To Lyger 0: He's a little preoccupied at the moment; he was nearly crushed when Rugindo Leoa brought a building down on the Ox!
As the last wisps of the Tarasque's dissolution into entropy fluttered away on the breeze, as the red swirl of magic trailed off into the distance, Ladybug wanted nothing more than to remain seated on the newly-repaired curb, her head on her husband's shoulder and his arms around her waist, close her eyes, and sleep for a month. After dealing with the Tarasque for months before it showed up, then getting their butts handed to them as they lost Paris, and then being stuck in Angola for six weeks… she deserved a few minutes of respite once everything was over, right? Someone else could handle all of the other crap, at least for an hour or so. She sensed more than she heard Rena Rouge sitting down next to her, and then Rena Rouge's head landed on Ladybug's shoulder. There was another slight weight shift against Ladybug's side, and Carapace had joined them.
Ladybug sighed, snuggling into Cat Noir's shoulder.
But if she stayed here, what was going to happen around the rest of the city? There were heroes and villains and other super-beings, all running around without any direction. They had all been so focused on this moment, on stopping the Tarasque, that they had never even stopped to consider what they would do if they won! She couldn't just sit here and let everything turn to chaos! She needed to get up. Someone needed to take charge…
With a groan, Ladybug pushed Rena Rouge's head off of her shoulder, twisted her neck to work out the stiffness, and stumbled to her feet. Beside her, Cat Noir stirred, reaching out feebly for her hand, but made no move to rise. Rena Rouge grumbled and stretched her arms to either side.
"Dammit, girl," Rena Rouge complained. "You can't sit still for two minutes?"
Ladybug let out a breath and looked around at what had fifteen minutes before been nothing but rubble. Buildings lined the streets. A few vehicles had been reconstituted and appeared back on the streets. Electric power lines stretched between the buildings. Most of the debris that had cluttered the ground had vanished.
Most, but not all.
The closer she looked, the more evidence she could see of the incompleteness of the Miraculous Cure. The building in front of her was missing half the windows on one side; the building next to it listed heavily to one side. The deep pothole which had nearly tripped Carapace remained. Ladybug frowned. Tikki had warned her that she might not be able to repair all the damage caused by the Tarasque, that it might be too powerfully magical. And if Tarascon was any indication, they still had a lot of work to do if they were going to rebuild. But as she looked around the area she felt some of her anxiety beginning to vanish. She wasn't alone in this – she was surrounded by friends, new and old.
Down the street from them, next to a hotel which had lost its entryway, Lupa Gris supported Onça Feroz by the arm, standing with a shocked look on her face in front of a figure that Ladybug had despaired to ever see again: Dino-Dan, somehow with his miraculous returned. Joey had stopped next to the downed space-plane and was helping the pilot out, joined by Biladurang and Bunyip. Majestia and Knightowl stood a ways away from the others, conferring with Victory while a man with eagle wings hovered over their heads. A pair of New Atlantis sorcerers, joined by Libertad and Rugindo Leoa, were working to dig Kamihenyo out from underneath one of the remaining piles of rubble. The heroes were gathering in smaller groups all throughout the area. And King Monkey had jogged over to where Impératrice Pourpre stood in the middle of what was now an intersection, holding the hand of–
"Pegasus!? What the hell, man!?"
Ladybug's jaw dropped.
Cat Noir slowly pulled himself up off the ground, twisting his head in either direction, and groaned. "Did someone get the number on that bus?" he mumbled, blinking owlishly and massaging his forehead. He caught sight of Pegasus and rubbed his eyes, his mouth hanging open in shock. "I must've gotten hit a lot harder than I thought…"
Ladybug grabbed his hand and dragged him over toward Impératrice Pourpre. Pegasus turned to look at them in surprise, moments before Ladybug tackled him, holding him with a hand on either side of his face, and examined him closely. "Is it really you?" she demanded.
"Um… yes?" he answered sheepishly, fear in his eyes under Ladybug's intense stare.
Impératrice Pourpre, still holding his hand, nodded fervently. "It's–it's really him! He's–he's alive, Mar!"
"You were stepped on! You were crushed! H–how!?"
"It was the debris around me," he explained. "The Tarasque's paw did not come down entirely on me, so I avoided the worst of it. My ankle took the brunt of it, so I had some difficulty with mobility for the last six weeks."
