The Algorithm

Chapter twenty - The Siren Without a Voice

I'll figure something else out, Marinette thought.

"Now that you found your voice," Plagg said. "Tell us what happened."

Marinette whipped her chin with the back of her hand and tried to come up with a lie, anything that would stop her from admitting what really happened. She didn't want to discuss Luka in any way, it broke her to think that she had him back only to realize he was never there. But Marinette by nature was an honest person, secretive at times, but honest.

"I thought I saw something. It was nothing, but it threw me off, I lost focus." Plagg leaned forward so he could make eye contact with Marinette, whose gaze was glued to the bowl of onion broth.

"What did you see?" Marinette finally looked up at him and stared into the piercing green of his eyes. She bit her lip to keep the single word from escaping but it had already formed on her tongue.

"Luka..."

Plagg and Tikki both recoiled at the name, Marinette hadn't brought it up and whenever he did come up in a story or conversation she would swiftly change the subject.

"Adrien," The tall grim man said. "I think you should go."

The blonde, utterly confused since the name meant nothing to him, reluctantly stepped out of the white room. As soon as the door closed behind him, Plagg shot out of his seat and started pacing, running his hand through his pepper black hair.

"What do you mean you saw Luka?" He asked.

"I thought I did. It wasn't him, just someone who looked a lot like him."

Tikki hung her head, holding it in her hands as she mumbled to herself. Marinette couldn't quite make out her words but Plagg seemed to hear her.

"It's not your fault." He hastily snapped back.

Tikki dropped her hand and looked up at her colleague. "It is." She began. "I let it go this far. You told me she wasn't ready but I didn't listen."

"What are you talking about?" Marinette asked.

Plagg sighed and slumped back down into his chair. "After the funeral, I thought it best for you to take a leave of absence. I wanted you to have time to grieve."

Marinette withheld a scoff. "I would never take a leave of absence."

"It would have been mandatory." The giant replied sternly.

"I disagreed with Plaggs' reasoning," Tikki explained. "I used work to cope, to distract me from our loss. So I let you keep going on missions, thinking it would help you too. Then you got angry. You killed. Now I'm not blaming you for that, my hands aren't exactly clean either, but you broke a vow that you all took so seriously. Before I even knew what was going on, you stopped. You quit killing all at once. I didn't know why but I thought you had accepted their deaths and were moving on. I guess I was wrong."

There was a long silence that followed, and the entire time Marinette wished she was still under the bathwater. The sound of the cold liquid splashing would be better than the unbearable silence. After what felt like an eternity, Tikki spoke.

"As of now, Agent 1492058, you are hereby suspended from all GUARD duties."

"What!?" Marinette left out of her chair which clattered to the ground. "You can't do that! You need me!"

"We can handle a few weeks without Siren. You are mandated to attend daily grief counseling until we see you are fit to go back into the field."

Marinette was speechless. She could see Plagg thinking about benching her, but she didn't think he would ever do it. It was just an empty threat. But Tikki, she would never. Sure they didn't always see eye to eye, but there was still some level of respect between them.