Csad asked if Gab's going to throw Lila under the bus, no that's not the way I intend to go, at least when I started that wasn't what I was going with, but you'll the truth before the end, but I will say this, a lot of Gab's problem that made this happen is because of miscommunication with actions his wife took. [Snicker, snicker]
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Alya and Nino ran towards the bakery and Alya stopped when she crossed the street, Nino continued to the door and looked back at Alya. "Babe, what's wrong?"
"Marinette said Lila was a liar and I was so sure she was being jealous that I told her….." Alya trailed off as she looked away. "I told her not to let her emotions color her options of people, and when this happened I said to find the culprit you don't let your emotions affect your investigation and I did the same thing, I'm a terrible friend."
Nino walked back to her and hugged her. "Babe, you've seen a lot of things over the years, right?"
"Yeah." Alya said into Nino's shoulder as he held her.
"You believed that Lila was a good person; that Marinette was letting her jealousy color how she felt about Lila right, and you've seen this before?" Nino asked and felt Alya nod against him.
"Yeah, a few times over the years. Once it was me a before I changed schools." Alya said and Nino rubbed her back.
"Then you gave her advice based on what you knew, and Lila's a snake." Nino said as he turned her head and forced her to look at him. "The best thing we can do now is to move forward and apologies to Mari."
"You're right Nino thanks." Alya said before kissing his check and walking towards the door. I'm so sorry Mari, I shouldn't have been tricked so easily, I will make it up to you! Alya thought as she moved towards the bakery.
Nino looked on and smirked and shook his head. You ain't the only one who has to make up for being a bad friend Alya; I can't believe that I didn't do anything yesterday. Nino thought as he started following Alya.
Walking in behind Ayla Nino saw Sabine at the register and she looked up with a smile that seemed to become strained when she saw them, and that hurt him more then he thought it would.
"Nino, Alya, welcome. Are you here for lunch or something else?" Sabine asked and Nino stepped in front of Alya before he could speak she did.
"Marinette told you about what I said about Lila, didn't she?" Alya asked and Sabine nodded and Alya felt worse than she did when she was outside. "I was so wrong and I need to apologies to her about…..everything."
"Yeah… we need to apologize to Marinette about not believing her about Lila and try to find a way to get her back into school." Nino said and Sabine's face softened.
"Oh you kids, I knew you were good people. I'm sorry to say that I don't think that my daughter will be coming back to that school anytime soon and I would advise your parents to look into a home study program." Sabine said causing Alya and Nino to look at her in shock.
"I know I am!" A voice behind them caused Nino and Alya to turn and see Chloe and Sabrina standing in the doorway with Chloe smirking at them. "So you two finally wised up about the Italian Liar, better late than never."
"Chloe, what are you doing here?" Alya asked and then she did a double take. "Wait 'wised up?' You knew that Lila was a liar too?!"
"Yes, it was obvious and I'm getting lunch." Chloe said as she walked by Alya towards Sabine. "Good afternoon Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, the usual please."
"Hello Chloe, that will be one scorn, one cherry tart and four croissants." Sabine said as she reached down and pulled up a box she handed to Chloe with a smile. "And we got that message of yours, thanks."
"After what happened I had to." Chloe said and Sabine beamed at Chloe who started to look conflicted
"Thank you for being a good friend to Marinette Chloe." Sabine said and Alya and Nino stared at Sabine in shock that she would call Chloe Marinette's friend.
"I said it before, I'll say it again. I'm not her friend!" Chloe said as she turned away and Sabine chuckled.
"Relationships are complicated dear, I've always said that." Sabine said as she held out her hand as Chloe handed over her credit card to pay for the food. "And you don't have to like someone to be a friend to them, or have a 'normal relationship' either. That's something I learned over the years. That you wouldn't let Marinette be hurt and not do anything to help, that says more than how you two bite at each other."
Chloe didn't say anything, only taking back her card without a word and walked through Alya and Nino and past Sabrina who smiled at Nino and Alya before she followed after Chloe.
"What was that?" Alya asked as she stared at the door with Nino. Sabine just laughed a little and when they turned back to her they saw she was smiling at them.
"Chloe has been coming here for lunch every few days for a while now. That girl had a bad role model growing up and her sense of humor could do with some work sure but her heart is in the right place, she just had to…find a better way to show it." Sabine said as she looked at the kids. "Go on you two, Marinette's upstairs in the living room; just make sure you call out before you go up okay?"
Alya opened her mouth to say something but Nino put a hand on her shoulder.
