As usual, Adrien had completed his morning routines and gotten in the car without ever setting eyes on his father. He wasn't quite sure whether to be disappointed or relieved. After the awkward events of last night, it was something of a relief not to have to discuss his "dalliance" with his Lady. But on the other hand, the longer he went without confronting the issue with his father, the harder it would become to ever get past it. And after that brief taste of what his relationship with his father had once been like, Adrien had no desire to go back to the last year's state of things.
Not sure what to do about that, Adrien thought. But definitely not going to do anything without consulting with Ladybug first. We should have some time this afternoon, if all goes according to plan.
So the situation with my father and the one with Chloe are on hold until we can consult with Master Fu… I guess I'll just have to get through the day.
And here we go… he thought as he climbed out of the car. To his relief, Chloe was nowhere to be seen. Alya and Marinette were, though.
"Adrien!" said Marinette, pulling him into a tight hug. "How are things with your dad?" She whispered in his ear.
"Ok for now," Adrien whispered back, and he felt some of the tension leave Marinette's body.
There was a flash, and Adrien looked up to see Alya holding her phone with a big grin on her face.
"Aww, you two look so sweet together," she said. "That one's definitely going in the scrapbook."
Marinette twisted around in Adrien's arms and blushed. "Alya!" she protested.
"Girl," replied Alya, "I spent almost a year trying to get you two dorks together. Now that I've actually done it, I intend to celebrate."
Marinette's blush intensified. "Ok, fair enough," she said. After one final squeeze, she released Adrien. "So where's Chloe?" she asked. "If she's going to jump out at us again…"
"Dunno," admitted Alya. "She doesn't seem to… never mind, here she comes."
"Aha!"
Adrien's stomach twisted at the look of triumph on Chloe's face.
"Caught you, Marinette," Chloe crowed. "I warned you to stay away from Adrien, but you wouldn't listen. Well, now it's time to pay."
Marinette leaned in closer to Adrien as Chloe pulled out her phone. "Any idea what she's talking about?" she whispered.
"Not a claw ," he whispered back, causing Marinette to let out a quiet giggle.
"Hello, this is Chloe Bourgeois," Chloe said into her phone. "I'd like to report Marinette Dupain-Cheng for violating the restraining order against her."
What the hell ? Adrien thought.
"The one barring her from contact with Adrien Agreste, of course," said Chloe.
There was another moment's pause, then Chloe's face twisted in irritation. "What do you mean…listen, I'm coming over there right now. We're going to discuss this in person ."
And with that, she spun around and stormed off.
"I'd better go with her. Tell Miss Bustier I'm sorry?" said Sabrina before dashing off after Chloe.
There was a long pause, which was interrupted by the ringing of the class bell.
"Well," said Alya as they filed inside, " that was weird. Methinks Chloe's madness is about to come out."
Miss Bustier was in the middle of her lecture when the door to the class opened and a figure stepped in. The upper portion of the intruder's costume resembled a cobalt-blue man's business suit, with a black tie and a breast pocket out of which there peeked the edge of a photograph. Further down, the suit morphed into a flowing robe that split into rounded points where it touched the ground, each point marked with a dot of pink surrounded by a ring of deep navy. The overall effect reminded Marinette of one of her mother's cheongsams.
In his left hand, the figure grasped a fan of peacock feathers. Icy blue eyes shone behind an ornate operatic mask, and silver hair was pulled back into a point. Beside her, Marinette felt Adrien tense as he realized what she had.
Gabriel Agreste , she thought. Oh Hell. Is he akumatized, or… it's crazy, but that costume he's wearing looks almost exactly like the picture of the Peacock hero from the Miraculous spellbook. Mr. Agreste owns the book, so I suppose he would have seen that same picture, but why would he pick that , of all things, as the basis for an akuma form? But on the other hand, how in the world would he have gotten his hands on the Peacock Miraculous?
Miss Bustier turned to address Gabriel, her characteristic cheerfulness only barely edged with tension. "Hello," she said. "Welcome to my classroom, Mister… I'm sorry, I don't think I got your name."
