Fresh air never tasted so good. As Jacent emerged from the access hatch behind the rest of the group, he marveled at the smell of wet grass and cool air. It was far removed from the dank, musty laboratory that jabbed painfully at his memory. He looked around, noting a tall white building surrounded by a squared ring of pavement and lush, grassy earth. Further out from its imperious center was what looked like a glass and metal wall that separated them from deep jungle on one side and pine forest on the other. "My god... this is amazing. Where are we?"
"This is the Climate Control Center for our dome," Natalie explained, pointing to a strange array on top of the building that resembled an incredibly clean white cannon. "It schedules the weather."
"It what??" He asked in disbelief.
Erwin nodded in agreement. "The trouble is, something happened and now it's making the weather change way too much, too fast. We've gotta stop it before things get any worse."
"Hunh." He nodded, appreciative of the gravity of that. "When it rains, it really pours around here."
The six teens approached the large, warehouse-like entrance. No lights appeared to be on throughout, which was very unusual, considering dusk was rapidly approaching- the Center had to be staffed constantly in order to monitor weather patterns, regulate various material agents used to change the weather, and repair any dysfunctional areas. Nobody did this in the dark.
Carrie walked up to the door and tried to slide it aside, but yelped when a loud banging and muffled, strangled sounds came from the other side. She let go of it and backed off, glancing back to the others with obvious concern.
"Are people in trouble in there??" Jacent asked, unsure.
Natalie shook her head. "It sounds more like shufflers. Um, monsters," she clarified. "Though... it could be people, too..."
"If they are, we have to help them!" Sam said urgently.
"But if they're not," Carrie countered with folded arms, "We can't let 'em get the drop on us."
Jacent nodded to Natalie. "Okay. What's the plan?"
She paused for a moment, finally having the time to do so- not much, but not nothing, either. Studying her allies carefully, Nat's eyes swept over them one by one as she analyzed each of their talents. She had friends who could fight, and friends that couldn't, but were useful in other ways. The question was, how to keep them all strategically safe? Natalie mulled over the question intensely. Max and Erwin combined might hold their own through tricks, but Carrie was much more upfront about their engagements.
"Wait... up front..." The spark of inspiration flew. "Carrie! I want you to stay around my right side."
This caught her a little off-guard, but the cat blinked, smirked a little and nodded, getting in a loose fighting stance. "Okay, Nat-bat. You got it."
"Good." She smiled and nodded confidently. "Cap? You're on my left, alright?"
He slipped his fingers into the open loops of two signature yo-yos that had his C-shaped logo on them, one red, one blue. He made fists around the small toys and made a well-practiced motion. "Ready for action."
Natalie paused, nodding for a second. She always felt different when leading the group, as if she were stepping into someone else's skin- someone more experienced. "Max, Erwin? You're behind us; you make the back line, left and right sides. Keep us aware of anything we need to know."
Erwin looked relieved not to be upfront, while Max was enthusiastic as always.
"Yeah! N-No problem!"
"Aye, Captain! We'll batten down yer hatches!"
"Good." She finally turned to the bat. "Sam? We need you to play medic. You stay behind us and between Max and Erwin. If somebody's hurt, say so and we'll cover you. Got it?"
Samantha was more than a little distressed by the idea, but she nodded nonetheless. "I understand."
Natalie felt a little surge of confidence as her friends formed up. "Alright! I'll open the door. Ready?" She wedged her foot into the door handle and waited for a nod of affirmative. "Three... two... one!" Nat kicked it open and rolled back toward the group, standing up in a ready position.
Which made it very awkward when nothing happened. Instead of crying hostages or growling foes, nothing but barely-abated darkness bode them welcome from the entrance.
Erwin tensed, unsure of what to do for several moments. "... That was awkward-OHGOD!"
If they were going to relax, the neurotic ferret's cry of terror set them all back to piano-wire tension, this time with good reason. A gurgling, guttural scream precluded at least a dozen shufflers going top speed at them- not incredibly fast, but terrifyingly insistent.
Jacent was the first to respond, flicking the red yo-yo out at one of their attackers before it could close. His power over force fields and momentum meant two things: one, that a white semi-sphere insulated his yo-yo from harm. And two, when toy met monster, it hit with the force of a professional heavyweight boxer, smashing into its torso and sending it flying away horizontally. He expertly flicked his wrist to bring the thing back... when it broke off in mid-swing, flying off behind him; apparently his belongings had not been as well-preserved as himself. He stared at the lonely string with disappointment. "Aww."
