"Alright then," said Marinette.  She took a bite out her sandwich and chewed it slowly. Should she still bring it up? She was still upset with him. Maybe she could just asked if he had a curfew and made sure he obeyed it. "Is there anything else you want to talk about, Mr. Agreste?" She had to keep the conversation going. 

Tikki couldn't help, but roll her eyes. Lycca was being a drama queen. "Speaking of Pain. Have you two reconnected since her return?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Those were the main things..."  He took another bite from his sandwich before he sighed. He didn't want to let on how much it bothered him that he had to talk to Marinette to get any information on his own son.  Even so, his next question escaped his lips before he could stop it. 

"How is Adrien doing...? Other than his dislike towards me.. Does he seem happy?" Because the only times he'd interacted with Adrien in recent memory had either been a fight, a lecture, or almost painfully awkward.  Of course, he didn't mean to make this current conversation painfully awkward, but the words were already out there.

Lycca shrugged. "Here an there. Gabe and Peacock have met up a few times, but that's bout it.  Why?"

Marinette stared at him. She wasn't accepting the conversation to turn to this. She looked out the window briefly. It made her sad to hear this. They both were hurting and Adrien will letting stubbornness get in the way. She sighed and looked at him. "He's happy when we're together." she paused."We do butt heads about you. I'm neutral, but Adrien doesn't believe it. I just want you two to make up..." Marinette wondered if she said too much. 

Tikki walked around a bit. Might as well come clean. "Has Pain hinted about Peacock's identity? It bothers me that we're left out of the dark."

Gabriel stared down at his drink as he thought about her words. The last thing he wanted was to cause a rift between Marinette and Adrien, but it was nice to know she wasn't trying to choose sides. He couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if he'd moved on and tried to be a good father rather than neglecting Adrien and obsessing over bringing Iris back to the point of becoming a super villain.  Would they be very close or had his relationship with Adrien been doomed form the start?

He shook his head and reminded himself there was no point in hypotheticals. His relationship with Adrien was his fault, and he'd have to fix it.  "Maybe someday we'll get there.. At least he's happy when I'm not around..."

Lycca shrugged and shook his head.  "We've talked a few times while Gabe and Peacock have met, but it never goes to Peacock's identity. She'll be upset if I do anything that enables me to guess."

"Well if that attitude you two will never make up," Marinette snapped. She then quickly gasped. "I'm sorry, Mr. Agreste." She looked away embarrassed. "That was uncalled for..."

Tikki sighed and sat down next to him. "This shouldn't bother me. It normally doesn't. At first I wanted to make sure we could trust. She was with the brothers now, but I feeling it's something else.."

Gabriel studied her for a moment. He probably should have expected her not to sugarcoat things. She was a strong and confident person after all. Why shouldn't she be blunt?

He took a sip of his water sighed. "No need to apologize.  I suppose you're right..  I need to do better."

Lycca stared at Tikki quizzically. "Something else?  What else could there be?"

Marinette breathed in relief. She was glad he didn't get mad. She just smiled at him. "I'm sure you will."

Tikki shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe I should just drop it.." she let out another sighed.

Gabriel nodded, not sure if he believed she was right. The longer Adrien acted this way, the harder it would probably be to work things out.  But he had gotten the information he wanted and decided not to push that topic any further.  They were finishing up anyways.

He looked at his watch before checking to see that she had finished her sandwich. "you should probably head back to class soon. Lunch is almost over.  Thank you for accepting my invitation."

Lycca shrugged.  "Do whatever you want.  Just be delicate.  Pain will definitely cry if you trick her into telling you."

Marinette smiled at him. "You're welcome. Yeah I should get going." She got up from her chair after finishing her food. She checked her purse and saw Tikki was gone. Marinette glanced around. "Tikki? Where are you? We need to head back."

Tikki bit her lip. "Do you want to help?" Before Lycca could answer she head Marinette's voice. "Think about it. See you later." She flew out of the drawer and left with Marinette.

