Past
Who was Marinette Dupain Cheng?
Throughout her life, she brought people together; to celebrate their achievements, to protect others and to stand against injustice. And so, she brings them together one last time to mourn her.
Who was Adrien Agreste?
The man was split, lost in his own mind, facing the pull of two unstable identities tethered only by their deceptive nature. In one, he was a hero before the scared masses, preaching the word of his partner with no idea if he knew what those words even meant. In the other, he was a man who'd had his boyhood years stripped from him, laying his beloved to rest and preaching the words his mother had left with him, knowing he didn't believe what they meant.
Adrien Agreste, the son of Gabriel, stood at the head of the chapel. Chat Noir, the partner of Ladybug, stood on the steps of the mayor's office. Two once distinct identities that had now become bound together in grim circumstance, standing tall, standing firm, with a small smile on their lips and lies on their tongue. Pretending that the weight of their world wasn't crushing them that very moment, because the cameras were always watching, waiting for him to break.
Adrian had always looked to Chat Noir as a source of freedom, a lifestyle he undertook to release himself from the shackles of his gilded cage, to rip away that perfect model mask and indulge in what he wanted to be. Chat was his escape, his honesty and his acceptance. Now, Chat was another mask to hide his true face.
And he wasn't quite sure what his true face looked like.
Adrian told them all how many lives Marinette touched as an everyday Ladybug. Chat Noir told them all how many lives Ladybug saved.
Adrien told them how Marinette can never be replaced. Chat told them how Ladybug had to be replaced.
He looked into the pleading eyes of her parents and bemoaned how Adrien Agreste had been too powerless to have possibly done anything. That he was just like them, a grieving loved one who knew nothing, who wasn't there. That he wasn't the same man they cursed out and blamed for their daughter's demise.
He looked into the trembling eyes of the little girls and boys hugging their Ladybug plushies like a lifeline, and told them how Chat Noir was good enough to take her place. That he wasn't like them, scared, weak and left with nothing to support him. That Ladybug had left him all her knowledge and training to continue her legacy with.
He had to tell them that everything was going to be alright, that life could move on when he damn well knew he wouldn't. The days would lack meaning without her eyes to look forward to, but he couldn't say that. The colours would be dulled without her light to brighten them, but he couldn't say that. The city would have no real protector without her devotion, but he couldn't say that. The heart would be left empty without her love to fill it, but he couldn't say that.
As Adrien and as Chat, he was always the sidekick, he accepted that. He was the guy who took the blows without a second thought, who followed the order to the letter, who was whatever his girlfriend, his father, his betters needed him to be. But what was he supposed to do without a leader to follow? What was he supposed to do when he had to pretend he was anything more than a sidekick?
He put on another mask, one that could weather the storm of emotions. He didn't know what to call it. It kept him from cracking during his speeches, allowed him to hug Alya and tell Nino Marinette wouldn't have blamed either of them, allowed him to assure the public that Ladybug would have wanted whatever he was gonna do, allowed him to look at the coffin without vomiting.
They weren't on the stand, nor under the spotlight, they were allowed all the space to mourn. Adrien's only privilege was to wait until he got home, until Nathalie could hold him together, then he was allowed to cry.
He wonders if Marinette would be disgusted by how easily he used her memory for himself, how naturally it all came to him.
"Bring me Adrien Agreste! I'll never forgive him!"
The new Hawkmoth couldn't even give them a month to mourn. Hell, they couldn't give Adrien time to change out of his pyjamas.
Chat Noir perched himself over the scene, police cars forming a perimeter around a man, what looked like some sorta biker, with metal skin and a sledgehammer bigger than his head. Behind the man there stood a giant cube made of concrete, the surface brushed with bumps and dents from people's heads sticking out of it.
"Sorry guys, the akuma alert caught me on the other side of the city." He said into the communicator, eyes scanning the surroundings for everyone else's positions. Pegasus and Rena were running late. He spotted Carapace by the police blockade, putting up a barrier around some wounded officers. On a second glance over, he realized one of the heads amongst the concrete prisoners was Viperion. "Anyone got the low down on our friend here?"
"Calls himself 'The Disruptor'." His ears picked up Vesperia's feet landing just a bit aways from him as she talked.
He scoffed, "What? He has the power to interrupt people?"
"I already made that joke," Viperion coughed, Chat catching his head wiggling uselessly. "And, well… Got caught."
