On a chilly, windy day in October, at the graveyard, a young boy, or almost a young man, stood by a grave. He ducked down in front of it, as he ran his gloved hand over the stone and read the inscription: 'Here lies Enzo Lahiffe, loving husband, father and godfather'. A heavy sigh came from Nino as he continued to sit crouched down by the grave.
"You are going to hurt your knees if you keep crouched down like that." a soft female voice said behind him. Nino looked up to see Marinette. "I thought I'd find you here." she said, with a weak smile. It was clear sorrow was present in her eyes as well, holding back her usual sunny disposition. Nino stood up. "The others are worried for you."
"Then why are they not here?" Nino asked softly.
"They are busy..." Marinette began.
"So life goes on for them while we are here, wallowing in misery?" Nino snapped.
"...tracking down Latombe!" Marinette finished. "They want to help. Latombe cannot allowed to remain free. But they are all going to stop by at one point to inquire, because they care."
"Oh..." Nino said, feeling bad for having snapped earlier. "Well, I appreciate that but I cannot look people in the eyes now. I don't want their pity."
"They don't pity you Nino, they care. We all care. Don't forget, Uncle Enzo was my family too." Marinette said, putting a hand on Nino's shoulder.
"You...seem awfully calm about the whole thing." Nino noted.
"I have to keep it together. I am Ladybug after all. Would be disastrous if I were to slip up...I have to suffer in private. Speaking off..." Marinette began.
"I promise I will not let it get in my way of my Carapace duties. Though if I were to meet Latombe, don't mind if I punch him quite a bit harder then usual." Nino said.
"If I get some licks in, I'd agree to that." Marinette said with a soft smile.
Nino let out a brief chuckle. It only helped a little, but it was something. "You'd think he'd be...proud of us?"
"He was always proud of us, Nino." Marinette assured him. "You didn't become a hero because you were our friend, but you were willing to step up and offer your help, doing what is right."
"He taught me that you know." Nino said as he looked back at the gravestone.
"It meant he was a good father." Marinette said.
"The best..." Nino muttered softly.
"The others will try to reach out to you. Please don't turn them away. They are your friends, after all." Marinette asked.
"I know...Oh crud, I forgot about Alya, I promised I'd be there...you think she'll go easy on me?" Nino asked.
"Maybe a little, but no way you are getting out of a bollocking. You worried her the most." Marinette said.
"That's fair I suppose. If I am quick, I can be there not too late and avoid a little bollocking." Nino said.
"A little." Marinette said as she held her thumb and index finger half an inch apart.
"I best go then..." Nino said. "It was good talking, Marinette."
"Yeah." Marinette said softly as she watched Nino leave. Once he was out of sigh, the she tiredly scurried over to a nearby tree, put he back against it and slid down on the ground, looking more tired then ever.
Her parents may have done their best to prevent her from burying herself in more work then she can handle again. But she felt tired. The things she focused upon began, demanding a lot still. Her studies, commissions, hero duties...not to mention that she was focused on developing her healing powers to help Emilie and Nathalie and some Guardian training. However, she could have handled all that if the bomb of Latombe hadn't been drop weeks ago.
Nino made haste towards Alya's place, as he looked at a wall with some posters on it. One of those posters was a wanted poster of Latombe. It was a neutral looking sketch of the person. But for a moment, Nino seemed to swear that the drawing started to twist until it was curled into the smug grin he came to associate with that monster. His fists clenched as the familiar anger boiled up again.
He punched the wall on which the poster sat. It didn't leave a hole, but it did leave an indent, and the poster was shredded. Nino held his fist in pain. Luckily he had a bit of additional strength, but it wasn't as great as when he was fully transformed. Though he soon realized what he did, as he looked at the indent in the wall, ignoring the pain and not sticking around for any onlookers staring at him.
We cut to somewhere else and to someone in a much more chipper mood. Unfortunately it was Latombe whom was whistling while he was at work. Mahamayuri overlooked him. "that irritating whistle best be because things are getting along nicely and not to annoy me?"
"Why can't it be both?" Latombe asked as he was coding something on his computer. "But don't get whatever you have around your arse in a twist. This will work out great." Latombe grabbed half a cheeseburger that was lying next to his workspace, and messily stuffed it in his mouth
Mahamayuri scowled. "Disgusting pig."
