Golden Eagle

Chapter IIX:

Guardian

Marinette sat up in bed as she mindlessly browsed the internet. It was past 11 and she had school tomorrow but she couldn't get to sleep. Her lungs were sore from breathing through that fireman's breathing mask. That and Golden Eagle was on her mind because she had just flown straight into the building but she and Cat Noir had grabbed oxygen tanks from the firemen.

"Don't worry, Marinette, I'm sure Donno won't let Golden Eagle transform when she's hurt. He's very productive of his Miraculous users, I can tell you that," Tikki said, floating into Marinette's lap.

"You know more about the other Kwami and Miraculouses than you let on, don'tcha?" Marinette said, patting Tikki's head with her finger.

Before the Kwami could respond, a news alert came up on the computer.

"Once again, Paris is under attack from an akumatized supervillain. The villain, named Guardian, is coating anything he deems dangerous in an impenetrable hardening foam. This ranges from speeding cars to people texting as they walk. We go live to the copter at the scene,"

The scene changed to a view of the Louve where a man wearing a bright yellow suit with black stripes and a mask was using the pack on his back to spray foam from two guns. Marinette closed her laptop, jumped out of bed and opened the door to check if her parents were still awake. When she saw the living room below was completely empty with the lights out, she turned to Tikki.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Alicia had to keep an eye on her akumatized father even if Donno refused to transform her. Her personal belongings had been returned to her shortly after Grant left for some air so she now had the Miraculous and her street clothes back. Having already changed into her street clothes, Alicia now hid behind a lamppost as she observed Guardian spraying the surrounding area.

"Oh... Papa," she sighed "He needs Golden Eagle, Donno, please..."

"I'm sorry, Alicia, but you're still too hurt to transform safely," Donno said "Besides, Ladybug and Cat Noir will be here soon. Sure, Golden Eagle's help could make it go a lot faster but they can save him. Have faith in your partners,"

Alicia bit her lip when she heard a voice yelling from the rooftops. She looked up and spotted Cat Noir balancing on a window ledge just like his namesake.

"So... what's your deal? Tripped over thin air and now you're too scared to leave the house without a protective coating of bubble wrap?" he mocked.

Alicia found herself annoyed on her father's behalf at Cat Noir's mocking. Then she saw that Guardian stopped spraying a group of civilians thanks to the cat-themed superhero and she realized it was just a distraction. Guardian turned his foam gun towards Cat Noir and fired but the superhero easily jumped out of the way.

"Missed me, missed me!" he sang, drawing his staff "Now, ya gotta fight me!"

And with that, Cat Noir charged. Alicia turned to Donno with a stubborn expression. The Kwami kept his ground on not letting her transform. Luckily for him, Alicia didn't know that she could transform against his will by saying the magic words. Alicia looked back at the battle and began to think about how she could help despite not being transformed. In order to de-evilize the akuma, Ladybug and Cat Noir needed to know who Guardian was and where the akuma could be. She remembered that Grant always carried around his favourite family picture of them before the divorce. If anywhere, the akuma had to be there!

"Cat Noir! Duck!"

Ladybug appeared at the scene and used her yoyo to knock Guardian away. The duo regrouped with their weapons drawn and ready to fight.

"Paris is unsafe, you are both dangers. Dangers to my dear-girl!" Guardian monologued "Give me your Miraculous so my Darling Little Ali will be safe!"

Alicia decided to use this opportunity to show Ladybug and Cat Noir who the akumatized villain was. The anxiety of the situation kicked in as she nervously stepped out from her hiding spot.

"Hey, get outta here!" Ladybug yelled at her "It's not safe for anybody!"

"P-Papa?" Alicia stammered since facing a supervillain without powers was terrifying "Is that- is that you? Papa!"

Cat Noir and Ladybug looked between the two of them.

"That's Alicia Blaise so if the akuma's victim is her father then..." Cat Noir started.

"...then Guardian must be Grant Blaise!" Ladybug finished "Get her to safety, Cat!"

"On it,"

He leapt forward and tackled Alicia away from her father, inadvertently putting pressure on her damaged lungs. She violently coughed on the pavement and the action caused Guardian to become enraged.

"Don't touch her!" he screamed.

"Pa... *cough* pa..." Alicia wheezed.

Guardian ran at them with his foam guns ready. If he sealed Alicia away, she wouldn't be happy so he couldn't but if he sealed away everyone and everything else then she'd be safe! The end of Cat Noir's staff got coated in foam as he used it to hit the foam shot at him away. Ladybug tied Guardian up with her yoyo but he forced his way back out.

