Partners in Crime (Miraculous Ladybug)

• C h a p t e r E i g h t •

For a few tense moments, Hawk Moth stared down in silence at his newest supervillain. Miss Fortune couldn't see his expression, but Chat Blanc was looking back at him with a confident smirk on his face. After hearing the feline villain's words to the older man, she couldn't help feeling in shock, too. If Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth, and Chat had just called him "Father" . . .

Then that meant Chat Noir— Chat Blanc now— was none other than . . . Adrien Agreste. His only son. And Miss Fortune's crush from her old life.

"What's everyone gaping about?" Chat Blanc snarled, clenching his fists. "Yes, Father, this is me. You weren't the only one in the house with secrets."

His gaze slipped to Miss Fortune. "Am I finally good enough for you?" he demanded, eyes harshly questioning. "Worth loving?!"

Coolly, the villainess broke into a relaxed and satisfied smile. "Of course not, my kitten," she cooed. Pacing calmly up to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "You're better."

The two villains linked arms, each smiling evilly, and turned to face their master. "First mission?"

After another few seconds' hesitation, the older villain grinned back.

"Let the world know you're here."

-

Having changed their old enemy's usual luck, Hawk Moth could now akumatize as many people as he wanted, although with the combined power of both Miss Fortune and Chat Blanc, extra villains weren't much needed. After all, they'd formerly had the two most powerful miraculouses in the world. And since nothing had been able to stop them as superheroes, neither would anything or anyone as supervillains.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were no more. It was Heroes' Day Round 2, except Volpina and her illusions were not in the picture. In fact, Miss Fortune had been sure to make Lila's life as miserable as possible by changing her luck, which made everyone around her a thousand times smarter. From the moment Miss Fortune had touched her, everyone she'd ever influenced and deceived immediately had seen right through her lies, therefore no longer treating her like a celebrity.

Revenge had never been so sweet.

In their spare time, Miss Fortune and Chat Blanc would practically dance through Paris, hand in hand and leaving wreckage behind them everywhere they went. Chat Blanc's Cataclysm was no longer limited; he could repeatedly destroy whatever and whoever he touched, and the existence of Lucky Charm had been erased. There was no more need for it. Nothing could stop them.