To yellow 14: True, though they weren't actually expecting the poisoned gas, so most of the tanks weren't prepared for it. And Ladybug definitely needs to apologize to the Australians!
"Carapace, bring that group of civilians south down Rue de la Croix Faron to Sorbonne Paris Nord," Pegasus instructed, consulting the drone feed on his main monitor. Carapace and O Patriota jogged briskly at the front of a group of civilians they had all but dragged out of an apartment building several blocks north. Koldunya raced along behind them to bring up the rear, holding a side door she had pulled from a wrecked van in one hand as a makeshift shield. The Tarasque was clearly visible in the background of the video from the two drones hovering above Carapace. A beam of fire lanced out from the Tarasque's eyes and melted a hole straight through the side of a hotel, which burst up in flames. Emergency vehicles raced from one side of the city to the other, hardly pausing between crises. Pegasus checked the map once more. "There is an overturned fire truck blocking your way on Rue Jeumont."
"Understood," Carapace answered, sounding out of breath. "Any chance of getting that cleared up, dude?"
"Sombra and K-Man are en route. I estimate 65% chance that they can move it far enough out of the way for vehicles to pass; 85% for pedestrians." Pegasus leaned back and waved his hand through the air to toggle the view from one set of cameras to the next. To the west of the Tarasque fight, El Bandido, O Brasileiro, and Mão Curadora had gathered a much smaller group of evacuees and were bringing them toward the police line, where a trio of police vans waited for them. They, however, appeared to be clear. Beside Pegasus, Impératrice Pourpre spoke urgently into her communicator while watching a different monitor. Markov hovered between them, his display screen showing a running ticker; he was responsible for directing the police and surviving military. Pegasus' monitor cycled back to the Tarasque itself, looming above Águila Altíssimo and Taureau Dechaine, as Amun-Vatar formed a light-shield above the three of them. The Tarasque's tail shot forward and struck the light-dome, ricocheting off of it to one side and nearly striking Sabianjeira. A seam formed in the dome. Amun-Vatar's arms moved around to one side in a complicated pattern, and the seam swirled around and began to reseal. The Tarasque brought one paw forward and nudged the dome, pushing it back three meters and leaving a wide gouge in the pavement. Turing and his drones circled the Tarasque's enormous head, flying right past its eyes to pull its attention away from the three heroes as they prepared to retreat out of its way. On Turing's command, a small flight of drones broke away from the trailing group, flanked it to either side, and targeted the Tarasque's tail while it lay across the Creature's back. As the Tarasque shot its tail over its head into Amun-Vatar's dome again, cables reached out from the drones and looped over the tail to wrap around the torso in an attempt to bind the tail down onto its hardened shell. The cables encircled the Tarasque's torso and caught around themselves, just as the drones pulled the cables taught and fired targeted lasers, welding the tables taut. Thus trapped, the tail thrashed to either side without snapping any of the cables or retracting. From below, Sparrow and Knightowl caught grappling hooks on the lower edge of the Tarasque's shell and climbed onto it, followed by Ayilon and Prequinateur. Knightowl slid into the space between the shell and the body while the other three crawled up onto the Monster's back. Prequinateur flung his arms out wide as the Tarasque lurched forward, barely keeping his balance and nearly stumbling over one of the cables pinning the Tarasque's tail down. Ayilon caught his arm. Sparrow's jetpack activated, and he flew further up the Tarasque's body to land just behind its head.
"I'm looking at where the legs meet the body," Knightowl reported presently. "It doesn't appear to have any sort of seam."
"Noted," replied Pegasus, eyes narrowing in concentration as he studied the footage Knightowl sent back to him from the cameras on his helmet. "That is consistent with our observations of the rear as well as the neck. However, this is a mythological creature; it does not appear to follow standard biological processes. My study of the contingent Beasts showed them to have properties similar to a single-celled organism."
