GENDER BENDER IN REVERSE

Chapter 4: A Waiting Game

Dimension X. . . .

"Noooo . . . " Lt. Feral yelled as he witnessed her aunt vanish through the portal with the spy. He turned to Dr. Thomas. "Get her back now!" He barked, furious.

"I can't! They have to return on their own. All we can do is keep the portal coordinates where they are and hope wherever they've gone they can return back through again." Dr. Thomas said unhappily.

Lt. Feral snarled impotently as he turned away from the scientist and stared angrily at the portal.

His mind worked furiously. A spy had infiltrated the project. Now he and the Commander were somewhere in another dimension. Brett paused a moment as a stunning thought crossed his mind. What if by some incredible coincidence, his aunt had gone to the dimension those other SWAT Kats had come from? Stranger things had happened to them before, why not this?

He turned back to Dr. Thomas. "What are the odds that Commander Feral has gone to the same dimension our visitors from last month came from?" He demanded.

Dr. Thomas blinked in surprise. "You had visitors from another dimension?" He asked in shock. Commander Feral had only told the director about it but not the head of the project.

"Yes. They were a male version of our SWAT Kats. I didn't speak to them long but our SWAT Kats may have and since they haven't been seen, I can assume our pair helped them return home." He explained.

"That's extraordinary." He breathed in excitement but hurriedly answered the question at the scowl on the Lieutenant's face. "Uh . . . well it's certainly possible. A residual trace of their travel through dimensions might have left a trail that our machine picked up on. It's only a theory, mind you, but if we follow this chain of thought, it's just as likely that our twin dimension has built the exact same machine and it was open at the same time. It's a lot of ifs, Lieutenant!" He said shaking his head.

"Yeah, but such things are always happening to us so why not this. I prefer to work with this hypothesis for lack of any other direction to go. So what I propose is this: keep this portal open . . . let no one touch it and keep tight control over who is on it at all times. I'm going to assign some officers to be on guard with you. If what we hope is true then my aunt could very well return with the spy through the portal or the spy could come through the portal first. We need to be prepared for either eventuality." Lt. Feral ordered the scientist.

"I hate having the project held up like this but I understand the need. If that spy got the data about this project then it's vitally important that we get it back. Don't worry Lieutenant, we'll keep this open and guarded." Dr. Thomas said firmly.

"Good! Be sure to contact me immediately if anything happens." Lt. Feral said grimly.

"Of course, sir." The scientist assured him.

Giving the portal another lingering glance, Lt. Feral turned on his heel and stalked out of the lab. He had a pair of females he desperately needed to talk to.

He hopped into his aunt's sedan and raced for a more remote site. He drove for about twenty minutes until he came to an empty field some distance from the city. He reached for his radio and had dispatch send out an all call for the SWAT Kats to meet him at his location. While he waited, he ordered a detachment of troops to go to the lab and begin guarding it. As he was finishing giving instructions to the head of the detachment, he saw the Turbokat begin to make a landing a short distance from his car.

The handsome pair of females leaped down from the cockpit and strolled up. He quickly climbed out of his vehicle and waited for them to join him.

"How do, Lieutenant! What do you need from us?" Ice asked without preamble.

"Thanks for getting here so quickly. Something bad happened at Pumadyne . . . " He said unhappily then proceeded to tell them what had occurred a short time ago.

"Wow! And I thought I'd heard it all!" Ice said in disbelief.

"Crud! Sorry about your aunt, Lt. Feral but what do you want from us?" Fire asked.

"I just needed to know a little about those male SWAT Kats you met. I need to know if you found them trustworthy and will they help?" He asked urgently.

Fire scratched her head a moment and glanced at Ice.

"Well, they were such a mirror image of us it was really freaky." Ice said. "But, yeah, I'd say if they are able to, they will help the Commander."

"You're really reaching with that theory, Lieutenant, but I have to admit it is a sound one. There's nothing more you can do than you already have. Hope we have set your mind at ease if the scenario is like you theorize." Fire said trying to give him some hope.

