A week had gone by, and it was now Friday. Adrien was sitting with Nino, Alya, and of course, Marinette during lunch. As they finished eating, they were soon joined by another, Nathaniel Kurtzberg.
"Hey, guys."
"Oh, hey Nath." Adrien greeted before noticing something. "Hey, are those your drawings?"
Nathaniel brushed as he realized Adrien had seen them. "Uh, yeah. It's a passion of mine. I'm working on a new comic right now. It's about a reluctant hero who overcomes his self-doubt."
This caught both Adrien's and Marinette's attention as Nathaniel continued.
"He doesn't think he's qualified because he's reserved, shy, and scared. He doesn't think he can do it,"
"Well...maybe he has a good reason?" Adrien suggested, recalling his own situation.
"Well, that's what will make him a great hero. He'll do it anyway, despite his problems," Nathaniel said. "After all, skill isn't what defines a hero. Actions are."
Marinette then remembered something Peter had mentioned one time when he and Aunt May visited for dinner.
"My Uncle Ben always told me that with Great Power must also come Great Responsibility."
"You have a name or look for this character?" Alya asked.
"Yeah, this sounds great!" Nino added, looking over Nathaniel's shoulder to check out the drawings.
"Not yet, but it'll come to me," Nathaniel said before the school bell rang, signifying the end of lunch. "Oh, Adrien, before I forget, I was wondering if you'd like to hang out sometime. I can show you some of my drawings, and maybe teach you how to draw."
"Really?" Adrien's eyes lit up. "Sure! I'd love to!"
"Great. Let me know when you're free."
After school, Adrien went to his room to talk with Plagg but found the old man he helped out a week ago waiting for him.
"Hey, you're the old man from last week. What are you doing here?" Adrien asked.
"Well, as far as your parents know, I am here to offer you acupuncture therapy, but also, I am here to talk to you about this," The old man said, holding up the box with the ring.
Adrien's eyes dawned with realization. "Wait, you're the Guardian, aren't you?"
The old man nodded. "That I am. You may call me Master Fu. I grew a little concerned when I noticed Chat Noir was not showing up, so I decided to investigate."
Adrien looked away, rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, I needed some time to think and I'm willing to do this but...are you sure you don't want someone more qualified? I slip up a lot, I have a hard time making friends, and I'm a total doofus."
Master Fu shook his head. "You think these disqualify you? Rubbish! A true hero doesn't speak with his mouth, but with his heart, and you, Adrien Agreste, have a very loud heart."
Adrien couldn't help but blush. "Okay. I'll do it."
Fu smiled. "Good. Now, your powers are enhanced strength, speed, agility, and endurance, cat-like senses, claws, and a destructive touch called the "Cataclysm." Use these powers responsibly. Plagg should tell you how to transform. Be sure to feed him. And before I go, about the acupuncture I mentioned. Are you interested?"
"No thanks. I think a tiny super-powered creature that can destroy stuff is enough." Adrien said, shaking his head.
"Until next time, Adrien, farewell," Fu said, nodding in understanding as he handed Adrien some cheese and walked out the door. Adrien smiled as he let Plagg out, and gave him some cheese.
"Oh! Camembert, my favorite!" The cat-like Kwammi scarfed down the cheese greedily.
"Okay, so how do I do this thing, Plagg?" Adrien asked.
Plagg gulped down the last of the cheese and faced Adrien. "All you have to do is say "Plagg, Claws Out", and I do the rest."
"Okay..." Adrien muttered as he put the ring on his right finger. "Plagg, Claws Out!"
Before Adrien even knew what was happening, a magical flash of green energy surrounded him. When it cleared, he looked down to see he was wearing a black suit with green accents, cat ears, a large green pawprint on his back, and a tail fashioned from a belt, and he carried a collapsible baton on the belt around his waist. He also had a black mask around his eyes that made them green and more cat-like.
"Okay, I'll admit...TOO COOL!"
Meanwhile, Marinette was talking to Tikki at her house.
"Okay, so what powers will I have?"
"Well, you'll have enhanced strength, speed, agility, and endurance, and a yo-yo you can swing around on," Tikki explained as she sat on Marinette's shoulder. "One is called the Lucky Charm. It creates an object to help you in the situation you're in. The next one is called De-Evilize. It eradicates evil from a vessel."
"Those sound pretty cool. If Alya could know about this, she'd probably be so excited that she would scream. She loves superheroes."
Tikki then hovered in front of Marinette. "The last one is called Miraculous Ladybug. It undoes the damage of a battle by tossing the Lucky Charm into the air. Be careful though. These powers drain my energy faster."
