With the coming of the next morning, came new possibilities for both miraculous holders. Adrien had managed to make it back home before Nathalie came to fetch him for dinner, which unfortunately led to him eating alone yet again. But it stung less when he thought about his chance to get out of his house the next day to support his best friend, instead of doing yet another boring photoshoot. So when Adrien woke up the next morning, he had a spring in his step as he prepared to meet up with Nino before he went on 'The Challenge', leading to where they were when the host announced...

"Welcome back to everyone's #1 live game show: The Challenge!" Alec greeted the audience beyond the camera, his award winning smile flashing his pearly whites. "Let's give it up for our awesome contestant, Nino!" the show host exclaimed as Nino's picture showed up on the screen behind him, prompting the DJ in question to walk away from Adrien's side and strut onto the stage.

"So Nino, you're a student and a DJ. That's pretty awesome!" Alec complimented when Nino joined his side, a stage hand moving a DJ set up to the center of the stage behind them. "Check out the decks we got for you!" the show host proclaimed as he turned Nino around to see the set up the show was providing him with. At the sight of the equipment, Nino was immediately blown away as he quickly went to the turntables to study them in awe.

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Across town, Marinette was having a pretty rough start to her day. Unaware of what had happened on the rooftop across from her house, Marinette finally managed to get a full night's sleep after dinner and her nightly call to Jim. She was surprised to find that her parents didn't mention her incident from the previous day, but decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth and chalk it up to her Ladybug luck. But while she was enjoying her Saturday morning breakfast, she could feel her parents stare at her as she ate. So when she asked them what was wrong after eating, they led her to the living room and revealed to her that she was...

"Grounded? For what?!" Marinette exclaimed as she stood in the middle of the living room, momentarily forgetting that she knew exactly why.

"Let's jog your memory, Marinette." Tom began as he stood across from his daughter, holding a paper in his hands while Sabine was sitting on the couch. "Monday morning, absent from P.E..." the baker read from the paper, revealing it to be a list of her collected offenses apart from the ones linked to Jim.

"I was in study hall." Marinette fibbed, thinking back to the helicopter she had saved at that certain time period.

"Wednesday afternoon, absent from study hall." Tom continued, reading from the paper again, much to Marinette's slight surprise.

"I was at P.E.!" Marinette replied, taking great care to not say anything about her rescuing a cat that day.

"Being a part of the museum break-in that Jim and Toby did." Sabine brought up, finally taking the chance to speak in the conversation.

"Technically, I was only a witness to it. I didn't actually do anything." Marinette reminded her parents with a nervous scratch of the back of her neck.

"And to top it all off, cursing at your teacher on Thursday and disappearing for the rest of the day!" Tom exclaimed, a slight tone of anger in his voice while Marinette was suddenly shocked still at his words.

'Was wondering when they would find out.' Marinette groaned in her thoughts before she tried to think of a good excuse that wouldn't sound like she was insane. "Well... I... okay, I don't have any response for that one." the designer finally admitted, having come up empty in regards to an appropriate answer.

"You have been behaving in quite an unruly fashion lately, Marinette." Tom pointed out. "As such, your mother and I have decided that the only way we can keep track of you is by keeping you here, grounded." The baker finished, finalizing Marinette's punishment.

"But I was invited... Nino is my friend, he was counting on me." Marinette whined, turning to face the television playing behind her. Even though she knew that this was coming, it was still a tough pill to swallow. That being said, the Dupain-Cheng family were directed from their conversation, just in time to see Nino about to go on.

"So the challenge the viewers have chosen for you is... getting the Mayor of Paris, André Bourgeois, to dance!!" Alec announced on the T.V screen, turning to face the mayor himself after he appeared on the monitor behind the host. "Thank you for agreeing to play with us, sir. Tell us what you think Nino's chances are." the show host greeted the mayor, turning to face the screen behind him.

"Zero, I despise dancing. The last time I set foot on a dance floor was when I was in my late teens." Mayor Andre admitted, feeling confident in his chances to win the game. But when seeing that the game hadn't started yet, the Dupain-Chengs went back to their current conversation.

"We know Nino is your friend. But until your unexcused absences and inappropriate behavior come to an end, that's the way it's going to be." Tom said, laying down the law with his daughter.

