To Rose Tiger: An answer to whether Rose survived comes early in this chapter.

To Lyger 0: He's already made the choice to help her once… and look where that got him.

To yellow 14: Let's just say that once I update the "Deceased Characters" page on the Wiki, it could end up being the longest page… And amazingly enough there are still characters left to be introduced in this Saga (though not necessarily in this story)! I do like the idea of giving Tyran-X some measure of redemption.

As the two surviving space-planes looped around for another strafing run, skimming along only meters above the rooftops and coming in from behind to avoid the Tarasque's gaze for as long as possible, Pegasus' mind raced with possibilities. If they could only hold the Tarasque in place for a few moments, then perhaps the Heroes could hurt it, separate it into its component parts, and defeat it. One of his drones had captured an image of the Tarasque's neck where Cat Noir had struck it with Cataclysm, and the mark still remained; could another concentrated blow wrench it apart?

But the Heroes of Paris had been scattered to the wind. Ladybug and Cat Noir were still racing along the rooftops to get ahead of the Tarasque and rally a counterattack. Rena Rouge and Sent-Bee were working to untangle a traffic jam on the east side of the city. The other heroes were all racing south before the Tarasque. Taureau Dechaine barreled straight into a van loaded with people, pushing it out of the way onto a side street before continuing south with Multiplice. Just north of them, a handful of the Australian heroes landed in the street in front of the Tarasque, between it and the destroyed building where Tyran-X and Miss Pinky had disappeared. A couple blocks behind the Tarasque, Uncanny Valley and Majestia were trying to pull Big Blue out of the rubble of the building into which he had been thrown.

"It's not going to be enough…" Impératrice Pourpre whispered, squeezing Pegasus' hand with an iron grip. "We can't do it."

"Miss Pinky–?"

"–is alive still." Impératrice Pourpre clenched her eyes shut. "I can sense her emotions – she's afraid and in pain, but she's alive. But I already used my Akuma, and Sauveteur is too focused on the civilians in the building next to them, so I can't get to her."

"I could–"

Impératrice Pourpre pursed her lips. "Is this the right time to use it though?" she wondered. "What if you need a portal somewhere else right away, and you don't have time to recharge?"

Pegasus clenched his jaws, staring at the screen. "Maybe there is something the Australian Team can do." Shifting his communicator frequency, he instructed, "We have to immobilize the Tarasque."

"Got it," grunted Joey, tossing his boomerang up in the air and catching it deftly. To couple of his teammates he called, "Freeze-dry!"

Two figures in the uniform of the New Atlantis Sorcerers' Council raised their hands. The road surface beneath the Tarasque's feet vanished in an instant, leaving it to plop into the dirt that had lain underneath the pavement. With a wave, water from the air came together and began to soften the dirt, turning it into mud. The Tarasque's paws sunk deep into the mud, which pooled up to fill the empty hole in the pavement and overflowed into the street. With a squelch, the Tarasque stomped forward, managing to get one of its paws back up onto the road surface, which buckled and cracked under its weight as the mud and water destabilized the roadbed in both directions. The Tarasque bellowed, sending a mouthful of poison air into the group of Australians. One of the sorcerers dropped her hands and turned away, hacking into her fist and doubling over. Phantom threw his ribbon and caught it around the sorcerer, pulling her away from the Tarasque. The ground beneath the Tarasque began to dry out. Before the Tarasque could climb out, Pegasus was surprised to see Koldunya, stumbling toward the Australians from the alleyway down which the Lynchpin-ions had fled moments before, accompanied by Nochnoy Storozh. She wobbled on her feet and leaned heavily on her staff, but managed to stay upright. As the Tarasque started to pull its second front paw out of the mud, she rapped her staff on the ground, and the mud under the Tarasque frothed and shimmered, shifting from dark brown to light grey. The Tarasque's foot held in place, and it growled furiously. The Australians tensed. The Tarasque tugged on each of its feet in turn, but they remained held fast in the transmuted cement.

"It appears restrained," Pegasus reported. Cracks formed in the cement almost immediately. "But it will not hold for long."

"Bunyip, give it all you got!" shouted Joey, pointing at the Tarasque with his boomerang and waving his teammates back with his free hand.

"Mesmerize!" Bunyip swung her pocket watch in front of her, drawing the Tarasque's attention. The Tarasque's head bobbed from side to side a couple of times, but it shook its mane and roared, sending a gout of fire straight at her. Bunyip, eyes widening in shock, immediately started twirling her pocket watch as a shield.

Phantom threw himself at Bunyip, shouting, "Phase," as he caught her around the waist. As they both shifted to become intangible, the fire shot straight through them, hitting the pavement and melting a wide swath of it directly behind them.