Marinette processed all of this. It all seemed so far-fetched, so bizarre. But she wasn't backing down. She had been chosen for a reason, right?
"Okay, I think I'm ready. How do I transform again?"
"You just say "Spots on", and I take it from there. Give it a shot." Tikki said encouragingly.
Marinette took a deep breath and gathered what little enthusiasm she could muster.
"Tikki, Spots On!"
A wondrous transformation occurred, and Marinette found herself in a mask and tight red suit with black spots, with solid black coloring on her hands, bottom of her feet, on her waist, upper thighs, and arms where the spots are inverted. Her collar was swan-necked and red with a black lining and a small ladybug-shaped zipper connected to the front of her costume. Her pigtails were longer and tied with long, red ribbons, and a yo-yo hung from her waist.
"Wow..." She said, looking in the mirror. "Not bad. It's a little tight, but nothing I can't work with."
Marinette then went up to the rooftop balcony, seeing it was still quite a sunny day out. She then took the yo-yo off her waist and played with it a little before lashing it out, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw it stretch longer than any normal yo-yo and wrap around a nearby gargoyle...only to then pull her along as she screamed in terror.
Adrien has gone to the roof of his house to check out his baton, amazed that he could extend it to any length he wanted. He then began practicing tightrope walking along the baton between his mansion and the building across.
"Alright, so far so good!"
Suddenly, a girl's cry alerted him and he turned to see an incoming red object flying at him. Before he could react, it collided with him and both of them fell down, a string tying them both up together as they dangled just a few inches above the street.
"Well hey there. Nice of you to drop in." Adrien chuckled when he got a good look to see it was a cute girl in a red suit with black spots that seemed oddly familiar to him.
The girl giggled bashfully. "Uh, sorry, I didn't do it on purpose."
Adrien then untangled himself and landed on his feet, helping get the girl down as well.
"Didn't know I'd be having a partner in this shindig."
"I'm as surprised as you are." The girl said. "Who are you?"
"I'm, uh..." Adrien put a finger to his chin before remembering the name Master Fu mentioned. "Chat Noir! Yeah, Chat Noir, the new superhero in town!"
"Well, I'm...uh..." Marinette looked over her outfit. "Ladybug! Also the new superhero in town!"
"Well, M'lady, care to tour Paris with me in search of a crime? Maybe we can run into Spider-Man or Batman if we're lucky!"
Chat Noir then pole vaulted with his baton, extending it to boost himself onto the rooftops as he ran off. Ladybug took a deep breath and spun her yo-yo before lashing it out, dragging her along after her new partner.
Herman Schultz was a simple man with simple tastes. Despite that, he had a knack for engineering and a taste for traditional crimes. That's why when he was hired by the Big Man of Paris, he was enthralled to put his talents to use in things he enjoyed.
"Awww yeah! Easiest raid we've ever had!" Herman laughed as he and his six cohorts were on a warm-up heist the Big Man had set up for them. When night fell, the real plan would be set into motion.
"Come on, pardners! We're burning daylight!" A man with a ten-gallon hat and a lasso whip said as he ran into a chopper with a dark-skinned man of below-average with a thin mustache and a giant of a man with a handlebar mustache.
"Comin', Montana!" Herman said before firing special shock blasters attached to his knuckles to send the police flying before joining his comrades.
However, Herman and his partners Montana, Fancy Dan, and Ox were merely a distraction for the cops. Stealing several gold bars was Arthur Fleck, now clad in his Red Hood garb as he was backed up by a burly man named Alexander O'Hirn and a crew-cut-haired man named Flint Marko.
"Come on, Hood! Just like the Big Man said!"
"R-Right!" Arthur said, quickly composing himself to blend into the role of the daring devious master thief. "Once again, the Red Hood has achieved in his endeavors!"
"Are you sure about that?"
The three quickly spun to see Spider-Man hanging upside-down from a web. Despite his mask, they could tell he was giving an insufferable grin their way.
"You know, I'm starting to think the Big Man is desperate for attention if he's sending you guys to commit a crime this obvious."
"Spider-Man!" O'Hirn snarled as he charged forward, only for the web-slinger to bounce off his back, flip through the air and kick a shocked Flint in the chest, sending him onto his back.
"And now for you, Hoodie. Arsene Lupine called, he wants his schtick back!"
"Haha! You think you've caught me, Spider-Man?!" Red Hood laughed to hide his nervousness. "The Big Man has plans for you! BIG PLANS!"
With that, Red Hood threw some dice at the ground that exploded into purple smoke, blocking Spider-Man's vision. Quickly, Arthur made his way to a special escape route planned by the Big Man and disappeared from sight. In the confusion, O'Hirn and Flint made their escape as well.
