Our group of ten is now down to four... or is it three? Someone seems to be missing.

Chapter Text

“Nathaniel,” Alya muttered.

“I can’t believe it,” Marinette said.

Adrien said nothing.

“Anyone have that poem? Maybe that can give us a clue to his intentions.” Alya rummaged through Alix’s pockets until she found a folded-up piece of paper. Unfolding it, she read,

“Six little children going for a drive;

One got in a crash and then there were five.”

“Well, that was pretty accurate,” commented Marinette.

“Five little children wishing there’s no more;

One got his wish and then there were four.

“Four little children trying hard to see;

One saw too much, and then there were three.”

Alya hummed. “Alix didn’t seem like she was wishing for it all to end… but you know her, she’s not exactly the sensitive, wears-her-heart-on-her-sleeve type. Like some people here,” she added blithely.

Marinette joined Adrien in silence.

“Trying hard to see… trying hard to see… what could that mean? Is there an observatory here? I guess we should avoid it if there is one… but if we don’t know there’s one, then it won’t be hard to avoid it… but if we go there, then… turn around?” Alya was pacing, thinking out loud, building up enough of a head of steam that Marinette was getting slightly jealous.

“What we need to do is find Nathaniel,” Marinette said, determination in her voice. “We can sit down here and do nothing and be scared and just wait… but I don’t think that’s right. I don’t want life to just happen to us. And if we go down against the akuma, then we go down together, trying to fight it.”

Adrien looked at her and smiled.

“Hear, hear, girl,” agreed Alya. “So, we have Nathaniel hiding somewhere in the museum. We’re at a disadvantage as none of us has searched the museum top-to-bottom. But in the top two levels, did anyone see any effective hiding places? No place to stash a body or hang out undisturbed for a few hours?”

If I had found one, Ladybug would have been here by now and we just might be out of this mess, and I can get back to plan “A” for this evening. Well, who says that I can’t at least try to get what I want? “How about we just visit some exhibits? At the very least, we can enjoy our time here while guarding against a crazy akuma. There are some really nice Chinese exhibits down the hall, why don’t we check those out?”

Alya shot her best friend a knowing glance and mouthed the word, “stratagem”. “Yesss… let’s go see some Chinese. C’mon, you two!” She grabbed Adrien with one hand, Marinette with the other, and strolled down the hall, the light of Marinette’s phone leading the way.

Time passed in front of the Genghis Khan exhibit without much happening. Marinette tried more than a few times to engage Adrien in conversation, but everything fell flat.

Think, Marinette. You’re actually getting sentences out, but he’s not responding. Of course, his best friend was the first victim tonight… he’s probably trying to figure this out like the rest of us. I need to be more sensitive to his needs here.

Marinette shot Alya a desperate look. Help me get out of this, it said.

“Let’s look at the scenes of the crimes,” Alya suggested. “Maybe we can find a clue or two there to tell us what happened and what’s going on.”

Adrien and Marinette shrugged. They had wandered throughout the museum examining exhibits and looking for hiding places. Adrien still hadn’t opened up like Marinette thought he would have, and not having found Nathaniel yet had prevented them from fully relaxing.

Maybe that’s why Adrien isn’t loosening up, Marinette thought to herself. I admit, I’m not at my best either right now, and looking for someone in red while waiting for someone ELSE in red to show up… “What was Nathaniel wearing underneath that hoodie? Did anyone notice?”

“He usually wears a red t-shirt, so maybe that’s what he had on underneath the hoodie. Besides, his hair’s red enough as it is, I don’t think that’s hard to disguise. Just keep an eye out for red,” Alya answered.

That’s exactly what we’re waiting for, thought Adrien and Marinette together, but neither one of them knew it.

The three friends stood in front of the drinking fountain, the light from Alya’s phone illuminating the semi-transparent shell that surrounded the dark-clad first victim.

“Nino…” Alya murmured, placing her hand on the shell. The light cast an eerie glow, sending the inside of the shell into shadows.

“Here’s where it all began,” Marinette said. “But actually, it began earlier, didn’t it? Hawk Moth had to isolate someone and akumatize them, so maybe we should look at where people were before this all started. Let’s review, shall we?”

Alya jumped in, “That’s a good idea. So we started with the nursery rhyme from Alix. Then it was… Mylène with her story about those kids solving mysteries with their dog in a van. What was next?”

“Nino tried to play some spooky music for us, but nobody could hear it since all he had was his headphones,” Alya remembered.

Adrien’s face fell. “After that was the campfire story. That didn’t work at all,” he chuckled.

“We all split up afterwards… oh! It was because Nathaniel kept sneaking up on people and scaring them.”

