When Walls Crumble

Chapter 19: Theft

Gabriel Agreste ditched the wedding after his plan failed. He had been planning it for months, covering Adrian and Kagami from Lila and making her think he was heartbroken and eventually that she liked him. How could it have failed? She was supposed to remain undetected and sow very subtle discord in the city.

Come to think of it, why did he tell her to touch Kagami? Did he really do that? That was sure to get her noticed. How could he have jeopardized his plan like that?

No. He didn't give her that order...did he?

"What happened, Nooru? Did I give her that order or not?"

Nooru gasped. "You double akumatized her. She has both sets of powers."

"So?" he growled.

Nooru cowered. "Espionne's powers. She can subtly influence someone's perception of the truth. At this point, I don't think she even realized she did it. She wanted to attack, so she made you think you wanted her to attack. She's been a liar all her life and Espionne for years. It must be so natural to her by now."

He made a low canine growling sound. Nooru shuddered and inched backward. He had never seen his master so unhinged before.

"Well, we'll see how she likes living without her powers. Dark wings, rise!" he shouted, cutting across Nooru's protests.

Hawkmoth closed his eyes and concentrated, reaching out for her mind.

Across the city, Lila, who also ditched the wedding, felt a familiar and welcome presence in the back of her mind.

"Hello, Hawkmoth, I would..."

"Lila Rossi, you betrayed me. I gave you powers and you used them against me. Well, you can say goodbye to them now and have fun getting back into everyone's good books without them."

He recalled his Akuma and purified it. No sense in leaving it in the open. Especially given the power set.

Lila shrugged. "His loss." She pulled out her phone and looked through her gallery to make sure it was still there.

Yes.

A five-minute video she covertly took with her smartwatch at her last meeting with him as Gabriel Agreste. Bad quality, but the proof was still there. And, extra bonus, if it was bad quality, there was less chance it was fabricated.

But here was her choice: did she incriminate him in revenge or did she threaten to unless he gave her powers back?

But why did she want her powers so bad? Why was she willing to throw the only person who was ever not her enemy under the bus?

Adrian. 

She had to win him. She had been slowly working on it, feeding him thought of being in love with a girl who was already dating.

It wasn't hard, of course. He liked her 'as a friend' and was easy to convince. And if he ever got the nerve to tell her, added bonus, it would cause Marinette emotional pain. And since Hawkmoth took her powers, not Ladybug, the effects remained. So all the people she convinced she had changed were still convinced. And her acting talents would keep it that way.

No, she wasn't going to expose him yet. She had what she wanted. And just to make sure...

Lila opened her desk drawer and checked behind the secret panel at the false back. 

The peacock miraculous was still there.