"Sure Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, thanks!" Nino said as he led Alya towards the apartment part of the building.
"What was that Nino?" Alya asked quietly as she followed Nino past Sabine.
"Don't know, maybe since our girl isn't going to school today she's in her PJs or something?" Nino said as Alya smirked at him causing him to sigh. "Alya, no."
"Fine, fine. Take away all my fun." Alya said as she pouted at Nino.
Upstairs Marinette grinned as she and Adrien were playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III and Adrien had the upper hand at the moment. "You won't win that easy Adrien!"
"Try and dodge my missile attack then!" Adrien shot back with a grin as Marinette manipulated her avatar to dodge and fire back as Adrien tried to press his advantage. She laughed a little at what they were doing, thinking back to the meeting last night. After the meeting the social worker had told Adrien to hide out until the court case, and told Marinette that if she didn't receive a summons to an expulsion hearing either tomorrow or the day after to contact her office to work it out. After her parents had woken her and Adrien up for breakfast that morning she had almost run to shower to get to school when she ran into Adrien and remember what had happened yesterday and then after they were done with breakfast this had led after they practiced their Mandarin for a while and now were playing a game to relax.
"Come on, miss!" Marinette said with a grin as she tried to dodge the missile but a blow sent her avatar down and Adrien fired and destroyed it before she could get it back up. "You got me. Great match!"
"Thanks! I was usually in my room before I started going to school if I didn't have anything to do and well this and a few other games were all that I had really." Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and then hung his head. "Dad is….. really controlling."
"I… sorry about the scarf, I should have told you I made it for you." Marinette said as she looked at him and felt terrible. Oh I should have told him, if he never knew the truth he might have tried to work through it with Gabriel and get nothing from him. And then who knows what he would have done or how he would have rationalized how his father treated him and then maybe he might even have gotten into a relationship with whoever his father told him and been locked into a loveless marriage and it would have been all my fault! Marinette thought as she started to spiral and would have continued but Adrien put a hand on her shoulder.
"Marinette I don't blame you for not telling me. I blame myself for thinking that my…that Gabriel would actually take the time to do something like that at all." Adrien said as he looked out a window and sighed. "I have to come to terms with that when mom disappeared dad just… he broke. I will always love him, but this isn't health for both of us."
"Adrien." Marinette said as she looked at him and put her hand on his shoulder as he saw and thought about his relationship or lack of it with his father. She was going to open her mouth when someone called up from below.
"Marinette? It's me and Nino! Your mom said to call up before we came up?" Alya's voice came from bellow and Marinette jolted and her eyes turned to Adrien as he looked towards the stairs and she looked around before noticing the bathroom.
"The bathroom, you can hide there, take the controller. Hey Alya, give me a minute then you guys can come on up!" Marinette called out as Adrien nodded at her and dashed silently to the bathroom and closed the door moments before Alya and Nino came into the room and Alya grabbed Marinette in a hug before she could say anything. "Alya what…..you guys figured out Lila is a liar haven't you?"
Alya went still against Marinette and sighed. "Yeah, I'm sorry girl I thought that she was a good person and well….. a few time over the years I let the first impressions I had of a person color how I saw them and well."
Marinette looked at her and hugged her back. "So if you could make that mistake, it's easier to see others make the same one then?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry girl she's just a snake, not that's an insult to snakes!" Alya said and Nino nodded and hid a frown as he thought he heard a snuffled snort.
"She's a monster dudette, but how the hell do we find a way to prove it and get you back into school, that's the problem." Nino said as he looked around the room and noticed the tv had the winer screen of Ultimate Mecha Strike III and it said 'Player 2 won' and saw NAD03 in the 'winner's circle' and frowned. That's the bot Adrien used in the tournament, who's playing with her as her parents are downstairs, and where's the controller? He thought as he looked around the room and noticed a few things that told him someone else was here.
"I don't know if I'll be returning to the school for this grade, I just…. I learned a few things that made me and my parents rethink a lot about of things." Marinette said and she looked down not to meet their eyes.
"What why? Is it about what happened?" Alya asked as she looked at Marinette who refused to look at them as she looked away from them.
"That's part of it. Legally I should only be suspended; I can't be expelled from school without a hearing. And then we discovered something else about the school that really, I…it makes going back there a bad idea." Marinette said as she rubbed her arms.
"What could you have found that made your parents decide that?" Alya asked as she stared at her friend. Nino meanwhile looked around and noticed two pillows that he knew was usually on the chair and not on the couch unless someone was using it.