"If I weren't standing on the evidence myself, I would think you had lost your mind!" Knightowl hummed contemplatively. "If that's the case, I suppose they weren't individual organisms so much as individual cells which have fused together. I don't know if I can generate sufficient energy… I'm going to set charges and see what happens."
"Will you require exfiltration?"
"No," Knightowl answered curtly, as a distinct speck of light emerged from one of the leg holes near the middle of the Tarasque's shell.
Standing behind Pegasus and leaning against the lab table, Doorman hummed. Pegasus cocked his head in a question, and Doorman pointed at the bottom left part of the screen, at an overpass just in front of the Tarasque along its intended path. "What are they doing on that bridge?"
Pegasus followed where he was indicating, and his eyes widened. Shifting frequency on his communicator, he shouted, "Nagual, Flor de Pascua, pull back! That bridge is unstable!" Nagual looked around in confusion, first into the air and then down at the bridge, a moment before the bridge rumbled and collapsed as the Tarasque's leg pushed forward, knocking it loose. Nagual leapt, transforming midair, and caught Flor de Pascua by the back of her suit with her teeth. They dropped almost a meter before a white shield appeared below them and slowly lowered them to the ground while the Knight flew straight over them, spun around, and brought his sword down to unleash a wave of fire along the Tarasque's side, opposite from where Knightowl had just caught his grappling hooks around a balcony and was hanging on the same level as the Tarasque's head. The building swayed as the side of the Tarasque's shell brushed against it.
Impératrice Pourpre suddenly let out a gasp, and Pegasus spun around, eyes wide, to look at her. She had frozen in place, her mouth gaping partly open. There was a distant look in her eyes as she stared at the lab wall. The butterfly sitting on her shoulder glowed a warm lavender and took off out of the lab, fluttering toward the distant open window. Pegasus watched her with bated breath, unsure of whether he should intervene and only vaguely aware of the continued battle taking place on his monitors. The Tarasque let out a bellow and stepped forward. The building next to it swayed even further, and Knightowl flipped off of it, activating his jetpack as he did so and rocketing away over the Tarasque's back. The lavender Akuma appeared in the drone footage and flew through the open window above where Knightowl had perched moments earlier as the building leaned further back, almost falling over into the one behind it. A butterfly outline flashed around Impératrice Pourpre's eyes, and words spilled out. "Sauveteur, you really should have evacuated days ago, but it's still not too late. Bring your family to the shelter at Sorbonne–Curie. Then, if you're willing, you can evacuate your neighbors."
Pegasus put a hand on her shoulder. She blinked and shook her head, staring at him in confusion. "Is everything okay?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
Impératrice Pourpre nodded, suppressing a shudder. "Y–yes," she answered jerkily. "But there are more people in that building that's about to fall over! It looks like it's about to fall over and take down that entire block!"
Pegasus frowned and adjusted the angle for one of the drones. "The building's foundation has been compromised," he agreed seriously. "And that same phenomenon is evident in the buildings to either side of it." He turned to Impératrice Pourpre. "How many civilians are there?"
She clenched her eyes shut for a moment. "At – at least twenty between the three buildings!" She stared into his eyes with a pleading look. "There's no way Sauveteur can get to all of them in time!"
Pegasus furrowed his brows in thought and glanced back at the lab door. His eyes widened as a plan formed. "Doorman, if Impératrice gives you the locations, can you evacuate families from the battle zone?"
Doorman nodded firmly and grabbed the door handle. "Most certainly."
Impératrice Pourpre quickly gave him an address and apartment number, and he was off through the door in a flash of pink light. Moments later, Impératrice Pourpre began rattling off addresses rapid-fire, alternating between her communicator and her telepathic link to Sauveteur. Pegasus squeezed Impératrice Pourpre's hand gently, and she gave him a thin smile, even as she gave another address to Sauveteur. "You only have a couple minutes left!" she warned him, taking in a deep breath and squeezing her eyes shut.
