The Wasp's Nest
Adrien and Marinette were climbing the steps and talking while Hawk Moth and Mayura stormed out from the temple, slammed the heavy wooden door shut and jumped down the cliff until they reached their container. They did not even notice the two teens who struggled to carry water and the weight of their own responsibilities.
Mayura felt the signs of fatigue. She was exhausted. But she never showed them, she never shoved any signs of weakness in front of Gabriel if she could help herself. Even when she was coughing and felt dizzy on a daily basis because she used the broken miraculous, she always showed only her determination to persist in reaching their goal. But she never wandered what was her future once they reached that goal. And this time, a seed of doubt was planted. She wandered what was to happen with her once Gabriel got his wish.
She wanted to do that for Adrien, that boy was so dear to her, and he missed his mother so much. The boy was not happy because his father was so busy and expressed his resentment from time to time. But his father was busy saving his mother, and the boy just did not know that. He should have understood his father, he should have loved him for it and supported him. But, the boy did not have a clue what was going on, sheltered and consumed in his extracurricular activities. She was sure the boy would appreciate their efforts once they accomplished their goal.
She felt the need to detransform and rest, but the magical suit at least helped her ignore the sleepiness and the pain. She was getting ready for another fight. From the looks of it, she was about to be akumatized again. That meant no control, no memories, but also no pressure and no pain. But she wanted to be there for Gabriel and if he wanted to akumatize her again, then she was ready to comply.
Hawk Moth took one butterfly from the plastic vessel in which they kept the few specimens they caught. If he was tired, he ignored it. If he was hungry or thirsty, he ignored it. He was the general and he was the solder in this war that he started. And he was determined to end it by defeating his enemy.
"I am about to win. We are about to win." he grinned towards his companion, but she only looked at him and returned a hint of a smile lost in her thoughts. "Because I have a plan that shall not fail." He glared and his mouth spread in his trademark wicked grin. "Because you will create an army of sentimonsters shaped after our strongest and most valued ally." he grinned again.
Mayura stared back at him. He loved the drama and the suspense and she loved him for it, because it made him interesting. He was a showman, but few admired and appreciated his skills the way she did.
"Are you ready, Mayura?" Hawk Moth asked with caution. He could sense her fatigue and self doubt. He was well versed in reading the feelings of other people.
She stood straight in front of him and put as much determination as she could muster.
"I am ready sir." she confirmed. "But, could I have the control of my own mind this time? Two minds work better than one." she looked at him determinedly. Hawk Moth was puzzled by the request at first. "You can still control the monsters." she offered and Hawk Moth grinned.
"Excellent idea." Hawk Moth evilized the butterfly and let it go, he directed it towards her fan.
"They will not look for it in the place where it was the last time." Hawk Moth smiled wickedly.
Mayura smirked back.
"I have a better place for it." she moved her fan away and let the butterfly enter her brooch. "It is supposed to be indestructible." She returned a sly smile as a violet mask appeared on her face.
"But, it was damaged." Hawk Moth protested. He contemplated pulling the butterfly from the brooch for a moment, it was not safe, he pondered, but then again, it was probably the most protected place. He definitely wanted to avoid what happened the last few times when the two superheroes destroyed the akumatized object rather quickly.
"Scarlet Peacock." He spoke finally and the violet energy washed over her. "I give you the power to create Queen Wasp and her clones. They will paralyse anyone that stands in our way." He abandoned control, they had problems controlling their monsters and he was not about to repeat the errors they made before. Keeping everyone paralysed will be sufficient. He would have to look for the magical stones himself, he was getting ready to get his own hands dirty, but with everyone incapacitated, he expected that to be a simple task.
Scarlet Peacock emerged from the violet cloud.
"Very well, we are going to create our own little army now." he grinned and they walked out from the container while Scarlet Peacock followed.
Unknown to them (or they simply ignored the possibility) one military commander and his secretary were readily filming whatever they could from the safety of the commanding office.
They quickly scaled the cliff. Hawk Moth produced stones and Scarlet Peacock produced scarlet feathers that got absorbed into the rocks. She moulded the sentimonsters simultaneously. They were all identical, alike Chloe's version of the Queen Wasp.
"My dear Wasps." Hawk Moth cooed. "I give you power to paralyse your enemies with your sting as well as with your own little wasps that you can create on your own."
The two villains were surrounded by more than twenty sentimonsters shaped like the Queen Wasp.
"Good now go and hide." he directed the sentimonsters while him and Mayura caught one each.
"You two are staying with us." they both directed in unison as they climbed one particular rock that was sticking up vertically from the slope of the cliff. There was a long vertical fall from the downslope side of the cliff while it was not easy to reach from the up slope side. One had to expose themselves if they wanted to reach it and there was no possibility to sneak up. On the other hand, the cliff offered great view of much of the cliff face and all the possible hiding places.
"They are waiting for you outside. They want to fight you." Dorje looked at the two kids when he met the m at the entrance to the temple. Then he took the water from them and put it aside where other students were to pick it up and distribute it. The two teens were out of breath, tired, hungry and thirsty. He took them to the room where they ate their meals.
