Chapter 7: Escape
This was it. For a few moments time had slowed down for everyone that was charging towards the dark army of the Ziszhui. Hearts beated loud in their ears as they realised this was it, fighting to the death, for the freedom of their home, and the safety of the world. Hudie himself, while keeping to the side of the charging heroes, felt a huge rush of energy going through him for the first time since the Second World War. He felt glad to have this feeling again, especially now that it felt like it was for the right thing.
Those slow seconds ended quickly for the closer they got, that's when they decided to show off their powers. They knew what to do, thanks to the instructions Hudie put to them when he placed a Tenshi on all of them.
Skullstone, Ivan's new form, went first. He threw himself ahead of everyone and roared like a beast, his large hands growing in great size to that of boulders. He slammed them down onto the ground right in front of him, which caused a loud eruption of sorts to occur from below. The ground ripped up right in front of them, towers of rock and stone shooting up like missiles from the ground under the Ziszhui's feet, crushing and smashing those that were caught in the gaps, turned to mush by the hard surface of the rocks, splitting the army in half from each other as blood of their guts rained up in their comrades. Those that were closest to Skullstone charged at him, their swords swinging right at him to cut him down out of anger for destroying their soldiers. He just stood there as the Ziszhui slashed their blades at him, only for them to snap like twigs upon hitting his skin, which didn't react or suffer a cut from their swords. Skullstone raised his boulder sized hands and smashed them towards each other, catching the Ziszhui in between them and causing their heads to explode upon contacting them, making their bodies lifelessly drop to the ground in front of him. He grinned under his mask.
"This is how you deal with spiders." he said in pride, readying his fists for the next lot to come at him.
Superman chose not to attack Manchester in the charge but instead zipped around him, confusing the Brit villain long enough for Superman to launch his attack on the army, soaring down with his hands curled into balls of fists, focusing his strength into them the closer he got to the dark covered ground. The Ziszhui didn't react fast enough as he slammed into the ground, his two fists sending out a loud thunderous force over the ground, which sunk beneath him, the shockwave causing the army of spider warriors to get sent flying onto their backs from a hit that powerful. This left them open for the new heroes to fully step in.
Morpher, Mylene's new form, kept running right towards them before she then threw herself towards her rock like boyfriend, spinning around in midair and morphing herself into a ball of large pink energy. Skullstone grabbed her with his hand and threw her out like a wrecking ball, watching as she zipped right through the wounded Ziszhui's, her ball form leaving them covered in pink thick slime that stiffened their movements, causing them to get stuck to the ground. Morpher uncurled herself back into her normal form, only to find herself surrounded by some really angry Ziszhui, baring their blades at her. Instead, though, they lost their anger as her head canon then brightened up in energy. They lost their sight once the canon fired, covering them all in the same slime she left the others covered in, leaving them stuck to the ground, unable to move.
That was when Beamer, Juleka's new form, stepped in. Standing on one foot, she smiled as she spun on that one foot and began to tear across the battlefield like a dagger that was spun right through the air, her skirt lifting up with glows of green sparking from its sharpened ends. The closer she gotten to the group of Ziszhui she was nearing, the faster she got. They tried to fire their webs at her but she easily dodged their hits, before zipping against them, causing them to cry out in agony as they were separated from their main bodies, making them drop to the ground.
"I dunno about anyone else but I definitely like this a lot more than being an akuma villain." Beamer said to herself.
Petala, Rose's Tenshi form, was setting an example of what a heroic version of Poison Ivy would be like. As several Ziszhui came skittering towards her with their fangs bared and swords brandished high, ready to slice her apart, she raised her arms and summoned a giant Venus flytrap from right underneath them. The huge plant snatched the spider-creatures up in its jaws and crunched them to pieces with ease. Petala looked away as the Ziszhui were eaten alive, finding the sight a little too gross to watch. Another Ziszhui snuck up behind her but Petala heard it skittering towards her so she turned around and held her arm out. A vine grew out of her arm and wrapped around the Ziszhui and constricted it tightly. The arachnid monster hissed feebly, clawing at the air as it struggled to breathe. Then Petala grabbed the fine with both hands and swung the entwined Ziszhui around and around like a club. She let go, sending it flying through the air and crashing into another Ziszhui that was fighting Beamer. The two creatures were knocked down, leaving Beamer open to finish them off by turning them to stone with a beam from her hands. Skullstone finished them completely by smashing the stone Ziszhui to pieces, their fragments dissipating into puffs of smoke. Beamer waved graciously over to Petala.
"Thanks for that sweetie!" she called.
"Aww, you're welcome!" Petala cried back, awed by her love's compliment.
There were three Ziszhui who were having trouble fighting their opponent. It wasn't necessarily that the opponent was really powerful, but because they couldn't even see their opponent. They were up against Sabrina, who was now the Tenshi-powered hero, Spark. Like her akuma form, she could turn invisible and the spectacled girl smirked to herself as the spider-creatures looked around in confusion, unable to find her anywhere. If they could see her now, they'd notice she was actually standing right in the middle of them. She launched her ambush, unleashing a dazzling flash of light from her body. It was mostly white with some other colours sparkling in the centre but nobody would've been able to see that as it was too bright to look at. The Ziszhui screeched loudly and clutched their eyes, feeling like they'd been scorched by the light. They were completely blinded, the light having done colossal damage to their eyes. Spark beamed with delight, glad to see her power worked brilliantly. This was much more fun than being the akumatized Vanisher! While the three arachnids couldn't see, Sabrina kicked one of them in the face so she could make it drop its swords. She grabbed two of the swords and sliced it in half, watching the spider's torso fall away from its legs. She quickly cut down the other two before they could realize what was happening. Keen to exploit her abilities again, she turned invisible and snuck around looking for more unfortunate Ziszhui to creep up on.
