Chapter 10: Lady Wi-Fi
Nymph's throne was different. She couldn't help but notice that after she transformed.
Her new throne was more majestic than the one transformed from her computer chair, the back was still carved to be shaped like butterfly wings, but the details were intricately carved, and there were arm rests now, also carved with swirling designs, and the legs of the throne were hidden by wispy material.
But Nymph had time to think about her new throne later, she needed to find a Champion to save Chloe.
Alya panted as she ran towards where all the commotion was, her phone at the ready to catch the new super villain attack, she shoved her way through the crowd of people until police tape stopped her from going any further.
"Man, I can't see anything from here." Ayla complained.
Looking around, Alya spotted a way past the police tape without being notice.
"Aha." She grinned triumphantly.
Manoeuvring out of the crowd, she snuck through the police's blind spot successfully, moving quickly until she reached the sight of all the action, positioning herself in a safer place while she began filming on her phone.
"Hey, Alya here with the current situation!" She said into her phone. "Paris' newest villain has struck yet again, this time taking hostage Chloe Bourgeois on the Eiffel tower."
She swung the camera around to the Eiffel tower where Chloe was dangling upside down from the middle, Catastrophe leaning against one of the metal beams.
"I know you're listening, Nymph!" Catastrophe shouted out. "I have your Champion. If you don't turn over your Miraculous, she drops! And if I see any of your Champions, well, splat."
Catastrophe let go of the rope holding Chloe to the tower, causing the girl to scream in fear as she suddenly dropped, before he grabbed hold of the rope again.
"You'll want to hurry, my arm's getting tired." He taunted.
"Are you saying I'm fat?" Chloe screamed in anger at the villain, forgetting her priorities.
"Fat? No." Catastrophe said. "It's your ego that's too heavy. In fact, it's so big that I don't think I can hold on any more."
Catastrophe let go of the rope again, and Chloe screamed as she was sent towards the ground.
Just before she could smash into the concrete, the rope around her went tight and she was jerked to a stop, and then began to rise again.
"Ha, your face." Catastrophe laughed, pulling the rope until Chloe was level again. "Now, stay quiet, or next time I won't bother to catch you."
Chloe was still recovering from her near impact with the ground to say anything, shock stealing away her voice.
"That's messed up!" Alya angrily declared from where she was filming. "Playing with her life like that."
She held no love for Chloe herself, the blond hadn't exactly left the best of first impressions on her, and despite her turning into Royal Phoenix and apologising for their first meeting, at least that was what Marinette said Chloe was trying to do, Alya could tell that they wouldn't be friends any time soon. But that didn't mean she wasn't currently getting angry at Chloe's mistreatment at the hands of Catastrophe.
"There must be something I could do." Alya said, looking to see if there was a way to get to Chloe without Catastrophe spotting her.
Nymph smiled, feeling the need to do right despite personal feelings glowing strongly within her new friend.
"The need to do something, to protect. This is what I need." She said, holding out her hand.
One of her butterflies fluttered down onto her finger and Nymph brought it to her lips, kissing it's wings gently to transfer her power into it.
"Go, my Tiānshǐ, give her the power to be a hero." She said.
The purple butterfly lifted off from her finger, flying into the sky and towards its target.
Alya still had her phone out, though it was no longer pointed at the action, she was too distracted to keep her arm up. It took her moment to notice the glowing purple butterfly making its way over to her, she'd only just recognised what it was just as it landed on her phone, sinking into it.
Alya gasped as Nymph's butterfly symbol appeared over her face and her vision faded to white, Nymph herself appearing before her.
"You want to help, don't you?" Nymph asked Alya gently.
Alya looked at her in awe before nodding. "Yes, I do." She clenched her free hand in determination. "You're going to give me the ability to do that, right?"
Nymph smiled.
"Yes I am." She answered. "I will give you the power to be a hero as my Champion. But, you must take Catastrophe's ring from him without hurting him, he is only a puppet in all this. Do you accept my gift?"
Alya nodded enthusiastically, grinning in excitement. "I do."
"Then, Lady Wi-Fi, go and be a hero." Nymph proclaimed.
Emerging from her phone, purple light enveloped Alya in a cocoon, and a few seconds later it broke open to reveal Lady Wi-Fi.
Lady Wi-Fi wore a black body suit with white boots and gloves with three white bands above each of them and a white belt that was slanted diagonally on her hips with a purple line running through the middle of it and a purple power button in the middle. Over the body suit she wore a purple crop top that went under her gloves, a white wi-fi signal symbol was emblazoned on the front of the top and attached to the back of the top was a short purple cape that went to her hips, and covering her face was a simple purple mask. Her phone had become a white wrist gauntlet with a black screen on the top.
