Adrien awoke to sunlight on his face, reached for his phone, checked the time, and nearly had a heart attack. It was ten in the morning, and he was so late for school he would never be able to find a plausible excuse. Why hadn't Nathalie woken him?
He jumped out of bed, frantic, promptly tripped over an unicorn plush toy and kissed the floor.
He also realized the room was the wrong color. He struggled to get to his knees, looked around, and remembered where he was. Apparently, he hadn't adjusted to living at Nathalie's yet. He had also forgotten he was not supposed to go to school, which was likely why she had let him sleep in. As for the unicorn plushie, he had won it the previous evening. If you could call it 'winning'.
At Nathalie's suggestion, Adrien and Nino had arranged an evening out with Marinette and Alya. Nino had taken care of everything, He had decided on what they would eat (burgers), when they would meet (seven) and where they would go (the arcade). Then he had spent the two hours leading to the meeting panicking. So had Adrien, all because of an innocent question Nino had asked: 'so, is it a double date?'. It technically was and, for some reason, it had appeared to them like some insurmountable obstacle. They had wondered what the girls were expecting, if they had to be on their best behavior, as if the four of them had never spent any time together.
Thankfully, Alya was pretty much no-nonsense and had greeted them with a ten minutes discussion on the best burger places, which had given Nino ample opportunity to disagree on the quality of said places, which had left Marinette and Adrien trying not to side with anyone.
They had bought chinese takeout and eaten in the park.
They had gone to the arcade, since no one had raised objections. Marinette had slaughtered them at Ultimate Mecha Strike II, but Nino had taken his revenge on racing games. Alya had stood back with Adrien to watch them play, and made sure not to discuss Hawk Moth, superheroes, or any of her favorite topics. Instead, she had congratulated Adrien on finally, thank god, finally getting together with Marinette. Apparently, the 'centuries' leading to it had been harrowing for everyone involved (except Adrien, who was kind of oblivious).
Their evening had ended in front of the claw cranes, where Adrien had spent half of the Agreste fortune trying to win one stuffed cat for Marinette. Then Alya had informed them that they were rigged.
"There's a programmable payout percentage," she had said. "And the grip is set to grab at full strength then weaken."
That revelation had been met with an indignant ' what? ' from Nino and a 'how do you know?' from Marinette.
"Max told me," the blogger had explained.
Adrien had heard a 'humph' from under his jacket and seen a black blur dash into the claw crane machine. He had won the next toy, and then four others (even if the claws had looked suspiciously loose for all of those attempts). When the arcade owner had given them all suspicious looks, Adrien had ended Plagg's cheating spree and guided his friends outside. He had seen the owner hurry to the machine they had pillaged and open the back panel.
All in one, it had been a good evening, with not even a whisper on the Hawk Moth disaster, nor on Gabriel. Nino and Alya had walked home. Nathalie had picked Marinette and Adrien up, and driven Marinette home while Tikki and Plagg bickered about cheating and dishonesty. "It doesn't count if you are cheating a cheater," the black cat had argued.
Talking about Plagg…
"Plagg?" Adrien called, looking around his bedroom. "Plagg?"
There was no answer, so the boy figured the kitchen was a safe bet. He walked out and found his Kwami sitting on the sofa's back, with the TV turned on on a cartoon channel. He did not even notice Adrien's arrival: he was too absorbed in the adventures of a white dolphin and a little girl in an orange dress (as well as in nibbling on a generous slice of brie). Adrien sat next to him, said "hi" and got a "hush" for his trouble.
"Where is Nathalie?" he whispered.
Plagg pointed at the bathroom door.
"D'you think she'll be done soon?" Adrien murmured.
"Shhhhhh! There's a shark after Oum!"
The teenager swallowed his tongue and retreated into the kitchen, where he prepared himself a bowl of cereal and a cup of hot chocolate. He was halfway through both when Nathalie joined him.
She was impeccably dressed, in a grey pantsuit and red shirt, with her hairdo perfect. More than the clothes, though, it was her attitude that gave her mood away: this was going to be a business day. You could see it in her posture, in the tilt of her chin, in the tension in her shoulders.
"Hi?" Adrien said.
"Good morning," she replied, sitting next to him. She looked down at her tablet, even though it was turned off. "We need to discuss your day."
He dropped his spoon back into his cereal bowl.
"A-alright?"
