The trio of Mandalay, Midnight and Ragdoll eventually reached the clearing where the mouth of the caves where they assumed their quarry was located. Only to find out that the caves were empty. After sharing a glance with each other they suddenly heard a sound that made the hairs on their necks stand up. It was a sound somewhere in between a growl performed by a child and a snarl made by an actual animal, and the source of the sound was not only behind and above the Heroines, but also made their instincts scream at them. They were in the presence of a predator and it was much higher up the food chain than the three Heroines.
With the sound of whatever was making them feel on edge landing on the ground in the clearing serving as a silent signal, the three Heroines slowly turned around and were greeted by a surprisingly intimidating but also rather sad and worrying sight, illuminated by the light of the full moon looming above the clearing. Standing on all fours was a young girl who couldn't be older than seven. The fact that her appearance wasn't normal made it obvious that she had a Mutant-type Quirk, more specifically a Mutant-Quirk of the Animal-subclassification. The most obvious feature that indicated an Animal-class Mutant-Quirk was the arms, which were not only covered with green scales but also shaped into bat-like wings with three fingers resembling the thumb, index- and middle fingers, each covered with green scales and tipped with a small but sharp claw. Another feature that definitely indicated that the girl had such a Mutant-Quirk of the Animal-subclass was her legs, more specifically her feet, which had only four toes that each had a rather impressive talon. Based on what could be seen, the girl's legs also appeared to have an extra knee. But the most obvious evidence of an Animal-classed Mutant-Quirk was the clubbed tail that almost matched the girl in terms of length, the mentioned club of which had a few needle-like spikes. While the signs of the girl's Mutant-type Quirk made the sight intimidating, what made the sight a sad and worrying one was the state of the girl's clothes, or rather the torn up state of what was left of them. Something that made it rather obvious that the girl had only worn a single set of clothing for quite some time. The fact that holders of Mutant-Quirks occasionally needed clothes that were custom made for them and their abnormal anatomy, depending on how extensive the mutation was, was something that could easily become quite expensive for a child's parents or guardians. Especially when things like wings and/or tails was a part of the equation. While the girl's mutation gave her wings, they weren't on her back but her arms from the elbow joint and outwards, something that definitely made it difficult for her to wear and even get a shirt on in the first place. As the girl started to make her way closer to the Heroines, all while snarling at them in an almost feral manner, Mandalay opened up her telepathy.
"We don't want to hurt you so please calm down." Exclaimed Mandalay almost pleadingly, which made the girl stop in her tracks and simply stare at the cat-themed telepath with an expression akin to a mix of animalistic confusion and curiosity. Only for her expression to briefly change back to a snarl as Midnight ripped off a segment of her costume, before it returned to an expression of curiosity as the holder of an obvious Mutant-type Quirk started sniffing the air in Midnight's general direction while slowly making her way towards the R-rated Hero. The Mutant eventually just stopped in front of the dark purple haired woman, simply standing there on all fours and continued sniffing at her.
"Okay? What the heck is going on?" Asked Midnight her fellow Heroes in a tone that she hoped wouldn't set the girl sniffing her off.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think there's something special that she associates with either your scent or, more likely, the scent of your perfume. I suggest you take the opportunity to put her to sleep." With a silent nod, Midnight released a small puff of her sleep-inducing aroma in the young girl's face, not enough to make her fall asleep immediately but definitely make her very sleepy, evidenced by the reptilian girl stumbling forward into Midnight's arms. While the members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats didn't hear her, Midnight definitely heard the girl absentmindedly say something before falling asleep completely that made the R-rated Hero get an idea of what was so special about the scent of her perfume to the girl.
"Ma…ma." The word was barely above a whisper, but Midnight heard it and was able to make a good guess. The girl's mother and Midnight apparently used the same brand of perfume, giving them similar scents.