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The Collector is standing over Félix’s unmoving body. Adrien’s world erupts upon seeing it, the ground splitting underneath his feet and lava spewing out like it doesn’t care who gets burned in the process.
Muscle memory takes over as Adrien’s vision goes red. The Collector is oblivious to his presence, bending down and reaching for something on Félix’s person. It gives Adrien the advantage, grabbing onto one of the chairs in the office and bringing it down as hard as he can onto him.
The thought that this is his Akumatized father doesn’t even occur to him as The Collector is brought to the ground. Adrien just grabs his unconscious cousin and bolts, to hell with the consequences.
He hears The Collector yell but he’s already at the door. A cocktail of hysterical strength, adrenaline, and whatever muscle he’s gained from being Chat Noir are likely the notable contributors to why he makes it there with Félix in tow at all.
He kicks one of the chairs in the hallway out in order to form a makeshift barricade. Félix hangs off his shoulder, worryingly limp. His head spins, trying to determine if he can make it up the stairs with Félix or transform somehow without revealing his identity.
Three figures bursting out of the living room. Bob Ross, one of the last people he would ask for help; Chloé, who he’s frustrated with; and the strange, mustached waiter from before. All of their attention zeroes in on him and Félix the moment they spot him.
“Adrikins? Or Fake-Adrikins?” Chloé looks as if the wind has been taken out of her sails, mouth dropping open. “What’s— what did you—!”
“Oh my god!” The waiter, who he’s pretty sure did not have that high of a voice before, immediately rushes over. “What happened? Is he..?”
“I don’t know.” Adrien blurts. “The Akuma hurt him. I need—”
“Adrien!” The door to the study vanishes, The Collector standing there with a tablet in hand. He points at him with it, lips curled into a snarl. “Return him to me. He has secrets he needs to give up.”
Adrien tugs Félix closer, shielding him the best he can without dropping him. His heart stutters in his chest like a bad record. “Stop this, father! Whatever it is isn’t worth it!”
“He has your mother’s wedding ring!” The Collector bares his teeth.
“You hurt him over a ring?” Adrien’s voice rises to a furious shout.
“It was hers!”
His cousin is boneless in his arms, breathing so shallowly that Adrien almost thinks he’s not breathing at all. He’s still warm however, still alive, no matter how lifeless he looks right now.
And all father cares about is a ring.
The Collector throws his tablet at them. Adrien jerks to the side, shoving Félix into Chloé’s arms. She yelps as both of them go down but his guilt is overwritten by pure, unfiltered rage.
The Collector throws his tablet again when it returns to him. It catches Bob Ross, allowing Adrien and the waiter to get out of the way. He doesn’t see where the waiter goes, instead grabbing onto the absurd amount of remotes on the table and chucking them one by one at The Collector.
He captures most of them but one hits him square in the eye. There’s a rush of satisfaction deep in his gut from seeing it.
The doors to the living room burst open and several party goers start screaming out of fear, stampeding towards the front door. The Collector is quickly overwhelmed and Adrien breathes a little easier when Ladybug is suddenly there, wrapping her yo-yo around The Collector and tossing him out of the house.
“Get to safety!” Ladybug shouts, making direct eye contact with Adrien as she does. Adrien nods firmly and bolts to where Chloé is still recovering on the ground, Félix lying motionlessly next to her.
“Chloé, I need you to get him to my room.” Adrien tells her immediately, sitting Félix up and pushing him closer to her. She immediately recoils.
“Excuse me? I’m not— I’m not his babysitter!” Chloé stammers. Her face is flushed but the look in her eyes is deniable. Fear. It heightens slightly when she looks down at Félix.
Adrien understands it. He’s never seen Félix like this before. He used to think he was untouchable as a kid. He seemed to act like it sometimes.
Adrien doesn’t know what’s causing Félix to breathe as shallowly as he is— does he have broken ribs or something? He can’t see a head injury. In fact, the only major injury he can see is his hand, which makes him feel sick. It looks broken, like The Collector stomped on it. His family ring has a crack in it.
Adrien tightens his fists. His Miraculous presses against his skin, allowing him to keep a level head.
“Chloé,” his voice hardens. That uncertain look only grows on her face. “Please. I need to know he’s okay.”
“Why can’t you do it?”
All things considered, it’s a fair question for her to ask. “Because,” he says, “I’m going to give my father exactly what he deserves.”
Chloé stares at him like he’s been Akumatized to grow two heads. Fortunately, Kagami descending the stairs with her saber in hand draws both of their attention away.
“Kagami!” He motions her to join them. “Help Chloé take Félix upstairs to my room and keep them safe. Also can I borrow your saber?”
“Why?” Her eyes narrow.
“I need to go fight my father.”
Kagami hands it over without another word. Adrien takes it and bolts out the door. He feels bad for hiding it when he transforms but reasons he can still make good on his promise.
Chat Noir has gotten used to pulling some of his punches when it comes to Akumas. Some of them can take the hits and match his strength but he’s a superhero and he doesn’t really want to hurt them when it comes down to it. He just needs to subdue them.
Today however, if Ladybug notices that he doesn’t quite pull them like usual, she doesn’t say anything. Her eyes widen a little but she never actually stops him.
Chat Noir should probably feel bad for hurting his father, but he doesn’t right now. All he feels is pure satisfaction, that furious rage inside of him finally receiving exactly what it needs.
Chat Noir stands over his father’s unconscious form, staring down at the way blood pours from his broken nose. No guilt hits him as he reaches down and Cataclysms the tablet, freeing the Akuma.
