(A/N: Hey guys I've got part two out, I hope you guys like it, now before we get started I just want you guys to know that I took down the forum for what monster of native American lore you'd want to see as an Akumaa, mostly because no one responded or even messaged me about it so I'm just gonna have to pick it myself, but don't get me wrong I'm not made at anyone, just a little sad that no one even wanted to throw out a suggestion, oh well it's not the end of the world, okay here we go every body part two of the vision quest, spoiler alert, get ready for more drug abuse. Oh and one more thing I rewrote chapters 12-14 because of a few things, one of them being the artest I comitioned is almost done with their work and they showed me what Dallas/Iktomi is going to look like so I had to write how he looks again, same goes for Spizz, but both of them look awsome just so you know. Okay sorry for slowing you down here we go for real this time.)
Chapter 20: The vision quest part two
About an hour later Adrien had returned from patrol with a shopping bag full of board games that he thought Yuri might like, but as soon as he opened the door he was welcomed with the sight of a very bruised and bloodied Dallas, who was sat at the table with an ice pack on a black eye that she'd given him, she also split his lip and left a number of bruises all over him. "Uh…what happened in here?" He asked puzzledly.
"I'll tell you what happened…" Dallas started up with slight irritation. "Your girlfriend is a bitch."
"This coming from the guy who just curled into a ball crying OW NO STOP IT OH MY JEWELS." Marinette added as she mocked him.
"Well it's not like I could fight back, you're a girl." Dallas fired back as he glared at her. "If I were to fight you I'd look like a big jackass."
"No offense but you already are a big jackass." She replied with a smirk. Dallas just growled at her and flipped her off.
"Okay what started this exactly?" Adrien asked again as he crossed his arms and sat down at the table.
Marinette just smiled and said. "Oh you know just the usual, Dallas was just being Dallas, and irritating me."
"Well at least I'm smart enough to use protection when I fuck someone." Dallas retorted.
"Wait-wait-wait…" Adrien halted the two of them. "You mean to tell me this was over…protection?" He asked with confusion.
"Well technically it was about the two of you having a four hour hammer and tong session last night, and the fact that both my son and I could HERE YOU!" Dallas cleared up. Adrien just groaned as he was then reminded of that mornings earlier endeavor with Yuri. "Of course we only got into that because of Marinette's vision quest."
Adrien then looked over to Dallas and asked. "Her what?"
Dallas then sighed and said. "Marinette's dream, it was a vision from the spirit world, and a warning, one of which we need to take seriously."
"O-kay…are you sure about this though?" Adrien asked again just as confused as before as he had no idea of what they were talking about.
"Yes I'm sure, this is something I've gone through Adrien, it's apart of my culture so I have to take it seriously. Oh…and just in case your wondering how this sparked the little incident between me and Mari here it's because she also heard a baby cry in her dream, which makes me think she's got a bun in the oven." Dallas replied just before he started joking again. "Ha…bun in the oven, you know that's ironic cause you're the daughter of a baker."
Adrien's jaw just dropped upon hearing him say that, he then turned to Marinette and asked. "You're pregnant?"
"What? No I'm not…pregnant, I already told you I took a morning after pill that day…" She replied, then she remembered something else. "Oh that reminds me I need to take another pill before I forget, be right back."
Adrien just sat there stunned, he then turned toward Dallas and asked. "Are you sure about her vision? Like are you really sure she's pregnant?"
Dallas couldn't help but laugh. "There's no way to know for sure dude, I can't explain the dream for you guys, only a shaman can do that, but there is one thing I could do." Dallas said as he pulled out his deck of tarot cards. "I've been wanting to give her a reading for a while now anyway, just for fun."
Once Marinette returned she saw Dallas shuffling his cards in hand. "What are you doing?" She asked bluntly.
Dallas looked up to her and said. "I've decided to perform a tarot reading on you Mari…" He spread out the cards and held them out for her. "Just take three and I'll read them off for you."
Feeling annoyed she just said. "Why are you doing this?"
"Adrien wants to know for sure that you're not pregnant and personally I think this would help us out in finding out a little more about your future." He replied as he just held out the cards. "Come on Mari it'll be fun, maybe."
Knowing that he wouldn't relent over this she just took three cards as instructed and said. "Let's make this quick."
Dallas then took her cards and laid them out on the table and began to read them out loud. "Your past card tells me that you're caring, compassionate, you selflessly think of others every day, you're smart, creative, patient, you think on your feet and on a side note you are clumsy. Didn't need the card to know that one, especially sense I already read your palm that one time."
"I'm pretty sure you just said all of that because you already knew all that stuff about me." Marinette said clearly skeptical about his reading.
"I'm just reading off what the card tells me." Dallas countered as he could tell immediately that she was skeptical. "Anyway…your present card tells me…uh…um….well it's basically telling me that your in the middle of a midlife crisis, though I think it' safe to say this whole situation is more than just a midlife crisis."
"Yeah no kidding, look I don't mean to be rude Dallas but I don't think this is gonna help." Marinette stated as she began to stand up.
"Hold on just one more second, I've got one card left to go before you wanna say you doubt my skill as a fortune teller." Dallas said as he felt slightly annoyed that she was being a little impatient with him. She sighed then sat back down and gestured for him to finish. "Thank you, anyway…" Dallas then paused as he kept reading the card over and over again to make sure he was reading it right as what it told him was simply confusing. "Well this doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
Suddenly feeling interested Marinette then asked. "What? What does it say?"
Dallas then turned back to her and said. "It says in your future you and those you love will experience loss and suffering, but following that you will experience gain and joy as the universe finds balance."
This made absolutely no sense to anyone at the table, not even Dallas could understand it but sense this was his craft he had a feeling that the answer would present itself eventually. "Uh…yeah I don't think that's much help for us Dallas, also it doesn't really explain weather or not if I'm expecting right this very minute, now if you'll excuse me I need to make a phone call to my parents."
As she walked away Adrien then turned toward Dallas and asked yet again. "Do you really think she's pregnant though?"
Dallas just groaned with annoyance. "I literally just told you I don't know, I can't explain the vision to you Adrien, only a shaman can do that."
"Well can't you contact a shaman or something?" Adrien asked again, then he came to realize that might not even be possible. "Wait, does your reservation even have a shaman?"
"Yes we have a shaman, though most people don't really bother him unless it's important, he's kind of like the grumpy old uncle that everybody has who just sits in the back of the room not really engaging with anybody." Dallas answered plainly. "But I don't think that would matter because everyone back home chose to shun me before I went into foster care, all because of what my dad did behind closed doors."
"So no one will even bother talking to him for us?" Dallas just shook his head no at Adrien's question. "Maybe you could contact another reservation then, ask their shaman what it means."
Dallas just sighed and said. "I'm afraid it's not that easy, you see Adrien most of the tribes back home don't really follow the old ways like my family does anymore, I mean I could try to find a shaman to help but it could take weeks to try and find one back home."
Then Adrien said. "I just want to know if she's gonna have a baby that's it, isn't there a way for your voodoo gypsy jibber jabber to find that out?"
Dallas then narrowed his eyes at Adrien with more annoyance. "Are you freaking kidding me right now dude?" He asked his foster brother. "Just go to a drug store and by a home pregnancy test you idiot, god it's like pulling teeth with you sometimes."
It was around that moment that Adrien then realized that he was right, the solution was so simple and yet he somehow made it overly complicated, but he just blamed it on him being forced into witness protection and having to say goodbye to his father on his lack of common sense. "Or…yeah, we can do that." He replied with a sheepish tone.
"Jeez dude, you really need to stop pulling all-nighters with Mari clearly the loss of fluids and sleep deprivation is getting to your higher brain functions." Dallas added, he then stood up and started towards the door of the safehouse. "Now if you'll both excuse me, I still need to do some shopping for my son's birthday and I'm not going to let the opportunity pass me by until the last minute."
Without another word Dallas left the apartment leaving both Adrien and Marinette alone, it was around that moment when Adrien realized that the two of them had the safehouse all to themselves which could make for a rather romantic moment, he smiled to himself and called out. "Oh Marinette…." He sang as he stood from his chair and removed his shirt.
"Yeah babe?" She answered back to her lover, as she turned around to see him standing in the doorway shirtless leaning against the frame. She smiled and asked with a slight giggle. "What are you doing without a shirt on?"
He just shrugged and said jokingly. "Nobody yet…care to fix that with me?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
She giggled again and asked. "Didn't we already have sex night?"
"Well to be fair you we're way too stoned to enjoy it, and sense I feel you deserve a do over I thought I could be bothered with the burden of satisfying you all over again, that is IF…your up for it." He replied as he held his arms open ready to catch her.
She then ran over to him and leapt into his arms and began to kiss him passionately, he carried her over to the bed and laid her down gently as he allowed his hands to venture where ever they pleased, but before he could undress her she stopped him for a brief moment. "Wait…um…could you maybe…give me a few minutes to change into something a little more…comfortable?" She asked calmly.
Adrien had a feeling that he knew what she was talking about and replied. "So you wanna try on that sexy little dress for me do you?" She nodded back up to him as she just got lost in his eyes. "Alright, I guess I can wait a few minutes, though I'm surprised that you'd actually consider wearing it especially with how embarrassed you looked a few minutes ago."
She narrowed her eyes and gave a half smirk and said. "Don't make me regret this."
He chuckled and said back. "I would never do that bugaboo." He then rolled off of her and allowed her to fetch the lingerie from her bag along with the handcuffs.
She then handed the cuffs to him and said. "When I come back I want to see these on your wrists too."
Adrien just chuckled again and said. "You're really going all out with this aren't you princess?"
"Well we might as well make the most of our time together right? Back in a minute." She said as she booped his nose and stepped out of the room.
(A/N:*WARNING* Major intimacy ahead read at your own risk, but it doesn't really start here this is just a small bit of foreplay which I found hilarious and just had to add it in, we'll get to the juicy bits soon after, and just like before if you're sensitive and don't want to read it just skip ahead to the following bold print after it.)
Within the first two minutes Adrien took the time to set up the candles to set the mood, after that he stripped down to his underwear and cuffed his hands behind his back, almost ten minutes had passed and Adrien was still waiting for Marinette while just sitting there with his hands cuffed behind his back, it was safe to say that he was getting impatient for his lady. What's taking her so long, he thought, sure it's pretty sexy for her to keep me waiting like this but there's only so much a man can take when he's trying to get laid. Feeling as though she'd kept him waiting long enough he then called out to her. "Hello princess remember me? The guy who you were supposed to ride all the way to paradise city?" He said trying not to sound like a complete dick.
He then heard the sound of a satisfying click as the doorknob turned slowly, the door opened wide and standing in the doorway was his lady wearing nothing but the red lingerie gown and a smile, his eyes were completely locked on her as she walked slowly and seductively towards him and closing the door behind her. "Sorry to keep you waiting kitty…" She said as she climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's not easy to get into this thing without help."
Adrien just smiled as the very sight of her in such an alluring dress began to arouse him rather quickly. "You…you look good." He said almost dumbly as the sight of her simply boggled his mind.
She simply giggled at his response and said. "I'm sure I do." With all of her weight she shoved him down onto the bed and whispered into his ear. "Have you been a bad kitty Mr. Agreste?" She then bit his ear gently and dragged it through her teeth to tease him slightly.
This alone was enough to drive him wild. "Yes…" He replied as he took part in the role play. "I've been a very bad kitty my lady."
She then hovered over his face as she looked down at him with a smile and said back. "Bad kitties need to be punished you know?" She then crawled off the bed and went over to her suit case.
He looked over to her and asked. "What are you doing over there when I'm all the way over here my lady? You can hardly punish me from all the way over there."
"I just need to get a few things first." Marinette replied as she turned around holding a single condom, the lubricant and the riding crop.
Adrien's eyes shot open as he caught sight of the crop, he also began to feel nervous as to what she was about to use it for. "Uh…M-Mari what…what are you doing with that?"
"Well you said I was supposed to ride you right?" She replied as she slowly crawled on top of him staring into his eyes lustfully. "And every jockey needs her riding crop, am I right?" She asked as she slowly dragged the head of the crop down the length of his torso and stopping just above his waist line. She then shoved him back down aggressively before she said casually. "The safe word is Cataclysm."
Adrien instantly began to panic, he wasn't really sure if he was ready for something so…intense just yet. "Wait Mari hold on a second…" He begged as beads of sweat began to form on his forehead, but it was in vain as she delivered the first… CRACK "OOOOOOOOOWWWW!" Adrien's screams could be heard from the living room as their kwami's simply sat and kept themselves occupied by either eating or reading a book.
"Daaaaayyyyyuuuummmm…" Plagg voiced as he paused for a moment from eating his cheese. "They're into some pretty kinky shit huh sugar cube?"
Tikki just sighed and said in response to her owner's actions. "What ever happened to that sweet girl who was my chosen?"
Back in the bed room Marinette simply continued to 'dominate' Adrien with the riding crop, blow after blow she made leaving one red mark after another only giving him a few seconds in between each blow to collect himself. While she found this entertaining to hear him squeal his opinion on the matter was…different to say the least. CRACK "OOOOWW!" CRACK "OOOOWW!" CRACK "OOOOOOOOWWW! For god sake Mari take it…" CRACK "OOOOOWW! Easy on me!"
She giggled and said. "Naughty-naughty, that's not the safe word, which means you get more punishment, now…ROLL OVER." She demanded as she narrowed her eyes with an evil smile. He gulped as he already knew where this was going.
"Uh…could we maybe just…skip ahead of this part?" He asked nervously.
She then grabbed his throat and shouted. "I SAID ROLL OVER!" Without even giving him a chance to do it himself she flipped him onto his front and started to whip him again, this time on his rear end.
CRACK "OOOOOOWWW!" CRACK "SON OF A…" CRACK "HOLY FUCK!" CRACK "GOD DAMN IT!" CRACK "CATACLYSM…CATACLYSM ALREADY!" He blasted as he clearly couldn't take it on his backside.
"Awww…your no fun." She declared just before she gave one last…
CRACK "OOOOOOOOOWWW…DAMN IT MARINETTE I LITERALLY JUST USED THE SAFEWORD!"
"I know…" She grinned. "I just wanted to hear you scream one last time."
"Your evil…" Adrien stated firmly, after saying this Marinette's face took on a sinister smile, then he realized what he just said may have been the worst thing for him to say as he was completely at her mercy, he then added in response to his own words. "Oh I just know I'm gonna regret saying that." And he was right, he would regret it especially after she said with a dark but seductive voice.
"Ohhhhhhh really…" She then flipped him over and pulled down his underwear. "Well let's see just how evil I can be kitty."
(A/N: Okay here we go you know the drill.)
Marinette crawled up next to Adrien's side and slowly slid her hand down his front and slowly began to touch him gently grasping onto his shaft sliding him through her fingers while at the same time playfully nibbling on his ear, needless to say it didn't take her long to excite him as he became fully aroused within a minute, he just laid their hands bound behind his back, eyes shut tight due to the erotic display he was receiving, his body slowly began to heat up until his ears were burning. He bit down on his lip from the sensation which was slowly driving him mad. He let out a few small moans as she stroked him slowly and steadily keeping her pace gentle so he wouldn't climax too soon. She smiled to herself as she saw just how much he was enjoying himself. She then slowly began to pick up speed just to see the look on his face, she then slid down to his waste and said. "Hold your breath." Within the next few seconds she started dragging her tongue up and down the length of his sex while continuing to stroke him, she started circling her tongue around the top of his sex simply savoring the taste of his pre-essence that began to escape him. She looked up at him and grinned as she slowly took in the length of his sex and began to pleasure him further.
Adrien gasped as she began to suckle him, her rhythm was steady and slow but it was more than enough to satisfy him, as she kept onward with her performance he could feel a familiar feeling coming on, he felt close to release. No…not yet, he cried mentally to himself, it's too soon. He tried to hold back as best he could but it was no use as he started to grunt and finished in that very moment. He panted as he looked down at Marinette about to apologize for not warning her, but she didn't seem to mind as she drank every drop. She smiled as she wiped her lips and just stared up at him just before she got back to what she was doing before. The same sensation began to wash over him as he bit down on his bottom lip. "God you're driving me nuts you know that?" He asked rhetorically as he stayed focused on her touch.
She slowly pulled herself off of his sex then sat up on her knees in front of him. "Oh you just wait kitty, we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet…" She replied as she pulled her hand away from his sex and reached for one of the pillows on the bed and pulled off it's case, she then folded it over itself a few times until she was satisfied.
Adrien had no idea what she was doing or why she needed a pillow case for anything. "What are you…?" Before he could even finish she quickly covered his eyes with the pillow case using it as a makeshift blindfold.
"There…just to add a little extra kink to this." She said with a smirk.
He chuckled a little and asked. "What this wasn't kinky enough?"
She leaned in close to his ear and whispered in an erotic voice. "Not even close…" The next thing she did was crawl on top of his chest positioning her pelvis directly in front of his face, without so much as a warning she took both her hands and forced his face into her sex holding him right where she wanted him. Even though he was blindfolded he was still smart enough to figure out what she was forcing him to do, so he simply got to work in pleasuring her, he slowly circled his tongue around the lips of her sex enticing her more and more by the second, eventually he focused his attention on her clint using fast but gentle licks on her sex, she gasped and squeezed her eyes shut from the intoxicating feeling. She quickly leaned forward and placed one hand on the wall in front of her to steady herself, she began to moan as his rhythm grew faster and faster, she quickly found herself panting as she began to feel her entire body heat up from her stimulation, her moans grew louder and louder with each passing moment. She felt her self inching closer to achieve release as with each passing second until she finally let out a loud cry with her essence bursting out, to her own surprise she let out a small tear as she simply panted trying to catch her breath.
She slowly climbed down from her position and practically collapsed right next to him. "Are you okay princess?" Adrien asked as he panted slightly for his own need to catch his breath.
She gave a tired giggle and said. "You're really good at that, so good you made me cry a little bit."
"Well I'm glad to know that your satisfied bugaboo." He replied with a smile.
She just laughed at his grin and said. "Well don't think you're done yet Mr. Agreste, that was just a warm up." She then sat up on the bed as she reached over for the night stand and grabbed the fresh condom which simply sat there waiting to be used. She tore open the package with her teeth and pulled out the latex sleeve then applied it to Adrien's sex slowly rolling it on, she then finally climbed back on top of him and said. "Before we get started I have one rule."
Adrien then frowned as he just had a feeling that he wasn't going to like this. "What rule?" He asked bluntly.
"It's very simple really, you're not allowed to climax until I say so." She replied knowing that this would annoy him, but she only did it to make things more interesting for the two of them.
And just as Adrien had suspected from before he turned out to be right, he finally began to regret what he'd said about her being evil. "Oh come on Mari that's not fair." He whined. "You can't just make that a rule."
"Sure I can…" She argued with an evil grin that he could sense very well even through the blind fold. "It's so you learn a little self-control, or is the great Cat Noir not up to the challenge?" She began to tease him.
"That's easy for you to say princess, I'm the one who's blindfolded here all my other senses are completely heightened, and the one I use to enjoy this the most is definitely going to be affected." He retorted as best he could.
"Hmm…tough luck kitty." She replied as she began to aim his sex right for her's. "Because if you finish before I say you'll have a little more punishment coming for you, now let's…get to…WORK." She Grunted as she felt the familiar feeling of his sex bursting into her filling her as deep as he could, she then started to rock her hips back and forth working slowly at first just to see him squirm. "Tell you what though kitty…" She began to offer. "If you ask me REALLY nicely I might just let you finish sooner than expected."
Adrien could barely hear her over his own thoughts as he tried his best not to finish, he thought of what ever he could think of as he tried to keep his mind on other things other than their moment of passion. "You really don't think I can do it do you?" He asked as he did his best to add to the work.
"Well it's a possibility I suppose, but…I'm just…curious…to see…if…you…can…do it." She replied as she quickened her pace, faster and faster she pressed forward, she then leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the back of his head and shoved his face into her chest. She moaned so loud that she muffled out the sound of the bedframe creaking, while she was distracted working on him Adrien used his teeth to pull down her top exposing her breasts, she simply giggled at his enthusiasm and simply rewarded him by guiding him toward one of her nipples and allowing him to suck on it, she moaned even more as he sucked and licked her breast.
God I can't take this, he thought to himself, when ever the two of them would come together they would switch in between who would be in control of the other, and right now he wasn't in control at all and he knew that if they kept on going like this he would climax sooner than he wanted to, I've got to get out of these cuffs. He remember just how Dallas had helped him the first time he was ever in hand cuffs and had a feeling that might come in handy, so he proceeded to do what he had hoped he'd never have to go through again as it hurt a lot the first time. He gripped his thumb and with one swift motion he dislocated his thumb, he grunted a little as the pain got to him only slightly, then he slowly pulled his hand free just as Dallas had instructed him to the first time and finally he was free to do as he pleased.
With one swift motion he quickly flipped Marinette onto her back and took control pinning her to the bed with all his weight on her shoulders and not stopping even for a second as they continued to make love. "How…how…how did you…" She asked him as best she could as she tried to breathe.
"A little trick…Dallas taught me…" He admitted to her as he kept his pace fast and steady earning her satisfied cries of pleasure. "But all of this right now…is all me." He came down on top of her wrapping her into his embrace and putting his hand behind her head pushing her into a deep loving kiss, both of their mouths fought vigorously for dominance as he increased his grip on her, for several minutes Adrien kept his pace as well as his self-control, at some point he had forced her to turn around so he could take her from behind, which she did without complaining just before he had shoved her front up against the wall behind the bed.
