Post by angelofmusic1992 on Mar 23, 2019 0:02:57 GMT
Yang drove her motorcycle as fast as she could. She feared that any minute, the man with the spider tattoo Red had spotted might vanish or find out that a cop was on the way. She had to act fast, or her chance of finding Adrien might slip away forever.
She pulled up to the Club Envy, looking up at the sign that had letters lit up in bright green lights. It wasn’t a completely trashy club, but criminals had been known to frequent there more than once. While Yang would have been content to just show her police ID and storm the place, she knew that it might scare away the man. She had to be sneaky about this. So, she went up to the club just like any other customer and headed inside.
The place had all the typical things a club wanted: flashing lights, booming music, and a bar with a plentiful supply of drinks. Yang headed there first. Lucky for her, there was only one woman seated there, so she figured she had to be Red. Her eyes were fixed on something at a distance, but she looked up once Yang approached.
“Well that was fast,” she complimented.
“Where is he?” Yang asked, her hands curled into fists.
“Right over there,” Red replied, pointing across the way. Yang’s eyes followed and she saw a man with black hair laughing with a couple of club dancers. Sure enough, she could see the spider tattoo show up on his neck when his head tilted a certain way. He soon got up though and headed towards the back door, pulling out a cigarette as he did so.
“I guess even cult criminals need a smoke break,” Red muttered. Yang said nothing however. She only followed the man, her eyes never leaving his back. As she was about to head out the back door though, Red put a hand on her shoulder.
“Whoa, Yang, hold on there honey,” Red said. “You look like you’re about to burn this whole place down and let me tell you, that’s not going to get you the information you want.”
“I’m not going to burn the club down,” Yang replied, her voice coming out steely. “I just need to get him to talk. He’s mine.”
She opened the back door, leaving the booming bass and bright lights behind. Outside, the only sounds were cars driving and a pedestrian or two walking. The man was struggling to light his cigarette. Red poked her head out the door and watched as Yang tossed her hair back, put a friendly smile on her face, and walked right over.
“Damn it,” the man muttered as he fought to get his lighter to work.
“Here. Let me help.”
The man turned at the sound of Yang’s voice. With a smile, Yang held out her pointer finger and lit the end of the man’s cigarette. He inhaled deeply and blew out a plume of smoke before turning back to Yang.
“Thanks babe,” he said. “Nifty trick you got there.”
“Trust me man, I’ve got tons of tricks,” Yang said, dropping her voice into a more alluring tone. It’d been a while since she’d had to use her looks to get something she wanted, but it seemed to be working.
“Nice tat,” she said, reaching up to point at the spider on his neck. “Where’d you get it?”
“Oh, that’s a secret babe,” the man replied with a laugh. “Can’t tell it to a pretty girl I’ve just met.”
“How about you tell it to a cop?”
Those words made the man freeze. Yang’s syrupy tone was gone, and it had been replaced with one that was cold. He looked to see her eyes had turned angry and he could almost feel the heat radiating off of them. He’d screwed up, bad. Before he could even make a move to run though, Yang grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back, and pushed his face into the ground.
“I know your little gang has Adrien Agreste,” she growled. “Where is he? Tell me, now!”
“You think I’m gonna squeal?” the man huffed, trying to look more intimidating than he was feeling. “No way!”
“I’m not playing around!” Yang’s voice was loud in his ear and before he knew it, her free hand became encased in a fireball. He gave a little yelp and tried to move away, but Yang held him in place.
“Unless you want your face melted off, you tell me where you goons are keeping him!”
The man whimpered as Yang slowly brought her hand closer. Red just watched in amazement. Yang had gone from 0 to 100 in less than a second. This was a woman who’d do anything to find the one she loved.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you!” the man cried, finally surrendering. “Adrien’s being held at an abandoned warehouse near the southeastern edge of the city. Vanessa orchestrated the whole thing.”
“Vanessa…was she the one who went into Adrien’s house?” Yang asked. “Did she have that necklace? You’d better tell me the full story. And no lies, or you’ll end up looking like Two Face.”
“Yes, yes, that was her!” the man shouted, desperately trying to avoid Yang’s flames. “She’s the only original member of the Spiders’ Web. She just found us to carry out her plan. She didn’t care if we were witches or not. She just wanted some tough muscle to keep Adrien under guard.”
“Why did she take him?” Yang demanded. “If she hurt him-”
“No, she hasn’t yet!” The words tumbled out of the man’s mouth at top speed, hoping it would appease Yang. “She just wanted him long enough for her to finish her magic bomb.”
“A magic what?” Yang was unfamiliar with the term. Luckily, the man was ready to explain everything.
“Magic that controls people are her specialty. So, she’s designing a magic bomb that’ll be ten times as strong as any spell. Once she sets it off, half the city will be under her control and she can do whatever she wants. She just took Adrien as insurance. Nobody would try to stop her if his life was on the line.”
Yang was quiet for a moment, turning this new information over in her head. Everything was finally starting to make sense. Vanessa didn’t want anyone messing with her magic bomb project. So she kidnapped Adrien, who was well loved by nearly everyone in the city. If anyone tried to stop her, Adrien would pay the price.
“She’s almost done with the thing,” the man continued. “She probably doesn’t even need Adrien anymore.”
“What? What’s that supposed to mean?” Yang’s eyes burned with anger as she slammed the man’s head down on the ground again. “Is she going to hurt him? Or kill him?”
“I don’t know, I swear!” the man yelled. “I don’t know what she planned on doing with him once she was done. Please don’t hurt me!”
Yang gave an intimidating snarl, but the man just whimpered in fear. It looked like he didn’t have anymore information to give. Yang let out a breath. She had to act fast. If Vanessa was almost done making her magic bomb, there was a chance that she would see Adrien was disposable and just kill him. She had to find him before that happened. Without a word, she whipped out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on the man.
“You’re lucky that’s all I did to you,” she said coldly. “You guys messed with my boyfriend. Now you’re gonna pay for it.” As she stood up, Red hurried over.
“Yeesh honey, you nearly gave me goosebumps,” she said. “Just nearly.”
“Can you stay with him until I get some cops over here?” Yang said, hurriedly sending a text on her phone. “I’m sending a message to Sunshine. She’ll get this guy picked up soon.”
“Wait, you’re not gonna be here?” Red asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No.” Yang shook her head. “You heard this guy. Vanessa’s almost done with her magic bomb. She can’t be allowed to activate it. And if she finishes it, Adrien will no longer be of use to her. Who knows what she might do to him.”
Red was quiet for a moment. Yang wondered if she might try and stop her from going for Adrien alone. But then she looked up with look in her eyes that almost seemed to be understanding.
“Alright little lady. You do what you gotta do to save your boyfriend. But a word of advice. If Vanessa’s lackeys are as spineless as this guy, I don’t think you’ll have too much of a problem.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “But I learned recently that my mother Jessica joined this group too. And she’s a pretty strong witch. Don’t give her a chance to gain the upper hand.”
Yang nodded. “Thanks Red. I appreciate the help.” And that was all she said before she ran off. Soon, the only sounds were the man’s pathetic whimpering and the roar of Yang’s motorcycle as she took off.
