Chapter 2 Suitable
Hawk Moth stood in the kitchen area on the third floor of the Dupain-Cheng home. The small room also served as a dining area and family room with a television.
Right now, it served as a hostage area. Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng were each bound to chairs that faced Hawk Moth and the door. They were gagged with cheesecloth from the bakery.
"You won't have long to wait," said Hawk Moth. "A family that I tie together – they die together."
They moaned but were unable to speak. They couldn't warn their daughter of his intentions.
This was a tiny place, compared to own mansion. At the ground level was the bakery. The next floor up contained a master bedroom and a bathroom. The next was the room where Hawk Moth waited. There was a ladder-like staircase above the kitchen area, leading to a trapdoor to the attic.
This room was the best for his purposes – there were windows in every direction. The bedroom level had only two.
Hawk Moth watched as Ladybug and Chat Noir landed in front of the bakery. She stumbled a little and Chat Noir caught her.
"How touching..." Hawk Moth sneered.
As he had instructed, they placed their weapons on the ground – both the spotted yo-yo and the silver baton.
He heard them coming up the stairs. Victory was so close.
The doorbell rang.
He put the tip of his sword to the mother's chest.
"Come in... the door is unlocked. Make no sudden moves, or she dies."
Chat Noir came in, followed by Ladybug.
"We're here. Now let them go!" said Ladybug.
"You must each surrender your Miraculous first," said Hawk Moth.
"We can't trust him," said Chat Noir.
"We have no choice," said Ladybug.
"I'll take your Miraculous first, Chat Noir. Ladybug is less likely to try something, with her family in peril."
Chat Noir pulled off his ring, and instantly detransformed.
"Adrien! It can't be..." said Hawk Moth, astonished.
"It's you, Father!" said Adrien. "You monster!"
The attack came from above, from the stairs to the attic, while Hawk Moth was still shocked with the revelation. With a flash of red, a yo-yo struck his chest. It stuck to the Butterfly pin, and pulled it away as the yo-yo reeled back in. Hawk Moth detransformed.
Adrien tackled his father, and an instant later Ladybug leaped upon him from the stairs and helped to hold him down.
The other Ladybug, the one who had entered the room from the main door, moved past them all to get a knife from the kitchen and cut her parents free.
When they were unbound, both parents hugged Marinette tightly.
Tom said, "Marinette, I'm so happy you didn't get hurt. You've been in terrible danger all this time! Why didn't you tell us?"
"I had to keep my secret identity from everyone so that something like this wouldn't happen," said Marinette. "Today I made a dumb mistake by using my cell phone, and I exposed you to danger."
"It's all right," said Sabine. "Everyone is safe. And I'm proud of the way you've been protecting the city."
"I'm proud of you, too," said Tom. "And we... we need to talk more about this later."
Tom helped stand guard over Gabriel while Sabine called the police.
"Two Ladybugs? How can this be?" asked Gabriel Agreste as the police were about to take him away.
"I'm in costume, but I have no powers," said Marinette. "Chat Noir leaped with me and helped me land."
"I can't believe you tricked me with a cheap Halloween costume!" said Gabriel.
"It's not cheap! It's the most detailed replica money can buy," said the other Ladybug.
"It fooled a rock star and a news reporter for several minutes, even with the wrong hair," said Marinette.
"There is nothing wrong with my hair," said Ladybug, a.k.a. Chloé.
"But your hair looks nothing like Ladybug's and mine does," said Marinette. "That's why I had to be the decoy while you used the real earrings for a surprise attack."
"Coming in through your skylight and then sneaking the trapdoor open worked perfectly," said Chloé.
"I thought you were dead," said Hawk Moth. "I wasn't expecting..."
"Too bad for you," said Chloé.
"How did you manage to pull my Butterfly Miraculous off with a yo-yo?" asked Hawk Moth.
Chloé showed the yo-yo. It had a piece of gum stuck to the edge, and the Butterfly Miraculous was stuck to the gum.
"I used a Lucky Charm to get a piece of gum when I arrived on the roof here," said Chloé. "I came up with the idea of chewing it and using it for a sticky fishing line."
"That's the way to do it," said Marinette. "You provide imagination and creativity, and the Lucky Charm provides the luck to make even the silliest plan work."
"It was a brilliant plan," said Chloé. "The only difficult part was the heroic sacrifice I made to chew and handle common gum."
"Chloé, we know you have no problem handling gum," said Adrien. "You put some on Marinette's seat on the day I arrived at school."
"I just took it out of my mouth," said Chloé. "Sabrina put it on the seat. Don't blame her – it was merely a harmless prank."
"And this was a life-or-death situation," said Marinette. "It wasn't an akuma attack. If anyone had been killed a Miraculous Ladybug Charm wouldn't have brought them back. Thank you for saving our lives."
"It was nothing. I've seen a new side of you Marinette. I thought you were outrageously rude to me, but now that I know what it feels like to be a hero, I admire that spark of courage in you."
"Thank you," said Marinette. "Maybe we can be friends now?"
"I'll consider it..." said Chloé. "I'm trying to reconcile my feelings. I've been your worst classroom enemy, but also your biggest fan."
"Frenemies?" asked Marinette.
"That works, for now," said Chloé.
The police took Gabriel away, to be charged with terrorism, kidnapping, and attempted murder.
Marinette changed out of the costume and returned it to Chloé.
Chloé returned the earrings. She called her father and got a ride home.
"Honey... I don't think you should be Ladybug anymore," said Sabine.
"I agree," said Tom. "This is too much for someone your age."
"We're not going to be heroes much longer. With our identities exposed, and Hawk Moth defeated, it's time to retire. What do you think, Chat? I mean, Adrien."
Adrien had been mostly hanging back, quiet and brooding, since learning the identity of Hawk Moth,
"I don't know what to do now," said Adrien. "My home, my life, it's over."
"Don't say that!" said Marinette. "Your father turned out to be a villain, but you're great. I mean, you're a good guy!"
"I can't go home. The news crews will be all over me," said Adrien. "From famous model to son of a supervillain. They'll be brutal."
"Stay with us," said Tom.
"At least until things settle down," said Sabine.
"You can sleep on my chaise lounge!" offered Marinette, and then she turned bright pink.
"The couch in the living room would be better, darling," said Sabine.
"What will you do with the magical jewelry?" asked Tom.
"Give it back, if I can," said Marinette. "Someone else can be Ladybug."
"And someone else can be Chat Noir," said Adrien.
"It would be better if it was someone that none of us knew. If someone else comes along who wants these powers, they won't be able to get a lead from us," said Marinette.
"How can you find someone?" asked Adrien.
"I'll ask my kwami," said Marinette.
"Kwami?" asked Sabine and Tom together.
"That's a secret," said Marinette. "It's part of the Miraculous stuff. Don't worry, soon I'll be just a normal girl with a normal life."
"And I'll be a normal guy with a normal life," said Adrien. "I hope."
"We'll help each other get back to normal again," said Marinette. "Together."
The End