Matthew was currently taking a break from his job as a waiter in a coffee shop, given the free time he now had since he stopped being Rogue-Bat, Matthew decided to get a part-time job, partly to have money for whatever need he had and recently to use it to find victims to akumatize. Matthew always had his notebook with him, in which he started to write the possible candidates. The shop had many regulars, given that it was quite popular, so he could see which ones wherein a particularly bad mood, and by having Kivaat stealthily eavesdrop on them he could learn the reason for their mood. His first akumatized villain would be Mr. Johnson a good-natured and kind high school teacher who had been subjected to constant pranks by the problem children in his class. Looking at his notes, Matthew recognized that Mr. Johnson passed through an alleyway on his way home, which he would use to meet him without many people watching. Looking at the table where he was seated, Matthew noticed that Mr. Johnson was already leaving and was looking really stressed today. Having enough time in his break to meet him, he went outside to be ahead of him.

Matthew had to wait quite a while for him to arrive, luckily his camouflage ability had let him be ignored by the few people that passed by. Finally seeing him coming and seeing no signs of anyone nearby he moved out of the shadows he was hiding on and revealed himself to him. “Yo-you’re alive!” Mr. Johnson said with a mix of excitement and nervousness. “Not the most polite thing to say, but I’ll let it slide for now. I have taken a more passive approach to my task of protecting the city, instead of dealing with the problem myself I’ll give the victim the power to solve the problem”

Mr. Johnson looked taken aback a bit by this “I-I think you may be mistaken, I do not have any prob-” He was cut by Rouge-Bat who sounded harsher than the first time he spoke “You’re not good at lying Mr.Johnson, I know about the kids taking advantage of your kindness to make your day worse so please don’t try to deceive me, I’m here to help you. I’ll give you the power to set those kids straight, so will you accept my help or not?” Of course, he didn’t give him the chance to say his opinion as his bat came out of his cape and bit him.

Mr. Johnson’s outfit changed into one resembling the outfit used by a drill sergeant and as the bat that bit him burrowed into a ruler he was carrying, it was changed into a horsewhip. “Well, it's a good thing to see that you realized that you’ll need to be stricter to be able to educate them. You’re free to go discipline rebellious children em…” All that planning and he had forgotten to think of a name for him “Well I have your name be Instructor for now, and before I’ll go I will tell you that while most students are already out of school at this hour, you could find them at malls, public parks or coffee shops. With that said I’ll take my leave, you’re free to act as you want for now” Leaping through the building he detransformed not too long after and returned to his job. From his pocket, Kivaat gave whispered to him “I’m huuuunnngry” Mumbling to himself to make sure nobody could hear him Matthew answered Kivaat “Wait a little bit and don’t make any noises. When someone is hit by the whip of the Instructor they will become obedient to him so he should have several mooks to create chaos and panic in little time and when panic sets in I can make an excuse to go early and give you something to eat” Today was the day he would see if the guardian would take the bait and give someone a miraculous.

Alex sighed as she walked down the streets. It was busy, as always, and she was practically being suffocated by the crowd that surrounded her. She would never go as far as saying that she hated the place, but a change of scenery would be more than welcome. She really appreciated those out of the country trips. It took her away from Louisville - away from everything that was familiar.

"Can you help my kitty?" A young voice carried over the noise of everyone talking and shuffling towards their destination. Alex turned to see a young girl in a park pleading with adults if she could get any help. She was trembling and it was obvious that she was trying her best not to cry. Most ignored her or told her to go call the firemen or something. "B-But!" Before she could say anything else, the adult left.

Their eyes locked on to each other and Alex knew that it was her time. The black haired girl walked over to the child. "What's this about helping your kitty?" She questioned, crouching down to the child's height so that they could speak without having the girl strain her neck just to look at Alex.

The girl's face brightened up when someone decided to finally help her. She then pointed at the top of a tree. On a branch was a black kitten, hugging the branch as if its life depended on it. "My kitty went up and won't come back down." She replied before looking back at Alex. "Can you help her?"

