Chapter 16: Leo's Rebellion
The more Lion-O struggled against the lizard's grip the tighter he squeezed, his claw digging into his neck through the fabric of his suit and turning the lion's face red from denial of air. Any other cat would have been done for, but Leo's body was stronger than his. Listening to the first king's body Lion-O slammed his forehead against the lizard's face, the reptile crumpling onto the floor unconscious.
A pair of apes lunged for him but Leo was faster, dodging a swinging fist and countering with a punch of his own, breaking their face against his knuckles before swinging his leg into the second ape's chest as he had seen Panthera do.
The riot ended as abruptly as it began as the rest of the animals fell to the cats' batons and the shock-collars. The instigators, the bulky lizard that had pinned Leo to the wall, and the jackal that had thrown the first punch, were reaffixed with their shackles.
More masked guards stood by them, claws clenched tight over their staffs as low growls were exchanged. Panthera was quick to break the tension, holding up a hand of dismissal to the masked cats.
"We'll take it from here." She said, turning back to Leo. "Let's take them to isolated holding."
She lead and Lion-O followed, watching her as she dragged them by their chains into a cell located further away from the main prisoner rooms. Her ears twitched backwards towards another pair of guards, Lion-O had noticed them too but didn't pay them any mind, but the pantheress was acutely aware of their presence in a way that had him confused. With one final glance behind them, Panthera grabbed the prisoners by the scruffs of their jumpers and threw them into the cell, the lizard and jackal grunting as their chains prevented them from breaking their fall less painfully.
"If you so much as twitch, it will be the last move you make!" she growled, closing the doors as the guards passed by.
She paused, seeming to listen for their receding footsteps before her glare fell and she smiled. The other animals mimicked her expression as she released the shackles from their wrists, the bracelets clattering uselessly onto the floor.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Lion-O asked, surprise racing through him icily as he prepared himself for another fight.
Panthera ignored his hostile stance, assured of her own actions. "I think they've spent enough time in those cuffs."
The jackal rubbed his raw wrists as the lizard winced at the forming bruise on his head. He hissed at Leo, tongue lashing with annoyance, "Nearly took my head off! You cats will take any chance you can get!"
"I'll say it was quite the convincing performance," the she-cat purred, hands on her hips as her tail flicked towards Leo.
"Right… performance."
The jackal sighed as he straightened his clothes, "My apologies for the unplanned riot, but it seemed we should meet." He explained, "Mumm-Ra will have the stone soon."
"And when he does, there won't be a force in the galaxy strong enough to free us from his dominion," Panthera said gravely. "So, the question is, are you prepared to join the rebellion?"
Her outstretched hand and imposing presence confirmed to Lion-O that she was a natural leader, standing tall and proud and unafraid, to the point where he was regretful for ignoring the portions of his history lessons devoted to her.
This Panthera was the one from the history books, the first queen of the Thundercats in all her glory.
"Our people are willing, but some question if the jackals can really trust you cats." His suspicious gaze made Lion-O's eyes narrow, but he held his tongue as Panthera continued.
"What choice do you have? To stay in your chains?"
The leader of the lizards trilled, "Even if we could trust you, does the commander really believe he can defeat Mumm-Ra once he has the stone?"
He gestured to Leo and the cat flinched, "Me? Oh yeah, sure… I mean… probably?"
"Definitely." The she-cat assured, giving the lion a fierce glare. "But he can't do this alone, we'll need all the animals to unite in order to overwhelm Mumm-Ra's defenses."
The lizard scoffed. "Of course, if he fails, we all die."
"Yes, ironic." The jackal agreed. "Our cat oppressors turn to the slaves for salvation. If he gets the stone, we'll consider it."
The two leaders left without another word, Panthera scowling after them with lines of frustration creasing her normally flawless face. The look only faded when they were gone and she looked to Leo again, smiling in that warm way she did specifically for him.
"Don't worry, I have faith in you, Leo." She leaned in close to him and kissed his cheek, purrs rumbling in her chest that he could hear even after she pulled away.
Lion-O smiled airily as he watched her leave, her ebony tail waving almost teasingly. He could have watched her walk away forever until an icy feeling of dread crept up his back.
