To Lyger 0: Hmm… that is somewhat unusual…
Cara sat on the edge of her bed, elbows on her knees, staring at the trident that she had rested against one of the tent poles after training with Socomem the day before. Not for the first time – and certainly not for the last – she wondered why she was even here. She had been perfectly content with her life: good job doing work she enjoyed, good friends, all of it. But then Estevão had seen pictures on the Ladyblog of the Owl and asked why they couldn't do that. So she had worked through her lunch break every day for two weeks, turning her bluebottle venom research toward a practical application. The two of them had started off small; they had only been seen in public a handful of times in their first few months, until a couple pictures got online and people started to notice them.
Then, close to a year ago, she had run into Carapace while out on patrol around Lisbon. He had put her in contact with Pegasus and from there the Ladyblogger, who had given them even more exposure with an interview on the Ladyblog. That's when they had decided to ally with the Heroes of Paris – their first "allies" in Europe. At the time, it had been understood that she and Estevão wouldn't be expected to fight anyone too powerful – certainly not miraculous users. In fact, Carapace had made it clear that his concern was more that they would end up fighting a rogue miraculous user and need to call on the Heroes of Paris for backup – a concern she had shared. They had gone to Rouen to help Carapace against a group of villainous miraculous users (and others) a few weeks later, but even then they had only been fighting the so-called "Dark Acolytes of the Mundane." Dangerous, but a single good hit with the synthetic jellyfish venom on the tines of her trident had been enough to paralyze them until the police arrived.
And then the German forest battle had happened, and the Heroes of Paris had called them in, along with the Heroes of the UK, to stop the Bear. Precious little good she had done that time… She had tried to use her venom on the Beast several times, but it had done absolutely nothing except to enrage it. They had been completely outclassed against it, and that had cost A Saltadora her legs; only Cara's quick thinking and some help from the Knight had saved her life. And yet, they had succeeded that time. Only for the Bear to break free again and merge into the Tarasque. And if the Bear had been immune to her venom, the Tarasque had been five times as immune to it. For all the good she had done in that fight, she might as well have stayed back in Lisbon and watched it on television.
Not that much of Lisbon had survived the Lion's passage.
"What's your plan for today?" asked Valkyrie, wearing an ill-fitting t-shirt and shorts that she had scrounged from one of the many shipments of clothing that had come in over the last month. She had complained for almost a week when her bra wire snapped and she couldn't find one that fit properly. Cara herself had give up on trying to find anything that would fit and wasn't 20 years out of fashion. And yet, under the circumstances, Cara thought they were lucky to even have new clothing; when they had fled from Paris with nothing but their suits, civilian clothes had been the last thing on their minds. With a groan, Valkyrie stood up from her own cot and stretched her arms to either side, watching Cara curiously.
Cara shrugged noncommittally. It was the same old question, with the same paucity of options. "Patriota said that there's supposed to be a meeting later for the team leaders. Other than that… Delwer says that there are some especially venomous snakes in the woods around the valley. I think I might try to capture one, extract its venom, and see if I can use it to improve the efficacy of my own." She frowned, her eyes drifting to the trident leaning against one of the tent poles. "Not that it'll do much good against the Tarasque… But what about you, Val?"
Valkyrie's cheeks turned pink. "Knight said that he had a meeting later, too," she answered. "I suppose it's probably the same one. But if I can, I'll just spend as much of the day with him as I can."
"It's nice that your boyfriend is here." Cara raised an eyebrow dubiously. "Although you still haven't explained that sudden change. I thought he said he had a girlfriend back in Berlin. So what happened there?"
Valkyrie flushed. "He… um… he does. Me. We were already dating as civilians before all of this happened – since the Bear. He didn't realize who I was – not until we got here and I told him."
Cara blinked. "Did you already know?" Valkyrie looked away. Cara sighed heavily. "Kind of scummy to lie to him like that." She frowned. "If I had someone like that… I just don't know if I could live with that kind of secret."
Valkyrie's shoulders slumped, and she nodded guiltily. "I know," she admitted. "I found out by accident. Then, when we started dating, I wanted to tell him, but it just never felt right. And then… well… this happened, and I knew I couldn't live with myself if something happened to either of us and I had never told him the truth." She sighed. "I'm just lucky he forgave me for it."
Cara chuckled. "'Lucky' is right. Not only do you have someone to face the apocalypse with, but the guy's basically built like a tank!"
