All The Way

Déjà Vu, Security Footage and A Sprinkle of Dust

"Y... yes, Ladybug," he sputtered. "Come with me this way." He led her to an office where they found the head of security.

The man was equally surprised to see her. "Ladybug, what an honor! What can I help you with?" he asked.

"I need to check the footage from your security cameras for the last several days."

"Of course. Does this have anything to do with the akuma attack today?" he asked excitedly.

She glared at him. "I'm sorry, but this is an important police matter and I'm unable to provide any details. I just need to check the footage and then I'll be on my way."

"I understand. Please come with me." The man led her to a separate room full of television monitors. Tons of different angles of the metro station could be seen on the screens. "Is there a certain camera that you're interested in?" he asked.

"I'm afraid that I can't say. Would it be possible for you to leave me here alone?"

"Yes, of course. Whatever you need Ladybug." He quickly explained how to use the equipment.

"How far back does the footage go?" she asked.

"It runs for about a hundred and fifty hours before it starts to re-record over the prior footage."

She nodded.

"Please let me know if you need any more assistance," he finished before stepping out.

Ladybug got to work. First she found the camera that had a close-up view of the locker. Then she started to slowly rewind the tape. After a few minutes she found what she was looking for. She watched it from the beginning.

The person in a black hoodie walked down the row of lockers until they reached number 368. Then they grabbed a key from their pocket and opened the locker door. After a minute, he or she unzipped their backpack, put the Miracle Box inside and zipped it closed. Finally the person closed the door and walked away.

Ladybug looked at the time stamp on the footage. 21:40 on Saturday, the evening before.

Then she rewound the tape all the way until she saw herself go to the locker days earlier. No one else approached it in between.

Done with her search, she fast-forwarded the video back to its current time. The security officers couldn't know which one she was looking at.

"Thank you so much," Ladybug said to the man as she exited the room.

"You're welcome. We're always here to help if you need us."

************************************

While Ladybug was at the metro station, Chat Noir went directly to his father's house. He was mildly surprised seeing the front door of the house wide open.

Storming inside he found his father and Nathalie in the foyer.

"Adrien," Gabriel said, completely unsurprised to see his son. "We were expecting you to stop by as soon as we heard the news. Where's Marinette?"

"Why are you doing this?" Chat Noir demanded, ignoring the question.

Gabriel shook his head. "It wasn't us this time. We had nothing to do with it. Just ask Nathalie."

He continued to glare at his father, not believing one word.

"It's true," Nathalie pleaded. "It wasn't us."

Now Chat Noir glared at her.

"Come on Adrien," Gabriel continued. "You know that we gave up our Miraculouses years ago. Besides, why would we go through all that trouble again? Your mother is gone. And even if we had another reason, we already know exactly who you are. We already know where we could get your ring and Marinette's earrings, so why would we bother with the akumas?"

"You're seriously trying to convince me that you had nothing to do with this?" he asked.

"That's exactly what we're trying to tell you," Gabriel replied.

A minute of silence passed.

"I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth," Chat Noir seethed.

"We are."

Chat Noir turned to leave but stopped when his father spoke again.

"One more thing, Adrien." Gabriel grabbed a stack of papers from the folder that Nathalie was holding and stepped forward, giving them to Chat Noir.

He furrowed his brow as he looked down at the papers in his hand.

"It's the prenuptial agreement that I had our lawyers draw up," Gabriel explained. "Bring them home so Marinette can look them over."

Chat Noir nodded and casually flipped through the papers. After a few seconds he calmly uttered a single word. "Cataclysm." The papers disintegrated into dust in his hand and sprinkled down to the floor. "Whoops," he said, sarcastically. "Looks like you're going to need another copy."

Gabriel scowled while Nathalie tried to contain a smile behind him.

"Have a good night," Chat Noir continued as he spun around and left through the front door.