After finally discovering the mysterious cat-man's name, Marinette wasted no time in consuming the food Alya had prepared as quickly as possible, before dashing back to her room, explaining hastily that she still had lots of unpacking to get to.

However, that was not her plan at all.

Marinette couldn't let this Chat Noir slide off the case— literally. How did she know he wasn't a part of it? Apparently, Chat Noir was also a criminal; someone who disregarded the law for his own personal gain. How did she know if he was innocent to this specific crime or not?

As much as she had just swore to Alya that she would leave it be, she couldn't help but snoop anyway.

She needed to know who this Chat Noir was.

Bringing her laptop back onto her lap, Marinette quickly typed 'Chat Noir' into the Google search box. Clicking search, her screen was immediately filled with images and reports of Chat Noir's history.

She clicked on the first website that seemed interesting to her eyes. "Chat Noir strikes again," she began to read. "Fifteen thousand euros were stolen on the night of Christmas Eve."

She read down to the report, reading articles on what other people had to say about the incident, or if the money had ever been returned.

She ended up finding a few interviews, and decided to watch them.

"He just... disappeared." One man under the name of Joshua Douglas said into the mic. "The money... gone for good. None one ever saw it again, and none of it was ever returned."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. What a devistation for this type of thing to occur. All these citizens loosing large amounts of their money, and not being able to get any of it back. All of their hard earned money simply gone. She couldn't help but grow angry at this Chat Noir.

Her suspicions of him having a criminal record were correct, though. She was bombarded by many articles of crimes Chat Noir had committed. Some were smaller than others; a reading of him vandalizing an old man's mini market made her wonder if he had anything better to do besides steal.

She clicked on another video regarding the mini mart break-in.

"I swear, he only did it because he thought it would be fun," A younger woman, who seemed to be related to the owner of the mini market spoke on his behalf. Marinette could see the old man standing beside what she presumed was his daughter, looking very uncomfortable with the interview. The woman frowned at the camera-man intensely. "Chat Noir needs to be caught and punished for all the crimes he had committed. It's about time they get this scoundrel off the streets."

Then, Marinette stumbled upon another article, one that coincidentally had to do with the robbery she was currently trying to figure out. The case of Paris' missing jewel.

There was a video, and she didn't hesitate to click on it. Immediately, a younger man and woman stood in front the camera, a look of distress both written on their faces.

"We live only a couple miles away from the museum," the man spoke first. "And we loved visiting quite often. I just can't believe the most famous jewel of this city was stolen!"

The woman beside him nodded in agreement. "Yes, I often loved to admire the jewel as well. It was a magnificent treasure. To think that it was stolen pains my heart!"

"If you had to guess, who do you think is the culprit of this crime?" A woman by the name of Nadja Chamack asked the couple, holding the microphone as she waited for their response.

The man was the one to lean forward, his words spoken harshly as he replied, "There is no doubt in my mind that it was Chat Noir. It just had to be him!"

The woman, of course, agreed with her partner. "Yes! He's the only one who would be stupid enough to do something like that."

And get away with it, apparently, Marinette mused.

In a way, Marinette didn't like what she was hearing in this interview. Ironically, Chat Noir was being prosecuted for many crimes he'd committed in the past (none being very recent, she noticed), but those crimes had still been proven. This was all spoken out of accusations, and Marinette did not like that at all. Pausing the video, she rubbed at her temples in frustration and mumbled to herself, "These accusations are completely unnecessary."

A cold shiver ran up her spine a second later, and oddly enough, the dim lights in her room slowly faded away. Marinette turned her head, her eyes scanning the darkened room, until she realized the small window on the far wall. The wind was blowing the curtains to the side, exposing the night sky and the full moon that offered her bedroom light. But that wasn't what struck her as odd.

She never remembered opening her bedroom window.

Immediately, she set her laptop aside and stood to her feet. Pulling out her handy torch from her waist, Marinette flicked on the light to shine throughout her dark room.

"Hello?" She uttered through the silence. She could practically feel someone else's presence. "Who's there?"

Unfortunately, she didn't have much patience, and the room remained completely silent.

She huffed. "Show yourself!"

Suddenly, a light chuckle emitted from the darkness, proving her suspicions were correct. Someone was indeed inside of her room. It made her grow even more worried that someone had put so much effort into climbing through her bedroom window, breaking and entering. She pin around on her heel and pointed the light to where she heard the voice, and her eyes widened the moment the light fixed on the figure who had been caught red-handed.

It was the last face she was expecting to see.

Cat-man.

She narrowed her eyes at him, as if she had been expecting him to be a bit more threatening. Which she was. "Oh. It's you," she removed the light away from his face so that he could see properly. As much as she wished he wasn't here, she didn't want to blind him. "What the hell are you doing in my room?"

