This will be the last involvement of Miraculous Ladybug in this story, but the team will be showing up in future stories. In the meantime, I thought I'd show off something awesome. Disclaimer: I don't own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the Persona series, Lupin the Third, or any other referenced media.
Fifty-Third Caper: Back to New York, Customs House Bridge
"And so," Chloe said, "In honor of Ren and Sumire returning to Paris, Team Miraculous officially being completed, and our glorious leader Marinette being named Guardian of the Miraculous..." "The hardest part was going twenty-four hours without food while meditating," Marinette interjected, "No wonder Master Fu got hangry and accidentally created an all-devouring Sentimonster. At least we stopped it in the end." Chloe cleared her throat to continue. "I would like to invite you all to a costume party this evening. Disney themed, for the record."
Adrien leaned over to Marinette. "Need me to be the Mickey to your Minnie?" "Nah," Marinette replied, "Just go as whoever you want. We don't need to be a themed couple." "Anyway," Chloe said, "They'll be returning by the end of the week, just a few days before the big New York trip. They already know about the party and they'll be selecting their costumes, but they wanted their choices to be a surprise. We'll be holding the party at Daddy's hotel." "Sweet," Kim said, "This time we'll get to enjoy it without the creepy bear your butler turned into." Chloe sighed. "Hello darkness my old friend...~"
The party was already in full swing. Chloe had come dressed as Cinderella, with Alix as Mulan. Lila had come dressed as Belle, while Aurora had chosen to come as Elsa. Rose had come as Rapunzel, post-haircut, and Juleka came as Constance Hatchaway from the Haunted Mansion. Kagami came as Go-Go from Big Hero 6 with Luka strutting in as Alan-A-Dale from Robin Hood, the rooster look amusing Nooroo. Marc decided to be Sora from Kingdom Hearts, while Nathaniel was dressed as Ichabod Crane. Max had dressed up as Lewis Robinson, and had built a Wall-E frame for Markov so that he could attend.
Alya and Nino had come as Tatiana and Naveen respectively, with Sabrina following them dressed as Honey Lemon. Ivan and Mylene were Mister and Missus Incredible, with Kim coming dressed as Hercules. His girlfriend Ondine came as Ariel, post-humanization of course. "Boom baby!" The sound of Adrien's voice shocked everyone as he came in dressed as Kuzco, Marinette following as a giggling Minnie Mouse. "Would you believe his dad came up with the idea?," she asked. "A funny thing is," Nino said, "I would have believed it up to about six months ago. Before that... Not in the least."
Just then, freaky-looking shadows started seeping into the room. Normally the group would freak out, but they quickly recognized the shadowy mark of Ren's Stand. The doors opened to reveal him dressed in a purple two-piece suit with large top hat adorned with a skull and crossbones. Kim snorted. "What's the fancy getup? Looks pretty ridiculous." Adrien and Nino nearly chortled as Ren performed a perfect smile fade before barking out, "Don't you disrespect me, little man! Don't you derogate or deride. You're in my world, not your world~ And I've got friends on the other side~" Adrien and, ironically, Nino, echoed, "He's got friends on the other side~"
"A Disney villain?," Chloe asked, "Really?" "Hey, I am a Phantom Thief," Ren pointed out, "Why shouldn't I dress as a villain? And what Disney villain had more class and charm than Doctor Facilier." Sumire then came in, ironically dressed as Mama Odie. She even carried a set of preserved eyes. Marinette did a double-take, since the eyes almost looked like Lila's. Ren must have noticed too, because he asked, "Did anyone in your family come in contact with the Rail Zeppelin?" "Well," Lila said, "My padre did ask them to do something with my eyes about a week before I transferred here. They said something about whispering eyes after the procedure." Ren and Sumire looked at each other and shrugged.
After a quick announcement from Team Miraculous saying they were heading for New York to learn from the superheroes there, and Pavo leaving behind Sentimonster version of the team just in case something did attack, the gang was off to New York City. "It feels like I'm coming full circle," Ren noted, "New York is where I made my debut as a Phantom Thief." "I still can't believe we're traveling via Gabriel Agreste's private jet!," Lila said excitedly, "Though I am surprised Natalie and the Gorilla aren't here to supervise us." "Mister Damocles already assigned Miss Mendeleiev to chaperone us," Adrien pointed out.