Carrie, like Natalie, had waited to see their comic book hero in action... but the problem of the shufflers quickly became too apparent to defer to the inner fangirl. She dashed forward a few feet and met two of them head-on, heedless of the powerful blows that flew her way. Their limbs bounced off of her shoulders, allowing her to lean forward, grab them by their necks under her arms, and let her legs fall out from under her in a brutal suplex that left them dazed.
Natalie had noticed something about these particular foes. Their legs were solid, but once felled, they took an inordinate amount of time to rise once more. Testing her theory, the wolf girl ducked a swiping attack, and swept her leg under the rigid attacker's feet. It fell and landed hard, clearly not expecting the maneuver. She turned to see Jacent throw his second yo-yo, which broke on the way out before taking down another of the ever-staring monsters. "Cap!" she yelled in a voice that was more commanding than she intended. "They're really tough, just hit 'em!"
It mystified many why an older teenager fought crime with toys, but the answer was in opposition to the reason why weapons were usually wielded: they were less effective. He'd learned early on that punches were hard to always pull, leading to a lot of broken ribs and concussions in petty criminals. Toys, however, were easier to hold back with- less mass, lighter material. But judging from the expression Natalie shot him... it was time to take off the kid gloves. He cracked his knuckles, with the hope that she really understood what she was asking.
Carrie tried to shake a shuffler off of her, its arms grasping her midsection while another latched onto her leg. "Clingy bastards, aren't you??" She tried to punch the one on her torso, but the backswing just invited another to latch on. "Ungh!" She struggled under their weight as they all tried to take her down, reaching her hand out. "G-Get... offa... me!" Yet another lunged for her arm, finally knocking the cat flat on her back.
"Carrie!" Natalie cried, and paid for it by getting clipped on the shoulder by an attacking shuffler she barely noticed in time. "Rrgh! Damn..." Her eyes scanned the chaos for a familiar face as she dodged the monster's slow attacks. "Cap! Cover me!"
As Natalie ran to her girlfriend's aid, Jacent paced over. He grabbed the shoulder of the shuffler that attempted pursuit of the ebon-furred girl, spun it around to face him, and threw a blistering punch into its torso. With thunderous impact, its body flew up and back, head over heels, slamming into the climate center's outer wall.
"Jacent!" Erwin cried out.
The furless fighter ducked a clumsy swing from an aft attacker and spun around to backhand it across the head. Reversing the momentum, he spun again to avoid its angry grabbing motion, palmed its head and slammed it into his risen knee. Another backhand, a jab to the shoulder, and finally a momentous palm strike sent the creepy combatant into unconsciousness. He glanced over to Erwin and smiled gratefully. "Thank you."
The dogpile on Carrie had not wanted to move. Natalie jabbed, punched and elbowed several of the callused monsters in their eyes, driving them to pull off. The unsettling part was a miasma of grey-colored ooze that seemed to be secreting from the murmering abominations. Blood ran down her neck from a glancing blow, and she barely got the last of the four to loosen its grip with all of her effort. Finally, she grabbed Carrie's hand and dragged her away. Jacent managed to siphon off each attacker as they were pulled off, leaving her to tend to the cat. Carrie shook as she got up, her body covered in grey slime. As Natalie looked into her eyes, she saw fear.
Primal gut fear ate at Carrie. She despaired, feeling the slime creeping over her like death itself. Though it wasn't a fast-moving trans or suffocation, its chill touch assured her that she would cease to exist. Her heart sank as the gravity of it bore down on her. "O-Oh god, no, not yet..."
"It's not over!"
Natalie looked down at the reflection of Goo Girl in her PET. "What's going-"
"Natalie, there's no time! You have to give her courage or she's done for!"
The girl blinked, dumbfounded. Courage?? "But how do I-"
"Natalie, listen carefully." She spoke with urgency. "I need your hand. Nothing else! Just your hand. Okay?! I'll give it right back!"
Natalie hesitated, wholly unsure of this.
"Don't let them take Carrie!"
She needed no further prompt. "Take it!" The wolf girl stood with one hand outstretched, as if it would be chopped off. "Take my hand! They've got to get out of her!"
