Chapter 8: Up in the Mountains

Far from the lights Paris and the whole of France, in the bleak wilderness of the Ural Mountains, where snow had only laid lightly yet still as cold for being close to the arctic, inside the towering grey rocks laid the awakening many monsters that had been under the care of one of the most vile of all Apokaliptians, close to Darkseid.

His robes trailing the rock like floor as his feet walked towards the exit point of the nest chamber where the thousands of Parademons had been waking from their long sleep, Dessaad smiled lightly under his hood as the fabric of the air twisted in front of him in the form of a Boom Tube, two figures coming through shortly afterwards. He straight away bowed his head, more pleased to see his leaders again, and something told him in his stomach that their time was almost near to begin their retake of Apokalips. But a reminder quickly came to him one of them wasn't exactly in the right state of mind as Darkseid pulled Grail's hand off of him.

"Daughter, that's enough! I will not be handled in such a way again!" he yelled, sounding humiliated at how Grail had taken hold of him and pulled him away from the battle in the catacombs. Grail looked emotionless at his yelling and stared at him.

"Father, you have to understand the possibility of too much damage can bring in attention we don't need right now. If we had continued fighting, the whole city would've come down on us, and that would've brought the Justice League in. Fighting those three is enough for now, but I'm not up for fighting the rest of this world's heroes just yet." she explained, deep down finding it weird she was having to be the mother of a child to her father in his situation of being stuck in a child's body.

Darkseid kept his composure together and stared back at his daughter, a more calm look on him as he took in what she said.

"Yes, I do understand, Grail. But you have to understand I have no desire in being stuck in this pathetic form any longer, the outbursts and fits I'm having is something I want to be rid of." he replied, sounding more relaxed in talking now, though there was a slight edge to it. Grail nodded in response.

"It must be frustrating father, but trust me when I tell you this, we now have the advantage, don't we, Dessaad?" she then asked, turning her attention to the red eyed robed man, who stood up once he was being spoken to, his smile still sitting on his face.

"Yes, your highness, Mantis came not long ago and told me of the situation. They're all waking up now and will likely overrun the heroes you are having trouble with when they come here" he told Grail, his voice hollow and rough but having a slightly happy edge to it, making Grail smile.

"Good. Go ready the Father Drives for maximum Boom Tubing, we have a planet to take back. And take father with you, he needs something else to occupy his mind." Grail said in a light tone, making Darkseid put his arms behind his back.

"I can see where you are coming from, daughter. Make sure you and Mantis bring the children in alive though. I wouldn't mind getting to know them before they die." he told his daughter as he began to walk off with Dessaad into the deep darkness of the mountain, leaving Grail alone in her thoughts as she began thinking over what came earlier to her mind...


On the surface of Paris, the trio of heroes had finished scouring across the city through the air, Wonder Woman flying through the sky highest while Ladybug and Chat Noir had been swinging through the night to get a good view of the city, having been worried over their battle in the catacombs might've damaged the city. It had enough damage done to it recently and it didn't need to face the chances of collapsing into the catacombs twice.

After a quick look from the sky, the heroes met at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, pleased to see that the city was intact with no evidence of damage anywhere despite what happened earlier.

"Everything seems to be okay up here, thankfully. You two didn't notice anything?" Wonder Woman asked, her voice still as light as ever. The two teenagers nodded in response, a smile on them both.

"Yeah, it all seems fine, good thing it is" Ladybug replied, a pleased tone to her voice.

"Yeah, Paris can rest easy for the night. How's the tracer doing, Diana? Is it back up yet?" Chat Noir asked, pointing to the device the sat in Wonder Woman's waist pouch.

The Amazon pulled it out and gave it a thoughtful look as it vibrated, telling her it was working again.

"It seems so. Just getting it to look for more energy signatures now, Boom Tubes and Apokaliptian, shouldn't take too long." she responded, standing with the two to give them a look at the tracer as it scanned across the world map on it. They followed the circular tracker as it went upwards past Paris and towards the north of Russia, where two red signatures displaying the energy they had been looking for was displayed.

"Okay...looks like the aural Mountains, yeah?" Chat Noir asked as he took this in with a slightly worried look. Wonder Woman nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it seems like it. The right place for them to have another nesting chamber for Parademons." she said bitterly at the thought have having to fight more of the winged creatures. Chat Noir then smirked.

"That's fine, more cannon fodder, the better" he said in pleasure, only to get a firm look from Wonder Woman.

"Don't think it will go lightly this time, Adrien, there could more of them, and Darkseid might have a few of his loyal commanders waiting for us" she told him, sounding like a mother trying to advise her child over how to best going about handling stuff.

