Chapter 2: The Bat And The Ladybug
ACE Chemicals was a place full of history in Gotham. But there was only one piece of history that many people knew about ACE Chemicals and one piece of history that was significant to the Gothamites and Batman himself. This was the place where, as rumours had it, The Joker was born.
It was rumoured that Batman had had a battle with a criminal known as The Red Hood a while back and the battle had taken place in ACE Chemicals. The fight had seen the Red Hood plunging into a chemical bath that supposedly bleached his skin white, made his lips red and turned his hair green. This was supposedly how The Joker, Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime, had come to be.
The old chemical building was seldom used much these days in Gotham. Nowadays it was mostly used as a hiding place for the criminal prankster. The ACE Chemicals building was huge but held no attraction. It looked old, out of date and like it was going to fall apart in minute. It was ancient history and looked like it needed to fall down. The Joker didn't mind, he preferred it that way. It had looked like this when he had been "born" and he wanted a reminder of how he came to be.
The Joker looked like a clown thanks to his chalk white skin, red lips, yellow eyes and green hair. In fact, he was more like a freak since none of the aforementioned traits were make-up of any kind, it was how he actually looked. His jester-appearance was amplified by the bright colour clothing he wore from the purple long coat to the green tie and yellow waist coat. His coat had a yellow flower attached to the lapels. The flower looked innocent enough but in fact, contained acid that he would squirt instead of water.
The Joker was currently walking into ACE Chemicals now having just recently escaped Stryker Island. He was going to wind down and then plot his next move. As he walked in, a pair of hyenas he kept as pets looked up and giggled at him. The Joker laughed back at them and then called out.
"Harley! Your Mistah J's back!"
He outstretched his arms, awaiting to be embraced by the squealing, nutty blonde, but after about a minute, he cracked a surprised eye open, realising that not only she wasn't there, but there really wasn't anyone else there. Instead of throwing a fit like most typical villains do, his grin cracked further across his face as he clapped his hands together.
"Ohh, so I'm home alone with just my lil' kids? That's not too bad! I always love having myself for a bit of company, certainly saves seeing a lot of scared, baby faces! HAHAHA!"
He walked into a nearby office and threw his drenched coat onto the nearby chair, which he jumped into like a child and began to rummage through the draws of the desk in front of him. Recently, the Joker had spent the last five days avoiding recapture by Superman after he and Batman gotten him locked up on Stryker Island a few months back. For once, Batman felt it was better to have arch-enemy in a more tighter, militaristic like prison. This actually left the Joker quite pissed really, as he felt he was too far from his playground of Gotham City, and he often disliked missing out on the fun of terrorising Batman, so it's no wonder he jumped into freedom when Atomic Skull broken himself out of Stryker Island by causing quite a bit of destruction.
Upon opening up the middle draw, the Joker chuckled in delight as he found a set of make-up tools. Given he swam all night into Gotham's back city, he stank like hell and his image was mostly ruined. If he wanted to take on Batman, he'd have to have a smart look on him before going to war. Humming a little song to himself, the Joker leaned back in his chair and delicately traced the lipstick over his lips, turning them into a bright red colour, restoring one part of his creepiness. He grinned and licked his teeth like he was tucking into dinner.
"Ahhhh, so good to be back. Let's see what's on the box, shall we boys!?" he often loved talking to himself or to animals, as thanks to the mirror in front of him, he honestly felt like he was actually talking to someone. As long as that someone was like him, of course.
Grabbing the nearby remote, the clown criminal pressed the "on" button that brought the television to life. Appearing first was some sort of soap opera, which made the Joker cringe.
"Ugh, one of the biggest miseries of television." he moaned, "I should visit the studios with my gas someday, bring some life into these ultra bore fest shows. Anyway, NEXT!"
He pressed a button on the remote to change the channel. A cooking programme came on, showing some Italian chefs that looked more like they spent time EATING the food instead of preparing it. They were enormously fat, so much so that they almost seemed to bump into each other as they ran around preparing their meals. The Joker wasn't interested but he broke into a broad grin anyway.
"Hey it's Mario and Luigi!" he joked, "Fancy making us some spaghetti you fat frumps?! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"
He then watched as the first chef sprinkled some cheese over a tagliatelle meal on the screen. He was saying something but the clown criminal didn't register them. He was too busy thinking of jokes to amuse himself with.
