Making Choices

2

Ladybug wasn't happy about her new role as courier. In her mind, there was nothing worse than being forced to do something against your will, and this was about as far against her will as things had been recently. Sure, she wasn't a fan of the assassination part of her job, but at least she wasn't threatened into doing it. Whether that made the killing better or worse was unclear.

After agreeing to escort Adrien Agreste to the 'confidential location', a servant had appeared to show her to her temporary accommodation for the night. A quick glance around the room told her the only escape was through the door, and that was locked the instant she was alone in the room. Ladybug was trapped, again.

Hours seemed to pass before there was another sound. On top of the isolation, the sound was suffocating, crushing, a constant pressure pushing in on her until she was flattened underneath it.

The knock on the door shattered the silence like a brick through a window. Ladybug snapped her head in the direction of the door, preparing for the worst. Anyone could be on the other side of the door and the new government had already established they had no problems using brute force against her.

Another glance around the room showed there were no weapons either, everything was either bolted down or too large to be used efficiently. She was defenceless.

A small panel of the door slid open, revealing another person at face height. Only their eyes were visible but their voice was clear. "Mister Agreste has information prepared about the journey. Read it before you depart."

Staring into the eyes on the other side of the door, Ladybug realised it was the woman standing behind Gabriel Agreste when she had first arrived. She must be an assistant or some other higher ranking position, otherwise she wouldn't have a place amongst their ranks.

Before Ladybug could ask about the woman's identity, a thick folder was slipped through the panel, blocking her view of the other side of the door. Even though she knew this would be information she already knew, didn't need to know or information that would put them in danger, Ladybug took the file. Best not to make her new 'employers' angry already.

Once they were on the road, she could ditch the entire file and never have to see it again. Then, she could do the job they way she wanted to, and the way that wouldn't get them killed. From the way they were acting, the new government thought they knew everything, but they clearly didn't. If they had taken the slightest amount of time to do their research, they would have found out Ladybug would have been much more receptive to a career change if an amount of money was involved. Preferably a large one.

"Dinner will arrive in twenty minutes. I would recommend you begin reading the information. You leave at dawn tomorrow, do not be late."

They needed her help, yet they were ordering her around? Ladybug scoffed. She would say the new government didn't have that long left before someone got sick of their power trip and removed them from the face of the planet. It was bound to happen, it always did. Whenever someone got a little too big for their boots, someone else came along to knock them down a few notches. Or a lot, depending on how ruthless the successors were.

Not wanting to think about everything she had done to survive, Ladybug instead focused on the future. If this government really had a way to stabilise France again, life could slowly return to normal again. Her parents could reopen their bakery and she could ditch the Ladybug moniker once and for all. When that happened, she would rejoice, for she had survived.

When her parents had first made the decision to go into hiding, Ladybug was still Marinette to everyone around her. She was the clumsy, funny, creative young designer who smiled too brightly and too much, if that was even possible. Now, she was a whisper among the powerful, a ghost on the lips of people who had enemies. She had become Ladybug, the ruthless killer that didn't stop to think about the people who suffered by her hand. A job was a job, and living between contracts was the only thing keeping her sane.

She hadn't smiled in what felt like forever. How long had it been? Her last memory of a genuine smile was months ago, probably longer. It was a fading memory, a thought blurring at the edges and drifting towards being forgotten.

Hopefully, the times of survival and the Power Shift ended before the memories disappeared. At the start, everyone thought it was just a political scuffle that would be solved quickly, until it all spiralled out of control and spread throughout the world. Everything escalated until the world was in ruins and people were fighting to survive.

"Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

"Tell Mister Agreste I want my payment tomorrow morning before we leave."

"I will deliver your message." Without another word from either of them, the assistant disappeared, leaving Ladybug alone in her gaudy prison with the files weighing in her hands.

Alone again. There was a clock ticking somewhere in the background, but it was probably bolted into the wall, too. It would probably be better if she just guessed how much time had passed, much like she had spent most of the last few months doing. If she could just distract herself from the present, it would pass her by and the morning would come sooner.

Maybe the file would be a good distraction, if she could lose herself in planning their trip time might fly by.