Meanwhile, Lightwing and Super Nathan, the Tenshi form of Nathanael, were teaming up together to fight a bunch of Ziszhui that were advancing towards them, their fangs streaming with saliva as they longed to feast on them. Lightwing fired numerous arrows from his wrist gauntlets while Super Nathan drew himself a pair of pistols that fired energy beams to shoot the Ziszhui down, making sure every shot he fired was aimed at the head to guarantee instant death for them. This combination of arrows and energy bolts allowed the duo to mow down the oncoming spider minions with ease, although they would continuously respawn and come back for more. Lightwing noticed this and grunted.
"We can't keep this up forever! They just keep coming!" the archer hero muttered.
"I'll see if I can draw something that'll help us out some more." Super Nathan suggested.
Then he thought about something. What was it he once tried to do to Chloe when he was akumatized? What was the most common way to kill spiders? Yes, that would do! Acting fast, Super Nathan worked away with his artistic skills as he drew a giant foot to squash the Ziszhui with. Up above, a trainer that was so big it could flatten a house magically appeared and Super Nathan brought it straight down on the Ziszhui, crushing them instantly and reducing them to bloody smears on the ground. Lightwing grimaced, half-chuckling at what had happened.
"Ooooh, that HAD to hurt!" he crowed, "Nice on Nathanael!"
"A great artist makes use of his work." Super Nathan replied modestly.
Techno, Max's new heroic form, chuckled as he then smoothly walked past them, bearing his gauntlet on his right hand.
"Heh heh, ohhhhhh guys, you have nothing on this masterful piece of technology in my hand right here!" he said gleefully as he then turned a dial on the gauntlet, an image switching to that of a bulky figure. A green glow shot all over his body, causing Lightwing and Super Nathan to step back in shock as they heard the whirls and clicks of mechanics coming from his body. They watched in amazement as Techno grew in size with metal armour covering him. Their heads turned further up as he grew to the size of a giant, almost as tall as the hotel.
Standing there was a robot, a visor covering its face where Techno sat, two bat like ears poking up from its head, a huge arc reactor in its chest that glowed a soft green, while his colour scheme was that of light green and red. He reached one hand behind his back, pulling out a purple blade that let off a slight green aura, aiming it at the incoming Ziszhui. Lightwing couldn't help but grin.
"Now that's my bro right there! Give it to them!" He ordered.
Techno in his robot gave Lightwing a smile before he swung his huge blade down at the incoming number of Ziszhui, turning them to huge chunks of guts with a single whack from his sword, wiping half of them off of the battlefield in an instant. He spotted a few survivors, so he decided to make short work of them by leaping forward and stamping right on them, flattening them in an instant and causing a huge plume of smoke to burst around him, consuming the others that were around his feet. Super Nathan then drew out something beneath his feet, resembling that of a skateboard, only to add a pair of rocket engines to the back of it before drawing himself a black and white sword. He gave Lightwing a smile as he saw his wings carry him to the air.
"Let's take down the rest of them!" He yelled, eager to use more of his artistic powers to kill these monsters. His black and white hoverboard hummed as it then carried him forward, flying right towards the Ziszhui with his sword ready.
Manchester Black, meanwhile, was trying to push his way out of the large numbers of Ziszhui that surrounded him, trying to get after the one person he was determined to kill above everyone else. He spotted Superman shielding Carapace from an incoming web attack from a Ziszhui, pulling it forward with the web he caught and punching it in half with just one hit from his fist. Manchester felt his body charging with energy as he made a gun gesture with his finger, raising it up to shoot at Superman to get him out of the fight...but he didn't see quick enough for the spinning top of Queen B's wrapped around his wrist. Gasping, he turned to see the dark skinned girl giving him a little gesture with her finger. She then yanked him to her left, pulling Manchester through the surrounding Ziszhui like a wrecking ball, causing him to fire off a blast from his finger that shot right through several of the Ziszhui, causing them to hiss in agony as the colour of his energy sparked all over them, causing them to explode from the great power he set through them.
Manchester grunted as he was then released of the spinning top, causing him to slam tight against the icy wall of the orb that hidden away half of the Eiffel Tower. He panted in pain and frustration, having been knocked around enough already today, now he had to face fighting a load of children that were wiping out his army's numbers. And he wasn't the only one feeling the frustration.
His eyes burnt as something came over him, leaving him unable to keep his eyes closed as he heard her voice running through his head. She sounded very angry.
"Manchester! I can't feel my forces spreading beyond Paris! What is going on!?" demanded Abyss, her usual calm, sultry tone now like a roaring bull, not happy by the lack of progress from his end. Manchester winced in pain, feeling her voice ringing through him like it was gonna tear him to shreds. He groaned as he stood up, his eyes open to show her the battle going on in front of him.
"Supes got backup! And that rabbit bimbo has opened portals to consume yer flood!" he said in pain, trying to resist the burning feel running right through him. It only grew hotter as Abyss took this in.
"Must I do this myself!? Fine!" she spat in rage.
Manchester then felt his hands being forcibly lifted in the air with little to no control over them. He gasped as they were then thrown down onto the ground with great force, making him cry out as he thought they broke from his wrists. A crack was heard not from his hands, but from behind. A chunk of ice broke away from behind him, opening up a hole to the inside of the giant ice ball. Releasing from it was a thicker lot of flood that began to sweep across the battlefield, carrying some of the Ziszhui off their feet, rushing right towards the newly arrived heroes, who looked shocked to see more of the flood coming right towards them.
