Shatter Point

By: EDelta88

Rated M for language, violence, adult situations and concepts, and graphic imagery

[Insert disclaimer here]

Chapter 5: Final Preparations

"Sir?"

"Natalie," Hawkmoth acknowledged as he stared out into the city. "Have you found Chat Noir?"

"Not yet, sir," Natalie replied as she continued running her searches through the various sites they followed for information on Ladybug and Chat Noir. "But I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

"Why did you name her?" Natalie wondered. "It's just, wouldn't it have been more demoralizing to the heroes if she used her real name? Facing a friend is much worse and keeping her name would make it harder for them to dehumanize her."

Gabriel nodded. "All good points," he acknowledged… some of which he hadn't actually considered, but that's why he valued Natalie's input so much. "In the simplest terms? Magic."

Natalie blinked. "Magic?"
"Names have power, Natalie," the villain replied. "Nearly every culture has some myth about names. Be it the True Names of Egypt, the fae using them to control mortals, or the various myths about demons, names have power. In the case of the Miraculous, it seems to be a mix of sorts. Names give the magic… structure? Yes, structure. The names we give ourselves (Ladybug, Chat Noir, etc.) sort of solidify our powers."

Natalie blinked. "Like a spell?" she wondered.

It was Gabriel's turn to blink. "Yes, actually. Exactly like a spell," he responded, stroking his chin in thought. "I hadn't thought of it like that, but the way every Miraculous user chooses a name for their alter ego and the effect it has is very much a sort of spell. How interesting. I shall have to look into that."

"So, you gave her a name to make her more powerful?" Natalie asked.

"Partially," Hawkmoth answered. "My akuma are more… conceptual than the generalized powers granted by a miraculous. My akuma are, quite literally, manifested ideas as I may have told you at some point. Giving them a name creates a more solid identity and their connection to that name does make the akumatized form more powerful, but it appears to have more of an effect on solidifying my connection to them than the strength of their powers. Like most spells, as you so aptly put it, they are heavily influenced by intent and the caster's ability to clearly visualize the result. It's why I work on designs for them and give them names."

"Mnemonics," Natalie realized. "You're tricking yourself into thinking of the person and the akuma as two separate people to… to concentrate on them as part of the magic?"

Hawkmoth nodded. "Thinking of them as they are without the akuma can destabilize the transmutation," he explained. "When Emelie and I first started experimenting with our powers, there were a few times when my champions failed to transform because I thought of them too rigidly. I saw them only as they were and not as what they could be. It's… easier, with strangers."

"And you are very familiar with Miss—uh, Tisserande," Natalie realized, catching herself when she spoke. "The name helps you concentrate on what she should be, not who she was."

"Exactly," Hawkmoth agreed. "The lost tactical advantage is regrettable, but the stability of the transformation is more important than traumatizing some teenagers."

Ding!

Both villains glanced down as a notification pinged on Natalie's tablet.

"Chat Noir was just spotted crossing the Seine," Natalie spoke in a clinical tone as she scanned the Tweet from some random tourist. "Just east of Île Saint-Louis."

Violet light sprang to life in front of the transformed Gabriel's face. "Tisserande, Chat Noir was just spotted crossing the Seine. If you head toward Place de la Bastille, you may be able to cut him off.

"Y̵e̶s̸,̸ ̷H̴a̷w̵k̷m̶o̶t̸h̸.̸"

Dashing between alleyways and through the shadows beneath the buildings, Chat Noir made his way toward Francois Dupont where he knew most of his targets would be taking shelter.

Thump!

The hairs on the back of Chat's neck suddenly stood at attention as something hit the ground behind him.

Sunlight shone off of something in the air in front of him.

Eyes wide, Chat Noir slashed his sword in a wide arc up and over his head. "Air Dragon!" he cried, focusing on pulling, tearing the air apart into a focused vacuum that split the encroaching threads like wheat before a scythe. 'Once again, Anime saves my life,' Chat Noir thought to himself as he turned to face his opponent.

Tisserande stood a short distance away, her eyes flicking between Chat Noir, his sword, and the space where he had been trapped a moment before. "It's not here…" she murmured, her eyes raking over him, looking for something.