"You're not just a head, are you?" Chat asked hesitantly, already getting flashbacks to Melvin the Magnificence's annoying akuma.
"No, I'm all there."
Vesperia approached Chat quickly, flipping open her phone to show a picture of a necklace – a silver steering wheel – hanging from the villain's neck. He assumed it was the akumatized object. "He uses his hammer to 'disrupt' the structure of any object in his path." She said, pointing to the concrete cube. "That was an angel statue before he turned it to clay on top of Viperion."
"Apparently things went sour with his girlfriend or something." Carapace chimed in, "He wants to, and I quote, 'disrupt Adrien Agreste's face'."
Chat cringed at the image of his skin getting re-arranged. "You okay there, Viperion?"
Viperion's head went up and down in a jagged, awkward motion Chat assumed was supposed to be a shrug. "Nothing life threatening for now, just a real tight fit. Rest of my body's trapped, so no second chances this time."
"Good, we'll have you out of there soon, okay? Don't wanna give this guy time to get creative." Chat leaned forward, sticking his baton into the floor and resting his elbows on it, staring into the battlefield through keen, open eyes.
It was your run-of-the-mill akuma, nothing to worry about, nothing really time consuming. He and his Lady had the rhythm down by now, all he had to do was wait for Ladybug to give the order or summon her lucky charm and he'd jump in to play the cat-and-akuma game. He waited for a solid minute for that trademark convoluted but genius strategy, waited in silence as his frustration slowly bubbled to the surface, waited until he realized that her voice would never come.
Oh. He found his eyes narrowing and his muscles tightening to hold back a growl. Of course, he wouldn't hear her, she wasn't there. Everyone was waiting, all eyes on him, expecting a plan, expecting him to make the miracles.
"It's not complicated." He spoke slowly, the only way he could manage to hide the utter lack of confidence in his voice. "All we need is to get Vesperia to get in close and stun him, then he's a sitting duck."
He extended his baton into a polearm, propelling himself into the fray before he could catch a glimpse of Vesperia's worried gaze. In the thick of the action, he didn't need to think, or consider, just do. "Carapace, you're with me on distraction duty."
Carapace looked back to the officers he was protecting, hesitant, but ultimately dropping his shelter to rush towards Chat Noir. "Yeah, he can't pound both of us, I guess." Chat ignored how unenthused he sounded.
"Hey, I've seen you run." Chat tried to inject some of his trademark pep into his voice, but the nerves seemed to just make more and more holes to suck it away. "And he doesn't look too fast. Just stay on your toes."
The two nodded, both equally as slow and awkward, before breaking from what little cover they could find and facing down Disruptor in the open.
When he moved, the titanium biker made the ground quake, his heels spitting out sparks as they scraped against the asphalt. "What do you two rejects want?" He had the biker voice down pat, complete with a smoker's gravelly articulation. What caught Chat's eye on further inspection was the man's facial hair, or more importantly, how uncomfortable it must be. That bushy beard went all the way down to the man's chest, and now it was as solid as steel; that had to be hell on the man's neck.
Casually resting the giant hammer on his shoulder, he drew his thumb across his chrome lip, making a sharp 'tsss' sound. "I asked for the Agreste brat, not Ladybug's pet collection!"
Banter, I can do banter. Talking all day about nothing is my speciality. Chat let his grin hang low, resting his baton on the back of his neck, drawing up his arms to nestle the edges in between his biceps. "Hey, I'm just as good as Adrian Agreste. Many people even say I almost look just like him." He rocked back and forth on his heels, watching Carapace inch further into a flanking position out of the corner of his eye. "What's your problem with him anyway?"
Disruptor's lips parted with a loud pop, but with the metal texture it sounded more like a car getting a dent buffed out. He pursed his lips, like he was spitting something out, before heaving his hammer over his shoulder and slamming it into the ground.
The concrete before him trembled for a moment, no longer solid, reduced to a watery substance that rolled over itself in dull grey waves. The waves twisted, circling an imaginary drain and rising upwards in a mini tornado of activity. From their depths emerged magazines, photos and autographs – Adrien recognised his face and handwriting on each of them. However, only for a second, before the concrete sludge solidified as spikes and stabbed into the flimsy paper, ripping Adrien's face apart.
Chat cringed, finding his hand idly rubbing around his eye.
"That chump's ruining my relationship!" Disruptor bellowed, kicking the display and reducing Adrien's mutilated memorabilia to dust in the wind. "My girl's obsessed with the brat, buys all of his trash magazines and keeps puttin' all his merchandise up in our apartment. It completely throws off the feng shui!"
