In which everything goes wrong.
"Volpina, what's on the other side of the door?"
"Don't worry about it."
"I'm feeling quite worried about it actually."
Volpina nervously looked back at the door she was standing in front of and bit her lip.
"Look, the good news is, I think the Akuma is going to be out in the open soon."
Queen Bee raised an eyebrow.
"And the bad news?"
"…You know, optimism is an important quality for a superhero."
Queen Bee rolled her eyes, and the mad cackling on the other side of the door reached a fever pitch. Volpina looked back at the door again, then grabbed Queen Bee by the shoulders.
"Look we're out of time, okay? We need a new plan, and we need it now!"
Queen Bee's eyes slid to the door behind her frantic partner. Part of her wondered what Volpina was trying to hide from her, but that part of her was quickly told to shut up and mind its own business.
"Okay well, we still need to get the book away from him, right? If he's going to be outside like you said, then that works to our advantage, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but even if I could get it away from him, I doubt I'm going to get very far with it now," Volpina said, looking nervously at the door again. Then she looked back at Queen Bee and her eyes lit up. "But I might be able to get it to you!"
Queen Bee frowned.
"What good with that do? There's no way I could get to Ladybug and Chat Noir."
"No, but you could destroy it and free the Akuma!"
"What!?" Queen Bee pulled away. "Are you nuts? Do you remember what happened the last time an Akuma was set free without being de-evilized!?"
"Queenie, we are out of time! If we free the Akuma then all its magic will stop! Sure, it'll get away and probably infect dozens of people across Paris, and create an army of unstoppable cookie monsters, but the army of unstoppable cookie monsters we have now will go away, and Ladybug and Chat Noir won't be sacrificed to a blood thirsty demon spawned from the pits of hell's kitchen," she said, pointing at the door to the bakery.
"A what!?"
Volpina winced and shook her head.
"Never mind. Look, just get up to the roof and destroy the book when I throw it to you. Go!"
She shoved Queen Bee towards the stairs and ran back to the door to peek inside the bakery again. Queen Bee looked at her hesitantly for a moment, then tore her eyes away and bolted up the stairs.
She burst out onto Marinette's rooftop garden less than a minute later. The first thing she did was to check on the situation at the park. Surprisingly, Ladybug and Chat Noir hadn't been captured yet, though the situation had by no means improved.
The evil edibles were still keeping Chat Noir and Ladybug separated from one another, and they seemed to be focusing on wearing the superheroes down, rather than out right over powering them. They kept a wide ring around Ladybug and Chat Noir, with one or two of them jumping in at a time to keep them constantly fighting to defend themselves. Even at a distance, it was clear that the constant battle was starting to take its toll on the heroes. The unending assault was keeping them from using their super powers, and their movements were becoming slower and wilder by the minute. At this rate Ladybug and Chat Noir might change back without even using their powers, or just collapse from pure exhaustion. Queen Bee bit her lip. Volpina had been right; destroying the Akuma's hiding place and stopping its magic was the only chance they had now.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash of breaking glass and shattering stone, and the building trembled beneath her feat. Queen Bee had been chased by enough Akumas to know the sound of a wall being smashed away when she heard it. She quickly moved to the front of the bakery to see what had happened, and sure enough, the entire front half of the store had been blown outward as if hit by a bomb. Bits of bread and shelving lay scattered on the street, amidst shards of broken glass and bits of crumbled brick and mortar. As the dust settled, Queen Bee heard the heavy crunch of footsteps from inside the ruined bakery, and as she looked down, a hulking, lumbering, thing slowlycame into view.
She was reminded vaguely of Adrien's bodyguard. Like Gorilla, it was shaped mostly like a human being, but it stood nearly eight feet tall, and five feet broad at the shoulders. Its entire body was covered in what looked like dozens of pure red eyes, that bulged out of its dark brown, nearly black skin. A mound of flesh piled between its shoulders seemed to act as a head, though it had no face that she could understand. Limbs thick as tree trunks sprouted from its enormous torso, with stout legs that trudged forward in slow, rhythmic steps, and deadly looking arms that seemed capable of crushing anything that stood in its way. It was a juggernaut, built for the sole purpose of being the most powerful and terrifying thing its creator was capable of conjuring.