Joey wound up and threw his boomerang in a wide loop around the Tarasque's head. "Impulse!" The boomerang struck home on the back of the Tarasque's neck with a sonic boom, just as Cyclone wound up, jumped ten meters into the air, and shot a pulse of pure energy into that same location. The Tarasque bellowed in outrage, shaking its mane and straining against the cement with all six of its paws at once.

Pegasus held his breath, squeezing tightly against Impératrice Pourpre's grip. If they could just hit it with a little more power, maybe they could stand a chance. "Amun-Vatar! Hato Gozen! Majestia! We need more force, right where Joey hit it!"

"I'm – a little busy!" retorted Hato Gozen. On the screen, Pegasus could just barely make her out further south, helping Olivet and Albailier to carry a small family to one of the refugee centers, past a steady line of cars racing east and west. The civilians were fleeing the city entirely.

A red-and-blue rocket shot past them in the opposite direction as Majestia left Uncanny Valley to continue cutting away the rubble burying Big Blue and swung up and over the Tarasque, aiming her heat vision at its neck and driving her fists into the same spot. The Tarasque bellowed and retracted its head into its shell, knocking Majestia off its back. As she fell past, it unleashed its fire vision on her from within its shell, striking her in the chest and launching her a dozen blocks straight south. It pulled all six legs into its shell and slammed the bottom of the shell into the cement. With a rending crack, the cement binding its feet in place finally gave way, and it lifted up, shook the shards out of its fur, and stomped forward.

Joey waved an arm to his team and called his boomerang back to his hand. "Pull back!" he shouted, retreating slowly while keeping his eye on the Tarasque. Throwing his boomerang again, he drew the Tarasque's attention, and it unleashed a torrent of fire, knocking the boomerang off-course so it embedded into the wall of a building. Joey sprinted past the Tarasque on the opposite side and held out his hand. The boomerang pried out of the wall and returned to him, destabilizing the building, which collapsed into the Tarasque's side. The Tarasque shrieked and shot fire vision at the building, gouging a deep hole in the wall and sending debris in all directions. Taking advantage of the distraction, the rest of the Australians started to retreat southward, with Phantom and Cyclone carrying the sorcerers while Hoda half-carried the finally-freed Big Blue, who had revived and returned to his normal size. The two space-planes veered off in opposite directions before flying south toward the Eiffel Tower.

Pegasus clenched his jaw as the Tarasque continued down the street toward the spot where Miss Pinky and Tyran-X had disappeared. "Joey," he asked, "can you rescue Miss Pinky? She and Tyran-X were buried directly in the Tarasque's path."

Joey scanned the area quickly, turned to examine the Tarasque, and finally shook his head as the Tarasque stomped ever nearer. "No can do," he replied, grimacing. "I'm sorry." He gave a longing glance in the direction of the closest downed space-plane. "No time."

Impératrice Pourpre flinched.

Pegasus let out a heavy breath. "Understood. Can you then find Águila Altíssimo's body and recover his miraculous?"

Joey skidded to a stop just past the rubble and barely managed to catch his boomerang as it returned to him, spinning around wildly. "Wait… Águila's dead?"

Pegasus' stomach clenched. "Affirmative. Approximately a kilometer north of your position. We were unable to reach him then."

Joey's eyes widened. "I–there is no way to get there," he answered heavily. "Between the Tarasque and the city and–I have to see to my own people… and we don't even have time for that."

"No – not your fault. Stay safe."

"We're not going to do it…" whispered Impératrice Pourpre. "Everyone's emotions are so–" She shuddered. "There's… there's no hope."

Pegasus put his hands on her shoulders and nodded. If he was going to keep her safe now, this was the way to do it. "I am afraid that you are correct – at least for today," he agreed. His stomach clenched. "We will do it – eventually. Not today; maybe not even tomorrow. But we will stop this Monster. I promise you that. But we need a plan. We need to protect the civilians." She nodded, though without any force. He pulled her close, wrapping one arm around her. Thumbing his communicator, he called Ladybug. "We need to evacuate."

"'Evacuate'!?" she repeated, anger in her voice. "We can't give up!"

"Our success probability at the moment is less than 2%," Pegasus informed her. "Every minute that probability drops. As it is, we only have 40% chances of a moderately successful evacuation!"

"I don't care about the odds!" Ladybug retorted. "There's still a chance!"

"We need to get the civilians out of here!" Impératrice Pourpre insisted heatedly, her volume increasing. "We've thrown everything we have at this thing, and we barely scratched it!" Her grip on Pegasus tightened to the point of pain, and he winced. "People are getting hurt here! People are dying!"

