Chapter Text
Nino sighed. Another akuma just had to strike on the day where he had gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before. If I ever find out who Hawkmoth is, I’m gonna kick his ass for this. Nino shuffled over to Alya’s locker and began with a sigh.
“Alya, I’m so tired, I—“ he stopped. Alya wasn’t there. But that didn’t make sense, she always went to her locker after an akuma hit to grab her “akuma hunting supplies.” If she wasn’t here, then where was she?
On an entirely unrelated note, Nino noticed a flash of orange outside and turned to face the window. It was Rena Rouge, Paris’s newest superhero, jumping across the rooftops. Nino could have sworn that she slowed down for a second and winked at him, but he didn’t have enough time to process it before she continued on her way. He took her departure as a sign to get on his way.
As soon as he stepped outside, he was drenched. A thunderstorm. Great . Nino sighed and began his now rainy hike home. Just as he started, he was stopped by a certain leather-clad hero jumping in front of him.
“Chat Noir? What are you doing here?”
Chat Noir’s face radiated panic. “Hey! You’re Nino, right? There’s a lot happening, and this is going to sound weird, but…” Chat turned and squatted, throwing his hands behind him. “Get on. I’ll explain in a second.”
“But—“ a crash. Nino’s eyes widened, and he nodded. “Okay, all aboard the Chat Noir train.”
* * *
Chat Noir touched down in the alleyway, and Nino got off of his back.
“So, what’s up?” Nino asked, his head cocked to the side.
“Well…” Chat sighed. “Right now, Ladybug is out of commission—she can’t transform. Problem is, we need her to cure the akuma and do the fixey-uppey magic thing. So, the solution is to get another superhero on the team with those powers. For that…” Chat Noir pulled an ornate, octagonal box from his pocket and held it out to Nino. “...the turtle miraculous. Wanna join the team?”
Nino thought for a second, then shrugged. “Sure. What’s the worst that could happen?” At this, Chat’s smile twitched a bit, but Nino didn’t notice. He simply grabbed the box from the hero’s hand and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
As soon as the box opened, an orb of green light appeared. The orb flew to Nino’s face, as if inspecting it, then proceeded to glide back and fade. In the orb’s place was a—a, uh… What was that?
“Hello!” The creature (?) grinned. “I’m Wayzz, kwami of the Turtle of Wisdom. If you could put the bracelet on, that would be greatly appreciated.”
Nino stared in dumbfounded shock. Holy shit, it—he? Can talk. “Uh, yeah, I can do that.” Chat grinned as Nino pulled the bracelet over his hand and it morphed to fit. “Dude…”
Wayzz chuckled. “‘Dude’ indeed, young one. If I may ask, what is your name?”
Nino blinked. “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you. Nino Lahiffe, DJ and apparently now a superhero.”
Chat snickered. “Yeah, not like you just met a literal god that gets sucked into your bracelet and turns you into a superhero with actual magic powers!”
Nino laughed. “Stop making fun of me! This is a very new experience!” He cleared his throat and turned to Wayzz. “Um, okay. How do I… get superhero’d?”
“Transform? Well, I’ll explain all of your powers later, but for now, just say ‘Wayzz, shell up!’ Understand?”
“Yeah, okay, uh… Wayzz… shell up?” As the last word left his mouth, Nino felt a wave of energy run over him, and he could see its effects clearly. His cap morphed into a hood, his glasses shifted into goggles, and he felt a weight on his shoulders that he somehow knew was a shield. Nino’s vision changed at once.
In the bottom-right of his vision he spotted a green bar with the word Carapace next to it. On his left, an exclamation mark encompassed by a red circle appeared. Holy shit, is this a video game?
The new hero looked up at Chat Noir, and what he saw changed his life. It appeared to be a character profile, with stats and all.
Chat Noir
Real Name: Adrien Agreste
Miraculous: Cat of Destruction
Attack: 21
Defense: 9
Luck: 87%
Health: 28
Knowledge: 61%
Magic: 5
“Nino?” Chat interrupted. “You okay?”
“Oh…” he looked up. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” Cool, my best friend is Chat Noir. What’s next, Hawkmoth is his dad? (A/N: hehehehehheHEHEHEH)
“Good. Have you thought of a name?”
Nino thought, and looked to the green bar. “Carapace?”
Chat nodded, a grin sneaking onto his face. “I like it! Creative. But now’s not the time for me to critique your name choice, we have an akuma to capture.”
