To Butterfly: Don't worry; this is the chapter with the answers.

To yellow 14: I hope you mean the fight and not the writing! This was one of the most complex fight sequences I've written yet; even the Hawk Moth fight (with hundreds or even thousands of Akumas involved) wasn't this complex to write because I focused in on Adrien's POV and just included little snatches of the other heroes, rather than trying to follow them all through the fight while keeping to the same POV style. In terms of writing, there was a mistake that a reviewer on AO3 pointed out near the end of the chapter which I have since corrected.

All the wind had been knocked out of his lungs. He couldn't breathe! A solid weight lay over him. He had spent most of the last half-hour lying curled up in the middle of the field, trying to make himself as small as possible and praying to whatever gods were out there that the madness would end. The earth had been thrown up all around him, getting into his hair and onto his clothes. Energy blasts had peppered the ground. Heat had seared his face from the lava pit that had opened up mere meters from where he lay. Then something solid had landed on top of him and a searing light had engulfed them, all around, burning through his tightly-clenched eyelids, accompanied by a high-pitched mechanical whine. The lights faded and the whine stopped. XY put up his hands to find a face centimeters from his own. The weight eased, and he opened his eyes to find Carapace crouching over him, his eyes clenched tightly shut in a pained grimace. He pushed Carapace away and crabwalked back away from him, eyes wide in terror.

Carapace curled up into a ball, pulling his knees up to his chest, and XY could see something wrapped tightly around his ankles. Carapace reached down to touch it, but smoke curled up from the tips of his gloved fingers where they touched the rope, and his gloves came away blackened and burnt. Carapace winced and shook his hands, hissing in pain.

The stadium was suddenly filled with a colossal rushing of wind. Near the far side of the field Cat Noir and Viperion were shot up into the air in the middle of a tornado. Cat Noir's staff emerged from the whirlwind and embedded in the upper deck of the stadium, and the five villains surrounding them were lifted into the air. XY could see Mecha-Man hovering in midair with his jetpack, holding the Deacon by the back of his robes. Night Bat rode in the center of a column of air, with Elettrisicario and Tyran-X floating in smaller cyclones below him. The five villains turned as one to follow Cat Noir and Viperion onto the stadium seating.

"Where are they going?" asked XY, eyes wide.

"I guess Night Bat doesn't think we're much of a threat anymore," Carapace replied weakly. He tried to force his fingers under the bolas cord and winced. "Not that he's exactly wrong…"

XY turned away from him to survey the rest of the stadium. Several meters away he could see a crater in the turf with a mass of blue protruding from it. He had felt the earth rumble, but hadn't been able to bring himself to look before now. "Is–is that–is he…" He swallowed and his voice trailed off. "Is Taureau Dechaine… dead?"

Carapace stopped fighting with the bolas wrapped around his ankles and looked up. His eyes narrowed and he examined Taureau Dechaine critically. Finally he shook his head. "He's still breathing," he answered, relief evident in his voice. "The Prior must have hit him with chi-putty. But that means he can't move – that stuff freezes a miraculous user in place." He nodded to the far side of the field. "That's what got the Hound, too."

Everyone's attention was elsewhere. The villains had left him alone for the entire fight as if he didn't matter, the Heroes were all either incapacitated or otherwise occupied now, and across the field XY could see the stadium exit. He'd lost his phone somewhere along the way, but all he had to do was get out of the stadium and someone would find him – right? After all, he was a celebrity! Fans were always searching for him! Maybe he'd even give an autograph to whichever fan picked him up and brought him back to the hotel. Then he could dedicate the next concert to the Heroes of Paris as a "thank you" for them saving him. Or maybe not – they were just doing what they were supposed to do, after all. And what he was supposed to do wasn't to put his own neck on the line. He didn't belong here! He wasn't a superhero! And they came to save him – it would be silly for him not to take advantage of this distraction to escape! XY pushed himself up to one knee.

Carapace's narrowed eyes followed him. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"What does it look like?" grunted XY, standing up and dusting off his costume as a steady stream of soil poured out of his hair. He could feel tears in the thin fabric. His knee almost buckled with a twinge of pain, and he looked down to see what appeared to be blood staining his pants. "I'm getting the hell out of here. This isn't my fight!"

"Like hell it's not!" retorted Carapace, glaring up at him in reproach. "Why the hell do you think me and my friends are even here right now!? Do you think we just run off to fight the bad guys for fun?"

"Don't you?" XY scoffed, sneering down at him. "Fun and fame: that's what this whole superhero thing is about, right?"

"If that's what you think, you really missed the mark on this stupid charade. None of us came into this thing looking for fun," Carapace informed him, a threatening edge to his voice. "Maybe that was the reasoning for some of us when we started, but that's not why we do it now – not when we've seen what can happen. The reason any of us do this is because it's important. There are bad people out there, and we have to stop them. If we didn't have to go out and stop them, we wouldn't!" He chuckled darkly. "Do you want to know what we were trying to do before you faked an alien invasion to get attention? We just wanted to listen to a concert. That's it. And suddenly half my team is down and the other half is probably about to join them. For you. Because you needed our help." Carapace tried to stand up despite the bolas wrapped tightly around his ankle, lost his balance, and fell back to the ground. With a grunt he shifted into a sitting position and shook his head dismissively. "You can run away if you want, dude – I can't exactly stop you. But if you stay, you can still make this right."

XY gave the stadium exit a last longing look. On further consideration, it was a little further away than he had thought… and his leg ached. Still, he hesitated.

