"Geez, poor Lila..." Peter muttered as he was swinging through the city as Spider-Man. "I mean, she deserved to be called out for her lies, but she seemed pretty broken up about it."

Suddenly a chuckle came from nowhere as Spider-Man looked around before seeing an honest-to-goodness dragon coming his way. Panicking, the Webhead let go of his web line and tumbled onto the rooftop of a nearby building. After looking up, he saw the dragon suddenly turn into a green mist.

"It was just some kind of illusion...My Spider-Sense didn't go off!"

Suddenly, a puff of green smoke appeared in front of Spider-Man making him jump back as a mysterious man clad in a green wizard-esque outfit with a purple cape, Illuminati tassels, and a fishbowl helmet appeared.

"Apologies for the scare, I was only trying to get your attention." The man said. "I am...MYSTERIO!"

"Oh my...is that a fishbowl on your head?"

"Bah, your jokes roll off me like rain." Mysterio scoffed. "I am simply here to issue a declaration of war against you, my wall-crawling friend!"

"What did I ever do to you, huh?" Spider-Man asked as he got into a defensive stance.

"Nothing much, but I know what the Daily Bugle says about you. I am merely a concerned citizen acting in the best interest of his country."

"Don't believe everything you read at the Bugle..." Spider-Man scoffed. "Well, believe what you read, just not what Ol' JJJ barks off about me."

"Oh, but this isn't just about you, my friend..." Mysterio chuckled. "I'm also putting Batman, Ladybug, and Chat Noir on notice! Before the day is done, Mysterio will be the new hero in town! The REAL hero!"

With that, Mysterio suddenly took off his helmet, seemingly revealing no head underneath. Spider-Man frowned, seeing through the cheap parlor trick before the helmet turned into a basketball.

"Until then...DON'T DROP THE BALL!"

Mysterio then dropped the basketball as it bounced toward Spider-Man before glowing brightly. This time, his Spider-Sense went off and he jumped out of the way just in time as the ball exploded. When the dust cleared, Mysterio had seemingly vanished.

"This...is NOT good."

MIRACULOUS

Mysterio was not alone in making his grand debut that night:

Ladybug and Chat Noir had been having an easier patrol, helping the elderly cross streets, getting ballons out of trees and helping store close for the night, getting apples in thanks. It had been nice, almost like a date between the two of them; no violence, no life threatening bits…

CRASH!

So, you might be able to imagine their annoyance when they came across a jewelry store being robbed by Jokerz.

"Take from the displays but leave the cash alone. My aunt needs this place." The lead Jokerz, Bonk, said,

"So, you'll steal the cookies but leave the chocolate chips?" Chat asked. "What kind of nephew are you?"

The Jokerz were quickly on guard and began to open fire, the two teens dodging.

"Kitty, I get what you were trying to say with that line, but…" Ladybug noted as her Lucky Charm provided her a shield.

"Yeah, that joke was lame!" One of the twin Jokerz girls said.

"Four out of ten! Try again!" Her twin added.

"Guess my jokes suffer if I'm in your lovely presence with no villain to fight…" Chat smiled sweetly as he faced off against a boy who seemed to be dressed like a Scarecrow. "A worthy price to pay, no?"

"F-focus, Chatton!" Ladybug blushed as she knocked away a fat boy wearing a clown mask, ignoring the cooing of the twins. "SHUT UP!"

"Not going to lie…that was a good one." Bonk said as he tried to square up with Chat, who dodged every blow easily.

"Thanks." Chat smiled.

Suddenly, the sound of a flute suddenly filled the air, causing the duo and criminals to stand at alert as an orange orb suddenly appeared and then exploded.

Next thing everyone knew, a monster made of the stolen jewels appeared in front of the Jokerz, startlimg them as it swung a fist…but didn't hit them.

No, someone appeared behind them and knocked them out with a baton; a tanned girl ina fox style costume.

"Thanks for softening them up, I'm not much of a group fighter." She said as she made her way over, a sway in her steps as she ignored Ladybug and focused solely on Chat. "A darn shame if something happened to a handsome kitty like you…Maybe you should trade your little water bug for a clever fox?"

Ladybug, suddenly filled with great jealously and rage, grit her teeth at this, missing how Chat seemed indifferent to the newcomer, if maybe a little uncomfortable with how close she was with him.

