For once, Plagg was deep in thought as he sat in Adrien's bag. His Chosen was half-running down the sidewalk towards Master Fu's place, apparently under the impression that Plagg was sick and in immediate need of care. Plagg hadn't bothered to correct him, since he did need Adrien to actually move fast in case Hawkmoth came storming downstairs to find Adrien.

"Almost there, Plagg," Adrien huffed, rounding a corner. "We'll get you to the doctor soon, don't worry."

Oh, Plagg was worried, all right. But not about that.

How was he meant to lead into what he had discovered? He couldn't just fly in and announce that Mr. Agreste was Hawkmoth. Adrien would probably keel over in shock. Maybe if he introduced the idea in baby steps so Adrien could come to the conclusion by himself it would be less of a shock to Adrien. The only problem with that idea was that Plagg wasn't terribly good at not being blunt.

...eh, he'd have Fu there to deal with the keeled-over Adrien if that happened. There wouldn't be any lasting damage. Probably.

"Okay, we're almost there," Adrien panted. He slowed, and then Plagg heard a door being opened. "Oh, wait- how am I supposed to explain about how you got in the costume- whatever that is? Hang on, let me get you out of that first-"

"It's a butterfly," Plagg grumbled, swatting away Adrien's fingers as they fumbled for him in the bag. "Couldn't you tell? And just knock already."

"It's rather...purple," Adrien offered, as though that was any sort of explanation. "And crumpled."

...okay, maybe Plagg could accept that as an excuse. If his wings were all squished up, then that would take away the butterfly-ness of the outfit.

"And don't worry about telling the old man anything," Plagg continued once he heard Adrien knock on Fu's door. His ears (mercifully free of the suit) twitched, listening for sounds from within. Once he heard Wayzz's voice and he knew Fu wasn't with a customer, Plagg zipped out of Adrien's bag to perch on his shoulder. "I'll handle it."

Predictably, Adrien spluttered.

"What- wait, no, what are you doing, how am I supposed to explain that you can fly?" Adrien demanded. He let out a squeak as Fu opened the door and raised an eyebrow at the two of them. Plagg spotted Wayzz hiding in the old gramophone across the room, his head peering out of the horn. "Er- sir, uh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but my, uh, cat-"

"I've discovered something," Plagg announced, ignoring the further squeaking from Adrien. Honestly, it was as though the boy was part-mouse instead of part-cat. "Something big."

"I see," Fu said, not looking particularly ruffled as he waved them in. Plagg scowled at the lack of surprise on his face. He was willing to bet that he would get that infuriating neutral expression off of the old Chosen's face once he shared his discovery. "Come in, come in. I can't say that I was expecting you and Chat Noir, but I can have some tea ready fast enough."

Plagg made a face. Bleh. Tea. "I'll just have cheese. Do you have some Camembert?"

Fu sighed and shook his head- Plagg didn't know why, cheese was much better than hot leaf water anyway- and headed back into the room to put the teapot on. Adrien stayed frozen in the doorway.

"Well, go on," Plagg hissed, shoving at Adrien's shoulder. "Go inside and close the door before anyone else comes in. It's rude to ignore an invitation for tea and cheese, you know that, right?"

"He knows I'm Chat Noir!" Adrien hissed back. "And you talked and he didn't question it, and- what is going on?"

"He's the one who gave you your Miraculous," Plagg explained helpfully, figuring that it would be safe to tell Adrien now. "He's the Turtle. And come on, I can smell Brie."

Adrien started haltingly across the room, so slowly that Plagg rolled his eyes and zipped off his shoulder towards the plate of cheese slices (a variety plate! Joy! Just what he needed after such a stressful afternoon) that Fu was putting down on the mat in the middle of the room. Wayzz joined him several seconds later, dragging with him a miniature tea set. He set it up on the low table, pouring two cups as though Plagg was actually going to drink hot leaf water.

Bleh. The Turtle kwami had always had weird taste.

"Come and sit with us, Chat Noir," Fu invited, pouring a human-sized cup of tea for himself and Adrien. "What is it that you two have discovered?" Much to Plagg's irritation, he was looking primarily at Adrien.

Pffft. As if his boy knew anything. He was too focused on Ladybug to go and do any scouting like Plagg himself (inadvertently) had.

Adrien looked positively bewildered. "I- I don't know. All I know if that Plagg showed up in that purple thing and told me that we had to get over here fast. I thought he was sick again."

"Yes, I did wonder about the purple...outfit." Fu peered down at Plagg. Plagg ignored him and focused on munching on a slice of cheddar. It was nicely aged, and rather good quality to boot. "It almost looks like Plagg was trying to dress up as Nooroo."

