Let's Take It From The Top, Chapter 18: Cadence Becomes Cacophony
High above the ground, on a small platform about halfway up the Eiffel Tower, a young man tried to not let his imagination run away with him.
What if this doesn't work? thought Chat Noir. Or if it makes me worse than I was before? I mean, I know my father wouldn't hurt me on PURPOSE... but I'm taking an awfully big chance letting someone random work on me, that he just powered up.
He snickered, briefly. Of course, what have I got to lose? Nothing else has worked for very long, if at all.
That Mr. Fu seemed to know what he was doing, but I can't just stop by for a deep-tissue herbal massage every day, can I? And I think that that was more like delaying the inevitable than any kind of cure.
This has to work. It just has to! It's not just about having a future with Marinette, or with my father - it's about having a future AT ALL.
A swiftly approaching red blur raised his mood somewhat, and a few moments later, she flipped into place beside him on the platform.
"Hey, you," Ladybug greeted him. "How are you holding up?"
"Okay, I guess," Chat shrugged. "Trying not to get my hopes up too high. Or my worries."
"Well, look at it this way. You're not bad off right now, from what Marinette told me, right? So this healer won't have to work as hard, and if it starts going the wrong direction it should be easy for you to tell." Ladybug's smile was warm and reassuring. "I don't know if I can help at all, but if I can, I'm here."
"I really appreciate that, Ladybug," he replied. "Just your being here to support me helps... You're such a good friend."
For a moment, Chat watched her face and could have sworn that he saw a flicker of something there, like a private joke that he hadn't heard. Why would it be funny if I think that Ladybug's a good friend? he wondered, but he let it go for now.
They talked things over for a few minutes, both watching the skies. Ladybug spotted her first. "Look!" she called out, pointing.
They saw a brown-and-white figure in the distance, cloak billowing in the slight breeze, slowly floating towards their perch. "Wow," Chat admired. "These suits give us amazing mobility, but to actually fly... that must be an entirely different feeling."
"It's quite a head rush," Ladybug replied... then backpedaled quickly, "Or so I'm told." She responded to Chat's puzzled look by reminding him, "Hey, I knew Firefly before I met you, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," Chat smiled. His grin widened as he asked, "Did Firefly ever tell you who she was behind the mask?"
"I'd say that I have a pretty good idea."
There's that funny smile again, Chat thought, watching Ladybug as she answered him. I wonder if I should - nah, the new girl's almost here...
She landed a short distance from them, and Chat gave her a friendly wave, sizing her up. Maybe not so much 'girl' as 'woman'. She carries herself like she's older, more mature.
"Hello! Chat Noir and Ladybug, I presume! I am called Nightingale," she replied, in a lightly reverberating voice. "I'm very glad to meet both of you! I hope that I can help."
"So do we!" Ladybug said. "Seriously, thank you so much just for coming here to try this. We were starting to wonder if there was anyone left to turn to."
"No pressure, huh?" Nightingale quipped. "Well, I won't promise that I can fix what's wrong... but let's see if I can tell anything about what needs fixing."
Nightingale took a few moments to look Chat over, from head to toe. "Hmmm. I don't see anything leaping out at me. Papillon told me that it's some sort of... energy problem?" she asked.
"Yeah," replied Chat. "In so many words... I have an energy power from my Miraculous, and it's 'stuck on' around my right hand. It builds up over time, I discharge it by touching someone, and then I'm fine for a while. But it's very dangerous to whoever I touch when it's active."
"Ah! That might help. Let's see..." Nightingale approached Chat, reached for his right arm, then asked, "...May I?"
"Yes, but be careful. It feels all right at the moment, but..." he warned her.
"I can sense... something weird around it. I'm still trying to figure out some of the sensory input from these powers, but... yes, there's something odd about your right hand that's not there on your left," said Nightingale. "I can give this a try, if you want."
"How does this work?" asked Ladybug. "Does he have to do anything? Is there any way I can help?"
"I don't think so, on both counts. But I'm new at this..." she said, quietly, concentrating on the arm she held. "If there's anything you can think of that might help, I won't stop you," she smiled.
"I won't distract you," Ladybug replied. "Chat, if you're willing...?"
Chat took a deep breath. "I am."
"Here goes..."
