Displaced

Part 3

"Lair? Cat’s Lair, did you contact us?" Bengali sat and stared at the communications panel. He could have sworn Cat’s Lair had attempted to contact the Tower of Omens. But now, no one was even picking up over there. "Lair? Who’s on watch right now? Cheetara? Lion-O? Wiley Kit? Snarf? Anybody?" The white tiger snarled in frustration. "Come on, somebody answer me!"

"Ben?" Pumyra poked her sleepy head into the control room and studied the other Thundercat. "Is everything okay?"

Bengali shook his head and growled. "I thought Cat’s Lair tried to contact us. I might have been wrong, but when I tried to return their call, they didn’t answer. They’re still not answering." He looked over his shoulder at the puma. "Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you," he added.

Pumyra shook her head. "You didn’t. I was up for a glass of water. I heard you talking, and I wondered who else was up." She took a seat next to him and tried her luck with communications. "Tower to Lair, over." She waited for a response. "Tower of Omens to Cat’s Lair."

"See? No one’s answering." Bengali started running the sensors.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m going to see if I can lock our sensors onto their security system and read their electrical impulses off of the security cameras. That way, we’ll get the same reception they do."

"Good luck," the puma muttered. "Tower to Lair," she tried again.

"Got it!" Bengali announced triumphantly. "These enhanced sensors really work well."

Instantly, the main screen at the Tower was filled with an image of the Lair’s control room. And Cheetara was writhing on the floor madly.

"What’s happening?!" Pumyra shouted.

"You’ve got the watch," Bengali ordered as he raced out of the room.

"Where are you going?" But Bengali was long gone. "Ben?" Pumyra turned back to the screen. She picked up the communications com again. "Cheetara? Cheetara, what’s going on? Are you all right?"

"Pumyra, what is all this commotion about?"

Pumyra turned in surprise as Lynx-O and Snarfer entered, Snarfer rubbing sleep out of his eyes and Lynx-O swaying slightly. "Something’s going on at the Lair. Cheetara’s rolling all over the floor of the control room. I think Bengali just left for the Lair."

"Yup, he did," Snarfer confirmed as he accessed the monitors in the Tower’s hanger. "One pod of the Thunderclaw just took off." Snarfer stifled a large yawn and tried to concentrate.

By this time, Lynx-O was awake and at the Braille board, gathering all the information he could from the sensors. "Have you tried to contact the Lair?"

"That’s how we found out about this," Pumyra explained. Having to answer questions was calming her down, and she had now gotten a hold of herself. "Bengali and I kept trying to contact the Lair and no one was answering."

"Look, there’s Uncle Snarf!"

Snarf had rushed into the control room of Cat’s Lair and found the wailing Cheetara.

"Snarf!" Lynx-O shouted into communications. "Get Lion-O. Tell him Bengali’s on his way if he needs any help. Are you under attack?"

Snarf scampered this way and that, trying to do everything at once. Fortunately for him, Lion-O happened to race into the control room and seemed to take in everything at once. He launched himself at Cheetara and pinned her, ending her wild flailing. He said something to Snarf and Snarf raced for communications. "Lair to Tower, did you need something, snarf?"

"No Snarf, but I think you do. What’s going on?" Pumyra asked.

"I don’t know. Reow, I woke up to Cheetara’s screaming and came in to find this."

"Don’t worry, Uncle Snarf," Snarfer broke in. "Bengali’s on his way to help out."

"We need Pumyra," they heard Lion-O shout in the background. "Cheetara needs medical attention."

"On my way," Pumyra responded. "Can you and Snarfer handle the Tower?" she asked Lynx-O.

"Send Bengali back when you can," Lynx-O answered. "Don’t leave them short-handed at the Lair, but the Tower really isn’t safe with only two of us."

"Right," Pumyra agreed.

"And hurry!" Snarf urged from Cat’s Lair.

* * * *

"Come on, Lunatac," Jackalman urged. He shook Alluro, but got no response. "He’s out cold," the mutant said to the Thunderkitten standing behind him.

Wiley Kat frowned. "Panthro’s getting no luck with Tygra, either. They’re not responding to anything."

"At least we don’t have to dodge Cheetara anymore," Jackalman muttered. "Lion-O’s got her subdued."

