MIRACULOUS ALLIANCE
EP 11: SILENCER PART III
Bob Roth was running for his life. That motivation is what caused him to run much faster then his big fat frame would suggest otherwise. However, it was slowly becoming hopeless. For every corner he turned, he always seemed to run in a couple of Moth Drones, making him squeal like a pig before turning around and try another way. Soon, after this has gone on for a few times, he found himself on the rooftops. No way to go. He turned around to see Silencer and his Moth Swarm. "You can't get away from me, Bob Roth. I will make you tell the truth, live on TV." Silencer said in XY's voice.
"Don't touch me! I'm warning you! I'm well-connected. One call to Mr. Bourgeois...and he'll bring the police for me. The whole army if he has to!" Bob Roth said as he backed off, tripped and crawled back.
Silencer chuckled. "You still think that you are coming out on top, Roth? Granted, we are on a very high rooftop. But that can be easily remedied." Silencer said as he pointed over the edge. "The truth or your life, Roth?"
Roth whimpered as he crawled back, only for the heroes of Paris jump in between the monster...and Silencer. "We can't let you do this, Silencer.""And about time, too! What are you waiting for?Get to work!" Bob Roth wanted to push Ladybug forward, only for him to struggle, as Ladybug stood there, unmoving.
"Are you really trying to push me? You do realize that me and my teammates all have superhuman strength, right?" Ladybug asked annoyed.
"How is someone smart enough to rip off others so easily that dumb at the same time?" Chat muttered.
Queen Bee decided to step in and speak to her akumatized boyfr-Er, akumatized friend. "Listen, Luka - er, Silencer. You don't know what you're doing. Hawk Moth is evil. You think you're using your power for good but you're wrong."
"I still think at this time Hawkmoth is the lesser of two evils. Hawkmoth just wants some pretty baubles. This tub of lard wants to ruin my friends' futures. I will not let him. I am going to do what I deem right, and you will do what you deem right" Silencer said softly, in XY's voice again. "And if we were to clash over it, so be it!" Silencer snapped his fingers. The Moth Drones then charged at the heroes.
Ladybug shot out her yo-yo, which wrapped around the neck of a drone, and as she pulled it closer, she kicked it so hard in the stomach it poofed. She then swung her yo-yo overhead, smashing it into the head of another drone from the top, whom immediately poofed as well. A scream came from Bob Roth and she was forced to pull a moth that came too close away with her yoyo. As she pulled him close enough she forced it to stab herself with its own butterfly knife. Another one approached her and she readied herself. However she felt something grab her shoulders, and when in a fight, you kind of react on instinct. She had grabbed the arms of the one whom grabbed her from behind and tossed it in several of the Moths. In hindsight it appeared to be Bob Roth, whom had tried to use her as a shield, forgetting that she wasn't just a little girl whom was easily moved around.
"Oh, I am so terribly sorry. I thought you were a moth." she said, not really convincing in her apology. Besides, Roth was more of a scumbug then a moth. And his bodyweight proved a huge help in crushing the bugs. "You shouldn't sneak up on a superhero while she's fighting. I may respond to you as if you were a threat."
"I've noticed." Roth said, sounding as if he was in pain. More moths came towards him, and Ladybug, despite knowing he may deserve death by moths, grappled his leg with a yo-yo and dragged him away as she then saw several moths get too close for comfort and her first instinct was to use Bob Roth as a human club to whack them away. Maybe it wasn't all instinct and a bit of resentment has made its way into it but she wouldn't think anyone would fault her. She's still human after all.
Chat has been whacking away at several Moths as two grabbed him from behind. Chat then ran backwards, smashing the moths between the wall and him. He then planted his baton against the stomach of one of the pinned moths and extended it, impaling and poofing it. He then tossed the other one over his shoulders, and planted his claws in his stomach, poofing him as well. Several more flew towards him, lashing with their butterfly knives, but Chat was too agile to be hit by them. He then waved his baton to knock the butterfly knives out of their hands, and caught them in a way so that the knives were held between his fingers like a series of Wolverine claws. "Snick!" he said as he then used his butterfly wolverine claws to slice up the Moths, poofing them (and the knives since they came from them).
