Chapter 1: Akuma Victim

The flight from Gotham to Paris felt like an eternity. An average flight from America to France did take about 7 hours, and that was if the plane didn't need to make any stops first. The Riddler's flight had taken over nine hours and thirty-five minutes in total, the journey lasting longer than usual thanks to a short stop in another country to refuel. This of course had agitated the puzzle-master for he'd been keen to get away from Gotham as quickly as possible. Any delay meant that if by the off-chance Batman knew what was happening, he could catch up. But nine hours had passed and he'd seen no sign of the caped crusader. Not even so much as a Batwing flying after him. It was quite possible he had gotten away unnoticed after all and Batman would never know that he was no longer in the country.

That didn't make The Riddler any less relieved when the plane touched down in France at last, arriving at Charles De Gaulle Airport at 9:00 AM French time. The riddle-obsessed criminal wasn't too pleased to be arriving at night time. He hated the night for it reminded him too much of Batman and made him fear that if he so much as stepped out of the plane, the vigilante would come for him. But he didn't need to worry. Batman was in America, thousands of miles away from France. He was safe.

As soon as the plane had landed and parked near the airport building, the passengers had all disembarked from the craft and entered the facility. In a matter of moments, the passengers had all exited the plane, collected their luggage and headed off to go their own seperate ways. Some went out to find their cars so they could go home, others waited for taxis to take them to their holiday destinations. The Riddler, who had his suitcase with him, was waiting for a taxi to take him to somewhere that was not a holiday destination. In fact, it wouldn't even appear on a map of France for nobody knew it existed. Before he had left Gotham, the question-master had arranged for a safe house to be built for him as a place of sanctuary and thanks to his valuable resources, he was able to make the right contacts in France to arrange such a thing.

He stood outside waiting for his contact to pull up in a taxi and deliver him there. He had to take off his purple-lens glasses so he could see properly. Having them on made it too dark to see in the Paris night. He checked his watch impatiently, seeing that he'd been waiting for ten minutes. His taxi driver should be here by now! What was taking him?

"Incompetents...can't rely on any shaved monkey to arrive on time can I?!" he scowled, "If he's a minute later than he should be, I'll test my safe house's features on him!"

He gazed at his wrist watch and his eyes narrowed sharply as he saw the tiniest hand on the watch wiz by from one, then to two, then to three, then to four, then to five...

BEEP!

"AH!" The Riddler yelped in shock as a car horn blew him out of his weird trance. Turning to his right, he saw that the Taxi had arrived, gesturing at him with his finger to get in. The so called genius sighed and patted his watch with a calm smile.

"Only about half a minute, he's been spared of any unbearable pain." he muttered to himself quietly as he walked over to the taxi and hopped on inside, placing his suitcase next to him, before looking up at the driver. The driver was a Frenchman and although he avoided the stereotypical image of one, he wore a black beret on his head. He had a thick moustache that made him look like he had a thick brush attached above his lip rather than an actual moustache. The Riddler knew his real name and what his occupation had been before he'd been hired but he didn't bother to address those points. They were irrelevant.

"You know where to take me, yes?" he questioned steadily.

"Oui, to zee safe house, no?" the taxi driver replied as he gazed at the Riddler's reflection in the mirror in front of him.

"Where do I want to go? A snail eating restaurant? You know I want to go to the safe house, so step on it!" The Riddler barked, frustrated he already encountered a complete dimwit, who happened to be his contact of all people.

The driver nodded, his eyes widened slightly at the outburst of his passenger "Oui, Oui, onto it." With a nervous foot on the pedal, the driver took off down the road at a calm speed, trying not to let his nerves get the best of him. The Riddler smiled and leaned back into his chair "Ah, good man." With that polite comment to the driver, the criminal genius looked out of the window with a look of admiration in his eyes. Even though it was dark, Paris's buildings certainly had a look of pure beauty to them, so unlike Gotham back across the Atlantic pond. Oh, he was so excited to put his plans into action.

"My new lair, my safe house, will be the perfect place to test my new puzzles for Batman..." he purred to himself, "I'll get some unlucky moron who dares to ask questions about me or some unfortunate idiot who has no idea about me and put them through hell to test how my devices work and then I'll get my contacts in Gotham to replicate my safe house there so I can use the same traps on Batman!"

