"-nette, you need to wake up!" Tikki's voice, on the verge of panicking, filtered through the haze of sleep as she became aware of an insistent prodding of her shoulder.
"Tikki, it's too early," Marinette groaned, already knowing from a glance out the window that school wouldn't start for at least an hour.
"Marinette, there's an akuma!" Now that woke her up, enough to pay attention at least.
"Where, when, why?" Shaking off as much sleep as she could, she attempted to get herself together for the day. She knew that they wouldn't be able to defeat the akuma with enough time to come back and leave for school on time and it would be a lot easier to explain why she was leaving early than to explain why her parents hadn't seen her come down.
"The Ladyblog's been going crazy with notifications. Stoplights malfunctioning, broken fire hydrants, there's even a civilian that's trapped under an awning because it's the only thing keeping them from floating into space!" Tikki sounded frantic. "There's also been sightings of the possible akuma as someone around your age in a goofy green outfit." Glancing at the Ladyblog herself, if only to see the location of the newest post, she saw someone comment "The akuma is a literal Homestuck Prince of Doom, look out!"
"Tikki, did Homestuck update?" Marinette asked as she looked at the location. Though she didn't like to admit it, she had the notifier on her computer too, though hers had a much less obnoxious alert than Chat's.
"Yeah, about thirty minutes ago."
Calling out a quick farewell to her parents, along with a short explanation that she had to do something really early today, she was out the door and turning down the nearest alley in record time. After transforming into Ladybug as quickly as she could, she was off. As she got closer to the location she had seen on the Ladyblog, she saw more and more of the weird things people were reporting. Most, if not all, of the traffic lights she passed by were busted, there were a few fire hydrants broken, she could see plenty of things working they way they shouldn't (a prime example she saw was a car driving backwards, but otherwise normally). She even came across a handful of people and animals who were trapped under something or hanging desperately onto a ledge because, for some reason or another, they were floating. Not even in the same way as Bubbler had made them float, there was nothing attached to them at all that would make them float.
"Ah, My Lady, there you are!" Chat Noir called out as she finally turned down the street he and the akuma were on.
"Homestuck akuma?" Ladybug asked, though the answer was more than obvious.
"Homestuck akuma," he confirmed.
In front of them, the akuma was wearing the godtier outfit for the Prince of Doom. There wasn't even any subtlety about it, it would've made an amazing cosplay had it not been a super villain's outfit. The person in the outfit had snow-white skin and jet black hair, probably as an incredibly obvious nod to the style of Homestuck. She wasn't even completely sure if she should refer to them as a boy or girl, or if she even should. She supposed it made sense now why everything was messing up, they were fighting a Prince of Doom. Beyond the literal interpretation, it was a common belief in the fandom that "Doom" could mean "law" or "order." They were probably destroying the laws of physics, as weird as that sounds, for the people she had seen floating.
"A Prince of Doom, huh…?" she muttered, her eyes attempting to take in anything off about them that could hold the akuma. There, on their neck, was a deep purple Cancer necklace. Or Signless, since it was a Homestuck necklace. "The akuma's in their necklace!"
As Chat went off to go distract the akuma, who shouted that their name was Doomed Prince (really original, Hawkmoth, you just rearranged the classpect), Ladybug called down her Lucky Charm. In her hands plopped a comically large, ladybug-pattered Warhammer of Zillyhoo. Pushing off her shock for later, she quickly looked around for how to use it. There was no way Tikki gave her a weapon to use as an actual weapon, especially with an akuma that hasn't proved themselves as much of a threat.
Before she could figure it out, she saw a flash of dark green light and suddenly she was Marinette. Not literally, a panicked look at her body and the Warhammer in her hands told her she was still transformed. No, she was still Ladybug physically, but mentally she was Marinette again. She couldn't feel Tikki, like they had suddenly become disconnected. That didn't make much sense since she would need to detransform for that to happen, but they were fighting an akuma that could destroy law and order, so she brushed the thought away. Thankfully, Ladybug's mind was all Marinette, so she could still figure out what to do. Not so thankfully, Tikki's presence was the reason she had any semblance of grace as Ladybug, along with any control of her yoyo, so she'd need to take her clumsiness into account.
An accidental swing hitting the fire hydrant next to her told her she still had the powers of Ladybug, super-strength included. Getting her partner's attention, she gave a quick hand gesture in his direction. Glancing behind him, he seemed to see what she was trying to say as his grin widened and he started drawing Doomed Prince in his direction. Running off down the street towards them, she slipped on the water the fire hydrant next to her was spewing. She thought she would, her plan hinged on it, but that didn't stop the slight sulk that followed. Taking advantage of the slippery surface, she was suddenly being propelled forwards. Thankfully, her Ladybug luck was still intact, because that meant her hunch was right. While the akuma had disconnected her from Tikki, it had also disconnected her from the laws of physics. She wasn't floating away like some of the people had, instead she was gaining speed on the wet street instead of losing it due to friction.
As she passed by the fire hydrant a ways down the street that she had Chat lure Doomed Prince above, she swung her Warhammer and pulled it out of the concrete completely, leaving behind a waterspout to douse him. It wasn't as powerful as she would've liked, since there were already so many broken fire hydrants, but it did it's job and he was disoriented. Thankfully, Chat hadn't gotten hit yet and he was easily able to steal the akuma's necklace. Before he broke it, though, Ladybug decided it would probably be for the best to use her Miraculous Ladybug and clean up the mess before she attempted to capture the akuma. She didn't want to risk missing it because she wasn't in touch with Tikki. A Miraculous Ladybug, cleansed akuma, and comforting of the victim later, and Ladybug and Chat Noir were rushing away, Ladybug more-so than Chat as he hadn't used his Cataclysm.