Plagg said nothing. He had just taken a giant mouthful of cheese, and he wasn't about to rush through it just to confirm Fu's theory. It wasn't as though they were short for time, after all.

"Who's Nooroo?" Adrien asked, clearly puzzled.

"The butterfly kwami," Fu told him, still keeping an eye on Plagg as he chewed. "The one that is currently being held hostage by Hawkmoth."

Adrien looked completely puzzled. "Why would Plagg want to look like Hawkmoth's kwami?"

"I'm sure that's what we're all wondering," Fu said, as though Plagg wasn't right there. "And I'm sure he'll explain once he's done with that mouthful."

Just to be spiteful, Plagg slowed down and made big, exaggerated chewing motions. He could tell that Fu wasn't taking him very seriously and that simply Would Not Do.

Fu, Adrien, and Wayzz all sighed in unison.

"I have discovered something," Plagg repeated once his cheese had been completely turned to mush and he finally had to swallow. "Apparently Hawkmoth can akumatize himself."

Wayzz and Fu both blinked, somewhat taken aback. Adrien's eyes grew wide, and then his expression turned absolutely horrified. "Oh. Father?"

Well. Okay. Plagg hadn't been expecting Adrien to catch on quite so fast. So much for easing him into the idea that his father - his only remaining family member- was the Big Bad of Paris.

"Er. Yes," Plagg confirmed. Adrien looked even more horrified at the confirmation, but at least he hadn't fainted or anything yet.

"You're positive?" Fu wanted to know. "As you know, a mistaken identity-"

"He knew Nooroo," Plagg snapped. "He took me up to his lair because he thought I was Nooroo. He tried to transform with me. The Miraculous is under that ridiculous stripy thing he wears around his neck. Nooroo was sucked towards him when he tried to transform with me."

There was complete silence at that. After a moment, Wayzz broke it.

"That is...very good evidence," he managed. "And he actually thought that you were Nooroo? I mean, that outfit-"

"Is a work of art, I know," Plagg cut across with a sniff. "Thank you. And apparently there was something wrong with his eyes today. They were all puffy and red and squinty."

"Father scratched his cornea this morning," Adrien managed. From his slightly choked voice, Plagg could tell that he was doing his best not to cry. "And then he didn't have his contacts in still, probably, so everything would have been a little fuzzy, probably."

Fu just reached over to snag a tissue box off of a nearby counter and offered it to Adrien.

"That is a very big discovery," he said after Adrien had blown his nose a few times. "And very important. Wayzz and I had discussed if it would be a possibility, but there was no way to know for sure. I don't suppose you know how he did it? Miraculous holders are meant to be immune to akumas."

Plagg only shrugged and took another bite of the cheddar slice. What, did he look like some sort of eternal Fountain of Knowledge or something? How was he supposed to know?

"I suppose that in the big picture, the how is not important," Fu decided. "It would be interesting, but not of immediate concern. We can always ask Nooroo about it once we recover him. And have you discovered anything else?"

Plagg's first instinct was to snap no, do I look like Tikki or something? I don't do discoveries, but he whacked down that instinct to actually think about it. Had he discovered anything else? He had to think about it for his kid. If there was any information that he was missing that could help keep Adrien safe or help them take down Mr. Agreste sooner, then it was important.

He was expecting plenty of cheese for all of his efforts, though.

He thought, and thought, and thought, even putting down his cheese so he could focus better. Suddenly, Plagg remembered something. The book- the big, dusty book that Mr. Agreste had made such a fuss about when it went missing- had been strangely familiar, though Plagg hadn't stopped to think about it at the time. It had had Miraculous holders in it, he vaguely remembered, and that was why Adrien had been interested in it. It had vaguely tickled a memory at the time, but Plagg had never bothered to try to remember why it was important.

He remembered now. Fu had mentioned it missing before, and it was an important book, somehow.

"There was a book!" Plagg told them, smug that he had discovered (and remembered, even if it had taken a little prompting) something else that was important. Normally it was Tikki who figured stuff out, or maybe Wayzz, or... well, pretty much any other kwami except for him. "That old book with all of the Miraculous holders in it. Mr. Agreste has it in his safe, behind this weird gold painting of a woman."

"That's my mom, Plagg."

"Your mom is a painting?"

Adrien snorted, and Plagg hid his grin of pride from cheering his Chosen up, even if it was just a little bit and only momentarily.

"We had it for a bit, then it went missing, and then Mr. Agreste got it back again somehow," Plagg explained eagerly. "And it was written in some strange language. We could try to get it again somehow now that we know where it is! Isn't it important somehow?"

"That it is," Fu said, sounding somewhat amused for some reason. "And actually, Tikki and Ladybug dropped by a few weeks ago with the book."

Plagg and Adrien's jaws dropped in unison. "What?"