Rena dodged a few knife swipes from the Moth Drones with a few backflips. She then kicks from the wall, held out her flute horizontally and bashed both sides against the throats of two attacking moths, before they became pinned down to the ground, and Rena used it transition in a handstand and then a double flying kick to knock two more Moths in another group of moths. A few more rushed her, but she jumped up, to higher ground. She turned around and smacked her bum, to taunt them in an anime-esque way. "Hah! Missed me!" the Moths spread their wings and rushed at her. "Oh right, they can do that." She jumped back tot the ground and was now beside a sattelite dish. "Sorry, TVi, but the Miraculous Ladybug will fix this." she said as she ripped off the dish and threw it at the flying moths like a Frisbee, knocking them out of the air. "That was cool. Next time there is a kwami swap, I could handle Carapace's powers no prob!"
Speaking of Carapace, the turtle hero immediately threw his shield in a Captain America-esque way, which started bouncing between moths before returning to him. It was then he felt several arms grab him, courtesy of several Moths lifting him off the ground. Carapace struggled enough, so that he could get his arms around the necks of the Moths and squeeze hard enough to make a cracking sound, poofing them. He fell towards the ground again, or rather the roof as several Moths waited for him below. He grinned as he put his shield under his feet. The moths realized that this wasn't good but weren't fast enough to dodge as they were crushed by the shield underneath Carapace's feet. With the Moths poofed, Carapace lifted up his shield and waited for the next suicidal moth soldier.
Silencer noticed several Moths flying through the air, being poofed as the black and yellow blur that was Queen Bee stood in front of him. She had en intense look on her face, but there was something sorrowful about it. "Don't make me do this." she said softly as she had her trompo out. Silencer just rushed her, trying to land a punch on her which she dodged by ducking under it. She then tried to sweep kick him, but he jumps over it and spins in the air, while gracefully landing behind her, Queen Bee rolling out of the way before she was grabbed. She shot out her trompo, but it was grabbed by Silencer as she was pulled towards him. But she reacted fast and kicked him in the face and knocking him down. She then wrapped his arms up in her trompo and pinned him down. "Stay down, I don't want to hurt you any more."
"That's too bad, because I will hurt you if you don't get off me." Silencer said, in XY's voice.
"I have the upper hand here, pretty boy." Queen Bee said.
"Then I guess I have to raise my voice...My own this time." Silencer said, first in XY's voice. But when the lights on his helmet and chest flickered in a different color, closer to the type of teal blue that Luka died his own hair with, his own voice came out. "Get off!" That word was spoken softly but it let out a soundwave from his mouth that was strong enough to send Queen Bee flying.
That was something that drew everyone's attention. "Wasn't your name supposed to be 'Silencer'?" Chat Noir blurted out.
"There are two ways to gain absolute silence. Take sound away, or drown out all other sound with something else." Silencer explained. "I wish I hadn't needed to use it, though. But it won't matter in a few moments when I am the one whom gets what he wants."
It was then that two Moth Drones came in, dragging a silent but still trashing and soundless screaming XY along. "Xavier-Yves!" Roth said in shock.
"Indeed. I have your son Roth." Silencer said. "Normally I would be above taking hostages. More so since I already took his voice and he no longer has any use. But then I thought perhaps he could be a decent bargaining chip." he said in Xy's voice again, taunting the Roths with a voice of one of their own. He held out his hand like a hand puppet as he said: "Dad! Daddy, please help me!" in XY's voice before he chuckled darkly.
The heroes tried to surround Silencer, but they also kept a fair distance, so that he wouldn't just decide to drop XY right then and there. "Luka, this isn't you. Hawkmoth is making you do stuff you normally wouldn't. You are not a vengeful type. You would never sink that low." Queen Bee argued.