Natalie's fur was black. Gun metal. Very dark grey. But a small tide, a second skin flowed over it, black as nothing on Earth, a dearth of all light with a shiny film over it. It made a fist, then pointed at Carrie's head.
"Huh? Oh!" She held her hand up to Carrie's forehead and grabbed it.
Both girls fell unconscious, standing in the same poses, eyes glazed over.
"Natalie?" Sam ran over with Max and Erwin, the three of them managing to squirm away from shufflers the same way they had Cedric and company many a time. "Oh, no, what's going on??"
"I don't know!" Erwin shook his head. "They seem to be in some kind of... trance..."
Max gasped, aghast. "They're becoming double handbrain zombies! The unholiest of all unions!" His head was slapped by a premature swing from a shuffler, sending him to the ground. "Gurfh!"
Jacent grabbed the offending shuffler's limb on the backswing, throwing it against the building and panting tiredly. "G-get them in the building... I'll... hanh... hold here..."
"Mr. Comet!" Sam sputtered in protest. "We can't just leave you out here alone!"
Chuckling, he flashed her a simple, almost humble smile. "You have a big heart, Sam." He slammed his boot into another assailant with terrifying force. "Your friends are lucky to have you."
The bat blushed for a moment. "... Okay. But stay safe." Her gold eyes shone sternly. "Carrie would never forgive me if I let something happen to her favorite comic book character, you know."
Jacent laughed richly. "I promise to keep you out of trouble. Go, help the others!"
Max and Erwin had awkwardly loaded the two catatonic girls onto a hovering lab cart, still stuck together. Sam ran up to help push them inside... and hoped that where they were going was better than where they'd been.
-
- -
-
Light and sound distorted, a garbled wash of feelings sloshing about chaotically. For a brief moment, Natalie had the disorienting sensation of being sucked through a funnel and poured back out.
When her eyes opened and her vision cleared, she found herself sitting in a bathtub- vintage style, not like a modern shower. A cursory glance around revealed many beautifying products sitting on the bathroom sink counter, as well as a color-coordinated theme of seafoam green and white for the various towels and toiletries.
She rose from the tub and stepped onto the soft plushness of the bathroom rug, trying to remember what happened. Suddenly, a freight train of memory plowed into her head, bringing her to her knees. "Augh, fff...."
"Sorry," a familiar voice echoed in her head. "We can't wait around for you to remember. We're really strapped for time."
"Ungh..." Natalie shook her head, recalling the journey, the fight, Carrie's plight, and her hand. "A little more gradual next time, Goo Girl. I'd appreciate it." Nevertheless, she rose and walked for the door. 'Goo Girl' stared back at her in the mirror... but something was strange. Instead of moving independently, she seemed to be literally mirroring Natalie's movements. Something clicked inside her head, and as she slowly glanced down, Natalie saw... blackness. A deep miasma of darkness had replaced her fur, her skin... her clothes. She was the liquid doppelganger. "Dude! Goo Girl! What the hell!"
"My name... is Echelon." The voice grew more authoritative. "And you're in my body, not the other way around. This was the only way to get inside Carrie's mind."
"We're in Carrie's mind??" Natalie opened the door and immediately recognized her surroundings: Carrie's house. A large, well-decorated two story mini mansion, its plush carpet softened her footfalls with a familiar comfort. Immediately she noticed something wrong, however- a horrible grey goo pockmarked the walls and ceiling, infiltrating corners and pockets with infectious malignancy. "Those are the things that came out of the shufflers!"
"Inked. My kind. They're trying to take Carrie's body, but there's something stopping them- now they're assaulting her psyche. We have to find her!"
Natalie ran down the hall, unsure how vulnerable she was in this strange body. "This is weird... Carrie??" She opened the master bedroom, seeing only an empty room. Further down she opened a linen closet- nothing. She winced as one of the goo blobs lingered near her. "Ugh! Are we... vulnerable to these, too??"
"No," Echelon explained. "Inked can't inhabit other Inked. But we shouldn't tarry anyway, Carrie's in danger."
