The Bat Who Fights

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Batman quickly reached down to his utility belt and flung two Batarangs towards Freeze, who easily blocked them with short blasts of his ice gun. Batman then threw a third one with a steep curve. This one had sunk into the ice gun and the Batarang created an electrical energy field around Freeze. Freeze let out a short yelp of pain as his body uncontrollably rocked back and forth. He tried to look forward and tried to move even just one of his legs, but he could not. The electrical surges from the Batarang kept him in place.
"Ladybug, grab Chat Noir, go through the Notre Dame and exit through the hole around the other side of the cathedral. I will take care of Mr. Freeze."
"But..." she looked at the lingering smoke cloud that still consumed Chat Noir. A look of worry spread across her face. As if reading her thoughts, Batman turned to her.
"Do you both truly trust each other?" Ladybug nodded her head without a single hesitation. "Take these," Batman handed her some of those small black pellets. "If you need some cover, these will do the job. Now go."
Ladybug did not waste another moment and bolted into the smoke cloud. She couldn't really make out anything from within, but she managed to see the silhouette of Chat's body. She could tell Chat was not in his super suit anymore. But that did not matter to her. She closed her eyes and hoisted him over her shoulders and darted out of the cloud of smoke and blindly into the Notre Dame.
When Ladybug opened her eyes she saw a pair of jean covered legs dangle over her shoulders. She tried to keep the legs out of her vision as she did not want to see anything that could give away Chat Noir's identity. She focused on running ahead of her and out through one of the stained glass windows. Upon entering the other side of Notre Dame Ladybug saw the hole that Batman was talking about. It looked like the ice had melted away by some sort of chemical mixture that turned the rim of the hole a turquoise color. She didn't stick around to get a closer look though and ran across the bridge.
"L-l-ladyb...." Ladybug could feel him trying to move his head up.
"It's okay Chat Noir, you are gonna be just fi-" Suddenly Ladybug's earrings gave their final few beeps and Ladybug grabbed a couple of the smoke pellets. "Keep your eyes closed." Ladybug threw a couple of the smoke pellets in front of her, creating giant smoke clouds big enough to cover them both. As she ran through them, her transformation fell away. Even though Marinette lost her extra strength and agility, she refused to stop or drop her partner.
Marinette threw every smoke pellet along the way. Even though she could hardly see past the smoke clouds, she could hear no passing civilians. Marinette figured that many people ran far away from the ice dome, but she did not wish to chance being wrong. She trusted her feet and intuition to lead her away from the Notre Dame to somewhere she could safely hid herself and her partner. Without looking, Marinette knew that she was coming up on a deserted alleyway as she knew the city like the back of her hand.
With the last pellet thrown at the entrance of the alleyway, Marinette, once again, closed her eyes as she set her partner down, leaning against a trash dumpster. She got on the other side of the dumpster and plopped onto the ground. Sweat covered her entire forehead and was dripping fast down her face. She wiped as much of her sweat off as she could and rested the back of her head against the chilling, yet stinky dumpster. She slowly opened her as she felt her heartbeat calm slightly.
"Ladybug?" Came the voice of her partner from the other side of the dumpster. Adrien had fully woken up and was now sitting up against the dumpster. Neither one could see the other.
"I am here Chat. Are you alright?" She heard him let out a small chuckle.
"I've been worse, but I've also been better. You?"
"Just... catching my breath. It was such a close call."
"You didn't see-"
"No," She said quickly. "You?"
"Of course not My Lady." Marinette let out a sigh of relief. "But I gotta ask, how did we get away from Mr. Freeze? I don't recall much before passing out."
"Uuuuuhhhh well," Marinette struggled to get more than that out. Up until this point she had been on such high alert and in a world wind of things occurring, that she never had time to digest any of the information. She didn't fully understand all the details, but she understood enough to continue talking. "It's a bit hard to explain, but Batman showed up."
"Wait, THE Batman?" Adrien's voice had an extreme amount of excitement and confusion.
"I- I guess so?" Marinette wasn't all too confident about what she saw really. She had never seen the Batman before, not many people did. Much like Chat Noir, she had heard of the stories of The Batman from Gotham. With Master Fu, she had theorized about it being the Bat Miraculous, but it was locked away in the Temple of the Guardians. Batman had existed before the temple was restored. So whoever Batman was, was not a Miraculous holder.
"We should probably feed our Kwamis and try to offer him some assistance." Adrien said once his tone calmed down and the gravity of the situation sunk in.
"Good idea, Kitty." Marinette reached into her little handbag and found Tikki curled up into a ball. Her eyes were closed and she was shivering. "Oh no, Tikki."
"What's wrong, My Lady?"
"Tikki is out cold, literally" Adrien pulled Plagg out of his shirt pocket.
"Same with Plagg."
"They must've strained themselves to keep us from transforming back."
"Especially against Freeze's intense cold."
