31 After hour
Of course Max was home and wide awake, it wasn't late yet, he was busy with something on his computer and talked with Markov while they worked. Ladybug and Chat Noir landed on his windowsill and knocked on the window.
The boy turned around quickly and smiled when he saw the two heroes. He got up and walked over to open the window while Markov made sure all the files and their work was properly saved, noted and marked in their notes.
"Hello Max, we would need your help to fetch a few things we need for investigation on the works of Hawk Moth." Ladybug explained to the bespectacled boy. She hoped that would be sufficient explanation for the moment.
"Of course, I'm ready to help out, just tell me what you need, Ladybug." Max beamed. He did not expect to be called back to be a hero ever again, especially after the fiasco against the Miracle Queen, but the villains were defeated and the times had changed.
"Max Kante, this is the miraculous of the horse, it gives you power of teleportation. You will use it for the greater good and you will return it to me after our mission." Chat Noir grinned as he recited the words, he enjoyed the role of the guardian so much it was disconcerting.
"Yes, great, can I put it on?" Max smiled, took the box and extracted the glasses. A flash of light radiated and a tiny kwami shaped as a horse formed while Max replaced the glasses on his eyes. He was surprised to see how the miraculous matched his prescription glasses.
"Of course." Chat giggled as he watched his friend put on the glasses. He turned towards Ladybug with a giddy smile on his face and she smiled back. She knew what the plan was and what it included and let him have fun now, without any interference.
"Greeting Max, my glorious and famous wielder, I'm honoured we meet again." Kaalki recognized the boy and greeted with an exaggerated bow. Both heroes chuckled at the greeting and the wording but did not interrupt the two this time.
"Kaalki, full gallop." Max called and transformed into a horse themed hero. He loved the feeling of the power that washed over him and he enjoyed to be useful and help the heroes with whatever problem they faced now.
"Can I come along?" Markov asked timidly. The tiny being was there the first time when Max used the horse miraculous and was in fact helpful in the battle against the akuma, besides, they all knew that the tiny robot was anxious when separated from the boy who made him.
"By all means." Chat smirked. "We might all use your help with this one."
"Please join us, you are the part of the plan." Ladybug added.
They were running over rooftops towards the Agreste mansion. Peagasus stopped for a brief moment when he saw the house and realized where they were going, of course, the heroes mentioned Hawk Moth so it was expected.
Ladybug swung through the window of Adrien's room first, she landed firmly on the floor and waited for the others. Peagasus was surprised he was next to enter the room of his classmate since Chat Noir was the most reluctant of the three to join them.
"We are looking for a book and … or a tablet where important information about how miraculous can be used and we suspect that Gabriel Agreste or his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur still have them while they are in prison in China." Ladybug explained.
"We are helping police with the investigation and we need to learn what Hawk Moth was doing." Chat Noir cut in, he did not want to explain about the sick kwami nor his mother nor his father and his assistant nor … he just did not want to explain it.
"We are going to teleport to the cell where they keep Nathalie first." Ladybug decided. "Now we would need Markov to help you find the right coordinates, we'd like to hit the right cell from the first try, step in, do what we need to do and step out."
"It is three in the morning in China, she should be asleep." Chat added to clarify the plan, if that was even needed, because he was facing Max and Markov, who probably knew that already, he scratched the back of his neck nervously.
Ladybug looked at him worriedly, she asked with her eyes if the boy was ready for this. They could have chosen literally any point as a starting point, his room in the Agreste mansion was chosen strategically, for him to prepare for meeting the persons he was about to see.
Meanwhile, Markov was busy and discussed something quietly with Peagasus. Chat Noir returned his attention to Ladybug and gave her one firm nod with lips firmly shut into a thin line, yes there was fear in his eyes, but he was determined to overcome his demons.
Peagasus and Markov finally agreed on something and the hero took a step back, he concentrated and motioned with his hand, he created a portal.
The orange glowing disc stared at them and offered them a passage but did not yet reveal what awaited for them on the other side. Ladybug finally assumed the role of the leader and stepped into the disc, followed and Peagasus and Markov and finally Chat Noir in the end.
Peagasus straightforwardly ignored the person that slept on the bed, him and Markov instantly devoted themselves to a search for a book or a tabled between the things that were neatly packed in a suitcase on the floor.