"I called your school," Nathalie explained. "You are excused for the next two weeks, due to professional engagements, and your teachers will be forwarding me your homework so I can teach you from home."
He nodded.
She pursed her lips and paused for an instant.
"On the topic of seeing a therapist… We found someone with a good reputation, used to working with the police, whom we believe should be able to handle… sensitive matters properly. She can see you tomorrow or Saturday, as you prefer. I know you are not enthusiastic about the idea, but I still want you to meet her. Now, I know 'tomorrow' would be quite sudden, and leaves you no time to prepare for the visit, so if you need a few days to consider what you could discuss with her…"
Adrien lowered his head.
"Saturday will be fine," he sighed.
He still couldn't imagine talking to a stranger, but even Plagg had told him he should. He'd try. If it turned out to be useless - which he fully expected - then no one could tell him he hadn't made efforts.
"Also," Nathalie said.
He waited for her to continue. It took her a moment.
"I am not going to be available all day, every day," she announced. "For a start, today, I need to go to the bank, I need to meet an old acquaintance from Grenat Fashion, I need to get my hair done because my roots are more than showing …" She pursed her lips. "I know you are old enough to be left alone in the apartment, but you will need someone to drive you around, to take care of the shopping you might need…"
The return of the bodyguard, Adrien thought.
"I can go buy groceries," he pointed out more than he protested.
" So I asked someone to come and keep you company for those two weeks," Nathalie continued, ignoring him.
He frowned.
"Nathalie, please. That's not-"
"My mother will be joining us at noon," she finished.
He gaped at her. Well. That wasn't what he had expected.
"I didn't know you had a mother," he blurted out, before realizing how idiotic that sounded. "I mean, I, uh, you mentioned her. And the tattoo thing. I, ah, just didn't know you were close to her."
Nathalie peered at him over her glasses. He cleared his throat.
"You will like her," she told him. "She is very… unlike me, I suppose."
"I… Alright?"
###
Aurelie was , as a matter of fact, very unlike Nathalie. She was… motherly. No. 'Motherly' was not the term. She was closer to 'grand-motherly' but not quite. She was chirpy and younger than Adrien would have expected (though her hair was grey and she wore reading glasses, which she kept pushing up or down). She smiled all the time (and that had to be why, despite having the exact same blue eyes and heart-shaped face, she didn't look like Nathalie at all).
She had introduced herself as 'Aurélie', thwarting his attempt to call her 'Mrs. Lastname' like the polite boy he had been raised to be. So, now, he fumbled with his words and called her 'Mrs Aurélie' or 'Mrs' or nothing at all, because he couldn't quite manage 'Aurélie, period'.
Nathalie had given her a tour of the apartment, keys and a bank card, then left them alone.
"Have you eaten yet?" Aurélie had immediately exclaimed.
"Not yet, no?"
She had opened the cupboards one by one.
"Alright! What do you like?"
They had decided on a meal, then he had retreated into his bedroom to 'play video games'. In truth, what he had done was start Ultimate Mecha Strike and let the demo sequence play on a loop, loudly, so he could talk to Plagg without raising questions. Of course, Plagg just wanted to nibble on cheese and laze around.
Adrien was so frustrated. He could have gone to school. He wasn't ill . He was not feeling great, he could admit that, but it didn't mean he was fragile and had to be kept away from real life. Being forced to skip class made him restless: he could think of nothing but the lessons he was missing and the work he could have done, so he tried to read his schoolbooks on his own, before giving up. After that, he tried to play video games but couldn't focus.
He ended up following the scent of food to the kitchen.
"Can I help?" he asked Aurélie, whom he found standing by the stove, moving food in a pan with a wooden spoon. Then he gaped at the stove. "That's a lot of food."
There was no space left on the stove: she was cooking not only meat, but vegetables (in two separate pans), and a large cooking pot was taking the last available corner.
Aurélie pointed at the pot and smaller pan.
"I'm making soup for tonight and tomorrow," she explained. "It's not easy to convince Nathalie to eat but, if you put warm beverages next to her while she works, you can trick her into drinking them. Do you like leek?"
Adrien joined her and peeked into the pans, finding peas, carrots and potatoes in butter in one, and sliced leek and onions in another.
"I do. It looks delicious. "
"Thank you," Aurélie replied. She handed him her spoon. "Now, could you please make sure the peas don't stick while I set the table?"
