Twenty One – Chat Noir
The next few weeks were a blur. There was the occasional akuma, his dinner nights with Chat Noir, and his visits to Marinette.
Her release from the hospital was delayed due to a sudden downward spike in her condition; Nathaniël suspected it had something to do with the surprise visit from her classmates (including Lila).
He had yet to broach the subject of Lila with Chat Noir, but after that turn in Marinette's condition, Nathaniël couldn't hold out any longer.
"Hypothetically…" he began as Renaise and Chat Noir were relaxing on a rooftop. "If someone was doing something wrong, and only you knew about it, what would you do?"
"…well, I'd tell everyone, of course," Chat Noir responded. "Why?"
"Um, just a hypothetical question," Renaise said. "But suppose no one believed you?"
"Um, I would convince them?" he asked questioningly. "Why?"
Nathaniël ignored his question. "Suppose they still didn't believe you. What would you do then?"
"It depends on how bad the situation is. If it's harmless, I would just give up."
"Well, imagine they sent someone to the hospital, and they're really dangerous, but no one believes it. Then…?"
"I would report them to the authorities," Chat Noir told him.
"Well, suppose the authorities," Nathaniël thought of M. Damocles, "know, but they aren't doing anything about it."
"Well… then I'd use my status as a superhero to expose them to the public."
Nathaniël's eyes widened. Of course, he was just a temporary superhero, and the public didn't know him that well. And Ladybug, well who knew when she'd be back in commission, and she had already said she had given up on the Lila case as it could get them both seriously hurt.
But Chat Noir? If he said something about Lila, the public was bound to believe it, right?
"…suppose this wasn't hypothetical," Nathaniël tried.
"Wait, are you saying there's really someone like this?" Chat Noir asked. "And you…"
"Yeah," Nathaniël responded.
"Who is it? I can help expose them."
Nathaniël hesitated, knowing full well how close Lila was with Adrien. But if he didn't do this, Lila would have won – he had no other option.
He took a deep breath.
"It's… Lila."
A/N: Sorry the last chapter was a bit of filler (and this one kinda is too). It's necessary for the storyline, though :) Good news - updates should be more regular now as I have finished writing the draft of the story!