Dreams of You

Chapter 1

Adrien

His feline ears twitched. He'd been spotted. No choice but to run.

Something zoomed centimeters above his head, slicing into the tree just ahead. Using the shower of leaves to his advantage, Chat Noir ducked and broke into a sprint. Low to the ground. As quiet as was humanly possible. Fast.

An avalanche of the disks chased him.

Not too far away now. He hid behind a tree to catch his breath.

A shadow lurked to his right. Red dots glided across the trunk of the tree to his left, searching for their target.

Chat halted his breathing and closed his eyes. Birds sang above him. Wind caressed the trees. A squirrel—no, a few of them and something larger to his left. A snap of the branch to his right, and another disk ripped into the tree next to him.

His eyes snapped open, lips pressing into a thin line. Too close for comfort. He had to move. If he didn't, he'd be a goner in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.

One last glance around; Chat leaned to his left from behind the tree. A few disks sliced the air above him, followed by a laser beam just below where his heart would have been had he moved.

Chat pulled back. His chest tight, lips pinched together. This was getting out of hand. No more running on foot, then.

He pressed the green paw-pad button on his baton and dropped it, activating the tool's hoverboard feature, pouncing on it before it reached the ground. Eyes constantly scanning the area, Chat zoomed ahead, swift and careful. Prowl like the cat he was.

A handful of disks sliced the air. Cut branches, leaves, grass filled the space, giving him the perfect setting to blend in. He pushed on, laser beams dancing along his path. On second thought, some extra protection wouldn't hurt.

Without stopping, Chat let his power consume his body, dark energy crawling up his skin, creeping down his veins, enveloping his form with a green halo. The infamous shield of destruction. Indestructible. Impenetrable. For as soon as an object touched it, whatever it was would disintegrate. Even lasers and force fields didn't stand a chance. Chat was quite proud of getting a hang of it before he reached his teenage years.

One of the lasers cut through a large tree ahead, its trunk falling and blocking the road. Chat directed some of his energy to his right hand, shooting a beam of his own. No obstacle was impossible for him to overcome. They should've known that by now.

The shower of flying blades around him intensified. He zipped around, trying to evade rather than destroy them.

Just a tiny bit more.

A few more meters...

"Cataclysm!" Chat snatched his prize from its pedestal as soon as the protective force field around it disintegrated under the destruction his hand wielded. "I win."

He grinned, turning to his pursuers, biting into the pastry. "Oh! That's a good one. Fluffy and delicious." Chat chewed slowly. "Is that... almond spread? My favourite. Nino, I officially love you."

Both of the men beside him ignored him, their attention glued to the pedestal.

"I can't believe he was able to break through this one too. I thought it'd be indestructible for sure. Even for him."

"I'll analyze the data for a more accurate assessment, but from what Markov is transmitting to me already, I dare to say the shield held up zero point zero, zero, zero five seconds longer than our last try. We're on the right path, Nino."