Before Sean could mutter "Showoff", a grinding sound could be heard inside. Part of the floor shifted to reveal it was in fact a giant door blocking what looked like a massive, man-made ramp with stairs built along the far sides. Several figures came up first, all human-sized but with distinctly non-human features: An extra eye, tusks, an additional arm, and various minor, but distinctive mutations. They were also all armed with pistols. Then a large, snakelike form slithered up the ramp. From the waist up she looked like a scaled woman of mixed reptilian and human features. Below was a leviathan-like tail of coiled muscle. The only remotely "human" trai she had was a shock of red hair.

"I'm disappointed, Bennett," she spoke, a surprisingly smooth, almost soothing tone. "I would think you would be more grateful given what I've done for you."

"It's not that I didn't want to, Echidna. Really. Just..Molly's pregnant and I thought betting on the fights would get us some quick cash. I never meant to cheat you."

"Considering you were already in-debt for that mask you're wearing, I'm surprised you'd risk my anger."

Bennett gulped. "We'd spent all or lives in the sewers. I..I wanted our baby to have more."

"You have a roof over your head," Echidna pointed out, seeming to slither idly in an approximation of a human pacing. "You can see the Sun rise without being mobbed by paranoid flatscans. You have edible food and water."

"But-"

"But nothing!" She snapped. "I lived there too and made something of myself here! I didn't do it by biting the hand that fed me!"

"Please, Echidna. I'll pay you back for everything. I swear!"