Hello! Welcome back to my story!
This chapter is part of my Valentine's Day Fic Bomb - my stories The Living Nightmare and Ain't Clowning Around were also updated tonight as well! I might also do a President's Day Drabble Dump, if I get enough finished in time.
This chapter was beta-ed by wishfulina and Flautist4ever, both of who are on Tumblr! Thanks so much, you two!
With that, I'll leave you to reading! I hope you enjoy it!
~anipwrites
There was a problem.
Nothing Andre Bourgeois, Leader of the Defense Against Villainous Meta-Human Threats Department couldn't handle, of course! This was all just a very tiny, very minor problem that would all certainly just blow over soon! Nothing seriously serious! Sure, only 'serious' problems ever made it to his desk, but nothing serious! It was only a few dozen people in Paris disappearing off the maps and then reappearing all of a sudden with powers trying to attack the city, and no one knew how or why or who was behind it if anyone. Nothing serious!
Actually, no, this was deadly serious.
"And you're telling me Ladybug and Chat Noir have come up with nothing?" he asked, heaving a heavy sigh as he sank further back into his chair. The agent at his desk shook his head no.
"Nothing solid. They have started using the term 'Akuma' to refer to these victims, however. They've begun to suggest magic, sir, and we've come up with no other possible leads, perhaps - "
"No no no, magic doesn't exist. Magic! Bah, nonsense! I need time to think, leave me be."
"Yes, sir." the agent nodded and left, closing the door to his office. Andre let himself relax and laid back in his chair, staring at the ceiling as he let his mind wander.
"Daddy?" Andre looked up to see his daughter. She was serving as his intern, though he'd decided the work was too much for her to handle. She'd still kept the position, and was sure to inherit his position in the force when the time came, but she mostly sat in his office. A small part of him worried that she may not be getting the experience necessary for such a high-maintenance position. But only a small part. Easy to ignore.
"Yes, darling?"
"Why not get some of those meta-freaks to do it?"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, let them fight the guys going bad and figure out all of that nonsense for you. If they get hurt, no one will really care, I mean. And if they notice connections to someone we haven't caught yet, we can just take the information and find the guy and boom. Problem solved." the girl shrugged and flipped her hair. "I think it's a fabulous idea. They do the dirty work, and we take the credit."
"Sweetheart, that's a fabulous idea! Here, I'll put you in charge, I'll organize your team and give you a leadership position, it'll be the perfect opportunity for you to show me what you're made of! I'll arrange everything, you just sit back and relax!" Andre picked up the phone and dialed a number, writing notes down on a steno pad. "Hello, Edward? Yes, I need you to inform all of the agents of my new plan to fix this 'Akuma' problem…"
Chloe Bourgeois grinned and curled up in her chair, flipping through her fashion magazine. She always knew she'd get places, this was just another step there. Who cared if she had to step on the faces of a few meta-human low-lifes to get there?
"I'm sorry, you need me to what?!" Kingston Damocles' jaw hung in shock at the preposterous request he had just been given.
"I need you to release a few villains and send them down to my Department." Andre Bourgeois said from the other line.
"That's insane! I can't just release random villains, that'd be absolutely chaotic!"
"They aren't random, I've selected which ones, if you'd just listen, I'll read it to you."
"I can't do that"
"As your boss, yes you can."
"But - "
"I could always replace you, Damocles, watch your next words." he stiffened. Oh God, he really did need this job, but this was insane and couldn't possibly go well! These prisoners were violent, many of them had powers that the harnesses couldn't fully control, one or more of the officers could be killed while doing this! But…
He relented with a sigh. "Who do you need me to release?"
"Good job, Damocles. Now then, I need you to release..." Damocles wrote the names down, his frown deepening as the list went on. This definitely wasn't going to end well.
What was Bourgeois thinking?
Nino heard the footsteps coming before he fully awakened from sleep. The heavy clunking of boots on the steel floors were pretty loud; prison guards weren't all that great at stealth. It sounded like maybe, what, eight guards? Eight against one? That didn't seem like much of a fair fight!
