Chapter Two – Into Captivity

"Sir, it's awake."

I look up from my computer as the guard walks into the office. In a hurry, I get out of my seat and run down the corridor to the laboratory to find the lion strapped to the examination table, completely naked. "Remarkable!" I whisper as I walk towards the lion, whose eyes follow me around the room. "How much of its DNA is of each species?"

"We can't tell. The coding in his DNA is so elaborate that we can't tell what amount of it is human and what amount is that of a lion, which suggests that he is just a member of an entire species of feline humanoids."

"Interesting."

I run my hand over his muscular chest, making him growl then roar at me in anger, showing his fangs, which must be at least an inch long. He starts to wildly thrash and writhe, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Let me go! LET ME GO!"

The material of the restraints begins to rip at the seams from his struggles. Immediately, the laboratory assistants run to the table and pin the lion down before injecting him with a mild sedative. His struggles eventually become less erratic until he just lies still, although he still retaliates upon being touched.

"How old is he?" I ask as the assistants strap the lion back down again with stronger restraints.

"Well, it was difficult to determine his actual age, but since he can roar – the youngsters can't until the age of 16 – he's between nineteen and twenty-three years old. The recent blood sample that we took should be able to tell us his exact age."

I stop at the top of the table, the lion staring at me with his piercing gingery-orange eyes. Two of the assistants force his mouth open, allowing me to examine his fangs – they're razor sharp and one and a half inches long, and he suddenly snaps at my hand, closing his unbelievably strong jaws around my hand and sinking his fangs into my flesh as I howl in agony.

"Get him off of me!"

The lion squeals as the nape of his neck is pulled taught, and he quickly lets me go as a shock collar is wrapped around his neck.

"I demand that you release me this instant!" he snarls, his eyes wild, "As Lord of the Thundercats, I demand that you release me!"

"No-can-do. Now we know why your genome is the way that it is – you're a Thunderian…"

He growls as he looks at me. "And what difference does that make?!"

"You're a Thunderian Barbary lion…"

He goes pale almost right away, and it's amazing to see how mentioning that you know what species he is, is enough to break him to silence.

"Sir, are we ready to begin experimentation?"

"No, we aren't going to be experimenting on him, Lucas. He is going to fetch us a ton of money…"

The lion looks at us as he catches onto what we're saying about him.

"Aviirians will pay millions for a feline like him, and I contacted Alle-Ma about him a few hours ago. She's interested and has signed the paperwork and licensing but wants to check him out before taking him back to Aviir…"

"No! Not the Aviirians!"

I ignore him as I continue talking to my fellow co-worker.

"We're getting one and a half million dollars for him, so he needs to be kept in top-form. Get him sedated and moved into the holding pens."

The lion snarls as he's injected with the sedation serum, and he looks terrified as he goes down hard…

- (BORDER) -

A Few Days Later

I sit in the corner of the cell and growl, my back to the lab assistants and the Aviirian as they talk about me. I miss my wife and cubs; I've been gone for five days and both my son and daughter haven't seen their Mum or Dad for that amount of time.

"Is he a sentient being?"

"O-Of course, Alle-Ma."

"I'll be the judge of that. Tell me. Is he domesticated? House trained? Has he had any training of any kind?"

"No, he isn't domesticated, and I don't quite understand why you want to know if he's housetrained? He's a Thunderian."

"Of course, you wouldn't understand; you're of a lower species. Has he been kept up-to-date with his shots and license?"

"We haven't given him any shots. He crashed on this planet as an adult, so we know nothing of him aside from this. And just be warned; he bites."

"His medical tests? Never mind, I'll give him his shots when we get him to his new home. Nails, be a dear and get this collar onto him."

I hear the door open and when I look up, I'm met by the snarled face of an old jackal mutant who grabs me and forces a cruel electrified collar onto me and ties it around my neck before dragging me out.

"Alle-Ma, he will need to be kept in quarantine for a week upon arriving to Aviir."

"I know, Nails. Now get him into the pen and get him sedated and ready for the journey."

"Yes, of course, Alle-Ma…"

I'm blindfolded and dragged away, my other senses heightened as my heart pounds in my chest. I'm dragged along endless metal floor until we come to something different. I can tell from the scents of other animals that this must be the Aviirian ship to transport me to the unknown.

"You're a long way from home, cat…"

He throws me into a crate, the blindfold still tightly tied around my head, and I feel the sharp sting of the needle before the burning of the serum spreads through my body. I try to squirm against the mutant, but the sedative is that strong that I can't move. I lay on the cold metal floor as I hear keys jangling in a lock, and I realise I'm in a cage. I pull the blindfold down and see the jackal standing there, watching me.