But these thoughts were startled out when the sirens came on and the cops stepped out, the newcomer leaping away, but not before saying:

"The names' Volpina. Remember it!"

Elsewhere, a certain Cajin gambler felt great offense to sensing someone using his catchphrase.

MIRACULOUS

It didn't take long for word to spread about two new superheroes in town, Volpina and Mysterio. They were rescuing kittens, stopping meteors, and fighting bad guys left and right. New York was in amazement, but there were a few people who weren't so easily swayed.

Namely, our four heroes.

"Did you know anything about this?" Chat Noir asked the others.

"Mysterio seemed to have it out for us. He came to me with a declaration of war earlier." Spider-Man noted.

"Well, this all seems pretty fishy to me. We better investigate." Ladybug said.

"From what Spider-Man has told me, Mysterio seems to be using hyper-realistic illusions in order to misdirect his opponents. I have a hunch that Volpina is the same way." Batman said.

The four went on a search for these new heroes. Whoever they were, they could either be great allies or dangerous enemies. However, before they could find Volpina and Mysterio, Volpina found them.

"There you guys are. I've been looking everywhere for you." Volpina smiled. "Sorry about my dad, he tends to be a bit competitive, you know? Come on. We need your help."

"Why do you need our help? Can't you stop meteors?" Chat Noir pointed out.

Ladybug crossed her arms. "Yeah, and what kind of powers do you have, anyway?"

"Flight, Super Strength, and Magic," Volpina smirked, making jazz hands at the last part. "But enough about me, there's a dangerous new enemy we have to face!"

"What new enemy?" Spider-Man asked.

"They call him The Elemental!" Volpina explained. "Now come on!"

Volpina then rushed off in the other direction. The four heroes looked at each other, nodded, and followed her.

"Keep your guards up. I have a bad feeling about this..." Batman said.

MIRACULOUS

The group eventually came across The Elemental, seeing Mysterio was already battling it. It was a menacing-looking beast with a flaming skull for a head, a tornado for a torso, arms made of jagged rock, and a bottom half that was basically a swirling waterspout.

"Well, The Elemental sure lives up to his name!" Spider-Man noted.

"Sheesh, that guy's pretty nasty." Chat Noir said.

"Volpina! It is good to see you've brought help!" Mysterio said after firing a blast of green energy at The Elemental. "With us together, this fiend stands no chance!"

However, The Elemental quickly turned and fled in another direction.

"Awww, we got him running scared!" Spider-Man joked. "He must just be a big ol' softie who needs a hug."

"We need to cut off his escape!" Volpina said. "Let's all split up!"

Ladybug, Chat Noir, Batman, and Spider-Man looked at each other and nodded. They then went off in those directions. Once they were out of sight, Volpina and Mysterio nodded to each other and vanished in a puff of orange and green smoke.

Meanwhile, Ladybug and Batman were chasing The Elemental until they found themselves standing on a target.

"What's this doing here?"

"Look out!"

Ladybug looked up to see she and Batman were surrounded by missiles from all sides.

"I wouldn't move if I were you."

The two heroes then noticed Volpina stepping out of a cloud of orange smoke, a hand on her hip and a smirk on her lips as Ladybug's eyes widened while Batman simply glared.

"What's all this about, Volpina?"

"This is about me taking over. Now everyone thinks Dad and I are superheroes, and once you two, Chat Noir and Spider-Man are out of the way, Marinette and all of her little friends are next, and not only will no one will be able to call me a liar, but Adrian will be all mine!"

"Lila..." Batman scowled. "Is this what you've stooped to? Because people simply wanted you to be honest with yourself and others?"

Ladybug, however, was more empathetic. "Lila, listen, we know what happened to you at school, I'm sure nobody meant to hurt you."

Volpina growled. "Spare me. You couldn't possibly understand. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I don't need your pity."

Acting quickly, Batman drew one of his batarangs and threw it at one of the missiles, hoping to make a chain reaction that would destroy them all collectively. However, the batarang simply went through the missile, which disappeared in a puff of orange smoke.

"Illusions. Lies. Obviously." Batman scoffed as he turned to glare at Volpina, who panicked and quickly rushed off.

MIRACULOUS

"Where do you think The Elemental is hiding?" Spider-Man asked as he and Chat Noir ran across the rooftops.