And the warm smell wafting up from it was positively mouthwatering.
All it took was one sniff for her to identify the creature below as a walking, eight foot tall, Cherry-Chocolate Devil's Food Cake. As she looked closer, she realized that the red "eyes" covering the creature were actually just giant bits of maraschino cherries, though she could understand why Volpina had been frightened of it after only getting a quick look. Still, there was something oddly familiar about it. She frowned. What had the Necrobaker been chanting earlier?
Her eyebrows shot up as she realized exactly what she was looking at.
'Oh! So that's what it was going to be...'
Several weeks ago, Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie had done a special promotion in celebration of Ladybug and Chat Noir's anniversary as the protectors of Paris. Marinette had brought nearly everyone in the class a sweet themed after their Akumatized self. Everyone from "Stoneheart" to "Princess Fragrance" had gotten their own cupcake, turnover, or cookie, except "Antibug." Even "Vanisher" had been given a transparent treat, but when Chloe had uninterestedly wondered where hers was, Marinette had played the victim again, and told her that her parent's bakery wasn't allowed to release it, due to the mayor forbidding them from doing so. When she had asked her father if this was true, he had confirmed the story (much to her surprise,) saying that it would be best if everyone forgot about the Antibug incident.
Despite her father's protests, Queen Bee couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as she looked down at the monstrosity modeled after her image. Nobody else had gotten a full cake made after them, and going by what she was seeing and smelling, it would have been an amazing cake too. The cherry halves decorating the dark chocolate frosting looked just like the outfit she had worn as Antibug, though as she watched, she realized that wasn't the only similarity between the monster below, and her Akumatized self. As the Antibug Devil left the ruins of the bakery it had smashed apart, Queen Bee saw it was dragging a six-foot-long, silver serving knife with one hand. The sheer size of the weapon reminded her of the oversized junkheap of a sword she had summoned with her Anti-Charm.
She smiled. Magic yoyo's and extendible staffs were fine for defense, and they did hold a certain charm and sophistication, but there was just something pure about hitting somebody you didn't like with several pounds of sharp metal.
And the best part was, you only had to hit them once…
Queen Bee shook her head, trying to clear her mind of such thoughts since Ladybug probably wouldn't approve of them. She looked back down and watched as the Necrobaker emerged, following behind his "ultimate creation," and seemingly unconcerned with the damage done to the bakery. He appeared to have left his rolling pin wand behind, but she could just see him carrying the iron wrought book under his arm.
A flash of red and black off towards the park caught her eye, and she looked over to see that Ladybug had finally managed to fight her way close enough to the park's exit to leap over the remaining minions and break free of them. Chat Noir pole-vaulted over to her a second later, and together, they faced the jeering army of baked monstrosities in front of them, unaware that the worst of the batch was slowly lumbering up from behind.
Queen Bee bit her lip, wondering if she should shout a warning to them and risk attracting unwelcome attention. Fortunately, the Necrobaker seemed uninterested in trying to take the heroes by surprise.
"Ladybug! So nice to see more celebrities show up to my little bake sale of revenge!"
Ladybug and Chat Noir whipped their heads around to face the Necrobaker and his towering bodyguard. Chat Noir looked frantically from the monsters in front of them to the monster behind, trying to decide which was the bigger threat. Ladybug on the other hand just… stopped.
Queen Bee watched in confusion as her hero just froze up and stared at the Necrobaker, her yoyo spinning to a stop and hanging forgotten and useless from her hand. Chat Noir also noticed her lock up and began calling her name, trying to snap her out of it. She didn't seem to hear him. Worried, Chat Noir took one hand off his staff to shake her by the shoulder.
It was a costly mistake.
The Necrobaker made a beckoning gesture with one hand, and the entire army of baked bads behind them surged forth. They tackled the flat footed heroes to the ground. Ladybug's arm and yoyo were pinned beneath her by several hundred pounds of minions, and Chat Noir's staff flew out of his hand and was sent clattering away. The two of them were pinned under a dog pile of killer sweets, completely trapped. …Again.
Even as she struggled to free herself, Ladybug stared at the Akuma and the destroyed bakery behind him in horror and disbelief. Queen Bee had no idea why Ladybug was acting so shocked, but clearly Volpina had been right about not wanting to let her know who the Akuma was, though it was too late now.
