Les Cinq Doigts

Les Cinq Doigts
From left to right: L'auriculaire, L'annulaire, Le Majeur, L'index, Le Pouce
Name	Les Cinq Doigts
Nihongo	五本指 (kanji) レ・サンク・ドワ (katakana)
Information
Boss	DGSE
Members	Le Pouce L'index L'annulaire L'auriculaire
Former Members	Le Majeur
First Appearance
Manga	Chapter 102: L'homme sombre Part 1

Les Cinq Doigts (五本指（レ・サンク・ドワ） Re sanku dowa; French for "the five fingers") was a five-member unit of France's Service d'Action Civique (SAC), a French militia which wanted to maintain France's neocolonial influence in Africa. SAC replaced any member who died during missions, and Les Cinq Doigts' purpose was to operate outside of the jurisdiction of the French government, in particular the DGSE, but nonetheless on their behalf.

Appearance and leadership

All members wore black bullet-resistant pantsuits with white dress shirts, as well as black gloves and shoes. Each member was a woman named after one of the five human fingers in the French language, which are (from thumb to pinky): Le Pouce, L'index, Le Majeur, L'annulaire, and L'auriculaire. Le Pouce served as the group's leader, giving the final say in how the group carried out its missions. All five women each carried a Jericho pistol with them in addition to being trained in hand-to-hand combat.

History

Most of the members' pre-group history was unknown except for Le Majeur's; she was originally from Japan but eventually moved to France at some point in her life. During her time in the group, Le Pouce vetted a new L'auriculaire, whom Le Majeur deeply cared for. Years after the 1989 attempted coup d'etat in Burkina Faso to overthrow Blaise Compaoré, remnants of the anti-French forces involved survived and fled to Antsirabe in Madagascar to make plans to strike again, so the SAC sent in Les Cinq Doigts to track down and kill "La Mouche," a figure involved in aiding the coup.

L'homme sombre

To find La Mouche, Le Pouce told the group that they had to profile the man, who was 2 meters tall and was of African descent. With this in mind, she led her comrades on several operations. After these operations ended in failure, SAC demanded that Le Pouce delivered them some actual results, and she gained sketchy intelligence of La Mouche's presence in Nigeria. Soon during Les Cinq Doigts' arrival in the country, Le Majeur and the others were entrapped during the mission. The first L'auriculaire helped the group escape, but at the cost of her own life. Because of L'auriculaire's death, Le Majeur held a grudge against Le Pouce for the latter's bad intel. Despite this setback, the first L'auriculaire was replaced with another Frenchwoman, and Le Pouce gained better intel that La Mouche was actually in Thailand. Accordingly, the women headed to Roanapur.

In Roanapur, the five women began interrogating and killing Black men who fit La Mouche's description, asking them about a September 18, 1989 coup d'État involving Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani. One man that Les Cinq Doigts tracked down was a Black fight promoter working at a fight ring under Ronnie the Jaws. There, they waited for the fixed match between Somsak and Kittikhun to end. As the women again complained about the city and the credibility of the intel, Le Pouce assured them that the information was solid this time. Once Somsak defeated Kittikhun, Le Majeur used herself as bait to get a meeting with the promoter, volunteering to fight the champion boxer, much to L'auriculaire's amusement and the crowd's anger. Besting him with her combat skills, she dodged his Muay Thai attacks and flipped him over, knocking him out. At that point, the crowd booed as several men ordered Majeur to come with them. In the back office, the Black promoter demanded to know why Majeur messed with the outcome. Unfazed by the various men staring at her, she asked him about the coup details, to which he was angrily confused. Majeur's comrades came into the room to aid her and killed everyone in the room, sparing the fight promoter to interrogate and murder him.

In a later incident, L'auriculaire began to interrogate another Black man but accidentally killed him prematurely, remarking that they had killed 5 Black men so far. L'annulaire told her to not kill the men so fast, prompting L'auriculaire to retort that she only did her task of torturing the man. Tired of the deaths, L'index commented to Pouce that they would only gain more attention if they kept killing the wrong Black people. Nonchalantly, Pouce in turn reminded them that their informant was missing and therefore had to continue killing, but Majeur was displeased and suggested that they at least call in for help. In spite of Pouce's assurance that they would not fail again like in Nigeria, Majeur began to question the Reseau's reliability since they were making use of Les Cinq Doigts' expendability. Pouce responded that her intel was more accurate this time, adding that the first L'auriculaire's death was a sacrifice. Furious at her answer, Majeur pulled her gun on Pouce, prompting the other women to pull their guns on Majeur in response. When Pouce reminded her that L'auriculaire did save their lives and she was truly sorry, all women put away their guns and Majeur angrily left to calm down.

