This is my tenth fan fiction and my second fan-fiction in the mystery genre. This fan-fiction is a sequel to "Chat Noir's Naivety". I do not own any of the
characters from this amazing show. They are creations of Thomas Astruc, Jeremy Zag, Wilfred Pain, and many more. I have created new characters for this fan
fiction only. I was inspired by Remasa to write a fanfiction in the murder genre so I would like to thank her for her guidance and help.
Also thanks to my friend AmericanDemiGod for supporting me. A special thanks to my beta reader, One, for helping me with all the mistakes, I wouldn't have
been able to write it without One's help. Please feel free to write anything you want in the reviews and PM, I don't mind criticism either.
Please assume that this takes place before 'Miraculer'.
Egregious
Chapter 1 - Modus Art Gallery
"I'm sorry Nathaniel, I won't be able to make it to the art exhibition this evening," Marinette apologized.
"But Marinette, you know that Chole is going to be there and I feel more comfortable with you around," the redhead protested.
"So do I," Marc joined in. The three were standing outside College Françoise Dupont.
"I know but I..." Marinette was cutoff.
"Adrien's going to be there too, you know," Nathaniel reminded her.
"My apologies, I really have to help my parents in the bakery today," Marinette said.
"It's alright Marinette, I understand," Nathaniel sighed.
"Look, just think of happy thoughts and don't let Chloe's comments sway you," Marinette adviced, "Chole can be rash at times but deep down she really does have a heart."
"Don't worry Marinette, we'll manage. By the way, I don't know if you've heard but Ladybug will be coming too," Marc informed.
'Of course, she'll be coming, which is exactly why I can't go with you guys,'Marinette thought.
"See you then," Marinette waved as she walked briskly towards the bakery.
"Well Marinette," Tikki laughed as they reached her room.
"I know, I could have come up with a better excuse," Marinette made a face.
"The Grand Art Exhibition is going to be held this evening at the Modus Art Gallery, Place des Vosges. The renowned people to be present are Gabriel Agreste, the most famous fashion designer in France, Mayor Bourgeois, Ladybug the super-heroine, Darrell Lefebvre, the most intimidating auctioneer in Paris and many others. The renowned painter Charles Laurent is going to be there too, he is Nathaniel's idol and that perfectly elucidates Nathaniel's keen interest to visit the exhibition this evening. He had already got three passes for himself, Marc and me. But Marinette isn't going because Ladybug is!" Marinette finished.
"And your excuse to your parents?" Tikki inquired.
"No need for one, they are at Gramps and besides the bakery is closed for the evening and I've finished cleaning up," Marinette smiled.
"You know what you have to do next," Tikki said
"Tikki, Spots On!"
"Not coming, but why?" Ladybug asked, holding her bug phone tightly as she stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
"I have to attend a formal party with my father," Chat Noir, "I know you'll miss me, M'Lady".
Ladybug sighed as she ended the call, it looked like she was going to be attending all alone.
"Well it can't be helped," Plagg comforted after Adrien had de-transformed.
"I know that I have to accompany my father and Nathalie but I really wanted to go," Adrien complained as he lay down on his bed with his arms stretched.
"But, you're going," Plagg rolled his eyes.
"As Adrien, not as Chat Noir. I wanted to thank her but we haven't been able to have some time alone," Adrien stated.
"Yeah she sure did save your skin against all those people when that dumb actress Célia was killed," Plagg agreed.
"I really wanted to thank her, not as Adrien but as Chat Noir," Adrien said sadly.
The evening sun shone brightly through the windows of the Modus Art Gallery. It was extremely hot that evening and both Nathaniel and Marc could have sworn that the worse thing, apart from meeting Chloe at the Modus Art Gallery, was the sweltering heat. As they reached the art gallery they saw the one person that they had been talking about, Chloe Bourgeois! The Mayor and Chloe were stationed outside the gallery.
"Is it really necessary to be standing in this heat Daddy?" Chloe asked.
"We must my dear for Gabriel and Darrell. Those two really get on my nerves with their intimidating ways," the Mayor explained.
"Whatever, you wait. I'm going inside, call me when Adrien comes," Chloe ordered.
"Damn the heat and to top that these two idiots have come," Chloe rolled her eyes, staring at Marc and Nathaniel.
"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous", muttered Chloe as she walked inside the gallery.
Suddenly a car came by and Adrien got down. The noise caught Chloe's attention and she turned behind.
"Adrikins", she said hugging him. Adrien uncomfortably returned it .
"Welcome Adrien but where is your Father?" asked the Mayor.
"He'll come soon with Nathalie," Adrien informed, "Good to see you Marc and Nathaniel."