Didn't matter. He wasn't going down without a fight. Not today.
He was already up on his feet when they came for him, hands balled into fists. Faintly, he remembered someone mention 'blood bending,' someone had asked if he was able to do it before. He hadn't really felt the need to investigate; waterboarding had always worked fine. But something told him that, with this many guards coming after him? Now was the time to find out.
As soon as the first guard opened the gate, Nino clenched his hand into a fist. A self-satisfied smirk crossed his face as the man fell to the ground, coughing and gasping and writhing in desperation. He could blood bend. Nice.
A few guards dropped to his side to try to help the man, but the other four immediately launched themselves after him. He punched one in the face, then twisted to kick another in the groin, and tried to make a break towards the door. A guard grabbed his arm, but he flicked a finger and the man stumbled back, clutching his chest. Two guards accidentally ran into him and fell down. Nino was almost home free, from there he just had to -
'Fuck,' was the only thought going through his head as he tripped over the guy on the ground. Before he could pick himself up, the guards pinned him down, digging a knee into his back and clipping something onto his wrists and ankles. Near-immediately, he felt like all of his energy was draining out of him, He tried to struggle, but every movement exhausted his muscles so much it was painful to move. The guards lifted him up, and it was all he could do to not cry out in pain as he was carried out. They may have won this fight, but he wasn't going to give them any more pleasure for it.
As he was carried through the halls of the prison, he heard shouts from other directions. He wasn't the only one who was being taken, it seems. But when a legion of guards came around a corner carting some prisoners with them, his jaw dropped.
"Ivan?!" he gasped. The boy was too busy struggling and shouting to hear. Beside him, two girls were trying to shake the grip of their captors. One didn't even have the glowing shackles like the rest of them. Lucky.
They were dragged into a loading dock and shoved into a carrier plane. The door was slammed shut in their faces before anyone could ask what the hell was going on. They were left in silence except for the sound of the copter going off. No weapons or anything were back here. And even if there were, Nino wasn't sure he could lift his arms enough to use them. The shackles just made everything heavy and hard to move.
"...Nino?" the boy turned at the sound of his name to see Ivan staring at him incredulously. Nino's face broke out into a grin.
"Hey,"
"Where have you been?!"
"Before here, I assume? Working for a few people who had a lot of people they needed to get a lot of information out of."
"Oh, I joined up with these two and we've been blowing up buildings and robbing banks and doing dirty work for the Mime."
"He's not here with us… do you think he's okay?" a shorter girl asked, inching closer to Ivan. The tall behemoth managed to wrap an arm around her.
"I'm sure he's fine, Mylene. He wouldn't let himself go down, not without a big fight."
"What do you think they're gonna do to us?" they all turned to another voice. A girl with a mess of tangled curls, one arm, and an eyepatch sat not too far away. She also didn't have the cuffs, but would they have worked without both hands? "I mean, I've been in there a few months now and nothing like this has happened."
"I've been here for about six or more. Your guess is as good as mine."
Nino scowled. He didn't like the way things were looking for them. The plane fell silent as they all wondered what could happen to them. Had the government finally decided they were eligible for a death penalty of some sort? Or were they going to be experimented on, treated like lab rats since they were criminals no one would dare advocate for?
Dear God, Nino hoped they weren't going to be experimented on.
But they could do nothing but wait. Wait for whatever fate lay ahead of them at their destination. They felt powerless. Not just because of the shackles that had rendered them unable to use their powers. But, rather, because no matter what happened - no matter what the government had in store for them - they couldn't stop it.
"Alright, sweetheart, here's your new team!" Her father gushed as he lead Chloe into the room where her team was apparently waiting. "Oh my goodness, my daughter with her first government operation! I need to take pictures!"
"Of course, Daddy!" they paused to take a quick selfie before opening the door. Inside sat a team of people around a board table, with three people standing at the front of the room. And, of course, she knew those three.
