Chapter | Sixteen
Adrien wished he knew what to feel or even what to say, but the truth was that he didn't. He was in a shock, not really sure how to process the news that had unfolded less than twenty-four hours ago. Plagg was trying his best to try to help him through it, but realistically there was nothing anyone could really say or do to help him.
Paris now knew that Gabriel Agreste was the one behind being Hawkmoth, and was arrested officially with Nathalie being an accessory. His mother was in a comatose state under the mansion, and the doctors weren't sure she would ever wake up. It was a weird to Adrien, the feelings he was feeling all at once. He had thought he dealt with not having a mother anymore but this felt like losing her all over again and he knew it was his father's fault. His father could have taken her to a hospital where she could have gotten the proper treatment, but any chance was more than likely a long shot now.
Adrien was angry. He was angry that his father was the one behind hurting so many people, and that he had help. Gabriel wasn't even sorry, and that was something else that pissed Adrien off. It pissed him off enough that he decided to do the one thing he had never done, and now had proof of because of his father's phone records.
He turned Lila into the Paris police, which only added charged onto Gabriel's count. Lila had a very public arrest of also being an accessory in the aid of a terrorist, and on Marinette's behalf Chloe also added the defamation charges on for Lila. Lila had been a screeching mess, and her mother had seemed burned out on the news. Yeah, Adrien didn't care at all anymore.
Then there was Chloe, who he knew had to be in a similar state of mind like him. Andre Bourgeois had officially been arrested on the counts of bribery, defamation, money laundering and the aid of a terrorist. The difference between him and Chloe though was how hard her poker face was. She showed no emotion to the cameras or anyone who asked her if she knew. She let nothing show.
Yet here he was sitting in Chloe's room where she was staring at her phone, and he wasn't really sure how to approach her. Their friendship was weird, because yes they grew up together but that was for a social status that their parents had pushed. Yet basically they didn't have parents anymore either. Realistically they had each other now.
"You would think my mother would call me, but I haven't heard a damn thing from her at all." Chloe spat, and it was the first emotion he had seen in her since the news broke out of her father's arrest.
"I'm sure there's a reason Chlo." Adrien tried to talk calmly, but he understood why she was upset. No matter what, Chloe and Audrey would always have a broken relationship.
"The company is going down in flames." Chloe says, finally looking over at him. "Investors are pulling out of everything that has to do with our last name. The Bourgeois name is tainted now, no one wants anything to do with it. My father refuses to admit that my mother knew the whole time. He paid her to keep quiet."
"We both lost everything." Adrien reached over and grabbed her hand, albeit a bit awkwardly. "Our parents did things we can never really understand the reasoning for, hurt people for their own gain but we have to remember that we made a difference. We did the right things at the end of the day, and that it wasn't our fault."
Chloe was silent for a moment before a hysterical laugh left her lips, "It's not fair you know. I know your mother loved you Adrien, you were her world. I envied that, and my mother couldn't even be bothered by me. My father was at least here, and he wasn't a good guy. I have Pollen, and as much as Marinette sees the good in me sometimes I feel like I don't deserve to be a hero."
"Kid," Plagg flew out from whatever hiding spot he was in eating his smelly cheese, "Both of your parents were horrible people, but not you. You both have good in you and are miraculous holders for a reason. Usually Tikki is better at this sappy talk, but you have a purpose. You aren't your parents."
Chloe's eyes watered up at that, so she quickly ripped her hand out of Adrien's to wipe those tears off. She had more dignity than this to be caught crying. Her parents didn't deserve her tears, and so she lifted her head high and looked back over at Plagg.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Chloe questions, "The threat here in the city is dealt with and now we have the other holders with their miraculous around. What are we supposed to do?"
"We can ask Master Fu?" Adrien suggests and watches as Chloe's face takes on a guilty look. His heart twisted yet again, "What do you know that I don't this time?"
She hated the way he said it, like she chose to keep this from him. In her defense, Chloe had only recently came to find out the information she had. She hadn't exactly had the time to call Adrien and tell him, not with her father and his father being arrested and all that good jazz. Yet she understood Marinette's guilt she felt having to keep things from Chat Noir. Somewhere along the way Adrien had become her partner as much as he was Marinette's. She felt bad not including him in a lot of things she and Marinette spoke about, but to Chloe this whole concept of letting people in and being better was all new. It was a new learning experience and she was only human, bound to make mistakes.
"I was able to talk to Marinette, she told me that Master Fu told her she could never come back to Paris again." Chloe rips the band aid off as softly as she could at first, but she knew it would be better not to beat around the bush.
"Is he mad at her?" Adrien's eyebrows furrowed, "Why would he tell her something like that?"
