It was something of a comfort to be standing here in broad daylight. Initially, the plan had been to go in after dark. The plan had been rethought when they had reminded themselves that Cat Noir would likely have the advantage in the dark. His suit lent itself to stealth and he could see even in the pitch-black. There was no sense in taking such a risk. So, at midday, they had decided that they were stage their attack.

This warehouse was a bleak and derelict place. Located outside of Paris proper on the other side of the main autoroute, there wasn't much positive which could be said for it. It was quiet. Nobody would pass by here or hear another calling for help, making it an ideal spot to be hiding Adrien. Marinette was willing to bet that this wouldn't be the only bit of nefarious activity the building had seen. With most of the windows boarded up and the few that weren't either broken and/or covered with graffiti, it was clear that nobody had worked here in quite a while. It was still occupied however. Carapace attested to having seen an individual, clad in black entering with a bag full of supplies. Groceries apparently. It would seem that their enemies still needed to eat. Marinette was inclined to count that as being good. At least it proved that they were human.

Now, they stood ready to act. They would go in strong. Knock out their enemies and rescue their friend. The second part was the most important. One thing was for sure; they weren't going to leave him there. There was some fear in the pit of Marinette's stomach as her eyes darted around. They had encountered the cult of Kahn on two occasions. Both times, they'd managed to get the drop on them and the effects had been devastating. This time, with any luck, they would be able to turn the tides. It was hard to conceive that they wouldn't be prepared for some kind of assault. After all, they had the last remaining guardian as their captive. It was a fair bet that they would be expecting that his friends would try and rescue him. As such, the miraculous holders were battle-ready aware that they were likely about to encounter heavy resistance.

"You okay Ladybug?"

Rena Rouge stood behind her, a hand gently placed on her shoulder. Marinette managed to give her a soft and reassuring smile. In truth, she still wasn't 100%. It would take a good few days before she was back to normal the doctors had informed her as they discharged her, reminding her not to try falling over in such a way again. She'd lied; assuring her allies that she was okay. If she was standing here it was in part because she'd taken enough painkillers to ensure that she could at least operate properly. The transformation had helped as well, acting as something of an energy boost. No doubt her body would make sure that, she would regret this tomorrow…

She wanted this to be over. She wanted Adrien safe.

Her allies were battle ready. They had rested as best as humanly possible and come up with the best plan that they could. They would go in together and stay in pairs. Mayura would wait outside, keeping an eye open. It was vital that they couldn't escape. No doubt, if they were attacked then the cult was liable to try and run with their prisoner in tow. They couldn't allow them to do so and run the risk of them disappearing, this time for good. So she would stand guard, ready to pounce if they did find a way out of the building. Inside, they would split into pairs. It didn't appear to be a massive building but they would want to move quickly. Rena Rouge and Carapace formed a formidable team and Marinette trusted Queen Bee to have her back. They would be as careful as possible, weary in case of any sudden surprise attacks. There only seemed to be four of their enemies. They based that figure solely on how many both Adrien and Ladybug could attest to ever having encountered. Four enemies. Four miraculous holders going in and one waiting patiently on the outside.

All four of them stood ready. Aware that this was likely going to be a do or die scenario. Only Mayura remained turned away, her attention focused on the building, seemingly unblinking. It wasn't exactly a constructive attitude to have at a time like this. It seemed like the woman was distancing herself from them. Unwilling to be anything other than a business partner. She wasn't inclined to take it personally given that Nathalie had never been the warmest of individuals anyway.

"Is everyone ready?" Ladybug asked, turning to her allies, her friends.

"Lets do this!" It was Carapace who seemed to speak for the rest of them.

A silent nod was given. Each of them knew their part in what was to come. There was no more time to be wasted. As careful as they were being right now, if they hung around for too long it would only be a matter of time before they were spotted.

The heroes moved quickly, splitting into their separate groups. Ladybug and Queen Bee approached from the southern entrance, Carapace and Rena Rouge the northern. Whilst the doors would almost certainly have been locked, there were enough broken windows to mean that they didn't even have to wonder about how they would get in. They would be as stealthy as humanly possible. If they could get Adrien out without a fight, that would be ideal. The cult needed to be brought down but they couldn't run the risk of them hiding behind a hostage. With her heart in her mouth, Marinette slipped in following Queen Bee.

