Chapter 23: Miraculous trade
Author's note: Sorry for being gone for so long, my motivation to write seems to be drained lately.
Sabrina panted as she ran, ducking into an alley and hiding behind a bin as many figures ran past, making her sigh in relief.
The Akuma attack had amassed before anyone could register it, since the Akuma and her minions hadn't looked much different to Girl Guides in uniforms, no one had realised that it wasn't a parade by the Girl Guides until a large number of people had been converted into Guide-minions, or the boy scout equivalent. Now those that had turned were running about, pinning those transforming badges on anyone who was young enough to be a Guide or Scout, it seemed like the adults were left out of becoming minions.
Sabrina had seen the attack before it reached her and immediately ran, which was a good thing since the minions seemed really determined to turn her, and she had also managed to get a glimpse of the minions at the centre of the attack, her heart dropping when she recognised them as her friends and Guiding group.
"This is terrible." Sabrina cried as quietly as she could, not wanting to alert anyone to her presence.
Her new friends had been turned into an Akumatised minions, and if what Casey and Lila said was true, her ex-best friend, Chloe was the cause behind it. Why else would the Akuma be Guiding-themed if it wasn't one of her unit?
There wasn't any sign of the heroes of Paris yet either, though they had to arrive soon with how much ruckus was going on.
"I need to get out of here." Sabrina said to herself.
But how could she get past the minions without being spotted?
Sabrina was so focused on the exit to the alleyway she hid in and trying to contemplate a method of escape, that she forgot that the alleyway had another entrance and so didn't see the figure coming up behind her.
Sabrina cries of surprise were muffled by the hand that clapped over her mouth. She spun around and was horrified to see one of the Akuma's minions staring at her, she tried to run away but a hand grabbed her arm and the other hand remained over her mouth to keep her quiet, she struggled as hard as she could against the grip.
"Will you stop?" The minion ordered. "I'm not one of them."
Sabrina stopped struggling to look at the minion in suspicion, her eyes then widened as she recognised them.
"Casey?" Sabrina asked, her words muffled by the hand over her mouth.
Casey smiled back reassuringly. "Yeah, it's me. See?" She said, removing her hand and releasing her grip.
Sabrina scanned the girl and saw that Casey's eyes were still their usual clear green, rather than the dull, off-coloured eyes of those under the Akuma's control.
"But, how?" Sabrina questioned.
"I don't know." Casey shrugged. "Maybe Bree forgot to add the mind control to my badge."
Casey picked at the badge pinned to the shirt of her uniform, it gave no indication of coming off.
"So, Bree's the one who got Akumatised then?" Sabrina asked sadly.
Casey looked away as she nodded.
"She puts a lot of pressure on herself and doesn't take bad things happening to her very well, getting into trouble like that when she tries her best to always be good, I guess it was too much for her." Casey explained. "Now Hawkmoth's turned her into 'Ranger'."
"Well, Ladybird and the others will have to show up soon and will stop her, and then everything will return to normal." Sabrina said, trying to reassure herself.
"I wouldn't count on that." Casey muttered.
"What?" Sabrina asked, having not heard clearly.
"Nothing." Casey said. "Anyway, we need to get you out of here, the others are looking for you to complete the group, and they're going to come across you if you keep hiding here."
"Get away from her!" A familiar voice commanded.
Casey grunted as her arms were pulled behind her back and she was dragged away from Sabrina.
"I'm sorry Casey, but I can't let you hurt anyone." Paonne said as she kept a tight hold on her friend.
Casey struggled against her grip.
"Knock it off, I'm not being controlled." She protested.
"What?" Paonne asked.
"It's true, Casey isn't being controlled by the Akuma." Sabrina defended her.
Paonne spun Casey around and looked at her, sighing in relief when she saw her clear eyes.
"How come you aren't under the Akuma's control, though?" Paonne asked.
Casey shrugged again.
"Just lucky, I guess." She answered. "Though, I have run into a problem with being unable to change my wardrobe."
"What?" Paonne asked, not getting the meaning of her words.
Casey sighed and looked over at Sabrina, and then sighed again.
"I can't transform like this." She offered bluntly.
"Casey!" Paonne exclaimed, looking over at Sabrina, who looked back in confusion.
"There's not any time right now." Casey said. "Besides, she'll only know about me. But Paris needs a Ladybird, to fight alongside Chat, to purify the Akuma, and right now I can't be that Ladybird."
