Cat Noir had lost. With his only weapon disintegrating in his hands and his cataclysm spent, he had nothing to defend himself. Even with them, Heartbreaker was too much for him, without them, he was next to useless.

"Come here, kitty!" Heartbreaker's voice called out as she grabbed his wrist, "Time to give me your ring."

"Never!" he shouted, trying to pull away, but her grip was iron tight. "Ladybug! Wherever you are, I need you!" he shouted, praying that she was nearby. I need you, now more than ever…

"She won't come," Heartbreaker said in her choked voice, a tone of utter confidence to her words that sent a chill down Cat Noir's spine. She was reaching up to pull off his ring just as another beep beep sounded out. He had to get out of here, fast!

Seeing a car right behind him, Cat Noir twisted quickly, swinging Heartbreaker right into it. She growled in anger as her grip loosened, allowing Cat Noir to pull free. He looked around quickly, trying to find the best point of escape, the sound of wailing all around muddling his thinking.

"Come on, now, kitty," Heartbreaker pulled a couple of daggers, readying herself to strike, "Your ring would look so good with my earrings, don't you think?"

What does she mean by that? he wondered, eyeing briefly the plain, black earrings she wore. Maybe something of Marinette's interest in fashion carried over into this form? It was a bizarre thought, but he didn't have the time to think about it right now.

"Not today, Heartbreaker," he said, trying to rebuild his confidence despite the dire situation. He started to turn just as the daggers came flying at him. He dodged them easily before half-leaping, half-running up the nearest building.

"Come back, scaredy-cat!" Heartbreaker shouted, following close behind. He knew these rooftops well at this point, after all the times he'd leapt across them, he just had to find a place he could shake her. An idea came to him and he turned, jumping as he reached the edge of the rooftop.

"You need to come up with new puns!" he shouted back at Heartbreaker, landing gracefully on the next building. He continued running, keeping an eye behind him to dodge any daggers, but none were thrown for some reason. After jumping a few rooftops, he found what he was looking for. The building across the street was lower, so he could jump to it and disappear from sight for a moment. That moment was all he needed.

He jumped, but instead of landing on the roof, his hand grabbed to the edge of the rooftop as he planted his feet on the wall. He turned to face the building he had just jumped from, scanning it quickly. There! he felt relieved and excited to find what he was looking for. Bracing himself, he pushed off the wall and straight into an open window across the street, rolling into a crouch in a darkened kitchen.

As soon as he was in, he quickly pulled up against the wall beside the window. Then he stopped and listened. His ears twitched as he picked up the sound of his pursuer, stepping to the edge of the roof. They hesitated, then turned and headed away.

Beep beep! Two minutes left. Cat Noir didn't want to risk leaving just yet. He considered walking out the front door of the building, but he didn't know who might see him when he transformed back. He waited for a full minute until the next beep of his ring, then quietly shifted to look out the window.

There was no one there, not even anyone in the street. At this point, news of the akuma attack would've spread and there would be very few people about, especially on a small, side street like this one. He waited a few precious seconds, painfully aware that his transformation was on the brink of ending, before taking the chance. He jumped out quietly, climbing his way down to the street and walking into the shadowed mouth of an alley just as his ring sounded its last beep. He felt the magic wash over him as it expired, holding out his hand to catch Plagg when he rematerialized.

"I'm soooo hungry," Plagg whined as he landed, lying face up with his eyes closed.

"This is a disaster, Plagg," Adrien said as he fished out a piece of cheese from his jacket and handed it to the hungry kwami, "She's too strong, and why didn't Ladybug show up?" He looked out into the night sky as though expecting to see her swinging by, but there was no one there.

"Yeah, this is terrible!" Plagg exclaimed suddenly, not even taking a bite before hovering in the air to face Adrien. He was surprised to see the kwami get this concerned. Normally he was absurdly chill.

"Yeah," Adrien agreed, looking back at Plagg with concern, "I can't beat her alone. What should we do?"

"Well, we can't wait for Ladybug to show up," Plagg tried sounding nonchalant about it, "We need to see Master Fu. I can give you his address; it's not far from here."

"Great idea, Plagg," Adrien nodded, his face showing his determination, "Which way?"