Chapter 5
Prelude to a Showdown
As Alya and Marinette got ready for school, Adrien decided to stick with them for today. With no photo-shooting going on today due to the recent events, both of his parents had approved of his plans as they decide how to rearrange his schedule to accommodate him going to school. Unfortunately for all three of the teenagers, the United States government happened to beat them to the punch. Among them, is Amanda Waller, who Alya knew all too well due to her extensive knowledge on superheroes and supervillains. The US government got to the school to gain eyewitness accounts, video footage, and any physical evidence that can give at least an edge over whoever or whatever they'll come across as a threat. Among those interviewed was Mr. Damocles, who was dead yesterday. Amanda got nothing so far from the school as they all said the same thing about Ivan turning into some rage-filled horned monster, going after one of their fellow classmates, along with the transmission on their screens. Maybe these three who just happened to arrive a few seconds ago can give Amanda something different.
As the three teenagers enter the school, Alya and Marinette see Ivan surrounded by her classmates. For Ivan, he didn't remember anything except the Doom Marine and that twin 12-gauge he has pointed at his skull. Chloé doesn't hesitate to poke fun at him, being the entitled mayor's daughter she is. Furious, Ivan decided to march away as Chloé continues to make fun of the poor young man. Being a superhero fan that she is, Alya decided to stand up to Chloé once again.
"How could you say that to Ivan? You're the real Stoneheart."
"Ugh, so I'm the one who chucked the principal into the pavement, am I? Just because footage of these lame superheroes was shown on TV, doesn't mean you have to get high and mighty." as Chloé blows her bubblegum at Alya.
"You little…"
"Look out, she's angry! She's going to split her underwear and turn into a huge muscly monster!" the entitled blonde exaggerated and poke fun at Alya before Alya herself decided to walk off.
"Well, seems like we got a common foe, huh?" Adrien asked his cousin's new friend before said friend nodded.
As for Marinette, she decided to have a chat with Ivan in the boy's locker room. She didn't have to look too far as Marinette sees Ivan sitting on the ground, looking down with his headphones on.
"You know, you should tell Mylène how you feel." Marinette tells her troubled classmate.
"I… don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on, I saw the way you look at her. No! No negative emotions, Ivan. What I mean is, be positive. I'm sure Mylène has feelings for you too. Go talk to her."
"I'm no good with words anyway."
"But… who needs words? You could draw her a picture, send her flowers…"
"I could… write her a song?"
"That's a great idea! What girl wouldn't want a love song written especially for her? Go for it, Ivan, and, uh–, stay positive."
Thanks to Marinette's words of encouragement, Ivan started to be more confident in himself. As a result, Ivan ran off excited to write his song and sing it to the girl he yearns for, Mylène.
Meanwhile for Alya and Adrien, the two teenagers went to Miss Bustier's classroom. As for Adrien's case, he didn't go unnoticed by the teacher.
"Uh, do I know you? I don't have you in my attendance." the redheaded teacher asked the blond boy.
"I'm here for my honorary cousin, Marinette. She told me that she needed to chat with Ivan. And with what's going on right now, I needed to stick out for her." Adrien tells Miss Bustier. With Ivan turning into some kind of monster, Miss Bustier having to barricade the door, and the guy in green armor entering her classroom via portal, to gun down all these demons in the school, she can't really blame the blond kid. Besides, the blond boy happened to be a nice kid who has nothing to do as of right now.
As the attendance concludes, Adrien and Alya spotted a piece of gum on Marinette's spot. Now it is Adrien's turn, to stand up for Marinette without being a superhero.
"Chloé, is this yours?" as Adrien looks at the entitled brat with a killer glare, pointing at the piece of gum at the bench. As for Chloé, she realized that she shot herself in the foot with her blank stare seen by everyone in the classroom.
"Grab a paper towel, pick it up, and throw it in the trash." Adrien calmly tells Chloé, who reluctantly does so, to every students' astonishment. With that said and done, Adrien glares at the entitled blonde one more time.
