Rarely is anything in the word ever in black and white. Some people try to simplify things, even if it seems obvious. Such as how a hero is someone who do things for the greater good, and a villain is one with nothing but selfish intentions. It can be a mistake to assume that there's no in-between. The highway to hell is often paved with good intentions.
Granted, it's not always that complicated. When the Bank of France is being held up by armed robbers, anyone would know what must be done: Heroes must save the day while the villains must be stopped, and Paris is especially lucky to have heroes like ladybug and Cat Noir, saving their home city from any threat, be it the villainous Hawkmoth or a group of gunmen.
These gunmen in particular were small in numbers, but well organized and very dangerous, carrying assault rifles and wearing body armour. They planned the robbery very well, and even took into account the possibility of Ladybug and Cat Noir coming to top them. What they failed to consider was Ladybug and Cat Noir...going through the air ducts.
"I can only see two hostages." Cat Noir whispered. "But I only see one robber. Isn't there five of them?"
"That's because we can't see a thing from up here." Ladybug answered. "How did you talk me into sneaking in through the vents?"
"Hey, we got in, didn't we? And I don't think we've ever been closer." Cat said he crawled closer towards Ladybug, where he picked a bad time to flirt with Ladybug.
"Yes, but I can't even use my Lucky Charm in such narrow space. And I'm a little surprised that no one heard us. I'm sure this shouldn't actually be working, I mean I don't think movies actually do something this stupid."
"If you two lovebirds are done talking, we have still have a crisis on hand."
As Ladybug rolled eyes over the comment, she pulled out the walkie-talkie she and Cat Noir brought in to respond to Officer Roger on the other end. "We're here. We're directly above the room where the hostages are. And...and I'm spotting at least twenty hostages, but that's not even counting the bank tellers."
There was a silence from the walkie-talkie. Roger was clearly thinking about the situation carefully since a lot of lives were in danger. "Okay, listen. There's too many hostages to rescue one-by-one like we hoped, so you have to take out the robbers. To earn the boss's trust, I'll tell him that he can have an officer as a new hostage. And while he comes to het him..."
"They'll be a blind spot for me and Cat Noir to swoop in and apprehend them all."
After another moment of silence, Roger responded. "Sounds good. Good luck Ladybug and Cat Noir, because we only got one chance. I'm putting a lot of faith into you two." After that, Ladybug put the walkie-talkie down.
"That's pretty bold, Milady." Cat Noir said. "We can definitely make this work, but the guy that has to be handed over to the leader...he's the one who's REALLY gambling here."
"Then we just have rig the dice. The police are trusting us that we'll pull it off on our end, so we have to trust them too. I guarantee you that-the boss is moving! Get ready!"
Just as Ladybug said, they spotted the leader of the robbers getting off of his phone and made his way to the room's exit to pick up the new hostage. With one less person in the room, there was finally a blind spot that the heroes could exploit. They made their move the instant the boss was gone.
They waited briefly for another one of the robbers to walk beneath the vents, and as soon as he did, he was grabbed by Ladybug's yo-yo and flung straight to the ceiling, only making so much as a whisper until after he was several feet in the air. The entire act happened so quickly that even the hostages didn't notice he went missing. What everyone did notice was the thud that was made after the man was gagged, tied up with plastic handcuffs, and dropped to the floor.
Shocked from what they saw, one of the other robbers ran to his friend to see what happened to him. This proved to have been a big mistake. After he was below the vents, Ladybug made her appearance, leaping down and landing right on top of the second robber. Though she planned on tying him up as well, she accidently knocked him out cold. She looked at him slightly embarrassed for a moment, but she had to stay focus.
"Oh crap, it's Ladybug!" One of the last two robbers shouted, aiming his gun at her.
Cat Noir then jumped down, sadden by the robber's reaction. "AND Cat Noir. This is why I wish we were called Cat Noir and Ladybug. People always forget about me."
The hostage cheered as their heroes came to save them while the robbers began to panic. One of them pointed their rifle at the cheering crown, hoping to silence them one way or another, but as soon as he turned his attention to them, Ladybug lassoed the gun with her yo-yo and ripped it out of his hands. Unarmed, he was left defenceless as Ladybug jumped in to apprehend the criminal.
Trying to help his friend, the last remaining robber pulled the trigger in rapid succession to try and mow down Ladybug, but that was when Cat Noir jumped in, protecting Ladybug by spinning his staff so fast that it deflected the bullets like a shield. The gunner quickly ran out of bullets, and as he tried to reload, he was left open for a finishing move.
"CATACLYSM!"
