To Be a Hero | MLB

25: The Defeat

Instantly, my guard goes back up. "Yeah, Hawk Moth, I know." I shake my head at Chat Noir and launch a parrot at him. It lands on his shoulder and digs its talons into his suit, and I watch with a sick sort of pleasure as his green eyes fade to purple, and his shoulders slacken as he succumbs to my mind control. Then he falls to his knees and reaches to pull off his ring.

"Excellent job, Reverb. Now, just—"

Suddenly, Ladybug's yo-yo flies in from nowhere and yanks the parrot off Chat Noir's shoulder. I turn to see my minion get pulled over a rooftop and disappear, and I start to fly after it, but Chat Noir, now free of my control, trips me with his stick.

I turn back to face him as he says, "Let's finish this, Reverb."

I pull my racket off my back and swing for him. "This was all part of your plan, wasn't it?" I ask as he blocks my weapon. "You didn't mean anything you said about Ladybug apologizing."

He swings for me, and I duck. "Well, she technically never said she was sorry, but... she seemed like it. It's always hard to tell what she's thinking."

I create enough distance between us to fire some parrots at him. Strangely, though, none of them fly to him and instead curve upward, heading toward the same rooftop Ladybug's yo-yo came from.

I watch them fly and see a small red-and-black figure holding an even smaller red-and-black... bag? When I look even closer, I realize Ladybug's feeding my parrots, and they aren't attacking her or trying to take her Miraculous.

"Cataclysm!"

I dive and roll before Chat Noir can destroy my racket, then fire off more birds at him, hoping they'll actually reach their target this time. They don't, and I fly a few feet in the air as my frustration mounts.

"You can't beat me!" I growl. "You can't beat me, so just... stop trying!"

Chat Noir smiles, and my heart sinks, knowing something is wrong. "I don't have to. But she—" He points at something behind me— "already has."

I spin around and see all the birds I launched soaring toward me, squawking the same command I intended for Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"Give me your Miraculous! Give me your Miraculous!"

I shout and try to fly away, but they surround me, and I have nowhere to go. My parrots dig their talons into my shoulders and back, and I feel my mind starting to clear.

"No, Reverb! You must fight the magic!" Hawk Moth sounds just as desperate as I am.

I try to resist, but the influence is just... too strong. After just a few seconds of weak resistance, I submit to my own powers.

All the birds around me except the one on my shoulder disperse, and I flutter down to the ground as the world around me gains a violet tint. Though no part of me wants to, I reach up and remove my earring as Ladybug swings down to join Chat Noir and me. I place my Miraculous in her outstretched palm, then freeze, awaiting her next command.

She returns the earring to the void inside her yo-yo and glances back up at me. "Now, give Chat Noir your racket." Her voice sounds oddly distorted, but when the parrot on my shoulder whispers those same words into my ear, I understand them perfectly fine.

I hold my racket out to the other superhero, and he takes it. Of course, it crumbles to black dust, and an akuma flies out of the debris. Ladybug captures it, and I feel my powers literally melt away, leaving me—as myself, without powers—to slump to the ground.

Ladybug uses her Magical Ladybug power to return everything back to normal, and I curl my fingers into a fist.

"They beat me. They really beat me."