Lost Kitten

Chapter 12: He's Back

Releasing Marinette from the hug was the last thing Adrien wanted to do, but they had to discuss strategy for defeating his father. 

“Okay,” Adrien said, sitting back in an upright position, Marinette doing the same, both feeling the beautiful warmth leave their bodies. “So I think you’re right, we do have the advantage of numbers, but I think too many people might not be helpful. Each of us there should have two Miraculous jewels on during the battle. So it’ll be you, me, Alya, Nino, and I think we should bring Chloe back as well. At the current moment, my father is in Hong Kong, I think we should scope out my father’s lair while he’s away. It’ll give us an advantage, he doesn’t know that I know. Also, Mayura is his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur. I think the Miraculous is hurting her though.”

“What do you mean it’s hurting her? How could the Miraculous hurt her?” Marinette asked, confused.

“I can answer that one!” A tiny voice called out. Adrien looked around to see Tikki, it had been quite some time since he had seen her. “A Miraculous jewel can be damaged, and when you use a damaged Miraculous jewel it hurts you internally. The jewels connect with you on a physical level, that’s how they enhance your physical abilities, they connect to your muscles, nerves, brain, organs, you get the gist. So the miraculous damages all parts of your body while you wear it. While I’m not sure how it got damaged, I’m sure that if she uses it much longer, it could kill her. If we want to save her, we have to do this soon.” Tikki said solemnly.

“So if we don’t stop them soon, Nathalie could die? I know she has done incredibly terrible things, but she basically raised me. We can send them to jail, but as heroes, we have to save her. It would be morally wrong to allow her to continue this and have her die, when we know that we can save her.” He knew that they were basically the terrorists of Paris, but Adrien would always have a soft spot for Nathalie. She had always been around, and he couldn’t bare to see her die.

“You’re right, so I think it’s time that we go to your house and check out the lair. We need to case every inch of your house just in case there is anything besides his lair in there. That will take quite some time, so maybe we can go on a patrol afterwards?” 

“I’d like that Mari. Also, we should use your lucky charm when we get there. My father can tell if anything is out of place, so we can use the Miraculous ladybugs afterwards to fix everything that gets out of place.” Adrien said knowingly.

“Okay, let me tell my parents that I won’t be back until later tonight, and then we can go. Did you drive here, we can go to your house that way.”

“Sounds good. Yeah, I drove here. I’ll wait outside for you.” The two heroes stood up together and walked down to the bakery. Marinette went to tell her parents and Adrien went to wait outside.

“So you’re back, huh?” Said Plagg from within Adrien’s leather jacket.

“Yeah, I am. It was kind of an impulse decision, but it feels right. I think it’s exactly what I needed to do. Oh, she’s coming out now.” Adrien said it all with a smile on his face.

“Okay Adrien I’m ready to g-” Marinette looked at the motorcycle Adrien was now sitting on. “Adrien, don’t tell me that’s what you drove here on.”

“It is, but it’s completely safe M’lady. I have an extra helmet and jacket with me all the time. You never know when you’ll need them.” Adrien walked up to Marinette and grabbed her by the hand leading her to the bike. “I promise, you won’t get hurt.” He went into the storage area of the motorcycle and pulled out a leather jacket and helmet. “Here, the jacket will be pretty big on you, but it’ll keep you safe.”

The small girl grabbed the large jacket and put it on cuffing the sleeves a bit. Adrien had to admit that he blushed a bit when she put it on. She looked so cute in it. He grabbed the helmet and put it on her before she could see the blush painted on his cheeks. 

“There you go.” He said with a slight laugh. “Completely safe.”

Marinette giggled nervously, adjusting the helmet slightly, “Well you do come prepared, I’ll give you that.”

The two got on the motorcycle, and Adrien thanked God that Marinette couldn’t see his face right now. Adrien started driving and Marinette squeezed his torso even more, but to be honest she liked it more than she let on.

Fifteen minutes passed and they had reached the Agreste mansion. They got off the motorcycle as the large wrought iron gates shut behind them.

“That was exhilarating!” Marinette exclaimed excitedly.

“I knew you’d love it. I honestly feel like it’s the closest thing to jumping over buildings as Chat Noir. It gives you a similar adrenaline rush. That’s why I love it.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought of. Have you done it since you left? Transform I mean?” Marinette asked curiously.

“I have, I did it a bunch back in the States and Canada to prevent small crimes. I was sort of like Batman, I only went out at night though so I wouldn’t be noticed. I didn’t want word to get out that Chat Noir was in North America, people could’ve easily figured out my identity that way.”

“Good thinking Kitty.” Marinette teasingly flicked the zipper on his jacket, like she used to flick his bell.

The heroes went inside, and Marinette quickly transformed and called for her lucky charm, it was a flashlight, which proved helpful in their search. They looked around the house for hours making sure they knew every inch of the place. Once they were finished they went to Adrien’s room.

“Ready to patrol Kitty?”

“As I’ll ever be M’lady.”

The two grabbed hands and called on their transformations. In a flash of pink and green light Paris’s protectors were standing there, hand in hand after two years.