Chapter 4: The Outbreak
Fighting a virus isn't easy. Mutant or non-mutant.
A pair of doors was the only remaining shield between the recruits and the viral horrors that awaited them outside.
Hiccup, for the life of him, couldn't begin to imagine how they were going to deal with it. This mutant virus that Kuro and Sticky were talking about was most unlike anything he and his friends had ever faced before. Was there really anything that they could do? Did Kuro make a mistake recruiting them?
What about the others? He was pretty sure that the dragons from another world had never dealt with a deadly virus either, but what about the superheroes? And he didn't want to be judgmental, but the last thing he'd want was to get a pair of young boys involved with something so dangerous.
His thoughts were interrupted by someone sneezing.
Everyone turned toward the sound, and they were greeted by the sight of Cat Noir rubbing his nose. "I'm allergic to feathers," he explained.
Blaze the Blaziken was standing right next to him. She rolled her eyes and snarked, "Well, that's useful."
"Tell me about it," Cat Noir moaned. Then he sneezed again.
Blaze took several steps toward the other side of the room until the superhero's allergic reaction ceased.
Hiccup took a minute to gather his thoughts. "Okay, so, it's my assumption that none of us have ever dealt with anything like this before."
Everyone around him shook their heads by way of answer.
"We're gonna need a plan," Hiccup said. After a moment's pause, he added, "I'm taking suggestions here."
Peril raised a smoking talon. "I can just burn them."
"No!" Adhesive protested. "We can't kill them! They may be infected by a deadly mutant virus, but they're still my fellow Ultra Beasts."
"I wasn't gonna kill them," Peril claimed, but there was something about her tone of voice that told Hiccup that she wasn't too sure of that fact.
Starflight looked thoughtful. "If we could find the source of the problem," he said, "Then maybe we'll find some answers."
"That's a good start," said Ladybug. "But something tells me we'll have to go through a whole army of virus zombies to get there."
"We can hold them off, no problem," Himinn said, "You and Kitty Boy go."
"Kitty Boy?" Cat Noir echoed, sounding mildly offended.
Snivels chanced a quick glance out one of the windows at the chaos happening outside. "That horde looks relentless," he said. "There's no room for error here; no second chance. We either make it all the way or not at all."
"We can help with that," Phineas said. "We could build a super-flier to get over the zombies, or cloaking device so we can slip right past them, or maybe a a time-freezing stopwatch -"
As he was speaking, the ever-loyal and helpful Ferb held up some blueprints that he'd somehow pulled from out of nowhere.
"Actually," Adhesive broke in, "Viperion's superpower allows him to go back in time. If anything goes wrong, he can just reset."
Phineas froze on the spot with a surprised look on his face. The blueprints slipped out of Ferb's hands as his irises shrank.
"Those were good ideas," Sticky said, "Keep at it. I'd love to see what you guys come up with!"
"Can we please stay focused?" Astrid asked, her patience slowly dwindling.
Ladybug gently brushed past everyone and grabbed the doorknob. "We need to be quick," she said. "Viperion, when I give the signal, use your power."
Said hero lifted his left arm so the snake bracelet was in plain sight. "You can count on me, Ladybug."
"Alright," she said, "On the count of three, I'm gonna open the door, and when I do, Viperion will mark this moment in time so he can use his power to reset back to this moment in case Cat Noir and I don't make it the lab, while you guys cover us until we get there. Any questions?"
Tsunami raised a talon. "Yeah. Who died and made you the queen of this whatever-it-is-we're-doing?"
A loud boom from outside signaled that something had just exploded.
"We don't have time to discuss this," Hiccup realized. "We need to act now!"
Ladybug grasped the doorknob tighter. "Everyone ready?"
"No," was their honest answer.
Except for Cat Noir. "I am if you are, Bugaboo."
"Stop calling me -" Ladybug started, then stopped and took a deep breath. "Ready, Viperion?"
He nodded silently, hand poised on his Miraculous.
"One..."
