Master Fu took a sip of tea, sighing in content. "Thank you Kalki, your power is truly invaluable." The ability to get tea from China at a moment's notice.
"It is no problem, Master Fu. Anything to make your transition into your second century alive all the more easier." The guardians would have his head if they saw him use the miraculous for trivial matters such as this. It was one of the few positives that came with his greatest blunder.
He looked down at the map with concern. "Have you found anything at all, Barkk?" He asked.
"No Master Fu. I tried chasing down the butterfly, but it lost me through a bus." Another dangerous thing the guardians would have his head for, but finding Hawkmoth before he realized just how powerful he could truly become was vital. He wasn't so cruel as to let his chosen holders fight the battle alone. He may be one hundred eighty four years old, but there was plenty of fight left inside of him.
Unfortunately, a hundred years without contact with the butterfly and peacock miraculous meant the staff was completely USELESS in locating either of them. Meaning the only way to catch the man was to use the old fashioned method of tracking him down. Whoever Hawkmoth was though, the man, for as vile as he was, was a smart one. Never showing himself in public, an adult, so his powers didn't have a limit, and capable of using his powers at a long enough distance to avoid detection. The powers of the miraculous were only limited by imaginatiation… so what happened if Hawkmoth aspired to be more than just a random power generator.
His other major concern was the lack of the peacock … they were lost together, surely they would be together, correct? Why not take advantage of the power one could gain from sentimonsters? The villain may have not been doing this for long, but unification wasn't beyond most adults as long as it was just two. And the spellbook…..Fu wished to the celestial's above that it and the peacock were still lost…Paris, and even the world might not survive if Hawkmoth gained even more of an advantage.
"I need to take my mind off this trouble." He lamented, turning on the tv. Please, give him something nice and relaxing.
"We bring you live to the devastation that came from an explosion near the Bourgeois hotel today." The news woman, Nadja Chadwhick, he believed it was, announced. "Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Spider-Man were in hot pursuit of small time criminal Richard Dixon, who was reported by the police to be akumatized into a supervillain called 'the Human fly'. Is Paris no longer capable of arresting criminals without risk of Hawkmoth interfering? What does this say about the prison near town? Will he akumatized violent inmates and set them all free?"
"That's far from the hopeful positivity I was looking for to take my mind off." Fu muttered, sipping on his tea.
"It's a trying time, Master." Wayzz patted him on the head. "The Butterfly miraculous has never been used this maliciously before in the past, and never so frequently. You can't blame the people of Paris for being so scared."
"I cannot. I'm just frustrated by the lack of progress we can make from our end." He assured the kwami. "Hawkmoth can make as many mistakes as he wishes, while Ladybug and Chat Noir need only to make one."
"Don't fret, dear Master, Plagg and Tikki's holders have nothing to worry about as long as Annasi's holder is helping them." Pollen resarrued, staring at the screen as she looked the images they showed of Madame Web's chosen. "Oh my sweet spider-bite, if only I could see you now."
"… Right …" Despite what people said about Plagg, it was Pollen that was the most problematic of kwami. The mindset of 'following the holder' being so ironclad in their mind that they believed they could do no wrong whatsoever. The last time someone tried to insinuate their master was a deranged villain, she froze Gaia manually. It didn't help that her crush on the spider kwami usually matched up with the personal lives of each respective holder.
"And here come Ladybug and Chat … Noir … what?" The screen turned … showing off a RED CHAT NOIR AND BLACK AND GREEN LADYBUG!?
"How…how is this possible!?" Fu exclaimed. "Their mental states couldn't have shifted so drastically this suddenly, and I doubt Plagg or Tikki have explained the process of changing their costumes."
"Can I um … get a compliment from …" The reporter asked in confusion
"Anti-Bug and Chat Rouge. Spider-Man stated confidently, pushing the other heroes along. "Just a simple mix up for the moment. Please give us a moment while we talk on the roofs, you'll get your full story after the city is saved. Bugaboo, YoYo."