"They should put ME in a cooking programme!" The Joker crowed. He was very egotistical and had a high opinion on himself, something that made him insane but very dangerous, "I know what I'd call the show! I'd call it "Cooking with The Joker: The Cooking Programme Where The Dishes Are A Killer!"! Of course, the dishes would end up killing my customers so it wouldn't be a hit, but I'd give Gotham a recipe to remember! AH, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!"
He then switched the channel to another programme. It was playing a movie this time but The Joker didn't seem very keen on what film was playing.
"Oh great, another Marvel snore-fest!" he muttered, "Why do those fat cats think they're the best of everything? All their movies do is make super-heroes and super-villains boring! If they want a REAL movie they should make it about Batman fighting Superman and then have me as the main character!"
He switched the channel once more, finding himself looking at what appeared to a pornographic movie. The Joker watched as things that cannot be mentioned for decency purposes began to unfold on the screen. He looked grossed out and changed the channel very quickly.
"What do people get out of this junk?!" he muttered, "I hope Harley doesn't have that in mind for me...if she does then I'll Joker Bomb her INTO THE NEXT MILLENNIUM!"
He then glanced at the screen to see what the channel had changed to now. He saw that it was the news and although he didn't really care about the news, he decided to watch and see if there was anything that might be worth his time. Probably some soppy speech about peace that he could ruin, the mayor making another public appearance demanding his presence, anything. But even the jester of crime couldn't anticipate what would end up happening next as a result of his watching the news.
As the programme started, a headline flashed up on the screen. A headline that The Joker couldn't ignore:
BREAKING NEWS: BATMAN SPOTTED IN PARIS!
The Joker's eyes nearly popped out of his head as soon as he saw the headline.
"What the!? He's on vacation!? Bah! No wonder it's been so boring in Gotham lately! Still, let's see what Batsy is up to with the toads of France, hm?" he said to himself as he leaned forward closely like a little child that was hypnotised by the screen.
The news reporter was Iris West, who's news programme was reporting the news from Central City, the Flash's home turf, while there was helicopter camera footage live from Paris. It showed Batman running across rooftops to get to the central part of Paris
"It seems that the latest akuma attacks in Paris have finally attracted some attention from the rest of the world's superheroes. The Dark Knight of Gotham is in Paris tonight and seems to be heading off to aid Chat Noir in taking down this bizarre monster, the Ape-Man...wait, there's another footage feed coming in!" Iris explained as she paused for a moment, looking at the camera footage behind her bringing up another screen of footage, this time featuring Ladybug swinging towards the battle, a lot more closer than Batman was.
Iris looked surprised and held an excited hand to her mouth "Ladies and gentlemen, I think this is going to be the first time France's heroes and one of the Justice League are going to meet tonight!"
The Joker frowned as he saw the images of Ladybug and Chat Noir, though he couldn't help but smirk.
"Ah, so they've taken inspiration from the Boy Blunders, hm? Wear your pyjamas to go out crime fighting? And Catwoman's had a son all this time!? HAHAHAHAHA! They probably have an underground school training kids to be superheroes, nothing would surprise me! Still, things are looking oh so interesting. Let's see what you're up to with these children, Bats" he chuckled as he watched what was going on.
Across the cold Atlantic pond, Ladybug dashed to the edge of the current rooftop she was on. Coming to a halt, she peeked over and saw she had just managed to arrive to the current battle ground where Chat Noir was battling the Ape-Man, who was tossing all sorts of debris at the feline like hero, who spun his bo-staff in a circle at a fast pace to deflect the incoming projectiles. Ladybug frowned as she knew it was time to make her entrance.
"You're not alone anymore, kitty! I'm coming!" she cried as she tossed her yoyo out at a nearby lamppost.
Taking off, she manoeuvred herself to the left and outstretched her right leg as she came closer to the rampaging beast, who she kicked hard in the face with all the combined strength of stamina and magic she had. Cringing as she saw a huge splatter of spit flying out of Ape-Man's mouth, she landed beside Chat Noir, watching with him as the akumatised victim fell back onto a container truck, crushing it slightly and leaving him dazed.
Chat Noir flashed his ever so charming smile at his crime fighting partner, resting his bo-staff on his shoulders.
"Nice to see you, M'Lady. If only we had a more romantic setting for our meeting tonight" he flirted, unable to resist doing so, given how madly in love he was with his terrific partner, who rolled her eyes but smirked at him.
"Nice to see you too, Chat. Seems like this ape's really lost his bananas, wouldn't you agree?" she winked as she drew her yoyo in, not noticing the fangasm she caused her fellow partner to start doing.