The crazed lunatic began to giggle childishly, suggesting badly that he needed a lot of help. He didn't need to laugh to indicate he needed help already. The driver thought that his client belonged in a mental hospital rather than in his own vehicle but he didn't dare to object. He'd rather walk him with the paycheck The Riddler had promised him then be put out of a job.

"And since Batman has no idea I'm here, I'll be able to do all of this without him knowing what I'm up to and by the time his primitive brain figures it out, oh, ho, ho...it'll be too late!" The Riddler cried out.

"You want to kill ze Batman?" the driver asked curiously, "Is zat what zis is all about monsieur?"

"Don't ask questions, just drive you ill-educated chimpanzee!" the quiz-master snapped.

"Yes monsieur, of course..." the driver muttered, irked by his client's rude behaviour.

The Riddler just smiled and lay back in his seat as the car cruised down the road. But little did the ill-minded genius know that the Dark Knight was already hot on his tail, for Bruce Wayne was only an hour behind him on his private jet. That and he crossed onto the turf of Ladybug's and Chat Noir's. Speaking of which...

At the Agreste Mansion, Adrien was just finishing off his latest set of homework topics, mostly about history. This one was about the Crusade during the time of King Richard and his Templar Allies doing their famous battle across the Holy Land. Adrien really loved history, as it amazed him to see what had occurred in the world long before the time the famous First and Second World Wars occurred. He just wished his father could've spent a bit of time with him on this...

"I wonder what dad's stance on history is?" he murmured, "I wonder if he finds it as fascinating as I do..."

"Given how much of a robot your dad is, I'll be amazed if he finds ANYTHING fascinating!" Plagg snickered teasingly.

"Gee, thanks for the knife Plagg." Adrien sighed irritably, his eyes narrowing into a glare of pure annoyance. He already knew how much his father seemed detached from the real world, he didn't need a bad joke to emphasize the point!

The feline-kwami recoiled, suddenly realizing that his joke had been a low blow and he'd pushed the wrong button on his friend. He maybe laid-back and lazy but even Plagg knew when he was going too far and looked down guiltily.

"Gosh...I'm sorry." he said, "I forget just how much your dad's lack of presence in your life really brings you down...I really went outta line there."

The rich teen softened his gaze. He couldn't stay mad at Plagg, not when he was so sincere on how much he didn't mean any harm. He reached out a hand and patted the kwami's head softly.

"I forgive you." he said softly, "We all have a moment where we make a bad joke and upset people. You didn't mean it bud."

Plagg sighed in relief "Phew, thanks for that. A moment there I thought I'd be tossed in the litter box as punishment" he joked, gaining a smirk from Adrien.

"Heh, I think I could come up with something a lot better than that to punish you" he teased, gaining a chuckle from the kitten like Kwami.

"Better not find out what that is, then, heh..." he trailed off as he then thought of something. It was not often he'd be that considerate, given he was a lazy sod most of the time, but Adrien did treat him well and it was only best he suggest something that could help him go forward.

He looked up at his holder "Say, why don't you just go and knock on your dad's door, ask him if he'd like to check out some history with ya" he made the suggestion right then and there, not knowing how the blonde teen would react.

Adrien merely shrugged, seeing that idea would be really difficult to carry out as he was often too nervous to approach his father, who often regarded him with a stern stare from his icy blue eyes and harsh words. It was such a mystery as to why he changed so suddenly...sure, his mother had something to do with it, but it couldn't kill Gabriel to at least give his son a soft smile and spend some time with him now and again. Still, a tiny, brave smile tugged at his handsome young face.

"I guess it's worth a shot. I mean, he's got quite a few books in his office, maybe we could look at them together" he suggested, more to himself than Plagg, who made a tiny grin in response.

"That's what I like to hear! Go on, partner, give it a blast!" He exclaimed his encouraging words to further usher the boy into facing his father. Maybe it would be the beginning of something new.

Just as Adrien bounced off his bed and swung his door open, he found himself coming to a halt as he saw Nathalie coming down the hallway towards him. She seemed as surprised as he was to see the other.

"Oh, uh, hey Nathalie. Everything okay?" he asked, being polite as always. Though she was stern with him, she was very caring towards him, a lot more so than his dad was.

