Marinette paused, gaping up at the stage with a goofy smile in place.
"Girl! Did you see that! Adrien totally just looked at you!" Alya declared in a not-so-hushed whisper, jabbing her elbow into Marinette's side as she continued to record the show. Before Marinette could respond however (not that she would know what to say anyway), a large puff of gold dust appeared on the stage, soon clearing to reveal a gold statuesque looking woman. Obviously a new akuma.
"A fashion show without the queen of style? Glitterally unacceptable," the woman declared loudly. Her dad mumbled something but Marinette didn't hear a word of it, too focused on the latest victim of Hawkmoth. "Where's that ungrateful Gabriel Agreste! I demand that he kneels before me!"
'She's looking for Mr. Agreste? What could she possibly want with him?' Marinette's head was practically swimming as she tried to focus on looking for where the akuma's item could possibly be, however she soon found herself distracted by none other than Mr. Agreste junior.
"My father isn't here!" Adrien declared loud and bold, as if he wasn't speaking to a super-powered villain. People behind him had already started to duck and run, knowing what would come soon.
The villain shouted at Adrien and time slowed down for Marinette. She knew what was going to happen. 'Dammit Adrien, run! Now!' But it was too late. The gold-coloured female shot a beam of light at Adrien from her sceptre, Marinette didn't know exactly what would happen, but she knew it wouldn't be good.
"Adrien!" She called out, just as the boy was cased in gold himself. Gasps rang out all around her, but she didn't hear a single one of them. There he stood, in the middle of the runway in a flinched back posture, completely unmoving and covered in shiny gold metal. Or made out of it. Marinette wasn't sure, and she didn't think that she wanted to know either.
She was too focused on trying to come up with a plan to notice the tiny black cat, sitting on the railing a few meters directly above her head. Had she looked up, she'd have surely noticed the black cat kwami sitting there talking to himself. Had she looked up, she'd have surely been prepared for the fact that Chat Noir would not be making an appearance in this fight. But she didn't, and she wasn't.
"Gotta go. Bathroom." She blurted a hurried excuse to Alya and her parents, not that the former payed her any attention. She rushed off in a random direction and through the nearest door into an empty side room.
Shutting the door, Marinette took a quick glance around to ensure she was alone before opening her purse, allowing the small red and black ladybug kwami to fly free.
"Tikki! Hawkmoth has akumatised someone new, and the villain got Adrien! Ladybug needs to go and save him," she rushed out.
"Just say the words Marinette," was Tikki's simple response. She knew that with Adrien being (in a sense) captured, that Chat Noir would be MIA this battle. Marinette would need help. It was only a matter of time. Briefly, she wondered if Plagg was with Adrien when frozen, before she found herself being sucked into the earring as Marinette called a hurried transformation command.
Seconds later Ladybug burst through the door into the main room. She immediately noticed that the room was now practically void for people aside from… *gasp* 'Is that mayor Bourgeois?' She saw the frozen gold man on the second floor above the runway. Behind him was Chloe, hiding behind a wall, and it took Ladybug a second look to notice that she hadn't been turned into gold, she was just wearing a lot of yellow (as usual) so it only looked like she had.
"Ah Ladybug! What an honour. My name is Style Queen. It's about time you showed up to this fashion party! I was getting bored playing around with Agreste Junior here," she stroked Adrien's cheek as she said this, and Ladybug tried not to visibly blanch at the action.
"You leave him out of it! This is between you and me!" Ladybug declared. "And maybe Chat Noir, when he bothers to show up," she muttered to herself, glancing around the room. She noticed the goldified Nadya Chamac standing with her also turned camera man with the camera facing Style Queen, lacking any gold hues, meaning this should still be being broadcasted live. "Where is he… He should have seen this by now…"
"Don't get too distracted Ladybug, remember your fight is with me!" Style Queen called before shooting a golden laser in her direction. Ladybug jumped up and out of the way of the beam and the next three that were fired, landing on the second floor.
