Chapter 5: Only Following Orders

Adrien called through the bathroom door, "Marinette, please! I had to prank you. I was under direct orders from my father."

Marinette answered in a cold voice, "Do you always do everything your father orders you to do?"

"Of course," said Adrien. "Doesn't everyone?"

"No," said Marinette.

"It's just the way it works," said Adrien. "Parents give orders and children have to obey. That's how it's been for as long as I can remember. That's how it is for you too, right?"

"Not all the time, and especially not when I was younger," said Marinette. "I resisted and threw lots of tantrums."

"I can work around my father's will sometimes, if it's something he doesn't know about. But direct orders are different."

"I wish I could just drop you," said Marinette. "But the way you're talking... I think you need help, and I'm going to have to try."

"That's encouraging," said Adrien. "So we can still be friends?"

"Not that fast," said Marinette. "But if your father has brainwashed you, or hypnotized you somehow... then it's not all your fault. I'll do everything I can to find out, and to get you out of his power."

At lunch break, Marinette spoke to Alya.

"You want me to help you figure out the best way to get back at Adrien, right?" said Alya. "What if we dump super-glue on his fencing mask, so it's still sticky when he goes to put it on? It'll get stuck to his face. Priceless."

"No, I think he's been brainwashed by his father to be completely obedient. This prank was all his father's idea, to keep his 'bad boy' image going," said Marinette.

"You buy that excuse, that his daddy told him to do it?" asked Alya.

"The way he talked about it was just scary. His father commands and he has to obey. He's been abused; I'm sure of it," said Marinette.

"What are you going to do about it?" sked Alya.

"I'm going to try to help him. First, I need to find all the dirt I can on Gabriel Agreste, for leverage to get Adrien out of his power."

"Whoa, blackmail stuff, girl. If you're serious, you can't just look on the internet."

"Why not?"

"The best stuff will be further back. I know a site you can use to find old newspaper articles that have been scanned in. You can search it for names and things. It's a subscription service, but they have a free two-week trial period."

"How do you know about that?"

"I've been looking for resources as a journalist. For Ladybug, now that I know that she's really thousands of years old and knew the real King Tut."

"Did you find anything?"

"Not much, but I'm still digging."

Marinette was up in the wee hours searching for articles. She had found little under "Gabriel Agreste" except for fashion news. She found out that Adrien's mother was named Emilie, and she searched for that next. An article turned up: "Solitude: a Tragic Finale."

"The movie 'Solitude', directed by André Bourgeois and funded by Gabriel Agreste as a starring vehicle for his new wife, Emile (née Graham de Vanile), has ended with a tragedy. Tomoe Tsurugi, the co-star from Japan, was celebrating the completion of the film at a small party with Mr. and Mrs Agreste, André Bourgeois, and his fiancé Audrey Descartes. Miss Tsurugi is reported to have imbibed alcohol that was contaminated with methanol and as a result suffered damage to her optic nerve. She is not expected to recover her sight and she will be returning to Japan immediately. Due to this tragedy, the film will reportedly have a very limited release."

"This looks promising," said Marinette to herself. "Was it an accident or was she poisoned?"