This did little to stop Skullstone though, for he roared loudly again as he brought his fists down onto the ground, making another set of rocks shooting up from under the ground, tearing right in front of the incoming flood, blocking it from reaching them and trapping them in its fearful grip. Skullstone breathed deeply, seeing his power did its work. Techno, being the tallest of the heroes, leaned over the large rocks and grinned from inside his robot. He turned to Superman and pointed down over it.
"Superman! We need some of your special liquid nitrogen breath to freeze this!" he yelled.
Superman nodded, knowing well enough on what to do here. He flew up the towering rocks with ease and gave a hard look at the trapped flood that nearly got them all. He had to really thank these kids for all the hard work they were doing. It was very courageous of them.
He let out a huge blow of his breath, cold filling the air as it turned the very dark flood that nearly consumed them into a thick blanket of silvery blue white ice, ceasing its onslaught. Techno gave him a thumbs up from where he was before he stepped back and noticed a weak point in the rocks. He knew what was best to be done, so he ran forward and threw his mechanical foot out, kicking it out of place with full force. Like a meteor, it tore through the air and came crashing right onto the newly arrived Ziszhui, guts of their inners to go flying all around their comrades, who hissed one anger at being crushed like the bugs they were. The battle was still going on, and Manchester was already getting tired.
Inside the underground cave, Abyss moaned in frustration as she felt the very cold stretch of her existence being contained. Even the groaning of her prisoners didn't please her in the slightest, not taking any notice of them, aside from Emilie, who was the source of her invasion. Abyss really wasn't in a happy mood this time, and she had to resist venting her frustrations out too much. She instead clamped her hands on Emilie's cheeks, seeing her eyes were still hopelessly glowing with her sad look going right into the ceiling above.
"I don't know what those children are up to in Paris, but you shouldn't have an inkling of hope for long! I am fear itself, nothing will stop my flood! And you will push it forward!" she hissed into Emilie as she gave her face a squeeze, making her let out a painful cry as her body felt like it was on fire when Abyss sent a blade of her aura through Emilie, making the while underground lightening up in the red colour.
Yet with the painful cries of Marinette, Adrien, Kagami, Constantine, and Nathalie filling her ears, Abyss couldn't hear the faint groans of a young man far down below in the dark of her cave.
Throughout the whole time Abyss had been talking and playing with her captives while also carrying out her nefarious plot, Kyle Rayner had been lying unconscious in the webs at the far bottom of her lair. It was so far down that nobody would be able to see him, the darkness eclipsing him entirely. Abyss hadn't bothered with Kyle as she knew without his ring, he'd never get free of the web he was stuck to. The artist-turned-superhero had just started coming round, wondering where he'd landed. His eyes opened, but he barely noticed the difference as it was so dark he couldn't even tell if he was awake or still unconscious. But the darkness lifted a little as the web he was stuck to started to glow red, Abyss's power amplifying as she tried to get Emilie to carry out her task in the Kwami's scheme. Now Kyle could see a little more, he noticed the web he was stuck to and that he was alone with no one else nearby. His first thought wasn't that he was OK. It hadn't even been his second, third or fourth though. His immediate thought upon coming to was worry over Constantine and his new friends.
"Constantine? Marinette? Adrien? Nathalie? Where are you?" he cried, tugging on the webs that were holding him down, "Are you all OK? Where's Abyss?!"
Nobody replied. That made Kyle shudder a little, already fearing the worst for his friends. Were they dead? Was it just him now? He had no idea but he wouldn't let that stop him. He'd get through this and bring an end to Abyss's scheme, whatever it was! If only he could break free of this web!
He then noticed some of the Ziszhui coming towards him. Their glowing eyes were fixated on him, telling Kyle that the Ziszhui were interested in him, as a meal no doubt. He could see four spider-like creatures approaching him, their fangs bared and their eyes gleaming with delight. Kyle didn't move, not that he could anyway. He decided to wait and see what they would do next. Maybe whatever they did could be their own undoing and his ticket to freedom. He narrowed his eyes, refusing to show signs of fear to these hideous beasts.
"What's the matter? Your mighty queen Abyss forgot to feed you today?" he taunted, "If you think you can satisfy yourselves with me, forget about it. I haven't got much for you to feast on."
The Ziszhui didn't seem to care what he said as they just approached him ever closer. Then two of the Ziszhui grabbed hold of his arms and hauled him to his feet, effortlessly peeling him off the web as if removing a plaster from a cut. What they intended to do next, Kyle didn't want to know. Despite having no ring and being utterly powerless, he knew the most important factor in being a Lantern was to never let the loss of a ring make you feel useless. A true Lantern was able to fight and achieve great things both with and without the ring.