Adrien quickly found that this was his favorite position to have her in as he felt impowered and completely in control, but this was taking its toll on him as he could feel the need to release, and as expected Marinette hadn't given him permission to finish yet even though she'd managed to achieve release several times already he was still holding back. He felt the need to finish was getting to him as he couldn't take it any longer. "Mari…I can't take it anymore…please…just let me finish already…it's driving me nuts." He begged almost whimpering.
She found his tone of voice and the look on his face to be adorable, feeling merciful she pulled him close and said calmly. "Alright sweetie, your gonna cum for me in 3…2…" She brought her lips to his ear and continued in a whisper. "…1"
Tightening his arms around her Adrien made his final push, practically yelling as he finally was able to climax, his eyes we're closed tight as could be as he felt the high from his release wash over him, he started to pant as he slowly pulled her back down to the bed with him unable to move. As he had with their first night in bed as well as the night before he had given his all. Marinette simply stroked back the bangs of his hair so she could see the look on his face. He finally took off the blindfold and slowly opened his eyes and asked with an exhausted voice. "Was that…good…for you…princess?"
She smiled at him and placed a small kiss on his cheek and said. "No…it was great." She then wrapped her arms around him and started to place tiny kisses on his cheek as she allowed him to relax for a few minutes.
(A/N: Okay it's over.)
Almost half an hour went by as the two just cuddled under the sheets of their bed, Adrien was still unable to leave the room due to the fact that his legs had gone numb from pushing himself to the breaking point. He simply laid their almost motionless as he held Marinette close to him as she rested her head in the crook of his neck as she inhaled the sweet sent of his cologne. She looked up at his face and saw that he was half asleep from the second romantic escapade within the last twenty-four hours. "Falling asleep already kitty?" She asked softly.
He replied with a very tired voice. "I swear…every time we do this you just drain the life right out of me."
She giggled and said. "God I hope not, the last thing I want is for my man to die because of me."
He looked down at her and said with a smile. "Well if that happens I'll die happy." He then leaned down and gave her a very tender kiss. He didn't know if it was the lack of energy talking or if it was because of the idea from earlier getting to him but either way he then began to ask her something very personal and important. "Mari?"
She rested her head over his chest with her ear pressed against his heart, which she could hear starting to pick up slightly. "Yes?" She replied as she simply listened to his heart beat ever so gently.
"About what Dallas said earlier, and I'm not saying you are but…are you sure you're not pregnant?" He asked hoping she wouldn't get mad.
She sighed and said. "Where is this coming from all of a sudden? First my parents now you? Are you asking me because you secretly want a baby?"
"No I just…" He paused for a moment to try and find the right words. "I mean…I obviously want kids someday but…I…I just…want to be sure that…"
"Adrien…" She slowly sat up and crawled onto his lap to look him in the eye. "I understand if your not ready to have kids yet, god knows I'm not either, and I do want kids more than anything and I want to have them with you too…"
"It's not that Mari…" He interrupted her. "I'm just…worried that…if you are pregnant…what if the chameleon ends up succeeding and he gets you in the end? What if he doesn't just take you away from me and takes our child too? The truth is Mari…I'm scared, I've finally found my happiness in life again…and if it turns out that you are pregnant my happiness will skyrocket, but if I lose you and the baby…"
She placed a finger to his lips and began to shush him. "Adrien I promise you don't have anything to worry about, I'm not pregnant and there's no way the chameleon is going to kill me, not with Val and Megan and the team watching our backs." She said just before she gave him a loving kiss. "But on the off chance that I am expecting, which I'm still 100% positive that I'm not…I promise you that I'll stay out of harms way and just stay somewhere safe, no superhero stuff no fighting no crazy shenanigans that could potentially hurt our little bun."
Adrien just snickered with her little remark in reference to any potential child they might have one day. "Dallas was right, that is ironic for you."
She giggled in response as she simply laid on top of him and nuzzled his neck, then just for the sake of asking she asked him plainly. "How many would you want to have anyway?"
Adrien then asked back. "How many kids you mean?" She nodded yes in response, he then hummed in response before he answered. "I don't know, how many would you want?"
"About two…maybe three, and a hamster." She answered with her usual default answer.
He just laughed softly and said. "We can have as many as you want princess, and that goes for kids and hamsters alike." He pulled her in deep for a much needed cuddle.
Back at her hideout Valentina was just getting back with Yuri from the doctor's office, and thankfully for him he didn't need any shots of any kind today. Just as they were coming through the door Valentina could hear the sound of several men in the hideout, just as she opened the door numerous men started to pour out of her hideout, most of them hungover from the night before. As expected Doof just took a defensive stance as he let out a low growl. But none of the strange men that Megan had brought home with her for a very long…long night of anonymous sex paid him any mind. "Come back and see me sometime boys." Megan called out to them as they left one by one. As Megan then stood in the doorway of the apartment and waved her company from the night before goodbye, as she heard the sound of Valentina clearing her throat she turned to see her holding her son as well as holding onto Doof's leash. "Oh…hey there love, I see you picked up the little tike." But Valentina said nothing as she just glared at Megan with disgust. "What?"
"You brought them all back to my apartment?" Valentina asked as she stared daggers at her friend.
"Oh would you relax love…" Megan began to wave off. "So what if I brought them all back to your place for a little party of our own."
"You were supposed to take them to a hotel room not my home away from home ty tupaya zadnitsa shlyukha!" Valentina stated with annoyance.
"Oh well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black." Megan retorted. "You've been with more bloody men in your entire life than I have, only difference is you got paid for it."
Valentina just groaned as she shoved past her friend. She set Yuri down on the couch just before she let Doof off his leash, after which Doof immediately hopped up on the couch and laid down right next to Yuri resting his very large and very heavy head on his lap. "Doof is weawy sweepy today auntie Megan." Yuri announced as he stroked his dog's head sensing that Doof was still somewhat affected by the brownie he'd ingested the night before.
"Bloody hell…" Megan voiced as she took notice of how calm Doof was. "Are we sure this is the same dog we rescued from the pound?"
"Reasonably sure…" Valentina replied just before she received a text, she fished out her phone and read that she had one new message from Dallas, she opened it up to read its content.
Dallas: Hey babe doing some birthday shopping for our kid does he want anything special?
She smiled at the message simply knowing that he was already thinking of their son for his birthday. She was quick to send a text back to him.
I'm sure what ever you get him will be fine dorogoy, he won't get upset that easily. :Valentina
Dallas then sent another text back to her, one that made her smile disappear in a split second.
Dallas: So it's okay if I make him a tomahawk?
She quickly responded to this shocking text that she had hoped was only just a sick joke of his.
You are not giving our son a tomahawk for his birthday! :Valentina
Dallas then sent back a laughing faced emoji along with another text.
Dallas: Your right, a knife is more practical and easily hidden.
She knew he was only joking at this point but she was still outraged.
DALLAS ANTHONY JONES-CLEARLAKE IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT GIVING OUR SON A WEAPON FOR HIS BIRTHDAY I WILL PERSONALY SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS THEN PULL IT OUT THROUGH YOUR MOUTH JUST SO YOU KNOW JUST HOW SERIOUS I AM ABOUT KEEPING OUR SON FROM DEADLY WEAPONS SUCH AS THE ONES YOU HAVE DISCRIBED TO ME! :Valentina
On his side of the phone he saw her reply to his latest text. "Ooh all caps she must be mad." Only a second later Dallas gave another reply.
Dallas: Oh I just love it when you talk dirty to me.
It was in that moment that she wanted to just reach through the phone and strangle him, but that's when she realized that he might just like that. She just sighed and said as she looked over to her son. "That father of yours is going to drive me up a wall."
"What does dat mean mommy?" He asked while simply stroking Doof's massive head.
"It mean's your daddy is driving your mum crazy love." Megan answered for her as she brought Yuri a sippy cup of grape juice. "But that's one of the reasons you love him isn't it Val?"
Valentina gave a half smile and said in response. "I suppose that's true, but if he want's a future with me and Yuri he's going to have to grow up a little more, and that includes no drugs in our home."
"Yeah that's one thing I wasn't expecting about him, though in retrospect it's not too hard to believe." Megan added with a shrug. "So…what kind of things are we doing with this little rascal today?" She asked as she ruffled Yuri's hair, much to his annoyance.
"Auntie Megan top id…" Yuri whined as he swatted her hands away and tried to smooth out the top of his head.
"Megan, what have I told you about touching his hair?" Valentina asked as she grew slightly crossed with Megan for a reason related to Yuri's heritage.
"Oh come on love, I'm not hurting it." She replied casually. "Besides it's not like I'm trying to cut it off."
"Well I would hope so, if Dallas ever found out that something like that would happen to Yuri he would go on a killing spree." Valentina voiced her concern. During their time apart Valentina wanted Yuri to be close to his Lakota heritage sense Dallas couldn't be around him while he was growing up, and threw her studies she discovered that native Americans valued their hair more than most people do as they believed it held a strong connection to their spiritual identities and cutting it for any reason other than the ones required would be like stripping them of that connection, and if anyone should touch their hair it's taken as a sign of disrespect to the owner, and simply asking for permission is even more so. "Anyway…I was going to take him to the bakery to see if we could add some extra treats for the party, let's not forget what happened at the last birthday we took him to." Valentina replied to her friend's previous statement.
"Oh I remember that one alright, I've never seen that many kids throwing a tantrum like that all at once before. It was actually kind of scary." Megan said as she remembered the last party that Yuri was invited to. Due to poor planning for so many small children, almost two dozen or so, they had ran out of birthday cake almost immediately after the candles had been blown out and because of this every single child that didn't get a slice, Yuri included, started to cry and complain that they didn't get any cake which would obviously put a damper on the spirits of any child.
"Well that's why I'm going to make sure we have cupcakes and cookies to go along with the cake at the buffet." Just as Valentina was about to call the Dupain-Chang bakery she received a call on her work phone, she pulled it out of her pocket and answered as she always would. "Privet, Volkov extermination service how may I help you?" She paused for a moment to allow the client to talk. "Uh-huh…I see…and how did you get this number? Oh I see…and how soon do you need me to see you?" Upon hearing just how soon she had to leave she sighed and said. "Alright, I'll be there within the hour…yes…yes I promise…thank you for calling…goodbye." She then hung up the phone and gave a very apologetic look to her son, a look that he was all too familiar with.
"Do you haf to go to work mommy?" He asked even though he already knew, he absolutely hated seeing her leave because whenever she did it would be for months at a time. But it was worse for Megan as she knew that there was always a chance she wasn't coming back which always left a giant pain in her gut.
But thankfully this was a job that was in London so she would only be gone for the day. "It's alright Yurochka…" She said as she walked over to him and knelt down to look him in the eye. "I'm only leaving for today, I'll be back later tonight, I promise you I will."
"But do you really have to leave now?" Megan asked hoping that she could put off the job for at least a little while.
Valentina just sighed and said. "I wish I could stay, but the client said that this job has to be done before tomorrow, so the sooner I get it done the better. But as soon as I'm done I'll spend all the time I have with you my sweet little prince." She then placed a loving kiss on her son's forehead and gave him a small hug.
"Can I stiwl go see daddy tonight?" Yuri asked hoping that he could spend sometime with at least one of his parents.
She smiled warmly and said. "Of course you can, you can spend all the time in the world with him if you want."
"Don't worry about a thing love, I'll take you to see your dad later in case your mum isn't back by later tonight." Megan added to reassure the small two year old, then she added under her breath. "That way I can have a little time to myself with your dad's prescription."
Yuri didn't hear her of course but Valentina heard her plain as day. She then looked up at her and asked with an angry whisper. "What did you say?!"
"What? It's not like he's gonna be anywhere near hear when I'm trying to 'medicate' myself." Megan justified, but it was hardly an argument considering she was planning on getting stoned.
Valentina just narrowed her eyes and said to her son. "Yurochka cover your ears." And as instructed Yuri covered his ears, once she was certain he couldn't hear what she was about to say Valentina stood up and started shouting. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW MEGAN?! YOU CAN'T JUST KEEP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE A GOD DAMN CHILD YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"
"Oh will you relax Val I'd never get stoned while he's around you know that; besides I don't need to get high every day like most idiots in this world." Megan argued calmly not fazed by Valentina in the least.
"Megan, you know I love you like a sister, but I still don't want there to be a chance that my son will be exposed to drugs." Valentina pointed out. "And let's not forget you gave that up too after you retired."
"True, but I gave that up for when you entrusted me to watch over your little ankle biter, and I've been doing just that, also there are days when I just need a tiny little pick me up from being burned out just by watching him." Megan replied casually. "Plus I don't think it'll matter after you and Dallas start your lives together cause I'm probably just going to go live on my own for a while, unless I happen to get lucky enough that I find some handsome bloke who's willing to take me on as his future wife, that is assuming he can handle a girl like me."
Valentina just groaned as she held her forehead which she found was starting to hurt slightly from both anger and stress. "How did you even get Dallas's 'medicine' in the first place?" She asked bluntly.
Megan just smiled and said. "He's not the only one who knows how to pick pocket around here."
Valentina sighed and said in response. "I swear you're going to be the death of me." She said with utter annoyance. Without another word Valentina started to pack her duffle bag with a few guns, knives and a special made poison which she used on the targets that she believed didn't deserve to die but still killed them due to the fact that she was a professional assassin and she had to maintain her professionalism by honoring the contracts, no matter how much she wanted to decline she felt as though she had to be the one to accept such jobs as most assassins didn't care whether or not if the target suffered till the end. The poison she had was painless and worked almost like a sleep aid or a very strong sedative, but in the end they wouldn't wake up. "Alright I'm off to do my job, my train leaves in an hour so if I leave now I should get their in at least half that time." She said as she checked her online ticket for what seemed to be the fifth time already. She turned to her son and gave him one last kiss good bye. "I'll see you tonight my little one."
"Bye-bye mommy I wove you." Yuri said as he gave his mother a big loving hug. Valentina let a single tear shed as she accepted the possibility that this could be the last time she would ever see her son. Sensing the sour mood Doof hopped off the couch and offered his own farewell to Valentina with a big slobbery kiss.
She giggled slightly as she wiped off the dog's saliva and said. "Doof you are disgusting." Doof gave a small whimper as if he was trying to say I'll miss you, Valentina then gave Doof a little kiss on his nose, then she stood up, grabbed her duffle bag and left the apartment as she offered her son one last goodbye.
Yuri could hear her footsteps as they started to fade out the farther she headed down the hall, his face took on a sad expression, he sniffled a little bit as his mother was once again leaving him, even if it was only for a few hours he still found it hard to be separated from her.
"It'll be alright love…" Megan soothed as she knelt down and pulled him into a hug. "I promise your mum won't have to do this kind of work anymore after too much longer. She's actually thinking about getting a new job too, one where she doesn't have to leave you for so long, and the best part is that your daddy will be moving in with you too sweetie, doesn't that sound nice?"
Yuri wiped his nose and replied with a sad tone. "Uh-huh…" In that moment Doof came in without warning and just licked Yuri's face in the attempt to make his smile return, only he got the exact opposite reaction. "Eew…Doof top dat!" He cried as he tried to shove him away, though it was all in vain as Doof was much stronger than Yuri.
"Alright ya big lummox that's enough of that stop coating Yuri with your drool." Megan said to the dog as she shoved him back and took Yuri in her arms and out of his reach. "Come on then love, let's go and get you cleaned up, then we'll take you to the bakery and taste some cupcakes for your party."
Yuri's face started to curl into a little smile upon hearing that. "Otay…" He said with a nod of his head. After getting his face cleaned up Megan took Yuri and Doof to the Bakery so he could decide what kind of cupcakes he wanted at the party, after giving Dallas a call asking for him to call Adrien to help decide what kind of cupcakes they wanted, he said that he liked chocolate and French vanilla, even though it seemed a bit cliché for him being French he still found it to be one of his favorite flavors, but as for the frosting it didn't matter to him what they picked as he enjoyed basically all kinds of flavors of frosting, from plane old vanilla to buttercream, he even told a joke that Marinette had told him about it saying that it fell apart faster than a two celebrity marriage. To which Megan began to laugh hysterically, as for Yuri he didn't quite understand what the joke was supposed to mean and just brushed it off.
After they'd finally gotten to the bakery Megan made sure to keep Doof close and try not to make the same mistake that Dallas did the other day. As soon as the bell hanging in front of the door chimed Tomas turned to greet his customers as he usually did, but then he froze as he caught sight of the exact same dog he'd encountered just the other day. "Oh good god…" He whispered as he backed away from the counter seeing the evil look on the dog's face, a look that spoke volumes of threats to him in this moment.
Megan picked up on this and turned her attention to Doof. "Doof, park it and shut it." She said with an authoritive tone. Doof looked up to see a dissatisfied look on her face, even though he hadn't actually done anything yet he had a feeling that he was in trouble, or he would be if he didn't do exactly what she told him to do. So he just sat down and 'said' nothing like a good dog would do. "Sorry about that, I happen to know that Doof was here the other day and well…these two can't really be separated or else the dog goes bonkers. Anyway we're here to try and add to the order for the Agreste/Volkov order if that's alright."
Normally Tomas would answer her but he was far too focused on the dog, luckily his wife Sabine was in the bakery and noticed just what was going on, she then casually walked up to the counter and politely said. "Ma'am I under stand the situation but we still don't allow dogs in here, however I suppose we could put him in the hallway behind the store, that way he can keep an eye on this little cutie, also so my husband doesn't have a heart attack."
"I think we're a little past that honey." Tomas replied nervously as he just kept his back to the wall being glared at by the dog from across the room.
Sabine just rolled her eyes and walked around the counter to the dog, clearly she wasn't as scared of him as her much larger husband was, she knelt down and simply patted the dog on his head. Doof immediately began to wag his tail and pant happily as he simply took an instant liking to her. "See Tom, he's not so bad." She said as she turned back to her husband, then without warning Doof gave her a big slobbery kiss. "Oh…well thank you sweetie that was very kind of you." She added as she used her apron to wipe off her face.
"I'll take your word for it." He said in response as he just hid in the back of the kitchen putting as much distance away from him and the dog as he could.
Sabine just sighed as she tried to take the dog's leash and guide him to the hallway, only to feel a sudden…jerk. She turned around and saw that he refused to budge so much as an inch. "Doof for the love of god just go with the nice lady your not going that faraway." Megan ordered the large dog as she pointed in the direction of the door to the back hall. But he simply refused to budge for her, that's when she remembered his one weakness. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a box of camembert cheese, then she opened it up and took out a piece and just held it up for him. "Doooooooooof…" She sang as she wiggled the cheese over his head. "Look what I have for you." He looked up and saw that she was holding his favorite kind of treat, he then started to bark excitedly at the same time as hopping up and down trying to get the cheese. "You want it? All you have to do is go sit in the hallway over there and it's yours."
Without hesitation Doof obeyed and ran straight to the hallway and nearly dragging Mrs. Chang with him, Doof then sat down and waited for his treat like a good dog would do. "Good boy, here you go." Megan praised as she tossed him the cheese, he caught it in one swift motion. "Here's a little tip, if you ever want him to like you all you have to do is feed him some cheese and he's putty in your hands."
"Well that's good to know, so what can we do for you exactly?" Sabine asked as she returned back to the counter.
"We'd like to add a little bit to our order, we've got a lot of kids coming to this party and we just want to make sure that everyone get's some cake, even if it's not from thee cake they'll all want some kind of cake to satisfy them." Megan laminated as she sat Yuri down on the floor. "So anyways we were thinking maybe we could get a few cupcakes to go along with it, maybe a few cookies too like say ten or twelve dozen of each should do it I think."
"Of course we can do that, what kind of cupcakes would you like?" Sabine asked with a smile.
Megan looked down to Yuri and said. "Well Mr. Agreste already said he was good with chocolate or French vanilla, so I guess go with those along with what ever the little man wants too. What do you want Yuri love?"
Yuri simply stared through the glass pane of the counter with his gaze fixed upon every single pastry he could see. From croissants to pie he wanted to try them all. He looked up at his Aunt and asked. "Can we ged a pie too Auntie Megan?"
Before she could answer another customer came into the bakery, he was a large man, large enough to look very intimidating, and in Doof's mind that meant one thing, dangerous. Before the man even got close to the counter Doof stood up, raised his hackles, bore his teeth and started to growl at the man, then he just began to bark warning him to stay away from Yuri. Megan then looked behind her and saw just what the dog was barking at, knowing exactly what was going to happen she turned to the unsuspecting customer and began to warn him. "Sir with all due respect you need to hightail it out of here fast or else…" But before she could finish Doof began to charge the man with the urge to kill. The customer didn't hesitate as he took off in the opposite direction, Doof followed the man out the door and down the street. "Oh balls, DOOF GET BACK HERE!" She called out to the dog as she started after them, but before she left she quickly turned to the bakers and asked. "Could you two please watch him while I go get that overbearing mutt?" With a smile Sabine nodded her head yes. "Wonderful, Yuri love stay put I'll be back in two shakes of a lambs tail." And with that Megan took off after the dog, but without the knowledge that in the excitement she'd dropped the bottle of peyote extract on the floor of the bakery.
Yuri took notice of what she'd dropped and chose to collect it for her thinking that it was important, he took one look at the label and instantly became puzzled as he had no idea what it meant, but he chose not to dwell on it and just stuffed it into his pocket. "I guess she wasn't kidding, your doggy really is protective of you." Sabine said as she came over to Yuri and picked him up. "How's about this, until she comes back you can be our little helper, which means you get to taste everything we bake and help us make a few things. Would you like that?" She asked sweetly as if she were like a grandmother to him.
