"Are you alright…? They didn't do anything to you?"
After a few minutes of drowning Lucian with her breasts, Rosa finally calmed down and allowed him to breathe as she checked if Lucian had any wounds on his tiny body. As for Hawk, he actually still could not remove Lucian's sinister expression from his mind — he just stood there quietly.
"Of course," Lucian just shrugged in response, "Just having fun, you know?"
"And these…" Rosa then stepped away as she looked at all the mutated creatures trapped in cages, "...Are these people also experimenting on corrupted creatures? How… how cruel."
"I've heard of these outlets before," Hawk finally recovered from his stupor as he joined the two, "But to think… they actually exist. Here we are trying to get rid of the monsters, and yet they are trying to create more?"
"What people do for greed," Rosa shook her head before looking at Lucian again, "And Lucian, I know you might want to rest after what happened to you, but… there's something else."
"Hm?" Lucian squinted his eyes.
"...They are also experimenting on humans."
"Well, I figured as much," Lucian just shrugged and sighed.
"One of them is dying, and…
…and she's pregnant."
The group headed into the hallway after that — and there, Lucian saw all of the dead bodies scattered everywhere. The rude customer was there too, no doubt all killed by Hawk judging from all the blood dripping from him. And soon, they reached the room where the humans were being kept.
It would seem Rosa and Hawk already helped them since most of them were outside their cages; naked and sharing blankets — there was, however, one woman still inside the cage.
"Oh…?" And Rosa was right, as Lucian slithered his way to the woman, he saw a little bump on his belly — and he felt the fetus too. But Lucian was not focusing on any of that at all… but on the fact that the woman's cage was freezing and that there were sheets of ice crawling everywhere around the cage,
"She's Hestian… they're experimenting on their own people, huh?"
"Experimenting… on their own people?" Rosa blinked a couple of times as she heard that. But after a few seconds, she just shook her head and crouched next to Lucian, "Lucian… you said that when I die, you'll merge with my baby and let it live through you…
…can you do the same for her?"
"...Sure," Lucian just shrugged.
"What in the…" And there, Hawk watched as Lucian… just suddenly melted in front of the cage, turning into some sort of slime as he started to crawl across the woman's legs, and then onto her thighs, "What… what is he doing?"
And when Hawk realized what Lucian was doing, he quickly rushed to stop it — he had no idea what would happen, but for some reason… he knew he had to stop it. But before he could actually approach the cage, Rosa stretched her arms to the side and blocked his path.
"What… are you doing, Rosa?" Hawk balled his hands into a fist, "And what exactly—"
"Saving the baby," Rosa breathed in as she looked Hawk in the eyes, "Take these other men and women back up to the city… and please… please just let us do this."
"..." Hawk stepped forward despite Rosa's insistence, but as he heard one of the captives coughing, he could not help but just click his tongue and start helping and escorting the people out.
"T… thank you, thank you…"
"No…" Hawk whispered; his eyes still staring at Rosa as he assisted the people,
"...I only did what's right."
Seconds.
Minutes.
Hours.
Hawk had already finished escorting everyone out, and there was already an entire commotion above… but Rosa still had not left the cage. And when Hawk returned, she once again quickly stretched her arms to the side and blocked his path.
"...I'm not going to do anything," Hawk just stood in front of Rosa while shaking his head, "I don't know what's going to happen here. But Rosa…
…do you really think it's right to decide for that woman?"
"Just let the baby die, then?" Rosa shook her head.
"As a human, yes," Hawk looked Rosa in the eyes.
"Look at me, Hawk," Rosa returned Hawk's stares, "Because I look like this, am I not human anymore?"
"That's not what I—"
"!!!" And before Hawk could finish his words, Rosa quickly stepped away from the cage as the woman suddenly started moving — no. Its stomach was moving.
"Rosa, behind me. Now."
"No…" Rosa shook her head as she just stared at the woman, and after a few seconds, the movement just stopped…
…and then, with a plop, Lucian just slithered out like nothing happened; well, aside from him being completely drenched, that is.
"Lucian… you look…" Rosa blinked a couple of times, "...the same."
"What…!?" Lucian quickly started patting and checking himself, and Rosa was right — absolutely nothing changed in his appearance. And most importantly,
"...Why am I still so small!?"
"Did you—"
"Yes, I merged with the fetus!" Lucian raised his voice in frustration, "I was supposed to evolve, why do you do this—Aah! What's that!?"
Lucian raised his arms… only for a burst of snow to shoot out from them. And as this burst of snow hit the ceiling, sharp icicles just started crawling all over it; freezing the entire ceiling almost instantly.
"W…" Lucian looked at his hands, "R… Rosa! Rosa! I— Ha… Muwahahaha! Fear me, mortals!"
"You… you have magic, Lucian!" Rosa gasped.
"Teach me," Lucian quickly pointed at Rosa, "Teach me how to properly use this, now! I demand you! Ha… Hahaha!"
"What…" And while the two were celebrating what was happening, Hawk was once again completely petrified. And the only thing he could really do was take a step back while he stared at the sharp icicles in the ceiling, "What… what have we done? What…
…just what have we released into this world?"
***
"We found them!"
Back in the Monitoring Hall of the Murcana External Kaiju Corps, General Annie once again slammed her fist on the table as they finally found Lucian's location—no.
"He's fucking taunting us," General Anine's lips twitched as she saw the image of a scualor settlement on the screen, "Scanning the city with the Geiger counter? The only way this makes sense is that the TFK is fucking taunting us!"
And she was right — Lucian deliberately scanned Scualor 7 even before they entered it for the first time. And as they panned to the next image…
…it was Lucian giving them the middle finger.
"Ho…" General Annie showed her teeth as a wide smile crawled on her face while he pointed at the screen, "So, that how you want this to be, huh? Fine…
…Call the Exterminator Association, and tell them to send a team."
"They already have a team on standby near the last known location of the TFK, Ma'am."
"Good," General Annie smirked, "Send them these images. The settlement can't be far."
"Roger that."
"Do you know which team they have on standby there?" General Annie then let out a sigh of relief as she finally sat down. Her calm and cool demeanor, finally coming back to her, "It better not be Suga—"
"It's Sugar's team, Ma'am."
"Fuck!" General Annie once again stood up and slammed the table, "Don't send the images!"
"I… already sent it, Ma'am."
"Why them!? Is the Association stupid!?" General Annie then rushed out of the Monitoring Hall, "Out of everyone, Sugar!? I told them this should be treated as discreetly as possible…
…and they chose one of the teams that streams their Kaiju Exterminations live on the internet!? For thousands of people to see!? Fuck… I'm too old for this bullshittery that's happening right now!"
"Oh… that can't be good."
"No, it's not!" General Annie's footsteps started to leave cracks on the floor, "The TFK…
…we can't risk the TFK being known to the public!"
"This is really bad, Ma'am."
"I know!"
"I mean this is really, really bad. I just searched Sugar's channel…
…and she has 3 million subscribers."