While the heroes were battling Volpina, Chloe was stood on the roof of her hotel with her bee signal, waiting for Ladybug to show up. "Ugh, this is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!"

An old man walked up behind her, stopping low over his cane. He had a long, grey beard with equally long and grey hair framing his wrinkled face. His warm eyes gazed fondly at the girl in front of him and crinkled into a smile. "You seem very intent on being a superhero."

Chloe span around and glared at the man in front of her. "Yeah, so?" she snapped.

The old man took a seat next to her, apparently unaware or uncaring of the venom with which Chloe spat her words. "So intent that you've forgotten to be a hero?"

Chloe stared at him, baffled. "What are you jabbering about old man?"

He stared out over the devastation around them. "You're concentrating all your effort on becoming super, but, ultimately, super doesn't matter."

"What? Why wouldn't it matter?"

The man smiled at her warmly. "Super is just an ability. Something that sets you beyond everyone else. But it doesn't define who you are. There are superhumans. But they can be super-villains or superheroes. The power doesn't define them."

"What does?" Chloe asked, intrigued.

"Their choices. A villain chooses to harm and cause suffering. But a hero chooses not only to be heroic: to be self-sacrificing, noble and brave; but they choose also to be kind, helpful and, above all, loving and compassionate."

"What are you saying?"

"I am saying, Chloe Bourgeois, be a hero because that's who you are, not because you want a reason to be super."

Chloe thought for a minute before sighing. "I guess you're right, thank you. Who even are you anyway?" She looked to her side and saw no one there. She looked all around her and saw nothing. The roof was empty except for her. "Wait, where are you?" She stood for a moment before looking towards the Agreste mansion. A determined gleam entered her eye and she ran into the lift and out of the hotel.

"Carapace! Shield!" Carapace obeyed and threw his shield. It blocked a lightning strike from Stormy Weather and it crashed into Robostus, destroying his akuma. He vanished into orange light and Rena Rouge snapped Stormy Weather's umbrella in half, destroying her as well.

Chloe charged in through the door holding a sword scavenged from one of Darkblade's knights. She just barely blocked a strike from Riposte and kicked her backwards. Pegasus jumped in front of her and snapped Riposte's sword while she was distracted.

"Thanks," he told her before jumping back into battle. Emboldened, Chloe charged up the stairs and tried to fight Volpina. Chloe slashed at her but she jumped back just in time. Volpina pulled out her flute but Chloe sliced it in half. Volpina disappeared in orange light an instant before Chloe felt a hard kick in her side. She flew off the stairs and crashed into a wall. She tried to climb back up but Ladybug pushed her back down.

"Stay down Chloe. You're can't fight this battle."

She tried to push herself up again. "But I want to! I can't just sit here and do nothing. Let me fight!"

Ladybug thought for a moment. "Fine." She relented as she pulled a small black box out of her Yo-Yo. "But I can't let you fight without this. Chloe Bourgeois, I am giving you the miraculous of the bee, which grants you the power of subjection. You will use it for the greater good. Can I trust you?"

Chloe's eyes widened as she realised what was happening. "You're giving that to me?"

"Yes, I am."

"To me!?"

Ladybug smiled. "You've earned it."

Gingerly, Chloe took the box in her hands and opened it up. There was a bright yellow flash and a humanoid bee-like creature appeared. "Greetings my queen."

"Pollen!" Chloe shouted, delighted. She hugged the kwami before putting in the hairpin. "Pollen, buzz on!"

"No! you were already struggling and now Queen Bee is here," Hawkmoth yelled in frustration. "If you fail, you know what will happen" he warned.

"I know, I know, Hawkmoth. You don't need to worry about me, I have a plan" Volpina responded.

They fought for a while longer before Viperion told Ladybug to activate her Lucky Charm. A set of disco lights fell into her hands. "What am I supposed to do with these?" She looked around and a plug socket, Queen Bee, King Monkey and Volpina lit up. "Right, I know what to do. Queen Bee, come here." She whispered her plan into Queen Bee's ear and ran off to plug in the lights. She shone them in Volpina's eyes, blinding her temporarily.