Later at a café, L'index and L'annulaire informed the second L'auriculaire about Majeur's resentment toward Pouce concerning the first L'auriculaire's death. The second L'auriculaire responded that Majeur should not be so angry since their line of work normally involved death, and L'index stated that Pouce could be more considerate about her death to ease Majeur. Meanwhile, the various crime syndicate leaders in Roanapur were furious with the murders being carried out, many of which concerned men who were affiliated to some degree with Hotel Moscow. One night, Les Cinq Doigts entered a small building and found several men and Jinx, a Black man, playing a card game. Suddenly, the women killed all the men and shot Jinx in the knees, immobilizing him. Majeur interrogated him about the dates, but Jinx only pleaded for his life. As she prepared to shoot him, soldiers of Hotel Moscow arrived, forcing the women to flee and leaving Jinx alive.

After many Roanapur residents spread further word of the murders in their city, they spread details pertaining to the women's appearance and modus operandi, prompting extra security for Black men in Roanapur. Knowing that Dutch was a possible target, Rock and Revy visited Mister Chang for help, and he directed them to Jinx and also ordered Shenhua to aid them in their search for the killers. When the three arrived at Isaac's antiques shop, Pouce waited outside while the women of Les Cinq Doigts entered the building. Wanting to interrogate François Modibo, Majeur warned Revy not to interfere in their business. Smugly smiling, Revy quickly drew her pistols and shot L'index in the shoulder, and the women began shooting at Revy and Shenhua. When their attacks were rebuffed by the women and by Modibo's additional firepower, Majeur ordered the three women to retreat, prompting Revy to tell Shenhua to capture one of the women. Shenhua subdued Majeur by wrapping her sword's cord around the latter's neck. Acting fast, L'index used a stun grenade to disorientate their enemies, allowing Majeur to break free. As Majeur continued to run and tripped after Revy shot her in the back, L'auriculaire was in the car and purposefully shot Majeur in her left eye, incapacitating her. Pouce was shocked by the action, but L'auriculaire yelled at her to drive away, and the four women fled.

Rock, Revy and Shenhua began to interrogate the tied-up Majeur at the Lagoon Company dry dock, where Le Majeur refused to cooperate. Rock lighted a cigarette for himself and reminded Majeur that she was a hostage and that they could be friends in order to clean up her mess. Angered, Majeur replied that the Réseau would not stop chasing down La Mouche and would not forget about Antsirabe, surprising the amused Revy. Upon hearing those terms, Rock told Revy that he had to go out for a bit, telling her to be gentle with Majeur. Shenhua herself was hungry and decided that she would leave too, telling Majeur that she would get whatever she brought her. After the Taiwanese assassin left, Revy started smoking a cigarette and asked Majeur what she wanted to do. Still resentful, Majeur replied that she did not care since she was a hostage, but Revy stated that unlike the various crime syndicates in town, the Lagoon Company did not care whether she lived or died. Majeur was even offered a cigarette, but she rejected it on the basis that smoking would slow her down. Smiling, Revy emphasized that she would take Majeur to a doctor for her excruciating pain if she talked, but Majeur retorted back that the Réseau would hunt her down. Letting out a puff of smoke, Revy reminded Majeur that her own comrade shot her, remarking that she was still alive and could get revenge. Finally, Revy added that covering for her friends would not grant her an award, warning the assassin to decide soon.