The corridors inside were about as attractive as the concrete outside was. Perhaps worse. At least there wasn't the same unpleasant and pungent lingering odour which Marinette decided against trying to identify. This place had obviously seen its fair share of squatters. The fact that it wasn't cleaner seemed to point towards the cult only having set up camp recently – she could have been wrong but they didn't seem like the graffiti types – they most certainly hadn't been bothered cleaning up. The surprise good news was that none of the doors actually appeared to be locked. Most of them were off of their hinges, having evidently been barged down at some point. They gave a quick glance inside but found almost all of them to be empty. It was a necessary precaution however, ensuring that their enemies weren't able to get behind them.

With her heart thumping in her chest all the time, Ladybug couldn't help but think back to her parents who would no doubt be blissfully busy in the bakery. They wouldn't ask questions. Marinette would have had to go past them to get out of the front door. Ladybug however wasn't bound by such an obligation and had found leaping over the rooftops to be a rather easy task. She felt somewhat guilty, risking her life like this. If something were to happen to her, it would hit them like a ton of bricks. It wasn't something that she had a lot of choice in however. Even if they did know her secret identity – something she could never risk them knowing – what would they have said about this? Departing to face foes whom they were yet to beat whilst still suffering from some of the affects of a concussion. It was pure folly. They would have tried to talk her out of it, as all good parents would have and she wouldn't have listened.

They crept around like that for five minutes. Sneaking through the corridors as if they were criminals, their eyes darted around, looking for even the faintest sign of their friend. At the same time, she listened both for footsteps which might signal that some people were creeping up on them or for a call from the second group, informing them that they had found Adrien. None came. Everything was eerily silent.

After a while, doubt began to creep in. With no sign of any members of the cult or their captive, Ladybug couldn't help but wonder if a mistake had been made. If somehow they had spent all this time spying on the wrong people or even the if the Cult was here, if their prisoner was somewhere else. It was a thought that she didn't want to entertain for more than a few fleeting seconds. If Adrien wasn't here then the simple fact was that they would likely never discover where he was. He would have vanished into thin air. No, she resolved that he had to be here somewhere. They likely would have him in a more interior part of the building to ensure that he couldn't yell for help. That was assuming they didn't have any gags of course. In retrospect… He could be anywhere. Panic was rather instinctively creeping in.

"Psst!"

Instantly, she stopped dead.

Even such a hushed voice seemed to be like a shout in the silence of the corridors. Instantly, her head spun around. Trying to locate the source of the voice which had been calling to her. After a few seconds, the sound was heard again. It was coming from further down the corridor. Slowly, she approached, weary of a trap. Her yoyo was in hand, ready for any potential unpleasant surprises. She recognized the voice of course, it was a little croaky but most definitely belonged to Adrien Agreste. The question was where was it coming from? Finally, she spotted not too far away, a familiar green eye peering out at them through a hole in a battered door.

She abandoned caution in those few seconds, rushing forwards. The way was clear and there was no sign of any enemies. She trusted Queen Bee to have her back. It was by pure chance that Marinette even bothered trying the door handle. Ordinarily, she would have assumed that they would lock the room which contained their prisoner. To her astonishment however, it was open. As she stepped in through the door, it became a little clearer. The young man was handcuffed to some pipes, presumably linked to the waterworks in such a manner that would prevent him from ever realistically being able to run. His ring was gone, not much risk of a cataclysm being unleashed either.

She was quick to give the young man a once-over. He looked a bit battered and was filthy but otherwise looked to be alright. He offered her a gentle smile, as if to confirm that all was well and that they didn't need to worry about him. Instinctively, she collapsed forwards, wrapping her arms around his neck. He chuckled softly, it was a warming and gentle sound. The feel of his cheek against her own was strange however, prickly. Apparently, in the short time they had been separated, he had been able to grow a short beard, the stubble coming through. It wasn't something which she was accustomed to seeing on him. He seemed to sense that something was up. Asking her in a bemused tone:

"What?"

"You need a shave!" She informed him kindly.

"I haven't exactly had access to a razor you know!"

With that. Everything suddenly became far more relaxed. Adrien was alright: a little bit battered and he most definitely would need a bath but he would be okay. For a few moments, she allowed the joy of that simple realization to fill her. It was literally a few seconds, that was all that she could afford. She must have looked a bit daft, staring at him the way that she was, with a large grin on her face. His response was more sober, a gentle smile, as if to say that everything was alright and she didn't need to worry any more.