Later that night, Chat Noir vaulted across the buildings of Paris on patrol with Ladybug.  He led the way, showing her another one of his various patrol routes.  The city was pretty quiet that night with the occasional civilian or car passing by beneath them. Basically his favorite kind of night for patrol.  

Chat was about to stop so they could take a small break and talk when a large creature zoomed not even a meter above their heads before a strong gust of wind pushed them to the side and onto one of the adjacent buildings. Despite the nearby lighting, the creature seemed to melt into the night, disappearing before he could recover.

He stood with his staff at the ready and surveyed the sky with his night vision, trying to find the giant beast.  All he could see was the occasional shadow and movement.  "This beast is fast..." He murmured while looking over to Ladybug.

Ladybug without a word glanced around. The beast could be anywhere. They needed to get out a sight and planned their next move. She quickly grabbed Chat by the arm and took down into an alley. It was dark so hopefully it wouldn't be able to see them.

"Chat," she said. "We need to get a hold of your dad and Peacock. I'll call Fu and you can call your dad." She tapped on the yo-yo and access the phone app.

Chat nodded and reluctantly pressed the paw print on his staff to open the phone.  He scrolled through the numbers programmed in his staff, all the way to the bottom of the list (where he had placed his father's number).  The rational part of his mind knew this beast would probably be tough, so they needed all the help they could get. But the irrational part... well, that part of him didn't want to be the one to have to admit to his father that they needed Hawk Moth.

The phone rang once, twice, three times before his father answered. Chat tried to hide his irritation. 

"Is everything okay?" His father asked, skipping past the pleasantries of a normal phone call to get straight to the point.

"There's a beast on the loose.  All we know is that it flies.  We didn't really see anything else," he answered.

"I'll be there soon." His father hung up the phone without another word, leaving Chat to glare at his staff. He could have said good bye or something. Oh well. His father was coming. At least Marinette would know he made some sort of effort.

Fu picked up his phone right away. He briefly talked to Ladybug and then hung up the phone. He left his room and walked over to Iris's room. He knocked the door and when she opened it, Fu told her about the beast attack.

Iris then transformed and made her way to the others. She used the GPS in her fan to locate them. Peacock landed between them and greeted them with a smile.

"Good evening," she said.

"Hey," said Ladybug.

"So what are we up against?"

"We're not sure. All we know it can fly."

Peacock just nodded her head.

"We're just waiting for Hawkmoth."

Peacock nodded her head again. She then stared at Chat for a split second before looking away. She wondered if Hawkmoth talked to their son.

Chat fidgeted as Peacock barely even glanced at him, his tail twitching. She was mad at him... Well, he was rude to her last time... In fact, his rudeness was probably the main reason he had this stupid curfew now. Still.. he should apologize...  "Hey, Peacock..." he began, but he was interrupted as Hawk Moth suddenly appeared next to him.

He jumped, knowing if he was any more cat-like his hair would have fluffed up in surprise. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. He turned to his father, unamused. "You shouldn't appear right next to someone without warning. Especially, when there's a beast around. I almost had a heart attack."

Hawk Moth shrugged. "Has the beast attacked again since you last saw it?"

Peacock turned to look at her son, but like him she jumped when Hawkmoth appeared. She turned her attention to him. She tried to show any interest in her son's comment.

Ladybug shook her head. "No I moved us here so it couldn't easily spot us."

"You said it could fly," said Peacock. "Maybe if I fly around I can get a good look of it."

"Be careful."

"I will," she said with a smile and flew up into the sky. Peacock flew around the area until she noticed a huge shadow coming toward her. When it got closer, she could tell it was a giant vampire bat. It was showing its fangs. Peacock threw one of her fans at it and then suddenly its body broke and became several mini bats. They gather around and swarmed around her. She quickly got out of the swarm and returned to another. "It's a vampire bat, but it broke apart into mini bats."