Part 2
In his dream, the party raged. Everyone was there, drinking, dancing and having a good time. He was on-stage with Slade, his wife frolicking excitedly by his ankles as Noddy Holder turned the microphone over to him at the final chorus.
"Time to rock! Tiiiiime to roll! Oh I can't wait to celebrate as we go marching home!"
Gradually it penetrated his mind that the pounding of the drum was not in his mind, but from the door of the hut he shared with Sher Kahn. Fianna mumbled something incomprehensible and rolled over, trying to ignore it.
"Fianna! Open up, mutt! You've got some explaining to do!" came the yell from the door.
"Go away! I'm not home!" the dog barked back.
"Just answer the door and let them lynch you, will ya? How am I supposed to get any sleep with that racket going on?" Kahn grumbled.
Fianna rolled to the floor with a heavy thud and looked at the clock. "2 AM," he mumbled, and walked to the door. He yanked it open to find Thundera Tiger glaring at him. This was nothing unusual. But beside her....
"OHMIGOD!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!"
Kahn sprang out of bed in alarm and turned to find his comrade holding aloft a human male. The newcomer was clad in an odd combination of black leather and Native American trifles, including feathers and war paint.
"Oh man, you were SO unappreciated in the eighties! 'Manners and Physique' was the best album ever! Sing 'Goody Goody Two Shoes'!"
"I AM NOT ADAM ANT!!!!" the new arrival shrieked.
"Oh," the caninoid said, ears drooping in disappointment. He unceremoniously dropped the look-alike onto the floor. "Never mind, then."
"Fianna," TT sighed. "This is Kamanchee, one of the Ferocious Females. Did you kidnap his teammates last night?"
"Funny, you don't look female," Fianna commented. "And you don't look very ferocious either," he added with a snort.
To TT he said, "I don't recall, but I was pretty gassed up last night. Kahn, did I kidnap anybody? And were any of my relatives over?"
"No, and no," the tiger called from his bed. "Now let me go back to sleep."
The newcomer gave Fianna a dirty look, then turned to Tiger and said, "I suppose I owe you an apology. Sorry to create a stir, but I must admit I'm disappointed. I'd hoped--"
The room exploded into chaos. The wall behind Kahn's bunk flew to fragments in a roar of shattered wood. Kam was knocked from his feet as Thundera Tiger was thrown through the door, crashing into Fianna and staggering the dog. Kahn leapt clear of the wreckage to find four massive figures crowded into the room, wrestling with his teammates. He gaped in amazement.
They were caninoids. Kamanchee was dodging wide swings from a massive shaggy blond monster, while Thundera Tiger traded swipes with a brown beheamoth with a German Sheppard's colors and head. Fianna was boxing a coal-black laborador retriever, while the fourth, the smallest, oriented on Kahn himself.
The creature was misshapen, it's head far too large for it's body, it's hide an almost nude pasty white. It came in low, not growling, not barking, examing the Siberian with an almost clinical manner, as though destroying Kahn was a given. The only question was how to go about it.
Temper flaring, Kahn snarled and leapt at the monster. Instantly the beast lunged forward, pulling the tiger into a powerful embrace. Kahn had a bare second to consider his fatal mistake when the caninoid's massive jaws slammed shut on his windpipe.
Thundera Tiger backed away from the German Sheppard, holding it at bay with swats from her two-inch claws. The creature pursued her across the floor, trying to lunge in and tackle her.
But TT was not an animal; she was an experienced writer and brilliant tactician, coupled with the raw power of rakshasa. At precisely the right moment the tigress sprang backwards, stiking the wall with all four paws, then vaulted airborn, twisting as she flew. When she came down, it was behind the caninoid, digging in all four sets of claws and laying the monster's back open to the bone.
The dog shrieked in agony and ran forward, striking the wall at full speed and crashing through into the open air. It's howl of pain could be heard as it plummeted to the ground below.
TT looked around. Fianna seemed to be holding his own with the Lab, Kam and the Golden Retriever were gone, and Kahn--
"KAHN!" she screamed and leapt towards the struggling pair.
Fianna heard TT's cry and risked a glance towards his roomate. Doing so earned him a blow to the gut, but told him his friend was in desparate trouble. Turning his attention back to the Lab, the green caninoid snarled and lunged, grabbing the dog's right arm.
The Lab responded by closing to grapple, but Fianna had anticipated this. He turned his hip into the Lab's pelvis and rolled the dog across, slamming it to the deck. The chocolate caninoid moved with the momentum, rolling away before springing back up to it's feet.
It turned to find Fianna completing a spinning lunge kick, one of the slowest moves in the nincompoop's aresenal, but also the most powerful. Fianna's heel connected with the Lab's sternum, breaking bone and sending the creature through the wall and out of the hut. Fianna hesitated a moment, listening for the sound of the Lab's impact on the forest floor, then rushed to help Kahn.
Thundera Tiger was already there, tearing at the final caninoid's back and legs. Despite the damage, the creature would not release it's hold. Fianna shoved in between the combatants and the remains of the the wall and began grasping for the dog's muzzle.