Nightingale took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused on Chat's arm... and, all at once, she seemed to gather an unusual aura around herself. She glowed, very slightly; just enough to draw Ladybug's attention, like a faint shimmer in the air. She opened her mouth and began to speak slowly, her voice deep and vibrant, seemingly coming from a far different person:
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Chat's hand and forearm shimmered much in the way that the air around Nightingale did, increasing as her words grew in volume... He looked on, wide-eyed, not sure how to react.
"Are you okay, Chat?" Ladybug whispered.
"I think so," he whispered back. "It doesn't hurt at all. In fact..."
A moment later, Nightingale relaxed, and the shimmer faded. She opened her eyes and asked, hopefully, "How is it now?"
Ladybug and Nightingale looked on as Chat Noir held his hand up in the air, flexed it this way and that, shook it back and forth, with a look combining surprise and happiness on his face. "...It feels normal again!" he beamed. "The background tingle is gone!"
Oh, PLEASE let that be true! thought Ladybug. "Can you get... you know who... to confirm that?" she nudged Chat.
"Yeah, I'd better. Ladies, one moment, please..." He stepped away, going behind the elevator that ran up and down the Tower, and they saw a white flash, faintly, from behind it.
Nightingale and Ladybug stood by, waiting for Chat's return. They looked at each other, searching for what to talk about in the meantime.
"That was very pretty, what you just said to him," ventured Ladybug, as an opener.
"It is, isn't it? It's an Emily Dickinson poem, one of my favorites," Nightingale replied. "My power seems to center around language; it can be poetry, or literary passages, or song lyrics, but it feels like the emotions stirred up by strong poetry and prose manifest themselves as healing vibrations."
"Wow!" Ladybug cooed. "That's really neat!"
"It fits me very well, because when I'm not Nightingale, I'm... um... I shouldn't be telling you that, should I?" Nightingale stopped herself.
"Probably not," giggled Ladybug.
"You have a pretty laugh, Ladybug. I just can't shake the idea that... I could swear that I've met you somewhere before..."
"My turn to hide my identity," she smiled back at Nightingale. "Paris is a big city. We might have crossed paths out of costume."
"It's possible," Nightingale agreed. "Do... you have anything that needs fixing? Physical or otherwise? I mean, while I'm here."
"Nope, I'm healthy, as far as I know," confirmed Ladybug. "I had a physical examination from my regular doctor right before school started, and everything was great."
"School, hmmm? I must say that you and Chat Noir do look awfully young to be superheroes..." noted Nightingale.
"I wondered a little about that, too," Ladybug confided. "I didn't ask to be chosen, though I did volunteer once I was. Kind of like how I'm guessing you did."
"It literally flew in through my window this morning," laughed Nightingale, "my closed window! What a shock!"
They compared notes and shared laughter for another minute or two, until...
Adrien stood behind the elevator wall, staring at his hand with mild disbelief. "Plagg!" he hissed. "You know this problem much better than I do. What can you tell about it?"
The Kwami buzzed around, looking a bit surprised himself. "Well... I'm still missing a big chunk of my energy. That's still in Nathalie and we'll have to find some way to get it out of her safely. But..."
"You're killing me, Plagg. But what?" Adrien gasped.
"...But I think she actually fixed your part of the problem! It's like a bandage wrapped over a wound, but it's closed for now!" Plagg buzzed back and forth with excitement. "The energy shouldn't leak from you any more, Adrien! Not as yourself OR as Chat Noir!"
"You mean I'm CURED?"
"Not CURED cured," warned Plagg. "I wouldn't use Cataclysm any time soon if I were you! Give it time to heal properly, and there's still the Nathalie thing. But you can use both hands to hug Marinette again; you won't zap anyone by accident."
"And if I get near Nathalie?" asked Adrien, trying not to jump for joy. "Will either of us get worse?"
"That, I don't know. She'll need to get fixed like this, too, and I'm not sure if this method will work on her..." Plagg pondered, "But I guess it's worth a try!"
"I've got my life back! I think I've got my LIFE BACK!" Adrien bubbled. "Let's go tell them! CLAWS OUT!"
The grin on Chat's face told Ladybug what she wanted most to hear.
"Plagg says that it worked! Nightingale, you're a godsend!" he nearly shouted as he ran to join them.
