"Faceless Future" Book 2 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy |COMPLETED|

Chpt 38: The Villain's Triumphant Return. Or Maybe Not.

"No!" cried Ladybug. She was about lean down to make sure Cat Noir was okay when she was hit by another beam, causing her to crumple onto the ground. They both felt a familiar, and unwelcome, change happening to them.

Ladybug tried to stand up, but tripped over her own feet, causing her to fall to her knees, and Cat Noir whimpered and tried to hide behind Ladybug, clutching at her legs.

The villain, coincidentally dressed like the villain they had just been discussing a.k.a. Reverser, jumped out of the portal and started to stride toward them.

"Cat Noir, quick, wish really hard for a baseball!" said Ladybug, her mind grasping for the first thing she thought might work. At the same time she tried to detach Cat's arms from around her legs so she could actually maneuver some, even though she knew she would hardly be able to do anything in her new clumsy state. "Are you doing it?" she asked him.

"Yes," came a small voice, along with 'a baseball' repeated as a chant.  He had turned away from Ladybug and curled himself into a ball, trying to hide from the villain.

"Good, now keep it up! Lucky Charm!" she cried, hoping that this plan would work.

Ladybug could hardly contain her relief as a black baseball dropped into her hands. Maybe this new joint power can come in handy!  "Now Kitty, listen to me. I'm going to hand you this and you need to throw it straight behind you when I tell you, okay?" She whispered to him. He nodded and she managed to successfully hand it over to him.

Ladybug noticed that the villain had again, like the previous time they had fought him, stopped to watch them. He really was easily distracted and not a good villain, but it certainly helped her! When the villain realized that Ladybug was watching, she noticed that he cautiously resumed his path toward her.

She waited for him to get just a little closer and then she said quietly to Cat, so as not to scare him, 'Now!'

Ladybug was really relying on the fact that this was a lucky charm and not just any item so they might get a bit of extra luck with his aim. The baseball flew toward the villain, hitting him in the center of his chest. Ladybug heard a loud crack and the villain's Reverser costume started to flicker. The villain seemed to stare down at his chest and poke at what Ladybug could now see looked like a small button, but nothing happened. Ladybug could almost imagine a look of horror on his face as he started to realize that the baseball damaged the suit and maybe could no longer open a portal. The villain started to sprint away from them, toward the stairs.

Ladybug tried to run after the villain. She managed to make it to the stairs, but the clumsiness from the Reverser power caused her to trip on the top one and she started to tumble. Ladybug could just make out the villain turning around to look at her, and she desperately tried to keep herself from rolling down the rest of the steps. She put her arms out to brace herself and came to a stop. Ladybug gave a sigh of relief, until she saw the villain coming back up the stairs and launching on top of her. She got the wind knocked out of her and lost her vision for a moment after her head clonked onto the step. When she refocused she realized the villain had a grip on one of her earrings.

"Cat Noir!" Ladybug yelled as she desperately tried to fight off the attacker. None of her limbs behaved the way they were supposed to, though, and the villain just about had her left earring pulled off!

She could just see Cat peeking his head over the side and looking down at her in fright.

"Please, Cat! You can do this! You are brave, no matter what this villain did to you- the real you is so brave and willing to confront things head on!" she called up to him as she was only just managing to push the villain's hand away from her earring. She dimly registered that this villain was not very big or very strong. Normally, Ladybug without her real powers wouldn't be able to hold anyone off for this long!