"Geez, some of these omegas have a rotten sense of timing." T-Bone complained to Razor, yawning hugely, his tongue curling. They were flying to the industrial district after Callie received a tip that Dr. Viper was in the area.
"If you and Mari were sleeping I'll eat my helmet."
"Hope you like it with catsup and mustard buddy."
"Losing your touch, loverboy?"
T-Bone snorted, "You wish. Things have just been too busy for both of us. She's starting to plan the wedding and getting ready for a tour in a year, everything's gone to heck in a hand basket on our end."
"Well, if we can find and catch Dr. Viper tonight you can go back to your nice warm snug bed."
"Don't tell me you're not tired too."
"Yeah, but I only have the garage and our entire tech to manufacture."
T-Bone snorted again, "Sounds easy compared to what we've gotta do."
Razor started to laugh, and then he tapped his screen. "Hey buddy, look over there." One of the outbuildings near the swamp glowed green.
"That's gotta be where he is. I'm taking us down."
They landed the Turbokat and got out.
"Yuck, can't he find anywhere else to put his hideout? It reeks around here." T-Bone complained, sneezing to clear his nose.
"He's mostly reptile now, so this must smell great to him. Let's go see what he's up to."
They snuck into the building, the walls were covered with swamp growth and the floor was slimy." T-Bone felt his fur stand on end.
Inside one of the doors, a mist sprayed on them both, it smelled green and even glowed green on their uniforms.
"Great. We're never gonna get this out of our stuff. I wonder why this is here?"
Razor shook his hands dry, "Probably to keep it humid in here. I have to agree with you here. It reeks." He sniffed himself and made a face.
After a few more rooms, they found Dr. Viper in another large room fiddling with a large gun. They snuck in and hid behind some wooden crates.
"Ah soon, soon my pet, we'll transform all of MegaKat City's residents into their original forms. Pastmaster would be pleassssed about this and I get the city all to myssself."
'Gotta hand it to the bad guys', T-Bone thought to himself. 'They can't help but talk to themselves.'
"I wonder what's he's talking about?" Razor wondered.
"It can't be any good if he's talking about changing kats, time to put him out of business." T-Bone straightened up and they went running around the crate silently, hoping to take him out before he heard them.
Dr. Viper must have seen them or heard them coming because he snatched up the large rifle-like object and fired it at them. It hit Razor first then a second bolt hit T-Bone. They were surrounded by an orange glow and pain licked through them like fire. It was suddenly impossible to stand. Both he and Razor were on all fours. He glared up at Dr. Viper.
"Ha ha ha ha, you foolish, stupid SWAT Katss, you've fallen into my trap at lassst! The mist you went through was my transmutation antigen and this mutagen gun just took care of the ressst of the problem of de-evolving you."
"We'll never let you get away with it." Razor choked out, and then a feral pain-filled scream burst from him.
"Razor!"
"Oh don't worry, you'll be joining him ssooon enough and after your change, you'll totally be my ssslaves!"
T-Bone could feel himself growing larger, his spine expanding, his fingers shrinking into his paws, his claws digging into the dirt, his face expanding into a muzzle. His uniform was splitting at the seams and ripping apart and he knew he had only one chance at this. Razor was already transformed into a large cat. He shook off the remains of his uniform and fixed T-Bone with a rabid stare. He couldn't help the snarl of defiance that came from his own throat.
"Here, SSWAT Kat."
The feline Razor flicked his tail and paced to Dr. Vipers side, crouching. His helmet had fallen off but his bandanna was still on.
T-Bone felt his watchband snap off. He'd hoped he'd never have to use this but, his claw touched the side of the band and a red light went off. He hit the band as hard as he could to get it away from him. He didn't want to stomp it or something. It slid under the edge of a wooden crate, the light still blinking. He fought as hard as he could against the change, but his mind started to go dim. His last thoughts were "Got to keep it together!" before a scream issued from his own throat.
