Ressurection

Part 5

They were in sight of the lab door when they heard the gunfire. Fianna, Thunderwolf and Thundera Tiger paused to look back over their shoulders.

"I hope they're alright," Fianna said nervously.

"Fuzzy's there," Thunderwolf said grimly. "If they're not okay, then they're avenged."

"Whoever is in the lab has got to know we're coming by now," Thundera Tiger said. "Let's move before--"

There was a racket in the air, growing steadily louder. Then at the other end of the hall, a swarm of caninoids boiled into sight, some injured, some bleeding, all highly pissed.

"GO!" Fianna yelled. Tiger and Thunderwolf ran down the hall, reaching the door when TT suddenly realized Fianna was not with them.

"FIANNA, COME ON!" she screamed back over the barking of the dogs.

"I'LL HOLD THEM OFF!" came the answer. Anything else the caninoid might have said was lost as the baying curs came abreast of him and Fianna waded into their midst, axe swinging.

"Dammit, he's gonna martyr himself again!" TT complained to Thunderwolf. "Why can't he write a normal Mary Sue like everybody else?"

Thunderwolf shrugged, then pushed the door open and stepped carefully into the lab, mace in hand, Tiger in tow.

"I don't like the looks of this," Thunderwolf said, surveying the lab. The mass of the Character Creator 2001 loomed at the rear, while in the near distance was a large black box the size of a phone booth. Lady Thundera, her hair a Phyllis Diller shock of white, was leaning rigidly against the side of the box, staring into space.

"Where's Zaphod Beeblebrox when you need him?" Thundera Tiger quipped.

"Check this out," Thunderwolf said, directing TT's atention to Lucifer Daimou. The hormonal teen was laying face-down on the floor, his eyes crossed, focused on a nine-inch black line proceeding straight out from the end of his nose.

"Damn," Thundera Tiger said. "I've seen that done to chickens before, but never to a human."

"TT, get out of here!"

"RD! Are you okay, where's this other author?"" Tiger yelled, running to the nearby cage.

"I'm right here, Thundera Tiger."

The sound of the voice froze the blood in TT's veins. It was familiar, too familiar, like two voices overlying each other, both of which she knew. She turned around and beheld Fianna.

"I should have known you were behind this somehow," Thunderwolf growled. "That's why you ditched us outside, so you could slip in here by a secret door!"

"That...that's not Fianna," TT said nervously.

"What?!" Thunderwolf snapped.

"The eyes, TW, check the eyes," TT said. She was backing away; she didn't want to, but she couldn't help herself.

Now Thunderwolf noticed the difference. "Okay, you're not Fianna. So who the hell are you?"

"I am truth," the creature said. "I am righteousness. I am the soul of justice and decency."

"I am the Puritan."

"But how?!" TT demanded. "Nobody would bring you back, you're too dangerous!"

"Come father," the Puritan said. "Explain to your friends how I came upon my marvelous ressurection." The two fighters turned to face the shackled evildoer. RD looked at them forlornley.

"When Fianna left for Team Tiger I determined to create a new dog. I ran many experiments with my Character Creator, resulting in the prototypes for all of these curs overrunning the base. But in every case the resulting dog was physically weaker than the nincompoop.

"It was then that I realized Fianna's strength is not related to his physical mass, but is rather a part of his essential makeup, his chemistry. I went to the ATB medical center, took a sample of his blood, and saved all of his DNA information into the Creator. Then I was able to copy-paste what I needed to Rain's file."

"But there was one thing I hadn't counted on," Rivero said testily. "Fianna is a nincompoop at a genetic level. As soon as I took my eyes off his data, it recomposed itself into a free-form computer virus and escaped from it's folder into the root directory. There, I believe, it found it's way into the Puritan's file."

"It was then that I realized my time was at hand," the Puritan said. "The virus had the dog's attributes and elements of his personality, but no mind, no direction. I wrote my own intellect in the place of that missing data, then invaded Father's Rain file, erasing the cur and renaming myself with that title."

Rivero's face was a wide-eyed portrait of innocence. "And when I tried to recreate Rain from the file backup I got the Puritan," he said.