It would have been nice to be able to completely stop worrying completely. Unfortunately, she found herself confronted with the next issue: getting Adrien out. Had he simply been locked up in a room or otherwise bound with ropes, then escaping would have been a simple matter. Currently however, it was a rather thick lead pipe and a set of heavy duty handcuffs which were preventing him from simply running away. They had no way on hand of being able to break the former or cut the latter. It was something, in retrospect that they should have thought of and planned for. The Cult of Kahn were never going to leave their prisoner in a situation where escape was comparatively easy. Perhaps over the course of their adventures they had come to rely too heavily on Cat Noir's ability to destroy anything that he came into contact with with a single touch. Cataclysm would have broken him out of this in no time.

"I don't suppose you brought a key." Adrien seemed to have spotted the issue before any of them brought it up.

"Afraid not..." Marinette shook her head, choosing to try and continue to appear relaxed. "Do you know where we can find one?"

"I think they have one between them. I haven't exactly been walking around freely."

"So we need to beat all of them up until we can get the key?" Queen Bee raised an eyebrow, somewhat dubiously.

"Maybe not..." Ladybug's mind was already working quickly. "If I use my Lucky Charm, it should give us just what we'll need – hopefully."

"Yeah but it'll start your countdown." The blonde woman reminded her. "You'll only have five minutes before turning back."

"Then we'll just have to make them count." She contemplated the yo-yo in her hand for a few seconds before letting out the cry "Lucky Charm"!"

The action seemed so natural, even after all of these years that she barely even had to think about it. How many times had she called upon the power of Ladybug's "Lucky Charm"? More than she dared to count. As confusing as the intended use of spot-covered items could be, they were yet to let her down. She trusted this time that they would provide her with what they needed to free her friend. Ideally, they just needed to get those cuffs off of him and he would be able to walk free. Cutting the pipe would almost certainly be more complicated and noisier and would leave the young man with his hands bound together.

Of course, her powers were were never entirely predictable. She wished that the Lucky Charm would create exactly what she wanted when she wanted it. As such, rather than a key. She found herself holding a rather large bolt-cutter. The weight of the tool surprised her, causing her to almost drop it on the cold concrete ground. She managed to catch it however. At least, with something like this, she wouldn't have to spend too long searching for what to do with it. Adrien was even kind enough to spread his hands as much as was possible so as to grant her more easy access to the chain. It wasn't something which she'd had to use all that often. A part of her wondered if it was entirely safe. She had some sort of nightmare image flashing through her mind that she might slip and end up removing one of his fingers.

She positioned the bolt-cutter carefully, ensuring that she had the chain firmly gripped. All the meanwhile, Queen Bee kept a watchful eye, glancing from right to left least some of their enemies try to sneak up on them. Adrien nodded briefly, giving her that little piece of encouragement that she needed to go ahead. There was no blood, no loss of fingers. With comparatively little effort, she managed to shatter the chain which linked the cuffs. Free, the captive was quick to jump to his feet. Given his ordeal, he seemed to be remarkably spritely. She had been expecting the young man to be battered, bruised and frankly to be a bit of a mess. He was a tough cookie, she supposed, given everything that he'd gone through since the age of fourteen. He offered her a smile, grateful but also ever-so-slightly cocky, it was an action she associated more with Cat Noir… The adrenaline rush of being rescued must have brought that part of his somewhat dormant personality out she reasoned.

"Are you here alone?"

"No. Carapace, Rena Rouge and Mayura are all near-by. Speaking of-" She was quick to pull out her yoyo and to call Alya. Surprisingly, the features of the young hero popped up mere moments later. "Rena Rouge, all okay your end?"

"More or less… We caught two of them. They're out cold and looked surprised to see us." The fox themed hero informed her.

"We've got Adrien. He's fine. We'll get him out."

"What about his miraculous. We can't just-"

The sounds of some shouting in Chinese tore her attention away from her yoyo. Queen Bee had braced herself, adopting a fighting stance. Instinctively, Marinette pushed Adrien somewhere behind him. If two of their enemies had been taken down, then that would still leave at least another two for them to deal with. One of whom could, potentially, be in possession on the Cat Miraculous and all of its destructive power. Despite his skill, the young man was unlikely to be as effective in combat as the two heroes. Readying herself, Ladybug began to spin her yoyo, allowing it to gain velocity. With this much commotion, it was hard to imagine that everyone inside hadn't been alerted to the presence of intruders.

She was expecting their enemy to run. Faced with three opponents. He must have known that he didn't stand a chance. Still, for some reason, he seemed to think that it might work out if he charged straight into them. Perhaps he knew the game was up and simply wanted to go down in a blaze of glory. Marinette wasn't inclined to think about his motivations. She'd seen the damage that these people could inflict on others and wasn't about to take any chances.

