Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug, Cat Noir and Steel Butterfly.

Chapter 46: Frightningale Averted.

(Author's notes: Need I say anything about this chapter in particular? Enjoy chapter 46: Frightningale Averted.)

(Quantic Universe Earth 139, Paris, France, August 15th, 2015, Steel Butterfly's voiceover POV as he writes in his Rorschach-inspired journal in the living room of the Dupain-Cheng bakery...)

Steel Butterfly's journal.

August 15th, 2015.

First journal entry today.

Today's the day that the singer Clara Nightingale becomes Akumatized into Frightningale, and if I didn't know any better, I'd have sworn that part of her appearance was inspired by the Flashpoint Harley Quinn from the Flashpoint comics and from the film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. Specifically in terms of their skin color being the same and in terms of their hair style being the same as well. You know, chalk white skin, blonde hair in long poofy pigtails, one bang of hair being blue and the other being hot magenta fading into light pink.

Eh, either way, with Chloe Bourgeois and her father on the side of good in this timeline, there's a high chance that Adrien's identity as Cat Noir will get exposed just like that Smart Adversaries Frightningale fanfiction featuring a public dual identity reveal just because Canon Chloe's counterpart took too long to convince her father to shut down Clara Nightingale's show.

Yeah, even with Chloe on the side of good in this timeline, even though it should've happened during the first three years of Chloe's life before she met her mother and half-sister, there's a high chance Adrien's dual identity will be revealed to the general public of Paris. So, I came prepared with a clone of Adrien to lure even Hawk Moth off trail. And if that doesn't work, I'll simply use a bit of magic and mind control to make people think that Adrien doesn't look at all like Cat Noir or even sound like him no matter what his Cat Noir outfit looks like in either Clara's music video or in this real life.

And the same will also apply to Marinette's dual identity as Ladybug if in the event Clara canonically decides to have Marinette audition in her Miraculous music video the way she did. We can't take any chances with this new spin on the Frightningale episode, especially if it means having to retire Ladybug and Cat Noir permanently and have Master Fu choose new candidates for the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, only for the timeline to go further off the rails and attract not only Timefixer's attention, but also the ire of the Council of Time Guardians.

Now, uh, I feel like I should be honest about when I truly started killing bad people.

It was May 31st, 1948, back in New York City.

I was investigating a kidnapping case.

The victim was Angelito Murphy, an 8 year old boy.

I interrogated 3 men to get his whereabouts.

I was led to the missing boy's location, but when I searched the place, I didn't see any trace of him. That is, until I found... what was left of him.

Yeah, just like Blair Roche from Watchmen, Angelito was kidnapped, abused, butchered, and fed to dogs, except that these dogs were Pit Bulls, one of the numerous banes of my life.

I killed the dogs in question, but even though finally killing Pit Bulls again felt good for me, the damage was already done.

Not even all of my restoration powers could do a thing to save Angelito and enable me to return him to his grandparents safely, just like I promised.

It was midnight when the man responsible came back home.

His name was Cefirino Enríquez, and he was an illegal immigrant who was working with a post-war Neo-Nazi to kill as many people as possible in an effort to instill fear into the hearts and minds of the American people before progressing towards the then-current President of the United States and then all other future members of the U.S. government.

I forced him to confess everything on tape and on camera, and I... gunned him down after he begged me to spare him and after I said in response, "Men and women get arrested, and dogs get put down. When men and women get arrested, someone breaks them out of prison and the whole thing starts all over again."

Whatever was left of Miguel Pelle Guevara died that night with that little boy. From there on, Steel Butterfly was born.

But now, I finally realize, that it's God's right to punish those who terrorize or end the lives of innocent people.

But unfortunately, I'm still waiting for my angelic metamorphosis, and until that happens, more and more criminals and supervillains are on my kill list.

But nevertheless, my goals to purify the future of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir of the negatives that were brought on by Thomas Astruc with and without having to use extreme deadly force remains optional and an assortment of priorities rolled into one.

For now, I have to get ready for any contingency plans that Bunnyx, Master Fu and I have been concocting for if in the event my plans to preserve everyone's identities failed.

(Third person POV...)

