Marinette was a mess the entire day, amping up her strengthening exercises at a near frantic pace, trying and failing to not look suspicious. No matter what she did, nothing distracted her enough from what had happened the night before, and even attempting to nap resulted in twenty minutes of rest interrupted by urgent thoughts and worries of his safety.
The night before she'd done her best to pretend to sleep, knowing from the cock of Adrien's head that someone was coming and hoping to provide some sort of cover. Even in the absence of any telling sound or confrontation, she felt in her bones that something was off. His presence had retreated too slowly and then later, she awoke from a sound sleep, her heart beating at a breakneck pace. Because she just knew something wasn't right. Despite the feeling receding about a half hour later and being replaced with an utter calm she hadn't herself experienced in weeks, Marinette was still uneasy.
When night arrived, the hall falling silent as it always did, and he didn't show, the unease returned, this time the source one hundred percent her own anxiety. Had he escaped? A part of her would feel betrayed, but a larger part would feel relieved. Sometimes she couldn't shake the feeling that he was at much more risk of danger than she, despite their relative positions. At least with him gone, Gabriel couldn't manipulate him, and they didn't risk being discovered and used against each other.
But what if that was what had happened? If he was taken? Or worse? Marinette remembered the first time she'd met Gabriel and his casual reference to what could have easily been her fate and her stomach flipped. Surely he wouldn't have Nathalie "take care of" his own son. There must be some love, or at least sentimentality, he felt towards his only child. At least, Marinette hoped there was.
Luckily, she didn't have to waste long on such thoughts as she was summoned by the overlord himself.
"Boss wants you for questioning," Wayzz explained gruffly with an exaggerated wink as he locked the hook on the top of the cage. Marinette stared at him, brow furrowed in bafflement to the meaning of the message he was clearly trying to relay, but she didn't get a chance to ask. Wayzz disappeared and the cage rattled. Marinette braced herself to be dragged off the ledge, but instead startled when she was lifted into the air instead. When she entered a distressingly familiar tunnel, she realized where she was going. Back to that first room. To where it had all begun.
Turning, she looked back towards the diminishing figures of the guards. Marinette tried to convince herself it didn't bother her, but it did. As much as she'd attempted to keep herself at a distance, she'd started to rely on the comfort of Wayzz, knowing there was at least more of a chance at being safe in his presence. Knowing she, and for a time Adrien, had at least the chance of an ally. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but some ancient part of her recognized him as a guardian from the moment they met and had trusted him to have her back. When she came into the light, two new guards unlocked her cage and brought her before Gabrel, and she realized just how alone she was.
They settled her in a cool metal chair, the only piece of furniture in the room, and directly in front of Gabriel. Marinette searched his face for any emotion, any inkling of what had befallen his son, but he stared at her stone-faced, dismissing the guards with a flick of his wrist. When the door closed fully behind them, the last release of air signaling the sealing of the room, Gabriel's mask feel and Marinette finally realized why this man was so widely feared. Until now, she'd seen the polite Gabriel, the slightly maniacal Gabriel, even the cold and calculating Gabriel. Now, as she watched all semblance of civility leave his face, all three of those sides collided, mixing with a frightening glint of panicked desperation. It wasn't terrifying in the typical sense. Gabriel didn't suddenly wield a knife or lunge to attack her, but she looked in his eyes and saw no predictability there. For the first time, she started to wonder what the ramifications were of him absorbing all those powers, all those essences. This was who Hawkmoth was and he was clearly unhinged.
"Where is he?" His voice was staccato, each word spat out of his mouth as if he fought for control to utter each syllable. Marinette startled from her slouched posture, leaning back as far as possible in her seat as she processed his question.
"Where...is...he?" She repeated as it dawned on her what he was asking. Who he was asking about.
"Adrien!" He practically screeched at Marinette, Hawkmoth's voice resounding shrilly in the unadorned room. Her mind started to spin. If he didn't know where Adrien was, that limited the possibilities drastically. She tried to hang onto the hope that he escaped, but even as she considered it, her heart told her she was wrong. That boy may have let her down once, but then he'd walked into the flames to come and get her. Adrien made it a point every night when they talked to tell her he wasn't leaving without her, he wasn't going to let her down again, refusing to hear any argument about how she'd gotten herself into this situation and she could get herself out. He'd just look at her, not sarcastically or in disbelief, but with kind resignation. They both knew that despite her protests, her attempts to convince him to save himself, that she was going to need help. She'd tried to convince him that she had Wayzz, and that would have to be enough... Maybe he'd started to believe her? Was that what her fellow protector's wink meant?
"I know you know," Gabriel hissed at her, bringing her back to focus and coming to lean his hands on the arms of her chair. He came closer, glaring directly into her eyes and it took everything in her not to flinch at the intensity of his gaze. She had hoped that he held some fondness for his son, but with the barely contained madness she was witnessing, she realized that Adrien might be the only thing he truly cared about.
"How would I know?" She spat back. "You know very well where I've been and exactly my level of current mobility."
