Symbiotic Whiskers

Chapter 9

One good thing about having these powers, or his sentient suit, was how much he could do on little sleep. His nights out could be longer, he can get just as much stuff during the day, and after all of it he could go visit one of his closest friends.

A close friend of Cat Noir, but Adrien was still working on that bond.

Sitting cross legged on a little stool, Cat Noir was back in the cozy room of Marinette who had not only welcomed him in but also didn't accuse him of any wrong doing despite what the mayor had been saying.

"So you managed to catch what Ladybug and I said to the mayor after the attack?" Cat Noir asked, Marinette nodding in clarification.

"Yeah, but even before the truth got out I knew I could trust you." Grabbing a handful of chocolate chips, she tossed one over that Cat Noir easily caught in his mouth. "But your powers aren't magic then?"

"Nope, well not exactly sure." Cat Noir waited for Marinette to finish snacking on a few more before she tossed another one to him that he easily caught again in his mouth. "At least we know why I couldn't use cataclysm, or other things. So now I don't have to stress about if my powers are working the right way or not."

"So maybe you can do more than you thought." Marinette proposed, studying his outfit a little closer. "Like your outfit is fluid, can change shape and act on its own."

To prove her point his tail rose on its own, stretching over to take a large serving of chocolate from her bag and absorb it straight into the material.

"Yeah." Cat Noir held up his hand, clenching it as he was able to summon those sharp glowing green blades from his knuckles instead of just his fingers. "Though it's a little late for me to drop the cat thing. Still, I can start figuring out what more me and my partner can do. And when other villains show up they'll be in for a surprise."

"And uh, what about your new partner?" Marinette tried to play the neutral party, but there were several mixed feelings about Black Cat potentially joining the team. Not just the fact that both her partners were cat themed, but also the way they got so playful around one another, making her the third wheel even though she and Cat Noir had been partners for way longer. "How do you feel about her?"

"At first I thought she might be another copy cat." Checking the time, Cat Noir saw that he had stayed here much later than he thought. "But turns out she's technically the original and paired well with Ladybug at times. She's still green, but I think she has a lot of potential. Of course that all depends on if she's allowed to keep her miraculous for longer or not."

"I mean how do you feel about her." Marinette reiterated, sitting at the edge of her seat as she all but demanded an answer.

Cat Noir was slightly taken aback by the question, seeing how somehow it mattered a lot to her. He decided to scoot closer, narrowing his inquisitive gaze as Marinette stiffened at the close proximity. His mask was still open from the snacks, his mouth still exposed and closer than she realized.

She could almost feel his warm breath against her skin, the girl drawn to it as it felt like it was pulling her in. It was right there, inches away, all she had to do was lean forward, the temptation growing beyond what she could tolerate.

Before she could succumb, Cat Noir chuckled as his mask sealed away his smirk. "Don't worry, you're my favorite."

He flipped away, landing at the side of her window as his tail moved to open it, leaving him to stare back at her. "I'll see you again."

Then he flew out into the night, a tendril closing the window behind him and leaving Marinette wanting more. She couldn't move, couldn't think, just sat there longing for contact.

"Um, Marinette?" Tikki came out from her hiding spot, waving her little arm in front of her glazed eyes. "Are you going to go to bed?"

"Huh?...Yeah yeah in a minute…" Stuck in her trance, Marinette had her back turned on the collage of photos of Adrien as her mind was stuck on the brief sensation that stirred in her gut and numbed her thoughts.

Tikki had a few things she was intending to talk about, specifically what exactly Cat Noir was using as his powers. Still, it was an incredible relief to know that Plagg was ok, the miraculous was not damaged, and he might have a holder he enjoyed. There were still concerns, and it was never easy when humanity turned on its holders trying to protect them.

For tonight, she would let Marinette dream.

An akuma, this early in the morning?

There was hardly any warning, just a sudden alert on everyone's phones as Paris was faced with a wave of familiar birds rushing over everything. Not just any kind of birds though, Pigeons.

"This guy again?!" Grumpy and tired, Ladybug swung herself forward as three heroes chased after the villain riding in a cloud of feathers. "Why can't he just feed his pigeons where no one will bother him?!"

"To be fair, he has tried." Swinging by the heroine, Cat Noir maneuvered out of the way of a ball of wings that tried to take him out. "How many times has he been akumatized because he saw someone feeding them white bread?"

"It's not even bad for them!" Ladybug kept the swearing inside her head as she nearly stepped on a puddle of white atop one of buildings she intended on jumping off of.

The new addition, Black Cat used her staff as a bridge, running alongside the two. "How many times have you fought this guy?"