The surprised look on her face faded as she gave him a quick nod,"Yes, everything's alright, Adrien. In fact, there's someone at the door to see you" she explained to him, her tone still firm, but nowhere near as sharp as his father's was.

This again left Adrien surprised, so he closed his bedroom door behind him and approached her "Really? At this time?" He asked, just to be sure. The teenage heartthrob gotten a nod off of the secretary, so he spoke once more "Okay, who is it?"

About two minutes later, he had entered his home's lobby room with a dreaded look on his face as he spotted the visitor in question. It was Chloe.

"Hi Adrien! My what a pleasure it is to see you tonight!" Chloe called out in her usual chipper, and also very grating, voice.

Adrien was so distraught so see the rich bitch here that he was almost tempted to just kick her out of the house himself. Chloe Bourgeois was another rich teen living in Paris like he was. The only difference was that she was completely spoiled, stuck-up, narcissistic and above all, completely out of touch with reality. She seemed to live under the delusion that everybody worshiped her and that the world was her oyster. In fact, she was just a bully who had more money than she needed and some very strict discipline.

The sad thing was, she was allowed to get away with being such a brat because of one important fact. She was the daughter of Andre Bourgeois, the Mayor of Paris. He was as total buffoon and an inept politician, which was probably why Chloe had turned out this way. He was less of a creep than his daughter, being able to punish her when the time was right but it wasn't enough. And because of the fact her father was such an important figure in the French capital city, Chloe was able to abuse his power and position for her own selfish gain.

She was one of the many girls who fancied Adrien though the teen-fashion model knew perfectly well why that was. It wasn't the boy she was interested in, it was his wealth and public image she wanted. Adrien didn't like Chloe but found it hard to object to her. He feared what would happen if she complained to the mayor about him rejecting her advances. He wished his father was here now, Gabriel would tell her to leave without a care in the world. He didn't fear Chloe or the mayor.

For now, he would try and find a way to convince her to leave. Forcing himself to smile, something he had become very good at, he waved.

"Hi Chloe." he muttered, trying to put some enthusiasm in his voice. He failed.

"Why so glum Adrien? I thought you'd be thrilled to see glorious me here!" Chloe exclaimed conceitedly, "Doesn't my presence just make you feel like you're the luckiest guy in Paris?"

"It makes me feel something alright..." the blonde-haired boy muttered sarcastically. Of course, Chloe didn't even notice the sarcasm in his voice and continued.

"So you maybe wondering why I'm here tonight sweetie-pie!" she screeched excitedly.

"As if I couldn't guess." Adrien retorted.

"Well anyways, my daddy is booking a trip to Gotham City for the upcoming two weeks, and I've got tickets that can have you and my fly there two days earlier in first class!" she squealed as she waved two airline tickets in his face, leaving Adrien stunned.

This was another thing about Chloe: she'd always force stuff into his face and be pushing him into it to be a part of it, whether he wanted to or not. Spending two days with Chloe would mean a lot less breathing space for himself, and he dreaded to think of spending two days with her in Gotham City before his friends turned up.

Nevertheless, he put on his kinder facade and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Uh, I appreciate it, Chloe, but it wouldn't be fair on the rest of the class." he pointed out, bringing up an honest point with her. Then again, he realized too late that Chloe was just going to brush it off...in three, two, one...

"Oh who cares about the rest of those losers? They'll have to fly in two days later with the rest of the second class, because that's the people they're part of!" she protested, waving her hand lazily. Adrien resisted the urge of clenching his fists out of frustration, but even his voice couldn't muster the anger together in him.

As mentioned earlier, Adrien rarely ever gotten angry, only VERY briefly, like when he told Chloe off for her behaviour that caused Horrificator to go on the loose, and that be time where he was about to lose his temper with Ladybug for embarrassing Lila, but the thing was...he was scared to lose his temper at all. Adrien was scared that if he exploded, he'd forever fall from the light and be more like the colder man his father was now. He loved his father a lot, but he never dreamt of being like him in terms of attitude. That scared him in all honesty.

He was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts, quite literally, as Chloe grabbed him by the arm and began to pull him over towards the front door.