"But she’s fighting him," Panthro said from across the room. "We’ve got to wake these guys up."

"What could have happened?" Kat wondered.

"Whatever it was, it wasn’t good," Jackalman answered.

"I don’t think Lion-O’s going to be able to hold Cheetara much longer," Panthro observed. "She’s struggling pretty hard. Be ready to get Tygra and Alluro out of their way if they start to move."

"Oh yeah, someone should go get Chilla sometime," Kat suddenly remembered.

"You find the oddest times to think of these things," Panthro remarked.

At that point, Bengali raced into the control room. "You okay, Lion-O?"

"Do I look okay?" Lion-O demanded. Cheetara was fighting him hard and it was all he could to prevent her from breaking loose.

"Never fear, I’m here," the white tiger responded. "Snarf, see if you can hold one of her arms steady."

Snarf grabbed an arm and hung on as Bengali produced a hypodermic and injected a sedative. Slowly, Cheetara’s struggles began to subside. After a short period of time, she heaved a great sigh and went limp. And as Cheetara went limp, Alluro and Tygra awakened.

"Wow." Alluro rubbed his head and looked around. "Remind me to never try that one again."

"Not a problem," Tygra grumbled as he struggled to his feet. "I think I can do that for you."

"What happened to you guys?" Panthro shouted.

"Ouch, don’t yell." Tygra massaged his forehead. "Massive headache setting in."

"Sorry. What happened?" Panthro asked again, softer this time.

Alluro shrugged. "Couldn’t really tell you. But we definitely made contact. In fact, we were all locked up in one mind for a while."

"Not really," Tygra corrected. "We were connected to Cheetara’s mind, but we were pulling it towards us. And I think that’s what triggered this reaction." Tygra staggered a little and leaned up against a wall to brace himself.

"What do you mean, ‘pulling it towards us’?" Wiley Kat asked.

"Wherever we are, they aren’t," Tygra explained.

"Oh, clear as mud now. Thank you very much," Jackalman sneered.

"And Cheetara’s mind almost crossed into our world," Tygra finished, completely ignoring the mutant. "For a while, we were all merging together in the middle. It was kind of interesting."

"Interesting is something of an understatement," Alluro grumbled. "I think I’ll sleep the day out now."

"Can someone go get Chilla and Ma-Mutt now?" Kat asked. "I’d feel better if everyone in this is all together."

"Ma-Mutt?" Jackalman asked.

"It seems he has the same problem we do," Tygra answered.

"This is going a little too far, isn’t it?" Panthro asked. "The mutants and Lunatacs are one thing. But Ma-Mutt? Isn’t this some trick of Mumm-Ra’s?"

"If it is," Alluro reasoned from his position on the floor, "then Mumm-Ra knows what happened to us. He knows how to duplicate the effect with Ma-Mutt and probably how to reverse it. If it isn’t a trick, then maybe we can use Ma-Mutt to ask for Mumm-Ra’s help in solving this."

"If we can ever get his attention," Kat added.

"Oh, we’ve got Cheetara’s attention," Tygra reassured them. "What she makes of us is something else. Go get Chilla and Ma-Mutt," he instructed Panthro. "From now on, let’s try and all stay together. If someone finds a solution, we can’t afford to be separated."

"I’ll enjoy seeing a solution to death," Jackalman muttered.

* * * *

Vultureman softly whistled as his latest scans of the canyon were completed. "Now that’s something you don’t see everyday. I wonder how far that can be followed?"

Behind him, Monkian gave out a grunt and a loud snore. Sprawled on a chair beside the door, Slithe murmured something and stirred slightly. Vultureman tried to pretend they didn’t exist and concentrated on the scans.

"Bingo." His hands flew over the keys, directing the computer to single out one sensor recording and display it on the main screen. "That’s it," he whispered. "That has to be it."

Following the reading, Vultureman began to trace its course beginning from the time of the Thundrillium fight. "And even separating. Circling. Coalescing. Speeding. Adjusting to wind currents. Air streams adjusting to it. That has to be it. But why there?" Vultureman puzzled over his sensor readings. "Why didn’t he come this way? Unless…" Vultureman’s fingers flew over the keys, sending more commands to the computer. As more readings started to come back, a smile slowly twisted Vultureman’s face and he chuckled softly. "Now that’s funny." He turned around to his sleeping companions. "Awwwk, Slithe! I think I’ve found Jackalman and our missing Skycutter."

