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Guest... The Name is detecting Ladybugs because for some reason I am super catastrophically un-creative when it comes to naming things. This was a detective story in the MLB universe so... Detecting Ladybugs. I tried super hard to come up with something different or catchy before I started posting but uh... no luck lol.
Guest... Mar will discover who Chat Noir is! Eventually... I will say that it doesn't go as he planned and that it will happen within the next few bullet points on my outline. As to how many chapters that might translate to... IDK...
Guest... There will be more kissing! Just not in this chapter ... sorry... this chapter is more action although there is a bit of development btw Adrien/Mari. Real development or simple steamy romance will have to wait till next chapter. All PG stuff of course... maybe PG-13 idk I'm bad at gauging these things.
Chat-and-ladybug... Yes... yes I have. In fact I already have alternate animals power sets and stuff that I can use without changing aspects of the story. When I first started this story it was set up with my own characters but the MLB world worked so well within the lines I'd already drawn I decided to roll with it. I have about 13 original stories in my head that have nothing to do with MLB and then I have about a dozen stories that are pure MLB. Then there are a few that could rock either way. I'm a storyteller... always have been. Although this is the longest thing I've written to date.
(Slow Burn Detective AU!) Marinette is used to working alone on the streets of Paris as she strives to take down the Hawkmoth gang. When the thief Chat Noir comes crashing into her life things are bound to get magical, especially when co-detective Adrien returns to Paris and seems to want to be her new partner. Will their fated partnership end in a capture or a kiss?
Plans and Problems
Everything, even the very air seemed to freeze as Marinette's eyes widened, glancing back up to Chat. He had frozen as well so breaking eye contact Marinette glanced around the small alley. Unfortunately, it was fairly narrow lacking dumpsters, trashbags, hell there wasn't even any cardboard boxes to hide behind. Before she could do much more than try and take a step back into the deeper shadows the sounds of a door being kicked opened echoed and angry voices suddenly filled the evening air.
"I don't understand why we have to do the grunt work." A woman snarled slamming her door shut.
Chat was suddenly at her side his movement so silent that it almost made Marinette yelp when he tapped her shoulder. Jerking a thumb up Marinette nodded giving Chat permission to get them both the hell out of dodge.
A male voice answered making the two of them pause for the briefest second. "You know why Poppy. We lost too many people at the island and no one person can know too much."
"Yeah well someone else needs to deal with the spoiled brat. One of these times I may give her just a little too much and all we will have to worry about delivering is a nice quiet corpse." Poppy snarled again as Chat wrapped his arms around Marinette and shot them towards the roofline. Their footsteps were silent as they touched down although the staff made the slightest scraping sound as Chat released Marinette to the rooftop. The sound didn't seem to register with the two arguing people below because their conversation didn't even pause.
"Hawkmoth will kill you if you do that so don't even think about it much less say stupid crap like that. You know as well as I that difficult members have been going missing as of late. Pretty soon Hawkmoth might decide it's time for another cleanse."
Chat withdrew his staff as a tall well-dressed woman followed by a burly man strode past the alley. Both threw bored glances into the open space but neither looked up as they continued on their way.
Poppy made a scoffing sound. "If Hawkmoth kills all the help the gang will implode. From what I understand he can't afford to let that happen just yet. Besides I'd never let Nooroo get his creepy mad scientist paws on me alive. Hawkmoth must have dropped off the deep end when he decided to work with him."
Marinette tapped Chat on his chest then pointed to the next building over. Nodding Chat swept her up bridal style and made the leap landing silently on the other side before they continued to follow the voices down below. Neither of the Hawkmoth members below had any idea they were being spied upon but Marinette had a feeling they had just found their quarry.
"They say Hawkmoth was already mad long before meeting Nooroo. After all this isn't the same Hawkmoth that was running things in my dad's age. That man was smart but whoever this guy is… he's a bloody genius tactician." The man huffed sounding slightly out of breath as they came to the corner and came out on an empty street.