When Shenhua and Rock returned from their trips, Majeur agreed to talk, receiving a hamburger from Shenhua. Biting into the burger, Majeur admitted that she worked for France's Service d'Action Civique. Recognizing the name, Rock told Revy that the group was a French militia meant to expand the French-Africa ideology. Majeur elaborated that the militia had a unit called Les Cinq Doigts to which she belonged. Rock asked her why her group hunted down Black men, and she specified that they were after "La Mouche," a tall man who was a former lieutenant colonel in the Burkinabe Army responsible for procuring and managing funds for the Antsirabe connection. Trying to piece the intel together with what Feng Yifei relayed to him, Rock informed Revy and Shenhua that La Mouche was connected to a failed coup in Burkina Faso whose survivors were trying to reestablish themselves. Because of this possibility, SAC wanted to eliminate the remaining survivors.

Rock thanked Majeur for her information and promised to take her to Doctor Hartland to treat her eye. On the way there, Majeur sat in the back of the car with Revy and Shenhua. Rock drove them and told Majeur her three choices that she would have assuming that La Mouche was Dutch: she could return to her comrades and tell them La Mouche's location in order to trap the women and then run away; she could return to them and tell them about the danger they were in but be hunted by Roanapur's crime syndicates; or she could disappear from town but needed to tell Rock where her group's safehouse was. Majeur decided to go with Rock's first choice, so Rock dropped her off at the doctor.

After her visit with the doctor, Majeur returned to Les Cinq Doigts' safehouse in Roanapur, where she was met with skepticism from everybody but Pouce, who approved her return. As part of a trap for the women, Majeur told her comrades about La Mouche's next location in three days, saying that she had narrowed down their suspect to a man named Dutch. Despite L'auriculaire's suspicion at Majeur's speedy forgiveness and L'annulaire's suggestion that they do reconnaissance first, Pouce agreed to the plan. Three nights later, the women entered Club Flame Zone, where they waited until Dutch arrived. Upon spotting him, the women confronted him, but Hotel Moscow and Balalaika revealed themselves and surrounded the women. Being shot at from all directions, the Frenchwomen began to take cover, demanding Majeur to help them. Watching Majeur run away, L'auriculaire realized that the latter set up the ambush, infuriating her. She ran after her while the other women took cover, and L'annulaire attempted and failed to kill Dutch since Dutch shot her first, knocking her to the ground. As she glared at Dutch, she was killed by several of Hotel Moscow's Vysotniki while Dutch grinned happily. Because of L'annulaire's death, L'index came out into the open and waved her arms, announcing her surrender. Laughing because she viewed L'index as a wannabe soldier, Balalaika refused her request and shot her in the head, killing her.

Distraught by both deaths, Pouce escaped nearby but was severely wounded; meanwhile, Le Majeur could not find an exit and was spotted by L'auriculaire, and the two shot at each other. When she ran out of bullets, L'auriculaire tossed her pistol at Majeur and disarmed her. She utilized her knife and angrily hurled punches at Majeur, furiously telling her that she knew Majeur would try to betray them at some point. Pinning her onto the ground, L'auriculaire repeatedly and angrily wished that Majeur would die while trying to push a knife through the latter's chest. Nearby, the struggling Majeur heard Revy to push her attacker's head upward, which she did. Having a clear shot, Revy shot L'auriculaire in the back of the head, killing her and splattering her blood onto Majeur's face. Revy smiled and commented to Majeur that she could have ran away by then, but she declared that she wanted to see her ex-comrades' deaths for herself. Seeing a trail of blood nearby, Revy remarked that the last Frenchwoman was still alive.

Subsequently, the three women followed the trail of blood to see the fatally bleeding Pouce lying down against a wall. Pouce apologized once more for the death of the first L'auriculaire, even saying that she knew that Majeur set up a trap for her crew. Upon hearing this, Majeur shot and killed Le Pouce, resulting in Les Cinq Doigts' mission ending in failure. With the tension decreased, Revy assured the traitor Majeur that she did the right thing. As the women left the building, Majeur remarked that she envied Revy's ability to find solutions, to which the latter agreed that one should not let nonsense control one's life. Nonetheless, the four women managed to kill two Vysotniki and wound six others, and at the next Council meeting, Majeur was kept alive by Balalaika as a lapdog for Hotel Moscow as punishment.

Trivia

• L'auriculaire was the only member who had blonde hair, whereas the other members had black hair.
• As Le Majeur was the only member of Les Cinq Doigts left alive (although deserting the group), she symbolized the middle finger as the only "finger" of the group left standing.