"Let him go, you bastard!" TT screamed.
"It's some kind of pit bull," Fianna growled, his hands digging into the attacker's snout, fingers wedging into it's mouth. "It's jaws are locked!"
The pit bull did not acknowledge either of them. Kahn's eyes were rolled up, his tounge blue and lolling from his mouth. It was impossible to tell if the feeble movements of the tiger's limbs were struggles or the effect of jostling.
"Do something!!" TT screamed.
Everything froze. Fianna looked calmly at his hands on the enemy dog's mouth parts. Tiger stared in wide-eyed horror as her teammate expired, helpless to stop it. The pit bull ground it's teeth in tighter.
Then with a crack like a gunshot the pit bull's upper jaw fractured and pulled away. Flesh rended, blood sprayed as the monster finally fell back, clutching it's ruined face, baying in utter agony. Fianna climbed off the bed, dropped the dog's upper jaw on the floor, grasped the writhing animal's head and broke it's neck with a single twist.
On the bed, TT was looking frantically for signs of life from Kahn, when the siberian suddenly heaved in a long breath spasmodically. TT rolled him onto his side as the tiger gagged, retched and choked.
Fianna went to the nightstand and picked up his communicator. He pressed the call button and Axelle appeared on the screen.
"We've got problems," Fianna said.
"Tell me about it," the assassin replied in her permanently-bemused voice. "Half the berbil village is on fire from a gas explosion at Tatiana's house, and all communication at the ATB has stopped dead."
Fianna was still a moment, thinking. Then he said, "Grab your med bag and head on over here. Kahn's been hurt. I'll fill you in when you arrive. And Ax?"
"Yeah?"
"Watch your back."
********
Thunderwolf's baleful red gaze tracked the four dogs as they stumped along the trail. Three were burdened with large sacks; the first carried no cargo, but maintained a careful watch on the path ahead. However, it did not look up.
Typical, the sabertooth thought as he readied his trap. He waited until the first three caninoids had passed beneath his branch, then dropped his lariat down around the neck of the fourth.
The golden retriever had no time to react as the garrot snapped instantly shut, hauling the dog into the canopy in a heartbeat. The bag began to slip from it's grasp, but not before Thunderwolf reached down and siezed it. He put the bag on the limb beside him, and watched with mild interest until the caninoid strangled under it's own weight.
He looked down at the trail. The others had not returned for their missing partner, either not noticing or not caring. The insane lion dropped from his limb to the ground below, bag over his shoulder, then moved into the underbrush to survey his prize.
He held the bag aloft, checking the weight of it, when a shiny object suddenly potruded through the burlap. There was a harsh ripping sound and the bag tore open, dumping a young human female onto the ground in a flurry of spanish and a clatter of silver jewelry. She popped to her feet immediately and backed carefully away from Thunderwolf, brandishing a black obsidian knife in front of her.
"Left holding the bag again," TW grumbled as he dropped the sack. "So what are you supposed to be, Tatiana's sister?"
"I am Spark!" the female exclaimed in heavily-accented english. "And if you try to hurt me I will poke you till your juices come out!"
Thunderwolf raised an eyebrow at this, then casually swatted the knife out of her hand and into the scrub. Spark looked aghast at the patch of vegetation that had swallowed her knife, then back at Thunderwolf. Her lower lip trembled and she sniffled as her eyes filled up with tears.
"Aw hell, don't start crying on me kid!" Thunderwolf groaned. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just touchy about people pointing knives at me, that's all."
"Well...okay," she said, calming. "It's a good thing you don't try something though, mister loco gato, cause I would have beat the fillings out of you!"
"Stuffings," TW said gently, unable to supress a smile. "Now tell me how you got caught by those dogs."
"Dogs? I know no dogs," Spark said. "I was with the Ferocious Females, eating cake. Then I guess I fell asleep. Next thing I see is the bag, and I cut it with my knife and there you are."
"Unconscious the whole time, huh? I've heard one of the newcomers is a Betty Crocker pimp. I better pass that on to RD when I find him."
"What is this about dogs? Isn't Fianna the only dog here, him and his missus?" Spark asked.
"Not anymore," Thunderwolf said, jerking his thumb skyward. Spark looked up and gasped when she saw the dead golden retriever hanging in the tree.
"Is that one of Fianna's people?" she asked weakly.
"I thought so, but now I'm not so sure," Thunderwolf replied. "Fianna has alot of influences, some D&D stuff in the armor, alot of Incredible Hulk for the strength and color. These things are just humanoid dogs. They're strong, but not as strong as Fianna or I am. And they're not very bright either."
He looked back at Spark. "Something's wrong here, and Fianna's involved somehow, but I don't think he's behind it."
"Then we should do what?" Spark asked. "I must rescue my Ferocious friends."
"My first priority is Shark," TW said. "These things are heading for the Anti-Tiger Base, so odds are that's where they took him and your gang."
Spark nodded, and together the two moved off down the road.
TBC