The Algorithm

Chapter three - Redwood Park

Marinette's plan was simple. As soon as she and blondie got to the car, she would inject a nonlethal sedative into his upper arm, nothing harmful, just something to make him docile, and she would bring him back to GUARD without conflict. She admits it is rude to drug people, but she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't break her cover, and she needs to get him to safety. She cannot let Akuma take someone else and make them a monster like her.

"Oh, that looks like a nice location right there," Marinette spoke in her giddy voice, pointing in the direction under a tree. Playing the stupid, innocent kid was killing her and holding the fake smile was exhausting, not to mention painful. Her cheeks and lips were tired and she wanted nothing more than to return to her usual indifferent expression. 

 "Good lighting, has a nice background, it could make for a nice pho-..." She stopped herself mid-sentence. Her entire life, or at least the little bit of her life she could remember, she had been looking over her shoulder. Every tiny flicker of movement, any slight sound, or shift in the shadows, Marinette noticed it all. It was an instinct that had been burned into her subconscious since childhood.

She saw a beam of light reflecting off the building in front of her. The sun maybe, but Marinette wasn't that naïve. 'Everything is a threat.' She had been told from a young age. She had had that thought drilled into her mind since she was only eleven years old and she was grateful for it, it had saved her life more than once.

The beam of light stood still; Marinette's eyes narrowed. Was it just her, or did that look like the reflection of a rifle scope? Her mind raced with every survival instinct she had known. Her eyes still fixed on the faint light. Sniper! Something in her mind screamed, drowning out every other thought.

"Get down!" She screamed. The sound of a gunshot raddled through the air as she grabbed the blonde boy and dove behind a nearby tree.

All Adrien heard was a loud scream. "Get down!" Before a loud roar rang through his ears. Next thing he knew he was sitting behind a tree, his legs sprawled across the grass, his back pressed against the rugged bark of the trunk, and next to him was Clara kneeling beside him while speaking into a thin black band that was wrapped around her wrist.

"This is Agent 1492058," She said urgently, but calm, holding the bracelet near her mouth. "I'm with the target, shots fired by what I suspect to be an Akuma sniper. Requesting immediate back up." 

 'Target', what did she mean by target? She paused for a moment before a woman's voice answered over the bracelet. 

"We will send a squadron as soon as possible, your tracker is malfunctioning and we aren't able to get a lock on your location. Where are you?" A phantom voice said.

"Redwood park." Marinette responded in a low and even voice. They heard some quick clicking from a keyboard. 

 "Alright just stay where you are." The mysterious voice said. Suddenly another loud bang shot through the air. Adrien felt his muscles tense at the sound and a shiver ran up his spine. 

 "Yeah, that's not really an option right now." Clara said to the voice, she looked completely unfazed by all the chaos happening around her, meanwhile Adrien was curling in on himself. His breathing was shallow and quick, it felt as if his lungs were collapsing. His heartbeat was fast and erratic as well, as if it was trying to escape from the confines of his ribcage. The phantom woman's voice spoke once again. 

 "Just keep the target safe, we will be there soon, Siren." And with that the voice was gone.

'Siren'? Adrien thought. He was starting to panic. All the mayhem around him, the blaring sound of the gun shots, the strange blue-eyed girl, it was all too much for him to process. Throughout all the chaos he managed to focus on a single thing. A little silver rod that stuck out of the ground.

"What is that?" He pointed at a small metal cylinder poking out of the grass inches away from his right leg. These seemed to be the only words he could come up with in all the madness. The metal thing had red markings on it that the blonde couldn't quite make out along with a sharp metal needle that stuck out of the matted dirt and grass. 

Clara looked over and gave such a blatant response it sent a shiver down his spine. "It's a tranquilizer dart." He only grew more and more confused and more and more afraid. What was happening? Why is there someone shooting at us? Who was this girl? And how could she be so calm through all of this?

"Okay listen to me." Clara said, looking him dead in the eye, all of this chaos seemed to have no effect on her. Her face was relaxed and her posture still and unshaken. She put her head forward and shook her blue locks free from the blonde wig and threw the bleached colored mess to the side. He noticed that her electric blue eyes now seemed much brighter. Adrien had to admit the deep indigo suited her better than the golden wig, he hadn't even noticed it was a wig but looking back, the blonde didn't seem like a good look for her. But why was she even wearing a wig in the first place?

"I need you to stay calm," She said, her voice soothing and tranquil. "Whoever is shooting at us is using tranquilizers so they're not looking to kill you." Somehow that comment only made Adrien more anxious despite the reassurance in her tone. "I know you've got questions, but honestly I don't have the time to answer them if you want to make it out of here, so I need you to do something for me. Okay?"

Adrien nodded, still unable to form an answer. "I need you to be quiet and follow my orders. Got it?" Another nod. "Good." Adrien was so wrong about this girl; she played the façade of an innocent kid so well. "We don't have much cover here, and there could be another sniper somewhere, so we're going to have to make a run for it. There's an apartment building about 140 meters west of us. We could make it in a hard sprint if we're lucky. You ready blondie?" She asked him, glancing over her shoulder every so often.

"Um- ". Another loud bang in the distance erupted through the air and rattled through Adrien's skull. His muscles tensed yet again. This time it flew less than two centimeters from Clara's waist before ramming its metal point into the dirt. The tree they were hiding behind was slim and didn't give much cover from the flying metallic needles that seemed to keep coming.

"We don't have time for 'um' it's do or die. Just stay to my left so you won't get hit and run like your life depends on it, because it does." She shot to her feet and held out a hand. "Ready?" He grabbed her outstretched hand and she yanked him up, nearly pulling his shoulder out of place.

"Ready." He said, the adrenaline finally hitting him. To be completely honest he wasn't ready in the slightest but his fear kept him compliant.

"Okay, assuming we both sprint at 25 kilometers per hour and the building is 140 meters away it will take us about 22 seconds to reach it. Think you can keep up?" She asked and he nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I think so." He said, his breath finally evening out and his voice finally permitting him to say more than only one word at a time. 

 "Stay close to me, we run on three." She directed him to a building with her eyes. They both stood next to each other while the tree protected them from the incoming darts flying through the air. Adrien was to the blue-eyed girls left which made him feel a bit better as awful as it sounded, having her act as a shield made it all easier on him.

"One..." Clara said with a bit of excitement edged in her tone. "Two..." Adrien bit his lip as Clara took a pause before saying the last number. "Three." And with that they sprinted for dear life.

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Word count:  1432 (not counting this) 

Poor Adrien, he just wants to know what's going on. These people are shooting tranquillizer darts at him, and he has no idea why. Then here comes this other girl wearing a blonde wig (which he didn't really like on her), trying to stop(?) these people from taking him. He is so confused.

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