Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug, Cat Noir and Steel Butterfly.
Chapter 26: Steel Butterfly vs. Volpina.
(Author's notes: In a few secret scenes that are technically not deleted scenes or bonus scenes at all, Steel Butterfly will literally be pranking Lila Rossi before and after the events of this chapter/episode. Among the pranks includes invisible noogies, swirlies, the caramel onion prank, tickling her feet while she's asleep, and the classic "Why are you hitting yourself?"
Also, kind of similar to a fanfiction I once read without a care for Adrien being portrayed as an antihero but also somewhat different thanks to my stores of intelligence when it comes to the Miraculous Ladybug cartoon and various Miraculous Ladybug fanfictions, when Adrien and Steel Butterfly recover the Miraculous spellbook and the Peacock Miraculous from Gabriel's safe, Adrien will find out he's gonna be a few minutes early for his fencing lessons. Also, at the same time, Steel Butterfly will erase the footage of him and Adrien taking back what rightfully belongs to Master Fu untraceably, and Steel Butterfly will be preparing plans for how to make him and Adrien far below suspicion without making the suspicions fall upon anyone else. It's kind of like Elijah Price in Unbreakable making himself far below suspicion when he was carrying out his missions to find David Dunn and to expose the Clover Organization's crimes to the world, but not necessarily the same so as to cause a copyright infrigment.
Enjoy chapter 26, and please enjoy the fight between Steel Butterfly and Volpina.)
(Quantic Universe Earth 139, Paris, France, May the 21st, 2015, third person POV...)
In Lila Rossi's residence, an invisible Steel Butterfly was mentally cackling as he approaches the foot of Lila's bed and slowly and carefully pulled her covers off her feet without waking her up.
Taking mental note of how Lila doesn't paint her toenails whatsoever, Steel Butterfly quietly removed both of his gauntlets and carefully tickled Lila's bare feet without waking her up.
Steel Butterfly had even went to the length of making his normal fingernails morph into blunted but sharp shortened dragon claws so as to not draw any blood when tickling Lila's feet.
Lila started giggling in her sleep in response to the delicate touch, signifying that Lila Rossi is just as ticklish as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Lynnette Bellecourt, Alix Kubdel, Sabrina Raincomprix, and Chloe Bourgeois respectively.
After a minute, Steel Butterfly finished tickling Lila's feet, thankfully without waking her up.
But then, sensing that Lila's alarm clock was about to ring in about ten seconds, Steel Butterfly keeps himself cloaked as he quietly and quickly puts his gauntlets back on and teleports out of Lila's bedroom.
Lila's alarm clock rings and Lila bolts upright as she awakens.
Lila turns off her alarm clock and notices that her bare feet were sticking out of her quilts.
Pursing her lips in curiosity, Lila decides to push the matter aside and investigate it for another day.
And so, Lila Rossi gets ready for the day, unaware of the utterly horrible and overall crappy first day she's about to have.
The moment Lila washed her hands after having her breakfast, she got sprayed by a water sprayer.
In other words, Steel Butterfly pranked Lila with the classic "rubber band around the water sprayer" prank.
Lila noticed the rubber band on the water sprayer and remarks, "Oh! Hahaha! My mother – what a character!"
Lila doesn't even know that she's wrong about who pulled off the classic prank. And even if she knew who pranked her, she wouldn't be able to prank Steel Butterfly back without his nearly godlike super intelligence, his precognition and his enhanced superhuman ESP/Butterfly Sense warning him about it. Especially in regards to his superhuman knowledge of pranks and how to make himself below suspicion without the suspicions falling upon anyone else.
And of course, Lila was unaware that Steel Butterfly's ability to travel through time was another thing that would also allow him to be informed of things that can happen in the future, even if it was a few minutes or a few days in the future.
At Francoise Dupont, while Marinette and Adrien were respectively having lunch in their homes, Steel Butterfly cloaks himself again as Lila finishes using the bathroom.
Lila washes her hands and notices Steel Butterfly's somewhat solid illusion of the Tiger Kwami known as Roaar floating underneath some water and showering herself while washing hand soap off her body, but Lila doesn't know that it's an illusion that is sort of solid to actually touch.
Steel Butterfly says through his semi-solid illusion while doing a perfect impression of Roaar's voice, "#We know a guy who can really do the cool jerk. We know a guy who can really do the cool jerk-#"
"Roaar" notices the serial liar staring at her and screams a bit like a scared tiger cub.
"Roaar" exclaims, "Next time, knock! Seriously!"
Lila is aghast at what she's seeing, and she tries to grab the semi-solid illusion only for "Roaar" to fly out of her grip.
"Roaar" makes it to the door of an empty toilet stall, and Lila makes a jumping leap to catch the illusion... only to end up stuck upside down in the toilet.
