Chapter 4 - Here Comes Queen Bug (from Chat's POV)
"Chloé-bug" and I ran together side by side. Although it felt really strange to see someone else as my partner, I felt very much at ease with my old friend next to me. She's come a long way since the day I first started at school. I'm so happy to see that she's starting to learn how to be unselfish and put others before herself. Maybe she still has a long way to go with that, but at least she's been showing some progress.
According to news reports, Eclipser was now at the top of the Arc de Triomphe, holding two hostages. Reportedly, they were two of the professors who had debunked his theories, the two he hadn't already paralyzed. I told her, "Hawk Moth is trying to put us at a disadvantage, since we'll have to concentrate on protecting the hostages. We'll need to be on our guard because Eclipser is going to try and use them to distract us. We have to stay focused."
"Right," she said as she turned her head toward me. "I just hope I'll have the moves for the job."
"You'll be fine, Chloé. Ladybug's yo-yo works pretty much the same as Queen Bee's top, at least as far as getting around or using it as a weapon. Just remember, when we get stuck you can always use the yo-yo to summon your lucky charm, which gives you an object and clues about how to defeat Eclipser. The original lucky charm gave us a belt as a clue, so keep that in mind. But the most important thing for us to do is figure out where the akuma is. After that you'll need to release the akuma, capture it inside the yo-yo and purify it, then toss the lucky charm object into the air to release the magical ladybugs and restore the damage caused by the akuma."
She rolled her eyes at me and laughed. "Oh please Chat, I already know everything there is to know about Ladybug. I just mean I hope I can be as awesome as she is. But thanks for the reminder." She gave me a wink and we kept running.
Then she turned to me with a serious expression and asked, "What exactly happened to her, anyway?" I proceeded to explain how Ladybug had been paralyzed and fallen off of a building into some thick bushes. Chloé's expression turned to grave concern. Judging by how she's acted around her before, she probably thinks of Ladybug in the same way she would a family member… or for all I know, she may hold her in even higher regard.
When we reached the Champs-Elysees, we saw that a small crowd was gathered in front of the Arc, as well as the news media. Chloé stared at the scene in disbelief. "What are these people doing? They're going to become victims themselves!"
She wasn't wrong. But before I could respond, Eclipser's voice came blasting toward us. He must have been using a megaphone.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir! I have two hostages up here with me, pathetic university professors who have nothing better to do than destroy another professor's life! Surrender your miraculous to me now, or they will both die!"
Wow, this seems pretty extreme, even for Hawk Moth, I thought. Or maybe Eclipser came up with this threat himself, and Hawk Moth is just letting him use it as blackmail. "We need to stop him now!" I said, and we both ran toward the monument.