"Right." Ladybug tossed her tool … as it became a straight, unbending cord that just kept going, and going, and going. "...Just…testing out a new feature on my…yo-yo.."
"That … is new." Wayzz said with minute horror. "Their powers…they've changed, mixed with each other into some kind of abominable amalgamation."
"Hopefully they can fix this." They had to, there was no choice.
"They probably will." Xuppu nodded. "At least before sunset, or we're all doomed anyway."
"...What do you mean by until sunset?" Fu asked.
The kwami all looked at each other. "Well … it'ssssss more of an approxxxxxxximation." Sass stated. "Not exxxxactly … right at sssssssssunsssssset."
"What happens IF they don't get it fixed by Sunset?"
"Think of it this way." Fluff responded in a happy tone. "Tikki is creation, and Plagg is destruction. Creation is creation, and destruction is destruction. But now creation is destruction and destruction is creation, and the universe doesn't know how to put the circle in the square hole and the square in the circle hole."
"So in simple words, if creation is destruction, the very foundation of the universe will begin blowing up in order to keep creating something new, and destruction will just fill up the universe with jumbled up gunk that can't fit anywhere and likely crush whatever life on the planet is left." Wayzz concluded.
"… Are you telling me we're on a slow burn … to the complete and utter end of the universe?"
"Yes." Pollen nodded FAR too sweetly. "But everything's going to be okay! Annasi's holder is still intact, and he'll keep the two unstable kwami's stable as the symbol of balance." She turned back to the screen and hugged the image. "I believe in you, my sweet little spider-bite, you and your eight adorable arms."
Yeah … he needed to get involved now. "Wayzz, Shell O-"
Crack
… His back!
Marinette wouldn't have felt embarrased being carried by Spider-Man in a life or death situation if they were running from an akuma, it was just the right thing to do. Being carried as a powerless Ladybug however … she would never live this down.
"Shoot, my Ladynoir ship name got totally ruined. Now we have to switch to something else. Antirouge? Chatbug? Chatbug stays the same despite the color change." The annoying hero kept prattling on as he swung her to the rooftops. "Though if this is going to be stick, we'll have to do a minor pr rehaul on your images. Black and Green don't inspire nearly as much hope as red."
"I used to have black with green." Chat said in Spidey's other arm.
"Yeah, but you had an aloof charming personality to offset the serious colors, Ladybug was superserious and all about business with a slight attitude problem."
"The only problem with my attitude right now is your voice while I'm dangling from your arms completely helpless." She grumbled.
"We could walk on the streets if you like?"
"Just set us down on that roof, we need to talk." She said. A second later they arrived as she moved around. "This is the worst … a killer is on the loose, our powers don't work, and now Spidey is the only one of us who can do anything."
"And to top it off, I think the suits hate us." Chat said. "It's tight in all the wrong places and I'm pretty sure my concussion should have vanished by now."
"These suits are practically spray painted on us anyways, how much tighter can they get?" Spider-man asked with a raised brow.
"Enough that I don't feel comfortable being the only girl here." Ladybug covered herself with a discomforting groan. "Let's go over what we do know. We can't detransform, and we can't use our weapons."
"We know Mr Negative can beat us all up even when our powers were working right." Chat added. "His power interferes with ours, and somehow they've created some kind of inverse with our suits."
"So they've interfered with your suits and weapons…what about your special abilities?" Spidey asked
She looked at Spidey, before tossing up her tool. "Lucky Charm!" She shouted … as the tool remained there, stuck like some kind of pole. "… Nothing."
"Cataclysm!" Chat shouted next, and got nothing either. "Guess my luck stayed intact in spite of the mixup."
"So not only can we not detransform." Marinette repeated. "But our powers don't work, my weapon is a yoyo with an unbending string, Chat now has a zipline pole, and the only surefire way of fixing this is to trust the supervillain to grab us both despite it literally blowing up in his face."
"On the bright side, there IS an advantage to this." Spider-man responded. "If the explosion messed with you two this badly, then Mr. Negative can't be having a good time either."
