While Abigail had time on her side, she also had some substantial solutions when it came to the increased supervision on the Support Class. For starters, she had a few QICDs programed to work around the clock, gathering scrap metal and broken pieces of older units. Then, the same units were programmed to create an automatic assembling machine based on the ones left for the Support Class when it came to the villain robots. These machine would then create as many QICD shells as possible.
The remaining task fell on Abigail herself. She would run the program on her personal tablet and tweak any parts of the program as needed. Coupled with reviewing Quirk data and applying as needed, she made sure that each mech was given the most current program possible.
Of course, testing the mechs was a difficult task. With the v.1 program, it needed to be introduced and tested in a way that didn't appear suspicious to everyone else working on the team. She volunteered on the project that created the robotic training program while slipping in her program at the last minute, corrupting the project indefinitely. When she incited Bakugo's mech to attack him any everyone else, she destroyed any trace of the program remotely on the other mechs, making it seem as though it were a malfunction. Abigail cursed herself when all of the remaining mechs were confiscated soon afterward.
And so, with tireless effort, here she was now. Standing inside of her modified Executor while flanked by the newest design for her QICDs: the Fairy QICD units. Outside, she surveyed the battlefield and noted a few things.
For starters, these robots were taking more of a beating than her Mk. 1 mechs. With greater armor, they were slower than their older counterparts, though this meant they were more resistant to damage and packed more of a punch. The reaction time of each mech had been shorten down to the smallest possible second, though any faster would be impossible for her. The gear they used were also tweaked to deliver stronger results. Though now she wondered if the blades were still necessary.
As she looked onto the battlefield, Midoriya and Sato were ganging up on a massive QICD mech with the help of Marinette as she kept in the air. She called out weak points that she found, allowing the One for All inheritor to attack. While Midoriya flanked the mech, Sato continued to deliver strong punches to his enemy from up front.
His fists ached as they continued to make contact with the metal plates. "Damn this things are strong!" He cursed as he continued to hammer away at the mech.
Midoriya rounded behind the mech and moved in to kick behind the unit's legs. "They're top-heavy. ASHIDO! We need to weaken its base! SATO! We'll rush it on 3!"
"Got it!"
"Got it!"
Mina Ashido, recently arrived in her hero outfit, slid toward the mech on her acid shoes. Midoriya kept its focus on himself by delivering a Shoot Style kick to the head. The mech stumbled as Sato rushed in and slammed into it, causing it to tumble backward. Mina then rushed in as well and activated her Acidman attack, cutting through the mech's legs with little resistance.
As the mech dropped to the ground, it landed in the puddle of acid left behind by Mina. The pink-acid user stopped nearby and let the acid drip off her. "BoO-YEAH! Acidman is on the offensive now!"
Nearby, Kirishima and Bakugo were facing three QICDs when she cheered out. The Hardening Hero cracked a smile as his fist slammed into a mech's head. "Awesome Ashido!"
"Yeah, way to go Raccoon Eyes! Just don't lose focus, GOT IT!" Bakugo called out.
Mina smiled. She turned to the robot only to be punched in the face by a large robot fist. She flew through the air and crashed into a nearby window, landing in a faux office space. Marinette was nearby and swung in after her.
Meanwhile on the ground, Adrien and Uraraka were back to back with their bo staffs at the ready. Uraraka had seen her friend go flying and nearly leapt out of her skin toward her. "Damn, I hope she's okay," she muttered.
"Hopefully, but I also hope Mari gets her out of here," Adrien noted as he blocked an overhead strike from a mech's blade. "Now, is it me or did that mech not melt?"
Uraraka spied the mech. As Midoriya and Sato fought off smaller QICDs, the bigger one they had just taken down was beginning to crawl from its pool of acid. "Great, Abigail made them resistant to corrosion. She's putting more and more power into these things!"
Adrien growled. "We could really use the Snake Miraculous right about now..."
"Ooo, what does that one do?"
"Rewinds time for up to 5 minutes. Say that we started it at the beginning of this mess. When Mina was punched, we could've re-wound time and told her to dodge it," Adrien explained.
"Have you guys used it for everyday akuma?"
Adrien shook his head. "I spent a long time doing rewinds with that thing when I first used it. That was an exhausting mess," he noted. "You can use that thing as many times as you want. It felt like forever when I used it on one akuma," he said.