Lady Wi-Fi looked over at the Eiffel tower before disappearing in a burst of pixels, adsorbing into a nearby wi-fi antenna.
Below the Eiffel tower, a cop's phone rang, causing disapproving looks to be shot his way, smiling sheepishly, he reached into his police car to turn it off.
"I'm sure I put it on silent." He muttered to himself.
As soon as he opened his phone to switch it off, he was surprised by Lady Wi-Fi re-materialising out of it.
"Stay back." Lady Wi-Fi instructed the officers. "I am Lady Wi-Fi, Champion of Lady Nymph. I'll handle this."
"Please, save my daughter." Mayor Bourgeois pleaded to Lady Wi-Fi as he appeared from the crowd of officers.
"Don't worry, I will." She assured.
Holding up her arm with the gauntlet, a purple fast-forward symbol appeared, with her other hand, Lady Wi-Fi swiped over it, causing it to fly out of the screen and enlarge in front of her. She hopped on it, the symbol acting as a hoverboard that took her towards Catastrophe and his hostage.
"Oh, hello." Catastrophe said as Lady Wi-Fi appeared in front of him.
"How about you let Chloe down gently, and we go settle this elsewhere?" Lady Wi-Fi proposed.
"And why should we do that, it's quite a view from here." Catastrophe toyed with the rope holding Chloe up.
"So we can talk. Maybe get rid of that corruption in that ring of yours." Lady Wi-Fi said, remembering what Marinette and Nymph had told her about Catastrophe.
Catastrophe looked at her in confusion. "What corruption?" He asked.
Lady Wi-Fi's eyes widened, she hadn't thought about Catastrophe not realising he was being corrupted, though it seemed obvious now.
Nymph's mark appeared over her face.
"You may be able to get through to him." She heard her Lady's voice. "Keep going, tell him!"
"You're being controlled." Lady Wi-Fi told Catastrophe. "That ring, it's making to do all of this. Is this really who you are, threatening the lives of others?"
Catastrophe looked at the ring on his finger and then at Chloe still dangling from the rope in his grip, contemplating the Champion's words. But then the ring on his finger pulsed darkly, and he didn't want to consider her words anymore.
Catastrophe's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't believe you." He hissed at Lady Wi-Fi. "You're just trying to trick me into giving up my ring! I'm the opposite of being controlled, this ring makes me free. And I'm not giving it up!"
Catastrophe lashed out at Lady Wi-Fi, inadvertently releasing his hold on the rope keeping Chloe up.
Chloe screamed as she was once again sent towards the ground.
"No!" Lady Wi-Fi screamed as she dodged Catastrophe's attack, watching the blond fall.
Her hand quickly went to her gauntlet, swiping the symbol that had appeared, sending it at Chloe while she took a kick from Catastrophe.
Chloe's screaming abruptly cut off, but there was no sound of impact accompanying her silenced screams.
The police officers and mayor looked in shock at Chloe Bourgeois, who was stuck a few metres in the air, frozen in time by the pause symbol Lady Wi-Fi had thrown at her.
"Good shot." Catastrophe complimented the Champion as they continued to fight.
Nymph's symbol appeared over Lady Wi-Fi's face again.
"It doesn't seem like words will work." Nymph guided her. "His ring is keeping him from listening, you'll have to take it by force."
Lady Wi-Fi nodded, bringing up the pause symbol on her gauntlet again.
"Why don't you try it out too?" She said, firing the symbol at Catastrophe.
Catastrophe slashed with his clawed gauntlet, dissipating the symbol.
"I'm not really one for staying still." He said.
"You will soon." Lady Wi-Fi shot back.
The two of them continued to fight, ducking in and out of the metal beams as they climbed higher, until they were stuck fighting at the top. Running into the room at the top of the tower, Lady Wi-Fi quickly doubled back under Catastrophe's legs as he chased her, kicking him in the back for further measure, she slammed the door closed behind her, sending a lock symbol at the door to keep it closed. Catastrophe was quick to slam himself against the door.
"Okay, I need a better plan." Lady Wi-Fi said.
She looked back over the edge of the Eiffel tower, frowning when she saw the damage done to it in her fight against Catastrophe.
"We can't stay here, any more and the tower's going to fall down." Lady Wi-Fi concluded, looking at the people down below.