There was the whine of rust metal as Disruptor mimicked wrapping his fingers around an imagined neck, squeezing in until it became a crushed coke can in his hand. "She even asked me to shave my beard. My beautiful beard!" He brought his knuckle up to his eyes to wipe away non-existent tears, which just made him scratch small lines down his cheeks in white streaks.
"No way!" Carapace gasped, prompting Chat to incline his head towards his fellow hero, shooting Carapace an incredulous look. "What? It is a glorious beard…"
Disruptor beats his chest with his free hand, the resulting clangs making Chat really hate his enhanced hearing, before pointing at Carapace. A silent 'this guys gets it!' before dropping his hand to his side. "I know she's just wishing I looked more like that soft-skinned, baby-cheeked, foppish twerp!"
Chat dropped one hand from his weapon, suddenly feeling the need to grope his jawline with a frown. Baby-cheeked? Soft? Marinette always said I was cuddly, but she didn't mean I still looked like a prepubescent boy, did she?
Disruptor banged his chest again, this time with intent, loudly demanding their attention. "News flash! It's all probably plastic surgery and chemicals anyway. He's a fake, and when I get my hands on 'im, I'm gonna show him what he really looks like."
And what do you know!? Adrien wanted to spit back at him, only held back by a Chat Noir who was still waiting for Vesperia to find a good vantage point.
Instead, Chat slowly breathed away Adrien's spike of insecurity and said, through gritted teeth, "Putting your strong feelings against Adrien aside," He stroked his chin. Mostly to keep his mouth under control, but it also worked to make him look thoughtful. "I'm sure things aren't as bad as you think. We all have celebrity crushes, that doesn't mean we love our girlfriends or boyfriends any less."
That's what Ladybug would do after all, try to talk the akuma down. Akumatized villains were just people caught on a bad day, having their misery exploited and abused while at their lowest. Talking rarely worked, but it was always worth reaching out to someone, even for the miniscule chance it would avoid a fight.
"Big words from Ladybug's rebound boy." Disruptor scoffed, "I bet findin' out she was droolin' over that Agreste kid this entire time made it real easy to let her kick the bucket."
Any notion of pleasantries or appeal vanished.
Chat dropped into a low, aggressive stance, a cat kneeling down on his claws. The base of his baton slammed against the ground, splitting the concrete into chunks as he stared down the villain through narrow slits. "So that's how you wanna do this?" He hissed, his voice dripping with blood from the still open wound Disruptor just exposed.
Chat readied himself to pounce, but a flicker of yellow behind Disruptor halted his movement. "Vesperia now!"
The yellow and black figure seemed to materialize under the shelter of Disruptor's shadow, her arm striking a golden glow that formed a sharp point over her closed fist. "Veno-"
Disruptor moved with too much precision, stepping to the side and bringing round his hammer right on cue, turning his torso into the swing and slammed the hammer upside Vesperia's head. The movement was perfect, as if he were reading from a script and knew exactly the right line to strike where his lack of speed wouldn't be an issue, where Vesperia would have already committed too much momentum to dodge. Too perfect.
But Chat had no time to question it while his teammate was punted across the street, ending up cocooned by the hood of the car that got in her way. Disruptor whistled sharply. "A little too close for comfort, girlie."
The two remaining heroes needed no more prompt into action, both launching themselves into a full sprint with their weapons raised, flanking Disruptor from either side. Chat Noir jumped up high, throwing himself forward into a flip.
At the apex of his mid-air spin, he let the momentum of the move carry his arm in a perfect, decisive arc and slam down his baton on his foe. Disruptor raised his arms to block the force of the blow, but the metal of his arms sunk inward as the aftershocks ravaged the rest of his body.
Before Disruptor could get a breath in, Carapace dropped down low, shield arm up front and war cry on full volume. Just as Disruptor flung his arm out, smacking Chat Noir away, Carapace's body came crashing into his midsection in a full-blown tackle, with all the force and spirit of a top-tier linebacker.
Disruptor stood too firm to be knocked over, but not too rooted for his body to remain still, the force of Carapace's charge sending him skidding backwards like they were on ice. Unfortunately, as Carapace realized as he narrowly darted back, Disruptor had managed to grab hold of his hammer as he was shoved, rushing Carapace with a series of wild, blind swings.
