To yellow 14: At the same time, if anyone would go off on their own against the Bat, it would be the one who's been fighting him for her entire life.

Kagami woke up a little before Luka that morning with his head pillowed on her chest, breathing evenly. She sighed, running her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp gently. He barely stirred, except to squeeze her chest, humming contentedly in his sleep. Her other hand drifted down to trace his shoulder blades. Longg and Sass both sat on the window ledge, looking out on the city below them. Outside their bedroom door, Kagami could hear soft footsteps from the direction of the kitchenette. She suppressed a yawn.

Normally she was up with the sun, through from the sunlight pouring through the Kwamis' window, it had to be closer to eight at least. Last night they had been out exceedingly late, even by "Patrol Night" standards. After the parade had ended, the party had spilled out of the stands and into the Sambadrome's parade field, with the spectators and participants mingling together in a confusion of bodies. Ryoku had quickly found herself separated from Viperion as she was swept toward one end of the Sambadrome and the crowd pressed him in the opposite direction. They had spent the next hour working their way through the crowd at the Sambadrome before splitting off to search the rest of Rio. While Viperion and O Brasileiro had stayed near the downtown area, Ryoku and K-Man had run several laps along the waterfront to search fruitlessly for clues to Night Bat's whereabouts.

The parties around the city had never really broken up, though by around three in the morning most of them had begun to slow down, with most of the partiers leaving. Ryoku and K-Man had helped a drunken woman find her way back to her hotel, but they hadn't found anything to indicate where Night Bat might have been. When she had reached the room, Luka still hadn't been back yet, so she had gotten ready for bed. Luka had finally arrived after she'd fallen asleep – she had only registered his arrival when his goodnight kiss pulled her out of a dream. Kagami frowned in worry, looking down at the exhausted expression on Luka's sleeping face. Carefully she slid out from under him without him waking up. He nestled back into the comforter. Kagami pressed a kiss to his forehead. With a sigh she pulled on a T-shirt, ran her fingers through her hair, and slipped out of the bedroom to find Rose already awake, sitting at the kitchenette with a cup of tea while Roaar and Daizzi munched on some dried beef. Rose looked up and smiled, holding out a second cup to her.

"Juleka isn't awake yet?" Kagami asked, accepting the cup and sipping it contemplatively.

Rose shook her head. "Nope. She was pretty tired last night, so I figured I'd let her sleep in."

Kagami nodded. "Same with Luka. Paola kept him up for close to an hour so they could talk about plans for today." She glanced around the suite, eyebrows furrowed. "Where's Mira?"

"I'm not sure. She wasn't here when I woke up. Maybe she already went down to get breakfast?"

"Maybe…" Kagami sighed and dropped into the seat across from Rose, idly scratching behind Roaar's ears and eliciting a soft purr from her. "After how late yesterday was, I don't even want to think about staying up that late again to patrol!"

Rose hummed in agreement. "Even still, I'm really glad we all got to come here!" she commented, grinning. "It's been so long since the last time we traveled together!"

Kagami giggled softly, nodding. "Unless you count the concert, when it was everyone, the last time was when we all found out each other's identities," she agreed.

"It's so much more fun with just the heroes."

"Well, I guess everyone on that concert trip was a hero, too," Kagami pointed out, raising an eyebrow. Rose laughed ruefully. "But I know what you mean."

"You've done a lot of traveling, haven't you?" Rose asked. Kagami nodded. "I'm so jealous."

Kagami shrugged. "Traveling with mother is… fine, I guess. My passport got a lot of stamps that way, at least. But whenever I had to go somewhere with her on business it wasn't like I got to see anything exciting. She had meetings with clients, and I had to either wait in the office with an assistant or else go with her to meet the clients' children."

"That's how you met Adrien the first time?"

"Yeah…" Kagami sighed. "That trip was worth it, at least." And it was a good thing, too, considering that their "business trip" in Paris had turned into a four-year commitment! "But if I have my choice, I'd really prefer more of these trips with you and Juleka."

"And Luka?" Rose teased, wagging her eyebrows at her.

Kagami grinned. "Especially Luka," she confirmed as the other bedroom door opened and Juleka came out, stretching her arms and yawning, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, her hair in disarray and a brush in her hand. "Hey!"

"Hey, sis," Juleka greeted her, giving her a quick hug before she plopped onto Rose's lap. Rose hugged her around the waist, and she wrapping an arm around Rose's shoulders before kissing her forehead. Roaar gave her an amused look. Juleka rolled her eyes and started running the brush through her hair. "So this is Carnival, huh?"

Kagami shrugged. "What you were expecting?" she asked.

Juleka frowned. "I was kind of hoping to spend more time just having fun, rather than being transformed the whole time," she began. "And it's a lot different to be watching people have a good time as opposed to just… having a good time!"

Rose hummed, sipping her tea. "Last night would have been more fun if we could just enjoy the party, rather than searching for Night Bat," she agreed. "But if it weren't for Night Bat, we probably wouldn't have been able to come at all! So at least we're here."

Juleka sighed. "I did enjoy listening to the bands last night," she acknowledged. She looked down at Rose with a fond smile. "One of the songs even gave me a little inspiration for our song!"