"C'mon, we can talk about it with daddy!" she exclaimed, going to open the door.

"Wha? Ch-Chloe, just hang on!" Adrien cried in protested, trying to halt himself and her from going any closer. Going over to her place was the last thing he wanted.

Thankfully, Adrien's worries were put to rest when a pair of large hands took hold of Chloe's arm and pulled her hand off of Adrien's arm. Looking up, both saw it was Adrien's buff bodyguard, the Gorilla as the young boy tended to call him. He seemed to have been watching what was going on, and given he took his job VERY seriously, the big man was on hand to rescue Adrien. As much he preferred it was Ladybug that came to his rescue, he was very grateful the Gorilla came in time.

"What the...?" Chloe cried out as the huge, muscular man, "Who's this walking muscle factory?!"

"My bodyguard." Adrien introduced, "And I don't think he's in on your idea of just taking me somewhere against my will."

The guard's response was a low growl that sounded more like an angry animal than a human being. That was the scary thing about the Gorilla, he seemed to act more like a gorilla than a person. Chloe didn't seem intimidated by him though and tried to snatch her hand away. But the Gorilla's grip was too strong for her.

"Hey, let go of me you big ape!" she snapped angrily, "I'll tell my daddy that you've been man-handling me!"

The Gorilla ignored Chloe and dragged her over to the door, opening it and gesturing for her to leave. The spoiled brat glared at the guard, refusing to budge.

"I'm not going anywhere!" she ranted, "You can't just kick me out! Do you have any idea who I am?"

The huge, muscular man said nothing though his face said all the words he would probably be saying right now: "Yes I do but I don't care." Sighing in annoyance, Chloe decided to give the Gorilla something to think about.

"Fine, I'll go. But I'll tell daddy about you and he'll punish you very badly for this!" she warned, "Maybe he'll find some monkey cage for you to live in with all the other apes, which is where you belong!"

And that was when she found herself hurling through the door and landing in a bush nearby. The mayor's daughter hadn't even realized what had happened. One minute she had been threatening the guard, the next...this had happened! The Gorilla dusted his hands off and stalked away, though he seemed a little troubled by what Chloe had said to him. His scowl had softened and now he looked almost sad, an expression that didn't seem right on him. It was as if she had found something that could break through his tough demeanor and make even HIM shudder. Adrien noticed but said nothing. He wasn't sure what to do about it, rubbing the back of his head helplessly.

However, rather than be quiet about what he just did, Adrien gave him a soft smile and a pat on the arm.

"Um, th-thanks. I really appreciate it" he said kindly, honesty filling his voice.

The Gorilla merely glanced at him and gave him a small nod, wandering off towards the back of the mansion. Adrien sighed after the large man left the room, now feeling a little worried himself. Would the mayor contact his father and demand the Gorilla get a warning or be fired? Worse of all, would Chloe go to the press and brag about it, but twist the story a bit to make the public hate him? That was something Adrien honestly didn't want to see. Sometimes he was glad the Gorilla was around, as he could make sure bothersome things were dealt with like how he just handled the situation with Chloe...but would he get in trouble now?

Elsewhere in Paris, a circular door high in the wall opened up, letting the moonlight's magical glow lighten up the darkness of the room, which was occupied by hundreds of little white butterflies, who's shiny colour wasn't enough to bring any light into the room. A soothing chuckle entered the room and calm footsteps were heard as they entered the moonlight.

Standing there was a very tall man with a slender build, looking quite dapper in his dark purple dress suit with over-sized black lapels and some sort of butterfly charm clipped around his collar, twirling his cane quite playfully in his hands. What stood out the most about this man, however, was the silver helmet that covered the entirety of his face, even his ears! His deadly, ice cold eyes grinned hungrily into the sky as he smiled delightfully.

"My my, I was wondering when this one would crack" Hawk Moth purred to himself, his soothing voice ever so calm and curious at the same time.

"A brute of a bodyguard who looks and acts like an animal but only wishes to do his job. I hardly see how he's deserving of punishment for that." the masked man purred, "Justice needs to prevail for this poor, simple ape of a man..."

His face curled into a cold smile that could chill the blood as he stroked his chin.

"And thankfully, I can help him get the justice he deserves..." he added sinisterly.

