Chapter 21: The Puppeteer Averted.

(Quantic Universe Earth 139, Dupain-Cheng Bakery, Paris, France, April 26th, 2015, third person POV...)

Marinette and Miguel were arguing as they were also going over the reasons why babysitting children like Manon was a bad idea in Miguel's case and a good idea in Marinette's case.

Despite Nadia Chamack's earlier protests and attempts at bribing, Marinette and Miguel asserted that Marinette already has the money she needs to cement her future.

Miguel also stated that it was a bad idea because if Manon and Marinette were to be playing with Marinette's Steel Butterfly, Dragon Butterfly, Ladybug and Cat Noir dolls, Manon would whine over the puppet-like replicas of the heroes always winning despite being too young to even comprehend the reason why Steel Butterfly/Dragon Butterfly, Ladybug and Cat Noir should always win. Let alone other superheroes in fiction and real life.

To Miguel's credit, Nadia surprisingly took that into consideration.

That combined with Manon not getting what she wanted might result in her getting Akumatized and taking into account Miguel's short temper around children and babies would literally be a waking disaster waiting to happen. No, a waiting apocalypse.

Marinette was adamant that children can be trained from an early age to be more obedient, but Miguel countered that in his experience in New York City several years ago, it wouldn't be the case in these days due to more and more children growing up mentally challenged in different ways, including being unable to use words and blowing in people's faces as part of specific behaviors of mentally challenged children who can't comprehend the consequences of their actions and who have communication and behavioral problems. All part of the autism spectrum disorder.

Of course, in Marinette's viewpoint, Miguel was strictly implying that he was high-functioning autistic and that he couldn't or simply refuses to understand the behaviors of autistic children. But thankfully, Miguel wasn't autistic whatsoever, and also thankfully, Marinette knew from Miguel's behaviors, speech patterns and so forth that Miguel wasn't autistic whatsoever.

But Marinette also knew that if it weren't for Steel Butterfly, any autistic children that would attend Francoise Dupont in the future wouldn't last long without getting Akumatized thanks to Chloe, Lila, Ms. Bustier and Mr. Damocles in any versions of the original timeline.

In the present day, to say the least, Marinette was surprised at how well informed Miguel was about any category of child raised in the twenty-first century and born mentally challenged. But Marinette continued arguing with Miguel over how he can overcome his hatred of children.

Miguel angrily summoned a thunderstorm in response, citing that his hatred of children is more or less permanent, and even if he and Corvo married in the future, he's gonna make sure that Corvo doesn't get pregnant whatsoever.

Miguel finishes with him saying, "After all, not everybody was meant to be a parent. And besides, if I ever did have children, they would end up with the same childhood I ended up with... complete with an abusive pedophile excuse of a father, and a stepfather who always makes crude and offensive jokes in certain situations such as a particular child complaining about being hungry and there's not enough food."

Marinette was shocked at Miguel's paranoid, but logical explanation of the primary reason why he doesn't want to have children in the future and why he hates children in general.

Of course, Marinette had since learned to block Miguel from reading her mind when she needs to think things in private, as she says in her thoughts, "Even if he hates children now, there's a good chance that he might see himself in the eyes of his firstborn child in the future."

But then, to Marinette and Miguel's respective surprise and frustration, Nadia returned to insist on babysitting Manon.

Miguel got so p***** off that he literally summoned a super dangerous lightning storm to scare Nadia and Manon away.

But then, the storm immediately went away, much to Miguel's shock and much to the shock of everyone else.

God's voice rang out loud enough for Nadia, Manon, Miguel and Marinette to hear, "This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on My watch. If you want to avoid Manon getting Akumatized and if you want to overcome your hatred of children, spending time with children at Manon's age is the best way to do it."

Miguel demonically growled before he felt a spirit-like angelic hand choking him into submission.

As Miguel kneels in pain, God's voice rings out, "Unholy negativities, hold thy pieces and come out of him!"

Soon, the negativities of Miguel in the form of an armored demon emerged from within Miguel's body, much to everyone's shock and horror, and all of Miguel's negativities in the form of the armored demon were immediately disintegrated.

Miguel was released and he turned calmer.

Soon, Miguel, Marinette and Manon were in Marinette's bedroom, with Marinette and Manon playing with Marinette's handcrafted Ladybug and Cat Noir dolls.

Marinette says while imitating Puppet Cat Noir and Puppet Ladybug, "Here I am, milady!" "Glad to see you, Cat Noir!" "Of course you are! I'm the cat's meow!"

Marinette imitates a cat meowing and she and Miguel burst out laughing.

Manon protests, "He shouldn't say that!"

Miguel asks with an eyebrow raised, "Oh, no? He shouldn't say it at all?"

