Chapter 5
Angela stood in her shower and let the warm water run down her body, but she still felt so cold. She had really messed up this time. Now so many people were being hurt because of her. Maybe she really wasn't any better than her father or her brother, maybe she really was just like them. After a few more minutes she finally shut the water off and grabbed her towel to dry off. As she got dressed, her eyes kept wandering to the drawer where she had hidden the earrings and Tikki. As much as she would have preferred to not think about them, she just couldn't get them out of her mind. Tikki kept telling her she was the chosen one, but after what happened, Angela wasn't so sure she was meant to be the chosen one, to be Ladybug. Surely there was someone better than her. She slide open her drawer and took the black box and put it in her bag. She then headed down stairs and was about to leave when Brock stopped her.
"Your father has asked me to drive you to your classes today." He explained to her.
"Since when does my father care?" Angela asked confused.
"He feels that in view of these events going on with all these strange fire beings suddenly appearing, it would be better if you had an escort today." Brock said almost as if he had rehearsed it.
Angela didn't really buy it but she knew that Brock was not going to let her go unless she did as he asked. She nodded and followed Brock out to the black 2115 Yukon that he normally drove.
"Brock, my father didn't ask you to do this did he?" Angela pushed as they drove on.
"You're right, he didn't." Brock sighed giving in.
"So why would want to do this for me?"
"It's because of your mother." Brock answered.
"My Mom?"
"The day she died in the hospital, she looked me in the eye and made me promise that I would look after you. Your mother was a close friend that I deeply cared for. If I could've saved her that day I would've at any cost. But all I can do for her now is keep my promise to her and make sure that nothing happens to you." Brock explained.
Angela didn't know what else to say. All she managed to get out was thank you as they drove on toward her campus. When they pulled up, Angela gave Brock a small smile and thanked him for driving her as he drove off. She started up for the doors and went in to meet up with Derek and Abbey. The three of the chatted as they walked toward their class room until Abbey brought the blog she was working on.
"I present to you, The Bug Blog." Abbey said sounding pretty proud of herself. "Presenting you with all the latest on New York's finest of fine heroes."
"But how can you trust Ladybug after all this, with all these people being turned into pillars of fire?" Angela asked still feeling regret for her mistake.
"Because I watched her and Cat Negro with my own four eyes Angel. She is amazing and she is going to find a way to save us and all these people. You'll see." Abbey said putting her arm around Angela's shoulder.
Angela gently put her hand on her bag where the black was sitting along with the rest of her stuff. If Abbey trusts her, and everyone else did too, then maybe it was meant to be her. But she was still afraid of hurting someone else again. So what was she to do?
As the three friends entered the literary arts room, they saw Miguel kneeling by Angela's seat.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Angela snapped at him.
"I was," Miguel tried to answer.
"Did you do this?" Angela asked noticing a piece of gum on her seat.
"No I was just trying to get it off."
Angela then heard Jezebel starting to laugh. "I get it, very funny you two." Angela snapped at him putting a tissue over the piece of gum. "So you and Jezebel are all buddy buddy now huh?"
"No, it's nothing like that."
"Save it. Just leave me alone." Angela barked at him.
"No I was just,"
"I believe the lady told you to scram so why don't you just pull a Michael Jackson and beat it." Abbey said steeping between him and Angela.
Angela heard Miguel sigh and take his seat across the way.
"Don't let it get to you bra. If you just go with that flow, you're gonna be pulled out in a rip tide." Derek said patting her shoulder.
"Who does he think he is any way?" Abbey said with disgust in her voice. "Just because he's the son of the police sheriff,"
"I think it because he thinks he's better than that." Angela answered pulling out her phone and showed them what else she found about Miguel Dorado.
"No way, Miguel Dorado, from El Malos Buenos Chicos?" Abbey exclaimed. "How did I not see that?"
"Daddy's boy, big time Mexican music star and Jezebel buddy, forget it dude." Derek said in a dead beat tone.
'As if I even liked him to begin with.' Angela thought to herself as she took out her notebooks as the professor came in.
For the rest of class, Angela still couldn't get her decision out of her mind. Was she really making the right choice in not wanting to be Ladybug anymore?
Suddenly the fire alarms started to go off again and everybody started to panic and run for the exit. Angela, Derek and Abbey made out and got a look at the monster Inferno, he was back.
'Oh no, Sam's emotions became negative again and now he's changed back into Inferno.' Angela figured out. 'This is all my fault.'
"Girl, you coming with?" Angela heard Abbey call to her.
"What?"
"We're following him, Ladybug's gonna show up and go totally radical and I am not going to miss it this time." Derek explained with excitement.
"You guys go on, I'm finding me a safe place to hide." Angela said ducking behind a bush.
"Suit yourself." Abbey said as they took off on Derek's motorbike after Inferno.