“I wonder if he was already an akuma beforehand?” wondered Alya. “He’s certainly made use of his talent for moving around silently.”

“After we found Nino, we went upstairs and tried to get a cell signal or an escape route,” Alya continued. “Well, all of us except Sabrina, that is. She came back down here, alone, to lay down.” She gestured to the auditorium.

“And then Chloe came down to check on her,” added Marinette.

“She passed us on the way down,” Alya commented.

“And then we heard a scream…” continued Marinette.

“And then we came running to the auditorium, where we saw Chloe standing over Sabrina…” Alya took a few steps and stopped in the auditorium door.

Adrien walked up behind her. “But Nathaniel was there first… aside from Chloe. And they wound up teaming up together when we split up. You don’t think Chloe was fixing another problem she caused, do you?”

Marinette paused. “No, I don’t think she was. She learned from that experience with the mayor that akumas can be serious business. Maybe. I don’t know. She did have that party afterwards, but Ladybug must have seen something in her to choose to give the miraculous to her again.” And I hope I wasn’t wrong. Master Fu seemed to trust my judgment… and I’d rather not betray that trust.

“Regardless, she couldn’t have been who got Mylène, because she was down here when that happened. And if Nathaniel was here first, that also strongly suggests that he didn’t do it.”

“I don’t know why anyone would voluntarily team up with an akuma,” Adrien mused. “Isn’t that just as bad as being the akuma yourself?”

“Or worse, because you’re knowingly partnering with Hawk Moth. I can’t imagine anyone would want to do that,” Marinette finished for him.

“Good point. Let’s go visit Mylène,” suggested Alya.

“Weren’t you the one complaining about climbing the stairs earlier?” teased Adrien.

“Shut… up…” panted Alya.

The trio made it to the astronomy exhibit, where Mylène was still staring at the hieroglyphics.

“I’m not sure what we’ll find here, Alya,” said Marinette. “Nobody was up here except for Mylène and the akuma, as far as we can tell.”

Alya hummed in response. “Who was the last one down to the auditorium when we discovered Sabrina?”

“It was Mr. Kubdel, I think. Which gave him an opportunity, since he was the last person with Mylène. I know I wandered off right when he was building up a head of steam,” Adrien reflected. “I think Chloe wound up cornering me somewhere and talking my head off about something else, though, so I’m not sure if I won that round.” He shrugged.

“Speaking of Mr. Kubdel, he was the next victim,” Marinette said. “Alya, that’s down in the lowest level, then back up here for Chloe, and then back again to the auditorium for Alix. Why don’t we rest here and talk it out for a bit?”

Alya smiled at her friend gratefully. “Girl, you don’t even know.” She sat down on a bench and stretched her legs, then leaned back. “Let’s talk more about who was last seen with who. We don’t know who was with Nino last, because we were all scattered. Sabrina was with Chloe last. Mylène was with Mr. Kubdel last. Mr. Kubdel was with Alix last. Chloe was with Nathaniel last. And the last person that we know with Alix had to be Nathaniel since she was wearing his hoodie, and he still had it on when we were eating snacks.” Alya tapped her lips thoughtfully. “What if there’s more than one akuma?”

“Impossible,” Marinette interjected. “He can only make one at a time, unless it multiplies.”

“I’ll ignore how you are so sure about that, Marinette, for now, but what if he makes an akuma that gives him the power to make more akumas?”

Adrien and Marinette’s ears both perked up at that, but neither one of them noticed.

“We would notice if that would happen, I’m pretty sure, Alya,” Adrien smirked. “Hundreds of butterflies flitting around Paris would be the most frightening thing I could think of… except for maybe an evil Ladybug fighting Cat Noir and taking his Miraculous.”

That’s oddly specific, thought Marinette. I’m really glad we haven’t seen anything like either of those yet. And I hope we never do.

“OK, fine,” continued Alya. “Akumas fighting each other doesn’t benefit Hawk Moth at all. But what if he just switches who the akumatized person is in order to confuse us? So let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Mr. Kubdel was the original akuma. He takes out Nino, Sabrina, and Mylène… but then the heat is on him too closely, so Hawk Moth takes his butterfly and ‘gives’ it to Alix. I’m pretty sure that by this point, everyone is so amped up that we’d be easy prey.

“Alix immediately freezes her dad so he can’t say what happened, and then has to get Chloe next because Chloe is being very loud about akumatized Alix. Hawk Moth can’t trust her anymore, though, because she’s not quiet and people would hear her coming a mile away on those rollerblades. The first time we separate, BOOM!, Alix is forced to give up the butterfly to Nathaniel, who is now somewhere in the museum.”