"Call me Menelaus," said Gabriel Agreste. There was an uncharacteristic note of cheerfulness in his voice, one that gave his voice such a resemblance to his son's that the juxtaposition made Marinette's skin crawl.
Well, that pretty much settles matters for "akuma", she thought. But what is he doing here? Did he come to punish Adrien for flirting with me? And where have I heard the name "Menelaus" before?
"Sorry to interrupt your class, everyone," said Menelaus. As he spoke, he casually pulled a smaller, luminously white feather from between two of the peacock feathers in his hand fan
"Just need to borrow the Ladyblogger-" he said, and his right hand whipped forward, flinging the white feather through the air over Marinette's head. Marinette twisted around in her seat just in time to see Alya blink a couple of times, before smiling and relaxing slightly in her seat.
"-for a quick public service announcement," Gabriel finished without a pause.
"Of course," said Alya, digging her phone out of her pocket. "Just give me a sec…"
Mind control , thought Marinette. God damn it. Exactly what we don't need right now. If either of us gets hit by one of those things…
"Father, wait!" said Adrien.
"Yes?" asked Menelaus, plucking another of those white quills from between the feathers of the hand fan.
"Father, if this is about last night, you said you weren't going to tell Marinette about that," Adrien said.
Gabriel paused, eyes narrowing slightly behind that bejeweled mask. "So I did," he admitted. "Very well, you and Miss Dupain-Cheng may go. The rest of you, stay. I want you to hear this."
Marinette sprang to her feet, Adrien just behind her, but before they could run for the door, the familiar glowing pink mask appeared in front of Gabriel's face.
Oh no… thought Marinette, her heart sinking.
"Wait," said Menelaus, cocking his hand as if to throw that quill. Marinette froze, eyes on Gabriel, ready to dodge if necessary.
"That's a good point," Gabriel said to empty air, "but I did promise Adrien…Yes, that works. Guard!" he called.
The door opened to reveal the hulking form of Adrien's bodyguard. "Could you kindly escort Miss Dupain-Cheng and my son off the premises?" said Gabriel. "Make sure they don't do anything heroic ," he added, lips quirking in an incongruous smile.
The bodyguard grunted and clasped a hand each to Marinette and Adrien's shoulders. He steered them out the classroom door, almost running into Mr. Haprele, who was standing at attention next to the door.
At that point, Marinette's memory finally answered the prompt. Menelaus: King of Sparta and husband of Helen in Homer's Illiad. Had his wife stolen from him by Paris of Troy, with the aid of the goddess Aphrodite, and started the Trojan war to get her back.
Hawkmoth's getting a little more highbrow in his naming.
"Ready, Miss Cesaire?" Marinette heard Menelaus ask behind her.
"Almost...Good morning everyone-", Marinette heard Alya say, before the slammed door cut off her voice.
"Good morning everyone, and welcome to a very special episode of the Ladyblog," Miss Cesaire said. "With me today in Miss Bustier's classroom," continued Cesaire, "is none other than Paris's latest akuma." She turned the phone around to face him. "Menelaus, I believe you had something you wished to tell our audience?"
Gabriel smiled. The akuma's power had stripped away a year and more of pain, and the side of him that he rarely showed outside his lair was coming out to play.
"Indeed I do," he said. "As you are without dispute the city's foremost authority on Ladybug, I felt you would be the one who had the right to the truth about her."
He felt a momentary twinge of guilt. He had nothing but fury at Ladybug, but there would be certain unavoidable consequences to Adrien from the revelation he was about to make. Still, he was sure he could spare his son the worst of it. And besides, maybe he could finally get the Miraculouses, and all this would be a moot point.
"You see," he continued smoothly, "It is thanks to Ladybug that I stand here before you today. You all of course know my son, Adrien, and I am sure most of you know that he has recently found the first stirrings of love with Miss Dupain-Cheng. I was, of course, deeply happy for him. Next to getting my Emily back, for Adrien to find love of his own was my greatest wish. Imagine then my horror when I came to his room last night, and discovered Ladybug forcing herself upon him."
There were one or two gasps of horror. "No!" blurted out the little blonde who he'd akumatized as Princess Fragrance.