"Wait, what?" Sabrina asked. "You're Ladybird?" She pointed at Casey.
"Uh…" Paonne was stuck as what to say.
"Yes, I'm Ladybird, but keep it to yourself. Alright?" Casey told Sabrina sternly.
Sabrina nodded quickly.
"Why aren't you out stopping Bree, then?" Sabrina asked nervously.
"Because this thing-" Casey pulled at the badge that had transformed her. "Seems to be blocking my Miraculous." She told Paonne.
Casey stuck her hand into the pocket her uniform had fortunately came with and withdrew it with her fist clenched, she then opened her hand and presented it to Paonne. On her hand sat a pair of red earrings with black spots.
"Which is why I need you to use them." She said.
"I-I-don't know." Paonne struggled to respond. "You think I can be Ladybird?"
"Just for today, like I said, someone needs to use them. And it's either you, or her." Casey indicated her head towards Sabrina.
"I guess so." Paonne admitted defeat, taking the earrings. "I'll be quick."
Paonne then disappeared out of the alleyway.
"So, out with it then." Casey turned to Sabrina. "I know you've got questions."
"You're Ladybird." Sabrina said.
"Yes, as we've established." Casey responded.
"But…how? Why?" Sabrina asked.
"That's a little tricky to explain." Casey answered. "The most I think I can say is that I was chosen to use the Ladybug Miraculous to fight against the evils of Hawkmoth."
"Does anyone else know?"
"With the exception of my teammates, and now you, no."
"Are…you alright with that?"
Sabrina could see how knowing who Ladybird was could be a danger, especially if she became upset enough to become Vanisher again.
"It'll be fine, as long as you can keep quiet about it that is." Casey fixed Sabrina with a look.
For a brief moment, Sabrina felt threatened by the intensity behind Casey's eyes, but then the girl smiled.
"But, I'm sure you can." She said.
There was a sudden thud, and the two girls turned their head to see that Paonne had returned, struggling to remain balance from her landing. Instead of her usual blue and green, Paonne was dressed in red and black, the costume was also less detailed than Casey's, being a plain red unitard with black spots and mask.
"This feels weird." She commented.
She then walked over to Casey and handed her something, the Peacock Miraculous.
"Pavo said not to wear two at once, so I need you to look after it for me." She said.
"Will do." Casey agreed.
Paonne, now Ladybug, nodded and then took the yoyo from around her waist, she took a moment to figure it out before throwing, and then yelping as she was suddenly yanked away by the weapon/mode of transport.
Casey laughed, remembering her own first experiences with using the yoyo.
She then let out a long sigh, looking at the Miraculous in her hands before shoving it in her pocket.
"Well, no use hanging around here." She told Sabrina. "We best find a place to hide."
"Where are the girls?" Renard Rouge grunted as he avoided an attack.
"No idea." Chat Noir answered. "But they'll get here, eventually, they might not have noticed yet."
"This isn't exactly something that can be easily ignored." Renard responded.
Ranger and her minions were making a lot of commotion, so Renard was right in that it would be hard to ignore.
Ranger and her minions were also very hard to fight, especially with just the two of them. They drew their power from the badges on their sashes, whatever their badge was about they would be able to do it and use it as an attack. The newly turned minions weren't so bad, having no badges to draw skills from, but Ranger herself and her main minions, who Renard guessed were the rest of the local guiding unit, had plenty of badges to draw power from and were the ones the boys had to keep their eyes on. There was also something about the main minions all being the local Guiding unit that made the boys feel alarmed, though they couldn't work out why, they didn't exactly have the time to think about it while dodging attacks.
"Oh, this is going to hurt." Chat commented as he saw the attack coming towards him with no conceivable way of dodging in time.
Chat then let out a sudden whoosh of air as something wrapped around his middle and pulled him violently back, out of the way of the attack. He groaned as he was given a rough landing.
"Sorry, I'm not used to this yet." A familiar voice said.
Renard and Chat looked over, expecting to see Paonne, but were met with red and black instead of blue and green.
"Paonne?" The boys asked in confusion when they saw the girl behind the mask.
"Hey." She said awkwardly.
"Why are you wearing Ladybird's Miraculous?" Renard asked.
"Where's your Miraculous? Where's Ladybird?" Chat asked in worry.
