Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or it's characters, or the music in this chapter.
Chapter 9,
Lady Noir borrowed two squirt guns from the pool house and two bottles of water from a cleaning cart he passed. He knew that he needed these things since the masks would surely cover every roof in Paris. But he needed the help of the one person he could think of that just might be immune to the power of Masquerade's masks.
"Come on, where is it?" Lady Noir muttered amongst himself. He stood and looked out at the water.
"Wasn't it right around here?" He thought out loud, but then he heard a loud laugh. Lady Noir looked down and saw Juleka and her mother chasing Roger the cop.
"Come on and face me, Roger." Captain Anarka screamed.
"Well, if she's there, then her boat has got to be close." Lady Noir said and he looked around slowly and carefully. He didn't want to move a muscle, for if he did, he might bump a mask and be a goner.
"Sails!" Lady Noir exclaimed and he jumped towards the boat and squirted the water guns to soak the area he was gonna land on to dissolve the masks. When he got close he examined the boat to see if his target was there.
"No movement on the deck..." Lady Noir said and then he noticed a flask of blue in one of the portholes.
"There he is." Lady Noir said and he cautiously made his way there. Thankfully the side of the boat was nearly mask free, so he could dangle there without worry. Lady Noir peered inside and saw Luka sitting on the bed, playing his guitar as if nothing was wrong. For a moment, Lady Noir wondered if Luka even had a mask on. Lady Noir went ahead and knocked on the glass of the porthole.
"Hello?" Luka said and he stood up and stared out of his bedroom door. Lady Noir smiled a little, then knocked again. This time Luka turned to the porthole and Lady Noir was disappointed that Luka indeed had a mask.
"Hello Cat Noir, or should I call you Ladybug?" Luka asked with the worlds softest chuckle.
"I'm glad that you aren't unhappy to see me." Lady Noir said and Luka smiled.
"Of course I feel some emotional discomfort around you because of the mask. But honestly I can logically understand that you are simply trying to save the day; like the day my mother got akumatized." Luka said and Lady Noir blinked.
"Do you think you can help me stop Masquerade?" Lady Noir asked, not wanting to waste anymore time.
"Are you sure that I am the one who can help you?" Luka asked and Lady Noir smiled.
"I trust you, so I am sure." Lady Noir said.
"Well, alright. I'm sure that my mother and sister would be happier as once they are themselves again." Luka said and Lady Noir sighed in relief.
"Ok, then. Go ahead and grab your guitar and meet me on the deck." Lady Noir said and he pulled a squirt gun out and went up the ship. Lady Noir started squirting a large circle and stepped on that. Luka didn't take long to meet Lady Noir and blinked at the circle.
"If the masks were that easy to destroy, then why didn't you just dissolve mine?" Luka asked.
"Because it's like you're immune. You can safely walk on the masks whereas I can not." Lady Noir said and Luka blinked.
"Ok, I get it." Luka said.
"Come on, take my hand. We got some work to do." Lady Noir said and the two swung off the boat.
Masquerade was storming all of Paris to find Adrien and Lady Noir. Hawk Moth allowed her to do this. He found it very interesting that Cat Noir was using Ladybug's miraculous. There wasn't a very good reason that for Cat Noir to have them. At least not a reason that Car Noir bothered to explain. It doesn't really matter, though. The sooner Masquerade captured Lady Noir, the sooner he would win.
"Does someone hear music?" Masquerade asked as she suddenly heard the iconic opening to Thunderstruck. The sound progressively got louder. Masquerade looked around at the people who surrounded her. So many of them she recognized for reasons she could not remember. The sound grew louder, and she stretched her fingers and walked towards the increasing sound. Her masked minions started to follow her.
After a short walk, they arrived to the iconic Fontaires de la Concorde, where someone has put together a stage out of knocked over billboards and benches. Standing on this mock-stage was a boy with blue hair. Seeing this boy play on his guitar made Masquerade feel strange for reasons she couldn't remember. All she really understood was that she cared about this blue haired boy. Even though he was a stranger to her.
Lady Noir's heart was beating out of his chest. If this didn't work, then he didn't know what to do. He watched Masquerade as she eyed Luka playing. The plan was simple in itself. When Masquerade got close to the fountain, Lady Noir would trip of push Masquerade into the water and it would destroy the mask. After all, some of the simplest plans worked the best.
The music Masquerade heard made her blood rush, which only fueled her anger. She painted and looked around the crowd, looking for Adrien, but she didn't see the blond heartbreaker anywhere.
"Thunder!" Luka sang, the crowd sang the background vocals. Lady Noir smiled. Music has such an influencial power over emotions, that Lady Noir knew the parisians would be all over Luka's music. After all, Masquerade's power was to help people express their emotion, which made them the perfect audience.
