Blackjack
"What's wrong Marinette," Tikki said as she fluttered around Marinette's head. Marinette had been blankly staring at the ceiling all morning and it was starting to be concerning to the little kwami.
"It's nothing Tikki," Marinette said, "I'm just thinking about the team."
"You're not thinking about the team," Tikki said, "you're thinking about Jade Turtle."
Marinette huffed, "he is a bit of a mystery."
"More then a bit," Tikki said, "he always shows off, but tries to stay out of the public eye and avoids press. He acts less like a guardian and more like an older brother with how he acts around Cat Noir and Queen Bee. Not to mention his habit of calling none of you by your actual names."
"We both know that's not what I'm thinking about," Marinette said.
Tikki let out a light sigh, "you want to know who he really is, don't you?"
"The whole team does," Marinette said, "he is the only one who hasn't revealed his identity to us."
"Probably because he doesn't want to," Tikki said, "I believe you were the one that said 'no one should know who we are, not even us'."
"That was back when I was just starting to be Ladybug," Marinette said, "I didn't realize just how inconvenient it was for us to not know each others identities."
"But you did know the importance of keeping our identities secret," Tikki said, "and how if he's keeping his identity from us, there is probably a reason. I'm sure he'll tell you who he is when he's ready."
Marinette sighed, "maybe I should ask Master Fu about him."
"You know he won't tell you anything," Tikki said.
"Yeah," Marinette said, "but I want to ask him something else anyways." Marinette rolled out of her bed and walked over to her desk. She picked up her jacket and her bag, letting Tikki fly inside before closing. She walked over to the trapdoor in the floor and went to open it, but it sprung open before she even grabbed the handle.
Marinette jumped back in surprise, so far back that she hit her head on her desk.
"Oh, sorry girl," Alya said, peeping her head through the trapdoor, "I probably should've knocked."
"Probably," Marinette said, rubbing the back of her head, "you caught me off guard."
"Yeah," Alya said, stepping into the room and helping Marinette back onto her feet. Alya quickly scanned Marinette up and down, "where are you going?"
"How do you know I'm going somewhere," Marinette said.
"You have your bag," Alya said, "you only carry your bag with you when you're going somewhere because you're not sure if you'll need to transform or not."
Marinette laughed, "journalistic observation."
"More like I've known you for a long time," Alya said.
"I wanted to go see Fu," Marinette said, "I needed to ask him something."
"Anything important," Alya said, a mild bit of concern in her tone.
"No," Marinette said, "nothing to worry about, I just need to..."
"Good," Alya cut off, "that means it can wait, I have plans."
"What plans," Marinette said, "I don't remember having plans." She pulled out her phone and opened her calendar, "did I forget about something important? Was I in charge of anything? Did..."
"Relax girl," Alya said, "this wasn't exactly planned, it more or less came up and I thought you'd be interested."
"What is it," Marinette said.
"Some small music festival at Trocadero," Alya said, "a bunch of street performers and local vendors have set up there, I thought you might want to go."
"Can it wait," Marinette said.
"Only if you want to miss it," Alya said, "come on, Chloe and Adrien are already there, just come on."
Marinette hummed in thought, "alright, I'll talk with Fu later."
"Perfect," Alya said, grabbing Marinette by the wrist and dragging her along, "then come on girl."
Alya dragged Marinette down through the trapdoor, down the stairs, and out the door.
o0o
Alya had described the it as a 'small' music festival, she was very much wrong. Not only had they taken over the park, but they had also taken over the street, the bridge, and even a little bit of the space under the Eiffel Tower. Marinette was actually in a little bit of awe by how big the festival.
"Alya," Marinette said as she looked around, "this is not small."
"Chloe and Adrien told me it was small," Alya said.
"They're rich Alya," Marinette said, "Chloe thinks that giant penthouse she lives in is small and Adrien thinks his teenagers dream room is nothing."
"It really is nothing," someone said behind them. Alya and Marinette spun around to see Chloe and Adrien. "You should see some of the other rooms in my house," Adrien continued, "the library is actually amazing."
"And I don't even have the biggest penthouse in the hotel," Chloe said, "mines not even top three, I only picked it because it had the most closet space."
"Rich people," Alya said. Both Adrien and Chloe laughed.
"So what is this for," Marinette said.
"It's a music festival," Adrien said, "the kind held purely for the sake of having a music festival."
"I think some rich guy decided to rent out the area to throw a festival all about music," Chloe said.
"Like I said," Alya mumbled, "rich people." everyone laughed this time.
"So it's a music festival," Marinette said, "where's the music?"
"All around," Adrien said, "there are performers everywhere, you just need to find one."
"What about over there," Alya said, pointing to a small stage with a large crowd around it, "looks like there's a performer over there."
"Looks like whoever it is they're performing for a bunch of kids," Chloe said, "probably some little kids singer."
"I watched a lot of those as a kid," Marinette said, "I still remember some of those songs."
"So I guess we know who we're going to listen to first," Alya said.
"It is the one closest to us," Chloe said, "might as well."
Everyone followed Marinette as they pushed through the crowd, trying to get to the front. There certainly was a lot of little kids in the crowd, but it made it easy to see who was on the stage.
"Alright everyone," Sam said. He was sitting on a stool in the center of the stage with an old retro microphone in front of him. Instead of his normal black electric guitar, he had an old beat up acoustic guitar.
"So this is a song by my favorite band back from my hometown... or rather homecity, of Chicago," Sam continued, "but I'll be honest, I haven't played it in a while so I need your help keeping time." Sam then started tapping his guitar with his pick, "come on, clap along." All of the kids started clapping their hands to the beat Sam was making with his pick.
"Perfect," Sam said, "just keep that beat up." He started strumming his guitar to the beat, "when Rome's in ruins, we are the lions free of the Colosseum. In poison places, we are anti venom. We're the beginning of the end..."
"He's pretty good acoustic," Chloe said.
"Yeah," Adrien said. Marinette noticed Adrien recording Sam's performance on his phone.
"Why are you recording it," Marinette said, "he's your friend and can play the song for you anytime."