Pegasus planted a quick kiss on her cheek and turned his attention back to the drone footage being transmitted to the lab from Turing and the drones, still holding Impératrice Pourpre's hand. The battle still did not look good, though the Tarasque had yet to break through the heroes' perimeter. The Tarasque growled, sending another burst of its fire vision at Hato Gozen, who dove out of the way. Instead, the fire struck the roof of a low building which ignited instantly, filling the sky with black smoke that mingled in with the green poison still pooling around the Tarasque and drifting upward on the breeze. The fire ruptured a natural gas pipe, and the store exploded, sending a plume of flame up into the air, nearly singeing Albailier and Olivet in the process. Estrella dove feet-first into the fire, sucking it into her body and holding it for a moment before unleashing it all into the Tarasque's face, rolling to one side and diving beneath the Tarasque as her absorbed energy ran out.
"Fire Unit One, move in," Pegasus instructed, watching the fire truck pick its way through the rubble along the side street parallel to the Tarasque.
The motion drew the Tarasque's attention, and it turned to stare at the fire truck, its eyes burning red, but Iron Maiden and Mecha-Man hit it from opposite sides with sonic cannons. The Tarasque roared and threw its head back. The Lancer jabbed her lance into the roof of its mouth, taking poison breath straight into her face for her trouble. Fire vision burst from the Tarasque's eyes and raked across an entire block, melting metal siding and bursting bricks. With a cry, the Lancer fell backward, away from the Tarasque, coughing, almost losing her grip on her lance as she tipped over and careened headfirst toward the ground. Valkyrie shot up from below and caught the Lancer under her armpits, but the Lancer's weight almost instantly started dragging them both down before the Knight grabbed the Lancer's wrist. A shield appeared around his forearm and deflected a piece of falling rubble off to the side, narrowly missing Valkyrie.
An energy beam pulsed from the police line three blocks back from the Tarasque, hitting the Beast in the shoulder. The Tarasque ignored it, all its focus on the Lancer, Knight, and Valkyrie, until Águila Altíssimo flew past its head and struck it in the eye with his mace. The Tarasque growled, and fire vision burst from its eyes, sending the mace rocketing away through the air in a wide arc. Águila Altíssimo rolled out of the way, and the Tarasque dogged him through the sky with its fire vision. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Knight and Valkyrie quickly retreated over the heads of the heroes, making their way toward the police line. The Lancer shook her head groggily as the Knight set her on the ground behind the closest police car, placing his hand on her shoulder as he did so.
"Lieutenant, what is your situation?" Pegasus asked, toggling the communicator.
"We are holding our position, but I have teams making sure the four blocks behind us are evacuated," Ramus reported.
Pegasus glanced over at Impératrice Pourpre, who was muttering under her breath. Seeing him watching her, she gave him a thumb's up. "Sauveteur has cleared the buildings closest to the Tarasque," she explained, just as two buildings toppled over with a thunderous crash.
Pegasus nodded curtly. "Which buildings still need to be evacuated?" he asked over the communicator. Ramus gave him directions, which he relayed to Impératrice Pourpre and Doorman. "We will take care of them," he assured Ramus.
"Copy," Ramus responded. He paused. "Did you know it could do that? With the eyes?"
Pegasus pursed his lips in frustration. "We did not. I had assumed the references to the flames the mythological Tarasque shot from its eyes were figurative, rather than literal."
"Evidently, they were not." Ramus let out a heavy breath. "Can you hold it?"
A glance at the footage showed that the Tarasque had made minimal progress since he had last checked. However, Ladybug appeared to be tiring. The vines holding the Tarasque in place had broken and been regrown a dozen times, though Bandruí was by now a block-and-a-half behind the Tarasque, nearing the limit of her effective range. Killer Bee released her top from around the Tarasque's legs, and it lurched forward. No sooner had she caught it than the tip began to pulse and throb with Venom. Killer Bee jumped forward and stabbed the Tarasque in the back of the leg, just behind the knee, and it let out a shriek, thrashing its tail against the cords binding it. Pegasus hit a button to change his communicator to the Heroes of Paris. "Cat Noir: take the shot!"