Embracing dark desires

by Dr Facer

Set after Wildstorm's miniseries The Return. Mumm-Ra was defeated and now all seems to be well for the Thundercats, except for WilyKit and WilyKat who seem to be very disappointed with the current turn of events...

10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Thundercats and all related character don't belong to me.

Note: This story takes place in an Alternate Universe set immediately after the end of 'The Return' miniseries published by Wildstorm comics.

Embracing dark desires.

By

Dr Facer

Chapter 10

WilyKit woke up to the sweet smell of acorn oil and, as she shifted her weight, she realized she was lying on a comfortable bed, covered by what she imagined was a soft silk blanket. This surprised her a little; the last thing she remembered was the blade of Mumm-Ra's sword slitting her and her brother's throats open so the black entities her master had summoned could enter them. She remembered the overwhelming pleasure she had felt as the energy of the Snakes of Eternity coursed through her, how it filled her with a power so great that every molecule of her body had vibrated in bliss as she received it. She also remembered how she had fainted as her pleasure had peaked.

Which made her wonder why she was on a bed; cautiously, the young woman opened her eyes to find herself nude and in her own chambers, illuminated dimly by a pair of candles in two of the corners. Something caught her eye then, a hint of movement on her left. Turning in that direction, Kit found three pretty Thunderian maidens not older than herself standing in the shadows.

"Good awakening, Lady WilyKit," one of the girls said, stepping into the light as she spoke in a monotone, emotionless tone. "We are glad you recovered so quickly."

"Good awakening," the other two girls said, also walking into the light.

"Flesh Puppets..." WilyKit murmured once she got a good look at the three maidens. They were incredibly pale, their eyes were glassy and devoid of emotion and, of course, they all were bandaged in a way similar to that of Mumm-Ra in his undead form. She raised an eyebrow as she pondered the reason why her master had considered it necessary to raise three sacrificed girls back from the dead, as she thought he had deemed these kinds of servants unnecessary. Not that she really had anything to complain about; flesh puppets were mere toys Mumm-Ra had devised a few years ago and they had no soul or memories of the life they had before dying. They would also not rot, were completely loyal and obedient and were very efficient with menial work. Their only downfall was their longevity, since it depended entirely upon the strength of the reanimation spell and they could literally drop dead once it ran out, needing to be reanimated again if their services were required.

"We bathed you and your brother under orders from the Master," one of the maidens said, gaining Kit's attention as she did so. "We also laid you to rest and recover. We hope you approve of the acorn oil we used to anoint your perfect skin, milady; our Lord said you would enjoy its scent."

Kit smiled. "I do enjoy it; Mumm-Ra knows me well."

"We also prepared new clothes for you to wear," the first maiden said, picking up some clothes from a stool and offering them to her lady. "We hope they are to your liking."

WilyKit evaluated the clothes, which were pretty much identical to what she had been wearing before she woke up, except they were bright red instead of white. "They're fine, I do like the color," she admitted as she reached for the attire. "Now tell me, what happened to my brother?"

"Lord WilyKat awoke hours ago and met with Master Mumm-Ra in the Cauldron Room, he has remained there ever since," the second maiden informed her.

WilyKit listened to this as she dressed, and showed no regard for the Flesh Puppets until she finished adjusting her golden greaves and vambraces. Then she glanced at the mirror and found that other than the lack of the scar she had expected to see on her throat, she didn't look any different from the day before, even if she was supposed to be immortal now; whatever the cause for the lack of change, she didn't truly care. All she cared about was seeing her twin. "Did my brother visit before going to see Lord Mumm-Ra?"

"Of course he did, milady," the third maiden said. "He told us to take good care of you. Do you wish for us to call him?"

"No, don't," Kit ordered as she admired her blood red clothes, feeling happy Mumm-Ra didn't give her a cape this time. "I'll go find him."

"As you wish, milady; we shall wait for you here, then," the maidens answered in unison.

WilyKit ignored the Flesh Puppets and swiftly left the room, her mind focused only on seeing her brother and finding out if they really had become immortal.

It didn't take WilyKit long to reach her destination, and she smiled fondly at the sight of her twin standing in front of the cauldron, dressed elegantly in white clothes and a cloak of the same color; she observed that other than lacking a scar on his throat, he didn't seem different either. WilyKat, however, seemed oblivious to his sister's arrival, since his eyes did not stray away from the bubbling waters of the cauldron.

"Hello, sister. I was expecting you," WilyKat greeted and so startled his sister, who was convinced he hadn't noticed her arrival.

"I was told you would be here, Kat. How come you woke up before I did?" Kit asked, masking her surprise with the question that had been in her mind since she had awoken.

"My body is far more attuned to magic than yours, Kit. I was able to assimilate the change faster," WilyKat explained, not lifting his eyes from the Cauldron. "Still, the fact you're on your feet today is very impressive. According to my research it takes any normal person who receives the gift of the Snakes of Eternity at least a day to simply move a hand! That you can be here standing next to me is proof of how powerful you are."

Kit smiled at the praise and walked to the other side of the Cauldron, stopping when she was at her brother's side. "What are you looking at?"

"The Thundercats' pathetic efforts to stop what we started; Panthro and Tygra are apparently trying to destroy the arch and close the portal we opened," Kat informed. "Take a look."

WilyKit did as she was told and gazed into the waters, seeing there Panthro's Thunder Truck as it cruised through the desert, not too far from where the massive stone arch was.

"We must tell the master!" WilyKit said. "We can't let them destroy the…"

"Lord Mumm-Ra already knows about this," Kat interrupted. "He ordered the Demon Beasts to hide and ambush those Thundercats once they were close to the arch."

"The Demon Beasts are mindless creatures; they might kill Tygra and Panthro, but they won't stop them from destroying the arch," Kit grumbled as she crossed her arms. "Why don't you do something?"

"Because the arch was built only to weaken reality in that spot; now that it has served its purpose, we can open a gate to the underworld whenever we need," Kat explained. "There is something that concerns me far more."

"And what would that be?" Kit asked.

"Look at this and you will understand," Kat invited, moving his hand over the waters, showing his sister an image of the Capital City. "Look at those disgusting slaves… they should be scared! They shouldn't even dare to leave their houses in fear of the Master's wrath! But look! Even if last night they were shaking in fear, today they're already planning to start rebuilding the power plant! They don't fear lord Mumm-Ra anymore, sister, and that is something we can't allow!"

WilyKit frowned at the image of the Thunderians working together, cleaning the ruins of the power plant or carrying supplies to the shelter where the wounded were being treated. Her brow knit even further as she noticed Lion-O was the one directing the crew carrying the food.

"It's his fault; his presence here is keeping those inferior slaves from realizing what their place is!"

WilyKat nodded his agreement. "I know. It is because of him our slaves are not as afraid as they should."

"We need to do something about it, then," Kit answered immediately, her voice cold and angry as she focused on the image of the young king. "We must remind them who it is they should fear!"

"And how do you expect to do that?"

Kit smirked at her twin, "Easy, we eliminate Lion-O."

"The master won't let us fight him or try to kill him. You know as well as I do he wants to murder Lion-O with his own hands," Kat reminded her.

"Yes, I know the master doesn't want us to toy with Lion-O… but I'm sure there are many other ways we could hurt him if we wanted to," Kit put forth playfully. "And I do want to."

"Well, it seems you will have a chance to do something like that very soon, dear sister," Kat said, staring again at the cauldron's waters.

"Why do you say so?"

"He's going to leave the city," WilyKat said, inviting his sister to look at the images in the waters, which showed Lion-O climbing into a six-wheeled transport. Two other men were with him. The twins didn't fail to notice the long line of Thunderians also leaving the city, obviously seeking refuge somewhere else.

"Where is he going?"

Kat closed his eyes and focused, he still couldn't get the waters to carry the voices of those he watched as well as his master could, but he was able to listen to them in his mind if he concentrated. "He's going to Cat's Lair. Claims he needs to bring a few things Panthro asked him for."

"Do you think Lion-O would mind if I visit the City?" Kit smirked, savoring the chance to terrorize the stupid slaves who had stubbornly refused to give their loyalty to her master. "I would really like to play with our former little slaves over there."

"Yes, I do think he would mind."

"Then that makes it even better," She said with a smile so sinister it would have been enough to scare even Slithe. "Will you go with me, brother? It would be more fun that way."

"I surely would like to," Kat answered. "But I'm afraid I cannot. Lord Mumm-Ra asked me to guard him while he rests and recovers."

WilyKit frowned at Kat's answer. "Guard him, why? The master is certainly powerful enough to defend himself against any danger!"

"The master is powerful, yes… but even he needs to recover after performing two extremely tasking spells in such a short period of time," WilyKat explained. "Besides, there are other reasons why I must stay; reasons that the master unfortunately did not share with me. I just hope that he will tell them to us when the time is right."

"You're starting to talk like Lord Mumm-Ra does sometimes, dear brother," Kit responded. "But I guess you wouldn't be a wizard in training if you didn't. Fine then, if we can't ask about those reasons… then I'll simply go to the city so I can remind the filth there who their ruler is."

"Wait, Kit," WilyKat said as he reached for a small velvet bag he had strung to his belt. "Please take this with you."

"…Jewelry?" She asked, opening the bag her brother had handed to her and finding it contained a ruby, a small golden plate and a shiny silver pendant. "Why?"

"They're not just ornaments, sister; the ruby is an incendiary stone and the others will improve your Space Board. Place the plate on its hull and wear the pendant. It will make the board obey your thoughts, and can even pick you up if you need it."

"You can create things like these?" Kit asked while looking at the plate and the pendant.

"I'm a wizard in training, aren't I? This little trick is easy for me," Kat boasted, not mentioning he had actually found the spell to create the artifacts in an ancient scroll and was surprised when he performed it successfully.

"I'll give it a try. I could certainly use an upgrade for my Space Board," Kit agreed and with that, she left the Cauldron room, her mind filling with the many things that she could do once she was in the Capital.

The twins separated, neither of them thinking twice about the evil deeds they were committing, and Mumm-Ra couldn't help but smile inside his sarcophagus. The ancient wizard, though still resting, was very aware of the conversation Kit and Kat had just had, and was very pleased by what he had heard and by the absolute darkness he had felt dwelling inside both twins. It amazed him how quickly they had recovered from receiving the gift of the Snakes of Eternity, and it also impressed him how much their power had increased in just a matter of hours. What pleased him the most, however, was that the love the twins shared for each other had not weakened at all after their dark transformation and the way their loyalty to him had actually strengthened. The dark mage was so pleased that he did nothing to stop WilyKit from going to the City. With Kat ready to warn him in case the Ancient Spirits of Evil tried something, Mumm-Ra saw no need to keep his little girl in the pyramid and besides, he was curious as to how much damage she could cause with her new power.

Somewhere else, near the black pyramid...

An armored truck made its way through the sandy roads between the sharp, gray rocky cliffs that surrounded the cursed desert where the Black Pyramid was located. The vehicle was driven by Panthro, who was completely silent, his eyes never leaving the road, ready to do a sharp maneuver in case something decided to attack while his Thunder Truck crossed this dangerous lands. On the front passenger seat sat Tygra, who was as silent as his companion; the tiger's eyes, however, did not scan the road and instead focused in the device he carried in his lap.

It was the most powerful bomb he had ever helped to make and, Tygra had to admit, he and Panthro had outdone themselves. The architect was no stranger to detonators and explosives, having learned how to use them as that was part of demolishing and excavating raw materials for construction, but with Panthro's help he'd managed to create an explosive so strong it could easily turn a building as large as Cat Lair into dust. Such power scared the tiger a little; if something went wrong with the detonator... he didn't dare to think of it.