"This is gonna be bad," Snivels grumbled under his breath.
"Two..."
Everyone tensed.
"Three!"
In one swift movement, the ladybug-themed superhero yanked the doors open. At the same time, Viperion slid back the snake figurehead on the Miraculous to mark that moment.
"Second Chance!"
The virus zombies didn't attack right away because they were startled by the sudden noise of the doors slamming open. But now they could sense a rather large group of warm bodies just waiting for them to infect.
"Don't worry, Beetle Girl and Kitty Boy," Himinn said. "We've got you covered. Typhoon, blast them away!"
The Windwalker leaped over them, wings flapping and tail thrashing.
The virus zombies were too distracted by the dragon's aggressive show to notice a pair of teenaged superheroes slip by.
Except for one.
It was about the size of a pickup truck, grayish-blue in color, standing on six instectoid legs, with a bulbous head and rounded spike proteins all over its being.
The two heroes went high, Ladybug swinging from her yo-yo while Cat Noir vaulted himself with his staff, to make it over the horde, but neither of them saw the mutant Cholegio virus cell until it was too late. The second they landed on it, they were doomed. Gas billowed out of its spike proteins, engulfing them both.
Eyes widening at the sight, Viperion quickly slid the snake head back on his Miraculous. In a flash, he was back where he had started.
"Don't worry, Beetle Girl and Kitty Boy," Himinn said. "We've got you covered. Typhoon, blast them away!"
The Windwalker leaped over them, wings flapping and tail thrashing.
"Watch out for the big one!" Viperion shouted over the noise.
As if on cue, the mutant Cholegio virus cell rose up to its full height, towering over most of the virus zombies.
"I'll distract it," Peril declared, not caring if anyone protested. "Keep going!" This is it. Redemption. Don't screw this up!
She was in the air before anyone could blink, barely missing Typhoon. Her species wasn't called the SkyWings for nothing, after all. She dove at the mutant virus cell, and it recoiled at the heat radiating off of her scales.
"Let's go!" Ladybug shouted.
They went high again, this time running on top of the virus zombies' bulbous heads. Even in spite of the direness of the situation, it was a rather comical sight.
The horde didn't relent. They charged.
Typhoon fired a blast of water, soaking all zombies in the vicinity.
Ladybug and Cat Noir slipped on the zombies' wet heads and tumbled to the ground.
Wincing, Viperion slid the snake head back again.
"Don't worry, Beetle Girl and Kitty Boy," Himinn said. "We've got you covered. Typhoon, blast them away!"
The Windwalker leaped over them, wings flapping and tail thrashing.
"Don't fire yet," Viperion said. "Wait until Ladybug and Cat Noir get past the horde. We need someone to distract the big one with six legs."
"I'm on it!" Peril declared, not caring if anyone protested. This is it. Redemption. Don't screw this up!
She was in the air before anyone could blink, barely missing Typhoon. Her species wasn't called the SkyWings for nothing, after all. She dove at the mutant virus cell, and it recoiled at the heat radiating off of her scales.
"Let's go!" Ladybug shouted.
They went high again, this time running on top of the virus zombies' bulbous heads. Even in spite of the direness of the situation, it was a rather comical sight.
Typhoon landed at the front of the group and let out a mighty roar.
The horde didn't relent. They charged.
One virus zombie grabbed Purple Tigress's arm. Viperion instinctively shoved it away to protect his sister. Two more virus zombies grabbed his arms, preventing him from reaching his Miraculous. Thick, dark blue fumes billowed out of the zombies' spike proteins, engulfing the air around Viperion's head. He coughed and wheezed as the offending mist entered his lungs. He was a zombie within seconds.
"VIPERION!" Purple Tigress called out in despair.
The virus zombie that was once her brother lunged at her, but was quickly knocked aside by Tsunami's tail.
"So much for second chances," Brandyn said despairingly.
Hiccup instinctively started shouting orders. "Dragons, in the air! Everyone cover each other!"
"Right behind you, Hiccup," Snivels said, pulling himself up on Toothless's back.
