MB: Okay, so... we all know Hawkmoth is excellent at manipulating his victims, with or without magic. So what happens when he comes across a bunch of loyal, steadfast youngsters? Will his words win them over, or will he need to try a different tactic?

Let's find out!

CHAPTER NINETEEN:

THE VOICE OF HAWKMOTH

The survivors didn't come out of hiding until evening began, when the last traces of sunlight in the open slits of the ceiling were starting to fade away.

Mount Sesame had never been so quiet. The softest noise sent a resounding echo throughout the cavernous city. The tents and the treasure horde had been ransacked, leaving nothing but scraps and pebbles behind. Only a few braziers and torches remained lit. The rest had been toppled over or snuffed out by the Agrestian soldiers.

Now the hideout looked less like a hideout and more like an abandoned ruin.

The only place that remained intact was the stone courtyard, where the remaining members of the Queen's Seven were now sitting and pondering.

Ivan let out a sad sigh, and it carried over across the mountainous expanse. He wrapped his big arm tighter around Mylene, who sat beside him.

"Once we were Forty Thieves," Ivan mused with a defeated tone. "Now we are six."

Kim shrugged and fiddled with his bow. "Well, on the bright side, we're still standing," he said optimistically. "And Alix and Bridgette are still out there somewhere."

"Do we really know that?" Rose asked nervously. "What if the soldiers took them too?"

No one dared to answer. The ambush of the Agrestian guards had left them all in a state of shock.

The soldiers had apprehended the Forty Thieves one by one, clapping them in chains and tossing them into prison carts. Some of the thieves tried to flee into the tunnels, but without Bridgette's knowledge of that dark maze, they eventually became trapped.

Thankfully, the six survivors had managed to escape thanks to Max's brilliant cunning. As they slipped into the shadows, Max had led them down to a secret cave by the narrow river, which was only accessible by an underwater entrance. The six friends dove and swam until they were safe and sound inside the cave. A small opening had allowed them to watch the catastrophe in the courtyard.

As much as it pained them witnessing their fellow thieves being captured, the youngsters knew there was nothing they could do for them. The Code even stated that in times of trouble, it was every man or woman for themselves.

Only once the coast was clear and the mountain entrance had sealed shut did the survivors crawl out of their hiding place.

Now here they were, too shaken and too confused to plan their next move.

Mylene shivered in Ivan's arms. "What are we going to do?" she whimpered.

Max was drumming his fingers on his knees. "I think the more pressing question is... How did those soldiers find us?" he asked.

Juleka nodded, her long hair swishing past her face. "And how did they learn the magic words?" she added suspiciously.

Rose eyed her friend. "You don't think... someone told them, do you?"

"Not someone," Juleka clarified. "Ladybug."

"What?" Max stood up, his small form now towering over the others. "Ladybug wouldn't do that. She's one of us now."

"And Bridgette's sister," Rose pointed out.

The young spy shrugged. "Well, it had to be one of us who did it," she explained. "Who else could it be?"

A deathly groan swept through the courtyard, followed by a sea-chilled wind that made the torches flutter angrily.

Everyone gasped as the dark wall of the mountain slid open, revealing a brilliant, yellow light.

Someone was entering the hideout!

Max stiffened. "Another raid?"

Rose shrieked and curled up into a quivering ball.

Ivan and Mylene clutched each other tighter.

"Not again!" Kim groaned as he leapt to his feet, his bow at the ready.

The glowing, yellow line in the wall shrank into nothing but a long, thin scratch. Then, it was gone.

Footsteps came towards the group, along with the strangely-familiar tapping of a stick upon stone.

Juleka crouched into a fighting stance, her arms raised above her. "It is a good day to die," she murmured.

The figure stepped into the light. "Or to come back from the dead," he said with a silvery, skull-like grin.

Everyone reeled with horror. It was like they were seeing a ghost.