Carapace frowned. "If it helps you decide, if you get out of here and we all die, Ladybug will find out what happened, and then you'll have to deal with her," he informed him coldly. "I'm not sure which you should be more afraid of: Ladybug, Ryoku, or Rena Rouge… though it might actually be Multiplice. You'd never even see her coming…"

XY paled. "Fine," he grumbled, turning back to face Carapace. "What do you need me to do?"

"Take this goddamn bolas off of my ankles for starters," replied Carapace, raising an eyebrow at him. The bolas was a simple construction – two metal spheres the size of golf balls with a layer of hardened clay surrounding them, connected together by a simple hemp rope.

"Hell no!" XY retorted, staring horrified at the blackened tips of Carapace's gloves. "Those things will burn me like they did you! I need my fingers!"

Carapace arched an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "And I don't? They only affect miraculous users, dude," he assured XY irritably. "You'll be fine."

"You say so…" XY muttered doubtfully. The bolas balls felt cool to the touch. However, they had twisted around several times, and it took a moment for XY to get the rope untangled and free Carapace's legs.

Carapace immediately sprang to his feet and reached down to pull XY back up after him. "Thanks," he said. "Now get the chi-putty off the Hound and Taureau Dechaine, and we'll take it from there."

XY stumbled to comply, first hobbling over to the Hound. The Hound had landed on his back and faced up into the sky, his eyes closed and the muscles around his mouth moving the slightest amount. XY could see the glob of light grey putty on his shoulder. It had the consistency of bread dough and stuck to his fingers when he peeled it off. No sooner was the putty off the Hound's suit than the hero reached up and grabbed XY by the throat, eyes shooting open into narrow slits. "You'll have to rip this miraculous from my–" He stopped when he finally registered who it was. "Oh. It's just you." His grip loosened the slightest bit, and XY drew in a shaky breath.

Once the Hound released his throat, XY grabbed his hand and hauled him up to his feet before running over to do the same for Taureau Dechaine. The big man was lying face down with the chi-putty on his chest, and XY at first struggled to roll him over onto his back to reach it. Finally he managed to wrestle him over, using his own cattle prod as a lever. He found the chi-putty and peeled it off, allowing Taureau Dechaine to stand up. Finally the three heroes stood together around XY near midfield.

"My hero," the Hound mocked, sneering.

"I didn't have to help you," grumbled XY, folding his arms and frowning at him.

"Oh, I know."

Taureau Dechaine put a hand on the Hound's shoulder and gave him a stern look. The Hound glared back at him and scoffed.

"Right," Carapace began, smacking his fist on the shield he had retrieved. "We need to get back up there and get the others out. Can you get us up there?" he asked, turning to the Hound.

The Hound sized up Taureau Dechaine and shrugged. "Sure, why not? But first, I think we need a little… Doggedness!"

XY gasped in surprise at the rush of strength and determination that washed over him. He couldn't exactly go toe-to-toe with one of the villains, but he didn't feel like falling to the ground and hiding under a bench anymore, either.

Carapace nodded, the fire returning to his eyes. "Thanks for that, dude. Now…"

The Hound threw his leash up into the air, caught it around a protrusion from the roof well beyond where they could see lightning and energy beams lighting up the upper deck, and tugged on it as a test. The leash held. He grabbed Carapace's hand, and Carapace grabbed the back of Taureau Dechaine's suit. Then the three heroes flew up into the sky, angling toward the battle still raging above them.

XY turned away as Carapace dropped Taureau Dechaine to land on one end of the second tier, away from the fighting. He frowned: the two forms that had been lying in the same depression where Taureau Dechaine had fallen were starting to stir. As XY watched, first the Prior and then the Bearator pushed himself to his feet. The Prior steadied himself with his quarterstaff, and the Bearator shook his head, knocking the cobwebs loose.

Damn.

"Stampede!" rang out through the stadium, and the second level rumbled. "Shell-ter!" "Cataclysm!" The stadium shook and a plume of smoke and dust exploded out from the stadium's outer wall. A blast of lightning arced across the stadium in all directions from a spot near the billowing smoke cloud, followed by an eerie silence.

XY stared at the villains, and they looked back at him.

"Perhaps we'll do this again some time," the Bearator finally told him, his eyes drifting past XY to the spot above them where the Cataclysm had come from.

"I sure hope not," XY replied, trying to put as much force into the statement as he could. He stood his ground, fists clenched at his sides.

The Bearator scoffed and took off jogging toward the exit on the far side of the stadium, the Prior stumbling along after him, supporting himself with his quarterstaff.

The doors had just closed behind them when the five heroes landed on the ground near XY. He turned to examine them, and saw Cat Noir and Viperion leaning against each other and being supported by Taureau Dechaine. Taureau Dechaine himself sported a fresh bruise under his eye, and Carapace had a cut on his shoulder. The Hound cradled his wrist, wincing from pain.

Cat Noir pushed himself away from Taureau Dechaine and approached XY. XY's eyes widened nervously, but Cat Noir only held out a hand. "Thanks," Cat Noir said. "If it weren't for you, I'm not sure what would have happened today."

XY took his hand and shook it. He shrugged, embarrassed. "Well, I mean, I couldn't just sit by and do nothing, right?"

Carapace gave him an encouraging grin and slapped him on the back. "We couldn't have pulled it off without you, dude!"

Taureau Dechaine gave him a curt nod, and Viperion grudgingly added, "Thanks."

XY nodded back, wringing his hands. "Yeah, yeah, not a problem. Always happy to help out a fan."

The Hound cocked his head and gave the others an incredulous look. "Hang on," he began. "Why are we thanking him for saving us from trouble we only got into because we were saving him from trouble that he himself caused?"

AN: Felix Graham de Vanily: saying what everyone else is thinking but is too polite to say!