Yuri nodded his head and said with a smile. "Otay." The first thing that they chose to work on was deciding what kind of cupcakes he wanted at the party, he ultimately chose chocolate as most children often seemed to enjoy chocolate more than any other flavor. Next they chose to work on the frosting for the cupcakes, the one he seemed to like the most was peppermint. So it ended up becoming a chocolate peppermint frosted cupcake order which Yuri was just fine with as he evidently enjoyed his hot chocolate with a peppermint stick during the winter time.
Tomas allowed Yuri to crack open the eggs to add to the frosting which was being made in the largest mixing bowl he'd ever seen, it was taller and wider than Yuri was in height on both accounts, after adding the eggs Tomas then added the sugar, flour, and milk, then came some pink food coloring and peppermint fragments for the flavor, just as he was about to look at the recipe and see what he needed to add next the phone began to ring grabbing his attention, so he walked over to the phone and answered it, so Sabine chose to substitute for him, or at least that was the plan until another customer came into the bakery, so she quickly walked over to them to take their order. With no one else to take part in this project Yuri chose to take over, he reached over and took the recipe in his hand and started to read it to himself, not only was he paying attention to what Tomas had added to the bowl already but he could also read the recipe just as easily as he could understand basic math due to his above average IQ level for a toddler his age. "Four teasspoonss of vaniwwa extwact…" He read, he then searched for anything he could recognize as vanilla extract on the counter top, he smiled and saw a bottle with the very words he was looking for, he grabbed the bottle and saw that it was almost empty, but rather than inform Tomas or Sabine that they needed a fresh bottle to replace this one he came up with the assumption that he didn't need to. As he instantly began to think that the contents in the bottle he'd already picked up were the same as the one in the bottle he was already holding, mainly due to the fact that both bottles looked very similar. So he opened the bottle and used the eye dropper and acquired roughly three teaspoons from the bottle, then he added it to the bowl then pulled out the bottle he already had and acquired the remaining one gently squeezing the clear liquid into the bowl. Just as he was finishing the last teaspoon Tomas had just finished with the phone call and returned to finish making the frosting. "I added duh vaniwwa misser baker man." He admitted to Tomas with a smile. "I added four teasspoonss juss wike duh wecipe says."
Tomas just looked at Yuri with a look of shock and confusion, the fact that he knew what a teaspoon was was more than enough to surprise him but with the added fact that he could read at his age and at such a high level was mindboggling for him. "You did? All by yourself?" He asked as if he didn't really believe him.
Yuri simply nodded his head and replied. "Uh-huh…" He then picked up the recipe again and read the next line. "Now we have toooooooooo…mix id up den wisp id untiw iss wite and fwuffy." Tomas took the recipe back and read it to himself and saw he was right, it read in plain old black and white mix up ingredients then whisk. Whip until lite and fluffy.
Tomas was amazed that this child was able to read so early in his life let alone that he was able to do basic math as well as understand fractions and measurements for a recipe. But just to see just how smart he was Tomas decided to drop a little pop quiz on him. "Alright then little math whiz, let's say that I needed to add a cup and a half of brown sugar to make a batch of cookies but I don't have my one measuring cup and only my half measuring cup, how many times would I have to use that cup until I had added enough?"
This question of course was a simple one, but Tomas didn't want him to over work his little brain so he just gave him an easy question to start. Which he answered rather quickly. "Twee times, dats how many times you'd need to use duh haf cup."
Tomas smiled ands said. "Not bad, but what if I don't have the half cup either? Which cup should I use instead and how many times would I need to use that one?"
Yuri then started to put his mind to work, he then gave his answer. "Duh quar-der cup, you'd need to use id six times too."
Tomas's jaw just dropped with how fast he answered the question also with the fact that he got it right on the first try. "Wow…that was right, okay no more easy ones kid-o. Let's see if you can get this one right. What's twelve minus thirty-two?" Tomas asked.
Yuri then started calculating in his head and said. "Neg-a-tive twen-ty."
"Alright mister math whiz let's see if you know this one, what's four times nine…plus six…divided by three…times fifteen?" Clearly Tomas had underestimated just how smart Yuri was for his age, and his error rang true when Yuri gave his answer after calculating everything inside his head.
"Iss ssissy-sis." sixty-six He said with an almost smug grin.
Tomas was at this point beyond impressed with Yuri. He'd never in his entire life met a toddler who understood basic math let alone algebra. "Okay I think that earns you some cookies little man." He said as he pulled out a tray of chocolate chip cookies, Yuri took five cookies without any kind of protest from the baker as he felt as though Yuri deserved as many as he wanted and was more than willing to let him have them. Following this Tomas then began to mix the ingredients together in the bowl completely unaware that he'd just mixed in one teaspoon of peyote extract which would prove to be a very big mistake on everyone's part.
It was around that moment that Megan finally returned to the bakery with Doof by her side. "Alright I got this crazy mutt back under control, and also barely weaseled my way out of a lawsuit." She said as she glared at Doof, who didn't really seem to have any remorse for what he did at all. "So was this one any trouble at all?" She asked as she shifted her focus onto Yuri.
"Oh he was a little angel." Sabine replied with a smile. "And a very good helper too."
"I helpt make duh fwosting." Yuri added just before he took another bite out of his cookie.
"Did you now?" Megan asked rhetorically. "Are you also helping sample the product too?" Yuri nodded his head yes as he was unable to answer with words due to his mouth being full.
"By the way are you aware that he's extremely good at math for his age?" Tomas asked as he was still bewildered that a toddler was smarter than other children his age.
Megan laughed and said. "Yeah I'm aware, he proved to be a lot smarter than most kids his age when he first went to preschool, so on a whim his teachers started teaching him basic math, and he took to it like a pig to mud. So after that we started teaching him a little bit of algebra, and because of that he's now on a list for Winston Churchill's memorial school for the gifted of mind in London."
"My mommy says I'm gonna be a scientiss." Yuri added with a smile as he knew already just how highly his mother believed in his abilities.
"Ooooooh…I heard that school is very exclusive." Sabine said as she felt very impressed by the young boy sitting on her counter.
"And with his smarts he'll be able to get a scholarship too, then after that it's Oxen fort University." Megan added as she felt such pride for her nephew. "Well then it's time we headed off then, I've got a full day planned for this little nipper and we're only getting started too."
"Hold on just a minute…" Tomas insisted they stay put for one moment longer as he reached inside the glass case for all of their pastries and pulled out an apple pie. "You wanted this too didn't you little man?"
He handed the pie to Yuri who took it and held it very carefully so he wouldn't drop it. "Tank you misser baker man." He said as he remembered his good manners. After Megan took Yuri and Doof away from the bakery Tomas and Sabine began to work on the cupcakes completely unaware that they were about to serve a whole parties worth of people a controlled substance. Just as they began to walk away Yuri remembered the bottle he'd picked up and dug into his pocket then handed it to Megan and said. "You dwopped dis in duh bakewy."
Megan looked over and saw the bottle of peyote extract, she gasped as she began to fear the worst. "Uh…thanks love, mainly out of curiosity…you didn't taste what was in this bottle did you?" She asked hoping she wouldn't have to deal with a stoned two year old, or have to rush him to the hospital for a drug overdose and explain to the doctors what was happening to him.
But she relaxed when Yuri shook his head and said honestly. "Uh-uh…"
"Oh thank god." She said as they had just arrived at the bus stop. Next they headed to the park where Yuri played with other children his age, these children also played with Doof whom they treated as a jungle gym as they climbed all over him, the only reason he allowed it was so that he could be close enough to Yuri so that he felt he was safe. After words Megan took Yuri to the zoo, though the only way she could get Doof inside was by putting a service animal vest on him also while wearing a big pair of sunglasses in the attempt to convince them that she was blind. Naturally Doof got into a barking match with several of the animals, mostly the lions which retaliated with their signature roars for him disturbing their midday naps. While most kids in the zoo became scared Yuri just giggled uncontrollably as his dog acted as if he could truly take on the world. After the zoo she took Yuri out for lunch at McDonald's where he gorged himself on a happy meal, he made such a fuss as Megan refused to let him have his toy until after he'd finished his chicken nuggets. After lunch it was time for his nap, so she took him home where he slept through half the day cuddled up next to Megan, Doof and his teddy bear.
Meanwhile across the English channel Valentina had just met with her newest client for her latest job, her target this time was a lawyer by the name of Reginald Hall, who's only reason for being put on a hit list was by failing to help bring victory to a local crime boss who had just been charged with several counts of illegal activity and was sentenced to life in prison. It might not have seemed this way to the crime boss but Reginald did his job to the best of his abilities and was now being hunted for his failure to prevent his client from spending life in prison. In her case though Valentina didn't really see any real reason to kill him but he was still the named target so she had no choice but to end his life. She would always perform her job the same way, locate the target's home address, follow him and learn his routine, then once she knew enough she'd make her move. That is if it were her usual scumbag targets she didn't care too much about when killing them, but sense he was more of someone who she saw as an unfortunate victim of circumstance she chose to use her poison on him.
After following him to a bar she chose to make her move by paying off one of the waiters and taking their place, then when she got her chance she would slip him a drink with a note saying she liked him and wanted him to meet her by the women's restroom. Reginald didn't hesitate for even a minute as he made his way to the blond who sadly had no choice but to end his life. Reginald quickly smoothed out his hair and any wrinkles his shirt had in order to look presentable. "Please darling there's no need for that." She said as she took him by the arm and lead him into the restroom.
"So…" Reginald began to ask as he completely let his guard down. "Is your name as pretty as your face doll?"
She leaned into his ear and whispered seductively. "The black widow of Chernobyl." Upon hearing this he became confused, before he could even ask what she was talking about he then began to feel dizzy, and sleepy, he slowly began to feel weak in the knees, along with everywhere else. His eyes began to grow heavy, then the next thing he knew he was on the ground, it would seem to him that he was about to fall asleep for some unexplained reason, but he couldn't be farther from the truth as he was taking in his final moments of life. As his eye slowly closed for the last time Valentina put two fingers to his neck to check for a pulse, and felt nothing but a still vain. She then took a picture of Mr. Hall and sent the picture back to the client as proof that she'd done her job, then she reached into her pocket and pulled out her signature black widow calling card neckless and placed it around his neck. "Forgive me…you did not deserve this." She said with a sympathetic tone. A minute later she received a return text saying 'pleasure doing business with you.' Following a money transfer for up to fifty thousand euros, which was the price she agreed upon as she negotiated on behalf of her victim's death to be as painless as possible even though the client wanted him to suffer slowly she told them she refused to make him suffer for any reason, she even threatened to call the police on them once the job was done if she wasn't allowed to kill him her way. Her employer reluctantly agreed as they had already heard that she'd killed an entire group of Yakuza all by herself.
After packing up her things she headed back to the train station and boarded the first train to Paris. After she arrived back to the city of love she was halted with the sight of over a dozen Interpol agents swarming the train station, she of course knew she was on their most wanted list but she had no idea how they were even aware that she was on the train at all. But it didn't matter as she already had a backup plan. As the agents began to board the train her suspicions were confirmed when she saw a picture of herself in the hands of one of the agents as they were asking a passenger if they'd seen her. She then began to make her way to the back of the train as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. As soon as she had gotten to the back of the train she got to work, she found a few towels, a bottle of vodka and a power box. She quickly used one of her knives to open the power box as it was closed with a set of screws, she then pulled out some of the wires and exposed their insides. Next she took the vodka and started to pour out a trail of alcohol toward the door, next she took the towels and piled them up in front of the door and lit the trail with the wires successfully blocking anyone from entering unless they had a fire extinguisher, then finally she broke a window with one of her guns to make it look as though she'd already escaped, and as expected the agents discovered the fire in the last car and tried to enter it as they just knew she had a way to escape.
They managed to get a fire extinguisher out from the car they were currently in and put out the fire quickly then they stormed the car, and as she planned they believed she was already gone. "Damnit…" An agent cursed as they came to realize their target had escaped. "Agent Menendez…this is agent Swan…she…got away again." But what they didn't know was that she was actually just underneath them in the emergency exit in the floor just waiting for them to leave so she could make her real escape.
"WHAT?!" Valentina could hear Menendez's screams from the agent's ear pieces, she clearly was not happy that she'd gotten away, or at least that's what she thought. "Find her god damnit!"
"Yes ma'am, we'll start a sweep ASAP." The agent replied just before he started giving orders. "Everyone fan out and start a perimeter sweep of the entire train station, she couldn't have gotten far." And without another word the agents had dispersed and started searching for her.
After the last of the agents had left the car she slowly started to poke her head out of the emergency exit door to see if it was safe for her to take off. "Morons." She said with a grin, then she crawled out of her hiding place and started to enact the second part of her plan, she then reached into her bag and pulled out a disguise she had prepared for just such an occasion. One quick costume change later and she looked like a completely different person, she was dressed in a black wig wearing it in pigtails along with a white floral printed shirt, a brown overshirt and pink pants with black slip on shoes. Yes this was her disguise she would use not only to escape the agents but also to fool the chameleon. She managed to slip out of the train completely unnoticed by anyone.
After she'd gotten outside she managed to flag down a cab that was just pulling up. As soon as the cab stopped she paid the driver to get her out of their as quickly as he could leaving the Interpol agents scratching their heads. After an hour long search for her at the station and the surrounding area agent Menendez came to the conclusion that she'd escaped once again. Needless to say she didn't take this failure well as she immediately started screaming and cursing in angry Spanish. "Maldita sea todo al infierno! Estabamos tan cerca esta vez y, sin embargo, de alguna manera se desilzo entre mis dedos nuevamente! Esa pequena zorra desagradable!" God damn it all to hell! We were so close this time and yet somehow she slipped through my fingers again! That obnoxious little whore! She screamed as she just started tossing around chairs in the Parisian Interpol office conference room in a fit of rage.
"She's at it again." An agent whispered to another standing next to him.
"Well duh…" His colleague said back also whispering. "She always gets like this when she loses someone she's been after for years, the black widow of Chernobyl is the Moby Dick to Elisa's captain Ahab." For those in the agency who knew her most it was very clear that she had a temper, and it only got out of control when ever someone like the Black widow of Chernobyl, who had been on her list for years, managed to slip away from her so easily, especially from right under her nose. But if their was one thing she hated more than losing someone on the most wanted list, it was when her fellow agents called her a captain Ahab, or something remotely close to obsessed.
Even though she was smashing just about everything in sight she was still able to hear the two agents gossiping about her, she turned toward them and asked with anger clear in her voice. "What was that?!" Upon hearing this the two agents quickly stood in attention and acted as if they'd said nothing at all, she then narrowed her eyes and said. "That's what I thought, NOW GET BACK TO WORK AND ACT AS IF YOU ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT STAYING EMPLOYED!" She then turned back around to the table and slammed her fists on the surface. As she began to pant and catch her breath she heard a knock at the door of the conference room. "WHAT!" She bellowed as her rage still hadn't subsided.
"Agent Menendez, the local director want's to talk with you about your latest assignment request." The agent from beyond the door announced to her from the hallway.
Elisa then straitened herself out and regained her composure then said. "Fine, I'll see her in her office in a few minutes."
A split second later the door opened and in stepped a woman dressed in a very expensive looking navy blue suit. "That won't be necessary Agent Menendez…" She said as she stepped into the conference room. "Seeing as I'm already here we might as well get this over with now."
Elisa quickly gave her superior a genuine salute and quickly greeted her. "Director Rebecca..." She spoke in a professional manner. "Forgive me for the mess, I was merely trying to vent my frustrations after failing to capture someone on our most wanted list."
"I understand Elisa…" The director replied calmly. "The black widow has always been on the very top of your list. Well her and the Chameleon anyway, both of whom we know are in Paris which means if either of them makes a move we'll know about it and when they make a move we'll have the entire city on lock down at a moment's notice. But the two of them being in the city and trying to capture them is not why I'm here." She then pulled out a folder she had been holding under her arm and opened it and began to read its contents. "You want a specially made task force put together to challenge and arrest the miraculous holders, and you want to lead that team yourself as well, why might that be exactly agent?"
Elisa then answered with a stern look. "Permission to speak freely ma'am?" The director nodded her head yes, then Elisa continued. "They're all criminals, the law is very clear director, vigilante activity is in all meanings of the phrase illegal and this entire city is allowing that including local law enforcement. Someone needs to put a stop to it and if not the police then us."
"Elisa I understand where you're coming from, I truly don't like the idea of other people taking the law into their own hands anymore than you do. But the truth of the matter is that Ladybug and Cat Noir are the only ones able to beat Hawkmoth and as long as he's out there somewhere waiting to akumitize some unsuspecting soul…WE…as agents of good…need to step aside and let nature take its course."
It was safe to say that agent Menendez found this information to be very…unsatisfying. "But that's another reason I want this team to be put together director, if we can find and capture Hawkmoth too…" She started up her argument only to be shot down.
"We wouldn't even have a clue where to begin Elisa, the only ones that have ever come close to capturing him are the very vigilantes you want to arrest. If we put them behind bars then before Hawkmoth is defeated then this city is doomed, not only that but your taskforce wouldn't be able to capture and purify an Akumaa like Ladybug can, so it would be a pointless effort." The director replied shooting down her entire argument.
"So we'll confiscate their miraculous, along with all the other miraculous that they might have and use them to take him down." Elisa added firmly.
The director then folded her arms and asked. "So that's your plan? Steal what's rightfully theirs and lock them up when all they've ever done is help the city? Not only would that never work out for us in the end but there would be a gigantic media shit show around this with thousands of angry Parisians protesting in the streets demanding we release them as well as return the miraculous to them."
"What are you even saying director?" Elisa asked her bluntly.
"I'm saying they're too big for you to touch without getting burned Menendez, without a legitimate cause to arrest them that the people can't protest against it won't end well for us, we'll look like the bad guys no matter what laws are on our side. Bottom line they have the people on their side and that's all that matters." The director clarified.
"Fine then…" Menendez replied bitterly. "If you won't approve of this then I'll just take this to the president of France himself."
"Fine by me, if you think you can get him to agree to approve of your taskforce then I'd be more than happy to see you try your best to bring them in, but I'm telling you Menendez it still won't matter, you'll lose the battle before you even make your first arrest." The director stated making it very clear that she wanted no part of this case.
"I don't understand you Director…" Elisa added just before her superior was just beginning to leave. "How can you just stand by and let them do whatever they please?"
The director stopped in her tracks and said without even turning around to look at her. "Because they're not doing as they please agent Menendez they're doing what's needed, and what's needed is for someone like them to go against that monster Hawkmoth and bring him to justice, we don't have that kind of capability Elisa no matter what kind of gear or weapons we have or how many agents we pit against him the only ones who can stop him are those kids."
"But their criminals, vigilantes shouldn't be commended for their actions they should be taken down and arrested for breaking the law like any other criminal." Menendez argued.
"Really? I don't know about you Elisa but they don't seem to act like vigilantes to me. How many vigilantes have you seen that are careful in terms of collateral damage? How many go in with a level head and a plan to keep everyone in the crossfire from getting hurt? How many actually take care that their actions don't cause someone to get hurt during the fight and actually risk their own lives to save others?" The director countered. "I know you don't want to admit this agent Menendez but the truth is these kids aren't even close to the definition of a vigilante, if anything they're closer to being heroes, the point I'm trying to make is they are good people and the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is if good people do nothing, and the only way for good to triumph is if good people work together instead of against one another. We're on the side of good agent Menendez, and whether you've noticed or not so are those kids, they care about this city so much they're willing to stare down a mad man with nearly unlimited power at the risk of losing their own lives, I don't know about you Elisa but that isn't what a vigilante sounds like to me, that sounds more like a hero, the sooner you learn the difference…the better." And without another word the director left the conference room leaving a still very irritated agent Menendez in her wake.
Elisa then left the conference room and headed back to her office to file a report about her failure to capture their target. She was sat at her computer typing away at her keyboard when she heard a knock at her door. "Come in." She called.
The door knob then turned then in stepped an Sabrina Grandprix who had just started her internship at the Parisian Interpol office, she had entered holding an arrest warrant and a latte meant for agent Menendez. "Good afternoon Ms. Menendez I've got your coffee and that warrant you asked for." She said as she walked over and placed the warrant on her desk and handed her the latte.
"Thank you Ms. Grandprix." She replied as she took her drink and took a sip then returned to writing out the report for the records.
"Is there anything else you need ma'am?" Sabrina asked with a smile.
Elisa then replied not even looking at her with a cold tone. "No, you can go now." Without another word Sabrina then left her office and took off down the hall toward her next task. Elisa then opened the warrant and smiled to herself. "Perfecto…" She said as she read the name on the paper. She then reached over to her phone and made a quick phone call. "Agent Brock this is agent Menendez, we're cleared to make the arrest, contact local law enforcement and prepare a team." With that said she hung up and returned to work with a much brighter mood.
Meanwhile in the united states Gabriel and Natalie had just gotten off a plane they'd taken from New York to Saint Louise, then they rented out a car and headed for the Missouri state penitentiary to meet someone of interest to Gabriel Agreste. The entire time during the flight and the drive to the prison Gabriel had been more quiet than usual, mainly due to the fact that he had to leave his son behind. It also didn't help when Natalie had admitted that it was her who made it look as though Interpol had chosen to relocate him to the united states for his own safety. However she did so in order for him to operate under the radar when he made the attempt to recruit Simon Clearlake to his cause. Sensing that she had to say something to end the awkward silence between them she turned to him and said. "Sir I truly am sorry that I had to do this to you and Adrien, but if you had taken off while in his company I'm sure…"
Gabriel simply raised his hand and said. "There's no need to apologize Natalie, I understand completely, you did the right thing. This way Dallas will stay in the dark about my secret." He then looked down at the book and sighed to himself. "All this trouble over this damn book. I hope he can read this Natalie, otherwise this was all for nothing."