"Awesome." Marinette sighed out before she headed up to her room, shoulders slumping as she did so. As soon as she was in the privacy of her room, and sat down in her swivel chair, Tikki took the opportunity to come out of her hiding place.

"Can you blame them? How are they supposed to know that you're missing class to save the world?" Tikki softly questioned Marinette, trying to cheer her holder up while also remaining neutral in taking sides.

"I guess being grounded comes with the territory of being a top secret superhero." Marinette rationalized, trying to not feel too angry with her parents for doing what they thought was right. "Aside from Thursday's incident, it doesn't seem fair though." the designer commented, still feeling a little bummed out about her situation.

"It's not." Tikki agreed, feeling sorry that her holder was missing out on having fun with her friends. "But hey, if Nino wins, you're not grounded next week. You can go see him at the show!" the kwami exclaimed, bringing up a silver lining to the situation. But while it did cheer Marinette up a bit, it didn't do so by much.

"Yeah, but Adrien was there today!" Marinette vented as she turned to face her computer and turn it on, just in time to see Nino getting ready to DJ. Once her friend was on the screen, Marinette slumped over her desk as she started to watch the show, less interested in it now that she couldn't see it in person.

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Over in a certain villainous lair, Hawkmoth's lair window opened up and disturbed the resting butterflies to start fluttering around the observatory space.

"The Challenge... What an interesting concept. A TV show with such potential with negative emotions." the microphone-headed nuisance purred as he gazed out at the city in twisted amusement. "Oh, the destructive mayhem we could cause..." Hawkmoth finished as he began his wait for a potential akuma victim to exploit.

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Back at Marinette's house, after she stopped moping around the designer decided to make good on her promise to Master Fu and begin working on the cipher for the book Jim gave her. However, she soon found out that Tikki could speak and understand the language, which saved her the trouble of having to call Blinky and Aaarrrgghh!!! and bothering them from what they were doing. But that didn't stop Jim from calling her as she was attempting to write the alphabet part of the cipher, and allowing her to give him an update on her current situation.

"So they finally ground you?" Jim questioned from Marinette's phone with a raised eyebrow, the device propped up against some of Marinette's textbooks.

"Yeah, they did. Like I knew they would when they found out about what happened on Thursday." Marinette confirmed, her focus directed at writing the symbols Tikki was pointing at for the alphabet list.

"To be fair, you knew that was coming. Especially after the botched museum recon Tobes and I dragged you into." Jim remarked with a pointed glance, reminding Marinette of what she already knew.

"You mean the botched recon I 'joined'. That was my choice... same as the other thing." Marinette corrected, finishing up writing the last symbol Tikki had shown her. When that was done, she lifted the paper to her kwami and turned it around to receive feedback.

"How about this, Tikki? Any better?" the designer asked, hoping she did better due to the amount of effort she had put into getting the details for the symbols.

"You are improving. But you're still confusing your 'M's with your 'N's and 'V's with your 'W's." Tikki critiqued, much to Marinette's... slight annoyance.

"Dang it!" Marinette exclaimed, feeling frustrated after the fifth attempt to copy the symbols to Tikki's satisfaction. But Jim only laughed at his sister's interaction with her kwami.

"Tikki being hard on you with her grading?" Jim questioned in his amusement, a hand covering his wide smile while his eyes sparkled in glee.

"You try learning Troll from a single book and a kwami that is a stickler for accuracy." Marinette vented as she crumpled up the paper and threw it into her wastebin, banking it in one shot before she side-eyed her brother on the video call.

"No thanks, I'm good." Jim replied, raising his hands in surrender with a look of fake shock on his face. It took all of two seconds before they both burst out laughing at how ridiculous their exchange had just sounded, bending over with their laughter. Thankfully, they managed to calm down to the point where they wouldn't be at the risk of busting a gut.

"Honestly, I'm so glad that you know I'm Ladybug and I know that you're the Trollhunter. It's so nice to talk about this stuff with someone who is going through it too." Marinette admitted as she caught her breath, wiping her tears of joy from the corner of her eyes.

"Me too. It's really great to have a confidant in all of this." Jim replied, a fond smile on his lips as he spoke. "Even if you have bad taste in boys." the Trollhunter added, feeling a little bold and attempting to talk about that certain sore spot with his sister... again.

