The Weight of Jade

Familiar Stranger

"Children get inside, now go it isn't safe!" a woman was saying, ushering a small group of maybe fifteen or so elementary aged children through an open door. She looked over her shoulder nervously, picking up one of the smaller kids and carrying him inside even as he squirmed.

"Don't be scared!" he was saying, wiggling fiercely to try and get back to the ground, still grinning. "Nobody's got to be scared with heroes around!"

"That doesn't mean we should be outside with supervillains Cheney!" the woman said crossly, only setting him down once everyone was inside and she had her back to the door.

As soon as his little sneakers hit the ground he was running to the window, scrambling up with shining eyes to plaster his hands against the glass and smush his nose against it so he could see. From the vantage point of the daycare there wasn't much to see but he was still grinning happily, bouncing up and down on the windowsill seat cushion.

"Cheney get away from there!" the woman scolded, dashing forward to grab him and looking over her shoulder to bark at a few more children who were getting hyped up by the little boy's antics. But he refused to be calmed, going so far as to laugh when he caught a flash of black, red and green darting over the rooftops outside.

"Don't be scared!" he assured them, turning in the caretaker's grasp to address the other kids in his daycare with shining eyes. He giggled again before proudly declaring, "I'm telling you! Jade Turtle's gonna get them all!"

"And Ladybug and Cat Noir!" another kid added, all of the children cheering and getting hyper, rushing for the windows.

"Yeah sure!" Cheney giggled, snuggling into the care taker's arms. "Them too!"

Outside rushing over the rooftops of Paris were the heroes of the people, more or less side by side as they talked franticly.

"This thing hits hard!" Cat was saying, staff out and pole vaulting him over the gap between two buildings, Ladybug swinging through the street beside him and Jade on his left.

"And it's not just going for us!" Jade reminded them, expression focused as he looked through the augmented display on his goggles, shifting his weight on his shield to head in a straight line towards the tagged figure a few blocks ahead. The others followed his lead, having learned by now to trust his tracking.

Ladybug swung up, dismounting and rolling along the tile to sprint beside Cat Noir, referring to her teammates. "Its range of attack is huge and it keeps running AWAY. I don't get it is Hawkmoth not going for the miraculous or what?"

"Maybe hot head is going for what he wants first," Cat suggested, crouching onto all fours to clear another gap, positioning himself to sprint along behind Jade as he lead them there.

"Do we even know what the item is?" Jade chimed in, looking down to street level and gesturing for the others to follow him as he leapt off the building, flawlessly continuing to rocket forward as the others let him lead for now. He could see the baddy through the buildings about two blocks away, his goggles coming in handy for the billionth time since he'd started this thing. However as cool as all his extra bits turned out to be when it came to hitting hard and dealing damage it was the other two who won the race.

"We need to figure it out," Lady said, calling out to them as she flew overhead to stand on another rooftop, the bad guy now in sight. "We can't let this go any longer! It's time for an all-out attack."

"That's what I've been saying!" Cat whooped, landing on the same building as her but not waiting, taking the initiative and running straight in, Ladybug not far behind.

"Would you two slow down!?" Jade called in exasperation, having already lost sight of them and groaning as he went around, sticking to the street. Despite the fact that they were well off now Cat still laughed, turning to shout back "You stick to slow and steady turtle boy!"