To Lyger 0: Pretty much! The HOP and their allies are pretty beat up, but the African Miraculous Team is all together and itching for a fight at the moment.
Hearing Cavelière Lavande's shout, Rugindo Leoa almost jumped out of her skin in surprise, staring in shock as a butterfly turned lavender in Cavelière Lavande's hand. Cavelière Lavande all but threw the butterfly away from her toward the east, away from the ocean, and the butterfly took wing, fluttering on the breeze far more quickly than any butterfly Rugindo Leoa had seen before. Cavelière Lavande pointed after the butterfly, and Rugindo Leoa nodded briskly. After her years as a miraculous holder and as one of the leaders of the African Miraculous Team, Rugindo Leoa responded without hesitating.
"Keep on this!" Rugindo Leoa ordered, pointing in Angel's direction, even as she broke into a sprint, chasing after the butterfly. In her peripheral vision, she could see people – civilians and heroes alike – turning to stare at her, but she couldn't stop. Whatever was happening, it had to be happening now. Sitting by Knightowl, Sparrow, and Uncanny Valley in front of a group of newly-erected tents, Majestia looked up in confusion as Rugindo Leoa passed, but she only put on an extra burst of speed, whipping past them. As she ran, Rugindo Leoa pulled the communicator earpiece from her short sword's pommel and jammed it into her ear, tapping it to activate it.
The lavender butterfly continued to fly ahead of her, straight toward the edge of the valley. All around her, Rugindo Leoa could see evidence of the camp beginning to take form under the watchful eyes of her teammates and a few others. A small group of men in the uniform of Paris Police were working to set up a large tent around one of the tall rock columns near the center of the valley. To her left, Rugindo Leoa could see Buq Hayij trying to help a young couple, of whom the woman appeared to be pregnant. Buq Hayij unfolded a camp chair and set it behind the woman, gesturing for her to sit.
"Come with me!" Rugindo Leoa called without slowing down. The butterfly was still ahead of her.
Buq Hayij turned in surprise, staring at Rugindo Leoa. Her mouth setting into a thin line, Buq Hayij patted the woman on the shoulder before racing after Rugindo Leoa. "What's happening?" Buq Hayij demanded, the wind around them almost carrying away their words.
Instead of answering, Rugindo Leoa waved to Tenedaw and Rapeto, who were talking to a pair of uniformed Paris police officers, drawing the two heroes' attention. Rapeto nudged Tenedaw and jerked his head toward Rugindo Leoa before taking off after her, Tenedaw right behind him. Rugindo Leoa's mouth set in a thin line. She had four of her teammates with her now; hopefully that could suffice. "I'm not sure," she told Buq Hayij. She gestured toward the Akuma flitting around obstacles in front of them and just approaching the cliff face that marked the edge of the Miradouro da Lua. "Impératrice Pourpre – Cavalière Lavande – was helping us with supplies when she said someone was in danger."
"Sorry," Cavalière Lavande apologized over the communicator. "A girl is in trouble, and I'm not sure how many bad guys there are – there are a few, but there are too many distractions to pinpoint all of them. They're just at the top of the cliff, directly in front of you."
"Understood." Rugindo Leoa nodded as Ngarayap joined them, almost immediately falling to the back of the small team. On reaching the base of the cliff, Tenedaw drove her sai into the stone wall and started pulling herself up just in front of Rugindo Leoa. The butterfly's lead expanded as it flew straight up the cliff face. Rugindo Leoa scanned the area around them. A few of the refugees had wandered out this way, but few people were nearby – no sign of the girl Cavelière Lavande had sensed. Her jaw clenched. They couldn't afford to waste time. "Tenedaw, scout ahead!" she ordered, digging her short claws into the rock and clambering up the side of the cliff right behind Tenedaw.
"Chee-Burst!" With a flash, Tenedaw wrenched her sai out of the cliff, sprang backward off the cliff face in the same motion, soared about five meters out from the cliff, spun through a back-flip, landed on the ground, and sprinted straight at the cliff before running up the wall. In less than ten seconds, she and the butterfly had already disappeared over the edge. Her voice came over the communicator moments later. "Better get up here…"
With the other three right behind her, Rugindo Leoa put on a burst of speed, climbing the cliff hand over hand and cresting the ridge less than a minute after Tenedaw and the butterfly. Her jaw dropped on seeing what awaited them. "Oh… damn."
The clearing immediately at the top of the cliff was empty as far as the roadway, though signs of struggle covered the ground. One of the paths leading down into the valley started a few meters to the left, and long drag marks led from the head of that path all the way to the scrub forest that stretched out along the plateau on the opposite side of the road. The forest itself was awash with brilliant light that cast dark shadows out onto the clearing. Through the trees, Rugindo Leoa could see Tenedaw and a girl who seemed to be made of pure gold, standing back-to-back, surrounded by a group of over a dozen men armed with rifles and machetes. A hail of bullets shot out at Tenedaw and the girl, and instantly a translucent golden dome appeared around them. The bullets struck the barrier, which glowed brighter with each impact, and the bullets dropped to the ground. The moment the fusillade had ended, the dome disappeared and Tenedaw raced out of it toward the gunmen, moving faster than thought. She hooked one of her sai around the closest rifle barrel and pushed it up to one side as the man tried to fire again, sending the bullets wide and using the momentum to jump off the ground, into the next gunman.
