Ladybug Adrien had frozen the moment he saw the yo-yo fall over the edge and had accepted he might not make it out when he was cornered. He had not expected the protective hug that Peacock pulled him into. It was so warm and almost familiar to him that he relaxed in her arms. Only after Gui saved them both did he feel slightly shaken by the entire experience.

His hand shook slightly as he took the yo-yo from Gui. "Thank you."  He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before throwing it into the air and calling, "Lucky Charm!"

Thankfully, fate seemed to reward him for surviving his previous bout of bad luck by giving him a very large net. A simple, easy to use, no plan complicated plan needed, large net. He took a running jump off the building and threw the next over the dragon as it was starting to recover.  The dragon tangled itself in the net, giving him time to purify it before it could escape.

Ladybug Adrien threw the net into the air and yelled, "Miraculous Ladybug!" and the damage to the city was restored. He then returned to the rooftop where Gui and Peacock were waiting.

Peacock watched the magical ladybugs restore the city. She could see Gui staring at her in the corner of her eye. She faced him with a confused look. "Something wrong, Gui?"

"Where's Hawkmoth and Chat Noir?"

"It was too dangerous for Chat to fight this and Hawkmoth is sick..," she replied and mumbled the last part since Ladybug Adrien returned. She then turned around and flew off.

Gui looked puzzled. He turned to Ladybug Adrien. "What's with her?"

Ladybug Adrien frowned. "She's mad at me. I'm not exactly sure why.. All I did was focus on the beast instead of asking her how my father was.  But I was worried the dragon would get too close to the school and find Chat, so I figured that was more important at the time."  

His earring beeped for the first time, leaving him four minutes. "She lives with you, right? Do you know why she's so upset about this?"

Gui just shook his head and turned away. "Ladybug, you need to open your eyes." He then paused. "And your heart." He then walked away and hopped over to the next building. Gui slowly made his way home.

When he returned home, Gui detransform and went to Iris's room. He opened the door and didn't find her there. Fu frowned. She must be somewhere in the city.

Ladybug Adrien stared as Gui left, unsure how to take that. Why was everyone mad at him all of a sudden? Well, Fu didn't seem mad... Maybe disappointed? But why? His earring beeped again and he pushed it to the back of his mind before jumping down to one of the alleys and detransforming.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. Hey, the fight is over. Where are you?  He texted Marinette. He wanted to talk to her. She might be able to figure out Fu's words better than he could.

Peacock was sitting on the beam of the Eiffel tower. She felt her emotions going crazy. She was mad at Gabriel, and Adrien and herself. She was telling herself to go home, but also telling herself not to go home. She felt so lost.

Marinette was still in that closet.  She was sitting there on the floor listening to Plagg complain about the situation. He was upset that she didn't have any cheese on her. Marinette wondered how Adrien put up with this kwami. She then heard her phone buzz and read Adrien's text. She breathed in relief. Good nothing bad happened. She replied to his text.

Still in the closet. I'll meet you outside of the school. Oh btw Plagg wants cheese.

She then put her phone away and stood up. "Plagg, get in my purse. The the fight is over."

"Good. Adrien will have cheese on him," he said and went into her purse.

Marinette just rolled her eyes and left the closet. She then headed outside the school and waited for Adrien.

Adrien sent a quick text to agree and walked back towards the school. If only Plagg wouldn't be so annoying when it came to his need for cheese.  He felt bad Marinette had to sit through the same leve of complaining from the kwami as he did.

He saw her waiting for him as he approached, and he quickly closed the distance between them and hugged her. "I'm glad the dragon didn't make it here," he said before letting her go. He quickly took the earrings from his ears and handed them to her.

Plagg took the moment his arm was outstretched to fly up his sleeve.  The kwami stuck his head out of the collar of Adrien's jacket. "Adrien. Where's the cheese," he asked eagerly. 

Adrien just rolled his eyes and grabbed the cheese from his pocket. "Here."  He handed the cheese to Plagg and looked back to Marinette as Plagg devoured the cheese.

Mairnette smiled at him and took the earrings from him. She grabbed his hand, after Plagg took the cheese and they headed back to her house. "So how did the fight go?"

Meanwhile Peacock was still sitting on the beam of the tower. She let out a heavy sighed and leaned against another beam. What should she do? Suddenly she heard her brooch buzz. She glanced down puzzled. Why was she losing power? She didn't use her attack. She then detransformed and Pain appeared before.

"What is it, Pain?" Iris asked. She was trying not to look down now. She was feeling uncomfortable for sitting up so high without super powers.

"Go home," said the kwami.

She stared at her confused.

"Your real home," Pain clarified.  

"No," Iris said and looked away.

Pain frowned. "This is getting ridiculous, Iris! They need you!"

She didn't respond.

The kwami was about to pull her tail feathers out. What could she say or do to change her owner's mind? She sat down next to Iris. Maybe Lycca could help? He was good with emotions.

Adrien paused for a moment to consider how much he actually wanted to tell her. Not that he could hide how poorly they did in the long run. But he didn't really like to have to admit that he and Peacock apparently couldn't function as a team for just one beast attack. Well, not like he could hide it. The media would be all over it soon enough.