The first was her best friend, Sabrina Raincomprix. Her father was a military officer, but the girl herself leaned more towards secretaryship than leading covert operations. They'd known each other since they were small, in the day care while their parents worked. She always loved being around her, whether she was working for her or shopping with her, and Chloe was sure she'd been the very first person to volunteer for the job. Such early displays of loyalty brought a smile to her face.
The other two people in the room had also been in daycare with her; Le Chien Kim, and Max Kante. Kim's father was in the military, and was well trained and knew a lot about military procedures and how to conduct them from his years in the service, some as a soldier and some as an agent spy. Sure, he was a good pick, but… he always made googly eyes at her. He looked like a doofus every time she came around. And all of his stupid challenges; he thought that, because he had been trained so well, he could beat anyone and anything doing any kind of activity. Of course, he could, but it was irritating. If he kept that attitude up with the convicts, she'd be forced to discipline him.
Finally, Max. Max was a genius. He was a living encyclopedia, a walking college math textbook, and a computer whiz. He could hack almost anything within minutes… when he felt like it. He was tapping away on his phone until he realized she was there; probably playing some stupid video game or messing around with some dumb code. He was hard to manage. He had his own office, since he was one of the best computer operators in the agency, but it was more of a giant arcade than a work space. Any assignments he got was done within minutes, even busy work, so they couldn't exactly reprimand him for toying around on the job because he was done with his assignments for the day within the first hour he walked in the door. A good asset to the team, if they could get him to focus for a few goddamn minutes.
Andre Bourgeois cleared his throat, catching the attention of the rest of the room. "Ladies and gentlemen, your coordinator and leader, Chloe Bourgeois. I trust you've all familiarized yourselves with your assignments. I don't want any trouble. Chloe?"
"That's right, I don't want any trouble, so you'd all do best to stay on my good side! Now, then, we're getting some of the most notorious meta-human criminals in the country sent to this base as we speak, so I don't want any fooling around! Follow my orders, and everything will be fine. Don't follow my orders, and this can be a disaster. So - "
"Mister and Miss Bourgeois, ETA: 3 minutes, T minus 30 seconds." Max interrupted, looking at his phone before back up at them. Chloe felt the heat rise in her cheeks as her hands balled into fists. How dare he interrupt her?!
"Excuse me, I'm in charge here?! How dare you interrupt me in the middle of my - "
"Thank you, Max. He did just as told, Chloe. You need to go oversee the arrival of the prisoners." her father interrupted her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Chloe nodded before turning to the door.
"Alright. Sabrina, Kim, Max, come with me. You too, bodyguards." she pointed at each of them and snapped for them to hurry up before leaving, the people she called tailing after her.
"Aren't you so excited we're working together?!" Sabrina chirped, running up alongside her. "We get to hang out, and solve government problems together, and I'll do all the paperwork and you'll do all the leading and this will be so fun!"
"Yeah, whatever, just make sure you get that dumb paperwork done on time. Hell, even get Max to help you with it if you want."
"Uh, how about we don't?" Max grumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Excuse me? You'll help Sabrina with her paperwork if I tell you to."
"Yeah, right, I've got better things to do."
"Like what, play your dumb video games?"
"The video games aren't 'dumb', they increase my hand-eye coordination should I need to use the gun we're all quipped with and - "
"Clearly, they're not working, you haven't even passed the test!"
"Neither have you, Chloe - "
"It's Miss Bourgeois to you, Kante,"
"Whatever, Chloe, but may I remind you that the only reason you have this position at all is because, even though you're entirely unqualified for the job, your nepotistic father gave an intern position and a head position in an extremely important operation that should be taken far more seriously than - "
"Shut up, Max, Chloe's perfectly qualified to do the job!" Kim lied interrupted, sending him a glare. Max sputtered, outraged, but couldn't get his mouth to form any proper words.
