The young lion knelt before the mangled remains of the internal mechanism of the lock.He poked his finger in and pushed out a long rod until the knob at the other side of the door fell.He peeked through the hole --

“It’s a smaller room,” he reported, “very dark.”

“What can you see in it?” the large cat asked.

“Nothing -- no, there’s something big,” he stood and stepped back.“I just can’t tell what it is.”

“It’s not moving, is it?”

Kara shook his head.

The puma growled and rushed the wooden barrier.He forced the door out of its hinges until it dropped to pieces in the small, little room that the young lion had seen only in fragmented shadows.The sound of the crash was loud and jarring -- in response the two were silent and still for half-a-minute, listening and waiting for any response that might come.

When they were sure that no one had been alerted to their presence they walked into the antechamber.The room was tiny, it had a door but no windows.Its walls were plaster-covered bricks, white-washed but coated with dust and torn cobwebs.

“That’s what I saw,” the lion pointed to a spiral staircase.He stood at the foot of the stairs and looked up to the room above.It was even darker and more ghastly.It had a tall roof, smoke and blue haze clung to its bare façade.A slight, muffled hum came to his ears, it intensified as a spark flashed within that vast, cavernous chamber.A new but transitory sound, buzzing and clearly electrical, reverberated in the bright light’s wake.

The throwback nodded, his well developed body barely fit through the tight squeeze of the staircase but he forced himself to ascend the steps despite his limitation.

Kara followed him, but his footwear clanged the metal frame too loudly so he took his time.

Pumalo stopped as soon as the top of his head reached just above the floor of that new room.The windows were the first things that came to his attention -- long, thin windows with black curtains peeled open.Cold, gray light, filtered through layers of clouds, seeped into the chamber from those finger-like portals.He turned his attention from the left to the right, in a slow, deliberate stride that took in the complete panoramic view of the spacious interior.Chains drooped from the ceiling, levers and blinking switches dotted the walls.

And he saw three platforms:one that was flat and had coils bolted to its corners, one that was glassy and had wires attached to its base and one position above the rest and had more coils, more wires and shredded flakes of a clear substance before it.

Another spark had formed:thin, plasmatic tendrils arched from the coiled and drew the columns together.The discharged snapped and separated from the metal -- it formed a ring of hot, glowing air and vanished in a pop of blinding light.Only smoke and a blue haze were left behind.

He saw no one and despite the unnerving effects of the machinery, he judged that it was safe to go on.He reached behind and pulled the teenager up the rest of the way.He did not want to leave his friend behind -- he was uneasy about the door and the blocked tunnel below.

“I’ve seen plenty of things in my life, but this,” he spoke, gruffly, “I don’t like the looks of this at all.”

Kara was also moved.He saw in that chamber a plethora of unnerving evil.The dark forces were at work everywhere and on everything open and hidden to him.It was a kind of sorcery, ancient and unnatural, whose only real purpose was to instill fear and terror on those unlucky enough to wander into it.

He found it difficult to breathe and it was not because of the foul air.He had to get out of that place, it was as if he was completely allergic to it.Senses on high alert, he shivered from the chills that ran down his spine.

“This lab’s straight from hell,” he commented -- the jiggling of chains answered.“Must be a way out --“

“But where would we go?” the man-cat asked.

“I’d --“ he stopped mid-sentence.It had not yet fully sunk in that he was a throwback, that he could not go where ever he wished, not even to the underworld anymore.“I can’t say, but I know we can’t hide here, not forever.”

He stared at the ground -- tattered flakes of a transparent wrap littered the floor.He picked a pair of samples up.The materials were hard and retained an interlocked shape as though the scraps were pieces of a large, three dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

“Maybe he was right,” he said, thinking back to that human figure.“Robotic -- what is it?”

“It’s another door.”

