When Walls Crumble

Chapter 23: Shot In the Dark

The last month of summer was beautiful. Green still blanketed the parks, though the colors of fall began to peek in. The nights were always beautiful. And strangely enough, no akumas disrupted the peace. Marinette hoped the good luck would last the entire time she was pregnant. Tikki warned her that she may have to find a temporary replacement Ladybug if worst came to worst. She could still transform, but someone who knew her was bound to connect the dots if Marinette and Ladybug were pregnant at the same time.

Whenever the child would allow, Luka and Marinette would take evening strolls in the summer night. They would frequently meet up with friends or take their Kitty for a walk, but most of the time, they enjoyed each other's company in the night air.

One night, they lost themselves in the song for their child and sat on the bridge long into the night. Marinette did most of the lyrics while Luka made it hard to rhyme it properly. He kept suggesting random words that had no context in the song, provoking Marinette's laugh, his favorite music.

Once she wrote down the full poem, they started playing with chords and harmonies. Luka snuck his phone out and set it to record. He started the first verse until Marinette laughed and joined him in harmony. She sang the second while he took the low line. After the last chord, he made a big show of stopping the recording.

"Luka!" she protested. "You recorded that?"

He smiled. "You sound more natural when you don't care."

She pushed him playfully. "Whatever. We should probably head home. It's late and the cat might need a snack."

He stood up and made a big show of bowing and offering her his hand. She took it, stood up and curtseyed.

They shared a quick laugh and headed home in the dark.

But somewhere, they must have taken a wrong turn. They found themselves in a street Luka didn't recognize but Marinette knew all too well. She had broken up gang activity many times here.

"Luka," she whispered urgently. "We need to go back. This place is dangerous."

He nodded and grabbed her arm tighter. They turned around and headed back to the main road but found their way blocked.

Two masked men were standing in front of them. And they were armed.

The couple turned back around and found themselves trapped. Another thug was behind them.

Luka shifted himself so he was covering Marinette.

"I can transform," she whispered.

Luka shook his head. "They'll see you. Of all people, the thugs of Paris should not be the ones to know your identity. We'll think of something."

Across the city, Plagg felt Tikki's distress. He zoomed up in front of Adrian.

"Adrian! Adrian!" he shouted.

Adrian smiled at his friend. "What's up, Plagg?"

Plagg gasped for breath. "Quickly! Transform! Luka and Marinette are in danger!"

Adrian's smile quickly traded for shock. "What? Where?"

"They got lost in the street where the gangs hang out. Hurry!"

Adrian jumped to his feet and transformed. Only when he was halfway there did he wonder how Plagg knew it. No time for that now. His friends were in trouble.

From the roof of the abandoned apartment complex, he saw the couple surrounded by five thugs. Luka was doing his best to shield his wife, but they were trapped in a circle.

Cat Noir jumped down, landing right in front of them.

"Hey, a party and no one invited me?" he joked, swinging his baton around and taking out three thugs.

Luka reacted fast. He quickly pulled Marinette to the side that was now only occupied by unconscious threats.

The other two thugs reacted too. They avoided Cat's second swipe and split up, skirting around the edge of the baton's radius. The first one took out his gun and started spitting out rounds at Cat Noir, who was forced to keep his baton as a shield in front of him. While the first had the hero's attention, the second tried to sneak around and fire from behind. He was too distracted by the magical presence that he forgot about the other man in the alley.

Luka grabbed his hand and shoved it so the shot was harmlessly fired into the air. He quickly hit the trigger to eject the magazine and scattered the bullets. The thug pointed the now empty gun at Luka and tried to fire, but before he realized what happened, Luka knocked him out with a well-placed uppercut.

Cat Noir spun his baton until the first thug's gun was out of bullets, then he swiped at him, knocking him to the ground.

Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Luka tensed, chills running up his neck.  

The alley was filled with the sound of minature explosions as an unnoticed hostile figure emerged from hiding wielding a semi-automatic rifle.  

Cat Noir spun his baton as a shield in front of them, deflecting the bullets toward the walls.  He slowly advanced, angling his shield to send the bullets back the way they came.  One hit the shooter's leg and he fell.  Cat Noir grabbed the rifle and broke it.  

The shout he heard next sent chills up his spine.

"LUKA!" Marinette screamed. Her voice was full of terror, anxiety, bitter rage, and urgency.

Cat Noir turned and what he saw curdled his blood.

Luka had pulled Marinette to safety

And stopped the bullets with his own body.