It was pure chaos. The Go-Getters, the Dragonets of Destiny, Himinn and Typhoon, the Rathlings and Swift the Nargacuga were circling over the city, firing projectiles at the ground, startling the virus zombies into stumbling back a few steps. On the ground level, meanwhile, the team of Miraculous superheroes were punching and kicking and trying to push the horde back.
"They're surrounded!" Adhesive shouted over the din. "We have to help them!"
"We got this," Himinn said, "You guys go!"
There wasn't any time for questions or protests. The Go-Getters dove. At Hiccup's signal, Toothless fired a warning shot at the horde. It exploded, scaring a good number of virus zombies away.
Unfortunately, they were replaced by several more virus zombies just a few seconds later.
"Well," Camazotz said, "On the bright side, at least the virus zombies aren't inheriting their victims' powers."
Hiccup had to admit that that was a good observation. But it would take more than that stroke of luck for them to get through this.
"I hope Ladybug and Cat Noir are having better luck than us," said Rena Rouge.
Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard for the super duo to figure out which building was the lab. It was the only one in the vicinity with a giant fake chemistry flask on the roof.
The lab seemed empty when they got there. But with so much experience fighting supervillains, they knew better to just strut right in like they owned the place. They had to be careful, and keep their eyes and ears open.
"How do we find where the mutation started?" Cat Noir asked.
"I can help with that," said a voice from behind them.
Startled, Ladybug instinctively grabbed whatever it was that had spoken and threw it over her shoulder.
It was Sticky. She would have slammed into the wall if her species couldn't float.
"Oops!" Ladybug squeaked. "Sorry! Uh... Reflex."
"No biggie," Sticky said, brushing herself off. "The lab room for viruses and vaccines is on the top floor. I work there part-time. Gotta pay off college debt, am I right?" When she got no response, she amended, "Elevator or stairs?"
They took the stairs.
The lab's door had been ripped off its hinges, and the room was a total mess.
"I don't think we're alone in this building," Ladybug said lowly.
Sticky pointed to the one table that was still upright. "That's where I was working on the vaccines," she said.
"Maybe the shots will work as a cure?" Cat Noir suggested.
"Only one way to find out," his female companion uttered under her breath. She crept into the room, spinning her yo-yo rapidly to create an impromptu shield in case anything leapt out at her.
And something did.
A virus zombie that had been lying in wait lunged from its hiding place behind one of the overturned tables. Cat Noir called out, but Ladybug saw it. She wrapped her yo-yo around its foot and swung it across the room.
But, as it so happened to be, there was more than one.
They all popped up from around the room and charged. One particular virus zombie got dangerously close, but was knocked away by Cat Noir's staff. The two heroes stood back-to-back, staring off against the circle of virus zombies.
"Good job," Sticky said from the doorway. "Keep them busy!" She took out her cell phone and speed-dialed a number. "Adhesive, we made it to the lab," she said as soon as the other Poipole had picked up. "What?" Her face scrunched up in mild confusion as she registered his request. "Sure, I can hold."
Chop chop chop! Chop away at my heart!
I can feel it -
Sticky waited patiently for her boyfriend to resume the call, her hips swaying in time to the on-hold music he'd installed on his own phone. She could vaguely hear the sounds of rigorous fighting going on in the lab.
The song ended mid-lyric as something slammed into Sticky's back and knocked her down. She was afraid it was a virus zombie, but was relieved to realize that it was only Cat Noir.
"Sticky?"
"Hello, Ad," she said breathlessly. "Lab's full of virus zombies. We're thinking we could use the Cholegio vaccines as a cure for -" She heard something explode on the other end.
"Sorry," Adhesive said, "Gotta go. Hold please?"
"I'll hold," Sticky promised.
One of the virus zombies grabbed Cat Noir's belt-tail and he was dragged back into the fight with a yelp.
Chop chop chop! Chop away at -
Things were not going well AT ALL.