Finding the warehouse wasn’t too difficult. It was right where the man said it would be. From the looks of it, it did look like it had been abandoned once. It sat almost in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by quite a few trees and bushes. But even after Yang ditched her motorcycle and crept up closer on foot, she could see at least one guard in front of every door. To her relief though, she didn’t see any security cameras. One less thing for her to worry about.
It didn’t take her long to come up with a plan. She’d seen cops do this trick a few times and it always seemed to work. Finding a hefty-looking rock, she threw it as hard as she could at a guard in front of the east-side door. He crumpled to the ground as soon as it hit his head, making the guards at the north side door hurry to his side. It gave Yang the perfect opportunity to head over and sneak inside.
The inside of the warehouse was eerily quiet as Yang made her way down a hallway. She could tell that it had been in rough shape once, but it looked like Vanessa and her henchmen took some time to make the place semi-livable. They probably had to, considering that they’d been keeping Adrien here for a while. And speaking of Adrien, she had to figure out some way to find him. This warehouse was like a maze. If she just wandered around blindly, it would take forever for her to figure out where he was.
As she rounded a corner, she suddenly froze as she saw two female guards not too far away. And both of them had guns on them. Slowly backing away, Yang hoped they wouldn’t spot her.
“Hey!”
Yang spun around. The voice hadn’t come from the women guards, but from a man behind her. Magic power instantly glowed in his hands.
“Little lady, you have exactly five seconds to tell me what you’re doing here!”
Yang’s eyes narrowed. She hadn’t expected to be found out this quickly. But she’d known she wasn’t going to get Adrien out of here without a fight. It looked like that fight was going to start a little early.
Without hesitating for a second, she dashed forward, fire burning in her hands. The man shot a magic blast at her, but she deflected it with a fireball of her own. With a yell, she jumped up and crashed into the man, sending him to the ground. By the time she stood up, he was out cold.
“Paul?”
Yang turned around. That had come from one of the female guards. It looked like they’d heard the commotion. And when they saw Yang standing over Paul’s unconscious body, they immediately moved to pull out their guns. Before they could even reach them though, Yang launched herself forward with a fiery blast. She grabbed the two women’s heads and crashed them together, knocking them out in an instant.
“You guys need to get better security,” she muttered as she started walking again. However, she was soon met by a large group of guards. And one of them, a shrimpy little guy who looked more like a twig than anything else, was finally smart enough to pull out a walkie talkie.
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” he shouted as the rest of the guards immediately rushed towards Yang. “We’ve had someone infiltrate our base!”
If a regular Joe Schmoe had been in Yang’s shoes, they might have felt intimidated by how many opponents were here. But Yang merely put up her fists and stood her ground. She’d been waiting a long time to get back at the people that had taken Adrien away from her. She’d told herself that she would tear the place apart to get him back. And she intended on doing just that.
The man with the walkie talkie watched in astonishment and horror as Yang smashed into the group of guards like a bowling ball knocking a bunch of pins. She tore through them like a raging inferno, knocking them out with punches and kicks that were on fire, literally. Before the man even knew it, he was the only one left standing. And Yang’s burning eyes fixed on him as she started to walk towards him.
“Who…who the hell are you?” he stuttered as he stumbled backwards. “What are you? What do you even want?”
He started shaking as Yang grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him close. Then she hissed in a low, cold voice,
“I want my boyfriend back.”
And that was all the man heard before he got knocked out like the rest of the guards.
Adrien shifted his body slightly, trying to get comfortable. Besides keeping him in zipties most of the time, his kidnappers hadn’t really done much to hurt him. No torture, no interrogation, nothing. And his guards weren’t telling him why they even wanted him in the first place. That drove him crazy the most. Sure, his powers could get his hands free in a second. But they didn’t do much good against magic beams and bullets, and his guards had plenty of each. He had to wait for an opportune moment to escape.
There were always two guards assigned to watch him, usually right inside the door. At the moment, they were quiet except for occasionally shifting the guns they had in their hands. However, the silence was broken by frantic yelling sounding from one of the guards’ walkie talkies.
“We need all units to converge on the north side of the building!” a female voiced shouted. “We’ve got an intruder in here!”
“What?” Both guards looked at each other in disbelief. They didn’t think anyone would ever be able to find their hideout. “Who is it?” one of them demanded.
“I don’t know!” the female guards responded, sounding panicked. “Just get over here now! The guards are getting knocked out left and right!”
Adrien’s head snapped up. A break in? This could be his chance! If this intruder was distracting most of the guards in the building, maybe he could finally get out of here.
Wasting no time, he let out a slow breath. The destructive power inside him immediately coated his hands in black energy, and the zipties around his wrist eroded away. He immediately jumped up, heading straight for the distracted guards.
“Hey, what the-” was all one of them had time to say before Adrien whipped the gun out of his hands and cracked it hard against his head. He did the same to the other, and the two of them dropped to the floor in an instant. After that, he threw the door open. However, as he looked left, and then right, he had no idea where the exit was.
“Screw this,” he muttered as black energy covered his hand once again. He put his palm on a nearby wall and it instantly started to crumble. Once he’d made a decent-sized hole, he crawled through it and started running again. If he broke through enough walls, he was bound to find a way out eventually. He just hoped that this intruder could distract the guards long enough in order for him to do so.
Yang let out a bellow of rage as she spun and tossed a guard that she’d grabbed in her hands. He flew like a rag doll and crashed into the other guards nearby. Any that didn’t get knocked down were met by Yang’s fiery fists. She’d plowed through tons of these guards, but there was still no sign of Adrien. Where could he be? She felt like she could still take down more. She only had a few bruises and one cut on her leg. But she was starting to fear that she may never find him.
As she knocked down another one, she heard a voice cry out from his walkie talkie.
“Guys, we need to start securing the perimeter! Adrien Agreste has escaped! Find him now!”
Yang froze in her tracks. Adrien had gotten free? Was he still somewhere in the building? Heart pounding, she took off down the hallway, frantic to find him before the guards did.
“Adrien?” Her voice echoed eerily. There was no sign of any guards, and no sign of Adrien either. “Adrien!” The word came out panicked as she kept running. What if she couldn’t find him? What if the guards found him first? What if she couldn’t make it to him in time?
As she rounded a corner, she skidded to a halt, chest heaving as she breathed heavily. Instead of one of the usual guards in the hallway, a lone woman with long red hair stood. Yang hesitated for a moment. This woman felt different from the others. She wasn’t some dumb lackey that Vanessa had found.
“This ends now, little girl,” the woman sneered as magic power surged in her. “You’re not taking one step further.”
Yang peered a little more closely at the woman. Her red hair almost looked familiar. Could she be…Jessica? Red’s warning echoed in her mind about not to give her the opportunity to gain the upper hand in a fight. If that was the case, then she couldn’t hesitate.
