The management would highly recommend playing "Skyfall" by Adele while reading.

048:41:10

The Bandit looked at his work, and smiled.

He only took a break when the boys needed to sleep. He hadn't slept in days. That suited him fine, though. He was too excited. It was like waiting for Christmas.

The Arc, at this point, had been completely transformed. It resembled its former self only in frame. What had taken shape was a monstrous, gaudy, terrifying masterpiece, just like it's creator. Lots of parts of it were lethal enough to be entertaining, but not so lethal as to actually stop the Ladybug. Slowly but surely she would make her way up to the top... And then the fun really begins.

The Nanite shield opened up behind him, and Martin stepped in. Martin had proven invaluable over the past week. He kept making raids on the outside, so that the boys stayed fed. Sneaking in and out of the dome getting as much food as possible before heading back. He informed him of the state of the city. Talking about the nice quiet panic. More than anything else...

He provided the Nanites to make the dome in the first place. The Bandit didn't ask where he got them.

“Where the hell have you been?” the Bandit said to his lieutenant. “I mean come on, man! We've got a party to plan!”

“I have a life outside of you,” Martin joked. “I was taking care of a few things. Personal affairs.”

The Bandit raised an eyebrow, then shrugged it off. At this point it didn't matter. “The project's finally taking shape!” the Bandit said gleefully. “I guess now you know what it is!”

“Not quite,” Martin frowned. “Of course, if you were to tell me...?”

“Where the hell is the fun in that?” the Bandit chuckled. “Come on, buddy, give it a shot!”

Martin looked at the transformed Arc. “With the large blade, I could make one guess,” Martin said. “But with all of these attachments...”

“Those are for lil' miss Ladybug,” the Bandit smiled. “Just something to keep the climb interesting. I'll be waiting on the top for her. A great big soundstage for a big final showdown. Right where everyone can see...”

“What about Cat Noir?” Martin asked.

“He'll try to diffuse the bomb,” the Bandit smiled. “At the bottom. He'll fail, of course, thanks to those Nanites of yours. Where did you even get those?”

“I know people,” Martin shrugged. “I assume you'll want the men in position somewhere?”

“Stall the Cat,” the Bandit explained. “All of you, around the bomb. Keep him busy. Or, you could just beat him to death. I'm good either way.”

Martin nodded. “Understood.”

“Two more days, Martin,” the Bandit said happily. “Then we make history.”

“One more question, before we start,” Martin said. “How sure are you that this is going to work.”

“As sure as I'd like to be,” the Bandit shrugged. “After all, if we couldn't lose, there'd be no point in trying... But I'm fairly confident we'll be fine. I've read my opponents pretty well so far. I think I have too much to worry about.”

Martin stifled a chuckle. “Good to see you so confident, sir”

030:13:27

Natalie had gotten very quiet in the middle of Adrien laying out his theory. Everything he thought about his father, and everything he thought she might know. About his frequent absences from work. About his callous attitude toward his friends. About his very recognizable voice...

And about the echoes in the house.

When he got to what she may have heard, Natalie took off her glasses and sighed.

“Now,” Adrien said quietly. “That is what I think is going on... I want you... I need you to tell me that I'm wrong.”

Natalie gave a weak smile. “It's worth mentioning that I can't be sure,” she sighed. “I can never clearly make out what he's saying, I have never had any direct evidence... But it would surprise me very much if you turned out to be wrong."

The next couple of seconds were a blur. Adrien remembers cursing, but not putting his now throbbing fist through the plaster wall. He took a couple of deep breaths and finally convinced himself that he only imagined killing Natalie.

“Why...?” Adrien finally said after a bit. “You had to suspect something was wrong, you had to know that the absences weren't like him, he's your friend... Why didn't you stop him?”

Natalie gave a sad laugh. “I'm not your mother, Adrien...”

“What does that have to do with anything?!” Adrien snapped. “Just because you aren't family-”

“Dammit, that is not what I mean!” Natalie shouted. “I know what kind of person I am, and I know what I'm capable of! Seeing a friend in such a dire mental state as to resort to actions so reprehensible as to be classified as supervillainy, watching a good and dear friend succumb to madness, is not something I am able to fix! I can't pull someone out of the darkness like that! I can't save souls! I'm not your Mother, Adrien.”

Adrien had never seen Natalie raise her voice to anyone. She was always stern, but very calm. This was a new side to her. One that Adrien hoped not to be on the wrong end of.

She sat down and exhaled. “Look at me now,” she said putting her glasses back on. “I'm a consummate professional. I'm confident, I'm strong, and I am organized. In high school I was... I was frightened. Glasses as thick as coke bottles, twenty pounds overweight, and barely able to get a word out of my mouth without tripping over it. A shell so thick that only a miracle could get me out of it.

“Marie was a miracle... She could see the best in the worst people. She saved me. And your father.”

Adrien stared at the wall, trying to summon up every memory of his mother he had... Very little came up.

“And I know this will sound terrible... But I prefer him like he is now than what he was before he met her,” Natalie continued. “You will never find a more lazy, spoiled, selfish brat than Gabriel Agreste age sixteen. I don't think anyone had ever managed to tell him 'no,' before Marie. And that... That intrigued him. She was the first thing he ever wanted that he had to work for. She let him keep on going, and I don't know why she was wasting her time... And then... And then I did see it in him.

“He didn't change who he was,” Natalie clarified. “That isn't what happened. He took everything commendable about himself, his intelligence, his resourcefulness, and mixed that in with traits he never knew he had. Kindness, compassion, and frightening determination. He found passion in things and he did not stop until he succeeded. Your family has been rich since the late 1850's, but no one who knows your father could say that he didn't work for every penny he had.”

