"I hope you enjoy your little show while it lasted, Hawkmoth!" Ladybug exclaimed boldly, standing proudly at the edge of the school building, "No matter what you try, you're never going to get our Miraculous! We will stop you, just like we have before!"

"And when this is over, you and Mayura are going to hand over your Miraculous!" Chat Noir added.

"Your days of making the people of Paris suffer end now, Hawkmoth!" Kobra shouted.

"We're totally going to wreck up your plans, Hawky!" Saruchame chimed in.

"Haven't you ever heard that the bad guys always lose?" Bunnix added with a smirk.

"And we'll make sure you atone for everything you've done for the rest of your life!" Bombshell proclaimed.

"It would be within your best interests to surrender to your fate!" Kijutsu-shi snapped.

"You've been playing dirty up to this point… well we're done playing nice as well!" Mitsubachi taunted.

"You won't stand a chance against us together!" Shadow Barb exclaimed confidently.

"We're going to expose your stupid face to the public so everyone can see how much of a deadbeat coward you are!" Henhouse jabbed.

Amur was silent, steeling himself for the battle ahead.

Growling, Lady Wifi typed on her phone and the school's televisions crackled to life. On them, the masked villain himself, dressed in his scarlet attire, appeared in front of them.

"So you wish to fight, do you ?" the villain cackled.

"Huh, you're uglier than I thought you'd be," Saruchame remarked.

"And that's not even counting your personality!" Henhouse snickered.

If this angered Hawkmoth, he didn't show it as he went on, "Get them, akumas! Seize their Miraculouses - every last one !"

With roars of challenge, the army of akumas charged from both the ground and the air.

"Watch out!" Chat warned as Dark Cupid rained arrows down from above. Team Miraculous quickly scattered to avoid the shots

"Dark Cupid… he's by far the most dangerous akuma right now! Try to take him out first!" Ladybug ordered.

"What do his powers do again?" Bombshell asked, blocking a lightning zap from Stormy Weather.

"Kijutsu, duck!" Mitsubachi warned as the fox locked his flute against the Mime's invisible sword,

Instinctively, Kijutsu-shi did so, barely dodging an arrow from the rogue angel akuma. Unfortunately, the arrow sunk into a civilian just getting out of his car to get to safety. Upon stumbling, the man slumped over before lifting his head and snarling. Another citizen ran over to try and help him, but the man swung his briefcase at them aggressively before the other man backed off and ran away instead.

"...Now I see why that one must be taken out first," Kijutsu-shi observed in horror before sweeping Princess Fragrance off her feet.

"How the hell are we supposed to get him, he's literally flying in the air!" Saruchame shouted, ducking to avoid a pause sign from Lady Wifi.

Ladybug bit her lip. They, fortunately, had a couple of Miraculous that Hawkmoth hasn't seen yet (or at least she hoped he didn't; he had the Grimoire translation, after all) so they could possibly use their abilities to their advantage. Glancing around at her team, her eyes eventually came to rest on Amur & Shadow Barb.

A grin spread over her face as she rolled around a blast from Reflekta.

"Shadow Barb! Amur!" she shouted, pointing at where Dark Cupid was circling above.

"Huh?" the Horse Holder gasped, glancing between the winged villain and Amur. The Tiger user did the same before his eyes shined in understanding. Straightening, Amur crossed his arms over his shoulders, fingers clawed before spreading his arms out, and the stripes on his suit began to glow before darkening.

"Stealth!" he shouted, and the blink of an eye later, he vanished.

"Whoa, what?!" Shadow Barb exclaimed, then his gaze wandered to Kim flying above, "Oh, I get it!"

With a smirk and gleam from his glasses, Shadow Barb swung his arm, "Voyage!" and the luminescent ring levitated around his wrist before he flung it forward.

With a hidden smirk, Amur sprinted towards the portal and leaped forward-

-and crashed with a grunt on top of Dark Cupid.

The akuma gasped in surprise as he felt strong arms wrap around his chest and wings. He tried to elbow and buck the invisible force off, but it held firm. With a grunt of its own, Dark Cupid felt sharp claws dig into his chest before it ripped off his brooch away and crushed it.

With another cry of fright this time, the miasma reverted off of Kim's form, causing him to free fall to the ground, the invisible bonds still holding his arms tight at his sides.

