Keeper of the Lost Cities: The Second Moonlark (a KOTLC/MLB crossover)

Chapter Fourteen: Adrien

Adrien kept running to the sound of Marinette screaming.

She was in danger, and he needed to help her.

But his mind couldn't shake the image of the brown-eyed, blonde girl he and Keefe had run into earlier.

With the three of them having a staredown, it felt like the three of them had some unknown connection. He'd felt it, deep down.

He finally made it to Marinette.

Who was straddled tightly in one of the group's arms, an orb of neon yellow flames in the other hand.

Everblaze.

Adrien shook his head in confusion and denial, but the word kept bouncing in his brain, like it was associated with the ball of fire.

"Ah, well, look at that," the person right behind him said. "You've got no help, and we know there's something about you."

Adrien tried to Cataclysm her, but two cloaked people pinned his arms behind him as the main person pulled down their hood, revealing a woman with reddish brown hair and ice blue eyes.

Eyes that looked remarkably like Keefe's.

That's when Adrien turned and saw Alya, Chloe, and Nino, passed out on the ground, cloths tied around their mouths.

And Marinette was still being held tightly, the flames even closer to her face.

"Ah, the famous Cat Noir," the woman said. "You ever thought about trying to fight without that mask of yours?"

Adrien pursed his lips together. He wouldn't let this group get the best of him.

"Fintan, let the girl go," the woman ordered. "We have other ways of getting this boy to talk."

She snapped her fingers shortly after Marinette fell to the ground, and a cloaked person started swirling together black mist, forming an unnaturally dark arrow. It split into several and all surrounded Marinette, who was too scared to move.

"Shadowflux," the woman explained. "Changes everything it touches. And we've already seen what it can do to a person. I remember when we took out the moonlark with shadowflux. Broke her right arm, hand included, and she was stuck with echoes that trapped her in nightmares and fear and darkness until that pathetic Flori took them away."

Adrien felt blood drain from his cheeks as he saw the arrows move closer to Marinette.

"So, you're going to tell me everything you know about the Black Swan," the woman said, her face inches from Adrien's.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about," he stammered.

"Well, maybe this will get you talking," the woman snapped her fingers again.

Everything seemed to slow down as the arrows ripped into Marinette, who collapsed down, doubling over and clutching her chest in pain.

"No!" he cried. "Don't touch her!"

"We'll leave you alone when you let me know what you know about the Black Swan," the woman grit her teeth together.

"Honestly, I don't know what you're--" Adrien argued when the point of a silver door handle shaped thing was suddenly a hair away from his forehead. A second was aimed at Marinette's chest.

"Don't give me that look of confusion," the woman sneered. "Surely you should know what a melder is."

Adrien didn't say anything, but the look of confusion said it all.