Partners by Chance

Chapter 3 - Threats

Adrien

Natalie had the same neutral look as always, but inside her the anger was burning her veins.

Adrien looked down, ashamed of his own behaviour. Natalie guided him to his room where he found his father, Gabriel Agreste. Things were not going to be soft.

"Have a sit, Adrien." said the father in a disconcerting neutral voice. Why everyone had to be so neutral while reprehending him? Couldn't they just loose their minds, scream at him and go on with their lives? No?

"Yes, father." wispered Adrien in a scared voice.

"Your behaviour was unacceptable. I was greatly concerned with your safety." declared Gabriel.

"I understand..." answered his son in a mechanical way, like a trained dog "It won't happen again, I promise."

Gabriel had a severe look in his face, like if he was evaluating if his son was lying.

"Listen, Adrien" said Gabriel "I'm not sure how you left this house, but I assure you that it won't happen again."

Adrien kept looking down in fear. He wasn't able to look at his father's face in that moment.

"You will be in total lockdown for the rest of this weekend." continued the fashion designer "You will only leave with my express permition and accompanied by your bodyguard at all times."

That meant no more visits to Marinette and, most important of all, a lot of troubles if someone was akumatized.

"Yes, father..." replied Adrien.

And that way, Adrien had a lunch below the avarage quality, maybe as an extra punishment, and an extra boring Chinese class that was mainly dedicated to reviewing already studied subjects.

Then the photoshoot was extremely demanding, way more than he was told it would be.

The most normal moment of that torture day was fencing. The same old exercises and a little chit chat with his classmates.

He tried to avoid Kagami as much as he could. He understood that she loved him but he wasn't ready yet. He hadn't forgotten Ladybug and now Marinette was starting to make him feel doubts.

And finally, he was back at home. It was seven and a half, there was sun in the sky yet but he felt like he was woken up all night. Wait a second, he was.

He was woken up all night waiting for the moment that would make his weekend be more demanding than ten school days in a row.

How stupid was he...

Marinette

Crazy thoughts were in Marinette's mind.

His room in the top of the parent's bakery building was filled with the gold light of the late afternoon. The perfect scenario to promote delighted poetry and romantic events, yet it was all lost to a giant amout of boring work.

Marinette went to sleep early last night and chatting with Chat took away two hours of her day. The pile of work was accumulating in her desk.

And here's the catch: she couldn't focus. Her mind was decided in three: Luka, Adrien and Chat Noir. All so different, yet all so attractive to her.

Tikki observed her with caution. She knew how human teens were emotionally unstable. She expected that by now her mind had settled down.

Oh, how wrong she was...

Marinette wasn't able to decide what to do. She just couldn't.

And then, she had an idea. The craziest idea ever deviced by a human mind, but an idea nevertheless.

She was going to talk to Adrien as Ladybug.

When she shared the idea with Tikki, the kwami tried to drive her owner our of this completely insane idea that could bring nothing but more doubts to her head.

But, at the end of the day, the decision was Marinette's.

"Tikki, I really need this!" she would say countless times. Before, emotional blackmail would work on the Tikki. But not this time.

"Marinette, you are the guardian of the Miraculous!" argued the ladybug kwami back "You can't just leave them unprotected!"

"Then we bring the box!" suggested Marinette, not thinking straight "Problem solved, right?"

The next ten minutes would be dedicated to Tikki explaining to Marinette why that idea was even more insane than the one of leaving them unprotected.

But Marinette's blackmail was stronger. After some time, Tikki would give up and decide to cooperate.

"Tikki, spots on!" shouted Marinette.

The red with pink dots costume appeared over Marinette's skin and a mask in the same pattern would cover her eyes' line, hiding her identity.

She picked up her yo-yo, her main tool, and started moving to Adrien's.

Gabriel

The half sphere shaped structure of the Hawk Moth's lair was dark and sinister. It was completely surrounded by a black veil of shadows, like any great villain's lair, full of secrets and traps for unwanted guests.

As Hawk Moth was preparing himself to talk, the dome that protected the butterfly shaped window started opening, letting the liquid gold light of the afternoon sun of Paris flood the room, revealing hundreds of glowing white butterflies.

And so said Gabriel Agreste, hidden behind the most hated person of France face's:

"I feel a strong negative emotion not far from here. Despair, incapability of making decisions, sadness. A delicious cocktail of negativity. A perfect target for my akuma."

As he has risen a hand, a butterfly flew to it. He soon covered it with his other hand as the butterfly suddenly went from a pure and mesmerizing white to a terrifying and threating black and purple. The butterfly had became an akuma.

"Fly away my little akuma, and evilize this destressed soul!"

The akuma flew out of the window, crossing Paris until it landed in the backpack of a student almost crying of despair for not being to help a friend that was being bullied.

A butterfly shaped mask appeared in front of his face, and so appeared in front of Hawk Moth's. The new villain was about to receive his orders.

"Justiceer, I am Hawk Moth. I'll give you the power to protect the ones who cannot protect themselves and secure justice in Paris. In exchange, you will bring me the miraculous: Ladybug's earrings and Chat Noir's ring."

"Consider it done, Hawk Moth." replied Justiceer.

And the kid transformed into a half judge half policeman villain.

Marinette

Just a handful of buildings were between Ladybug and Adrien.

So close.

And, out of a sudden, the ladyphone incorporated in the yo-yo started ringing.

It was a notification warning that Alya, Marinette's best friend and owner of the Ladyblog, started al live with the tag "akuma alert".

Brilliant...

Marinette stoped. Why is it always when she can't that Hawk Moth decides to launch an attack? She stoped at a rooftop and opened the live.

"-ive from the Louvre Museum where a super villain is causing chaos!" said Alya.

In the phone could be seen the most unbelievable scene. Policemen throwing garbage to the floor, parking cars and motorcycles in the wrong places and the people around giving them tickets and reprehending them.

Ladybug swung in the opposite direction to get to the Louvre as quickly as she could.

Adrien

Adrien was in his room, alone with Plagg. He didn't knew that his loved one was just a few blocks from him.

His phone has run out of battery, and his father didn't accept his request for a charger. He did not know that an akuma was running wild.