Episode 4: "Sick Pack"

Part 1;

"The corpses all hang headless and limp

Bodies with no surprises

And the blood drains down like devil's rain

We'll bathe tonight"

'Skulls'; Misfits

Shortly after Episode 1; part 4.

Late night

By order of their leader, a large portion of the lizard horde remained in the swamps after Mumm-Ra reclaimed the Sword of Plun-Darr. They used their giant machines and animal labor, both lizard soldier and rodent scout captives to erect a fortress from what remained. Vultaire designed it in homage to his new lord Mumm-Ra's ruthlessness.

In a few short days a towering monstrosity of stone, steel and heavy artillery started to rise up from the nocturnal vapors. It scowled at the land below with a hunger for battle. A skeleton of steel girders were exposed in some unfinished areas. Beneath that a complex network of machinery constantly churned and ground like a dragon's stomach. A foul waste pooled into the treacherous moat surrounding the new gargoyle-like façade of the once cursed mountain. Underground rats whispered the name "Castle Plun-Darr" with a sense of dread though its ultimate purpose was to end the Thundercats.

Underneath the murky underbrush of the swampland a pair of beady red eyes glared viciously up at the highest tower. They studied the castle walls and grounds, eager for a deeper look into this ever encroaching new threat.

Several stories above, beyond the clear sight or ear shot of even the keenest of sentients Slithe, Addicus and Vultair sat around a long rectangular stone table. The thick reinforced walls of the war room as it had been dubbed, drowned out the constant banging and roaring of construction (and the bumbling of underlings); thus providing a quiet, peaceful setting to argue in.

Only half listening, Addicus sat back with his feet kicked. His face stayed expressionless while Slithe and Vultaire bickered. Being naturally non-vocal by nature he made no effort to chime in. Make no mistake, he did not fear confrontation with either of them, but because in all honesty he couldn't care less about the matters up for discussion. It was the next battle with his enemies, whenever that may be, that ever truly concerned him.

"No more additionsss My men are killing themselvesss to meet your exact specifications!" Slithe slammed his goblet of wine on the table, splashing some over the brim onto a print out of the castle's blueprints.

"Why are you complaining to me about their incompetence?" Vultaire jeered. "I'm working my talons to the bone just cleaning up their messes. Isn't it your job to organize them? What exactly have you accomplished around here besides feeding your face?"

"You haven't done anything to further production! You ssstay buried in that workshop of yoursss!"

"I haven't-?" Vultair, for the first time since the meeting was called bothered to look up from the network of electronic devices skewed across his end of the table. He glared at the reptile, insulted. "I've introduced to your troops the finest in avian technology! It is still not within your basic level of perception is it? Castle Plun-Darr is my new personal laboratory; its completion requires a refined touch."

Slithe rolled his eyes. "So thisss is why monkiansss hate birds." He mused inwardly.

Vultaire disregarded the gesture. "Rest assured, general, I will have Castle Plun-Darr armed to the tooth provided your men make haste with that shipment of Thundrillium. If Mumm-Ra wanted his fortress built overnight he would permit me access to the tech stone."

He took another sip of wine to calm his mood. "Thundrillium will arrive in less than a fort night. Don't start molting." He informed the birdman. "For your sssake this fine avian tech better start impressing me sssoon."

An obnoxious squawk escaped Vultair's throat. "Do NOT come at me with petty threats! I don't answer to you!"

"The old buzzards has a point. Last I knew we were of equal rank." Addicus nodded.

"Lassst I checked I'm the only one of us commanding an army." Slithe motioned to the few underlings in the room. "Get of your tailless ass and rally your own sssoldiers. Until then I outrank you."

Addicus shrugged, grunting under his breath. "Just wait, slimy. I have an army."

Slithe dismissed him, returning his attention back to Vultaire. "We've been over this, buzzard-"

"And my wife?" Inquired Vultaire. "I won't begin any long range tests on the propulsion units until she is safely perched inside the fortress."

Addicus chuckled out the side of his mouth. "So you're a bird with clipped wings? Heh heh; Is she still doable? How does she taste?"

Vultaire's neck ruff flared as the paler parts of his face turned beat red with anger. He rose in his seat, but Slithe pushed him back down. "Shut up over there unless you have sssomething useful to add." Slithe snapped at the primate before Vultaire started squawking. "I sent a small team to the Bird Nation to fetch her despite my better judgment."

