A Sudden Realization 1/3

Miraculous Ladybug: 42

Vex is just so focused on that boy that he even doesn't look at us, Marinette looked at the door. Maybe if I escape, turn into Ladybug, that would be better.

She slithered towards the door, making sure that Vex wasn't looking at her. Then she tried to open it, but she couldn't. She tried hard to open the door, but it seemed impossible. Then she realized it was locked.

She turned back, then gasped. Where did Alya go?!

Marinette went back to her friends. "Where's Alya?" But they only shushed her.

Ethan was all tied up now, struggling to escape, but couldn't.

This is how I'm supposed to help?! He growled.

Then Vex turned to them. "Now I can finally take your... Where is that girl?!" He looked around, but Alya was no where in sight.

"We... We tried to stop her," Adrien began. "But she did something weird and unlocked the door, then escaped."

No! That girl was the most important one of all. With her powers I could be able to find out who the superheroes are... And capture the miraculous. I have to find her!

"STAY HERE!!" Vex angrily said, then he left, making sure to lock the door.

Marinette quickly went to Ethan and untied him, her fingers hurting at the end.

"I... I'm cold," the boy shuddered again.

"We all are. It's cold in here," Nino said, "but it's okay. I have a feeling we're about to escape, thanks to you."

"What... How?" Ethan asked, surprised to hear that he had helped when he had done nothing.

"You distracted the villain for us. That way we could send Alya to the mission," Adrien answered, making Marinette frown.

Then suddenly Alya came out from the closet. "He forgot to lock this one, and good news."

Marinette slowly walked up to Alya. "How did he not check there?"

"Well, I did tell Vex that Alya escaped, so of course he would check for her outside of the room. But quick, we got no time to chat," Adrien said.

"Right," Alya remembered. "You know that ladder that Marinette and Nino got out from the closet? It's leading to somewhere outside of the school. It was like a small window. Quick, let's go."

They nodded and slowly followed Alya to the closet, remembering to bring the ladder along.

Adrien and Nino placed the ladder back to where it was, and Alya was first to climb up.

She peeked out from the window. "Indeed. It's the outside of school. We're at the back of the school."

Next Ethan went up, and Marinette followed.

"WHAT?!!!" Vex suddenly banged open the door, and looked at the opened closet. "Have I been fooled?!"

"Go, go, go," Nino quickly said. Adrien then went up, and Nino tried to follow, but he felt something cold on one of his legs.

He looked down and saw it was Vex freezing hand, and he tried to jerk away.

Vex tried to knock over the ladder when Nino reached the top, but with the help of his friends, he made it.

"Ahhh," he winced in pain. "My leg... Hurts..."

They all looked at it, and gasped. Half of Nino's leg had been frozen into ice, and he could barely walk with it without it hurting.

"Calm down, Nino. Ladybug and Chat Noir will come any minute," Alya said, trying to calm the boy down. "We can fix this."

Nino wanted to nod and agree, but he wasn't so sure anymore. "I can't walk. I'm probably going to slow you guys down. What if Vex catches up with us?"

This is bad! Ladybug can't come if I don't go and transform. But I do wonder why Chat Noir isn't here either. It's not like him to be late, he's usually the one waiting for me.

"Nino, stay here with the others. I'll go and call for help," Adrien suggested suddenly. "If we melt the ice, maybe your leg will be back to normal."

"I... I'll go and try to bring hot water from somewhere," Marinette suddenly blurted out. "I mean, it's not like we're going to go back inside the school and get water from there."

"Good idea, Marinette. You go and the three of us will hide here," Alya nodded and smiled. Then she turned to Ethan. "Maybe we can figure out why Lucas wants to be a villain."

Marinette nodded, then turned and ran away far from the school. Adrien was gone too, pretending to go to the Mayor, but actually secretly hiding to transform as well.

"Tikki, spots on!"

- Edited -