What if Antibug used the decoy cellphone to learn more about Ladybug?
Antibug Anticipates
Chapter 1 Phone Tag
After Ladybug threw her into the elevator to get her out of the way, Chloé returned to her room. She was furious at the rough treatment – she had just wanted to help!
Chloé was watching on the hotel security cameras as Ladybug and Chat Noir finished the fight with the glitter-covered Vanisher. The akuma turned out to be in the designer brooch Chloé had given Sabrina, just as she had said.
"I knew it! So, who was right then, huh?" said Chloé angrily.
Ladybug caught and purified the akuma, and returned everything to normal with a "Miraculous Ladybug" charm.
Sabrina came back to herself. "Uh, what happened? What am I doing here? Oh no! It's the brooch Chloé gave me!"
Ladybug offered a fist to Chat Noir for a "pound it" but he didn't respond.
Chat asked, "Why didn't you listen to Chloé? She was only trying to help."
"First, because that girl put us in danger," said Ladybug. "And second, she completely lied to us earlier. I was not gonna listen to a liar."
"You're calling me a liar?! How dare you?" said Chloé . "I was your hugest fan, but not anymore! You don't deserve my devotion! Ugh!"
She threw the remote across the room, and the channel changed from the closed-circuit TV monitors to the news channel. Nadja Chamack had cameras aimed at the hotel's front entrance.
"Coming to you live from the hotel where Ladybug and Cat Noir have just defeated Vanisher," said Nadja. "Here they are now."
The attention and praise Ladybug was getting from the reporters only made Chloé angrier.
"I'm through with you, Ladybug!" said Chloé.
Chloé tore off the mask of her Ladybug cosplay outfit and stomped on it. Then she sank on her knees to the floor and began to cry. She had turned on her hero only because her hero turned on her – and it hurt.
There was a voice in her mind and her hurt focused into rage.
"Antibug, I am Hawk Moth. Ladybug has let you down, I want her downfall too. So, shall we defeat Ladybug together?"
"You can count on me, Hawk Moth!"
A cloud of purple magic surrounded her and revealed a new costume like Ladybug's, but with an inverted color scheme, black with red spots.
"There will only be one heroine in Paris. Me, Antibug!"
Antibug switched off the TV just after Ladybug said, "Chat Noir and I, we're an unstoppable team."
"Mwah!" said Antibug, blowing a fake kiss. "Your time is up, Ladybug."
Antibug swung down with her yo-yo to the awning above the hotel's main doors. It looked like Ladybug was about to leave, but she turned back when she saw the akumatized villain.
Antibug said, "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have defeated Vanisher. And now, I'm going to defeat you!"
"Chloé?" said Ladybug and Chat Noir together.
Antibug leaped down in front of them, with her yo-yo ready.
"Wrong, super wrong. I am Antibug!"
Ladybug whispered something to Chat Noir.
"Go ahead, I can take care of her," said Chat, turning to face Antibug as Ladybug hurried away.
"Look at that. She's nothing without Cat Noir," Antibug mocked.
"We'll see each other again soon, trust me!" said Ladybug.
"Looks like it's just you and me now, Antibug," said Chat Noir.
Antibug said "I love a good catfight!"
She flung her yo-yo at Chat Noir, but he leaped up out of the way.
They battled on the hotel awning. Antibug leaped and swung to get higher attack ground. Chat Noir followed by vaulting with his pole.
They reached the porch that was off of Antibug's suite, one floor below the upper deck and swimming pool level.
Antibug was there first and ready when Chat Noir vaulted up. She sent the yo-yo spinning around him, tying him to his extended vaulting pole. Chat was helpless – he couldn't break the line or bend the pole.
"Gotcha!" said Antibug.
"Hey, cats like to play with string, but not this much!" said Chat Noir.
"I'm going to need the yo-yo line back before Ladybug shows up to fight," said Antibug. "Just a second."
Antibug remembered a few pieces of strong rope in her room. She had used them for superhero cosplay, to tie up Big Moustachio when she defeated him.
Antibug tied Chat Noir to the pole with rope around his chest, his arms behind his back, and his feet together, and pushed the pole out from the roof so that Chat Noir was suspended over the huge drop to the ground. She stood on the pole, letting it bounce up and down a little. Only her weight was keeping him from falling.