As he screamed, the invisible force glimmered before materializing around him. With a swift flip forward, Kim found himself cradled against a strong chest before landing firmly on the ground and being let down gently.

"You good?" the new hero asked.

All Kim could do was nod before the hero leaped back onto the roof to rejoin the fray.

By now, most of the akumas had scattered beyond the school to the rest of the city, so even though there were some still lurking around, Kim managed to reign in his emotions enough to keep them away. But he couldn't seem to ignore what felt like a hole that had been punched through his chest. The revelations of just a little while ago were still rawly fresh in his mind. A girl he admired was really a liar and bully, and Marinette… sweet, amazing Marinette had been innocent the entire time.

It was no wonder Ladybug didn't trust him anymore. How could… no, was there a way he could fix this at all?

o~o

Glad to see he's alright, Amur thought to himself as he watched Kim leave; that said, he didn't miss the kid's conflicted expression.

For the most part, anyway…

"Amur heads up!" Henhouse warned. Amur leaped blindly into the air, barely missing the gold ray that hit and left a scorch mark where he had been crouching just seconds ago.

"Oh, shit!" Saruchame cursed, staring at a new akuma behind him.

"Lying filth! Share your truths!" said akuma howled. The most notable trait about this one was the thick fabric that was wrapped around her eyes, and the large rusted scales she held from a chain. In her other hand was a long, sharp-looking sword that gleamed in the sunlight.

"Madame Rossi…" Ladybug muttered grimly.

"That's Verity Queen to you, oh perjurious one!" the akuma shouted back, somehow hearing the comment.

"Verity… the quality of being true…" Henhouse murmured, her brain spitting out the definition, "Don't tell me her power is…!"

"I guess we don't want to know what'll happen if we're hit by one of those blasts," Chat Noir groaned.

"Best guess, she'll force us to tell the truth, and nothing else," Mitsubachi theorized, "any sort of secret or illusion will be useless."

"Including identities…" Kijutsu-shi's eyes widened in realization.

"We need more space," Kobra decided, before twin sounds of beeping reached their ears. Shadow Barb and Amur both glanced at their Miraculous, one of the dots and claw prints blinking.

"And you two need a place to recharge," Bunnix added.

"Go! We'll draw them out towards the Eiffel Tower!" Ladybug ordered.

"Got it!" Shadow Barb agreed, leaping away. Amur nodded before doing the same.

Bombshell noticed Stormy Weather attempting to follow them but aggressively threw her shield, hitting the parasol. With a scream, Aurore began descending to the ground but was quickly caught by Kobra and settled on the ground.

"Let's go!" Ladybug shouted, before flicking out her yo-yo and swinging away from the school, the rest of Team Miraculous following close behind.

o~o

Amur's heart pounded as he dropped into an alley, his transformation stopping five seconds later. Instinctively, he caught the tiny Tiger kwami that came out of the bracelet.

"Not bad kid," Roaar commented as Akira dug out some beef jerky from his pocket, tossing it to the kwami, "that was a pretty awesome stunt back there!"

"Well, the fewer opportunities for more of these things, the better, right?" he asked.

"Not arguing there!" Roaar grinned, wolfing down the jerky.

"How Ladybug does this nearly every single day is incredible on its own…" Akira murmured, "she has my respect."

"She's a tough one, that's for sure!" Roaar agreed, "Stubborn and headstrong too!"

"No arguments there," Akira smiled, before noticing the tiger was finished eating, "Ready?"

"Let's do this!" Roaar grinned, doing a small flip, balling his nubby fists.

"Roaar, Leap Out!" Akira shouted, Roaar vanishing once again into the panjas bracelet.

With a grunt, he leaped back out of the alley, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Shadow Barb was leaping across the rooftops as well. Right, time to meet up with Ladybug-

With a gasp of surprise, Amur felt something hard tackle him from behind, flipping him over and pinning to his back. Looking up, slightly dazed, he found himself face-to-face with a woman with periwinkle skin. Over her head, while leaving her mouth exposed, she was wearing a black helmet with a red visor with black edges and a red spike pointing towards the back of her head, with a black dress suit with stiff shoulders, including a dark red front and swan neck collar that featured a red downward-arrow-shaped section in the center. The sleeves covered her entire arms, with the tips of her fingers fading into red. Also, she had pocket-like ridges on each side of her hips, and her pant legs went down to her feet, having red high-heels, soles, and tips.