"No idea. Hopefully, Ladybug and Batman have found him already."

"I don't think you'll need to worry about finding him..." Mysterio's voice chuckled from seemingly nowhere as the two heroes stopped and looked around.

"I knew he was up to no good..." Spider-Man muttered to himself as a green thundercloud formed in the sky and Mysterio floated down from it, his hands on his hips.

"Up to no good, I'm simply giving this city a REAL hero!" The illusionist scoffed. "With my illusions, you'll never see what is real or what is fake!"

"The only fake here is you, bubble brain!" Chat Noir snarked.

Mysterio scowled behind his helmet before thrusting out his hand and creating a serpentine dragon, the same one that attacked Spider-Man earlier, to lunge at the two. However, Spider-Man simply folded his arms and stood in place as the dragon harmlessly passed by him and Chat Noir.

"Whoa! How did you know that was a fake?"

"He pulled that stunt on me a while ago. You learn to adapt."

"It seems you're not as much of an ignoramus blabbermouth as I was led to believe..." Mysterio hummed. "Bah! No matter, my daughter Volpina already has a plan in mind to bring you fools down, and soon the whole world will see the four of you as the failures you are!"

With that, Mysterio snapped his fingers and vanished in another puff of green smoke. Spider-Man turned to Chat Noir, both of them nodding as they went to find Batman and Ladybug.

MIRACULOUS

"Volpina and Mysterio are in cahoots. They're trying to discredit us." Batman said as everyone grouped together.

"Doing a decent job, according to ol brimstone" Spiderman said, showcasing the latest issue of the Daily Bugle:

'MYSTERIO AND VOLPINA REPEL MONSTER! REAL HERO FAMILY SAVES NEW YORK WHILE MENCANCES AND WANNABES HIDE!'

"….I really hate that man right now." Ladybug mused. "And to top it all off, they're going after our friends…and especially Adrien. We have to stop them!"

"But...I'm Adrien!"

"Well...they don't know that." Ladybug blushed sheepishly.

"Well, if they don't know our secret identities...how about a little misdirection of our own?" Spider-Man suggested.

Batman arched an eyebrow. "We're listening."

MIRACULOUS

Chat Noir had made it back home, making sure his parents didn't see him in costume as he snuck into his room and waited patiently. Sure enough, Volpina arrived.

"Where is Adrien Agreste?" She demanded, clenching her teeth and gripping her flute tightly.

"Never mind that. Let's talk." Chat Noir said. "Listen, Lila, I know you're upset, but this isn't the way. You don't have to take this route. You can-"

Before Chat could finish, Volpina covered her ears. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! I'm sick of these lectures!"

"Really? Seems like you could learn a thing or two!"

Volpina whirled around to see Ladybug diving down behind her. The villain smirked, and played her flute, creating dozens of duplicates of herself to fight the two heroes. Ladybug and Chat Noir fought their way through them, making each of them vanish in a puff of orange smoke. When the smoke cleared, the real Volpina was standing at the window, holding Adrien Agreste by the shirt collar.

"She's acting true to form so far..." Ladybug and Chat Noir thought together but had to keep up appearances.

"Let him go!" Ladybug demanded with a glare.

Volpina simply rushed out the window. Silently and with determination, the two young heroes chased after her.

MIRACULOUS

"Mysterio! Mysterio!" Spider-Man called out as he and Batman were perched on the Eiffel Tower. "We know you're around here somewhere!"

"Ah, so you knew I would be here?" The man himself said as he appeared, floating in mid-air from swirls of green smog and lightning. "That's good, for you're just in time for the main event!"

Spider-Man and Batman then noticed Volpina had arrived with Adrien in hand. Nearby, they could see Ladybug and Chat Noir catching up to her.

"Good, it seems she took the bait." Batman thought before turning to Mysterio. "You say you want to be heroes? This isn't how I see heroes doing things."

"Oh, but what are one or two black marks on our hands if it means discrediting you cretins?"

"Put him down, Volpina!" Chat Noir demanded.

Volpina snicked. "Sure, just as soon as you admit Dad and I are the better heroes!"

"You'll only get yourself in more trouble if this continues!" Ladybug warned.

"You better make a decision soon." Volpina said. "My arm's getting tired, and poor widdle Adwien here is pretty heavy."

