Chapter 6
Jin sat in front of his desk looking into a school book he was using to study. Plagg sat on top of Jin's laptop, which was closed and the kwami took his place to appreciate the piece of cheese he received. Jin sighed, then rolled away from his desk to get up and stretch himself. Plagg looked across the bedroom at the bed of his holder, noticing the smartphone turning on its light to show the banner with a couple of messages from someone.
"Boy, your smartphone has got messages," Warned Plagg observing Jin glimpse back at the smartphone while continuing his exercise.
"I'm trying to focus on my learning. Can you just check it out, what it is?" Questioned Jin, then Plagg flew while transporting his food to the smartphone to look at the lit screen to see Marinette had sent several pictures and a caption to them.
"Marinette sent you pictures and it's from the grimoire," Commented Plagg. "Doesn't this get on the wrong hands, when she sends them to you like this?"
"Uh no, it's encoded," Stated Jin. "At least, that's what I heard," Mentioned Jin stretching himself and getting up.
"Okay, not that someone like Hawk Moth gets it on the hands," Explained Plagg watching Jin pick up the smartphone to open the images Marinette send him.
"She sent me pictures of some pages from different miraculouses and one of them is from the cat one," Pointed Jin out and sat down on his chair to zoom into the image to see the writing. "Oh cool," Jin commented, then opened the hood of his laptop to turn it on. Jin took from his backpack out a paper block, then moved to an empty page and copied down the letters from one image of his smartphone, while the laptop loaded. Jin took down his pen and used a thicker pen to copy the symbols, then Plagg sat down beside the mousepad to observe the holder write, afterward Jin moved his hand to enter his code and opened the internet search engine, so he could give into the search bar, what he needed to look for. Jin opened the images gallery and opened the first image, which was the most limpid. He looked at the letters, then compared them with the ones on the page of the grimoire and placed his smartphone by the screen of the laptop, then began to look through all the available symbols for the right ones.
Over the time, Jin had gotten carried away with deciphering the pages, which made him get tired and drop his head on the table to sleep. Plagg lied beside Jin's head napping as well, not bothered by the odd position the two had. The smartphone, which lied against the screen of the laptop, began to vibrate showing a push-notification warning about an akuma attack. Plagg, who sat on the laptop surface opened his eyes after sensing the vibration and looked at the smartphone lighting his face. Plagg turned his back to the smartphone and changed position to continue resting. The smartphone dropped with the front on the keyboard still vibrating, perking Jin up from the sleep. He looked half-dazed and grabbed his smartphone to check the message, then noticed a message from Marinette and the alert of the akuma.
"Gosh, it's almost 1 am and there's an akuma attack," Jin groaned sitting up on the chair, afterward opened the message of Marinette, which mentioned Jin about their mission.
"Take your space power-up. This villain is flying," Jin read, then began to massage his forehead wondering, where he had the power-ups. Jin watched Plagg point at the commode making Jin smile as he remembered, where the macarons were and opened the last shelf, where he kept his socks, then dug with his hand through it to find a small metal box and opened it to see the various colored macaron sorted in their suitable color. "Alright Plagg, let's go!" Ordered Jin taking out a purple macaron to hand it out to his kwami to eat it.
Super Snake ran over the bridge approaching the Pavillon de la trémoille, then passed under the arc of the building to encounter the roundabout, which was in front of the Louvre, one of Super Snake's favorite museums. Super Snake got to the roundabout, then looked around the area hoping to find the akuma villain. Super Snake had an idea and ran toward the glass pyramid, then tried to climb it up hoping to get on top without any trouble.
As Super Snake was on top, he admired the location and began to look for the supervillain, then spotted a black creature in the air with large, green wings making Super Snake tilt his head and realize it was Onyx using the space power up. Super Snake waved at the superhero, which flew down to levitate in front of the friend.
"Hey, are you happy to be here too?" Questioned Onyx watching Super Snake shake his head. "Me too. Gotta be rested well for tomorrow and now this,"
"I will always bring the same old excuse…..Nyetflix," Commented Super Snake making Onyx chuckle.
