Prologue
"With this~ catalys~t X21, nothing can stop me from taking over Megakat City!" Dr. Viper cackled at the top of his feline-reptilian lungs holding up a round-bottom colender of purple liquid over his head in triumph as the moonlight lit up the mad scientist and his giant fungus-kat monster in the large laboratory of Megakat Biochemical Labs.
"Y-you won't get away with this!" a young scientist bravely challenged the mad doctor and his abomination of a captor. The monster snarled at its prey, making the scientist flinch back to the others. Dr. Viper turned to face the fool. A slimy smirk of his impending triumph was smeared across his face as he slithered over and leaned in closer.
"I don't th~ink s~o. I'm ex~pecting company to my little party and I have a little surpris~e for them." He chuckled darkly before he heard the familiar sound of chopper blades cutting through the air.
"DR. VIPER! THIS IS COMMANDOR FERAL!"
Projector lights filled the lab through the huge windows covering the front of the building, casting long shadows on the tiled floors.
"Right on cue." The madkat mumbled to himself.
"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES OR WE WILL STORM THE BUILDING! "
Commander Ulysseus Feral's voice boomed again over the bull horn from the chopper hovering in front of the window. His square frame was leaning out of one the many Enforcer choppers. All were waiting for him to give the order and assult the building. He leaned back into the aircraft to look at the pilot.
"Bring us in closer"
"Yes, Commander."
"Let's~ s~ee what the dear commander will say to this~ little playmate." Dr. Viper cackled as he eyed a delicate flower in a pot placed on a nearby workbench. He walked over to it and pulled out a small bottle from the innards of his tattered lab coat, punctured the seal of the lid with a syringe from the lab table and filled it with a toxic-looking green fluid. He injected it into the plant. At first, nothing happened, but then the plant started to jitter and writhe as if in agony. Then it burst into a rapid growth-spurt, quickly out-growing its pot. It spread throughout the building all the while sprouting razor sharp thorns and grotesque boils along its roots and branches.
On the outside of the building the choppers stopped their assault when the thorn-filled tentacles spewed out of every possible opening. The top of the building literally exploded to reveal a horrid and teeth-filled blossom. No longer delicate the mutated, wart-filled flora let out a hair-raising scream before turning to its prey – the Enforcer choppers.
"OPEN FIRE!" Comm. Feral roared and the choppers swarmed around the monstrous plant like flies. Perhaps more like fire flies as they lit up their gun torrents. The monster started veering its head and tentacles. The head attempted to snap at its prey while the .20 callibur rounds either just bounced off the skin or punctured the boils. The boils errupted in a spray of hot acid and any chopper near it would be hit on the router and desolved like sugar in hot tea.
"WE'RE HIT! WE'RE HIT! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" The pilots cried out over the frequencies.
Comm. Feral watched as his squadron quickly started falling from the sky. He had to take action.
Comm. Feral spoke into the com-link before turning to the pilot, "Send in the tanks and get me closer to that building. We need to get those scientists out of there."
"We couldn't agree more Commander; we are already moving in." A foreign voice answered over the intercom speakers. Comm. Feral growled.
"SWAT Kats! Stay out of this. The Enforcer will handle this."
"Look out! It's going to hit us!" The pilot suddenly shouted as the mutant vine struck the chopper and it spiralled towards the ground. The intercom was still working and a second voice came in chuckling.
"We can see that, but negative Commander, we're going in."
"This is Comm. Feral. Give me chopper back-up." He said before he broke the intercom out of frustration watching the infamous black and red jet flying over his head, aiming for the mutant fly trap.
Razor and T-bone laughed as they heard Feral's final comment.
"He'll need more than that to get things done around here." Razor said to his buddy and pilot T-bone.
"Yeah. Now let's get those scientists and take care of old lizard face."
"Affirmative, locking on target. Locked. Shredder-missiles deployed!" Razor said as the shredder missiles, missiles with chainsaw warheads, flew through the air and cut through the swaying vines making the monster screaming in pain.
