Antibug Anticipates
(on AO3) is an Alternate Universe Fic made by RockSunner, for Miraculous Ladybug. Part of the Smart Adversaries AU for Miraculous Ladybug on AO3, in which Ladybug villains make smarter decisions. The series has a tropes page here.
This is a two-chapter work and it is now complete.
This fanfiction series contains examples of:
- Alternate Universe Fic: A What If? with the change that Antibug takes a little time to investigate the cellphone that Marinette left to decoy her away from Chat Noir, leading to Antibug and Hawk Moth discovering Ladybug's identity.
- Body Double: Marinette, in Chloé's costume, plays Ladybug in the hostage situation, allowing Chloé, using the real earrings, to launch a surprise attack on Hawk Moth.
- Cliffhanger: Chapter 1 ends with Marinette on the line with someone who has apparently kidnapped her parents.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Antibug refuses Hawk Moth's idea of threatening Marinette's parents in a Hostage for MacGuffin scenario because she wants to prove she can beat Ladybug in a fight. Hawk Moth takes his business elsewhere.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Hawk Moth takes Ladybug's parents hostage to force her to surrender her Miraculous at the end of Chapter 1.
- The Unmasking: Ladybug's secret identity is revealed to Antibug/Chloé, Hawk Moth, and Chat Noir. In the end, Marinette's parents learn her and Chat Noir's secret identities, Hawk Moth and Chloé learn Chat Noir's secret identity, and Hawk Moth is publicly exposed and arrested.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The reader isn't clued in on the heroes' plan to rescue Marinette's parents and bring down Hawk Moth until after the fact.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Chloé has trouble reconciling the superhero she admires with the schoolmate she bullies, so the two declare themselves "frenemies" for the time being.
- Would Hurt a Child: Hawk Moth attempts to murder Chloé in cold blood in order to maintain the element of surprise against Ladybug's parents. Mercifully, Ladybug saves her.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Antibug is almost killed by Hawk Moth by pulling her power in mid-swing, because she could reveal that Hawk Moth knows Ladybug's identity.