"Yikes."
Adrien chuckled. His ears twitched as he saw a QICD come in from the corner of his eye. "WATCH IT!"
The two of them ducked a swipe from the unit's sword, nearly giving them a fatal buzz cut. Adrien swung around and slammed his bo staff into the mech's side while Uraraka moved in to touch its armor. Her Quirk activated, though instead of floating upward like she wanted, the mech simply adjusted its head so it faced them. Gravity Quirk detected. Stand Your Ground protocol activated, it said.
Adrien cursed as he raised his hand up and aimed at its foot. "Man I HATE these things! CATACLYSM!"
His hand pressed onto its foot, sending destructive energy up its leg. The mech couldn't react in time as the power continued to travel up until it's core was destroyed. The mech turned as black as night before crumbling into a pile of blast dust.
Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted inside Adrien. The pain shot from his wrist all the way up his arm, causing him to jerk backwards, landing on his butt. "ADRIEN!" Uraraka called out.
Dropping his staff, Adrien cursed. "Dammit all!" He shook his wrist.
"Wha-What happened?" She asked.
He shook his head. "M-My Cataclysm...It's using my energy to power up, and it's apparently not supposed to do that. I exerted myself in that bunker the other day, so now this HURTS LIKE HELL!"
Uraraka's eyes widened as she looked at his wrist. She was about to speak when a QICD flew over her head and landed nearby with Ojiro landing next to them. "Everything okay?"
Uraraka shook her head. "He's overexerted himself earlier. His power is reacting negatively," she reported.
Ojiro knelt down next to him. "Midoriya would probably know more, but I'd bet that it hasn't happened before, right?"
Adrien nodded and picked himself up with Uraraka behind him. "I used to use my kwami's energy for my power. He gave me power; I gave him his favorite cheese as fuel. But here...he's not here, and I've been using my own energy for my attacks," he explained. "And I'm already exhausted."
Ojiro nodded. "Seems like a serious handicap with all things considered," he said. "But it's a conquer-able obstacle."
Adrien looked at him. "Huh?"
The Tailed Hero continued. "We all have obstacles when it comes to our training. Hell, Midoriya is the king of handicap training when he started showing us his Quirk. A power that literally broke his body is a serious disadvantage, but he somehow found a way to overcome it all." He grabbed Adrien and pointed him toward Mina Ashido as she and Marinette broke through the building while engaged with multiple QICDs. "Ashido over there doesn't have a very combat-like Quirk. If she's not careful, she'll melt her clothes on accident and we don't want that."
Uraraka nodded. "Even Uraraka had an obstacle. She overcame nausea when using her Quirk on herself and she can lift more than before," Ojiro continued.
"Long hours of hard work and multiple cups of Alka-Seltzer and 7-Up," she explained.
Ojiro chuckled. "Perhaps you need to find a way to train your body so you don't have to always rely on your power in case this happens again," he explained. "I can offer a few poi-"
Before he could finish his sentence, a QICD rushed the trio with a fist raised. Ojiro raised his tail in a defensive shield while bracing it with his arm. The mech landed the hit on the thickest part of the tail, resulting in a nullified attack.
The mech moved from a single punch to throwing multiple in quick succession. Ojiro simply kept his defense raised as he absorbed the blows, backing away and leading the mech away from the other heroes. "When this is over, let's talk, alright?" He asked as he continued to back away. "Stupid walking toasters!"
Uraraka chuckled as she and Adrien surveyed the battlefield. The remaining members of Class A had arrived and the Executor-QICD was moving toward them. "We gotta move!"
"Right. Bugaboo, we gotta fall back!" Adrien called out as he readied his bo staff. "Uraraka, get everyone else to move down a block or two. I know that Ojiro guy knows what he's doing, but these things are expecting Quirks while we have magic."
"True. Too bad Tikki and Plagg can't make it," she said.
"Yeah..."
Adrien and Uraraka rushed out to see everyone from Class A moving back as instructed. The few pro heroes that joined the fight, like Aizawa and Present Mic as well as Power Loader and Vlad King were all slowing the mech's assault.
As they continued to move, Adrien spotted Ojiro with the head of a QICD under his arm. He had managed to get a unit in a chokehold, and with no clear way to deal with a Tail Quirk besides amputation, the mech couldn't do much as the martial artist wrapped his tail around its head and squeezed until it popped off. He met with the others as Midoriya gathered whoever he could behind a large piece of debris.