Seizing his chance, Kyle reacted, swinging his knee into the gut of one Ziszhui to make it double over in pain and release him. Then he spun around and socked the other Ziszhui in the mouth, punching it so hard he broke one of its fangs. Punching it in the mouth left him with a few cuts on his hand but he ignored the pain, glad that the Ziszhui was hurt more than he was. While it was clutching its mouth and willing the pain to stop, Kyle grabbed one of its sheathed swords and in one swift move, he decapitated it. The headless body collapsed on the floor, blood oozing from its neck stump. The other three tried to ambush him simultaneously but Kyle jumped back, leaving them all to collide into each other. While they were stunned, Kyle stabbed one of them in the back and yanked the sword out again, leaving the wounded Ziszhui to bleed to death. One of the other drew out his swords and traded blows with Kyle, the clanging of metal ringing through the cave. Kyle held his sword in a roof block manoeuvre, causing his opponent's sword to slide away from him and leaving the Ziszhui open for a stab. He plunged the sword into its chest, wincing as the horrible sound of the spider-monster's dying screams pierced his ears and made his body shudder. The last one tried to cut him apart but Kyle spun around and kicked the wounded Ziszhui into its mate, causing the Ziszhui to accidentally cut it to pieces instead of Kyle. Angered, the last Ziszhui swung its swords towards Kyle in a desperate plea to cut him into bite-sized chunks. Kyle narrowly dodged, the swords drawing a line across his shirt but not drawing blood on him at all as it was a millimetre away from actually piercing his skin. Gasping with relief at the close call, Kyle blocked the next blow as the Ziszhui swung down towards him. The multi-legged freak swung its sword wildly, intending to give Kyle no opening and forcing him to continuously block his blows. But the White Lantern wasn't going to let himself fall to this very last one, not when he had his friends to save and the world to relieve from fear! Kyle jumped back from the Ziszhui and bounced off of a nearby web to propel himself in the air. He landed straight behind the Ziszhui and quickly pivoted on the balls of his feet. He swung the sword and at first, it looked as if nothing happened. Then a couple of seconds later, the Ziszhui's body separated itself from its legs. Panting, the Lantern of Life wiped his forehead and dropped the sword with relief, glad he'd made it out alive.
"Whew, that's showing these monsters what a powerless Lantern can do!" he cried, "I still can't believe I let that Abyss creature stop me in my tracks and remove my ring like that. I should know better than to give into such fear..."
He looked up above, unable to see anything else as he was too far down.
"I dunno how I'm gonna get up there, but with or without my ring, I'm not gonna give in to her again!" he declared, "I'm gonna get out of this pit, stop Abyss and rescue the others! I won't let the universe down, not when it's recovered from other catastrophic events like the Blackest Night!"
He looked to his feet, where he saw another fallen blade of a Ziszhui's. His mind already sparked with what to do and it was better than nothing with what he had in mind. Beaming, he picked it up with his other hand and eyed the closest wall he could see. Spinning them around so he was having the blades facing his feet, Kyle sprung up and planted them right into the wall, leaving just his legs hanging in the air. His muscles tightened as he gripped harder on them, blowing out some air from his mouth to ease his tension. He pulled one hand back and the sword with it, planting it a few meters above him, following it up with a similar action with his left hand. His climb would take a while but it'd be worth it, no matter how exhausting it would be.
His climb from the dark to the light had its own challenges though, not just with his muscles but with his mind. Kyle felt as if he just became a child in that moment with Abyss and look at where it got him, his friends and the world! He shouldn't have been so scared of such a creepy spider woman when he took on the likes of Sinestro, Paralax, and that Anti-Monitor! She was clearly full of power, but he went up against bigger...such idiocy was going to cost a lot...but not if he could undo that. He had to be better after failing at something. He always did.
His teeth gritted, Kyle pushed himself up further, coming across another stretch of webs that were now blocking his way.
Sighing in frustration, Kyle realised what was best to do for this. He pulled one blade out of the wall and turned it up.
"Never was good at trimming bushes back in college, but I'll do my best." he said to himself, ready to swing the sword back to start slicing it away to continue his climb.
But something then caught his orbs that made him stop right there. His heart leapt in relief as he saw it, right there in the web above him, was his power ring. It might've been caught in the webs but there wasn't a scratch on it that undid its pure look.
His eyes narrowing in determination, Kyle realised it was now or never. It would make this difficult situation easier if he had his ring on. Gritting his teeth, he took one last look at his sword pressed into the wall that held him in relative safety before pressing his feet to the wall. He took a deep breath with closed eyes, shutting off all other emotions as he couldn't let anything negative cloud him. Eyes opening, Kyle leapt forward with a spring, shifting himself right towards where his ring was. He already felt gravity beginning to pull him down but he still had his arms outstretched, his hands just inches from the ring...
It was just enough for his fingers to give the web a pull and briefly hold him in the air, just by his pinky and index finger. Wincing at the pressure, Kyle sent his other hand up and got a better grip on the web above him, his legs following up after him as he pulled his body up. Kyle sighed as he sent his hand through the web, where he slid his fingers right into the ring, sitting it nicely in. A sense of calmness came over Kyle as he closed his eyes, smiling as he felt the warmth of life itself run right through him.
"In brightest day, there will be light. To cleanse the soul and set wrongs right. When darkness falls, look to the skies. A new dawn comes. Let there be light!"
As he recited the chant, the magic happened all around him. His ordinary clothes were transformed back into the trademark White Lantern costume, a surge of energy coursed through his body, making him feel completely reenergized and like he had the power to punch a god across the room and his body glowed brightly as the Light of Life emitted around him, once again giving him that heavenly aura that gave the White Lanterns a suitably angelic appearance. Kyle let go of the wall, no longer needing to hold on as he could fly again. Clenching his fists, he smirked to himself.
"Watch out Abyss, I'm coming for you..." he said cryptically as if she could somehow hear him from where he was.
He then shot up into the air as if he was a missile being launched at the enemy. He could see some web up ahead, telling him this might be where Abyss herself is. He formed a spherical construct around himself so he wouldn't get stuck in the web. He ploughed straight through it, catching Abyss's attention and making her four eyes widen in astonishment. She turned around sharply, hissing in anger.
"What in the name of the Kwami was that?!" she exclaimed.