"We're almost there," Panthro said suddenly. Thanks to Pummyra's directions, he'd had no problem finding the exit of the labyrinth-like roads that snaked through the sharp cliffs around the desert. "If everything goes well, we should be returning to the Capital in a few minutes."

And just as Panthro had announced, as soon as the Thunder Truck exited through a crack between the tall walls of sharp, ancient rock, the pair of Thundercats found themselves in the outskirts of the dark desert. They could see the unholy structure Pummyra had talked about in front of them and, further ahead, they could see the mere tip of the Black Pyramid. The last time they had been this close to Mumm-Ra's lair had been when Lion-O returned and they battled the evil wizard, thinking that after defeating him all would be well at last.

"It's too lonely. I don't like this," Panthro said as he parked the Thunder Truck on the side of the black-slate paved platform that surrounded the arch.

"I don't like it either," Tygra agreed. "I'm sure this is a trap."

"As am I; but we have a job to do," The panther stated as he got off the Truck and started walking towards the arch. "So we better do it fast, before something or someone shows up."

"Yes, it's better to get it done quickly," the architect concurred as he picked up the bomb and followed his friend.

"Is this thing so fascinating?" Panthro asked, noticing the way his friend kept staring at the massive construction.

"I hate to admit it, my friend, but yes, it is. From a technical point of view, at least," Tygra answered; he and Panthro were already at the feet of the arch and the tiger was already programming the detonator. "I'll set the bomb to explode in a minute and a half, that should give us enough time to get to a safe distance, shouldn't it?"

"Yes, that should be time enough to…" Panthro found his words interrupted by a sudden shriek that pierced the hot desert winds. "Damn! I knew this was too easy!"

The Panther gritted his teeth as he stared at the hideous abominations which had emerged from the sands around him and Tygra, effectively surrounding them and blocking their escape route, condemning them to die as soon as the detonator's countdown reached zero. Panthro had counted twenty of the horrid crimson creatures and, convinced that the only way he and Tygra would get out of there alive was fighting, quickly pulled out his nunchaku, ready to fight for his chance to escape before the blast or at least die trying.

"So these are the Demon Beasts you mentioned," Panthro said, spinning his weapons and managing to sound completely calm even though the situation he and Tygra were in was incredibly desperate. "They're some really ugly bastards. Are they difficult to kill?"

"Very, my friend," the tiger answered. Tygra had positioned himself so he was back to back with Panthro and was already cracking his whip, hoping the beasts remembered it and wondering why the monsters were not attacking. "You know the counter can't be stopped, and we have little more than a minute to get the hell out of here; any ideas?"

"We do a frontal attack?"

"That's suicide," Tygra answered.

"Better than getting killed by the blast and perhaps, if we are lucky, I might be able to get us out," Panthro said as he pressed a button hidden in his belt, hoping that what he was planning would work, especially since he hadn't had the time to test it before today.

Tygra smirked. "A warrior's death; I suppose it will have to do."

"We won't die today; Cheetara is waiting for you… for us," Panthro replied and, saying no more, he rushed at the awaiting creatures, attacking with a fury so primal it matched even that of the Demons. The panther smashed a creature's fangs with his nunchaku and continued using them to mercilessly attack the creatures, attempting and sometimes managing to break through their hard hide.

Behind Panthro, Tygra was using his whip to stop the creatures from circling them, effectively keeping the Demon Beasts away enough from them to stop them from grabbing him or his partner from behind while Panthro was slowly but surely managing to open a path for both of them to the other side of the ring. The coordination between both friends as they fought the monsters was a sight to behold and was not the result of endless training hours, but the many combats they had gone through together, fighting side by side.

Their skill as fighters, however, was not making a difference and they both knew it. They had managed to keep the monsters at bay, and were actually making their way out of the circle of claws and teeth they had been trapped in, but they were not doing it quickly enough. Tygra glanced at the detonator's counter a few meters away and managed to see they only had eighteen seconds before the blast, and he was now certain they would not make it to a safe spot in time.

"Twelve seconds, Panthro!" Tygra growled, smashing the incendiary tips of his whip inside a beast's mouth and setting them off, charring the creature's mandibles as he did so. "If you were planning to do something, now would be the perfect time!"

Panthro didn't answer. He didn't have to. Because the loud roar of a motor rose above the furious shrieks of the Demon Beasts, and the next thing Tygra knew was that the Thunder Truck was careering towards them, running over monster after monster until it was about to pass in front of him and Panthro.

Tygra and Panthro didn't say a thing, it was not necessary, they knew exactly what to do and they didn't waste their chance; as soon as the Thunder Truck was close enough, both of them jumped atop it with feline agility. As the truck sped off, running over more Demon Beasts when it made a sharp turn, they managed to clamber inside.

"Yes! I knew my baby could do it!" Panthro yelled in triumph while he accelerated, heading for the road between the rocky cliffs from which they had entered this valley. "The remote control I installed on this beauty works as well as I expected!"

"Great! But there's only four seconds left, Panthro!" Tygra shouted, glancing at the counter on the control panel, which was synchronized to the one in the detonator. "Go faster!"

"I know!" The panther stated, managing to enter the narrow space between the high cliffs they had entered from without slowing down at all. "The rocks will protect us, so we should be…"

And then it happened. They could not hear the blast. They could only see the white light of the explosion around them as the force of the blast swallowed them at the same time it demolished not only the arch, but a large portion of the rocky cliffs they had hoped would give them refuge.

In the forests surrounding the Capital…

A vision of beauty jumped from the highest branch of a tree and spun four times in the air before landing on the next one, which she used as step to continue jumping from tree to tree in an apparent game to test her own skill. The gorgeous figure, her lithe form moving with an agility and grace well beyond even that displayed by the most skillful acrobat from the Puma clan, who were by far the best gymnasts of the Thunderian race, smiled as she finally reached the very top of the tallest tree around, rising above the sea of green surrounding her.

"I never could do this before, could never get this high up by myself," she marveled, her hands gently grasping the very top of the tree she stood on. "This new strength, this new agility, this power I feel burning inside me… it's incredible! I have never felt so alive before! I can do everything!

"And it is because of master Mumm-Ra…" The young woman whispered; her smile growing as she savored the feel of this new energy coursing through her body. "All of this thanks to my beloved lord…"

Still smiling, WilyKit allowed herself to fall, barely passing between the tree branches at an ever increasing speed as she dove headfirst to the ground. Less than twenty meters to the ground, however, Kit caught a branch momentarily, did a quick spin and landed on her Space Board, which had been tracing her movements all the time, ready to offer her a safe landing place as soon as she willed it to.

"I'll also have to thank my dear brother for upgrading you," Kit said as she caressed the plate adorning the hull of her board. "And what better way to thank both Lord Mumm-Ra and my brother than by reminding the stupid slaves why they should fear and obey us?"

Her resolve strengthened by her decision, WilyKit sped off in the direction of the city.

Cat's Lair, contrary to what the young King had expected, had not been attacked during the night by the Mutants or the Demon Beasts and stood imposingly before him. It impressed him even now, how quickly had they managed to repair the outside of the lair using only their limited resources and the help of some heavy machinery they had borrowed from the city. Sure, Cat's Lair was still far from being the nigh impenetrable fortress it had been once, but if things went right, it wouldn't take them long to bring the Lair back to its former glory.

Yes, if things went right. Even with his confidence somewhat back, Lion-O was not so fool as to expect the situation to fix itself from one day to the next; he was well aware that luck and things going right would be necessary and the truth was, things weren't going right at all at the moment. Snarf was dead. The Capital City had been brought to its knees in a matter of minutes. People had died. WilyKit had betrayed them. Tygra and Panthro were on a very dangerous mission that could well be a deadly trap. The only positives were Pummyra's return, the reports he got that the Thunderians in the farms and towns had safely gone into hiding and the fact the people in the Capital were not giving up; but other than that… Lion-O sighed and got off the transport, he had important things to do and brooding would not help him get things done.

"My King, what are you doing?" One of his two companions, a young Thunderian from the bobcat clan asked as he took Lion-O's place at the wheel of the vehicle.

"Deactivating the Security system so we can enter the Lair," the young lord answered, walking towards Cat's Lair, pressing the right combination of buttons on the remote he had pulled from under his belt a second before. A flicker of electricity around the feline structure was all Lion-O needed to know the Security had been shut off. "Alright, let's go get what we came from."

"You heard the king; move it, boy," The other Thunderian, an old engineer from the lynx clan said as he straightened in his chair. The old man was a very experienced engineer, and his duty here was simply to oversee the transportation of the delicate, but extremely heavy parts Panthro needed to start repairing the power plant.

The large vehicle was soon parked inside the Lairs' garage, and the young Thunderian was busying himself helping Lion-O load the spare parts they needed. The old man had offered his help, but the King had refused, and had instead asked him to make sure that all the equipment they were to move was actually there.

"I'm amazed that all of this is here," the old Thunderian admitted, looking wistfully at the spares as Lion-O and the young boy loaded them into the vehicle's cargo area. "I hadn't seen a flux converter like this one in a long time, and these Pulse capacitors will be very useful as well."

"Panthro was surprised the Mutants didn't take all of this when they raided to Lair," Lion-O said while pushing one of the heavy flux converters into the six-wheeler's cargo box. "I guess their machines use different parts from ours."

"Indeed they do," the old engineer confirmed. "They could adapt them to use as spare parts, I once saw Vulture Man do it, but our technologies are so different it's just not worth the effort adapting the parts to a machine, either for them or for us, unless there's no other alternative."

"What else is there to load?" the younger Thunderian asked, struggling with a heavy metal part he could barely lift. "We've taken pretty much everything that is not nailed to the floor."

"I think this will be enough," the old Thunderian judged. "These parts will suffice to at least get the city's main power generator back online for a few days; we'll probably have built a new one by then."

"I want to take Tygra's Skycutter with us," Lion-O announced, looking at the flying machine the tiger had used while looking for Pummyra. "We don't have any other vehicles capable of flight at the moment, and we can surely make good use of this one."

The other Thunderians nodded and in a matter of minutes, the six-wheeler was out and in route back to the Capital, fully loaded with the spare parts Panthro had asked for as well as the other Skycutter in possession of the Thundercats. Lion-O had chosen to sit in the back, along with the spare parts and flying vehicle, in order to have some peace and quiet he needed in order to think about his current situation, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately; the young king decided that what most mattered to him was keeping hope alive in the hearts of every Thunderian in the Capital, and build with them a bright future, honoring Snarf's wish.

"My King, we have arrived," the old Thunderian announced, stopping in front of the recently fortified gates of the Capital.

"Thank you," Lion-O answered and, deciding he being visible would get the gates open faster, jumped off the transport. The young Thundercat lord was about to call the guardians on the other side of the gates, when a sudden roar from the Sword of Omens caught his attention.

With no hesitation, Lion-O immediately reached for his sword, placing the hilt at eye level so he could see the threat the Eye had detected. When the king saw, however, he immediately wished he hadn't allowed the sword to grant him sight beyond sight. For what the king saw was how the Thunder Truck was engulfed by a fiery white blast. The last thing the Eye of Thundera showed him before ending the vision were the faces of Tygra and Panthro as the explosion caught them.

Lion-O ran to the back of the transport and in a matter of seconds had dragged out and started the engine of the Skycutter he'd insisted bringing from Cat's Lair. He'd felt he would be using it soon, but he didn't expect it would be this soon.

