Chapter 2 is longer, also I got some advice, so I tried some new things out. I hope y'all like it. I know I enjoyed writing it.
Disclaimer- blah blah blah, don't own it, yada yada.
Chapter 2- An East African Melody
Marintte marched up to the gate and thrashed her fist against the doorbell. She tapped her foot expectantly. Exasperated by the brief delay, she again slammed the doorbell.
She had only been standing at the stone gate for several seconds, but the passing of time seemed utterly disparate with Adrien gone.
She raised her clenched hand to strike the ringer again. This time the intercom interrupted her pummeling.
"Name and reason for visiting Monsieur Couffaine?" the robotic voice requested.
"I'm here for my husband," Marinette announced, not even answering the first question.
There was a pause, then the gate swung open. The fuming wife stormed through the grey bricked gateway, onto the pavement towards Luka's mansion. She glared at the scene in front of her.
Marinette was at the tip of a winding gravel road, 600 metres long (she guessed), lined with neatly squared green hedges. The ground behind the bushes revealed flowing meadows of lush grass on either side of the driveway.
As she approached Luka's home, she realised how big it was. The whole property was massive, but the home was incredible. It was five floors tall, the flat roof itself an extra floor.
She reached the porch and prepared to rap her calloused knuckles on the carved mahogany door. To her shock Luka answered, shirtless and glistening.
"Hey, Mari," he said, wiping himself with a towel," sorry, I just got out of the pool".
"Where is he?" Marinette demanded.
"W-who?" Luka asked.
"You know exactly who!" She accused.
"Um... I actually don't," he retorted.
At this point Marinette forced herself in, pressing her forearm to his chest.
Luka looked at the girl crushing him into the wall.
A guard appeared, which he quickly waved off.
"Marinette, I don't know what happened, but I promise we can figure this out".
She scanned his eyes for deceit. To her surprise she found warmth.
Kagami appeared, also dressed in swimwear.
"Wait, have you two been..." Marinette began, releasing Luka.
"Yes," the shory haired girl confirmed smugly," Lou and I have been dating. Actually, it's because of your wedding. We both went there to... Um... congratulate you... and we hit it off".
Luka looked rather uncomfortable at Kagami's possessiveness.
"Hey, wait, Kagami, you can help me. Were you here at 9 o'clock this morning?"
"I was," her former adversary replied factually.
"Oh, great! So Luka has an alibi! He wasn't the one who kidnapped Adrien," she said, half relieved, half dissatisfied with the loss of her key suspect.
As she bounded out of the door, Luka closed it.
Kagami looked at him,"I should have told her the truth".
Luka smiled weakly,"technically you didn't lie. YOU were here this morning".
Kagami was unconvinced. "You need to tell her the truth, or you can forget about us being an us. It is time for you to choose where your heart lies".
"So does that mean if I don't tell her the truth, you won't tell her either?"
Apparently that wasn't the answer Kagami wanted, because she spit out a rather offensive word, and stormed out the door.
While Luka sighed, relieved to be free from his girl, Adrien wished Marinette was with him.
"I miss you, Mari," he mumbled.
Adrien thought about what he knew. "That Person" was his captor. And they apparently "loved him", regardless of the past.
When he had been dragged here by Antman... RedAnt... the lame guy, he had carried him past a bar next door. It was called "The Lone Wolf". Maybe that would be useful, though he had no clue how to incorporate it into a clue.
He also had to reemphasize his first clue, which Marinette had probably not understood, though Adrien knew he would have to be subtle.
Adrien looked at the plain room. He had only been trapped for 7 or 8 hours, but the boredom was already killing him. The room was perhaps 3 metres by 3 metres, with a mattress covering most of the room. Adjoined was a small restroom with a sink and toilet. The walls in each room were composed of dull grey bricks.
Upon the reflection of his knowledge and analysis of the room, he saw the door open and he watched as Ghost Moth strolled in.
"My darling Kitten," the voice called,"I thought we could spend some time together".
Adrien smiled. This was his chance.
"Sure. Actually, could we listen to some music?" he begged.
"Of course," his keeper said, removing a phone from their pocket.
"Could I see it?" Adrien asked.
"Ok my Love, but no funny business. I know that the bug still has a hold on your heart. We both know she's bad news. The faster you can shake her brainwashing, the better, for both of us," Ghost Moth pleaded, a sick sense of love tinged in her words.
"So Ghost Moth also knows Marinette is Ladybug," he lamented to himself.
Adrien carefully took the phone, knowing his every keystroke was being watched, and found YouTube. He logged into his account and delicately picked a song from the list, after he typed in a search.
The music played, each plucked chord ringing a mournful song, reminding Chat of his incarceration.
"You like East African music? Much less 'mini harp' East African music?" Ghost Moth asked in surprise.
"Of course, " Adrien lied, adding the song to his playlist, hoping his plan worked.
"Ok, I guess I have to love you for who you are," the voice crooned.
The soft call left goosebumps on Adrien's neck. He hated that he had to pretend to accept this person's compliments.
When he thought he was at rock bottom, he suddenly realised he was wrong. A sickly smile spread across the villain's mouth.
"A sorry soul is ready to be akumatized".
Adrien took his chance.
"Just don't mess it up this time," he muttered.
"What was that?"