Chloe looked away, a soft sigh leaving her lips. "Her identity was figured out, along with Master Fu's. He transferred the guardian title to her. She didn't say it, but Marinette is in deep water. Whatever she's dealing with, I don't think her parent's deaths were an accident. Our parents were just collateral damage, but still. Whatever Mari has going on, she won't ask us for help."
Adrien felt troubled about this information, but he couldn't say he was surprised. He knew Marinette was going to be the next guardian of the miracle box. It was something she mentioned first as Ladybug. Yet the moment he realized Ladybug and Marinette were one and the same, a lot of things suddenly made sense. He understood her need to keep identities a secret. He understood her need to want to be alone. He understood her.
He now knew that Marinette preferred to be alone to work through things because that was how she dealt with everything in her personal life, by herself. Her parents never knew of Marinette's double life, and it must have been stressful to keep that to herself or at least unwraps. She kept her biggest secrets to herself.
"Have you heard from her?" Plagg suddenly asks, floating next to Pollen.
"No." Both Chloe and Adrien say in sync.
Plagg's green eyes narrow at the floor and it worried Adrien. Plagg never showed emotion, and if he was showing emotions then something was bad enough where it was bothering Plagg. Nothing ever bothered the kwami of destruction.
"What is it Plagg?" Adrien inquired.
"Don't you find it weird how Marinette hasn't called you once to check in on you after news broke of both your father's arrests?" Plagg couldn't help but had this bad feeling, and he knew it wasn't just him. Something was wrong with Tikki. He could feel how strong her anxiety, worry and fear was. It was bad enough where if filled Plagg with a sense of dread.
Chloe shook her head, "I'm pretty sure she's not even paying attention to the news very much right now. She just lost her parents and took the mantle for guardian. As much as I want to call her, I know she needs time as well."
"We'll call her soon Plagg." Adrien reassured his kwami, feeling the anxiousness build in Plagg. Feeling that alone caused some concerns for Adrien, but for now he ignored those feelings. "Still doesn't answer what we're supposed to do with the other miraculous holders."
Pollen settled herself on Chloe's shoulder, "Get together. You all are a team now, and you have a city to protect. You can decide what to do next as a team."
"Easier said the done." Chloe quipped, "Do we expose our identities to each other or what?"
"That's up to you all." Plagg shrugs, "Marinette can't exactly tell you no, she knows everyone's identities and she's a bit off the grid at the moment in New York."
"But she's the guardian." Adrien retorted.
"But you're here and she's not." Plagg pointed back out, "Whatever works for everyone and has the best outcome, do that."
Chloe sighed, having enough talk about kwamis, the other holders and their fathers. She was just over this whole day, and she already knew that Adrien was as well. Looking at her childhood friend, she reached over and surprised him when she grabbed his hand.
"Want to go to the movies like we did as kids?" Chloe gingerly asks.
Adrien chuckled, "With a large popcorn and soda?"
"Exactly but I really hope you aren't a straw biter anymore Adrikins." Chloe teased, and for the first time in the past week Chloe felt light and at ease in the presence of Adrien.
"We can just get two straws." Adrien muttered, a pout almost on his face.
"We can try that." Chloe smiles, and Adrien felt himself look away at how sincere she looked. He couldn't help but think how beautiful the smile was, because the more time he spent with Chloe he came to know the real girl and couldn't help but think how genuine she was.
She also was the one who understood him the most.
When Marinette didn't return back that night from her apartment by the time him and Aunt May had gotten home from the charity event, Peter was worried. May told him not to freak out, and more than likely she probably just wanted to be alone for that night. That sometimes the grief gets too much and that she might have wanted to let it out without anyone around. It was something May admitted to after the death of his parents and grandparents.
"Sometimes it's harder being strong in front of other people, and that there's a point where it's all just too exhausting", had been May's exact words. Even then Marinette had replied to her text messages or phone calls from him, and that had been two days ago. His spidey senses were telling him that something was wrong, and right before he was about to go to her apartment him self he had gotten a text message from Tony.
Come over here ASAP. Important.- T.S
Peter was out the front door not even five seconds later, because he was sure something had happened. He remembered the old man telling Marinette that there were people who found out their identities and she couldn't return to Paris again because of it. That alone wasn't something to take lightly and he sure as hell was positive something happened. Not even Aunt May could pacify his worries, but he knew with Tony's help that the chances were better to find her if that was the case.
When Peter arrived in the main area he knew Tony occupied the most, he was surprised to find that there was more than the one man he was expecting to see. Steve was there with Natasha and Clint. There was also another person there he had never seen, a taller man that had a cloak on. He almost seemed to be a magician? Peter wasn't too sure since he never had met this person before and he met most of the Avengers that one time at the airport.
