To Be a Hero | MLB

12: The Cat

"Lorri, time to talk!"

Lorri smiles at me, then gets sucked into my new earring. A sleek eye mask stretches across my face as my clothes transform into a bright blue jumpsuit with a yellow front and green feet. The suit stretches to encompass my hands, and my twin puffs transform into waist-length box braids, which then twist up into a high bun. Finally, a tennis racket forms on the back of my suit, and I step toward my mirror to take everything in.

My mask is blue and yellow, like my suit, and it alone is enough to make me look... different. Cooler, maybe. And wearing it makes me feel freer, somehow, like I can do anything—or be anyone—that I want.

But then I see behind my reflection that Ladybug is already climbing back out my window. I join her, then swallow at the sight of the ground five stories below me.

"Come on, you can climb up this way," Ladybug tells me, then launches her yo-yo toward the roof and swings out of my view.

I lean out of my window, knowing Tori would be afraid of stunts like this. But I'm not Tori anymore, am I? I'm a superhero, and superheroes do things like this all the time. Effortlessly.

So, I swing out of my window and press my palms flat against the wall, then find it laughably easy to scale the wall and step out onto my apartment building's roof. From there, I follow Ladybug to the edge of the roof, where she's typing something into her yo-yo.

"I told Chat Noir to meet us at the Eiffel Tower," she says, then glances over at me. "You know where that is, right?"

I nod. "Of course."

"Perfect. Now, follow me!" Then she launches her yo-yo and swings to the next rooftop.

I step back a few feet, wondering how I'm supposed to make it that far. Do I jump? Or is my racket supposed to help me? Or maybe I should—

"You can fly!" Ladybug calls, then continues toward the looming Eiffel Tower in the distance.

I decide to blindly trust Ladybug, figuring she doesn't seem like the type to steer me wrong, and run to the edge of the roof. I jump off, spreading my arms wide, and long feathers unfold from the arms of my suit. I'm able to glide through the air above the rooftops of Paris, and I'm more grateful than ever that I'm not afraid of heights. Keeping my eyes on Ladybug's form below, I dive toward the Eiffel Tower and roll to reduce the impact of my landing. My wings fold back into my suit, and when I rise to my feet, Paris' other hero, Chat Noir, is staring right at me.

"You must be Ladybug's 'detour'" is the first thing he says to me, and I raise an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"She said she needed to make a detour, and I'm assuming that detour was you."

"Uh, sure," I say, then make my way over to the Tower's railing to wait for Ladybug.

Chat Noir sidles up beside me. "Your costume is really cool, by the way. What's your Miraculous? The chameleon?"

I snort. "Is that what I look like? No, it's the parrot."

He studies my costume for a second, then nods. "That makes a lot more sense. Have you chosen a superhero name yet?"

I search the ground for Ladybug, wondering what's taking her so long. "Uh..." I remember learning about the parts of a bird's wing in school, so I say the first term that comes to my mind. "Pinion. I'm Pinion."

"Well, then, Pinion, welcome to the team." Then the black ears on his head twitch, and he dives for me. "Get down!"

We both crash onto the platform as a cracked teapot whizzes through the spot where I was just standing. Ladybug follows it, then throws her yo-yo to shatter it. The teapot's shards rain down onto the platform and don't move again.

Ladybug leans over the railing to see the ground below. "Sorry I took so long—Preserver sent some of his objects after me."

"No worries, milady. Pinion and I were just getting to know each other."

"If that's what you want to call it," I mutter. Don't think I've forgotten about his borderline rude greeting.

Ladybug glances at me. "Pinion? That's a cool name. But right now, we need to focus on defeating Preserver." We all huddle in, and Ladybug briefs us on our villain. "From what I understand, Preserver is a hoarder who got insulted for having too much 'junk' in his house. Then he got akumatized, and now he can repair any broken object and bring it to life. I've tried destroying his objects, but that doesn't seem to have any effect on him. Which means..."

"The akumatized object must be on him," Chat Noir finishes, and I glance between the two of them.

"I'm lost," I say finally.