Shadows Extend

As Ladybug and Cat Noir vaulted themselves up onto a nearby rooftop, an uneasiness spread through Adrien. The commotion outside his classroom window a short while ago had alerted him to the akuma's presence, and he quickly found a place to transform, ignoring Plagg's complaints about an interrupted cat nap. By the time he made his way outside as Cat Noir, his partner and his brother were on the ground in a rather compromising position. He'd stood rooted in place, gawking. It wasn't until his brother wheezed something unintelligible that he saw the projectile headed for them and leapt into action.

Cat Noir sighed and tried to focus on his footing. The two heroes dashed across the Paris skyline, using the higher vantage point to track the akuma. The truck screamed down the streets below dangerously, ramming any car that dared find itself in the way. Despite the ruckus, Cat Noir couldn't shake the earlier scene from his mind.

"So, you and that guy looked awful cozy back there. You cheating on me, Bugaboo?" he teased, purposely keeping his tone light.

Ladybug's feet slipped, and she nearly tumbled to the ground with an incoherent noise of disgust. She righted herself just in time and kept chasing after the akuma. "We were definitely not cozy!" She made a face. "Definitely not! I just happened to save him from the akuma. That's all."

Cat hummed thoughtfully. "Me thinks the ladybug doth protest too much." The look that passed between his brother and Ladybug hadn't escaped his notice. Thankfully, for his lady's part, she'd seemed more annoyed than anything, which was probably why he could rib at her despite his genuine jealousy. It was his brother's expression that bothered him, not just because of how foreign it had been on his face. The look of shock and awe had surprised him; Adrien thought nothing could rattle his ever taciturn sibling. It was the utter and unabashed admiration that shone in Felix's eyes that worried him. First, the apparent ease with his friend, Marinette, then the evident appreciation for his lady love. Adrien wasn't sure he liked where things were headed.

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Me thinks a certain kitty should focus on the task at hand." Her hand gestured out to the truck directly beneath them.

With a look of wordless communication, they nodded at each other and launched themselves off the edge of the roof simultaneously. The truck jerked to one side as they landed, and Cat Noir's feet went out from under him. He landed flat on his stomach, and his claws scrabbled for a hold on the smooth metal surface as he slid off the edge. For a moment, his body felt weightless, but gravity quickly took hold of him once again. The ground sped closer, and Cat Noir's arms flew up to protect his head.

His belt cinched tight around his waist as Ladybug grabbed his leather belt tail and swung him back up on top of the truck. With a thud, he landed beside her, his face taking the brunt of the impact against the cool metal. He looked up at her and offered an embarrassed grin. She rolled her eyes and offered a hand to Cat Noir.

"We have to find a way to stop this truck." Ladybug had to yell to be heard over the roaring engine.

Cat Noir took his lady's hand and hopped to his feet. "I'm all revved up! Let's stop this guy's parade."

They crept up toward the cab and carefully leaned over to get a look inside. A man sat behind the wheel with a wicked grin on his face. His skin had a peculiar purple tinge, and his clothing matched the red and purple of his truck. Spikes adorned shoulder pads that looked suspiciously like tires. Ladybug grimaced. Why did akuma victims always have the gaudiest style? She was about to voice her distaste when a flash caught her eye.

"Cat Noir, I think the akuma must be in that keychain." She pointed to the keys dangling from the ignition. A solitary metal keychain swung from side to side, catching the light with each pass.

"Alright, time to pull this thing over!" Cat Noir twirled his baton with a flair that he knew was a little extra showy. Unfortunately, Ladybug didn't seem to notice or care, so he extended the baton straight for the hood of the truck. The metal pole hit with a loud clang but only succeeded in glancing off the hood. Cat retracted it and frowned. "Well, I guess that won't work."

Laughter surrounded them. Startled, the two heroes looked around to see speakers attached to long hollow pipes on either side of the top of the cab. The akumatized victim within addressed them, "You think you can stop Road Rage so easily?! Ha! You'll regret getting in my way! Now hand over your miraculouses before I really get angry!"

Ladybug looked thoughtful a moment then shot her yoyo above her head with a shout. "Lucky Charm!" A red sack with black spots appeared above her head and fell into her outstretched arms. Her fingers fumbled with the opening, and she peered inside, confusion clear on her masked face. "Potatoes? What am I supposed to do with these?"

The truck swerved to one side, and both heroes dropped flat to the roof of the cargo box, holding on tight. The engine revved, and they zigzagged down the road, hitting every car, lamppost, and sign in their path. Black smoke poured out of the metal pipes on either side of the cab.

Ladybug looked up, and her ladybug sense overtook her vision. Her gaze went from the pipes to the potatoes in her hands, and a small smile tugged at her lips. She knew what to do. "Cat, take these." She tossed a few potatoes at him.

Taken by surprise, he fumbled a bit but caught all of them. "I know you find me ap-peel-ing, but don't you think this is kind of spudden?"

"See the exhaust pipes?" She pointed as she continued, completely ignoring his puns, "Toss them in there! It might take a minute, but we should be able to stop it."

