Chapter 6 - Enemies
"Why are you here, and not Adrien?" Gabriel Agreste asked bluntly, after being seated and cuffed to a rail the other side of the desk by the officers who had escorted him in. Officers who had stepped back outside the room, but Marinette was sure were still listening.
"He uh… he's not ready to see you yet, still processing everything that happened, what with you being Hawkmoth and hiding his mother and everything." She could go on. She really wanted to go on, but reined herself in. This wasn't about confronting Gabriel about his treatment of his son, this was about buttering him up to get that ring to save Adrien, she reminded herself. "But that's not to say he's not concerned about you, so I agreed to come on his behalf and-,"
"You're lying," Gabriel cut her off. Marinette shrunk under the cold authority of his voice, even without him needing to raise it. He didn't seem angry, but there was an impatience to his tone that suggested he would get angry, very quickly, if she did it again. "Where is my son?"
Marinette winced. She knew she couldn't lie again, but she wasn't really sure how to answer that question. He wasn't anywhere, he was just…
"Gone," she admitted in a small voice.
"Gone? What do you mean, gone? Gone where?"
"I mean gone!" Marinette snapped, angry tears springing to her eyes, provoked by Gabriel's tone. Or at least partly angry, she couldn't deny that there was still some grief there, a pulsing hole in her chest that wouldn't go away until she had him back. "I know he's… and I didn't care but… but Felix he… and I couldn't stop him. And Ladybug and Chat Noir, they couldn't stop him either. I'm sorry. He's just gone."
Gabriel was already a pale man, but he looked positively icy at the news, all the blood draining from his face. His fingers moved to steeple in front of his lips, but the handcuffs wouldn't allow for the movement. Instead he took a deep breath and very deliberately laid his palms down on the table, taking his time before responding. His response was not what Marinette was expecting.
"You still haven't explained why that brings you here."
Marinette gaped. That was it? That was his whole reaction to the news his son was no more? It was cold, colder than Felix snapping him in the first place. But then Marinette considered the probability that he was probably just pushing the feelings aside to finish this interview quicker so he could have the space to process it on his own. That must be it. In which case the least she could do was to be direct about what she wanted.
"I'm… here for your ring." She nodded to it and saw his hand twitch reflexively, as if fighting the urge to snatch it back out of her view. "I know it contains Felix's amok, and I know it can be used to control him. I want to make him give me his miraculous, so I can bring Adrien back."
"Hmm," Gabriel mused, the cogs turning behind his eyes as he mulled over her request. "That could work, yes. Very well, I will loan you my ring, until the situation is resolved. On ONE condition. I want you to tell me the truth; are you Ladybug?"
Marinette's heart pounded so loudly she could swear he must have heard it. It was one thing to know that he suspected she was Ladybug, but another thing entirely to be asked outright. True he was hardly in a position to pose a threat to her if he knew anymore, but the need for secrecy was still so ingrained in her, it would never feel right admitting it. But this was a matter of Adrien's life or death, how could she refuse? Then it struck her, this was a matter of Adrien's life or death, the life or death of the son of the man sitting across from her, who was trying to use it to extort her identity from her? Suddenly her anxiety at the question was forcefully swept aside by a powerful surge of rage.
"Didn't you hear what I said!? Your son is dead, Gabriel. Felix snapped him out of existence! And you want to bargain over our best chance to get him back?," she practically snarled at the pathetic excuse for a father sitting across from her.
"DON'T YOU LECTURE ME, GIRL!," he roared right back, before continuing in a calmer, but firm tone. "What you are feeling right now, that shattering pain in your chest, that gripping fear that the one you love is gone and you may never get them back, that is the hell I lived in every day for two years! That is what pushed me to the brink of madness fighting Ladybug and Chat Noir about so I could turn reality on its head to get my Emilie back. But if I learned anything from that time, it is patience. I heard you when you said my son is dead, but I also heard you when you said the key to bringing him back is right here on my finger. Did it not occur to you that I could do it myself? I could summon Felix here right now, force him to give me his miraculous and not only use it to bring my son back, but also to get myself out of this place. I'm not so cold-hearted as you think I am to bargaining over my son's life. I am asking what makes you so worthy to have his life and his heart in your hands. Are you Ladybug?"
Marinette froze like a deer in the headlights in the face of his outburst, but behind her wide eyes the gears were turning again. Gabriel's suggestion that he could use the peacock miraculous to break out of prison had been too ready on his tongue to have been a new thought to him. She wondered how many other potential plans for a jailbreak were rattling around inside that scheming brain of his? And yet, despite having the plan at the ready, he hadn't acted on it. In fact, by telling her and the officers watching his plan, he had effectively prevented himself doing it. She reminded herself that he was here, not because she had brought him in, but because he had handed himself over willingly.
'Everyone deserves a second chance', Emilie had said. And it seemed Gabriel was doing his best to earn his.