"Did you just make a joke!? Yes!" Cat Noir cried.
As Ape-Man pulled himself out of the damaged truck, he shook his head, clearing his vision with Ladybug and Chat Noir coming into his sights. An energy form of a butterfly appeared over his face as he then heard Hawkmoth's voice again.
"That's it! They're both here! Beat them down and bring me their Miraculouses!" the villainous man's voice hissed in his head, demand evident in his ever so soothing voice.
Ape-Man understood and bared his huge teeth, showing off incisors that were bigger than the average gorilla. He pounded his chest, bellowing at the top of his voice.
"Ape-Man. GET. MIRACULOUS!" he thundered.
He then got down on all fours and lumbered towards Ladybug and Cat Noir. He really did look like an actual runaway gorilla as he charged. The insect and feline-themed heroes jumped aside just as Ape-Man roared past. They had only just managed to dodge, feeling the wind sweep past them as their opponent missed. They both landed and Ladybug began to twirl her yo-yo around. She fixed her eyes on the simian-man-monster, looking for an opening.
"Wonder what got King Kong so riled up?" she murmured, "If this is somebody who's been akumatized because of Chloe again, I'm not gonna be surprised."
She then threw her yo-yo straight between Ape-Man's eyes. The ladybug-decoed weapon slammed straight above Ape-Man's nose but did very little to him. The attack seemed to annoy him rather than hurt him. Roaring loudly, he lumbered towards Ladybug again.
"Ape-Man squash ladybug!" he screamed.
Ladybug cried out in horror and tried to jump out of the way. But the terror of seeing this mountain of muscle and power coming towards her had slowed her reaction so she had been just a fraction too slow. Ape-Man ran straight into her just as she was preparing to leap. To the insect-themed heroine, it felt like being hit by a tank. She cried out helplessly as she was swept off her feet and taken for the ride. Cat Noir saw this with horror in his eyes and he scampered after his super-love interest.
"Ladybug, hold on!" he cried.
Ape-Man had heard him and then screeched to a halt. He spun around and tossed Ladybug through the air. The blue-haired crimefighter cried out as she was sent spiralling towards her cat-themed partner. Cat Noir stopped and tried to dodge but he wasn't fast enough. The two heroes were sent sprawling over each other as Ladybug crashed into Cat Noir. They groaned, wondering what had hit them. Ape-Man then stomped towards his opponents, grunting heavily. He didn't even look worn out. This whole fight hadn't even been so much as a warm-up to him. He flexed his biceps and then reached down, grabbing Ladybug and Cat Noir by the wrists and hoisting them off their feet.
"Now Ape-Man take Miraculous!" he declared.
"Ladybug, Cat Noir! No!" cried a voice that Ape-Man had been hoping to hear so he could silence it for good.
The two French crime-fighters gasped in horror. Oh no...the worst possible thing had just happened! An innocent civilian was going to get involved in the crossfire! And worst of all, it was Chloe who was that innocent civilian (though she hardly qualifies as one). The mayor's daughter had been on her way home when Ape-Man had attacked and had been watching the fight from behind a busted car nearby. Being a big fan of Ladybug, she'd been rooting for the heroine the whole time. Now she'd given herself away, diverting Ape-Man's attention from the Miraculouses to her. Ape-Man's rage-filled eyes narrowed as he saw the woman responsible for his akumatization. Forgetting all about his mission, he roared.
"APE-MAN SQUASH BRATTY GIRL!" he bellowed.
"CHLOE, FOR YOUR DAD'S SAKE, RUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Ladybug screeched frantically.
Chloe stuttered only for a second before fleeing down the nearest path that would take her behind a set of shops, with Ape-Man tossing a motorcycle after her. Ladybug sprung to her feet and tossed her yoyo out at the pursuing Ape-Man, the weapon wrapping around one of his ankles. With the magical string of the yoyo tightening, Ladybug gave it a strong yank, pulling him backward and had him toppling off his feet, crashing onto his back.
Grunting, he glared at the incoming young fighters as Hawk Moth spoke to him again.
"Get their Miraculouses first, then you can have the little brat!" He sounded a little impatient, given he saw Chloe get in the way and that little bit of distraction gave Ladybug and Chat Noir a chance to recover.