Bringing up her wrist, she summoned her forward symbol again, hopping onto it and riding it to ground level. Underneath the tower, she spotted firemen attempting to reach Chloe, who was still frozen in the air.
"Don't worry, I've got her." Lady Wi-Fi said.
Bringing up the pause symbol on her gauntlet, she drew an X over it, causing the symbol on Chloe to disappear. Chloe's screams resumed as she once again dropped towards the ground, only to be caught by Lady Wi-Fi.
"Did you take care of Catastrophe?" One of the firemen asked, taking Chloe off the Champion to look her over for injuries.
"No, not yet." Lady Wi-Fi reported. "You need to clear out the area as far as you can, so no one gets caught in the crossfire."
"You heard the lady." The fireman said to his co-workers. "Come on, Miss Bourgeois, we need to get you to safety."
Chloe scowled but allowed herself to be taken away, looking back at Lady Wi-Fi longingly.
"Why didn't she choose me." Chloe pouted.
"That wasn't very nice." Catastrophe growled as he dropped to the ground, having finally broken out of the room he was locked in.
"You needed a time out." Lady Wi-Fi shrugged.
Catastrophe hissed, attacking with more ferocity, forcing Lady Wi-Fi to play defence. She grunted as she was launched backwards into a pole, it hurt, but it gave her the room she needed to launch her attacks again.
But when she went to bring up a symbol, nothing happened.
Lady Wi-Fi gasped, looking down at her gauntlet to find the screen blank, save for the signal bar that was showing no bars. She looked behind her to see that the pole she had been thrown into was a wi-fi antenna, which was now broken.
"What's wrong, your powers not working?" Catastrophe mocked her as he advanced.
Lady Wi-Fi gritted her teeth, looking for a way out of her situation.
"Alright, you got me, I surrender." She held up her hands.
Catastrophe eyed her disbelievingly.
"You're going to give up, just like that?" He asked.
"Yep." Lady Wi-Fi said. "I've been bested."
"If you're admitting defeat, then take me to Nymph." Catastrophe said, untrustingly.
"Alright." Lady Wi-Fi said.
With her hands still in the air, Lady Wi-Fi began to walk, Catastrophe behind her with his claw blades not far from her back. As they walked, Lady Wi-Fi kept an eye on her gauntlet.
She grinned when the signal bars returned.
Thinking quickly, she dove forwards, ensuring that she was out of the way of Catastrophe's blades.
"I knew it!" Catastrophe growled. "Get back here!"
"Only if you can catch me." Lady Wi-Fi called back.
She quickly ran towards the closest source of wi-fi, an abandoned phone, disappearing into it. Catastrophe grabbed the phone but crushed it in his grip when he realised Lady Wi-Fi wasn't in it.
Lady Wi-Fi popped out some distance away.
Looking around, she realised she was in a tech store, thankfully already evacuated.
"Well, this is convenient." She grinned, taking in all the laptops, phones and tablets.
Back with Catastrophe, he was getting increasingly angry, up-turning cars as if he'd find Nymph's Champion under one of them.
"Come out and fight me, you coward!" He growled.
He was interrupted from his destruction by a giant screen appearing in the sky, Lady Wi-Fi's face appearing on it.
"Looking for me, kitty cat?" Lady Wi-Fi spoke into the recording symbol in front of her, which was broadcasting her image onto the large screen. "Well, come and find me."
She stepped back from the screen, revealing the tech shop behind her, which she entered.
Catastrophe growled again, quickly heading to the location of the tech shop, stopping outside.
'This is probably a trap.' Said the rational part of his mind.
"I don't care." Catastrophe dismissed it, charging into the tech shop.
Inside, Lady Wi-Fi was no where to be seen, only rows and rows of phones, tablets and laptops.
As Catastrophe walked further inside, there was the familiar sound of Lady Wi-Fi's teleport, he swung around only to be kicked in the mask, and when he swung his claws the Champion had already disappeared back into pixels.
Lady Wi-Fi then popped out of another phone, attacking before disappearing back into pixels again before Catastrophe could counter attack.
"What's wrong?" Lady Wi-Fi taunted as she popped out of a tablet before disappearing. "Can't keep up." She popped out of a laptop.
Catastrophe growled as constant hits were rained down upon him, only barely able to dodge and block the symbols that were fired at him, he's already had to slip out of his coat after it'd been locked to the ground. He smashed every device that was in reach, but there were still many in the store for Lady Wi-Fi to come out of and then disappear back into for safety.
