Chapter 18
Jin and Yi sat in a coffee shop together each drinking a different flavored chai latte. Above their table, Jin had his medicine book placed on top of the table, which he wasn't using at the moment during Yi's presence.
"What are you going to do, if you fail the next exams? You know you're going to get kicked out from university at some point," Warned the younger girl, while Jin tapped with his fingers on his drink listening to her.
"I don't know, Yi. I can't just quit now. What if Gabriel brings up a villain, that might need more hands to put him down? What if someone like Stretch appears again? Someone alike? Marinette is going to need all the hands she has to defeat them. They need us too," Jin explained. "Even if I could hand out the ring to someone else, that person would have to learn how to get used to it,"
"Miss Vixen and Honey Gold had that chance. Someone else could in your place have this chance. Anyone," Yi commented. "Do you really want to throw away your chance to become a doctor?"
"I have already seen, that this path has given me little to no time for myself or anything else. The only reason I can get out to fight with you all is because I skip classes,"
"Without all that, you wouldn't have fallen into a discussion with your mother the other day,"
"Yes, I know. I'm honestly a little relieved to know, that she knows who I am. I still got scolded for not being honest about it. On the other hand, I don't have to be constantly lying to her about why this or that related to akumas happened,"
"My mother knows nothing about me or you…..your mother does and I don't think she ever said a word to my mom, otherwise I believe things would be different too,"
"I think she kept it to herself. I know back as a child, I didn't want my father to know about that one manly thing we get during puberty and my mom actually kept it a secret,"
"What?" Asked Yi confused making Jin nod.
"I don't know. It just seemed embarrassing to me. Don't ask me why, it was like that," Mentioned Jin making his girlfriend chuckle.
"Too bad I wasn't there," Commented Yi making Jin shake his head and nudge the girl's shoulder.
"You were…..I mean you weren't inside the house, but up in your family's apartment. I think you wouldn't have understood it eventually. Peng obviously wouldn't," Added Jin making Yi nod.
"I kind of miss those times, when we could all just be together and have fun. No responsibilities, no worries, no trouble….." Yi commented watching Jin pout.
"No trouble isn't really the right word here," Commented Jin getting elbowed by the girlfriend. "You're the one, who freed the mices in science class,"
"I had a blast back then as a kid…..You were always crashing the party and never letting me fulfill my plans,"
"I just did that to keep you out of trouble. I've been always worried since that incident with the cat,"
"Those two boys deserved to know, that what they did was wrong and you know, I can't stand still when I see this kind of stuff and no one handles. You on the other hand, you even stood up for me, even if you earned a blue eye afterward,"
"I didn't forget that one. You still owe me a piece of meat after that," Mentioned Jin watching Yi shake her head amused at his comment.
"For your eye or to bury it?" Questioned Yi watching Jin frown, then start to tickle her beside her belly.
"You know, what I mean," Commented Jin watching Yi laugh, while trying to prevent him to continue the tickling. Jin laughed along with the girlfriend, then heard a student sitting across another table with a couple of friends looking at her laptop to see a video of Nadja Charmack on a live stream on a park in Paris. "Is something up?" Questioned Jin stopping along with Yi to look at the computer to see the journalist move carefully along the park with the cameraman to spot a gray-colored villain.
"It's another supervillain," Commented Yi unimpressed, then Jin picked up his smartphone to join the live stream of the journalist, then Yi glimpsed over Jin's arm to look at it as well. "The villain…..didn't we fight it once?"
"Wait…...I think that's River Langerak. Wasn't she the one, that resembled an owl?" Questioned Jin making Yi shrug her shoulders.
"I think I was brainwashed on that day," Commented Yi watching Jin take a screenshot to redirect it to the superhero chat.
"Well, we just gotta be careful and avoid her rattle. I don't remember if she used that to distract us, but I know she did harm with it," Commented Jin making Yi nod, then a new screenshot appeared on the chat, which came from Nathaniel and showed Miss Vixen run very slowly in the image with a few citizens around her watching her in confusion.
"Huh? What is that?" Asked Yi looking at Miss Vixen in the picture, then a new caption showed up, which was from the redhead as well.
"I'm going to the park and see if Miss Vixen is okay. I think the villain makes the people go slow,"
Yi pressed on the k letter, then handed Jin the smartphone out and both looked around to see, where the restrooms were located. Upon figuring it out, both nodded at each other and ran into the specific one to turn into their alter egos.