* * *
Carapace and Chat Noir soared across rooftops, Carapace gliding on his shield and Chat Noir vaulting with his staff.
“Y’know, that looks pretty tiring,” Carapace offered.
“Ya think?” Chat retorted, obviously having a difficult time. “This is not fair, you get a cool hoverboard-thing and I have to compete in the Olympics to get from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre.” At this, Carapace burst out laughing.
You’re doing a great job, Wayzz spoke into Nino’s mind. When you’re ready to get off, you can jump and call the shield to your arm.
Oh? Worm?
What does that mean?
Uhh... I’ll explain later.
“Here we are,” Chat sighed. “Welcome to today’s battlefield.” Thunder rumbled from above, and the clouds poured down rain and insults.
The akuma was a girl, about 15, and floated gracefully on a storm cloud as she shot lightning down upon those who tried to stop her. When Carapace saw who she was shooting at, he almost threw up.
Rena Rouge
Real Name: Alya Cesaire
Miraculous: Fox of Illusion
Attack: 20
Defense: 13
Luck: 74%
Health: 26
Knowledge: 82%
Magic: 7
Carapace zoomed off towards the akuma, not saying a word. He had to help Alya, even if it was the last thing he did.
“Carapace! Wait!” Chat Noir shouted before following behind. “What are you doing?”
“Chat, I have to help her!”
“Of course you do, but we need a plan!”
With this, Carapace stopped. He’s right. We do need a plan.
If I may, Wayzz spoke (?), using your goggles, you can see the object where the akuma is hidden. It will be highlighted for you in your vision.
Carapace nodded, and tried focusing on the akuma. There . The villain’s sheer cloak was surrounded by a glowing gold outline, informing Carapace that this was indeed where the akuma had hit.
Good job! You’re doing wonderfully.
Thanks, buddy. Now we gotta help Alya. With this, Carapace turned to Chat Noir. “The akuma is in her cloak, but be careful. The cloak makes fog that can uh… ‘fog up’ your thoughts, so just... plug your ears?”
Chat nodded. “All of our weapons have an ear-bud in them for communicating, so if I use that, one ear will be blocked.”
You have an ear-bud as well. Plagg and I can mute the audio that comes from them, and you can give your ear-bud to Chat.
You took the words right out of my mouth— or brain? I don’t know.
“Chat, I have an idea. Well, Wayzz had an idea. Apparently the kwamis can mute the audio that come from the ear-buds, so I can give you my ear-bud and you can have both ears blocked. That should make it so that you can get close to her safely.” Carapace grinned, and handed Chat his ear-bud. “Good luck out there.” Chat smiled and gave Nino a thumbs up before vaulting closer to the akuma. Carapace got back onto his shield and zipped over to Rena Rouge.
As Carapace got over there, Rena Rouge was panting, having just been hit. She turned to him and smirked. “Hey, who’re you?”
“Carapace, newest addition to the team.” Carapace smiled and pointed to his bracelet, proving he was truly one of the heroes. “Nice to meet you. You doin’ okay?”
The akuma cleared her throat. “A-hem! I’m trying to make you feel your worst fears and also a lot of pain! Can we stop the chit-chat?” The girl’s gray hair tied in a bun seemed to resemble a storm cloud like the one she was riding on.
Carapace looked up to face the girl. “Boo! What a rip off!” He nudged Rena, signaling her to join in.
“Yeah! We already had Stormy Weather, this is just dumb.”
The akuma was taken aback. “I’m not a rip-off! She was snow storm based, I use thunderstorms! And either way, my name isn’t Stormy Weather. It’s Brainstorm.”
Carapace looked up to the girl and saw Chat behind her, almost at the cloak. He continued. “Even your name is a rip off. Brainstorm? Stormy Weather? Yeah, those are the same thing.”
Brainstorm was visibly angry now. “I’m not a rip off! I have creative and original ideas! You can’t prove otherwise!”
Rena Rouge smirked. “Hey Hawkmoth!” she shouted into the sky, “You’re so lame you can’t even think of new ideas for akumas! Get down here and face us!” With this, Hawkmoth’s symbol appeared in front of Brainstorm’s face, and Brainstorm seemed to be listening intently.