Nat ran downstairs and searched everywhere she could. No door revealed her girlfriend behind it. "Damn it!" The wolf girl ran back up the stairs in an increasing panic. "Carrie!" She finally came across a door she hadn't noticed, and upon further reflection, felt stupid for not doing so. She tried the knob, and found it was locked. "Damn! Carrie, open up!" She pounded on the door. "It's Natalie!
A long silence followed, whereupon the grey goo began to inch toward the room. "Natalie! Tell me. Does Carrie have any mirrors??"
The wolf girl tried to remember. "... Yes. Yeah, she does!"
"Go! Go back into the bathroom!"
She didn't hesitate a moment. No sooner was she in the bathroom than her hands tingled with the desire to touch the mirror. Rolling with the moment, the liquid wolf pressed her hands against its reflective surface... and melted into it.
"Don't resist it, this is one of my abilities."
She wanted very much to resist, but she wanted to save Carrie more. Reality melted away, and a disorienting view took over. She was somehow inside of the mirror, two dimensions stretched infinitely across space. She could see the world from the other side of the mirror... and somehow, every other mirror in the house, as if she had an eye for each one. They existed separately but equal, all a short hop away. The liquid girl moved toward the one that displayed the most purple.
-
- -
-
Whirring mechanisms zipped in a smooth hum, shutting the door behind them... and muffling the conflict outside. Sam, Erwin and Max leaned against the walls of the Climate Control Center's main control room, having wheeled their unconscious friends inside.
"H-Help me move them." Sam instructed the other two, who did just that.
"What can we do for them?" Erwin asked, a little unsure of the strange shadow-hand thing that Natalie was using on Carrie.
"Keep them comfortable, I guess. I don't really know what's going on." The bat winced. "I don't think I'd know any better even if I were a doctor..."
"You're trying your best!" Max reminded her.
"... True." She paused a moment. "Mayhaps, Erwin, you should work on this whole weather thing? The sooner we get that done, the sooner we can leave," she reasoned.
The ferret blew out a deep breath, staring at the two of them with concern. "... Yeah, you're right, Sam. I'll work on that." The distraction would do him well, he figured.
Within a minute, Carrie and Natalie were laid out facing each other on a meeting table in the middle of the room, Erwin was negotiating with a stubborn computer, and Max contented himself with being an almost literal fly on the wall to keep an eye on everything.
"They both look so fraught... what in the world could they be doing?" Sam shook her head worriedly.
"I don't know, but the mad battle hasn't been loud at all for a minute!" Max noticed. "As a fatter o' mact, it's stopped!"
Heavy footsteps began to close in. They tensed. Suddenly, a knocking sounded at the door in a strange, trite little rhythm none of them recognized. When Max opened it, Jacent spilled into the room, clutching his side with one hand and dropping with his back to the wall.
Sam blinked. "Oh! Captain! Are you injured??"
He took a deep breath, looking as though it pained him. "... Yes. A broken rib, that's all. I recognize the feeling." A wince as he took another breath. "Don't worry about the monsters, I don't think they're interested in attacking anymore after all that."
"Oh, darn it, Mr. Comet, I told you not to overdo it!" Sam quickly knelt next to him, examining his wound with gentle hands.
The furless crime fighter smiled softly through his mussed red hair, despite the pain. "Are you okay? What of Carrie and Natalie?"
She shook her head. "Broken rib, like you say. ... I don't know how they are. I don't understand what's going on with them." She frowned deeply, glancing aside. "It's so frustrating, sometimes."
Jacent kept an easy smile about him, like an old friend. "Being a team?"
Samantha looked up slowly... then set herself to examining some scratches and bruises. "Natalie makes it sound so easy. Just follow her, go somewhere, and beat up the bad guys. Now what are we supposed to do? What if she and Carrie don't wake up from whatever's got them? How can the rest of us cope when they're not around?" She took a swab from the bag and wiped up some blood on his arm.
"..." Jacent tilted his head. "Do you think you're helpless without them?"
"Well. No, but... this has gotten to be just terrible. We need them if we're going to save everyone," she explained.
"Everyone expects a bunch of teenagers to save the world?" He nodded gravely. "That is terrible."
"Well... no! They don't." Sam considered it a moment. "... Natalie does."
Jacent chuckled slowly. "You know what I think?"
"What, Mr. Comet, do you think?"
"... I think that you couldn't give a damn what the world expects of you. Not really. You're too savvy for that." He unclasped his arm guard and pulled it off. "I think... you're just afraid of disappointing your friends."
