Hi everyone.

This chapter is a little earlier than I would have liked to post it this week, but I won't have time on Sunday so here it is now. I hope you all like it and it was nice to see you noticed the Hamilton reference, I've been obsessed recently.

Unfortunately, you might have to bear with me these next few weeks if I don't get a chapter out regularly, I'm going through quite a tough time at the moment and there are lots of awful things in my personal life going on right now, so I hope you'll understand if I can't post as often.

But I'll try, because all of your lovely reviews are one of the things that make me happy, so I owe you all for that.

Thank you for the support and I hope you enjoy,

-Littlemixup :)

I stare back at Lila, dumbfounded.

"What?"

"This is the place where your father works, when he's trying to figure out yours and your friend's powers. Well, ex-friend's powers really, isn't it?" she replies with a light-hearted laugh.

Gritting my teeth, I stop myself from saying something that will blow my cover, and instead decide to go with.

"Exactly. So, how often would you say my father comes in here? Every day? It would be nice to have a little family reunion," I say coolly, casually looking through the papers on Father's desk to see if I can find anything else out. Making sure I move slowly so that I don't look in any hurry, I read through a couple of pieces of paper that I can find, waiting for Lila's reply.

"Well, I, ha, I mean, I'm not sure, I'm above him in the hierarchy of this system, so I don't need to know what he's up to, running little errands, you know?" she blurts quickly.

There it is again.

That glimpse of fear.

She's lying, I can tell.

"So, this isn't your room?" I question innocently, the corners of my mouth twitching into a smile.

Lila makes no eye contact with me, tossing her brown hair over her shoulder.

"No, it isn't. But I know the password because I'm above him, like I said," she says quickly.

"Oh, I see. I thought it might have been yours because this seems to be where all of the really important information goes," I prompt, having to keep my eyes on the papers that I'm looking at to stop myself from smiling. They are newspaper clippings, pages from the newspaper that shared my mother's death, and other extracts about a young girl reporting a mutant that made strange things happen around her.

It has been a moment since Lila replied so I look up to see her flustered face, struggling to find words, the glimpse of fear now evident on her face.

"Well, it is, but I-"

I step forward, papers still clutched in my hands. It looks like I was right.

"So I take it you're not in charge at all, are you?" I gloat, smiling at her being caught out.

"I am, but-"

I step closer, leering at her. She has shrunk back, glaring at me.

"In fact, I bet my father doesn't even know that you're here, does he? I bet he thinks that you're off running errands for him somewhere else, am I right?" I laugh meanly.

"You have no right to make those accusations about me! You have no idea!" Lila fumes, shouting.

I remain still, running my gloved fingers along the tops of the papers. Not batting an eyelid, I reply calmly.

"They aren't accusations if they're true."

"Look, I brought you here to get you up to speed. Do you want to go back to your cell?" she threatens.

I panic on the inside. Maybe I went a bit too far, but at least now I have an idea.

"So!" I reply, quickly changing the subject at anything but this, "what is all this research about? Why does my father need so much intel on Marinette and I?"

Lila smiles cunningly, knowing that she has managed to deflect my accusations, but she continues anyway.

"Well, he wanted to be able to extract yours and Marinette's powers, so that he- I mean... we, can harness them for his... our, own use," she explains.

I press a button on the desk.

A beep confirms all I need to hear.

I smile. Soon...

I walk back over to the desk with the boards, still intent on looking around. On the desk is a piece of paper I've never noticed before. Upon a closer look, I see that it's a map. A map of all of the cells, all of the room and hallways, including where I am now. I can also see that in each little box representing a cell, there are name of the people that are in the cells. And it looks like there have been updates.

And not so recent updates.

"What sort of use?" I reply to Lila, hoping to distract her with a question whilst I have a closer look and plan my next moves.

I scan over the map. I find the cell that has my name in it.

Adrien Agreste

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Marinette's name has been crossed out, so I scan the rest of the map to try and find Marinette's current cell. Eventually I catch sight of it. She's down a different corridor, a new unfamiliar one which I've never been to before. I know that I need to keep the map.

"You've seen the wall," Lila begins, standing over in the right corner of the room, away from the desk and towards the mass of parchment on the wall.

I need to try and find a distraction. I look around for inspiration... aha! I leave the map spread out on the table, making sure that there is a fountain pen nearby. Holding the stack of papers I'd put down before, I cross the room to Lila and stare thoughtfully at the wall too.

"Anyone with absolute power has the ability to have one wish which will grant them whatever they want," Lila elaborates, gesturing to the picture on the wall.

"And how will he do that?" I inquire.

Lila is just about to answer when I 'accidentally' let go of the papers, which fly everywhere all over the floor. Lila gasps, glaring at me. Putting the next move of my plan into play, I take off my gloves, making Lila's eyes widen in worry.

"Argh, no, sorry!" I apologise, bending down to pick them up, "now my father will know you've been in here."

I wait for Lila's gasp of realization before moving towards the first sheet of paper with my bare hands outstretched.

"No!" she half shouts, lunging to stops me. Regaining her composure, she clears her throat.

"I mean, it's fine, I'll do it myself you imbecile. You clearly can't be trusted to do things by yourself," she snaps, irritated.

I stand up but lean towards her, hand still outstretched.

"Are you sure? I could help, I-"

"It's not necessary. You've done quite enough. Now go and stand over there where you won't be in the way," Lila reprimands, pointing to the opposite corner of the room.