Slithe grumbled something and lifted sleepy eyes. "What did you say?"

"I said, I’ve found Jackalman and the Skycutter!"

Slithe lumbered out of his chair, tripped over Monkian, and eventually ended up next to Vultureman and his new scanner. "Where?"

"In Cat’s Lair. At least, that’s where Jackalman, awwwk, is. The Skycutter is about two miles away from Cat’s Lair, but it’s returning to it."

"I knew it! Those stupid Cats did take him prisoner. We’ll show them a thing or two, yesss?"

"Slithe, wait a minute. I don’t think the Thundercats have, awwwk, taken him prisoner at all. I think something else has happened. I found him, but only by using something entirely different from what I would normally use to find something. I found him by reading exact displacements in air. As far as anything else goes, Jackalman doesn’t exist. Neither does the Skycutter."

Slithe’s eyes narrowed. "Explain yourself, bird."

"If Jackalman were standing in the same room we’re in, we wouldn’t be able to see him, hear him, or in any other way sense him. Awwwk, if he touched us, we wouldn’t feel him. In this world, he has no real presence except for the fact that he’s still displacing air. The same goes for the Skycutter. And I’ve found others with the same readings. Judging from their shapes and displacement, I’d say the, awwwk, same thing has happened to Tygra, Panthro, a Thunderkitten, Alluro, Chilla, and something smaller I haven’t identified yet." A sly grin crept over Vultureman’s face. "The Thundercats are down by three players and don’t want to admit it."

Slithe shook his head slowly, trying to take it all in. "And what does that mean for usss? How did this happen? Can we fix it? How did you find thisss?"

"The last question is easiest. I picked the spot, awwwk, where I last had the position of the Skycutter. Because of my new programming and upgraded computer system, I also had everything else from that area recorded. And after trying everything else, awwwk, I finally found a reading of air pressure. Where the Skycutter currently is, there is no air pressure. Something else is occupying that stop. And that something fits the profile of the Skycutter exactly. As for the rest of it, I, awwwk, don’t know. We need to contact Jackalman and get his version."

"What’s going on, hoo, hoo?" Monkian asked as he sat up slowly and joined the other two mutants.

"I don’t think you could comprehend any of it," Vultureman sneered.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" the simian demanded.

"Monkian," Slithe interrupted, "get Cat’s Lair on communications. Tell them we have proof that Jackalman is within Cat’s Lair and we demand that they allow us entry to retrieve him."

Monkian stared at his leader. "I don’t think they’re just going to say yes, Slithe."

"Do it anyway. I’ll be there shortly. Vultureman, shut down and follow."

* * * *

Luna and Amok were on watch when an unexpected visitor sauntered into the control room of Skytomb. Luna was so startled she nearly toppled off Amok. "Mumm-Ra! What do you want?"

"My dog. Where is he?"

Once again, Luna was completely dumbfounded. "You mean Ma-Mutt? Why would we have your stinky old mongrel?"

Mumm-Ra the Ever Living glowered at the Lunatac. "Watch yourself, weakling. Never forget whom you address."

"As if that was possible," Luna grumbled. "Couldn’t you leave the death-and-decay smell at home?" Mumm-Ra roared and a burst of energy shattered a control panel to Luna’s right. "Hey, watch it!"

"If anyone watches anything, I think it should be you," Mumm-Ra growled. "And I would advise you to watch your tongue. Now, where is Ma-Mutt?"

"We don’t have him. Why would we?"

"The Ancient Spirits of Evil can’t find him. The Thundercats can’t hide anything from the Evil Ones, the mutants can’t, and I doubt you could either. But you have odd powers I have yet to completely research and it may be that you could hide something from the Ancient Spirits. And you are the very last possibility. Now, where is my dog?"

"You came to us because your old ghosts can’t find your dog?" Luna demanded.

"Amok not have, Amok not have," Amok supplied.

"There, even he knows we don’t have Ma-Mutt," Luna smirked.

But Mumm-Ra was far from satisfied. To show his anger, he fried a few more control panels. This brought RedEye and TugMug charging into the control room. "What is this?" TugMug exclaimed.

"One angry mummy," RedEye observed.

