"You seriously expect me to tell you?"
Fortunately, Nafiira was still stuck where Tamatoa had left her.
Unfortunately, she was being very uncooperative.
"S'not like you have much of a choice, babe." Tamatoa growled in response, nearing the bird with snapping claws. "You're not helping anybody by ignorin' our questions, least of all yourself."
The feathered monster let out a short cackle, albeit a bit of a forced one. "I've told you enough. Nothing I say can help you now—"
She was cut off as the crab snatched up the net and dangled her in the air, holding her at eye level. "I didn't ask for your opinion on the matter." He growled sharply. "You are going to tell me what that demon's next move'll be way or the other…" A familiar sadistic grin stretched across his face as he went on. "… but whether we do this the easy way or the hard way is completely up to you, babe."
Nafiira gulped nervously at the sight of Tamatoa's malicious expression, but held her position. Somehow she even managed to hold that shit-eating smirk. "H-Heh heh… Like you'd hurt me when that girl's hanging around…" She hissed, flicking her head in Moana's direction. "I hear 'peaceful resolution' is kinda her shtick." The sentence was followed by a mocking laugh, as if the very idea was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "I doubt she'd let you hurt poor, defenceless me right under her nose."
Moana and Maui had been standing on the sidelines, allowing Tamatoa to handle the interrogating. But upon hearing Nafiira's retort to the crab, Moana's eyebrows shot up. Maybe under any other circumstances, she would have looked for a more peaceful solution, but right now? The co-chief was too mad at this monster for her part in all this, and she certainly didn't take kindly to being used as a cop-out on top of that.
"Who, me?" She said, placing a hand on her chest. Her eyes were wide with feigned innocence. "I don't see anything out of the ordinary!" Moana turned around, hands moving to her hips as she looked around Lalotai. "Hey Maui, do you see anything I'm supposed to be objecting to?"
"Nope." Maui smirked, eying Nafiira with folded arms. He clearly had no problem with how the situation was being handled, either. If anything, the demigod found it entertaining. "Just another day in the Realm of Monsters."
The bird's small smile finally faltered as her last hope of safety was crushed. Watching the shift of attitude only made Tamatoa grin wider.
"Thought you'd get out of this that easy?" He purred, bringing Nafiira closer to his face. "Guess again, mon petit oiseau. Mercy isn't on anybody's mind today after what you did." Narrowing his eyes, that familiar venomous tone was all too clear with his next snarl. "Let's try this again, shall we?"
That seemed to do the trick. Nafiira was quick to scramble helplessly inside the net, giving in at last. "Okay, okay, okay…!" She chittered, "I-I'll tell you whatever I can, just don't hurt me…!"
Hmph. Good. So she's not a complete idiot.
Dropping her to the ground none too lightly, Tamatoa stepped on the bird to hold her down, watching her expectantly. "How many other allies does Mana'aihue have?"
"Oh, loads!" Nafiira answered immediately, not daring to make Tamatoa wait a second too long. "He's got a huuuge following! But of course, I'm his right-hand monster. The others are merely tools." She couldn't help but say it with a flicker of pride. After all, who wouldn't be proud of being so useful to someone so powerful? "But yeah, with the amount of monsters he's got at his disposal? You guys wouldn't stand a chance!"
That last part was said just a little too chipperly for Tamatoa's taste, and so the bird earned a sharp kick from him. "Why all the fuss, huh?" He hissed with narrowed eyes. "I know he promised you something. If he's got all this support like you say, he must be dishing out something preeetty good."
The fowl-like monster chittered quietly with a nervous shake of her feathers, shaken by the kick. "… 'Her heart held the greatest power ever known. It could create life itself'…"
"… and Te Fiti shared it with the world'." Moana finished quietly.
"Precisely." Nafiira said, sparing a quick glance the girl's way. "The power of creation. Not only that, but the power to share that power." She returned her full attention to the crab. "Mana'aihue has promised his followers the gift of immortality. Eternal life." A greedy little grin stretched across her beak. "And hey, selfish shellfish, s'not too late to get behind that deal. You sure you're on the right side of the battlefield, here? You should be fighting alongside your monster brethren, for a better future for us, not alongside these…" She cast Maui and Moana a dark glare, Maui in particular. "… things."
And here he thought she'd learn by now.
Delivering another hard kick to the bird's side, Tamatoa snarled threateningly. "Oh, don't go pulling that 'brethren' crap on me now. After all…" A snide smirk appeared on his face. "… you're the one who said I'm not a 'real monster', aren't you?"
Circling the bird idly, the interrogation continued. "What's Mana'aihue planning to do next?"
"I-I don't know, exactly—I-I mean, he was going to t-take the demigod with him to T-Te Fiti to give up the location of the Heart…" She took a quick breath, not wanting to hesitate for the fear of getting thrashed again, "H-He was going to hurt the girl if Maui didn't talk—" That earned a sharp growl from both Tamatoa and Maui, causing the bird to jolt back in alarm. "B-B-But you just ruined all that, so…!"
"What even is the point of that?" Tamatoa barked in exasperation, his irritated chirps growing louder by the minute. "Why doesn't he just freakin' find it himself instead of going through all this trouble?"