"Marinette, you won't believe this!" Alya looked excited, and also vaguely scared, for what she was going to say. "Apparently the akuma that attacked this morning was based on and because of your Home Struck thing!"
"It's Homestuck, Alya." Marinette rolled her eyes. "And Act 6 finally ended this morning, apparently. You've seen me the past few days, it shouldn't be much of a surprise Hawkmoth took advantage of someone because of it."
"Doomed Prince had weird powers, though, I couldn't figure them out." There was what she wanted to bring up. Alya did not voluntarily talk about Homestuck. She did like having a reference for all past akuma attacks, though, even if it didn't seem like it was possible for someone to be akumatized twice. She waited until Alya had shown her a picture of the akuma someone nearby had sent in along with a list of thing the akuma had caused before she spoke, didn't want Alya to be suspicious.
"Doomed Prince was a Homestuck Prince of Doom. I'm fairly certain Hawkmoth didn't even try, because that is just straight-up a Prince of Doom," Marinette started. "We have little canon evidence to go on for what the full extent of the Doom aspect is, but it's speculated to mean law and order in addition to death and doom. Prince is the destroyer class, they destroy their aspect. Doomed Prince's powers were probably destroying law and order. Like those floating people? They had no law of gravity to follow because Doomed Prince destroyed it for them."
Alya, who had decided to record her response, was staring at her, mouth agape. "Marinette, what the fuck?" she gasped once she finally regain some sense. "This is the same webcomic where one of the first pages has you name a kid 'Zoosmell Pooplord'?"
Marinette couldn't help but laugh. "There is a reason I like it, Alya."
"So do you have any plans later?" Alya asked, still eager as ever to get off of the subject of Homestuck.
"I'm… probably gonna spend it balling over the update," Marinette admitted quietly, very thankful they were having this conversation on the steps of the school instead of in the classroom so there was less of a chance of someone overhearing. "If it was enough to akumatize someone, I'll probably be unreachable until midnight, at least."
"Don't get akumatized!" Alya joked. They had established months ago that Hawkmoth either couldn't or didn't send out more than one akuma a day, so it was now a common phrase among the younger generation. It was meant jokingly, and had even more emphasis when someone had already been akumatized that day.
"Same to you," Marinette chuckled. She always found it funny whenever she overheard anyway say that, especially since, most of the time, she was around people who had already been akumatized. Seeing as Ivan was the only person to be re-akumatized - and that was only because she and Chat hadn't known they need to purify the akuma - it was safe to assume it was impossible to be akumatized twice if the akuma was cleansed.
It was eleven, the sky was dark enough where her computer screen hurt her eyes from the contrast. Despite that, she didn't want to go back in her room just yet. Sitting on her balcony while watching the End of Act 6 animation sounded so much more appealing than sitting in her room. She was interrupted from starting the animation by a light thump near her.
"Oh, hey Princess, what are you doing out here?" Chat was standing on the chimney to her left, slightly too far left to see him comfortably from where she sat.
"This is my balcony," Marinette shot back. "Why are you up here?" As an afterthought, she added, "And where's Ladybug?"
"Ah…" He seemed a bit embarrassed, though he hid it well. She probably wouldn't have noticed if she didn't know him so well. "I actually patrol without Ladybug some days, today is one of them." Given what she knew about his home life and how Chat Noir was his only freedom from it, she wasn't surprised he would take every opportunity to transform. What she was surprised about was them knowing each other for so long, yet this is the first time she's seen or heard of these extra patrols.
"Hey Chat Noir, do you like Homestuck?" Of course she already knew the answer, but he didn't know she knew. With his confused nod, she continued. "I was just about to watch the End of Act 6 animation if you wanted to join."
His eyes suddenly seemed impossibly wide as he eagerly hopped down to join her. She readjusted herself so they could both sit on the deck chair she was sitting on. As they watched, their eyes were drawn anywhere and everywhere as it flashed passed so quickly, so much information with every frame yet it was all slipping away so quickly. More than once, they paused the video to take a breath and prepare themselves for more. There was also much screaming to be had, muffled by the pillows Marinette had the forethought to bring up. She no longer read Homestuck without at least three pillows in arms reach (she was prone to throwing them during particularly frustrating updates). About eight minutes in, the video, though only almost halfway through, was starting to slow down. From there, there wasn't as much of a need to pause the video, but there was still a lot of screaming. Finally, ten minutes later, and the video was over.
"Katana in the back…" Marinette whispered as the video was coming to a close.
Chat faked a gasp of surprise. "Roxy, you backstabber!"
"I need to scream…" she admitted, not even embarrassed about it. He handed her his pillow and she shove it in her face along with hers to further deaden the noise she was making. As her scream died down and she pulled the pillows from her face to breath, she gave Chat a smile. "Thanks for watching that with me."
"Thanks for inviting me, Princess," Chat replied with a wink and a laugh. "I love this city, but even I need a break once in a while." His eyes widened when he caught sight of the time. "Oh geez, it's late. I really should be going, Princess." He gave her a salute as he got up to leave. "Thanks again!" Then, he was off.
That was nice, watching the update with her partner. She'd have to invite him again some time. In the meantime, she needed to call Adrien, she was sure they both had screaming to do.
