Chapter 3: In the moment we're ten feet tall
The priceless, ancient glasswork exploded into smithereens, leaving Ladybug to smash through the other side and helplessly tumble to the ground below. She slammed into the stone floor with a grunt of pain, ears ringing loudly, as pieces of glass softly dropped to the floor around her.
Groaning, Ladybug pulled herself into a sitting position. The fall had hurt a little, yes, but not as much as she'd been expecting it to. She gave herself a quick once-over and as she'd predicted, there were no injuries to be found.
I guess the suit gives me more than just special powers.
"Um, hello?" said an anxious voice, as a pair of legs approached her. "Girl in red?"
Oh that's right. She wasn't the only one who'd blasted through the church window. Ladybug looked up to address the boy she'd accidentally kicked in the face. His green feline eyes glowed with concern, and though the church was dark, she could faintly see his cat-ears twitching nervously.
Cat-ears...
This was her new partner!
Ladybug then realized that maybe being sprawled on the floor surrounded by broken glass wasn't the best way to make first introductions.
"Hi!" she said, scrambling to her feet and holding out her hand. "I'm Ma— uh, happy to meet you! Are you the Black Cat?"
The boy raised an eyebrow and took her hand in his own. "No... I'm not. If you look closely, you can see that I am clearly the Dog—"
"Oh, hah hah." She pulled her hand back and rolled her eyes. Now that he knew she wasn't hurt, his concern seemed to have immediately slipped away in place of cockiness.
"And what are you supposed to be?" he asked, nudging her. "A watermelon?"
She scoffed, every cell in her body bursting to even the score against this arrogant sucker. "Excuse me? There's no way you're calling me names whilst wearing that ridiculous bell on your suit."
"Hey!" He self-consciously covered the aforementioned item. "What's wrong with my bell?"
"Ooh, look at me, I'm Bell Man!" Ladybug mocked, pumping her arm. "Ding dong!"
The boy frowned at her. "At least I put some creativity into my costume."
Infuriated, Ladybug opened the mouth to reply. And then thought better of it. They weren't here to mess about. This was a serious situation.
Focus, Marinette!
"What's your weapon?" she asked instead.
His cat-ears drooped. "My what?"
"Well, mine's a yo-yo." She held it up in her hand, the gadget thankfully remaining silent for once. "See?"
The Cat snickered. "My god. Red suit? Swinging ability? They should've just given you some spiderwebs and called it a day."
After a quick search around his physique, Ladybug discovered and grabbed the metal baton that was holstered against his tailbone. She lightly shook it and the stick expanded. "Look, it's right here! Man, yours is so much cooler than mine."
"Hey, give that back!"
"Fine," she relented, letting him snatch it from her. Ladybug began spinning her yo-yo, a red shield formulating in front of her. "Ready to save the world?"
The boy winced. "Actually, the reason I came here was just to talk to you. To see if you knew how to, um... quit?"
Her yo-yo smacked her in the face. "What?!"
"I'll admit, these powers are cool. But I don't think I'm cut out for all this hero mumbo jumbo."
She stared at him in exasperation. "B-But you were chosen!"
He shrugged. "I didn't ask to be chosen."
"Well, you must've at least chosen to comply."
"Nope. I was forced into this against my will."
Ladybug huffed. They didn't have time for this. Somewhere out there, an akumatized victim was having the worst day of their life. It was her job to fix it. But instead of getting on with actual hero duties, here she was, dealing with a reluctant partner who clearly just wanted to go back home.
"Okay, look," Ladybug said, gearing herself up to give a pep talk. "I get that this is crazy. I'm just as weirded out as you are. But I think we were supposed to be chosen. If the heroes of Paris were meant to be someone else, then they would be someone else. But they're not. They're us two."
The boy rolled his eyes. "Maybe that was just sheer dumb bad luck."
She shook her head. "I don't think so. We're dealing with magic here. And Tikki... well, I got the sense she knew what she was doing. She knew who'd be the perfect hero for the job. And I guess that's me." Ladybug glanced down at her red and black hands. "And I don't know why that's me. I'm scared and I'm confused, but despite everything, I trust her. She gave me my miraculous for a reason, I know it." She smiled reassuringly at the Cat. "That means you would've been given yours for a reason, too."