"She's…unavailable at the moment." Ladybug said. "But she's perfectly fine, and my Miraculous is with her."
The boys breathed a sigh of relief, which quickly turned into exclamations as they remembered that they were in the middle of a battle.
"Woah." They narrowly avoided the attack.
"Which is the Akuma?" Ladybug asked.
"The one floating above everyone." Renard pointed at the Akuma. "We can't get close enough to work out the item, though."
"She wouldn't have been Akumatised while in uniform, considering the situation, so it'll have to be an item that goes against her aesthetic." Ladybug concluded.
"And how do we get near her?" Renard asked. "Her minions are doing a good job and making us keep our distance."
"How good are your illusions for us?" Ladybug asked.
"As good as they're probably going to get, convincing enough from a distance, obvious up close, I can't get the eyes right." Renard said, gesturing to his eyes.
"We're going to need something else, you've used that trick so many times that Hawkmoth will be wise to it." Chat said, shaking his head. "Plus, I can't see a way of getting enough alone time from the ladies to make the switch."
"I could try and flood the area with clones, and we could go for the Akuma in the confusion." Renard offered.
Ladybug shook her head.
"It'll use up too much of your energy." She said. "And we're already down one hero."
"How else are we going to get past them though?" Chat Noir asked. "One of us playing bait?"
"Look out!" Ladybug shouted instead of answering.
The three heroes leapt away avoid a large attack.
"Spread out, thin the protection around the Akuma!" Ladybug quickly came up with.
The male heroes nodded as they ran off in separate directions, a group of minions following each of them.
"What I wouldn't give to be able to turn invisible." Renard muttered to himself as he ran.
Sabrina watched Casey pace around the room, frustration clear on the minionised-hero's face. The two of them were currently hidden in the basement of the college, since the Akuma had already been there and so had no reason to return. There was the sound of a distant explosion and Casey frowned even harder as she looked in its direction.
"Ugh!" She cried out in frustration. "I should be out there! Doing something!"
"I sure Paonne of the other heroes will manage." Sabrina tried to reassure.
"They'll have to without me, or the Peacock Miraculous, there." Casey grunted, leaning against the wall before sliding down to sit on the ground.
Casey took out the Peacock Miraculous from her pocket and stared at it, Pavo was locked away inside it for now, hoping it could give her some sort of answer.
"The uniforms are the same as ours." Sabrina suddenly said.
"What?" Casey looked up at her.
"Your uniform, it's the same as ours with only a few differences." Sabrina elaborated. "If I wear one, I could pull off already being turned, then we wouldn't have to hide."
"Sabrina, that's very risky, if we got found out, you'd be turned for real." Casey warned.
"You want to sit here and do nothing then?" Sabrina asked.
"No…" Casey sighed.
Of course she wanted to do something, but the unwritten hero code said not to get civilians involved.
Sabrina walked over to Casey and knelt down in front of her, taking the hero's hands in hers.
"They're my friends, you've all helped me so much. And I want to help them now, I want to be able to do whatever I can to help." Sabrina told her.
Casey looked at the determination in Sabrina's eyes and sighed in defeat.
"Fine, but if I tell you to run, you run, don't go doing anything suicidal." She said.
Sabrina smiled. "Deal." She said.
"Alright, the uniform shop isn't that far from here, I'll fetch you a uniform and meet you in the arts room to make the changes to it."
Sabrina nodded as the two of them snuck out of the basement, keeping an eye out for any lingering minions, Sabrina then ran to the arts room of the college while Casey went outside to make her way to the uniform shop, blending in with the other minions patrolling the streets.
Renard hid behind a skip as Ranger's minions ran past, chasing a shadow that they thought was his, but was really an illusion he managed to create without them noticing, sighing in relief at finally escaping them. He then pressed a finger to his ear, where the communication ear piece his flute had given him rested.
"Alright, I've lost my lot." He said. "What about you?"
"Just about." Ladybug answered.
"I've managed to hide, but they're still wandering around looking for me." Chat answered.
"I'm going back to the Akuma before the minions realise I've lost them and head back to her, meet me there when you can." Renard said, peaking out of his hiding spot before running back the way he came.
"Alright, we'll see you there." Ladybug agreed.
As Renard ran, he passed by a large window, catching sight of someone running in the reflection from the corner of his eye. From his brief view, he caught sight of long white hair and a deep orange costume, before he passed the window and the reflection was gone. He turned quickly and ran back to the window, but all that was showing in the reflection was his own, no white-haired figure.