"That wasn't very nice, Princess," Chat Noir rasped, massaging his still sore throat as best he could while still holding his weapons. "At least give me a safe word first!"

"Where is it?" Tisserande demanded stalking toward him. "Where's the Kwami?"

All humor melted off of Chat Noir's face as the irritation at akuma referring to Tikki like she was just some thing was bolstered by something foreign and angry. "Her name is Tikki," he replied, his tone dangerously level. Tikki was Marinette's friend. She would never refer to her so callously! How dare this thing wearing her face disrespect her friend like that! "And she's your friend."

Tisserande flinched, halting in her tracks.

Chat Noir blinked in surprise as Tisserande shook her head. 'What?'

"Chat Noir!" a little voice chirped behind him. "The plan! We need to go!"

"Right," Chat muttered. He could think about this later when he had more room to breathe.

Chat Noir ran, taking to the rooftops.

Ting!

Fwiiip!

Chat glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Tisserande clear the eaves like she had been shot from a cannon as she chased after him.

Something flashed in the air.

Ting!

Fwiiip!

Tisserande jerked, her momentum changing violently as she dove at him.

"Oh, good, she's super mobile too!" Chat Noir complained.

Then Tisserande threw her hand toward him, a needle bursting into existence suspended on a red thread as thick as yarn.

'It's coming from her costume?' Chat wondered as one of the arcane designs seemed to unravel. On instinct, Chat slashed his sword, attempting to sever the string, but he only succeeded in batting it away.

A moment later, Tisserande had leaped forward, tumbling through the air as she wrapped the strange new thread around herself before releasing it in a flurry of motion, redirecting the needle at him with deadly precision.

"Whoa!" Chat cried, just barely deflecting the dart.

Ting!

Then Tisserande flicked her wrist, twirling the red string through the air like a ribbon dancer.

Chat Noir had just enough time to realize he was in trouble before the red cord wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. 'Putain, putain, putain!' he thought as the world seemed to slow down to a crawl around him.

Pain? There was no pain. Why was there no pain?

She wasn't hurting him. She wasn't even trying to.

Tisserande!

She was close, diving for—ring. She was going for his ring!

Powers. He had powers.

His arms were pinned, the threads were too far away for him to reach them with cataclysm.

Air Dragon! I was still active!

For a moment, Chat Noir was nothing but smoke and vapor, Tisserande's hand passing harmlessly through him as he reformed a short distance behind her.

Tisserande snarled, whirling on him as the red threads retracted, weaving themselves back into her costume as she prepared to hurl the heavy needle at him once more.

Screw it, he was already down two. He'd need to recharge anyway. "Sorry, gotta bolt!" Chat Noir quipped offering her a jaunty salute. "Lightning Dragon!" he cried, dissolving into pure energy and throwing him into the powerlines.

Tisserande was left alone watching sparks fly along the power lines in every direction.

The glowing violet mask reappeared.

"He doesn't have… her," Tisserande reported.

Silence. All around her, there was silence as Hawkmoth's alien presence spoke to her.

"He keeps running away," she spoke, replying to the voice only she could hear.

Another silence and the longer it went the more agitated Tisserande became.

"Tch," Tisserande hissed before turning in a seemingly random direction and launching herself over the rooftops.

Tom & Sabine's Boulangerie Patisserie…

Tom and Sabine had not reopened the bakery, instead taking shelter near the back of the shop as they watched the news feed covering the latest akuma attack. They kept showing blurry footage and images from people's phones as the news anchor Alec Cataldi interviewed witnesses.

"It was ridiculous, man!" a tourist whispered shakily. "She was not screwing around. Just going straight for the kill. I thought she had him a few times!"

"Did the akuma say anything?" Alec asked.

"I don't know! It all happened so fast—"

"She said that Hawkmoth called her Tisserande," another witness chimed in.

"Yeah, and I think she was looking for something," someone else added.

As Alec turned back to the camera and calmly recounted the well-known story that Hawkmoth was after Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous jewels, Sabine couldn't help but notice several of the witnesses exchanging dubious looks. Her eyes narrowed in on one in particular as she watched their lips like a hawk.

