Revelations Ch 3

Chapter 3 – Strange Timing

At around 4am, Adrien was suddenly and quickly woken up by his kwami. His first initial reaction was disinterest due to his tiredness overtaking his concern for his kwami.

"I'll get you cheese later Plagg...just let me sleep..." He mumbled, turning over to face the wall, away from Plagg.

"Adrien, I just saw someone leaping across those buildings over there...and it didn't look like Ladybug...I think it was an akumatised victim of Hawkmoth." He exclaimed, pointing out towards the window.

This made Adrien's eyes dart open and his tiredness was gone within an instant as panic rushed to his brain. He sat up and turned out the window to see a shadowy figure in the night. He raised an eyebrow in confusion as to why there was an akuma attack this late into the night.

"Hawkmoth's awake now? But it's 4am!" He exclaimed, looking at the clock before jumping out of bed and racing to his window.

He tried to look at the shadowy figure, but couldn't see much due to the lack of light around the neighbourhood. However he did know it was another akuma Hawkmoth had sent out as he saw a purple outline around the face of the shadow. Narrowing his eyebrows, Adrien turned to Plagg.

"Plagg, claws out!"

Plagg was sucked into his ring and with a flash of bright light Adrien was transformed into Chat Noir. He leapt from roof to roof, trying to find sight of the shadowy figure. He yawned as he felt his body demanding more sleep, but then he heard the sound of running from behind, he quickly turned to see the shadowy figure running straight towards him.

Chat immediately jumped and used his staff to land himself on the ground below. He looked around for Ladybug, but had assumed that she was still asleep as her other self. So with a sigh, he decided that he would be fighting this akuma alone. However, he thought of how he would be able to rid of the akuma since only Ladybug was able to. He wanted to contact her, but decided to wait as he had not gotten hold of the object that the akuma had possessed, and he didn't want to disturb her unless he really needed to.

He looked up from where he was seconds ago, and saw the shadowy figure on the roof. Who quickly jumped down and landed perfectly on the ground without a scratch or fault in his landing. It was clear to Chat that by the upper muscles on the shadowy figure that it had to be a man, possibly an adult older than him.

"Try and catch me Cat, I'm the night burglar, so good luck trying to see!" The figure declared, smirking at the chat.

Chat could tell that this figure didn't know the extent to his abilities; he was able to see well in the dark and could see the expression on his face quite clearly. His costume looked like a mix of a jail outfit and a burglar outfit with the signature akuma mask on his face.

As the akumatised victim dashed away, Chat followed after, he saw that there was a way he could slow him down with his staff. He grabbed it and with a snicker he threw it in between a lamp post and the wall of a building. This made the victim choke a little from the sudden staff and fall to his knees.

The cat sighed in relief, but now that he had the akumatised victim down he couldn't do anything, so instead, he searched for what object could've been affected by the akuma. He studied the man's body, and found a bag attached to his belt with a large euro sign on it. He was about to reach for it when he felt his tail being pulled at and then he was flung to the other side of the street, disturbing a neighbour or two.

"I can't do this without her!" He cried in a quiet tone, holding in his lips with frustration and giving a glare to the shadow which ventured off further down the street. "I need Ladybug's help." He decided, getting his staff and contacting Ladybug.

In the bakery a few blocks down, Marinette was sound asleep when suddenly she heard the sound of what she assumed was her alarm. She rolled over to look at the time and saw that it was a little after 4am. She raised an eyebrow in confusion and then shrugging as she rested her head back down, but yet the noise was still present. It was then that Tikki asked for her attention.

"Marinette, it's Chat Noir. He's trying to contact you." She said, vibrating like a phone.

Marinette grunted, annoyed that Chat Noir was contacting her at this time of the night. Her first thought was that he was trying to get to her again, being in the grumpy mood she was from him disturbing her sleep, she answered with a sarcastic comment.

"You can't sleep without me now, is that it?"

Chat's initial thoughts were that she had gotten over what had happened from their last encounter, or the fact that she sounded tired.

"Um, actually cats are nocturnal." He stated, turning his head a little before seeing the night burglar on the roof of a nearby house. "Ladybug, I need your help, and this time it IS an akuma attack."

