Eye of the Storm
Episode Five
So far, so good, Safari Joe thought as he beheld the sprawling construction of New Thundera Colony. Seven of them were his, and only eight remained. In less than a day, he had reduced their numbers by nearly half. Not too shabby, considering he was facing twice as many of them as before. Most of the homes were nearing completion, he noted through the night vision goggles he wore, yet most of the lights were out. Near the western edge of town rested a structure which could only be the new Cat's Lair being built.
Safari Joe didn't care one way or the other if the Thunderian peasants survived. The ThunderCats were his goal.
The images shifted quickly in the Eye's vision. He saw the capture of Cheetara and Sho, then Panthro, Torr, Laheela, and Tygra. Safari Joe gloated over them in wild firelight, then a strange distortion, something hiding from the ethereal sight of the Eye.
Lion-O's vision returned to that of the Sword Chamber, fury heating his blood. He had known that the human's promise to never hunt again had been as sincere as a promise to hand-deliver the moon and stars. The insurance policy Panthro had put in Mule against it, broadcasting his humiliation across the stars, apparently hadn't been enough.
This is about revenge, pure and simple, Lion-O thought as he placed the Sword into the claw shield and adhered it to his hip.
Myrlha hid the anxiety as well as she was able as the remaining ThunderCats, save for Pumyra, assembled in the control center. Out in the night, someone was taking down ThunderCats, one whose face was hidden in shadow like some boogeyman from her childhood. He had taken Sho.
He's got Sho, how the hell did he do it?
It was this thought that kept returning to her. The man she loved was at the mercy of some lunatic who had somehow rendered him powerless. If he was hurt, if he was dying somehow, being violated...
She wrenched her mind away from those thoughts with considerable difficulty, yet one still squeaked through her control;
If he's hurt you, Sho, I'm carving a ham out of his ASS!
"I trust you've learned something?" Lynx-O asked as Lion-O stormed into the room and leapt down into the lowered center without bothering to use the steps.
"Safari Joe," he snarled, angrier than she'd ever seen him. Myrlha frowned at the unfamiliar name, yet WilyKit and WilyKat went wide-eyed in surprise. Someone, at least, knew who that name went to.
"You mind running that by us again?" WilyKat asked.
"Safari Joe," Lion-O repeated. "Looks like he's trying it again."
"He's a game hunter," WilyKit provided for the rest, "and he's come after us once before."
"And he nearly got you all," Snarf added. "I don't think lobbing a bucket at his head is gonna cut it this time."
"Short form," Lion-O said, "is that he's trying to capture us all again, and he's almost halfway there. In worse news, he's not using the same old tricks this time."
"Have you an idea of where he is keeping our comrades?"
"No, Siberias. All the Sword showed me was some sort of distortion."
"Kinda like that huge blind he used last time?" WilyKat asked. "We couldn't see through it, it was big as life, and it lured us right out to him."
"He hid by pretty much announcing his presence," Kyranna said. "I guess this time he wanted us to be completely in the dark."
"The braille board and the Cat's Eye sensor arrays are not at full capacity," Lynx-O said, "but perhaps I can find some clues as to their location." The main viewscreen flickered to life to show the mapped areas of the lands surrounding the colony. "All of the others vanished at these points." Four circles, two each overlapping, appeared on the monitor.
"It's somewhere close to those places," Bengali said, "it's gotta be. Carrying people isn't something you want to do for a long distance."
"I am not detecting any signs of a vessel in that area."
"I'm with Bengali," Lion-O said, "he's hiding close to those areas. Thing is, how? Unless he's got some kind of invisibility..."
"A cloak!" Myrlha exclaimed. Everyone snapped their gazes at her, heavy with expectation. "I heard Mutants talk about them off and on while we were aboard the Ravager."
"Same here!"
"Indeed, I have as well, Kyranna. They would speak of how their raids would be more successful if they possessed such a device."
"Are they hard to find?"
"Cloaking devices," Siberias explained, "are scarce due to them being outlawed in civilized space. As such, they are also prohibitively expensive."
"Making a ship invisible..." Lion-O muttered.
"I believe I may yet be able to pin down our friends' location," Lynx-O said as his fingers flew across the board. "Cloaks bend light rays about a ship's hull, yet that is not all. The energy field also absorbs non-radiant energy, such as sensor beams, radar and the like. However, this does result in an increase of temperature about the vessel."
"How much?"
"Merely fifteen or twenty degrees, Lion-O. In deep space, it would be taken for background radiation, or perhaps the farthest edge of a solar wind. In a planetary atmosphere, this effect would cause a pocket of increased air temperature. There is no natural phenomena for such a highly localized pocket of increased air temperature on a planetary surface."
"In other words, we're not gonna mistake this as someone's campfire," Kit said with a grin.
"I have it," Lynx-O announced. Onscreen, a pale thermal bloom stretched to cover an area of several meters. "The pocket is barely within range of the sensors."
"It's right smack in the middle of that," Lion-O said, a plan forming quickly. "Last time, Safari Joe had detailed intelligence on our strengths and weaknesses. We have to go under the assumption that he has the same on the ThunderCats who've been named since our last meeting."
"Which means the bastard knows Pumyra's pregnant," Bengali snarled as he smacked a fist into his palm.
"Exactly, and that's why he won't be suspicious when he doesn't see her with the rest of us. He'll logically assume that Siberias is the attending physician, which will explain your absence," Lion-O went on with a nod to the elder Tyger.
"Shouldn't we wait until sunrise?" Kyranna asked. "The sun'll level the playing field a little."
"No, we'd just be tipping our hand to him. Safari Joe likely has no idea that we're onto him, and we have to keep up that appearance for as long as we can. If he clues in, he'll either engineer a situation where he can use our friends as sheilds, or he'll just bug out with the ThunderCats he has and our chances of rescuing them drop to zero." Lion-O shook his head, anger pounding like a second heartbeat in his chest. "Bengali, he might not find it odd if you're not with us. He probably knows you and Pumyra are mated..."
"You need all the muscle you can get out there," he said in reply.