She blinked a few times. "... You think so?"
"Sure." He watched as she cleaned a bit of dripped blood from the spandex on his chest as best she could. "You're not used to this sort of thing, right? Out of your element."
"... that's certainly so..." She nodded slowly.
"I don't know much about your group, Sam. But I suspect you may be measuring yourself against standards that nobody else holds you to." He smiled kindly. "And I don't know about anything else... but you're doing a great job from where I'm standing."
Setting the disinfectant down, she returned his warm smile.
And kissed him.
Caught by surprise, Jacent's eyes widened, and he got out a soft inquisitive sound before their lips met. Her embrace was warm and comforting. He leaned into it, licking her lips gently. She made an awkward sound of surprise, and shook her head, tapping his chest gently. Her protest confused the young man, who pulled away with a befuddled expression.
"Ah... my kisses heal you." A blush burned across her face. "It's my power."
He blinked once, twice. His hand felt his ribs, which were again whole. An amused chuckle escaped him. "So they do." He took her hand in his. "Thank you for your expert care. I apologize." The easy smile never left his face as he stood up and walked to the table.
Samantha grinned boyishly, giggling to herself. "... That's okay."
He stopped halfway there before turning on his heel. "Oh, and Sam?"
"Yes, Mr. Comet?"
He laughed and shook his head. "Just call me Jacent."
"..." She nodded, a smile creeping up her lips. "Alright, Jacent." She watched him walk away, focused more than a little on the way the torn tights and shorts of the costume traced his rear. "... Must read those comics."
-
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-
A strange hardening of reality occurred, snapping her back, launching her out of a vanity and onto the floor in a puddle. Reflexively, by modes she didn't understand, Natalie felt her liquid body automatically form up again. As she did, she found herself in a cozy little room painted and decorated in various shades of purple, lavender and blue-violet. A large, plush bed sat in one corner, covered in thick blankets, a dozen or so stuffed animals, and hugging the largest one fearfully... Carrie.
Nat's mind served up a memory of the nightgown-wearing girl with big blue eyes and straight-down styled hair nearly bigger than her. She looked as she had when she was about six years old... at least, she assumed. That had been a little before they'd met. "Carrie..." Natalie smiled, but the child edged away, arms clutching the big goofy-looking husky plush. "Carrie, it's okay! I'm here now!"
The fact that she even could speak made the kitten shake her head in abject fear. "N-No, more monsters! Daaaad-dyyy!" She wailed, tears in her terror-clenched eyes. "Da-haddy Daddy Daddy..."
Natalie blinked a moment before looking at herself in the vanity. Oh. Right. "Carrie! Carriiiieee~" she sing-songed in a soothing tone, which brought the girl from wailing to simply mewling fearfully, her little chest heaving. "Shhh. It's okay! It's me, Natalie!"
"Nooo!" She cried. "Get away!"
Nat shook her head. "Carrie..."
"She's tunneled inside herself," Echelon explained. "Perhaps helping her recall some memories could unlock others."
She nodded. "Come on, Carrie, you remember me, right? That stupid-looking girl who just ran right up and snatched Unbelievable Cap'n Comet number six?"
Carrie ceased crying and sniffled. "Cap'm Comet...?"
The wolf girl smiled. "Yeah, Cap! He was so cool, wasn't he?? We both wanted that issue; but there was only the one, so we fought over it. We started hitting each other, pulling hair, biting... our parents were mortified!"
The kitten looked as if she was trying to remember, her nose wrinkled, brows knit in heavy thought, the way only a child could.
"They spanked us. We cried. They made us apologize. We did. They told us they weren't buying either of us that comic. We. Were. Crushed." Natalie's shoulders shook with amusement as she recalled the incident. "But we didn't want to leave, so we had to promise to be extra-good and get along. We did, and, as it turned out... we liked each other." She smirked. "The next day after school, we walked back there, combined our allowances, and bought that comic together."
Before her eyes, the kitten blinked in confusion and... grew. In size, in stature. Her legs lengthened, her face matured. She looked about ten now- which Natalie definitely recognized. "You're doing it!" Echelon echoed in her head. "You're bringing her out of her fear!"
