Standing near the edge of the bubble of fresh air just south of the Tarasque, Killer Bee's mouth fell open, staring at the devastation around her in horror. Many of the buildings around her had been sheared off, leaving behind only a single standing wall; far more near the center of the city had been reduced to rubble in the destruction. Behind her she could hear the sounds of some of the non-miraculous users – Sent-Bee and la Gymnaste and the Deaconess and others – picking through the ruins for survivors. A few had been pulled out… but Killer Bee could guess that those would be the exceptions. Tarascon had been utterly obliterated – if Ladybug's magic couldn't repair the city, then it might never be rebuilt. The Tarasque had turned the city into a nest, to the point that there was almost nothing of Tarascon left standing. And if this is what Tarascon looked like before they attacked the Tarasque, what must Paris look like now, after the Tarasque's transit of the city, after both the Heroes of Paris and her Lynchpin-ions had fought it every step of the way?
The heroes and others spread out in all directions around Killer Bee, edging forward, closer and closer to the Tarasque, approaching the outer limits of its nest. Above her, Iron Maiden and Mecha-Man hovered close to the roof level of the tallest buildings. Stepping through the periphery of the nest, Killer Bee steeled herself, top clutched tightly in one hand, waiting for the signal. From this close, the Tarasque appeared, if possible, even more massive, even more terrifying, than it had in Paris. The Scorpion tail flicked out in all directions over its hard-shelled back. Looking up at the Monster, Killer Bee's breathing turned shallow – the gasmask she had been issued was constricting her breathing, making it had to draw in a full breath. Ladybug must have tampered with it! She was trying to suffocate her before Cavalière Lavande could send her an Akuma! Did she have the power to match this horror? How could she face this thing – if Cavalière Lavande didn't give her an Akuma?
And Ladybug thought that she could stop it?
"Fire!"
The Tarasque bellowed in rage as fire and energy pulses crashed into it from all sides. Missiles and rockets exploded on impact with its hardened shell. Flames licked at its skin, its mane glowing orange and gold in the mix of sunlight and fire. Suddenly, one of the Tarasque's paws stamped on the ground. Poison spewed from its mouth and nostrils, mingling with the poison surrounding it and churning the air. Slowly it turned to examine the mass of heroes, villains, and others surrounding it on all sides, before its gaze turned toward the sky, finding the red-and-blue figure hovering to its left. Fire erupted from its eyes, straight at Majestia, who dropped a dozen meters to skim just above the poison gas and rocketed toward the Tarasque, one fist pulled back to strike. The Tarasque shook its mane and drew back its head, lowering its gaze and redirecting its fire vision at Majestia, who swept her legs forward to stop in midair and unleashed her own heat vision on it. The two beams connected in the middle and deflected in all directions, sending gouts of fire through the fresh air bubble in which the heroes and others had gathered. Spurts of flame erupted away from the fire burning off the oxygen intermittently and sending Acolytes and Initiates and others diving in all directions to avoid them. A stray beam shot directly at the Deaconess, and Cerna sprang in front of her, angling her battleaxe to deflect the flame back toward the Tarasque. The beam narrowly missed threading the gap between two buildings, instead striking the edge of one wall and sending chips of masonry flying.
As Majestia peeled away from the Tarasque, focusing its attention in her direction, Cat Noir shot up higher into the air, spun around, and dropped down onto the Tarasque's back. Its tail lashed out at him repeatedly, but he rolled to the side just in time, and the tail ricocheted off of the shell, deflecting in all directions away from him. Hovering behind the Tarasque, the larger of the two space-planes shot forward as the Tarasque struck at Cat Noir, and the space-plane's rear hatch fell open. Sluicing to one side and drifting around in a tight spin to face its rear toward the Tarasque, a dozen heroes spilled out through the opening, one of whom waved her arms, forming a large bubble of fresh air around the group as they descended quickly into the poisoned air. Still in midair, another hurled a boomerang which struck the Tarasque's back leg with a sound like an explosion, eliciting a terrifying roar from the Monster. Turning away from Majestia, the Tarasque stomped around in a tight circle, moving to confront the new threat even as its tail darted out, narrowly missing Majestia.