Getting back onto his feet, Ape-Man grabbed the yoyo from his end and pulled it towards him, bringing Ladybug with it. Chat Noir gasped as he saw his lady get slammed onto the ground beside the monstrous beast. There was no way he was going to let his dear friend get killed, now was the time to step in. Extending his baton to an incredible length, Chat Noir swung himself upwards high in the air and outstretched both of his legs together as he roared down like a rocket at tremendous speed, his eyes glowing intensely.
His feet connected hard with the Ape-Man's head, letting out a loud crack upon contact. Rather than brag about his success, Chat retracted his baton, leapt off the head of the stunned beast, and grabbed Ladybug and her fallen yoyo, both dive rolling to the right to dodge an incoming fist from above, though the shockwave sent them flying out a little bit further, sending them rolling across the ground. Rubbing his head and snorting in pain, Ape-Man lunged towards the stunned pair.
Reacting quickly, Chat Noir brought up his baton and extended it from left to right as Ape-Man brought both his fists down on top of them both. Chat grunted and buckled against the pressure he was pushing against, feeling his feet crushing the concrete ground beneath them. Seeing her friend was in quite a bit of pain, a Ladybug swung her yoyo out and wrapped it around a damaged car door. Using the combined strength and magic in her, Ladybug heaved and swung it over her's and Chat's heads, sending the big projectile crashing into Ape-Man's face, knocking him back a few feet. Chat gasped in relief at the lack of the large pressure he was pressing against moments earlier, though he stumbled back a bit in shock from the aching pains of his muscles. Ladybug looked concerned for him as she placed her hand on his shoulder, being tender and gentle.
"Chat, are you okay?" she asked with a lot of worry evident in her voice.
Despite a forced smile and chuckle, Chat's tone was a lot lower than the expression he was giving off to his lady.
"I'm fine, M'Lady, a few aching muscles ain't gonna stop me from giving you a hand" he reassured, though the confidence in his tone was weak.
Once again Adrien was afraid, afraid of letting out his full strength. But he couldn't risk letting his destructive powers go upwards and beyond off the charts, no way would he risk that and get anyone else hurt.
Before Ladybug could voice her protest, a grunt and hiss of pain caught her's and Chat's instant attention. Looking ahead, they saw the Ape-Man's face now baring a deep cut on one cheek, probably from shards of glass from that damaged car door. A nervous twisty feeling knotted in Ladybug's and Chat's stomachs as he came towards them once more...
Then to their surprise, a cylinder shaped object rolled across their path a few feet ahead. It literally came out of nowhere, with no sign of any other person in the now empty street square. Giving it a split second of a glance, the pair gasped out loud as the object unleashed a large cloud of smoke!
"What in the..." Ladybug paused as she spluttered for a second, "Who threw that?! Who's using smoke-bombs around here?!"
"Hopefully somebody on our side!" Cat Noir cried, "Let's hang back until it clears!"
The two Paris-based heroes ran for it before the smoke could cloud them. Ape-Man wasn't so lucky, blinded by the smoke and reduced to fits of coughing as he tried to get his bearings. For a moment, he couldn't see anybody but then he felt something slam into his head, knocking him down onto his stomach as he registered the impact of the kick. He rubbed his head tenderly with his huge hands. What had hit him? Or maybe he should be asking WHO had hit him?
He stood back up only to then be karate-chopped in the back by his mysterious attacker and knocked over. Ape-Man grunted in annoyance, searching for his opponent. Then he saw something strange, something obscured by the smoke but still able to be made-out. It was a figure lurking in the mist but the figure didn't look like Ladybug or Cat Noir. Rather it looked like some giant bat. He could make out the ears and white eyes but not much else. But Ape-Man could see that he had somebody standing there and thus he lashed out.
"Ape-Man crush bat-thing!" he cried.
But the figure weaved out of the way and slammed an elbow into the akumatized man's shoulder, making him cry out in pain.
"Not Bat-thing...Batman." the mystery person corrected.
Up on a nearby rooftop, a recovering Ladybug and Chat Noir watched on in shock as they saw who their saviour was. It was Batman! Chat Noir was jaw dropped while Ladybug placed an excited hand over her mouth, not believing what they were seeing .
"He...he's actually here...Batman's here, in Paris!" Chat gasped in shock and joy. He always followed the Batman news blog that was run by a certain bunch of youngsters over in America, though he didn't follow it as much as he followed the Ladyblog.
"I can't believe it either...c'mon, Chat, let's give him a hand!" she ordered as she swung her yoyo outwards at a nearby lamppost, with Chat sliding down the side of the building on a drain pipe.
