Until the End…
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The sound of shattering metal awoke the four Thundercats from their frigid sleep. The halls of Mumm-Ra's pyramid were rarely silent, always haunted with forgotten souls. Thus, here they had been held captive for years. Oh, it wasn't by lack of trying but the mummy priest had managed to acquire the bracelet of power yet again although it wasn't by the bracelet that they'd been captured just by the bracelet that they remained captured.
It had been a typical mission, one that should have ended easily and swiftly as the Mutants had ceased to be a threat after the arrival of the Lunatacs. But one could never underestimate one's foes. It was a lesson they had been taught over and over again, but regardless of their many improvements, they were merely mortal, open to error.
Their error that time had rendered them: Lion-o, Panthro, Cheetara and Tygra, those Thundercats that the Mutants had been fighting for years, since their arrival on Third Earth, prisoners in Mumm-Ra's pyramid. They'd all expected the mummy to kill them right out but he'd done no such thing, claiming it was far more satisfying to see them suffer and rot. He kept them alive barely, only to see their suffering, their crushed pride.
Yet, their wills were not yet extinguished.
Even an evil mummy needed to sleep and thus, when the pyramid would grow dark and cold, they would awake and plan. The mummy had so far foiled every escape attempt and the first time they'd managed to glimpse freedom through the cracks in the dark oynx stone, the Mutants had been more than happy to abush them upon their attempted exit. Weakened by malnourishment, they hadn't been much of a fight, thus, winding back where they were…prisoners, beaten but not broken inside the building of hard iced stone.
More often than not, their thoughts, when not focused on escape, were focused on their comrades still outside the walls. The three new Thundercats: Bengali, Pumyra and Lynx-o in the Tower of Omens with Snarfer and the Thunderkittens within Cats' Lair with Snarf. Understandably, they worried most for the twins. Mutants and Lunatacs were quite ruthless and would not hesitate to kill children and no doubt would not take long to realize that the four adults commonly at Cats' Lair were imprisoned by Mumm-ra and thus not a threat.
The Sword of Omens…
Well, honestly, they hadn't a clue where it was.
Mumm-Ra had taken the sword when they were captured and it did not respond to its lord's call. It was either blinded or bound.
How long they'd been imprisoned since they had yet to establish. In the dark of Mumm-Ra's pyramid, days ran together and days became months and years. They knew it to at least be a year judging by the state of their clothes and their health but not even Cheetara nor Tygra could guess beyond that. That was the hardest and most horrible feeling, the unknowing.
Hence, when the shattering noises fractured the sounds of the dark night, all four were on their feet with a start. They didn't speak but their hearts were lifted. The ears of a warrior did not easily forget the sounds of battle and that was the calamity that ran through the walls of the dark pyramid. They could well hear Ma-Mutt's frightened yelp as well as several ancient curses from the demon priest, in an old tongue long forgotten by the rest of the world.
"Someone's attacking?" Cheetara spoke mainly to herself, if only to break the silence of the hopeful warriors. No one dared attack the Black Pyramid. Even when they were at their strongest, an outright attack on the mummy's stronghold was considered suicide except in the most dangerous and desperate of circumstances. Only when one of their own were threatened did they dare take the battle to the dark sorcerer's own domain.
Panthro, the most experienced and eldest of them, cocked his own ears. "Yes. But I can't tell how many…"
"Who would have cause to?" Tygra that time. Everyone on Third Earth carried a healthy respect of the dark priest as well as what he was capable of. The last to try and overthrow him had been the lunatacs and he had sealed them in lava for it. He was fairly sure they wouldn't try a risky attack like this. The Mutants had learned long ago not to try and go against him, not having neither the magic nor the technology for it.
The rest of Third Earth kept their distance and rightly so.
Lion-o, still the youngest of the present adults, thought a long while. "The Bracelet's power isn't being used."
Cheetara nodded "I can't feel its influence anymore."
That was more than enough to encourage the Thundercats to try their latest escape plan but their plans were interrupted by the sound a loud crunch, a loud shattering of stone and metal. They raised their heads towards the origin which was from one of the corridors nearby. It was far away at first but then they heard the patter of feet that told them whatever the source it was growing steadily closer. The sound of the footfalls wasn't heavy; whoever it was, it wasn't Mumm-Ra nor was it any of those despicable allies he had. The weight was too light.
The group nodded at one another and slowly grasped the make shift weapons they'd created from rocks and pieces of stone they'd chipped out of the wall. Panthro, despite being a prisoner, had kept his almost supernatural strength up to par and it was a weapon in itself. Still, there was little one could do behind iron bars but they were willing to die before they were ruthlessly slaughtered! To go down with honor if they were destined to go down.
Showers of rocks, stone and dust exploded from one corridor, leaving a rather large hole in the side of the wall. A whirling, almost whistling sound echoed through the corridors and a strange triangular hsaped weapon charged straight towards them. At the last second, blades of the finest blacksmithing opened on its sides and sliced straight through the bars, leaving them to fall to the ground in pieces, rendering the former prisoners freed before it took a u-turn in the air and, with the closing of the blades back inside smoothed wood, the large boomerang returned to the outstretched hand of its owner, still hidden in the shadows for the most part.
Slowly but not without gratitude, the four Thundercats stepped out of chains for the first time in years. Their eyes searched the shadows for their mystery rescuer. Lion-o, taking a step forward, extended his thanks.
"We're indebted to you…"
"Hardly." The mystery woman, for her voice was obviously feminine, spoke. "You'd have done the same for me, Lion-o. If anything, we should have gotten here sooner."
Cheetara, even without her psychic sense seeking it, gasped. "That voice…"
Stepping out of the shadows, they were met with a young girl, probably about sixteen years of age. She wore no shoes and her feet were calloused and worn, obviously from quite a few years among the elements. She wore an outfit similar to the warrior maidens, made from rough animal skin, dyed a dark red color. It resembled Queen Willa's style save there were no sleeves at all. But it was her features…tan skin but with white patches on the ends of her hands, feet and covering the majority of her face, long red and black hair cut short at her chin so it bobbed as she walked but pinned back from her face with several animal bone clips. Across her back, she carried the boomerang which had cut away their bonds. It was taller than she was had she propped it against the ground but she carried it at an angle.
She smiled now, her eyes wet with tears and resisting an urge to run forward and embrace these four she had missed and prayed for so.
"Five years will change you, Cheetara but it's still me."
Lion-o eyed her a moment then gasped in realization himself and took one step backward. "Wily Kit…"
"In the flesh. Now let's get the hell out of here."