"Well, I can bring the studies as one, but I don't think anyone's gonna buy that," Commented the cat-themed superhero, then the duo heard a loud growl, which came from behind the garden near the Louvre.
"Did you hear that?" Questioned Super Snake making Onyx nod.
"We better get going," Offered Onyx approaching Super Snake from behind to grab him and carry him across the park to follow the noise. The duo observed down on the grass a large, white-colored creature battling with a large rattle a blue-haired person, which the heroes couldn't recognize from afar. Onyx flew closer to the ground to recognize Kagami Tsurugi, which was using a bokken to defend herself from the villain, which now from closer she was all covered up in a white-black mixed tight suit, which was covered with feathers resembling a snow owl. Her head was covered as well with a cape, shaped after wings sharing a similar design to the rest of the suit, and the face was uncovered. The eyes were yellow-colored and around them, she had a white mask to prevent her identity to be recognized easily.
"Oh, the owl lady!" Commented Super Snake making Onyx tilt his head confused to see the villain's rattle on the hand.
"Why would a villain carry a rattle?" Questioned Onyx watching the villain swing her rattle watching it jump out of the stick with a chain and hit Super Snake on his head, making Onyx wide his eyes surprised, while the snake-superhero complained.
"That's a nightstick!"
"Hey, that's not fair," Commented Onyx frowning, then helped Super Snake up and took out his staff to challenge the villain. "Kagami, get out of here. She might hurt you,"
"I've been dealing with her the past 10 minutes," Kagami pouted making Onyx groan.
"Why are you always like that?" Asked Onyx making Kagami tilt her head.
"We barely interacted ever," Kagami pointed out watching Onyx bite his lips in shock, then got hit with the rattle by the villain making Kagami gasp as the hero landed on the ground.
"Ugh, get a life you two," Commented the villain, then ran away and took off in the air similar to Superman, then Kagami looked down at Onyx, which was helped up by the redhead.
"Okay, what have we learned from that akuma? She's an owl. That's it," Commented Super Snake, then watched Kagami tap with the bokken on the ground.
"She called herself before Mamam Hibou and she threatened my mother a while ago, that she doesn't deserve to have me," Explained Kagami watching Onyx and Super Snake glimpse at each other.
"Okay, perhaps it's a mother-related issue," Mentioned Onyx making Super Snake nod. "Super, take Kagami to the next bus," Ordered the cat-themed superhero, then Kagami walked further followed by the redhead. Onyx looked up to see the villain fly above the Ferris wheel, then changed direction to fly down. "You're not going anywhere farther," Onyx commented taking off in the air to head towards the large wheel, then stopped by to analyze the ground to look for the villain. Onyx spotted the villain by a sidewalk stand in front of a woman, which held in her arms an infant and the hero noticed from afar, that the woman felt threatened. Onyx flew down, landing on the road to watch the villain point at her with the rattle making the blonde woman lose fear and get hypnotized by the object. Onyx stepped aside to see the point of the rattle have the lines around it spin around making Onyx close his eyes to prevent himself from being targeted as well. Onyx opened his eyes as he heard someone sing, then observed the villain sing earning the infant's attention making Onyx observed the scene curious.
"Guillermo, your mother's irresponsible behavior of taking you late out at night must stop. From tonight on, she will stop taking you out so late," Maman Hibou said taking down the rattle to watch the baby put his hand inside his mouth, while the blonde shook her head confused, and looked down at her infant.
"Come on, let's go home," The blonde said leaving the villain behind, afterward Onyx prepared his staff and approached the villain with a frown.
"Okay, I've seen enough and I didn't like it. You're not responsible for other people's parenting, if you're out here for that," Commented Onyx making the villain shake her head.
"Go on and stop me," Maman Hibou announced and swung her rattle against Onyx, which used his staff to block the attack but ended up falling down on the ground with the force of the weapon's ball. Onyx groaned, then watched the supervillain take off passing above the buildings leaving the raven-haired hero back.
"Okay, she's stronger than she looks," The hero commented, then took off in the air to pursue the villain from up the sky, seeing she was already passing above the Grand Palace. Onyx spotted from his left side Ladybug in her space outfit fly in his direction. Onyx slowed down waiting for her to approach him, joining him beside her.