With a cry, she shot herself forward, fists encased in fire. Jessica almost seemed taken aback, although she shielded herself just in time with her magic power. Yang threw punches right and left, hoping that if she overwhelmed Jessica with blows, she wouldn’t have the chance to fight back. Jessica moved just as fast as she did though, blocking her fiery attacks every single time. Even when Yang let out a burst of fire, she merely got knocked backwards, her feet skidding against the ground.
“What is with you?” she demanded. “Nobody’s had the balls to take me head-on before.”
“Let’s just say I got a little insider info about you,” Yang said with a smirk.
Jessica gritted her teeth in frustration. However, before either of them could resume the fight, a hole suddenly appeared in the nearby wall, sending plaster and dust everywhere. Yang coughed for a second, then her eyes widened in astonishment as she saw Adrien standing there, black energy coming out of his hands. Adrien’s expression soon mirrored hers, eyes widening as well.
“Yang?” The word came out almost frightened, like someone who had been caught doing something horrible.
“Adrien?” Yang struggled to wrap her head around what she was seeing. This wasn’t right. Adrien didn’t have powers. He wasn’t an Other. If he was, she would have known…right?
Before either of them could say anything more though, Jessica let out a yell as she let loose a beam of magic energy. Yang barely had enough time to counterattack with a fiery blast.
“Run!” she yelled.
That seemed to shake Adrien out of the shock he was in. He instantly obeyed, running back through the hole he’d created. Yang kept shooting out fire for a brief second more before finally jumping to the side and following Adrien. The two ran down the hallway as fast as they could, but they could hear Jessica following not too far behind them.
“Come back here!” she yelled. “We’re not finished yet!”
Yang’s eyes frantically searched for some way out of this. Was there anything they could use? Or somewhere they could hide? Just as the thought occurred to her, she and Adrien found, of all things, a janitor’s closet. They could hear Jessica’s footsteps nearby. They’d be within her line of sight in less than ten seconds.
“In here!” Yang pushed Adrien inside before getting in herself and shutting the door.
Inside, it was nearly pitch black. Yang couldn’t see much besides Adrien and a few cleaning supplies, like a mop and some bottles of disinfectant. The two ducked down low while trying to remain as quiet as possible. When they heard Jessica come down the hallway, they froze like statues. But she walked right past their hiding place, none the wiser.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Adrien sighed. However, any relief he felt soon vanished when the saw the look in Yang’s eyes. They were full of hurt, and she almost seemed close to crying.
“Explain yourself,” she said in a choked voice. “Now.”
“What? Now?” Adrien asked. “Yang, we’re in the middle of an escape right now. This isn’t really the best time.”
“I don’t care!” she hissed. “I want to know why my boyfriend is still keeping secrets from me!”
Adrien sighed. He felt so guilty, about all of this. But he knew he owed an explanation to Yang.
“I’ve had these powers ever since I could remember,” he said. “When I use them, I can destroy anything. Just one touch and I can make a wall crumble away or a tree disappear. It took me a while to get them under control. My dad thought it best if I kept it a secret, since a lot of Others weren’t really well thought-of.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Yang demanded. “How could you keep this from me? From your own girlfriend?”
“I wanted to tell you, I swear,” Adrien insisted. “I was waiting for the right time. Right before Vanessa nabbed me, I decided that it was finally time to spill the beans. I was…afraid, for a long time, about how you’d react to powers like these. I thought you might never want to see me again. I promise you, I was going to tell you everything. But…then all this happened.”
Adrien knew there was really no excuse for keeping this a secret for so long, but he at least wanted to explain why he did it. The hurt look in Yang’s eyes didn’t make him feel any better though.
“How could you ever think I’d do something like that?” she asked in a trembling voice. “How could you ever think I’d abandon you, after everything we’ve been through?” Tears pooled in her eyes, but she wiped them away. “I’ve opened up to you in a way I never have before, with anyone. I laid my heart bare and you accepted me anyway. I thought…I thought maybe you had done the same.”
Adrien felt his heart breaking at Yang’s words. He knew he’d screwed up, big time. He wanted nothing more than to hug her close to him and apologize over and over again. But was what even what she wanted?
“You think I don’t know the first thing about destructive powers?” Yang asked, looking him in the eye. “I’ve hurt people before, with my fire. I’ve even killed with it. But it’s a part of me, just like your powers are a part of you.” She reached over and took Adrien’s hand in hers. “I know you’re afraid, but please, trust me. Like I trust you.”
Adrien looked up. The anger had finally melted away from Yang’s eyes, and all that was there was her pleading for him to understand. She didn’t care what kind of powers he had. She didn’t care whether he was a human or an Other. She still loved him, and she wanted no barriers between them. He gave a small nod.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I really am. I shouldn’t have let my fear get the better of me like that.”
Yang smiled softly at those words. Before she could say anything though, the closet door suddenly swung open. She and Adrien turned, and gasped as Jessica loomed over them.
“Found you,” she said gleefully as magic power instantly appeared in her hand.
Yang and Adrien gave cries of fear as they scrambled forward. They crashed into Jessica’s legs and her magic shot out wildly. It hit the closet wall, leaving a black scorch mark behind.
“Go, go!” Yang yelled as she and Adrien struggled to untangle themselves from Jessica. They finally managed to break free and head down the hallway at a run. Jessica was soon after them though.
“What’s the plan?” Adrien asked as they ran. “Can you take her?”
“Not while she’s got the upper hand,” Yang replied. “We’ve gotta find our way out of here before-”
Whatever else Yang was going to say was cut short when she and Adrien saw someone standing ahead of them. They skidded to a halt, but Yang saw that this wasn’t a soldier. It was a woman, with long brown hair and blue eyes. She held some sort of device in her hand. It was no bigger than a small cardboard box, and it almost looked like something a computer had thrown up, with all its wires and cables and metal parts. A big red button sat at the top. But there were also magic crystals along with the wired mess, which were a dull purple color.
“Stop!” the woman yelled, holding her hand over the device. “Or I activate this bomb and half of the city will be under my control!”
Yang froze, as did Adrien. There was no doubt in her mind that this was Vanessa, and that the device she held in her hand was the magic bomb she’d been working on.
“Can it really do that?” Adrien asked. “Control half the city’s population?”
“Magic that controls others is my specialty, dearie,” Vanessa replied, a crazed spark in her eyes. “After all, you succumbed to it so easily. Imagine half of the city like that. They’ll answer only to me. And soon, Bellerouge will pay for what it did to me. They’ll pay for taking the Spiders’ Web away from me!”
“If you wanted your plan to work, maybe you should have gotten better guards,” Yang retorted. “The one who told me where you guys had Adrien was as spineless as a jellyfish. And any others you had here hardly put up a fight.”
“They were all I could get!” Vanessa snapped. “Do you think it was easy, finding people willing to work with me? Do you think it was simple getting the materials I needed to kidnap Adrien? I could barely show my face after what the police did to the Spiders’ Web. It’s taken me years to get this far. And I won’t let you ruin it now!”
She raised her hand over the bomb, ready to hit the red button as hard as she could. Yang and Adrien gasped, but another voice suddenly sounded.
“Vanessa, stop!”
Yang and Adrien whirled around. To their surprise, it was Jessica. She strode over with quick, angry steps.