"We haven't decided anything yet, we've decided to deal with this before going forward with anything else but I know for sure that w…I won't be returning to Francoise Dupont for this grade level." Marinette said as she looked at Alya and Nino and struggled to say something else. "And I think you should talk to your families about it, it might be good for maybe the whole school if they all became homeschooled."
Nino looked around and noticed a plat on the couch with the remains of a cheese breed and looked at the bathroom door and noticed it was partly open. "Before we go any further, mind coming out Adrien?"
"Adrien?!" Alya asked as she turned towards the door, missing Marinette blushing and after a few moments the bathroom door opened and Adrien poked his head out, a grin on his face.
"What gave me away?" Adrien asked as he came out of the bathroom and Nino smirked.
"The bot, player two, the pillow and the food. You and Mari really didn't clean up good dude." Nino said as Marinette looked around the room and saw what he meant as Alya did as well and pouted, cursing herself for missing what her boyfriend had seen.
"What are you doing here, I don't think papa Gabriel would let you miss school to visit a friend." Alya said and Adrien looked at her with a hard look in his eyes that shocked her for a few seconds.
"Yeah, well I really don't care what dad….. what Gabriel thinks is important right now. It's a long story but Lila is worse than you know." Adrien said as he looked down. "I mean I knew she was a liar, but this? I couldn't even think it was possible for someone our age to be so evil."
"Wait a second, you knew she was a liar dude?" Nino asked as he stared at Adrien in shock, Alya staring as well before going red in the face as she glared at him.
"Why the hell didn't you say anything, I mean you knew she was a liar!" Alya demanded and Adrien looked away. "Well?!"
"Yeah bro, why didn't you say anything at all, didn't we deserve to be warned about her?" Nino asked and Adrien just sighed.
"Before you guys start let me explain why first okay?" Adrien said as he held up his hands. Alya growled but at Marinette's look she relented and looked at Nino who while he glared at Adrien he nodded at her
"Fine Adrien, but it better be good." Alya growled.
"It's not. Well to start with you didn't believe Marinette so I figured you wouldn't believe me, second when I talked to her alone I thi….. I know she was Akumatized afterwards so….." Adrien said with a shrug and looked down as Marinette reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "And then most of her lies, it was just celebrity gossip, I've lived with that most of my life and it always seemed to die down after a while if you didn't fight against it and lastly I thought she might have been nervous to make friends if she was always traveling."
Alya looked at him and felt the urge to shake her head. I guess sunshine is just too good. Okay, I can see someone acting like that to get people to like them, but after she kept doing it you should have known something….he's been homeschooled most of his life, besides Chloe has he even talked to people his own age without them being models or at parties? Alya thought before something Nino said shocked her.
"Wait when she was Akumatized, who was she?" Nino asked in shock as Alya stared at him and then turned to Adrien to hear what he had to say.
"I…think she was that shape shifter that made was the fake me, a while back you know?" Adrien said and seemed to be struggling for something before he continued. "And she was Volpina, that Akuma who could make illusions."
"The one who made it look like a meteor and almost dropped you off the tower!? That was her?" Alya asked and Adrien nodded. "I spent a month trying to find out who that was and I just should have asked you, wait why do you know that?"
"She tried to convince me she was a Miraculous user when she was Akumatized then came to my room to prove it." Adrien said with a shrug.
"Makes sense, I mean the way I was told I acted when I was Bubbler man, that's was so not cool." Nino said and Alya nodded, how people said she acted when she was Lady Wifi made her agree with her boyfriend.
"What do you mean, it was all celebrity gossip?" Alya asked and Nino nodded, wondering what Adrien meant.
"Yeah, I mean it was all she said or something like that, you know gossip. I figured that you'd all get wise or she'd mess up a story sooner or later!" Adrien said as he looked down. "And given how unhinged and emotional I…thought she was I didn't want you guy in the blast zone."
"Wait emotional, what are you talking about dude?" Nino asked and Adrien looked away with a scowl.
"Before she became that shapeshifting Akuma I was talking to her about not lying, and after she used the Akuma tried to destroy my social life….well if anyone called her on it then I was worried that she might attack you guys, as in try and hurt whoever set her off." Adrien said as he looked away. "And then I gave some terrible advice to Mari because I didn't know everything and well…..I messed up a lot."
Alya looked at him as Marinette shook her head.
"No Adrien, you didn't know what she said, that's like saying I should have said something about the scarf." Marinette said and Adrien smiled at her.
"Wait, you told him about the scarf Marinette?" Alya asked as she looked between them and Nino looked confused.
