No Way Out

Metal Bars and A Fearsome Opponent

Author's Note: This story is part 4 of the 'Half Way - All the Way - One Way or Another' series. This story contains major spoilers. So if you're interested in reading this, and haven't read the first three parts, I highly recommend going back and reading those first. Otherwise, you'll be completely lost about what is going on.

The first book is 'Half Way.'

The second book is 'All the Way.'

The third book is 'One Way or Another.'

If you've already read those three, please enjoy part four!

The lights dimmed down to almost complete darkness, and voices quieted down to almost nonexistent as two women were just starting their conversation. They were sitting with their backs against an adorning wall, separated by a meter of steel and concrete. Luckily their voices could carry through the metal bars that prevented them from leaving their adjacent cells.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" one of the women asked the other in a hushed whisper.

"Use your imagination, Simone," the other woman replied. "As long as you get the job done, I don't care about the specifics."

Simone leaned back and contemplated the request. With precious freedom only a few short weeks away, it was difficult to imagine a future where she would risk coming back to the current hell-hole that had been home for the past year and a half.

But, would she have even survived the past eighteen months without the woman in the cell next to her? The person who befriended and protected her? No one, not even the worst of the worst career criminals who occupied the other cells, was going to mess with the infamous Lila Rossi. Trapped in her thoughts, she didn't respond.

"Just one target," Lila continued with that soothing tone she reserved for certain occasions. "Do this one thing for me, and I'll make sure that you're taken care of on the outside. With your criminal record, no one will give you a chance, and no one will give you a job. You don't want to go back to stealing in order to survive again, do you? How long will it be until you end up right back in here?"

She chewed nervously on her lip. "I've been wondering that myself," she finally admitted. "It's true that I don't have any money. But neither do you," she added hesitantly, not wanting to seem like she was defying her.

Putting her hand out to examine her nails, Lila shrugged. "Money isn't everything, you know."

"What does that mean?" Simone asked, turning a little like she was trying to catch a glimpse of her. Of course, it was impossible.

"It means that some things are worth even more than money."

For a second she paused to think, but her mind came up empty. "Like what?"

"Like power," Lila said, frowning slightly at her broken nail. "The power to be invulnerable. The power to control time. The power to choose whatever power you want. Just think about how much that is worth. It makes something as common as money seem pretty insignificant, don't you think?"

Simone suddenly found it hard to breathe. "You're talking about the Miraculouses, aren't you?"

"Naturally."

She shook her head. "You don't have any Miraculouses. Maybe you did before, but you don't now. The only one who has access to them is Ladyb..." she froze, not being bold enough to complete the name in front of the former Hawk Moth. "Uh, you... you don't have any."

There was another shrug as Lila kept looking at her nails. "I might not have any in my possession right now, but I know where to find them."

Simone flinched in surprise. "You know who Ladybug is?"