Butterfly Delivery - Adrinette

Poor Reception

No one dared breathe. Adrien had just received an email from Hawkmoth, or at least someone pretending to be him.

"You should open it," Marinette finally suggested. Adrien did that and found that there was in fact no text, but a video that would never quit buffering when he tried to play it.

"Bad connection," he sighed.

"We'll find some way for you to look at it," Gina assured them. "It could be an important clue!" She found herself getting some sort of rush from knowing that her own granddaughter truly was a superheroine, and that she herself might play some role in capturing Hawkmoth.

At least the hostel had wi-fi. It wasn't as good as the connection that they got from practically any street corner back home - but it should be able to download the video, even if slowly... right?

Back at the hostel, their entrance was barred by a middle-aged woman spreading herself across the doorway. "Oh, no. We don't want the likes of you in our establishment. I've already been told that you got in trouble with the police."

"You have to let us in!" Gina reasoned with her. "Some of our belongings are still inside."

"Your things will be brought out to you. Cornelius, fetch them."

"I would, but I don't know which are theirs, Madame," explained the same young man they had met before.

"Very well, you may access the locker room and come right back out. Cornelius will keep an eye on you and make sure you do not interfere with any of our guests or their belongings. He will also be sure to retrieve the keys from you once you're done." By the pointed look she gave her employee, it could be inferred that it was as much a command for Cornelius as a warning for them. She stepped back and let them pass.

Cornelius let them pass as well, so that he would be able to watch all three of them from behind. As Adrien went by, he got a sorrowful look that seemed to read something like, 'I thought you were a good guy.'

Adrien wanted to explain himself, but wasn't sure Cornelius would want to hear it, so he trudged on with his head down. At his assigned locker, he located the key within his pocket and drew it out.

"We heard you got arrested," Cornelius blurted out. "But if they let you go the same day, you can't have done anything really bad. What did you do?"

Their belongings retrieved, Gina and Marinette turned their attention to the conversation. Adrien could feel them watching him, all wondering how he would respond. Would it be the truth? How much of it?

"I ran away from home, but it's not that simple. There's someone back in Paris that wants to take something precious away from Marinette and me, and we can't allow that. We're not allowed to say what we're protecting, but just know there would be some really bad consequences if they fell into the wrong hands. Two nights ago, this person somehow got into my own home and attacked me while I was asleep. I barely managed to get away with... what it is I've been charged to protect. It wouldn't have done me any good to go to the police, since I don't even know who it was that attacked me. He covered his face, and he's always covered his face before when he sent us threats. Marinette's family helped us flee the country, but we left without telling my père what we were doing. That bad man already had access to my house, so he might hurt my père trying to get information out of him. It's my hope that if that man could see my père doesn't know anything, then he'll leave him alone. As far as I know, that part of the plan has worked so far. However, because he didn't know, my père reported me missing. I'm not sure if it's true here, but in France, any adult who helps a minor run away can be charged with kidnapping. So, I'm a runaway, and my girlfriend's grandmother has technically 'kidnapped' me.