"What about the scarf didn't Adrien's dad….tell me he didn't dude, please." Nino begged and Adrien only shook his head.
"He did, he took credit for the scarf, that and the fact he hired Lila to spy on me and maybe get Marinette expelled, it's caused me to file for epilation." Adrien said and Nino stared at his friend as Alya gasped.
"He did what! He hired Lila to get Marinette expelled!?" Alya exploded and Adrien nodded.
"She said her modeling contract was a bonus. That….. it's terrible but it proves that I can't trust him anymore, I don't feel safe under his control." Adrien said and sighed. "I turned fifteen a few months back, once I turn sixteen….. I've floated the idea of moving out for a while now, guess I just have to do it sooner than I thought"
"Adrien, dude… I'm sorry you had to man." Nino said and Adrien looked
"I didn't have a choice. What happened to us after mom disappeared, it's not healthy and this might be the only chance the two of us have to ever heal." Adrien muttered as he looked up, and his friends could see the turmoil in his eyes.
Alya looked at Adrien and swallowed, what happened to Marinette was terrible but this, she couldn't believe it. I knew that Gabriel was over protective but this, this is beyond anything I could ever think he could do that with Lila… wait his advice! Alya thought as she went still and looked at Adrien. "Adrien, what didn't you know about Lila?"
Adrien looked at Marinette and then gestured towards one of the books and Marinette nodded causing Adrien to sigh. "Remember when I was taken out of school, it was because I lost a book that I brought to school that my dad considered important, Lila took it to try and con me and then Marinette saw her throw it into a trashcan and couldn't get it back to me before Volpina happened. Marinette brought it back to my dad and took the heat so that's why I went back to school, and then when Lila came back well she….."
"Lila threatened me the day she came 'back'. She said we're at war and that I would loss all my friends. I thought this was just her doing it." Marinette said and Alya's mouth dropped open and looked at her friend in horror.
"She what." Nino asked and he stared to gain a glare on his face.
"And that's not the worst of it; someone sent Marinette video evidence that she was behind everything and showed how she did it too." Adrien said and Alya turned to him as he spoke. "It was all there on the video; she pulled the fire alarm yesterday and then she put the answer sheet into Marinette's bag, she walked down the stairs before screaming and she put the necklace into Marinette's locker."
Alya stopped breathing for a second as what Adrien was telling her caused her to just stare at her friend, shocked beyond all reason. Before anyone could say anything else a beeping from Nino's phone caused him to turn and scowl.
"Get this, when Kim went to talk to Damocles about getting Marinette a hearing, Aurora and Mireille were already trying that and the Owl threw them out." Nino said with a scowl and Marinette face palmed as Adrien stared at him before shaking his head in disgust.
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Ms. Mendeleiev sat at her desk and scowled as she looked down at the tests on it, not seeing them and letting herself just. Caline what were you thinking, why didn't you take them to Damocles yourself! If you had then this whole mess wouldn't have happened, and I can't believe that you and Damocles didn't question the fact she never said anything when her necklace was 'stolen'! It's like that old foolish owl didn't even remember what happened all those years ago, I know I came in the month after with what happened with him but Caline should have been told about it! Why o why did I have to schedule the field trip to that planetarium for yesterday? She thought as she held her head with her hands, visions of terrible things going behind her head as she sat there. "The schools going to be closed after this, why didn't I transfer to a different one before this, o wait I know, it's because I trained to be a teacher here."
She looked up from her desk and looked around the rooms, noting a few marks here and there that told of how old this room was and just sighed. I knew that sooner or later that something would happen at this school, I've felt it coming for a while now. But expelling Miss Dupain-Cheng? She's one of the best students in school, a shoe in for student council president next year and one of the best designers that's not in the industry! Oh forget about it woman, those girls will talk to that owl and maybe I can finish grading these tests before lunch is over! She thought as she tried and failed to focus. Before she could do anything bug huff a knock at the door caused her to look up and see Ivan, Kim, Aurora and Mireille walked into the room and she frowned.
"Giving that Mr. Lê Chiến and Mr. Bruel are here I would say that talking to that chicken didn't go well Ms. Beauréal?" Miss Mendeleiev asked with a sinking feeling forming.
"No Madame, he basically threw us out when I mentioned that he was required by law." Aurora said and Ms. Mendeleiev looked at them before dropping her head onto her desk.
"Ms. Mendeleiev?" Mireille asked and Ms. Mendeleiev only waved a hand as she moaned into her desk.