"I can't afford to have half of you in the field and the rest back here. With Safari Joe, you can't afford any sort of distraction."
"I can't sit here knowing that wacko's out there with a gunsight on Pumyra's back. Or on my son's back!" Lion-O considered the white Tyger's words before giving his answer.
"Fine, but keep your head where it needs to be."
"It is unlikely that she will give birth tonight," Siberias said, walking over and placing a firm hand on the younger man's shoulder, "but if she enters labor, I'll contact you."
"Thanks, Siberias."
"I believe I know where this is headed," Lynx-O said. "In the eyes of a lout such as this Safari Joe, my age and blindness would render me weak and toothless."
"Says the old and blind man who found his cloaked ship," WilyKat said with a smile. "Irony, anyone?"
"Indeed. I think you have a special purpose for me?"
"You don't miss a trick, Lynx-O," Lion-O said with a genuine smile of his own. "Myself, Bengali, Kit, Kat, and Kyranna are going to set out and pretend we're searching for our friends. We'll split up, that way it'll take longer for him to stalk and capture us."
"You're all a distraction," Myrlha said, "so Lynx-O and I can search out Safari Joe's ship!"
"Exactly. Wait one hour after we depart, he's sure to be on our tails by then. Since the ThunderClaw's control system wasn't designed to interface with Lynx-O's portable braille board, you'll have to fly it. Think you're up to it, Myrlha?"
"I haven't had much practice, but I can fly it in a straight line. Just so long as I don't have to fight with it, I can get us there."
"As for everyone coming with me, keep alert. Do everything in your power to avoid being captured, and give no hints we're onto him."
"Let's do this," Bengali said as he stood. En masse, the five ThunderCats left the control room to face the danger which stalked them in the night.
Catch-22, Sho thought, the no-win scenario. He was certain he'd faced the dreaded situation before, yet the blanks in his memories of days long distant offered no help in recalling them, or what he did. The only one he could remember was, ironically enough, the same as the situation he found himself presently in. He had been handcuffed back-to-back with Mizuki, and Kronos soldiers were about to haul them off when the stranger Murakami had appeared, killed one of them with the biggest honkin' handgun he'd ever seen, and given Sho a hint about the person behind him. On getting a question about her birthday wrong, Sho had realized it had been a doppleganger zoanoid, and had transformed just as it was. Problem solved.
Only, it's not a zoanoid impostor I'm chained to this time, he thought ruefully. That tool was out there, probably already tracking down and subduing the others. What if he's got Myrlha? The thought brought him upright, fear gripping his heart. Myrlha was out there, and she had no idea she was being hunted!
They know something's wrong by now, they're not gonna be careless!
It was killing him inside, knowing he had the power to stop this madness and yet being unable to use it. No, he was still able, but the cost of using that power was Cheetara's life. Probably his own sanity, as well. Nearly two hours had passed since Cheetara had declared that he had to transform after eight. Sho knew the necessity of it, that by then even more ThunderCats would be here rather than between Safari Joe and Lion-O. Kill his friend, save his king. Save his friend, kill his king. On top of it all, his friends and the woman he loved would be trophies for a sick hunter. The more he thought on it, the less likely a timely rescue seemed and the more certain his path became.
The only problem was that Sho was not at all certain he could do it.
"Damned if ya do, damned if ya don't."
"What?"
"It's an old saying, Laheela. It comes from a situation where you're faced with two choices, and both of them end in... well, end very badly for someone."
"Then you choose the lesser of two evils, and hope for the best," Cheetara said.
"Kid, I know you don't want to do it," Panthro said, "hell, none of us want you to. But if it's the only way..."
"I know." A slight rustle of chain sounded just before Cheetara's hands curled around his own. He took what strength he could from the comforting gesture.
"Remember when we first met?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't think I'll ever forget that," Sho replied with a weak grin.
"So what happened?" Torr asked. Sho realized they were trying to take their minds off of what was looking more and more likely to happen in another six hours. He chose not to think that they might be saying goodbye to her.
"I had just been cleared to leave the Tower's infirmary after the first Mutant Army assault," she explained, "and Sho had been given to me to learn the Code. What he didn't know when he walked in to meet me was that I hadn't gotten dressed yet."
"OHHHhhhhhh MAN!" Torr hooted. Panthro and Tygra chuckled softly, Laheela staring between the two of them.
"You walked in on her..."
"Bare-assed naked," Sho finished for her, for once not crushingly embarrassed about it. In hindsight, it was a memory he'd cherish, for the hilarity of it if not for the sight of her lovely body. He'd gotten more than a few looks at Myrlha over the months. "Hell of a way for a student and teacher to meet for the first time."
"I turned around just as you walked in the room," Cheetara said, a genuine chuckle in her voice. "I've never seen anyone turn so red before."
"I bet you got an eyeful and a half," Torr teased.
"Not as fast as he spun around."
"What do you expect? I was mortified!"
"Oh?" she asked primly. "You didn't like what you saw?"
Aw, crap...
"It's not that!" he cried in embarrassment at the verbal landmine he'd blundered into.
"Better be careful," Tygra said, "Myrlha will get jealous."
"Speaking of," Cheetara said before Sho could get any more embarrassed, "she tells me you two're getting on well."
"Yeah. We're taking things easy right now. Don't want to rush and all that."
"Don't take things too easy," Panthro chided. "She's a fine woman, and something tells me she won't wait around forever."
"I know." At that moment, Sho would have given anything just to know if she was all right.
"You should know, she wants to take the next step with you," Cheetara told him. "You should think about what Panthro just said."
It felt as if she were already speaking from the grave. Despite the pleasant banter, the specter of what he might have to do lurked among them like a malevolent shade.
WilyKat dodged through the trees, acutely aware of the fragrant scents of the wood at night and attempting to find one that smelled human. He knew humans had less of a sense of smell than Thunderians, and since the man in question was Safari Joe, he'd need every advantage he could get.
When he finally caught a scent, though, every nerve jangled. It was not Safari Joe, or a human male at all. It was Kyranna.