As it happened, her caution seemed to be for naught. Their attacker rushed Queen Bee somewhat carelessly. Whereas before they had seemed to be some form of well-oiled fighting machine, they now seemed angry, confused and uncoordinated. Chloe managed to easily evade their fist as it went sailing past, missing her face by a mile. All she needed to do was step to one side. His own momentum carried him in such a way that he almost fell over. The miraculous holder seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, wondering whether or not to use her power to bring things to a quick end. Another attempt at a punch caused her to hop backwards. Easily avoiding the swipe. Clenching her fist, the blonde hero lashed out with a single well-placed blow. It hit the man straight in the windpipe as he came forwards. The effect was instant, sending him onto his knees, gasping for breath. A second strike to the back of his head was enough to knock him unconscious.

Queen Bee contemplated the man by her feet for a few seconds, keen to ensure that he was well and truly out for the count as opposed to simply faking it. A nudge to ribs confirmed that he was indeed unconscious. The hero looked up unimpressed, a single eyebrow raised:

"These are the guys who beat you up twice?"

"He was alone..." Adrien muttered as a response.

"There's still one left somewhere..." Marinette noted before a familiar beeping sound alerted her to the fact that she had just burned through a minute of her countdown. "We've got to get you out of here!"

Adrien didn't object as she had been expecting. Instead, he simply nodded in agreement. They could leave the cultist where he was, he wasn't going to get up anytime soon. What was important was ensuring that their friend was safe and that meant him getting away from this place. They still had one enemy unaccounted for and that was one too many for Ladybug's liking. If nothing else, she didn't like the idea of getting caught in this place when her transformation wore off. It would take a few minutes and a macaroon for Tikki to regain her strength and that would be a few minutes spent with two vulnerable individuals as opposed to one. They would carry out the plan and regroup outside. Perhaps, they might not necessarily run away. Given that they had taken out three of their four enemies, then it might prove worthwhile for all of them to go in together and see if they could locate the last one and hopefully, Cat Noir's ring in the process.

As they ran back, simply contenting themselves with going the way that they had come in. Ladybug lead the group, Adrien followed closely behind her. Queen Bee kept glancing over her shoulder, ensuring that nobody was closing in from behind. The sight of daylight coming up ahead was a welcome one. Already, that window they had first entered through offered the promise of freedom should they manage to reach it. With only about three minutes until she changed back, Ladybug continued to lead the charge. Every stride, she kept on expecting them to run into some form of demonic Cat Noir. Yet, astonishingly everything was clear.

They climbed out of the window and back into the damp courtyard, making a break for the open. Not even Cat Noir would be able to sneak up on them there. From that point onwards, they would be able to regroup and organise themselves. Marinette was rather surprised to find both Carapace and Rena Rouge already waiting for them by their feet were two unconscious bodies, presumably the two cultists they had mentioned encountering earlier. For a moment, the young woman toyed with the idea with going back to fetch the one that Queen Bee had knocked unconscious but dismissed the notion given that they were still an enemy unaccounted for.

"You okay dude?" Carapace asked as they approached.

"Fine." Adrien dismissed all of their worries with a simple wave of the hand. "Glad to be free."

"Did you run into any trouble?" Rena Rouge glanced over the group.

"One guy." Ladybug informed them. "That leaves one unaccounted for."

"One more than I'm comfortable with..." The young guardian let out a sigh. "They still have my ring."

"What matters now is getting you out of here! We can't afford to have them take you again!"

Perhaps she had spoken a little too assertively or sounded too aggressive as the others stared at her, evidently somewhat surprised. It had been a while since she had spoken in such a way, taking charge. Marinette and Ladybug were still rather different people it would seem. It was likely just the adrenaline which took over, prompting her to act in such a manner. It was true that there was an undeniable rush which was associated with such heroics (although in truth, she would much rather not have found herself in the situation of having to rescue her friend). She blushed slightly, not entirely comfortable with the way that her friends were fixing her. Strangely, Adrien smiled. It was a slightly teasing grin which he offered her, one which reminded the hero of the good old days when she had Cat Noir had stood up to akumas on a weekly basis.

"I'd forgotten what it was like to have you telling me what to do, milady..." He nodded a couple of times, resigning himself to her suggestion. "You're right… Best we-"

"Guys!"