"Thank goodness," breathed Nightingale. "I'm so new at this that I didn't know quite what to expect!"
Both Ladybug and Chat thanked her to the point of overwhelming her with their gratitude. "I'm so happy that I could help! Now, Papillon has one other job for me..." she mentioned.
They looked at each other. "I know exactly what that is, and if you succeed there... I will be eternally grateful," said Chat, a bit humbled. "You'll be fixing the biggest mistake of my life."
"I'll do my best," Nightingale promised. "If something goes wrong with... well, what I did... can you contact Papillon, and maybe he can send me out again?"
"We can do that," confirmed Ladybug. "THANK YOU! Thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!"
With a wave, Nightingale took to the air and floated off, immensely pleased by her job well done. I have a funny feeling that those two might need a little bit of privacy about now, she smiled to herself. ...They do SO seem familiar, like I know both of them... but who could they possibly be?
Once alone, Ladybug turned to Chat and both of them burst out with pure joy. "SHE DID IT!" shouted Chat. "Plagg said it still needs some healing time, so I shouldn't use Cataclysm for a while, but the dangerous part is gone!"
"Yes yes yes yes YES!" bubbled Ladybug. "Oh, I am so HAPPY for you!" She leaned in and hugged him tightly, actually taking Chat off his feet for a moment before he recovered his balance. Chat returned her embrace, and soon felt her shuddering slightly against him.
"Are you..." he asked, softly. Is she CRYING? "Are you all right, Ladybug?"
"It's happy crying, okay? I was just... so worried... all this time... that this was going to get worse and worse and I was going to lose you," Ladybug managed. "I'm so happy that you're going to be okay... I couldn't lose you, Adrien. I just couldn't."
"You won't, Ladybug," he said, holding her tight. "I promise you that. I..."
A moment passed in silence, as spoken words sank in.
"Ladybug?" Chat asked, quietly.
"Yeah?"
"How do you know that my name is Adrien?"
Ladybug's face froze... then turned as scarlet as her costume. AUUUUUGH! she screamed, internally.
"That... just slipped out," she admitted, sheepishly. "I can't believe I just said that! I'm just... so..."
She laid her head down on Adrien's shoulder. "That was not how I meant that to come out," she groaned.
"I'm not mad, Ladybug! I'm not! I'm... not very good at hiding my identity. Even Nightingale probably figured it out, that fast," Chat consoled her, while processing the situation in his head. "But... there's something else going on here, isn't there?"
"What's that?" Ladybug turned her head and smiled at him, knowing that she'd been caught and she wasn't wriggling out of this one.
"You and I are good friends, Ladybug," he asked her with a curious smile, calculations going on behind his eyes, "but we're not CLOSE close. Not like that, not yet. Not crying-for-joy close."
"Adrien Agreste," Ladybug whispered, "you and I are a lot closer than you know. And now that you're finally safe, and now that I just blew your secret, there's something else that you really ought to know."
At his look of surprise, she leaned back slightly and added, "Change back for me. Right here."
"Claws in," he obeyed, and her blonde angel was in her arms.
"Spots off," Ladybug said, with a huge grin on her face.
It was a bit too early for sunset; it wasn't expected in Paris for a little over an hour.
But, to this day, many Parisians who happened to look up at the right time swear that, in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, the sky lit up in the most beautiful way late on that particular afternoon.
Across town, Papillon slumped back in his office chair, allowing the events to sink in. The sense of relief that swept through him was overwhelming.
There is nothing quite like the sensation of a clever plan coming together, he congratulated himself. Though we're only halfway there, and Nathalie's side of the problem may not be quite as easy to overcome... the method worked! I have SAVED MY SON!
Grinning from ear to ear, he activated the telepathic link with Nightingale. "WELL done, Nightingale!" he beamed to her. "I could not be more pleased with you right now."
"Thank you, Papillon!" she replied. "I, um... are you sure about that? I don't think that I cured him, entirely..."
"I did not expect you to be able to do that. Not yet," Papillon explained. "Think of it this way. If your house is flooding, there are many things that must be done to restore order. But the first and most important is to shut off the flow of water. To patch the hole through which it is pouring... and that is what you just accomplished! That boy's very life was in danger, as was that of anyone close to him. If you can do the same for the other sufferer, I can get the two of them to someone who can repair the underlying problem."