"My lord, where are you going?" the old engineer called, leaping out of the vehicle as he heard the sound of the Skycutter's engine. The old man, however, got no answer and all she saw was Lion-O taking off with a determined look on his face.

"Where is the king going?" The younger Thunderian said as he also descended the transport.

The old engineer didn't answer, all he did was silently hope the king would be able to solve whatever it had been the Sword of Omens showed him. With nothing else to do but praying for everything to be alright, the older Thunderian ran his left hand over his tired features and climbed back into the vehicle in order to take into the city. The gates had just been opened after all, and he would see that the work he'd still had to do was done correctly; it was all he could do to help his young king.

Outside the city, under the branches of thick trees that surrounded the west side of the Capital, a shadowy figure flew unhurriedly through the forest, moving slowly towards the almost deserted metropolis. The figure, a young woman sitting cross-legged on her Space Board, kept her eyes fixated on the buildings she could make out between the trees. Her face completely devoid of any emotion, WilyKit mentally went over her plan to punish the miserable slaves who dwelled in the quickly decaying city ahead of her like maggots would on a rotten corpse, thinking they actually were more important than what they truly were. But soon, once she burned the warehouse they kept all the medical supplies and medicines stored at to the ground, they would understand by despair what their place and who their master really was. And if she had to kill a few of those filthy things to achieve her goal, she would not mind at all.

"You should stop and wait where you are for a moment dear sister. Lion-O is about to pass by you and we can't have him seeing you now, unless you want your plans ruined," the voice of her brother said, gently entering her mind.

"What are you talking about? Did the Eye of Thundera see me?" she asked as she willed her board to stop. She thought about asking her brother how he could speak into her mind, but in the end she decided against it. Instead, Kit felt a surge of anticipation fill her completely at the chance of crossing paths with Lion-O so she could crush him like a bug.

"The Eye hasn't seen you yet," WilyKat explained. "It simply showed Lion-O how Tygra and Panthro were trapped by the explosion of the device they used to destroy our arch. Being the sentimental fool he is, Lion-O is obviously heading there to see if he can rescue his friends."

"Did they survive?" Kit asked, the information distracting her from her desire to battle the young king. "If Panthro and Tygra died it would make things easier for us."

"It's hard to tell at the moment," Kat answered. "On the other hand, I'm afraid I have to remind you that we can't fight Lion-O."

"You shouldn't be reading my mind, dear brother," She complained. "Yes, I want to fight and kill him, but I'm not going against Mumm-Ra's orders unless it's absolutely necessary."

"I was not reading your mind, but I can feel your emotions when I link our minds like this," Kat clarified. "I have to leave you now sister, please be careful."

"I'm always careful," she answered and just then, Kit heard an engine approaching; the noise kept getting louder and louder, until it passed above her and quickly started to lose intensity. She had looked up and had managed to see a Skycutter dart pass her, piloted, of course by Lion-O. Her brother had been right then, which meant she just had to wait a couple of minutes before she could start her own mission.

Despite her youth, Pummyra had already received extensive medical training from her clan of healers, which she had mastered at a very young age and was now an extremely skilled medic. She was capable of doing more than what many other doctors could and for that reason alone, she had been promptly placed in charge of supervising the treating of the wounded in the shelter. Her expertise had already proven invaluable in saving the lives of two badly wounded Thunderians for whom her colleagues had already given up hope. True, she had not operated on either of the two wounded, but she had guided the other surgeons to a successful procedure. Pummyra's knowledge of healing herbs was also priceless and she had sent a group of five women to search for several plants she could use to substitute some of the antibiotics they were running out of. Thinking of this reminded her that she and the other doctors really needed the rest of the medical packs which were still in the warehouse, and the sooner they could get them, the better.

Unfortunately, thanks to her broken arm, she was in no shape to carry anything heavy; for a moment Pummyra considered asking Cheetara to go in her place but quickly dropped the idea. The puma had seen Cheetara a few minutes before, to check on the light wounds she received while fighting Mum-Ra's beasts and through the small talk they shared, she had noticed Cheetara needed some time to gather her thoughts, which seemed to be conflicting; Pummyra, knowing how close they had been, simply assumed the cheetah was still hurting for what WilyKit had done.

Which meant someone else she could trust completely would have to go; and Pummyra couldn't spare any of the nurses or doctors right then, leaving her only one option: to ask him. The puma sighed and stood up, leaving the relative calmness Lion-O's bedroom, now her provisional office provided her. Pummyra didn't have to search for him, as she found him sitting in a chair right outside the room. O-Celot looked up from the small book he was reading and nodded a greeting, but other than that he didn't move. The puma imagined he thought she was on her way to help a wounded man and that she wouldn't need him.

"But I do need him," she thought as she realized how strange this idea was to her; but when she remembered how gently he'd been when he carried her in Cat's Lair and how much he'd worried as he spent countless hours just watching over her, she understood this wasn't a strange thought, but rather a comforting one and that made her feel… good.

"Did you need something?" O-Celot asked, standing up to give Pummyra his full attention.

"Oh…? Yes, yes, actually I do!" Pummyra said, his eyes on her had made her feel shy and as she looked up at his face she suddenly realized for the first time just how tall he was and how imposing his battle armor made him look. She wondered why she had never really noticed that before; she knew he was tall, but had never considered his height compared to hers.

"It's no wonder he was able to carry me so easily," she reflected before clearing her throat to tell him what she needed.

"We're running out of medicine again. Could you please go and get the rest of the medical packs from warehouse number four? They're the last ones, and we need them as soon as possible."

"I'll go at once," O-Celot said with a soft smile. "I'll be back soon."

"I'll be waiting for your return; make sure to take a volunteer or two with you, that way you'll be back sooner," Pummyra suggested as he walked to the exit of the shelter. She did not miss the almost happy tone that made her way into her voice had as she promised she'd wait for him; slightly embarrassed and hoping nobody had noticed the puma went back into her provisional office to pick up some files she needed.

O-Celot was lucky to find one of the big, white trucks used to transport food available as soon as he left the shelter; his good mood only increased when he was able to easily convince two young men from the Panther clan to go with him. The Forge-master felt quite content, he wasn't a doctor and had felt useless for most of the day; but now that he had something to do he felt better and the fact that Pummyra had personally requested his help only added to his cheerfulness. Now, if nothing unexpected happened, he planned to be back in the shelter in less than twenty minutes. The city streets were, after all, pretty much deserted except for the people working at the power plant. Not wanting to waste more time O-Celot placed his massive hammer next to the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Wait! If you're going downtown, can you give me a ride?" a female voice asked suddenly.

O-Celot looked out of the truck's window to see a young woman standing there. She had a bandage on her left shoulder and carried a large boomerang on her back. He'd seen the girl conversing with the king the night before.

"I'm sorry, but we are in a rush," he explained. "I'm afraid we can't just give a ride to everyone who asks for one."

"You won't have to wait for me," She responded. "I can come back by myself, please?"

"Mister O-Celot, let her come with us," one of the young men said "It won't take more than a second and she's not asking that we wait for her."

"Besides, warehouse four is downtown," the other young man joined. "So why not?"

The Forge-master smirked, lowered his head to hide a chuckle and pointed to the back door. In less that a second, the auburn haired girl was sitting in the back of the truck next to one of his volunteers, who seemed to be all too glad to have her sitting near him. O-Celot just nodded when the girl thanked him, his mind busy thinking about the fastest route to his destination as he sped the vehicle through the empty streets of the Capital.

"My name's Thero," the volunteer sitting in the back said after a few moments of unbearable, at least for him, silence.

"And I'm Laros," the other volunteer said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Aliona," she answered.

"Why are you going downtown?" Laros asked as he sat sideways so he could regard the girl sitting in the back better. "Most people won't leave the shelter, and many who are not wounded have gone to the towns north of here to hide."

"I'm going to get my hover-bike; I left it there during the attack."

"You shouldn't risk your safety for something like that," Thero scolded. "Downtown's not safe."

"Even if you have a weapon," Laros said pointing at Aliona's boomerang. "If one of the monsters shows up you won't be able to kill it, only a Thundercat could."

Aliona paled a little and felt her shoulder sting a bit at the memory of her encounter with one of the monsters. "Yes, I know, but still…"

"Mind your words, kids, you're making her uncomfortable," O-Celot said as he parked the truck next to a closed shop. "But the boys are right; it is dangerous to walk around here alone… I might have told you we won't wait for you, but if you can get to warehouse four in fifteen minutes or so we could all go back together."

"Thank you, mister O-Celot," Aliona said as she got off the truck, "I'll try to be there."

"If you aren't, then make sure you take this same route; it's the safest road to the shelter," the large Tunderian advised and with that, he continued his way to his destination.

Warehouse four was a gray building located in a long block together with the rest of the seven huge warehouses where Mumm-Ra used to store everything from construction materials, metal and minerals to products like chemicals, silk, glass ornaments and spice, all of this mostly for trading with other worlds. Of course after the wizard's fall, the Thundercats had decided to keep only the minerals, chemicals and construction materials and use the rest of the warehouses to store vegetables, dry meat, seeds and medicine. The sudden loss of power, however, had pressed the Thunderians to move all the food they had stored to several houses near the shelter, so it could be consumed before it rotted. This left the valuable medical packs still in the warehouse but considering that they were close to the shelter, it had not been considered a problem.

For WilyKit, on the other hand, it was extremely convenient and it actually amused her to no end how stupid the Thundercats could be. If it had been her choice, she would have moved each and every medical pack to the shelter along with food and all the bottled water possible. The young woman smirked; she couldn't expect much from the stupid slaves or the imbecile Thundercats, and their lack of proper planning and organization did not surprise her. She would take full advantage of it, though.

"Fools, keeping highly flammable chemicals so close to the medicine they need so much…" she whispered while jumping down from her Space Board to the roof of warehouse four, landing on the edge of the edifice. She was not surprised to see five armed Thunderians there, obviously guarding the medical packs instead, she had to suppress and urge to laugh at them. Only five slaves protecting this location was an absolute joke, since even a single Demon Beast would be able to disembowel the guards in a matter of seconds.

And she was about to do just that when she caught the sound of an approaching vehicle. Intrigued, the young woman waited until she could see who was coming. When the truck stopped in front of the warehouse and three Thunderians got off it, she couldn't help but smile as she saw one man she did recognize: O-Celot. Kit smiled sinisterly at the sight of the Forge-master; she hadn't forgotten how he'd helped Lion-O capture her and was now really looking forward to paying him back for that humiliation.

She observed with little interest how O-Celot, his companions and four of the guards entered the warehouse, obviously looking for some medical supplies to take back to the shelter. After waiting a few seconds she let herself fall along the facade of the warehouse, landing right in front of a very surprised guard. WilyKit did not hesitate and took a quick step forward raising her left arm as she did so, stabbing the frightened Thunderian in the neck with the sharp blades of her vambraces; Kit didn't stop and swiftly pulled her left forearm to the side, effectively cutting open the neck of her victim.

"Useless piece of trash," Kit muttered as she effortlessly kicked the dying Thunderian almost a dozen feet away before entering the building. "Perhaps the rest of the pests here will be more entertaining to terminate."

WilyKit was seen as soon as she crossed the large door of the warehouse, and she evaluated the situation before the surprised Thunderians had identified her. Two of the guards, those with laser guns, stood on opposite ends of the hallway while the other two, who had swords hanging from their belts, helped a pair of panther clan kids carry some medical packs. She couldn't see O-Celot, but she knew he would come out once she took care of the maggots in front of her.

