No Way Out

A Vendetta and A Panic Attack

As soon as they brought Marinette back to the room after her trip to radiology, Adrien was right by her side again. Emilie and Gabriel were sitting in two chairs along the wall.

After a moment, the nurse entered the room and went up to Marinette. "The radiologist already cleared your neck CT, so we can take this off," she explained, removing the neck brace.

It was way too constricting and uncomfortable, so Marinette was very happy to have it removed.

"How are you feeling right now?" the nurse continued. "Do you need any more medicine?"

"No, I don't need any medicine. But can I please sit up a little?"

"Yes." The nurse moved the head of the bed up so Marinette was sitting at an incline and could actually see everyone. "All right. The doctor will be back in once we get the rest of the results from your scans." Then she double checked the monitors and left the room.

With just the four of them there, they could finally speak freely.

"How bad was it?" Marinette asked quietly.

"It was bad," Adrien said simply, not wanting to relive the nightmare by talking about it. "But you're okay now, and that's all that matters. If anyone else asks, your pain is mostly on your head, your ribs, and your left shoulder and arm. Those were the areas that the doctor was most concerned about."

She nodded and looked over at her father-in-law. "Thank you, Gabriel."

"It was my pleasure, Marinette."

"So, where are the kids?"

"They're at school," Adrien answered. "It's still early."

"And I called your parents and Nathalie again a few minutes ago," Emilie added. "Sabine will be here soon, and Tom is going to stay at home and pick up the kids when they're done with school. Nathalie was going to stay at the office until things are covered before coming over."

Marinette let out a sigh, relieved to know that everything was being taken care of. "Okay, so..." she paused, trying to wrap her head around the situation. "I was mugged?"

"That's what it seems like," Adrien said. "You had your purse when you left the house this morning, right?"

"Of course."

"The police never found it. So whoever attacked you must have ran off with..."

A knock at the door made Adrien stop.

They all looked over as Lieutenant Roger popped his head into the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt," he said, "but I was told that you were awake, Mrs Agreste. If you're feeling up to it, I'd like to ask you some questions about this morning."

"Yes, of course," Marinette replied. "Please come in."

He moved up to her and pulled out his notepad. "First of all, I'm sorry that this happened to you. We're going to do everything we can to try and catch this guy."

She gave him a grateful smile.

"Now, in your own words, can you tell me what happened today?"

"Well," Marinette murmured. "I woke up this morning at home. I got ready for work and got the kids out of bed and dressed. Then we all had breakfast. Then after that I left the house and walked to the metro station. I took the train to my stop, and started walking toward the office. The next thing I knew, I was waking up here."

"You don't remember being attacked?"

She slowly shook her head.

Lots of scribbling. "Do you know the approximate time that you got off the train?"