"WHERE IS MA-MUTT?" Mumm-Ra roared.

"Ma-Mutt?" TugMug shook his head in confusion. "Don’t you have him?"

"Wait a minute," RedEye interrupted. "As long as you’re here, maybe you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions I happen to have. Do you know where Chilla and Alluro are?"

"Did they finally leave this motley group?" Mumm-Ra sneered. "Then they’re the first to show hints of intellect."

"No one talks that way in my control room!" Luna shrieked.

"And what do you propose to do about it?" Mumm-Ra laughed.

"Wait!" RedEye shouted. This caught everyone by surprise as RedEye didn’t shout that often. "How about a trade? Chilla and Alluro for Ma-Mutt."

"So you do have him," Mumm-Ra growled.

"No, but we’ll find him. You provide Chilla and Alluro, and we’ll provide Ma-Mutt."

"You really don’t have him?"

"How many times do we have to tell you?" TugMug demanded. "We don’t have your stupid puppy."

Mumm-Ra considered this quietly. "I don’t know where Chilla and Alluro are, and I don’t care. They are your responsibility. But you will help me look for Ma-Mutt."

"Why should we help you do anything?" Luna screamed.

"Because if you don’t, you’ll find I can be very unpleasant when I choose."

At that point, the communications beeped, and Luna was spared the responsibility of thinking of a suitable response while she answered. "Go ahead," she grumbled.

"Luna, are you busy right now?" Slithe’s large head appeared on the main screen. He noticed Mumm-Ra in the control room. "Oh, I suppose you are."

"He’s just leaving," TugMug said. "What do you want?"

"I am staying until I get what I need," Mumm-Ra announced.

"No, you’re leaving right now," Luna ordered.

"Excuse me, but thisss will only take a moment," Slithe interrupted. "We’ve found Alluro, Chilla, and Jackalman."

All the Lunatacs swerved to the picture of Slithe. "You’ve what?" RedEye demanded.

Slithe gloated. "Not so beneath you now, are we? Maybe we have something you want, yesss?"

"Cut the talk and tell us where they are!" Luna shrieked in a voice that grew shriller with every word.

"So you acknowledge mutant superiority?" the reptilian asked.

"We acknowledge that you occasionally have your uses," TugMug grumbled. "Now tell us where they are!"

Before Slithe could answer, Vultureman suddenly stuck his head into the screen. "What’s Mumm-Ra doing there?"

"Looking for his little lost puppy," RedEye sneered. "Now are you going to tell us or do we have to—" A stray lightning bolt from Mumm-Ra almost took RedEye’s head off. The Lunatac rolled backward in surprise.

"Ma-Mutt’s missing? That’s great!" Vultureman exclaimed.

"What’s so great about it, bird?" Mumm-Ra growled.

"No, I don’t mean that’s great for you. I mean it explains an anomalous sensor reading. I know where he is!"

Mumm-Ra was completely silent. After a while, he leaned forward and stared at the monitor. "You know where he is?"

"Well, kind of. Or, what we think is Ma-Mutt. I mean, awwwk, what I think is Ma-Mutt. No one else around here can really tell what—" Vultureman shot backward as Slithe punched him out of the way.

"Now, we know where they are, yesss? What do we get in return for telling you where they are?" Slithe licked his lips in anticipation.

"Your grimy hides," Mumm-Ra roared.

"You said you’d also found Jackalman," TugMug broke in. "In return for telling us where Chilla and Alluro are, we’ll help you get Jackalman."

"We’ll what?" Luna shouted.

"They’re probably all in the same place, right Slithe?" TugMug asked, completely disregarding Luna’s protests.

Slithe was about to say something when Monkian answered for him. "Yup, they are. And we need help getting to them, hoo, hoo."

"Idiot!" Slithe raged.

"Deal," Luna said, seeing her chance to regain control of the situation. "We’ll get them all together. But I don’t want you mutants messing anything up! I’m in charge here."

"I beg to differ," Mumm-Ra interrupted. "I am in charge. Now, where are they?"

Two cries of dismay could be heard behind Slithe on the monitor. To his credit, Slithe managed to keep a poker face, but obviously had qualms about working with Mumm-Ra. "We are all together on this, yesss?"

"Yes. Now where must we go?"

