The Algorithm

Chapter eighteen - Coincidence?

The next few weeks were pretty easy. Marinette had pushed out the memory of Mullo and Felix and only focused on her day-to-day. Adrien was almost completely healed and had been cleared to start training again but to hold off on afternoon sessions and let him rest, even though Adrien said he was fine the doctors demanded he not overwork himself. So Marinette and Adrien now spend their afternoons in the wreck room where Plagg always beat Marinette at the pool and as it would turn out, Plagg wasn't the only one who could best Marinette at the game. Usually, she would get bored of playing the same thing over and over, but she's stubborn and was determined to play until she beat Adrien at least once.

"Are you sure you want to play again?" Adrien asked. "I'm getting tired of winning." Marinette caught him smiling to himself as he chalked his cue and she shook her head.

"Shut up and break." She remarked and Adrien sent the organized balls flying around the green felt-lined table and unsurprisingly, Marinette lost and she gave up on trying to win and just started swapping stories with Adrien while throwing darts, a game Marinette and Adrien were frailty matched in.

As they flung needles at the target hung up on the wall, Adrien couldn't help but be reminded of the metal darts that nearly killed Marinette and threatened his life as well. But he distracted himself by talking to the blue-eyed girl.

Marinette learned about how Adrien was only modeling to please his parents and how he was only going to college because he got a scholarship and didn't think it was wise to give up an opportunity like that. At some point, they got to the topic of camping and how Adrien and his parents would spend the weekend at the lake when he was younger.

Marinette had spent quite a bit of time in tents, sometimes for missions, other times for recreation.

"One time I pitched a tent in the oak forest and Alya-" Marinette began to tell the story of how she once spent the night out in the woods surrounding GUARD to keep an eye out for an orphaned bear cub that had been spotted in the area.

Marinette was assigned to track the cub, tranquilize it, and bring it to an animal sanctuary where it would be able to survive without its mother. She was a little confused by it because Alya was the master tracker amongst the group and also the most stealthy. The amber-eyed girl's powers allowed her to move without being seen but she was also an expert in silence. She could walk over broken glass and not be heard so tracking came naturally to her. Apparently, when you are able to move without being noticed, you tend to see where others have not been so graceful.

But Marinette took the assignment anyway not knowing it was Alya pulling the strings behind it.

She took the opportunity to sneak up on Marinette while following the bear track and scared her so badly she let out a small yelp. She nearly used her powers to throw a rock at her head before she saw Alya buckled over, laughing hysterically.

But now that Marinette told the story, she stopped mid-sentence remembering that the tale involved her dead friend. "Never mind." She said, trying to keep him from asking questions but it didn't work.

"Who's Alya?" Adrien questioned.

"Someone who I used to be close to." She responded vaguely. She didn't want to touch on the subject but Adrien's overwhelming curiosity needed answers.

"What happened to her?" Marinette sighed trying to push out the memory of her death.

"She sacrificed herself for me... They all did." She answered with the hollow stare that accompanied her sorrowful thoughts and memories. But before Adrien's tongue had the chance to form another question, Trixx contacted Marinette over her commlink.

"Siren?" She asked.

"What is it Trixx?' Marinette said into the thin black bracelet, the blank and empty stare disappearing from her eyes with work to distract her from whatever it was that was weighing on her mind.

"Tikki has an assignment for you and Adrien. She needs you to make an appearance in the mission report room." She answered.

"Me and Adrien?" Marinette asked. "Tikki is letting him come on a mission?"

"Mhm," Trixx responded. "She said something about it being a 'very low risk' assignment but she'll fill you in on the details when she gives you the mission report."

"Okay, thanks Trixx." Marinette turned to Adrien, one of her rarely seen smiles on her face and Adrien shared the same expression. "Come on blondie," She said. "Time for your first real assignment."

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Word count- 1432 (Not counting this)

Well, would you look at that, blondie finally has a safe mission he can go on. How is this going to go?

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