Before the magazine could even be attached, the robber's assault rifle had completely disintegrated in his hands. Unarmed, outmatched, and embarrassed, the final robber dropped the magazine and raised his hands in the air, surrendering to Cat Noir, just as Ladybug finished tying up his partner.
At that time, a voice spoke up from Ladybug's walkie-talkie. It wasn't Roger, but they were certain that it was another cop. "Ladybug? Cat Noir? The leader has taken the new hostage. He's heading back your way,"
"First to take down the boss wins 20 euros?" Cat Noir suggested.
"Oh, it's on." Ladybug answered.
A few seconds later, the boss had returned with the hostage he was promised, and the heroes were shocked to find that Officer Roger Raincomplix himself was said hostage, but he kept a brave face on. When the two of them apeared, the boss was surprised to find that the entire operation was a bust, with his team either own the floor or out of his sight. He was the only one left, and he immediately pointed his handgun away from Roger and aimed at the heroes.
Ladybug and Cat Noir were both about to throw their weapons at the final robber, but were robbed of their chance. With the boss's guard down, Roger broke free from his captive, grabbed the wrist of the arm holding the gun, grabbed his back, and with a quick throw, he had pinned the mastermind of the robbery down to the ground with one swift move.
Ladybug was impressed with Roger's skills to take down his captive at a moment's notice. Cat Noir was slightly disappointed, since he wasn't able to do anything cool to save him.
"Huh. I guess he wins the bet. But don't tell him." Cat Noir said. He then turned to Roger with a thumbs up. "Great work."
After cuffing up the leader, Roger walked up to Ladybug and Cat Noir and interrupted their usual 'pound it' moment. "What are you two doing? What happened to the fifth robber?"
Ladybug and Cat Noir looked at each other with puzzled expressions, before Cat Noir answering the question. "Well, you have the boss right there, we tied up two of them together over there, the first guy we dropped on the floor back there, and...uhh...oh..."
The second robber who was taken out, the one who Ladybug landed on after jumping out of the vents, was gone. With all that had gone on in barely a minute, they failed to take the time to tie up robber that was presumed to have been knocked out. The one consolation to the blunder was that none of the hostages were taken.
"Remember. You were the one who landed on him." Cat Noir said, who tried to avoid blame.
"After him!" Ladybug ordered.
Leaving the hostages and tied up robbers to Roger and the rest of the police, Ladybug and Cat Noir rushed out of the bank to hunt down the escaped criminal. As he was someone willing to take hostages in a situation he was in control of, so there was no telling what he would do in a panic.
Capturing the final robber would not go as smoothly as the rest of his group, as he already started making his getaway by the time Ladybug and Cat Noir made it outside, having driven away from the bank in an armoured car. After the whole operation crashed and burned because of the heroes, the driver was completely rattled and careless, driving the vehicle at high speeds and made several sharp turns that narrowly avoided hitting civilians.
Even Cat Noir, who was the more reckless and carefree of the to, understood how dangerous the situation had gotten. "This is bad." He said. "People could get hurt if crashes that thing or something. Any ideas, Milady?"
Before she even thought of an idea, Ladybug turned for a sign on what to do. She took her yo-yo, flung in the air, and shouted... "LUCKY CHARM!"
After a few seconds of the yo-yo spinning, it created the item that Ladybug was going to need. A pair of red and black...wooden planks.
"Was hoping for a sign that read a little more clear." A disgruntled Ladybug said. "Never mind, let's just catch that truck!"
On Ladybug's command, the duo began to chase after the armoured car. After jumping over the first building, something came to Cat Noir's attention. "Don't suppose THAT guy could give us a hand, could he?"
After she raised an eyebrow at her partner, Ladybug turned to the city and looked ahead. While her focus was on the runaway armoured car, she looked further and found another individual with their eyes on the vehicle, one with red armour and a very bulky build. Ladybug was worried that one of Hawkmoth's supervillains had appeared at the worst time.
Fortunately, it quickly became apparent that he was someone who wanted to help, as he jumped from the rooftop and onto the road, making a three-point landing to maintain balance, though he left cracks in the road beneath him from the impact, and then began walking over to the armoured car as it rushed towards him.
The driver was still scared after the failed bank heist, and without thinking, he started to drive even faster, pitting both the driver and the stranger in more danger. Ladybug and Cat Noir were scared of what would happen if a vehicle that large were to crash at such speeds.
Still, the stranger pressed onward at the same sluggish pace. Then, as the armoured car approached, the stranger slammed his fists in front of his face, and shouted... "BULLDOZER!"
Upon shouting his chant, the stranger glowed with orange energy as he walked toward the armoured car. Right as vehicle was about to ram the stranger, he firmly stepped forward, held his arms out to his sides, and grabbed the vehicle as it made contact.