Marissa heard something beeping and it woke her up. She lifted her head from her pillow and looked sleepily around. It was near dawn and Chance still wasn't back, then she gasped and scrambled from the bed, snatching her purse off the dresser and emptying it on the floor. The communicator Chance had given her was going off. He told her that if that went off, he was in serious trouble and get help. She hit a button and the GPS went off. A small map of MegaKat City was on the screen and it showed that he was off to the north.
She dressed quickly, called the school, grabbed the case that Tragus made for her and strapped it to her motorcycle.
The signal led her to the edge of the swamp to a run-down building covered in moss. A large object stood near it that looked like the Turbokat was also covered in moss. She pulled a pair of sais out of the case. She went to it and pulled off a portion of the moss. It WAS the Turbokat. Her heart went to her stomach. She went into the building and went through it inch by painful inch, expecting trouble at every turn. She found the torn and shredded uniforms, flight helmets split and dented.
She fell to her knees and picked up the uniforms. "Oh no. T-Bone, Razor." Tears started in her eyes but she shook her head furiously. No time for that. The guys needed her.
She knew that she would need help but wasn't going to trust the Enforcers. She pulled out her cell phone and called Callie's private line.
"Deputy Mayor Briggs speaking."
"Callie! It's Mari! Have you heard from the SWAT Kats?"
"No I haven't. There was a report that Dr. Viper was in the north part of the city, I relayed it to Razor."
"They're missing!"
"What?"
"T-Bone gave me a transponder that would activate only if he and Razor were in the worst of trouble. It went off about dawn. I followed the signal down to the swamp. I found the Turbokat but no SWAT Kats."
"What are we going to do?"
She was silent for a moment. "Meet me at the garage in one hour. We need to talk about what we're going to do."
An hour later, Callie came running into the garage. Mari looked angry and upset, pacing the bay.
"Are you ok?"
"No. I need to know what happened to T-Bone and Razor and we can't trust the Enforcers."
"No, Feral's too much of an egomaniac and would like to unmask the SWAT Kats. So now what?"
Mari turned around and picked up two uniforms. It looked like the SWAT Kats uniforms but the colors were reversed, red being the primary color. "We take care of it ourselves."
Callie waved her hands, her eyes wide. "We're not trained! We're not pilots!"
"We don't have to be. I can drive their truck and motorcycle and I know if I can, you can. I can run the weapons systems, Razor taught me and I've been helping to fix the equipment. Regarding fighting, you've taken kickboxing lessons from me so I know you can defend yourself. Just be my backup, ok?"
Callie was silent for a while. "All right, what do I do?"
Mari hugged her friend. "First, we need to hide my stripe. Not many kats are marked like I am, then I need to explain the glovatrix to you."
Mari wanted to scream at the delay this was all taking. They braided their hair into long, tight plaits. T-Bone was in trouble and she had to give Callie lessons. She tied off the bandanna and placed the helmet on her own head.
"I think I understand why they like this." Callie said. She looked fit and ready, completely different than Callie Briggs. She felt different than herself, Marissa Callistane.
"Ready to do this?" Mari asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Then let's go kick some tail and get our guys back." She pulled out the transponder and checked the signal. T-Bone's signal had moved, it was now underground. "It looks like they're in the sewers."
"Great. You take me to the most interesting places." Callie said flatly.
"If we're going to be SWAT Kats, we need call signs. I'll be Hawk."
"Hawk?
T-Bone called me that after first major fight."
"How about Falcon for me?"
"That's cool, Falcon." They both grinned at each other.
They took the double motorcycle out, Falcon driving while Hawk watched the small dot move. It finally stopped.
"It looks like the signal isn't too far now, we need to get underground and into the sewer system."
They hid the bike and approached a sewer cover. Hawk prized it open with a crowbar and they went down the stairs, lights in hand.
Hawk took the lead as they stepped into murky water. Falcon couldn't help emitting a squeak of disgust.
After some harrowing turns, they found a light ahead and they heard Dr. Viper. "Do you sense something, my pets?" A long, menacing growl issued from somewhere ahead.
"I don't like the sound of that" Falcon whispered, tightening her fist in her glovatrix.
"Keep it together. The guys need us and that signal is coming from where Dr. Viper is." Hawk whispered back.