And she did take care of them. Before the armed guardians could react, Kit dashed at the one on the right and gutted him with a lightning-fast slash of her bladed vambraces, and a quick spin to the left allowed her to do the same to the other one, she did this so swiftly they didn't even had a chance to point his gun at her. As the gunmen fell, she quickly grabbed the other two guards by the neck and brought them down hard, cracking their skulls open against the stone floor with incredible ease.

WilyKit stood up slowly and looked at the two kids from the panther clan with a playful grin; she enjoyed the expressions of absolute fear in their faces, and delighted in their horror as if it were a glass of cold, delicious red wine. Smiling, Kit opened her arms in a friendly gesture before she spoke.

"Call O-Celot for me, little slaves; I want him to see how I kill you."

Laros and Thero could not do what they were told, even if they had wanted to. They were so terrified of the deadly woman clad in red that their bodies were completely paralyzed.

The young warrior sighed and ran her fingers through the line of black adorning her red hair. She was disappointed; she had expected the filth in front of her would at least be able to scream but instead they had turned into mumbling blobs of terrified flesh she had no use for.

"Pathetic worms," WilyKit said as she walked slowly towards one of the fear-paralyzed kids. Once she stood next to him she grabbed his head in a flash and twisted it in the wrong direction with both hands, killing her victim immediately.

"La-Laros… he was my best friend, you traitor!"

"So you can speak after all?" Kit mocked. "Good. Now come, avenge your friend if you can!"

The horror grasping Thero's heart and the pain at seeing his best friend murdered, coupled with the mocking words of the woman in red were more than enough to send the young man over the edge. Prey of his own despair, Thero charged blindly at WilyKit, throwing a punch aiming at her face. His punch, however didn't find its target, because his fist ended up hitting nothing but air. He however, could not pull it back. WilyKit had his elbow in an iron grip with her left hand and was using her right one to squeeze his shoulder.

"Traitor, you called me?" She asked with a voice filled with venom. "Your precious Thundercats are the traitors here, you miserable piece of trash!" Saying no more, Kit pulled down, breaking Thero's elbow and immediately shoving the screaming young panther to the ground, where he continued howling and writhing in pain.

"You annoy me, do shut up," stating this, WilyKit stepped on the young man's throat and pushed hard until a loud crack was heard. Thero's body went limp immediately afterward. "All that's left is to kill O-Celot and burn this place to the ground; I'm sure he…"

WilyKit's words were interrupted by a heavy iron box thrown her way, which she easily dodged. The young warrior maiden couldn't help but smile as she saw the heavy box crashing loudly on the wall at her left. She turned and was greeted by the sight of a furious O-Celot charging at her.

She waited until her opponent was close enough and before he had a chance to tackle her, she grabbed him by the arm and used his own momentum to toss him out of the warehouse and into the side of his truck.

O-Celot had walked to back of the warehouse, checking if no medical packs had been placed here and also to see if he could find more bottles of antiseptic, or boxes of gauze or a few more rolls of bandages. He didn't find any gauze or bandages, but he had managed to find a heavy box full of alcohol and what he thought were antibiotics. He wondered why they had placed those things in an iron box, but it didn't matter much. Pleased with his discovery, he lifted it and walked back to the entrance. It was then he heard the screaming; worried that someone had had an accident, O-Celot rushed to the entrance, only to find a picture of death in front of him: Standing in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by the bloody corpses of six Thunderians was WilyKit, dressed in bright red as if she were a murderous devil.

The sight of the murdered guardians and his two young companions filled O-Celot with such powerful rage that he almost lost control and it took all his willpower not to jump at WilyKit in a suicidal attack. What he did instead was throw the heavy box he carried at her to force her lower her guard so he could grab her and restrain her. As he expected, WilyKit easily dodged the box and seemed surprised by it, but she immediately turned and smiled at him. O-Celot, already in mid charge was unable to stop and change tactics, all he could do was to hope the girl didn't jump out of the way. She didn't. Instead, she waited until he was about to take hold of her to slide under him, grab him by the wrist and before he knew it, she had tossed him with unbelievable ease out of the warehouse and straight into his truck. The Forge-master was glad he had worn his armor; otherwise he feared his spine would have shattered with the impact.

"Don't worry O-Celot," he heard WilyKit say as he struggled back to his feet. "I'll make sure to make this last as long as possible."

The next thing O-Celot felt was an incredible pain as WilyKit punched him fiercely in the stomach and immediately grabbed him by his neck and started squeezing the life out of him. What frightened the Forge-master even more, however, was the fact he had not seen WilyKit move.

A few moments before…

Aliona stood in place for a moment after O-Celot left; it amazed her how different the city felt, without the sounds of merchants she was used to hear, even during Mumm-Ra's reign, filling downtown's every corner. The streets were all deserted, and all she could hear was the occasional gust of wind running through the alleys or the crowing of some crows that flew from rooftop to rooftop. The auburn haired girl secured her Thunderang in place and started walking to the alley she had parked her hover bike the day of the attack, hoping it still was there.

It didn't take her long to find the alley and fortunately, her bike was where she'd left it. After checking her vehicle and Thundrillium tank, Aliona hopped on it, started the engine and sped off to where she knew the warehouses were to see if she could help a little; she knew the men there probably wouldn't let her carry anything because of her wounded shoulder, even if it had almost healed, but perhaps she could help them with something else like finding antibiotics, bandages or other medical supplies.

Aliona only needed a couple of minutes to reach the warehouses, arriving there from a lateral street. She stopped at the corner for a moment to adjust the brakes, since she had noted they were slightly unresponsive and looked ahead of her once she had finished, just to check if O-Celot's truck was still there. She felt relieved when she saw the truck half a block away and the gates of warehouse four open, which meant he and Laros and Thero would be there as well.

Her hopes of meeting her friends were destroyed by what she saw then: O-Celot crashing into and denting the side of the truck before falling unceremoniously to the ground. She then saw a woman wearing red clothes walk out of the warehouse to attack and strangle O-Celot. Aliona knew who this woman was. Every Thunderian did; it was none other than 'Lady' WilyKit, who had betrayed the Thundercats and gone to Mumm-Ra's side and had even pretended to reform before going on a murdering rampage before she was captured.

"…When did she escape?" Aliona asked herself in a low voice as she quickly crouched to hide between the corner wall and her hover bike. "Was she the one who brought the creatures that destroyed the power generator? Why is she here now? Did she see me?"

The young woman closed her eyes and forced herself to think; in the end, she realized that there were only two things she could do: The first one was call the shelter and ask for help, which she could do with the radio on her hover bike and the second was helping O-Celot, something she had already decided to do, even if it meant risking her life.

The young woman reached for the radio mounted on her bike with a shaky hand and turned it on, searching between signals until she found the one she'd hear would be used at the shelter. Luckily for her, someone answered almost immediately.

"Cheetara here, who's calling? This frequency is only for emergencies."

"This is Aliona," The auburn haired girl answered, relief washing over her as she heard Cheetara's voice. "I'm at the warehouses, WilyKit is here! She's attacking mister O-Celot and…!"

"I'll be there soon," Cheetara interrupted. "Stay where you are and for your own good, don't try to fight her; Cheetara out."

"Wait, there's…!" Aliona called but it was useless; Cheetara had cut off the communication. She tried calling again but no one answered, all she got was static, as if Cheetara had blocked her frequency so it wouldn't reach the shelter's radio.

Not understanding why Cheetara would do that and fearing that by the time she arrived it would be too late, Aliona reached for her boomerang and prepared to do what she had just been forbidden to do. Disobeying a Thundercat's orders was shameful, but if she could save O-Celot's life by doing so, then she was prepared to face the consequences.

Back at the Shelter…

Cheetara cut the communication with Aliona and then made it so her signal wouldn't get through again unless someone else unblocked it in the radio. The cheetah knew this was wrong and she felt guilty about it, but if WilyKit was indeed back in the Capital then she wanted to deal with her alone. It had to be like that, as the Cheetah now considered WilyKit to be her responsibility.

She hadn't helped WilyKit all those years ago when she cried in her arms before the mutants dragged her to Mumm-Ra's pyramid. She should have let her come to the mines with Panthro and the others but instead had agreed to let her live with Mumm-Ra, if only because she though Kit would survive longer if the mummy kept her hostage than working at the extremely toxic Thundranium mines.

"We shouldn't have given the twins to Mumm-Ra; we were so stupid back then!" Cheetara whispered as she closed her eyes and fought the lump in her throat that came after she remembered what WilyKit told her the last time they spoke to each other; but even if Kit was convinced that Mumm-Ra loved her, Cheetara believed the girl was not truly evil yet. After all, WilyKit had told her where to find Pummyra.

"And if there's still good in her heart, it is my duty to try to bring her back," The Cheetah swore, feeling a strong resolve ignite in her heart, a powerful will not too different from what a mother would feel when determined to save her children.

"I need to use the radio," Pummyra announced, entering the communications room and being surprised at finding Cheetara there. "I forgot to tell O-Celot to bring more antiseptic, and that's not in the medical packs, so..."

"He's probably too busy to look for your medicine," Cheetara told her. "I just got a call telling me the warehouses are under attack."

"Is O-Celot alright?" Pummyra asked, not realizing the first thing that came to her mind was the safety of the Forge-master. "Who is attacking us?"

"They didn't say," lied Cheetara. "But I'm going to find out."

Before Pummyra could say anything about Cheetara's wounds, the Cheetah had already left the room in a flash of orange. The puma leaned on the desk the radio was at and prayed the elders for O-Celot's safety and for Lion-O and the other Thundercats to return swiftly.

Meanwhile, not too far from the Black Pyramid, between the massive rocky cliffs bordering the desert…

Lion-O didn't have to search for too long before he saw what he assumed was the place the explosion had taken place; he hadn't seen the arch but had no doubt about where it used to stand. Below him was a large circular depression surrounded by smoking sand; what shocked Lion-O were the crystalline formations on the sand and inside the crater, he hadn't expected the explosive developed by Tygra and Panthro would be powerful enough to crystallize the ground.

The shock-wave created by the explosion that the Eye of Thundera had shown him had also been terrifying, a large portion of the tall cliffs surrounding the place the arch had been located at had collapsed on the small road that extended between them into the distance. The king knew this was the road Tygra and Panthro had taken when they tried to escape the blast. He also knew that they were trapped (Lion-O would never for a moment believe they were dead) under the rubble somewhere. Struggling to keep back the fear of losing two of his best friends, the young sovereign landed his vehicle, praying to Jaga that Tygra and Panthro were not badly hurt. Lion-O didn't even wait for the Skycutter's engine to stop once he landed it; he immediately jumped off and ran to the mountain of rubble in front of him.

"Panthro, Tygra! Can you hear me?" Lion-O shouted as he frantically dig through the small pebbles covering the larger rocks. "Please answer me!"

The young King got no response and, barely containing his fear and despair, doubled his efforts, now lifting rock after rock and tossing them aside in a mad effort to find something, anything that would reignite his faltering hope that his friends were still alive. Several minutes passed like this until finally, the brave Lion found that something.

Because under the last rock he'd lifted he found a metallic surface. His hope reborn, Lion-O started working again, faster and more feverishly than before, discovering more and more of what he now was sure was Panthro's Thunder Truck. In less than a minute, the lord of the Thundercats had unearthed almost all of the truck's bed and box cap which was, unsurprisingly, beyond repairing.

