Thief | Lukadrien

Part 25 - Monarch

Just thought I'd point out that Mayura hasn't been introduced in this story for some reason, so we're gonna pretend Nathalie never used the peafowl miraculous.

Alrighty, here we go.

Adrien's POV

I followed Ladybug and the rest of the team down an alleyway. It was hard to keep up with them since they were transformed and I wasn't, so I was completely out of breath by the time we came to a stop.

"Where are we going?" I asked between gasps. My head was pounding.

"Home base," Ladybug said. "We still have a few blocks to go."

She stared at me for a few seconds, then took out her yo-yo. She pulled something from the centre of it and handed it to me.

"Here's the miraculous of the snake. It'll be easier to run with us if you're a superhero."

"But... this is Luka's..."

"Not anymore. Come on, we don't have much time."

I might have just met this version of Ladybug, but I trusted her. She was still Marinette, after all, just older. I quickly slid the bracelet over my wrist as a loud crash echoed from the street. All the noise was giving me a headache.

"Sass, scales slither."

"Great, all right, let's go," Ryuko said. She led the way.

"Are we going to Master Fu's place?" I asked.

Ladybug shook her head. "No. He's not the guardian anymore."

We arrived at an old warehouse. As we walked inside, I was about to comment on how stupid they must be to set up in such an obvious place, but then Carapace disappeared. Like, out of nowhere.

"Where did he go?" I asked.

"Behind the mirror," Ladybug said.

I watched intently as she moved towards the edge of the room, and sidestepped into oblivion. I walked over to where she once stood, and finally understood the trick. There was a mirror facing the opposite corner, so someone could easily slip behind it without a trace. Behind the looking glass was a small elevator, which didn't appear to function anymore. The heroes didn't seem to need it, though; they climbed through the top of the box.

I crawled up after them. Through a nearby door was a decently large room with a number of things I'd expect a superhero lair to have; several computers plus a large flatscreen pressed up against the wall, exercise equipment in the corner, and a table with eight mismatching chairs.

"Are there more members of the team?" I asked, motioning to the table. There were only six of them here, not including me, so why'd they need the extra seats?

"We sometimes turn to Violet Tigress or Pegasus when we're outnumbered," Carapace said. "They're our best allies."

"What about Viperion?" I asked. They should have given Luka his miraculous back; he would have been a great asset to the team. He helped stop Hawkmoth, after all.

"I use the bracelet if we really need it," Chat Noir said. His voice was different than I expected. It didn't sound like mine.

"Really? Chat Noir... with the snake miraculous?"

"I know, sounds a little strange. And I'm not Chat Noir, I'm Chat Féroce."

"Alright, everybody take a seat," Ladybug ordered. "But don't detransform; Adrien's still here."

"I hate to be a bother, but shouldn't we be out saving people from that... thing out there?" I asked.

"There's no use," Ryuko said. "Monarch is impossible to beat. We've been trying for years, but this past month, he's only gotten stronger."

"Monarch?"

"The new Hawkmoth," Ladybug sad. "We have reason to believe it's Félix Graham de Vanily behind the mask."

"What? How? Why would he--"

Ryuko stood up, somewhat impatient. "Félix is the nephew of Gabriel Agreste. We still don't know the original Hawkmoth's motives, but it's a fair assumption that Félix would be in on the plan, given that they're related by blood."

"No, Félix wouldn't do that," I said. "He couldn't."

Ladybug suddenly detransformed, catching me off guard. She reached into her purse, grabbed her phone and selected something on it before pushing the device across the table to me.

"This picture was taken three weeks ago."

The phone displayed a screenshot of an article, which had a photo of Monarch mid-transformation in the corner. The team was right; it did look like Félix.

"But why would he transform in public? Surely he wouldn't be that stupid. Also, how do you guys even know about my cousin?"

Ryuko looked at Marinette, and after receiving a nod of confirmation, she detransformed as well.

"Kagami?!"

"During the summer after Hawkmoth's defeat, I met Félix at a banquet hosted in London. He looks just like you, but his personality is quite the opposite. Apparently, he visited Gabriel in prison several weeks prior to that party. I thought nothing of it at the time, but now, given all that we know, it makes sense; he must have went to discuss the next phase of their plan."

"How did Monarch even get the butterfly miraculous?"

Marinette looked at the ground. "It was my fault. I didn't hide it well enough; anyone could have gone into my room and taken it."

"It wasn't your fault, Mari!" Rena exclaimed. "How many times do I have to tell you, girl?"

"Okay, okay okay," I sighed, shaking my head slightly. "So, Félix stole the miraculous from Marinette, recently? But I thought Monarch has been active for years?"

"Yes, he has, but he was only using the peafowl miraculous originally, which is responsible for the sentimonsters. We don't know where Félix got the brooch from; the only reason I know it exists is because of the book Master Fu gave me. As for the butterfly pin, my window was open one day, and when I came back from managing the bakery, it was gone."

"Alright, got it," I said, trying to process all this information as fast as possible. "Now, my final question: why did you go back in time to get me?"

"We were running out of options," Bunnix sighed. "The only way to stop Félix is to prevent him from becoming Monarch in the first place."