"How many times do I need to tell you... 'You can't control who you fall in love with.' If you just met him, you'd see why I'm in love with him." Marinette groaned out, already tired of Jim bringing up his opinion of Adrien... again.

"I highly doubt it." Jim commented, feeling that his opinion will never change on Adrien.

Truth be told, after Marinette told Jim that Adrien was going to be with Nino when he went on 'The Challenge', the Trollhutner was hoping that their parents would ground her so she wouldn't go. As much as he wanted Marinette to be happy with who she was in love with, he would always think Adrien was not right for his sister. Especially after all the stuff she had done in hopes of getting his attention. Though the sight of Marinette's disappointed/angered expression had him swallowing his pride real quick.

"But... if it will make you happy, I'll give him a chance." the Trollhunter sighed out, willing to at least give Adrien that much before he made a final decision.

"Thank you, big brother! You're the best!" Marinette exclaimed, making Jim smile at her excitement while she grabbed her phone and kissed the screen in an attempt to convey her love to her big brother. "Now, do you have any time to help me out with this?" the designer asked, pulling her phone away to look at Jim properly.

"It is Friday night. I have time." Jim replied, leaning back into his own desk chair and placing his arm to support his neck.

"Thanks, Jim." Marinette thanked once again, putting her phone back against her stack of textbooks so she could re-attempt the symbols. "Now, this is where I seem to be making mistakes..." the designer began as she pulled up the book and pointed at the alleged symbols Tikki had told her she mixed up. From there, the two siblings spent their call working on the cipher, having quite the time in doing so.

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Meanwhile at the T.V. studio, while Nino was creating a catchy tune to get Mayor André, the second contestant of the day; Simon Grimault, finally arrived. Though when he tried to shake Adrien's hand in greeting, the boy's bodyguard shields Adrien and stood protectively in front of him.

"No! It's okay!" Adrien exclaimed to his bodyguard, shocked that he was so hair-triggered around Simon. Thankfully, Placide I.T; Adrien's bodyguard, eased up at his charge's request and went back to watching Nino doing his set. As the DJ did so, the mayor was bobbing his head to the music, enjoying the music he was hearing.

"Victory! Challenge conquered by Nino!" Alec exclaimed when he saw the mayor's reaction to Nino's set. "You moved your head to the beat, Mayor Bourgeois! That counts as dancing!" the show host elaborated as he wrapped an arm around Nino's shoulder, addressing the now flabbergasted mayor.

"What?! That's not true! My neck was... itching, that's all." Mayor André fibbed on the screen behind the host, trying to justify his alleged dancing.

"Relieving an itch to the beat counts as dancing, too!" Alec replied, doing the wave with his arms as he spoke. "Nino, congratulations. You'll return in one week to meet your next challenge!" the show host congratulated as he turned to face Nino standing next to him. Once the DJ left the stage, the crew cleared the deck he used in preparation for the next contestant.

"And now, for our next contestant, welcome Simon Grimault!" Alec announced, prompting the brightly dressed man to walk up onto the stage while Nino joined back up with Adrien.

"Awesome, dude!" Adrien congratulated his best friend, fist bumping him as the DJ stood beside him to watch Simon come onstage.

"Mr. Grimault, you are a hypnotist. You use cards to hypnotize people to get what you want from them!" Alec introduced, slightly embellishing Simon's talents in a not so flattering light.

"Well, yes, I'm a hypnotist. But, uh, I don't use my skills to get anything." Simon corrected, pulling out his cards to show them off to the audiences at home. With the misunderstanding cleared up, Alec continued to play show host.

"So, your challenge today, Simon, is to use your talents to bring a very elusive celebrity to this very TV set!" Alec instructed, pulling up the cards in his hands to reveal just who Simon was tasked in hypnotizing. " Give it up for the king of fashion, Gabriel Agreste!" the show host excitedly announced, the screen revealing the fashion designer-who had made it back from his lair by the skin of his teeth-as he turned to face the camera.

"What is this show? I was told this was an interview." Gabriel interrogated when he saw that he had been 'duped' into participating on the game show.

"Dude, it's your dad!" Nino exclaimed to Adrien when he saw his best bro's father on the screen.

