MIRACLE QUEEN'S AFTERMATH
Chapter 10: Dark Ladybug
by Bill K.
Tiger Noir felt himself falling backwards onto the rooftop he was standing on. That, though, concerned him less than the fact that Dark Ladybug had her hands around his throat and was trying to choke him. Whatever good feelings had been turned bad by Dark Cupid's arrow were running rampant in her. And with her enhanced strength, speed and agility, his darling Bug-a-Boo was now a serious threat to his life.
"You're so smart and so smug and so incessantly harassing me!" Dark Ladybug fumed as she hunched her shoulders and pressed down on his throat. "I've told you and told you and TOLD YOU that we can't have a relationship! But you won't listen! So I'm going to MAKE YOU LISTEN!"
"Couldn't just," he gasped out, struggling to throw her off of him, "write me a note?"
"AND YOU'RE NOT FUNNY!" she bellowed.
Grasping at his hip, Tiger Noir finally came up with his baton. For a moment he thought of clubbing her with it, but he couldn't bring himself to do it - - not to her. Instead he swung it around across his face and brought it down across the elbow joints in her arms. Despite her strength, the blow forced her elbows to bend and relieved the pressure on his throat. She was also slightly off balance and Tiger Noir shoved her off with a turn of his hip.
Springing to his feet, Tiger Noir avoided a vicious swing of Dark Ladybug's yo-yo. He somersaulted backwards several times to give himself some distance between him and her. But when he landed, Tiger Noir was face to face with a section of chimney that his opponent's yo-yo had broken off and launched at him. There wasn't time to duck.
"Cataclysm!" he shouted.
The brick and mortar struck his outstretched hand and disintegrated instantly. Just great; now he was going to change back and Dark Ladybug was going to escape. Tiger Noir glanced down at his ring to see if the countdown had started yet. It hadn't.
Dodging another launch of brick and mortar, Tiger Noir threw his baton at Dark Ladybug, hoping to at least get her to flinch and at most to knock her down. He glanced at his ring again as the baton ricocheted back to him. It still hadn't started counting down.
By now, Dark Ladybug was swinging her yo-yo wildly, angrily, striking anything near her and making it a projectile. A metal chimney cap came flying up at, again too late to dodge. His hand went up.
"Cataclysm?" he shouted, hoping it would work. And again the object disintegrated the moment it touched his hand. "Wow, I did it twice! That's never happened! It must be the enhanced power of Tiger Noir!"
"Really?" snapped Dark Ladybug. "Let's test it!"
Her swinging yo-yo began launching fragments of the billboard at him. Each time it was near him, Tiger Noir would shout his power phrase and each time the item disintegrated. Amazed, Tiger Noir looked at his hands.
"Fantastic!" he thought. "But I'd better cool it. Just because I have extra cataclysms in me doesn't mean I have unlimited cataclysms."
Meanwhile Dark Ladybug stood and glared, frustrated by her inability to strike Tiger Noir. Reaching a boiling point, the corrupted heroine launched herself forward, swinging her weapon like a hammer. Back and forth Tiger Noir would dodge her swing, but she kept on relentlessly. The offensive kept him from charging her, his desperate mission to kiss her and break the spell thwarted by the very aggressive nature he was trying to quell.
Leaping to avoid a blow from the yo-yo, Tiger Noir landed on the edge of the roof, landing partially on the gutter. Unable to support his weight, the gutter gave way. Tiger Noir suddenly found himself pitched over the side and falling through space.
Extending his baton parallel to the ground, Tiger Noir caught the sides of two buildings and halted his fall. Using the momentum of the fall, he swung himself back up to the roof he had fallen from. But as he landed, the string from Dark Ladybug's yo-yo encircled him and pulled tight. Tiger Noir had his arms pinned to his sides. He looked over at Dark Ladybug and saw her smirking with malicious triumph.
"Not so smug now, are you?" she growled.
"Well, one person's 'smug' is another person's 'confident'," Tiger Noir said with a smile. "It all depends on your . . ."
"QUIET!" snapped the corrupted heroine.