"They’re in Cat’s Lair. We must attack it."

"What?! Those stupid Thundercats told us they didn’t have Chilla or Alluro!" Luna was turning a bright shade of purple with her anger.

"Fools," Slithe cackled. "And you believed them? They said that to turn away an attack. They’ve lost three of their own. They’re missing Panthro, Tygra, and one of the Thunderkittens. They’re helpless!"

Mumm-Ra laughed. "Then the time is ripe. We attack! The Thundercats will be finished once and for all!"

* * * *

"Cheetara?"

Through a field of haze, Cheetara tried to answer to the gentle voice. Almost as if from a distance, she felt something cool and wet placed on her forehead. There was a prick on her upper arm. Some kind of injection, she decided.

"Cheetara? Come on, wake up. Come back to us."

Whose voice did that belong to? Pumyra. What was Pumyra doing at Cat’s Lair? Was someone sick? Cheetara tried to respond, but her body wasn’t obeying her mind. It was as if they were in two separate places.

"How’s she doing?"

That was Lion-O’s voice. He sounded concerned. Cheetara always felt uncomfortable when a note of uncertainty crept into Lion-O’s voice. One of his greatest strengths as a leader was the ability to make a decision and stick to it without wavering. It gave them all confidence. Lion-O could make the most difficult problem sound as though the answer was obvious. But that wasn’t the Lion-O she heard. The Lion-O that Cheetara heard now was a worried one. It was one who didn’t know what the next step was.

"I don’t know. According to the scanners, she’s awake but she isn’t responding."

Of course I’m awake, Cheetara thought. Pumyra sounded worried, too. Deciding she’d better do something to prove she was okay, Cheetara concentrated on commanding her body. And bit by bit, she felt herself drawing together. But the strain was immense. Cheetara wondered what had happened to her.

"Look, she’s moving!"

That was Wiley Kit. She knew. She could see movement. Cheetara tried again to raise her arm. But if felt so far away. She had to get closer to it. Yes, that was it. Closer. Closer. And something suddenly clicked. She felt her mind and body merge. Once more, Cheetara was whole. She opened her eyes in amazement.

"Cheetara?" Pumyra was bending over her in concern. "Are you all right?"

"I don’t know." The cheetah slowly sat up on her bed in the Lair’s sick bay. "I could hear you talking, but I couldn’t move. It was like my mind and my body were two separate entities. And then I brought them together."

"Rrrrr, that doesn’t sound right."

Cheetara looked down at Snarf. "No, it doesn’t. But that’s what was it felt like."

"What happened to you in the control room?" Lion-O asked.

Cheetara pressed her fingers to her temples. She could almost feel a strange pressure there. "I don’t know. Everything was normal and then I felt a mental presence. No," she corrected, shaking her head. "I felt two of them. Two minds with entirely different psychic powers. But working in conjunction to contact me."

The other Thundercats in the room stared at her. "What do you mean?" Kit asked. "What do you mean by a presence?"

"Right here." Cheetara massaged her temples. "One of them was right here. That one didn’t last long. I think the strain of making mental contact was too much to maintain a physical contact. The other one was working through something from a distance."

"Did they tell you anything?" Lion-O asked in amazement.

"Verbally, no. But one was trying to give me an image of something. But it was so blurry, I couldn’t make out the details. And then I was suddenly pulled out of place. I was pulled out of this world and I was hovering in some kind of other plane. And the other two minds were trapped with me. I don’t remember what happened after that. Both of them seemed to realize what was happening, but they couldn’t do a lot about it. They were both too tired from making contact. I had to sever it. But I didn’t know how. They wanted to tell me, but they couldn’t. I had to do it on my own."

"Did you?" Snarf asked.

Cheetara shook her head. "I can’t remember. Everything suddenly faded."

"That was probably Bengali’s sedative," Pumyra mused.

From a corner of the room, an invisible Wiley Kat watched all this in amazement. "So it did work," he whispered softly. "But not well enough."

While the other Thundercats continued their inquiry and came up with nothing substantial, Wiley Kat trotted to the entrance of sick bay. Thankfully, it was propped open or Kat would have had a problem. "Tygra!" he shouted up to the control room. "Come here!"

There was a sudden crash behind him and shouts of surprise. Wiley Kat wheeled around to find Cheetara on her feet and trembling. "Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Lion-O asked.

