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“I’m disappointed in you.”
Despite all the noise surrounding them, Alya’s voice cut through it easily. She wasn’t being loud, but Marinette was standing right beside her, and Nino – the subject of Alya’s disappointment at the moment – had just walked up to them.
“It’s a costume,” Nino defended.
“It’s a hoodie and a cheap plastic lightsaber,” Alya said, crossing her arms. “It would honestly be less embarrassing had you shown up without any ‘costume’ at all. They’re not required, you know.”
“But you two and Adrien were all planning on coming with costumes, I’d stick out.”
“You already stick out!” Alya said, exasperated. Marinette tried to think of something to disperse the argument. Not that it was a particularly serious argument; Alya wasn’t actually mad or anything, but it was kind of pointless. It wasn’t that big a deal, in her opinion. Then again, neither Marinette nor Nino were invested in comic conventions like their best friends were, and had only come to accompany them.
Nino shrugged.
“You could’ve asked Marinette to make you something, if you’d wanted a proper costume,” Alya continued to grumble.
“I think Marinette was busy enough just making the costumes for the two of you,” Nino said, and Marinette flashed him a smile. It was true – not that she wouldn’t have made him a costume had he asked, of course she would’ve, but it would’ve meant several more all-nighters than she’d already pulled. “Which turned out great, by the way. If you had wigs, people might even mistake you for the real Ladybug and Chat Noir!”
Marinette beamed at the praise. Of course, she had tried to be as accurate to the costumes as possible (a tricky prospect, since the real ones were made out of magic) – she wouldn’t have been satisfied otherwise. Which was, of course, why she insisted that Alya be the one out of the two of them to wear the Ladybug costume. Marinette certainly did not want to be “mistaken” for the real Ladybug.
She also, secretly, got a kick out of imagining how delighted Chat Noir would be to know that his partner had dressed up as him. Not that he could ever know, of course, at least not until Papillon was defeated. But maybe she could save some pictures of the event, and show them to him down the line. Or maybe…Chat Noir seemed like the type of nerd to like these sort of things, maybe he was here somewhere as a civilian, secretly enjoying the flattery of seeing all the people dressed as him. She was certainly flattered by all the Ladybugs she’d seen about already. Maybe he’d even see her, and though he wouldn’t know she was Ladybug, maybe he’d remember her as the civilian “fan” who’d helped him out before, and appreciate her costume.
“Fine,” Alya conceded. “I will just have to resign myself to a boyfriend who wears the laziest Jedi costume ever.”
“The Lazy Jedi? I like that,” said an amused voice off to the side. The three of them turned, and Marinette’s brain short-circuited.
Which, to be fair, was her typical reaction to seeing Adrien. But she could forgive herself for it this time, because the love of her life was currently dressed in a Ladybug costume. Dressed as her. The strangers were flattering. Alya’s desire to dress up as the heroes even more so. But seeing it from Adrien was another thing entirely. If Marinette died and went to heaven at this very moment, she doubted she would notice a difference.
“You made it!” Nino said cheerfully.
“Yeah, it took a lot of convincing, but Father let me come. I’m not sure he knew about the costume, though,” Adrien said, smiling. He glanced over to Alya, and his smile turned up a couple notches. “Hey! We match! Although, I think your costume is a bit better than mine.”
“Probably,” Alya agreed. “Since Marinette made ours. But, you know,” she said, and winked as she dropped her voice into a dangerous conspiratorial tone. Had Marinette been less distracted, she would’ve picked up on what Alya was doing sooner. “this Ladybug doesn’t mind flying solo today, if you want to borrow my Chat Noir.” With that, she pushed Marinette forward into Adrien’s view.
His whole face lit up as his gaze fell on her, and Marinette nearly fainted right there, knowing that he had that expression of delight because of seeing her. Or her costume, at least. But that was a product of her handiwork, and therefore an extension of her, right? Either way, she had just made Adrien really happy, and that was worth the world.
She gave a small wave, not trusting herself to attempt to use words at the moment.
“That…that’s amazing, Marinette!” he said, sounding almost giddy. “I…I bet Chat Noir would be really honored.”
Words. She should respond to that with words. Intelligible words.
“Yes, well, uh…” she said, fidgeting. Good, those were words. Mostly. “Alya’s good Ladybug, good as Ladybug, I mean, so I went as him to…go with?”