“You know the bomb’s not ready yet,” she said. “I’ve told you this before. We need more time to work on it.”
“We’re out of time!” Vanessa cried. “This cop has probably called in back-up by now. There’ll be police officers swarming in on this place soon. We have to activate it now!”
“That bomb’s more likely to explode and kill us all rather than control everyone!” Jessica argued.
Yang and Adrien glanced back and forth between the two like it was a ping pong match. They certainly hadn’t expected this. Had Jessica and Vanessa always been at odds like this?
“That’s just a chance I’ll have to take,” Vanessa said as she gave a maniacal grin.
“Vanessa, no!” Jessica cried. But it was too late. Vanessa slammed her palm against the red button. For a brief moment, there was nothing but the silence of everyone holding their breath. Then, the bomb started shaking. A little at first, then more and more until it was almost violent. And it started making a whining noise that was slowly getting louder.
“No, no, no!” Vanessa cried as she smacked her hand against the bomb over and over.
“Fuck this, I’m outta here!” Jessica declared as she ran off. Normally, Yang would have been concerned with capturing her, but the bomb would explode at any second. She had to get herself and Adrien was far away as she could.
“Run!” She grabbed Adrien’s hand and took off. When she came to a fork in the hallway though, she gave a panicked whimper as she looked left and right.
“Crap, I don’t which way the exit is!” she cried. At this rate, they would never make it out in time. Adrien, however, had an idea.
“Then we’ll just have to make our own,” he said. Holding up his free hand, he let black energy course through his fingers. He placed it against the wall, and it crumbled into dust at his touch.
“Come on!” He pulled Yang along through the hole he’d made. Any time they came across a wall or a door, he simply eroded it away. They glimpsed a few guards freaking out over the warning coming through their walkie talkies and frantically trying to escape, but they paid them no heed. All they were worried about was making sure the two of them got out.
Finally, Adrien made a final wall collapse, and instead of another hallway, Yang saw trees and grass. They’d made it outside. They weren’t out of danger though. Who knew how far the blast radius of this bomb would be.
“Keep going!” Holding onto Adrien’s hand as tightly as she could, she ran out of the building and across the grass. They’d made it about twenty feet away when there was a shudder beneath their feet. Then, the bomb finally exploded.
The force hit their backs like a tidal wave. They tumbled head over heels, the world spinning around like they were on a roller coaster. Once they landed on the ground, they clung onto each other as bricks and bits of metal landed here and there. Miraculously, no pieces hit them. Slowly, they pulled back from and each other and looked behind them.
The entire warehouse was on fire. Huge, leaping, crawling flames reached towards the sky and melted every bit of the building it touched. Vanessa, and anyone else who had been inside when the bomb had gone off, was definitely dead.
“We…we made it,” Adrien said softly.
Yang’s eyes widened as those words slowly sank in. Adrien was right. They had made it. They were both alive. They’d gotten out okay. Overcome with emotion, she threw her arms around Adrien’s neck, which startled him for a second until she started talking.
“I did it,” she said. “I didn’t lose you. I found you.”
Adrien heard her voice trembling, and realized that Yang had had to go through almost as much as he had. He knew the fear she had of losing her loved ones like her parents. He hugged her back.
“Yeah, you found me,” he said reassuringly. “Thank you.”
Yang sniffled, feeling herself getting teary-eyed. Right at that moment though, the sound of sirens reached her and Adrien’s ears. They pulled apart and looked to see more than a dozen police cars driving up as fast as they could, and even a SWAT van, with Sunshine at the head. She’d finally arrived with Yang’s backup.
Considering that the warehouse was already on fire and Vanessa was already dealt with, there was still quite a bit for Sunshine and the other police officers had to do. First, she had to call in the fire department to get the blaze under control. After that, some ambulances had been called to assess Adrien and Yang’s injuries. Even though all they had were some bruises and a cut or two, a hospital stay overnight was recommended for both of them. Then, Sunshine had the two of them explain everything that had happened to an officer while she sent a dozen others to round up any Spiders’ Web members that had escaped. Yang figured Jessica was one of them. She’d had quite a head start, after all.
Now, the two of them sat quietly, holding hands while they waited for Sunshine to review the officer’s report. Some shock blankets had been thrown on both of them, but Yang felt like holding Adrien’s hand was much better. She was still reveling in the fact that they’d made it out okay.
“Yang?”
“Hmm?” Yang turned her head at the sound of Adrien’s voice. His eyes were cast downward, but he looked up when he spoke again.
“I’m sorry. For…keeping my powers a secret. I shouldn’t have-”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing,” Yang interrupted. “I know why you did it.”
Adrien seemed a little surprised at that. He hadn’t expected Yang to forgive him so quickly.
“I know you weren’t trying to hurt me on purpose,” she explained. “And I know better than anyone how fear can make you do things that don’t make much sense.”
Adrien was quiet for a moment. He didn’t ask Yang to elaborate, but his eyes did flicker down to her metal hand that was holding his.
“Let’s…just be open with each other from now on. I don’t need to know every single little thing you do. I mean, 100% honesty isn’t realistic. But something big like that…I want you to trust me. And I’ll trust you.” She gave him a soft smile. “Okay?”
Adrien found himself smiling back in relief. Yang was giving him another chance. And he silently vowed to himself that he wouldn’t let her down. “Okay. I’ll tell you the big stuff from now on. I promise.”
He gave Yang’s hand a squeeze, and she squeezed back. They glanced up when they saw Sunshine approaching them though. Yang wasn’t sure what she thought of this whole thing, but part of her felt like she was probably going to get into a little bit of trouble for her reckless behavior.
“Let me guess,” she said. “I should have waited for a backup and I’m gonna get a lecture about how doing reckless stuff is gonna get me hurt.”
“Hmm…” Sunshine pretended to think about it for a moment, tapping her finger on her chin as she did so. “Well…Adrien’s life was kind of on the line since Vanessa was almost done with her magic bomb. Anymore waiting and she might have killed him before we got there.”
Adrien winced at that. It looked like he’d barely escaped with his life even more than he thought he had.
“As for a lecture…” Sunshine paused dramatically before continuing. “It’s not gonna come from me.”
“Huh? Really?” Yang was surprised at that.
“Well, it’d be hypocritical of me,” Sunshine replied matter-of-factly. “If Riku had been in there, I’d have done the same thing.”
Yang and Adrien glanced at each other. An angry Sunshine tearing through a bunch of guards to save her husband was definitely not something they wanted to think about.
“Anyway, I think the worst you’re gonna get is a ‘warning’ from the commissioner,” Sunshine continued. “I’ll send in a formal report. In the meantime, you guys get plenty of rest. Take it easy for a few days or something once you get out of the hospital.”
“Yes ma’am,” Yang said with a cheeky grin.
Sunshine grinned back before heading back to the other officers. Yang was still smiling as she leaned her head against Adrien’s shoulder, her fingers still wrapped around his. All the tension and stress and fear she’d felt ever since Adrien had first gotten kidnapped was finally gone. She found herself relaxing for the first time in weeks. And the two of them were going to work on being more honest with each other. Because, at the end of the day, love took a bit of work to keep going. But Yang was willing to put in the effort if it meant keeping Adrien by her side. And she knew he felt the same.
