From the Past of Third Earth, Part One:

Mysterious Prisoner, Chapter Eight

"What's that noise?" Slythe asked, rearranging his cards once again.

Vulture-Man glanced over his shoulder to look out the window. "It's the Thundertank. Huh, looks like it's threatening to run straight into the castle walls."

The reptilian snorted derisively. "It's a bluff. If Panthro's at the wheel, he won't chance any severe damage to the Thundertank, and none of the other Thundercats would be stupid enough to risk having his wrath fall upon them if they tried it."

"That bet hasn't been proven one way or the other yet, Slythe," Jackalman stated. "And I still hold that Bengali would drive the Thundertank right through Castle Plun-Darr if given half a chance, wrath of Panthro be damned." After a few seconds, he asked, "Out of curiosity, can you see who's driving it, Vulture-Man?"

"Ironically, it looks like Bengali." The vulture suddenly looked horrified. "And… I don't think he's bluffing!" With a screech of terror, he leapt from his seat and dashed for the door, his cards flying through the air.

Before any of the others could react, the Thundertank crashed into the room. Stone, glass, and metal rods scattered everywhere as the machine ground to a sudden halt, the hatch opening to allow Bengali and Lion-O to leap out. "I've always wanted an excuse to do that," the tiger said with a wide grin. "And see what we have here—just the jerks we're looking for!"

Lion-O wasn't nearly as jolly as his companion. In fact, he looked downright murderous as he grabbed Slythe by the throat and lifted him into the air with one hand. "Where is she?" he snarled.

"She?" the reptilian asked, playing dumb. "What 'she' are you talking about?"

"I am in no mood to play games. Where is she?!"

"Easy, Lion-O," Bengali said calmly. "We can't get answers out of them if they're unconscious… or dead."

Lion-O took a deep breath before harshly telling Slythe, "I saw you capture Tygra and the woman that was with him. Where are they?"

"Tygra and the woman are both at Mumm-Ra's Pyramid," Monkian said suddenly, crawling out from beneath the broken card table. "We wouldn't have gone after her on our own, it would've been a waste of our time. Mumm-Ra is the one that wanted her."

Lion-O narrowed his eyes at the simian. "Why are you just telling us this?"

The mutant in question crossed his arms haughtily. "Because I don't want to be killed in the attempt to get your lover back."

"Don't be silly, Monkian," Bengali chimed in with an innocent grin. "We wouldn't actually kill you. Permanently maim, on the other hand—"

"Oh, and Lion-O, if she's got a black eye when you find her, Slythe did it."

"What did you tell him that fo—" the reptilian started, his sentence cut off as Lion-O punched him so hard he crashed into the wall and then fell to the floor, knocked out cold.

"To the Black Pyramid, Bengali," Lion-O ordered, leaping back into the Thundertank, his comrade not far behind him. "Mumm-Ra is in for a nasty surprise."

"And so are you, you idiots!" Vulture-Man snapped from the doorway. "This is the second floor! How you got up here in the first place, I've no idea, but you certainly can't just reverse your way out of here!"

"Who said anything about 'reverse'?" Bengali asked no one in particular as the hatch closed over the tank again. With a hard revving, the Thundertank surged forward, crashing through the opposite wall. Rock, wood, and metal rained down behind it as it exited through the castle, bursting out from the other side of the building with a screech of tortured steel.

Vulture-Man looked at the many busted walls in despair. "Well, this is going to take about a year to fix," he sighed.

Jackalman suddenly started to laugh. "I won the bet! I was right! Bengali just drove the Thundertank right through Castle Plun-Darr! I won, I won, I won!"

"Tygra? Where are you?"

"I'm over here, Star—I guess I should be calling you MoonGlo."

There was the scuffing of her boots on stone in the darkness, followed by a strange scratching noise. "Are you alright?"

"I guess." He shifted, irritated that his energy just seemed to drain away with every slight movement. "The chains they put on me are made of Thundrainium, and it's making me weak."

There was a moment of silence, as if she'd stopped whatever she was doing to think. "Ah. Lion-O did mention that stuff. Kryptonite for Thunderians."