In Marinette's bedroom, as Miguel watches, music is being played on Marinette's computer.

The song in question was Clara Nightingale's Big Bang.

Marinette in particular was dancing to the song, thankful that Steel Butterfly's power and ability upgrades allowed her to do complicated dance moves with little difficulty.

Clara on the computer sings, "#Don't you stop, dancing to the music. Baby! Yeah, it's like a miracle. Don't you stop, dancing to the music, music, oh, it's getting physical! Don't you stop, dancing to the music.#"

Marinette attempts a handstand walkover, but she underestimates her current weight and strength level, and she falls on her back.

Marinette states in pain, "Ow."

Miguel sighs as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

Miguel helps Marinette up and sends an electrical jolt into Marinette's back, healing her, but she shrieks a bit.

Miguel asks, "Are you alright?"

Marinette replies, "Yeah. And that electrical jolt tickled."

Miguel looked sheepish as he replies back, "Oops."

Marinette remarks somewhat teasingly, "Admit that you just wanted to tickle me again."

Miguel replies coldly, "I normally don't approve of tickling even girls due to personal experiences back on my Earth with my siblings and my friends from my various schools. If I wanted to tickle you at any and all opportunities, you wouldn't be able to recover well enough to do anything productive aside from fighting Gabriel's Akumas, and you wouldn't have a moment of peace to yourself without having to worry about any invisible feathers being sent to tickle your feet while you're sleeping."

Marinette raises an eyebrow before shrugging, knowing that Miguel is all about figures of speech and metaphorical examples, even if he mostly means what he says almost all the time.

Then, Alec Cataldi says on the screen, "And that was Clara Nightingale's hit single Big Bang for us!"

Marinette sits down at her computer desk.

Tikki remarks, "Wow! This girl is incredible! Spectacular!"

Marinette replies, "I love her! She's definitely passionate about her career!"

As Clara dances on the screen, Alec says before asking, "Clara, in just a couple of short months, you've emerged as the number 1 international phenomenon with your own unique singing and music style. Apparently, you can even sing and dance in your sleep! Do you ever stop?"

Clara remarks in a series of rhymes, "Never, for you see, dancing and singing are everything to me. And I'm happy to share the joy of singing and dancing to the amazing people of France!"

Marinette remarks, "See, I told you, Tikki! She's a true art maker!"

Alec then says, "According to a little birdie, you've come to Paris to film your newest music video, which is called '"Miraculous,"' inspired by our resident superheroes!"

Marinette gasps and Miguel looks pleasantly surprised.

Clara remarks, "I really admire, adore, and revere Ladybug and Cat Noir, but Steel Butterfly has definitely caught my eye. An homage to them I wanted to pay, because they inspire me every day!"

Miguel looks shocked while Marinette shrieks in delight.

Marinette remarks, "She's going to be doing a song about our heroic selves! Oh! I'm so excited about this, I could faint!"

Marinette falls backward off her chair without knocking it over.

Alec then says, "The auditions for the parts about Steel Butterfly, Ladybug, Cat Noir, Bunnyx, Lion Hunter, Rhinocharge, Blueclaw, Corvo, Cat Knight, Rena Rouge, Jade Turtle, and the other heroes we caught glimpses of will be held at the Grand Palais Museum, correct?"

Miguel asks incredulously and furiously in his thoughts, "Wait, what?! They caught glimpses of our other recruits?! I thought I told them to be extremely careful!"

Clara replies, "Yes."

Alec continues before asking, "A little birdie also told me that you already found your Cat Noir. Care to share the good news?"

Miguel looks angrily shocked as Clara answers, "My lips are sealed, but soon he'll be revealed. We must still cast Ladybug and extras, by the way. So, come on out and audition today!"

Marinette looks at Miguel's expression and questions, "Is this exactly as you told me?"

Miguel answers in a growly Rorschach tone, "Yes. We can't allow ourselves to have our identities revealed publicly by simply auditioning even while knowing what the costumes are gonna look like. Our futures are at risk."

Marinette's phone buzzes.

Marinette walks over to it and answers it.

Alya is in a video call with Mylene, Juleka, Rose, Alix, Lynnette, Miriam, Chloe, and Sabrina standing around and behind her.