They climbed out onto the cab carefully. Each time the truck hit something in the street, the entire vehicle jostled the heroes. It was slow going, but they finally made it to their respective pipes. Exchanging glances, they nodded and threw their potatoes inside.

The tubers rattled in the pipes, and the black smoke thinned to wisps. The truck continued to speed down the road, seemingly unhindered. Cat Noir looked up and blanched. People milled across the street at a crosswalk just up ahead, oblivious to the danger barreling toward them. "Get out of the way!" he shouted, flailing one arm at them.

His cry was swallowed by the wind, and the people continued on their way none the wiser. With a frustrated snarl, he extended his baton to javelin length and threw it at the street light over the crosswalk. The light shattered, and when the people looked up to see the familiar pole planted in its place, the truck loomed into view. Shouts and screams erupted from the crowd, and the people scrambled for the supposed safety of the sidewalks. One young boy stumbled and sat stunned in the middle of the crosswalk.

The truck's engine sputtered, and they began to lose speed but not quickly enough. They weren't going to stop in time, and Cat Noir knew it. "LB, get ready to take the wheel! Cataclysm!" His hand crackled with dark destructive power, and he placed his palm on the roof of the cab. Black decay spread from his touch, and the cab roof disintegrated beneath them. Cat Noir landed on top of the akumatized victim, knocking his hands from the wheel. While Cat struggled to subdue the man, Ladybug reached over from the passenger seat and jerked the steering wheel to one side just in time to narrowly avoid the boy.

Steam escaped from under the hood, and the truck slowed to a stop just a few meters past the intersection. Not wasting a moment, Ladybug ripped the keys from the ignition and, with a little help from her yoyo, crushed the keychain. The small dark butterfly that emerged didn't get far before the masked heroine caught it up and de-evilized it. She bid farewell to the pure white butterfly that took its place and tossed the now empty potato sack skyward through the hole above them. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The sack exploded into a shower of tiny ladybugs, and the little insects took off down the street in a red blur, fixing the damage caused by Hawkmoth's minion. A couple kilometers away, ladybugs descended upon a pile of crumpled metal, and an expensive luxury car took its place, good as new, much to the astonishment of a certain pair of blue-gray eyes.

Once home, Felix hurried to his room and shut the door behind him. The tension from the day saturated his body with fatigue, but his mind raced with the events that had happened just in front of his new school. Shade shot out of his pocket and hovered in front of his companion.

"Phew! What a day! And here I thought your first day of school would be boring." Shade flew over to the bed, a lazy trail of shadow following close behind. He plopped himself down on the comforter and eyed the vacant expression on Felix's face critically. "Hmm, thinking about that girl from earlier, huh?"

Felix snapped out of his thoughts and gave the little creature a hard stare. Finally, with a hint of reluctance, he answered, "You have to admit, that Ladybug is quite incredible."

"I was talking about that girl from this morning! Marinette? You and she had some real chemistry going on there!" Shade jeered, and his mouth curled into a wicked grin.

Felix scowled. "Shut your mouth, Shade. That girl is as infuriating as she is annoying. There is nothing incredible about her."

"Except that she just happened to have some good smelling cheese... I still can't believe you wouldn't ask her to give you some for me!" Shade huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest in indignation.

Blue-gray eyes rolled, and a labored sigh escaped Felix's lips. "There is more than enough cheese here to feed that voracious appetite of yours." Ignoring the creature's muttering that sounded suspiciously like an "I doubt it", Felix shifted gears back to the other girl who had made an impact on his day. "This Ladybug girl... how does she do it?" His brow creased, and Felix began to pace the room. "I mean, she used a yoyo... but it wasn't a normal yoyo. The string of that thing held back a moving truck! What must that thing be made of, I wonder... and you saw the car! It was nothing but scrap metal, then it was fixed, as if nothing had happened. Ladybugs... a cloud of ladybugs fixed the car... How is that even possible, Shade?"

The cat-like creature gave him a cat worthy stare then shrugged his little shoulders. "How should I know?"

"You are a cat thing made of shadow that came out of my ring," Felix said flatly. "You're as impossible as she is, so I figured you must know something."

"Well, when you say it like that..." Shade paused and furrowed the shadows that Felix imagined were his brow. "Actually, I think I may have remembered something. Try saying..." The shadowy ball flew up to his ear and whispered something.

"Lights out?" Felix looked at Shade confused for a moment. With an audible click, all the lights in the room shut off. They stood there in the dark, Shade's laughter ringing about the room. "Lights on." The lights snapped back on with another click, and Felix sighed heavily. "Very funny, Shade."

"I love these voice activated lights! I just couldn't help myself!" Shade rolled over himself a few times in the air as he laughed. Suddenly, he stopped and flew up to Felix's face again. "For real, though; I did remember something. Try saying 'shadows extend'."

Despite Shade's serious expression, Felix hesitated, quirking his brow. Shade just rolled his eyes and folded his tiny arms across his body expectantly. "Fine. This better not be another trick. Shadows extend." The room was enveloped in darkness again, but this time, the lights remained on.