Adrien was beaming at her.
“You really put a lot of effort into these costumes,” he said, moving closer to examine and admire it. Marinette tried to calm her racing heart, to little avail. Fortunately, Nino came to her rescue.
“Yeah, Marinette’s costumes are great,” he said, after clearing his throat pointedly, “but we can admire them later. We should really get inside to see the booths and panels and stuff, right?”
“Oh. Yeah, we should,” Adrien said, stepping away.
“Yeah,” Alya agreed. “The lead artist for the Majestia comics is here and I just have to go see him! Let’s hurry before the line gets too long!”
She sped away, the other three barely keeping up with her. The line was, as predicted, long, but Alya was undeterred. So they settled into waiting with her as she bounced eagerly on her toes. Adrien took the opportunity to continue looking over Marinette’s costume.
She couldn’t keep her face from stretching into a wide, dopey grin. However, she was very proud of herself for successfully repressing her desire to squeal. Seriously, she ought to get an award for being as composed as she was in the face of Adrien in a Ladybug costume. He even asked her questions about how she’d made her costume, and she’d answered. Coherently!
He also asked some odd questions, like “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could get a picture in your costume side-by-side with him?”, almost as if he were fishing to see whether she wanted that or not. It wasn’t like it would affect him, so she couldn’t figure out why he would ask her…
Oh. Oh! Suddenly, it hit her. Adrien wanted to get a picture with Ladybug, and was trying to see if others could relate. Well…maybe that could be arranged, if she could somehow sneak away…
Alya would be pretty thrilled if that happened, too.
“I’m kind of envious of how much better Alya’s costume looks than mine,” Adrien said, interrupting her as she plotted how to best slip away to transform. “Maybe I should ask you to make mine next time, huh?”
Marinette stared at him, making a few various noises before she finally managed:
“You…want me to make you…a Ladybug costume?”
Her voice might have cracked a bit. Unfortunately, Adrien took it the wrong way, and immediately backtracked.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be presumptuous! I’m sure you have lots of things to work on already and of course you don’t have to make me anything and I mean, I’d pay you if you did, and…”
“No, no. Fits ine. I mean, it’s fine! Ladybug costume. I will make one. For you. Next time,” she choked out.
“Really? You would?” Adrien said, lighting up like a Christmas tree. He looked so ridiculously hopeful that Marinette couldn’t imagine anyone ever denying him anything when he looked like that. Not that she had planned to in the first place. She managed a nod, and was rewarded with his delighted expression.
“I think your Ladybug obsession is overwhelming poor Marinette,” Nino told Adrien.
“Please,” Alya said, “she puts up with me just fine, and I guarantee you I’m worse.”
“I’m not obsessed,” Adrien said defensively. “I just think Ladybug is really cool, and strong, and…inspiring! I really admire her. She’s just…amazing,” he finished with a sigh.
“…okay,” Alya admitted reluctantly. “Maybe I’m not worse.”
Marinette choked in a valiant effort to keep down the squeal that threatened to tear out of her throat. Adrien was all but gushing about her, and quite honestly seemed to be restraining himself if anything. She was definitely not regretting coming to this convention with Alya.
Of course, having encountered the highlight of her day (or year, maybe), things could only go downhill from there. They had just come away from the booth, and as Alya finished reverently putting the signed prints and comic books in her bag, the sounds of panic started. Marinette reacted instinctively, tensing in anticipation of battle and scanning for a place to transform.
She looked up to see an ethereal wall of light, a swirling, vivid orange, crashing over the crowd in a single, relentless wave. There was no way to outrun it, so Marinette could only brace herself, crossing her arms in front of her face as it bore down on her and her friends.
It didn’t feel like much, as it washed over her, but as it pulled away, it left the fabric on her skin feeling different. More like when she was transformed than real fabric. And with a sudden grip of fear, she realized that the light had taken her bag, as well. Her bag, which held Tikki.
That was not good. This was undoubtedly the work of an Akuma, and without Tikki, she couldn’t transform. But even as panic threatened to overtake her, she had to assess the situation. There had to be something that she could do…
She looked around the room, taking in the people in various states of panic and wonder. As she did, she started to piece together what effect the light had had.