"Bingo!" Razor said as ooze sprayed from the severed limbs, splashing over the Turbokat and hissed on contact with the wings.
"Wow, that thing is spraying acid all over my jet!" T-bone shouted in anger.
"Relax, the new coating I put on the Turbokat should keep it away and not eat through the hull." Razor answered to calm his partner.
"Yeah, but it ain't getting away with it, either way!" T-bone snarled.
"Affirmative! but we first need to get in there and stop Dr. Viper before he can cook up more of those monsters and get away with whatever it is he's got his paws on!" Razor said as he scanned the roof top of the building overgrown with the mutant plant snapping at them.
"What do you have in mind, sure-shot? There are mutant vines everywhere and that head has some pretty sharp teeth." T-bone asked while he did what he could to avoid the Turbokat being turned into plant food. He swerved and swayed, looping through the wines in a perfect barrel roll before he doubled back to circle the plant once more.
"We need to get through the air shaft. It's our only way in to the lab."
"Sure thing, buddy. Let's cut down this overgrown daisy."
"Affirmative, locking on target. Shredder-missiles re-loaded a~nd deployed!" Four more shredder-missiles ejected from the bottom of the jet and flew straight for the remaining tentacles which were trying to swat the threat away.
One swatted away and spiralled before it struck the side of the many sky-scrapers with a huge boom. Another flew upward before it crashed to the ground in heap of scrap in the cracked pavement. The final one spiralled towards City Hall, where Mayor Manx was tending to 'important' business. Perfecting his putt.
"Just a little more and... what's that? HEEEEEELP!" The mayor muttered before screaming at the sight of the incoming missile. He ducked under his desk before the missile burst through the window and cut through his plush red carpet. "I think it will be much sa~fer on the golf course."
The last missile was destroyed on impact and resulted in the tentacle being shredded and blown clean off the beast. Two more were fired and aimed for the thickest part of the mutant plant. The base where the neck was attached. The beast screamed in agony as it lost its head and fell to the street below. The remaining limbs swayed and shook as its acidic 'blood' sprayed all over the place and went limb. The Turbokat hovered over an open spot on the roof and the two vigilantes slid down the wires and landed lightly on the surface. They looked at each other, straightened their Glovatrixes and got ready to move in.
"I think, I've found our way in." Razor said as he spotted an air vent, which led into the building. T-bone grinned as he eyed the narrow duct.
"Leave it to you to find the tightest way in." He said in a joking fashion, making his partner raising his brown under his mask but merely grinned back.
"It's not my fault, you can't fit in tight spaces with that milk-belly of yours. Now, come on." Razor answered back while smacking the back of his paw against T-bone's stomach before he took off the front cover of the vent and jumped in.
"It's not a milk belly... I can't help, I got big bones." T-bone muttered to himself before he followed his partner.
Dr. Viper growled as he could sense that his giant fly-trap monster had been beaten which only meant one thing. The SWAT-Kats were on their way. He poured more fluids out onto the floor and like horror sea monkeys, all various hideous forms of beings started to grow from the cocktail of chemical poison.
"Go, my pets! Stop them! They must not s~poil my plans, again." He commanded his minions. They ran down the corridor to defend their master. "I will not let those pestering SWAT-Kats ruin my plans to take over Megakat City." He muttered to himself.
Razor kicked open the hatch to the vent and jumped down on to the tiled floor. T-bone followed and looked around with the Glovatrix aimed at any on-coming threat.
"You think old lizard-brains knows we've turned his pet plant into compost?" T-bone asked while he scanned the corridor. Before Razor could answer him, they could both hear the snarling and gurgling sounds of monsters coming down the hallway.
"I think, he knows... and isn't too happy about it. I've located the scientists. There are about two floors down in the main research laboratory." Razor answered as he joined his comrade in shooting down the horde of bacteria and other mutant monsters coming at them. "We need to get to the elevator shaft. It's the quickest way down." He continued.