The fight came to an end when Lady Wi-Fi popped out of a laptop far behind Catastrophe that he'd forgotten to smash, firing a locking symbol at him. The symbol hit his clawed gauntlet arm from where it was raised to attack where the Champion had previously been, pinning it to the wall.
"Game's over." Lady Wi-Fi declared, walking confidently over to where Catastrophe was frantically trying to free his arm.
She reached for the pinned arm with her gauntlet arm, eyes on the corrupt Miraculous. But in the heat of victory, she'd forgotten that the villain only had one arm pinned.
Lady Wi-Fi gasped when Catastrophe's free hand latched onto her gauntlet, stopping her from reaching his ring, she then cried out in pain as he began to squeeze his hand. The gauntlet groaned, then cracked, and finally broke under the pressure.
Catastrophe released his grip, allowing Lady Wi-Fi to fall back, cradling her injured arm.
The Tiānshǐ fluttered out of the broken remains of the gauntlet, reverting the gauntlet back into a broken phone.
"No!" Lady Wi-Fi cried as purple light washed over her, reverting her back to Alya.
The Tiānshǐ flew as fast as it could away but was caught in a clawed hand. With Lady Wi-Fi gone, Catastrophe was no longer pinned.
"No you don't, little butterfly." Catastrophe said menacingly. "Cataclysm!"
Alya watched into horror as her Tiānshǐ flaked away in the villain's grasp, falling to the ground as dust.
Nymph seized up in her throne, gasping her chest. She then screamed in agony, tears forcing there way through her tightly screwed eyes. Disoriented in her pain, she fell from her throne, curling up on the grass. Around her, her butterflies drifted to the ground, some landing on her and attempting to offer comfort with their feelers and what little strength they had themselves. But Nymph was unaware of them, lost in her own world of pain.
Eventually, the pain receded, but Nymph remained where she lay, eyes now wide open as she shivered, struggling to breath.
She continued to lie there, even as her Miraculous beeped and her de-transformation washed over her, leaving Marinette lying next to her wheelchair.
Catastrophe dusted his hands to get rid of the remains of the Tiānshǐ.
"That was satisfying." He sighed.
He looked down at Alya, who was still cradling her arm while looking at the scattered dust that used to be her Tiānshǐ.
"Not even worth the bother." He decided, walking away.
Picking up his coat and putting it back on, Catastrophe left the tech shop, jumping away.
It took a while for the emergency services to arrive at the scene after deciding that Catastrophe was no longer a threat, finding Alya still on the floor and bundling her up in blankets. The siren on the ambulance screeched to life as it took her away to hospital.
Far away, Catastrophe landed in his room, turning back into Adrien.
A shadow in the corner of his room moved and he quickly whipped around, ready to go on the defensive, but relaxed when he saw it was his mysterious friend.
"What did you do?" The stranger demanded, sounding none too happy.
"I defeated Nymph's Champion." Adrien answered happily, not picking up on the stranger's dissatisfaction.
Slap!
Adrien's head was forced to the side, he lifted up his hand to feel the red mark beginning to form.
"You destroyed her Tiānshǐ!" The Stranger said angrily. "We need them to find their mistress, they are worth nothing as dust."
Adrien rubbed his cheek, looking at the stranger in betrayal.
"I'm…I'm sorry." He apologised. "I guess I got carried away. I'll do better next time."
"Good, because if you don't, I could easily give that ring to someone who won't fail me." The stranger threatened.
Adrien's hand quickly covered his ring, hiding it from view as he looked at the stranger in fear.
"Please, don't." He begged.
The stranger suddenly smiled. "I won't." The said in something attempting comfort. "I only want for you to use your ring properly and to listen to me, you shouldn't have to worry about anything as long as you do as I ask.
They walked up to Adrien, pulling him forcefully into a hug, resting the boy's head against their chest.
"I will be here for you, I am the guardian of the Miraculous, meaning I will also guide those who I choose as wielders." They said, stroking Adrien's hair.
The embrace was awkward, uncomfortable and Adrien did not feel welcomed by it, but it was the first hug he'd gotten in such a long time and he took a twisted sense of comfort from it.
"Thank you." He said.
Author's note: Please comment.
Since Lady Wi-Fi isn't a villainous sounding name and fits Alya quite well, I decided to keep it for Alya's Champion form, only changing her outfit since it looks to evil to use, though I did try to stick to the original design as close as I could. You can find a rough drawing on my DeviantART.