"Ugh!" Masquerade groaned, and she threw a mask at one of the benches that held the stage up. The bench appeared under her feet and Luka's eyes widened at the stage sloping. Lady Noir shot the yo-yo at Luka, pulled Luka up to the roof where Lady Noir was hiding.
"Lady Noir, prepare to give me Adrien and your miraculous!" Masquerade shouted and all of her masked ones rushed towards the building, climbing up it as much as they could.
"Quick, start playing again." Lady Noir said, spinning the yo-yo to shield Luka.
"Why would that be helpful?" Luka asked, expressing some of his anger at their situation.
"The masks make people more emotional, if we are lucky then the mob will be so emotionally focused on your music that I can deal with Masquerade directly." Lady Noir said, pushing some people away from the roof with the yo-you
"What should I play?" Luka asked and Lady Noir bit his lip.
"Something to cancel out the anger. A happy feel good song might work. A slow sad song might make them physically slow down. Though your teacher did teach you that stories have happy endings because true love conquers all." Lady Noir said and Luka took a deep breath.
"Feel good, slow, love song." Luka muttered and he bit his lip as one song came to mind. Luka started strumming his guitar and humming, and instantly the crowd paused. Most of them recognized the iconic intro to this well known song. Lady Noir quickly noticed this, but the biggest obstacle was if Masquerade still had them under her control.
"Get Lady Noir!" Masquerade yelled. She felt herself calming down, but Hawk Moth kept her angry.
"I may not always love you, but long as there are stars above you. You never need to doubt it. I'll make you so sure about it." Luka sang with his heart and Lady Noir watched the crowd surrender and he knew that Luka was safe, so he left the roof so he could face Masquerade.
"God only knows what I'd be without you." Luka and the crowd sand and Hawk Moth growled.
"Masquerade send a mask up to this guitarist, he has swept away your crowd." Hawk Moth said, grinding his teeth. Lady Noir spun the yo-yo and started charging at Masquerade.
"But it's... nice." Masquerade whispered, which Lady Noir heard and then he slowed to a stop when Masquerade's body started to shake. Masquerade was in terrible pain, it felt like lightning was traveling through her blood, electrifying every atom of her body and it completely blacked out her thoughts and her sight.
Lady Noir stood in shock. He wondered if this is what happens when Hawk Moth voluntarily takes the powers away from someone. After all, it's never been done, so he, didn't know what it would look like. Masquerade's eyes clouded over and she trembled so much that she fell to her knees. Lady Noir took a step towards her, but forced himself to stay at a distance in case this were a trap.
Tears fell on Masquerade's cheeks as she tried to scream, but no sound was heard, then she collapsed. Lady Noir's heart ached, like the day Ladybug jumped inside the T-Rex's mouth. His hands trembled, he stayed where he was, but knelt down and rolled the yo-yo over to Masquerade. When it hit her, she lunged at the toy so violently that Lady Noir fell back; and he gasped at the masked villain. Masquerade's eyes had turned blackish-purple. It was the same color as akuma's actually.
"You won't get away this time Lady Noir." Masquerade said, but her voice sounded different. Like two voices speaking at once; Masquerade's and...
"Hawk Moth?" Lady Noir's eyes widened when he came to this realization. Masquerade smiled softly.
"I've come for your miraculous, Lady Noir Masquerade said and Lady Noir growled. At this point Ladybug was gone, trapped with Hawk Moth, and he did not like it.
"Bring it on Mothie." Lady Noir said. Masquerade shot several masks at the stones beneath their feet. The stones lifted from the ground and catapulted towards Lady Noir. The first two broke against the yo-yo shield, the third one hit his hand, which bruised him more than anything else. The fourth one hit his shoulder and threw him a good 5 feet in the air and he crashed down. Or at least he would have, if Masquerade allowed him to fall peacefully. Instead there were stones floating in the air, which Lady Noir hit on his way down. So by the time Lady Noir did hit the floor, he had a busted lip, a black eye, and a cracked rib.
Lady Noir hissed in pain, but he stood up anyways. Ladybug needed him now, more than ever. He looked up and saw Masquerade in the air walking towards him, using the loose blocks to carry her as she did so. It was a little scary for Lady Noir, there is no doubt. If Hawk Moth could hurt him so badly after controlling Masquerade for 30 seconds, then just think of all the damage he could do when he understands what he's doing.
"Lucky Charm!" Lady Noir shouted, the magic travelled up into the air. It took shape, but a stone punch it out of the way before Lady Noir could see what it was. Lady Noir held his side to help ease the pain, and then he dodged five of the blocks before he hooked on to one of them and sailed away from Masquerade's like of sight. Lady Noir let go before he hit the wall. But he needed to find that Lucky Charm.
"Run away, kitty, kitty; but I'll still find you." Masquerade's voice echoed eerily and Lady Noir shuddered.