With Batman, he dodged incoming blows the Ape-Man sent towards him. Given his experience with Clayface and Killer Croc, Batman had little trouble in dodging them, but he doubted he'd be able to flip Ape-Man over his back. But that didn't mean he could still pound the crap out of him through another way.
Jumping backwards to avoid a double fist slam, Batman brought out his taser knuckles, slipped them over his gloved knuckles and slammed them into Ape-Man's sides, sending powerful bolts of electricity running through the eight foot monster, then he pulled his hands back and swung his boot upwards into Ape-Man's chin, sending him crashing into the car behind him.
That was when Ladybug and Chat Noir joined his side.
"We're right beside ya Batman!" Cat Noir cried, his tone almost fanboyish.
The bat-themed superhero glanced to his left and right, noticing the two teen-heroes beside him. To him, they almost looked like lost members of the Teen Titans. If they were in Gotham, they'd fit right into the team.
"You've heard of me then." he said bluntly.
"We sure have." Ladybug said, twirling her trademark around, "Who in the world HASN'T heard of at least one member of the Justice League?" she added, smirking.
"Point taken." Batman replied, "And you two are Paris's local heroes no doubt."
"Do we look local?" Cat Noir chuckled.
"Very funny." Batman murmured, "So what's with the gorilla man?" he asked, glancing over at Ape-Man as the simian man-beast picked himself up from behind the car.
"He's been akumatized." Ladybug explained, "Akumas are little butterflies that corrupt people and make them into supervillains. They're always hidden in a certain object the akuma victim wears. For Ape-Man here, we think it's in his ring."
"So we get the ring and destroy it." the Gotham vigilante estimated, "That'll put an end to his corruption if I'm correct to assume?"
"You got it!" the response came from Cat Noir.
"Then we have to get the ring off of him..." Batman murmured.
Ladybug smiled as she gotten her yoyo ready again.
"I know just the thing." she assured as she swung her weapon in the air.
"LUCKY CHARM!" she shouted.
Batman was a little stunned to see a flash of pink occur in the night sky, watching as some sort of object emerged from the yoyo, both items dropping down into Ladybug's hands; a huge piece of rope, which made the trio frown.
"How's that meant to help us?" Batman questioned in a sharp tone, not a shred of any other emotion to his voice.
"Just give her a second, she always figures it out" Chat reassured.
Humming to herself, Ladybug looked around as her Lucky Sight kicked in. She was drawn to Batman's utility belt, where she spotted his grappling gun, which highlighted itself in red with black dots. She then looked at a set of lampposts, highlighting in the same colour. The idea quickly kicked into her head, making her grin "That's it!" She turned to Batman and pointed at the well hidden holster that held his grappling gun "I've got a plan and it involves your gun. Willing to listen?" she asked in a calm and positive tone. Batman couldn't help but inwardly smile; she certainly lived up to her reputation and it was clear to him that she had been down this road plenty of times. That and her attitude kinda reminded him of Flash's, so that made him more comfortable in placing his trust into the young girl.
"Alright, I'm listening." he said.
As the trio worked out their plan, Ape-Man dragged himself up and frowned as he looked at them. He was about to lunge forward, only for the energy form of a butterfly to appear over his face. That meant Hawk Moth was talking to him again, but this time his voice was full of utter surprise as Ape-Man locked onto the Dark Knight.
"What the!? That's...the Batman!? What's he doing here? Have he and the Justice League decided to take action against me?" his words were mostly aimed at himself, full of surprise and a tiny hint of fear.
Of course, if the Justice League were to try and sniff him out, then he was in for a lot of trouble. But there was no way he was going down without a fight! Soon enough he found his words again and spoken to his minion.
"Bring them down, Ape-Man! Do whatever you want to Batman but make sure you get me those Miraculouses!" he demanded.
Ape-Man nodded, understanding his master perfectly. He flexed his muscles, preparing to attack again. Batman was the first to notice this and he reacted incredibly quickly. He drew out a Batarang and tossed it towards the ape monster. The bat-shaped weapon spun through the air and then sliced across Ape-Man's shoulder, leaving a vicious cut in his flesh. It was as if somebody had drawn a red line across his shoulder with a ruler. Angered, Ape-Man lumbered towards his opponents once more. He had his fangs bared, ready to snatch anybody up.
"APE-MAN RIP APART BATMAN!" he bellowed.
