All characters within are (c) WB.
Matters of Trust.
It did not seem right. Lion-o demanded obedience but the last Panthro remembered, the king was a boy. And Panthro did not give respect without proof first that they were worth it.
Panthro had kept it to himself back then. After all, it was not his role to question Claudus. But he always thought granting rulership based on blood was foolish. Dangerous even. But he did not believe it as Grune had, who said a king should achieved his position through ambition. It was the only other method Panthro thought that was more dangerous than the former.
Just the same, granting a child respect without earning it was not Panthro's style. Accused as he might that his loyalty was overrated. Words did not hurt like they used to.
"I'm the king," Lion-o said.
"Last I saw you, you were nine years old. And trust me, there's no nostalgia in that remark."
Panthro glanced the group of refugees before lowering himself from the Thunder Tank. They were all kids. Maybe by some grace of the divines, the ancestors lead him to Lion-o but Panthro was sure it was just luck. Dumb luck.
"I don't follow orders of children," Panthro said at last. Lion-o's hair rose and his fists balled. Tygra shifted his weight and smirked at his brother. It did not matter to him that he was included in the insult and Panthro had been startled to see such a look.
Cheetara shifted too though it was to stifle a comment. What she wanted to say was not that of which Jaga may have and so she kept it to herself. At least, that's what Panthro imagined. When her lips parted again and her eyes set upon him, she realized she should have said it but found the moment gone.
"Definitely kids," Panthro nodded. Maybe it would invite them to study their own behavior and see themselves as he had but moments seemed to speed away before they could be comprehend. Time to change the subject.
"Thunder Tank is out of fuel. Going to risk my hide at the Cloud Peak Mine. I'm telling you this so you know where I went." He could hardly contain his mockery.
"If you're going after Thundrillium, we're coming with you," Lion-o asserted.
Panthro ran his hand over the top of his head.
"Yeah? Sure you shouldn't stay here with those two and keep them from trouble?" And he gestured at the twins who gaped up at him with unblinking eyes. Lion-o pondered them.
"They'll stay with the tank. The rest of us will go."
"I'm going to say this as respectfully as I can: no."
"We're going with you. There is nothing more to dispute," Lion-o said.
"Then you listen to what I say, got it?"
"Loyalty is a hard commodity to come by," Cheetara said. "More so than Thundrillium."
He did not endure ten years in the wild to miss a glint in the eye or rigidness of the body which spoke louder than words. Cheetara had asserted her position as body guard through an exchanged gaze. A glint of violence had been evident there and promised Panthro trouble if he thought to muscle too much power from Lion-o. Panthro could have laughed if she did not contain an honest threat. She was Jaga's protégé. Pantho could see that.
In the end, Panthro relented. He took them into to the jungle valley and headed straight to Cloud Peak. He tried to keep his doubts to himself, his eyes locked on the mountain when he saw it and straight when he did not. There were important grown up things to do and he did not have time to humor royal brats with extremely low or excessively high self-esteem. Not even if their personal assassin demanded it.
"Surprised you guys made it this far," Panthro admitted. "You have never even been outside the walls let alone beyond where the eye could reach."
"We've made it just fine on our own," Lion-o said.
"Guess you guys didn't need my help back in the briars."
A pause followed and it was swollen with looks that shot arrows at the back of his head. He shrugged. Lasers would have been more effective.
He could almost hear Cheetara's fragile wisdom pondering his intentions. She surveyed him constantly as she measured his words and their meanings. The thought of it exhausted him but he also respected how difficult it could be. Panthro supposed if it were left to the both of them, they could cut out the drama and get the job done twice as fast.
If she was not calculating Panthro, he knew she certainly was willing Lion-o to say the right thing. But they were likely messages Lion-o would never know how to receive. And if Cheetara had been sending telepathic messages to urge Lion-o on, Tygra had certainly done the opposite. Without doubt, he waited to see if power could be wrenched from his brother's hands. And if it could, try it himself.
