Marinette worked tirelessly at her sewing machine hoping to finish her latest project before the party tomorrow. Between school work and her superhero duties, designing new clothes always acted as a stress reliever. As she worked, Tikki watched her with enthusiasm while nibbling on a cookie.
"Wow Marinette, you work fast! You're practically done already!" the kwami said.
"Thanks Tikki," said Marinette. "I'm actually surprised how easy this is myself. But since this is for a Ladybug and Chat Noir themed party, I have an easier time finding inspiration for designs."
"Hey, how did Alya get to be in charge of a party hosted at the Grand Paris Hotel anyway?"
Marinette continued to work while she explained. "Well Mr. Bourgeois was planning a social event for our anniversary anyway, but he needed someone with strong connections with Ladybug's fan base. And who else could be better than the founder of the Ladyblog? She texted me earlier saying she had to give out those invitations because ticket sales online sold out immediately."
"It sure sounds like fun! Let's hope nothing happens that would prevent us from going."
At that moment, Marinette's phone chimed with an alert. She looked at the screen with a curious expression.
EMERGENCY: Paris Police received reports of an attack at the Lousteau nightclub on 52nd St. Current causalities are unknown. Possible Akuma attack. Citizens are advised to evacuate the area until an all-clear signal is given.
Marinette gave an exhausted sigh. "And I thought I'd have a quiet night to myself for once." she said.
"Let's get to work!" said Tikki.
Marinette brushed her hair back, showing the red earrings to her kwami. "Tikki, SPOTS ON!" she shouted. The small ladybug creature flew into the Miraculous, then covered her friend in a glow of red light. She was then wearing a red suit with black spots covering her body, as well as a mask covering her eyes. Resting on her hip, was a yo-yo in the shape of a ladybug's shell that was capable of both transportation and combat.
"Now, let's go get Adrien and stop this guy!" said Ladybug. She opened her window to the night sky of the city, ready for action. She reached for her yo-yo, and threw it to a connecting house to anchor it for swinging across the street. She then began moving from building to building, en route to her partner's mansion.
I hope Adrien wasn't expecting a quiet night either, she thought.
"SON OF A BITCH!"
Adrien was both angry, and drained. After hours of playing and numerous retries, the culmination of his efforts ended with The Executioner's golden hammer striking down his knight avatar with the words "YOU DIED" displayed in bright red text on his TV. He put down his controller, and took a deep breath to calm himself down.
At that moment, Plagg flew next to him laughing while eating a slice of camembert cheese. "Oh relax kid! I've lived long enough to meet real knights, and let's just say that was more impressive than anything they ever did."
There was then a knock on his bedroom door. Plagg quickly hid under the couch while Adrien called out, "Come in!"
His father's assistant, Nathalie opened the door with a puzzled expression on her face. "Is everything alright Adrien?"
"Oh, yeah I'm fine. It's just… this stupid game is a pain to deal with." he said.
"I see. Anyways, I was wondering if you needed anything before I went home tonight."
"No, I'm fine. Thank you Nathalie. Did my father say when he would get back from his business trip?" Adrien said. Being the son of fashion mogul Gabriel Agreste means having to spend many nights home alone while he was working late at the studio or out of the country with other designers. That is, if he didn't get dragged along with him for photoshoots or mingling with other models.
"Yes," said the assistant. "He said that the meeting with the investors in Germany is going well, and he should be home early Sunday morning. Also, this was delivered earlier today." She handed him a small box with a ribbon wrapped around it.
"Yes!" Adrien exclaimed. "I didn't expect it to get here so soon!"
"Jewelry isn't exactly a small gift Adrien. I'm guessing it's for a special someone."
"It's for someone VERY special. If you could meet her, you'd see why."
Nathalie smiled. "Well I'm sure she'll enjoy it. Have a good night Adrien"
"Good night Nathalie."
