Author's note: Slightly shorter chapter today I'm afraid but more on the way. Thanks for the reviews!

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Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a sleeping beauty behind the glass.

She's perfectly motionless. Lying there, eyes closed and clearly unaware of her surroundings. Maybe she is dead. The thought crosses Adrien's mind. There's something of an unnatural peacefulness about her. She's resting. It's horror that grips him. He finds himself trembling from the shock. It's impossible to look away. He finds himself thinking back to the kindness that she'd shown him, her seemingly never-ending patience with Dylan Lebrun, all of her selfless heroics as Ladybug… Her soft laugh echoes through his ears.

She's the best of people and she's fallen victim to a monster.

He wants to free her, to shatter the glass and take her in his arms, let her know that she's safe now and that nobody can hurt her any more. Cat Noir takes a few steps forwards. He's trembling so much that he finds himself struggling to stand. He could easily collapse. Stretching out a hand, he reaches for the girl's features but encounters only the glass. He remains frozen there. Eyes filled with horror as he fixes his friend.

Unable to stand-by any longer, he readies himself. If he's careful, he should be able to destroy the pod without his cataclysm harming its occupant.

"Wait!" Nathalie sees what he's about to do and cuts him short. "Destroy the pod and you might kill her!"

"What?" He stops himself, turning to face the woman.

"We don't know what he's done to her… Destroy the pod, you'll take out the life-support. The shock-"

She doesn't continue. There's no need. Cat Noir relents.

Instead, he turns back towards the teen. It's hard to tell if she's even breathing. It's a mixture of fear and a feeling of powerlessness which dominates him. Despite Nathalie's warning, he's still eager to free his friend. It's hard not to give in to his instincts and shatter the pod. He's growing desperate and frantic and as a result starts looking around for any potential solution. Surely, these things aren't a permanent prison for the occupant… What's even wrong with Marinette to begin with? A thousand questions begin to circulate through his mind and he starts to imagine the worst… So he turns back to his only companion, the one person he prays has some of the answers:

"She's okay though, right? Just sleeping..."

"I-I think so." Nathalie sounds… Shaken. It's not something he's accustomed to hearing from her.

The woman moves slowly to the side of the pod. She's seems unsettled. Is it shock, weariness or fear of what she might discover? The woman heads over to a small screen attached to the pod. She activates it and keys a few things in. Almost instantly, she has access to several charts and as far as Adrien can tell monitors. One of the few things he can recognize is a heartbeat. She's still alive. That single piece of information allows him to breathe a little more easily. Nathalie continues contemplating the data in silence for a few instants.

It's probably less than a minute of waiting for her diagnosis but it seems to stretch out forever:

"As far as I can tell she's just sedated. It's a coma but a very mild one."

"Can we wake her up?" It's not a question so much as a request.

"In theory…" She left a pause, thinking about his next course of action. "Just… Wait a few moments. We've got to be delicate."

He doesn't have any choice but to take her word for it. Adrien stays next to the pod, his hand resting on the glass as if to try and provide some comfort for its occupant. Nathalie works as quickly as possible. In her mind, she's acutely aware that they don't have long. On the other hand, she can't rush this. One mistake and she could easily end up killing the girl trapped inside. The entire process is rather complicated and from the few glances over to the screen that the teen gives, he can't make head nor tail of it. He's nervous, growing ever more anxious by the second.

"You know what you're doing?"

"Yes. Your father ensured that I knew the basics of how these things worked and how to monitor those inside in case something ever happened to him."

A few seconds later, there's a hiss from the hydraulics. Adrien stepped back quickly, giving the door room to swing open. It did so slowly. There was a strong odour, almost clinical, reminiscent of antiseptic released from the inside. Cat Noir's first instinct is to try and drag her out of there, to bring his friend out into the open air. He stops however as his eyes latch onto what looks like an armband around her wrist and an IV drip feeing into the veins of her wrist. Once more, the teen turns to Nathalie, hoping, praying that she will know what to do. The last thing that he wants to do is hurt her.

Sure enough, the woman steps forwards, taking control of the situation. She's a bit faster this time, moving efficiently. She unstraps the teen, lowering her down so that she might rest in her friend's arms. Then, quickly but cautiously, she frees the girl from the wires and the drip. Blood begins to flow freely from where the needle had been. Apparently that was something that Nathalie had neglected to take into account. She's quick to dart off. She returned soon afterwards with medical supplies, no doubt here in case of emergency.

"Hold this against her wrist." Nathalie instructs, placing a cotton gauze there, applying pressure with his thumb.

"She isn't waking up..." The teen can't help but note.

"We've unplugged her but there sedative is still in her bloodstream." The woman explains, quickly checking the girl's pulse. "It's going to be a while before she wakes up."

Adrien doesn't say anything. His eyes fall back upon the girl in his arms. She's heavy and unresponsive. At least he can hear and feel her warm breaths… It's proof that she's still alive. She seems frail however, vulnerable. He should never have let this happen to her. His father is a monster… He truly is.

Slowly, the teen pulls her in close, holding her against his chest. It's as if he's shielding her. Protecting her from all of the harm which might still be coming for her. Nathalie watches compassionately but equally with some fear. They really need to be getting out of here. She waits a few seconds, hoping to allow her charge to get over the shock of what he's witnessed and pull himself together to a sufficient degree to begin functioning properly once more. He's going to be difficult to deal with if he's emotional. The way that he clings desperately to Marinette speaks of the bond between the two of them and perhaps some of his own guilt.

She leaves him as long as they can sensibly afford. Tentatively however, when it's time to go, she reaches out a hand and places it on his shoulder, applying some gently pressure. She feels him tense up, flinching almost as if she'd hurt him. He glances at her over his shoulder, the look behind his eyes is one that she's never seen before. Rage, pure and simple...

"I'm going to kill him."

The words come out of a snarl, the likes of which she'd never heard from him before. It's an oath. He's breathing rapidly. If he were a dog, he would be foaming at the mouth. It's strange but for a few moments, she finds herself reminded that this is Gabriel Agreste's son. There's something about him that very much reminds her of his father: an anger, a determination to not let anyone or anything get in the way of what he perceives as being right. It's as formidable as it is terrifying. The teen rages silently inside but has no one to unleash it against.

Nathalie can't help but think that's probably a good thing on balance.

She stares at him, unable to think of just how to react. Gabriel's temper tantrums are something generally best avoided. Adrien's? She's not willing to put it to the test, not here and not now. Not when he's got a very valid reason to be angry and when the cause of his rage could easily come down to join them at any moment. Instead, she gets to her feet trying to maintain control and get them out of here whilst it's still possible and there's still time.

"Come on." She tells the teen. "We need to get out of here."