"Embiggen!" In front of Killer Bee, Big Blue grew until he stood almost a third of the Tarasque's height, growing rapidly as the Tarasque turned in their direction. Hauling back one fist and lumbering forward out of the fresh air bubble, Big Blue jumped and punched the Tarasque in the chin just as it came around to face them. Dodging the Taraque's tail, Majestia sent her heat vision into the Tarasque's side as it turned. At the same time, the Tarasque's fire vision raked across the city, passing through the group of assembled heroes.
Carapace held up his shield above his head as the fire reached him, pulling Rena Rouge close and covering them both until the Tarasque's vision had passed. Beside him Multiplice twirled her jump rope to block the fire vision; next to her Geber spun his spur. As the fire continued down the line, one of the African miraculous users shimmered a dark blue and sprinted forward, passing straight through the fire vision, racing with two others right behind her to close the distance to the Tarasque. Down the line, Elettrisicario shielded himself with his lightning rod, deflecting the fire away from himself and the Bearator; a couple of the American miraculous users did the same.
Quickly the fire approached Killer Bee, who gasped on feeling its heat. Close behind her, the Deaconess and la Gymnaste were working feverishly to free a young boy from the wreckage of his house. Killer Bee grimaced, tensing to dive forward, out of the path of the fire. It was getting closer, but she could still move out of the way easily. No one could blame her for keeping herself safe – she was the key to stopping the Tarasque, after all! No one could blame her… but could she live with those consequences? If she saved herself, she would be responsible for Nadine's death. Gritting her teeth, Killer Bee tensed, set her legs, and spun her top in a tight loop, just as the fire reached her. "Move! Now!" she yelled over her shoulder as the fire vision pushed against her top. The string around her finger warmed, even before the fire reached the center of the shield and connected with her finger directly, heating her finger almost to the point of pain in spite of the miraculous magic covering it. The fire threatened to push her back, even as she forced one foot forward, leaning into the fire vision for leverage. Even with all of that, she slid almost two centimeters back through the debris beneath her feet. And then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the fire vision moved on, and Killer Bee stumbled forward, catching herself just before she lost her balance and hit the ground.
La Gymnaste gasped, her eyes wide in shock. "You saved us!" she squealed. "That was amazing!"
Killer Bee started, turning back to look at her. La Gymnaste, Deaconess, and the boy they had rescued all huddled together behind her back. Killer Bee blinked. "I–uh–"
"Team Two: hold it in place!" ordered Ladybug, still flitting around above them on her translucent insect-like wings.
"Oh, thank god!" muttered Killer Bee, sprinting forward, out of the pocket of air in which she had been standing.
Around her, a dozen others spread out around the Tarasque. Multiplice, Maroodiga Cawlan, the Hound, Cadaabta Ey, and several other miraculous users all looped their tools over the Tarasque's shell, holding it in place as Velocimonio, Tenedaw, and Mercury sprinted around it in concentric circles, long metal cords trailing behind them from enormous spools which they had carried with them from Angola. The Tarasque shrieked, straining against them as they worked to bind it in place. Its head turned down to find Tenedaw as she paused her sprint temporarily, its eyes burning with fire. Suddenly, just as the fire poured down at her, Castutrice jumped in front of Tenedaw, spinning her oar in a shield and deflecting the fire away, redirecting it into the ground between the Tarasque's own paws. Iron Maiden swooped low, through the cloud of poison gas, just above the fire vision, and fired off a spray of rockets that burst apart in the Tarasque's eyes in a spray of color, drawing its attention away from Tenedaw. The Tarasque turned toward Iron Maiden, even as Mecha-Man pumped a massive energy blast into its side. Too focused on Iron Maiden, however, its fire vision pursued her as she wheeled about and shot away, up and out of the poison gas. It nearly caught up to her as she ascended, but she rolled to one side, narrowly avoiding the fire vision as it raked below her. The Tarasque turned to follow her, and she yelped as the fire clipped one of her arms. Ladybug dropped from twenty meters above, spinning her yo-yo as a shield, and placed herself between Iron Maiden and the Tarasque, deflecting the fire vision away from Iron Maiden though she was herself launched higher into the air. Iron Maiden swung around and retreated, ducking behind the buildings demarcating the edge of the Tarasque's nest for shelter. Leaning backward, Ladybug furled her wings and fell away from the Tarasque's fire, plummeting halfway to the ground before unfurling her wings, catching herself, and rocketing toward the Tarasque.