"Luka wouldn't. But Silencer doesn't have these qualms." Silencer said. "So what is it going to be Bob? Are you going to come willingly and confess on live tv or does XY is going to become red smear on the pavement?" Silencer said as he grabbed XY and held him over the edge of the roof. The heroes didn't dare to make a wrong move. As much of a jerk as XY yet, they didn't want him dead.
"So, I either give myself up to a murderous monster whom may ruin me and let my mute and now more-useless-than-ever-son go, or he dies?" Bob Roth asked.
"That didn't sound quite right the way you said it..." Silencer said in XY's voice still. "But yeah, basically."
Bob Roth hopped onto the roof's elevator. "Sorry, son. No worries, there is other talent in the world I can find. Occupational hazard, I guess. No hard feelings? Bye!" He then rode the elevator down. Everyone was so shocked by his response and behavior they didn't think to stop him.
"Did he just leave his own son to die to save his own arse?" Rena asked surprised.
"Ok, even I am disgusted and I am Akumatized." Silencer said in XY's voice. He looked at XY, whom didn't look fearful anymore, just disappointing, sad and shocked. "I am still mad at you, but I'm sorry that you have such a disappointing father. I can relate. But you are still a piece of shit yourself, so I'm going to let you drop now! At least that'll end your suffering;" He then let go. XY started to fall.
"NO!" Ladybug said as she rushed at the edge of the roof. The others wanted to follow, but more Moth Drones appeared to get in their way. Only Ladybug wasn't delayed and was able to reach out with her yo-yo to wrap around XY's body, and then started pulling him up. As she did this she saw an arm crawl from behind her and put her fingers on her lips. She heard a hushing sound as a sensation built up in her throat, as if she had a particularly large loogie stuck into it. She opened her mouth, and a red jellyfish with black spots flew out of her mouth, before being absorbed inside Silencer's helmet.
Ladybug had pulled a shivering XY back onto the roof but when she raised her voice to summon her Lucky Charm, she found no sound coming out. She grabbed at her throat, the realization that she had her voice stolen, sinking in.
"You shouldn't have stood in my way, Ladybug." Silencer said. This time the lights in his eyes, on his helmet and on his chest flickered in the same shade of red of Ladybug's suit and voice. "You shouldn't have risked yourself for those whom are not worthy of such kindness. It wouldn't have left you open. And now you are left without your voice, so no Lucky Charm this time."
Ladybug just had a miffed look on her face. The others had finished off the Moth Drones and would now outnumber the villain five to one. Lucky Charm or not, they could take him. "Give everyone, including Milady's, voices back right now." Chat said as he pointed at him with his baton.
"Why don't you make me, Kitty?" Silencer asked in Ladybug's voice. Chat rushed at him and swung his baton but Silencer caught it in his hand, then dragged it to the ground to put his foot on it, then backhand Chat. He wanted to move in for a voice theft, but found a trompo wrapped around his waist and dragged back. Then Queen Bee grabbed him from behind, but he headbutted her with his helmet-covered head and sent her staggering back. He was hit in the chest by Carapace's shield, as its owner caught it. Carapace then swooped him and smacked him up close and Silencer fell down, limp.
Carapace ducked over the unconscious Silencer. "It can't be that easy. It's never that easy." It was then that Silencer jolted awake, and quickly put his fingers in Carapace's mouth as he hushed.
Carapace spat out a lime green blob with a turtle pattern, which was absorbed in Silencer's helmet. "You are right..." Silencer said in Carapace's voice, his eyes, helmet and chest emblem flickering green. "It wasn't that easy!" he said before punching Carapace in the face and knocking him back.
Rena Rouge then barged in, knocking him back with a whack of her flute. She got a few more hits in as Silencer staggered. He was then wrapped up by two sets of strings as he was bound by Ladybug's yo-yo and Queen Bee's trompo. Chat then moved in with a "Cataclysm!", ready to vaporize the helmet and release the voices and the Akuma.
