Nathalie Sancoeur has an assignment, but all will not go as planned. Spoilers for the second season of Miraculous Ladybug. One-shot. Characters are owned by Zagtoon, not me.
Downcast
Nathalie Sancoeur sat at her desk in her office at the Agreste mansion. She stared at the young woman sitting across from her. The blond-haired woman was smiling hopefully, but not for long. It was Nathalie's job today to demoralize and destroy her.
"Damia Laplace, you have done some modeling work for Gabriel Fashions in the recent past," said Nathalie.
"Yes Ma'am, I was one of the models for the Ladybug-inspired dress line," said Damia. "You have more work for me?"
"No," said Nathalie coldly. "Mr. Agreste is unhappy with your work. His photographer reported that you didn't respond quickly enough to his instructions."
"B-but, I don't remember him saying anything at the time..." said Damia.
"You are fired from working with the Gabriel brand, and Mr. Agreste will make sure you never work in the industry again."
"No! Please, my family depends on my income. I'll do better, just give me another chance."
"You have failed to meet our standards. The decision is final," said Nathalie, standing up. "You may see yourself out."
Nathalie left the woman sobbing to herself. She stopped just outside the room, watching for a purple-black butterfly.
This was Hawk Moth's plan, to make Damia unhappy enough to be akumatized. It was highly foolish, in Nathalie's opinion, to create a villain who would target Gabriel himself. Hadn't he learned his lesson from the near-disaster of Simon Says? If Simon had won, he would have sent Gabriel off the side of a skyscraper. There would have been nobody left to claim the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses. A mind-controlling villain could have ended up with ultimate power.
The raid on the mansion by Simon's hypnotized followers had been the one time Nathalie had let her mask slip, let her rage show on her face. Fortunately, Mr. Agreste had been too occupied to see.
She could never show any emotional weakness, any sign of disloyalty. It would more likely lead to her being fired than being gifted with the power of an akuma. Gabriel Agreste demanded perfection in his employees. Nathalie had made herself invaluable to him, including reaching out to his son, Adrien. Not that she had any great affection for the boy. She had forgotten his birthday gift, and only a last-minute re-purposing of a present from a classmate had saved her.
Here came the dark butterfly. Nathalie was ready. She ran into its path, touching it with the stylus in her left hand.
From the Gigantitan mistake she knew that an akuma butterfly could be intercepted. From The Collector, she knew an akuma victim could fake a motivation. Gabriel had not lost his "book of inspiration": he had an electronic copy. It was all a lie, a ruse to conceal his identity.
Nathalie let out her anger and frustration, keeping her surface thoughts consistent with what Damia must be feeling. Anger at a capricious boss, the loss of work, the fear of the future. There was enough real risk in what she was doing right now to make it authentic.
"Downcast, this is Hawk Moth," said a voice in her mind. "I sense you are angry and wish to cast down all obstacles to your success. I can give you that power. In return, you must get two things for me: the Miraculouses of Ladybug and Chat Noir."
"I accept," said Downcast. Purple energy surrounded her as cold resolve filled her mind.
"What? What's going on?" asked Damia, looking up and seeing a woman in a black pantsuit. A downward-pointing red arrow was her chest insignia, where Nathalie's red turtleneck used to show beneath her business suit. A black helmet with red lightning zig-zags covered her eyes.
"Down!" commanded Downcast, motioning with her stylus in her left hand, now a short red wand with an arrow point at the tip.
Damia was pushed to the ground by an increase in gravity. The pressure made her pass out instantly.
Downcast moved quickly to the room with Gabriel's safe. She had never been trusted with the combination. But now...
"Down!" she commanded. The concealing picture fell first, then the safe door ripped off its hinges and fell as well.
"What are you doing?" demanded the voice of Hawk Moth. "You aren't who I thought you were!"
Downcast seized the Peacock Miraculous broach from the safe, where it was leaning against the picture of its former holder, Madame Agreste. Downcast held it tightly in her right fist.
