MISSION: SAVING THE WORLD

Chapter 2: Seeing Himself

"Hey, hand me that spanner will ya, Chance?" Jake called out, his head inside the open nose section of the Turbokat.

"Sure, just a sec." His partner walked to the tool box and retrieved the requested item. He'd just handed it over when there was a loud boom and brilliant flash of light just behind them.

With the sound still ringing in their ears and their eyes trying to recover from the light, both cursed as they tried to discover what had invaded their sanctuary.

With eyes watering, Chance squinted hard at the space behind him and saw a weird looking metal pod sitting there in the middle of the floor, it's form steaming water vapor from it's trip.

Swiping his eyes, Jake frowned at the mysterious pod. "We'd better change our clothes before we check this out."

"Right."

The two circled around the object, careful to not get too close, reaching their lockers in a side area of the hangar a moment later. A quick change and they were approaching the pod again, glovetrixs' at the ready.

Studying it from all sides, neither could determine its origin nor if it was even dangerous. Giving each other a wary glance, they came to a silent decision.

Moving to what appeared to be the front of the pod, Razor quickly figured out how it was sealed, sparing only a moment's confusion at the odd familiarity of it, before unlocking the heavy door and pulling it open.

Both gaped at its contents.

"Crud! It's Feral!" T-Bone blurted, raising his glovetrix defensively.

Razor, however, took no such action as he studied the unconscious figure slumped inside the pod. Shaking his head, he finally announced. "No, that's not our Feral!" Moving closer to sniff and get a better look at the tom, he took a deep inhale then jerked back seconds later, a look of horror on his face. "Oh my God!"

Startled by his partner's reaction, T-Bone lowered his weapon and also leaned closer to sniff the occupant. The odor his nose caught made him choke and take two stunned steps backward. "Fah! He smells like rotting flesh!"

"That's because this guy is dying," Razor said grimly.

"You're right and he's definitely not our Feral. He's not wearing his uniform and look how thin and old he appears. Hey! His mustache is gone too! Who the heck is he and how did he get here?" T-Bone asked, confused. A bad feeling crawled up his back as he continued to stare at this almost double of their Commander.

"I suspect he's either from our future or another dimension," the smaller tom grimly guessed.

"I don't like what that might mean for us."

"Trust me, buddy, my suspicions are making me feel really unnerved right now."

Leaning in again, T-Bone muttered, "Is he alive?" Reaching out a paw he gently touched the face of the tom … it was warm. Eyeing the chest a moment he saw a barely perceptible rise and fall. Shaking his head, he pulled back. "Yeah, he's alive but he really looks bad. What do we do now?"

Razor said nothing for a moment then seemed to come to a decision. "This could have serious consequences for us all so I say we take him to the hospital and summon our Feral."

T-Bone sighed. He wasn't certain if their Feral would even respond to their request but he had no doubt when the stiff-necked Commander saw this guy, he'd be just as freaked as they were. And he agreed with Razor that this was bigger than anything they'd dealt with before and could represent a serious threat to their world.

With troubled minds, the pair carefully undid the tom's restraints and T-Bone gently pulled the male into a simple firekat's carry and headed to the Turbokat. Razor hurried ahead to get a camp pad and laid it on the cargo deck. The tabby pilot carefully laid the sick tom down then they covered him with a blanket.

Though they were in a hurry, they still had to put the Turbokat's nose section back together. Razor raced as fast as he dared, to do so and soon, some ten minutes later, they were in the air heading for Megakat Medical Center.

As he flew the jet, T-Bone couldn't shake the memory of the scent of death that lingered on the tom. It sent shivers down his spine. What the heck had happened to this Feral to put him in such a state? He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was terrified to find out.

In the cargo hold, keeping watch over the patient, Razor was thinking the same thing. Whatever sent this ill Feral to risk himself to come here had to be very bad and might mean something terrible had descended on them all. His stomach sank at that suspicion. He stared down at the tired face and saw deep pain lines. "What happened to you?" The sick tom remained still, his chest barely moving.

~o~o~o~

Arriving at the Megakat Trauma Center, it took quite a bit of convincing to make the staff believe this wasn't some kind of hoax and to actually see the patient but when they did, despite being shocked, they did their jobs including recognizing the need to keep a security lid on this mystery as they treated their unusual patient.

Relieved that this older Feral was now receiving care, the SWAT Kats next task was to convince their Feral that they did have something truly serious for the tom to see. Thinking that someone more believable would be able to convince the Commander to come, Razor was able to get the chief doctor handling the strange Feral's case to make the call.

The doctor was agreeable and reported that Commander Feral, though annoyed and angry, did agree to come immediately. Now all they could do was wait.

The SWAT Kats stayed by the treatment room door and were the first thing Feral saw when he strode angrily down the corridor with his assistant and Felina trailing behind him.

Felina eyed them in confusion, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

Feral's mouth opened but was halted immediately by T-Bone holding up his paw and pointing into the room.

"Look first then talk to us!"

The Commander growled but decided he would see what the heck was going on before reaming out the pair. He gave Sgt Fallon a significant nod to indicate he wanted the pair watched while he and Felina went in to see what was waiting for him in the room.

The vigilantes didn't protest, just continued to lean against the wall with grim looks on their faces. It was that more than anything else that set off alarm bells in Feral. Something really bad was up, he could feel it.

With more than a little trepidation, Feral pushed the door open and stepped into the busy room. Medical personnel surrounded a gurney where a large person lay. Dozens of medical paraphernalia festooned the body. When an opening occurred he could see who they were working on. Shocked, he nearly shouted a denial but managed to clamp his mouth closed in time. It really wasn't a good idea to startle the doctors.