Even putting shelter up, the blows were rough, creating shockwaves that reverbed through the shield and had a numbing, aching sensation shooting through Carapace's arm. Still, the shelter held up no matter how hard the man's blows, enough so that Carapace allowed himself a moment to smirk. "If that's how well you handle your hammer, I can see why you're having troubles with your girl."
That smirk was quickly dissolved when the even angrier Disruptor, who also saw the futility of wailing on the emerald barrier, stepped back and instead struck the ground. Carapace didn't have time to yell, much less react, before the ground beneath his feet turned to mush and he was sucked into it like quicksand, with only his head poking over the surface by the time it solidified again.
Disruptor wasted no time stomping on the trapped hero.
"Carapace!" Chat cried out, extending his baton out to whack Disruptor across the face before another horrendous kick could be made. Fortunately, with Chat remaining as the only threat, Disruptor saw fit to abandon the imprisoned hero and stomp towards his final target.
Carapace, blinking through a fresh black eye and blood running down his lip, tried to take his mind off the pain. He hissed to himself, "Remember when I was a bunny? Good times…"
Disruptor opened with the same trick again, digging his hammer into the pavement and letting his power disperse in a straight line directly to Chat. Ever the jumper, Chat was ready for the tactic this time, pole vaulting himself into the air seconds before the ground began to peel itself apart, opening like a wide, gaping maw trying to swallow him whole.
Problem was that they were on a wide-open street. Any refuge he could seek would be turned to mush the second after he touch down, and he didn't dare flee and potentially leave Disruptor alone with his friends if he didn't give chase.
Nowhere but the air was safe the moment that hammer came-
Chat's expression lit up. Of course, the hammer! He'd rushed into the fray so recklessly it had slipped his notice, the akuma could only use his power through the hammer. Without the hammer, Disruptor was just a sentient pile of junk. One cataclysm and his power's gone. And with Disruptor being so eager to fall back on the hammer, getting into position to grab it with his cataclysm would be a sinch.
With one last thwack across the jaw, Chat called back his baton and surged forward, closing the distance between them in seconds with a few strides. "I've had fun, Junk Man, but I think it's time I introduced a little disruption of my own."
Chat skidded to a halt mere inches from the villain, knuckles scraping against the metal torso just as he planted his feet into the ground below, breaking through the concrete and rooting himself there. It was all or nothing now.
In the split second before Disruptor made his move, Chat's eyes fell upon a slight indent under the man's jacket. Barely visible under the leather-turned-chrome folds was a splash of purple, it looked like a small harness reaching around Disruptor's body, the straps joined at the center by wheel with a butterfly symbol carved into it. The glow that pulsated from the tiny device was unmistakably the aura of an akuma. Was this part of the akumatized form, or something else entirely?
As predicted, Disruptor drew his hammer back for the easy kill, bringing his knees up to his chest in a heavy hop before bringing the hammer down.
"Cataclysm!" Chat cried out, moving his claws, now crackling with emerald energy, over his head and catching the hammer by the head. His sure-fire grin grew ever wider, relishing in the sensation of Plagg's pure destructive power exploding outward, a wave of building pressure he didn't know he had suddenly being released. "I'm paw-sative that this fight is-"
Somehow, a second later, Chat Noir was on the ground, reeling in pain.
His body seized up, insides rattling under currents of what Chat could only describe as electricity pumping through his veins. Disruptor has no problem sauntering up to his prey, his hammer untouched and back on his shoulder, and pressing his boot down on Chat's chest. "Oh, your arm ain't looking too good there, Kitty Cat."
Chat's eyes darted over to his right arm, where the pain called to him, mocked him. His blood ran cold as the sight greeted him, one of his arms, the sleeve of his suit ripped to shreds to expose rotting flesh, green cracks spreading across the destroyed arm like veins. "My arm!"
"Didn't even know I could disrupt powers as well. Lucky me, ey?" Disruptor stomped down upon Chat's ribcage, taking all breath away with a loud, ear-piercing chuckle.
He loosened the hammer in his grip, dropping it down so that the head smacking against Chat's chin. The pressure increased and dissipated as Disruptor repositioned himself, appraising his pose, considering the angle; a golfer lining up his winning swing. "Looks like Paris is gonna be down another hero."
Somehow, Adrien could hear the powerful, ominous hum that followed the hammer as it was pulled back. In his head, he imagined it as church bells tolling one after another, one for each body that would join him after Disruptor took his head. "Sad part is, I bet the death of Ladybug's side piece ain't even gonna make the front page."
