Chat Marinette heard Ladybug Adrien's order and redirected the hippo toward him. She ended up running past him and the hippo was now charging both of them. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Are you kidding me!? You're sick. I'll take care of him," she turned to face him and then poked his chest repeatably. "Go home now!" Since her back was turned she didn't see an arrow was coming straight at them.

Hawk Moth grabbed Peacock and teleported them out of the way of the arrow. He paused when they reappeared, taking the time to catch his breath, before turning his attention back to his teammate. "Stop arguing and pay attention to the battle," he ordered.

Then he turned to where Kou was and ran forward, teleporting a few times to move quicker as he drew his sword. If he could just wound (or even kill) this brother, they might have a rest and a chance for him and Marinette to recover.

He raised his sword, ready to slash as he came into range, but he couldn't follow through. Just as he was close enough, his body decided the rain was too much and a massive coughing fit took over.

Ladybug Adrien glanced at Marinette, looking not too confident in his plan.  "I hope so too," he said.  He was only assuming this would work.  If not, they were in trouble. His earring beeped the first time as he aimed the snow machine and pushed a button.  They would both be in so much trouble if this failed.
 
A stream of powdery snow shot from the machine and coated the pavement, quickly mixing with the water.  He held his breath, hoping there wasn't too much rain for his plan to work.  Thankfully, the snow machine kept pumping (as if once it was filled it would never run out of snow) and the water on the ground quickly chilled enough to form a nice layer of ice just as the hippo reached the area.
 

The beast slid, unable to stop itself thanks to feet that were made for water and sand rather than ice.  It couldn't catch its footing and ended up tripping over one of its legs. It landed on its side and slid, all the while flailing but unable to get up. 


Ladybug Adrien grinned in surprise that his plan actually worked, and he had to mentally remind himself to purify it. Once it was purified, he threw the snow machine in the air and called, "Miraculous Ladybug". The swarm of ladybugs did their work to fix the various buildings destroyed by the beast.

"Pound it!" Chat Marinette said happily and held up her fist. She was proud of Ladybug Adrien.

Everything happened so fast. The moment Hawkmoth went into a coughing fit Kou appeared before him and was going to use this moment to strike. Peacock flew over to them as fast as she could. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The moment she landed she kicked Kou right in the side and fell a few meters away from them. Peacock then got her fans out and stood in front of Hawkmoth protectively.

Kou stood up and Peacock wasn't going to give him a chance to fight back. She merged her two fans together and used her attack on him. The wind caused him to go flying and he disappeared somewhere. She turned to Hawkmoth and put her hands on his shoulders. "Are you okay!?"

Hawk Moth couldn't answer right away.  The coughing fit wasn't done with him for another minute or two, and his legs suddenly felt like jelly as a strong wave of fatigue hit him. His legs gave out under the sudden fatigue, and he just barely caught himself with his sword before sliding to his knees. He'd done way too much.

"I'll be fine.. Thank you..."

Ladybug Adrien lifted his fist and bumped it to hers. He was just as proud of himself as she was. Who knew what they would have done if it didn't work? 

"That was great!  I can't believe I figured it out for once!" He said, enthusiastically. His earring beeped, and he couldn't remember if he had three or two minutes left at this point.  "I wonder if Peacock got Hawk Moth home okay," he murmured and threw the yo-yo up to a nearby building. 

He glanced at Marinette a moment as if to get her to follow him before pulling himself up.  Once he was on the roof, he noticed Peacock and Hawk Moth a few roofs over. Hawk Moth was on his knees breathing heavily while leaning against his sword. He quickly made his way over, landing near Peacock.  "What happened?  Why didn't you guys leave?"

Before Peacock could say anything to Hawkmoth she turned her attention to Ladybug Adrien. A mixed emotions were now erupting. Why didn't her son notice his father was getting sick? He could have prevented this fight from happening! "We were attacked by Kou. Your father almost got killed due to being sick! Why didn't you notice this earlier? He looks like he has the flu which takes days to develop!"

Chat Marinette joined them right when Peacock was scolding Ladybug Adrien. She new felt awkward. Why was she scolding him? This woman was so strange.

Ladybug Adrien glanced quickly at his father, eyes widening, before looked back to Peacock. A shiver went down his spine at the thought of losing his father and then having to explain to his mother what happened.  He shrugged at her scolding, trying (and probably failing) not to sound defensive as he answered.  "I haven't seen him a lot recently. He usually keeps to himself when he's sick. I just thought he was at work."

Hawk Moth looked up weakly as Peacock scolded his son. Why was she being so...?  He couldn't finish the thought as yet another coughing fit took over.  He lost his balance on his sword that he was still leaning on and ended up sliding the rest of the way down to the building. It was all too much for his weakened state, and he could feel it as he started to slip into unconsciousness.

Peacock didn't get a chance to response. She noticed Hawkmoth was falling and she quickly grabbed him. She then glanced back to the children. "You two just go to school. I'll take care of him."