"What was that?" Renard Rouge asked, looking around.
But he saw nothing and continued on his way back to the Akuma.
He snuck his way around corners until he reached the centre of the chaos, Ranger floated through the streets, only a few minions around her now, a more manageable number once his teammates hopefully arrived.
"I could really use some back up." Renard said, wondering if he would have to start the attack alone.
"Here." Chat said, appearing behind him, causing Renard to jump slightly.
"A little more warning next time." Renard snapped quietly at him.
Chat's grin told Renard that he wasn't sorry.
"Where's Paonne…uh, Ladybug?" Renard asked, wondering what to call their teammate now that she was using a different Miraculous.
"I'm here." Ladybug's voice came through their communicators.
"Where?" The boys looked around.
"Just across from you."
"Alright, so, what's the plan?" Renard asked.
"Chat Noir and I will attack. Renard Rouge, you scan her and try and find the possessed object, and try to get it if you can, while we distract her."
"Roger."
"Alright, Chat. In three, two, one!"
Ladybug and Chat burst out of their hiding spots with their weapons at the ready, attacking the minions as they came at them, and attracting the attention of Ranger. Meanwhile, Renard snuck his way around the battle, making sure to keep low and out of sight, until he was close enough to Ranger to scan her.
Badges? Neckerchief? Beret? No, she didn't have any of her Guiding stuff with her last he saw her, so it couldn't be any of those. From what he remembered, the items were also sometimes the Akuma's source of power, but those were the badges and he's already established that it wasn't any of them. But nothing else stuck out to him.
'Think, Nathanael, think.' Renard racked his brains. 'You know Bree well enough. What would she have on her to possess?'
As Renard struggled to come up with an answer, Chat and Ladybug were struggling, especially Ladybug who was new to her weapon.
"Is it me, or are there more than before?" Chat panted as he fended off attacks.
"The minions are coming back, we need to finish this quickly!" Ladybug said loudly so that Renard could hear but not give away his position.
It was beginning to get hard for Ladybug to know what to do, so much was coming at her that she moved on autopilot, which resulted in a few attacks landing in her blind spots.
"Oracle Eye…" She trailed off, remembering that she didn't have that power in this form. "Uh...Lucky Charm!" She called forth the power Casey always used.
A red and black ball of yarn fell into her hands.
"Well, this is odd." Ladybug said as she held the yarn in her hands, unravelling it slightly. "But how to use it?" She asked herself, looking around.
As Ladybug tried to work out how to use her Lucky Charm, Renard was creeping closer to Ranger.
"What is it? What is it?" He whispered under his breath. "Wait."
Renard stared at Ranger's beret and realised that the pin on the side looked slightly out of place, not gelling with the rest of the uniform, he also remembered that Bree usually wore a pin in her hair to keep it out of her face.
"That's it!"
Renard was about to leap, but was then impacted in his side, sending him flying over to his teammates. In his efforts to find the possessed object he hadn't been keeping a close enough watch on his surroundings and been hit by a minion.
"Renard!" Chat and Ladybug cried out, helping the fox hero to his feet.
"Now, hand over your Miraculouses and I'll give you your badges instead." Ranger demanded, holding up her mind controlling badges.
The heroes looked around, but they were surrounded, minions with weapons at the ready.
"Now would be a really good time to find a use for your Lucky Charm." Chat told Ladybug as the heroes pressed closer to each other.
Chat and Renard scanned the crowd desperately for a way out, but their eyes landed on something disheartening instead.
"No!" They cried out.
Casey stared back at them from her position next to Ranger with Ranger's other head minions.
They were then faced with confusion when she then winked.
But Ranger had taken the boys' exclamation as a refusal.
"Fine." She scowled. "Take their Miraculouses by force!" She ordered.
Ladybug looked around desperately as the circle closed in, then suddenly she saw the answer.
Grabbing a rock off the floor, she stuffed it inside the yarn and threw it at Ranger, the rock giving it the weight to be thrown far.
"Renard, where's the Akuma?" She shouted as she threw it.
"Uh, the pin on her hat." Renard answered.
Ranger didn't even flinch as the yarn-covered rock came towards her, easily caught by one of the minions near her.
"Was that some sort of desperate last-ditch effort?" Ranger asked, unimpressed.
"No, just outsourcing." Ladybug answered.