“Is it just me,” Adrien asked, “or did everyone’s costumes get an upgrade?”
“It’s not just you,” Marinette said.
“The only way I can tell you got hit is that your eyes changed,” Alya said, looking Marinette over. “I suppose that’s a testament to your skills. Nino, on the other hand, just got a major improvement.”
All three of them turned to him, who, sure enough, now sported full length Jedi robes. He wasn’t looking at them, but rather, the lightsaber that he held extended out in front of him. Slowly, he pressed the button, and with its trademark sound, the beam slid out, most certainly not plastic any longer.
“Woah,” Nino breathed. Adrien, too, looked almost as excited as when Marinette had promised to make him a Ladybug costume.
“Can I try that out?” he asked eagerly. Nino shut it off and pulled it back.
“No way, this is mine and I’m keeping it. You’ve got your yo-yo,” Nino said.
“Ooh do you think we get the powers, too?” Alya asked, already swinging her yo-yo around in delight. “Nino, try levitating something!”
He reached out, and both he and Alya gave an excited whoop as he successfully made a pen fly off a nearby table into his hand.
“Uh, guys?” Marinette said. “You realize this is probably because of an Akuma, right?”
“Best. Akuma. Ever.”
Marinette groaned. She needed to keep focus, she needed to find Tikki, she needed to…wait. If Nino had Force powers, would Alya and Adrien have all of Ladybug’s powers? Would she have Chat Noir’s? Could she…do this without Tikki?
The beginnings of a plan whirled in her mind. If she operated on the assumption that Alya, Adrien, and anyone else here dressed as Ladybug could purify the akuma, then…
“Hang on,” she muttered, and frowned. “Why would Papillon release an Akuma that gives people the powers of who they’re dressed as? Now instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir to stop him, there are dozens of Ladybugs and dozens of Chat Noirs…”
“More targets to get a Miraculous from?” Adrien suggested nervously. Alya and Nino weren’t paying attention, too caught up with Nino’s newfound Force abilities. “Easier to take earrings from a five-year-old dressed up as Ladybug than the real one.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Marinette said, still frowning. “If he could get the Miraculouses just by akumatizing someone to have a copy of it, he would’ve done so already. Like when he made the Imposter, or Antibug.”
“That makes sense,” Adrien said, relieved. “I guess Papillon just messed up.”
Marinette, however, still wasn’t reassured. Sure, Papillon didn’t seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he couldn’t be that stupid. There had to be something more to this, he wouldn’t go around just giving powers to a large group of people if he couldn’t control them.
Her breath caught. Exactly. He wouldn’t give out powers unless he was going to gain control over them.
They needed to get out of the open as soon as possible.
Marinette scanned the room, looking for a place for the four of them to hide. Across the room, there were large dividers partially set up, but in order to reach them, they’d have to push their way through the huge, confused, and panicked/excited crowd.
Unless, of course, they went above it.
“Hey, Alya!” Marinette said, fake-casually. “You and Adrien should try out your yo-yos. Why don’t you swing us over there?” She pointed over towards a spot near the dividers.
“Great idea! Hey, Buttercup! Race you~” Alya said, and shot Marinette a smirk as she grabbed Nino. Marinette was confused for half a second, before realizing that she’d basically signed herself up to be carried across the room by Adrien.
“Come on, Marinette, we’re not going to let her win, right?” Adrien said, grinning.
“Uh…um…” Marinette managed, trying to suggest he go alone to go faster, she’d just pole-vault over there or something, but she never got the chance, because he pulled her closer and started preparing to launch the yo-yo.
It did not go as well as she had hoped.
Oh, they got over there, alright, but it was not the smooth sailing she was now accustomed to, and it had nothing to do with her freaking out over being held by Adrien. She wasn’t going to judge, considering how disastrously her first attempt to use her yo-yo had gone, but colliding with the other pair and tumbling into a pile on the floor was rather inconvenient.
“Ladybug makes that look so easy,” Alya grumbled, dusting herself as she pulled herself off of the top of the group.
“Let’s not do that again,” Nino said, trying to sit up.
“Sorry,” Marinette offered after she disentangled herself. Well, she was sorry about the collision, but not that they’d gotten over there. And not a moment too soon, either, as people started screaming again.
