Chapter Text
From the Past of Third Earth, Part Three:
Golden Queen, Chapter One
Wily Kit sniffed slightly in the warm morning air, not bothering to open her eyes as she shifted sleepily on top of her sleeping bag. "Whatever you're cooking smells good, Kat," she muttered, wrapping her arms around her pillow.
"I'm not cooking," he replied from behind her, sounding even more tired than she was. "I thought you were."
"No." She rolled onto her stomach, intending to go right back to sleep—then her eyes snapped open as it hit her what he'd said. Sitting up at the same moment he did, the twins stared at each other in shock. Both fully awake, they were able to determine someone was indeed cooking just outside their tent.
They threw open the entrance flaps, but froze as a cold voice snapped, "Stay where you are, Wily Kit, Wily Kat." Sitting next to the camp fire, opposite the tent, was a young woman with short brown hair, wearing an impractical dress done up in shades of orange, a burette perched precariously on top of her head, her orange-brown eyes staring at them dangerously as she pointed an unfamiliar weapon at them. "If either of you get any closer, you'll know what it's like to have forty-thousand volts of electricity shock your system."
"Seems strange for you to cook our food and then threaten us," Wily Kit said blandly. As the young woman took a sip of coffee, she added sarcastically, "Help yourself."
"I don't trust you," the woman replied, putting the mug down. "I've been following you and have yet to figure out your motives." She spotted Wily Kat attempt to move slowly towards his backpack, pointing the weapon at him with a grim smile. "Go ahead," she mocked. "Pull out your tracker."
He did so, trying not to make any sudden moves as he checked it, then handed it to his sister. Wily Kit stared at it for a moment, wondering why it had never occurred to her one or more of MoonGlo's friends might be less than friendly. "So which Color Kid are you, then?"
"You can call me Phantom Blip—you have been since you started this little trip of yours, anyway." Her left eye ticked slightly. "My turn to ask a question. How do you know about the Color Kids?"
"MoonGlo told us." The woman's face softened slightly, but she didn't lower her weapon. Hoping to at least decrease the hostility, Kit added, "We've been looking for all of the Color Kids so we can send you home. This isn't your dimension, and I'll bet you're just as uncomfortable here as the others are."
After a moment of surprised silence, Phantom Blip put her weapon aside. "I will trust you, but only for MoonGlo's sake, and only as far as I feel is necessary." Picking up her coffee again, her expression became gentle, almost as if she would never threaten harm on anyone. "I'd thought that might've been her with Lion-O… I didn't want to get my hopes up." She glanced up as the two hesitantly left the tent, eyes suddenly shifting to a slightly brighter shade of orange. "Was that Rainbow Brite she and Tygra rescued from the Black Pyramid?"
"It… it was." Kit slowly sat down, every mental alarm going off in her head at once. "How long have you been following us?"
The resulting smirk was devoid of any humor. "Ever since your ship crash-landed on Third Earth, Wily Kit."
"That's not exactly the action of a friend," Wily Kat started to say, only to be interrupted by the woman's harsh laughter.
"Oh, I'm not your friend," she chortled, her expression suddenly becoming slightly evil. "Would a friend tell the enemy when anointment trials for an unarmed youth are being held?" At their look of horror, she laughed again.
Kit grabbed her brother's wrist before he could jump to his feet in anger. "Why? Why would you do that?!"
Phantom Blip sneered. "It gets boring on this planet."
"It certainly didn't sweeten your attitude," Kit told her, somewhat disgusted the only response she received was a smirk. "Is there anything else you care for us to pass on to MoonGlo and Rainbow Brite?"
"No. I will speak to them myself without any of you nearby." Putting down her coffee, she picked up her weapon and stood. "Who have you found already?"
"You know we've got MoonGlo and Rainbow Brite with us, and we know where Shy Violet, Indigo, Patty O'Green, Buddy Blue, and Red Butler are. We know where Stormy is, too, we're just not sure we can get to her. We're still looking for—well, since we technically found you, there's only two left."
Phantom Blip's arm snapped out, pointing in the general direction of the ocean. "You might want to try the Berserker Kingdom." She shot them one last sour look, as if unwillingly telling them "Good Luck". "If you find every last one of us… I'll give you a lip-lock you'll never forget. Both of you. Enjoy your breakfast." With that, she spun on her heel and stalked off, not once bothering to look back, orange skirt fluttering behind her.
