And we're back in the past and can check the eyrie archive
once again.

And here's where you can find the Panta Miniseries as well as other
Panta comics:

https://archives.eyrie.org/racc/lnh/Series/Tales.LNH/

And back to the Integrity Questers Miniseries!

We have Panta #3 by Hubert Bartels! Is it it time for Comics to
break Panta's heart?! Or is it time for Panta to just suck it up
and finally put on the Wolverine Wig?!!

Find out in...

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ADVENTURES #296

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Panta #3
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Date: Sat, 17 Dec 1994 17:58:36 -0700
From: Hubert Bartels <hgb@catalina.opt-sci.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: panta.3

Panta #3 : Pennies from Heaven

[ In Panta # 1 and #2, Panta was tossed out of the LNH for showing up in
Lost Cause Boy's room. Going elsewhere for the night, she returned to
find the LNH HQ in ruins. Believing the LNH destroyed, she hitched a
ride on a ACME Evil Plot Mechanisms company truck to Manhattan, NY. She
wants to find the truth about her parents by talking to the woman that
DeFacto claimed was her mother. Ferral. ]

In the evening light, Panta glanced at the building's address before pushing
her way though the revolving doors to the lighted lobby inside. The brass
plate on the building read '575 Madison Ave: Marvel Megacorp'.

Inside, Panta found a receptionist busily answering phones and taking messages.

"Marvel Megacorp. Please hold-". "Marvel Megacorp. How may we help you?"
"Marvel Megacorp. Please hold."

Panta walked across the barren little lobby and stood alongside the busy
receptionist.

"Marvel Megacorp. Sorry, he's out." "Marvel Megacorp. No, he's not taking
calls." "Mar-"

Click.

The harried receptionist looked up at the furry hand that rested on the phone's
receiver. "Hey!" The receptionist took another look at Panta's slender form
clad with a tattered coat and sneered. "Marvel's not hiring cat-girls anymore."

"Is Ferral in?" the leopard girl asked.

"Is she expecting you?" the receptionist asked, trying to wrestle the receiver
from underneath Panta's hand.

"I don't know. I'm supposed to be her daughter."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," the receptionist snarled. "Studio 3, 4th floor." With
a final shove, the receptionist freed the phone from Panta and pressed a button.
"Marvel Megacorp. Please hold." "Marvel..."

Panta padded down to the elevators while the receptionist continued a losing
battle with modern communication systems.

* * *

Outside the 4th floor door to Stage 3, Panta checked the red light showing if
it was safe to come in. Then she walked in.

The Stage 3 set was a island beach somewhere in the Caribbean. Several crew
members stood around the cameras as the propman wiped footsteps from the
sand. A woman dressed in a reflective gold skintight leotards had removed
her helmet and was bitching about the scene.

Panta wandered closer to the group of people, unsure of herself and how to
proceed.

"Hey you!" came a voice from out of the darkness of the stage.

Panta turned quickly, toppling a director's chair marked 'F.N.' "Me?"

"What are you doing here! This is a closed set." The voice approached out
of the darkness, a huge hulking figure of a man with grizzled grey hair.

"I'm Panta. I'm looking for Ferral..." Panta reached down and picked up the
director's chair.

"You're going to have - hey girl, you've got a tail!" the big figure said,
catching sight of Panta's tight little rear. "And fur..." His voice trailed
off. He stopped and rubbed his chin. "Well, I guess you aren't a fangirl
after all." He reached out and gently pulled one of Panta's cat ears in
a huge gnarled fist. "Real? They really are real!" he wondered.

"Ouch," Panta whined. When he had let go, she twitched her ear once or
twice to make sure it was still there.

"Ferral's in her dressing room," the big man rumbled. "Back through there,"
he pointed with a cyberized arm.

* * *

Panta knocked at the shabby door, not sure that she would get an answer. But
there was a muttered reply from inside that Panta guessed was an invitation.
Or a drunken query.

The dressing room was not much bigger than Pliable Lad's closet. While jars
and bottles littered the countertops, only a few pieces of clothing hung from
wires. Sitting on a folding chair in front of a cracked mirror was a cat
woman, her fur somewhat beraggled and unkempt. There was a bottle of Old
Jim Scowling(tm) whiskey on the counter.

"Whatcha want?" the woman slurred.

"Don't...don't you recognize me?" Panta asked, stepping into the tiny room.

"Why? Should I?" the cat woman said, turning back to the mirror and pouring
herself a tumbler of Old Jim Scowling(tm).

"You don't know who I am?" Panta asked, now confused. "I'm Panta."

"Never met you before, girl. Go away! Marvel ain't hiring cat-girls." Ferral
took a huge wig and placed it on her head.

"I'm not your daughter?" Panta slid to the cat woman's side and looked into
the cat woman's face.

"Who said that?"

"You told DeFacto that."

"Hmmmm. Maybe I did. Didn't work. Marvel ain't renewing my contract. This
story, then I'm supposed to join the MLF, then I get offed." The cat woman
adjusted the wig. "No renewal, no job, no future. Take my advice, girl. Go
into retail. It's safer. Don't ever work for Marvel Megacorp. They'll use
you, retcon you, twist you, kill and resurrect you, then discard you."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you tell DeFacto that I was your love-child?" Panta grabbed the
cat woman's hand to keep her attention. "Why?"

"Hey!" Ferral pulled her hand out of Panta's grasp. "Um. I had hoped that
DeFacto would keep me on if I had something on him. Your resume was on
his desk at the time. You looked... You were... You're a felinoid too, so
I... I thought DeFacto might believe it. He ignored it, the bastich! Now
go away. I want to be alone."

Panta straightened up. "Then where do I come from? Tell me that at least!"

"Don't know. Don't care." Ferral stood up, the top of her wig brushing the
roof of the dressing room. "I've got to go. Close the door on your way
out." She lowered her head and left the room.

As the cat woman left the shabby dressing room, another familiar figure
entered the room. Panta had seen him last several nights ago.

"They told me you had gone back here." DeFacto said. "Did you find what
you were looking for?"

"You!" Panta spat. "You didn't believe what you told me that night! You
lied."

"I saw through Ferral's little lie right away. She's such a pitiful actress.
But it no longer matters," DeFacto smiled. "The LNH HQ is a smoking ruin.
Members of the LNH are scattered across the country. After that scandal,
no one will take you seriously again. Now you're here in New York City.
Jobless. Orphaned. Helpless." He laughed. "Ruined."

Panta growled. "I..."

"You can still work for me." DeFacto offered. "There's really no other
choice, my little mutant. Take over Ferral's job. Wear the Wolverine wig."

"Never!" Panta spat. She bared her little fangs.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Such an offer will come but once. And now it is
too late. Goodbye, my little leopard girl. Have a nice life." DeFacto
backed out of the shabby dressing room and closed the door.

Panta was left in semidarkness.

[ You're hundred of miles from home, you've learned that your mom isn't
your mom, you're broke, and without a clue as what to do next. What WILL
you do? What WILL you do? ]

Lost Cause Boy (tm) Douglas P. Wojtowicz, Kid Anarky (tm) Stephane Savoie
Panta (tm-less, jobless and orphaned) Hubert Bartels.

----
Hubert Bartels INTERNET: hgb@catalina.opt-sci.arizona.edu
Optical Sciences Center (602)-621-2032 FAX: (602)-621-4416
University of Arizona Surf the Famous springs of Jyushenkyou!
Tucson, AZ, USA 85721 It'll change your life!

==========

Next Week: Some more Integrity Quester Action!!!