Honey Gold appeared at the place des Vosges passing by the entrance to spot a few citizens, which stood there in scared positions frozen like statues. Holey Gold passed by the humans slowly, then stopped by one person, seeing her move her eyes only. Honey Gold sank her head saddened about seeing the people in that state.
Honey Gold continued the path to spot the rest of the park empty and followed a different road, which led to another corner of the park. The bee-themed heroine ran past trees, then heard a voice that called her attention and she looked across the standing trees to see a stiff, standing person with a teenage girl standing in front of the man lamenting. Honey Gold made her way towards the duo, then stopped by to take a look at the girl.
"Don't worry, my friends and I are working on it. No need to cry," Mentioned Honey Gold, then shrieked as the girl hugged her while crying. The heroine smiled a little, then caressed the teens back.
"It's all my fault. I got angry at a bully and my brother's wife got akumatized, because she tried to protect me from an akuma, that was going to catch me," Revealed the girl sad, then the heroine adjusted the girl's hair above the top of the forehead to prevent it to get into the girl's eyes. "She can use her smartphone now thanks to Hawk Moth to make people stand frozen like this. He tried to keep her from getting akumatized, but failed,"
"We're going to solve this issue. Go bring yourself in safety and make sure, nothing happens,"
"Okay, but what about my brother and my sister-in-law?" Questioned Kathrina watching Honey Gold glimpse at the man.
"How does your sister-in-law look like? What sort of person is she?"
"Many people know her. She's a journalist on TV. Have you heard of someone named River Langerak?" Questioned the girl making the heroine nod.
"She again?" Questioned Honey Gold curious making the teen nod.
"Yes. She became Maman Hibou again," Commented Kathrina, but she has different powers from what I know from the last time on TV,"
"Okay. Don't worry about your family. We're going to fix everything. Take good care of yourself," Wished Honey Gold taking a turn leaving the girl behind with the brother.
Honey Gold head to the exit of the park, then recognized from far Miss Vixen who looked like she was running in slow motion. Honey Gold stopped by the friend to observe her moving on slowly. Honey Gold observed, that the fox-themed heroine didn't seem to notice her and jumped in front of her to watch the brunette slowly roll her eyes up at the blue-haired girl.
"Hey, what happened to you?" Questioned Honey Gold watching the heroine, move slowly to a full stop while the Chinese-descendant girl observed the friend with a confused face the movements of the orange-dressed girl. "Did the akuma villain hit you?"
"Y…" Miss Vixen began making Socqueline's alter ego drop her mouth in surprise at how low the response was taking. The top of Honey Gold began to ring, earning the attention of the holder, which opened it to attend the call, which came from Super Snake.
"Hey! I have spotted Maman Hibou heading towards the Louvre! I'm going right there," Warned Super Snake making Honey Gold nod.
"Super, we have a problem. Miss Vixen was somehow caught by the akuma villain. Look!" Spoke Honey Gold turning the spinning top to show Miss Vixen, which exchanged facial expressions really slowly, making Super Snake look confused.
"What happened to her?" Questioned Super Snake. "Was that Maman Hibou's power?"
"I thought the new power of Maman Hibou was to make people stand frozen, but Miss Vixen was handled differently," Mentioned Honey Gold.
"Wasn't her power first to use the rattle and send people orders of some sort? Or wait, that was when she had the amok I think," Mentioned Super Snake thinking about the last time they fought her.
"According to one witness, the akuma is in the smartphone of the villain. She must use it and paralyze people with it,"
"Like Lady Wifi, maybe,"
"I haven't seen it yet, but it might be that way," Said Honey Gold. "Look, I'm looking for a way to get Miss Vixen into safety before someone decides to attack her. I'll be joining you and the rest in 10 minutes or more," Stated Honey Gold making Super Snake nod.
"Can you make sure, that her miraculous can't be stolen?" Questioned Super Snake making Honey Gold nod.
"I will see, what I can do," Answered Honey Gold making the redhead nod and turn the call off.
By the Louvre, Maman Hibou came along the road, where the cars had stopped as she was crossing the road and she took a look at the vehicles to see most of the drivers, did hide under the dashboard hoping the villain wouldn't harm them. Maman Hibou approached the museum from the back to cross the stairs, which led through a gate into a closed place. There were several tourists located to cross the location from various sides, barely spotting the foreign-dressed supervillain. Someone whistled loud, catching the attention of the people and the person, who whistled was a security, which wanted to warn the people from the villain.