"It's best for us to wait until they wake up before transforming again."
"Good idea, besides I think we need the breather too."
Marinette nodded even though she knew he couldn't see him.
"I just hope that Batman is doing okay on his own."
While the two heroes and their Kwamis were resting, all the way back at Notre-Dame the Gotham residents continued to duke it out. Mr. Freeze had broken free of the electrical Batarang, and had retaliated, by trying to freeze Batman where he stood. However, Batman was already on the move, acting on the defensive, dodging left and right. Batman was able to predict where Mr. Freeze was going to shot next. With each missed shot, Freeze became ever so more aggravated.
"Ugh! You persistent pest." Freeze threw out another ice grenade, but Batman merely used his grappling hook to allow him to ascend back up onto one of the roofs of the Notre-Dame, avoiding his attack entirely. Tiny shards of ice flew up, but none of them even grazed the flowing black cape. Freeze took a deep breath, and looked up at where Batman stood.
"I will admit, I am surprised to see you here in Paris, and not looming over Gotham City. Are you not afraid of what is going to happen to your precious city in your absence?"
"I wouldn't worry about Gotham, Victor. It is in capable hands." Batman tossed a couple more Batarangs at Freeze, who merely froze them in mid air. The Batarangs lost all momentum and fell straight down in front of Mr. Freeze, who shattered them into pieces with the back of his ice gun when.
"Oh please. Don't tell me that you left Gotham with the Darknight Dasmal? The Boy Wonder would have been a much better choice." Freeze gave a wick grin. "Oh, but I suppose he has flown the coop though, has he not?"
Batman squinted his eyes at Mr. Freeze. Batman always tried to not show his emotions, especially in the midst of battle, but he had to be extra careful. He could feel a stir of equal anger and sadness bubble up. He must push down these feelings, or else he would be transformed into an Akumatized Villain for Monarch. With a silent breath, his mixture of emotions had changed into a feeling of determination. Batman felt his thoughts get back under control. He couldn't let Mr. Freeze get under his skin.
    Batman launched himself higher into the air to avoid the next few shots from Freeze's ice gun. Batman used his grappling hook to swing down and around the main body of the cathedral, completely disappearing from Mr. Freeze's sight. Freeze did not bother to give chase, he did not want to walk into a trap or to give Batman a proper advantage. He knew that Batman would come back striking soon enough.
Sure enough, Batman had thrown out another Batarang, this one had a small red flashing light on the center of the bat-shaped icon. It flew directly in front of Mr. Freeze's face, and a second later, a sudden flash exploded right where the Batarang had been. Freeze had reacted a little too slowly and was only able to see white right in front of him. Mr. Freeze's eyelids were rapidly opening and closing as he attempted to regain focus. Color and general shapes came back to him first as a black and grey blob kicked him in the chest. Mr. Freeze was knocked along the ground.
    "Put a stop to this, Victor." Came Batman's voice. Freeze continued to blink to refocus his eyes. His vision became only partially blurry as he noted that Batman was slowly walking towards him. "Ladybug and Chat Noir have already escaped, so there is no way you can get their Miraculouses."
    "I will not be deterred so easily, Batman." Even though Mr. Freeze could not see far ahead of him, he did not hesitate to raise his ice gun once more. Freeze sprayed the area in front of himself and formed a protective wall of ice. It kept Batman away just long enough to give Freeze the time to climb back up to his feet.
    Batman would not let a few feet of thick ice stand between himself and Freeze. He jumped into the air and grabbed the top of the ice wall. In one swift motion, Batman vaulted over the wall and managed to land a couple of kicks to Freeze's glass dome of a head. Mr. Freeze staggered backwards with each kick.
    He tried to aim his ice gun, but Batman was already out of sight. Freeze scanned the immediate area but saw no sign of the illusive shadow of a man. Batman snuck around behind Mr. Freeze and smacked the hand that held the ice gun.  The gun flew out of Freeze's hand dangled down from the tank on his back. Before Freeze could even react or try to reach for the ice gun, he was shoved against his own ice wall.
As Freeze bounced off of the wall he tried to turn around to face Batman. However, he was forced upon it again and again as Batman later down a flurry of punches against Freeze's chest. With each impact, Freeze recoiled against his ice wall, chunks of ice flew off in all directions. Freeze tried to swing his fist in front of him but all he managed to hit was air. Freeze was not as equipped to handle a hand to hand combat situation. Which Batman took full advantage off.
    With Freeze swinging widely it was all too easy for Batman dodged all the attacks with ease. Batman saw a clear opening and from his golden belt, Batman threw out a bolas at Freeze. It entangled Freeze around the chest and arms. Batman went low to the ground and swooped his legs against Freeze's legs and knocked him back to the ground. Freeze landed with a painful groan.