"Well, you didn't even give the ant guy a name. It kinda killed the art behind Akumatizations. How is a villain supposed to be confident if they don't even have a name?" Adrien schemed,"anyways, who's getting Akumatized?"
"An old man whose family have stopped visiting him," Ghost Moth explained.
"This is too perfect," the hero thought.
"Oooh! Can I name him? I've always wanted to!"
The villain sighed. "I suppose so. After all it will be the Akuma who destroys Ladybug".
Adrien gulped, then went back to the plan, hoping thst Mari would stay safe, and also understand his clue.
"Ok, so old guy is probably confused because he is old ... and he is all by himself, so... how about 'Clueless Lonewolf'," he said proudly. Adrien poured every drop of his acting ability into looking proud of himself.
"Isn't there a better nam--" Ghost Moth stopped at the sight of Adrien's pride,"oh alright".
"Clueless Lonewolf, I... Um... Give you a power of some sort.. I dunno, something inspiring about the solitary wolf. In return I want you to eliminate Marinette Agreste".
"Yes, Ghost Moth," a gravelly voice echoed to the miraculous holder.
Adrien hoped that wherever she was, that Marinette was safe, and if possible, happier than he was.
She was not.
Marinette trudged back to the apartment.
"Time to go hom--" she stopped herself," it it isn't home".
A domicile? Sure. An abode? Why not. Maybe a dwelling? Yeah. Digs. A pad. Her place. The roof over her head. A habitation. But not a home. Home wasn't a place, it was next to Adrien. Home was Chat's puns. It was her husband's arms around her in the morning, or when she heard him sleeptalk.
Marinette let herself remember his last sleeptalking session.
"No! Ladybug you can't kiss me. I'm a married man. Marinette would be devastated. And she's you. So if you kiss me, you're only hurting yourself". He had woken up to her ongoing laughter. When she explained the situation to him, he had replied with his Chat filled cockiness.
"I guess I am so faithful I wouldn't even cheat on you with you... in a dream," he teased,"I think that deserves a little kiss?"
She had given him more than a little kiss. In fact, at 3 in the morning they had a 20 minute makeout session.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I miss you," she mourned, in silent solitude.
She gave herself a moment to breathe, then entered her apartment sporting a disingenuous smile.
Nino and Alya, who had agreed to stay with her until this was resolved, greeted her.
"How'd it go?" Alya asked hopefully.
"Not so good. I mean good that Luka has an witness as an alibi, but bad that we don't know where to go next," Marinette explained.
It was at that moment the league of heroes heard a cacophony of screams.
"Time to suit up," Marinette exclaimed.
"Are you sure YOU ARE FEELING WELL?" Alya asked, enunciating the second half of the question.
"I'm fine. I'll be careful," she promised her friend.
Alya gave her a 'this isn't smart' look, before heading out. This time around they had Alya's parents looking over the twins.
As they reached the source of panic, a man appeared. His beard was grey, and his eyes looked predatory, almost like an angry dog.
"I am Clueless Lonewolf! You will all comfort a lonely soul. I have good stories to tell!"
The trio held back chortles.
"Who.. who named you?" Nino asked between wheezes.
"Do you even have abilities?" Alya giggled.
Even Marinette took a moment to enjoy the humour.
"Hawkmoth 2 is really living in Gabriel's shadow," she taunted.
"It's Ghost Moth! And you wish you were that brilliant. And I am sure I have a power," he said anxiously,"In fact it reminds me of the time that I went fishing as a boy and thought that I had forgotten to..."
Ladybug felt her muscles relax. She was tempted to sit down and listen to the story. Carapace had already succumbed, sitting on the ground, his eyes wide. Rena resisted sitting, but she was just as transfixed on the the elderly storyteller.
"Time to hero up," Marinette told herself, resisting the alluring urge to take a seat and hear the old timer's story.
Scrolling through her yoyo's abilities, she found a new one.
"Shuriken mode!" she cried, throwing the yoyo at the hermit's cane.
It was either the Akuma's talisman, or Ladybug was about to knock an old man on the ground for no reason.
The yoyo, now a bladed weapon sliced through the cane. She pulled the string and the yoyo returned, now back in it's former shape.
"Time to deevilize!"
The following scene was a familar one.
The heroes fixed the damage, helped civilians, and returned to Marinette's apartment.
In the small living space, the group sat on the couch. They spent the next several hours talking, trying to figure out what scorched jeans meant, and how Adrien could contact them.
Marinette, eventually gave up, pulling out her phone and looking through Adrien's YouTube playlist, looking for a good song. To her surprise, she saw a recently added song.
"Guys, Adrien added a song... and it's called 'An East African Melody'," Marinette pondered.
"Maybe he had access to YouTube... He could be in East Africa?" Nino guessed.
"No, I can't explain why, but that doesn't feel right. It's like he left another clue somewhere... wait!" Mari shrieked.
"What?" The couple next to her shouted.
"CLUEless LONE WOLF. That was the Akuma's name. And we laughed, because clueless sounds so weak, but it was from Adrien, I know it. Lone Wolf is the clue".
Alya tapped at her phone, searchingly.
"There is The Lone Wolf bar nearby!"
They jumped off the couch in unison.
"Time to find Papa," Marinette whispered, patting her stomach.
Hmm... so what the heck is Luka's secret. Is he a Red Herring, or our villain? Who knows. Are y'all excited for the upcoming rescue? Chat still doesn't know he's a Dad!