Close encounter of the second kind

This day is unreal. It's crazy. It's utterly ridiculous.

Never in a million years would I have guessed I'd be in my limo breaking every speed limit in French law, escaping a walking, talking rock.

"Faster!"

"Mademoiselle, I'm going as fast as I can."

"It's not enough!" I shout. Superpowers are a real thing. Majestia and the rest of the heroes, and villains, were proof of that. BUT THEY ARE IN OTHER CONTINENTS. There have never been any superhuman conflicts in Europe and now I must not only be at the center of Paris' first supervillain attack, but escape for my life. The interior goes dark for a moment and I quickly realize why.

A car flies over us and lands further down the street, giving us time to avoid it.

It was very close. If it fell a few meters closer, we wouldn't have time to dodge it and I would be right now…

I kick the driver's seat.

"Speed up! For what you love the most, speed up or i'll fire you."

A pitiful threat compared to our current situation, but it works. The limo moves faster.

I look back and see the supervillain coming in this direction while destroying cars and buildings. I hope this new supervillain, whatever its target, isn't looking for her. Being the daughter of the mayor of Paris makes her a valuable target for negotiation/extortion. Even the President of France would act if that happened. She learned her worth as a child.

In a sharp turn of the limo, I lose my balance and fall to the ground.

I get up as quickly as possible, about to yell at him to be careful when I see its. A few blocks away is the Agreste Mansion, a mansion that looks like a fortress. I think Adrien told me that it is actually an ancient fortress dating back to before the creation of France.

...That gave me an idea.

"Head to the Agreste Mansion."

Another car falls apart near us.

"Mademoiselle, it is not safe to park in front of the mansion."

Is he really an idiot or is his professionalism stronger than his fear of dying?

"Who said about parking? Speed up and break that fence."

"But…"

"Just do it!"

"So Mademoiselle, bow your head and cover yourself."

After saying that, Jean-Michel presses the accelerator to the floor. I throw myself on the floor, cover my head with my arms and make myself as small as possible.

The impact of metal against metal made me bounce against the seats and the clash between metal and stone, I get up enough to have my back hit the ceiling. Then there was a loud thud against the floor and the world stopped turning.

I must have passed out because the next thing I see when I open my eyes is Adrien's worried look.

"Chlóe, don't move. You had an accident with the limo." On another day I'd be happy to receive Adrien's concern and have his full attention, but not on the debut day of a supervillain in Paris.

"More like I caused the accident." It feels like I'm lying on something. My head doesn't hurt and my vision doesn't spin. The most important thing is fine. I try to move my body and a pain runs from my back to my whole body.

He gently puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't move. You'll keep hurting yourself." I nod and stop moving. I prefer to look around. My eyes scan the place and I just realize that I'm in Adrien's room. On his sofa respectively. I see my bra and shirt on the floor.

My shirt is red.

I shudder to think how that blood got there.

I lift my head enough to appreciate my body. My torso and shoulders are bandaged. Do the Agrestes have a personal doctor at the mansion?

"No, not at all. Nathalie knows how to bandage those kinds of wounds... and I don't want to know how or why she learned that." It seems like I said it out loud.

I nod.

"Where is everyone?" He does not hesitate to answer.

"I haven't seen my father since the attack began, my mother was working on a film outside Paris this morning, Nathalie is taking care of Jean and Gorila is preparing the car in case we have to escape."

I sigh in relief and look at his expression.

"You don't seem scared." Adrien always acts like a domestic and shy animal. Coming here, I was prepared to comfort him and have him cry on my shoulder. Maybe share a blanket until the danger passes.

"More like worried, actually." There is concern in his eyes. He could never hide his feelings from me. "My day was not ideal because I couldn't go to school and then a villain is destroying the city." He sighs tiredly, more from emotional exhaustion than physical. He tenderly caresses my cheek. "But seeing you hurt was the worst."

I can only smile at his sweetness and concern.

"I would tell you not to worry because I will take care of everything, but this time it won't work." I turn my gaze and watch the television. They are showing the supervillain attack live. I can't hear what Chamack is saying because the TV is muted, but there's no need. Her terrified face is all the information I need.

The Parisian forces are unable to stop it.

We spent a few minutes in silence, watching the destruction of Paris. I wouldn't want to be in dad's shoes when this is over. The damage is increasing by the minute.