Adrien flinched, waiting for the finishing blow to come, but there nothing. No drop of the hammer, no humming, he didn't feel Disruptor's body even shift for the swing. Opening his eyes, Disruptor was still standing over him, stuck in mid-swing, frozen.
No, not frozen. Adrien could see Disruptor's shoulders still moving, the hammer trembling. Disruptor wasn't stopping, he was struggling, metal muscles pushing back against an invisible force.
"What the hell?" Disruptor growled, glaring down at Adrien like this was his fault somehow.
Harsh, grating noises exploded in the air, the high-pitched screech of metal yielding under pressure accompanied by the visual of Disruptor flesh deforming, as if being compacted by the air, before the metal man was thrown backwards.
That's when Adrien heard the screech of tires tearing up asphalt, a familiar legion of trucks breaking through the perimeter. Chat Noir was quick to scurry away from the stumbling akuma, balancing himself on his one good arm, imagining his cataclysmed arm shattering if he tried to put any weight on it.
However, even his good arm felt the exhaustion of the fight, knuckling under his desperate movement, and leaving his body to collapse against the ground. Only his body stopped just short of scraping his face against the pavement, a strong hand catching the back of his shirt.
For a split-second, Adrien feared it was the akuma, with murderous glee, that had chased him down, ready to flatten him like a pancake. But the voice that greeted him was- Well, not comforting, but certainly too dry and professional to be the biker.
"You're looking a little worn out there, fella." Chalot said, pulling Chat Noir to his feet, clasping a firm hand on the hero's shoulder. "Don't worry, the cavalry's here."
Chat found himself too disorientated to reply, focusing on reorientating his legs. He had no intention of falling limp in Chalot's grip.
Chalot drew his free hand up to his lips, bellowing into his alliance ring. "All units: covering fire! Keep him on the back foot. I don't want him having room to breathe, let alone use that fancy hammer of his."
With the edges of his vision blurred, Chat could just make out multiple blots emerging from behind the perimeter, peppering Disruptor with shots of something. Behind Disruptor, Chat found his saviour being two men hauling around what he could only describe as a rifle split in half with two magnets on the end of it. They literally pulled him off me with magnets. He was sure there was some sort of technical term that made it sound fancier, but it just looked comedic to him.
"I had it handled…" Chat finally managed to groan, his voice listless and hushed.
"Clearly." Chalot deadpanned.
The ground trembled, a mini tremor passing through the street every few seconds. Disruptor was now blindly swinging his hammer around, his whole body twisting in every direction as he tried to fight against the pull of the magnets, with every few swings ripping apart the concrete when his hammer scraped against it.
Chalot let out a frustrated growl, sharply turning on his heel to yell over to the truck. "Irving, get off your ass and deploy the Magna Traps!"
A smaller man, red faced and sweating bullets, leaped into view, scrambling over the side of the truck. "I was calibrating!" He cried out, the green sack – that was almost as big as his body – in his arms causing him to huff and wheeze with every syllable. "Efficiency takes time, Boss. Plus, I'd probably have been faster if Thompson hadn't-"
Irving yelped as the bag swung down and knocked his knees, sending him tumbling forward. Chat rushed in to catch him, having become an expert in clumsy falls over the course of his and Marinette's relationship.
He couldn't help but stifle a chuckle at Chalot stiff expression radiating a glare. "Save the lip for after the akuma's locked down."
Chat's gaze followed Irving scurrying off with a splutter of apologies. He asked, "Magna Traps?"
"Lab Boys have been working on new ways to restrain threats without too much set up, something to do with opposing magnetic fields or something." Chalot shrugged, "I just use 'em, I don't know the science of 'em. What I do know is that we haven't tested them out in the field yet, so don't get too comfy."
The two watched as Irving crept towards Disruptor, careful to stand at the edge of the man's reach while the soldiers holding Disruptor back cheered and jeered at him. Chat picked up one of them, a larger, husky bald man, yelling at Irving to stop being a wimp. The other, a stocky woman covering her face with a gas mask, was just laughing like a hyena.
Irving barked back at them to shut up, before spilling the sack over, letting a series of small metal cylinders tumble out and under Disruptor's feet. The cylinders lit up, the top half of their shells opening up and shot something upwards. It wasn't something Chat could 'see' per say, but he could feel the disturbance in the air, catch the slight vibration that reverbed throughout Disruptor's metal flesh, enough for his mind to picture a barrier of sorts erecting around Disruptor and forming a cage.
