32: Experiments

"I'm afraid I can't find anything..." He mumbled. You raised an eyebrow.

You came back to Master Fu's the next day. You talked as he did some weird Ancient Chinese stuff or whatever... You didn't pay too much attention to what he did. Turns out he knew quite a lot about you, since Marinette was visiting often and was asking about you. He knew you knew Marinette's identity, about your akumatizations and more.

"But... You didn't do anything?" You asked. He looked confused. You decided to explain further before he could ask, "Like, blood tests...? Checkups? Y'know... Regular doctor stuff?"

"A-Ah, I'm afraid that I'm not a doctor... This is an Ancient Chinese ritual to check for magic and--"

"Oh. Nice. Can I be dissected now?" You asked with a grin. He paled to the shade of paper-white, and you laughed, "Haha. Sorry, old man, but your reactions are hilarious. You can continue if you wanna."

"There's, uhm, no need..." He gulped. Aw, maybe you should have listened. "I think you may test on yourself if you wish, well, I mean, no dissections, but..."

"Yeah, I understand." You shrugged. You walked off toward the door. "Is that all? 'Cuz I've got an experimenting session with my powers to get to..."

"Ah, yes, of course. Stay safe, Y/N." The man bowed. You smiled.

"Thanks, you too." You waved, exiting. You let out a sigh of relief as the door shut behind you. You may have joked around with him a couple of times, but that didn't make you feel any less awkward. Awkwardness was just your thing.

You exited the building and started to walk off to find the abandoned factory. You ducked into an alleyway once you got impatient and turned into your whisp form. You then shifted across the shadows, using the darkness as camouflage to get to the place quicker. There wasn't much of a color shift, but you still wished you were pitch-black like before. Still, you were pretty close to the shade, so it wasn't really a problem.

You found the abandoned factory, where you had taken Ladybug/Marinette captive (and where you were also trapped after...). You went to the center, where it was the most spacious. The large piece of machinery that was in the middle before was disintegrated, and it was pretty obvious who had done that.

"Y/N, nice to see you came!" Chat's voice came from behind you. You shifted back into your regular form. 

"Hey, Chat." You greeted. He was obviously the one who'd gotten rid of the machinery, and as a result, there was a lot more space. "So you're gonna help me experiment, then?"

"Yeah, just collecting data. Anyway, all your powers are the same as before, right?" He asked. You shrugged.

"I didn't really get to experiment while I was akumatized, and I haven't tried anything other than the tricks I did while I had my akuma, so..." You trailed off. You only confirmed your powers still worked like regular; you hadn't tried to perform any new tricks. It didn't really cross your mind until now.

"Alright. Let's play then, shall we?" He smirked. You huffed, rolling your eyes.

"Sure. Come on, just tell me what to do." You asked. He nodded.

"Well, we all know you can collapse your form when in mist-mode." He noted. You raised an eyebrow at his words. Mist mode? "I just want to see if you have a part that can't be collapsed, or if you're just a bunch of dispensable smoke. So, in order to experiment... We have."

He held a tiny steel hexagon nut between his fingertips. He threw it up into the air with a smirk, grabbing it in his hand and continuing to mess with it.

"...Eh? What's a nut got to do with this?" You asked as he tapped his fingers against the metal. He looked confused.

"Nut...?" He asked, ceasing his fidgeting and looking at you confusedly.

"That's what it's called. A hexagon nut." You rolled your eyes. You raised an eyebrow at him, "How do you not know that?"

"W-Well, I thought it was a bolt..." He mumbled. You scoffed.

"A bolt is more like a screw. A nut is what you're holding right now. Any regular person would know that. Haven't you ever like, put a bed or desk together? Ever?" You asked. You were teasing him before, but now you were generally confused. 

"Well, uh, not really. I have other people who do that..." He laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. You laughed.

"Huh. So I'm guessing you aren't the handy type, which is sort of surprising, considering you're a superhero who wields a baton... Whatever. Come on, what do you want me to do?" You asked. He took out the nut and held it a small distance in front of him.

"Go through it."

"Eh?"

"Go through the hole." He said. You didn't do anything, and he continued. "Just shift through. Use your dark form." 

You let out a sigh, letting your body transform. You were now a black silhouette, near-black smoke radiating off your skin, only your eyes and mouth being colored. He stiffened.

"...You look scary like that." He mumbled. You huffed, crossing your arms.

"Oh, what a nice thing to say." You rolled your eyes, a smirk forming on your face. He laughed. "Well, I mean, be thankful I at least have features. And my hair. I'd look creepy without hair."

"But your hair's just shadowy, too..."