"Right … meaning he's weak." Chat nodded. "We have to press the advantage."
"On a man we can't find?" Ladybug asked. "Unless you suddenly plan on robbing FEAST I doubt he's willing to come out for round two."
"FEAST is our only lead in anycase." Spidey grumbled. "It's as good a start as any, and we really don't have anything else better to do."
"FLY MY PRETTIES! FLY AND MARK THIS CITY AS YOUR OWN!" Hundreds of pigeons filled the air.
"...OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Ladybug shouted. "That's like the fifth time he's been akumatized!" How desperate was Hawkmoth to keep using him?!
"… Well, there's one good thing that came out of this." Chat said. "Chat Rouge and Anti-Bug are currently trying to figure out their powers, leaving it up to the most experienced hero to grab the object."
"… Isn't it usually Ladybug that throws me under the bus?" Spidey asked.
"With any other akuma, yes. With Mr Pigeon, my allergies say otherwise." Chaton covered his nose and let out a sneeze. "So onward, to you ganger filled victory."
"Guess I should be lucky it's JUST Mr. Pigeon. Not much one can do when your main weapons are.." Spidey said as the pigeons began forming….into a giant fist that was coming down on them. "… Dang it he's learning!"
Smack
… It was gonna be one of those days wasn't it?
Martin Li grimaced as the bandages were placed on him. "The burns are strong, but will fade with time." His lieutenant spoke "You need to rest for now."
"I-I-I.." Both halves tried to speak at once, a splitting headache appearing along with each breath he took.
"Your power has become unstable. You can't risk being seen by anyone." His men continued. "The powers of Ladybug and Chat Noir…we couldn't have foreseen what kind of effect they would've had on your own."
"Couldn't… need to … go …" His body ached, feeling like it would split at the seems.
"A man with no legs shouldn't be expected to run, as a man with wounds shouldn't be expected to serve." The man continued. "Rest sir, that's all you can do for now. Until your halves realign." He raised his sword. "We will watch over FEAST in the meantime."
"Good….just…keep…." He coughed violently. Martine Li was no stranger to pain, pain was what defined his life….but Mr. Negative was a different story. Mr. Negative was meant to take all the pain and suffering of the world, and blast it right back. Sure, he had never gone against a super before … but for his inversion, his ability to make them see the light … fail.
He touched them, he felt them….and then it was like he was sucked into a black hole of light, a fumming abyss of hope, a sunny sky of infinite darks…two contradictions flowing together, meshing, growing, decaying, falling, flying, all of it coming together in ways that he could never comprehend on a promidial level before.
Those children were definetly a bigger threat than they initially assumed, a massive threat to their plans. A power that went far beyond his own. Similar…but greater, more rax, unfiltered. It felt … potent, strong … were those kids … those poor children … experimented on like him? Given powers beyond their comprehension?
He clenched his fist. "Tsurugi…" Even now she went about and made lives worse for money, all while the rest of the world suffered from his eyes. And that incompetent Mayor did nothing …this has been going on for far…far….FAR too long. If he didn't do something about it soon, more and more innocents would suffer by her hands.
"As … soon … as I … recover …" It was time … time for Devil's breath to finally be released.
Peter, covered in feathers and bruises, with thankfully no pigeon poop, looked to the two heroes. "Alright … here's how this is gonna work." He held up the bird whistle. "I'm gonna break the akumatized object. You both are going to try to simultaneously grab the butterfly. And if our luck is good, it'll purify, and not do the opposite and corrupt itself further while becoming an army of supercharged Mr Pigeons." How the heck could pigeons feel THAT painful?! Weren't they supposed to feel soft and mushy? That's why windows stayed intact whenever they kept running into them.
"So we're banking on good luck?" Chat rouge asked. "Maybe we should just hold onto the bird whistle until Mr Negative is taken care of." He pointed to the now unconscious bird themed villain. "Even when he's awake, he's not the most intimidating."
