Author's note:

So, I'm going to admit it right now, I don't know a single word of French! OK, maybe a few words, but I definitely don't read or speak it and I don't know what certain things are called in France. So, I will be using the version of English I am most familiar with, American English and will be using terms that we often use. I just don't need people pointing out that apartments and entertainment centers are called something else or something like that.

"Pound it!" two voices said in unison as black and red fists met.

Chat Noir smiled cheekily at Ladybug. The duo of fifteen-year-olds had just finished defeating and cleansing the most recent akumatized person. Ladybug could still make out the white, purified butterfly against the bright blue background of the Parisian sky, its wings gently flapping as it disappeared from sight. She'd always had the ability to sense them when they were very close by.

"Another successful fight and rescue, milady," he said. "You were decidedly purr-fect as always."

Ladybug shook her head and turned to look at the street. The latest akumatized person was sitting on the curb a few feet away, scratching his head in puzzlement. Those who had been akumatized rarely had clear memories of what had happened while they were under Hawkmoth's influence. This middle-aged gentleman had been an unfairly fired real estate agent. He had called himself 'The Salesman' and had turned everyone at his old real estate office into piles of money. Then he had begun turning surrounding buildings and innocent bystanders into piles of money as well, all the while spewing statements about how he was turning them into the only thing those who wronged him understood, money.

Ladybug handed the man the object the akuma had inhabited, his gold plated pen. It had apparently been a gift from his wife when he'd closed his first real estate deal twenty years earlier. A police patrol vehicle pulled up to the group.

"Just doing what I always do," she said to Chat Noir. To the man she said, "Help is here. Don't worry, the police understand how akumas work. You won't be in any trouble."

The man smiled nervously and nodded at her. Ladybug's miraculous earrings beeped their first warning. She absentmindedly place a hand over the left one and turned to Chat Noir.

"Looks like my time is up," she said. "You have less time than I do. Au revoir!"

Ladybug used her yoyo to spring up onto a nearby roof. To her dismay, Chat Noir followed her. The cat-themed hero closed his eyes and took a deep breath before stepping closer to Ladybug.

"Ladybug, I need to speak to you about something."

"Like what? And why now? We are about to transform back. It is imperative that we protect our identities. How many times do I have to say that?"

Ladybug placed a hand to her temple and crossed the other over her chest, a picture of exasperation and annoyance.

"I know that, but I've had this on my mind since…"

Suddenly, a dark shape jumped onto the roof in front of them. The figure straightened up from the kneeling position it had fallen into when it had landed. The figure was wearing a dark green canvas cloak and hood. The cavernous hood completely obscured the upper half of the face, but the two heroes could see that the figure had a gray goatee and tan skin and was wearing a green mask. He was also wearing some sort of green outfit, the cloak prevented the pair from getting a good view of what the man was wearing underneath. Despite the cloak obscuring their view and the obvious advanced years of the stranger, Ladybug and Chat Noir could see that he was well muscled and physically fit. The mask and outfit was a lighter shade of green than the cloak.

The stranger took a step forward. Before either teenager could say a word to him, the stranger pulled what appeared to be a green shield from beneath his cloak and pointed it directly at them. Light burst from it and shot towards them. The duo turned to jump away from the apparent attack, but they couldn't move fast enough. The world around Ladybug and Chat Noir faded away rapidly, leaving only bright, white light and silence around them. Even the ground beneath their feet faded away and they felt the sensation of rapidly falling through the air, although it didn't look like they were moving in any direction, just floating in place. A booming voice rang in their ears.

"Put right what went wrong. Stop the cycle Hawkmoth has started."

As quickly as it had started, it suddenly stopped. The pair were standing in the exact spots they had been before the appearance of the mysterious stranger, who was nowhere in sight. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other in puzzlement for a brief moment before wordlessly springing to action. They raced around the three-story building's roof, looking at the streets below and the nearby roofs of other buildings. There was no sign of the man, in fact there was no sign of anyone they knew had been on the streets below previously. Both heroes looked down at the street where they had finally defeated The Salesman. As they left the scene a police cruiser and an ambulance had pulled up and joined the one that had already arrived.