"Let me ask you something, hero," the woman sneered, holding his shoulders firmly, "Do you enjoy being Ladybug's servant? Having to wait for her to loan you a Miraculous? Wouldn't you rather have boundless powers of your own?"

"Kusokurae, madam," Amur simply replied.

The woman's head reared back for a moment. If Amur could see her eyes, he would have seen the surprised blink at the language change before her smirk returned.

"Come with us, boy," she smiled deviously, "you can use the Tiger Miraculous whenever you want!"

"If you think this is a matter of wanting, you're really not as smart as you seem to think you are," Amur gave an unimpressed look, and with that, he jerked his head up, headbutting her hard.

With a cry of pain, the woman let go of him, stumbling back.

In a matter of seconds, he had Catalyst pinned to the ground herself.

"Now then, where's your akuma?" he mumbled to himself.

Hawkmoth gasped from his position in his lair. Quickly recovering, he called someone, any of his akumas to go save Catalyst.

Amur heard the sound of heavy stomping. He didn't let go of his hold on Catalyst, but he did turn his head around to see Stoneheart charging towards him.

With a snarl, he unsheathed his trench knife, holding it to Catalyst's neck, "One more step and I take her item, and if you're extra pushy, I may slit her throat open… decisions, decisions…"

Stoneheart stopped, a red moth mask surrounding his eyes, but he didn't get the chance to decide what he would do, as Bombshell's shield rammed into the paper his akuma was contained in. Granted, he grew bigger, but in shock, his hand opened, and the paper fell out just in time for the pointy green shield to bounce off of a wall, fly back and slice through it cleanly, reverting the golem to Ivan.

"Thanks, Bomb!" Amur grinned.

"Anytime," the blonde smirked, spinning her shield and clipping it to her back, "Who's that?"

"I dunno, but I should take her akumatized item, shouldn't I? Either way, go get Ladybug to purify that akuma from Stoneheart."

"On it-look out!" she shouted, pointing up. Above, Evillustrator flew towards them on a hoverboard he'd drawn.

"Oh, no ya don't!" another voice shouted before a sock monkey hit the akumatized artist right on his head.

"Huh?" the akuma gasped as the hoverboard below lost its weight and folded into two-dimensional paper beneath his feet, his pencil becoming a little daisy.

The former hoverboard and its rider crashed into the ground, sending the akumatized artist flying through the air. His tablet slipped midway and cracked when it hit the ground, releasing the moth.

"Agh, there's no end to these guys!" Saruchame groaned before heading off to recharge.

"If we can take out Hawkmoth, we stop all of this," Amur murmured before glaring down at his prisoner, "and you're going to tell us where he is. Considering the offer you tried to give me earlier, I'm guessing you're a bit closer to him, just like Lila Rossi was. Who's the 'servant' now?"

"Both of us, seeing as you work for Ladybug," she retorted with a scowl.

"Nope!" Amur grinned, to Catalyst's confusion, "I work with her on equal footing. Trying to sway me will just shorten your time. Now, where's your akuma?"

"Try checking her helmet," Ladybug's voice reasoned, as she and Chat Noir leaped up to join him, "take her out and Hawkmoth's done for!"

"Right…" he muttered, reaching for the helmet.

"Amur, get back!" Kijutsu-shi's voice suddenly rang out. Alarmed, Amur instinctively did, letting go of his captive in the process.

Throwing his flute like one would throw a spear, Ladybug and Chat Noir's forms vanished, to be replaced by Lady Wifi and the silver version of Volpina respectively.

"How did you- that illusion was perfect!" Silver Volpina shouted, infuriated. Lady Wifi growled as she stood up.

"To the normal eye. But when searching for the finer details, one must be careful to detect the slightest error," Kijutsu-shi grinned intimidatingly, "Ladybug's ribbons are shorter than what you gave your work."

Bombshell and Amur stared at Kijutsu-shi, wide-eyed.

"How did you notice something like that?!" Bombshell gasped.

"Trade secret," the Fox hero simply grinned.

"Ugh…" Catalyst groaned as she rose to her feet, "I'll get you for this some other time!"