"Return to your seat, and don't fucking pester my cousin again. You hear me? Do it again and I'll know." Adrien tells the mayor's daughter in a calm but hate-fueled manner in a way that only Chloé Bourgeois can understand. Now almost everyone in the class knows that Adrien maybe a fashion model and a nice guy, but he will run anyone over who decides to harm his loved ones. It was all said and done right before Marinette enters the class, late, per usual. What was unusual, is all the blank stares at Adrien, right before he greets her.
"Hey cousin, I just had Chloé pick up that piece of gum that happened to be at your seat." Adrien tells Marinette before things turned to about as normal as they're going to get for right now. As the trio sit with each other on the same bench, Alya and Marinette can't stay up any longer. As such, the two girls take a nap while Adrien watches over them, not expecting Amanda Waller wanting to speak with the three of them at the principal's office.
Doom Slayer trailed the two worn-out superheroes, leading him to the very school he made a portal to a day ago. Why Majestia and Batman headed to the Collège Françoise Dupont is what Doom Slayer wanted to find out. As both superheroes entered the school, the Slayer noticed two tired girls trying to stand and walk as Amanda Waller leads them to the principal's office. When both Alya and Marinette is about to collapse by the very lack of sleep of last night, Majestia caught both teenage girls within the nick of time. Doom Slayer, who observed through the roof of the school, is puzzled and impressed by Majestia's heart and determination, as he saw her far more than any superhero for the last four months.
From Doom Slayer's observation, Majestia has been very persistent while everyone else got demoralized and worn-out very quickly from his actions in the first weeks after the Hellas Planitia incident. As a matter of fact, she was very close to detecting Doom Slayer when he was doing an attack run on an argent facility run by Lexcorp in Metropolis. Seems like every big tech company is trying to get renewable energy sources at the expense of morality or common sense these days. Had he not destroyed the facility in Metropolis, the entire city would've been contaminated from the demonic corruption that infested Paris yesterday.
As Doom Slayer looked into the open-air courtyard of the school, he saw three death's-head hawkmoths waiting on top of the metal roofs of the walkways. Swiftly and quietly, the Unchained Predator took out all three of the evil moths in under a second. Now Doom Slayer know that this school is ground zero for his adversary's next attack on Paris, Hawk Moth is going after Ivan once again.
At Mr. Damocles' office, the three students are confused with Amanda Waller and the two superheroes being in front of them. Amanda tried to get something out of the three, but none too successfully as Marinette and Adrien are not willing to trust any superhero due to the incident with the Duke Brothers fresh in their minds as of recent. Alya wanted to talk to her favorite superhero, but she is so tired, that she can't even move her mouth. As gently as possible, Majestia shook the young girl awake in order to get some answers.
"Oh good, you're trying to stay awake. Props to you for that."
"Majestia?"
"Do you know anything about yesterday, me and my friend here are trying to find out what happened."
"Well, I filmed some footage inside the stadium, but I had to delete so that he won't come after me."
"Do you know who the name for the man is, and why these monsters appeared?"
"The monsters appeared after when the message appeared on my phone, and my friend and I had to stay up all night because we're afraid."
"Who are you afraid off?"
"A demon-killer, the Doom Slayer, the Hell Walker, the Unchained Predator, the Scourge of Hell, they're all the same person. He single-handedly wiped out all of these monsters."
'Doom Slayer, my god! This is a near-perfect name for a supervillain, let alone a demon killer. We all, have to stop this guy before he puts in more damage than we can ever handle.' Majestia thought to herself before deciding to ask Batman to rally the Justice League to take on this newly-described threat. But Batman, being an excellent detective at Gotham City, decided to ask a question for the girl who decided to talk to his close ally.
"How did you acquire information about this, Doom Slayer?" the Dark Knight asked to the teenager.
"Adrien has copies of the files from his father's flash drive which came from the UAC." Alya answered, as to why she and Marinette stayed up all night.
"You mean, Gabriel Agreste?"
