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Parents' Career Day should've been a perfect day for everyone to enjoy. Simple, informative, full of warmth and love.
Yet it was a clear reminder to Adrien that he only really had a father in theory.
In reality, Père was more of a face in a picture on a screen and a name on a contact list than a parent. As much as he didn't want to admit his naivety aloud, Adrien had hoped his father would have surprised him at least once. Even Nathalie holding up a tablet with Père on a video call would have been better than nothing.
Instead, he was left to wallow in self-pity alone again because the one person he had left to call family continued to hide behind closed doors and white walls, never bothering to be there for his one and only son.
Not like he ever had been before.
"You okay, Adrien?" whispered Plagg, poking his head out from Adrien's pocket.
"Yeah. Should've expected it, honestly," Adrien muttered, motioning for his kwami to hide again.
Plagg's cat ears wilted before he darted back into his hiding spot.
As Adrien reentered the classroom, he tried to mask his disappointment. 'Tried' being the key term. It took all his effort as he sat down not to cry.
He missed when she was still around. At least things made since and he wasn't so alone.
"Hey, mec, you good?" asked Nino next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Holding back a whine, Adrien shook his head, propping it up with a hand after. His gaze lit up as it met with beautiful blue eyes. He'd almost forgotten which of his classmates was up with their parent.
Marinette gave him a worried look, but smiled when she noticed his expression change.
Of course, if there was anyone else in the world that could fix his mood, it was perfect, sweet, precious Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Though Adrien could hear her father speaking, his attention was all on her. Suddenly, she stepped closer and his focus stayed glued to her. He hardly noticed the croissant on a napkin she set down on his desk until she rolled her eyes playfully and placed another in front of Nino before moving to the opposite side of the aisle.
Adrien could feel the freshness of the pastry as he picked it up, warmth and delight radiating as he took the first bite. It might have been simply being in her presence, but there was love in this croissant, he was sure.
"Wow," said Sabrina with a gasp. "It's so beautiful." She moved to grab the bracelet from the box, only to have her hand swatted away.
"Look, but don't touch," Chloé warned, pulling the box back slightly. "This bracelet's worth more than anyone else here can imagine. Daddy wouldn't want it suddenly disappearing and neither would I."
"But--"
"Nope. You can't afford the risk." Chloé slipped the lid back on and hummed proudly, then scowled as Marinette set a croissant down in front of Sabrina. "Ugh. And you definitely could never, Dupain-Cheng."
Unsure of what the other girl was talking about, Marinette shrugged. "Your loss," she chimed before walking over to Mylène and Alix with the tray.
Once she finished handing out the rest of the treats, Marinette saw something dart across the floor of the aisle, but spoke nothing of it as she sat down at her desk. She passed one of the last three croissants to Alya, who had just sat back down after she and her mother took their turn at the front of the classroom, and went to pick up one for herself when Chloé's bag fell over on its own, revealing what little was actually in it. She thought about commenting on it, but refrained when Adrien peered at her over his shoulder.
She quirked a brow as he turned around slightly.
His gaze turned hopeful, expectant even.
Then she understood. Carefully, she took the last croissant and tore it in half, passing one piece to her eager partner, who gave her his most grateful smile before turning back around to enjoy it while listening to Sabrina's father, Roger, explain his philosophy as an officer.
Such a silly cat.
The collective shock everyone felt when Chloé screamed was enough to put Adrien and Marinette on alert.
"My bracelet! It's gone!" she shouted while checking her purse in panic. Sure enough, the box the piece of jewelry had been in was empty next to her on the floor. She growled as she targeted her anger at Marinette immediately. "You! You stole it!"
"What? How?" Marinette said.
"You probably grabbed it when I wasn't looking o-or something," Chloé guessed as she stood, turning her attention to Sabrina and Roger up front. "You! Police officer! Arrest this thief immediately!"
"Now wait just a moment, Mlle. Bourgeois. Accusations without proof do not hold up under the law," Roger stated firmly. "Are you sure it didn't simply fall under your table?"
"Don't you think I haven't already--" Growing frustrated, Chloé barked out, "Daddy!"
"Officer Raincomprix, I demand you search that girl's bag immediately!" the mayor shouted out quickly.
"My daughter couldn't possibly have stolen that bracelet, M. Bourgeois, nor would she have any reason to," Marinette's own father spoke up.
"An obvious defense!" Chloé countered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Probably because it's the easiest to prove," Marinette grumbled, jumping back in her seat as Chloé shrieked again for her father.
"Need I remind you, M. Raincomprix, that I am your superior and have full authority to make such demands of you?" André said as he moved to stand in front of the officer.