"Maybe I’d better sit down," Cheetara murmured.

Wiley Kat took a few hesitant steps toward the shaken cheetah, trying not to get his hopes up too high. Behind him, he heard Tygra’s footsteps.

"You called?" the tiger asked as he approached the doorway.

"There!" Cheetara shouted. "You must have heard that."

Tygra stepped into sickbay in astonishment. "What’s going on?"

"She can hear us!" Kat was almost bouncing with excitement. "And your mind thing with Alluro worked. She remembers the two of you!"

"They’re here!" Cheetara exclaimed.

"Who’s here?" Pumyra demanded. "Cheetara, please lie down. We need to figure out what’s happening."

"Cheetara, can you hear us?" Tygra asked.

"Where are you?" Cheetara cried.

"Get the others," Tygra instructed. Wiley Kat hurried out of the room.

"Tygra? Where are you?"

There was a collective gasp at the mention of Tygra’s name. "Right here, Cheetara. I’m right in front of you. Can you see me?"

Cheetara looked straight at Tygra, but she looked right through him. "No," she whispered. "I can’t."

"What’s wrong with her?" Snarf asked.

"Cheetara, lie down," Lion-O ordered.

"But he’s here! And so was Wiley Kat."

"Wiley Kat!" Kit leaped off her stool and raced to Cheetara’s bedside. "Where’s my brother?"

"Cheetara, you aren’t helping anything," Pumyra pleaded. "Please lie back down."

"Cheetara!" Tygra called. "Listen to them for right now. Just relax. The rest of us will be here in a minute and you can hear us all."

Cheetara nodded reluctantly and eased herself back down on the bed.

"That’s better," Pumyra told her, a note of relief escaping into her voice. "Now let me give you something to help you rest and we’ll—"

"No! I can’t sleep now," Cheetara interrupted.

"Where’s my brother?" Kit pressed.

"Kit, go see if Bengali needs help in the control room," Lion-O broke in.

"But my brother!" Kit shouted.

"Wiley Kat’s on his way back," Tygra told Cheetara.

"He’s on his way back," Cheetara relayed to Kit. "When he gets here, I’ll let you know."

"You will not," Pumyra argued. "Right now you’re going to get some sleep."

"What’s going on?" Chilla demanded as she walked into the room. "First you leave me stranded with Ma-Mutt and the Skycutter, then Panthro dumps me out before we get to Cat’s Lair because the Skycutter’s low on fuel, then—"

"It’s Chilla!" Cheetara pushed Pumyra’s restraining arm back and sat up again. "Tygra, what’s she doing here?"

"Long story," Tygra answered.

"Cheetara!" Pumyra pleaded.

"Somebody do something, snarf!"

"She can hear us?" Alluro raced into the room with Jackalman, Panthro, and Wiley Kat on his heels.

"Who’s that?" Cheetara was completely eluding Pumyra’s attempts to restrain her.

"Alluro, Panthro, Jackalman, and Kat," Tygra filled in. "Where’d you guys leave Ma-Mutt?"

"I left him tied to the Skycutter," Jackalman answered. "He’s almost chewed his way through your whip and I am not watching him for another minute. It’s someone else’s turn."

"Why did you let him chew on my whip?" Tygra demanded.

"What are you doing with Ma-Mutt?" Cheetara cried.

"Ma-Mutt?" Lion-O asked.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Jackalman returned. "And I would chew it, too, if it was tying me up. It can’t be comfortable."

"I didn’t hear you give any better ideas," Chilla scoffed.

"Cheetara, I don’t think you should be sitting," Snarf told her.

"Why are you all here?" Cheetara’s voice was weak with amazement. "Why can’t I see you?"

"Cheetara, I hate to do this but you aren’t giving me any choice," Pumyra said as she picked up a hypodermic.

"No!" Cheetara leaped off the bed. "Wait, let me find out what’s going on."

"Cheetara, you need to calm down," Panthro ordered.

"It’s Panthro!" Cheetara whirled around, trying to see him.

"Tell Kit I’m here!" Wiley Kat requested.

"Kit, your brother says he’s here."

"Where?" Kit demanded.

Lion-O suddenly moved behind Cheetara and lifted her off the ground, his strong arms effectively restricting her struggles. "Cheetara, stop it! What’s gotten into you?"