"I am so dead…" he moaned, "But at least I have a girlfriend…"
Lion-O returned to Mumm-Ra's side, watching the screens as the planetary sweep to find the War Stone began. He bit his tongue and willed himself to be silent as he watched the enslaved animals butcher and pillage every inhabited portion of the planet, burning villages and slaughtering innocent people all for a stone the size of his palm.
"Captain Tygus, I want a progress report!" he bellowed, snapping the cat out of his reflections.
The tiger's voice transmitted through the podium, the Book of Omens blinking rapidly as it zeroed in on a specific location.
"Yes, Lord Mumm-Ra, I have good news, after searching the planet's vast oceans and desolate plains the stone was located inside a well-armed city, our forces are working to retrieve it as we speak." He explained, Mumm-Ra waving the communication signal away and focusing once more on the footage of his destruction through the hands of countless animals.
Lion-O thought back to how easily Mumm-Ra had destroyed Thundera, and looking now at what he was capable of with an entire army, he knew how important it was to keep the War Stone away from him in the present time. He only had a fraction of his power now and had murdered hundreds; at full power he could easily conquer the galaxy, just as Panthera had said.
"Every species has its place, Leo." He said in an attempt to sound wise that made Lion-O's temper flare. "Some are meant for greater things than others, but your own kind has proved most cunning and ruthless, you inspire fear in the other animals, they hate you as much as they do me… I suspect in a rebellion, you would be the first to die."
The creature's words cut deep. It stung to learn that the worst monster in all of the Thundercats' history viewed them just as unkindly as the other species did in the present. He swallowed his nervousness and steadied his voice as he answered Leo's lord.
"A rebellion?" he asked arrogantly, "That would surely be the work of fools, my lord."
Mumm-Ra's burning eyes were trained on him, but he nodded. "Indeed."
Tygus's signal blinked to life on the screen, pulling the monster's gaze away from his commander. He was patched in replacing the images of the waring animals with his own scowling visage. "We've procured the War Stone, my lord."
His voice was strained and weak like he had just finished fighting his way through an army to get it, something Lion-O had no doubts about, remembering the ruthlessness of his own brother in battle. If lions were born kings, tigers were born to be warriors.
Mumm-Ra made a chilling sound that sounded like purring, only uglier and deeper, like he was also choking on smoke.
"At long last… it's mine." He hummed, turning back to Leo. "Bring it to me!"
The long-haired cat bowed, "Yes, my lord."
Panthera was waiting for him out of sight just outside the control room, her tail waved him towards her and he followed obediently as she lead them deeper into the bowels of the ship. The corridors shifted into cramped passageways hidden from the guards and their routes, pipes and wiring covering the walls and blowing hot air around them.
He almost hit his head on a pipe but the taller cat pushed him under it with her hand, smiling at his embarrassed expression.
As they neared their secret destination, Lion-O's ears perked at the sound of hammering. Loud, clanging drums of metal on metal, a sound he was familiar with from hours of listening to Leppria scurry around the Thundertank. When he returned to the present he would have to remember to tell her she was right, about the Sword of Omens and the book being connected, the book needing the sword to work. Or rather, the energy of the War Stone within the sword being what activated the tracking mechanism in the book itself.
They suddenly came to a stop, the shadows of two other cats emerging with masked faces and a wrapped bundle in their arms. The male cat of the pair purred with pride as he unveiled his creation, the Sword and Gauntlet of Omens, shining gold and new.
His muscles were hard from labor and his hands calloused, soot smeared across his face in a pattern resembling a mask. A blacksmith, Lion-O thought, noticing an almost invisible speckling of spots along his arms. A leopard…
The blacksmith presented the gauntlet to him, Leo donning it as Lion-O's muscle memories took over. He pulled the sword from the gauntlet, holding it up and gazing through the empty ring that would soon house the Eye of Thundera.
"The Sword of Omens…" though he was already familiar with it, he suspected that at this moment, his ancestor had just named the sword that would pave his empire.
"Forged from the same enchanted metal as Mumm-Ra's sword and gauntlet." In the light of a dying star. "I worry it's a bit… short," Panthera said, cocking her head as her eyes scanned the sword in its basic form.
The familiar feeling of the weapon in his hand, yet the strange new weight of all they could do together, suddenly dawned on Lion-O. He had wondered if Leo would change the course of history, turning Mumm-Ra the conqueror into Mumm-Ra the ghost, and now that he held the Sword of Omens, the shining beacon of the Thundercats in the hands of the first king, he knew he had been right.