Ladybug glanced towards the woman only to make sure she was fast asleep. She noticed a tablet by her bedside, but she recognized it as the tablet that she always carried with her, her official working tablet, there was probably some useful information there, but she refrained from taking it.
Meanwhile, Peagasus and Markov quickly located a few thin books that were far too new to be Book of Lore and on a first glance did not contain any magical secrets, and a spare tablet they extracted from the bottom of the bag.
"This is it, this is the tablet, I remember it from master Fu." Ladybug muttered while she observed when the tiny robot extracted the tablet from Nathalie's bag. She took those two steps to close the distance and inspect it from close by.
"It is dark, but I'm sure we have found the tablet we were looking for." Ladybug whispered. "Quick, try to find the book while we have time to go back through the portal." She turned towards the orange glowing disc in the background that hid the entrance to the cell.
Chat observed Nathalie sleeping on the bed, she looked slim, pale, her face tired and worried in a frown. He expected her to wake up at any moment and give him his schedule as well a pass some scolding from his father.
That was the woman that he saw as a sort of a replacement for his mother, she took care of him, sort of, because she made sure he was on schedule, which meant care by her standards, and he began to hope that her and his father were getting close.
How blind was he? No, in fact, he wasn't blind at all, they were getting closer, much closer than he dared to hope for them (and he wanted to know actually) they did get together and close and … if he overheard that correctly that night, even slightly intimate, but only because of the miraculous.
"We only found these few books and we doubt there is anything you were looking for." Markov noted quietly in his robot kind of a voice. "My translating abilities tell me these are some legal regulations and a tourist guide."
"I'm not sure what we are looking for." Peagasus scratched behind his back. "But the only things left in that suitcase are clothes and toiletries." And the boy was rather reluctant to just dig through woman's underwear of hygiene stuff.
"I can't find the book." Ladybug rummaged through the remaining things. "Let's go back before anyone sees us." She glanced towards the orange glowing disc and then towards Chat Noir who towered above Nathalie.
Ladybug let Peagasus take the tablet through the portal with Markov that hovered just by his side and went to take Chat's hand. She held his hand firmly and heard him sigh, he was obviously fighting some internal battle overwhelmed with memories and emotions.
"Let's go." She whispered and pulled his hand lightly. He slowly turned away from Nathalie and followed Ladybug through the portal. He managed to wipe the wetness from his eyes before he stepped through so that Peagasus would not notice his distress.
Peagasus closed the portal and observed the tablet in his hands, it was an older model, but a good one, it was probably a cheap one, it did not look like a piece of equipment that a fashion mogul would get for his assistant even when it was new, it had no style.
"Hawk Moth and Mayura stole that tablet from the former guardian." Ladybug explained. "It doesn't belong to them, it never belonged to them so this was not theft." She read concern with Markov and Peagasus as they inspected the item.
"I guess so, this is not a kind of a model that would be chosen for business purposes, this is more fit to serve other purposes, like a toy for kids or a device to read books or … " Peagasus trailed off. His miraculous signalled his time was about to expire.
"You can detransform and feed your kwami now, we are going to check if Gabriel has the book." Ladybug told Peagasus. "The book also belongs to the guardians and not a former villain so we are merely doing what is right."
Perhaps she was supposed to tell him that before they ventured on their first voyage, perhaps it never occurred to her that what they were doing could be seen as theft by an outside observer, until they walked into a room that held a sleeping woman and took something from her bag.
Max detransformed and fed his kwami. Horses apparently loved carrots too, although the kwami would appreciate some grains too, or dried grass, but carrots were far easier to obtain or excuse their existence when carried around.
"Chat, you can stay here, it might be easier for you." Ladybug turned towards her partner, well right now she was looking at Adrien, because the boy was obviously emotionally impacted by the encounter he just had, and not in a good way.
"No, I want to go." He raised his eyes determinedly. Maybe it was Plagg who gave him strength, maybe he just decided to face the wall and climb it, maybe he was truly able to face his demons and win, whatever it was, this boy wanted to face his villain father.
"Are you sure?" Ladybug spoke quietly, she took his left hand in her right and put her left hand on his right shoulder. She looked at him straight in the eyes, those green eyes that were so easy to find in the dark room, and could see her much better than she was able to see him.
"Yes! Yes I'm sure." He smiled gently, because with her by his side he felt ready to face anything, his own father included, just like he did, about a week ago, when they won, and disclosed his identity to the world.