"Good. I'll do my best," answered Nightingale. "I do have to ask... are those two heroes that I just met powered like I am? With butterflies, I mean?"
Hmmm... how candid should I be? considered Papillon. Getting her to my house without spoiling my identify - or theirs, for that matter - will be threading a needle of sorts.
"They are not, or at least not by me," he began. "I can only speak for the boy for sure; I know his power source, and it is of a type similar to what powers me. More permanent, in other words. The girl is almost assuredly much the same, but I was not involved at all in her selection."
"Papillon... they're kids! Teenagers! If they have the kind of world-changing power you've given me - and from what you're saying, even greater still - who puts that kind of responsibility in their hands? I'm overwhelmed by the potential of my own powers, and mine are only temporary!" Nightingale's tone of voice sounded quite concerned.
"Again, it was not of my doing," Papillon assured her. "The boy was not so much selected as... self-appointed, let's put it that way. I can vouch for his good character, but he faces something of a reckoning for his actions. The girl... She was selected by someone else, and while I do not know her as well yet, something tells me that I shall."
"Well, I suppose I can't argue with that too much... Where should I go next, Papillon?" she asked.
Papillon sighed. It's probably better to put my identity at risk than to chance moving Nathalie now, he thought. She's stressed enough. "An... acquaintance of mine has a valued assistant, and she is the second person for whom your powers are needed. Do you know the Agreste mansion, on the north side?"
"I do," said Nightingale, with some surprise. "In fact, his son is one of my students this year."
"This could be quite the parent-teacher conference, then," smirked Papillon. "Please proceed there. The woman's name is Nathalie Sancoeur, and the following is what you need to know about her condition..."
In another part of town, a tiny green being flitted back and forth, trying to decide what to do.
Should I disturb the Master? Wayzz pondered. He is meditating at the moment, very deeply, and I do not wish to disrupt his ritual.
He concentrated, briefly, and his mood became even more unsettled. But these energies I'm sensing are unusual, to say the least! Something happened with Plagg, and it feels... positive? A step in the right direction. But who has the power to modify Miraculous energies at all?
...I think that it's all right for the moment. I will wake him if something more dramatic happens.
Two teenagers laid side-by-side on a small platform, high above the city of Paris, holding hands, ridiculously happy, in a state of complete peace with their world.
Adrien's grin was possibly a permanent fixture. "So you've been right there watching over me this whole time?" he laughed. "I mean, of course you have! I just didn't know you were doing that in THREE different ways!"
"Uh-huh," Marinette glowed, melting into him. "I'm pretty hard to escape from these days."
"It was you who came and fetched me off of that tall building... And saved me from Nathalie's attack... And you were so sweet to me all those other times..."
"Not a problem!" she purred. "You can spend all the time you like making it up to me," she added, then burst into giggles.
"You can count on that," said Adrien, giving her hand a squeeze. He rolled over slightly to face her, then asked, "I feel like I should have figured it out on my own... but why didn't you tell me before now?"
Marinette lowered her eyes slightly. "Well... I wasn't supposed to, you know? These things are supposed to be secrets. I'm sure Plagg told you not to tell anyone, right?"
"YES, he did," the tiny Kwami heckled, sitting on a nearby girder next to Tikki. "But he didn't have to tell you. Everybody just figures it out before he can."
"I'm NEW at this!", Adrien yelled back, getting a raspberry from Plagg. "Does anyone else know yours, Marinette?"
"My parents know. They actually opened my Miraculous box first!" she began.
"And I don't know who was more surprised, " laughed Tikki. "You, me or them."
"Mylene figured it out, after the Dreadnaught thing. I think that's it..." continued Marinette. "Oh! And... I didn't tell him, but I think your dad figured me out."
"Really?" Adrien marveled. "Well, he did get to know you from your being Firefly... but when do you think he knew?"
"He dropped a big hint that he knew after I talked to him in the bakery this morning. He saw how protective I was of you, he knows we're together, he saw Ladybug defend Chat the night before... I like to think that I'm not making it TOO obvious, but he's a very smart man," Marinette answered.
"Yes, he is. And I really hope that he and your parents get along well after they cure Nathalie," said Adrien. "It'll make 'us' so much easier."
