The Management doesn't have a song for you to use this time, but boy howdy will he have one next time. Weirdly enough the song that was playing in his head was "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" as performed by Joan Baez, but that doen't quite fit.

Midnight. This would make twelve years.

Twelve years since Gabriel Agreste stood in front of a great evil, prepared to give his life, only to discover to his horror that his wife would do it for him. Before she went, she begged him to take care of her son.

She was the only one on earth who made him feel like he was anything other than a bank account. She didn't just make him feel alive, she made life worth living. She was the first one to not let him get away with murder simply because of who his parents were. She saw him as a human being, and he would always thank her for that.

She objected to the portrait, at first. She joked it was a little too stuck-up, even for Gabe. Gabriel insisted, however. He wanted the world to see her as he did. An angel in white framed in gold. He looked up at her from the stair on which he was sitting.

“Marie,” he sighed. “What am I going to do? I never suspected that...”

He trailed off. He should have suspected. After all, it was people like Bousquet that took her from him in the first place. The kind of pure, insipid evil that tainted this world. He was the thing that made the world uninhabitable for perfection such as her.

The kind of evil that the Agrestes were once tasked to fight. Being the kind of woman that she was, she was willing and able to do it. For a few wonderful, all-to-brief years, he joined her. They both stood together against those who would strike fear into the hearts of men...

And when the time came to face it head on... They lost. He was told that they had won the day, but this was not what victory felt like. Victory wasn't finding yourself on your knees, wondering how life continued from that point. Questioning if you could even go home and face the child you brought into the world because he just looked so... so much like her.

This world wasn't good enough for her. So he resolved to fix it.

But now with this... This monster of his creation on this blind, senseless rampage... He wasn't sure he could fulfill that promise. He felt lower than he had in some time.

His head shot up when he heard Natalie enter the room. “Sir?” she asked gently. “Mr. Agreste, you should be asleep. Your blood pressure.”

He gave her a grim snort. “Forgive me, Natalie. I'm just...” He looked up at her portrait again. “Wallowing.”

Natalie moved closer to the staircase and leaned against the railing. “Tomorrow makes...” She looked up and counted in her head. “Twelve years since we lost her.”

“Natalie, at this moment it is...” Gabriel checked his wristwatch. “12:21 am. Today, makes twelve years since we lost her.”

“If I may be so blunt, Mr. Agreste...” Natalie looked up at the portrait. “I miss her too.”

“It's not just a matter of missing her, Natalie,” Gabriel sighed. “I do. Good lord, I do, but that isn't everything. She is... She was the only reason I ever thought I could ever be worth anything. You know, she asked me to do one thing before she left. One thing. And I can't even do that right. Every day this week me and Adrien have been in some sort of fight... I just... I just feel so utterly useless.”

Natalie looked at the floor. “Sir,” she started shakily. “I know it's not my place.”

“I just unloaded my emotional baggage on to you,” Gabriel smiled. “You have permission to speak freely.”

Natalie took off her glasses and looked right at Gabriel. “I knew Marie for longer than you did,” she said frankly. “We went to middle school together. Marie Aberjonois didn't waste her time with useless. She fell in love with you because you did have something to offer. Something real. Quite frankly, sir, I don't think you give yourself enough credit. I think the reason why you and Adrien have butted heads so often is because he's like his mother. He sees it in you too.”

Gabriel stood up and faced the portrait of his wife. “Do you think I can fix the mistakes I've made?”

“You were her husband, sir,” Natalie said softly. “You could remake the world, if you needed to.”

A grin spread across his face. She was right. Self-pity was beneath him. Beneath Marie. He would right his mistakes. He would remake the world. More than anything else, he would see her again.

Priority one was making sure that Bousquet knew why no one crossed the Hawk Moth.

“I'll be going out tomorrow,” he said calmly. “Have the car ready.”

Natalie nodded and left Gabriel alone in the room.

“I swear, it will all be worth it,” Gabriel said to his wife. “My sweet Honeybee.”

---

Marinette had made it to the agreed meeting place. Behind the schoolhouse, sixty minutes early for class. She was the second to arrive, just behind Alya, who was fishing something out of her bag. Looking the worse for wear.

“Tell me you got some sleep,” Marinette called to her.

“Nope,” Alya answered quickly.

“Me neither,” she sighed, placing her bookbag down. “I could almost swear I heard him laughing outside of my window last night. Who knew that clanging chage could be so scary?”

“Uh,” Alya looked up and considered the question. “Rod Serling.”

“Who?” Marinette asked.

“Okay, classic Twilight Zone,” Alya nodded. “Making a note for next Girl's Night.”

“Girl's night would mean I'd have to skip it,” a voice called up from the hill. “I mean, I know I'm gorgeous, but this is all man.”

They turned round to see Nino Lahiffe walking up to the meeting place from the small grassy hill. Alya strode right up to him and smacked him upside his head. “Where the hell have you been?!” she hissed at him. “I told you to be here over fifteen minutes ago!”

