Chapter Fifteen

A/N: We are 3 freaking 4ths of the way there. It's almost over guys.

Kalapin

Shellona jumps down first, creating a bit of a bubble for the other heroes by throwing her shield, knocking down akumas unfortunate enough to get close to her. Alepou follows, floating gracefully down while Yellow Jacket lands in a superhero pose, almost tipping over. Jinx and Luckybug land last, surveying the street. It's the main road to the Eiffel Tower, where Kronas is standing. He flips the bird at her and readies his yoyo. "Remember, no powers until necessary. Just hand to hand." Yellow Jacket nods, zipping out of their little circle and roundhouse kicking Princess Fragrance in the chest, breaking her pin. The other heroes follow suit, fighting their way up the road. Luckybug keeps an eye out for any akuma, catching and purifying them. Jinx flanks him, keeping her staffs twirling and defensive. He's so grateful for her, keeping tabs on everyone when he can't.

"Alepou, to your left!" she shouts. Alepou turns, ducking under Shellona and whipping his flute against Stormy Weather's umbrella, breaking it before she can open it. They would all be dead meat, Luckybug thinks while he catches yet another akuma, if the villains cared to work together. As it is, they sometimes trip each other up. The hero team finds themselves standing on the green in front of the Eiffel Tower, dazed civilians lying around them.

"Your plan didn't work, Kronos. Give it up!" Alepou shouts. She begins laughing, making gestures with her hands. Dark Cupid sours out from behind her, drawing her bow and firing at the people on the ground. The heroes duck, watching as the people they just freed become re-akumatized as the arrows hit them and a scarlet butterfly descends. Alepou laughs. "Come on, Kronos. We beat them once, we can- shit." he stares at the arrow sticking on his shoulder. Shellona wrenches it off.

"You idiot. Stay with me, Alepou. Come on," she mutters, cradling him as he grasps his head.

"I can't- you failure. You think you could protect us? Ha. And now we're all going to lose to Kronos," he says. Shellona jerks back, but restrains him as he lunges at the other heroes. Yellow Jacket's eyes flick up, and he sprints in front of her, knocking away an arrow aiming for her.

"Get your head into the game, turtle!" he shouts over his shoulder. Kronas keeps cackling, releasing another horde of butterflies. Luckybug curses, trying to catch them before they reach Alepou, but no such luck. One sinks into his Miraculous and he throws Shellona off.

"Alepou!" she pleads. He spits at her.

"I'm Fury Fox now." Shellona rounds on Kronos.

"Hit my team, fine. Turn Alepou against me, okay. But to give him a name like Fury Fox...you're going to hell, and I'm bringing you." She lunges for him and a butterfly hits her mid-stride. She stops in her tracks, turning on the team.

"Say hello to Temper Turtle, fools." She fist bumps Alepou- Luckybug refuses to call him Fury Fox- and begins laughing. Yellow Jacket draws closer to Jinx and Luckybug, spinning his trompo in a circle, creating a shield.

"This isn't going well. I can get them though." Before Luckybug can stop him, he jumps at Temper Turtle. She bashes him with her shield and he falls back, tripping. A butterfly finds his comb and Jinx grabs Luckybug's arm.

"We're surrounded." As Luckybug looks around, he realizes that they are indeed surrounded.

"Got a Plan B?" Jinx nods, tugging him closer to her. They're standing on a grate.

"Run like hell. Cataclysm!" She slams her hand down and they fall. He lashes his yoyo out wildly in the darkness. Jinx pulls him close and angles them towards what he assumes is solid ground. They land roughly, stumbling a little. As his eyes adjust to the dark, he realizes that they're in the sewers, standing on a small bit of concrete before a wall separates the strip. She pushes him to one half and goes into the other. "We should de-transform, feed our kwamis. Claws in!" A flash brightens the room and a small black creature flies over, clutching a piece of cheese.

"Spots off!" Luckybug calls, and Tikki zooms over to the dark kwami.

"Plagg, you idiot! He's not supposed to see you!" Plagg shrugs.

