Chapter 95: Peacock Moth

This chapter begins where the prior one left off in concerns to Nicholas Sancoeur/Adamantus. He has already checked to make sure he's alone. Dr. Theroux is out, Adrien/Cat Noir is on his date with Marinette/Ladybug, and Nathalie Sancoeur, Amelie Graham de Vanily, and Felix Graham de Vanily are in the opposite wing. As Adamantus, he takes a deep breath to channel his powers, his special ability. He knows he has to be the one to do this—otherwise, his aunt will sacrifice herself for Gabriel without a moment's thought. Adamantus's hands start glowing as he declares, "Purify!"

He stands between the two medical beds/gurneys so he can place on hand on each victim. He remembers how it felt to heal Nathalie and then later Gilles, so he focuses on the parts of the Agreste couple that aren't working properly. But this is a far, far greater task than Adamantus has encountered yet so far as Emilie and Gabriel's condition was brought on by wishing upon the miraculous—specifically, the ladybug and black cat, which are among the most powerful miraculous in the entire world. Whereas Adamantus himself gets his power as an off-shoot of the butterfly miraculous. Meaning, the condition that the two adults are in is far more powerful than the strength Adamantus has been gifted.

He can feel his "Purify" failing, but he is not willing to give up. He exerts more of his power and is finally able to latch onto the magic that is keeping them unconscious as payment for Gabriel's wish. That magic is powerful, but Adamantus refuses to let go. He channels even more of his power, even channeling the magic that caused him to exist. After all, he is a senti monster, a construct made of magic—he can do this.

His actions do not go unnoticed. Nathalie Sancoeur is still transformed into Peacock Moth as she's working late into the night in Hawk Moth's lair, planning for her big move against the Western Order. As she created both Nicholas Sancoeur and the diamond unicorn cufflink, she quickly senses he's not only using his powers when he has no reason to be—he's exerting himself well beyond what is safe for his survival. We actually see Nathalie with emotions on her face—panic, concern. She immediately reaches out to Adamantus and orders him to stand down. Adamantus ignores her, in part because he's so focused on his task. Peacock Moth repeats herself but is again ignored. She positions her fingers as if she's going to snap them to stop Adamantus from destroying himself—but if she takes away the amok, she's the one who winds up destroying her nephew. She could release the akuma inside the diamond cufflinks herself, but since Nicholas's personality and life has been so closely linked to those since he took his first breath, she has no idea if her destruction of the cufflinks would wind up hurting him even worse too.

Because she is actually, genuinely panicked, Peacock Moth is not thinking clearly for once in her life. Her character development trait of strategic planning is momentarily shelved as all she can think about is getting to Adamantus, to Nicholas, to her son, as soon as she possibly can in order to protect him. She races out of Hawk Moth's lair without even considering transforming back into her civilian alias first. As Peacock Moth, she hurries through Gabriel Agreste's office, through the front lobby, and up the stairs to the bedrooms. She's lucky that Solomon, Amelie, and Felix are elsewhere in the house; otherwise, her secret would have been blown.

During this, Adamantus is still putting all of his strength into Purify to heal those who have been comatose for the long stretch that is Phase Three. It's a true struggle as the unicorn's powers combats the (formerly) broken peacock miraculous's side effects and the price to be paid from the black cat and ladybug. But Adamantus is both present (unlike the other three miraculous) and persistent. Though he feels his own strength depleting, at length there's a surge of power as Adamantus succeeds in breaking the curse on Gabriel and Emilie.

That's the moment Peacock Moth enters the bedroom, frantic. Adamantus collapses in front of her, having used so much of himself to grant her secret wish. Peacock Moth scoops him up. His eyes are glazed over; he's unresponsive. She calls his name, "Adamantus," several times to no avail. Being a senti monster, he's basically gone inert. She pleads with him to wake up, but that too is futile. She even switches from "Adamantus" to "Nicholas," speaking in her own voice rather than that of her Peacock Moth persona. Nothing.