"Oh great, like who?" Ladybug asked grimly, not liking the sound of having to fight more of Apokalips' deadliest of people. A small smile came over Wonder Woman's lips at this.

"Well, it won't be Steppenwolf, that I'm sure of. Still, I need to know if you two are up for this. If you both need to stay here, it's o-

"And you can stop right there, Diana. I know, it's gonna be hard and we could get captured or killed, but I'm not going down easy. These people killed many others in this city and we're not gonna stand back and let you do this alone. So we're going with you!" Ladybug said in a serious tone, her expression going well with it, making Chat Noir smile.

"And there's another reason why I love her. I'm with her, Diana, where you're going, we're going." he said, getting a giggle out of Ladybug over his own grave set of words.

Wonder Woman smiled at them. Even at such a young age, the new holders of Tikki and Plagg had shown they were up for whatever was thrown at them. There was still that overly worried thought in her though, so she took their hands with a soft look in her eyes.

"Alright, together we will do it then. But stay close to me and do as I tell you, okay?" she pleaded, getting a nod from Ladybug.

"Always. We'll have your back." she said brightly.

Seeing that was it, Wonder Woman pulled the tracer up again and spoke into it.

"Chrome Stone, lock onto the coordinates of these signatures and Boom Tube us there" she ordered.

"Voice recognised, Wonder Woman. Opening Boom Tube now" came the robotic response of the A.I.

And as soon as it replied, the air in front of the heroes twisted and soon the circular light of the Boom Tube was opened before them, ready to carry them through to the next part of the world the Apokaliptians were hiding on.


Over at the aural mountains, Darkseid and Desaad walked together as they were heading towards the Father Drives to prepare a Boom Tube that would bring them back to Apokalips. Steppenwolf really thought he was in charge now that Darkseid was gone and that Apokalips was his to rule? The general thought wrong! Darkseid and Desaad could already imagine his horror when they stepped through the Boom Tube and arrived back on Apokalips to take back what was rightfully Darkseid's. The look on Steppenwolf's face would be something to cherish as far as the Apokaliptians were concerned. As Desaad led his leader to the Father Drives, the hooded man couldn't help but strike up a conversation with the Apokaliptian leader. He turned his head, his red eyes full of curiosity.

"So tell me O' mighty Darkseid, how has Grail been treating you?" he asked, "Hopefully not in a condescending and degrading manner. I'd hate to think your daughter has been undermining your authority in anyway."

"Grail has been treating me very well Deassd." Darkseid replied, "Although she has acted more like my parent than my child given my...devolution from man to child. She has mentored me well and fought tooth and nail to restore me to my former glory. However, I do fear that Grail maybe...losing her way." he added, his voice full of disappointment upon having to admit this.

"Must be the Amazon in her. She has never been fully one of us." Desaad muttered, "A hybrid of Amazon and Apokaliptian, as you know. Has she been trying to make you more pacifistic?"

Darkseid was quietly impressed with how well his top interrogator had caught on. He hadn't even explained the problem with Grail and yet Desaad had managed to guess immediately what he was implying. He always did pride himself on working with the smartest, as well as the strongest.

"You could say so, though it's more than likely maternal instincts on her part in trying to help me adjust to living on Earth, and it's understandable, sometimes you have to adapt to survive. Still, I'll be sure to help guide her back on the right path when we've retaken Apokalips. It shall be interesting, having my daughter by my side as I rule." Darkseid replied, going off in deep thought about his daughter as they reached the Father Drives.

"It shall be a new experience for you, my god king. Having a child as loyal and smart as her by your side should be a good thing for you. Still, if she does waver from our goal and ideals, I'm more than willing to...put her in her place, if you won't mind me saying." Dessaad replied, a smirk tugging at his lips at the thought of putting his interrogation skills to use again. Darkseid nodded with a smile.

"And that sort of help from you would be very welcome, Dessaad. As much as I care for Grail, I do not want to see her become as useless as Kalibak or as rebellious as Orion. They are disappointments compared to her." came the small leader's reply.

"That they are, my god king." Dessaad agreed as he grabbed a leaver.

The Father Drives had the look of an upside down spider with its legs up in the air, eight Father Boxes sitting on top of them and connected to each other through some techno organic metal that had red highlights from inside, connecting into a web like spiral aiming at the ceiling.

Darkseid stood tall with his hands behind his back, a pleased smile on his face as he looked up at the machinery. He could feel the burning fire inside of him as he realised he was now close enough to take back his planet from his uncle, and he was going to make him wish he never lived when he was done with him. Looking to Dessaad, he gave him a nod, gesturing for him to pull the leaver. Doing so, Dessaad stood behind Darkseid as red zaps of electricity darted over the connections from the Father Boxes, the electricity turning white as it hit the centre, a circular pulse going upwards as a portal of sorts began to open.