Manon frowns and shakes her head while saying, "Mmm-mmm."

Miguel and Marinette look at each other and shrug.

"Puppet Ladybug" replies, "This is no time to be goofing around, Cat Noir! We gotta capture the baddies' akumas before they—" Marinette pauses and looks at Manon before asking, "Actually, what do the baddies want?"

Manon replies a little dumbly, "Uh... we wanna win!"

Marinette asks, "Yeah, but win what?"

Manon replies, "I don't know. What do they usually want?"

Marinette replies back, "That depends on the situation revolving someone being Akumatized in the first place. Lady Wi-Fi wanted to know Ladybug's true identity without caring about the repercussions – or the consequences – of doing so. Darkblade wanted to rule Paris with an iron fist just like his namesake ancestor from medieval times. Then there was Rogercop. He wanted to forcefully enforce every single Parisian law, no matter how big or how small some of those laws are. Unfortunately, he also murdered the man who murdered his wife ten years ago, something that can cause a normal police officer to lose their job on the spot under normal circumstances. But the evil Hawk Moth, who has the power to energize butterflies with dark magic to transform people into supervillains through their negative emotions, he wants to take Ladybug and Cat Noir's jewels from them! They're called Miraculouses!"

Manon asks, "And what would happen if he got them?"

Miguel answers, "Then, he could combine them to be granted godlike power and be granted a single wish that can easily alter reality itself and grant its user anything he or she would ever desire."

Manon's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, but then, Marinette interjected, "But unfortunately, there's always going to be one known drawback: for every wish granted by Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, there'll be a very terrible price to pay in order for the universe to maintain balance."

Manon asks nervously, "Wh-what kind of t-terrible price would there be to pay?"

Miguel answers, "That depends on the wish made. For example, if a sentient robot wanted to wish to become human, someone will lose their own humanity in exchange and become a robot themselves, most likely to be the creator and owner of said robot. For another example, imagine the world was like a notebook where everything in it was written in blue; if you wanted to rewrite the notebook in a different color, you would have to erase everything in the entire notebook itself first. And for yet another example, if you wanted to revive a friend or family member from the dead, especially because that friend or family member was killed in a car crash or because they died from an incurable disease, another friend or relative will have to die in their place. And that's just because, in that particular example, it's an equivalent exchange drawback to making a wish with Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses. But anyway, that's the one way that the universe maintains balance for every different wish made. You can't gain something of extreme value without losing something else in exchange. And on top of that, any wish someone makes with the combined Miraculouses can easily destroy the universe, thereby destroying everything in existence and killing billions of people everywhere across the universe, including unknown alien species that even the great Dr. Ayden Hawkins implored us not to meet whatsoever if humanity ever gained the technology needed to travel from one galaxy to another. And once the universe is destroyed, the power of the Ladybug Miraculous can easily rebuild the universe to adhere to the wisher's desire, but there's no telling what kind of price the wisher has to pay in the new universe. And there's no telling what kind of universe the wisher will make with the wishing power, or if history will repeat itself without repeating the wisher's choice in making the specific wish."

Manon looked deflated and horrified, but then Miguel said, "But you won't have to worry; Ladybug and Cat Noir have a handful of allies today that can help them make sure that Hawk Moth doesn't ever make a wish with Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses in a combined use. Whatever Hawk Moth wants to wish for, by the time he finally realizes the consequences of his actions, it'll already be far too late to make up for it."

Once that bridge was crossed, the dolls fight, and Manon's Akumatized villain dolls win.

Miguel remarks flatly, "(Flatly) Oh, wow. How terrifying. The villains have won, and Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses have been given to Hawk Moth. Now, he has the potential power to make a terrible wish without caring about the price to pay and without caring about the mass genocide he could cause. I don't know how I'm gonna sleep now."

Manon asks curiously, "Aren't you enthusiastic?"

Miguel answers with a serious frown, "Maybe my tone didn't give it away, but no, I'm never enthusiastic whenever the bad guys win. Besides, when it comes to any specific supervillain in existence with the power of a god, whether fictional or not, they'll always want to destroy all of existence throughout the multiverse and they'll either rebuild it in their own dark, evil image, or they'll just become the never-ending ruler of endless nothingness – an endless abyss in space, in other words. Next to that, if any time traveling supervillain like the Reverse-Flash had won his never-ending war with The Flash, he could easily tear the timeline apart. And if Hawk Moth ever won, even I wouldn't be pleased at all. I suggest you research all kinds of superheroes in different forms of fiction to understand why they always win and why it's a necessity."

Manon looked at Miguel in shock, and Marinette gave Miguel an incredulous look, only for Miguel to flash a hidden scowl at her.