"Because he always has his whole cynical jerk act with most people," Adrien said, "and I'm sure the whole class would love to see him performing for a bunch of kids and letting that act drop."
"Be sure to send that to me," Alya said, "I'll make sure it's seen by all of Paris."
"Got it," Adrien said.
"I don't know how to feel about that," Chloe said.
Sam caught eye of them as he sung, given Adrien a glare as he recorded him, but not stopping the song, "come on make it easy, say I never mattered, run it up the flagpole. We will teach you how to make boys next door out of scarecrows."
"He is going to kill you," Chloe said.
"No he won't," Adrien said.
"Yes he will," all three of the girls said.
Sam never broke his glare at Adrien as he sung. "He may kill me," Adrien said, "luckily I have three superheroes to help me."
"I've seen Blackbird lay you out while you were transformed," Alya said, "and you're the one with combat training, what do you think we'll be able to do?"
Adrien thought for a moment, "he is going to kill me."
"Oh really," Chloe said, "what gave you that idea?"
"Thank you everyone," Sam said as he flung his guitar around onto his back, "I hope you enjoyed it, I now have to go meet up with a couple of friends of mine for the festival. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the festival."
"You want to start running now," Alya said, "or wait."
"I'll wait," Adrien said, "I kind of want to see what he'll do."
"Hey guys," Sam said as he walked up, "what are you guys doing here?"
"We came to enjoy the festival," Marinette said, "what are you doing here?"
Sam gave her a mildly confused look, "did you just ask a musician why he's at a music festival?"
"Right," Marinette said, looking down at the floor, "I guess that would make sense."
"But now on to more important matters," Sam said, turning to Adrien, "can I see the recording?"
"Why," Adrien said.
"I just wanna see how it came out," Sam said, "I don't actually get to see myself perform that often,"
"You're not mad," Adrien said.
"Nope," Sam said, "so can I see it?"
Adrien reluctantly handed his phone over to Sam. Sam looked through the phone until he found the video. "You know what," Sam said, "this isn't bad. But there is a something you need to know Adrien."
Adrien gave him a confused look, "what?"
"Never record me without asking," Sam said, "especially when I'm doing a show like this." he then handed the phone back to Adrien.
Adrien scrolled through his phone for a second before stopping and snapping up to look at Sam, "HEY!"
"What is it," Marinette said, looking at Adrien's phone.
"He deleted the recording," Adrien said.
"Always remember to ask Adrien," Sam said with a smile, "and be grateful. I was originally going to throw your phone into the water, but decided not to litter."
"Should I say thank you," Adrien said.
"You're welcome," Sam said sarcastically, "now can we get something to eat? I am starving."
o0o
It took them a while, but the team eventually managed to find a booth that was selling pastries. They all bought something to eat and found a table to sit down at. They all sat in silence for a little bit as they ate, but Marinette finally broke the silence.
"So do you know who else is performing," she said.
"Absolutely no idea," Sam said, "I just kind of showed up, found an empty stage, and started playing."
"So it's just some kind of free for all," Chloe said.
"No," Sam said, "there's scheduled performances, I only said that I showed up and started playing."
"Sounds like something you'd do," Adrien said.
"Are you kidding," Sam said, "that was nothing, you should've seen some of the busks me and the band started back in Chicago."
"What's a busk," Chloe asked.
"Basically just a street performance," Sam said, "I guess that's your guy's word of the day."
"Really," Alya said, "because my calendar said it was claque."
Sam let out a light laugh before returning to his food.
"COME ONE COME ALL," a loud voice boomed as they ate. They turned to see a large crowd had started to gather around something, they couldn't see what due to said crowd. "COME TEST YOUR LUCK AND SEE IF YOU CAN BEAT THE DEALER," the voice continued
"What's that," Adrien said.
"Don't know," Marinette said, "but I do kind of want to see."
All of them, got up and pushed through the crowd. At the center, there was a small table with a man in a black suit sitting behind it. "Ah, more challengers come to test your luck," the man in the suit said as they walked up.
They all got a good look at the table, it had a jar full of euros on it and three cards spread across the center. "What exactly is this," Chloe said.
"Three card monte if I had to guess," Sam said, "a common street game."
"You got a good eye on you young man," the man in the suit said, "three car monte, otherwise known as find the lady, is rather simple." the man flipped over the three cards, the jack of spades, jack of clubs, and the queen of hearts, "basically, I'll flip these cards back over and shuffle them around, all you have to do is find the queen, and you win." He tapped the jar of euros, "5 euros to try, winner gets the pot. But so far no one has won."
"How much do you think is in there," Alya said.
"Enough to buy me some fancy fabrics to us in my designs," Marinette said. She reached into her bag and pulled out some euros, "I'll try." She dropped them in the jar.
"Alright young lady," the man said. He flipped the cards back over and started sliding them across the table, everyone watching them intently. He stopped and leaned onto his hand, "take your pick young lady."
Marinette looked at the cards and thought long and hard. "this one," she said, pointing to the card in the center. The dealer flipped it over, jack of clubs. "Aw," Marinette groaned.
"Here," Adrien said, "let me try, maybe I'll have better luck."
"Said the black cat," Alya mumbled under her breath.
"What was that," Adrien said.
"Nothing," Alya said, faking an innocent whistle.
Adrien rolled his eyes and dropped a couple euros in the jar. The dealer flipped the card over to show the queen and the two jacks, before flipping them back and shuffling them around the table. He stopped and gestured to the cards, signaling Adrien to pick. "This one," Adrien said, pointing at one of the cards. the dealer flipped it, jack of spades. "Dang it," Adrien said.
"Okay," Alya said, "I want to take a chance." She dropped a couple of euros into the jar. The dealer flipped them over, showed the cards again, flipped them back, and shuffled them. He signaled for Alya to pick and she did just as he requested, jack of diamonds. "Come on," Alya said.
"I want to give it a shot," Chloe said, reaching into her pockets. Sam grabbed her shoulder to stop her.
"Hang on," he said, his normal cool expression replaced with a serious one, "let me try first." He dropped a couple euros of his own into the jar. The dealer flipped the cards to show them off, two jacks and a queen. He flipped them back, shuffled them around, and gestured to Sam. He didn't bother to pick instead thinking long and hard with his eyes closed and his arms crossed.