"I admired your bravery," he replied, jumping straight into the point. "Not just anyone would speak to me that way."

"I'm not just anyone," Marinette made her way back to her bed to retrieve her laptop. Setting it back on her lap, she looked back up at him and asked, "Why in the world did you sneak into my room? Have you ever heard of knocking?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't've let me in."

Well... point made.

Marinette had to shut her mouth at that. She wouldn't have let a strange man in a cat suit who, by the way, had an active criminal record, enter her room. "What do you want?" She jumped straight to the point.

"Honestly?" He sighed and lifted his right arm slowly that he'd been keeping limply at his side. "I need a doctor, but I know everyone treats me like an outcast, and there's no way I would be allowed in a hospital. You're the only person I could think of that might help me."

"I wonder why everyone treats you like an outcast." Marinette rolled her eyes.

He ignored her comment. "Do you know of a doctor who would be willing to stitch this up for me or not?" To emphasize his slight distress, Chat Noir lifted his leather arm more into the dim light of the room. Sure enough, Marinette was able to see a fresh wound clearly needing attention, seeping through the leather that had been sliced— along with flesh.

That area of his suit was no longer black.

She sighed, knowing very well not just anyone was going to help a very wanted criminal. "Sit down over here," Marinette instructed as she moved her laptop out of the way for him to sit. He took a seat on her bed, and Marinette quickly rushed over to her new bathroom to find her safety kit.

While she was gone, Chat Noir began to inspect her room carefully. Because she had left her laptop unattended and opened on the bed, the blonde was able to get a perfect view of himself on the screen and what she was viewing.

He sighed momentarily in disappointment at the sight.

When Marinette returned to find him looking at what she'd been searching, she felt slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she decided to apologize right away, and with her apology, he quickly looked up at her. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't... you know..."

Someone who was out to kill me.

"It's fine," Chat insisted, removing his eyes permanently from the screen. "I'd expect someone new to the streets to want to know who I am."

Marinette ignored his last comment and soon got to work on his wound. As she began to clean it out, Chat Noir hissed at the pain he was feeling. "How did you get this?" She asked him.

"It's a long story," he continued to hiss in pain as she got to work with her needle next, stitching up the wound.

When he realized she was doing doctor's work, he asked, "How do you know what you're doing?"

She stopped momentarily to let his question sink in. The fact that almost everyone new she had met so far in this city was involuntarily digging things up from her past without knowing it boggled her mind.

"I was a doctor," she replied shakily.

"Was?" He questioned, puzzled that the officer before him once worked in the medical field. "Why did you become a police officer then? Pediatricians earn quite the cash at what they do."

She shook her head, keeping her eyes focused on his wound as she began to wrap it up with surgical tape. "I wasn't a pediatrician, I was a surgeon."

Her eyes lifted to his as soon as she finished wrapping his arm. Chat Noir stared back at her in shock and much confusion. "And why would you take a job that could risk your life when you had a heavy income being a surgeon?" He asked that question, because he couldn't understand why she would drop that kind of life. The kind of money. He asked as if she had been a lunatic to leave the medical field.

She sighed heavily and stood to her feet. "Because I got tired of watching people die from what I can stop now."

Chat Noir stood to his feet after her, and he was honestly lost for words at her reply. He continued to ponder over how bizarre that sounded; leaving such a well paid job. What he would give to be in a position like that. "Well, your loss."

"I haven't lost anything," the ravenette simply replied. "Money isn't what's most important to me. Saving people's lives is. And leaving the medical field was the best decision I ever made."

But money was everything to him.

Without it, you're nothing.

He took a step back from her and raised his hands in defense. "Okay... no need to get all serious on me." He chuckled airily.

Instead, she chose not to respond to that, and he watched as she silently began to clean up her supplies.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, I should probably see myself out now."

She hummed, "I agree."

He nodded silently and took a bow. As he made his way towards her open window, he paused in his stride when she said to him. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

He looked over his shoulder, only to find her kneeled at the edge of her bed, staring at him indifferently.

"I don't think I am."

She arched a brow. "What exactly are you supposed to say to someone who has clearly helped you?"

He turned around to fully face her, his green, eyes piercing her own as he offered her a lopsided smile. "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know. The English language can sometimes be very confusing to me. What am I supposed to say again?"

She groaned, and for some reason, it made his smile widen. She knew that he was lying. "You say, thank you."

His grin widened, and she watched as he extended his long baton. With another bow and a cheeky smile, he said, "You are quite welcome, m'lady."

He bounded out into the night before he could hear her reply, and he chuckled to himself when he swore he heard her slam her window shut behind him.

_______________________________

Chat Noir is so cocky.

Question:
Can you guess how Chat Noir got such a wound that night?

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Anyway, I'm pretty siked because we're rescuing a rabbit today. I can't wait to see her.

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