Intermission
Part Eight
Bengali ran up the steps, taking them two at a time. Before he hit the top landing, Lion-o and Wilykit came bounding out of the lair. "What happened?" asked Kit, holding the door open as Bengali rushed by.
"Somebody find Wilykat and Tygra!" he shouted at them, continuing towards the infirmary. Behind him, a crowd of onlookers were trying to push their way past into the lair.
Lion-o motioned for Wilykit to follow Bengali, who had been carrying a limp and lifeless puma the entire time. First Cheetara and Sumik, thought the lord to himself, and now Pumyra. Where would it end? And why wasn't the sword warning him in time? "Damned Lunataks." he growled under his breath.
One of the onlookers stepped forward, the stench of alcohol surrounding him. "Excuse me, sir, but it wasn't the lunataks. We were having a good old fight down at the local pub, and those two entered at a bad time."
"Who was fighting? Just the four of you?" Lion-o asked.
"Oh, no, sir. Us'n the rest of the boys down there. We just followed him back here to get a look of things. Rumor has it the Highcliffs Contessa was injured earlier this week." the man said, trying to peak around Lion-o and into the hallway.
It took Lion-o a moment to realize who the man was referring to: Many of the commoners tended to refer to the other Thundercats by the former titles they held on old Thundera. Regardless, he wasn't releasing information, and he was asking the questions. "How was she injured?"
"Well, now, the exact details escape me." he said with a candid shrug. "But at one point, she jumped into the air, and when she came down, her foot was impaled on a broken glass bottle. She told the man nearest her not to remove it, but he did. There was blood everywhere."
"But that man wasn't you?" Asked Lion-o, obviously becoming more enraged at them.
"No, no! Wasn't I. Him, he's the one." the drunkard pointed to the follower in the back of the group.
Lion-o approached the man, who stood almost even with the lord. "Is this true?"
"Aye." answered the man, "But the bitch was askin' fer it. Coming into a man's place, gettin' involved. I hope she's thinkin' of an apology for the damage she caused -- stained the carpet red, she did."
Lion-o raised his hand up to hit the man, then let it fall to his side. Violence would solve nothing. "Go home. You will be found later if you are to be punished for what has happened. And one more thing." he hissed as the group turned to leave. "Thundercats, no matter whether they be man or woman, are to be treated with the highest regard and utmost respect. They are not to be discriminated against due to gender, race, age, or any other reason. Pass that message to all you know." They nodded, all except the one who had hurt Pumyra, who just kept walking.
In the infirmary, Bengali had placed Pumyra onto the bed Cheetara had just finished occupying. He had wrapped the top of his uniform around her foot. Tygra immediately elevated her leg as Wilykat grabbed a med kit. Cheetara and Panthro stood off to the side, looking on, helpless to do anything. Wilykit came over to join them.
"What happened?" asked Cheetara as Tygra and Kat began working on the puma's lacerated foot. The bottle had actually jabbed her in the ankle and been dragged diagonally to her toes, nothing like the clean stab that had been described to Lion-o.
"Barfight." Said Kit. "She and Bengali went to stop it. The patrons got upset that there was a woman in there, they tried to retreat, and one of the bastards tripped her and slashed her foot." she looked around quizically at hte number of occupants. "What, were you guys having a party in here or something?"
"No, we found out Cheetara's having a baby." said Panthro, as happily as he could as he watched Pumyra being operated on.
"Not right now, though. Not today, right?" asked Kit, slightlyconfused.
"Not for months." Cheetara said. "All I'm dealing with right now is a bit of nausea...um, make that a lot of nausea..." she corrected, making her way as quickly as she could to the sink in the next room.
Kit shook her head. "Boy, are you gonna have a fun time."
Panthro looked at her. "Who, me?" "Yeah, you."
"So she throws up sometimes and has backpains. I'll keep a bucket next to the bed adn massage her when she needs it." he shrugged.
"Oh, no, no, no." she said with a laugh. "I'm talking about you, not her. Besides the fact that I'm relishing the image of you changingdiapers--"
"We'll get a snarf for that." he answered quickly.
"---did you even think how old you'll be when the baby funally becomes an adult?" she finished.
"Oh, come on, Kit, I'll be...oh, shit." he said as he did the math. " 'Spose now's not a good time to change my mind about this whole thing..."
"Sorry, I don't think you can get refunds on this type of situation." she laughed. "But, think of the bright side. You'll have a little future Thundercat to teach everything you know to -- and who knows? Maybe he'll listen to you, unlike Kat and I." she said with a wink.
"He? You think it'll be a boy?"
"Or she. Whatever. Your bigger worry should be the fact that since you're blue, and she's yellow, is the baby going to be green?"
Panthro was about to answer back on this question, when they heard Bengali's voice pleading for his older brother to do something.
"I don't know where the blood's coming from. If I did, I could make it stop!" Tygra yelled back.
"She's losing pressure fast...dammit, it's not her foot, where the hell is it?" Wilykat surveyed her despritely, trying to find anotherwound.
"Maybe on her back?" suggested Wilykit, noting the pool of blood on the floor that was running off of the middle of the table.
Tygra looked down at the puddle Kit was pointing too. "Panthro, come here, give me a hand turning her over."
"But he's not sterile!" protested Kat.
"This is ER medicine, not minor cuts and scrapes, we've got to do this now." Tygra pushed Bengali away from the table. "You'd better stay over there."
"No! I want to see what's going on!" he demanded.
"Wilykit, help me out here." Tygra said. Kit came over and pulled the white tiger towards the door. "Don't worry, it'll be okay, they just need room to work."
Bengali nodded, trembling. He knew how Panthro must have felt a few days ago.
Panthro and Tygra sat her up, trying not to move her leg much. Both men were surprised at how little she weighed, mostly due to the blood loss she had suffered. "Anything, Kat?"
"Holy shit." Wilykat swallowed hard and shook his head. "There's an awful big wound on her back." "How big?" asked Tygra.
"Big." replied Kat, taking off the gloves and tossing them into the blood on the floor.
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