Chapter 12: The Evillustrator Averted

Francoise Dupont, March 7th, 2015, third person POV...)

In Ms. Mendeleiev's classroom, everyone was paying attention to what Ms. Mendeleiev was saying.

Even an eavesdropping Miguel Guevara clone masquerading as one of the school janitors was listening out of pure interest and because he was already getting bored. But thankfully enough, Miguel's custodian clone can easily transmit the entire lecture to the real Miguel in Steel Butterfly's lair to feed him more knowledge about science to satiate his ever-growing hunger for knowledge.

Nathanael Kurtzberg in particular was paying special attention because he wanted to get his science work done ASAP so he can celebrate his birthday and so he can continue his newest sketches that he started on before class started that morning.

Ms. Mendeleiev comes up to Nathanael to see him working diligently on his science work, and nods in approval when he turns to look at her.

Ms. Mendeleiev wordlessly pats Nathanael's back and continues with the lesson.

Once the lesson ends, Ms. Mendeleiev starts assigning particle physics presentation groups.

After about half a minute, Ms. Mendeleiev says, "The next particle physics presentation group is Nino, Adrien and Alya!"

Marinette silently remarks, "Wow. Just when I thought we might be able to compare notes."

Ms. Mendeleiev continues, "And then, the next group is Sabrina, Chloe and Marinette."

Alya remarks in her thoughts, "Just like our new custodian said."

Everyone decided not to comment on what Ms. Mendeleiev was saying, knowing she was still somewhat strict despite letting loose a bit thanks to Steel Butterfly.

In the locker room, Miguel's custodian clone known as Johnathan Hillard was discussing with Marinette how to best prevent Nathanael from being Akumatized into The Evillustrator.

Marinette was a little skeptical about Steel Butterfly Tenshizing Nathanael into a superhero version of the Evillustrator called the Herollustrator.

But Marinette has since learned to have faith in those who have assurances that their rather complicated and complex plans will succeed.

As Johnathan leaves to give his boss – Steel Butterfly – the green light for his plan, Chloe and Sabrina walk into the locker room as Chloe says, "Don't worry about it, Sabrina. I'll help out as best as I can."

Sabrina nods as she approaches Marinette and asks, "Marinette, if you don't mind me asking, what does it mean to be a true friend?"

Marinette answers, "What it means to be a true friend is to stand up for the people you care about if they're being tormented, bullied or otherwise made uncomfortable. When someone tries to harm you, physically or emotionally, a true friend will do anything and everything they can muster to help you stay safe. Even when it comes to the likes of those who happen to be enablers. If you have a true friend who can do anything they can to assist you, no matter if they have time for it or not, they'll not hesitate to do so without asking for anything in return."

Sabrina takes this into thought as she leaves for the library.

In Steel Butterfly's lair, the magical angelic and demonic interdimensional superhero of the city is looking out at the city of Paris from his window.

Detecting Nathanael's jubilant attitude from having completed Ms. Mendeleiev's science homework, Steel Butterfly remarks, "Ahh... Artists can literally be so emotional. Sometimes, they can really be too emotional for their own good. But Herollustrator will definitely help out with celebrating his own birthday."

Steel Butterfly makes a Tenshi, and sends it on its way as he croons, "Fly to him, my little Tenshi. Draw him into our heroic web!"

The Tenshi makes its way to Nathanael and merges with his pen, establishing the telepathic connection with him and Steel Butterfly.

Steel Butterfly says, "Herollustrator, I am Steel Butterfly. For today, you shall know me as a friend and a patron of the arts. I'm here to offer you the opportunity to give yourself presents for your birthday and treat yourself to something nice to munch on. And usually, I would offer this kind of power because Hawk Moth has an Akumatized villain on the loose, but this time around, I'm giving you this power for free. Besides, today you were supposed to be Akumatized, BUT I averted your Akumatization as a favor to one of your classmates."

Nathanael/Herollustrator replies, "Thanks, Steel Butterfly."

Nathanael becomes The Herollustrator, a superhero version of the Evillustrator with opposite colors.

Herollustrator walks out of the school without being seen as he heads home.

Herollustrator tests out his powers by making himself a fourteen-inch vegetable pizza.