"The other stones came this way, that Lucky Charm has got to be here somewhere." Lady Noir whispered to himself and he glanced back carefully at where he called the charm.
"I was standing about there, the charm would have been about there when it got hit, and the speed would have launched it..." Lady Noir paused as he imagined where the charm went.
"Down... that alley." Lady Noir said with a sigh. He quickly ran over to it without getting seen, and he searched the alley. Following the trajectory he soon found it. The Lucky Charm was a roll of bubblegum tape. But the outer container broke when it hit the trash bin, and the gum itself was sitting in a puddle of water. Lady Noir grimaced as he picked it up with two fingers.
"Oh, man... I don't know if I can still use this Lucky Charm." Lady Noir groaned.
"Surrender, Lady Noir!" Masquerade's voice boomed and it shocked Lady Noir. Thinking it was the yo-yo, Lady Noir unraveled the bubblegum tape and threw it at Masquerade. The gum wrapped all around her, right as a mummy.
"Huh?" Both Masquerade and Lady Noir said. Lady Noir spun the yo-yo at Masquerade's feet and she growled. The rock she was standing on moved up and out of the alley, dragging Lady Noir as she did. She tried to shake Lady Noir off as she stretched her arms to break her sticky prison. Masquerade was really angry now, and she needed the cat to let go of her so she could concentrate on her freedom. Lady Noir tried tugging on the rock to make Masquerade lose her balance. When that failed, he decided to just climb up the yo-yo to Masquerade and take her mask.
Lady Noir got to Masquerade's feet before she realized what was happening. She stomped on his hands and the yo-yo so that both fell. Lady Noir rolled right next to the fountain, and he looked up at Masquerade. He was hidden for the moment, but stayed alert in case he needed to run quickly. Masquerade twisted and turned, and she managed to rip two handfuls of gum off of her, but she still couldn't touch her own mask.
Lady Noir gasped as an idea came to mind and waited patiently. Masquerade took a deep breath and focused. Her mask multiplied once, and this mask floated down on the bubblegum tape and it disappeared off her and onto the street. Masquerade looked down and she didn't see Lady Noir, so she lowered herself to the ground to. She figured that Lady Noir would charge at her the second she was in range, and then he would be vulnerable and she could steal his miraculous. To be fair, Lady Noir would have done this if he didn't have a plan.
He cautiously moved around the fountain to stay out of Masquerade line of sight. He still needed that bubblegum. Lady Noir's plan really fell into place when Masquerade turned to Luka and the crowd to see if Lady Noir was hiding in the hypnotized crowd. He needed to be fast, he spread the gum out in front of the fountain, then he walked to the other side and dropped down. He pulled his leg close to his body and made sure that his hair was exposed.
"Ow, my ankle. I think it's broken." Lady Noir said and Masquerade whipped around and ran towards the noise. She saw the top of Lady Noir's head and she laughed.
"No where to run now, kitty." She said and she put her fingers on her mask and-
"What?" Masquerade said, when she realized that her hand to pull her right hand off of her mask, but now this hand was stuck too.
"I guess you didn't get rid of all the gun when you escaped." Lady Noir said and Masquerade tried to run at him, but she couldn't move. She looked down and realized that she was stuck; standing in bubblegum. Masquerade jerked her arms, her legs, feet, until finally she lost her balance and fell into the fountain. Her mask dissolved and the Akuma was released.
"No more evil doing for you little Akuma. Time to de-evilize!" Lady Noir said, swinging the yo-yo around and catching the creature.
"Bye Bye, Butterfly." He said, he quickly picked up the gum and threw that in the air.
"Miraculous Ladybug." Lady Noir said and was glad when the magical ladybugs healed all of his battle wounds. But now he needed to leave. Not only because he was about to change back, but if he left now, then he wouldn't know Ladybug's secret identity.
"Ah (deep breath, cough) aah!" Lady Noir heard, and he paused. Masquerade was still in the fountain, struggling to breathe.
"I gotcha." He practically done into the fountain, and picked up his Ladybug, bridal style. She was panting against his chest, so he didn't see her face right away.
"Are you alright?" He asked the girl nodded and lifted her head and Lady Noir gasped.
"Marinette?" He whispered, not being able to believe his eyes. Marinette was Ladybug all this time?
"Thank you for saving me." Marinette said weakly, and Lady Noir gently placed her down and she swayed for a moment, but then she was fine.
"I-I..." Lady Noir couldn't stop thinking about the past. Remembering the times when he tried to win over his bugaboo, and she always said that she loved his friendship, but loved another. But Lady Noir heard his earring beeping and he had to leave.
"I need to go. But would it be alright if I checked on you later." Lady Noir asked and Marinette blinked at him.
"Uh, that would be fine." Marinette consented and Lady Noir swung the yo-yo.
"Ok, see you tonight." Lady Noir said, swinging out of sight.