What in Jaga's name is she doing here? She had gone toward the south, not the east like he had. Her scent reaching him made no sense, and he highly doubted his own nose had developed paranormal sensitivity. This is a trap, and I damn near walked into it. If he hadn't caught Kyranna's scent, he would have blundered into whatever Safari Joe had set up just beyond the stand of trees before him.
I can't just leave her there, and I can't skirt around it. That might let him know we're onto him. Having decided that the only way to preserve the illusion of their ignorance was to do what was likely the most damn-fool thing he could do, WilyKat dashed around the trees and burst into a small clearing in the moonless night.
Having outstanding night vision due to his Thunderian heritage, he spotted her easily enough. Kyranna rested against a tree on the far side of the clearing, though her arms were stretched above her. He listened intently, picking up the slight sound of her breathing. It was deep, nearly gasping. She was injured, he decided and he began to run lightly toward her.
A weak, muffled groan sounded from her and the note of warning was unmistakeable. WilyKat stopped in his tracks, casting his eyes about frantically. Whatever trap Safari Joe had set up for him, he hadn't tripped it yet and Kyranna couldn't do much more than mumble. Being gagged made giving detailed warnings something of a problem, and it was one he had some experience with.
The bastard knows I'm here, he'll get impatient soon enough.
"You hurt?" he said as softly as he could yet would allow his voice to reach her.
"Nm-mm." Kyranna shook her head in the negative to accompany the sound.
"Who did this to you?" If it made Safari Joe overconfident, it was worth looking like a total idiot. Kyranna cocked her head to the side, as if asking him what the hell he was thinking.
"Is whoever did this still here?"
"MM-HM!"
WilyKat tensed, having given the most blatant of cues for Safari Joe to emerge but silence still reigned. Frowning, he tested the air again and found no trace of a human scent. Had he figured out how to hide it?
"GMMM! GMP HMMH HRRR!"
Aw, shit, I hate this, he thought as she tried to get a warning over to him, and he was able to put it together. She was telling him to run. WilyKat gathered his resolve. There was no way he could run out on a ThunderCat in trouble, and Safari Joe had to know that. The only way to keep him in the dark would be to spring the stupid trap and get it over with.
"Hold on!" he shouted, "I'll get you loose!" Probably not, he thought, but it sounds pretty good. He ignored her muffled shouts for him to about-face as he ran and, two feet away from her, the trap sprang.
He immediately fell to the ground, retching and writhing as the sick feeling smashed into him with brutal force. On glancing up, he saw Kyranna twsting and moaning as well. WilyKat looked to his right and barely made out a very familiar-looking device.
It was eerily similar to the thundrainium field generator that Vultureman had cobbled up just over a year past. Just beyond it rolled a massive shape on what appeared to be tank treads. Three glowing upside-down triangles glared pitilessly down at him.
Robot. Freakin' robot. Just great... WilyKat felt something sting his arm, and a cold numbness filled him along with a heavy taste of garlic in his mouth. He was unconscious a moment later.
"Stabilizers online," Myrlha said in a monotone. She was not familiar enough with the routine of preflight checks to do so silently. "Thrusters cycling up. Fuel supply full. Control surfaces responding. Looks like we're all set, Lynx-O."
"Then let us be off. The others are counting on us."
"Don't I know it. All right, then." The whine of the ThunderClaw's engines became a roar as the VTOL craft rose from the launchpad and into the star-strewn blackness. Its ascent was even rather smooth, in Myrlha's opinion. The vehicle began to move forward gently as she squeezed the steering grips to route power from the lift thrusters to the aft jets.
Come on, Sho, she pleaded silently, be okay for me.
Safari Joe, Bengali thought as he stalked through the waist-high grasses. I hate him already... Not enough that he had to abduct his friends, but he had to go an pull him away from Pumyra as she was about to birth his first son.
"Bengali...AAAOOOOWWWW!"
He charged forward without another thought at the sound of Pumyra's voice, cold terror settling into his heart. He dashed into a flattened circle of grass to find her sprawled on the ground.
"Bengali... help me..." The white gown she wore stretched over her rounded stomach, her face twisted in agony.
"I'm coming!" he shouted just as a nagging detail made itself known.
She's wearing white...
Bangali rushed forward.
She was wearing blue this morning...
He stopped, despite the feel of intense trepidation at the sight of Pumyra on the ground.
"Bengali... Oh, please, Bengali, HELP ME! AAAOOOWWW!" Pumyra clutched her stomach at that, clearly going into labor.
Wait... he told himself. Pumyra's back in the Lair. I know that... MotherFUCKER!
"Bengali to Cat's Lair!" he shouted, bringing his communicator to his lips. "Siberias!"
"Receiving," the calm voice replied. "Pumyra has not gone into labor yet."
"Thanks," he snarled before holstering the communicator. "Come out you son of a bitch!" The sight of Pumyra vanished just before a cruel laugh came to him.
"Oh, not bad, not bad at all!" the human said as he came from behind a small boulder. His left hand remained behind the rock, however. A knife was in his visible hand, his rifle slung along his back. "But, don't think that hologram is all I have!" Safari Joe snatched his hidden hand out, dragging a bound and gagged WilyKit before him. "No illusions here, mate. Drop yer weapons, or this one dies now."
"You son of a bitch!"
"Been called worse." With a savage leer on his face, he brought the knife to WilyKit's throat. He heard her muffled moans of fear when the metal made contact with her skin "Disarm, and I mean NOW!"
Bengali looked into WilyKit's terrified eyes, then into the icy orbs of Safari Joe. The human meant it. He would kill her just to make a point to him.
Myrlha, Lynx-O, he thought, you'd better find them.
"Fine!" he shouted just before dropping the Hammer of Thundera and then unslinging his sledge and letting it fall.
"That's good. Now, drop 'em!"
Bengali dropped his weapons, wincing inside at the sight of horror and dismay in WilyKit's eyes. He had no idea how many of the others had yet to be caught, but knew that Lion-O still remained loose. However, at least two of them were now hostages against his king.