He then held out a gloved hand and as if he had somehow managed to command the winged insect, one of the many butterflies around the room landed in his hand. Thanks to his Miraculous, the moth broach he wore around his collar, he was able to command butterflies and make them come to him when he pleased. The butterfly settled down on Hawk Moth's hand and then he covered it with his other hand, his cane under his arm so he could use both hands. In-between his hands, something magical began to happen. But it wasn't magic of the pleasant kind. Instead, it was dark and somewhat evil, evil in a sense that it was a corruption of something beautiful.

Black magic began to circle around the masked man's hands and then form around the butterfly he had imprisoned there. It was like splodges of ink had come to life and were surrounding the beautiful insect. For a moment, Hawk Moth's hands were still clasped together. Then suddenly, he took his other hand away, revealing the dark magic he had just preformed. The butterfly was no longer white in colour, but black with purple streaks. The butterfly hadn't just gained a new colour, it had gained a dark power that gave Hawk Moth his fearsome reputation.

The evil Miraculous wielder held up his hand, urging the corrupted butterfly to go. It flew out of his hands with a flap of its wings, heading towards the open window.

"Fly away my little akuma, and akumatize him!" Hawk Moth cried, twirling his cane through the air and bringing it down beside his feet.

The butterfly, or "akuma" as Hawk Moth referred to it as, passed through the window and flapped into the night, passing through the dark sky and the many lights of the city. It didn't have far to go in order to reach its destination.

Out in the back garden of the Agreste Mansion, the Gorilla was sat in the garden bench of the outside area, looking down at the ring on his right middle finger. He remembered the day he gotten it, from his mother. He remembered how she was the only who honestly wasn't intimidated by his big size and whom admired how seriously he took his job. With the exception of his mother and a few other people, the Gorilla was always a subject of insults whenever anyone saw him. Young punks would always make monkey noises whenever he was walking down the street, stuck up snobs like the mayor would often tell him to swing off into the trees and get a banana, others would ask him if he was a Big Foot in disguise.

This really frustrated him a lot, but since he worked with the Agrestes, he was treated more fairly, though years of suffering prejudice and insults made him a quiet person. All the stuff Chloe said to him tonight just brought back a lot of painful memories, and that pain caused a swirl of red anger to heat up inside him.

As he looked away from the ring his mother gave to him, the Gorilla failed to notice the flutter of wings of an all too familiar demon: it was the akuma, who found it's prey. It gently set down on the ring, to which something bizarre happened: the Gorrila's head shot upwards and his face went blank, as if he was in some sort of trance. The energy outline of a butterfly's body appeared around his eyes, with the skin under them turning a dark plum colour. And then an all too familiar voice soothed its way into the Gorilla's head.

"Greetings Ape-Man. I am Hawk Moth." the voice said.

Hawk Moth may not be in the same place as the Gorilla, but he was talking to him as if he was right in front of him. It was another power of his, his telepathic link with his akuma victims. He could strike conversations with them without leaving his room.

"My heart bleeds for the injustice that has been thrown at you by a certain politician's daughter." Hawk Moth crooned, "So I have given you the powers you need to get your revenge on her. But you must also do something for me in return..."

He paused for effect before continuing.

"You will bring to me the Miraculouses that belong to Ladybug and Cat Noir as a token of thanks for what I have given to you." he ordered, "Bring me their Miraculouses, and I shall reward you handsomely."

The Gorilla smiled, though the smile didn't quite suit his features. It looked as if he had become somebody else in that split second. Then suddenly, for the first time in a while...he stood up and spoke.

"Ape-Man. Get. Girl! Then get. MIRACULOUS!" he bellowed as a purple, smokey energy covered his entire body from head-to-toe.

A horrible cracking of bones followed as the dark figure of his body inside the smoke bulked up, gaining more pounds of muscle by the looks of it, with his biceps getting mightier, and he shot up about two feet higher in terms of height. As the smoke cleared, standing there was nolonger the Gorilla, but instead a rather hideous hybrid of a man and an ape. Ape-Man retained the silver sideburns of his hair and kelt his skin fair, yet his body was now that of an ape's! Black fur stretched from his neck and all the way down to his toes, with his legs covered by a pair of purple trousers. His hands were also very large, still having its fair colour, but half of them, and half of his feet, were covered by thick black. His ring glowed a slight purple as the transformation was completed. The Ape-Man growled madly and beaten his chest like he was King Kong on the Empire State Building, before looking up at the roof of the mansion.