"But she said…" the witness started to say only for the camera cut away to clips of other akuma battles and the numerous times the attacking akuma had demanded Ladybug and Chat Noir hand over their miraculous.

Sabine frowned. Was Marinette not following the pattern? Did it have something to do with what she had done at the school? Akuma usually went after their abusers or the people they blamed for their akumatization first. They always had an agenda. Why was Marinette's akuma going straight for the heroes?

"Well, there you have it folks!" Alec said as he turned to face the camera. "Now, I'm being told that our very own Nadja Chammack has a live feed of the situation! Over to you, Nadja."

"Thanks Alex!" Nadja replied. "We caught up with Chat Noir just as he crossed the Seine. He appears to be—oh dear."

Tom and Sabine gasped as they got their first real look at the akuma that their daughter had become as she closed in on Chat Noir like a diving falcon.

"Well, at least she looks cool," Tom croaked, trying to break the tension.

Sabine barely heard him, her eyes glued to the screen as she took in every detail she could make out as the cameraman did his best to follow Marinette's progress. It was obvious that Marinette had had some kind of influence on the outfit. Just the floral embroidery in the white and burgundy surcoat that lay over the black bodysuit resembled a cheongsam that Marinette had designed for herself several months ago would have given it away. But she recognized the distinct way the armor started as a high collar around her neck and flowed to a sweeping point at the shoulder as the Thai armor style that Marinette had been obsessed with after watching Avatar: The Last Air Bender. She noticed the subtle accents on the armor in Marinette's favorite shade of cherry blossom pink. But for a brutal, aggressive undertone to the suit that seemed so alien on her daughter, Marinette might as well have signed the thing in glowing neon.

Then Marinette launched herself into the open air above Chat Noir, throwing her hands out like she was casting a fishing line. It was impossible to see exactly what she had done but there wasn't a Parisian over the age of seven that wouldn't understand that it couldn't be anything good.

"Look out Chat Noir!" Nadja gasped.

She needn't have worried, it seemed.

There was a flash of light and suddenly the patterns on Chat Noir's costume had changed in the same instant that the black-clad hero slashed the sword he was carrying through the air. The image distorted like a shockwave had ripped through the space Chat Noir had attacked.

Sabine sighed in relief as Chat Noir seemed to relax. Whatever he had done, it had worked.

"What do you think they're saying?" Tom wondered as Marinette's akuma and Chat Noir exchanged heated words.

"I don't know," Sabine replied. The camera was too far away for her to read their lips.

"Well, whatever it was, Chat Noir certainly didn't-Marinette!" Tom cried as the akuma flinched in pain.

Sabine's eyes narrowed. That… that wasn't normal. She'd seen Hawkmoth cause pain to disobedient akuma before but that never happened without the glowing mask being present.

What was going on?

"What's he doing?" Tom gasped as Chat Noir turned to flee. "Why's he running away?"

Then the akuma had shaken herself, leaping after Chat Noir. Then there was a flash of light as sunlight glinted off of something flying away from the akuma as she did something to accelerate further after she had launched herself into the air.

Sabine's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she scanned the image.

There was the faintest silhouetted, no more than a distortion in the pixels of the television.

'One of the witnesses said that her name was Tisserande,' Sabine reasoned as she watched a second glint of light fly from the villain that had been her daughter and cracked a roof tile a moment before her body jerked as if she was being pulled down toward the impact. Tisserande meant Weaver. If her powers had been inspired by Marinette's love of fashion it would make sense for her to have abilities related to thread or fabric.

Tom gasps as Marinette hurls a needle the size of a kitchen knife on a crimson string at Chat Noir.

'Rope Dart,' Sabine cataloged, recognizing some of the movements she had tried to teach Marinette years ago, trying to suppress a burst of pride as her daughter—the akuma, executed the maneuver with deadly precision.

"No!" Tom shouted, leaping to his feet as Marinette manipulated the red string.

Chat Noir was trapped.

"Oh no!" Nadja cried.

Sabine tensed, watching as Mari- the akuma closed in, diving for Chat Noir's trapped hand…

The cat-themed hero cried out a moment before he dissolved into smoke and reappeared behind Marinette.

