"It's been almost an hour." Adrien was pacing on a small strip of dry pavement, located in an alleyway to the side of Marinette's home.

"The rain is getting worse..." Plagg whimpered, burrowing even further into his charge's jacket. It was still damp from his fall earlier in the day, but it was better than the raging downpour less than two feet away.

Adrien looked down at the shaking kwami with a frown, reaching in to his jacket to try and warm him with his hands. He was careful not to bring him out into the open air, not because he was afraid of being spotted, but because he knew the cold would be worse.

"This is stupid... shouldn't Chloe have gone berserk by now? Maybe she didn't get possessed after all."

"Our luck isn't that good," Plagg commented, drawing a sigh from Adrien.

"Yeah you're right about that."

He pulled out his phone, using one hand to unlock it and the other to continue cradling Plagg. The bright screen opened directly to the page he had been using less than five minutes ago, and he scrolled through the main page of the LadyBlog looking for any report of an Akuma sighting.

He had to hand it to Alya, when it came to all things Ladybug, she sometimes got the scoop first before even the proper news channels. However, there was nothing, , the latest post still her speculation on ancient Ladybugs and Cat Noirs from the night before.

Suddenly there was a small noise of surprise from Plagg before he shouted, "Call for you!"

Adrien activated the transformation immediately, once again despising the sharp unpleasant reaction he felt from being so close to the rain. He had been fine just a second ago. It was the most frustrating thing in the world.

Pressed against the wall, Cat Noir grabbed his staff and clicked the small green paw, answering the steady beep that signaled an incoming call.

"My lady!" he called happily, trying to keep his visible cringing from the rainwater to a minimum.

Ladybug smiled back at him from the screen, stealing his breathe away before she had even said a word.

"Hey kitty cat, I see the rain is still bothering you."

"Yeah yeah," he muttered, making her laugh.

"Well I've got just the thing for that. As it turns out it's your lucky day for once. The designer just called it in, she's got a hood prepped and ready to go for you. It's a good thing too, according to her there is a potential akuma attack ready to break out any second and I could use your help with it when it does."

She smiled at his happy dance, the background of the call blurring as he twirled.

"Listen, I don't want you running around without it, is there somewhere Marinette can meet you?" To her surprise Cat was shaking his head before she was even half way through her sentence.

"She's done enough, give me an address and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"But Cat -"

"No buts, she is doing me a huge favor. I won't let her get sick running around Paris in this ocean." He lifted his umbrella, glad it was a non-descript black that anyone could have. "I can make it there fine, just give me the address."

Ladybug sighed but relented. Cat Noir played his part and exclaimed in fake delighted surprise, "Wow as luck would have it, I'm literally next door!"

"Wait what really?" she said in a rush, glancing away from the screen to the balcony of her room nervously. Cat was already in motion, opening the umbrella. "Oh that's really great okay call me when you have it BYE."

"Goodb-" but she had already terminated the call, canceling her transformation the second she was done.

"Tikki hide!" she warned, the little red kwami diving into the covers of her bed just as a boy in a black leather cat suit landed rather sloppily on her balcony. He wasn't kidding he had been right next door.

It was actually pretty funny to see a superhero with an umbrella, but it was far less entertaining to see how uncomfortable he was. She sprinted to the door, throwing it open and pulling a shocked Cat Noir into the warmth of her room to keep him safe from any more of the storm. Before she had even greeted him, she slammed the door shut, running to her closet and throwing a towel at the poor hero, a few drops having somehow found their way into his hair during the climb.

Cat dropped the umbrella to catch the towel, burying his masked face in it and rubbing vigorously at his fake ears. His whole head was swallowed in the soft cotton, and despite his distraction with drying himself, he was amazed by how good it smelled. It was like a concentrated version of the smell that filled her whole room, somehow mixing her smell with the scent of lavender and bread.

"Ah, thank you very much Princess," he finally spoke, pulling the towel away and smiling at the girl who had dominated his thoughts for most of the day. She stood a short distance from him, facing a workstation of sorts and looking over her shoulder at him.