Surprisingly, it was an actual vegetable pizza.

Herollustrator quite enjoyed his vegetable pizza.

When the Akuma Alert rang out to signify an Akumatized supervillain was on the loose, Steel Butterfly's butterfly mask flared onto Herollustrator's face as his disembodied voice said, "Herollustrator, this is your chance to become the hero you sketched yourself as. But remember, sometimes fighting your enemy from the shadows is equally as efficient as confronting them directly. Besides, you have the ability to draw anything on your digital notepad, even in the darkness. Here's my plan."

Herollustrator hears Steel Butterfly whisper his plan into his ear and smirks benevolently at the idea.

Drawing a set of black angel wings onto his back, Herollustrator took flight while being telepathically instructed by Steel Butterfly about the basics of flying.

The Akumatized villain was Victoire Duchamp/Crimson Panther, a crimson red Black Panther-inspired and Killmonger-inspired supervillain with the power to hypnotize people into falling asleep while her panthers maul them to death, in addition to manipulating sound waves and harnessing them into sonic weapons.

Ladybug, Cat Noir and Lion Hunter were holding off the panthers using Lion Hunter's summoned pride of two hundred flaming lions and his sonic roar to assert dominance over the other jungle cats.

The Herollustrator went about his part in Steel Butterfly's plan by drawing and animating several magic-based healing grenades inspired by the Energon Repair Grenades from the Transformers War for Cybertron video game.

The healing grenades went off, completely healing and reviving the people Crimson Panther's panthers mauled to death.

And at the same time, Herollustrator literally built a cage to contain the panthers so as to prevent any more civilian casualties and to prevent the panthers from getting loose again.

Crimson Panther was paralyzed by Lion Hunter's secret third superpower: the same paralyzing scratch that Blueclaw has.

Herollustrator managed to erase the Akumatized object so that Ladybug can purify the Akuma.

Once Ladybug casts the Miraculous Ladybug cure, Herollustrator is introduced as another superhero that Steel Butterfly will bring back during the final battle against Hawk Moth in the near-future.

But even Steel Butterfly speaking through Herollustrator – demonstrating his ability to talk through his champions – chose not to spill the beans about the "near-future" or the actual day of the final battle against Hawk Moth. There were some things that were best explored when the time came after days, weeks, months, or even years have passed, after all. In other words, Steel Butterfly couldn't spill the beans in case Hawk Moth was watching on the news, and he couldn't take his chances in case the timeline got screwed up big time. Especially if SB thinks Nathalie will abuse his foreknowledge to save her boss/crush.

Alya came up to Herollustrator and asks, "Will we see you again before the final battle against Hawk Moth?"

Herollustrator replies, "Maybe, if Steel Butterfly allows it. But until then, be patient, stay strong, and be ready to fight back against the man behind Hawk Moth's silver cowl."

Herollustrator takes off in flight and goes home, where Steel Butterfly was waiting.

Steel Butterfly states, "You have done well in exceeding my expectations in a good way, Herollustrator. When the final battle against Hawk Moth comes during the first ever Heroes' Day event in Paris in about eight months from now, I will call upon your assistance once again. But until then, what I said about the duration of time it takes before the final battle against Hawk Moth, please try your best to keep it on a tight lip."

Herollustrator replies, "I will, Steel Butterfly."

But before Herollustrator is detenshized, he is given two hours to go around the city and animate people's gift requests from their previous birthdays and previous Christmases that they never got.

And surprisingly, Herollustrator did well.

In Nathanael's home two hours later, Steel Butterfly crosses his arms over his chestplate, revoking Herollustrator's Tenshi and turning him back into Nathanael Kurtzberg.

Steel Butterfly leaves with a final remark of, "Happy Birthday, Nathanael."

Steel Butterfly leaves for his lair.

And all the while, Nathanael had a long talk with his mother, wherein she spelled out for him that it's a bad idea to be drawing his sketches during school hours, no matter if Ms. Mendeleiev or Ms. Bustier catches him doing it in class or not.

Nathanael replies at the end of the explanation, "I'll do the best I can to not draw during school hours, Mom, but there's no guarantee that I'll be able to keep my new inspirations in my memory while I focus on my schoolwork."