Once the smoke cleared, Spider-Man furrowed his brow in frustration before quickly web-slinging to the rooftops, hoping he could catch the thieves from above. However, he suddenly noticed two figures swinging across as well, following after a chopper that was flying away.
"What the...?"
Swinging over to where the two figures were, he saw they were a boy and a girl. The boy was dressed like a black cat hero while the girl was dressed like a ladybug hero.
"Any room for one more to swing with?"
The two turned and their eyes widened in amazement at the Wall-Crawler swinging through the skies with them.
"No way! Spider-Man! Huge fan!" The boy gushed. "I'm Chat Noir and this is my sidekick, Ladybug!"
"Hey, you're the sidekick!" The girl, Ladybug, laughed. "But still, so nice to finally meet you!"
"I see you're after that chopper the Red Hood and his boys came from. Well, what say you two show me what you can do!"
"You got it!"
Herman looked out from the window of the chopper to see Spider-Man following him and his buddies as well as two costumed kids he'd never seen before.
"Fancy Dan, take the wheel!" Herman said as Fancy Dan nodded and took control of the chopper. "I'll show these brats who they're messing with!"
Aiming his shock blasters, Herman fired concussive waves at the three young heroes, who quickly swerved out of the way before the roar of another chopper was heard and they looked to see a bat-themed helicopter coming in.
"Ah great, the Bat's here too now!" Montana cursed. "Didn't take him for a morning person!"
Ox peeked out of the other opening of the chopper and aimed a rocket launcher at the Bat-Copter, firing a heat-seeking missile at it. Batman, who was keeping a cool head throughout, pressed a button on his steering handle and the Bat-Copter fired several micro-missiles that blew up the bigger missile before it could get too close.
"No way! Batman's here too?!" Chat Noir excitedly said as he jumped across the next rooftop. "This has gotta be a dream come true!"
"Focus, Fanboy!" Ladybug said before frowning as she figured now might be a good time to use the Lucky Charm. "Okay, here goes nothing! LUCKY CHARM!"
Suddenly, a ladybug-colored bow with arrows appeared in Ladybug's hands, confusing her greatly and more than slightly concerning her. She had never done archery before but she did understand the basics.
Nocking an arrow in the bow and pulling the string, Ladybug closed her eyes and took a deep breath before firing the arrow at the chopper, which got stuck in its rotors and caused it to go out of control.
"What did that brat do?! I can't control the chopper!" Fancy Dan exclaimed as he struggled to make sure their bird didn't crash.
"That brat pulled something out of nowhere!" Montana noted, having seen a bit of the Lucky Charm in action. "We gotta bail, boys! Or else it's the gallows for us!"
"Heh! You guys get out of here!" Herman said as he jumped from the chopper and rolled across the rooftop before getting to his feet. "I'm gonna show these wannabes what happens when they try to play Hero!"
Montana, Fancy Dan, and Ox nodded as they jumped out of the chopper and dove into a nearby alleyway before making a break for it, making use of a map the Big Man had set out for them to escape. Batman took the initiative to chase after them while Spider-Man, Ladybug, and Chat Noir stayed behind to face Herman.
"The jig's up, pal! Your shock out of luck!" Chat Noir said.
Spider-Man shook his head. "You've got spirit in the art of quipping, my son. But you've got a long way to go."
Ladybug giggled at the mock wise sage voice Spider-Man used while Chat Noir blushed in embarrassment. However, Herman just smirked and banged his shock blasters together, charging them up.
"If you think you've got me cornered, you're in for a real SHOCK!"
Firing a powered-up shock blast at the trio, they quickly jumped out of the way as Herman cackled, firing shock blast after shock blast at them, not even caring what he hit in the process.
"This guy is nuttier than a fruitcake!" Chat Noir said.
"We gotta shake him down!" Spider-Man said. "Chat! Ladybug! On me!"
"Right!"
Spider-Man rushed forward as Herman prepared to open fire on him, only for the Wall-Crawler to web his arms to his chest, leaving him exposed as Chat Noir decided to use his special power.
"CATACLYSM!"
Thrusting his darkness-covered claws out, Adrien touched Herman's shock blasters and reduced them to ash. The crook's eyes widened in shock and anger before Ladybug lassoed her yo-yo around his legs and yanked, sending him to the floor and banging his head, knocking him unconscious.
"Well, he was certainly...SHOCKED!" Chat Noir grinned, waving the energy away from his hands.