Yanking the others, still recovering, behind the dividers, Marinette crouched by the edge and peered around as much as she dared.
“What…?” Alya started to ask, but Marinette shushed her.
She identified the Akuma immediately. Floating above the crowd, he shot out repeated short beams of bright orange light, more focused and intense than the wave that had come through earlier. When a beam struck a costumed person, their eyes became obscured by a similar orange glow as all expression fell from their face as they fell into step behind the Akuma.
“Mind control. I knew it,” Marinette said, after the villain had passed by, moving onto the next room. “We don’t want to get hit by that flashy beam of his.” She stood up, and Adrien wasn’t far behind her.
“Hang on,” Nino said. “Are we going after that dude?”
“Well, why not?” Alya said, jumping up. “We’ve got two people with Ladybug’s powers, one person with Chat Noir’s powers, and one person with Jedi powers. Why can’t we go save the day this time? And if the real Ladybug and Chat Noir show up, we can help them!”
“Fair enough,” Nino said, and suddenly a grin came to his face. “Don’t think even an Akuma can do much against a lightsaber…”
“Okay, we are not using a lightsaber on people,” Marinette interjected. “Even if it can be fixed in the end. There’s always the chance that it can’t be.”
“Oh, yeah,” Nino said, looking disappointed.
“Let’s go, before we lose him,” Adrien said. He attempted to take off by yo-yo again, but only succeeded in faceplanting into the wall.
“Yeah, I’m not trying that again,” Alya commented dryly.
Adrien rejoined them, rubbing at his face.
“Want to trade?” he asked Marinette, gesturing his yo-yo at the staff on her back. She considered it, tempted. She had no doubt that she’d be much more effective with a yo-yo than a staff, but therein lay the problem. It would be very suspicious if she, clumsy and uncoordinated Marinette, could fly around with a yo-yo with ease while her friends struggled with it.
“I don’t think it’ll be any easier to get around with this,” she said, indicating the staff. She certainly wasn’t going to try it, having no doubt that she’d fare just as poorly as Adrien and Alya had with their yo-yos. And she had the benefit of watching Chat Noir use it, up close. “We’ll be fast enough on foot, if we hurry.”
So, they hurried, chasing after the villain into the next large room. More and more were falling under his control, and those that hadn’t were largely cowering in whatever corners they could find.
He can only control costumed people, Marinette noted, but that knowledge wasn’t much use at the moment.
As the villain prepared a shot at another attendee, Adrien sent his yo-yo forward, wrapping around the Akuma’s arm. Alya quickly followed up by wrapping hers around the other arm. The villain twisted, snarling at them, and sent them flying around the room as he yanked himself free. His former target took advantage of the situation to escape, but now Marinette and Nino were his targets, and he fired beams quickly at the pair of them.
The beams never reached their targets. Instead, they reversed course unexpectedly, crashing harmlessly against the walls and dissipating instantly.
“Oh, I am digging these Force powers,” Nino said triumphantly.
“Do you silly children really think you can fight me?” the villain said.
“Uh, well, you kinda did give us superpowers, dude,” Nino pointed out. “So, yeah.”
“I don’t have time for you,” he said. “But if you want to play wannabe heroes, I’ll be leaving you a few of my friends to deal with you.” At that, a portion of the blank-faced minions broke off from the others, and Marinette tensed. “I have an arrangement with the real heroes. After all, Papillon must be given his due.”
Good luck with that, Marinette thought. Ladybug, at least, would not be showing up.
But right now, she (and her friends) had to deal with the immediate threat. As the various cosplayers bore down on them with all sorts of swords and magic and other weapons, she pulled the staff from her back, pressed the button to extend it slightly, and began spinning it defensively, because she at least knew how to do that much with it. Nino made ample use of his Force abilities to push the oncomers back, but he couldn’t hold them forever. Alya and Adrien, now recovered, also jumped into the action, fighting past the various enemies to get back to Marinette and Nino.
“Remember, don’t hurt anyone if you can avoid it!” Marinette said. They were being pushed into a corner. She poked at the staff. “I know this thing can split in two, but how?” she muttered.
“Here,” Adrien said, leaning over, and pressing one of the pads on the pawprint. The staff obligingly split in two, just as Marinette had wanted.
“How did you know to do that?” she said, but not really paying much attention as her mind was already racing on to contemplate the best places to throw the halves at.