Now, the street was clear, only regular cars drove by on the street and a few citizens walked along the sidewalks. There were two children blowing bubbles out a window across the street from Ladybug and Chat Noir. There was no sign of the akuma victim, police, medics or the small crowd that had gathered on the sidewalks surrounding them.

"There's no way that the police cleared out of here so fast," Ladybug commented, frowning.

"I've never seen a style of car like that before," Chat Noir said pointing to a red vehicle that was slowly making its way down the street.

Ladybug couldn't help but agree with her partner. The vehicle was of a familiar make, but she didn't recognize the model, it was far more angular than the cars she was used to seeing. Glancing around the street she noted that most of the cars present were also odd looking to her. She was about to comment on it when her Miraculous beeped warningly at her. Chat's did the same, the second paw pad disappearing from his ring.

"We'd best get home," Ladybug said. "It's probably just our imagination that the cars are different and who knows how long we were trapped by that man."

"We have to find that guy. He has to be up to something."

"You're right, but we need to protect our identities. I'll call you as soon as my Miraculous is recharged."

"Will do," Chat said, cheekily saluting her.

Ladybug shook her head as she used her yoyo to swing away onto the next building, heading towards home.

Ladybug made good time reaching her family's bakery and house above, landing squarely on her roof. As she travelled home she puzzled over the strange man's seemingly harmless attack and vague words.

Put right what went wrong. Stop the cycle Hawkmoth has started, she thought. What did he mean? What is wrong? Well, Hawkmoth is wrong, could that be what he meant? The cycle of akuma attacks?

She continued to mull over his words as she pulled open the hatch and silently dropped down into her spacious bedroom. As soon as she had pulled the hatch closed behind her, she detransformed.

"Who was that man?" Tikki asked as Marinette handed her a sugar cookie from a baggy in her pocket. "Even I felt his presence and the effects of the beam he hit you with. His aura was familiar almost."

"Do you know who he could be?"

"No, not really, just felt familiar in a way."

Marinette climbed down the ladder, the tiny kwami sitting on her shoulder, munching away at her cookie. Up until that point, despite the dimness of the room, she hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. She knew her room like the back of her hand. Crossing the room, she pulled the chain on a floor lamp next to her chaise lounge to turn it on and the room filled with light. Next she walked over to her sewing desk. It was then she noticed something wrong. Her sewing machine was missing. Looking around where the machine was supposed to be, she noticed her latest sewing projects were gone, along with her supplies cabinet. The many posters of Adrien Agreste, various photos of her and her friends and design patterns were missing from the surrounding walls. In the place of her largest poster of Adrien used to be was a lovely framed watercolor of a flower garden.

Looking around the room, she realized all her belongings were gone. It was still an attractive bedroom, but all of her personal touches, other than the chaise lounge and floor lamp were gone.

"What is going on?" she cried. "All my things!"

Did my parents find out that I was gone and take my decorations and sewing machine as punishment for sneaking out? she thought, alarmed.

The teen hurried to the hatch leading towards the kitchen and living room. Opening the door, she saw that the stairs were no longer painted white, now they were a deep mahogany brown. Pausing to examine them, she realized that the television was on and her parents were sitting on their large L-shaped couch. The couch, entertainment center, bookcase and dining set were all the same as she knew them, but the curtains, rugs and refrigerator beneath the staircase were different.

Her parents were totally engrossed in the program they were watching. Marinette wasn't paying attention to what was on the television, she was totally stunned by how her parents looked. Her father, Tom, was significantly thinner than she remembered and his hair and mustache were steel gray. He looked worn and tired and was wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses. Her mother, Sabine, had a gray streak running down one side of her now shoulder length black hair. Sabine's back was to Marinette, so the girl couldn't see the woman's face.

"Tom, did you want to keep watching this program?" Sabine spoke up. "I'm not able to follow it well."

"Me neither, I don't understand the hype around it," Tom said. "Let's see what's on the news."