But he was undoubtedly real: the silver mask, the purple tunic and pants, and the cane he used to conceal his sword. He didn't look like a man who had risen from the grave. In fact, he looked as healthy and pristine as a prized horse.

"H-H-H-Hawkmoth?!" Mylene squeaked.

"You're alive?!" Kim and Ivan cried in unison.

"Impossible!" Max breathed, his glasses hanging off his nose.

The former King of Thieves chuckled as he walked closer, and his icy-blue eyes were unnaturally kind. "I'm a survivor, like all of you," he insisted. Then his voice lowered with pure contempt. "No thanks to Bridgette."

Ivan huffed, putting on a bold face. "You lost the Challenge fair and square, old man," he stated. "You can't blame Bridgette for that."

The others nodded in firm agreement, their hands inching toward their weapons.

Hawkmoth let out a cold snort and pretended to smooth his cane. "Since you're all so keen on defending your beloved queen," he said, "I thought it might interest you to know that she's on her way back here, at this very moment."

Hope re-illuminated in the thieves' eyes.

"You saw Bridgette?" Rose asked.

"What does she want us to do?" Kim enquired eagerly.

Hawkmoth lifted his cane into the air, caught it on the bottom end, and pointed the jeweled tip at his fellow cohorts. "Isn't it obvious? She's on her way to finish the job she started. She wants you all to rot in the palace dungeons, just like the other thirty-one poor souls that we have lost."

Where once was hope and determination, there was now confusion and outrage on the thieves' faces.

"No way!" Max stated, stomping over to Hawkmoth and jabbing a finger into his chest. "Queen Bridgette is loyal to the end!"

Hawkmoth's mouth twisted with disgust, and he shoved the dark-skinned boy away with his cane. "Pushovers," he scolded darkly. "Haven't any of you wondered why Bridgette left in the first place?"

"Yes!" Mylene declared, though her voice was shaking. "She went back with Ladybug! To see her sister get married!"

Hawkmoth let out a soft sigh and shook his head. "Such naïve fools," he said. "She went back with Ladybug because she wanted to reunite with her sweet, innocent family. But that wasn't enough for her. Bridgette realized that she had to cover up her shady, dark past forever... and everyone who was a part of it." Hawkmoth glanced over the group with icy seriousness. "Don't you understand? She betrayed you – her own friends! She sold you all out for her little sister's sake!"

Kim and Ivan grew less hostile as they drank in the man's words. Max was blinking confusedly, and Rose and Mylene eyed each other with doubt.

"Liar," Juleka snarled, causing everyone to look at her. She placed her hands on her hips and glared up at Hawkmoth with that single, coppery eye. "You have always hated the Queen. Why should we believe you?"

Hawkmoth rolled her eyes. "Think about it, if that's not too much trouble for you." He stuck his cane up in Juleka's face. "How do you think the soldiers got the magic words? Do you suppose they just found them lying around on a piece of paper?" His lip curled. "Or perhaps a little birdie whispered them to the guards to avoid incarceration?"

Juleka stared down red-faced at the cane. Then, she smacked it away. "I don't believe it!" she snapped.

Mylene nodded fervently. "Me neither!"

"It's absurd!" Rose stated.

"Insane!" Ivan shouted.

"A defamation!" decreed Max.

"Nice try, Mothball," Kim jeered, nocking an arrow into his bow, "but it'll take more than that to get us to double-cross our Queen!"

The archer took aim at Hawkmoth and fired his shot.

Hawkmoth swerved to the side, and at the same time... he caught the arrow shaft in his hand!

Kim gasped, as did his friends, who suddenly weren't so defiant anymore.

The silver-faced swordsman laughed and admired the arrow. "Let me tell you all what life was like before Bridgette came along," he said. He grasped the arrow tightly in one hand, and it snapped cleanly in two.

The others stepped back little by little, each one trying to size their opponent up as they drew their own weapons.

