Those With Powers - Miraculous Ladybug - Traits/Superpowers AU

Contradicting Previous Beliefs

Ladybug.

Ladybug.

Lady-bug.

Lad-y-bug.

L-a-d-y-b-u-g.

Ever since hearing that Vigilantes name, Adrien hadn't been able to get it out of his head. The name just kept repeating itself in his head, over and over and over again, like it was on a loop. He couldn't stop thinking about that vigilante. About her.

Vigilantes weren't exactly uncommon in this world of powers. It wasn't a rare thing to see people donning a mask and going out to protect their city or home town without the recognition of an official governing body. Since the rise of Heroes however, vigilantism had become an illegal action. It was taking work away from the professionals, and more often than not, untrained Heroes put civilian lives in danger. It was due to the danger vigilante's posed to the general population that Heroes had become a thing. They were the reason schools offered Hero courses. Since that change to society, the number of vigilante's had dropped dramatically.

That wasn't to say they were all gone though. Paris had a few. They were looked down on, despite the work they did. Worldwide, there were many Vigilante's. Laws regarding them varied depending on which country you lived in. In France, for example, they were looked down upon, and despite their actions being illegal, they were rarely enforced. There were maybe a hundred reported cases of Vigilantism within a year.

Adrien had always thought of them as being reckless. Untrained idiots trying to gain valour and fame, glory and money, whereas Heroes were the ones who cared enough to make it their profession. Vigilantes had the reputation of being wild riders, not caring much for anything other than their own brand of what they would call justice. Sometimes, that version of justice could be something well and truly horrific. Something he couldn't even consider. Murders, assault, and acts in the names of Gods and who even knew what else?

But that girl had saved him, in a flash, in an instant. She had clearly been nervous, something rarely seen in Heroes anymore. With all the training and practice Heroes had, it was like second nature to go and save someone like that. Yet this girl clearly didn't have a lot of that, and yet, there she was, still ready to fight and defend him, a complete stranger.

He had fought Molecular, and Terawatt because people had been in danger. That wasn't Vigilantism. That had been self-defence. That had been acting in the defence of others.

Was there really a difference though? The more Adrien thought about it, the less he could convince himself that there was a difference between the two.

He wanted to be a Hero. He really did want to be a Hero.

He felt like he had to be a Hero. To repay the horrific thing he had done to his own mother.

But that was years away.

Could he honestly justify that? Waiting for years before he could finally start to repay his debt to the world for what he'd done?

Had he had it wrong this entire time? Were vigilantes the people who refused to wait, because they felt they had to aid society right now? For someone like Adrien, who blamed himself for what he had done, it became incredibly appealing to think of it like that.

Whenever he ran off to fight someone, to save someone, everyone had always told him how worried they had been about him. Nino and Alya had told him he was an idiot, and he'd received a gut punch from Nino, as well as the Hydrokinetic forcing him to promise to not do something so mind-bogglingly stupid again. The fact Adrien's skin on his hands had basically rotted away hadn't helped his case when he had said he was fine.