She fights back tears as she looks up, noticing that Gabriel's fingers start twitching. Emilie lets out a small groan as she begins to regain consciousness. But Peacock Moth can't be happy. The cost was too great. I didn't want it this way. I would have given up myself. But I never would have sacrificed my son. Her vision goes blurry as she does all she can to repress tears.

That's when Peacock Moth hears footsteps on the stairs. She regains enough presence of mind at that moment to realize that both she and Adamantus are currently transformed. She scoops up Adamantus, which she can do as, being transformed, she has augmented strength, and ducks behind the door so she's hidden when it's open.

Dr. Theroux enters for his night shift watching his patients. He enters just as Gabriel Agreste raises a hand to rub his eyes as he's slowly waking up. This definitely catches Dr. Theroux's attention as his patients haven't moved in weeks. He immediately goes into professional nursing practitioner mode, hurrying to his patients' side and examining them as they wake up. Dr. Gerald Theroux is so distracted with this that he doesn't notice as Peacock Moth slips around the door and back into the hallway, still carrying Adamantus.

She's at least more aware of the setting this time even though emotionally, Peacock Moth is in great distress. She's much more cautious as she makes her way back to Hawk Moth's lair, having to duck behind a curtain to hide from Solomon the gorilla and making sure Amelie doesn't glance in her direction as she crosses the doorway. She's safe once she gets to Gabriel's office, and she heads down to the lair while carrying Adamantus.

Once inside, she lays Adamantus down on in the same life support coffin Emilie previously occupied—though she doesn't close to lid. Peacock Moth then frantically goes through all the medical supplies and medicine left behind (and that is a substantial amount of supplies) in a desperate attempt to find something that would help Nicholas. However, there's nothing. After all, he's basically in the same state now as Emilie was at the beginning of the story. If Gabriel had medicine that could cure her, he would have used it—and then Nathalie could use it on Nicholas. But there was no medicine that could reverse the damage of miraculous.

After her frantic, fruitless search, Peacock Moth slumps down where Nicholas is sleeping, inert, with his eyes still unfocused. She asks him, voice cracking, why he would do such a thing—why would he sacrifice himself? Then she shows more emotions than she ever has—she starts crying.

Once she starts, she finds she can't stop. She's repressed a lot of emotions since Stoneheart and even more stress. Once she lets a few out, it's as if the dam breaks. She just sobs over Adamantus; she's lost him. While she could remove his amok from the tie clasp and recreate it, there's no way she can bring back Nicholas as he was, with all of his memories and experiences. Her emotions are agitated by her powers—furthermore so since she has a great affinity for the peacock brooch. Unaware even to her, her distress scatters amoks and an akuma to the four winds of sleeping Paris. Without anyone to control or guide them, random civilians who are experiencing powerful emotions winds up akumatized or amokitized.

During this, Ladybug and Cat Noir are both halfway home from confessing the full truth to each other. Both are so ridiculously happy, and it's obvious in how they walk and swing and giddily leap from rooftop to rooftop—and by the fact they're careless about the possibility of Angelica targeting them at night. Cat Noir, being the one to head in the direction of the Agreste manor (and the source of the akuma and amok surge) is the first to notice something going wrong. He pauses from his route him to enjoy the night life of Paris when he catches a glimpse of an angry driver. As he watches, the car itself transforms into a mecha-bull senti monster. Alarmed, Cat Noir jumps from the roof to get a closer look. Yup, definitely a senti monster. He whips out his baton/cell phone and immediately calls Ladybug for help.

Ladybug is stunned to see the message. "Doesn't Hawk Moth ever sleep?!" But she and Cat Noir know from Master Fu that "Hawk Moth" is a male/female team—so it is possible that one created the senti monsters of Marinette and Adrien and akumatized the pound in the prior chapter while the other is active right now. At least, as far as Ladybug and Cat Noir know, that makes sense. Poor Nooroo and Duusuu, being pushed so hard… Ladybug swings towards Cat Noir to help him out.

