The Algorithm

Chapter eleven - Sedatives and Kindling

The plane had circled around and was landed now, about five hundred meters away. An opening dropped down from the back of the plane and two silhouettes of people were urging them to go faster. Marinette recognized the tall figure on the left to be Tikki while the even taller, broad-shouldered one on the right was Plagg.

Woefully, Marinette's body chose now to hit her with another dizzy spell. The sky started to blur into the ground and she had no idea where she was stepping. Her oversize boots step clumsily over loose rocks causing her to trip and she wasn't able to regain her balance. She hit the ground, hard, and Adrien had to pull her to her feet. As Adrien lifted her up she felt a thud in the back of her thigh, then again in her right shoulder. The spinning didn't stop. The earth turned at an insane rate and colors began mixing together. She couldn't tell the difference between the two figures on the plane anymore, they just looked like a smeared drop of ink on a canvas, all she could tell was that the weirdly shaped ink droplets were growing bigger. Another thud in her right leg, and again in her forearm. The world went black.

Adrien was dragging Marinette's unconscious body along the dusty ground as dart after dart rammed into her flesh, somehow missing him completely. He had nearly been hit a few times but the soldiers firing while driving at such a speed threw their aim off. Adrien counted five needles sticking out of her like a pin cushion. The ATVs were catching up and he was caught a hundred meters away from the plane and a hundred meters away from the fleet of troops.

Two figures ran up to him. One a woman, the other a tall grim looking man. Adrien wasn't sure if he could trust them but they wore the same uniforms as the GUARD soldiers who had protected him in the street. The only difference between the two new soldiers and the ones in Paris was the color pattern of their camouflage matched the orange and tan of the desert plain, instead of the mottled green and grey.

The tall man picked Marinette up bridal style while the woman shot bullets into the ATV tires, causing them to burst. They lost control of the vehicles and a few even flipped on their sides. While the fleet was in chaos, Marinette, Adrien, and the two figures retreated into the plane. They ran in a hard sprint, a few darts landing near their feet. The redhead was hit in the forearm but the sharp needle merely ripped through the fabric of her uniform, leaving her skin unscathed.

Once they were on board the aircraft, they hastily shut the exit ramp.

As soon as the ramp was closed, a swarm of doctors and nurses swarmed around Marinette's unconscious body. The word 'overdose' was uttered by a woman in a white lab coat.

"What's wrong with her?" The redhead in camouflage asked while gently stroking Marinette's hair as she laid unresponsive in the gurney.

"She has a lethal amount of suppressants in her system." A nurse said while drawing blood from a vein on her upper forearm and hooking Marinette up to machines. Tubes were now attached to the backs of her hands and a clear plastic oxygen mask was placed over her mouth and nose which was fogging up with her shallow breaths.

"Will she be alright?" The intimidating-looking man said, except now he didn't look arcane, just concerned.

"We don't know." The doctor stated urgently while removing one of the needles from the unconscious girl's leg and stopping the flow of blood from the puncture mark with a clean cloth.

"What do you mean you don't know?" The tall redhead growled through clenched teeth. The grim man put a firm hand on the woman's shoulder and she stood down from her aggressive stance but her jaw remained locked in a stern line.

The doctors and nurses left in a swarm out the door, wheeling Marinette away.

The tall woman, who he learned was called Tikki, led Adrien to the cabin of the plane after a nurse had examined and patched up some of his minor cuts and bruises. He was dehydrated and hungry, but alive. Tikki left him alone to go talk to doctors after he was given a clean bill of health, or more accurately yell at the doctors since Adrien could hear her demanding answers as to the girl's condition but she finally seemed to calm down after she was told something by the nurses that Adrien could not make out.