"The school's going to close! I try and follow the lawsuit and those two idiots undue everything! Oh god why me, I just wanted to be a teacher but I had to come to this place!" She said as she started to cry. I knew I should have scheduled the trip for a latter day, I just knew it! But an Akuma ruined the last three trips and this seemed to be perfect! Why oh why didn't I just reschedule? She thought as she kept her head down and tried to get her emotions back under control, her students looking at each other and trying and failing to understand why she had reacted like this.
"Why do I get the feeling that this is about more than just what happened to Marinette?" Aurora
asked and Ms. Mendeleiev nodded at them.
"It has to do with a student who was driving to suicide years before any of you started coming here. To make a long story short its why most of the teachers here don't punish unless we see it happen." Ms. Mendeleiev said as the students reacted to this bit of information.
"You know, that makes a lot of what I've seen in the past year or seem so obvious in hindsight." Kim said and Ivan looked at him before nodding.
"Why isn't that in the student hand book, you'd think that's something that we should know!" Aurora demanded and at this Miss Mendeleiev looked down. "Miss Mendeleiev?"
"That was a condition for the last principle to leave quietly, and not turn it all into more of a circus then it was at the time." She said as she looked at the four students. "It was a hard decision but in the end the teacher's union backed off and agreed to it, the head of the board had a relative who had tried to take their own life and well."
"Wow, just wow. I knew that this school was a bit different, but I always thought it was just a bad case of bullying years ago that got out of hand." Aurora muttered as Mireille nodded.
"I thought it was a just bad drama about crushes and boyfriend, girlfriend or something like that really." Mireille said and Kim looked between them and shrugged.
"That's almost as bad as how it was when all those Akumas attacked after Marinette was expelled, right Ivan? Still don't understand how he could do that again, much less how he did it on Hero Day." Kim asked and Ivan nodded before they both looked up at Miss Mendeleiev's gasp.
"Hero's Day?! Then there was another mass Akuma attack?" Ms. Mendeleiev asked causing Kim and Ivan to nod.
"Yeah, Marinette's parents opened the doors out and this mass of red Akuma's poured in but then they just stopped and fizzled out."
"The Akuma's were red?! You're sure about that?" Ms. Mendeleiev asked Kim and Ivan who nodded.
"Yeah, but I don't know if that means anything but they were red." Ivan said and Kim looked at the girls who looked as lost as he felt.
Miss Mendeleiv only looked at her students and felt her eyes widen as she tried to process this. That doesn't make any sense, none of this does! This is the cherry on top of everything about yesterday, I mean the only way this would even….! Her thoughts died as she came to a conclusion that shocked her enough to cause her mouth to drop open and she looked at the students.
After they had left Miss Mendeleiv only looked down at her desk, her mind going over some notes she had jolted down over the last few grades before she put the tests away and opened her laptop and accessed a file. Once more she was proud of herself for making it so her laptop wasn't wireless and looked at the file and moved towards a file titled 'HAWKMOTH' and accessed it and frowned. After a few moments of looking over what she had written in she sighed and shook her head. I was right, the only mass Akuma attack had to have been set up before hand, he was planning that from the get go or he took a gamble and augmented his powers which is a whole other kettle of fish. But why didn't he continue… could he have an accomplice… that tracks then. So he Akumitized one person who 'boosts' his abilities but if he needs to do that first how did he know to do it again today? He had to prepare for the mass spike. She thought as she looked over what she had written and sighed. "There's no other explanation, he planned for this to happen….but was he watching or did he have 'help' on the other end?"
As she looked at the clock as it the time advanced towards her science lesson with the other students and Lila she went over all the interactions and recent events and she was praying that what her instants were telling her was wrong.
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Nathalie walked through the mansion towards Gabriel's office and stopped when she reached it, cringing a little as she imagined what Gabriel could do once she told him both what she had found and hadn't found. She looked at the door and moved her hand towards it before pulling away and swallowed before Gabriel voice came from within.
"Get in here Nathalie and tell me what you found." Gabriel said and Nathalie swallowed and opened the door and walked in. Gabriel sat at his desk and looked up from his computer as she entered the room and he scowled at her. "Why do I feel that you don't have anything that I will like?"
"He's not at the Hotel and I saw his friend, Mr. Lahiffe walked to school alone." Nathalie began as she looked at him. "So far onto the other matter whoever is behind it is keeping it hidden behind a lot of layers. And that whoever is behind this sent officers to talk to the people at the company and one even went to Victor."
