Chapter 35

Gabriel left while Adrien was still interrogating Marinette, amused at his son's over-the-top reaction but a bit alarmed by its source. He was distraught to think that Adrien might emerge from this whole situation with a permanent scar on him and a constant worry and paranoia following him into his adult life. Gabriel had lived like that for too many years and knew what it did to his marriage and his relationship with his son. That was the last thing he wanted for Adrien.

He arrived at the shoot location, and quickly approved the frames taken that day. Thankfully, the director chosen for this morning was far more capable than the one the week before. "Artistic license" he had called the half-assed trash he'd submitted. Gabriel shook his head. The young man came from a prominent fashion family and had the benefit of the best education money could offer. Despite that, Gabriel was continually amazed by the arrogance of those who had perfect opportunities. You couldn't educate talent into someone. Though he himself came from an elitist family, he learned very young that your family name and wealth meant nothing without the character to back it up.

He was still lost in this train of thought when he stopped by his office to grab some materials he needed to go over before the spring show meeting he had Monday morning. He noted his assistant's surprise at seeing him so casual, even if it was a Sunday. Gabriel had traded his well-worn jeans for a pair of more fitted and darker denim and black turtleneck. While not casual by any means, it wasn't the suit that people seemed to assume was surgically attached to his body.

"Good afternoon, Edmund."He kept his face blank, but smiled inwardly as the man hurried to correct his expression.

Gabriel walked past him and into his office. He quickly grabbed some materials, and was back out the door. Just as he was waiting for the elevators, Edmund came scurrying over.

"Sir, forgive me, I almost forgot. This came for you by messenger this morning. I asked if it was urgent," he added hurriedly, "but I was assured it could wait until Monday. Since you stopped in, though…" He trailed off, still holding the envelope expectantly towards Gabriel.

The problem was that Gabriel had noticed the writing on the outside, and was extremely reluctant to take it from the man, as if by not touching it, it's contents didn't exist yet for him.

Reluctantly, he took the package, and nodded at Edmund, who hurried back to his desk. Holding it in his hands, he noticed it was substantially heavier than usual, and opened it to find a disk instead of the typical letter. There was a teal post-it on it. Adela's color. It read You were warned.

He spun on his heel and sprinted back to his office, slamming the door and ignoring the flabbergasted expression on his assistant's face. He inserted the CD into his computer, grateful that he hadn't updated his laptop yet to the newer models that no longer had the CD slot. The computer whirred and a notification to play the video popped up. With shaking fingers, he moved the mouse to hit 'play'.

He watched the video on repeat in horror, until finally he developed enough of a desensitization to his wife's pain to notice the other details. That's when he spotted it. Pinned to the wall in the background, but clear in the light coming from the movie camera, was a poster with Chat Noir and Ladybug on it.

He took a screenshot and enhanced it, until it was as clear as possible, and he started to understand Germain's plan and why he needed Hawkmoth so badly.

"Shit," he cursed and hurried to print the page. Careful to delete everything off his computer and extract the CD, he stored everything in the messanger bag he brought with him. Storming out of the office in a fury, he took the stairs instead.

He would not hide this from his son. As much as he wanted to shield Adrien from additional worry and emotional trauma, if their plan, and to be honest their relationship, was going to work, they needed transparency between them. Then he remembered Adela's face in the video. Maybe he wouldn't show them the video.

Wiping an errant tear from his cheek, he stepped out into the Parisian sunlight and into the waiting car, towards his son.

Adrien watched his father's face, clearly more distraught than he was letting on, as he described the video to the table. He had accepted Chloé's presence without question, and he had a feeling that Marinette and his father had been scheming behind his back. Far from angry, he was pleased that they seemed to get along. He had long desired a cohesive family unit, and Marinette liking his parents...He turned his attention back to his father. If what he was saying was right, then his family was getting closer and closer to being one person short.

"What did he do to her, papa?"

Gabriel hesitated much too long for Adrien's comfort. "I-You don't want to know Adrien. Please, don't ask. It won't help, I promise."

Adrien stared at him for a long moment, before nodding. He really didn't want to know, and he didn't care if that made him weak. If he wanted to keep a clear head about this, which he needed in order to have everyone's back, then he needed to not be clouded by rage or agony.

"To be honest, Adrien, your mother isn't my top concern, and she would agree. Did you read what that poster says?"

Adrien furrowed his brow at his father. His mother was probably being tortured and she wasn't his chief concern? He turned his attention back to the paper in his hand, giving it more than the cursory glance he had before. Most of the print was too small and blurry to make out but he spotted keywords like "murder", "brutal" and "justice". He took that in, and then passed it to Marinette, at a loss for what to say. She glanced it over and gasped before Alya yanked it out of her hands.

"So-" Marinette started in a shaky voice and cleared her throat. "It's unclear, but basically from what I can read, there are two options. Either he is going to blame murders on us, or he is going to have us murdered." She looked around at everyone, the poster having made the rounds by now. "Anyone have some alternative? I would love an alternative right now." Adrien reached over and grabbed her hand.

"Papa, what were you thinking? You printed it out for a reason."

Gabriel hesitated, looking between him and Marinette. From behind him, Nino spoke.

"Of course, that's what Hawkmoth was for." Adrien was still watching his father's face when Nino said this, and watched as it confirmed Nino's statement. Nino continued, "He uses Hawkmoth to create havoc, and blames his brother for not taking him down and needing two masked vigilantes to take care of the problem for him. Then, he either turns the city against them, " nodded towards Marinette, acknowledging the two options she'd deduced, "and accuses them of something, like murder, or, more likely, he kills them and then blames Hawkmoth. Either way, it clearly creates chaos in Paris that the mayor would be the scapegoat for, leaving the city desperate for someone else."

"A someone else who will obviously fix all the problems because he is the one creating them in the first place." Alya finished for him, narrowing her eyes in anger over the whole scenario. "Damn, I wish I could cover this in the LadyBlog…"

"Oh my god," Adrien heard Chloé whisper from the other side of the table, and turned to look at her. Her face had lost its color, and he could tell that this all had just become very real for her. It was one thing hearing the story, but seeing proof and hearing his father describe it, even leaving most of it out like he did, was a completely different monster.

"My uncle did this to your family. Adrien, I-" He could see the tears welling up in Chloé's eyes and stood to walk over to her. She put up a tough exterior with everyone, but Adrien had known her too long to only see the mask she wore. He could never explain to people when they asked why he was friends with her. He would just say she was different with him, or she wasn't always like that. The truth was that Chloé was just extremely distrustful of people in general. Even before she was a miraculous holder, he marveled at her superpower to look at someone and just know almost instantly what made them tick. It was probably what made her such an effective bully in school, but it also made her a fierce friend. Adrien wasn't oblivious to how protective she was of him.

He had only seen her cry once, at her mom's funeral seven years ago, and Adrien could tell that she was starting to blame herself. Despite her flair for the dramatic in public, Chloé would never cry with him just for show. He kneeled in front of her chair and grabbed his hands in hers.

"Chlo, don't. Don't go there." He gently squeezed her hands. "None of this is your fault."

"Adrien, he's my uncle. How can you even look at me right now?"

"You can't choose your family, and you had no idea what was going on."

"I hate him."

"Me too."

She stared at him, and nodded. Then, looking around, she extracted her hands from his, uncomfortable with the amount of emotion she had just displayed. Everyone had kind expressions on their faces, but she collected herself lest it turn into pitty. Clearing her throat, she stood up, popped her hip and crossed her arms.

"So how are we taking this asshole down?" She looked around at the team. Her team. Alya's face spread in a grin and she spoke.

"Let's make a plan!"