"Do your thing, Grimault, let's see if you can bring Mr. Agreste here with your hypnotic persuasion!" Alec encouraged, immediately making the hypnotist feel uncomfortable with his challenge.

"I told you, I don't make people–" Simon protested, trying to get Alec to understand how his talents truly worked. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work.

"Ha! A shy hypnotist! How funny is that, Gabriel?" Alec mocked, turning to face the fashion designer on the screen behind those present in the studio.

"Hilarious." Gabriel said dryly, his voice making everyone suddenly feel a chill up their spine. "Your show is pathetic. And so is your contestant. Control me? Never." the dead-eyed designer said as he belittled Simon before ending the transmission, leaving the studio in silence.

"That's my dad, all right." Adrien sighed, feeling a decent amount of embarrassment due to his father's rude behavior.

"Looks like Mr. Agreste has turned on your challenge. Game over!" Alec announced to the studio, much to Simon's displeasure.

"But... that's not fair! I didn't even get time to..." Simon exclaimed as he tried to defend himself, only to be led off the stage.

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Down in Hawkmoth's lair, the resident supervillain had returned to his evil scheme. In truth, Gabriel knew that he was asked to be on 'The Challenge', and had decided to make use of it to create an akuma out of the unfortunate soul that was assigned to him. And it had worked just as planned.

"Yes. Humiliation and anger. The perfect elements for transforming a loser into a winner." Hawkmoth monologue as he felt the negative emotions he helped foster in the now depressed hypnotist. From there, he transformed one of the white butterflies flying around in the lair into an Akuma, and allowed it to flutter free from his hands.

"Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!" the purple clad gaslighter commanded the butterfly as it fluttered out of the lair, dead set on targeting Simon.

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Back at the studio, after Simon was escorted out of the filming room, he sighed in disappointment and dropped his card deck. But as he went to pick them up, the akuma used the opportunity to fly over to the hypnotist and infect one of his cards.

"I am Hawkmoth. You are now Simon Says. I will help you be the most powerful hypnotist ever. You will help me in return when the time's right." Hawkmoth offered to Simon through the newly created psychic link. " So, do we have a deal, Simon Says?" the 'opportunist' asked the hypnotist, who was immediately hooked on the offer Hawkmoth had given him.

"Simon says yes." Simon replied, right before he turned into . Now transformed into his new alter ego, the akumatized villain turned back around and went inside the studio once again.

"Simon says the show is not over!" Simon Says proclaimed, his presence shocking those remaining in the studio now that 'The Challenge' was almost done filming.

"What on earth?!" Alec exclaimed as the akuma picked a card out of his deck.

"Silence! Simon says you're lame! As lame as a duck!" Simon Says announced, before he threw the duck card at Alec. Once it hit the show host, Alec immediately started to act like a duck, much to everyone else's horror. At the sight of the threat, Adrien's bodyguard stood in front of the two boys and ran towards the akuma to try and stop him.

"Simon says stop!" the akuma cried out as he threw a card with a pause sign at the Gorilla, freezing him in place when it hit its target. "Simon says you are a Gorilla!" Simon Says announced before he threw the Gorilla card at Adrien's bodyguard, causing him to start acting like a Gorilla. Now seeing that the man charged with Adrien's safety was compromised, the boy in question and Nino froze at the sight until the Gorilla attacked them. This caused the two boys to separate, allowing Adrien to run to the exit so he could find a place to transform into Chat Noir.

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Over in Marinette's room, the girl and her brother watched the turn of events on her computer monitor alongside Tikki. To say that they were shocked by the akuma showing up in the studio and causing people to act like animals would be an understatement. They were left frozen in place as they stared at the computer screen.

"Was wondering when you'd face an akuma with hypnotizing powers." Jim remarked in his surprise, pulling Marinette out of her own shock to focus on the new threat.

"I gotta go, Jim! Paris needs me!" Marinette exclaimed, jumping out of her chair as she spoke.

"Just don't get too distracted by Adrien, okay? But, good luck on this one and tell me and Tobes how it goes afterwards." Jim reminded his sister, hoping that her crush on the blonde would be muted by Marinette's desire to stop the villain.

"As always. See you tonight, Jim." Marinette farewelled, grabbing her phone so she could end the call and not run her battery out.