That said, there was definitely still room for improvement, starting with the idea that she alone wasn't enough for his son. And she was more than ready to correct him.
"I am worthy of your sons love because I handmade that scarf for his 14th birthday, the one that Nathalie told him was from you, since you didn't bother to get him anything yourself. And I let him believe it was from you anyway because his happiness was more important to me than his attention. I'm worthy because when I found out he was allergic to feathers, I changed my design to a synthetic one so it wouldn't bother him. I'm worthy because when he needed comfort over finding his comatose mother in a secret basement, and was a self confessed 'akuma risk' because you sent one after him, my family and I took him in regardless of the risk because we just wanted him to feel safe again. But none of that matters, because the only reason I am really worthy of your son's love because he chose to give it to me, and his opinion on the subject is the only one that matters!" But also, yes, I am Ladybug, she added in the privacy of her own mind, like a mic drop. Her chest heaved from her rant and she realised once again she might have let her temper and defensiveness of Adrien push her too far, but she couldn't bring herself to regret anything she'd said. Emilie had told her that her love of Adrien could be the only the only thing that could persuade Gabriel, and so that was what she had laid out of his inspection; her love, as fierce and passionate and protective as it was.
Gabriel remained passive in the face of it, giving no hint of his approval or disapproval. He tilted his head as though thinking over her words, as his fingers twisted the ring on his finger like a subconscious gesture. Marinette was painfully aware of the movement, as for all she knew he could be mentally calling Felix here right now with it. She was so focussed on the ring she jumped slightly when he finally spoke.
"It took quite a hefty bribe to the guards to allow me to keep this ring with me in here, you know. Of course they had no idea it was anything more than a simple wedding band." He removed the ring from his finger and slid it across the table to her, the metal scraping loudly against the table top, heavy with its significance. "I expect it back when you're done with it."
Almost lightheaded in shock and relief that it was actually happening, Marinette's fingers trembled as she reached out to pick up the ring, before closing on it in a tight fist. She pulled it back to her chest and gave Gabriel a firm nod in thanks and in promise.
"I'll have Adrien deliver it himself." She assured him, getting up to leave. I'll return them both to you.
—
Several hours later, and Ladybug was back where it had happened. Standing atop the Arc de Triomphe, bathed in moonlight, she could picture it so clearly it was like she was having an out of body experience.
She had been standing just… there. Frozen with indecision while Argos had counted down the final seconds of Chat Noir's life. She could recall perfectly how the purple pulsating magic had covered his body, arms half-extended towards her, frozen before he could reach her. The wind that had carried his voice away seemed to be singing it back to her, echoes of his voice ringing in her ears, calling to her; 'M'lady.'
She swiped away the tears that had escaped from behind her mask and turned away, facing out across the lights of the city and the sky's above it. He would come from the sky again, she was sure, on the sentimonster eagle that had carried him away the first time. And she was sure he would come, after all, she still had both the miraculous he wanted. She hadn't been able to get his number, but he had enough of a social media presence that she was able to reach out to him through. One simple message from Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Tonight. Same time, same place. He would know what it meant, and come running.
She didn't have long to wait before a strong gust rustled through her ponytails, and then another in a rhythmic beating. She raised her eyes to the sky and saw the stars blocked out by the silhouette of a gigantic bird. Argos leapt from the sentibeast's back, executing a perfect three-point landing in front of her before straightening to meet her eyes.
"Have you reconsidered my offer? I'm sure by now you've realised that it's not too late for me to bring him back."
"Or for me to bring him back after you hand over your miraculous." Ladybug corrected. Her fingers twitched for the ring she had secured around her neck with a chain, but she didn't touch it yet. Everyone deserves a second chance. Even Felix.
Argos huffed a bitter laugh. "No thanks, I'm not suicidal."
Ladybug's brow furrowed, before the meaning of his words sunk in. It stung a little that he thought so lowly of her.
"I'm not going to release you from existence. I want to help you."
"Yeah, right. You're not mad about what happened to Adrien at all." He mocked. He tilted his head, a dark smirk playing about his lips. "Tell me, how cold did your bed feel last night, without him in it? Or do you usually use his?"
She knew he was trying to get a rise out of her, to test her resolve. But knowing that didn't make his taunts any less efficient. She could feel her nails through her suit as she dug them into her palms, and hoped the fire she was feeling in her face wouldn't show too much under her mask. She had no such luck.
"Are you actually blushing? You are! Don't tell me you guys haven't actually done it yet!? What with him dressing up in all that black leather, and your suit which leaves nothing to the imagination…" he ran his eyes up and down her body appreciatively, and she lost it.
Ladybug ran at Argos in a blind rage, fists and yo-yo swinging. He effortlessly dodged and blocked her blows, walking backwards with a casual and teasing pace that wasn't a retreat but a taunt. His laughter rang in her ears the whole while.
