Shatter Point
By: EDelta88
Rated M for language, violence, adult situations and concepts, and graphic imagery
[Insert disclaimer here]
Chapter 2: Mixed Results
"Are we on schedule?"
"The girl said she would be ready sometime during the school day," Natalie answered professionally.
Gabriel nodded. "Good," he responded curtly as he reviewed his sketches and notes.
"Are you sure about this, sir?" Natalie asked. "We've never been this… destructive, before," she hedged uncomfortably. What they were doing could cause actual lasting damage.
"I am aware of possible consequences, Natalie," Gabriel replied, brushing her off. "Normally, I might agree with you. However, assuming the truth of Miss Rossi's machinations doesn't come out during today's events, Miss Dupain-Cheng is hoping to become a designer. We are uniquely situated to take corrective action if she herself is unable to deal with the fallout of Miss Rossi's actions. A generous scholarship, perhaps."
"Considering they mostly see each other at school, there may be questions of academic integrity depending on what exactly the girl does," she pointed out. It was the obvious choice considering how easily the staff could be manipulated.
Gabriel snorted. "If any worthwhile institution is stupid enough to pass up Miss Dupain-Cheng's glaringly obvious talent over a highly questionable black mark at this level of education, I will personally take her as my protégé and borrow Andre's to crucify them in the court of public opinion. Any institution that is stupid and ineffective should not be educating anyone. I'd be performing a public service."
"And what of her reputation?"
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Anyone who actually knows the slightest thing about Miss Dupain-Cheng will be able to see her troubles for what they are. Anyone willing to believe she is capable of the things she will be accused of is a betrayal waiting to happen and she would be better served to see them for who they are now rather than years down the line when they could do serious damage." As he spoke, Gabriel's eyes glossed over as if remembering things better left forgotten. From Adrien's rambling about her alone, it was obvious—even to Gabriel—that Adrien's friend was a kind soul. The sort of person that others took advantage of only to abandon them in difficult situations. This scenario would reveal the true colors of her peers. He would be doing her a favor.
"For the record," Natalie spoke, almost to herself. "I do not feel comfortable singling out a child like this." Taking advantage of teenage drama was one thing. This? This was something else entirely.
Gabriel glanced over at her, his lips drawn into a severe line, but made no move to argue the point. Then he turned toward the viewing wind. "Nooroo, Dark wings rise!" he commanded, summoning his Hawkmoth suit.
Then, they waited.
He reached out into the city with the empathy Nooroo granted him, grasping like a blind man in the dark. He immediately tuned out the bright points of happiness and other positive emotions. He barely noticed the more mundane spots of grey as he continued his search. He sneered, passing over several of the more… unsavory elements.
He was a villain, not a monster.
Then he found it, a steadily growing miasma of negativity surrounding a point of disbelief and fearful anticipation.
"Ah, there you are," Gabriel sighed, closing his eyes as he channeled dark energy into one of his butterflies. "Go, my little akuma. Let's give this tortured soul the power to seek the justice she deserves."
In the distance, he observed his intended champion as her emotions acquired miserable streaks of pain and a pervading sense of betrayal. He watched her petty fears slowly morph into indignant, righteous fury. He felt the blows to her state of mind like a physical thing until it became a riot of negative emotions so black that the flecks of positivity she tried to muster looked like stars against the night sky.
'Miss Rossi has really outdone herself,' Gabriel mused, devoid of his usual excitement.
As the akuma drew closer, Gabriel was surprised to note that he recognized the presence that he now assumed was Miss Dupain-Cheng. He had never managed to Akumatize this one. The normally bright and unusually resilient was one that he had easily dismissed as unsuitable in the past. On the few occasions he had caught her in a moment of weakness, she had managed to evade him with some truly impressive displays of emotional control… but everyone breaks eventually.
Everyone…
Gabriel took a deep breath as his akuma descended, banishing the bitter nostalgia that threatened to overtake him. He had no time for such things. He was doing this for his family. He was doing this for Adrien. He was doing this for Emilie. With any luck, this would all be a fading memory of a world erased by the wish, a nightmare for only Gabriel to carry.
He took no pride in what he did today.