"Better than bald." You shrugged. You then dispersed into the near-black mist, then started to shift through the bolt in Chat Noir's hand with ease. It was a weird experience. The hardest bit was probably getting your 'eyes' to fit through, since you needed those to see and make sure you were actually getting through the bolt. Though turned into mist, your eyes still worked, and you had to keep them at normal places and away from the rest of the mist or else they'd be useless. Like if they were in the middle of your body, you couldn't see because of the rest of the cloudy substance blocking it, or if one was looking behind you and the other was in front, it'd just be like crossing your eyes. They weren't visible or anything, and they didn't hurt if hit because they were mist, but you still used them to see.

It was complicated, to say the least. You just kept them where they'd be normally, since that took the least effort and also worked the best.

You reverted back to your normal form once you were completely through. 

"Wow." Chat said, eyes wide. "So that's pretty cool. Can you mist-ify in your normal mode?" He asked. Ah, you didn't think of that. You tried, but quickly confirmed it didn't work.

"Nope."

"Fly?" He asked. You let out a sigh.

"I can't do in my normal mode." You huffed. He clasped his hands together, giving you a pleading smile.

"C'mon. Pretty please?" He begged. You let out a sigh.

"...Yeah, alright." You shrugged. You jumped off the floor and attempted to fly, and surprisingly...

You were hovering in the air.

"...Holy shit." You grinned brightly. You started to float around, laughing. "Woah!"

"Can't you fly like that usually?" He asked. Your heart thumped in excitement.

"Well, yeah, but it feels crazy when I do this! It's like... You know that weird tingly feeling you get in the bottom of your feet? When you're high up in the air? It's like that, but it's also just... weird! This is best idea you've had." You exclaimed. You laughed, drifting through the air. You flipped through the air, eyes widening at the strange sensation. You locked eyes with Chat in the middle of a flip, upside down.

His eyes were wide, and you swore you could see a blush on his cheeks. You raised an eyebrow.

"Chat? You okay?" You asked, flipping back over. You returned to the ground, deciding it might just seem like you were flaunting if you stayed in the air any longer. He flinched, waving his arms and glancing away.

"W-What, yes?!" He laughed. You looked confused for a moment, before you scoffed.

"Woah, where'd the smooth guy go? Are you an imposter or something?" You laughed. You suddenly realized you had started to float, sort of sitting in the air. Your eyes widened once you realized, and you dropped to the floor. "Owch... Guess I'm gonna be floating a lot more now that I know I can do it..."

"Huh. Better not do that at school." He spoke, pulling you up. You let out a sigh.

"Ahh, I'll try... Funny that I haven't done it before, when I didn't know I could, though. Hopefully, that's a one-time thing, or else I'll have to be conscious of my laughter all the time."

"Well that would be a problem, because your laughter is music to my ears~" He grinned. Your eyes widened.

"H-Hey, come on... Aren't you meant to be flirting with Ladybug?? Not me?" You laughed awkwardly. Who could blame you for being embarrassed? After all, you barely had any social interaction only a few weeks ago, and now you were beingwith? With one of Paris's ?? 

"Aww, but you're cute too~"

You covered your face, whining, "Stop..."

Chat laughed heartily as you whined. You huffed and recomposed yourself.

"Come on, just tell me what else to do." You huffed. He nodded and tapped his chin, thinking.

"Well... I guess we can just try other things. Can you make whisps?" He asked. You nodded, letting some escape from your fingers, still in your human form. "Oh, okay, I was gonna ask if you could do it in normal form after, but that answers that. Okay, now take my whisp."

"Huh?" You asked, wide-eyed. He grinned at your surprised facial expression.

"We've gotta see if your whisps do the same thing, now that they've got a hint of blue." He spoke. You were still aprehensive.

"...Alright, I guess. But I'll give it back right after." You spoke. He nodded as your whisp went toward him.

"Yeah, I'd be worried if you didn't."

Your whisp tried to enter him, but nothing happened.

"...Wow. One of my is gone. I demand a refund." You grumbled, your whisp pounding against Chat's chest. He sweatdropped, inching away from the angered whisp.

"I-I mean, it's sort of good...?" He asked. You let out a sigh and summoned more whisps, raising an eyebrow when one of them turned out black.

"Chat. Take a look at this." You said, gaining his attention. He inspected the black whisp.

"Oh. So you have blue and black whisps?" He asked. You nodded.

"Do you think the blue do anything, or are they just... Well, blue?" You asked. You could only tell the difference between the two colors if you really looked. They almost looked the same.

"Hmm... Well, we'll only find out." Chat smiled. He then got serious. "Alright! Let's continue!"

"Okay, tell me what to do next!"