Alya remarks, "Marinette, did you hear all of that? All of us girls are going over to audition and you're coming, too! (The camera view zooms in on Alya.) So, whatever you do, don't even think about pulling one of your Marinette specials on us, okay?"

Marinette retorts, "And miss my chance to meet Clara Nightingale in person? Wouldn't dream of it! Let's make a rendezvous."

Alya replies, "See ya there!"

Marinette ends the call and grabs her purse from her chair.

Tikki asks worriedly, "You're not gonna audition for the role of Ladybug even without the costume looking the exact same as your armor, are you?"

Miguel answers for Marinette, "You forget, all of our outfits courtesy of yours truly have magical voice modulators to make us sound differently than we normally do, the equivalent of DC Comics speedsters using intense vibrations to distort their voices in the Arrowverse cartoons with The Flash, The Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Savitar, Kid Flash, Jesse Quick, XS, and so forth. The ones we have built into our armors are hard to duplicate in terms of how they work or what they look like because they're never visible on the outside or on the inside unless we remove our helmets without removing our masks, the last part of which is impossible. Besides, we're only auditioning to be extras. BUT if Clara does what I told everyone in our ranks I know she's gonna do to get Marinette to audition and the Ladybug costume looks the exact same as Marinette's armor, I'll simply use magic and mind control to make everyone think that Marinette isn't Ladybug. And the same goes for all of us and anyone else who's auditioning to be everyone else's hero selves."

Marinette then adds, "And besides, Tikki, I'd never do anything that would risk revealing my true identity to potentially the entire world."

Tikki replies before saying as she hugs Marinette while still in her human form, "All right then, Marinette. (She kisses Marinette on her cheek.) I'm so proud of you!"

In Gabriel's atelier, Gabriel says, "It'll be a superb promotion for the soon-to-come openings of our stores in Korea and in China. I'm glad you're doing this."

Nathalie presents Adrien with a folded-up imitation of Cat Noir's armored costume, complete with the visored Astro Cat-esque helmet and jetpack prop with movable wings.

Adrien gasps in slight alarm as he asks, "How did you get all the details right?"

Gabriel answers, "For years ever since I became a fashion designer, I'd trained myself to have a superb set of eyes for attention to detail. I've been designing Clara's costumes ever since she released her first album. She was very satisfied with my humble recommendation to use you as her Cat Noir star. She's only seen you in our advertisements, but she does actually look up to you quite a lot. I'm hoping you won't let us down."

Remembering Steel Butterfly's lecture of his contingency plans for the situation in case things don't go well, Adrien smiles fakely – not that Gabriel or Nathalie can actually notice – as he replies back, "Well, I guarantee that things will be a flawless success."

Meanwhile, at the Grand Palais Museum, people auditioning for the roles of the remaining heroes in Clara's video are gathered out at the front door.

The stagehand man points as he directs, "Extras on the left, and auditionees for the rest of the heroes on the right."

In a dressing trailer, Miguel demands into his walkie-talkie in a whisper to avoid interruptions, "(Softly) Didn't I tell you all to be extra careful?! Over!"

Tiger Quoll answers, "(Softly) We were extra careful, boss, but specific reporters were just that good! Over."

Miguel snarls in a small whisper, "(Softly but not that much) Yargh! If any of you compromises our identities and your shadow stances, I'll turn all of you back into Sentimonsters and then snap you all out of existence! Understood?! Over!"

Cottonfish replies in a whisper, "(Softly) Yes sir. Over and out."

Miguel concludes in a whisper, "(Softly) Good. Over and out."

Miguel hangs up, turns off his walkie-talkie, and makes it appear in his lair.

Miguel then looks into the mirror and sees for himself that his Steel Butterfly costume also looks the exact same as his Steel Butterfly armor.

Miguel sighs before saying, "Magical Mind: I hereby take control of everyone's minds in terms of the people gathered today and the people watching any news broadcasts or whatevers of the music video for one purpose: to make sure that nobody thinks that the main people auditioning for the roles of the heroes of Paris, including Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng for example, are actually not the real heroes of Paris to make sure to preserve our secret identities."

