Justice: Delicious Hot, Disturbing Cold Miraculous Prompt of the Day
I have her, at last.
"Princess Justice," Shadowmoth gloated, feeling his enhanced mental hooks sinking into Marinette Dupain-Cheng at last. "I am Shadowmoth. A fact of which you are certainly aware; our paths have crossed many times before this, but never connected fully quite like this."
He felt Marinette trying desperately to shake off his persuasive voice, to ward off the Akuma and its repercussions. Her resistance remained firm, but perhaps not quite as passionate as in their past encounters.
"I sense that I may have caught you on the worst day of your young life," he sympathized. "And, for once, not of my own doing. Today, I am not here to torment you; I am here to help you regain control of your life. This world has many wrongs that a girl with the right power might set right, does it not?"
"It... does," mumbled Marinette, through gritted teeth. She stared at the open window, through which she'd sent a frantic Wayzz with a pair of earrings in his grasp. "It does, at that."
"Then accept my power, and bring your own form of... justice to the deserving."
A cocoon of energy enveloped Marinette as the transformation took hold. Shadowmoth felt the transfer of power take place... and continue... and continue far beyond what he had intended.
"You are correct, Shadowmoth," a reverberating voice declared. "There are many wrongs that I may make right. I can sense those wrongs -- and those responsible for them. Such as a fashion magnate, who plays with magical toys that he does not fully understand!"
"Wh-what?"
She can sense who I am, through our connection? She can trace it back to its source? gasped Shadowmoth, internally. She has THAT level of power?
"Indeed, I do," grinned the transforming girl.
She... just read my MIND?!
"But for the moment, you may rest assured that your schemes and your little parlor games are further down my list. With this... I truly can mold the world into its proper shape. Just know that when I have settled some scores, on behalf of the suffering, of the innocent, of the planet itself... I will be coming for you, Gabriel Agreste."
Shadowmoth watched as his creation began to grow, both in size and in luminescent intensity...
~----~
"YOU."
Shadowmoth tried not to flinch, but failed. His intent was to present himself in a nonthreatening manner, avoiding a defensive stance that might make Chat Noir think that a fight was imminent... but the boy's fury was beyond anything Shadowmoth had ever seen in him.
Chat stared him down, his muscles tensing, ready to tear the villain limb-from-limb at the slightest provocation.
"Young man," Shadowmoth opened, "I require your assistance. You and your partner... who seems to have ignored my summons."
"I'm... I'm sure that she'll be here soon," Chat growled. She'd better be! he thought. I don't know if I can take him down alone.
"I have done nothing to harm Ladybug. I promise you that," Shadowmoth insisted.
"She's more than capable of taking care of herself," sniffed Chat. "And if you had her Miraculous, you wouldn't be talking to me right now; you'd be trying to take mine. But you have crossed a goddamned line this time, Shadowmoth."
He thought back to what he had found in Marinette's bedroom -- scattered furniture and belongings, signs of raw power being unleashed, and no traces of Marinette herself -- and felt his fury redouble. A part of his brain shrieked out at him that giving away "You Akumatized the girl I'm falling in love with" to Shadowmoth was a seriously bad idea... but in the moment, it struggled to be heard.
To his surprise... Shadowmoth's face fell.
"I... have crossed a line," he conceded, "however inadvertently. I have unleashed a great and terrible presence into the world... and I cannot tame it alone."
"What did you do to her?" Chat snapped, unable to restrain himself.
"This... 'Princess Justice'... synergized with my Akuma in some unforeseen way," Shadowmoth explained. "Some untapped power within her, something that I never expected to find... it not only absorbed my Akuma outright, but multiplied it exponentially! She overwhelmed me from afar with a simple thought. I cannot control her; I cannot call the Akuma back."
"So... she's on a rampage... uncontrolled?" mused Chat, pondering the implications.
"She spoke of setting things right in the world. Changing things to fit her worldview, her desires, her sense of justice. But that sense is twisted by my Akuma, I promise you," stammered Shadowmoth. "With the power at her disposal, she could do almost anything, and by all I hold holy, I insist that you and I may not wish to live in the world that she may create. This could be devastating!"
"For you, you mean," Chat retorted. "If you could turn this to your advantage, you--"
"For this planet."
Shadowmoth stared him down, all humor and pompousness gone from his voice. "Do you believe that I would stand before you now, hat-in-hand, for anything less?" he inquired.
Chat Noir heard the urgency, the desperation in Shadowmoth's voice... and despite himself, he shuddered. He pictured Marinette's vivid imagination, her strength of will, her passionate nature... then pictured it again, corrupted, coupled to infinite power. Slowly, he returned his focus to Shadowmoth's pleading gaze.
"...Keep talking."