“That’s very good, Alya, except for one important point: how did Mr. Kubdel catch Sabrina?” Marinette reasoned.

“Alix said it herself: her dad knew the museum like the back of his hand. He probably knew where there was a service elevator he could use to sneak away for thirty seconds, tops, and freeze Sabrina. I bet he even has a key for the elevator so he didn’t even have to wait for it.”

“That’s a very interesting strategy,” Adrien said, so quietly the girls thought he was talking to himself. “If he’s not doing it tonight, I can imagine he’ll try it soon.”

“Let’s cover our other line of suspicion, here, first: that Nathaniel was akumatized before all of this started,” Marinette sat down next to Alya.

“He moves so quietly and stealthily that he could be over there in the shadows without us even knowing it. Especially since he’s not wearing that bright red hoodie anymore,” continued Marinette. “He could easily have sneaked up behind Nino, followed Sabrina to the auditorium, stayed behind and got Mylène, surprised Mr. Kubdel, froze Chloe -- he was her partner, remember -- and then tagged Alix when she stopped for a snack.”

“I’m going to poke two holes in your theory right away, girl, and I’m sorry. How did Nathaniel both stay behind to get Mylène and be the first one on the scene when Chloe found Sabrina? I don’t think he could move that quickly,” Alya folded her arms.

“He didn’t,” Marinette countered. “Mylène would have been the last one to arrive if Mr. Kubdel wasn’t holding her up. I bet Nathaniel sneaked away while we were all downstairs and got Mylène before she could come down and join us.”

Alya looked less certain, but pressed on: “How on earth did he get from the top level with Chloe, down to the lower level with Mr. Kubdel, wait for him to be alone, turn off the power, and then make it back upstairs without Chloe even noticing? You’d think if he disappeared somewhere, Chloe would have said something instead of jumping all over Alix!”

It was Marinette’s turn to look uncertain. “You know how Chloe is, Alya… I bet she was just happy to have someone to gush to about Ladybug and Queen Bee. She probably never stopped talking and never turned around to see if Nathaniel was still there listening!”

Adrien frowned. “That’s not the Chloe I know. She would at least make sure someone was around to validate her,” he chuckled.

“So this leaves us back at square one,” Alya griped.

“Not exactly. We know we’re looking for Nathaniel now, at least,” said Adrien.

Alya rolled her eyes. “And that means going down to the lower level. Again. Try not to knock us all down the stairs this time, OK, sunshine boy?”

Adrien grinned.

Adrien, Alya, and Marinette made their way down the stairs without incident, although Alya insisted on leading the way and going a bit faster than Adrien and Marinette. When Marinette shot her friend an eyebrow, all Alya did was mouth “Stratagem!”

Marinette rolled her eyes. Yes, Alya, getting me alone with Adrien is a great idea… but not when there’s an akuma out there that can get you while we are. I just want to get through this night and then worry about Adrien. I want all my friends safe and sound.

Alya reached the utility closet before the other two.

“Everything OK in there?” Adrien asked.

“Yep, everything’s fine, Mr. Kubdel’s still frozen at the power switch,” Alya answered, turning around and heading back up the stairs.

Adrien and Marinette were taking their time walking up the stairs. Their hands brushed together occasionally, but neither could get the courage up to actually take the other’s. Alya had raced ahead again, trying to get to where Chloe was in order to see if she could get some clues that were missed earlier.

Having climbed the stairs for what seemed like the millionth time that night, Adrien and Marinette were glad -- this time -- to let Alya race ahead. With Marinette’s phone lighting their way, they went down one of the corridors, a medieval exhibit, and proceeded to where they thought Alya had gone.

Suddenly, a cry of “You!” from around the corner snapped them to attention. Marinette looked at Adrien and saw a look of shock and something she couldn’t distinguish -- fear? -- in his eyes. He glanced over her shoulder at something, eyes narrowing. Grabbing and moving her, Adrien was unable to prevent Marinette from being trapped under a pile of suits of armor that had toppled over!

Marinette tugged at her leg, trying to free herself from the rubble of the collapsed exhibit. “Go, go!” she shouted at Adrien. “I’ll be fine, go ahead and catch up with Alya before Nathaniel gets her!”

Adrien looked back at her, hesitating only a second before racing ahead, around the corner.

Alya’s head whipped back toward the corner as Adrien rounded it. “Look ou--!” was all she was able to get out before the freezing blast hit her.

Marinette heard her friend scream and fought like a tiger to get herself free of the heavy armor. Adrien and Alya are in trouble! I have to get to them! She was about to open up her purse when she saw a blond figure dressed in black and green running toward her. Cat Noir… finally… she thought, before closing her eyes and putting her head down, exhausted.