20

Wilykat rolled away from Ma-Mutt as his sister jumped at him, bowling him over onto the stone of the floor. He put a hand to his arm which was bleeding; not badly, but bad enough to anger him and to hurt. "Dumb dog!" He got out a light capsule and exploded it next to the dog's face, who made a startled yipping sound and recoiled. "Run, Wilykit!" The twins ran.

When he got his senses back, Ma-Mutt followed the retreating Thunderkittens back to the main chamber, where the ThunderCats were still fighting the mummy. They were winning slowly. Even with as many of them as there were, it was a slow battle, as Mumm-Ra was rested well and strong and in his own domain. They were the intruders there.

***

"Why have you brought me here?" Cheetara demanded, as a pair of guards took her into the lab where Snarf sat on a table, his legs secured to it. She frowned.

"You are here for experimentation," the vuilture told her. "Now be quiet. Guards, secure her to that chair over there please while I finish this test on this one." The two wolves nodded their assent and strapped Cheetara into the chair then left. "Boy you're filthy, cheetah. I'll have to wash you first and get rid of that pile of rags you're wearing."

Cheetara narrowed her eyes. "Over my dead body!"

The vulture chuckled. "That may be the case if you're not careful." Ignoring her for the moment, he turned his attention back to the Snarf. Taking a vial of a blueish liiquid from a cupboard, he filled a hypo with it, and before Snarf could do anyhting about it, plunged the syringe into his arm and injected it. Both he and Cheetara gasped. "What was that?!" Snarf cried, putting his hand to his arm.

"That was only a sedative. I told you I am trying out some of our common drugs on you and noting the results." He shoved him back down and secured him. Taking a nylon band, he secured it around Snarf's arm to keep track of blood pressure, and affixed a monitor to take care of pulse. He would record both as the serum took effect.

Snarf had little to say, as it was a fast acting serum, and his eyes drooped closed. At least he couldn't feel his pains, he thought distantly as he drifted into unconsciousness.

The bird then went over to Cheetara and removed her clothing as he had threatened. He was a scientist, who had seen dozenzs of nude test subjects before, and was not fazed, either by her naked body or her growled protest. He took a long handled scrubbrush, lathered it with an antibacterial soap, and proceded to wash her down with it.

Oh, how humiliating, Cheetara thought, as she was in the process of being cleaned like someone's pet dog or something. However, she did have to admit that it felt good, although it hurt in the spots where Graydon had beaten her. She was dirty and was glad to be clean again.

Except now she was cold.

The vulture rinsed her down, then brought a large fan over and set it up in front of her. He turned it on, making sure the heat was on beforehand; he didn't want his test subjects getting pnuemonia. "Now you two behave," he said to them with a smirk, and left the room.

Right, Cheetara thought. Snarf's in a condition to cause trouble all right. She glanced to the unconscious Snarf and sighed. She spent a moment letting the warm air dry her before checking out her retraints. Leather, and they were all wet. Wet leather felt very uncomfortable. She twisted her wrist, and her eyes widened to see that the leather gave a little bit! It wasn;t much, but...

...better do somehting before they were dried out.

With all her strength, Cheetara strained against the bonds that held her to the chair. She twisted and pulled, feeling a sharp pain as she sprained her wrist, but she could feel the leather stretching just a little bit. Just a little bit more... There! Cheetara pulled the injured hand away, and released the buckle of the other strap. A quick unfastening job and her legs were free.

Wrapping her hand quickly with a bandage she found in a drawer, and finding a lab coat to put on over herself, she then went to Snarf and released him, although he was not yet awake. She would have to carry him until he was, but not yet. For now he could stay where he was. Cheetara crouched by the door and waited.

The scientist never knew what hit him. He opened the door, saw the Snarf and noticed that the cheetah was missing, but before he could sound the alarm, he was lying on the floor, as unconscious as Snarf was. He had a nice lump forming already on his bald skull.

With a look of disgust on her face, Cheetara stood and slammed the door shut again. She dragged the vulture over to the chair xhe herself had been bound to and strapped him in. As an after-thought, she wrapped some tape around his beak. See how he liked it!

She went over to Snarf an shook him gently. "Snarf?" Nothing. A little more urgent of a shake and still he didn't awaken. Cheetara rummaged around in a few more drawers and found some smelling salts.

That worked. Plundaarian smelling salts were far morwe pungent than those used by other races, and Snarf sat bolt upright, his eyes wide. "Hey, easy Snarf. It's jut me."

Snarf groaned. "Oh....that was not fun."

"I'm sure it wasn't. Look I've got this mad scientist captured, I need to know where that superweapon of his is."

"Oh, snarf, it's in the center of the prison underground somewhere, at least that's where the control center for it is. He controls everything from there."

