Chapter Text
----------Damian----------
Like clockwork, as soon as Damian had finished his breakfast and had begun to place the remnants back into the provided basket, a turtle kwamii floated over to him.
“I am Wayzz. The Guardian has requested I show you around the temple while she is out in Paris. We shall stop at the kitchen first.” Wayzz waited for him to stand then hovered a few feet in front of him while guiding their direction towards what Damian assumed was the aforementioned kitchen. While they were walking, Wayzz began to speak again.
“This place is the Temple of Miracles, it is among the oldest structures still standing on earth. The main hall and courtyard predate the pyramids and the rest was added on before the legends of King Aurthor and his Knights of the Round Table were even thought of. No new additions have been added here since. The Temple of Miracles has been home to the Order of the Guardians from when it was built till its destruction.” Destruction? Of the order or the temple?
“I loathe to interrupt, however, when you say ‘destruction’, are you referring to the Order itself?” The turtle seemed to ponder his answer for a bit.
“The Order somewhat survived, and the Temple was in ruins. The Guardian recently defeated the creature that destroyed this place, therefore, it was restored. You will find that despite its age, the magic of the temple will accommodate modern conveniences quite well as Master Marinette has discovered during her time here. The Temple is quite skilled at attracting helpful information and has a long history of assisting its inhabitants with the modern world.” The Kwami ushered him through a doorway. “Here is our kitchen and pantry. Most everything must be made and prepared manually. All the resources are either made here or brought in from various towns by Miss. Marinette. We kwamii tend to help a bit with meal preparation since the guardian tends to be rather busy.” Damian nodded thoughtfully.
“Is Marinette the last guardian?” The kwami frowned.
“Only out of necessity, I wish she were still an apprentice. Or at least acquired some assistance.” Wayzz sighed. “She is good at her job, however, she had to become an adult much before her time.” He gestured out the window to continue his tour. “On the temple property there are many fields and pastures. While there is no longer cattle here, there is plenty of produce that the Temple cares for.”
Outside the window, there were a few acres of lush wheat, corn, and any other vegetables one could imagine as well as various flowers and herbs. This should show up as an anomaly on our satellites. It could be part of the magic of the temple.
“This place should look odd on a satellite, have any officials shown up here?” Wayzz appeared to be slightly amused by his question.
“No, there are only two ways to find the temple, being shown by someone who knows exactly where it is, and being called to the gates by magic; like you were.”
“So, if I were to contact a friend, no one would be able to trace it?”
“That is correct.” I better call Jon then. There’s no way he heard me through all the temple’s magic.
Wayzz moved out of the kitchen to a hall he had not seen before.
“There are only a few rooms this way. There’s the treasury and Miss Marinette’s room; you are not to enter those without permission; and the training room. There are workout pants in the closet of your room and plenty of training weapons inside.”
Damian examined the space. The walls and floors were covered in stiff fabric pads filled with a mixture of feathers and straw. Along the left were three doors (also padded), at the kwami’s prompting, he opened the first door.
In the first room were twenty or-so different training garments obviously made for the male trainees; however, one was altered by hand into something that would fit a more feminine shape. There were also compressed wool suits for sparing with weapons.
The second was a dream for Damian, the walls and several chests were filled with weapons of all kinds; except for firearms, of course. Crossing the room to the far wall, he examined the training katanas. They were blunt, obviously, but expertly crafted. Eagerly glancing at the other katanas, Damian noticed that they were made with levels in mind. Must be to get the apprentices used to the weight.
The final room appeared to be a wind down room. There were benches lining the walls and a place for hot stones in the center.
Wayzz took Damian back to the courtyard and into the outer wall.
“The outer wall is the main non-magical defense system of the temple. All of the armaments are stored either in the wall or toward the front of the main building.” Damian nodded and allowed the kwami to guide him back to his quarters.
Seconds after Wayzz left Damian in his room, he pulled out his burner phone and texted a familiar number.
XXX-XXX-XXXX -How's Titus?
Kent- Damian?
YOU JUST VANISHED!!!!!!!,,
I WAS WORRIED!!!!!!.!,
I think that’s enough of a heads up. Damian called him.
----------Marinette----------
As Marinette left Damian in the tea, (or meeting), room, her phone buzzed once. That's odd. I dont get texts anymore and the Akuma Alert always goes off until I click that I’ve seen it.
“Tikki! Spots on! Tikki, Kaalki merge! Wayzz, if our guest comes looking for me, please tell him I’m occupied. Oh! And can you show him all the places he can and can’t go in the temple?” The turtle Kwami nodded. “Voyage!”
Paris was gone. So that’s why the alert only beeped once.
“Kaalki? Where in Paris did you teleport me?” The tiny horse seemed to think for a bit.
“I intended to transport you on top of François du Pont Collegé, Guardian.”
Ladybug was about to call for another voyage when she noticed one near silent set of footsteps behind her. However, there was the sound of two cloaks in the wind. She pinched in between her eyes. So much for keeping the Justice League out of this. Ladybug turned around, “Why are you here, Batman, Superman.” It wasn’t a question, more of an order.