More than half of the Miraculous team had been turned into virus zombies now, and no matter how many they drove off they just seemed to keep coming.
"This isn't working!" cried Ninjark.
"We just need to hold them off until those super-kids come back," Ra said, head-butting a couple of virus zombies.
A couple of Deadly Nadder and Nargacuga spines struck some of the virus zombies' shoulders but they didn't seem the least bit fazed. Blaze and the dragons' fire attacks were the only thing that seemed to scare them, but they could only use their fire a limited number of times. Once they ran out, it would be game over.
It was a bleak situation.
Rooster Bold and Caprikid were among the few Miraculous superheroes who were yet to be infected. The former called out the latter's name at the sight of a virus zombie sneaking up behind.
The goat superhero knocked it down with his giant paintbrush weapon. "Watch your back, Rooster Bold!"
"It's just," his companion stuttered, "If this is the end, there's something I have to tell you!"
Caprikid shrugged. "Okay, shoot."
Cheeks tinged pink, Rooster Bold started, "For the longest time..."
"Look out!" Caprikid interjected, brushing past his friend to knock a virus zombie away with his paintbrush.
"Caprikid!" Rooster Bold cried, then corrected himself. "Nathaniel! I...like you!"
The goat superhero turned to smile at his friend. "I like you, too, Marc."
Rooster Bold shook his head, his cheeks rapidly turning scarlet. "No," he said, "I mean...I like-you like you!"
"Oh." Caprikid's cheeks went pink. "That's...wow, I...I've always felt -"
That was as far as he got before they were swarmed by virus zombies. The two boys called out to each other, but were soon coughing on the infectious fumes.
The mutant Cholegio virus cell lashed out, knocking Peril out of the air, an act which left a sizable scorch mark on one of its legs. The firescales SkyWing tumbled to the ground, heading straight for the Go-Getters.
"INCOMING!" Glory shouted.
Blaze pushed herself to the front of the group, holding her hands out. Peril collided with the Blaziken, skidding her back a few inches.
"What are you doing?!" Tsunami called down. "She'll burn you to a crisp!"
"I'm resistant to fire!" Blaze called back. Sure enough, she didn't look the least bit scathed. "I can still feel my palms getting hot," she admitted, retracting her hands, which has started to smoke a little.
The injured mutant virus cell shrieked loudly, and the virus zombies froze. Much to everyone's confusion, they fell back, lumbering toward the mutant cell.
"That one mutant seems to be their leader," Hiccup realized.
"Or their mother," Snivels suggested.
"That's not a bad name for it," Adhesive said. "The Mother."
The Mother let out another shriek, and the zombies turned back toward the gathered heroes.
"They're coming back!" Polymouse screamed.
"Where are the stepbrothers?!" Heather shouted.
It was a bit out of the blue, but the two youngest boys had been absent for the whole showdown. Where were they?
The virus zombies charged, but suddenly, a giant doctor-themed robot leapt up from behind a building the fence and whacked them away. The windshield of the robot's head lowered to reveal none other than a certain pair of boy inventors.
"We're not throwing away our shots," the green-haired Brit declared.
Phineas looked pleasantly surprised. "Well, somebody's chatty today!"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Ferb said, "Did you want to say that?"
"No, by all means!"
"It's just that it's been a long time."
Phineas smiled. "Yes! Yes it has!"
It was at that moment that Sticky, Ladybug, and Cat Noir returned, the former carrying a handful of Cholegio vaccines while the latter two looked a little beat up from their narrow escape from the virus zombies in the lab. The three turned at the sound of a vehicle's engine rumbling and saw a particularly large truck headed their way.
The driver, a Buzzwole, was blissfully unaware of what lay ahead and was singing along to his truck's radio. "Chop! chop! chop! chop away at my heart!"
A virus zombie jumped onto the hood of his truck, scaring him silly. "Whoa! Timber!" He swerved, and the truck turned over. Cables snapped, and several concrete drainage pipes rolled free down the street, headed straight for the gathered heroes.