He did as asked, then ended up eating at the diner table, with the pans of food sitting at the center of the table rather than elegantly disposed bowls and saucers. He served himself straight from the pan instead of receiving a prepared plate, and did that with a normal spoon. He was even encouraged to clean the sauce from the pan with bread. Sure, the dining table etiquette at Nathalie's was a lot more relaxed than at home (and he had, as a matter of fact, served his own plate before), but she would not have suggested such extremes.
And the food was delicious , too. All in once, he felt pretty content, even if he expected Plagg to grumble about the distinct lack of cheese.
"I thought I could make apple pie this afternoon," Aurélie announced as Adrien was filling the dishwasher. "Nathalie tells me you like pastry?"
Adrien perked up, which made her laugh.
"I see you do ," she exclaimed.
He nodded.
"Could I help? I've been trying to make pancakes and everything, but I'm not very good at it."
It occurred to him that Marinette was the daughter of the best bakers in Paris and that he could probably get a few lessons from her if he asked. She had to know what she was doing in a kitchen. Maybe. Not everyone learned through osmosis. He sure couldn't handle a sewing needle.
"I don't see why not," Aurélie replied. "Though we should hurry and go to the market, because Nathalie has neither apples nor dough. I know she had a pie pan somewhere, because I bought it for her when she moved in..."
"I didn't see one."
"We'll find it. But first, shopping. Let's go?"
Rather than to go to a grocery store and call it a day, they drove through half the city to get to an open market. For a weekday, it was busy enough, with people bumping into each other and crowding around the grocery and butcher stands. It wasn't the most efficient place to get the ingredients an apple pie required, but it sure made for a pleasant outing on a sunny afternoon.
Within fifteen minutes of their arrival, Adrien (who had his own money) was stuffing himself with fresh figs, wearing a brand new Chat Noir cap and a counterfeit Gabriel coat (he specialized in passive-aggressive rebellion). Aurélie was standing in line at a grocery stand a few feet away.
"Get me cheese," Plagg murmured from under his jacket.
There was cheese everywhere. At least three stands were selling some, and one specialized in it.
"It smells so good," the Kwami insisted before Adrien could answer.
"Alright, alright," the boy replied. "I'll get you a bit of everything."
"A lot of everything."
"Some of everything."
There was a pause.
" Some is acceptable, I suppose. But more than a bit."
Adrien sighed, figuring that he would go home smelling like moldy socks again , but got in line at the cheese stand. As there were quite a few people before him, he got his phone out to pass the time. He knew Marinette was in class, but he still tried texting her a 'Hi! how is your day?'.
Surprisingly, she answered in less than a minute.
"Math adn yours?"
He sent her a picture of the cheese stand.
"Plagg is driving em mental. Getting him snacks"
Her next answer took more time. The customers before Adrien ordered and left, and he managed to buy Plagg's weight in cheese before his phone buzzed again. He let his Kwami dive into his plastic bag and looked around for Aurélie, just in case she was searching for him. She was waiting next to the cheese stand and waved at him. He joined her, only peeking at his notifications. He chuckled.
"Brie-ant idea! Is miss Sancoeur with you?" Marinette was asking.
"Do you have everything you want?" Aurélie asked, looking at his baseball cap with an amused smile.
He nodded.
"And you?"
"We just have to find dough," she replied, patting a grocery bag that seemed to hold a lot more than just a few apples.
They got that from a corner store, then returned to the car. Adrien waited for Aurélie to be driving to check his phone again and answer Marinette's message.
"Nathalie's mom is going to show me how to make apple pie. I'll keep a slice for you"
His girlfriend only replied hours later, after class. By that point, he had peeled, cut and cooked the apples, ran out to buy a pie pan (Nathalie's was nowhere to be found), spread apple slices over apple sauce, and put the pie in the oven. He was checking on it every minute or so to make sure it didn't burn.
Aurélie, who was a lot more confident in her estimation of the cooking time, was playing Candy Crush Saga. She smiled when Adrien's phone buzzed but didn't comment.
"Thats nice! I didnt know you liked to cook"
"It's fun. I think I'll learn to bake. Could you teach me?"
":,D I can ask my DAD"
"You can't bake?"
"A little, but not things that need to be TAUGHT. I mean I can COOK with you, thatll be fun!"