"Bit late for that. Go eat your cookie." He zooms off and Tikki huffs, but does accept the macaron Percy holds out to her.

"You good, Jinx?" he calls. He hears her sigh.

"Yeah, I mean- yeah. I'm good. This is hard, Luckybug. Really hard."

"We're just back to what we've always done, m'lady. We can do this." She makes a small noise, beginning to speak, then stops.

"Wait. What's that?" He cocks his ear. A distant sound is indeed echoing in the distance.

"Not sure. Bet it's more akumas."

"Yay." He fishes the different power-up macarons out of his bag, handing Tikki the water one. She gulps it down.

"I gave my kwami a water power-up, what about you?" She laughs.

"I was just about to say the same thing. Great minds and all. Plagg, power up and claws out!"

"Tikki, power up and spots on!" He transforms into his aqua-suit, running over to Jinx. She grabs his arm and they sprint for the waterfall as shouts echo behind them.

"Luckybug!" bellows Animan. He doesn't hear them anymore as he hits the water. Jinx turns to him, gesturing up. He follows her hand, wincing as he sees dark shapes headed right for them.

"Ah, come on." Syren and a large catfish swim into view and Luckybug quickly lashes out with his yoyo, breaking Syren's necklace while Jinx whacks the catfish's pin. They transform back quickly and Luckybug presses his yoyo into Chris Rodriguez's hand. Jinx hands Zeus Cesaire her staff and they swim for the top, throwing them back down as they climb onto the side. Luckybug catches his yoyo and hands Jinx her staff, about to make a flirty joke. She grabs his hand instead, shocking him. She starts kicking for the top and he joins her as he sees what's making her so frantic. Ice is closing over the water and he shoots his yoyo out, thankfully latching onto something and awkwardly hugging Jinx as they yoyo pulls them through.

"Spots off!" he yells just as she powers down next to him. They land on the ground and he untangles his yoyo, lashing out at an approaching Frozer and catching his akuma as the skates break.

"Nice trick, Kronos, but it takes more than that to defeat the OG's." Kronos snarls and Darkblade begins charging at them. Luckybug and Jinx go with the current plan: run like hell. They take off along the street and Luckybug groans as he sees a barricade blocking them.

"Great. More akumas." Jinx smirks at him.

"Need your eyes checked? These are civilians." He takes a second look and is pleasantly surprised- they are, in fact, civilians.

"Go, Luckybug! We''l hold 'em off!" Artemis shouts form the top, leveling a wicked looking bow and arrow at the approaching crowd of akumas. He nods at her, taking Jinx and jumping to a rooftop.

"You're just gonna leave them there?" Jinx asks as they run.

"We don't have another choice. Let's just take down the bastard and then we can finish this." They swing to the top of the Eiffel Tower, landing behind Kronos as she turns. "Lucky charm!" Luckybug calls. A copy of the box he received his Miraculous in falls into his hands and he opens it, holding it out to Kronos.

"My Lucky Charm never fails, and it's telling you to give up. It's over, Kronos." Something catches his eye and he looks down. Another Kronos stands behind him. He whirls around, yoyo swinging. The Kronos he was speaking to vanishes and the real one ducks his yoyo. Jinx throws her staff at Dark Cupid, standing next to him and breaks her pin, catching her off-guard. Before he can make another move, Jinx lunges for Kronos, staffs flashing. Kronos raises her cane, but it's no match for Jinx's strength. The cane shatters and Kronos' red getup vanishes, along with all the butterflies hovering nearby. She laughs lowly.

"Alright, kiddos. Let's see if you've been practicing." She strikes at them and Jinx skips out of her way, hitting her in the back with her staff. In a swift move, Kronos is knocked over. Jinx gets closer to her and Kronos swipes her legs out from under her in one move. Jinx topples nad Luckybgu jumps at Kronos, who knocks his yoyo away with her cane. Something shiny is sticking out of the end of it as she swipes it at him. He dodges and his eyes widen in realization.

"You're insane. There's a knife on the end of your cane? Why can't I get a razor edged yoyo or something?"

