When a liar gets you left behind

Chapter Twenty-Six: Tikki's Instructions and A Quick Decison

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   They walked through the portal with a rush of adrenaline. They didn't know what was going to happen beyond the portal. It could be good or bad. The Bats didn't know who they were, and yet, here they were just waltzing into the place.

They had come during the day in hopes of not running into any of the Heroes. Marinette had told Adrien this once he suggested going at night rather than day. She then reminded him that the heroes typically worked at night, unless there was a mass breakout or one of the insane criminals got out.

Hopefully luck would be with them and they wouldn't breakout today. Though, the chance was slim, all of the more wacky and top dog villains of the community were locked up, them all being in one place was a tad bit worrying.

After Marinette finished making the portal, she looked at them and lifted one finger to her lip. Knowing what she was asking, they nodded at her and followed her in.

Marinette slowly creeped in, silently observing the room, getting used to her new surroundings. When she finished checking every corner of the room, she finally let out a breath, finally relaxing her posture slightly, though she was still on alert.

Nobody was here but them, making her feel slightly better. She was worried that someone would be in the room when they entered.

"Okay, nobody is in here. Let's get this over with," Marinette said, speaking firmly in a low tone just in case someone was nearby.

"Wow, I'd never thought I'd see the place the Bats work in," Adrien said breathlessly as his eyes glanced all around the room, taking all of it in.

Both Marinette and Chloe seemed to have chosen to ignore this comment and start to worry about the task at hand.

Marinette's eyes glided over to a computer, she was about to go and look at another when she sensed the magic stuck within it.

Hmm, Marinette thought curiously, she hadn't been able to sense anything before—that is, besides some stronger Magic. It seemed like her Guardian side-effect was strengthening.

"It's this computer," Marinette pointed to it.

"Are you sure?" Chloe asked, not trying to be rude but rather meaning it in a concerned sort-of way.

Marinette understood Chloe's concern.

"Yes," Marinette replied confidently as she nodded. "I can sense the Magic stuck in it."

"Is your side-effects strengthening?" Chloe asked with an arched eyebrow.

Marinette nodded excitedly when she saw Adrien looking away from them. The topic reminded him of their recent conversation. Chloe caught Marinette's gaze and looked where he was, when she saw Adrien, they abruptly changed the subject. They didn't want to upset their friend.

"Okay, so I'll have to focus for a few seconds when I take this out," Marinette said quietly.

"We won't make a peep," Adrien and Chloe both said, understanding fully how vital her focus was for this task.

Marinette nodded and took a deep breath before getting to work, mentally preparing herself for it.

She thought about all the steps Tikki had whispered in her ear the first time she had done this.

Instinctively, Marinette put her hands around the computer. She could sense the magic stuck in the electronic, begging to be let free.

"Imagine it," Tikki said next to her ear. "Imagine how the magic is stuck, where it is stuck, what it looks like."

Tikki's wise-spoken words echoed in Marinette's mind, relaxing the girl slightly.

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in deep thought, her eyes closing. Her surroundings fell away as she focused on the magic that tossed in the computer. All the quiet sounds that enveloped her ears were drowned away into a peaceful silence.

In Marinette's mind, she could see the magic as a colorful fog. It was thin, she could see through it, but anything ya he saw through it had an almost fuzzy look about it. The fog was almost infused into the machine's gearwork.

"Connect it to something you are used to having to fix. For example, your threads when they get tangled."

Marinette could see them in her mind, a deep turquoise 100% cotten she had recently bought and a light green that was made of silk had gotten tangled together. Marinette could not see where one started and the other ended.

Almost instantly, she could imagine the magic and the computer's gearwork taking the place of the threads.

"Now imagine patiently unknotting every single little piece till they are unseperated all the way. Make sure you do it carefully."

Marinette thought of the many times she had painstakingly untwined each piece of thread from the other, untangling knot after knot patiently, tugging on each piece lightly so she didn't break the thread. Then picking off all the fuzz that had gotten onto each one after being rubbed together too much.

Marinette imagined doing the same process with the magic, patiently unraveling the magic from every nick and cranny of the machine's gearwork, then the wires and other areas. After that was done, Marinette imagined going back in and plucking out any piece of magic that still stuck to the computer, just like she did with the thread fuzz.

"Now open your eyes. But don't lose focus."

Marinette slowly did so, her eyes narrowed as they adjusted to the light once again. When she looked down to her hands that were still out, she saw a ball of colorful fog in them. It was slightly hovered over her hands, and she couldn't feel any extra weight from it.

Marinette let out a relieved sigh and let a smile come onto her face. She had done it.

She heard a gasp and some unrecognizeable words distantly. She then realized that everything was slowly coming back into focus.

When everything did, she was met with a man in a suit, that did not look happy.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" She heard him ask Chloe and Adrien.

"What is that?!" Marinette realized he must have just noticed she was there.

Chloe and Adrien turned to her and saw the magic that she held in her hands.

"None of your business," Chloe said harshly.

The man just ignored her.

"Look, It was nice meeting you, but I think it would probably be best if we just left," Adrien said quickly, his eyes on Marinette.

Marinette brought out her Yo-Yo and shoved the magic in, then, panicking, she ran up to Chloe and Adrien and harshly grabbed their hands.

"Look, I don't want to have to fight you," He said carefully.

Just then, Marinette picked up on some voices in the distance.

Marinette quickly accessed the situation. She knew they could probably take down this man, but there were more people coming, and she really didn't want to have to hurt another hero. So she did the next possible idea.

"Voyage!" Marinete yelled, making a portal appear.

Marinette was about to think of Jagged's house, when she realized that the man might follow them, so she chose a different location.

Marinette then shoved her teammates into the portal, letting it quickly shrink behind them till it finally faded away. Marinette and everyone else choosing to ignore the faint "Stop!"they heard.

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