A second later, she fired at "I cant find the apostrophe, sorry"
Adrien immediately forgot where the apostrophe was. His mind just blanked out. In the end, it didn't matter, because he had to run to take the pie out of the oven. When he came back to his phone, he had three messages.
"Found it!"
"We'll make croissants this weekend if you want!"
"Mom says you can come"
"I'll ask Nathalie," Adrien answered.
Minutes went by. He realized that no amount of staring at the pie was going to make it cool down faster, so he joined Aurélie in the living room and thanked her again for the lesson, then discussed phone games. Nathalie came home while they talked.
"Is this counterfeit?" she asked from the entrance, pulling on the sleeve of Adrien's new coat.
"Hiiii!" Adrien answered. "How did you know?"
"The stitching is godawful," she commented, releasing the sleeve as if it were a dirty rag. She sniffed the air. "Pastry?"
"Pie!" Adrien exclaimed. "Come see."
He showed her the pie, posted a photo to instagram and sent the link to Marinette. She answered with a "It looks SO good!", while Nathalie gave a faint smile and commented it looked delicious. She went straight for the soup.
Adrien returned to his conversation with Marinette, leaving Aurélie and Nathalie to their own discussion.
"What are you doing this afternoon?" he asked his girlfriend.
Not a second later, his phone started ringing. He retreated into his room.
"I… I need to go to the police station," Marinette explained a moment later. "Sabrina's father came to talk to Alya, to ask her to mention that 'Ladybug and the police would meet soon' in her posts about Hawk Moth. They don't know how to contact me, so they wanted me to 'get the hint'."
Adrien's mood darkened. He lowered his voice not to be heard from the living room.
"Oh. Do they need 'Ladybug's partner', too?"
"Hum. Yes, yes, actually. But it'll be simpler to keep our stories straight if they don't get a chance to question us at the same time, so I said you'd go another day."
He sighed.
"Mister Bourgeois told me to go," he explained. "That was why we argued."
Marinette moved away from her phone so she could mutter a few choice words and explain that to Tikki. Adrien heard the Kwami answer in a soft, encouraging tone, but couldn't make out her words.
"I'll have a talk with him," Marinette grumbled.
"It's okay. I think he'll leave me alone. Should I join you near the precinct?"
"No, no, it should be short. I mean, I don't have much to tell them. And anyway I need to drop by miss Sancoeur's later tonight. Apple pie, right? God, I'm starving. "
"Okay. Just maybe use the door. I don't know how Nathalie's mom would take a superhero sneaking in through the window."
"Oh. Oh right! So did she visit for the day? Is she nice?"
"She's my new caretaker, apparently. And she is really nice. You'll probably meet at some point, so you'll see. I like her a lot."
"That's n-"
Marinette yelped..
"I'm so late!" she exclaimed, frantic. "And I still have half the city to cross. I really need to transform. I'll call you when I'm done, okay?"
"Okay," he sighed. "Be careful, alright?"
"Of course! Talk to you later!"
"Listen-if-you-"
Adrien stopped there: she had hung up.
Listen, if you want to tell the truth about my father, that's okay, he had tried to say. He knew she would lie, and he knew she wouldn't like it. Not for him, not because the people of Paris couldn't accept the truth, and especially not because Gabriel was too rich and powerful to be prosecuted. He felt so guilty.
He shook his head and returned to the living room, where Aurélie was packing her things.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she told Adrien. "Keep some pie for me?"
He nodded and accompanied her to the door, pretending to still be in a cheerful mood, then kept the facade on and joined Nathalie.
"Your mom is nice," he said.
"I told you you'd like her."
Plagg jumped down from the closest bookshelf.
"Well, she's nice enough. But now that she's gone, can I get my cheese?"
Adrien sighed, resigned, and went to open the fridge. Plagg landed on the highest shelf and dug into the plastic bag that contained all the cheese his chosen had bought at the market, and sniffed every single one of them. He didn't seem in a hurry to choose.
"Can Marinette drop by later today?" Adrien asked Nathalie. "I said she could have pie."
He saw the woman start to roll her eyes in irritation, but stop herself.
"Actually, that would be convenient. I was planning to meet with your father tonight, and I have a few questions for Tikki first."
"A-about… the transformation thing?" he asked, feeling cold all of a sudden.
Nathalie hesitated, peeking at Plagg then bracing herself.