"Dammit RD, how many times have we warned you about tampering with nature?" Thundera Tiger scolded.

"Everything I do is about tampering with nature," Rivero snorted.

"Thus is the manner of my return," the Puritan said. "Behold, I am created in a new image. With the passage of my original form, I am no longer bound by law. Now I wield the limitless creative power of chaos, wield it to punish those who violate the sanctity of the Thundercat realm. With this device I have summoned," he said, indicating the box, "I shall render judgment upon all the authors of TCATGR in the most fitting manner of all, by destroying their inflated egos. And best of all, none of you have the power to stop me!"

"How do you figure that?" Thunderwolf snarled, lifting his mace.

"Because this is Fianna's riff," the Puritan replied. "And I am Fianna."

Suddenly Thundera Tiger found herself inside the cage with RD, shackled and bound as he was. Thunderwolf looked over his shoulder, his face registering alarm before his mask of ferocity clamped down again.

The Puritan came towards them, grinning broadly. "You see?" it said. "My will is law here, my every whim is carried out in an instant. I do not even require that ridiculous cur's palmtop to manipulate the environment, since I myself am part of it. I could destroy you all with a thought."

"So what's stopping you?" Thunderwolf challenged.

"Because it would not have made a good story," the Puritan replied matter-of-factly. He reached behind his back, producing a battle axe identical to Fianna's. "I have inherited some of my mother's attributes, among them a sense of pacing, drama and irony. For instance, this is the climactic battle where you shall struggle valiantly against me, only to suffer a tragic end when my blade splits your skull!"

The Puritan sprang at Thunderwolf, swinging it's battle axe in a high arc. The lion dodged right, swinging his mace into the caninoid's gut. The weapon rebounded off the chainmail with a clank, but lacked the momentum to do real damage. The Puritan lashed out with a backhand sweep, and Thunderwolf was a fraction of an instant too slow.

The lion stepped away, bringing his mace up before noticing the buring in his chest. He glanced down to find a shallow cut, eighteen inches long, creasing his skin.

The Puritan laughed.

********

Team Fluffy encountered no other curs as they completed their journey to the cell blocks. Soon excited greetings were being traded as the rescue party applied the Fuzzball's skeleton keys to the cell door locks. Within moments the Ferocious Females, Tatiana, Shark, the Dodo, Ayanna, and sundry others were liberated and milling around the hall in cramped confusion.

"This is wonderful!" Kamanchee exclaimed. "Who wants cake?"

Peachyra slapped the brit hard enough to leave him slumped against the wall. "Put THAT in your bunt pan and bake it, you Pilsbury pusher!"

"Listen up, people!" Axelle yelled over the din. "We still have a situation here! Thundera Tiger needs us!"

"HURRAH!"

"RD Rivero is counting on us!"

"HUZZAH!"

"Fianna is--" she was interrupted by a chorus of boo's and hisses.

"Oh hell, for Thundera Tiger!!!" Axe yelled, and the collected authors let loose a mighty battle cry and charged down the hall.

"WRONG WAY!!!" Axe screamed, then slapped herself in the forehead.

********

Thunderwolf came back at the Puritan, feinting left then spinning right, bringing his mace around backhand towards the green monster's head. But the Puritan had forseen the move and slid rapidly towards the lion as he began the swing. It caught the lion's wrist with it's left hand and pulled, using Thunderwolf's momentum to send the lion lurching forward onto his knees.

The Puritan brought it's axe down overhand towards the top of Thunderwolf's skull. Thunderwolf raised his mace in both hands to full extension, catching the blade of the axe on it's thundranium handle. Metal screamed as the weapons met, jarring Thunderwolf's shoulders.

The lion twisted on his knees and drove a leg backward, connecting with the Puritan's shin. The move caused no injury, but unbalanced the dog, making it fall to the right. Thunderwolf shoulder-rolled clear as the dog hit the deck with a clatter; they both got to their feet facing each other.

They were both breathing hard, but each inhalation Thunderwolf took stretched the wound on his chest, sending a lance of pain into him. Alone it was not serious enough to kill him, but it was distracting him, breaking his concentration.

The Puritan smiled and casually flipped it's axe. It was obviously enjoying itself.