A sensation like jumping into ice water washed over Gabriel as his akuma found its mark, assaulting him with the alien sensation of a second mind pressed against his own. "Hello…" he greeted only for his voice to fail him as he noticed something different about this possession, something familiar. He hadn't felt this since…
Queen Wasp.
This was how it felt to akumatized a Miraculous.
Gabriel's heart raced. He had found a wielder of a Miraculous! 'But which one?' he wondered, the gears spinning furiously in his mind. The only ones constantly active were the Black Cat and the Ladybug. Which meant… It couldn't be, could it? "Ladybug?" he wondered, scarcely daring to hope.
The wave of terror that swept over the connection was answer enough.
Natalie's head whipped up from where she had been studying her tablet, monitoring the news and information feeds. Ladybug? Already? There was no way she should have been on the scene so quickly!
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," Gabriel chuckled darkly.
Natalie frowned. 'He seems almost… pleased?' But that made no sense! Why would he be happy if Ladybug had already shown up to thwart him? 'Unless…' she thought as another explanation occurred to her. Could it be? Had he actually stumbled on Ladybug? This and a thousand other thoughts raced through Natalie's head as adrenaline trickled into her veins like she had taken hold of a live wire.
"We meet at last my dear," Gabriel breathed in manic awe, confirming Natalie's suspicions. This was it, his moment of triumph! "To think you were so close all this time…"
Natalie frowned as his mask glowed a little brighter.
"Oh, do calm down. I promise, we are going to be the best of friends," Gabriel chuckled. Then frowned. "Now now. None of that," he chided, his mask flashing for a moment.
Natalie's eyes got slowly wider and wider as she watched her employer continue to taunt and goad his nemesis. What was going on? A possession had never taken this long and the way the holographic mask was behaving… was she fighting the possession? Was that even possible?
Then something went wrong.
"What?" Gabriel cried, eyes expanding to the size of saucers in alarm. "Damnit, girl! Stop that! You're going to hurt yourself!" he shouted reaching out as if he could touch whoever he was talking to as dark energy collected around him.
Natalie stared on, shocked into inaction at the uncharacteristically open shock behind his mask. Gabriel was not an emotive man. An akuma's situation rarely phased him. Now though? Now, he looked stunned and… horrified?
What was going on?
"Stop!" Gabriel demanded as he screwed his eyes shut, focusing all his attention on trying to overcome his opponent's sheer force of will as he physically struggled with the magic he was wielding. Long moments passed in a suspenseful silence as Gabriel's world narrowed down to the metaphysical
"Sir? Sir!" Natalie cried as Gabriel fell to a knee.
"She's… stubborn," he ground out through gritted teeth as he visibly strained to channel more magic into the possession. Then his eyes flew open. "What? No—"
Too late, the Hawkmoth mask guttered and died, snuffed out like a candle.
"Gah!" Gabriel cried, reeling as if someone had struck him across the face.
Natalie's eyes went wide. What the hell?
Then the mask returned, flickering into existence like a faulty sign.
Gabriel blinked, confused. Then, he noticed how much lighter he felt, how much easier it was to maintain the connection with his butterfly's host, and slowly his eyes grew wide in disbelief. "What have you done?" he breathed, staring into space with naked astonishment.
Natalie stared on, curiosity burning as she watched her employer's face cycle through emotions, no longer struggling physically or straining as he tried to understand whatever had just happened.
"She's… empty," Gabriel murmured, at a loss for how to describe what he was feeling.
"Sir?"
"She did… something. I think she cast a spell," he explained, frowning as he tried to make sense of what he had seen and heard. "Adrien was there, he was holding her down to stop her from hurting herself."
"Hurt herself?" Natalie demanded, shocked. She knew Gabriel had said… but what in the world had been happening that Adrien had felt the need to hold someone down?
Gabriel nodded. "Yes," he answered. "She was trying to break the connection. I stopped her from removing her earrings but then she resorted to… throwing herself. She was trying to render herself unconscious. Adrien had to pin her down before she… I'm not sure. I was so focused on completing the transformation." As he explained, he slowly became more detached, assuming a cold, calculating, and collected visage that was so unlike his usual, more flamboyant Hawkmoth persona.
Natalie's lips drew into a thin line as she struggled to maintain her composure. The image he described… she felt ill.