"Ape-Man. Need view!" He growled as he crouched down and launched himself upwards, his massive figure reaching the highest ledge of the building.

Climbing onto the rooftop, he looked about at his dark surroundings, tracing the lights of the buildings into the main part of Paris, almost like it was telling him how far Chloe was. Given how powerful wild animals' noses were, the monstrous man/ape hybrid sniffed the night air, catching whiff of the bratty girl's scent.

"She gone home now! Ape-Man pay visit!" he hissed, stomping the rooftop floor angrily, before leaping off onto the next building ahead of him. This act of anger, however, caught some attention.

All of a sudden, the door to the rooftop opened up, Adrien springing out of it to see what the commotion was, with Plagg following him closely. Adrien caught sight of the fleeing dark figure on the rooftops ahead. Plagg whistled to himself as he took it in.

"Well whadd'ya know, huh? Another Akuma victim on the loose. So much for nearly getting a full week break" he moaned, having enjoyed a bit of a snooze earlier. Adrien, however, had a serious look on his face

"Plagg, we can snooze later, Paris needs saving right now!" he cried as he dashed towards the edge, the little Kwami following closely.

"Just say the magic words, kiddo!" he called as he caught up with him.

Adrien grinned at this. He knew what to do. Now was the time to bring about justice to Paris and be free at the same time. He lifted his right hand that held his Miraculous ring.

"PLAGG! CLAWS OUT!" he shouted.

What followed next was a magical transformation that was not only impressive to watch, but not as dark and evil looking as the transformation of Hawk Moth's akumas and the akuma victims.

As Plagg disappeared into the ring, the ring turned black and displayed a yellow pawprint symbol on it. The symbol of Cat Noir.

Then Adrien ran his fingers over his eyes, creating an eye mask that turned his own eyes green and made them look very cat-like, narrow slits and all. Then he ran his hands over his hair, which created the trademark "cat ears" that were part of his costume and then a wave of magical energy swept over the boy as his clothes transformed from his usual attire to a skin tight black outfit that covered his whole body. He had gloves and boots and a "cat bell" that sat just under his chin, giving him the impression of wearing a collar with a bell attached. The final part of the transformation saw a belt form around his waist, only it wasn't just there to be a belt. It was also there to act like a cat tail, extending out behind him.

The transformation had completed and now Cat Noir was ready for action. He stood up straight and glanced ahead, smirking confidently.

"Time to catch ourselves a runaway ape!" he declared.

Meanwhile, The Riddler's taxi was approaching a nearby roundabout. The travel from Charles De Gaulle airport had taken almost an hour but much to the quiz-master's delight, he was almost at his safe house. The driver's SatNav even said that they weren't far away from the building. They had to pass the roundabout, go through another street and then they would arrive.

The Riddler glanced out of his window, watching the cars enter the roundabout. It was strange seeing things like this since Gotham didn't have any of those on its roads. Being in a different country meant a lot of sights that were new to him. But that didn't matter, he wouldn't be out and about much during his time in France anyway. He still took in the sights of the city so he knew what places to send his henchmen out to get him some victims. He just wondered how Paris had managed to look so beautiful over the many years it had existed. He was going to enjoy his stay, that much was certain.

He looked away from the window and over to his driver. The taxi cruised past a traffic light that was on green and then entered the roundabout.

"How much longer until we arrive?" he asked eagerly.

"If we don't run into anymore traffeek, we should be there in about um...fifteen minutes monsieur." the driver replied. He looked and sounded happy about that fact as if he was keen to get rid of his passenger as soon as possible.

"Then let's make sure we don't run into any traffic you moustached moron." The Riddler sneered, "Step on it!"

"Why are you so keen to get to your place quickly monsieur? You act as if you're on ze run!" the driver asked curiously.

"Just shut up and drive!" was the response he received.

Sighing, the driver did as he was told, continuing to drive his ever so rude passenger. At this point he was seriously resisting the urge of kicking him out of the taxi himself. Of course, he needed the large amount of money, so he wasn't going to do such a thing.