********

Fluffy took the lead as the liberated authors raced down the corridor. From up ahead in the distance they could hear the sounds of conflict, yells and clangs of metal striking metal. They turned a last corner and could see Fuzzball by a door, a high-powered rifle in hand, aiming into the room beyond.

"Baby!" Fluffy chirped and stopped beside her snarf. Fuzzy's did not acknowledge her, his face a mask of intense concentration.

Axe knew instantly something was wrong. "What is it, Fuzzy?" she asked.

"That Fianna clone is going to kill Thunderwolf," the snarf replied through gritted teeth.

"WHAT?!" Shark yelled in dismay. "Do something Fuzzy! Shoot it!"

"I...can't," came the hissed reply. "I've been here for five minutes, aiming at that green fucker's head, but I can't...pull...the...trigger!"

Axe's face drained of color as she realized what was happening. To test it, she made up her mind to enter the room, and was instantly filled with a compulsive sense of wrongness, as though she was trying to do something against the laws of nature. No matter how hard she tried, she could not force her foot forward to enter the chamber.

She relayed this to the others. Shark tried anyway, and to his credit the ichthyoid made it to the doorway proper before he found that he, too, could go no further.

"I don't understand!" Ayanna cried. "Why can't we help him?!"

"Primacy," Axelle said grimly. "Whoever controls the story has decided we aren't to interfere. Since we are acting as characters, we have no more power to thwart the author's will than Lion-O or Tygra." She looked at Shark's face, saw the agony there and felt it mirrored in her heart.

"There's nothing we can do," she said. "If that thing decides to kill Thunderwolf, then he's as good as dead."

********

"Your friends have arrived, sabretooth," the Puritan said. "Look how the fishy one grieves. He already knows your fate is sealed."

"SEAL THIS!" Thunderwolf roared. He charged the dog, swinging his mace in a flurry of small, tightly controlled strikes. The Puritan went on the defensive, warding the blows with it's axe head and handle.

Thunderwolf pressed inward, crowding the dog, then stepped on the caninoid's foot, pinning it. The Puritan's backwards momentum carried it away with a startled yelp, spilling it onto it's back. The creature's axe went skidding across the floor.

Thunderwolf brough his mace down hard, roaring inarticulately as he struck at the downed dog. The Puritan covered itself with it's arms, trying to ward of the powerful strikes.

Thunderwolf heard his friends cheer as he delivered blow after blow, the points of his mace tearing the caninoid's armor and the flesh beneath it. He began to believe he could win this fight, could overcome this strange monster of Rivero's invention.

Then the Puritan lunged upwards and caught the descending mace in mid-flight. The dog raised it's right leg and planted a foot in Thunderwolf's midriff, kicked out and sent the saberlion flying. Thunderwolf hit the ground stunned, the air knocked out of him, head spinning. He struggled to his feet and realized he'd lost his mace.

The Puritan stood also. The creature was bruised, beaten and bloody. It snarled at Thunderwolf, took the warrior's weapon in both hands and snapped it's metal haft like a stick. It dropped the fragments, then extended it's hand behind it, and the fallen battle axe leapt from the ground and into it's master's hand.

"I don't know how you did that," the creature snarled. "But you'll never do it again!"

The Puritan charged at Thunderwolf. The lion raised his hands to catch the haft of the axe as it swung downward, but the swing did not come. Instead, the Puritan snapped it's hands downward, driving the pommel of the axe directly into the center of Thunderwolf's forehead.

The blow devastated the lion, turning his knees to water. The Puritan followed it up by driving the pommel into the lion's side, breaking ribs, then snapping it upward into Thunderwolf's chin.

The lion staggered back, somehow remaining on his feet. He knew he was in trouble, but everything kept graying out on him, his muscles refusing to respond. He saw the Puritan raise it's battle axe high, it's eyes alight with savage glee as it prepared to split Thunderwolf's skull.

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Shark wailed, and that snapped Thunderwolf back to this surroundings. He saw the Puritan's axe descending, caught a flicker of movement to his right and reached out his hand. He caught something hard, spun from in front of the falling axe and drove his weapon into the Puritan's gut with all of his might.