"Oh, yes," he said, "I tried confronting her, of course, but she fled out the window before I could say much."
"Question," said Adrien's friend Nino. "How come Adrien didn't mention this? I mean, he seemed totally normal towards Marinette, and you'd think even he would say something if Ladybug, like..." he trailed off.
Menelaus shrugged. "I suggested to Adrien that he report this, but he refused. He said something about Ladybug being above the normal rules, I suppose he felt that it wouldn't do any good to report her misdeeds."
He gestured down at his costume, "I'm grateful that at least someone is prepared to help me hold Ladybug accountable."
He kept his smile purely internal. While he hadn't thought of it at the time, sending Adrien away seemed to actually be working to his advantage. Without Adrien here to clarify exactly what had happened the previous night, he was free to insinuate that Ladybug's guilt was far greater than it actually was, while sticking close enough to the literal truth that it would be extraordinarily difficult for the rumors to be disproved later.
"Well folks," said Miss Cesaire after a moment's pause. "It would appear that Ladybug is not quite as pure as I'd believed her to be. Stay tuned, she should be arriving at any moment, and I am sure we'll all want to hear her answer to Menelaus's accusations."
"Have her upload the video," Hawkmoth said in Menelaus's mind. "If it's uploaded, even for a few minutes, it can be copied beyond her ability to take it back down, even should Ladybug defeat you."
"Miss Cesaire," Menelaus said. "Could you go ahead and upload the video? I'd really rather this not get mixed up with the battle footage."
"Sure thing," said Miss Cesaire cheerfully.
"No!" shouted Nino. He grabbed for the phone, but quick as a flash Menelaus hit him with one of his quills, the magic within overwriting Nino's loyalties just as Ladybug had stolen Adrien's heart.
"Never mind," said Nino, settling back into his seat as Miss Cesaire pressed something on her phone screen.
Menelaus was just reaching for another quill when there was a crash from outside.
"Miss Cesaire," said Menelaus, "I think that our so-called heroes have just arrived. You might wish to start up the next video."
Cat Noir ducked out of the way of a punch from his bodyguard, then retaliated with a jumping punch of his own. Past the bodyguard, he saw Ladybug shove Mr. Haprele into a closet, then slam and lock the door on him.
Should keep him out of the way for the moment, Cat Noir thought as he leapt up, grabbed the edge of the roof, and then swung back to kick the bodyguard in the face, knocking him back. He felt a surge of guilt, the man had been nothing but good to him (well, except for when he'd been akumatized that once), but there really wasn't anything he could do about it.
And at least Miracle will heal him when this is over. He probably won't even remember it, mind-control victims rarely do.
In front of him, the door opened and Menelaus stepped out, already turning to fling one of those luminous white quills at him. Cat Noir simply let go and the quill whipped over his head, exploding harmlessly against the ceiling.
Adrien's bodyguard made a grab for Cat Noir, and he leapt back before flipping over the railing, landing in a crouch on the floor of the courtyard. Glancing up, he saw Ladybug fling her yo-yo at his father, who deflected the attack with a flick of his hand fan before stepping back into the classroom door to allow Adrien's bodyguard to charge through where he'd been standing a moment ago towards Ladybug. Ladybug flung her yo-yo out and rapelled across the courtyard to land on the walkway on the other side.
"No!"
Adrien started as he recognized his father's voice shouting in sudden panic.
What in the world?
He heard his father shout something else, but couldn't make out the words. Then the door flew open again and Menelaus stepped out. The earlier look of relaxation was gone from his face, and he now looked as serious as he ever had as Gabriel Agreste.
He plucked another of those white feathers from between the peacock feathers of his fan and flung it down at Cat. He leapt to the side, but another was already heading towards him. Ladybug's yo-yo lashed out to smack that quill out of the air with a flash of light, and then she leapt down beside him and tossed her yo-yo into the air with a cry of "Lucky Charm!".
"Lucky Charm!"