"Stay back!" Silencer said in his own voice, sending out a sonic wave that knocked all the heroes back and unbound him. Rena, whom was the closest to him and sprawled onto the ground, was his closest and easiest target. As she was still dazed, he put his fingers on her lips, bushed, and she spat out her own voice jelly-blob. It was the same shade of orange as her fur and instead of tentacles it had miniature fox tails. He soon absorbed it in his helmet. "Three down, two to go!" he said in Rena's voice, his eyes, helmet and chest flickering with orange lights now.
He wanted to approach Chat next but he still had Cataclysm on his hands and held it in front of him, keeping the voice thief Akuma at a distance. The others got up and while some of them were speechless, he stole voices, not powers, and they still had powers left. Chat got too close for comfort in destroying his helmet earlier and now he was surrounded by the heroes. Without backup it was a matter of time before the heroes got to him. "He who fights to run away..." he started in Carapace's voice. "Lives to fight another day." he finished in Rena's. He lowered his head towards the ground and said in his own voice: "Exit!"
With a shockwave created by his voice, he collapsed the roof beneath him, falling several stages below before bolting. "What are you doing, Silencer?" Hawkmoth asked. "Why are you retreating?"
"Voices or not, they still outnumber me and they got a bit too close a few times." Silencer said back, in XY's voice. "I have to fight smarter, not harder. Without backup and a good plan of action I will not make it."
"Ok, I can see your point. My moths will take a while to reform and I have something to provide you backup but I still need to figure out how to make it work. In the mean time, thread carefully and don't hold anything back should push come to shove." Hawkmoth replied.
"Luckily of all the voices I stole, Ladybug's is one of them." Silencer said in Ladybug's voice. "I could use that in my plan to get ahold of her and Cat Noir's Miraculous." He then spoke in a mix of all the voices he stole, the accents on his suit flickering in a mix of all the colors of those voices: "But first: revenge!" With that, he took off.
Back in his lair, Hawkmoth still held Nathalie's glasses with the Amok and turned back to Duusu. "You are going to tell me now, what I want to know about the Amok, how to control the Sentimonster, anything that is important to said control no matter how minor, TELL ME!"
Hawkmoth has caught on. It is not what he needed to know, he said 'want'. If he said 'needed' he could have bent the truth a bit because those would not be things that he needed to know. No way Hawkmoth should become more dangerous. And they said anything important in relation to it so he can't omit anything. Hawkmoth has actually managed to phrase it right so that Duusu could do little to resist. "You have to hold the Amok, and you need to channel the same feeling Nathalie used to channel it when she created it. She created it with the intent to stop you, to help defeat you." Duusu whimpered sadly. "I wish she had succeeded in it though." Duusu added in a gruff, grumpy tone. "She got a few nice hits in, you should have seen your face." he then said joyfully before giggling.
"The desire to see the defeat of an enemy. It is an emotion I have plenty off..." Hawkmoth said with an evil smirk.
Meanwhile, the heroes had lost track of Silencer and now were coping with their voiceless state. Ladybug tried to gesture something to the others. Chat Noir tried to figure out what she was saying. "Er...you want to be a llama?" Ladybug facepalmed and took out her yo-yo, and activated the phone function to send a message. "Oh, that is a good idea." Chat noted.
Carapace removed a piece from his shield, which unfolded into a phone, while Rena just blew on her flute (no voice didn't mean no breath after all) and in a puff or orange smoke a touchscreen floated in the air in front of her so they could type any message they want.
LB: I cannot detransform and I cannot use my Lucky Charm without my voice. I am stuck as a mute superhero. CP: I also do not think we have the time for a quick course in sign language, and a game of charades will make us look stupid. RR: Is there another way to invoke our powers or transformations?
"Now, they can detransform by removing their Miraculouses of course, but they will not be able to transform back if they put it back on. Now, normally voice commands are used because voices can be imitated but not fully replicated. A voice recognition spell cannot be fooled in any way."
"Ok, that's a bummer. Anything else?" Queen Bee asked.
"Skilled enough Miraculous user can call upon their powers by willing it, but none of you have gotten that far in your training yet. Though major powers like Lucky Charm are off-limits for now, the passive abilities should still work. Ladybug's increased luck and the ladybug wings should still be usable." Plagg continued.
