There was quite a lot of yelling going on. Most of it came from Nino, but Alya was far from silent. Tiny, squishy and angry Plagg was bumping against mister Agreste, over and over again, with no effect whatsoever.
"You absolute IDIOT," the tiny god screamed. "We need Chat Noir! You are setting everyone up for failure."
The rotten jerk that was Gabriel Agreste just rolled his eyes and ignored the Kwami.
Copycat was staring at the ring in his hands, and had not made a single comment about his so-called 'promotion', nor about how the Miraculous rightfully belonged to Chat Noir, which meant to Adrien. Aurore, who wanted no part in the argument, had fluttered away to distract everyone's parents.
Alix was wrapping her hands in napkins in case someone needed to be punched in the face. Someone needed a firm reminder that temporary possession by an evil spirit was no excuse for being the worst father in history.
"Can't you trust Adrien for a change?" Nino was arguing. "He has been saving the city for months! He saved all of us. He's great at it! He doesn't deserve to be packed in a car and sent away when he's most needed!"
Mister Agreste replied to that with an exasperated sigh.
"I decide what's best for my son," he retorted, without even raising his voice.
"What about you let him decide what's best? All he ever does is do what you say!"
"Clearly not," Agreste murmured, turning away from Nino to talk to Theo instead. "You'll have to transform as Copycat to keep the teenage appearance. Some of Makko's power can possibly be transferred to miss Borell, however. The Miraculous should give you enough strength on its own."
Nino didn't take kindly to being ignored. He grabbed mister Agreste by the shoulder, forcing him to look at him.
"Hey, will you listen to me for a second? Like it or not, he's a hero! How do you think having his own DAD spit on that will make him feel?"
The man pursed his lips.
Alya decided to chime in.
"It's who he is. You can't just take that away from him! You haven't met him as Chat Noir, you don't know how great of a superhero he is, how great of a person he is!"
"Once again," the designer replied, "I decide what is best for my son."
"Well guess what!" Alix exclaimed. "Your decisions suck! All you do is make Adrien miserable! HE GOT TURNED INTO A VILLAIN OVER YOU BEING -"
Copycat grabbed her sleeve and pulled her to the side so she would shut up. She did not let that faze her.
"A TOTAL ASS! You just want a pretty doll you can make money off, not a son! You didn't even notice he was Chat Noir until this week! You-"
Copycat dug his claws through her sleeve. She gasped, winced, frowned at him, and turned back to Gabriel. He was foaming at the mouth.
"DO NOT TRY AND TELL ME WHAT. IS. BEST. FOR. MY. SON," he roared. "IF YOU TAKE ISSUE WITH THE WAY I RAISE HIM, BY ALL MEANS GO ASK HIS HERO MOTHER TO PARENT HIM. I'LL LEND YOU A SHOVEL."
The room went silent.
For a few seconds, all you could hear was mister Agreste's erratic breathing. Alya was gaping, Nino wincing, and Theo digging holes into Alix's arm. Then, glowing butterflies erupted out of everyone, forcing Copycat to untransform. They coalesced into a ball of pink light. It grew wings, and arms, and legs, gradually taking a Kwami's shape. The sprite flew to mister Agreste and hovered in front of his face, bumping against his forehead once. She moved back, and waited for him to calm down.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed in, then raised a hand and held it right under Makko, so she could land on it.
"I'm fine," he told her, with a little tap under her feet that made her jump and beat her wings.
Plagg circled them, staring at the translucent Kwami with wide eyes. He inched closer, but Makko showed no sign of noticing him. She only looked at mister Agreste, who patted her legs again. This time, she dissolved into dozens of butterflies. They flew back to everyone, diving into their exposed skins and vanishing in a matter of seconds.
"She trusts you," Plagg commented.
"Why wouldn't she? I'm her chosen," mister Agreste snapped. He chewed the inside of his cheeks. "And so are four teenagers and a hobbyist hero, apparently, but desperate times call for desperate measures."
"But desperate measures don't include my chosen."
"Copycat has a good grasp of Chat Noir's skill set. He's the best option we have right now, and we will not discuss sending Adrien against Hawk Moth again. That's final."
The Kwami huffed but flew to Theo. He landed on the table next to him, and peeked back at the ring and scarf. The sculptor breathed in and transformed back, then slipped the ring on his gloved finger.
"Are Ladybug's parents on their way?" he asked. "Sabine and Tom? They were at the hotel earlier."
"They are on their way," Alya replied. "I had my mom call them."
"Well then I'm going to wait for them and promise them to get their daughter back," Copycat announced, his voice strangled. "So what do I say to transform, again?"
"Claws out!" Alya and Nino announced.
"'Plagg, transform me," mister Agreste replied at the same time.
"You say 'I have camembert'," the Kwami corrected.
###
Schedule Conflict waited, and waited, and waited. She was lying in a locked room of the mansion's basement, on a comfortable mattress, but in the basement all the same. She couldn't move - she had Miss Wifi to thank for that - but she could see, and hear, and think.
She had so many things to do.
She needed a laptop. A tablet, maybe. The butterfly was calling to her.
Places to be, people to see.
Hawk Moth was talking to her, but his voice had changed. Now, it was the girl. She wanted Schedule Conflict to free herself, to find Adrien, to go after the last Miraculous, but that would be delayed until further notice.
"Miss Wifi's magic will wear down," miss Dupain-Cheng said. "It's only a matter of time. Exhaustion will hit Alya sooner or later, and then you will have to get out, and get out quickly. Without a weapon, you are useless."