Midoriya was rubbing his shoulder and his knee when they arrived. "Man those guys are stronger than before. I can't get too far with them," he said.
"Same," Sato agreed. "And I'm running out of sugar. We need to just wrap this up."
Adrien chuckled as he bumped Marinette. "Psst, bugaboo. This is usually when you throw your yo-yo into the air and scream 'Lucky Charm'," he playfully whispered.
"Har Har," Marinette quipped. "So far my Lucky Charms have been moments of opportunity and a slight change of already present objects. I can't make something out of thin air again," she said.
"Well that steel plate you accidentally made some time ago counts, right?"
Marinette shrugged. "Well...yeah, but that was an accident."
Mina, who had joined them, followed the conversation as if it were a tennis ball in play. "You guys are adorable, but do we have a plan?" She wondered.
Midoriya shrugged. "Considering the size of that robot and the potential of it being just one big QICD, we have to assume a straightforward assault is out of the question. It most likely has countermeasures against us all."
Adrien nodded. "Though...Abigail was able to get inside that thing from the head. Shot in the dark, maybe there's another way inside?" The inheritor suggested.
"Possibly. The question becomes then: how do we get inside?" Yaoyorozu wondered.
Marinette peered over the cover they were in and saw the heroes beginning to fall back. She looked up at the robot slowly making its way toward them. Her hand reached for the inside of her jacket and pulled out a copy of the initial mission's paperwork...
Including a spec of the robot's initial design.
"...I got it!"
They all turned to her. "Principal Nezu gave us all a copy of Project OP's initial specs that we got from the bunker! I got a brief overview of the design and I think I saw a service hatch at the bottom of the mech!" She explained as she opened the blueprint for them all to see.
Everyone hunched over. Indeed the print had a rough detail of the robot, including a highlighted section where the service hatch was located. "Probably been there because she had trouble finding a way to the head. If it's still there..."
"Then it's a perfect way inside!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed. "Somebody climbs through the robot, destroys the core, and stops this rampage!"
Marinette nodded. "Though...with all of us, Midoriya and the robot-looking guy-"
"IIDA!" He called out.
"Right, Iida are the only ones fast enough to get there without much difficulty."
Midoriya peered behind him to see Iida shuffling toward them. "What's going on?"
The inheritor gestured to the robot. "We're looking for a way to get there without difficulty," he said.
Iida nodded. "As much as I would love to help, you're more agile than me. You'd make it with no problem Midoriya," he said.
Uraraka nodded. "Sound good Deku?"
He nodded. "Though I'll need backup."
Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "I'll go with you...if that's possible. I can help us find the most direct path to shutting down the robot without...well, destroying everything," she said. "We're gonna have to get Abigail out of there too."
Everyone agreed. "Right, so Marinette: you and Adrien will continue to lead the defense. Yaoyorozu and I were charge in and hopefully shut this thing down," Midoriya explained.
Marinette nodded before her eyes widened and she groaned. "I'd love to be more active, but we still have severe limits on our powers. A Lucky Charm would be very useful for you guys."
Adrien nodded. "And my Cataclysm would help turn the tide of all of this," he said. He then raised a fist and punched the ground. "Dammit we need our Miraculouses to work again. PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"
The entire group, besides Marinette, were stunned to see a small ball of blue energy appear out of thin air. The energy behaved as if it were pushing against something as it tried to reach Adrien. After a few more seconds, the energy disappeared. "C'mon!"
Marinette decided to try again. "TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"
Another ball of energy appeared. Midoriya and Uraraka continued to watch it all unfold, and deciding against simply watching, they called out with them. "TIKKI/PLAGG! SPOT'S ON/CLAWS OUT!"
Two balls of energy formed and pressed on one spot together. Marinette and Adrien continued to call out for them, soon getting the rest of the class to shout with them. "TIKKI!"
"PLAGG!"
"SPOTS ON/CLAWS OUT!" They roared.
The energy continued to press until finally, it happened. As if a paper towel was holding back the universe, the air in front of them tore open and two adorable little sprites popped out. Following them was a cloud of golden mist as it drifted into the air before the tear sealed itself.
Mina and a few others couldn't believe their eyes. One sprite was red with an adorably big head and black spots all over. The sprite had stubs for hands and feet and had two tiny antennae sticking from her head. The other was jet black with whiskers and small cat ears and a tail. It had the same stubs for hands and feet as the red one.
