The morning sun stretches out over California, blinking the cobwebs from it's eyes with help from the wind. Lancieta, is in a makeshift bed with the new days light pouring through a hole, gets a ping on her comm. She sighs heavily and stretches as she rolls over. It was luck, she thought, that she was able to find silk sheets in this destroyed remnant of what used to be Long Beach. She rolled over again, picked up the comm and only half understood what she was being told. Something about the triplets reading a panther.
He had been in the house for 3 days straight, a time span she had spent scouring Section 6 for one of the few remaining power cores. Given how much damage Section 6 sustained, T.V.R. had trouble locating her in some areas. They mentioned something about brain activity being off the charts. A yawn seemed to clear up her early morning mind and in a flash the words being spoken at her suddenly pieced together. Like a mother fearing the worst, she pulls on some clothes in a rush, almost tearing her pants and slips on the outspilled contents of her hiking bag while she grabs the keys to Tezzy, completely forgetting to put on her shoes.
Roisin notices hurried steps coming closer to and readies a quick sentence.
"Hey Lancieta, where are you off to so early?" Lancieta almost ran passed the eating area, but clawed at the doorway to stop herself and her feet shot out from under her, sending her to the floor for the second time this morning.
"The triplets got a solid read on him. He's at the house. He hasn't moved in three days, he might be hurt!"
The intensity of her Captain's attachment to this human finally hits home. Roisin, for the first time in months saw tears in Lancieta's eyes... the bare feet were another sign.
"Take me with you! I've been studying the veterinary information we collected. If he's hurt... let me grab my kit!" Roisin shot up from the table, leaving her breakfast alone and dejected.
As Lancieta jumped into the driver's seat she popped the trunk for Roisin and as soon as the veterinarian climbed in Lancieta kicked the car into 1st and sped off. She had done some heavy modifications over the last 5 months while ignoring Yora's insistence that the electric car didn't need a mechanical transmission. She extended the distance the wheels were from each other even more to deal with how harsh the roads were becoming and would continue to get. Driving around now was less like driving on a neglected city road and more like driving in the Dakar rally, given the extreme growth the plant life was exhibiting. She re-geared the redundant transmission and put on bigger tires as well.
Partially because she didn't know what to say, partially because Lancieta's driving scared her, Roisin stayed quiet the whole ride. She was relieved when her Captain didn't hit that jump while going up the hill to the Panther's house.
Lancieta leapt out of the car, not even using her door and ran up the steps, Roisin was following as close as possible after retrieving her kit. When they reached the top of the landing they saw the Panther sitting as still as a statue looking out over the valley. Not as though he were its king but rather like he was looking for something or someone. Lancieta was amazed at how different he looked while awake. His grey fur had become disheveled and matted and also looked like it had gained a slightly reddish tint to it. She scanned it closer and it vaguely resembled a woven fabric much different from when he was asleep. He looked hungry, yet at the same time strong and sturdy, musculature was distinguishable beneath the fabric-like fur.
"Like a tank..." She said under her breath.
"From what I can see and the readings from my initial scan he just hasn't moved much in the last three days or eaten for that matter." Roisin said in a slightly unsteady voice.
The Panther looked to his left and saw the two women standing behind him. He looked back to the valley for a second and stood up. He took 4 steps towards the two odd looking women and paused. Their hands were not the same color as their skin he thought. He showed his teeth, not feeling like interacting with anyone ever again. One of them stood her ground, sure of herself. The other one, though she was taller, looked more timid and tried to hide behind the shorter one. The Panther moved 3 steps closer, still showing his teeth but stopped suddenly, immediately closing his mouth and sniffing curiously. He turned around quickly, picked up one of the brushes and placed it on the ground in front the woman. He motioned his left paw at it then towards the strange looking woman.
"He remembers my scent." Lancieta said to Roisin.
"No he remembers what food smells like and wants a taste!" She loudly whispered back. The Panther, not amused at the insinuation, pounded his right paw against the ground and shook his head with a low growl.
"Well you're not making friends, are you Roisin." Lancieta said as she walks toward the Panther. "Yes that's my brush. I was using it on your fur while you were unconscious."
The Panther looked up, smiling with his eyes and ran upstairs. He jumped from the second floor down to the living room with the bed in his mouth. Roisin not expecting it screamed loudly and fell backwards. The Panther dropped the bed out of his mouth and turned his head sideways, trying to smile but ended up just baring his teeth. He realized this based on Roisin's face contortion and stopped the attempt. He nosed at the bed, then towards Lancieta.
"Yeah I made that for you, with her help."
Lancieta said as she pointed to the trembling Roisin. The Panther shook his head in disbelief, walked towards Lancieta and gently placed a paw on her leg. He turned around, his back facing her and using his claw, he wrote something in the dirt that covered the floor. He walked towards the bed and allowed Lancieta to read. She did so, out loud.
"I don't know who I am."
Lancieta looked at him and saw tears welling in his eyes. She rushed towards him, dropped to her knees and hugged him tightly, tears of guilt forming in her own.