"Too many." Both Ladybug and Cat Noir groaned in unison, their target heading towards a massive food bank where trucks of bread were being unloaded.

"Lucky charm!" Summoning her unique item, Ladybug was presented with another unexpected gift. "A laser pointer?"

"Oh!" Black Cat landed on all fours atop a perch above the heroine. "Lots of birds hate lasers! I used to see people use them to chase away pigeons."

"Funny." Cat Noir landed next to her, both looking like two cats in an alley. "Here I thought we were going to start playing."

"Later kitty." Black Cat purred teasingly as she went up to scratch his chin. "We have-"

"I called him kitty first!" Ladybug yelled up, wanting the morning to be over so she could go back and try to get some sleep before school. "Now Cat Noir, I need you to throw Black Cat towards Mr. Pigeon on my mark!"

Cat Noir trusted her, hopping down towards the street before shooting two lines from each arm, pulling them back as Black Cat jumped down to place herself in the makeshift slingshot. "You know Ladybug, if I go with her I could wrap up Mr Pigeon while she uses her cataclysm to-"

"Not now kitty!"

"Which one?" Black Cat's joke only made Ladybug grind her teeth, until eventually she relented.

"Fine, whatever will get this over with."

Cat Noir took a few steps back, the tethers stretching out and tensing the further back he went. "Fasten your seatbelt."

Black Cat complied, wrapping his tail around herself and pushing her back up against his chest. "I'm all strapped in."

Ladybug pointed the laser pointer forward, dispersing the large crowd of protective birds away from their master. "Go!"

Cat Noir pulled his feet up, the two cats speeding forward in Mr. Pigeon's direction. Several nets of black tendrils sprung out from his costume, ensaring the akumatized man and giving a clear opening for Black Cat to touch her hand against his bird call.

The akuma cleansed, the man returned to normal, and Ladybug repaired the city. Just another day for the heroes.

"Woo!" Black Cat and Cat Noir shared her staff as they slid down it, spinning along the pole like dancers. "I could get used to this!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't." Ladybug crossed her arms as the two landed near her. "Have you gone to the place I told you about?"

"Um, well, not yet but-"

"Go, now." Ladybug demanded, pointing off in the general direction.

With a saddened look, Black Cat complied. Using her staff to vault herself away before detransforming out of sight. Ladybug calmed herself, relaxing now that the chore was complete.

"What was that all about?" Cat Noir asked cautiously.

"What?"

"You seem kind of tense, especially about Black Cat. Do you not want her on the team?"

Giving a huff, Ladybug felt all that agitation build up again just thinking about it. "She needs to talk to the Guardian of the miraculous since she wasn't supposed to have it in the first place. If she's allowed to keep it, she has to stop flirting with you all the time if she wants to be a part of this team."

"You know she's just playing right? We both do it, and since you don't like it-"

"I never said I didn't like it." Ladybug corrected him. "But that was different when it was just us! Now you two just go back and forth playing with each other and I have to keep the team focused!"

Cat Noir quirked his head, his ears twitching as he tried to understand her feelings with all his acute senses. "You liked it when I flirted with you?"

"No, sort of." Trying to keep her thoughts straight, Ladybug reorganized her words as she chopped her arms to help punctuate her point. "I knew you meant no harm by it, and I know I turned you down but that doesn't mean we can't be close."

Sirens could be heard approaching, Ladybug and Cat Noir escaping the streets to continue their conversation on the move.

"Do you not want us to get close to Black Cat?"

"She might not be a part of the team!"

"But we don't know that yet, and if she joins I don't want her to feel like she can't be herself around us. That's why I love being Cat Noir, I can be more me with the mask on than off."

As they landed atop of a multi story laundromat, Ladybug heard her earrings flash, alerting her of her limited time. Cat Noir noticed, giving her the space she needed as he planned his next route.

"I know mornings can be rough for you Ladybug, but right now I think we need as many allies as we can get." With a quick thwip and a swing away, Cat Noir left Ladybug alone to stir in her feelings.

The morning was rough, Ladybug reflecting back and realizing she might have been a little harsh on Black Cat. She didn't hate her, but it just bugged her so much the way she got so close with Cat Noir. Was it just cat behavior? Was Cat Noir even using cat based powers? All of it was confusing and frustrating, and when she saw the billboard of Adrien across the street she let all of it vanish to focus on his perfect face.

The morning was over, and today she would forget about it by focusing on him.

Zoe double checked the address, the building she stood in front of, the address again, and it still didn't seem right. This grand guardian of the miraculouses ran a sketchy 'energy cleansing' place? Peaking into her jacket, she saw Plagg casually chilling in her pocket browsing on her phone. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

He took a quick peek out, and immediately recognized the symbols hidden in the main shop's sign. "Yeah, this is the place."