She jerked on her yo-yo line, pulling Tiger Noir forward. Pivoting, Dark Ladybug swung her leg up and around, seeking to nail her captive with a spinning roundhouse kick. But when she pulled Tiger Noir forward, he thrust out with his feet and then swung his legs up. The maneuver carried him over Dark Ladybug's kick and he landed expertly behind her. Jerking on the line with his body, he pulled his opponent off of her feet. She landed awkwardly against his chest. Looking up at Tiger Noir in surprise, Dark Ladybug saw him smile and lean in for a kiss.
"NO!" Dark Ladybug shouted and struck him in his middle with a palm blow.
Tiger Noir sailed fifteen feet before landing hard. The impact caused him to roll and the yo-yo line holding him unraveled. He lay on the roof, stunned for a moment, holding his ribs.
"Funny," he grunted, "they usually can't wait to kiss me. You've always got to be different, Bug-a-boo."
Enraged by the comment, as he hoped she'd be, Dark Ladybug charged as she began spinning her yo-yo. Tiger Noir was able to leap to avoid a downward thrust from the yo-yo. He landed behind her and then parried two more shots with his baton.
"She's obviously not thinking straight," he thought, "or she would have beaten me by now. She's that good. I've got to find some way to trap her or pin her down so I can kiss her and bring her out of it!"
As Viperion leaped from rooftop to rooftop in search of Ladybug and Cat Noir, she sensed with her peripheral vision someone coming up on her left. When she landed, she rolled forward and up into a defensive stance.
"It's just me!" Queen Bee said, holding up her hands to ward off any attack. "My kwami recovered enough to let me transform again. Is Ladybug still corrupted?"
"She was when I saw her last," Viperion answered. "She ran off and Cat Noir pursued her. I do not know where they went."
"Ladybug, corrupted," Queen Bee said softly, reeling for a moment. Then her resolve returned. "We have to find them. And we have to find Anansi, too!"
"Anansi is missing?"
"She disappeared sometime during the battle," Queen Bee reported. "She could be anywhere, doing anything!"
Viperion looked at Queen Bee as if she were studying her. Then the characterization broke.
"Since we have no means of tracking Anansi, our first priority should be finding Ladybug and assisting Cat Noir in changing her back," Viperion concluded.
"I guess," Queen Bee replied, clearly torn. "Boy, this miraculous stuff is a lot harder than Ladybug makes it look."
"Indeed," Viperion nodded, thinking to her own missteps. Together the two heroines leaped off, hoping to pick up the trail of Ladybug and Cat Noir.
Left, right, left, right, Tiger Noir swatted or deflected shots from Dark Ladybug's yo-yo. His enhanced reflexes in his Tiger Noir form gave him the speed to counter her rapid fire attack. Anger fueled her offense, an anger he could see and feel - - and hear.
"Damn it, why don't you fall!" Dark Ladybug raged as she threw her yo-yo at him again and again.
"Maybe you can't hit me?" Tiger Noir said to her. "Maybe your heart just isn't in it."
"My heart? I hate you!" snarled Dark Ladybug. "I loathe and despise you! You're always in the way! You're always needing to be rescued! And you're always flirting with me like you're God's gift to womanhood!"
Tiger Noir grimaced and reminded himself that it was the enchantment talking, that Dark Cupid's arrow flipped a person's feelings to the opposite of what they were.
"The sooner I destroy you, the sooner I'll be the most popular heroine in Paris!" Dark Ladybug raged. "And then I'll destroy Hawkmoth and I'll be the most powerful person anywhere!" Her yo-yo pulled up and she glared maliciously at him. "And with the miraculous at my control, I'll be able to do ANYTHING! The world will bow to me!"
A chill ran through Tiger Noir. This had just gone from serious to dangerous. He'd forgotten that she was the Guardian of the Miraculous now. If she abused their power like the first Queen Bee had, or worse like Hawkmoth was doing, he wasn't sure he could stop her.
"Marinette!" they heard a voice boom from below.
Each of them looked down and saw Tom Dupain roaming the streets, calling for his daughter. Was Marinette still missing? That thought struck Tiger Noir as cold as the thought of Ladybug abusing the miraculous for some reason.
