Unknown Enemies

Part Ten

It was evening when the ThunderCats returned home. They have been out all day fighting and settling the peace between the lions and cheetahs. Tired, Lion-O went to his room. A few moments later, Leela entered. She saw Lion-O lying on the bed exhausted. Leela sat on the bed beside him and rubbed one of his arms soothingly.

“It’ll be stupid to ask how your day was, wouldn’t it?”

“This day has been the worse yet,” Lion-O murmured tiredly as he buried his head in the pillow.

“You want to tell me about it?”

“Not really. I just want to sleep.”

Leela lied on the bed beside him. “Did you fight the Cheetah Leader?”

Lion-O turned his head to face Leela with a peculiar look in his eyes. “Yes, and it was the strangest thing. I thought she was an imposter.”

Leela‘s eyebrows furrowed questionably. “Why do you say that?”

Lion-O propped his head on an elbow. “She wasn’t herself. It looked like she was sick and collapsed without even giving me a good fight.”

That took Leela by surprise. I wonder what‘s with that. “Sick, huh? Why?”

“I don’t know, but she needs some attention.”

Leela was surprised about how concern Lion-O seemed to be for the Cheetah Leader. “Did you get a chance to see her face behind the mask?”

“No, I was going to check on her but her soldiers came to fight me while one of them took her away.”

Leela began thinking. So Cheetara is sick, assuming, Cheetara is the Cheetah Leader. Why? That means she’ll need medical attention. I’ll have the twins list all the cheetah doctors and keep an eye on the type of medical equipment used to treat her.

“Leela?”

Leela took her mind off her thoughts. “Hmm?”

“What are you thinking?” Lion-O asked.

“Oh, I was just wondering how she could be sick. If she had someone taking care of her like I do with my guy, then she would never get sick.” She reached forward to kiss him but Lion-O was reluctant until he remembered he couldn’t let Leela on. He let her kiss him but it was brief as he pulled away very quickly.

“No, Leela. I’m tired and I want to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“All right.” Leela gave him another quick kiss before leaving the room. Leela had other things to do anyway. She quickly searched for the Thunderkittens. They were in the rec room playing a game of checkers.

“WilyKit. WilyKat, I’ve got some new information for you two to look up and it can’t wait.”

The twins looked up from their game. “All right.” WilyKit said. “I was beating Kat’s tail anyway.”

“I let you win,” Kat said.

In the Control Room, WilyKit pulled up all the cheetah doctors in the regions surrounding Cat’s Lair and any cheetah village nearby. “There are twenty cheetah doctors in this area, Leela.” WilyKit told her.

“All right. How many females?

Kit typed in a few more keys. “Five.”

Leela stared at the screen. Five dots were in the vicinities Kit typed up. She saw one dot place further than the others. That furthered Leela’s became curiosity. “What’s the name of that spot where that dot is? It’s isolated from all the others. Who lives there?”

“This piece of land is called Lanta. The population is low.”

“So what types of people live there?” Leela asked.

“I’ll check it out,” Kat said and went to side panel typing up information. “Lanta. It’s an oasis. Just about anyone lives there. Usually people who live in oasis stay out of the main cities. They don’t want to get involve with any of their problems.”

“Smart move for those people,” Leela commented. “Has anyone moved there recently?”

WilyKat pulled up more information. “According to the computers, someone moved in a few months ago. A cheetah named Talia.”

Leela smiled wickedly. Bingo! “Where was her last location?”

“It says here she use to live near the Cheetah Elders village, but when the war broke out she changed address.”

“Got her,” Leela smirked.

“What was that?” WilyKit asked.

“Are you saying Talia is the cheetah leader?” WilyKat jumped in.

“No,” Leela said quickly, “but I think she may know who the leader is.”

“Why?” Kit asked curiously.

“I just talked to Lion-O. He said the Cheetah Leader is hurt. So, she needs medical attention and if she’s as smart as she seems to be, she wouldn’t go to a doctor near any cheetah villages but somewhere away from any battle sites, preferably female.”

“Why female?” Kat asked.

“A strong female like the Cheetah Leader would only trust another female to treat her and not a male.” Before the twins could say anything else, Leela shot back with another statement. “Trust me on this. All women in power do this.”

“What do you want us to do now?” WilyKit asked.

“For now, we keep quiet about this. Tomorrow night, I want you two to go to Talia’s house in secret. Spy on her and see if anyone name Cheetara is there. Let me know at once and then we get her.”

“You really think this Cheetara is the Cheetah Leader?” Kat asked.

“I’d bet my life on it, Kat.” And my future with Lion-O.

*****

“I blame myself for this,” Talia said and punched a wall in anger. The following evening, Cheetara was able to tell Talia what happened between her and Chase after Talia gave her an exam and before Talia present the results. He had stayed with her afterwards bragging about it and telling her it was an enjoyable punishment. Chase had left the next day but Cheetara wasn‘t able to get a moment alone with Talia until now. “I shouldn’t have left you alone with him. I tried to come back up here, but the elders wouldn’t have it. They thought you and Chase needed to spend some time alone together.”

Talia let out an irritated scream. “That piece of garbage! That son of a…” she clenched her hands and punched the wall again. This time it left a mark. “I’m going to kill him myself!”

“And you’d only get yourself killed,” Cheetara informed her. “Chase is a lot stronger than you.”

“We can’t let him get away with this. There has to be something we can do.”