"What?"

"Nevermind. I wouldn't be surprised if the reference were so ancient only I remember it." Something snapped, and he heard her stand up. "Keep talking. I need to find you."

"Keep talking… right…. We need to think of a way to get out of here. Lion-O's walking into a trap; even if he goes to Castle Plun-Darr first, it's only a matter of time before he figures out he needs to come here. If he was doing the rounds with any other Thundercat, I wouldn't be as concerned, but no, he had to go off with my reckless brother this morning. I wonder what state the tank will be in when Bengali's finished with it…." He jumped as something touched his shoulder. "Please tell me that's you, MoonGlo."

"It is. Is this your arm?"

"Yes, but how did you get out of your bonds?"

"I had a sheathed scalpel hidden in my glove, against my forearm and just under my wrist. I used it to cut the rope." Her fingers trailed down until they found the chain. Sounds of metal tapping against metal echoed throughout the room, and within a few moments, he felt the chains loosen around him. As MoonGlo yanked the binding off of him and threw it on the opposite side of the room, he gratefully pushed himself up into a sitting position, feeling his strength returning. She touched his shoulder again, though this time it was with a familiar object in her hand. "Here, I'm sure you want this back."

Taking the bolo-whip from her, he stood up, snapped it out, and wound it twice around his wrist. The balls at the end started glowing, giving the two of them some luminescence to see by. "I'm guessing you grabbed this when you threw yourself at Mumm-Ra, but I'd really like to know where you learned to pick locks."

Even with the bolo-whip lit, it was so dark he could only make out her outline as she walked to the door. "I'd kind of been teaching myself to hack security systems and figuring out exactly how locks work in order to unbolt them without a key. After I broke out of the weapons room, Lion-O got in contact with someone named Quick-Pick and asked him to give me some more advise on escaping capture and incarceration."

Tygra stared at her in shock. "Broke out… of the weapons room? But I designed that room, you shouldn't have been able to get out!"

"Your electronic lock is too localized," she replied blandly, feeling around the edges of the door carefully. "All I had to do was cause a power-surge, forcing the system to shut down long enough for me to get out."

"Remind me to fix that when we get back to the Lair," he growled, his pride stinging from her unwitting jab.

"Most people wouldn't think to try what I did; I made a calculated risk that you wouldn't have designed the lock to seal automatically should the power go out." Clearly finding what she wanted, she pulled out her scalpel again and cut a hole into the wood. "Also, most people wouldn't have my aversion to being trapped." Pulling out the circle she'd cut, she replaced the scalpel and pulled a different instrument from her other glove. Sticking it into the hole and moving it slowly and carefully, she added, "I might not be a warrior, but I have no intention of putting Lion-O in danger to save me."

Despite himself, he felt a twinge of sharp envy as something in the door clanked and she pushed it open. "You really love him, don't you?"

She jumped to her feet, looking at him in shock. "Who told you?" she asked, her voice shaking.

He blinked, amused at her reaction. "No one needed to tell me. You two are obvious."

"How obvious?"

"So obvious that we all know you've been sneaking into his room at night for the past week… when he isn't sneaking into yours, that is."

The light might've been extremely low, but it didn't take much to figure out that she was blushing quite furiously. "Oh. Oh dear…."

He decided to take pity on her and walked into the hall, holding the glowing whip up to get a good look at either direction. "Look, we'll discuss this later. Right now, we need to figure out what we're doing before getting out of here."

"What we're doing before getting out…." She stepped out beside him. "Then you noticed what Mumm-Ra said, too."

"I did. Something along the lines of 'taking her away and trapping her again within the eternal bondage you'd helped her escape from', I believe. One of your friends is still captive in here, and quite possibly exactly where you found her the first time." He glanced at her. "Do you think you can find your way from here to where she was?"

"It's been millennia," she said nervously, casting her gaze around the hall, "but I might be able to manage it—a lot of this place is familiar to me. But… will we have time to get her before Lion-O gets here?"

"Probably. We got out of that cell far faster than I thought we would. Even with Bengali driving like a psycho, it'll still take some time to get from Castle Plun-Darr to the Pyramid." He motioned to her. "Lead the way."

