She'd blacked out multiple times now. She couldn't feel anything now.
SMACK.
The whip carved a red path across her chest. Tigress could see what was happening to her. What was happening around her. She didn't care anymore. Tigress knew she had to hold out.
SMACK.
Another cut. Deeper this time. She was going to need a lot more than stitches.
SMACK.
How had she been so stupid to get herself captured? She should have heard them sneaking up on her.
SMACK.
Maybe she was getting old.
SMACK.
Maybe she was tired.
SMACK.
Very tired.
SMACK.
Every strike of the whip brought a weird feeling of darkness over her mind. She wasn't going to talk. What did they want out of her again? Tigress, not moving, strained to listen through the ringing in her skull.
"WHERE ARE THEY?"
SMACK.
Ah, yes. They wanted to know where the pandas were.
Like hell she was going to talk.
SMACK.
As a weird darkness began to cloud the edges of her vision, Tigress was almost certain she heard something yelp. It sounded like one of the wolf bandits was in a lot of pain.
There was a loud boom and the whipping stopped. Tigress had no strength to look, though. She wanted to sleep. She was so tired.
Through the ringing and the pain, Tigress thought she heard a strangled cry. Someone was cupping her head in their hands. They were stroking the sides of her face. Tigress was barely clinging to her consciousness. She opened her eyes.
"Hey, Po."
Tigress had survived almost three full days of torture. The whipping wasn't the worst thing they'd done to her.
The next several months were filled with therapy, medicine, and veritable avalanche of affection and love from Po, the Five, and the village of incredibly grateful pandas.
Every morning when she woke up and Lei Lei ran to her for a huge hug, or when Po embraced her on darker days, or whenever monkey entertained her with his bad jokes, or even when Mei Mei offered to do her nails, Tigress found herself realizing that if she had to face torture to protect the people she loved, she'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.