"We should have parked closer. I forgot how out of shape you are." Poppy said sounding bored.
"They don't want the car parked too close to the buildings. I'll just suck it up. Besides another car is getting her from the doorstep we are just prepping her." The man retorted tightly as Marinette and Chat slid to a stop at the edge of the roof wall.
These two people were Hawkmoth and Marinette found herself wondering who they were and what kind of lives they led from day to day. Clearly they were higher up the food chain than any member caught so far and Marinette wondered if she could somehow get a picture of them both. She hadn't seen any faces so far but she could match their voices or dressing styles if needed.
"What do you want to do with them?" Chat asked his voice barely discernible from the ambient sounds around them.
What did she want to do? She wanted to pounce on them, beat the two of them to a pulp and demand answers from them until they gave her everything she wanted to know and more. Hell listening to their conversation here had revealed more information in one sitting than she could get in a month doing her normal rounds.
"I want to take them out but I have a feeling that Chloe is in that building. If another car is getting her at the doorstep then we will need to follow the car. Or I suppose you can follow the car and I can see about taking one or both of those two out." Marinette finally answered keeping her voice as low as his.
The two Hawkmoth members crossed the street as Marinette crept up to the edge of the building with Chat in her wake. They kept their heads low in case there were people watching the roofline but it didn't seem as if there were anyone around other than the two approaching the building.
"You are not staying behind to try and take those idiots out alone." Chat hissed sounding slightly panicked as his ears went flat on his head, "Not only would your Whisperers kill me they would probably torture me for days for letting you do something as dumb as that."
Marinette rolled her eyes but Chat was right. "I need to call Stormy, can you keep watch?"
"I will." Chat answered his ears relaxing as he read the resigned tone in her voice.
Marinette slipped back from the edge as Chat kept his eyes pinned on the building the two Hawkmoth members had entered. With a bit of a frown since she knew this conversation wouldn't be fun Marinette pulled out her phone and hit a button. The call connected almost instantly and instead of a greeting Stormy sighed. "Please tell me you are not about to walk into a firefight."
"Oh come on…" Marinette complained "I may just be calling to give you an update or a clue!"
Stormy snorted "Yeah right you're on a hunt and if anyone knows what you are like on a hunt it's us... What do you have?"
"Fine…" Marinette glowered "We're pretty sure we found Chloe but we have two upper level Hawkmoth members here too and Chat won't let me stay behind to try and take them alone."
"Thank god one of you has some sense…" Stormy grouched "Wait did you say Chat? Where did he come from?"
"He found me a while back and decided to help." Marinette said sheepishly "He's going to help me follow the car since I can't apprehend the two grunts but can you guys maybe follow them if I get a tracker on them?"
"Did you hear any names Marinette?" Stormy asked
"One of them is Poppy. The other is a burly out of shape guy."
Stormy sucked in a breath, "Get a tracker on the car Marinette. I can't promise we will be able to do anything but we will try and keep tabs on them. Do you have one of Max's trackers or the standard issue kind?"
"Max's, his trackers are far more efficient and you guys have the ability to follow them. I'll go slap one on the car."
"Right… I'll let Max know. Be careful Marinette I've heard of Poppy. She isn't one you want to cross unexpectedly." Stormy said
"I will Stormy. Hopefully we can save Chloe tonight and we won't have to worry about any of this by tomorrow." Marinette answered and the two of them hung up.
"Do you want me to go to the car?" Chat whispered turning to face her. He was getting hard to see in the ever encroaching darkness except for his eyes which gleamed from the shadows.
"No I'll take care of it. Keep watch and if they come out follow whatever car they put Chloe in."
Chat shifted uncomfortably. He wanted to go with Marinette and make sure she stayed safe but if they did bring Chloe out it would be a perfect opportunity to save her or at least follow them to their newest location. "I'll give you ten minutes. If you're not back I'm coming to find you even if a car does pull up."