"That'll change once I add it to the Eye of Thundera." He decided, looking to the cats around him, his people, and smiling. "Let's go."
When Captain Tygus returned to the Black Pyramid, Leo and Panthera were waiting for him. The she-cat had her gun trained on him before he even realized what was happening, the realization of the mutiny filling his eyes as he looked upon his comrades with shock and disappointment.
"Thanks for finding the War Stone, Captain," Lion-O said, taking the case containing the stone from him. "But we can take it from here."
Tygus grit his teeth, "You'll never be able to unify the other animals behind you, Commander."
This was far from the first rebellion the tiger had seen. Hundreds of planets, thousands of animals had tried to stand against Mumm-Ra, to fight for their freedom, their homes, their lives, but they had all fallen before the creature's might. Leo's pathetic uprising of slaves would be no different, but Tygus did not want his comrades, his friends, to die for such a hopeless endeavor.
Panthera glared at him, amber eyes searing, but he met her with a fierce gaze of his own. They exchanged no words but they did not need to. Tygus wouldn't stand beside them, but when they inevitably failed, he would be the only one to plead to Mumm-Ra that they weren't worth killing.
He would rather live enslaved than die for a few measly moments of false hope.
That was why the tiger had no place in Leo's new world.
"A tiger underestimating me," Lion-O scoffed. "I'm not surprised."
Tygus grimaced as Leo took the stone, smiling at it like he was greeting an old friend. Lion-O examined it in his hand, the scarlet stone cube-shaped and almost soft like liquid. He slipped it into the ring of the Sword of Omens, the War Stone glowing and changing shape to fit into its new vessel.
The aircraft bay was suddenly flooded with red light, the sword practically vibrating with power as the metal absorbed all of the War Stone's energy. Panthera stared in awe while Tygus shielded his eyes, Leo smiling all the while.
When the sword settled it was still heavy in his hand, but it was now warm as if he had been wielding it forever.
The beautiful pantheress placed her hand on Lion-O's shoulder, "Now all you have to do is use the book to shut down security, free the slaves, and beat Mumm-Ra." Her tone was hard and serious, but she kissed his cheek again anyway, a promise but a goodbye at the same time.
Their rebellion would either emerge victoriously or be destroyed. They would either see each other when it was over… or they wouldn't.
So, no pressure.
"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds so easy."
They had the stone, Mumm-Ra to his knowledge had won, yet he still grinned as he watched over every bit of destruction and suffering he had caused. The planet was engulfed in fire and bloodshed as the animal slaves were pulled back to the Black Pyramid, and the monster smiled as he gazed upon it all. It made Lion-O sick to his stomach, clenching his fist tighter around the Sword of Omens as he called upon Leo's strength.
He then realized how foolish that was; Lion-O was Leo, he had only his own strength, his own bravery, to call upon now.
"You have the stone, Commander?"
"Yes," he replied, "But you're not getting it!"
The sweat on his brow turned cold when the creature turned to face him, confusion and fury written in the decrepit lines of his face.
"Your betrayal comes as a surprise, even more surprising is that you sincerely believe you'll succeed."
Lion-O glared, drawing his sword. "You said yourself it was the most powerful weapon in existence."
His blade extended, bearing itself like the fangs of a predator, poised for battle. Whatever happened next would determine the course of both Leo and Lion-O's destinies, and for the first time since his kingdom fell, he felt ready to face this demon.
Mumm-Ra chuckled lowly, his large wings spreading wider. "One of the most powerful weapons in existence… and I have the other three!"
His laughter rang out louder, mocking the cat as he held up his own gauntlet. The black and jagged metal carved out with angry red veins connecting three shimmering stones.
"Other three…?"
They pulsed and shook with intense power, and Lion-O saw fully how outmatched he was.
The plot thickens... mwahaha! I like the Legacy episode a lot because it shows Lion-O really beginning to come into his own as a leader, and while part of that is Leo, Lion-O in this scenario IS Leo. He is capable of greatness but needs to let himself be capable of it. He can defeat Mumm-Ra, because after this episode, he's already done it! Till next time! Ciao!