Adrien breaks the silence first.

"A villain is attacking. Do you know what that means?" He looks at me in profile and raises an eyebrow.

"Although your face is pretty to look at, I'm not in the mood for your humor." I'm already feeling tired all over my body and I have no energy to play along. He drops his eyebrow.

"Fine. As you wish." Then smile. "He's a villain. That means there's a hero who's going to stop him." He starts walking excitedly. "A hero. Paris will finally have its own hero." Years of anime have affected him. "I hope she's a magical girl" Yep, lots of anime.

"Agh, Adrien. As much as I wish it were true, this is the real world. Not like your stupid animes." I growl. "There is no indication that they will appear at THIS moment to save the day. What I do know is that the US heroes have already been notified and will be in Paris in 12 hours." I can't help but watch TV. "Or what's left of Paris."

I mentally slap myself when his gaze darkens. I quickly change the subject.

"I'll need a new shirt. I don't think can remove the blood from mine." Even if by some miracle it disappeared, I wouldn't use it either. This has a date with the fireplace when I get home.

"Yes, you're right." Nods and picks up my clothes. "I'll take care of that and you rest." He walks towards the door, but turns around before crossing. "Don't move from there and I mean it."

He has the nerve to point his finger at me. I roll my eyes at that.

"Yes, mom."

Satisfied, he walks away and closes the door behind him.

Being alone, my mind has nothing to distract itself with and I remember again how many times I was close to dying until crashing the limo in the Agreste domain.

I grimace.

"I need to distract myself" I tell myself, and I scan the room with my gaze.

Nothing has changed. Absolutely NOTHING. Adrien hasn't changed since the last time I saw him, nor have his tastes. No new or own hobbies. There are only posters and trophies of the activities that his parents require him to do. The same games of two people who I really don't know what they do in his room if he is an only child and a total lack of friends except me. A climbing wall, a skate park, a basketball hoop, arcade games, bookshelves full of movies and anime, a white wooden table, a black box with red decorations on it, the television is new. But it's still a TV. At least the black box is new and stands out. Point in Adrien's favor.

With nothing to do and the box within reach, I grab it.

The details seem to be of good quality. A gift from Gabriel perhaps?

I open the box and I go blind…

...Temporarily, luckily.

When I regain my sight, what I see, well... I don't know what I see. It looks like a chibi black cat. Those big-headed creatures from anime. And it's yawning. And now he's looking at me with unnatural feline green eyes.

"Hi, I'm Plagg. Nice to meet you."

It just spoke. Can you blame me for yelling?

I try to escape while screaming, but I don't get far. As soon as I make the move to get up, the pain in my back returns with a vengeance and I roll over instead of getting up. My face kisses the floor.

"Hey, hey. Relax. We don't want the new hero to get hurt before the fight."

Enduring the pain I can only look at it from the corner of my eye from the ground.

"Okay. Just lie on the floor while I tell you what's going on." It puts itself in a military pose or something, even clears its throat with its fist, paw?. "I am a kwami. I grant powers and yours is the power to destroy all things physical and metaphysical. You were chosen to be a hero and stop a supervillain with the power to create other supervillains. Do you get it?"

All I can do is look at it and slowly, very slowly shake my head. A tough job when you have half your face on the floor. For some reason, the flying cat thought that was confirmation.

"Okay. Grab the ring." It points to the box that fell next to my face. The box is open. There is a ring inside. The ring is black with a green symbol resembling a cat's paw. "Put it on and let's finish with the introductions so we can eat. I'm hungry."

"Adrien" I say weakly.

"Wow, wait there. Don't call anyone." It tells me as it approaches me.

"Adrien." I say louder.

"Silence, girl. They can't know that I exist. No one can know." Its voice is serious. I'm more terrified now.

"Adrien!"

"What did I just tell yo…"

"Chlóe, I heard you scream. You're oka…." Adrien freezes a few steps from the door. I just happened to fall into a position overlooking the door and I can see his expression. It goes from worry, surprise, fear, surprise again, insecurity when watching television, contemplation, seriousness and, finally, happiness.

It scares me sometimes how well I can read him because I could "read" his train of thought.

I have a feeling what he's going to say next when he looks at me like that.

"I told you I would be a magical girl."