Alex gave her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I got it. But can you hold this for me?" She gave her school bag to the girl and she accepted it with a grateful nod. Alex then looked back at the tree. It wasn't too tall, thankfully, and she was wearing jeans today so that wasn't much of a problem. She stretched her arms and took the first hold. She used to climb trees when she was a kid, mostly because she was bored. It really paid off right now since she could scale the tree without much problem. Once she got up, she grabbed hold of the trunk and then reached out for the kitten. She hoped this one already had her shots.

Grabbing the kitten swiftly, it started to react violently and began to flail its arms with its claws out. "You're gonna be alright. Don't worry..." She muttered to the kitten as she held it close to her when it calmed down. She then scaled down the tree and then handed it to the girl. "There you go."

"Thank you!" The girl replied and then went off to go home, presumably.

With her work done, Alex grabbed her bag once more and headed home. She still had tons of assignments to do but helping someone in need put her in a better mood than she was in earlier.

---

Alex wasn't really sure how she came to possess this beautifully ornate box, but here it was. She was taking out her stuff to start her assignments when she saw this box. It didn't belong to her, that was for sure. Maybe she should bring it to the police. Someone might have planted this on her to get rid of evidence. But something about it felt... odd. Taken over by curiosity, she opened the box.

Suddenly, this small ferret-like creature burst out and began flying around yelling - "Whoohoo! Finally free!" - and just generally being an odd thing. Alex blinked, shocked at what was happening right now. What was that thing? Why was it speaking? Why does it look like a ferret? And what was it doing inside that box? There were so many questions running across her mind that she couldn't even talk. The ferret creature finally stopped in front of her and seemed to grin. "You must be my new master! Cool! I'm Poyzz and I'm a Miraculous. Nice to meet you!"

There was a moment of pause and Alex still couldn't get her mind wrapped around this. So, she decided to take another route to this. If this creature could talk, then that probably meant it could answer her questions. "Alex. Pleasure." She replied first to get the creature at ease before adding, "What's a Miraculous?"

"I'm glad you asked. You see, a Miraculous is--"

The lesson continued for more time than Alex could remember. She was glued to her seat as she listened to this hyperactive ferret-thing speak. She was given a necklace which she should wear to activate her powers. Poyzz told her about a time long past - about heroes rising up to challenges wielding the same Miraculous she has now. He told her about what her power could do and that she can finally fight for what's right. Poyzz told her that he could see it in her - that she was a good natured woman.

"This... is a bit much to take in, Poyzz. But I think I got the gist of it." Alex said with a nod. She then looked at the necklace, bringing it up to her face. "So I can fight people with this? Like Rouge-Bat?" Her eyes shone with amazement at the prospect of becoming like her hero.

Poyzz gave her a small smirk. "Yeah. You can fight crime with that. So, what do you say?"

"You got yourself a deal Poyzz." The two shook on it.

Her phone suddenly rang and she picked it up. A frantic voice kept calling out her name. "Alex! Alex! Gods, you finally picked up!" It was one of her friends from school. "There's this crazy person whipping poor students here at the mall! Are you alright? Are you back home?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Jess. Go back home and lock yourself in, alright?" She said before cutting it off and then looked at Poyzz. "Looks like I got an early call. Let's go Poyzz."

The Kwami nodded and he was sucked into the necklace, allowing Alex to transform into Furitta. She then leaped out of her window and began to swing towards the area of chaos. It was pretty simple to find. This mall was famous for its students being there. Furitta looked on and watched for a second, contemplating what to do. She had self-defense classes before, but never thought of actually fighting. She waited, curious if the police were any match for this person.

Eddie sat at the mall with a frown. He slid his hand through his long , blond hair as he thought about what the little Kwami had told him this morning. Looking at the bracelet, he sighed before flopping on the bench and shaking his head. "Why choose me?" he felt wiggling from his hood as Beek moved up to pole his neck. Eddie ignored him as he stood. "I guess I have no choice in the matter. I bet being a hero might actually be fun. Let's do this."

Beek was slightly amazed at how fast Eddie managed to pump himself up. Maybe being a sugar-loving teenager helped? He almost missed the chocolate egg Eddie had slid in for him. Despite his small size, Beek was always a fast one while eating. With a bit of cream on his face he chuckled softly as Eddie pulled him out.

