Prison Yard

Chapter six - Road to Freedom

As the door knob turned, the door swung open. Marinette grabbed Lila by the arm and dragged her behind some lockers. Their backs pressed against the wall as the two of them stood next to a row of lockers. Marinette tried her best to slow her breathing but she was too afraid of the thought of getting caught. Lila peaked around the locker and whispered, "It's the janitor." Marinette replied with shaky breaths, "What do we do?" Lila ignored her question and she slowly creeped out of hiding. "Lila!" Marinette said quietly.

Marinette shut her eyes tightly, hoping she would wake up at home in her own warm bed. Her nerves caused her skin to tighten and her muscles to tense up. Marinette tried her best to steady her breathing but it was no use. Suddenly she heard a loud punch followed by the sound of limbs tumbling to the ground.

Marinette's instinct took over and she ran over to see what had happened. A large man dressed in slacks and a button down. He was laying on the ground, his limbs sprawled across the floor, a janitor cart stood a few feet away. Lila was searching through the cart. Marinette just sat there waiting for Lila to explain what just happened. It wasn't until she heard the sound of keys jingling and Lila holding up a keyring that she finally understood. Lila's original plan was to pick the lock herself, but unfortunately for her picking locks was not in Lila's skill set. The janitor walking in was pure luck, and based on the redness of Lila's knuckles she had assaulted the Janitor ending up with his being unconscious on the floor.

Lila ruffled though the keys until she found the one she was looking for. "I've got it." She said as she unlocked the locker with Marinette's name. Marinette opened the small door and rummaged through the clothes and other objects until she found the small circular earrings. They put them on and watched as the small flying creature appeared in front of her. The kwami flew to Marinette and hugged her cheek. 

 "Listen Tikki I don't have time to explain but I've got to transform." The tiny bug mouse thing nodded as Marinette said the magic words. The spotted red uniform of ladybug appeared on Marinette. "Lucky charm!" Marinette chanted. A hand mixer covered in red and black fell from thin air. 

 "A hand mixer?" Lila scoffed. "What are we supposed to do with that?" 

 "I don't know yet." Marinette protested. Marinette scanned the room but nothing caught her eye.

She ripped the keys from Lila's hand and started searching through the lockers. One after the other, nothing she found was useful until the sixth or seventh locker. She opened it to find a drill bit stuffed in a pant pocket. She took the drill bit and attached it to the hand mixer creating a makeshift drill. "That thing better work." 

 "It will," Ladybug said confidently.

Ladybug jumped up to the open air vent and hoisted herself up. She looked down to see Lila peering up at her with her hand extended out to her. "Give me a hand would ya?" She asked. 

 "I'm sorry." Ladybug said. "You're a criminal, I can't let you out." Lila's expression changed instantly. Marinette slipped the cover of the air vent back over and could only see parts of Lila's face though the bars of the air vent grate.

"Mari, I was framed like you, I'm innocent!" Ladybug shook her head. 

 "You're not that good a liar, Lila." Suddenly the door of the locker room swung open. 

 "Hand behind your head! On the ground now!" A guard yelled. Lila obeyed the orders and had hand huffs fastened to her wrists. Ladybug, out of fear, crawled as fast as she could out of there, heading towards freedom.  

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Word count: 644 (not counting this)