Fu smiled at their expressions. "Yes, I was surprised as well, and even more surprised to hear where they had gotten it. Apparently Tikki happened to notice Chat Noir with the book, and so they were keeping a close eye on you. They then saw a girl- Lila, I believe her name was?- steal the book from you."

Adrien and Plagg still hadn't picked their jaws off of the ground. At this new news, though, Adrien spluttered.

"Lila? When? How? I mean, I could tell that she was interested in it, but- I put it in my bag, I know I did!"

"From Ladybug's story, it sounds like Lila knocked over your bag and took the book then," Fu told him. "And then Ladybug followed her, since her kwami knew the book was important. She retrieved the book when Lila threw it in the trash."

...Plagg was strongly considering biting Lila the next time she showed up at school. Stealing his Chosen's things and then throwing them in the trash? Asshole move. On top of that, it had gotten Adrien in serious trouble because he hadn't been able to put the book back before his father noticed that it was missing.

"She brought the book to me after the fight with Volpina," Fu continued. "But after you got in trouble for the book's loss, she came back to retrieve it. We took pictures of a number of pages before she brought it back to your house." He picked up a tablet from a shelf nearby. A few swipes later, and he was showing the befuddled duo the pages he had taken pictures of. "I've been working on decoding it. Was there anything else nearby when you found it?"

Plagg thought about it while Fu distracted Adrien with the photos. He put a little more effort in it than he normally would- well, okay, a lot more effort. He was a bit sore that Tikki had somehow beat his to his discovery of the Miraculous book- he had done all of the initial legwork! If it weren't for him, the book would still be sitting undiscovered behind that weird portrait. He was the one to get the safe open, the one to push the book (well, okay, accidentally knock it over) into Adrien's waiting hands, and the one to...well, okay, maybe that was all he had done, but it was important.

And now, with that accomplishment cruelly snatched away from his paws, he had to come up with something else.

What else had he learned?

There had been an elevator floor sort of thing that took Mr. Agreste to his lair, which was on top of the house. Nathalie had been in the same room and he had definitely mentioned going up to his lair, though Plagg couldn't remember how specific he had been. Was it possible that Nathalie just knew that Mr. Agreste had a secret room but didn't know what it was for?

Unlikely, maybe, but possible. Plagg would try to get confirmation of that before mentioning it. Adrien would doubtless be upset by the idea of yet another adult in his house being evil.

There had been other stuff in the safe, hadn't there? He had ignored most of it, but he remembered some things.

"There was some stuff on Tibet in the safe," Plagg said, drawing Fu's attention to him. "Some receipts and brochures and things."

"There was a picture of my mom in there, too," Adrien said. He still sounded absolutely miserable. "Near the book. Just a little picture."

"And there were some scrolls, too," Plagg finished. "I didn't really look at them because they were musty and old. And I think that was it."

"There were some scrolls lost with the book," Wayzz piped up, tea completely forgotten. He looked excited. "They had more information on them about the powers of the Miraculous, and how they can be used. Some of them have information that didn't make it into the book, information about magic not entirely specific to the Miraculous and secrets of the temple."

"I have a few of them yet," Fu said. He slowly started getting up, clearly about to go fetch the scrolls. Adrien watched, interested. Plagg rolled his eyes and went back to inspecting the cheese plate. He would enjoy a nice Brie next, he decided. That would make up for having to suffer through long-winded explanations about ancient scrolls and deciphering the writing and blah blah blah blah blah.

"The scrolls and the book were lost at the same time that the butterfly and peacock Miraculous were lost," Wayzz told them as Fu dug through a cupboard. "We told Ladybug that, and that was why she had suspected Mr. Agreste prior to his akumatization. It's great that the magic on the book and scrolls protected them from the elements for so many years! We feared that the magic might wear out and the information stored in the scrolls and in the book might be lost. My Master and I have been making great headway into deciphering the book pages we took pictures of, using the knowledge from the scrolls and what my Master remembered from his training. It is a similar code in both, but the scrolls are older."

Plagg had stopped listening. He was frozen in place, cheeks bulging out. Something about that nagged at his mind for some reason-

Oh. The peacock Miraculous.

There had been a peacock pin in Mr. Agreste's safe.

"He might have the Peacock Miraculous," Plagg blurted, choking down his mouthful. He mourned it briefly- it had been great cheese, meant to be savored and not hastily swallowed!- and then spoke up again. "There was a pin in the safe. I had forgotten about it. A peacock pin."

Fu turned sharply, scrolls forgotten. Wayzz froze mid-explanation. Plagg took a moment to gloat at their expressions- finally, a proper reaction!- before doing his best to settle his face into a non-smirky expression.

After all, Hawkmoth owning two Miraculous wasn't exactly what one would call good news.