She nodded, and the symbol vanished. “Well, Hawkmoth says that you guys are lame! What about that, huh?” Brainstorm thought for a second, then a look of fear washed over her. “Wow, Hawkmoth isn’t very creative. I just called Paris’s heroes lame. I’m really sorry, gu--” With that, Chat Noir snatched her cloak and it crumbled into several pieces. He must have used Cataclysm.
Carapace ran over to where the butterfly was and trapped it under his shield. What do we do now?
There’s something that you’re able to do that will mimic the Miraculous Cure of Ladybug. Look at your tool belt, there is an orb there. Toss the orb into the sky, and everything will be healed. You actually have orbs that mimic the powers of all of the Miraculous, and that is the power of the turtle. It will begin your 5-minute timer.
Chat Noir and Rena Rouge approached Carapace. “So what now?” Rena asked, visibly concerned. “If Ladybug isn’t here, then how do we cure the city? And the akuma?”
Carapace gulped. “Well, Wayzz just told me that I can mimic everyone’s powers, so I can probably do the miraculous cure right here.” He pulled an orb off of his tool belt, and stared in wonder as Ladybug’s logo glowed onto it in a soft green. He nodded, and tossed the orb into the sky, where it exploded in a burst of green light and washed over the city like tidal waves.
Chat and Rena Rouge stared in awe before Rena walked over to Carapace, setting a hand on his shoulder. “That looks amazing.”
Carapace nodded. “I had no idea it would be this... beautiful.”
One of Chat’s cat ears twitched, and he looked to his left. “Oh!” To everyone’s surprise, Ladybug was now on the scene, her yo-yo creating a sound like a zipper.
She landed on the ground, striking a pose, and turned to the newest member of the team. “Hello, who are you?”
Chat grinned and stepped up. “Well, m’Ladybug, let me introduce you to our newest team member, Carapace.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” At that moment, Carapace’s vision changed to Ladybug’s profile.
Ladybug
Real Name: Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Miraculous: Ladybug of Creation
Attack: 23
Defense: 17
Luck: 62%
Health: 29
Knowledge: 68%
Magic: 4
Okay, this confirms it. All of my friends are superheroes. Carapace maintained a pleasant expression, and Ladybug smiled, shaking his hand.
She turned to face the entire team. “Great work out there, everyone. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it, my kwami was pretty affected by this round. Where’s the akuma?” Chat and Rena turned to Carapace, and her vision followed.
“It’s under my shield. Here...” Carapace walked a few steps to get to his shield and lifted the rim to reveal the corrupted akuma.
“Nice work!” Ladybug enthused. “If you could step back now, I’m going to purify it.”
“Oh, uh, yeah.” Carapace followed Ladybug’s directions and as she purified the akuma, he decided that this was the perfect time to have a crisis.
Okay so all of my friends are superheroes that could be violently murdered by magic fucking SUPERVILLAINS made by some 40-something-year-old guy who wants to be evil or something. Sure, fine, that’s fine. Super understandable.
Beep beep beep beep. Carapace’s miraculous shook him from his internal screaming, signaling that he only had four minutes left.
“Hey, Donatello, let’s head on out,” Chat suggested.
Carapace grinned. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” He turned to Ladybug and Rena Rouge, and saluted. “I’ll see you guys soon.” Yeah, in a few minutes back at school.
“See ya, Shelly,” Rena waved as Carapace and Chat departed on their respective modes of transport.
Through the two minutes it took to get back to the alley, Chat and Carapace spoke the entire time about various topics that they both enjoyed, Carapace leading the conversation with things he knew appealed to Adrien.
“So, what’s your opinion on fencing?” Carapace asked at one point. “I have a friend who fences, and you always look like you’re pretty proficient in the ways of fighting with sword-type things during akuma attacks.”
Chat’s eyes widened, and there was a tinge of blush on his face. “It looks pretty fun, but I’ve never done it myself. I’d love to, but my schedule’s already pretty packed with school and being a superhero and all.”
Carapace grimaced. “Oof, my schedule’s gonna be loaded.”
The two boys landed in the alley, and another beep came from Carapace’s miraculous as his transformation faded. He was back to Nino.
Chat held out his fist, and smiled. “You did a great job out there, man.”
Nino grinned back, and gifted Chat Noir with a glorious fist bump. “You weren’t too bad yourself.” I should tell him. I should tell him that I know who he is. “Hey, uh, Chat?”
The hero turned. “Yeah?”
Nino gulped and began to feel anxious. Here we go. “So, um, I kinda… today, I uh… found out… your… identity?”