Valkyrie smiled warmly, her hand drifting to clutch the medallion she wore around her neck. "I know." She cocked her head to one side. "Oh! I think I hear him outside! I'll see you tonight, Cara."
Cara nodded to her as she left. At first she had wanted to steer Valkyrie away from shortening "Caravela" to "Cara," but as she was opening her mouth to say it, she had realized that it would be more suspicious if she did that. So "Cara" and "Val" they were. She hummed wryly. Perhaps the secrecy wasn't necessary, but by now it had become habitual – the last remnant of normalcy left to them, now that they were living in Angola as refugees after fleeing Europe to escape an eldritch monster!
Slowly, she started to don her hero outfit, torn though it had gotten between the Tarasque fight and the month of roughing it in the refugee camp. In Hero Town, it was hardly necessary to suit up – only Estevão and Socomem were even from Portugal, and she trusted Socomem not to betray her secret if he found out, assuming that he even knew her as a civilian. She wore her suit for patrols and the like, but then it was about being recognized than secrecy. But for today, apart from the meeting this morning, what was the point? It wasn't necessary, just to hunt around for snakes – it wouldn't give her any protection if one tried to bite her. But at least she felt stronger while suited up.
"Ah, you're ready to go!" O Patriota poked his head into the tent, and Caravela jumped, spinning around and throwing her shirt at his face.
"You need to knock, irmão!" she chastised him, sliding her mask-cap over her hair and glaring. "What if I'd been changing still? Or worse, what if Valkyrie had been changing?"
He shrugged unrepentantly. "You're always up early, and you're always dressed for the day by now. And as for Valkyrie, I passed her and the Knight on the way here."
Caravela frowned, shaking her head in annoyance. "Then knock anyways." She furrowed her brows. "Ready for what?"
"For the meeting – it's starting in just a few minutes."
Caravela sighed and reached for her trident before thinking better of it. She was almost out of her synthetic venom, and they were only going to be meeting with a group of other heroes. What was the point of bringing the trident? Following O Patriota out of the tent, she hustled to catch up with him as he strode down the wide avenue toward the large tent near the center of Hero Town, where they found a pair of people wearing the robes of the Miraculous Guardians standing outside, alongside a miraculous hero that Caravela didn't recognize. O Patriota nodded to them before stepping inside, Caravela close behind him.
On stepping inside, Caravela's jaw dropped. There were already 20 people inside, sitting and speaking quietly. She recognized several of the Europeans – Ladybug and Cat Noir, the Teutonic Knight, Koldunya, and all three of the British heroes. Her eyes stopped on the two men sitting at one of the far tables, flanked by a pair of Guardian Initiates. The Prior she remembered from the fight in Rouen, though she couldn't place the man sitting next to him. Four other miraculous heroes sat together by Ladybug and Cat Noir, one of whom held a newborn – that had to be Lupa Gris. Majestia and Knightowl were the most famous members of the United Heroez. But as for the others, Caravela vaguely remembered seeing most of them while they fought the Tarasque, though she couldn't remember any of their names. O Patriota led her across to a table that was unoccupied apart from O Brasileiro – one of the few others in the camp who spoke Portuguese.
Once they had taken their seats, Ladybug cleared her throat, and the noise in the tent died down. "Thank you all for coming," she announced. "I am sorry that we haven't explained any of this before, but we didn't really have any good news to share before yesterday. But now we do: we may have found the key to defeating the Tarasque, a miraculous that the Heroes of the UK recovered. All we need to do now is figure out who's going to use it."
Caravela gasped in shock as quiet whispers broke out all around the room. The rumors were true? A way to defeat the Tarasque? If they could do that, then this entire months-long nightmare could finally end! "That's amazing!" she whispered to O Patriota, who nodded firmly.
"Another miraculous?" demanded the Prior, pursing his lips. "Do we need another one?"
"The more miraculous – or at least of the right miraculous – that we can bring to bear against this threat, the more likely we are to stop it," pointed out one of the miraculous users.
"So you say." The Prior folded his arms. "Have you stopped to consider that the prevalence of miraculous is what has drawn the Tarasque out?"
"No. I haven't," Ladybug informed him curtly. "I don't know what caused it. But I do know that the miraculous hold a key to defeating it."
The Prior scoffed, and the man sitting next to him elbowed him in the side.