"And so it begins!" Dessaad called loudly as the humming of the Boom Tube gotten louder, raising his arms in the air and looking up to the air as if he was making a declaration to the world's beyond Earth, "Come, children of Apokalips! Leave this wasteful world and go home! Retake what was stolen from us! For Darkseid!" He declared, his teeth as hideously brown as ever while his red eyes lit up hungrily in the darkness.


Grail could hear the Boom Tube opening up as the Father Drives operated. This wasn't surprising as the Father Drives made a lot of noise and Desaad himself wasn't exactly being quiet right now. You could hear his boasting for miles away! Grail turned away, not interested in what was happening. She maybe half-Apokaliptian, but Apokalips was never home to her. She had grown up more accustomed to Earth than the homeworld of her father. Even Themiscyra could be considered more like home to her and yet, she hadn't lived there for long due to her mother having to run away and hide her from the world. Going home to Apokalips meant nothing to her. She flipped her hair aside, her mind full of thoughts. These thoughts had come to her earlier and she found herself dwelling on them again.

"I try to steer father to a better path towards peace, and all he wants to do is go home and overthrow that old fool Steppenwolf. Why must he waste his resources and armies like so?" she sighed, "Darkseid will be preferable to Steppenwolf of course, but now it looks as if even his rule won't be beneficial to us all. I would hate to have to rid ourselves of him but...maybe it really IS time that Apokalips had a new ruler. Maybe it is time for a world WITHOUT Darkseid..."

Her eyes glowed bright in the darkness of the mountain at the thought of ruling Apokalips, and now she was finding herself desiring to have the power of life and death itself in her hands in doing so...but she held off anymore talking as she heard a big lot of footsteps coming her way. Turning around, she could see the huge form of Mantis coming towards her, an alarmed look on his face as he came to her, holding his own Father Box in hand as it constantly blipped and flickered its lights on and off with a pinging sound coming from it.

"Grail, it's picking up Boom Tube activity, one not in use of Apokalips!" he informed, making Grail smirk as she noticed her Father Box was doing the same as his.

"Oh, it must be Diana and those children. I'll see to them, you summon up to thirty Parademons to come with us. I'll meet you there." she told him as she pulled up her Father Box so it could guide her to where the new Boom Tube was coming from, with Mantis bowing to her.

"Understood, your highness. I look forward to using my powers in a fight again..." he said gladly as he ran off to do as he was ordered.


Not far away, near an entry point that took them inside the mountain, Wonder Woman, Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared from their Boom Tube, the latter two gasping at how high they were on the mountain, with Chat Noir keeping hold of his lover's hand out of fear she would fall. Both looked on in shock at the landscape of the place and were glad to have taken the easy route to get here instead of climbing.

"Okay, I can see why they'd hide out here. Probably got a whole army of Parademons out here compared to what was in Paris!" Ladybug sighed as she relaxed herself, giving a soft squeeze to her lover's hand to show her appreciation. Wonder Woman nodded in agreement, but her eyes were full of seriousness as her ears picked up a slight humming sound from inside the mountain.

"That does not sound good..." she said to herself as she pulled her sword and lasso out, guiding the two teenagers after her as they went inside the opening that took them inside.

"Can you hear it too?" she asked, needing to be sure she wasn't being tricked by anything.

"Just about, Diana. Can you hear anything, Adrien?" Ladybug asked as she pulled out her Ladyblades while he readied the energy tips of his staff.

"Yeah, pretty clear. Sounds like a Boom Tube. We're not too late, are we?" he asked, worry in his voice over the possibility that their enemies were a step ahead of them

"They'd still have to wake up the best they've got here, so hopefully not." Ladybug assured her boyfriend with a smile as their weapons lit up the darkness of the mountain's tunnels.

After stealthily walking through the darkness, they shortly came across some form of activity in the tunnel, finding the techno organic tubing planted right into the walls around them while lights were placed in the ceilings of the tunnels. Wonder Woman trailed her hand on the tubing as the humming gotten louder, her face looking grim as it sunken into what this meant.

"I've seen this type of technology before and it's used for one thing, to make a Father Drive. You were right, Adrien, they've made a Boom Tube of their own, but a more powerful one." the Amazon told him, making him gulp at the possibility of fighting a huge wave of Parademons.

"But they can't have all gone now could they? We might still have a chance to destroy the nest." Ladybug suggested as they reached a clearing where a deep cleft was made beneath a set of natural bridges that would carry them to the other side. Inside the tunnels of the wall on the other side, there was a buzzing sound, telling them there could be Parademons hiding in them, giving them the opportunity to put their weapons to use.