She pulled up to the Club Envy, looking up at the sign that had letters lit up in bright green lights. It wasn’t a completely trashy club, but criminals had been known to frequent there more than once. While Yang would have been content to just show her police ID and storm the place, she knew that it might scare away the man. She had to be sneaky about this. So, she went up to the club just like any other customer and headed inside.
The place had all the typical things a club wanted: flashing lights, booming music, and a bar with a plentiful supply of drinks. Yang headed there first. Lucky for her, there was only one woman seated there, so she figured she had to be Red. Her eyes were fixed on something at a distance, but she looked up once Yang approached.
“Well that was fast,” she complimented.
“Where is he?” Yang asked, her hands curled into fists.
“Right over there,” Red replied, pointing across the way. Yang’s eyes followed and she saw a man with black hair laughing with a couple of club dancers. Sure enough, she could see the spider tattoo show up on his neck when his head tilted a certain way. He soon got up though and headed towards the back door, pulling out a cigarette as he did so.
“I guess even cult criminals need a smoke break,” Red muttered. Yang said nothing however. She only followed the man, her eyes never leaving his back. As she was about to head out the back door though, Red put a hand on her shoulder.
“Whoa, Yang, hold on there honey,” Red said. “You look like you’re about to burn this whole place down and let me tell you, that’s not going to get you the information you want.”
“I’m not going to burn the club down,” Yang replied, her voice coming out steely. “I just need to get him to talk. He’s mine.”
She opened the back door, leaving the booming bass and bright lights behind. Outside, the only sounds were cars driving and a pedestrian or two walking. The man was struggling to light his cigarette. Red poked her head out the door and watched as Yang tossed her hair back, put a friendly smile on her face, and walked right over.
“Damn it,” the man muttered as he fought to get his lighter to work.
“Here. Let me help.”
The man turned at the sound of Yang’s voice. With a smile, Yang held out her pointer finger and lit the end of the man’s cigarette. He inhaled deeply and blew out a plume of smoke before turning back to Yang.
“Thanks babe,” he said. “Nifty trick you got there.”
“Trust me man, I’ve got tons of tricks,” Yang said, dropping her voice into a more alluring tone. It’d been a while since she’d had to use her looks to get something she wanted, but it seemed to be working.
“Nice tat,” she said, reaching up to point at the spider on his neck. “Where’d you get it?”
“Oh, that’s a secret babe,” the man replied with a laugh. “Can’t tell it to a pretty girl I’ve just met.”
“How about you tell it to a cop?”
Those words made the man freeze. Yang’s syrupy tone was gone, and it had been replaced with one that was cold. He looked to see her eyes had turned angry and he could almost feel the heat radiating off of them. He’d screwed up, bad. Before he could even make a move to run though, Yang grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back, and pushed his face into the ground.
“I know your little gang has Adrien Agreste,” she growled. “Where is he? Tell me, now!”
“You think I’m gonna squeal?” the man huffed, trying to look more intimidating than he was feeling. “No way!”
“I’m not playing around!” Yang’s voice was loud in his ear and before he knew it, her free hand became encased in a fireball. He gave a little yelp and tried to move away, but Yang held him in place.
“Unless you want your face melted off, you tell me where you goons are keeping him!”
The man whimpered as Yang slowly brought her hand closer. Red just watched in amazement. Yang had gone from 0 to 100 in less than a second. This was a woman who’d do anything to find the one she loved.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you!” the man cried, finally surrendering. “Adrien’s being held at an abandoned warehouse near the southeastern edge of the city. Vanessa orchestrated the whole thing.”
“Vanessa…was she the one who went into Adrien’s house?” Yang asked. “Did she have that necklace? You’d better tell me the full story. And no lies, or you’ll end up looking like Two Face.”
“Yes, yes, that was her!” the man shouted, desperately trying to avoid Yang’s flames. “She’s the only original member of the Spiders’ Web. She just found us to carry out her plan. She didn’t care if we were witches or not. She just wanted some tough muscle to keep Adrien under guard.”
“Why did she take him?” Yang demanded. “If she hurt him-”
“No, she hasn’t yet!” The words tumbled out of the man’s mouth at top speed, hoping it would appease Yang. “She just wanted him long enough for her to finish her magic bomb.”
“A magic what?” Yang was unfamiliar with the term. Luckily, the man was ready to explain everything.
“Magic that controls people are her specialty. So, she’s designing a magic bomb that’ll be ten times as strong as any spell. Once she sets it off, half the city will be under her control and she can do whatever she wants. She just took Adrien as insurance. Nobody would try to stop her if his life was on the line.”
Yang was quiet for a moment, turning this new information over in her head. Everything was finally starting to make sense. Vanessa didn’t want anyone messing with her magic bomb project. So she kidnapped Adrien, who was well loved by nearly everyone in the city. If anyone tried to stop her, Adrien would pay the price.
“She’s almost done with the thing,” the man continued. “She probably doesn’t even need Adrien anymore.”
“What? What’s that supposed to mean?” Yang’s eyes burned with anger as she slammed the man’s head down on the ground again. “Is she going to hurt him? Or kill him?”
“I don’t know, I swear!” the man yelled. “I don’t know what she planned on doing with him once she was done. Please don’t hurt me!”
Yang gave an intimidating snarl, but the man just whimpered in fear. It looked like he didn’t have anymore information to give. Yang let out a breath. She had to act fast. If Vanessa was almost done making her magic bomb, there was a chance that she would see Adrien was disposable and just kill him. She had to find him before that happened. Without a word, she whipped out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on the man.
“You’re lucky that’s all I did to you,” she said coldly. “You guys messed with my boyfriend. Now you’re gonna pay for it.” As she stood up, Red hurried over.
“Yeesh honey, you nearly gave me goosebumps,” she said. “Just nearly.”
“Can you stay with him until I get some cops over here?” Yang said, hurriedly sending a text on her phone. “I’m sending a message to Sunshine. She’ll get this guy picked up soon.”
“Wait, you’re not gonna be here?” Red asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No.” Yang shook her head. “You heard this guy. Vanessa’s almost done with her magic bomb. She can’t be allowed to activate it. And if she finishes it, Adrien will no longer be of use to her. Who knows what she might do to him.”
Red was quiet for a moment. Yang wondered if she might try and stop her from going for Adrien alone. But then she looked up with look in her eyes that almost seemed to be understanding.
“Alright little lady. You do what you gotta do to save your boyfriend. But a word of advice. If Vanessa’s lackeys are as spineless as this guy, I don’t think you’ll have too much of a problem.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “But I learned recently that my mother Jessica joined this group too. And she’s a pretty strong witch. Don’t give her a chance to gain the upper hand.”
Yang nodded. “Thanks Red. I appreciate the help.” And that was all she said before she ran off. Soon, the only sounds were the man’s pathetic whimpering and the roar of Yang’s motorcycle as she took off.
