To Lyger 0: You think so? *sips coffee* Honestly, Audrey having a surprise lovechild might actually work to Andre's benefit, comparatively…
Chloe leaned back in her chair, legs crossed beneath the table, looking out through the large glass windows behind the desk in the loft's office section, taking in what she could of downtown, watching a boat motor lazily down the Rhône. The sun shone down brightly, streaming through the windows and warming her arms. The stage would have been so hot and uncomfortable if she had gone to the rally the way Daddy had wanted her to. But instead, she could stay inside here, in the air-conditioned loft. The cool air raised goosebumps on her arms, but she smiled to herself enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. At her feet, Bee-atrice lapped water from the bowl they had put down for her, sloshing water on the floor around her. Pollen sat on the edge of the snack plate, nibbling on one of the éclairs that Chloe had picked up from the Mansion on her way through. Despite the size of the open-plan loft around them, they were alone here, just the four of them. The sound of soft voices came from the television mounted on the far wall, just enough to provide some background noise. Being here and observing from a distance was a thousand times better than going to a stupid political rally.
For one thing, the company was far preferable.
"I'm glad you decided to give Lyon another chance, Mlle Bourgeois," Henri told her, giving her an easy grin and raising his glass in a toast. "I assure you, our city is so much nicer than the impression you must have gotten of it when you were here last!"
Chloe stifled a giggle. "And I can assure you that Paris sometimes gets to be far more… 'interesting' than it was the last time you were there," she replied wryly, sipping her tea.
"So I hear." Henri snagged an éclair and popped the whole thing in his mouth, chewing slowly. After a moment, he leaned forward, a calculating look in his eyes. "Tell me: is it true that there are aliens running around in your sewers?"
She quirked an eyebrow at him in amusement. "What have you heard?"
"Just that," he admitted, sitting back and shrugging, folding his arms behind his head. "Nothing more than rumors. Le Parisien had a story a while ago, but nothing concrete. I've checked the Ladyblog for confirmation, but all I found was a warning about disturbances in the sewers, telling people to stay away. Nothing about the why."
Chloe sighed dismissively. "You can't believe everything you read on the Ladyblog…" she warned him. He cocked his head to one side, brows furrowed. She smirked. "Alya has gotten to be very good at telling people exactly enough information without divulging anything that we… would prefer to keep quiet."
Henri blinked. "You have the Ladyblogger in your pocket."
"She wouldn't put it that way."
"How would she put it?"
Chloe arched an eyebrow. "You won't mind having her on your side in a month or two," she pointed out. "As much as we sometimes have our disagreements, I can say that Alya is very good at her job. And her job is to help the Heroes of Europe look good."
"Fair," Henri acknowledged with a nod. "I am looking forward to meeting her – formally, that is. She was the Maid of Honor at the wedding, wasn't she?" Chloe nodded, raising an eyebrow expectantly. "That must have been awkward, you being a hero and her being a hero-blogger."
Chloe held the teacup to her lips to hide her laugh. "We made it work." She gave him an amused look. "So what makes you say it's aliens?"
"A few things. Just rumors and reading things between the lines." Henri shrugged noncommittally. "Before the Tarasque, there were rumors of something large in your sewers. A report of a couple of people who had gone missing and been found in the sewers in pieces. And right before there, there was supposedly a large UFO seen in the sky above Paris…"
Chloe grimaced, looking down at the table. "That… yeah, that's all true," she answered with a regretful nod. "But it's only one alien living in the sewers. That we know of, at least. Another is a member of the Heroes of Paris and living at our Headquarters – I think you've met Volpinax already. Another is working with the Paris Police. A couple more are with another hero group. So far as we know, there's only one alien that's actually fighting against us. We've been trying to track him down, of course, but other things have taken priority lately, so we haven't exactly been in a hurry to wade through the sewers in search of a murderous alien!"
Henri chuckled, shaking his head ruefully. "Somehow, I can't imagine Chloe Bourgeois being in a hurry to crawl around in sewers, regardless of the reason!"
Chloe made a face. "Believe me, if we're going to go looking for 'Hugo,' it's going to be a couple of Pegasus' drones who do all the searching for us," she told him, shuddering. "With everything else waiting down there…" She stuck her tongue out in disgust.
He hummed, sipping his water. "Probably a good idea," he agreed, nodding. Glancing down at the desk between them, he smiled. "I'm glad to see the fruits of your last visit to my fair city – there wasn't much time for introductions last time, you were in such a rush to return home."
"Not really," Chloe agreed, patting Pollen on the head as Bee-atrice moved on to the new bone that Henri had given her that morning.
Looking up from her plate of fruit, Pollen smiled brightly at Henri. "It is good to meet you!" the Kwami squeaked. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet when you were in Paris a couple weeks ago."
"I'm sorry, too." Henri glanced at Chloe pointedly. "But, then, everyone seemed far too busy for that."
Chloe gave the Kwami a fond look before meeting Henri's gaze. "It wasn't my fault," she objected. "I was just keeping busy with last-minute wedding preparations."
"Remind me not to escort a bridesmaid to a wedding again," he joked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed. "You enjoyed it; don't lie."
He grinned. "I did; your friends are all a lot of fun to be around – Adrien and Marinette were so clearly in love." He wagged his eyebrows mirthfully. "But all the same, I think the part I enjoyed the most was the looks on the paparazzi's faces when they saw you with your 'mysterious date'!"