However, just as they turned a corner, he slammed the breaks on as his eyes widened and pupils became mere tiny dots in his eyes. The Riddler brokered from where he was in the back and leaned forward, his hairy face in an angry scowl.

"What is it now you brainless buffoon!?" he demanded like he was the daughter of the mayor of Paris.

In response, the criminal genius received a trembling finger pointing outward at the road ahead of them. Following the finger, the Riddler found a similar expression crossing his hairy face "Oh...crap..." was all he could muster.

Out ahead of them was the Man-Ape, who had landed in the middle of the busy road they were now in. He beat on his big hairy chest and roared loudly like the huge monstrosity he was. The Riddler almost wet himself from where he was sitting; wasn't there a single place in the world where there WEREN'T mad things going about!? This looked like something he'd hear about in Gotham City!

"Ape-Man find bratty girl!" Ape-Man roared as he began to storm towards the taxi, which backed up straight away and swerved onto the curb, knocking down a lamppost in the process, and sending the Riddler flying backwards into his car seat.

"AGH! Oh you empty headed fool!" he cried out angrily as he picked himself up, but found his jaw dropping once more as he watched the akumatised victim leap down the road, causing a slight tremor in the ground when he landed.

To the Riddler it was frightening but fascinating. To the driver however though, it was trouble, and for good reason...it was every man for himself to him!

In a split second he undid his seatbelt and was out of the car in a blur, leaving the Riddler frustrated.

"Hey! Come back here you cowardly idiot! Come back!"

His words fell on deaf ears though as he then saw hundreds of Parisians running down the street, frightened at the giant monster that was back the other way. But then something else caught the Riddler's eye and for a second, his whole soul trembled in dread.

A slim, dark figure landed in front of the car, a long staff visible in his hands. The Riddler could just make out the pointy ears and that's when the dread kicked in. He thought the figure right in front of him was Batman! That was it! The game was up! The Dark Knight was in Paris, not just here to take down the Ape-Man, but to bring in the Riddler as well!

However, the dread vanished when instead, as his vision could further make out, he saw this figure had blonde, messy hair and green eyes, and lacked a cape. It was Chat Noir, who was on the hunt for the Ape-Man. This made the Riddler frown. He knew almost all of the heroes off the world like the back of his hand, but he never heard Catwoman had a son and he was operative in Paris!

"I've heard of copycats but this is ridiculous!" The Riddler blurted, "France has its own equivalent of Catwoman?! Who is this guy?!"

In order to find out what he was up against, he decided to follow as Cat Noir chased after Ape-Man. Maybe this poor, leather-clad fool would make a great test subject for his safe house's features. He just had to make sure he wouldn't be noticed...

Back at Charles De Gaulle Airport, another plane touched down on the runway and slowed to a stop, taxiing slowly across the tarmac towards the terminal itself. This was Bruce Wayne's private plane. He had finally arrived, a whole hour after The Riddler himself had landed. The billionaire CEO was glad to be there at last. He'd been keeping an eye on the news to see if The Riddler was making his move already. It was just like the ego-maniacal criminal to make a big scene already. But to his amazement, he hadn't heard anything. The Riddler hadn't made his move yet, which was fortunate for him. The Gotham hero wasn't going to let a city as beautiful as Paris fall victim to the puzzle-master's nefarious schemes.

Luckily for Bruce, his status as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises meant that he could skip passport control by going through the VIP Services. He did after all, more than fit the position of "Very Important Person". Because of this, he would be out in the streets in no time and be on the search for one of Gotham's worst criminals. He had phoned ahead for one of his French contacts to have a limo ready for him when he arrived. Once through VIP Services, he would be in the limo and on his way to a hotel room that he'd rented for himself and then be in the Batsuit before he'd even unpacked. Then he would find The Riddler and drag him back to Gotham and then throw him back in Arkham Asylum. And hopefully he would stay there.