Angela wasn't sure what she wanted to do. She haggled with a student and was able to get him to lend her his bike and she followed Derek and Abbey as fast as she could on a bike. As she pedaled after them, she heard Cat Negro fighting the other fire people and call out for her. By the time she got to scene, Cat Negro was about out matched.
"If you can hear me partner, I could use a little help here!" he called out as he continued to try and keep the fire being from burning the city to the ground.
Suddenly, Angela saw Derek and Abbey arrive on their motor bike. Out of nowhere, a car exploded and shrapnel was heading right for them. Cat Negro managed to save them by knocking the motor bike behind a wall that had collapsed. Angela felt her heart pounding in her chest to the point where she thought it would burst out of her chest.
"Help!" she heard Abbey call.
Angela knew what she had to do. She pulled out the black box and hide behind a building close by. She opened it and put on the earrings. Tikki reappeared in front of her with her usual bright smile.
"I need Ladybug." Angela confessed anxiously.
"I knew you would come around." Tikki said cheerfully.
"I'm still sure I'm meant for this, but my best friends and Cat Negro are in danger and if I'm the only one who can fix this then I can't just sit by and do nothing." Angela explained nervously.
"You know what to do."
"Tikki, Spots On!" Angela called.
In a bright flash, Angela saw that she was once again Ladybug. She threw her yo-yo and pulled Abbey and Derek out from behind the wall and up onto the roof.
"It's not safe here, you need to go get out of here." She said as she swung off to meet up with Cat Negro.
When she caught up with him, she saw he was about to be roasted alive by one of the flame beings. She threw her yo-yo and pulled him out of the way and up onto the roof with her.
"Sorry I was late." She apologized.
"Lady, have I ever told you you sweep me off my feet." He said winking at her.
"A real comedian aren't you?" she said with a smile.
They then heard Inferno cry out in rage. Ladybug and Cat Negro raced off after him.
"Hey, aren't we going to take care of the rest of them?" Cat Negro asked as he followed Ladybug.
"No. If we want to put this whole thing out, we need to put it out at the source, that one." She said as they finally caught up with Inferno at the Statue of Liberty.
As they got a closer look, they saw that Inferno was not the only one there. Inferno had taken Jezebel. And now Ms. Corrine was in the park shouting for her daughter.
"You want her, take her." Inferno yelled sending her flying.
Ladybug, leapt and caught Jezebel just before she hit the ground. Ms. Corrine ran up and hugged her daughter whom she thought she had lost forever.
"Thank you Ladybug." Ms. Corrine breathed.
"We are clear, fire on my command." Ladybug heard Sheriff Willis command.
"No! Stop!" Ladybug called out. "If you attack him you'll only make him angrier and things will only get worse!"
"How much worse could they get than this? Step aside and let us handle this, you're the reason we're all in the mess in the first place." Sheriff Willis remarked.
Ladybug was shocked but hurt at the same time. Because she felt that he was right and that's what she was afraid of.
"He's right you know?" She said turning to Cat Negro. "If I had done the job right and captured the akuma the first time none of this would have happened. I knew I wasn't meant to be a super hero, all I do is hurt people." She said putting her face in her hands.
"No, they're the ones who are wrong." Cat Negro said putting his hand on her shoulder. "Because without you, that girl would be dead and without us they won't even get close to Inferno and we'll show them that we are the only ones who can do this, you and me both, trust me."
She wasn't sure if his words or his gentle gesture, but when she heard him talk to her she felt her confidence and her spirit rise to a level she thought she would never reach on her own. She knew she could trust him, just as he trusted her.
Suddenly Inferno started to cry out in pain. From his mouth, a flock of black moths flooded from inside him and seemed to take the shape of a face.
"Citizens of New York city, I am Hawk Moth." The dark face announced. "Ladybug, Cat Negro, hand over the miraculous. The ladybug earrings and the black cat ring now. You have done enough damage to this city already."
Ladybug just lightly clapped her hands. "Nice try Hawk Moth but I think we can all tell who the bad guy is. Don't try and flip the script on us, without you none of these innocent people would be turned into monsters and villians. Hawk Moth, no matter where you, no matter how long it takes, we will find you and you'll be the one to hand over to us your miraculous." She declared grabbing her yo-yo.
Leaping and dancing through the air, she opened her yo-yo and swung through the moths. Capturing them inside. As they dispersed, she landed on the Statue of Liberty and turned to face the people.
"Let me make this promise to you all, here and now. No matter who wants to harm you, Ladybug and Cat Negro will be here and we will do everything within our power to keep all safe from harm." She declared releasing the purified akumas.
In a puff of white, hundreds of white moths burst from her yo-yo and flew all around the Statue of Liberty and fluttered away. But then Inferno regained consciousness and made a move for Ladybug who managed to dodge and helped Cat Negro get the people of the bridge.
"So what's the plan?" he asked her. "How are we going to take him down?"