As Lila's legs flail about without hitting the stall walls, Steel Butterfly cackles in Roaar's voice, "Mwa hahahahahahahahaha! Swirly time!"
Steel Butterfly flushes the toilet with Lila's head still inside and teleports out of the girls' bathroom and out of the school.
After Steel Butterfly teleports out of the bathroom and out of the school, Lila manages to get her head unstuck without hurting herself and without breaking the toilet.
Lila coughs up some water and growls, as she realizes she's soaked from her head to her belly.
Lila quickly goes to the locker room, dries herself off, and gets a change of clothes from her duffel bag, which happens to be her signature outfit.
Lila whispers, "When I find out who gave me that swirly, I'll be sure to pay them back."
Of course, Lila doesn't know that Steel Butterfly's super hearing made sure that her whisper was heard and that he plans to make her day even crappier.
Lila found out the hard way that her day just got even crappier when she took a bite out of a caramel onion, snarling that she couldn't believe that she fell for the oldest trick in the book.
Of course, even Mr. Damocles in his office was struggling to prevent himself from laughing hysterically.
Meanwhile, in the Agreste Mansion, Adrien and Steel Butterfly were spying on Gabriel while the camera in the foyer was "accidentally" turned off.
Gabriel says in his atelier over the phone, "Yes, I'm busy. I was right in the middle of something important. What do you want?"
Steel Butterfly uses his fingers to count down from three to zero before Gabriel shouts, "What?! This is unacceptable! The sample garment doesn't match at all! All you had to do was follow a simple pattern! Imbeciles! What am I supposed to do about it? The show is in three days! No, don't use him, he's completely useless."
Gabriel goes to his painting of Emilie and places the Miraculous spellbook inside.
Gabriel concludes the phone call, "Call my assistant, Nathalie. She'll give you a short list of some other names."
Gabriel hangs up and angrily marches out of his atelier, with Steel Butterfly and Adrien hiding behind one of the pillars, with Adrien clad in a color self-changing commando outfit and with Steel Butterfly disguised as Gabriel thanks to a mix of using his Metamorphing ability and his replica of Megamind's disguise generator that works like Minion's version by disguising his eye color to match Gabriel's.
Adrien asks with his untraceable voice modulator activated to make himself sound like a combination of Blade the Vampire Hunter and Morbius the Living Vampire, "He hides the Miraculous spellbook and the Peacock Miraculous behind the painting of Mom?"
"Gabriel" answers, "Yes, he does. And just in case he happens to lose the spellbook, he's previously taken pictures of the pages and uploaded all of the pictures to his computer, but thankfully, he hasn't translated any of the code yet. But he's willing to go to extremes to protect his identity, even if it means Akumatizing himself into a different supervillain to throw us off his trail. But that won't work this time. Come on, Feline Chevalier."
"Feline Chevalier" and "Gabriel went into Gabriel's atelier, Adrien opens the painting, and Steel Butterfly uses the memorized combination he saw Gabriel using the first time he opened the safe with Adrien watching to memorize it just in case he needs to steal something Miraculous-related from his father's safe in the future.
Steel Butterfly takes the Peacock Miraculous and the spellbook, and places them into his silent magical duffel bag.
"Gabriel" says, "Okay, we have six minutes before Nathalie heads to your room to fetch you, and by that time, the security cameras will turn back on. But the untraceable virus I uploaded will prevent any secret security footage of us being recorded taking back what rightfully belongs to the Great Guardian from being reviewed by Nathalie and Gabriel. We must move quickly before my Metamorphing ability wears off as I don't have nearly the same experience as Mystique in keeping my Metamorphing ability going for longer periods of time, and most people today are already all too familiar with Megamind's disguise generator thanks to the accursed Megamind movie. Good hunting at school, and beware of everything I told you about Lila Rossi and how to best talk to her without arousing suspicions from even her."
Adrien nods and they quietly head to Adrien's bedroom without being seen, heard or filmed.
Steel Butterfly returns to his normal Miraculous form and takes back the commando outfit.
Steel Butterfly salutes Adrien and quietly teleports out of Adrien's room.
Soon, the cameras are returned online and any security footage that was secretly recorded of the Miraculous heist was irreversibly and untraceably erased, then the virus vanishes in thin air before the computers can detect or trace it and before Gabriel can even think about looking at it from his personal computer terminal at a later date.
This was because of the fact that due to lessons from Max Kante while impersonating a personal apprentice in the future and due to learning from computer experts spanning over two hundred years from the day computers were first invented to the day artificial intelligence was invented in one possible future, Steel Butterfly managed to make his virus untraceable to even the most skilled hackers of both worlds and able to vanish in thin air without being detected or traced anywhere by using a combination of different methods that hackers in the Quantic Universe and on his Earth had used. Steel Butterfly's ability to manipulate technology just like Brainiac and Robustus helped to make sure of that.