Miss Bustier couldn't travel with the gang since she was expecting a baby, hence why Mendeleiev was assigned instead. "Plus the Gorilla is afraid of flying," Adrien added, "It's even in his contract that he's not obligated to go on flights with me if he feels uncomfortable. As for Natalie... She's spending time with Mom." Marinette raised an eyebrow. "I thought she had a crush on your dad." "Oh, she does," Adrien clarified, "But she's also in love with Mom. Why do you think she kept encouraging Dad's actions as Hawk Moth instead of trying to convince him to stop?" 'And suddenly everything makes sense,' Marinette realized.
Just then, something landed on the wing of the plane. Alya took a look outside and saw a blue-skinned man in an orange prison suit, tossing off a small jet pack. "That's the supervillain Techno Pirate!," she realized, "His meta-gene lets him steal technology!" Meta-genes started awakening in people right around the time of Second Impact, evolving some physically in the same way Stand users were evolved mentally. "Too bad he picked a plane full of heroes to steal from," Adrien quipped. "And two Phantom Thieves," Sumire pointed out. Luckily Mendeleiev was brought in on their identities.
As Techno Pirate started to drain the electronic signal from the plane, the team activated their Miraculous whilst Ren and Sumire charged their Stands. "Tikki, Spots On!" "Plagg, Claws Out!" "Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!" "Wayzz, Shell On!" "Trixx, Let's Pounce!" "Pollen, Buzz On!" "Duusu, Spread My Feathers!" "Mullo, Get Squeaky!" "Stompp, Stampede!" "Roaar, Let's Prowl!" "Fluff, Clockwise!" "Longg, Bring the Storm!" "Sass, Scales Slither!" "Kaalki, Full Gallop!" "Ziggy, Up the Mountain!" "Xuppu, Show Time!" "Orikko, Raise the Dawn!" "Barkk, Off the Chain!" "Daizzi, Tussle!" "W Boiled Xtreme! Reign in the Shadows!" "Be The One! Shine Your Light!"
Pavo immediately created a set of flying Sentimonsters so the team could confront Techno Pirate, with Pegasus using his Voyage to allow them to safely leave without decompressing the plane. As they started flying out, a gynoid with what looked like dreadlocks and a third eye approached the plane and started restoring its electronic data. "No way," Rena Rouge said, "That's Uncanny Valley! The world's first gynoid superhero!" "I still say Aigis Idabashi beat her to the punch in that regard," Joker quipped. "Hang on," Rena said, "If Uncanny Valley is here... Then her creator should be coming as well!"
Sure enough, a woman dressed like a combination of Superman and Wonder Woman appeared, bursting through the nearby clouds. "Hey, that's Majestia!," Ladybug realized, "I remember her from Rena's comics!" Majestia flew under the plan to right it, Violet running underneath. "Allow me to help. Be The One!" Majestia was a little surprise as the seemingly solid light formations pushing against the leaning plane. "Phantom Thief Violet?," Majestia asked, a little confused, "I never thought you'd be helping people." "I only steal from criminals," Violet pointed out, "Besides, this is a private plan, and all but one passenger is currently battling that supervillain."
Sure enough, Oxenfree had already landed on the wing and was charging at Techno Pirate. "Bullrush!" The technological villain got a serious shock when Oxenfree's boosted strength sent him flying right into the side of the plane. A owl-themed hero, whose identity was completely obscured, landed next to Oxenfree. "Nice work. And smart thinking not knocking him right off the plane. You been at this a while?" "Several months," Oxenfree admitted, "Name's Oxenfree." "Knightowl," the hero said. A younger hero dressed in climbing gear, their identity also obscured, landed nearby. "This is my sidekick Sparrow."