In his apartment, unseen by just about anyone, Steel Butterfly transforms back into Miguel Guevara and he manages to have Leppey recharge with a Dark Chocolate Oreo cookie, showing that Leppey likes cookies as part of his extensive and adventurous superpower-recharging diet.

Miguel goes to his closet, and opens the passageway to his lair. But in order for him, his allies and enemies to access the elevator at the end of the tunnel, they have to get past his own dance tile floor trap by dancing to the tones of the Star-Spangled Banner.

This was something that Miguel added to his security systems over the past fifteen to thirty thousand years.

And as for his other bases, the song needed to play on the dance tiles is La Cucaracha, just like El Macho's lair in Despicable Me 2. Along with the tune to the Transformers Prime theme song.

Surprisingly, Miguel is able to dance very well even despite his height and his slightly muscular physique.

Upon finishing the access dance code, the elevator opens up and Miguel steps inside.

The doors close as Miguel laughs maniacally at the fact that he managed to get one over Hawk Moth.

Miguel watches from his lair the next day as his custodian clone Johnathan focused on his job as Ms. Mendeleiev did their presentations.

Miguel remarks to himself, "I gotta find a way to defeat Pixelator. And hopefully put Vincent Aza in his place."

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

Steel Butterfly's journal.

March 8th, 2015.

I've had a good day so far.

I Tenshized Nathanael Kurtzberg aka Caprikid into The Herollustrator, a superhero version of The Evillustrator in opposite colors, but the opposite colors needed for the different shades of specific colors for his armored outfit was a bit difficult to find.

But I managed to pull it off either way.

But now, all that's left for the time being is waiting for Vincent Aza to become Akumatized into Pixelator, and then, I will introduce my own kind of Distortion to disrupt Pixelator's plans.

All the same, I just can't resist the temptation to prank Ms. Bustier and Alix Kubdel by simply placing signs on their backs that say, "I'm a dork, kick me!"

But for Alix's sign, I'm gonna be adding this tease. It'll say, "I'm a dorky, fluffy rabbit tail. Kick me and give me a carrot to grow to six feet in height."

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

It's gonna be so hilarious!

Anyway, I find it necessary to prank Alix because, in the event she becomes Bunnyx despite my efforts, she'll try to learn about my little one-sided prank war with her for sure, and the look on her face when she realizes who's been pranking her all this time will be a sight to see.

But all the same, even after I finish with Pixelator, there will be war pretty soon.

Millions of Parisian citizens will become Akumatized victims pretty soon, whether those victims are teenagers, police officers, political figures, criminals, other supervillains, and so forth. Many people in the foreseeable and near futures will become Akumatized villains in their own rights for sure, especially if my plans for Heroes' Day fail, thereby allowing Hawk Moth and Mayura to continue their reign of terror into 2017, maybe 2018. But either way, pretty much everyone in Paris will become victims of Akumas and Akumatized villains if my plans for the Heroes' Day, Chameleon, Miraculous Shanghai, Oni-Chan, Timetagger, Cat Blanc, Felix, Ladybug, Battle of the Miraculouses, Miraculous New York, Ephemeral, The Last Attack of Shadow Moth/Shadow Moth's Final Attack, Evolution, Multiplication, Destruction, Jubilation, Illusion, Determination, Passion, Reunion, Exaltation, and The Last Day episodes were to all fail.

Hopefully, none of my plans will fail, but if I do successfully defeat Hawk Moth on Heroes' Day without any form of interference, how will I be able to use the rest of my foreknowledge post Hawk Moth?

And how will I be able to protect the Prodigious from Cash, let alone making sure that Jessica Keynes fulfills her destiny as the first Eagle in the twenty-first century?

Eh, I'll cross those bridges when I get to them.

But either way, I have a feeling that things are gonna come to a head.

I have this weird feeling in my gut that eventually, we will have to use our Miraculouses and other magical relics to fight other supervillains, rogue Guardians, Kwami Hunters from my Earth's fanfictions, users of the so-called Dark Miraculouses from my Earth's fanfictions, hostile aliens, and even demons.

