{+}{+}{+}

   Adrien snuck through the dark hallways to his father's hallway.

   He was able to stealthily avoid and hide from any officers that were in the area. Yet, his luck was beginning to run thin the closer he grew to his destination. The law enforcement seemed to grow more vast and hard to avoid.

   Adrien had a few close calls, almost being caught by an officer checking the premise. Much to his fortune, he approached his father's hallway and was nearly out of the ballpark.

   The blonde walked around an oddly placed stand before returning to the wall to keep hidden.

   Talking could be heard from around the corner within his hallway, making the cautious blonde peek around the corner. A group of high-class looking officers and agents stood outside of his father's quarters, conversing about the case.

   "This is crazy! I'm stupid! Why did I think this was a good idea? I should've just stayed in the car! If they discover me, they'll probably wonder why Hawkmoth's son was snooping around the area and put me in jail!" Adrien thought, thinking of the worse possible case scenario and regretting his decision, "I mean, how in the world am I supposed to learn anything from here? I'm practically a sitting duck until someone finds me!"

"Did you hear something?"

Adrien's body stiffened and heart began to erratically beat, green eyes dilated in fear. He managed to slowly back away from the corner for a little bit until bumping into something. Adrien jumped in fright, twisting his head around as fast as he had ever done.

Of course, it was the stupidly placed stand!

Yet, he realized too late that two expensive-looking objects that were on the stand were now falling to the floor. The blonde teen didn't have time to react when the items collided with the tiled floor and shattered.

Adrien flinched at the loud sound then gulped when footsteps could be heard coming closer. He was about to be as busted as the objects that had just shattered on the floor. He tightly shut his eyelids and muscles went rigged.

   "Oh, it was you," a guy with a deep voice spoke in almost annoyance. Adrien was about to profusely apologize for snooping before his words were cut short.

   "Lower your weapons, boys. It's just a dumb cat," the same guy added. Adrien's orbs snapped open to see Plagg walking into the hallway and over to the officers. He meowed, gaining the law enforcers' attention.

The teen couldn't believe his eyes.

   Was Plagg trying to distract the police officers so Adrien wouldn't get caught?

  That was...oddly nice of the black cat.

   It definitely was the most strangest and surprising thing the blonde has ever seen, in more than one way. Yet, he wouldn't let an opportunity like this go to waste and began to sneak over to his father's room as quietly as possible.

   Adrien was just a few feet away, so close but stressfully far as well. He watched as one of the officers looked away from Plagg for a moment, making the blonde freeze in his tracks.

Much to his relief, Plagg used his skills to pull the nearest police officer's gun out from his holster and made a mad (mostly limping) dash down the hallway.

"Hey!" The officer yelled, "That cat stole my gun!"

   "After that dumb cat!"

   The group of men began to chase down Plagg through the hallways of the mansion, none-the-wiser of a baffled Adrien standing outside of the door. The blonde raised an eyebrow before rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

   "I'd say Plagg is smarter than all of you combined if you didn't leave anyone to watch the door. Then, letting a teenager simply prance into a classified operation and not know about it to chase a cat with a gun," Adrien mumbled before rethinking his words, "Although...I probably wouldn't trust Plagg with a gun either."

   He made his way into the room and over to the secret staircase. Emerald green eyes unsurely gazed down into the dark abyss of steps.

   "I just hope no one is down there," he added before taking out his phone, turning on its flashlight mode.

   Taking in a deep breath, he began his descent down the stairs.

{+}{+}{+}

Shan opened the cell door, face was drawn blank when seeing the criminal start to grin his way.

"Mister patrolman! I didn't think I'd ever see you again today!" Slade exclaimed, not getting any sort of reaction from the officer.

   "Your friend is calling again," Shan merely stated, gesturing for the criminal to follow, "Although, it's pretty suspicious why he only calls instead of visits."

   "What can I say? He's a very busy man in a very far away place but has a few spare minutes to chat with me," Slade quipped before sarcastically saying, "Aren't I a lucky man?"

   "The only thing lucky for you is that I want to watch you rot away in jail. But..." Shan spoke, voice growing colder with each word, "...if you pull anything, I will not hesitate to aim my gun at you and pull the trigger."

   Some of the other prisoners stopped whatever they were doing to listen in on the conversation. They had never really heard any of the police officers threaten prisoners outside of the interrogation room before. So, this was a real treat for some of them.

"Tell me, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Slade questioned, walking out of his cell, "Besides, the only lucky thing I've ever had was the world—my lucky charm. You know that luck was never in my favor but when I was with her, that all changed. I felt practically invincible!"

   Shan's eye twitched before shoving Slade to move forward, heading in the direction of the phone room.

   "Did I hit a nerve there, mister patrolman?" Slade snickered, "I could go on all day about M-"

   "Shut up," Shan darkly spoke in warning, "You have no right to speak of her."

"She was the one the first time I laid my eyes on her. A true diamond in the rough," Slade continued, dreamily, "She was my everything."

Something within Shan snapped and pushed Slade into the bars of a cell. This action scared the prisoners inside, who glared at them. Yet, it was nothing compared to the boiling rage within Shan's eyes—a burning hatred that not even the biggest of oceans could put out.

"And now, she is gone," Shan spat through gritted teeth, "She and my parents are all gone because of you. It's all your fault that I have no one left. The terrible part is, you don't even look slightly guilty for your actions."

   Slade merely began to obnoxiously chuckle like Shan just told the funniest joke ever.

"That's because it's not my fault. It was that evil little demon's fault for taking the love of my life away," Slade responded, cooly, "Your parents...well, being drunk does funny things to you and causes car accidents sometimes."

Slade innocently shrugged, only making Shan angrier.

"Mei was too young when you got her pregnant and knew full well of the consequences. So, do not put your blame on an infant. Luckily, that child or any of your children will never know of your existence," Shan hissed, stepping back, "Now, let's get this over with so I can go home."

"Sure thing, mister patrolman!"

{+}{+}{+}

Adrien stood in the doorway, scanning the completely empty shelves and other iron door at the end of the small hallway.

"Man, they really did a clean sweep of this place," the teen muttered, cautiously starting to walk over to the door at the other end. He turned off his phone's flashlight before quietly placing an ear to the door, hearing muffled voices on the other side.

  He soon realized that the door wasn't fully closed and pushed it open enough to peek inside. All the men inside the room were facing the wall with his mother's portrait. Adrien spotted some words underneath the picture but was unable to make out what it said.

   "Sir, the hacker is on his way to crack open the safe," the assistant told the detective. The detective nodded before returning his attention to the picture of Emilie Agreste.

   "She is a very beautiful woman," the assistant complimented, "It's too bad she went missing. She seems like a very nice person and, I bet all my Oreos, a wonderful mother too."

   "She was," the detective replied, "I knew her since she was young. Her father and I were close friends. It's sad to see someone so extraordinary end up in a situation like this, especially her son. I can't imagine how screwed up his life is at the moment."

   The assistant sympathetically agreed with his partner's statement.

   "Alright, let's take the portrait off the wall but be careful with it," the detective ordered two officers. The two officers nodded before walking over to the giant picture. They tried to gently take it off the wall yet it wouldn't budge.

   "It's not coming off," an officer muttered, looking down at the ground and noticed someone. The officer gave the frame a push and everyone watched it roll to the side, knocking down a candle.

   Yet, no one acknowledged it fall.

   Everyone was staring at the elevated coffin-like containment with a glass lid, holding the very woman that had been missing for several years.

   Emilie Agreste.

{+}{+}{+}

I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I know I could've probably made it better but I didn't know how to.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!