"I know what I saw," Lion-O insisted for seemed to him like the umpteenth time. Glancing around the council table, he noted the sympathetic looks on the faces of his fellow Thundercats and started to get the feeling that they were humouring him. "I'm not making this up," he said with annoyance.

Sympathy turned to embarrassment and the others fidgeted uneasily in their chairs until finally Tygra took a deep breath and broke the icy silence.

"We never said that you were," he said, in a tone of voice that suggested he was doing his best to be patient. "However--"

"What I said doesn't correspond with the facts," Lion-O finished for him. He sullenly folded his arms and gave the tiger an unfriendly look. "Well, say it. You think I'm going crazy or something, don't you?"

Snarf let out a worried purr. "Weeow, we don't think that, Lion-O. I was there, don't forget. I saw what happened, snarf, snarf."

"I thought you said that you came in after," Bengali queried.

"I didn't need to see what Lion-O saw to know what happened," Snarf said defensively. "If Lion-O said that's what he saw, then that's good enough for me, snarf, snarf."

Something about the way he said it made Lion-O look at him sharply. "Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning I believe you when you say that's what you saw."

"But do you believe it happened?"

Snarf hesitated too long to make his answer convincing. "Of course, Lion-O, I believe you."

Lion-O shook his head. "This is impossible. No one believes me." He let out a sigh of frustration and placed his hands on the table before him. "I swear on the Sword of Omens that I honestly saw Cheetara being attacked by Brutemen. They tied her up and were dragging her off somewhere when there was this blazing flash of light. Now, if someone would care to explain to me what's going on, I would be truly grateful."

A moment passed as uncertain glances were exchanged around the table.

"Perhaps," said Lynx-O, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table, "what you saw were things not yet come to pass."

"A vision of the future?" said Panthro. "No, not even the Sword of Omens can do that."

"Then where does that leave us?"

"With a leader who's seeing things," Bengali spoke up. "Don't worry about it, Lion-O. I'm sure it'll resolve itself in time. So, what's next on the agenda?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, are we boring you?" Lion-O said irritably. "Forgive me for thinking this might just be important."

"I'm not saying it isn't," Bengali replied. "But we can't keep going round in circles. You say it happened. Cheetara said it didn't. Considering she was here with a witness at the time, I'm inclined to believe her. What else is there to say? I would have thought the answer was obvious."

"Not to me it isn't," Lion-O grumbled. "Do you really all think I imagined it?"

Panthro gave a firm shake of his head. "Of course not. There has to be a logical explanation."

"There is," Bengali said. "Lion-O had a hallucination or something."

"Another logical explanation then," Panthro said. "Something's fishy about this whole caper. For a start, why's Cheetara not down here now?"

"She wasn't feeling too good," said Snarf, looking pointedly at Lion-O. "Weeow, I think you should tell them."

Lion-O nodded resignedly. "Earlier on, Cheetara seemed out of sorts. Edgy, you know the sort of thing. She said she'd lost her insignia and didn't know where to find it."

"And she'd forgotten she'd already had her morning run," said Snarf. "Went straight out for another one she did, snarf, snarf."

"You didn't mention this before," Tygra said accusingly.

"She asked me not to and it didn't seem relevant. I mean, there's a big difference between what happened this morning and now."

"Not necessarily. It could be connected. An illness, for example, something that causes you to…"

"Imagine things?" Bengali finished for him. "You know, he could have a point, Lion-O."

The others were murmuring their agreement and Lion-O had to raise his voice to make himself heard. "We'll soon know one way or another. Pumyra is giving Cheetara a health check right now."

As he finished speaking, the door of the chamber opened and the pair came bustling in. Arms folded and grumbling, Cheetara led the way, leaving Pumyra struggling to catch up to her reluctant patient.

"I tell you, I'm all right," Cheetara snapped over Pumyra's concerned noises. "I don't want or need a check-up. I'm fine. Okay? Happy now?"

With that, she sunk down into the seat next to Bengali, crossed her legs and sat silently fuming. Her usual seat gone, Pumyra took the only other empty seat at the table

"Do I take it then that you're all right, Cheetara?" Tygra asked.

Her mood visibly softened when she looked over at him. "Yes, thank you. I'm…"

"Fine?" Bengali said.

Cheetara smiled at him. "Yes, that's the word."

"But you weren't fine this morning," Lion-O said. He felt his nerve fray slightly when she turned an unfriendly look in his direction, but he resolved to press on. "Cheetara, please, if something happened, we need to know."