Back at the Agreste manor, Dr. Theroux is trying to get vitals and ask questions to the half-conscious-ish Gabriel and Emilie. Basic questions, like "do you know your name?" and "how many figures am I holding up?" Gabriel answers first, then Emilie. And through Gabriel's groggy haze, he realizes that he recognizes that female voice. He gathers his senses and turns his head, noticing that Emilie is in a bed a yard away from him—and she's awake enough to be moving. Gabriel attempts to leap to his feet within that moment, but considering he has been bedridden for months, he mostly stumbles forward and nearly collapses as his weakened legs give out on him. Dr. Theroux tells him to take it easy, but Gabriel pays no attention to the nursing practitioner or even where he is right now. All his attention is on his wife. He takes her hand in both of his, and very kindly, very gently, calls her name. Emilie opens her green eyes fully and smiles at him. Gabriel, for the first time in the entire series, smiles genuinely in return. All the while, Dr. Theroux is trying to focus on getting answers about their well-being. He's not really trying to be discreet as the fact his patients finally woke up is a fricking big deal, so it doesn't take long for others in the household to notice. Solomon and Amelie both hear things and poke their heads out of the rooms they were in.

Meanwhile, Ladybug catches up with Cat Noir, who is still fighting off a senti monster mecha-bull car. With her help, they're at least able to get the civilian driver out, who immediately runs to safety. Ladybug wonders aloud where the amok feather is before she's interrupted by the distinctive beeps of an Akuma Alert. This time, the report comes from an attack five blocks over. Cat Noir wonders if it's a GPS mistake as the senti monster is clearly in front of them. Ladybug quickly looks at her yo-yo/phone. Nope, it's clearly a different creature. Cat Noir sighs; no rest for the young kittens in love. He winks and her and then suggests he can handle the mecha-bull if she goes after the second creature. They tell each other to be careful (again), and Ladybug departs.

Since they're dealing with purposeless senti monsters, Cat Noir quickly dispatches the mecha-bull after Ladybug departs. He's about to go to her side when yet another verified akuma alert rolls in, marking a brand new senti monster. Cat Noir confirms it himself that this is a valid incident, sighs, and heads off in that direction.

The akuma alerts are waking a fair few number of teenager superheroes, who all check their various Discord servers to find out what's going on and if they're needed to help. Sabrina Raincomprix/Hachiko is able to compile a list of locations and kinds of attacks as she's hearing it all through her father's police blotter. Luka Couffaine/Alpha/Viperion says that he's heading out to see if he can pinpoint Hawk Moth's location. After all, Hawk Moth (and/or Mayura) have to be transformed in order to be pulling off this attack. If he can find them, that would be the beginning of the end of their greatest opponent. This leaves Tsuyu Asui/Froppy to keep the B Team organized.

Back at the Agreste manor, Amelie Graham de Vanily has followed the sounds of commotion to her sister and brother-in-law's bedroom, where she sees her twin sister awake, in the middle of hugging and being hugged by her husband. Amelie is almost as emotionally composed as Nathalie is, but seeing Emilie awake makes her ecstatic. She isn't afraid to show it. Emilie notices her, and both sisters give a little squeal/cheer at seeing each other. When Gabriel realizes that Amelie is immediately behind him, his smile vanishes. He is not happy. But he keeps himself composed for the sake of his wife. All the while, Dr. Theroux is trying to do his job with no luck.