Speaking of her partner, Queen Bee looked around for any sign of Volpina. As the Necrobaker began to monolog and demand that Ladybug surrender her miraculous, (same old same old,) Queen Bee saw a flash of light from around the corner of the house. She went around the edge of the roof and looked down to see Volpina sneaking out the side door. She looked up and saw Queen Bee looking down at her, and waved at Queen Bee to get back and stay out of sight. Queen Bee crouched low over the wall to hide herself, but stood up again in surprise when Volpina started heading straight towards the Necrobaker! He had his back to her admittedly, but the army of minions pinning Ladybug and Chat Noir were looking right in her direction. Her foolhardy and brightly colored partner was bound to be spotted any second!
Only… she wasn't.
Volpina was creeping up on her target, walking on tip toes, in full view of an entire army, and not even a hint of alarm had been raised. It was as if Volpina was completely invisible to everyone, except for Queen Bee. As she wondered if Volpina had somehow bribed the army of minions into staying silent, she saw Volpina pass over some of the smashed out bakery window. From Queen Bee's vantagepoint, the broken glass was as good as a mirror, but as Volpina passed in front of the broken shards, only her lower half was reflected! The shards that should have showed the rest of her only reflected blue sky. Queen Bee squinted, and could just make out the faint outline of some kind of transparent barrier dividing the shards that had reflected Volpina's bright orange costume, and the ones that didn't. Now that she had spotted it, Queen Bee was able to follow the nearly invisible barrier from the side door Volpina had exited from, to a point some four feet behind where the Necrobaker was standing.
It took a few more seconds, but eventually she worked out what was happening.
"Not bad, Foxy," Queen Bee complimented under her breath, and crouched back down to wait.
Down on the street, Volpina whispered a barely audible thank you to Trixx for telling her to look up stage magic during her spare time. The art of illusion was as old as Trixx herself, and Alya's phone was an excellent resource for looking up the how-tos of almost every magic trick ever performed. The one she was using now was the simplest trick of them all: the painted back drop.
Of course, using magic to create a perfect living replica of the space behind someone was on a slightly higher level than dropping a black curtain over a black background to make someone disappear from a box, but the principle was the same.
Her "curtain" stopped just a few feet behind the Necrobaker, just far enough away that he wouldn't break the illusion in case he swung his hand behind him in some grand theatrical movement, but still too far away for her to be able to reach the book without being seen. When she had nearly come to the end of her illusion, she stopped and looked back up at the roof. The crouched figure of Queen Bee gave her a thumbs up to show she was ready, and Volpina swallowed and gave her one back. Everything was in place. Now all she had to do was grab a very heavy looking book away from a revenge crazed supervillain, with his armed bodyguard standing less than three feet away, and chuck it up to the roof of a three-story building, so her partner could somehow destroy it, and release an evil butterfly that would inevitably turn dozens of people across Paris into more Akumas later on.
Minor details aside, Volpina was feeling pretty confident in her plan, until a low flying pigeon coming from the park caught scent of the freshly baked bread scattered about the ruins of the bakery.
Volpina's illusion may have been subtle, but it was big, and when it burst it created a large wall of orange smoke that, while extremely brief, still caught the attention of everyone around it. Including the Necrobaker and his towering monstrosity, who turned around to find one of Paris's newest superheroes standing behind them, frozen in place while making grabby hands at the book he was holding, and looking like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. She looked at the crowd of superheroes, minions, and supervillains looking back at her before quickly straightening up and putting her hands behind her back, trying to look innocent.
"Uh… hi," she said, awkwardly smiling and waving at them all.
She was saved an awkward explanation when the Antibug Devil suddenly grabbed hold of her neck with surprising speed and strength. Its massive hand lifted her up by the throat as her eyes bulged and she frantically tried to free herself. The spongey body of the cake monster wasn't firm enough to fully constrict her windpipe, but its sticky chocolate frosting skin made it impossible to wriggle free. Her attempts to claw the hand away were futile as well. Her fingers left deep gashes in the monster's hand, but they healed up so quickly it was like trying to tear apart a puddle of mud. Before she knew what was happening, the monster lifted Volpina over its mound of a head, and smashed her down into the asphalt at its feet.