"What's the matter kid," the dealer said, "go on and guess which card it..."
"None of them," Sam cut off.
"W-what," the dealer said.
"None of the cards are the queen," Sam said. He then leaned over onto the table, "three card monte, often called find the lady, but it also has a third name, the three card trick." He slammed his hand onto the first card, lifting his hand up to show the card was gone, "you wouldn't think it by looking at me, but when I was young I actually had a fascination with magic..." He slammed his hand on the second card, making it disappear like the first, "and one of the first things I learned was palming, which quickly led to me learning the three card trick..." He slammed his hand onto the third card to make it disappear, "a common street game used to hustle the untrained eye. To be honest, you probably would've fooled me too, but you made on mistake..." he flicked his wrist to make all the cards reappear, the jack of spades, jack of clubs, and the jack of diamonds, "always make sure you use three of the same colored jack." He threw the cards at the table, all three of them sinking in like they were blades.
The crowd slowly shifted it tone. They went from interest, to confusion, to rage.
"He cheated," one man said.
"He scammed us," another woman said.
"Now now everybody," The dealer said, picking up the cards that Sam threw onto the table, "I-I can explain..." He slowly backed away as the crowd got closer to him. He then did the only thing he could do, he panicked, grabbed the jar of euros, and ran.
"Always hated scam artists like him," Sam said, "used to run into guys like him all the time back home." He then put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.
"You didn't have to do that," Chloe said.
"I didn't," Sam said, not turning around, "but the worst thing a person can do when they see an injustice is do nothing." He continued to walk away until he was out of their sight.
Chloe wanted to argue, but couldn't deny that he had a point.
"Just leave it," Marinette said, putting a hand on Chloe's shoulder, "he's too stubborn to think what he did was wrong."
"But he's also not wrong in saying it was right," Adrien added.
"No one won this round," Marinette said, "we got scammed, Sam embarassed our scammer, and now..."
"Now it's likely that our scammer is going to be less than happy with Sam," Alya finished, "we should probably find both of them before anything bad happens."
Everyone nodded in agreement and took off to find the two.
o0o
The large aperture on the window opened to let the light into the large room, causing all the butterflies on the floor to ascend to the air. "A man who has made a fool of at his own game," Hawk Moth said, staring out the large window, "perhaps I should allow home to get revenge."
Hawk Moth took one of the butterflies and cupped it in his hands, filling the creature with dark energy. He removed one of his hands to let the small akuma take off into the air. "Fly my akuma," Hawk Moth said as he clicked his cane onto the ground, "and let this poor soul take back his victory."
The small black and purple insect flew out the window and over the Parisian skyline. It quickly found its latest target, holed up in an abandoned building in order to hide from the crowd that had chased after him. The small akuma landed on one of his cards, the jack of spades, and got absorbed into it.
"Hello Blackjack," Hawk Moth's voice rang in the dealers head, "I understand that you have been cheated of victory, how about I give you the chance for a rematch. All I ask for in return is that you bring me the miraculous." As he said so, the image of 5 jewels appeared in his head. "Do we have a deal?"
"I accept your challenge," he said. Starting from his card, his body was enveloped in black smoke.
o0o
Sam was walking around the street festival, looking at all the booths selling various music items. He had seen some shirts from his favorite band, some nice picks that he wanted (not for his guitar, purely for a collectors sake), and even some nice accessories (figured he could have another bracelet besides his miraculous). It was a shame he wasted his budget for the day on food. He sighed and moved along, trying to keep his eyes on the floor as he walked so he didn't look at the booths.
"Maybe I should get a job,"Sam mumbled to himself.
"I thought you were a musician," Wayzz said from the comfort of Sam's inside jacket pocket, "does that not qualify as a profession?"
"Well it does," Sam said, "but because we were a small time band, we released our album for free online just to get it out there. Not to mention we never assumed we'd need money like this. We never really made money until I moved to Paris and managed to book us as an opening act and then as the band for the Halloween party, and even then it wasn't that much. At least not enough for me to fall back on."
"That was foolish," Wayzz said.
"I would prefer advice instead of criticism."
"Perhaps you should ask your sister, would she not have access to your fathers funds?"
"She won't help."
"Are you two not close?"
"We are," Sam grimaced, "but she won't lend me the money. Believe me, it's... long and complicated."
"I assume."
Sam let out a sigh, "let's just go home, I'm tired of looking at this stuff anyways."
"SAM." He spun around when he heard his name, Marinette was running to where he was. She ran up to him, slightly out of breath.
He looked down as she bent over her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Stand up straight," he said, "you're blocking your airway by bending over like that. And put your hands on your head, it helps clear it up."
Marinette did as she was instructed. allowing her to quickly catch her breath. "Are you ok," Marinette said once she finally caught her breath.
Sam looked at her with pure confusion, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"Because I think you upset that guy back there, and you now what happens when people get upset."
Sam sighed, "I know, but I couldn't let him get away with what he was doing, it was just wrong. Besides, I doubt Hawk Moth akumatizes every person who gets a little upset, it would be a waste of time and effort."
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Sam and Marinette whipped around to see a man had taken over one of the larger stages that had been set up for performers.
He wore a red tail coat with black pants, black cuffs, and black shirt that had golden embroidery that resembled spades. He had skin that was glowing white with a mask resembling a butterfly over his face and a top hat with a red strap on his head. In his hand he held a golden scepter with a purple card on the end.
"You were saying," Marinette said, giving Sam an icy stare.
"I'm only human," Sam said, "I can be wrong."
"ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF," the akuma victim continued, "MY NAME IS BLACKJACK," He took a long bow, "AND I WOULD LIKE FOR ALL OF US TO PLAY A GAME!" Some people approached the stage out of curiosity, others backed away out of fear of the akuma victim. "SO WHO IS OUR FIRST CHALLENGER?" No one stepped forward for the offer. "THEN LET US LEAVE IT TO CHANCE."
He made a large gesture with his scepter sending four cards into the crowd, each one of them sinking into the ground. All four of the cards expanded into what looked like a purple glass box around one of the members of the crowd.