"But they’re here! I can hear them talking."

"Cheetara, you may have hit your head. Let us run some more tests," Pumyra begged.

"Why can only Cheetara hear us?" Wiley Kat asked.

"I don’t know, but I’m guessing it had something to do with our little mental contact earlier," Tygra answered.

"Where are you?" Cheetara cried.

"She can’t see us?" Alluro asked.

"But she can hear us," Jackalman said. "I told you we’re dead."

"We are not dead!" Tygra insisted. "How does that prove we’re dead?"

"Ghosts are more easily heard than seen," Chilla explained.

"Since when?" Panthro demanded.

"Tygra, are you still there?" Cheetara asked as Lion-O was hauling her back to her bed.

"Right beside you," Tygra reassured her.

Cheetara looked around, but still couldn’t see him. Lion-O had her back on the bed again and was holding her arm steady as Pumyra readied the injection. "You’re not really gone, are you? You’re not dead, are you?"

"And Kat, too! Ask about him," Kit added.

"No, I don’t believe so. None of us are. There are some here who disagree, but no. We’re not dead," Tygra answered.

"Whatever," Jackalman muttered.

"Why don’t you rest for right now," Panthro soothed. "We’ll be here when you awaken."

Cheetara nodded at the empty space that was talking to her. "I think I’ll sleep now," she told Pumyra.

"Good, because I just gave you something that will knock you into next week," the puma responded.

"And Kit, Tygra says they’re not dead."

"Sleep," Lion-O ordered.

Cheetara closed her eyes wearily but they popped open when the Lair’s alarms started going off. "Now what?!"

Lion-O had already rushed to an intercom and was trying to get the control room’s attention. Snarf had taken shelter under a portable bed, Pumyra was shoving anything breakable away from the edges of shelves, and Kit was sitting frozen with the information she’d just received.

"Bengali, what’s happening up there?" Lion-O waited for an answer, but all he got was static. "Bengali!"

More static. Everyone waited while Lion-O fiddled with the controls. And suddenly the static cleared away while Bengali’s voice came over loud and clear.

"We’re under attack!"

* * * *

"They’re what?!" Snarfer raced to a remote computer and tapped into communications.

"Under attack," Lynx-O repeated. "An allied offensive by mutants, Lunatacs, and Mumm-Ra."

"But why? Why now? Snarfer, snarfer, it doesn’t make any sense. Aren’t they short a few people, too?"

Lynx-O took a moment to answer Snarfer. "According to the sensors, you’re right. They’re still short some participants. But apparently, they’ve figured out we’re down by three, as well. And then add Mumm-Ra into the mix, we may well lose this fight."

Snarfer stared at the old Thundercat in amazement. "What are we going to do? We’ve got to help them! We can’t just sit around here!"

"Patience," Lynx-O ordered. "Nothing is gained by panic or haste."

"Well I don’t see us gaining anything by just—"

"Hush!" Snarfer was startled into silence when Lynx-O raised his voice. Lynx-O’s nimble fingers continued to fly over the Braille board, making minute adjustments in the communications. "Bengali, are you still there?"

Snarfer could hear only static, and then it began to clear away as Lynx-O continued making changes. "They’re—communications—through—" Bengali’s voice was hard to hear and in the background, alarms were making it even more difficult to discern the tiger’s raspy baritone.

"Bengali, I didn’t copy that. Please repeat!" More static. "Bengali, do you copy?"

"Tower of—you copy—blocking communications—we can’t—it’s too—Thundranium cannons are—" Bengali disappeared in another blast of static.

"What’s wrong?" Snarfer demanded

"I’ve lost him again," Lynx-O answered. "I don’t think I can get him back this time. Something very powerful is blocking our communications."

Snarfer ran a quick diagnostics, but everything checked out. "It’s nothing on our end," he told Lynx-O.

"My guess is that this is mutant work." Lynx-O fell silent and bowed his head.

Snarfer waited as long as he could without bursting. After about three seconds, he finally blurted, "What are we going to do now?"

"I’m thinking," Lynx-O answered with a note of irritation in his voice. "Before we act," Lynx-O finally said, "we need to establish communication. We need to know exactly what is going on and what we’re walking into. It could be a trap. I would be surprised if it wasn’t. And until we definitely hear from someone, one way or another, we’re going to seal the Tower of Omens."