"Aren't you tired of playing second fiddle to Ladybug?" asked Antibug.
"And aren't you tired of copying Ladybug?" asked Chat Noir.
Hawk Moth sent a telepathic message, "Keep it up, Antibug, Chat Noir is the perfect bait!"
"Team up with me, Cat Noir!" said Antibug.
"Never! Not with a fake like you. Ladybug and I are a team. Let's hope the real deal shows up soon."
Antibug began to jump on her end of the pole, causing Chat to bounce up and down.
"I know you can hear me Lady-brat, wherever you are," said Antibug. "You're going to have to choose. If you want to keep Chat Noir alive, you'll have to give me your Miraculous. And if you refuse, well then, take a good look at Chat Noir, because this will be the last you'll ever see of him. I'm going to count to ten. One..."
"Uh… could you make that 20?" said Chat Noir.
Antibug's count reached four before she heard a voice close by.
"Chat Noir and I, we're an unstoppable team."
"Ladybug!" said Antibug.
Antibug picked up a large porch chair and weighted down the end of the pole. She was eager to confront her enemy rather than wait for Ladybug to bring her earrings in surrender.
Antibug checked behind the bushes on one side of the porch. Nobody there. It had sounded like the voice came from this side. If not here, then the level above. She leaped up there.
Nobody was there, but there was a cellphone on the railing. Antibug picked it up and replayed the recording.
"Chat Noir and I, we're an unstoppable team."
"You think you're so smart, Ladybug," said Antibug.
Antibug had an idea. Her face glowed with anticipation as she stopped the news feed app and reached the main screen.
The phone was unlocked. Antibug opened the photo gallery and found selfies.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng! No wonder Ladybug is such a jerk."
Hawk Moth sent, "You have done well, Antibug. Now go to Marinette's home and threaten her family. She will have to surrender her Miraculous if you do."
"No, I don't want to do it that way."
"You threatened the life of Chat Noir. What's the difference?"
"I just wanted to lure her out, to fight her. I have to prove I'm better than Ladybug so I can take her place."
"If you must. But don't tell Ladybug you know her secret."
"Why not?"
"Just in case. I don't want her to know that I know. If you fail I'll be able to attack with surprise next time."
"I'm not going to fail!"
Irritated by Hawk Moth's lack of faith in her, Antibug used her yo-yo to make a spectacular swing from the corner of the building.
Hawk Moth sent one final message, "Goodbye, Antibug. Dead women tell no tales."
In an instant, Antibug's yo-yo vanished. Her color-inverted costume became a Ladybug cosplay one again.
Chloé was falling. She screamed.
Then Ladybug was there, gripping her tightly. With her own yo-yo she landed them safely on the porch, where Chat Noir now stood, free of the ropes.
Chloé remembered everything she had done as Antibug because her akuma had been pulled rather than being lost by breakage of the akumatized object.
"Ladybug, you saved my life! I'm not sure I can be your fan anymore... but I have to tell you something."
"Chloé, I… I'm really sorry about earlier. I would've defeated Vanisher sooner if I'd taken your advice."
"I accept your apology. I have one for you, too. I'm sorry that, because of me, Hawk Moth knows your secret identity!"
"What? How?"
"That phone you left to decoy me... I opened up the photo gallery. There are all sorts of selfies of you, Marinette."
"Wait... did you say Marinette?" asked Chat.
"We'll talk about that later, Chaton. Chloé, did Hawk Moth say what he was going to do with the information?" asked Ladybug.
"He wanted me to threaten your family. When I wouldn't, he wanted me not to tell you what I knew, so he could attack with surprise. Then he tried to kill me. He pulled my power so I would fall."
"What a monster!" said Chat.
"My parents! They're in danger!" said Ladybug. "I've got to call and warn them. Where's my phone?"
"I left it upstairs," said Chloé. "Use mine. You wear gloves so I don't have to worry about messy fingerprints."
Ladybug took the phone and made the call to the bakery.
A deep voice answered. "Hello?"
"This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I need to speak with my parents."
"They're here with me, but they can't come to the phone right now. They will stay safe as long as you do exactly as I say."