The two sprites opened their eyes and looked around, taking in their new surroundings. When they locked eyes with their Miraculous Masters, they lit up like a child at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. "MARINETTE!"
"KID!"
They flew to hug their faces, a gesture they kindly reciprocated. "You're here!" Marinette explained.
"You're okay!" Adrien cheered.
"Well duh kid, we're magic!" Plagg explained. "It'll take a lot more than just a magical barrier between universes to keep us out!"
"He's right...despite a few things," Tikki commented. "How long were we in there?"
"A few weeks, give or take," Marinette said.
"Yikes, and from the looks of you two, it's not a moment too soon. You guys need to transform!"
"Sugarcube is right. We gotta do this now!"
Adrien's smile outshone the Sun as he re-adjusted his ring. "Then let's do this. Don't worry guys, you have magic on your side now!"
Marinette nodded. "One more time. Ready?"
The two kwami nodded. "TIKKI, SPOTS ON!"
"PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"
The class, save Midoriya and Uraraka, were stunned to see the two kwami disappear. For Marinette, the sprite entered her earrings and a pink light enveloped her. Her new outfit stayed the same with the jacket and gauntlets with new boots, though now a large cut was made at the back of her jacket. Sitting on her back was a Ladybug-themed shell with two wings hidden inside. Her suit conformed more to her body than before and her mask was removed completely. On the top of her head were two antennae.
For Adrien, his suit didn't change from the one given to him either. The scarf that Marinette made for him wrapped itself around his neck. Just like Marinette's, Adrien's suit conformed to his body with some significant changes. His tail stayed as a real cat tail as well as his ears, though now he had faint whiskers on his cheeks and his claws were sharpened to a point.
The two brandished their weapons, bringing back Marinette's magical yo-yo and Adrien's extendable bo staff.
When the transformation ended, the class was stunned. "Man I almost forgot about the rush," Adrien admitted.
"Same here, and oh man everything feels much clearer!" Marinette exclaimed.
Uraraka and Midoriya smiled. "It's good to have Ladybug and Cat Noir back in action," Midoriya said.
Adrien smiled. "Please. Marinette is our everyday-Ladybug. In and out of the mask, she's a hero through and through," he said.
Marinette blushed. "My back feels a little bit heavy," she mentioned.
Adrien turned to look at her back and gasped. "You have ladybug wings! Oh, you can fly now!"
Uraraka looked behind her to confirm. "Yep! That'll be interesting to test out," she said.
Marinette nodded. "Alright, here goes everything. LUCKY CHARM!"
Throwing her yo-yo into the air, the class and even Abigail watched in wonder as a bright red light appeared and quickly flashed away. Marinette was able to catch the object created as...
"A little bouncy ball? But we used this to defeat Evilustrator so many years ago," she explained.
"There's no rule that says it has to be unique, right?" Adrien wondered.
Marinette shrugged, instead tossing that to Midoriya. "I think you'll need this. Good luck," she wished him.
Midoriya nodded. "Yaoyorozu, if you're coming with me, I need to carry you somehow. Will you be alright?"
Uraraka gave a sideways glance at the Everything Hero. "Um...yeah. I think if I climb on your back, it'll be better. Just try not to drop me," she said.
Marinette smiled. "Alright then." She gave Yaoyorozu the specs for the giant robot. "Let's shut this thing down."
Abigail was fuming. When Marinette called for her Lucky Charm, she scanned the area for known Quirks. Besides Midoriya's so-called "Super-Power", Uraraka's "Zero Gravity", Mina's "Acid", and Iida's "Engine", she detected no new Quirks. The two she encountered before had disappeared.
Her eyes widened as suddenly the battlefield was again full of activity. The students from 2-A and the pros re-engaged the QICDs with renewed vigor. Marinette and Adrien were in the fray, but Abigail's heart sank as she saw Adrien using his Cataclysm and Marinette stumbling/flying.
Her Quirk-Identification program wasn't picking either of them up.
And down on the ground, Midoriya had Yaoyorozu on his back, and the two had their eyes trained on the Executor robot.
With this quarantine, I may have more free time to pump out chapters. No promises exactly, but I'll do my best. Hope everyone is staying safe out there! Until next time!
-Newage
