A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone. I was busy finishing up school, and overcoming depression within the past months. By the way, thank you to all of you who've followed or reviewed. It warms my heart to see that people care about my work, and are entertained. I'm sorry that this is going to end on another cliff-hanger, but I'm working hard on the next chapter, and hopefully I will have enough time and motivation to pursue it as school starts again. Enjoy!
The next morning, Marinette woke up in her bed, feeling as tired as she felt the night before. After Timebreaker's disappearance, she decided there was nothing she was able to do in the moment but sleep on it. It was Sunday morning, and she had a day off from her internship. She grabbed for her phone and saw she got a new message from Alya saying, "Check the news, girl! Where is Ladybug?! My mom disappeared last night! This is getting scary!"
Marinette's grogginess momentarily dissipated as she ran downstairs to see her parents huddling at the TV where a different woman was giving the news.
"Akuma threatens model and former superhero Adrien Agreste's existence and commands superheroine Ladybug to appear by noon or else he will disappear forever," the newscaster reported.
Marinette's parents looked over to see their daughter, and they immediately sighed.
"We were so worried that you were taken by the akuma!" Tom exclaimed, jogging over and giving her daughter a hug.
"The akuma was right outside of your building, and we nearly assumed you were gone," Sabine finished, joining in the hug.
"I'm alright. I had some help from Ladybug," the young designer explained. She then looked back at the TV which was giving the data about how many people were taken out of existence. "I'll just stay up in my room to avoid any chance of getting hurt by an akuma," the teen told her parents who nodded approvingly.
She ran back upstairs, and awoke Tikki.
"Tikki, Timebreaker's threatening Adrien! I need to go and save him!"
Tikki contemplated the situation and sighed. "Alright Marinette. You say the words."
"Tikki, spots on!"
Marinette was enveloped by red, magical wisps, and her costume appeared. She climbed out onto her rooftop, and looked over to Eiffel Tower where she saw a helicopter circling.
"Well, let's see what the masters' plan is," she smiled weakly, trying to keep herself awake.
She swung away, until she landed in an alleyway nearby. As she walked out towards the open police car and reporter filled, street, she knocked into someone.
"Ah, sorry!" the spotted teen apologized.
The 'someone' turned around and to no surprise, it was Alya holding her phone up in front of her. "Ladybug…" she gasped. "Well, here she is, everyone. Ladybug has finally arrived to the scene, and is going to confront Timebreaker to save Adrien. Isn't that correct, Ladybug?"
She nodded. "I fear this battle will be more dangerous than usual, so please keep yourself safe, Alya," the Marinette's alter ego informed the student reporter.
The red-haired girl nodded in return, and quietly, and hesitantly cheered, "Good luck, Ladybug!"
Ladybug slowly walked out of hiding, and past police and reports who began gasping, "Ladybug!"
Timebreaker seemed to be sneering at Adrien up above on the tower, but she turned her head at the sudden noise of the reporters.
"Ladybug," the akuma hissed. "You finally showed up!"
"What are you planning to do with Adrien!" she yelled up.
"You know, suck up his energy and existence, or would you prefer him taking a good, long fall?" she cackled maniacally, as a green outline appeared on her face.
"Adrien," Ladybug called up in concern. "Are you doing okay?"
"Um, this is clearly not okay, my lady. Please save me!" he cried feebly.
Suddenly, out from behind a beam, Cat Noir appeared.
"Cat Noir!" gasped the reporters.
"Don't worry, Ladybug. This isn't actually Adrien," the Chat Noir smirked, walking over to Adrien with a cataclysmic fist.
"No!" Ladybug growled. She swung up to the level they were on, and hit the Cat Noir out of the way. She saw the photograph in his belt, but couldn't reach it since Timebreaker could touch her. Adrien looked over at Ladybug pleadingly, and the superheroine was about to grab him, but both recurring akumas dived at her and she and Adrien fell over the edge of the tower.
"Adrien, grab my hand!" she called. As Adrien did so, he suddenly vanished into darkness. "Adrien, Adrien!" she called frantically.
At the rate she was falling, she there'd be no time to safely catch herself with her yo-yo. As she nearly hit the ground and the reporters began rushing to try to catch her, Hawkmoth Jr. appeared, caught Ladybug in his arms, and disappeared with her.
The two reappeared in the alleyway they always end up in. Ladybug's throat was clenching up like she swallowed a tennis ball.
"I've got to save Adrien!" she choked out weakly.