"Let's see if we can do any hero work. Even something small is bound to get us noticed. Beek, wings spread." With that, Eddie transformed into his hero costume. Looking himself over, he took notice of the eagle-like design and chose the name Talon for this part of him.

Talon strode from the men's room with a smile, waving at everyone who made nice comments about the costume and ignoring anyone who was rude. It wasn't long before he heard screaming and saw people running. "First day and there's already a villain? I can tell this is gonna be a hard day. At least it won't be boring."

Finding the villain was easy. Seeing a girl dressed like a ferret, on the other hand, caught him of guard. Talon spread his arms wide and began spinning his tonfas fast, allowing him to fly over the crowd, landing beside her. "At least we're not alone." he said, taking a quick glance at the girl. "Call me Talon. And you?" While waiting for her answer, he began trying to formulate a strategy.

The previous few hours had been a whirlwind of confusion and wonder. Tonya Tabbet, just your seemingly regular ninth grader found herself in possession of a Miraculous, and the master of a slightly terrifying but equally fascinating little snake by the name of Ossar. It’d all started yesterday after school when Tonya arrived home to find a small ornate box perched upon her pillow. It’d been a quiz day, a bad quiz day, and she was exhausted from her own lackluster performance and doubly so having to encourage a friend who was suffering similarly. Seeing the little parcel Tonya cheered up, thinking it was a gift from her father. Just the thing to brighten up a moody day. Excited at the promise of a surprise Tonya took the little box in hand and raised it to eye level, trying to guess at the contents within. It had to be some sort of necklace, or earrings. “Thanks dad,” she called. Tonya wasn’t sure whether her father was home or not. She hadn’t seen or heard him when she came inside, so he must’ve left it earlier today. Flipping down the small latch Tonya popped the lid open eagerly.

“Agh! A snake!” Tonya released a horrified scream launching the box and miniature multicolored serpent from herself, not even seeing the matching necklace fly off under her bed. The tiny creature twirled through the air a startled hiss escaping its throat before it vanished from sight. For two heartbeats Tonya remained frozen before she grabbed the nearest weapon, her bedside lamp. Clutching the light with tightened knuckles Tonya shuffled away from where the snake had vanished, unable to keep a slight tremor from her voice. “What kind of cruel joke, who would leave a snake in my room?” She said aloud.

“Only a spring cloud blocks the sun, but all you can see is the potential of rain.” A hissing voice from beneath the bed spoke up. Tonya watched in open mouthed terror as the snake rose from the far end of her bed, floating on its own volition. There was no denying where the voice was coming from either, so Tonya did the only sane thing she could think of and launched the lamp she was holding straight for the hovering snake. The serpent phased straight through the illuminating projectile allowing it to shatter upon the opposite wall. Tilting its head the snake released a low hiss of, was it amusement? “Peace Tonya, lest you wake the worrying souls below us. Within this structure lies a hundred who must never know. For everyone’s safety. Especially yours daughter of Tabbet.”

“Who, what…. Why?” Tonya stuttered flinching away as the snake moved closer, it winding body twisted and turned in mystifying fashion before it deposited the discarded necklace into Tonya’s hand.

“Relax and breath Miss Tonya, I am Ossar the kwami of Deception and I serve you. All shall be explained to the fullest. You must simply open you mind to the possibilities.”

Follow this reassurance Ossar slowly coxed Tonya to sit down, and explained in his smooth, hissing way the importance of her new powers and responsibilities, and the Miraculous and kwami that accompanied. It took the better part of three hours before Ossar’s final words faded and Tonya started to jump less at the sight of him. Then in a swift flick of his lithe body Ossar vanished inside the Miraculous, his final instructions being to, “Wear the Miraculous and think upon what I have told you.” Gathering up her stuff Tonya cleared away the destroyed lamp and left her apartment in a rush. Ossar had said that the necklace would give her powers and a suit should she wish to try them out, but she didn’t feel quite ready for that yet. Besides she needed to mull this over for a while, and she needed a new lamp. The mall it seemed was the place to go.

Walking the few blocks to get there Tonya arrived in good time making her way towards the furniture store when she heard yelling, perpetuated by a few screams. Turning Tonya watched in confusion as a group of people ran past closely followed by five marching, glassy eyed weirdos.