He paused, as if contemplating her words. Ladybug's nerves twitched with excitement, thinking she might've gotten through to him.
"What's a miraculous?" he finally asked.
Her shoulders slumped. "The... the jewelry that gives you your power?"
"The what-now?"
"Well, I have earrings. And..." Her eyes scrutinized his costume for possible candidates. Surely, the bell couldn't be his miraculous... She caught sight of something faintly glowing on his hand and took hold of his wrist. "This must be it! Your ring!"
"WHAT?" The boy stared at it in disgust. "That sneaky little shithead must've put it on me when I was sleeping!"
"Your kwami?"
"Yeah. You got one too?"
She nodded. "And so does Hawk Moth."
"Hawk who?"
At this point, Ladybug was trying very hard to keep a lid on her rising anger. "Did your kwami not explain anything to you?"
"Uh, not exactly." The boy reached to awkwardly rub at the back of his head. "He had a lot to say about cheese though..."
She pinched the bridge of her nose and began to pace. "Okay so, Hawk Moth has the power to akumatize people."
"What on earth is that?" the Cat asked.
She ignored him. "We just need to purify the akumas that he sends out."
"Nothing you say makes any sense to me!"
"And voilà!" Ladybug dramatically spread her arms out. "The city is saved."
"Okay, lady. You enjoy saving the city." The boy turned and began trudging down the aisle in the middle of the pews. "I'm off to figure out a way to get this cat suit off me."
Ladybug sucked in a breath and made to shout after him, but she stopped her in her tracks.
Something wasn't right.
Dark and dingey as it was, she could just about see that the entire church had started shaking. Gloomy chandeliers faintly quivered from where they dangled. Dust particles spattered down from the roof above. Wooden boards creaked and groaned in protest. A sense of dread began creeping up her spine, as her ears became attuned to the low growling happening somewhere nearby. Primal, wanton and threatening.
They weren't alone in this building.
"Wait!" she hissed, too fearful to talk any louder.
The Cat waved his hand dismissively. "Sorry, I'm not interested in—"
"No, just... listen! Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" The boy spun back around to glare daggers at her.
Then the anger and the color both immediately drained from his face as his eyes honed in on something just behind her shoulder. Without shifting his gaze, he very slowly reached behind his back and pulled out his baton. He crouched into a fighting stance, as if bracing himself for whatever was about to happen.
"Don't. Move."
Ladybug had never been able to feel her heartbeat so loudly before. Blood pulsed violently through her head and limbs, her ribcage threatening to burst open. She wanted to say something but her mouth was suddenly like sandpaper.
She didn't know what was scarier: the faint puffs of wind blowing against the back of her hair, or the shadow on the floor in front of her beginning to grow in size. One minute, it was a small girl with pigtails. The next, it was a large monstrosity with a bulbous head and knifelike horns.
"B-Bell Man..." she squeaked, eyes transfixed on the silhouette as its wings stretched out to reveal sharp spikes. "What do I do?"
"On my mark, run to the left. And then keep running," the boy said sternly, tightening his grip on his weapon. "I'll distract it."
The growling grew louder and the whole floor thudded as something took a heavy step forward. Trembling harder than the church itself, Ladybug very slowly turned to look over her shoulder. And if she wasn't already frozen in shock, she would have definitely screamed to the high heavens.
What greeted her was a monster made entirely of stone. Its sharp lifeless eyes stared right back at her as it snarled with bared fangs. Four sets of claws dug into the masonry beneath it as it hunched its back, preparing to strike.
"NOW!"
Ladybug threw herself to the side, just as the Cat charged at the monster with a war-cry, swinging his baton back to strike. She collided with the floor and slammed straight into the first row of pews (the bench cracked, not her), right at the same time she heard a loud clash of metal hitting stone. Followed immediately by the loud clash of stone hitting flesh.
The boy grunted as he was thrown across the room, bouncing off one of the brick walls. The creature, who she now realized very much resembled a gargoyle, snapped its attention back to Ladybug with a growl. Realizing what was about to happen, she rolled out of the way as the gargoyle pounced, leaving the wooden pew she'd been leaning against one millisecond earlier to get smashed to pieces.
