Mata Hari

Lila was not particularly looking forward to this school break. Her mother already told her she was staying for work and her father was not coming for a visit. Lila was given a choice to go and visit her father (who would be spending his days mostly preoccupied with his work), got to Italy to visit her grandparents (not an option if she could help that) or stay in Paris. So she decided to stay in Paris.

Her father was working as the Italian consulate in Lyon. Her parents worked together for a while, they moved to Lyon when her father got promoted, but then her mother wanted a promotion too. And she could not get it in the small consulate so she moved to Paris. As an assistant to the ambassador she had to spend many hours in the embassy offices. And she always had something to do that sounded way more important than anything else. Her mother met only people of utmost importance, they held titles like an ambassador, a cultural atache, a consul, an honorary consul or defence atache. It sounded like a mixture of Mata Hari and a James Bond film.

And yet, she never met any of these fine people, her mother did not take her to meetings, lunches and parties. The girl was completely excluded from the work their parents did. They respected her childhood and her free time. She was not expected to participate. She was left to go to school and sit at home and learn and wait for her parents to return from their all important endeavours. They had lunches and dinners and banquets with all those people with fancy titles. They came back home with stories about all the different people of importance. Even now, when they spoke to each other, it was mostly about their work and all those fancy titled people. She was seldom discussed (in her presence) and she felt unimportant. Well, this time she had a flock of followers who would listen to her stories and give her the attention and importance she deserved.

Alya and Nino both announced their parents took additional shifts at work and were not going for a vacation. That was good news because they would stay in Paris and she could spend her time with them. That was bad news because she expected they would be taking care of their little siblings, and as much as she enjoyed telling stories and the kids were keen listeners, she was tired of it. The prospect of doing that for two weeks was not appealing.

The rest of her class was travelling, at least for a part of their holidays and she was jealous. Besides, she overheard that even Marinette, of all people, planned to travel somewhere with her parents. That was just too much. Lila was the one who travelled to exotic places and had adventures. Marinette was supposed to spend two weeks helping her parents in the bakery. Hopefully she would get a burn or ten.

A strike of inspiration and she sold a tall tale of how was she to spend her holidays. The tale was so long and elaborate and overwhelming that she forgot a detail or two, but she did not care, everyone listened with their mouths opened and cooed while she was telling it.

Then she had one more of her Gabriel meetings on the bench in the park where she was told she was free for two weeks as he was going to be absent. He was going to be absent? And Adrien did not mention anything about travelling with his father. That mean he was to be alone and unattended. Well she could definitely use that opportunity. But why had not Gabriel put her in charge of checking her son? Perhaps he forgot. Well, she was not Lila Rossi if she was not about to do just that.

"Mama, I have to stay in Paris. I have to keep company to Adrien Agreste, you know, my supermodel boyfriend? Well, can you imagine, his father is leaving him home alone for the holidays and I have to keep him company." The girl sold the story to her mother who was distracted by the impending obligation and a need to leave in a hurry.

"We will talk about this later." Benigna Rossi answered quickly and left their flat in a hurry. Later, when she returned, she was bombarded by more demands from her daughter.

"Mama, I could not possibly go to Lyon or to the grandmother, I should really spend as much time with Adrien as I could. He needs me so much. He could not imagine his life without me, you know. He loves me so much." The girl was not even paying attention to her mother's face as she was telling her tales.

Benigna Rossi stopped whatever she was doing and observed her daughter carefully. She knew she seldom took her time to talk to her daughter and she felt guilty about that, but Lila always reassured her that everything was going well and she was an excellent student and she did not need to worry about anything. 'If only her father was here,' the woman thought, 'we could keep an eye on her, but this new job is much more demanding than the job I had before and I can't afford to mess it up.'

So she listened to her daughter telling her a tale about great love she had with that supermodel boy. She had to admit that the boy looked good. He was a supermodel after all. And Paris was full of pictures of him. It was no wonder her daughter fell for him. The boy was in her class. Of course the boy noticed her daughter, he had eyes after all. As a supermodel and a son of a fashion mogul he had access to all those girl models and the fact that he chosen her daughter was a compliment.

But her daughter was still young. The boy was her age, but Benigna Rossi was not responsible for him. She was responsible for Lila, who kept telling and telling how much the boy loved her and could not live without her and how he wanted her to spend the school break with him in his empty mansion, void of parents and possibly and parental supervision. The boy was exposed to the fashion world, the models and probably more familiar with certain ways older girls and boys interacted. Not to mention the adults, especially those who had just crossed the boundary that lead to adulthood.

Benigna knew one thing, there was no way she would ever let her daughter spend an hour in that house with that boy that loved her daughter so much and could not live without her.

"I am so sorry darling, but I could not possibly let you spend any time alone with that boy in that house of his without the proper supervision of his parents. We do not want a scandal, don't we?" She cooed to her daughter and gave a kiss to her forehead.