The Mother and the virus zombies quickly scattered, leaving their opponents to fend for themselves.
Clay swooped down with surprising speed, catching one of the drainage pipes on his shoulder. He dug in his claws and strained, but the force and weight of the pipe were too much for him to bear alone.
The other dragonets quickly joined him, pushing and shoving with all of their might.
"We can't hold them back much longer!" Starflight said, his knees buckling under the weight.
"Don't worry," Phineas said confidently. "We got this. Ferb?"
His stepbrother pressed some buttons, and the robot they were piloting went right to work. Moving quickly in spite of its size, it scooped up all of the concrete pipes, relieving the Dragonets of Destiny of their labor.
Unfortunately, the weight proved to be too much for the robot to handle. It went haywire, jerking this way and that, spinning wildly, launching the concrete pipes high into the air. They fell with a crash somewhere in the distance. Then the robot toppled over, completely spent.
"Well, it was fun while it lasted," Phineas tried.
"Yes," his stepbrother agreed. "Yes it was."
It didn't take long for the virus zombies to regroup. Thinking quickly, Sticky sprang into action, jabbing several zombies in the leg with the vaccines and dispensing the medicine.
They faltered a little, then fell over.
"I think it's working!" Sticky cheered.
She spoke too soon. The virus zombies stood back up, pulling the empty vaccine needles out of their appendages and resumed their charge.
"It's not working!" Sticky amended fearfully.
The Mother let out a shrieking roar and lashed out, barely missing the Shiny Poipole.
Ladybug swung in to help her remaining team members. Cat Noir followed, landing a few feet away. "Now how are we gonna stop them?" he wondered.
Snivels spotted a particularly large virus zombie - probably a Stakataka - looming over the cat superhero. Charging up an attack, he called out, "Adrien, duck!"
Not understanding what the Servine meant, the young superhero tried to explain, "Actually, I'm supposed to be a cat." He quickly got the hint, however, when he noticed a yellow beam of solar energy heading his way. He hit the deck, and the Solar Beam struck the Stakataka virus zombie, toppling it over.
"Whoa," Cat Noir said once he'd recovered. "Nice one. One more second and I'd have lost one of my nine lives." Then his eyes widened in shock as he realized something. "Wait a second. How did you know my real name is Adrien?!"
Oh, dragon droppings. "Uh..." the Servine was lost for words. "It's...kind of a long story." Then, upon getting a whiff of the young superhero's aroma, he asked, "Has anyone ever told you that you smell like cheese?"
"It's camembert," Adrien/Cat Noir admitted, a bit sheepishly.
Something roared in the distance. The ground rumbled beneath their feet. Before anyone could ask, hundreds upon thousands of creatures, big and small, far beyond any of their wildest dreams, stampeded through the streets, bowling over several virus zombies.
"Where did all of these creatures come from?" Himinn shouted over the din.
"The zoo!" Adhesive said by way of answer. "The concrete pipes must have crashed into the Ultra Megalopolis Multiversal Zoo, and all of the creatures broke out of their exhibits!"
"Why on earth would you fill a zoo with creatures from all over the Multiverse?" Ladybug asked.
Adhesive smiled. "I like to think the real question is: why wouldn't we?"
Amidst the stampede, the Mother firmly stood its ground, releasing infectious gas from her spike proteins. A good number of the zoo creatures breathed it in and fell over onto their sides.
A few of the virus zombies used the cover of the stampede to sneak up on the group. They pounced, landing on Windshear and Buck. The dragons thrashed and rolled, trying to throw them off, but the virus zombies held on tight.
"Windshear!" Heather cried once she noticed her dragon's distress.
The Razorwhip finally threw the virus zombie off, but not after it had released its fumes. The dragon breathed heavily as she recovered from her endeavor.
"Windshear?" Heather said, cautiously reaching a hand out toward her dragon friend.
When the Razorwhip turned around, everyone realized that something was very wrong. Her scales had gone from shining silver to a blueish tint, and there were protein spikes sticking out all over her body. She roared.