"Hey, give me a break. I was jailed for a decade or so. I enjoy good food again now I'm out of jail." he said as he threw the empty cheeseburger box in a pile of wrappings and boxes he had lying around. Earlier today, aside his cheeseburger he had consumed a batch of normal fries, a batch of curly fries, a batch of chili cheese fries, a portion of chicken nuggets, some fried chicken tenders, a chicken wrap and some onion rings. And right now, he grabbed one of the deserts, an Orea ice-cream sundae.
"I can't believe that you went out to get all that. What if you were seen? What if you left behind a body?" Mahamayuri asked.
"Give me some credit, I have decent disguises. And I may admit I am a murderous bastard, I don't do so willy nilly, always with purpose. The people at the fastfood place don't deserve that treatment. My food was in perfect order, even gave them a tip." Latombe said as he continued dialing away on his keyboard. "You have so little faith in me?"
"Yes." Mahamayuri said bluntly.
"You know, that kind of hurt." Latombe said in a dry tone. "No matter, Mr. Yandere, the programming is about..." He clicked 'Enter' "Done! Now to upload the programming, and I can introduce you to my new invention." He got up went to a different room, Mahamayuri gliding behind him.
It was covered with a tarp, and Latombe stood there, acting like the mayor about to unveil a statue. "Lady...gentlemen...whatever you are, presenting to you the newest tool to counter the Miraculous wielders. I present to you...Toybot!" he said as he pulled the tarp off.
Mahamayuri eyed the robot. It looked like a giant wind-up action toy robot. "It looks ridiculous. This is what you've spent the last few weeks working on?" he asked.
"Ah, don't be deceived by his looks. He may not look like much but it can fight like the dickens." Latombe said.
"Really now?" Mahamayuri said as he raised an eyebrow. He shot forward at the robot, but it quickly lifted one of its claw-like clamp hands and held it in front of him, blocking the blow Mahamayuri was about to land. Mahamayuri backed off. "It at least has good reflexes."
"Oh, that was just the tip of the iceberg. I had its AI scan footage of the heroes fighting, it will know their moves before they make it, and it will study their patterns to become even better. A learning robot. It will be able to gather so much useful data for us." Latombe said.
"Interesting." Mahamayuri said. "But I will fully believe it when I see it."
"No worries, just a final tune-up and this bot is ready to go." Latombe said with a grin. "Bring out the popcorn, because it will be quite a show."
Nino has made it to Alya's place, and they were now in her room privately talking. With Alya being privately annoyed. "Do you know how worried I have been?" Alya asked. "We were supposed to meet up an hour ago."
"I got distracted. I passed by the graveyard." Nino said as he rubbed his knuckles.
Alya softened a bit. "That I can understand." she said more softly. "But you could have let me know. You don't let anything know, you barely speak as of late. I know you are hurting, but please don't shut us out, don't shut ME out! I'm your girlfriend, I thought you could trust me with anything."
Nino looked into her eyes, anger and hurt present in time. Nino looked down in his lap, tenseness rising inside him. "Have you ever lost a loved one, Alya?" Nino asked.
"Of course I have. My grandparents. And that hurt me, you know." Alya stated. She thought she had already told Nino this at one point...
"And how did that happen?" Nino asked.
"They were sick." Alya replied, not sure what Nino was going to.
"A disease, it is awful, but you cannot blame a disease. Those germs just do what is natural to them. They have no concept of right and wrong. But Latombe...He just...Took my dad, thought he'd make a great experiment and...he didn't have any reason but that my dad was within reach when he decided to abduct people. To him, my dad was a bug that he could crush under his boot..." Nino said.
"Is that a reason to not open up to me? I want to help, Nino." Alya said. "And why do you keep rubbing your knuckles?"
"Nino was actually doing fine after his talk with Marinette, but a poster with Latombe's mug made him punch a wall and made the progress Marinette made void." Wayzz muttered.
"Wayzz!" Nino called out.
"Nino..." Alya said as she grabbed the hand Nino was rubbing, and massages it a bit with his thumbs. "What did you think what would happen?"
