This is the first chapter to the sequel of 20 Questions: A Miraculous Ladybug Tale. If you haven't read the first book, check it out first, or be prepared for spoilers.

Disclaimer... um... you know... MLB... not mine. Darn.

Chapter 1- Scorched Denim

Marinette frowned at the scene. She turned off the iron, and ran to the door. The hinges had been ripped right out of the door frame.

She reached for her phone, tapping the touch screen as fast as she could.

Calling: Mon Chaton

"MARI!" her husband's garbled voice screamed,"... *static*... catnapped me! You've-"

"Hey, where did you get that phone?" another voice echoed.

The line went dead.

"Stay calm Mari," she told herself,"after all, they can't lock him up; he could Cataclysm himself out of any trap".

But still, she felt worried.

She eventually decided to do the only thing she could think to do. She called Master Fu.

Calling: Old Man Fu (Adrien had changed his contact info, supposedly 'to protect the guardian's contact information from looking too suspicious'. Marinette was fairly certain that 'old man fu' just made Adrien laugh).

"Hello, Marinette".

"Master Fu, we have a problem. Someone kidnapped Adrien, and whoever did it has some sort of super strength. They tore our front door off the frame".

She heard some choice words shouted from the guardian before he spoke to her again.

"Then I have worse news. Someone broke into my home about an hour ago. I think I got home when they were here, and they left before they could take all of them".

Marinette felt her blood chill.

"Them?" she asked.

"The Miraculous. I only have Pollen and Sass, the thief must have dropped them, but they have all the others".

"So... Master, we have Tikki, Wayzz, Trixx, Pollen, and Sass. And they have all the others?"

She heard a deep sigh on the other end of the line.

"Yes... well we have the peacock Miraculous as well, but no way to repair it. Now Marinette, I need you to think, did your husband do or say anything to let you know what happened, or where he is?"

"Um..." she tried to think,"he said he had been 'catnapped', and he was ironing his jeans when he was grabbed... which he never does, 'ironing is for shirts and slacks' he always says. Um... some pictures were destroyed. One is of our honeymoon in Hawaii. One is a business trip we took to Milan last week. And a couple are candids that ended up nice enough to frame... I don't see anything actually useful here, sorry Master".

There was a pause while Fu stewed on the new information. Then he spoke.

"There may be more there than we think. If he said catnapped, I would bet that means his captor knows he is Chat Noir...".

"Which would imply either he was abducted as Chat, or they took his ring because they already knew he could transform," Marinette added.

Marinette cursed under her breath. If that was the case, she couldn't count on Adrien freeing himself.

"Correct. Perhaps it would be best if you met with Rena and Carapace to discuss this further. You may also take the remaining two miraculous from my care. I am afraid I can no longer protect them," the old man said mournfully.

The pair bid farewell, and Marinette jumped into action.

Calling: Sister (Alya basically was)

"Mari, what's up?"

At this point Marinette realised she was sobbing.

"T-they took Adrien," she blubbered,"a-a-and stole Fu's mir-mir-miraculous".

"Wait, what?! Who did. Mari, Nino and I will be right there".

It took about five minutes before Alya got there, which was an impressive feat. They lived 20 minutes away. A bir later Nino made it with the twins in tow.

As the young parents carried their infant children into the home, they calmed their friend down. Eventually they asked for a more detailed explanation.

Marinette covered the break in, her calls to Adrien and Fu, and the clues. What she didn't mention was why she had been in the bathroom; she felt that Adrien should be the first to know.

Nino investigated the house while Alya talked to Marinette.

"Marinette... are you holding a pregnancy test?"

It was only then that she realised that she hadn't let go of it.

"Um..." she tried to move it behind a book, but that only made it worse.

"Marinette... are you holding a POSITIVE pregnancy test?!"

Marinette absentmindedly corrected her," yes it is pawsitive. But please don't tell anyone, I was just about to tell Adrien".

Just then Nino, who somehow missed the whole conversation, spoke.

"Dudes, do either of you find it weird that Adrien was ironing his jeans? He never irons them".

They all looked at the burned Levis. Adrien had refused to buy 'Gabriel' jeans because they 'didn't fit right'. The trio examined them more closely. There was a burn mark in the left knee, approximately 2 centimetres across. The deep blue jeans were nearly black around the actual burn mark.

Marinette sighed. "That could mean anything. The burn is on the 'left knee'. Maybe that means he 'left me'".

"Mari, you need some logic when you interpret clues," Alya pointed out, "think. Who might want Adrien out of your life?"