"All the better to cut you with, my dear," Kronos replies as she brandishes it at him. Jinx tries to sneak up behind her and Kronos turns, sucker punching her in the face. Jinx falls again and Luckybug rushes to her, spinning his yoyo to create a shield. "It's over, kids." She reaches for them, eyes greedy, and a green blur knocks her away.

"Not quite yet!" Luckybug turns and is greeted with a glorious sight. In front of him stands Shellona, arm raised, and shield attached like she's some kind of Captain America. Behind her stands Alepou and Yellow Jacket, the former leaning on his flute and the latter in a fighting stance.

"Insolent children," Kronos hisses. Yellow Jacket smirks.

"So I've been told." Luckybug doesn't have time to appreciate his brilliant, brilliant teammates, as he stands, helping Jinx up and wrapping the Eiffel Tower in a cage made of his yoyo string. It expands like the leashes that seem to have never ending line on them and he walks forward, supporting Jinx. The rest of the team closes in on Kronos and for one glorious moment, they're winning. Then a small purple feather floats in and Kronos looks at it like it's the last lifeboat on a sinking ship. She snatches it and cackles as an enormous monster springs out of seemingly nowhere.

"Kalapin, to me!" she screams. Shellona raises an eyebrow.

"Ooh, is that what you named your pet Frankenstein? Stupid sounding, really, but I suppose your brains aren't supposed to be your superpower." Kronos snarls but before she can say anything, someone clears their throat behind them. The heroes whip around and there stands another villain. An indigo catsuit covers him and tall, green-ish blue boots rise to his knees. A matching trench coat is draped across his shoulder and it extends into a peacock tail. To top it off, he's wearing a dark fedora slightly obscuring his mask.

"I'm Kalapin. I'd say nice to meet you, but it's really not." He draws a knife from the fan he's folding and chucks it at Shellona, who blocks it with her shield. It sticks. She pulls it out, examining it, but it flies out of her fingers and returns to Kalapin. Jinx scoffs, striding towards him.

"I've got this. You guys get her Miraculous." She bats away the knives he throws at her and Luckybug knows that she'll be fine. He turns his attention to Kronos, who's actually jumped off the Eiffel Tower and is leaving them to battle the Sentimonster. Yellow Jacket is jumping form beam to beam, lashing out at it. He hears him call Venom and a large golden stinger surrounds his hand. Shellona is hovering over Alepou, who's down for the count with a nasty looking cut over his eye.

"Shellter him and get moving!" Luckybug shouts. She nods.

"Shellter!" The glowing green dome covers him and she leaves his side reluctantly, readying her shield and standing next to him. "Let's get this over with," she mutters. She charges at the Sentimonster, leaping up and slamming her shield on it's head. it stumbles and that's just the window Luckybug needs to untie his yoyo from around the Eiffel Tower and wrap it around the bug-bear-beast thing. It crashes and before they can do anything, it disappears and Jinx screams behind them. Luckybug whips around and finds her trying to pull a knife out of her stomach. Kalapin is running behind her and he drops to his knees. Yellow Jacket slams his stinger into her thigh and instantly, she stops moving. Even her blood stops flowing and Luckybug gives him a grateful nod, pulling the feather shaped knife out gently and tossing the box into the air.

"Miraculous ladybug!" Everything flows back to normal and Jinx stands, hugging Yellow Jacket and Luckybug.

"That sucked. But you guys were awesome," she adds. Shellona is kissing Alepou like there's no tomorrow and appears not to hear. Jinx makes a face. "I'll deal with them. You take Yellow Jacket back. Good work for a new-bee. And happy Heroes' Day!" Luckybug salutes her and tugs on Yellow Jacket's arm, swinging down and out over the cameras. As Leo hands him back his Miraculous, he finds a note in his hand.

Meet me on top of the Eiffel Tower. Usual time.-Jinx

Yeah, this is shaping up to be a good day.

Percy lays out picnic blankets and small trays filled with snacks. Slowly but surely his classmates trickle in, all clamoring about the new hero and the hero team. Annabeth plops down next to Thalia and Apollo.