For someone whose fate had been blessed with as much luck as Tygra's, Panthro would have supposed Tygra less arrogant. If a rare wind did not blow in his favor, Tygra would be less than a Prince of Thundera. If anything at all. The wind hardly ever blew from the north and it landed a lone tiger cub in a den of lions. To be adopted no less. He could have been killed easier by those same lions had Queen Leona not been so eager for a baby. If that was not luck, Panthro did not know what was.
Further conversation was sparse until the sky turned red and the entrance to Cloud Peak was in view. Lizard sentinels paced the entrance in a lazy saunter. If they waited until after dark, they would certainly be asleep.
"We wait for night fall," Panthro said. There was no need to elaborate. Lion-o grumbled as Panthro retreated into the tall grasses but Panthro was sure there was little to debate. Even a child-king like Lion-o could see how cats had the edge in darkness.
With the lizard's sun-stricken saunter in mind, Panthro folded his hands under his head and supposed for a nap but lingered over sleep. He was sure someone would do something stupid the moment he drifted.
Despite himself he began to dream. He saw Grune pacing in his palace suite. Upon inquiry, Grune raged about something Tygra had said to him in secret during his coming of age ceremony. Disappointment had been apparent by the crease in his brow and the spit that flung from his lips as he articulated what had upset him.
"He's gotten soft, Panthro," Grune said. "Tygra thinks he can navigate Lion-o from beside the throne. He said that Lion-o would be king in name alone. The cub doesn't know being king is the title!"
"Would you stop encouraging him," Panthro said as he seized Grune's shoulders. "These words are upsetting because Prince Tygra is plotting against his brother not because he doesn't understand your perceptions of kingship. You must talk to him before he is discovered and punished as an adult!"
"Should have never trusted him to go do that," Panthro mumbled in his sleep.
Grune's suite vanished when he heard Lion-o. Shouting a plea no less. He threw himself to his feet, a movement that startled Cheetara and Tygra who were steps ahead to assist their king. They hurried but Panthro knew someone had to be there that could handle real danger. He jumped down from their hiding place on the hill and landed in a fray of lizard guards.
The lizards shouted and cried but not once in victory. Wild fear filled their throats until all lay at his feet. Only after that did Cheetara and Tygra find themselves at the bottom of the hill.
"What is wrong with you," Panthro cried. He meant it for all of them but only Lion-o responded with equal heat.
"Me? I gave an order!"
"He is the king now, Panthro," Cheetara said.
"So that means I have to listen to any order he gives me? Dumb as hell or otherwise? This is not what I signed up for."
"Considering your position as general, I'm surprised you have to ask," Cheetara returned.
"Guess the stories of your loyalty were exaggerated," Lion-o said.
"At least have the sense to stay behind me," he sighed but without resignation. His eye lingered on Lion-o as he suspected he might go wildly shouting into the entrance.
They followed Panthro quietly, to his surprise. Yet, each turning stone under their feet annoyed him and wondered if it alerted the lizard workers within. Considering how things had been going, he wondered if Grune would be within the mines. He then imagined Lion-o shaming Grune back into fealty.
Panthro almost laughed at himself and rolled his eyes. Even he thought he was being a little too harsh. Lion-o and Tygra could not be entirely to blame for the way they turned out. Grune engineered them to be precisely as they were. If they were to run into him, it meant that Grune would know right where to pull their strings. Panthro had watched him do it but hand not pieced it all together until after Grune betrayed him to the pits of Mumm-Ra's pyramid. Oh how Grune had labored to be king. His whole career was spent at the chance.
He might have worked almost as hard as the lizards had at Thundrillium deposits below them. Almost. As they spied on the workers from above in a dark patch in the wall, he recalled an additional danger that children may have not thought to avoid.
"Ever hear of ThunDRAINium," he whispered.
Lion-o screwed his face while a knowing light cast upon Cheetara's.
"Develops in the same ore chambers are Thundrillium. Don't touch it though. It's very toxic."
"What a painfully clever name," Tygra mused.
Panthro curled his lip before ending their lesson on the matter.
"Its poison to us. Get it on your hands, step in it or even breath it and you're on your back."
