A rock and a hard place. Not a single person in the room felt differently. The corner of Lila's smile continuously twitched, her teeth set in a badly concealed grimace. Marinette's face was red with the effort to hold back her biting comments, all the harsher for her lack of sleep. Adrien had been unaware that his father had planned the business lunch and was caught unawares when he was seated between the two nemeses'. Gabriel Agreste sat opposing his son at the end of the long table, his food untouched and his focus shaken.

He was running out of time.

"So, father," Adrien said, pushing a piece of broccoli around his plate, "why did you call us all here today."

Gabriel blinked, shaking his head back into grim reality. "I'm altering the image of my fashion line for next spring. You all will be involved in the process of getting it done on time."

"Of course Mr. Agreste," Lila said, "I'm honored you've decided to trust me – us – with this task. I can't wait to get started.""

"Of course Lila," Gabriel said, "you've always helped me after all." He looked to Marinette. "And I expect great things from you as well. My son has told me of your incredible talent, I assume you won't slip up."

"Oh, um, I'll try to meet your expectations Mr. Agreste," Marinette said trying very deliberately not to stutter, "so, what did you change the image of your fashion line to?"

"Yes, about that. Adrien, you will be the main model showing off the line but this time you will also be sharing the spotlight with your cousin Felix."

Adrien lit up a bit, excited at the prospect of seeing his cousin again. "Felix is going to model too? It's been so long since I last saw him!"

"Yes. The concept for my spring designs is Yin and Yang. Originally I was just going to use you, Adrien, but Natalie offered the idea for using Felix as well. Because of this we are behind schedule." He stood up and walked to the door, Natalie following behind. "I expect all of you to do your jobs perfectly for this show. From here on we will be working non stop to get everything done. Excuse me." The door clicked shut behind him.

Lila took a small bite of the food in front of her, dabbing her mouth daintily with her napkin, before skootching her chair back. "Excuse me," she said curtly, no longer bothering to keep up her façade, "I'm going to go find the restroom."

When the door closed behind her and audible stream of air escaped Marinette's lips and she sank back into her chair.

"You okay Marinette?" Adrien asked.

"Hm? Oh, ya, sorry. It's just, no one told me I'd be working with Lila of all people. How did she even get an internship with your dad?"

Adrien shrugged. "He said something about 'useful talent and incredible insight', but for some reason I'm not entirely convinced he was talking about her fashion sense."

Marinette raised her eyebrow questionably.

Adrien took the hint and elaborated. "You remember back in school? Somehow my dad new about everyone I hung out with, and a lot of the things I snuck out to do. I think Lila was spying on me for him, though I can't say for sure."

Marinette leaned forward with a huff. "I wouldn't put it past her, but would your dad really do something like that?"

"I'd like to think not," A shadow crossed Adrien's face, "but with him I really don't know."

Marinette reached over and gave his hand a quick squeeze, a strange static jolting through her hand when her thumb brushed over his ring.

It hadn't been hard for Lila to come up with a story as to why Adrien's gorilla bodyguard should guard outside instead of in the front hall. As soon as he was out of sight she made her way to Gabriel Agreste's office, silencing her footsteps as she approached the door. Agreste was hiding something, if she could just find out what it was – she would be able to use him without having to bow and scrape at his every whim.

"Come Natalie," she heard him say through the door, "we have little time left. We'll create a sentimonster as well as a villain this time. The persons feeling's are no where near as strong as I would like, so we must give them extra power."

Lila's eye's widened and she cracked open the door as quietly as she could. Gabriel and Natalie were disappearing into a hole in the floor, a few triangles on a painting of his departed wife noticeably pushed in. As soon as their heads disappeared the floor closed above them, the triangles sliding back out, unnoticeable on the painting.

Lila walked in boldly. She went to the painting and touched it lightly, running her fingers across the sooth canvas. Her fingers caught, ever so slightly, around the same area's she had seen them pushed in.

"So this is the key." She said to herself. A giggle escaped her lips. Then another. In a moment she was laughing uncontrollably. "AHAHAHAHA! So this, this is the truth! Gabriel is Hawkmoth! HeeHee. All I have to do is figure out which of his accessories grant him power." Her calm demeanor returned and she looked up at the painting, grinning broadly. "I know your weakness Mr. Agreste."

Outside screams could be heard. Both Adrien and Marinette leaped up from their seats.

"I have to, umm, make a phone call," Marinette said quickly, "it's really important and I forgot to do it earlier."

"Okay," Adrien said, "just do it inside, it sound's like something's going on out there. I'm going to go run to the bathroom real quick."

The two split way's, Adrien sprinting to his room and Marinette hiding behind the stairs. A moment later Ladybug and Chat Noir met up on a nearby rooftop, staring down at the sentimonster destroying the city.