"Volpina!"
Ladybug screamed her name as the asphalt cracked, and then cratered under her body as she made contact with the earth. As the monster standing over her stepped back to admire its handiwork, Volpina coughed and rolled over onto her side, trying to suck air into her empty lungs. She clutched at her bruised throat and tried not to cough again and injure it further. The wind was knocked out of her, she could only see stars, and she was sure she'd have some pretty nasty bruises for the next couple of days, but her suit had saved her from the worst of the impact.
The Necrobaker wasn't interested in giving her time to catch her breath. He signaled to his minions, and four of them rushed forward from the pile on Ladybug and Chat Noir to pounce on her. They pulled her roughly up by the arms, and dragged her over to kneel before the Necrobaker. Volpina coughed painfully and tried to struggle against her captors, but in her still dazed state, and with two of the unnaturally strong monsters on each arm, she could do little to fight them off.
Hawkmoth's symbol appeared over the Necrobaker's hooded face, and she heard his smooth, smug voice speak out from it, just as it had done when he had Akumatized her.
"Well, well, who do we have here? You look almost like one of my old creations, though I think that necklace of yours holds more than one of my little Akumas. Have you found another fool to help you, Ladybug?"
The possessed Necrobaker turned to face Ladybug, who snarled at him in rage.
"Let her go Hawkmoth! She's got nothing to do with this! Let her go!"
"My, such anger!" Hawkmoth said, in mock surprise. "Clearly this one is important to you. Well, I might be willing to trade her freedom, for say, a Miraculous or two!"
"Not on your life, you coward!" Chat Noir answered back, but Ladybug looked unsure.
"Not on my life?" Hawkmoth taunted. "Very well, but what about hers? Necrobaker!"
The Necrobaker gestured to the Antibug Devil. He stepped away as the towering monster took his place in front of Volpina's kneeling form. She glared up at it defiantly, and, after coughing a few more times, she found her voice.
"That over grown birthday cake doesn't scare me!" she yelled, still struggling to get free of the four gingerbread men clinging to her arms. "There's no way I'm handing over my miraculous!"
"Oh, my dear girl, I had no intention of asking you for it." Hawkmoth's voice nearly purred. "I am only interested in the Ladybug earrings and Chat Noir's ring. That little trinket around your neck is of no consequence to me. You, on the other hand, may be invaluable, though not to me of course. What do you say, Ladybug? Her life, for your Miraculous?"
"Oh, give it up Hawk-creep!" Volpina interrupted. "You've never so much as given anyone a bloody nose! You and your Akuma's have never hurt anybody. And even if they did, Ladybug would just fix them up again with her magic once she beats you. Like she always does!"
Volpina grinned confidently at the Necrobaker, but her expression faltered when she looked back at Ladybug. She had stopped struggling to get out from underneath the pile of minions, and looked just as scared and unsure as she had been on her first day on top of the stadium. Chat Noir was looking a bit worried himself, though that may have been mostly due to Ladybug's reaction. Volpina felt a little trickle of fear begin to well up inside her too.
"You have a point."
Hawkmoth's voice was soft and thoughtful, but the danger in it commanded attention.
"The ineffectiveness of my previous Akumas is beginning to undermine me. I think a demonstration of power is in order. Young lady, allow me to show my appreciation to you for bringing this to my attention."
Hawkmoth's emblem disappeared from the Necrobaker's face, and the Akuma suddenly convulsed and bent over. When he straightened up again, his posture was different. He stood much straighter, and something about him seemed infinitely crueler. When he spoke, it was with the Necrobaker's voice, but his words and his cadence were unmistakably that of Hawkmoth's.
"Up until now, I have allowed my Akuma's to act on their own, while I simply guided them. But, by using the full extent of my power, I can take complete control of them for a limited time. This control does come with certain… risks," he said, watching himself flexing his fingers experimentally. "But with all three of you so indisposed, there seems I have little to worry about."
Hawkmoth waved the Necrobaker's hand and the Antibug Devil picked up its giant serving knife, and placed the edge of the blade just over Volpina's head.