“What’s going on?” Tonya asked, at this point in the day she was willing to believe anything. If the five marching weirdos told her there was an alien invasion going on, she probably wouldn’t have been surprised. Instead of answering two of the five grabbed ahold of her arms while the other three marched off. “Hey, let me go freaks!”

“Cease struggling ma’am. You have been acting out of turn, and you shall be punished accordingly. Come with us.” Bodily lifted between the two teenagers Tonya was lugged off kicking and yelling towards the center of the mall where none other than a uniformed Mr. Johnsen stood, surrounded by a small army of similarly glassy-eyed weirdos.

“Another delinquent sir.” The teenager holding Tonya’s right arm snapped to attention, giving the teacher a sharp salute. “Awaiting your discipline.”

“I’m not a delinquent!” Tonya struggled on in vain, thoroughly outraged. “Let me go, you can’t do this, tell them to let me go Mr. Johnsen.” Her eyes landed on the riding whip clutched in Mr. Johnsen’s hand and Tonya’s face went pale. What had they been saying, punishment? Discipline? Redoubling her efforts to escape the vice-like grip of her captors Tonya jerked and pulled in every which way yelling desperately. “Help! Somebody help me!”

Alex's eyebrows furrowed as she watched this teacher whip some students who were running in fear - only for the students to suddenly turn to a zombie-like state where they follow his orders. This was beyond ridiculous. They certainly needed to put a stop to all of this. But she wondered where this man came from. Was he like them, a Miraculous user, or something else?

Her thoughts were cut off when someone hovered over to her, dressed in an eagle suit. Now this she could confirm was like her. She nodded at him as he approached to greet and introduce himself. Well, she guessed that if she would be fighting alongside him for quite a while, it wouldn't be too bad to acquaint herself with him.

"Furitta, pleasure to meet you. Though, I would have liked to meet the others in... calmer situations." She commented before gesturing towards the villain of the day. She opened and closed her hands. She wasn't used to this costume nor was she entirely sure if she could use it to its full potential. Hopefully she could, or at least instincts would kick in so she would do a good job. She never actively fought supervillains before, so she wasn't actually sure how this would go.

But a strategy was always useful. She pointed towards the villain. "It seems that whip of his could turn those it hits into slaves. See?" The villain was collecting more and more students as his personal slaves, and they were looking for even more. "I think we can take him as long as we don't get hit by that whip. So let's-" She then paused and her eyes widened as she saw a girl being taken by one of the delinquents. She certainly knew this one by face.

Without missing a beat, she jumped off. Her gauntlets activated and it shot out a wire that allowed her to swing towards the mall. Using her gained momentum, she released the wire and barreled straight into one of the delinquents holding Tonya and sending him backwards. She then flipped backwards and took a fighting position - expecting Talon to take care of the other delinquent holding Tonya down.

The two geeks began dragging Tonya closer to Mr. Johnson even as the teen’s cries grew more desperate, then out of nowhere there was the sound of whizzing metal and a clash of bodies. Tonya felt one of the teenager’s loose his grip on her arm as a masked girl smashed into him. Sensing her chance Tonya jerked and twisted wrenching her second arm free, following up her newfound freedom with a swift kick to the zombie-fied kid’s stomach. For a moment Tonya felt a rush of exhilaration at her small victory a wild grin on her face. It was short lived however. They were still surrounded by glassy-eyed weirdos on every side, and Mr. Johnson had taken notice and was prowling towards them.

“Thank you!” Tonya said in genuine gratitude towards her rescuer. Now that she had more time to stare at the masked hero she couldn’t deny she looked pretty awesome. Similar to a ferret actually. “I probably would’ve been swatted by Mr. Johnsen if you hadn’t shown up, though that still seems like a possibility. Something's wrong with him, and he's dressed up funny.” Tonya glanced around at the massed students pressing in towards them, seeing no way to escape. “You got a plan to get us out of here? Uh, what’s your name anyway?”

In the heat of the moment Tonya had forgotten about her new necklace, and the Miraculous charm it contained. At that second she remembered Ossar’s teachings from only a half hour ago. She had powers too, and presumably a suit, and if it looked anything like her own rescuer it would be pretty great. She touched the necklace, the emblem was hidden beneath her shirt and felt cold pressed against her chest. All she had to do was say the word and she would be able to fight alongside the other masked hero.