Someone knocked on the door. "Permission to enter general Slithe?" Khamai asked from the opposite side. "We have her!"

Slithe motioned to one of his underlings hovering in the corner. "Open the door!"

The skinnier lower ranking soldier did as ordered. Khamai bowed slightly to Slithe as he entered. Several bigger lizards came in behind him bringing in what seemed to be a museum of oddities. They carried heavy crates, cabinets, chemicals, various machines, a rather large array of surgical tools, texts and reconstructed skeletons of various species. Some pushed in whole or partially dissected cadavers. Probably the most peculiar items brought into the war room were a pram carrying a stuffed corpse of a yellow newborn chick and four preserved eggs. "Sorry for the delay, general. It took some convincing to get the others to touch much of anything in her morgue."

"How amusing; your dreaded lizard marauders scared of a few stiff ones and jarred organs." A slight grin formed on Vultaire's beak.

"It's unnatural what you people do with your dead." Grumbled Khamai. "Just leave them in the mud to rot like the gods intended."

"Spoken by a creature with no capacity for discovery." Vultair sneered.

"Enough of your condessscending ssshit, buzzard!" Slithe snapped. "Bring her in!"

His underlings cleared a path for Sauro. Exhausted and frustrated from the struggle he pulled a wafer-thin bird woman in an expensive black dress and a plague mask. She kicked crowed and squawked scattering ashen and rust colored feathers everywhere.

"Let go of me! LET GO!" She managed to slip one hand free and with it slapped Sauro across the head and chest with her mask. Little else but a round black eye aglow with fear and outrage could be seen through the draping wisps of messy fro-like plumage on her head. "Unhand my chicks!" She pecked the reptiles in the shoulder hard as she snatched the pram away, then rocked it, gently cooing.

"You're a pain in the ass, lady!" Sauro hissed then backed away, refusing to be a part of the situation any further.

"Dovey, glad you made it-AWHK!" Vultaire upon approaching her also was bludgeoned over the head with her plague mask.

"YOU!" She cried. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Vultaire blocked with his wing, trying to keep a calm demeanor. "I apologize for any mishandling of your person. There was no one to send but lizards. Dovey, these are my new comrades in arms, General Slithe and General Addicus." He motioned to the others.

She turned her beak up at the sight of them and whispered to her husband, "I can tolerate reptilians. At least they come from eggs, but primates-?"

"Be civil for now." Vultaire ordered. "Gentlemen, loosely speaking, this is my wife, Doctor Ossifra; the Bird Nation's leading anatomist, forensic scientist and mortician. In case you are unaware of what that means-"

"She plays with dead bodies, move on." Addicus cut him off.

She did a half curtsy for Slithe. "Charmed, I'm sure." She looked back at the monkian with a distant and yet annoyed expression frozen on his face. "Addicus- The patrol sent to me a number of your victims. I remember sifting through what was left of them. You're a depraved creature you know."

Addicus snorted. "Look whose talking."

"Ssshe's lovely Vultaire. You're a lucky cock." Slithe frowned. "Where do you want all this?"

"Put in in my workshop for now. I haven't dedicated much time to her morgue yet." Vultaire answered.

Slithe's lizards started to vacate the war room.

"Wait!" Dr. Ossifra cried. "Until I'm given an explanation my things are to stay where I can see them!"

"You let your woman's beak flap too much. Show some balls or whatever it is you people have." Addicus goaded.

Dr. Ossifra shot a nasty look at him. "Excuse me?"

Vutaire placed his hands on her shoulders. "Dovey, not now-"

"No!" She pushed him back. "Do you realize what I've been through? They held me at the highest courts for days! They kept questioning me about you! They told me you let Avista fall! We've been excommunicated from the intellectual community!"

Vultaire shrugged, indifferent. "Their loss. Who needs them breathing down our necks? There are no regulations here. No one to question our methods so long as the results show."

"Have you gone daft, love?! How could you let this happen?!"

"I didn't LET anything happen! Mumm-Ra annihilated my entire raven fleet! There was no opportunity to think of a better solution! Do you think I'm HAPPY about this?!" Vultaire snapped harshly, wings flaring outward. His eyes sunken and heavy from several sleepless nights laboring narrowed down on her. He was close to snapping, if he hadn't already.

She shrank a little, looking flustered she lamented, "What about my research? I had a career!"