"Yes. We don't plan to rush into it, but it would be best to have a clear idea of Bella's powers, what to expect and so on. Really, it will be a discussion on magical theory, which is sure to fascinate your father and no one else."
"I could come. Plagg should be there too," Adrien pointed out.
" What? " the Kwami gasped from inside the fridge. He peeked out. "There's no point. I'm not going to endure hours of tedious nitpicking on the arcane uses of magic. Wrong Kwami, send Kappa."
His chosen frowned.
"Plagg, come on!"
" And, " Nathalie cut in, "I'd like an opportunity to discuss your father's thoughts about the whole prospect, which he won't be inclined to share if he is preoccupied about you. I would rather have him know that you're safe at home and resting in front of movies, so I can talk to him."
The teenager pursed his lips, anger pooling into his chest, though he couldn't pinpoint the precise cause of it. It was all diffuse spite and rage directed at Gabriel, and he could have found fault in everything that concerned his father.
Nathalie sighed.
"I would gladly delay this," she said. "I didn't want to rush into this, I don't think that Gabriel is stable enough for that kind of emotional pressure, and that you are struggling yourself does little to change my mind. But it is not a matter that can wait, so we will proceed, but it will be on my terms. Please."
Adrien lowered his head, anger turning into guilt and bitterness.
"I'm sorry," he murmured.
She put a hand on his shoulder.
"I want the two of you to rest and feel better," she said, softly. "That's it. I don't know what the right way to go about it is or if there's even one, but please try to understand."
He didn't know what to answer, so he just shook his head. Plagg landed on his shoulder. He smelled like moldy cheese.
"Let it goooooo," he moaned. "I'm sure they'll make spreadsheets. I don't want to go and help make spreadsheets. Why don't we call Nino and have him come over?"
"That's a great idea," Nathalie said. "I can drive him home when I come back. I don't plan to stay out late. And I've been led to believe there was apple pie."
Adrien sighed.
"It's just… I..."
… don't know what I feel , he didn't say.
"It's about mom , you know?" he went on. "I don't want to be shoved aside. And… I don't like the idea of Father going behind our backs again , I suppose."
Nathalie scoffed.
"Sincerely, if it had been an option, I'd have gone behind both of your backs and come back with results."
Adrien gaped at her. She gave him a pointed look. She did not elaborate, but the 'I dare you to protest' was clear enough from her expression. She ended up raising an eyebrow.
"I-" he started.
"People with secret identities don't get to throw stones," she interrupted, turning to the fridge and closing its door. "Now. If Nino comes over, ask him to bring his homework. I fully expect you to work on yours tomorrow morning."
"What?" Adrien gasped, not so much because he was opposed to the idea than because he was surprised by the sudden change of topic.
"And I'll go over your lessons until lunch, too," she continued, serving herself another bowl of soup. "My mother will be coming back for the afternoon."
"Alright, alright," he replied.
"Do you want soup?"
He sighed and nodded.
"Yes, please. Thank you."
She took another bowl out of the cupboard, as well as salt and pepper. He checked his phone.
Marinette had sent him two messages.
'Volpina called. They found master Fu. It's bad news, he's very sick', followed by 'I'll call you after the cop thing'.
"I need to go!" he exclaimed, before Nathalie could fill his bowl. "I have to join Marinette."
###
"Next question," the cop said. "How, exactly, did you discover that Alim Kubdel was Hawk Moth?"
Ladybug heard his voice, of course, but the words did not register. She couldn't focus at all: her conversation with Volpina was running through her mind, and spinning and spinning and spinning.
The two policemen exchanged a look. The first one cleared his throat.
"Ladybug?"
Marinette looked up, startled.
"I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question?"
The man hesitated, peeking at his colleague.
"We could do this tomorrow, if you prefer. Obviously, you just received important news?"
She shook her head and gestured.
"It's nothing!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry. What was the question again?
"How did you figure out that mister Kubdel was Hawk Moth? What were your leads? As you can understand, we could use every piece of evidence pointing to him."
She pursed her lips.
"A retired superhero located him by triangulation, by tracking the magical energy emitted by his Miraculous. We have no proof save for the fact that he did have Hawk Moth's Miraculous."
"Which you confiscated."
"Which we confiscated. It's a dangerous magical artefact. We had to take it back."
There was a pause.