Beside him, Felina gasped aloud, a paw going to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock and her head shaking no in disbelief.

Feral could only continue to stare in disbelief. His mind couldn't reconcile what it was seeing but there was no denying that there on that bed lay someone who looked like him except this person was older and more sickly. He sniffed the air, his nose instantly filling with the reek of medicinal odors, the sharp tang of cleaning solutions and the unmistakable scent of death

Swallowing hard, he stared more closely at his double. The tom was nude, his lower covered by a sheet. The dark fur was sprinkled with spots of gray as were the sideburns that were longer than he normally wore them, the hair was thinner and there was no mustache. The face looked utterly weary and thin as if they'd been battling whatever was eating their body for a long time.

Badly shaken and scared to the core but hiding it well, Feral backed out of the room closely crowded by Felina who couldn't get out of there fast enough. No matter how much he wanted to deny what his eyes had seen and blame the pair for staging an elaborate hoax at his expense, his every sense and instinct told him this wasn't a joke. The pair had been too grim...that body in there, too real.

Felina was more shaken and horrified than her uncle by what she'd just seen. It had been so unsettling that she did something very unusual for her, she pressed herself to her uncle's side like a little kitten and shivered, needing desperately to deny what her eyes had seen and feel her healthy, living Uncle beside her.

Feeling his niece's shaking body leaning against him, he looked down in surprised concern. Her eyes were huge with anxiety and fear, touching his heart with a strong familial need to reassure her. Gently, he wrapped a comforting arm around her and hugged her body tightly against him before letting her go. Normally, he would never allow such familiarity even from a family member, especially when they both were on duty.

Smiling weakly at her uncle, Felina got a hold of herself and stepped away to stand by him like the good officer she was.

T-Bone's eyes had widened behind his mask at the open show of warmth from Feral for his niece. He knew Feral cared for Felina in his own way but the tom wasn't in the habit of showing it openly. It was kinda nice to see it especially under these trying circumstances. It made him think a little better of the arrogant tom.

Taking a steadying deep breath and letting it out slowly, Feral studied the pair. They eyed him back waiting to see what he would say or do. He couldn't blame them, he did have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions and down their throats rather quickly and, to his mind, they usually deserved it, but not today...no not today.

"Alright, can you tell me what's going on?" He asked softly, eyes flicking back at the room he'd just left.

"Unfortunately, we don't know anymore than you do. What we can tell you is that guy came in some kind of metal pod-like device and appeared in our hangar just under forty minutes ago. There's nothing on it to tell us where it came from but I have a couple of guesses." Razor said quietly, pleased Feral was being calm for once.

"I'm listening."

"This Feral is either from our future or another dimension. I'm leaning toward our future and if I'm right, something really bad is apparently going to happen." The cinnamon tom said grimly.

Feral felt his stomach roll. His suspicions that this was going to be bad were being born out. He had no reason to question Razor's guess as this tom had proven many times over that he possessed a quick and rapier mind. One that saved the pair from death to many times for him to ignore. He almost suspected that small SWAT Kat to have mild psychic powers because of the way he was always prepared for the unexpected.

He looked back at the room again, this time shuddering a little. If that was him from the future, what must be happening had to be horrific. He swallowed hard and turned back to face the tom as Razor continued.

"We're not going to know for sure until or if this guy recovers enough to tell us why he was willing to make such a suicidal decision." He shook his head and shuddered too. "Goddess! I hope he wakes soon so we can get some answers or I'll never be able to sleep again."

Feral could only agree with that sentiment. He was about to say something when they were interrupted by the chief doctor who'd just exited the older Feral's room.

"Commander. We've been able to stabilize our odd patient. However, the damage to his body is too extensive for anything we have to cure him. He's dying. The only thing we have to offer is making him as pain-free and comfortable as we can so he can enjoy the time he has left which is only a few months." The doctor's face was resigned and sad.

A chill swept the group as everyone absorbed that terrible news.

"So what's wrong with him?" Feral managed, after a long moment of silence.

"Radiation poisoning."

Enforcers and SWAT Kats blinked in stunned amazement. Radiation vaccines had been readily available for years. How was it possible for this Feral to be dying from a curable problem? This information only made them even more concerned about what this tom had been escaping and how it affected them here and now.

"Thanks for doing what you can for him." Feral said unhappily. "Doctor, it's vitally important that we know the moment he's able to speak. He's apparently risked his life to come here from the future. We need to know why as soon as possible."

The doctor gaped at him in shock then shook it off. "Of course, Commander. We'll do everything we can. Please leave me a contact number. I take it this situation is considered highly secret?"

"Yes. I will be sending guards to keep that secrecy. Only you will know where this guy came from but wont be informed as to why to prevent any kind of panic getting out." Feral directed then pulled out a business card and handed it over.

The doctor took the card and nodded grimly at all of them before returning to his patient.

Feral turned back to the pair waiting. "What can be done right now is for you to bring that pod over to Enforcer Headquarters to be examined. Perhaps it will give us some clue as to where he came from."

"For once I agree with you Commander. But I need to be there as well when your people go over it. It appears I had a paw in its construction." Razor dropped the next bomb on the tom.

Feral's shoulders tightened. Kat's Alive! This just gets better and better. Shaking his head, he said, "Somehow that doesn't seem strange at all and, yes, you better join my team."

"Roger. We'll just go and get that thing now and see you at headquarters in about thirty," T-Bone said, speaking for the first time since Feral came back into the corridor.

Feral nodded. The two turned on their heels and hurried off, Felina giving them a wane smile in farewell.

Giving the room a final look, Feral gritted his teeth in an unhappy grimace before turning to stride after the SWAT Kats, his niece hurrying to keep pace with him.