"Yeah, so do I. Thanks for the info. It does ease my mind a bit. My aunt must be going bonkers meeting her male double." He said ruefully.

"Oh what an image that brings!" Ice said with a muffled chuckle.

Feral grimaced, "I don't even want to go there, this is just too weird to begin with."

"Too true!" Fire said in mild amusement. "Well, if that's all, we'd better be going. Good luck to you Lieutenant!"

"Yeah, be seeing you!" Ice said as they turned and made their way back to their jet.

Feral just waved goodbye and watched them take off before heading back to headquarters. He had the unfortunate duty of telling the second in command that the Commander had vanished.

Dimension Y. . . .

"I want a small detachment of enforcers to surround Pumadyne with at least ten on the floor where the portal lab is located." Feral said gruffly to his niece Felina. "I also want a special ops team to pose as scientists and be in the lab itself. We have to let these two spies get to the lab to get iron clad evidence on them."

"Good idea, Uncle. I volunteer to be part of the special ops team." She said quickly. Feral sighed but agreed.

"Make sure you have a camera and recorder." He told her. She nodded leaving him to get back to his desk full of work. He glanced over to his wall of windows and saw Ulera staring out with her arms crossed over her chest. He could tell she was anxious to be home, he could certainly sympathize.

"Ulera, why don't you go down to the R and D department. You can give them the data on your world's weapons and equipment you were telling me about last night and they can give you the schematics of ours for you to take back." He suggested politely.

"That's a great idea and it will help make the time pass. Thank you Ulysses." Ulera said pleased to be doing something.

"I'll see you for lunch." He said with a smile. She nodded and left his office.

A couple of hours before quitting time...

"Commander! Dr. Viper has been spotted at the MeGrow Agricultural Experimental Center." His Sergeant said as soon as he dashed into the Chief Enforcers Office.

"Kat's Alive! That's all I need today." Feral growled unhappily as he reached for his phone. "This is Feral. Give Commander Ulera Feral her choice of weapons and have her meet me on the flight deck in five minutes." He told the armory officer then hung up. He reached for his radio and called dispatch. "Feral here! I want my chopper readied for immediate takeoff and alert Chopper Squadron One." He ordered and clicked off when he received the acknowledgment.

He grabbed his coat and headed for the elevator. Ulera came running up as he strode across the flightline for his chopper. He waved her to the cargo area as he climbed in beside the pilot.

As soon as they were seated, the pilot got them airborne. "What's our destination, Uncle?" Came the voice of a female in Ulera's ear.

"The Megro facility south of the city, Felina!" He said briefly.

Ulera blinked. By calling Ulysses, 'uncle', she realized this must be her nephew's female double. She shook her head in mild amazement and watched the ground go by through the window.

"If I remember what you told me last night, this Viper character is the Kat that was changed into a lizard?" She asked, wanting to be sure she knew what they were facing when they arrived.

"That's correct Ulera. Be on the alert for his plant army." Feral told her grimly.

Felina's ears twitched when she heard the female's voice in the radio. She'd heard about the female double of her uncle but hadn't had an opportunity to meet her. She liked the voice and couldn't wait to see the face that matched it. It would truly be weird to see a female version of her uncle.

When they arrived on the scene Viper's plant army were everywhere. Huge carnivorous plants with gaping mouths guarded the doors against the enforcer's efforts to gain entrance while flying plantimals spat acid at the arriving choppers.

"Crud! I hate those things," Felina snarled as she avoided a couple of spitting plants.

Ulera yanked the cargo door opened, braced herself and made sure she wouldn't fly out and began firing at the flying critters with her own weapon from her dimension. It shot out a strange blue beam that took out the beasties.

"Wow! What the heck are you using?" Ulysses shouted in surprise as his own weapons fire from the cockpit only angered the Kat eating plant below him without causing it any damage.

"It's a plasma gun!" Ulera grunted as she fired again. This time aiming for the critter Ulysses failed to make a dent in. The creature screamed in pain and retreated into the doorway.