She peeked around the corner. Dr. Viper was there with several large barrels and a large reddish cat that looked like it was from the prehistoric ages sat beside him. It was wearing a black bandanna.
Before she could say anything, another low, long growl issued from behind them and another large feline, crème and striped paced toward them menacely. He was also wearing a black bandanna. Hawk and Falcon backed into the room, their glovatrix raised.
"More SWAT Katss? I thought I had gotten rid of you all?"
Hawk laughed. "Not likely, Dr. Viper! We're SWAT Kittens. Now tell us what did you do to them?"
"I de-evolved them with my antigen and mutagen gun, I find that with them this way now makess them rather easy to handle and they make exceptional petssss." He ran a hand down Razor's spine. Razor crouched and growled at the girls, his fur standing on end. T-Bone was pacing toward them, licking his chops.
"Sssupper time, my SSWAT Kats." Dr. Viper said, rubbing his scaly hands together, and then pointing at the girls.
Both T-Bone and Razor jumped at them. "Duck!" Hawk yelled. They ducked and twisted out of the way as the large kats ran into each other. They ran back down a tunnel.
"You can run, but you can't hide and you'll make delicate eating for my petsss!"
Hawk and Falcon ran for it. "He's right, we can't keep running!"
"But we can't fight them like this."
"Maybe we don't have to. I've got a wild idea; you've got a gas grenade, don't you?
"Yeah, but what good's that gonna do?"
"Maybe keep them off our tails for right now!"
Falcon turned and fired the gas grenade back at the SWAT Kats. It went off and they saw them stop, snarling and growling.
They reached the ladder and scrambled up it and out of the hole. They heard them scream in rage, trying to get up the ladder.
"Grab the cover!" Hawk yelled.
It took both of them to put the cover on. They backed away, panting as the cover began to bang and shake.
"Damn it T-Bone. He doesn't know when to quit. He's persistent, I'll give him that."
The cover went flying and T-Bone burst out. He shook his fur in the night air and sniffed, and then his wild eyes focused on the girls.
"Now T-Bone, it's me. It's your Hawk in flight, your Marissa. Please you've got to remember. I'm not going to hurt you." She kept her voice calm as she went toward him, arms open.
"What are you doing?!" Falcon yelled. "He'll kill you!"
"Trust me!" T-Bone crouched, shifted and knocked Hawk over. She brought up her feet and flipped him up and over. One of his claws tore her sleeve on her upper arm and left a long scratch. T-Bone went flying into some garbage cans.
"We can do this all night, my T-Bone." She said angrily.
He crouched again and pounced, this time changing direction just enough that Hawk wasn't ready for it and she was pinned under him. Then a confused look came over the kat's face and he lowered his great head to sniff at her, then his long raspy tongue raked the side of her face and he lay down on top of her, rumbling to set her teeth on edge.
She shoved him off of her. "Geez T-Bone, what have you been eating?" Then she shuddered. "Never mind, I don't want to know."
T-Bone sat down in front of her and started at her intently. Sitting, he was as tall as her.
She brushed herself off and faced him, and then her paws slowly went out and caressed the giant head. She found the necklace still around his neck with his tracker. It was tight on him but it had held. His tongue rasped her gloves and his eyes slitted shut. He stood and paced around her and rubbed his head against her chest, purring.
"Falcon, I think he remembers me. That's it!"
"Well that's good because here comes Razor!" Razor had finally managed to claw himself out of the hole and was pacing toward them.
T-Bone turned his head toward his partner and growled. Razor didn't look as convinced as he was.
"Falcon, you have to let him smell you. I think that's the key to him remembering at least we're friends." Hawk tried to walk to Razor but was stopped by T-Bone, who pushed her back away from him. "He thinks that Razor's in competition for me so we need to show him that he isn't."
Falcon didn't look convinced but stepped forward, her paw extended. Razor's great head came up and he sniffed the wind, then paced toward Falcon and sniffed her paws, finally coming up into her arms, rubbing his head against hers and giving her a long kiss with his tongue.
They spent several minutes petting them. "How did you know they would respond like this?"
