Chapter 37; Discussions and a Award
If the ride in the van was quiet and tense, the trip up in the elevator was worse. Marinette ended up next to Adrien, and she even took his hand in hers, but she might as well been holding the hand of a manikin, as Adrien simply let his arm hang and didn't hold her hand back.
Alya's heart ached at the look Marinette gave Adrien. He may be Chat Noir, but the noirette gave the appearance of a lost kitten.
The doors opened and they left the elevator. "Sean, can we have some privacy?" Marinette asked.
Sean glanced from her to Adrien. "Aye, Lass." he said. "Well be in the conference room when ye want us."
"Your room or mine, Adrien?" she asked.
"Yours." he replied, his voice flat, the one Marinette knew he would use with the press.
A few minutes later Nino, Alya, Marinette, and Adrien were in the suite of room that Marinette was using. Nino took a seat in one of the chairs, and Marinette was standing beside a couch.
"Marinette. . ." Adrien began, but cut off when he saw Alya move over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You actually think that she needs protecting from me?" he asked. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Fox."
"No, Alya." Marinette said as Alya opened her mouth to argue. "He's angry at me, and he's right to be." she said. "You were right, what I did was a bad idea."
"Thing of it is, Mari, he's not angry at you." Nino said.
Marinette looked over at her boyfriend and partner. No, he wasn't angry, and she could see it, and it tugged at her heart strings when she was able to tell what he was feeling.
"Alya, Nino, could you leave us alone please?" she asked.
"Sure." Nino replied as he stood.
"M, you sure?" Alya asked, then looked in surprise as Nino took her arm and started gently pulling toward the balcony door.
"Yes, she's sure, babe, now come on."
Marinette watched until the couple was on the balcony and the door closed. She turned and saw that Adrien was standing beside one of the chairs, his arms braced on the arm of it. She took two steps towards him and saw the white knuckled grip he had on the fabric as he struggled for control. "Adrien. . .Chaton, I'm sorry, it was a stupid idea."
Adrien took a deep breath and blew it out. When he took the breath to speak, Marinette heard a slight hitch in it.
"All I want to know is why." he said softly. "Why you felt it was necessary to scare me half out of my life?"
"I didn't plan on the fan-girls." she replied softly.
"They had nothing to do with it." Adrien said, and started pacing. "Do you have any idea how I felt when Plagg phased up to my shoulder and told me that you and Tikki were no longer in the hotel but were somewhere to the north" he asked. "That was while we were still in the elevator, right after you ditched your security detail." he said. "Needless to say I couldn't hide what I was feeling from Nino. He now knows that I'm Chat Noir, and thinks that you're a special friend of Ladybug's." He paused and took a shuddering breath. "Mari, all I could think was that you had been grabbed again. All I could see was you with a gun to your head." he said as he took her shoulders. "I was afraid for Alya too, and I have no idea how Nino kept such a level head. Mari, ma souris, please promise me you won't do that again."
Hesitantly, Marinette put her arms around him, and gently pulled. She sighed with relief when he returned the hug.
"You have my word, mon chevalier. I won't do that again." she said. She shivered slightly at his breath against her neck as he thanked her.
"I take it you two have made up?" Nino asked as he and Alya came in from the balcony.
"Yeah." Adrien said as they turned to face their friends, his voice still a little shaky. He kept his arm around her shoulders, and hers was around his waist.
"Good, 'cause you have a visitor although I have no idea how he got onto the balcony." Alya said, and stepped aside.
"Master!" Marinette gasped recognizing the newcomer. "I am honored." she added bowing slightly.
"It is good to see you, Marinette." Fu said. "I have been following the news with great interest this weekend, and I am pleased to see you well."
Marinette smiled as she tightened her arm around Adrien. "I have very dedicated protectors." she said, including Alya and Nino in that.
"Indeed you do, and I believe it is time for one more, Ladybug."
"Ladybug?!" Nino gasped, "But you said. . ."
"To protect her identity." Adrien said. "I could tell you mine, but it's for her to reveal her own." he explained, giving Fu a slightly accusing look.
"That is true, Chat Noir, but it is important for him to know who he is protecting." Fu said, then stood in front of Nino. "Nino Lahiffe, this is the Miraculous of the turtle." he said formally, holding out a box. "It will grant you the power of wisdom and protection. Do you accept it, and promise to use the power for the greater good?"