"Okay then." She smiled back. This one was going to ba much harder on him, he did see Nathalie more than he saw his father, but he was his father, his own family, it was different, he needed to do this, he could not step away and let Ladybug do it for him.
Kaalki munched on the food while Max was rather preoccupied while he studied all the gadgets that Adrien had in his room, well, the boy did not touch anything, he merely observed and admired, with glowing eyes and a huge goofy grin on his face.
"Okay, I'm ready, my honourable master." Kaalki announced. Suddenly, all the justifications from Ladybug earlier seemed … justified? Because this kwami absolutely prioritized virtues of his wielders (and apparently wielders of his fellow kwami).
Peagasus transformed again and consulted Markov for a while until they reached an agreement.
"Voyage" The horse themed hero focused and created a portal with a move of his hand while Ladybug and Chat Noir stepped closer. Markov never left his side. They entered straight into the portal as soon as it was created.
As soon as they stepped through the orange disc they found themselves in Gabriel's cell. They were fast and noiseless but the man was awake, he probably did not sleep much judging from the dark circles around his eyes and the reading material that was scattered all around him.
The man was reading something on the tablet when he got interrupted by a portal that formed in his cell. Chat Noir was the first one who jumped closer, the hero placed his left hand over Gabriel's mouth and raised his right hand.
"Do you know what this hand does?" He wiggled the fingers on his right hand. The boy knew that the monks made him forget the memories from his former life, but judging from what he was reading on the tablet, Gabriel took his time to get the facts back.
Gabriel made one firm nod. He saw cataclysm in action on numerous videos either stored on his cloud or on that Ladyblog and even on other sources, he was not sure that this so called hero never used that on a person and was not about to find out.
The second thing that occupied his attention was the ring on the said hand, that was the ring he wanted, that was the ring he needed to make a wish, so he stared at the ring on the right hand of the boy, not into his eyes and did not see anything that was going on in there.
Peagasus, Markov and Ladybug were searching for the book quickly through all the items scattered around the tiny cell, it was a mess, because the man did not have his assistant to organize it for him, and he did not feel the urge to tidy it up himself.
Gabriel noticed the spotted heroine as she rummaged through papers in search of something, he wasn't sure what she was looking for but he had an idea. Then again, he focused on her earrings, she was so close, if he only reached.
Chat strengthened his grip in his left hand and wiggled the fingers on his right hand once again to catch the man's attention back to himself. He noticed where Gabriel's attention was and the boy was determined and focused on the task ahead of him.
There was time to contemplate on whatever he felt about this later, there was plenty of time to feel sad or dejected, there was time to become indifferent or unaffected by the actions of this man, right now he had a work to do and Chat Noir held the man down.
Gabriel placed his hand over the wrist of Chat's left hand, the one that covered his mouth and finally turned his eyes towards the eyes of the hero that held him, but the hero paid attention to where the villain was moving and did not meet his gaze.
The man's hand gripped on the black leather firmly and drew his attention, Chat Noir clearly saw it had a wedding ring on. At any other moment and if the situation was different, it would have been a sign of a man mourning his wife, but now it was a sign of a lunatic.
Gabriel had to remain quiet, Chat's hand was over his mouth and another hand was so close to his eyes he was scared of getting injured from the claws. He raised his other hand to cover his face and protect himself instinctively.
"Got it, got the book, let's go." Ladybug announced while she pulled the book from a pile of clothes and other things by the bed.
They escaped back though the portal, Chat Noir was the last to leave and he did it backwards, his eyes never left Gabriel who remained laid on the bed and watched as the heroes and the book disappeared through the portal.
He forgot to shout, he forgot to ask for help and he wasn't sure who was going to believe him. Well, he did not really care, he had a copy of the book that included some of the explanations and the meanings of certain signs, it was far better than the original.
Peagasus closed the portal as soon as Chat Noir was through and there was a common sigh of relief, even Markov produced a "Pehw".
The next moment Peagasus detransformed into Max because his glasses were issuing his last warning before his time was up. The boy caught a tired tiny horse in his hands and produced more tiny carrots and some grans to feed him.
"Thank you Max." Both heroes grinned. "Chat Noir will take you back home now."
"Thank you Ladybug and Chat Noir, I'm always pleased to be of any help." Max replied politely and returned his miraculous. Ladybug took the book and the tablet into her yoyo, somehow and Chat Noir put Max on his back and they left Adrien's room and the Agreste mansion.