Adrien smiles maniacally and mentally cackles for a good minute or two before resuming his neutral expression and mentally practicing what to say to diver suspicions. And he manages to finish mentally practicing just as Nathalie and Gustavo enter his bedroom.
Nathalie asks, "Adrien? Are you ready for your fencing class?"
Adrien replies emotionlessly while channeling Soundwave's emotionless nature from Transformers, "Yes, Nathalie. I got myself ready as meticulously as possible."
Nathalie raises an eyebrow in curiosity before replying in a satisfied tone, "Excellent, Adrien. Now, come. We must make haste since we're early."
Adrien follows Nathalie and Gustavo out the doors of the mansion.
Later on, at Francoise Dupont, Marinette and Alya are walking up to the top of the entrance stairs, eating double chocolate chip pancakes while making sure not to make a mess with the chocolate syrup and planning on eating the Dark Chocolate Oreos they previously packed with them at some point after school ends for the day.
Rose says in the courtyard, "Can you believe this Lila Rossi?! I just asked Prince Ali to confirm if he didn't know about Lila, and he just confirmed that he didn't! And Prince Ali confirmed that he only works in children's charities! The nerve of this girl to lie about something as fraudulent and scandalous as saying that Prince Ali works on environmental charities when he actually works on children's charities! That could make Prince Ali's reputation go down the toilet!"
Lynnette then says, "And why on Earth would anyone think Jagged Stone would write a song about a fourteen year old girl even with permission from the girl in question and with permission from her parents? Like seriously, even with permission, that's still practicing pedophilia, for crying out loud! And saying that Jagged Stone has a cat?! Absurd! Besides, it's common knowledge that Jagged discovered his fur allergy when he was five years old and it's common knowledge that Jagged Stone's crocodile Fang being in the same room as a cat would not exactly be a good thing since crocodiles are the natural predators of domesticated house cats!"
Nino adds, "Yes, and our resident magical superhero-creating butterfly man confirmed that Lila doesn't know any of the Hollywood directors at all! He even asked them for me to confirm it, even though he wouldn't say how he pulled it off, and they confirmed that they didn't know who Lila is and that if this continues, then Lila will have to expect a gigantic boatload of lawsuits from them. And Lila won't even be able to fool any of the judges at the trial of the lawsuits. But the Hollywood directors also said that they will hold a filming competition at some point to see if I'm willing to be apprenticed by any of them for my future career. Even Steven Basielberg mentioned that he would mentor me if my skills at directing are good enough with months and years of practice. Still, I can't believe someone would just lie about something as serious as this just for hours and hours and hours of attention."
(Quick author's note: The mention of Steven Basielberg is partially according to the transcript of the Volpina episode and partially one of my own design since none of the characters believe Lila's lies in this story. I don't intend to start a copyright, and I never will.)
Marinette asks Alya in a whisper while pointing to Lila on the second floor, "So, that's the serial liar we were respectively warned about on the school blog?"
Alya confirms in a whisper low enough for only Marinette to hear, "Yep. And wouldn't you know it, but Steel Butterfly himself warned me about Lila. I'll explain at your parents' bakery for study night at some point."
Marinette replies back in an equally low whisper, "Yes, and Steel Butterfly confirmed that if he ever encountered Lila in the middle of telling a big lie, he would literally sing the "'Liar Liar, Pants On Fire"' song from The Big Comfy Couch, a cartoon he watched when he travelled into the past during his training. (Alya looks at her friend quizzically) I hear things about the heroes from the metaphorical superhero grapevine that doesn't consist of anything related to writing on paper or anything electronic that people would see and hear."
Alya decides not to question it.
Lila angrily guides Adrien along to the library by the hand while making sure to be gentle with her fingernails.
Marinette asks in a whisper, "Where are they going?"
Alya answers in a whisper, "My best guess is the library, girl."
Marinette quietly follows them with an incognito Miguel Guevara disguised as the library assistant.
Marinette and Miguel see Adrien sitting at a table alone.
Miguel whispers, "We've got the spellbook and the Peacock Miraculous from Hawk Moth's safe without anyone being the wiser, even from security cameras and DNA scanners. But we need to keep an eye on Lila, because if my foreknowledge and calculations are correct, the moment any of us calls her out on her lies, even if we do it gently, and if Adrien puts into practice his Stranger Danger lessons on Lila, she'll immediately get Akumatized into Volpina and she'll make our number two enemy in secret as she decides to willingly aid Hawk Moth just to settle a petty grudge against either of us."
Marinette whispers back, "Okay, but where is she?"
Miguel points ahead and Marinette sees Lila sitting next to Adrien.
Miguel quietly advises, "Follow my lead. We need to make ourselves below suspicion, as civilians and as superheroes, so that way we can catch Lila in the act without her realizing she had been almost thoroughly outsmarted."
