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Pantera turns on her heel, ready to march you all off, and jumps in surprise as Io quietly appears behind her. Okay, so it's not just you who gets startled by him.
– "GOING TO THE RESEARCH CENTER, PAN?" His tone is as friendly as ever.
– "Damn it, Io!" She recovers her composure. "Yes. You're going to… help?" There's uncertainty in the cat's voice.
– "NO, I'LL INVESTIGATE ELSEWHERE. YOU SEE, I'M TERRIBLY CURIOUS ABOUT SOMETHING... WHY DO HUMANS TAKE NEWBORNS ALIVE?"
Pantera blanks at the unexpected question.
– "Uhh. Don't know? Who cares." Her tone is dismissive but careful. Io probably killed someone for talking shit before. You bet older monsters just do that on a whim.
– "I DO." He smiles. "AND IF YOU, OR ANY OF THE NEWBORNS IN YOUR SQUAD, FIND OUT ANYTHING ABOUT IT IN THE RESEARCH CENTER, YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME, RIGHT?"
Pantera holds Io's eyeless stare for a moment. "Yeah. Sure. Now, we gotta move out. Tight timetables, orders, all that." She motions you and the squad to follow her out of the chamber and into the tunnels. After walking to the edge of the chamber, you turn around to look, but Io is already gone.
***
As you march through the tunnels, Rayle keeps seething, boring holes into Pantera's back with her stare. You're kind of bored, so you decide to prod the pony.
– "Hate from the first sight?"
Rayle snorts. "That's most people. And things. But this one ticks me off in a special way. Reminds me of my manager. Self-important bitch."
– "Sooo did you eat your manager?" You carefully ask. She actually pauses a bit at that.
– "Uhh, well, I didn't feel like it back then. I totally could! Just was too busy breaking the ice cream machine. None of your business!" The centaur actually appears uncomfortable for a moment before sliding into familiar anger. You don't press the issue.
– "Yeah, I kind of don't feel like it either."
– "Really?"
– "Uh-huh. I thought maybe it's just a monster thing, but I don't know. I only hate shitty videogames and scrubs, not even humanity."
Rayle is a little relieved at that but then turns thoughtful.
– "Maybe it comes later?.. This next fight is probably not going to be clean." She quickly adds. "I'm not a pussy or anything, just saying."
You nod in silence.
***
After climbing up a gigantic maintenance shaft, you and the squad emerge at the rooftop of one of the buildings surrounding the research center. You feel the fresh air and take in the sight of the CITY and the late evening sky. The humans clearly didn't sit idly while you hibernated. All the narrow bridges leading to the center are blocked with military-looking checkpoints. Monsters are usually resistant to mundane firearms, but you still aren't eager to test that armored-car-mounted machine gun on yourself. No heroes are immediately visible, but you don't doubt the response time is going to be very quick.
Pantera points her talon at the building.
– "It's time! For the monster king, attack! Hesitate and I'll kill you myself!"