WilyKit felt the impact of Safari Joe's boot against her back just before she fell to the dirt. She looked up just in time to see a red bolt smash against Bengali's chest and spill him onto his back. She craned her neck as best she was able and saw the hilt of the knife glowing faintly from the discharge.
"Pretty clever, eh?" her captor asked, looking down at her with a savage leer. "Scout knife with a surprise. One of the more useful bits of me arsenal." The look on his face changed ever so slightly, and icy fingers traced up her spine.
Oh, no... she thought, he wouldn't. Oh, please, tell me he wouldn't...
"You've done a piece a' fillin' out since last time."
Don't you put a hand on me!
"NNNNMMMMMM!" She thrashed as hard as she could, yet made distressingly little progress away from the hunter.
"Oh, I get it, that's what yer thinkin'." Safari Joe brayed laughter into the night. "Don't worry yerself. There's some things even I wouldn't do."
Strangely enough, WilyKit felt a measure of relief at that before the hilt of the knife pointed toward her. The end of it glowed brightly once more before the pain hit and the blackness claimed her.
"This is the place," Myrlha said as she set the ThunderClaw down. The landing was not quite as smooth as the takeoff, which caused her to wince slightly when they came to ground. "Hear anything?" She had seen for herself what Lynx-O's hearing could detect and found herself amazed at how his other senses made up for the loss of his sight.
"Sadly, no, but I do feel the rise in ambient temperature. We are close." Myrlha barely registered it, herself. She gazed about in the deep night, not finding a trace of a ship anywhere. Sho's here somewhere, she thought just before her foot grazed something hard and cold. She knelt down to grasp what her senses told her was a rock with an idea taking root in her mind.
"Myrlha, what are you doing?" Lynx-O asked as she hurtled the stone into the distance, where it landed with a thump.
"You said this cloak thing bends light and absorbs sensors and such," she replied as she grasped another stone and chucked it in another direction with the same result as the first.
"Ah! I understand," Lynx-O said with a smile. "Good thinking, young one."
"High-tech problem," she said before loosing another rock. It bounced in mid-air with a hollow metallic gong. "Low-tech solution."
"Then, it is time for me to get to work." His hands outstretched, Lynx-O walked carefully over to where the rock had impacted the cloaked ship until he made contact. The elder Lynx moved cautiously to his left, his hands searching the hidden vessel. "Hmmm... slightly warmer than I thought it would be. Still... AH!"
"Whatcha got?"
"This seems to be some sort of access panel. If I can..." With a loud hum, a large doorway began to appear. Cloaked as the ship was, the lowering entry hatch revealed a well-lit corridor which seemed to float in mid-air with a grated gangway leading into it.
"This has got to be one of the weirdest things I've ever seen," Myrlha said, astonished. She shook off the feeling, hope blossoming in her heart alongside fear. "Let's move it!" she shouted as she rushed into the entrance. For a brief instant, she was reminded of the Ravager as the smells of a deep space vessel filtered through her nostrils. Lubricants, machine oils, recycled air... And blood. A coppery undercurrent which set her teeth on edge and ratcheted her fear upward. The scent of it was old, and not Thunderian, but the miasma could well have been... human... Oh, no...
"I am detecting several biosigns," Lynx-O said as he came up behind her, his portable braille board in one hand and the other manipulating the strange device. "Just this way."
"Is Sho one of them?" she asked around the chunk of ice in her throat.
"I believe so. Follow me."
"Anyone else catch that?" Torr asked in the stillness. Banter and small talk had faded away, leaving each to wrestle with Cheetara's oncoming demise in his or her own way. The sound was faint and hollow. And clearly from outside the ship.
"Something hit the outer hull," Tygra said with a thoughtful frown. "I don't think it was thrown by the wind."
"What, did he forget where he parked?" Torr snarled.
"The outer hatch is opening," Panthro said as the vibration traveled through their bodies.
"Looks like he's home again," Sho whispered, his eyes squeezed shut.
"Sho..."
"I know."
"Hey," Laheela said, "is that running I hear?"
"Yes... I think it's two people."
"What the hell is going on..."
"... heeyyyy..."
Sho sat ramrod straight.
"Was that Myrlha?" he asked with hope exploding in his voice.
"... Panthro... Laheela..."
"Definitely Lynx-O," Cheetara said. "IN HERE!" Their voices all cried out in unison, beckoning their two rescuers to the room in which they were held. Moments later the door slid open to reveal the most welcome sight the six of them had seen that day.
"SHO!" Myrlha cried on seeing him alive and whole.
"You've never looked better," Sho said with the lopsided grin she loved to see on his face. "And that's saying something."
"These bonds seem magnetically attached," Lynx-O said as he tried to pry Panthro's right arm free.
"There's a control box on the far side of the room," Panthro replied, turning his head to indicate it. "Myrlha..."
"On it!" She raced to the control box and studied the displays in earnest. Along the top of the interface was a row of squares, four of which indicated occupancy. Just below was a square showing two forms facing away from each other. However, nothing was labeled. "Great. Why can't he have a big red 'Release ThunderCats' button on this damn thing?" Her fingers crossed, she tapped a small square beneath one of the top images. Panthro came down with a thump, the manacles on his wrists and ankles clattering to the floor. She pressed the buttons beneath the others, then the one beneath the lower image.
"Oh, yeah! That's more like it!" Sho hooted as he stood and began to knead his legs to restore proper circulation. Myrlha wasted no time in rushing over and crushing him in an embrace. "You had me worried sick!" she admonished him.
"I was worried that nutjob had gotten you."
"I hate to interrupt the tender reunion," Panthro said after clearing his throat, "but we need to know what in the blue fuck is going on out there."
"Pumyra and Siberias are still in the Lair," Lynx-O answered. "Lion-O is leading a party of the remaining ThunderCats in a diversionary tactic. The others are aware that one Safari Joe is behind your abductions."
"We came here to board his ship and free you all," Myrlha provided, having released her embrace. Sho's hand was firmly in her own, as if he might disappear unless she held onto him.
"When was this?"
"Nearly three hours ago."
"We've gotta move!" Laheela shouted. "Safari Joe's not working alone!"