Ladybug is dealing with the second senti monster, a runaway newspaper stand, on her own. She, too, begins getting multiple akuma alerts. She contacts Cat Noir while in pursuit of the second monster, and he confirms the same thing is happening on his end. Ladybug suggests they call in back-up for this due to the sheer numbers, but then she hesitates. Cat Noir wonders why. Ladybug asks if he feels uneasy about this. This isn't Hawk Moth's usual methodology. This especially isn't Mayura's. What's going on? Is this all part of a big trap? Cat Noir agrees that it doesn't seem to fit Hawk Moth and Mayura's usual MO, but they still can't ignore it as they have to protect Paris. Ladybug agrees; that really is all the more reason why they need back-up. But she decides to keep their best and most loyal in the wings, just in case it turns out to be a mega-trap. Besides, Carapace and Rena Rouge (as well as Wayzz and Trixx) are likely still tired from dealing with the events of the prior chapter. Ladybug texts while she's running to the next senti monster, requesting specific allies for assistance.

During this, the adult Agrestes are having a wonderful reunion. Solomon, Adrien's bodyguard, pokes his head in. He's so moved to see his two employers awake that he actually, quietly sheds tears. Emilie acknowledges his presence with a nod. Amelie is more excited than we've ever seen her, and she calls for Felix. Gabriel is not happy to learn that Felix is there as well, and he keeps asking why they're even in his house in the first place. When Felix arrives, his attitude is pretty much "oh, yay, aunt and uncle are awake—that means we can go home to London, right?" It takes Dr. Theroux shouting over everyone and kicking everyone else out of the room except for Gabriel and Emilie for him to make any progress in seeing how they are physically in order to find out why they woke up now of all times.

On the streets of Paris, Kamaitachi briefly joins Cat Noir—he asked her to head this direction rather than right to the amoks. Kamaitachi wonders why, and Cat Noir toss her the red potion. He explains that there's a report of a flaming flock of geese setting the Seine on fire. He needs her to deal with that. Kamaitchi looks at the potion, confused. Cat Noir quickly explains how it works. Kamaitachi acknowledges that she understands and bolts off. This continuity requires her to find a safe place to hide and transform back into Kagami, feed the potion to Tiia, and transform again. So for the first time, we get to see a fiery praying mantis. All the green parts of her outfit turn red with flame embroidery. Her sickles also ignite with fire, and she gains the ability to hover for several seconds. As fiery Kamaitachi, she takes off to the river to deal with the senti monsters there.

Ladybug is joined by Minimouse and Buck, whom she likewise delegates into different districts of Paris to handle the crisis. She chose Minimouse and Buck for their ability to multiply (Minimouse directly, Buck by creating sheep) so that they could handle multiple targets at once. She picked Kamaitachi as she knew her personality and speed would aid Cat Noir best and gave her directions to go straight to him. There's one other ally she requests, and that's Pegasus. She has Pegasus join up with Alpha. She wants them both to be back-up—and she's aware enough of the B Team's mission to locate Hawk Moth, and she figures Pegasus would be a useful ally for Alpha for that. Alpha thanks Pegasus for joining him, briefly explains the areas of Paris the B Team has eliminated as being likely locations of Hawk Moth, and they fan out to cover a new district as quickly as possible.

Back with the Agrestes, Emilie and Gabriel exchange a look—they don't know why they're awake either. As far as they knew, they paid the price for Gabriel wishing to heal Adrien. There's no logical reason that that would just "wear off"—right? This does cause Gabriel to remember about his miraculous, and he discreetly reaches for his tie. He feels nothing underneath. He checks again. The butterfly and peacock brooches are gone. He makes eye contact with Emilie, and that one look says all his concerns. Emilie, having been raised in a family who knows about magic, is very concerned about this. What if one of the doctors or nurses stole actual miraculous while they were unconscious? Emilie feels for her finger—her wedding ring is missing too. Emilie lets out a small gasp in alarm, which Dr. Theroux takes as her still not feeling well. Emilie plays along with that, she is an actress after all, so he suspects nothing. When his back is turned, Emilie holds up her hand for Gabriel to see—she points to her barren ring finger. Gabriel quickly checks his own hand. His own wedding ring is missing too. Anger befitting Hawk Moth flashes across his face.

