Louis was having a pretty rough day.

It seemed like lady luck had made it her personal mission to beat him black and blue this morning. His alarm hadn't gone off, his car had broken down, his coffee had spilled through his cup right on his freshly ironed trousers, and his boss had yelled at him for just over an hour for the three prior reasons; and that alone had all been before 10am. Then came a veritable marching band of customers to shout at and insult him for petty reasons, irritating co-workers to tease him, and snide posts on social media from his ex-girlfriends about how his life wasn't going to plan. It was the sort of day that would have sent a literal saint swearing like a sailor. Never before in his life had Louis ever wanted to scream out in anger and frustration so badly.

But he couldn't.

Because he lived in Paris.

Anywhere else in the world and his voice box would've gone hoarse from screeching already. He would have gladly rampaged down the streets of London or Toyko like a berserk bear, venting out the tangle of blazing irritation in his chest to anyone who would listen. But Paris was different. It was an unspoken rule around here that when you got angry, upset or miserable about how your day was going you didn't draw attention to yourself; you booked an immediate session with a therapist or a punching bag and got whatever dark emotions were boiling around in your system out as soon as possible before one of those little black butterflies fluttered down onto your shoulder and turned you into another one of Hawkmoth's monsters. Sure Ladybug, Chat Noir and their ever-increasing number of animal themed superheroes were around to snap you out of it, but that didn't change the fact that getting turned into some zany Scooby-doo villain with a horrendous colour scheme was hella embarrassing! Some poor kid had been turned into a literal bubble man for crying out loud! Akumatization was the sort of thing that nobody would let you live down.

Although it wasn't just Hawkmoth and his seemingly unending supply of caterpillars that the good people of Paris had worry about anymore, for Ladybug wasn't the only one who seemed to gain new super powered allies on a weekly basis. At first it had just been the occasional black feather that came floating down from the sky, summoning strange beasts to protect Hawkmoth's latest victim. But after a temple in Tibbet had just appeared out of thin air, filled with crazy monks who claimed to have come from one hundred and seventy years in the past, new villains had been popping up left and right.

"Deep breaths Loius, deep breaths. Only a few minutes left until you can go home and scream into a pillow." Louis thought to himself, fixing his bright red cap with the yellow WcWonald's emblem back onto his head and forcing on another plastic smile as the next customer stomped up to the desk. All he had to do was handle two or three more people and then he was free. What else could possibly go wrong in such as short span of time?

BAM!

Apparently lady luck still had one punch left in her, and this one was the knockout blow. The sour-faced man who'd slammed a meaty fist down on the counter was somebody that Louis unfortunately recognised: the same man he'd taken the order from a few minutes ago. Holding a GiddyMeal aloft before him like the head of Medusa, the customer glared through pudgy eyes at him.

"I SAID no BURGER SAUCE! God, can't you lot ever get an order right!" The customer heaved, slapping his GiddyMeal down onto the counter. From the sound it made it was clear that the meal was almost entirely eaten. "I demand a full refund immediately!"

A twitch grew in Louis' eye. He had not asked for no burger sauce; what he had done was gargle incoherently whilst staring down at some game on his phone and leave Louis to attempt to take his order via mind-reading. Besides, if he was so upset by the presence of the sauce then why didn't he say something before scoffing down three quarters of it! "I'm sorry sir, there's a no-refund policy for food that has already been eaten." Louis replied with whatever final vestiges of politeness he could find within himself, desperately fighting to keep his smile from slipping. Yet the moment he saw the dangerous flash in the customer's eyes he knew that his fantasy of slipping away peacefully at the end of his shift had gone up in smoke.

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO A CUSTOMER THAT WAY!" The customer roared, booming like the immense volcano of lard that he was. "I DEMAND TO SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER! I'LL SUE YOU AND THIS WHOLE DAMN COMPANY FOR DISRESPECTING MY DIETARY REQUIREM…"

Somewhere inside of Louis' head, the barrier that held back his emotions burst.

Elsewhere in Paris, a large window with a butterfly themed motif slid open, casting a ray of light into a darkened room and sending the host of butterflies within fluttering into the air.

