Chapter Text
An Akuma.
Right now?
Of course right now!
Adrien stood quickly and ran over to his bed, throwing pillows under the blanket just like he’d seen in the movies. Hopefully, it worked better than the movies; it would have to if Adrien wanted to stay on good terms with his father.
He swiftly ran to the TV and mentally noted what episode he was on and the last scene before turning the volume down slightly. He needed to make it look like he fell asleep watching TV. Why would he leave the TV on and go to bed? Why would he be sleeping AT 2 PM!? Ah, it doesn’t matter! Adrien didn’t have time for this! Before hesitating anymore, he transformed into Chat Noir and jumped out of his window. …again.
The second he landed on the building across from his window and over the fence, he was thrown into action with Ladybug wrapping her yoyo around his torso and yanking it before he could be squished into a pancake by the akuma. The place he stood a second ago shattered, leaving cracks in the concrete when the akuma lifted its massive fist.
“Chat Noir! Thank goodness!” Ladybug exclaimed
“W-what’s going on here?” Chat Noir asked nervously. Had Ladybug seen him jump out of his window?
The Akuma swung its head around, lifting its large, feather-like ears. Its ears twitched slightly, directing the Akuma to the teen heroes.
“We better get out of here, hang on!” Ladybug ordered, wrapping her arm around Chat’s torso. He held on tightly, gasping loudly as she used her yoyo to catapult away from the akuma.
Landing clumsily on a tall building, Ladybug readied herself for another swing from her yoyo. But before she could throw it, the Akuma came smashing through the building in front of them. Its ears pressed against its head as Parisians burst out in terrified screams. They scattered, horrified by the massive monster that stood over them.
A higher-pitched cry caught Chat Noir’s attention, his enhanced hearing singling out the noise. A little girl was hanging on to the ledge of the building, dangerously close to the akuma’s feet. He jumped into action, throwing himself off the building he and Ladybug were on. He twirled his baton over his head like a helicopter blade, slowing his fall slightly. Sliding the baton into the correct position, he vaulted over to the little girl, swooping her out of the way just in time. The Akuma’s foot smashed into the building where the girl was a second ago. She clutched onto Chat like her life depended on it.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” Chat whispered to her. She buried her face into his neck, eyes squeezed shut. Chat launched them upwards with his baton, landing on a random plant-filled balcony. He set her down gently, calmly taking her hands and pulling her away from his torso. She reluctantly let go of him and looked up at him with fear still imminent in her eyes. Chat smiled at her gently.
“Chat Noir! The Akuma’s heading to the Seine!” Ladybug called, catching Chat’s attention.
“Stay here,” He ordered the little girl before bounding off to follow the Akuma. A flock of Parisians circled manically around the buildings that had been destroyed by the bumbling Akuma, a couple of whom seemed to be calling out for their child. “Hey!” Chat called, catching their attention. “She’s over there!” He pointed vigorously to the balcony where the little girl stood, and the folks who seemed to be her parents let out a cheer of joy. Chat saluted to them quickly as a ‘you’re welcome’ before speeding up to catch up to Ladybug.
“I don’t think it knows where it’s going,” Ladybug huffed, seemingly irritated by the Akuma’s sudden appearance. Chat wondered what she’d been up to before the Akuma struck.
“Maybe it has water-related powers? Or maybe there’s some sort of energy source near?” Chat tried.
“Possibly…” Ladybug hummed. Chat’s ears flicked towards her, catching a few whispers. “Water… Rushing water… Oh!” She exclaimed. Chat perked up. But instead of letting him in on her plan, she hurriedly threw her yoyo and swung away from him. He was left to catch up.
Ladybug stopped on a building near the Seine and called her Lucky Charm. Chat had figured out pretty quickly that the items Ladybug received from her Lucky Charm were almost guaranteed to be some random object that would spark a plan in her mind, a plan that Chat was barely involved in. He sighed inwardly as he landed swiftly beside her, peeking over her shoulder to see what her charm was this time.