"Ohhh, that's the only downside of you two getting fixed up," groaned Marinette. "You're going to end up moving out of my houuuuuse!"
"Marinette," Adrien grinned, "your boyfriend can say two words and then use rooftops as stepping stones. Do you think that you COULD keep me away? Just listen for three knocks on your balcony hatch."
"Or you could just keep one of your windows open," Marinette flirted back, "and see how often a cute little bug flies through it."
Gabriel knocked gently at Nathalie's door. "Are you awake?" he called, quietly.
"I am," she responded. "That was a nice nap."
"How are you feeling?" he asked her. "I have a pleasant surprise for you."
"Kind of... not bad yet, but right on the edge of it?" Nathalie said. "The vial helped, but only a little. What's happened?"
"I took the liberty of sending out a new butterfly, and the new host has healing powers. Would you believe that Adrien appears to be out of danger?"
"That's wonderful, Gabriel!" she said, with genuine happiness on her face. "He's been cured? Will it work on me?"
"Improved, I suspect, not cured. But the big problem, that the energy kept leaking out and building up uncontrollably... that has improved. Even his Kwami confirmed that much." Gabriel sat down next to Nathalie on the edge of her bed. "And the host - she's known as Nightingale - is on her way here right now, to see if she can help you as well."
"Oh, I hope so! That could mean that Adrien could come home!" replied Nathalie. "I know just how much you've wanted that!"
"And that YOU would be out of danger, as well. Which is something else that I have wanted very much," he smiled.
"I... appreciate that," she said, feeling blood rushing to her face, trying hard not to overreact. You know perfectly well that he's a complete professional AND a married man, Nathalie, she told herself, even if the state of his wife is... complicated. You both know that he is simply being compassionate. "When are you expecting her?"
A quiet ping on his smartwatch announced to Gabriel that a visitor had arrived at the front door. "Immediately, it would appear," he replied. "Shall we meet her?"
"Yes, let's," Nathalie said, then arose and walked slowly to the front atrium with Gabriel.
Nightingale entered the mansion, a bit nervously. Gabriel did his best to feign mild surprise at her costumed appearance.
"My... goodness!" he exclaimed. "You must be the superhero Papillon told me about. Your costume is... actually, quite artfully designed!"
"Thank you! From a fashion magnate like you, that's quite the compliment," she smiled. "And you would be Nathalie?"
"I am. I'm hoping that you'll have as much success as you had with Chat Noir," Nathalie replied. "But anything will be an improvement."
"Come," Gabriel said, "let's go somewhere comfortable for this." He led them to a a room in the back of the house, one where the family sometimes went to watch television or catch up on reading.
Nathalie sat down on a sofa and asked, "What do I need to do?" nervously.
"You shouldn't have to do anything, other than relax," assured Nightingale. "It was pretty easy to do with Chat Noir, and... let's see..." She took Nathalie's extended arm, carefully, and looked it over for about a minute. "Structurally, it looks similar to how Chat Noir's looked. I'll see if I can perform the same kind of repair."
She smiled at Nathalie, trying to ease her obvious tension. "My power works through the spoken word. I think something inspirational might work here... I can tell that you're a strong woman at heart. I'll try some Longfellow."
Nightingale took a deep breath, and began:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
The energy shimmered around Nightingale, as before. Nathalie looked down at her arm, watching it tingle and glow... then glow brighter, a golden color, with sparkles of purple within. "Is it supposed to... crackle like that?" she asked.
Nightingale's frown hinted to her that it was not. "Maybe... I'll try something else, something more tranquil." Undaunted, she shifted to Wordsworth:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
"I like that one," Nathalie said, just above a whisper. "It was in a poetry collection I had back in college." She smiled, but the energy shifted slowly from gold to darker shades, with the purple sparks intensifying.
Gabriel looked on with some alarm. "Nightingale, are you all right?" he asked. "Should we stop?" But this HAS to work. We are so CLOSE!
Nightingale gritted her teeth. "Come on, Nathalie, we can do this. I can FEEL that it's working! Fight it with me." She shifted to one of Shakespeare's most inspirational passages:
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian...