"That's some real cliche supervillain shit there, miss!" Saruchame's voice chastised as the Monkey wielder returned.

Catalyst just growled, before pointing at Lady Wifi and Silver Volpina. "Take care of them!" she ordered.

"Yes, Madame Catalyst," Lady Wifi smirked before a barrage of pause buttons soared towards the quartet.

"Catalyst…" Bombshell murmured as they dodged the flying attacks, "Oh! Her akuma power must act like a turbo-charger! That's how Hawkmoth is able to create so many akumas right now!"

"If we can take her out, the rest of the akumas will likely go away too, then," Saruchame realized.

"Like we'll let you get the-" Lady Wifi didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as Shadow Barb rushed her, pinning her to a nearby chimney. Before she could react too much, Shadow Barb ripped her phone out of her hands and smashed it.

"Sorry, hon," Shadow Barb said in a tone betraying his sadness in order to hide any connection to the Ladyblogger. As Alya returned to her normal, he nodded at her neutrally before leaping off, leaving her behind.

"One down, one to go!" Amur grinned as Silver Volpina gasped.

Quickly she blew into her flute and in a flash of light, multiple copies of herself surrounded her.

Groaning in annoyance, Bombshell prepared to throw her shield again, only for a whirling sound to stop her. In a swish, a dark-gray grapple ripped through the illusions, leaving no Volpinas in sight.

The quartet looked back in the direction of the grapple just as Shadow Barb pulled his horseshoe katar back towards him, hearing the weapon lock back into place. He smirked and sent a two-fingered salute.

"We should let Ladybug know about that Catalyst akuma," Amur decided, "Saruchame, Bombshell, you go give her the news. Kijutsu-shi, Shadow Barb, you're with me - we're chasing down Catalyst!"

"Got it!" Bombshell nodded.

"Sure thing, dude!" Shadow Barb exclaimed; behind him, Alya's eyes widened before narrowing slightly suspiciously.

"Okay, now move!" Amur ordered as the group dispersed.

o~o

"You have got to be kidding me…" Mitsubachi groaned as she dodged yet another kissing zombie!

"Okay, seriously, either Hawkmoth has too big of an imagination or he was really desperate when he made this one!" Henhouse agreed, batting a zombie away with her bola.

"I'm sticking with the desperate option for this one," Bunnix agreed, sending another flying with her umbrella.

"Stay focused!" Ladybug ordered, "Let even one of them kiss you and you turn into a zombie too, superhero suits be damned!"

"Look out! Shellter!" Bombshell shouted, barely making it in time to shield the group from a laser attack from Gamer's mech.

"Nice catch!" Ladybug exclaimed as the beam bounced off the shield into the horde of zombies, hitting them all at once and turning them into red game-like orbs.

"No problem," Bombshell said before lowering the shield, "Ladybug, there's a special akuma running around, her name is Catalyst. We think she's the source of Hawkmoth's enhanced powers."

"Not sure what she can do, exactly," Saruchame said, "but she certainly seemed more interested in getting away than fighting us."

"Where are Amur, Kijutsu, and Barb?" Ladybug asked urgently.

"They went after her. She may be able to lead them to Hawkmoth," Bombshell said.

"I hope they're careful. Hawkmoth is dangerous to fight alone!" Chat Noir exclaims, holding a newly freed Rose in his arms.

"Ladybug, taking them out one by one will take forever!" Kobra said, "If we can't find Hawkmoth, we need a way we can either take them out at once or at least immobilize everyone."

Glancing around at the continued chaos, Ladybug knew Kobra was right. Hawkmoth had yet to make an appearance, likely waiting for the akumas to tire them out. If there was a way to band all the villains together and at least trap them, that would work for the time being.

Taking a deep breath, Ladybug threw her yo-yo into the air.

"Lucky Charm!"

o~o

AN: AND CLIFFY! Haha! Sorry! So it's a bit short, but I hope it was at least entertaining. I've said this a hundred times, but I'm bad at writing fighting sequences.

If anyone needs a reference for Shadow Barb's weapon, they're like Pidge's grappling hook/katars from Voltron: Legendary Defender, or the Metal-benind police from Legend of Korra.

Part 2 of this fight will hopefully be up tomorrow! Stay tuned and love you all!