The two soldiers let their weapons shamelessly clutter to the ground, Disruptor's entire body lifted off the ground and going stiff as if bound. They crowded around Irving, smacking him the back and teasing him for taking too long.
Now, Chat wasn't one to comment on other people's professionalism, but he had to admit he expected these soldiers to be a bit more… What was the word? Restraint? At least until the akuma was purified and everything was cleaned up. It felt more like watching a gaggle of drunks winning a bad drinking game than enforcement agents facing a deadly super villain without any actual powers.
"Not exactly military discipline, is it?" He said idly, trying not to sound too judgemental. They did save his ass after all.
Chalot shrugged, "We get results, Cat, that's what matters."
Chat looked around the destroyed streets, breathing a sigh of relief that no one seemed to have been seriously hurt. He makes a good point, I admit. He spotted soldiers gathering around Carapace's head and the cube, looking apprehensive about how they were gonna get everyone out. He looked to Chalot, "The akuma's in his necklace."
Chalot nodded, calling out to his troops. "You heard the cat, gentleman, get that necklace." His gaze shifted downward, towards the arms Chat had found himself clutching tightly. "Is your arm gonna be okay?"
Pain stirred in sharp bursts at the acknowledgment, and Chat couldn't hide his grimace, but he managed to give a confident grin. "Should be fine after we purify the akuma."
"Does that miraculous ladybug magic even work when you don't use the lucky charm in the fight?"
Chat paused, realizing he was not confident enough to give a definitive answer. "I hope so."
Just as he was about to turn away, he felt his ear twitch, immediately followed by the sound of groaning metal. With his super hearing, Chat was the only one who heard something break, who heard Disruptor hit the ground. By the time the soldiers had turned back to him, Disruptor had rushed past them, charging towards Chat and Chalot.
"Chalot, watch out!" Chat dived forward, shoving Chalot aside just as Disruptor closed the distance in a single lunge, murder in his eye.
"You ain't puttin' me down that easy, you damn cat!"
Once more, Chat hadn't put much thought into that move. He already knew Disruptor packed one hell of a punch, and he quickly realized that the cataclysm misfire had exhausted this form.
But then, he also realized he didn't only have one form.
"Plagg, Tikki; switch!" In a flash of pink, Chat Noir disappeared, black leather and dark mysterious eyes replaced with crimson armour and bright jewels. Mr. Bug, empowered by Tikki, stood in Disruptor's way, awash in fresh energy and adrenaline. A heartbeat later, his lucky charm pushed a boxing glove over his hand.
His good arm pulled back, using that split-second to build up enough pressure, throwing behind it all the desperation, fear and determination he could muster, before unleashing it all in one definitive punch. Disruptor didn't so much as graze Mr. Bug, the blow digging deep into his stomach, ripping all the air from his lungs before sending him reeling back.
Disruptor collapsed in a heap, his clocked thoroughly cleaned.
Chalot let out a sharp whistle, "You got quite the canon there, Kid."
Not wasting any time, Mr. Bug kneeled down and snatched up the necklace, crushing it before any more last minute recoveries could hit him. A minute later, he was beaming down at a purified butterfly emerging from his yoyo. "That was close, wasn't it little butterfly?"
He slipped off the boxing glove and tossed it up over his head, yelling out "Miraculous Mr. Bug!"
The lucky charm exploded into several streams of pink energy, sweeping over the street in waves, pulling the pavement back together, reorienting cars, restring destroyed buildings, and pulling Disruptor's prisoners out of their make-shift cages.
He couldn't help but groan when the wave reached him. It wrapped around his damaged arm, the sensation feeling like a legion of invisible fingers were pressing down on his wounds. At first it stung, a band aid being ripped off and then washed over with chemicals. But soon enough a soothing, warm touch massaged his flesh, rubbing away the pain, the rot, and wringing his skin until it was as good as new.
He could imagine the tiny kwami herself hugging, nurturing his arm. Thank you, Tikki.
"Looks like we missed the party." Rena Rogue's voice, breathless and guilty, came over the communicator. A quick glance upon opening his yoyo showed Adrien that Rena and Pegasus had just reached the permitter. "Everyone okay?"
Viperion found himself getting dropped face-first to the floor after the miraculous wave made the cube disappear. He groaned, pushing himself onto his knees and spitting out gravel. "Define okay."
