Hey, and we have another chapter up. A special thanks out to Jace for giving me a big hand in edits...it was in sore need of them and between my other beta getting ready for school and my deployment...well he made a huge difference in getting this out to you the readers.
As stated in previous chapters, if its in the show SWAT Kats, I do not own the characters. Any characters that show up that are not a part of the show are mine, please ask permission to use. I figure after four chapters the message is out so please do not sue.
Remember to read and review to let me know what you think!
The music screamed through the garage as Jake and Chance worked on the vehicle currently on the lift. It was their last job of the day, but it had quickly turned into their most stubborn. They would fix one problem only to unearth another and the two mechanics were quickly reaching their limit and contemplating calling it quits for the day.
"Why doesn't anyone get that while duct tape fixes a lot of things, it can not fix everything?" Chance lamented from below the vehicle, currently struggling to replace a damaged hose that the fix-it-all tape had been wrapped around. While it may have fixed the problem at the time the end result was a hopelessly blocked hose.
"Kats will listen to everyone but the professionals, buddy," said Jake as he wrestled with a separate hose that had seemingly glued itself to the engine. "And everyone says duct tape fixes everything. Mother of—how did this hose melt to the engine!"
Chance snorted and stood up, wiping his hands.
"I'm going to get something to drink. Want anything?"
"Can of milk would hit the spot," grunted Jake as he turned to look through their tool box for something to cut the hose off and scrape what was left off.
"Roger that," said Chance walking into their office and then through another door that led into their home. Specifically the kitchen.
The sound of the news from their TV filled his ears.
"—went missing from Pumadyne. Enforcers have yet to make an official statement about the theft but our sources tell us that it may have been the same item sought by Dark Kat during his attack on Pumadyne just two days ago."
Chance froze with his head half in the refrigerator before slowly standing up and giving his undivided attention to Ann Gora's news report.
"It is also believed that this was an inside job, as Pumadyne security was not alerted to the theft until employees discovered the prototype magnetic shield was gone a full two hours after their work day had begun."
"JAKE!"
Across town in Enforcer Headquarters, a burly brown kat forcefully hit the remote power button to shut off the news cast he had been listening to, cutting off Ann Gora as she led in to her next report. The kat leaned forward on his cluttered desk, kneading his brow in a vain attempt to resist the headache that was coming. How that insipid reporter had learned as much as she had about the recent theft he didn't know, but his day had just gotten much worse. Had he a normal job, he would be relishing the fact that at least it was Friday. There were no weekends, however, for Commander Feral, leader of the Enforcers and protector of Megakat City.
Sighing, Feral picked up the latest report on the theft, letting out a frustrated growl as he scanned it.
No signs of forced entry or anything unusual caught on any of the security cameras; save the prototype, nothing else had been touched. Worse yet, even the blueprints for the one of a kind shield had turned up missing now!
If the thief had not left a single red rose in its place, they would have had little choice but to assume the prototype had simply vanished into thin air!
A rose…the only clue his sweeper team had turned up at the scene. He had his entire staff searching the records for any similar thefts in the past, though Feral could think of none during his long career in the Enforcers.
Their only real suspect was Dark Kat based solely on his Wednesday attack on Pumadyne.
Feral dropped the report in disgust, switching his attention to a set of papers describing the device that had been stolen.
The prototype magnetic shield had been in the final phase of testing, created by one Dr. Blitz Ibn Ameer. It was supposedly able to sense oncoming fire and create a brief, localized and incredibly powerful magnetic field that could deflect both conventional missiles as well as direct energy fire such as lasers.
After it passed its final tests it was to be installed in a few Enforcer vehicles to confirm it operation in real combat situations before being retrofitted on all Enforcer transportation.
Only one prototype had been created and after learning of its theft, Dr. Ameer has checked for the blueprints only to discover they had disappeared as well.
Feral growled having to resist the urge to shred the papers he held.
This prototype had held the promise of the Enforcers finally getting the upper hand in the never ending battle against the criminal element that plagued the city. Now, what had been meant to protect him and his Enforcers would be protecting their adversaries instead!
"Commander, the Deputy Mayor is on line 1 for you," came his secretary's voice over the intercom.
"And here I was thinking this day couldn't get any worse," muttered Feral as he vainly attempted to again knead away the headache he knew was coming.
He had been ignoring the Deputy Mayor's calls since the day prior and he knew if he continued to avoid her she would inevitably come storming into his office.
While she and the Mayor had been off handling the political side of the recent Dark Kat debacle, he had been meeting with the rest of the city council that same night.
Ostensibly, he had met with the council to brief them on Dark Kats attack on Pumadyne, but his true purpose had been to propose a new safety measure. A safety measure that was more likely to be accepted if Manx and his Deputy Mayor were not there to protest.
He had been informed earlier today that the city council had discussed and passed his measure yesterday afternoon, despite the pair's belated protests. He was now charged with finding both Manx and the Deputy Mayor a bodyguard capable of handling the city's criminals face-to-face if the need arose.
He knew that Manx would be upset with the costs associated with such a measure, but Feral didn't think the Mayor would put up much of a fight over it as it concerned his own safety.