Miguel then kneels in front of Manon and states politely, "But in all seriousness, Manon, whenever a superhero wins against a particular supervillain for the last time, there'll always be a time period of peace, calmness, and serenity as crime goes down to nearly zero. What's important is how to deal with whoever turns out to be a new supervillain to challenge our world's superhero armies. Simply because, as Optimus Prime once said in the ending of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, '"In any war, there are calms between storms. There'll be days when we lose faith. There'll be days when our allies turn against us. But the day will never come where we forsake this planet and its' people."

Manon looked shocked and awed by Miguel's speech while Marinette looked shocked and impressed by how easy it was for Miguel to inspire Manon with his speech on how to look to heroes of different categories to save the day and how to keep one's faith alive, even when associates turn traitor.

After knocking on the trapdoor, Nadia came up on the stairs and announces, "I'm back, Manon. Have you been a good girl?"

Manon replies cheerfully, "Oh yes, I have!"

Nadia looks at Miguel, who adds his two cents with a bit of a joke, "Yep, she was such a good girl, and it makes me wonder which of these girls will always get on Santa's nice list every year."

Nadia, Manon and Marinette burst out laughing at Miguel's little joke.

Somehow, Miguel had unlocked the powers known as Laughter Inducement and Humor Manipulation, the ability to manipulate someone's sense of humor and the ability to cause people to laugh, even if the target of the power user doesn't think that he or she is really funny.

Composing herself, Nadia states, "All right, this was fun and all, but we gotta go. Say goodbye, Manon."

Manon comes up to Marinette and hugs her while saying, "Goodbye, Marinette."

Manon goes to hug Miguel, but hesitates because of his... stone-faced expression.

Suddenly, in a rare moment of humanity and a rare show of positive emotion, Miguel kneels to Manon's height and hugs her.

Manon hugs Miguel back, taking Nadia and Marinette by surprise.

Of course, Miguel made sure to be careful with his superhuman strength while hugging the five year old child in front of him that he used to hate.

Miguel and Manon break off the hug as Miguel states, "Be good to your mother every single day of every year, and I can guarantee you that you might be rewarded with anything a child might want... as long as it's age-appropriate."

Manon smiles brightly as she walks over to Nadia and the two Chamacks say goodbye to Marinette and Miguel.

Miguel sighs fondly as his eyes start to water.

Marinette, Tikki and Leppey notice Miguel's tears streaming down his face.

Both Marinette and Leppey ask one after the other, "Miguel...?" "Are you crying?"

Miguel's eyes widen through his tears as he realizes belatedly that he was indeed crying, and he's never cried before, not in thousands of years since his arrival to this universe.

Miguel wipes his tears away and goes downstairs to get himself a red apple from the refrigerator.

Miguel washes the apple thoroughly and takes a bite out of the apple.

Marinette, Leppey and Tikki come to Miguel as he eats the apple.

Miguel notices and asks while swallowing a chewed up bite of his apple, "What's up?"

Tikki starts to say something, but her mouth seals itself closed, showing Miguel that Marinette discovered she can put limits on her kwami and has decided to punish Tikki for treating Miguel like trash.

Tikki muffledly moans in exasperation as Miguel starts chuckling to signify that he finds this funny.

Tikki groaned in frustration.

Leppey asks, "Miguel, were you crying tears of joy just because your hardened heart has softened enough to hug a child?"

Miguel clears his throat and replies, "You saw it happen; what do you think?"

Marinette, Tikki and Leppey look at each other.

Miguel then states, "Anyway, Manon's Akumatization into The Puppeteer has been averted, now I must be on patrol, just in case someone gets Akumatized in her place."

Miguel throws the apple core in the trash can and calls out, "Leppey, Elegant Wings Live!"

Steel Butterfly takes off in flight.

In Hawk Moth's lair, Hawk Moth was fuming over how he didn't get the opportunity to Akumatize someone.

Suddenly, he detects positive emotions coming from a jubilant Steel Butterfly as he flies across the skies of Paris.

Scowling in disgust, Hawk Moth transformed back to Gabriel Agreste and prepares to have dinner with Adrien, much to his pleasant surprise.

Steel Butterfly returns home from his patrol and heads to bed.

(Steel Butterfly's voice-over POV as he writes in his Rorschach-inspired journal in his bedroom before heading off to sleep...)

Steel Butterfly's journal.

April 26th, 2015.

First and only journal entry tonight.

Marinette and I actually managed to avert Manon's first Akumatization into The Puppeteer.

And so, Manon's averted Akumatization was quite an experience.

God actually ordered me to rid myself of my hatred of children, firmly making me spend time with Manon to further make sure that she doesn't get Akumatized.

