Ladybug and Viperion leaped off in the direction of City Hall, running across the rooftops.
"You have a special power that you can only use once, Viperion. It's called Snake Charm and will allow you to directly control one person for five minutes. Use it wisely, because at the end of the five minutes, you'll be forced to detransform. Your identity must remain a secret! You activate your power by plucking the strings on your lyre in order, then saying your power's name."
"Got it. Um… what else can I use this lyre for? It doesn't seem sturdy enough to hit someone with…"
"You'd be surprised. Miraculous objects are very durable. You're durable too… you'll be able to take a lot of physical punishment and just get right back up. But as for magic… Serket's ability has the ability to knock out even the strongest of people. You'll want to avoid her sceptre if you see it glowing. We know a bit about how Hawk Moth and his kwami were affected by it, and we don't want anything like that happening to us."
"Avoid Serket's sceptre. OK. That should be easy enough. But… if we are avoiding her… how do we beat her?"
The duo arrived on top of City Hall, where Chat Noir was waiting for them. "Chat!" called Ladybug softly, squatting down behind a balustrade. Her partner crept over to join them.
"I see we've got a new friend! Chat Noir, at your service. You must be…"
"Lu.. uh, Viperion! Call me Viperion."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Viperion. Ladybug, I see you took Jalil's advice to heart and got a snake to fight the scorpion. Good call! But -" he pointed to Viperion's weapon "- I thought you didn't like lyres, my Lady." He smiled expectantly at Ladybug.
Ladybug rolled her eyes and groaned, but couldn't suppress the smile that grew on her face. "Thanks, Kitty. Let's figure out how we're going to attack Serket. She's going to get bored of those police officers pretty quickly."
"I think the end goal is to get her Miraculous… wherever that is. It's probably not as obvious as an akumatized object, though. I'd normally go for her sceptre, but that's probably out. Imagine that," he chuckled, "Hawk Moth is finally done, and now we're going to be the ones going up to people demanding their Miraculous. What's that saying about the apple and the tree? Something about falling…" he trailed off into an incoherent babble.
Ladybug frowned. He's definitely not back to one hundred percent. I don't want to see him get hurt! Or Luka, for that matter. This is going to be trickier than I imagined.
"Wait, Hawk Moth is done?" Viperion said, a little too loudly.
Serket's head whipped around to the top of the building. "Someone's on the roof… I thought I heard you, Ladybug. There's someone new I don't recognize… did you bring some new playmates for me?"
Viperion gulped. Be brave, he thought to himself.
"Why don't you come down and play, heroes?" Serket taunted. "The view from down here is so much better, anyway."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Chat Noir said, before leaping down to the ground.
Ladybug tensed. "Ready, Viperion?" She grabbed his wrist and, without waiting for an answer, jumped off the building.
The heroes landed in a triangle, surrounding Serket. Ladybug was spinning her yo-yo. Chat Noir was twirling his baton. Viperion stood in a fighting stance, lyre hooked to the small of his back. Serket turned slowly, cocking her head in turn at each of the heroes. "It appears that I am at a disadvantage," she spat. "No matter! I've overcome more in my life than you children could ever imagine. This is just one more obstacle!" She held her was-sceptre in her right hand, with her elbow bent. Her knees were flexed, and her feet were turned away from each other. Her left arm was out to the side.
She took quick, shuffling steps forward, never losing her position and occasionally prodding at Viperion with her was-sceptre, advancing with the grace of a fencer expertly wielding a sabre. Viperion backed off, keeping his guard up. "I don't want to hurt you!" he said.
"Fool! You think you can hurt me?" The sceptre danced closer and closer to Viperion. With a lightning-fast lunge, Serket struck at Viperion's left knee, buckling it and sending him to the ground! Like a flash, Serket was on top of him, sceptre raised to the sky.
"NO!" Ladybug shouted, wrapping Serket up in her yo-yo string and pulling. Serket was jerked backwards, then turned and shifted position to pull Ladybug toward her instead. Ladybug flew toward Serket, her yo-yo string falling to the ground as it slackened. Serket freed her arms and swung her sceptre like a baseball bat, connecting with Ladybug's head and knocking her to the ground.
Chat Noir and Viperion yelled in horror as Ladybug went limp. With a visceral roar, Chat extended his baton in Serket's direction, propelling the villain toward City Hall and pinning her against the building. "Get her out of here, Viperion!" he commanded.