"OUR FIRST CHALLENGER," Blackjack announced, "WELCOME TO THE GAME!"
The crowd began to run away as Blackjack stepped forward and walked into his barrier to meet his challenger.
Sam stepped forward, but Marinette put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "What are you doing," Marinette said.
"We need to help that guy," Sam said.
"We need to get you out of here," Marinette said, "because I'm pretty sure he's going to come after you next."
"but we can't leave him."
"Ladybug and the others can handle it when they get here, right now you need to get to safety."
The box slowly shrunk down, eventually all that was left was Blackjack and a small card. He took the card and put it into the card on his scepter. He then turned towards Sam and let out a crooked smile.
Sam let out a low growl, "I hate that you're right." He turned around, "fine, let's go."
Sam and Marinette turned to run. Each one had similar thought in their head, how can I get away from the other so that I can transform while still keeping them safe. Their best bet was hiding the other so that way they were safe.
Blackjack followed behind them as they ran, at least there was some distance between the heroes and the akuma. They ran as fast as they could, and kept moving until they were forced to a halt by Marinette tripping and falling to the floor. Sam spun around and tried to help her up, giving Blackjack enough time to catch up."
"Time for a rematch," Blackjack said as he spun his scepter.
"No thanks," Sam said, "I think I'll retire, guess that makes you the champion by default. Congratulations."
"We both know that's not how this is going to work."
"A guy can dream."
Blackjack repeated the large motion with his scepter and sent four more cards flying at Sam. He moved to shield Marinette, he didn't know what Blackjack's power was, but he certainly wasn't going to let her suffer for his mistakes. He was caught off guard when nothing happened. He looked around to see a familiar black cat spinning his staff to deflect the cards.
"You okay princess," Cat Noir said, lowering his staff.
"Good now that you're here," Marinette said.
"Yeah, I'm here too," Sam said, "in fact I'm probably in more danger than her, so why didn't you ask me if I was okay?"
Cat went a silent for a bit, Sam assumed that he was either going to try to come up with something witty or a legitimate excuse. Either way, Cat didn't say anything.
"A new challenger," Blackjack said, "so glad you could join the game."
Cat let out a sigh of relief that the akuma gave him an out from Sam's question, "I'm just happy to be here Jackie, but I am playing to win."
"Lame game show shtick," Rena Rouge said as she dropped nearby, kneeling down to check on Marinette and Sam.
"You two okay," Queen Bee said, dropping down to their other side.
"Well we were," Sam said, "but then you showed up, that tacky yellow is making me a bit nasueos."
"Excuse me," Queen said, mild irritation in her tone, "would you like to say that again?"
"Queen, please do not kill the guy we're trying to save," Cat said, "you two get them to safety, I'll hold off the akuma."
"Who put you in charge," Queen said, "I say we let them run and all fight the akuma to stop allow him to run."
"I've been doing this longer than you," Cat said, spinning his staff to block the cards, "so I am in charge when Ladybug isn't here. Now get them to safety."
"I know her better, I should be in charge."
"How do you know her better? I'm literally dating her."
"Is now the best time for this argument," Rena said, "civilian safety first."
Marinette leaned over to whisper in Queen's ear, "just get me away so that I can transform."
Queen Bee let out a groan, "alright. Rena, grab Mari... uh... grab the girl and get her away, I got the guy." Rena nodded and grabbed Marinette, Queen grabbed Sam. The two heroes ran off in opposite directions.
"Shouldn't we follow the fox," Sam said as Queen carried him to somewhere safe.
"I need to get you to safety," Queen said, "and I can think of a good spot to take you that he won't find you."
"If you want to keep me safe, then you should know there's strength in numbers."
She hated that he was right, but she couldn't tell him that she was getting him away from Marinette so she could transform into Paris' number one superhero. "Just trust me."
She came to a stop near an old abandoned building, opening the window and slipping inside. She set Sam on the ground so that he could walk around.
"An old abandoned warehouse," Sam said, "really?"
"It's a good spot to hide," Queen said.
"How can you defend a place like this. Is it your secret hideout or something?"
"What? No. Who would wan this place as a hideout?"
"I can think of a New York spider that wouldn't mind a place like this."
"Either way, we'll wait here until Ladybug and the others stop the akuma," Queen said, sitting down on the ground and crossing her legs.
"Hooray," Sam said, "I'm safe, now please leave."
"I was told to keep you safe," Queen said, "the akuma is trying to hunt you down, so if he manages to find you then you need protection."
"I can protect myself," Sam said, wanting to get away from Queen Bee so he could transform, but he also wanted to get away from the master of pretentious.
"Against an akuma?"
"No," Sam said, looking up in thought, "but remember, I did beat up your second in command while I was only wearing a hoodie. Does that count for something?"
"One," Queen said, "Cat is not our second in command."
"He bossed you around like he was," Sam said, giving a sly grin, "not to mention he's dating your boss."
"Two, beating Cat Noir isn't an accomplishment, I've seen Ladybug thrown him around like a rag doll... more than once. And Ladybug is not my boss... just the team leader."
"I feel like team leader qualifies as boss."
"Either way, you're staying here."
"I don't care about staying here, I care about you babysitting me."
"Protecting."
"Babysitting."
"Either way, I'm staying here to protect you."
"Can I at least trade out for the cat or the fox?"
"No, now sit down."
Sam grunted before sitting down. He had plenty of ideas running through his head, most of them violent, to get away from Queen Bee. He may not have got along with Bee, but she was still apart of the team and still his friend. He wasn't going to hurt her, no matter how tempted he was.
He still needed to get out of here though. It was his fault that there was an akuma, he had to at least help the others stop it. Ironically, in order to help his friends, he had to get away from one of the friends he was trying to help. He hated how the world was cruel like that.
"So how's it going," Queen said. Sam was so lost in thought he actually jumped at her breaking the silence.
"Well everything was going pretty good," Sam said, "played some music, hung out with out friends, heard some good music, but then an akuma came along and ended up getting picked up by you and taken to the shadiest looking abandoned warehouse I've ever been to."
"How many shady warehouses have you been to?"