"What a bitch," Kat snorted, crossing his arms irritably. "She didn't even bother to tell us who she was."
"Rainbow Brite or MoonGlo can probably figure it out from physical description," Kit reassured him, taking a deep breath to try and sooth her anger. "So far, all of the Color Kids seem to be immediately recognizable from that alone."
"Should we even trust Phantom Blip's telling the truth?"
"Well, she was honest about not being a friend of ours, and she did just imply she would trust us only because of MoonGlo. It doesn't make me happy, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt." She looked out towards the east, where Phantom Blip had pointed. "Kat… I don't want to go into the Berserker Kingdom with just us two. I'd feel way more comfortable with backup."
He frowned. "Agreed, especially since we started our search at the beach. I'd accuse that woman of deliberately making us backtrack to waste time, except she did seem genuinely surprised to hear we were looking for the others." He glanced at the fare already served on the plates and sitting by the fire to keep warm. "I wonder if she poisoned our food."
"After threatening to shock us with forty-thousand volts of electricity? I get the impression poisoning is too subtle for her; she'd probably want to watch us suffer."
"Is it really a good idea to bother Sincline?" Jackalman asked nervously, following close on Slythe's heels. "I mean, I know he said he wanted to be informed immediately when Vulture-Man found what he wanted, but he isn't exactly—"
"Do you want to be the one that explains to him why we didn't follow his orders?" the reptilian queried back. "He's made it crystal clear he's in charge, he's dangerous enough to fight Mumm-Ra one-on-one and come back alive—something only Lion-O's managed before this—and quite frankly the only reason he hasn't killed any of us yet is because he knows he needs us."
"You're still hoping he'll get himself killed, aren't you?"
"I can dream, can't I?"
"I don't know, Slythe… our raids were never as successful as they are now. Every time we've tangled with the Thundercats over the past six months, it feels less like we've been running away with our tails between our legs and more like we're parting in mutual understanding we're all even."
Slythe stopped to turn a glare on the jackal. "Are you chickening out as usual, coward?"
Much to his irritation, Jackalman didn't back off, instead crossing his arms and responding, "No, I just enjoy not getting my ass kicked by the Thundercats on a regular basis anymore." His ears twitched, his sharper hearing picking up something before the reptilian did. "The duchess is being shrill again. Sounds like the slaves expect her to deal with the prince."
Slythe rolled his eyes. "Can you blame them? I'm convinced the prince secretly uses them for target practice, and they think she gives a crap." He continued heading towards the prince's room, wincing as Duchess Ravenwaves rounded a corner, dragged towards the stairwell by a white-faced slave. Her voice could be irritatingly high-pitched when she was displeased; if she weren't such a pliant little slut, he would've killed her months ago. Glancing at her for an instant, he turned his attention back to the stairs, stopping in shock at what he saw.
"This better be good!" she was shrieking at the slave, her many violet skirts fluttering around her legs as she stalked behind it. "I don't appreciate being woken up from my nap, especially after such a busy morning!" She didn't stop her strident monologue until she was only a step behind Slythe, no doubt shutting up for the same reason Slythe had stopped moving.
Blood was oozing down the stairs. While this wasn't an unusual occurrence since Sincline's arrival at the castle, it was surprising to see so much of the body fluid nearly an entire floor down from his bedroom.
"Well, I suppose this is a problem," Ravenwaves sighed. "How many did he gut this time?" Slythe turned around to see the slave whisper something to her, causing her to grimace. She looked at the reptilian and asked blandly, "Slime, we're due for another slave-raid."
"Again?" Jackalman whined. "We did one a month ago!"
Slythe looked back at the blood and followed it upwards. The further up the stairs it went, the more of it there was. Calculation was never one of his better traits, but he figured he was still pretty good at estimating how much blood one body could produce… and that was a lot of blood coming down the stairs. "Just get it organized, Jackalman. I'll take the prince killing slaves over killing any of us." As the jackal left, complaining to himself, the reptilian threw over his shoulder, "Looks like you and I are headed to the same place, wench."
"Duchess."
"Whatever. Ladies first."
"There's a lady around here?" she quipped with a snort as she pulled her lengthy black hair into a tail and wrapped it into a bun on top of her head. Hiking her skirts up to her knees with a displeased guttural noise, she proceeded to fearlessly ascend the blood-covered stairs, followed by the mutant.