"So then we have nothing." Gabriel said as he clenched his hands as he stood up from his desk and looked started to pace around the room. I don't know what I was expecting, with the way the law reacted to the first and last time I tried to akumatize a judge then I knew they had upgrades their privacy and security procedures. Who could be doing this and why…..Adrien… no someone must be using him and his anger made him easy to manipulate. He thought as he tried to figure out anything to help find his son. "And what did they say to them."
"Victor was the most forth coming about his talks, saying that he only told them what he observed at every photoshoot he's ever done with Adrien." Nathalie said and she looked a little concerned for a few seconds. "And he offered them his body-cam forage."
"What body-cam?" Gabriel asked and felt a head ache forming as he looked at Nathalie.
"According to Victor he always wears one, has for years because one stopped a relative from being scammed when he was in his teens. He records them and puts them into external storage that he keeps in a 'safe place'. The model in question has a time function so whatever it records has a time of when it was." Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and shook his head. "It's in his contract and he doesn't share it with anyone, theirs a clause about the authorities and their investigations but."
"Nathalie once you're done with what I gave you look at our other employees with their own personal contracts, see if anything else is in there for anyone." Gabriel command and looked at her, a thought coming to the front of his mind. "Also what about the meet of the lawsuit, the charges themselves, being brought against
"About that, I've been able to investigate the claims about his not paying his trust…. And I don't know what that means, we've paid him for every job his did but I think there's something I'm not seeing. I need your permission to look closer at the trust we've been paying Adrien's wages into." Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded.
"Of course, get me the forms and I'll sign them, and what about our collateral damage the other day?" Gabriel asked and at this Nathalie looked at him with a hint of disgust in her eyes.
"So far there's nothing in the cities school board about it, I don't like anything about this. From what I know there should be some noise about who will handle this, it can't be just a single person's decision." Nathalie said and Gabriel frowned as well, memories of a collage civics project coming back to him.
"I didn't major in law, but I know that something like an expulsion generates paperwork." Gabriel said and Nathalie nodded
"Yes it should but that's the thing … I was looking into that to see if there was anything else we could drop to help her but …..there's nothing at all." Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and took off his glasses and pinched his eyes.
"What are you saying that Adrien's school didn't follow the law at all?" Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked concerned before nodding. And that's another reason why we decided to have Adrien homeschooled so long, just so that something like this wouldn't happen to him. Gabriel thought as Nathalie looked conflicted.
"I don't know if they even contacted anyone at the school board about this, I can't see a reason why they would do this." Nathalie said and Gabriel chuckled. "Sir?"
"To cover themselves of course my dear, if they just expel her by the principle's decision alone there might be trouble. But if they expel her for absences, that's on her." Gabriel said and Nathalie looked at him before shaking her head.
"I don't know why I'm surprised. But I did find some paperwork that pulled Adrien out of school until this is resolved." Nathalie said and suddenly looked down as a ping was heard from her tablet. Of course he wouldn't be at school, and I don't want to think about what you're saying you little brat. I can't wait until we can get rid of you. She thought as she read the message before raising her head. "And Lila just called, Adrien wasn't at school and she's wondering how she should deal with what happened at the shoot?"
Gabriel scowled and turned away, a headache forming as he tried and failed to keep his anger down. "For now tell her to say nothing, what about the report I asked for about her?"
"The agent I sent replied that he had to track down one more witness and he would have a full report soon. I expect that given her character we'll have more ammo to use against her." Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded. He got up and moved towards the painting of his wife and stood there for a few seconds until Nathalie spoke up. "Sir?"
"I expect the court case against Miss Marinette to happen before the matter with Adrien so look over everything, get the paperwork ready and check over everything, as far as I know nothing is wrong but make sure. As for me I'm going to see if I can't pull a win out." Gabriel said as he activated the hidden elevator and went to his lair.
As Gabriel left the room Nathalie stood for a few moments there before leaving and going back to her desk in the front hall. As she sat down she held her head and sighed. I don't know but I have such a strange feeling about this, something about this is bothering me but what…okay Nathalie what did the old man say, "if something is bothering you then look over what is and talk to a ducky.' Nathalie though as she released a little giggle. "Okaythen lets look over this from the begging, all the paperwork and identify everything, no matter how obvious it seems, write everything down."
As Nathalie started to look over Adrien's contract, she felt something in her, a sign that this was what was what had been bothering her. As her phone beeped in a certain pattern she sighed as she reached for it. "Okay, what have you made out of someone this time?"
