The Black Panther walks through the remnants of a blood soaked and waterlogged Kingdom hide out. This is where he almost slaughtered the entirety of the Kingdom.
With him, tied up around the ankles and wrist, is none other than The Red Falcon. He’s unceremoniously dumped on the floor by The Black Panther.
“I’ve never thought of myself as a hero,” he says with a musing tone, his voice growling and altered by the mask. He walks out into the middle of the room and looks around the shattered monitors and broken machinery. “When I was brought into the Kingdom, The Zookeeper told me that I’d lead a group of men to a different Arcadia.”
He shakes his head, noting that to clearly be a lie.
“But what I ended up being was a subordinate to you, of all people,” Panther mocks looking back at the squirming Falcon. “Me? A subordinate to you?”
Panther runs across the room, as quick as lightning, nailing Falcon with a boot to the midsection. He gasps in agony.
“I bet you feel superior now, don’t you Falc?” Said Panther as he turned away in disgust. “Because let’s face it, I’m wearing the wrong mask.”
He walks away and towards a glass cabinet, in which other masks reside. Without a care in the world, he shatters the glass and takes out the mask of a Wolf.
“The Brown Wolf,” said Panther with a chuckle. “This should’ve been mine all along, shouldn’t it? Because unknown to you cretinous little lambs, I came in wearing the clothing of a metaphorical lamb . You see, I donned this pathetic Black Panther suit – not because I wanted to be a Superhero. Not because I wanted to stand out, but because I wanted to fit in.”
Panther angrily tosses the Wolf helmet aside and turns back to The Red Falcon.
“The moment I put it on, I became a lamb – just like you. I looked like you, walked like you and talked like you. I pretended to buy into the hero rhetoric. I wanted to lead, I wanted to be followed and I wanted to save Arcadia. What a bunch of bullshit.”
He laughs heartily at that.
“Do you know what I really wanted to do, Falcon?”
He bends down, leaning in.
“Eat.”
Panther sneers angrily before letting out another laugh.
“And I’ve just started filling my belly. Finally, the woolly coat of systematic heroic bullshit has fallen off and now you see me, don’t you? The wolf in all his glory stands before you, a stomach full of The White Bear.”
He pats his stomach whilst crouched.
“My next meal approaches, little birdie. A delectable and delightful taste of feathers and fear.”
The Falcon squirms.
“Then a Shark to be harpooned and a Snake to be skinned for desert.”
He tries his hardest to break free, but can’t.
“You see, I infiltrated this Kingdom like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and had my fill of the lambs.”
Panther scoops him up, lifting him over shoulder and standing up.
“What’s another at Lambs to the Slaughter?”