"Spidey does have a small point. We should at least attempt to get a grasp on our new situation before we confront Mr. Negative again." Anti bug sighed. "If our powers are messed up…if we even have them at all still, we shouldn't go in jumping blind against somone that could easily kill us."
"Exactly. So let's see who has purification, and who has the exact opposite of that's a thing." Spidey nodded. "Three … two … one …" He broke the bird whistle.
"No more evil doing for you-Aggh!" Anti bug attempted to shoot out her yo-yo, which once again got sent into a straight line into the air, knocking her unbalanced.
"No more evil doing for you-mmm!" Chat rouge attempted to do the same thing, resulting in his staff flopping around and smacking him in the face.
Spidey watched the two heroes try to aim their tools as the akuma flew away. "Again, I should look into investing in my own webs." He muttered. Something that could contain akuma's for situations like this. "Okay, if we can't purify it, we need to destroy it."
"Cataclysm!" … Once more, nothing happened. "That option went out the window too."
"Lucky charm!" Anti bug shouted. "Ugh, this is hopeless!"
"Maybe not." Spidey guessed. "Mr. Negative was going on about Yin and Yang, right, which is what inverted you two, the personifications of yin and yang."
"So I got cataclysm?" Anti bug asked, getting no response from her hand. "Worth a shot."
"Well if you're opposite, maybe try 'Unlucky' instead of lucky?" Spidey said.
"Unlucky charm?" At the heroine's sarcastic remark, their tool flew to the air, black ladybugs swirling around. Although it felt more ominous to Peter than normal, like a Latin choir needed to accompany it. The swarm vanished as they created a … detonator? "... What?" She asked, looking it over. "What the heck is this supposed to-" Anti-Bug pressed it.
BOOM
… It occurred to Spider-Man that the opposite of instantly making the solution to a situation, would be creating a bigger problem. He looked over at the multiple destroyed buildings in the distance. "...Well, on the bright side….you turned the Akuma to dust." Chat Noir pointed to the now smokey remains of the insect. "...As well as most of main street."
"Oh god, I'm gonna have to do pr … oh god, I need to be like Spidey." The girl muttered in horror.
"… Ignoring the jab … what would the opposite of cataclysm be?"
"Catastrophe?" The hero guessed. "Purrrfection? Pawsotivity?" Nothing happened. "Pawlicent?"
"You're super sure it's a pun?" Anti bug asked.
"I've got literally nothing to say otherwise." Chat Rouge shrugged. "You literally just added UN to your call, and I got to Pawleif that…" What looked like a bunch of tiny cats with red fur scattered all over the area. "Haha! I got … something!"
"What the heck are the little furballs doing?" Spidey pointed to them.
"The cataclysm breaks whatever it touches, shouldn't the … pawleif fix whatever-no, the lucky charm still makes something …"
"I figured it out." Antibug looked down. "It's breaking things in a trail." She pointed to a line of cracks, where the cracks formed into arrows. "My power creates destruction now ... .so going by that logic, Chat's powers are now destroying their way to a solution."
"So…do we just follow their trail of destruction and hope we can figure out our little problem?" Chat Rouge asked.
"Probably." Spidey nodded. "Come on you two, let's …" He paused, noticing something in the distance. "… Hey Chat, are you still seeing double?"
"Possibly? Why?"
"Because if so then if everything is horribly, horribly wrong, you should be seeing four Eiffel towers." He pointed to the two towers in the distance.
"What?!" Anti-bug shouted. "But that's, how is that even happening!?"
"Still in guessing territory here, but maybe an outside force messing with what are supposed to be gods of creation and destruction isn't so healthy for the universe." Spidey gulped.
"Um … we still have time to fix this, right?" Chat asked … as the sun broke in half, before fixing itself back up. "Right, that answers that question. Me and Bugaboo will recharge. Spidey, run like heck to the solution."