By the time they got to the prince's bedroom door, there was so much blood gushing from the closed portal the floor was barely visible. Ravenwaves slipped several times, finally having to hold her many skirts in one hand and use the other to brace herself against the wall. Slythe, having much wider feet and more weight to him than the duchess, didn't have any difficulty walking through the mess, and was easily able to walk right up to the door and knock on it. "Enter," its occupant ordered sternly.
The carnage strewn about the bedroom was quite fascinating; the bodies each only had one wound, the most damaging being simple decapitation, indicating the prince was perfectly content to just kill and be done with it. He reclined on his bed, not a single drop of blood on his black-and-light blue outfit, white gloves, or ivory hair, staring up at the ceiling with a closed expression, something he did every so often with no explanation.
"Seriously, Your Highness?" Ravenwaves snapped, entering the room before Slythe. "Do you have no consideration for the only person who tries to keep this building tidy? Not only do you tend to make an enormous mess, you make it using the bodies of the slaves that help me keep the place clean!"
He didn't move from his position, only his gaze turning to look at her. His bright yellow eyes with the snake-like slits were piercing in their ferocity. "I am devoid of the galactic empire I was supposed to inherit," he stated coldly, "stolen away from my own time and enemies, and left to make-do on a backwater planet with the dregs of my people's descendants. I think I'm entitled to a temper tantrum once in a while."
"If you want things to kill, can you just tell me already? I've got a list of the little shits we can do without—my problem is you keep butchering the useful ones!"
"Then start sending the problem slaves to serve my needs rather than your useful ones. I care not either way."
She glared at him. "I want that order written down and signed in blood."
"Fetch paper and pen and I'll do so." He smirked. "There's certainly plenty of blood around here at the moment. Might as well make use of it." As she left the room cursing a blue streak quite impressive for a female, the prince's gaze swapped to the reptilian. "I assume you're here for a completely different reason, Slythe."
"Vulture-Man thinks he found what you were looking for," was the quick response. "He says he's sure you'll be—well, not pleased, but content."
Sincline leapt from the bed with a sigh and strode confidently from the room. "I can only imagine. Let's see what he found." Slythe turned to leave, then froze when the prince suddenly snapped, "Wait a minute." The reptilian looked over his shoulder, the tone of voice momentarily causing his blood to run cold. The prince gazed at him intently, his slit yellow eyes almost piercing as he ordered, "Call me a half-breed."
Feeling every muscle in his body seize up in angered fright, the rebellious part of his brain gleefully obeyed the dangerous directive. "You're a half-breed, Sincline."
Sword was drawn and aimed at the reptilian's throat before he could blink, Sincline's face a study of pure fury battling with self-control. He didn't kill Slythe, but he did eventually take a deep breath, sheathe his sword, and exhale as he closed his eyes, "That is correct. I am… a half-breed." He glared over his shoulder at the corpses for a moment before sniffing and walking past the reptilian to enter the hall. "And don't ever speak to me so familiarly again."
Slythe blinked, glancing at the corpses with interest. For a brief moment, he wondered if maybe, just maybe, there was an actual reason the prince had killed so many slaves.
One month earlier…
Rainbow Brite stood there in surprise. One minute she'd felt precious and adored, the next she was alone, half-clothed, in a trashed storage room. Puzzled, she pulled her skirt down and tried to fix the upper part of her dress. Upon realizing the latter wasn't staying up, she glanced over her shoulder and realized he'd ripped the back of it when he'd exposed her breasts.
Speaking of ripping—
She didn't even attempt to fix her panties, just pulling what remained of them down over her legs and holding out the shredded scrap in fascination. She giggled despite herself, amused by the whole thing. "I never knew it could be like that," she sighed, feeling warm and soft inside. "That was absolutely nothing like the other times! My, oh, my, I'd wondered what the big deal was!"
And the colors—
She slowly left the storage room, destroyed panties in one hand, the grin of a cat who stole the cream spreading over her face as she wandered down the hall, humming happily to herself. Now I know, she mused, feeling her face flush as she recalled the tryst. Her hair, no longer confined, was getting into her face again, but she found she didn't care. He'd wanted it down, so she kept it down. Every time, he'd….
She stopped, a sobering thought hitting her. He ran off, though… did I do something wrong? She tried to recall anything she might've said or done to make him react like that, but couldn't come up with anything. The past five months she'd spent getting to know him didn't help, either. She'd been able to tell immediately he was the private sort, and she'd made sure never to pry into anything he wasn't willing to divulge.