With no other reason not to, Zoe stepped towards the door, opening it to find the small lobby area inside. "Do you think there's a chance he lets me keep the miraculous?"

"Hard to say. He has final say but if it comes down to it I'll vouch for you."

"Thanks Plagg." She closed her jacket as she heard someone approach, the girl going on her best behavior. She overheard some chatter as two men came around the end of the hallway, one of them a much shorter foreigner with a red and white floral shirt.

"I came in here skeptical, but you proved me wrong." The business man rubbed his neck, feeling more flexibility and youth in it than he felt in years. "Glad I listened to my friend about stuff like this for once."

The older and smaller man gave a short laugh. "To be cautious of new things is smart, but to have an open mind is always wise."

That's when he noticed Zoe waiting nearby, the man smiling knowingly. "Mr. Dixon, it was a pleasure to have you, but I believe I have an overdue appointment to get to."

"Thanks again Mr. Fu!" The finely suited man walked out, leaving Zoe alone with the odd old man.

"Hi?" Zoe greeted, not sure if this was who she was supposed to spill all the details to.

"Hello Black Cat." Master Fu gave a small bow to the young lady before gesturing towards further into the building. "I have been waiting for you."

"Hello Mr. Guardian, sir." Zoe bowed deeply to return the gesture. "Unless you prefer to be called something else?"

"It is customary to be referred to as either Master or Great Guardian." He sternly informed as if he was correcting a grave mistake, until his smile returned. "But Fu is just fine with me."

"Hey Master Fu!" Plagg came out from Zoe's jacket, eager to meet back up with the guardian. "You happen to have any snacks?"

"Knowing you were arriving, I made sure to prepare." Opening the sliding door, he allowed the two to make themselves comfortable in the calming room. It was mostly empty, expect for a small piece of furniture to the side where rested on it was a plate of cheese.

"Jackpot!" Plagg flew over, indulging himself in the snacks as Zoe tried to find a seat. Instead she found nothing, following his lead as he settled himself to sit on his knees on the floor with a tea seat at the ready. How did anyone do that?

Still she tried, struggling to follow his lead as she saw a green kwami fly out of hiding.

"So, you are the current holder of the cat miraculous, someone I did not originally choose." Master Fu began to pour a fresh cup, handing it to Zoe as the girl hesitated to accept. "How did you come across it in the first place?"

"It was just some offhand gift." She confessed, looking down at her own reflection in the liquid. "I don't think he even knew what it was, or ever even opened it. It was the day of a funeral and we hadn't seen each other in years."

"Hmmm." Master Fu hummed in thought as he poured himself a cup. Perhaps Adrien Agreste wasn't as curious of a cat as he presumed. Still, if he didn't realize what he had given up then that covered his main concern. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"Well, I don't know how much there is to tell." Zoe flicked her eyes back to the reflection rippling at the surface of the cup, reexamining her life. "I'm, not that good of a person. I spent my whole life trying to please my family but I ended up driving everyone else away. I, mocked people, teased them, and even used them just because I wanted to be loved. Ironic."

Quirking a brow, the man lowered his cup as he reexamined the girl. "Normally people like having a miraculous, but you seem like you're trying to give me an excuse to take it from you."

"I do love what the miraculous has given me." She set aside the drink, holding her ring up in her fist. "It gave me a new chance to actually, be some good to the world, letting me take off the mask I wear around everyone I know by putting on another. I felt free to be myself for once, and even though the mayor is trying to turn Paris against heroes I was willing to take that risk."

"Was?" Master Fu questioned.

"Hold up!" Plagg flew over towards Zoe, turning down his platter of snacks. "You haven't even heard his choice yet!"

"I'm sorry Plagg." Zoe held up her palm to cup the kwami's face. "I love being Black Cat, and I'm so glad you trust me to have you with me. But I don't think I'm worthy of your trust, anyone's."

"Master Fu!" Plagg flew out of her touch, almost begging towards the man. "Don't listen to her, she may be new to this but-"

"Plagg." Master Fu interrupted, holding up a hand to keep the kwami silent. Once he backed away, the man put his hands on his knees to give complete focus to the young holder. "You have lived your whole life trying to be someone else. Are you sure you are aware of who you are?"

"I-" She never had the question posed to her before, and now that it has she struggled to come up with an answer. "I don't think I know."

"If you do not know yourself, how do you know your worth?"

"I…I don't."