"Alle-Ma has big plans for you…"

"Like what?"

"Well, your species is common but your clan? You're the rarest Thunderian clan to ever exist, so our mistress intends to use you for breeding purposes…"

I sputter then. "B…b…breeding?"

"Alle-Ma has a prized Barbary lioness that she intends to breed you with to get a litter of pure Barbary cubs."

"She…she wants to breed me with another female?!"

"What do you mean, another female?"

"I'm married! I already have a litter!"

"Oh, the mistress won't like that…You'll have to forget about them because you'll never see them again."

I growl then, and he hits me with another dart and I quickly fall unconscious, only to wake in another small cage, dressed in nothing but a pair of white boxers. Charming. At least I get to retain some of my dignity. I notice the medical band around my wrist:

Panthera leo leo-thundaris, Male, 23, Unneutered, Blood Type AB-

Unneutered? What the hell?

I look up when I hear the door open, and a birdman walks in, carrying what looks like a stunning device and a large needle. I back away but soon find myself pinned in the corner, my heart pounding as I struggle to make any sort of noise.

"Get back here, you beast!"

He lunges forwards as he reaches for a grab pole, and the sight of that combined with the harsh cracking of the electricity is enough to drive my primal instincts to the verge and I panic, scrabbling to escape as animalistic cries of fear escape my throat. However, much to my horror, the door swings shut, trapping me as I yowl.

"You've got nowhere to run to!"

I feel the electricity crawling under my skin as my muscles spasm, my throat seeming to constrict as I try to escape from the pain. It eventually wears off when I feel the catch pole close around my throat, and I'm pushed out of the room past the other cages as a vast array of different creatures of all different species watch.

"Looksss like Alle-Ma hasss a new plaything…"

"That poor soul…He won't last…She breaks the young ones…"

As we reach the end of the corridor, I catch a glimpse of vibrant red and tawny and when I turn to look, I see a young Barbary lioness who doesn't look to be much older than her late teens, and then I'm forced out of the door and into a lab where I'm strapped to a cold metal table and muzzled. What are they gonna do to me this time?

I see the needles and medical instruments, and my instincts kick back into overdrive. You must be kidding me.

I struggle against the bonds, but the other keepers manage to subdue me and force me to stay still as the nape of my neck is roughly pinched, and I cry out in shock when I feel the sharp sting of a needle entering my skin.

"That's the first shot done. Make sure to take blood and tissue samples. We need to run bloodworm to check for all possible feline diseases."

Diseases? They think I'm diseased?

I growl as more needles are pushed into my body, trying to ignore the pain but I'm not managing it too well. But I need to stay strong for my wife and cubs. They need me alive.

It seems like hours pass before they finish with their endless assault of needles and catheters, and when one of the keepers undoes one of the restraints to transport me back to the cages, I slash out, claws tearing through flesh and grinding against bone as the avian screams.

"Why the hell did Alle-Ma think that a male Barbary lion would be a good prize? He's dangerous!"

I hear the crackling of electricity, but this time, I'm ready for them and grab the shock poles and wrench them from the grips of my captors. Their faces of shock when I turn on them are priceless, and their screams when they get a dose of their own medicine are music to my still-ringing ears.

However, it's interrupted by a loud hissing sound, seconds before a powerful torrent of ice-cold water hits me square in the chest and face, and the agonizing sensation is something I've never felt before. Thoroughly drenched and hurting severely, I commit myself to trying to escape from it by jumping for the window above me, only to be hit by an even more powerful jet of the water as I scream in agony. The force was enough to tear into my skin, and blood pours everywhere from my wounds.

"Thanks a lot, cat! Now Alle-Ma is going to kill me for you getting hurt like this!"

My head is slammed into the concrete floor multiple times until I black out, my ears ringing as I whimper. I want to go home. I want to see my family. I want to be with my wife and cubs; Cheetara is so worried about me but the mated bond is so faint due to the distance between us that I can't even communicate with her which hurts more than I ever thought it could.

I can feel hands grabbing me as voices speak quietly, and I yowl when a crystalline powder is poured into the wounds left by the pressure washer. What if this powder is toxic to me and they don't know? A cold, sticky bandage is placed over the wound and I'm given more shots before I feel myself being slung over someone's shoulder then carried down a bright corridor.

