The words for this week are: chthonic, reverie, renege, heuristic, devoir, daedal, indispensable, recapitulated, aplomb, callow, and crepitation.
Summary: Marinette wakes up to find Paris in a state of chaos, having to find and meet Chat Noir in order to set the city back to it's rightful order...only this new akuma has the powers of the Olympian Gods.
The chthonic state of Paris made it obvious that an Akuma had been running rampant in the city, and while Marinette had been resting through it, waking up to a deep warmth that made her uncomfortable was not something she had been looking forward to. More often than not when she woke up due to an Akuma, it was because of loud noises or a bitter chill, it was a major difference dealing with a soft blooming heat though, so as she pushed open her skylight and pulled herself out of the hole above her bed, she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her, though that was in part to the fact that her phone had buzzed and snapped her from the reverie of seeing the strange shade of the world around her, almost apocalyptic in nature.
Have you seen Ladybug?!
It was from Alya, of course, with a line of almost 20 other texts asking her if she knew where Adrien was if she had forgotten the plans if she was going to make an appearance at all, and of course, guilt swelled within the girl for a moment. She never intended to renege on her plans, but the price of being Ladybug had often meant that she made up for the late nights of fighting akumas by taking frequent naps throughout the day. She was almost certain that she'd set the alarm on her phone...but judging from the texts, if she had, then she managed to sleep through them...again.
No, I haven't...if I do see her I'll let you know!
Slipping her phone back into her pocket after responding to the text, Marinette called out to her Kwami. "Tikki...we should definitely transform now!" Upon the words coming out, Tikki had flown up from her pillow to meet Marinette on the balcony.
"I wonder what happened to make Paris look like this!" Tikki squeaked with worry.
"I don't know, but we're definitely going to find out!" Marinette snapped before calling on the transformation magic and whipping her magical yo-yo out to swing about the city and find her way toward anything that might have given her a clue.
It had taken a while, but eventually, she had come across something useful, less than a clue, but more of a roguish leather-clad cat hero, and one of her favorite people in the city. "Chat Noir! Boy am I glad to see you!" she stated as she fell onto the same rooftop as her partner, then setting a hand on his shoulder to gain his attention. "Do you have any idea about the Akuma?" she asked before she felt him whip her around and cover her mouth with one of his leather hands, before he pointed toward the Grand Palais, where the akumatized victim stood, gazing about the city from ground level before they began to float about. It was eerie to bear witness to the spectacle before them, and a shiver crept up Marinette's spine before Chat Noir pulled her back with him behind a chimney and helped brace her for the impact the sound of what seemed like thunder erupted and the rooftop they were perched on began to shake.
"It's Mireille Caquet, and from what I can gather the Akuma is in her earring...every time I get in close I can't quite manage to land a hit in on her, is everything okay though, you've been missing for about a half-hour!" his tone was heavily laced with worry, and suddenly a bit of guilt washed over her.
"Good job on the research! But yeah...I'm fine, after the other night when we fought against Gigantitan again I didn't get much sleep, and then again yesterday because of some personal stuff I needed to catch up on, so sleep hit me like a train...I only just woke up from a nap due to the heat of what she did back in the arrondissement I live in." she confessed before giving him a slight grin. "Really though what all can she do, is it just making the world split apart to look like the underworld is merging with modern-day Paris?" she asked before he shook his head.
"Her name is Olympia, and as long as she thinks of a greek god she can emulate their powers, it's basically just The Pharaoh all over again, including with the contorting face shapes, it has to do with a costume party she was at earlier, everyone was dressed up as someone from mythology, and her costume was mocked by none other than Chloe...who is now trapped somewhere, but...now she's looking for us," he explained which made Marinette's face contort in strange shapes for a moment.
"How...what powers make her rip the world open like that?!" she asked before he gave her an unimpressed look.
"Poseidon, he isn't just the god of the sea you know. The fire comes from Hestia, she has a giant gathering of followers when she becomes Aphrodite that makes it seem like Zombizou 2.0, and when she's on the hunt for us, she's using the power of Artemis. We've really got our work cut out for us this time Buginette." Taking a step forward on the roof, the sound of the shingles' crepitation was loud under his weight made her cringe, convinced that he was going to fall through the roof they stood upon.
"We have to figure something out to beat her fast then...I'm not sure we can handle all the heavy influential power behind each mask that she wears." Marinette's mind raced as she attempted to figure out just what they needed. The problem was that she only knew what Chat told her...so she didn't know the exact pantheon that Mireille was going by as this akuma... "Chat, you said that she used Hestia for the fire, right? Like you heard her call out Hestia's name?" she asked, her eyes dancing about searching and scanning for ideas and answers.
"Yeah, why?" he asked, his voice filled with curiosity. Most people had assumed that the crime-fighting duo was well versed in these fights by now, and while they should have been, it was moments like this that brought to light just how callow both heroes were, though he kept his gaze on her own, as if he were waiting for her to recapitulate the idea that was clearly forming in her mind. It was a heuristic process to go against any akuma most of the time, but this one had seemed to have that extra flare of danger, one that had meant that the duo couldn't let up even for a moment once they had set upon the plan Ladybug was working through, it was their devoir to do so after all, and the city relied on them for it, as well as the final cleanup of damages outside of putting an end to the reign of each akumas malicious intent.
"First we're going to check what my charm gives us, then we're going to try to force her to use Dionysus, since she already used Hestia, she shouldn't be able to use him, which means she'll be vulnerable for a moment, and we can go in for the attack!" she offered, before calling upon her power and getting...a mirror. A very familiar rounded mirror. "Looks like Mister Bug's luck strikes again, eh?" she offered before giving a sigh. "So what do you think we should do to distract her?" she offered, noticing the cheeky grin affixed to her partner's face. While most would regard him as an expendable part of the heroic force, Marinette always tried her best to show him how he was indispensable, especially after their time wielding each other's miraculous.
"Leave that to me, you mind if I take your charm this time?" he asked before she couldn't help but smile at the way he acted with aplomb.
"It's all yours Kitty." she said handing it off to him, musing over the daedal nature of each charm for a moment in her mind and trying to figure out just what exactly he intended to do with the red and black spotted object.