“Oh! Uh, lucky guess?” he said, rather unconvincingly.
“Liar,” Alya said, deflecting several projectiles as she spun her own yo-yo. “I know you’re the top visitor to the Ladyblog, I bet you’ve watched all my videos hundreds of times. Maybe even frame by frame.”
“You got me,” he said, giving a guilty chuckle.
Marinette threw the pieces of the staff, spinning as they went. One, she sent along the floor, tripping their attackers. The other, she sent upwards, slicing through a large banner, which fell onto the orange-eyed crowd below.
But she knew that this was a distraction from the real problem. The Akuma had escaped, and was likely causing havoc elsewhere, with no Ladybug to stop him. They had to get past his little army here and deal with him and his larger army elsewhere.
“Look out for Elsa!” Alya told Nino. Marinette turned as she caught the pieces of the staff that had flown back to her, and sure enough, there was a tiny little girl dressed as Elsa, just as blank-faced as everyone else as she sent waves of ice at them.
They soon found themselves completely trapped.
“Wonderful,” Alya said. “Just what I always wanted, getting trapped in an ice dome for the second time in my life.”
Marinette had a feeling that Alya was mostly just grumpy she couldn’t fight any more. Well, not unless they got past the thick wall of ice. Which they needed to, because Marinette needed to go stop a supervillain. She started scanning around for a solution.
“Can’t Marinette use Cataclysm?” Nino asked. “That could get us out of here, right?”
“Probably,” Marinette said, “but…”
She didn’t want to use the power so early, and so far from the Akuma. She didn’t know what would happen if this transformation ran out – she doubted the Akuma’s effect replicated kwamis, so she would have no way to retransform, and quite possibly wouldn’t get access to Tikki back either.
“What about your lightsaber, Nino?” Adrien asked. “That can cut through anything.”
Nino tried it, sticking the blade through the ice.
“The ice is too thick,” he said. “The blade doesn’t even go halfway, and we’d need to take out the ice in the middle, anyway.” He retracted the lightsaber.
“Ladybug’s yo-yo cord can cut through stuff, too,” Alya offered. “But spinning it next to the ice won’t do anything, there’s nowhere for it to make a cut.”
“I have an idea!” Marinette said, as she processed her friends’ discussion. Without stopping to explain, she darted forward, snatching Nino’s lightsaber and Adrien’s yo-yo. Both stared at her, bemused, but she didn’t pay that any mind. She unhooked her belt tail, holding it with her teeth as she began wrapping the yo-yo around the lightsaber handle. With the tail, she secured it at a right angle, and tested it the spin.
“Okay, Nino, I’m going to need you to Force-push me at the ice when I say ‘go’.” She ejected the lightsaber and again gave the yo-yo a twirl.
Alya and Nino took as much of a step back as they could, and looked at her apprehensively.
“Oh no…” Nino said.
“That’s a great plan, Marinette!” Adrien said. “The lightsaber will make the initial cut, and the yo-yo will do the rest.”
“Uh, no, that sounds like a suicide plan,” Alya said. Marinette frowned.
“Oh, sure, when Ladybug comes up with unusual solutions, it’s “clever” and “inspiring”. But when I do it, it’s “oh no” and “you’re going to get us all killed, Marinette”,” she grumbled. “At least Adrien believes in me.”
“Well, to be fair…” Nino started.
“…Ladybug’s plans don’t involve swinging around a lightsaber,” Alya finished, both maintaining as much distance from the lightsaber/yo-yo contraption as possible.
Well, today they do, Marinette thought as she turned to face the icy wall. Weird that they were less comfortable with her wielding a lightsaber than the very essence of destruction, but maybe they didn’t think about Cataclysm like that.
She spun the yo-yo as fast as she could manage it.
“Go, Nino!” she said. Nothing happened, and she tried not to growl in frustration. “Nino, trust me! I can get us out of here.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him wrestling with himself over it. Alya was shaking her head, but Adrien was trying to give an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up.
“Look, if I die, it’ll be my own fault, not yours,” Marinette said, as gently as she could manage while she was focusing on spinning the contraption. It was probably not the most reassuring thing, but perhaps her confidence in her plan had an effect, because Nino finally settled on a determined position.