“No,” hissed a quiet voice close to her ear. Tonya felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of Ossar’s scaly body hidden in her hair. She hadn’t even felt his presence, having assumed he’d remained in the Miraculous. “Not here, not where the watchful eyes of many are upon you. Hide first, then transform.”

“That’s easier said than done.” Tonya muttered back, unconcerned that she might look insane talking to herself while encircled by an army of glassy-eyed delinquents.

"That's actually a good idea." he nodded as she swung away. He looked at the girl Furitta was trying to rescue before getting a bit angry. That was Tonya! He shared a class with her! And, although he would never admit it, he had a huge crush on her.

Talon leapt into action, knocking a few other zombified kids away from the cute girl. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking for any signs of bruising. Not finding any immediately, he smiled a bit and turned towards the villain. "Run." he said with a glance over his shoulder. "Furitta, try to aim for his whip. Disarm him and he'll be powerless."

While waiting for the perfect moment, Talon did his best to keep the kids from overwhelming Furitta, giving her a chance for the whip. But how would they change him back? Or could he even be changed back?

Furitta nodded at the younger one as she thanked her for her help. She then raised her arms in a form that reminded of people of what seems to be a boxing form - her gauntlets covering her forearm. "Mr... Johnsen?" She muttered. This was one of the teachers for the lower years. She had personally become on of his students. He was a relatively nice guy, so why was he acting like this? "Name's Furitta. Hero name, you understand." She said before seeing Talon land beside her.

"Clear a path and get her out of here Talon." She said, agreeing to his plan of her taking on Mr. Johnsen while Talon takes on the other glassy-eyed teens. She didn't mind taking on the ringmaster of all of this shebang. But of course, just having the girl run away while they were surrounded didn't seem like that good of an idea. Hopefully, they could get out of it without being harmed. Holding the others off for a bit wouldn't be too bad.

Right?

Furitta pointed a finger at Mr. Johnsen. "So you're a teacher huh? I thought disciplinary measures like this isn't legal anymore so I think it's time for you to stop." She said first, but knowing that he won't back down, she immediately shot out a wire towards his hand so he would let go of the whip that he was using. Reeling back the wire, she immediately closed in the distance with her arms close to her before attempting to punch Mr. Johnsen to get him to lose his balance.

Instructor watched in anger as these two teenaged "heroes" began attacking his students. Then they had the audacity to tell him to stop. He laughed as his wrist was caught. Instead of dropping the whip, though, he pulled back hard, asking to pull Furitta into his whip. "You teenagers are rude, disrespectful, and all around annoying!" he yelled. "Students! Get the hero girl!" he yelled.

All of the controlled kids stopped what they were doing to focus on the costumed girl as Instructor himself kept trying to whip her. He let the eagle-dressed boy go for now as he wasn't coming after him at the moment.

Blushing slightly despite the tense situation Tonya looked away, trying to hide her reddening cheeks from the second eagle-like hero that swooped down to join Fruitta. “Thank you both.” She managed as the two masked crusaders turned to engage Mr. Johnsen. The battle opened fast, with Fruitta launching a bold attack against the empowered professor, but Tonya could tell she was in trouble and might be struck by the whip soon if help wasn’t administered. All Tonya had to do was follow the boy hero’s orders and run, try on her super suit, and rush to help them. Easier thought then done though.

As hero and villain clashed Mr. Johnsen released a shouted command, and the glassy-eyed students stopped their advance towards Tonya, changing direction and encroaching on Fruitta’s and the eagle-dressed-boy’s position. Seeing her chance Tonya dashed in-between them, darting this way and that to avoid bumping one, they ignored her for now focused entirely on their new, and more powerful objectives.

Not for long. Tonya thought, taking cover behind a massive potted plant. Checking to make sure no one could see her Tonya pulled her new Miraculous charm out from under her shirt studying the tiny red gemstone embedded into the snake.

“How do I make it work again?” She asked, breathless with excitement, adrenaline pumped through her veins and Tonya felt she could run a hundred miles and climb any mountain or swim any ocean.