"But you didn't try to contact us!?" Cat Noir folded his arms, staring at Pegasus incredulously.
Pegasus shook his head. "We tried! But no communication methods were available – even the miraculous communicators could not extend far enough when la Paonne and Nabatala attempted it."
Ladybug blinked, nonplussed. "'Nabatala'?"
He nodded. "The Guardian chose to hand out another miraculous in order to assist us in maintaining order in Paris."
"'Us'?" Impératrice Pourpre blinked.
"Your father and the SLD – they stepped up in a major way." He nodded to where Ladybug could see Ramus, Gouger, and Ray standing together with le Tirreur and a woman in a dark jacket, conversing with Anansi and Volpinax. "The odds were not in our favor to protect the city without assistance from the SLD, along with the new heroes."
Ladybug nodded slowly. "You'll need to tell us all about it once we're all home." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sent-Bee slowly hobbling toward them, her helmet missing and hair in complete disarray. With a gasp, Ladybug released Cat Noir's hand and sprinted to Sent-Bee, pulling one of her arms over her shoulders and half-carrying her over to the others. "We need a little help over here!" Ladybug called anxiously.
Impératrice Pourpre gasped, her eyes widening.
"I'm fine, Mar," Sent-Bee grumbled, though without making any move to protest as Ladybug laid her down on the street.
In moments, Igisigukiza knelt next to Sent-Bee, placed a hand on her forehead, and intoned, "Healing Hands." Sent-Bee groaned, rolling her shoulders and flexing her ankle, before nodding her thanks. "I will see what I can do for the others," he promised before moving away.
"Any chance we can keep him around?" Sent-Bee wondered wryly, raising an eyebrow at Impératrice Pourpre only to catch sight of Pegasus. She gave him a disbelieving look. "What the– Where's that goddamn Swan? I think I still have a concussion!"
Shaking her head, Ladybug looked around at the other heroes who had begun to collect together closer to the center of the city. Many of them still sported injuries and bruises, despite the Miraculous Ladybug Cure's magic. Ladybug's stomach clenched. Hato Gozen and Olivet were moving around through the assembled heroes, healing the worst of the injuries, joined now by Igisigukiza and the Knight. Kamimizu sat next to Kamihenyo, whose face was twisted up in an expression of pain; Hato Gozen knelt beside her, whispered something that sounded like Japanese, and placed a hand on Kamihenyo's thigh.
"It's–it's over," whispered Lupa Gris, disbelief in her voice. She placed her hand on Ladybug's shoulder, letting out a heavy breath. "Pablo, he–he would be relieved, if he knew we had won."
"I think he does." Ladybug smiled sympathetically and gave her a hug. "We would never have won today without you and your sacrifice. That goes for all our friends," she added, as Joey, Rugindo Leoa, and Jueran Eazim approached them. Rugindo Leoa held her wrist close to her chest, and Joey sported a new cut above his eye, but they otherwise seemed to be unharmed.
"What the bloody hell happened there?" Joey demanded, a bewildered look on his face. "That wasn't even close to the plan!"
Ladybug's mouth set in a thin line. "Killer Bee… went rogue," she explained acidly. "So much for putting the greater good above her own selfish desires."
Cat Noir growled. "If I ever see her again, there won't be anything left," he promised, black energy glowing around his claws.
"We can't trust those villains – those 'Lynchpin-ions' – any further than we can throw them," Joey grumbled.
"That is not entirely accurate," Jueran Eazim responded slowly, arching an eyebrow at him and nodding across the street. "Several of them were instrumental in helping us – I watched Cerna and even the Deaconess help Rapeto and Cackle to pull the Ox's attention away from Initiate Aline at the end."
"Mecha-Man helped us out a lot back in Angola," Sent-Bee added. "And from what Iron Maiden says, the Engineer restocked her ordnance for today."
"I'm inclined to call them the exception, rather than the rule," Joey growled.
"Regardless, that does not have any bearing on Killer Bee herself," Rugindo Leoa pointed out, frowning.
"Frankly," Ladybug interrupted, "if she ever shows her face in Paris again, I don't care: I will kill her on sight after today."
"Not a very 'heroic' attitude to take, Mar." Sent Bee smirked, though the smirk turned into a scowl. "Besides, you aren't the one who's going to kill her. I get first dibs."
