LOL I'M BACK.

I'm still working on Guardians but I figured it was high time I continued this as well.

No one was prepared for a superhero to fall from the sky and land among their gym class. Most of them screamed and jumped away from her. Max dropped the ball he was holding and Rose actually fell over. The whole thing would have been hilarious to Chat Noire if she hadn't been on a mission. She straightened up and squared her shoulders to seem more imposing. Her eyes immediately located Kim but she quickly looked away and surveyed the students surrounding her. It wouldn't be a good idea for her to make it obvious that she knew who she was looking for.

"C-Chat Noire?" Monsieur D'Argencourt stammered, completely aghast, before quickly composing himself. "What is the meaning of this? We are having a class."

"Sorry, monsieur, but this is more important. I'm looking for a boy named Kim." She looked around at the students again.

"Uh…that's me," Kim announced and she turned to face him. He lowered his hand. "Sup?"

Chat Noire stalked towards him, tail lashing. "An akuma, that's what. An akuma that's been screaming your name like mantra and is likely on his way here."

Kim paled. "W-what? How…are you sure it's me?"

"I have it on good authority that it came from your school and one of your classmates said I would be able to find you here. Last I saw, the akuma was heading in this direction. So, yeah, pretty sure."

"Ivan!" Rose gasped. "It must be. Kim, how could you?!"

Kim sputtered, looking between Rose and Chat, then at the faces of his assembled peers who were frowning at him. "It wasn't my fault!" he protested.

"What did you do?" Chat Noire asked. "You can whisper to me if you don't want the others to know but I need to. We don't have a lot of options at this point because every time he's attacked, he grows bigger and stronger. Neither of us can find his corrupted object and if it's imbedded in his skin, somehow, we need to know exactly what it is we're looking for. Start talking."

Kim's mouth opened but nothing came out. At least he seemed to be comprehending the gravity of the situation.

"I think, perhaps, we should vacate the premises post-haste." D'Argencourt objected.

"You can go," Chat Noire said. "In fact, you should. Get as far from here as you can. But this one isn't going anywhere until he talks."

The students began moving towards the exit but D'Argencourt remained in his place. "He is my pupil—"

"Giant rampaging rock monster!" Chat Noire retorted. "On its way here, breaking everything in its path!"

"I will not—"

"KIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"

Chat Noire's ears swiveled in the direction of the roar but she otherwise remained motionless. She wasn't even sure the rest of the class had heard it until D'Argencourt let out a quiet, strangled sound. Kim's face paled.

"Giant. Rampaging. Rock monster," Chat repeated slowly. There was a flurry of movement as the rest of the class scampered for the doors. Kim tried to follow but Chat threw her arm out and caught him around the midsection. "And it's your fault."

"Alright!" Kim yelped. Glancing around, he leaned closer to Chat Noire and murmured a recount of what had transpired during homeroom. Chat Noire tried to keep the surprise off her face. Apparently, Kim had written Ivan a note calling him out for being unable to confess to Mylène. No wonder he had reacted so strongly! "I was trying to motivate him. Honest," Kim insisted as he finished.

"Well, I don't think he realized that." Chart Noire shook her head. "But I think I know where the akuma is. Thanks. Now, go." She gave him a push towards the door. "It's not safe here. Get as far away as you can and don't go anywhere he'd think to look for you!"

Kim took off across the field and with one final look of disapproval at the hero, D'Argencourt followed.

Chat Noire shook her head and pulled her yo-yo from her belt and flipped open the communicator to call Ladybug. He didn't answer immediately which she took to mean he was engaging with Rocky somehow.

Ladybug finally picked up after about twenty seconds and from the looks of things, he was in a tree. "What did you find, minou?"

"Do you have eyes on Rocky?"

"Stone Heart," Ladybug corrected off-handedly, craning his neck to see over his shoulder, "and yeah. Why?"

"Look at his right fist. Is it still closed?"

The screen blurred from the movement and she heard his boots scraping against wood. The image settled and she could see him squinting at something over the top of his baton. "Yes. …Wait. I think I see where you're going."

"He hasn't opened it once, has he?"

"Not that I can think of. He's punched with it but he's doing all the grabbing with his left."

"It's in his fist."

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking back into the camera.

"The akuma is likely in a wadded up piece of paper. Where do you carry something like that?"

"In your hand." Ladybug grumbled. "Great. Where are you?"

"The nearby stadium, some of the kids from the college were having class. I sent them away. But it doesn't matter, I'm coming back to you."

"About two blocks east from Tour Montparnasse. I'm trying to herd him but he just keeps swatting me. I'm running out of options here."

"Keep your wings in, I'm on my way." Chat Noire snapped her communicator shut and flung her yo-yo towards the open ceiling above her. It caught on the edge and she went sailing through the air. She stopped on the roof long enough to check that Kim and co were well on their way away from the stadium, then she located the Tour not too far away, and took off.

She heard Stone Heart before she saw him. He was shouting for something to "GET OUT OF HERE!" and "HOLD STILL!" just a few seconds after. Chat smiled to herself, despite everything. That would be Ladybug being Ladybug. Two helicopters, one for a local news station and the other for the police, were circling overhead and she figured that must be where the fight was occurring.

When Chat arrived, she paused only to assess the situation, and then she hurled her yo-yo at Stone Heart's fist as he was drawing back to punch. The akuma paused and twisted around to see what had stopped him. Then he growled and pulled. This time, Chat was ready, and she triggered the release mechanism just after she felt the tug. She used the momentum he'd given her to launch herself at him and landed directly on his face.