Joker's Stand wrapped its claws around Techno Pirate, keeping him in place. "Feel free to arrest him at your leisure," Joker said. "Guess you live up to your reputation," Knightowl noted as he walked over to Techno Pirate and cuffed him. Majestia checked on Uncanny, and it was clear that she treated the gynoid like a daughter. "Well," Cat Noir said, "We wanted to learn a thing or two from America's superheroes. Looks like we got our first real meeting with them." "Great," Pegasus said as he popped a sugar cube into his mouth, "But first let's get back on the plane."
Later the group was joined at the hotel by Aeon Hill, whom Ren recognized as Uncanny Valley even with the hologram, and Jessica Keynes, whom the gang figured had to be Sparrow due to her close association with Aeon. She rolled her eyes when they figured it out. "'Oh no one's going to figure out we're women, Jess,'" she said, imitating her mother Barbara, aka Knightowl, "'The outfits are too concealing.' And yet two Phantom Thieves and a group of teenage superheroes from Paris figure me out after just two meetings."
Still, she and Aeon easily started bonding with the team as they had a party on the roof of the hotel. They got a pleasant surprise when a superhero called Hot Dog Dan showed up. Ren quickly recognized Dan as a Mage, who could impart simple spells into his hot dogs that could briefly give consumers superpowers, even those who already had them like Stand users. "So what's with the disguise?," Sumire asked Jess. "Mom and I are part of a legacy that spans back about a hundred and fifty years," Jess explained, "With each new generation, the previous Sparrow becomes the new Knightowl."
"That explains it," Sumire realized, "Ren is the reincarnation of Arsene Lupin, the first one not the current one, and he remembers fighting alongside Knightowl during the incident to investigate the potential rising of Dracula during the late 1800s." She started sipping her soda as Jess said, "Yeah the files from back then say that Knightowl and Arsene were informed of the incident by a Manhattan Miraculous Guardian." Sumire promptly did a spit take, accidentally hitting a boy that was trying to chat up Sabrina, much to Max's ire. "Did you say 'Guardian'?," Sumire asked.
"Yeah," Jess said, a little confused, "Why?" "Marinette and her friends get their powers from such artifacts," Sumire explained, "They're well documented in the Clock Tower. But I thought there was only one Guardian and only nineteen Miraculouses." "About that," Ren said as he came over, "The one who told me about the Miraculouses in the first place happened to be a Manhattan tribesman, a shaman from the looks of it. Seems there are actually two Orders, one for the eastern hemisphere and one for the western. Speaking of which, that old shaman had one of his Miraculous stolen from him, the Eagle."
"It took a great deal of effort to swipe this," the mysterious figure said to Techno Pirate as he handed him the talon pendant, "So of course we expect something in return." He handed the supervillain an old plaque. "This is a piece of the Joestar Collection. Keep it out of the hands of anyone we do not approve of. Beyond that you are free to ravage and pillage as you please. Oh, but do be careful. A team of Miraculous-based superheroes are in New York right now, and I am unsure as to whether or not it can affect them."
'And so in the next thirty minutes I will set off a nuclear missile!,' the newly dubbed Miracle Pirate called out on local television. "This is why we tried to have Victory set up as president," Majestia noted, "But no... The Democrats wanted Hillary Clinton. That woman was never gonna outshine Trump after all the mistakes her husband made." Joker and Violet landed right behind her. "Approaching Miracle Pirate is dangerous, Miss Hill," Joker said, "The Eagle Miraculous holds the power of Liberation."
"That doesn't sound so bad," Uncanny Valley said, "Isn't liberty what America's all about?" "I believe what Joker is referring to is the ability to remove inhibitions," Knightowl pointed out, "Whether it be mental blocks... Or a moral code." "According to Gabriel Agreste it was previously used by Gilbert du Motier," Violet noted, "Who used it to great effect during the battle of Yorktown to remove the Colonials' fear of the Redcoats." At the word "fear" Majestia looked at her own hand, clenching it. "Okay, what should we do?" "We just need one thing," Joker said, "Techno Pirate's real name."
"We're going to fight Miraculous with Miraculous," Ladybug said, "And hopefully get Miracle Pirate's Miraculous at the same time." "So what's the plan?," Sparrow asked. "During Heroes' Day in Paris," Monarch said, "The villain Hawk Moth intended to use great despair to power himself up and make numerous villains at once. I figure if he can do it with despair, I can do the same with hope. Uncanny, I'll be needing your help with this." "Of course," Uncanny replied, "I am programmed to help."