I was very p***** at the Lord Himself at first, but then I realized that my hatred of children would only result in me driving away the people in my life that I have loved like if they were part of my extensive family.

Plus, it's not worth it to be p***** at God Himself unless you're a demon or otherwise a fallen angel.

In any case, Manon proved to be a quite entertaining five year old child despite being way too energetic to the point of being slightly disobedient.

I wonder, though, exactly how much obedient will Manon become when she gets older?

Eh. I have a feeling that somehow, I'll find out eventually.

But whatever the case, perhaps there could be a spot for Manon in the French Miraculous Superhero Team in the future once she meets the age requirement.

In any case, the next Akumatization to deal with is Mylene's father, Fred Haprele, also known as The Mime, an Akumatized villain who can pantomime any object into existence, albeit invisible. And he can't gesture more than one object and any object he gestures will disappear if he talks or otherwise makes a vocal sound like a grunt of pain.

However, I am most certainly not looking forward to this one in particular because of the fact that Fred's understudy Chris stole his lead role in the performance premiere Fred was supposed to attend, and yet after Fred was deakumatized, Chris F****** GOT OFF SCOT-FREE DESPITE THE FACT THAT STEALING SOMEONE'S WORK IS RUINING A PERSON'S LIFE AND IT'S NO JOKE BECAUSE THAT'S A PERSON'S LIVELIHOOD!

SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE F****** HELL WERE THE WRITERS THINKING?!

BUT, all the same, I'm more than willing to solve The Mime's problem for him by exposing Chris' crimes to Sarah and the reasoning behind Fred becoming Akumatized, while simultaneously making sure that Chris is fired and arrested for his actions.

Just the thought of seeing Chris in handcuffs literally makes me want to cackle and laugh maniacally for two hours.

But in any case, I hope that Chris will be more than willing to cooperate with his Miranda rights, because if he tries to resist, I'll have no choice but to feed him to The Mime.

Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

But all the same, I'd rather not have to watch Chris get chewed out by his soon-to-be former boss, Sarah, no matter how overbearingly strict she tends to be to most of her employees.

Like I once said to Master Fu and Wayzz during the day of the Origins episode, under normal circumstances I would approve of strict teachers, strict parents, strict methodists, strict priests, strict employers, strict mentors and so forth, but sometimes they turn out to be overbearingly strict. Like with Sarah treating Fred in the same manner, like with Knightowl treating Sparrow the same way, and like with Arlette treating Nadia the exact same way in the first third of the Prime Queen episode.

Anyhoo, there's nothing I wouldn't give if I wanted to meet even the likes of Grand Master Su-Han of the Order of the Guardians after restoring the Order to its former glory. But the things Su-Han did and said during his one hundred year duty as the Great Guardian of the Chinese Zodiac Miracle Box make me furious.

I hope and pray that Su-Han won't be giving me and Master Fu much trouble when he arrives in Paris.

If Grandmaster Su-Han does give me and Master Fu trouble when he arrives in Paris, I'll be sure to teach him some manners.

Besides, thanks to my ability to travel through time combined with my ability to predict my opponent's next moves, automatically learn their fighting style, and copy their reflexes, that combined with my ability to read minds enabled me to learn how to counter Mirakung-Fu when it comes to a Mirakung-Fu practitioner like Grandmaster Su-Han and/or even Master Fu when he's Akumatized into Furious Fu.

But whatever the case, I intend to make sure that certain antagonists of Miraculous Ladybug like Bob Roth, XY, Chris, Cash, and Lila Rossi get their ultimate just desserts. And if Ladybug and Cat Noir were to protest against it, especially if those motherf****** were to be in danger if other Akumatized villains especially in the case of Lila Rossi who might get betrayed by Hawk Moth, this is what I would say to my two friends. I would say, "Even if you were right, that doesn't change the fact that not every superhero shares that sentiment. And even though I am many things, a savior of my enemies is not one of them."

Nevertheless, until those times come, I got a reputation to uphold. For now.

In any case, I gotta get ready for when Fred becomes Akumatized, and I know just the way to do it: Tenshizing someone into the Star Comedian!

(Third person POV...)

The next day, Hawk Moth Akumatized a stage ventriloquist into a version of The Ventriloquist from DC Comics combined with an adult version of The Puppeteer.

Steel Butterfly then says to himself, "Okay, what I need is a lead clown. Hey! That's a brilliant idea!"

Steel Butterfly sends a Tenshi towards the actor Ozzy Crabb and Tenshizes him into Lead Clown, a clownlike liberator of ventriloquist dummies.

After about thirteen minutes, Lead Clown deakumatized The Ventriloquist.