Meanwhile, the heroes are still dealing with senti monsters. All five of those active have split up, dealing with various threats. Kamaitachi winds up taking down three burning geese at once with a blinding Speed Strike. Minimouse splits herself into two using Multitude. She mostly just runs with two senti monsters on her tail. She beats them by running towards herself with them in pursuit and then both of her dodging so that the senti monsters collide. Buck uses his black sheep to destroy senti monsters while the white sheep carry lingering civilians to safety. Ladybug and Cat Noir deal with the ones they find with their weapons, neither yet willing to use their special abilities.

Things seem to be going well for the heroes as these truly are weak senti monsters. That is until Cat Noir spots an akuma on the air. He pursues it, but it loses him over a series of fences. He calls Ladybug to report it while trying to pick up its trail again. Unfortunately for him, he isn't in time. The akuma finds its target—a young woman who just got a haircut she hates. Her hair grows wild, turning into binding and attacking weapons she can use at will. Cat Noir lands on a rooftop just to see an entire street flooded with hair. "Oh man…"

In the Agreste manor, Amelie huffs at being kicked out of the master bedroom where her own twin sister is, having just recovered. Of course she wants to spend time with her family! Well, maybe not so much Gabriel. Felix walks off. He says they can start packing. Amelie shakes her head at him; she has no idea what to do with her son as he's emotionally pulling away from everyone, even his cousin, who was the closest thing he ever had to a best friend. His cousin! Amelie remembers Adrien—he's going to want to know his parents are awake! Amelie heads to Adrien's room and knocks. No answer. She knocks again. No answer. Amelie opens the door and enters. Adrien isn't there. Strange. She begins to search the manor for him.

During all this, Queen Scorpion is still meeting with June, Reef, Ramson, and Zephyria the Witch. Queen Scorpion explains about her encounter with Ivory that led to Ivory attempting to use Oblivion against her and Scorpion deflecting it; this is the first time Ramson and Zephyria hear the story. Like June and Reef the evening before, Ramson and Zephyria don't want to believe Ivory is just using them—Scorpion has no tangible proof besides her own testimony, after all. But it doesn't seem as if Scorpion is lying, and Ivory's powers are terrifying to consider going against. June states that they're not meeting to start a rebellion. For now, they're going to guard each other's memories and communicate with each other directly. Something Ivory forbid, which does make her more suspicious. Ramson and Zephyria agree to this, for now, but Ramson also suggests that they look a little further into Ivory—just to see what they can turn up. Zephyria asks him what he has in mind. Ramson starts to explain and then stops. His plan involves investigating her office at school when she's not around. However, he doesn't know if June, Reef, or Queen Scorpion know this about Ivory. As he doesn't want to reveal the school he goes to and thus part of his identity, he merely tells Zephyria he'll explain it to her later. Reef makes him promise to share any useful information, and Ramson does promise.

Before they can continue, all their weapon/phones start beeping with various akuma (amok) alerts. They all exchange a look. After all, here are five transformed miraculous wielders. Ramson asks what they should do. June insists on ignoring it. After all, Ivory hasn't requested any of them. It'd be suspicious if they got involved—it'd be doubly suspicious if they all got involved together, at the same time. Queen Scorpion, who has sorta become the de facto leader, agrees with this. She points out it's not a bad idea to spy, however. What Ivory doesn't know won't hurt her—and they all need more information badly. And perhaps Ivory will request one of them to intervene. In which case, they'll all be present to skim the message to see if it seems like a lie. This they all agree to, and they all sneak into the night.

The heroes definitely do have their hands full with senti monsters everywhere, and that's before Cat Noir contacts everyone about witnessing a new akuma victim. He gives them the location, but all four mention they still have senti monsters to deal with and can't get there. Ladybug encourages Cat Noir to delay the akuma victim as long as he can; she'll be there to help as soon as she catches a break. Cat Noir trusts her and her plan and does his best at just that.