As Wonder Woman was about to say something, something latched onto her shield while it sat on her back. Ladybug and Chat Noir gasped as they saw it was a circular device of sorts with pincer like legs latching hold of it, its light flickering with a beeping noise,

"Diana, it's a bomb, get it off!" Ladybug cried, her mind already full of fear over the damage the bomb could do.

Quickly, Wonder Woman tore the shield from her back and tossed it like a frisbee to the other side of the bridge, where it exploded in mid air harmlessly and the shield dropped to the ground on the floor.

However, for while they had been distracted, Ladybug received a hard kick to the back, sending her sprawling across the ground. Rolling to her feet, she gasped to find Grail was the one who kicked her, following her attack with an Omega Beam blast firing into Chat Noir, who blocked the blast with his staff but was driven back into a wall, and then Grail drove her foot into Wonder Woman's face as she came at her, knocking her back not keeping her down long as Wonder Woman got to her feet.

Grail smirked as her eyes lost their glow, eyeing the trio smugly.

"You just love playing this game, don't you? Still, you won't be winning this time." she assured as she walked towards the edge of the floor, pulling her blade out as the buzzing sound grew louder. And to add to it, there was a loud crunching of rock coming from the edge, alarming the heroes even more at this. Something more than Parademons was coming, and Grail was glad to have it.

"Diana, I'm sure you and the Justice League met him before. Children, say hello to Mantis."

Ladybug and Cat Noir found themselves staring aghast at the huge form of Mantis. He was quite a sight to behold from his insect like-face to his green costume and golden mask and the array of weapons he carried on him. They could easily believe he was from Apokalips too. Wonder Woman recognised him all too well, thinking back to the times she and the Justice League had fought the hideous bug and his armies. She pointed her sword at him, a look of death in her eyes.

"I shouldn't be surprised you're here too Mantis." she growled, "Nobody can create a Parademon army as well as you can."

"How right you are." Mantis crowed, "So who are the scrawny bags of flesh you've brought here? New members of the Justice League I haven't had the pleasure of fighting before?"

"All you need to know is you and your master, Darkseid, aren't leaving here without a fight!" Ladybug declared, "Grail has killed innocent people in my country and we're not gonna let her kill anymore for her father's sake!"

"I suggest you two back down and let us stop your father from leaving or fight." Wonder Woman said coldly, already knowing what her opponents were going to say anyway.

"You know us well enough to know we don't back down from a fight." Grail purred, "Mantis, I assume you wish to test your mettle against the children?"

"Gladly." Mantis crooned, his voice low and eager as he was keen to battle, "Dead or alive your highness?"

"Alive." Grail confirmed, "Father still thinks their powers can be of use to him. I'll take Wonder Woman."

"Looks like they wanna fight." Cat Noir muttered, "Why do the bad guys NEVER surrender when we give them the option to?"

Wonder Woman said nothing. She just dropped into a battle-ready stance, her legs like springs ready to launch her into battle.

"For the good of the Earth and its people, I'll put you all down!" the Amazon yelled, launching herself towards Grail like a lioness pouncing on a wildebeest, a savage battle cry accompanying the pounce.

Grail leaned back to avoid the slash of the blade and drove her spare hand into her gut, but this did little to stop Wonder Woman, who dropped to the ground and swiped Grail off her feet with her legs . The grey skinned hybrid rolled aside to avoid another slash from the Amazon's sword, getting back to her feet and engaging in a swiping battle with the heroic Amazon, who fought as fiercely as she could.

Ladybug leapt aside to avoid a blast fired from Mantis' hand, the energy of which tore through the area she was standing on and watched it crumble to dust.

"Okay, that's not good, especially with it coming from his hands!" she called to Chat Noir, who leapt onto the wall and darted across it to reach around to Mantis as he continued to fire at Ladybug.

"Get a taste of this, bug guts!" he yelled as he brought his staff down towards Mantis like a sword, only for the green like creature to calmly catch hold of the staff and use it to pull Chat Noir to him.

"So I hear you have the power of destruction? Wait till you see my powers can do to you!" he growled with a smirk as his fingertips glowed a darker green, clamping them around his head. As soon as they touched him, Chat Noir gasped and cried as he felt his head getting boiled as if acid was being poured on top of him.

"Let him go!" Ladybug yelled as she slashed at Mantis' legs from behind, cutting him deep enough to make him let Chat Noir go with a cry of agony. Dropping to his knees and clutching his head, Chat Noir cringed as he felt a shiver run from head to toe, the pain now gone. Ladybug looked at him with concern.

"What did he do to you?" she asked with a tone that matched her expression as Wonder Woman ploughed Grail up into the ceiling.