"I hope you allowed my R and D to see that piece of yours. It's making a dent in those things." Ulysses said in admiration as he ordered Felina to swing around.

He used his weapons to distract the creatures so that Ulera could take them out. He didn't know how long her weapon stayed charged so he wanted to make sure each of her shots counted. He was glad to see she was an excellent marksman.

A roar was heard and the SWAT Kats made their presence known by sending a new type of missile into the other carnivorous plant guards, taking them out handily. Using another new weapon they sprayed the sky with some gooey stuff that finished the flying acid spitters.

With the air and entryways cleared, Felina landed near the main entrance. Not far away, the Turbokat did the same.

The colorful pair leaped from their cockpit and ran for the entrance almost the same time as the three Ferals. Only sparing the additional she-kat a quick look, the SWAT Kats rushed into the main entry and were immediately set upon by more of Viper's plants.

Feral was surprised by some of the new weapons the SWAT Kats employed while Ulera narrowed her eyes. The weapons these males were using looked exactly like the ones her own SWAT Kats used. She was relieved to realize these were the pair that had landed in her dimension.

'Well at least one thing has gone right. Just hope it means I'll be able to go home as easily as they did.' She thought as she fired her plasma gun at a vine that had just grabbed her counterpart.

Luckily he was near the ground when the vine died so his fall was a short one. He gave her a wave of thanks as he jumped back to his feet and fired at some flying insects headed their way.

Razor fired a strange looking net into the air. It was sticky and succeeded in catching a whole group of flying wasps, wrapping around them and gluing them to the floor where they landed.

"Those new toys of yours are really doing the job, Razor!" T-Bone said happily.

"You said it. Hope Fire and Ice are having the same good luck as us with our weapon designs." Razor agreed as they ran down a corridor looking for Viper.

Ulera overheard them and it confirmed her suspicions. Catching up to them with Ulysses just behind her, she growled at them while keeping an eye for more targets, "So you're the pair that visited my world."

Razor turned his head in shock. T-Bone fired at a groping vine before looking at her too.

"Well, Crud! If it isn't the female Commander Feral. What the heck are you doing here?" T-Bone said in utter amazement.

"Let's trade notes later after we take out your plant crazy enemy, shall we!" She said archly.

"Right! Later it is!" Razor agreed as they split up and searched for the mutant Kat.

It was Ulera who was the lucky one to run into the strangest looking Kat she had ever seen. Viper gaped at her in confusion but recovered quickly.

"Don't know who you are but I'll make sssure you don't ssstop me from taking thisss formula. Get her!" He shouted at his mushroom monster.

The thing was huge and hovered over her. It's long tentacle arms reached out. Grimacing in distaste she fired her gun at it. It screamed in pain and pulled back in fear. Viper was shocked.

He made a run for the door but ended up running into Ulysses with Felina behind him. The big tom grabbed Viper by the neck and plowed a fist into his face quickly. The lizard Kat was strong and shook off the blow. He used his tail to slap Felina into a wall then socked the Commander in the face forcing him to let go.

Just as Viper managed to pull away, Razor extended a paw past the Commander's body and shot a sticky net missile at the mutant. The mutant Kat was sent flying toward a far wall, stuck like a fly in fly paper.

Feral rubbed his jaw where Viper had managed to clout him one and sighed. For once he wasn't too put out by the SWAT Kats interference. The battle had ended quicker and none of his enforcers had been hurt too badly. Property damage was still high but for once it wasn't the vigilante's fault.

The mushroom monster made a run at them to try and save its master. T-Bone fired a missile that released an electrical field that fried the monster in its tracks. The smell though was enough to make them all gag.

"Oh yuck! Open a window!" Felina shouted in disgust as she coughed and choked.

A couple of enforcers ran to do just that while others peeled Viper from the wall and took him into custody. Everyone went outside to get away from the appalling odor of crisped plant matter.

"Okay, now tell us how you managed to be here!" Razor asked the female Feral as their Feral barked out orders to his troops to begin cleanup. Felina and T-Bone stood close by, interested in the answer too.