"Hi Adrien, you might have heard that the famous painter Charles Laurent is coming to the Gallery this evening," Nathaniel told him.
"I did," Adrien nodded.
"He is Nathaniel's idol. It's too bad Marinette couldn't some, she admires Laurent as well," Marc sighed.
"Whatever, it's good she isn't here," Chloe said as she pulled Adrien inside.
Just then two figures appeared near the entrance of the gallery.
"Andre, what a surprise!" Jacques Charpentier greeted.
"Ah! Kids, allow me to introduce you to Jacques Charpentier, the senior manager of the Modus Art Gallery and this lady here is his assistant, Laura Petit," the Mayor introduced the new arrivals.
As the teens greeted them, a car swooped fast and stopped abruptly in front of the gallery. A dashing man in his late twenties stood out and removed his sunglasses.
"Speak of the devil, it's Darrell Lefebvre," Jacques laughed.
"How handsome," Chloe fawned.
"Good day Mr. Mayor and Jacques," Darrell waved, his tone cocky.
"And who might these bunch of teens be?" he asked further.
"This is my daughter Chloe," the Mayor pointed at Chloe.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Darrell," Chloe blushed.
The Mayor continued, "This is Adrien, the son of Gabriel Agreste, the famous fashion designer."
"And where is Gabriel?" Darrell inquired.
"He'll be coming, he is busy," Adrien replied.
"Believe me, the word 'busy' is Gabriel's trademark," Darrell said, then he continued with the questions, "And who might you two be?"
"A bunch of idiots," Chloe said quickly.
"They are my friends from school; Nathaniel and Marc," Adrien announced.
"Greetings," Darrell greeted them before going inside.
"Nathalie, this plan ought to work. The tape recorder was a bad idea," Gabriel said.
"It will," Nathalie confirmed as they stood in Gabriel's office.
"I won't be coming. I have to prepare Adrien's schedule and attend to some of your clients," Nathalie informed.
"Very well Nathalie, I'll be off," Gabriel.
As Gabriel Agreste sat in his car, he recollected the happenings at the Hotel Le Grand Paris. He was very close to identifying Ladybug but had missed it. The tape-recorder was an outdated idea. But the new plan was more accurate and simpler. He would take Ladybug's autograph and then have a handwriting analysis done. He knew for a fact that Ladybug was a teenage girl in high school and this would make it easier for him. All he had to do was to get her to give him an autograph and then Nathalie would give it for analysis. The experts would then compare her handwriting with that of every teenage girl in Paris. It was going to be tedious but it seemed like a plan. It was the only way, he couldn't just ask some other person to give him their copy of Ladybug's autograph as that would arouse suspicion. Besides, Adrien had never asked Ladybug for her autograph. The handwriting analysis would work, as Ladybug would never deny her autograph to anyone. Gabriel had power and money and he knew for a fact that he could get anything done! His car stopped outside the Modus Art Gallery.
"Good Evening, Mr. Agreste," the Mayor nodded in greeting.
"Father, where's Nathalie?" Adrien asked, looking around.
"She won't be coming," Gabriel answered.
"It's good to see you, Gabriel. Darrell's here too," Jacques said.
"I really don't care," Gabriel's tone was emotionless.
"But I do," a voice came from behind them, everyone turned to see who it was.
Kristina Segal, a wealthy art dealer stepped out of her car, her high heels making a loud sound as she approached the entrance.
"Of course you would," Jacques said in a sarcastic tone.
"I see everyone has arrived. What's the matter Jacques, aren't you going to greet me?" Kristina smirked.
The Mayor who was feeling tensed up began, "Kristina, this is my daughter Chloe and these two are from her school and this is Adrien Agreste, the teen model".
"Pleasure. And it is good to see you here Gabriel, though I wonder when you started taking an interest in art," Kristina said.
"Fashion designing is an art Kristina," Gabriel pointed out.
"Of course, of course," Kristina said in an off-hand way.
Gabriel Agreste had indeed come to see the painter Charles Laurent for one of his upcoming designs but he did have another motive for coming.
"Then can we all go in?" Kristina brought him out of his thoughts.
"You're welcome to do so, however, I must wait a bit more," Jacques replied.
"For Who?" Darrell asked.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir," Jacques continued, "I invited them to see a painting that Charles had made of them".
"I wonder what's taking them so long, maybe an Akuma attack," Laura proposed.
'An Akuma attack! I've got to find an excuse to go!' Adrien told himself.
'An Akuma attack! Impossible,'Gabriel laughed to himself.