Cat Noir's eyes narrowed. "Need I remind you that you are only here because your people helped us in Paris?"
"We understand that," the other man assured him, holding out his hand in a placating gesture. "I assure you, I want nothing more than to stop this thing and return to Paris."
Ladybug huffed. "Right. So. We have a miraculous that might help us stop the Tarasque."
"So what's the downside?" called O Brasileiro.
"We don't know who should use it," replied Cat Noir, frowning. "This particular miraculous – both the miraculous that the Heroes of the UK brought back, really – they're especially dangerous."
"We really don't want to be using the Stingray Miraculous," interjected the Hound, shuddering. "That thing is a piece of work. It will mess you up badly."
"There's another one?" muttered the Prior, just loud enough for Caravela to hear.
"But if they are so dangerous," Knightowl pointed out slowly, "then shouldn't we use them? Against a threat of this magnitude, it seems silly not to use every weapon in our arsenal."
"I just got touched by the Stingray's power," the Hound began, his eyes widening. Iron Maiden covered his hand with her gauntlet. "Just that touch should have sent me to hospital."
Knightowl hummed. "I understand that. But that's all the more reason to use it against something like the Tarasque. If it is in the hands of someone that we trust, it is perfectly safe, right?"
The Hound shook his head adamantly. "No way. The only one I would trust with the Stingray is Cat Noir. And even then…"
"I mean, I could unify the Stingray," Cat Noir began, frowning, "but–"
"But that's not what's important right now," Ladybug finished. "We can decide on someone to hold that miraculous later."
"But who's going to make that decision?" asked one of the miraculous users, raising an eyebrow.
Lupa Gris cleared her throat, shifting the baby in her arms as she started fussing. "It's okay, mi vida," she murmured quietly as the baby cried. She frowned, leaning forward to stand while looking toward the pavilion exit.
Quietly, Caravela moved over to the table with the miraculous users, gestured to the baby, and whispered, "May I?"
Lupa Gris swallowed nervously, her eyes drifting between the baby and Caravela. Finally she sighed. "Just – be careful?"
Caravela nodded, taking the baby and holding her against her shoulder, patting her back gently. As the baby continued to whine, Caravela swayed back and forth, moving in the direction of the pavilion's outer wall.
Lupa Gris let out a breath and turned to the others. "It should be the Asian Guardians who receive this new Miraculous, right?" she asked. "Their teammate found it, after all."
The third miraculous user nodded slowly. "That is what we agreed to," he acknowledged. "However, perhaps this would be a good time to reconsider your idea to reform the Australian Guardians." He nodded toward Olivet and asked Ladybug, "Do you think she's ready for that responsibility?"
Olivet grimaced. "I would be happy to assist in any way I can."
The first miraculous user shook his head. "Nothing against you – nothing against this plan, either," he began. "But this is a little too much for me to take. Five of my teammates were killed in Paris, and now you want to take away another of our teammates?"
"That's not what we want!" Ladybug insisted. "I–"
"I think we should save this debate for later," Cat Noir interjected, with a glance in the Prior's direction. "For now, we need to find someone to hold the Jellyfish to fight the Tarasque."
The first miraculous user sighed heavily. "Fine by me."
"Could someone unify with it?" suggested the other miraculous user.
Ladybug shook her head. "I've thought about that, but I think it's too dangerous and too valuable to waste it by doubling it up with someone else. Plus, what happens if we give it to someone who gets hurt before they can use it?"
"So do we recruit a new holder from among the refugees?" asked Lupa Gris.
Ladybug and Cat Noir shared a look before shaking their heads in unison. "I don't know if there's anyone there we fully trust and who would be able to pick it up in the time we have," Cat Noir replied. "If we have to, then we can, but only if we have no other choice."
Majestia hummed. "What about another hero? One without a miraculous of their own?"
Ladybug furrowed her brows in thought, looking around the pavilion at the other team leaders. "Maybe… but who would we choose?"
Everyone started arguing quietly. Caravela frowned, listening to the dull roar of conversation around her. The baby in her arms squirmed, though she had finally quieted down. Caravela patted her on the back, moving her hand in small circles. They needed someone to hold this miraculous – someone whom they trusted. This might be her chance to actually do something against the Tarasque! Would this opportunity ever come along again? Steeling herself, she stepped forward and cleared her throat. "I will do it."