"A month ago T-Bone and I watched this show on big predators. If they see you first, then they go immediately into a 'red zone', if they scent you first, it helps them determine if what they're seeing is prey or pride."
"Well, they're definitely friendly." She tried to push down Razor. He'd backed her against a corner and was shoving against her, putting his great head against Falcon's nose. "Now what do we do?"
"Sit Razor!" Hawk commanded.
Razor looked at her and sat on Falcon's feet.
"Sometimes you have to let a kat know who's really the boss." Falcon chuckled; Hawk knew she'd file that for future reference.
"We need to get back in there and get that mutagen gun and see if we can't change back the SWAT Kats. Razor made up an antidote to the antigen that Dr. Viper's so fond of, but we probably need that gun to make it work."
It was hard to go back into the tunnels, as they had lost their handlights, but T-Bone and Razor took care of the problem when they got down to the bottom of the tunnel.
T-Bone nosed Hawk toward his back and pushed her against the wall and looked at her.
"I think they want us to ride them."
"You think?" Falcon was getting the same treatment from Razor.
Hawk climbed onto T-Bone's back. It was hard to hold onto the short fur. He shook out his fur and started running with Razor and Falcon in hot pursuit.
It wasn't long before they were back in the same room with Dr. Viper. Razor and T-Bone yowled at them. Dr. Viper was surrounded by more of his swamp creations.
"I told you that we'd be back, Dr. Viper." Hawk said.
He looked shocked. "What? How?"
"They know us and we're here to get that gun back and bring back our SWAT Kats. Taking you in will be just the icing on the cake." Hawk said.
"Not if I have anything to ssssay about it! Get them!" He screamed at his creations.
She felt T-Bone's muscles bunching up under her and buried her hands deeper in his fur. She leaned over and patted his cheek, nodding at him. He looked up at her then jumped in the middle of the melee.
Falcon wasn't having as much luck. She missed the cue from Razor's muscles and had tumbled off. She rushed behind a crate and started firing her glovatrix's weaponry at the creatures.
Hawk and T-Bone were working well as a team. She was using her glovatrix to good advantage and T-Bone's claws were taking care of the rest. She used T-Bone's momentum to propel her through the air to hit Dr. Viper with a kick. He sailed back and the gun went flying. She dived for it and caught it. He screamed in anger and tossed down a smoke pellet.
When the smoke cleared, Dr. Viper was gone and all that was left were the two barrels of mutagen and fallen swamp creatures. T-Bone and Razor sniffed around and started to go down another hallway, growling.
"No! T-Bone, Razor. Stay!"
"But Dr. Viper's getting away."
"We've got bigger concerns right now. We got what we came for, now we have to figure this out."
Falcon looked down the corridor and nodded.
"How are we going to get them back?"
Hawk grinned again. "Another way to a kat's heart is through his stomach."
The fish market wasn't too far and it was time for delivery. Both she and Falcon snagged some and coaxed the SWAT Kats to follow behind the motorcycle.
They gave them the fish at the hangar. Hawk pulled of her helmet and rummaged in a locker marked with a large red cross. She pulled out a small box which held a spray injector and four vials. One was to be given to them as soon as possible, the other in twelve hours. They didn't seem to notice the injections, Razor hissing at Marissa and being silenced by a growl from T-Bone.
Callie aimed the gun at them, Marissa grabbed two blankets. Callie got them both on the first shot, immediately they were covered by an orange glow and screamed and writhed in pain, she threw one blanket over T-Bone, the other over Razor.
A few minutes later, T-Bone rolled over on his back. "Ugh, what happened?"
"More importantly, where are our clothes?" Razor said, sitting up and covering himself, embarrassed.
"How did we get here?"
"We brought you back." Marissa said. She helped T-Bone to stand and over to a cot, then she and Callie helped Razor.
"I feel awful." Razor complained.
"Dr. Viper had changed you too into some of our prehistoric ancestors. You activated your transponder, so Callie and I came to your rescue. Do you remember anything?"
Both of them rubbed their heads, thinking. "I remember changing, but not much after that." Razor said.
"Ditto here."
"Well I'm glad that we were able to get you out of there and back here. We'll need refills of the antidote." Marissa said.