As she stood there, now mentally caught somewhere between confusion and apprehension, the sound of someone coming down a nearby hallway caught her attention. It didn't occur to her what she might look like, so when Pumyra appeared around the corner and stared at her in utter shock, the blond couldn't figure out why.
"Rainbow Brite, are you okay?" the puma asked in alarm.
There was no hesitation in her answer. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Remembering the way he had fled afterwards, she thought to herself, Is he okay, though?
Pumyra opened her mouth, then paused as she seemed to change her mind. "You know what? Let's get you back to your room first. Come on." Taking her hand, she led the young woman quickly through the Lair, somehow managing to make sure they didn't come across anyone else.
Stepping into the bathroom to undress as Pumyra rummaged through the wardrobe, Rainbow Brite finally got a good look at herself in the mirror. There were bruise and bite marks across her shoulders and neck, little bloody pinprick points on her thighs and waist from where she'd been clawed, her breasts had red scratches and more bruises on them, and her mouth was swollen from the force of his attention. Her state of attire was even worse than she thought, her outfit barely staying on her… mostly because she was holding it there with one hand. "Wow," she exclaimed, studying herself. "I look like I had the crap beaten out of me."
As she let the ruined ensemble fall to the floor, she noticed Pumyra examining her with a solemn expression, a fresh set of clean clothing draped over her forearm. "Rainbow… who mated with you?"
She fixed the puma with a sharp look, surmising the reason for the Thundercat's apprehension. "He's free," she said, deliberately wording her answer so she could keep him a secret, "and I told him not to stop."
Pumyra looked away for a moment, ticking off her fingers until she only had two left. The anxiety disappeared, but now it was replaced with curiosity. "Alright, so you won't tell me. Where is he, then? He couldn't have at least escorted you back to your room?"
A little relieved she wasn't going to be pressed to reveal her new lover, Rainbow Brite decided to see if she could get, well, some answers. "He ran off, like he was afraid." Scrunching up a little since she feared the answer, she asked, "Did I do something wrong?"
The puma crossed her arms, leveling a stern expression on the young woman. "I'm going to make an assumption: you could tell he was interested but reluctant, and you encouraged him anyway."
Something about the puma's expression made Rainbow Brite feel like she was about to be dressed down. "I'm guessing I probably shouldn't have done that…."
"No, you shouldn't have; it's why you look like crap—the mating triggered tends to be violent and quick. It's a trait unique to our species, and it's not unusual for the male in question to be mortified with himself afterwards. What you did is generally not approved of for a first time, mostly because too many unscrupulous females have used it to their selfish advantages."
Rainbow Brite pondered the way he had acted. She knew she could be pushy, but it hadn't really occurred to her before now such a trait could be problematic on occasion. "I should apologize to him, shouldn't I?"
"At the bare minimum. You clearly didn't know any better, so it should be enough. I also advise backing off the next time he implies you're too encouraging."
"Why would your species develop in such a manner, though? It's kind of… backwards."
The puma sighed as she moved her hands to her hips, clearly wanting to agree but forced to acknowledge the reality nonetheless. "Our species tends to be very objective focused, especially the males, and this includes choosing work over mating. The current working theory is it was a way for females to make sure they could propagate the species. Kind of a 'get over here, get me pregnant, now go back to what you were doing' thing." She added, equally as carefully worded, "Him running away, though… that's not typical." Her eyes half-closed speculatively as she looked off into the distance. "It sounds like the male in question has some trauma he's still trying to get over."
Rainbow Brite blinked, trying to figure out what kind of trauma he could've suffered which would cause him to flee like that. It had to have been something far more personal than just the knowledge of his home world being destroyed and watching his species teeter precariously on the edge of extinction. "Would he tell me if I asked?"
"Well, if he wants you, he should. First give him a few days to get over his embarrassment, though. Then apologize for your actions and gently approach the topic. Be patient, it might take a while before he opens up—and don't hold it against him when he does explain what it is. Leave the past in the past."
Currently….
Rainbow Brite opened her eyes, sighing in frustration at the bright sunlight spilling into the bedroom and over her face. It's hard to be patient with someone who avoids you like the plague, she thought, disentangling herself from the bedsheets and sitting up. "A few days" indeed. More like a few weeks, and the moment I think I can finally get him alone, he disappears.