"Then, why don't we find out?" Master Fu's wisdom flooded the room, hope seeping into Zoe's heart as she was given a chance to find herself, find her worth, by becoming the official holder of the cat miraculous.

As she finally accepted his offer for the cup of tea, she was pleased at the potential she saw in herself inside. Taking a long sip, the warmth spread through her.

It was a good day for Zoe.

"Though I do have a request as you discover yourself as Black Cat." Master Fu's joy seemed to simmer, the man finishing his cup in one sip. "I need you to learn more about Cat Noir, specifically what gives him his powers."

"I can't say I'm not curious too." Zoe confessed as she felt more open with the man who was putting so much faith in her. "Do you have an idea of what it might be?"

"Vaguely." Reflecting back on all his knowledge, Master Fu could only dredge up a nagging feeling that it was familiar. "Having a stranger work so closely with the miraculous poses a risk to their security."

"But I'm a stranger." Zoe reminded him, getting another short laugh in response.

"You are more of a stranger to yourself than you are to me." Master Fu refilled his cup, Zoe questioning if all old guys who liked tea relayed their wisdom in undecipherable riddles.

With Adrien at school, and Gabriel occupied with his work, Nathalie was helping with another side project. Going over the several videos between Ladybug, Cat Noir, and now Black Cat, she had examined each and every one of them in a new light in order to give a more comprehensive assessment of their abilities and personalities.

It was difficult given how much change has happened, but in the confusion that's where things could go in their favor. It wasn't just them, the heroes would need to figure out their new dynamic. This morning proved a vital learning experience, because while Hawkmoth used a frequent villain to present an obstacle for the heroes to be observed facing Nathalie had found some crucial details.

Gathering her research, she brought it straight to the person who would benefit from it most. Opening the door, she saw Gabriel waiting while staring up towards the portrait, reaffirming his resolve.

"Gabriel." Nathalie approached, the man looking to her for assistance, the trust they developed to make sure Adrien's happiness would be secured. "I think we can make your previous plan work."

A short cough sprang from her throat, Nathalie forced to have a moment to herself as the irritation only swelled.

"Are you ok?" He asked, leaving the image of his wife to check on her.

"Just a minor cough, I'll be fine." She assured, holding the tablet up to him. "Black Cat is still new and reliant on Cat Noir and Ladybug, but trust is yet to be established."

"Hm." Gabriel read over her notes, smiling as he had been keeping one particular upset sculptor on the back of his mind. But one akumatized person would clearly be outnumbered and outmatched despite his capabilities of sabotage. A second would be needed. "Are you sure you're willing?"

"Yes." Nathalie knew the risks, having observed them firsthand. "This is a rare opportunity that can't be wasted."

For Adrien, she would have to hold on long enough for him.

Class could be very entertaining, but also a massive headache. Alya had the luck to be able to sit next to her best friend in class, who was often the source of both.

Marinette wasn't paying attention to the teacher, which was fun to watch her be distracted until Marinette had to borrow her notes for the day. The girl was staring towards Adrien, sketching aimlessly while never leaving her eyes off the remodeled version of the teen super star. No matter how often Alya made an opportunity for Marinette to make a move, she kept slipping up or backing out entirely. It was even more painful seeing how Adrien kept inviting her to things, visiting her parent's bakery so frequently, and doing pretty much everything aside from proclaiming he had a crush on her.

That was the only thing keeping hope in Alya's heart for Marinette and Adrien to get together. Though that hope was starting to dwindle the more time went on. Looking closer at the sketch Marinette drew up without even looking, she could barely make out similar features to Adrien.

It looked a lot like Cat Noir.

Great, she was in love with not only two popular blonds that dressed in black, but one of them was a 'wanted criminal'. Not that Alya believed he belonged behind bars, but when he confessed about killing Chloe while she was akumatized he didn't exactly announce his innocence.

The bell rang out, their teacher collecting up her lesson plan as people began to gather up as Alya tapped Marinette to pull her out of the daydream.

"Schools over, what were you working on all day?"

"Nothing!" Marinette pathetically lied as she covered up the paper.

"You have spent a lot of time doodling today." Adrien turned around in his seat, warmly smiling up towards her. "Is it for more of your designs?"

"Y-yes!" Marinette played along. "It's uh, some ideas floating around in the back of my mind. See you later-I mean not later as in today but as in later as in tomorrow. Not that today is bad or you're bad-No wait! I mean you're good, a very good person who just dresses bad-not in that way!"

Alya wrung her arm over Marinette's shoulder to help shut the girl up before she dug herself into a deeper hole. "But we are free today if you have something in mind."