"Onyx, good to see you. Did you come across the villain before?" Questioned the blue-haired superheroine.
"She calls herself Maman Hibou and she has a sort of rattle, that she uses as a weapon. I think she can hypnotize people with it as well, she used that and convinced a random mother to do something else,"
"Okay, so we gotta be careful with that,"
"I believe so. I couldn't judge it by two people only," Confessed Onyx, then the duo crossed together the number of buildings of the French capital pursuing the owl-themed supervillain.
After a couple of minutes, the duo arrived at the Arc de Triumph and spotted the supervillain down on the road battling with her rattle their teammate Hydra wielding the sword. Onyx flew down towards the females landing beside the dragon-themed superheroine.
"We're here too!" Announced Onyx followed by Maman Hibou swing the rattle against Hydra's sword with the ball slipping out of the stick to hit Onyx's face.
"Hey!" Shouted Ladybug throwing her yo-yo towards the supervillain to catch her. Afterward, the villain released herself out of it by using her rattle and flew up in the air, making Ladybug frown, then Onyx took off in the air to follow the villain up to the roof. Ladybug took off afterward helping Hydra up on the roof, then she flew further to accompany the cat-themed hero.
Ladybug observed the villain pull up in the air to go up straight, afterward Ladybug followed along with her partner the villain. The villain stopped, then dropped herself to fall against the superheroes. They got confused, then realized it was a trick of the villain, then dodged her watching her take off again to fly above the alley of the road. Hydra by running above the roofs noticed the villain was near her, thereafter she activated her wind power to go after her, causing her to get wrapped up inside herself.
"That's definitely Hydra!" Warned Onyx watching Ladybug throw her yo-yo at the villain to catch her. Hydra materialized herself back, landing on top of a light pole, and watched Ladybug drop the villain down on the ground. Hydra jumped down on the ground to approach the villain, then looked at the rattle and smirked knowing that would be the object she would need to destroy.
"Does your mother know you're out there in this chaos?" Questioned the villain making Hydra raise her eyebrows confused, then observed the rattle begin to hypnotize the dragon-themed heroine making her lose the focus. "Go back to your mother. It's dangerous for you to be out here at this time,"
"Ladybug! She's trying to hypnotize Hydra!" Warned Onyx taking out his staff and jump down on the ground to shove his staff between the yo-yo and the rattle. Maman Hibou rolled aside causing Onyx to fall on top of her, making Ladybug roll her eyes and loosen her yo-yo a little, so Onyx could get up, right seconds after the villain took off again, making Onyx frown and follow her. Ladybug growled as the villain went to escape again, then observed Hydra go in the opposite direction afterward Ladybug got down in front of the heroine, which looked the same to her.
"Hydra, you're going in the wrong direction," Stated Ladybug watching Hydra answer her in a cold tone.
"Being out here is dangerous. I have to return home," Hydra said making Ladybug bite her lip, then watched the heroine pass beside her. Ladybug looked at Onyx flying across the avenue after the villain, then Ladybug took the yo-yo to contact Super Snake.
"I'm at the Place de la Concorde. Where are you?"
"I'm at Kléber Avenue near the arch. I need you to go after Hydra. The villain hypnotized her and she will go home. You have to make sure she doesn't get there or worse…..she doesn't reveal her identity to her parents," Warned Ladybug.
"I'm on it, Ladybug! If you need assistance, call me,"
"I will," Responded Ladybug, then took off in the air to follow the avenue and moved up above the buildings to have a different perspective and noticed the duo was getting close to the Trocadero.
Ladybug sank down to keep a closer look on the flying beings, then spotted Maman Hibou stop by a car, that had stopped on the side of the place of Trocadero to gaze through the windshield of the car, then used the rattle to hypnotize the driver who sat inside of the vehicle next to a young child. Onyx used the staff to hit Maman Hibou on the rattle, then the villain shove the rattle against Onyx's staff and pulled out the ball from her staff to smash it against Onyx's staff, which he used to defend himself. Ladybug approached the duo, spotting them fight, and looked at her yo-yo preparing to aim for the two, afterward, she changed her mind, using it for another issue.