Casey dropped the rock out of the yarn and then used the power of her crafting badge, that Ranger had so helpfully provided, to turn the yarn into a knitted tube. She then leapt forward and pulled the tube over Ranger's head, trapping the Akuma's arms at her sides.
"Sabrina, the hat pin!" She shouted.
Another of the minions suddenly burst to life, snatching the pin off of Ranger's beret, who was unable to do anything thanks to the strength of the wool.
The two undercover girls then found themselves surrounded by the actual minions of Ranger.
"Get me back my pin!" Ranger ordered.
Casey quickly snatched the pin out of Sabrina's hands.
"Catch!" She called as she threw it.
The pin sailed over the heads of the minions, who reached up to catch it, and just as it seemed like one of the minions would grab it, a yoyo wrapped around it and grabbed it out the air.
The pin landed in Ladybug's hand as it was released from the yoyo, and she quickly snapped it in two. A black butterfly flew out from one of the broken pieces.
"No more evil doing for you, little Akuma." Ladybug said, opening up her yoyo the way she had seen Ladybird do before.
The yoyo swung out and caught the Akuma in the white light of the yoyo before it could escape, closing around it, the yoyo returned to Ladybug's hand and she pressed the top of it, releasing the white butterfly from inside.
"Bye, bye, little butterfly." Ladybug said as it flew away.
Ranger groaned and collapsed to her knees as a black bubbling mass washed over her, returning her to normal.
"What's going on? Why am I tied up?" Bree questioned as she looked around.
"Let me help you with that." Casey said, removing the knitted tube
"Casey? Why are you wearing your uniform?" Bree asked as Sabrina helped her to her feet. "Why is everyone wearing a uniform for that matter?"
"Actually, that's a good question." Renard said. "Why hasn't everyone else turned back yet?"
Around them, the former minions were looking around the street, clearly confused, but also relieved. They were all still wearing the uniforms the Akumatised Bree had given them, though the mind control was now gone.
"Because the Miraculous Cure hasn't undone the Akuma's damage." Casey answered him.
She handed Ladybug the knitted tube.
Ladybug took it and smiled at her, before throwing it up into the air.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
The knitted tube burst into thousands of tiny ladybugs, that washed over the crowd, reverting their clothes back to normal and undoing the damage caused by the attack, the costume Sabrina wore was even returned back to the uniform shop where it had come from.
The heroes of Paris sighed in relief, the Akuma was defeated and people were already beginning to head home. Bree herself being escorted by her friends.
"What about the trouble at college?" Bree asked.
"I think we can afford to deal with it tomorrow, all things considered." Casey told her.
Ladybug's eyes widened when she heard beeping in her ear.
"I think that's my signal to leave." She said.
"Leave?" A loud voice asked. "But the party is only just beginning!"
The heroes and group of friends looked up to the source of the voice and gasped in shock.
Three figures stood on top of a building. One looked like a jester with a theatre comedy mask covering their face, slumped over with extremely long needle-like talons coming from each finger. Another was covering head to toe in bandages, with a cloak over their shoulders and faceless mask covering their face. The final couldn't even be called human, it stood upright on animal-like hindlegs, it's chest was a mass of muscled flash with machinery embedded into it and tubes leading behind it, it's arms were so long that they reached the floor and made of metal, huge oversized hands with three fat clawed fingers were on the end and supported the creature's top-heavy weight, and its head was covered by a metal helmet with a visor, an inhuman mouth full of sharp teeth visible.
The heroes could tell right away that they were bad news.
"I thought Hawkmoth could only make one Akuma at a time." Sabrina said.
"They're not Akumas." Casey said, voice full of fear.
"What?" One of the girls asked.
"We need to get out of here." Casey said instead of answering. "Now!"
Casey quickly ushered her friends away from the scene, who gave no protests.
The remaining heroes had seen Casey's fear of the newcomers and were even more apprehensive, and it didn't help that Ladybug was running out of time.
"Now." The jested giggled, deranged. "Let's have some fun."
Then they attacked.
Author's note. Tada, now the stakes are being upped.
Marinette getting a turn with the Ladybug Miraculous is just something that wormed its way into the story, it started as a thought and then wouldn't go away until I put it in.
And I am begging all of you. Please, please, please comment. I really want to know what people think of my chapters and if they have any suggestions, even if it's a simple 'good chapter'.