"Kim's got the right idea, Max. Chloe did come up with the idea for this operation, so she deserves the position more than anyone! She's getting experience by doing this, nobody starts off working here with experience." Sabrina added.
"That's like saying the manager of some bakery is fit to rule all of France! Which, by the way, they aren't! And someone who already has experience should be leading a major operation, and someone who doesn't should be, like, an intern or something! And, no, Chloe doesn't count, she's only been Bourgeois' intern for two months and has done nothing but sit on her ass and sip on triple-macchiato lattes!" Max said.
"Oh, as if you don't do that too!" Kim crossed his arms.
"I play my games after I get my work done, and only then! Chloe, on the other hand, doesn't get any work in the first place!"
"Well, she's Bourgeois' daughter, so she's gotta know something about - "
"Shut up, guys, we're here." the group fell silent as they approached a giant window, where the plane hangar was on the floor below. The plane wasn't there yet, but Max's phone buzzed, revealing that it should be there in another thirty seconds. They all stood at the window, watching as agents scrambled to and fro to secure all of the security in case things went awry. They heard the thunder of the chopper blades as the heli-carrier landed until they slowed to a stop. Dozens of agents and guards bomb rushed the plane as the gates were opened. The prisoners were dragged out of the plane, kicking and screaming. Max… almost felt bad.
"Sabrina, who are those?" Chloe scoffed.
"Um… those would be the Bubbler, Stoneheart, Horrificator, and… I don't recognize the other two. Oh! Your father said they were Timebreaker and Lady Wifi!"
"What?! These villains aren't even good ones! We need the good villains! I'm calling Daddy and telling him to get me better villains, the Mime or somebody - "
"Actually, Chloe - "
"What?!"
"...we have the Splotches."
"...oh. That's a lot better, actually." Chloe crossed her arms with a satisfied smirk.
"Everything seems to be going according to procedure… I think it should be safe to go down and debrief them."
"To… wha?" Chloe blinked dumbly.
"Y'know, tell them what's up and why they're here and all." Kim raised an eyebrow, beginning to doubt if Chloe was actually qualified after all.
"It's standard procedure with agents, Chloe." Max added, adjusting his glasses.
"Well, th-they aren't agents, why should we debrief them?!"
"Because they need to know what their mission is in order to complete it, don't they? Also, since they're technically doing the same job several other agents have been working on for quite some time, they need to be debriefed on what we know and don't know about the situation and - "
"Uhm. What do we know about the situation?"
Max pinched his nose and let out a sigh. "I'll just do the debriefing, or Sabrina can, since we actually know what we're doing - "
"N-no! I'm the head of this assignment, I will be the one debriefing them!"
"You need to be debriefed, you don't even know what we're doing or what we know!"
"Then someone tell me!"
"We can just debrief you at the same time we debrief the others!"
"No, tell me now!"
Max leaned his head back and let out a groan, walking towards where the prisoners were sure to be. "Fine, fine! Sabrina, tell her the shit she needs to know and let's just get this over with!"
The rest of the group tagged along behind him. Sabrina enthusiastically explaining the inner workings of the agency and the mission goal and all that jazz to her while the lazy blonde pulled out a nail file and paid more attention to the curve of her nails and her cuticles than the extremely important government information that was being shared with her. Max had the feeling that he would be doing a lot more of the leading than Chloe was. And yet she dared to call him lazy?! As if.
This was going to be a long operation for him.
I hope this chapter keeps you excited for what's to come! The next chapter will be way shorter, but Chapter 4 will be longer than this one, even, so stay tuned!
For those who may be interested, I do art streams on Twitch usually at least once a week, on the weekends. If you want to hop in, they usually start around 6:30-7:30, and I'll be painting a drawing I did of Nathanael's Vulpes costume from my fanfiction, "Ain't Clowning Around"! My username is anipwrites there.
Follow wisfulina at wishfulina. tumblr. com
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Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you have a good day, and I'll see you next update!