Sometimes quite literally.
She sniffed in annoyance at her messy bed before tidying it. No matter how well-made it was when she went to sleep, she always seemed to wake up in the middle of a nest, usually with one or more blankets tossed to the floor at some point during the night. This sort of thing didn't happen to her when she was little, so she assumed it was just something she'd learned over the centuries.
Stripping off her pajamas next, she went straight to her wardrobe and pulled out one of the five outfits MoonGlo and Snarf had made for her—all of them exactly alike, much to her personal amusement, and unfortunately making it obvious to a certain intelligent animal that the sixth one had been exposed to… extenuating circumstances. It had taken a fair amount of verbal footwork to explain to Snarf what had happened to the ruined dress and panties without actually telling him what happened, and quite frankly she didn't blame him for not believing her.
Let him continue to think she was a liar. She had no intention of making her Thundercat lover the center of a potential social controversy.
She studied herself in the wall mirror as she dressed, finding it somewhat entertaining how the outfit made her look both like her younger self and an adult. The dress was similar to the frock she used to wear as a child, dark blue with a short skirt, white and red trim, and rainbow-hued gloves to simulate long sleeves. MoonGlo had personally even created a belt which looked a lot like the long-destroyed Rainbow Belt.
For a moment, her thoughts wandered into the darkness living in the back of her mind. It was painful to dwell on how badly she'd failed in protecting the Color Kids and the Sphere of Light. Like a sore tooth, though, there were times when she couldn't help but study it, pressing into the ache to amplify it. There were too many "what if" options which kept occurring to her, immediately followed by "should haves" and "could haves", eventually becoming so overwhelming she couldn't stand to examine them anymore.
Shaking her head, she returned her thoughts to her Thundercat. Alright, so clearly he is really embarrassed with himself, she mused, twirling a lock of hair around her finger as she stared at her reflection, disappointed she hadn't yet been able get him to keep still long enough to apologize or ask him why he'd run off afterward. I supposed technically I should be embarrassed, too; I have never acted like that around a guy before, not even whenever I managed to escape from Mumm-Ra. Still… we can't fix this problem if he's avoiding me, so how do I get him to willingly approach me alone again to clear this up…?
She picked up the ribbon sitting on her night table and reflexively pulled her hair up into a ponytail on the top right side of her head, only her bangs still loose from the confinement of the bow she tied. It was as she was pulling on her rainbow striped boots that an idea started forming. Say… he was supposed to be on the last night shift, wasn't he? Which means he should still be at the control board now. And I certainly remember the most common discussion between us whenever he was training me….
Grinning, she stood up. "I think I need to pay a visit to the Black Pyramid," she said aloud in a childish manner to no one in particular. "Gee, I hope no one tries to stop me."
Tygra almost looked up from the controls in surprise as the door opened, instead smiling at the cooing which came in with the newcomer. "I was about to ask who was coming in," he stated, glancing to the side as MoonGlo sat in the seat beside him. "Thank you for answering my question before I could voice it, Claudis."
The cub turned at the sound of his name, purring when he saw who'd called him. Except for his blue eyes and a lone pink streak through his hair, he was the mirror image of his father.
"I'm sorry I'm early," the mother said with a yawn. Though she was still much more slender and fragile than any of the Thundercats, she was nonetheless much stronger than she had been when Lion-O found her over a year-and-a-half ago. Her curves had even become more pronounced, something her white-ruffled blue dress accentuated—though it also could've been the result of giving birth to the first Thunderian cub anyone had seen in years. Sitting her son on her lap and handing him his father's old stuffed animal, she gave the tiger a sheepish smile. "Someone was being uncontrollably fussy."
"I'm hardly going to complain," Tygra told her, glancing at the monitors. "I need to be taking off after a certain escapee in a few minutes anyway."
MoonGlo followed his gaze upward, frowning as the screens showed a familiar ponytailed blond sneaking cautiously out of the Lair. Despite being dressed up in a fairly colorful outfit, she was actually doing a decent job of keeping a low profile against the bland stone of the Lair. "What in the world does Rainbow Brite think she's doing?"
"Probably heading to the Black Pyramid. She's developed some issues over the centuries, and Mumm-Ra is an easy target for her to blame. After trying to teach her to control her emotions over the past four months, I'm not surprised she can't let it go easily. She blames herself for being unable to protect you and your friends from him."