"I'll take away your power," threatened Hawk Moth.
"I no longer need it," said Downcast. "Take it, but without causing me pain. I am directly above your lair and I can bring the roof down on you before you can stop me."
"You'll regret this," said Hawk Moth grimly.
The butterfly emerged from the stylus-wand, glowing red with power. It disintegrated, and Nathalie de-transformed.
Natalie pinned the ornament to her sweater. "I claim this Miraculous."
A little purple creature with a long flowing tail that flew out from the jewelry said, "Hello! I am Duusu and you are my new mistress. I hope you will be good and sweet, like she was."
"We'll talk later," said Nathalie. "An enemy is coming and I must be prepared. Duusu, Fan Spread!"
Nathalie felt the urge to make a set of ritualized motions. First she wiped her hand over her face, changing her skin tone to purple and creating dark mask-like shadows around her eyes. A gesture to her hair changed its color to indigo, and a feathery tear-shaped cocktail hat with a pink spot appeared, with a veil that extended over her right eye. She stretched out her arms and twirled, and a long purple dress with a train that looked like peacock feathers flowed around her.
She was now Le Paon. In her left hand was her magical weapon, a peacock-feather fan. She selected a feather from it with her right hand, which now had almost equal dexterity to her left.
Just in time, because Hawk Moth came up the secret lift. He was in a rage, his sword out of its cane. "Nathalie! How dare you take my wife's..."
Le Paon invoked the feather. "Light!"
The feather disappeared and brilliant flash of light dazzled Hawk Moth. It had no effect on her.
In a minute the feather would regenerate in her fan, but until then she could not use the Light power. It didn't matter; she had many other feathers.
She moved quickly before her blinded opponent could react. She drew another feather and touched him with it, invoking "Ruling power!"
The feather vanished and Hawk Moth became still.
"De-transform," she ordered, and he did.
"I am in charge now, Gabriel," said Le Paon. "Things are going to be managed much more efficiently."
"Yes, Mistress," said Gabriel slowly.
"I have suffered so long, enduring your perfectionism as a boss and folly as a villain, waiting for this moment," said Le Paon. "I wanted the power of the Peacock Miraculous of course, and ultimate power when I collect the Cat Miraculous and the Ladybug Miraculous. I have researched these things for years."
"I just wanted... my wife back," said Gabriel.
"I know, and what a foolish wish that was," said Le Paon. "I actually know where she is, because I had a hand in kidnapping her. You will join her soon, once my goal is accomplished."
Gabriel looked angry, but he could not throw off her control.
"I even have an idea who Chat Noir really is. I didn't tell you in case it made you go easy on him. Have you noticed your son Adrien has begun to smell of Camembert cheese, which he hates? I think he may be feeding a kwami."
"No! It can't be," said Gabriel. "I've nearly killed him many times over."
"Ironic, no? We shall soon see," said Le Paon. "I have many feathers in my fan, and one is the power of Insight. Once I use it on him I shall know for sure."
"This is not how Evette used the power," said Gabriel.
"I know. The Peacock is meant to be a supportive figure, providing wisdom, guidance, and healing to the others. But I have worked out how to use it to maximum dangerous effect. But speaking of healing... we need to do something about that woman. She's not a suitable akuma victim. I'll help you find much better ones."
She went back to the nearly-crushed Damia in the next room, and placed the whole fan over her. "Regeneration!"
This was Le Paon's ultimate power, the one that would force her to return to normal in five minutes.
Le Paon didn't wait, but said "Fan Fold" and de-transformed.
In a moment, Damia woke, completely healed.
"What... what happened to me?" Damia asked.
"You just fainted for a moment," Nathalie assured her.
"I had... the most awful dream," said Damia. "I'm not fired, am I?"
"Of course not," said Nathalie. "We'll have more work for you soon."
"And there was no villain in black and red?"
"No," said Nathalie. "No villain in such tacky colors."
The End