Marinette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, If a car does pull up yowl or something… I'll hear you and return as fast as I can."
Chat raised an eyebrow amusement lacing his tone, "Yowl… right… just hurry Marinette."
Marinette didn't bother to answer as she turned and ran back across the rooftops the way they had come. The car wasn't all that far away on the rooftops and she arrived fairly quick. The area around her was creepily silent and she pulled out her phone again to send a quick text to Adrien to let him know what was going on. Not wanting to waste any more time she tucked her phone away before his reply could come and checked her surroundings one last time to make sure it was safe to climb down. There was no one around that she could see and feeling secure Marinette hooked her chain over a pipe that stuck out along the edge she needed. Making it to the ground within a few seconds she slipped the tracer Max had given her a while back out of an inner reinforced pocket. It was square and the size of a small camera card. One side was covered in a kind of glue protected by a sheet of plastic while the other had a minuscule switch. Flipping the switch to on she winced at the tiny high pitched beep the thing initially gave off then slipped out of her jacket so she wouldn't have to disconnect her line. Staying low Marinette sidled up to the car and dropped to the ground so she could roll under it slightly. Finding a good spot where the tracker wouldn't get knocked off by accident or burn off due to heat, she peeled the back layer off and smooched the glue side down firmly. Her phone chose that moment of course to start vibrating with an incoming call and Marinette wiggled it out to see an unknown, nonsensical number flashing across the screen. Not many people got her number on purpose or by accident so for her phone to ring at such an odd moment was a million to one. For a second Marinette almost stuck her phone back in her pocket but the stone at her waist gave that vibrating purr and suddenly Marinette had to wonder if she knew the person on the other end.
"Yes?!" She hissed in annoyance as she rolled back out from under the car and moved behind it to take a quick picture of the license plate. Snapping the picture she jerked the phone back up in time to hear a masculine voice yip "Holy crap it actually worked?!" in surprise. Blinking Marinette held the phone away from her to peer at the odd number again. The voice was familiar but a little low; for some reason however she had an idea of who it was.
"Chat?" Marinette tried as she jogged back to her jacket and slipped it on.
"Yeah! Wait… how did you know? Actually never mind… look you need to get away from the car that Poppy chick is coming your way."
That information made Marinette's heart jerk unsettlingly in her chest and stuffing the phone into her waistband swiftly she started climbing back up the wall using her ascender to do so. The climb was easier than normal but even still she just barely managed to haul herself over the edge as footsteps echoed below her.
"Marinette?" Chat called from her waistband his voice muffled and worried.
Whipping the phone out Marinette hissed "Safe." then turned her phone off as she listened to Poppy complaining about stupid blonds. She waited until the car door slammed and only then did Marinette begin to move, staying away from the roof line as she did. Staying as low to the roof as she could manage Marinette swiftly made her way back to where Chat lay in hiding. He was a shadow amongst shadows and Marinette came up on him as a car pulled up to the building they faced across the street.
"Just in time My Lady." Chat hummed as they watched the burly man come out of the building, a body slumped across his shoulders.
Marinette could feel Chat tense next to her and she reached out to grab his arm. "We can't save her right now. Look in the windows two floors up. They have guns trained on the street."
"I know, I saw them. It's the only reason I'm still up here." Chat grouched as the burly man rolled the body off his shoulder. They were both able to clearly see Chloe's pale face before he seemed to simply toss her in the backseat of the vehicle like she was a sack of clothes. He climbed in after her looking rather unhappy and slammed the door shut. A moment later the car pulled away from the curb seeming to be in no hurry as it sidled down the street.
"I thought the burly guy was just there to prep Chloe?" Marinette wondered even as Chat offered his back to her.
"Doesn't matter we need to follow."