"Nothing happened," she said, overemphasising the words as if she were speaking to a foolish child. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"But you weren't well, that's for sure," said Snarf. "Quite strange in fact, snarf, snarf."

Confronted by this, she seemed to hesitate, as if suddenly unsure. "This morning…" she stammered. "I, er, I had a headache, that's all. Time of month thing, you know."

In the awkward silence that followed, Lion-O felt the blood rising to his cheeks. It was the first time he had ever heard Cheetara mention such a subject. He vaguely knew about it, enough to know that it fell into that category of things not usually mentioned in mixed company. He tried not to feel acutely embarrassed, but he couldn't help himself. Looking to Tygra for support, he shrugged helplessly and was met by an equally bemused expression. Before either of them could speak, however, WilyKat piped up.

"Panthro," he said. "What's a time of the--"

"Yes, well, if we're all finished," Tygra said quickly, "I think we'll call it a day. Meeting over."

Cheetara was first up out of her seat and gone for the door before anyone else had made it to their feet. The others seemed equally glad to leave and the twins led the way out of the chamber. Lion-O was about to follow when Tygra caught his arm and stopped him.

"Pumyra, if you've got a minute," he called after the healer.

She returned to the table and waited as the chamber emptied. Only when the door shut did Tygra speak.

"Well, does what she said sound reasonable to you?" he asked Pumyra.

"Possibly," she said, sighing deeply. "If I'm honest, I don't know. She wouldn't let me examine her."

"Why?"

"Don't know."

The tiger fell silent and Lion-O could tell from the look on his face that something was troubling him. "You think something's up, don't you?" he said.

Tygra shook his head. "Tell you the truth, Lion-O, I'm not sure. I just feel there's more going on here than meets the eye. Yes, Cheetara does seem fine, but what if something's about to happen? Or worse yet has happened."

"So you did believe me."

"Well, either it happened or it didn't. I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"And in the meantime," Pumyra said, laying her hand on Tygra's shoulder, "why don't you work some of that old magic of yours and see if you can find out what's wrong with Cheetara?"

"Hey, I could do that," Lion-O offered.

"Excuse me? You almost died of embarrassment just now."

"Well, it was unexpected."

Pumyra nodded. "Agreed. Cheetara's normally very cagey about that sort of thing." She looked over at Tygra expectantly. "Well? You are her friend."

"You mean I've been volunteered?"

"She won't talk to me and Lion-O's too innocent to know what she's on about, so…"

"So I'll have to do it," Tygra said wearily. "In the meantime, I think it might be worth asking Panthro to run a check on all systems and see if there's been anything strange in the past twenty-four hours."

"Define 'strange'," Pumyra said. "That could apply to any number of things on this crazy planet."

"You'll know it when you see it."

"Good luck," she said. "Mind she doesn't bite your head off."

He turned to leave and, as he did so, Lion-O called after him. "What's going to happen if we can't find anything?" he asked. "Will you still think I imagined it?"

Tygra's expression darkened. "Frankly, if I thought it was that, I'd be relieved. At least then it wouldn't be something worse."

"He's hopeful," Pumyra said when the tiger was out of earshot.

"And right," Lion-O murmured. "Let's hope it was just my imagination."

***************

She wasn't in her bedroom. Nor was she in the kitchen, control room, dining room or basement. After a good ten minutes of fruitless searching, Tygra was starting to suspect that she wasn't in the Lair at all. And that meant he would have to go out and find her.

Retracing his footsteps to his chambers, he tried to ignore the paranoid flights of fancy torturing his mind. One of his fellow Thundercats was in serious trouble, that much was certain, and much to his shame he caught himself hoping that the fault lay not with Cheetara. Not that he wished any ill on their young Lord, but Cheetara was a friend and a close one at that. Theirs was a relationship forged and strengthened in the fires of a never-ending war. If one thing in life was constant, she was it. They had survived Thundera, they had survived this far on Third Earth; now the thought of anything jeopardising her continued presence troubled him deeply, more than he knew it should. He always tried not to analyse it. Bearing his soul carried a fifty per cent risk either way, and he had long since come to the conclusion that saying nothing was the safest option for all concerned.

At his approach, the door opened, admitting him into the darkened interior. An internal room, it was lit only by the light set in the ceiling above. Automatically he reached for the switch, but he did not make it. A hand closed round his arm and dragged him into the darkness. Before he could protest, a warm body had pressed itself up against him and soft, moist lips were seeking his. Shock made him slow to resist and a heartbeat passed as he allowed himself to be seduced. Then reason took over and reluctantly he pushed her away.

