Miraculous ~ A Ladybug And A Bee

~Balance~

"This is the 3rd time this week!" Marinette mumbled under her breath as she noticed a white and black figure jump over rooftops in the distance. Of course she couldn't just enjoy a nice walk in the park with her friend.

"What was that, girl?" Alya said as she turned around to face her best friend. Marinette felt bad that she was about to give Alya another lame excuse why she had to suddenly leave... then she remembered Alya knew. "Is everything okay?" Alya finally said, breaking the silence.

Marinette looked around. There were too many people to say she had to take care of an akumatized victim. Marinette hoped Alya would catch her hint. "I... I have to go! I think I- I left the stove on while I was baking macaroons!"

There was a slight pause before Alya smiled. "Okay, I'll see you later then!"

Marinette bowed as a thank you but felt a force on her shoulder stop her as she jogged away. Marinette turned around to face Alya.

Alya slightly squeezed Marinette's shoulder. "...be careful."

🐞🐈‍⬛

It was just Balance, a poor young man who kept getting akumatized by Hawk Moth. Ladybug and Cat Nior couldn't quite figure out what his powers were, just that he was a perfectionist. Anything that seemed to make people upset, he fixed with a wave of his hand and made people emotionless zombies.

Balance's reason for being akumatized wasn't known yet. But Ladybug assumed it had something to do with him being too sensitive and wanted everyone to be emotionless. Right as Ladybug arrived at the scene, a woman walked right past her with no expression. She had short blonde hair and bright blue eyes that shinned in the sun. Usually, someone would react to the sun beamed right in their eyes... but she was kept walking to her destination.

"Well, that's creepy," Cat Nior said as he jumped off of one of the rooftops and landed next to his partner.

"Cat Nior, do you know where Balance is?" Ladybug said as she scanned around.

"No... I figured you knew?" Cat Nior guessed. "He's pretty useless anyway. We don't need to rush -"

"Kitty, people are being turned to literal NPCs! Maybe this time, when we catch Balance, we can figure out why he keeps getting akumatized!" She knew that wasn't true. The last three times, he pushed them away from his feelings and ran away like a child.

The two heroes jumped rooftops to rooftop, but Balance was nowhere. There was just a bunch of people walking around with neutral expressions. Usually, finding him was easy, and he was saved with ten to fifteen minutes. But the two have been looking for almost an hour and no sign... just his victims.

"This is so annoying! Balance is so annoying! Hawk Moth is so annoying!" Ladybug stomped her foot in agitation and let herself drop, sitting right on the edge of the eiffel tower. "Hawk Moth must've made him invisible... that's why we can't see him!"

"Or... he gave him a suit that's not as noticeable," Cat Nior pitched in. "Obviously, Hawk Moth sees something in Balance that would make him go after him so many times, like Lila."

Ladybug felt her stomach drop at the name. "But he's so weak! Why would Hawk Moth..." Suddenly, her mind went crazy. Ladybug stood up, grabbing her head. "Hawk Moth made Balance weak and noticeable the first two times, so we would think he's the same the third time! So if he's stronger now..."