No Way Out

A Brick and A Lot of Questions

Simone Clément couldn't believe that she had gotten to this point in her life. After knocking out Marinette Agreste, she quickly dragged her body into an alley where they would be out of sight.

Trying to catch her breath, she stared down at the unconscious woman. It might have taken a few days longer than expected, but she finally did it.

The original plan was to carry out the attack on Saturday. After following Marinette around for a few days, Simone had her schedule memorized.

On both Saturday and Sunday, however, things were different. It was almost like Marinette sensed something was up, and purposely avoided her normal routine.

Getting aggravated, Simone started to think that maybe it was a sign from the universe not to proceed. When Monday morning arrived, however, Marinette was exactly where she was expected to be.

She didn't know when she would get another chance, so Simone quickly followed her from the metro station. Ignoring the horrible feeling in her stomach, she picked up the first available thing she could use as a weapon: a fallen brick from the side of an old building. Then she closed the distance between them, squeezed her eyes shut, and swung her arm out as hard as she could. After hearing Marinette fall to the ground, she opened her eyes.

It was done.

But that was the easy part. Now Simone would actually have to follow through with the rest. At least she wouldn't have to murder the poor woman. Lila made it abundantly clear what she wanted.

Just the thought made Simone feel sick to her stomach. Marinette Agreste seemed like a nice enough person, but that was inconsequential. She was the target, and if Simone wanted to stay outside of prison, she had to go through with it.

After she was released, she tried to do the right thing. Her parole officer set her up with a group home to live in and helped her get a job. Being an ex-convict though, there were only so many places that were willing to employ her.

It only took a few evening shifts of working at a horrible low-paying job for her to realize that she would probably never save up enough money to rent an apartment on her own. The group home was a place to stay, but the atmosphere didn't make it feel all that different from jail. Simone hated it, and she needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

That left her no other choice. She'd have to go along with Lila's plan. Once she was done, Lila would tell her the name of a Miraculous holder. She'd steal it from them, and sell it. Then she wouldn't have to worry about money ever again.

Marinette had plenty of money. Not only was she a famous and successful designer, but she married into wealth as well. She didn't need to work. She had no worries. She lived a happy, carefree life with her gorgeous husband and their three healthy children.

Simone could understand why Lila hated someone like her so much. On top of that, they had personal history between them. Yes, Lila had told her all about how she and Adrien were happily dating before Marinette swooped in and stole him away.

If she stopped to think about it, Marinette kind of deserved what was about to happen. At least, that's what Simone kept telling herself over and over in her head. It's the only thought that kept her there, about to do something that she really didn't want to do.

Before that could happen though, Simone had to make it look like a mugging gone wrong. It couldn't look like a targeted attack. Otherwise, the authorities might link it back to Lila, and then they'd follow the trail straight to her.

So Simone kneeled down next to Marinette and removed the purse from around her shoulder. Then she grabbed her left hand and slid two rings off of her finger. After not finding any bracelets or necklaces, Simone moved up to her ears.