Switching the light on, he found her stood up against the wall, panting slightly from their passionate embrace.

"Cheetara," he began, but she sidled over to him and hushed him by putting one finger to his lips.

"Forgive me," she whispered. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Only slightly," he said. "Although I wouldn't mind being startled like that every day."

She smiled, saying nothing. The silence between them ached with unspoken longing. Now that he had found her, he knew what he had to ask, but his body seemed to have ideas of its own. His arms slid around her waist, where they lay quite naturally and comfortably, while his head started to tilt towards hers, seeking once more her carmine lips. She reciprocated, reaching up to caress the back of his neck with her fingers, all the while bringing him nearer until their lips met and they kissed deeply, tongues exploring and teasing. Finally, the need for air made him part and he stared down into her glowing eyes, wanting more, yet knowing that his concerns must be satisfied before they went any further.

"Cheetara, about today," he said.

She sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. It doesn't matter."

"It does if you're not well."

"And who told you that? The cub, I suppose."

"Well, yes, Lion-O did mention that earlier you seemed out of sorts."

She gave a dismissive snort. "Ignore him. He's jealous. He wants me all to himself, but there can only be one love in my life."

Somewhere in the back of his mind, alarm bells were starting to ring. The kiss had been not unpleasant, but certainly unexpected. He had responded, because it had been something he had wished for a long time and had never thought would happen. Friends they had always been, even if it was a relationship that ran deeper than those he had with the other Thundercats. Beyond that, however, was only unspoken hopes and dreams. Now fulfilment was at hand, he could not shake the nagging feeling that somehow it felt wrong. That, coupled with the offhand way she had spoken of Lion-O, added to the misgivings which were forming a palpable barrier between them.

His doubts must have showed in his eyes, for as he looked at her, he saw her expression change.

"What is it, my love?" she asked.

He took the hands that encircled his neck and held them in his. "Why now?" he said. "After all this time?"

"Because I want you," she said. "No, I need you." She let out a small gasp of suppressed anticipation and ran her tongue across her lips. "Is that so hard to believe?"

He had meant to say yes, but his tongue spoke the words of his heart, urged on by the gentle fingers that traced the lines of his markings across his skin.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" she whispered. "I saw you earlier, watching me. You wanted me then, didn't you? If the others hadn't been there, you would have grabbed me and made love to me there and then, wouldn't you? Well, now we can."

She nuzzled into his neck and kissed him. He leant into towards her, enjoying the sensations that were coursing through him and stirring desire in his loins. Yes, she was fine, he tried to convince himself; Lion-O must have imagined the whole thing. Are you so sure, said the annoying voice of reason. Why now, why you, Tygra? Ask yourself that!

Reluctantly, he pulled away. "No, Cheetara, we can't. This… this situation is, er…"

"Is beautiful," she purred. "Don't resist me, Tygra. Make love to me. Isn't that what you want?"

"Oh, yes," he murmured, and had to swallow hard to keep control of himself. "But you, you're acting so different. Why the change?"

"Perhaps I am different," she said. "Perhaps I've come to realise that I want things I've been denying myself for too long. I can't deny myself any more, Tygra. Life is too short. The time we have is precious. Our love is precious. Don't make me beg."

"Never, as long as I know this is what you want. If there are regrets in the morning, I--"

She smothered his protests with kisses that worked from his mouth down his neck. He moaned softly as her attentions grew rougher, biting, teasing his skin with her teeth. Then, to his surprise, she sank her fangs into his soft flesh. With a cry, he pulled away, clamping his hand over his wounded neck. Blood showed on his fingers and he stared at her in amazement.

"What have you done?" he gasped.

"Now you can't deny me. I've just initiated the mating ritual."

"Yes, I know what you've done, but why?"

"How many times must I tell you?" she said. Coming close, she ran one hand over his quivering stomach muscles and down his abdomen. "I want you, Tygra," she whispered huskily. "And from the feel of it, you want me too. Come to me, my love, and quench this tortuous fire in my soul."

He hesitated, a moment only, but long enough for reality to intrude and destroy the idyll. The internal communicator began to bleep insistently, reminding him of a duty greater than his own gratification. Still, it was hard to draw away from her when hormones hammered through his system and called him to answer the call of his awakened passion.

With effort, he reached for the button. Before he could, she caught his arm and came round in front of him, standing between him and the annoying interruption.

"Leave it," she said, reaching for him. "Please, my love, be with me."