"My God, you're heavy...but what was I expecting from a beastly animal that's pure muscle? We thought your kind had died out. Well, at least we thought that the Barbaries had died out. You and Leonie must be the last of your kind, which is a shame because your species was magnificent and so graceful."

I open my eyes and almost throw up at the throbbing pain in my head. I'm probably badly concussed, and the way that the corridor is swaying doesn't help at all.

We pass by the cells once more, but the lioness isn't there anymore. Where did she go?

The Aviirian carrying me senses my worry. "She has been returned to her mistress. But don't fret, you'll be joining her soon."

I try to speak words of protest but can't make any sound due to the muzzle which is still cruelly tight against my mouth. I'm dropped into the cage I was in earlier, and the avian looks at me as he shakes his head disapprovingly.

"You're lucky to still be alive after what you did earlier. You don't belong to Alle-Ma just yet, so we are legally allowed to euthanize you whenever we see fit. But it would be a waste of such a fine male lion as yourself. We have strict orders to not give you food for your week here because it could interfere with your body acclimatizing to being here on Aviir."

I just glare at this owl-like bird man until he leaves. No food for a week? You've got to be kidding me. I try to lie down but I'm so sore; I've been poked, prodded and humiliated by those keepers today, and the pain in my chest from the wound is still present.

"I feel sssorry for you, my furry friend."

I look up and see a reptilian Plun-Darrian who looks like a snake, or a cobra to be precise, standing in the next cell to mine. His shimmering green skin is mottled with bruises and the colourful crest on his head is torn. Serpent Plun-Darrians are known for their fierce pride and, in some ways, their grace and beauty with the different morphs and patterns that adorn their skin, but he looks dejected and depressed.

"I've been in this abysssmal place sssince I wasss a hatchling...Alle-Ma isssn't all that ssshe is made up to be..."

What do you mean?" I ask anxiously, not liking what I am hearing from the snake.

"Ssshe isss a huntresss...ssshe killsss creaturesss for sssport, and becaussse you are a Barbary lion, you'll probably be ssskinned once ssshe's done with you..."

"S-Skinned? No way! That can't happen to me! Doesn't she know who I am?"

"I sssaw that sssymbol on that belt you were wearing when they brought you in the firssst time...you're a Thundercat..."

"Yes, but not for long if I can't escape from here...they took my sword and I'm powerless to help everyone escape without it..."

"You would help usss essscape? But half of usss are your enemiesss."

"That doesn't matter in the eyes of the Code of Thundera..." I say as I sit back against the wall, but within minutes, I find myself deliriously pacing, yowling and whining. It's unbearably hot in here and I'm dangerously close to overheating. Despite originating from the arid parts of Ancient Thundera, the Barbary lions relocated to the mountains tens of thousands of years ago and we evolved to those harsh, sub-zero snowy climates, meaning that I can die of heatstroke in a room above 15C...

"Alle-Ma, something's wrong with your new pet. He's been pacing for quite a few hours now and is making some strange noises."

"And why wasn't I notified of this sooner, Ra?"

"My sincerest apologies, Ma'am, but we tried to rectify the issue first."

I look up when the door opens and I see this Alle-Ma woman for the first time; she's slightly shorter than me and is covered in a coal-black plumage of feathers, with a bright yellow beak and burning orange eyes. She grabs me with her sharp talons and rolls me over.

"I thought I told you not to hurt him!"

"It was his own fault; he acted up."

"I see...anyway, give me that thermometer. I can guarantee you haven't checked his body temperature."

"What do you mean, Ma'am?"

"Its the middle of summer and temperatures in here are reaching upwards of 30C! It's a miracle that my lion isn't dead yet! I'll be taking him from you now."

"But his quarantine isn't..."

"I don't care. You can't take care of him properly, so I am legally taking him home now!"

I growl weakly as she slaps a new collar around my neck, and I immediately know something is up when she gets two keepers to come in and restrain me. I fight against them as much as I can with my dwindling strength but the heat has sapped it from me, and when Alle-Ma reveals what looks like a giant stapler with a large needle attached to it, I try to break free again, knowing that I'm about to be tagged.

"For goodness' sake, hold him still!"

She roughly grabs hold of my ear and pulls hard, making me squeal as I feel the sharp blade struggle to cut through the cartilage.

"Oh, come on! Go through!"

She keeps repositioning the applicator for the tag and every failed tag is pure agony as I roar, thrashing and trying to break free. Eventually, she manages to force the needle through the cartilage with a wet crunch, by which point I'm in tears from the sheer pain of my torn ear. Salt is poured into the wounds as I yelp, and I'm them muzzled and blindfolded before being thrown into a small, stuffy, boiling-hot crate as I hear the lid being nailed shut. Now where are we going?