"And I didn't?! I was humiliated up there! You lost some workspace and a summer home! I lost a whole damn city! Not another word about it or so help me-!" He fought the urge to backhand her. Instead he returned to his attention to the computers. "It's only a minor inconvenience, you'll see. We shall continue our work here."

"You cannot keep me here with these beasts! I'd rather divorce!"

Addicus took a hunting knife from his belt and with a heavy grunt drove the blade into the thick wooden table. He stood, leaning forward to get nose to beak with her. "One more word and I'll do your husband a favor and nail your tits to the table."

"Oh dear." Shocked by the primates uncouthness, Dr. Ossifra gasped as she put a hand over her beak.

Without hesitation Vultaire put himself between Addicus and Dr. Ossifra. He squawked fiercely, poking Addicus in the chest. "Let me put this in terms you can wrap your dense skull around; so much as sniff my wife and I will reach inside you, tear you in half with my bear talons and butt fuck your soul!"

Addicus kept his ground in a brief staring match with Vultaire a moment then couldn't help but start laughing, making Vultaire angrier. He patted him on the back. "You're alright for a bird."

A few minutes earlier-

Pumyra could hear the ruckus echoing down the hall. She stood aside, allowing a crowd of reptilians hauling strange equipment and other items. She motioned for two carrying a large trunk to stop and open it. She reached in and pulled out several jars of eyes organized by varying species. "What the-?" Annoyed, she placed the jars back and stormed for the war room.

"What are you worthless husks doing?" She asked as she marched through the doorway. "Mumm-Ra thinks you left to recruit for his army. Are you trying to make a liar out of me?"

"Mumm-Ra wiped out my army." Vultaire reminded her begrudgingly.

"And it's a long walk to the Treetop Nations, cat." Addicus added.

"So, have the lizards drop you off. " She was already tired of thinking for these stooges.

"If I show up with these scaly bastards behind me you can forget recruiting warriors from my tribe. Most monkians aren't so trusting." A shit-eating grin formed on his pale hairy face. "If Vultaire lent me a sky-cutter I could-"

"You couldn't fly a pecking sky cutter!" Vultaire argued.

"Teach me."

"You couldn't fit in one!"

"Aren't you the tech? Design one for me."

"I will not waste the time or material!"

"Build him a sky cutter." Slithe orderd.

"But-"

"Build it!" Pumyra insisted. "I don't have the time or patience to babysit you."

Slithe stood. "That'sss unfortunate because they're your problem now. I've had it with thisss freak show." With that he left the war room with his underlings in toe.

Pumyra growled a little. "Lazy scalebag." She noticed the bird woman for the first time. "Who are you?" She also noticed the pram. "And what is that?"

"My wife, Doctor Ossifra." Vultaire introduced her. "And her daughters, Nevermore."

"Our daughters, Dovey."

"Pumyra." She eyed the couple oddly. "Welcome to the collective. Don't let any of them fool you, I'm in charge here. You don't look like much of a fighter. Are you assisting Vultaire with Castle Plun-Darr?"

Dr. Ossifra huffed. "Indeed I'm not. I want nothing to do with this fiasco."

Pumyra smirked. "I think it's a little too late for you, doctor."

"Quite."

"We're finished here." Vultaire announced. "Ossifra, come with me to the workshop. You may tell me how you would like your things arranged." Vultaire led her out the door in the hopes of ending another argument before it begins.

"A feline, how fascinating. Have never been lucky enough to come across a fresh cat corpse." She thought aloud, pushing her pram. "I do hope to dissect one in the near future."

"Oh you will, a rare specimen at that m'love."

"Useless." Pumyra said inwardly as she watched the birds exit side by side. She shook her head, exhaling a frustrated sigh.

"Cute couple." Addicus remarked, his level of sincerity questionable.

"Where's Kaynar? I need his nose."

"He left a while ago."

Pumyra's eyes narrowed. "To where? How long before he gets back?"

Addicus shrugged. "How should I know? Am I holding his leash?"

She smacked her palm over her forehead. "It figures the only one of you that could be useful to me actually followed my first orders."

Monkian scowled at her. "Vultaire better hurry up with my sky cutter. I can't wait to go home where the females know when to shut up and bend over."

Pumyra reached for her crossbow. "I'm real tempted to make you bend over, you stupid ape."

A primal screech erupted from Addicus as grabbed her by her ponytail and gave it a swift tug. "The only reason we haven't torn you limb from limb is because we know his magic would put you back together."