"I want to, but I can't," he said. "There might be trouble. The others might need us."

"Not as much as I need you."

She tried to kiss him, but he moved his head away from her hungry lips. Seeing that her cause was lost, she relented and released him to answer the summons.

"Yes, what is it?" he said into the communicator.

"Trouble," came Lion-O's voice. "At the Berbil village, just for a change."

"All right. We'll be there."

"Oh, Cheetara's with you, is she? Have you--"

"No," he said, cutting him short. "See you in a minute." He closed the channel and turned back to her. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," she said. "There'll be time for this later."

He went to her and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I love you," he whispered, "and I want to be with you. You know that, don't you?"

Her sadness lessened at his words and she smiled up at him. "They say the night was made for love. So it will be for us. Tonight, my love, I shall expect great things of you to make up for this. Don't disappoint me."

Aware of his gaze as she dressed, her every movement was designed to tantalise as the soft fabric slowly covered that which only moments before he had caressed with fingers and mouth. He continued to watch as she wandered to the door, where she paused and looked back.

"I'll be waiting," she said. "Don't be late."

With that, she was gone, leaving him aching at her absence.

"Don't worry," he murmured. "I'll be there. You can count on that."

***************

Panthro switched his gaze from the doors to the clock. Four minutes. Four wasted minutes. Where was that tiger, he thought. Hadn't Lion-O made it plain? The Berbils were under attack and needed their help, while Tygra was gods knew where doing who knew what. Enough was enough, he decided.

"Right, we're leaving," he said, bringing the Thundertank's engines roaring to life.

"What about Tygra?" Lion-O asked from where he sat in the rear cabin with the Thunderkittens.

"Can't wait for him any longer."

As he said it, the doors flew open and Tygra dashed in. Slightly breathless, he jumped in beside Panthro and offered his apologies.

"Glad you could join us," Panthro said, barely waiting for him to sit down before he moved the tank out of the hangar and across the bridge.

"I said I'm sorry." He glanced into the back of the tank. "Cheetara not with us?" he asked.

"Nope. Said she'd rather sit this one out. She's staying in the Lair with Snarf."

Tygra's non-committal grunt of acceptance made him look over at him. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing," the tiger said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

The movement caused something to glint in the fur of his neck and Panthro had to do a double take to be sure of what he had seen.

"That a love bite on your neck?" he asked.

Tygra's hand shot to the injury and confirmed his suspicions. Thumping his hand on the control board, he gave him a thunderous look.

"Is that what kept you?" he said angrily. "You were getting it on with Cheetara?"

"Is that any of your business?" Tygra said gruffly.

"It is when I'm left waiting like a prize bull at market," he shot back. "Blast it all, Tygra! What's got into you? In fact, what's got into everyone today? First Cheetara, then Lion-O, now you. Tell me something funny's not going on!"

"There's nothing wrong with me!"

"Oh, really? And since when have you two been so close?"

Tygra's reply to his remark was lost in the high-pitched whine of an approaching engine as suddenly a skycutter looped out of nowhere and just skimmed the Thundertank's roof. Several opportunistic shots went wide of their mark and clouded the air with swirling dust. Panthro stood on the brakes and brought the tank to full stop. The engines complained bitterly at such unwarranted treatment and promptly stalled. Inwardly cursing them, he glanced up, just in time to catch sight of the familiar outline of the Thunderstrike in hot pursuit of the Mutant craft.

"Blasted cheek of it!" he growled. "Those Mutants go too far!"

The roof opened and Lion-O looked out, tracking the progress of the two ships across the sky. "They're headed for the Lair," he said.

"Cheetara can handle them," Panthro said. "Couple of blasts should put that Mutant out of commission for a while. Meanwhile--"

He stopped abruptly as from somewhere behind them came the deafening thunderclap of an explosion. Something about it sounded out of the ordinary and Panthro turned his attention back to the place where the two ships had vanished. A black cloud rose up above the tree line, marking the place where the downed craft had landed.

"That sounded kinda big for a skycutter," WilyKit said, voicing all their thoughts.

"Yes, it did," Tygra agreed. "Lion-O, d'you think…"

But he had already raised the Sword of Omens to his eyes and was calling on the power of Sight Beyond Sight. "Great Jaga," Lion-O murmured. "It's the Thunderstrike. The Lair just shot them down!"

