Ashe watched and listened carefully at the conversation between her boss and Mr. Agreste, keeping her thoughts to herself until the man hanged the phone and looked at her, smile on his face.

''I suppose that went well?'' She asked, almost stepping over the boundaries of her role. He never minded, however, and this time wasn't the exception.

''As expected, Agreste is compliant'' Said Mr. M., turning around and walking towards the bar to pour himself some wine. ''And who wouldn't be? I just had to tell him how in my thumb he and his family really are. It's not a complicated thing, you either obey or you risk getting your loved ones killed'' Ashe's boss stopped smiling as he said that last part, then drank his whole cup in one go.

''Your son, sir?'' She questioned, following a hunch.

M. just frowned and avoided her gaze, then started smiling again. ''He's fine, probably planning something behind my back as always''

It was one of those rare times when the man that hired her would do anything close to admitting he cares about his own family. It was a specially daunting situation when you knew what he did to his late wife. Ashe didn't let any of her emotions show on her face, keeping her stoicism and concentrating on what was important: The mission.

''What do you want us to do now, sir?'' She asked. ''With Gabriel Agreste, I mean''

''Nothing yet, I like him frightened and still, for now''

There was a long, charged pause while Ashe carefully chose her next words:

''And what about the reporters, sir?'' She said, almost cringing when she saw the placid expression on the man flinch as she mentioned their most recent problem.

''They still bothering us?'' He asked, his voice low and dangerous.

''There around ten tents camping outside the temple now, sir, and one of the men heard an helicopter earlier, though I doubt that's what he heard honestly, with these storms…'' She tried to reassure him, but both of them knew that didn't change the facts: Their secret invasion of the mysterious temple was not so secret anymore, and there was a limit to how much you could shut people up with bribes or threats.

''How the hell are they camping in this weather?! Those crazy bastards'' Commented her boss, letting his frustration openly show now.

''I think what's happening in Paris is motivating them, sir. People are connecting the dots between the supernatural things happening in there, and the symbols and what the apparition of this temple represents'' He already knew most of that, she was aware, but still felt the need to make him take the events in Paris more seriously. She saw one big flaw on her bosses plan and, afraid of insulting him by mentioning it directly, she prefered this method of suggestion to make him think about it.

''Paris has been a center point for shit for years, and when this temple apparead and Hawkmoth was rampant there wasn't this much fuss about it, heck we took it easily, just a few phone calls!'' He said, still not getting it. The woman let out a sigh.

''What? What is it that you are thinking and not telling me, Ashe?'' He challenged her, and she knew she had to answer now.

''When Hawkmoth was terrorizing the city, there weren't any permanent casualties, sir'' She started, relieved to see that he was more surprised than insulted by her obvious statement. ''This new villain, though, is leaving people in vegetative states and so far the heroes have not shown or said that they can fix it…''

''I see…'' He said, his eyes wide open. ''They got used to things being fixed every time something happened… it was almost like a game, before… But this woman changed everything somehow…''

Ashe was about to allow herself to feel relieved, knowing that her boss finally understood what they were up against: Not just the heroes of Paris, but a dangerous new villain too, when he started laughing.

''...sir?'' She asked, worried.

''I want that! Whatever it is that woman has, I want it! I want to know how she got it, what it is and why the powers of the all powerful Ladybug can't do anything about it!''

...

''Master, do you think Gianna is the reason the balance is off?'' Asked Luka, going straight to the point seconds after serving tea to the elder man and Antoine, who was staying with them again. The later looked very surprised that they would share such a conversation with him, but Luka saw no point in being distrustful. Ladybug allowed Antoine to join them, and so would he. Fu, on the other hand, hesitated, glaring at the former agent for a second, before answering.

''Part of it, probably is'' He said, then sipped from his tea. ''Antoine, do you know what the situation is right now at the temple?''