The girl held her hands up, and radiant light beamed out of her fingertips and into the eyes of two gunmen, who dropped their weapons and covered their eyes, wincing and crying out in pain. They writhed, their eyes clenched tightly shut against the brilliance. "You thought you would scare me?" the girl screamed. "You thought you would hurt me? I am Corageuse, and I am not afraid of bullies like you!"
Rugindo Leoa frowned, quickly sprinting across the deserted area and into the tree growth, racing toward the battle. Tenedaw rode the next gunman into the ground, knocking him out with the back of her sai. Behind her, Rugindo Leoa could hear the others pulling themselves up onto the cliff and hustling to follow her closer to the battle. Rugindo Leoa held up one hand, and almost instantly the noise behind her disappeared.
Three of the machete-wielding soldiers backed slowly away from Corageuse, eyeing each other warily as they faded back into the forest. Stepping out of the forest right behind them, Buq Hayij looked at them, folded her arms, and cleared her throat. One turned to look and yelped, dropping his machete and staring at her with wide-eyed terror. Seeing his reaction, the other two turned as well, and Buq Hayij immediately punched both of them in the face. As one they dropped to the ground with a wet thud.
With a quick glance at the rest of her team, Rugindo Leoa drew her short sword, pointed it at the group of remaining gunmen, and shouted, "Surrender!" At her shout, one of the gunmen spun around and took a quick shot; easily she deflected it into the tree next to her with her sword. His eyes widened, and he looked around quickly before sprinting for the cover of the forest. Rugindo Leoa groaned in annoyance and hurled her sword after him. The sharp blade flew true and passed right through a tree branch a couple paces in front of the man. The severed branch fell to the ground in his path, and he stumbled over it, losing his balance and falling to the ground. The sword embedded itself several centimeters into a tree's bark deeper into the forest.
On the far side of the small clearing, Ngarayap looped her grappling hook around one of the bad guys and pulled him toward her. Just before he reached her, Rapeto drove his elbow into the back of the man's head, knocking him to the ground. Tenedaw flicked one of her sai into the ground just in front of another gunman, pinning him in place by his foot. The man shrieked in pain.
As the last of the gunmen surrendered, Rugindo Leoa scanned the scene, nodding to herself in satisfaction as the others restrained the men. She let out a breath. There had been reports of a small militia in the area, but she hadn't given those rumors much credence at the time. But now… Looking at the gunmen, all of them appeared to have the same red cloth wrapped around their arm as a kind of uniform. This could cause some problems for them, if…
Rugindo Leoa cocked her head. Something moved in the shadows on the periphery of her vision, a little deeper into the forest. She eyed it carefully, just as the tree branch she had lopped off rose into the air, spun around, and shot straight at her. Rugindo Leoa dove to the side and came up with her fists raised, peering back where the branch had come from, but there was nothing there. Something whistled by her ear, and she ducked, just as the same branch spun around in midair and shot past her again. Finally her eyes settled on a patch of darker shadow billowing toward her from among the trees. "What the hell…"
The shadow reached out toward her, and a swarm of leaves rose in to the air.
"Cur-Lion!" Rugindo Leoa threw out her hand, focusing on a fist-sized rock sitting on the ground behind the shadow. The rock trembled, rose slightly off the ground, and rocketed toward her, straight at the shadow. The shadow, however, deformed as the rock reached it, reforming once the rock had passed through. The leaves fluttered back to the ground, and Rugindo Leoa caught the rock before hurling it through the shadow again.
A keris darted toward the shadow, which evaded the dagger. No sooner had the keris entered its form, however, than Rapeto bellowed, "Bronto-Beam!" A beam of brilliant white light struck the keris, reflecting in all directions off of the polished blade, and the shadow dissipated. Rapeto slowly jogged over to retrieve his keris. Turning to see Rugindo Leoa's confused expression, he explained, "Angel and I faced something like that a couple months ago."
"Telekinetic?"
He shook his head. "It seemed to have my abilities that time."
Rugindo Leoa's eyes widened in concern. "If it mimics miraculous abilities, we need to be careful." He raised an eyebrow and jerked his head toward the valley. "More so than usual," she amended, grimacing.
Looking back over the battleground, Rugindo Leoa found Corageuse sitting between Tenedaw and Ngarayap, trying to catch her breath. Buq Hayij had rounded up the remaining militia fighters against a tree, watching them closely. Rugindo Leoa approached Corageuse, just as a lavender cloud covered her and a large orange-and-black butterfly separated from her hair tie to flutter away into the forest.
The girl looked up at Rugindo Leoa, then back down at her hands. "It's–it's over?"
Rugindo Leoa nodded, giving their surroundings another quick scan. "You're okay now," she assured her. "They won't hurt you now."
"I know… Impératrice Pourpre explained it," she explained. "I–I couldn't understand what they were saying – that was probably the worst part. But I could guess what they wanted to do." She shuddered, hugging her chest and holding her stretched and torn shirt close.
Rugindo Leoa let out a breath and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You're safe now." Nodding to Ngarayap, she continued, "We'll get you back to your family."