Alicia watched and felt useless. She looked down, her hair in her eyes when Donno pushed her phone out of her pocket with her video files open. She looked down at the hidden Kwami and began flicking through the videos when she found what she needed.

"Lucky Charm!"

Ladybug found herself with a speaker and looked around for a way it could be useful.

"Ladybug! Over here!" Alicia yelled despite her lungs.

Ladybug went to Alicia's side and she showed her what video was on her phone. Realizing the plan, Ladybug plugged the speaker into Alicia's mobile and they turned the volume up to get Guardian's attention.

"[Papa! Look at me!]"

The voice of an 11-year-old boy speaking in English rang out from the speaker and drew Guardian's attention. Alicia stood up and held her phone out as the video continued to play.

"[Wow, son, that's impressive!]" and that was Grant's voice.

Guardian took the phone from his daughter and watched the video of his son showing off the fact he could do a backflip. He let out a laugh when Kier crashed into a bookcase and laughed at his own mistake. Alicia smiled, thankful she had downloaded her video library from her computer to her phone. Guardian fell to his knees, tears in his eyes as he looked at his son.

"Papa? Where's the akuma hiding?" his daughter asked.

Guardian looked up at her with a genuine smile spread across his face and tears staining his face. He reached for his pocket when he suddenly screamed in pain.

"PAPA!" Alicia screamed "What's happening?!"

"Hawk Moth's taking his power!" Cat Noir exclaimed.

The akuma flew out from Guardian's pocket and he reverted back to Grant. He collapsed forward into his daughter's arms with the video of his son still playing on the phone in his hand. Ladybug captured the akuma before it could return to Hawk Moth and unplugged the speaker from Alicia's phone.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

Guardian's safety foam disappeared from the streets of Paris which left them with two Blaises that needed hospitalization.

...The Hospital, the Next Morning...

Alicia sat up in bed as she ate up her breakfast. Her father was asleep in the bed on the other side of the curtain that divided the room. The doctors said he was just exhausted and prescribed bed rest along with a healthier diet since Grant tended to only eat take-out ramen when he was working on a story. The doctors also said Alicia needed to undergo some kind of breathing therapy for the next 5-7 days to heal her damaged lungs. And when they asked how she inhaled so much smoke, she said that through the trauma of her father being akumatized, she had forgotten.

"Alicia!"

She jumped as several of her classmates suddenly burst into the room with Nathanaël leading the charge.

"We just heard you were in hospital during the news report about Guardian! Are you okay?" Nathanaël asked.

He then realized how desperate he sounded and took a step back as a deep blush dusted his cheeks.

"I'm fine, I *cough*cough* I'll be out in a week or so and my dad's sleeping on the other side of that curtain so shush, please," Alicia said, her throat scratchy.

"That's weird, you don't talk this much at school," Alya pointed out.

A blush appeared on Alicia's face and she looked away from them.

"Anyway," Marinette changed the subject "I heard you helped Ladybug and Cat Noir! What happened?"

"Oh, yeah! I wanted to interview you about that!" Alya remembered and she whipped out her phone to film her "So... how was it? Were you scared when you confronted your akumatized father? I hear you were the one who came up with the plan to stop him. What was it?"

Alicia stared at her before picking her phone up from the bedside table.

"I just showed him a video from the last time he saw Keer," she said, quietly.

"And who's Keer?" Alya persisted.

"My little brother. He still lives with our mum in New York, though," Alicia answered.

She began cowering away from the camera and Marinette pulled her best friend back. Alicia's eyes straid to Nathanaël, who was nervously clutching his sketch book.

"What was weird was that Golden Eagle didn't show up and there weren't any sightings of her trying to break that safety foam," Alya pointed out.

Alicia felt her chest tighten and her stomach do a backflip. Luckily, Nathanaël came to the rescue.

"Well, it's not like Cat Noir joins Ladybug every time there's some freak natural disaster and Golden Eagle's new, right? Maybe she got trapped in Guardian's safety foam before she could transform," he said.

"Y-Yeah... maybe that's why she wasn't there," Alicia nervously agreed "And not because her overprotective Kwami refused to let her transform or anything like that," she sarcastically thought to herself.

"Well, we should let you rest," Adrien said "See ya in school, Alicia, c'mon you guys,"

Nathanaël lingered in the doorway for a moment with a smile that said "I'm glad you're okay" before leaving with the others. Alicia lay back in bed and let out an exasperated sigh. Donno flew out from under the pillow and helped himself to the untouched caramel ice-cream that was served with her breakfast.

"You sure you don't have a crush on that Nathanaël boy?" he asked.

"Shut-up..."