"But mama!" Lila protested and continued her story about her greatness and good intentions and his absolute need for her that only hardened the mothers resolve.

"No, I would absolutely not allow it." Benigna replied gently. "I am really sorry, my dear daughter, but you do not know how crooked and twisted any information about you spending any time in that mansion could be."

Lila glared at her mother the moment the woman looked in another direction. But her look softened and she feigned sadness and disappointment. Benigna was not about to give in, oh no.

"Besides, if you are so willing to keep company to someone, I could send you to your poor father who is all alone in Lyon." Benigna proposed. She knew very well that would silence her daughter. "In fact, if you can't resist you urge to keep that boy entertained, I think it would be best if I did just that and let your poor father enjoy your company." Benigna smiled her sly smile that she quickly hid behind an expression more appropriate for facing her own daughter. But Lila noticed and glared back.

That was a threat. If her mother ever learned about her going to Adrien's house, she was going to be sent to her father. But then again, how well did her mother ever know how Lila spent her days. She embraced her mother and put on a sly smile of her own. She was plotting a plan already.

Lila sent Adrien messages. He did not answer. For days there was no answer. She called him but she got an automated message response saying that he was unable to answer, please call or leave a message. So she called again on the next day and then the next. And she left a voicemail each time. Until she got a message that the voicemail account was full. How was that possible. She expected Gabriel had paid for the account that allowed infinite storage space for his son. Apparently he did not.

(The full storage space meant he never listened to any of them in the first place nor remove them, and neither did Alya, but that did not occur to her until much later. And he also allocated specific space per caller, or better, Nathalie did that. Because fangirls ...)

She went to the doors of the Agreste Mansion and rang a bell on Monday. Her mother was at some event for the afternoon so she was sure nobody would check on her. There was no answer. She left.

The next time she went to the mansion, it was Wednesday afternoon. Again there was no answer. Well, she knew Gabriel tended to keep Adrien busy during breaks with modelling gigs and photo shoots and loads of extracurricular activities that she did not bother to follow.

The problem with going to Adrien's house was that she might run into Alya and Nino on her way (and she almost did as she saw the two of them with their bratty siblings in the park on her way back). Fortunately both of her classmates were consumed by something on their phones, Chris, Ella and Etta to notice her before she could turn around and take an alternate route home.

She spent her days browsing the social networks. There were few posts from Adrien about him playing a piano or fencing or something else, totally generic. She sighed. She could not go out and look for him because she told that story about travelling the world and she saw Alya and Nino were in the park close to her building with their siblings practically each day. Unless it was raining, but then she would not be caught dead outside too.

She was going through web pages and trolled a few posts about superheroes. Especially when their possible absence was discussed. And the absence of akuma too. Well, she missed those because she enjoyed it when she saw the superheroes butts kicked, and then they always won and celebrated and she hated it.

And then she got an email from Nathalie. Finally something. She opened it quickly. Something to be sent in a week? She put it in the email scheduler and clicked the link. Of course it was locked.

Several emails with Max and assistance from Markov to open a very important account that was really essential for the fondation she maintained with Prince Ali to save the children of the world and the rainforests too and they just lost an assistant because she was too busy saving some kids from a fire in the jungle … well Markov sent her a password and promised it was all confidential. (Poor robot probably short circuited due to all inconsistencies in the information he got).

Lila opened the locked filesystem on the cloud and started to explore. She was not bored any more. She barely slept for the next few nights.

Her exploration was disturbed only by the messages about the akuma attacks … in China, around that temple, of all places. But she smirked and looked back at her computer screen with a sly smile. She knew well their origin. But those two pests appeared and beaten each akuma that appeared there. Apparently they teleported from Paris. She sent a message to Alya where she expressed her concern and got a link to a detailed account of the attack that she got first hand from someone that was actually in the temple. Lila frowned at the link and never opened it. That person was probably in the temple just like Lila was Ladybug's best friend. And Alya published both pieces. She had more interesting reading to do.

She stumbled upon the scanned book on superheroes. Of course Gabriel had that, he was Hawk Moth, And she saw Adrien had that book. To bad she threw it into trash. Did the boy know that his father was Hawk Moth? He was such a fanboy for Ladybug, so probably not. He was stupid and naive and easy to wrap around her little finger. Heck, he was probably stupid enough to be wrapped around Marinette's little finger. That thought sent shivers down her spine. Well, she made sure that would never happen. Gabriel helped with that.

She skipped the book because it contained no information she could decipher and went further. This was good material for blackmail too. One talk with Gabriel and he will hand over his son for her on a silver plate. Golden if she asked for it. Perhaps she should, the colour would look good on her. Adrien will be hers and hers only to show around, all the girls will fall to their despair in envy. And he will open the doors for her to all those fancy, famous and fabulous people she always wanted to mingle with. Her thoughts wandered to parties and cocktail dresses and she paid little attention to what she was looking at.