"But Panthro always reinforced the hull of the cabins in our vehicles," Lion-O recalled as he wiped the sweat off his brow. "I can't keep digging like this; it's taking too much time…"

And so, without hesitation, Lion-O reached for his sword and commanded it to reach its full size with a quick flick of his wrist; once that was done, he slashed at the rock, releasing a wave of power that reduced them to dust while at the same time sparing the truck. He found the cab had been crushed along with the engine; alarmed, the king rushed to the cabin and ripped the door off its hinges to see if his friends were inside.

Panthro and Tygra were indeed inside the cabin, which both relieved and terrified Lion-O. He felt relieved because he could see both his friends were breathing. He felt terrified because of the blood on them. Panthro's face was a bloody mess, thanks to a piece of glass that protruded from his forehead. Tygra was bleeding as well, his chest full of crystal shards; mercy had been on the tiger's side it seemed, as he was completely unconscious.

"Took you long enough to... get here..." Panthro managed to say, turning towards the young king and spewing blood with every word. "Thanks... I was starting to... lose hope..."

"I'll get you out of here," Lion-O swore. "I have a Skycutter, I'll take the both of you to the city and you'll be fine, don't worry!"

"Got to... make something to carry us... there is wire in the back…" Panthro weakly offered. "I'm sorry... I can't... help more..."

"I'll take care of everything," Making this promise, Lion-O rushed to the back of the crushed truck, a way to transport his friends already forming in his mind.

While Lion-O worked, Panthro reached to his face and felt the shard of glass sticking out of his brow with weak fingers. Taking a deep breath and biting his lips to avoid screaming, Panthro grabbed the glass with his thumb and index finger and pulled hard, removing it from skin. The panther tried to stand up then, but his strength failed him and he fell unconscious at last.

Lion-O worked as fast as he could, using the Sword of Omens to slice the box of the truck into rectangular pieces. He selected five, a large one he would use as a bed and four more which he planned to use to make a cradle were he would place his two friends; he had also located the wire Panthro had mentioned, it was pretty thick and seemed to be strong enough to carry the cradle and both wounded Thundercats. Using the Sword to shoot carefully controlled blasts of energy, Lion-O welded metal piece to metal piece and finally, weld the steel wire to both the cradle and the wings of the Skycutter. Now that he had the means to transport his friends, he just needed to place them in the rudimentary crib he'd built.

It didn't take Lion-O long to move Tygra and Panthro into the make-shift cradle, and he thanked Jaga that both of them were unconscious, since at least it meant they would not feel as much pain while being transported to the Capital. After tightly tying the wounded Thundercats to the metallic cradle with some leftover wire, Lion-O took off as gently as he could, thankful that the Skycutter was able to do so vertically.

Halfway back to the city, a slightly relieved Lion-O decided to call in advance to the shelter, so Pummyra would be ready to treat Panthro and Tygra immediately.

"Lion-O here; Pummyra, do you copy?"

"Lion-O? Thank Jaga! I was about to call you!" the puma answered with a voice full of hope as she listened to him.

"Is there a problem?" the young king asked, already knowing the answer.

"There's an attack going on at the warehouses! I'm not sure who is attacking us but Cheetara went to investigate, I think it could be some of the creatures Mumm-Ra sent before!" Pummyra informed. "Please, Lion-O, hurry back!"

"I'm carrying two wounded Thundercats with me!" Lion-O argued, anxiety getting the better of him from a moment. Was it written nothing would go well that day? Finally, taking a couple of seconds to calm down, the king continued. "I can't fly faster, Pummyra, I would drop Tygra and Panthro if I do! You'll have to endure while I get there, please make sure everyone remains calm!"

"I'll try Lion-O, I promise. I'll be waiting for Tygra and Panthro," Pummyra replied and cut the transmission out.

Fearing for the safety of his people, the young king dared to fly a little faster, wondering why the Eye of Thundera didn't show him the situation in the capital.

At warehouse four…

WilyKit, still holding O-Celot by his neck, forced him into a crouching position so she could look at his face. It amused her how much fury she could see there; fury mixed with something else… defiance maybe? Whatever it was it really didn't matter, for he would die very soon; and in a very humiliating way, just like he and the other slaves deserved.

It was then that she heard it, something heading in her direction from her right. A quick glance was all her body, accustomed to years of fighting deadly stone golems for training, needed to react: in less than a second, she let go off O-Celot and jumped high in the air, successfully evading the rotating circle of sharp steel that passed just where she'd been standing.

WilyKit flipped backwards in mid-air and landed on top of O-Celot's truck. She paid no attention to the coughing Forge-master writhing on the ground at the side of the vehicle; her full attention was on the person who caught the sharp metal weapon that had been thrown against her.

It was her, Aliona, the girl who had arrived to the Lair crying for her dead father. Kit remembered very well how that useless slave had spoken about her twin and how she had convinced the stupid Thundercats to go with her to the funeral of her miserable farmer of a father. WilyKit felt a surge of hate invade her. How dare that piece of trash attack her? She had already badmouthed her twin, which was unforgivable, but now she had the gall to try to stop her from doing as she wanted? Who did she think she was?

"I'll make you pay for your insolence!" Kit swore as she jumped in the direction Aliona still stood. WilyKit's leap carried her to only a few meters from her despised target. She had landed gracefully, and was pleased as she noticed she'd cleared most of the distance that separated her from the inferior girl who had committed the sin of attacking her. She could still hear O-Celot coughing incessantly, and knowing he wouldn't bother her for a few moments, she stalked towards her prey. Kit's face was low and her hands had balled into fists. Memories of Aliona exposing her brother flashed in her mind and fed her anger, mixing with the hate the slave's attack had awoken. As she moved closer to the other woman, Kit decided not to kill her until she had broken her body beyond recognition.

Aliona, who was already afraid after seeing how easily WilyKit had dodged her boomerang, felt her blood drain from her heart in fear as she witnessed the distance Kit had managed to leap. She had never seen a Thunderian jump such a large distance, not even Puma clan members like her father were able to jump like that. And Kit hadn't stopped to recover after such amazing leap; instead she simply started walking in her direction with murder in her eyes.

The farmer girl was out of options. WilyKit was too close now so throwing the Thunderang at her would be useless and trying to use it as a sword of sorts would probably not work either. Swallowing in fear, almost resigned to her grim fate, Aliona suddenly remembered something her grandfather could do with the weapon. She had tried it once before without success and now doubted she would manage to do it.

Praying to her grandfather, Aliona steadied herself, planted her feet firmly on the ground and took in a deep breath. She held her boomerang in her right hand and was focusing in trying to let her strength flow through the weapon. That was the secret of Thundercat weapons, her grandfather had explained, their special power was triggered by the inner strength of a Thunderian, which was the reason few other species could use them and why most of the times only the nobles, who with counted exceptions were the ones who received the proper training, could access the mighty power of their special weapons.

"Please grandfather, let this work!" Aliona screamed then, bringing down the Thunderang to the ground, stabbing it with the other end of her weapon. To her surprise, whether by luck or by the intervention of her deceased grandfather, a blast of electricity was released from the weapon, which arched through the ground in a blast of light, catching WilyKit completely off guard, hitting her with a strong electric blast that not only stopped her, but also immobilized her.

WilyKit had truly not expected this, she had imagined Aliona would try to throw her boomerang at her, but she instead had attacked her with lightning! Unfortunately for the stupid slave, she was not in pain, the electricity was not hurting her at all and other than stopping her from moving, she practically didn't feel it. But this was not right; this was not right at all! A slave was not supposed to be able to use a Thundercat weapon!

Blind with fury, Kit extended her arms violently, dissipating the electric hold restraining her. The warrior maiden followed this with a quick step and a punch straight at the face of her opponent, intending to break her jaw or at least shatter her cheekbones.

The auburn haired girl screamed in terror as WilyKit escaped the electric hold with surprising ease and immediately attacked her. Not knowing what to do, she brought up the flat side of her boomerang, attempting to use it as a shield. This worked, as WilyKit's fist did hit the weapon and not her, but it didn't stop the incredible strength behind the punch and she found herself flying back several steps, her boomerang landing well out of her reach.

WilyKit had to admit she was mildly annoyed with Aliona's resistance. That she had managed to block her punch at such short distance was quite remarkable. This annoyance, however, only increased the hate she felt for her. "You actually though your sad attempt at using a Thundercat weapon would stop me?" Kit asked as she walked to the fallen girl. "Please, that electric blast was so pathetic it didn't even sting!"

Mumm-Ra's concubine reached her victim as she tried to crawl to where her weapon was. The young warrior couldn't stop a laugh at this scene. She had never before understood why Mumm-Ra laughed when his opponents were at his feet, trying to get back up to continue fighting. But now, as she watched how Aliona tried to reach her only chance to fight back and survive, miserably crawling slower than a slug, she finally understood. The pathetic image of a beaten enemy at her feet was so incredibly hilarious and it filled her with such a joy and exhilaration that she couldn't stop her laughter. Kit, however, remembered that laughing too much would give a chance to her foe to actually do something, as she and the other Thundercats had done in the past when she was still a part of that useless group.

Willing herself to stop laughing, Kit noticed that Aliona had almost reached her weapon; just as she had realized an instant ago, laughing too much at the miserable attempts to survive this trash was making would have allowed her to actually do something. Unfortunately for her, she was not going to let her do anything else.

Aliona had almost reached the Thunderang. The girl was not sure if she could use it to release another blast of electricity, but she had to try. She had to or she would die, there was no other option. Hope blooming in her as her fingertips touched the edge of her weapon, she just wished that Kit continued laughing, just to have the satisfaction of shutting her up once she had the boomerang in her hands. Her wish did not come true, though, just as she thought she could grab the boomerang's handle, a sharp pain tore through her left shoulder and she felt herself being pulled up. The farmer girl screamed in pain as WilyKit, who now held her above the ground by her wounded shoulder, used sharp claws to squeeze her wound open and at the same time create a new one.

"What were you planning to do?" Kit asked. "Hurt me? Please, an insect like you would never be able to touch me."

Noticing how the bandage covering Aliona's shoulder started to stain red, Kit smirked and sank her claws deeper, tearing open the girl's healing wound until she was rewarded by a spurt of blood, enjoying the tears of despair she gained from her victim as a result. But as satisfying as this was, it was not enough. Kit wanted to hear her scream. Looking straight into her eyes, WilyKit reached slowly for Aliona's right hand, which she held firmly in her own.

"You used this hand to throw your boomerang at me, didn't you?" Kit said coldly, her eyes flashing red with evil as she used her awesome new strength to break Aliona's hand, causing the girl to howl in pain. "Good luck using it for that anytime soon!"

"Let that girl go right now!"

WilyKit raised an eyebrow at the hoarse voice behind her that had ordered her to stop playing with her new toy. It took her a moment to recognize it as the voice of O-Celot, who had apparently decided to interrupt her plans again. Slowly, Kit turned to face the Forge-master, but she did not let go of Aliona. She smiled as she saw the tall Thunderian had decided to match his armor with that large hammer he always carried around. The young warrior evaluated the situation and decided that since Aliona was in no shape to try anything stupid, she could continue playing with O-Celot for a while.

"Since you ask so nicely… I'll grant your wish!" WilyKit answered with a smirk as she threw a badly wounded and bleeding Aliona violently to the side.