"I don't suppose you could turn it in as evidence?" a cop hazarded.
There was another pause. Ladybug stared at him, torn between dejection and the urge to laugh in despair.
What could she even reply to that?
Master Fu would probably have been best suited to give an answer, but master Fu… Master Fu was unlikely to ever be able to give one. There were no adults in charge, now, no one to turn to, except maybe 'the previous Volpina's granddaughter', who was a civilian anyway. Asking mister Agreste and (admitting she resurfaced) miss Lenoir for advice was out of the question. Tikki was unavailable while Ladybug was transformed. She had to handle things on her own.
She raised her chin, giving them her most polite and professional voice.
"No. The risks outweighs the benefits, for a start. I will give you a description of it so we can browse through every available picture of mister Kubdel and, if we discover that he was wearing it on any of them, then I will consider showing it to the police. But… the Miraculous are meant to make heroes ," she explained. "Hawk Moth abused his, but it is going to be given to a more deserving person, so they can use it to fight evil. We can't have images of it going around, it would expose the identity of every future hero wearing it."
Was that what the Guardian would have argued?
They didn't even know who would replace him, if it came to that.
Volpina had called right as Ladybug walked into the police station. Marinette had been in such a hurry that she had nearly ignored the ringtone. It had to be Chat, and she had been texting him a second before, and she was horribly late. Of course, she couldn't ignore his call: if he was transformed, then maybe a situation required their presence.
She had opened her communicator to see not Chat's face, but Volpina's, and had immediately known something had happened. The fox heroine avoided calls if at all possible. She sent texts (in a strange mix of English, Italian and French), and rarely at that. Of course, she had promised to contact Ladybug if she heard from master Fu.
Marinette had nearly dropped her yoyo in her hurry to answer, and once again after Volpina's first words.
"Ladybug, hi… I have bad news," her fellow heroine had announced, as Marinette bolted out of the police station to talk without being overheard.
She had needed an instant to absorb that.
"Hi," she had replied, swallowing hard. "Hi. Did something happen to master Fu? Did you find him?"
"No, non… Not me. Francesca, the granddaughter della previous Volpina, I mean. She found he. He is in Cina, in the hospital."
"Oh my god. How sick is he? Will he be okay?"
Volpina had searched for words for an eternity, starting sentences and stopping after a syllable or two.
"We don't know. Ha...He has pol… pneumonia and it is bad. Francesca say the hospital had problems to identify him because was, uh, not much conscious when they found him."
"So how did she find him?" Ladybug had asked, picturing the stranger that was 'Francesca' showing pictures of Fu to nurses in random hospitals. "Did he call for her?"
"Kappa. It's Kappa he found her. Francesca was making rounds of all hospitals where master Fu has been last seen. Kappa saw her and take her to him. But master Fu was too sick to say. Uh, talk! "
It was clear enough the Guardian would not recover.
"So what are we going to do?" Ladybug had asked. "Is someone going to replace him? I mean, while he's sick?"
"Francesca don't know yet. I call you when I know, okay?"
"Okay," Marinette had numbly repeated.
"I'm sorry it is all bad news," Volpina had sighed. "Bye..."
After the call, Ladybug had spent five minutes composing herself, even though she was already fifteen minutes late. She had tried to push the entire conversation to the back of her mind, to be analyzed later. She had a deposition to go through.
But it wasn't so easy to forget about master Fu when the Guardian's expertise was so sorely needed.
She pursed her lips, looking up at the kindest looking cop.
"You can't expect us to just ignore potential evidence," he told her. "Especially for heroes who haven't been, uh, 'hired' yet."
Think on your feet.
"Even if I gave it to the police, I would only endanger everyone," she countered. "I don't know how you protect evidence but it's not thieves and crooks who'll come for a Miraculous. It's superpowered villains. It's monsters. It's the next Hawk Moth wannabe. The police can't face that. That's why we exist."
That didn't earn her points. The cop frowned.
"I assure you we will take all the precautions necessary and keep it in a secure location."
"There are trackers ," she argued. "That's how Hawk Moth was found. I'm sorry, detective. I cannot and I will not hand it over."
She didn't mention the fact that the brooch was inhabited by a malicious deity, but Bella was definitely an argument against surrendering the Miraculous to the police.
"Even if it means Kubdel evading charges?" the cop asked.
Ladybug closed her eyes.