“Who exactly are you to be asking me that question?” Batman most likely would be raising an eyebrow at her, if she could see them. Ladybug put her hands on her hips, she would not be the one to back down, even if he was Batman. News helicopters circled overhead capturing the tense moment for the whole world to see.
“You are on my territory, I ask the questions.” You can’t back down. If you back down the Justice League will remove your authority. Batman sighed but still did not answer her question,
“Sorry about him, what happened to Paris?” She raised an eyebrow at Superman.
“Neither of you have answered my question.” The hero of Metropolis glanced at Batman and frowned.
“We are here to investigate the disappearance of Paris, you?” Ladybug sighed.
“Paris is my city. Our villain attacked. Paris is gone.” She shrugged. “As soon as I find it, everything will be back to normal.” Superman looked skeptical, Batman looked like Batman.
“Everything will be back to normal?”
“Yes. If you will excuse me, I have a job to do.” She started to walk of whe Batman grabbed her arm. She whipped around, eyes glowing blue, and said with a strangely powerful voice,
“Unhand me, if you wish to see Paris ever again.” The Bat wisely let go and the heroine returned to her temple.
“Tikki, I’m going to meditate to locate the akuma energy, can you lock the door, please.”
“Of course Marinette!” At Tikki’s confirmation, Marinette relaxed and focused on the energy surrounding the earth in search of the corrupted miraculous energy. Drawing on all of her teaching and all the relevant knowledge from the grimoire, Marinette filtered though the energy of the world. Surprisingly Paris hadn’t moved very much, it was moved down, into the crust of the earth.
“I’ve found it! Tikki! Spots on! Tikki, Kaalki, merge! Voyage!”
The first thing Ladybug registered was that Paris was dark, the electricity must be out, not even the generators are working. Coming to the conclusion that sight was more important than transport and merged with the tiger miraculous. Aided by night vision, the battle was still quite difficult.
“Ladybug, you’ve arrived! Now, give us the miraculous.” The akuma appeared to be two people. They were made of stone and seemed to move from rock to rock similar to Lady Wi-fi’s teleportation.
“And why were you akumatized?” The akuma glared.
“Our daughter disapeared, we wanted to bury her so we buried Paris instead! Give us the miraculous!” Sabine and Tom want to… bury me? I’m glad I escaped!
“If I help you find your daughter maybe you can talk things out?” she suggested weekly.
“She made her choice. And you have made yours.” The akuma launched themself at her attempting to grab her earrings but, due to its rock fists, it was closer to punching her ears. Ladybug sighed when she didn't see an akumatized object and immediately turned towards the bakery.
“Miraculous Ladybug!” The heroine squinted, sunlight. Merging with Kaalki, Marinette whispered, “I know you’re listening. If you wish to speak with me, I will be at the Eiffel Tower in twenty minutes. Voyage!”
“Tikki, Kaalki, can you re-charge quickly so we can relax a bit?” The kwamii nodded and fluttered over to their snacks. Marinette took a deep breath to calm herself for what would be a very stressful conversation in Paris, maybe I should suggest a change in location.
“We are not meeting in my city,” Ladybug ordered, “I will see you in Rouen, Kaalki! Voyage.” No way I am letting the Justice League anywhere near all those artifacts.
Ladybug stepped through her portal and detransformed; she would transform once Batman and Superman arrived. There’s no telling when they will arrive, I guess I’ll keep an eye on social media. Batman may be stealthy but Superman makes a show.
Marinette sat back in a cafe sipping on a large raspberry hot chocolate alternating browsing through Twitter for mentions of superheroes, and reading some Shakespeare for her online classes. She was just getting to the part of King Leer, where Cordelia says, “You do me wrong to take me out o’ th’ grave,” when someone tweeted about a red blur in the skies over Rouen. She politely recycled her cup and crossed the street to the nearest alleyway.
“Looks like this is our que, Tikki! Spots on!”
The hero of Paris swung out of the alley to the roof of the cafe. Glancing towards the cathedral, Ladybug saw Superman hovering above the tower. He apparently noticed she saw him because he descended to the roof to wait. She quickly, and sneakily swung to the quiet rooftop to begin the meeting.
As soon as she landed, Batman gave her the infamous bat-glare.
“You are in over your head, the Justice League is taking over the situation.” Ladybug was unimpressed, really unimpressed.
“Well, Batman.” She scoffed and looked him in the eye. “What is the situation, do you even know?” Silence. “That’s what I thought. I clearly have it handled if even the Justice League has no knowledge of Parisian villains despite the last three years. Tell me, do you even know the villain's name?” Batman’s face betrayed nothing.
“I will send someone to take over.” He disappeared.
Superman turned to her. “Miss…”
“Ladybug.”
“Miss Ladybug, I’ll talk to him; however, I believe you’re right. You have done an admirable job keeping Paris safe so far and I believe you will continue to do so. I’ll see what I can do about getting Paris officially under your jurisdiction.” Ladybug nodded. And swung away to an alley.
“Tikki, Kaalki, merge! Voyage!”