"Bye." Jim replied with a wave, allowing Marinette to hang up and put her phone away.

"Tikki, what am I gonna do? I'm grounded!" Marinette questioned her kwami, her desire to honor her parents' wishes going against her duty to save Paris.

"You don't have a choice! You must transform! We just have to be extra careful!" Tikki concluded. With the decision made, Marinette climbed up to her loft bed and used her pillows to rearrange the bed, making it look like she was sleeping under it to fool her parents should they come and check on her.

"Lookin' good." the kwami praised, prompting Marinette to call out...

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette exclaimed, triggering her transformation into Ladybug. When she was finished turning into her alter ego, she went to her balcony and jumped from her house's roof to swing over to the TVi Studio.

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While Ladybug was making her way to the studio, Simon Says had decided to make his presence known to the city. By using the equipment in the filming studio he took control of, he did just that and was now standing on the stage as he addressed the viewers at home.

"Gabriel Agreste turned down my challenge and he will pay for it! By midnight tonight, he will entertain us in this very TV studio." Simon Says announced to the city. "Gabriel, I'm coming to get you!" the akuma proclaimed to the man in question, unaware of Chat Noir eavesdropping from the light t above.

"This is what my father gets when he's rude to people." Chat Noir muttered to himself, exasperated that his father caused yet another akuma. At least it wasn't someone he was close to, otherwise it would have been a bit difficult to face them... like with his classmates beforehand.

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Unbeknownst to either party at the studio, Simon Says words had brought forth a few thoughts to the forefront of Hawkmoth's mind.

"It's risky, but it's given me an idea." Hawkmoth mused to himself, thinking that the risk of said idea was worth the reward... should it work. "Good luck, Simon Says." he encouraged before walking to exit his lair, eager to see what would happen with this particular akuma.

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While he watched Simon Says make his proclamation, Chat Noir suddenly noticed Nino was still hiding in the studio. As soon as Nino spotted Chat Noir, the feline hero shushed him to stay quiet before he jumped down onto Simon Says, throwing the akuma onto the ground with him on top of him.

"Chat Noir says: Zip it and gimme those cards!" Chat Noir cockily quipped, only for Simon Says to throw his cards away. Seeing that the akumatized object was getting away, Chat Noir immediately got off of Simon Says and raced over to pick up the pieces of paper in hopes of defeating the akuma.

"My gorilla will take care of you. Simon says.. knock him out!" Simon Says commanded Adrien's bodyguard after he threw another card at the Gorilla. As soon as the card landed, the Gorilla obeyed the command and knocked Chat Noir out of the studio. Thankfully, the feline hero managed to catch himself and roll to his feet before he hit the wall across from the door.

"I may not always land on my feet, but I always bounce back!" Chat Noir said, right before he dodged a blow from the bodyguard with another jump, and landed on his feet to engage in combat. But while Chat Noir was occupied with the Gorilla, Simon Says was using the time to pick up his cards from the floor. While he was doing so, he realized that with the Gorilla busy with Chat Noir, he was sorely unprotected and outnumbered.

"I could use an army." Simon Says realized after he picked up the last card, placing it back in his deck. With that in mind, he exited the studio and headed to the elevator, going down until he reached the ground level and finding A group of people waiting for the elevator he was in. Quite a coincidence.

"Simon says... you are all soldiers!" the akuma proclaimed as images of soldiers appeared on his cards, causing the group of people to run away from him. But they could do nothing when Simon Says threw the soldier cards at them, the projectiles hitting dead on target and turning the civilians into an army. "Simon says... search all over Paris, my army, and find Gabriel Agreste!" Simon Says ordered as he walked out of the elevator, raising his hands to command his newly made army.

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Meanwhile, Chat Noir was still fighting the Gorilla when Chat went to hit him with his staff. But unfortunately for him, the Gorilla managed to grab the staff with his hands and stop the attack, pulling the staff away from Chat Noir and throwing it away from them.

"Better watch out. My sensei taught me that..." Chat Noir began, raising his fists to protect himself now that he was weaponless. However, the Gorilla grabbed him and started to squeeze the life out of him. "size doesn't matter!" the feline hero finished in a squeaky voice, losing his breath the longer he was in Gorilla's vice-like grip.