"We do." Marinette agreed hopping on his back and settling in comfortably. "Although if you tell anyone about these piggy back rides…"
Chat snorted taking off with a burst of speed so they could catch up to the vehicle ahead of them. "If anyone finds out I will offer them a ride and see how long they manage to hold on… it might actually be fun to try."
The thought of Chat acting like a bucking bronco as he darted across the rooftops made Marinette smile, "Do yourself a favor and don't offer it to Stormy. She will take you up on it and it won't go how you would expect."
"I shall take your words to heart My Lady." Chat solemnly swore as he flung them across a space that had Marinette gripping onto him just a little tighter. "Sorry Marinette… you might want to close your eyes." He admitted knowing how unsettling his speed in the near dark was for most people. He had to speed up though. The car was starting to pull too far ahead.
"I'm fine." Marinette shot back tersely knowing she could never match his speed like this. They were going almost as fast as the cars below, in the dark, on an uneven, slightly slick surface! "Just let me know before you do a flip or something."
Chat just chuckled saving his air as he darted through the shadowed building peaks of Paris. For nearly ten minutes he ran at almost full tilt keeping the car in their line of sight. A few times he had to take shortcuts by launching them across spaces that were decidedly unsettling but Marinette never made a sound. Although, Chat wondered if he would be bruised around his shoulders in the morning since Marinette clung so tight in those moments that it actually hurt even through the suit. Finally as they neared a building with a high construction fence the car slowed. Chat kept moving, circling around to a higher building so that they could look down into the fence area since it seemed to be the cars final destination. Sliding off his back and allowing Chat to recapture his air Marinette shuffled her way to the edge keeping low in case someone actually looked up. They had beaten the car since it was idling just outside the fence and now they would be able to see everything that took place inside. The fence surrounded the building on all sides and had black tarping fixed to the mesh so you couldn't see through the fence on ground level. After a minute someone came out of the buildings front entrance to roll a portion of the fence back and the car squeezed through. They immediately closed the fence back up as the car pulled up close to the building front. The burly man climbed from the car as it parked and he hauled Chloe out by an arm making Marinette wince. Thankfully she was still passed out and the man simply tossed her back over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. Chat growled at her side and Marinette twitched not having realized how close he had gotten.
"Please let me go down there and show them how to treat a lady properly." He hissed fury in his tone as the man vanished inside with Chloe.
"We can't." Marinette hissed back and he noted that she sounded as pissed as he was. "We don't know the layout, who's inside, where they even took her, not to mention the fact they are being rather nonchalant about tossing her around. We go charging in there right now and they might kill her just to spite us. This is a terrible spot to do a raid from and in not in any shape item wise for a raid. Unlike you I am not bullet proof. It's going to have to wait."
"How long!?" Chat snapped turning his furious green eyes on her.
Running on instinct Marinette reached up cupping his cheek. "A night maybe two. They should stay at this location until at least tomorrow. That one guys told us they move her almost every night but this place is very secure and looks like something they have been preparing for a while. I'll go in tomorrow and see what I can work out with my boss."
"And what if your Boss doesn't believe you or decides not to help?"
"Then I'll save her myself." Marinette stated with such confidence that Chat believed in her 100 percent.
Without realizing it Chat relaxed into her touch and she eased them both away from the wall. They had seen all there was to see. Marinette now had a location and if she was to organize anything she needed information about the buildings below her yesterday. Before she did anything Marinette called Stormy and told her what they had found. Stormy decided to come herself to take first watch on the building and Chat refused to leave until Stormy had arrived. Marinette then tried to call Adrien but he didn't answer which made her worry until she got a text in the middle of her next call to Max.
'Bad signal, basement. Where do you need me? – Adrien'
'My house we have a lot of work to do. – Marinette'
'I'll order dinner then! –Adrien'
That made Marinette smile then rush to answer Max's question about the car she had stuck the tracker on. It took a little more than 20 minutes for Stormy to finally arrive out of breath on the building they stood on and she flashed a grin at Chat.
"Well done on your first hunt!" She called softly knowing that he could hear her.
