Marinette Cheng-Wayne

Chapter 28

"Hood! You have to calm down," I exclaimed, resting my hand on his back, "Just breathe with me now." We took breaths together as fast as possible. A girl down there was still about to be hurt by what seemed to be Jokers Goons.

"You can just stay here if you want!" I suggested, seeing as he didn't calm down.

Receiving no answers, I leaped down, landing on the soles of my feet.

"Miss! You need to stop this is dangerous!"

"I think I'll be okay."

I spluttered, who would reject my help? I'm clearly a superhero, or vigilante, as my family calls it. Sure, Ladybird was a new one that was a mystery but still!

But then after my little inner tantrum, the girl turned around and there I saw Chloe. As much as I wanted to jump up and pull her into a tight hug, I wasn't Marinette right now but Ladybird.

Sucking in a breath and giving her a mental hug, I decided to let it be since she could definitely handle herself.

"Look, there's people following you. I'm suspecting it's Joker's goons. You good to help me take them down?" I raised an eyebrow behind the mask and smiled.

Her little smirk told me she was confident and that's all I needed. When Chloe was confident, you didn't have to worry.

"More than happy to, uhh..."

"Ladybird!" I quickly responded. She nodded, "Right, Ladybird."

We pressed against the flimsy metal wall, it the one that would make a lot of noise if you bent it shook it. This was a small tacky apartment building that seemed to be unoccupied. Guess these people weren't totally stupid.

There were bused voices coming from around the building. It just hit me that I didn't have a plan. I only had a "Chloe" no Red Hood or Batman. It didn't mean Chloe was a bad partner, I've worked with her many a times and everything went perfect! She protected me from Chat's overboard flirting and has helped in countless situations, but this was a new city. Things would be different.

The time was gather my thoughts were cut short, and maybe it wasn't all that bad considering I tend to overthink things.

"You seem lost in thought there Ladybird." Chloe pointed out. "Sorry! I'm back on track now."

The first couple men closed in on us, but as they got closer I realized they where's actually jokers men! They had completely different symbols and designs. The colors were probably just a coincidence.

"I need to tell Red Hood!" I exclaimed, quickly trying to page him in from my ear piece. Chloe jumped in front of me, kicking and punching the goons. They didn't seem all that well trained, their only benefit was the large group. After Red Hood got my message, I fought alongside Chloe. These things went down after a few hits and disappeared instead of collapsing to the ground like actual people. It's almost as if it was...magic.

No.

No, it couldn't be.

It obviously wouldn't be!

That's preposterous!

"Who's this chick?" A voice called from behind me, drop-kicking the nearest person. I know he already knew but answered anyways.

"Oh Red Hood!" Chloe turned, blindly kicking and still somehow hitting them. "You might wanna focus on your attacks little girl." There was a clear smirk in his tone, that I knew wouldn't make a certain girl happy. If there is one this that blonde hates, it would be being underestimated.

She scoffed, "I've taken out more than you. Probably slacked off back there." Another grunt sounded, "Gotham heros aren't impressive. The Paris' ones could easily show you up. Especially Queen Bee."

"We're vigilantes Sweet-pea, do your research." Red Hood deadpanned. They continued going back and forth to the point where I had to completely tune them out. After about 20 minutes, it was getting old. The "bad guys" just kept getting stronger, actually being able to land hits on us before we kicked back twice as hard then disappeared once again into thin air.

"I'm going to try and look for the source of where these things are coming from. You guys need to stay strong a bit longer." I commanded. My brother didn't seem to disagree and neither did Chloe. It felt as if I was somewhat getting my control back.

I weaved further down between the buildings, trying to not get noticed. Away from the commotion, everything was much quieter, so beautifully quiet.

That was until I got a terrible jump scare. From aside a random building. "Shh, Ladybug. You must listen to me."

My head quickly spun around only to see the one and only Master Fu.

"Master!" I knelt down to his height, "What's going on?"

He stroke is goatee, "There has been an akumatized victim in Paris, you must go and save the city once more!"

I looked back from the alley where my brother and friend was, then back to Master Fu. Would it be wrong to just leave? Paris is in danger, but they also need me. "What do I do Master?"

He didn't even need to hear my explain, by the look on his face, he knew what kind of predicament I was in.

"Well, it would be wise to bring Multi-mouse back into action wouldn't it?" He dangled the pink and gray necklace between his index and thumb.

With a grin, I quickly stated the transformation words, combining a Tikki with Mullo and splitting myself into 2.

There was one problem with that though. My height was shrunk down...by a lot.

"People won't care if Ladybug short, but my family will! They're detectives and it's hard enough hiding one thing! The Lila stuff is all over the place and out of the bag, everything is a mess!" I ranted, hands reaching to tug on my hair in frustration.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you, but do you have the fox miraculous?"

Master Fu reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out the necklace. "You always happen to need it do you not?"

"Illusion is just useful when you're solo I guess."

"Ladybug, are you sure about this?"

Cocking an eyebrow in question, Master continued. "I understand you have utilized many miraculous before, but that was draining and now you will be in different places. Both having very important jobs. I assume you're family doesn't exactly make it an easy job for you to hide things. Making accidents hard to cover up."

I nodded along with him, confused about where this was going.

"You're brain will have to function in separate places at once, making the job very difficult."

"What else can I do then, Master?"

"I am quite stumped as well."

This is just great. Where's my lucky charm when I need it?

"I'll let Trixx function on his own then."

Trixx lit up at the words, making the butterflies in my stomach flap harder.

"Ladybug, Kwamiis are very dangerous without a holder." He warned as Trixx protested, something about how he's very trustworthy.

"There isn't a better way, plus now I can add more size to my Ladymare copy, making the fight easier since I'll just need a small me to monitor Trixx."

This will work!

It has too.

Master Fu sighed, "Do as you must."