Jagged white bolts of lightning cracked the black sky apart, burning through the inky clouds. Rain pelted the window like bullets. The lightning had burned through the electricity, and plunged the bakery into darkness. The only light in the room was the shine of the Eiffel Tower which slithered through the curtains of Marinette's bedroom window.
Marinette was drenched to the bone, and as much of it had been tears as it was rain. Her eyes were shining from the flood, but she wasn't crying anymore. There was no more tears, and no more sorrow. The darkness outside was creeping in to replace them. And she had a plan to prove it.

"Tikki remember when I didn't want to be Ladybug and you vanished?" Marinette asked, her voice hard.

Tikki gulped. "Yes?"

"I need you to do that again for a while."

"But-"

Marinette turned her head and glared at the kwami. "There's no room for Ladybug right now. No room for good luck. I need the bad stuff."

"Marinette-"

"Tikki I reject Ladybug." She turned back towards the Paris skyline. After all she'd done for them, after all he had done for them... "I reject you."

The earrings fell from her palm. As they hit the bottom of the wooden box they bounced. Tikki became a whoosh of pink. Once the lid slammed shut, she was gone. Plagg gulped nervously.

"That was a mistake."

Marinette glanced at the Eiffel tower through the crack in the curtain. "Let's make some more."

Plagg shook his head as she pushed the ring onto her finger, like a promise band. After all she had made one.

"You're not thinking straight," he said.

Marinette turned to face him. In the darkness he was only a pair of bright green, panicked, eyes. It was only when the lightning lit the room that she could see him clearly.

There was a dangerous amount of plotting in her tone. "What's the biggest thing you could destroy without getting hurt yourself?"

"Why?" Plagg asked, nervously.

Marinette twisted the ring on her finger. "Tell me."

There was a tense pause before Plagg answered, "The planet."

Marinette smirked. "Good."

"You want to destroy the planet?"

"No. Smaller than that," she glanced back to the window, and scowled with a burning fury in her chest. "I want to destroy Paris."

Plagg gulped. "Marinette-"

"But I won't. Obviously."

For a moment her voice turned back to normal. Pained and desperate, but unmistakably Marinette. She wandered towards the window and pulled the curtain back. A crackle of thunder boomed across the city as she did. Everything may have gone wrong, and she may have wanted revenge for that, but she was still Marinette. No matter how deep down that was.

"If Hawkmoth thinks he's so dangerous that he can get away with this, he's got another thing coming. He thinks he's the only dangerous person in Paris, but he hasn't met the wrath of a woman scorned. He's about to find out that if you mess with a cat, you get the claws." She clenched her fist and relaxed it to prepare herself.

Plagg gazed over at the box where Tikki and her earrings were shut away. "This won't end well."

Marinette set her jaw, balled her fists, and let the fire burn in her eyes. "I don't care. Hawkmoth has gone too far. It's time to let him know we're not playing games anymore. Plagg. claws out."

...

The nurse finished neatening the bedsheets, and smoothed the blanket under his hand. She made sure that his IV was still firmly in his arm before giving a soft smile. Her chest ached to see someone so young like this. So young. So innocent. What was this city coming to? She shook her head and sighed. When she shut the door behind her, the room was dark again. The only light came from the pale lamp on his bedside, and the heart monitor screen. For a moment the room was still. Then the toilet door opened with a creek, and a new rush of yellow light lit the bed. All they could hear was the constant beeping. It was low, relentless, and loud in the silence. In films it was reassuring. At least you knew they were alive. But here, for him, Marinette needed a heart monitor of her own to know if hers still worked. Her shadow was cast across the bed. Its unconscious occupant noticed neither the yellow rectangle, or the unfamiliar familiar shadow. Her baton in the same hand that held the door open, her tail too low to be seen, but her ears were sharp either side of her bun. Her footsteps echoed across the room as her little bell jingled softly on its pale blue ribbon. A matching, thicker ribbon dangled from a bow that help up her bun.
Adrien looked so fragile like this. He was paler than ever, and his hair was so messy she wondered how she never noticed who Chat was before. Now they had cleaned away the blood and stitched the gaping slash on his forehead, he looked peaceful.
The memory of her kitty flashed through her mind. He was covered in blood, and dirty with muddy from where he had landed. This gritty balcony was covered with damp soil from the plant pot he had smashed while landing. With the rain lashing at them the blood and dirt mixed and she couldn't see how injured he really was. He could barely keep his eyes open as he grunted for his claws to come off. Plagg landed in her lap and looked as horrified as she did. She gasped.

Her Adrien.

Her kitty.

The same.

It was still a raw wound. He still hadn't opened his eyes, and she was terrified for him. Marinette curled her claw across his cheek so softly it didn't leave a mark. Her breath shook, and her heart throbbed. She should have been there to defend him. He wouldn't be here if she had been there to defend him.
Now it was time to make it right.

Marinette pulled Tikki's box from her pocket, and rubbed her thumb along the lid gently. Her claw bumped across the engravings without a care. She took a deep breath, and tucked the box into Adrien's palm. She pressed her hand on top of his, so he could feel it.

"Hold onto this for me kitty. I know she'll be safe with you."

Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper, yet the silence of the room made it loud. Marinette knelt down and picked up the bag that the doctors had put his personal effects in. She opened it, and pushed the box into the pocket of his hoodie. No one would look for her there.

"I'll be back for you Tikki. There's just something I have to do first," she promised.