She didn't get to find out as Kyle levitated towards her and unleashed a bright flash of white light that obliterated the darkness around her and made her scream in anguish as she was blinded, the light too much for her to handle. Doing this was enough to break her concentration so the prisoners were snapped out of their trance, though they too had to close their eyes as the light was too bright for them. Tikki had a different reaction. Instead of being unable to look at the light, she felt a sudden surge of energy that gave her new strength and now she suddenly felt like she could kick a meteor and send it careening into another one. The Kwami of Life and the Light of Life made for an incredible combination. This was enough for Tikki to break free of her webbing, effortlessly peeling it off the wall and throwing it off herself. She gasped, amazed at how strong she felt.
"Wow, I've never felt THIS strong in my life!" she exclaimed, "I suddenly feel like I was just created all over again!"
"Kwami of Life, Lantern of Life. It all works out I guess." Kyle suggested, pleased to see that everyone was fine and that he'd helped Tikki break free.
He dimmed his light so everyone could open their eyes again and see him. Everyone looked at Kyle and their faces lit up with delight. Seeing him really did feel like an angel had been sent from above to rescue them all.
"Kyle! You're alive and you got your ring back!" Marinette cried.
"Got anything else we can't clearly see in front of us Captain Obvious?" Constantine retorted.
"Oh hush, just be grateful he's here to get us out of this mess!" Nathalie snapped.
"How did you get your ring back?" Adrien asked.
"Lucky find." Kyle said simply, "Now let's get you outta that web before Spider Girl over there recovers."
He used his ring to form an energy construct that resembled a giant pair of scissors. He used that to trim the webs around Adrien to cut him loose while Tikki flew into Marinette's earrings to transform her into Ladybug. Once the baker girl was all costumed and powered up, she effortlessly peeled herself off the wall, tearing the web as if it was paper. While Kyle freed Adrien and move on to free Nathalie and Constantine, Ladybug drew her Ladyblades out to cut Emilie free. The elder Agreste breathed a collective sigh of relief, months in captivity finally over and her able to walk freely at long last.
"Oh thank god that's over!" she cried, "I've long to walk out of this cave ever since Abyss dragged me down here!"
"All I can say is welcome to the world again Emilie Agreste." Ladybug said politely.
There was one person left to cut free. Ladybug leapt over to Kagami, noticing the Asian girl was blinking away whatever was left of her unconsciousness and was starting to become aware of her surroundings. She gasped upon seeing Ladybug but said nothing as the spotty heroine cut her free.
"You have my gratitude." Kagami said nobly, "But don't think about running away again. I've still got answers I want to find."
"Save it, now's not a good time." Ladybug said sternly, "We've gotta get out of here first."
She looked over to Kyle, who had just freed Constantine from the web. Now everyone was free, Kyle used his ring to form a white construct that was a simple rectangle shape. Everyone climbed on with Emile clutching hold of Adrien, who was now back in his Cat Noir form, nervously as she stepped on. She'd never seen anything like this before and it felt weird getting to stand on what should just be a mere light that somehow felt solid.
"What kind of Miraculous does this man have?" she blustered.
"It's not a Miraculous, but I'd say his power fits the name just as well." Cat Noir joked.
"Hold tight everyone, we're going up and we're gonna be shooting our way out!" Kyle cried, "Here...we...GO!"
He then changed his construct to form that of a box that shielded them from his next action. Kyle aimed his hand up and everyone felt their legs get wobbly as the box shot jump right towards the ceiling at the speed of a missile, causing their surroundings to become a blur as they neared the ceiling. They all closed their eyes shut, tightly doing so as they braced themselves for impact. They all nearly came flying off their feet as the box tore right through the ceiling, chunks of rock and pieces of web falling apart as they went further up. It wasn't long until they briefly caught the familiar sight of the interior of the temple, but that was soon gone as they then tore right through the ceiling of the building, taking them out into the now dark sky of the night.
Once outside, Kyle slowed the speed he was going at, giving everyone a chance to regain their footing and their sights. Helping each other up, they steadily stood close to Kyle as he smiled at them all, showing them he did it and got them all safely outside. And what a sight the outside was now.
The mountain was now covered in a thick blanket of snow, with the flakes still making their piece on the land, filling the air so much it nearly erased the dark. Emilie looked the most thankful to see such a sight again. She stepped towards the wall of the construct and shakily put a hand against it, a small smile forming on her face as she felt weak in the legs. She was free. Free to be in the fresh air. Free with her son.
Chat Noir could feel the great heat of joy burning from his mother and he couldn't keep away. He rushed to her side and took her by the arms, letting her lean into him for support. He smiled with her as tears of his own flowed from his eyes, happy to be holding her close to him again. Emilie felt the same way, putting an arm around her son and resting her head against his hair, taking in that soft smell of freshness he always had. It did a lot to relax her in helping her see she got her freedom, for she was with her beloved son again, only now he was the one supporting her, not the other way around. Ladybug gazed on with a smile, her heart almost melting at the sight of her boyfriend's better reunion with his mother. It was something she wanted for him since they revealed each other's identities.
Of course, the other's minds were elsewhere, for Constantine then tapped Kyle's shoulder.
"Hey, mate, mind setting us down somewhere where those pricks won't see us? We're out in the open here." he pointed out to him, getting Kyle to see they were still in the temple's line of sights. He nodded, beginning to pick them up in the air and going up the hill to where they would be out of eyesight. As he did so, Kyle noticed something as he looked up, making him frown.
"Is that a sword on my construct?" he asked, seeing the red jewelled handled blade on the top of his construct. Kagami almost looked relieved to see it.