"Heck yeah!" Nino piped up from his seat. "We were actually going to check out some new music store where they have all sorts of wicked quality headphones to sample the records or the instruments without messing up someone else's vibe. You two can come with!"

"Sounds great!" Alya was already pulling Marinette along. "I've been wanting to see if I can find more tunes I can use in the background of my ladyblog vid updates."

"Are you guys talking about dead beats?" Ivan, the class metal head approached with his girlfriend Mylène. "That place rocks!"

"They have a lot of variety." Alix mentioned as she was already bringing out her roller skates from her bag to switch into. "Staff knows their stuff too."

"We should all go together!" Rose cheered as she tugged Juleka along. "We could sample some stuff to get an idea of what kind of music we can make for the band!"

"Sounds great." Adrien was happy to see so many of his classmates wanting to spend time with him, and maybe the big group would help Marinette feel more comfortable with him being there. But another idea came to mind, and Adrien walked up to Sabrina who seemed to drag out putting her own stuff away.

"Hey Sabrina." He called out to the girl, who seemed to barely have the will to lift her head towards him. "We're going to go to a music store. Do you want to come with us?"

She didn't speak, she barely spoke a word anymore. Adrien took care to make sure she was involved, that she wasn't alone, and she appreciated that. Giving a small nod, Sabrina stuck close to Adrien as they all went out together.

Unintentionally leaving Marinette lingering in the back with Alya.

They could barely hear the front of the crowd as Adrien piped up. "Hey guys, mind if I invite one more friend?"

"Go for it man!" Nino encouraged Adrien as he began to send out a quick text.

The two girls could only guess who he was referring to, the same girl he showed up to the bakery with. That left only one question.

"Are you giving up?"

"What?" Marinette glanced back towards Alya, who seemed more agitated than usual.

"On Adrien. Are you giving up?"

How could she even think that? "How could anyone give up on Adrien?"

"Well the fact that you keep avoiding him despite him turning up on your doorstep. You blowing him off everytime that he tries to do something with you. The fact that he has so many fangirls competing to get him to just acknowledge his existence, that he could just walk up to one and they would say yes immediately. Or how about how his old childhood friend shows back up that is willing to spend all her time with him?"

Feeling discouraged, distanced, and overall her hope to actually overcome herself just to have a straight conversation with Adrien, Marinette found herself unable to come up with a rebuttal. Her heart so desperately yearned for Adrien, but what was the point if her mind just scrambled everytime she thought of him?

"There's also one other reason." Alya brought up, getting Marinette to look up to her. "Your Cat Noir's newest number one fan."

"What?!"

"Bad timing honestly, with the mayor gunning for his head and Black Cat clearly loving his persona enough to copy it. Do you just always fall for the most popular, hard to get guys?"

Ok, to be accused of getting nowhere with Adrien was fair. But there was no reason for Alya to think that she was interested in Cat Noir like that! Sure he was capable, hard working, loyal, fun, easy to talk with, honest, gentle despite how he could overpower her at any time with those strong arms and…..uh oh.

But that meant betraying her feelings for Adrien! Those were undeniable, and how could she try to be with anyone while she was in love with Adrien? It wouldn't be fair to anyone, not him, not her, and not Cat Noir.

"Hey." Adrien was hanging back by the door, waiting for them. "You still coming?"

While Marinette wasn't sure how she felt about anyone else, there was no doubt in her mind how she felt about the boy in black leather. Shaking her head to get the cat ears out of her head, she followed right after the supermodel.

But at some point, she would have to decide whether to finally reveal her feelings or save them for someone else.

Text after text, Zoe tried to reach out to her step father and her mother. No response, doing whatever they would do without her. Odds were her father was back at in the mayor's office playing politics to get whatever law passed to ban superheroes. Her mother probably off to do some work while she was here, judging whatever fashion trends were happening here.

She already committed herself not to do anything aweful for their affection, but to get some would be nice. At the very least she wanted to know if they signed her up for school here or not, until then she had nothing to do as Zoe.

Except to focus on her assignment that Master Fu had given her.

"Ok." Writing down a series of basic questions, scrolling through the ladyblog to see if they might already be answered or more questions posed by the blogger, and looking up videos of Cat Noir to see if she could answer anything left. Beyond what she had seen first hand, the results were unclear.

"Watcha doing?" Plagg asked as he hovered above, crumbs resting on his stuffed belly.

"Trying to figure out everything Cat Noir can do." Zoe made note of how his 'yarn' acted more like webbing, or how it could come out of anywhere from his suit. But he still had claws, and apparently boasted night vision as well so that eliminated any ties to New York. "Maybe that will give us a hint towards what his suit really is."