"Akuma villain!" Yelled the security, making Maman Hibou laugh and pulled her smartphone out to look at the options of her smartphone, then adjusted the option start-stop option and took a picture of a small crowd of people. The people got confused by the villain, then one of the women frowned and stomped toward the villain watching it press on the side of the smartphone, causing the people to stand stiff, including the woman. Three seconds later, they got unstiff again and began to run in different directions, then stopped three seconds again, including the woman, which planned to go against the villain. Maman Hibou laughed about the issue, then stepped aside putting her leg in front of the woman. After those three seconds, the woman got unfrozen again and tripped over the villain's leg.
"Ops," Commented Maman Hibou, then observed the other crowd running, while other tourists just stood there confused about the situation. Maman Hibou looked at her smartphone to click on the race option. She took a shot of a few foreign tourists, which just stood there watching her do the same thing as before. Maman Hibou observed the tourists just stand there, exchanging looks confused. Maman Hibou looked at her smartphone, then swung her hand forward pretending to be throwing the smartphone, then watched the tourists suddenly ran away really fast almost bumping into each other, from being unable to control themselves running. Maman Hibou began to laugh, then ran forward to get to the front of the Louvre, where she would encounter the glass pyramid. The present people around the area were running into the inside of the Louvre and the present coffees to stay safe from the woman, which kept trotting along the road.
The villain heard a tune on a string-like instrument and spotted above the museum Super Snake come along and stop above the pyramid to look down at the woman.
"Maman Hibou! We're here to stop you once again," Warned Super Snake making the villain frown. Super Snake slid down on the piece of wood, to stay on the edge of the monument to stare at the villain, that was halfway from the redhead. "You have frozen one of my friends, a couple of other citizens. I'm sure none of them has done anything to hurt you,"
"Most people nowadays only care about hits and kudos on social media. No matter what, anything serves. Kids being bullied, others starting a fight, animal abuse, posing, faking scenes. Things, that people should prevent others from doing, gets their own place apparently to promote just out of people's egoism,"
"You mean, that people who do that and don't get punished are bad, right?" Questioned Super Snake making the villain nod." You're right. I hate that too. Mostly, when you're able to report all that, that is against the rules of the site, but for whatever reason you end up being unlucky for some reason, because you end up receiving the confirmation, that it's not against the guidelines. I had that issue lots of times. I even had a friend receiving death threats and she wasn't able to ban those bullies, because it wasn't against the guidelines, when it was," Super Snake explained while using his fingers to do the quotation marks. "Look, I understand your problem but don't take your anger out on those people out there. Yes, perhaps the one or other person is one of that sort of people, but there's no need to hurt them. It just makes things worse. Even if that sounds ridiculous to say so," Resumed Super Snake watching the villain move her smartphone up, then Super Snake threw his lyre against the villain, which was hit by it, and dropped the smartphone on the ground. Super Snake ran towards the villain, which got down to grab the smartphone and saw, that she took a picture of the superhero, despite it being a little unclear. Maman Hibou pressed on the side button to see it cause Super Snake to race fast towards her, shrieking the woman, who jumped aside to see Super Snake ran under the arc and get down on his feet to brake.
"Amazing," Commented Maman Hibou, then ran up the pyramid to take a look from the top at the area. The villain looked behind to spot Super Snake race around trying to control his velocity, which seemed impossible at that moment and Maman Hibou laughed.
"Maman Hibou!" Yelled a voice, then the villain looked aside on top of the roof to spot the two superheroes Onyx and Hydra. "Remember me?" Asked Onyx lifting his hand at the supervillain. The duo jumped down at the ground, followed by watching the villain slide down the pyramid to encounter each other.
"The kitty cat and the dragon girl are here too. It's interesting how you're always around with her and not Ladybug," Commented the akuma villain watching Onyx pick up his staff.
"You know this cat here has always been attached to mythical creatures," Joked the cat-themed superhero. "What do you say? Care for a cat-walk?" Asked the hero with a chuckle making Hydra make a confused face.
"I think you should leave the puns to someone else," Suggested Hydra, then she shrieked as Super Snake passed between the two friends almost putting them down and he stopped by the wall of the house getting the attention of the trio.