"That would be mine." she stated to him, getting a slight raised look from Ladybug, who couldn't help but still hold some apprehension towards the girl. She was going to have to make sure she got hold of that before Kagami would.
If rage could be heard through mere groans, it would be enough to make you run away. But these groans were sounded alone underneath piles of rubble on top of her, so no one had to worry for her taking her anger out on them. But Abyss was livid. Livid after such a long time.
Boulders as big as cars were moved as easily as little stones from whoever it was holding down from underneath. It was tossed aside really easily, causing it to crash down several feet upon the piles of rubble below. Standing up from the space she made for herself, Abyss hissed as she looked around at the damage that was made, her eyes narrowed in utter rage as the work she made was now undone. Her fists clenched as she gazed up into the hole in the ceiling, eyes glowing as she could feel a cold rush run down her over something she realised was now lost.
Breathing in and out, with her breasts moving in motion, her eyes looked further down to the endless stretch of darkness, her mind twisting with the new idea.
"You might've gotten out for now, but don't think I'm hiding in here...looks like I'll have to eat you up. All of you." she said in a more bitter tone, somewhat annoyed she had to resort to this now.
Her many legs carried her down towards the bottom, her eyes glowing when her mind reached out to the other side of the world.
In Paris, the battle was still in a well contained area and things were still as gruesome as ever. Super Nathan, on his hoverboard, flew down and performed several decapitations on the Ziszhui in his way, causing them all to fall onto their fronts. Spark let off another flash from her invisible body that blinded a group of Ziszhui she had approached, allowing Beamer to come spinning in and slicing them down with her spinning skirt, before running up along a giant growth of vine that was fired from her girlfriend on the other side of the rocks, where many Ziszhui had started webbing onto to try and reach the other side. Beamer fired blasts from her hands, hitting those closest to her, turning them to stone before kicking them to pieces with a single hit from her foot. She tore through the rest with her skirt, causing them to fall from the sky and litter the battlefield with their scattered bodies.
Techno was in slight trouble as several Ziszhui had fired their webs around his robot's left wrist and his right leg, using their strength to pull him down from both of those points. Techno groaned in frustration as he then pulled his right hand up and swiped across those that were pulling him down, splitting them up onto many pieces and freeing his left hand. With that, he pulled his right leg around and threw the others out from where they had tangled up his foot, freeing it from their webs.
Bunnyx was jumped off of Carapace's shield and brought her umbrella down like a sword on a Ziszhui's head, causing it to blink in frustration. She hooked her handle around the wrist of the monster and tossed it over her head, with Rena Rouge whacking it with her flute, sending it crashing onto the ground, where Queen B slammed her spinning top on its head with the point of it, digging it right in. She pulled hard until it's head came right out of its neck, sending it flying through the air. They sighed gladly as they saw the area they were in was now clear, but they still cringed as they looked down at the gruesome body pieces on the ice.
"Not sure I wanna go ice skating for a while." Rena Rouge said to Carapace as he came up beside her with Hudie coming closely with him.
"We won't get to go at all if we don't put a stop to this! It's that seed of his we need to remove!" Carapace pointed out, looking at the giant ice ball that was shielding they seed from this. Hudie tapped the ice with weariness.
"That and I feel there's still plenty of the flood left under this ice. It can break through soon." he said, his voice slightly nervous as he eyed the darkness buried under the ice.
Of course, his worries were put to rest when his eyes caught sight of the darkness under the ice beginning to shrink away, making him let out a startled sound of confusion that attracted the attention of the others around him.
"Uh...is that good or bad?" Queen B questioned as she crouched over, trying to find where the liquid under the ice went.
Rena's and Bunnyx's ears twitched as they picked up the sound of a tap of sorts shutting off the water, causing them to turn towards the source of the sound was where Manchester was standing next to the new flow of the dark liquid he just made, only now it stopped, causing him to look at it in confusion while his hands shook. Rena couldn't help but smile.
"I take it as a good thing." she said.
Manchester couldn't even voice a question as his eyes glowed red, regaining contact with Abyss. His body nearly exploded from the fire running through him, indicating he was feeling her rage.
"Manchester! Things have gone south my end! You've lost the flood!" she sounded off in his head, making his eyes widen.
"You what!? How!?" he asked back.
"I'll get it under control! You keep them away from the seed, it'll help restart the flood when I get Emilie back!" Abyss yelled in his head, before pulling out of his brain like a hand released its grip on someone's head.
Gasping as he blinked it away, Manchester snarled as he saw the Ziszhui's were still struggling against the new heroes, and now there was no flood to help them out with this. His eyes darted around to see what use he could make here. His mind felt like it clicked as he saw the obvious that he could use once he locked onto the tentacles. A grin came over his face as his hands sparked in energy, standing right up as the energy did so over the tentacles, which began to rise from where they breached the grounds where they were.
For a second, the whole battle stopped as everyone paused to see what was going on. They looked up to see the rising tentacles and their shadows coming right over them, making their hearts pause as they saw things were getting a lot more deadlier now with these tentacles now here. Manchester smirked as he raised his hands, with the tentacles following his movements.
"Now then, my lads...who fancies dying today?"
In Tibet, now in their hiding place, the escaped heroes used their time of freedom to recover fully. Nathalie had actually flopped onto her back once the construct faded, not caring at how cold the snow was, she was glad to have felt something fresh and soft after being stuck to Abyss's webs. Constantine offered her a light but she wasn't interested, so he settled for sitting beside her, watching on as Ladybug and Chat Noir were talking to Emilie while Kyle had Kagami in construct handcuffs, on orders of Ladybug to stop her from running off. Constantine couldn't help but feel a light of sorts overcome his heart as his eyes locked onto Chat Noir and Emilie, seeing them boy smiling more brighter than usual. He giggled as he pointed a finger at them both.
