The Algorithm

Chapter twenty-five - Deserter

The immense joy in Marinette's eyes faded almost as fast as it had arrived. "I'm sorry Marinette," The redhead finally spoke, "but I can't let you go."

"What?" Marinette must have misheard her, that was all, Tikki would never stop her from bringing Adrien home.

"I said no." She repeated in a small voice that neither Marinette nor Plagg had heard from her before. "We're stretched out too thin. There aren't enough resources to storm an Akuma base when we don't know what we're up against. Your powers might not even work, we could be outnumbered 3 to 1, Adrien co-..." She stopped herself, not daring to say it, as if hearing the words would somehow make them come true.

"Adrien. Could. What?" Marinette prompted, venom dripping from her voice like syrup.

"Adrien could already be dead." She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

"He's not," Marinette said, eyeing her superior cautiously.

"How can you be sure?"

"Nathalie told me he was alive. There wasn't a trace of a lie anywhere on her face."

"No, she said he was alive three months ago. A lot can happen in that amount of time."

"So we're just not going to help? We're going to leave him there to suffer alone in the hands of those monsters?!"

"Of course not," Tikki replied, trying to calm the fire in the girl's eyes. "Give me a few weeks, I'll call in some favors and see if we can make up a decent rescue operation. Then we will come up with a plan of action. You of all people can know what could happen if we run in premat-"

"A few weeks?!" Marinette shot out of her chair, Plagg gripped her arm but she pulled away from his touch. "If he's not dead yet he will be by then."

"I'm sorry Marinette. I want him back as much as you do but I can't take that risk." Please understand, I can't lose anyone else, I can't lose you, the red-head added silently.

"If you really wanted him back you would never give up on him so easily." No one tried to stop Marinette from storming off, but Plagg did turn up to talk to her after an hour when she had cooled down a bit.

The bluenette sat on her bunk, stewing over everything that was said.

"Hey, Mari," Plagg called as he rolled himself into the room.

"What?" She asked in a less than friendly tone.

The green-eyed man stopped shy just a few feet away from her and contemplated his next words. He was usually able to reason with Marinette, but this was different. He wasn't asking her to stay out of danger, he was asking her to leave someone she cared about in danger.

"I know how things may seem right now, but trust me, Mari, acting now isn't our best move."

She sighed and agreed with him even though none of what she was heart felt.

It didn't matter what he said to her, she had already made up her mind.

It wasn't as hard to sneak off base as she expected. She used her powers to distract guards and unlock doors until she was sitting in the pilot seat of a berg. Her mind wandered to when Plagg had taught her to fly a few months after she came to GUARD. She shook off the memory and tried to remind herself that this wasn't a betrayal. She was disobeying Tikki's orders, not his. He just agreed with said orders.

She waited until the guards switched shifts before lifting her off the ground. Once she did, alarms blared.

"You are making an unauthorized take-off," Trixx said over the intercom. "Identify yourself and land immediately."