"I feel the rage of a struggling youth crushed beneath the boorish demands of an uncaring customer." Breathed Hawkmoth, smirking to himself in malicious glee and clenching his fist. "Oh how it fills my heart with exhilaration! What perfect prey for my akuma!"

He held out an outstretched hand, and one of the butterflies flew down onto it. He covered it with his other hand and smirked as a wave of dark energy poured from his hand and onto the creature within, dying it tar-black with evil magic. The butterfly took off again to fly out of the window, and Hawkmoth watched it go with a sneer. "Fly away my little akuma. Fly away and evilize him!"

Louis knew something strange was happening the moment everyone in the WcWonald's suddenly stared at him in unison with absolute horror in their eyes. Even the customer before him cut off mid-rant and gaped at him like a fish. But before he could figure out what was going on he felt something lightly tap against his shoulder, and suddenly his vision was filled with purple light. An outline of a butterfly burned in the air before him, and a mysterious haze seemed to spread across his mind.

"Greetings. I am Hawkmoth."

"A voice, deep and rich, seemed to come from everywhere around him at once. The logical part of his mind knew that it belonged to none other than the infamous Hawkmoth, and that he had been chosen as the next villain to play a part in his doomed-to-fail schemes, yet at that moment Louis couldn't bring himself to care. The voice was so beautiful, so soothing, that he felt a strong instinctive desire to trust it.

"Aren't you tired of hearing their petty complaints? Of having to put up with being stepped on and berated by fools just to make enough money to scrape by until the next day?" The voice asked, plucking at the strings of his frustration like a violin. Yes, Hawkmoth was right! He was so sick of being treated like trash! "I can give you the power to take your revenge against them all! To be the one stepping on them for a change! In return, all you have to do is bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous."

"Yes Hawkmoth. I will do as you ask." Louis droned obediently, feeling determination swell up within his soul! Finally some payback! Finally a chance to show the world that he wasn't going to roll over without a fight! First he was going to make this customer pay, then his boss, then every single person who'd ever looked down on him! So what if Ladybug and Chat Noir were going to end up beating him down? At least he could get a taste of revenge while it lasted, then feign amnesia when it was all over.

"Excellent! Then I hereby grant you the power to…"

Giddy anticipation welled up within Louis' chest. He was going to get his own superpower! This was going to be so cool! There were so many things he wanted: super strength, flight, invisibility! Which one would Hawkmoth grant him?!

"… Create burgers!"

Wait… what?

"Go now Beefburglar! Go and bring me their miraculous!" Hawkmoth declared triumphantly.

"Hold on a second! What the hell man!" Louis exclaimed indignantly.

"Is there a problem, Beefburglar?"

"Of course there's a problem! I don't want to create burgers! What am I gonna do, throw Big Malks at Ladybug until she surrenders?"

"Precisely!" Hawkmoth hissed with evil glee. "Your piping hot burgers, dripping with scorching, oily fats, will surely scald away at their skin until every movement brings nothing but fresh agony for them!"

"But that's so lame!" Louis cried. "Can't I get a power that's at least a little bit cool?"

"Sorry kid, no can do." Hawkmoth sighed mournfully. "The powers have to match up to you and the item you're holding in some way, and your item is… well…."

Louis looked down at his hand.

The smiling face printing into the side of the nearly eaten GiddyMeal stared back at him.

"OH COME ON!"

"A disappointed sigh filled his mind, and he had the strangest impression that Hawkmoth was face palming himself. "Okay listen Beefburglar…"

"My name is LOIUS!"

"… Louis then…" Hawkmoth cleared his throat. "It isn't just my akuma that I sent your way. Just hold on and you'll get another power any second n…"

"Something else lighting tapped his shoulder, and another outline of purple light filled his vision.

"Beefburglar, I am Mayura."

Louis jumped in fright as another voice filled his head, this one female but equally as pleasing to listen to.

"You're up against a world where everyone tries to take advantage of you, to lay the blame unjustly at your feet to save themselves a handful of pennies. Allow me to help you. I shall make your frustration become embodied in a powerful protection."

"This isn't going to be burger themed as well is it?"

"Of course not."

