To Be a Hero | MLB

13: The Plan

Chat Noir smiles at me. But, I can't help noticing, his smile's got nothing on Antoine's. "It's okay, just try to follow along."

"Pinion, we need to use your powers. They'll help us lure Preserver's objects away and give us an easier way to him."

She then instructs me how to use my power, and I grab my racket from the back of my suit, holding it into the air and shouting, "Echo!" A dozen tiny parakeets appear between the strings of my racket, then grow and drift down to the air around me.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, show yourselves!" a voice thunders from below us. "You have some objects I think will complete my collection!"

Chat Noir immediately glances down at his ring, and Ladybug's hand floats to one of her earrings. Their Miraculous, I recognize. That's what Preserver is after.

Then I hear soft beeping near my ear, and I glance at Ladybug.

"You only have five minutes before you transform back, so we need to hurry. Have each of your birds mimic Chat Noir's and my voices, then send them out around Paris. That should be enough to lure Preserver's objects away."

I do exactly what she tells me, and soon, Chat Noir and Ladybug's voices are surrounding us. And while I'm sure the noise would be enough to confuse or irritate someone else, I can hear each bird distinctly, as if their words are my own thoughts. I send them out, and Chat Noir frowns at one passing him.

"You must be Ladybug's detour," it parrots in his face, then dives off the Tower, heading east.

"Am I really that annoying?" he asks, and Ladybug grins.

"Always, Kitty," she says absentmindedly, watching Preserver send all his enchanted objects after my parakeets. She starts to explain the next part of her plan to us, but then Preserver uses his ring to zap a parked car and bring it to life. He jumps on it, then zaps the ground, turning it into a roiling, oddly smooth monster.

"Give me your Miraculous!" Preserver roars from below.

Ladybug steps back and shares a look. The two nod at each other, and Ladybug throws her yo-yo, shouting, "Lucky Charm!" A red-and-black bar of wet soap falls into her hands, and she wonders aloud, "A bar of soap?"

"What are you supposed to do with that? Give Preserver a bath?" Chat Noir jokes, and Ladybug glares at him.

Are they a couple? I wonder as Ladybug studies the scene around us. "You know each other's identities, right?" I ask Chat Noir, and he shakes his head sadly.

"She won't tell me, no matter how many times I ask," he says, and the way he looks at her gives everything away: His love for her is severely unrequited.

Before I can question him further, Ladybug turns back to us. "Okay, I have a plan. Chat Noir, I'll need you to use your Cataclysm on the car Preserver's flying on." She picks up a discarded chip bag by her feet and lathers it with soap. "He'll use the next available object to float on—this bag—but since it's soapy—"

"He'll slip right off, and you can capture his akuma! Genius."

"Do you know where the akuma is?" I ask, feeling left out.

Ladybug pulls out her yo-yo, preparing for the fight. "It has to be in his ring. Kitty, are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, milady." Then he summons his power, and dark energy begins to swirl around his right hand.

"What about me?" I blurt, and both heroes look at me. "How can I help?"

"You already have," Ladybug assures me. "Only Chat Noir and I are needed in this part of the plan, so... just stay here and wait for us, okay?"

As the two get ready to leap off the Eiffel Tower, I feel a foreign emotion rise up inside me. I can't identify it, but it's strong, bubbling just below the surface of my calm. This new emotion is reminding me of all the times I've been overlooked—by my teachers, my "friends," even my own family members.

Being overlooked by my family definitely hurts the most, though it's not exactly easy to stand out among my five eccentric brothers.

And now I have to sit back and wait for these two superheroes to save the day, like I'm not here and willing to help?

No. I'm a superhero now, too, and it's time I give some orders. It's time I'm seen.

So I smile at Ladybug, then grab Chat Noir by the arm and dive straight off the Eiffel Tower.