Nino looked over at Alya, who gave him a slight nod. "Totally, dude." he said, then coughed nervously. "Er. . .umm, yes sir, I do." he corrected, then took the box. He jumped at the flash of green light that occurred when Wayzz appeared.
"Greetings, young master, I am Wayzz, your kwami, and I grant you your powers, which we will go over later." the turtle styled kwami said.
"I have made this decision because someone is getting closer to discovering your identity, Marinette. Your kidnapping yesterday morning could have been disastrous, as could the attack on your parent's bakery, as both your, and Adrien's miraculous could have been taken." he looked over at Adrien. "Your actions have been most impressive." he said. "I was most surprised when you entrusted Marinette's safety and well-being to someone else."
"It was necessary, Master." Adrien replied. "I could not act as Chat Noir, and Mr. O'Hanlin and his team had the experience and expertise to rescue her." He turned and pressed a kiss into Marinette's hair. "That doesn't mean that I didn't want to transform, and, well, make that animal regret laying a finger on her." he added.
Master Fu chuckled softly as did Nino, Alya and Marinette. "That I do not doubt."
"Actually, Nino's getting Wayzz is a good move." Adrien said. "A short time ago, Marinette slipped her security detail, and left the hotel. Nino was with me and reminded me as to how I should have acted, if it turned out she had been kidnapped again."
"Yeah, he sounded like he wanted to cataclysm the kidnappers." Nino said.
"And what did you tell him?" Fu asked.
Nino cleared his throat nervously. "That in or out of his suit he'd simply do his job and rescue her, or them."
"I have chosen more wisely that I had thought." Fu said. "Well, I have done what I had come here to do, and I understand that you have plans for the afternoon, so I will take my leave." He added. "Marinette I can not caution you enough. Go nowhere alone, take care not to leave yourself in a position where you can be taken." he told her, taking her hands in his.
"I will be more careful, Master, what happened this morning will not happen again."
"Good. I know you are young and unused to the constraints that the added security will place on you, but it is for the best."
Marinette nodded, and the foursome walked with Fu to the elevator. Just as the doors closed, Sean came up.
"Well, this saves me some steps." he said. "Inspector D'Anjou is in the conference room and has some information for us."
"I thought with Chloe's confession and court date on Thursday, that investigation would be closed." Marinette commented as they entered the room.
"And it has been." Janelle D'Anjou said as she walked over to the group. "This is different." she added, then faced Adrien squarely. "Does this look familiar?" she asked, handing him a sheaf of papers.
Adrien scanned over the information on the pages. "This looks like a printout of my bank accounts." he said. "Including the trust funds left to me by my mother and both grandfathers."
"That's correct." Janelle said, then saw that Adrien had found the discrepancies.
"Hey, wait a minute, this isn't right!" he cried. "Just over a half million euros is missing from my checking account, and some has been taken from my trust funds."
"That's correct." Janelle repeated. "It's been determined that those monies were used to fund some illegal acts." she added. "Specifically the attempted robbery of the bakery, Marinette's kidnapping, and the team that broke into the bakery." she listed.
"Surely you don think the Lad had anything tae do with those, Inspector!" Sean protested. "He'd rather cut off his right arm than see any harm come tae the lass."
"Relax, Mr. O'Hanlin." Janelle said. "No we don't suspect Adrien, however we are hoping that he can identify the access code used to transfer the funds." she explained, then pointed out the data to Adrien.
"Adrien?" Marinette called softly as she lightly touched his arm. She didn't like the angry expression that came over his face.
"Yes, Inspector, I recognize that code, it's mine." he said. "However, this string of code is an IP address that has been hacking into Gabriel's systems and files with annoying regularity. I recognize it because my father has pointed it out to me recently because of Fashion Week coming up. Hacking into the system and stealing some new designs could be very profitable for the right people."
"Ah well, another lead trails off." Janelle said. "Do you know what this entry is for?" she asked indicating another transfer from the account.
"No." he answered. These three, from my checking account, are the only ones I recognize. They were personal purchases."
Janelle sighed and took the pages from Adrien. "Well, I'll be in touch if anything more comes to light."
"Thank you Inspector, we appreciate it." Adrien said, seeing her to the door.
"Alright, Lad, what going on?" Sean asked.