I turn around and walk casually to the desk, where she can't see my gleeful smile. I wouldn't have taken Lila as so gullible, but I guess people surprise you. A tough façade, nothing more than an illusion. Her speciality.

With her occupied, picking up bits of paper whilst muttering darkly under her breath, I take the opportunity to out my gloves back on, pick up the fountain pen and mark on the map a path from the room I'm in to Marinette's room, and then another pathway from Marinette's cell to mine.

For what I have planned I'm going to need to be familiar with both.

Lila is still picking up papers, so without her noticing I carefully fold the map up until it's about the size of a post-it note, and slip it into my pocket along with the pen. I hesitate for a moment, wondering if Father will know it's missing, but I decide to go through with it anyway, because even if he does realize it will be too late. And besides, I could've taken something else that actually would have been more beneficial to me leaving. Like a key for example.

"This is ridiculous. As soon as I've finished, you're going back to the cell. You've seen enough for today," Lila fumes, nearly finished with picking up the paper.

I have just enough time to scribble two words onto a piece of paper before Lila is standing up with the pile of papers in her hands and is placing them on to the desk. It may be a stupid idea, and it might never work.

But so far, trusting Marinette is my only plan. And I really hope that it works, and she thinks along the same lines as me. Just in case I'm right, I write onto the paper.

Absolute Power

"Ok, now hurry, get out. It's time for you to remember your place. We're going back to your cell," Lila says, gesturing sharply for me to leave and get out.

With a click, the door slides closed and we're back in the hallway of terror again. I still feel like I'm walking through a set for a horror movie, but at least coming through it this time I am prepared for the horror that waits outside the door. As we trail back up the corridor, I can't help but imagine what this place looked like before it became so... decayed. I know that it wasn't me, which is a good thing, but I try and picture what it would look like if Marinette was able to fix it. I mean, not that she would be able to. It's not that I don't think she's capable, because I've seen what her magic does and it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It's just that I doubt her body could handle what it would do to her. This hallway is extremely large, and so I think that the consequences it would have for her would be too risky to even try to repair it.

I count the doors as we walk, trying to pinpoint and recognise where the map showed that the corridor leading to Marinette's new room would be. I close my eyes, trying to picture the map, but I haven't studied it well enough yet to be able to know where it would be, so instead I count the doors, so if I ever need to get there I will know roughly where I'm going.

By the time we reach my cell, I've counted eleven doors. Lila opens the door and I hover at the entrance, weighing up whether or not I should try and run for it now and find Marinette's cell. However, I'm too late.

Catching me by surprise, I feel Lila's high heeled boot shove me in my back and I skid forwards, falling onto the floor of my cell. I groan in pain as the door slams shut with a thud behind me, and Lila's laugh echoes through the walls as she struts away.

I don't mind though. For all I care she can laugh all she wants. Because I have fooled her, stolen a map from her boss' office, found out where Marinette is, and not to mention the leverage I now have over her. But I'll only use that if I have to. So she can laugh away. I'm winning. She just doesn't realise it yet.

I realise that I'm being too cocky. I know that my part is done, but the next part of my plan all depends on Marinette. I've been so focused on getting this right, I haven't thought about it much to avoid me going into some emotional overload. But now that I can think properly, I unlock the chest of emotions inside my head, and all my thoughts that I'd pushed away throughout their way flood back into my mind. Marinette. Oh, I've let her down big time. I start to overthink, and every time I do I keep on coming back to the same questions. What if she doesn't want to see me? What if she doesn't want to come with me? I need to let her know that everything will be ok. But how to do it?

Think, think, what to do?

I can't go and find her right now, but maybe I can... send her a message of some sort?

I've no idea what to do at all. I need to consider my options here and think about what I can possibly do from in here, when it's just me.

Hang on.

Just me...

I look down at my hands. Maybe, if I can learn to control my powers at last, and try to condense it to maybe channelling it into single objects, maybe then I can leave a message in her cell. This is such a silly idea, and I have little to no faith that it will work, but it's worth a try.

I get the map out from my pocket and roll it out on the floor. It feels strange being in the cell and having something, a real object, rather than nothing at all. Snapping back to attention, I think about what I have to do. I know that I've got one shot with this, and this message either makes it or it doesn't. So I've got to say something that is reassuring but also lets her know what is going on. If it even gets to her.

I let out a mini scream of frustration, knowing I need to stop being so negative, otherwise this will never work. Instead I find which direction Marinette's room will be in and then I kneel in front of that wall, gloved hands still resting on the floor either side of me. Thinking about what I want to say to her, and how I can say it in a way she will hopefully put the pieces together, I close my eyes, and as I remove my gloves, I bring my hands to the floor in front of me.

With my right hand, I trace out the words I want to say, and I feel that familiar energy wanting, longing, needing, to come out of me and destroy the floor. But I focus on Marinette, that photo I saw of her in father's room, and when I'm focused, I can feel the energy stops puling inside of my arms. Still present, but not as ferocious.

I push my arms up and forward, and, feeling the rush of the energy flow from my fingers. I picture it, running through walls and under the ground as it travels to her room, and then I picture it crackling onto the floor of her cell, in a place where she can see it. All the while I have her face in my head, keeping me from destroying the world around me, pulling me back from the dark place that engulfs me when I use magic.

Stopping me from losing control.

Finished with my magic, I fall back, gathering up the last of my strength to crawl over to the mattress.

And thinking of Marinette, I fall asleep.

Hoping that it'll work.

Because it has to.