Little did the gorilla-human hybrid realize was that Batman had only done this to distract him. He was merely baiting Ape-Man away from Ladybug as she was setting up the trap that they had planned for their opponent. She was on top of one of the lampposts and tying one end of the rope to it. The spotty heroine watched as Ape-Man chased after Batman, amazed at the speed the black-clad crime fighter moved at. She'd heard much about Batman's speed and agility but never could she have anticipated that he was this good! He moved like somebody who had no limits to his energy and stamina.
"It's amazing to watch this legend in action..." she mused as she finished tying up the knot.
"You and me both milady." Cat Noir agreed.
The feline-themed hero watched on as Batman leapt over Ape-Man's shoulder and landed behind him. He took off just as Ape-Man swiped at him. If the punch had hit Batman, he would've knocked him off his feet. Batman tossed another Batarang at his opponent but Ape-Man had anticipated the attack so he moved out of the way. While Ladybug was working on the ropes on the lampposts, Cat Noir decided he would help Batman keep his bodyguard-turned-villain at bay. He watched as the two headed towards a truck that had been knocked over. Maybe that would come in handy. Grinning, Cat Noir ran towards it whilst yelling out his own special attack.
"CATACLYSM!" he cried.
As he did that, spots of black energy surrounded his gloved hands. He now quite literally had "the touch of death". One touch and he could make anything decay and crumble, which was what made his power so dangerous and why he had to restrain himself accordingly. Cat Noir rushed over to the truck just as Batman and Ape-Man turned and ran towards it. Batman leapt onto the truck and then jumped off of it again, landing just as Cat Noir rushed by him and placed his hand squarely against the truck. This caused the entire vehicle to crumble and fall apart like a poorly-built sandcastle on the beach. Ape-Man had just stood on it as Cat Noir had activated his power, causing him to fall over in surprise as the vehicle he'd just stepped on fell apart beneath him. Batman turned around, impressed with what he'd just seen. He glanced over at Cat Noir.
"Nice power." he complimented.
"Thanks, it's really quite handy in scrapes like this." Cat Noir said casually.
"Certainly slowed him down a bit." Batman noted, glancing at Ape-Man as he was standing back up. He then glanced back over at Ladybug, who waved at him. "I think Ladybug maybe done now. Let's lure him over to our trap."
Ladybug had indeed finished. There was a criss cross web of ropes stretched out from all around the lampposts nearby. Step one as set up, now for step-two. Batman and Cat Noir took flight, bounding over towards the web as Ape-Man chased after them. As soon as they ran under the ropes, Batman stopped, turned and ran back towards Ape-Man. He had a section of Ladybug's rope in his hand and he had wrapped it around his grappling gun. He wrapped the rope around Ape-Man's right wrist, tying the knot tightly so that it would stay attached. Ape-Man growled and as about to punch Batman until Cat Noir walloped his left hand away with his staff. That gave Batman time to aim his grappling fun at the knot in the middle of the rope web above and fire.
A loud bang startled the akuma-villain as the gun fired a long nylon cord with a claw attached out from its barrel. The cord wrapped around the knot and because the gun was tied to a rope that was also tied to Ape-Man's wrist, it pulled his arm upwards. Ape-Man was startled as his arm was suddenly yanked up, leaving him unable to move away from the spot he was in. He tugged but the rope around the lampposts was tough and the lampposts would take too long to bend for him to break free. Ape-Man roared his disapproval and pulled violently, trying to wrench his hand free. But even he wasn't strong enough to break out of the trap he'd fallen into.
This gave Batman the perfect chance to reach up and snatch away the ring that contained the akuma on Ape-Man's finger. The gorilla-human growled at his nocturnal opponent and tried to attack him but Batman weaved out of the way in time to dodge.
"Ladybug, catch!" he cried, tossing it over to the red and black crime fighter.
Ladybug swiftly caught it as she ran across the battleground. Sighing in relief, she dropped the ring to the floor and stamped on it as hard as she could. A crack of metal was heard, allowing the spotty heroine to remove her foot and see the ring was split in half, and the akuma literally flew out of it. Chat Noir grinned as he stood beside Batman, who watched on with a hint of curiosity on his masked features.
"Trust me, you'll love this part" Chat winked as he watched on admirably.
Ladybug opened up her yoyo, the inside glowing a heavenly white as it dropped to a foot above the ground, catching the akuma she had freed from it.
"No more evil doing for you, little akuma!" she smirked.
She swung the yoyo around herself and grinned.