At least...that was his plan. But as he disembarked from his jet and entered VIP Services, things turned in a way he couldn't have anticipated. As he entered the VIP lounge, he noticed that there was a television nearby. Some of the guests, probably important people flying away for business, were watching it with their eyes fixed on the screen as if they couldn't look away no matter how hard they tried. Bruce came closer, looking at the screen. It was the news that was playing and the news reporter Nadja Chamack was delivering the night's news. Bruce could barely believe the headline he was reading just underneath the news reporter. It was, of course, written in French but Bruce knew enough French to translate:

Giant Ape-Man Causing Havoc In Paris!

"Just as all of Paris was relaxing during a week where no recent Akuma attacks had taken place, another strikes again! This super villain, calling itself Ape-Man, literally sprung out of nowhere in the middle of the night! It's rampaging down the road as we speak, causing all civilians to flee in sight of it! But not everyone is running away from. One of Paris's most beloved guardians, Chat Noir, is hot on his tail!" the story said.

Bruce wasn't the only one watching this, for in her bedroom above the bakery her parents owned, Marinette had seen the news footage spring up on her laptop's news app. She and Tikki watched on in utter shock as they saw the monstrous beast rampaging towards the hotel on the news.

"Oh no! Not another Akuma!" she cried in shock, having gotten so used to relaxing this week.

But as soon as she saw Chat Noir on the channel, her mood instantly changed. A shocked look vanished from her face, turning into that of a determined one "Chat can't fight this alone! We've gotta help him!"

She turned to Tikki, who smiled sweetly.

"Just say the magic words, Marinette!" she squeaked.

"TIKKI SPOTS ON!" Marinette yelled loudly, giving her earpieces a rub.

Tikki flew into them and just like when Adrien transformed into Chat Noir, a more positive transformation occurred. Marinette slid her fingers over her eyes and her black dotted red eye mask covered the top half of her face. A pink and reddish smoke spread from neck to the toes of her body, covering her in a leathery material, her jumpsuit being form fitting and styled as a ladybug, black dots patterning over her petite figure. Swinging her yo-yo about and drawing it in, Ladybug stood triumphant after the transformation, ready for battle.

Her sharp blue eyes cast a glance over at the screen of her laptop and saw Chat Noir was now facing off against Ape-Man. Alone.

"Just hold on, kitty! I'll be there!" She cried as she opened her window and shot her yo-yo outwards, swinging off towards the battle of the night with a hard look on her face.

But tonight, Ladybug and Chat Noir were not going to be alone. For a certain billionaire from Gotham, getting changed would be a little slower, but he'd be on the scene as soon as possible...

From where he was in the airport, Bruce's grip on his private suitcase tightened. He might've been after the Riddler, but that didn't mean he should stand back and not help stop this monster that was menacing Paris tonight!

"Just when I thought I this trip was gonna be straight forward." Bruce murmured.

Even outside of Gotham, trouble couldn't stay away from him. Looking around quickly, he saw that there was a bathroom nearby. It wasn't stylish but it was the only place where he could change into his famous outfit.

Seizing his chance, the rich man dived into the toilets and opened up the suitcase. It contained the most important thing that he would need on him in any situation, his trademark cape and cowl and the suit that accompanied it. Even when he was on holiday, Bruce never left without the Batsuit. In his life, even holidays went terribly wrong and required Batman to come out into the fray.

Minutes later, Bruce had changed into the suit, becoming his crime-fighting alter-ego once more. He was wearing a new Batsuit that had been an upgrade from his original outfit. It was mostly grey and came with black boots, gloves and a belt that was black and gold rather than just gold. The bat symbol was different, featuring rather chunky wings and outlined in yellow.

Batman slipped the cowl down over his face, completing his dark and mysterious look. He was ready. Glancing briefly out of the nearby window, his eyes narrowed.

"You're not off the hook yet Riddler." he warned in his deep voice, "Once I've fought off this ape-man, I'm coming after you..."

So he wouldn't cause a ruckus in the VIP Lounge, he climbed out of the window and dove into the night, his cape spreading out like wings as he glided down from where he had jumped and took him towards the ground. As soon as he landed, he charged off towards the city itself, hoping he would be in time to save it from disaster...

Hawk Moth's causing trouble and it seems Ladybug and Cat Noir are on the case again! But things are going to be different since Batman is here too. How will things go now three superheroes will be fighting the akuma?

And what will happen now The Riddler's taking an interesting in Paris's heroes? Tune in next time as things REALLY heat up in Chapter 2...