"You're welcome, but I have to say you look a lot more like a lion than a cat at the minute."

Marinette stifled a laugh as he looked up at the wild disarray of his hair, sticking up in all directions from the toweling, choosing instead to turn her attention back to the prototype hood on her desk while he made himself presentable again.

She gathered her emergency creation in her hands, ignoring the stinging pain from her various needle wounds, and turned on the spot to face him. She jumped in surprise when she saw how close Cat Noir had come during the short time she was distracted. He was standing close enough that she could see every individual bead of water on his suit. She blushed at the proximity, and the flirtatious cat smiled before he bowed his head and took a step away like a gentleman. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable as Cat Noir as well, but he couldn't resist that surprised flustered look of hers. It was quickly becoming one of his favorite things.

She huffed, glaring at him for a moment before holding out her work. She wasn't... proud of it exactly.

"It's- it isn't the final look trust me, but you needed something for emergency use and it was really short notice so... well I just made the bare minimum because I wanted it done right awa-"

"It's great!" he shouted, making her jump again as he examined the hood more closely. The plain hood wasn't stylized or anything, but he was amazed by how professional it looked. It looked like it was factory manufactured, not thrown together in less than an hour, and the small black clasps along the bottom had to have been shaped by hand.

"You never cease to impress Marinette, you've saved me from a watery grave. I can't even tell you how grateful I am because they haven't invented the words yet. But the second they do, trust me, I will let you know." He laughed and was smiling ecstatically at her, enjoying the flash of pride in her eyes as she returned the smile.

"It will work for now, but I'll make the real one ten times better. Now sit, I'll attach it."

She pushed him down into her desk chair, swiveling him around and gripping the collar of his suit. Every time he tried to crane his neck to look, she would push his face away, so he spent the time examining her room.

It was cute and warm. Not as in temperature, though that was true, but in... atmosphere? Like... like it was lived in. Okay, well that didn't make much sense, he decided internally, but he knew what he meant. It felt happy and alive, filled with the kind of warmth a certain type of person could give off. It was the polar opposite of his house, where all the huge hallways and massive rooms were cold and empty feeling. Even his room, his safe haven, felt too big sometimes. Like he wasn't enough to keep it warm. It had been better since Plagg moved in, but Marinette's room still had them beat.

He bet the rest of her home was the same way, and he wondered if this was what everybody's home felt like.

He had a house, he realized, Marinette had a home.

"Done!" Her voice snapped him out of his quickly spiraling thoughts, and he felt his cat ears press against his hair as a heavy cloth was thrown over them.

It was amazing, psychologically, what a difference it made.

Cat Noir jumped to his feet, tugging the hood even tighter against his head and relished in the enclosed feeling the heavy material gave him. It was like he was separated from his surroundings and he suddenly understood why people loved security blankets.

Ignoring Marinette's concerned shout, he bolted and threw open the balcony doors to stride triumphantly outside.

The designer gasped, watching as the superhero stood confidently in the biblical downpour with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face, looking absolutely chuffed with himself.

"I'm not scared at all!" He wanted to be heard, extending his arms and laughing aloud. "It doesn't just keep me dry, it makes me feel better too. You really are amazing!"

Both Cat Noir's and Marinette's eyes widened when a new voice abruptly joined the conversation.

"Oh I would love to disagree."

Cat whirled sharply, one clawed hand already reaching for his baton as he was slammed painfully into a stone railing by something blunt and metal. All of the air was forced from his lungs on impact and he crumpled to the ground gasping for breath. Despite the sudden blow, he spent his first lungful of air screaming, "MARINETTE RUN!!" before he had even seen the enemy.

He could hear her shouting his name in panic, but he thanked the heavens it wasn't because she was being hurt. He scrambled to his feet, rushing to block the open door from his advisory and give her time to get away.

He used his second lungful of air to sigh in relief when he heard her obey him, fleeing further into the building.