Even as she called for the Charm, Ladybug saw Menelaus fling another quill down at her, but Adrien stepped forward, spinning his staff up into a shield to deflect it. Adrien's bodyguard rounding the corner of the walkway, making for the stairs. Still, it would take him a few seconds to reach them, and that would hopefully be all she needed to get the Charm.
Even as another of Menelaus's quills burst against the blurring circle of Cat Noir's staff-shield, the sparkles of magic came together in a flash of white, and an enormous and ornate coffin appeared in midair.
"Cat!," screamed Marinette, already leaping backwards. Cat flung himself forward and sideways, and the coffin landed between them with an almighty WHAM! that seemed to make the very ground shake.
A coffin? she thought in familiar disbelief. What in the world am I- oh, of course!
With a flick of her wrist, she flung out her yo-yo to wrap around the onrushing bodyguard. It whipped around him, tying his arms to his sides and his legs together, and he fell to the floor, straining uselessly against the enchanted cord.
Even as she flung the cord, she kept her eyes on Menealus, ready to dodge the quill she was sure he was going to throw while her yo-yo was busy. But to her surprise, he instead fired another quill at Cat Noir, who dodged it and leapt back towards her, staff already spinning up into a shield again.
That's odd, she thought, but there was no time to wonder. Leaping forward, she grabbed the bound bodyguard and flung him into the coffin. A flick of the wrist retrieved her yo-yo, and then she slammed the lid down before the bodyguard could react. The locks clicked shut, and the coffin trembled slightly as the bodyguard struggled against the lid.
That is going to be a pain to Miracle, she thought as she spun her yo-yo up into a shield. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
She bolted for one of the stairs, keeping an eye on Menelaus as she went. Adrian bolted in the opposite direction, zigging and zagging to dodge Menelaus's rapid volley of white quills. Ladybug hit the stairs and bolted up, still keeping an eye on Menelaus. She reached the top and launched her yo-yo at his back, but he whipped around, knocking her yo-yo aside with a slash of his fan. With Menelaus distracted, Cat Noir cut off the last few stairs, leaping up to the walkway and charging towards his father. Menelaus whipped around and launched another quill, but Cat Noir leapt up and over the dart, grabbing a ceiling girder and swinging to launch himself at Menelaus with both feet. Menelaus reached for another quill, but Ladybug flung her yo-yo and snagged his wrist, yanking his hand backwards before he could grab the quill. Adrien slammed into Menelaus, knocking him off his feet.
"Cat!" shouted Ladybug. "The photo!"
Cat's hand dived for the photo just peeking out of the akuma's jacket pocket, and with a quick motion he ripped it in two. The akuma materialized in a flash of darkness, and began to flutter away.
With a quick flick of her wrist, Marinette retrieved her yo-yo. "No more evildoing for you, little akuma," she murmured. The case split in half, and she began to spin it to build up the momentum. "Time to-"
Something slammed into her from behind, knocking her sprawling. She rolled over to see a giant creature that looked like some unholy hybrid of a serpent and a centipede, colored a vivid dark blue. The monster reared up and let out a grating shriek, wriggling segmented arms.
Cat Noir leapt forward, shouting "Cataclysm!" as he did. The familiar blackness surrounded his hand as he charged past her, but just before he touched it the creature exploded in a puff of darkness, leaving behind only a few rapidly fading black motes and a faintly luminous white feather, smaller and downier than Menelaus's quills.
Cat Noir flew through where the monster had been just a moment ago and landed on all fours. The walkway crumbled to dust beneath him, dumping both heroes onto the courtyard floor. Marinette rolled to her feet and looked up, just in time to see the feather float away as if wafted in an invisible breeze.
"What was that ?" Cat Noir asked from beside her.
"It's the Peacock," Marinette said quietly. "The other missing Miraculous. Master Fu said its power is to summon guardian spirits, just as the Moth Brooch empowers champions…"
She trailed off in horror as she suddenly remembered what she'd just done. Or rather, what she hadn't just done.
"Oh hell," she said. "Oh ha-di maat ."
"Milady?" asked Cat, looking at her confusedly.
"The akuma got away, Cat," she said, pointing up at the sky. "The akuma got away."
"We need to get to Master Fu's," said Cat Noir. " Now ."