"Was it real?" Wayzz wanted to know right away. "Or was it a replica? Because he does make jewelry. It's possible that the real one is hidden elsewhere."

Plagg paused. Huh. He hadn't thought about that, but who could have blamed him? He had thought that they were just rifling through Adrien's father's things, not through Hawkmoth's magic stash. "Err..."

"You didn't notice?" Wayzz's voice sounded absolutely incredulous, and he was giving Plagg a rather judging look. "If Duusuu was right there, how could you not notice?"

"I was busy-"

"You weren't paying attention, you mean."

"I wasn't expecting to stumble across the Peacock!" Plagg said indignantly. "I was expecting a nice, normal day, lots of cheese, and a few naps. Not a miraculous that's been missing for over a hundred years."

"Plagg has a point, Wayzz," Fu said, and Plagg smirked at the turtle. "If Plagg was not looking for the Miraculous, then it would be easy to confuse the Peacock with a decorative pin at a glance. Not all kwami are as sensitive to the auras of others as you are. But it is important for us to know if it is the Miraculous and if so, then we will have to retrieve it. If Plagg can check-"

Plagg nodded. He wasn't going to let Tikki win discovery-of-the-fight this time around. Granted, he had been the one to discover Hawkmoth's identity and that was pretty big, but it almost didn't count since they had suspected Mr. Agreste before because of the book. But if he could recover the Peacock Miraculous and some of the scrolls...

Bragging rights would be his.

"We will have to be careful going forward," Fu warned them as he returned with a scroll. "An unknown kwami in Hawkmoth's home will put him on edge. He may suspect Adrien is Chat Noir. We can't simply steal things out from under his nose."

"I got caught last time because there's cameras in my father's office," Adrien said. "So he saw me, but apparently kwamis don't show up on camera. Otherwise I really would have been in trouble."

No kidding, kid, Plagg thought. You don't say.

Instead of saying anything, Plagg stuffed another slice of cheese in his mouth. Adrien probably didn't need sarcasm at the moment.

"I will try to have replicas made of the book and scrolls," Fu told them, pouring himself another cup of tea. "Not exact replicas, of course, but ones that look similar enough to pass at a glance, and with random nonsense on them. I will need to know how many there are, if Mr. Agreste has been able to read them at all, and if so, how much he knows. Once we know if the peacock pin is real, then I can have a copy of that made as well. In the meantime, we can brainstorm how the retrieval might go. Ladybug and Tikki might have some ideas."

Plagg scowled and stuffed more cheese in his mouth. He was really going to have to up his investigation game if Fu was going to get Tikki involved soon. Tikki would probably try to have her Chosen hang out around the mansion so she could explore inside and figure out more than Plagg.

He had better get a whole bunch of cheese for all of the work he was going to have to put into this.

Several minutes later, they were packing up to head back to the mansion before anyone noticed that Adrien was missing. Plagg was pleased to note (though he'd never admit it) that Adrien was looking better, apparently over his shock enough to at least put on a face that wouldn't make anyone think that something was wrong. While Fu and Adrien talked, Plagg packed all of the leftover cheese Fu had left out into Adrien's bag.

After all, if he was going to be zipping around the mansion doing all sorts of detective work, he had to keep his energy up somehow. Besides, Plagg would appreciate the cheese more than either

Adrien headed back towards the mansion at a much more leisurely pace than he had left it, much to Plagg's delight. It gave him more time to savor the stash of cheese that he had gotten from the old turtle man, and besides, if Adrien had been jogging again, Plagg wouldn't have been able to eat. Getting back in the window he had climbed out of was a little more difficult than climbing out, if the grumbling from Adrien was any indication, and then they were back in his room.

"Well, that was an interesting afternoon," Adrien said with a sigh, dumping his bag on his bed. Plagg squawked and tried to keep his cheese from getting smashed. "I gotta be more careful, apparently. I guess it's better that I find out now rather than later."

"Uh-huh," Plagg managed as he wriggled under a textbook to fetch a squished wedge of Gouda. "Probably a good idea."

"And you have to be more careful, too," Adrien told Plagg, rudely dragging him out from the bag by the seat of his Nooroo-suit. "If my father hadn't had an eye injury today and saw you, he wouldn't have been fooled for a second."

"I'll travel through the walls," Plagg promised with a scowl, wriggling loose. More than anything, he didn't want to do that. Traveling through the walls left a dusty sort of taste in his mouth, and then his cheese didn't taste as good. He started tugging off the Nooroo outfit and then tossed it to the side. He would have to hide it well so Mr. Agreste wouldn't find it. Maybe he could leave it in Adrien's locker at school. "I'm very good at sneaking when I need to be."

Adrien didn't look convinced.

As always, reviews are much appreciated! :)