"So what's this?" T-Bone asked with an upraised grin as he fingered Marissa's collar.
"Something I had made up months ago in case of a situation like this." Marissa said smugly. "Can't have kats put two and two together if they see us helping you."
"I can't believe you got Callie involved in all of this."
"Why not? Why can't we save you guys once in a while? You save us on almost a daily basis." Callie complained.
"Because you're girls." Razor uttered.
"Uh oh, now you've stepped in it, buddy." T-Bone grinned as Callie and Marissa ganged up on him. This was the argument he and Marissa had months ago.
Razor looked over them at his partner. "Um, a little help?"
Marissa's head snapped around to glare at T-Bone. He waved his hands. "No way, buddy, you've stepped in it, you've got to clean it up. Besides, if they'd hadn't come," both of them shivered.
"You've got a point, but don't expect us to call you guys on a regular basis."
Callie raised her finger and took a breath to argue further, but Marissa put a paw on her friend's shoulder. "Fair enough but expect us to be there, kicking tail when you do need us."
"So what are you calling yourselves?" T-Bone was up and getting his garage uniform from the locker.
Marissa knew that was all the concession she was getting and knew that T-Bone was trying to change the subject.
"Hawk and Falcon, the SWAT Kittens."
T-Bone grinned again. "I do admit that I like it. What do you think Razor?"
He was plainly about to say something else, but the looks from Callie and Marissa stopped him. "Sounds good."
"Good answer." Both Marissa and Callie muttered.
"Let's give these guys a chance to get dressed. See you upstairs."
"Looks like you need to change out too." Razor noted.
Both of them were still wearing their red jumpsuits. They grinned sheepishly and went into the other room to change.
Afterward, Marissa went home and took two showers. The thought of the sewers made her fur crawl, and then she ordered Chinese take-out from their favorite place and sat down to the table to her wedding planner and stacks of bridal magazines.
She lost herself in her work and only got up to get the take out and put it in the kitchen. She heard the door slam and Chance cursing.
"Hey, I've got to get in the shower. I still feel Dr. Viper all over me." He shuddered, shedding clothes on the way to the bathroom.
Marissa smiled, shook her head and sighed, picking up the clothes he'd left behind. Then she brought up the take out and sodas to their bedroom. She knocked on the door. "Chance?"
The shower was running, she opened the door slightly and walked in She could only see his form through the frosted glass.
"Are you all right?"
The door flew open and before she could stop him, he'd grabbed her and pulled her in with him. She found herself against the shower wall being thoroughly kissed and soaked.
"Oh well, I had already had a shower." She undressed and hugged Chance to her. "What was that for, not that I'm complaining."
"Wanted to thank you and show my appreciation for what you did." His lips trailed down her neck. "While you're here, can you scrub my back?"
"I knew there was another reason." She chuckled and extended her claws. Chance arched his back in pleasure at her scrubbing and rinsed off. "Wait a minute. That's not my back you're scrubbing."
"Really? Feels just as hard and muscular." She stood up behind him and let her paws trail up his body, hugging herself to him.
He turned and picked her up, pinning her against the wall, finding quick relief from all the tension they'd been under. They panted, letting the shower rinse off their efforts. She kissed him, panting.
"I have a great thought. Why don't we just spend the whole night up here tonight?" He let her down and they toweled dry, wrapping the towels up around each other and walking hand in hand toward their bedroom.
"It's not romantic, but I had a thought you'd might suggest this." She gestured to the take out and sodas near their bed.
"That'll be dessert. I'll have the main course now." He took Marissa's towel off and swept her into bed. Off came his towel and he snuggled against her under the covers, hugging her tight against him,
She traced his features with her fingers. "I'm so glad that you're ok."
"What a weird few months, Halloween, our wedding plans, now this. I wonder what else is gonna happen."
Her fingertips came across his lips. "Let's not find out. Let's just enjoy this perfect moment. I'm sorry that we've grown apart lately with all that's going on."
He kissed and nipped her fingers. "Let's make up for it right now." He grinned rakishly at her.
She grinned back and both came together in a heart-melting kiss.
ument here...