Miguel and Marinette enter self-changing camouflage suits he brought with him and they get close enough to the table without anyone batting an eye.
Lila says snappishly before relaxing for a sickly sweet question, "Now we can finally get started on our history homework! I'm telling you, those kids in the other classes are so savage that they're willing to call me a liar when they have barely known me for more than a minute or two! They don't even know what a liar really looks like! But it's so much fun doing history homework together, right?"
Adrien replies with fake cheerfulness hidden in his voice, "Yes, it is!"
Adrien hated having to lie on a scale of this magnitude, but he knew he had to trust Miguel to be able to pull this caper off at the right time.
Of course, Lila doesn't notice that the cheerfulness in Adrien's voice was fake, showing that no matter how smart and cunning she may be at fourteen years old with the most metaphorical silver tongue in existence, she's just as oblivious as Marinette and Adrien in the original timeline. Therefore, this means that for someone with nearly high intelligence for someone at her age, Lila is still liable to getting outsmarted by any one person with a higher tier of intelligence. Steel Butterfly, Brainiac, Lex Luthor, Superman, Charles Xaiver and Doctor Octopus included.
Lila notices Adrien reading a comic book about Supergirl and asks, "What's that?"
Marinette whispers to Miguel, "A Supergirl comic book? Really?"
Miguel answers in a whisper, "I couldn't conjure a Ladybug comic book from another dimension without running the risk of revealing your identity just in case your identity was included in said comic book. Most especially because of the fact that comic books about you from different dimensions involve us being fictional."
Marinette quietly grunts in response, knowing that Miguel was right.
Of course, Miguel was internally and mentally panicking because of the fact that after Volpina was dealt with, Miguel was not only gonna have to introduce Marinette, Adrien and Alix to Master Fu, but Miguel was also gonna have to reveal the truth about his own origins: the fact that he comes from another universe, one that involves the characters of Miraculous Ladybug being fictional.
Miguel hoped that Marinette wouldn't rip into him for lying to her about the whole thing despite the fact that they respectively hate liars and that Miguel told little white lies and half truths just to be sure that no one other than Ladybug, Cat Noir and Bunnyx knew the truth about Miguel being from another universe. And also to do what it takes to prevent Hawk Moth from learning about it, even if it weren't in an Akuma attack.
In the present day, Adrien answers, "It's a Supergirl comic book."
Lila puts her hand on top of Adrien's hand and quietly exclaims, "I love superheroes!"
Adrien, Marinette and Miguel mentally scoff in unison, "Pfft. Liar liar, pants on fire, hanging from a telephone wire." "Pfft. Liar liar, pants on fire, hanging from a telephone wire." "Pfft. Liar liar, pants on fire, hanging from a telephone wire."
Lila then asks, "If you don't mind me asking, what do you think about the superhero known as Ladybug?"
Adrien sighs as he replies a tad boredly and a tad wistfully to put on a performance for Miguel, "She's amazing in the sense that, in a world full of ground-bound superheroes and superheroes that use grappling hook guns and any kind of magical weapon for parkour or extra mobility, she happens to be one of the many heroes that can fly. And she's amazing in the sense that she happens to be one of the first modern superhero to have both wings and a magical suit of armor at the same time."
Marinette quietly blushes in response.
Lila replies back, "A girl doesn't need to wear a costume or grow a set of wings to be amazing, you know. And a girl doesn't need to wear a magical suit of armor to be amazing, either."
Lila scoots her seat closer to Adrien.
Lila notices Adrien's somewhat cheerful expression and decides to ask, "Are you thinking about someone?"
Adrien hides his initial shock and answers somewhat truthfully and somewhat dishonestly, "Yeah. Just thinking about the girl I have a soft spot for."
Lila asks sweetly, "What's her name?"
Adrien mentally braces himself as he answers unhesitatingly, "Marinette."
Marinette and Miguel look at each other in unison, with varying expressions of shock and evil satisfaction.
Miguel held up a somewhat visible sign that said to Marinette, "I made sure that Adrien didn't completely reveal to Lila that he was implying you were both in a relationship. That's a big secret that we'll all be taking with us to our graves."
Lila's eyes widen in mild surprise, but she musters an extremely fake smile as she fibs, "You know, I actually happen to be very close friends with Marinette."
Miguel and Marinette quietly snort and nobody notices.
Adrien mentally snorts as he mentally grumbles, "I wonder how much attention this basket case will attempt to gather when she becomes my father's successor as Hawk Moth in the future."
In the real world, Adrien asks with false excitement, "Really?!"
Lila answers, "Yes. We can talk about it if you'd like. But not here though. Someone might take my explanation out of context. Why don't we meet in the park after school and I'll tell you everything. Sounds good?"
Adrien replies back, "Of course."
Adrien gets an alert from his phone and he checks it.