"I dunno...I want to just...for a moment was mad and...I just for a moment don't want to feel." Nino stammered.
"One of the biggest flaws of a turtle, they can put barriers around themselves at their lowest points. Turtles bear big burdens, and think they have to bear them alone. But our shells can sometimes feel to small for us." Wayzz continued.
"It means, kid, that you shouldn't close yourself off." Trixx added.
"I understood that, I'm not stupid." Nino said.
"Could have fooled me, because you are hurting my kit and that is pretty stupid." Trixx added.
Nino looked at Alya. "Nino...I know the pain of loss, but it may not be the same type of loss you feel but...Latombe is a madman, and we will take him down. And I hate him too, for what he did to all these people, and that he hurt you. But...I always needed you and your chill kindness to balance out my fiery temper. It makes me wonder why you put up with me at times and...that I have to be the calm one in this is messed up."
"I'm sorry Al...I have not been much of use, have I?" Nino asked.
"Of use? You should not think of yourself like an useful object like a screwdriver! Just...come here, sweetie." Alya said as she pulled Nino in a hug. "I just wish I knew the words that would make you feel better."
"You don't need words for that." Nino assured her. "I'm glad you're here and...sorry if I wasn't all there."
"You are forgiven you lug." Alya muttered in return.
"Well, they're back on the right track. Hope it sticks this time." Trixx noted.
"My hatchling will needs his loved ones more then ever. Because there is more yet to come." Wayzz said sadly.
Toybot scampered through Paris, and drew odd looks. Due to his inconspicuous design people weren't sure what he was and hence no one started to panic. It just moved along, at times took time to assess its surroundings. "Hey, cool costume, but Halloween is still a few weeks away. Or is there a theme part whom lost its mascot?" a bystander asked.
It was a garbageman, whom was busy emptying garbage cans into the garbage truck. Toybot just turned around and looked the man. It received a message from its master. "Make Trouble." It was its cue to show what it could do. It moved towards the Garbageman, grabbed the garbageman from its arms and then crushed it into a small sphere of crumbled metal.
"Holy smoke!" the garbageman said as he ran for it. The other garbage men left the truck as the mechanical mayhem raiser its arm, slamming it into the truck, knocking it to its side with a huge dent in the side. That was basically the sign for the people of Paris to go into full blown panic.
Around the city, all of the Miraculous wielders' phones went off, notifying the Hostile Alert (new name of the Akuma Alert on account there are no more Akumas). Marinette was on her way home from the graveyard as she sighed. "Another day, another one asking to have their ass kicked." she sighed as she went down an alleyway. "Tikki spots on!"
Down in her room at her hotel home, Chloé had put a towel around her hair and around her body, coming fresh out of the shower as her alert went off. "Damnit! Stupid supervillains with their stupid timing." She noted. "Pollen, Buzz on!"
Adrien and Greg were driving along as Adrien received his notification. "Er...you can get the supplies to Fu on your own, duty calls?"
"Go ahead sport, and save the day! Again." Greg said as he briefly stopped long enough to drop off Adrien.
"Ok, see ya Uncle Greg!" as Adrien dove into an alleyway. "Plagg, Claws out!"
Nino and Alya's tender moment was interrupted when the Creature Alert went off. "I guess the city needs us once again, babe." Nino said. I think we found the best way to let loose some frustration."
"After you, sweetie." Alya replied.
"Wayzz, Shell On!"
"Trixx, Let's pounce!"
Toybot continued his rampage through the city. It had lifted a car above his head and threw it through the air, into a building, leaving a gaping hole and some car wreckage. The police was shooting at it from a distance, but the bullets did nothing aside drawing attention to themselves. The robot's head turned 180 degrees towards the officers before the rest of its body followed nad he advanced upon them. "Fall back! Fall back!" the squad's officer said.
"Leave it to us, officers!" Ladybug's voice sounded as they landed in the path of the Toybot, whom stopped in its tracks, as the police officers retreated. The heroes were confused at the sight in front of them.
"Seriously, that's what we are fighting?" Chat Noir asked. "Mr. pigeon looks more frightening then this."