Carapace stumbled over to Viperion, offering a hand to help him up. "Anyone else really itchy all of the sudden." He asked.
After another glance around the battlefield assured Adrien that everyone was otherwise unharmed – Vesperia shooting him a thumbs up as she wobbled back into view – he crouched down before Disruptor, who'd now been replaced with a smaller man in a ruffled biker jacket.
"Sir, I know you must be confused right now, but don't panic. You were akumatized and-"
Suddenly, the man lurched forward, his fingers forming an iron grip on Adrien's arms. A spark of fear shot up Adrien's spine, thinking that, somehow, Disruptor was about to return, only for that fear to be replaced with a far more dreadful feeling when he looked into the man's eyes.
The man was crying. He was terrified.
"Please don't kill me!" He screamed.
His grip was ironclad, as in, stronger than any normal human should have. Even with his skin protected by layers of magical spandex, Adrien could still feel desperate fingertips digging into his flesh.
Adrien lightly patted the man on the shoulder, biting back the pain to keep his voice calm and reserved. "Don't worry, Sir. No one's killing nobody."
The man's eyes trembled violently, flashing between fear and fury. "I'm real, damn it! I deserve to live just as much as you do." His free hand formed a fist, and desperately beat it against Adrien's chest.
And Adrien could feel it. It should be like throwing pebbles at a tank, and yet Adrien could feel it.
"I'm… Sorry?" It was such a far cry from the display Disruptor put on, from any akuma victim Adrien had needed to calm over the years. Yes, many of them were scared or confused after being released from their akuma, but they never acted so volatile, as if they were still under attack.
Adrien said quietly, "I think you need to sit down."
But he might as well have said nothing at all, the man didn't listen. He started to thrash about wildly, eyes darting around, expecting an ambush, expecting danger, expecting something.
The man called out to the confused soldiers crowding around them, desperately pleading. "Please, I don't want to die. Isn't that proof enough that I'm real?"
Chalot made his approach, raising his hands up in a non-threatening motion. "Sir, calm down. You're safe. We're going to take care of you."
The mere sight of Chalot seemed to set the man off, kicking off against Adrien's knees, trying to scramble away from them. "Please… Please…"
Adrien thought his own grip would be strong enough to keep the man there, and he was only half right.
He was strong enough to keep the man's arms at least.
It took a good few moments after the man fell back, watching him thrash back and forth, for Chat to realize he was still holding two arms, and that there was no blood. Instead, the dismembered stubs were topped with empty blue voids.
Chat's eyes widened, dropping the severed limbs in shock. He's… He's not human.
"I'm real… I swear…"
SNAP.
The sound echoed through the depths of his mind. It wasn't loud, and he could tell that no one around him could hear the sickening click of those fingers or what the gesture symbolized. It wasn't that he was close to the source, nor did his superior hearing pick up the noise.
On a primal level, that simple sound resonated with Adrien. It burrowed somewhere deep and festered, filled his stomach with bile and struck a uniquely fearful chord in his heart he couldn't explain.
Before his eyes, the man who was begging for his life was, in an instant, wrapped in a curtain of blue ashes and erased from existence. Adrien didn't have time to give a proper reaction, nor to let what he just witnessed sink in. While everyone gasped about the sentimonster, his survival instincts were on high alert. He threw his body around in quick, desperate turns, scanning the horizon for an attacker he found himself unable to explain why he suddenly feared so much.
It was as if he feared being snapped away too.
It didn't take long for him to find her, to find them. They weren't hiding, no, the two spectators who'd probably been watching since the start were out in the open, standing atop an Agreste brand billboard. Their brightly coloured costumes standing out in stark contrast to the faded greys of their vantage point. No, they wanted to be seen, wanted to plant seeds of hope that they could be caught, wanted to mock him.
The new butterfly holder's outfit screamed 'pay attention'. Full body spandex that was split between purple and black, the boundary that joined the colours at the centre being a white line made to look like butterfly wings wrapping around her suit. Over the spandex came a thin coat that loosely clung to her shoulders, the bottom half spreading out to form long coat tails accented with lightly coloured translucent wings. Her skin was a pale, lifeless silver, with a mask that looked more like black face paint hidden behind her long, overflowing dark hair.
Behind her, Chat had no issue recognizing the lumbering form of Defect despite having nothing to go on but Marinette's idle description. The sight alone conjured up images of Marinette's last stand, burned and bruised and standing between that monster and the bomb he'd tricked her into believing was an innocent little girl.