"I'm sure everything will be fine sir." Natalie said with a reassuring smile. After another half hour of driving they had finally arrived to the prison, luckily after calling in advance they were able to meet with Simon that day for a personal visit.
Inside the prison Simon Clearlake was lifting weights in the prison yard to try and keep himself in shape for his own reasons, this was one of very few freedoms that he like every other prisoner inside had, but even though he was allowed to keep his physique the way he wanted the prison wouldn't allow him to keep his hair the way he wanted as they made him cut it when ever they thought it was getting too long. Due to the feared risk that he may try to commit suicide which he'd done after his fourth year of being locked up, ever sense then he'd never had a single visitor like his brother whom he'd wanted to see more than anyone in hopes that they could work out a plan to get him out of prison and try to restart their father's gang together, even when he told them that it went against his culture to cut his hair they still cut it, not that they ever really cared about his culture. Just as he was in the middle of his workout he was interrupted by one of the prison guards. "Clearlake, you've got a visitor." He said as he stood waiting for him to put the weight down on the bench.
As Simon sat up he looked over to the guard while wiping sweat off his face he then asked. "Who the hell would want to come visit me? No one that I know has thought about me ever sense I got locked up."
"Some guy in a suit, looks pretty rich too. If I had to guess he's a lawyer." The guard replied as he pulled his cuffs off his belt to escort him to the visitor's room. After a five minute walk they had arrived to the visitor's room where Simon caught a glimpse of the very man who the guard had described.
He sat down with his hands cuffed behind his back facing Gabriel who at this point was smiling with a very satisfied smile. To which Simon thought was rather unsettling, so he spoke up first. "Look pal, I don't know what your smiling at me for but it's pretty freaking creepy."
"My apologies Mr. Clearlake, I'm just glad we could meet face to face on such short notice." Gabriel replied still maintaining his smile.
"You say that like I have something better to do." Simon said back still feeling thoroughly creeped out.
"Fair enough…" Gabriel added as he reached into a satchel and pulled out his book. "Then I suppose there's no need to ask you if you have time to read this." He placed the book on the table and opened it to the first page.
"What's this? Some kind of story book you want me to translate? Why not take it to someone else?" Simon asked in response.
"I've already tried that Mr. Clearlake, but I'm afraid you're the only one who has the skill to read this particular text, or at least that's what I've been lead to believe." Gabriel replied as he held the book up for him.
Simon looked down at the page and in an instant his eyes lit up, he then looked up at Gabriel and said. "I know these characters, my dad taught me how to read this before he died. Where did you find this book?"
Gabriel simply sat their and smiled as he said. "Unimportant, all that matters is that I have a proposition for you Mr. Clearlake. One that I hope you'll consider."
Simon sat back feeling skeptical about this proposal, especially when he didn't even know this guys name yet. "Look uhhhhhh…who even are you?" He asked bluntly.
"You may call me Mr. Butterfly for now." Gabriel replied as he put the book away.
Simon just began to snicker. "Mr. Butterfly? Is that the name your mommy gave you?"
"Listen Simon, the truth is I'm the best shot you have at getting out of here." Gabriel said as his smile finally disappeared into a scowl, one that somehow managed to disturb Simon even more.
But upon hearing what he'd said about getting out Simon simply gave him his full undivided attention. "Alright, I'm listening Mr. B." He said as he finally started to take Gabriel seriously.
"Good, now as I was saying…this task I have requires your…specific skills as a translator to this book. Basically I want to know just what secrets it has and how to use them." Gabriel laminated while trying not to look or sound suspicious.
"And what's so special about this book exactly? Other than it looks like it should be in a museum." Simon asked as he started to grow curious.
Gabriel then said in a hushed tone. "Not here, we'll discuss more about this in a few days. Until then just wait until I send for you."
Simon then cocked his eye brow with confusion then asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing to worry about my boy, all you need to know is that I'll be back soon to get you out of here, and don't worry about payment I promise you will be compensated for your service." Gabriel said as he began to stand up, only to be halted when Simon said back to him.
"I'll help you pal, but not for money or for freedom assuming you can actually make that happen." Gabriel then turned around and asked bluntly.
"If not the money then for what?" Simon then stood up and walked over to him in a calm manner and replied to him.
"I want to find my brother, his name is Dallas Jones-Clearlake, he's about seventeen years old and I lost contact with him years ago after his mom died." The look on his face spoke volumes of how serious he was in finding Dallas. "If you can find him for me then I'll do what ever you ask me to do no questions asked."
Gabriel then smiled and said. "My boy…I think you and I have a deal." And with that said Gabriel then took off feeling victorious that things had worked out so well, all he had to do now was figure out a way to get Simon out without anyone stopping him. Which of course would involve Hawkmoth in the end along with a very powerful Akumaa, one which he'd pull inspiration from Simon's tribal culture.
A few days later Simon was visited once again by Gabriel who came to him with an almost mournful look, of course this was only just an act which he would use to pull off the next part of the plan. "Mr. Butterfly…" He greeted with a neutral tone. "I take it your back here with something to share with me."
Gabriel looked up at him and said. "I'm afraid I have both good…and bad news, both of which involve your brother Dallas."
Simon's face took on a look of shock. "What…what's happened? Is he okay?" He asked twice instantly beginning to fear the worse.
Gabriel then looked away from him and said with a woeful tone. "It would seem your brother was recently shot, and currently he's in a coma and being treated in the St. Dismase general hospital in Paris France, they…don't believe he's going to make it."
Within that instant Simon's heart just sank, he suddenly began to feel sick…and sorrow for himself. "What? But…how…how did this happen?" He asked as a lump began to form in his throat.
"It would seem that your brother had fallen in with a bad crowd. Some street gang called the Romani rollers, apparently it's an all gypsy gang which he was admitted into due to his own gypsy heritage, along with some skills he possessed as a thief. And as a result…he's in the hospital." Gabriel said with a fake but convincing tone, normally Simon would be able to pick up on whether a person is lying or not, but sadly he wasn't able to pick up on this lie due to the fact that he had been locked up for seven years, also he was out of practice with it and was more than just rusty.
Simon slowly started to close his eyes and start crying. "No…this…this isn't true…" He sobbed. "Your lying, tell me your lying to me please!"
Gabriel obviously was lying, but clearly Simon couldn't tell the difference due to his lack of practice. Gabriel then stood up and said with a sympathetic voice. "I truly am sorry." Then he simply turned around and started to leave, and as he left he began to grin evilly as he knew that he'd bought his deception.
"Hey…wait a second? What about our deal huh? We had a deal!" Simon called out to him, he stood up and started after him only for the guards to restrain him and start dragging him back to his cell. "LET GO OF ME! LET GO! LET GO!" He raged until one of the guards bashed him in the stomach with his baton as hard as he could. About five minutes later they dragged him into his cell and simply set him on the floor then removed his hand cuffs, then they closed the cell door and left him to cry to himself. He then stood up on his knees and just crawled over to his cot, he slid his hand under the cot and pulled out a photo of him and Dallas back when they were younger. Simon had Dallas in a headlock giving him a nugy while caught in mid laugh as he did so while Dallas was just trying to get free. His tears slowly began to fall onto the photo, the pain of being separated from Dallas was hard enough for him to bare and the only thing that had kept him going was the chance that they'd be able to work together in rebuilding their father's gang someday, and now that he thought his brother was going to die and he wouldn't even be able to say goodbye it was almost too much to bare.
Just outside of the prison Gabriel was watching Simon from his cell with a single hidden camera that he'd paid a guard to install in his cell and not ask any questions about it later. Once he felt as though his sorrow was at it's peak Gabriel began to enact his plan. "Look at him, how tragic…the pain of loss is almost too much for anyone to endure by themselves, but luckily he won't have to morn for long." He smirked as he simply watched with satisfaction at the tablet he was watching Simon with the knowledge that his plan was working perfectly. "Nooroo, dark wings rise!" He exclaimed as he turned into his alter ego. "Natalie…have you found what I've asked you to find?"
Natalie then handed him a different tablet and showed him something inspired by the Saxon tribes folklore. "They call him Iya sir, according to the legends he is the son of a powerful god known as Inyan, it is said by the Saxon tribes like the Lakota that Iya is the entity responsible directly or indirectly for all evil beings within the world, unlike his brother Iktomi using the power to conjure storms to destroy everything in his path he desires nothing but destruction and woe." She said with a smile. "I'd say you have all the inspiration you need to create this akumaa sir."
"Indeed I do my dear." Hawkmoth replied as he popped the top of his cane and deployed the butterfly, as it landed in his hand he started to charge it with dark energy then sent it on it's way toward Simon Clearlake. "Go my little akumaa, go and evilize this poor soul." Back in his cell Simon was morning his brother Dallas simply crying his eyes out wishing that he could be by his side, and with the help of a certain black butterfly he was about to get his wish. As the butterfly made contact with the picture Simon stopped crying as he instantly became enthralled by Hawkmoth. "Hello Iya…" He greeted as he began to deliver his orders to his newest victim.
But before he could say anything else Simon began to ask. "Who are you? And why do you call me by the name of such an evil entity?"
Hawkmoth began to answer him. "I'm someone you've already met, someone who's already promised to help you get your freedom."
Simon paused for a moment as he began to realize who he was talking to. "Mr. Butterfly?" He asked dumbly.
"Yes…" He answered calmly. "Although that was only a codename for my true identity, from here on out you may call me…Hawkmoth."
Simon had no idea what was going on, or how it was even possible for him to hear his newest business associate when he wasn't even in the cell with him. "How is this possible?" He asked again.
"All will be revealed in time my boy." Hawkmoth replied as he continued. "All that matters is that you escape from here and get to your brother as soon as possible. That's why I'm giving you the powers to control the weather and enthrall anyone you come into contact with turning them all into your own personal army to serve you loyally without question."
"And why would you do that?" He asked once more.
"Because I already promised you that I'd help you escape, in return all you have to do is translate my book for me." Hawkmoth replied with a grin.
Simon simply sighed and said. "It doesn't matter what I do, you said it yourself my brother is going to die."
Hawkmoth simply began to laugh manically before he said. "Don't you think that if it's possible for me to grant you the power to create an army to serve you and call upon the strength of the elements that it's also possible that I may grant you the power to heal others as well? I've made this clear my boy, you help me…and I'll help you, now what do you say? Do we have a deal?"
Simon then smiled as he found this offer to be rather intriguing. Then he said plainly. "If I get out of here then I'm all yours Hawkmoth, just make sure as soon as I get to Paris that you give me the power to save my brother and I'll give you all the information you want." Without another word he was then engulfed in an inky black aura transforming him into an akumaa. His prison jumpsuit and shoes were replaced with a pair of buckskin leggings and moccasins, his entire upper half was completely bare say for a beaded neckless that adorned his neck along with a pair of matching wrist bracers, upon his head was a headdress made with a pair of antlers from a prong horned antelope, and his eyes had turned a bright burning red which stood out from a line of black face paint that had appeared upon his face acting as a mask. "Now then…" He said to himself as he stuffed the picture into the waste line of his pants then lifted up his hand. "Let's see just how destructive I can be." Then in an instant a bolt of lightning shot out of his hand destroying the door to his cell. He then looked at his hand impressed with what he'd done and just smiled. "You know what Hawkmoth, I think I could get used to this."
Simon, or rather 'Iya', then stepped out of his cell and began to walk down the corridor and blasting the locks of all other cells he walked past setting his fellow prisoners free, one by one they all came out of their cells to see what was going on, as soon as Iya had gotten to the end of the hall he turned around and said to his fellow prisoners. "Show of hands, who would like an early dismissal for good behavior?" Naturally every single prisoner looked at one another as they all found this strange super powered being to be a bit off putting, but they still raised their hands seeing an opportunity to escape. Iya smiled then said. "That's what I thought, so from here on out…" Iya raised both his hands over his head then snapped his fingers sending out a wave of black mist which made each and every one of his fellow inmates fall victim to his power to manipulate and enslave others to his will. "You all serve me until I say otherwise, got it?"
He finished his sentence as he looked upon every one he'd just enthralled, they all looked at him without expression, and glowing red eyes similar to his own at this moment. Within seconds the alarm siren began to sound signaling that the cell block they were currently in was going under lockdown. This didn't worry Iya though, especially when he simply shot another lightning bolt at the main entrance of the cellblock reducing it to a smoldering heap. Outside of the door the prison guards had all converged on the cellblock with their guns pointed directly at the doorway either from the ground or from the catwalks above it. As soon as they caught sight of a prisoner one guard called out through a megaphone. "Get back in your cells inmates!" But they were only met with a cold blast of icy wind and ice shards flying directly at them all at highspeed ripping at there kevlar suits but not actually hurting them but rather distracting them long enough for the inmate slaves to rush in and subdue the guards with their numbers. While the guards were busy with the inmates Iya simply strutted past them with a giant smile as he made his way to the main cellblock control room. Once he'd arrived the guard inside noticed him just outside the door. He was startled by the mere sight of him as he pulled his gun off his belt.
Iya merely lifted one hand and snapped his fingers sending out the same wave of black mist as he did before and enslaved the guard to do his will. "Unlock every cell in this prison, I'm going to need them all if I'm getting out of here without a trace." He said to his new thrall, who of course did as he was told and unlocked every single cell in the prison freeing every one of the inmates. Iya smiled evilly as he watched each and every single prisoner swarm the halls from the screens in the control room. He had everything he needed to escape now. "Wonderful, absolutely wonderful." He said as he simply walked off and away to the main prison entrance. With the entire prison in chaos there was no one around the main entrance other than a single door guard to try and stop him.
The guard cocked his shotgun and aimed right for Iya's head and said in a demanding voice. "FREEZE!"
Iya simply shrugged and said in response. "As you wish." He then lifted one hand and blasted the guard with a blast of icy wind which quickly encased him in ice. Iya then continued forward toward the door then said to the guard ironically. "Chill out man." Then he simply walked out of the entrance triumphantly. As he got farther and farther from the prison he found himself face to face with Hawkmoth himself. "Nice new suit…" He voiced. "Must've cost a fortune."
"I must say Iya I am impressed with your resolve. I have no doubt that when we return to France you'll be more than a match for Ladybug and Cat Noir." Hawkmoth replied to his thrall.
Upon hearing that Iya's smile turned into a frown, then he asked. "Who?"
"They're my enemies, two of them at least. They have something that I want, something I need, and I do believe you might be the one for the job." Hawkmoth replied with a sinister smile.
"Wait a minute buster, you promised me that I'd get to help my brother you didn't say anything about fighting what I can only assume are superheroes." Iya stated as he began to feel annoyed that Hawkmoth was altering their deal.
"Well to be honest I have a small confession to make…" Hawkmoth replied as he began to admit the truth. "I may have told you a tiny little white lie, but it was necessary, you see my power works best when fueled with the strength of negative emotions, such as anger, fear, hate and in your case…sorrow."
Iya narrowed his eyes at him for the deception then asked with rage clear in his voice at the same time as charge up a lightning bolt. "Are you saying my brother is already dead?"
"Of course not, he was never in the hospital to…well actually that's not entirely true, he did get shot but he recovered just fine, and he's also in witness protection as we speak along with these two children, mostly because of me." Hawkmoth admitted to him as he handed Iya a pair of photos of Adrien and Marinette. "But rest assured I had no true intention of harming him, in fact I actually wanted to recruit him to help me with what you'll be doing for me from here on out, but do to some…complications that became completely impossible, I had to resort to other methods. Oh but don't worry in the end you'll get what you want in exchange for your services, so long as you don't try to double cross me."
Iya thought about what he'd said, but he wasn't entirely convinced. "First I wanna see my brother, then we'll talk."
Hawkmoth smiled and said. "Of course Iya, you'll be allowed to speak with him all you want as soon as we get to Paris." He then extended his hand to Iya, who took it without hesitation sealing their deal in earnest. After retrieving the akumaa from Simon and de-akumitizing him Gabriel, Natalie and their newest ally Simon Clearlake boarded a private aircraft charted with a flight to Paris where Simon would soon be reunited with his brother, but little did he know their first reunion after so many years would be far less than pleasant. Along the way Simon decided to make himself useful and start translating the book for him. Which was more than a simple task for him just as it was for Dallas, the only problem however was that he couldn't quite figure out the riddles that he translated either, which was only a minor set back of course. However Gabriel still had one other issue he needed to attend to, he needed to collect more butterflies for him to turn into akumaas. Which they would have to head back to Agreste manor in order to do. Only Gabriel would have to leave this task to Natalie and Simon, for if anyone were to catch sight of him there it would raise far too much suspicion.
But before that Simon was going to see his brother Dallas, the only problem was he didn't know where to look and sense the locations of police safehouses were kept secret and impossible to locate through traditional means unless you were on the inside Simon had only one option, he had to track them down through a phone call, which was something Simon could do fairly well. Simon knew they couldn't call Dallas's phone as he would have more than likely upgraded it with a kind of protective software their father had paid for years before his death to bounce the signal all over the city through the nearest cellphone towers. So they would use Adrien's phone to find them. "How long do you need me to keep him talking?" Gabriel asked as he began to hear the phone ring.
"Thirty seconds is all I need, it used to be two whole minutes but thanks to some people with bigger brains than the crooks they were trying to find they made the tap and trace tech a little faster. Well worth the extra money they spent if I might add." Simon replied as he typed away at a laptop computer as he made himself ready to track them down.
With in that instant Adrien's voice came through. "Hello?" He answered to the caller.
Gabriel almost shed a tear as the sound of his son's voice filled his ear like a sweet melody, it might've only been a week but the absence of not being close to his son was getting to him. "Hello son…" Gabriel said with an almost cracked voice.
Adrien then paused as he recognized his father's voice. "Father? Are you alright did you get to…somewhere safe?" He asked trying to keep things as cryptic as possible in order to protect him.
"We're ten seconds in keep him going." Simon whispered as he kept the trace running at full capacity.
Gabriel then continued their conversation. "I'm fine son, I'm…currently hidden somewhere in an undisclosed part of the world. How are things where you are? Are you safe?" He asked as he kept up the act knowing his son wasn't in any real danger.
"Yes we're all fine, Dallas however…well let's just say that he needs to learn to keep his mouth shut and his opinions to himself sometimes." Adrien replied as he recalled the event with Marinette from earlier that week.
"SHUT IT RICH BOY!" Dallas screamed from the other side of the safehouse, then he took notice that he was talking to someone over the phone, someone who might not have a secure phone. "Wait a sec, Adrien how long have you been talking to them?" He asked as he came over to him.
Adrien then looked at the timer on his phone and said. "Twenty-five seconds why?" Without even answering him Dallas snatched Adrien's phone and just smashed it under his foot. "HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He cried as his talk with his father had just been stolen from him.
"Saving our butts you idiot, your phone wasn't secure enough for a call with your father." Dallas replied as he began to explain. "Even if you did have some kind of security software on your phone your dad would still be left pretty vulnerable to a tap and trace." Dallas then pulled out his phone then handed it to Adrien. "My phone on the other hand has a two way shield for this kind of situation, courtesy of my father, one of the only good things I ever got from that ass hat. Basically my phone should prevent any kind of tap and trace back to him."
Adrien took the phone without hesitation and called his father back, after spending almost an hour talking to one another a great weight had been lifted from both father and son after being forced apart. Adrien was almost hysterical when the time came for Gabriel to go, but he reassured that they'd be able to talk again soon. After hanging up Gabriel simply sat forward and sobbed softly, which earned him a soft hug from Natalie. "It'll be alright sir." She said softly as she comforted him. "You will see him again soon."
"Thanks for your help boss." Simon added as he closed his laptop. "Even though we didn't get the full trace I was able to narrow the search down to a one block radius so all I gotta do now is head there and I'll find him eventually. Oh…and uh…sorry that you have to miss your son's birthday."
Gabriel hardly even heard what he said as he just tuned out everything else around him, the pain he felt for being apart from his son was almost as bad as when his wife had gone into her coma. He swore after all of this was finally over he would make up for as much lost time as he could, assuming he actually could make up for it.
Meanwhile back at the safehouse Adrien went for a walk to try and clear his head of what he'd just endured, even though Marinette and Dallas had offered to go with him he simply told them that he'd rather be alone for the time being. During that time Dallas was just preparing for Yuri and Valentina's arrival to the safehouse as they agreed that it would be best if they all went to the party together. He also spent half an hour in the bathroom trying to get ready, which was on record the longest he'd ever spent on getting himself ready for anything. He was mostly trying to see if he could style his hair in a different way, mostly to impress Valentina, which Marinette was more than happy to help him with. "Alright just a little more hair gel and…there, perfect." She voiced as she finally finished with his hair. "Take a look in the mirror and tell me what you think."
"You better not have made me look stupid." Dallas warned as he took pride in the way his hair looked. As he looked in the mirror he saw just what she'd done to his hair, she'd made it look somewhat spikey in a way similar to that of a hedgehog.
"Well what do you think?" Marinette asked as he stood there saying nothing. Until he finally said something which wasn't what she was expecting at all.
"Good lord…" He said with an almost neutral tone. "I look like a chia pet that was sent to the electric chair."
Marinette just giggled at his comparison and said. "Oh come on you look great, and I guarantee you Val is going to love it."