"Lucky charm!" Shouted Ladybug throwing the yo-yo in the air to recall her magical object, which was a ladybug-themed guitar. "Okay…..Do I have to sing a lullaby?" Questioned Ladybug, then watched Onyx do a salto backward as Maman Hibou pushed him away and ran toward him while swinging the rattle ball. Ladybug had an idea, then landed on the ground to try to pluck the strings of the guitar, playing a nearly decent tune with her fingers. The duo, who still was fighting stopped to spot the heroine playing the guitar making Onyx tilt his head confused, while the villain just glared at the bug-themed heroine.
"What are you even trying to play?" Questioned the villain slightly annoyed by the unpleasant tones of the string instruments, then watched Ladybug begin to sing.
"Who is your dauntless, crafty heroine? Who is your dauntless, crafty heroine," Ladybug said while the villain growled at the sight of the way she was playing the instrument. Ladybug began to harshly pull the strings, irritating the villain even more, which gasped afterward as she felt someone take the rattle off her hands. Onyx kept the object in his hand with a smile, then activated his special power to pulverize the object in his hand to release the amok.
"Cataclysm!" Shouted Onyx, then after destroying the object he observed the ashes fall down onto the ground and Ladybug used her yo-yo to capture the feather. Ladybug chuckled, then observed the villain groan annoyed at the distraction, and took off to fly toward the building of the Trocadero. Onyx and Ladybug nodded at each other, then took off together to pursue the owl-themed supervillain. Both heroes flew beside each other, then Onyx noticed Ladybug move down closer to the fountain of the Trocadero to pass under the splashing water. Onyx found it entertaining, then moved down to join the friend and shrieked as one of the rays hit his face distracting him and leading him to land on the water.
"Ugh, this wasn't quite a good entrance," Mumbled Onyx, then crawled out of the water and look at the trees set on the side of the fountain, then stood on his feet shaking his body like a cat to dry off his clothing. Onyx observed Ladybug leave at the end of the fountain taking up to follow Maman Hibou, which was crossing the bridge leading to the Eiffel Tower. Onyx took off in the air to continue the pursuit, arriving at the crossroad by the bridge and heard a familiar noise, then saw the light poles blink one after the other as each of them suffered a short circuit. Onyx smiled knowing it was Hydra, who had gotten control of herself back and returned to join the team. The electricity followed over the bridge, quickly catching up with Maman Hibou and from one light pole Hydra shot out flying against the villain to grab her on the cape, calling her attention as she felt heavier.
"Hey!" Complained Maman Hibou watching Hydra take from her back the sword and stab it into the cape to rip it off, causing both to fall down, while leaving in the air a feather levitated around. Onyx managed to catch Maman Hibou, while Hydra landed on her feet and looked at the ripped-off coat.
Ladybug arrived by the trio, then used her yo-yo to capture the amok, afterward she got rid of the guitar to activate the miraculous healing light.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Shouted Ladybug watching her superpower restore around them the cape of the supervillain, which turned into a baby blanket with the head of a snow owl. Ladybug picked the folded blanket, which looked neat, and gazed at Onyx, which stood in front of the citizen, which was akumatized. Onyx stepped aside to look at Ladybug, which recognized the woman as the famous journalist her friend Alya Césaire was fond of.
"You're the journalist River Langerak from TV1," Mentioned Ladybug curious, watching the woman nod with an unhappy face. "It's your first akumatization, right? You don't seem, really surprised,"
"I feel terrible. I have never let my guard down just like that. I don't even know, how it came to that point," Explained the brunette a little tremulous, then Onyx along with Hydra patted the woman on the shoulder.
"It can come to everyone," Commented Ladybug making Hydra nod.
"Do you have any idea, what might have given you a negative influence?" Questioned Onyx. "Your alter ego….Maman Hibou…..sounded different from what I thought,"
River looked at Ladybug, which gently handed the woman out the plush, then the woman held it tightly toward her body and looked up at the heroes.