Chat Noir scowled. "You're bluffing!"

"Is she now?" Mysterio chuckled. "Simply give yourselves up, turn yourselves in, expose your true identities to the world, and let us take control as this city's great heroes!"

"Wanna bet?!"

Batman then took out a batarang and threw it straight at Adrien in Volpina's hands...and he vanished in a puff of orange smoke. Volpina gasped in shock while Mysterio narrowed his eyes behind his helmet.

"Gotcha!" Ladybug smirked. "LUCKY CHARM!"

The charm came in the form of a bike reflector. With quick thinking, Ladybug used it to flash some light in Volpina's eyes, distracting her, and keeping her from using another illusion. The light also reflected across Mysterio's helmet, making him stumble and nearly fall out of the sky before righting himself.

"CATACLYSM!" Chat Noir shouted.

Charging destructive energy in his claws, Chat Noir slashed the metal beneath Volpina's feet, causing it to rapidly rust and collapse, making her scream as she fell off the tower, quickly grabbing a nearby ledge.

"DADDY, HELP!"

"Alas, it seems the game is up." Mysterio shrugged nonchalantly. "Forgive me, my dear. I must be off."

"O-off?" Lila, her fear temporarily gone, asked.

"Indeed. For, while I am grateful to see you have some of my genius in you, your sadly too childish and small-time for my grand ambitions. A pity, your mother's connections could've aided me so well…But then again, I'm certain I have another child out there. Well, I've dawdled too long. Farewell, Lila! I'm certain I'll think of you on occasion."

And with that, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

Lila's costume then vanished, revealing it was also an illusion made by Mysterio. She squirmed in terror as she held onto the ledge as tightly as she could, looking down in terror at the hundred foot drop below her.

"No! Please! Pull me up! Don't kill me! Please! I'll do anything! ANYTHING!" She shouted as tears streamed from the eyes of her pleading face.

In her panic, she ended up letting go, only for Spider-Man to dive in and snatch her before web-swinging to safety. The girl was shaking in terror, tears of fear and betrayal running down her face as the web head gently set her down on a bench.

"Sorry about that." He said softly. "I know a thing or two about deadbeat dads."

'Just ask MJ.' Mentally he added, recalling some of the swearing and crashes from the Watson home. How someone like that had given the world his crush he'd never know….But he pushed those aside as the poor girl broke down into tears, letting the webhead awkwardly hold her until she calmed down.

"…If its not too much?" The wall crawler asked. "He mentioned…connections?"

Lila sniffled and began.

"My mom is an Italian delegate. We've moved so much and so often I was practically always the new kid; alone, ignored…"

From not too far away, Chat felt a twinge of sympathy; he'd had Bruce and Chole at least…

"She did herself no favors." Batman reminded the younger hero.

"…Then why do I feel sorry for her?" Chat asked, getting a hug from Ladybug.

"Because you have a good heart." She smiled warmly, happy to cheer him up when he smiled.

Back to Lila and Spiderman, the girl basically confessed that, in order to have some kind of power in her life, she started telling lies so that people would be nice to her, care about her…And with all the moving, she never had to worry about keeping those promises or living up…

Until Paris. Until Marinette….!

"Look, I'm not good at this but when you base relationships on lies, you basically live a lie, and when you do that, you can never have true friends," Spider-Man said. "You just need to be honest, say you're sorry, let people see the real you. Don't hide behind some fake facade to look good. Sometimes, it's better to just be true to yourself and others."

Lila curled up into herself, looking down. Spider-Man could see she had a lot to think about but his words seemed to resonate with her, at least somewhat.

MIRACULOUS

Mysterio walked into a warehouse full of old stage props and other tools for movie-making and plays. Walking behind a red curtain, he approached a desk and unfurled a blueprint.

"And for my next trick..."

Suddenly, a batarang wedged itself into the table, startling Mysterio as he turned around to see Batman looming above him, the shadows casting him as an angel of vengeance ready to seek retribution against evil.

"It's over, Mysterio. Now that I know your base of operations, I know who you truly are….Quetin Beck."

Mysterio removed his helmet, revealing the face of a blonde man with his hair in a ponytail and noticeably pointed ears.

"How did you know?"

"Research." Batman said. "That and Spidey's memory finally coming in handy."