"Hey, believe it or not, this way's faster. And time is of the essence." Nafiira replied, "The guy's been staying off the radar ever since the 'Lemuria' incident, see? 'Cause the Gods are supposed to think he's dead, right? Centuries went by and the guy managed to stay hidden as nothing more than an old tale!" She gave a quiet cackle. "Well anyways, that Maui guy knows exactly where the Heart is hidden on the island. An' he wanted to be in an' outta there before Te Fiti knew what hit her. Since Mana had to swing by Motunui anyways to get a hold of Maui's hook, we figured, 'Hey, why not just take those two back with us'? It's like hitting two birds with one st—" She cut herself off with an awkward laugh, realizing that probably isn't the best metaphor to use right now. "Uh, anyway, that was that… But since that plan's all messed up now, I'm guessin' the only other option is to just go ahead find it himself."
Everyone was quiet now, Maui and Moana exchanging concerned glances while Tamatoa kept his attention firmly on Nafiira.
His expression was borderline unreadable, his mouth twisted into a sort of semi-smile, yet any other facial feature showed no sign of emotion.
"… I see… Good to know… Oh, and one more thing…" Any hint of a smile suddenly melted away, leaving behind only the rawest of unbridled rage. Roughly yanking her net back into the air and ramming her against the fallen tree, the crustacean roared, "Why was I framed for murdering those kids?! Why did they have to die for any of this?!"
Nafiira's eyes shot wide open with terror, gasping in shock and pain when she made contact with the tree. "T-T-That was Mana'aihue's idea, I swear…! W-When he saw you under those r-rocks, a-and when Maui came by, h-he read your minds to find out the connection, a-and—Uh—"
"And what?!" Tamatoa snarled, bringing her towards his face once more.
"Eep!" The bird peeped, covering her own face with eyes squeezed shut. "H-He saw you as the perfect distraction, that's all! The way things played out, not only did it have those two lettin' their guards down, but it kept you out of the way while we nabbed 'em!"
A distraction?
A distraction?!
With another ferocious roar, the crab threw Nafiira across the clearing, and she plummeted roughly to the ground, tumbling several feet even after landing.
That someone would use people like that… like disposable pawns in some sick, twisted game… it was all so infuriating.
Not giving her even a second between attacks, Tamatoa lunged across the clearing after her, picking up the net she was tangled in and swirling her in circles above his head before slamming her into the ground over and over again. Splatters of blood started to decorate the ground, the bird's mangled cries of agony cutting through the air before gradually dwindling away.
Maybe he can't get a hold of the mastermind, but he could at least do something about this damned stooge.
Throwing her to the ground with all the same force from their earlier encounter, Tamatoa raised his claws, murderous intent written all over his face.
"Wait!" Moana called, getting in between the two monsters. The look she gave Tamatoa held no judgment for how he was acting, thankfully, but rather just a desperate desire for the crab to hear her out.
He lowered his claws immediately as Moana got between them, but the fire of vengeance burning brightly in his eyes didn't fade one bit. "Moana, if I leave her alive—"
"—she'd come back later and make us regret sparing her, I know… but think about it; what if we can still use her?" Moana contemplated, raising an eyebrow.
The crab leaned his head to the side a bit, looking skeptical… but mildly curious. "… Go on."
"Well, we know that Mana'aihue makes heavy use of her… She even said herself that she's basically his right-hand monster." She explained, glimpsing at the bird. "And we know this Mana'aihue guy is opportunistic and uses other people as he needs… Sooo, if he still has uses for Nafiira, we might be able to use her as… I don't know, bait or something…?"
The uncertainty in her contemplation was far from comforting, a concern the crab translated well through his unconvinced expression. "Might? That's takin' on a lotta trouble for somethin' that might not even work, babe…"
Moana simply shrugged. "Just a thought. And even if that doesn't work out, then we could always just keep her around for information. This guy's a wild card, after all, and having someone that knows him as well as Nafiira seems to would definitely be useful."
… Hmph. She had a point, Tamatoa supposed… Using Nafiira to better know how Mana'aihue's mind works would surely be helpful… and she could make good bait if the circumstances were fitting…
"… Okay, fine." He conceded. "But on one condition! She gets muzzled whenever we're not using her!" Tamatoa didn't have near the same level of patience as Moana did, after all, and he was sure he'd go nuts if he had to listen to that bird running her mouth all day…
Hmm… Moana was hoping to try and talk some sense into her while they had her around, but… that was a fair enough request, considering the other monster's nasty streak. With another shrug, the chief-to-be agreed. "Alright."
"Waaay ahead of you guys!" Came Maui's voice as he approached the bird, the vines that had bound them before now in his hands. Apparently the demigod had gone to the lair and back for the appropriate muzzle while Moana and the crab were negotiating. How conveniently foresightful of him.
It didn't take long to tie up her beak and toss the bird onto Tamatoa's back, as she had fallen unconscious from the beating.
"Back to the surface…?" Moana said unsurely, resting on the edge of the crab's shell with Maui.
With a slow nod, Tamatoa repeated, "… Back to the surface."
Finally, the trio was off, leaving Lalotai behind them for the second time.