"Monsieur, it's against the law. It'd be illegal to--"
"Yet your word is not law, is it?"
"Wh-Wha--"
"If you refuse to cooperate, then you're fired."
"But--"
"Fired! Out. Now." The mayor pointed to the door.
"Serves him right," Chloé said with a sneer. "Better to call Ladybug and have her do the job correctly."
"C-Chloé! Why would you say that?" spoke Sabrina before hurrying out after her distraught father. "Dad! Oh, no!"
Marinette sighed, shoulders slumping.
Alya leaned in, whispering, "Is it bad that I almost expected Sabrina to stay and help Chloé accuse you of stealing?"
"Aha! The thief has an accomplice!" Chloé accused, pointing to Alya.
"Chloé, please, don't you think this is all a bit much?" Adrien tried, appealing to her pride.
"Why are you defending her, Adri-kins? I told you. She's nowhere near worth it with all the trouble she surrounds herself with."
"Maybe because she's not the one flinging baseless assumptions around just because she doesn't like you? You know, like you're doing to her?"
"Adri-kins!"
"Enough!" shouted the mayor. "Mlle. Bustier, I demand to know where the principal's office is this instant!"
Marinette would have been almost grateful for her boyfriend's deflection, if it hadn't been for the fact that he ducked his head under his desk a moment after while M. Bourgeois argued with their teacher, then glanced back at her like a deer in headlights when he sat back up.
She didn't need to be a mind reader to know something was definitely wrong about this whole mess.
It had almost been a miracle that, not long after Mayor Bourgeois left to find Principal Damoclès' office, a very worryingly large robotic akuma slammed the classroom door open. Using the distraction Rogercop gave them, Marinette grabbed her purse and let herself be pulled out of the room without anyone giving the duo a second glance.
"I really don't like the look on your face," she admitted as he closed the door to the locker rooms.
"Can you blame me when this is what I found at my feet just now?" he whined, digging something out of his shirt pocket. Before Marinette could guess, she was left dumbstruck at the sight of Plagg struggling in the palm of Adrien's hand to remove from his head the very bracelet she'd been accused of stealing.
"Plagg!" Marinette yelled.
"In my defense," the kwami of Destruction said, "I thought it was a box of camembert."
"And when you saw that it wasn't?"
"It was shiny! I got distracted, okay? Do you want me to admit that my second weakness is shiny things or something?" Plagg cried, still squirming in the air to free himself.
Tikki sprung out of Marinette's purse, quickly moving to her counterpart's side. Rather than helping him, however, she instead glared at him. "Phase out of it, Plagg. You know every day physical objects can't actually trap us."
"Don't you think I haven't tried that already?"
"And it didn't work?" This information seemed to floor the kwami of Creation. She backed away somewhat as he wriggled more frantically.
"Obviously not! Now can I get some help here?"
"Can't I just say the transformation phrase and easily get him out of this?" asked Adrien.
"No!" both kwami exclaimed.
"Why not?" Marinette questioned, equally confused as her partner.
"Whatever this bracelet really is, it definitely wouldn't be safe to keep on Plagg during a transformation," Tikki explained. "Not only could it effect Chat Noir's powers, but it could also cause irreversible physical damage too."
Neither human cared to know whether that damage was to them or their kwami.
Adrien grabbed Plagg while Marinette took hold of the bracelet. Together, they worked to try breaking free the poor yowling feline. When neither side seemed to be giving, Tikki hummed in thought, then darted in between Marinette's hands. Aiming her sights, the ladybug kwami kicked a tiny foot at the top of Plagg's head with all her strength, launching the poor creature free from the strange bracelet.
Unfortunately for Marinette and Adrien, they both fell backwards in opposite directions, landing on their butts. With similar groans of annoyance, the duo looked to see the black cat kwami rubbing at the top of his head.
"Ugh. Let's all agree to never mention this ever again, alright?" the poor thing said.
"Agreed. Plagg, claws out!"
"Tikki, spots on!"
Out of the locker room barged the two heroes, Ladybug immediately zeroed in on finding the akuma while Chat Noir pocketed the bracelet. He didn't question her on where she was headed, only what exactly the akumatized object was.
"It has to be his whistle," she guessed, stopping them both as they saw Rogercop confronting the mayor at the principal's office.
"I like that theory," Chat Noir purred.
Ladybug spun her yo-yo, then tossed it, pulling Rogercop to aim his attention at them instead. As he fired, Chat Noir ducked and wove through the shots before extending his baton and swiping at the akuma's boots. Before Rogercop could land flat on his face, Chat Noir hefted him up and threw him over the railing, the akuma slamming hard onto the courtyard ground.