Okay, think, Marinette. Think!
Jumping to her feet, she pulled out her yo-yo and lassoed it at the monster, catching it around the neck. She yanked on the string, pulling it taut as she tried to gain the upper hand. With unnerving ease, the gargoyle twitched its head, plucking her clean off the ground and flinging her right over its head in an impressive arch.
She shrieked as she smashed into a stone pillar, cracking it right up the side. She hit the floor with a second crack, heavy debris falling on top of her. The monster, clearly livid by what she'd tried to do, charged at her once again. Panicking, Ladybug struggled to climb out of the litter of rocks in time.
"Oh no you don't, stoney!" The boy, finally back on his feet, cut between them and whacked the beast hard across the nose. "Come on, chase the cat instead!"
The gargoyle took the bait, immediately attempting to crush the boy in its jaws. The boy took off on a sprint around the interior of the church, the gargoyle right on his heels as it wrecked everything in its way.
"We need to pin it down!" Ladybug yelled, in attempt to be heard over the sound of stone crashing into stone. "But I just don't know how!"
"You still think we're cut out to be superheroes?!" the boy shouted, flipping backwards off a pillar just before the monster rammed into it headfirst. He landed on its back and locked himself into position, hands gripping the wedges at the base of its wings. "Gotcha!" The gargoyle desperately tried to buck him off, but he refused to budge.
Ladybug glanced around the building as its foundation rumbled violently. Cracks were splintering into existence one by one along the ceiling and walls that were rapidly losing their composure. She gulped. "I think this whole place is about to fall down on us if we don't get out soon!"
It seemed the gargoyle had come to the same conclusion because it suddenly gave up on snapping the Cat in half. It slowed to a stop and began to spread its wings, fanning itself out to thrice its size. Ladybug watched in utter horror as the stone-being defied all the laws of physics and lifted itself off the floor, powerful wings carving through the air.
The boy was still clinging to its back for dear life. "The car-goyle is taking off, Bug! You might wanna grab hold!"
"On it!" Ladybug once again lassoed her yo-yo around the monster's neck. Only this time, when it inevitably pulled her into the air, she was prepared.
The gargoyle flung itself through a window, smashing yet another priceless painting to pieces (she desperately hoped her healing spell would allow her to fix all those), and fled into the night with both superheroes intact.
"What now?!" Ladybug shrieked, wondering if ninety percent of her new job was just going to be getting dragged around on a string.
"I don't know, but incoming!"
By the time she realized the gargoyle had smashed through an atrium full of church bells, it was too late. Despite her best efforts, she managed to plow into almost every single one on her way past, her pained "oof!"s drowned out by the desultory chiming.
"Who's ding donging now?!" the boy said over his shoulder with a grin, cat-ears flapping in the wind.
"If we survive this, I'm gonna strangle you!" she promised, the yo-yo once again yanking her off into the air.
Ladybug reluctantly flew behind the gargoyle all across the city, accidentally kicking several chimney pots off roofs, ruining someone's romantic late-night dinner, and surfing across the river Seine after her furious chariot had decided to take a dive underneath.
"Okay, maybe we need an actual plan!" the Cat said, gasping for breath now that the monster had re-emerged from the water.
"I thought this was the plan!" she shot back, the wind whistling through her ears. "It will have to get tired eventually, right?!" But even as she said it, she didn't fully believe herself. This was an akumatized victim. Who knew what kind of magic possessed it? Maybe the kind that gave it unlimited energy and—
"Bug... we're heading towards someone's house," the boy said, snapping her out of her thoughts. Ladybug tried to incline her head against the G-force to see what he was seeing, but the rise in his panic suggested it was already too late. "No, seriously! We're about to crash straight into—!"
A sound like thunder ricocheted through her head as glass and brick alike exploded upon impact. And then again as the monster spewed out of the other end of the house. Ladybug slammed broadside into an intact wall, and heard something snap (she prayed it wasn't her bones). With the magic suit protecting her, the brickwork simply couldn't handle the brunt of her weight and immediately shattered.