"Merde," Tom sighed, sagging in relief as Chat Noir said something they couldn't hear and—

The world turned white.

Kra-Koom!

Nadja screamed as a bolt of lightning forked up from the fight below, striking the power lines and crossing all over the city in an instant.

Chat Noir had escaped.

"My goodness!" Nadja cried, more than a little impressed by the display of skill and power. "Chat Noir certainly appears to be in rare form today, but he seems to be struggling without his partner."

Behind Nadja, there was a flicker of purple light and then Tisserande was off like a shot.

"Goodness, she's fast," Nadja lamented as the helicopter struggled to keep up. "We will be providing the studio with regular updates as we try and keep track of the akuma. But, the question everyone is asking is, 'Where is Ladybug?' She has yet to make an appearance. Perhaps she's gathering allies? Maybe she's setting up a trap! When we know more, so will you. Back to you Alec!"

"Thank you, Nadja! Police are urging citizens to—"

The screen flickered as the television sparked dangerously.

Tom blinked. "What the—"

Krbzzt!

"Whoa!" Chat Noir cried as he was unceremoniously spat out of the Dupain-Chengs' television and hurled across the floor. "Ugh, Longg? Divide," he groaned, returning to his normal suit.

"Chat Noir?" Tom gasped, his bloodshot eyes going wide before he rushed the young hero, pulling him up off the ground and into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, thank goodness. Thank heaven! Marinette! She's been—"

"I know," Chat Noir interrupted as the enormous baker set him down. "That's why I'm here actually. I need your help."

"Our help?" Sabine asked, confused.

Wasting no time, Chat dropped a truly impressive wad of bills on the counter. Then he looked Thomas Dupain in the eye and said, "I need everything edible that I can fit through a space roughly fifteen centimeters in diameter."

Tom stared down at the money and then up at the boy who had dropped it in disbelief. "Our daughter has been akumatized… and you're stopping for snacks?"

Chat blinked. "What?" Then he thought about it. "Gah! No! Nonono! They aren't for me! It's a thing with our powers that um… guys, help me out?"

Tom and Sabine both took a startled step back as a little red sprite of some kind flew out from behind Chat Noir, offering them a polite smile.

"Greetings, sir and madame," Longg said as he flew into view. "What my flustered friend is attempting to explain is that we require sustenance to power the abilities employed by Chat Noir and his peers. We hold only the deepest respect for your daughter and her capabilities and so suspect that the battle to come will be… challenging."

Tom and Sabine winced at the reminder that their Marinette was currently the enemy.

"Suffice it to say that Chat Noir felt it prudent to be prepared for any situation," Longg continued. "Thus, he has brought myself and my associate Orikko, but will require additional food for us… and our other reinforcements."

"Any situation?" Sabine repeated, staring questioningly between the Kwami and Chat. "But doesn't Ladybug's spell give her what she needs in order to win?"

Chat Noir remained silent, staring studiously ahead as the ears on top of his head drew flat against his skull.

"Reinforcements…" Sabine murmured, a chill running down her spine like cold water as she realized that something was very, very wrong. She turned quickly back to the creature that had spoken, looking at it more closely this time. "You're a dragon," Sabine observed. "But Chat Noir is cat themed…" her voice trailed off as she took another look at the boy, noting the addition of a thumb ring and a choker necklace. 'Two additional power jewels,' she thought, mind racing as her gaze flicked back to the money on the counter. 'He is preparing ahead of time, planning his own contingencies,' she reasoned, running through all the reasons why he might need to do so in the vain hope that she was wrong… until her list ran dry, and she was left with one, inescapable truth. One answer that fit the evidence laid before her. One answer that broke her heart all over again as the image of her daughter brutalizing herself as she fought tooth and nail against Hawkmoth's control made horrible, sickening sense.

"Sabine?" Tom asked worriedly.

"Chat Noir," Sabine croaked, staring at him with pleading eyes. "Why isn't Ladybug coming?" she asked even as she dreaded the answer. Even as Tom gasped in horror behind her, she never took her eyes off the young hero as she prayed to anyone that might be listening, begging, pleading to be wrong.

Crack a joke.

Say she's delayed.

Say she's out of town.

Say she's been injured even!