Gabriel's concern grew with each passing moment... but was interrupted by a loud alert from his phone. He looked at it quickly, and saw:
[INCOMING CALL - Fu Wang]
He answered it, hesitantly. "Hello, I can't really talk right n-," he began.
"WHAT in the WORLD are you DOING?" snapped a familiar, accented voice. "My Kwami noticed some small disturbances earlier today. But he is going insane right now and woke me up in a complete panic. What are you attempting, Gabriel?"
As quickly as he could, Gabriel described the creation of Nightingale, what had happened with Chat Noir, that a second repair operation was in progress, and how.
"Gabriel. LISTEN to me. I understand why you have done this, but attempting this with Nathalie could be extremely dangerous!" insisted Master Fu.
"You have my attention. What could happen?" asked Gabriel, with growing dread, readying himself to stop the procedure.
"Think of it as a chemistry experiment. She closed the hole in Chat Noir's system. The power has another, more natural way out of him - through Plagg and his Miraculous. Follow me so far?" instructed Fu, rapidly.
"Yes... I think."
"Nathalie doesn't have anything like that... So you're closing the hole. AND you're pouring new energy into her system. A system that's corrupted, with half a Cataclysm already boiling inside it. Where does that energy go?"
Gabriel stiffened. "She's not going to EXPLODE, is she?" he barked, drawing a very startled glance from Nathalie. Nightingale's concentration remained focused on her recitation.
"No! I mean, I hope not! But it may cause a major backlash! And if that happens - quickly, Gabriel! Look at what Nightingale's doing. What do you see?"
Nightingale's voice was reaching a crescendo, shouting out the words of Shakespeare, as the energy surrounding Nathalie continued to darken and flare up:
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition -
Suddenly, her voice cracked, and her posture was visibly uncomfortable. "This... isn't right... I... PAPILLON! HELP ME! Please!" Nightingale shouted.
The room lit up all at once. Gabriel shouted "NOOROO, SPREAD YOUR WINGS!" and was engulfed in a white flash... but at the same time, a dark purple storm of energy erupted from Nathalie and engulfed Nightingale, who screamed loudly!
"...Gabriel?" called Master Fu, urgently, already knowing that it was too late.
Papillon recoiled, overwhelmed by the explosive outburst. He opened his eyes after a moment and, slowly, his vision began to focus.
The first thing that he saw was the sofa, overturned, with Nathalie sprawled out over it. "NATHALIE!" he shouted, but she appeared to be unconscious. He ran to her, mouthing a silent prayer, and was relieved to find that she was still breathing, though unresponsive.
"Oh, no... Oh, NO... Stay with me, Nathalie... Nightingale! Are you all right?" He turned his head, rapidly, searching for a cloaked figure in brown and white -
...and found a cloaked figure in black, instead.
"That bird has flown, Papillon," its voice intoned, deep and menacing and reverberating. "And what has taken its place will not be so easy to cage."
"...What?" managed Papillon, in shock. This costumed figure was nearly a complete reversal of color; black as coal, a dark cloak that reflected flashes of deep purple when the light caught it, blood red over the upper chest.
"I should thank you, really," she said. "You are responsible for all that led to this unleashed power! So I will not destroy you... yet. But as for using my gift to heal and comfort the innocent? Quoth the Black Raven... NEVERMORE!"
She strode over and cast a glance at the fallen Nathalie. "YOU'VE had enough fun for one afternoon, I think. So here's something to remember me by..." With a gesture, she blasted Nathalie with a stream of black feathers from her outstretched arm and cloak, each one hitting with a purple spark that caused Nathalie's body to jump and twitch!
"STOP IT! PLEASE!" begged Papillon, trying to cover her with his own body. "What is it that you want?"
"I want to spread my... gift... over my city, and find some livelier prey. I will do such things, what they are, yet I know not: but they shall be the terrors of the earth." Ignoring Papillon's protests, the woman turned and floated away, leaving him cradling Nathalie in his arms.
"Nathalie, wake up! Are you..." Papillon began, then recoiled in horror as he saw her left arm begin to pulse with black energy, as it had previously. In fear of her touch, he laid her down as gently as he could manage on the sofa back, then took two steps back himself.
He held his phone in his hand, hearing Master Fu calling his name through it, but had absolutely no idea how to begin to respond to all of this. No idea at all.