Carrie's expression grew more bold. "Y-You're not my friend Natalie!" she accused, her teeth now covered in clear plastic straightening guides, giving her an adorable lisp that Nat remembered fondly. "She's not an awful monshter..."
Natalie smiled and laughed warmly. She wasn't sure what was happening, but it appeared to be working. "No, I'm not your friend..." She sat down next to the cat and slowly put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm Natalie, your girlfriend." An affectionate smile eased over her face as she ran a gentle finger over the kitten's chest.
Carrie blushed, her adolescent face full of surprise. "What? Girlfriend...?"
A gentle nod. "It took us a while to realize, didn't it? We..." She laughed, one knee held to her chest as she sat on the soft sheets. "We'd spend the night and talk about what super heroes we wanted to marry..." The wolf grinned. "... Because they'd have awesome weddings and we'd live in space and underwater... and... we 'practiced' kissing." A flush heated her face. "But we kept wanting to do the kissing part, pretending one another was the husband or wife."
The cat smiled softly. "We were always kissing, acting like it was a big secret. Everybody knew." She snickered, a grin across her face. She blushed, laughing as she remembered, "We'd pretend we were going to work, and... gave each other babies."
Natalie burst out in giggles. "Your pillows were so huge, it looked like I gave you quadruplets! Your dad thought you were gonna run off and become a brood queen!" They shared the laugh for a minute. During a lull, she added, "Then I asked you out."
Carrie grew again. Her nightgown only covered halfway down her midriff. Her expression softened. Natalie recognized her at about thirteen. "The Haunted Castle on Halloween. I remember. The whole gang was with us, and they really ramped up the holograms that year."
"We led them into the spooky dining hall and I told them to wait-"
"-While we looked for more clues." An irrepressible grin made itself present on Carrie's face. "We snuck through the hall and you dragged me into the haunted study. We sat on the floor while the floating books went in 'n out of the book cases over our heads."
Natalie smiled fondly. "They had a real fireplace. I remember the light in your eyes when I told you that I'd been scared out of my wits to say it, but I couldn't just pretend it wasn't true... I wanted to be-"
"-My girlfriend." Upon looking up, Nat could see Carrie, fully realized, the same age as herself. She wore the schoolgirl outfit that she'd had to shed when it was reduced to shreds. The cat put a hand on her shoulder. "Natalie, why do you look like that? What's going on?"
Nat gasped, noticing that there was a strange creep of grey fluid on the wall. "Carrie. You... sorry, this is so weird. You're in danger! There are a bunch of Inked that are trying to take over your body and mind!"
She stood up and saw them. A flood of individual grey goo monsters all surging from underneath her door, covering more and more of the room. Carrie shuddered visibly, her pupils shrinking. "N-No... Mons-... Monsters..."
"Carrie!" Natalie put her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders. "Stay focused! You have to stay with me!"
"You're a monster, too!" She pushed Natalie back onto the bed, which was already covered in the liquid intruders. They flowed around the blackened girl, only interested in closing the circle, clinching the noose around the cat. Carrie, for her part, was in full panic, looking around in despair at the growing numbers congealing together and sealing off her room. "M-Monsters around me... my teacher... my girlfriend... my mind..."
Had she not had her already vanilla fur, Carrie would have been white with fear. Natalie shook her head, grabbing handfuls of Inked and throwing them away forcefully. "I'm not a monster!"
"Stop LYING!!" Carrie screamed, tears running down her face. "You're a monster, too! I love you but you're a monster! And the worst part-" she hiccuped, sobbing as the grey-flooded floor wicked up her legs, spiraling as they climbed. "The worst part is..." Her fists shook as she looked at the mirror.
Natalie followed her gaze and stared. Her reflection was white. That wouldn't have been anything new, but she was white as the purest fallen snow... and so were her clothes... or rather, lack of them. "... Carrie... ?" She watched helplessly as the goo swallowed her, encasing her in their ever-moving miasma. Carrie's limbs folded inward as it piled on like a thick solid lacquer.
And then she exploded.
In a surprising show of raw strength, Carrie threw her arms out to her sides, fists clenched, and seemingly... willed her attackers off of her, splattering the grey ooze all over the room. Removed from the horrid covering, Carrie stood anew: a pure white liquid cat with solid violet eyes, a similarly colored stern frown, and matching bow. "... The worst part is, I'm a monster, too."
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