"Venom," Queen Bee whispered before sneaking up behind Volpina and paralysing her.

"Uproar!" King Monkey bellowed and threw the object at Volpina, now that she couldn't dodge. Her illusions all vanished simultaneously.

Ladybug walked up and took her necklace and broke it. "No more evil-doing for you little akuma. Time to de-evilise!" She caught the akuma and purified it. "Bye, bye little butterfly." She grabbed the party lights and threw them into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" The ladybugs flew around and fixed everything. The mansion was returned to its original state and Lila's costume vanished in purple smoke.

"No! I was so close this time. You may believe you've won this, but soon, I'll tear down this illusion and your miraculous will be mine!" The large circular window began to close and Hawk Moth turned to leave the room.

Ladybug turned to look at the police waiting outside the mansion. "Lila Rossi willingly took on the akuma and she willingly worked with a terrorist. There are many eyewitnesses to this, please arrest her."

After a moment of hesitation, the police moved to action, placing handcuffs on Lila and leading her towards their cars.

"No! I will have my revenge Ladybug, sooner than you think!" Lila yelled as she struggled against the police.

The team stood in a circle. "Pound it!" they all said proudly and fist-bumped simultaneously.

The paramedics just outside started packing up after Ladybug had fixed everything. They'd been taking care of injuries in case, for whatever reason, Ladybug had been unable to fix them.

Chat Noir grinned at Ladybug before his smile wavered. He stared at something behind her. Terror crossed his face before he ran at her. He pushed her to the ground just as a loud gunshot was heard. The team turned to see Lila holding a gun pointed right at Chat Noir, smiling.

Slowly, a red stain spread out from Chat Noir's stomach, blood creeping out into an ever-growing blotch on his black suit. He looked down and moved his hand to the wound. He swayed slightly and fell to his knees. "Chat Noir!" As he fell forward, Ladybug scrambled forward to catch him. His head rested on her lap as she pressed her hand to the wound. Blood continued to seep through as Chat Noir tried to focus on her face. Tears began to streak down her face, landing on the boy in her lap.

Around her, everyone else jumped into action. The police tackled Lila to the ground and Carapace kicked the gun far out of her reach. Viperion tried to activate his power but just before he could his miraculous timed out. He grabbed a shock blanket left behind by the medics and hid beneath it. A group of medics began to run forward towards Chat Noir.

"Wait!" One of them shouted. "He's almost timed out. He needs to be covered up before we can help. Rena Rouge, set up an illusion with just me in it to protect your identities. I'll help with Chat Noir till we can get him covered up" The heroes looked at each other with uncertainty before nodding.

The fox girl played her flute and shouted, "Mirage," creating an illusionary wall with all the heroes and the paramedic hidden inside.

"Ok, what do you need?" Ladybug asked.

"I already have most of it, you need to use your lucky charm though."

"But I've already used it."

"Then recharge it somehow."

Ladybug looked around nervously. She looked down at the hero on her lap before nodding. "Spots off." Tikki looked like she was going to complain but Marinette gave her a look like 'not now,' so she took the food she was being offered and began eating quickly.

The other heroes were staring at her in shock. "Marinette!?" they asked together in surprise.

"Quiet!" Marinette hissed at them. They apologised.

"Girl, you're my favourite superhero and you never told me?" Rena Rouge asked incredulously.

"But I thought you were Multimouse?" Kim said, confused.

The paramedic glared at them. "Can we talk about this later? I need someone to assist me with this."

Pegasus ran up to her. "I'll do it."

"Viperion, I need your shock blanket," the medic told him.

Viperion's voice came from beneath the blanket. "Ok." He said before Luka emerged from beneath. He handed the blanket over as people stared, shocked, at him. "Hello"

Sass flew up next to him. "Might I have sssome food?" Marinette handed him a macaroon from her purse.