Cheetara's eyes lingered on Panthro but he looked upon the working lizards who had swept away scrap Thundranium deposits with a broom.
"What are you doing," a familiar voice barked, "get this shit out of here! Quickly!"
Panthro froze while fire brimmed in his eyes. He found Grune in golden armor tempered with a metal Mumm-Ra had shaped from star rock. He could have fallen onto Grune, drawn in by the sucking vortex of bitter resentment but Cheetara's gaze kept him tethered to his feet.
His thoughts crumbled. His objective lost in a wave of nostalgia as he gazed upon an old friend. One of which he had to remind himself had betrayed him for the sake of selfish ambition. Had their comradery ever meant anything? Had any of those days between meeting Grune and Mumm-Ra been valued above ambition? Panthro could hope but he punished himself for being as gullible. Not one day mattered. Not one day had Grune been a real friend. Not one day. Had he?
Panthro lead them down a dark passage that had deep grooves imbedded in the dirt from the constant rolling carts. The lizards who entered into the dark, eagerly lit their way with tiny lights upon their heads but little good it did. It cast phantom shadows and haunting pale light on the wall and did little else but put them on edge. The cats watched them with ease as they passed, their carts full of gleaming Thundrillium.
Tygra pointed at the cart as it disappeared at the other end of the tunnel and looked at Panthro.
"Now's our chance," he said with hardly a whisper. Panthro had almost missed it altogether as he glowered at the light of the main chamber. Grune's scent mocked him as it occasionally wafted down their dark tunnel.
It was a mistake. He knew it then. But he discarded Tygra's suggestion as a childish one and continued to creep for the light. Grune was at the end of the tunnel and Panthro had something to say to him. After a moment's hesitation, the footfalls of his company began again.
"There are a couple dozen lizards in there right now," Panthro whispered. "We can take them out easily and without Grune noticing if we get them as their coming in."
Tygra shrugged and Lion-o watched his brother.
"Your Thundrillium is in these tunnels. Sounds to me you just want to see your friend."
"No choice," Panthro said. "Stay back here. Get as much as you can. But first, we take out the lizards."
He thought he saw Tygra narrow his eyes but without two eyes to serve him, Panthro could not be sure.
Lizards came on their own as they filled their cart from a large deposit and carted them away into the tunnel. It was easy to pick them off but with their imaginations already haunting the black pathway, they screamed easily.
Panthro was surprised with the royals. Something about the lizard's fear goaded their primitive instincts. The lizards who did not enter the tunnel were spooked by growls and roars. Their superstitions realized, the rest fled while Grune's shouts were drowned by the pounding of lizard feet.
"Get back here," he cried. Panthro knew Grune enough and recognized irrational fear had been embedded within his orders. Grune always had been a little superstitious himself.
A smile crept on Panthro's face. With lizards shouting "ghosts", what better time than to show himself when he was presumed dead?
"Hey Grune," Panthro said.
Grune whirled around, spooked. The color of his lips drained, the only sure way to tell if a cat was pale.
"Panthro! You're…"
To Panthro's surprise, there was little he wanted to say. His blood boiled and there was only one thing left to do. He jumped upon Grune. Grune gasped as he still doubted his own eyes. He resisted Panthro's falling fists with the might of someone truly afraid.
"You betrayed me Grune! You betrayed your brothers," Panthro cried.
"You're not a ghost," Grune spat and shoved Panthro from him a second time. "But you almost had me there, old friend."
"How dare you call me friend," Panthro said and drew his weapons. "You relinquished that right when you rose arms against me."
"Settle down and I'll give you a second chance to join me!"
Panthro swore and desired Grune's death more than anything. He could mourn the loss later, if he felt the urge to, which he supposed unlikely.
In a terrain like a mine, Panthro knew there were plenty of opportunities to kill Grune. It took a glance at his surroundings to know just how to do it. He bombarded Grune with the crack of his nunchucks and drove him backward as Grune struggled to avoid each strike.