Adrien puts on his model smile and says, "Sorry, but I have to go. I've got a fencing lesson in fifty-eight seconds."
Adrien quietly and carefully rushes out of the library, followed by Marinette and Miguel but without them being seen.
Miguel and Marinette telepathically say to Adrien respectively, "Nicely done, kitty." "Exceptionally excellent lying skills, Adrien. Phase 2 is completed. Prepare to initiate phase three after school."
Adrien telepathically replies, "I aim to please. See you guys later."
Miguel leaves the school without being seen, heard, mentioned in passing, or filmed whatsoever.
His super hearing picks up on Lila saying to herself in the library in hushed tones, "I must find a way to impress Adrien. Maybe I can buy a fox tail necklace from the nearest jewelry store and convince Adrien that I'm from a long line of ancestral fox superheroes. Yes! That would convince Adrien that I'm the perfect girlfriend for him instead of any other girl in the school! It's completely foolproof! And even though I don't have any books about ancient superheroes that can further help me sell the lie, the fox superhero ancestral line part of the lie should be more than enough. Like I said, foolproof."
As Miguel walks away from the school without anyone batting an eye, he smiles evilly as he whispers to himself, "Oh, we'll just see about that, Future Hawk Moth. And by the time I'm through with you, I'll make sure that you won't harm anyone else with your silver tongue or with the Moth Miraculous whatsoever, regardless of whether you're dead or not. And regardless of whether its through the power of illusion, shapeshifting or transmission, by the time I'm through with you, Judgment Day will come for you thousands of years early."
Later on, Ladybug and Steel Butterfly are discreetly hovering above a jewelry store, watching Lila successfully purchasing a Gabriel fashion branded replica of the Fox Miraculous and then exiting the jewelry store.
All the while, Steel Butterfly and Ladybug were watching Alya's video warning of Lila Rossi's true colors and Alya's interview with Steel Butterfly about Lila's crimes before and after she undergoes Akumatization for the first time, up to and including collaborating with Hawk Moth just to settle a petty grudge against either Steel Butterfly, Ladybug or Cat Noir.
Ladybug noticed that Alya purposefully left out the part about Lila becoming the new Hawk Moth in the future, but she decides that it was better if Lila didn't know just in case she tries to make that future happen much earlier.
Later, at the Place des Vosges, Ladybug and Steel Butterfly are hiding behind some trees, thankfully without anyone seeing them.
Steel Butterfly narrows his eyes to activate his telescopic vision and Ladybug uses the zoom in option on her bug camera to get a closer look at Lila.
The two heroes see Lila putting on the replica of the Fox Miraculous.
Lila looks around, feeling irritated because nobody at the school believed her lies for some reason, and feeling a tad paranoid because Lila felt like she was being watched.
But thankfully, Ladybug and Steel Butterfly were hidden thoroughly, not even Lila could possibly spot them behind the trees and bushes.
Adrien approaches Lila and the liar says, "Oh hi!"
Ladybug and Steel Butterfly mentally snicker as they mentally croon, "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Time for Phase Three. Sucker won't even know what hit her." "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Time for Phase Three. Sucker won't even know what hit her."
Adrien replies, "Hey!"
Ladybug and Steel Butterfly discreetly move ahead and keep themselves even more hidden than before.
Adrien sits next to Lila and asks, "So, do you actually know Marinette? For real?"
Lila answers unhesitatingly, "Yes. Not only did Marinette and I become best friends, we've become especially close due to something very special she passed onto me. It's what I wanted to tell you about. I'm the descendant of a vixen superheroine myself, by the name of Volpina."
Adrien asks with fake interest, "Volpina?"
Adrien mentally notes, "This must be the big fat lie Miguel warned me about. Now I can definitely hear alarm bells ringing in my head. No wonder no one notices: the class had no brain cells in the original timeline and Lila has managed to practice lying while maintaining eye contact, while staying still, while maintaining a straight face, and while making sure not to hesitate. And I don't even want to get started on Lila's crocodile tears. No way am I gonna fall for that one."
Playing along for the time being, Adrien says, "Wait a minute. I think I read about something like that. If only I could remember."
Lila adds, "Well, she's one of the most important superheroes. More powerful and more celebrated than Ladybug."
Steel Butterfly concealed his telepathic presence as he telepathically said to Lila, "Arrogant b****ing liar."
Lila looks around, thinking that she heard someone talking, but she could see that she and Adrien are the only ones around. Or so she thought.
Of course, Ladybug and Adrien were the only ones who heard Steel Butterfly's telepathic profanity-based insult.
Pushing the matter aside, Lila continues, "Between you and me, Ladybug doesn't even make the top ten."
Ladybug telepathically says in response and in anger, "I beg to differ, f*****."
Adrien mentally noted he was gonna have to talk to Marinette about being a potty mouthed superhero.