Style Queen jumped up onto the second floor as well and shot three more beams in Ladybug's direction with she dodged easily. A sudden scream was heard from behind Ladybug, who she immediately recognised as Chloe's.
"Ah, there you are my beloved daughter! Were you trying to hide from me?" Style Queen called out, a sickening smile on her gold face.
"Get out of here Chloe!" Ladybug called out, but it was no use. Chloe looked terrified, frozen in her place.'Wait… Beloved daughter? Is Style Queen really Chloe's mother?!' Ladybug then realised why Chloe looked so scared, so she immediately took action, taking advantage of Style Queen's distracted state, she rushed towards Chloe and scooped her up before racing out the doors and soaring over the rooftops of Paris to escape Style Queen.
The superheroine soon landed in the park and placed Chloe down behind one of the large bushes near a brick wall.
"Chloe, I need you to stay here and hide. You're the one the akuma wants." Ladybug had to resist adding a sarcastic "as usual" to the end of that sentence, acknowledging that now might not be the best time. Just as she was about to swing away, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Ladybug, I'm scared!" Ladybug had never heard nor seen Chloe so weak and terrified. This girl really was just full of surprises these days, wasn't she? "I want to help but I know I can't! Please save my mum and dad!" She begged, looking up at Ladybug with tears in her eyes.''
"Don't worry. I will. I promise." Ladybug had never seen Chloe act so human before, and she knew that she would have been no better off if it were one of her parents under Hawkmoth's influence. Superhero or spoilt brat, no one wasn't to see their parents in such a way.
Ladybug nodded at Chloe, who nodded back, finally letting her tears trail down her face. Ladybug then swung off in a random direction, stopping in an alley nearby, she decided to call Chat Noir, to try and find out where he was.
"Chat, it's an emergency, there's a new akuma, where are you?" She groaned into her yoyo after the beep. Four calls left unanswered. Where was that boy?!
"Hello Marinette." A sudden voice behind her made her whirl around.
"Master!" She cried out, never so happy to have seen the man before as she was right now. "Chat isn't answering and he doesn't seem to be fighting anywhere yet either, I don't know what to do!" Little did she know, Master Fu already knew of Chat Noir's absence. For as soon as Adrien had been turned, Plagg flew to find him and alert him of the situation. They both agreed that Ladybug would need help.
"Ah I see. Chat Noir told me that he would be unable to attend in the event of an akuma in the next few days," Master Fu lied easily through his teeth.
"He did?! Why didn't he tell me?! That stupid cat! The I get my hands on him-" She paused, realising that the Master heard everything she just said.
"Fear not, Marinette. Come with me to my shop. You will need help once again for this fight." He nodded at her before walking off in the direction of his shop.
Ladybug nodded to herself before swinging away with her yoyo, realising that it would be suspicious of her to walk with Fu whilst in her mask. However, on her way to Master Fu's, she had the unfortunate sight of passing by the museum and seeing at least 20 more golden people. Including Alya.
Ladybug froze when she saw her friend. Not only was she worried about her best friend's state, but she also realised that now Reina Rouge wouldn't be able to help her. Shaking her head, she decided to continue to Master Fu's place anyway and inform him of their newest situation.
When she got there, he was already waiting inside. How he beat her when walking whilst she had her yoyo, she would never know. When he saw her he smiled before entering the code on the record and revealing the box of the miraculous to Ladybug once more.
"Master, Alya has been turned to gold as well. We can't call on Reina Rouge this time," she informed him glumly.
"I see," was his only reply as he stroked his beard. "Well then, I supposed you will need to choose a new ally for today. So, Marinette. Who is it going to be?" He eyed her carefully.
Ladybug hesitated. Images filling her head of different possibilities. Unfortunately, only one really stood out to her. And she knew she had to do it. Oh boy she was gonna regret this. Before she could change her mind, Ladybug nodded and reached out, grabbing a hold of the Bee Comb Miraculous.
Chloe was going to get her wish of being able to help after all.