3

Once on the resort planet, Safari Joe got a few of his employees to come out and help him with his catches, the non sentient ones anyway. He wanted to deal with those considered his prize catches himself. He had no other Thunderians, the pelts he had were of those he found half-dead on uncharted planets, starving to death because their capsules had landed on an uninhabited planet, or because they had been injured with no way of calling for help, and they were not worth saving. So he'd just killed them and skinned off the pelts. Before that, the ThunderCats had been the first he'd encountered, and he didn't even want to think of that fiasco. He'd long ago trashed Mule, the mechanic assistant that had been rewired by those blasted felines. He didn't have any Snarfs in his exhibits, either. He'd come across a few and now they were hanging in his large trophy room. One he stuffed, the others he skinned. Blasted Snarfs.

After the three big game handlers had gotten the other five out, Safari Joe turned to his sentient prisoners. "Well, I think it's time we got you settled in." The hunter grinned down at them. Usiko only glared back at him, the child was still sleeping. Safari Joe gave the cub's cage a solid kick, and he woke with a startled outcry, looking around a little blearily. "Dumb Mutant."

"Hey, you don't have to insult him all the time. He's deaf, you know. He can't hear you."

Safari Joe shot the feline a dirty look as he retrieved his multipurpose rifle off the wall. "How would you know, cat?" He blinked his eyes as he looked out into the bright sunshine of his safari resort and grinned. This was truly home; a resort his father had started, and Safari Joe had made better.

"Now who's the dumb one? It's obvious. You'd think the fact that he can't hear anything you say unless he's looking at you would be a clue." Safari Joe growled and fired his rifle at the cat.

Usiko gasped, expecting to be shot, but to little rocket-propelled things came at him and attached themselves to his ankles. "Hey! What the?" Usiko yelped as the cage was unlocked and the little cuffs soared into the air, yanking him upside down. How embarrassing. His face turned red as he felt the flush beneath his fur. "Oh, that's real cute." He sighed.

The hunter ignored him. He didn't like being bested mentally by his prey, and it did not usually happen. But after the catch was made, he wasn't always as observant as he maybe should be. When one of his prisoners pointed this out, it angered him...but he wouldn't hurt them any more than he had to. An unhealthy exhibit made for bad customer attraction. Sometimes the urge was great, however.

Firing the last two cuffs at the Mutant cub, he levitated them out of the ship and onto his home planet.

Aggravated with the two, he brought them into the processing station and left them there for the peons to take deal with. Then he went to take care of some paperwork that had piled up during his absence. He had a clerk to take care of the most of it,. but when he went on a hunting trip, there was usually enough time for the things he had to handle personally to pile up.

In the processing station, Usiko was finding that he was not going to like it here one bit. He was once again forced to strip, and shoved into a large, stainless silver basin, and restraints clapped onto his wrists and ankles. Then one of the women proceeded to scrub him down from head to toe, doing it three times. One of the soaps smelled like a flea shampoo! "I do not have fleas!" he protested, yanking against the bonds.

"Easy, there, handsome fella," the woman said in a soft voice. She smiled at the cat and patted his back. "Easy. We're just making sure." She washed every part of him, too, to his embarrassment, and Usiko resented the way he was being talked to.

"I can bathe myself, you know!"

The woman only chuckled. "I know. The feral cats groom themselves too. But it doesn't get you clean enough." She never got mad at the exhibits, she knew they were only acting like their species would act. As Usiko fumed, she rinsed him off, then towel dried him. though Usiko had to admit that felt good physically, it was humiliating. He grumbled some not nice things as she finished.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

She smiled and ruffled his mane, jerking her hand back with practices ease as he took a swipe at her hand with his claws, then a couple of burly assistants took him by the arms and threw him into a room naked. He was surprised when a giant fan started up somewhere and began to blow soft, warm air into the room. Great, I'm being blow dried! A minute later, the hyena cub was shoved in as well. He retreated to a corner and curled up.

Usiko decided to try and make friends with the little guy. Kneeling next to him, he tried to speak clearly, as it was apparent the boy had taught himself to read lips. At first the boy didn't respond, but when he did, it was in a nearly normal, if loud, voice. Usiko had asked the cub's name. "Ze'ev...you're not gonna hit me, are you?"

It was the first time he'd gotten a response from him, and he gave him a bit of a concerned look. "No, of course not." He sat down next to him. Nudity didn't bother him all the time, he was Thunderian after all, but in some cases it did make him uncomfortable. This was all right though, he was just a kid and didn't seem uncomfortable with it himself. "Why would you think that?"

The boy looked away and shrugged, shying away from the feline.

"How old are you?" He frowned then remembered and tapped him on the shoulder. He flinched then turned around. "How old are you?" he repeated, trying not to look intimidating.

"Ten."

Ten. Only ten. He shot a look of disgust towards the door.

At that moment, the door opened, and a few assistants entered, ready to drag the two out of the room. A little concerned that they would threaten the boy, Usiko made no move against them yet. When he heard the hunter's boisterous, booming voice down the hall, he rolled his eyes, then glared at him. "Well, well, don't you two look cute." Safari Joe laughed. "You know I think you're furry enough, you can go without clothes." He turned to his employees, one of which was Kamata, who regulated everyone's training routines, and an man who regulated their feeding. Safari Joe kept his exhibits healthy and well fed, but he did demand a level of discipline. "Get them into cages and get them on a feeding schedule. I want them cleaned once a day as normal, put them in adjoining cages in the west wing, where everyone passes. This is a Thunderian." He beamed at the declaration.

"We're not animals, you can't do this to us, you miserable--" His words were cut off as the goons ushered them off.

Safari Joe called after them, "You are, though! Beside it wouldn't matter, I've got humans here too." He chuckled. He only had a few; and they were only ones who had crossed him at one point in time.

As it neared night, Joe yawned, made sure everything was getting taken care of and locked down tight, then retired to his spacious home in the middle of the resort. In his bedroom, before he went to bed, he looked at a small picture on his chest of drawers; a picture of a handsome, tall man with deeply tanned skin, carrot red hair, and bright green eyes. It was the only photo he had around, the others having been gotten rid of long ago. "Like father like son, eh?" Safari Joe sighed and settled into bed for the night.

Ze'ev, waiting to be bathed
Ze'ev

Safari Joe in bed
Joe

Part 2

Part 4

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