O-Celot couldn't help but glance to where Aliona fell to find the whimpering girl had curled into a ball and didn't seem that she would try to move again for a while. That was good; it meant he would be able to fight without having to worry about her until he'd defeated WilyKit.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by something hitting him in the chest with so much force he was actually sent staggering a few steps back. His attention back on the fight at hand the Forge-master saw WilyKit lowering her right leg. The tall Thunderian felt a piercing pain and looked down at his breastplate to find it had been bent inward.

"She was able to do this with just a kick, what kind of a monster is she?" O-Celot thought in stunned disbelief. He had forged this armor personally, and had made it so strong that it had allowed him to survive falling on a precipice years ago, and the armor had endured that fall with not even a scratch. That Kit would actually damage his prized armor so easily was almost impossible!

"I'm impressed; you should be on your knees with your sternum broken. It seems that armor is actually useful, too bad I can't say the same about you," WilyKit mocked as she crossed her arms. "And here I thought you wanted to fight."

O-Celot overcame the hint of fear WilyKit damaging his armor had sparked in him and raised his hammer, ready to attack again. He gritted his teeth and pushed down the pain in his chest, focusing only in the fight at hand. He was a former soldier from Pummyra's Rebel Army and had no intention to be killed in the middle of the street like a dog!

His determination to win burning fiercely, O-Celot rushed at WilyKit, bringing down his hammer in an attempt to take her down in one hit. This attempt, unfortunately, failed miserably and his hammer hit nothing but the ground, creating a small depression on impact. WilyKit had moved to the left a fraction of a second before it hit her. The Forge-master didn't stop, though, and he swung his hammer up immediately, only to see it miss its target again. This continued for a few seconds, as O-Celot kept swinging his weapon with no result other than missing or hitting air. He was not, however, attacking at random; every swing of his weapon was meant to force WilyKit to dodge backwards and with this he was actually cornering her against the wall of warehouse two.

"It's the end!" he yelled once he had WilyKit against the wall, swinging down with all his might in a final attempt to hit her. But once again, WilyKit dodged, she simply crouched and slid to the side, avoiding the hammer completely, which crashed into the wall with such force that most of it actually collapsed, leaving half of the interior of warehouse two exposed.

WilyKit had noticed immediately what O-Celot was trying to do; she wasn't so stupid that she wouldn't recognize the wild swings for what they were, and she was also quite aware of the layout of the street. The only reason she had played along O-Celot's game was to see his face once his strategy failed. She had to admit, however, that the damage he'd caused with his hammer had impressed her a little.

"You must be almost as strong as Panthro in order to do something like this," she acknowledged calmly, looking at the remains of the wall. "Almost impressive, but it won't be enough to stop me."

"Then how about this!" O-Celot roared, quickly lifting his mace and swinging it hard in a circle he aimed to complete on WilyKit's shoulder.

"I told you it wouldn't be enough," WilyKit reminded him. She had closed her eyes and remained still where she stood, giving O-Celot a glimpse of hope but at the last second, she darted her hand up and caught the head of the hammer with her palm, stopping it with incredible ease. "You are strong, very strong, but I am now stronger than any other Thunderian who's ever lived!"

To prove her point, WilyKit's fingers wrapped around the hammer's head and little by little, her fingertips started sinking on the metal and with one final twist of her wrist, she bent the solid end of the weapon up as though it were a piece of clay.

"And now that you see how inferior you are…" WilyKit started, pleased at the terror she finally found in O-Celot's eyes. "It is time to end this."

It took Kit less than three seconds to bring her opponent down; she simply let go off the hammer and immediately grabbed O-Celot's silver breastplate, which she torn apart as if it were mere paper, pulled her hand back to gauge the amount of strength needed, and then smashed her right fist in the middle of his chest, sending the Forge-master to the other side of the street with a broken sternum and three cracked ribs. O-Celot did not get up after this.

The warrior maiden took in a deep breath and relaxed her muscles, she spared a cold glance in the direction of O-Celot, who had already lost consciousness and Aliona, who was a weeping mess in the middle of the street and decided to spare their lives for the time being. She still had to set warehouse four on fire, and it would be much more interesting if she threw the Forge-master and the farmer girl into the flames so she could watch them burn. She had never seen a Thunderian burn to death, and was somewhat curious about it. Her decision made, WilyKit walked back to the fourth warehouse and reached under her belt for the incendiary stone her brother gave her and gazed at it. The little stone glittered red under the light and, she had to admit it, was quite a beautiful thing; a beautiful and lethal thing, very much like herself.

"I guess a little vanity can be forgiven," WilyKit whispered when she realized she had compared her own beauty with that of the shiny stone she held. "Well, let's see if this works."

WilyKit tossed the crimson jewel into the warehouse then, and was rewarded with a flash of light as soon as the stone hit the floor, followed by a spark of flames that quickly grew into an all consuming fire that expanded easily over the wooden shelves inside the storehouse. In a matter of seconds, the magic flames had spread all over the warehouse and even reached the ceiling, soon, the fire would extent to the adjacent buildings.

And smiling in triumph at the door of the burning warehouse stood WilyKit, watching with infinite glee as flames consumed everything.

Cheetara should have arrived to the warehouses already. Covering the short distance that separated the shelter and the warehouses should have been kid's play for someone gifted with her speed. But that speed was failing her today and, as she leaned against a wall and pressed her hand against her mauled ribs, she cursed herself for underestimating the wounds the Demon Beast had caused her. True, the monster had not broken any of her bones and had only cut her skin on the surface, but the massive strain it had caused to her muscles and inner organs was still troubling her and prevented her from not only reaching her top speed, but also from running for more than a few seconds without having to stop due to a sharp pain she would start feeling on her side. It was then that, as she looked up, she noticed the thick, black smoke rising from between the buildings.

"It is happening again… I can't stop now," The cheetah said as she took in a deep breath and started running, pushing herself as much as she could.

When Cheetara arrived to her destination, her wish to see WilyKit immediately again was not granted. She was nowhere in sight. Slightly confused, Cheetara quickly looked at her left at the sound of someone sobbing and found Aliona whimpering on the ground, and further down the street she saw O-Celot's inert form. Was he dead? She hoped he wasn't; as for Aliona, the cheetah just hoped she wasn't badly injured.

"I admit I wasn't expecting you of all people to come here."

Cheetara looked back towards warehouse four and found WilyKit looking at her. The image she saw unnerved her a little and she almost backed up a step; framed and obscured by the eerie light of the flames, the only thing visible in WilyKit's darkened frame were her eyes which sparkled as red as the fire behind her, giving her the appearance of a furious demon out of hell.

"WilyKit… I'm not here to fight you; all I want is to talk a little," Cheetara said, rising her hands in what she hoped was a pacifying gesture. The cheetah swallowed a little and approached Kit with slow steps. While it was true she did not wish to fight, the burning warehouses and the wounded man and young woman behind her had changed her expectations of this meeting. She still couldn't blame all of this destruction on WilyKit, and she really hoped she wouldn't have to. "Do you know who caused all this?"

The warrior maiden stared silently at Cheetara while she tried to decide on what to do about this development. She had never thought on what to do if Cheetara showed up, and was not sure if she should spare her or not. In the end, Kit decided to at least hear what she wanted to say, if only to amuse herself a little.

"Of course I know," she answered calmly and crossed her arms. "I did."

"But… we needed that medicine!" Cheetara exclaimed. "Do you know how many of our people will die without it? The medical packs and the antibiotics were essential for the survival of dozens of Thunderians! How could you do this?"

"Leave now Cheetara, I don't want to fight you," WilyKit warned then, interrupting the cheetah's accusations. Kit suspected her former partner would ask about her actions, but she hadn't imagined how much listening to Cheetara's preaching would bore her. Still, if she played a little with the older woman's feelings... perhaps this wouldn't be such a monumental waste of time and she might be able to teach Cheetara a lesson or two. "Take it as a favor I'm willing to do for you... mother."

"What… what did you call me?" Cheetara asked, still not believing the last word that had come out of Kit's lips. Had she really called her mother?

WilyKit's hard expression softened, her eyes lost that evil red glow and her shoulders slumped in defeat, she even trembled a little as if she were about to start crying. The young woman would not look at Cheetara, who was now so close to her she could embrace her if she wanted, and instead kept her gaze low. "Didn't you tell me you loved me like a daughter? Shouldn't I call you mother in return? Because I- I would like to call you that. But maybe you don't want me to... maybe you don't love me anymore?"

Despite herself, despite the destruction WilyKit had admitted causing and despite her own common sense, Cheetara melted then. She hadn't expected Kit would call her mother, and she had never imagined how much tenderness that one word would spark in her hearth.

"Kit… of course I still love you," Cheetara whispered, reaching for the young woman in front of her and pulling her into an embrace she hoped would comfort her and help her get rid of the darkness that had taken her. "You are very special for me, how could I not love you?"

WilyKit allowed Cheetara to hold her; she even wrapped her arms around the older woman and pressed her head into her chest, like she had done so many years ago as an ignorant cub. "But... I have caused you all so much pain following his orders... do you care about me even after what I did here?"

"Yes, I care even after what you've done here," Cheetara assured, completely lowering her guard as she focused on giving the young woman she held the warmth and care she had obviously lacked ever since Mumm-Ra took her. "This is not your fault, Kit. I know this isn't the real you… you have been lied to and manipulated into this… I know Mumm-Ra tricked you. But I can help you make everything right, if you just come with me, together we…"

"Cheetara?" WilyKit called then, once again interrupting Cheetara's words. "Can you call me daughter, please?"

"Of course, daughter," Cheetara said softly into Kit's ear, noticing how natural it seemed for her to call WilyKit like that, as if she had been waiting all her life for a chance to say that word.

"Thank you... mom," Kit replied in the same soft tone. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yes, what is it?" Cheetara inquired, a soft, content smile adorning her face. Right then, holding the girl that meant so much to her, the Cheetah was absolutely certain Kit would accept her help and would go with her to the shelter where she could receive the help, both physical and mental, she so much needed.

"I detest you!" WilyKit screamed; backhanding Cheetara so hard the cheetah fell unceremoniously on her side, holding her face in pain. WilyKit's eyes had ignited with an unholy red light again and she now stared at the fallen Thundercat with an expression of absolute rage.

"You say you love me? You say you want to help me?" Kit screamed angrily, crouching so that she was yelling straight into Cheetara's face. "Why didn't you help me all those years ago when Slithe carried me and Kat to the Black Pyramid? Why did you just stare while clinging to Panthro? Why didn't you fight for us back then? If you loved us why didn't you do anything?"

Cheetara felt a lump form in her throat as she listened to WilyKit's questions; this was something she had feared for years and even when she thought she had prepared the right answers, now that she listened to these accusations she found that explaining her actions from all those years ago without sounding cowardly and selfish was something she couldn't do. The cheetah felt a tear sliding down her face and lowered her eyes in shame; she could not answer WilyKit's questions.

"I'm sorry. We shouldn't have done that… I shouldn't have…"

"Shut up!" WilyKit interrupted, grabbing Cheetara by the neck of her leotard and forcing her to stand. "Do you think an apology will make it better? Do you think telling me all those lies about you loving me will make me go back to your side? Please, I know your true colors Cheetara, you don't love me, and you never did! The proof of that is how easily you discarded me and WilyKat."

"I do care for both of you! I'm sure that…"

"Stop lying!" Kit ordered. "Do you think I've forgotten what you said to my brother when he did the right thing and delivered you pathetic Thundercats to my master? You said he was worse than Grune and that you couldn't trust him! A loving mother would never say that!"