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A pack of five dogs each the size of a car ran through Paris as people screamed and behind them a dog the size of a truck with a man in a green bodysuit with a black paw on his chest, a canine like face mask with his mouth open and golden armor on his shoulders and legs with his hands covered by clawed gauntlets with a whip in his left hand that he was cracking in the air as he laughed at the chaos. "Nobody cares about the dogs as long as they stay away from people, well Pack Leader will show you how much chaos they can cause! Well I'll show you just how much effort it needs to deal with them in Paris brat!"
One of the dogs started to scratch at a glass window to a grocery store scoring the glass with the dogs claws as another one growled and barked at a cat painted onto a billboard above a building and as people ran away or into buildings. As they stared out at the chaos as smaller dogs ran around the bigger ones and as the Pack Leader noticed them and cracked his whip at them sending a bolt of energy that caused them to grow as big as the car size ones and start to run around with the others. As Pack Leader laughed a butterfly energy mask formed over his face.
"Well done Pack Leader, but remember our deal, gain the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir and in exchange I will give you the power to show how powerful and destructive Dogs really are." Hawkmoth said and the Pack Leader howled and his dogs joined in.
"Of course Alpha Hawkmoth, I'll bring you their Miraculous in exchange for this power you've given me!" Pack Leader said as the dogs around him roared.
"Keep calling others my pack, once all the dogs in Paris are one of use then we will show world how powerful the canine order really is." He said before he raised his head and howled to the sky as the dog he was riding and the others all started to howl, calling others to join the pack.
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Adrien looked at Marinette who sat on the sofa and held her head. Nino and Alya had left a few minutes ago, both of them shocked and horrified that they had been taken in by such a liar and after promising that they would talk after school, both had left, Alya to go to her home and Nino had gone to pick up as he said, 'a few items for the fam.' As Adrien looked at her he looked around, trying to find anything to keep Marinette's mind off Lila.
"So, homeschool hu? A few of those programs Chloe dropped off had group projects…" Adrien said and Marinette looked up at him and smiled. "So maybe we could look them over and maybe compare notes and thoughts? I can tell you as someone who was homeschool for most of his life that the programs are great for going at your own rate."
"So how was public school for you compared to that?" Marinette asked and Adrien grinned a little.
"It was good; the teacher understood and explained everything to me in a great way. But the best thing about public school was I wasn't alone anymore, that was what really bothered me the most." Adrien said as Marinette looked at him and
"But wasn't Chloe your friend, didn't you see her sometimes?" Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her before aboting a strange look as he started to think.
"You know, now that I think about it, it was mainly over the computer on live chats that I saw Chloe the most, maybe in person once a month or so. And now that I'm thinking about it that was when mom was still around." Adrien said and he frowned, his mind going strange places as he felt he was on the cusp of understanding something. "And I think it was her idea, that I be homeschool in the first place."
"Adrien?" Marinette asked in worry but before he could say anything their phones started to ring. That's the Akuma alarm! Marinette thought in horror, wondering how she would be able to justify get away from Adrien.
Adrien looked down at his phone as it the alert sounded and he looked at Marinette who paled and turned to him. How am I going to be able to get away and help Ladybug? Adrien thought with as he paled and Marinette started to speak.
"I have to go and make sure that the door to the balcony is closed, Adrien will you be okay?" Marinette asked and Adrien nodded.
"Yeah, dad always told me to hide when this happens, so I think I'll hide in the guest room, and lock the door." Adrien said as he rushed away and Marinette rushed to her room. As soon as she reached her room she closed and locked her door down and turned as Tikki appeared and looked at her.
"I don't like this, after yesterday he should have given us a least a day, is he getting desperate?" Marinette asked and Tikki shook all over. "Tikki, what is it?"
"It's possible for us to use our abilities at most ten times a day with no problems as long as we don't push it too hard, and by abilities I mean Lucky Charm." Tikki said and Marinette looked at her in shock. "If we go over that it could damage our Miraculous and then our chosen might get hurt!"
"How bad, how bad could it get." Marinette asked as she looked at Tikki who looked conflicted as she floated there." Tikki, please. Everything in me is telling me that this is important that I know it."
"Deadly. In the past when people pushed the Miraculous beyond our limits, they've fallen asleep and just wasted away, never waking up." Tikki said and looked conflicted as she looked at Marinette.
"And the Guardians couldn't do anything to help?" Marinette asked as she felt something in her, a strange feeling that she couldn't understand blossoming in her.