"Don't have to tell me twice!" He shouted, sending his chain out. As he swung by he saw buildings disappearing and popping in out of nowhere, people gaining and losing injuries on the fly, and saw hail made of nails at one point. "Annasi never told me the miraculous powers could get this out of control." An accidental cataclysm or catching your yo-yo on a ledge was one thing… this was global calamity. If Hawkmoth or anyone else evil got their hands on chat and ladybugs' miraculous….who knows what could happen to the world
Tikki yawned as she exited the miraculous, rubbing her head. So fuzzy, funny, how strange. "How's it goin Marinette? I got me the weirdest dream I was a red gal." She chuckled. As if Tikki could ever be red.
"Tikki, thank goodness you're still here, for a second I thought Mr Negative's powers might've done something to-why are you black and green?"
"What's that Mari?" She asked. "I've always been this way. Did you get hit in the head against an akuma? If it was Mr Pigeon I'll never let you live it down." The kwami giggled. "You're so clumsy Mari that it's almost not funny…I mean I'll still laugh but you'll make me feel guilty about it, and I'm trying to have fun here."
"What the heck did Mr Negative's power do to you?" Her silly holder shook her head in worry.
"Mr who's it now?" She asked. "Oooh, fuzzy memories. Light and Dark tickle my everything." Tikki giggled again, such a funny day. "Say, you have any really old and rotten cookies? They'd taste delicious." The kwami floated around, trying to find something yummy.
"Tiki, this isn't the time to mess around. Chat Noir and I had our powers messed with and it's causing everything to break apart outside." She pointed to the completely normal eiffel towers.
"You callin me a mess? I'll have you know I'm a flawless woman who can flaunt my stuff." She responded, looking out the window. "Besides, it all looks normal to me."
"What part of that is normal!?" They shouted crazily for some reason.
"Doi, that's creation." She went over to a figurine of Adrien, bleh, and pushed it to the ground.
"HEY!"
"You break something into tiny pieces." She watched as a mallet popped into the air. "And bam, object appears. Silly Mari." Tikki giggled. "It's just like babies. If you stab a man, someone gets pregnant."
"That's… that's not even close to; how is… don't tell me this is what Chat noir deals with everyday with his Kwami."
"Chat who's it?" Tikki asked. "Man, maybe you did hit your head. Take a small hibernation Mari, you can afford to wait it out."
"I…. literally …. can't… because the sun is constantly being broken IN HALF!" The human pointed to the breaking sun.
"You mean it wasn't always like that?" Tikki asked with a scratch on the head. "Actually, the sun is weird …."
"Thank you!"
"Where's the broken half of the moon that's supposed to sometimes eclipse it?" Said object popped up in the sky. "There we go! Everything's hunky dory again!" Nearly caused a scare there.
Marinette's eyes twitched for some reason, before a small smirk came over her face. "You know what Tikki? I did hit my head and have some small amnesia. So would you mind giving me a reminder on how…you work exactly."
"Why certainly my favorite little bug." She playfully rubbed the girl's ear. "You say 'Tikki, Spots Out' to transform, and 'Tikki, Spots In' to go back. You have an indestructible string that never bends attached to some long round thingy." Can't remember the name of that. "Your superpower is the unlucky charm, which creates random bouts of catastrophic mayhem that somehow doom your enemies. You can also corrupt Akumas and make them supercharged, but that's not something we should test with Hawkmoth on the loose." Don't know why she felt compelled to say the last part. Plagg's holder was the one that purified them, right? "You can also use a Miraculous Ruin that ruins and breaks everything around you, like the memories of someone who happens to see your face while you transformed, or a bad man's leg."
"So I just generate bad luck around me is what you're saying?"
"Not too far off from your real life if I'm being honest. Constantly falling over, tripping over your words, inadvertently creating akumas, it's a riot to watch though, so you keep me entertained." Tikki grinned.
"…Glad my life's an entertaining soap opera." Mari grumbled before taking out one of her cookies. "Eat up, we have to hurry before most of Paris collapses into calamaity.
"Sure sure, whatever you say." She rolled her eyes, taking a bite. "Gaah, unrotten and warm, absolutely disgusting."
"AAAAHHH! This new cake has mold on it!" Oooh, Marinette's dad sounded like he was baking something lovely.