“Regretfully, right now there is nothing we can do. Chase is holding all the cards,” Cheetara said bitterly.

Talia paced and kicked the wall. Cheetara was right. Talia knew one other thing. If she kept punching and kicking the walls, she would tear up her house.

“How’s the baby?” Cheetara asked.

Talia turned to her puzzled. “What?”

“My baby. How is it?” Cheetara said. “I prefer to discuss the baby’s health and not this incident with Chase anymore.”

“Cheetara, you can’t ignore something like this,” Talia said.

“I prefer it!” Cheetara yelled. “The last thing I want to think of is Chase and his slimy hands on me! His body…” she bit her lip to avoid talking about it anymore. “Just tell me about my baby, please,” Cheetara whispered.

“All right,” Talia said softly. She reached for her chart. Talia had a mini lab in her basement and was able to perform exams as well as minor surgeries. “So far everything is all right, and it’s best that your maintain rest and eat a lot. You’re eight weeks along and I do have some unexpected news for you.”

Cheetara looked concern. “What is it? Is something wrong with my child?”

“No, it’s just that you’re not having just one child. You’re having twins.”

“Twins?” Cheetara repeated.

“Yes,” Talia said closing her chart.

“How can you tell that so early?”

“Hey, this is the most scientific equipment on the planet and also you’re showing already.”

“I am?” Cheetara said looking down at her nightgown.

“Yeah. Your stomach is beginning to swell.”

Cheetara placed her hand on her stomach. “It doesn’t feel as tight as it used to be.”

Talia nodded. “Now, are you going to tell the father?”

Cheetara thought for a moment and sighed. “Chase doesn’t want me to have any contact with the father but I don’t are what he says. I will tell the father, but this means I will make a huge sacrifice.”

“What sacrifice is that?” Talia asked.

“I will have to leave and not come back.”

Talia gasped. “What do you mean not come back? Is he married or something?”

“The man I was with told me that he has a home that no one knows about. He said I could stay there.”

“And you believe him?” Talia asked incredulous.

“Yes. I’ve been there before. That’s where we…were together.”

“I see. When are you going to leave?”

“I’m going to meet with him two nights from now. I’m going to tell him about the babies.”

“Wait a minute, Cheetara,” Talia interrupted. “You can’t go. You’re pregnant. You’re going to need medical attention. Is he going to provide that?”

“No. He knows I’m friends with you and he said I could tell you about the place since you’re my only friend. You can give me medical treatments.”

Talia folded her arms across her chest. “Is that a fact? Well, you seem to have thought of everything.” She dropped her arms and smiled. “All right, I’ll do it. At least, I get to meet this mystery man you love.”

Outside Talia’s home by fifteen feet, WilyKit and WilyKat hid behind palm trees. WilyKit had the special binoculars on watching and listening to Talia and Cheetara. WilyKat listened and taped the conversation with a special camera.

WilyKit took off the binoculars. “We got what we need. Let’s get back to the lair. Leela is going to love this.”

“Yeah, but I’m still not sure why Leela thinks Cheetara is the Cheetah Leader.”

WilyKat said turning the camera off.

WilyKit shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know either.”

The two stealthily got on their space boards and made the long journey home. They turned on the nightlights on the boards to help them see better.

“I still don’t get why Leela doesn’t tell Lion-O or the others,” WilyKat said puzzled by Leela’s recent actions.

“You saw how ballistic Lion-O was when he found out Leela ordered the attack on the Cheetah Elders village. After that, I don’t blame her for keeping it quiet. Suppose she’s wrong. This will be another blow up in her face.”

“Yeah,” her brother agreed. “At least Leela gives us something to do. The others just ignore us and think we can’t do anything. We’re sixteen. We’re old enough to so some things.”

“Right. Let’s hurry back to the Lair.”

In the Council Room, Leela watched the tape conversation between Cheetara and Talia with wicked joy.

“Wonderful,” she said once the footage ended. She smiled happily at the twins. “You two have done marvelous work. You truly are ThunderCats. This is exactly what we need.”

“Well, if we want to get the Cheetah Leader, we better hurry. She’s leaving two nights from now,” WilyKit said.

“Yes, and I’m going to take my two favorite ThunderCats with me for the arrest. I know if I mention this to the lions they will kill her, but you two won’t, and since she is pregnant, she wouldn’t want to hurt her children by putting up a fight.”

“When do we arrest her?” Kat asked.

“Two nights from now. We’ll stake out her home after sunset and when it looks like she is going to leave, we make our move,” Leela instructed. “Oh, and when we’re there, we must find the helmet. It’s key to prove that Cheetara is the Cheetah Leader.”

“It sounds like a good plan,” Kat said agreeing.

“It is,” Leela smirked. “It most definitely is.”

“Yeah, but how do you know the Cheetah Leader’s name was Cheetara?” WilyKit asked Leela. “It could’ve been anything. All we have now of suspicions.”

“Strong suspicions, WilyKit and they are all good. I bet my life on it.”

Once Cheetara is captured, I’ll have her executed and Lion-O will have no choice but to marry me. Cheetara won’t even have a chance to tell Lion-O that she’s pregnant with his children because he’ll be too furious with her being the Cheetah Leader and won’t listen or believe a word she says. Ooh, I must put a camera in the dungeons so I can watch. This is going to be fun.

Go to Part Eleven

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