“Ow!” Nino protested. “Be lucky I got here at all, Alya! I had to wrench my dad out of bed to get me here, and with me coming home late last night I think he's starting to think I'm dealing.”

“Sorry, I'm a bit on edge,” Alya sighed. “Listen, where's Adrien.”

Nino shrugged. “I'unno.”

“What do you mean 'I'unno!” Alya shouted. “He didn't come with you?”

“We live two different lives, and in two very different places,” Nino clarified. “I don't know where he is. He said he'd meet up with us here. Be patient.”

It didn't take long for Adrien to arrive. He kept looking back to where he came from very confused. “What the hell was that about?”

“What's up, man?” Nino asked.

“My dad,” Adrien answered. “He... like... talked to me. Like a normal person for once. He let me talk about Mom, and ask questions... He even gave me advice on w...” he trailed off when he caught sight of Marinette. “It's just.. It's not like him.”

“Maybe he's lightening up,” Nino mused. “I mean, of ever a dude needed it,”

Adrien nodded incredulously, then turned back towards the group. “Alright, we're all here,” he said calmly. “What have you found out?”

Alya whipped out her smartphone. “I know this will come as a shock to you, but,” she said calmly. “This guy is a serious psycho. Jacques Edouard Bousquet, born January 14 ^th , 1985, to, you guessed it, a broken home. Abusive father...”

“Oh..,” Marinette said with a note of sympathy.

“For the six years he was around,” Alya finished. “Before it is believed a young Bousquet pushed him in front of a subway train.”

“Oh..,” Marinette said with a note of horror.

“Yeah,” Alya nodded. “It turfs out on you like that. Every time you think it might stop being horrible... Look, here's another one. He married a Las Vegas Blackjack dealer...”

“And lived happily ever after, now leaving his dark past behind him?” Marinette said hopefully.

“After gambling away the small inheritance given to her by her elderly grandmother...”

“Oh lord,” Adrien sighed.

“He then proceeded to tie her to a log and feed her to a freaking sawmill?!” Nino guessed.

“Shot her through the head in a Paris hotel,” Alya finished. “Dressing the scene to look like a suicide. She was the first victim in the string of murders that finally led to his capture.”

Marinette was pinching the bridge of her nose. “At least they caught him.”

“Forty-one bodies later,” Alya nodded.

“Okay,” said Adrien, trying to regain his bearings. “The guy is an almost comically sadistic creep. We knew that. How does this help?”

“Sadistic doesn't even begin to cover it,” Alya stepped forward a little to press the point home. “There's a reason he bailed last night. He wants to hurt you both. This guy won't be satisfied until he's taken everything from you, and crushed your spirit. He's a cat, Adrien. He want's to play with you, then kill you.”

“Hey!” came a small voice from inside Adrien's bookbag. “I resemble that remark!”

Marinette had never seen Adrien's Kwami close up before, and by the looks of things neither had Nino.

“Ah!” Nino screamed. “Cat demon!!” He swatted at the catlike imp a couple of times. Each time the Kwami ducked out of the way of being squashed. Eventually, Adrien caught the creature by the scruff of the neck.

“Plagg, this is everyone,” Adrien sighed. “Everyone, Plagg.”

At the mention of the Kwamis name there was a violent shaking from Marinette's purse. She could hear muffled shouts coming from the inside. She decided it was best to not let Tikki out for the time being. Plagg was enough to explain.

“What the hell, dude?!” Nino asked, still terrified of the little black cat.

“A Kwami, like Plagg here, is the spirit of a Miraculous gem,” Adrien explained.

“More like the Miraculous were made to contact us, ” Plagg clarified.

“He's the source of my powers,” Adrien continued. “Imagine if the Akuma ate old cheese, and never shut the hell up.”

“I met Marinette's,” Alya added. “Is she here?”

“Tikki?” Marinette asked nervously, trying to ignore more violent, angry shaking from the handbag. “No... No she's back at home. She'll be here when I need her.” There was something about the way Tikki desperately wanted out of that bag that made Marinette hesitate over bringing her out. She would apologize later.

“Speaking of the Akuma,” she said, desperately trying to change the subject before Tikki chewed a hol in her bag. “Nino, Alya, you both were Akumatized... Didn't you ever try to break free from Hawk Moth's control?”

Nino and Alya looked down and away from Marinette. This was still very uncomfortable to talk about. “I need you to imagine the biggest funk you've ever been in,” Nino started. “The most depressed, or angry, or bitter you've ever felt about anything.”

Marinette put herself back to any position she was ever in that involved Chloe Bourgeois.

“Now take that bitter feeling you've got in your stomach,” Nino explained. “Make it your whole world, and then...”

“Turn all of it into hate,” Alya finished. “Nothing else matters except revenge. You just want to cause someone pain. Hurt them like you've been hurt. Your willpower, your good qualities, your sense of self? All of it buried under a ten mile mound of your very worst qualities. And that's not even the wort part.”