And aside from all of that, pretty soon, there will be war, but not World War III and certainly not the Battle of Armageddon in the far future.

No, the war I'm talking about is the kind of war that Hawk Moth, The Collector, Catalyst, Mayura, Safari, Future Hawk Moth, Glaciator, King Cash, Techno-Pirate, Ignoblia, Tomoe Tsurugi, Nightmare Ladybug, Cat Blanc, Ephemeral, Scarlet Moth, Shadow Moth, Shadow Noir, Monarch, Flairmidable, Argos, the Butterfly Sentimonster, Lollipop Boy, Sentimonster Ladybug, different iterations of Marinette as a villain with the Butterfly Miraculous, different iterations of Adrien as a villain with the same Butterfly Miraculous, Miracle Queen, Queen Banana, Penalty, Strikeback, different iterations of Emilie Agreste with the Peacock Miraculous as a villain, different iterations of Emilie Agreste as a villain with the Butterfly Miraculous, any version of fanfiction only Miraculous-wielding villains from my Earth that could possibly show up if our respective Miraculous Ladybug universes and timelines collide in a crossover somehow, and Bunnyx from the primary timeline could start just because they believe me to be a threat to their plans despite the fact that I only intend to ruin the plans and lives of the villains on Quantic Universe Earth 139.

Hopefully, we won't be experiencing any kind of multiversal war like that.

But in any case, I have been getting myself into great shape for someone of my age in angelic immortality.

To say the least, I have been attempting every kind of gym exercise to ever be invented in order for me to pack some muscle.

And at the same time, I have been participating in sports in my lairs.

Contrary to belief from my family on my Earth, I love sports just like Gabriel Agreste.

But the thing is, I had been so reluctant to participate in sports because I was scared of hurting myself really badly.

But thankfully, with my new godlike invulnerability to physical damage combined with my godlike healing factor, I'm perfectly able to play sports without worrying about getting hurt.

And believe me, that's one hell of a benefit.

But between you readers and me, if there's one sport I hated for thousands of years, it's American football. Believe me, it's so violent to the point where, without the proper protection, someone can easily end up with a broken nose, an ankle sprain, knee injuries, quad strains, hamstring strains, groin strains, hip pointers, shoulder dislocations, acromioclavicular sprains, wrist and hand injuries, football concussions, etc.

But now that I managed to try it this past weekend after having rented out the nearest American football stadium back in New York for the weekend, suffice to say I don't hate American football anymore.

But anyway, I gotta get ready for when my teammates and I encounter Pixelator.

(Third person POV...)

Miguel went to bed that night, feeling like he had a great plan to undertake tomorrow.

The next day, Lion Hunter encountered some kind of generic supervillain who had the power to make human/animal hybrid mutations that hunted down people and domesticated animals.

But Lion Hunter assimilated his dominance over the animal kingdom by using his sonic roar.

Lion Hunter gathered all the animals in one place, assumed his lion form, and roared as loud as he could, "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The animals cowered under the force of the roar, including all of the other African cats.

The Akumatized champion, by the name of Animal Beast, shouted to his former army, "What are you all cowering for?! Stand and fight!"

Lion Hunter snarled in warning, and the animals fled back to where they came from, Animal Beast's mutation machine.

After deakumatizing Animal Beast, Lion Hunter assumes his human form and he made sure to send the Akumatized person to prison, since Animal Beast was an animal poacher who escaped from prison in Africa.

Nadia Chamack comes up and asks, "Lion Hunter, is it true that Hawk Moth has Akumatized Ricardo Chapman into Animal Beast?"

Lion Hunter answers, "Yes. And Steel Butterfly had warned us that sooner or later, Hawk Moth's common sense would diminish to the point where he would Akumatize practically anybody feeling negative emotions, including criminals of different types."

Nadia looked troubled, but she kept her composure.

That day, as Lion Hunter was chowing down on his late breakfast, Steel Butterfly comes up and says, "You did splendidly well, my big lion."

Steel Butterfly scratches Lion Hunter's helmet gently, making him purr.

The End.

(Omake #1: Steel Butterfly increases Ladybug and Cat Noir's power usage.)