Say anything, anything else. Say anything but the thought that made horrible, heartrending sense.

Chat lifted his watery but determined gaze to meet hers. "I'm going to get her back," he told her, deadly serious. "I promised her I'd—" his voice broke, cracking under the emotional strain.

Sabine's heart shattered as Chat all but confirmed her worst fears. Then her gaze hardened, tear tracks turning her normally motherly face into something utterly terrifying. "Do as he says, Tom," she ordered, her voice unnaturally steady as she moved to one of the cabinets and started pulling out food.

'So that's where she gets the look from,' the cat-themed hero realized as Marinette's parents helped him dump tray after tray of confections into the bottomless utility pouches Plagg had given him.

"She's using her threads for added mobility," Sabine said as they loaded all manner of pastries and ingredients into Chat Noir's bag.

Chat Noir gave a start. "What?" he asked, turning back to Madame Cheng even as he and Mr. Dupain worked.

"I think she's throwing out needle and thread like grappling hooks," Sabine warned him. "I saw it on the footage."

"Footage?"

"The news footage, they were following you,"

"Well, that explains how she found me so fast," Chat Noir grumbled as he carefully loaded hard-boiled eggs into his utility pouch. Hawkmoth must be watching the news and feeding information to his akuma. It's certainly what Chat would do if their positions were reversed. "Anything else you've noticed?" he asked.

"She's using martial arts I taught her," Madame Cheng explained. "She was never very good with a rope dart but used it expertly. It might be related to the threads but if it isn't, watch out if she gets her hands on a staff or spear."

Chat Noir blinked in surprise. "Wait, she prefers polearms?" he demanded incredulously.

Sabine nodded. "We both do," she told him with a nostalgic smile.

"Huh, weird," Chat Noir mumbled under his breath as he dumped a tray of pain au chocolat into his bag. Knowing what he knew now, imagining Marinette with anything other than her signature yoyo or something similar just seemed… strange. "Is there… anything else?" Chat Noir asked tentatively. "Things you saw? Things I should watch out for?"

"Nothing you don't already know, I'd imagine," Sabine sighed.

Chat Noir nodded somberly as they poured one last tray of cookies into the bottomless bag.

"Will that be enough?" Tom asked worriedly. How did this whole food-powers thing work anyway? How much food would one of those sprites eat? Was it calorie based? Was it just a catalyst?

But Chat Noir just nodded again. "This should be enough to keep us all going for quite a while, sir. Thank you, really."

"Just… just bring her back," Tom told him as he struggled to maintain his composure.

"I will," Chat replied resolutely.

"Be careful, Chat Noir," Sabine ordered, giving him a pointed look. "She'll never forgive herself if she hurts you."

Chat offered his friend's mother a sad smile. "No promises, Madame Cheng."

The sorrowful look she shot him before she turned to leave spoke volumes.

"Formidable allies the two of you have, young man," Longg observed as Sabine lead her husband into the back.

"You are not actually surprised, are you?" Orikko wondered. "One could hardly expect her parents to raise such an impressive specimen of humanity without being impressive themselves."

"Indeed," Longg agreed. "Shall we begin?"

Chat Noir nodded. "Alright, Orikko. You ready?"

"Sir! Yes, sir!" Orikko replied with a jaunty salute.

"Orikko, Plagg Unify!" Chat Noir called in a flash he'd added several colorful accents, pauldrons, and a tailcoat all made of feathers to his costume. "Sublimation! Shadow Walk!"

Then he dove into the nearest patch of darkness and the world became a greyscale maze of churning, ever-changing portals back to the real world.

"Jesus suffering Christ that's disorienting," Chat Noir hissed, shaking his head. Even with his night vision, it was hard to see anything but the ways back to the normal world and all of those kept shifting as the shadows there changed. It was nauseating! No wonder no one ever used this! "Better make this quick."

A/N

Next Time: Chat Noir collects his team.

In other news, my daughter brought home a nasty stomach bug that has knocked me flat... quite literally. I involuntarily slept for the better part of 32 hours while I was intending to be doing final edits on this. So, fair warning, there will be a few delays and disruptions in the near future as I recover and get things back on track. Thank you for your understanding and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.