Things went downhill quickly after the attack at City Hall and Chrysalis, making her televised debut. It didn't take long for the public's mistrust of them to develop into hostility, and eventually it was decided that they couldn't be relied on to stop this new Hawkmoth and they were given an ultimatum. Turn over their miraculous to the authorities and let the police use them to handle the threat or have them taken by force.
The majority chose the latter option. Alya didn't have a choice, though, considering her identity is public knowledge, she was forced to hand it over. Which made it a top priority to sneak into Paris Police Prefecture and steal it back before they could figure out how to use it.
Nothing Ladybug couldn't handle. Chat decided he wasn't going to sit around and wait for her to tell him what to do. He was going to start working on one of the leads they'd got. Miss Nathalie Sancoeur, since he knew her better than he knew Tomoe.
Nathalie was just getting home after work. She may have spent a lot of time at the Agreste mansion, and she had a bed there, but she didn't actually live there. She had a small apartment but she didn't use it very often.
Tonight was one of those nights, working for Tomeo Tsurugi was draining, it made her miss Gabriel just a little, at least with him she'd get a thank you for a job well done, with Tomeo she'd get a list of about two hundred tiny details she could improve. Honestly, sometimes, she wanted to throw her clipboard at her.
She just wanted some time alone to refresh herself, but she felt like she was being followed. She began to walk a little faster and didn't stop until she was inside. She locked the door before sighing to herself. She knelt down to take off her heels but stopped when she heard movement in the next room.
Just what I need today, a robbery. She sighed as she slowly approached the door. She was no slouch in a fight more than a match for any would-be burglar, but she was cautious nevertheless.
She turned the corner and came face to face with a black cat, which was odd because she didn't have a cat. But of course, this wasn't exactly a normal cat. It was chat noir. Honestly? She wasn't surprised.
She knew Monarch's identity would eventually lead the Hero's to her, so she saw little point in lying. "Chat Noir, I can guess why you're here. Would you like some tea?"
Ladybug had been on a rooftop near the Prefecture for a few hours now, keeping an eye on the comings and goings it was a police station so obviously it was busy all night but she was waiting, she had one shot at this, after the day shift officers left there were about 20 minutes until all the night shift officers would arrive, there'd be fewer people and it'd be her best bet at getting in.
There was an issue with security cameras, but thankfully, she was friends with a guy who was able to program an Ai with independent thought, hacking security cameras? that was easy for Max.
"Pegasus It's time. Can you disable the cameras?" Ladybug spoke into her Yo-Yo in a hushed tone. She hadn't been seen, and she aimed to keep it that way. Bright red wasn't a great colour for stealth.
"Yep, I'll replace the footage with last Wednesdays so they don't get suspicious." There was a moment of silence before he spoke up again. "Done you're good to go, Ladybug." There should be a door on the roof. It's kept locked with a pin, but I can open it from here. It'll be open by the time you get up there."
Ladybug silently scaled the building before ducking out of sight of one of the officers on the rooftop. Ladybug waited for the officer to move, and once she was distracted, she ran for the door.
She'd managed to get inside, but this just meant staying out of sight would be even harder now. "I'm inside. Where would it be?"
"It'd probably be in the evidence room. And unfortunately, the only way in there is through the bullpen. I can kill the lights remotely, make you harder to spot, but you'll still have to sneak through. Let me know when you're there."
"I can guess why you're here, Gabriel was Monarch, and I worked for him as his personal assistant, so you want to know if I was involved." Nathalie asked as she poured herself a cup of tea.
Chat didn't trust it, so he waited for her to take a sip before he did. "So were you?"
She sipped her drink. "There's no point in hiding it, yes, I did know he was Hawkmoth and I was briefly Mayura" She was just going to be honest, if she lied and they found out it'd just be worse for her. "I did, however, refuse to work with him when he was too far gone."
"But you didn't tell anyone?" Chat asked Dryly, yet another person who was hiding things from him. "Who could I tell? A man that wealthy could cover up anything if he wanted to. He'd probably say I was some bitter employee trying to ruin his image."
Chat didn't really have an argument for that. "You could have told me or Ladybug."
"You two aren't exactly the easiest people to get a hold of." She wasn't exactly wrong. "I also assume you are here to ask if I have any information about Chrysalis? I'm afraid I don't, though I do have an idea where you can start looking. Are you familiar with a girl named Lila Rossi? Though I have my doubts, she uses her true name."
Chat, of course, was or rather Adrien was, He could see Lila doing that. She was a nasty piece of work, but how exactly had she gotten her hands on it? That's what had him perplexed.
"You sure it's her?"
"Not 100% certain, but I'd wager she's at least involved, but she doesn't have the brains to target Sabrina like that. Someone is directing her, and I'd put money on it being Tomoe Tsurugi."
Chat had considered her but had hoped he was wrong. He'd have to make sure to tell Kagami about all this discreetly, of course.
"Aside from me, she's who Gabriel trusted the most, and she knew he was Hawkmoth."
Adrien had already been suspicious of her, but now he knew she knew Gabriel was Monarch. There was no doubt in her mind that she was at least involved.