Just as Adrien was thinking about an excuse, he saw a red figure in the sky. The figure jumped to the ground in an elegant and graceful manner and Adrien's heart skipped a beat.
"Ladybug," Chloe squeaked.
"I'm sorry I took so long. I was caught up in trying to stop a speeding bus whose brake had lost control," Ladybug explained.
"No worries…Where is Chat Noir?" Jacques asked.
"He isn't coming, though I really wish he was here," Ladybug said, as Adrien blushed.
"Whatever, my BFF is here," Chloe took out her phone. She ran to Ladybug and began to take selfies.
"Ladybug and I are the bestest friends anyone can find in Paris," Chloe bragged.
'Not her idiocy again!'Gabriel thought.
"Mr. Bourgeois, the police have finished doing their rounds in the gallery and the cameras have been installed," Officer Raincomprix announced as he came running along to the entrance.
"Excellent and in case anything goes wrong, we have Ladybug with us," the Mayor put a hand toward her.
"My BFF is not only a great heroine but a great detective as well," Chloe went on muttering about how Ladybug had saved Chat Noir's life. Gabriel was getting more and more irritated as he listened as it reminded him of his flop plan regarding the tape-recorder.
"The Chief Inspector praised you a lot Ladybug," Officer Raincomprix informed.
"Thank you," Ladybug thanked.
Listening to everything made Adrien recollect how grateful he was to Ladybug. She had trusted him that night when no one did. If he was safe and sound, then it was only because of Ladybug.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ladybug," Darrell said,as he kissed her knuckles. Adrien felt a pang of jealousy.
"Thank you Mr. Lefebvre," Ladybug smiled.
"So you do know who I am," Darrell seemed happy.
"I am Kristina Segal. I am an art dealer," Kristina told, as she shook her hands with Ladybug.
"Well let's go inside," Jacques said.
"And in this area, we have the mosaic paintings," Jacques told the crowd.
They had just toured the gallery and seen various forms of paintings ranging from abstract, modern, pop, cubism, surrealism and contemporary to various sculptures.
"Wow! This is amazing. Alix would have loved the graffiti," Nathaniel.
"I liked the contemporary paintings the most. Though I am a huge fan of mosaic art ," Ladybug gave her point of view.
'M'Lady loves art. Impressive!'Adrien said to himself.
"Charles has been working on mosaic styles and patterns just after he finished a painting of you and Chat Noir. If you're interested, I could ask him to show you his mosaic art," Jacques proposed an option.
"I'd love to and so would Nathaniel," Ladybug smiled.
"Nail-painting has increasing popularity these days Ladybug. If you come to my place, I can show you my entire collection," Chloe added.
"Well I can show you better Ladybug. I am an art dealer after all and you can bring Chat Noir with you," Kristina offered.
"I have sold many pieces of fine art during several auctions and we have a couple more. Maybe if you come with me, I can show you the best Ladybug," Darrell told her.
'There's no way I am going to let M'Lady go with Darrell,'Adrien thought angrily.
"Sure," Ladybug was trying her best to be polite. Gabriel Agreste rolled his eyes at the manner in which everyone was trying to gain Ladybug's attention.
"Good Evening, everyone," Charles said as he entered from one of the spare rooms in the gallery.
"I was just working on a new mosaic pattern," he said continuing.
"I've told everyone about it Charles and Ladybug is…" Jacques was cut off by Charles.
"Ladybug, it is a pleasure to see you here but where is Chat Noir?" Charles asked.
"He couldn't make it today," Ladybug answered
"That's too sad, I'm sure he would have loved the painting," Charles said.
"He will, he has promised to be there when you unveil the painting to the public," Ladybug told him. as Adrien smiled.
"Well that's good news," Jacques said.
Nathaniel and Marc introduced themselves to Charles who gave them an autograph and even praised Nathaniel's drawings. Just then a young woman in her early thirties arrived.
"Life imitates art and so acting imitates life", she said.
"Not that idiot again," Darrell rolled his eyes.
"I've seen her before, she is...," Ladybug started as she was cut by Chloe.
"She's Eloise Pacquet," Chloe said, "a renowned actress".
"Apparently she is going to star in a Spanish film based on Pablo Picasso. Maybe that's why she's here today," Marc said.
"You're spot on kid," Eloise nodded, "We begin filming next month".
"You speak Spanish?" Adrien asked.
"Eloise speaks many European languages," Gabriel told him.
"Nice to meet you Gabriel," Eloise greeted said as Gabriel nodded.
"On with the tour," Jacques intruded in their conversation.
Author's Note - The characters other than the ones in the show are fictional and are not based on anyone. Also the spellings are in American English. The second chapter will
be posted either today itself or tomorrow. = )