Lila holds out her fake Fox Miraculous and concludes, "My grandma gave me this necklace."
Adrien plays along for the coup de grace and asks, "Are you telling me that this is some sort of magic jewel that the heroes call a Miraculous?"
Lila nods with beaming pride, thinking that she got the handsomest boy under her thrall.
Oh, how wrong she was, for Lila didn't know that like a typical cartoon supervillain not unlike Megatron/Galvatron, Doctor Doom, the Electrocutioner, Firefly, and many others, her arrogance and pride are gonna be her downfall, if Steel Butterfly's plans were anything to go by.
And by the time Lila realizes that her arrogance, her thirst for attention and her pride were gonna be her downfall, it'll already be too late.
Ladybug and Steel Butterfly pretend to be coming from the air via their wings and they hover in front of Lila and Adrien, their looming shadows causing the twosome to look up.
Of course, Adrien fought the urge to snort at his two friends showing off to initiate the final part of their plan.
Ladybug hovers closer to Lila's eye level, her ladybug wings literally buzzing as they flutter in the wind.
Lila gasps, thinking that she's gonna be busted. But she didn't know that she was right in a sense.
Ladybug states cheerfully, "Hi, Lila! How's it going? Long time, no see."
Ladybug spreads her armored wings by a few more inches as they keep fluttering, thankful that she can extend the length and size of her armored wings a bit like if they were capable of extending like Cat Noir's staff.
Lila's eyes bulge out as she eyes how large and how long Ladybug's fluttering armored wings were, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
Ladybug continues, "I saw your interview on the Ladyblog. Although, I wish you had asked me for permission before having Alya post it. Oh well. Anyway, I do remember our instant connection when I saved your life and how we became the best of friends afterwards. We practically became BFFs! Oh wait. When did I save your life again? Oh, now I remember. That never happened whatsoever. And we're not friends either. I don't make friends with a compulsive liar who ruins the lives of opponents just because that liar thinks that the world revolves around him or her. So, basically what I'm saying is this: you might think you're so smart, but your actions have consequences, and one thing I've learned about you is that one thing isn't gonna change. And it's this: your arrogance and pride are your downfall! Oh, and the students and staff at your new school were warned twenty-four hours in advance about the kind of serial liar you were, so therefore, you're gonna be watched extensively to make sure you don't do anything stupid that could warrant time in juvie."
Lila looks at Adrien with tears in her eyes and he points at Steel Butterfly, who had his phone recording the entire interaction from the start. And from the look of it, Steel Butterfly planned to release the footage to the world at some point if the evidence against Lila was more than enough to persuade the judge not to turn the other cheek.
Steel Butterfly and Adrien ask in unison, "What do you have to say about your dishonesty now, Little Miss Super Liar?" "What do you have to say about your dishonesty now, Little Miss Super Liar?"
Lila angrily and tearfully demands, "How could you do this to me?! You all ruined everything!"
Steel Butterfly retorts matter-of-factly while still recording the whole thing, "Your doom is of your own making. You reap what you sow, and you better be prepared to face the consequences if you continue to go down this path, because either way, Judgment Day will come for you thousands of years early."
Lila hissed venomously as she ran away.
Adrien looked guilty, but a glance at Steel Butterfly's teeth slowly sharpening into dragon teeth was enough to remind Adrien everything he was taught about Lila Rossi's antics, habits, crimes and future.
In the streets of Paris, Lila is running away from the park, mentally grumbling how she knows now that it's a bad idea to run in high heels.
Lila stops to catch her breath, only to find herself staring at a poster of Ladybug and a poster of Steel Butterfly.
Lila screams, "My chances with Adrien, gone! Gone like a forgotten nightmare! And even if Adrien didn't side with you guys, he should've been MY boyfriend! I hate you, Ladybug! I hate you, Steel Butterfly! I F****** HATE YOU ALL!"
Lila throws her bag at the posters.
In the park, Steel Butterfly hears what Lila says and mentally remarks to himself, "The feeling's mutual, b****."
In Hawk Moth's lair, the window opens and terrorist of Paris remarks, "Ahh... jealousy, deceit, and the desire to be a superhero. This young lady is my perfect prey."
Hawk Moth turns a butterfly into Volpina's first Akuma.
Hawk Moth sends the Akuma on its way and says for the first time, "Fly away, my evil little one, and Akumatize her!"
The Akuma makes its way towards Lila in the streets of Paris.
In the same spot where she was before Hawk Moth sent the Akuma, Lila is kneeling down on the sidewalk, crying her eyes out with both crocodile tears and genuine tears, thinking that her being seen in tears will make a difference.
The Akuma finds Lila and merges with her replica of the Fox Miraculous.