"There has been a lot going through my head right now. My aunt is in the hospital due to a disease, my parents-in-law are going through a tough process with their divorce, and my younger sister-in-law is usually calling my husband in the middle of the night for support, I have inclusive my toddler at home, who seems to sense everyone's tenseness and plead for more attention, than usual. She now has been crying very often due to the pain of the eruption of her teeth. I don't know, what happened before I got akumatized. My husband took our Ruby to take a bath and I sat in the room of our kid and…..I broke down crying,"
"Well, that sure is a lot of stress to deal with," Commented Onyx while Hydra caressed the woman on her back. "Do you have someone to ask for help? You know, maybe someone could take care of your daughter for a few days, so you can charge some energy?"
"I could try to call my mom and ask her if she could be around us for a few days. She's here in Paris, because of my aunt. My husband has been around our daughter and me too. He really manages to keep a cool head through all this. It's really admirable," Mentioned the brunette woman making Ladybug smile and place her hand on River's shoulder.
"Look from what you told me, for me you're a grandiose warrior. Having to deal with a lot of that at once isn't as easy to handle as it sounds. You should be proud of what you were capable of. You haven't been able to see yourself though. My….former teammate Alya Césaire is a big fan of yours and admires your heart and hard-working personality. I'm sure besides her, there are more young women and girls, that appreciate you,"
River smiled, then looked at the other heroes, which mirrored her expression and she got up.
"I owe you guys a lot," Commented the journalist watching Onyx move his hands up to deny her words.
"We're just doing our job. We're glad we could help out," Responded Onyx making River nod and hug the two superheroes, which smiled and placed their other arm around the journalist. Ladybug smiled, then heard a voice and looked at the direction of the Trocadero to see Super Snake come along tired, then stop with his hands on his knees breathing exhausted from his long run.
"Woah…...that was…...tiring…..Hydra…..really…...you should have offered me a ride….You can travel with lightning…..Ladybug and Onyx have their power up….their weapons…..I this…...boomerang…," Super Snake complained, then fell down on the ground with his hand above the chest, still breathing heavily.
"I wonder if your creation power can create us some skateboards or something like that," Commented Onyx watching Ladybug shrug her shoulders.
"We still haven't deciphered anything from the grimoire," Commented Ladybug watching Onyx move his index finger up to deny Ladybug's words.
"Actually….I started to decipher one. I'm not done yet, but I'm on it. Tomorrow or…...later into the day, I can put myself to work in it again, depending how the day goes on," Mentioned Onyx making Ladybug nod and both their miraculouses began to beep.
"Oh time to go," Mentioned Onyx, then Ladybug looked at Super Snake, which approached the group, more rested and Ladybug grabbed the redhead on the shoulder.
"Your miraculous isn't limited yet, can you bring Mrs. Langerak back home?" Questioned the blue-haired heroine making the snake-superhero nod.
"Good, but I think I might need to catch a bus," Mentioned Super Snake making the two superheroes laugh. "I'm serious. I'm still tired from running,"
By the hideout, where Hawk Moth and Silver were together, Hawk Moth held his hand in front of his forehead. Silver observed the villain, who was quiet, then she moved forward toward the man carefully.
"There will be more chances, Hawk Moth. We just need to be patient," Silver said watching Hawk Moth swing his staff against the woman, making her gasp and jump back.
"I don't need to be soothed. I just need time to think. It's not easy to deal with losing every goddamn time. Mostly, if it's been going on for years!"
"I'm trying to be helpful. When I joined your agreement I expected, it wouldn't be…...like this,"
"At the moment, we have to be hidden. Ladybug's superheroes are all new. We don't know anyone's identity, all we know is they were changed as I had managed to use Chloé to make them all reveal themselves…," Hawk Moth stated making the woman nod, then Hawk Moth widened his eyes as he had an idea. "That's it! We do know, who the old heroes are, right?"
"Uh….I don't," Pointed Silver out making Hawk Moth nod.
"My old partner Nathalie is in jail and I can't visit her. I need someone to get in there and ask her about if she remembers them,"
"How is this going to work?" Questioned Silver. "I'm not familiar with her and there's no chance, I can get in there,"
"Hmm….good question…..but I think, I might have found an easy way," Hawk Moth commented with a smirk, facing the Italian woman, which tilted her head a little worried.