"Why did you work with him? As Mayura, I mean, if you don't mind me asking." This was the first of Chats questions that gave Nathalie pause as if she'd rather not answer.
Ladybug had managed to remain fairly undetected thus far as she made her way through the Prefecture no small feet given how she dressed, she stuck to the darker parts of the building to try and use the shadows. She had a couple of close calls, but she wasn't at the bullpen now.
"Almost there, Pegasus, kill the lights… now" After a moment's pause, the lights in the building went off. It was almost pitch black save for the silver moon light filtering through the window.
"Oh great, a power cut" She heard one of the officers complain as they reached for a flashlight. Ladybug picked up the pace, ducking behind desks, crawling under tables anything to stay out of sight. Miraculously, she made it through without being spotted. But as she entered the evidence room, she was immediately blinded by a flashlight.
She looked up and saw Roger and two other officers she didn't recognise. "Did you really think we'd leave it unguarded? We knew you'd try to steal it back."
"It's not stealing if it wasn't yours to take in the first place!" She argued her cover was blown no point trying to be stealthy now.
"You've had your chance, and you couldn't get the job done. Let the professionals handle it from here just hand over your earrings without any fuss." One of the other officers interjected.
"We're on the same side. I messed up. I admit that, but we can get it right this time, I promise" She was trying to avoid taking it back by force.
"You've had enough chances. This is hardly the first time you've messed up." She couldn't really dispute that even if she wanted to. "You're just a kid. You can't be trusted with this kind of power"
"I really don't think my age matters in this context given how many times me and Chat Noir have saved Paris. We've saved the entire planet before now"
"Because you have those earrings now hand them over last chance"
So much for taking this out. She thought to herself "Go ahead, try to take them." She warned as her hand drifted towards her Yo-Yo
"I… Thought I was in love with him" Nathalie finally answered Chat's question.
That actually surprised him he had considered it, but Gabriel seemed completely opposed to that idea when he'd brought it up.
"I was wrong, of course. He was insane. But I admired his dedication to his family at first" She didn't really like looking back on it. She had no idea what she was thinking, thinking of Gabriel in that way.
"My infatuation didn't last long. At one time, I truly believed he cared for Emilie and Adrien, but he became obsessed with beating you and Ladybug." Nathalie sighed wistfully "He turned down an opportunity to prevent Emilie from getting ill in the first place and passed it up to try and best two children." She sounded more disappointed than angry at this point; she genuinely believed he was better than that.
"Sorry for asking, that can't have been pleasant to revisit." Chat honestly felt a little bad about that. It seemed pretty personal.
"Rest assured, I have no intentions of working with this new Hawkmoth, and will accept any punishment deemed appropriate" She held out her hands as if expecting to be handcuffed.
"Well… I don't really have the authority to arrest you, and if I brought you to the police they'd only try and bring me in as well. So how about this, you be our mole. You keep tabs on Tomoe and tell me if she does anything suspicious, help us catch her, and I'll keep quiet about you being Mayura." He wasn't super happy about keeping it a secret, but if she has genuinely improved and wanted to do good, he didn't feel right telling people.
"Of course, thank you. Do you have a phone? Or a way of contacting you if I have any information?" That was a good question. He didn't, he for a moment considered telling Nathalie his identity but decided against it.
It wasn't like he didn't trust her but… he wanted to be cautious. "I'll set up an email for Chat Noir related issues and give you the address when I make it."
Nathalie nodded before waving Chat off and getting back to her evening after a stressful day at work, and that tense conversation she needed a long relaxing bath.
As Chat left Nathalie's apartment he was immediately drawn to the sound of Police sirens, he followed them and before long came across police cars attempting to chase down Ladybug, evidently she'd gotten the fox back as she summoned three illusion copies of herself and slipped away from her pursuers.
She leaned back against a wall, taking a moment to catch her breath before jumping out of her skin when her Yo-Yo went off. She checked the caller ID before answering. "Hey Chat. I'm kinda busy right now."
"I saw you're really giving Paris PD the run around. Did you get the fox back?" Chat asked absentmindedly as he looked out at the streets below him.
"Just about, how about you? Did you get any information out of Nathalie?" She reached into her Yo-Yo and too out a water bottle, she was drained after running that long.
"Well… She was Mayura, but she turned on Gabriel when she realised how obsessed he was" Chat heard coughing from the other side as she choked on her drink.
"She was!?" She asked through coughs and splutters before managing to calm down. "Did she know anything about Chrysalis?" Part of her was feeling a little bad about how secretive she was considering he just came out and told her about Mayura.
"Not as such, but she did have a few theories, Tomeo Tsurugi, like you said as well as Lila Rossi she thinks they're working together. She said she'd keep an eye on Tomoe and tell me if she does anything suspicious; she is still her personal assistant after all."
"Let me know if you turn up any leads, I'll see you whenever I see you have a safe night, Chat." Things weren't as easy as they used to be. They were criminal's now, and they just had to deal with that.
Both Heroes had their doubts things would ever go back to normal.