“Speak the words ‘scales align’ and see for yourself the power you possess.” Ossar hissed from Tonya’s shirt. He slithered forth, floating in the air like some large wisp of floating hair, his multicolored body writhing rhythmically as he encouraged his master. “The masked ones are your allies, fear not, they shall aid you in time of need, but now they need you Serpentine. Only fear can defeat you when joined by your friends.”

“Right, right.” Tonya said clenching and unclenching her fists. “Don’t be afraid. Trust Fruitta and, and. Him. Okay, alright, I can do this. Scales Align!”

It all happened in a flash. Osaar vanished into the necklace and the red and blue suit materialized like magic, covering Tonya’s body with a protective and empowering armor. Two metal fans wooshed into being secured to her belt, lastly came the mask and hood which concealed her true identity.

“Serpentine.” Tonya said in a hushed voice, looking in awe at her gloved hands, skirt, and boots. The adrenaline she felt seemed doubled, and Tonya felt now as if she was unstoppable. Stepping out from behind the giant potted plant she placed her hands on her hips and took ahold of the two battle fans which almost seemed made for her hands. Holding the weapons high Serpentine surged forward, leaping clear over the crowd of glassy-eyed students and landing within the small circle in the middle next to Fruitta and the eagle-dressed boy.

“I’m here,” she announced boldly, pushing away one of the zombiefied teenagers before he grabbed Fruitta. It took a moment, but Serpentine remembered that the two heroes probably had no idea who she was. “I’m Serpentine,” she explained almost as an afterthought. “Um, nice to meet you?”

Furitta's eyes narrowed at the Instructor as the wire wrapped around his arm, and despite the pressure being placed upon his arm, he didn't even drop the whip. She let out a click of her tongue and wanted to let out a single curse, but that wouldn't reflect too well on a hero, now would it?

She wasn't lifted, as she retracted the wire back to her so it unclasped its hold on her enemy. However, the Instructor bellowed out to his 'students' to get her in particular. Furitta let her body be at ease for a moment as they advanced. As one of them reached for her, she grabbed him by the arm and then flipped him over without trying to harm him too bad.

But then another masked hero came - Serpentine, she said her name was. A nod of her head in acknowledgement came from Furitta but she was too distracted to introduce herself once more as she ducked from one more attack and then grabbed the student by the collar and throwing him over to one of the other zombiefied groups. "Yeah, pleasure." She let out before she rolled and then tripped up two of the students. They weren't really all that well coordinated - which was good for the heroes. She then shot out the wire towards a nearby building and swung herself over the group of slave-students to get to the Instructor.

Using the momentum from the swing, she aimed an axe kick at the Instructor.

Talon continued fighting of the entranced kids that the Instructor commanded go after Furitta before another heroine joined in the action. "Talon." he nodded between attacks. As Furitta retreated to higher ground (or so it seems to Talon) he looked at Serpentine. "Did you happen to see a really cute girl running out of here? She was heading the same direction you came from." he took another look at everything before nodding. "She's his main target for now. I can tangle his whip around my tonfas if you can take it from his grasp." he waited for the Instructor to try whipping Furrita again before leaping up to take his plan into action.

“Really cute girl.” Serpentine almost choked loosing focus for the merest of seconds. As if sensing her weakness a small army of the weirdos rushed forward trying to grab at her arms. Serpentine wrenched herself free from their grasp with shocking ease kicking away the closest one. Although supplemented by the suit’s powers Serpentine was still no trained combatant, she floundered about delivering weak blows with her battle fans only keeping the tide of zombiefied kids at bay thanks to her new abilities.

“I did, yeah she got away. Definitely, perfectly safe, really cute girl, uh huh.” Serpentine stammered to Talon once there was a lull in the fighting long enough to get a word in edgewise. The eagle hero didn’t give her much time to recover her breath however, laying out his plan to try and disarm the despotic teacher.

“Sure I can try but-“ It was too late, Talon launched himself forward trying to entangle his own weapon around Mr. Johnson’s. The plan seemed desperate to Serpentine but she couldn’t wait around to worry over the tactic. Rushing forward she bowled over a group of enslaved students reattaching her battle fans to her belt for safe keeping. Hoping Talon was successful Serpentine leapt like a surprised cat and snatched ahold of Mr. Johnson’s dominate hand before he could react, expecting to break the teacher’s weaker grip with ease.