"Only this one," Sam said with a smile, "but by default that makes it the shadiest one."
Queen let out a light laugh. She then went silent for a bit, "I honestly don't know what to do now."
"Well maybe you should let the turtle take over protecting me, he is the one with the shield. I'm sure he'll be here any minute, why don't you just leave and I'll wait for him to get here."
"I'm not going to leave you alone for any amount of time," Queen said as she crossed her arms, "although that muscle headed psycho might actually be better for protecting you."
Sam looked down and mumbled under his breath, "who are you calling a muscle headed psycho you egocentric mouth breather."
"You say something?"
"Nope."
Queen Bee flipped open her trompo to switch it to her comms. Sam could see that she was trying to call Jade Turtle, he had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to be able to get a hold of him.
"Great," Queen said, flipping her trompo closed.
"Maybe he's being held up," Sam said, "hanging out with some damsel."
"He may be an idiot, but he doesn't go flirting with every girl he sees. We have a cat for that, although he has gotten better."
"Maybe because he has a girlfriend?"
"Probably," Queen said, flopping down onto her back, "either way, I guess you're stuck with me."
"Alright," Sam said. He had at least one idea, "can I use the restroom?"
"I use that trick too," Queen said, not sitting up.
"What trick?"
"Saying you need to use the restroom so you can slip away, it's a pretty common trick."
"I wasn't going to do that."
"I would believe that if you weren't so adamant about getting away from me."
"What if I actually have to use the restroom?"
"Hold it."
Sam sighed. She was not letting him go, not easily at least. He was getting mildly annoyed by being stuck here. He hated being locked in one spot, just in general, an akuma was not making it better.
o0o
"So what exactly are we dealing with," Rena said as she and Ladybug ran back to where they last saw Cat Noir fighting the akuma, "strength? Speed? Mind control? Please tell me it isn't mind control. I'm sick of mind control akumas."
"I'm not fully sure," Ladybug said, "I wasn't able to get a good look at what he was doing, but it looked like he was able to create walls of energy that he can walk through. He trapped someone inside a box of them, then when he shrunk it down the guy was gone. All that was left was a card."
Rena hummed in thought, "is it possible he turned the guy into a card?"
"I think it's safe to say that anything is possible when dealing with super villains possessed by magic butterflies."
"Fair point."
"So his power is card collecting, that doesn't explain the box that he creates."
"I think it would be safe to ask Cat when we catch up to him, he should know more since he's been fighting him longest."
"Shame we might not get the chance to ask him," Rena said as they came to a halt over where they last saw Cat Noir and the akuma. Now all that was there was a box of energy. "Please tell me that wasn't what the box you saw earlier looked like."
"I would," Ladybug said, "but then I'd be lying."
"Do you think cat is in there?"
"Most likely," Ladybug said with a sigh, "and we need to help him."
Both of them jumped from their vantage point down to where the box was. They could see Blackjack and Cat Noir inside.
"Cat Noir," Ladybug called out, no answer. They could't hear her from in there. She ran up to the box and put her hand against it, only for a powerful electric current to flow through her body and sent her flying back.
"LADYBUG," Rena said before running over and kneeling next to her friend on the ground, "are you okay?"
"I'll live," Ladybug said, pushing herself into a sitting position, "we're not getting in there. We're going to have to hope for the best for Cat."
They watched Cat Noir and the akuma as they stood in the box. It looked like they weren't fighting, in fact it seemed like they were standing there, talking.
"What do you think is happening in there," Ladybug said.
"I don't know," Rena said, "I assume this a part of Blackjack's powers."
"Talking," Ladybug said, "one of the more underwhelming powers we've dealt with."
"Wait and see," Rena said, "I assume there's more."
Rena was right. Three large tablets appeared in the air in between Cat Noir and Blackjack. Cat pointed to one of them, it spun around to reveal a giant spade on the other side. Blackjack let out an evil smile. The box slowly shrunk down, closing down on Cat Noir. It kept shrinking down with Cat inside, shrinking until all that was left was a black card floating in the air.
"CAT," Ladybug shouted out, Rena had to hold her back to stop her from charging forward at Blackjack.
Blackjack took the card and spun it in his hand. "What did you do to him," Ladybug said.
"Oh well that's simple," Blackjack said, still spinning the card, "we made a bet. If he won, he got my scepter. If I won..." He spun the card so they could see it, there was an image of Cat Noir on it, "then he joins my collection."
"You trapped him in the box," Rena said, "so he'd be forced to play the game, a game where you make the rules."
Blackjack laughed, "something like that." He took the card and brought it up to the card on his scepter, which absorbed it inside. "I'm sure you two would be a good addition to my collection as well."
Ladybug calmed down and stopped pulling against Rena, "we need to get the scepter without getting caught in his game."
"Otherwise we are just another card to him," Rena said, "easier said than done."
"Hold off on powers to, we should get a better idea what we're dealing with before we hit him with full force."
"Got it," Rena said, taking her flute and spinning it in her hand.
"If you two are done chatting," Blackjack said, "then what's say we let the game begin."
o0o
Queen Bee let out a loud grunt before throwing her trompo while it was still in comms mode, "WHERE IS THAT STUPID SHELL HEAD?"
"Maybe he just doesn't want to answer your calls," Sam said, having found a place to lie down on a series of crates. He had started to settle in since Queen wasn't letting him go anytime soon, "from what I've seen, he doesn't exactly like you."
"Well I don't like him either," Queen said.
"What's wrong with him," Sam said, sitting up straight and turning to Queen, "I mean he can't be that bad."
"He's never called me by my name, in fact I don't think he's called anyone by their names. I'd be surprised if he even knows any of our names. He is always cocky and arrogant, never taking anything seriously. Not to mention his inability to be discrete, he once ruined a surprise attack on an akuma by literally announcing our arrival."
"None of that... is... horrible."
"No," Queen said, letting out a long sigh, "but he does act worse than he is. He is a great hero, but I feel like he constantly tries to prove something."
Sam mimicked her sigh, "maybe... he just wants to prove that he's a hero just like you guys."
"What are you talking about," Queen said, "of course he's a hero like us."
