In the wrong hands

Chapter 12

Alya

"Did you know that Marinette knows The Ladybug?!?!?" I squealed and clapped my hands together in excitement.

It was a nice Sunday afternoon and I was hanging out with Nino at a coffee shop. I was still hung up about what happened on Thursday. First of all, since when could Marinette stand up to Chloé and be such a badass? Second of all, she knows Ladybug and has never told me!

"Dude no way!" Nino said in surprise as he processed what I just said. Then he narrowed his eyes at me and leaned towards me with his forearms on the table.

"Dude, you're not going to go all 'I'm a reporter in training and I need to investigate' on this right?" He said while making air quotes.

"Oh course I am! She's my best friend who apparently has been keeping things from me!" I said defensively, willing him to see my perspective. I pulled my phone from my pocket to see a news notification from yesterday. Nino looked over my shoulder and snorted.

"Dude why do you even watch the news? Nobody watches the news."

"Um reporter in training, remember?" I said with an eye roll as I opened up my Channel 6 News app.

"Teen model reported missing?" I said in confusion as I read the headlines. Nino watched over my shoulder, suddenly curious as I pushed the play button on the video.

"It's just in from Channel 6 News that teen model Adrien Argeste has been reported missing. We're not sure when he was pronounced missing because his parent/guardian was not present at the time. Here we have the guardian of the young model with us. So Natalie, where do you suppose Adrien could have gone?"

The reporter handed the mic to the stiff looking woman beside her.

"I have no idea where Adrien could be. He has everything he could ever want at his fingertips, so he couldn't have run away. With our high-tech state of the art security system, there is no way he could have possibly have been kidnapped. Adrien had a very happy life at home, he enjoyed photo shoots and loved all the attention he received from his peers."

My jaw dropped at the what Natalie said.

"Adrien hated those photo shoots! And he hates attention!" I shouted as I glared at my phone, hating the woman who acted like she knew Adrien.

"We, being the police and I, are going to question all of Adrien's classmates and investigate. We will do anything to get Adrien back."

The reporter took the mic back with a nod.

"Our next story is about the increase of puppies in the city. These cute little things are...."

I immediately silenced the reporter, pushing the pause button as I stared at Nino with wide eyes. His own eyes mirrored mine, showing fear and shock.

"Adrien's missing?!?!"

Marinette

Me and Chat were watching the movie Big Hero 6, when my phone started blaring the Miraculous Ladybug theme song that Alya made for me. Sure enough it was Alya calling as I picked up the phone.

I looked at Chat apologetically and answered the call.

"Hello?" I said while pushing the phone to my ear. Chat paused the movie and stared at me with curious eyes.

"M-Marinette? Adrien's missing!"

Chat

My ears perked at the mention of Adrien's name. Once again I felt a wave of recognition at his name. Do I know him?