"Rest, Ladybug, rest," the hidden villain commanded her sweetly. "How bad can akumas really be? You've beaten all of them you've encountered-"
"Except for Timebreaker, and apparently another Copycat!" Ladybug slid down to sit on the cement ground covered with soggy papers and garbage.
"Well, they're more recent."
"Timebreaker mentioned something about 'masters'. I wasn't sure if I was able to trust you in the beginning, but Tikki explained something to me about prototypes, so I believe you aren't in league with Hawkmoth, but who's this other 'master' Timebreaker spoke of? Is there another akuma that I haven't found yet?"
Hawkmoth Jr. squatted down, and grinned.
"We'll find out soon, I guess," he replied before disappearing.
As Hawkmoth Jr. disappeared, Ladybug became more determined to find Adrien and get rid of the akumas. She dashed back out of the alleyway, and ran back out to the large sidewalk in front of the Eiffel Tower.
"Ah. She's returned," Copycat smirked before using his staff to get himself and Timebreaker down to the ground.
"Get ready for defeat, Ladybug!" Timebreaker smirked sinisterly.
Ladybug was not prepared for Timebreaker's speed. As Timebreaker dashed toward her at lightening speed, she attempted to roll out of the way, but ended up flat on her back. When she tried to get up, Copycat stood above her with the dark pulse of Cataclysm in his hand. On Copycat's face was a green moth outline like Alya described. The fake hero began reaching down for her Miraculous, but as Ladybug attempted to roll away and escape, Timebreaker appeared over her as well with threatening hands.
"No! Please don't take the Miraculous!" she screamed desperately. There was no place for her to go.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Agreste was in his lair, tracking his son and his akumas.
"Why did I do this?" he questioned himself aloud.
"Because you selfishly wanted to bring your wife back," Plagg answered without empathy, chewing on some Camembert.
"I need to stop this right now. He's going to hurt Marinette," he stated.
"Well, you can go as Hawkmoth, but I doubt she'll trust you," the spirit said, popping the rest of the slice of Camembert into his mouth.
"You're right Plagg," Hawkmoth agreed. "I can't show up in this form." he looked down at his suit. "But, I can show up as Cat Noir."
"I don't know about tha-!"
Ignoring Plagg, he teleported himself to the battle zone. He saw Timebreaker dashing at Ladybug when he detransformed from Hawkmoth.
"Plagg, claws out," Gabriel Agreste stated.
The black cat swirled into the ring. Black shadows went up and down his body revealing a leather suit similar to his son's, except with a few different miniscule differences. He dashed out of the alleyway to see Ladybug flat on the ground trapped by both Copycat and Timebreaker.
"No! Please don't take the Miraculous! Ladybug screamed. Right at that moment, he jumped over the reporters using the staff, and hit Copycat away. Timebreaker looked up from Ladybug and attempted to tackle him, but he got out of the way and tripped her, grabbing one of her rollerblades, and destroying it by stomping on it.
As the purple and green akuma flew out of the rollerblade and paused in the air in front of Gabriel, he bent down and offered the spotted heroine a hand. She timidly took it, and the cat pulled her up.
Before putting her attention on the mysterious man who just saved her, Marinette turned and captured the akuma waiting in the air for her.
After she released the butterfly, she turned to the taller and more mature Cat Noir in front of her. She peered up and down him, mainly noticing his neat, platinum blonde hair, and his icy blue cat eyes.
"Thank you sir for saving me," Ladybug thanked with a stern air in her voice.
"It was my pleasure, Ladybug," he replied with a short bow.
"The question is, can I trust you?" she inquired.
"I-" The adult was cut off when his son's duplicate was about to grab Marinette with a cataclysmic claw. He swiped the imposters hand away with his staff, but in return, the imposter grabbed his own staff, and pointed it at the maturer cat and young bug.
"Give me your Miraculous!" Copycat hissed at both of his enemies.
"How will you get our Miraculous when you can't even land a hit?" the older cat teased, poking the villain's chest with his staff.
"Oh you watch it!" the other growled, and began swinging his staff furiously attempting to hit the adult, but failing as Gabriel made swift tactical movements pushing him away from Ladybug.
"If I were you, I'd take this opportunity to take his akuma while he's distracted," the fashion emperor called back to his intern.
"Oh, right," the spotted heroine replied. She was in quite a daze from the confusing situation, but she turned her focus to the slip of paper in the fake Adrien's belt. The young designer dashed after Copycat. As Chat Noir tripped Copycat with his staff, she snagged the photograph and ripped it apart. She caught the akuma, released it, and though not having her lucky charm, she threw up her yo-yo and called Miraculous Ladybug.
