Chapter 41

Adrien felt antsy and useless all week. He an Marinette were rarely apart, and usually with Alya and Nino as well. None of them intentionally planned to do this, but in the back of all of their minds was the idea that being together would make it easier to react as quickly as possible. While they sat uselessly, Chloé was spending her evenings in the middle of the viper's nest. The rest of them being together would cut down the time to assemble should she send up a metaphorical "bat signal". So they waited.

Chloé was more than capable of taking care of herself, and Adrien knew her too well to worry that Germain would manipulate her through the biological connection they had. Adrien knew that. Chloé knew that. Germain didn't know that, and that was what they were all counting on. Hopefully Chloé would be able to gain his trust enough to find out where his mom was being held.

Now Friday night, they all were getting anxious. Two nights ago, Chloé had stopped by Marinette's where they all were to give a quick update even though she looked exhausted.

"I'm getting close," she said through a yawn. "He lets me wander around the building without an escort now and will send me to get people for him. I know the lay of the place, so Marinette, I'll go through that with you tomorrow and we can create some mock blueprints in case Adela is actually somewhere in the building." She paused to yawn again as Marinette nodded at her. "I found a few locked rooms, so we'll mark those too. I don't think Adela's being kept there though. It's not guarded and I've heard him get calls and talk briefly about a woman; so, I think she's being held elsewhere, even though that video your dad got was definitely from this headquarters." She shivered, and looked over at Adrien.

Adrien had a chill go through him too. The rest of them had not seen the entirety of the video, but Chloé had requested to. She had wanted to take in any detail that might be useful and to remind herself of who this man was, if ever she felt the sway of his influence. She had told Adrien privately that Gabriel's description of Germain as charismatic was an understatement.

"I would never admit this to the others, because the last thing they need is any reason to doubt me, but I can see how he's amassed such a following. When he talks, you just want to believe him." She laughed mirthlessly. "If I didn't know better I'd say he had some sort of superpower himself. No wonder he wanted to capture Adela's miraculous. With her added power over emotion, they would have been unstoppable." They had looked at each other, fear evident in their eyes at the prospect of that outcome.

He sighed. He was resolving himself the dashed hope of rescuing his mother this week. It was too much to ask that Chloé figure it all out in less than 5 days. She was good, but surely Germain wasn't stupid enough to give up the information that they needed to someone who was basically a stranger to him, even if they shared the same blood.

He looked across the room, and saw Nino with his headphones on, music blasting and oblivious to the world, and Alya typing away at his computer, no doubt using some of her "insider's knowledge" to update the Ladyblog. He looked down at Marinette next to him dozing lightly on the couch and smiled reaching down and pushing her bangs back from her eyes. She was only taking up half the couch, so He curled up in the opposite direction and layed down on the pillow she was using, his forehead just touching the back of her head. Reaching up, he grasped one of her hands that was tucked under the pillow, and her fingers gripped his as he fell asleep.

The smack of metal and the dull reverberation of glass startled Marinette from her nap and she was awake and standing in the matter of seconds. She started to yell fo Tikki to transform, when she caught sight of Queen Bee who was standing up from her hasty, and probably less than graceful, entrance. Marinette was sorry she had missed her tumbling entrance, but then she saw Queen Bee's face. It wasn't the forlorn expression she had worn the last few nights when she had come to give them a debrief. Instead it was a panic-tinged excitement overlaying something that looked like hope. Without looking, she nudged Adrien's head, amazed at that boy's ability to sleep through anything and waved her arms in the direction of Alya and Nino, who were both wearing noise canceling headphones and caught completely unawares.

They all gathered on the couch as Queen Bee caught her breath, Adrien was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes and Nino still had the half-dazed look he got when his mind was abruptly pulled from some mix he was working on. Chloé sat down, releasing her transformation as she did, and Adrien ran to his mini-fridge to grab juice for Pollen and water for Chloé.

"Chlo, what happened?" Marinette was beginning to get worried seeing the state Chloé was in. She was out of breath and a bit disheveled, very out of character for the meticulously kept fashionista, but then her face broke out into a grin.

