Won't Tell a Soul

It All Comes Down

Adrien felt hollow, doing his best to pull himself together but he had no idea what to do. He didn't have Plagg... he had no idea where he was or how he could possibly find him. Even if the plan was just to give up and hand over the miraculous they couldn't, not without Plagg. It was just a ring without him, so now even their bargaining chips were useless.

"Adrien," he heard a soft voice speak, and he turned to face the doorway of Nino's room, Ladybug entering with something in her hand.

"Is that it?" Adrien asked, walking towards her and ignoring the questioning police staring on from the other room. He didn't care how it looked.

"The ransom," Ladybug answered, "yeah. You should take a look at it, we don't have a lot of time."

Adrien reached out and took the thick stationary in hand, surprised by the expensive weight of it but then again it wasn't unreasonable to assume Hawkmoth had a flair for the dramatic. It was hardly befitting of a supervillain to make out ransoms on receipt paper.

Adrien's useless train of thought halted as he looked over the sharp clear typed out letters.

[He will be returned, as long as the price is paid. Ladybug and Cat Noir must hand over their Miraculous, mid-day inside the Notre Dame. Any heroics and it is the boy who will suffer the consequence.]

"Mid-day?" Adrien said aloud, unable to keep the shock from his voice as he looked up to meet Ladybug's statue like gaze. "Noon? You can't be serious we only have three hours?"

Adrien looked down at Nino's bedroom clock, fallen from its side table and strewn across the floor but still confidently displaying 8:53 AM on its face.

"Looks that way," Ladybug said in a quiet voice, the tone so distant and robotic that he fought off a shiver as he looked up again at her now stoic expression. "Three hours to think of something... Police set up a perimeter around the Notre Dame as soon as the note was discovered, they've searched everything as far as I know. Nino's not there, Hawkmoth is holding him somewhere else and is most likely going to either move him to the meetup or hold him somewhere else while he collects the Miraculous. So an early rescue isn't an option unless we can figure out where Hawkmoth has him."

Ladybug paused, looking over her shoulder at the police men who quickly looked away but she bit her lip regardless. She stepped closer and spoke softly then.

"We don't have any clues we don't even know where to start, but if we run out of time I don't have a choice. I've got to go to the meet up and try and bargain for Nino with what I have."

"What does that mean?" he shot back immediately, struggling to lower his voice when he spoke again. "Why are you saying that like you're going alone?"

Her blank expression wavered slightly and he could see fear in her eyes before she masked it again. "You don't have your kwami, you can't transform there isn't an option here. Hawkmoth is our biggest enemy you can't go into a fight like this without your powers."

"And you can't go in alone!"

"Adrien," she cut him off, the name shaking as she said it. "You can't just reveal yourself to him, if you do even if we get away with Nino he would just come after you, he would destroy you entire life. If you don't have your kwami I have to go alone."

"NO," he nearly shouted again and she closed her eyes as he did his best to conceal his words. "You're just going to run in there and give up your Miraculous? Because that's the only play you have! If you go in without backup he'll hold Nino over you and force you to hand over your earrings! There has to be a way to get Nino to safety and where we don't lose to that monster."