"Not too well. Peacock got mad at me for not asking about my father's condition, so we didn't really fight as a team. Fu had to step in and help us win."  He looked at the ground as he said it.  He couldn't believe he and Peacock just gave Paris even more reason to worry about their team dynamics.

Marinette cringed. Great more fuel for the media. Maybe they should have a meeting and talk about teamwork. "Well I'm glad Fu showed up. I really don't understand Peacock. Why did it upset her to a point that it effected teamwork?"

Adrien shrugged. "No clue. She was giving me the silent treatment, and she looked like she might have been ready to cry. She's just really interested in my family..  And when Fu asked and I told him, he seemed really disappointed and told me to open my eyes and my heart. I don't understand what he was tryng to say..."

All of this was so strange to Marinette. Why was Peacock so into their family? There had to be a reason. She was then pulled out her thoughts, when Adrien talked about Fu's comment. Marinette frowned. Why would he say such a thing? Open your eyes. Usually that meant to pay attention to your surroundings. As for opening your heart. That usually meant be loving toward others. She sighed. "I'm not sure about the eyes comment, but I think Fu was taking a stab at your current relationship with your father." They stopped in front of the bakery. "You should probably go home and check on him. He looked terrible."

Adrien paused as his mind finally started to think about his father.  He really did look terrible in the first fight of the day. Like he was going to pass out at any moment.. He frowned, biting his lip. "Yeah. You're probably right," he answered. 

As far as his relationship with his father went... He didn't think it was as bad as it was before. Other than arguing during battles and not really having engaging conversations.. Well, that still wasn't the best, but at least they interacted more than just his father coming in to reprimand him for some mistake he made like he used to do.

"I guess I'll see you later," he said before heading home.

Meanwhile, Gabriel looked at the clock. He had woken up just in time to turn on the news and see clips from the dragon attack overlaid with the voices of reporters discussing whether or not their team was actually able to fight the beasts long-term. He was about to turn it off in disgust when one clip caught his attention.

Peacock had grabbed Adrien into a protective hug, ready to die for him in the way a mother would her own child. He tried to think of any other reason Peacock would have gotten to that point rather than trying to pull Adrien away from the attack. But it fit with every other reason he would think Peacock was Iris (including the fact she was the only one who noticed he was sick). And both her expression and body language was just too much for it just being one teammate protecting another. 

It was a done deal in his mind. Peacock and Iris were the same person. All the circumstantial evidence fit too well. It was amazing he was the only one who could see it.  Then again, he was the only one on the team that knew her that well. Adrien remembered her, but would not have been old enough to remember everything about her personality and mannerisms. Plus, Adrien was pretty oblivious to this sort of thing; not even realizing Marinette was Ladybug until much later despite being around her so much at that point.

He needed to talk to Fu. As soon as possible. He wanted to know what was going on and why his wife didn't want to return right now. It's not like they needed protection. She would know they didn't.  So why...?

Adrien entered the room at that moment and frowned when he noticed the news that was playing. He obviously didn't want Gabriel to see how badly they'd done. "Hey. How's it going," Adrien asked after a short, but still somewhat awkward pause.

"I've been better," Gabriel answered. There was another pause before he asked, "What happened between you and Peacock?  Those clips make it look like you two weren't working together at all. And I'm guessing Marinette wasn't there because of how dangerous that thing was?"

"Yeah," Adrien said, focusing on his final question. He fidgeted at the doorway of the room rather than entering; like he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"So why were you and Peacock not doing well?" Gabriel didn't mean to make it sound reprimanding.  It was just a question, but Adrien seemed to take it the wrong way and took the slightest centimeter of a step back as if ready to turn around and leave.

"She was mad at me," he answered.

"Why?" He really wanted to understand what he'd seen on screen. His mind already told him that Peacock was Iris. It might as well be fact to him. But it didn't make sense that she wasn't working with him until the point she had to protect him.

Adrien sighed and finally allowed some of the information through. "She was mad because I didn't ask how you were doing before we starting fighting the dragon. And then I basically told her.." He stopped, as if suddenly realizing what he was going to say may actually be hurtful. Or maybe he just hadn't planned to tell him so much. "I basically told her I was more worried about defeating the dragon so it didn't find Marinette."

He didn't have to say any more for Gabriel to get the implication that Adrien hadn't asked because he didn't care. He answered in as neutral a tone as possible. His bad parenting had been what pushed Adrien to this point, after all. "I see. Well.. You should make an effort to get along better if you two are going to be the only ones fighting in any future battles."

"Yeah.. I'll do that. So, do you need anything?"

Gabriel shook his head. "I should be fine."

"Alright. Let me know if you change your mind." With that said, Adrien shut the door and most likely headed to his room.

Gabriel sighed and looked back to the clips on the news. They needed Iris back or their relationship might never get better.

Tikki came out of Marinette's purse, when they entered her room. She flew right over to Marinette's computer. She turned it on and looked up the news. Marinette joined her with a puzzled look.