"I don't know, it was as if my whole head was melting and burning...just what the hell are his powers!?" He replied as he picked up his staff.

Mantis recovered and brought himself to full height, looking down at the French superheroes with a disgusting smug look.

"The exact opposite of matter itself, Anti-Matter. Whatever you throw at me, I can use against you with more devastating effect." he proudly declared as he tore two pieces of rock from the wall and tossed them at the two teenagers, who dodged the incoming debris and stood close to the darker parts of the area.

"Okay, don't want him touching me again." Chat Noir said bluntly now that they knew what kind of powers they were up against.

"Same here. We'll just have to try and knock him out or wear him down." Ladybug said in agreement.

As they dodged another blast fired from the insect like creature, Wonder Woman was kicked down from the ceiling by Grail and was shortly beaten by a flying set of fists from Grail after she caught up to her, many hitting her in the face with as much hatred Grail put into them. As they neared ground though, Wonder Woman shot her foot up and kicked Grail right in the stomach, sending her flying over her head and both crashed into the cliff face of the wall on the other side. Keeping a tight hold of her sword, Wonder Woman quickly dodged a blast of Omega Beams from where Grail had been kicked into, the grey skinned fighter tearing out from the wall and flying towards Wonder Woman, who quickly wrapped her lasso around Grail and tossed her across to the other side of the cleft, using her as a wrecking ball of sorts.

Grail grunted as she was slammed into the wall again, having had enough of this. She stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly as she looked down. Just as it dawned on Wonder Woman what she was doing, red fire blasts tore up to her, some shots hitting her and knocking her off balance in the air. Grail, now having the help she needed, pulled Wonder Woman down with the lasso and slammed her head hard against hers, sending the Amazon flying down deep into the darkness of the cleft and freeing Grail from the hold of the lasso.

Smirking, Grail stood from where she was on the rubble they had made, a few Parademons joining her side with their guns ready. However, they gasped in shock as another Parademons was tossed at them from the darkness below, its body ploughing into Grail, who tossed it off of her in frustration, only to see Wonder Woman flying at her with another Parademon in hand, throwing it right at her with great speed. It hit Grail and her gunned flyers, sending them crashing into the wall behind them.

Grail didn't care about the Parademons, though, just focusing on Wonder Woman as the Amazon came at her with her sword aimed right at her. Grail deflected it with a swipe of her arm and tried to punch her enemy, only to get her fist caught and twisted by Wonder Woman, who then pulled Grail close to her and shot up into the air again, several Parademons flying after them. Wonder Woman kept her arm pressed down on Grail's neck to choke her unconscious, but Grail wasn't having it, slamming her head into Wonder Woman's face hard enough to make her let go and then swung her foot into her face, sending her spinning into the higher wall of the room. Grail slid down the wall she was on and leapt after the Amazon, her fists ready to have another fight.

Everything was looking bleak for Ladybug and Chat Noir as the closer they got to Mantis, the harder it was to get away from him, given his size meant little problem for him in swiping the two away, and that was risky as he could poison them with a touch. Ladybug wasn't going to back down from this, swiping away at Mantis hotly with her Ladyblades, which made small gashes into his body but each one was healed up just a few seconds later.

However, Chat Noir now had the advantage against Mantis, who was now focused on Ladybug to even notice him. Running up to him from behind, Chat Noir slammed one end of his staff's glowing tips into Mantis' back, smirking as it burnt into him and making the creature cry out in agony.

"How does your medicine taste, huh!? Horrible, ain't it!?" he yelled gladly as he tried to twist it deeper into him. Ladybug swiped Mantis from below at his knees, bringing him down as she gotten past his legs, but Mantis had faced situations like this before, and he knew how to counter such an attack. He shot one leg back into Ladybug, sending her flying into Chat Noir and making him lose hold of his staff, both of them sprawling across the floor.

"Agh! Oh I'm sorry, Adrien!" Ladybug said after they came to a stop not far from edge of the floor.

"Don't be, you're not the bad guy here!" Chat Noir grunted as they both gotten back to their feet, still a lot of fight in them left to go against Mantis.

The insectoid-esque creature laughed confidently, this whole battle nothing more than a game to him. He didn't even look slightly fatigued despite the French heroes's best efforts against him.

"You're supposed to be the ones Darkseid wishes to keep alive due to the power you possess?" he sneered, "It must be a joke! You two aren't even worth the effort!"

"Oh you won't find us so underwhelming when we're through with you!" Ladybug declared.