As soon as she left and the door closed, Plagg came out of his hiding spot to view Adrien's latest purchase. "Oooh, shiny! I'm guessing that's for your love bug?" he said.
"Yes it is." said Adrien. "I hope she likes it. I'm planning on giving it to her at the party."
"Speaking of which, is it still too late to convince you to NOT wear that Ladybug costume to the party? It seems embarrassing to wear that in public. Plus, I don't want to be stuck hiding in tight, costume pockets like what happened at the anime convention you dragged me to last summer."
"Hey, I think I pulled off that Jaune Arc cosplay very well, thank you very much!"
"Well, I'll give you that. If there's one thing you portrayed right, it was the aspect where you couldn't recognize the woman who loved you was actually your partner the whole time!"
"Why you little shi-"
Adrien's curse was cut short by another knocking sound. Not from the door, but from the window. He turned to see a girl in a red and black, polka-dotted suit hanging outside of his bedroom.
Ladybug! He thought. Hiding the small jewelry box from her sight, he opened the window to let her in.
"What's the problem?" Adrien said.
"The nightclub on 52nd is under attack." said Ladybug. "It might be another Akuma. Time to transform!"
"You got it! Plagg, CLAWS OUT!"
The cat kwami was sucked into the black ring on Adrien's right hand. After a flash of green light, he was covered in a black, leather suit with boots, clawed gloves, and a gold bell around his neck. A black mask covered his eyes, which turned a deep green color and his pupils retracted to slits. He had a pair of cat ears added to his head, and a long belt extending from his backside, resembling a tail. On his back rested a silver baton with a green paw print adorning it.
"It's a shame we have to miss movie night." Chat Noir said.
"There's always next time; let's get moving!" Ladybug said as she swung away. Chat Noir followed by extending his baton to a long staff, and using it to pole vault out the window and on to an adjacent building. He continued these leaps and bounds in order to keep up with his partner.
The duo headed for their destination under the night sky, not knowing the danger that was waiting for them.
The two heroes moved as fast as they could to get to the nightclub before anyone could get hurt. They reached 52nd St., and stopped on a rooftop overlooking the club building. That's when Chat Noir noticed something about the emergency response.
"Uh… I don't think these are the guys we normally work with." he said.
Ladybug began to survey the area. Before she and Chat arrive to fight Akumas, Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix tends to lead a group of riot officers to evacuate civilians, and secure the area before they show up. But they were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the street was full of armored trucks and men wearing body armor and masks covering their faces. The non-lethal weapons typically used, were replaced by FAMAS rifles and MP5s. There were even two snipers overlooking the entrance from an adjacent building. Whoever they were, they had no intent on being peaceful.
"We should probably go and see who these people are." Ladybug said.
The duo dropped down onto the street and crossed the police line, while ignoring the many reporters waiting behind barricades. They were stopped by a large, masked man in armor with a revolver on his hip.
"Stop right there you two," he said. "This area is locked down, no one is allowed near here."
Chat Noir was confused. "But… there's an Akuma in there!" he said. "We always show up to stop them!"
"You must've got the phone alert didn't you? It said 'possible' Akuma, but we just got intel that it's not. Apologies. I'm Captain Julien Nizan, GIGN, and I'm in charge of this operation."
The Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale (GIGN) is the elite police force that's made up of some of the most skilled operators in the French military. They specialize in counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, and is said to have some of the best marksmen in the world. Their motto is Sauver des vies au mépris de la sienna ("To save lives without regard to one's own").
"So what are you doing here?" Ladybug asked. "And why can't we help?"
"What we have here is different from your usual overly-emotional teen possessed by a butterfly." Nizan said. "According to the nightclub patrons, someone just walked in and opened fire. They said that the assailant was targeting the owners and security rather than firing randomly, so this is possible gang activity, or just someone with an ulterior motive. About 8 people were sent to the hospital, but there have been no fatalities. However, that was a while ago and we can't just go in without any actionable intel. We tried to send in scout drones to search the perimeter, but they're being jammed. We can't even get access to the security feed from the cameras."