"I'll take the ThunderClaw," Myrlha said.
"We've got transportation handy." Tygra swept his arm about the room as he spoke. "With what he's put us through, a little highjacking is definitely in order."
"You find our weapons?"
"Right here," Myrlha said as she reached into a pack on her shoulder. Re-armed, Cheetara broke away from the group.
"If it's all the same to you, I'll use the usual method."
"Me, too," Sho said next, pulling free of Myrlha's hand. "I think this qualifies as a life-or-death situation, Sensei." Panthro nodded in assent.
"Give 'im hell, kid."
Cheetara, Myrlha, and Sho emerged into the night and paused at the visual of the entryway hanging in mid-air.
"Weird."
"Agreed, Sho." Cheetara stretched her legs for a moment. "Let's move!"
"Can you keep up?" Sho asked with a wink.
"Hah! Eat my dust, kid." The Cheetah turned and vanished in a blur.
"Sho." He turned about to face Myrlha. "Be careful. I love you, in case I haven't said it today."
"First: I love you, too. Second: GUYVER!" The change complete, Sho turned about and entertained several images of his foot interacting with Safari Joe's ass as he took to the sky.
On the bridge of the Gelnika, Panthro began cycling the ship's engines to power from the main command seat. The space was small, with barely enough room for the five of them, the blinking lights lending a somewhat surreal atmosphere to the recycled air.
"Are you certain you can fly this jalopy?"
"Tygra, have you met me?" Panthro replied, his hands busy at the controls. "If I can't fly it, it can't be flown! Say, Lynx-O, why didn't you go with Myrlha?"
"Not to speak ill of such a fine young lady," he replied, "but her flying does not inspire complete confidence. Perhaps more practice is in order."
"Wonder who'll get there first?" Laheela asked idly.
"Like it matters?" Torr asked back. "Safari Joe's ass is grass, and those two make for a pair of highly pissed-off lawnmowers."
"Well, how about that? You just said something that was almost funny, Torr," Panthro said with a grin.
"Thanks, I think."
The Eye growled, low and urgent from his hip and Lion-O swore vehemently. He held the hilt to his eyes, already with a damn good idea of what it would show him. He did not find himself disappointed.
They were tied hand and foot on the ground, struggling weakly. Each wore a collar of dull metal which Lion-O recognized as thundrainium. WilyKit and Kyranna each sported angry red welts over their mouths where adhesive tape had been roughly removed.
"LION-O!" Safari Joe's booming voice brought him out of the Eye's sight. It echoed off of the trees, provoking angry responses from the nocturnal wildlife.
"I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME," his artificially enhanced voice said. "I'VE GOT 'EM ALL! ALL THAT'S LEFT IS YOU!"
I already know that, you tool, he thought, using a Second Earth insult Sho had recalled and told him about once he'd inadvertently used it to describe the supposedly late Mumm-Ra. But... He ignored Safari Joe for a moment and used the Eye's second sight to check in on Lynx-O and Myrlha. His heart leapt for joy at the sight.
"...GOT IT?! I'M FIVE HUNDRED METERS NORTHWEST OF YOUR POSITION! THAT'S RIGHT, MATE, I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE! IF YOU AREN'T HERE INSIDE FIVE MINUTES, I START HAVIN' A BIT O' FUN WITH 'EM!" Safari Joe's threat echoed for a brief moment, then the night was still once more aside from the pounding of Lion-O's feet and the snarl of his growing rage. This standoff was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid, and the others might not arrive in time to tip the balance to his favor. Still, he had to stall the hunter as long as he possibly could.
He almost wished he'd brought Snarf along with a handy bucket.
"Well?"
"Thunderian biosign detected. At current speed it will arrive in three minutes, twenty-seven seconds."
"Well, then, kitties, we've some time before you get front-row seats to Lion-O's execution." Safari Joe looked down at them, each shooting death glares at him while futilely trying to escape the ropes. Thundrainium collars notwithstanding, one thing the human was quite good at was making knots.
He could feel it, closer than ever, his return to the top of the heap. His proper accolades would return, his money, his name! It was nearly enough to sexually excite him. He hunkered down in front of them, grinning madly and enjoying the hell out of things.
"Comfy? Cozy?"
"Piss off, you lecher!" WilyKit snapped, though her voice was as weak as her limbs.
"Lecher? Can't say I've been called that too many times."
"If the boot fits..."
"No worries, kitty. I prefer human women, meself."
"If you've laid one hand on her, I'll..."
"Do nothing once I deliver the lot o' you to... No. Better for you to find out on yer own."
"Arrival in one minute," Packhorse informed him.
"Time to get this show on the road!"
Lion-O arrived in time to see Safari Joe and a large unknown robot bring weapons to bear against him. The huntsman's rifle he was all too familiar with, and the multiple appendages of the machine bore an arsenal of death. If it came to a fight, he realized, the odds were completely against him. Which was, of course, what Safari Joe had intended. He shot a glance at the other ThunderCats, who were just a scant three meters to Safari Joe's left. Easily within range. Halogen lamps cast false daylight onto the stretch of ground which lay at the outer edge of the forest he had just vacated.
"You were never one for a fair fight, Safari Joe," he growled.
"Fair? Pfah, who needs it? This ain't a fight, either. This is a killin'!"
"Don't count on that. Why did you come back? More of your idea of sport?"
"Sport? Not this time, mate. Once this hunt's wrapped up, I'll have enough cash to re-enter the lifestyle to which I have become accustomed."
"This is about money?!" Lion-O felt his jaw drop, and his fury soar. "Who hired you?"
"That's my business, Lion-O." The rifle was aimed at his chest, yet could be brought to bear on the others in no time. "It's not just the money. Ten thousand for live bags and five grand for corpses is a sweet pot, but it's not everything."
"Ten thousand," Lion-O spat. "That the going rate for lives these days?!"