"You don't think that hurt?" she asked in worry.
"Doubt it. He seems more robot than cop at this point," Chat Noir quipped before they both jumped down to finish the job.
Chat Noir knelt down next to the downed officer, reaching for the whistle. Before he could nab it, the akuma's gloved hand wrapped around his neck. With hardly any effort at all, Chat Noir was launched away.
Ladybug dodged out of the way, giving Rogercop a wide berth as he stood and aimed his sights on her.
"Ladybug, stand down at once," Rogercop demanded in his robotic voice. "Paris has a new righter of wrongs. Your services are no longer required." He zapped at her, intent to capture the heroes.
As she flipped across the courtyard, she scoffed. "I believe my partner and I are supposed to be given one month's notice before you terminate us, officer." She smiled when she noticed him waver, spinning her yo-yo in preparation to knock him down.
"Rogercop!"
Oh, no. She knew they had forgotten something.
"Rogercop, I need your help now!" Chloé shouted as she stomped over to him.
The akuma brought his arms down and turned his head over to the blonde, considering her. "What seems to be the problem?"
"I've lost my bracelet and I can tell you the exact names of the two crooks that stole it!"
"You're standing right here and she chooses the akuma to complain to?" questioned Chat Noir as he stumbled to Ladybug's side.
"I don't know why you're surprised. It's just Chloé being typical Chloé," Ladybug muttered, momentarily turning her attention to him. "You okay?"
"All nine lives accounted for," he said, rolling his neck, shaking his muscles loose, and giving her a thumbs up.
"Come with me. We can discuss this transgression on the way," Rogercop ordered as he turned to the entrance of the school. "Justice will prevail in the streets of Paris."
"Finally, someone capable of doing the job right," Chloé said, following the akuma eagerly.
"N-No, Chlo--" Chat Noir moved to stop her, but Ladybug slapped a hand over his mouth.
The duo watched Rogercop escort the teen out, sneaking towards the entrance doors to see the akuma summon a police car to the curb. He opened the back seat door, allowing Chloé in and revealing a familiar figure trapped in there.
"Sabrina! This is where you've been-- Ah!" Chloé's anger turned to distress as she was shoved and locked in.
"Mayor Bourgeois will pay for getting rid of his best police officer," droned Rogercop before marching into the driver's seat and speeding off with his two hostages.
"So is there any reason why we just let him ride off with Chloé? Besides petty justice?" Chat Noir asked, crossing his arms over his chest as they strode down the steps of the school.
"I had a hunch, and we just watched it in action," Ladybug replied confidently.
"What was it?"
"Well, really, I had two, but the first was that Officer Raincomprix would still care for his daughter enough to keep her safe and protected somewhere he could control, while the second--" Ladybug tapped at Chat Noir's nose. "-- requires an express escort to city hall, if you'd be so kind, kitty."
Purring with excitement, Chat Noir picked up his partner. "Sounds like my Lady has a plan."
"You could say that," she said as he extended his baton.
"All citizens are ordered to answer to Rogercop."
"Effective immediately, Ladybug and Chat Noir are outlaws. They are to be hunted down and arrested on sight."
"Methinks someone's on a bit of a power trip," Chat Noir said as they landed in front of city hall.
"Only a bit?" Ladybug joked as she motioned towards the screens set up to relay the announcement to the public.
Thankfully, the rest of the police force had the sense not to trust the word of an akuma, merely barricading the area so civilians were kept at a distance from the scene.
"We'd better hurry. He might be akumatized right now, but I wouldn't subject anyone to Chloé's intense amount of whining, even if they were," Ladybug said as they hopped through the car-shaped hole in the city hall doors.
Chat Noir walked over to the abandoned car in the middle of the foyer, checking into the windows. "No Chloé or Sabrina."
"He must be keeping the three of them in the mayor's office then." Ladybug hummed in thought. "That handcuffing thing he did to Mlle. Mendeleiev and M. Haprèle… You don't think he'd do that to his own daughter, would he?"
"You're asking the wrong cat those sorts of questions," he pointed out as he slid onto the front of the car, giving her his cheekiest grin.
She rolled her eyes and flicked one of his cat ears. "Focus, mon chaton. We're going up there--"
"Getting the hostages out, trapping Rogercop, Catching the akuma from inside the whistle, and calling it a day afterwards," he listed out as he slipped off and stood. "I didn't forget anything, did I?"
"Plan B, which is to appeal to M. Raincomprix by asking Sabrina to convince him to stop," Ladybug added.