"Well... that's not exactly what I meant. Who knows, maybe he could've had some connection to you guys in civilian form, but you guys disapproved of what he was doing... maybe he wanted to prove to you that he was truly good enough to be a part of your team... Or... you know... I'm just looking to far into this."
"You probably are," Queen said, "then again, it is hard to do a psychological evaluation of someone you hardly know. I've been working with him a little while, and I don't even know him that well."
"Some people are just mysterious," Sam said. Both of them let out a mild laugh.
"I honestly don't hate him," Queen continued, "in fact I kind of enjoy the little rivalry we've developed."
Sam let out a large smile at the comment, almost going ear to ear, "really?"
"Yeah," Queen went on, "and if you ever tell him that, I can tell you there is no hero alive that can protect you from my wrath."
"My lips are sealed."
He didn't know what was more shocking, Queen opening up to him, or him opening up to Queen. He certainly didn't hate her, but he wasn't exactly her best friend. While he knew she didn't know that she was really telling all of this to Jade Turtle, but he knew fully well who he was talking to. Maybe he was just going crazy.
"So," Sam said, lying back down, "do you think it's safe to leave yet?"
"I haven't gotten any other calls," Queen said, "so I assume the akuma is still out there."
"Perfect, guess that means you still aren't letting me go."
"You're pretty good at guessing."
Sam sighed. As much as he was enjoying having a heart to heart with Queen, learning why they didn't get along was kind of nice, but he still had to help his other friends.
He kept looking around, trying to find a way to get out. He noticed a small window up near the ceiling. Too high to reach, even it wasn't it was too small to fit through, but it did give him one idea. He dug around the inner pockets of his jacket, looking for something he could use. Deck of cards, no. Pencil, no. Wayzz... maybe.
After a long winded search, he found something he could use. It was some big shiny stone that he had found that he intended to give to Ruby (he always messed with her by giving her rocks since, in his mind, her name was a rock).
He tossed it up and down in his hand, it certainly had some weight to it, perfect. He looked as Queen had walked over to pick up her comms and had started another attempt to call Jade Turtle.
While she was distracted, Sam threw the stone as hard as he could. The window burst with a loud shattering sound. Queen jumped at the sound, spinning to see Sam looking around in confusion.
"What was that," Sam said.
"I don't know," Queen said, flipping her trompo closed and prepping as if someone was going to attack.
"Maybe someone is outside," Sam said, "it could be the akuma."
Queen growled, "I'll check, you had better be here when I get back."
She jumped out of the large window that they had entered through. Once Queen Bee was out of sight, Sam ran over and hid behind some of the crates nearby. He lifted up his jacket and let the green Kwami fly out.
"What are you doing," Wayzz said.
"No time for explanations," Sam said, rolling up his sleeve to reveal his bracelet, "only time for action."
"WAYZZ, SHELL UP!"
In a bright green flash, the Jade Turtle suit materialized around Sam.
He stepped out of his hiding place to find Queen Bee had re-entered. "Hey there your majesty," Jade said.
Queen spun around. She looked happy for a second, but Jade could see her happiness fade. "Oh," Queen said, "it's you."
"You'd think that you'd be excited to see me," Jade said, "you've been calling me all day."
"Yeah," Queen said, "which begs the question, where were you?"
"I was being held up by some girl," Jade said, "we had actually had a good heart to heart."
"Well while you were with some girl, I had to protect someone from an akuma and now he ran off."
"Now why would anyone run away from you," Jade said with a sarcastic tone.
Queen let out a dry laugh, "can you act like a responsible human being for once."
"You lost the person you were trying to protect," Jade said, with a light smirk, "and you're calling me irresponsible."
"Well you could help me find him?"
"I could, or we could just go stop the akuma. If we stop him, then it doesn't matter if we find the kid because he won't be in danger."
"Well how about you find the kid and protect him, and I'll help the others."
Jade tilted his head in confusion, "why do I have to protect the kid?"
"Because you have the shield," Queen said, tapping his shield.
"I guess I'm saying the wrong thing. Instead of asking why I should stay here, I need to ask you to let me go."
"What... why?"
"I made a mistake," Jade said. "and I need to fix it."
"What did you do this time?"
"One," Jade said, putting a finger up to signify the number, "what do you mean this time, and two, I... can't say. It could give away who I am. Just let me go, I need to help."
Queen gave him a long stare, "does it matter what I say?"
"I wouldn't ask if it didn't."
She let out a long sigh, "you owe me one."
"Hold me to it," Jade said, "I promise I'll pay you back when you ask."
"You better, now get going. I have to go find our runaway."
"Good luck," Jade said. He turned and jumped out the window they had entered earlier, safely leaving the warehouse. "You're gonna need it," he mumbled once he was out of her earshot.
o0o
Ladybug and Rena Rouge were not having an easy time with this akuma. They couldn't get close without risking getting sucked into his game. Ladybug didn't want to use her lucky charm, not yet at least. The area they were in didn't have much to work with. That hasn't stopped her before, but she didn't want to take the risk of wasting it and be put on a time limit.
"Got any plans," Rena said, jumping into the air to dodge some of Blackjack's cards.
"Not yet," Ladybug said, "you?"
"I think I might be able to get close," Rena said, "but I may have to use my power."
Ladybug thought for a minute, jumping in the air to dodge a card, "do it."
"ILLUSION!"
One Rena turned to seven and they all sprinted around Blackjack. Once Rena was certain that he had lost track of which one was real, she and her illusions charged from all directions. Blackjack merely laughed.
He spun and launched his cards into the floor, one on each side. They all expanded into one of his electric boxes around him, causing all the Rena's to collide with it in the air. The illusions vanished once they hit it, the real one was sent flying back and hit the floor hard.
"RENA," Ladybug shouted. She jumped over to where her friend was on the ground and kneeled besides her, "are you okay?"
"I think so," Rena said, pushing herself onto all fours.
"Game time." Both of them turned to see Blackjack standing over them. He prepped his scepter to throw his cards. Ladybug tried to help Rena up to move her but she couldn't get her friend onto her feet. Both of them instead looked at Blackjack, realizing they were just going to have to win his game.