Marinette closed her eyes, soaking in the moment some more. For the first time since this entire hero business started, she thought, I feel like everything in my life is lining up again. Things are starting to make sense. My world is...
Her phone rang, and she cast a quick glance at it. Whoa! It's from Master Fu's number, the one that Tikki had typed in! she realized. She answered it with a curious "...Hello?"
"Hello! You are needed, immediately! We have a terrible situation. Bring Tikki in front of the phone so that she can hear me. She doesn't show up on phones or cameras, so tell me when she is there," a solemn voice insisted.
"Tikki? I need you, quickly," Marinette called over to her. I don't like the sound of this at all, she thought. He didn't even ask if I was alone right now, and he sounds scared!
Tikki floated over, wondering what the fuss was about, then stiffened when she saw Master Fu's face on the screen. "She's here," Marinette said.
Adrien watched, curious, as Marinette and Tikki listened to what sounded like rapid-fire orders from her phone. Marinette's turning quite pale was not a particularly good omen for whatever it was that she was hearing.
She hung up, looking stunned. Adrien ventured, "...What was that all about?"
Marinette answered, hesitantly, "I need to get to your house as quickly as I can... but without you with me."
"And why would you do that, and why without me?" asked Adrien, looking quite alarmed.
"Something may have gone very wrong in trying to cure Nathalie! Not only might she be unstable, but Nightingale might have been corrupted," replied Marinette. "Ladybug needs to investigate, fast, but if Nathalie is dangerous again, we can't chance her getting her hands on you!"
"And Nathalie may actually be the lesser of our problems right now," interjected Tikki, making both teens whirl around. "If what happened to Nightingale is what I think it is... Ladybug, you're about to learn a whole new aspect of your powers, and Chat Noir, we'll need you more than ever, right now."
Tikki took a deep breath. "Chat, when your accident happened, part of Cataclysm was stuck in Nathalie... but Nooroo was involved, too. A tiny bit of his energies was mixed in, as well, and I think that bit of transformation energy got corrupted by everything that's happened to her... and it's in Nightingale now, and now she's something else entirely! The Moth is among the most dangerous Miraculous when misused. Used properly, it can create amazing superheroes... but I think you're about to meet your first supervillain."
"So, shouldn't we take her on together?" mused Adrien. "Especially if she might be that dangerous?"
"Adrien, your father's not answering his phone, and Nathalie is with him. Someone has to check on them, but if Nathalie is in a wild state again, we can't risk having you close to her yet!" worried Marinette. "You just got healed, the energy's still not right inside you..."
Plagg jumped in, saying, "But we will need Ladybug to fight the villain." Quickly, Tikki and Plagg gave a quick primer on what an Akuma was, and how Ladybug's purification power was the only way to restore its victim to normal.
"So it goes like this," continued Plagg. "Ladybug, you'll need to get to Gabriel and Nathalie. Find out everything you can. Then find the villain, and fast! Chat Noir, you'll need to track down the villain NOW, and keep her away from civilians in the meantime! Lead her on a merry chase until Ladybug arrives, then work together. And be careful! We don't know what she can do!"
"Dance around, don't engage directly, figure out what I can about her powers without getting zapped. Got it," Adrien said, grimly.
"The woman inside is a victim, not a killer. We need to save her as much as we do anyone else," directed Tikki. "But the villain persona possessing her... that could be really bad news."
Quickly, the pair transformed. Chat pulled Ladybug close and told her, "Watch yourself. I won't take any chances, so don't you, either."
"I'll make sure they're safe. I'll find you as soon as I can," she whispered. "Stay safe."
They shared a soft kiss... then took off in different directions.
Chat Noir scanned the city as he leapt from roof to roof, looking for signs of whoever was out there. If I was a normal person, and all of a sudden there was someone in a costume attacking people or destroying things... I'd RUN, he reasoned. So I think that I need to look for chaos and follow it to its source. Then... I'll figure something out.
As he approached the Montmartre district, he found the disorder he was looking for. To his horror, along with running and screaming figures, he saw several others either unconscious or twitching on the ground.
Atop the Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur, a dark-cloaked figure surveyed her sinister handiwork with pride, and declared it to the world around her:
"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head!"
"White head? You were a redhead when I met you earlier," a young voice called out. "But only your hairdresser knows for sure, I guess."