As she spilled out onto the cold gravel of the street, something heavy slammed directly on top of her, both of them grunting in protest. They rolled over and over each other, skidding across tiny stones, until friction finally slowed them to a stop. Her yo-yo string coiled as it rapidly fell to the floor bit by bit beside her, the grand finale being her weapon itself as it hit the ground with a thunk, trilling softly.
"Wh-What?" Ladybug quickly sat up and winced, rubbing her bruised hip where she'd hit the wall. In the sky, she caught sight of the gargoyle's silhouette flying off into the distance with a low rumble before it disappeared among the dark fog.
Then she stared at the detached house in front of her: a giant hole had been blown through both walls, leaving moonlight to stream in from the other side. No one appeared to be home (thank goodness). The wreckage smoked gently but otherwise remained silent.
The utter terror that she'd managed to muck up her very first mission began to sink in, freezing her heart and restricting her lungs.
Oh, look at that. You're a failure again.
The Cat slowly sat up beside her, rubbing his head with a groan. "Will that thing be back?" he asked.
She swallowed her terror back down. "I hope so."
"What do you mean, you hope so?"
"Well, we need to defeat it, don't we?"
"Do we?" He angrily ruffled pieces of gravel out of his hair. "Do we really? Because personally, I'd rather just move cities—"
Someone dramatically cleared his throat from behind them. Startled, they both spun their heads to look at the intruder, and Ladybug was struck by the sudden feeling of déjà vu.
Despite the incredibly calm presence this person was emanating, he was undoubtedly the same crazy man from earlier that day. Now he stood before her in a trench coat and fedora hat, watching the two superheroes with mild amusement.
The man clasped his hands in front of him. "Good evening, wielders of the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous," he addressed them, as if he was starting off a campaign, and hadn't just witnessed two masked kids tumble through a wall. "Sorry to interrupt your mission, but I think it's about time I introduced myself. My name is Wang Fu."
The boy stumbled to his feet and pointed at the man in accusation. "Hey, you're the umbrella guy!"
"What?" Ladybug pulled herself to a stand as well. "No, he's the man I saved from getting hit by a bus."
The boy looked at her in bewilderment. "Wait, that actually happened?"
"No, it didn't, because I—"
Fu cleared his throat again.
They both fell silent, waiting for him to make the next move.
His eyes flickered between the two kids. "You must both be wondering why you're here tonight."
"No shit," the boy spat, at the same time Ladybug said, "I already know why."
The Cat glowered at Fu. "Is it your fault I'm in this situation?"
"Indeed, young man," Fu said, unfazed by his anger. "You passed the test I set you."
"The test I didn't want!"
"The test you wouldn't have passed if you knew what it was."
The boy deflated with a sigh. "Look, I really am flattered that you chose me. But that doesn't make me special. I'm sure anyone would have been more than happy to find that umbrella for you—"
"No." Fu shook his head. "I asked thirty-six different people before I got to you."
"Oh god," Ladybug gasped, mortified. "How many times did you actually get hit by a bus?!"
He chuckled. "That was different. I knew straight away that you would make a wonderful Ladybug. Your aura shone brighter than everyone else's around you. So full of creativity and passion and righteousness and selflessness. Everything a Ladybug should have."
Ladybug's face grew maddeningly hot, and she wondered if anyone else noticed her vibrant blush. "That's, um... That's not how I ever would've thought to describe myself."
"Which is why outside opinions are important," Fu said, eyeing her with an admiration she didn't feel she deserved. "Especially when it comes to seeing the good qualities in ourselves. Sometimes, we lose sight of them in lieu of all the negative thoughts and doubts."
The Cat shifted from foot to foot. "I can't believe I'm asking this, but... what about me? Do I have a super sunny aura as well?"
Fu's smile flickered. "I'm afraid not." The boy's cat ears faltered briefly. "Your aura is all twisted and blocked up. By what, I don't exactly know. My best guess is, something must've happened in your life that affected you greatly."
Concerned, Ladybug turned back to look at the boy. He didn't meet her gaze. Instead, he eyed the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"Yeah..." He half-heartedly scuffed his shoe along the gravel. "Something like that."