“Off with you, you bad girl.” Mr. Johnson shouted, showing immense strength of his own as he raised Serpentine clear off the ground with one arm, leaving her dangling by his wrist. Before Serpentine could realize what was happening he shook her free of his arm and delivered a powerful kick to her face. Serpentine rocketed backwards into a crowd of the waiting students, dark spots clouding her vision as she struggled to comprehend what had just occurred. Disoriented and confused Serpentine thrashed about trying to rise, slowly succumbing to the weight of the enveloping horde of glassy-eyed students that crowded in on all sides.

Furitta clicked her tongue as the kick connected with the man's arm - but seemingly unharmed as she jumped away. Oblivious to the plan the two were cooking up, she flipped backwards easily and took out two zombified students. As she struggled with three others, she saw Talon jump up with Serpentine barreling towards the Instructor. Wide eyed, she watched as the newest addition to the group was picked clean off the ground and thrown to the side with a powerful kick.

Anger boiling in her, she flipped yet another one onto the ground and looked menacingly at the Instructor. Forgetting for a mere moment that there was another hero besides her that was still alright, she didn't tell anyone about what she was about to do. "Festinatio." With the order said, her legs were enveloped in an orange light which disappeared just as quickly. Her run towards the Instructor was fast and surprising. Caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the ferret-themed hero, she was able to tackle him down and put him in a leglock - essentially putting the two out of commission as she managed to position herself on his back.

Attempting to wrestle him to complete submission or to at least make him let go of the whip, she continued her struggle against the Instructor. Perhaps it was good that the suit managed to give her enhanced skills, or else she would have been easily thrown off.

The Instructor screamed in fury a the eagle boy managed to entangle his whip, preventing him from changing anyone else. After the failure of the snake girl, the ferret girl somehow got super fast. She was easily able to wrestma him down and disarm him with her enhanced speed, making the man scream in pain and fury as she pinned him. "Get her off me!" he yelled. The students once again began heading towards Furitta.

-----

Talon laughed in success as he held the Instructor's whip. With a smirk, he began using it on the students that had been changed by it, hoping it would change then back. Otherwise, he'd just break it, hoping that would break whatever spell the teacher was under.

Unbeknownst to Serpentine the duo heroes had managed to lessen the tide of oncoming students with their ravenous assault upon the evil teacher. The small army suffered from a distinct weakness which the three heroes continued to exploit, as the bewitched kids reacted unanimously to their master’s commands, flowing like a powerful tide rather than cooperating entities. Even as Serpentine wavered at the mercy of her foes, they abandoned their attack, instead rushing to the aid of their commander and leaving Serpentine to her own devices.

Still dazed Serpentine staggered to her feet trying to focus on the situation playing out. Talon seemed to have successfully secured the teacher’s weapon, effectively disarming him of his most potent power. That being said the uniformed professor still posed a significant threat with his immense strength and speed, though he paled in comparison to Fruitta on the latter, as she was moving at incredible levels. But how long could she keep it up? Hopefully for an extended period, in the meantime Serpentine imagined it was up to Talon and her to figure out how to fix Mr. Johnson.

But what if he was like this permanently now? What if there was no way to change him back to his old self?

There was no time to think about that. They needed ideas, and fast. Serpentine wished Ossar was here to give some sort of advice, but he was trapped in her necklace until Serpentine deactivated the suit. Serpentine’s eyes widened. Of course, they had to destroy whatever was giving Mr. Johnsen his abilities and his suit and powers would vanish like smoke! Darting forward Serpentine waved her arms trying to get Fruitta’s attention.

“Hey, see if there’s any jewelry or charms or something on him! He must have a miraculous item like us that’s giving him power. We can break it to stop him for good!”

Seeing as Talon managed to seize the weapon, the Instructor was effectively weaponless. Aside from his brute strength, he at least wouldn't have the power to turn so many people against them again. Furitta managed to still keep him down despite his immense strength, though she imagined that was mostly because of the suit in its works. Honestly, she was really thankful for this, or else she would have been thrown off like a ragdoll.