Alya simply shook her head up and down before simply crashing her head on the principal's desk to nap on. Now Batman and Amanda Waller now have questions for Gabriel, along with maybe even an arrest warrant. As a matter of fact, they were headed there before Stoneheart strikes again, headed towards Miss Bustier's room. At the same time, Miss Bustier is taking attendance, minus Adrien, Alya, and Marinette. While announcing Ivan's name, Stoneheart appeared in his place, taking both Mylène and in revenge, Chloé. Accompanying Stoneheart, a new batch of monsters appeared right before everyone's eyes, while Stoneheart bashed open a large hole outwards from the school.
As Amanda Waller, Batman, and Majestia hear the ruckus and exit the Principal's office, all three of them see their Mister X, who Alya identified as the Doom Slayer, for the very first time. Swiftly, the Doom Slayer cleared the classroom out of demons without harming the teacher and students inside before tracking his prey, which isn't too far due to Chloé's complaints.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with. My daddy, the mayor, will bring in the police, the army, the entire cavalry!" the entitled brat tells the horned monster before hearing a few loud footsteps. As Stoneheart turns towards the roof, the Doom Slayer was waiting on his prey, instantly shrinking Stoneheart to two sizes, in pure, concentrated fear. Extremely quickly, Stoneheart decided to get out of dodge before more demons pop into the Doom Slayer's view. Along with the possessed cops, imps, and cacodemons, two extra monster types appeared, Hell Knights and Revenants.
Hell Knights are 10 foot (3 meter) tall monsters, taking an appearance of a tall muscular alien or mutant, with no visible nose, ears fused to the sides of its head, exposed mouth with long, sharp canine teeth, and barely-visible eyes that are very small and black, located on the sides of the head just above the mouth. Revenants are similarly tall skeletal figures with pale, bloody skins covering only the legs and upper torso. Revenants are cybernetically implemented with jetpack-rocket launchers as they were former UAC Military operatives that have been transformed into demonic combatants. Outnumbered, but not outgunned, the Slayer took a few minutes to dash around his opponents, dodging rockets and fireballs while picking off several demons at a time with his heavy cannon and rocket launcher.
All the while everyone in Miss Bustier's classroom is watching the Doom Slayer in combat, Marinette and Adrien sneaked out of the Principal's office, transforming into Ladybug and Cat Noir. As soon as Ladybug and Cat Noir transformed, they attempted to follow Ivan's footprints before being quickly stopped by a Hell Knight. As the Hell Knight tried to tear Ladybug and Cat Noir to pieces, Doom Slayer blew it's left arm clean off with his trusty super shotgun. With the fight currently over, the Doom Slayer handed them both pump-action shotguns and backpacks full of ammo. Full of confidence and recognizing Doom Slayer as an ally for his home, Cat Noir gladly grabbed his shotgun and backpack. Ladybug, lacking confidence compared to her honorary cousin, is a lot more reluctant. With the terrible stories of the Doom Slayer fresh in her mind, a serious confidence boost is needed.
"You know what to do. Rip and tear, until it is done." The Doom Slayer tells the terrified 13 year old, who reluctantly at best, grabbed her shotgun and backpack before Batman and Majestia challenged the Unchained Predator. Eager to gain superiority over superheroes, the Doom Slayer cracked his knuckles, while at the same time, Ladybug and Cat Noir went ahead of him.
"Aren't we going to take care of them, cousin?" Ladybug asked.
"It's Doom Slayer's job right now. Our job is to go to the very source of all of our troubles at." Cat Noir tells his cousin while headed to the Eiffel Tower, with news reporters and police surrounding the horned, volcanic demon before being surrounded themselves by Cacodemons, Imps, Hell Knights, possessed civilians and Revenants. At the other side of the Seine River, at the entrance of the Pont d'léna near the Trocadéro, is André Bourgeois, mayor of Paris. Accompanying the Mayor, is Amanda Waller, who arrived in time to report their Mister X is being engaged. Deep down, Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Amanda recognized that it will very soon turn into a showdown.