Killer Bee's stomach clenched tightly as she raced around behind the Tarasque, her top clutched tightly in one hand. The time was coming soon – either they would defeat the Tarasque, or they would not. Either Ladybug would be able to undo all the damage, or she wouldn't.
Either she would freeze the Tarasque in place, or she wouldn't.
Ladybug spun around through a tight loop, flung her yo-yo around the Tarasque's two front legs, and flew beneath its body, skimming the ground, to land beneath the base of its tail. The tail thrashed wildly in all directions, catching Majestia in the gut and launching her through the air. Multiplice withdrew her jump rope from around the Tarasque and threw it over its back to pin its tail along the length of its shell. The tail thrashed about, threatening to pull free. Ladybug dug her heels into the ground straining against the Tarasque's pull. Finding Killer Bee, Ladybug called, "Now! I don't know how long we can hold it!"
At once, even before she had time to react, a lavender butterfly melted into the Bee Miraculous in Killer Bee's hair. As the energy surged through her, lighting up all of her extremities with power, she stretched her arms out to either side and shrieked in exhilaration. Her eyes flashed with gold, almost feeling as though electricity danced around her corneas. She had felt the power surge of an Akuma on many occasions under Hawk Moth, but this – this was on a whole new level. The power of the Butterfly melded with that of the Bee, enhancing it and ramping it up to an inordinate level, far beyond anything she had ever felt before! Squeezing her top, she grinned, flexing her arms. There was no question: she could easily immobilize the Tarasque with this much power! Hell, with this much power, she could immobilize any number of targets at once!
"You be a good girl with this," warned Cavalière Lavande, the voice echoing loudly in her head.
"Yeah, yeah," Killer Bee retorted. "Don't worry about me." Eyes narrowing in concentration, Killer Bee sprinted around the perimeter of the mass of heroes and villains, threading between a few of the United Heroes and vaulting over one of the African miraculous users before reaching the Monster's back and racing in as close to the Tarasque as she could. Finally, she stopped only a meter away from Ladybug, holding her top in her hand, the tip pulsating with energy.
"Do it!" grunted Ladybug, all her attention on the Tarasque. One of the metal cables wrapped around the Tarasque's legs squealed as it strained against its bindings. Ladybug stumbled forward before bracing herself. "I can't hold it forever!"
Killer Bee paused on hearing the desperation in Ladybug's voice. Her mouth set in a thin line, her eyes narrowing further as she glared at Ladybug. After everything… "What is this?" she scoffed, folding her arms. "Miss Perfect can't do everything? Before you were too good for me, too good to let me have anything. But now you actually need me?"
Ladybug cocked her head, almost losing her grip on the yo-yo's string. "What are you talking about? Is this really the time–?"
But Killer Bee was past caring. Four years of pent-up frustration finally all boiled to the surface as she cut Ladybug off. "Don't worry: I can take care of the Tarasque, all by myself. But first–" she stepped closer to Ladybug, her eyes flashing "–I realize that you just aren't enough to stop this thing. You never were the perfect little hero that everyone else thought you were – oh, I always knew that, but this just made it so much clearer. You aren't strong enough to save anyone! So maybe it's time to step aside and let someone else do it!" Without hesitation, she stabbed Ladybug with her top.