The new akuma victim identifies herself as "Tangled." She declares she's going to strangle all of Paris with bad hair. Cat Noir does his best distractions—talking to her, making puns, and dodging all of her weaponized hair. His acrobatics lead him to the apartment of a classmate although he doesn't realize it.

Jakeel Aristide was awoken by all the alerts and happens to look outside to see waves of hair cascading down his street. He immediately draws mental comparisons to Rapunzel. Jakeel would never, ever tell this to anyone—especially being a teenage guy—but he is a massive Disney fan, and that extends to Disney cartoons. That's the reason why he subconsciously calls his forced peridot raccoon transformation "Ruddiger." But due to previous events as well as Peacock Moth's currently fragile emotional state, her brainwashing over him is all but broken. Because as Jakeel sees Tangled fight Cat Noir, memories surface of himself leaping around Paris. Of a raccoon tail and Stealing and other transformed people like Tenrec, All-Star Rex, Adamantus, and Ursa. Why is this so familiar?! Instead of getting to safety, Jakeel heads to the rooftop and watches events unfold.

Back at the Agreste manor, Amelie has walked all over trying to find Adrien since she can't visit her sister because of Dr. Theroux. However, Adrien is nowhere to be found in the whole manor. She has no idea where he could be—it's well after midnight. She finds Felix and asks, but he has no idea either. Amelie then insists Felix help her search. Felix actually does without too much complaining. Despite the distance between them, Adrien is still his cousin and sorta friend. He isn't going to let Adrien just vanish. Amelie even tries calling Adrien on his phone, but she gets no answer.

Deep beneath the manor, Peacock Moth is still cradling Adamantus's unmoving body. She isn't even aware of the senti monsters running amok outside even though she should easily be able to sense them since they are drawing upon her powers. She softly begs him to wake, but to no avail. "Please, I promise I'll do anything. If I only have one wish…Nicholas, open your eyes. You have been my only wish for some time now; you're my only true wish." Adamantus's eyes do not so much as even twitch to Peacock Moth's sheer heartbreak. However, what she doesn't see are his fingers beginning to move.

Ladybug deals with the senti monsters around here and purifies the freed amoks. She's a bit frantic as she knows Cat Noir—Adrien—is facing Tangled alone. Part of her mind realizes that she's getting careless in her haste—that this was the reason Master Fu wanted to keep identities a secret. She can't protect Paris properly if she's always worried about what may happen to Cat Noir. However, she doesn't really have time to ponder over all of her options in the middle of a crisis. So Ladybug just hustles as quickly as she can and then circles back to where Cat Noir is dealing with Tangled.

They start to get a little flirty before Cat Noir reminds her that they agreed to continue to act as before. As in, they're dating as Marinette and Adrien, but they're platonic as Ladybug and Cat Noir—to hide their identities from Paris. Ladybug bashfully agrees, and they focus on dealing with Tangled. Unfortunately for them, their weapons are all but useless against the massive amount of hair. Cat Noir is afraid of using his Cataclysm on the hair because he doesn't know if it might wind up hurting or even killing the akuma victim. They get boxed into a corner pretty quickly, forcing Ladybug to use her Lucky Charm.

Jakeel Aristide is right above them, watching it all. It's a bit reckless as the fight could turn in his direction at any moment. But he's too preoccupied reconstructing his memories. And as he watches Ladybug use her Lucky Charm, the barrier preventing him from remembering breaks. "I'm Ruddiger!" He reaches for the peridot choker. He's been a superhero all along. He just needs to figure out how he did it.

At the Agreste manor, Gabriel and Dr. Theroux have gotten into an argument. Gabriel insists he's fine; Dr. Theroux wants to take them both to the hospital for examinations. Gabriel argues about missing jewelry, hinting that there's been a nurse or doctor with sticky fingers. Dr. Theroux insists that there were no brooches among their assets when they were first admitted at the beginning of Phase Three and that their wedding rings were intact when they were returned home.