But then he let out the order to his students. This did get them off Serpentine, at the very least, so that was good. But if she were to release the Instructor to save herself, that would mean he would gain free access to get the whip from Talon again. Then she saw Serpentine wildly waving her arms as if to catch her attention and then she said to look for anything that resembled a Miraculous. Right, he underwent a transformation too, so that would mean he might be a Miraculous user too.

Hurriedly patting him down while pinning him, Furitta tried to search for anything that had an animal motif, or anything that looked important. But aside from his clothing, there wasn't anything there. She turned back to them. "Nothing!" She yelled out. The students were closer than ever and she had to get out. Sending one last jab at the Instructor, she once more took to the buildings using her wires and landed on a lamp post with extreme precision and balance.

But then an idea popped into her head. What if it wasn't a Miraculous? What if it was something else that was important to him that he frequently used. What if the one with the power wasn't him, but something he had been holding. Like the whip. As evidenced, it had been the one to turn the students, and not his own self as she and Serpentine were hit by him but nothing happened. "Talon, the whip! Break the whip!"

As the Instructor returned to his feet, he glared at Furrita. "You will pay for that, you insolent brat!" he screamed before turning to the sins of the whipping coming from Talon. It seemed he was trying to undo his work. It wasn't working. Then one of the girls called out to the boot to break the whip.

-----

"Break the whip?" he asked himself, looking around. "How am I supposed to do that?" he then smirked as he got an idea. He spun it with the handle of the whip acting as a weight before aiming towards Serpentine. "Catch!" he called to her before releasing the whip with one hand, the other still holding the tip, and sending the handle soaring towards the snake-girl. If she caught it, he would oil hard and tell her to do the same.

The battle was starting to get desperate within the mall. Furita was forced to abandon her hold on Mr. Johnsen to escape allowing the bewitched students to turn their capturing attitudes back on Talon and Serpentine. Fending off the encroaching minions Serpentine clenched her teeth feeling the rising fear bubble out into her actions. The off balanced and uncontrolled attacks becoming even more so as she fought to stifle her fear.

“Catch!” Talon’s voice sounded, and Serpentine reacted just in time to catch the handle of the whip, the barbed tip still clutched in Talon’s hand. “Give it a pull, we gotta break it!” He instructed tightening his grip on the thin end of the whip.

“The barb!” Serpentine protested, concern flashing in her eyes. “If I tug on it it’ll catch in your hand and you might be turned!”

“SURRENDER TO ME MY DISCIPLINE APPARATUS GIRL!” A thoroughly furious Mr. Johnsen pushed his way through the crowd of zombiefied students making a clear course for Serpentine and the whip’s handle. At best Serpentine only had seconds to respond. Taking the handle in both hands Serpentine braced herself dodging backwards out of the way just as Mr. Johnsen’s hands reached to snatch her up. The whip stretched to full tension tangled in his legs and he stumbled and fell connecting hard with the mall’s tile floor. Using Mr. Johnsen’s legs to hold the tension while pinning his head to the floor under her boots Serpentine pulled to her max trying to snap the whip. Hoping desperately that Talon’s gloves were thick enough to stop the dangerous barb from penetrating and enlisting the hero into Mr. Johnsen’s army.

Furitta needed to catch a breath. That was tiring. Is this really how hero work was done? Uh, maybe this wasn't as good as an idea as she had. But whatever, it was happening and she had no choice but to roll with it. But she had to take a breather - and a long one at that. Going mano-o-mano with the Instructor wasn't exactly the best thing in the world, and the sudden powerup she had gotten from the suit just as suddenly disappeared leaving her body to catch up for a moment.

She watched as Talon threw the whip handle at Serpentine who caught it and was initially worried about Talon turning into a slave as well, because of the whip. She had a point, and honestly, Furitta could see it happening. But they were desperate. They needed to do something before they're overwhelmed again.

Seeing the villain head towards Serpentine, Furitta was about to pounce but the hero girl managed to maneuver against the man. But now, the tension on the whip was great and it should break. Hopefully. She'd descend to help, but she was waiting for that dangerous situation to do so.