I will love again

Part 14 - (Dis)appointment

Adrien had insisted to come along. And so, Ladybug of course followed right behind them. She hadn't told her parents, of course, as they didn't know about her being Ladybug. But the two Agreste's in the back of the limousine were very certain, that Marinette would go right up into her room, so she could transform and follow them.

A look through the rear window of the silver car confirmed that. She was using her yo-yo to swing from building to building and soon landed on top of the roof with a barely noticeable thud.

Gabriel turned his head to look at his son and whispered, so the man in the front seat would not be able to hear them:

"I would like you to transform into ChatNoir too, but I am already convinced that you were about to do that anyway. Am I right?"

The blond boy nodded.

"That's good. Maybe two well known superheroes will be able to stop them from ever speaking to or about Nathalie again!", he said angrily.

"How is Nathalie doing by the way? Is she alright after all this stress?", Adrien asked.

His father responded with a very concerned look on his face:

"No, she's not. She was much better, and she had started to open up a little bit to me again, and then that happened. She is not okay, Adrien, and if we can't stop all these things, that are going on, I am afraid, that she won't be ever again. She even seems to be physically ill after that. It's the first time I wish, I had never given up the miraculous. Or I had succeeded, so I could use that wish to undo Nathalie's past. She deserves so much more than this!"

He pointed at an old simple house they had just stopped in front of. Adrien got out of the car and gestured Ladybug to follow him to a place where first the bodyguard wouldn't be able to notice her and second, where nobody would see him transform.

"Adrien, why are we here? I was following you just in...."

"Claws out!", the model interjected and after a flash of green light he was suddenly standing there as ChatNoir.

"I'm sorry, M'lady, but I was coming to protect my father just in case something was about to got wrong, and though I knew, you wuold be here too, what should we have told your parents, if all of a sudden they noticed the both of us gone?"

"Yeah, you're right about that, Chaton. So, what now?"

"We sneak as close as we can and wait if we will be needed. Maybe father can make them stop and take back their statement without our help. He can be very intimidating."

"Oh yes", Ladybug mumbled. "But let's get over there anyway!"

The two superheroes took a little detour and approached the house from the back, while Gabriel walked straight towards the front porch and knocked on the door.

Nobody opened. He could just hear footsteps and quiet whispers.

He knocked again, harder this time.

A muffled shriek could be heard from the inside, followed from a man's voice ordering: "Shut your mouth and go to the basement, I'll handle that as always!"

Gabriel raised his eyebrows and gave the bodyguard a sign with his head. The man grunted and got out of his seat, to stand beside the car.

A moment later the door of the house opened and a tall man about sixty years old stared at him with a fake grin.

"Yes", he growled through gritted teeth.

Gabriel, who immediately recognized a fake smile, gave him his very own beaming smile and said with an almost enthusiastic happiness to his voice, while grabbing the older man's hand and shaking it vigorously: