8

"Lion-O!" Wilykit yelled into the intercom that broadcasted throughout Cats' Lair. There was a loud explosion outside, and the whole lair shook, knocking Wilykit off her usually nimble feet. She'd been manning the control room alone for the first time since they had been on this new planet.

She got back up. "We're under attack! It's the Mutants, and...and...I don't know what!" she finished helplessly. She ran back to the computer console and the viewscreen, where it showed Skycutters and the Flying Machine in the air, the Fistpounder and four humans? below. The young ThunderCat scowled and jumped at the laser cannons, firing at the elusive Skycutters.

She nearly jumped out of her hide when a large face filled the viewscreen, and Monkian's leer was aimed right at her. "Hoo hoo!" he laughed. "So, only a little Thunderkitten defends against the Mutants, and the Berzerkers. Good! Easier for us to take over." Having gloated, the image switched off, and the angry Thunderkitten clenched her fists and blocked communications so that her view of what went on outside would not be blotted out. She fired again.

At that moment, all the other ThunderCats came rushing in, including Wilykat, just now struggling into a boot as he did. They all looked up at the screen. "What in the name of Jaga is that?" Panthro demanded. "There's more of them!"

"Four," Wilykit said tersely. "Monkian called them...Berzerkers?"

Lion-O frowned as the Lair shook once more. "Well they've chosen the wrong felines to attack! ThunderCats, get to the hangar! Wilykat, Snarf, you three stay in here with Wilykit, man the weapons! The ThunderTank is little help against sky vehicles, and we have no others!"

All nodded and dashed off to their battlestations...teamwork was a vital part of their success...but one. Wilykat's eyes nearly flashed out in anger.

"No way, Lion-O!" he growled. "You can't keep me in on this one! I'm a fighter too; I got a score to settle with those Mutants!"

Lion-O raised a brow and looked down at Wilykat in surprise. he felt a flash of anger, but also puzzlement at the unprovoked words...he had never > heard the usually quiet Wilykat speak to him like that. "Now just a minute, Wilykat. Someone needs to stay here and man the weapons, and you and Wilykit are good shots. I need you here; we have a plenty big enough crew for the Thundertank already."

As Panthro had paused in his own sprint for the hangar, hearing the boy's words, he backtracked and peeked in. He was just in time to see and hear Wilykat narrow his eyes and snarl, actually snarl, at the Lord of the ThunderCats. "No! I won't! I'm through with you treating me like a newborn cub! What, are you afraid I'll get too strong? Is that threatening?!"

As Lion-O only stared in surprise, and a crunching noise could be heard from down below as a Mutant shot crumbled part of one of the Lair's paws,

Panthro growled angrily. He stormed into the room as Wilykit turned around and fired at Vultureman, singeing a wing of his infernal Flying Machine. Panthro reached down and grabbed Wilykat by the throat, actually grabbed him by the throat. Wilykat would have made an angry protest if he hadn't been so surprised. Panthro lifted him into the air. "I ever hear you talk to your lord that way again, cub, and I'll make sure you don't leave the Lair your whole damned life!" He wasn't hurting the boy, at least not much, but he sure had intimidated him; that much was apparent from his shocked, wide eyes, and the "o" his mouth made. Panthro shook him a little and squeezed just enough that the young cub got the message. "Is that understood?!"

Wilykat nodded immediately, actual fear replacing the constant anger and hurt that seemed to follow after him so much. Panthro dropped him, and he landed on his feet, backing away quickly from the irate panther. Panthro stalked out.

Not sure what to say, Lion-O only ran after him, the urgency of the situation being the only thing that kept him from staying.

Wilykat did hear, as the two adults left: "I don't know if it was necessary to be that rough on him, Panthro." Panthro made some reply, but the boy couldn't hear it, as they moved from earshot. He looked at the screen.

"Ohhh, snaaaarf," Snarf said in a low worried voice. But he wasn't looking at the attackers on the outside, he was looking at Wilykat.

"Guys!" came Wilykit's frantic voice. She was firing the laser cannons, but she couldn't hit everything. The Skycutters were pretty nimble, even if they did look like big, clumsy bats, and they were landing far more hits on the Lair than the other way around.

Wilykat was still a little shaken, but not enough to snap, "Shut up! Just shut up! You don't have to act like you're the only one who ever does anything! Panthro grabbed me by my THROAT! Then you act like it's MY fault! It's not! It's NOT my fault! It's not!" Wilykat's voice rose to a childish shriek, as he clenched his fists and growled.

Wilykit's eyes widened, as she turned around to stare at her brother. As distant as he'd seemed...almost afraid to get anywhere near her half the time and mad at her the rest of the time; he'd never quite said anything like that before.

She might have gone on staring like that for a much longer time, had not another hard hit struck the Lair, shaking all three occupants to the floor once more, and taking out one of the fire cannons. Wilykit was startled back to the task at hand and began the fight once more.

It also startled Wilykat from what he had been about to say, and he stood up growling. He looked furiously out at the Skycutter than had made the shot and jumped to the second laser turret nd began blasting like mad. "Jerk-off!" he yelled.

Snarf also had manned a station, the remaining fire cannon, and was launching the fireballs at the Mutants.

Down below, the might ThunderTank roared into battle. Panthro had only that very morning given the thing a tune up, and it purred, well, like a kitten. Of course it roared like a lion, too. "You've made a mistake this time!" Panthro yelled. With the Lair above, firing on the fliers, Cheetara at the guns could concentrate on the Mutant menace of the Fistpounder...and that was a blessing. The weapon was powerful, and kept the S-S-slithe busy.

But then there were the strangers.

"Oy think these cats should go back to their own planet, hey Top Spinner?" one of the strange beings cried in a high-pitched and heavily accented voice to one of the others. He had been the one that the ThunderCats had noticed first. Dressed in clumpy-looking iron and cloth clothing, he tromped when he ran...and he looked clumsy as hell. but that was not the big surprise. this man had a wheel in his chest.

"Aye!" the shortest of them, presumably Top Spinner, agreed. "Aye! Aye! They be pussies, they be!" The shot little guy, carrying a mace and a shield that practically covered his whole body, laughed and advanced, the cats finally having left the building to engage them.

Tygra was looking at the beings in puzzlement, and a little amusement. "They don't look too threatening, do they?" He said.

Lion-O shook his head, and got on the radio to tell the Lair team to withdraw the drawbridge, and was happy to see it got done. "That big one over there would be hell to fight one on one...and the leader, the one barking orders, could do some damage with that hand, but not against a tank, or the Lair."

Tygra nodded. "Let's go out and show them why attacking Cats' Lair was a bad idea, while Cheetara and Panthro deal with these Mutants?"

"Good idea! After you!" The young lord grinned, and Tygra and he jumped from the vehicle.

"Lads!" The leader cried. "Ram Bam! Get into that thar cat box, an' open it up fer us! These cats aren't too hospitable, so looks we're gonna have to invite ourselves in!" The metal fisted human laughed, as the skinny one acknowledged the order and ran towards the Lair. "Go berzerk, berzerk, berzerk!"

Idiot, Panthro thought as he piloted the ThunderTank. The drawbridge isn't there! Not being able to resist it, he looked back as he drove forward towards the Fistpounder once more to see what the skinny pirate would do.

Frankly, Lion-O nd Tygra also thought he'd be taking a long drop in the moat, but then both gaped, their mouths open, as the pirate dropped to the ground like a soldier hitting the deck, and tucked his hands at his sides. He raced along the ground, like some lunatic wheelbarrow, and launched himself in the air! "What in the name of Jaga?!" Tygra stared openmouthed, and his second thought was how many other powers these strange beings had.

Tygra and Lion-O did not get to see what happened next, although they were very concerned about it. They very suddenly had a lot more...immediate things to worry about. "Aagh!" Lion-O grunted, half crying out in pain, as someone grabbed the muscular cat from behind in a bear hug, massive arms circling his torso and lifting the young lord off the ground as if he were a kitten of five years old. "Hey! Put me down, Berzerker!" Boy was that a fitting name, he had time to think!

He had dropped the Sword of Omens due to the surprise attack, and was far too distracted to call it at the moment. But he was no weakling. He fought, straining to free himself from what felt like metal bands tightening around his torso, squeezing the breath from him, and making him thrash violently to free himself.

"All right, that's IT!" Tygra shouted, and stepped back. He took his bolo whip and drew it back, hauling his arm back for a massive, powerstrike on the large guy whose strength seemed mechanically enhanced...

...but the next minute the tiger felt himself being hauled off his feet and thrown several yards away to sprawl in complete surprise next to his weapon. He looked up. Damn! The metal fisted leader was strong, very strong, and he still had a hold of the bolas at the end of his whip! "This is ThunderCat territory! Leave peacefully and we will cease our attack!" The peaceful way might be the way to resolve this one...but the answer he got was a move faster than he would have expected the leader of the group to be able to move. He rolled to the side just as a massive fist made a hole a foot deep in the ground. "Great Jaga." These would be tougher adversaries than he thought.

Part Seven

Part Nine

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