Miguel's mind control magic invisibly sweeps through the minds of everyone in attendance or watching from their home, work, and school TVs don't connect the dots to his and his comrades' secret identities.

Miguel sighs as he puts on his Steel Butterfly helmet and observes himself one last time.

After mentally sending the message to his troops that the deed is done, Miguel hears the stagehand man ask, "Mr. Guevara, are you ready?"

Miguel answers, "Yes. Just let me know, and I'll follow."

The stagehand replies, "Wonderful! Now, follow me if you please."

Miguel follows the stagehand and walks confidently like representations of Optimus Prime would walk confidently when in an Autobot base and not on a mission.

One person remarks, "Oh, wow, that Steel Butterfly costume looks so real!"

Miguel replies, "That's because it's realistic enough with the correct materials, including artificial leather, fine-quality silk, and EVA foam."

The onlooker remarks, "Wow! So, Mr. Agreste thought of everything, did he, Mr. Guevara?"

Miguel answers, "Yes, he sure did, sir."

Miguel continues walking after the stagehand.

Miguel sees for himself that in the middle area of the main room, a stage with a background has been put up, and three hundred and thirteen slightly long lines of auditionees on all sides sides have assembled in front of it without overcrowding, one sector being the extras, and the other three hundred and twelve being the rest of the heroes of Paris, including Jade Turtle, Rena Rouge, and the heroes that Steel Butterfly recruited after the battle with The Mime.

Miguel scowls behind his helmet, but if people could see him scowling, they'd see that it was a half scowl and a half smirk because, with his mind control magic power used, nobody will be able to notice the real heroes' identities whatsoever.

Miguel then sees for himself Clara standing on the stage with her star-decorated microphone in hand, and she's greeting the auditionees.

Clara says into her microphone in a series of rhymes, "Thank you for coming, all of you! This is like a dream come true! Together, we'll all dance and sing; I guarantee it's going to be awesome and amazing!"

Alya and the girls are in the audience standing in the line for extras.

Alya states excitedly, "We're gonna be in Clara Nightingale's music video! This is gigantic!"

Marinette shrieks with delight as she remarks, "I can't believe this is actually happening!"

Clara then says, "And now, meet our rising star, Adrien Agreste as Cat Noir!"

Adrien walks out to the stage, waving to everyone.

The extras react suddenly, while Marinette gasps as she looks relieved that Miguel's deed was done, and Rose, Alix, and Alya are waving with raised arms.

Adrien smiles proudly at this, and waves back.

Adrien walks up to the front of the stage, where Nathalie is holding a tablet with Gabriel seen on it in a video call, and the stagehand stands nearby.

Gabriel says to Adrien, "The costume fits you like a glove, just like I knew it would. I'm so proud of you, son."

Adrien replies, "Thank you, Dad."

Gabriel nods, and if Adrien saw closely, he'd see that his terrorist father was shedding tears of joy.

Clara then says to the Ladybug auditionees, "Come on!"

The first few auditionees step forward, including Officer Émilien Alméras, the official replacement for former Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix.

There are brief shots of various and sometimes incompetent auditionees onstage, as well as Clara's skittish reactions.

Alya remarks while attempting to repeat what she said in the Lady Wi-Fi incident aftermath, only for Miguel's mind control magic to take over, "Didn't I tell you that Adrien looks a little bit like, wait, what did I say again?"

Marinette replies, "I don't think you need to worry about it; it'll come at a later date."

Alya nods, not entirely convinced.

After seeing the last candidate, a near perfect match for Sentibug in civilian form by the name of Alixevette Ross, Clara then states, "Please show us your style, and don't show us anything vile."

Alixevette replies, "With pleasure."

Alixevette does the audition so well that Clara decides to do what she did in the original timeline.

Clara remarks as she picks up a tray of chouquettes from a table by the stage and carries it over to Alixevette, "You must be starving from all of that moving!"

Alixevette nods, and Clara deliberately trips herself while tossing the tray in the air, but Alixevette catches Clara in one hand, and catches the tray and all of the chouquettes in another hand.

Clara hugs Alixevette and says, "There you are! Here's a hug, because you are Ladybug!"