Viperion ran over and attempted to pick Ladybug up. "Wha… what are you doing?" she asked. "I'm fine, just had the wind knocked out of me. Help Chat get Serket!" She stood up and ran to where Serket struggled with Chat's baton, Viperion trailing behind her.
"I'll knock you through the building for hurting my Lady!" Chat seethed. "Oh, hey, Bugaboo," he said casually as he saw Ladybug running toward Serket. He retracted his baton slowly and charged Serket, keeping her pinned against the building.
"Scorpion's Sting!" Serket yelled as the three heroes got close. The end of her was-sceptre glowed as she waved it threateningly at them.
Ladybug held out her arms, stopping Chat Noir and Viperion from getting any farther. "Be careful! I've seen what this can do firsthand!"
"I'm not scared, my Lady! Cataclysm!" Black bubbles formed in Chat Noir's hand. "Hey, Serket! Let's see who will win this duel… your Sting, or my Cataclysm."
He can't Cataclysm Serket! I know he's not in the best place right now, but he'll regret doing something like that for the rest of his life. I won't let him do that to himself.
"Stand down, Kitty…" Ladybug warned. "We've got her cornered. She can only use her Sting once, but we've got a few more tricks up our sleeves." Her eyes never wavered from Serket as she continued, "Give up, Serket! Your reign of terror over Paris is ending, right now!"
Four people faced off, frozen in unbridled tension. Finally, Serket broke the silence. "I know when I'm outmatched… but I promise you, you have not seen the last of Serket!" She swung her sceptre in a wide arc, driving the heroes back, then jumped to the top of City Hall.
"Do we follow her?" Viperion asked.
Ladybug shook her head. "I'm still not sure how we beat her… we could be walking into a trap."
"But she used her special power!" Chat Noir protested. "She'll be de-transformed and we can take her then!"
"So did you, Kitty. And besides, we have no idea who we're looking for." Ladybug gestured at the sea of people who were emerging from their hiding places. "She could be any one of them. Or none of them. You know as well as I do how far we can travel in five minutes."
"That's a good point. I've gotta scat… but let me know if you get any ideas. Viperion… nice to meet you. Until next time!" He deactivated his Cataclysm, saluted, and used his baton to vault off into the distance.
"Let's get you back to that ice cream shop, Viperion," Ladybug grinned. "You can give me the Miraculous back there." And then maybe we can finish off our ice cream date.
"Lead the way, Ladybug!" They hopped to the top of City Hall, and retraced their steps along the rooftops back to where they started.
When they arrived back in the alley behind the ice cream shop, Viperion removed the bangle and handed it back to Ladybug. Sass emerged from the flash of blue-green light complaining, "Ouch! Next time, just say the de-transformation phrase. It's much less of a shock to the kwami."
"Sorry," Luka said sheepishly. "What's the de-transformation phrase?"
"It's Let's Hide," Sass informed him. "It was nice working with you, young master. I hope to work with you again."
"I'd like to have the chance! I don't feel like I did much," Luka responded.
"It's OK, Luka… you'll get the hang of it. It took me a while, myself." She smiled and put the bangle inside her yo-yo. "I'll be in touch when we need you again. Thanks for your help today," she said shyly, then grinned and took off.
Luka watched her disappear, then entered the ice cream shop through the back door. When he came around the counter to the front, Marinette was waiting for him. "Hey!" she said. "Everything OK? I looked around and didn't find you." Time for the first test… let's see if he spills anything.
He frowned. "Uh… it was really crowded and I went into the flower shop next door! Oh! I would have called you, but… I still had your phone." He pulled Marinette's phone out of his pocket and handed it to her, fidgeting from one foot to the other.
"Thanks," she said as she took it and put it back in her purse. Good… he can keep a secret. But… he does look like he wants to say something. "Luka, what's the matter?"
Luka took a deep breath. "I'm curious… if I had your phone, what was that in your purse before you ran off?"
"Oh! Umm… that was my medication alarm. Yeah, that's right. Medication alarm." Marinette pasted a large smile on her face.
"Huh. Ok, not sure I've heard of those before. I was just thinking… you got a mysterious alert… ran off… and I didn't see you again for a bit. Just concerned about you, I guess. It'll pass. Sorry."