Monarch nodded. "Now we just wait." Soon enough, Miracle Pirate's broadcast was hijacked, replaced by Joker's familiar log. Joker and Violet appeared soon enough. 'Greetings people of New York,' Joker said, 'Feels like it's been forever since I made my debut in this very city, months before I was even declared the Lord of Crime.' 'And in honor of that,' Violet chimed in, 'We have a special message for Miracle Pirate. Our own little calling card just for him.' The card was slapped on the screen. "Mike Rochip, we are the Phantom Thieves Joker and Violet. Tonight we will steal the Customs House Bridge from your possession."
"They are going to steal an entire bridge?," Uncanny asked. Sparrow facepalmed. "I think their target is actually a plaque from said bridge..." "That seems much more practical," Uncanny noted, "Oh, there's Mom." 'Citizens, there's no need to fear!,' Majestia said over the jumbotrons, 'As we speak the United HeroeZ are working with Paris's Team Miraculous! Together we intend to end this threat and place Techno Pirate behind bars once more!' Monarch breathed deep. "Yes, it's working." She conjured up an Akuma, having learned how thanks to the spell book.
"Okay, Uncanny," she said as she turned to the gynoid, "Here's the deal. Normally I can only make one Akuma at a time. But under certain circumstances, those rules can change. Can I count on your help?" "Of course," Uncanny replied. "Then I hereby dub you Cyber-Tech," Monarch announced, "With the power to protect the innocent, and empower any hero you can see." The Akuma flew inside Uncanny's circuitry, possessing her core. The effect seemed to upgrade her body massively, giving her a larger frame, more advanced weapons, and a more traditional robotic appearance. The newly created Cyber-Tech looked at Monarch. "I understand the plan now. Get ready for an upgrade."
Monarch closed her eyes as Cyber-Tech's powers went to work, turning Monarch a brilliant shade of cherry red. "Now I have become Royal Monarch!," she announced, "Heroes across the city, time to take the fight to the next level!" Not far away, Joker grinned when he saw the bright-red Akumas flying across the city. Two flew over to himself and Violet. "Get ready. If my theory is right, this will grant us a power normally only available to one Stand user at a time." Violet nodded as the Akumas possessed their masks. Joker's hair turned bright red and his jacket turned into black bird wings, while Violet's jacket turned white and grew thorny vines covered in roses. Their Stand became affected too.
Immediately W Boiled Xtreme shot into the sky, transforming into W Boiled Xtreme Requiem. Be The One, by contrast, seemed to shatter like a mirror, revealing a bright red female figure underneath with straight black hair. "Whoa! What is this!? Be The One feels so different!" "This is the power of Requiem," Joker explained, "Right now, my Stand is connected to the waking dreams of everyone in New York. Be The One Requiem should hold a new power all its own." Violet closed her eyes, and realized that she could see the entire city. Be The One Requiem was already flying through it, tracing a path all the way to the Statue of Liberty. Violet's eyes snapped open. "I think I know where Miracle Pirate is!"
Ladybug had just gotten done speaking with the Native American Guardian. "You may not have been trained in the temple as is tradition," he has said, "But we just don't have the numbers or resources to rebuild it, so that rule can be safely ignored in favor of bolstering our numbers. Just know that as a Guardian, you have free reign to forcibly renounce a Miraculous holder, especially if they are misusing the power, and can grant them to another holder... Even if the Miraculous doesn't come from the same Miracle box you are in charge of." Ladybug smiled as the bright red Akuma from Royal Monarch entered her earrings.
"Time for Miracle Pirate to deal with the new Ultra Bug!," she declared, her suit gaining armor. Beetle wings appeared, allowing Ultra Bug to take flight. The other Miraculous heroes also raced over, each showing various upgrades to their normal hero uniform. Miracle Pirate had apparently stationed himself on Ellis Island with a massive technological defense. However, it hadn't been developed with Team Miraculous in mind, and the various combination of illusions, sonic howls, invisibility, and other magical skills soon had a trail blazed into the heart of the base.