Cheetara raced back home, using every last ounce of her energy and not caring. Right now, the priority was to get the Sphere of Light out of the open and into the safety of the Lair. Indigo had helped her put it back into the leather bag to keep it from acting like a beacon and attracting everything that searched for external magical sources, but even then there was no guarantee, meaning Cheetara was in great danger as long as she was outside with it.

Racing across the bridge, she skidded to a halt at the base of the stairs, blinking to see Panthro running down them towards her. "What is it, Panthro? Trouble?" A familiar sickening feeling started in the pit of her stomach. My sixth sense… it's not exactly warning me of danger, but it's not happy about something….

"Not exactly," he told her as he came within speaking distance. "Bengali and Lion-O are late checking in, I just wanted to know if you happened to pass by them." He stared at the bag she carried. "What is that thing? It's making my hair stand on end."

"Something we need to get to a safe place quickly."

"Let's get it inside, then."

She followed him into the Lair, removing the leather from the crystal as he closed the doors behind him. "Panthro, I have a favor from someone who knows you helped Tessa." She held the jewel out to him. "Someone's trapped inside this, and she hopes you can get him out."

He took the sphere from her, studying it carefully. "Won't be easy, it's a complex spell holding him in there. I'll see what I can do, though." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you were trying to find out who Star was, though."

"Yeah, about that…."

"How much do you remember now?" Tygra asked MoonGlo as he followed her in the darkness, allowing her to take her time finding the right way. Inside his head, the mental clock he was keeping told him they still had some time, but they were running out of it. "Mumm-Ra was pretty chatty when he brought us down here."

"More than I'll wager he realizes," was her reply. "I noticed he got one of my friend's names wrong—it's Tickled Pink, not Little Pink—and he conveniently didn't mention anything about my managing to get her out of here."

"Tickled… Pink…." He stopped dead in his tracks, staring at her retreating back in shock as she kept walking. "No… no, that has to be a coincidence…." Shaking his head, he continued on after her, asking instead, "Who the heck names a child that, anyway? It sounds cruel."

"The Sphere of Light did. We were basically children, Tygra, we didn't mind."

"Still seems to me you got off with the best name."

She shrugged, clearly not as bothered by the name choices as he was. "If you insist." She stopped at a fork in the pathway, staring down each hall for a moment before choosing one. "I'm certain she's this way. We'll know in a mom—" She fell silent for an instant as she stopped dead in her tracks. "Yeah," she whispered, her voice shaking. "We're going the right way. I remember this place—god, I thought those were nightmares, not reality…."

He stepped up behind her, squinting to see better in the dark. "Mummies?"

"It's not the mummies that concern me, it's their bandages. They'll chase us down and wrap us up just as tightly as these poor people." Tiptoeing slowly, she added softly, "Maybe they won't notice us if we're quiet…." The sound of rough cloth rubbing against itself hissed from behind them. "RUN!" she screeched, taking off down the hall like a shot.

He followed her without any hesitation, glancing over his shoulder only long enough to ascertain that MoonGlo was right: the bandages were alive and chasing them, unwrapping from their previous victims to go after fresh prey. At her shriek of terror, he nearly ran into her, feeling his hackles rise in alarm when he saw that more bandages had grouped together in front of them. Thinking quickly, he unwrapped his whip from his arm and snapped it into the wall, using what little magic he had to set the balls on fire. Thrashing it around the two of them, he cracked the whip against the bandages, causing the strips of rough cloth to go up in flames. Grabbing MoonGlo around the waist and hoisting her off her feet, he shouted at her, "Cover your face!" before holding his own arm before his eyes and dashing through the conflagration.

"To the left!" she yelled. "We can close the door behind us!"

He did as she directed, turning the corner as sharply as he could. Putting her down, he snapped the whip again, setting more of the bandages on fire. "I hope you know how to close it, because I can only old these off for so long!"

She ran to a panel in the wall and started smashing tiny buttons, designed to blend into the wall so that they were invisible to anyone who didn't know where they were. Within seconds, an enormous stone slab crashed down in the doorway, separating the two from the enchanted bandages.