"Whoa did she make you go super fast?" Questioned the cat-themed superhero, then Maman Hibou used the smartphone to take a picture of the duo. Hydra widened her eyes and pushed Onyx away from the view, which caused Maman Hibou to shake her head and look down at the image to see, it was messed up. She growled, then looked at the superheroes and observed Onyx jump against her with his staff, then the villain caught the stick with her hands, then shook her hands off upon sensing pain from it. Maman Hibou used the smartphone to take a picture of the superhero, hoping she could use it, but noticed the image was blurry. Maman Hibou frowned, then began to use her fists to fight the superhero, which used his staff. During the fight, Maman Hibou took a glimpse down at Onyx's tail, then jumped aside, grabbing his stick to deflect his attack, and pulled his tail with her leg, while letting the stick go. Maman Hibou blocked the stick with her smartphone then, grabbed the tail of the miraculous holder to pull it up to wrap it around Onyx's arms, which he prevented from happening, and pushed her down on the ground. Maman Hibou felt Onyx pulling his tail back and she pushed the hero on the tail back, then growled as she struggled with the deed. Maman Hibou had an idea, then threw Onyx down on the ground with her leg. Maman Hibou got up to grab the stick of the hero, then got packed by Hydra, which tried to remove the staff of her hand. Maman Hibou brought the heroine down, then turned around stretching the stick against the superheroine. Hydra took from behind her back the sword to challenge the villain. Maman Hibou smirked, then moved the staff down to catapult herself up on top of the roof, making the heroine frown.
"You're okay?" Asked Onyx approaching his girlfriend, which activated one of her elemental powers.
"Wind dragon!" Shouted Hydra grabbing Onyx by his arm to fly him up on the roof to encounter the villain. Onyx landed on his feet, surprised about how fast he was brought up on the roof unexpectedly.
"Very good," Complimented Maman Hibou, then used her smartphone to take a picture and watched Hydra run toward the supervillain. Maman Hibou slightly moved her camera towards Onyx's direction with stood there watching Hydra race. Maman Hibou smiled upon taking the picture, then extended the stick a little to use it as a sword to fight with the dragon heroine. Onyx had an idea, then removed his tail from his outfit and approached the girlfriend to assist the fight with the help of his own tail. He whipped the villain on the arm, causing her to yelp and drop the staff, which rolled at the feet of Hydra. She pushed it towards the feet of her boyfriend, which picked it up and had eye contact with the girlfriend.
"Not a bad idea, cowboy," Commented Hydra making him smile.
"I'm back!" Announced a voice, then the duo watched Super Snake land on the roof beside, while his board flew down on the edge of the roof. "I'm still super fast, but I can try and walk only. It's almost as my normal speed of running," Commented Super Snake, then watched Maman Hibou hold up her smartphone making Onyx hiss like a cat, and ran towards the supervillain. Maman Hibou watched the cat race in her direction, then she rolled her eyes at the duo behind him to see Super Snake had his hand close to his miraculous, and Hydra stood there with her sword waiting for Onyx's deed. Maman Hibou pressed the side buttons of her smartphone to make Onyx ran really slow. Maman Hibou moved his camera at Super Snake to take a picture, while he placed his fingers on the snake's head. Maman Hibou pressed the button again to slow down Super Snake's movement. Hydra ran toward the villain, which grabbed Onyx's stick to throw it against the arm of the redhead, scoring her aim to prevent the boy to touch the miraculous. Maman Hibou went down on her knees to avoid getting hit and extended her leg out to pull the superheroine down on the ground. Maman Hibou smirked, then grabbed the superheroine by the sword to try to take it away from her. Hydra growled back at the heroine, then observed the two other boys run slowly into their direction. Hydra transformed into water disappearing along with the sword, leaving the supervillain back with a deadpan face. In front of Maman Hibou's face appeared the butterfly-shaped mask of Hawk Moth, which wanted to give the akuma villain an order.
"Maman Hibou! Take Onyx's miraculous! It's the ring on his hand!" Warned Hawk Moth making the woman smile and approach the cat-themed superhero, which looked up at the supervillain and slowly exchanged his face into a shocked one. Super Snake moved in his friend's direction at the same velocity as well hoping to stop the theft.
"Do you mind? I'm retrieving this back to Hawk Moth," Said Maman Hibou removing the ring from the superhero's hand, then watched him transform back into the university student Jin.
Hydra turned back into herself and jumped at the back of Maman Hibou to try to take back the ring. Maman Hibou looked at Jin, then turned around trying to shake the girl off, by shaking in the boy's direction.