"He was a sentimonster?!" Carapace passed by Adrien, crouching down by the now empty spot.
Rena muttered, "I didn't even think sentimonsters could be akumatized."
There was the natural urge to take off, to chase them down before they had a chance to slip away like the old Hawkmoth always managed to, to switch back to Chat Noir and test the limit of his matured cataclysms. He could take them down, stop them here; make them pay for what they did to her.
But he didn't. The voice in the back of his mind, a voice he attributed to Tikki, warned him how Marinette met such a fate because she went to face down Defect on her own; and that the two villains wouldn't be standing there if they thought Chat would have a chance of catching them.
As if eager to prove Tikki correct, miss butterfly stared right back at Chat, right into his eyes, with a sickeningly sweet smile that shamelessly displayed how easily her eyes could read him in that moment; and how much she enjoyed what she could see. She pressed her fingers to her lips and blew him a kiss. Defect leaned forward, grabbing her by the shoulder and-
"Chat? You there?" Mr. Bug whirled around with such an intense glare that Viperion jumped back.
"Whoa there, Kitty Bug" Carapace raised his arms up defensive, "What were you looking at dude?"
Adrien only noticed how harsh he was breathing when the silence set in. He spun back around, eyes scanning over the billboard, teeth gritted in anticipation. Nothing. They were gone in an instant. They came to taunt him, to rile him up, and he gave them the whole damn show.
He grunted, "They were there… He was there."
"Who?" The rest of the gang joined his side, following his gaze to the billboard.
"Defect. And the new Hawkmoth." He said quietly.
It was almost comforting to hear Rena's knuckles crack as frustration clenched her fist, or Carapace mutter a swear, or for Viperion to loudly express how they would have had 'em if Disruptor wasn't taking everyone's attention. He wasn't alone in the aggravation rattling his insides, he was just another disappointed customer.
As the heroes started wrapping up their shared frustrations, they noticed the two soldiers who had been ripping into Irving earlier were walking right up to them.
The larger one, his name tag said 'Thompson', made a patronizing shooing motion. "Better leave the clean up to us, Kiddies."
The woman, Smith, continued that wretched laugh of hers much to the grimace of the heroes. Her harsh and scratchy voice told of how many cigarettes destroying her lungs. "Don't want us having to come save your asses again, ey?"
Carapace clearly had plenty he wanted to say in return, but Rena tugged on his shoulder and muttered something into his ear that made him let her pull him away.
Next Time - Short Changed Heroes
"Still can't believe a sentimonster could be akumatized." He heard Carapace say behind him, "Shadowmoth couldn't do that, right?"
Returning to the conversation, Chat found that the group had huddled closer together. Pegasus was shaking his head, a clear shiver offsetting his voice. "This new butterfly user hasn't been wasting their time in-between attacks twiddling her thumbs, that much is clear."
Adrien was about to chime in when a beeping sound erupted from his pocket, or what would have been in pocket in his civilian form. It was an alarm he'd set on his phone, a reminder that had him cringing as he realized just how late it was starting to get.
"Can we continue this conversation over the comms?" He said to the group, tapping an imaginary watch on his wrist to get across his time-sensitive situation. "I've got to run to an important meeting."
And Nathalie will kill me if I'm late, he silently added.
There were murmurs, shrugs and nods amongst the group, Viperion flashing him a thumbs up and giving him the verbal "No problem."
With one quick extend of his baton, Chat launched himself off the rooftop, diving into Paris' expanse. Rushing through the Paris skyline had become as natural as walking, his body seamlessly, and thoughtlessly, moving through every nook, cranny and vantage point his muscle memory had mapped out.
He peered into an apartment window as he passed, catching a glimpse of a clock. Nathalie was only a few blocks away. He still had time. Maybe.
Just as he found himself reaching a consistent pace, he heard Carapace let out an uneven sigh. "Okay, guys, I don't wanna be the guy to point it out but…" He could picture Carapace looking to the rest of the group, hoping someone would finish the thought for him, but only finding silence. "That's the second sentimonster we've had to deal with."
Chat felt his chest tighten and his mind struggle to focus. He knew exactly where this was leading. It was a thought that had been plaguing the back of his mind ever since Marinette's death, one he so desperately didn't want to entertain, but couldn't escape the certainty of it.
Pegasus was the one to make it a reality. "So why haven't we brought in the one guy who can make sentimonsters?"
Viperion added, "And who's been a no-show since we fought that magician."