Prologue
If someone were to use the word eccentric to describe Adrien Agreste they would be spot on, though only a select few knew of his insane hobbies and tendencies. Everyone knew the public face, golden boy model, son of Gabriel Agreste, the most celebrated designer in Paris. It was common knowledge he was a prodigy in the sciences, creating robots and software that were quickly bought up by companies like Apple and Google. Reporters would talk to him, ask him how he became interested in robotics, wondering what sparked interest in the prodigy. He was polite, mild mannered and quiet in front of the cameras, answering all their questions with the same laissez faire attitude he was taught growing up, save one. "What do you think of the superhero Chat Noir?"
If one looked close they could see the small fire in his eyes, and the small smirk before he spoke. "Chat Noir? I don't think it's my right to have an opinion on someone like him. I know nothing about him." After interviews he would retreat and head back to his workshop. On the surface it was clean, state of the art. Computers and monitors stood shining, connected to microscopes, spreadsheets, folders and internet browsers opened displaying various signs of research. Half finished prototypes stood guard on worktables. Tools lined the walls neatly, shining. His eccentricities weren't apparent, unless someone happened to place a phillips head screw driver into a small knot on the wall, hidden behind a large circular saw. Then they could see the stairs descend into the real workshop, descending into madness like Alice down the rabbit hole. Adrien smiled as he did so. This was where his real work lived.
"What do you mean you don't have the right to have an opinion of someone like Chat Noir?" As soon as Adrien entered his workshop he was bombarded by questions from a robot he had created to help him when he was Chat Noir, an artificially intelligent robot with a design somewhere between a cat and a fairy, a little robot named Plagg.
"So you saw the news today?"
"Of course I did! What else do you think I do when you leave? I get bored." Maybe a little too artificially intelligent. "Nino stopped by, by the way. He was asking how the project was going."
"Call him and tell him to come down to the workshop." Adrien put on a pair of glasses as he spoke, gathering up the few tools he needed. "Do the same for Alya and Chloe while you're at it. They're going to want to see this."
"Adriennnnnn, why don't we go do something fun for a change? You can show me off the the world. You've always said I was your greatest creation. You even made four more of me."
Adrien rolled his eyes at the little bot. How did the little thing have such a big ego? "I believe I said the Kwami were my greatest creation. You're probably at the bottom of the list."
"You know you like me. You gave the others away."
"To Nino, Alya and Chloe. I'm just glad I designed more agreeable personalities for them."
Plagg went over and looked at the project, looking over the different measurements and pressure points. "There's a screw loose in the joint over here."
"Thank you, Plagg." Adrien picked up a screwdriver and made his way to the bot, repairing the joint.
"You're welcome. I helped. Now can we go do something?"
"Why don't you call the others like I asked you too?" He loved Plagg more than he'd care to admit, but the robot had a personality that was a bit much. He designed Plagg to have more opposites than similarities to himself, something he carefully avoided with the Kwami he designed for the others.
"I sent them a text while you were telling me I was the best. Now let's get out of here before they get here." The robot hovered above his head and looked the new project over once again. "Once that joint is finished it just needs to be turned on. You out did yourself again, you're the most talented inventor in the world, you could win a Nobel Prize for this, yada yada, blah blah blah."
"Why don't you go download the last few programs on Tikki? It should be the red USB. It'll keep you busy for another two hours or so." Plagg let out an annoyed huff and did as Adrien told him. Why did his inventor have to be such a boring stick in the mud?
"There, finished." The joint was finished and the hole he had created to fix the screw was repaired. The Kwami had been his greatest invention, but this would surpass even them.
The sound of the door upstairs opening followed by three sets of footsteps pulled Adrien away from his thoughts. They were here. "Adrien, bro! You finished your thing?" A hand was placed on his shoulder and Adrien noticed Nino looking at him with a smile. Behind him stood Alya, cellphone in hand, ready to record, Chloe, arms crossed, looking at the workshop with a soft glare. The three of them were the only ones who knew he was Chat Noir.
Nino was Adrien's best friend. They met in a robotics class in high school and the two of them hit it off. He was the only other person in the world who knew how the Kwami were made, how the Chat Noir suit worked, allowing Adrien to perform crazy stunts, and how to repair any of it. Adrien had officially met Alya when Nino started dating her, but he'd seen her around before at press conference events. She was the reporter who had gotten closest to revealing Chat's identity, so Adrien used her skills to his advantage, revealing himself to her requesting she the public away from him. Chloe was his benefactor and oldest friend. She provided the money it took to be Chat Noir since the money he received from his own inventions and software had to towards creating more inventions and software. She was an up and coming politician in Europe and one of Chat biggest public supporters. "So, what is this new invention?" Chloe asked, cutting right to the chase. She wanted to see where her money was going.
Adrien smiled. "Right this way," he lead them to the corner where a large stand stood, covered by a sheet. "So, you all know I've been a superhero for a while and it's been fun, but it's a bit hard to be the only one Paris can count on, so," he pulled back the sheet and the three of them looked like a bucket of cold water had been poured over them. She looked real, the girl. Not in the creepy robotic way, where there was something just not right, like with dolls. No, she looked like a real person. Her chest moved up and down slightly, imitating breathing. A few light freckles dusted her face. Black hair fell onto her shoulders, held in two pigtails. She looked like someone who was sleeping, whisked away in pleasant dreams. "This is Marinette, or, when she is with me, Ladybug."
"Oh my gosh, Adrien that is amazing! How on earth did you make her? She looks so real!" Alya had her phone and was taking all sorts of pictures of the girl, looking her over like Plagg was just moments ago.
"I've spent the last three years building her, a year and a half in design. The programming for her personality took eight months on its own." He glanced over at the little black robot who still was meddling with the USB drive for Tikki. One of the reasons I created Plagg was to practice implementing personalities into robots." He gave himself a small smile. "I say it was a success."
"So, how do you turn her on?"
Adrien smiled, "Watch this," he walked over to the bot and smiled. "Marinette, it's time to wake up."
The girl stretched, letting out a small groan, "No. Like, five more minutes, please."
"Dude, that is amazing!" Nino's excitement filled the room and everyone let out cheers of excitement.
"W-what's going on? Why's everyone so excited?" The robot finally opened her eyes, sleepy for a moment, then suddenly wide awake. "W-who are you?" She looked around, trying to get a sense of her surroundings. "Where am I?"
Adrien walked over to Marinette, a smile on his face. "Don't worry. This is my workshop. We brought you here after you hit your head, don't you remember? It's me, Adrien. That's Nino, Alya and Chloe. We're your friends."
Marinette shook her head. "I-I don't remember anything."
He offered her a kind smile. "Why don't you go look around at everything.?That might spark some memories. The doctor said you might have amnesia." He said all this knowing full well none of this was true. Marinette nodded and looked around the workshop, looking at the various blueprints and designs. Adrien turned to the three and spoke quietly. "There's one last thing you guys need to know. Marinette doesn't know she's a robot."
Thus ends the prologue of this story. Future chapters will be longer and I plan on updating twice a week. I haven't settled on an update schedule yet, though. IT depends on when Constellations gets updated. I'm thinking maybe Tuesday-Sunday for future chapters but that's not set in stone. I'll keep y'all posted, though. Let me know what y'all think! I hope y'all enjoyed!