"All right, then we have to get there then. Do you know where that is?"

"I have no idea."

"Perfect." Cheetara sighed and looked around. "Okay...we'll just have to look." She set Snarf on the floor. "Stick with me, stick close. We're going weapon hunting."

Scampering at Cheetara's bare feet, Snarf looked around and listened with his keen hearing. "Coast's clear so far," he whispered.

"All right, come on." Cheetara crouched low and skulked down the hallway, also alert for trouble. The buzzard must like it quiet around his lab, Cheetara thought. Either that or clean. It's the cleanest place in this dump. He probably doesn't want the other Mutants smelling it up. I sure as hell wouldn't.

At a corner, Cheetara listened, and held Snarf back from going any farther. She peered around the corner. Okay, two of them at the door out of this infernal lab area... It shouldn't be too hard to take them out. To take them out without setting off the alarm, now that would be the trick.

The ThunderCat made a "stay here" gesture towards Snarf as she crept forward. She had no weapons; they had stun sticks. Hardly fair, but then this whole deal was a desperation act. It was nothing or everyhting today.

The stealthy cheetah almost made it with no problems. But one of them happened to turn around. his eyes widened, and that's when all hell broke loose.

One of the guards, a wolf Mutant no less, pushed a button that sent an alarm blaring through the hallways, while the other, an abnormally large vulture, jabbed at her with the stun stick. Cheetara grabbed the stick far enough to avoid the shock and began to fight with him for it. He was strong, stronger than she would have expected though, and it wasn't easy.

"Oh no, snarf snarf," Snarf wailed quietly. He would have to get into the fight no matter how much he still hurt.

Scampering on all four, he jumped at the feet of the second guard, wrapping his tail around his legs. The wolf fell with a curse and began to fight the thing on his legs. "What the hell! Get off me you furry freak!" All Snarf did was tighten his hold so Cheetara could take care of her adversary then save her small friend.

The cheetah did succeed finally getting ther guard into a choke hold and keep her grip until he passed out. Then she used his own cuffs to cuff him to the door. She also took his stunner, set it to high, and nailed the other guard.

Both now out cold she cuffed them together and threw the second stunner down the hall. "Good job Snarf, thanks. Come on, let's go!" She picked up the Snarf and whisked him down the hallway at top speed, blowing by several startled guards so fast they could not even see what she was. She ran until she came to a hallway where she saw no Mutants, and where she thought she could stop safely. "I think...I think they're all...in the lab area...still looking for us," Cheetara panted.

"I think so too," Snarf said with a groan. "Boy I hope we find it soon. My body can't take much more fighting."

"I hope so too, Snarf."

The pair very carefully had a look around. They weren't where they needed to be, but they were close. Cheetara felt they were going in the right direction, she just had a hunch. Her sixth sense may or may not have had anyhting to do with it, but as they wandered, they finally found what they were looking for. "Well...I'm betting that's it," Cheetara said, pointing to a large, heavy door with two guards standing outside it with blaster rifles.

"Gee you think?" Cheetara gave the Snarf a dirty look for his sarcasm then laughed softly. "All right, we have a well guarded door and one stunner. Looks like I'll have to find something else to use here." She looked around. "Stay here." She took off in a blur, and less than a minute later returned with a small stun pistol.

"Where did you get that?"

"Well let's just say that there's a very unhappy prison guard slumped over unconscious in his morning meal."

Snarf laughed. "Good, he deserves a little indignity after what they put us through." He watched intently as Cheetara took aim from around the corner and fired.

A bright blue beam of energy lanced out to strike the Reptilian on the left, who collapsed to the ground wihtout a sound. His opartner, instantly alert, turned...and that was all he had time to do before he joined his partner. Cheetara ran over and relieved them of their weaons and radios before dragging them down the hall to chain them to a supply closet door. "Boy it's a good thing these guards carry restraints." She made sure their keys were far out of their reach. "All right Snarf, let's get this open...you know how to pick a lock?"

"No, but let me go get the keys that you threw all over the place." Snarf scampered off. Now why didn't Cheetara think of that? She gave the Snarf a sheepish look as he came back with them in his mouth. "Thanks...okay let's try it out."

It took a few tries, but they did find a key that opened the door, and they went in.

Closing the door behind them, Cheetara hit the light switch and looked around. What she saw was no bigger than a walk in closet, with a computer onsole taking up one half of it and a chair in the other. She knew a bit about electronics, but not a whole lot. Fortunately, the console resembled that of the guidance system in Cats' Lair. She could figure it out. "Snarf, make sure the door's locked," she said as she sat down. It was time to go out with a bang.

Part 19

Part 21

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