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They were a bit confused as to where the screams were coming from, but then the explosion hit, and soon more screams were joining the chorus. The class was looking around in what can only be described at terror as they tried to locate where it was coming from.
Suddenly a loud boom rebounded through the room, and the wall on the outside of the school was completely blown away. Bricks were flying around the room, and the entire outward facing wall was gone. Everyone did their best to take cover, but there was only so much that they could do, they were all being hit by various amounts of debris. As sudden as the explosion was, it was over.
As soon as the dust began to settle and bricks stopped flying through the air, Adrien stood up, all previous signs of exhaustion gone from his posture. There was a hard look on his face as he turned to his classmates, and the commanding tone in his voice made them all reluctant to disobey. “Go on! Get out of here! Get to safety!” he yelled sharply, stunning them all, for none of them (save maybe Marinette) had ever heard Adrien yell. His temperament was too soft for that.
But that seemed to have disappeared in favour of a calm and collected leader. His eyes were set in a hard determined look as he put his back to his classmates. “Everyone needs to find shelter. Now.” He ordered, moving to begin ushering everyone out of class. Their teacher had recovered her wits at hearing Adrien’s command and began ushering students. Soon it was only her, Adrien and Marinette left inside the ruined classroom. The others were either running or waiting anxiously in the halls to know where to go. It was almost stupid that they’d never had a drill for when this kind of thing happened.
The ones who were running for cover were smart. They could count heads after they were safe.
The teacher had just scurried out the door when the building began to shake again. Adrien and Marinette clutched at each other as they tried to stay on their feet while their classmates screamed and fell to the ground. The teacher reached for them, but that’s when the ceiling began to cave in. Adrien grabbed Marinette and dove under a desk, placing her under him to protect her. When the shaking stopped, they looked up, seeing pile after pile of rubble around them.
Hearing the metal desk beginning to groan, they hurriedly scrambled out from under it just as it collapsed with a crash. They were lucky they weren’t crushed. They made their way cautiously towards where the door was supposed to be, but were soon blocked by a large part of ceiling that covered 75% of the door. “Adrien! Marinette!” they heard someone scream from the other side.
“We’re fine!” Marinette called, cupping her hands around her mouth to project her voice. “We just can’t get through. You guys go on ahead! Get help, we’ll try to get down from here.” She said, trying to ease their worries but failing. They were the only two that were trapped. Anyone who cared about them even as an acquaintance, would be worried. They were basically abandoning them in an akuma attack.
“We know how to handle ourselves. This is far from the first time we’ve been separated during an attack.” Adrien put in his two cents. He did have a point. They were always rushing off to transform so that they could save the day; their classmates had to have noticed a pattern. They were rather unlucky in their civilian forms. No one had ever questioned where they went or why they were never akumatized – there was still enough people in their class that it didn’t seem odd yet.
“You just sit tight!” Their teacher yelled shrilly from behind the doorframe. “We’ll send help as soon as we can! Don’t worry, Ladybug…” their teacher trailed off as she remembered what had happened yesterday. Marinette might not be high profile, but Adrien was. If he gets hurt and the two heroes could have stopped it, they will be crucified by Gabriel Agreste. She wanted to have faith in the dynamic duo, but she didn’t want to promise the two teens anything.
There was a good chance that all they would be able to rely on would be the emergency services. This wasn’t looking good for the two trapped teens.
Or so she thought.
As soon as they deemed that their class was out of earshot, they quickly transformed before running towards the convenient hole in the wall. “Well my Lady, how are we handling this?” Chat asked as they began jumping down the building to look for where the akuma was.
She frowned, before looking back at him briefly. “I don’t know. Just follow my lead and play up your injury. I know it’s hurting, you, so just don’t hide it.” She said quickly, the both of them coming to a stop on top of a building. The police had made a barrier around the area of destruction (the school) in an effort to try and contain the damage. As expected, the akuma had been related to the reporter and judging by how the akuma was yelling about how the medical services should have been able to save her, then he was angry at the emergency services instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Which was… weird. They definitely weren’t expecting that when they pictured the next akuma. Who’d a thunk it; the person (judging by the facial structure was probably a family member of some sort) who was akumatized was akumatized because the ambulance hadn’t arrived in time. Wow, the family of the deceased was handling Ladybug and Chat Noir better than the media was. This was almost ridiculous. Sure, he was blaming the medical services for arriving way after his sister bled out – which was also very unhealthy – but he hadn’t called out to Ladybug and Chat Noir yet.