"I guess we have to really think things through now. We should focus on trying to get the voices back and then fix everything. After all, Ladybug cannot undo the damage done without the Miraculous Ladybug."
LB: I'll have to make up a plan on the spot, but in the mean time, we have to stop Silencer. Bob Roth is scum, but we don't want Luka to become a killer. Let's split up. Chat, with me. Bee, you're with Carapace and Rena.
With that said, the heroes moved out, trying to find the Akuma, and Bob Roth, both to be neutralized in different ways;
"Get away from me, you filthy critters." Bob Roth said, having gone through the sewers to throw Silencer of his trail. He was already a piece of shit, and right now he was right at home in the filthy place. He took out his cell phone and called Mayor Bourgeois. "André? André, it's me! I need you to send in the troops.
André's voice sounded from the other side of the line: "No problem, Bob. I'll take care of it. Where are you?"
"The one place in Paris you've probably never stepped foot in. The sewers!" Roth shouted in his phone.
"Don't worry, I'll send the police in right away!" André's voice sounded. As Bob Roth hung up, he never realized that it wasn't André on the other side of the line, but Silencer, whom had stolen André's voice. Silencer hung up the phone and turned to André Bourgeois, whom was tied to a chair. "I am so sorry for this, Mr. Bourgeois." Silencer said in the mayor's own voice, grey lights flickering across his body and helmet as he spoke. "I am merely borrowing your voice to make sure Roth gets what he deserves. What he did to my friends...to your daughter. You should have seen her...how he broke her down and tried to destroy her self-esteem."
André was scared of Silencer, but at the same time, he also saw the boy whom his daughter liked, a lot. It says something if he was akumatized on her he would have a few choice words with his 'good friend' Bob Roth if he survived this encounter with the Akuma because if what Silencer said was true, he felt like strangling the bastard himself. "But no worries, once Roth is out of the way, she'll be fine. I promise." Silencer said as he dialed another number on the phone. Once again, he used the voice of the mayor as he spoke: "Mayor Bourgeois here. Get me Officer Roger Raincomprix."
The heroes had split up and started to patrol, looking for Silencer. However, as Queen Bee's group across rooftops, they noticed a group of police officers, the cars always recognizable from a distance. They saw Bob Roth being lifted out of the sewers.
"Thank you, Officer Roger. Thanks for looking out for your fellow citizens." Bob Roth said in a smarmy voice until he found his hands in cuffs. "Hey, what's the big idea?"
"Mr. Roth, you're under arrest."Officer Raincomprix said.
"What? This is a big misunderstanding!" Roth argued.
"That's what they all say." Roger said as he loaded Bob Roth into the police car.
While Queen Bee found it satisfying to see Bob Roth being hauled off by the police, she turned to Rena. "Rena, you haven't post that recording of XY and Bob Roth yet, or did you?" she asked her fox-themed fellow heroine. Rena shook her head. Queen Bee then opened up her trompo and activated the phone app and called her teammates.
"Yes, Queenie?" Chat Noir asked on the other side of the line.
"Chat! Bob Roth is being arrested by the police." Queen Bee said.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Chat asked.
"Rena hasn't posted her recording online yet. Whom else but us would know about Roth's deception AND have the power to have him busted for it?"
"Holy Cat-astrophe, Queen Bee!" Chat realized. Chat was silent for a few moments. "Ladybug just messaged me. She suspects that Silencer may return to the TVi Studio. From what we know, he may want to make a spectacle about outing Roth and then dispose of him." Chat explained.
"Then we have to go back from where we came, and we have to act quickly. We'll meet you there." Queen Bee said as she turned to her silent teammates. "You go ahead, I have one call left to make." Rena and Carapace nodded and went on ahead. Queen Bee dialed away on her phone again and activated the function that would make her appear as Chloé to the caller. "Jean! Please check up on my father. Even if you hear his voice telling him to not come in, please do it!"
"Where are you taking me?" Bob Roth asked fearfully. He had a really bad feeling about this. "What is even going on?"