"Can you get me a slice of that? I want to see if I can age it enough for maggots to form, gives the stale crunchiness of the bread nice texture.
"... If we take down Mr Negative, I'll bake you a whole cake of it." Now they were talking! "Tiki, Spots out!"
Adrien stared in mute horror as Plagg politely finished explaining his powers, eating the cheese he grimaced. "So-so the whole deal is that your meat to create casms of good fortune with you Pawlief." The now pure read Kwami said in a timid voice. "You can also purify akumas with a single touch, and use the cure to fix everything with the power to destroy the damage by shouting disastrous Red cat."
"….I think I liked it better when my powers was just to destroy." Much less complicated and very few rules to go over.
"Oh…You wish you had another kwami…yeah, I guess that makes sense, I know I suck a lot, I should've known that I failed to be your friend." They stated with a frown. "So terribly sorry I couldn't be more help, but don't worry, with you and your friends, I'm sure it'll turn out great." Plagg being nice…not in the normal aloof and distant jerk with a heart of gold way, but in the normal, shy, apologetic way… nothing more disturbing could happen at this very moment.
"Plagg, that wasn't what I meant-Never mind, we've wasted enough time." The sooner they got Negative to touch him, the better. "Plagg, Claws On." With a quick change, he transformed, using his staff as a sort of grappling hook in a desperate attempt to get this over with. "Now then … Spidey and M'lady swing all the time. Shouldn't be too hard, right?"
He jumped into the air, sending his new bendable and stringy like baton into the nearest ledge…and felt the breeze rush past him like never before. "Whoa…this is cool." It was like flying. Chat been able to replicate this feeling by simply jumping and pole vaulting all over, but this feeling lasted longer, and it was incred-
Smack
"Ow." He smashed face first into a wall. "Forget… to aim where… I'm swinging." Definitely easier to just vault over the walls. He groaned as he climbed up, slowly meeting Spider-Man and Antibug. "So … I got a better grasp of my powers." He stated.
"We need to fix this now." Antibug said bluntly, and with mild horror. "I just talked to my Kwami, they think stabbing people and killing them is how babies are born. And they're so chaotic and uncaring!"
"Your telling me, my Kwami's just an unending apologetic mess, it's so terrifying and annoying." Chat rolled his eyes.
"I never thought I'd see the day where my Kwami was the more reasonable one." Spidey laughed. "From what he's told me, he's pretty much the black sheep of this whole kwami business."
"Never got told much about him." Chat said. "Only thing Plagg told me is that they hang and eat sometimes, and their holders cross paths every now and then."
"We can think about the history lesson later, did the cracks lead you to anything?" Anti bug asked Spidey.
"FEAST … the place we were all heading to anyway." Spider-Man answered in a disappointed tone. "What if they're holding Mister Li hostage? FEAST has gone through too much damage to let another all out fight break out."
"I could pull out a second path and see if it gets us anything more specific." Chat Rouge suggested.
"I wouldn't." Antibug said. "The last time we both used our powers the world realized our powers got mixed up, leading to the twin eiffel towers and broken eclipse …" She paused. "Correction, the pyramid of giza and the five Jupiters orbiting the sky."
"I sincerely hope there's no god… well a god-god with a capital G, cause I'm pretty sure this is going to lead to some pretty stiff questions when we kick the bucket." Spidey gazed upwards.
"I thought we got confirmation about the One Above All?" Chat asked.
"I'm agnostic; I'm open to ideas and interpretations, but I have yet to personally see the proof." Spidey said. "I mean, Thor and Norse mythology are real; but some could interpret them as ancient aliens with really advanced powers."
"Can we focus?" Antibug asked. "The longer we wait the more messed up the earth, and quite possibly the universe itself, is in the process."
"Nice to see the little freaky Friday switcheroo didn't mess up your charming personality, moldy cheese." Spidey snickered, jumping on the ground.
"Moldy cheese?"
