Chapter 3

Moments after their earlier conversation, the Gorilla had gone to his own room and left Adrien wearing a hole in the kitchen floor whilst Kagami perched on a barstool and watched, having given up her attempts to calm him down. They were interrupted by a loud *clang!* followed by a whisper. "My Love?"

Kagami leaped up and sprinted toward the back hall, where the elevator she had spoken of slid open to reveal Argos in full-on transformation, a wide grin on his face.

"Babe!" Kagami kissed him with delight.

Adrien tried not to roll his eyes.

"I thought it was shut off," she exclaimed. "None of the buttons worked."

"It was shut off." Felix looked smugly proud of himself. "I flipped the power back on from down below." Noting Adrien, he smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Hello, Cousin. Long time since our last argument, eh?"

Adrien crossed his arms over his chest, trying not to seethe. "That's not really important right now. How did you get in here?"

"The same way you're getting out, without being caught," Felix reassured with confidence. He bowed dramatically. "You're welcome."

Adrien frowned at him. He moved toward the elevator door, peering down between the cracks. He pulled out his phone and turned the flashlight on, trying to see what was down there, but all he could see was black.

He really wished he could use his night vision right now.

As if he'd read his mind, Plagg discretely slipped out of his shirt and vanished between the cracks to scout what was below.

Adrien faced his cousin in exasperation. "You really expect me to believe the best way out of here is to go deeper underground?"

"Relax, cousin," Felix couldn't help sounding condescending. "It's an empty water reservoir that connects to an abandoned tube tunnel, which connects to the Picadilly line. I could get you within two blocks of my family's mansion just by navigating the tunnels underground."

"Or we get lost, since we don't have a map, and wander around in the dark for a few days until we starve to death."

"It's still a better plan than stealing the key from your bodyguard," Kagami, unsurprisingly, sided with her boyfriend. "Our parents won't even know we're gone until tomorrow morning."

"And then what? They're still our parents. We can't hide from them forever." In reality, Adrien figured having until morning COULD give him just enough time; enough time to make it back to Paris, hand his Miraculous off to Ladybug or another holder, and maybe say a proper goodbye to Marinette and his other friends. With luck, he could be back before his bodyguard-or his father-even knew he'd gone.

Subtle as he'd ever been, to his credit, Plagg snuck back through the cracks and disappeared back inside Adrien's shirt as he briefly turned his back to the others, pretending to be examining the elevator more closely. Plagg gave him a shrug. Adrien grimaced. What was that supposed to mean?! Not a resounding yes or no, then. Very helpful.

"Wait." The tone of Kagami's voice prompted him to turn around. She was looking up at Felix, the two of them exchanging information wordlessly that no couple in history should have been able to do after dating for only five days. "Does Adrien know? About the rings?"

"I don't know." Felix's eyes bored into Adrien's. "Do you?"

Adrien felt his breath catch in his throat. "What rings?"

"Your parent's wedding rings." Felix's brow furrowed. "Didn't your mother tell you the story?"

Now Adrien was genuinely confused. "About-how they met?"

"Oh, my god," Felix rolled his eyes and palmed his own forehead. "You really don't know anything?! We don't have time for this."

"Time for what?!" Adrien demanded, remembering at the last second to keep his voice down to avoid waking the Gorilla. Not that he slept lightly or anything. Anxiousness crept up in his chest as he locked eyes with Kagami, who was giving him a strangely sympathetic look. That was rare. "What would YOU know about my parents' wedding rings that has anything to do with me?"

Felix groaned. "I'll fill you in with the details later. For now, all you really need to know, is that with THIS ring," he pulled his own square one from his right hand, "my father controlled me for years. It's a power that comes from a Miraculous. I had to do whatever he said as long as he was using this ring. I had no freedom. Not even to rebel. When I got it back, I took back control of my own life."

Adrien's eyes widened as the weight of what he'd said sunk in. Part of why Kagami trusted him so much also started to make sense. Felix was a trickster, always had been, but-in a way, he'd had to be. Anyone being controlled to that degree must have had to find ways around it, wherever they could.

"Long story short is, your father's doing the same thing to you."

Involuntarily, Adrien took a step back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he laughed nervously. "That's INSANE. Are you crazy!? My father isn't using magic to control me."