"Maybe I'll flip you for it," Ladybug allowed, giving her an evaluating look.
"Need a coin?" asked Cat Noir.
"Who said anything about 'flipping' a coin?"
"I suppose that is your problem to solve, chica." Lupa Gris gave Ladybug an amused smile, albeit tinged with sadness and pain. "I am glad that we have recovered one of our stolen miraculous, though before we leave I would like to see the other returned…" Her gaze drifted across the battlefield to where the Bearator was talking to Elettrisicario.
Ladybug frowned, sighing heavily, and gave the two Lynchpin-ions an evaluating look. "As much as I would like to… after they helped us today, I wouldn't sit right with me for us to turn on them right now."
Lupa Gris hummed, a dark look in her eyes. "Very well. Though I will hold you to your promise to recover it for me, Ladybug."
"I will," she promised. "You have my word on that."
A shadow passed over them as one of the newcomers landed beside Cat Noir. "I can't believe it!" he enthused, his wings retracting into his back. Ladybug cocked her head, studying him closely. The man – probably around their own age – carried a golden mace in one hand, a slingshot tucked into his belt. "The Heroes of Paris in the flesh!"
"You have something of mine," Lupa Gris informed him. He started, looking over at her in confusion, and she pointed at the eagle feather lanyard around his neck. "That was my husband's miraculous."
"Huh? You mean this?" He fingered the Eagle Miraculous. "I didn't steal it or anything; only found it in the ruins of Paris. I didn't want it falling into the wrong hands, so I held onto it. But I'm guessing you must be the Wolf that Atsaa is always talking about?" When she nodded, he grabbed the miraculous. "Atsaa, Perry, Divide." With a flash of golden light, his suit changed and he pulled off the miraculous, passing it to Lupa Gris.
"Thank you," she told him, clutching the miraculous to her chest tenderly.
Ladybug hummed. "You have an Atlantean Miraculous." He nodded. "We need to talk once we get back to Paris."
"Absolutely!" he promised, nodding eagerly. "Anything I can do to help the Heroes of Paris!"
"Pity the other Atlantean Miraculous can't be so easy," Sent-Bee muttered.
Shrugging, Ladybug turned toward the Lynchpin-ions, only to start in surprise on seeing the tallish figure in a white toga walking toward them along with several others, all dressed similarly. "Do you know who they are?" she asked Pegasus, who shook his head.
As the leader reached them, Cat Noir held out a hand. "Thank you for your assistance here…?"
"'Zeus'," he responded, taking Cat Noir's hand with a grin. "And please: it was an honor for us to fight alongside you."
"And you are… the Zeus," deadpanned Sent-Bee, arching an eyebrow.
Zeus shook his head. "Er… Not exactly. Name's Stephanos; I'm a University student in Athens. My friends and I were out hiking a few weeks ago when we found a… device of some kind that gave us these powers. As for what it is or where it came from…" He shrugged. "If you know anything about it, I'm open to ideas."
"Describe the object," Jueran Eazim instructed him, stroking his chin while eyeing Zeus and his companions closely.
"Rounded, oblong, silvery…" Zeus held out his hands to show the size.
Joey furrowed his brows. "Doesn't that sound like a few Atlantean artifacts?" he asked, turning to Jueran Eazim. "We only have descriptions in our library, but–"
"It does, indeed," confirmed Jueran Eazim, nodding. "You will have to lead us to where you found this device so we can see it for ourselves."
"Easy enough to do."
Ladybug hummed. "Thanks for your help here. We should keep in touch from now on," she told him as Sent-Bee withdrew a plain business card from her pocket.
"I look forward to it," Zeus answered, slipping the card into a fold of his toga before moving off toward the Knight and the Lancer.
"So…" Joey frowned, raising an eyebrow at Ladybug.
Ladybug let out a breath, swallowing anxiously. "I know I've said this already – a couple times in the last month – but I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said the things I said. I was angry, I was upset, and I was stressed out. I lashed out."
Joey nodded. "I apologize, also. We should have trusted you and communicated better; if we had, perhaps a lot of drama could have been avoided. But it was a stressful time; I won't hold anything against you for reacting in stress!"
Jueran Eazim pursed his lips. "All the same, there are things we still need to discuss."
Rugindo Leoa scoffed. "Like how you are planning to get all of your refugees out of my priceless national landmark?"