Opening the file revealed the first flaw in her plan. Massive amounts of text were blacked out, creating blocks on the page with only a little bit of information in between. Even the name of their destination was redacted, the only information about the place was a printed map with a circle on it, a scrawled address that was beginning to smudge, and a grainy photograph of a building.

This was already turning out to be harder than Ladybug had originally thought. The building was unrecognisable, especially with the low quality photograph. If this was so important to them, why did all the information seem like it was thrown together haphazardly, not caring about whether it was useful or not.

On top of that, there were entire pages missing or out of order. Paragraphs and paragraphs were blocked out, then an entire page was missing. If there was something that needed to be hid that badly, couldn't they have just given her what she was allowed to know?

Deciding the best way to organise everything was to order the pages properly, Ladybug emptied the entire folder onto the ground. Sitting in the middle of the pages, she began to sort everything into a system she could use.

The pages that were completely blacked out went behind her, ignored, while everything else was laid out in page order. When she was done, nearly half the pages were gone and the few sentences on each page in front of her. Despite having the map and the image, the information was fairly scarce.

Just as she had finished placing everything back into the file for reading later, the door unlocked. Ladybug was on her feet in seconds, ready to fight whoever was behind the door, regardless of her odds.

Gabriel Agreste looked down at Ladybug, a servant standing behind him with a covered tray. "My assistant said you wished to speak to me about payment."

"I want my payment before we leave tomorrow morning. My rate is however much you think your son is worth." Ladybug picked the blacked out papers up, throwing them back at Gabriel. "I would also like some more information, otherwise I cannot guarantee the safety of your son."

"Your payment is your life and the safety of your family. You do not get to make demands, or you will suffer severe consequences. A small amount of money will be provided tomorrow in order to pay for hired help on the trip, nothing more. The information you already have should be enough, considering your reputation, any other complaints will be ignored."

Was he threatening her? How dare he! He had come to her for help, not the other way around. Ladybug was sick of Gabriel Agreste already and she had only interacted with him twice. If Adrien was anything like his father, she would definitely reach breaking point before the job was completed.

Apparently finished his speech, Gabriel turned and left the room. Ladybug watched his exit with a scowl, bidding good riddance to bad rubbish. Once he was well and truly gone, Ladybug turned her attention back to the woman still standing in the door, holding her dinner. "You can put that wherever, I'm not exactly hungry."

"Mayor Bourgeois has ordered that you must eat. The Council wants you to be ready to leave almost as soon as the sun rises, and you will need strength. I will return in an hour to collect everything." The lady placed the tray on a short table before bowing and almost running out of the room. Before Ladybug could react, the door had closed and locked again, trapping her once more.

She didn't want to eat, but the last time she had been anywhere near decent food was nearly three days ago. Since then, she had been living on cheap cans of anything she could get her hands on, and none of it tasted particularly good. This was a much needed reprieve, even though it was sent by the people who had kidnapped her and were threatening her parents.

Once Ladybug started eating, it was like she couldn't stop. Until now, she hadn't realised just how hungry she actually was. Everything on the plates was gone in under ten minutes.

The food was gone and there was still a large span of time before the plates were collected. It would be perfect to absorb the rest of the information before she went to sleep.

Memorising large amounts of information quickly was a skill she had learned during the Power Shift, when she was given everything she needed to know about a target and only a few minutes before she was dropped at a location. Forgetting who she was being paid to assassinate was a rookie mistake, and one she had only made once before swearing to never make it again.

By the time her plates were collected, Ladybug had read everything several times and had memorised everything word for word. She could recite everything she had learned back, and had stared at the map so long it had practically photocopied into her mind.

When Ladybug decided to go to bed, she found there was a set of plain black pyjamas sitting on the bathroom sink, in her size. Ignoring the feeling in her gut, Ladybug got changed and headed back towards the bed. She was about to climb into the bed when there was a knock at the door.

Finding it peculiar, she crept towards the door and threw the panel open, coming face to face with Adrien Agreste. "What are you doing here?!"

"I wanted to speak to you before we left tomorrow. You've probably got questions, and I can answer some of them. Can I come in?"