"For yours. Well, theirs, really. Where you're concerned, I can take the short end of the stick. I'll see you dead for humiliating me. I'll have you on your knees before me like I was before you." The hate in the human's voice was palpable, a nearly physical presence. "Drop your sword and lose that claw." Lion-O remained still, his sword arm not lowering an inch. "Oh, well," Safari Joe said as he turned the barrell of his rifle twice clockwise, "if you wanna play it that way..." He turned on the spot and a jet of orange flame soared above the heads of the captive ThunderCats. A blue lance of energy impacted just in front of his feet, leaving a patch of grass smoking. Lion-O spared a glance at the unknown robot and saw it bringing what looked to be everything online.
"You hero types are so predictable," Safari Joe laughed once he finished discharging the flamethrower mode of his gun above their heads. "All ya need is a handy hostage or two, and you freeze up like a fucking glacier."
"I'll..."
"Shut it! I'll tell you what yer gonna do! First, yer gonna drop that sword, then yer gonna drop that claw, and last you're gonna get on yer fucking knees 'n if yer lucky, I won't make ya gobble my crank!"
"PERVERT!" WilyKit shouted.
"How 'bout it? Eh? Think you can shoot one o' those damn beams from that sword before I move my itty-bitty finger?" He aimed the weapon lower, its tip promising a fiery death to those who were presently unable to get clear. "Do what I say, or we get to enjoy the smell of burning cat in the evening..."
It was as immediate as it was beautiful for him to see. The blur stopped at his side even before the crack of Safari Joe's wrist snapping like kindling reached his ears. Stunned into silence for a moment, his hand jutting out at the wrong angle from his wrist, the hunter and his captives followed the arc of the tumbling rifle as it rose and then fell and a slender arm reached up to pluck it casually out of the air.
Cheetara, her face bloodied, her uniform torn, chest heaving from the run and a fire in her eyes Lion-O hoped would never be directed at himself, turned about slowly to face Safari Joe. Lion-O almost felt sorry for him, but not quite.
"Wow..." WilyKat breathed. "That was the coolest thing I have ever seen." His voice was hushed from the collar and from sheer amazement.
"Yuh..." Safari Joe swallowed nervously, just now feeling the pain of his broken wrist. "Yuh... You're loose?! Then..." He wasn't given time to finish. A trio of obsidian spheres rained down from the sky, smashing through the robot's head, torso, and the connecting assembly between it and the platform which housed its treads. The machine burst into pieces just when the Guyver smashed down in a crouch atop the platform with a deafening crash and the shriek of overabused metal.
"That wasn't too bad either, Bro," WilyKit said as Sho rose to his full transformed height.
"So," Sho said as he stepped down from the platform.
"Care to try us again?" Cheetara finished. Safari Joe's face paled to the color of old milk, both from horror and from pain.
"HOW?!" he shrieked in a voice much like that of a petulant child just as the whine of engines drew near.
"Helps to have friends," Sho replied in his strangely mixed voice. The ThunderClaw arrived with the first traces of dawn, Myrlha atop it as it descended. The landing was, as usual for her, somewhat rough and Lion-O suspected Panthro would give her a ration of crap about it the next chance he got. Another roar of thursters followed, and Safari Joe's ship grew larger and larger in the sky.
"Sho dear, wanna give me a hand with this?" Myrlha asked as she approached the restrained ThunderCats. "Thundrainium's kinda tough for me to deal with."
"Go," Lion-O said, sparing a grin at the transformed human. Sho nodded once before loping over to them.
"Got four free tickets outta this pit," he barked as though he were hawking junk at a travelling carnival. "Who's in?"
"Can't beat that price," Bengali managed with a weak smirk.
"N... no FAIIIIRRR!" Safari Joe wailed as he sank to his knees. "I was close... so fucking close!"
"Lion-O, come in," Panthro's voice squawked from the communicator on his left hip.
"Lion-O here. Everyone okay?"
"Good as can be expected. I've already gotten up with CONTROL via subspace relay buoy. Mandora'll be here later this morning to pick up our friend."
"Excellent. We'll have him ready for her." He ended communications just as the sound of snapping metal reached him. Cheetara kept her steel-melting glare firmly on the abased human while Lion-O looked over. Sho walked among them, snapping the collars apart as though they were made of old plastic made brittle from exposure to the elements before helping Myrlha with the ropes.
He felt it more than saw it, the slight tensing in Cheetara's muscles that instantly brought him to her wavelength. Running on instinct, he twisted around and brought the claw shield above his heart.
Safari Joe's uninjured hand was still at the end of its arc, the look of triumph replaced by crushing disappointment as the thin blade impacted the claw shield and fractured. Lion-O glared down at the base creature Safari Joe truly was.
"I've had enough knives in my chest, thanks," he said coldly. Bengali, now freed, walked over and yanked Safari Joe roughly to his feet from behind when a low snarl drew Lion-O's attention.
The others now stood, trying to work circulation through their limbs and wincing slightly at painful ropeburn. Safari Joe had not been thoughtful of that when binding them, which was no surprise. Lion-O began to feel a little uneasy on seeing that Myrlha was staring nervously at Sho, and finding that the snarl was coming from him. The contol medal glowed briefly before twin jets of gas shot from the facial vents.
"Oi, what is this shit..." Safari Joe asked, his voice quavering. Sho said nothing as he placed one foot almost mechanically before the other. "Aw c'mon, Sho! It was nothin' personal, yeah?" Sho remained silent as his steps quickened into a trot, then a run and his snarl exploded in a roar of rage.
"DON'T KILL MEE!" the other human pleaded, his arms shielding his face from the lethal blow. Bengali stood stunned as Sho's cocked fist shot forward...
Just as the bio-booster armor disengaged with a loud crack and his fist smashed into Safari Joe's solar plexus. His breath whoofed from his lungs as he doubled over, his arms falling from his face. Sho reared back with his right arm and followed with a brutal hook that connected solidly with Safari Joe's temple. Panting, Sho turned away from the now-unconcious hunter to face Lion-O.
"Code or no Code," he said, his voice rough, "I owed him that." Lion-O felt Cheetara's hand on his chest, and looked down at the line of dried blood that ran from the corner of her mouth to her chin. More than that, the message in her eyes stayed him.