"Yeah? But what about these creeps?" T-bone asked as he could see them coming closer.
"We'll see how well they can fly. Follow me!" Razor answered as he bolted for the elevator, closely followed by T-bone while still shooting at the beasts to slow them down. But they were gaining on the two heroes. T-bone turned to shoot a mini-spider missile at one of the creatures when it jumped like a frog, missed the missile and chomped onto his Glovatrix.
"ARGH! Get off my Glovatrix, you slimy, wart-faced toad!" T-bone roared as he tried to get the frog-thing off but it sank its sharp teeth into the metal casing, making the metal screech under the pressure. In a panicked yell T-bone threw away the broken Glovatrix so the frog monster wouldn't get a chance to bite him. He stumbled to the floor watching the frog-thing still biting his weapon. It then spat out the metallic attachment and turned its yellow gaze to the kat on the floor. For a brief moment beast's and kat's gazes locked. An old memory returned. One T-bone thought, he had gotten rid of for good and he froze.
He then scooted away from the frog as it sneered at him, getting ready to pounce. T-bone's eye shut tightly as he tried to guard his face from the leaping creature with his arms. The frog squealed but it didn't meet with T-bone's arms but with an octopus-missile from Razor's Glovatrix, pinning it to the wall. It kicked and screamed in anger. When he was sure it wasn't going anywhere Razor then turned to T-bone and gave him a paw to get him on his feet.
"You alright, pal?" Razor asked as he looked at his partner before ejecting his portable shield and handed it to T-bone. T-bone looked at his Glovatrix and watched as the holes the monster had made were dissolving and getting bigger because of the acid drool.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." T-bone stated as he tried to put up calm demeanour. It didn't fool Razor, but now was not the time for psycho-analysis.
"Come on, we're nearly at the elevator." Razor said as he kept shooting behind them while T-bone ran head on, using the shield to deflect the monsters that came from the side corridors. He quickly checked his paw but saw the glove was not torn.
"Elevator, straight ahead!" He called back to his partner.
"Good, stand clear. Wedge-missile, deployed!" Razor said as he aimed at the elevator doors and the fired missile jammed itself in between the two doors. The warhead broke off to reveal two jack-like arms, which pushed the doors apart to reveal the elevator shaft and the cables that linked to the actual elevator.
"JUMP!" Razor shouted as he leaped for the cable and T-bone followed as they slid down the cable to the main research lab. As they jumped off, the creatures were close behind them, attempting to climb or jump down to their target. T-bone had the shield at the ready while Razor aimed at the cable. "Going down." He shot a buzz-saw missile at the cable. The cable snapped and a loud sound came from above. The creatures paused their descent, looking up to see the horrifying sight of the underside of the elevator cabin come rushing towards them. The elevator came down on them all and compressed them like air in a piston, plummeting towards the bottom of the shaft. The creatures screamed before they were drowned out by the thundering boom of the elevator crashing at the bottom of the shaft.
"ALRIGHT!" The two heroes shouted as they gave each other a high-five.
"Now, let's get that quack and save the day. Feral is probably hacking his way through the leftovers of plant and I don't wanna hanging around, when he blames us for property damage." T-bone said as they headed down to the research lab.
"Affirmative!" answered Razor as he looked up and down his partner. T-bone noticed it.
"I'm ok, Razor. That frog freak didn't get me." Razor nodded
"I know it didn't. It's more your nerves I was checking."
"I said, I'm fine." T-bone snapped, getting annoyed by his partner's over-concern. Razor let it go as they were close to the lab.
Dr. Viper was walking back and forth. "What's~ taking them s~o long." He muttered out loud.
"Sorry Doc, but your buddies got off on the wrong floor. So, it's game over." T-bone said coyly as he and Razor aimed at Dr. Viper.