"Hold still!" Commanded Hydra, while holding herself on the villain. The villain kept shaking, while walking back afterward she made Hydra hit Jin with her legs. Hydra gasped as she realized, she had just hit Jin and felt the force of Maman Hibou throw the dragon miraculous holder against Jin, which flew above the roof, followed by Hydra, which managed to hold herself up the roof. Hydra shrieked up as she noticed, she couldn't catch Jin from the fall.
"No!" Complained Hydra, then looked down at the ground and gasped in panic. "NO!"
Maman Hibou, who was on top looking at the cat miraculous grinned upon having succeeded on the first miraculous, then looked at the superheroine, who hung by the roof. Maman Hibou smirked and approached the girl, then bowed down at the teenager to intimidate her.
"Maman Hibou!" Yelled a voice catching the attention of the supervillain, who looked back to see Ladybug swing by with Camouflage to land on the roof. Hydra swung her sword against the face of Maman Hibou causing her to step away from the edge. Camouflage stepped forward to use his carapace to activate his shell-ter locking all the powered-up persons around the roof. Hydra stood out of the sphere and watched Ladybug swing her yo-yo, while Camouflage had the power activated.
"Ladybug! She stole Onyx's miraculous! Avoid being pictured by the smartphone!" Yelled Hydra making Ladybug nod, then she used her yo-yo to obtain a special object. She observed a red-colored gog machine fall down onto her hands, making her look curious at it.
"What are you going to do with a fog machine?" Questioned Maman Hibou making Ladybug smirk and place the object on the ground to turn it on to see it make smoke into the middle of the sphere preventing the trio to unsee each other. "Show yourself!" Ordered the villain.
"The best part about this scene is, I don't need to see, where you are…..all I need to know is….." Ladybug recited while swinging her yo-yo to throw it and sense it catch someone. "Where I have seen you before," Finished Ladybug, then pulled the person back to her. Ladybug turned off the device, then watched the smoke vanish upon Camouflage deactivating the shell-ter to get up to see Ladybug kick the smartphone off the villain's hands to break it. Camouflage got up to look for the cat miraculous, which he watched the villain drop on the group before transforming back into her human self. Ladybug restored back the damage, that was caused and took from the yo-yo out a magical charm with the face of an owl.
"Where…..what happened?" Questioned River looking up at the superheroine and widen her eyes in shock upon realizing she had been akumatized again.
"Take this charm here. This will prevent you from being akumatized again," Promised Ladybug giving the woman the object.
"Where's my sister-in-law?" Questioned the brunette, then Camouflage placed his hand on the woman's shoulder.
"Our friend Honey Gold stood back with her, don't worry," Stated Camouflage, then Super Snake approached the trio nervously and packed Luka's alter ego by his arm.
"Jin….I mean Onxy…...he's…...injured badly!" Warned Super Snake watching Ladybug and Camouflage exchange looks, afterward the group followed Super Snake to the edge of the louvre to look down to spot Hydra on her knees beside a badly injured Jin mourning.
"What….when did this happen?" Questioned Ladybug looking at Camouflage, which took a look at the ring miraculous and back at River, which looked down at the boy shocked as well.
"I think it was her….." Camouflage said carefully, then Ladybug threw her special object up in the sky to activate her miraculous healing light to observe the power pass above Jin's body, cleaning the blood around the ground, but he remained injured. Ladybug dropped her mouth and looked at Camouflage and River, which had seen the issue. Super Snake went down on his knees to look at the friend lying there, then citizens from a nearby coffee shop approached the superheroine to go around the young boy. River frowned upon seeing the crowd gather around the boy, then shook her head as she saw one of the citizens spoke to Hydra to cheer her up, while a couple of other people tried to reanimate the boy.
"Nath, we can bring him together to the hospital fast," Warned Camouflage. "Can you recall fast the nearest hospital?"
"I know behind the wax museum, there is a small one. But Jin is most likely to need the university hospital," Commented Super Snake making River wide her eyes.
"The Saint Louis hospital is in the other direction. There's a central park named after it in the near," Explained the brunette making Super Snake nod.
"Nath, can you focus on the flight?" Questioned Camouflage making Super Snake nod.
"We'll meet you there. We have to charge our miraculouses," Commented Camouflage making Super Snake nod and jumped down at the ground, which Ladybug observed. She glimpsed from above down at Super Snake to see him go between the crowd to explain his task. Upon the roof, Ladybug swallowed hard from not knowing the future of her superhero partner.