Bug Bites

Chapter | Seventeen

Blurry.

Everything was blurry. The voices that swarmed around her ears, the lights she could see through her barely opened eyes, and hell even the smells. Everything was just blurry. She couldn't focus herself, but she felt everything around her moving. She felt cold, that was all Marinette could really register.

Tikki on the other hand felt useless. She couldn't really try much, not with these people putting a contraption on Marinette's neck that acted too much like an electric collar. Lucas had broken Marinette's phone, tossed anything on her person that could be tracked out the van window earlier. The man was vile and Tikki would make sure he payed for all this one way or another.

"Is she awake yet?" An older man with a British accent that Tikki didn't not recognize asked.

"Not yet General." A woman replied, clip board in hand. "According to Sergeant Valentino, she is a highly promised case. Despite this being an unorthodox way of going about it."

"Hmm." He hummed, watching the teenaged girl tied to the chair. "I have other things to attend to, but I expect the given results in a week. If Sergeant Valentino is going to pay for our services, I want to know the outcome of this one Nadia.

Nadia watched as he walked out of the room, a sigh leaving her lips as she regained focus on the girl in front of her. This was all new to her, how this girl had magical properties given to her by a small thing called a kwami. Yet she was also being paid not to ask questions, only do as her client wanted. Lucas Valentino was a man with a lot of money and power, and unfortunately for the teenaged girl here he wanted her as well.

"What exactly are we supposed to do?" Another scientist asks her, unsure exactly what they were supposed to do.

Nadia frowned as she gripped the designator in her hand, "Phase one is to break her." With that she pressed down on the red button, watching as Marinette's eyes snapped open and a scream ripped through the room and reverberated against the walls.The electric current wasn't enough to kill her, but it was enough to hurt her.

Over and over again Nadia did what she was supposed to do, watching carefully as Marinette's body reacted and her breathing. The heart monitors connected to Marinette showed the distress the girl felt, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Tikki on the other hand felt horrified as she realized Lucas brought Marinette here to be tortured. What the hell was that man thinking? What did he even want from Marinette if it wasn't for her miraculous? Tikki had taken note how no one took a slight interest in her, a kwami. Instead they were all solely focus on Marinette and there was no way for Tikki to safely get Marinette out of here. She also felt the need to not leave her holder alone, not knowing if she took off to get help if they would move Marinette somewhere else so she could really not be found by anyone else. Despite the easy escape she could have, she wasn't going to leave her.

The door to the room opened, and it was then Tikki took note they were in a lab. She knew they were deep underground, but who these people were she had not a single clue. Master Fu had enemies, but she was sure there were not his enemies. Maybe Stephen's or Tony's? The pain Marinette felt was vibrating inside Tikki, and it was going to kill Marinette. They weren't asking her anything, not for any information so Tikki truly wasn't sure what the hell Lucas wanted from them.

"This is going to hurt a lot." A man said, and Tikki watched as he put a towel over Marinette's shoulder and in his other hand was a wooden baton. Without another word he lifted the baton and swung it hard against Marinette's shoulder. Both Tikki and Marinette cried out as Marinette's shoulder made a cracking sound at impact and pain flared up like a firework in her arm.