I can hear every footstep outside the crate then I feel myself being thrown around as I'm presumably loaded back onto Alle-Ma's personal spacecraft, and the sound of the engines powering up to full throttle is terrifyingly loud. My fur stands on end and I struggle with the blindfold, feeling the craft accelerating to breakneck speeds before the gravity tries to pull me back down to the earth as we lift off.

I eventually manage to get the blindfold off but all that greets me is bleak darkness. There's nothing for me to be able to identify where I am aside from the whirring of the engines which tells me that I am presumably in the cargo hold in the belly of the craft. I sniff the air anxiously, and immediately regret it when the only scent that greets me is the unmistakable stench of death.

My heart starts pounding, my ears ringing with the sound of it as thousands of years' worth of instincts kick in all at once, just screaming one thing; get out of there!

I growl dazedly and in a haphazard frenzy, I begin attempting to slash at the constraints of my dark, tiny wooden jail, knowing that freedom will come in either its true meaning or in death if I manage to escape.

Alarms blare throughout the cargo hold as I break free from the crate, and a team of the keepers tasked with ensuring I am kept captive flood in as I swear in Barbary. This is bullshit.

I roar and tap into my clans' ancient powers, and the satisfaction is immediate when the Aviirians back off upon seeing my fearsome display, the magical cobalt-blue fire on my palms spreading up my forearms and spilling out of my mouth as I roar for a second time.

"Alle-Ma, we've got a situation down here and I think you'll want to see this!"

My fur stands on end completely as I hiss loudly, trying to be as threatening and intimidating as I possibly can. Once I see one of the keepers, an owl-looking bird, reach for their stun rod, I lash out and attack; using my powers to my advantage, I singe as many feathers as I can within reach before I feel the sharp tip of either a knife or a sword digging into my back.

"I think you'll want to start behaving yourself, cat." Alle-Ma says coolly as I slowly turn to face her, and even she has to take a few steps back upon seeing my full-on display of the Barbary lions' powers.

"Impressive…very impressive…" she says as she circles me, looking me up and down which makes me ridiculously uncomfortable, "If Leonie rejects you, I think I'll take you for myself. You're such a fine specimen for your species; everything about you is uniform standard…"

I watch her wearily as she steps back and grabs an item of clothing from a box before looking at me closely. "Get this on. It's traditional Aviirian clothing and you'll be too hot wearing anything else."

I scowl as I get the clothes on, not liking the feel of the material; it's uncomfortably revealing, and I'd never get away with wearing something like this on New Thundera.

"There we go," Alle-Ma says as she looks at me in admiration, and something else I daren't think about, "You look so handsome in that; the way it slings to you is captivating…" The birdwoman runs her hands over my bare chest from behind, trailing her talons through my thick fur as I grow increasingly demoralizing.

"I've told you; I'm married." I hiss icily, but she just laughs in my face.

"It's about time that you forgot about your previous life. I own you now, cat, and you will be bred with my prized lioness and if you dare to even think anything differently then…well…" I feel a knife being pressed uncomfortably close to a certain area as I squirm uncomfortably, "I will take away your ability to sire litters and if you ever managed to somehow get home, your wife would never lay with you again."

She digs the knife in slightly and I whine as I feel the trickle of blood running down my leg. That psycho isn't messing around. I wriggle free and run, my heart deafening in my ears as I hear the crazed Aviirian female screeching orders at the handlers and keepers. The alarms begin to blare again as I make my way through the dimly lit craft, and I can smell freedom; the scent of another world is leading me to the entrance and just when the sweet, green grass is within my reach…

…I feel the ropes loop around my neck, pulling so tight that I'm flipped over onto my back with a thud as pain washes over me. Damn it! I was so close too! I feel the agony wash over me again as my arm is bent back so quickly that I feel the bone break as I scream.

"I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL, YOU BLUNDERING IDIOTS! NOW YOU'VE HURT HIM!"

I look up over my shoulder, delirious from the pain, and see Alle-Ma looking at me in worry, but she then leans in close and licks my ear as I growl.

"This is what you get for attempting an escape, cat."

I roar in pain when I feel the knife bite deep into my ribs, groaning as the hot blood pours from the wound.

"Never do that again or it'll be worse for you."

She twists the knife and the pain is so severe that I pass out immediately. Is this it?