She sheathed her blades and drew out her yo-yo, spinning it around at top speed. She spun it so quickly that it looked like she now had a helicopter blade just whirring around her arm. Mantis watched, not sure whether he was supposed to be intimidated or humoured by this sight. Ladybug drew her arm back and with a flick of the wrist, sent the yo-yo hurling towards Mantis. The Apokaliptian bug simply raised his hand and caught it, the weapon not even hurting him as it struck his palm. Ladybug only just had time to cry out in surprise before Mantis yanked on the yo-yo and dragged her off her feet directly into him. He raised his elbow at the level of Ladybug's head, the spotty heroine slamming straight into it face-first. To Ladybug, it felt like she'd just been thrown into a brick wall. The only thing on her mind was how much pain she was now in as she fell to the floor, her head spinning.

Cat Noir growled savagely and swiped at Mantis with his staff, successfully hitting him in the ankles and tripping him up. The bug was more surprised than hurt as he suddenly found himself down on his back staring up at the ceiling. The teen boy was clearly stronger than he gave him credit for if he was able to trip HIM up with just a swing of the staff! He picked himself up, only to cry out in a mixture of surprise and pain as he was violently clubbed in the eyes by Cat Noir's staff. The feline-themed hero swung the staff back and forth several times, making sure he never gave Mantis a single moment to fight back.

As he bombarded Mantis with staff blows, Ladybug picked herself up and rubbed her head. She regained her senses in time to see what her boyfriend was doing and quickly joined in. She spun her yo-yo around and wrapped it around Mantis's ankle. She tugged on it, tripping Mantis up again and then swinging him around like a ball on a string. Mantis was hurled around in a complete 180 degree circle and the moment he came towards Cat Noir, he gave his opponent one mighty, powerful staff blow that sent him hurling across the room, a bloodcurdling scream filling the area as he vanished into the shadows up ahead. Ladybug and Cat Noir heard him hit the floor up ahead, the impact so heavy that the ground shuddered and dust sprinkled from the ceiling. The French teens high-fived each other with delight, pleased with their efforts.

"Pound it!" they cried in unison.

"Bet Mantis thinks we're worth the effort NOW!" Ladybug sneered.

"ALMOST I'd say now." came a sudden reply that she hadn't expected to hear.

Looking up to the rock like ceiling, they could see the green eyes of Mantis glaring down at them. His hands latched hold of the ceiling and then glowed an acid like colour, spreading across his surroundings and allowing sharp, large pieces of rock to detach themselves from the ceiling. He watched them drop towards Ladybug and Chat Noir, both of whom spun their yo-yo and staff around them to form a dome shield of sorts to protect them from the falling debris.

Mantis wasn't having any of it, though, launching himself at them both like a rocket and tearing through the remaining falling debris, reducing them to small chunks of rubble as he neared them. Ladybug spun her yo-yo faster to strengthen her side of the shield, but it wasn't enough to stop Mantis from crashing into her and sending her and Chat Noir skidding across the ground ahead. It didn't help as a small group of Parademons turned their attention to the teenagers, flying towards them with their guns firing out at them. Chat Noir quickly spun his staff around again and steadily ran towards them while keeping his shield up, before spinning in their air and swatting down two of them with his staff, swiftly turning them to dust. He latched hold of the last one's head, yanking it forward to fly towards Mantis.

Ladybug avoided a double fisted slam from Mantis, running up on his arm and kicking him hard up the face as she swung past him. As he grunted in frustration, he was then bombarded with laser fire from the Parademon Chat Noir was flying towards him. Mantis simply raised his hand and fired a dangerous blast of anti-matter at the two. It destroyed the Parademon in a second, but Chat Noir leapt off of it in time to avoid the blast, coming at Mantis again. The Apokaliptian insect went to fire again, only for Ladybug to wrap her yo-yo around his hand and pull it down, startling him as Chat Noir swung his staff down on top of his head, the Cataclysym biting away at Mantis like acid eating through metal. The insect cried in agony at the pain, allowing Ladybug to pull him fully down to the floor as he clutched at his head, trying to put more concentration on his healing.

Snarling angrily as he opened his eyes, Mantis saw Chat Noir land just beside him with his back to him. Noticing his tail, Mantis lashed his hand out, making it glow brightly as he caught hold of Chat Noir's tail, firing the power up it to weaken him. The green energy zapped across Chat Noir, who cried loudly as he felt it tear into him, biting through his suit and skin hard while his eyes went wide as he clenched his teeth, trying not to cry from the pain.

Ladybug gasped in horror at this, seeing her boyfriend getting the life vaporised from him. This was something she'd hoped to never see, watching as his skin started to get tears in it and his nose began bleeding profusely. Not wanting to see him suffer anymore, Ladybug leapt at Mantis and slammed her yo-yo right onto his head, making him lose concentration on Chat Noir and letting him go, before pulling out her Ladyblades and slamming them into his hand, pinning him to the floor.