Right after that, Ladybug and the new Chat Noir were surrounded by reporters including Alya, asking questions like, "Ladybug, are you okay?" and "Sir, who are you?" Gabriel Agreste looked over at his intern, and saw that she was looking pale and weak. "Sir?" he was asked again.
"I'm sorry, but Ladybug is not in good shape to be asked questions," he began. "As you all know, she had a long night, and I doubt she has the tolerance to deal with more media. So, let me escort Ladybug away. We'll answer questions after the next battle."
The master designer lifted Ladybug up with one arm, and took off with his staff. He landed on a close rooftop, which happened to be his own, and tried to put Ladybug back down on her feet, but as soon as her feet were on the ground, he looked over at the teen, and realized she had fainted. Instead, of setting her down on the rooftop, he snuck through the window to his office, and set her down in his chair.
Gabriel just sighed, and detransformed. Here was Ladybug right in front of him. Before, he would have sprung at her Miraculous in this event, but now, he had gained back his morality, and he knew he needed to do what was best.
His kwamis flew out to aid him, but he whispered for them to hide, since he didn't want to risk waking her up and surprising her with the fact that he's Hawkmoth.
The adult tried to find a good solution to help his intern, but nothing seemed safe. If he brought her to a hospital in this state, her identity would be revealed. If he brought her back home, she'd worry that the new Chat Noir knew her secret. If he tried to treat her himself, there would be a risk of Adrien trying to steal her Miraculous. If he brought her to his lair, that'd be all wrong. After a while, he decided that going to find Master Fu would be his best option.
Gabriel Agreste decided to silently transform into Hawkmoth, immensely hoping that Marinette wouldn't open her eyes until they got to Master Fu's. He carefully lifted the teen up into his arms, and then teleported himself and the girl over to the front door or Master Fu's house/business. He quickly detransformed before he reluctantly knocked on the door, still carrying Ladybug.
It took a few seconds, but the door slowly opened, and on the other side was the wise old man.
"Hello Hawkmoth. It's been awhile. Come on in," the century-and a-half-old man greeted welcomingly.
"Master! You're just going to let him straight in, making the other Miraculous vulnerable? I-"
Master Fu silenced the turtle kwami, and replied, "He carries a sick, young girl. He had the chance to achieve unlimited power, but he declined it. He has changed, Wayzz."
Gabriel followed the elder, and set Marinette down on the mat in the center of the room. He then turned around to leave, but Master Fu commanded, "Stay, my pupil. Then he said,
"Wayzz, why don't you go entertain Gabriel's kwamis."
As Plagg, Nooroo, and Wayzz headed out, Master Fu breathed in a deep breath and placed his hands over the heroine, sending healing energy to the teen. After a moment, Marinette began to stir, and her eyes squinted open.
"Where am I?" she questioned.
"You are in my house, Ladybug. Do not fear," Master Fu smiled.
"How did I get here?" she asked, still lying down.
"This man brought you here," Master Fu grinned, motioning to Mr. Agreste.
Marinette's eyes widened as she sat up. "Uh, hi Mr. Agreste. How did you know to bring me here?"
Gabriel froze, not knowing how to answer, but the old man answered for him saying, "He was my student many years ago. He was one of the many heroes of Paris. After I reacquired the cat miraculous, I gave it to him, knowing he could be trusted to help you."
Marinette looked up at her mentor, and was amazed, but confused. "If you reacquired it from Hawkmoth, the why didn't you give it to Adrien?" Marinette asked Master Fu.
Master Fu looked over at the student and then at the fashion celebrity. "Maybe you should share the news, Gabriel," the old man stated solemnly.
"Adrien has been akumatized, and has been for quite awhile," he shared apprehensively.
"What?" she gasped. "How did I not know this."
"He lied to you about not being involved with Hawkmoth. But apparently, so did your kwami," Gabriel sighed.
"W-what?! Tikki, spots off," she stuttered fearfully.
Tikki flew out of the earrings, and began blabbering, "I'm sorry, Marinette. I should have told you, but Adrien was turned into Hawkmoth Jr," she confessed.
"W-w-why did you lie to me, Tikki?" she asked, beginning to cry.
"I had a long talk with Plagg since Adrien had transformed while he was akumatized, and he told me…"
Gabriel interrupted, "I had a bitter argument with Adrien that caused him to be akumatized. I assume he became Hawkmoth Jr., since he resented being my son, and probably wished to Hawkmoth to be his father instead."