Chat Noire grinned at him and meowed loudly.

"Get off me!" Stone Heart bellowed, reaching up with his left hand to smash her but she let go, landing on the outcropping of his chest. Instead his hand connected with his face and he staggered, limbs flailing, and Chat sprang off him entirely, flipping backwards through the air, and landed on all fours.

Stone Heart tipped backwards and landed on the hood of a nearby car, stunned.

Chat Noire skittered back, retracting her yo-yo. Ladybug dropped down next to her a few seconds later. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, there's two of us and he has two hands…. Oh. Oh! Do you trust me?" she asked, grabbing his arm. Stone Heart was on his feet and they were out of time. Ladybug nodded, wide-eyed. "Good. Then wait ten seconds then fly in and rescue me!"

"What?! CHAT!" he shouted after her but she was already sprinting towards the akuma.

"HEY!" she shrieked up at him. "Betchya can't catch me!" She jumped again, aiming for his face, but he was ready for her this time. Eyes squeezed shut, Chat Noire braced for impact…but even that wasn't enough to prepare her for the feeling of a massive stone hand snatching her body out of the air. The air rushed out of her lungs and she cried out, or she tried to, but it came out as a weird little rasp.

Tight. It was incredibly tight and she could feel her insides being squished and her muscles screamed in protest. But she could still breathe! That was good, right? Ow, ow, ow I should've thought this through more—

"LET HER GO!"

Chat Noire glanced over her shoulder and saw Ladybug literally flying through the air with a look of fury on his face. As she'd predicted, Stone Heart reached up to grab the oncoming threat and as he did, she spotted a black piece of wadded up paper fall to the ground.

What she hadn't predicted was what would happen next.

Ladybug swung his baton up and nailed Stone Heart right in the chin. His grip tightened on her reflexively as he fell and he was crushing, crushing, crushing… The jolt as Stone Heart impacted with the ground was so jarring she swore she felt her brain bouncing around inside her skull. Her teeth clacked together and the arm that was closes to the ground suddenly flared with white hot pain.

Another pained noise left her throat. This was a bad idea.

And then the pressure was gone, disappeared as if it had never been there, and the only indicator that it ever had been was the pain her body which worsened when she hit the ground. She yelped and curled in on herself. A weak rumbling sputtered and died in her chest and she wondered why it felt like she was trying to purr at a time like this….

Then Ladybug was there fussing over her, hands flitting helplessly across her body, asking where it hurt, what was wrong, was she okay?

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," she whimpered and let out a low whine when he touched her wounded arm.

There was an angry buzzing over her. She opened her eyes and immediately found the source: his wings beating furiously enough that he was starting to lift off the ground. Ladybug looked up at the sky, his expression twisted in frustration, and he nodded to himself. Without a word, he leaped into the air and performed his magical cure. The swarm of ladybugs descended on her first, engulfing her body and easing the pain with a faint tickling sensation until there was nothing left.

Wings gone, Ladybug descended back to the ground on the tail end of the magic that let him fly. By the time his feet touched the ground, Chat Noire had pushed herself upright. Note to self, she thought, never do that again.

"What the heck kind of a stupid plan was that?" Ladybug snapped. "You could've been killed!"

She shook her head. "I knew I wouldn't be in danger for very long and I'm fine. See?" she rotated the arm that had been in agony just moments before. "No harm done."

Ladybug growled quietly. "The akuma got away."

"What?!" Chat shrieked. He looked away, ashamed now. "How could it get away?!"

"You were hurt. I was worried."

"You should've gone after it!"

"You were in pain," he replied simply. Chat Noire sighed exasperatedly but didn't press him further. It was obvious he wasn't going to regret what he'd done. Part of her was glad he'd been so quick to alleviate her pain. She just hoped this wasn't going to come back to bite them in the ass later.

"Where am I?"

Chat Noire turned around. Right. Ivan. He was looking around in confusion, one hand on his head. Chat pushed herself up and walked over to the piece of paper. Picking it up, she unfolded it to read the message for herself and then sighed. Kim had been trying…in his own twisted way to motivate him, but he'd really missed the mark on this one. Poor Ivan.

"A couple kilometers from your school," she told him.

Ivan lowered his hand, glancing between them. "I didn't…did I?"

"Afraid so, man," Ladybug answered.

Her classmate looked away, hunching his shoulders. "I didn't mean to. Kim he—he was making fun of me. I just got so angry and I…"

Chat Noire approached him. "Well…." Kneeling down, she held out the note. "Nothing like the prospect of a raging rock monster coming after them to make someone change their ways, right?"

Ivan considered this. "Maybe. If I'm lucky."

"Well, I can't help you there," she warned him with a mock grimace. "But maybe Ladybug would be willing to share some of his luck."

Ladybug rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, my luck isn't working so well today, either." Then, as if to prove his point, his ring began beeping. He sighed. "Well, that's my cue. …You sure you're okay?"

Chat Noire nodded reassuringly. "What about the akuma?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Maybe it went back to Hawkmoth? I guess we'll see. Later, minou. Good luck with your uh…thing," he added for Ivan's benefit.

"Thank you?" Ivan replied.

Ladybug saluted and then catapulted away with his baton. Chat watched long enough to make sure he made it to the roof then turned back to Ivan and held out her hand. "Come on, I'll take you back to your school."