Adrien gave a dismal laugh. “So my mom comes along, makes my brat of a dad a better person,” he said grimly. “Then he loses her, and he becomes a Supervillain. Fate's a funny thing, isn't it.”

“Adrien...” Natalie put her glasses. “You are upset. So I won't be upset with you. But 'fate' is not a thing I will allow you to accept. I won't have it mentioned.

“What?” Adrien said confused. “I don't-”

“Everything that has happened,” Natalie said, now standing up. “Everything that will happen, from your mother's death, to your father's activities to your night job has been the result of choices. Choices we made. You are Cat Noir, not because you were destined to be, but because you choose to be. That is why you are who you are, that is why you win.”

“That and way too much dumb luck,” Adrien continued.

“The wonderful thing about dumb luck,” Natalie said solemnly. “Is that we make our own. No one has decided it for us. And that comforts me.”

“To know that we're floating?” Adrien asked. “No direction, no sense of purpose.”

“To know that I'm not stuck,” Natalie replied.

Adrien paused for a moment, unsure of what to say next. “Natalie, what am I going to do about my dad?” he asked.

Natalie gave a sad look. “I'm sorry Adrien. I just don't know.”

012:00:00

Gabriel Agreste looked up at the blue morning sky. Running through his plan in his mind. Everything was set... Soon this would all be over. Soon he could make sure a lesson was taught to the traitor Bousquet, and, if all went to plan, he would have the Miraculouses of creation and destruction.

And then the real fight began.

He had only saw him once. A figure made of white fire that rose out of the temple, bringing the building down with him. The most terrifying sight he'd ever seen. And when the dust had settled, he was suddenly a widower. Unable to even bury his wife.

And after that, Paris always seemed so...small.

This world was one of many. It sat to close to another one. One of Gods and Monsters. One of oppression and terror. One where every action was dictated by cruel fate.

This world was where the Kwamii called home. Nooroo had told him horror stories about what it is like to live there. Under it's rule. The terrifying reality of knowing what tomorrow would bring. Knowing there was no hope of escape. Knowing that your future was carefully planned to be an insignificant cog in a much larger machine.

He wondered if that's all Marie was to that thing... Just another predetermined life to be snuffed out when the time called for it.

No more. That thing would see what human choice could do. It would see how a man's actions could turn the tide if need be. He would show it just what it felt like to have a plan and then watch it collapse to pieces in front of him.

And he had to act fast. He had felt it for a long time now. The sickening fear in the pit of his stomach. He had felt it only once before... The day his wife died.

Somewhere, in a world of Gods and Monsters, a sleeping lion was beginning to stir.

000:05:36

It was nearly time. Only a few short minutes until the countdown was up.

They had spent the last few hours going through the plan... Bit by bit they cobbled it together. Natalie had more and more become a part of the proceedings. She acted as moderator for a lot of the discussion. This was needed in a room full of teenagers, though she could tell that things had gotten icier between her and Adrien over the last day.

Martin had given them all of the information they could get. The bomb would be placed on the bottom, whereas the Bandit would be placed on the top. The bomb would be guarded by a dozen men armed with truncheons and the climb up the Arc would be treacherous. Ladybug would climb the tower to face off the Bandit and Noir would stay on the ground and, hopefully, disarm with the bomb.

But more than anything else, Marinette had to surprise the Bandit. Make it so he didn't have control of the situation. Throw a wild card on the table to change the entire game up. Then he would drop his tell, reach into his pocket, and grab the chip.

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy... But this was at least a good start.

Marinette looked in the mirror, and contemplated her position. If there was a tomorrow, it would likely be a very good day. She would be flush with victory off of defeating a villain, she would have her house back, she would even be getting coffee with a boy she wanted to know better. Tomorrow should be a good day.

She nodded, and walked out. Her friends were gathered around the television, as tense as she had ever seen any one of them. She stood in the back of the room and spoke up. “What have you all got planned for tomorrow?”

They all looked at her like she was a space alien.

“I'm serious,” Marinette said. “Go around the room. What do you have planned for tomorrow? Nino.”

“Uh...” Nino tried to get his brain on track. “It'll be Saturday so... Netflix and chill?”

“Perfect way to spend an afternoon,” Marinette smiled. “Natalie?”

“I will have to have a long overdue talk with Mr. Agreste...” Natalie and Adrien shared a look. “I feel it is for the best.”

“Always good to stand up to your boss,” Marinette nodded. “Adrien?”

“I have to work up the courage to tell someone something they deserve to know,” Adrien sighed.

Marinette gave him a sympathetic look. “You'll get there... Alya?”

Alya gave a little laugh. “Update the Ladyblog,” she smiled. “Tell them that, out of respect for a superheroine, I will no longer be attempting to figure out Ladybug's identity.”

“See... Right there,” Marinette said, as she pointed at Alya. “Alya said she would do something. And when Alya says she's going to do something, I know for a fact it is going to be done... But there's this guy on the TV who says that there will be no tomorrow. Not for any of us. That would make Alya wrong, which is highly unlikely. So... How do I resolve this in my head?

“Simple. The man on the TV is wrong.

“We don't let him hurt anyone,” she continued. “We don't let him get away with the things he's done. We don't let the city of lights go dark. You all have plans, and I have a hot date.” She and Adrien shared a smile. The room seemed to ease.

“Well,” Nino said. “Let's make like a cable news viewer and watch someone be wrong.”

000:00:05

4...

3...

2...

1...

“Ladies and gentlemen!” came the booming voice of the Bandit. “It's showtime!!”

The nanite dome began to drop.

Logic: Dude! It's been like... Four months! Where have you even been?

Me: My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Haven't had much time for Fanfiction.

Logic: ... Oh...

Me: Yeah.

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