Marinette shuffled her feet and looked back where they had been sitting. "It looks like our ice cream has melted… do you want to come back to my place and we can do the final fitting of your outfit for the battle of the bands? I want to hear more of that song you were playing last night, too." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the chin. "What do you say, hot stuff?"
"I actually don't have my guitar on me, for once," Luka admitted. "But I'm happy to come over and see what you've been up to." He offered her his hand and she took it. "Lead the way, Marinette!"
They walked out into the afternoon sun. Luka looked at Marinette and smiled. "You know what, Marinette? You need a nickname."
"A nickname? How so?"
"Well, you call me 'hot stuff'... what can I call you?"
Marinette hummed. "What comes to mind?"
"Let's see… you didn't really like 'ice princess'... I still need to come up with a new title for that, by the way."
Marinette smiled and leaned into Luka a bit.
"How about just 'princess'?" Luka asked.
"No." Marinette responded immediately.
Huh… that struck a nerve… I wonder why? "I know! How about 'pink stuff'! What do you think about that?"
"I like it! I've never really had a nickname before, unless you count the names that Chloe used to call me," she giggled. They reached the bakery, and Luka opened the door for Marinette. "Hello, Mr. Chou! It's good to see you!" She greeted him with a handshake.
"Marinette! It is good to see you as well."
"Mr. Chou is stopping in for his daily purchase of a peach tart," Sabine commented.
"They truly are the best in Paris, just like your mother told me, Marinette."
"I'm glad to hear it! It was good to see you again, Mr. Chou. Mom, Luka and I are going upstairs to work on some stuff for the band. See you later!" She waved and led Luka through the back of the bakery and up the stairs to the apartment.
"Stay here," Marinette said, and continued up the stairs to her bedroom. She returned moments later carrying a shirt and a pair of pants. "OK, hot stuff, take these into the bathroom and change into them. Be careful! The stitching is really light and might tear. I'll go back upstairs and get my tailor's kit so I can mark off where any alterations need to be made." She went back upstairs and disappeared into her bedroom.
Luka went into the bathroom and stripped down to his briefs. He carefully put on the clothes Marinette had given him. When he was finished, he looked in the mirror and whistled. Everything fits really well already - she really is amazing! The shirt was a dark teal to match his hair, with a black collar and sleeves. The pants were also black, with a dark teal stripe about an inch wide up the outside of each leg. The pants were tight enough to hug his hips, but loose enough to allow easy movement. The pant legs were about floor-length and slightly flared at the bottom. He came out of the bathroom and absentmindedly started playing air guitar while he waited for Marinette.
"Careful, hot stuff, you don't want to tear the shirt seams. You look great! Let me see here… OK, stand like you were holding a guitar…" she moved around him and made some chalk marks on his shoulders. She moved him to several different poses, each time circling him, eyes on the fabric like a hawk searching for prey. She darted in occasionally, making a mark on the fabric, all the while muttering to herself.
I love watching an artist at work. Luka smiled while admiring Marinette. "You're incredible, you know that?"
"One sec," replied Marinette, jotting notes down on a piece of paper. "Sorry about that, didn't want to lose my train of thought. What did you say?"
"I said, pink stuff," Luka bent down to touch his nose to hers, "that you're incredible." He moved to kiss her on the lips, but she ducked out of the way.
"First things first, hot stuff. Get changed back to your regular clothes, and let me put these away. I don't want to smear any of the chalk marks," she grinned, pinking. "After that, why don't you sing me that new song of yours…"
In an apartment on the right bank of the Seine, Marianne Lenoir was holding Fu Wang's hand as Wayzz looked on. Fu's breathing had slowed over the past few hours, and their only communication was an occasional squeeze. I've known this was coming for about a week now, but this doesn't make it any easier. He's worked hard and has earned this rest. I'm going to miss him, but if what he told me was true, I'll be seeing him again very shortly. She smiled fondly at her friend and thought about the envelope in her jacket pocket. It's just like him to give me one more mission. I hope I'm around long enough to fulfill it.
As she had every fifteen minutes for the past five hours, she squeezed Fu's hand.
This time, he didn't squeeze back.
Marianne put her other hand on his chest and noted the lack of rising and falling. After five minutes of quiet reflection, she leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Rest, my love. You did well."