Scene 30 - Chat Noir in the Sewer

Things were happening quickly, and Chat Noir was on edge. Why had Ladybug called him to the Eiffel Tower? Why was Viperion still with her? What was happening with time all around them?

He dropped into the sewer behind Ladybug, as she immediately began sprinting down the service walkway. He followed, wondering why Viperion had been hiding down here instead of up with Ladybug on the tower.

Before they turned the corner, Chat could hear Vipeion, attempting to contact Ladybug through a no-longer-functioning radio. His back was turned to them, so he didn't see them approach, but as they got nearer Chat could see the relief on Ladybug's face that he was ok.

"Viperion, we need to talk to Sass," Ladybug said, out of breath.

Viperion immediately de-transformed into Luka. Chat Noir took a few steps back in false surprise, so that Ladybug wouldn't realize he already knew Luka was the snake-miraculous holder from when he recommended him to her as Adrien. He thought about adding a gasp for dramatic effect before he mentally slapped himself, realizing Chat Noir already knew Viperion's identity from the fight against Miracle Queen, when he had taken the miraculous off of Luka himself. Keeping track of which identity knew what was getting confusing.

The snake kwamii rushed up to Ladybug.

"I'm sorry, Ladybug, I didn't have a choice," Sass pleaded. He looked… flustered? Chat wasn't sure what 'flustered' looked like on a snake, but then again he wasn't sure what any emotions looked like on a snake. The brief time Adrien had spent with Sass, he had always seemed very calm and collected.

Why was Sass apologizing? He must have used his power, but why? Why was he out of the miracle box to begin with?

"What on earth happened?" Ladybug asked him.

"I'm not entirely sure," the kwamii replied. "I saw a photo of a lucky charm, a watch set to 01h00 in the morning."

It was just after 1 in the morning right now… so Sass had been past this point, and returned here?

"Do you understand him?" Chat asked Ladybug, but Chat had his own understanding forming in his mind.

Ladybug had been planning on taking his miraculous tonight, he was sure of it. He had failed her and had no good excuse for why he wasn't there today. It hurt to think about it, but what hurt more was that she had thought it necessary to use a precaution to turn back time, in case things didn't go as planned… in case he had reacted poorly to being retired.

"When the kwamiis use their power without the holder, it has magical catastrophic consequences. And Sass's power is going back in time," Ladybug explained.

But Chat didn't need an explanation. He was sure he knew what had happened. Ladybug had planned on taking his miraculous, and stationed Viperion in the sewer as a fail-safe in case Chat refused or fought back. Chat had always told himself that he would willingly surrender the ring if Ladybug asked him to, but he knew how much it would hurt to actually do. Papillombre must have taken advantage of that despair and… Chat didn't want to think about what had happened after that. Whatever had happened, it had been bad enough for Sass to risk using his powers without Luka.

Luka was standing there patiently, clearly still confused as to what was going on.

"The time up there has been disturbed, by the way," Chat gave him.

Luka opened his mouth to ask a question, but was interrupted by screams coming from the street above..

"Remain here, Luka," Ladybug instructed.

Chat followed her up a service ladder back to street-level. As they emerged he could see the number of apparitions had tripled, and it was complete chaos. A dozen previously akumatized villains were on this block alone.

"I have a mega feeling of déjàvu," Ladybug said nervously to Chat, clearly overwhelmed by what was happening.

"We need a genius idea, m'lady," he encouraged her.

Ladybug called her lucky charm, a red kilogram balance weight landing in her hands.

Chat tried to make a joke about the charm like he always did, trying to act normal… trying to act like he hadn't just realized what he had realized.

Ladybug gave a small gasp as she figured out the charm's puzzle. He loved it when she did that. Her face would light up and she would jump into command, confidently orchestrating the perfect plan to save the day. He would miss that, he thought.

"The International Bureau of Weights and Measures!" she shouted. "They coordinate the clocks of the world thanks to their satellite! And it's near Paris!"

"That means the satellite is just above us!" Chat replied. "If repaired, we repair the time on all the connected devices! But how do you know exactly what time it really is, to program it?"

"With this countdown, I know exactly what the time really is," Ladybug assured him, holding up her yo-yo screen, which was displaying a timer she had set only minutes ago. Chat's stomach twisted as he realized why she had set it.

"When it falls to zero, it will be exactly 01h05 in the morning," she continued. "We need to program it into the satellite. Now it's time to change."

She pulled out a magical macaron, a deep blue that Chat recognized as her Cosmobug transformation. He reached for his own magical cheese slice.

"But, what will we do with all these time apparitions?" He asked, looking around at the mayhem that surrounded them.

"Leave that to the magical ladybugs."

Chat Noir trusted her, so he popped the cheese into his mouth, only grimacing slightly at the unpleasant sensation of swallowing a whole slice of cold camembert. How could Plagg stomach these?

"Power up!" he shouted, immediately feeling the magic transform his suit into a space-worthy version of itself, complete with a jet-propelled pack on the back.

"Power up!" Ladybug called, and in a wave of sparkling magic she became a beautiful futuristic hero, ready to blast-off out of the atmosphere. Chat Noir liked her usual transformation the best, but he was torn on whether his next favourite was Cosmobug or her ice transformation, which was equally as stunning.

"Are you ready, Astrocat?" Ladybug said confidently.

"I'm ready, Cosmobug" he replied, hoping that he could prove with this mission that he was still fit to be her partner.

"Ok, takeoff!"