"My Lady, I love you, but I doubt Hawkmoth will let us get away with that sort of tactic," Chat Noir said, furrowing his brows.
"Feline of little faith," she teased before heading up the stairs.
Both heroes found themselves in front of the doors to the mayor's office, opening them just enough to peek inside. Restrained in separate chairs on one side were Chloé and her father, while Sabrina sat nervous and quiet in the mayor's chair at his desk and Rogercop stood staring out a window.
Quickly, Chat Noir snuck in on all fours, hiding behind a table close to where Chloé was. When it seemed like the akuma hadn't noticed him, he motioned for Ladybug to follow.
At that point, Chloé saw them and perked up. Before she could say something though, both heroes put fingers to their lips.
Ladybug handed her yo-yo to her partner and nodded. With silent steps, Chat Noir hotfooted towards the mayor's desk next, tugging on the head of the yo-yo to make sure the line was still taut. He grinned at his partner, then poked his head around the corner of the desk.
Steadying his aim, Chat Noir threw the yo-yo, letting it wrap around the mayor's chair and subsequently Sabrina herself. She yelped in surprise as she was pulled away suddenly, alerting Rogercop immediately.
Before the akuma could move, the mayor's desk was up on its side, taller than it was wide, then slamming into Rogercop with the full force of a donkey kick. Both heroes grabbed a Bourgeois in the heat of the distraction, Ladybug tugging a confused Sabrina along at the same time, and ran out the door, ignoring the shrill screaming from both teen girls along the way.
Faster than a blink, Chat Noir had both mayor and daughter under his arms before he landed in the foyer, dropping them unceremoniously to catch Sabrina, who had been freed from the mayor's chair. Said seat had been jammed under the doorknob to the mayor's office, a temporary hindrance as an appetizer.
"Backup's coming back up, my Lady!" Chat Noir declared after setting Sabrina down on her feet. He extended his baton to vault himself up top effortlessly.
Meanwhile, at the sound of wood cracking, Ladybug didn't hesitate. "Lucky Charm!" Down dropped a pair of spotted oven-mitts, leaving her perplexed for a moment until she understood. "Trouble you for a tail, kitty?"
Chat Noir blinked owlishly then tilted his head to the side, only to gulp when something heavy slammed against the blocked door. "If it'll do what you need it to, it's all yours," he said as he detached the belt and handed it over.
"Pass me the bracelet too?"
Despite his further confusion, he pulled Chloé's bracelet out of one of the pockets of his suit and passed it to her as well.
As fast as her fingers could go, Ladybug wove together her masterpiece, then steeled herself as Chat Noir readied to knock the chair away. "Under--" She pointed to him. "-- and over." She pointed to herself.
"Cataclysm!"
The chair fell down the stairs. Ladybug kicked the door in. The akuma staggered backwards. Chat Noir slid like a rockstar under Rogercop. His right hand raked across the wooden floor. The rotted wood gave under Rogercop's boots, but his aim was still true.
Ladybug grunted as the impact of the shots sent her tumbling upside down into a bookcase.
"No!" Chat Noir shouted as his partner revealed the red and blue cuffs around her wrists.
The makeshift restraints she crafted landed near the remains of the mayor's desk and he took the opportunity to grab them while Rogercop struggled to free himself.
Instead, he was struck as well, rolling to a stop so close to his goal he could almost grab the oven-mitts.
That left all three players in this game stuck.
Rogercop at least had control of his arms and hands. His lower half, however, was completely immobilized, leaving him growling in vain as he tried pushing himself up and out.
He was so close. He had Ladybug and Chat Noir captured. All he needed was to get out and he could order them to-- Wait. That was it! He grabbed his whistle and was about to blow into it.
Then a familiar head of red hair appeared in his peripheral.
"Dad?" Sabrina gasped, likely seeing the chaotic mess the mayor's office had become.
No matter. He simply needed to--
"Dad, wait!" she cried, crawling over to stop him. "Please, dad. I know what Chloé and her father did was bad, but you can't let what they said turn you into… this."
"Incorrect. Hawkmoth has allowed me to bring justice back to Paris and correct Mayor Bourgeois' mistake," he stated robotically.
"This isn't justice, dad! It's revenge. And your letting Hawkmoth get away with taking advantage of you so he can win." She placed her hands carefully on his shoulders. "Please, stop this, dad. Your hurting everyone and scaring me a-and you're not yourself anymore." Her voice turned soft until all she could do was whimper.
His grip on the whistle faltered as he watched tears form in her eyes.
"What are you doing, you buffoon? Free yourself and get me those Miraculous!"
Sabrina flinched back.