Then he glanced at Dark Ladybug and saw she was staring down at Tom Dupain, too. Now was his chance. Tiger Noir shot for her, using every ounce of speed his upgraded form had. But Dark Ladybug's uncanny luck and uncanny speed served her. She spotted him at the last moment and somersaulted over him. As if shaken from a dream, Dark Ladybug ran off and leaped to the rooftop ahead. Tiger Noir pivoted and gave chase.
Despite his upgraded speed, Tiger Noir couldn't seem to catch up to Dark Ladybug. But as he gave chase, he wondered why she was suddenly running. Before she had been eager to attack, eager to beat him or worse. But with the appearance of Tom Dupain, that eagerness had disappeared. Was it him? And if so, why? Or was it something more sinister?
"What's the matter, Kitty Cat?" Dark Ladybug taunted. "Can't you keep up? How about I give you some more incentive?"
Dark Ladybug angled to her right. Moments later, Tiger Noir realized where she was headed: The Grand Paris Hotel.
"Chloe?" he wondered.
Desperately Tiger Noir launched his baton at her, trying to trip her. Dark Ladybug dodged it with an athletic somersault, then planted her feet and leaped. Hooking her yo-yo on a flagpole, she swung herself up toward the penthouse.
Catching the baton on the rebound, Tiger Noir planted the extended pole on the roof and combining it with his upgraded strength vaulted up into the air. Retracting the baton, Tiger Noir shot up like a missile and tackled Dark Ladybug in mid-air. Their momentum sent the pair crashing into the penthouse patio, loudly scattering furniture. Tiger Noir skidded to a stop and took a moment to recover.
When he looked up, Dark Ladybug was up and ready to attack. A hammer-like move with her yo-yo was deflected by his baton. Quickly she brought the head of the yo-yo back down again. But Tiger Noir caught it, the cord wrapping around his wrist. With a jerk, he tried to pull Dark Ladybug toward him. Dark Ladybug, however, sailed over his head because Tiger Noir had failed to compensate for his increased strength. She sailed forward, trying to somersault to her feet, but landed in the Bourgeois pool.
"I'll get you out!" Tiger Noir exclaimed.
He began pulling on the yo-yo cord. Dark Ladybug's head bobbed to the surface. He pulled her to the side of the pool and Dark Ladybug began to climb out. Then she swung her legs back as she steadied herself on the pool rim. Her perfectly executed back flip allowed her to slam her feet into Tiger Noir's middle, driving him back into the patio furniture.
"This is the end," Dark Ladybug said grimly, stalking him as she twirled her yo-yo with vicious intent.
Tiger Noir lay amid a lounger and a patio table, looking up at her. There was no way he could get to his feet before she's strike with the yo-yo. And she was in no mood for one of his glib quips. There didn't seem to be any means to avoid a strike. Then he recalled his baton on his hip. Without removing it from his hip, Tiger Noir hit the release and the baton shot forward, extending into a vaulting pole.
Dark Ladybug leaped over the pole with ease. But that had just been the feint. When she came down, Tiger Noir was there to catch her. His arms locked around her and they pressed up against each other. Dark Ladybug looked up into his green eyes with defiant fury.
"Ready for that kiss?" Tiger Noir asked.
"I'd rather kiss a frog!" fumed Dark Ladybug.
"Well, there is another way to change you back," he said. "I could always remove your earrings. Dark Ladybug would be sure to disappear then."
Dark Ladybug went rigid in his arms. Her expression was one of wide-eyed fear and desperation.
"But I won't do that," he added. "Because my Bug-a-boo is in there and she'd never forgive me. And I couldn't live with that."
"Thanks," smiled Dark Ladybug.
Then she kneed him in the groin. Tiger Noir sank to the floor in definite pain as Dark Ladybug somersaulted to the roof of the penthouse.
"Will you be able to live with speaking in a higher pitch?" Dark Ladybug laughed cruelly.
She began spinning her yo-yo, but a sound caused her to stop and turn. Leaping into the picture was Queen Bee and Viperion. The two heroines bracketed her. Queen Bee brought her hand up to fire a stinger, but held up because she knew Dark Ladybug would just swat it away. Meanwhile Viperion set her snake bracelet.
"Three against one are bad odds, even for me," Dark Ladybug said with a malicious smirk. "I'm going to need something to even things up. LUCKY CHARM!"