Dallas just sighed and said. "This is another reason why I don't cut my hair, I prefer nice and simple to…this kind of stuff."
"Oh stop whining it's not gonna kill you to wear your hair like this." Marinette waved off as she put her hair care products away. Almost a minute later there was a knock at the door, Marinette then made her way to the door and looked through the peak hole to see Valentina holding Yuri in her arms, she opened the door and greeted them warmly. "Hey you two great to see ya."
"Hi auntie Mawi." Yuri said back with a little wave. "Do you wike my new cwoves?" clothes He was dressed in a purple dress shirt and a pair of black dress pants with matching shoes so he could look his best for his party, naturally his mother picked out his clothes for him and luckily for him Valentina had and excellent eye for fashion and was always up to date with the latest fashion trends so she knew what would make him look good.
Marinette couldn't help but coo over how cute he looked in his new outfit. "Awwwww you look so adorable." She said as she leaned in and gave him a little kiss.
"Hey Mari are they here yet?" Dallas called from his bed room.
Marinette then turned and called back. "Yeah they just got here." She then turned back to their guests and added. "Come on in make yourselves at home."
Valentina didn't hesitate to walk through the door with her son in her arms and Doof in tow. Doof was among the first to make himself right at home as he simply jumped up on the couch and started circling around on the cushions to soften them up to his liking. One minute later Dallas came out of his bedroom sporting his gray designer suit that Gabriel had made for him, he still wished it was black but the only reason he wore it was because he wanted to show off for Valentina, whose jaw just dropped when she caught sight of him dressed in such a fashionable suit. "Bozhe moi…" She said somewhat dumb stricken by his new look.
Dallas just smiled at her astonishment and asked. "I take it you like what you see?"
Valentina just grinned and asked. "Now why couldn't you ever wear something that nice on our first date?"
"What was wrong with what I had at the time?" He asked back feeling slightly confused.
Valentina started to giggle. "Are you kidding?" She asked. "You were dressed in an AC/DC T-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans, you looked like you were ready for a demolition derby not a date."
"Okay fair enough, but in my defense that was literally all I had that was clean." Dallas said in the attempt to try and win the argument. He then looked over to Yuri in the attempt to change the subject, mostly because he had a feeling this conversation would be dragged out way longer than he'd prefer. "Hey buddy, looks like you're dressed to impress too huh."
Yuri just nodded his head and said. "Uh-huh, mommy picked out my cwoves."
"Yeah your mommy's always had an eye for fashion…" Dallas replied then added under his breath. "Especially sense she made me go with her to two different fashion shows under the pretenses that I'd be getting laid later on that is." Even though Yuri didn't hear him say it Valentina still smacked the back of his head for saying it. But he just ignored it as he noticed something about his son's look, something he would have to change as his culture dictated he do. "How come you're wearing your hair up buddy? We're going to a party you gotta let your hair down."
While Dallas understood what it meant to literally let his hair down in their culture Yuri was still no less confused. "But why daddy?" Yuri asked bluntly.
"Because it's more formal for us, whenever we…we as in Native Americans go to a party or formal event like this one we let our hair down to show that we're allowing ourselves to be free to show the free flow of life, or at least that's what I've been taught sense I was a kid." Dallas explained to him. "Now come on, hand over the hair tie." Dallas held out his hand as he waited for Yuri to give him the tie.
Yuri still didn't understand but he figured he'd at least understand someday while getting to know his father. Yuri then reached out to the back of his head and pulled out his hair tie letting it fall to the sides of his head. "Aww you look even cuter now." Marinette cooed. "But it's covering your face a little bit sweetie, let me just…" She tried to touch his hair, only for Dallas to quickly swat her hand away from his hair. "OW! What was that for?" She asked with confusion.
"Don't touch his hair Mari, EVER! I'm serious!" Dallas replied with a stern voice.
This of course only confused her even more. "Uh…okay what's going on? Is this another native American thing?" She asked hoping for an explanation.
"Yes it is, and it's a big one too." Dallas replied as he began to explain. "As I've said before my people don't usually cut our hair unless it's under a certain condition, however it also represents our spiritual and cultural connections, and the longer it is the stronger our connection is, but if it's cut under any other reason it's seen as the ultimate sign of disrespect, to us or to the great creator, it's also very disrespectful to touch our hair without permission, but even if you ask for it it's still very disrespectful to us. So don't touch his hair Mari, or I'm likely to get upset with you."
"Uh…o-kay…but why did you let me touch your hair then? That punches a huge hole in your explanation." Marinette asked back sounding not completely convinced but also while trying to be respectful.
"Because I gave you permission, mostly because I wanted to look my best tonight, even though I really didn't want you to I knew you would be respectful of my hair even if you already knew." Dallas justified plainly.
"Uh…yeah…this seems to be a bit…hard to believe in my case. I mean the whole no touching thing fine but the thing where it's disrespectful to ask if I can touch your hair…that seems a little made up to me." Marinette stated still trying to be respectful of his cultural beliefs.
But Dallas still seemed to get a little angry and asked with a very dark and chilling tone. "Are you prepared to see what I'm like when you disrespect our culture?"
Marinette had seen Dallas angry before, but she had a feeling that if she crossed this line then she wouldn't live long enough to apologize to him for it. "I am not, there for I'll back off and respect your boundaries." She replied as she backed away from the child.
"That's what I thought." Dallas stated as a somewhat fiendish smile curled on his face. "Okay let's grab Adrien and…oh wait I forgot some things, I'll be right back." Dallas then headed deeper into the apartment and back into his room, when he came back he had a few gifts for his son, none of which were wrapped. The first gift he had for him was a little wooden tomahawk, which it would seem Dallas had made by hand himself. "You'd better get used to this buddy because as soon as you're old enough I'm gonna have to teach you how to use a real one."
Yuri took the tomahawk and just looked it over, he was fascinated by the weapon, as he held it in his hands it just seemed like it was meant to be. "Cool…" He said in response.
His second gift was a small dreamcatcher that Dallas had made himself as well, it was roughly the size of Yuri's hand wrapped with royal blue dyed leather, upon the spider weaved strings inside of the hoop were small green beads for decoration, hanging from the hoop were strands of blue leather with eagle feathers. "Not sure if you ever have scary dreams but just in case you do, this should help keep them away from you buddy."
Yuri took the dream catcher and just held it in his hand staring at it in awe. "Ooh…mommy it's wike your neckwess
The third and final gift was something very decretive and beautiful and meant to be worn on one's head. "I didn't have any bald eagle feathers for this, but I was still able to find an eagle to make this. It's a headdress, it took a lot of time for me to put it together, I just barely finished it before tonight." Dallas elaborated as he placed it upon Yuri's head.
It was a little big for his head as it slid down over Yuri's eyes, he pushed it back up so he could see. "I wanna see wad id looks wike!" Yuri cried with excitement.
"Alright-alright just hold on a second." Valentina said as she placed Yuri on the floor. Yuri didn't hesitate as he ran into the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. However he was far too short to look see himself.
He looked over to his father and asked. "Can you wift me up pwease?" Dallas then proceeded to lift his son high enough so that he could see himself in the mirror. He was in awe of his new headpiece as his eyes were glued to his reflection. His father had decorated it with the feathers of a sea eagle as that was all he had access to in Europe on such short notice, it was also decorated with glass beads, pigments, wool cloth, metal cones, porcupine quills which he'd managed to pay off the local zoo keeper in order to acquire, horsehair, a silk ribbon for the head band which was decorated with a diamond back rattle snake pattern, skins from both an otter and an ermine, and holding it all together was a considerable amount of leather which was tanned the same way his ancestors would've done it running from the top of Yuri's head to his feet. Dallas had put his very heart and soul into making this head dress especially within the last few days he had before the party, which was the hardest he'd ever worked in his entire life, but the only reason he took so long to make it was the majority of his materials had to be imported from the US so that it would look more authentic in regards of looking as though it truly belonged to the Lakota tribe. "Cool…" Yuri said as he admired his gift. "I wove it daddy." He then pulled Dallas into a hug showing his appreciation for his father's gift to him.
Dallas just smiled and replied. "I'm glad you like it buddy, because I worked really hard on it." After leaving the bathroom Dallas then announced to everyone present. "Good news, he loves it."
Valentina just clasped her hands together as she looked upon her son. "Oh you look so cute."
Marinette thought the same as well, but she was actually more focused on the way the headdress looked, as a designer she was simply captivated by its many decorative features. "Wow…Dallas…I have to say as a true fashion lover…I'm blown away by this. You actually made this by yourself?" She asked as she marveled each and every last detail.
Dallas smiled back at her and said. "With my blood, sweat and tears. Though it wasn't easy doing it by myself, usually it takes about two or three people to do this."
"Well then why didn't you ask me to help you then?" She asked again.
Dallas then asked her back somewhat dumbly. "Huh?"
"I'm an amateur fashion designer, I'm also pretty good at what I do so I could've helped you with this." She explained to him.
Of course this was information Dallas already knew about from Rose and Juleka, information that he'd somehow forgotten about. "Ohhhhhhhhhhh…well now I feel really stupid."
"You know Dallas you'd actually make a pretty great Designer yourself." Marinette laminated as she felt some inspiration for some future designs begin to pop into her head.
Dallas just chuckled and said. "Yeah I can't see myself sitting behind a sewing machine for the rest of my life, but hey at least I'll have a back up plan for my future right." While they were talking Valentina took this as an opportunity to get her camera ready as she didn't want to miss a chance to get a good photo for her album, Dallas turned his head and asked. "What are you doing?"
She shrugged and said. "What does it look like I'm doing? I want to get a photo of Yurochka with his new headdress."
"Wait…"Dallas said as he covered the camera lense. "Lets make this a family photo instead." The smile on Valentina's face grew wide at his suggestion. She then handed Marinette the camera and stood on the opposite side of Yuri and got ready for the picture.
"Okay on three…" Marinette said as she readied the camera. "1…2…" Just before she took the picture as if their minds were perfectly in sync both parents planted a loving kiss on their son's cheeks causing him to let out a sweet little laugh. "3…" Click The camera flashed catching the trio in their poses, and Yuri in mid laugh. "Aww so cute you guys."
About a minute later Adrien finally returned to the apartment with a small shopping bag in his hand. "Hey guys I'm…AH-CHEW!" He wasn't even in the room for ten seconds before his allergy to feathers had kicked in. Normally it only took getting close to them for his allergy to go crazy but sense Dallas spared no expenses in acquiring a large amount of feathers for the headdress he was much more susceptible to his allergy at the moment. "AH-CHEW! AH-CHEW!"
Everyone looked over to him and saw just how bad his allergy was. "Uh…you okay dude?" Dallas asked bluntly.
"Yeah…" He said with a sniffle. "I'm just allergic to feathers is all. AH-CHEW!"
"Oh shi…crud…" Dallas corrected himself quickly so he didn't leave a bad impression on his son. "I am so sorry Adrien I swear I didn't know otherwise I might've used synthetic feathers instead."
"No-no…it's fine…" He reassured him. "All that happens is I get into a sneezing fit usually. All I have to do is take some medicine and I'll be good to go. AH-CHEW!"
Dallas felt that simply standing around with a bunch of feathers in the room was not doing Adrien any favors at all, so he turned to Valentina and said. "I think it's best we go now, we'll see you guys later."
Adrien could tell that they were only leaving so that his allergies wouldn't bother him anymore, for which he was grateful. "Okay sure, see you soon little man." He said as he waved the family good bye.
"Bye-bye uncwe Adwien, bye-bye auntie Mawi." Yuri said as he waved them both good bye as they walked out of the door.
But even though there were no more feathers in the room Adrien still felt his allergy flaring up, so he didn't hesitate to take a pill to keep his allergies in check. Not long after though Marinette went to collect the shopping bag that Adrien had brought back with him, curiosity got to her as she started to dig through it. She only found one item in the bag, and item which caused her slight irritation. She held it up and asked with annoyance. "Are you serious right now Adrien?"
When he was about to ask her what she meant he saw what she was referring to as she held a box containing two home pregnancy tests. He had a feeling this would happen if he did this, but the fact of the matter was that the vision that she had just wouldn't stop bothering him and he felt as though this had to be done in order to give him peace of mind. "Please don't be mad Mari, look I know you said you took a pill when we first…made love, but I just want to be sure about this you know? One hundred percent sure."
Marinette just facepalmed and shook her head. "Fine, I'll humor you and take one of the tests for now and take the other later, but only if you promise to get off my back and let this go when they turn up negative." She said as she tore open the box and took one test then headed to the bath room, about a minute later she came back out and showed him the test results with an overly smug smile. "See…negative just like I said it would be."
Adrien took the test and looked upon the small window on the test and saw one line which meant that it was negative, but he told himself that it wasn't over until she took the second test, he also figured that there was a small chance that it was a false negative, and with the luck that he was having he would more than likely be right. "We'll just wait until the next test to be sure princess." He replied as he put the test down on the table.
She sighed and said in response. "Jeez you're really hooked on the idea that I'm carrying aren't you?"
"Is…that bad?" He asked innocently.
"No…" She replied calmly. "But it is getting annoying. Now come on, we've got somewhere to be in a few minutes."
Just as she started to head for the door Adrien grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into his arms and said as he gazed into her lush blue eyes. "Aw come on princess, we don't have to leave just yet. As a matter of fact I think we might have time for a quickie."
She giggled at his remark and said. "For someone who's worried he nocked me up you sure are trying hard to make that a reality." She then placed a tender kiss on his cheek then added. "But sadly I'll have to decline, because if I'm being totally honest our quickie will probably turn into something a lot longer than that. Not that I'd complain."
He chuckled at her and said back. "Well just so you know I blame you for that, cuz I'm pretty sure you flipped a switch in me and it won't turn off. Not that I'm complaining about that either."
A few minutes later the couple transformed into their personas and made their way to the Bourgeois hotel to join Megan at her sniper's perch just across from the penthouse. Sense she was officially back in the field she chose to break out her old Death metal gear, it consisted of a dark leather studded jacket, a purple T-shirt which read 'Drop dead' in bold black letters, a pair of steam punk torn jeans and black leather studded boots. Her weapon of choice was a fifty caliber sniper rifle set up with a eight times zoom lense and a laser dot to assist in targeting her intended target. "Oh god I've missed this." She said as she had just finished polishing her gun. "There's nothing quite like the thrill of pulling a job, only we're trying to save someone's life this time but hey it's still fun though right love?"
"I'm happy for you Megan, but this is probably one of the last jobs for me." Valentina stated as she had just finished putting on her disguise. "But to be honest I don't think I'm going to miss this, not while I have my two favorite men in my life."
"Well sure you say that now but sooner or later you'll probably get board and you'll need something exciting to do with your life." Megan replied as she started to load up the sniper rifle.
Around that moment Dallas had snuck out of the penthouse without anyone being seen, once he was clear from sight he took this chance to transform and leap towards the building across the street. He landed with a summersault then hopped up onto his feet and said with a charming voice and a genuine bow. "Good evening ladies."
Valentina smiled at him and walked over to embrace him. "You're always such a charmer." She said to him as she placed a kiss on his cheek.
"So what's the sit-rep? Is the rest of the team ready yet?" Megan asked as she cocked the rifle.
"Yeah their all here and standing by at all the choke points you recommended they stay close to, I also gave them the earpieces you asked me to give to them so when ever your ready to talk to them they'll be listening." Iktomi replied as he put in the remaining earpiece that she'd given him. "Oh…and word of warning, Chloe can be a bit of a bitch."
"Oh you don't have to tell me that love, I heard about the incident she had with Val. Wish I could've been there though, seeing that little cunt put into her place would've been down right glorious." Megan replied with a slight chuckle.
"Yeah it was kind of funny, harsh, but funny." Iktomi said with a smirk on his face. "Now then…shall we get going Miss 'Dupain-Chang'?"
"Why yes Mr. Iktomi we shall." Valentina replied as she adapted her voice to the exact tone and pitch of Marinette's and wrapped her arms around his chest. With one swift motion Dallas tossed his knife back over to the penthouse balcony embedding it in the side of the outer ledge, then he took his tomahawk and embedded it into the roof they were currently standing on turning his weapon into a make shift tight rope, he then picked up his lover bride style and carried her across the street from one rooftop to the next. Once they'd gotten to the other side Iktomi quickly turned back into Dallas then the two lovers headed inside.
Inside of the penthouse the party was in full swing, all of Adrien and Marinette's friends were simply enjoying themselves one way or another either because of Nino's DJ playlist he'd set up for the party or because of party games that had been chosen in advance. Yuri and his friends from preschool were also enjoying themselves as they all played a game of pin the tail on the donkey. Some of his friends though were more interested in Doof as he just sat close by Yuri and not letting him out of his sight, they all tried to get him to play but he refused to move from his spot, he sat as still as a statue with the stony gaze of one as well. He didn't even bother to move a muscle when the other kids started to climb on top of him, he might've found it irritating but he was still very patient with the children.
It didn't matter how old or young the guests were because everyone was having fun, however there was one person who wasn't exactly enjoying herself tonight at all, Chloe Bourgeois. Mostly because she had a very difficult time adjusting to the fact that she was now bald and the wig she'd gotten to try and hide the fact that she was bald was absolutely uncomfortable and very itchy on her scalp. "Ugh…this cheap piece of garbage is driving me crazy." She griped as she itched her head inside of the bathroom of her penthouse.
"Perhaps you need something like lotion to get rid of the itch." Sabrina recommended as she held out two bottles of lotion in her hands. "Pineapple or coconut scented?" She asked just in case she had a preference.
"Both, I want it to smell like a Pina colada." Chloe replied as she took off the wig and waited for Sabrina to apply the lotion to her scalp. "Well? I'm waiting Sabrina get to it, chop-chop."
"Yes Chloe…" She replied as she popped open the caps of each bottle and poured on a decent amount of each, then she started to rub and massage the lotion into her scalp until the lotion had been rubbed in enough to take away the itch. "There, all done."
"Perfect, that feels so much better. Thank you Sabrina that will be all." Chloe said as she put her wig back on and returned to the party, as soon as she left the bathroom she took notice of some guests that she knew for a fact weren't on the original guest list. "Uhhhhhh…what's with all the kids?"
"Maybe there lost?" Sabrina guessed with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Lost from where preschool? You know what it doesn't matter because their all leaving." Chloe stated as she began to head up to the stage where Nino was performing, she then lifted the needle off of the record that was currently playing a song, the screech of the record replaced the sound of the music which then caused everyone's attention to focus to turn towards the stage.
"Hey, what the heck Chloe? We were listening to that!" Kim cried from somewhere in the crowd.
"Zip it Kim!" Chloe replied as she pulled the microphone off the stand. "Attention to whoever are the parents of those uh…toddlers I'm guessing, I'm not sure if you all realized this but this is a private event for my Adrikens specifically, so I must ask that you and all of your HEY!" Before she could finish making herself look like a giant brat Dallas came up on stage and took the mic from her and shoved her off stage.
"Sorry about that folks, like she said this is a party for Adrien Agreste, however it is also for one adorable three year old by the Name of Yurochka, mainly because they share today as their birthday so we figured that it would be best to share the venue for tonight's festivities, in other words just ignore what Ms. Bourgeois just said. Also thank you all for coming and please enjoy yourselves." Dallas then put the mic back in the stand and walked over to Chloe with an angry look on his face. "Seriously Chloe? Can't you just act polite for even a day even if you don't actually want to?"
"Well how was I supposed to know that you'd changed up the invitation list for the party? No one told me anything." Chloe justified, somewhat, mainly because she actually had been told however she didn't pay attention to the sudden change.
"I LITERALLY told you not one week ago what we were doing." Dallas laminated. "But I guess you were to busy fantasizing about how you'd look if you had a pair of D-cup titties."
"And will you stop making fun of my breasts you perverted little…" Chloe was about to say something that she would most likely regret, only to be interrupted with the sound of one word from one of the guests of honor.
"Daddy…" Both Chloe and Dallas looked down to see Yuri's bright smiling face. "My fwiends want you to tewl dem some tories about Ik-to-mi."
"Wait, daddy? Hold on, you…have a son?" Chloe asked just as she began to laugh at Dallas. "Oh I'm not surprised that you got some dumb innocent minded girl pregnant with this little brat, I guess for all your talents being smart enough to wear a rubber wasn't one of them was it Dallas?"
"Okay first of all, rude, second don't call my son a brat, BRAT. He is much better behaved than you could ever hope to be. Oh…and another thing he's got is a higher IQ than you could ever hope to have little miss cheerleader, of course when it comes to you Ms. Bourgeois that's not too hard to pull off because how smart were you to even begin with?" Dallas fired back in his sons defense.
"How dare you…" She shrilled with annoyance. "This maybe your son's party but this is still MY HOUSE so unless you want me to kick you out of it along with your son and all his disgusting little friends I suggest you shut your mouth you obnoxious little Lemoyne."
"LAKOTA! I'm LAKOTA you dumb bimbo, how is that so hard for you to remember? Oh…and just for the record Lemoyne isn't even the name of a real tribe." Dallas yelled at her.
"Oh why don't you go and do a little rain dance off in the corner somewhere?" Chloe asked not even caring if she sounded racist.
It was in that moment that Yuri started to get mad at Chloe too, he felt as though she had no right to say anything about his father or his ancestry, even though he didn't really know too much about it. "You can'd talk to my daddy wike dat!" He yelled up at her with narrowed eyes.
She then looked down at him and said. "Stay out of this you snot nosed little brat. And take off that stupid feather duster you look ridiculous, utterly ridiculous."