"You meddles~ome S~WAT-Kats~!" Dr. Viper hissed as his last beast, the fungus-kat monster came to its creator's aid, hissing and gurgling at the SWAT-Kats. T-bone and Razor stood their ground.
"Give it up, Doc! You got nowhere to run. Any minute the Enforcers will be here and drag your scaly tail right to the slammer." Razor said, as he kept a clear shoot at Dr. Viper.
The deranged scientist was fuming with rage.
"You will NOT foil my plans! I WILL take over Megakat City and YOU will all be under MY control! DES~TROY THEM!" He shouted to his monster. It snarled and charged at the two heroes. Both jumped to each side of the green mushroom monster. Now, it had the difficult choice of choosing which kat to follow. It chose the swifter one. T-bone jumped near the scientists. He looked back at them giving them a confidant look and signalled them to head for the door while he and Razor dealt with the monster and its master.
Razor was jumping from side to side to avoid being squashed by the monster's long tentacles. T-bone roared as he leaped from behind and landed on the monster's head slamming the shield down hard. The monster screamed in pain and tried to get T-bone off of it. Slowly, the scientists crawled close to the wall, one by one, until they were out of sight. Except for one. The young male scientist was almost home free when Dr. Viper noticed his hostages were thinning out. He grabbed the scientist by the tail, which made the young tom-kat yelp and turn around and face Dr. Viper.
"Ah, ah, ah. Not s~o fas~t." He said waving a finger at the escapee. He then grabbed the scientist by the collar of his lab coat, held him in an arm-lock and backed away with him.
Just then, Comm. Feral, followed by Lt. Felina Feral and their troops, stood in the doorway. In a split second the monster flung both SWAT-Kats against the wall near the doorway.
"Ouch" was all they could reply as they dislodged themselves from the wall.
"Perfect timing, Feral." T-bone stated as he saw the commander. Comm. Feral ignored the comment as he turned his attention to the more dangerous villain.
"Dr. Viper, you are under arrest. Release the hostage, hand over the catalyst and come quietly." He said in a firm and commanding voice, while he, his niece and troops held Dr. Viper at gun-point.
"Fat chanc~e, Feral. I will take this little guinea pig with me and use him to control Megakat C~ity. So don't you move, or I will pour the catalyst right down his throat!" He screamed, as he backed away with hostage in his grip and held the flask of purple liquid over the tom-kat's head with his tail. T-bone and Razor got up but didn't move either.
Dr. Viper cackled, as he glared at the Enforcers and the SWAT-kats and then at his hostage. "GULLIBLE FOOLS! Do you really think, I play fair?" He said as he slowly tilted the flask to pour the liquid over the panicking scientist. The Enforcers gasped, making Dr. Viper cackle even louder.
"Heads up, Lizard-lips!" T-bone said as he quickly grabbed the shield and threw it at Dr. Viper like a frisbee. It missed and Dr. Viper cackled, again.
"HA! Miss~ed me." But T-bone's wide grin didn't fade as he crossed his arms watching how his frisbee was now returning like a boomerang. It hit the back of the green tail and the flask landed on the floor, shattering and the liquid spilled all over the floor.
"NOOOOO!" Dr. Viper screamed as he let go of his hostage, who scrambled over to the Enforcers. Dr. Viper landed on his knees looking at the spoiled fluid. T-bone stood confidently before the once again, beaten scientist.
"It's over, Viper. You'll never take over Megakat City. Not as long as we SWAT Kats are around to kick your tail." T-bone said with a satisfied smile as Razor stood by him.
Dr. Viper fisted his paws as he stood up and glared at the SWAT-Kats.
"You meddles~ome SWAT-Kats~ have ruined my plans~ for the las~t time! When you least ex~pect it, I will come out from the dark and DES~TROY YOU! MEGAKAT-C~ITY WILL BE MINE!" Dr. Viper shouted as he pointed at the SWAT-Kats with a defiant green finger.
