To Rose Tiger: It's been so long since that happened; maybe I should have included a reading list! Tyran-X's wife was killed in "The Queen is Dead: Mission Logs," chapter 3; his POV on it can be found in "Ladybug's Gambit," chapter 3. It's actually come up a couple of times in other places, including "Heroes of Paris: Patrol Logs," chapter 10, and "A Very Miraculous Christmas," chapter 10. The simple answer is that he has a very black-and-white view of a much more nuanced event.

To Lyger 0: Of course, in their minds that would mean that he is right. And they think that he has suffered enough because of their actions.

"What's the situation, Lieutenant?" asked Ladybug, landing behind the police line and retracting her yo-yo. Cat Noir dropped to the ground next to her, and they both stared out into the distance as the enormous, lumbering mass of Goosilla bounded out of the alleyway four blocks back where they had parked the car and transformed. Elbowing his way through the crowd of civilians until he reached the Paris Police, Goosilla stopped directly behind Ladybug and Cat Noir, slapping his feather duster against his palm like a truncheon. The police line actually consisted of two parallel lines, with the Paris Police holding the large crowd of curious civilians approximately a kilometer back from a row of French Army tanks. Extending for close to a dozen kilometers in both directions, the two lines were mirrored on the opposite side of a kilometer-wide no-man's land, cutting off a large section of Saint-Denis from the rest of Paris. Pegasus having calculated the exact meeting point, Army Engineers had demolished a four square kilometer section of Saint-Denis and cleared away the debris, leaving an open section of the city directly in front of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

So many people had been forced from their homes by this catastrophe. So many lives had been turned upside down.

Ladybug's jaw clenched. Paris had been inundated with refugees ever since Mayor Bourgeois and the City Council had made the decision to evacuate the northern communes in light of the impending arrival. Gyms and schools throughout Paris had been converted into refugee evacuation centers, all of them crammed beyond their maximum capacity with refugees. The Agreste Charity had likewise opened its doors and almost immediately run out of beds because of the enormous demand. And that didn't even take into account those who had fled the city into the countryside around Paris. The Owl and Sent-Bee had been making the rounds of the evacuation centers, trying to cheer them up, but according to Impératrice Pourpre, the attitude in the city was only getting progressively worse. And it wasn't just among the refugees, if the dark looks on the faces of the police officers along the police line were any indication.

His mouth set firmly, Lieutenant Ramus gave Ladybug a curt nod, fiddling with one of the plates on his prosthetic. "The evacuation has been completed," he reported. "The Colonel reports that his men are ready. According to the latest estimate, they will both arrive in about thirty minutes."

Ladybug pursed her lips, staring across no-man's land at the far line. When they had learned that the Lion and Ox were both coming to Paris, her first reaction had been utter shock and disbelief: how could something like this even be possible? These giant Monsters behaved like nothing but mindless engines of destruction! But for these Beasts to have a set destination – and the same destination – would suggest a level of consciousness that she had never expected to find in what amounted to bestial forces of nature. They had sent word to their friends in America and Africa to stop the Beasts where they were, to no avail. The Ox had defeated all the United Heroes' efforts, and at a devastating cost. Both the Lion and the Bear had been stopped initially, but they had both reemerged to move inexorably toward Paris. The African Miraculous Team had hardly managed to touch the Scorpion when it scuttled out of the desert. And as for the Turtle, well…

They had all failed, so many times. She had let down her team and her city. How many more would suffer because of her failure?

Cat Noir placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it an encouraging squeeze. "We can handle it together," he assured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You and me – and all of our friends." Goosilla let out a low, deep rumble from behind them.

Ladybug gave a jerky nod and leaned into his touch. "Yeah. I–I know." She let out a heavy breath. "Just… after Portugal…" The Lion's transit of Portugal had been swift, and it had been devastating. Lisbon alone had been crippled by the Lion's arrival, even before it wreaked a path of utter destruction up the Iberian Peninsula. Distracted as the Heroes of Paris had been at that time, the Heroes of Lisbon and Heroes of the UK had been unable to do more than harass the Lion.

"It will be different this time," Cat Noir promised her firmly. "This isn't Hawk Moth again. This isn't just the two of us trying to fight an Akuma by ourselves. Sure, these Monsters are bigger, but we're bigger now, too. We have friends."

"I assume you also have a plan?" Ramus asked, raising an eyebrow. He shifted his stance, his hand resting on his prosthetic, and nodded down the line at the SLD officers comprising the center of the police line. "There are some things that my team can handle, but…" He grimaced. "I don't think these Beasts are one of them."

"And we wouldn't ask you to," Ladybug responded, her stomach clenching. "You just need to keep the civilians safe and out of harm's way, and let us do our thing."

"Of course we have a plan," Cat Noir assured him, grinning though Ladybug could see right through the false bravado. "We always have a plan!" Behind them, Goosilla snorted in amusement, and Cat Noir glared at him halfheartedly. "Well we do… they just never seem to survive first cat-tact with the enemy!"

Ramus nodded, though he still appeared unconvinced. Ladybug folded her arms and closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe slowly and deeply, as Emilie had taught her to do when she was starting to feel overwhelmed. Cat Noir put both his hands on her shoulders, gently massaging them until he finally pulled her back against his chest. Finally, she opened her eyes once her breathing had slowed to something resembling a normal rate. The ground beneath her feet trembled slightly, and a couple of the officers around them looked down. Ladybug's jaw clenched and she turned toward the east. It was almost time.