What Yuri said in response surprised literally everyone within ear shot, as for Dallas he just started to laugh at what his son had to say to her. "EAT ME!"
Chloe's jaw just dropped with his remark, until she said in response. "Excuse moi? What did you just say to me?"
"You heard the boy." Dallas answered for him as he felt such pride in his son for not backing down against the likes of Chloe.
"Yeah you heawd me you big poopy butt!" Yuri added as he just glared up at her.
Chloe was several things at this moment, confused, angry, insulted and humiliated, and this was all done by one three year old child whom she'd only just met on this night. "Who do you think you are talking to me like that?" She asked rhetorically.
"Youw a big meanie and no body wikes you!" Yuri declared that which was clear to everyone.
"That is not true everyone adores me." Chloe replied, only for Yuri to say in response.
"Liar." Dallas just stood by and watched as Yuri just kept on arguing with Chloe and trying his best not to laugh hysterically as the two carried on, and watching Chloe losing the argument to a child.
"I am not." She denied what she clearly couldn't accept was the truth.
"Liar-liar pants on fire so tawl you touch tell-phone wires." He fired back, at this point Dallas was about to reach his breaking point. Oh god I wish I'd started recording this with my phone this would go viral on YouTube, he thought to himself.
Chloe just crossed her arms and said. "There's no doubt about it, you're definitely Dallas's brat."
pppppppttt Yuri retaliated by blowing a raspberry with his tongue.
"Oh yeah? Well two can play at this game." Chloe replied as she too blew a raspberry with her tongue. pppppppttt
This carried on for almost a minute until Dallas broke up the fight. "Okay that's enough. And seriously Chloe you're getting into a raspberry war with a three year old have some dignity." He said as he picked Yuri up and carried him off towards his friends, but as his father walked past Yuri made a last stitch effort to win the fight with Chloe by trying to pull her hair, but as soon as he did he discovered that it was only a wig.
On instinct Chloe's hands shot up to her head to cover her scalp as she screamed. Yuri's jaw just dropped with surprise as he clearly wasn't expecting this. "Oopsie." He voiced as he somewhat regretted what he did.
Chloe then narrowed her eyes on the guilty party and marched over towards him and Dallas with a scowl on her face. "Give me that you little thief!" She shrieked as she snatched it out of his hand and placed it back onto her head.
"Just so you know that wig wasn't fooling anybody." Dallas said with a smirk.
Chloe just growled and said. "I guess it's true what they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"Well you would know sweetheart, your just as big a spoiled rotten little brat as mommy and daddy." Dallas fired back as he continued toward the kids his son had requested he entertain.
"Daddy…" Yuri began to ask in a timid voice. "Am I in twouble?"
Dallas looked him in the eye and said. "Well normally I would probably punish you for something like that, but Chloe is and most likely always will be a spoiled little brat and she's well known for getting on your nerves, so I'm just gonna let this one slide, but just this once okay kid-o?"
"Otay." Yuri replied thankful that his father wasn't going to punish him for what he did to Chloe, not that Dallas would've actually cared in the first place. As Dallas had finally made it over to the children he sat Yuri down at the front of the group which he would sit in front of in order to tell them a few tails of Iktomi.
"Alright everybody listen very closely to what I'm going to say to you because all of these tails hold a very important lesson which you will all need to heed if you wish to avoid being made the fool. These are all stories my grandfather told me when I was no older than you guys. These are the stories of the great trickster…Iktomi." Dallas said as he began to tell the stories the way he'd heard them. But before he could tell the kids anything one of them raised his hand as if he had something to say. "Yes do you have a question?"
The boy asked. "Is dis duh same Iktomi we've heawd about on duh news?"
Dallas said calmly. "No that guy's just a superhero; the guy I'm talking about is a POWERFUL spirit."
Another child raised his hand and asked. "Is dis Iktomi like a spidew too?"
Dallas nodded his head yes and said. "Yeah he's like a spider too…now…"
"Can he swing on a web wike spidew-man?" Another child asked.
Feeling as if this wasn't going to get anywhere if he kept answering all these questions for the kids Dallas just calmly said. "Are you guys gonna let me tell you the story or not?" That's when the kids all sat quietly and let Dallas tell the tail. "Thank you, now as I was saying Iktomi was a very powerful spirit of my people, he was very well known for all his tricks. Which usually backfired on him in the end. Like the story I'm about to tell you." Dallas then started to tell them all his first story of the night.
"This tale is meant to teach us all not to break our promises to the ones we make them to, and Iktomi learned this the hard way. Alone with in his tipi sat Iktomi. The sun was but a hands breadth from the western edge of the land. 'Those bad-bad gray wolves! They ate up all my nice fat ducks!' He muttered rocking his body to and fro. He was cuddling the evil memory he bore those hungry wolves.
At last he ceased to sway his body backward and forward, but he sat still as stiff as a stone image. That's when he cried out. 'Oh! I'll go to Inyan, the great-grandfather, and pray for food!' So he hurried forth from his tipi and with his blanket over his shoulder he drew near to a huge rock on a hillside. With half-crouching half-running strides, he fell upon Inyan with outspread hands.
'Grandfather! Pity me. I am hungry. I am starving. Give me food. Great-grandfather, give me meat to eat!' He cried. All the while he stroked and caressed the face of the great stone god. The all-powerful Great Spirit, who makes the trees and grass, can hear the voice of those who pray in many varied ways. The hearing of Inyan, the large hard stone, was the one most sought after. He was the great-grandfather, for he had sat upon the hillside for many, many seasons. He had seen the prairie put on a snow-white and then change it for a bright green robe more than a thousand times.
Still unaffected by the myriad moons he rested on the everlasting hill, listening to the prayers of many warriors. Before the finding of the magic arrow he had sat there. Now, as Iktomi prayed and wept before the great-grandfather, the sky in the west was red like a glowing face. The sunset poured a soft mellow light upon the huge gray stone and the solitary figure beside it. It was the smile of the Great spirit upon the grandfather and the wayward child.
The prayer was heard. Iktomi knew it.
'Now grandfather, accept my offering; 'tis all I have." He said as he spread his half-worn blanket upon Inyan's cold shoulders. Then Iktomi, happy with the smile of the sunset sky, followed a footpath leading toward a thicketed ravine. He had not gone in paces into the shrubbery when before him lay a freshly wounded dear!"
Dallas was about to continue when another child interrupted him. "Was dat deer supposed to be for Iktomi?"
Dallas smiled softly and said. "Yes it was, now where was I? Oh right…" He started up again. "Then Iktomi cried with joy hands lifted to the heavens 'This is the answer from the red western sky!' Slipping a long thin blade from out of his belt, he cut the deer's throat to end his pain, and then he cut large chunks of choice meat. Then he sharpened some willow sticks; he planted them around a wood-pile he had ready to kindle. On these stakes he meant to roast the deer's meat.
While he was rubbing briskly two long sticks to start a fire, the sun in the west fell out of the sky below the edge of the land. Twilight was over all. Iktomi then felt the cold night air upon his bare neck and shoulder. 'Ough!' He shivered as he wiped his knife on the grass. Tucking it in a beaded case hanging from his belt, Iktomi stood erect, looking about. He shivered again.
'Ough! Ah! I am cold. I wish I had my blanket!' He whispered, hovering over the pile of sticks and the sharp stakes round about it. Suddenly he paused and dropped his hand at his sides.
'The old great-grandfather does not feel the cold as I do. He does not need my old blanket as I do. I wish I had not given it to him. Oh! I think I'll run up there and take it back!' He said, pointing his long chin toward the large gray stone.
Iktomi, in the warm sunshine, had no need of his blanket, and it had been very easy to part with a thing which he could not miss. But the chilly night wind quite froze his ardent thank-offering. Thus running up the hillside, his teeth chattering all the way, he drew near to Inyan, the sacred symbol.
Seizing one corner of the half-worn blanket, Iktomi pulled it off with a jerk. 'Give my blanket back, old grandfather! You do not need it. I do.'
This was very wrong, yet Iktomi did it anyway, for his wit was not wisdom. Drawing the blanket tight over his shoulders, he descended the hill with hurrying feet. He was soon upon the edge of the ravine.
A young moon, like a bright bent bow, climbed up from the southwest horizon a little way into the sky. In this pale light Iktomi stood motionless as a ghost amid the thicket. His woodpile was not yet kindled. His pointed stakes were still bare as he had left them. But where was the deer's meat he had felt warm in his hands a moment ago? It was gone.
Only the dry rib bones on the ground like giant fingers from an open grave. Iktomi was troubled. At length, stooping over the white dried bones, he took hold of one and shook it. The bones, loose in their sockets, rattled together at his touch. Iktomi let go his hold. He sprang back amazed. And though he wore a blanket his teeth chattered more than ever.
Then Iktomi cried out, 'Oh if only I had eaten the venison before going for my blanket!' Those tears no longer moved the hand of the generous giver Inyan. They were selfish tears. The great spirit does not heed them ever."
As Dallas finished he looked around to see that all of the children fell silent for a moment, they were so quiet that a pin could be heard if someone were to drop it. The only one who actually seemed to be smiling was Yuri, oh god am I boring them? Dallas began to worry. Around that moment a child raised their hand and asked. "Can we hafe anoder one pwease?"
Dallas smiled and said. "Sure, now this is a tale that teaches us good manners and hospitality." Dallas began to tell the next tale as he'd been told. "Beside a white lake, beneath a large grown willow tree, sat Iktomi on the bare ground. The heap of smoldering ashes told of a recent open fire. With ankles crossed together around a pot of soup, Iktomi bent over some delicious boiled fish."
All the children interrupted him slightly as he mentioned boiled fish with one big simultaneous. "EW!"
"Oh come on don't be like that, it's not that bad." Dallas stated in response. "Anyway, Fast he dipped his black horn spoon into the soup, for he was ravenous. Iktomi had no regular meal times. Often when he was hungry he went without food. Well hid between the lake and the wild rice, he looked nowhere save into the pot of fish. Not knowing when the next meal would be, he meant to eat enough now to last some time.
"How-how, my friend!" said a voice out of the wild rice. Iktomi almost choked with his soup. He peered through the long reeds from where he sat with his long horn spoon in mid-air. "How, my friend!" said the voice again, this time close at his side. Iktomi turned and there stood a dripping muskrat who had just come out of the lake.
"Oh, it is my friend who startled me. I wondered if among the wild rice some spirit voice was talking. How-how, my friend!" said Iktomi. The muskrat stood smiling.
On his lips hung a ready "Yes, my friend," when Iktomi would ask, "My friend, will you sit down beside me and share my food?" For this is the custom of the plains people, which are my people by the way. Yet Iktomi sat silent. He hummed an old dance-song and beat gently on the edge of the pot with his buffalo-horn spoon. The muskrat began to feel awkward before such lack of hospitality and wished himself under water. After many heart throbs Iktomi stopped drumming with his horn ladle, and looking upward into the muskrat's face, he said "My friend, let us run a race to see who shall win this pot of fish. If I win, I shall not need to share it with you. If you win, you shall have half of it." Springing to his feet, Iktomi began at once to tighten the belt about his waist.
"My friend Iktomi, I cannot run a race with you! I am not a swift runner, and you are nimble as a deer. We shall not run any race together," answered the hungry muskrat.
For a moment Iktomi stood with a hand on his long protruding chin. His eyes were fixed upon something in the air. The muskrat looked out of the corners of his eyes without moving his head. He watched the wily Iktomi concocting a plot. "Yes-yes," said Iktomi, suddenly turning his gaze upon the unwelcome visitor; "I shall carry a large stone on my back. That will slacken my usual speed; and the race will be a fair one." Saying this he laid a firm hand upon the muskrat's shoulder and started off along the edge of the lake. When they reached the opposite side Iktomi pried about in search of a heavy stone. He found one half-buried in the shallow water. Pulling it out upon dry land, he wrapped it in his blanket. "Now, my friend, you shall run on the left side of the lake, I on the other. The race is for the boiled fish in yonder kettle!" said Iktomi. The muskrat helped to lift the heavy stone upon Iktomi's back. Then they parted.
Each took a narrow path through the tall reeds fringing the shore. Iktomi found his load a heavy one. Perspiration hung like beads on his brow. His chest heaved hard and fast. He looked across the lake to see how far the muskrat had gone, but nowhere did he see any sign of him. "Well, he is running low under the wild rice!" said Iktomi. Yet as he scanned the tall grasses on the lake shore, he saw not one stir as if to make way for the runner. "Ah, has he gone so fast ahead that the disturbed grasses in his trail have quieted again?" exclaimed Iktomi. With that thought he quickly dropped the heavy stone. "No more of this!" said Iktomi, patting his chest with both hands. Off with a springing bound, he ran swiftly toward the goal. Tufts of reeds and grass fell flat under his feet. Hardly had they raised their heads when Iktomi was many paces gone. Soon he reached the heap of cold ashes. Iktomi halted stiff as if he had struck an invisible cliff. His black eyes showed a ring of white about them as he stared at the empty ground. There was no pot of boiled fish! There was no water-man in sight! "Oh, if only I had shared my food like a real Dakota, I would not have lost it all! Why did I not know the muskrat would run through the water? He swims faster than I could ever run! That is what he has done. He has laughed at me for carrying a weight on my back while he shot hither like an arrow!" Crying thus to himself, Iktomi stepped to the water's brink. He stooped forward with a hand on each bent knee and peeped far into the deep water. "There!" he exclaimed, "I see you, my friend, sitting with your ankles wound around my little pot of fish! My friend, I am hungry. Give me a bone!" Iktomi pleaded.
But the muskrat just laughed "Ha-ha-ha!" The sound did not rise up out of the lake, for it came down from overhead. With his hands still on his knees, Iktomi turned his face upward into the great willow tree. Opening wide his mouth he begged, "My friend, my friend, give me a bone to gnaw!"
"Ha-ha!" laughed the muskrat, and leaning over the limb he sat upon, he let fall a small sharp bone which dropped right into Iktomi's throat. Iktomi almost choked to death before he could get it out. In the tree the muskrat sat laughing loud. "Next time, say to a visiting friend, 'Be seated beside me, my friend. Let me share with you my food."
After completing his second tail another child then said. "I don't tink dat Iktomi was vewy nice to duh muskwat, but he didn't have to be mean to Iktomi eider."
Dallas nodded his head and said. "Your right, the muskrat wasn't much better than Iktomi was in the end now was he, that's another thing this story teaches us, turn the other cheek whenever you can."
"Can we haf anoder one daddy?" Yuri asked his father. Then all the other children began to agree with him.
Great, they like it so far. He thought to himself with a smile. "Alright, but before I get started with this one let me ask you all something, is there anything that you've always wished you could do like say…flying or breathing under water or even turning into an animal or something else cool like that?" He asked casually. Some of the children nodded their heads at the strange question just before they asked him why. "What if someone told you that they could make that happen, but for a small condition in which you'd have to sacrifice it for? Do you think you could do it so long as you never break that condition?" He asked again and just watched as all of the kids just looked at one another then shrugged. "Well this tale teaches you that everything comes at a price, and no matter how small or how simple it maybe it can always be a challenge to accept it."
The children all fell silent as Dallas began to tell them his next tale. "In one of his wanderings through the wooded lands, Iktomi saw a rare bird sitting high in a tree-top. Its long fan-like tail feathers had caught all the beautiful colors of the rainbow. Handsome in the glistening summer sun sat the bird of rainbow plumage. Iktomi hurried hither with his eyes fast on the bird. He stood beneath the tree looking long and wistfully at the peacock's bright feathers. At length he heaved a sigh and said. "Oh, I wish I had such pretty feathers! How I wish I were not I! If only I were a handsome feathered creature how happy I would be! I'd be so glad to sit upon a very high tree and bask in the summer sun like you!" Iktomi pointed his bony finger up toward the peacock, who was eyeing the stranger below, turning his head from side to side. "I beg of you make me into a bird with green and purple feathers like yours!" He implored, tired now of playing the brave in beaded buckskins.
The peacock then said to Iktomi. "I have a magic power. My touch will change you in a moment into the most beautiful peacock if you can keep one condition."
"Yes-yes!" Shouted Iktomi, jumping up and down, patting his lips with his palm, which caused his voice to vibrate in a peculiar fashion. "Yes-yes! I could keep ten conditions if only you would change me into a bird with long, bright tail feathers. Oh, I am so ugly! I am so tired of being myself! Change me, oh please change me!"
Hereupon the peacock spread out both his wings, and scarce moving them, he sailed slowly down upon the ground. Right beside Iktomi he alighted. Very low in Iktomi's ear the peacock whispered, "Are you willing to keep one condition, though hard it be?"
"Yes-yes! I've told you ten of them if need be!" He exclaimed, with some impatience.
Then with one touch the peacock said. "Then I pronounce you a handsome feathered bird. No longer are you Iktomi the mischief-maker." Iktomi vanished at the touch. There stood beneath the tree two handsome peacocks. While one of the pair strutted about with a head turned aside as if dazzled by his own bright-tinted tail feathers, the other bird soared slowly upward. He sat quiet and unconscious of his gay plumage. He seemed content to perch there on a large limb in the warm sunshine. After a little while the vain peacock, dizzy with his bright colors, spread out his wings and lit on the same branch with the elder bird.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, "how hard to fly! Brightly tinted feathers are handsome, but I wish they were light enough to fly!"
Just there the elder bird interrupted him. "That is the one condition. Never try to fly like other birds. Upon the day you try to fly you shall be changed into your former self."
"Oh, what a shame that bright feathers cannot fly into the sky!" Cried the Iktomi peacock. Already he grew restless. He longed to soar through space. He yearned to fly above the trees high upward to the sun. "Oh, there I see a flock of birds flying thither!" Said the Iktomi peacock, flapping his wings, "I must try my wings! I am tired of bright tail feathers. I want to try my wings."
"No, no!" Clucked the elder bird. The flock of chattering birds flew by with whirring wings.
"Oop! oop!" Called some to their mates.
Possessed by an irrepressible impulse the Iktomi peacock called out, "Hey! I want to come! Wait for me!" And with that he gave a lunge into the air. The flock of flying feathers wheeled about and lowered over the tree whence came the peacock's cry. Only one rare bird sat on the tree, and beneath, on the ground, stood a brave in brown buckskins. "I am my old self again!" groaned Iktomi in a sad voice. "Make me over, pretty bird. Try me this once again!" He pleaded in vain.
"Old Iktomi wants to fly! Ah! We cannot wait for him!" Sang the birds as they flew away."
Around that moment one of the children interrupted Dallas again for a brief moment. "Why didn't duh peacock turn Iktomi back into a peacock?" He asked as he raised his hand.
To which Dallas replied plainly. "Because he didn't do what the other peacock told him to do and sense he didn't do what he was told the first time then it was very clear that he wouldn't have done it the second time either."
With that said Dallas continued. "Anyway, Iktomi muttered unhappy vows to himself, Iktomi had not gone far when he chanced upon a bunch of long slender arrows. One by one they rose in the air and shot a straight line over the prairie. Others shot up into the blue sky and were soon lost to sight. Only one was left. He was making ready for his flight when Iktomi rushed upon him and wailed, "I want to be an arrow! Make me into an arrow! I want to pierce the blue-blue overhead. I want to strike yonder summer sun in its center. Make me into an arrow!"
"Can you keep a condition? One condition, though hard it be?" The arrow turned to ask.
"No, he can'd do id." Another little boy predicted what he just felt was going to happen.
Dallas then looked over to the kid and asked. "What you don't think he can do it?" The child just shook his head no. "Well then let's see if you're right then. Anyway…Iktomi then shouted with delight. "Yes-Yes!"
Hereupon the slender arrow tapped him gently with his sharp flint beak. There was no Iktomi, but two arrows stood ready to fly. "Now young arrow, this is the one condition. Your flight must always be in a straight line. Never turn a curve nor jump about like a young fawn," Said the arrow magician. He spoke slowly and sternly. At once he set about to teach the new arrow how to shoot in a long straight line. "This is the way to pierce the Blue over-head," Said the arrow; and off he spun high into the sky.
While he was gone a herd of deer came trotting by. Behind them played the young fawns together. They frolicked about like kittens. They bounced on all fours like balls. Then they pitched forward, kicking their heels in the air. The Iktomi arrow watched them so happy on the ground. Looking quickly up into the sky, he said in his heart, "The magician is out of sight. I'll just romp and frolic with these fawns until he returns. Fawns! Friends, do not fear me. I want to jump and leap with you. I long to be happy as you are," said the Iktomi arrow. The young fawns stopped with stiff legs and stared at the speaking arrow with large brown wondering eyes. "See! I can jump as well as you!" Went on Iktomi. He gave one tiny leap like a fawn. All of a sudden the fawns snorted with extended nostrils at what they beheld. There among them stood Iktomi in brown buckskins, and the strange talking arrow was gone. "Oh! I am myself. My old self!" Iktomi cried, pinching himself and plucking imaginary pieces out of his jacket. Iktomi began to cry and say. "I wanted to fly!" The real arrow now returned to the earth. He alighted very near Iktomi. From the high sky he had seen the fawns playing on the green. He had seen Iktomi make his one leap, and the charm was broken. Iktomi became his former self. "Arrow, my friend, change me once more!" Iktomi begged him.
But the arrow just said back to him. "No, no more." Then away he shot through the air in the direction his comrades had flown.
By this time the fawns gathered close around Iktomi. They poked their noses at him trying to know who he was. Iktomi's tears were like a spring shower. A new desire dried them quickly away. Stepping boldly to the largest fawn, he looked closely at the little brown spots all over the furry face. "Oh, fawn! What beautiful brown spots on your face! Fawn, dear little fawn, can you tell me how those brown spots were made on your face?"