As he made the large gesture with his scepter, a familiar green figure landed between them and Blackjack.
"'Sup Red," Jade said, blocking the cards with his shield, "am I late?"
"Right on time as usual," Ladybug said, "the akuma should be in his scepter, but watch out for those cards he's throwing. If they surround you, then you're locked in a game with him."
"A game huh," Jade said. He then let out a large smirk and stood up straight, lowering his shield. "So your power is you can challenge people to games," He went on, pointing dramatically at the akuma, "Well in that case, I challenge you."
"WHAT," Ladybug and Rena said in unison.
"Interesting," Blackjack said, lowering his scepter and putting his free hand to his chin, "And why would you do that?"
"A couple reasons," Jade said, "one, since I'm challenging you, I make the game."
Blackjack closed his eyes and hummed in thought, "I suppose that's fair."
"Two," Jade continued, "I doubt I'm gonna beat you through fighting, especially with that trick you pulled with Kit there."
"Kit," Rena said with obvious confusion.
"It's what you call a baby fox," Jade said, looking at her over his shoulder.
Rena rolled her eyes, "of course it is."
"And three, I need to make something right, part of that involves taking you out." Jade stretched his arms out in a 'are you not entertained' fashion, "so what do you say?"
Blackjack stared at Jade in silence for a long time, "very well." He spun his scepter in his hands, "what's the wager?"
"I thought that was obvious," Jade said. He pointed at the scepter, "I win, I get that shiny akumatized object that you love spinning around." He then put his shield on his back and tapped the bracelet on his wrist, "you win, then you get my bracelet."
"Okay," Ladybug said, grabbing Jade by the wrist, "I want a quick sidebar."
"Excuse us for just a moment," Jade said to the akuma over his shoulder as Ladybug dragged him off to the side.
"Take all the time you need," Blackjack said, "I'll be here when you're ready."
"What are you doing," Ladybug angrily whispered to him once they were away from the akuma.
"Stopping the bad guy," Jade said, "you know, like we always do."
"We normally don't play into their hands."
"Well this isn't normal. Kit is on a time limit, which leaves it to just you and me. Besides, I need to stop this guy, something personal."
"Like what?"
"Can't tell you Red, just trust me."
"Jade, I'd trust you with my life, just like I would with the rest of the team, but you can't use your miraculous as a bargaining chip."
"I can, but it's highly frowned upon."
"This is serious."
"And so am I," Jade said, his joking smile faded, "I screwed up today, this is my way to fix it. I'm doing this whether you like it or not. Might as well go along and make it easier."
After a long silence, Ladybug let out a long sigh, "if you screw this up, I will never let you live this down."
"If I screw this up, you're not allowed to let me live this down."
"Deal," Ladybug said, taking his hand and forcibly shaking it, "now don't screw this up."
Jade let out a smile, "I'm not known for screwing things up... often." He spun back around to see Blackjack looking at the ground spinning his scepter. "Okay amigo," Jade said, as he walked back up to the akuma, "let's play our little shadow game."
"Hey Ladybug," Rena whispered into her ear, "are you sure about this?"
"Not at all," Ladybug said, "but he's too stubborn to stop." Rena's necklace let out a loud beep for both of them to hear. "You had better run," Ladybug continued, "don't want Jade to bug you in civilian form."
Rena shuddered at thought, "alright. I'll catch up with you later."
Ladybug nodded and Rena ran off, jumping onto the rooftops to take her leave. Ladybug turned her full attention to Jade and the akuma.
"So what's your game," Blackjack said.
"Well first," Jade said, "we need a nice little arena. Would you care to do the honors?"
Blackjack laughed, "my pleasure." He made a large motion with his scepter, sending four cards flying around the two of them. They expanded to create a giant box around them.
"Perfect," Jade said, looking at the box around them. He could see Ladybug staring at him angrily from the sidelines, he could tell she knew that there was no chance of him escaping it now. To be fair, he was counting on that.
"So what is your game," Blackjack asked again.
"Simple," Jade said, taking his shield off his back, "if I can demonstrate?" Blackjack made a gesture for him to go on with his free hand. "Thanks," Jade said. He threw his shield against one of the walls, "this shield of mine is magic..." He caught it once it came back and threw it again, "no matter where I throw it, it ricochets and comes back to me..." He caught it again, "unless I cut of my shields connection to my miraculous, then it get's... a little funky." He threw his shield again, then covered his bracelet with his other hand. The shield hit the wall, but instead of coming back to Jade, it began ricocheting all over the cube, going completely haywire.
Blackjack stepped back to dodge the shield bouncing off the ground, "how does this relate to your game?"
"Well," Jade said, uncovering his bracelet and catching his shield,"I thought that was obvious. I'm going to throw my shield and cover my bracelet, and then we'll play ultimate keep away... or... I guess this would be stay away. First person to get hit... loses. Sound fair."
Blackjack closed his eyes and thought again, "interesting, but I should tell you, I'm not that acrobatic."
"I assumed," Jade continued, "which is why you get an added advantage of me not getting to use my hands, since I have to hold my bracelet."
Blackjack gave him a long stare, "fine, I accept the challenge."
"I thought you had already accepted it. You kind of made an arena and everything."
Blackjack laughed, "I guess you're right. Now let's start the game."
"Alright." Jade tossed his shield up and down repeatedly, "on the count on three." He tossed his shield in the air again, "one."
"Two," Blackjack said, going into a low stance.
"THREE," the two said in unison. Jade caught his shield and threw it at the ceiling, covering his wrist immediately after.
The shield went all over the place, bouncing off the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. Jade and Blackjack both moved around, trying to dodge as much as they could. If there was one thing that Jade had not anticipated, it was that his shield was hard to dodge. Especially without his hands, he wasn't able to do some of the same tricks he normally did without them. At the very least, he could see that Blackjack was having the same troubles. All they could do is strafe and duck.
As the competition went on, the seemed to get faster and faster. It's momentum kept building up as it ricocheted all over the place. It eventually got to the point where both of the competitors could barely even see the shield only catching glimpses of it flying by as they moved around.