He heard no response but a small cackle of laughter; this made him feel annoyed slightly that Ladybug didn't take him seriously. He felt guilt rushing through his body as he realised that after asking her to come for no reason the other night she now wouldn't believe him.

"I'm serious. He calls himself the night burglar and he's going through every building in search of money and other things. I've tried to stop him but I can't without your help." He explained, raising his staff up to take a picture of the night burglar on top of a roof. "Transform and I'll send you this picture of him. Trust me on this."

With a sigh, she agreed and hung up on him temporarily so that he could send her the picture. Lucky for his night vision, it was also included in the pictures he took with his staff so Ladybug could see the picture clear as day.

Marinette transformed into Ladybug and received the picture Chat sent through. He wasn't lying. Her eyes widened slightly and looked for Chat Noir's location before nodding in determination and leaving her room to find him.

While staying is position, he watched the akumatised victim leap from roof to roof like he was Santa Claus, only that this one was taking stuff instead of leaving it. Chat wanted to go and fight but knew that he had to wait for Ladybug first.

It was moments later that he heard her swinging and jumping from building to building and then she was kneeling at his side, looking out towards the dim town only lit by street lights as she tried to find the akumatised victim. She looked at him for a split moment to see him staring anxiously at her, her instant thoughts were that he still remembered from what happened when he confessed his true feelings to her.

She had only one reason as to why she wasn't returning the same feelings back at Chat, and that was because of Adrien. She was beginning to think that if she had never developed a crush on Adrien she might have liked Chat the same way that he did, this made her widen her eyes for a small moment but then focus her mind as she saw the night burglar off in the distance.

"There he is, have you seen where the akuma might be?"

Biting his lip and staying focused on the task at hand; he focused his mind on the situation and remembered the possibility of the money bag being where the akuma was hiding.

"I do have a hunch that it's that money bag he's been carrying around." He answered, clenching his chin a little in thought. "But, only you know for sure."

Ladybug gave a faint smile in reply that he found her to be the better half of the team over each other, but she raised concern in her expression when she realised that he was only complimenting her so she would be more acceptable to his feelings.

She playfully gave him a wink and shrugged off the feeling in her gut that tightened whenever Chat said anything like that, she only wished that Adrien would tell her something like that. She would be over the moon and dazed forever if he said a compliment as meaningful as that.

"I think that's where it would be, I can't imagine any other place on a burglar where the akuma might hide." She said with a smirk, before getting her yoyo out, readying herself. "Okay, let's go!"

Chat followed Ladybug's lead, as always he knew that Ladybug would have to be in front so that she could get the possessed object and then cleanse the akuma of its evil. He leapt from building to building, following her every move almost simultaneously.

She hid behind a chimney as Chat hid behind another not far away from her, he could see the night burglar clearer with his added night vision. He signalled to Ladybug and he saw he swing down and knock him down, it was time for Chat to knock him down enough so that Ladybug could cleanse the akuma.

He swung his baton in a circular motion above his head so that he would land safely on the ground, and then he aimed the baton towards the night burglar but was then punched away by the night burglar's amazing strength. He fell not too far down the street, hitting his head against a car and relieved that its alarm didn't go off.

The Night burglar was attacking with handcuffs that could stop a person and tie them to the ground so that they could do nothing else, Ladybug was dodging as many as she could and flew up to higher ground, but since it was still dark and there was no speck of light over the eastern horizon, it made it very difficult for her to see the night burglar in the dark.

She heard Chat running towards him, and then using his cataclysm on the road beneath the akumatised victim. It made him fall and was then trapped beneath the floor, with his money bag thrown to the side by the sudden suction of his body.

The crime fighting duo smiled, Ladybug was relieved that she didn't have to use her lucky charm; she swung her way down and reached out for the bag when suddenly she was pinned to the ground by handcuffs.

"Chat! Why doesn't your cataclysm make his arms sink beneath the ground too?!"

The cat dressed hero shrugged. "What? It's exactly the same thing I did with that Robo Cop and his arms were above the ground too." He explained, gesturing towards the ground, feeling a little insulted.

"Well don't just stand there, do something!" She cried, trying to break free.

It was then that Chat heard his ring beep to him, this was now getting too close for comfort, he had to save Ladybug and stop the akumatised victim from getting away. He wished that it didn't all come down to this, but he had to try the best that he could, even if he had already used his cataclysm on the road.