"Ladybug, please can you let Chat squeeze your hand. This is going to be rather painful as I do not have access to any anaesthetic."

"Of course." She took her partner's hand as they started to work.

"Nice to see you, Princess," Chat Noir muttered through gritted teeth. He grunted in pain and squeezed Marinette's hand tightly. She grimaced slightly as he did so.

She began to stroke his hair whispering to him. "It's ok Kitty, I'm here."

"Now I know why I couldn't find you." He managed a strained laugh before groaning again and giving Marinette's hand another tight squeeze.

"Tikki, please hurry up," she begged.

"I'm eating as fast as I can," the kwami responded.

Chat Noir's ring began beeping rapidly and timed out. Everyone gasped, but Marinette was the loudest.

"Adrien?" Marinette whispered in disbelief.

"Hello Bugaboo," Adrien muttered weakly.

Plagg flew next to Adrien's head. "Come on, Adrien. Please. You have to be ok." Marinette tried to offer him some of her food but he ignored it. Sass grabbed some Camembert from Adrien's pocket but he ignored that as well.

"I'm ready," Tikki said.

"Tikki, spots on. Lucky charm." A hotel key fell into her open hands. She looked around desperately and saw Queen Bee and Pegasus light up. "Of course. Queen Bee, do you still have the Chat Noir and Ladybug costumes you and Sabrina wore when you were playing?"

Queen Bee nodded, confused. "Yeah, why?"

Ignoring her question, Ladybug continued. "Tell Pegasus where they are and bring them here."

"Ok. They're in my bedroom. Again, why?"

"Voyage!" A portal opened to Chloe's bedroom and Queen Bee jumped through. She jumped back quickly with the costumes in hand.

"Here you go Ladybug. Why do you need them?"

"Thanks." She turned to the paramedic and handed her the Chat Noir costume. "Can you dress Adrien in this?"

"Yes, but what's the Ladybug costume for?"

"That's for me, I'll be going with him to make sure his identity remains a secret."

"Ok. Pegasus will you assist me? Chat Noir, this will hurt."

Adrien giggled. "I've probably felt worse."

"No," the paramedic stated matter-of-factly.

They began to dress him and he squeezed Ladybug's hand very tightly causing her to grimace in pain.

"Finished," the paramedic confirmed.

"Thank you! I'll get dressed now. Spots off." Marinette pulled on the costume, grimacing whenever she used the hand that Chat Noir held.

"Are you ok?" King Monkey asked, concerned.

"Yeah, fine," Marinette dismissed. "Chat just squeezes hard that's all." She looked around at the heroes surrounding her. "Luka, you should transform, and all of you get out of here quickly. I'll collect the miraculous when Chat's ok."

Luka nodded and looked down at Sass, who'd finished his meal. "Sass, scales slither."

Everyone said goodbye to the pair and jumped off. The illusion fell and a large crowd of paramedics that had been steadily building outside the wall rushed in to help move Chat Noir. News reporters crowded in trying to get pictures of Chat or a statement from Ladybug. Alya could be seen filming but kept her distance. The police moved in quickly and pushed the reporters away so the medics had space. They lifted him into an ambulance and began attaching various bits of equipment to check his vital signs and help keep him alive.

The paramedic who'd been in the illusion took Ladybug to the side. "Your hand is broken."

"It's nothing, really," Ladybug tried to dismiss it but the paramedic was not convinced.

"I'm the professional, you're my patient. If I say your hand is broken, it's broken. As soon as we get to the hospital I'm getting this X-rayed. But, in the meantime, I'm going to give this a temporary sling." Ladybug nodded reluctantly and let the paramedic put her hand in the sling.

They arrived at the hospital and Chat Noir went through surgery and was moved to the recovery room. Ladybug's hand was placed in a cast and she got the bed next to Chat.