"Despite my best efforts, most of my Akumas lack the necessary conviction to kill. I, however, do not. You are going to die now, whoever you are, and then I am going to dispel my Akuma myself. With no Akuma to de-evilize, Ladybug will be unable to use her magic to save you. All of Paris will learn to fear me again, and when I next attack, Ladybug will either surrender her Miraculous, or watch as someone else dies because of her. Who knows, maybe I'll Akumatize one of your grieving family members to fight her? Why don't you think of which one it will be, in your final moments…"
As the blade began to rise, Ladybug and Chat Noir screamed for Hawkmoth to stop, and struggled with all their might to break free. Volpina didn't struggle. She just stared up at the shining silver blade as it slowly rose higher and higher, tracing the path it would take back down to end her brief career as a superhero. When her executioner had lifted the blade directly over its head, it paused for just a moment to let the sun glint off the beautiful silver.
Then it started its descent.
Volpina closed her eyes. She didn't want to see the end. She thought of her family, and how she wished she could see them all one last time so she could say goodbye. She thought of Marinette, and how much her poor friend and her family was going to suffer today. She thought of Nino, and how she was admittedly a little disappointed they had never so much as kissed in all the time they had been dating. And finally, she thought of Que-
CLANG!
There was a loud ring of metal striking metal above her. Volpina's eyes shot open and she looked straight up to see the blade of the serving knife less than an inch away from her face, shaking slightly as it fought hungrily to get to its victim, but held back by a familiar looking metal staff. Volpina stared up in open mouthed amazement. Her eyes followed the staff to a pair of pitch black hands holding it in place. They were connected to some yellow shoulders, which led to a yellow chest and a high black collar, which led to a face in a yellow and black mask, that was currently contorted into a snarl of rage and glaring up at the serving knife above them with pure determination.
Volpina couldn't believe her eyes, but Queen Bee had, quite literally, miraculously appeared in front of her, and was saving her life!
With an angry growl, Queen Bee threw the blade off of them and stood up. The Antibug Devil was thrown off balance and took a step backwards. Queen Bee twirled around to face it, and stabbed the blunt end of the staff into the monster's massive chest. The creature shuddered at the blow, but began raising its weapon for another attack.
Queen Bee roared, and with an incredible show of pure strength, forced the staff deeper into the creature's chest, and through it to burst out the other side. Chunky, sweet smelling red goo, and bits of chocolate cake exploded from the creature's back. The Antibug Devil froze, wavered slightly, then dropped its giant serving knife to the ground and fell back into a pool of its own fruit filling, Chat Noir's staff sticking out of it like a metal toothpick.
Queen Bee wiped some of the splattered red filling from her cheek, and turned her attention to Hawkmoth. He actually took a step back.
Queen Bee's eyes narrowed.
"Don't, you, dare, touch her."
Authors Notes:
Regarding Hawkmoth: It is actually cannon that he can speak to other people through his symbol on his Akumas. As far as I know, it's only happened once during the Timebreaker Episode, but he has done it. Or at least Ladybug heard him talking to Timebreaker and she replied directly to him.
I also had a moment while writing this when I realized practically every line of Hawkmoths dialogue was pure exposition. I started to go back and rewrite it before realizing that that was probably the most in character dialogue for anything I have ever written. The man spouts exposition to himself, alone in his lair, about Akumatizing himself. It's great, he's like a writer's dream come true.
Regarding the Antibug Devil: this idea changed a LOT from its initial invention to now. In the original script, the minions didn't reform until the Necrobaker waved his magic rolling pin and made them. The "Executioner" was originally an amalgam of a bunch of different minions combined into a screaming monster with an axe made out of bits of gingerbread. Ladybug was able to use her Lucky Charm during the fight, and created a stop sign, which would be knocked away from her before she could figure out how to use it, and Queen Bee would use THAT to save Volpina and slice and dice the Executioner apart.
As the tone and direction of the story started to take shape, I realized more and more that this sequence, while fun, just didn't flow naturally with the other changes that I had made. That was when the Amalgam became a Cake Demon, and eventually became the Antibug Cake Chloe never got to have. Having her save Volpina from the embodiment of the worst version of herself, with help from her "brother's" borrowed weapon, maybe a bit overly poetic, but I live for that kind of stuff.