The Deputy Mayor however…Feral had been dreading that particular confrontation from the moment he made the proposal.
"Sir?" came his secretary's voice again, still waiting for his response. With a resigned sigh Feral replied, "Put her through."
Gritting his teeth, Feral forced himself to pick up the phone, "Miss Briggs, what can I do for you?"
Callie did not try to hide her exasperated sigh as she heard the Enforcer commander answer.
"It's about time you took my call! Feral, I have been trying to talk to you since yesterday!"
She looked down at the pile of papers on her desk; more specifically, the one she had received from the city council that morning.
"I am well aware of that Miss Briggs, but I have been to busy to take your calls due to Dark Kat's attack on Pumadyne."
She ground her teeth and turned her chair to look out the window that made up her wall. Her words were poisonous as she looked at the sheet of paper in her hands.
"You found the time to talk to the council about bodyguards for the Mayor and myself though didn't you? Manx I can understand, but to include myself as well and not consult me is underhanded politics Feral!"
"Deputy-Mayor, I have been considering this safety measure since the Alliance of Evil incident and knew you would disagree."
The hand that held the new memorandum turned into a fist crumpling some of the paper.
"That's because I can handle myself, Feral."
"Which is why I didn't tell you about this in the first place. Leaning on those vigilante's and expecting them to show up every time you are in trouble is not taking care of yourself. One day, the criminals of this city will wise up and simply…dispose of you on the spot before your so called heroes can appear. I cannot sit by and wait for that to happen. Now, did you call me to nurse your wounded pride—"
Callie turned in her seat and slammed the paper on the desk.
"Why you—"
"—Or are you going to accept that what's done is done and attend to the more important issue at hand?"
Callie growled as she took a deep breath to compose herself and abandoned the bodyguard memo for her coffee. He was right; she'd be damned before she admitted it though.
"What do we know about the theft?"
"You're on a secured phone, correct?"
She growled. Was he trying to see how far he could push her? She took another deep intake of air.
"Commander, I may be angry at you, but I am not a fool. None of this can get out before the Mayor can make an official statement."
Feral snorted and she rolled her eyes when she heard it
"Just following procedure, Deputy-Mayor. Whoever stole the device knew what they were doing. They left no trace of ever being in the building. Security didn't see anything, no alarms were tripped and nothing was caught on the security cameras
"The vault records itself keeps a log of when it is opened and closed and both a passkey and code are required to get in."
Callie sighed as she reached into one of her drawers and withdrew a bottle of painkillers for the headache that was beginning to form as he continued.
"The last two recordings were when they secured the vault before everyone went home the previous evening and this morning to retrieve the prototype at 10:00 a.m. This is when the shield was discovered missing."
Yea, she thought, this one was going to be a doozy.
"So we have nothing."
"Nearly." She could hear the fatigue in Feral's voice with that word.
"In place of the shield our thief left a calling card of sorts, a red rose. Our investigators are looking into it in the hopes of turning up a lead on similar crimes in the past. I will receive a report tomorrow if they find anything as well as if the shield happens to turn up on the black market."
Callie picked up a pen and jotted down some notes before chewing on the end of the writing utensil.
"What about the rumors that it was an inside job?" She heard him grunt at the question, whether in annoyance of her or the theft she wasn't sure.
"It's always a possibility. Our investigators are doing the routine interviews to see if anything suspicious turns up and if something does we'll press them further. We already grilled the tom who invented the thing and he came off clean."
She wrote down a few more notes.
"What should we tell the press?"
There was a pause on his end. Feral's forte rested in his leadership abilities, not in handling the press. The fact that he was unable to find a useful public affairs officer didn't help matters.
"The best thing to do would be to say it is currently under investigation and due to the sensitivity of the information no facts can be given out. Until we have a list of suspects and a general idea of how they accomplished this I don't want to give our thief the satisfaction of knowing that they did as good a job as they did."
Callie nodded. That made sense in more ways than one in a city with their share of…nonconventional criminals.
"I understand. We don't want to give whoever is behind this theft free advertising."
"Correct. Is there anything else you need to know?"
Callie chewed the end of her pen again as she reviewed her notes and tried to predict anything the press or Mayor might ask.
"What about our underground contacts?"
"We are currently in the process of greasing the appropriate palms to ensure we are made aware of any developments among the criminal organizations, but that can only go so far in a high profile theft such as this."
Callie nodded to herself and spun her chair to look out over Megakat City. A small, sly smile graced her features as her mind drifted to their original conversation.
"Right. So tell me Feral, do I get a say in who is to be my bodyguard?"
She heard him growl and smirked.
"No, Deputy-Mayor, the council has wisely left the decision to me and my staff."
Her smirk wavered as she closed her eyes.
"Fine."
She hung up the phone without another word and opened her eyes to look back over the city and felt the warmth of the sun embrace her.
The silence was broken as her secretary came over the intercom.
"Deputy-Mayor, Mr. Allen Mewser is here for his appointment."
Callie sighed and turned away from her view of the city; Feral wasn't the only kat whose work week never ended.