He used his staff to whack the night burglar as he struggled to escape, this enabled Chat some time to break Ladybug free of the handcuffs. Ladybug placed out her hands and widened them as much as she could before Chat slammed his baton against the small chain and they both heard the sound of metal breaking and falling to the ground.

"Nice going Chat." She thanked him, patting him on the shoulder before the night burglar continued to fire handcuffs at the pair.

He growled at the heroes. "No one gets to do what they want around here! Anyone who is against me can face the pain I did!" He cried, firing several more handcuffs at them.

The pair managed to dodge all of them, except when Chat lost his focus only for a second and then he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground, Ladybug had ran over to him but he pleaded that she must cleanse the akuma first, and as he heard another beep from his ring and see another paw disappear, his words sounded more anxious.

"Okay don't worry, I'll get you out of here." She assured him, standing up after kneeling down in front of her partner.

The night burglar was trying to escape by this point and didn't both using handcuffs on ladybug again, he tried with all his strength to break free. The cracks that formed around him in the solid road proved that he was making progress.

Ladybug had to act fast, it seemed like she had to use her lucky charm. She knew it would come to this; it was the only thing that could stop the akumatised victim almost every single time.

"Lucky Charm!"

With a whizz of her yoyo she spun it into the air, and then appeared a small key with a large key ring. It made her raise an eyebrow in confusion to such a strange item, but then she glanced over at Chat Noir and suddenly had a brilliant idea.

She quickly threw her yoyo at the night burglar to distract him for a moment before she used the key to unlock Chat Noir from his handcuffs and then help Ladybug with the rest of her idea. She gave him the rest of her lucky charm as she ran over to the money bag and slammed it against the ground, making the akuma escape. Meanwhile Chat used the large key ring to hold the night burglar's arms in place, and tightened at it as he struggled.

"No more evil for you akuma!"

Ladybug cleansed the evil within the butterfly and smiled and waved as it flew away. Then Ladybug waved her arm up into the sky and with a brilliant flash of pink light everything was turned back to normal. The akumatised victim turned back into a regular prisoner and questioned his whereabouts to himself as he scanned the area around him. It wasn't long before he turned to see Chat Noir and Ladybug bumping their fists together.

"Pound it!" They said in synchronisation.

Another paw was lost from his ring; he had to leave now before his transformation wore off, but saw that the akumatised victim was a prisoner and had to be returned to prison asap.

"Ladybug, I need to leave before my transformation wears off, you think you could take care of him?" He asked, gesturing to the prisoner.

"Sure thing, and nice to see you're doing alright." She replied with a caring smile, which made Chat blush in thought.

As he ran off he felt the flood of emotions gush through his body, he quickly hid somewhere and released his transformation to see an almost exhausted Plagg falling into the palms of Adrien's hands.

"Man that was tiring! I need cheese, stat!" Plagg demanded in a weak trembling voice.

Adrien sighed, annoyed at his kwami's lack of interest in anything else but cheese. His mind was too focused on what Ladybug just told him. It seemed like she did care about his feelings, but didn't return them. He loved that she cared, but wished she would share the same feelings that he did.

He decided not to focus on it right now as it was still dark out, and by the time he reached home it was nearly half past five in the morning. So he got changed and tried to make up the rest of his sleep.

Meanwhile, Ladybug had handed the prisoner back to the police and he was locked up in jail again, with another beep of her earrings she ran off to release her transformation.

Tikki flew into Marinette's hands with exhaustion, tired after every time the lucky charm was used. "I think we should both get as much sleep as we can."

Marinette sighed, looking at her phone for a brief moment to see that it was half past five in the morning, she gasped, and then made her way home to make up for as much sleep as she could before she would go to school.

But yet, something bugged Marinette as she readied herself for bed. She remembered quite clearly that during every battle the akumatised victim would ask for hers and Chat Noir's miraculous but this time he didn't, nor did he even attempt to grab them while they were tied down.

It bugged her and kept her awake for a short while, but eventually she was able to fall back asleep, only to be woken up half an hour later by her alarm clock. Today was going to be a very tiring day for both her and Adrien.