The Puritan's axe flew from it's hands. The creature looked down, wide-eyed, to see the blade of another axe, twin to it's own, buried in it's midriff. It looked up again at Thunderwolf, opened it's mouth to speak, but the only thing emerging was a wash of bright green blood.

"THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!" Thunderwolf roared. The lion tore his weapon loose from the Puritan's body, spun once more to build momentum, then swung the blade of the weapon through the caninoid's neck. The Puritan's head tumbled from it's shoulders in a gout of blood as it's body lurched stock straight, stumbled once backwards, then fell.

There was an audible crash, as though an immense pane of glass had been shattered. Shark lurched forward into the chamber, Fuzzball's rifle shot rang out, missing Rivero's head by inches.

Then everyone was rushing in, cheering and whooping in celebration. Thunderwolf found himself embraced by anyone who could squeeze in to reach him, even Fluffy clinging to his leg. Kam and Axe rushed to the cage and in moments had RD and Thundera Tiger free to join in the jubilation.

Thunderwolf seperated from a tearful embrace with his beloved Shark, then pulled himself free of the cheering crowd. He turned towards the door he and Tiger had entered, the door from which the axe had flown to his hand.

Fianna staggered into the room. The caninoid's armor was torn to shreds, and so was most of the dog beneath it. One of his ears was severely torn, one eye swollen shut. His sloppy grin was distorted by a split lip and several missing teeth.

The author wobbled, then pitched forward. Before he could fall though, Thunderwolf caught him and braced him up, draping the dog's arm across his shoulder to help him stand.

"Nice throw," Thunderwolf said.

"I was...aiming...for...his neck," Fianna wheezed, then passed out.

********

The party lasted a solid week. Fianna missed the first two days of it in bed tied to a Guinness IV drip. When he was strong enough to stand he got dressed and joined his friends.

He found Axe, her arm in a cast, passing out drinks at the bar. Thundera Tiger, RD Rivero and Tygra were involved in a deep philisophical discussion on the merits of killing panthers instead of tigers. Fuzzy and Fluffy were snuggled up together on the loveseat, her with a copy of "the New Yorker", him with "Soldier of Fortune."

Sher Kahn was across the room on the sofa, his head resting in the lap of a nubile blonde teen.

"Looks like he's gonna get that duet after all," Fianna snickered as Axe set a pint of stout on the bar for him.

"The hero's welcome," she smiled. "In case you're wondering, that's where Shark and Thunderwolf are too." She then spent several minutes filling the caninoid in on the final moments of the struggle.

She was interrupted as the lounge door crashed in. Spark tore by, squealing excitedly, and leapt across a table. Ayanna charged in behind her and the two began chasing each other around the table for one full minute, then they tore back outside.

"Just watching those two wears me out," Fianna snorted. "Incidentally, have the Ferocious Females addressed their bakery issue?"

"Oh, Kam is still in the club," Axe said. "He had to turn over his cake recipe. Now he can only make a pastry that is very similar to, but almost entirely unlike, cake. Certainly it's not addictive."

"What about RD's Character Creator?" the dog asked.

"Demolished, along with all of it's data backups," Axe said, refilling his stout. She poured a beer for herself, then toasted the dog. "No more curs either, thanks to you and Fuzzy. Between the two of you, you wiped them out."

Fianna raised his mug in salute, then nearly dropped it. "OMIGOD!" he barked. "LADY THUNDERA!"

********

In the medical ward of the ATB, Dr Zhie looked in on her patient. She checked the monitors and charts, then pulled out a tape recorder and began another entry.

"Evidence continues to indicate a trace of self-esteem remains in the patient somewhere. We are continuing with our most radical therapy possible, hoping to see some improvement."

Zhie clicked off her recorder then went to the bed. LT still stared blankly, now at the TV set mounted on the bedroom wall. Zhie checked her patient's blood pressure and temperature then took the remote control and went to the bedoroom door. She turned and clicked the set on, then ducked out the door and walked quickly away.

Back in the room, Lady Thundera smiled, drooled, and began to sing along with the figure on the screen.

"I love you, you love me, we're a happy family..."