Emilie steps in to be the peacemaker, but she's largely drowned out. So she steps back, out of the conversation. This puts her near the door, and she can hear voices from the hallway outside. Her sister, talking to Solomon—they can't find Adrien. They can't find Nicholas or Nathalie either, but Adrien is their main concern. Amelie has tried to call Adrien, but he's not picking up. Where could he be? It's the middle of the night and there's an akuma attack!

Emilie throws open the bedroom door with so much force it stops the argument between Gabriel and Dr. Theroux. "What do you mean Adrien is missing?"

Meanwhile, Pegasus and Alpha are sprinting through Paris, looking for any sign of where Hawk Moth and Mayura could be empowering the akumas and amoks from. They're in communication, marking off neighborhoods and business districts. Alpha is also telling Pegasus about the areas they previously search. And Pegasus being Max, he's already using his horseshoe/cell phone to create a grid of the city and mark off areas. With his help, they've eliminated over 90% of the city.

Tangled has managed to string up Ladybug and Cat Noir. However, Kamaitachi, Buck, and Minimouse have finished with their amoks and join up with the heroes. Cat Noir says he appreciates the back-up; however, Ladybug is wary as all three of them are halfway through their countdowns. Kamaitachi actually makes some headway as her scythes can cut and burn Tangled's hair. However, this only enrages Tangled, causing her to attack all the stronger. She actually starts pulling bricks out of buildings to attack by throwing them at the heroes, causing structural damage all around her. The heroes realize that they need to get a grip on the situation before the civilians who have taken shelter inside those buildings get seriously hurt.

All the while, Cat Noir's baton/cell phone keeps on getting calls. It's quite distracting. He can see that the caller is his aunt, and that it's like to be an emergency. But he literally cannot answer it now. He mutes his phone.

Back at the Agreste manor, things are in a panic since they can't find Adrien and he isn't answering, and because there's an akuma attack going on. Emilie does a frantic search of their manor too—all the while Dr. Theroux is telling her and her husband not to exert themselves. They've been in a coma for months, after all. Once Gabriel hears that there is an active akuma attack, he begins to have an idea about what might be going on. He also joins the search, but once he's alone, he heads down into Hawk Moth's lair.

Peacock Moth is still down there, in emotional disarray. However, she then feels Adamantus moving in her arms. She's able to cease her tears and look into his face as his eyes flutter open. "Aunt…Nathalie?" Peacock Moth hugs him close, surprising him. She gushes, insisting he never do anything like that ever again. He's far too important to her to sacrifice. He's her family. Adamantus is still surprised to hear how much people care about him, even though he is only a senti monster. He has friends. He has family. He has an aunt—no, he has a mother. Adamantus apologizes for making her worry and hugs her back.

That's when they both hear the elevator grinding downward. They look up to see Gabriel Agreste arrive. He eyes up Adamantus warily, and he looks Nathalie over, clearing seeing she has a fusion transformation. He's curt as he's concerned that current events might have hurt his son. He demands to know what is going on. Peacock Moth rises, calling him "sir" like she usually does. Despite the tension and the roller coaster of emotions she's gone on, she can't help but smile. Gabriel is awake. "I'll explain everything, sir."

She transforms back into Nathalie and takes off the butterfly brooch, handing it over to Gabriel. Behind her, Nooroo looks abjectly heartbroken and terrified. Nathalie hesitates only a moment; she then removes the peacock brooch as well and gives it back to Gabriel too. Duusuu is less terrified than Nooroo, having had to deal with Gabriel a whole lot less. This is the last appearance of Peacock Moth.