Marinette stared at her mentor with confusion. "I'm so confused. Your relationship with Adrien has seemed quite good from the looks of it," she pointed out.
"Yes, it was getting better, but then last night, he broke. He was making plans on his own to obtain your Miraculous, so he would be freed from his akuma," the celebrity explained.
The heroine nodded. "So he was the one bringing back old akumas?" she asked.
"Yes," the adult confirmed.
The teen sat down on the ground, organizing all of the information she obtained in the last few minutes. Her boss, mentor, idol, and boyfriend's dad was now Chat Noir. Adrien, her partner and boyfriend has been akumatized and has been manipulating her for nearly a week as Adrien, Chat, and Hawkmoth Jr.
Suddenly, Mr. Agreste's phone began to ring. He looked at it, and it was one of his employees probably questioning where he was, so he quickly said, "I need to go. I have work. Marinette why don't you come with me. I know that today is your day off, but with my son being hostile, I think it'd be safer if we stuck together." He then put the phone back to his ear as he listened to his employee more
"Just wait a minute," he told Marinette as he walked out the door.
As the door closed, Marinette turn to the old man and asked, "How did you get back the cat miraculous?"
Master Fu took a small breath and closed his eyes. He then opened them up again as spoke solemnly: "I mustn't tell you. It is a secret I must keep just like the secret of your identity to Hawkmoth Jr. Don't fret though, Marinette. You will soon go through times of pain and resentment, but please keep what you care for and love in mind for it will lead you down to a path of prosperity and possibly peace."
Marinette nodded blankly, not knowing how to interpret the information the master shared. She sat there for a moment before Gabriel opened the door again, and beckoned Marinette back out.
Tikki flew back into Marinette's pouch as the two walked to the street and got in Gabriel's limousine. As they drove away, they noticed the sidewalks were nearly empty, probably due to Hawkmoth Jr. and his akuma. After they arrived at the office, they quickly got indoors so no akuma could suddenly. They quickly arrived to the top floor with her and Gabriel's offices.
Marinette followed Gabriel down to his office, since she didn't have anything to do as she pulled up Alya's vlog.
"Things are not looking good!" the girl reported. "More and more past akumas keep showing up, all with green moth masks. The latest seen are Dark Cupid, Evillistrator, and Antibug, hopefully no one else gets akumatized."
At that moment, Marinette saw a green and purple butterfly fly in from above and strike Alya, causing her to drop her phone. The next moment, there was an evil cackle as the phone was picked up, and in place of Alya was Lady Wifi. It appeared Lady Wifi was about to talk, but was stopped by a moth appearing over her face.
"Hello, internet, and hello Ladybug" Lady Wifi spoke, though it was not truly Lady Wifi who spoke, but the person behind her green moth mask. "I'll find you soon, Ladybug, and the Miraculous will be mine!"
The stream ended there, but Marinette kept looking at the screen. "This is awful! Hawkmoth Jr.'s just making more and more akumas. We have to stop him!" she exclaimed.
"We can't do anything yet, Marinette. Our main priority currently should be to keep the cat and ladybug Miraculouses hidden from him," the mentor advised.
At that moment, Marinette's phone lit up, and Lady Wifi flew out of the phone as Marinette dropped it. Marinette ran behind the desk to where her mentor was, but as she was about to look back at Lady Wifi, Dark Cupid swooped up to the window, with Evillistrator who wore a jetpack.
"What do we do!" the hidden hero rasped to the fashion king, just as Evillistrator erased the window, and stepped in with Dark Cupid.
"What do you want, akumas!" Gabriel gritted his teeth together as the akumas surrounded them.
There was a dark chuckle from behind Dark Cupid. Kim stepped to the side as Hawkmoth Jr. slowly approached Gabriel.
"You know want I want, what you want. You were just with her. I'm surprised you didn't get it," Juniour muttered to his father, glancing to the side at Marinette as she was trying to figure comprehend what she just heard.
If you think I want them anymore, you are wrong," the man stated furiously. "And if you think that I'm going to tell you where she is, then you are also wrong.
Juniour chuckled again, and glanced again at Marinette. "Well, then okay, father. That just means I get to have a little fun as I check every single pair of earrings in Paris."
The akuma leader then quickly approached Marinette, about to grab her earrings, but he was interrupted as Gabriel approached the open window.
"Mr. Agreste, what are you doing?!" Marinette screamed, as the end of his shoes hung over the edge, distracting Hawkmoth Jr.
"Don't worry Marinette. I'll be fine," Gabriel spoke calmly, and he took one more step, and fell out the window from the top floor.