"That so?" Pumyra jabbed him hard in the diaphragm then kneed him in the groin. She jerked her head free as he doubled over, winded with his hands over his crotch "Don't let that discourage you." She smoothed down her mane then turned her back to him.

Pumyra huffed as she left, disgusted with her supposed allies. She envied Grune that moment; he gets to stay dead and miss all this aggravation. However Mumm-Ra trusted her to keep his minions in check and she did not intend to disappoint him.

She couldn't help but resent her love for asking this of her as necessary as it may be. Being this close to the rats alone made her uneasy. Any extended time spent among Slithe, Addicus, Kaynar or Vultaire was enough to give her a splitting migraine. It seemed she would have to wait here with the whole damned lot of them.

After a brief passing through a few winding corridors Pumyra came to a wide oaken door enforced with iron. She entered her chamber. Interested only in collecting her thoughts in solitude she walked out onto a jagged ledge. She sat, legs dangling over the swampland below. Few stars shined that night. She thought of saying the hell with Kaynar and searching alone, but Lynxana was of the Prowl which meant she didn't leave a trail. Sadly she was stuck until that mad cur returned. "Lynxana better be worth the trouble. I should have killed Lion-O in the Pit and took the other stones. It could have ended smoothly…" A cold gust of wind howled by. She held her knees to her chest.

"…

…

…

…I should have just ended him there… But I didn't…"

A few hours later…

A lizard riot raged on in the background. The sound of her thoughts were deafened by the clashing of swords and axes. Pumyra knelt over a wounded soldier. She placed her palms over the profusely bleeding puncture wound in his abdomen. The arrow was in too deeply; no use removing it. "Keep breathing!" She instructed. "Stay with me." She looked into his panicking eyes. She felt such pity as he writhed with pain and struggled to inhale. She tried so desperately to dress the wound and keep him alive. Doing so felt natural; as natural as fighting any fight in the pit. Had she really done this before? Why wasn't she fighting? There was no hope or this poor bastard, but she tended to him as if it were her duty.

Pumyra turned for a moment only to grab a another rag. When she turned back Lion-O laid there bleeding out in place of the random soldier. She dropped her rag. After blinking once her eyes shot open. She sat up quickly in a cold sweat. She looked around and realized she was still outside on the ledge. Her heart stopped racing. An orange-red glow of oncoming dawn divided the dark purple sky and the horizon. It made Third Earth look so serene. What a crime it is for nature to lie. Feeling cold and a little stiff, she stood exhaling a yawn as she stretched.

"When did I fall asleep?" She wondered aloud, rubbing her shoulders for warmth as she returned inside. "Another weird dream…damn it." She paused a moment to remember the details in the hopes of coming up with some significant meaning to any of it, but already details started to blur. She remembered the very last moment. Lion-O's face stood out in her head vividly. It didn't bother her as much as it probably should have. She would never admit it aloud or allow herself to dwell on it, but there were times she missed the awkward young prince's company.

Pumyra rarely slept anymore. She hadn't been able to fall asleep normally since her resurrection The few hours of sleep her body did need were spent lost in one dream after the other. Pumyra was never able to really remember them when she woke. She told herself time and time again dreams are meaningless. She trusted Mumm-Ra intruded on her memories to spare her more pain. After all she can't mourn the loss of what she doesn't remember losing. Mumm-Ra showed her the most important memory; the day she died along with everything else she cared about. Her pain is what attracted the ancient evil spirits to her and fueled her new life. That's all she focused on. That's all she could focus on…

Everyone will wake soon. Mumm-Ra would be displeased if she wasted any further time. She washed quickly then set out to avoid the other animals especially Addicus. "Kaynar couldn't have gotten that far." She reasoned inwardly. "He's the least inconspicuous being on Third Earth; he won't be hard to find. It's better than waiting around here."

She took a shortcut through the kitchen. No one had started cooking, but she heard the clunking of cookware and carnivorous feasting sounds coming from the mess hall. Curious, Pumyra poked her head out. To her surprise Kaynar sat at the generals' table with his breakfast sprawled out in front of him; a beheaded half-gutted rat carcass. Behind him wedged on the blade of his halberd was his head dripping blood down the chair. That did not seem to deter Kaynar from his meal which he ate with his bare hands and teeth.

He forced a dog female she didn't recognize to sit on his lap. Kaynar growled and yanked at her muzzle every time she started to squirm or kick too much. "Hungry, Brindle?" He reached inside his kill, pulled out a segment of intestines and held it to her snout. The blood splattered down her clothes and clean white fur.