Steel Butterfly snaps his fingers as a wave of red and black energy waves over Ladybug and green and black energy waves over Cat Noir.

Steel Butterfly explains, "Now, you guys can use your powers as many times as you wish. But remember, under normal circumstances, the only way an adult Miraculous user can use their powers an unlimited number of times is by the kwami in question using the energy of a Miraculous user's body, i.e. energy we get from eating food, drinking water, getting adequate amounts of sleep, and exercising, to use as fuel for the Miraculous user to use their powers an unlimited amount of times. Underage Miraculous users can't handle the strain an unlimited number of times because the body of an underage Miraculous user is not matured enough to handle the strain, even for a short amount of time. But thanks to me, that rule will change starting at the next Akuma attack!"

Ladybug remarks, "Wow! Now we got an even advantage over Hawk Moth!"

Cat Noir adds, "Yeah, I agree."

Steel Butterfly, Ladybug and Cat Noir leapt into the air to start flying over the city for their patrol.

Suddenly, Ladybug asks Steel Butterfly, "SB, any idea on why I was told by Tikki that I have the ability to fly?"

Steel Butterfly replies, "Well, off the top of my head, Tikki probably thought that you using your yoyo like a grappling hook to swing all across Paris would leave you tired and leave your arms at maximum muscle stress. Kind of like Spider-Man web-swinging all across New York City instead of relying on his Iron Spider armors to fly."

Ladybug hummed in curiosity as she and her partners fly all across the Parisian skyline.

(Omake #2: Rhinocharge proves her worth against another generic non-chronological Akumatized supervillain.)

One day, the Akumatized supervillain by the name of Gold Tiger started stirring up trouble by unleashing robotic tigers in the streets.

In his lair, Steel Butterfly orders, "Rhinocharge, prove your mettle against this Gold Tiger, and make sure you avoid any casualties except for the robot tigers."

Rhinocharge nods and charges like a rhino out of one of the secret entrances in the sewers towards the 11th Arrondisment where Gold Tiger and her army are attacking the city.

Upon seeing Rhinocharge, Gold Tiger licks her golden lips and remarks, "Ooh. A real life multi-colored rhinoceros. My cat friends, tear her limb from limb!"

Suddenly, Rhinocharge declared out loud, "POWER STRIKE!" and Rhinocharge charges headlong right towards the tiger robots, smashing them to pieces and sending parts flying everywhere without hitting anybody.

And the more tiger bots Rhinocharge destroys, the more powerful her strikes become, making bigger destructive charging rams into the robots.

Gold Tiger gapes in horror at what she's seeing, and before she can run away, Rhinocharge charges towards her and punches her EXTREMELY HARD, hard enough to be considered a giant shockwave punch.

Gold Tiger is sent helplessly flying throughout the city in one direction as the force of the shockwaves shatter many fragile things like specifically glass windows throughout the French capitol.

Gold Tiger eventually slammed into one of the bottom leg of the Eiffel Tower and impacted against it without causing any form of damage to the monument.

But Gold Tiger was severely wounded by the impact to the point where she was slipping into a coma and could die if Steel Butterfly didn't use his Miraculous cure in 10 minutes.

Rhinocharge and Steel Butterfly rendezvoused and deakumatized Gold Tiger.

After unleashing his Miraculous cure, Gold Tiger was reverted back into a young woman with natural red hair, black eyes, and a college uniform.

Steel Butterfly inquires, "Might I ask for your name, madam?"

The woman replies shakily, "S-Serena Wells."

Steel Butterfly scans her mind and realizes that Serena was a retired cheerleader who quit her cheerleading profession at one of the local universities to focus on her education.

Steel Butterfly holds out his hand, and Serena is pulled to her feet and the butterfly hero manages to fly the young woman to the university campus apartment she's currently living in until her graduation.

After returning to his lair, Steel Butterfly logs the identities of Gold Tiger and Animal Beast in a portfolio of Akumatized villains in general that includes non-chronological Akumatized victims.

Steel Butterfly then notices that it's almost March 13th, the day that Vincent Aza becomes Akumatized into Pixelator.

Steel Butterfly marks it on his computer's calendar and goes to bed.