The Ladybug and the Raccoon (a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction)

Chapter 8:

There was a slight gust of wind that sent a small chill through his fur, Sly was perched on top of a building spire not very far from the Eiffel Tower. He always admired it, particularly it's iron structure and how he could climb to the top over and over when and if he wanted to. The slight differences between this Paris and his own were nothing compared to the humongous similarities. The Eiffel Tower still stood tall and proud, while the museums continued to have the same layout as the ones in his world. Everything felt like his home except for a few things. For starters there were humans walking around the streets instead of animals of all kinds of species, which meant there was more risk in getting caught and the outcomes if he were caught would be worse. Avoiding the law had become trickier then it had been before, and with Mugshot added into the mix it seems near impossible. There was also the super hero situation. He couldn't put his finger on the boy dressed as a black cat. Who was he? Then there was Marinette, the girl from the bakery. She was the first person to try and attempt to catch him. Bentley called over his ear piece. " Sly do you see any hiding spots?" He asked. "I'm seeing a lot of temporary ones but none where we could hide during the day." answered Sly. "We need to find one soon, we're running low on gas." said Murray. "Driving around at night is getting too conspicuous, sooner or later people will notice. " said Bentley. "I wish we had our old hideout, I like driving around but I can't hide the van in allies forever." said Murray. "Wait a minute, Murray you just gave me an idea." said Bentley. "I did?" asked Murray. He was puzzled. "If everything in the human world is just like our world, then our hideout has to be here too." said Bentley. "You're saying that somewhere in the human world our hideout?" asked Murray. "If everything we're seeing is almost an exact replica as our world then somewhere in this Paris is our hideout." explained Bentley. "It's an interesting theory. ". " Right so all we have to do is search our old spots for our hideout. " said Sly. "Our best course of action would be to split up and search." instructed Bentley. "You search your side and we'll search our side near the river, if you see anything report in and we'll meet up by the bridge, and don't get distracted along the way.". "C'mon Bentley where's your sense of adventure? Besides exploring will give us more options for an escape route. I'll be on rooftops the entire time." said Sly. "Ok just make sure you meet us at the bridge." said Bentley. He hung up on Bentley, leaped off the building spire to the rooftops, and traveled from there. He understands why Bentley is concerned, he's a close friend, more than that he and Murray are like family. Growing up in the same orphanage, pulling off heists, and hanging out once in a while in their hideout. As he jumped from rooftop to rooftop he thought about using this opportunity to see Marinette again. What was she thinking when she was trying to catch him? How did she find one of his comic books? Sly was both curious and apprehensive because of what she might think of him, one thing he knows is that she hasn't ratted him out yet and he took it as a good sign.

Marinette scoped out the silhouettes of the buildings for Sly. She got up from her chair to look some more, she looked at her chimney but didn't see anything. "I have to say I didn't think you'd still be up at this hour." said Sly. Marinette turned to see Sly sitting on her balcony railing. "Oh I didn't think you'd show up. Well I did I mean I wasn't sure if you would." said Marinette. "This is a nice balcony, did you put all this up yourself?" asked Sly. "Uh yeah I did." said Marinette. "Do you have this in your Paris or world or wherever you're from?". He shook his head. " Not as nice as this." answered Sly. "Normally our rooftops are dark, sometimes wet.". Marinette walked over towards Sly, his first instinct was to move but then he just stayed put. She gave off the feeling that she wouldn't hurt a fly. She was looking him over, which he didn't mind, after all she's never seen a talking raccoon before. Marinette stared at Sly's details, from his tail to his face. Then he smiled, " You're trying to see if I'm real aren't you? " grinned Sly. "It's ok, I won't judge.". " Oh uh I'm sorry I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this." said Marinette. "How are you here, in the real world?". Sly contemplated for a moment but then decided it was better to come clean. " This may be hard for you to believe but, I'm a videogame character and a government accident brought me to life." answered Sly. He set himself down on her balcony floor. Marinette laughed, "I hate to break this to you Sly but I find that very hard to believe that you are.." Before she could say anything else, Sly swiped two fingers over his left forearm and suddenly something came out and displayed in front of her. It was a stat bar. "What.. What is that?" asked Marinette, speechless. "It's my stat bar." answered Sly. "The hearts on the top are the lives that I have, and the rest below are my strengths and weaknesses.". Marinette raised her hand up to touch it. Her hand went right through it, the code felt like popcorn in a bucket, hard but smooth, but it also felt soft and light to the touch against her skin. " Woah." said Marinette in astonishment. "Pretty cool right?" said Sly. "How is this even possible?" asked Marinette. "Have you ever heard of the Gamers Accident of 2010?" asked Sly. Marinette was confused, "No." She answered. "What is it?". Sly swiped two fingers backwards across his left forearm and the stat bar disappeared. " You might want to sit down for this story." said Sly. Marinette sat at her table and listened. "Years ago videogame technology was rising." began Sly.