This was supposed to be another chapter of crack, but some angst managed to sneak in at the end. Hope you enjoy!
"Adrien."
Adrien, staring up at his father, gulped. It was quite understandable really. His father was currently wearing an imposing purple suit and mask, twirling an equally imposing cane, and glaring at him in a very supervillain like way. It was all very unnerving.
"Father." He inclined his head respectfully, hoping he wouldn't get killed. It was much more difficult facing awkmoth when he didn't have the power of destruction at his fingertips. In his jacket, Plagg quivered, although Adrien wasn't sure if that was because he was scared or laughing.
"Adrien, it is time for you to join me in my quest. You know your transformation phrase; go on,spread your feathers!"
Well, Adrien thought. That was overly dramatic.
"Hide, plagg." He whispered to his kwami, pinning on the peacock broach and smiling sadly at Duusu. The peacock kwami promptly burst into tears.
"Oh!" they wailed. "It's so sad!"
"Duusu, please stop." Adrien sighed. "Come on, spread my feathers."
"Yes, son!" Hawkmoth crowed as the transformation swept over him. "You look majestic!"
"Right." Said Adrien, now sporting an extravagant blue floor length coat and fan. "Do I need a name or something?"
"Excuse me?"
"A name. I mean, you're Hawkmoth, right? Or is it Shadowmoth now? Regardless, I need a villain name."
"Son, I thought we discussed this. I'm not the villain here."
"I still need a name." Adrien pouted.
"Good god, fine! You can be… oh I don't know… Pavo. That will do. Your name doesn't matter."
"That's a terrible name. I don't even like Spanish!"
"You're Pavo and that's final."
"Yes father."
A few minutes and a lot more bickering later, Hawkmoth and the newly dubbed Pavo jumped out of a window of the Agreste mansion.
"Why are we jumping out of the window, father?" Adrien asked. "There's a perfectly good door just there."
Hawkmoth shook his head in despair. "Oh, you do have a lot to learn.
Another half hour later found Pavo standing on a rooftop. In fact, this particular rooftop happened to be one of his favourite places to sit as chat, so it was slightly disturbing to be using it now. He had been instructed to wait until an akuma appeared, and then create an appropriate sentimonster, whatever that meant. Honestly, he would much rather be sleeping right now.
He was interested to see how Ladybug would fare against a creation of his own design.
He and father had agreed that he would reveal himself today, in order to send Parisians into further panic. Therefore, father had Adrien practicing his evil speech all day, and Adrien was looking forward to some melodramatic monologuing.
Soon enough, the distinctive sound of an akuma destroying something – probably someone's house – rang through the air, and Adrien grinned, taking a glance at the culprit.
Today's akuma was quite tame as akumas went. It was garish and lurid as always, terribly designed and screaming something about revenge on Chloe Bourgeoise.
"Typical." Pavo muttered. "He's a fashion designer, but he comes up with this atrocity. You've got to be kitten me." He paused, taking in the feathers on his outfit. "Hmmm, I guess I need to come up with some peacock puns if I'm going to do this properly."
Shrugging off his bugging need to pun, Pavo dramatically flapped open his fan, plucking a feather and gently blowing on it.
Before him, a sentimonster appeared. It was cylindrical, with a rounded top and a periscope like stick coming out. It was, Pavo realised, a dalek. Maybe he'd been up too late watching doctor who.
"Exterminator, I am… Pavo."
"Exterminator? Said Exterminator. "is that the best you could come up with?"
"Shut up, you're not supposed to be sentient." Pavo snapped. "Go and help… oh I don't know what it's called. Help the akuma, but like, not too much. Make sure Ladybug wins. Ok?"
"I am at your eternal service." Droned Exterminator, rolling its mechanical eyes.
"Go before I exterminate you."
In the end, Ladybug and Carapace, who she'd recruited to help her because she needed to keep up appearances (although she was perfectly capable of handling the akuma on her own), defeated both it and Pavo's sentimonster. Hawkmoth groaned, and then Pavo was up. He jumped up onto the Eiffel tower, admiring the way his coat swept behind him in the wind.
"Ladybug!" he shouted. "and Chat Noir I guess. I am Pavo! I am here to wreak havoc, and also work for Hawkmoth, because I am evil. Yep, that's right. I'm very, very evil. I… uh… I want to destroy everything. Including camembert cheese."
Somewhere across the city in the inside pocket of a shirt, a tiny black god gasped in horror.
Pavo, now getting the hang of this whole evil speech thing, continued. "I will take everything you love and raze Paris to the ground! Mwhahaha!"
Down on the ground, an incredulous Ladybug held her head in her hands. "Idiot." She muttered.
She echoed this statement later on when she and Adrien, now Chat Noir again, met for patrol.
"You're an idiot, you know that right?"
"What, you thought it was too much?"
"You said you wanted to destroy camembert, Adrien. Yes it was too much."
"Father said be dramatic, so I was dramatic. What can I say, I'm an actor at heart."
She rolled her eyes. "Silly Kitty. Have you got anywhere with gathering evidence?"
"Not really. Father keeps the grimoire behind the painting of mom, but we already knew that, and other than the secret layer in the basement, there's nothing. I suppose there is the life support chamber with mom in it, and the butterfly garden, but that's nothing concrete."
"Wow." Ladybug said. "You really are an idiot sometimes. Adrien, this is brilliant! That chamber must use a lot of power, right? If we can somehow get hold of your father's electricity bill, we could use that as proof something dodgy is going on. Then all we have to do is lead the authorities to the layer, and he's caught!"
Chat nodded slowly, his leg coming up to rest on his chin. "Yeah, that would work, but what would happen to mom?"
"Oh." She looked down abruptly. "I – hadn't even thought…"
"That chamber is the only thing keeping her alive. Mom is only sick because of the peacock, and father thinks he'll be able to heal her using the wish. I obviously don't want that to happen, but…"
"Go on," she said, gently laying her hand on his knee.
"I just… I found out my mom isn't really dead, and there may be a way to get her back. I don't want to lose her again."
"Oh, Chaton." She pulled him close, and he nestled into her shoulder. "It'll be ok. Now the temple of the guardians is back, they might know a way to heal your mom. You will get her back, I promise."
"I know. Thanks, Milady."
They stayed like that, locked in a tight embrace and framed by the setting sun.
The sky darkened and ladybug yawned. "It's getting late, and we have school tomorrow. We should get home. Are you ok?"
He nodded. "I will be. See you tomorrow, Marinette."
"See you, Adrien."