"Sabrina," hissed Chat Noir, squirming to sit up. "Grab the whistle. Break it. Or toss it to me and I'll do it."
She hesitated, her gaze shifting between the two incapacitated heroes and her akumatized father.
No. This wasn't right. He might have been seeking justice, but what he'd truly accomplished was the worst thing he could have done.
Rogercop snapped the string, tossing the whistle towards Chat Noir.
"I'm sorry, Sabrina," he droned, straining against the robotic tone of his voice.
He'd been a terrible father, a horrible example for his precious daughter.
He reached for her hand, trembling against a thousand errors screaming in his ears.
Ladybug laughed triumphantly as Chat Noir crushed the whistle beneath his shoe.
"Catch!" Awkwardly, Chat Noir pounced for the butterfly, his wrists still cuffed together, and only barely snatched the bug from the air. The bell on his collar chimed like an alarm and it took all his strength not to groan loudly in displeasure at the sound.
In the meantime, Ladybug had crawled over to her oven-mitt contraption and tossed it as best as she could with a hearty, "Miraculous Ladybug!" As the clutter was cleaned and fixed and their magical cuffs were vanished by the magical swarms of ladybugs, Ladybug herself chuckled and nudged her partner on the shoulder. "And you said we couldn't get away with it."
Chat Noir stuck his tongue out at her, then held his fist out as the last of the pink swirls darted out of the mayor's office.
"Pound it!" they both said together.
"Ugh. Finally. I thought this nightmare would never be-- H-Hey! My bracelet!" Chloé shouted as she came into the room, darting to Ladybug and pointing to the accessory in the hero's hand.
"Oh, this thing's yours?" Ladybug pretended to be surprised as she handed it back. "Huh, I guess it makes sense, all things considered. Chat Noir found it by where you and your father were tied up." She looked to her counterpart and winked, hoping he'd catch on.
And he did effortlessly. "Yeah. I thought it was pretty neat and shiny, so I picked it up. I hope you don't mind." At Chloé's look of disgust, he gave her a devilishly toothy grin.
"Ah! So you had it on you the whole time? Chloé!" M. Bourgeois said, glaring disappointedly as he walked in.
"See, mayor? I knew your daughter simply misplaced it," Roger spoke up confidently, his own daughter hugging him tight.
"Sounds like you have an officer here that understands the law quite well, monsieur," Ladybug commented, seemingly innocent.
"Would be a shame if he wasn't a part of your police force," added Chat Noir.
"Quite right, you two. In fact, M. Raincomprix, as a further extension of my gratitude for your service and remorse for having fired you so unprofessionally, how would you like a promotion to Lieutenant?" the mayor offered, clasping his hands together enthusiastically.
Sabrina and her father gasped.
"I'd be honored, monsieur!" Roger replied, saluting his superior.
"And Chloé," M. Bourgeois said as he placed a hand on his confused daughter's shoulder, "what do we say to Lieutenant Raincomprix?"
She groaned dramatically, shoulders slumping as she grumbled out, "I'm sorry."
With that, the two heroes hurried out of city hall after purifying the butterfly, the timers on their Miraculous beeping in near-sync. Ladybug was the first to land in a bush at the Place de Vosges and de-transform, Marinette rolling out just as Chat Noir slammed in and out stumbled Adrien.
"This is all you're getting, you pig," he whispered to his kwami as he handed Plagg a single chunk of camembert.
"No! Adrien, please, I'm so hungry," Plagg whined from his holder's shoulder.
"Next time, think with your head instead of your stomach and maybe you'll get more."
Plagg pouted, staring down at the piece before he darted to Marinette's shoulder. "Pigtails, Adrien's being mean."
"Oh, is he now?" Marinette said, sensing exactly where this was going. "And what do you want me to do about that?"
"Give me more cheese?" Plagg suggested, acid green eyes shimmering with hope.
"Give him nothing. He got us into that whole mess and we nearly lost our Miraculous because of it," Adrien hissed.
Marinette hummed, pretending to mull the situation over. "I don't know. Tikki?"
"Sugercube, be gentle. I'm starving," Plagg begged.
"I think it's up to you, Marinette," said Tikki from the girl's purse before taking a massive bite of a chocolate chip cookie.
Marinette glanced between Adrien and Plagg, then smirked. "You know what? Just this once, I'll see if papa has some spare camembert in the kitchen."
Plagg's face lit up with joy while Adrien sputtered out a confused "why?"
"Oh, I just can't say no to such a cute little face," she admitted, petting the cat kwami as he chomped into his camembert. "Especially when he promises to be on his best behavior from now on, right, Plagg?"
"Whatever you say, pigtails."