"And if we run, they died for nothing!"

Pegasus squeezed Impératrice Pourpre's hand to quiet her. "Statistically, if we do not evacuate, then more people will die. And it is unlikely to affect the outcome."

Ladybug was silent for a moment. Pegasus could hear Cat Noir's voice in the background. Then – "Fine. We'll evacuate. Set it up."

Pegasus nodded and switched channels. "Doorman? Return to Headquarters." Even before the portal had opened in the door behind him, Pegasus had already switched channels again. "Joey, we are evacuating. Can we seek refuge in New Atlantis?"

Joey hummed doubtfully. "Are you planning to bring those Dark Acolytes?"

"I doubt we could discriminate under the circumstances."

Joey let out a heavy breath. "Sorry, Pegasus, but there's no way we can let those Dark Acolytes into New Atlantis – to say nothing of all these criminals using stolen miraculous."

Pegasus nodded heavily as the portal opened in the door and Impératrice Pourpre tugged on his arm. "I understand." Doorman was waiting at the door, and Pegasus told him, "We need to go to the main refugee center at Sorbonne–Curie."

Doorman nodded, closed the door, and opened it again. "Let's get moving!" he called, beckoning them through.

Pegasus' shoulders slumped heavily as he took one last look at the lab that had been like a second home to him for two years. Hovering near the monitors, Markov started to follow, but Pegasus shook his head. "Stay here and monitor," he instructed the robot. "Clone the feeds to my horseshoe. Inform Roger of our intention."

"Copy, Pegasus!" Markov chirped, bobbing.

"Thank you," he told Markov, his stomach twisting into a tight knot. If Markov stayed, would he ever see him again? But if he left his post and stopped coordinating the heroes and police, how many more would die in the resultant confusion? Markov's view screen showed a line of checkmarks, and he turned back to the monitor screens, waving his manipulating claw to Pegasus as he did so. Nodding regretfully, Pegasus stepped through the portal and hit another button to contact Majestia and Knightowl. "If we evacuate, can we go to America?" he asked without preamble.

"What?" Majestia sounded nonplussed.

"I–well–yes," Knightowl stuttered out. "But Victory will want to verify everyone who comes in. Especially with all these criminals. And we need to find a suitable location. And–"

"We don't have time for all of that!" Impératrice Pourpre interjected heatedly. "We need to open a portal now to get as many people out as possible! Every second we wait means more people will die! More of our friends will die!"

"I'm sorry," apologized Knightowl. "It would take time to set up."

Pegasus worked his jaw in frustration and changed back to his channel with Markov. "Contact Rugindo Leoa and route it to my communicator."

"Copy, Pegasus!" Markov chirped. Within seconds, Pegasus' horseshoe beeped with a video call.

"What do you need?" demanded Rugindo Leoa, transformed and standing against a backdrop of Luanda. "We're a little busy at the moment."

"I would not be contacting you if it were not vital," he told her. "We need to evacuate. Can you give us sanctuary at one of your temples?"

"What?" Her jaw dropped in shock. She stared at him for a long moment, blinking. "Are you serious?"

Pegasus frowned. "Yes. We cannot defeat the Tarasque; we are evacuating as many of the civilians of Paris as possible."

Rugindo Leoa looked away, muttering something under her breath. "I don't – um – hang on." The video went black for a minute before she returned. "Oh, goddamnit… yes. You can bring your people to the shore outside the Angola Temple," she told him. "Not inside… but outside. We'll–we'll figure out something."

Pegasus nodded in relief. "Thank you." Taking Impératrice Pourpre's hand in his own, he called Ladybug. "We are going to Angola. Send people to the Sorbonne–Curie center. Everyone not already seeking refuge in the countryside."

Impératrice Pourpre gave him a small smile, though he could still see the worry around her eyes. She squeezed his hand, and he felt a tingling sensation move through his body before settling on his glasses. "For luck," she whispered, kissing him on the cheek. The worst of the anxiety and fear that had been assailing him for the last thirty minutes began to fade.

Pegasus concentrated on the location he had in mind, as well as the shape of the portal he wished to create. One of the far double-doors of the Sorbonne campus center had turned to pink, and people were already starting to pour through the portal and collect in the campus grass. The sound of the Tarasque's rampage continued, still well north of the river but already partway into the city. They were running out of time. "Voyage!" He punched his fist out, and the portal opened, long and wide, stretching for a quarter-mile in either direction. Through the portal he could see Delwer standing with Isaac, one of the Angolan Temple's guardians. Turning away from the portal to the refugees milling around them, he waved both hands over his head and shouted, "Everyone through the portal!"