"Let's get him settled," he said, pointing to the limp form in Bengali's grasp, "before we all collect on what he owes us. He has to be alive for Mandora to pick up."
Ceres Mandora of CONTROL had arrived with a crew of fellow agents which scoured Safari Joe's ship in search of illegal weapons and to download the main data core from his ship's computer.
"We've got everything we need," she said once the crew was finished. "You've helped us nail one of the worst poachers in recent years, among other things." She extended her hand, a rare gesture from one so severe, and Lion-O shook it warmly. He'd always admired her. Mandora, after all, was one of the toughest cookies he'd ever met, and he'd met Cheetara. "The information in his ship's data core will give us all we need on his former clients. You ThunderCats have done a great service to the Pan-Galactic Federation."
"Always willing to help," he replied. "What about the Gelnika?"
"Well," she said with the barest hint of slyness, "the cost of impounding starships keeps going up year by year. Even when we part them out or auction them off intact, the profit margins are never all that high."
"So, if we took it off your hands..."
"You'd be doing another service for CONTROL."
"Looks like you've got more raw materials, Panthro!" he said.
"At this rate, I'm never gonna run out of raw materials. Not that I'm complaining." He did have another ThunderTank and HoverCat to build, after all.
In the early afternoon, Lion-O found himself near the edge of one of the quarry's cliffs. Sho faced away from him, sitting with his legs dangling over the rim and staring into space as though the weight of the world were once again on his shoulders.
"Cheetara told me," he said as he took a seat next to him.
"I don't know if I could've done it," Sho said in a faraway tone. "I keep thinking about it, and I just don't know."
"Just be glad you didn't have to find out for sure." Lion-O said gently.
"What kind of man does that make me? I don't know if I can murder my own friend?"
"No, not that." Lion-O tapped Sho on the shoulder, and the human faced him. "She told you about what it means to be a ThunderCat beyond the whole bashing bad guys bit. That sometimes..."
"They're called on to make sacrifices for the greater good. Yeah. But, that? Killing your friend is one hell of a big sacrifice to make. Never mind what it would've done to you."
"She was right, you know. I would have understood it in time."
"Sometimes," Sho said as he looked back over the quarry, and the Thunderians and Berbils who were extracting stone, "I think about what Mumm-Rana told me when I teleported her back to the White Pyramid. She said the road I walk on has no end, and is paved with the corpses of those I fight for and those I fight against. That I'd never have peace."
"She's pretty biased against you," Lion-O replied. "Keep that in mind." He inhaled deeply the air tinged with the smell of pulverized rocks. "We'll always have enemies. People are always going to want to kill us. Because we look different. Because we think different. Because we stand for what's good and just. Or, they're just a bunch of tools." Sho gave a short chuckle at that.
"Complete toolbags," he said with a small grin.
"When I told Panthro about that one, he said he'd never look at his workshop quite the same way again."
"Yeah, and I bet he's gonna chew me to a bloody rag for what I did to Safari Joe. I mean, Bengali was holding him still."
"Weelll... Panthro said your form was off, but you put a lot of power behind that brainsmasher you sent him off to la-la land with." Lion-O smiled at the surprise in Sho's eyes. He'd used more or less the man's exact words. "The only thing he was miffed over was that he didn't get a piece of Safari Joe for destroying the ThunderTank."
"Then tell him the body blow was for that." Sho's grin grew to a genuine smile. "Mess with the ThunderTank, you mess with Panthro's emotions."
"Not many do that and live to tell the tale. Or at least, live to tell it without being put in a body cast." Sho erupted in laughter, and Lion-O followed suit.
"You messed with my ThunderTank, toolbag! WHAM!" Sho said in a near-passable impression of Panthro's voice and smashed his fist into his other hand. Lion-O fell backward, nearly in hysterics which set Sho off, then propelled Lion-O further, and soon they were both gone, howling mirth into the pale blue sky of Third Earth until tears were nearly streaming from their eyes and a few of the workers below looked up wondering just what the hell was happening on that cliff.
"Oh... Oh, wow, I needed that," Sho said once he could breathe again.
"I take it you're feeling better." Lion-O flipped himself up and offered a hand to Sho.
"Lots, Lion-O. Thanks," he said as he took the offered hand and rose from the ground himself.
"Not to tell you your business, but I think there's a certain Cougress back at camp who might be feeling a little lonely right about now."
"Yeah, I can do something about that..."
She had heard everything in the council session that had been called after their return with Safari Joe. Myrlha could have slapped herself for not realizing it on seeing Sho and Cheetara tied back-to-back the way they'd been. If he'd bio-boosted, Cheetara would have been on the Astral Plane approximately thrity seconds before realizing she was dead. If she and Lynx-O hadn't found them in time, he would've had no choice and Myrlha shuddered at what it would have done to him.
She hadn't seen Sho since that Mandora woman had left with the crazed hunter, and she felt a little hurt. Myrlha understood that people needed to be alone sometimes, but she wanted to talk to him about what he went through. He was becoming more and more open with her, lowering new barricades day by day and she dearly hoped this wouldn't put any of them back up.
The main camp which would be home until the colony was completed was an organized grid of tents centered around a main square from which food and medicine had been distributed when construction first began. At present, it served primarily as a social area since the Medical Wing was up and running in the new Cat's Lair. Lion-O had called for those involved in the craziness the night before to take the day and rest, and Myrlha could have hugged him for it.
"Hey, Myrlha!" She turned to find Lynxran, who looked a damn sight healthier than he did while under Mutant yoke, running up to her. He had taken charge of the orphaned kittens, organizing them to help out mostly with food preparation and light gofer tasks. He dashed up the hardpack lane with a grin on his face.
"Hi, there!" she called back. "Have you..."
"Sho's looking for you," he said as he came to a stop, not even winded. Future ThunderCat material, she thought. "He's in the Square."
"Thanks!" she chirped brightly and made a beeline for the place. He was waiting right where she was headed. She let a smile settle on her face as she entered the large cleared space, spotting him easily among the milling and laughing Thunderians. His tight back was to her, and her smile became a little naughty. Holding a finger to her lips to tell those who saw her sneaking up on him to keep mum, she silently approached and covered his eyes with her hands.