“Okay,” he said, and pushed her towards the ice.
She cut through it like butter, and called for Nino to stop as soon as she broke through on the other side. She retracted the lightsaber, and turned around, beaming back at her friends through the tunnel she had just made. Adrien returned the smile, but Alya and Nino just looked dumbfounded, as all three followed Marinette out.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Nino said, shaking his head.
“That was amazing, Marinette! I want to do that next time!” Adrien said. She blushed under the praise, and fumbled with the contraption to return his yo-yo to him. He tried to take the lightsaber, too, but Nino snatched it back.
“You two are both insane,” Alya said. “Genius, fine line, and all that, but you’re insane.”
“Says the girl who chases after supervillains on a regular basis with nothing more than a cell phone,” Marinette retorted, sticking her tongue out.
“Speaking of which, looks like the cosplayers left us alone after they trapped us, so they’ve likely rejoined our daily villain.”
“Let’s go, then!”
The four of them ran through the convention center, following the trail of terrified attendees left in the villain’s wake. They caught up to him and his army of costumed minions in another room, where he was terrorizing the employees.
Alya and Adrien immediately started shouting at him to get his attention.
“You again?” the villain snarled, and turned to his minions. “Get them!”
Nino immediately jumped in front of Alya, and soon the four of them were caught up in battle again. Marinette found herself in a swordfight, but, not being particularly suited to swordfighting, opted to simply trip her opponent instead before bringing the staff down hard on his head. An unpleasant crack could be heard as her hit landed.
She really hoped Adrien and Alya’s powers would work properly to fix everything.
A yo-yo zipped past her vision, curling around the fallen minion’s sword, and zipped back, pulling the sword along with it into Adrien’s waiting hands. He shot her a smug grin, looking rather pleased with himself. Marinette giggled, because he looked adorable like that, but the moment was cut short as she realized he wasn’t paying attention to the figure coming up behind him. Acting quickly, she pressed the button on the staff to extend it, slamming it into the minion’s shoulder.
Adrien whirled around as the minion grunted in pain, bringing up the sword to fend her off. Marinette let out a relieved sigh as she retracted the staff, and ducked low to avoid a blow aimed at her. She dodged and jumped and spun as she avoided and parried attacks, all the while scanning for a way to get at their real target. Luckily, he hadn’t run away this time, as he was rather focused on the poor employees.
Alya and Nino were back to back; Alya spinning her yo-yo in a neat circle like a shield as Nino continuously Forced the approaching horde back. Marinette allowed herself a brief moment of appreciation for their seamless teamwork.
“There are too many of them!” Adrien called. Marinette agreed. Frowning, she came to a decision.
“Alya! Adrien! Use your powers!”
“What?” Alya yelled.
“We’re not getting anywhere like this,” Marinette shouted back. “Use ‘Lucky Charm’!”
Then, maybe she’d have something to work with.
“Uh…okay,” Alya said. “Nino, cover me! Lucky Charm!”
Adrien followed suit, as Marinette fended off more minions.
“I got…a basketball?” Alya said, examining said spotted basketball with confusion.
“A frisbee here,” Adrien said, holding it up awkwardly with one hand as he tried to wield his stolen sword with the other. Marinette snatched the frisbee out of his hand, already formulating a plan. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it flying.
“Keep it moving, Nino!” she called, as she grabbed the basketball from Alya, mentally calculating her aim. “We’re going to corral them into the middle of the room.” And with that, she sent the basketball off.
With Nino’s help, the ball and frisbee flew around the room, pushing the orange-eyed minions into a tighter and tighter group, and allowing the four of them to fall back. When Marinette saw her chance, she darted forward. Magic danced at her fingertips as she called for her partner’s destructive power, and, without hesitation, she plunged it towards the ground.
She jumped back as the floor crumbled, the destruction spreading out in front of her towards their enemies. The floor gave easily under their weight, and, like dominoes, one by one they fell, becoming trapped in the corroded floor.
Marinette stood back, pleased with her work. The only places that remained untouched by the power were the small section she and her friends now stood upon, and the far end of the room where the Akuma was still terrorizing the employees. Everything else was in ruin.
“You sure know how to go all out,” Alya commented. “But now we’re cut off from Glowy-Hands over there.”