"Here, eat and drink." he offered them fresh bowls of rice and Tibetan tea. Then he reached into a cloth bag, took out and unwrapped two parcels for their kwami and gave two more parcels to the kids to store for later.
Pema joined them swiftly, although she showed signs that she still endured some physical pain after what she did in the previous fight, a sigh or a grimace but nothing much.
"You can expect anything." Pema warned. It was the idea of the old monk to move the battle outside. She was not sure she agreed. Ladybug was usually the one who made such decisions and built a strategy. But Marinette moved all the battles outside so did Tenzin with this one.
"They will not be alone." Adrien spoke between two mouthfuls of food. He was hungry, he was not aware how hungry he was. His stomach was grateful for finally filling it. He was finished with his food so quickly that Plagg stared at the boy while he licked the remaining crumbs of cheese from around his mouth.
"They will create more monsters." Marinette added while she packed food in her mouth. She was considerably slower than Adrien while she ate. Then she outstretched her arm and showed her bowl to Adrien.
"Want more?" she asked. She did not want to get sick from eating too much and too quickly.
Tikki munched on her simple sugar cookie and exchanged a look with Plagg. The black cat like god of destruction quickly returned to staring at his chosen.
"What?" Adrien finally acknowledged his kwami.
"And you call me a glutton." Plagg muttered.
"Well you are." Adrien returned and put more food into himself. He smirked and winked back. He was too busy with his food to word any reply.
Plagg rolled his eyes. Tikki snickered.
"Come on, I am hungry." Adrien whined as he put the last remains of the food in his mouth and washed it down with what was left from the tea.
"And I am not?" Plagg muttered more to himself.
They were finished quickly and got onto their feet.
"We better go." Adrien grinned at Plagg, "Any I hope you are ready." he was back in the fight mode.
Marinette took Tikki and her cookie and put them both in her hood. "I am ready." she smiled encouragingly. But inside, she was much less self assured.
"How much do they know?" she asked Pema as they walked down the hallway towards the narrow exit in the back.
"Nothing new." Pema assured.
"Can I use other miraculous from the box?" Marinette stopped and looked at Pema.
"We." Pema looked around and then continued to whisper. "We can't go there right now."
Marinette nodded. They have not seen Dolma for a long time, it was certainly possible that the old monk was hidden with the box somewhere outside the temple.
They sneaked out from the temple and watched their surroundings carefully. They certainly did not want to be seen going into the cave. The two monks followed the two teens the whole way.
"I'd prefer if we had Longg and Sass for this." Marinette muttered. Adrien quickly agreed. Pema and Dorje looked at each other and waved their heads. Their elders considered that hiding the miraculous box was more important than having them available for the fight.
"You have won the fights before without the aid of the additional miraculous." Pema shrugged.
Marinette smiled warily, they were so efficient so far that the current Guardian decided she could hide herself and the box somewhere. She frowned and sighed. She was not happy for that. But she always made do with the given circumstances.
Adrien was worried when he saw Marinette became serious and quiet.
"I guess I will have to snake up to them." he winked. Marinette rolled her eyes. Yes, that was a way to go into a battle.
They hid in the small cave.
"Perhaps we should not go." he offered when he noticed the expression on her face. She thought they were making an error.
"Yes going out there to fight them is not a good idea." Marinette whispered back.
"It could be a trap." he warned quietly.
"It is a trap." she was certain of that.
"If you thing going after them is wrong, then you should not do that." Pema listened to their conversation so she offered her advice.
"That is right." Adrien replied.
"Let's go back to the temple and make them wait." Marinette smiled.
"Perhaps we could do some scouting to see what they prepared?" Adrien winked.
"But no transformation and no fight?" Marinette looked at him surprised.
"Yeah, just to make sure they are not hurting anyone else." the boy was worried.
"His akuma and her sentimonsters usually terrorize civilians." Marinette added with growing concern.
All four peeked out from the cave and when they saw nobody was there they slowly walked out and decided to do some scouting around.
But after one single minute they saw small wasps flying their way.
"Oh no." Marinette looked at them her eyes wide.
"No way." Adrien groaned.
"Run." the girl shouted her warning as she jumped back and hopped from one rock to another to their hiding place.
"Hide." Adrien ordered as he followed. Pema and Dorje were on their way.
Marinette jumped into the cave. "Tikki spots on!" she transformed into Ladybug. At the same time, Adrien jumped inside and shouted "Plagg claws out." Ladybug watched in horror as Pema and Dorje protected them by closing the entrance with their own clothes, but the wasps found small exposed parts of their bodies on their hands that held the cloth and they stung. The two monks remained standing in the same position frozen, petrified, motionless.
"No" Ladybug cried.
"Dorje. Pema." Chat Noir cried as he touched their motionless bodies carefully with his clawed hands. They kept the wasps outside even while they were petrified.
"No." she repeated while she waved her head. "this is a mistake."
"It is not. We have to fight them." Chat Noir repeated ans he laid his arms on her shoulders. "We have no choice. We are going out there and we are going to fight them and we are going to win My Lady."