She hated this.
"He's just one man," she replied. "And he has done enough as Alim Kubdel to go to prison for a long time."
"That's not really justice, is it? We can do better than 'Capone's tax evasion'."
"It's a brooch. It's oval and purple, with a rose gold setting. Look for it in pictures of him, as I said, and if it turns out he's wearing the Miraculous on some of them… we'll see what can be done. But it's not up to me."
The cops sighed.
"What about the 'retired superhero' who helped you?" the oldest asked. "Is it possible he has more information than you do? Possible proof? Could we talk to him?"
Marinette considered sending them straight to Gabriel Agreste, but… she had to think of Adrien.
"That's… I… I'm not sure," she lied. "I don't think he has anything specific."
She knew full well there was footage of the cell where Gabriel had held mister Kubdel. She knew the man had been questioned. She could have brought that up. She should have. Wouldn't Hawk Moth accuse Gabriel of abducting him, at least? Wouldn't he reveal Adrien and Gabriel's identities? Was there even a point lying to the police?
She hated lies.
"Can you give us a name?" the cop insisted.
"It's the previous Chat Noir," she replied.
It was a name.
"And a way to contact him?" the detective sighed, clearly growing frustrated.
"I will tell him you want to get in touch," she promised.
She saw the man ball his fist and fight the urge to slam it down on the table. He took a deep breath.
"Alright. Let's run over the events," he said. "We know Alim Kubdel vanished, allegedly faked his own death, and then resurfaced at his secondary residence, where he kept Chat Noir hostage. What we don't know is how those events are connected. Could you enlighten us?"
"I… I wasn't really involved until Chat Noir's abduction. I even talked to Alix Kubdel on the evening her father's 'body' was found. I had no idea what was going on back then. Chat Noir called me when he found Hawk Moth, and I got there right when Hawk Moth escaped and kidnapped him. And then you already know what happened."
"A battle, Chat Noir managing to transform, and the house being destroyed in the battle," the cop recited.
"Yes. We handed him over immediately. We didn't even get to talk to him."
"Alright. Where were you supposed to join Chat Noir after he found Hawk Moth?"
"At, uh…"
Who did Garfield Packaging belong to? Was Gabriel Agreste the official owner? How was she even supposed to lie about it all? It wasn't like Kubdel wouldn't tell them… except if he didn't know where mister Agreste had locked him up. If all he had seen was his cell and the inside of the factory, then he had nothing useful to tell the police. But, of course, if he started talking, he would tell them about Adrien, and Gabriel, and Anne-Laure.
There was no way out of this.
"A factory in the industrial district," she admitted. "Garfield Packaging. That's where mister Kubdel was held after the previous Chat Noir caught him. Chat Noir - the current Chat Noir, I mean - was going to collect him and bring him to the station, except it went wrong."
The second detective flipped through some documents.
"So that would be when an unidentified woman borrowed a phone from a truck driver and used it to call an ambulance, an ambulance that then collected an injured Anne-Laure Lenoir from Garfield Packaging?"
"That's… Yes. That's when."
"How did the mayor's ex-wife end up involved in the capture of Hawk Moth, exactly?"
Marinette had not envisioned that line of questioning.
"I don't know," she blurted out.
"See, there's a lot of weirdness going on," the first cop commented. "Like… when an ambulance is called because someone was assaulted, the police is kept in the loop. We send a few cars. Yet, here, nobody was dispatched. The instructions somehow got 'lost'. We haven't figured out at what level yet, but it looks like some palms were greased. Now, I'm not accusing anyone..."
Ladybug breathed in. Her stomach felt like a ball of lead.
The other detective let his partner's words hang in the air, then took a sheet of paper and scanned it.
"Now, miss Lenoir has a knack for getting in trouble and being mysteriously bailed out. Mostly assault, more assault, trespassing and some assault."
Marinette had not wanted to lie to begin with. Really, she hadn't. She had thought she could get out of it by saying the strict minimum - for Adrien's sake, mostly, not because she believed Gabriel and Anne-Laure deserved protection, and certainly not because of André Bourgeois' wild theories about unrest in Paris - but it had been naive.
She couldn't expect the cops not to do their job.
"I have to go," she blurted out, pushing her chair back.
It screeched against the floor.
"Ladybug, wait!" a detective exclaimed. "Please stay."