Going back to Chat Noir, Ladybug found him on his knees, his skin darkened and almost burnt while his eyes looked empty, and his ring now exposed due to the damage done to him. Fear running through her, Ladybug clutched hold of his torn biceps and tried to shake him out of his stare, blood streaming from the cuts he'd gotten.

"Adrien? Adrien, come on, can you hear me!? Oh gosh, please!" she cried, not noticing Mantis tearing out the Ladyblades from his hand. Seeing where they were and how close they were to the edge, he smirked as his hands glowed, clamping them down onto the floor and staring on at the two as large tears tracked towards them at a great speed.

Ladybug was too focussed on Chat Noir to notice what Mantis was doing, looking deeply into the eyes of her lover to see if there was any signs of life. She couldn't lose him, especially now. She swore she'd never let him get hurt in such a gruesome way again, his life was tied to hers. Smoothing his face, Ladybug bumped her nose against his own as tears came out from her eyes, pleading for life to come from his eyes.

A crumble then caught her attention, and that was when she found the floor around her had now been split to many different sections by massive numbers of tears that led from her to Mantis, who stood up with a smirk.

"Do hope you survive the next bit. If you do, you'll remember the pain!" he told her in a gleeful voice, shoving his foot down onto the ground in front of him.

And with just that, like the contents of a box full of many different toys and belongings being slid out sideways, the floor gave way going southern westwards as it fell down into the canyon below, taking Ladybug and Chat Noir with it.

Clutching hold of her boyfriend was difficult for Ladybug as all sorts of rubble was coming down on top of them. She tried to reach for her yo-yo but then remembered she turned them into the Ladyblades, telling her she was lost without them now. Crying loudly as they entered the darkness, Ladybug closed her eyes and held onto Chat Noir as they went lower into the canyon, getting covered in many pieces of rubble.

From where she was, Wonder Woman was up in the ceiling avoiding powerful punches from Grail, but caught sight of the small figures of Ladybug and Chat Noir going into the dip, her heart tightening at the sight of it.

"NO!" she cried, dodging another punch from Grail, before twisting her arm behind her back and kicked her down towards the floor like a rock.

Adrenaline pumping through her, Wonder Woman brought her fists up as she flew down towards the pair as they began to disappear. She wasn't going to lose them, she promised herself to protect them from any danger that came their way, and they were not going to die. She had to hold on to that, to keep on holding onto the light.

Planting her feet deep into the falling slide of rubble, Wonder Woman began to run towards the pair, her arm outstretched desperately to try and catch hold of them in the hopes of her speed getting there quicker. But just as she began to get closer, a loud buzzing sound came to her from above, making her look up to see a large number of Parademons swarming on top of her.

Pulling her sword out again, Wonder Woman desperately swatted away at the winged creatures when she jumped up after them, trying to cut them down to get them away from Ladybug nd Chat Noir. Each slice she made caused a big splatter of green blood and guts from them, even ripping a few wings out of some of them to make it quicker, but there was still too many.

"Outnumbered...but I can't let Ladybug and Cat Noir die!" Wonder Woman cried as she effortlessly cleaved another Parademon in half with her sword.

She tried once again to run after the French heroes, but found herself barely able to progress as the swarm of Parademons continued crowding her, clawing at her and trying to grab hold of her so they could rip her apart. Wonder Woman refused to give up, continuously hacking away at the Parademons and trying to get past them. But she soon had something else to be concerned about for Grail rushed right past her, leaving her to deal with the Parademons, and headed towards the falling Ladybug and Cat Noir, a twisted smile on her face.

"Don't worry yourself about the children princess!" she called back to her, "I'll take care of them for you!"

Wonder Woman just caught sight of Grail and this was enough to give her more strength to rip her way out of the swarm of Parademons trying to tear her down. Pushing forward with her sword, slicing through them with green blood and guts splattering across her vision of many of the vile dark green creatures, she soon enough found herself back into the open air. Wasting no time at all, she shot downwards after Grail, who was nearing the limp forms of Ladybug and Chat Noir, both of whom were now unconscious among the slide of rubble after it had came to a stop seconds ago.

Flying around Grail as fast as she could, Wonder Woman slammed down in between the unconscious teens and the Amazon hybrid, who was just inches from crashing into her. Crossing her arms together, Wonder Woman slammed her wrist bracelets together, creating a blinding light that threw Grail off course, making her fall onto her side with her eyes closed to block out the light. When it died down, Wonder Woman followed it up with a kick to the face, sending Grail rolling down the slide slightly, only to pull herself back up with her own blade.