"I got it!" She held up a crumpled piece of paper that Marinette had not noticed before. Clutched in her hand and wrinkled from the wind, Chloé set her treasure down on the table triumphantly and took the glass of water from Adrien. While she guzzled it down, Nino picked up the paper from the table and tried to make sense of it.

"It's an invoice…"He hesitated, reading it further. "It's expenses for an apartment? And it looks like three people?" He looked up at Chloé for further explanation as he handed the paper down for Alya to inspect. Chloé nodded.

"Adela and two security guards." She paused, and then settled herself more comfortable in the chair to tell the whole story. "So I was basically doing messenger stuff for Penelope. For as much as Germain claims to want to get to know me, I see him for about five minutes every night for tea and to exchange pleasantries before he excuses himself and then has Penelope put me to work. I swear he just wants to manipulate me to hurt my father, but whatever." She rolled her eyes. Marinette could tell that she was insulted by his underestimation of her intelligence and angry at his targeting her father. She didn't see any pain in her eyes though, and was glad that Germain wasn't managing to manipulate Chloé. As strong as she was, Marinette knew that the blonde still had feelings, and family was family. No matter how horrible they were and whether or not you've disowned them, there's still a part that recognizes them as blood. Chloé continued, "I have an 'eye for design' he claims and has me running errands and consulting with Penelope on the design for this party he is throwing on Saturday. Although," she paused, considering. "Party probably isn't the best word for it. It's not quite a rally, but it's like a campaign banquet or event. He intends to make a speech and the invite list has a ton of prominent businessmen and second-rate politicians. The ones from the minority party who don't support the mayor." She huffed and flicked her hair off her shoulder.

Glad that she was acting more like herself, Marinette turned her attention to Alya, who was still looking over the invoice. Alya looked up and met her eyes before looking over at Chloé.

"But how do you know this is Adela and two guards? I give you it's at least two people, possibly three. There is at least a man and a woman from the objects listed as expenses, and the amount of food and one bedroom makes it unlikely there are more than three people, but what made you jump to Adela?" She readjusted her glasses on her nose and stared at Chloé.

"He slipped." Chloé said simply and crossed her arms over her chest. Only a friend could see the small, self-satisfied smirk playing at the corner of her lips. "I was in his office gathering an updated guest list he had confirmed so I could edit the placecards and seating chart and was going through some files he gave me from a previous assistant about the venue and caterer. I had only been there a few minutes, but he had been distracted when I walked in and the cabinet I was going through hid me from the line of sight from his desk. So someone knocked, and he called them in and they started discussing some expenses." She pointed to the sheet in Alya's hand. "That's an old one I was able to swipe. Once I knew there was a paper trail I quickly looked through the cabinet I was in, and sure enough it was under misc." She allowed herself to look smug for a moment.

Marinette made a circular motion with her hands as if to say get on with it. Chloé rolled her eyes at her, but then both girls looked over and saw the single-minded concentration of Adrien's face and Chloé continued.

"The guy said, verbatim, 'Our guest is getting more and more restless, sir' and then something along the lines of her being disrespectful and belligerent-"

"Her?" Adrien cut in.

"Her." Chloé nodded. "They definitely referred to their guest as a female. And then," she paused, but forced herself to continue. "Then," she said more softly, "Germain said to do what they thought necessary, but no scars."

Adrien just stared straight ahead, not seeing anyone. Chloé and Marinette looked at each other worriedly. They all knew from the video that Adela had been beaten, and as sick as it made them, they hoped that was the worst of it.

Marinette wanted desperately to comfort Adrien in some way, to grab his hand at least, but he seemed to be in shock and she didn't want to rouse him, or be rejected. She didn't know what he needed. At long last, after what seemed like hours, he reached over and clasped Marinette's hand as if his life depended on it. She held it between hers and squeezed just as tightly. He looked at Chloé.

"What does this mean?" His voice was a coarse whisper.

"It mean's we can save her." Chloé answered just as lowly, and then Alya gasped from their right. Adrien's head swiveled to stare at her and Alya looked up from the document.

"The name." She cleared her throat. "The apartment name is on here." Chloé nodded at her.

"We know where Adela is. We know where your mom is, Adrien."