"But we can't just sit here and do nothing!" Ladybug said. "We have to go in there and stop that guy!"
Nizan stopped to think. "Well, me and my men still have our orders to stay here until command gives us the order to intervene. But you two… you don't have those orders. You can go in, and see if you can disrupt that jammer. And if you run into that bastard, do whatever it takes to stop him."
"Don't worry Captain. We'll be careful and take care of this. We took care of crazier things before, so this shouldn't be different." Said Chat Noir, in his usual optimistic attitude.
"I hope so." Nizan said. "While you're in there, can you see if you shut down the music? If we're going to send in our drones, we need it quieter so their microphones can pick up audio. Also, it's just really damn annoying and it's starting to give me a headache."
Ladybug agreed. The constant bass of the music from the club can be heard outside, loud enough causing small tremors from the entrance. She could see why someone would be annoyed if they had to stay here for a long time. Chat Noir fared worse. The powers of his Miraculous granted him enhanced hearing, so he would be more sensitive to loud noises.
"We'll see if we can. Just be sure to keep people safe." Said Ladybug. "We're going in."
The two heroes walk towards the entrance and went in the building. The Captain gave a nervous sigh, wondering if the duo is capable of dealing with a threat like this. He then reached for his radio to contact his superiors.
"R6 Command, this is Rook. Come in."
"This is Command, go ahead Rook."
"Ladybug and Chat Noir just entered the target building. My team and I still have the perimeter secured. Requesting means of intervention regarding the hostiles."
"Captain, I want you and your team to continue holding your position. If anyone detects any form of enemy action, you are free to enter the building."
"Roger that."
"And Nizan? We shouldn't have to remind you that Ladybug and Chat Noir are the only ones capable of stopping the Akuma attacks that threaten the city. Do whatever it takes to make sure those two come out of this unharmed."
"Don't worry sir, we'll get it done. This guy won't know what hit him."
Jacket has never felt more alive.
Working with the Payday Gang has forced him to be more subtle. More under-the-radar. More "by the book". But with the powers Hawkmoth has granted him, he was able to work solely on his instincts. It has been a long time since he was able to kill with no real plan or regard to consequences.
Each victim he slaughtered was like a shot in the arm. Every bullet tearing through flesh, every cut slicing into skin, and every bone broken invigorated him. None of these two-bit gangsters stood a chance against his brutality, and none were shown mercy.
"We're gonna kill you motherfucker! You hear me freak?! We'll find you, and RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"
The gang leader was tied to his chair, watching as Jacket worked to open his secret safe behind a painting. They were both in the manager's office overlooking the club. The music was loud, and dead bodies littered the dance floor. Both the main floor, and the second floor balcony were scenes of a massacre. But he knew that the cops wouldn't just risk themselves by running in with no information. Thankfully, the jamming program Wolf gave him is keeping them from getting access to servers or the security feed.
The messenger ignored the threats as he opened the safe, reveling 10 large bricks of cocaine. According to Bain, drugs of this quality could be worth as much as a million dollars. He began stuffing the bricks into a duffle bag as the gangster continued to curse at him.
"That's my coke you fucking cunt! You better put that back before I send someone to cut your balls off! I'll feed you to my dogs you piece of shit!"
As Jacket was zipping up the bag of drugs, he noticed a news report on the TV in the office.
"I'm Nadja Chamack, reporting live from the Lousteau nightclub. Almost an hour ago, an unknown assailant attacked innocent party goers with a hail of gunfire. The GIGN is on stand-by waiting for orders to go in and attempt to retake the premises and rescue any hostages taken. But just moments ago, Ladybug and Chat Noir have arrived to assist the officers in the rescue effort."
It's about time those two showed up. Jacket thought. Now that I finished Bain's job, I have to fulfill my end of the deal to Hawkmoth. Wait till they get a load of me.
To Be Continued...