"I should tell you though, auras can change overtime," Fu was quick to reassure. "They can become corrupted, or cured, or they can even break through the blockade that restrains them. I wholeheartedly believe that one day, your aura will be brighter and more noticeable than it's ever been before."
Ladybug wasn't entirely convinced that auras existed, but after all the chaos that had happened to her today, she might've been able to wrap her head around the possibility. She had to admit though, Fu wasn't doing a very good job of selling that last point.
Apparently, the boy agreed with her. "Fantastic," he said dryly. "I look forward to that day then."
"Like I said, I cannot see your aura. But that's okay," Fu continued. "I don't need to see it to know who you really are. The Black Cat miraculous requires someone brave, determined, kind and rational. It requires someone like you."
The boy's facial expression scrunched up as he prepared to retaliate. Then he appeared to change his mind and exhaled shakily. Ladybug watched him contemplate. She could practically hear the gears turning in his mind.
And suddenly, she understood.
There was something about the way his eyes burned, like green fires with a purpose. The way he held himself, akin to something trying desperately to achieve confidence. Even if he had no aura, it was easy to see what kind of person he was.
The boy visibly swallowed. "But I'm not..."
"I promise you, you are worthy," Fu said gently. "No one else is a better fit for the job than you, Black Cat—"
"It's Chat Noir."
The old man blinked. "Pardon?"
"My name." The boy shrugged one shoulder, a hint of a smirk creeping up his face. "It's Chat Noir. I, um... I just feel like 'Black Cat' is a bit derpy. Sounds way less cool. And if I'm gonna have a cool job, I at least need a cool name to go with it."
Fu smiled. "Very well, Chat Noir."
For the first time since Fu had appeared, the boy— no... Chat Noir turned to meet Ladybug's eyes. He smiled shyly, and she felt some of her anxiety melt away.
She wasn't alone anymore.
"I know everything is a little time-sensitive right now, so here's what's most important," Fu said. "While you each have your own identities and strengths, you must view your partnership as two halves of the same whole. The two of you balance each other. One cannot exist without the other. One cannot win without the other. Alone, you are still quite powerful, yes. But together?" He pressed his fists together for emphasis. "You are so much stronger."
Ladybug nodded. "I understand."
Chat Noir rested his hand on Ladybug's shoulder. "Are you ready to do this, milady?" he asked.
She wondered if he could feel the frantic pulse of her heartbeat through the suits that divided them. Because she could certainly feel his radiating warmth. His eyes held a fondness, mixed with mirth and diligence, that felt like it had been crafted specifically for her. It made her feel invincible.
This boy might just be the death of me.
She grinned and playfully matched his banter. "Ready as I'll ever be, kitty."
Chat Noir threw Fu a curt salute, grabbed Ladybug's hand, and then they both took off into the night.
゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜
The gargoyle wasn't difficult to find.
Because of course it wasn't. The very reason it had been created was to wreak chaos and destruction, to lure the superheroes into its trap and overpower them. It didn't want to lose track of them anymore than they wanted to lose track of it.
The roars that reverberated through its throat echoed across the entirety of Paris. The houses and buildings its wings purposely bumped against cracked and split, spilling rubble down to the ground below. Ladybug and Chat Noir parkoured along marble surfaces and tile panels, parallel to the monster as they followed it through the city.
Chat Noir was starting to notice that there was never any need to catch his breath. At first, he assumed it might be adrenaline. Having your life threatened by a terrifying and dangerous monster tended to do that. But there was no way his civilian form could keep up with these levels of exercise, adrenaline or not.
His footfalls were light and precise, shoes barely touching the gambrels, his limbs working quicker and faster than he ever thought possible. Not even wind resistance could slow him down; he cut through it like a knife. Whenever he encountered a blockade, a jump with enough power behind it easily threw him to the other side.
Gaps between houses too wide to jump were quickly overcome by using his baton to essentially pole-vault across the distance. Ladybug was making similar use with her yo-yo by his side. No matter how many times he cut across precarious detours or soared over long drops to the ground below, he never once felt an ounce of fear. There was no longer any reason to be scared of it.
