Faceless

Chapter 7 - Deceit

"Second Chance!" muttered Viperion, eyeing with concern the literal few seconds left on his timer before it would run out. He sighed in relief when he saw Ladybug reappearing in front of him, ready to go.

"Wait, Ladybug," he whispered.

Rena Furtive rolled her eyes. "Now what? It didn't work again?"

Viperion shot her a sly smile. "Not totally sure, because they were interrupted and Faceless got upset again." He gave a decisive look at Ladybug. "Plagg has given the Black Cat ring to someone, a girl from what I could see. She arrived at the worst possible time and upset Adrien to no end."

Ladybug sucked her breath in, her eyes as wide as saucers. "He thought he was being replaced."

Viperion nodded. "Yeah. He managed to hit the black cat girl who was trying to protect you and she turned into a salt statue."

"Ugh," gasped Rena. "From what I've gathered, this happens if the person who gets hit doesn't have a true love. Happened to Alix earlier on."

Ladybug got a decisive frown as she picked up her communicator and turned the screen to a GPS map. Sure enough, there was a small paw print on the screen showing that the black-clad superheroine was getting close. Ladybug picked up the communicator and found Chat Noir's icon, dialling the number of the baton. After a few seconds, the person picked up.

"Don't go to the akuma," said Ladybug without even letting her say hello. "We're at the rooftop just behind Collège Françoise Dupont. Join us there. Use the GPS function of your baton to find us. There's a user guide in the main menu." Then, the superheroine hung up and started looking around, trying to identify where the black cat heroine would come from. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry, Ladybug. I didn't want to scare you," said a voice behind her back. Ladybug turned around to see what looked like a female black ninja with green accents, cat ears on the sides of her head and electric green eyes looking back at her.

She put a hand on her chest at the height of her heart and breathed out. "Who are you?" she asked and the cat girl gave her a sly smile.

"I'm Nekonome, at your service, Ladybug." She bowed a little. "Plagg found me while looking for you. I can detransform and give you back the ring here and now, but I thought I may be more useful to you suited up. I have a feeling that Chat Noir will be a tough akuma to defeat."

Ladybug sucked her breath in. "You know—"

Nekonome grinned. "I don't know his identity, but I know that he's Chat Noir." She noticed the worried exchange of glances between Ladybug and Viperion and put a hand on Ladybug's shoulder. "I know, you're right. I will find out who he is when the akuma is defeated, so maybe it's better if I leave. I'll do what you want me to do, Ladybug. If you want me to give you back the ring, I will."

"No need for it," said Ladybug gently, "now that we know Papillombre's identity."

Nekonome's eyes grew wide. "We do?" she asked and Ladybug nodded.

"Yes. Gabriel Agreste."

Nekonome's eyes became small slits in her face. "He's a bastard!!" she hissed under her breath, balling her hands into fists, her arms shaking in anger. "A BASTARD," she repeated, as if she had forgotten the rest of the world. "A real bastard!"

"Ladybug, you're wasting precious time," pointed out Viperion. This immediately brought the superheroines back to focus. Ladybug nodded and looked at Viperion decisively before jumping out.

Once again, she landed in the courtyard. Once again, Faceless found her and attacked her. Once again, Ladybug found the courage to tell him that she loved him. Viperion was so proud of her...until things went downhill again.