Chat seemed just as nervous. “Well, uh, who… do you think I am?”
Nino sighed, and prepared to sound crazy. “Okay, so while I’m transformed, the goggles act as basically, a… VR headset, I guess, so everything around me turns into like… a video game. For real! I see character profiles, I have a health bar, and I have side-quests. So, um, basically, I saw your character profile, it has your name on it. I’m pretty positive that I’m right.”
Chat nodded. “Not gonna lie, Nino, that sounds pretty awesome. But you’re still stressing me out, who do you think—er, know, I am? I need to make sure you’re right so I don’t accidentally blow my cover if you’re wrong.”
“… Adrien?” Nino began to panic. Oh no what if I’m wrong this sucks I’m the worst I’m a terrible perso-- his thoughts were interrupted by a soft chuckle.
“Well, you got me.” Chat smiled sadly. He inhaled, then firmly proclaimed, “Plagg, claws in.”
* * *
In front of Nino stood a softly smiling Adrien Agreste and a midnight-black kwami who seemed like an asshole.
“Jeez, now I feel really bad,” Nino admitted, looking down at the ground. “I know the identities are super important to you guys, but if I held it in for any longer--”
“No no no!” Adrien waved his hands around as if clearing the air. “No, it’s fine! I’m just relieved, that’s all. I’ve been wanting to tell you since I first got the miraculous, but I couldn’t since it would put you in danger. Now that you’re in just as much danger as I am, well…” he did that thing he does where he grabs the back of his neck and blushes. “... it didn’t really apply anymore.”
Nino sighed with relief. “I was freaking out, man. Just seeing my best bud, my pure little angel who can do no wrong, be a superhero. That was… kinda terrifying.”
Adrien giggled. “It was the same thing with you, today! My mind was just showing me you getting zapped by that lightning over and over… but I knew you would do a good job.”
Wayzz zipped up between the two. “If I may interrupt, I believe that you have both handled this situation very responsibly, and I’d just like to say that I’m proud of you two.”
Plagg floated over to where Wayzz sat in mid-air. “Yeah, yeah, mushy gushy to you too, kids.” The cat flew over to where Nino stood. “By the way, I’m Plagg, Adrien’s kwami. If you want to get on my good side, well, you don’t need to, you’re already there. You’re a good kid, Nino. I watched.”
“Um…” Nino gulped. “Sorry, let me double check real quick, did you just say you watched ? What exactly did you... watch?”
Plagg grinned a mischievous grin, akin to the Cheshire Cat. “Everything, Nino. I watched everything.” A second passed before Plagg started laughing. “I’m just messin’ with ya, hat boy. I listened in every once-in-a-while, and you’re a super nice guy. Thanks for hangin’ out with Adrien for me. Keep doin’ it.”
“He’s right for once!” Adrien exclaimed. “You are a super nice guy.”
Nino snorted. “Stooooop.”
“No, you are! It’s the truth!”
“Noooo! You know I don’t know how to respond to compliments!”
“Ah, au contraire, this isn’t a compliment. This is a scientifically proven fact.” Adrien and Nino laughed, and the kwamis joined in. “Well, I’m glad that if anyone was to find out my identity, it’s you.”
“Yeah, I’m glad my new partners in crime fighting are my friends.” Nino realized what he said and clapped a hand over his mouth. “I MEAN UHHHH-- SINGULAR. FRIEND.”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed. “You know who Ladybug and Rena Rouge are.” He smirked. “You know them, too!”
Nino looked around cautiously and put a finger to his lips. “Shh! But… yeah, I do, and I’m not telling.”
Adrien held his hands up in an act of surrender. “Hey, I’m not gonna ask! Just make sure you put in a good word for me when you see Ladybug, okay?”
Nino nodded. “Yeah, sure. Oh, and I’ve been meaning to ask you this, but why would you call her ‘m’lady?’ That’s, like, the most cursed phrase I can think of.”
Adrien snorted. “‘The most cursed phrase.’ Got it. I think it’s funny, since it’s just so cursed, and it annoys Ladybug. In a good way, though!”
Nino sighed with a smile on his face. “Whatever you say.” The boy checked his watch, and frowned. “We should probably head back to school now, but it’s only a block away, so… that’s good.”
“What, you don’t want another Chat Noir piggy-back ride?”
“OH MY GOD, Shut up!”
The two boys laughed together all the way back to the school, and Nino knew that they would be sticking together through thick and thin.