Escape From Paris (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 3

Marinette walked to a shabby motel in the "bad" part of Gotham. Using some of the money taken out of her Paris bank account Mari paid a room for the night. Automatically taking note of her surroundings she noticed a dirty mini fridge, stained carpet, a door supposedly leading to a bathroom, and a bed.

The girl flopped onto the bed, and was engulfed in a cloud of dust as she started to cough uncontrollably. The room was thankfully cheap, but was it too much to ask that she had clean blankets?! To be honest, it probably was. But still!

Mari didn't have much to unpack. Her purse was bigger than it had been in her younger years, so it held necessities. A change of clothes, toothbrush, the miracle box. While in Master Fu's possession it had taken the form of a CD player. For Marinette it was a small and simple box, seemingly to hold some form of jewelry when it really contained a whole bunch of tiny gods.

Tikki hovered in front of Mari and reminded her that she had plans to speak with her team. As Marinette dug out her phone it began to ring.

"Hello Dupain-Cheng." Chloe's voice greeted her.

"Hi!" Mari was excited to talk with her friends again.

"Okay, hear me out," Marinette began and heard her friends groan.

"I'm thinking of staying in Gotham for a bit. I could try and get Batman's team to help, you know they're some of the best detectives ever, and I already applied for school here, I have the horse miraculous so I could travel back and forth if that's fine. I feel drawn to Gotham, like I need to balance out the darkness and destruction that hovers over. But I know that the akumas are harder now and actually I really should go back to Paris because Chat Noir--Adrien-- is on the loose and could cause trouble. This was a bad idea. Nope I'll just recharge the kwamiis and come back. Oh no I already have a job too-"

"Hey Marinette it's fine. You don't have to come back just yet." Luka's calming voice cut through her rambling as the group agreed.

"And Hawkmoth hasn't been attacking as often recently." Alix added.
"That's all the more reason to come back just in case!" Mari said while panicking a bit.

"Mari, you have the Akuma Alert app do you not?" This time Kagami was the one to help calm the leader down

"Really Dupain-Cheng," Chloe cut in affectionately, "You already know we can handle ourselves."

"Well I guess..."

"Marinette, this would be a good time to get some help." Tikki's high pitched voice said.

"I just feel so bad for leaving you guys by yourself..." She trailed off.

Once Juleka told her that she was stressed enough and needed time away from Paris, Marinette knew she was beat and sighed.

"You're right, I know."

"But you are getting rest before you go traipsing all over Gotham," Chloe said sharply, "Promise you won't go tonight."

"I promise, I promise!" Marinette giggled as the mood was lighthearted again. They talked for well over an hour before Mari succumbed to her exhaustion.

Marinette's alarm went off and she groggily sat up. No matter how hard she tried Marinette would never be a morning person. As the girl remembered her first day at work an errant thought about the man ran through her head and Mari blushed. Tikki noticed but said nothing, preferring to not get her chosen flustered today.

Another thought took root. It really was too easy. A random dude just offering her a job? It did seem kind of like a set up or something but Marinette chose to ignore it and looked on the bright side, at least she had an income.

Mari put on her extra set of clothes, thinking sadly she didn't have a machine to design any clothes with. Her first set was bloody so Marinette washed them in the bathroom sink and set them out to dry.

Tikki zoomed into Marinette's coat pocket and they left the motel. Shady people hung around the corners. Not many, but enough to make her feel uncomfortable. Although it was a long walk, Mari opted to not take a taxi. She could defend herself and didnt want to pay money for a taxi.
It was gloomy outside today, but that was just normal weather. As Marinette took up her station, she found herself hoping the man would come back. Devon waved as the girl got an idea.

"Hey," she began, "Would I be able to borrow your sewing machine while I'm here, please? I dont have one right now and my sketchbook is full."

Devon looked at her pleading eyes and sighed, "Yeah, but only after work hours."

"Thank you!" Marinette replied brightly, her smile almost blinding him.

"You're welcome." Her boss shook his head, disappointed in himself for falling for her puppy-dog eyes.

After that encounter Mari couldn't wait until 7:30. When there weren't any customers, she was scribbling in her sketchbook happily. The day flew by, and as soon as it was 7:30 sharp Marinette raced to grab some bolts of fabric, paid for them then was off to the machine.

Marinette was in her sewing zone, and didn't notice the darkening sky. About four hours later Tikki poked her.

"Marinette! It's already really late! You still have to find Batman!"

"Shoot!" Tikki watched her holder flail around grabbing her supplies with a soft smile. Some things never change.

"Oh no. Look how dark it is! I guess I'll just change into Ladybug so I can get there faster."

Ducking into a dark alley she transformed. Ever since Master Fu had died, her costume had drastically changed. Instead of the bright red spandex, she wore a stretchy bodysuit that was almost all black; it kind of looked like the Reverse-Ladybug akuma, only the red spots darker . The seams were red, as were some other parts. Her yoyo was still on her hip, but she had gained another which rested on the other hip.

Tikki said that a change in costume was likely because of her maturing faster, since Master Fu had passed. Chat Noir's costume hadnt changed at all, he still had the dumb bell on his collar.

Ladybug raced across Gotham rooftops and snuck into her room. After dropping her belongings off, she swung back up and began to hunt for bats.