"Hey kid." Clint was the one to greet him first, despite the grim setting in the room. He could tell whatever was happening was nothing good just by the facial expressions on their faces. It was something that was a tall tail sign of bad news.
"What's going on?" Peter asks all of them in general, but his eyes were glued on Tony for the answer.
Tony didn't really know how to tell Peter the news gently, because honestly it would end up being like ripping a band aid off. He knew that Marinette had taken up residence with Peter and May, and that had given Tony, Natasha and Stephen a bit of reassurance that she wasn't alone. They had known Marinette was a target, that her parents were a thing to distract her but Marinette had also known what he and Natasha knew and that was that someone knew who she was.
"Marinette is missing." Steve was the one who said it when he saw Tony look away, unable to be the one to break the news to the kid. He watched the emotions go through Peter's eyes, the disbelief and spark of anger.
"Was it the people who found out her identity? The reason she couldn't go back to Paris again?" Peter asks and now they give him a look of surprise, and it dawns on him that everyone else knew the truth about Marinette- even Tony.
"You know about that?" Tony asks him, getting a nod from Peter.
"I overheard the actual conversation with my enhanced hearing. I know about it all." Peter tapped his ear, reminding Tony that the teenager was also an enhanced. (Yet his aunt would forever call it his Peter tingle).
"Does she know you know?" Stephen was the one asking, because he knew Marinette wouldn't just tell Peter. In fact he knew that Peter was one of the last people she wanted to tell due to the fact that in her head she thought she was protecting him from not telling him a thing. Her biggest fear was losing people she loved and being alone to deal with the world. There was no way she merely told Peter after the loss of her parents.
"No, I was waiting until she was in a better head space to tell her I knew." Peter hated the fact that the past nights that she slept near him, he couldn't do anything while she cried from the nightmares that haunted her. She wouldn't wake up, it was like she couldn't and after learning her secret he wondered if that was her form subconsciously punishing herself. "She last went to her apartment the night of Mr. Stark's charity event. I'm pretty sure she wanted a moment to be alone, and I wished I never let her go alone."
"Don't blame yourself kid." Stephen says, frowning as he sighed. "She was dealing with a lot before she met you, and everything was going good for a while until it spiraled out of her control. If there's something I learned about Marinette is that she's used to going through things alone, and it's a defense mechanism to push people away when she'd dealing with something. Letting people in for her is one of the harder things for Marinette to do."
"She was taken from her apartment though, wasn't she?" Peter questioned, and for the first time Tony heard annoyance in his voice. The spider kid had always been cheerful and optimistic, and seeing a new side of Peter really told Tony all he needed to know. Peter and Marinette had a lot more going on than just a flirty friendship.
They were two young heroes who had unknowingly used both of each other as a source of comfort and safety. They were each other's normalities in their lives and somewhere a long the way they had become each others worlds. Tony knew Marinette would never admit it, but he saw the way she was with him. He saw the way Peter was with her. Two love birds right there with each other, they balanced one another.
"Yes." Clint says, now pulling up a photo on the screen. "Lucas Valentino was the last face caught on camera who was not a resident there in the complex or a registered visitor. Then shortly after he entered the complex all security cameras went dead."
"He's a model she commissioned." Peter recognized the man. "Some hot shot who wanted to commission a suit when she first got here."
Natasha raised an eyebrow at that, then looked over at Clint. "Well isn't that suspicious? He had access to her the whole time. Perfect alibi to get close to her and learn her personally. Then he what, goes to Paris and kill her parents?"
"What if he knew who Hawkmoth was though?" Clint wonders aloud, "He could have been working quietly, and then Tony exposed Paris to the world and messed up those plans. He would have to think quick to move along efficiently."
"So he what, killed Mari's parents to get her back to Paris?" Peter adds into the speculation. "Maybe he was going to try to frame the Hawkmoth guy?"
"That doesn't make sense though." Tony shakes his head, "He wanted Marinette, or he would have taken the miraculous instead. Why leave the other teenagers with them or the main bad guy?"
Peter's eyes opened wide, "Because she the Guardian now. She's different than the other holders."
"They knew she was the guardian in training when we first found the files." Natasha pointed out, "They wanted the guardian."
Stephen was still frowning, "There's something we're missing. They could have taken the one before her, but they waited specifically for Marinette."
Steve crossed his arms, "The question is why her? What makes her different from the other guardian?"
"She's young?" Was what Clint offered.
"She's a girl?" Peter says.
"She's french?" Tony tried.
"Tony, that doesn't mean anything." Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose. "None of that means anything."
Tony gave an offended look, "It could very well be a thing. How would you even know?"