"It's over Victor. I'm taking you back to Gotham." Batman said as he stood over Freeze. Freeze struggled to stretch the cord so he could break free of it. "That's a titanium infused cable. You aren't going to pry it apart, even with your enhanced strength." Freeze merely sighed.
"I suppose I have been bested once again. Fine, take me back to Gotham." Batman squinted his eyes again. This time peering right into Freeze's dark tinted goggles. Freeze starred back at Batman's slick eyes.
"You're trying to make me leave Paris."
"You never give up the detective facade, do you?" Batman lifted Freeze up by the cable.
"What do you have planned, Fries?" Batman pulled him closer. His nose right up against the glass dome. "Don't make me beat it out of you."
"I am sure you would derive great pleasure in doing so."
Batman slammed Freeze to the ground. "Answer me, Fries!" His hands remained gripped tightly to the front of Mr. Freeze's suit as he knelt just above him.
    Freeze started a small chuckle that turned into a deadpan laugh. Batman's expression remained unchanged. His focus also undeterred.
"Well, Batman, have you truly forgotten that I am not the only supervillain in Paris right at this moment?" Batman's eyes went wide and jumped to his feet. He bolted as fast as he could out of the hole he had made in the ice dome.
Back in the secluded alleyway, the two heroes remained slumped against the dumpster. Their Kwami's had only just begun to show signs of consciousness, as their eyelids fluttered in their sleep.
    "Is Plagg awake yet?" Marinette asked.
    "No not yet," Adrien replied. "Once he is though, I'll make sure to transform as soon as he finishes the last crumb of Camembert."
    "Right, and then we can..." Something off in the distance captured Marinette's attention, cutting off her sentence. She strained her eyes to see what kept bobbing in and out of the sky. But as it got closer, her eyes grew wider. "Oh no..."
    "What is it My Lady?"
    "It-it's Monarch..."
    "Monarch? Where?" Adrien's panic matched Marinette's.
    "He's... he's coming right for us..." Marinette felt like she had become one with the sidewalk, her limbs felt like stone. He must've known where they are based off of the smoke they left behind to hide themselves. Without her suit or powers, Marinette felt completely exposed, it was like one of her worst nightmares had come to life. A nonstop wave of panic bombarded her mind.
    "Close your eyes." Adrien's voice managed to cut through her thoughts.
    "Huh?" His hand popped out from the side of the dumpster. It only took a second for it all to click inside Marinette's head. She closed her eyes and took Adrien's hand. They were soon running at full speed down the alleyway. While Marinette trusted her partner to get them out of dangers way, she couldn't help but to stress out about Monarch catching up to them. If he did then their secret identities would be his for the taking, along with their Miraculous. They continued to run for a few more moments until Adrien stopped them both. He had kept his eyes forward to make sure they were not going to slam into a wall. He never once looked back at his partner.
    "Hold on. I found a sewer cap. We can hide in the sewers until our Kwami's are ready to transform us."
    "Great idea, Kitty." Adrien's cheeks got a bit red and a silly grin spread across his face. Though he noted that it certainly was not the time nor the place to get all flustered. He also felt a twinge of guilt for reacting to a compliment from Ladybug like that, though he knew that in his heart that he only had eyes for Marinette. Not knowing that they were one and the same.
    "Okay, it's open." He said as the lid made a loud scrapping noise against the concrete. He once again closed his eyes as he guided Marinette's hand to the ladder. "You head down first and let me know when you are out of sight so I can head down next."
    "Alright, I'll try to be as quick as possible." Marinette started to climb down. She opened her eyes once she reatched the bottom though it was so dim in the sewers that it took longer to readjust. Once she could see far enough ahead of her, she did not linger and she hurried around the nearest corner.
    "Okay Chat, your turn."
    Adrien opened his eyes and took a quick glance around. He still hadn't seen Monarch yet but he didn't want to stick around to see him either. He closed the lid behind himself as he got far enough down.
    Just before the lid became flushed with the concrete, Monarch landed on a building just above the alleyway. The two heroes were only fast enough to conceal their identities, not their trail.
    "I've got you now, Ladybug and Chat Noir." He jumped off the roof, right on top of the sewer cap. He raised his fist to smash through it. Though before he could, a little capsule rolled on top of the cap. From the capsule, teal foam flowed from within and expended to a massive size in literal seconds. The foam wrapped around Monarch's legs and stopped him in his tracks.
    "You aren't getting to them, Monarch." Monarch looked up and saw Batman at the top of a building. He had one foot on the edge of the building and his cape flowed in the breeze. Monarch could see Batman take his Crash Foam Launcher away behind him.
    "The legendary Batman," he snarled. "You have only delayed the inevitable." Monarch burst through the foam with minor difficulty. Batman glided down to the street level and was only several feet away from Monarch. "I will find out their identities and recover their magic jewels!"
    Batman readied himself, bringing his fists up and shifting his legs to a better stance.
    "You'll have to go through me first."

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