“Maybe I just like destroying things,” Marinette said. “But don’t worry, I have an idea. First, I’m gonna need you and Adrien to tie your yo-yo’s together.”
“What?”
“Tie them together,” Marinette repeated. “Then stand apart like this, and Nino can pull the cords back like that, and then release it to launch me over there!”
“You’re…going to have us…slingshot you…at a supervillain?” Nino asked, incredulously.
“Exactly!”
“Uh, Marinette, do you remember what I was saying earlier? About the fine line…?” Alya said. Marinette waved off the concern.
“It’ll be fine. Nino will be able to deflect the beams even from over here, right? So I’ll be fine. You two will then untie your yo-yos while I grab the guy’s gloves – that must be where the akuma is – and I’ll toss them back over to you, Nino can pull them in, and you and Adrien can break them and purify the akuma!” She clapped her hands together with a bright smile, ignoring the “are-you-insane?” look she kept getting. Honestly, she didn’t get this kind of response when she was Ladybug.
Reluctantly, her friends acquiesced to her plan, realizing that it wouldn’t be long before either the Akuma noticed that something was amiss, or the minions began to free themselves. Alya and Adrien held their yo-yo cords taut. Adrien looked uncertain, and Alya looked wary, and Nino looked nervous, but Marinette tried to give them each a reassuring smile in return.
Nino pulled the strings back, and Marinette could see the strain on the other two’s faces as she pressed herself against the tied yo-yos.
“Ready?” she asked Nino.
“Ready.”
“Go!” she said, and in the next moment, she was flying.
The Akuma turned around as she fell in a neat arc towards him, but the beams he shot at her were successfully diverted, and Marinette knocked him to the floor, spinning the staff around to pin him there. With one hand, she yanked off the gloves. Jumping back, she tossed them back towards her friends, trusting Nino to pull them the rest of the way back.
The Akuma screamed with rage, but he was powerless now, his source of power zooming away from him towards the small group at the other side. Marinette watched as Adrien abandoned the sword to take up Nino’s lightsaber instead, ejecting it as he jumped into the air to meet and slice cleanly through the gloves.
The smoking remains fell to the ground, and the instant they touched it, the corrupted butterfly emerged. Alya captured it with ease, and Marinette wasn’t surprised at all to see her smoothly pull off the move to purify it. She must’ve seen it a million times, after all, and Marinette wouldn’t have put it past her to have practiced it alone in her room.
The basketball and frisbee flew from where they were settled back into Nino’s hands, and he, along with Alya and Adrien, launched both items into the air. Marinette was relieved to see them break apart into swarms of ladybugs and begin to restore everything, just as her own powers would have done. They swept over her, and she welcomed the feel of fabric on her skin once more, and her relief at seeing her little purse again was immeasurable. First chance she got, she was definitely going to check on Tikki and make sure she was alright. But first…
“Are you alright, sir?” she asked, turning to the man who had been akumatized. He looked up at her in confusion.
“I was angry,” he said. “And then…there was…oh no!”
“It’s alright,” she said gently. “You’re free now. Actually, you gave everyone here superpowers, and my friends and I used that to help free you. In a way, you saved yourself.”
After a few more reassurances, Marinette returned to her friends.
“I’m going to miss being a Jedi,” Nino said, mournfully. “But at least no one’s going to be stealing my lightsaber again.”
Adrien only grinned, completely unrepentant at the look Nino shot him.
Alya was celebrating the return of her phone, and insisted on the four of them getting a group shot in. After she snapped the picture, she immediately set about uploading it to her blog.
“Superpower Akuma! Watch out, Ladybug and Chat Noir, because #TeamLadyblog saved the day this time!” Nino read aloud from over her shoulder.
“Wait, why are we team Ladyblog?” Adrien asked.
“Because I run the Ladyblog, of course,” Alya said. “And since I’m dressed as Ladybug, that makes me team leader, right?”
“But I’m also dressed as Ladybug,” Adrien pouted.
“If anything, Marinette was our team leader,” Nino pointed out. “She was the one calling the shots.”
“Yeah, except her shots were insane,” Alya said, glancing over at Marinette as she shook her head in exasperation. “I think I’d be terrified if you got superpowers for real.”
Marinette struggled to suppress her laughter, and excused herself to go to the bathroom.
She had a lot to tell Tikki.