Vanished (Lukadrien) • Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter 7 | new identity

"Watcha doing kid?"

Plagg watched as Adrien laid all his clothes out on the of the tables, seemingly organising them.

"If I want to forge a new identity I need to have a new style. A more androgynous one to throw people off. Luckily after being a model for so long I know how to coordinate an outfit" Adrien replied.

Plagg didn't care much for fashion, he was more interested in his beloved cheese. But he did understand where his holder was coming from. It'd officially been a few days of Adrien being missing, from the building they were staying in Plagg and his holder had been listing to the radio 24/7 for any case updates in case he'd have to move locations and so far there were no new leads.

"Hmm... I could put this top with this jacket... these shorts... wear some loose socks..." Adrien mumbled to himself while placing things together to create something new.

"Maybe you should spend some of that money you saved on more feminine clothes to give the androgynous effect" Plagg suggested.

"I probably should. Maybe I could pair this shirt with a cardigan... I could wear those jeans with a cropped shirt. Maybe some jewellery would help too..."

His fashion loaded brain was hard at work trying to come up with something new. He'd have to go out to the shops soon anyway to stock up on more food, so maybe he could find some new clothes while he was at it. Passing the window as he walked around the table, he caught a glimpse of his reflection. Stopping to look at it, he studied his appearance.

The bruise from when his dad slapped him was starting to fade, his dyed hair was a bit of a mess and the bandages around his arms were in need of a change.

"If I part my hair like this..." he mumbled to himself, messing around with his hair.

He played around with it until it became similar to his hair was cat noir, and it did make a bit of a difference.

"Hey that worked! And then I could tie it back into a little ponytail once it grows out and no one would even recognise me as Adrien with my new style. This is going better than I thought..." he smiled.

The smile dropped when he looked down at the bandages around his arms, remembering what caused him the injuries. He unwrapped them, finding that the gash had now started to scab over. At least it was healing, but it'd definitely leave a scar. Taking the first aid kit form his bag he re-wrapped the wound with fresh bandages and put the old ones aside to wash later. Looking back in his reflection in the window, he shed of his pyjama shirt and replaced it with a new one before picking some pants to go with it. He cuffed his jeans, and adjusted them at the waist before looking at his reflection again.

"Hmm... not quite..." he mumbled.

He wasn't sure what was missing from the look, it was too 'Agreste brand' and not his personal style. Most of his stuff was his own fathers brand after all, he'd been taught to wear it a certain way to promote the company. But now he could do whatever he liked with his look.

"Hang on..."

A lightbulb had gone off over his head, and he reached for the scissors in the first aid kit.

"What are you doing?" Plagg asked.

"No one around to scold me for ripped jeans now" he replied.

Cutting a small hole in the knee, he tore the rest creating a rip. He did this a few times until they were too his liking, and to top off the look, he took one of the sharpies left over from the building being an office before and began to draw patterns on his jeans. He remembered Marinette talking about how she'd designed a pair of patterned jeans once.

"Ooo artsy" Plagg said.

"All the art kids at school would decorate their shoes and jeans with fabric paint. For now a sharpie will have to do but it's a start. My father would never let me do this but I always thought it was cool"

Plagg was actually rather enjoying watching his holder so content and happy. Within a few days he'd already started to flourish and break out of his shell. It really went to show just how awful his father was for him and how much he could achieve and grow away from him. Plagg was proud of Adrien finally starting to grow his own identity.

The moment was thrown slightly off the rails when the music from the radio stopped to be interrupted by a news report.

'Akuma alert! There's an attack by a villain that can turn people into giant bugs by the museum. Take cover and evacuate safely! Await for ladybug and cat noirs assistance!'

Adrien and Plagg looked out the window, off in the distance were the city lay they could see some strange creature, probably the giant bugs, roaming around.

"You think they'll be ok without you there?" Plagg asked.

"They've been fine without me a lot recently. Cat Noir can take a break, I'm sure ladybug already handed someone else a miraculous anyway" Adrien replied, shrugging it off and going back to drawing on his jeans.

Plagg was a little worried how Paris would cope without Cat Noir, but knew that right now Adriens safety being away from the city and his dad was important.

Meanwhile back in the city the fight was in full swing, Ladybug following the villain trying to figure out where the akuma would be hiding.

"Come on Cat Noir where are you?" She mumbled to herself.

Trailing behind her hiding away was Rena Rouge, now undercover and standing by in case hawk moth was around. Like they'd planned and discussed she'd act as a spy of sorts, hawk moth under the impression the fox no longer had a holder.

"Cat Noir isn't here..? That's odd usually he's always right behind ladybug..." she pondered.

It was clear that Ladybug would have to deal with this fight by herself, and luckily it was one she could handle. Giant bugs may look scary but really what could they do? Walk around and eat grass?

She just had to avoid being hit, grab the object and break it. She could do that on her own. But she knew that she might not be lucky with the next akuma attack and need the cataclysm, so where the hell was cat noir?

She wasn't the only one who noticed, all of Paris has. People in the area noticed cat was nowhere to be found, people watching the fight on the news realised cat was missing. And of course, Luka had.

Sitting at home watching the news, he had a feeling that Adrien being missing meant Cat Noir would be to. He needed to talk to Ladybug about the last time she saw Cat, but he had to be Viperion to do that. Until an akuma that needed the power of second chance to defeat it popped up, he'd be waiting impatiently for ladybug to get him.

"Where are you Adrien..? You need to help protect the city... hopefully he's now hurt or in danger" Luka mumbled to himself, watching the fight go down.

This whole situation was really bugging him. He just wanted to know where Adrien was and if he was safe. Even if he had to keep his whereabouts secret for safety from his dad, he just wanted do make sure he was ok.

The akuma fight went down without Cat Noir, and things went back to normal relatively quick. Ladybug got lucky this time. It proved that while Adrien was gone so was Cat, which could cause problems in future fights.

Luka knew for a fact this whole situation was caused by, or at least a big part of it was caused by Gabriel. He needed some way to expose him, some way to make sure Adrien could come back and not be put into the care of his father again. He just needed some evidence to prove Adriens dad was abusing him, once it got out to the media there'd be an outrage and there's no way Adrien would be let back in the care of his dad when he was found.

He hoped that whatever police found on Adriens phone and computer was enough to raise some suspicions.