"We know that he's burning with anger," she observed. "That's it, we don't get him to control his anger, we get him to let it go."
"Uh, what?" Cat Negro asked.
"I have an idea, follow me." She said running back.
She led Cat Negro back to the top of the Statue of Liberty. First we need to make sure that he can't go back across or that anyone else will either."
"And how are we going to do that?"
"By using our powers. You see the bridge controls over there?" she said pointing to the control center.
"Got it." Cat Negro said as he quickly made his way to the control box.
"Lucky Charm." Ladybug summoned. What came to her was a bungie cord. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she asked.
Looking back at Inferno, she saw that he was trying to go back across the bridge. "Cat Negro, now!" she called to him.
Once the bridge was up, he destroyed the controls and they both watched as Inferno began to falter. Ladybug then got a look at brass knuckles where the akuma was hidden and knew what she needed the bungie cord for. Wrapping the cord around her ankles, she waited until Inferno started to fall. She tied the other end to the bridge support and leapt for the akuma. It was hot and very close, but she managed to grab the akuma and was pulled right back up as Inferno hit the water. When she flew back up, Cat Negro caught her just before she could land.
"Thanks partner." She smiled. Back on her feet, she broke the brass knuckle and the akuma came fluttering out.
"No more terrorizing for you moth." She said opening her yo-yo. "Time to be purified." She declared capturing this time. "Be free little butterfly." She said releasing the little white butterfly. "Miraculous Ladybug!" she cried out as she threw her lucky charm and the city was repaired and the people changed back to normal.
All around them, they could see the beautiful glow flying to repair what had been damaged.
"It's amazing." Cat Negro breathed.
"Yeah, it's, it's miraculous!" Ladybug declared as she and Cat Negro helped Sam to his feet.
"What happened to me?" he asked.
"It's okay, but you know you don't have to let your temper get so out of control. I'm saying control it and keep it in, I'm saying find a way to let it out and then let it go." Ladybug said gently touching his shoulder.
"Thank you miss."
"Ladybug, the name's Ladybug." She said with a bright smile.
"You were amazing today mi Senora." Cat Negro said trying to put his arm around her shoulder as his ring started to beep.
"Opps, would you look at that? We better go before our identities are revealed." Ladybug said slipping out. "See you soon Cat Negro."
She then swung out and headed back for her house. As she reached her balcony and entered her room, she transformed back and Tikki landed in her hands.
"See, I told you you could do it."
"I know you did, but I had to learn I could for myself. It just a little time for me to figure it out." Angela answered as she carried Tikki across her room to the kitchen.
"So, do you want to quit?" Tikki asked her nervously.
"No, you were right, I was chosen for a reason and I may not understand why, but Cat Negro was right, he and I are the only ones who can protect this city and I did promise that I would do everything in my power to protect this city and its people." Angela answered handing Tikki a cookie and grabbing the rest on a plate. "So I think I stay as Ladybug, after all, I am the only one who can capture the akumas."
"That's my girl Angela." Tikki said as she ate with a smile.
The next day, Angela entered her class room and took her usual seat. Only this time, Jezebel was there trying to force her to move.
"If anyone is going to sit next to Miguel, it should be me." She snarcked at Angela. "Go on, move it."
"A strong person will stand up for themselves while a stronger person will stand up for others." Angela answered.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about how I'm not going to put up with your high and mighty crap anymore Jezebel and neither is anyone else so take you overly inflated extensions and go on get lost." Angela declared pointing to Jezebel's usual seat at the back of the class.
"Nice one dude." Derek said lightly pounding her shoulder.
"You really let her know who the boss was, that was so cool."
"Hey, you're Angela right?" she turned and saw Miguel.
She just turned her head and acted like he wasn't there. As class started though, she couldn't stop from stealing an occasional glance at him. When class was over, she went the rest of her day trying not to think about him, but she just couldn't get him out of her mind. By the time her courses were done for the day, she was waiting outside for the bus but with it raining outside, she couldn't stand by the road. So she stood under the roof over hanging. When Miguel walked by, she still felt that she shouldn't talk to him.
"Look, I just want you to know that I was only trying to take the gum off your seat, I swear." Miguel explained. "I've never really been to a school like this before and I what I was so used to was just that everybody respected everybody and coming here, I wasn't sure what to expect. But I promise I would never do anything like what Jezebel did to you. I may not always play by the rules, but I would never do anything to hurt anyone. I swear."
He turned and handed Angela his umbrella. Angela felt her heart racing and soaring. With a shaking hand, she took the umbrella and smiled nervously at him.
"Thang yo, I mean, Fank, no, Thank you." She said as he walked away. "Why am I stammering?" she asked trying to keep her head straight.
"I might have an idea." She heard Tikki giggle from her bag.
Angela thought maybe Tikki was right, maybe there something between the two of them.