But while Chat Noir was dealing with the Gorilla, Ladybug finally arrived at the T.V. studio. As soon as she did, Ladybug entered the building and raced to the filming area that Simon Says had attacked, kicking the door open and spinning her yo-yo to defend herself. But when she walked inside, she saw nobody in the studio... until Nino poked out from his hiding place.

"Ladybug!" Nino whispered, bringing Ladybug's attention onto him. At the sight of her friend, the spotted heroine raced over to the DJ.

"Oh... Hey! You okay?" Ladybug asked Nino, her concern bleeding through her voice as she leaned over the equipment box he was hiding behind.

"I'm fine, but my boy Adrien's still here somewhere!" Nino replied as he rose to his full height, coming out from hiding now that the city's hero was there.

"Don't worry, we'll find him." Ladybug assured, placing a hand on Nino's shoulder. With her childhood friend now in tow, Ladybug and Nino began their search for Adrien.

On the other side of the filming studio, Chat Noir had managed to break free from Gorilla's death squeeze, but was still locked in combat with him. Just when he had the upper hand, the bodyguard grabbed the feline again and pinned him to the wall of the hallway, effectively trapping him.

"Okay, I'm quitting karate." Chat Noir muttered to himself while in the Gorilla's tight grip. But he was given a saving grace when the elevator opened up and a lady came out, soon frightened by the ongoing fight. "Oh, hey there, Ladybug!" the feline hero fibbed, tricking the Gorilla into thinking that Ladybug was there and broke free from the larger man by kicking him away. Now free, Chat Noir proceeded to evade the Gorilla's numerous punches until he managed to grab his arm and throw the bodyguard into the elevator.

"Enough already." Chat Noir exclaimed while the woman ran off, only to call on his... "Cataclysm!" The feline hero cried, summoning his signature move and using it to make the elevator malfunction, causing the Gorilla to fall with the inner cabin inside the shaft. With the immediate threat gone and sensing someone coming towards him, Chat Noir did a backflip and picked up his staff to defend himself as he spun around to face the threat. But he was instead met with Ladybug and Nino.

"Nice seeing you too, Chat Noir." Ladybug warmly greeted, despite the staff being pointed at her. At the sight of his partner and best friend, Chat Noir immediately eased up.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were Simon Says." Chat Noir apoligised as he pulled his staff away from Ladybug, but still holding it close to his chest just in case.

"I saw him! He's got a whole army together!" Nino exclaimed, a worried tone filling his voice as he warned the heroes of what the akuma was up to.

"He's looking for Gabriel Agreste. We better get to him faster than they can!" Chat Noir remarked, only to be answered by his beeping Miraculous.

"Chat Noir, you're about to change back. I'll take one last look around for Nino's friend." Ladybug decided, turning around just as Chat Noir's face exploded in worry. He knew right then and there that he had to do something, otherwise his secret would be blown!!

"Uh... Forget it. He's probably hypnotized." Chat Noir hurriedly theorized, hoping to get Ladybug to not look for him.

"But he's my buddy! I'm not leaving him behind" Nino argued, blocking Chat Noir's efforts to prevent them from looking for Adrien. Under better circumstances, Adrien would have been ecstatic that Nino cared about him so much... but he was on duty and needed to find a way to not expose himself.

"Okay, fair enough." Chat Noir replied, now quickly thinking of a way to avoid being discovered as he put his baton away. "Maybe he's hiding. I'll leave you to look for him, and we'll meet up at Gabriel Agreste's place later on." the black clad hero suggested before he closed the door to the stairwell, leaving Ladybug and Nino in slight confusion at his exit.

"Finding Adrien will be a piece of cake!" Chat Noir muttered to himself as he climbed down a flight of stairs to avoid the light of his transformation giving him away. Once he was at a reasonable distance from Ladybug and Nino, he then turned back into Adrien. "Plagg, hide." Adrien told his kwami, holding his shirt open for him to stay close to him. From there, he ran out of the stairwell and met up with Ladybug and Nino as they ran to the exit.

"Nino!" Adrien greeted as he ran up to the hero and DJ, meeting them halfway to the exit.

"Adrien!" Nino exclaimed before running to give his buddy a hug, glad that he was safe. As he did, Ladybug smiled to herself as she walked over to the two boys, she herself happy that her crush was safe. "Dude, you okay?" the DJ asked after pulling away from the hug, giving Adrien a quick once over to make sure he was unharmed.