The man shook his head almost immediately. ''I told you guys everything I know, I wasn't even there when they took control of it'' He sounded disappointed as he spoke ''I was a new agent when all this started to happen, I didn't have many information privileges, all I know is that there are around fifty people currently working on the temple and outside of it, looking for miraculouses for Mister M., but even that might be wrong''

''What about the man you were working with? your partner, Dragon?'' Asked Luka this time, with a lot less suspicion in his voice than Fu had. The older man just drank his tea not looking the least bit ashamed as he listened.

''He's the boss's son, that's it. I don't even know his name, and he might be dead already…'' Said Antoine, looking at his hands in a way that told Luka that was not all he had to say.

''Oh please, out with it already'' Said Fu, sounding annoyed. Saying that Luka was extremely surprised at the old guardian's attitude would be an understatement.

''Master? What are you so mad about?''

''I saw this man passing something to Gabriel Agreste, I'm old not stupid, Antoine Brun. Now tell us what are you scheming right now or you're gonna have to look for a new place to stay, right now, in the middle of a stormy night'' Master Fu said, venom in his voice. Luka frowned as he flipped between staring at the angry looking guardian and the sad looking ex-agent.

''I'm not scheming'' Said Antoine after a charged silence. He had no energy on his voice at all, and Nooro was hovering worriedly on his shoulder. ''It's Mister M. who's doing that, and he's using me for it'' He confessed.

Luka crossed his arms, joining Fu in the glaring contest, and said: ''Alright, explanation, now''

Antoine sighed one more time, then started talking.

''We are surrounded by them, M.'s people, that is. I'm letting him think I'm one of them by doing some of his bidding for now, because being a double agent is a lot more useful to you guys than me being completely cut off as an enemy'' Luka realized, while the man explained, that he probably planned on saying all of this from the start, but he wasn't sure if he was being manipulated or not at this point. ''He wanted a way to directly communicate with Gabriel Agreste, that is all I've done for him since joining your team. He probably has something on Agreste and wants to use him as well, though judging by the way he threatened me, it's probably someone close to Adrien that is working for them''

There wasn't an audible gasp coming from Luka or Master Fu, but the tension on the room was palpable and evidence enough that they were NOT expecting that kind of information when they started this conversation.

''Why didn't you say anything earlier?! That's what our reunions are for!'' Luka yelled, getting up to grab the man and let his frustration out, but this time Fu was being the level headed one, stopping him with a hand on his chest.

''Because we don't know who that might be…or rather, Antoine doesn't, is that it?'' Said the master, still angry but much more subdued now, offering an obvious olive branch that Antoine took gladly.

''Yes, I wanted to tell Ladybug first but… well, she's not- It was right after the meeting with the government people and she was very distraught…'' And Luka remembered Ladybugs face all through that reunion. Yes, Ladybug didn't need more bad news right after that. But she was also their leader. ''So I just made her feel better instead of breaking her confidence even more''

This time Master Fu sighed loudly, the tension in his body gone.

''And you did well, I'll give you that, young man'' Antoine nervously chuckled at the comment, probably not feeling like he deserved the 'young' part. ''She's stressed enough as it is.. and I suspect that has something to do with our weather problems too''

''What do you mean? You think it's her fault?!'' Luka was far from getting over his worry, however.

''I don't know, but why is she the only one having issues with her powers if balance is broken?'' And that was the question, wasn't it? Luka thought, staying silent after that.

It was such an obvious thing, that Luka realized in that moment that Ladybug probably already thought about it, which made things even worse. Adrien has not mentioned any weird behavior of his own problem, and no one else has either. Only her. Luka wanted to immediately get up and go talk to her, but there was one more matter to discuss before he could try to comfort his friend.

''What does M. have on you, Antoine? Why he believes you are willing to obey him?'' He asked, and Antoine offered a sad smile before responding.

''My family'' He said, looking at his hands again. At his ring finger, empty. ''He knows of them, they were the whole reason why I started working for shady organizations like his in the first place. He just needs to make one call'' The implication was clear and Luka was starting to feel sick.

''B-but then, why are you helping us, instead?''

