Not Alone: A Miraculous Ladybug Story

Chapter 43

 Nino was tapping nervously against his thigh in an imaginary beat only he could hear. He was driving Alya crazy.

They had all separated onto different rooftops, each one facing a different side of the apartment building, and were waiting for 8:15 to come. Chloé said that was when Germain was due to give his speech, so their best bet would be to hit then when he was unable to handle whatever "situation" they might cause. Apparently his security staff and lackeys were loyal, but unimaginative and, without direction, could be downright stupid. This analysis of their intellect came from Chloé, mind, but still it was their best source.

She could make out a clock tower in the distance as it struck 8:15 and she looked over to Ladybug and Chat. They were huddled in discussion, and not making a move. Alya started to become anxious. How long would a speech last? Ten minutes at least, but no more than thirty. She looked back over after checking and seeing that a few more minutes had lapsed and saw Ladybug holding Chat's hand as they threw her yoyo and swung onto the next building. Volpina and Honu lept into action.

The plan was to check the building from the outside. Chat had the north, Ladybug had the east, Volpina and Honu had the south and Hawkmoth had the west. Hopefully they would be able to see where she was from the window. If not, they had all memorized a blueprint of the building that she had gotten her hands on--don't ask how--and would check all the listed one-bedrooms until they found her.

They slowly made their way down the building. Alya tried to remind herself that this was for a good reason to make herself feel like less of a hopeful voyeur. Unfortunately, most of the windows had curtains and about half were closed shut. About halfway through their search, Ladybug called them and they all met on the roof.

"We didn't think this through," she had a hand covering half her face. "There has to be a better way."

"The kwamis," Nino said suddenly. "That's how you broke into the safe the first time right?" He looked at Adrien who blushed and steadfastly avoided his father's eyes. Nino continued, "I'll detransform--I can't fly or swing or vault or whatever so I'm useless right now anyway--and Wayzz can do a search. And Chat and Volpina!" he shouted a little too loudly for an undercover mission, "you can use your enhanced hearing. We'll go to the one-bedroom apartments and the kwamis will check it out when you hear something."

"Works for me," Ladybug nodded and released her transformation. "Tikki and I will go with Chat. You and Volpina take Hawkmoth." She looked meaningfully at her friend and Alya got the message. Marinette had told her she was worried about how the Agrestes would react, so keeping them separate would keep emotion from interfering with this rescue mission too much. She could handle Adrien, but if Gabriel started to break down or got angry, she didn't know what she would do.

Alya nodded at her, and once Nino had released his transformation, they split up and started the search again.

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Adela sat in silence, like always, trying to meditate. She'd lost track of time, but she thought it had been over a year since she'd been under Germain's "care". At first he'd let her go out, heavily guarded of course, but after one too many attempts to get a message to Gabe, he shut that down too. He had tried to break her, but he only managed to make her pissed.

She was angry at herself, of course. She felt weak for allowing this to happen. Some miraculous holder she turned out to be. She was just happy that she managed to save Duusu. No doubt Gabe or Fu had found her, but even if they didn't, she was still better off than being in Germain's hands. What he had planned for her old friend...she shuttered. Better to be free. After months of attempting to manipulate her mentally, Germain decided brute force would be more useful. Besides, he needed her to "put on a show" for her family. He was careful to never hit hard enough to break anything, but still the feeling of being restrained--because of course the coward tied her up so she couldn't fight back--while someone beat you unconscious was not something she wished to repeat; so she played along.

It had been approximately two months since that day, and though the bruises had healed, she pretended to be to be broken. It wasn't hard, she missed her family with a fierceness she never imagined, and finally allowed herself to cry for the situation she found herself in and the danger her son and Gabe may be in. Her captors had softened. They started letting things slip and talked more openly around her. It wasn't a lot, but Adela accumulated everything, storing it safely in the back of her head for later. One day she would be free and Germain would pay for what he did to her family, but for now, she would act the victim.

That was until a week or two ago. Something changed, and Adela could only imagine Germain's plan was being set into motion. The guards she had for more than a year changed, and larger more aggressive men were put in their place. She heard snippets of their grumblings and learned that Paris had acquired two new superheroes. She knew what Germain was making Gabe do, but she had heard Chat Noir and Ladybug were back through some old newspapers left laying around. While she doubted they were her old friends, it gave her comfort to see that the mantle had been passed to a new generation, even though seeing them gave her a bittersweet pang in her chest.

The new security caused problems though. She naively realized that she had begun to think of her old security as some type of friends. They allowed her a certain degree of freedom, and despite being her prison guards, they were kind. One benefit to this change up was it snapped her out of whatever Stockholm syndrome she was unknowingly falling into. The downside was that her "broken" act had shattered. The first night, the new guard thought it'd be fun to have a go at her. While she may have feared it initially when Germain dropped her off with two strange men in an apartment however many months ago, neither of her former guards had ever laid a hand on her. Even when Germain came to beat her for his perverted version of a home movie, they stood motionless and brought her ice and bandages afterward. This guard thought differently.

While she didn't currently hold a miraculous, all those years of being a vigilante of Paris did not leave her weak and defenseless. The struggle was over before it started and the man lay whimpering in a heap on her bedroom floor before his hand made it past her collarbone. The other guard ran in to see what the commotion was and stared flabbergasted by the sight of his six foot and 250 pound colleague in fetal position with a 5'5" petite woman standing over him, murder in her eyes. Without a word, he collected his acquaintance, and neither of them had spoken to her since. Sometimes she would catch furious glances from her would-be attacker, but she was satisfied by the fear in his eyes. A large part of her wished she'd broken more than his hand to stop him from trying something on a woman who didn't have her benefit of decades of vigilante training.

While she waited for another opportunity, or any chance to glean new information or escape, Adela meditated. She had ruined her facade of the broken woman, she she chose something even more terrifying: calm indifference. They wanted to be feared, so she would show them they didn't matter.

She sat, her legs in butterfly position, when for the first time in a year, a friendly voice squeaked her name.

"Adela?"

She opened her eyes, and floating in front of her was a small, red creature with a black spot on her head. Tear welled up in her eyes, and a wave of salvation rushed over her.

"Tikki?"