"I won't let you hurt them, you hear me!?" Wonder Woman yelled as she brought her lasso out, standing tall over the unconscious forms of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Grail just smirked as she pulled herself up, eyeing the two teenagers.

"You can't protect the world without a few deaths, Diana. But don't worry about those two, we will take good care of them for a little while." she assured as she aimed her sword at Wonder Woman.

Not wanting to listen to her anymore, Wonder Woman shot her lasso out and wrapped it around the sword aimed at her. Grail had wanted this though, shooting herself forward and throwing her sword into her other hand, landing a powerful punch into her opponent's face. After that, she went in to stab her in the stomach with her sword. Deflecting it with her knee, the Amazon received a slight cut across the shoulder. Clenching her teeth to cope with the cut, Wonder Woman head butted Grail, only for her sight to go completely red as Grail shot her in the face with her Omega Beams, sending the Amazon flying over Ladybug and Chat Noir. Impacting the wall behind her left a big cleft in it, but Grail wasn't finished with Wonder Woman yet, she wanted her out of the way and to make sure she wasn't going to spring back from this anytime soon.

Running at her with great speed, Grail punched her up the chin and sent her tearing up through the wall. Leaping after her, Grail could see she still had her eyes closed from the blast of the Omega Beams, allowing her to grab her by the shoulder belt, turn a complete circle and toss her up towards the ceiling, her eyes firing off another blast that slammed right into Wonder Woman. The mighty blast sent her flying all the way out of the mountain, digging a tunnel up with pieces of rubble falling from its remains as she ploughed through it.

Stopping the blast after being pleased at all she did, Grail turned to look down at the bodies of Ladybug and Chat Noir, who were surrounded by the surviving Parademons, who had their guns aimed at them in case they were about to wake up. Smiling, Grail looked to Mantis.

"Glad for your help, father will reward you well. And thank you for not killing them, I wouldn't mind talking to them when they wake up." she said as she went towards the body, taking pleasure in seeing how beaten and weak they were. That was how she liked her prisoners, completely defeated and beaten to a pulp.

"They weren't much of a challenge." Mantis sniffed, "Are you sure they're even worth keeping alive at this point? I doubt they're really going to be of much use to Darkseid!"

"THEY won't be useful to him. But their powers WILL." Grail informed the bug, "Father believes their "Miraculouses" will be the power he needs to restore himself to his former glory. If that doesn't work, then they'll truly be of no use to him and thus, we can dispose of them."

Just as she'd finished saying that, the hybrid heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She wasn't at all surprised when she turned and saw that said footsteps belonged to Darkseid. The Apokaliptian leader's face was neutral but Grail could see that he had curiosity in his eyes. She already knew why he was here.

"I heard the sound of a battle just moments ago." Darkseid said plainly, "What was happening out here my daughter?"

"You had unwelcome guests come so me and Mantis took care of them." Grail announced, "Wonder Woman is hopefully dead at last. As for her associates..."

She turned around and picked up Ladybug and Cat Noir, grabbing hold of an arm each and hosting them up as if she was presenting a pair of prized turkeys she'd bought at the butcher's. The two unconscious teens dangled in her grasp, completely still and a total deadweight in the hands of Grail. She could've been carrying a sack of feathers in each hand as far as she was concerned. Darkseid took this in with barley-disguised satisfaction. The smile on his face was more maniacal and gleeful than it ever had been since his reduction to child-form. What a happy turn-out this was! Returning home to Apokalips and now he had the Miraculous holders in his grasp! With any luck, he would finally be rid of this wretched childlike form and be restored to normal, truly back to his former glory and back on the throne at last! Despite his delight, his response hid most of his excitement as he spoke.

"Well done Grail. Well done indeed..." he purred, "You've got me those children and their Miraculous. Once we return to Apokalips, we shall see how much power they truly possess and if they're enough to finally restore me to normal."

Grail nodded in agreement.

"Yes indeed, father, and now the power of life and death is in our hands. The rest of the universe will bow to you..." she trailed off as she carried Ladybug and Chat Noir towards him.

"And then to me..." she whispered, her new plan already forming in her head, her eyes looking to the Miraculouses on the teenagers she now had. And already the whole world began to lose any hope it had left now. With one of its heroes incapacitated and two in Darkseid's custody, there as nothing for the world to be hopeful about anymore...


Well things went bad VERY quickly. Ladybug and Cat Noir are captured and are gonna be taken to Apokalips! Wonder Woman has been blasted out of a mountain and may or may not be alive! What will happen when the Miraculous holders awake on Apokalips? Is Wonder Woman alive? Will Darkseid be restored at last and reclaim his throne?

Tune in next time as we take a trip to Apokalips...