Spiderman ignored that and continued:

"A three months ago, you were part of a film crew, filming a car chase. You illegally placed more affects than was warranted to make better affects, nearly bringing a police copter down and starting a fire. Luckily, it wasn't too much for me to handle, but you tried to flee the scene and when I stopped you..."

"You blabbed." Batman said, anger clear. "You nearly hurt so many people, and now you try and replace us just to be popular? What if a REAL threat ever came along? Or did that not care, as long as, for a millisecond, you were the most important person in the city?"

Mysterio said nothing.

"Well, shows over." Spider-Man said, reaching to web the wannabe up.

"Ah, but there's still one last act to go through before the curtain call!" Mysterio laughed as he snapped his fingers.

From the ceiling, a special device fired electric bolts at Batman, mimicking a thunderstorm manifesting and sending out lightning strikes. The Dark Knight flipped and dodged through them before taking out a special batarang and throwing it at the device. The batarang began rapidly beeping before exploding with the force of a smart bomb, destroying the device in the process.

However, a train whistle echoed and Batman turned to see a bullet train charging straight for him. However, the Caped Crusader simply narrowed his eyes and let the train harmlessly pass through him, revealing it to be just another illusion.

"You really are the World's Greatest Detective if you catch on this quickly." Mysterio taunted. "But you must ask yourself this; what is illusion and what is reality?"

Batman then saw a pair of floating boxing gloves swing at him, one slugging him across the face. After catching his bearings, Batman began dodging the boxing gloves before firing his grapple gun at one and then swinging it into the other, destroying them both.

Suddenly, a ring of green flames manifested and circled Batman as Mysterio stepped out of it, surrounded by multiple clones of himself.

"Last chance, Dark Knight. By the time you figure out who is real, it'll be too late!"

Mysterio and his clones all took out various guns and aimed them at Batman. However, the Caped Crusader was unfazed as he simply typed some coordinates into his gauntlet computer.

Before Mysterio could react, the Batmobile suddenly crashed into the warehouse and swerved, striking him and also knocking his clones out of sync, making them explode into puffs of green smoke as the ring of fire fizzled out of existence. Mysterio tumbled across the ground before crashing against his own stage, causing multiple props to fall on top of him in the process.

"The show's over Mysterio and the reviews are in." Batman scowled.

"And the ratings are tanking!"

MIRACULOUS

Mysterio's arrest was announced and the Bugle was forced to print an extra to apologize for their words. Volpina was presumed killed in action against Elemental, but Fu assured Marinette and Adrian when they went to visit him with Bruce that a REAL fox style hero was out there in waiting.

Lila, after two days of rest at home and a long, long, LONG overdue talk with her mother, had taken Spider-Man's advice and apologized to Marinette and her friends. It ended up going relatively well; she was not as hated as she'd feared, even being invived to some of Max's gaming events and a few other activities…after detention for threatening Marinette.

Now on route home, Lila was so engrossed in her thoughts she didn't look where she was going…

"OOF!"

"OW!"

"Why don't you watch where…Oh. You're…Lila, right?"

The girl looked up to see Flash Thompson getting up and offering her a hand.

"Y-yeah." Lila confessed. "Sorry about that…Lot on my mind."

"I can imaghine." Flash said. "But you got real stuff on your mindl I git bad grades…"

Lila perked up at this. She wasn't exactly a straight A student, but…

"W-well…if you want?" She suggested. "I can tutor you."

Flash looked up in surprise at that.

"Really? You would? Thought you'd be so busy, what with…"

"No, I got loads of free time." Lila assured him. "So, what first? English? Social studies?...Calculus?"

They both shuddered at that last one…which made them laugh as they walked to Flash's house, Lila shooting her mother a text…and turning on locator so that her mother knew she was being truthful.

Knightmare Lord A/N:

Yeah, I decided to take some of Mysterio's despicable traits from Spider-Man: Far From Home in this fic but also mix some of the other versions of him I enjoyed, such as Spectacular Spider-Man and Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

And now, who knows, perhaps Lila might become a better person in this fic. We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

In the next chapter, we're facing another Batman Villain, who is out to prove that revenge is a dish...BEST SERVED COLD.

Mrotrax A/N:

You read right believers; next up is one of the most icnoc and beloved Batman TAS episodes!

Great work as usual, Knightmare Lord!