"Time to de-evilise!" she cried as she swung it about a bit more, a pink glow growing into a flash as she swung it outwards. Coming to a halt, the bluenette heroine opened up the yoyo, the akuma no longer a gloomy purple, but pure white like how it was before Hawk Moth weaponized it with his magic. Ladybug gave a small wave at it as it flew off into the night sky.
"Bye bye, petite papillon" she said softly, glad to see the innocence of the creature restored to it.
The rope she had used then appeared into her hands, it's work done. Now came the next part that honestly surprised Batman.
"MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" with that heroic yell, Ladybug tossed the rope into the sky, making Batman watch in silent wonder with Chat Noir as it exploded into a bright pink energy wave.
He might've seen the following on the news, but just seeing it now really made the Caped Crusader resist the urge to drop his jaw in amazement as he saw the pink magic energy swirl by all of the locations damaged by the battle. One wave of the energy going over the damaged sections and they were completely restored to normal; all damaged cats were shining like they were brand new, craters in the road vanished in an instant, replaced by a normal looking, completed road, and lampposts that were knocked over were standing straight and tall once more in a split second. Batman had to admit, that was incredible! Even Flash was slower at repairing stuff on that rate and he was the fastest man alive! The whole scenario ade the Dark Knight mentally suggest to himself he ought to find such artefacts to restore damaged parts of Gotham back to normal.
But now Ladybug and Chat Noir were in for a shock themselves. As they watched Ape-Man turn back to normal in a cloud of purple smoke, along with the broken ring getting restored, Chat Noir's jaw dropped a few feet as he saw, lying there in the Ape-Man's place, was his bodyguard, the Gorilla. The buff man shot his head up, daze and confusion on his aged face. Chat Noir could barely believe it. It was his bodyguard this whole time!?
Ladybug honestly couldn't believe it either. Given how much she likes Adrien and has grown closer to him as of late, she gotten to know a little bit more about his bodyguard. As far as she was concerned, he was like a thick stone wall that could never get damaged, not even suffer a scratch. What could've made him fall victim to an akuma, she wondered? Little did she know, however, Chat Noir finally pieced it together in his head...but he couldn't let the cat out of the bag just yet.
Batman approached the big man as Ladybug and Chat Noir crouched beside him, with Chat helping him sit up, deep concern evident on his face.
"Are you okay, sir? You remember anything?" he softly asked.
He honestly couldn't help but let Adrien's persona come in at this point. This was someone who he actually really appreciated being around, so he was bound to show deeper concern than usual.
The Gorilla looked at the three heroes, clearly looking worried that he'd done something bad. His tough demeanour had vanished, worry sketched all over his face. Would he end up locked away for ever for this? Would he end up fired by his boss? He didn't know what would happen but he couldn't help but be concerned.
"You don't need to worry big guy." Ladybug said gently, "It wasn't you who did all that. It was the akuma that corrupted you."
"I doubt the rest of the city will see it that way." Batman muttered, "We may well need to find out who's responsible for this so-called "akuma" and make him publicly confess so the city knows for a fact it wasn't him the whole time."
"I'm sure Paris will understand. They usually do when it comes to akuma victims." Cat Noir said reassuringly.
"Nevertheless, let's get this man back to where he lives." Batman decided, "I think it'll be best to keep him out of the spotlight for now."
"Good thinking Batman." Ladybug replied. She then smiled cheekily at him and Cat Noir, adding, "I've always wanted to say that."
Cat Noir snickered whereas Batman said nothing. He helped the two teens get the Gorilla back onto his feet so they could lead him home. Unbeknownst to anybody, the whole fight had been observed secretly by The Riddler. After fleeing his taxi, he had taken up a hiding place underneath a parked car and had watched every thing from Ape-Man's rampage to the two heroes battling it out with him and most sickening of all, Batman's arrival. Seeing the Dark Knight had made him feel like tearing his own hair out. Why on Earth had Batman followed him here?! Did he even know he was here or was his arrival sheer coincidence? Nevertheless, he knew that he had to keep a VERY low profile if Batman was here. He couldn't show his hand just yet, not while he hadn't even had time to settle down in his safe house!
The puzzle master watched with relief as the super-trio walked away with the Gorilla. He was now safe to come out. He crawled out from under the car and adjusted his glasses. He almost doubted what he had witnessed, wondering if he'd imagined it all. But given what happened in Gotham, he knew perfectly that anything crazy happened in the world. Nothing was extraordinary anymore, this was pretty normal compared to what he was used to. He then stroked his beard in thought, taking in what he'd seen.