Marinette put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

“It doesn't leave all the way,” Alya was starting to tear up. “It leaves a... residue. You start getting angry more easily. Long nights can make you irritable. You start noticing...” Alya trailed off.

“That you could do things after the transformation that you couldn't do before,” Marinette guessed. “Like... Hack into a Paris street camera?”

Alya looked right at Marinette. Tears streaming down her face. “Marinette, I was the internet for twelve hours,” she sobbed. “Ever since I came out of it I can just... understand computers. Practically talk to them. Every time I log in it feels like I'm going to revert. It's been scaring the hell out of me, Marinette...”

“Hey,” Marinette wrapped Alya in a tight hug. “Alya, you are one of the smartest, nicest people I know. There is a reason Hawk Moth had to crush your will to make you a supervillain. You are not evil. You're going to help me prove that, okay.”

Alya nodded, calming down. “Rebelling didn't feel like an option,” she explained quietly. “It was like he was standing right over my shoulder. I got to know him in that time. If I ever passed him on the street I think...”

“You'd know,” Nino finished. “You've never met him in person, but if you saw Hawk Moth you'd know it was him.” He looked up to meet everyone's gaze. “I'm just rambling. Ignore me.”

A pall had fallen over the meeting. Marinette begged for something to break the tension so they could move on.

Luckily, at that moment Marinette's purse broke open. “ PLAGG!” Tikki shrieked. “ You mangy, two-timing creep!!”

“Tikki!” Marinette said, in shock. “What's gotten into you!”

“Wait a minute,” Alya held up a hand. “'Two-Timing?'”

“Tikki!” Plagg said awkwardly as he hid behind Adrien. “Been a while.”

“I swore that if I ever saw your furry face again I'd force feed you your own whiskers,” Tikki growled.

“What did you do?!” Adrien asked his Kwami.

“What makes you think I did anything?!” Plagg asked. Adrien shot him a look. “Oh, right.”

“What did he do?!” Tikki squeaked at Adrien. “I turn my back for one minute, and I find him cheating on me with that preening peacock bimbo!!”

“Wait,” Marinette asked, confused. “You two were a thing?”

“Peacock Bimbo?” Adrien tried to get some clarification.

“Cat's don't do monogamy, Tikki!” Plagg shot back. “You knew that when we got together.”

“Oh!” Tikki squeaked indignantly, turning her back on Plagg in a huff.. “Men are all alike. I don't know why Marinette bothers.”

“Oh my god,” Alya said. “This is the most adorable thing I've ever seen...”

“It's like a soap opera with Plushies,” Nino added.

“Plagg! Tikki!” came another small, but stern voice from behind them. “You both know better than to let your personal affairs interfere with your duties.”

They all turned to meet the eyes of a third Kwami. A green one with yellow eyes and a shell on it's back. Marinette recognized it.

“Master Wayzz!” Tikki and Plagg said simultaneously, before they both gave the creature a deep bow.

“Wayzz, why do you have to interrupt when it gets interesting?” came a wizened old voice from behind the Kwami. Wayzz turned and bowed, and Marinette quickly followed suit.

The Grand Guardian looked rather unassuming. An elderly balding Chinese man with a wispy beard. He wasn't very tall, he had a kind face, and he seemed to walk with a pronounced limp. But appearances could be decieving.

“Now,” said Master Fu. “I understand you kids are having your troubles.

---

The man who called himself Martin was shocked when he entered the bar. He kicked the door open, both hands being occupied. One with a large burlap sack, and one with a Smartphone.

“What the hell,” he said through a huge toothy grin. “Are you idiots doing in a gin joint at ten in the morning?!”

The ruffians in the bar backed off. They knew not to mess with supers when they came calling.

“You should find something more productive to do with your time!” He held up the smartphone. “See, me? I've been reading this blog! Fascinating stuff! This girl has got a head on her shoulders! With enough hard work and determination she too can become a worthless talking head on BBC worldwide.”

He slung the sack over his shoulder. “You learn some things!” he smiled. “In fact, this one post... Well, long story short I need to break into a highschool. So...”

He poured out the contents of the sack onto the ground. Gold coins. Practically the size of hubcaps. They tinkled and spilled out all over the floor. “Who wants to be a faceless goon?”

Without hesitation, the goons leaped on the money. Taking bits of it and cramming it into their pockets. Martin picked up one coin and examined it incredulously. He peered out from behind his sunglasses. “Should we ask where you got this kind of money?”

“Oh him?” the Bandit answered. “He lent me the phone.”

Logic: Bandit is moving into PARODY at this point.

Me: Eh, Bandit was always kinda parody. He literally started out as me taking a shot at the Pegi rating system for putting the kibosh on Pokemon's Game Corner, deciding to make slot machines as dangerous as the EU seemed to think they were. Sun and Moon had very implicitly implied CHILD ABUSE, but it's the casino is what pushes it to Pegi 12?

Logic: Hey, stop that. Who's Logic here?

Me: Sorry

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