He deliberately didn't mention anything about the meltdown she'd had last month when he'd gotten that information out of her, just the two of them locked in a storage room for privacy's sake so she could throw a tantrum. The image of her screaming, crying, and breaking things had evoked both pity and distress within him. As she'd calmed down, it had only seemed perfectly natural to comfort her….
"Out of curiosity, is there some reason you're giving her a head start?" MoonGlo asked suddenly, breaking him out of the clandestine memory.
He reflexively straightened his back, hoping she hadn't noticed him spacing out. "She'll be easier to catch if she thinks no one is following her. Once she's across the bridge, she'll assume she's safe and I'll be able to get her quickly." He added with an irritated growl, "I can't figure out what's going through her head. Why can't she just accept there are some fights she can't win?"
MoonGlo's muffed laughter told him immediately how likely that was. "Because she's stubborn," she finally managed to giggle. "Once she's made up her mind, it's nearly impossible to get her to change it!"
I don't know if that's concerning or reassuring, he thought, digesting the information. Ever since Wisp woke up from the mindless state Mumm-Ra had trapped her in, she's made her thoughts crystal clear. Claudis's high-pitched laughter joined his mother's, imitating her, catching the tiger's attention. It just makes it worse I'm attracted to her, and she somehow knows I'm attracted to her. I'll be damned if I can figure out how, though….
"She can still be reasoned with," MoonGlo continued, unaware of what was going through his mind. She looked over at him, an expectant expression on her face as she raised an eyebrow. "You might be able to manage it."
"What gives you that idea?" he asked blandly, crossing his arms.
"Just a few things she said recently makes me suspect she would listen to you, including that she doesn't mind you calling her 'Wisp'. She thinks you're patient, intelligent, well-spoken, reliable, strong, loyal, and handsome. In short, I think she's smitten with you."
He clenched his jaw tightly in a poor attempt to keep from chuckling, flattered despite himself. "Is that all?"
"She did say far more, but I'm only repeating what I don't mind young ears hearing."
"Claudis is barely six months old, I doubt he'll be able to repeat much."
"Clearly Snarf didn't tell you what Lion-O's first word was; I'm not taking any chances." She was distracted momentarily as Claudis decided pulling on a hank of her peach-pink hair would be fun. "She'd never intentionally hurt you, Tygra," she said innocently, pulling the hair away from her son and flipping it over the back of the chair where he couldn't reach it.
He smiled. Cute. She thinks I don't trust Wisp. "I know. She's too dead-set on doing the right thing." As I should be. He couldn't help but glance at Claudis again, his fondness for the boy only increasing his unexpected longing.
MoonGlo sighed. "You're as bad as your brother, going around and pretending nothing's wrong." They sat in silence for a few seconds, watching the subject of their conversation carefully cross the drawbridge, the only noises in the room coming from Claudis as he babbled at his toy before chewing its ear. "I know you'd never do anything to hurt her, either." He snapped his head around to stare at her in shock. She grinned sheepishly. "You smiled when I implied you didn't trust her."
"Remind me to never play poker with you," he sighed, getting up. "Something tells me I'd lose."
Before he could reach the door, she called out to him, "Tygra—I told her she had to be patient with you, but it's frustrating for her." She gave him a sly look over her shoulder. "She knows you're interested and might attempt to be a little too encouraging. She'd only been exposed to human men every time she escaped Mumm-Ra—she might not know what her behavior does to a Thunderian."
He kept his back to her, mostly so she wouldn't see the emotional turmoil no doubt playing havoc with his expression. He knew what MoonGlo was implying, but was too embarrassed to explain her fears were voiced a little late… and he had too much integrity to flat-out lie and imply nothing had happened. "I noticed," he replied just before leaving the control room. "I'll take care of it."
What I'm going to do about it, though, I have no idea.
"Alright, Vulture-Man, so what have you found for me?" Sincline calmly asked as he stepped into the control room of Castle Plun-Darr. "Another tribe of asexual lesbians?"
"How do you feel about half-human, half-machine pirates?" the vulture asked with a grin. "It would certainly be a distraction which results in seeing how we fight, as you asked."
The prince sighed. "Yeah, sure, why not." I don't know what I'm doing anymore, he lamented mentally. He'd been in a rather depressed mood lately, and for the moment indulged in self-pity. Everything is gone, all I'm left with are rejects. The best I can come up with right now is to study the status quo of these losers, learn about the various residents of this planet, and figure out how the hell those three Thundercats survived my attack while I'm at it! There's nothing left here for me!