Back in the day during a campaign, Grune had laughed at Panthro's weapon of choice. He laughed until Panthro had hit him with one. Truth be told, it was an accident while they fought lizards in close quarters but Panthro always told Grune it was on purpose. The timing was too good. His nunchuck had broken Grune's arm and he was unable to fight for the rest of the dry season. Sent home to watch infant princes and quadruped nursemaids.
Grune caught on sooner than Panthro had hoped. He looked over his shoulder and saw a sudden drop. His face twisted and dodged to the side.
"That's a little nasty for your tastes, don't you think Panthro?"
"I owe you one," Panthro said and threw himself into Grune. It could have ended badly: the weight he had placed into the attack could easily have taken him off the ledge. But his foot hit it's mark and Grune flew backward and stumbled over the ledge.
He made a cry and his voice descend. Panthro hurried to the ledge to catch a last glimpse of him.
Grune vanished into the black, only to reappear. He hung from a machine that rose from the depths like an arrow. When the tall machine landed and spun wildly around the mine, Panthro shielded himself from falling debris.
"Kill them all, Driller," Grune called and made for the tunnel that they had emerged. Between falling debris and the robot, Panthro saw the royals and Cheetara draw their weapons. They thought they were going to take on Grune.
It was not expected that he would charge right through them and startled by his trajectory, the three split and stumbled aside.
"Maybe some other time, Thundercats," Grune called.
"Stop him," Panthro called but was interrupted by the Driller's first attempt at him. He deflected with the wave of his nunchuck but the power of the machine threw him on his back.
"No," Lion-o commanded, "we help Panthro."
"I don't need your damn help," Panthro called. "I told you not to get in my way!"
"And I said we stay," Lion-o said as they came upon the Driller with intent to deflect its next killing blow.
Panthro would not be up in time to save himself from the Driller's strike. It came faster than he could hope to dodge.
Lion-o was there before it landed. Red light showered him and the chambers. Panthro blocked his eyes as the light stung them and in his peripheral, Cheetara and Tygra had done the same.
The Driller whirled and whined. The machine squealed as it struggled to complete its master's wishes. Lion-o staggered, his body sunk under the force and Panthro doubted Lion-o conviction.
But before Panthro could conclude a nineteen year old boy was likely petty enough for revenge and step aside as a result of Panthro's disobedience, Lion-o roared. He threw his weight forward. The Driller spun backwards. Lion-o leapt upon it and slashed it with the electric edge of the Sword.
Panthro watched as the Driller flickered and split, its pieces rotated to a stop and fell back into the blackness.
"You…" Panthro began as he got to his feet.
He was interrupted by a tremor. Followed by another.
"The Driller weakened the mine," Tygra cried and goaded them all back into the tunnel.
They raced for the exit and dodged falling rocks where they could and bore impacts where they could not. Panthro watched as the three saved one another from falling debris, pushing one, calling to another to look out.
They were watching each other's back and even while they ran for their lives, Panthro felt happy in seeing it. That was what brothers and sisters in arms did for one another. There was no petty drama when a job needed to be done. Just pure brotherhood. And how Panthro wanted that again.
And maybe he could have it. Maybe he could find it in himself to respect them. Maybe.
They did not stop until they had reached the safety of the jungle where they could catch their breath.
"Anybody injured," Panthro asked between puffs of air.
He was replied little aside from bobbing heads.
"Look," he urged. "You say no now, but they have a way of turning visible when you least expect."
They obeyed and Panthro was tempted to perceive them as children again. Except the event in the mines blocked him from succeeding.
He saw gouges and bruises. Lion-o's lips and eyelids were pale and Panthro knew he carried at least a bump on the head.
"Wow, you know," Lion-o said, " I don't feel so good." Cheetara and Tygra looked at him and searched their own person for the same sentiment. When they were clear of sympathy, they turned to concern and Cheetara touched Lion-o's shoulder.
"He's burning."
Panthro frowned.
"Never takes long. He's got Thundranium poisoning. Must be from the Driller."
They had their own way of showing fear. Tygra stared hard at his brother as if his gaze alone would keep him alive. Cheetara smiled and promised Lion-o he would be fine without believing it herself. Lion-o laughed and tried to shrug off the ailment. Panthro sighed.