Ladybug Adrien began to protest but stopped himself as the earrings beeped again. He needed to get to cover and detransform soon, but it didn't seem right to make Peacock take care of his father when she may or may not have other things to do.  But he didn't have a choice.  They were closer to the school than his house.

"Fine...  You have my number in your fan, right? Let me know if you need help.." He said before turning and heading toward the edge of the building.  He would have to text Nathalie with some type of excuse for why his father didn't come back to work, or she might worry.

"Let's go, Chat," he said before jumping down from the building and heading back to the school.

Chat Marinette nodded her head and follow Ladybug Adrien. They jumped down into an alley to detransform and switch back their miraculouses. "Peacock is strange, Adrien. She seems to really care about you and your father."

Peacock forced Hawkmoth on to her back. She was going to fly him home. She kicked off from the ground and managed to get him home safely. She ended up landing in front of the front door. Of course she had no way getting in since she had no key. So she let him down and held on to him. "Can you unlock the door?"

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "She cares about all of us. We're her teammates, after all. But they're both adults, so they probably have more in common.  Even though Peacock seems very caring while my father is... well... my father."  He motioned Plagg into his jacket and turned to the alley's entrance. "Are you suspicious of her?" He asked, more as an afterthought than anything else.

Hawk Moth tried not to feel embarrassed for his failure and inability to even make it home on his own. It was his fault after all. The likelihood of him coming down with pneumonia was very high. For what? He didn't even get a chance to get rid of one of their main opponents. Instead, he was almost killed and felt terrible.

He glanced back at the front gate to make sure no one was walking by before dropping his transformation and fishing into his pocket for the key; all the while leaning into the hand that was holding onto him. It took him a moment to find his keys.

He held it up to the door, but a new wave of fatigue hit him, and he wobbled even more into her grasp. "Here. You open it," he muttered, weakly holding up the key.  All of this had been such a terrible plan.

Marinette was quiet for a moment. At first she found Peacock suspicious, but now she trusted her. However it still bother her that she was very affectionate toward Adrien. She felt silly for being jealous, but Adrien was her boyfriend! It was natural to feel this way right? She sighed as they made their way back to school. "No I just don't like how she treats you."

Peacock took the key from Gabriel and opened the door. She then grabbed a hold of him and they walked inside. It took all her might to hide her reaction to the inside of the house. He went back to black and white! What was up with the painting on top of the staircase? She meantly slapped herself. Now was not the time to think about interior decorating. They moved toward the staircase and Gabriel told her where to go.

When they got his room, Iris opened the door and felt was surprised. He didn't change this room? A wave of guilt hit her. She quickly helped him to the bed and sat him down. "You need to change your clothes." She glanced around. "Do you keep your PJs in the dresser?"

"Like a child? It is kind of annoying, isn't it?" Adrien answered as they walked. He still wasn't happy about the curfew thing that Peacock suggested to his father. She really did seem close now that he thought about all his interactions with him...  Wait. She was acting close to him.. "Or are you jealous of her?"

Gabriel nodded before having another coughing fit a moment later. Once it was over, he was able to murmur the words, "Yes. Bottom drawer on the left."  He wanted to lay down so badly, but he forced himself to stay seated.

Marinette stopped her tracks. They were standing in front of the school. "Me jealous? Why would I be jealous?" She didn't want to admit to Adrien that she was jealous. At least not again. This time he would catch it.

Peacock quickly got out a pair of PJs and handed them to him. "Here. Once you get dress you can lie down. In the mean time I will get you some medicine. I bet it's in the bathroom! No need to show me. I'll get it." The moment she walked into the bathroom her brooch beeped. She quickly closed the door and she detransformed. Pain and appeared and floated to the bathroom counter and sat down.

"Sorry," Pain whispered. "I tried to hold it as long as I could."

"It's fine," Iris tried to say calmly. Now what was she going to do!? She didn't have any bread on her! She started to play with her hair. This was just great!

Adrien stared at her a moment, trying to decide if she was trying to lie to him or not. Finally, he shrugged, a smirk appearing on his face. "Good. I was scared you almost found out about my secret relationship with her," he teased, hoping for a decent reaction.

Gabriel tried to dress as quickly as possible while she was gone and then slipped under the covers. Though his bed was nice and warm, he could still feel shivers traveling down his spine and another coughing fit hit him pretty hard. He could really use that medicine Peacock was supposed to be getting..

"Lycca.. Go see... where she is.." He ordered between coughs.

Lycca frowned worriedly and nodded before flying through a few walls, into the bathroom. "Hey, what's the..."  He stopped as he registered that she was not transformed. Not only that, but he was quite sure he knew this woman from somewhere. He stared at her for a long moment before realization hit him. "You're the woman in the paintings! Gabriel's wife.  Iris, was it?"

Oh so she was going to tease her, huh? "Alright then. It's over. Have fun sharing with your father." She then made her way up the stairs. It was still raining after all.

"Yes!!" Iris said in a hush voice. "And keep it down!! He can't know I'm Peacock yet. Do you understand?"

Pain just waved at Lycca.