Adrien isn't expecting to be pinned down quite so fast. The gunman is strong, but Chat Noir is stronger… well, Chat Noir is supposed to be stronger. Then again, the ring timed out a while back, and Adrien Agreste is a semi-normal teenage boy without a weapon. He glares up at the gunman, smirking slightly. "You're dead meat, sir."

The laughter that echoes from the gunman's mask is twisted. "I am?" He grabs Adrien's wrist, pinning down his hand. "I don't think so." He raises the knife, and brings it down.

Adrien can't hold back the scream of pain as the man lifts the severed finger, and slides it into his pocket, before standing. Adrien closes his eyes, feeling ill, as he looks to his right hand. The ring finger, of course, is gone, along with part of the little finger, and the blood is beginning to clot, but there's still a sizable pool. "That's not pretty," he says, sitting up…

A foot slams into his chest, pinning him to the ground. "Stay down, prettyboy."

"Not happening."

The knife comes down again, cutting his cheek and hovering just under his eye. "When I say, 'Stay down,' you say, 'yes sir.' Now. Stay down."

It's not about protecting her now. The man already has the ring. It's just pride…

"Fuck off," Adrien growls, blood running down from the cut. "You're psychotic if you think I'm giving up."

Pride isn't something he's giving up. Heroes never falter. Especially not in front of a whole city. And the longer the man is here torturing him, the longer Marinette has to bring someone back to help.

That reasoning gives way to the 'blinding' pain pretty quickly though, as the screams are ripped from his throat, and the man cackles. "Well, prettyboy isn't so pretty anymore, is he? I wonder if the Ladybug will still wuv you after she sees the mess of your face," he mocks. "Are you going to stay down now?"

Adrien doesn't move.

"Good boy. I won't be seeing you around, then!" the man leaves, just as Marinette slams the door open, and stares between the two of them.

"You fought him…" she runs to his side, instantly. "Oh my god, why didn't you tell me that you were going to fight him? I knew something was wrong when you didn't come out…"

"I had to try," he says quietly, looking up at her. "My Lady, I…"

She hugs him tightly. "We need to get out of here. We need to go, now, before he decides to come back…"

He lets her help him up, and cringes when he sees the way her eyes stay carefully on the left side of his face, not looking at the injuries. "So. Will this take care of the stammering?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Um…" she blushes. "I… that's… that's not important right now!"

He blinks… winks… it's a blink. "So you've still got a crush on the model after this?" he gestures to the right side of his face.

She steps away. "If you weren't seriously injured I'd hit you right now. I am not that shallow. Anyway, you'll look fine once we get you to a hospital."

He smiles slightly. "I'm sorry I didn't follow the plan."

"We need to go, Adrien-"

"But I-"

She cuts him off by grabbing his collar, and slamming his lips against hers. It's a rough kiss, full of annoyance and worry and a hint of nervousness, and it does it's job. When she releases his lips and drags him outside, he doesn't complain. "Now. We are going to get you to a hospital, and then, we are going to get our Miraculous back. Got it?"

He nods.

"And then… I'm probably going to kiss you again."

He grins. "I'll prepare myself this time."

She laughs. "I have to admit, when I pictured our first kiss, it was under slightly different circumstances…"

He begins to agree, before cutting himself off. "You pictured?! SLIGHTLY?!"