When Walls Crumble

Chapter 22: Lila

"Now I have to start at square one," Gabriel explained to Nathalie.

She shifted uncomfortably, the most emotion she had shown in all her years working for him. She needed to tell him, but now didn't seem like the right time. However, she couldn't keep it from him.

"Square zero, more like," she added.

He looked up sharply. "What? What do you mean?" he spat.

She looked down. "The Peacock miraculous. It's gone. " She tapped a few icons on her tablet, pulling up the security footage of what had happened yesterday morning.

Gabriel watched in horror as Lila waltzed right up to his hidden door, opened it on her first try and stole the brooch.

"How?" he demanded. "How did she know the code?"

Nathalie tucked the tablet back under her arm. "My guess is that she used her powers to make you tell her and then to forget you had."

Gabriel growled. "As if she didn't have enough blackmail."

Nathalie took another glance at the tablet, noticing something she had missed in her initial panic. She rewound it.

"Sir? You may want to look at this..."

Gabriel grabbed the tablet and watched. His eyes widened. "What on earth..?"

He dashed out of the office and opened the safe behind Emilie's portrait. Lila had left a note. He almost ripped the paper in his attempt to open it.

If you akumatize anyone else again, I'm telling your son.

Gabriel fell to the ground as his life shattered around him. Which, of course, was Lila's plan. A dark feather fluttered into the note in his hand.

"Miss me, Papillion?" she mocked.

"How could you?" he sobbed. He tried to hide the bitterness and despair, but it was impossible.

"Aw," Lila sighed, dripping with mock sympathy. "I thought I'd have to work harder to make you despair that much. That was easy."

The horrendous purple butterfly senti-monster came into being right behind him.

"This lovely creation follows my orders," Lila reminded him. "And unless you hand over your miraculous, I will send it after your son."

Nathalie rushed to Gabriel's rescue. The seized the note and tore it in half. The monster vanished.

Gabriel sighed. "Thank you, Nathalie, but it's no use. She'll be back and I can't keep her out. I have to choose between my son and my wife. If I try to get the miraculous again to get Emilie back, she will tell Adrian everything. He'll probably hate me. If I agree to her terms and never akumatize anyone again, I lose my wife."

Nathalie put her hand on his shoulder. "But what does she want?"

He clutched at his jewel. "My miraculous."

Nathalie gasped. "But...why?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps out of spite. I was a fool. I thought that by setting her against the heroes, she would lose her memory. I...I didn't think it through."

"You won't lose either of them. She said one year. That gives us time to figure out how to neutralize this threat. But we have to be as careful as possible."

He put his hand on hers.  "Thank you, Nathalie."