Miraculous Team ✔️

19

"Wakey wakey, princess."

"Hmmmm... Five more minutes, Chat..." Marinette mumbled, pulling the covers closer.

Alya made a loud shriek. "Wow, Marinette. Does Cat Noir always wake you up in the morning?" She teased.

In a normal situation, Marinette would have died of embarrassment, but apparently half-asleep Marinette did not give a crap.

"Hmmmm. Who wouldn't sleep with Cat Noir?" She continued to mumble, "He's... so cuddly."

Alya was quickly reduced to nothing but hysterical laughing. While Adrien felt his cheeks burn into his skull.

Chloe took a seat on Marinette's bed and gently shook her. "Cmon Marinette. Everyone's ready! We need to find Ming."

Marinette finally got up and apologized. They all grabbed a simple quick breakfast downstairs and left the hotel. Chloe adjusted her sweater and started to complain how cold she was. The wind whipped her hair around like a mop. Alya offered her her extra hair tie. The address of Ming revealed to be hard to find. When Adrien asked one of the security guards at the subway station for help, he simply chuckled.

"You can't take BART there." He said, "It's like halfway up a mountain. I'd advice you to call an Uber. Where're you from? You know what an Uber is?"

"Paris." Marinette answered, "And yes, thank you."

About half an hour later, they were hiking up a steep road, into a neighborhood where the houses all looked identical except for the small white numbers nailed to the door.

"783." Adrien kept repeating.

"I can't believe the driver just dropped us in the neighborhood and had us find it ourselves. What gives?" Alya said, her arms crossed.

"Hey dudes!" Nino called from the back of the group, "Let's go this way. There's 786."

They came upon 783. It looked old and poorly maintained compared to the other houses. The stone slabs under their feet were cracked. The doorbell was rusted. Alya knocked loudly on the heavy wooden door.

They heard voices. First one of a young male's.

"Were you expecting someone?"

Then a woman's. "No. Can you please go get it?"

The young man who came to the door looked their age, with hair dyed bright orange and dark eyes. He was wearing a One Direction merch shirt and cargo shorts with a pink patch from the blob of ice cream that fell. He looked a touch irritated.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"We're looking for Ming." Adrien said, "Do you..."

"There's no Ming here." The lad cut him off, waving his hand around like he was shooing a fly, "You have the wrong address."

The group looked at each other, defeated. The boy was about to shut the door in their face when his mother appeared, undoing the apron around her waist. She had short hair and two dimples.

"Who are you?" She asked kindly.

"Sorry." Adrien said, "We were looking for someone called Ming. But I think we're at the wrong place."

The woman stilled. "Ming?"

"Yeah. Sorry for disturbing you." Marinette said.

"Wait." The woman called before the teenagers left the porch. The heroes froze and she inspected them, then she sighed, "I know a Ming."

"You do?" The boy raised an eyebrow at his mother.

"Yeah, I do." The woman said, then she opened the door wide, "Can I invite you in?"

The heroes looked at each other and shrugged. Marinette thanked her and led everyone in, reminding them to take their shoes off. The boy scowled at them and took his bowl of ice cream upstairs into his room.

"Please... have a seat." The woman said, gesturing to the couches that surrounded the coffee table, then she closed the blinds and turned the TV off, "Can I ask why you're looking for Ming?"

They looked at each other, hesitant. Nino answered "We need his help."

The woman looked very serious. She took a seat next to Nino and gently held his wrist up. His bracelet shone a beautiful emerald in the light. "Did Fu send you?"

The heroes snapped to attention.

"You know Master Fu?" Nino asked, surprised.

The woman nodded. "I recognize that bracelet anywhere." She said, turning to the others, "Call me Mae. The boy you met is one of my two sons, Juliek. My husband's Chinese name is Ming. But no one knows that, that's why I was so surprised when you mentioned it. I'm guessing you're Miraculous holders."

The teens showed off their Miraculous jewelry.

Adrien let her touch the cool metal of his ring. "Mae, can we talk to your husband?"

Mae exhaled heavily and rubbed her face with her old hands. "I'm afraid not. John passed away last year in a car accident."

"Oh. We're so sorry." Chloe said softly, looking at Alya.

"What will we do?" Marinette said worriedly, "Mae, Paris was attacked by a villain using a Miraculous for evil. We lost pretty miserably. He took my Miraculous, the Ladybug Miraculous. If he gets hold of Cat Noir's, all hell will break lose."

"Tell me what you need." Mae offered, "I might be able to answer your questions. I'm aware of my husband's ties to the Miraculouses. However, I can only guarantee you so much. My husband didn't like talking about it and we just slowly erased it from our lives. Even my two sons, Jake and Juliek, has never heard about it."

Adrien nodded. "Thank you. We're looking for ingredients to strengthen our kwamis."

Right on cue, the little creatures flew out of hiding. Trixx stopped in front of Mae's face.

"Hello." Mae said, staring at them in wonder, "I'll have to admit, I doubted your existence from the beginning."

"I don't blame you." Trixx shrugged.

"As for the ingredients." Mae continued, "I'm sorry, but I've never heard of John talking about anything like that. But I might have a hunch on where to find it."

The heroes eagerly followed her upstairs, where you could hear Juliek pounding on his drum set. Mae kicked a stool across the hallway and stepped onto it. She reached up and pulled down on a cord, which opened a flap in the ceiling. A rope ladder fell down and Mae had to untangle herself from it.

"That goes up to the attic." Mae explained, "John kept several old boxes up there before he died. You might find something."

The drumming stopped. Alya first grabbed hold of the thick rope. "Thanks."

"Take your time." Mae smiled, "I'll be downstairs. I have a cake to finish baking."

"Thank you for trusting us." Adrien said.

"No problem, Cat Noir."

The kwamis simply flew up into the dusty attic. When Marinette climbed up last, she caught Juliek staring at her suspiciously from his room. He did not look friendly at all.

___________________

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek. SILENCER IS OUT AND I HAVEN'T WATCHED IT BUT I KNOW THERE'S LUKANETTE. I honestly love Luka so much. He's so sweet to Mari. But Adrien better step up his game cause I need Adrienette even more <3

Bug out!