"How did you escape those the first time?" he asked her, trying to catch his breath.

"We didn't," she replied sadly. "Those bandages are how Stormy caught Rainbow and I."

"Well, we can't go back that way, then." He whipped his weapon against the wall twice, once to put out the flames, a second time to make it glow again so they could see. "We'll have to find another way out once we've gotten your friend. Let's hurry, we're running out of time."

Further down the hallway, she stopped, staring at the blank wall. Without explaining herself, she started pushing each of the bricks quickly in succession. One of them slipped right into the back of the wall and disappeared as soon as she touched it, revealing a handle. Reaching in, she turned the lever, and the barricade opened up. The room revealed before them was large and filled with piles of sarcophagi; those not in piles were scattered across the room or leaning haphazardly against the walls. "Rainbow Brite was in here when I found her."

He held the bolo-whip higher, attempting to illuminate the room better. "This is a lot of sarcophagi. We're not going to have time to look through them all."

"We won't need to. Her magic responds to mine. Give me a moment to remember how to do this." MoonGlo stood still, closing her eyes. As he watched, she started levitating slightly, only an inch or two off the floor, and she slowly turned transparent; if that weren't strange enough, bright sparks of light started gleaming around her, surrounding her in a soft glow reminiscent of moonlight.

"Hmph, that explains how you got your name." Glancing around the room, he noticed a lone sarcophagus in the corner had flashes of rainbow light spilling out of the cracks. "And I think we've found your aptly named friend." He headed straight towards it as MoonGlo returned to the ground again, once more solid and no longer sparkling.

She ran to join him, whining a little when she saw the sarcophagus they needed to open was chained shut with numerous locks. "What—she wasn't trapped like this before! I can't pick all of these in any decent amount of time, and there's no way we can carry the whole casket out!"

"Hmm…." He studied the chains for a moment, grabbed a couple of them firmly in what he ascertained were weak spots, and ripped them apart with a shout.

She stared at him in shock as the chains fell to the floor in pieces. "Well, that works, too… here, you push on that side and I'll pull from here."

As they forced the lid off—and it did indeed take both of them, her throwing her full weight backward to pull against it as he pushed with all his strength—he couldn't resist asking, "How the heck did you get her out of this as a child?"

"She was in a smaller box," was the panted response, "and I just used a rod to lever it off. If I had seen any running over here, I would've grabbed—look out!"

The lid tilted at an odd angle and crashed into the floor, the two of them barely getting out of the way in time. With a sigh and a flutter, a young woman fell out of the sarcophagus; Tygra barely managed to grab her before she hit the floor herself. Long tangled blond hair tumbled over her bare shoulders, and as he turned her around to make it easier to carry her in his arms, he couldn't help but notice she was stark naked. "I'm beginning to think Mumm-Ra's a pervert," he snarled, looking around hopelessly for something to cover her with. "This is twice now we've found a young woman he'd incarcerated without decent clothing."

"Something's wrong." MoonGlo reached out and gently slapped her friend's cheeks. "Rainbow Brite! It's me, MoonGlo! Remember? Please acknowledge me, Rainbow!"

He shifted his limp burden slightly so that he could get a better look at her face, trying to ignore the lavender star tattooed under her left eye. Her expression was blank, and her dark blue eyes were half-closed, seemingly staring right through the two of them. "Um… she's probably in shock. Even you fainted when Lion-O first got you out of that cell. We'll get her back to the Lair and into Pumyra's care, then she'll be just fine." I hope, he added mentally, far more concerned than he wanted to let on.

MoonGlo nodded uncertainly. "Okay. Let's go."

"I suppose shouting at you to make the tank go faster is out of the question," Lion-O said through clenched teeth, impatiently tapping his claws against the dashboard.

"I've been flooring it the whole way," Bengali replied, "and quite frankly, at the rate I'm burning Thundrilliam, it's going to be on empty when we get back to the Lair. I'm not looking forward to what Panthro's going to do to me when he finds that out."