"Have to call her something until she's a watermelon again!" He shot back as he made his way to the back of the building, the two of them following suit. "Looking good so far … no surprise deliveries … no screams of fear or cries to say anyone's a hostage …"
"The cracks are still on the ground." Chat point led down at the arrows that formed. "Guess we just follow the trail until it runs dry."
"That's closer than you think." Anti-but pointed to where it led… a dumpster.
"Your new power leads us to trash… there's a hole in here somewhere but for the life of me I can't think of it." Spidey rolled his eyes. "Well, wouldn't be the first time I've dumpster dived. Probably won't be the last. Just wish I had a … ooh, that might work." They took their chain, flipping it around until it went around their mouth. "Filtration so I don't have to smell it. Now then, onward!" The guy jumped into the dumpster.
"I'm never going to understand that guy, and a large part of me is grateful I never will." Anti-bug rolled her eyes.
"Hey, at least he has his powers under control. Otherwise we'd be up cat's creek without a paddle." Chat snickered.
"I know, still doesn't mean I have to like it." She grumbled, walking over to the dumpster. "I was having issues being a superhero to start with when I first got this miraculous, now I can't even control what I have and it's just-agggh!" She kicked the dumpster..
Smash
And sent it flying into the back alley, where a door hatch in the ground was revealed in the place below it. "Tickle my whiskers." Even by complete accident, his lady was so amazing.
"You are so lucky it's hard to give me concussions, Moldy Cheese!" Spidey shouted from inside the dumpster.
"No, shut up, we found something!" Antibug shouted back. "There was something UNDER the dumpster, not in it!"
The spider's head popped out. "Looks like someone's lady luck's still rumbling."
"These antennas aren't just for show." She smirked, opening it up. "Looks like when they said 'protection of FEAST' they meant it. They must have held up a lair underneath when the place was being built so no one would find out."
"That explains how they've always been one step away from whatever trouble occurs, but still doesn't explain the why." Adrien was really hoping it was just a matter of extortion.
"You mean the 'I'm gonna play judge jury and executioner' bit wasn't clear cut and dry enough?" Spidey asked as he let them both climb down first.
"No, that's their motive for being a gang, it doesn't explain why FEAST of all places." Anti-bug agreed with Chat as they made their way down. "I hope this doesn't mean everyone working at FEAST is involved. Crap, hope it doesn't mean the Parker's are involved too." Shit, Adrien didn't even CONSIDER that as a possibility.
"Ah yes, the glasses of the noodle limbed Parker boy clearly indicates he's the brain and true mastermind of the whole operation." Spider-man said in a joking tone. "Next you'll be saying Martin Li's Hawkmoth."
"I certainly hope not. It'd be kind of hypocritical beyond belief if that was the case, helping people but also turning them into villains that terrorize them." Chat chuckled nervously. "Though when I was researching FEAST in my off time… I couldn't find any records of how Martin Li founded the shelter."
That seemed to stop Spider-Man in his tracks, as he paused midway on the ladder. "... No records at all?"
"None." He would know, he asked Nathalie to help him research for a 'school project', and she was thorough with every task. "I hate to suggest it, but Mr. Li may have made a deal with the devil… metaphorically that is."
"He … couldn't have known." The joking tone was gone, replaced with something that sounded like trepidation. Spidey resumed climbing down after them. "It had to be something he wasn't aware of."
"This is still just guess work. We'll have to confront the man himself. At the very least we should alert him of the secret passageway underneath his building." Anti-bug noted.
They eventually reached the bottom of said passageway … surrounded with weapons, artifacts, and masks. "Definitely the demon lair." Chat Rouge noted. "If we didn't move the dumpster we could have set a trap." Dang it, missed opportunity.
"All the more reason to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible." Spider-Man grumbled, looking like he was seconds away from smashing the walls apart. "Chat, anything in Mandarin of note?"
"A couple of artifacts, nothing too serious." Chat looked around, trying to find anything that could help them track down the culprit.
"This room is glitching just like the rest of the world." Anti-bug lamented, looking at bullet casings that seemed to turn into tic tacs. "The evidence we have is gonna be lost at this rate."