"Impudence is the worst of all human diseases," the woman declared. "Dare you match wits with ME, young man? My tongue is sharp, and grows keener with use."
"I'll take my chances. I'm hard to catch, and harder to hold," Chat taunted her. "Or you could just surrender now and save us both the trouble..."
In answer, she rose up and took flight in his direction. Time to move, Chat thought. Agility, don't fail me now...
Ladybug arrived at the Agreste mansion as quickly as she could manage. The front door was hanging wide open, a bad omen.
She edged her way forward, not sure what to expect, until she found Gabriel Agreste kneeling down in a room in the rear. "Mr. Agreste?" she called, softly. "Are you all right?"
Gabriel looked up, startled. He replied, "It's you," quietly, then looked down again.
Ladybug stepped forward, gingerly, and cringed when she came around the end of the overturned sofa. She saw Gabriel kneeling over a semiconscious Nathalie... with a dark, noxious energy swirling around her once more. The energy was thinner than it had been the night before, at least, but the situation was clearly dire.
"Mr. Agreste?" she ventured. "You might want to step back, just a little bit-"
"No. I will not leave her," he snapped. "This is my fault. I will not leave her to suffer alone."
"Can you tell me what happened? If what I'm told is true, it might be possible for me to reverse some of this, but I need to know as much about what I'll be facing as I can."
Gabriel related to her what Nightingale's powers had been - "though, obviously, you know that much, you saw her up close" - and how her attempt to heal Nathalie had backfired. "Mr. Wang tried to warn me, moments too late... but I should have known better than to make the attempt. I keep playing with mystical toys like a child with a matchbook, and as always, those I care for pay the price."
He grimaced, "She called herself Black Raven now. She could have simply left; I had no way to stop her. She blasted Nathalie for the sheer malicious glee of it on her way out. Her voice is as potent as ever, and she pelted Nathalie with some kind of devilish feathers."
"Can you send out another butterfly, something tuned to counter what Black Raven can do?" Ladybug asked.
"No, I can't," Gabriel replied. "I can have only one out at a time, and no matter how hard I concentrate, I can't seem to contact or control her!"
"Sir... we're going to try our hardest. Chat Noir wouldn't be as healthy as he is now without what you had done," Ladybug tried to reassure him. "I've been told that what happened might have corrupted the butterfly's energy in Nightingale, and that if we can free it, I can purify it and try to reverse what her new identity has done. That may help Nathalie recover. When you first made contact with Nightingale, do you remember what it was that the butterfly touched?"
"I..." Gabriel's eyes glazed over. "I'm not sure. She had reached out with a finger... I do not think that she touched it; it touched her... jewelry she had on, perhaps? I'm sorry, I cannot say for sure."
"It gives me something to go on. That's a start," she replied. "Mr. Agreste... can I do anything here to help?"
"No, child. Go, rejoin Chat Noir, follow the plan you just mentioned. I will keep in contact with Mr. Wang. If things get worse here, I will let you know... may I text you?" he asked.
Ladybug smiled, slowly. "You do know, don't you?" she stated, very plainly.
"I know that you are my son's perfect match, no matter which name you go by," Gabriel replied, with a hint of a smile. "And that your putting yourself in harm's way, as you have done repeatedly for our benefit, will not be forgotten by me. Ever."
They looked at each other... weighed each other's emotions... and then, out of pure reflex, each leaned forward into a hug.
"We are going to fix this, Mr. Agreste. All of this. I will find a way," Ladybug whispered.
"If anyone can, I feel like it would be you," he whispered back. "Go. Good luck, and be safe. Please."
With renewed purpose, Ladybug shot out of the Agreste mansion as if shot out of a cannon. Her thoughts on what had just happened, particularly a refrain of OH MY GOD GABRIEL AGRESTE JUST HUGGED ME that was bound to echo in her skull at a later time, were put on a rear shelf in her mind for now.
Nothing beyond setting these things right could possibly matter now.
Next time:
* "Cat vs. Bird! Who do you think wins this fight?"
* "You CAN'T! Not NOW!"
* Frying pan, meet fire.
* "Yes, his life is in danger... And millions of others."
* "I'm... not really seeing what I'm seeing... am I?"