"Wow," he said aloud, "I always knew you were a bit of a queen bee, but this is a bit much, don't ya think?"

Even over the pounding rain, he could hear the akuma's sharp metal heels colliding with the stone floor of the balcony. She was stalking towards him with the same strut he had seen a hundred times before at school.

Chloe, or rather some dark and twisted version of her, sneered at him, her whole expression warped and ugly. Her shoes, feet, and legs were coated in steel, still allowing her to move despite looking rigid like a statue. Her upper body bore her signature yellow jacket, but it was now bearing black stripes. Her arms ended in brutal steel gauntlets that covered her hands.

Her face was the most unsettling because it remained remarkably unchanged. Her hair, makeup and sunglasses looked just like they did every single day... It looked like it was genuinely her who was attacking him so viciously.

"I am the Queen, and the Queen gets what she wants. So move aside, or I'll run you through."

She turned slightly, giving him a clear view of the stinger accenting her rear, and it certainly appeared capable of doing just that.

"Sorry honey, it might sting to hear, but people don't always get what they want."

He drew his baton, the end growing to meet the ground and form a staff.

The Queen's eyes lingered for a moment on the weapon before looking back up at the hooded cat with a cold piercing stare.

"I do."

She flew at him, literally. She flew forward in a blur of yellow, Cat Noir barely having time to roll beneath her and make a mad dash for the balcony edge. He wasn't about the let her highness destroy Marinette's house in the unavoidable brawl, so he took to the rooftops, well aware of Chloe right on his tail.

On the positive side, he mentally noted, the hood was working great. No slip or drag, and it was keeping him fighting. On the negative side, there was a half metal diva bee trying to skewer him with her butt.

Just another day in the life of Cat Noir.

He flipped around, calculating the slide backwards along the roof so it brought him right to the edge when Chloe was about to hit him. Then all he had to do was give her a cocky grin (a necessity) and drop down, catching the roof with his fingertips while Chloe rocketed past overhead.

Cat pulled himself back up, standing firm with his staff in hand ready to dodge and swat at her like the oversized bee she was. However as he stood there, he realized just how torrential the rain had become. He couldn't see a damn thing.

Her maniacal laughter was barely audible, even to him, the rain bouncing it around so much he had no idea where it came from. Was she going back to try and find Marinette? Or was she circling around to attack him?

A flash of metal answered his question as it barely missed him his life being spared momentarily thanks to poor visibility for both parties.

'She has the advantage here, I need to lure her indoors,' he strategized, green eyes darting around to assess what little he could see.

'I need to see, I need to protect Marinette, and I REALLY need Ladybug,' he groaned internally, scrambling from the rooftop and slipping more than jumping down to the street. He couldn't think of anything better suited for dragging Chloe down to earth than her yo-yo, and even then, they were going to need more than a little luck to pull even that off. Where was sh-

"CAT GET DOWN."

He was tackled down into the gutter just as the akuma's stinger drilled into the bit of pavement he was standing on only two seconds before, gluing her momentarily to the ground. Fast as her reaction speed was though, not even Ladybug, who was currently straddling Cat Noir, could throw her compact quick enough to ensnare her, and the villain was back in the sky a second later.

Retrieving her weapon, Ladybug used her body to shield Cat's head from the rain, his belly up position putting him at incredible risk. The Queen circled overhead, observing the action, before flying higher and out of range from the stupid yo-yo.

Ladybug pulled him to his feet as quickly as she could, looking him over for damage before grabbing him by the hand and taking off at high speed down the streets of Paris.

"Sorry I'm late," she called, smiling at him in that easy confident way she had, "looks like I made it just in time."

"Yeah if you had cut it any closer I would have been a cat-kabob. Thanks for the save my lady."

Ladybug turned abruptly and he stayed right at her side, keeping an eye on the sky before he asked, "We have to go back! What if she goes for Marinette instead of pursuing? We can't risk that!"

"There's no risk! I made sure she was safe before coming, don't worry, queenie can't get to her."