"Well, that smoking wreckage didn't come from out of nowhere, so we best keep our guard up." Ladybug reminded him.
"It's definitely not a creature and clearly a robot. It seems Latombe decided to make the next move." Queen Bee noted. No one missed Carapace gritting his teeth and holding his shield tighter.
Toybot stood there, unmoving. "Er...is it going to do something?" Rena Rouge asked.
To that, the Toybot responded by opening up its chest panel, revealing a monitor screen, which went from static to clear screen, showing the smirking face of the psychopath himself. "Latombe..." Carapace growled.
"Hello, Miraculous team. Finally glad to meet you face to face...matter of speaking of course." Latombe said. "I have been wanting to say this for a long time...love the outfits."
"Well, it shows that we are better at designing then you are. Your robot looks ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. And there hasn't been a more appropriate time to use that term." Queen Bee snarled.
"Maybe, but this ridiculous thing is going to kick your collective posteriors. Though it doesn't have to be that way. By now the old man must have told you about me? Unless he is keeping secrets again." Latombe taunted.
"He told us about you, all right! You are a traitor and a murderer, plain and simple." Ladybug said as she swung her yo-yo by her side in a circle. "He also told us about his past mistake to ever trust you as a successor."
"Oh, I am genuinely surprised. He was always so insistent on secrets. Thought he'd take his secrets to the grave or something. So, he picked the lots of you as guardians. Must be otherwise he wouldn't part with that old shellhead Wayzz." Latombe said.
"Don't talk about Wayzz, don't talk about our master, don't talk about anything! You don't have a right to anything! You damn dirty murderer!" Carapace shouted.
"I won't deny that. But man, you are on edge today. What got you so worked up? Forgot to study for a test? Bully making your life hard?" Latombe asked.
"You killed my father!" Carapace shouted.
Latombe looked genuinely confused. "Kid, do you know how little that narrows it down for me?" Carapace didn't reply and just charged at Toybot with his shield raised, whom just backhanded him and sent him flying back. "Oh, you are so pathetic it is adorable."
Carapace was helped back up by Rena, whom was at the same time shouting at Latombe: "Look who's pathetic, you get off form kidnapping, torturing and killing people. You threw a tantrum on how you felt life was unfair so you started cutting others' short."
"The old man ruined my life, he made me what I am!" Latombe shot back.
"And those innocent people you killed, did they ruin your life too? Stop making excuses. Mistakes were made, but it doesn't excuse what you've done." Ladybug said as she pointed angrily at Latombe.
"Innocent people do not exist, kid. When you grow up, you will learn that the hard way. Granted you survive the culling I have in mind." Latombe replied.
"Oh, you want a culling? Let's start with you when I shove my Cataclysm into your face!" Chat said as he raised his clawed hand menacingly.
"Your predecessor already did that once. Though he only scratched me." Latombe said as he pointed at his scar. "But you kids start to bore me with your idealistic sunshine and rainbows ideology. I came here for an experiment, and I want to get to it. Today's experiment: how much beating can you take from my creation?"
"I got a different experiment: What if we put your toy out of commission, we find out where you life and shove the thing right up your arse?" Queen Bee asked.
"Oh, you are a feisty one. Let's see if we can knock it out of you. Toybot, Attack Mode!" Latombe said as the eyes of the mechanical menace glowed and snapped its claws fiercely.
Carapace was recovering from the blow it had received and the cobwebs had cleared his head. Right now in front of him he saw the creation of the man he hated, the hated man's face adorned on the screen on its chest. He spun his shield around, as it glowed green and a buzzsaw sound could be heard. "I am going to f***ing destroy you." he muttered.
The Toybot then shot towards our heroes, whom also charged towards him. The fight was on.
TO BE CONTINUED
NOTES
New episode is here.
Latombe sends out his newest invention. It is deliberately made to both mock and counter our heroes.
Nino and Marinette are learning to deal with the shock of the last few interludes. Marinette throws herself in work but is held back so she doesn't overdo it again. And Nino...well, he can only be chill for os much until something thaws and burns.
Now, I'm not bringing in the full hero set for each chapter unless all are needed. Just the main team and a select few each other chapter, so it is better to juggle everything.