Chat grinned back at Stormy eagerly as Marinette rolled her eyes "We got super lucky and you know it."
Stormy shrugged "Luck is part of your job Marinette. Now get going and try not to worry too much. I will let you know if they go to move Chloe again."
The two girls hugged swiftly whispering a few last words before breaking apart and Marinette walked to where Chat was standing.
"Where to now?" Chat asked as Marinette started climbing down the ladder that was attached to the side of the building. It led to a smaller roof below and Chat wondered if she would let him give her another piggy back ride once they were out of Stormys sight. They were far off the beaten path out here and walking could easily take over an hour to get around back to her house. It might take even longer if unscrupulous people tried to cause trouble.
"I need to get home so I can start building a case. If the precinct is going to rescue Chloe tomorrow they are going to need blueprints of that building, the ones surrounding it, and all kinds of other logistical data. Usually raids take days to set up but this will have to be quick. I doubt I will be able to convince Gabriel to let a small team go in and extract Chloe. He's going to want to do a full raid to cover all his bases." Marinette hummed her mind already spinning through several scenarios.
"Riiight…" Well since you clearly have a long night ahead of you, might I suggest letting me carry you home? I can get you there far faster than walking." Chat offered happy he had called in food secretly on his cell phone while they were waiting for Stormy to arrive. Marinette hadn't moved and Chat turned to face her wondering if she had gotten lost in thought. He had expected her to be peering at her phone as she looked something up or maybe gazing off into the distance. Instead she was eyeing him the same way she had seen her eye a criminal. The intensity of her gaze made the hair stand up on the back of his neck and he felt himself shrinking a little under it.
"What did I do?" Chat asked plaintively
"Nothing… but what do you want for doing all this? For helping me?" Marinette wondered and Chat understood her hesitance.
It was essentially the same question or rather offer, she had made on the rooftop just a few hours ago but things were escalating. No normal individual would be helping her like he was for free. It wasn't the way the real world worked and Chat knew he had to find an excuse to continue working with her, otherwise her trust in him would begin to waver and that was the last thing he needed. Raising a clawed hand to his neck Chat sighed as he rubbed at a kink.
"Look Marinette, I want to say I am helping you because I'm just a selfless individual but I do have a few alternative motives for doing so. Number one, you have a miraculous stone and it is activating. Since I am the only one around with an active stone it's technically my duty to keep an eye on you until it fully activates or to keep it safe if you are killed before it does." Chat said his voice soft.
Marinette stiffened but she didn't say anything as Chat continued. "Number two, the Hawkmoth Gang and Hawkmoth himself. I have been hunting the leader to the gang for quite a while and since these Akuma attacks have started its proven to me that something needs to be done about them. They have a Miraculous stone and they are misusing it badly. That kind of power or magic or whatever you want to call it tends to rebound once it hits critical. To give you an example as to how bad a rebound could be, from what I understand a rebounding stone may have had a hand in the Black Death. Can you imagine something like that being unleashed on the world today? Or it could simply blow up and I'm not talking about taking out a building sort of blowing up I'm talking about the whole city being obliterated, which is why this needs to be dealt with. Unfortunately dealing with Hawkmoth might entail something that you and your police force wont not approve of which is why I am still here."
"You're going to kill them? You're just going to be judge, juror, and executioner?" Marinette demanded
Chat sighed, "I don't want to be but you have to understand. If they are corrupting a miraculous stone to make these Akuma… they themselves might not be fully human when we find them. They might be a monster with a humans intellect. You can't put a monster on trial. It would be like putting me on trial with the cat ears. No one would understand and no one would know what to actually do with me. Besides they would have to kill me to catch me and I am positive that Hawkmoth will feel the same way."
Marinette didn't like that. He could see it in her eyes that she didn't like it but Chat braved on "And three… I hear you are an excellent cook and from what I've tasted I believe it wholeheartedly. I wouldn't mind a tasty treat or two to keep my attention."