Finally bored of taunting her, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist mid-strike, using her own momentum to spin her around, twisting her arm up behind her back. She cried out in pain and tried to twist her body to relieve the pressure on her shoulder blades, but was prevented by his body pressing flush against her back.
"What was that you were saying about not being mad at me? Please, go on," he mocked, his breath warming her ear. Thankfully his next move was to push her away from him, and she gave in to the urge to shudder before turning to face him again.
His smirk begged her to try again.
"I'm trying to give you the chance to do the right thing," she appealed to him. "For it to be your choice."
"That's funny, it sounds like if I don't make the choice you want you'll try and force me into it anyway. That doesn't sound like giving a choice to me," Felix returned, "but then that is the life of a sentimonster. An illusion of free will."
"It's not like that," Ladybug protested, shaking her head to try and keep him out of it. She was giving him a choice, to decided what kind of person he wanted to be. Someone who knew when to stop, or someone who had to be stopped.
"No? Then what's that on the chain around your neck?" Argos's eye slid down to her collar bone, with piercing accusation.
Shocked that he had noticed, yet knowing the futility of trying to deny it, Marinette pulled the out the chain with shaking fingers, the rings on it laying heavy against her chest. Her eyes wanted to stay lowered, to avoid looking him in the eye after being called out, but she dared a quick glance up from under her lashes. He was still glaring at the ring with contempt, and just a little bit of fear.
"I don't want to use it. But I'll do what I have to to get Adrien back."
Felix's eyebrows rose. "Welcome to the family then, with that kind of ruthlessness you're well on your way to becoming an Agreste. Uncle Gabriel must be so proud."
His words hit her like a physical blow, making Ladybug stumble back a step. The comparison to Hawkmoth brought her up short, not because it was harsh, but because it was accurate. Hadn't he confessed to doing it all, manipulated all those people to save the woman he loved? Hadn't he said earlier that he knew exactly how she felt, because he'd been there too?
In all her rage and grief over losing Adrien and desperation to save him, she hadn't even considered the moral implications of her plan. But now she was here, all ready to go, with cold reality staring her in the face. The reality of the line she stood ready to cross.
When they had fought senti-bug and she had got hold of the item controlling her, she had looked at the mirror image of herself, seen the humanity of the creature staring back, and known without a doubt in her heart that the only right thing to do was to hand control of her life back to her. She hadn't even considered using the amok to control her. And now she knew more about sentimonsters, knew just how human they could be, and yet here she was, about to do what had once been unthinkable to her.
When had she lost her humanity?
Ladybugs knees buckled and she fell to the floor with tears in her eyes. Tears for what she had become. Tears for the fact that to be better, she had to give up on the surest way she had to bring Adrien back.
Closing her wiping one hand over her face to dash away the tears, she closed her palm back around the rings, and tucked them back into the neck of her suit. There may still be a time she would need them, but she swore it would be to free Felix and Adrien, not to enslave either of them.
"There it is, the conscience of the hero," Felix smirked. "Too bad for you I don't suffer from the same inhibitions."
Ladybugs's eyes snapped up to him, just in time to see the amok in his one hand being joined with the paper figurine in his other. The air between them pulsed with energy as a figure formed between them, taking on the appearance of something between a samurai warrior or a ninja. The sentimonster snapped into a fighting pose facing her, and Ladybug leapt back onto her feet, mirroring his stance.
"One ninja?," she asked in surprised. She had expected more up his sleeve than that.
Felix grinned, and she knew she had been right. He slowly pulled his hands apart, the paper figurine unfolding between them into a chain of paper soldiers. As he did so, another sentininja stepped out from behind the first, and another, and more from behind those, until a small army stood between her and Felix.
Ladybug took a big breath, and pulled her yo-yo off her hip, spinning it around and building up momentum. It looked like it was time for plan B: fight her way past an army of sentimonsters, call her lucky charm, use it to relieve Felix of his miraculous, and then bring Adrien back and repair any other damage done.
Just an average evening in the life of a teenage superhero.
AN: I know, quite a short chapter, especially considering the long wait for it. My life has got a little more hectic lately, and I haven't had much time to myself to write. Also, the second half of this chapter didn't really go as planned, in the best way possible. My stories are like that, they have minds of their own sometimes and I just follow where they take me and try to figure out where we're going from there. But it's here now, and we're getting close to the finish line.
Shout outs to Ladynoirfan and Valedonte for the comments, it's great to hear some theories. In answer to a question about me maintaining the name Hawkmoth in this series, rather than using Shadowmoth or Monarch, the simple reason is when I started writing it I had just seen the ending of season 4 and season 5 wasn't available to me yet, I wasn't sure at the time what name he would be using going forward, and decided to stick with Hawkmoth since that was the name he'd used longest and was most recognisable for him. I could change it now know better, but as I matter of preference it just seems simpler to stick with it.
Coming up next: The big showdown of course. Ladybug all alone up against Argos and his sentimonsters… or is she?