Schedule Conflict could not plan for it, since she had no time frame to work with. She did not even know how long she had been locked up. She had tried counting the seconds and had managed to for twenty-six minutes, only to be forced to admit that there was no way her timekeeping was accurate. There was no sunlight, not a single clock around, she couldn't look down at her watch.
It was driving her crazy.
After an eternity, she heard the lock turn. The door opened and closed. It took ten footsteps for her visitor to get to her and show himself. Relief and fear flooded her.
Gabriel.
He sighed, looking distinctly sorry, and leaned down to take her hand. He only brushed the tips of her fingers.
"I thought the Akuma would have come back to you by now. I figure it is close by. I have not found it"
Nathalie felt a spark run through her, and she sank into the mattress as her muscles relaxed. Her clothes shifted, her hair fell down on her face. She was free.
Her first move was to roll to the side and punch him. He grabbed her arm, locking it into place in a burst of pink light that crackled and felt like a static shock. Her muscles went rigid again, though the paralysis did not impact her entire body. Her face could move, as well as her shoulders. Her hands and legs were frozen, however. She thrashed a little, then she felt the darkness being sucked out of her through the wrist Gabriel was holding. Her thoughts cleared, for the most part. She still felt that something clawing at her, trying to twist her and feed from her.
"What… How do you…" she murmured.
Gabriel's eyes glazed over, then he looked to the wall, or rather 'through the wall'. That was where the butterfly was. He took a phone out of his pocket - an older model than the one she had seen shattered on her kitchen table hours earlier - and pushed it under Nathalie's left hand, the one that was pressed to the mattress to support her weight. The Akuma, who had so far been immobile and lying in wait, awoke. Nathalie could feel it flitter in the staircase, and fly closer and closer to them. It landed behind the closed door and crawled under it, then shook its wings and hurried to the phone.
Mister Agreste snatched it between two fingers before it could dive into the phone.
Nathalie stared in horror, disgusted by the creature (as it no longer had a hold on her mind), and terrified by Gabriel. Maybe that teenage girl was Hawk Moth now, but she still did not understand what her employer was. He had been possessed, that much was clear, but his being freed did not make him normal. His catching demons with his bare hands did not help.
"I am going to free you from that thing," he said. "But, before I do, I need to make sure you can take it. I am not able to make you forget what happened. Right now, the Akuma shields your emotions, and you can't feel the full impact of Schedule Conflict's actions…"
Like ordering the adult population of Paris to sit on their balconies and windows, with the knowledge that the next instruction would be asking them to jump.
"What happened to mister Barbot?" Nathalie exclaimed as that memory came back to her. "I ordered him to-"
"He is fine. He was rescued, and is upstairs right now. Also, being Copycat, his injuries would have been minimal."
Nathalie tried to calm her thumping heart and to stop hyperventilating. Her employer shook his head and sighed.
"It might be wiser to keep you possessed and detained until someone with sufficient powers is available to exorcise the Akuma. It would mean waiting for Hawk Moth to be defeated, if he ever is."
"You want t-to allow that creature to control me again," she murmured.
"Only if you feel that the memories would be too hard to take. Akuma victims have always been allowed to forget. It's a mercy the heroes granted since the very first incarnation of Ladybug. Remembering is often traumatic."
She shuddered and had to change topics rather than to think about the last few hours in more details.
"How did you… How are you even able to… pull the magic out?"
She knew what those butterflies did to a person. She had seen Adrien resist the influence with much more success than her, but she had the feeling the darkness had moved from her to Gabriel, not vanished, and she doubted he was immune to it.
She knew he could put on a good show.
"It's a long story," he said. "Makko… The pink creature you have s-"
"I'm aware of what Kwamis are. I saw Chat Noir's."
Gabriel pursed his lips and gave her a sharp nod.
"She is possessed by Hawk Moth, who himself is an Akuma. She has been cutting her magic to pieces to weaken him, and handing it out to humans such as me, or Adrien's friends. I happen to have a crippled form of her ability to absorb Akuma magic, among others tricks."
He pointed at her paralyzed hands. He was still holding her wrist, and she tried to pull away in disgust. Of course, it did not work. Both of her hands were pinned into place. She still wanted to get away. She remembered every second spent with him as Hawk Moth. She remembered Schedule Conflict's passivity and bottled anger, and her acceptance of every order. She remembered slipping out of the Akuma's control in front of him, and being 'helped' to get enraged again.
Even if she could not move, Gabriel squeezed her wrist harder.
"As I was saying, it could be easier for you to remain possessed until your memory can be erased. Clearly, the experience took a toll on you."
"I-I. It does not mean I'd voluntarily chose to be possessed! Are you even hearing yourself? Do you realize how dangerous it would be to let me keep those powers? I ordered all of P-Paris to-"
"I know. I was there. It would still be easier."
She stared at his hand and shook every mobile part of her arm in an effort to move away.
"Easier for whom? You are so set on convincing me it would be easier to forget everything that you would risk everyone's lives and minds! Are you sure it is not easier for you if no one remembers what you have done?"
He stared at her in silence, face devoid of expression.
She glared back.
"It. Was. Not. Me," he said. "He could wear my skin in and out of costume."
"It was still your words he used," she snapped back, her anger rising.
He crushed her arm then slowly, reluctantly let go of it. He wrapped his hand around the Akuma. Black magic spread around his balled fist, only to be absorbed by his skin. Nathalie felt her red butterfly mask vanish. Her clothes changed color. Schedule Conflict was gone.
Her memories remained.
###