"Mayor's orders." Roger said. "He doesn't take lightly to those whom threaten his daughter."
Roth sweated. Oh dear, the brat must have blabbed to her Dad. He had to think quickly. "Mr. Bourgeois and I have been friends for a very long time, and there is just a case of a misunderstanding, if you would allow me to explain everything we'll get this cleared up and all go home happy."
"Be quiet, we're nearly there." Roger said as they arrived at the TVi building. They walked inside only to be confronted by a particular Akuma in purple.
"Thank you, officer." Silencer said in André's voice. Bob Roth wasn't that dumb to realize that a voice-stealing akuma with the Mayor's voice meant he was utterly screwed.
"Akuma! Get behind me!" Roger said as he reached for his taser, but Silencer closed the distance between them, hushing and putting his fingers on his lips. A blue jelly-blob, the same blue as Roger's police uniform, floated out and was absorbed inside. He then threw the officer to the ground.
"Freeze!" the Police said as they pulled out their guns and aimed it at Silencer.
"Stay Back!" Silencer said in his own voice and the shockwave that erupted from his mouth knocked all the officers down without a sweat and broke all the then grabbed Bob and dragged him into the elevator.
"No, no! Let me go!" Bob said as he tried to run, but he couldn't resist an Akuma's enhances strength.
Silencer now spoke in Officer Raincomprix's voice, the lights that always appear when using another voice now blue. "I can take your voice, Bob Roth, and make you say whatever I please. But that's not what I want. I want you to admit what you did to Chloé and my friends, and it has to come from your own mouth."
"Never! I'd rather be silent!" Bob said.
Silencer switched to Ladybug's voice: "You really think I can't make you? Listen, I can ruin your reputation just like you threatened to do with each and every of my friends." He then switched to André's voice. "Everyone in showbiz knows me. I'll make sure you lose every single one of your friends." Then he switched to Roger's voice. "I'll put you in prison." Then he switched to XY's voice. "I'll never sing for you, Dad. You'll never make another dime from my music." He then switched to a mix of all voices he stole. "We'll make your life a nightmare, Bob Roth."
"Wait, stop! Okay, I'll do it! I'll tell the truth!" Bob Roth said quickly.
"Good choice." Silencer said in XY's voice. He just had one more voice to 'borrow' before he could go through with his plans. He mentally turned to Hawkmoth, with Ladybug's voice. "Hawkmoth, I'm nearly ready, how is my backup coming along?"
"One, do you need to use THAT voice? Second, I'm working on it and I think I nearly got it figured out." Hawkmoth said.
"Good. That way we both can get what we want." Silencer said, possibly smirking below his mask.
"Who are you talking to?" Bob Roth asked. He decided to not pry further when Silencer gave him a death glare.
In Hawkmoth's lair, the villain himself held up his glasses and channeled his frustrations for the inability to get the Miraculouses, his very desire to see the Miraculous defeated and taken down so that he finally gets those Miraculouses in his grasp...The glasses with the Amok in it glowed as the big blue frog Sentimonster was engulfed in the same blue smoke that created him, as he changed to fit Hawkmoth's type of desire.
In her cell, from a distance, Nathalie could make out a blue light from the corner of eyes, even with the blurry vision. She gritted her teeth and hoped that whatever he turned the former Sentimentel into, that it would be something the heroes would be able to defeat.
TO BE CONTINUED
ARTIST'S COMMENTS
One thing I hated about Silencer was how easily Bob Roth was to push Ladybug in front of him. Ladybug relies more on her mind and her agility in combat but she is stronger then any normal human so Roth is not able to effectively use her as a shield, instead Ladybug loses her voice through trickery on Silencer's part.
Though Silencer doesn't need the hand puppet thing to talk, I thought it would be fun to include it as a bit of mockery.
And knowing how easily Bob Roth was willing to throw Ladybug under the bus, who says he wouldn't do the same for his own son?
And Silencer has an extra power in this universe but it is not as silent as his name suggests.