She shook her head, ready to run, but he raised a hand.
"If you're being pressured into hiding the truth," he started, " tell us. We can help."
"I'm not!"
Was she?
She stepped away from the interrogation table, moving closer to the door. She didn't let the cops press her for answers.
"I'm not ," she insisted when they tried to talk. "I'm not. I'll explain. I mean. It was a mess and people got dragged into it and… It's a mess. But I don't want to hide anything! It's just… It's just…"
She ran her hands over her face.
She wished Ladybug's cloak would protect her, but she couldn't muster the confidence that usually came with the costume. Ladybug wouldn't have teared up. She was just Marinette in red pajamas, and she didn't know what to do.
She forced herself to calm down.
"The thing is… Akuma weren't the same," she told them. "They were angry and overwhelmed but you could take the darkness away, and they'd be good . People like Hawk Moth… It's just terrible people doing terrible things, and they don't care at all about the consequences so they might be the ones that get arrested, but they are not the ones that get punished ." She opened the door. "I have to check on someone."
"Wait!" the oldest detective snapped. "You can't just go and compromise the investigation by…"
He trailed off, not sure of what she had in mind and not ready to accuse her of helping criminals.
Ladybug gathered all of the aplomb she could muster.
"I will be back," she assured.
Then she left, shutting the door. Her facade broke in the hallway. She nearly curled up on the floor right then and there. She stopped. She wrapped her arms around herself. But the detectives were racing to the door - she could hear their frantic footsteps - so she marched down the hallway and into the next one, chin high and posture straight, so no one would stop her. She heard the detectives call after her but didn't look back.
Three turns to the exit.
She could make it.
She had reached the middle of the very last corridor when she glimpsed Alix dashing across the entrance hall. The girl was out of sight in a blink, having moved past the doorway at the end of the hallway, but Marinette had recognized the look on her face: fury.
She started running.
She wasn't fast enough. She heard a thud and gasps, then she turned the corner and found Chat Noir sitting on the floor with Alix towering over him. Her fists were balled and she went for a kick, turning at the last second to hit a chair rather than Chat.
"Why couldn't you just let him be DEAD?" she yelled. "WE WERE FINE WITH HIM BEING DEAD! WE WERE. FINE. WI-"
Ladybug threw herself between them and shoved Alix away.
She understood her mistake immediately, of course: they were the heroes. If a distraught victim was screaming at them, they were meant to take it and help, not side against them. Alix was stunned for an instant, looking betrayed , but then the rage flooded back and she shoved Marinette back with all her strength.
Ladybug stumbled but didn't fall.
"I'm sorry," she murmured.
She couldn't resist glancing at Chat, even though she knew she should have calmed Alix down first. He had turned away.
Alix pushed her again. It was more of a blow than a shove.
"You should have let him ROT! We'd have been just-"
Her brother grabbed her from behind and dragged her back.
"Alix, STOP!"
That didn't calm the pink-haired girl down, but her mother hurried to her with a frown on her face and whispered a terse something in a language Marinette didn't understand. Alix turned away, sullen. Jalil let her go. Ladybug heard Adrien shift behind her. Mrs Kubdel spoke to her, however, so she didn't get to turn to her partner.
"I apologize for my daughter's behavior," the woman was saying, with a sharp look at Alix. "This was inacceptable."
Marinette had only met her once, distraught and crying after her husband had been 'found dead'. She was calmer now, no longer grieving. She kept her chin high. Her composure was perfect.
" We would like to thank you for everything. You did what was right. I'm sorry for everything Alim put you through and…" She turned to Chat, her next word already on her lips, but paled.
Ladybug whirled back. Chat Noir was staring at Mrs Kubdel with a forced smile, trying to pretend he was not shaking like a leaf. The next second, he bolted.
"CHAT!" she shouted, her body moving on its own to follow him.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she remembered her responsibilities as a superhero, who she had been talking to, and how many people were watching them. Adrien was already out the door. She looked around, noting the presence of the detectives who had questioned her and their bewildered expression. More cops were standing in the doorways. Stunned civilians were gaping at the scene. Jalil and Alix were gaping at the entrance, visibly horrified.
Ladybug turned to Mrs Kubdel, who was looking at her with sadness, maybe guilt.
They stared at each other for an instant, then the woman snapped out of it.
"Go," she said.
Marinette ran out.
###