"Eh, we'll work on your quips later, buddy," Spider-Man said. "But you two are pretty good for a couple of newbies. Hit me up sometime and we can talk lunch!"
"Sure! That sounds great!" Ladybug smiled as Spider-Man gave a thumbs-up before web-slinging away.
"Man, that was so awesome! Teaming up with Spider-Man and even getting a little help from Batman on the side!" Chat Noir gushed. "That was PAWS-itively PURR-fect!"
Ladybug giggled and pinched her partner's cheek. "You're cute, minou. I think I'm going to like you as my partner."
Chat Noir blushed bashfully in response. Whoever this girl was, she was wonderful. He knew they were going to make a great team and great friends. This call to action didn't seem so bad anymore.
"We lost Herman..." Montana grumbled as he, Arthur, Fancy Dan, Ox, O'Hirn, and Flint were hanging out at a bar in the low-end part of town, waiting for night to fall before they made their official move.
"He's a tough son of a bitch, the Big Man will bail him out in no time." Fancy Dan said, taking a swig from his bourbon.
"Still, do we got everything settled for tonight?" Flint asked.
"Yeah, we sneak into the Mayor's big fancy hotel, snatch up his snot-nosed kid, and take her to the ACE Chemicals Factory across town!" O'Hirn smirked. "Then, we use her as bait and spring the trap on that bug and rodent combo!"
"Well, we gotta be careful about those two new kids too." Ox pointed out. "They seemed to know what they were doing."
"If they stick their noses in our business, we'll take care of 'em too," Montana said. "Don't worry too much, Ox."
"I don't know, they're just kids, guys," Arthur said worriedly. "I know this is just me as a father-to-be talking but..."
"We get it, Arthur. But you're the face, remember?" Flint said. "Look, you just act as the decoy, we'll jump the Bat and the Spider, you run off with the girl and drop her off somewhere safe, then boom! You're filthy stinking rich and you and Jeanie get to retire happy!"
Arthur smiled in relief. "It's perfect. Thanks, boys."
Suddenly, a hand was placed on Arthur's shoulder, making him jump slightly as he turned around to see two police officers there. The rest of the Enforcers quickly backed away, getting prepared to attack if things got dicey.
"Excuse me, sir? Can we speak with you outside?"
"M-Me? But why? I haven't-"
"Sir, it'll only take a moment." The other officer said as they led Arthur outside.
"Aww man, think they figured him out?" O'Hirn worriedly asked.
"If they did, we ain't gonna let them bust our main guy. Arthur's always been our ace, the glue keeping us together." Montana said, readying to pull out a revolver he kept hidden in his vest.
The Enforcers didn't have to worry too much as Arthur came back in. However, the look in his eyes was what concerned them; it was like he had just been told something truly upsetting.
"Arthur...? You okay, pal?" Fancy Dan asked. "Something you wanna tell us? Anything the coppers may have blabbed?"
"There was an accident this morning while we were performing our warm-up heist..." Arthur said, his voice shaky. "Testing a baby bottle heater...an electrical short...m-my wife...she died..."
The Enforcers looked at each other worriedly, unsure of what to say or do for their partner. Flint took the initiative and put a reassuring hand on Arthur's shoulder.
"I'm...I'm sorry, Arthur. We all are."
"So what now?" Ox asked. "Is the job just not gonna be done?"
Suddenly, Montana got a buzz on his phone and checked it out, it was from the Big Man.
"Don't know if this is good or bad news, boys...but the boss wants us to keep doing the job."
"Tonight...?" Arthur asked. "Are you sure...?"
"Arthur, I don't think we have a choice..." Montana said. "We gotta suit up, boys. It'll soon be dusk."
"Okay..." Arthur said, a hollow look in his eyes as he stood and left. Montana sighed sadly as he looked at his phone, he didn't have the heart to tell his friend what the Big Man ordered him to do.
DUMP THE RED HOOD. LIABILITIES HAVE NO PLACE.
The Big Man laced his fingers together as he finished sending the orders to his Enforcers. The metal-masked man sat at the back of his desk while thinking about how the kidnapping scheme would play out.
He had heard about the death of Jeanie and he knew just how much she meant to Arthur. With her gone, the man had nothing to keep him from going off the deep end. He knew about Arthur's life and every horrible thing he went through.
An abusive father, a mother with Alzheimer's who he killed because he couldn't bear to see her suffering anymore, and being mocked and ridiculed by everyone around him. Jeanie was the light of his life and now that she was gone, he was no doubt going to be dangerous.
"A shame, the Red Hood was always an excellent thief...but everyone has to take their final bow eventually."
You people are gonna love the next chapter when it comes out. It's no joke.