"You just ran the Thundertank right through Castle Plun-Darr, no doubt causing severe damage to the vehicle, and you're concerned at what Panthro will say upon finding out the fuel tank is empty?"

"Why is it when you put it that way, you make it sound like I've got my priorities screwed up?"

"Clearly because they are." Sighing in vexation, he leaned back against his seat, attempting to relax. "I'm sorry, Bengali, I'm taking my anger out on you."

"I noticed and decided to ignore it. Tygra and Star are in danger, and you want to get them out of it as quickly as possible. It's perfectly understandable."

"It… it's more than that. I had a nightmare last night of Mumm-Ra murdering Star." He heard his heartbeat in his ears more than he felt it, fully aware of the fear gripping it. "I am absolutely petrified right now."

"Mumm-Ra won't murder her."

He looked at the tiger in surprise, wanting to believe him. "Are you sure?"

Bengali nodded. "For two reasons. The first is that he is far too fond of eternal incarceration; he's had multiple opportunities to murder all of us and never taken any of them. The second is he's more likely to use her as bait for a trap; if Monkian has enough brains to figure out she's your lover, then there's no doubt Mumm-Ra knows as well."

Lion-O jumped slightly; he'd been so furious at Slythe, he'd completely forgotten what Monkian had even said. "Lover? I—she's—uh—"

"You might as well stop pretending, Lion-O. You two are really lousy at trying to hide what you've been up to."

"Who else has figured it out?" he asked, afraid he knew the answer.

"Everyone."

"Well, that's embarrassing." Somewhat mortified at himself, he crossed his arms and deliberately changed the subject. "It was still a terrifying nightmare."

"I don't doubt that in the slightest. Terrifying or not, though, that doesn't make it real; don't let fear dictate your actions for you. Mumm-Ra will use that against you."

"Great. Now where are we?"

MoonGlo looked around the room. "I don't like this," she admitted, stepping hesitantly between the shelves of enchanted objects haphazardly placed around the room. There was so much cursed magic in the air they could feel it like static electricity running down their spines. "This room wasn't here before."

Altering Rainbow Brite's position in his arms—she wasn't getting any lighter the longer he held her—Tygra sighed. "Well, I suppose it was too much to hope that Mumm-Ra never redecorates."

MoonGlo frowned. "Tygra," she whispered, "are you able to turn invisible?"

"Not while holding someone, unfortunately. What's bothering you?"

"I think Stormy's in here." She glanced in fear at her insensible friend, then looked up at him. "She's not going to let us get away."

He considered their options carefully. "We could run for it if there's another way out of this room. If not, I suppose I could try fighting her."

"But what about Rainbow Brite?"

"She isn't that heavy, I think even you could carry her out of here."

"Or," a new voice chimed in, "you could just give up."

Tygra's head snapped around, pinpointing the owner of the voice very quickly. A pair of effervescent green eyes framed on either side by a shock of violet hair peeked out at him through the items on a set of shelves near the back of the room. "That's not in my nature," he told her, hearing MoonGlo sneak behind him. I guess this must be the betrayer, he thought.

The young woman called Stormy stepped around the shelf she was standing behind. The skimpy outfit she wore was reminiscent of Mumm-Ra's when he was in his powerful form, though it was in vibrant shades of violet, green, bright blue, and gold. In her hands she held a sword, the blade cut into the shape of a lightning bolt. "If you don't give up, then you will die. It's that simple."

"Stormy, please—" MoonGlo begged.

"Don't call me that!" The violet-haired woman glared at them, holding the sword easily as she walked closer. "That brat died centuries ago, waiting for help that never arrived!"

"I did what I could to find all of you, please understand—"

"She won't," Tygra interrupted. "She doesn't want to understand. Doing so would require her to accept responsibility for her own actions."

Stormy glared at him, as if truly sizing him up for the first time. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

He slowly crouched down, gently placing his burden on the floor at his feet. "Someone you're not going to want to see again for a long time." I'm going to need my hands free for this.

"In other words, someone who's full of himself." Electricity started sparking at her fingertips. "I hate people like that." With a battle cry, she hefted her blade over her shoulder and charged at him.