Kara dropped the items in his hands -- the shattered on the ground.He sprinted over to the puma’s side and looked at what he pointed to.The wall, at one end of the room, was slightly recessed to form the shape of a flat, wide rectangle.Although the indented overhang left many of the details cast in darkness, enough substance remained that it was clear and evident that a door lay hidden in the shadows.

“Should we try it?”

“We’ve got to get to the bottom of this, Pumalo,” he held the throwback’s arm, “there are no accidents here, I can feel it, nothing that’s happened has been by chance.”

The pair headed forward and found yet another door.It was slightly open and they were not eager at that moment to explore it.Fearing that there could have been someone behind it attempting to lure them into a trap the two held back and kept extremely silent.They tried to peek through the many cracks and crevices but without avail -- whatever it opened out to, it was even darker than the chamber they were in.

Somehow, the young lion was not surprised at that.

Taking a chance, he flung the door open with a swift kick -- the only lasting sound was that of the hinges creaking and nothing more.The path was clear and he found that, despite initial reservations, the passage -- the elongated room with doors at its opposite end -- was adequately illuminated by a single, naked light bulb that hung from a chain.The walls were stocked with a bizarre array of grizzly items.He Thundercat forced himself to see and as the fine points emerged from initial obscurity, what he thought had been severed body-parts on display were, in fact, mechanical devices made to look like arms and legs.

“He was right,” Pumalo said, under his breath.He walked into the room and examined one of the apparently discarded ‘arms.’It crumbled in his hands to his gentlest touch.

Kara followed reluctantly.He caught sight of red, unblinking eyes that lurked deep within the mounds of spare parts.“What do you suppose these are?”

“Failures, old failures.”

The youngster pushed back a withered cloth and discovered a box.The implements within were encrusted with dirt and rust.Its gears were loose, its joints had long ago fallen apart.The objects, of which many were covered with patches of brown fur, were useless.

Bang, bang!

The pounding was low but forceful.

“You heard that, didn’t you?” the teenager asked.

The puma looked around the room attentively -- the noise had --

Bang!

“Over there!” he pointed to a shelf.A bang and wail answered his cry.

Running to the scattered shelf, spider webs and plumes of dusk riling in their wake, their eyes watering, itching, they found a heavy, iron gate built into the plaster and brick of the walls.

“Help,” a disembodied voice squeaked.

In its muffled tones the lion thought he had heard the remnant echoes of a most familiar tone.“It’s Caesar!”

“Caesar?”Pumalo searched the barrier’s perimeter to locate its features.The door had no knob, just an appliance for a key to lock or unlock it.

“Can you hear me, Caesar?” Kara shouted into the bulk, metal frame.

“Kara,” the voice wailed.Another word or two were spoken but the sound was too weak to be intelligible.

The large cat yelled:“Step back!” and rushed upon the iron gate.The full force of his strength was not enough to dent the thick bulkhead but it did shake the hinges and slightly dislodged the frame from the walls.Again and again and again the throwback exerted himself until his left shoulder was sore -- he switched to his right one and repeated the procedure.

Satisfied, he stopped and jiggled the door.It was loose but not free, yet.He got on his knees and pushed his fingers through the bottom crevice.His hold was slight at best but he had weakened the hinges so much so that he was able to lift the door up about half-an-inch.It was less than ample room but room enough to let him slide his whole hands through.He roared in angry frustration and with a great exhale he pulled back the door, ripping it free, throwing it against the shelves, knocking it all down.

Kara ran into the antechamber.The room was small and full of a hot, stale air that remained uncirculated.On the floor was a single, barely-breathing figure.He and Pumalo dragged the man out into the light.It was Caesar, his clothes torn due to what must have been a great struggled to break free.

The Thundercat was on the verge of tears.He held the human in his arms and brought their faces close together.He kissed his cheeks and brushed off the dirt and soil that had collected in his hair, on his skin.“How like an angel,” he whispered, “like that first time I saw you.You’re safe, now, Caesar,” he kissed his lips, “you’re with your lion.”

