Chapter 9
-Luka-
That was close. Luka had almost lost her. He was lucky that speedy cat had appeared and taken the hit. But he still felt resentful that Chat had referred to Marinette as 'my Princess'. Luka could tell there was definitely a story or a few stories behind that. He guided Marinette down into the subway underneath the chaotic street where the battle was raging. He felt his skin crawl as he heard the superhero catcalling Dark Rider. More explosions of the nasty black bombs shook the earth above them as well as the screams of captive civilians. He turned to Marinette, and he saw that the noise was plaguing her too. "Marinette, are you okay?" Luka asked her. She was shuddering with her eyes squished shut. She nodded in response but it seemed as though the sounds from above were piercing her. But all of a sudden, she opened her eyes. "Luka, the bathroom! We have to hide!" She turned in a flash and ran into the women's room a short stride away. Marinette pulled open the door and Luka didn't know what to do. He wanted to protect her, but she was hiding someplace he couldn't exactly follow. She seemed to read his thoughts. "There's a men's room around the corner, go in there!" "But Chat Noir said-" "Luka I'll be fine!" She implored with her big blue eyes. He gave in, running around the corner and opening the door to the men's room, pulling it shut behind him.
-Marinette
Now she could figure out what was going on. Tiki zoomed out of her purse, "Did you feel that too, Marinette?" She asked, and Marinette nodded, "it was like a strange pulsing coming from above. What was it?" "A distress signal," Tiki answered, "Chat Noir needs your help! He's only got bad luck without you!" "Then we'd better get out there! Tiki spots on!" The transformation was swift and Ladybug soon bounded out of the bathroom, sprinting up the stairs to join her partner.
-Chat Noir
He was in trouble. Dark Rider had cornered him, and he really needed help. He was lucky Dark Rider was a dramatic, or Hawkmoth would have his miraculous by now. The villain struck again with a black whip, the same kind of rope he'd been using to trap civilians to his carriage. He dodged to the side, deflecting the blow with his staff, leaping up and over Dark Rider to the other side. As the akuma whirled around, Chat surveyed him, looking for any object that possibly held the akuma. Dark Rider was dressed in all black carrying only his whip. His carriage was behind Chat, still bearing a long string of captured people. Chat turned and ran toward the carriage. Maybe there was something inside. He jumped over it, sneaking a look inside, but only saw the basic insides. Hmmm. He heard Dark Rider behind him, preparing another bomb to chuck at him. He waited, timing his next move, leaping up in his staff as the bomb flew to where he'd been standing and hit the building behind instead.
Chat vaulted onto the building, taking off across the buildings. If he couldn't find the akuma yet without Ladybug, then he could at least defend his Princess by luring the villain away. Sure enough, he heard Dark Rider taking off in his carriage behind him and the sounds of his bombs exploding behind him. Now where in the world was his Lady?
-Ladybug
Ladybug stood outside the subway, looking up in the air as the villain was pursuing Chat across the rooftops. She started off after them, calling Chat on her yo-yo. He picked up almost immediately. "Hello Bugaboo, glad you made it." "Nice to see you too Chat, looks like you've made a new friend." He laughed a little at that, "Yeah we're getting along gr-" his last word was cut off by the sound of another of Dark Rider's bombs. "Do you have any idea where the akuma is?" Ladybug asked. It took Chat a second to answer, "I couldn't find a single particular object, so I think it might be in the carriage itself." "Good idea! I'll look at it! See you in a second!" She ended the call, and picked up her pace so she could catch up.
Ladybug leapt to the side, swinging her yo-yo in front of her and slinging herself until she was running beside Chat. "All right, I'm here." She said. He didn't even flinch, he'd been waiting for her. "Where to m'lady?" "A classic spot," she laughed, "I find the view most beautiful there," she answered, and Chat nodded in understanding. "One more thing," Ladybug smiled, "Lucky Charm!" She called and a rescue trampoline firefighters use fell into her hands. Gazing around behind them, and what grew larger in front of them, Ladybug knew what to do. "Meet you there!" She called to Chat before ducking into the street below.
Ladybug talked to the man at the bottom of Dark Riders chain of prisoners and told him the plan. She zoomed back ahead of Dark Rider lagging back a bit as Chat climbed up with the help of his staff. She set down the rescue trampoline at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower as Dark Rider sped up after Chat under the Tower , the man on the end grabbing hold of Ladybug's yo-yo tied to the leg of the tower. Dark Rider tried to zoom up after Chat, but the pull coming from beneath him allowed gravity to take over. He let out a scream as he fell toward the ground, and Chat dove down after him, summoning his cataclysm and touching the carriage. It dissolved to dust freeing the akuma and they all fell toward the ground, Ladybug holding up the rescue trampoline. The prisoners bounced off to the ground unharmed, and Ladybug snatched up her yo-yo and captured the akuma before flinging her trampoline into the air calling "Miraculous Ladybug!" releasing all the magical ladybugs that restored all the damage. She held out her fist to Chat, who'd landed on his feet. "Pound it!"
-Chat Noir-
Here she was. As amazing as ever. She still had time, three minutes. Was it possible she would linger a moment longer? But Chat hesitated for too long. "M'lady-" he started, but she was already taking off right after the fistbump. She didn't seem to hear him as she sped off, and Chat sighed. Maybe she had somewhere to be. He turned to the man sitting on the ground, the real person behind Dark Rider. "So what happened?" he asked, "I was getting mocked by people flaking out on hiring me that I guess I kinda snapped. I'm sorry Chat Noir. Will you refer my apologies to Ladybug?" Chat nodded, "Don't let them get in your head. Keep your chin up." He waved and started off for home, muttering to himself, "That's what I always have to do."
He landed back to fencing, where he found out class had been cancelled. Adrien found himself in the back of the car, going back home with the Gorilla. When he reached his room, he put his phone out playing the piano piece he was supposed to be practicing and sat down on the couch, grudgingly continuing work on his project with Marinette. But after a few minutes of pointlessness, Plagg zoomed out with another slice of cheese shaking his head. "Seriously kid, you've got it bad." "Well what am I supposed to do, Plagg? What do you recommend?" The kwami grinned, "My guess is that you really want to hear that song, to go after your 'Princess'." "Is that what you think I should do?" He asked the kwami. "Up to you," Plagg shrugged, "But if I was you, I wouldn't want to be working on a project right now." Adrien let out a short laugh, "All right, let's get going. Plagg, claws out!"
-Marinette-
She ducked back into the bathroom, stopping to take a few heaving breaths. Tiki settled back into her purse and she composed herself. Marinette cracked open the door and looked out at the rest of the subway. People were calming down and scavenging the remainder of their day. She saw Luka looking around, he'd left the bathroom and she was pretty sure he was looking for her. She stepped out and called his name, "Luka! I'm right here!" He turned to her and all the worry left his mind as he ran to her. "I was so worried about you!" he said, hugging her tight, not realizing that he'd just given her an emotional heart attack. "I'm okay," she managed to say as he let her go and just looked at her. He seemed speechless, which began an awkward pause. "So do you want to go to your house now?" Marinette asked, breaking the silence. "Oh my gosh I nearly forgot!" he laughed, and took her hand. "All right, let's go." And together they walked up the steps of the subway, both of them trying to put aside what had just happened.
AN: Sorry about the late posting. I had to write this from my phone today. I'm not super good at writing action shots. Hope you still like it! Posting tomorrow might be super late, it's New Year's Day, I'm sleeping in. Have a Miraculous 2019!