"'Date'?" she repeated, giving him a look of feigned shock. "'I have no idea what you mean! Ugh, utterly ridiculous!'" She let out a snort of laughter. "The look on Nadja Chamack's face after that was absolutely priceless!"
"You know they're going to hound you until they get a name," he warned her.
"They have been hounding me for a name," she replied wryly, quirking an eyebrow at him. "I'm actually a little surprised no one recognized you."
He shrugged. "My father has never been Mayor of Lyon, and I've stayed away from his political ambitions since lycée. If they had recognized me, I would have been surprised!"
She giggled. "And if they knew your family, they would have absolutely exploded!"
"I can see the headlines now." He held his hands up. "'New Political Dynasty Forming, Question Mark?'" Grinning, Henri held out his water glass for her to clink. Sipping his drink, he frowned. "Still, as much as I enjoy your company, I can't help but wonder. What brought you here today?"
"Do I need a reason to visit?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. He quirked an eyebrow in return, giving her a knowing look. She sighed and jerked her head toward the television, which now showed her parents standing below the platform that had been set up directly under the Eiffel Tower. The speech had ended several minutes ago; on the television, Chloe could just hear the commentary from the reporters, discussing her father's "chances" in the election while her parents greeted the long line of their "supporters." Her mother wore a simpering smile as she spoke animatedly with an older woman– so unlike her mother's normal expression – at the same time that her father shook hands with the equally-old man in front of him. Chloe's jaw clenched, Her father beamed from ear to ear as he shook hands with each person who approached him, laughing uproariously at a joke before moving on to the next person in the line. Chloe pursed her lips bitterly. "He wanted me there."
"It only makes sense; you've been to most of his political rallies," Henri pointed out. "After all the other crap that happened in the last few months, he needs to appear to be a family man."
"Even if the family is as much a show as the campaign is," Chloe muttered under her breath, stroking Pollen's head agitatedly. Henri gave her a sympathetic smile and placed his hand on the table. Chloe glanced down at it and let out a breath. "But he didn't want me there as his daughter. He wanted me to come to the rally not as Chloe but as Queen Bee. Because I defeated Killer Bee and reclaimed my miraculous. Because I represent the Heroes of Paris, and he's hoping we'll get him elected."
He frowned. "Do you not want him elected?"
Chloe sighed, looking away. "I don't know… He's at least better than Loubet – but, then, Loubet is literally evil." Henri cocked his head in confusion, and Chloe frowned. "He gave the Lancer her lance, so we know he's at least connected to the Lynchpin. And if we're going to work with the city of Paris, we can't be working with the enemy at the same time – not if we're going to see any positive results from what we do. So I would prefer my father over him… but that doesn't mean I want to still be the daughter of the Mayor of Paris."
He arched an eyebrow at her knowingly. "I've only known you a few months," he began, "but somehow I don't see you being one to disappear into the background. Of any group or organization or event."
"Are you calling me a spotlight hog?" she demanded, a teasing tone to her voice.
"Not a spotlight hog'," he answered quickly. "But someone who is always involved, always on in the forefront."
"Maybe that's the case," she agreed, shrugging one shoulder noncommittally, "but I would rather be known for me and what I have done than for who my father is. I think I've done enough to deserve that, right?"
"Considering that you are a literal superhero, that is absolutely the case." Henri stifled a laugh, glancing back and forth between her and the televisiojn. "You know, if you really want to drive those reporters wild, I could take you to dinner sometime."
She raised an eyebrow an amusement. "And here I thought you were the one who wanted to avoid the spotlight." She sighed affectionately, giving him a small smile, and picked another pastry for herself. "But if I ever need to throw Jean-Claude for a loop, I'll be sure to give you a call."
Henri started to laugh but froze, cocking his head to one side, staring at something behind Chloe. "Wait…"
Brows furrowed in confusion, Chloe turned slightly in her seat, following Henri's gaze toward the television. On the screen, her parents still stood beside the platform, a trio of police officers flanking them all around. The crowd had died down substantially, most of them having moved on to discuss the rally among themselves, leaving behind a single girl, standing in front of her father and holding a manila envelope in her hands. Chloe started, leaning forward unconsciously. "Hang on… blonde hair, pink streak…"
"You recognize her?"
Chloe started to nod. "She was at the hotel this morning – I passed her on my way out. But what–"
The volume from the crowd rose for a moment only to die away again. Chloe's father stared at the girl as if he had seen a ghost. Her mother blinked several times; Chloe could recognize that the smile on her face was frozen in place. The girl looked back and forth between them awkwardly before turning to Chloe's father. The envelope shook in her hands.
The girl's voice trembled, and she looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry for bothering you. I – um – I just – I really wanted to meet my… father."
Suddenly, the television feed shifted from Chloe's parents and the girl back to the studio, where two commentators started arguing back and forth between them about the content of the speech. Chloe's eyes bulged out, and she stared at the television for a long moment in stunned silence, barely hearing the commentary. Finally, Henri broke the silence with an awkward laugh.
He chuckled, grimacing, giving Chloe a nervous glance. "Well, I don't think your father needs us to blow up his campaign now…"
Chloe's jaw dropped.