"Guess who?"
"Prettiest girl in the world? Love of mine? Myrlha?"
"Right all three times!" She removed her hands to let him turn, and she saw that those barriers they had overcome were still down. Sho slid next to her, wrapping an arm about her trim waist and she the same. They were roughly the same height, as Myrlha had only four inches on him.
"I want to say thanks, Myrlha. If you and Lynx-O..."
"Hey," she said, "who says you get to be the only one who wears the superhero pants in this relationship?" Sho cast his gaze down to her waist and her legs.
"They'd look a lot better on you."
"Do they come with living armor?"
"Beats a pink one-piece and a full helmet."
"Huh?"
"Nevermind," Sho said with a beaming smile aimed at her. They walked on in silence, and Myrlha noted that they were headed for the tent they shared. It was a modest setup, a green dome of thin nylon with a vertical zippered entrance. They slipped through and Sho sealed the flaps. Their two sleeping bags rested on the floor. A small table sat in the corner when not between their bags at supper, its flat surface enough for two plates of food.
"Y'know," she said once they were in the relative privacy of their tent, "I used to read a lot of adventure stories back when I was a kitten."
"Yeah?" Mirth was dancing in Sho's eyes. He was up to something, and she had a pretty good idea she'd like it.
"Did you have those on Second Earth?"
"Where the dashing hero swoops in to save the damsel-in-distress, smacks up the dastardly villian, then rides into the sunset with the woman in his arms?"
"I guess you did!"
"This country was notorious for them when the film industry first started up. We didn't have anything quite like that in Japan, but I've read a few here and there." The mirth in his eyes was building as he moved quietly toward her, a wry smile on his lips. "And, as I recall, the hero always got a reward from the grateful damsel." Sho leapt with an arm over her shoulders and she caught him against her chest as he wrapped his free arm about her as well.
"Sho..." Myrlha felt the laughter begin to bubble inside her as Sho plastered the biggest, most dewey-eyed expression on his face.
"My hero!" he said with all the melodramatic sappyness he could muster before cradling his head against her. Myrlha just stood there, the hilarity rushing up from her belly and her control slipping.
"Tell me..." she managed to say, "... are you wearing a straight face right now?" Sho began to tremble against her, fighting down the same reaction.
"... No...!" They both lost it, braying laughter into the space of their tent like complete and total fools, uncaring who outside their tent would hear and wonder what the joke was, or if they'd gone insane.
"You... GOOFBALL!" Myrlha squealed once the laughter began to fade. Sho hopped out of her arms, yet his were still around her and she almost missed the fact that he was leaning downward and taking her with him.
Myrlha went willingly, landing atop him and still giggling. Sho's left arm moved from about her neck, his fingers lightly tracing the line of her jaw and chin before sliding down her right arm and intwining their fingers from the top of her hand. He brought it down toward his face where he began to lightly kiss her at the base of her wrist.
Whoooaaaa... She thought as the pleasure shot through her like jolts of electricity. The feel of his lips against the pulse of her lifeblood thrilled her, and he knew it, knew how her body would heat up, how she would react.
"Careful, Sho, you know what that does to me..." she said, her voice becoming husky.
"Why do you think I'm doing it?" he replied, the thrum of his voice in the same spot nearly pushing her into sexual overdrive.
"I thought you wanted to wait..." He stopped, then looked at her with the most soulful eyes she'd ever seen in a man.
"That murderer was out there, you were one of his targets, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. That, and I got some pretty good advice while I was his unwilling guest."
"You're doing a damn good job of acting on it," she said. "I'm gonna need to change my underwear if I go out again today." She'd soaked said garment clean through, in fact...
"Why not just stay here?" The fires in his eyes were burning as hot as they felt in hers. "Myrlha, I'm ready if you are." Those words hung in the static heat between them, the ones she'd ached to hear for months. He was ready to take that step, to bring their relationship to a higher level of trust and love and commitment. Before now, the most intimate act between them had been when she'd taught him the joys of oral love and how they went well past saying "I love you", and that had been just before the colony had begun contruction several months ago.
"You're sure?" she asked, afraid that he'd change his mind. That the fire in his eyes would dim, that he would retreat from her and say that, no, he wasn't after all and they should wait. And wait. And wait. Until she could wait no more and realize that he didn't feel what she did, or that he would be forever too afraid to act on what his heart told him despite what he'd said about that girl so long ago. The one he loved way back when and never told... "You are..."
"I love you, Myrlha. I've never been able to feel so relaxed and at ease with anyone. I've never trusted my heart to anyone like I do you." Myrlha bent down to engage his lips and remained until both felt as though they would pass out.
When Sho awoke, he recalled never having felt so tired and so fulfilled at the same time. The scent of their lovemaking was strong in the air of the tent, the heat of their bodies nearly baking in the sleeping bags they lay between. Myrlha lay cuddled against him, an arm around his chest and her breasts a pleasant presence in his side. Her brown hair tickled his nose slightly, and he brushed it back from his face and away from hers to avoid a sneeze. He stared down at her face for what felt like eons, calm and blissful as she...
"You purr in your sleep?" he asked softly. She didn't reply, and Sho found that her purrs lulled him. A wistful smile appeared on his lips before he planted a featherlight kiss on hers.
"Mmmmm..." she moaned, and Sho leaned his head back against the pillow. He heard the sounds of the night outside their tent, and wondered how long they'd been asleep. He decided that it didn't matter. What was most important in his life was sleeping peacefully in his arms.
"I shoulda done this months ago..." he muttered with a contented sigh before drifting back to sleep.
Ratar-O arrives on Third Earth, and his data stolen from Kronos London leads him to a likely spot to begin hunting their secrets. Life proceeds as normal for the ThunderCats, and a new Thunderian life makes his grand debut alongside a horror from the past. What will this new shade from the dust of Second Earth add to the brewing storm? All this and more in the next episode of Eye of the Storm.