It Takes Time

Chapter 7

"So, you have no clues on who this guy could be?" Chat Noire asked, once more. She had already asked this question at least four times, but changed the wording ever so slightly. It was a little irritable at first, but Ladybeetle had to keep in mind that if it was, by some crazy chance, Adrienne, she would have every right to be panicking and freaking out. 

Ladybeetle kept himself from yelling at her, knowing it would just result in some kind of fight. Instead of saying anything, he just nodded, jumping to the next roof over to see if he could see anyone, but there was no one who looked the part. Even if the shooter was still close, he doubted he would stay in the same clothes. He froze in place. "Chat, the security camera's."

Chat was clearly confused. She raised a brow and tilted her head to the side. "I'm not following. There's not really security camera's on rooftops." She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. "What's going on in that brain of yours?"

"I know that. But there's security camera's on the inside of the building he was on. He had to go through the building to get to the roof, right? Chances are, he was caught on at least one of the camera's leading to the roof. If he wasn't careful, we should be able to use the camera's to follow him all the way to the roof, and maybe we can get some kind of clue on his identity." Ladybeetle explained.

Chat stared at him for a moment, blinking a few times to process what he said. He was speaking pretty quickly, and it took her a minute to realize that he actually had a great plan. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, though her approach was so quick that she nearly knocked him over. 

As much as he hated to think about it in a time like this, he couldn't help but think of Adrienne as Chat hugged him. It's the same hug every time. He smiled slightly and hugged her back. "Come on, we have to get to the building. Get the security tapes."

The two made their way to the building that the shooter was on top on. Chat was slightly curious as to how he knew which building he was on. And if he did, why didn't he stop him? When they arrived at the building, which was a restaurant, they went to the security office, asking the guard for permission to use the room. He gladly obliged, and left the two alone to do what they needed to do. 

Ladybeetle started to rewind the footage of today's security tape. "Okay, we just have to check the tapes from--" He stopped. Oh no. The footage was just black. There was some noise, but all of it was just pitch black. "H-How could..."

Chat raised a brow, then looked at the screens that Ladybeetle was watching. "T-There's nothing there?" The crack in her voice was frightening. She took a step towards the screens. "There has to be s-something on these. Some kind of video. Some way of us t-telling who he is!"

Ladybeetle immediately noticed Chat's panicking. It was unnatural for her to do, regardless of the case they were on. She usually was the comedy relief of all their missions, not the one who was breaking down. He was worried as well, but he wasn't nearly as scared as Chat. It raised some suspicion. "Chat-" He looked at her with concerned eyes.

"You have another idea, right? You have another one. I know you'll think of something." She took a deep breath. "You're Ladybeetle. You definitely have another plan. So we'll go do whatever your next plan is next." She looked at Ladybeetle, her eyes glossed over. "You d-do have another plan... Right?" 

He couldn't say no. He didn't have the heart to say it. He couldn't. No way in hell could he tell her that he was out of ideas. "Of course." He smiled comfortingly. Usually he didn't think it was right to comfort people with a lie, but the situation called for it. He knew that if he said no, she would freak out. He couldn't deny it, though. With how panicked she was over this case. Chat was Adrienne. But as long as she was Chat, her life wouldn't be in danger. The shooter was after Adrienne, not Chat. He wanted to keep her this way for as long as he could.