Of course, during all this, Queen Scorpion and her team are watching things unfold. Zephyria reports that Ivory hasn't asked any of them to intervene—and since they aren't seeing Pride or Angelica or Oxforte or anyone else, it's likely Ivory isn't calling anyone in. Queen Scorpion twists that in a way that Ivory doesn't care about Paris; she has her own agenda and is using us for pawns. Why else would she let Hawk Moth and Mayura run amok? And although Scorpion is saying this to be manipulative, she is right. Reef, June, Zephyria, and Ramson agree that it is suspicious—especially since Ivory told them about the dangers of chaos magic forming when the Eastern and Western Orders fight. This sways those four into a deeper but still cautious alliance with Queen Scorpion, and they agree to further investigate Ivory.

While they're watching, it's Ramson who notices a strange, one-eyed spyder intent on the fight. He discreetly point it out to the others, and they all give it a wide berth. June spots the next one, and Reef notices two more. None of them know what to make of the spyders, but they look like they were made to spy. Reef finds them positively disgusting. Scorpion attempts to claim that Ivory is the one spying, but that doesn't go over as well as that's not a power Ivory has. Regardless, someone is spying, and now that they know about the spyders, they know the avoid them. It's worth noting that this is just a small sampling of spyders. They're following the directive to watch events like these, and that's a programmed directive despite Peacock Moth's powers going berserk. However, most of the spyders are gathered around the apartment Peacock Moth suspects is the Western Order's HQ. She's not going to let them move base without her seeing it.

The heroes are making a valiant stand against Tangled, and Ladybug is coordinating the augmented abilities of her allies to make a final lunge against the akuma victim, including a use of her Lucky Charm. However, Tangled then freezes up; she just stops moving. With Peacock Moth mentally stable again, the wild akuma has also calmed. Ladybug wonders why, but Cat Noir sees this as a chance to move. He leaps in and Cataclysms the akumatized item, freeing the akuma for Ladybug to purify. She does so. Minimouse checks her phone for any more alerts. They've all been dealt with. With the crisis over, all five heroes "Pound It!" Kamaitachi, Minimouse, and Buck all depart pretty quickly as they're low on their timers and because they're tired. It's like 1 or 2 AM at this point.

Ladybug and Cat Noir also head off in a different direction, together. Ladybug has a minute left, and Cat Noir has like four. But it doesn't matter if they transform back in front of each other anymore. They get a bit flirty as they say their good-byes, and Cat Noir turns on his cell phone. He's flooded with voice mails and text messages from his whole family. And despite the fact that they all clearly know he's not home in the middle of the night, he gets the biggest smile yet. He turns to Ladybug, "My parents are awake!"

Ladybug hugs him. "That's wonderful!" Cat Noir says that she should head back with him to meet them, temporarily forgetting it's the middle of the night. Ladybug reminds him and says she needs to get home before her own parents worry. But she's thrilled for him, and he says that she'll be able to meet them soon. They part ways, and Cat Noir races back to see his parents, especially his mother, again.

He transforms back into Adrien nearby and walks up to his front door. There's no getting out of this by swinging into his window and claiming he was there all along. He braces himself to get yelled at, though that will never be able to bring down the joy of having his family whole again.

Adrien knocks on the door, and Solomon opens it. Adrien apologizes for sneaking off and he says he doesn't want his bodyguard to get in trouble with his job. Solomon tries to keep a stern expression, but he's relieved Adrien is safe and happy Emilie is awake, so being stern doesn't really work. Adrien comes in to see his mother walking down the stairs. He bolts to her, ecstatic, and gives her a huge hug, which she returns.

Amelie is not too far behind, and she asks Adrien where he was this late. And how dare he sneak out. Felix emerges from Adrien's room, having been poking around there to look for clues. It's not clear what information he found out. But he does directly call Adrien out, saying Adrien has a secret and he'd better tell them all what it is. Adrien hesitates, looking from face to face. Then he tells them the truth. "I have a girlfriend!"

To be continued on Chapter 96: Odette & Odile…