Louis grinned to himself. "Alright then, this is more like it! So what will I get? Is it a tank! I've always wanted a ta…"

"An extra-large portion of fries!"

For a second Louis froze. He couldn't have heard that correctly could he? Surely there must be some mistake… "I'm sorry, but you didn't just say fries did you?"

"Yes I did. Fries as large and mighty as the hydra, able to swat away anyone who comes near you while you unleash a barrage of sizzling burgers upon their heads! Together you shall be an unstoppable team!"

"NO! NO DAMN IT! CAN I NOT JUST HAVE A POWER THAT ISN'T RELATED TO FAST FOOD" Louis cried out, feeling the haze over his mind start to lift as his frustration turned on the two idiots speaking in his head. "ARE YOU DETERMINED TO MAKE ME LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT OR SOMETHING! WHY CAN'T I – OWW!"

Louis was cut off as something sharp bit into his ankle, making him wince in pain. Before he could turn to look at what it was another symbol of purple light filled his vision.

"Beefburglar, I am Meerkat Noir…"

Whereas the other two voice had been alluring, almost ethereal in nature, this one didn't quite live up to the same standard. It was far higher pitched, and had a really bad Russian accent. "Good lord, how many of you guys are there?" Louis moaned.

"You wish to fight against ze world, but to do so seems too complicated, yes? I will make it simples for you. I grant you a powerful weapon with which to smite your foes…"

Loius grit his teeth. "This had better not be a spatula."

"A giant spatula, yes."

"DAMN IT!" He yelled, flipping a tray of food off the counter in anger. It was only when the clatter of it falling to the floor echoed that he realised everyone else in the WcWonald's had already fled in terror, and that he could hear the faint sound of sirens getting closer in the distance. "Oh great, and now the police are on their way."

"Worry not my dear Beefburglar." Hawkmoth's voice soothingly crooned. "There's only a few more to go and then you can-…"

"YOU MEAN THERE'RE STILL MORE OF YOU!"

The window at the far end of the restaurant smashed, and a small black blur shot towards him like a bullet. Louis ducked, fearing it would hit him, but at the last moment it swerved up and sailed over his head. For a moment Louis thought he was all clear, until the blur turned around and sailed back over his head, this time dropping a little black splodge of something that splatted all down the back of his shirt.

"Eww, gross! Is this… bird poo?" Louis exclaimed as the smell of it hit his nose. He was so distracted by it that he almost didn't notice the fourth band of purple light that appeared over his eyes.

"Beefburglar, I am Hawkpigeon…"

"Wait… Mr Ramier?"

It wasn't hard to recognise Mr Ramier's distinctive voice, even with the ghostly echoing quality to it. The akumatized version of him, Mr Pigeon, was perhaps the most ineffective villain Ladybug even fought, although for some reason though this didn't seem to stop Hawkmoth from akumatizing him whenever he got the chance.

"Silence! I am not Mr Ramier, I am Hawkpigeon!" The voice that was definitely Mr Ramier announced. "And I am here to grant you…"

"Mr Ramier, I'm going to make this very clear." Louis hissed. "I do not want any power even remotely associated with fast food, you hear?! So if you're about to give me a box of chicken nuggets or something I swear I'll…"

"Nonsense boy, nonsense! I would never grant such a ridiculous power as that!" Hawkpigeon replied quickly. "The powers of my almighty pigeon miraculous are not nearly as limited as those of my fellows. I shall give you…"

Louis gripped the edge of the counter excitedly, feeling a sliver of hope one again. Finally, a useful power!

"A pigeon!"

Louis' face slammed hard into the counter.

"Calm yourself Beefburglar, we're almost there…" Hawkmoth said soothingly. "Just half a dozen or so more to go..."

"So he was akumatized when exactly?"

Officer Raincomprix peered cautiously over the hood of his police car at the WcWonald's in front of him, not willing to risk looking away from where a new akumatization victim had reportedly been created even to address Ladybug. "About half an hour ago. But we've had no reports of destruction, trickery or… anything really. He's just standing there behind the counter with his head in his hands, occasionally talking to himself."

"Behind him Ladybug and Chat Noir shot each other a confused glance and shrugged.