This time Marinette laughed caught off guard by how he could be so serious one moment and carefree the next, "Of course Chat… I made some mini apple pies yesterday. You can have what's left if you'd like."
"Yes Please!" Chat chirped his mouth already watering although he pointedly ignored Plaggs comment of "Greedy guts… you're going to get fat."
Shaking her head Marinette finally walked over to him "I don't know if you are being totally honest with me but I am inclined to believe you. You didn't need to help me the other night but you did and you certainly didn't have to help me tonight. I appreciate it Chat more than you know since it's hard to find people you can trust at your back."
Shrugging, Chat bent down a bit so it was easier for Marinette to scramble onto his back. "I know better than to test my luck against a stronger predator. I have little doubt in my mind that if I turned rouge that you could and would be the one to put me down. No matter what anyone says, you are worthy of the miraculous stone and of being my partner. As such I am happy to watch your back."
He felt her fingers tighten their grip along his shoulder and she pressed against him as he started his run back towards her home. He knew he would have to hurry once he dropped her off since he would have to collect food then get to her apartment. Lost in thought he almost missed her say "Thank you Chat." And he smiled as she rested her head against his shoulder. She relaxed against him, her trust in him showing as a warm weight in his heart and on his back.
"I will protect you." Chat vowed to himself and her although he wasn't sure she heard him over the rushing wind.
In the end it didn't matter if she heard him or trusted him, he would do what needed to be done and he would make sure that she stayed safe. Fortunately, he could follow her as Chat and as Adrien so he hoped it wouldn't be a problem. All he could do was wait and see especially now that they knew where Chloe was.
After dropping Marinette near her apartment Chat ran to get food almost forgetting to de-transform in his rush. Marinette called him as he was jogging back to their apartments and they decided to use Marinette's apartment to do their research in since she already had the maps and such up. Adrien burst through the door food in hand and Marinette had grinned at him as she waved him over to her.
"We found her Adrien. Even if they decide to move her tomorrow we will be able to keep track of her. We will save Chloe in the next two days at most." Marinette said wrapping her arms around him once he put the food down because in all honesty Adrien looked as if he needed a hug.
Adrien returned the hug gripping Marinette tight and all the stress of the evening suddenly came out in a single question. "What if we lose her?"
"We won't." Marinette answered with such conviction that Adrien pulled back to stare at her. A slight blush colored her cheek bones but she continued, "The Hawkmoth gang will have to do something incredibly sneaky to shake the Whisperers now that they have her in their sights and if need be I will stake out the building myself to make sure we don't lose her. For now we need to gather all information possible together so we can bring it in and possibly get a raid set up for tomorrow evening. Gabriel might not be pleased with moving so fast but as long as we have all our ducks in a row it should be fine."
"Alright. What do we need to do?" Adrien asked releasing Marinette.
"We have an address. Now we look into the building schematics, find all exits, figure how many people can safely pull off a raid and build it up from there." Marinette answered returning to her seat and pulling her computer over. "The Whisperers will try to get us a head count but we might have to go on a guess for that one. We should also look at buildings like this one in a fifteen block radius in case they decide to move her."
Her voice dropped lower as she gazed at her computer screen until her words were muttered nonsense at the edge of his hearing. Marinette was totally absorbed back into her work and Adrien knew he would have to interrupt her thoughts again so he could get started on whatever she wanted him to do. Before he did that though, they both needed to eat, preferably while the food was still hot. Realizing that Marinette probably wouldn't eat if he didn't make her Adrien went into the kitchen to grab some plates and cutlery. Once he divvied up the food onto plates he practically forced the plate under Marinette's nose before she seemed to notice. It made him smile to see her working so intently and once she gave him a few jobs of his own to do, they worked mostly in silence long into the night. When neither of them could think straight they crashed in Marinette's bed curling up around each other and sleeping deeply till their phones went off simultaneously far too early.
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