"So the shaved monkey shows up, probably because of me. That's a big concern of course but I'll deal with him in due time." The Riddler declared, "However...those kid-heroes are a different breed altogether. Those powers of there's are admirable and they appear to have SOME level of intelligence. A tiny level of course but still some level. I think I'll have just as much fun testing my intellect on them as much as Batman. Or maybe even I could make them a part of my games..."
He then hummed to himself and nearly smacked his own face in surprise.
"Oh! That taxi better still be there! I can just use it to drive to the safe house myself! Better that way, because I can spend more of my money on making more of my delightful gadgets!" with that little conversation with himself over and done with, the Riddler fled down the way he came from.
Iris West beamed pleasantly as she saw the night walking citizens of Paris return to the streets that was a battleground a few minutes earlier, all of the citizens cheering happily at the victory their saviours and Batman achieved. Iris looked at the camera in front of her, unknown that a dangerous individual had been watching the entire live footage she was helping present to all of the world.
"Well, another akuma victim has been restored to normal, Paris has been saved once again, and this time a touch of Gotham gave a hand. No doubt the Ladyblog will be running strife with onlookers' reports from the scene. More updates will be coming your way, viewers. I'm Iris West, good day to all of you" she pleasantly said, the news changing over another topic on hand.
But the television soon found itself in the hands of the Joker, who was rattling it about like a young baby with its rattler toy, a massive grin on his face.
"NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL MAGIC! Oh Bats, you were the star of the night, as you always are!"
He then stepped back and ran an ecstatic hand through his green hair, a slightly unhappy look on his chalk white skin now, but certainly a crazy look still ever present in his haunting yellow eyes.
"But it still doesn't make any sense, and I don't like making sense of anything as logic belongs in the trash for all I care! Why is he there!? Why leave the juniors managing Gotham while he flies off over to Paris!? Oh Bats, Bats, zee Bats, why!?" He rambled madly to himself as he tried to think things over.
Never underestimate the Joker about anything, whether it be his dweeby look, his mad attitude, his outfit, or the words he said. For one, he was a lot stronger than he looked, having been heavily skilled in hand to hand combat as he's fought Batman to a standstill multiple times. For two, he was VERY intelligent. Even now he was trying to fool goodness knows who into thinking he was nothing more but a daft moron that seemed overly obsessed with Batman. But he was a smart man, and everything would piece together in his odd mind.
As he drew his hands away from his chin, a thoughtful look came to his eyes and a smile tugged on his red coated lips.
"Of course. He's there on business, like he usually is! Wonder who skipped over the Atlantic this time? Penguin forming a midget mafia over there? Bane running arms deals? Or is he there to recruit those two little children?" he declared.
The Joker tapped his chin as he sat back in his chair, staring intently at the news images of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"A little bat in the back of my mind is telling me those two aren't what they seem. They might prove very handy, Nancy..." he purred.
He had watched Ladybug and Cat Noir in action, impressed with the magic trick that the spotty heroine had appeared to perform. He made a mental note to try and perform such a trick himself so that he could destroy Gotham. He began to wonder how much fun it'd be to play with the French heroes.
"No doubt it'll be as fun as Batman's bird-boy and his joy club!" he cackled, "Maybe they'll be as fun as Jason Todd was! I'll remember to bring my crowbar in that regard...heh, heh, heh, heh!"
His crazed, psychotic mind had come to a decision, and it was a decision that Batman would not have been happy to hear had he been here watching The Joker now. He leapt up to his feet and pointed to nobody in particular.
"Well Bats can't hide from me!" he cried, "I'm coming over to Paris myself and I'll dish out my very own brand of crazy for that snail-eating, frog-loving, croissant guzzling, cowardly yellow-bellied country to enjoy and cry in fear at! And then I'll take care of those two teenage wannabes too! Maybe that'll piss Batman right the hell off! AH, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!"
His crazed laughter echoed around the room. The moment The Joker stopped laughing, another thought crossed his mind. His face broke into one of the widest grins he'd ever grinned as he made a decision. A decision that was going to see terror inflicted upon the people of Paris. A decision that would affect not just Batman, but Ladybug and Cat Noir too...
"Time to pack my bags and get some tickets!" the clown criminal announced, "I'm going on a little vacation..."
Oh...shit...The Joker's coming to France! THE JOKER. IS. COMING. TO. FRANCE! 0_0
...I don't even wanna think about what will happen next! Still, be sure to tune in next time as Batman gets to know France's teen heroes better and The Joker arrives in the City of Love...