Finding the warehouse wasn’t too difficult. It was right where the man said it would be. From the looks of it, it did look like it had been abandoned once. It sat almost in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by quite a few trees and bushes. But even after Yang ditched her motorcycle and crept up closer on foot, she could see at least one guard in front of every door. To her relief though, she didn’t see any security cameras. One less thing for her to worry about.
It didn’t take her long to come up with a plan. She’d seen cops do this trick a few times and it always seemed to work. Finding a hefty-looking rock, she threw it as hard as she could at a guard in front of the east-side door. He crumpled to the ground as soon as it hit his head, making the guards at the north side door hurry to his side. It gave Yang the perfect opportunity to head over and sneak inside.
The inside of the warehouse was eerily quiet as Yang made her way down a hallway. She could tell that it had been in rough shape once, but it looked like Vanessa and her henchmen took some time to make the place semi-livable. They probably had to, considering that they’d been keeping Adrien here for a while. And speaking of Adrien, she had to figure out some way to find him. This warehouse was like a maze. If she just wandered around blindly, it would take forever for her to figure out where he was.
As she rounded a corner, she suddenly froze as she saw two female guards not too far away. And both of them had guns on them. Slowly backing away, Yang hoped they wouldn’t spot her.
“Hey!”
Yang spun around. The voice hadn’t come from the women guards, but from a man behind her. Magic power instantly glowed in his hands.
“Little lady, you have exactly five seconds to tell me what you’re doing here!”
Yang’s eyes narrowed. She hadn’t expected to be found out this quickly. But she’d known she wasn’t going to get Adrien out of here without a fight. It looked like that fight was going to start a little early.
Without hesitating for a second, she dashed forward, fire burning in her hands. The man shot a magic blast at her, but she deflected it with a fireball of her own. With a yell, she jumped up and crashed into the man, sending him to the ground. By the time she stood up, he was out cold.
“Paul?”
Yang turned around. That had come from one of the female guards. It looked like they’d heard the commotion. And when they saw Yang standing over Paul’s unconscious body, they immediately moved to pull out their guns. Before they could even reach them though, Yang launched herself forward with a fiery blast. She grabbed the two women’s heads and crashed them together, knocking them out in an instant.
“You guys need to get better security,” she muttered as she started walking again. However, she was soon met by a large group of guards. And one of them, a shrimpy little guy who looked more like a twig than anything else, was finally smart enough to pull out a walkie talkie.
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” he shouted as the rest of the guards immediately rushed towards Yang. “We’ve had someone infiltrate our base!”
If a regular Joe Schmoe had been in Yang’s shoes, they might have felt intimidated by how many opponents were here. But Yang merely put up her fists and stood her ground. She’d been waiting a long time to get back at the people that had taken Adrien away from her. She’d told herself that she would tear the place apart to get him back. And she intended on doing just that.
The man with the walkie talkie watched in astonishment and horror as Yang smashed into the group of guards like a bowling ball knocking a bunch of pins. She tore through them like a raging inferno, knocking them out with punches and kicks that were on fire, literally. Before the man even knew it, he was the only one left standing. And Yang’s burning eyes fixed on him as she started to walk towards him.
“Who…who the hell are you?” he stuttered as he stumbled backwards. “What are you? What do you even want?”
He started shaking as Yang grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him close. Then she hissed in a low, cold voice,
“I want my boyfriend back.”
And that was all the man heard before he got knocked out like the rest of the guards.
Adrien shifted his body slightly, trying to get comfortable. Besides keeping him in zipties most of the time, his kidnappers hadn’t really done much to hurt him. No torture, no interrogation, nothing. And his guards weren’t telling him why they even wanted him in the first place. That drove him crazy the most. Sure, his powers could get his hands free in a second. But they didn’t do much good against magic beams and bullets, and his guards had plenty of each. He had to wait for an opportune moment to escape.
There were always two guards assigned to watch him, usually right inside the door. At the moment, they were quiet except for occasionally shifting the guns they had in their hands. However, the silence was broken by frantic yelling sounding from one of the guards’ walkie talkies.
“We need all units to converge on the north side of the building!” a female voiced shouted. “We’ve got an intruder in here!”
“What?” Both guards looked at each other in disbelief. They didn’t think anyone would ever be able to find their hideout. “Who is it?” one of them demanded.
“I don’t know!” the female guards responded, sounding panicked. “Just get over here now! The guards are getting knocked out left and right!”
Adrien’s head snapped up. A break in? This could be his chance! If this intruder was distracting most of the guards in the building, maybe he could finally get out of here.
Wasting no time, he let out a slow breath. The destructive power inside him immediately coated his hands in black energy, and the zipties around his wrist eroded away. He immediately jumped up, heading straight for the distracted guards.
“Hey, what the-” was all one of them had time to say before Adrien whipped the gun out of his hands and cracked it hard against his head. He did the same to the other, and the two of them dropped to the floor in an instant. After that, he threw the door open. However, as he looked left, and then right, he had no idea where the exit was.
“Screw this,” he muttered as black energy covered his hand once again. He put his palm on a nearby wall and it instantly started to crumble. Once he’d made a decent-sized hole, he crawled through it and started running again. If he broke through enough walls, he was bound to find a way out eventually. He just hoped that this intruder could distract the guards long enough in order for him to do so.
Yang let out a bellow of rage as she spun and tossed a guard that she’d grabbed in her hands. He flew like a rag doll and crashed into the other guards nearby. Any that didn’t get knocked down were met by Yang’s fiery fists. She’d plowed through tons of these guards, but there was still no sign of Adrien. Where could he be? She felt like she could still take down more. She only had a few bruises and one cut on her leg. But she was starting to fear that she may never find him.
As she knocked down another one, she heard a voice cry out from his walkie talkie.
“Guys, we need to start securing the perimeter! Adrien Agreste has escaped! Find him now!”
Yang froze in her tracks. Adrien had gotten free? Was he still somewhere in the building? Heart pounding, she took off down the hallway, frantic to find him before the guards did.
“Adrien?” Her voice echoed eerily. There was no sign of any guards, and no sign of Adrien either. “Adrien!” The word came out panicked as she kept running. What if she couldn’t find him? What if the guards found him first? What if she couldn’t make it to him in time?
As she rounded a corner, she skidded to a halt, chest heaving as she breathed heavily. Instead of one of the usual guards in the hallway, a lone woman with long red hair stood. Yang hesitated for a moment. This woman felt different from the others. She wasn’t some dumb lackey that Vanessa had found.
“This ends now, little girl,” the woman sneered as magic power surged in her. “You’re not taking one step further.”
Yang peered a little more closely at the woman. Her red hair almost looked familiar. Could she be…Jessica? Red’s warning echoed in her mind about not to give her the opportunity to gain the upper hand in a fight. If that was the case, then she couldn’t hesitate.
With a cry, she shot herself forward, fists encased in fire. Jessica almost seemed taken aback, although she shielded herself just in time with her magic power. Yang threw punches right and left, hoping that if she overwhelmed Jessica with blows, she wouldn’t have the chance to fight back. Jessica moved just as fast as she did though, blocking her fiery attacks every single time. Even when Yang let out a burst of fire, she merely got knocked backwards, her feet skidding against the ground.