"So just keep walking into the unknown, cause that always works in the movies." Spidey rolled his eyes. The web head reached into a nearby desk, pulling out a book. "Hmm … Chat, mind narrating?"
"Got it." He flipped to a random page. "Another lost soul was brought to my door, incapable of even remembering her own name. Watching her pain, her sorrow, it made the darkness grow, it made the demon hunger. The light cannot shine on every poor soul as long as the blight remains."
"Some poetry. The next edgar allen poe." Anti-bug grumbled.
"I think it's a personal log. Here's another entry." Chat pointed out. "The demon hungers for me, and I can't contain it. It must act and punish. FEAST may be put in danger…but how many more lights must be snuffed out before darkness consumes the whole city? So much scum willing to take advantage, and the stooges on top only keep the darkness flowing."
"Well if they hate Mayor Beogious so much, then they can't be all bad." Spidey chuckled darkly.
"Soon, the Devil's breath will be complete, and the people who the One Above All have abandoned shall be taken in by the One Below All." Chat grimanced. "Devil's breath? Is that referring to his power?"
"Check the other logs for the name." Anti-bug moved in closer, her head on his shoulder. In any other moment he would be giddy.
"Devil's breath, devil's-aha." He spotted something. "The demon's power is strong, and my acolytes can retain fractions of it for extended periods of time…but without constant charge, the spark soon fades away. With the devil's breath, anybody who has been touched by the demon will reignite the flames for as long as I need to complete my revenge."
There was a moment of silence at that. "So his goons will be charged up twenty four seven." Spidey noted. "And at full power …"
"Not to mention we don't even know the upper limit of people in his employ." Anti-bug gripped his hands. "Does it give anything about who Mr. Negative is?"
"Whoever wrote in this made sure to keep their specific names out of it." Chat said, noticing one line. "Here's something. If all else fails, I have made preparations to keep FEAST in capable hands so no higher political power can ever take ahold of my gift to the world. Thank goodness for pure hearted individuals as May…Parker…." He froze at that. "...He's speaking like he knows her…and if he built FEAST, and sounds like he cares…then…"
"Wait, so you're saying that….no…no, no that can't be it." Spidey shook his head rapidly. "That's..that's insane, Mr. Negative, Martin Li…they can't…"
They flipped more pages until they landed on a photo of Mr Li founding FEAST, smiling, until the entire room around them started to glitch in colors. They looked at the flickering image of Mr. Li … colors constantly inverting like a negative photo … the blue sky became orange … the black suit became white … and his face pitch black … Martin Li … sharing the same face as … Mr. Negative.
"... No …" He turned to Spidey, who was looking pretty pale. "No no no that's gotta be some sort of mistake, or trick of the mind, or akuma attack. It can't be Li. Li can't be … he can't …"
"Spidey, calm down." Anti-bug tried to reach her hand out, only for the web head to slapp it away.
"I won't be calm! Mr. Li…no…he's helped so many people, it's…it's just the chaos of the world playing tricks on us, yeah, that's it! This magic powers are just ... .messing with our heads!"
"Who goes there?!" A voice ran down the hall. "The demon's head is not to be disturbed!"
"Angst later, we have to book it!" Chat Rouge shouted, pusing the despondent Spidey back to the ladder while holding onto the logbook.
"No!" Spidey tan forward, grabbing the demon as he came out from the hall, slamming him into a wall hard enough for cracks to form. "Tell me who you work for! Tell me his name!"
"The Demon's head, Mr. Negative-"
"DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME!" Spidey sent a punch that sent the man through the wall. "What. Is. His. REAL! Name!?"
"He….He…lost his name…..long ago…." The goon chuckled weakly. "What you see….is the inner demon….of the man…once known….as…..Martin….Li…."
Spidey seemed to still at that admission, his face filled with both horror and resignation. "He … he … he can't …"
"We gotta go Web head!" Anti-bug shouted as the ladder started to form cracks and grow flowers in between them. "None of this is going to matter if we can't fix everything asap!"