"I had her. I was so close, but then… Adrien must have said something," he concluded, almost absently as he tried to make sense of what he had experienced. His eyes were still so far away, watching something Natalie couldn't see. "Her mind became… Chaos. It was difficult to hold onto, slippery. Then she forced me out for a moment, but I could hear her..." his voice trailed off as he lost himself in the memory, forcing himself to remember, to understand.
Natalie struggled to place the look that crossed his face then. He was focused on whatever he was watching through his Akuma's eyes. Or perhaps the Akuma itself? He seemed… pensive, thoughtful? She almost settled on surprised, but he didn't seem startled. In fact, it was like he was struggling. It almost seemed…
Respectful.
"Sir? What's going on? What happened?" Natalie pressed. What in the world had Ladybug done to get this kind of reaction?
"She said," he frowned, trying to remember her exact words. "She passed ownership of the Miraculous somehow, designated a new Guardian. She did it on purpose in order invoke some kind of fail-safe. Now she's… gone. She no longer remembers being Ladybug. Everything to do with that part of her life has been erased."
Something like admiration bloomed in Natalie's chest. It was small and easily brushed aside, but as a woman who knew the value of dedication and more than a little about self-sacrifice, she could empathize. What it must have taken for the girl to consciously do that to herself…
"She knew what it would do to her," Gabriel continued, the barest hints of frustration bleeding through. "She just—She doesn't even know who I am or that I am her nemesis. She's just raw. Just pure betrayal and pain and righteous fury floating in space because she doesn't understand why any of this is happening to her." He had expected a struggle, but not this. He had not expected someone so young to possess the willingness to destroy herself to prevent him from learning what she knew. He had not expected this… self-assassination. This suicide. He was at a loss to understand. More than that?
He felt cheated.
Gabriel scowled thunderously. He had wanted to defeat Ladybug, to best her and her allies. Perhaps it had been a stroke of luck, but he'd had her! Her defeat had been inevitable. Victory had been within his grasp! Then she had to go and be dedicated enough to effectively kill herself in order to stop him and protect her allies. Now he was left with little more than a puppet, not even a pale imitation. This? This was no victory at all. He wasn't even struggling to akumatize her anymore! He was just waiting, watching as it— "Oh," he breathed, genuinely startled. "How extraordinary," he mused, his head canted in genuine curiosity.
"Sir?" Natalie prompted. By all the little gods, what in the world was happening?
"She's still fighting."
Natalie gasped. "But you said—"
"Yes, yes! Exactly!" he cried, turning to her with the strangest kind of joy on his face. "She doesn't know! She has no idea, but she—some part of her is still subconsciously resisting the possession." He didn't even understand why that fact was so relieving, but it was.
Natalie blinked, bemused. "No wonder the original Guardian picked her," she murmured, more than a little impressed until another thought occurred to her. "Sir?"
"Yes, Natalie?"
"The akuma," she ventured, licking her suddenly dry lips. "Did it find the intended target? Or…" Please say she had been nearby. Please say that she was wrong and that it wasn't—
Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Gabriel answered wryly, a grim smile creasing his face as he gave a little huff of something resembling amusement. It struck him then that this may not be Ladybug… but it was the girl you could be. "Natalie, bring me the Grimoire," Gabriel ordered as his mind raced with possibilities. "Our new ally may have been clever enough to protect her allies and deny me the benefit of her experience, but with the right guidance Miss Dupain-Cheng could be a masterpiece."
"Oh…" Natalie breathed, eyes going wide for a moment before her face fell. Guilt pooled in her gut as she turned toward the hidden elevator.
Oh, poor Adrien.
A/N
And we are back!
Okay, so I've decided that this is eventually going to receive a "rework" of sorts. More of a reorganization? The story keeps growing in every direction in my head and I feel like it's going to need something extreme to untangle it once I've got a better handle on what exactly I want to do with it. At the very least, I'll need to start at an earlier point much closer to Feast (possibly before it) than I originally planned to make everything work. So, if anyone has suggestions, ideas, etc please either leave a review or join me on Discord.
Find me on Discord! I get inspiration from the strangest places so I'm up for just about anything including giving some help with your stories! Discord dot gg slash dRaN42bFmV
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