"I'm fine." Adrien replied, only to be pulled away from his best friend's concern when he saw Ladybug standing behind him. "...Hello?" the model timidly greeted, in awe of his crush in front of him as he took a step towards her.

"Uh... Hello! Are you sure you're okay?" Ladybug responded in a slight stutter, which would have been worse if she hadn't been wearing her spotted mask at that point in time. But Adrien didn't seem to notice in his starstucked state.

"I'm fine, really." Adrien answered, scratching the back of his head out of nervous habit before he realized the situation they were in. "But we've got to get to my house now! My father's in danger!" the blonde exclaimed, worried about his father's safety.

"Let's go. Chat Noir will meet us there." Ladybug replied, remembering to not lose focus before leading the two boys out of the studio and towards the Agreste Manor.

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Soon enough, the three teenagers made it to the Agreste Mansion and wasted no time in entering the house in a quiet manner.

"Nathalie, where's my father? He's in danger!" Adrien yelled in worry, barging through the front doors of the mansion with Nino and Ladybug behind him.

"He already knows." Nathalie assured as she stood at the foot of the stairs leading to the second level while Ladybug took the chance to look around the front entrance in awe. It was the first time she had taken a good look at the interior of the mansion. But her sightseeing was interrupted when her gaze landed on Gabriel Agreste himself as he stood at the top of the aforementioned stairs.

"Good evening, Ladybug." Gabriel greeted the spotted heroine before he began walking down the stairs.

"Father, you've gotta get outta here. The hypnotist Simon Says is coming after you!" Adrien warned as his father reached the ground floor of the entryway.

"What? And be dictated by a madman? Certainly not." Gabriel replied, dismissing the threat his son was warning him about.

"But father, he's dangerous! Who knows what he'll do?" Adrien exclaimed, not believing that his father wasn't worried in the slightest.

"Head up to your room now. You've had enough excitement for today." Gabriel ordered his son, once again ignoring him in favor of being prideful... again. "Nathalie, once they are there, I need you to guard the front." the fashion designer ordered, deciding to use Nathalie's skills in defense to their advantage. He knew better than anyone that she could take on at least three adversaries at once without breaking a sweat.

"Yes, sir." Nathalie replied, taking Nino and Adrien up the stairs and leaving Ladybug alone with Gabriel.

"I have to apologize for my son, Ladybug. He's like his mother. Way too overly dramatic." Gabriel said to Ladybug, apologizing for what he thought to be his son overreacting. But his words did little in deterring Ladybug from defending her crush.

"But he's right, you know. Simon Says is a real threat. You're in a lot of danger!" Ladybug argued, knowing that Adrien was right to be worried about his father's safety.

"What could possibly happen with you here to protect me?" Gabriel questioned the spotted heroine, placing a hand on her shoulder and making Ladybug a little more than uncomfortable with his sudden proximity. But while Gabriel was speaking to Ladybug, Adrien and Nino were still following Nathalie as they walked up the next set of stairs to his room.

"You sure your old man isn't some robot or something?" Nino asked Adrien, a bit of worry lacing his words after the interaction he witnessed between the father and son.

"When my father's concerned I'm never sure of anything." Adrien replied to Nino as they entered his room.

"Hoho! Dude! I've seen stadiums tinier than your room!" Nino exclaimed as he took in the sight that was Adrien's room. The dude really had a wicked set up!

"Make yourself at home. I'm gonna take a shower." Adrien told Nino as he walked to his bathroom door on the other side of the room.

"Now?!" Nino questioned Adrien, a little skeptical of his buddy's choice in passing the time while they were in lockdown.

"What can I say? It's the model in me!" Adrien nervously fibbed before he closed the door behind him and entered the shower, allowing Plagg to fly out of his hiding spot now that they were alone. "Why doesn't my father ever listen to me?" the model griped to Plagg after he made sure no one would enter the bathroom. When he did, Adrien didn't waste any more time and once again proclaimed...

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien shouted out for the second time that day before he transformed into Chat Noir. Now in his alter ego, Chat Noir exited the bathroom through the top-most window and began making his way to his father's office.