"Tell me." Plagg posed as he rolled over above her. "What other than kwamis can give people superpowers?"

"Wait, do you not know who's in New York?"

"Why? Is there a Peacock hero or villain running around?"

"No, but we still have-"

A text came from her phone, Zoe's hand slamming over it as she hoped it was one of her parents. To her disappointment it wasn't, but it was Adrien inviting her to an activity. A music shop sounded fun, and if his class was going maybe she could make some other friends too, as herself.

Happily sending out a reply, she was looking forward to it. But not right now, she still had to make sure there was nothing missing.

"Why don't you just ask him then?" Plagg whined above, slowly circling her vision. "You're doing all this work when the easy answer is right in front of you."

"He doesn't know how his powers work though." Zoe went back to her notes, double checking some of the footage. "Him and Ladybug thought he had the cat miraculous but clearly that's not the case."

"Well duh." Plagg agreed, scowling as he watched Cat Noir flip around on her screen as they battled Animan. "There's only one king of the jungle."

"I thought that was lions?"

"Lions are cats, and I'm the top cat."

"Yeah yeah." She gave him a few rubs on his noggin before moving onto another video of Cat Noir facing off against Dark Cupid. There was the shot, the arrow hitting him, and then he paused.

She watched closely as he didn't act like the others hit by the arrow, instead he got quiet before rushing out to attack the akumatized person. His moves were different, animalistic, running on all fours as his suit seemed to begin to grow. He mentioned his suit was alive, but could it really take full control anytime it chose to?

Did Cat Noir have control of himself that night, or was it the suit that killed her sister?

When she glanced at the time on her phone, Zoe bit her lip as she realized more time had passed than she anticipated. "Crap! Plagg we're going to be late!"

"For what?" He lazily called out as he considered sneaking back downstairs for another quick bite. "No school, no job, and you only have one friend besides myself."

"That's what I'm hoping will change today!" Zoe grabbed her jacket, wallet, and barely remembered her phone. Getting a cab would be too slow, so she'd have to use another mode of transportation. "Plagg, claws out!"

Leaping out the high window as Plagg rushed into her ring, Zoe became Black Cat as she fell. With a quick flip off of a lightpost, and a staff extension to propel her upwards, she kept herself above the daylight streets. The last thing she needed were cops on her tail when she just wanted to go to a music shop.

Unless of course that alarm nearby demanded her attention.

"Great." Rolling her eyes as she went to double check to make sure she wasn't needed, Black Cat saw it was just a pawn shop. Not even a bank. Looking down from her vantage point, there weren't any cops around, but not even anyone she could decipher causing trouble. Getting down on her belly, crawling closer to the edge, she tried to figure out how bad things were.

"Who triggered the alarm?!" A man whose blood pressure could be seen through the veins on his forehead screamed as he searched around the place. He kept looking around, carrying a bat with him as he swept the store. Just him then, and he clearly wasn't the one that was taking anything.

False alarm?

Seeing someone emerge from the rooftop said otherwise. Guess Zoe's life will have to wait, right now it's time for Black Cat to investigate. Entering into pursuit, Black Cat began running after the figure. Keeping a reasonable distance, she couldn't make out any big bag or wad of cash on their person. But they were fast, maneuverable, and above all dressed in black.

Black Cat increased her speed in trying to keep up, luckily they were taking it slow enough to where she didn't have to exert herself enough. But no one normal moved that fast, or began using black yarn to swing around the place!

"Cat Noir?" Running faster to catch up, she tried to think of why he would be taking something from a pawn shop. Maybe some ancient artifact he tracked down? Though she couldn't remember a time they did anything like that.

It could also be something they had to grab for someone who might be akumatized, but no akuma alert had gone off yet. Again, the only way to get her questions answered was to go straight to the source.

He swung repeatedly through the area, until he built up his momentum and narrowed his body to shoot through a small opening in Sainte-Chapelle. Following closely, Black Cat landed at the opening, peering inside the gothic building. She saw the other cat climbing along the ceiling, staying out of sight as he crawled over into a more private area that no one could realistically access without a really tall ladder.

Taking great care to use her staff to quietly extend out to the other part of the ceiling, she stalked along it as she kept her senses on full alert.

"Will this do?" Cat Noir's whispered echoed loud enough only for her to hear.

"I was hoping for something with a little more shine." A familiar girl's voice replied in a quiet tone.

"You should have seen the price tag."

"And who could I sell it to? We talked about this Cat Noir."

Black Cat came closer and closer, her ears honing in on the conversation as she began getting close enough to just peak past one of the arches. No, no it couldn't be.