"My Miraculous and Plagg's, we've never pushed them that far but when it happens to the others they retreat into the damaged Miraculous…the Guardians say they are only able to recover them after the chosen has died." Tikki said and she looked at Marinette's face. "Marinette, what is it?"
"I don't know Tikki, but something is telling me that I had to hear that." Marinette thought and looked at Tikki, a strange look in her eyes as her subconscious made connections, connections that she didn't fully see swirling around her mind. "We can deal with it latter, for now Tikki, Spots on!"
As Marinette transformed into Ladybug she looked at her open doorway and jumped out onto the balcony and looked around and nodded.
"Here we go!" As she jumped out of her room as she had done multiple times before she collided with something and they both landed on the room next door. As Ladybug opened her eyes she saw she was staring into Chat Noir's eyes, and he seemed as shocked as she was. "Chat, what happened, why did we?"
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As Adrien closed the door Plagg shot out of his shirt pocket and floated in front of his chosen.
"Man I can't believe that guy, doesn't he know to rest for a day or two after what happened yesterday!" Plagg complained and Adrien looked at his kwami and shook his head.
"Yeah, after what happened you'd think Hawkmoth would
"That's not the problem kid, look. Our Miraculous, they channel a lot of energy and magic when we transform and use our power, it's possible to go over our limits and when that happens…bad things happen to the wielders." Plagg said and he shuddered as he looked at Adrien.
"How bad Plagg, how bad could it be?" Adrien asked as he stared straight at Plagg who floated silently for a few moments before replying.
"Everyone who's pushed it past to that point, they've always fallen asleep and just died." Plagg said and Adrien went still. "The Guardians have always brought the Miraculous back after the chosen died and they spend years repairing the Miraculous but every Kwami who's fought with someone who's gone that fall are always so sad."
Adrien looked at Plagg as he talked, not hearing him as he made connections in his mind, hoping he was wrong.
"Can another person then use the damaged Miraculous." Adrien asked and Plagg floated there, looking confused as he tried to figure out what Adrien meant.
"What are you talking about?" Plagg asked and Adrien looked at Plagg with a hard look.
"Plagg, please I hope I'm wrong but this is important!" Adrien said and Plagg swallowed and started to think for a few seconds before he nodded.
"I don't know, but if someone does use it then they might weaken over time, I know that Fu would have the answers." Plagg said as he floated there and tried to figure out what his kitten was talking about. "But kid what is this about?"
"Mayura, how she acted the other day." Adrien said as Plagg looked at him and gasped.
"You don't think she's using a damaged Miraculous, but Dossu had to have told her the damage and what….no." Plagg said as his eyes became pinpricks as he dropped a few inches before he caught himself. "That's it, that's how he found out and why she just appeared now. From what the others said when their Miraculous were damaged their holder's fell they were only called back by the Guardians after they got back to the temple, if Hawkmoth and Mayura are after ours for the wish to do that then there even more twisted then I thought!"
"Yeah I think so too, all this chaos and he has a worthy reason for all of this. So that's what he meant when he said he had nothing to lose." Adrien said and Plagg looked at him and Adrien looked at him with a somber look. "What wouldn't you do for your sugar cube Plagg?"
"Everything and more, but not this! The wish isn't like with a genie kid, its balance, harmony! Like that anime Full Metal Alchemist, to gain something must be lost! For someone to be healed, someone who is just as important to both the wisher and the person being healed is struck down with what the person they're saving had!" Plagg said and Adrien stared at the Kwami of Destruction in shock at what he had been told.
"Oh shit. We have to tell Ladybug about this, now!" Adrien said as Plagg nodded.
"Yeah and Fu, this might be beyond anything I thought he might have been after! If there's anything in that book that might tell us anything, anything at all then we might have a chance to stop him!" Plagg said and Adrien nodded.
"Then let's do it. Plagg Claws Out!" Adrien said as he transformed into Chat Noir. As he opened the window he had chosen yesterday he jumped up but never saw Ladybug until the two of them collided and fell to the roof of the building next door. As Chat Noir opened his eyes he stared into Ladybug's blue eyes and felt something as a lot of things suddenly made sense and a puzzle. Why did it have to be her, out of all people why her? I always hoped that maybe her guy wasn't that good a person but Luka's a great person! I guess my crush just has to die. Chat Noir thought as he looked at his partner in battle and fought down a wince.
"Chat, what happened, why did we?" Ladybug asked and Chat Noir sighed.
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I bet a lot of you hate this! This is my first real cliffhanger that I'm leaving you all with, well don't worry I'll have the other half of this up sometime next week, probably.