Sabine used the remote control to switch to a different channel before speaking again.

"What did you think of Marinette's and Alya's new apartment?"

"I liked it a lot, much better than the last one," he said. "That was not a good part of the city."

"It was cheap though."

"Yes, there was that, I suppose," Tom said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I couldn't help out more with the moving. I'm just so tired today."

Sabine placed a hand on his forearm.

"It's fine, Tom. Just do what you can. The doctor did say to take it easy."

"What?" Marinette cried in alarm. Her parents would have heard and discovered her then if at that precise moment an explosion hadn't rocked the entire block.

Chat Noir dropped from a fire escape onto the old pavement of an alley near his mansion. He immediately detransformed. He said nothing as he handed Plagg a piece of camembert cheese. He glowered at the cat-like kwami after he nearly took off Adrian's finger wolfing down his favorite snack. The blonde boy sighed and sat on a plastic crate someone had left against an alley wall. Plagg floated after him, still chewing the remnants of his snack.

"OK, I'll bite, what's wrong?" Plagg asked, a tone of annoyance in his voice.

"I lost my chance to tell her yet again!"

Plagg looked at his Miraculous holder quizzically for a few seconds.

"Oh right, you are in love with Ladybug…What is love again?"

"I'm not going to try and explain human emotions to you again, Plagg."

"What was with that strange man?" Plagg asked, changing the subject.

"You sensed him?"

"Yah, I did. I tend to just zone out and let you do your thing when you have activated my powers, but that guy was weird."

"Do you know who he was?"

"No, but he was somehow familiar to me," Plagg said, thoughtfully. "Did he say anything to you?"

"He said, 'Put right what went wrong. Stop the cycle Hawkmoth has started.'" Adrien quoted.

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea," Adrien shrugged. "Let's get home, not that anyone will greet us when we get there."

"Yes, I have a hankering for more camembert."

Adrien chuckled at the kwami's one track mind. He exited the alley and walked the one block back to his home. He kept walking in silence for a while before he realized he had gone too far. He turned to look back, puzzled. He'd lived in the mansion on this street for years, he knew it well. He knew the alley was only a block from the front gate of his home. He began walking back the way he'd come, feeling silly. He slowed to a stop as he approached a building he didn't recognize. Before him, where his mansion should have been, was what appeared to be a brand new five-story apartment building.

The teenager stood staring, open mouthed, at the building for a few moments before finally pulling out his phone and tried to open his maps app. He figured he'd just made a mistake and was lost. After receiving error notifications from the app for the third time, he checked his wifi settings. It appeared to him that his wifi wasn't working. Once he noticed this, it didn't take him long to realize that his phone had no signal whatsoever. Instead of showing him bars indicating the strength of his signal, he only had the dreaded circle with a slash through it. He had been standing in front of the main entrance for several minutes before someone approached him. It was a youngish, brunette man in a business suit.

"Excuse me," Adrien said, stopping the man. "Do you live around here?"

"Yes, just up the street. Why?" the man spoke with an accent Adrien couldn't place the origin of, British maybe.

"Do you know what happened to the mansion that was here?"

"Uh, well, I've only lived in France for the past eighteen months. I'm from Australia originally. Moved here for a job, speak French will enough. I don't know much, but this place just started being lived in about four months ago. I heard that the building before was owned by a famous actor and model. He had the building torn down and sold the lot to the developer that built the apartment building. Does that help?"

"What's the name of the famous actor and model? Do you remember?"

The man thought for a moment and shook his head.

"Sorry, kid, I don't," he said.

"Have you seen an akuma? How about Hawkmoth?"

The man looked at Adrien like he was crazy at first, but then he shook his head slightly and smiled.

"Oh, yes I remember hearing about the akumas. They haven't been an issue in years, I don't recall when the Miraculous League finally captured that Hawkmoth villain, but it was well before I moved to Paris. They have a website, you could look it up. Does that help you? I need to get going."

Adrien was about to respond when there was an explosion in a nearby part of the city. The boy hurried towards it, the man yelling for him to stop behind him.