Marinette placed the bag safely in the bedside table's drawer, and looked back at Adrien. She gulped. It wasn't right that her partner look so fragile when he was the strongest person she knew. Her breath shook as she gently pushed back his hair. She laid a soft kiss on the uninjured part of his forehead. He was warm, and soft, and hurt. All she could muster was a single tear that rolled from her eye, down her cheek, and onto his.
The nurse opened the door to Adrien's room and entered with a clipboard. Once again, the room was empty.

…

Marinette stood in the shadows at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, gazing up at the gleaming icon of Paris. Countless times she had saved this landmark for the citizens of her beloved city. Countless times someone had tried to destroy it anyway a week later. Now it was her turn. It was only fair. The storm rumbled on, loudly above the city. Electricity in the air warned everyone something was going to change. No one noticed.

"Are you ready Plagg?" She asked.

Her voice was hard and determined. Plagg's was less so.

"There's no going back if you do this."

She bowed her head, and her eyes were as hooded as every akumas. Marinette didn't need an akuma for her powers. That's what made her so deadly.
Alya came dashing across the street from the very moment that she had spotted what she mistook to be Chat Noir walking towards the Eiffel Tower from her bedroom window. Her phone was already in the air filming shaky footage as she got to the top of the stairs.

"CHAT NOIR!" She cried.

Marinette heard a dull echo as someone cried her partners name. Her partner everyone always looked over. Forgot about. Missed. Her partner that was lying in hospital now because of that. No one noticed him then.
They sure as hell were going to notice him now.

"Cataclysm."

She spat the word like venom. Plagg winced. Her hand burned with raw destructive energy as she felt the jet-black ball form between her claws. Marinette raised her hand to admire its power for a moment. Alya sensed something very wrong was about to happen. Her footsteps slowed as she stopped running. She was only a few feet away now, and her phone clearly showed the cataclysm in her hand.

"Chat Noir?" She gasped.

Marinette pressed her palm flat against the base of the Eiffel Tower, and felt the surge of power rush into the metal.

CREAK!

SIZZLE!

POP!

The metal turned brown and rusty as the power rushed through it. Each light that made the icon gleam burst, and died. The entire tower went dark. Citizens gathered at their windows in horror. This wasn't because of lightning. Not even a storm this hard could destroy every light on the iconic monument.
Almost every eye in the city was on the tower as it turned jet black, and practically invisible against the clouds above. A deadly, unearthly groan drowned out the thunder as the metal bent and crumbled. Huge chunks of metal broke away, and went crashing towards the ground. Marinette turned and walked away from the destruction. She walked past Alya, who stared in horror. Without looking, Marinette yanked Alya forward, which made her gasp. And then -

CRUNCH!

A great block of iron crushed the concrete ground into dust, right where Alya had been standing. She stared at Marinette, lost for words for the first time since they had met. But her camera was still rolling on live stream. She raised it up to Marinette's face, as she delivered a harsh, determined speech, that shook the city worse than Hawkmoth ever had.

"Go home Alya. Go home and lock your doors and do not come outside again tonight."

"W-w-why not?"

"Because tonight Hawkmoth went too far. He took something from me far more precious than my miraculous. Hawkmoth has controlled this city for too long and he thinks he can get away with manipulating innocent kids for having the audacity to feel things like humans do. He thinks he can get away with anything he damn well pleases, well that ends tonight. If you fear this storm, you're going to hate the one I'm bringing. There's a new cat in town. Take cover."

...

Gabriel stroked his chin thoughtfully as he watched the video that was on every single breaking news story in the city. Chat Noir had lost his miraculous, and this girl that had replaced him was out for revenge. The city was terrified. Nooroo was terrified.

"W-what are you going to do master?"

"This girl... she's ladybug," Gabriel said.

Nooroo gasped. "How do you know master?!"

"When my son was hospitalised, I went through his things. He didn't have his miraculous. He didn't even have his kwami. The only person who could have taken it was Ladybug. Which means, for a while at least, she held both miraculous. She had the ultimate power. But she's coming to fight me with the cat instead. More fool her. We'll kill her and take both miraculous for ourselves," Gabriel sneered.

"Kill her?!" Nooroo squeaked.

"Yes," Gabriel sneered, "kill the fool. Then I really will be able to get away with anything I want."

Nooroo gulped. Once, a long time ago, he had tried something as a last resort. It hadn't worked then, but it was all he had left. One thing that would maybe make him think again.

"She wouldn't want it this way."

Gabriel suddenly turned cold. He clenched his jaw firmly. "Do not Nooroo."

"She wouldn't want her son or his best friend hurt-"

Gabriel grabbed the kwami in one fist and squeezed him until he couldn't breathe.

"I said don't. You think I want to sacrifice my only child? I nurtured him for years. He was going to be heir to all this. My company. But the spell demands blood for blood. Family for family!" Gabriel threw Nooroo across the room, and huffed, "All her blood is already split except him. I can't change that."

His hand automatically moved to his broach, and he opened it. There she was. His beautiful wife. She smiled up at him, full of love and life and joy. He softened slightly.

Nooroo gasped for breath, but he couldn't give up yet. Ladybug and Adrien's lives depended on it. "You could try seeing her in him and loving him for being what's left of her."

"It's too late for that Nooroo. I need her back. If I have to squash a bug to get it," he clenched his fist around his broach, and closed the lid to hide the pictures. "Then that's what I'll do."