"I will take care of you until you remember."
She pulled back to look him in the eyes and he tried to smile again, which caused Roisin to shriek making him put his lips together. He reared onto his hind legs as Lancieta stood up and he hugged her back, being wary of his weight he placed his paws on her shoulders and his head over his left paw. Roisin screamed again.
"It's going to eat us!"
Lancieta turned around sounding very irritated.
"He's not going to eat any..." Before she could finish she is struck speechless by a biped Kodiak bear looking more human than bear but the Panther notices something the other two don't. It was in the bears eyes. The shine of life that he saw in the rabbits' wasn't there. The bears' eyes were cold and empty. It raises a clawed fist, intending to swing at Roisin. The Panther runs over to her in the flash of an eye, tackling her out of the way and taking the full force of the punch/slash with no reaction. He growls at the bear and the small, barely-red patch of fur on his back swells, spreading out from the center becoming more prominent. He looks it in the eyes again, making sure he can't see it.
"Empty"
He thinks to himself before leaping into action and in a fluid motion he rears up on his hind legs, coming up about 1 foot shorter than the bear. The Panther roars his defiance before slashing at the humanoid Kodiak's throat.
"Leave them alone!"
The humanoid Kodiak stumbles backwards, grabbing at its throat confused as to why breathing just became harder. It extended its fingers on the opposite clawed hand, taking another swipe at the Panther. Not expecting the immediate retaliation he again takes the hit, full-force. His legs buckle and he almost bounces off the ground. With that last movement the Kodiak-man falls over limp having breathed its last. Lancieta yells to Roisin while rushing over to the Panther, whom still looks dazed from the sledgehammer-strike.
"Are you ok Roisin?"
The Panther shakes off the hit and walks over to Roisin, surprising Lancieta. He looks down at his paws and for lack of anything else he licks her forehead. She landed face first when he tackled her out of the way. Lancieta walks over, drops to her knees giving them both a quick once over. The Panther shakes her away and starts clawing at the dirt.
"Sry"
The letters in the dirt are foreign at first but Roisin recalls coming across the English shorthand before. The Panther backs away while looking at the cut on her head. Roisin feels it, looks at the Panther and then at the Bear's lifeless body. "No, thankyou."
Lancieta slides over to Roisin's bag, which had fallen by the doorway and pulls out some rubbing alcohol and bandages. She rushes over to the Panther who was now arm's length away from Roisin and starts looking him over for signs of blood.
"Stand up. Let me see where you were hit."
He tries standing on his hind legs but falls over instead.
"On all four of your feet. You have four legs now, you're not bipedal... anymore."
Slightly embarrassed he stood up properly and allowed her to examine him.
"Nothing?" She tried touching the areas where he had taken the hits. "Do you feel any pain?"
The Panther shook his head no then motioned to Roisin.
"Thanks." Roisin said flatly, glaring at Lancieta. Lancieta walked over to her and started cleaning and bandaging the cut on her head.
"Well at least he acknowledged I was hurt Lancieta." The Captain responded with applying a little extra pressure and alcohol to the cut on Roisin's forehead than necessary.
"Ow!"
"What happened, too much attention for you Roisin?" Lancieta responded with a playful smirk.
When she finished bandaging Roisin's head her attention went back to the Panther.
"Well it looks like you've regained your humanity. I must thank you for saving us, we weren't built for unaided combat against that level of life-form. Captains and Doctor's rarely are."
The Panther looks at Lancieta unsure of what she meant. He looks them over and his eyes find their strange arms again. They look to be covered in metal skin from the elbows down. Their eyes look like normal eyes save for the almost neon colours, green iris's for Roisin and purple for Lancieta. There also seems to be a small amount of light being emitted from them.
"Do you remember your name?" Lancieta asks as she closes up Roisin's bag. The Panther sat pensively for a moment then shook his head no. He looked at the bear again as his mouth quivered. He wasn't sure how emotions looked on his face now but he was feeling terrified, anxious and now the deep sadness and guilt from not being able to remember came rushing back.
"I see..." Lancieta felt bad for asking what seemed now like a incredibly stupid question; he said before that he didn't remember.
The panther extended a claw and wrote in the dirt again.
"New life"
Lancieta helped Roisin up and thought for a moment. Then she feigned a smile, trying to lighten the Panther's mood. "Well, you just protected us, took two devastating hits and came out unscathed, hmm..."
"He's... like a tank."
Lancieta looked at Roisin with a smirk on her face. "That's it! How about Panzer?"
He looked at her and walked back to the living room. He was almost ready to resign himself to just sit there again and ignore the two strange women behind him but the smirk on Lancieta's face was burned into his mind, she seemed kind.
"Well? What do you think?" Roisin asked impatiently.
The panther stood back up and wrote in the dirt one more time. This time however, it was a simple smiley face. He sat next to the picture and nodded with a look of satisfaction.
"Well there you go Roisin, his name is Panzer."