Alixevette replies, "You mean you picked me to be Ladybug because I helped you out, like the real Ladybug would do?"

Clara replies before asking, "Yes, you did what Ladybug would have done, and your heart is pure, like hers. What's your name?"

Alixevette answers, "Alixevette."

Clara states, "Alixevette! Say it's so!"

She gets down on one knee and asks, "Will you please play Ladybug in my music video?"

Alixevette answers, "Yes, I will."

Clara then says, "That's excellent!"

She takes Alixevette to a chair by a trailer and says, "Just sit here for makeup, okay? I'll ask your friends to be sent over to here right away!"

Alixevette replies, "Thank you, Clara."

Clara nods and walks away.

After the makeup was done, Alixevette was given the Ladybug costume, and no one attempted to shut down the music video, and nobody discovered anyone's secret identities or mistook someone for an actual superhero.

The next day, at Francoise Dupont High School, Alixevette remarks in a voiceover, "In the daytime, I'm Alexandra. Just a normal girl with a normal life. But there's something about one of my distant relatives that I don't know yet, because she has a secret."

The chorus for the music video sings as Alixevette does the stunts so well but nobody notices the differences or similarities, "#Miraculous! Simply the best! Up to the test when things go wrong! Miraculous! The luckiest! The power of love always so strong!#"

In the next scene, Adrien does his own stunts, followed by the rest of the class in outfits matching the rest of the heroes.

As the music continues in the background, Rose says, "It's so much better like this!"

Mylene remarks, "At least everyone got to be heroes for a day!"

Everyone in the library celebrated.

Meanwhile, walking past the school without being noticed by any security guards or janitors, Miguel Guevara is in his adult Jackson Darby disguise as he looks for a quiet place to write in his journal.

But, seeing as how people were going to be questioning how an adult Jackson Darby from Transformers Prime is real, Miguel teleports to his lair without being seen and drops his disguise, turning into Steel Butterfly.

(Steel Butterfly's voiceover POV as he writes in his Rorschach-inspired journal...)

Steel Butterfly's journal.

August 16th, 2015.

Clara Nightingale's video took off flawlessly, and nobody got Akumatized into either Frightningale or someone else entirely we don't know about in Clara's place whatsoever.

Of course, Chloe and Lynnette never tried to have Clara's music video shut down whatsoever either.

And anyway, at the same time, nobody's secret identities got exposed as well.

But of course, the question remains how some of my recruits got photos of them taken without them knowing even though I ordered them to be extremely careful.

BUT if any form of information about them in terms of their Miraculous hero identities with no secret identities and what Miraculous jewels they're using gets exposed to Hawk Moth before we're ready for Heroes' Day, I'LL TURN MY RECRUITS BACK INTO MY SENTIMONSTERS AND THEN SNAP THEM OUT OF EXISTENCE!

Yes, I act like an abusive murderer like Megatron from Transformers, but it's mainly because I hate it when people betray me, I hate it when people expose my secrets, I hate it when our missions end in failure, and I hate it when the same supervillains in general keep escaping from prison again and again, and nobody does a thing about it!

But I think these are among the things that will permanently disappear when I undergo my angelic metamorphosis.

And anyway, the next Akumatized supervillain to prepare for is none other than that b**** and hag, Audrey Bourgeois, also known as Style Queen, a supervillain who can turn into glitter dust, she's invulnerable to most attacks except for the Venom superpower of the Bee Miraculous, and she can turn people into piles of glitter in season 4.

I don't think I need to go into a lot of details about Audrey Bourgeois since you readers and viewers have seen the show from beginning to end and have read various Bad Parent Audrey Bourgeois fanfictions back on my Earth and on your Earths.

But what I need to do is make sure that Chloe doesn't get the Bee Miraculous just yet; not only is it the wrong time and place, but also we need to see if Hawk Moth will permanently give up, or at least walk away from villainy for more than "10 minutes."

We'll have to find out how things will happen.

The End.

(Author's notes: The next chapter is completely self-explanatory, but it'll be updated along with my other current stories within every eight weeks to every three months due to reasons detailed in the 42nd chapter of my current Transformers Prime fanfiction.

See you all in chapter 47: Queen's Battle.)