladybug continued, "don't listen to him. He's ridiculous. You're a hero and we need you. Don't give in to this selfish man who cares about nothing but himself. He's just manipulating you for his own gains. Fight him together with me."
"Protestor," Hawkmoth commanded the akuma. "Take care of her."
The clarity of what was about to happen jolted Adrien to action. He jammed the ring back onto his finger, ran a few steps, lowering his shoulder and rammed into the akuma, knocking The Protestor off his feet. The attempt was only partially successful in protecting Ladybug; the akuma having already sent a blast of shock waves at the scarlet superheroine, knocking her backward. Because of Adrien's timely attack, the blast was so short that the superpowered hero would have brushed it off and jumped back into the fight. Instead, the young woman rolled a few meters on the ground and remained there.
In a desperate move to end this fight, Adrien lunged at the Akuma's sign, grabbed it with both his hands and attempted to pull it away. Without his superpowers, he was no match for the strength of an akuma. The akuma pulled up the sign, lifting Adrien off his feet, by the time Adrien's fingers slipped from the pole he was flying over the akuma's head, again. His reflexes were still with him, even in civilian form, allowing him to roll with his momentum, leaving him no more hurt than a few cuts and bruises.
"Adrien!" his father's voice boomed. "Stop this mad behavior and come to your senses. What do you think you're doing?"
Adrien looked over to his childhood friend, the mask had come off Chloe's face when she rolled on the ground. There was a large gash on her forehead, oozing blood onto the road. Chloe was not Ladybug, she did not have superpowers to protect her from the akuma. Even without powers, she came here to fight and help. Chloe, whom he thought did not care about anyone but herself, has donned a Ladybug costume and came to fight Hawkmoth - because the real Ladybug didn't. While Chloe was being a hero, he was handing over his Miraculous to the evil mastermind himself. Has he fallen so far as to side with the villain? Hawkmoth was the villain - no matter who was under the mask.
"I have come to my senses." He stood up straight and faced his father. "Or had some sense knocked into me. While you, father, ordered her to be 'taken care of'."
The two Agrestes held each other's gaze, the cold gray-blue against the passionate green. Adrien spotted Alya shimmying between the cars towards Chloe. He needed to distract them so Alya could help her. He put on a Chat worthy grin.
"I just realized. I should marry Ladybug. Then we can keep it all in the family. Family dinners would be really awkward. They will take food fights to a whole new level."
"I was going to blame the Miraculous for Chat Noir's irritating banter. I would never have expected such a display from my son," Hawkmoth sneered.
"I'm sorry, father. I'm not sorry that I'm Chat Noir, but I am sorry that you are Hawkmoth and it forces us to fight each other. Chloe reminded me that protecting Paris from you is more important than what I want. More important than my wish for a family."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed, taking in his son's new posture. Back straight, head high, clear eyes holding his gaze.
"I see that you have made your decision," Hawkmoth said.
"Indeed, I have," Adrien replied.
"Could it be? Might I have misjudged you?"
"You've always misjudged me. You've never believed I'm capable, always controlling and putting me down. Nothing I've ever done was good enough for you. At last, I can show you my greatest achievement and see just how capable I am. I've been protecting Paris for years, protecting it from you. Ironic isn't it?"
"It seems I have misjudged you," Gabriel pondered. "All this time I believed you had unfulfilled potential. I saw you messing around, incapable of doing things properly. I believed, with guidance, you would grow to be great, become a son I would be proud of. But I misjudged you." Hawkmoth took a step forward. "You could never be a son I would be proud of."
Adrien fell back. This was not his father. This was Hawkmoth. He looked off to the side. "At last, the real Ladybug."
Both Hawkmoth and the akuma looked over to the side, directly opposite where Alya was helping a limping Chloe to hide. Adrien used the distraction to dash away into the Eiffel Tower's elevator. Hawkmoth soon realized the ruse and came after Adrien. Adrien repeatedly pressed the close button, begging the doors to close. They did, with not a second to spare. The elevator moved up and away.
"Plagg, are you here?" Adrien whispered. "Please tell me you're back."
"Yes, yes. I'm here. No thanks to you," the tiny black cat flew to his forehead. "That was the most idiotic thing I have ever seen." He hit Adrien on his head. "In thousands of years, you win the prize for the most idiotic Chosen ever."
"I'm sorry, Plagg," Adrien lowered his head, although he couldn't drop the smile at not losing his friend. "I don't know what got into me. I won't do it again."
"You better not! Why are we in the elevator?"
"I had to distract them from Chloe and Alya. Can you transform?"
"No, I need to recharge. And after your little stunt, it will take longer than usual."
Adrien handed Plagg a piece of cheese as the elevator door opened. Before Adrien could react, a suit covered arm grabbed Adrien by the collar and yanked him out of the elevator, throwing him to the ground. He let out a cry as pain shot up his back.
"You will give me the ring, Adrien," Hawkmoth growled, standing over him. "You will give it to me now!"
Adrien glared up at his father. If there was any father left under that mask.
"You will not have this ring," Adrien promised.
"You do not understand," Hawkmoth cooly explained. "It was never a matter of if I will get the Miraculous. It was simply a question of when. And now the time has come. You will hand me the ring."
"Or what?"
Hawkmoth grabbed Adrien again and threw him to the side against a railing. Adrien gritted his teeth against the pain in his side - he will not cry out again. His hand involuntarily went to his side to hold back the pain. His shirt was wet. He prayed it was only sweat.
This was not his father. This was the evil monster he swore to defeat.
He rolled to the side, jumped to his feet and ran down the stairs to the lower level, three at a time, ignoring the pain of every jump. He needed to get to the main stairs, to give Plagg time to energize. He rounded the corner, almost crashing into the akuma.
"You will give me the ring, or I will take it by force." Hawkmoth was now behind him.
"You'll hurt your own son?"
"You don't see the big picture, but you'll come to understand in due time. You'll be glad of this when this is all over. The end justifies the means. In the end - you will be happy."
Adrien watched the Akuma approaching, almost upon him. Hawkmoth was moving, ready to use deadly force. They trapped him. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. Plagg frantically gobbling the cheese. There wasn't enough time. There was no means of escape. No way to fight. He had no choice. No choice at all.
"You're right, Hawkmoth. You've beaten me," Adrien sighed and pulled off his ring.
The Akuma halted two steps away from him. Hawkmoth allowed his lips to curl up in a smile.
"Adrien! What are you doing?" Plagg cried out. "Not again!"
"I'm sorry Plagg. I see no other way."
Plagg watched helplessly as Adrien placed the ring in the palm of his right hand and stretched it towards Hawkmoth. The villain triumphantly leaned in to grab the ring.
"Plagg," Adrien whispered, "keep it safe."
He spun on his heels, pulled back his arm, and threw the ring with all his might. The ring sailed over the platform's fence, up in an almost horizontal arc, the sun reflecting off the Miraculous. The men on the platform watched as the ring sailed through the sky towards the not too distant Seine river, followed by a black blur.
"What have you done!" Hawkmoth roared.
"You will pay for that!" shouted the akuma. He lifted his sign and blasted the young hero.
Adrien's screams of pain drowned the two simultaneous shouts of "NO!"
A/N Next Chapter: Sacrifice