The Miraculous Cure takes care of the damage anyway. Soon enough, his father is blinking, surprised, and Chat Noir does not offer his hand to pull him up.
Noticeably, neither does Ladybug. She still smiles politely and hands him the magical charm, but her kindness only goes so far.
“My… Son. And my nephew. Are they—”
“Fine.” Chat Noir cuts him off immediately. “They’re both fine.”
His father smiles like it’s a relief but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Gabriel Agreste!” Another voice shouts. Instinctively, Chat Noir moves out of the way of his aunt’s warpath, watching as Amélie marches up to him with a furious look in her eyes. “A ring? That you gave to him? That’s what you hurt my son over?”
Chat Noir knows his aunt. She’s discreet when she wants to be, usually able to say the right thing to defuse a situation. Her shouting is intentional— she wants to make a scene— and it’s working. The crowd murmurs around them. Gabriel looks uneasy.
Chat Noir bumps Ladybug’s fist and leaves his father at the wrath of Amélie Graham de Vanily.
Adrien must look like a lunatic, bursting into his room with a bright red saber in one hand and breathing hard from bolting up the stairs. He doesn’t care about the three pairs of bewildered eyes that stare at him however, because his cousin is sitting up on his bed, eyes open and one hand on his chest.
“Félix!” Adrien shoves the saber into Kagami’s hands and launches himself at him. Félix honest to god yelps but doesn’t move fast enough. In no time at all, Adrien is on top of him, crushing him with a hug that he has no hope to escape from. “You’re okay!”
“Yes.” Félix wheezes. “But I will not be if you continue to crush my ribcage.”
Begrudgingly, Adrien rolls off of him. Chloé has her arms crossed but is looking significantly more at ease than before. Kagami eyes them both appraisingly.
Félix shakes himself, letting out an audible breath. “Not that your concern isn’t appreciated, my favorite cousin, but— are you crying?” Félix stops and gives him a wide-eyed look.
Adrien sniffs and wipes his eyes. “Ugh. Yeah. A little.”
“I’m… Fine?” Even Félix looks uncertain when he says it.
“You weren’t waking up.” Adrien tells him. “I’ve never seen you like that before and I never want to again. I hated it.”
At Félix’s furrowed brow, Chloé sighs dramatically. “Honestly, Félix, you should be flattered he cares this much even if those ridiculous ladybugs fixed everything. Only Sabrina and my half-of-a-sister show me this much concern.”
Félix bafflement turns to her. “Are you being nice to me?”
“I’m just saying.” Chloé replies, which isn’t an answer.
“Your vitals were very concerning and I only just met you properly.” Kagami speaks up this time, keeping her saber at her hip. “Adrien was also particularly eager to fight his father because of it. How did that go by the way?”
“I charged him and got captured immediately. Chat Noir beat him up though, so I’m satisfied.”
“You were going to fight your father?” Félix stares down at his hands. “Did I die and go to… Purgatory probably.”
“Purgatory?”
“He’s not going to heaven.” Chloé mumbles. Félix lets out a breath of relief.
“Finally, one of you is making sense again.”
“Nobody died!” Adrien runs his hand down his face. “A ring. Father did all that for a ring. What the hell is his problem?”
“What isn’t his problem?” Félix says, half a joke and half genuine. He twists a ring on his finger— his family ring, Adrien remembers. Though the fact that he’s wearing two doesn’t escape his notice.
“What’s so important about that ring that you and father are always fighting over it?” Adrien nods towards the other ring, identical to the one that father wears. Félix presses his mouth into a thin line.
“That’s hard to explain.” He says slowly. Then abruptly sits up straight. “Where’s your father?”
“Still getting an earful from your maman I think, why?”
“I have a hunch. Follow my lead.” Félix pushes himself off the bed. He eyes Chloé and Kagami before adding, “You can follow but if you give us away, Chloé, I’m pushing you down the stairs.”
“Wha— why doesn’t she get threatened?” Chloé points accusingly at Kagami. Kagami raises an unimpressed eyebrow.
“Because she has a sword.” Félix replies simply.
Kagami hides a smile. Chloé looks like she so badly wants to argue but can’t find anything to say.
All four of them sneak out into the hallway, hiding behind the railing. Chloé grumbles under her breath. Félix slaps his hand over her mouth. He yanks it back and silently glares at her when she bites him for it.
All of them go completely still when they see Adrien’s father marching up the stairs. He disappears into Nathalie’s room.
Félix motions for all of them to follow.
—
Less than ten minutes later, they’re all back in Adrien’s room, all silently trying not to lose their minds.
“I knew it.” Félix whispers, somewhere between elated to be right and dealing with the ramifications at the same time. “I fucking knew he had brooches under his tie.”
“That fucking snake.” Chloé hisses. “How many times has he Akumatized me? And for what?”
“We need to find Ladybug. Immediately.” Kagami’s eyes are narrowed as she holds her blade up, staring at it intently. “He will pay for all he’s done.”
Adrien can feel Plagg’s rage from the inside of his coat. He flexes the hand with his ring, only just keeping himself from transforming and ambushing his father on the spot.
“We need to get out of here. I know how we can find her.” Adrien says at last. All eyes turn to him. His betrayal, anger, and anguish are all buried as an icy calm washes over him. “One of my friends runs the Ladyblog. She’s one of the best chances we’ve got. We get Ladybug, tell her everything, and she can handle the rest.”
“You’re certain we can trust her?” It’s Félix who speaks up. He doesn’t hide the doubt in his eyes.
Adrien meets them and nods firmly. “Yes.” He tells him. “I am. Trust me if you don’t trust her.”
Félix pauses. Then nods back. “Fine.”