Moving quickly, he raised his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. Show this woman her worst nightmare! He winced as his power of illusion drained him, aiming itself at his attacker and entering her mind. Make her see what isn't there!

He knew it had worked when he heard her crash into the floor, her sword skittering across the stone like a forgotten toy. "Master, no!" she shrieked, her howls echoing though the room from the force of her fear. "No, don't leave me, Master, please! You're all I've ever known, please don't leave!"

"MoonGlo," he forced himself to say, "take your friend and get out of here!"

"I can't leave without you!" she replied, stricken.

"I'll follow in a moment, I need to make sure this woman won't chase us down! Hurry!"

He heard MoonGlo scramble around him, clumsily pick up Rainbow Brite, and then scamper away to his right. "Tygra," she called to him, "the way out is over here, I see it!"

"Then get out! I'm right behind you!" Finally removing his fingers from his temples, he opened his eyes and frowned at the woman sobbing on the floor before him. Stepping back slightly, he wobbled in place as he tried to stay on his feet. That took far more out of me than I thought it would… and of all the things to expect her to fear, that wasn't it.

She snapped out of the illusion faster than he would've thought, too. "How dare you," she blubbered, glaring up at him through her tears. "How dare you do that! How dare you show me that!"

"All I did was make a suggestion," he told her. "Your mind filled in the rest on its own."

She keened in embarrassment and sorrow as she pushed herself to her knees. "Get out," she snarled, her voice pitching higher with each word. "If I ever see you here again, I'll stab you in the back before you know where I am!"

He hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something to her, but unsure of what she'd listen to. "We both know why you saw what you did. Even you know it's only a matter of time before you're no longer useful to him."

"Get out!" she screamed. "Get out! GET OUT!"

Sickened for her, he turned and ran to the right, glancing around until he saw the door MoonGlo had mentioned. As soon as he ran though it, he jumped in surprise as a door slammed down and sealed the room. "What did you do to her?" MoonGlo asked as she stood by the door with her hands on more of those hidden buttons, her friend propped up against the wall, staring unresponsively at the floor.

"Showed her an illusion of her greatest fear." He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes as he tried to stay on his feet. "I avoid illusions as much as possible because of the strain it causes on me, both physically and mentally. Just give me a moment to breathe."

"Will she be alright?"

"I didn't harm her, if that's what you mean. Whether or not she faces the fear she saw is up to her; if we're lucky, she'll face it and grow stronger in the process."

"She was calling out for a master to not leave her. Do… do you think—"

"That the master in question is Mumm-Ra? Undoubtedly, and if she doesn't face the truth, then I dread that is one friend you're never going to get back."

The Thundertank ground to a halt in front of the Black Pyramid, something in the gears screeching in protest as it stopped moving. Well, that doesn't sound good, Bengali thought, glancing at the tank as he leapt out. Hmm…. I don't think I'll be able to hide those scratches down the side from Panthro….

"Looks like we're expected."

Turning around, Bengali spotted what Lion-O was referring to: the entrance to the Black Pyramid was already wide open, clearly as an invitation to walk right in. "I told you it would be a trap, and he knows the bait needs to be alive to lure us in."

The Thundercat lord visibly fought with himself, trying to hold back the fear that still gripped him. "Come on," he said finally. "We're going to get them out of there."

The two of them slowly walked into the dark hallway, their weapons drawn and held at the ready. The entire trip through the Pyramid was quite uneventful, causing them to become ever more uneasy with every step. As they entered the cauldron room, the pair halted as Mumm-Ra called out to them, "So nice to see you, Thundercats. It's not often I get to face off both the cub and the reckless one. This should prove interesting."

The tiger and the Thundercat lord looked around, attempting to find their enemy in the darkened room. "Where are Star and Tygra, Mumm-Ra?" Lion-O shouted back.

"'Star'? Who is this 'Star' you speak of?" The ancient sorcerer laughed at the angered snarl he got as a response. "Oh, that's right! You don't know MoonGlo by her real name! I have to admit I was curious to find out what you call her when you've got her pretty legs wrapped around your hips."