Heather stumbled back fearfully. "What's happened to her?!"
"The infection must have a different effect on animals," Hiccup realized.
All around them, the zoo creatures were pushing themselves back up on their feet. All of them were tainted blue and were covered with spike proteins.
"This is getting worse by the minute," Sunny bemoaned.
"We need to fall back and regroup!" Ladybug declared.
They turned to head inside, but found their path blocked by a massive black shape.
The Gore Magala roared as it lashed out at the virus zombies that were trying to surround it, black mist curling around its wings and talons.
"Sightless?" Snivels called out.
Adhesive shook his head. "No, that's Strep. He's the youngest member of our Magala exhibit."
One of the virus zombies managed to launch itself onto Strep's back. It released its infectious gas around the young Gore Magala's head. Strep shook the virus zombie off, panting a little and inhaling the infectious gas.
A lot of the Go-Getters screamed.
"Stay back!" Tsunami shrieked, leaping out in front of the group, lashing her tail and baring her teeth at Strep. "You're infected! He's infected!"
The SeaWing's thrashing tail came within an inch of Astrid's head. "Hey, watch it!" the blonde trainer snapped.
But Starflight noticed something odd about the Gore Magala. "Guys, I...I think he's okay."
Indeed, Strep wasn't being affected by the fumes at all. He was still a regular Gore Magala, not blue and not covered with spike proteins.
"How is he okay?!" Himinn demanded.
"I DON'T KNOW!" Starflight screamed.
"Perhaps the Magala's natural immunity to its own virus might be acting as a sort of shield against other diseases," Snivels calmly suggested.
Adhesive's eyes lit up. "Hey, maybe we can use that to make a cure!"
The Mother's shriek brought them back to reality.
"Let's save that conversation for later," said Hiccup. "RUN!"
They made a break for the apartment buildings. But some of them weren't fast enough.
Rena Rouge cried out as a virus zombie grabbed her leg. Just a few feet away, another one grabbed Carapace.
Hearing their screams, Ladybug skidded to a halt and turned around, eyes widening at what she saw. "Alya!"
"Keep going!" her friend called out before she started coughing on the virus zombie's fumes.
Cat Noir noticed that his lady had stopped and rushed back, grabbing her arm gently but firmly. "Ladybug, we gotta go now!"
She hesitated, but ultimately complied. They were the only Miraculous superheroes who made it to the safety of the apartments.
Kuro gazed out the window at the chaos in the streets. "This isn't good," he said somberly. "We need backup."
Something banged on the door to his office. When he turned around, it came off its hinges and revealed a small group of virus zombies.
"Oh, Shuckle juice," the Necrozma grumbled just seconds before he was swarmed.
Somewhere out in the city streets, two men were running from a smaller hoard of virus zombies.
"Stay away from me!" screamed the better-dressed man. "I don't want to be a -!" He stopped, having realized something. "Wait a second...That doesn't even make sense. You breathe in some gas, you become a virus zombie? I mean, your shirt and pants can't change with you."
His chubby friend caught up to him, a quizzical look on his face. "I don't know, perhaps the disease infects your clothing as well?"
"Infects my cl -" Shaun started, then scoffed. "Are you insinuating that my clothes are alive? That's scarier than these mutant virus zombies..."
He didn't get to finish before the zombie hoard caught up to them. One of them grabbed Shaun's shoulders to hold him still while another released a cloud of gas for him to breathe in.
Oblivious to the trouble his best friend had just gotten into, Ed shrugged. "I suppose I didn't really think that through."
The virus zombies swarmed him, and he was infected within a matter of seconds.
Shaun of the Dead, everybody. From one zombie homage to another.
I regret to say that I don't have a good explanation for what Shaun and Ed are doing in Ultra Megalopolis; their appearance was mainly to get a laugh out of you guys. Best to use your imagination for this one.
In any case, they should have just gone to the Winchester and waited for this whole thing to blow over. (Yes, the city does have one of those.)
Anyway, some reviews would be nice.