Ladybug and Cat Noir feared the worst when they saw the armoured car ram into the stranger, as did many of the bystanders who watched it all happen. But, much to everyone's surprise, there was no crash. Instead, the large, fast moving vehicle was lifted into the air as if it was it was already parked. They didn't quite know what happened. but after the bystanders realized that the vehicle was stopped, they began to admire their new hero's strength.
"Sweet. New teammate. A friend of yours?" Cat Noir asked.
"I don't recognize that miraculous power, but if he saves lives, I'm not going to question it...yet." Ladybug answered, as she showed both praise and concern for the hero's actions.
The concerns Ladybug had though would quickly escalate after what happened next. After tossing the armoured car down, dropping it to it's side so it couldn't simply drive off again, he drove his hand through the bullet-resistant windshield , grabbed the escaped robber by his leg, and pulled the criminal out, holding the man upside down, crushing his leg with a mighty grip.
The robber had let out a sharp scream, but the new hero showed no pity as tightened his grip further. "What kind of trouble did you cause that made you deserve this? Was it worth it?"
The respect Ladybug and Cat Noir had for the new guy was short lived, as the cruelty of the new 'hero' was not appreciated. Seeing the sight urged them to make a dash to the crash site.
"HEY! Drop him!" Ladybug ordered as she approached.
The new hero turned his slowly as Ladybug and Cat Noir arrived, caring little at first who was bossing him around, but after recognizing them as the heros Paris was knwon for, he became interested in them. He then tossrf the robber to the side like an empty can walk walked to them to speak with them.
At this point, Ladybug and Cat Noir finally got a proper look at their possible new recruit. Ladybug in particular was quite intimidated by larger, bulkier body he had. Even if he wasn't slightly hunched over, he was still a good foot taller than Ladybug. Where as she and Cat Noir had skin tight outfits, the new hero was wearing red plated armour. Neither his arms or legs were armoured, instead having black tights covering the skin, he did have armoured boots and gauntlets. Upon a close look, the arms and legs were shockingly skinny considering the size of the armor.
The only part of his outfit that looked like it had any breathing room was his helmet since his mouth and eyes were visible. Looking at his helmet, Ladybug noticed the thick, curved, yellow bull horns pointing up from his head. At first, Ladybug thought the hero was using the ox miraculous, but the entire colour scheme would've been all wrong from what she knew about it. As she had suspected, the miraculous he was using was one she had never seen before.
Regardless of what powers he was using, Ladybug couldn't condone his actions. "That is NOT how you treat people! Not even criminals. What were you thinking?"
"Well, he might 've deserved it a little bit." Cat Noir answered, earning him an even dirtier look than what Ladybug gave the new guy. Afraid of Ladybug, he turned and asked a question as well. "So, uhh... who are you anyway? The Red Bull? The Battle Ox? OOOH! How about the Crimson Tauro?"
While the new hero was given several questions to answer regarding who he was and what he was doing, he dodged them both so he could instead asked one of his own. "You two are Ladybug and Chat Noir if I recall. Are you both really miraculous holders?"
"And what if we are? Cat Noir asked.
"I'm looking for a man name Wang Fu." The bull hero claimed. "He's...a friend of a friend. I'm not from around here, so I was hoping one of you would be kind enough to show me where he lives if you know him. "
Both Ladybug and Cat Noir were caught off guard by the fact that the new hero knew about Master Fu, the guardian of the miraculouses. But, just because he knew about Master Fu, neither of Paris's heroes thought it was a good idea to tell him straight up where Fu lived. From new hero's first impression, he couldn't be trusted.
"Sorry, but, we've never heard of him." Ladybug answered. "Paris is a big city after all. Try looking up a phone book."
The new hero was disappointed, but fell for the lie and accepted the idea. For as intimidating as he presented himself, Ladybug at least acknowledged that he was trying to be as civil and reasonable as he possible, so it made her feel a little guilty for lying with Cat Noir.
The bull hero still had thoughts on his mind though. After turning his attention in the direction of the criminal he had apprehended, he quickly reached his arm out and grabbed something from the air.
"One more question while I'm here. where can I find the person who made...this?" He then presented to Ladybug and Cat Noir with what he had grabbed; an akuma. Freshly made from Paris's most infamous supervillain, Hawkmoth, and prepared to akumatize anyone with negative emotions."
"Whoa! Where did you grab that?" Cat Noir asked.
The bull hero only had to nudge his head towards the criminal to make the answer clear. Between the failed bank robbery, the panicked escape, and the leg crushing, the bull hero most certainly saved the city from yet another supervillain attack.
"Answer me. Please. Where is Hawkman?"