It went from legitimately dodging, to moving around like idiots and hoping they didn't get hit. Sometimes, they were pretty sure that the shield had disappeared because it was moving so fast that it was hard to see.
Eventually, it seemed like it was almost over. Blackjack could see that the shield was flying in a way that it would ricochet off the wall and hit Jade in the back without him seeing. Blackjack simply stood triumphantly as the shield flew behind Jade. Once the shield hit the wall, Jade back flipped into the air and flew over the shield. He landed on the floor with a thud, not being able to use his hands made it hard for him to back flip properly, but he did what I needed to. The shield flew past him and hit Blackjack hard in the chest.
His scepter went flying in the air, Jade jumped to catch it. The walls faded around him faded away, the game was over.
"Catch Red," he said, throwing the scepter to Ladybug.
She caught it and snapped it over her knee, releasing the akuma that was inside. She opened her yo-yo and caught the small butterfly inside, releasing it in it's original white form, "bye bye little butterfly."
She threw her yo-yo into the air, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" A swarm of butterflies appeared from it and restored the damage that they had caused and returning those that Blackjack had captured, starting with Cat Noir.
"What happened," Cat Noir said as he emerged from the butterfly swarm, "where am I?"
"Pound it," Jade said, outstretching his arm, but Ladybug ran past him and hugged Cat Noir. Jade merely smiled as he watched Ladybug squeeze Cat like it was the last time she was ever going to see him. "Well I guess my work is done."
"Wait," Ladybug said, "that was amazing. I guess you were right to be confident in taking on the akuma."
"Well I did have a trick up my sleeve," Jade said.
"Like what," Cat said.
"A magician never reveals his secrets," Jade said. Once he finished his sentence, his miraculous beeped. Jade sighed, 'but I guess that sometimes the magicians tools can reveal his secret."
"You used your power," Ladybug said, "that's how you were able to make that last dodge."
"I didn't say there was a rule against it," Jade said, "now I got to run before I run out of juice. See ya." He started walking away, but looked at them over her shoulder, "by the way, be sure to call Stripes and tell her that we stopped the akuma... or don't, it could be funny to have her looking around all day."
"We'll call her," Ladybug said.
"Awe," Jade said. He ran off and jumped off into the distance
"So I think it's safe to say that the festival is over," Cat said, putting his hands behind his head.
"In that case, I had plans before the festival," Ladybug said, "I'll catch up with you later."
"What," Cat said, "am I not allowed to be a part of your plans?"
"Do you want another long winded explanation from Fu?"
Cat looked up, "nah, I much rather have to listen to Plagg complain to me about cheese."
"Suit yourself," Ladybug said. She threw her yo-yo, "also, be sure to call Bee." She then was pulled by her yo-yo and zipped through the air.
Chat took his staff off his belt and flipped open the comms, "... eh, she'll figure it out eventually." He flipped his staff closed and extended it to vault to the rooftops.
o0o
Master Fu had already started pouring tea, it was always his favorite way to prepare for guests. As he poured the second cup, a gentle knocking was heard from his door. He walked over and opened it, "Ah, Marinette. It is good to see you again. Would you like some tea?"
"I would," Marinette said as she walked in, "I see that you're prepared for my arrival as always."
"I see that you're no longer surprised by it."
"Alya told me that she tells you when I'm coming."
"And ruining all my fun," Fu said, walking back over to the low table he always set up for this situation, taking a seat at one of the cushions on the floor on one side. Marinette sat on the other side. "So I assume you are here to talk about Jade Turtle," Fu said, handing her a cup of tea.
"Alya really told you everything," Marinette said, taking the cu and taking a gentle sip.
"Actually, I was expecting you to come to talk about him eventually. I'm surprised it took you so long."
"I was debating whether I should or not. I knew you wouldn't tell me who he is, Tikki was very adamant about that."
"I have known him longer than you," Tikki said, fluttering out from her hiding spot.
"I have kept your miraculous safe since I was young," Fu said with a smile.
"Anyways," Marinette continued, "I did have another question."
"I will answer it as much as I can," Fu said.
"Then I need to know, why did you give him your miraculous?"
Fu went silent for a minute before letting out a long sigh, "Marinette, I am an old man. Hawk Moth has gotten desperate. His akumas are more dangerous. You needed more help, help I could not personally provide."
He got up and walked over to his old gramophone, pressing the eyes on the dragons and inputting the code to make the large black and red box slowly rise out of it's hiding place He brought the box over to the table and set it down between them, "I also needed something else, another guardian."
Marinette looked down at her cup, "what do you mean?"
"It is like I said," Fu continued with a laugh, "I am old. I needed someone who could protect the miraculous in my place, for I will not be here forever."
"So you picked found the next guardian, found someone like us?'
"Not like you. Not like your friends. While with you, I picked people who showed that they could be good when they didn't need to. People who had the heart and soul of heroes, and it helped that all of you were close. But with my new guardian, it was different."
Marinette set her cup down and looked at Fu, "different how?"
"I needed someone who was already skilled, but could still show potential. I did not think I could find someone like that, but miraculously, no pun intended, someone I showed up. I found someone that could rival some akumas without the use of powers. As for potential, from what I saw, he could learn advanced skills in days, languages in weeks, and all with limited resources."
"That's amazing."
"I picked him for a reason," Fu said with a smile, "he may seem reckless, one who doesn't know the line between seriousness and jokes, but he is a great asset to you and your team. One day, he will be the guardian that I see in him."
"You haven't been wrong yet," Marinette said, "I doubt you ever will be."
Fu laughed, "let us hope not. We can not afford it."
"Thank you Master," Marinette said, standing up and taking a light bow.
"It was my pleasure," Fu said with a smile, "I am always here to help." Marinette gave him a gentle smile before waving goodbye and taking her leave. "I hope that he is able to guard you and the miraculous since I can not."
END
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Would anyone care if I change the rating, make it at least a T. i simply want to know because the next chapters I have in mind involve a lot of angst and family issues involving Sam, so I feel like I should change it, but I didn't want to without asking the audience. Anyway that's it for now, I'll have the next chapter out sometime after the next chapter of Amazing Spider-Man. Until then, stay miraculous (wow, that was cheesy).