The ground shook, harder, and from opposite directions two enormous Monsters appeared over the horizon. Ramus clenched his fist and stood ramrod straight, though a couple of the other officers flinched. Further down the line, the regular police officers openly stared at the Beasts, their mouths hanging ajar. "Ladybug," Ramus interjected quickly, turning to look at her with barely-disguised terror, "you've never steered us wrong before," he told her, tension around his mouth. "We trust you. We'll follow your lead."

Ladybug nodded, swallowing hard. Police, civilians, politicians, even other superheroes – all of them were telling her that same thing. Everyone was looking to her for answers, for guidance, for leadership. "We won't let you down." I hope, she didn't add.

A low, ominous growl reverberated from the east as the Bear lumbered into view. Its long, vicious claws tore through the pavement, leaving behind jagged furrows. It lumbered straight through a highway overpass, knocking it to the ground and smashing the pieces into dust, all without stopping or pausing. A pair of helicopters flew a kilometer above the Bear, flanking it. One of the two bore the seal of the French Army, with weapons pods slung beneath its stubby wings.

From the southwest, the Lion's throaty roar rang out, shattering windows in all directions. Glass cascaded down into the street from the apartment building directly behind the police line, and Cat Noir pulled Ladybug down, shielding her with his own body as the glass sprinkled down over them. The lithe, tawny form bounded forward, seemingly spurred on by the proximity of the other Beast. Another trio of helicopters circled above the Lion.

Ladybug examined the police barriers, calculating the distances and angles in her head. The police barrier, which had contracted as the Beasts neared each other, had been set up to give the Beasts a wide berth during their transit of the country, hoping to minimize casualties and damage by allowing them to pass without hindrance. After the destruction wrought by the Ox in its rampage across the United States, Ladybug couldn't really blame the city government for its precaution. And yet, knowing that two titans were on a collision course – with three more only days behind them – she couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible would happen when they reached each other. Pulling forward, out of Cat Noir's hands, she pressed her communicator to call Headquarters. "Are we ready?"

A mechanical voice answered. "Affirmative, Ladybug."

Her chest clenched with tension, Ladybug watched the two hulking monsters bound ever closer to each other. The gap between them narrowed dramatically in a matter of seconds. She hardly felt when Cat Noir wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her back into his chest, his staff held in front of her protectively. She could sense the tension emanating from him as the Beasts neared each other. Goosilla let out a low grunt, looming over them, ready to jump in front of them at a moment's notice. Ladybug tensed. Both Gorilla and Adrien had protested vehemently when she had informed them that she was going to come and watch the Beasts meet, saying that it was far too dangerous. But she had overruled them. She had to come. She had to see. She had to take responsibility for the decisions that had led them to this point.

And now, here they were.

Less than a four kilometers separated the two Beasts as they entered the cleared space in the middle of no-man's land. The Lion let out a terrifying roar, loud enough to stop Ladybug's heart, and slowed, staring across the open space at the Bear. At the same moment, as if resonating with the Lion's roar, the Bear growled, a low growl that turned up at the end, and likewise slowed down. In unison, Both Beasts' movements turned robotic and jerky as they covered the space between them in a matter of minutes.

They were only a quarter of a kilometer from the exact center of the no-man's land when Ladybug shouted into her communicator, "Now!"

A portal appeared directly between the two Beasts, and seven heroes jumped through just before it closed. Amun-Vatar, his face already glowing brilliant gold, rose into the air, his eyes emitting brilliant white light, as a cyclone of wind built around him, whipping up dirt and leaves and shattered bricks. He drew a dozen arcane symbols in the air in front of him, and a golden-white wall began to expand out from him in both directions as well as up and down, separating the two Beasts.

"Shell-ter!" Carapace held his shield above his head just as the wall reached him, and Amun-Vatar clenched his fist. The wall shimmered, the color shifting between gold and green, before settling on a combination of the two. Outside of the green-gold Shell-ter, Hato Gozen took to the air, her naginata pointed straight at the Bear's face; Ryoku copied the motion on the opposite side of the barrier, facing the Lion and held aloft by Wind Dragon. On the ground below them, hidden in an alcove formed at the base of the wall-construct, King Monkey, Taureau Dechaine, and Prequinateur huddled around Carapace.

"This is the plan?" whispered Ramus, glancing at Ladybug out of the corner of his eye, his prosthetic raised and pointing at the Bear. He arched an eyebrow and frowned

Behind her, Cat Noir nodded. "We don't know what will happen if they touch, so the idea is to keep them from touching."

Ramus hummed doubtfully. "Think your people can keep this up?"

Ladybug watched the two Beasts curiously as they stopped, maybe twenty meters apart, and froze, rooted in place. The Bear, which had been emitting a steady growling sound since it came into sight, fell silent. Her eyes narrowed, examining the two Beasts carefully. "What do you think?" she asked Cat Noir.

"They're… almost in sleep mode," he observed, surprise in his voice. "They don't seem to be making any move to close the gap. And they haven't acknowledged each other at all."

She nodded, frowning. "That's what it looks like to me, too." Tapping her communicator, she told Amun-Vatar, "Release the shield, but be ready to restore it if this doesn't work."

The shield went down along with the Shell-ter, and the two Beasts remained rooted in place. Between them, Carapace gave both Beasts a confused look before glancing over at Ladybug and shrugging.

Ladybug hummed thoughtfully and glanced up at Cat Noir, who released his grip on her but still slid one of his hands around to her back. Behind them, Goosilla wore an angry expression, staring at the two Beasts. "Let us know if anything happens," Ladybug told Ramus, who nodded firmly. Finally satisfied, Ladybug and Cat Noir returned to the car with Goosilla trailing behind them. "Turing?" she asked.

"At your service as always, Ladybug!" he chirped in her communicator.

"Contact the others. It's time."