"No on MY watch." Comm. Feral said loudly as he turned to his troops "ARREST HIM!"
"S~till a fat chanc~e, Feral." Dr. Viper said as he swung his tail around and knocked over flasks and test tubes from a lab table and on to the floor. The mixing chemicals resulted in a large smoke screen with Dr. Viper cackling behind it. Before the troops could moved forward, Lt. Feral quickly hit the nearby ventilation switch so the poisonous fumes could be cleared, but Dr. Viper was already gone, along with his fungus kat-monster.
"After him, before he gets away!" Felina shouted to the troops as they spread out to search the building.
"No thanks to you SWAT-Kats." Comm. Feral said as he needed to let his anger out on somebody and who better than his 'favourite' pair of vigilantes.
"You're most welcome, Feral." Razor said sarcastically as he was getting use to Feral giving them the blame for anything. T-bone on the other hand was mad.
"Hey! We saved the scientists and destroyed the catalyst so it wouldn't land in Dr. Viper's slimy paws."
"Exactly! You endangered civilians and destroyed public property." Comm. Feral retorted and T-bone was ready to blow. Razor acted quickly, placing a paw on T-bone's shoulder to hold him back before he turned to one of the scientists, who re-entered the lab. He recognised him as Dr Konway, one of the Enforcer scientists.
"So, Dr. Konway. Can you tell us what Dr. Viper almost got a hold of?" He asked, hoping it would draw his partner's attention as well as the commander's.
"It was an experimental formula, we were developing for the medicine industry. It is supposed to de-evolve cells back to their primary state. We believe stem-cells could benefit in many ways where conventional medicine takes longer to work. I am glad that you stopped Dr. Viper. Who knows what his malicious paws could do to corrupt our work. I'm though sorry that our first physical sample had to go to waste." Dr. Konway said looking at the spilled fluid on the tiled floor. T-bone glared at Feral before turning a friendly smile to Dr. Konway.
"Sorry for making you all start from scratch, Doc. But it's good to see you all are safe and unharmed."
"Uncle!" All turned when Lt. Feral approached her uncle. All were eager and hoping to hear something good.
"What's the situation?" Feral boomed as he faced his niece.
"I'm afraid he has slipped away from us again, Uncle. We've searched every possible and impossible exit and the snake has managed to get away." Lt. Feral stated, being just as frustrated as both her uncle and the SWAT-Kats.
"THAT FIENDISH REPTILE!" Feral shouted as he once again turned to the SWAT-Kats. T-bone was ready as he was sure, this time, Feral was going to pop a vein. "IF YOU SWAT-KATS HADN'T INTERFERED!"
"We would have had Viper gift-wrapped for you." Razor interrupted as they started moving over to the large windows.
"Yeah, but you were just too impatient, like a kitten before Christmas." T-bone finished, which made Feral growl and Lt. Feral chuckle quietly behind her commanding officer, She stifled her grinning when her uncle turned to find the source.
"Happy hunting, Commander." T-bone signed off as he opened the window and he and Razor beat a hasty retreat to the Turbokat, now hovering outside, waiting to pick them up. They jumped into the cockpit and took off with the roar of the turbine engines and left a trail of smoke in their wake.
Unknown to the Enforcers, the scientists and our intrepid heroes, another mind was boiling over in the deepest and darkest corner of the city sewers.
"They th~ink they have won. They th~ink they have beaten Dr. Viper, but it is I, who will have the las~t laugh. Oh, yes~. You had best watch out S~WAT-Kats~. When you least ex~pect it. When your guard is down, I will s~trike! Oh yes~ indeed." Dr. Viper hissed as he carefully held a small test tube of the purple fluid.
Editor's note:
HELLO EVERYONE! After what feels like millennia, and probably is in Internet time, I have returned to finish this story. I have re-read this chapter and corrected some of my atrocious mistakes. 😁
I hope you are all still enjoying it and please leave a comment.