She was slightly shocked at how visibly relieved he was, tension vanishing from his stride as they ran. The nervous urgency had left his face and all at once he was the same cocky Cat Noir she had always known.

"Well in that case, let's find a bug zapper! Or would that make you nervous?"

She rolled her eyes at his idiotic joke, putting his behavior out of mind for the time being. She needed to think.

"The museum has a big open area that we can use to confront her, come on!" Ladybug changed course, Cat keeping up effortlessly. A blur of yellow through the sky above them confirmed her pursuit, and the heroes trekked on through the storm until they burst panting and soaking wet into the entrance hall of the museum.

"Ladybug are you alright? You're soaked," Cat asked through his panting. He could see the shiver she tried to hide, and grimaced when she tried to play it off.

"I'm fine Cat. Focus on the task at hand."

"You-"

"Incoming!" she called, diving to the side as Chloe barreled in after them, the wet metal of her legs glowing in the bright lights of the museum. Her heels scraped long tracks into the marble floor, and when she whipped around to face them, both heroes cringed at the deranged expression on her face.

"HE'S MINE," she screamed shrilly with no one prompting her, her dripping hair and waterlogged make up accenting her twisted features. "I ALWAYS GET WHAT I WANT, ALWAYS."

Adrien shifted in discomfort beneath his mask, knowing he played a part in Chloe's corruption. At the same time though, he wondered if her feelings were at all genuine, or if they were just rooted in her desire to possess the things she deemed valuable.

He shook his head, emptying it of Adrien and focusing only on his duties as Cat Noir. He needed to be alert, he couldn't afford to feel pity.

"Your reign ends here, your highness," Ladybug shouted with a smile, twirling her compact and ignoring Cat's gasp at the pun.

"I am so proud of you."

"Focus!"

"Fools!" Chloe screamed, slamming her spiked foot over and over again into the tile until it cracked. "You stupid useless FOOLS! Adrien belongs to me, ME!!"

With a final primal yell, the Queen lifted her armored hands and unleashed what appeared to be a swarm of thousands of metal bees from her palms, the projectiles flying stinger first straight for Ladybug.

Her compact lit up with energy as she spun it in front of her, preventing the metal creatures from touching her but still being pushed back by the force of the attack.

"It's her jacket Cat! Go for her jacket!"

"I'm on it!" he shouted back, bolting straight at the enemy. Chloe saw the incoming threat and took off into the sky, freeing Ladybug momentarily from the onslaught, but still leaving her to deal with the thousands of bees already released.

"Don't buzz off just yet, the party is down here!"

Chloe's eyes widened as Cat rocketed upwards, propelled by his baton. He slammed into her, driving her farther and farther up until she was pinned against the glass ceiling.

His clawed hand grabbed for her jacket, but he flinched and drew back as a gauntlet swung towards his face. To his surprise however, Chloe didn't try and punch him, but rather gripped his hood and threw it off.

"Mind the rain you mangy STRAY," she screeched, before throwing the same hand upwards and shattering the glass panel above them.

"CAT!" Ladybug screamed out for her friend but he was already falling, recoiling so sharply from the water that he lost his grip on his staff and plummeted towards the ground. Chloe was right on top of him.

The weight of her metal legs on his chest sent sharp, intense pain through his ribs. His head was swimming from its the near concussive blow against marble. On top of all of that, he was shaking violently, the two of them still positioned beneath the broken panel and soaking his head as she landed another painful blow before she was tackled off by Ladybug.

The hits he could take, he was used to it by now, but the rain. He felt sick and weak, crawling away from the rushing water like his life depended on it, every muscle in his body tensed to run. It wasn't prolonged exposure, but he was soaked through, clawing at his hair to get the water away from his scalp. He had to get up. He had to. This wasn't some rooftop in Paris, it was a fight. Ladybug needed him, she was taking endless stinging hits from the bees, trying to shield her eyes while the Queen threw out attack after attack.