A/N: I haven't watched any of Season 2 yet, so this is only canon-compliant up to the end of Season 1 - sorry if it seems already outdated for those of you in countries that are already screening the show! Also, this was meant to be a one-shot but it's run away with me a bit. I'm hoping to get one or two chapters posted every day until it's done, which should only be a couple more days. For the record, Chloe wasn't supposed to be in it at all. She just insisted.
Also: I do not own any of these characters standard disclaimer standard disclaimer. Except my OC, who appears to be owned by nearly half of Europe across the last few centuries.
Ladybug swung as quickly as she could towards Le Grand Paris. If Chloe was on the street already, she'd need to get there quickly in order to follow her. As the yoyo string slid through her fingers again and again, she grumbled. It was so like Chloe to just assume Ladybug would show up to rescue her on command. A smaller voice inside, one that sounded a lot like Tikki, whispered "But she's not asking you for her own sake. She's leading you towards Adrien." Marinette couldn't argue that it wasn't a brave move.
As she neared the hotel, she scanned the streets. In this darkness and the golden-orange glow of the sodium street lamps, so many people looked like they were wearing Chloe's usual yellow jacket. Only one of them had that walk, however. The one that made it clear that she owned the world, that nobody else mattered, and that she couldn't be bothered looking up from her phone to tell them so. Ladybug shadowed her from along the rooftops, not making any move to draw her attention. Instead she watched the people around Chloe, looking for any hint that the kidnapper was nearby. Nobody stood out – but there were so many people out, so much bustle on the streets.
A limousine with the logo of Le Grand Paris pulled up beside Chloe. The driver got out, opened the door and insisted with waving arms that she get in. Ladybug watched her roll her eyes, climb into the back seat. The driver closed the door behind her, hard, and Ladybug could hear the car locks click into place. So much for using her as bait. She started to turn away, feeling panic rise – what should her next move be? - but stopped. Chloe was getting straight out the other door of the limo – the locked door. How... The blonde walked straight into and through the traffic on the busy street, waving off the horns that blasted at her with a "whatever" gesture. The driver started to get out of the car, but realised he couldn't catch up to her without abandoning the limo in the traffic. Chloe walked away in the opposite direction, on the other side of the street, while he and Ladybug stood there staring at the cars that blocked him from getting to her. Then Ladybug shook herself again, and followed.
Chloe stopped in front of a Saint Nicholas tableau, apparently taking a call on speaker. From the shadows around the tableau a dark-cloaked man with a bundle of sticks on his back crept towards her. Ladybug was amused – despite the stakes, watching Chloe about to get pranked by the display's resident Le Père Fouettard was a treat she'd remember for a long time.
Her attention all on her phone, Chloe never noticed Le Père Fouettard. He switched her on the back, just lightly. Ladybug waited for the indignant diva to turn on him and perform her usual dramatics.
She didn't, just stood there looking at her phone. That was weird.
He capered in front of her, pulling a face at her and at a small child who squealed and pointed at him. She still didn't respond.
He waved a hand in front of her face, and she put the phone away. Then he put the switch back in his bundle, and began to walk away. Chloe followed him. Ladybug caught a glimpse of the expression on the girl's face as she turned, and it was blank.
It had to be the kidnapper, using the magic of an akuma.
Ladybug followed them carefully from above, barely taking her eyes off them so that she didn't lose them amongst the crowds. Which is how she happened to catch a brief hint of a purple mask across Chloe's face. It flickered, and Chloe's face flickered back to life. Her eyes flicked up to the roofs, as if looking for Ladybug, and she raised her immaculate eyebrows. Then her face smoothed back into its blank expression as if nothing had changed.
Wait. Chloe was akumatised?
Then how was the kidnapper working his magic?
And could she trust Chloe at all, knowing that she was under Hawkmoth's control?
Ladybug knew Chat Noir would simply follow along anyway, trusting on his abilities and instincts to leap away at the right moment. Speaking of which, she hoped that cat caught up with them soon, and quietly. Gabriel Agreste was averse to bad publicity so it was likely that Adrien's kidnapping hadn't made the commercial news yet. But Alya should have got it up on her blog. Hopefully he'd see it. Ladybug was more cautious than Chat was – or was it that she had a calmer, less impulsive head – but this time, her inner Marinette insisted, he was right. Following them was the only way to Adrien.
She leapt to the next rooftop as silently as she could, trying never to take her eyes off them for more than a second.