“What is with you?” she demanded. “Nobody’s had the balls to take me head-on before.”
“Let’s just say I got a little insider info about you,” Yang said with a smirk.
Jessica gritted her teeth in frustration. However, before either of them could resume the fight, a hole suddenly appeared in the nearby wall, sending plaster and dust everywhere. Yang coughed for a second, then her eyes widened in astonishment as she saw Adrien standing there, black energy coming out of his hands. Adrien’s expression soon mirrored hers, eyes widening as well.
“Yang?” The word came out almost frightened, like someone who had been caught doing something horrible.
“Adrien?” Yang struggled to wrap her head around what she was seeing. This wasn’t right. Adrien didn’t have powers. He wasn’t an Other. If he was, she would have known…right?
Before either of them could say anything more though, Jessica let out a yell as she let loose a beam of magic energy. Yang barely had enough time to counterattack with a fiery blast.
“Run!” she yelled.
That seemed to shake Adrien out of the shock he was in. He instantly obeyed, running back through the hole he’d created. Yang kept shooting out fire for a brief second more before finally jumping to the side and following Adrien. The two ran down the hallway as fast as they could, but they could hear Jessica following not too far behind them.
“Come back here!” she yelled. “We’re not finished yet!”
Yang’s eyes frantically searched for some way out of this. Was there anything they could use? Or somewhere they could hide? Just as the thought occurred to her, she and Adrien found, of all things, a janitor’s closet. They could hear Jessica’s footsteps nearby. They’d be within her line of sight in less than ten seconds.
“In here!” Yang pushed Adrien inside before getting in herself and shutting the door.
Inside, it was nearly pitch black. Yang couldn’t see much besides Adrien and a few cleaning supplies, like a mop and some bottles of disinfectant. The two ducked down low while trying to remain as quiet as possible. When they heard Jessica come down the hallway, they froze like statues. But she walked right past their hiding place, none the wiser.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Adrien sighed. However, any relief he felt soon vanished when the saw the look in Yang’s eyes. They were full of hurt, and she almost seemed close to crying.
“Explain yourself,” she said in a choked voice. “Now.”
“What? Now?” Adrien asked. “Yang, we’re in the middle of an escape right now. This isn’t really the best time.”
“I don’t care!” she hissed. “I want to know why my boyfriend is still keeping secrets from me!”
Adrien sighed. He felt so guilty, about all of this. But he knew he owed an explanation to Yang.
“I’ve had these powers ever since I could remember,” he said. “When I use them, I can destroy anything. Just one touch and I can make a wall crumble away or a tree disappear. It took me a while to get them under control. My dad thought it best if I kept it a secret, since a lot of Others weren’t really well thought-of.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Yang demanded. “How could you keep this from me? From your own girlfriend?”
“I wanted to tell you, I swear,” Adrien insisted. “I was waiting for the right time. Right before Vanessa nabbed me, I decided that it was finally time to spill the beans. I was…afraid, for a long time, about how you’d react to powers like these. I thought you might never want to see me again. I promise you, I was going to tell you everything. But…then all this happened.”
Adrien knew there was really no excuse for keeping this a secret for so long, but he at least wanted to explain why he did it. The hurt look in Yang’s eyes didn’t make him feel any better though.
“How could you ever think I’d do something like that?” she asked in a trembling voice. “How could you ever think I’d abandon you, after everything we’ve been through?” Tears pooled in her eyes, but she wiped them away. “I’ve opened up to you in a way I never have before, with anyone. I laid my heart bare and you accepted me anyway. I thought…I thought maybe you had done the same.”
Adrien felt his heart breaking at Yang’s words. He knew he’d screwed up, big time. He wanted nothing more than to hug her close to him and apologize over and over again. But was what even what she wanted?
“You think I don’t know the first thing about destructive powers?” Yang asked, looking him in the eye. “I’ve hurt people before, with my fire. I’ve even killed with it. But it’s a part of me, just like your powers are a part of you.” She reached over and took Adrien’s hand in hers. “I know you’re afraid, but please, trust me. Like I trust you.”
Adrien looked up. The anger had finally melted away from Yang’s eyes, and all that was there was her pleading for him to understand. She didn’t care what kind of powers he had. She didn’t care whether he was a human or an Other. She still loved him, and she wanted no barriers between them. He gave a small nod.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I really am. I shouldn’t have let my fear get the better of me like that.”
Yang smiled softly at those words. Before she could say anything though, the closet door suddenly swung open. She and Adrien turned, and gasped as Jessica loomed over them.
“Found you,” she said gleefully as magic power instantly appeared in her hand.
Yang and Adrien gave cries of fear as they scrambled forward. They crashed into Jessica’s legs and her magic shot out wildly. It hit the closet wall, leaving a black scorch mark behind.
“Go, go!” Yang yelled as she and Adrien struggled to untangle themselves from Jessica. They finally managed to break free and head down the hallway at a run. Jessica was soon after them though.
“What’s the plan?” Adrien asked as they ran. “Can you take her?”
“Not while she’s got the upper hand,” Yang replied. “We’ve gotta find our way out of here before-”
Whatever else Yang was going to say was cut short when she and Adrien saw someone standing ahead of them. They skidded to a halt, but Yang saw that this wasn’t a soldier. It was a woman, with long brown hair and blue eyes. She held some sort of device in her hand. It was no bigger than a small cardboard box, and it almost looked like something a computer had thrown up, with all its wires and cables and metal parts. A big red button sat at the top. But there were also magic crystals along with the wired mess, which were a dull purple color.
“Stop!” the woman yelled, holding her hand over the device. “Or I activate this bomb and half of the city will be under my control!”
Yang froze, as did Adrien. There was no doubt in her mind that this was Vanessa, and that the device she held in her hand was the magic bomb she’d been working on.
“Can it really do that?” Adrien asked. “Control half the city’s population?”
“Magic that controls others is my specialty, dearie,” Vanessa replied, a crazed spark in her eyes. “After all, you succumbed to it so easily. Imagine half of the city like that. They’ll answer only to me. And soon, Bellerouge will pay for what it did to me. They’ll pay for taking the Spiders’ Web away from me!”
“If you wanted your plan to work, maybe you should have gotten better guards,” Yang retorted. “The one who told me where you guys had Adrien was as spineless as a jellyfish. And any others you had here hardly put up a fight.”
“They were all I could get!” Vanessa snapped. “Do you think it was easy, finding people willing to work with me? Do you think it was simple getting the materials I needed to kidnap Adrien? I could barely show my face after what the police did to the Spiders’ Web. It’s taken me years to get this far. And I won’t let you ruin it now!”
She raised her hand over the bomb, ready to hit the red button as hard as she could. Yang and Adrien gasped, but another voice suddenly sounded.
“Vanessa, stop!”
Yang and Adrien whirled around. To their surprise, it was Jessica. She strode over with quick, angry steps.
“You know the bomb’s not ready yet,” she said. “I’ve told you this before. We need more time to work on it.”