She was at her computer when there was another notification from the Ladyblog. It was a live stream. She ignored it as she was reading some unrelated article about some royalty shenanigans, but the darn thing kept popping up. Finally she clicked it with an intention to close it instantly because that action seemed to shut the darn thing up. But the scene captured her. Because there was a mask less blonde boy fighting Hawk Moth. He was wearing black, but it was fluffy and wide, not skin tight, and he had no cat ears. She stared at the screen when she heard the conversation. The boy in the live stream was Adrien. 'Well, so much for Gabriel leaving Paris.' She thought. According to Lila, they were fighting in some nondescript basement or building, perhaps it was even the Agreste mansion. Then she noticed a girl in red and two adults dressed in strange robes. Perhaps she was watching a film. And there was another teenager or a young adult. Her brain was a mess of sleep deprivation combined with too much reading of some heavy magical stuff and tabloids. There was not much she understood from the live stream. She barely noticed when Hawk Moth and Mayura detransformed. The live stream finished with everyone lying on the floor.

Well, there went her plans to blackmail Gabriel to get her Adrien as her show off boyfriend. It was a live stream so everyone knew. Her plans were ruined. And it was Alya's blog that hosted the live stream. She glared at the screen. Well, Alya was going to pay for ruining her plans like that. She sent her the nicest message how she just landed back in Paris and how she just had to see her as soon as possible.

She had to wait for an answer for more than an hour. Alya actually dared to keep her waiting. The answer was positive. But she was not invited instantly, oh no, she was invited for a visit later in the evening, and it had to be Alya's place because she had to babysit the twins. Lila groaned at the insult. Well, perhaps it was for the better. She had time to plan.

And she threw that plan in the water half a minute after she entered Alya's room. Because there they were, on Alya's phone, the photos of Adrien with Marinette. The two of them together in each photo. Adrien was smiling in each of them. Marinette was mostly blushing. According to Lila, the girl looked simply stupid in those photos. Then, Alya told her about the fight and how that girl with a strange blue tattoo on her face was in fact Marinette.

The twins crashed something in the kitchen and Alya left in that direction while she left her phone unlocked on her desk. Lila was never the one to miss on an opportunity, but she had little time. When Alya caught her with her phone in her hands, Lila said she had picked it up from the floor where it fell by accident. And then she left, because she had work to do. She arranged to meet Alya early next day because she would have to fix some stuff on the phone again, probably.

Fifteen minutes after she got home and sat at her computer, she wanted to scream (but she could not because her mother was in the room next door). She could send messages and receive them on the cloned account, but she could not reach any of the messages Alya got previously. So she requested Nino to send her the photos again. She used her best persuasive phrases. But the boy was cautious and sent her nothing. Then she asked about one specific photo and got an answer that was from someone named Ling or perhaps Ye. Well, Lila was not easily discouraged, so she sent messages to those two contacts too. But there was no response. (Because the two were sleeping in the middle of the night). Her anger and frustration only increased as she received no information back.

She could not sleep. She was too angry. So she went back to find the video of the fight and see again for herself the faces of everyone involved. To her utter disappointment, the faces of all the kids who participated in the fight were now blurred. She noticed there was a high demand for pictures from the fight, even possible screenshots of the actual live stream because the faces were not blurred then. She had her sly smile back, she was meeting Alya the next day, she was getting something out of this.

The next day was easy. She met Alya in the park close to her home. She snatched the phone and made an excuse that she had to ran home quickly to do some errand. With some luck, Alya was not going to notice her phone was actually missing, she might have misplaced it a little.

Lila needed more time to unlock the phone than she anticipated (which was none because she forgot about that problem), then she needed to transfer the files, which was a lot and it took a lot of her time. And the worst of all? There was no video of the fight. None. Nothing. How was that possible? Did she remove the video? Perhaps it was stored somewhere, but Lila needed time to find it. (In fact it was streamed from a different phone and Alya had it on her PC or perhaps only at some server in a cloud, but that was just too much hi tech for Lila at that moment).

Finally, the copy of the entire content of Alya's phone was on Lila's computer and she could go back to return the phone. She was wrong. Alya noticed. Lila invented some excuse how she took it by accident as she was in a hurry to reply to some demand for food for poor hungry children who would certainly die from hunger if she did not run away so hastily and Alya bought it.

She sold the photos quickly and to the multiple buyers, but there were no photos of Adrien and Gabriel together, she had no proof they went there together, in fact, one buyer complained these were photos from a family vacation and another that these looked as photos from a school trip or a group of friends travelling. But all of them took what was offered and it was paid.

One journalist actually demanded to know how she got the photos and she simply stated she got them form both Adrien and Marinette directly because they were her classmates. Soon she was asked for an interview, and of course, she said yes, because the girl never missed an opportunity to tell her tall tales.