Snarfer stared at the lynx in shock. "You mean we’re just going to let them fight off all our worst enemies at once by themselves? We can’t do that. We’re Thundercats!"

"If Lion-O summons us, we will go. Until then, we stay. It does us no good to rush into the situation. And Lion-O won’t summon us unless our participation will make a definitive difference in the attack. If there is no chance of victory, we will be their only hope. We must remain free."

Snarfer turned to watch the computer in front of him. "But what about Uncle Snarf? What about him?"

"He’s been in harsh situations. He’ll survive." But then, as Lynx-O thought about it, Panthro, Tygra, and Wiley Kat had also been in many dangerous situations. A simple fight with a few Lunatacs and mutants shouldn’t have been their demise either. In Lynx-O’s mind, the fight was beginning to look a little worse.

* * * *

Lion-O, Pumyra, and Wiley Kit had raced out of sickbay, heading for the control room. The others had watched them go and Cheetara had slowly drifted into dreamless slumber.

"Now what?" Kat finally asked.

"Why are you attacking us?" Panthro demanded of the mutant and Lunatacs, a menacing note in his voice making their skin crawl.

"How should we know?" Jackalman growled. "It’s not like we’re part of it."

"They probably think we’re holding the three of you prisoner," Tygra reasoned, trying to calm everyone down.

"And you don’t even know who’s attacking you," Alluro added. "You idiots have made so many enemies that there could be a separate day for each one of them to attack you."

The Lair shuddered under their feet and the lights flickered. "That was the impact of a Thundranium cannon," Panthro said quietly, glaring at Jackalman.

"Don’t look at me," the mutant snarled back. "You brought it on yourself."

"How did we do that?" Kat demanded.

"By capturing me and bringing me here," Jackalman explained. "I would think anyone could have figured that out."

"Wait," Chilla interrupted. "You’re saying the mutants know you’re here and are trying to rescue you?"

Jackalman stuttered for a minute before answering. "Okay, maybe not. But it was a good reason for a while."

"But he does have a point," Alluro suddenly spoke up. "Why aren’t the mutants attacking Mumm-Ra or the Lunatacs? They’re just as likely as the Thundercats to hold Jackalman prisoner."

The Lair suddenly shook again and sparks of electricity went flying. "They’re not attacking the Lunatacs, because the Lunatacs are attacking the Lair with the mutants," Panthro growled. "That was RedEye."

"You’re right," Chilla agreed. But her voice was unusually thoughtful. "We’ve allied with the mutants. And we’re attacking the Thundercats. But RedEye and TugMug would have never agreed to attack Cat’s Lair unless there was a good reason for doing so."

"And a really good reason could be the rescue of their teammates! They might know we’re here," Tygra concluded excitedly.

"Guys?" Kat suddenly piped up. No one noticed him.

"They might know what’s happened to us," Alluro said, feeding off of Tygra’s excitement.

"Guys?" Kat repeated louder. He still got no response.

"They might know how to reverse it!" Chilla crowed.

"Guys!" Kat shouted.

"They might finally accept the fact that we’re dead," Jackalman grumped.

"Help!"

Startled, everyone turned to the faint sound of Wiley Kat shouting. "Kat? What’s happening?" Panthro demanded.

Wiley Kat was starting to fade from their sight. He was clutching his chest and struggling for air. His mouth formed the word "help", but this time, no sound came out. He fell to his knees.

"Kat!" Panthro grabbed the Thunderkitten by the shoulders. At Panthro’s touch, the kitten started to fade back into existence. He gasped sharply for air.

"Thanks."

"What’s going on?" Chilla demanded, her pale complexion turning even paler.

"Wait," Tygra ordered. "Gauge your breathing. Is it harder than it was a few minutes ago."

There was silence as everyone concentrated on what used to be the simple act of inhaling and exhaling. It had been a strain long enough that they’d become used to it. But Alluro started to nod and Panthro joined him. "You’re right," the panther whispered. "It is harder."

"What does that mean?" Wiley Kat moaned.

"Whatever happened isn’t over," Tygra answered quietly. "We’re not quite through with some of our little changes. But I don’t think the next step is going to be very pleasant."

Continued

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