He knew he was never going to fall.
"I think you should know something!" Ladybug said, keeping perfect pace beside him. "I actually have no idea what I'm doing."
"That's okay, watermelon." Chat Noir leapt across a row of garden windows. "Neither do I."
"No, seriously, I'm running blind here—"
"Alright, listen. Right now, we're in a situation where all we can do is throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks."
"Not helpful!"
"So, find something to throw!" he said. "Anything!"
From his peripheral vision, he saw Ladybug glance around at her surroundings, eyes scrutinizing the options available to her. Then she gasped sharply.
"The train."
"What?"
Ladybug pointed at the train line, a massive rusted metal bridge that stretched over a busy road and disappeared under a tunnel. "We need to lure it onto that train track!"
Chat Noir heard the distant thrum of a train approaching. "How?!"
"Shit, okay, um... Grab this!" She tossed her yo-yo at him, the other side of the string still secured to her wrist.
He reflexively caught it. "Okay, now what?"
"Now? Run down the tracks, away from the train. Don't let the gargoyle pull you into the air."
"Wait, why would it—?"
Without warning, Ladybug changed directions and cut across the city, heading straight towards the gargoyle in question. The yo-yo in Chat Noir's hand began to rapidly unspool.
"Okay, okay... train tracks," he muttered, sticking to his assigned task and trying not to think too deeply about why his partner was attempting to confront this monster head on (and what his attachment to her string had to do with it).
He changed courses, too, and dashed toward his new destination. Deciding he wanted a bit more arm freedom, Chat Noir haphazardly tied the string around his shoulders and waist, pulling the yo-yo taut and hoping it wouldn't unravel.
He glanced up to check on Ladybug, only to see that she had mounted the gargoyle in the same fashion that he had earlier. And no matter how many concrete surfaces the beast tried to throw her against, she stubbornly held her grip.
"Crazy lady," he chuckled with a grin.
Chat Noir leaped off the last house and then rushed across the road (earning a few angry honks from cars). He skidded to a stop at the base of the tall bridge, staring up at fancy architecture that weaved across the support beams.
I suppose I could climb it...
A quick glance at his weapon convinced him that there was a more efficient way. He slammed his baton into the ground, simultaneously extending it, and launched himself into the air with perfect aim. He roly-poly'd onto the train tracks and then immediately took off running again. His sensitive cat-ears could hear the train's persistent whistles and honks a lot louder up here. It couldn't be too far away now.
What are you planning, Ladybug?
He heard the gargoyle snarl in protest and the yo-yo string tightened around him. The super-suit protected him of course, but the pressure was still there. Eyes narrowing, Chat Noir sped up, not allowing the extra resistance to deter him from his mission. He'd outrun the whole damn train if he had to.
A quick check over his shoulder confirmed that the gargoyle and Ladybug were very much on his tail, soaring just above the train tracks. The gargoyle was strong, yes, but Chat Noir was stronger. He would he stronger. That monster was going to bend to his will now.
In an effort to free itself, the gargoyle threw up his wings and pulled against its restraints with a sudden burst of energy. Chat Noir yelped as he was briefly hauled into the air by his makeshift harness. Thinking fast, he grabbed his baton and rammed it into the railings on the side of the tracks. A sharp tug was enough for his shoes to meet the ground again, and he carried on running.
A bright light began descending upon him, accompanied by the sound of repetitive clunks. The train's horn blew straight through his ears as it rapidly approached. They were almost out of time.
"When I say so, pull the yo-yo super hard!" he heard Ladybug shout over the roaring noise.
In preparation, Chat Noir threw the string off his body and collected the excess handfuls in his arms. By this point, he'd more-or-less figured out Ladybug's plan and he ran even faster, adamant to get as much distance between himself and that passenger train as possible.
"PULL!"
Using every ounce of stamina he possessed, Chat Noir tightly gripped the string and yanked. Ladybug, ready for the momentum, had let go of the stone beast a second earlier. She hurtled forward at rocket speed and then clumsily crashed straight into Chat Noir, the two of them landing in a heap on the railroad.