"Nothing a hot bath, water, and rest won't help. If you listen to me," and he paused for emphasis, "you'll feel better in the morning."
"But you said Thundranium is poisonous," Lion-o said. In desperate attempts to hide his fear, he spoke with a growl cut on the edge of his words. Panthro realized he used it to assert himself but it was something children did. He shook his head.
"A little dust from the Driller is enough to make you sick but not enough to kill you. Let's get back."
Lion-o passed out mid-way through the jungle. Panthro would have carried Lion-o but Tygra insisted and shouldered the weight of his brother with more ease than Panthro supposed.
Upon the return to the camp, the children lay asleep and only Snarf greeted them with whines and moans that implied his happiness to see them. But when the creature saw Lion-o out cold, he cradled Lion-o's feverish cheeks and panicked over his person. When that ritual was over, he bolted into the jungle and only his panicked cries could be heard.
"Should I…go help maybe?" Cheetara asked and walked to the jungle edge, uncertain if an emotional Snarf was fully capable of tending to Lion-o's needs.
"You can trust Snarf," Tygra said. "He may be annoying but Lion-o never had a more effective nursemaid." He paused then added: "You might need to help him with some heavy lifting."
Cheetara smiled. As a cleric, she had little opportunity to familiarize herself with Snarf. Panthro found it strange too but did recall seeing the creature race wildly through the palace halls with a particularly panicked look on his face.
Cheetara vanished into the jungle and Lion-o lay inside the tank, his legs forced to dangle over the sides. Tygra admired his handiwork of making Lion-o comfortable and awkward at the same time before looking back at Panthro. His eyes lingered.
Tygra had always been a sharp child and his thoughts were at times surprising. King Claudus used to compare him to a furnace. Panthro never understood the alliteration until that very moment.
"By Jaga," Panthro said as he reached into a pouch Cheetara had left beside the tank, "what?"
Tygra eyed the Thundrillium that Panthro produced from the pouch.
"Can we trust you?"
Panthro was surprised. He stay knelt beside the tank with pink shards of fuel resting in his massive hands. Tygra took the invitation to elaborate.
"Ten years changed Grune. How about you Panthro? Are you as loyal as you once were or did Mumm-Ra buy you too?"
Panthro took a breath to reply but Tygra interrupted.
"I don't trust you."
Panthro stood. It was unexpected but in more ways than one, he was relieved to hear Tygra's caution. Panthro smiled and saw it disarmed him.
"Well…" Panthro began as he poured the shards into the hungry vehicle, "let me tell you…" he paused again and forced Tygra to linger there until he was finished with his task. "I was wondering the same thing about you."
He put a hand on Tygra's shoulder and let himself smile again. Panthro had not smiled in a long time and it felt good to stretch his lips. A symptom for those who were frequently alone.
He looked into Tygra's face to see what impact his confession had made. He saw shallow anger and a deep reservoir of guilt. It was not his intention to wound Tygra and added:
"But I'm starting to think I was disrespectful to your brother and to you, Prince Tygra. I can see you care for your brother. And you are right to be suspicious of self-proclaimed servants. Let me prove myself as you guys have."
Tygra looked at Lion-o and folded his arms.
"I had a few words for Grune too." He paused before adding, "whatever they might have been."
Panthro's smile waned but remnants jerked at the corner of his lips.
"What is there to say?"
Tygra shrugged. "When I was a cub, I wanted to be like Grune." He shot an anxious glance at Panthro and snorted. "Or I could just look at the facts."
"You aren't like Grune," Panthro said. But he was not so sure. Maybe Tygra was. There was much to compare, even without Grune's manipulation. Tygra's ambition. His determination. And the way he thought. But Panthro had to stand by his lie. There was danger in doubts about self-identity.
Panthro knew Tygra was, in some ways, the weakest link in their party by the fact alone that Tygra's mind had been fed fruit from a poisonous vine. It was alright if Tygra shot suspicious glances back. It was the best way to keep him in line and his eyes on Panthro, not on Grune.