Vulture-Man tapped away on the control board, bringing up numerous images of a surprisingly sturdy-looking city. "The spies we sent managed to bring back some video feed before they were found and thrown out of the Berserker Kingdom. I'm surprised they managed to stay in there long enough to get this much. The pirates are not fond of us."
"What a shock," was the monotone response.
"If you want anymore information, you'll have to think of another way to get it."
"Any suggestions?"
"Maybe. I was always under the impression there were only males there—"
"Like here, no doubt."
"—but as it turns out, there are some females, and they generally tend to lack the cybernetics, much like a certain shrill-voiced woman running around the castle." He pointed at a video showing what looked like a miniature battle in the middle of a public square. "Notwithstanding, it doesn't make them any less dangerous. They're just as willing to join a fight as the males."
"In other words, send Ravenwaves. She'll blend in without any—who's that?" He pointed up at a screen showing a female draped from head to toe in gold, any of her actual features obscured by the cloak she covered herself with unless she lifted an arm dramatically while speaking. A glimpse of blond hair caught his attention, and for a second the fancy of pretending she was Fala caught him. "I assume these creatures didn't earn the name 'Berserkers' by being kind, sweet, and loving, yet they're being awfully attentive to her."
"From what the spies have managed to gather, I assume she's their queen. There's some nonsense about her being the best fighter in the kingdom, but I'm more inclined to chalk it up to her fucking all of her opponents so well they all forfeited."
Sincline couldn't help but smirk at the thought. "Whatever works to gain control." He continued watching the video feed for a few moments, impressed at the delicate beauty of the few parts of her he could see. He wondered for a moment if maybe forcing her into an arranged marriage might be a quick—if somewhat sloppy—way of distracting himself from the hell he was in. "Is she single?"
"No, she's apparently married to a Berserker named Hammer Hand."
Well, the idea's still on the table if I can't think of anything else to do, with just an extra step of having to remove said husband from the picture. At least it would be fun for a while.
A machine which was usually quiet and gathering dust in the back corner of the room suddenly sprang to life, buzzing and whining as if it were about to die. It finished its noisy performance with a ding, spitting out a sheet of paper into a waiting tray. Curious despite himself, the prince walked over to it and picked up the paper. "'Joe & Mule's Hunting Duo'. What is this?"
"Some jerk who enjoys wasting others' paper to print his advertisements," Vulture-Man snapped, glaring briefly at the machine before turning back to his monitors. "I thought I'd blocked his information from getting through. Clearly I'm going to have to update the fax machine again."
"Hmm… a searching service. Interesting." As Sincline scanned the paper, a sudden movement caught his attention; his eyes snapped immediately to the avian, noting the buzzard had jumped at a particular video and was now peering at it with a suspicious look on his face. "What is it?"
"I… I don't know," was the unsure response. He hesitated for a moment, thinking carefully over something before making up his mind and turning to the prince. "When we found Ravenwaves, she was asleep in a glass coffin—just like this woman here." He paused the video and pointed at the queen standing before a glass coffin with a blond in it.
Rolling the paper and stuffing it into his belt to look at later, Sincline stepped closer and narrowed his eyes. Hmm… young, clearly worth something otherwise the queen wouldn't keep her…. He frowned. "Un-pause it. I want to see what these pirates are doing." As the video started playing again, he watched the minute details of the Berserkers around the sleeping woman, noting the closer they got to her, the gentler they seemed to become—
—all without their noticing.
Stunned, his mind working a mile a minute trying to process the unusual behavior, he spun around and pointed at one of the other mutants in the room. "Get Ravenwaves in here now. Where are the other commanders?"
The jackal scratched his head thoughtfully, before replying, ticking off one finger at a time for each name. "Um… Jackalman and Monkian are currently getting a slave-raid together, Vulture-Man's right beside you, Slythe's in the weapons room, and… Rataro's corpse is still rotting in the moat."
"I could care less about the corpse. Get the other commanders as well."
Notes:
1. Lala Orange has a taser, by the way; none of the Color Kids strike me as the kind to carry guns. And of all the many potential plot threads Leonard Starr left hanging before he left the show, the identity of Monkian's information source during the Anointment Trials five-parter is definitely one I wish had been followed up on.