"Now that is what I call mission accomplished. Seeing that young lad getting his mum back has fully filled that hole in his heart." he said softly. Nathalie hummed, her breathing easing as she saw them both holding each other.
"Yes...I just hope Emilie will be able to readjust to normal life when we get home. Wouldn't blame her if she wants to get Gabriel's surname removed when she does so." she said bitterly, imagining the battle she would be in when she'd get home.
"Hey, at least she'd be able to get herself and Adrien a new home and he can feel like a normal boy again instead of having to hide with Fu. Though if I'm right, it's not just that you're worried about." Constantine said in a suggestive tone, clearly telling that there was something else. Nathalie didn't look at him but her chest did sink a little from a swirling sad feeling. Giving her a pat, Constantine gave her a verbal offer.
"If I were you, say something before you don't see them again."
Such words never moved her before, and it certainly made her sit up as she thought over what to say. She really hoped Emilie would hear her out.
For Emilie herself, she could hardly contain her emotions as she fully hugged her son, tears streaming from her eyes as she held him to her, her heart beating fast from her warm chest as she ran a hand through his hair. His voice was enough to send shivers running through Emilie as both mother and son opened up their emotions. Feeling him in her arms was sending a rush of hotness running through her body as that motherly feeling came over her.
"Adrien...it's really you! My boy...my wonderful baby boy! Y-you came for me..." she sobbed in his shoulder, getting a rub from her son, who sniffed as her pushed back his own tears, the cold meaning nothing to him as he was warmed by his mother's hold.
"I would've come for you if I found out sooner, mom. Even if I went alone, I'd have done it." he said softly, feeling her rubbing her cheek into his shoulder. He smiled more as he looked up to Ladybug, who knelt with him as she began to smooth his back, silent happiness in her heart as she got to finally see this.
"But I didn't come alone either." he reminded, gently nodding towards his girlfriend. Sniffling, Emilie smiled as she turned to the red and dotty heroine, gratefulness in her eyes as she looked at Ladybug, who felt shy all of a sudden as she now was sharing a lot of time with her boyfriend's mother.
"You sure didn't. I know who you are, young lady. Marinette, right?" she asked softly, getting a quick nod from the blue haired girl. Emilie beamed.
"My son found the right girl. You healed the hearts of many, especially my son's. No wonder you got the Ladybug Miraculous." she said kindly to the heroine, who smiled nervously.
"J-Just being the best I can, Mrs Agreste." she replied in a shy tone. Emile giggled at her.
"Call me Emilie, dear. I don't think Agreste suits either of us now" she said quietly as she looked at Chat Noir, who gave her a sad look as realisation came over them.
"I'm so sorry over what he'd done, Adrien...if I didn't leave, he wouldn't have done what he did, and you wouldn't have to live in hiding...I promise, when I get home, I'll make things right. I mean it." she said in a tone of desperation, only to get a soft hold of the hand from her son, who beamed.
"You mustn't blame yourself, mom. Dad made those choices himself. You were trying to protect the world, something not many would try to do. That gives you mom of the year from me." he reminded her, nothing but proudness in his voice from what he remembered the good his mother did.
"Speaking of all the good you did, Emilie, is it okay we have a word with Duusu? Abyss did trap him in there for a while." Ladybug then asked, pointing to the Peacock Miraculous in her hands.
Emilie looked briefly stunned but nodded, holding her hands up with the Peacock Miraculous. Chat Noir kept his hands around her, watching on in interest as he saw his mother get free her own little Kwami from its Miraculous. Putting her lips close to it, Emilie spoke softly to it.
"Dusuu, fall my feathers." she said, her voice loving as she was ready to welcome the Kwami back into the world.
A slight glow came from the Miraculous, the glow forming a blue orb that lifted from the Miraculous before taking the shape of a Kwami. A female voice squeaked as she fully recovered her body, which was blue with a little pink gem in her forehead with strands of the same colour lifting from her head, Peacock styled tails poking from below while her purple and pink eyes gazed nervously up at Emilie, who gave her a sad look as she rubbed her head with her finger.
"Duusu, it's okay, we're free now. We're safe" she assured the Kwami, who hummed at her touch, warmed by her love.
"It was scary, Emilie...being lost in that dark, feeling hot with all that anger...I hated it" she said, on the point of tears in her speech. Chat Noir looked on in awe at how much this sweet little Kwami was being so open with Emilie, so he gave her a little smooth with his finger.
"Awww, don't you worry, you're out now and that nasty spider cow isn't going to hurt you again." he said kindly, getting a loving look from Duusu.
"Thank you, Adrien. It's nice to see you again after all these years. Nicer to talk to you as well." she said sweetly to him, getting a smile from him.
Ladybug gave her a smooth as well with a smile.
"You both look like you need something to eat. I'll see if Constantine brought anything decent. You both need it." she said to them both, getting a grateful nod from both Emilie and Duusu. Ladybug stood up and gave a loving gaze to Chat Noir, showing him her heart was there for his. His face was full of love as he showed her a thank you in his eyes. This was something he long wanted and she was glad to help give this to him.
However, Kagami had her eyes on her as she moved around, really wanting to get her words out to her. Kyle saw this and decided to speak up to get her attention.
"Look, no offence, but you need to wait, she needs to see to them and you're in cuffs by her own advice. That and I don't want to end up on the other end of your sword" he said in a stern tone, getting a sigh from her in response. She wasn't going to try and test his strength, he could easily knock her out if she did.