The tank roared with raw enthusiasm as Panthro punched the engines back into life. A half-spin later, and they were heading back to the Lair and the devastation that awaited. As the trees thinned, the Thunderstrike could be seen lying on its back. One pod had split from the main body of the ship and was some feet away. Through the cracked glass of its cockpit, Panthro could just make out a huddled figure trapped within and, worryingly, whoever it was, they were not moving.

By the time the tank had pulled up beside the smoking ship, there some signs of life. A panel of glass from the main cabin had been kicked out and a pair of legs was emerging. Lynx-O waved Panthro away when he came to help, instead pointing him to the separated pod. As heavy as it was, he flipped it over easily enough and wrenched back the shattered roof. Inside, Bengali was unconscious and bleeding heavily from a deep gash in his forehead.

"Tygra, come quick!" Panthro called as he lifted the still tiger from the pod and laid him down upon the grass. In his arms, his body was frightening limp and for a moment, he thought that he was dead. But then Bengali's eyelids started to twitch and opened.

"Panthro?" he murmured. "What happened?"

"I don't know," he said gruffly. "We'll find out later. Let's worry about you first."

"Pumyra?" Bengali said weakly.

"She's fine," Panthro told him, looking over to where Lion-O was helping her out from the other pod. A second later, Tygra was beside him and inspecting the damage to the younger tiger. "Is he gonna be all right?" he asked.

Tygra nodded. "It looks worse than it is. You were lucky, Bengali."

"Or unlucky," he groaned. "Did the Lair really fire on us?"

"Apparently so," Panthro said. His attention wandered to the drawbridge where Snarf was hurrying across. "All right," he murmured. "Time to find out what's going on here." He jumped to his feet and met the little creature halfway. "Well?" he demanded.

Snarf purred with worry. "Brrr, it wasn't me, Panthro. It was Cheetara. She--"

"I knew it," Panthro growled.

"No, she's not well," Snarf insisted. "She was in a daze. I even had to show her how to use the blasters, snarf, snarf. Before I knew what was happening, she'd aimed them at the Thunderstrike. I didn't know what to do. Weeow, are they all right?"

"No, Snarf, they're not. They could have been killed. And I want to know why!"

With that, he strode past him, heading purposefully towards the Lair. Behind him, he could hear Lion-O calling to him to wait, but for once he ignored him and increased his stride. Once inside, he hurried up the stairs and was first in the Control Room, where he found Cheetara sitting on one of the chairs, head in hands. She looked up when he entered and he thought he saw something like fear flicker through her eyes.

"What in the blazes did you think you were doing?" he roared.

She opened her mouth to speak, but words failed her. Instead, she got shakily to her feet and started to back away from him. He pursued her until he had her trapped between him and the control panel.

"I'm sorry," she stammered. "It was an accident."

"Tosh!" he retorted. "Snarf said something was wrong with you before you shot them down. Explain yourself!"

Tears beaded in her eyes. "I never meant to hurt them," she sobbed.

"You shot them down, Cheetara! What did you think would happen?"

She was weeping freely, but Panthro was in no mood to be swayed by her tears. Accident or not, her actions had endangered the lives of three Thundercats and, until he got a satisfactory answer, he had no sympathy for her. Taking her by the arms, he tried to shake some sense into her. The tears stopped and that same haunted look he had seen earlier took their place.

"Please don't hurt me," she whimpered. "I know I did wrong. I'm sorry. Just please…"

He stared at her, seeing the change but not understanding it. She was actually frightened of him. He could feel it in her trembling body, see it in her scared eyes. He removed his hands from her arms and took a few steps back. Before he could say anything, however, into the room ran Lion-O.

"Panthro, did you find…" He trailed off as he took in the sight before him. "Is everything all right here?" he asked uncertainly. "Cheetara, what happened?"

"Please don't be angry," she said, in a pleading voice that was pathetic to hear. "I never meant any harm to you or your friends."

She had started to weep again and was fast becoming hysterical. Her tears came in great gasping sobs that shook her whole body, making her clutch at one of the chairs for support. Lion-O went to her, but she shrank from him, her wide fearful eyes fixed upon him as though he was one of Mumm-ra's demons. She kept going until she bumped into one of the side console units and a small gasp of surprise and pain slipped from her lips.

"Cheetara, are you all right?" Lion-O asked with concern.

She weakly shook her head and wrapped her arms protectively about her stomach as she began a slow slide down the smooth metal side of the unit until she was on her knees. Lion-O raced to her side and caught her as she fell into unconsciousness.

"What now?" he asked, holding her limp body in his arms.

"Good question," Panthro muttered. "What indeed."