Hawk Moth says from his lair, "Volpina, I am Hawk Moth. I'm giving you the power of illusion. From now on, your lies will come to life. Gain the trust of Steel Butterfly, Ladybug, Cat Noir, Lion Hunter, Rhinocharge, Blueclaw, Corvo, Cat Knight, and Bunnyx, convince them that you're a real superhero, then betray them and bring me their Miraculouses."
Lila/Volpina replies darkly, "It would be my pleasure, Hawk Moth!"
Lila becomes Volpina and uses her new powers to replace the posters of Ladybug and Steel Butterfly's crew with posters of Volpina and Adrien.
In the downtown area of Paris, a meteorite appears in the skylines.
Adrien sees it, hides in a camera-free alleyway, and becomes Cat Noir.
After rendezvousing with Ladybug, their eyes go wide with recognition and realization for one reason: they remembered that Steel Butterfly told them Lila's power as Volpina involves making as many hyper-realistic illusions as she desires without her power level dropping due to her fox tail necklace being a replica of the actual Fox Miraculous and Hawk Moth's powers can upgrade the powers of an underage Miraculous user to adult-level powers or even godlike-level powers, such as Cat Noir having the infinite power of destruction as Cat Blanc.
As the illusion of Volpina flies towards the meteorite, Steel Butterfly throws his cane at the entire illusion and sends it to hit Volpina hard in the head, sending her to the floor of Parisians below.
Steel Butterfly explains, "This is Lila Rossi, also known as Volpina! She's a highly sociopathic compulsive liar who will do anything to have people believe everything she says, even if it means discreetly bullying anyone trying to expose her deception! And now, whether Akumatized or not, she wants me and Ladybug dead for '"ruining"' her chances with Adrien Agreste."
Volpina slowly recovers and tries to execute a flying roundhouse kick.
But Steel Butterfly dodges it.
For the next half an hour, Steel Butterfly manages to fight Volpina without having to dodge any attack due to being invulnerable, due to being able to teleport and due to being able to turn invisible. The fight plays out like this:
Steel Butterfly executes a right diagonal elbow strike, a left back hand strike, a right downward elbow strike, a left bolo punch, a right front elbow strike, a left crane beak strike, a right front elbow thrust, and a left double fist punch.
Steel Butterfly teleports behind Volpina and executes a right jumping downward elbow strike, a left Eagle Claw punch, a right rear elbow strike, a left Eagle Strike punch, a right side elbow strike, a left ear clap punch, a right spinning back elbow strike, a left extended index finger punch, a right Superman elbow strike, and a left eye scratch punch.
Steel Butterfly teleports behind Volpina again and executes a right uppercut elbow strike, a left eye strike, a right axe kick, a left two finger poke, a right front leg axe kick, a left four finger poke, a right back kick, a left spear finger strike, a right butterfly kick, a left leopard punch, a right butterfly twist kick, and a left liver punch.
Steel Butterfly cloaks himself and executes a right calf kick, a left mouth of hand strike, a right cartwheel kick, a left one inch punch, a right crescent kick, a left one knuckle punch, a right inside crescent kick, a left overhand punch, a right outside crescent kick, a left rabbit punch, a right cut kick, a left ridge hand strike, a right double front kick, and a left Sambo casting punch.
Steel Butterfly decloaks behind Volpina and executes a right and left double roundhouse kick, a right spear hand strike, a left downward roundhouse kick, a right spinning back fist, a left foot sweep kick, a right thumb strike, a left flying back kick, a right tiger claw strike, a left flying drop kick, a right vertical punch, a left flying front kick, a right Wing Chun Double Punch, a left flying side kick, and a right Superman punch.
Volpina tries to retaliate with a flying double roundhouse kick, but fails as Steel Butterfly expertly dodges out of the way.
Steel Butterfly teleports behind Volpina yet again and executes a left ball of foot front kick, a right instep front kick, a left heel kick, a right hook kick, a left inverted roundhouse kick, a right jumping axe kick, a left jumping back kick, a right jumping front kick, and a left jumping roundhouse kick.
Steel Butterfly cloaks himself again and moves behind Volpina.
The moment Volpina lets her guard down, Steel Butterfly executes a right jumping side kick, a left jumping spinning axe kick, a right jumping spinning crescent kick, a left knee joint kick, a right Kyokushin Wheel Kick, a left oblique kick, a right push kick, a left forward roll kick, a right forward falling kick, a left side roll kick, a right side falling kick, a left front leg roundhouse kick, a right rear leg roundhouse kick, a left scissor kick, a right scoop kick, a left scorpion kick, and a right shin kick.
Volpina gets so angry that her Akuma causes her to be surrounded by an orange and white flaming aura.
Steel Butterfly casually brings his hands together and thrusts his hands forwards, and out of his forearm guards comes a large mist of magic water.
The flaming aura gets hit by the magic water and the aura fizzles out.
Volpina slowly walks towards Steel Butterfly before collapsing from exhaustion.