Marinette spun around on her heels. Queen Bee's cry had been loud and panicked. A figure was coming towards them, bolting quickly out of the warehouse. They seemed to be impossibly fast. Covering the distance in a matter of seconds. Eyes wide, terrified, it only took the group a mere moment to recognise the clad figure as being that of Cat Noir. He was different to Adrien. His outfit was perhaps a little looser, somewhat more traditional… It was hard to say. In truth, they were a little too preoccupied by how quickly their enemy was closing in to take much note of their fashion choices. In truth, he was almost upon them. In one hand, he was clutching his staff and the other was emitting a terrifyingly familiar dark glow.

Acting instinctively, Ladybug pushed the only remaining member without a miraculous behind her. She spun her yoyo rapidly, aware that one single touch from this adversary would turn it (and potentially her) to dust. She risked giving the others a glance. One look told her that they were just as concerned as she was. They had some experience going up against other miraculous holders. None of which had been pleasant. They would have to work as a group. Watching each other's backs, ensuring that cataclysm didn't make contact with any human being. Once that was achieved, they could maybe contemplate taking him down. A loud beeping served to remind the young woman that she only had a few minutes left before a far more vulnerable and non-superpowered Marinette would be left standing in her stead.

He was mere inches away now. If Adrien was to be believed, these guys were all well trained and would likely be able to best one of them by themselves. In her mind, she was still going through potential strategies. It was then that a figure shot out of nowhere. They collided roughly with the charging Cat Noir, dealing a powerful kick to his jaw. In an instant, his attack was stopped. He let out a loud shriek, probably of surprise more than anything else. Mayura, for her part landed agilely. She didn't even bother adopting a combat stance, apparently judging that she'd done her part and that now her job was done. Her disdain for her foe was such that she even turned her head to look at them, almost to clue them in to what they were expected to do now. Queen Bee caught on quickly. She rushed forwards to the still somewhat stunned Cat Noir, unwilling to give him the opportunity to recover.

"Venom!"

Their enemy let out some sort of a strange roar of fury, perhaps realising what was about to happen. He was frozen mid-cry, captured in that split second of pure-unbridled rage, he looked less like a man and more like a monster. The group was able to breathe and let out a collective sigh of relief. Four. All of their enemies were accounted for. With a single hand outstretched, reaching forwards so as to try and kill at least one of them, death seemed to be strangely present in the room. There was a hatred behind those orbs which Marinette had only seen twice before behind the eyes of Hawk Moth and Mayura. Even their akumatized victims for all of their momentary insanity had never quite come close to what she was currently witnessing. In truth, it caused a shiver to run down her spine.

Chloe reached forwards, eager to pluck the ring off of the stranger's hand and end all of the madness.

"Whoa! Wait! Cataclysm's still active."

Alya was just fast enough to snatch her friend's hand back to avoid her making contact with a hand which was still more than capable of turning anyone to ash. She stared wide-eyed, apparently suddenly realizing just how close she had come to disaster. They were left with a slight issue. It would be impossible to remove his ring without touching his hand. If they did that, they would go up in a puff of smoke.

Curiously, it was Adrien who took a step forwards. He did so with a confident look on his face, as if he was completely in control of the situation. Marinette raised an eyebrow but didn't question him. He might have been roughed up a little but she still trusted him to be sensible enough not to do something insane. His expression spoke of him having a plan or at least knowing exactly what to do. He bent down, picking something up off of the ground. It was a rock. The young man tossed the stone up and down a few times, catching it with ease. Green eyes glanced back towards them, seemingly wondering if any of the group had figured out just what he was going to do. He was met only with looks of bewilderment.

Approaching cautiously, as if he half expected Cat Noir to spring back to life, Adrien stopped only a few inches away. He took aim. Then, carefully tossed the stone towards the stranger. It made contact with his hand. In a matter of a few seconds, the rock turned dark, as if it was made of goal. Cracks spread and then it turned to dust. The sinister glow around his hand faded in the space of a few seconds. With a content smirk, he bent down and cautiously plucked the ring off of their attacker's finger. In an instant, the miraculous holder faded away, leaving room for a stranger. It was with a gleeful smile that he slipped the piece of jewellery back onto his finger. A familiar kwami manifested next to him. Plagg seemed confused, disorientated. He stared at his partner but otherwise didn't speak. That didn't seem to unsettle his human companion however.

"Mine I think..." Adrien turned back to them, giving them an enthusiastic smile. "Lets go home..."