"Oh, really?" Felix crossed his arms over his chest. "So when he tells you he's going to use your image to create an AI interface to be used all over the world, when he tells you to go to a fancy ball and pose as Kagami's boyfriend when you're in love with another girl, when he tells you to get on a plane to London, you told him no?"

Adrien felt Plagg squirming around inside his shirt and gave him a hard squeeze to get him to quiet down before someone saw him. "I-I didn't have a choi-"

"Everyone has a choice," Kagami interrupted quietly, her eyes boring into his. Adrien felt his skin go cold. "Except the two of you. You were never given a choice, or you would have refused. I always wondered why you didn't. It never made sense, given the kind of person you are."

"I-but-" Adrien took a panicked breath, countless other moments coming unbidden to mind all at once-times when he didn't understand what was wrong with him, why he couldn't do anything, why he could feel like standing up to his father yet was never able to actually do it.

Times he had taken a breath, shut his mouth, and walked away like nothing he could say or do mattered, even though it COULD have.

"But! I have said no to him before! I went to school even when he told me not to. I did it multiple times until he changed his mind. I stood up to him then!"

Felix met him deadpan. "That was right after your mother died, wasn't it? Was he wearing his ring then?"

"N-no," Adrien sputtered, taken aback. He remembered, very plainly, the day his father had put his ring back on. It was anniversary of his mom's death, the day Felix had visited and tried to screw with all his friends.

He tried, racking his brain to remember, if he'd ever said no to his father since that day. What Felix was saying just couldn't be true.

"Look," Felix stated impatiently, "I realize you're having a crisis right now, but the point is, we need to get AWAY from your father. As in, as soon as possible. Kagami and I are going. You can either come with us or stay and be told what to do for the rest of your life. The choice is yours."

He stalked off toward the elevator. Kagami followed, giving him one final glance back.

Adrien remained frozen in place. As soon as the others were out of earshot, Plagg practically launched from Adrien's shirt pocket. "What are you waiting for!?" he exclaimed. "You heard them, you have to get out of here!"

"Plagg, I can't just trust Felix," Adrien's fists balled up at his sides as he glared daggers at the floor. "Or don't you remember he's the one who was working together with Monarch, who stole all the Miraculous from Ladybug and used ME to do it?"

"But Adrien," Plagg begged him, "this makes SENSE. All those times when you felt super guilty about not being able to stand up to your father? It wasn't because you were a coward, we both know that's not true! It's because you were being controlled! And if your father has rings with some kind of magical powers, who knows? Maybe it's actually a Miraculous!"

"If what Felix is saying is true, then you're right, we need to get it back from him and tell Ladybug," Adrien spoke with conviction. Then his shoulders slumped. "But we don't know whether he's telling the truth or if it's some kind of trick." His eyes widened as he had a thought. "What if he's discovered my identity? Plagg?! What if he's trying to get me to reveal it to Monarch?"

"Truuueee," Plagg drawled, far too casually. "But how are you going to find out whether he's telling the truth or not if you stay stuck here in this remarkably well-stocked underground prison?"

"Or I could just cataclysm my way out of here and go a different way."

"Then you'd really be giving away your identity. There's cameras everywhere in here, if you haven't noticed."

Adrien was used to cameras, so he hadn't actually given it much thought, but now that Plagg pointed it out, he realized he was right. He could count at least four in this one room without even looking that closely.

"You just have to start listening to your instincts more. Chat Noir wouldn't hesitate to jump into that elevator and follow his friends into the tunnels, why should Adrien Agreste?"

Because Adrien Agreste doesn't make his own decisions.

Because Adrien Agreste doesn't do anything without his father's permission.

Because Adrien Agreste is a PUPPET performing in a SHOW for his father's own personal advantage, because his father didn't care about what was best for him, he never had, and he was never going to.

He felt something crumble inside of him.

It made sense. This had been the truth all along. The well-bred gentleman in him wanted proof before he acted, but the caged animal inside him knew instinctively it was the truth.

Gritting his teeth, Adrien faced Plagg. He'd never felt this angry at his father before.

He wondered how long his father had forced him to put it aside.

"All right. We're getting out of here."