The female, unable to vocally protest, whimpered and turned her nose away. Kaynar laughed at her reaction. "More for me!"

Pumyra couldn't watch any longer. She walked over and slammed her palms against the table.

Kaynar's eyes locked with hers; his crazed grin never fading. "Good morning. The place is really coming along, isn't it? There's even a morgue upstairs just like when I was puppy! I don't know whose idea it was to put the brains in the window, but the backlight from the sun through the jars is a nice touch." He said much too casually. His excited smile wavered a bit. "We have a rat problem though." He snickered, waving his halberd up and down a few times, using the head as a puppet for her amusement.

Pumyra did not laugh. Could he really talk this much the whole journey? She prayed not. "You should cook what you kill. You'll make yourself sick."

"Not yet?" Kaynar's eyes danced around the room as if it were three times more crowded than it really was. "Where are the guys? I want them to meet my bitch. My bitch, Mumm-Ra's bitch, Mumm-Ra's bitch, my bitch. Sorry I took so long. She made me go back for her sled."

"Shut up." Pumyra yanked Brindle of his lap and cut off her muzzle.

"I am NOT your bitch!" She snarled the moment her mouth was free. She looked to Pumyra, wiping blood from her fur. "Thank you for that. He's delusional; I barely know this sociopath so if you'll excuse me-"

Kaynar grabbed her tail. "Neh eh eh." He scolded her. "You can't leave. You owe me."

"For WHAT?! Kaynar, there was never an us. If you don't quit it I will kill you in your sleep."

He laughed. "Jokes on you, bitch! I don't sleep!"

"HEY!" Pumyra interrupted. "I don't know what this is about and I don't really care. Work through it on your own time." She pushed the carcass off the table to fully get Kaynar's easily lost attention. "Kaynar, where is this pack you're supposed to gather? Is she it?"

"Nah, I just wanted to pick up my bitch up first. I figured I could pound her out raw once for luck before I pay my kin a visit." He explained nonchalantly.

Brindle made a sour face. "Lay a paw on me and I'll snap off your dick."

"I'd pay you to see that." Pumyra offered.

"Ooohoohoo kinky."

Pumyra decided she might get father speaking with the female. "Listen-"

"Brindle."

"Brindle, there's a war going on-"

"I've heard."

"Our lord is gathering an army. Can you fight?"

The sled dog paused. "I can fuck better, but I can fight. Neither I do for free."

"You didn't charge me."

"So you wouldn't trip me in the pit!"

"Mumm-Ra pays his subjects well to kill Thundercats." Pumyra explained.

"I have nothing against cats really, but killing them isn't beneath me for the right price. No offense."

"Free lodging, free food, territory, a license to kill-" Kaynar chimed in. "I bet you'll like the last one. I never mentioned all this on the way here?"

"No. Half the time you weren't even talking to me!" Brindle bore her canines at Pumyra. "Whatever you're trying to sell me, forget it! You can't pay me enough to be around him."

"How touching. I love you too, Brin."

"The licence to kill includes him." Pumyra motioned to the jackal. "But first, Mumm-Ra sent new orders. I need you two to track a cat for me."

Brindle's ears drooped. "There are more animals here. If I refuse they will kill me, right?"

Pumyra nodded yes. "But my master will make it worth your while in the long run if you agree."

Brindle thought it over a moment. She sighed, defeated. "Fine. Hail Mumm-Ra."

"Road trip, alright!" Kaynar howled at the ceiling in anticipation. "Who are we hunting?"

Pumyra held up a sash from a woman's dress. "Lynxana, Grune's AWOL second in command. Slithe found it with his things after the portal to the astral plain swallowed him."

Kaynar and Brindle took turns sniffing it. "Not the freshest scent, but I can work with that. Where was she seen last?"

"According to the reptile she was stationed in the forest of Silence."

Kaynar's expression sobered; a rare occurrence.

"Something wrong?"

His ear twitched. He chuckled. "Nope. When do we start?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"Give us an hour." He frowned as he pushed himself away from the table and stood. "C'mon, bitch. Let's pick us a room." He grabbed Brindle by the arm and dragged her with him once again.

She growled, but made much less effort to protest this time around.

Pumyra stared at the bloody mess he left on the table and floor, shaking her head. "Lynxana better be worth the trouble."