"Yes," said the fawn. "When I was very, very small, my mother marked them on my face with a red hot fire. She dug a large hole in the ground and made a soft bed of grass and twigs in it. Then she placed me gently there. She covered me over with dry sweet grass and piled dry cedars on top. From a neighbor's fire she brought hither a red, red ember. This she tucked carefully in at my head. This is how the brown spots were made on my face."
"Now little fawn, my friend, will you do the same for me? Won't you mark my face with brown spots just like yours?" Iktomi asked, always eager to be like other people.
"Yes. I can dig the ground and fill it with dry grass and sticks. If you will jump into the pit, I'll cover you with sweet smelling grass and cedar wood," answered the fawn.
"Say," Iktomi interrupted, "will you be sure to cover me with a great deal of dry grass and twigs? You will make sure that the spots will be as brown as those you wear."
The little fawn nodded his head then replied. "Oh, yes. I'll pile up grass and willows once oftener than my mother did."
"Now let us dig the hole, pull the grass, and gather sticks," Iktomi cried with glee. Thus with his own hands he aids in making his grave. After the hole was dug and cushioned with grass, Iktomi, muttering something about brown spots, leaped down into it. Lengthwise, flat on his back, he lay. While the fawn covered him over with cedars, a far-away voice came up through them, "Brown, brown spots to wear forever!" A red ember was tucked under the dry grass. Off scampered the fawns after their mothers; and when a great distance away they looked backward. They saw a blue smoke rising, writhing upward till it vanished in the blue ether.
"Is that Iktomi's spirit?" asked one fawn of another.
"No! I think he would jump out before he could burn into smoke and cinders," answered his comrade." Once Dallas had finally finished some of the kids started to give him weird looks. "What?" He asked them.
"Dats not how you get bwown spots on youw face." A child said in response to the ending of the tail. "Dat baby deew wide to Iktomi."
Dallas had to try and fight of his laughter from his statement seeing as that was all he managed to take from the story. "Yeah, your right…the baby deer lied to him. But then again Iktomi wasn't too smart to begin with."
"Dese tories are weawy weird." Another child added.
"And why does Iktomi keep twying to do tings he shouldn'd do?" Another child asked.
"Because Iktomi gets jealous very easily. So much so that he thinks he can do anything anyone else can do." Dallas replied. "Now…does anyone want to hear another story or are you guys good for now?" At that moment all the kids started asking him to tell more stories about Iktomi, wow not even I was this excited when I was a kid, he thought to himself.
The huntsman Patkasa, which means the turtle just so you guys know, stood bent over a newly slain deer. The red-tipped arrow he drew from the wounded deer was unlike the arrows in his own quiver. Another's stray shot had killed the deer. Patkasa had hunted all the morning without so much as spying an ordinary blackbird. At last returning homeward, tired and heavy-hearted that he had no meat for the hungry mouths in his wigwam, he walked slowly with downcast eyes. Kind ghosts pitied the unhappy hunter and led him to the newly slain deer, that his children should not cry for food. When Patkasa stumbled upon the deer in his path, then he said. "Good spirits have pushed me hither!" Thus he leaned long over the gift of the friendly ghosts.
"How, my friend!" said a voice behind his ear, and a hand fell on his shoulder. It was not a spirit this time. It was old Iktomi.
"How, Iktomi!" Patkasa said back, still stooping over the deer.
"My friend, you are a skilled hunter," Iktomi began, smiling a thin smile which spread from one ear to the other.
Suddenly raising up his head Patkasa's black eyes twinkled as he asked. "Oh, you really say so?"
"Yes, my friend, you are a skillful fellow. Now let us have a little contest. Let us see who can jump over the deer without touching a hair on his hide," Iktomi suggested.
"Oh, I fear I cannot do it!" Patkasa cried, rubbing his funny, thick palms together.
"Have no coward's doubt, Patkasa. I say you are a skillful fellow who finds nothing hard to do." With these words Iktomi led Patkasa a short distance away. In little puffs Patkasa laughed uneasily.
"Now, you may jump first," Iktomi said.
Patkasa, with doubled fists, swung his fat arms to and fro, all the while biting hard his under lip.
Just before the run and leap Iktomi put in. "Let the winner have the deer to eat!"
It was too late now to say no. Patkasa was more afraid of being called a coward than of losing the deer. "Ho-wo," he replied, still working his short arms. At length he started off on the run. So quick and small were his steps that he seemed to be kicking the ground only. Then the leap! But Patkasa tripped upon a stick and fell hard against the side of the deer.
"He-he-he!" Iktomi laughed, pretending disappointment that his friend had fallen.
Lifting him to his feet, he said. "Now it is my turn to try the high jump!" Hardly was the last word spoken than Iktomi gave a leap high above the deer.
"The game is mine!" Iktomi cheered, patting the sullen Patkasa on the back. "My friend, watch the deer while I go to bring my children," Iktomi said, darting lightly through the tall grass.
Patkasa was always ready to believe the words of scheming people and to do the little favors any one asked of him. However, on this occasion, he did not answer "Yes, my friend." He realized that Iktomi's flattering tongue had made him foolish. He turned up his nose at Iktomi, now almost out of sight, as much as to say. "Oh, no, Iktomi; I do not hear your words!"
Soon there came a murmur of voices. The sound of laughter grew louder and louder. All of a sudden it became hushed. Old Iktomi led his young Iktomi brood to the place where he had left the turtle, but it was vacant. Nowhere was there any sign of Patkasa or the deer. Then the babes did howl!
"Be still!" said father Iktomi to his children. "I know where Patkasa lives. Follow me. I shall take you to the turtle's dwelling." He ran along a narrow footpath toward the creek nearby. Close upon his heels came his children with tear-streaked faces. "There!" Iktomi said in a loud whisper as he gathered his little ones on the bank. "There is Patkasa broiling venison! There is his teepee, and the savory fire is in his front yard!" The young Iktomis stretched their necks and rolled their round black eyes like newly hatched birds. They peered into the water.
"Now, I will cool Patkasa's fire. I shall bring you the broiled venison. Watch closely. When you see the black coals rise to the surface of the water, clap your hands and shout aloud, for soon after that sign I shall return to you with some tender meat."
Thus saying Iktomi plunged into the creek. Splash! splash! the water leaped upward into spray. Scarcely had it become leveled and smooth than there bubbled up many black spots. The creek was seething with the dancing of round black things.
"The cooled fire! The coals!" laughed the brood of Iktomis. Clapping together their little hands, they chased one another along the edge of the creek. They shouted and hooted with great glee.
"Ahas!" said a gruff voice across the water. It was Patkasa. In a large willow tree leaning far over the water he sat upon a large limb. On the very same branch was a bright burning fire over which Patkasa broiled the venison. By this time the water was calm again. No more danced those black spots on its surface, for they were the toes of old Iktomi. He was drowned. The Iktomi children hurried away from the creek, crying and calling for their water-dead father."
"Daddy…" Yuri began to ask his father. "Why did duh turdle man kiwl Iktomi?"
Dallas simply replied with a smirk. "Because he's a big stinky butt." This comment caused all of the children to laugh at his comment. "Alright I've got one more to tell you guys…"
Before he got started Yuri interrupted him with. "I taught dat Iktomi died doe."
"Well that's the thing buddy, he was a spirit, they don't die that easily. I mean sure he killed Iktomi for a little while but that was the best he could do. Now that we've got that cleared up, let's get on with the last story of the night."
All the children began to quiet down for the final story that Dallas would tell for the evening. "It was a beautiful warm summer day, Iktomi was walking along a worn path dressed in his best looking clothes…"
Yuri quickly interrupted him for a second and asked. "Was id duh cwoves he stowe fwom dat boy?"
Dallas just shrugged and said. "Sure why not. Anyway…he was dressed in his best clothes with his face painted in bright and beautiful colors, why was he dressed in such nice clothes you ask? Well he was on his way to another village to visit family and friends and he wanted to look his best for them all. "Oh don't I look beautiful," he said as he trotted along, "Surely all the girls will admire my looks and want me to notice them." So he ventured on toward his destination, but the farther he walked the hotter the day grew, he was dressed in such thick and heavy clothes too which didn't help much either. But he kept pressing onward as he was determined to get their before sundown, but sadly he grew so hot and so tired that he just had to sit down.
"Oh how I wish that I did not where such heavy clothes today," He said as he sat down behind a very large bolder atop a hill side…"
It was around that time another child asked. "Was dat bowder Inyan?"
Dallas was surprised that they were actually paying attention to him and his stories, but happily so, he smiled and said. "Probably, anyway…Iktomi simply rested in the shade of the great bolder, "I should leave my blanket aside for now" he said "I cannot be bothered with it on such a hot day", he then turned to the bolder and said. "Oh great grandfather, your face is red and burned from the sun, take my blanket and use it as shade, you have given me shade, I am generous too so I shall do the same for you." Then Iktomi placed his blanket over the face of the large rock then wen ton his way, the next thing he knew was the clouds began to grow dark and the sun began to hide behind them. "Oh my…it looks like it may rain," Iktomi said. "If it rains then it will spoil my clothes, it seems I need my blanket after all. But I did give it to the bolder, and a gift is a gift after all, but I only gave it to him for until I got back and he doesn't really need it anymore right now." So he returned to the bolder and said. "Bolder, it seems I need my blanket back, you don't need it anymore anyway. I was only lending it to you as well." So Iktomi took back his blanket and went on his way, not long after that the rain began to pour down upon the prairie. The roar of thunder began to sound off in the distance, then Iktomi began to hear…CRASH…BOOM…RUMBLE…CRASH! "That doesn't sound like thunder." Iktomi said as he felt the ground shake beneath him, he quickly turned around and saw that the bolder was chasing after him."
Around that point in the story another child stopped him yet again to ask him a question. "Did id chase him because he took duh bwanket back?"
Dallas just chuckled slightly and said. "Sure, why not. Anyway…as the bolder started to roll down the hill after him Iktomi dropped his blanket and started to run as fast as he could towards another hill thinking that if he got to the top he might be safe from the bolder. But as soon as he got there he saw the bolder was still coming after him as it rolled up the hill. Then Iktomi looked across the horizon and saw a river, "If I can cross the river I might escape the bolder" he cried as he ran towards the river, he trudged through the water as fast as he could until he got to the other side, but just as he thought he was safe the bolder made one mighty bound leaping over the river and landing on the other side, and just as Iktomi began to run again he tripped over a tree root, just as he started to get up the bolder rolled over on top of him and holding him down by his legs. "Let me go! Let me go I say!" he cried as he started to scream at the bolder, he did whatever he thought he could to get free, he yelled, cried, he even hit the bolder but no matter what he did nothing seemed to work, he made so much racket that he attracted the attention of the mighty buffalo, "my younger brothers" he cried to them, "please help me, I was merely climbing atop of this bolder when it rolled over on me, please help me." And so the buffalo did as he asked and started to push the bolder, but even with all their combined strength they simply could not move the bolder, eventually other animals began to come from all over the prairie in order to help him, animals like the elk, the deer, even the smaller four legged animals such as the otter and the muskrat came to help. But sadly they could not move the bolder off of him either so they all just gave up and left Iktomi to his fate. But this was not the end for him, as the moon began to rise high in the night sky Iktomi looked up to see a large group of bats flying overhead. Then Iktomi got an idea. "Oh little brothers, this bolder has been saying very nasty things about you, terrible nasty things." He said as he baited the bats in with a lie. "He says you only come out at night because he thinks you're so ugly that you dare not show your faces during the day, and that you sleep upside down because you don't know your upsides from your downsides, he even said you didn't even know if you were two legged or four legged or even if you were bird or beast. I do believe he even went as far as to call you furry birds, yes that's it, he called you furry birds among a few other things that I dare not repeat.
"This made the bats grow so furious that they all attacked the bolder all at once smashing their faces into it and breaking off small pieces of it, already Iktomi could feel the weight of the bolder grow lighter and lighter. "Yes-yes, so very ugly. Don't know your upsides from your downsides." The bats kept on attacking the bolder until there was nothing left thus freeing Iktomi from his imprisonment. After he got up he began to dust himself off and said to the bats. "That's right little brothers, you taught that bolder a lesson he'll never forget." After this the bats flew off, but not the same as they were, for because they all attacked the bolder their faces had become flat, and not only that but the great prairie was forever changed because of the bats as well because all the pebbles that came from the bolder now coated the prairie. And as for Iktomi, he simply went on his way knowing he got the last laugh."
Once Dallas had finished his final tale of the great trickster yet another child raised his had to ask Dallas a question. "Why didn'd Iktomi just tell all duh oder animals dat duh bowder was saying mean tings about dem inted?"
Dallas just chuckled a little and said. "Like I said before he wasn't too bright most of the time, now…" Dallas stood up and began to lead the children back to the party. "Who wants to go get some cake?" But just as Dallas was about to open the door he heard the sound of screaming, from multiple people inside the penthouse. "Death metal, what's the sitrep inside?" He asked through his come.
"Uh…IIII..honestly don't have a bloody clue." She said back in a very calm voice.
This sent Dallas from scared to just plain…confused. "What? What do you mean you don't have a clue? Guys what's going on in theeeeeeeeeee…ffffffuuuuuuudge?" He said with utter confusion as he saw everyone but the team and Valentina were acting like they were terrified of something, only there was nothing there. Dallas then turned to the kids and said. "Okay uhm…you guys stay out here okay? I need tooooooo…make a quick phone call or…something, don't go anywhere, and don't go inside until I come and get you guys okay, I'll be right back with your cake okay, so just…stay out here and…play nice." Dallas then stepped inside and quickly closed the door behind him and locked it just incase that any of the party goers decided to go outside onto the pool balcony for a late night swim, or incase the kids went inside for any reason. Dallas walked over to Alya and asked. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know, one minute everyone was just fine then the next they all started freaking out and screaming at nothing, or…inanimate objects for some reason." She replied as she just watched as everyone in the penthouse just freaked out.
"When did it start?" Dallas asked again.
"No idea dude…" Nino answered as he dodged Ivan running at him then crashing into a wall. "All I know is that everybody is freaking out for no reason, it's like their possessed or something."
Dallas just kept looking around the room and seeing the reactions of everyone, reactions that he was familiar with. "Oh god…" He groaned as he facepalmed. "I think they might be drugged."
"Wait what? How do you know that?" Alya asked bluntly.
Dallas just sighed and said. "Because I get stoned every now and again, and this almost always happens when I do."
Alya then said with narrowed eyes and a sour attitude. "Oh well isn't that convenient. Anything else you want to share with the rest of the class Dallas? Maybe how to pick each other's pockets?"
Dallas then narrowed his eyes onto her and asked. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Don't play dumb you probably did this as a prank." Alya stated as she poked her finger into his chest.
"You think I did this?" Dallas asked annoyed.
"Well you are looking like the most obvious suspect Dallas, Mari told me about that brownie you spiked the night you guys went into witness protection." Alya fired back not backing down from her accusation.
But Dallas wasn't going to take the blame for something that for once he had nothing to do with. "I assure you I did nothing of the sort."
"And why should I believe you?" She asked as she crossed her arms.
"BECAUSE THERE ARE KIDS AT THIS PARTY!" Dallas blasted in her face. "Sure I might think it's funny to drug people then record what they do while drugged on camera and use it as blackmail for later but I'd never risk exposing drugs to kids, I'm not a monster Alya. And just for the record, I only gave Mari that drugged brownie so she might be allowed to relax for a few hours so excuse me for seeing the benefit of a simple narcotic which my ancestors used on a regular basis."
"Look let's just figure out what's going on with them and try to fix this." Nino suggested as he shoved the two other teens apart before things turned ugly.
Dallas just growled then said. "Fine, let's start looking for clues." At that moment Dallas and Alya started to search for clues as to what could've caused the issue for everyone being drugged while the rest of the team kept an eye out for the chameleon. "It's gotta be something they all ate or drank, but what?"
"How should I know? You're the drug addict!" Alya answered as she searched the buffet for anything out of the ordinary.
Dallas then looked up to her and said with an annoyed tone. "Okay seriously that is both unfair and untrue. I am not an addict, if I was I would look like some twitchy motherfucker who thinks he's covered in bugs."
Over by the main entrance the front door opened up and in stepped Juleka and Rose who immediately began to wonder what they'd walked into. "Uhhhhhh…this is…weird." Juleka stated as she just stared at everyone running around, screaming or just curling up into a ball and rocking back and forth in fear. "Hey babe, how's about you get us a snack while I try to figure out what's going on."
"Okay be right back." Rose replied as she headed toward the buffet table.
While she did that Juleka went in search of her brother and hopefully answers as well. She eventually found him trying to calm down a very disturbed Nathan. "It's eating my arm! IT'S EATING MY ARM!" He cried as he tried to pull off his watch which he was hallucinating to believe it was a giant piranha.
"Nate calm down it's just your watch." Luka said as he reached over to show him it wasn't anything to be afraid of, which was easier said than done as he just kept shoving Luka away from him.
"Get away from me you martian freaks!" He screamed at Luka and Kagami, who at this time due to the peyote in his system thought he was staring at two aliens from another world.
"Martian freaks?" Kagami asked with confusion. "Oh never mind, Nathan you need to relax."
"Why? So you can probe me? I don't think so, stay away from me!" Nathan shouted as he grabbed a chair and held it above his head using it as a club.
Kagami just sighed and said. "We don't have time for this." The next thing she did was punch Nathan so hard that she knocked him out. Nathan then fell to the ground with a thud, and a bruised cheek. As she shook the pain out of her fist she took notice of Luka just staring at her with disapproval. "What? He was acting hysterical."
"Still you didn't have to punch him." Luka replied sternly.
"Uh…what's going on here?" Juleka asked as she came up behind her brother and his girlfriend, whom she still had yet to be formally introduced to until this night.
Luka and Kagami turned around to face her both thankful that they had someone else who wasn't drugged to help out a little. "Oh Jul thank god we really need some help right now. Oh by the way this is the girl I've been telling you about, Kagami this is my sister Juleka, Juleka this is Kagami." Luka stated as he tried to keep his cool in a very complicated situation which still had yet to be explained.
"Nice to meet you, it's a shame it couldn't be under better circumstances." Kagami stated as she extended her hand to Juleka to shake her hand.
Juleka returned the kind gesture and said back. "Nice to meet you too, so do you guys have any idea of what's happening here?"
"We don't know, other than everyone's been drugged I think." Luka replied as he just kept looking around the room and watching nothing but chaos unfold. "Just don't eat or drink anything here until we find out what caused this."
Upon hearing this Juleka quickly gasped as she remembered what she'd asked Rose to do for the two of them, but before she could do anything about it her attention was grabbed by the sound of Rose's screaming, she quickly turned towards the sound of her voice and saw her cowering underneath the buffet table. "The dragons! The dragons are everywhere!" She cried in terror.
"Oh no…" Juleka voiced as she came to realize just what she was afraid had happened.
Thankfully Dallas and Alya were still close enough to the table to have witnessed what had happened, however due to their own slow reflexes to prevent Rose from joining the others in a drugged state she fell victim to the chaos just like anyone else. But on a lighter note they now knew where they had to start looking. Dallas looked at the floor splattered on the ground was a pair of cupcakes, one of them missing a bite from it which clearly indicated the source of Rose's sudden change in behavior. He picked up one of the cupcakes and started to inspect if for anything out of the ordinary, first he sniffed it for any distinct smells he might recognize, but all he was getting was the scent of peppermint and chocolate. The only other option he had without a lab test was to taste it, first he picked off a small crumb of the cupcake to see if he could get a contact high from it, but he felt nothing, next was the frosting which he smeared a small dollop of onto his finger, once he tasted it he instantly recognized the substance that was affecting everyone, his eyes shot open with shock, surprise and of course confusion. "Peyote?" He voiced.
"I take it you know what the problem is?" Alya asked flatly also while still blaming him for this entire endeavor.
Dallas just glared back at her and said. "Alya I swear to god I am this close to bitch slapping you all the way into next Sunday! But yes, I know what this is. But what I don't know is how it even got in the frosting."
Across the street Megan began to realize something important, something that was very likely to be a factor in this whole mess. "Ohhhhhh…ballocks." She stated with embarrassment and guilt. "Uhm…excuse me Dallas love? I think I might have an answer to that question." She announced over the coms.
"Wait what? What do you mean you have…?" Dallas then paused for a moment and slowly began to realize that she had something to do with this, even though it was unintentional. "Wait, are you saying you had mister and misses Dupain-Chang make you a 'special order' of cupcakes and you told them to add MY peyote extract which you clearly stole from me?!"
"Not so fun when the shoe's on the other foot now is it Dallas?" Alya asked rhetorically.
Dallas then pointed a finger at her and yelled. "This is the last time I'm going to tell you to shut up Alya, now zip it or so help me god I'll ring your neck! And as for you MEGAN…I'm still waiting for an answer!"
She gulped just before she started to tell him everything that she knew for sure had happened before she left Yuri in the bakery. "Okay…so you know how Doof can be a bit over protective of Yuri sometimes? Well as luck would have it…"
Dallas quickly cut her off as he declared. "Your STALLING!"
"Doof ran away to try and eat some poor bloke who only wanted to get something from the bakery so I went after him and left Yuri with the bakers and apparently your peyote fell out of me pocket and Yuri picked it up and while I was gone he apparently helped them make the frosting for those cupcakes and I think he might've added some of your peyote to it by mistake." She blurted out bracing for the reaction he might have.