She tried to lace venom in her voice, but Gabriel merely laughed, shifting back into his maniacal personality with an ease that was unsettling.
"Please," he straightened and stared down at her. "I'm well-aware of your little nightly tete-a-tete." Marinette released and involuntary gasp and Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Did you think you were being discreet? Oh, little girl, grown up. Adrien's sudden willingness to join me was far too conveniently timed. I'll admit," he shrugged, a smile gracing his elegant lips, but Marinette had the distinct feeling that all he said was a lie. It was a tactic she was familiar with, over explaining something in the hopes that it appeared to be more believable. It almost never was. Gabriel was scrambling to keep up the act, desperate for it to appear like he'd suspected them all along when it was clear someone only just told him of his son's nightly escapades
"When I saw how powerful he was," he continued, looking past her with a practiced smile. "I had aspirations that he'd come to truly believe in the cause, and I have hope yet. But still, if not, letting him continue his infatuation with you would prove to be the most useful leverage should I ever need it."
"What did you do to him," her anger flowing easily now as the derision in her voice was far from feigned.
"Me?" He roared, storming her chair again with a fury. "You! How did he escape? What did you say to him?"
"If the plan was to escape, please tell me exactly why I am still here," she gritted through her teeth, but then paused, watching as he shoved back from the chair and started pacing. She watched his expression flit from emotion to emotion and something clicked into place. "You don't know where he is, but you somehow knew that he met with me. How?"
Her voice was demanding and Gabriel paused in his pacing to look at her questioningly. She saw it on the tip of his tongue to reply in his typical haughty manner, but instead, he answered.
"I have people for that."
"The same people," Marinette guessed. "That told you of his sudden disappearance, I'd imagine."
"What are you getting at," Gabriel stopped completely then, turning to face her with narrowed eyes.
Marinette paused herself, everything slowly falling into place, as she tried to temper the racing of her heart. It was Nathalie. She didn't know why, but she was sure of it. Every disdainful comment and venomous look the woman has thrown her way from the moment they met; the conditional loyalty she lavished on Gabriel and the hidden contempt in her eyes the moment he turned his back; her clear suspicion of Adrien...
But something still didn't make sense. Why risk Gabriel's wrath by attacking Adrien? Surely the reason she hung on Gabriels every command was in hopes of his power, implementing herself as a necessity in his life and his second in command.
She looked up to meet Gabriel's gaze.
"You said you had… hope for Adrien," she swallowed. "What did you mean?"
"Every empire needs an heir," he lifted a chin and Marinette felt her heart sink. There it was. There was Nathalie's motivation.
"What is that face? What do you know?" He demanded and she looked at him warily. Everything in her told her not to trust this man. He was the enemy, had imprisoned her for she didn't even know how many weeks now, and had all but admitted to using his son as a pawn. But then she remembered the glimpses of fatherly affection. Add in the fact that he clearly had no idea what his lackey had been up to, and she realized he was her only hope. He was Adrien's only hope.
"It was… Nathalie," she hedged, watching the suspicion creep into his eyes and knowing she needed to approach her words with caution. She had one shot at convincing him, and she had no idea which version of Gabriel Agreste was going to react first.
"She's your eyes and ears around this place, isn't she?" Marinette continued. "Feeding you stories that you accept without question. Stories like my midnight meetings with you son. Stories of his disappearance. Stories that I suspect you only just heard of."
Gabriel continued to stare at her, body impossibly motionless as he gave no hint as to the impact of her words. She forged ahead blindly.
"Adrien and I have been talking since he arrived, but the same night she discovers us together, he conveniently goes missing and she comes to you claiming she knew about our conversations all along?" Marinette cocked her head, never breaking eye contact. "I know you trust her, but come on, Gabriel! Connect the dots! Who has the most to gain from Adrien's disappearance? Not me!"
A moment passed, and then a moment more, but Marinette resisted the urge to speak. She'd said what she needed to, and Gabriel was either going to have her "taken care of" the way he'd threatened when she'd first arrived, or maybe, just maybe, she'd have managed to get through to that distant part of his humanity.
He snapped his fingers.
"Bring me Nathalie."
His voice echoed through the empty room, but Marinette had no doubt there was someone listening in. If this whole ordeal had taught her anything, it was that with Gabriel Agreste, there was always someone watching.
No one responded.
Gabriel's brow furrowed and he stomped his foot, shouting his command again in agitation, and this time the doors swooshed open.
It wasn't guards, though.
"Really, Gabriel. Enough with the dramatics," Nathalie strolled in and rolled her eyes, but Marinette paid her no mind.
Because she wasn't alone.
Her heart started to race, but despite being out of her cage for once and in full capacity of her human body, she fell immobile. The pace of her heart a contrast to the paralysis of her body. Walking in front of her, restrained by a arm snaked around his neck and a specialized métamorphe gun pointed to his head, was Adrien.
Despite his dire situation, he managed to grimace over in her direction.
"Miss me, Bugaboo?"