“Kara, is that you?” the young human asked as he opened his eyes.The lack of air had affected his brain and he was confused about where he was, how long he had been out.He looked at the feline and, smiling, he petted his red-main and fondled his ears.“You, I knew you’d come to me.”

The young lion held him tightly.“What happened?”

“I was kidnapped,” he answered, struggling to find the words and fight the fear of the memories that the infernal surroundings were conjuring up.

“By who?Who did it?”

“Didn’t see his face ‘til the end.It was just after you came to see me, at Cat’s Lair.He had turned off the lights to confuse me.Must have smashed my head on something, I don’t remember -- but when I awoke I was here,” he looked back at his makeshift prison.“And I saw him.A tiger-human mix.And I saw -- another me.”

Kara and Pumalo looked at each other in shock silence.

“It was another me,” he went on, “but he told me it was just a machine he had made to look like me.”He shook his head.“I don’t remember the rest, it’s a blur.”

The puma thought he had heard something.He searched around but saw only the red eyes of faceless, detached heads.Covered with wires and mangled parts, the eyes roamed about the room, looking, focusing.

“Pumalo and I went down to the ruins today and we saw someone who looked like you,” Kara said, “I thought it was you, until it began to speak.”

Caesar’s eyes widened:“What did it say?”

“It incited the throwback to rebel,” the large cat answered.“Some were shocked and fled, but most of the cats followed his lead.”

“We must stop it, we must show the workers that it’s a machine --“

“But there’s more, Caesar,” the lion said, holding his human hug.

The man caught a good look at his friend’s face:“Kara, you’ve changed.”

“Yes, I have, in many ways.Last night I was summoned by my father to talk with him and he showed me that we were both throwbacks.”

“Throwback?The royal family?”

“It’s true -- I’m sure a lot of people know it.Marsala, my doctors, who knows how many more.He tried to change me, he made me go through medical treatment to repress it but it failed, I guess.”

Caesar smiled, “No, no, you couldn’t hide it from me, even if you wanted to.I thought there was something --“

“Different?Me too!I never knew what it was until -- anyway, I told him that I love you and that I wanted no part in his plans --”

Caesar wrapped his arms around him:“You silly cat, now why did you go do something like that?”

“I’m a Thundercat and my duty’s to the truth -- but he’s done something of his own.I can see the big picture, the small details I can’t guess.He’s sent the Amazonian guards to arrest you for treason -- I know that because the soldier called you a traitor.That happened last night, before the robot had a chance to incite the workers.How did he know then?How did he know what the robot was going to do, if he didn’t have a hand in it all, directing the action?My father’s framed you and he’s trying to shut down your hospital, too.”

He sighed, about to speak when a loud siren cut him off.

Scared that they had set off an unseen alarm in the building, they ran out of the passage at once.Following Pumalo’s lead, they went down the spiral steps and filed into that small, little room.

“That sound’s coming from outside,” Kara said.

An explosion rocked the very ground -- the humming ceased and the flashing sparks came to an end.

“We’re not safe, if that man-tiger’s still here,” Caesar said.

“He may be the only clue as to what’s going on,” Kara added.

“We can’t stay here, we have to stop that robot -- those poor cats, the Imperial guard won’t hesitate to shoot,” the young man added.

“And they have orders to take Caesar in,” Pumalo said.“But what if they see two Caesars, the real one and the fake one?Won’t that raise suspicions?”

“I might have been put into that room to kill me later or to let me die in there.By being out and alive, well don’t you see,” he and the lion smiled.

“Yes, how would my father explain it?The truth would have to come out -- still, it won’t be easy, unless they capture the two of you and realize that it’s the robot who’s been firing up the workers --“

“Lord Phaeton’s plans would go out the window -- they’d ask where the robot came from --“

Kara grasped his beloved by the shoulders and rubbed the side of his face on his cheek.“Metropolis must know the truth about its leader.The injustice will crumble and the Code of Thundera will reign supreme.”