“A…pair of earplugs? Are you kidding me?” Ladybug scowled. “How are these supposed to do anything?!” Chat winced. Maybe her lucky charms didn’t always work in her favour. Looking back at the Akuma, the bug and cat-themed superheroes tried to think of how to use the dreaded earplugs.
Catching wind of Ladybug's outburst, the Akuma turned its head towards the sound and covered its ears. It slowly tottered towards the two heroes, abandoning its mission to the Seine. Chat and Ladybug looked at each other, a bit worried.
“Maybe we should try being a little quieter…” Ladybug sighed.
‘We?’ Chat thought, annoyed. He wasn’t the one being loud. But whatever. He agreed with Ladybug, they should probably head somewhere a little further away from the Akuma so that they wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention. He wrapped his arm around her quickly, and launched them away. She let out a yelp and held on. They landed sloppily on another building, closer to the Agreste Mansion. Chat’s skin crawled.
The Akuma was lost now, it let its ears go to try and find the heroes again. It seems Chat was the only one who noticed, because a second later Ladybug was again yapping about random ideas involving the earplugs to him. His ears went back out of annoyance.
“Ladybug… it can still hear us. Why don’t we look around and see if there’s anything else we can use?” Chat suggested, irritated but trying to hide it.
Ladybug looked at him in realization and nodded, using her yoyo to quickly swing away. Chat sighed. He looked back at the Akuma, observing its body to see where the butterfly could be hiding.
“Any pockets that the Akuma is hiding in…? Or possibly holding the object in its fist like Stoneheart…?” Chat whispered to himself.
Wait.
The lucky charm – earplugs – might be able to stop the Akuma from hearing exactly where the heroes were. But… they were much too small, the Akuma was massive! For goodness' sake, couldn’t Hawkmoth ever give them a break?
Chat heard a faint siren getting louder. Crap!
The Police were here with their noisy sirens. Sirens that were loud enough to make the Akuma snap its head towards the sound, and start towards the officers with much more speed than it should be able to manage with that big of a body.
Chat Noir jumped into action, but Ladybug had the same idea. Just as Chat landed near the officers, Ladybug’s yoyo wrapped around the Akuma. It stopped dead in its tracks, struggling to get free. The yoyo was pulled tight, and Chat could see Ladybug struggling to keep it that tight on a nearby building.
“Chat Noir, you and Ladybug are only causing panic and destruction! Leave this to the Police!” Captain Raincomprix scolded.
Chat swallowed his anger and tried to ignore him. The massive Akuma twisted and squirmed in Ladybug’s yoyo, and a fierce hissing sound started. It seemed to be coming from the Akuma’s mouth. Chat Noir slowly backed away, quickly glancing over to the Police officers to see if they were doing the same. They were not, Chat thought furiously. But before he could intervene, the Akuma opened its mouth and revealed several rows of teeth, almost like a shark’s. A high-pitched screeching noise escaped through the creature’s gaping mouth.
Chat Noir immediately cried out in pain and covered his ears. His enhanced hearing couldn’t take this! His vision started going black on the edges, and he felt like his ears were on fire. He was screaming too, he realized. He had dropped his staff on the ground, which made a horrible clanking noise.
The Akuma’s screeching stopped, and it continued walking towards the Police. It had slipped out of Ladybug's yo-yo. She must have been affected by the sound, too. And…so were the Police, Chat realized, barely able to make out the blurry shapes of the Officers cowering.
That hurt.
Chat knelt down to reach for his staff, but he got a sudden whip of headrush and stumbled to the ground instead. He breathed heavily. The pain in his ears was still burning, and they were ringing dangerously loud. He felt a hand on his back, and the next thing he knew, Ladybug was swinging him back up to a building. The world was spinning beneath him, Chat’s vision blurring and moving and swimming. He closed his eyes to try and stop the pain. Darkness filled his mind.