But her eyes didn't betray her, and her ears already suspected it the whole time. Ladybug and Cat Noir, with a rather old but expensive looking watch in the cat burglar's paw. Ok, she needed answers now.

Flipping forward from her staff and interrupting their transaction, Black Cat intervened directly. "Ok, what exactly is happening here?"

"Ugh see." Ladybug rolled her eyes as she flicked his nose. "I told you you need to take better care that no one follows you."

"How long could we have kept her out of the loop anyways?" Cat Noir relaxed, waving her to come closer. "You want in on this deal?"

"What deal?" Black Cat warrily asked, nervous about what she had just come across.

"Simple." The cat held the watch out to Ladybug, who begrudgingly accepted it. "You keep quiet, and I get you some 'compensation' for your troubles."

A bribe? Cat Noir would stoop so low to bribe them to keep quiet about his theft? There's no telling how long this had been going on or how far he'd be willing to go. If Ladybug wasn't here, she would have believed he was another copy cat.

She was here though, and she looked like she regretted this whole thing. Hold on, what was she keeping quiet about?

"Ladybug, what is he making you keep quiet about?"

She looked down to the watch, a hand shaking as she considered speaking up.

"Don't." Cat Noir warned darkly, Black Cat seeing the claws itching to slink out from his hands.

"Do." Black Cat ordered, holding her staff forward as she felt like all she looked forward to in being Black Cat just fell and shattered. Her knuckles went white as she tightened the grip on her staff. They better have a very, very good reason for her to trust them over her own stepfather.

"It, it was Chloe's fault!" Ladybug snapped, throwing the watch back at Cat Noir's face who caught it with ease. "She kept making people into akumas! We had to do something about it!"

"No." Zoe uttered, the cruel horror dawning on her. She thought she had made some real friends finally, but she was mistaken. "No, you two….she wasn't akumatized."

"Name your price." Cat Noir didn't request nicely, dangling the expensive watch in his claws. "This is a pretty penny."

"How, how could you?!" Black Cat roared as she aimed her staff at his neck, Cat Noir looking unimpressed. "I believed you! Both of you! Was a human life worth so little to you?!"

"It was worth enough for her." Cat Noir tossed the watch back in Ladybug's direction, who didn't bother to catch it this time. "She was worse than a liability, she was a threat to everyone who hid behind daddy."

His claws edged themselves out, glowing dangerously as he pointed one towards her. "I like you. You've got more backbone than the bug here. We could be the best superhero team. The pussy cats or, some better team name."

"You're not a hero." Black Cat hissed as she narrowed her slit eyes towards her prey. She needed to figure out what he could do? She was about to get a front row seat. "You're a monster."

Adrien saw how decently crowded the store was, half of the people inside his classmates all trying out different things. There were noise canceling booths to try out instruments and audio equipment, dozens of cd's and records, all organized with band merch and good quality headphones to sample some of the music before buying.

Of course, he seemed to be doing less listening and more talking.

"You having fun?" He asked Sabrina, who merely shrugged in response. It wasn't ideal, but it was an improvement. "I don't know if you like Jagged Stone or not, but I know he put out that new album recently. You know the one Marinette drew the album artwork for?"

Sabrina didn't reply, instead acknowledging him by pointing over towards the artist's large merch section. He noticed Juleka over there, listening to one of the headsets of the artist.

"Yeah, him. I'm gonna go see how good it is. You're welcome to come along if you want."

He always gave her the choice, but he didn't force her into his own tastes. Walking past some of the cs bins, Adrien gave a short smile as a greeting to Juleka who noticed his approach. Knowing not to interrupt her listening, and ignoring Marinette's staring at him from a hiding place, he placed the headset on and selected the first sample track for the music.

It was great as always, keeping true to his spirit but introducing some new elements as the artist explored new means to communicate through music. But as the guitar riff shredded, he could feel a pain grind through his mind as his hands flew off to rip them off.

"You ok?" Juleka asked, noticing his sudden distress.

"Yeah just, a hearing problem I have." Adrien technically didn't lie, but how could he tell them the truth?

"You're developing hearing problems?" Max, who met nearly every definition of nerd with suspenders and glasses but was a fair sport at his video game skills.

"Oh no!" Rose, who was never far from Juleka, leapt into the scene. "Does that mean you can't be in the band?"

While he never decided whether or not he was going to join it, Adrien still found this as an excuse to not risk harming his companion. "Sorry, I don't know what noises exactly but some of them just hurt my ears."

"Hmmm." As Max reexamined the small studio rental areas, a brilliant idea emerged from the swelling mind. "Maybe if we can isolate what frequencies you're sensitive to we can start eliminating any harmful tones from your music selection."