Still, her chance came when Ladybug stood up from Chat Noir and Emilie after giving her and Duusu some chocolate Constantine had in his coat. Walking over towards Kagami and Kyle, Ladybug locked eyes with the young girl with some uncertainty in her eyes, which only made Kagami a bit nervous over what to hear from the dotty heroine. You could imagine her own stunned reaction when Ladybug sighed and looked to Kyle.
"Undo them, Kyle. She won't get far if she tried to run" she told him, her voice hard with her decision. Frowning in confusion at first, Kyle nodded and let the construct of the cuffs fade from Kagami's hands, freeing her arms. Kyle kept hold of her sword from her, but she didn't even try to go for it. Instead, her eyes stayed on Ladybug, who gave her a hand wave to follow after her.
"Lets talk. I think we really need to get to know each other." she said lightly, stunning the blue haired girl at first. Glancing nervously to her hands, she nodded before following her, interested in what it was that the heroine was up for talking to her about.
Ladybug found it weird to try and hold some form of reason towards a former enemy beside her, but she'd rather be mature in her way of handling the girl than just going into a verbal beat down at her. She could also see how Kagami was behaving, how she looked away nervously and the confused look on her face was mixed with nervousness. Ladybug didn't want to come off as being frightening so she decided to be a bit kinder.
"What was your name again?" she asked, interest in her voice as she looked at her, getting a confused look from the blue haired girl, who looked nervous before answering the heroine.
"Kagami...my name is Kagami." she said quietly to Ladybug, who raised her eyes in interest.
"Okay. Sounds like a nice name. So then, Kagami, why were you all the way out here on your own? Mission for Vandal Savage?" she asked, trying to get to the source of Kagami's reason for being here.
"Vandal Savage?" Kyle exclaimed, surprised to hear Ladybug mention that name.
He knew she'd gone up against the Light but he didn't expect that this Kagami girl had ties to the group. He narrowed his eyes at the Japanese girl, now seeing her as a cobra waiting to strike. If she was working with Vandal, she had to be dangerous.Kagami huffed and nodded, looking away.
"Yes. He sent me here because he wanted to get some magicium to make himself some magical weapons similar to your Miraculouses and my sword". she said bitterly, feeling some sort of shame running through her voice as she told this to Ladybug, who felt her face harden.
"No wonder then. Should we expect him to arrive soon?" she asked in a hard tone.
Kagami chuckled lightly, with a hint of gladness in her voice.
"Heh, I don't think so. See this?" she asked as she raised her neck, revealing a slight scar on it, "He placed a tracker in me, linked to my pulse. That spider monster removed it, so as far as he's concerned, I'm dead. He knows I wouldn't have been able to remove it so he won't start looking for me." she said to Ladybug, who winced as she watched the scar fade from her sight when Kagami lowered her neck, now giving the heroine hard eyes.
"And with this new freedom I've got, I can start looking into who you are to me, Marinette." she said sharply. This nearly made the heroine jump out of her skin when she said this and she suddenly felt an urge to pull her Ladyblades out to put them to Kagami's throat. She didn't though, instead looking around nervously so the others didn't pick this up before looking back at her.
"H-How did you know!? Does Vandal know!?" she quietly demanded, fear running through her as the thought of the immortal man coming after her family was enough to put her on edge. Kagami smiled though and looked to Chat Noir and Emilie.
"He hasn't got a clue. It's actually Emilie Agreste that gave it away. I mean, Gabriel Agreste exposed as a villain a year after his wife went missing, killed by Joker, then we have your boyfriend cuddling her? It's obvious he's Adrien, and I know you date Adrien. I...spied on you while I was in Paris." she explained to the blue haired heroine.
Ladybug sighed in relaxation at this word from Kagami, though she still gave her hard eyes as these words fully settled in.
"Spying on me? When you say that and wanting to look into who I am to you...is it because of how similar we look?" she asked, needing an answer. Kagami giggled, giving her a beam.
"Guess that's a clue enough. We're thinking alike." she suggested, getting a hum from Ladybug.
"Yeah...I'll admit, since I unmasked you, it has been on my mind. Once we get back to Paris, I'll see if we can try to figure something out. My mother's side of the family is very big." she said in slight proudness, giving Kagami a slight beam of light running through her.
Before she could respond, though, the whole relaxation was cut short as they felt the ground rumble and a loud set of crumbling coming further below. Gasping, everyone got to their feet and ran towards the edge of their hiding place, where they could see what the sound was.
They froze as they saw the temple was crumbling to pieces. But it wasn't getting blown up. It was like something was rising from beneath it, it's great size causing the temple to fall apart. Plumes of smoke shot out from where the rubble fell, stretching right over the snow and ruining its sweet sight. What risen up from the smoke was something of a monster.
Round was its large head, stretching to its back and feet, which looked similar to that of a frog's. On its forehead was a symbol similar to that of the Order of Guardian's. Darted all over its blue skin was many Ziszhui, all of whom held on hard while sitting right in the middle of the creature was Abyss, who smiled as she looked through the snow that fell from the sky. Only she wasn't admiring the snow. She was actually looking for her food.
"Now then, who's up for feasting upon Emilie and those delicious humans?"
It's great to see everyone free from Abyss's webs and a heart-warming reunion between Emilie and Adrien. But it's FAR from over. It's going to be the battle for everyone's lives and the fate of the world depends on who triumphs! Will it be Kyle and the Miraculous crew? Or will it be Abyss and her Sentimonster minion?
Tune in next time as we get the battle between our heroes and the forces of Abyss...
