Stuck

Chapter Thirteen: In Which There's Another Akuma And Some Difficulties

'Okay. Marinette and Adrien. Did any of you see them after school that day?' Chat begins.

'Adrien had fencing after school if that helps.' Nino starts.

'That's somewhere to start. What about Marinette?' I asked, directing the question at Alya.

'Marinette was at home I think. She said she was going to work on our merch, you know, the stuff I showed you, and our dresses for the masquerade.' Alya supplies.

'So she would have most likely been at home then.'

'Yeah.'

'Chloe? Do you know anything that might help?' Chat asks, noticing how quiet she's been.

'No, apart from-' At that moment, the door bursts open and Alix runs in.

'Hey, Ladybug, Chat Noir, you may want to come and see this.'

***

We all head back to our class where everyone's gathered at the windows, watching something down below. Or rather, they were. As we come closer, we can see that they've been frozen and turned into life-sized coloured glass statues. Alya reaches out to touch Juleka on the shoulder but Alix shouts 'No!'. Alya pulls back and we all look at Alix

'Don't touch them or you'll be turned to glass too. That's what happened to Mylene.' She points and we can see now that she must have been trying to tap Nathaniel on the shoulder.

'Okay, you guys stay here and try to look after everyone else. Make sure they don't smash and stuff. We'll go and find the akuma.' Chat and I make our way to the door but as we're about to exit, Chloe calls out.

'Wait! Can I help?' I glance at Chat and he shrugs.

'We'll see how dangerous the akuma is and if we need help, we'll come back for you, okay?' I say not wanting to get any of the others stuck as their alter egos. They all nod apart from Alix, who just looks at Alya and Nino like she's figuring something out, and we leave.

We head to the Eiffel Tower first, knowing that most villains seem to head there at some point, either to make an announcement or to battle us. Our hunch is proven correct as, within a few minutes, we can see a brightly coloured person coming towards us, crystallising people around them as they go. We head down to see where the akuma might be, but before we can really see anything, they start flinging glass shards at us. Chat twirls his baton, deflecting the shards but unlike most other akuma's powers, the baton absorbs the shards and turns to glass. Luckily, it doesn't spread to him but we end up running, trying to dodge the bullets. I grab him and swing us to safety, leaving the akuma behind.

'So where do you think the akuma is?' I ask Chat as we hide behind a large chimney.

'The bauble or whatever they're shooting that glass out of probably.'

'Do you think we'll need Chloe and the rest?' I ask.

'We might. But, uh, bugaboo, you may want to see this.' I look over at Chat and see his fingers are slowly crystallising before my eyes and turning his hand to the same black glass our friends were turned into.

'Ok, we will then. Let's...let's go to Master Fu's.' Again, Chat holds onto me, careful not to touch with the glass hand in case it spreads to me, and I use my yoyo to get us to the Great Guardian's apartment.

***

'M'lady, could you knock? I'm worried if I do, we may have a rather smashing time.' Chat smiles at his pun.

I knock and we enter before waiting for Master Fu to answer.

'Master Fu?' I call out. There's no answer. I look out on the balcony and see a figure standing there behind the gauzy curtain. We go over to him and pull back the curtain. He's frozen just like everyone else on the street, something we didn't notice as we came in. Luckily, his bracelet didn't turn to glass with him so Chat carefully takes it off.