The police were trying to reason with him, but it wasn’t doing anything but aggravate him further. He was not pleased with any of the emergency services, and he was making it very known. Ladybug and Chat just stood on the roof for a moment, drinking in the destruction, watching as all the students fled and were ushered behind the barrier. Ladybug sat down and placed her hand under her chin. She wasn’t going to step forward until it got more serious.
Chat was still injured and there was no way that she was risking him yet. Speaking of Chat, he was slouched behind her, standing so that he could still see, and in that position, whether intentional or not, he looked even more injured than he was. He was holding his arm loosely, watching the carnage with a tired face. It was quite the contrast to Ladybug’s cold but forced indifference and her stiff posture. She too, was playing up her position. The last time the press had seen her, she’d lashed out at them and told them to not expect her aid. The last time they’d seen Chat Noir, he’d been unconscious and in the process of bleeding out. Never before had they looked so much like the teenagers that they were.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for someone to notice that the two heroes were standing to the side and watching. In fact, it was actually Alya that had noticed first. She was live streaming to the Ladyblog from her phone and doing a wide angle shot when she saw the two themed heroes. She informed the police and pointed at them, drawing just about everyone else’s attention to the duo as well. Even some reporters chose to direct their cameras towards them instead of at the akuma.
“Ladybug!” one of the police officers yelled, the relief palpable in his voice. Many of the other’s faces were also relieved at seeing them – even some of the reporters? Why were they so happy to see them? Just earlier today they were cursing the very existence of the creature themed heroes. She raised an eyebrow from behind her mask before standing up. The cameras zoomed in on the faces of the two teens, close enough that they were able to decipher what the duo were saying.
She turned to face her partner, “Chat,” she said smoothly, her voice indifferent and apathetic. “should we take care of this?” there, she’d put it all in his hands. She would do whatever he wanted, he was the one who was injured. He was the one who came up with the plan on how to handle the press based of his experience. She would follow his lead for once. She trusted him.
He gazed sadly at the people below, his wide green eyes taking in all the damage that this akuma caused. “My Lady, we need to help them.” He said gently, looking back at her. “I’ll be fine I promise, my back isn’t hurting all that much anymore and I’ll avoid moves that can pull my stitches.” She gave him a skeptical look, but the sincerity in his eyes convinced her. She let out a sigh before pulling out her yo-yo.
“Fine, but if you get hurt again you’re getting benched until you’re better. Paris will just have to handle itself. You’re more important.” His mouth had curved into a frown and she could clearly tell that he disagreed with her, but he was smart enough to know that there was nothing that he could say to convince her otherwise. He’d never been good at denying her what she wanted.
He pulled out his staff and then they both launched themselves at the akuma. In a matter of minutes, they had subdued the akuma (honestly his powers were just flashy, he was too busy being pissed off at the paramedics to actually bother fighting them) and they figured they got a lucky break. Chat hadn’t even had to exhaust himself by using cataclysm. As soon as the fight was over, Ladybug turned her back on everyone so that she could check over Chat. She’d restored the everything, so the school was fine, but if they didn’t hurry, people were going to start wondering where Marinette and Adrien were. Especially since they’d been trapped in the ruined classroom while everything went down.
Only one person was brave enough to approach the duo, and of course, it was Alya. “Ladybug, do you have anything you want to say to your still loyal supporters on the Ladyblog?” she said, holding her still livestreaming phone up. Ladybug froze, turning to look slowly at the camera. Her face was flushed with anger, so she decided that if she spoke her mind, she would come to regret it and instead looked to Chat to speak.
Chat smiled softly at the camera. “We’re both very grateful for the support, and I’d just like to say that while I was injured, we both should be back to full capacity soon.” He said with a reassuring grin, so warm and contagious that Alya found herself smiling at the cat boy. “But on a more serious note, we need to address the reason that that civilian was killed. She directly interfered with the fight, and got attacked because of it. We can’t save everyone, so you all need to save yourselves and get out of the way when something attacks.” He said, his face taking on the stern disapproving look that his civilian form’s father was infamous for.
Alya nodded before running back towards her class, shutting off the phone after giving a closing message. Ladybug and Chat Noir were too far away to be able to decipher what she said, even with their enhanced feeling. Ladybug had finished her cursory check, and the both of them rushed back to the other side of the school, sneaking into the classroom before the others could get back. The two got their backpacks and went to huddle in the back of the classroom.
Suddenly, Marinette’s phone buzzed. She shot Adrien a glance, taking out her phone and checking the message she’d received.
Marinette, we’re back early. If you and Adrien could head to the bakery after school that would be great. We have a lot to talk about.
Internally Marinette was panicking as she shoved her phone in Adrien’s face. “What do we do?” she asked, her whisper shrill with the panic at the entire situation. What did her parents know?