Cheetara tried to held WilyKit's gaze, but found that she couldn't, the girl's eyes were a pair of flaming red pits full of so much hate it actually hurt her to stare at them. She had refused to believe it before, but now that she was so close, now that she could see those eyes, the cheetah finally understood that WilyKit had turned completely; nothing was left of the innocent and cheerful girl she had cared so much for in the past. The worst of it all and what was tearing at her heart with infinite guilt was that she was directly responsible for this change; if she had done something back then, if she had stopped Slithe from taking the twins away from her, then all of this might never have happened.

"But you know what, Cheetara?" WilyKit said then, a mocking smile adorning her lips. "I think I should actually thank you for abandoning us. If you hadn't I wouldn't be what I am now, I wouldn't have learned the truth about you and the other Thundercats, and my beloved master wouldn't have shown me what the right order of things is."

"You are being deceived… Mumm-Ra doesn't love you and his way is not correct," Cheetara said then, struggling against the paralyzing guilt, trying one last time to reach for the small girl who she hoped still lived inside Kit's wounded heart. "Look around you, look at all this destruction. Is this the right order of things? Destroying people's hopes and dreams is not what a good person would do, and you are a good person WilyKit, under all that hate and resentment, I know you still understand that this is wrong."

WilyKit's smile vanished immediately at Cheetara's words and was instantly replaced by a deep scowl. "Wrong? The slaves are inferior creatures, they don't deserve to have hopes and dreams, they should be glad we are even giving them the chance to serve the master instead of wiping them out entirely! They exist to serve him, why is it wrong to remind them that?"

The cheetah couldn't answer; just as she was about to she felt a powerful impact on her midsection. Cheetara gasped for air, the blow had left her breathless and she could feel the taste of bile in her mouth. Looking down, she saw WilyKit's knee still on her stomach.

"You make me sick," Kit announced, pushing Cheetara away as if she were disgusted just by having her close. "I should kill you but instead I'll let you leave with the knowledge that all of this is your fault. Maybe someday you'll understand that what I'm doing is for the best and when you do, perhaps I'll let you live with us as a servant… and I might even get a Monkey-man from Plundarr just for you! I know how much you love them, don't you like the idea?"

Cheetara felt a flare of fury invaded her at those words; just like last time, WilyKit alluding like that to what Monkian had done to her was enough to make her snap, overcoming even the guilt she felt. "Enough! I'm trying to help you and this is how you answer? How can you be so cruel?"

The only answer the cheetah got was a kick aimed at her face, but the hit, while close, didn't connect. The reason why was Cheetara's miraculous speed, which she had used to quickly move behind the misguided girl. The older woman, however, had to admit that the speed of WilyKit's kick had caught her by surprise. Not wanting to waste more time trying to reason with Kit here, where she wouldn't be able to talk some sense into her, Cheetara dashed forward in an attempt to push Kit into a house on the other side of the street, away from the burning warehouses, hoping that she would be able to find something to restrain her there.

Cheetara's plan, unfortunately, didn't work. WilyKit had anticipated Cheetara moving behind her, and was also expecting her to try an attack from that position using her superior speed. Knowing this, the warrior maiden smiled when Cheetara did just what she imagined she would. Timing her movements to those of the cheetah, WilyKit had no problem dodging the older woman at the last possible moment while at the same time delivering a successful attack of her own. When Cheetara screamed in pain and fell on her knees a few steps ahead, her hands desperately trying to stop the blood spurting from the side of her right thigh, Kit couldn't prevent a smirk from forming on her lips.

"I could've taken your leg, be glad I didn't cut you deeper," Kit said while looking at the sharp blades on her vambraces appreciatively. "I'm going now; it was depressing to be around you, Cheetara, and a complete waste of my time as well."

"I won't let you go!" the cheetah said weakly, using her staff to try to hit Kit from behind.

"Like I said, this is a waste of my time," Mumm-Ra's concubine said boredly, dodging the attack and grabbing the staff with her left hand. With a quick yank, she took the weapon away from Cheetara and with an even faster spin, she slammed the end of the yellow staff on the Cheetah's temple, finally knocking her out.

"If you bleed to death Cheetara, it will be your own damn fault!" stating this, WilyKit tossed the pole aside and looked up, intending to will her Space Board to approach when something on the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning to the left, she saw the person she had been told not to fight under any circumstances was finally there: Lion-O.

The young King was welcomed to the warehouse block by a fiery inferno that was consuming three of the warehouses and was already expanding to other two, thick, black smoke was rising and the smell of burned wood and synthetic materials filled the air; he could see a burning truck out of what he knew had been warehouse four and to his left he found two fallen Thunderians on the ground, further down the ash covered street he saw Cheetara lying in the middle of a pool of blood and not too far from her another woman stood. The woman, who wore red and gold, was also looking at him and appeared to be annoyed at his arrival. Lion-O knew this woman quite well and while he had expected to find a group of monsters attacking the warehouses, he was not entirely surprised to find her here instead.

"WilyKit!" The king shouted, his fists clenching as he took in a deep breath; he would not allow his frustration and resentment at WilyKit's betrayal to cloud his judgment. Even if she was guilty of this destruction, she still had the right to stand in front of the Thundercat Council and receive a proper trial. "Don't move! You are under arrest!"

Kit frowned at the order shouted at her. Was he actually ordering her to stay where she was and also threatening her with arrest? Was he expecting her to obey him? How stupid could he be? The young woman turned around and ran away from where Cheetara was. She had to get away from here soon, otherwise she knew she wouldn't be able to stop herself and would end up fighting against Lion-O. She, however, did not get too far; some kind of wire wrapped around her arms and she felt herself being pulled back. Angry at this interruption, WilyKit looked behind her to find that Lion-O had used the claw-cable concealed in the Claw-shield to tie her up, and he was also trying to drag her to his side.

"You're not getting away!" Lion-O swore. "I'll make sure you answer for what happened here!"

"And who will I answer to?" Kit mocked. "Your precious Thundercat Council is lacking members, isn't it? Tygra and Panthro are probably dead and if they aren't, I bet they're in no condition to judge me; so who's going to decide my punishment, you?"

"You will be held in custody until the council is able to meet."

"Lion-O… shouldn't you take Cheetara and those other two maggots over there to the shelter for some medical attention?" WilyKit asked, realizing she could use the wounded Thunderians as leverage to escape. "I don't mind if they die, but I'm sure that you think differently, don't you, Lion-O? Hurry and save them! You can play judge, jury and executioner with me later."

For a brief instant, Lion-O's caring nature almost caused him to let WilyKit got so he could focus on saving his people. This however only lasted that, an instant. During his time in the Book of Omens Lion-O not only learned about fighting, he also learned that some sacrifices had to be made in order to achieve peace. And he also knew Cheetara, O-Celot and Aliona would not die if he was able to incapacitate WilyKit quickly. With this resolution in mind, the king pulled strongly, only to find that WilyKit hadn't moved at all.

"You shouldn't have done that," WilyKit said as she snapped the cable around her arms with seemingly no effort. "It angers me when idiots like you try to stop me from going where I want to."

Lion-O retracted what was left of the claw-cable into the finger of the Claw-shield and quickly strapped it to his leg. He was genuinely surprised, the claw-cable was extremely strong; even he would have trouble doing what WilyKit had just done. The king however, was a seasoned fighter now, and his surprise was not enough to faze him for long.

"You are not going back to Mumm-Ra's pyramid, WilyKit!" Lion-O promised as he drew his sword and commanded it to grow to its full size. "Now give up and come with me peacefully or face the consequences!"

"I'm not supposed to fight you," Kit said angrily, forcing her temper down before she ended up jumping at Lion-O to rip him to shreds. "But I will if you keep standing in my way!"

A quick glance at the growing pool of blood Cheetara laid on convinced Lion-O he couldn't waste more time and, steeling his resolve, he charged at WilyKit with the intention of using a short range blast from the Sword of Omens to temporarily paralyze the former Thundercat. His plan almost worked; he did shoot the blast when he was merely two steps away from Kit, but the blast missed its target entirely, hitting a building on the other side of the street.

WilyKit, who was expecting Lion-O to try to capture her, simply stepped to the side at the last moment to dodge the king's predictable attack. She was already angry at him trying to arrest her, but this ridiculous move had reminded her of the first time he had pointed the Sword of Omens at her, back when she had punished the laughing slaves who had thrown rotten fruit at her even when she had done nothing at all!

"How dare you!" She shouted, slamming her fist in Lion-O's side, taking advantage of the King's slow recovery time. "I'm going to put you in your place!"

Lion-O reeled back a step and pressed his hand to his side. The king cursed himself for not taking her seriously from the beginning; WilyKit's punch had hurt him much more than he had expected. It surprised him, Kit had never exhibited such power before and members of the wildcat clan were not known for their physical strength, so why was she suddenly so strong?

A flash of gold suddenly interrupted the young ruler's thoughts, forcing him to quickly dodge a set of sharp blades attached to the vambraces WilyKit wore; he continued dodging several slashes aimed either at his neck or midsection, the attacks coming so quickly that he couldn't find an opening to counterattack. This was also new to him; WilyKit had never been as good a fighter as this, she was actually pushing him back to the fiery hells that were the warehouses behind him!

"Enough!" Lion-O yelled, taking advantage of a low attack by WilyKit to finally counter with a descending swing of his sword. The King was not aiming to cut her, just to hit her with the blunt side of his weapon and knock her out. He was sure she wouldn't be able to dodge an attack at such short range, and he was right: she didn't dodge it, she blocked it. Somehow, WilyKit had moved fast enough to raise both arms in time to stop the blow with her armored vambraces and had also managed to capture the sword between the blades extending from them.

"Stop holding back!" WilyKit demanded with a growl, increasing the pressure she exerted on the Sword of Omens to keep Lion-O from releasing the sword. She was not only angry at him but also insulted; he was supposed to be the best fighter among the Thundercats and now that she had disobeyed the master's orders by fighting him, she at least wanted to see his full skill before she had to face Mumm-Ra's punishment, and he was not using it! "I've seen you fight and you're better than this, don't mock me!

"Or perhaps you want me to break your sword?" Kit threatened. She knew she was far stronger than Tug Mug now, so it should be fairly easy for her. Intending to prove her point, and to gain some leverage with Mumm-Ra when she returned to the Black Pyramid by stating how she had broken the Sword of Omens, Kit tried then to move her forearms so she could use the blades of her vambraces as levers to break the sword with. She, however, was not counting on what Lion-O did as soon as she tried to break the Thundercat's holy sword.

Lion-O's mind had hatched a plan as soon as Kit had caught the blade, and he was sure it would be enough to put this useless fight to an end; so keeping silent, the young king let Kit talk and get confident, waiting for the precise moment to make his move. He wasn't expecting her to try to break the sword, but it distracted her enough so he could command the Sword of Omens to unleash a wave of its power through the blade and into the former Thundercat's body. The sword, however, released far more power than what Lion-O had intended, resulting into Kit being violently blasted to the other side of the street, crashing against an abandoned house, its side wall collapsing on top of her. The young king looked at the sword with a surprised expression in his face then; he knew well the sword was sentient, but going by its reaction, it seemed it was not willing to brook with WilyKit's threats at all. Or that it had sensed something incredibly evil was controlling her and had attempted to erase it.

