No Way Out

A Public Trash Bin, A Personal Trash Bin, and Results

Simone couldn't stop crying after she left the prison and made her way to her next stop. Just when she thought that the worst was over, she was blackmailed into doing another job for Lila.

Marinette Agreste was only the first target. Now, Simone would have to do the same thing to Gabriel Agreste. Then after that, who knows how many more there would be.

Now that Lila had control over her, she was trapped. There was nothing that she could do to get out of it. If she refused to play along, Lila would tell the guards at the prison that Simone had been the one to attack Marinette. Even though it wasn't her intent to kill the woman, the extent of the injuries would probably be enough to charge her with attempted murder. Not to mention the theft aspect of it.

So she was stuck. She had no alibi for that morning, and she had already gone to prison once for theft. It would be an easy conviction.

There was no way out. If Simone refused, she would end up in prison. If she went through with it, Lila would probably give her another target. Around and around they would go, with Simone committing more and more crimes each time. It wouldn't end until she was caught red-handed or until Lila eventually ran out of targets.

How many were there? Lila had said 'a few more' during their conversation. Did that mean three? Five? Ten? Twenty? Would it ever end?

Walking along the street, Simone held onto Marinette's purse tightly as she sobbed. How she wished that she had never agreed to help Lila at all.

Was any of it real? Had they actually been friends? Or was the whole thing a setup? Did Lila even know the name of a Miraculous holder? Or was that a lie to get her to agree with the plan?

Approaching a public trash bin, Simone finally stopped walking. It was time to get rid of some of the evidence.

So she opened Marinette's purse and inspected its contents for the first time. A cell phone. A wallet. A rectangular box. A set of keys. Two rings and a pair of earrings. That was it.

The cell phone was immediately dropped to the ground and smashed by her heel. Then it was the first thing to be thrown into the trash bin. Next, she opened the wallet up. After stuffing the cash she found into her pocket, she looked through the cards. The identification card, the metro pass, and the credit cards, along with the wallet itself, all went into the trash bin. She might have been stupid enough to trust Lila Rossi, but she wasn't stupid enough to use stolen credit cards.

The keys were the next thing to be disposed of before she curiously opened the rectangular box. Inside was a row of colorful mini macarons. Thinking that they might as well not go to waste, she grabbed one and popped it into her mouth. After a moment though, she grimaced at the strange taste and decided to toss the rest.

That step was done. Now, Simone had to move on to the next one.

She traveled a few blocks to a pawn shop she had visited before and went inside. The man at the counter looked over at her.

"Hi," she squeaked out nervously. "I have some items here..."

"To sell, or pawn?" he interrupted in a gruff voice.

"Sell."

"All right. What do you got?"

Simone reached into the purse and pulled out the two rings before handing them over.

The man squinted as he held them up to the light. "These real?" he asked, referring to the diamonds.

A vigorous nod.

After a minute, he pulled a contraption from under the counter and held it up to the rings. Once he was satisfied that the diamonds were indeed real, he looked at Simone again. "I'll give you a thousand for both," he offered.