“We’re out of time!” Vanessa cried. “This cop has probably called in back-up by now. There’ll be police officers swarming in on this place soon. We have to activate it now!”
“That bomb’s more likely to explode and kill us all rather than control everyone!” Jessica argued.
Yang and Adrien glanced back and forth between the two like it was a ping pong match. They certainly hadn’t expected this. Had Jessica and Vanessa always been at odds like this?
“That’s just a chance I’ll have to take,” Vanessa said as she gave a maniacal grin.
“Vanessa, no!” Jessica cried. But it was too late. Vanessa slammed her palm against the red button. For a brief moment, there was nothing but the silence of everyone holding their breath. Then, the bomb started shaking. A little at first, then more and more until it was almost violent. And it started making a whining noise that was slowly getting louder.
“No, no, no!” Vanessa cried as she smacked her hand against the bomb over and over.
“Fuck this, I’m outta here!” Jessica declared as she ran off. Normally, Yang would have been concerned with capturing her, but the bomb would explode at any second. She had to get herself and Adrien was far away as she could.
“Run!” She grabbed Adrien’s hand and took off. When she came to a fork in the hallway though, she gave a panicked whimper as she looked left and right.
“Crap, I don’t which way the exit is!” she cried. At this rate, they would never make it out in time. Adrien, however, had an idea.
“Then we’ll just have to make our own,” he said. Holding up his free hand, he let black energy course through his fingers. He placed it against the wall, and it crumbled into dust at his touch.
“Come on!” He pulled Yang along through the hole he’d made. Any time they came across a wall or a door, he simply eroded it away. They glimpsed a few guards freaking out over the warning coming through their walkie talkies and frantically trying to escape, but they paid them no heed. All they were worried about was making sure the two of them got out.
Finally, Adrien made a final wall collapse, and instead of another hallway, Yang saw trees and grass. They’d made it outside. They weren’t out of danger though. Who knew how far the blast radius of this bomb would be.
“Keep going!” Holding onto Adrien’s hand as tightly as she could, she ran out of the building and across the grass. They’d made it about twenty feet away when there was a shudder beneath their feet. Then, the bomb finally exploded.
The force hit their backs like a tidal wave. They tumbled head over heels, the world spinning around like they were on a roller coaster. Once they landed on the ground, they clung onto each other as bricks and bits of metal landed here and there. Miraculously, no pieces hit them. Slowly, they pulled back from and each other and looked behind them.
The entire warehouse was on fire. Huge, leaping, crawling flames reached towards the sky and melted every bit of the building it touched. Vanessa, and anyone else who had been inside when the bomb had gone off, was definitely dead.
“We…we made it,” Adrien said softly.
Yang’s eyes widened as those words slowly sank in. Adrien was right. They had made it. They were both alive. They’d gotten out okay. Overcome with emotion, she threw her arms around Adrien’s neck, which startled him for a second until she started talking.
“I did it,” she said. “I didn’t lose you. I found you.”
Adrien heard her voice trembling, and realized that Yang had had to go through almost as much as he had. He knew the fear she had of losing her loved ones like her parents. He hugged her back.
“Yeah, you found me,” he said reassuringly. “Thank you.”
Yang sniffled, feeling herself getting teary-eyed. Right at that moment though, the sound of sirens reached her and Adrien’s ears. They pulled apart and looked to see more than a dozen police cars driving up as fast as they could, and even a SWAT van, with Sunshine at the head. She’d finally arrived with Yang’s backup.
Considering that the warehouse was already on fire and Vanessa was already dealt with, there was still quite a bit for Sunshine and the other police officers had to do. First, she had to call in the fire department to get the blaze under control. After that, some ambulances had been called to assess Adrien and Yang’s injuries. Even though all they had were some bruises and a cut or two, a hospital stay overnight was recommended for both of them. Then, Sunshine had the two of them explain everything that had happened to an officer while she sent a dozen others to round up any Spiders’ Web members that had escaped. Yang figured Jessica was one of them. She’d had quite a head start, after all.
Now, the two of them sat quietly, holding hands while they waited for Sunshine to review the officer’s report. Some shock blankets had been thrown on both of them, but Yang felt like holding Adrien’s hand was much better. She was still reveling in the fact that they’d made it out okay.
“Yang?”
“Hmm?” Yang turned her head at the sound of Adrien’s voice. His eyes were cast downward, but he looked up when he spoke again.
“I’m sorry. For…keeping my powers a secret. I shouldn’t have-”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing,” Yang interrupted. “I know why you did it.”
Adrien seemed a little surprised at that. He hadn’t expected Yang to forgive him so quickly.
“I know you weren’t trying to hurt me on purpose,” she explained. “And I know better than anyone how fear can make you do things that don’t make much sense.”
Adrien was quiet for a moment. He didn’t ask Yang to elaborate, but his eyes did flicker down to her metal hand that was holding his.
“Let’s…just be open with each other from now on. I don’t need to know every single little thing you do. I mean, 100% honesty isn’t realistic. But something big like that…I want you to trust me. And I’ll trust you.” She gave him a soft smile. “Okay?”
Adrien found himself smiling back in relief. Yang was giving him another chance. And he silently vowed to himself that he wouldn’t let her down. “Okay. I’ll tell you the big stuff from now on. I promise.”
He gave Yang’s hand a squeeze, and she squeezed back. They glanced up when they saw Sunshine approaching them though. Yang wasn’t sure what she thought of this whole thing, but part of her felt like she was probably going to get into a little bit of trouble for her reckless behavior.
“Let me guess,” she said. “I should have waited for a backup and I’m gonna get a lecture about how doing reckless stuff is gonna get me hurt.”
“Hmm…” Sunshine pretended to think about it for a moment, tapping her finger on her chin as she did so. “Well…Adrien’s life was kind of on the line since Vanessa was almost done with her magic bomb. Anymore waiting and she might have killed him before we got there.”
Adrien winced at that. It looked like he’d barely escaped with his life even more than he thought he had.
“As for a lecture…” Sunshine paused dramatically before continuing. “It’s not gonna come from me.”
“Huh? Really?” Yang was surprised at that.
“Well, it’d be hypocritical of me,” Sunshine replied matter-of-factly. “If Riku had been in there, I’d have done the same thing.”
Yang and Adrien glanced at each other. An angry Sunshine tearing through a bunch of guards to save her husband was definitely not something they wanted to think about.
“Anyway, I think the worst you’re gonna get is a ‘warning’ from the commissioner,” Sunshine continued. “I’ll send in a formal report. In the meantime, you guys get plenty of rest. Take it easy for a few days or something once you get out of the hospital.”
“Yes ma’am,” Yang said with a cheeky grin.
Sunshine grinned back before heading back to the other officers. Yang was still smiling as she leaned her head against Adrien’s shoulder, her fingers still wrapped around his. All the tension and stress and fear she’d felt ever since Adrien had first gotten kidnapped was finally gone. She found herself relaxing for the first time in weeks. And the two of them were going to work on being more honest with each other. Because, at the end of the day, love took a bit of work to keep going. But Yang was willing to put in the effort if it meant keeping Adrien by her side. And she knew he felt the same.