WilyKit was in pain. She still was under the rubble, but knew she hadn't gotten hurt by the wall falling on top of her; it had been whatever the sword had done that was making her arms hurt like hell. And this angered her to no end. Not only towards Lion-O, whom she was now planning to dismember slowly for being such a damned pest, but also against that cursed sword, which she now wanted to see broken into a thousand pieces. Fueled by her anger, the young warrior stood, the debris covering her doing little to stop her. Once standing, Kit looked at her arms and understood why they were hurting so much: her vambraces had shattered and pieces of metal had dug into her flesh. Her arms however, were not bleeding; not blood, at least. Instead, several tendrils of a thick black liquid seeped from the wounds and wrapped around the metal protruding from her flesh until they tore them out, the deep cuts on her arms were then almost immediately mended by the obscure fluid as it retreated back inside WilyKit's body. The young woman had watched this process in awe, realizing then that her body was truly immortal. The pain she experienced while healing was almost gone as well and the joy she felt at the discovery of this new ability which her immortality had granted her made the pain entirely secondary.

Her delight was short-lived, though, as another blast of energy hit her and forced her to double over in excruciating pain. She somehow managed to look up and saw that the energy came from the Eye of Thundera which Lion-O was using to attack her. Moving, however, only caused the pain to increase, paralyzing her limbs. Kit didn't know what Lion-O was doing, but this energy he was attacking her with made her feel so nauseous it was as if her innards wanted to crawl out from her mouth.

WilyKit could see how the wounds in her arms were opening again while the same black substance inside her struggled to heal them with little to no success. The pain was also getting worse, and she knew she would faint soon if she didn't do something about it. Forcing herself to think of a solution the warrior maiden decided to try tricking Lion-O into dropping his guard; she had already deceived Cheetara so it was well worth a try and besides, she had the perfect piece of information to achieve what she wanted. All she had to do was to play the part of damsel in distress, something that would humiliate her to no end, but also something she could get revenge for later and she would be able to escape. Summoning her Space Board so it hovered in hiding amidst the black smoke coming out of the fire, WilyKit prepared to put her plan in motion.

Lion-O was taken by surprise by WilyKit standing from under the debris as he imagined her to be unconscious; his surprise grew as he saw the strange black liquid mending her damaged arms but that didn't prepare him for what the Sword of Omens did then. The Eye of Thundera roared, forced his hands forward and shot a beam of white light at WilyKit which was now on her knees and somehow paralyzed by it. It had been a long time since the Sword had taken action by itself like this and Lion-O was finding it difficult to keep the sword in his grasp, as it seemed it wanted to burn whatever it was inside WilyKit into ashes.

It was then he heard her sob. Confused, Lion-O stared at Kit's face and found her eyes and expression where those of fear and innocence he remembered seeing in her back on Third Earth anytime she was in trouble. Had the sword destroyed the evil inside her at last?

"W-where am I?" WilyKit cried then, tears sliding down her face as she struggled in vain to lift a hand in a pleading gesture. "Why are you attacking me Lion-O? What have I d-done to deserve this?"

The young king gasped in surprise at Kit's words, could it be that she had been under a spell and didn't remember what had happened after Mumm-Ra conquered Thundera? If that was the case, then the eye had finally released her from the evil wizard's control! His heart full of hope, Lion-O tried to force the sword to stop, but it would not obey him.

"Why am I o-older?" WilyKit continued quickly, her voice now trembling and confused. "D-did you make me older so I could m-marry you?"

Despite himself and the present situation, Lion-O could not help but have his concentration completely shatter at WilyKit's declaration. The Eye of Thundera, however, did not falter like its master had and continued keeping Kit in place, even if the power it was using to hold her had actually decreased a little due to its owner's lack of focus.

"I'm supposed to be y-your wife, your queen! I've always been!" Kit said intensely and finding that moving was a little bit easier now, she continued begging for her release. "Please Lion-O let me go! I-I'm hurting so much! I'll marry you right now if you want me to but please stop this! Lion-O, you're killing me!"

WilyKit's cries of suffering, the pain in her now innocent features and this shocking revelation were enough to convince Lion-O to let her go. With a growl, the young king forced his will into his weapon, the Sword of Omens stopping its attack on WilyKit in a way that to the Lion seemed quite reluctant, as if the sword was not convinced of Kit's words. Lion-O ignored this, as he was certain the young woman kneeling in front of him had finally been released from a fate worse than death.

"Kit, is it really you again? Is Mumm-Ra's spell gone?" The king asked worriedly, lowering his sword as he approached her, hoping she was well enough to help him carry the wounded back to the shelter. The marriage engagement between them that she spoke about, however, he preferred to discuss later, once all of this had calmed down.

"I wasn't under a spell, you stupid buffoon... I've always been me!" WilyKit answered in a low voice as she slowly got up. "…Just as you've always been a big idiot who's so easy to trick!"

Lion-O didn't have time to react to these words, as something solid hit him from behind so hard he dropped the Sword of Omens and was thrown several steps away from WilyKit; quickly jumping back to his feet, the young king understood what had happened. He'd been hit by a Space Board, and WilyKit now stood on said vehicle, staring back at him with a burning hatred in her eyes.

"I will kill you next time we meet if Mumm-Ra allows it," WilyKit swore and before Lion-O could do anything to stop her, she disappeared into the thick black smoke covering the sky above the burning warehouses.

The young King ran a hand over his tired features and reached for the small, portable radio Pummyra gave him after he'd dropped Tygra and Panthro at the Shelter. Taking in a deep breath to steel himself and avoiding sounding as defeated as he felt, Lion-O called the shelter for help; minutes later, just as he'd finished bandaging Cheetara's wounded leg, the sound of engines was heard, signaling the arrival of not only a medical van, but also a truck full of volunteers ready to fight the fire, even if by then only two or three warehouses would be saved.

Back at the Black Pyramid…

WilyKit reached the Pyramid in a matter of minutes, and once inside she headed immediately to the Cauldron room. As she expected, her master was there, standing in front of the bubbling waters. Her brother was also there, but he stood in the middle of the room, closer to her than Mumm-Ra was. The warrior maiden lowered her head in shame, swallowed her anger and walked to stand next to her twin, dropping on one knee once she was there.

"My lord, I have failed you today," she announced, her voice full of so much shame that even WilyKat wondered if his sister was about to start crying.

"Have you?" The mummy asked. Mumm-Ra walked to his kitten and stood in front of her. "I did not assign you any task today."

Kit lowered her face to hide her embarrassment, and was glad her twin had chosen to remain silent; the last thing she needed on top of the humiliation of standing before her lord in shame was her brother's pity. "I went by myself to the Capital. I fought Lion-O against your wishes and was… defeated by that cursed sword!"

WilyKit was surprised then when she felt the cold, rough palm of Mumm-Ra's hand caressing her face. Her master's touch made her feel good, relaxed and at peace, momentarily helping her forget about her defeat. After taking a deep breath, Kit risked looking up at him only to find the evil wizard was actually smiling down at her.

"You didn't fail, my dear," the mummy said softly as he retrieved his hand and returned to his place near his sarcophagus. "You managed to destroy the medical supplies the Thundercats needed so much, you incapacitated Cheetara, the only other Thundercat who was in any condition to help Lion-O fight us and even if that pathetic excuse of a king defeated you, he did it only because of the Sword of Omens, nothing more. Now rise, you have no reason to feel shame."

Reassured by the words of her master, WilyKit obeyed and stood, waiting until Mumm-Ra looked back at her. Once he did so, she spoke again, her voice was cold, but once again her brother could tell she was furious at something she had on her mind. "I was forced to humiliate myself in front of him! I want to make him squirm for that!"

"You cannot do that as you are now. As powerful as you've become, the Eye of Thundera will try to destroy the dark power inside you as soon as you stand again in front of Lion-O," Mumm-Ra explained while showing his concubine the Sword of Plundarr. "If you want to fight the lord of the Thundercats you will need to possess a magical weapon."

"Then give me one!" Kit pleaded. "You let Grune use your sword once, why don't you let me use it too?"

"I can do something even better!" the wizard offered. "I can give you the chance to gain a weapon of your own; a sword with a power that rivals that of your brother's scythe and even my own sword and the Sword of Omens. Would you take this chance, my dear, even if it is incredibly dangerous?"

The warrior maiden smiled evilly at the prospect of having a weapon strong enough to crush Lion-O. "You know I will, my lord. Tell me what I need to do and I'll have it done as quickly as possible."

"I expected no less from you; let's get you ready then," the evil wizard said with a pleased grin. Mumm-Ra lifted his hand after stating this and almost immediately a pair of Flesh Puppets entered the Cauldron room, both carrying white clothes they asked WilyKit to wear. When the dead slaves finished dressing her, Kit was wearing a thick cape made of Ice Trog fur, as well as gloves and boots of the same material.

"Why these clothes?" She asked while looking at her new attire.

"You will need them where you're going," Mumm-Ra explained while he waved his hands over the Cauldron's waters, revealing an image of a land covered with ice and snow. "The power you want is there, in the frozen regions of Water-O." Saying this, the mummy raised his left hand and opened a portal of light in front of them. "Enter the vortex, find the Ice guardian and get Water-O's mighty sword, the Dragon Fang, from her. But you must be quick my dear, this portal will remain open for only two days, no more. Make sure you are back before then."

"I'll be back before a day has passed," Kit assured and saying no more, she stepped into the portal, leaving the Black Pyramid as she traveled to another world.

"Will she be alright?" WilyKat asked once his sister had gone.

"If there is someone who can get the Dragon Fang, that person is your sister," Mumm-Ra answered. "She will not fail this test, I'm sure."

"But two days, master? Won't the Thundercats attack us before that?"

The evil wizard laughed as he heard his apprentice's questions. "My son, what Thundercats are left to attack us? All of them but Lion-O are injured now, they lack the medicine they need to cure their wounded and they don't have energy to power their city! That sorry excuse of a king will not dare leave the scared Thunderians under the current circumstances! Trust me, my young apprentice; Lion-O will not try anything against us for at least four days!"

WilyKat crossed his arms and considered his master's words. He had to admit Mumm-Ra had a point; Lion-O would be much more pressed now to fix everything in the capital before even thinking of setting foot outside of it. Still, keeping an eye on him wouldn't hurt, that much he was sure of. Nodding at himself, the wizard in training walked to his teacher's side.

"You are right, master. But I would feel more at ease if we keep our guard, just to prevent any unpleasant surprises from happening. We could even send Flesh Puppets to spy on them."

The mummy glanced at his apprentice and agreed with a quick nod. "We can observe them from here; but if you really want to send a spy, you'll have to revive her. She's the only of our undead women capable of such a complex task."

"Are you talking about... her? I thought she had been destroyed!" WilyKat said, a strong emotion surging in his voice. "Is Calico's body really here?"

"I thought some day you would like to try to bring her back on your own, my son," The evil wizard said. "She rests in a sealed chamber behind the Throne room. Go see her, if you need any advice, I'll be glad to assist you."

WilyKat bowed deeply and after thanking his master again, rushed to the Throne room. Mumm-Ra watched the boy go with a triumphant grin. He had, of course, saved the corpse of his apprentice's favorite doll, not as a favor to the boy but as a means to control him; but now that the twins' souls were bound to his however, the mummy saw no reason to keep that undead girl hidden anymore and besides, his student did deserve a toy of his own.

"And that woman, if he actually manages to revive her, does have some useful skills," Mumm-Ra admitted as he turned his attention to the Cauldron, intending on seeing the full extent of the damage WilyKit had caused in the capital.

To be continued...

Notes:

Special thanks to Adam for beta reading this chapter and all the support he offered while I was writing it; without his assistance, this episode wouldn't even be finished yet.

Mumm-Ra allowed Grune to use the Sword of Plundarr in issue 5 of the "Reclaiming Thundera" miniseries published by Wildstorm comics.