The Algorithm

Chapter fourteen - The Dead Amongst the Oaks

Marinette brought Adrien to the white room which she knew well. But unlike her last mission, she did not have to wait for Plagg, Tikki, and Nooroo to arrive. They reached the command center and walked through a door in the far corner of the room Adrien had not previously noticed because it was blocked by desks, computers, and workers typing away and filling out mountains of paperwork.

Marinette opened the door and was met with an explosion of white. The ceiling, the floor, and everything in between was a blinding white like a blizzard had left a fresh blanket of snow on every surface.

Sat on one side of the desk was the crimson-haired woman, the giant dressed in black, and the purple-eyed fox. Marinette gestured for Adrien to sit in one of the two chairs facing the three figures that almost seemed unnaturally unique.

Adrien hadn't noticed before but in the pure white room, the three appeared to be some kind of phenomenon. From purple eyes and silver hair to a man of monstrous height, you could mistake him for a modern-day Viking. Tikki's insanely red hair contrast to the extremely pale wall looked like blood seeping through white cloth, and these three weren't the only ones who appeared so incredibly unique. Trixx had hair that resembled an open flame, Pollen's eyes looked as though they belonged to two different people, and the doctor they called Duusu had a mane lined with blue and purple making it look like she had been dipped into messy paint. They were all so unusual. But then again, nothing about Adrien's situation was usual.

Standing next to him was a girl that was able to defy the laws of gravity with only her mind. He stood kilometers under the earth's surface and was being hunted by an insane group of people who wanted to turn him into a superhuman. Adrien's life was nowhere near usual.

As soon as Adrien sat down Tikki started talking business. "We're leading a sting operation. Marinette, you and a handful of field agents will go undercover as bidders and get us information about the illegal weapons auction. Marinette your assignment is to get inside and tell the GUARD soldiers that will be surrounding the building what to expect when they attack. So you need to make sure our troops know what they are getting into. The auction will be guarded and they are selling illegal weapons so we have to be prepared for anything."

"This is a sting operation, why don't the police just handle it?" Marinette rebuild. She wasn't entirely interested in wasting her time when she could be hunting Akuma.

Tikki sighed but responded calmly. "Our goal is to arrest everyone inside, many of which are high on GUARDs list of the wanted. A few of them are even labeled as Akuma supporters." That got Marinette's attention. Suddenly she was all for the mission.

"When is the operation taking place?' She asked.

"Two months," Plagg answered, his tone was serious but then again it always was.

"Where is the auction being held?" Adrien questioned. He knew it wasn't his concern because he was not authorized to go on missions, and he wasn't sure if he would ever be authorized, but as Marinette's pupil, he had to accompany her when she was being briefed on assignments.

Plagg looked over some paperwork sitting in his lap before answering. "A mansion in Germany. We've had suspicions that the owner of the estate has been involved in a lot of crimes, including tax fraud and bribery, but the police don't have enough evidence to prosecute him. For the next two months we will be preparing and giving you information as it comes available to us. For now, just go back to training." And that's what they did.

Running, climbing, jumping, swimming, they did it all. Eventually, the day of Marinette's mission arrived and she seemed extremely calm, the same tranquil expression she held when they were being shot at and chased by soldiers. Adrien just chalked it down to experience. She was fully recovered from their time in the desert and the overdose. Her muscles were back to their usual amount of strength and her powers were working perfectly but most of her attention was focused on Adrien.