The gargoyle might have been free now, but Ladybug had barely given it a moment to react. It tried to take to the skies but before it could, twenty thousand tons of steel mercilessly smashed right into it with a meteoric boom. Upon impact, the monster immediately burst into an explosion of purple smoke, skewering its connection with the magic of the akuma.
But the gargoyle hadn't slowed the train down whatsoever, and it thudded towards the two superheroes who were still in its way. Chat Noir leapt to his feet, grabbed Ladybug's hand, and attempted to pull them both to safety.
An unexpected force prevented his pursuit and he staggered backwards. He glanced over, only to find Ladybug still sitting on the train tracks, pulling persistently at the yo-yo string connected to her wrist. During their crash landing, she'd somehow managed to get the cord tangled up in the metal panels, essentially pinning her to the spot.
"Dammit," Ladybug grunted, teeth gritted as she angrily writhed and wrestled against the constraint. "Not now! Please not now."
Shit.
Chat Noir dropped to his knees beside her and began helping her yank at the stubborn cord. But even between them and their enhanced super strength, they were getting nowhere. The yo-yo relentlessly held its ground.
The tracks rumbled aggressively as the train sped toward them, uncaring of their current predicament. It was ploughing on whether they wanted it to or not.
"Just rip the string," Chat Noir said, pulling harder as panic seized him. He couldn't leave Ladybug here, he couldn't—
"I can't—"
"Just rip it!"
Ladybug's grip on the cord slackened in defeat. "It won't work. Get out of here! I think the suit will protect me."
He felt tears sting his vision. "You don't know that."
She shoved him roughly in the chest, eyes terrified but pleading. "Chat, go!"
The train honked, its looming size enveloping their shadows with its colossal one. Chat Noir watched it approach in a blinding blaze of light, and he realized that there was no way he was getting Ladybug out of here in time.
Freeze or jump. Those were his two options now. He had a split second to decide.
No.
He wouldn't do either.
With a lightning reflex that worked faster than his brain, Chat Noir leapt to his feet in front of his partner, bracing his arm and his lungs at the same time, as he prepared to do something he had absolutely no idea would work.
"CATACLYSM!" he roared, slamming his open palm against the oncoming locomotive.
He expected his attempt to be futile, that he'd immediately be splattered against the metal and ripped to pieces under the jagged wheels. But no such thing happened. With his hand as the center-point, the destructive black powder spread across the front of the train, casting a sparkling glow in its wake. The dust ripped through the rest of the vehicle, one carriage at a time, disintegrating them all into smoke.
It was over in the blink of an eye. The only thing that truly hit him was the burst of wind that had ridden along with the train. Everything was gone except the glittering dust particles that clouded around in the vague shape the train used to be. Until those faded to nothing as well.
At first, he was relieved. He'd saved Ladybug's life. They were both alive and their mission had been a success. There was just one problem.
In the heat of the moment, he'd forgotten. But now he was realizing with growing trepidation that the train hadn't been empty. There were people on board. People who, until ten seconds ago, had just been going about their day. People with lives, jobs, loved ones, hopes and dreams.
Chat Noir numbly looked down at his hand. With one word, he'd erased them from existence. Reduced them to ashes. Sentenced them to be nothing but phantoms and memories.
Trepidation turned into downright horror as all the blood froze in his veins.
For a second, there was silence.
Then a cacophony of noises erupted.
Tyers screeched along tarmac as the cars below stopped to marvel at the chaos that had unfolded. Distant police sirens resounded, blue lights flashing crudely through the street. A clamor of stentorian voices rose up, tones ranging from scared to confused to angry.
And someone was screaming. A horrific, guttural sound that infected the entire night with sorrow.
He wondered if it was the ghosts of the people he'd just killed. He wondered if they'd come back to haunt him, to follow his every waking move, to never let him forget the way he'd ended their lives.
Someone grabbed his wrist and pulled on him, incessantly shouting his name. He couldn't understand why. It's not like they'd be able to hear each other over the wailing.
The sound pounded through his head, threatening to burst open his eardrums, determined to push him to a breaking point. Collapsing to his knees, Chat Noir had to pause to draw in a deep breath.
It was only then that he realized the person screaming was him.