"Worth a shot." Adrien agreed, going with Max with Juleka and Rose tagging along to rent out a studio to mess around in.

Meanwhile Marinette watched on as he left to go hang out with some other classmates, excluding her. "He even likes Jagged Stone. We're totally made for each other."

"Doesn't matter if you won't go listen to it with him." Alya reminded Marinette of her crutch, trying to just zone into her own music. "If it's meant to be then you wouldn't have such a hard time stroking out every time you think about him."

"It sounds like you want me to give up on him."

"I'm tired of watching you hurt yourself Marinette." Taking the headphones off, she decided to pull the girl aside and let her have it. "It was cute how much you liked him, but this has gone on far enough. You're pushing yourself way too hard for this ideal relationship that only exists in your head. What do you like more, the idea of being with Adrien or who he actually is?"

"They're the same aren't they?"

"In your dreams, you can talk to him, spill everything out to him and take every opportunity to be with him right?"

"Of course." Marinette clutched her chest, feeling the fluttering just thinking about it. "He's perfect for exactly that."

"No, he isn't." Shoving her finger against the girl's head to shatter the dream, Alya tried to wake her up. "Because the reality is, you can't talk to him, you lie to him, and while you take every opportunity to watch him from a distance you run the moment he gets too close. Instead of projecting your dream boy onto a pretty face, find someone you can do those things with."

Finished with her rant, Alya slapped the headphones back over her ears and tried to find some more music that matched her mental image of Ladybug, leaving Marinette with her reality shattered.

Was her view of Adrien really that different from the real one? It couldn't be, because he was always so nice, so polite, even in his bad boy phase he's looking out for others. But here she was, watching him from a distance because she couldn't handle getting too close to him. It's not her fault he shines like the sun threatening to melt her wax wings.

Who else was a better option? Who could she talk to, share her innermost feelings, and spend her free time with? Picking up the next album to look at the artwork, she saw a silhouette of a black cat with glowing green eyes on the cover reminding her of one certain kitty.

Cat Noir? He did technically meet those requirements, but she already turned him down. No, Ladybug turned him down, Marinette still chatted with the cat every other night on a personal level.

Could, he really be the ideal boyfriend she always envisioned? If not, who else was there?

The jingling of the door made her look up, seeing a tall and slender boy around her age with shaggy hair dyed that brilliant cyan blue to match his eyes. He was carrying a guitar on his back as he walked in, briefly waving to the clerk.

"Welcome back Luka." The employee greeted him.

"NO WAY!" Alya's voice nearly shattered her eardrum, the girl nearly slamming her phone into Marinette's face. "Black Cat is fighting Cat Noir!"

WHAT?!

Yanking the phone from Alya's hand, Marinette was laser focused on the image. It was true, Black Cat was there fighting ragefully against Cat Noir. Was the copy cat back? Or did the two not play as nice as she thought?

Adrien burst out of the studio, jumping over the cd bins in a single bound over towards the door and nearly trampling Luka.

"I have to go." Giving no excuses, no reasons, Marinette ran for the door away from Alya, running right past Luka, and not even chasing after Adrien.

All she could think about, was Cat Noir.

You know what? This is a good spot to end on. I have a feeling this next fight is going to be a big one and I don't want to cut it short to fit in one chapter.

Also, I just want to give a shout out to those who post frequent reviews that let me get a peek at how they felt reading the chapters. This story is definitely one of, if not my least popular, comparing word count to followers. Yet when I see people leaving reviews that are longer than a couple of sentences, going over each of the threads I put a lot of effort weaving into this tale, it makes writing this story way more fun and worth it.

Seriously, you guys rock. Even my most popular story didn't get as good of quality and frequency of reviews as some of you are leaving. That's probably a huge reason why I'm putting out these chapters so fast. I can't wait to read the ride you have when reading what I work hard to make.

AlterInk: I was wondering how many would catch on, and you seem to be the first to announce their realization. Thanks for your confidence in my writing!

Kamen Rider Sentry: Just a random girl, think nothing of it.

Brookdking: I'm pretty much done writing MHA stuff. I've written almost two million words for that franchise in various fanfics. I might go back and finish Dark Desires though after the new spider-man game comes out.

Fire turtle: Yep, while Master Fu was already aware he didn't want to accidentally reveal who he chose. Especially if he was going to give the ring back to him. I am aware the lucky charm/miraculous ladybug was able to bring the dead back to life, and when I tried to look up the proper rules for when a lucky charm can be used after circumstances there didn't seem to be a proper one. So, I came up with my own to use for the story.