"She's the true holder of Tikki." Peter tried to see if that would mean anything, and by the looks of it he was right. That bit of information did very little.
"The whole teen group are true holders." Stephen was thinking hard, but he couldn't figure it out. "We need to figure out who took her and then maybe we can get the reason why they took her from there."
Tony raised his finger up, "I say we should bring the other Parisian teenagers here. Maybe they can be helpful to us."
"What, are you going to offer them an internship?" Clint tried to joke, but then he saw the serious look on Tony's face. "Wait- I didn't mean it literally."
"I'll do it if I need to." Tony says, "They understand whatever this is more. They also have pocket gods who know what the hell is going on for sure, or at least a better idea of it. Two of them just had their parents arrested because they were involved with the city crime."
"You can't pick up every stray teenager Tony." Steve reminds him, "These kids have homes and lives too. You're suggesting up rooting them-"
"They can go back after, but they aren't trained properly. They need to have better combat skills, someone to teach them. It doesn't have to be me, but they do need a support system." Tony sighed, "Pepper was the one who suggested the idea originally."
"Sure she was." Natasha remarked, "But I do have to agree with you. These teens would be a lot safer if they knew how to properly fight and did have a support system to fall back on. Someone took Marinette because they knew who she was, and who's to say these kids don't already have targets on their backs? The world would be in shambles if other people got their hands on these magic jewels. Paris was just an example, and that was a man who merely wanted his wife back. Imagine actual terrorism events? How many real casualties there could be."
Stephen was the one who stepped into the conversation, because the truth of the situation was that the other holders would be safer in New York. At least until they found Marinette and who took her. They wouldn't have to worry about losing more miraculous, or risking the truth of them getting even more exposed. These teenagers would be better off here, learning and having an actual support system to call help on if they needed. The best move would to bring them here, where the miracle box was. They could help keep it protected until Marinette was found and brought home.
"They need to come to New York." Stephen finalizes, "They are targets in Paris, and they also have no clue what is going on. The safest place for them would be here where Tony has high security, where they can train and learn from the Avengers. They can't be unsupervised anymore. Marinette flourished with her training, and they can as well. The world can face catastrophic events if anyone finds the other holders and take them as well. They need to be clued in and prepared for the realities of the world outside Paris."
Clint gives a clap, "It's settled then, Tony is housing a group of teenaged super heroes and I wish him the best of luck."
"This sounds like it's going to end horribly." Natasha chuckles, "But I'll pay money to see Tony take care of a house of teenagers."
Peter raised his hand, "So are they training here?"
"They will be training here with Natasha, Steve and Clint." Tony looks at him, "And so will you kid, that if you're up for sharing your identity."
"If it will bring Mari home, then yeah." Peter quickly says, "I'll do anything."
Tony gives a nod, and looks back towards the others. "Are you three up for training teenagers?"
"What are you going to be doing Stark?" Clint raises an eyebrow.
"Besides providing the funds to keep said teens alive here, I'm going to track Marinette down. I have multiple satellites around, and I plan to make contact with Wanda and Vision to enlist help." Tony looks over at Steve, "If you could possible contact your connections in Wakanda and Sam to keep an eye out, it would be appreciated."
Steve gave Tony a look, the two of them not completely eye to eye yet after everything that happened with the other super soldiers and Bucky. Yet Steve knew it was taking a lot for Tony to ask him for help, but at the same time there was a teenaged girl who was kidnapped that was an important person. She was possibly taken by Hydra or someone like them and Steve couldn't just ignore that.
"I'll see if Sam can keep an eye out, and Bucky if he's not in Wakanda." Steve agrees.
Natasha was just putting her phone away, "I also asked my sister Yelena to keep an eye out."
Now that got everyone to look at her with curious eyes, and all Natasha said was "I went back to Budapest."
"I saw something on the news about-"
"We don't talk about it." Natasha says, shaking her head. "Besides that, I think we should also tell Gina."
"Who's Gina?" Peter asks, now growing confused at the conversation like he was missing a piece.
"Marinette's grandmother who's also an ex S.H.I.E.L.D operative." Clint answers, nodding towards Natasha. "We'll leave that one to you."
Peter realized right then and there that there was a lot in unpack here.
Steve nodded his head, "Then it's all settled, and now we know what we need to do. Let's get to it."
Happy Sunday! Hope everyone is well! I am super excited to post this chapter and that I'm finally moving this plot along. Thank you all for the support of this story, it means a lot to me that you all continue to follow and read this story.
Please let me know what you think of the plot. I hope it makes sense and doesn't seem rushed!
Thank you all again for the support! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
(Also what do we think of Adrien X Chloe here? 😅)
