Sentibug

Avenging an unlucky monster.

To think it all started with an Eiffel Tower keychain. Just a simple silver trinket, probably costing nothing more than pocket change.

Too bad it couldn't stay that way.

Adrien twirled the trinket around his finger as he walked out of his room. After yesterday's photoshoot with Lila, and his demand to fix the mess she created for Marinette, he had secretly transformed and doubled back to go retrieve the item Mayura's Amuk possessed.

"What are you even doing with that thing, Adrien?" Plagg asked, zipping through the air around Adrien's head. "You and Ladybug beat that thing, why bother carrying some random piece of garbage around?"

Adrien leveled a glare at the Kwami. "Don't call her a thing, Plagg. She deserves to exist just as much as the rest of us."

To say he was mad was an understatement. Adrien was livid. Watching the pain and fear in Sentibug's eyes as Mayura forcibly erased her from existence was something that haunted Adrien all night. In fact, that was the majority of the reason that he even went back for the charm in the first place.

"I'm just saying kid, you should be focusing on something more tangible. Something like that cheese you promised me last night that I never got." Adrien could feel the dirty look Plagg was boring into the back of his head. "Besides, if you keep being angry at something you couldn't stop, Hawkmoth might try to Akumatize you."

Fat chance of that, he'd actively been trying all night. Getting sentimental over a Sentimonster?

"Yeah I know. I can only steal so much from the kitchen at a time you know." Adrien responded, shaking his head back to reality. Plagg floated off somewhere behind him when they reached the top of the main staircase. Natalie and his Father were standing at the open front door talking to themselves. Adrien leaned on the railing, silent and unnoticed.

"The meeting should only be a few hours, stop worrying about me Gabriel." Natalie said quietly to her boss. Adrien mildly wondered when she went from Mr. Agreste to Gabriel so smoothly as she had.

"Take care of yourself, Natalie." His father replied. "You're an important asset to this company. I can't afford to lose you at this stage."

Gabriel put a hand on her shoulder for a moment before turning and closing the front door behind him. Adrien and Natalie watched out the window as Gorilla opened the car door for Gabriel before climbing in himself and driving off. The assistant sighed as she turned her attention to her tablet and walked towards the staircase.

Adrien met her halfway, hand on his hip. Natalie looked up in surprise at the teenager standing a few steps above her. "Adrien. I thought you were doing your homework."

"My father going somewhere important?" Adrien asked, standing tall and looking down at her over his nose.

"He'll be across town at an important company meeting. He needs to be there in person for this one." Natalie replied, before coughing a few times into her elbow. "I'm serious Adrien, you need to be doing your homework."

Adrien smirked. He pointed at the door to his father's office. "So no one will be in his office for a while then? Since he's not in the house right now."

"That would be the process of events, yes." The older woman replied. "Wait, what are you doing?"

Adrien walked past her, twirling Sentibug's charm on his finger once again. Natalie did a double take at seeing the charm. Walking to the door without a word, Adrien opened it and glanced over his shoulder. His green eyes shimmered with an emotion that Natalie was unfamiliar with seeing on the boy.

"Move and I'll break your legs."

Fear ran down Natalie's spine as Adrien turned and entered the office. Never in her life would she have expected him to say that to anyone, much less her. The charm on his finger had already put her on edge, the tone in his voice just made her knees feel weak and wobble. Why did he have that charm, certainly he never had time to go and buy it on his own. And the one she had made the Sentimonster with was still on the top of that building. So there's no way, he couldn't possibly have it unless-

Her blood ran cold. Gabriel had been right, Adrien was Chat Noir. That means if he was in Gabriel's office alone while Hawkmoth himself wasn't home….

Duusu!

Natalie lurched forward, she had to get that Miraculous before Adrien could. Everything Gabriel had worked for would be for nothing if she didn't. The woman ran through the doorway, turning just in time to see something being thrown at her head. She put her hands in front of her eyes, catching whatever it was Adrien had thrown. Looking down, her hand held a small green pin in the shape of a peacock's feathers.

That can't be right.

"Adrien what's going on?" Natalie cried, her gaze leveling on the young model.

Said model was currently throwing things over his shoulder from inside the safe. When the only things left inside were the Miraculous book and the photo of his mother, he swore to himself under his breath.

"Figures he'd keep that one on him." Adrien ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head. "Oh well, you win some you lose some."

The boy turned back to Natalie and glared at her. Pulling the charm out of his pocket, he threw it straight up into the air. With a simple command, black energy swirled around him as his transformation took hold. Chat Noir held out his palm, Sentibug's charm landing in his hand.

"Transform Natalie. I'm going to drag your face across this whole mansion, and then you're going to bring her back." Chat Noir spun his baton and placed it along his shoulder blades.

"And if I refuse?" Natalie asked, clutching the miraculous to her chest and taking a step back.

"Then I follow through with my threat, break every bone in your legs, and then make you transform anyway." Emerald green eyes stared deep into her soul. "I promise you, bringing her back makes this a lot less painful for you."

Natalie stared down at the miraculous in her hand. Surely Gabriel hadn't gotten too far by now. She could call him and then both of them could take down Chat Noir. Of course, while she was calling Hawkmoth, the boy in front of her could just as easily call Ladybug. Then she and a swarm of authorities would show up and ruin everything. But if she could take care of him herself, then that could be avoided just as easily.

She grabbed her glasses and ripped them off her face, throwing them to the side. Chat Noir remained unmoving, staring straight ahead.

"DUUSU, SPREAD MY FEATHERS!"