Lion-O's lips tightened into a thin, even, line as he stared at them. He tried to look away, to find something else worth seeing, but his eyes always crept back to Tygra and Cheetara. Tygra hadn't been hurt badly, Thank Jaga.
The scarlet fluid that had been covering him had not been his own. He had light burns on his exposed skin where the boiling remants of RoberBill's internal organs had washed over him, and something had lodged in his arm. A metallic skull fragment was their best guess.
Cheetara had arrived first, on foot, and in a flash she had been at the fallen tiger's side, smoothing his hair cooing at him as she cleaned his wounds as best she could. Lion-O had wondered for awhile now if there was something more between the two than military comraderie. But if there was, they had never said anything to him.
A shift in the wind signalled the coming of the Thunderstrike. Noise blared and the multicolored grains of the Berbil fields swirled as the ship hovered, reconfigured slightly, and touched down in the fields. The canopy popped open and Bengali and Pumyra leapt out. Holding hands, Lion-O noted.
Shortly afterwards the Thundertank rumbled onto the scene, and Panthro and the kittens spilled out of it and ran over to join the others.
"Roowl, what happened here, Tygra?" asked Bengali, looking around at the smoking devastation and the busy Berbils already rebuilding their wrecked homes and their fallen comrades.
"Ahem, well since you ask, Bengali," said Lion-O, trying to hold back a baleful look, "Vultureman was testing a new weapon, some sort of energy beam that detonates at a specific range. I defeated it by charging him more quickly than he could adjust the range."
"Clever!" boomed an approving Panthro. "A weapon like that could travel right through the Lair's armor and begin detonating things on the inside. What was the range like?"
"He was set up on that ridge, and I don't even know if that was the maximum range of the beam."
Panthro's hand leapt to his chin as he stroked it thoughtfully. "That's farther than our outer defenses reach. That weapon is a major security risk! What's the plan, Lion-O?"
"Frontal assualt. Since we have no defense we must attack them first, and destroy the mutant's ability to use their new weapon," said Lion-O grimly.
"Is that wise, Lion-O?" asked Tygra from his position on the ground. "Castle Plundarr's defenses are formidable, surely we'd take casualties in such an assualt."
Lion-O tried not to scowl at Tygra. "We would take much greater causualties if the Cats Lair exploded without warning, Tygra. Do you have another suggestion?"
"Yes. I have been working on a design for portable motion sensors. If Bengali and Panthro could build them, we could string them along our outer perimeter, and they would give us warning when any mutants entered the area. Thus warned, we could capture one of those guns and see how it works, and work up a defense from that."
"If you can design it, then I can build it!" declared Panthro, and Bengali growled his agreement.
Lion-O noted that all of them were now looking at him. He felt a tightness in his chest. "Very well, the plan is sound. Cheetara, Pumyra, Wilykit, and Kat, you four will be on patrol. I shall help Panthro, Tygra, and Bengali in building."
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