Adrien looked and saw that Sean and Colleen were the only two security people in the room. "What do you mean?"
"Adrien, you forget I used to be the head of security for your father. I know that IP address."
"Right." Adrien said. "That IP address belongs to my father, well technically Gabriel Fashions." he explained. "It's used to leak designs online to influence their popularity."
"That's legal?" Marinette asked.
"Since it's the company leaking the designs, yes it's legal, but not very ethical." Adrien replied.
"I've got something else for you." Sean said, and held out a tablet for Adrien to look at.
Adrien looked at the display, then sighed sadly when he saw the line of code at the top of it. "When was this posted?"
"From what we can tell, about two minutes after your lady and her friend left the hotel." Sean replied. "I could accept one or two of them coming across the Lass, and Alya, but a crowd of more then ten, they had some organizational help." he added.
Adrien turned the tablet so the others could see it. It was an ad on a social media page that showed Marinette and Alya walking along the sidewalk and captioned with a write up on how it had been discovered that Marinette had some information about Adrien and had used it to blackmail him into claiming her as his girlfriend. It also stated that their most likely destination was Marinette's home, and it gave the address.
"Just to put your mind at ease, Lass, I've sent two more operatives over to watch over your folks. They'll be fine."
"Thank you, Sean." Marinette said softly.
"Well us girls are going to go freshen up a bit before we go to lunch." Alya announced and gently took Marinette's arm and lead her from the room, followed by Sean and Colleen.
"Dude, this isn't good, Bro." Nino said.
"It's worse than you think, Nino."
"Worse than your did working for Hawk Moth?"
"Yeah, my dad being Hawk Moth." Adrien said sadly.
"Whoa! You really believe that?"
"I'd rather not, but there's enough evidence that points to it now." Adrien said, sitting in one of the chairs. "He's taken an interest in Marinette's earrings, and has tried to get her to remove them a couple of times, now this." he related. "So, yeah, I think he's Hawk Moth."
"Sorry, Bro." Nino said softly, putting a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "We'd better get ready.
"Yeah." Adrien agreed. "Oh, and Nino let's not tell the girls about this until after the gala."
"I don't know, dude." Nino said hesitantly.
"Listen you know how they both get." Adrien explained. "I don't want to ruin Alya's party on Tuesday, or it and the gala for Marinette."
Nino thought for a moment, and it kinda bothered him that Adrien knew his girlfriend well enough to know how Alya would react. "Yeah, okay, but if Alya finds out, it's your idea."
While Nino and Adrien were having their talk, so were Sean and Colleen in the hall.
"We have a problem." Colleen said.
"Yeah, I know, I'll tell the Lad when they get back from lunch." Sean replied. "That way you can try to track it down."
"Sean, we know these people, we trust them." Colleen said.
"And now one of them is a mole, and working for Gabriel." Sean said. "That picture was taken from just outside the hotel, then sent to him, so someone on our team sent it."
"Right," Colleen agreed. "We're the only ones who know she's here."
"Well, we were." Sean corrected. "With this photo out there it's a cinch that our cover here is blown."
"Lovely." Colleen said sarcastically.
"Well at least I've flushed them out of where they were hiding." Gabriel commented as he deleted the ad he had posted about Marinette.
"I written up a statement refuting to claims made in that ad, and posted it." Nathalie said, drawing a glare from Gabriel. "Adrien called, requesting it thinking he was alerting me to the ad's existence."
"Was the phone traceable?"
"No. It's what's referred to as a burner phone. Not registered with a name, and no GPS capability. Knowing Sean, Adrien, Marinette, Alya Cesaire and Nino Lahiffe each have one, so tracing them by their phones is out."
Gabriel tapped at his keyboard for a moment. "Well starting tomorrow we won't need to trace their phone to know where they are." he said. "I know my son, and with what all has gone on, he won't let Marinette leave his side, so all we have to do is follow his schedule and we'll know where she is."
"Are you sure its wise to leave them alone until the gala?" Nathalie asked.
"Yes It'll give them a sense of security and safety until my plans go into motion Wednesday evening."
"Very good,sir." she said. 'And my plan will begin then as well.' she thought to herself.
A/N I've been asked if Nino and Chloe are going to get their Miraculous in this fic. Well, obviously Nino is, but with what I've had Chloe do in this fic, she will not be becoming Queen Bee, sorry folks.