Kagami smiled as they started discussing music together, enjoying her tea and their company. Since her injury, this had become one of her favorite parts of the day: waking up and having people around who really wanted to talk to her. Sometimes Luka would wake up when she did, and they would eat breakfast together. Other times it was Juleka who was waiting for her in the kitchen. Or else it might be Anarka, a pot of tea already steeping, who sat with her to talk about her day. What a change from her own mother, with whom breakfast felt more like a business meeting.

Twenty minutes later, Luka finally stumbled out of the bedroom, already dressed for the day. Kagami gave him a kiss before going to change, and all four of them made their way down to the hotel dining room, where they found Paola, Kevin, and Hector sitting together in one corner and talking quietly in Spanish. Kagami helped herself to some eggs from the buffet, along with some smoked fish for Longg, and took a seat next to Paola. Luka pulled out the chair next to Kagami, but Juleka sat down before he could.

"Hey!" Luka protested, frowning at her.

"I beat you to it!" Juleka teased, sticking out her tongue at him.

He glared at her halfheartedly. "I wanted to sit next to my girlfriend."

"Well," Kagami replied, wrapping an arm around Juleka's shoulders and raising an eyebrow at him mirthfully, "maybe I wanted to sit next to my sister!"

Luka rolled his eyes and took the seat next to Hector. "Did you let O Brasileiro know the plan for today?" he asked Paola, digging into his eggs and toast.

"I sent him a message," she replied, shrugging. "I don't think he's taking the threat quite as seriously as we are – he suggested taking today off since yesterday was the biggest day. But there is still another parade tonight at the Sambadrome, plus all the block parties, so we can't really take it easy."

Luka frowned. "If he knew about Night Bat, that might change things," he pointed out.

"Maybe," Paola allowed. "If we can find something definitive to say that he's here, we probably should tell him and Mão Curadora."

Kevin scoffed. "Not all that much either of them can do against Murciélago…"

"You've never seen a really good magic user in action, have you?" asked Juleka, arching an eyebrow at him. "Hato Gozen is like a force of nature when she's fighting. And if Mão Curadora's power is anything like hers, I wouldn't discount her."

Kagami frowned. "Speaking of Hato Gozen, have you seen Mira at all this morning?" Kagami wondered, looking between the three Americans.

Paola shook her head. "No…" she replied slowly. "Could she have already gone down to the Sambadrome?"

"She was pretty intent on wanting to find Night Bat last night," Juleka noted, furrowing her brows. "Maybe she decided to sweep the city before meeting us there?"

Kagami pursed her lips, though she couldn't shake the feeling of unease in her stomach. "That's probably it." Luka gave her a reassuring smile, taking her hand from across the table. Kagami smiled back at him and forced herself to finish her breakfast as the conversation turned to other topics.

After they had all finished, Kagami followed the others out to the van for the drive down to the Sambadrome. Mão Curadora and O Brasileiro stood in front of the tent, waiting for them. At a look from Onça Feroz, both K-Man and Alpac-Man set off on their designated patrol routes around the city, joined by O Brasileiro. Ryoku was about to join them when she cocked her head in surprise, frowning.

"Have you seen Hato Gozen yet this morning?" she asked Mão Curadora.

"No, I haven't. Why?"

Viperion raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Ryoku. "Where could she be, then?"

"The plan was for her to stay here to help with the sick people and try to keep her presence a secret …" Onça Feroz pursed her lips. "If she was going to be anywhere, I would have thought it would be here."

"We probably should have checked her location marker sooner." Bengalia pressed a button on the glove with her claws to bring up a map of the city. Seven colored dots appeared, five of them clustered close together. But the red-and-blue dot representing Hato Gozen was nowhere to be seen. Bengalia frowned, her mouth twisting around in confusion. "She's not on the map."

"Could she not be transformed?" Viperion asked.

Ryoku raised an eyebrow dubiously. "Unlikely."

Miss Pinky's eyes widened. "You don't think she could have gone off without us, do you?"

Ryoku frowned. "Where would she go?"

Bengalia furrowed her brows in thought. "We saw some people last night from Magé, and she thought that the sickness could be coming from somewhere near there."

"But why would she have left without telling us?" demanded Miss Pinky, folding her arms. "What if Night Bat gets to her?"

"Don't forget, she's been fighting him for years now," Viperion reminded her. "She can hold her own against him."

"Yeah, but she has us now so she doesn't have to do it alone," Bengalia argued, putting a hand on Miss Pinky's shoulder.

Ryoku facepalmed. "Of course. She's trying to keep us safe."

Bengalia turned on her. "How can you be so sure?"

"It's what I would do," she replied simply.

"So the question is: do we let her?" Viperion raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously we don't," Miss Pinky retorted, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.

Viperion nodded seriously. "I agree. So where do we start?"

Ryoku glanced at Onça Feroz. "Do you think you could drive?"

Onça Feroz nodded curtly. "Should we bring the rest of my team?"

Viperion shook his head. "Leave the others here in case Night Bat is in Rio," he decided. "If we do find him, the six of us should be more than capable of defeating him."