Her yo-yo shot into the air and an object fell into her hands. And even her lucky charm was affected by Dark Cupid's spell: the object that fell into her hands was a red bullwhip with black dots on it.
"Oh, YES!" exclaimed Dark Ladybug, cracking the whip onto the patio tile below. "THIS is more like it!"
Without comment, Viperion brought up her lyre and stroked out random notes. The sound struck Dark Ladybug and she recoiled. Bringing the whip into play, Dark Ladybug angrily snapped the whip at Viperion, causing her to jump back.
"Stop that! You can't even play!" growled Dark Ladybug. Turning suddenly, she whipped her yo-yo around and deflected the top thrown at her by Queen Bee. "And you can't sneak up on me! Chloe was a lowlife traitor and SHE was a better Queen Bee than you'll ever be!"
"I've got to get that bullwhip away from her," thought Viperion. Her hand went to her bracelet. "Second Chance!" she exclaimed.
Time flipped backwards. But once more the vaunted Ladybug luck came into play. When time snapped back, Viperion found that she was already tossing her yo-yo into the air.
"LUCKY CHARM!" she shouted and the bullwhip fell into her hands. "Oh, YES!" exclaimed Dark Ladybug, cracking the whip onto the patio tile below. "THIS is more like it!"
"This miraculous is maddeningly imprecise," Viperion thought. "Second Chance!"
Once again time flipped backwards. Viperion saw Dark Ladybug throwing her yo-yo into the air.
"Cat Noir," she hissed, hoping he could hear her. "When you get the chance, grab her whip and destroy it."
Tiger Noir stared in confusion until he saw the whip appear in Dark Ladybug's hand.
"Oh, YES!" exclaimed Dark Ladybug, cracking the whip onto the patio tile below. "THIS is more like it!"
Tiger Noir's hand shot out and seized the end of the whip. Instantly Dark Ladybug tried to pull it out of his hand. She strained at the whip single-mindedly.
"Cataclysm!" Tiger Noir said.
The whip grew black and disintegrated. Left off balance, Dark Ladybug pitched over onto her back. Acting as one, Queen Bee and Viperion leaped up to the roof and got control over her. Recovered enough to move, Tiger Noir leaped up to the roof, where Dark Ladybug was struggling to escape the grip of the other two heroines. Cupping her chin in his hand, Tiger Noir leaned in.
"And like the prince, I kiss Snow White with the hope of waking her from her spell," Tiger Noir said.
And he kissed her, full on the mouth. Dark Ladybug resisted at first. Then she grew silent. Then she leaned into the kiss, their hot breath mingling. Queen Bee glanced at Viperion, but the heroine in green watched impassively.
When their lips finally parted, Tiger Noir gave her a shy grin. Ladybug, her lips now normal color, sighed breathlessly, her eyes hooded and unfocused. Then after a few moments, she realized what had happened.
"T-Thank you, Cat," Ladybug squeaked as she looked away. Queen Bee could see her cheeks coloring.
"It was my pleasure, M'lady," Tiger Noir said.
"There is still Hawkmoth to deal with," Viperion said, a slight brittleness to her tone. "And Anansi is still unaccounted for."
"That's right!" gasped Queen Bee.
The four heroes leaped down to the patio.
"Odd that Chloe or one of the staff hasn't come out here to see what all the ruckus was about," Queen Bee brought up. The others looked around.
"That's right," Ladybug nodded. "Do you suppose no one's home?"
"There's always a butler or maid here," Tiger Noir stated. "We'd better check."
Led by Tiger Noir, the four entered the penthouse. A search of the living room, the bedrooms and Mayor Bourgeois' office resulted in nothing. But when they entered the kitchen, they found Jean and a maid webbed to chairs. Using his cataclysm, Tiger Noir freed them.
"It was this horrible spider-thing!" Jean exclaimed. "It came in - - attacked us! It took Miss Chloe! It said that her master wanted a word with her!"
"Anansi!" Ladybug declared as Queen Bee looked on in fear. "She's taken Chloe - - probably to Hawkmoth!"
"Did you see which way she went?" demanded Tiger Noir.
"No," Jean shook his head.
Continued in Chapter 11