"I came to hand this in." he tells the shocked man at the desk...
..."Right as always! Is this footage?")
Louis Martin bangs his desk loudly.
"Concentrate!" he almost shouts. "I don't think Chat Noir dropped in just for a chat."
"Right as always!" Marie Dubois chirps from behind him, picking up the memory stick the superhero dropped on his desk. "Is this footage?"
Arnaud Dubois, her little brother, has clearly gotten over his excitement because he leans forward to swipe it from her fingers. "Let's find out what's on it."
He has never had so many people stand around his desk before and as the video begins to play, more and more of his colleagues vie for a look. He's beginning to feel quite crowded.
The first hour or so is relatively boring - it's just Chat and Ladybug fending off akumas. They realise then that it's a body camera. Chat has cleverly blurred all of the background - the camera only focuses on akumas. None of them fancy prosecuting the superhero for breaching privacy laws [1].
Chat Noir has also sped up the video because they're fighting like a blur and the time stamp shows that about 6 hours have passed. Arnaud thanks him for that but secretly he wishes he hadn't sped it up so much - his colleagues are still crowding him. At about 2am, the number of akumas start to decrease so Chat Noir and Ladybug settle on a nearby rooftop. He wonders why the two of them didn't just try to comfort the person attracting the akumas.
Then Chat plays a video.
"Jagged Stone could get sued for that!"
"But he didn't do it!"
"Exactly."
"Shut up and watch!" Louis contributes.
A purple butterfly suddenly flits across the screen (probably shutting them up better than Louis.)
"...Hawkmoth.", he hears the girl say, "I see you've finally answered my calls. Akumatise me so I can show that upstart Marinette Dupain-Cheng exactly what she's worth - nothing."...
..."Don't worry about it, Bugaboo." he reassures, planting a soft kiss on her forehead. "Get some sleep."
"Where are you?" the person who is attracting akumas says. "Ah, Hawkmoth. I see you've finally answered my calls. Akumatise me so I can show that upstart Marinette Dupain-Cheng what she's worth - nothing!" A little piece of text suddenly appears on the screen 'Asked Marinette Dupain-Cheng's permission to leave this in' but Armand has his mind on other matters. He pauses it absentmindedly then exchanges a glance with his colleagues.
And then the station explodes.
"What's wrong with them?!"
"Did they just ask to be akumatised?"
"WHAT THE HELL?"
The last might have been him. But now that he's got it out, he unpauses the video. It's like magic - the minute the recording continues, his colleagues snap back to attention.
"Yes, yes, of course I'll defeat Ladybug too - I want to see her crushed face when I destroy her life..."
He casts a glance at his colleagues, each just as stony-faced as him: except for Jean-Pierre, he looks a bit faint. Marie and Louis are terrifying him with their cold glares. He turns his attention back to the video, trying not to react.
"Chat Noir? There shouldn't be a problem there - I've got him wrapped around my finger...".
Considering it was Chat Noir who handed in the footage, he's not so sure about that. Someone snorts behind his left shoulder and Sophie chokes on her laughter on his right. It's infectious and he has to pause the footage, again.
The superheroes are in the person's window now and Ladybug purifies the akuma. Chat Noir did blur the footage but they all see the way they lunge at Ladybug. He stops them before they can cause any damage but the way they screamed no...
Chat Noir seems to give them the benefit of doubt (in the person's eyes anyway), "One of us is going to be guarding for the rest of the night. Please don't worry, we'll make sure you stay safe."
"I don't think that's what they're worried about." Maurice comments.
"He's lying." Marie says confidently. She's proven right when Chat plants a camera on the roof. Clever again - filming someone without their consent isn't allowed but a camera that'll look out for akumas? That's technically legal. It's not like Chat was going out of his way to film the attacker and he's protected their privacy. But they're not police for nothing. Why else would he have left the video of Jagged Stone in? He could have sped it up.
Ladybug raises an eyebrow at Chat as he encourages her to leave.
"Don't worry about it, Bugaboo. Get some sleep."
Chat probably didn't mean to leave that bit in but the clip is quickly recorded. It's too cute not to share. And then the video finishes.
"Someone needs to get the second camera."
"Wouldn't it be better to do it tomorrow morning?"
None of them get that much work done that night, either squealing over the clip of Ladybug and Chat Noir (Arnaud) or trying to figure out where they were (all of them except Arnaud).
He heads out at about 8 in the morning, wincing at the sun and manages to get the camera down. Apparently, it said the location at the very start of the first video.
They all give him dirty looks so Arnaud plays the second clip quickly. It starts just before Ladybug and Chat Noir leave and though they can't hear the superhero this time, they see him kiss Ladybug's forehead.
It doesn't take Arnaud an hour to calm down. Certainly not.
He's only brought back to reality after he accidentally presses play. Their daytime colleagues cast them suspicious looks but seemingly decide that they don't want to get involved.
They do get involved, however, when after five minutes, the person begins badmouthing Paris' two superheroes. Arnaud turns up the volume to hear them better but he turns it up a little too loud so everyone hears:
"I hate Ladybug! And Chat Noir - he's so useless!"
And then suddenly everyone's around his desk again. And his eardrums are taking a battering because everyone's saying that if they can't see, they might as well hear.
Anne searches up the address so fast, he worries her fingers might fly off.
"Two occupants." she calls, "Bianca and Lila Rossi. Mme. Rossi works for the Italian Embassy."
"Not anymore." Marie mutters and everyone collectively agrees.
"I think it's the daughter though." Jean-Pierre comments.
"But she's still responsible for her daughter - she's a teenager." Sophie interjects.
"What school does she go to?" Louis asks.
"Collège Françoise Dupont." Anne answers, "Isn't that where your daughter goes, Roger?"
Roger Raincomprix doesn't even look at them, far too busy studying the video, "So this is Lila..." he mutters to himself.
"ROGER!"
"Yes? Yes, my daughter does go there. And Lila's in her class."
"Come on, Roger." Charlie, their boss barks. She looks like she's getting ready to shoot somebody, a dark look in her eyes and face in taut lines, " Everyone else, back to work!"
Slowly, everyone returns to their own desks and Arnaud decides it's time to call it a day - or night.
It doesn't t even feel like he's been asleep for more than five minutes when someone is shaking him awake. He opens a bleary eye to regard his partner - but it's not Bernard, it's Marie.
"What do you want?" he grumbles, "How did you get in?"
"Bernard let me in.", she admits. "He likes me more than you."
"You can have him then!" Arnaud replies, ignoring the exclamation from the living room. "Now let me sleep."
Marie doesn't relent, practically dragging him out of bed. "It's the Lila Rossi case." she hisses in his ear and he pushes her out of the room, slamming the door shut as he gets himself dressed as quickly as possible.
He has to stop himself from doing anything drastic when he sees her, sitting there in the interview room. She's trying her best to lie her way out of the situation but Sophie proves to be just as cunning, disguising requests for proof in soft words.
The trial won't be for another week or so - the first slot that could be found open (because even if Ladybug and Chat Noir weren't so popular, Hawkmoth is a terrorist). And Arnaud has not forgotten the bullet through Chat Noir's leg, nor Ladybug's broken nose. He has not forgotten the sheer feeling of terror and the relief when Chat Noir rescued him from slamming into the ground after being pushed (by accident) from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
For now, he's happy that they've taken down one of Hawkmoth's accomplices - if only briefly. He's happy that he's done all he can to help the heroes who saved him and everyone else.
[1] As part of French Privacy Laws, it is illegal to photograph or film someone without their consent.