"Almost didn't make it. Ooh, what flavor are these?" she asks, pointing at a tray of yellow macarons. Percy grins at her.

"I'm so glad you asked. They're passionfruit macarons, with seven tablespoons vanilla." Annabeth laughs as she picks one up biting it. Her eyes fly open.

"Thish so good," she mumbles around the treat, hand covering her mouth. Thalia, going off of Annabeth's reaction, picks on up and pops it into her mouth whole. She immediately spits it out.

"I could feel the cavities forming. Annabeth, how in the world do you eat this?" Annabeth raises her eyebrows.

"With my mouth." Her comment draws Percy's eyes to her lips and he immediately looks away, flushed. Snap out of it, Jackson. The picnic continues rather uneventfully, and as Annabeth stands to go, she pulls him up with her.

"Thanks for everything," she says. Then, without warning- completely unfair- she kisses him on the cheek. Then she rushes off, Thalia taking a picture of his face and Apollo slapping him on the back. As he feels red flooding his cheeks, he has only one coherent thought.

I'm so dead.

Jinx paces the roof. Hot chocolate, check. Croissants, check. Blanket, candles, check. This isn't supposed to be romantic- merely a thank you to her wonderful partner, but as she surveys the small deck she chose to set everything out on, it rather looks that way. She startles as Luckybug comes flying over the roof.

"Luckybug! Hi! I have a Heroes' Day picnic, and since we're heroes and it is Heroes' Day- crap, I'm just repeating myself." He laughs, sitting down in a fluid gesture.

"That's okay. It's a really nice gesture. Hot chocolate?! Ooh, that's what you should've started out with." Jinx laughs, sitting next to him and picking up her Thermos as all her tension fades away. It's just Luckybug, and she has no reason to be so nervous.

"How about today, huh?" Luckybug leans back, propping himself on his elbows and looking out over Paris.

"Yeah, it was crazy. Are you feeling okay? After Kalapin got you?" She shrugs.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He was aiming at you guys, and I made a dumb mistake." Luckybug stays silent. "I'm fine, seriously."

"It's just, when is this nightmare going to be over? We just keep repeating the same actions, and yeah, we win, but we don't really win. We just stop world domination, over and over again. Don't you find it exhausting?" he asks. Jinx mulls this over.

"I mean, I guess so. It's just our job."

"How long can we go like this? How long until Kronos stops sending shitty akumas and puts out actual challenges. Today was a close one, but I don't think it's the last we'll see of Kalapin. We need to shut Kronos down." Jinx looks over at him.

"So are we actually going to do this?" Luckybug pulls himself into a better position.

"Yeah. Yeah, we're going to do this. Start watching akumas and seeing where they go."

"Marking spots where they can't be coming from," Jinx adds. Luckybug stands, starting to clean up.

"Yeah. Maybe we should even make the other heroes permanent members." Jinx stands, picking things up as well. She notices how tense Luckybug is and, on instinct, hugs him. She's hugged him before, mostly after almost dying. This is just a hug that says, Hey, I'm here. He tenses even more at first and then relaxes into her.

"It'll be okay."

"Yeah." He pulls back and does something she never expected: he kisses her cheek. And then he stumbles over the edge of the picnic blanket, tipping over the side. She rushes to the railing, looking down. She sees him, swinging away and she sighs, face flushed.

I'm so dead.

Luke coughs, and once he starts, he can't stop. Small flecks of blood begin flying out and he grabs a glass of water, chugging it. His breathing slows and he sits on his couch, just calming down. Odd. He isn't prone to coughing that much, or that hard. He shrugs it off and falls asleep.

A/N: Gah this is so short and I sincerely apologize for that. But, actually, after reading several forum discussions I've come to the conclusion that 2k-6k is average for a fanfic chapter so this just falls on the shorter side. Next one should be a doozy and I forgot to note in the last chapter that the promised Lukagami fic may not be happening as I have several different ideas about what I want to do after this. Rest assured, they're all going to be fairly interesting and definitely better spell-checked. Thanks for reading!