"Seriously Megan? Why would you have that on you when your near a child? That is so irresponsible!" Dallas shouted through the com.
"Yeah your one to talk." Megan fired back. "You're the one who bought the stuff in the first place."
"Hey, do NOT turn this around on me Marry Poppins! This is your fault and you know it, I only use it when I need to, you were gonna use it just so you could get fucked up!" Dallas countered.
"Will you all just shut up?!" Ladybug cried out as she had already gotten tired of this argument. "We need to make sure that everyone stays in that penthouse until the drug wears off, Dallas how long will it take until then?"
"Ummmmmmm…I don't know maybe…an hour? Two hours at best? Look it all depends on how much of the stuff they ingested which just so we're clear I have no idea how much they've ingested right now but clearly it was enough to get them high in as little as a minute so the odds of this lasting for a while are high as a freaking kite, pun slightly intended." He replied with his best guess.
Ladybug just growled over the com. "This isn't funny Dallas!"
"Look if this were easier I'd have done something about it by now Ladybug." He replied while trying to find a way to keep things under control. "Let's see, what's the best way to deal with this?" He asked himself as he started to rub his chin.
"Maybe we can get Chloe to paralyze everybody?" Nino suggested as a possibility.
Dallas just groaned a little bit and said. "I think that's a bit over kill."
"Well we gotta do something other wise this is just gonna get worse." Nino replied.
Dallas started to put his mind to work, but it seemed no matter what he thought of it was overly complicated and would take too much effort. It was around that point that Cat Noir got an idea which he knew would work. "Ladybug, maybe your lucky charm might help."
"Well it's worth a shot…" She replied as she tossed her yo-yo into the air and summoned her latest lucky charm, which was much bigger than she expected it to be. "Well look at that, a tank of anesthesia."
"Great, just one problem. It doesn't have a mask." Megan pointed out, and she was right as the tank had no mask to administer the gas to a single person.
"Ah crap, now what do we do?" Cat asked thinking that this whole situation was beyond help.
But just when they all thought their was nothing they could do Ladybug got an idea which would require two of her teammates help. "Pegasus I need a portal to get the tank into the penthouse safely, Ryuko when it's over there turn into a mini tornado and spread the gas all over the room, everybody else make sure all the doors and windows are locked to make sure the gas doesn't escape."
"Alright you heard Ladybug let's get to work." Alya said to everyone of her teammates, who just gave a weird look as to why she was saying this to their faces instead of over the coms, until she pointed out the most painfully obvious thing she could to them all. "Oh come on don't play dumb I know it's you guys, you're the only ones here other than Mari and Juleka who's not…drugged." Then she realized that she outed the identities of her teammates and herself to both Valentina, who was still disguised as Marinette at this time, as well as Juleka, who just stared at her brother with confusion at her comment.
"What is she talking about?" She asked Luka with confusion as a look of guilt began to form on his face.
"Oh nice going Alya!" Alex voiced her frustrations. "You just exposed us all to Juleka and Marinette, your lucky that everyone else here is drugged otherwise we'd be in even deeper…"
"Enough!" Ladybug Shouted over the radio. "Look to be honest I don't think it would've mattered after tonight because this would've required you all to expose yourselves to the rest of the team anyway, but I wasn't really counting on everyone getting drugged so I guess this was a happy accident. But none of that matters right now because we have a job to do and that job is to catch the Chameleon and find out who la Volpi is and make sure that they never try to hurt Marinette Dupain-Chang again."
Alex sighed and said. "Fine, but still Alya that wasn't cool."
Alya began to feel the guilt of her mistake building up slowly inside of her, even though Ladybug had made it very clear that this would likely happen she still felt partly to blame. Before she could even apologize Dallas stepped forward and tried to comfort her. "It's okay Alya, you made a mistake, it happens to everybody."
She felt comfort from his words, but also confusion due to his rather casual reaction to her exposing everyone's secret identities to him, but for some reason she still hadn't pieced together that he was Iktomi. "Okay how come your not freaking out about who we are?" She asked bluntly. "And how come your not freaking out either Mari?"
"Because we already knew." Valentina replied using her normal voice as she felt no reason to keep up the act any longer, she then reached up to her head and pulled the wig off her head revealing her true self. "Also I am not Marinette, I'm her stand in for the evening, I guess you could say I am…meant to be the bait for the chameleon yes?"
And once again all their minds were being blown by this new reveal as none of them had suspected that they were actually in the presence of Valentina Volkov until after she'd pulled off her disguise. "Uh…who's she?" Luka asked dumbfoundedly.
"For those of you who don't know, this is my girlfriend Valentina Volkov." Dallas explained quickly.
"But I am also known by another name, one that at least two of you are familiar with. The black widow of Chernobyl." Valentina added. "For those of you who don't know I'm an assassin, I'm also here to kill the very man your all here to stop from killing Marinette, that is why I've agreed to be the stand in for her at this party which as you can all see has already…how you say…gone to shit yes?"
She looked upon the entire team and saw that they were all confused, however two of them just looked angry, at both Dallas and Valentina. "You mean to say that you were dating her right from the start and you didn't think we needed to know about her?!" Luka asked with rage.
"Well to be fair I did already tell you that I'd slept with her." Dallas justified.
Luka then cocked his head back with confusion and asked. "Wait when was this?"
That's when Dallas remembered that he told him that as his alter ego and not himself. "Uh…I…don't remember…exactly when…but I did indeed tell you this much is true." He said with a nervous smile.
Luka just sighed and said. "First Iktomi now you."
"More like vise versa." Dallas retorted under his breath.
"Still that's not admitting that you two were a couple!" Kagami shouted at him.
"Look are we just gonna stand around with our thumbs up our asses or are we gonna get this situation under control? Because in case you guys didn't notice we still have a room full of drugged up high school kids and parents to a bunch of three year old's freaking out aaaaaand…where's Chloe?" Dallas asked as he looked around to see she wasn't standing among the group. "God damn it CHLOE WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!"
"OLLY-OLLY-OXEN-FREE!" She called from across the room, the team all turned in unison to see her lying on the ground with her face covered in peppermint frosting from the cupcake she had just taken a bite out of.
"Oh you've got to be SHITTING ME!" Dallas shouted as he made his way over to Chloe who clearly was drugged. "You dumb bitch did you seriously just eat a cupcake?!"
"Guilty…" She replied in a very stoned voice. "But I think I might be just like these cupcakes…baked."
"Yeah your fucking baked alright, someone get her dumb ass to bed while we deal with this." Dallas requested as he and everyone else got to work on locking all the doors and windows.
Max and Kim volunteered to carry Chloe back to her room where she wouldn't cause any trouble, but following the two of them was Alex pulling Nathan into her room. "Uh…why are you bringing Nate in here too?" Kim asked, mostly due to the fact that he didn't need to be moved sense he was already knocked out.
"Nate's allergic to anesthesia, so I'm putting him in here so he doesn't go into anaphylactic shock." Alex clarified as she tried to hoist him up onto the bed.
"Oh…well okay, I guess that wouldn't be a very good thing if he went into…whatever you just said." Kim replied as he laid out Chloe on the bed next to him.
"Sleepover!" Chloe cried as she through her arms into the air.
"You know I think I like drugged Chloe way more than sober Chloe." Max stated as it was obvious that she was much more pleasant to deal with while she was drugged.
In response Chloe shot up from the bed and said in a slurred voice. "Hey everybody loves me you…you…fuck…what was I gonna say? Oh fffffuck it."
Alex just chuckled into her fist as she found her behavior hilarious. "Oh god I wish I was evil enough to record this on camera and blackmail her with it."
Then what she did next surprised everyone in the room, everyone sober and conscious that is as Chloe started to remove her shirt. "Okaaay…who wants to do me?"
Taking this as their cue to leave they all headed toward the door and left the room. "Okay goodnight Chloe." Kim said as he locked the door from the inside and closed it behind him leaving Chloe all alone with Nathan.
Chloe then waved her hand and said. "Pussies…can't handle the…bee queen….girl. There losssssss." She then noticed that she wasn't alone in her bed, she then allowed a very stoned smile to curl on her face as her mind allowed all sense of reason to leave her. "Heeeeyyy NNNNNNNathan."
Beyond the door everyone else had just finished locking all the doors and windows, shortly after Max quickly transformed into Pegasus and opened up a portal to quickly transport the anesthesia into the penthouse. Once it was inside the penthouse in the center of the room the entire team and Valentina went out onto the balcony where all of the younger guests were still waiting for Dallas to bring them their cake, which he'd remembered at the last minute and brought the main cake along with a full tray of cookies to try and sate them. "Okay Ryuko room's secure, do your thing." Dallas said as he closed the door to the balcony.
Kagami nodded back to him then turned toward the tank and prepared herself to do what she had to do. "Longg, bring the storm!" She exclaimed turning herself into Ryuko, once she was transformed she turned the knob of the tank all the way open to let out as much gas as she could, then she activated her wind powers and spread the gas all over the room, with in an instant everyone in the room began to faint from the gas just as expected. Once her job was done she quickly turned back to normal and opened up a window to allow herself fresh air as well as vent the room of the rest of the gas. After turning back to normal she headed to the pool balcony and declared. "Jobs done, everyone is out cold."
"Great job Kagami, now then let's get to the main reason we're all here tonight shall we." Dallas stated as he started to light three candles for Yuri.
"Wade we can'd bwow out duh candwes yed, Adwien isn't heaw yed." Yuri said, he clearly didn't want to blow out his candles until the other birthday boy had arrived.
But Dallas knew that Adrien pray say wasn't going to show up anytime soon, but he couldn't tell him that for obvious reasons. Knowing this Cat then sent a text to Dallas which read. Just tell him that it's okay to start without me, but save me a piece of cake. Dallas then relayed the message to Yuri. "Uncle Adrien's gonna be a bit late, he said it's okay to start without him, oh…also to save him a piece of cake too."
He still didn't want to start without him obviously, but Yuri knew that he couldn't keep his friends waiting all-night, so he reluctantly agreed to start with out his new uncle. After quickly singing happy birthday Yuri blew out his candles then everyone took part in the cake all the while Dallas and Valentina simply introduced Yuri to the rest of the team, who were just as surprised to find that he already knew of their secrets just as his parents did, when questioned about it Dallas just said that Iktomi had told him all of this just in case he had to confront the team individually for more private spells. After admitting this however he simply said it was because he didn't care about Ladybug's rule that said the identities of the team needed to stay secret and he just figured it out on his own.
While Dallas was telling his teammates an all new tail to keep his identity a secret Yuri was simply getting to know his father's teammates, some of them he took an instant liking to, Kim for instance was definitely at the top of his list with his playful behavior and jokes. He didn't even have to try to make him smile as being a clown came naturally to him. He also liked Alya and Nino as it would seem they knew a thing or two about how to entertain a child his age through their own experiences as older siblings. He found that Max was also an easily liked person as well as they both shared a higher I.Q. level than other people, though Yuri was more interested in his robot Markov rather than science and math. He felt a little nervous around Luka and Juleka at first but it was only do to their usual Rockstar look, they might not have meant to look it but they did scare him a little bit. Kagami he found to be very hard to understand as most of the things she said just confused him. He especially liked Alex, he thought she was the coolest one of them their because she was interested in skating and extreme sports, when Dallas heard that he felt a little bit of a sting that his own son thought Alex was cooler than him.
After pulling her off to the side Luka started to explain to Juleka everything that he'd been keeping from her for a while. She was still plenty confused but she slowly began to understand that her brother was the one and only Viperion. "So you're a superhero." She stated as she and her brother both stood with their backs to the wall just staring down at the ground with an awkward silence between them.
"Yep." Luka replied casually as he intentionally avoided eye contact with his sister. He felt so awkward now that she knew about his secret along with everyone else's, he tried to think of a way to explain everything to her so she wouldn't get mad at him but everything he thought of just seemed to sound like an excuse.
But to his surprise she was very casual in her response. "That's actually pretty cool." She said with a smile. "So what's it like? Being a superhero I mean."
Luka just looked at her with shock, he fully expected her to get mad at him for not telling her that he was a hero to begin with especially sense they were always very open with each other about everything, which was one of the reasons she felt comfortable confessing to Luka before their mother about her sexuality, so naturally he just assumed that she would feel hurt by the fact that he didn't trust her with his secret. "You mean your not mad?" He asked bluntly.
She giggled slightly at his assumption then said. "Why would I be mad? Because you didn't tell me you're the mysterious Viperion? It's pretty clear why you didn't, plus even if you had I'd probably just bug you until you convinced Ladybug to let me join the team. And you never answered my question, what's it like?"
Luka was surprised at her response, but glad to know that she wasn't angry with him. He allowed his signature warm smile to return to his face as he replied. "It's exhilarating, you know the rush we get when we're on stage performing in front of a crowd? Picture that times a million, it's like there's a part of you that you didn't even know you had just takes over and just runs wild."
"Awesome, you know I'm kind of jealous of you now bro. For more than one reason." Juleka replied as she subtly started to check out Kagami's features with wandering eyes. Though Luka noticed this in a heart beat and she could sense his icy gaze lock on to her just as quickly. "What? I'm only human. I know I already have a girlfriend but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view of other girls. Besides she's got a really nice pair of…"
"That's enough Jul." Luka interrupted her as he held up his hand.
"Oh come on don't be such a baby she's hot. Don't tell Rose I said that." Juleka added as she pointed a finger in her brother's face."
"Death metal to team, target is on sight I repeat target is on sight, currently heading up in the elevator, ETA to penthouse floor one minute thirty seconds." Megan called out over the radio as she kept a close eye on the Chameleon up until the elevator doors closed and started to ascend to the top of the hotel.
"Okay everyone show time, Max open up a portal and send the kids across the street away from the crossfire, then you and Alex use your super speed abilities to get everyone else inside to safety as well." Dallas ordered as he and every other member of the team started to get ready for the mission to begin.
"Wait, if he transforms in front of the kids then his identity will be compromised." Alex said fearful that anyone of them could expose his identity to literally anyone, and all of them saying the same thing about the same person would've made the story a little easier to believe.
But Dallas was one step ahead of that. "I'll take care of it Alex, I've got a few tricks up my sleeves that will keep these kids from opening their mouths. Come on people move like you've got a purpose." After Max and Alex had transformed and got to work moving the rest of the party guests out of the penthouse everyone else transformed and got ready for the Chameleon. Naturally Juleka went with the kids, Dallas did too so he could keep up the act that he was just there as support.
Valentina assumed the position and just waited out in the open for her target. "This is black widow, I'm in position. Squads A and B sound off." She called over the radio.
"Squad A is ready to rock." Rena voiced as she, Carapace, Viperion and Ryuko stood at the ready in the living room just across from where the main party was being held.
"Squad B is ready to go." Bunnix added as she, Pegasus and Monkey-king waited in an apartment that was just across the hall of the penthouse. After their first plan was ruined due to an unforeseen event which took place the team had no choice but to alter the plan by staging two teams in separate area's on the penthouse floor and performing a pincer attack. And sense Queen bee was now indisposed she had to be replaced by Iktomi who the rest of the team was on his way to fill in for her.
However that was going to be impossible without exposing himself to Juleka and the kids, as he'd said before he already knew how to take care of the kids. But as for Juleka he faced a moral dilemma, would he risk exposing his secret identity to another one of his classmates or would he try and find some lame excuse to sneak away and transform somewhere out of sight. Sensing he didn't have that kind of time Dallas just gritted his teeth and chose the latter. "Juleka, listen…there's a reason I know so much about the miraculous and everything else about the team as well, but it's not just because of what I've said. You see…there's more to it than what I've led on."
Juleka just stared at him with confusion, she wasn't even remotely aware of what he was talking about, so she simply asked him casually. "Could you be a little more specific?"
Dallas closed his eyes hoping that this wouldn't backfire on him in the end. "Okay look…I need to get back in there and help the team but I can only do that…" He paused for a moment before he did the one thing he knew he couldn't undo once he'd done it. "But before I show you how I'm gonna do it I need you to promise me that you won't share my secret with anyone, and that includes Luka and rose bud."
"Dallas I trusted you with my secret back when I didn't even like you, so I think you can trust me with yours." She replied reassuring him that everything would be alright if he chose to trust her with whatever secret he had.
"Are you sure you want to do this though Dallas?" Ladybug asked bluntly. "I mean we already know there's no point in trying to stop you because your just gonna do what you want anyway, but are you really sure that you want to do this?"
Dallas nodded his head yes, then he turned to Juleka and said. "Try not to freak out. Spizz, web up." In that instant the usual red flash engulfed Dallas as he was transformed into Iktomi. The look of confusion on Juleka's face turned into that of shock as her jaw just dropped from the sudden reveal. Iktomi looked around the roof top and saw that the same look of shock was on the faces of all of Yuri's friends as well.
"Oh…my…god…" Was all Juleka was able to say due to the overload of information to her brain.
Iktomi then realized that she wasn't quite as prepared for this as he had hoped she would. He walked up to her and waved his hand in front of her face to see if he could get a response, sadly he didn't get so much as a flinch of her eyes. "Oh boy…I think I may have broke her."
"Really? What was your first clue?" Ladybug asked sarcastically as she started to show worry for her friend. "I mean you only just told her your biggest secret ever."
Iktomi then held up a hand and corrected her. "Second biggest actually."
It was upon hearing this that Cat Noir was reminded of something that he'd almost completely forgotten about almost a month ago, his bet with Dallas. "Oh that reminds me, you never made good on our bet, which you lost by the way which means you still owe me for that." He said with a smirk.
Iktomi was about to ask what he was talking about until he remembered the wager that he'd made involving Marinette. "Oh right…yeah I still gotta do that don't I?"
Ladybug then asked sort of confused. "What bet are you guys talking about?"
Cat then rubbed the back of his neck feeling nervous about the subject as he just knew that she would be made at him. "Uh…well bugaboo…he made a bet with me saying he could get you to fall in love with him in a week, and if he won…I had to…let him steal a kiss from you." He said as he began to feel a slight knot forming in his stomach.
She narrowed her eyes on him and shouted in his face. "WHAT?!"
"But I knew you would never fall for him, that's the only reason I took the bet. Well that and to see him humiliate himself over and over again." Cat added in hopes that might get her to calm down.
Iktomi then narrowed his eyes on Cat and said. "Oh he is so full of shi…poop." He managed to stop himself in time before he said something he didn't want the children to hear
Ladybug just groaned at Cat Noir and said. "You know what just never mind…go. We can handle Juleka from here, you go help take down the Chameleon and put an end to this."
Iktomi just gave a quick mock salute and started running toward the edge of the building and leapt into the air completely clearing the gape. He landed with a summersault and headed towards the other side of the building and snuck into the apartment across the hall from the penthouse through the window. "Hey sorry I'm late. So what's the sitrep?" He asked as he pretended not to have a clue.
"Well other than the fact that we all know who we all are under the masks now us finding out that Dallas Jones is dating your former flame and also has a kid with her not a whole lot." Monkey-king laminated. "Oh also literally everyone at the party got wasted on something called peyote."
"Wow, all that and a bag of chips huh? Guess I should've come sooner cuz it sounds like you guys had a great time." Iktomi joked, then he fell silent as he heard the chime of the elevator doors opening. "Look alive people." He called over the com.
The sound of footsteps began to fill the hall, but it wasn't a single pair of footsteps, it sounded as though there were more than one set, in fact it sounded as there were numerous footsteps all approaching the door. Which peaked the curiosity of squad B completely. Bunnix slowly cracked open the door and saw a squad of police officers in S. . gear ready to breach the door. "I don't hear anything agent Menendez, perhaps there's no one home." An officer voiced as he pressed his ear to the door.
"It doesn't matter, we have our warrant and it expires in the morning and I am not going to let this arrest slip me by. Breach on my mark." Agent Menendez ordered to the officer holding a battering ram.
"Shit…everyone abort I repeat abort mission; Interpol agents are here and I think their trying to arrest the mayor." Iktomi called over the coms again in a hushed tone.
Both teams began to fall back and leave the building without anyone of the officers noticing. However the only one who chose to stay behind was Valentina, she figured that she could simply slip out in her disguise and without agent Menendez being the wiser. As the door came crashing down the breach team stormed the room and took the positions as they all aimed inside and ordering everyone to surrender. Or at least that's how it usually went, and to the surprise of the officers there was only one person in sight, someone resembling Marinette Dupain-Chang. Agent Menendez pushed past the officers to see just how vacant the room was save for one person. "Ms. Dupain-Chang? What on earth are you doing here?" She asked with confusion.
(A/N: And that's all for this chapter folks, sorry that it was so long, also sorry it took a while to get out again, but in my defense I was simply performing a request from one of you who left me a comment which was to find more stories about Iktomi, and that alone took me three days to find but I think it was well worth it. Also I know I said I'd make the next akumaa a monster of native American lore which I was definitely going to do until I came across some information in my research about their culture and lore that Iktomi had a brother, so I figured that this could work as a pretty OP bad guy for the story, I know it kinda seems like I ripped of Stromyweather but I read that Iya's powers were more weather based so I just ran with it also while adding the part were he enthralls people because I didn't want him to be too much like her, anyway as always thank you and I hope you guys liked it, and if you did please let me know. In the next chapter of WOS Agent Menendez makes an arrest, both Dallas and Valentina spill their darkest secrets to the others and Milan ends up in the hospital for some unknown reason. Also just to let you guys know this is now and officially the longest chapter in this fanfic, 40,807 words to be exact not including author notes that is, but I give most of that credit to the stories about Iktomi that I added but hey I'm still impressed with myself. Alright that's all for now folks, happy holidays.)
