AN: For those concerned about my car accident, don't worry, I wasn't injured at all. It did shake me up for a while and it's been really stressful dealing with insurance. But playing games helped me relax and now I'm pretty much back to normal.

Also, I'm still working on rewriting some of the previous chapters to work in the new updates, but they will be out soon.

Chapter 9:

"Is there another way out?" Marinette asked as the group stared at the flooded staircase.

"No," Henry shook his head as thought back. "At least, none that are easy to get to from here and I don't want to go any deeper into this place. Let's see if we can find some way to drain the ink."

Henry turned on the power switch and T\the group turned around to look around the room when Alya let out a scream. The others quickly turned to where she was pointing to see some kind of creature made of ink crawling its way toward them. It appeared to be the head and torso of a human though it had no discernible features other than a gaping maw and clawed hands.

"Get back!" Henry ordered as he stepped in front of the teens, readying his axe. The creature ignored him and reached out to grab Henry. Henry swung the axe and easily slashed through the ink, causing it to melt into ink that was absorbed into the floor. Before everyone could relax that the monster was gone, more appeared from nearby puddles. Henry did his best to keep them away from the teens, but there were too many. Alya screamed again when a monster was able to get around Henry and grab her by the ankle.

"Hold on Alya," Nino said as he grabbed her, trying to pull her back while Alya kicked the monster with her free foot. Seeing Alya in trouble and Henry continue to fight off monsters, both Marinette and Adrian came to a decision. Their respective secrets were not worth the death of their friends and family. Both sent a silent apology to their partners as they got ready.

"Plagg! Claws Out!"

"Tikki! Spots On!

The twin battle cries were followed by their respective transformations. Soon Chat Noir and Ladybug stood battle ready.

"Wh-a…" Chat and Ladybug said in shock as they took in each other. "y-you… this whole time… you…"

"Hey lovebirds!" Alya called, cutting through their daze. "Monsters now, freak out later."

Chat Noir and Ladybug looked at each other and nodded before pulling out their respective weapons. Ladybug used her yo-yo to destroy the monster holding Alya before turning to the next closest one. Chat Noir covered Henry's other side, easily cutting through the monsters with his baton. Between the two of them and Henry, soon the remaining monsters were defeated and they looked for any other threats. They were startled slightly when a nearby door opened suddenly, but there were no other monsters so everyone relaxed out of their ready stances.

"Glad that's over with for now," Chat said, putting his baton away and smiling at Ladybug. "So you've been Marinette this whole time, my Lady…"

"Umm… yeah, and your Adrian," Ladybug replied, slightly flustered. She was unsure how to react, having a hard time connecting the carefree Chat Noir with the sweet Adrian. Desperate for a distraction, Ladybug glanced at where the others were watching the exchange.

"And how come you're not freaking out about this?" Ladybug asked the whole group, though she was looking at Alya.

"I figured out your identity ages ago," Alya replied with a satisfied smirk. "No offense Marinette, but you are terrible at coming up with excuses. And the fact that Adrian is Chat Noir just makes sense now in hindsight. And it aligns perfectly with what happens to superheroes in comics."

"But this isn't a comic book!" Marinette protested, waving her arms frantically.

"It might as well be if you think about it," Chat Noir commented with a smirk.

"It took me a while longer to figure out your identity Adrian," Nino continued, his hands in his pockets. "I mean, you schedule is really strict and it has made things complicated. I actually found out by accident. I saw you running down the street when you were supposed to be at a photoshoot. And then you ducked into an ally that Chat Noir soon left over the rooftops and the pieces just fell into place."

"And what about you Uncle Henry?" Chat Noir asked the adult with curiosity. "You've had absolutely no chance to figure out our identities. Did you even know about Chat Noir and Ladybug at all?"

"I've seen a few news stories, but I really didn't know that much," Henry admitted with a shrug. "But after today and everything that's happened, I don't think anything can surprise me anymore."

"True," Chat agreed with a chuckle. "I guess we should transform back now."

"Not yet," Ladybug replied, briefly becoming her confident self again. "There could still be more of those creatures around so we should maintain our transformations as long as possible."

"As you wish my Lady," Chat replied with a dramatic bow making Marinette blush. "So where to now Uncle Henry?"

"We still need to find a way to drain the ink," Henry replied looking around and spotting tape recorder. "Maybe this will be able to give us a clue."

"So first, Joey installs this Ink Machine over our heads. Then it begins to leak. Three times last month we couldn't even get out of our department because the ink had flooded the stairwell. Joey's solution? An ink pump to drain it periodically. Now I have this ugly pump switch right in my office. People in and out all day. Thanks, Joey. Just what I needed. More distractions. These stupid cartoon songs don't write themselves you know."

"I wonder what happened to you Sammy," Henry mumbled once the tape recorder had clicked off. "How did you go from this to that crazy person we heard on the other one?"

"At least we know what we need to do next," Adrian comforted his Uncle. "We just need to find Sammy's office. Do you know where that it is."

"Yeah," Henry nodded focusing at the task at hand. "It's right down the hallway that opened up."

"Okay, let's head down there, but stay close." Ladybug ordered the others. "Just in case there are more monsters down there, we need to stick together."

The others nodded and they carefully made their way down the hallway.