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“Ladybug, watch out,” Adrien shouted, pulling her into him and turning so the akuma’s blast missed them by hair’s breadth. Using the momentum, Adrien propelled them into the nearest safe place he could find, a janitor’s closet.
With a twist of the lock, he turned back to Ladybug and inspected her for any injuries. Satisfied she was okay, he met her curious gaze with a small smirk and a simple shrug. He didn’t dare say anything at the moment to ruin the weird mood they found themselves in.
“What were you thinking, Adrien? You could’ve been hurt.” She glared at him, her bluebell eyes intent on scorching him for being so reckless. Her arms crossed over her chest as she moved into her best superhero pose she could to show her authority in the matter.
If only she knew, he mused.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the akuma sang as she walked past the janitor’s closet where they hid.
Dropping her voice, Ladybug whispered, “I have to get back out there. Chat’s going to need my help with this one.”
She moved toward the door and flicked the lock back to open, nudging the door a couple inches. She didn’t get any further as the akuma cackled and shoved the door closed again.
Ladybug tried nudging it again, but it wouldn’t budge. The light, once filtering under the door, had become shadows from whatever the akuma had used to barricade the door.
“Great. Just great.” She huffed and kicked at the door, groaning as her foot began to throb from her action.
Adrien couldn’t blame her as he felt the same. He hadn’t considered anything beyond keeping Ladybug safe. He certainly hadn’t calculated the akuma might trap them rather than confront them. Most of the others had in the past. Why couldn’t this one do the same?
“Oh, I hope Chat gets here soon. We’re going to need his Cataclysm to get out of here.”
“I hope so, too.” Adrien turned so she couldn’t see him as he peeked inside his shirt to check on his kwami. He frowned as Plagg smirked at him, silently mocking him for the mess he’d created.
Not ready to admit defeat, Adrien noticed a small window above a set of shelves. It looked to small for him to fit, but just maybe, Ladybug could. Then, she could rejoin the fight while he transformed and freed himself from their temporary prison.
He pointed it out to her, but she surprised him by saying the idea was too risky, preferring to stay put until Chat arrived.
“We can’t do that. What if he doesn’t come? What about the others out there?” He resisted the urge to yank some of his perfectly coifed hair from his scalp. “You don’t even know what she wants.”
“Exactly. I don’t know because someone got us stuck in here. While I wouldn’t mind ordinarily, this isn’t the best time.” Her hands gestured wide and nearly smacked him a time or two in the tight-fitting closet.
He chose to ignore her idea about being happy if the timing had been better. Those thoughts could wait. No, he needed her out of the room, so he could transform and join her before the akuma got too crazy out there.
No matter what he tried though, she wouldn’t budge.
She shot down every idea he came up with and glared all the harder at him for trying in the first place.
Finally, having had enough, Adrien sighed and whispered, “Please forgive me. I didn’t want it to happen this way, but you’ve left me no choice. Plagg, claws out.”
Within moments, his transformation washed over him, and he called up his power of Cataclysm, using it on the door. It disintegrated in seconds, allowing him to push aside the long table used to jamb it.
Turning back to Ladybug, he grinned, holding out his hand to her, and said, “Ready, Milady?”
She stared at him a moment longer before she shook her head to clear it. As she moved closer to the doorway, she turned to face him. “We’re talking about this later.”
“I kinda figured that.” Pulling his baton from its holster, he added, “For now, let’s cleanse this akuma and save Paris once again.”