Not long earlier...
Gabriel stood unmoving, impassive.
Eventually he lifted his eyebrows slightly. "Go find him then".
Adrien's bodyguard left without another word.
Natalie walked in, silently handed Gabriel a tablet. It showed an Instagram photo with the caption #soenvious #adrien4eva #myboi #cheatingonthecat.
Gabriel smiled. "I wish not to be disturbed." He added as he began to walk away, "Feel free to let Guillarme know which direction to look for my son in."
His lair echoed. Hummed. At times like this he appreciated the emotional stability he had compared to many other people. While he was perfectly able to perceive the heightened emotions present, he stood untouched within them where others might have been knocked from their feet.
And oh, the emotions. It seemed nearly everyone in Paris was jealous of Ladybug, Adrien or in some cases both. Could he make more than one akuma at a time, Ladybug would have sealed her own fate the moment she took his son's hand. The variety, the strength of feeling, all so rich.
Really, it was a thing of beauty. It was a shame nobody else could ever experience such art.
He shook his head, and allowed an akuma to flutter from his grasp. He didn't try to steer it, other than to ensure it reached Ladybug's vicinity. There were plenty of targets, and she had no Black Cat to help. The boy it landed upon was a very human and ordinary mix of desire and anger – desire for one person, and anger at the inadequacy of the other. Gabriel was pleased to see that it was his son the boy desired. That made things slightly easier.
"Page. You would serve the one you love. I give you the power to break the spine of the one who is in your way."
And so on. His promises were generally meaningless, as they were never remembered. Half the time he didn't even listen to them himself, except to appreciate the small delight of his own wordplay.
The akumatised boy began his attack, but stopped himself before harming Adrien.
Good.
Adrien looked directly into the boy's eyes and through them straight into Hawkmoth's, and gave a smirk Gabriel recognised. "Missing something?", he said, waving his hand. A hand with a very familiar ring.
Not good.
Ladybug and Adrien ran in opposite directions.
Page began to follow Adrien.
"Follow Ladybug!" Hawkmoth ordered, mind racing.
"But she isn't worthy!" Page struggled against Hawkmoth's power. Gabriel thought fast, pieces of the situation sliding up and across his mental sketchpad while his will held Page from running.
They locked into place.
Ah. Of course.
"Of course she isn't. You need to prove that you are more powerful than her." He listened to the emotions pouring off the boy, and smiled. "You need to prove that she doesn't deserve this."
And Page was off after Ladybug, fuelled by righteous ire. Which let Gabriel concentrate on a different problem. He knew he had the ring. Knew his son had one similar. But...
It never hurt to check.
He brought the ring out of its hiding place. It seemed ordinary, small. But the Miraculouses often did. He allowed his transformation to fall and unpinned his brooch, then took a deep breath, braced himself, carefully picked up the ring and put it on his finger.
Nothing happened.
And maybe his bond with Nooroo prevented anything much from resulting, but he had expected that that bond still would have provoked some reaction in and of itself.
This ring was almost definitely NOT the Miraculous.
Which meant...
He called Nathalie.
"Adrien should be on his way to his photoshoot by now. I will also attend."
He considered retransforming to see if Page had had any success, but the Ladyblog live stream showed Ladybug releasing a purified akuma in front of a sobbing boy so he didn't bother. He simply repinned his brooch, adjusted his cravat, and left. There was a ring to be procured.