Nino shot up. "Wait. Black burn, dark blue jeans. Who has black hair and dark blue highlights who would benefit from Adrien being out of Mari's life?"

One name was on all of their minds.

"Luka".

ELSEWHERE-

Adrien looked at his shattered phone. Then he stared at the man who had destroyed it. He wore a red cape and a matching red mask with strange compound lenses at the eyes, and clutched a copy of "A Biology of Fire Ants" in his hand.

An Akuma. "Great, are you guarding me for Hawkmoth to steal my Miraculous?

"I am here to take you to Ghost Moth, who had to leave on some other business after we captured you".

"Not if I can help it," he shouted,"Plagg, claws out!"

Nothing happened. It was only then that Adrien noticed his ring was missing.

He replayed the previous events in his mind.

He recalled the following:

-He had just washed Nd dried his laundry and was ironing his button up shirts and slacks.

-Marinette snuck into the bathroom with something behind her back, and an anxious look.

-Suddenly the door broke open, and this strange red caped weirdo had fought with him as 'Ghost Moth' stood next to him and watched.

-When he saw he was going to lose, Adrien had pushed his jeans under the ironing board, praying somehow Marinette made the connection. It was a desperate ploy, but Adrien was desperate.

"And now I'm here," he thought," trapped in this cell by this loser".

"So who are you? Killer Ant? Red Death? Poison Sting?" he asked.

"Um...I...I dunno," the Akuma confessed,"Ghost Moth gave me a job and powers, and now I am making sure you don't escape until the boss returns".

As he spoke, the door swung open. "Hey, um... henchman, go get your revenge or whatever, I'm here for Adrien".

Adrien's skin crawled as the Akuma left. This person was the new Akumatizer? Ghost Moth? Now they were going to kill him, there was no way they didn'tblame him for what happened. He couldn't think of a worse fate.

"Maybe you didn't know I have feelings for you, but now we can be together," his warden said.

"Nope," he thought,"this was definitely a worse fate".

ELSEWHERE-

The heroes prepared to depart as they heard a cry in the streets. Alya and Nino went to check out the commotion while Marinette watched over the babies.

"Don't worry guys, Mom, Dad, and Uncle Adrien are all gonna come back, I promise," she vowed.

The babies seemed to detect a sense of uncertainty and Todd began to weep, followed by his sister. Catherine's first desperate cry was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Soon the three of them were lying on the couch bawling.

ELSEWHERE-

"Hey babe," Nino asked,"why did Mari give you her earrings? Couldn't she have come and one of us stayed behind?"

"She... um... isn't feeling well, I thought I could try out the Ladybug powers today," she explained, avoiding the pregnancy detail,"besides, we don't even know if there's even a real danger in Pari--"

Her last word was cut off by a car hurling towards them.

Rena jumped to the left and Carapace sprang over the sedan.

"Talk about road rage," carapace punned, as the car smashed into the street.

"Dear, leave the puns to the professionals," his wife chided.

"C'mon, it wasn't that turrtible (terrible)," he joked, sliding towards the Akuma.

"Still sub-par compared to Chat," Rena lamented. She then jumped, diving down at the villian.

The unnamed Akuma looked above and below him.

They overpowered him quickly. And then came the hard part.

Nino tore the book in half, releasing the black winged beast.

Alya spent the next 10 minutes shouting "deevilize!" while ineffectively tossing the yoyo. The poor Akuma flew around and around in a circle, dodging the violent yoyo.

Eventually she got it, and finished the process.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

Rena admitted, when she finally purified the streets and the citizens began to clap, she enjoyed the limelight.

The heroes quickly returned to Marinette and their children.

As they got there Marinette met them at the door.

"Did you find Adrien?"

They explained what happened, including the fact that they hadn't found the devilish cat.

"But it seems like this new 'Hawkmoth' is not nearly as experienced. We will have no problem getting Adrien from him," Alya promised.

"So we think it's Luka?" Nino clarified, after hearing Alya refer to the villain as 'him'.

"That's the best we have right now," Marinette said, fire gleaming in her eyes.

She would get the father of her child home safely.

Sorry if the first chapter is short. This is what I came up with for it. Any ideas of who Ghost Moth is? Could it be Luka? Am I throwing you off by suggesting that? is this some sort of reverse psychology... maybe double reverse psychology? Does the clue make any sense? Did you notice I avoid all gender pronouns and descriptions when it comes to Adrien's captor?

Let me know what y'all think of this chapter in the comments! More action? puns? longer chapters? Thanks so much!