✩𝔻𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕥 ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝔹𝕝𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤✩

𝘐'𝘮 𝘚𝘰 𝘚𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘺𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘔𝘺 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘒𝘪-

Having barely survived the bathroom brawl, Marinette was well on her way to hunt down a particular minor offender.

Thanks to Hawkmoth's use of the butterfly miraculous, the everyday man and woman could be turned into a senseless pawn with a whacky gimmick. At first, it was harmless, like he was testing the waters until the minor inconveniences turned into felonies. His intentions became clear, capturing the cat miraculous at any cost. Hostage situations became his fortè and it wasn't easy trying to convince a national terrorist to let the pigeon man go.

The bluenette was beginning to have doubts over why Gabriel would even want the ring. Sure, having the ability to disintegrate whatever you wanted with a single touch was cool but impractical in the long run. Wouldn't it be better to capture the ladybug earrings instead? An immense luck factor and the ability to conjure up objects for any particular situation was handy. If he had the earrings, he might have gotten the ring, and perhaps he wouldn't be locked up in jail. Maybe it was a better idea to keep wearing the earrings for safety.

However, every time Marinette would try to pull off the ring ever so little, she would feel a tingling sensation on her finger like vinegar that was left on her skin for too long. It was beginning to scare her.

"Hey Plagg? Is it normal for the ring to be on so tightly." Marinette asked after bringing her tote bag closer to her face.

"No, whatcha asking that for?" He spoke with a mouthful of turkey.

"It feels like I would actually want to cut my finger off."

"Huh, weird, " he paused to put some serious thought into it. It was the first time he had ever had a user say that. "Maybe what I said to you this morning is giving you tiny shivers. Try not to think about it."

Marinette let out a grumble before coming to a halt facing the park that was across the street from where she now stood. Her eyes scanned for a droppy man dressed in a gray suit and a pink necktie, and wouldn't you know it? He was seated on the park bench that happened to overlook the duck pond.

The teen tiptoed to a nearby tree and hid behind it so as to observe her target's suspicious activities. She furrowed her brow. Birds, why did it always have to be birds with this man? As a villain, he couldn't even make enough of them congregate to become an actual threat to people, but God did she hate the times the family bakery would become a sole embarrassment of vandalism and theft. Loaves would be dragged by the beak, and floors would be feathered. Every time she clashed with him, she would grow more irritated at the thought of cleaning up as Marinette later in the day. Not that Chat Noir helped much against Mr Pigeon. He would just sneeze the feathers all over the place.

Now, she was spying on him with a clenched fist, hoping that he would try something. Anything to lead her straight to Hawkmoth.

So she waited until the summertime heat baked her forehead when the cooling relief of the tree's shade fled from her. At some point, Plagg ate all the turkey sandwiches and complained about their dryness before crawling up Marinette's arm to take refuge under one of her ears.