Hawkmoth grinned and drew his sword slowly out of his cane, like he wanted to savour this moment. "I remember a time when the lair overflowed with loot," he began as he stepped towards the others. "I remember how we would plunder villages and leave them to burn as we took as we pleased."

Ivan cracked his knuckles and charged at his former ally with a valiant yell.

Hawkmoth moved too quickly, and he dug the pommel of his sword into the brutish boy's gut as he dodged.

Ivan doubled over, until Hawkmoth slapped the flat of his blade onto Ivan's back, knocking him to the ground.

Mylene gasped, covering her mouth.

"So many raids, each one reaping such rigorous rewards," Hawkmoth continued as though this was a casual conversation. "Then, one night, I stumbled upon a little girl in the streets – young and fresh, but with so much ambition and a desire to prove herself. I thought I could train her to be my worthy successor."

Rose and Juleka tag-teamed and pounced at Hawkmoth.

Sadly, he dropped his sword and caught both girls in the middle before slamming them down onto their backs. They lay there groaning.

"I was mistaken," the former King of Thieves went on as he retrieved his weapon and strode over to a frightened Max and Mylene. "Bridgette was too obsessed with her soft-hearted dream. She reduced an entire host of great marauders to nothing but petty bandits taking a bath in the dust. Bridgette scorned the blood-oath of our Code and tried to make us all... empathetic." Hawkmoth swallowed that word like bad medicine.

Max picked up a forgotten club and held it up defensively.

SLISH! Hawkmoth's sword cut through it as though it were made of cloth. The two halves tumbled at Max's feet.

The poor guy yelped as Hawkmoth hoisted him up by the scruff of his neck.

"Well, Bridgette ended up abandoning us anyway," the swordsman declared as he tossed Max aside. "And for what? Family? Love?" He looked at a cowering Mylene as he said that. "Love cannot be counted in gold or jewels. It's invisible. Worthless."

Kim leapt back into the fray and fired another arrow.

This time, Hawkmoth cut through it with his sword. Then he affixed Kim with a look that could freeze time.

"I say we go for the real treasure that's out there, and show the world who we truly are!" he declared as he glanced around at the fallen, stupefied thieves. "Join me, and I can lead you into the glory days! We'll return to our roots once again, and all the treasure we ever dreamed of will be ours!"

Kim's brown eyes heated. "You talk too much," he snarled as he grasped his bow in both hands and leapt angrily at Hawkmoth.

The bow and the sword collided with a loud ring.

It was brief. Hawkmoth disarmed Kim in two strikes before kicking him away.

The young archer slammed against a fallen, ruined pillar and sank to the floor.

Mylene's lip quivered as she tried to put on a brave face, her cheeks reddening. "W-W-We... will never betray Bridgette!"

Hawkmoth harrumphed. "Loyal and noble, just like your Queen. Sadly, you don't have a choice. I need Bridgette's help to find this so-called "Hand of Midas". Aren't you all just the least bit curious to see if it even exists?"

Despite their pained expressions, the young thieves were undoubtedly becoming interested in the topic.

"So what if we are?" Mylene snapped, refusing to back down. "Why should we help you?"

Hawkmoth smiled and gently cupped Mylene's chin in his hand. "I'm giving you all the chance to take part in the greatest heist ever imagined," he explained. "You can stick with me, or stay behind and live the rest of your lives in the dark, feeding off the scraps." Shadows fell across Hawkmoth's skull-like face as he leaned closer. "For Bridgette's sake, I hope you'll consider your choice very carefully."

Mylene's caramel eyes turned hard and brittle, but she couldn't bring out anymore words to say.

"What's it going to be?" Hawkmoth asked the entire group. "Are you in, or are you out?"

The six young thieves said nothing, but the sullen, guilt-ridden looks they exchanged were answer enough for the former King of Thieves.

Correction: the new King of Thieves.

MB: Hawkmoth's monologue was inspired by lyrics from the song "Are You In or Out?" from Aladdin and the King of Thieves (again, I don't own any of it).