The meeting went well. Adrien didn't know that he understood why he needed to be at the meeting, but he didn't have it in him to complain. He was mostly just wishing that he had been able to take the little cat toy with him. As much as he loved the fact that Ladybug could use it as a stress reliever when she needed it, he also wanted to know when it went off, just in case.
During the internship meeting, Adrien learned that Marinette had been offered one of the internship positions, but the brand hadn't heard back from her about whether she was accepting or not. He wondered why Marinette hadn't talked to him or Nino about it. He assumed she had told Alya, but he didn't know for sure.
He spent most of the meeting lost in thought, bouncing between thinking about Marinette's new position and trying to figure out how he would be able to carry around the cat toy without it drawing attention. He figured that a tabloid would notice if Adrien Agreste's pocket started to meow through the day.
That wasn't necessarily something he had to worry about that day, though, so he did his best to focus on the meeting he was sitting through. It felt like the meeting had already lasted all day when they were finally dismissed just before 12h00. That was the only thing on Adrien's official schedule, so he was taken home after the meeting had been dismissed.
When he arrived home, he went up to his room where he immediately grabbed the little cat and put it on his desk next to his computer monitor. He has a few windows open, ranging between coping strategies for anxiety that could maybe held Ladybug, to photos from the Ladyblog of times that Hawk Moth or Shadow Moth had been seen in person.
He was called down for lunch and ate alone at the oversized dining table. He wanted to talk to someone, anyone who wouldn't have made him feel more alone like Nathalie did. He knew that she did her best to be there for him, but being on her tablet near him while he ate didn't make for a particularly companionable lunch.
After he finished his lunch, he went back up to his room and got a notification of an akuma attack on the Champs-Élysses. He looked down at his hand and let out a deep breath, seeing his ring where it belonged before he called out his transformation and went out into the storm that raged on outside.
He caught up to Ladybug on a nearby rooftop before they confronted the villain, thankful that there was an awning to provide any cover for the two of them. The villain was shooting muddied water that would stain clothing when wet, or immediately harden and keep whoever was hit in place when it was dry.
Apparently, Mad Mudder was a tourist who was sprayed by muddy water when a bus drove past her on her way to a tour. She was already running late and didn't even think that it was supposed to rain in the city while she was there for a vacation. Most people fled from the fight, but there were a few citizens who stayed by her, staring in disbelief.
"Maddy!" one of them called out to the girl who was now a villain. It didn't take the heroes very long to identify the accent of the citizen who called out. It was clear that they were from America, and Ladybug assumed that the citizen was a friend of Mad Mudder.
Ladybug felt overwhelmed by the fact that the city was so open to tourists, despite everything going on with Monarch. She had talked to M. Bourgeois regularly about closing down the city to tourists until they had the advantage over Monarch again, but he never listened to her. He never listened to either of them and that made her feel like a disappointment.
She was distracted, caught up by her thoughts as she tried to refocus her attention on dealing with Mad Mudder. While she was thinking, Chat stepped up to her, opening the umbrella of his baton and using it to shield the two of them from a blast of the villain's mud shot.
"Let's get to higher ground," he suggested. "We can regroup and figure out a plan in just a few minutes then we can come back here to deal with her." Ladybug nodded, but she didn't know if she would be able to come up with a plan that would be as successful as she'd need it to be to deal with the villain.
He led her to a higher building, This area was much less accessible from Mad Mudder's place on the ground. Plus, it gave the two of them a place to get a new perspective on the situation. From the new place, he could see that there was a ticket to the Louvre that had gotten covered in mud.
Ladybug took a deep breath and looked up to meet her partner's eyes. "Okay," she began, "it looks like if we stay under the rain, we won't get stuck. Our clothes might get stained, but that's something the cure should be able to take care of." She looked over the ledge to the villain briefly before returning to looking at him.
She took a moment to consider her options before she called for her Lucky Charm. She was happy to find the ponchos that fell into her hand and gave one to Chat before the two of them took off from their spot on the roof to deal with the villain. She stayed on the side where the ticket was poking out of her pocket.
Chat was playing up his role as a distraction while she tried to get the paper away from the villain. Thankfully, the fabric of the ponchos caused the mud to stay wet instead of solidifying to trap the heroes where they stood. Ladybug wasn't sure what they would have done if things hadn't worked out that well for the two of them.
She got the ticket and was able to give it to Chat to Cataclysm before she casted her Miraculous Cure. Mad Mudder reverted back to a tourist who had a stained pair of light wash jeans. Ladybug gave her some stain removal advice before she turned to her partner. "Bien joué," the heroes said in sync.
The heroes gave Maddy and her friends a ride to the Louvre so that they wouldn't be any more late for their tour. Chat offered for the two of them to hide out from the rain together, but she didn't take him up on the offer, not that he necessarily expected her to. "Â bientôt, my lady," he said with a flourished bow before he took back off in the direction of his home.