"What are you doing, Tikki?" she asked.

"I want to see if the fight was posted," replied the kwami. The news front webpage loaded and the recent fight was breaking news. Tikki clicked the video clip. "I want you to watch it."

Marinette sat down in her chair and watched the video clip. When Peacock grabbed a hold of Ladybug Adrien, she paused the clip and just stared at it. She was holding him like a mother. She tapped her finger on the mouse. She glanced at Tikki who was staring at her.

"The warmth of her body felt familiar to Adrien," said the kwami.

"Huh?"

"Remember, Marinette when transformed we see everything and are aware of your thoughts."

Marinette glanced back at the computer screen. Her eyes widen. "No way! There's no way!" She looked at Tikki. "Peacock could be Adrien's mother?"

Tikki nodded her head. "I've been thinking that since Adrien's birthday."

Marinette leaned back in her chair. "She flirts with his dad too.."

Tikki nodded her head.

Marinette slapped her head. "Fu told Adrien to open his eyes."

"Yep."

"What should we do? Should we tell Adrien?"

Tikki shrugged. "I can't say a thing unless he guesses. It's up to you."

"But we're not 100% positive. I mean there's a chance for us to be wrong.."

"Yes there is."

"Ugh!" Marinette buried her head in her hands. She had no idea what to do.


Meanwhile Pain tapped Iris's shoulder. "We should go."

Iris looked at her kwami and just nodded her head. She stood up and transformed back into Peacock. She took her time getting back to Fu's house. She had a feeling that they were going to talk about today's events. Peacock landed in the alley and placed her on the wall. The door appeared and she went inside. She saw Fu sitting by the TV. He was sipping some tea while watching an old show. Peacock destransformed and sat down at the table. She noticed a tea cup sitting out for her. She poured herself some tea.

"Welcome back," said Fu and looked back at her.

She just smiled weakly at him. She just sipped her tea.

"Iris," he began the say.

"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped at him and placed her tea cup down on the table. "I'm going home when the brothers are defeated and that's final."

"I wasn't going to talk about that."

She stared at him shocked.

"Everything was on TV today. Gabriel fighting while sick which is why I decided to come help with the dragon despite my back." He showed her that he was wearing a heating pad."Then Adrien told me how upset you were and when I got home I saw the beginning of the fight with the dragon. You were ignoring him."

"I was mad."

"Iris, if you are going to do this whole disguise thing then you need to detached yourself from them."

Iris just grabbed her tea cup and took a sip.

"If not your plan will surely fail," Fu continued. 

She put her cup back down and played with it. "Gabriel is suspicious."

He nodded his head.

She didn't say anything.

"I'm sure he'll see the dragon fight on the news."

"I'm sure he will." Iris looked away.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know Fu," she said and stood up. "I'm going to go take a shower." She then walked away and went back to her room.

Pain remained in the room with living. She floated to the table and sat down next to Wayzz. She let out a heavy sigh. She waited until she heard Iris go into the bathroom. "Master Fu."

He looked down at the kwami. "Yes, Pain?"

"Iris took Gabriel home after the first fight," she explained in hush tone. "I was weak from her using her attack so we detransformed. Gabriel didn't see her, but Lycca did."

"I see," Fu trailed off and looked toward the hallway.

"She made him promise not to tell, but I'm not sure Lycca will keep that promise. He wants her to go home as well."

"Well Lycca can't tell Gabriel unless he makes a guess. However she said he was suspicious so I'm sure he'll guess right."

Pain nodded her head in agreement.

Fu sighed and took a sip of his tea. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens next."

"Should I keep pushing her to go home?"

"If you want too."

Pain stood up and then flew off to the kitchen. Time to eat some bread.

Adrien tapped a finger on his desk, restless after the day's events.  Peacock was mad at him, and he wanted to apologize to her even though he didn't feel like he was in the wrong. His father may or may not have been disappointed with how badly he did against the dragon since it led to the media blasting the entire team. Although, he couldn't be completely sure of his father's feelings because he couldn't really read his father very well.

He stood and paced the length of the room a few times as he thought about it and then looked at Plagg. The kwami's tail lashed back and forth as he watched. After a moment of staring at each other, Plagg sighed. "You want to go out tonight," he said; not asking the questions since he already knew the answer.

"Yeah.  We can start early since my father's sick. He won't be paying attention to my curfew," Adrien answered.

"You want to go out even though the brothers can create dragons. Are you sure?"

"They've attacked twice today. I doubt they'll attack again. And if they do, I'll just call the others."

Plagg did not look pleased, but many a time with Adrien ignoring his protests and transforming anyway had taught the kwami how unlikely talking him out of it was. "Fine. Only if you buy extra cheese this week."

"Of course," Adrien answered with a smile. "Plagg, claws out."  

Once he was transformed, Chat jumped out his window and up to the rooftops of Paris. It had been weeks since he started searching for his mother, and he hadn't found any clues. He could search more tonight, but he really just wanted to take a patrol around the city and then end it with a little bit of time on the Eiffel Tower. He would keep his eyes open, of course, but he needed some time to relax.