Bengali quickly reached out and put his hand on Lion-O's shoulder. "Calm down," he advised. "Don't let him manipulate you."

Lion-O took a deep breath, struggling to control his emotions. "Where are they, Mumm-Ra?" he asked again, his anger and fear barely held in check.

The response came from directly behind them. "You'll have to defeat me to find out."

They turned around as quickly as possible, just as Mumm-Ra flung two balls of raw magic at them. Lion-O was barely able to block one with the Claw Shield, but Bengali had to dive to the side to avoid the second one, shooting back at Mumm-Ra with his Hammer as soon as he rolled to his knees. The sorcerer leapt up into the air, the laser missing him by mere inches.

"HO!" Lion-O aimed the Sword of Omens at Mumm-Ra and fired off his own blast of energy; unfortunately, Mumm-Ra just back-handed it towards at the Thundercat lord, causing him to leap forward to evade the attack.

"Do you honestly think just the two of you are enough to stop me?" Mumm-Ra cackled, raising his hand to rain down sickly looking bolts of power upon them. Dodging through the projectiles as they detonated upon hitting the floor, Lion-O and Bengali ended up using the resulting explosions as a distraction to take cover behind one of the statues. "Where are you hiding?" came the expected mocking question. "If you think you can just go exploring through my Pyramid to find your friend and hussy, I should warn you now it will take you centuries to find them. Even after so many millennia, I am still very, very angry with little MoonGlo."

Bengali and Lion-O glanced at each other. "Maybe if we stay very quiet," Bengali whispered, "he'll let something important slip."

"Gloating does tend to be his thing," Lion-O agreed in low undertones.

They heard the ancient sorcerer stride patiently across the floor, no doubt glancing from side to side to try and find the pair. "You know," Mumm-Ra said almost conversationally, "the thought crosses my mind that you think MoonGlo is human. She isn't, and least not by the standards of our dimension. In fact, she was technically immortal when you found her." His low laughter crackled with ominous delight. "She would've continued to be immortal, too… if she'd still been a virgin."

Bengali quickly snapped his hand out to hold Lion-O back; the emotions warring with each other perceptibly on the Thundercat lord's expression were unsettling. "He's lying," the tiger hissed. "He has to be."

Slowly, hoping that he wouldn't be seen, Bengali peeked around the corner of the statue, ready to pull back in a moment's notice if need be. The demon priest was silently peeking behind the statues on the other side of the room, unaware that he was being observed. A flash of movement caused Bengali to glance in the darkness closer to the sarcophagus; as he watched, Star poked her head around the corner, spotted him, and disappeared again. Tygra appeared briefly, just long enough to reveal he was carrying someone and to give a sharp nod in Mumm-Ra's direction.

Bengali pulled back and turned to Lion-O. "I think luck is with us at the moment. Star and Tygra are in the hallway over there, but they've got somebody with them and need a distraction to get past Mumm-Ra."

Relief won out over most of the other emotions Lion-O was battling, and with a much calmer demeanor, he quickly pondered the situation. "I can distract Mumm-Ra," he decided. "The way he's talking, he'll be expecting that, anyway. Bengali, how much damage do you think you can inflict on his sarcophagus?"

The tiger twirled his Hammer with a smug grin. "A fair amount."

"It won't destroy him, but it will keep him from bothering us for quite some time." He frowned. "I really shouldn't, but I want him to think twice before going after Star again."

"Works for me."

"I have to admit I'm going to enjoy watching what happens after this," Mumm-Ra continued after a moment. "It's been centuries since I've seen an undying creature lose its immortality. I'm curious to see if she just starts aging like any other human, or if her life force shrivels and burns up all at once like a firecracker."

Lion-O's expression hardened. "Go now!" As the lion leapt around the corner of the statue with a roar, Bengali dashed to the back of the room, heading unerringly straight towards the sarcophagus. He glanced to the side for only a brief instant, just long enough to see that Tygra and MoonGlo were using the battle between Mumm-Ra and Lion-O to run from statue to statue, staying just out of sight as they tried to get away.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work. "MoonGlo!" Mumm-Ra screamed. "You're not escaping from me again, you troublesome brat!"