Ladybug didn't have to lie to the second question, but the truth was something she was less eager to give away. "It's Hawkmoth. And we don't know. Since becoming heroes, we've made no progress in finding him. Our goal is to finally find him someday"
"But we HAVE defeated every single one of his akumas." Cat Noir boasted. "In fact, if you could Ladybug have that one, she can purify that one."
This news, however, angered the bull hero. Rather than handing over the akuma, he closed his hand and squeezed it as hard as he could, crushing the akuma with his grasp. The sight of the action horrified Ladybug and Cat Noir, but it was after the bull hero released his grip that really shocked them.
The poor butterfly that became an akuma became nothing more than pieces of it's former beauty as it's shredded remains fluttered towards the ground in pieces. Ladybug would always de-evilize the akuma so as to not cause anymore trouble. But to see it not even get a chance to attack, or even be saved; that broke Ladybug's heart.
"Thank you for your time."
Ladybug had other questions, but the bull hero had finished asking his. And so, he leaped towards nearby rooftop and made his exit. Ladybug was tempted to chase after him, but because she had already used her Lucky Charm, she simply didn't have the time to go after him. On top of that, there was still the matter of the bank robber who the bull hero managed catch for them.
"Damn it! I think that guy broke my leg." The injured robber cried, unable to move and on the verge of tears.
"Well, he's definitely not going anywhere." Cat Noir said. "The cops should be here any time now, so we should probably get going before we transform back."
Leaving was obvious idea, but Ladybug wasn't ready yet. Since she still had the two pieces of wood from her Lucky Charm, she decided to put them to good use, as she believed the police would take a while before they could catch up to them.
"Let's not take any chances and bring him over to them. Let me borrow you're tail really quick." Ladybug ordered.
Because of the failed robbery, much how Ladybug predicted, the police were still focused keeping order at the actual crime scene, ensuring that none of the hostages or bystanders were injured, and kept a close eye on the robbers that didn't try to make an escape. To any other city, it would seem irresponsible to not chase after the one who escaped, but they made the wise choice to trust Ladybug and Cat Noir.
Sure enough, the two of them had escorted the escaped robber back to the crime scene, despite his broken leg. This was made possible through some quick thinking on Ladybug's behalf, using the wood from her lucky charm, her yo-yo, and Cat Noir's staff to make a crude, but secure splint for damaged leg, allowing them to safely escort the robber to the police and get him the proper medical attention. An act of kindness that only the robber would notice.
With that, the day was officially saved. The robbers were arrested, no one else was harmed, and as an added bonus, no one was akumatized by Hawkmoth. On any other day, that would be a very progressive day. But, with the appearance of the new bull hero, Ladybug had nothing but concerns. His help was appreciated, but his actions were very careless.
Regardless of what happened, it didn't stop Ladybug and Cat Noir from finally doing their usually "Pound it!" routine, allowing them both to leave the scene on a happy note.
"Hope another bank gets robbed soon!" Cat Noir shouts as he leaps into the distance.
Ladybug shook her head, smiling at how cute Cat Noir's wish for more crime was, which only sounded disturbing in hindsight. "What a bad kitty".
After making her own exit from the crime scene, swinging several blocks away to a street with less attention, she said out loud "Tikki, spots off!", and returned to her civilian identity as Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Unfortunately, her duties as a hero were not quite done.
"Okay, Tikki. I think we've earn the rest of the day off to ourselves." Marinette said.
"WE HAVE TO SEE MASTER FU! NOW!" Tikki screamed.
"Tikki, shush!" Marinette said loudly in a panic. Lucky for her, no one was nearby to hear her or Tikki, but they made sure to speak quietly just in case. "What's wrong? You don't think that guy is out to get Master Fu, is he?"
"He might. I mean, maybe not him specifically, but...It's a really long story and even I don't know all of the details, but since the bull miraculous is being used, Master Fu will want to know immidiately."
"So he really does have a miraculous? Where did he get it?"
Tikki couldn't answer the question. Not because she didn't want, but because had no clue. What little Tikki knew would not have been helpful without proper context. The poor kwami was very frustrated with herself since she couldn't answer any questions without raising more. She could only think of one thing to say.
"What's important to know is that Kuumo is now in Paris." Tikki said with great anguish, not even looking directly at Marinette when she said. She appeared as though she was sick to her stomach, but despite that, she finished what she had to say, and said it while looking Marinette right in the eyes. "And I fear what he has to say after all this time."
Author's Notes: Finally getting back into writing, and I've been planning this story out for quite a while. Pretty excited actually.
First time writing with superheroes, so I'm hoping I can deliver a good suspenseful story.