''Because, logically, there's absolutely no guarantee that my family would be safe if I didn't do this'' He said with a sadness that Luka could almost feel himself as he started at Antoine's dark eyes. ''I know exactly how ruthless M. is, and I decided it's safer for me to do this for now while I find a way to hide my family… if M. gets any miraculous under his wing, it would be a lot harder to help them'' And right after he said that, the ex-agents eyes expanded and he stood very still.

Luka was still processing what the man just said when he noticed that change in demeanor, that went from confusion to surprise in a second.

''What?'' He asked.

''T… my partner, I-I'' Antoine whispered. ''I understand what he meant, back then… when he fought against Adrien!'' The man's energy levels raised as he spoke, obviously realizing something while doing so. ''He wanted to destroy the miraculous so his father wouldn't get them! I'm sure!''

''Why is that important? You said he died'' Said Fu, frowning in confusion.

''That's why he wanted the cat miraculous and didn't care about the rest…'' The man kept saying mostly to himself. ''He wasn't angry! I got it all wrong!''

''Antoine?'' Asked Luka this time, sporting the same confused expression as Fu, mixed with the unavoidable pity he was feeling towards the man because of the situation he was in. Luka couldn't help but think that he was using this new 'discovery' to distract himself from the fact that his family was in danger…

Antoine then started pacing around the small room, knocking over his cup of tea as he got up. Nooro followed him in silence, but right as Luka and Fu were starting to get worried things escalated. The butterfly user started clutching his head and grunting in pain, stopping on his tracks as he dropped to his knees.

''Antoine!'' Luka screamed, running to help the man calm down.

But he wasn't screaming or answering their calls, and Nooro went from worried to excited in a second.

''The hell is going on?!'' Exclaimed the young guardian, looking back at Fu, who was wide eyed looking at the scene.

''Nooro!'' Called the old master, and the violet kwami stopped bouncing in the air like a kid in a toy store for a second to register how mad the situation really looked like.

''He's the one, master! He can do it!''

And then it dawned on Luka and Fu at the same time, what was happening. And while they thought about it as they looked at Antoine in awe, the man calmed down and stopped clutching his head with his hands.

''I understand now'' He murmured.

...

''Those are so cool, Bugaboo'' Said a voice on her back, making her jump on her seat. She screamed when she realized that her scare made her do a line on her design that she didn't intend to do at all, while Adrien laughed at her antics.

''So sorry!'' He apologized while still laughing at her. ''Didn't mean to scare you''

''It's ok I can fix it'' She said while erasing the unwanted line, not even bothering to look upset as she would usually do to tease her boyfriend.

''Wow, you're really in the zone with those, I'm glad'' He said, his voice full of honest admiration this time.

''Y-yeah… It's for my apprenticeship…'' She commented, looking at the collection of design ideas she managed to create in the past hours. It was almost 2AM, so that meant she spent the last four hours after their meeting just drawing.

''Isn't it a bit… risky, though?'' Said Adrien, now taking more time to look at the drawings on her desk. All of them were Ladybug outfit designs.

''I thought the same, but… well, I don't know how to explain, I think Tina really means well with this'' She said, not sure how to express the mixed feelings she had about this. Heck, she wasn't even sure she would show them to Tina.

''I really like this one!'' Tikki chimed in, holding one of the papers as she floated in front of Adrien and Marinette's faces.

Moments after the ex-model and the kwami were discussing the pro's and con's of the almost fifteen versions of the Ladybug suit that she drew that evening.

''Man, I want Chat Noir to have a new suit too'' Commented Adrien after he ended up agreeing with Tikki that a mix between design #2 and #10 was the best, which was NOT, by the way. Did they really think Ladybug going out in full Mech suit was appropriate?, Marinette tossed those in as ideas almost as a joke.

''What would you change?'' Asked Marinette, honestly curious.

''Well for starters, I think I've outgrown the bell''

They laughed and joked about their suits, and all was well in the world for the couple. Later that night, while trying to fall asleep, Marinette wondered at how easy it was to forget all her problems when she was with Adrien. She wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing, though.