Before long, Ultra Bug and Joker had managed to reach Miracle Pirate, who had gained a winged eagle motif thanks to the stolen Miraculous. "You go for the plaque," Ultra Bug said, "I'll go for the bling." Joker nodded. The two of them leapt into the air, dodging Miracle Pirate's feathers. Before he could react, Ultra Bug managed to get close enough and grabbed the Miraculous. "I hereby strip you of your right to bear the Miraculous!," she called out, reducing Techno Pirate back to normal. Nearby, Joker had grabbed the plaque off the nuclear missile. "And I'll be taking this!"
Techno Pirate smirked. "You may have the prize... But I have the last laugh!" He immediately hit the switch for the missile. "Don't be so sure," Ultra Bug said, "You forget you weren't able to affect anyone with this..." She held up the Eagle Miraculous. "But I know someone that put it to better use. Sparrow!" She tossed the Miraculous to Sparrow, and once she put it on a little eagle Kwami appeared. "Whoa... Who are you?" "I am Liiri," the female Kwami said, "Now that you are the holder of my Miraculous, you can use it to transform. Just say, 'Liiri, Wings of Freedom'."
Up above, Techno Pirate was tangling with Joker and Violet. "Why do you even care about my actions!?," he demanded, "You're criminals like me!" "We don't go around endangering innocent people!," Violet retorted. "Our actions are designed solely to protect others," Joker clarified, "And reign in any dangerous criminals while aiding those that protect in the course of committing their crimes." Just then Jess, now decked out in an Eagle-themed super suit, leapt up. "Joker, Violet! Get ready for some Liberation!" "But we're already Akumatized!," Violet pointed out, "What more power can we gain!?"
Joker's eyes widened as the feathers hit them. "A power so strong it took DIO Brando years to research and Pucci several more to set up..." Violet gasped, the energy within the duo unleashing. W Boiled Xtreme Requiem shrank down and gained a red suit with mechanical wings. Be The One Requiem changed from her red outfit to a pure white bridal outfit. "What is this...?," Violet asked, looking at her Stand in awe. "Heaven power," Joker explained, "The true and ultimate form of Stand energy. This is what my Stand has become... Heaven Beyond Xtreme!" Violet nodded. "And mine has become... Be One With Heaven!"
Up in space, Majestia had already stopped the nuclear missile and sent it hurtling into the sun millions of miles away. Down with Techno Pirate, Joker and Violet were showcasing their new powers against him. Heaven Beyond Xtreme could absorb light, creating more shadows from which it could summon more powerful constructs than anything Joker had created before. Meanwhile Be One With Heaven could reflect light no matter how dim by conjuring glass constructs, which were just as alive as Joker's shadow constructs.
Before long, Techno Pirate was forced back to the base of the Statue of Liberty, Knightowl and Majestia landing right behind him. "Right now you're facing down what might be two of the most powerful beings on the planet," Knightowl noted, "And with how little time they've had to get used to that power, I doubt they have enough control to hold back." "So what'll it be?," Majestia asked, "Return to prison with us? Or take your chances with the Phantom Thieves?" Techno Pirate gulped before throwing his arms up in surrender.
As Mike was hauled off in an APC, Joker was contacted by Alibaba. 'There's been a hit on PeopleLog. From Lupin. This you have to see to believe.' Joker and Violet read through the list. "Looks like Lupin's exposed the fatal flaw in PeopleLog," Violet noted, "He's leaking political secrets... And PeopleLog is confirming them." Ladybug and Cat Noir soon joined them. "So I take it you'll be leaving then?," Cat Noir asked. Joker nodded. "Lupin added that the head of Shake Hands has a Joestar Collection piece. Which means we need to get involved. Lupin's emerged after a month of silence. And this could be my ultimate chance..."
Next time, the world's two greatest master thieves plan a raid on Shake Hands, Lupin to retrieve his ex, Joker to expose CEO Enzo via stealing his Joestar Collection piece. At the end of it all, one of the two is going to walk away with the title Emperor of Thieves. Read and review.