I wrote this in one go at close to midnight, so I apologize in advance.
I.O.N.
Enjoy!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The six experienced pirates and one new pirate in training puzzled over the problem of what to do with the captured slavers. Marinette had decided to stay out of the discussion until a half-way clear decision was made.
Chloe, Nino and, Kim were all in favor of finding a way to turn them in and collect the reward money. But, Alya, Alix and, Adrien all leaned towards the side of caution, worrying about the risks of exposing the Red Lady to guards and the military. Besides, Alya would say, don't you think it would sound just a little suspicious if a ship our size equipped as we are now, came in and said we were able to take down Akuma?
On that point, they all had to begrudgingly agree. Even to a novice like Adrien that just screamed suspicious. But as they argued, Chloe thought about what Alya had said. It would seem alarming and dubious if they were to say that the Red Lady had taken the Akuma, but on the other hand, if they said the opposite...
"I've got it!" Chloe shouted triumphantly, causing everyone to look at her. "Alya, you are absolutely right. If we told them that Red Lady had beaten the slave ship we would be called crazy and thrown in the loony bin. But, what if we told them the truth?"
"Chloe, that is the truth though. Red Lady was attacked and fought off, the slaving vessel Akuma. And you just said that that is completely unbelievable."
The bee-themed pirate laughed, "But she didn't!"
"I don't get it."
"That's the point, Adrien! We've overlooked the most obvious solution! What would you say if I told you that instead of Red Lady beating Akuma, it was Tikki that had done it? Would that sound more believable?"
"It would sound more convincing, but you seem to be forgetting that Tikki is even more wanted than Akuma."
By now, Kim had caught on to what Chloe was thinking and found it to be amazing. "Exactly. If an army that's even stronger than your enemy comes along to take the other side down, you wouldn't try and fight it. You'd say 'Thank you' and do whatever their leader said. So no one would think less of a ferry boat for not even trying to go up against Tikki."
Marinette stood up straighter and smiled, "Chloe you are a genius! With this, we get the reward money and no one thinks we are planning something nefarious with the Akuma pirates!"
Clearing her throat the young pirate captain attempted to regain some composure, "Would this plan satisfy all of you?"
"We would need to iron out a few more details, but other than that it seems like a solid plan."
"If it keeps us out of jail, and away from the noose, I'm all for it."
"It'll line our pockets a little better so why not?"
"I'm still pretty new to all of this piratey stuff but it seems fine."
Smiling once more Marinette put her hand on the table and looked at the other six, "Well then, I think we're all agreed."
But as they discussed, and debated, and argued over what they should do, no one noticed a young man sitting outside the door eavesdropping. And through this, he learned a great many incriminating things.
Now all he had to do, was decide what to do with it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing to say here.
Hope you enjoyed!
Comment what you thought!
See ya next time!