Steel Butterfly deactivates his mouth plate, retracting it to show his evil smile.
Ladybug takes Volpina's necklace, destroys it, and purifies the Akuma.
Since Ladybug didn't need to use her Lucky Charm and since there was no physical damage done to the city, there was no need for her to use the Miraculous Ladybug cure.
Lila, on the other hand, was somehow healed by the Akumatization dropping.
Steel Butterfly asks, "Lila? Can you hear me?"
Lila slowly comes to and asks, "Steel Butterfly? Is that really you?"
Steel Butterfly asks, "Do you believe in second chances?"
Lila scoffs, "Nope. Never have and never will. You and Ladybug were right; we'll never be friends."
Lila picks up the necklace as Steel Butterfly remarks smugly, "That's fine; I don't need false friends who would tell lies on a daily basis with no remorse or regard for the consequences. And I most certainly don't need to make friends with a b**** like you."
Lila scowls as she walks away and mutters under her breath, "I'll show you who's a b**** the next time around."
Steel Butterfly discreetly sticks his tongue behind Lila's back without anyone noticing.
Steel Butterfly looks at Ladybug and Cat Noir, who were aghast at how easy it was for him to defeat Volpina on his own.
In Hawk Moth's lair, the alternate identity of Gabriel Agreste remarks, "She's still p*****. She could prove to be an invaluable ally indeed. You're not done with Volpina yet, Steel Butterfly and Ladybug. You haven't seen the last of her."
Steel Butterfly's voice rings out, "How true, Hawk Moth. I can't wait for the rematch."
Hawk Moth will forever deny that he almost peed himself again.
In Lila Rossi's bedroom, Lila is fuming because a silent, invisible solid ghost gave her a noogie and made her practice the classic "Why are you hitting yourself?"
But then, Lila thinks about how she was caught off-guard by Steel Butterfly's ability to turn invisible during the fight, and her eyes go wide with realization as she finally realizes that Steel Butterfly was the one pulling all those pranks on her to give her a crappy day. Including tickling her feet while she was asleep before her alarm clock rang that morning.
So, Lila smirks evilly as she remarks, "Well played, Steel Butterfly. Well played. But I ain't gonna fall for the same pranks twice. I'll be sure to pay you back for the noogie, the swirly, the caramel onion, making me practice hitting myself, and tickling my feet while I was getting my beauty sleep. You won't even know what hit you."
Of course, Lila doesn't know that Steel Butterfly heard it all thanks to small enough recording devices – microphones included – being placed in her room and they were hidden as thoroughly as possible to the point where only Steel Butterfly can find them.
Lila was never gonna know what hit her by the time the Heroes' Day events and the Battle of the Scarlet Army came about in October.
And by the time Steel Butterfly was through with the teenage counterpart of Future Hawk Moth, she was gonna wish she had stayed in Italy.
In Marinette's bedroom, Marinette asks Miguel, "Okay. So, this Miraculous spellbook is written in the secret alphabet of the Order of the Guardians and only Guardians are allowed to translate it?"
Miguel replies, "Yes, and kwamis are not allowed to know how to translate the codes in case a Miraculous jewel and the associated kwami falls into the wrong hands, like with Nooroo and the Moth Miraculous. In addition to that, a Guardian is not allowed to be anywhere near these grimoires unless it involves translating the codes for training or for emergencies. And the information contained within this spellbook in particular is invaluable."
Tikki adds, "Plagg, Leppey, Fluff, Miguel and I know someone who's been searching for the book for a hundred and seventy-two years. He knows how to decipher the codes."
Alix remarks, "Wow. I didn't know that Guardians were capable of translating the codes in these spellbooks."
Fluff replies, "It's true. But our current Guardian was taught only enough to know how to partially decipher the code, simply because his training is incomplete."
Marinette, Adrien and Alix hummed in curiosity.
Adrien asks, "So, who was the one searching for the book?"
Miguel answers, "The Great Guardian, who is said to be the leader of the Order. As for Tikki, Plagg, Fluff, Leppey and myself, we believe it's finally time for you three to meet him. The Guardian also wanted to meet Alix because he wanted to know if Alix was capable of using the Rabbit Miraculous like I've been training her to do."
Alix's eyes widen in amazement.
In Master Fu's massage shop, Miguel knocks on the door.
Miguel, Leppey, Marinette, Tikki, Alix, Fluff, Adrien and Plagg enter the room.
Master Fu remarks, "Hello, Ladybug, Cat Noir, Bunnyx and Steel Butterfly."
The door closes on its own.
To be continued...
(Author's notes: In the next chapter, the heroes will have to contend with The Collector while trying to avoid being found out as the thieves of the spellbook and the Peacock Miraculous. What will Steel Butterfly think of next?
See you all in chapter 27: The Collector.)