"Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."
-Ernest Hemmingway
The skies were undeniably clear, free of rain, sleet, or snow. The night was young, and the Enforcers were on their patrols as the streets remained busy. People still drove at this hour, along the bridge and the various roadways, and all sorts of accidents could happen. It was difficult then, for one to notice a few odd things overhead.
An example of this is as follows: purple lightning flashed in the night sky, for only a brief moment. It was the oddest thing, really. Yet and still, no one noticed it. Had anyone paid attention to anything other than their driving, they would have noticed it again, exactly one minute later. One could count the seconds between them and it would be exactly sixty.
The next minute, on schedule, the lightning began to make itself noticeable, flashing more often and brighter. One Enforcer, looking up at the spectacle located overhead, took his cap off and scratched the back of his head.
"Is it gonna rain or something? That's some weird-ass lightning."
His partner looked up as well, narrowing his eyes.
"Mmm… forecast didn't say anything about it. Guess it serves us right, listening to the weatherman. You got an umbrella?"
Thunder boomed just then, as if to announce the presence of the incoming airborne malady.
"Heck no, man. Can't expect me to carry everything with me, huh? Besides, Might just be a drizzle or something. It'll pass sooner or later. You're right though, that is some weird lightning. I wonder what's causing it."
There are some things one simply should not ask.
As if summoned by his query, the skies opened. Clouds were suddenly visible and swirling violently, almost as if they were a whirlpool. A sudden, violent and massive streak of violet lightning heralded its coming, as if it had ripped apart the very fabric of reality. The Enforcers on patrol gaped, and even the traffic had slowed to a crawl as kats stared upwards.
The forecast was wrong. A storm was coming, and it would prove to be one of the worst in recorded history.
Kanto the Slayer presents
A SWAT Kats Fanfiction
SWAT Kats: Endgame
Ulysses Feral looked towards the storm with increasing irritation. The call had come in half an hour ago that an increasingly alarming storm was approaching, and though he wondered why they were being called for some rain, he now realized that it wasn't going to rain at all. This was a tear in time itself, and he knew what that meant.
A kat from the distant past that could take down an entire squadron of Enforcers on his own, regardless of what was thrown at him. However, he did not throw anything at them this time, which made him all the more wary. The portal however, was still open, and until he closed it, they could track his last known location.
'It's a good thing choppers move faster than kats,' he mused to himself with a grimace as he gave the order to stay in formation. "Ground teams, blockade the area within a five block radius! He's not getting away from us this time," he snarled as the helicopters came roaring towards the time gate.
And lo and behold, there he was: a kat that had a sickly orange tint to his skin and one eye. He was more of a ghost than a kat- a walking skeleton with robes. The Pastmaster was standing atop a hulking skyscraper, looking down at the police cars that had surrounded his position. This had happened before, and it would have the same effect as before.
"Fools… how many times must we go through this? None of you can stand against an immortal."
Confident as always.
But of course, he demonstrated the reason why he had such confidence post-haste as he pointed his watch toward the massive gargoyle statues that were perched on either side of him. Vile energies focused through the otherwise simple golden timepiece, and sure enough… the eyes of the statues opened. The two beasts burst free from their stone confinements as he grinned maliciously.
"You," he said as he pointed to his right, "Distract those below. And you, to the left; deal with those annoying flies. Do not let anyone disturb me."
Immediately, the Enforcers found themselves opening fire at what should not be moving in the first place. The helicopters broke formation as the second gargoyle leapt up at them, catching one of them in its jaws. The craft was crushed like a paper cup, and the whole thing immediately went up in a ball of flames, pilot and all. Another nearby craft had the one that was destroyed just recently tossed at it… and then, two out of sixteen were erased.
"Circle around and take formation again. Lock on and open fire on my mark."
They were brave kats, but he didn't have time to worry about losses. As they formed up again, Ulysses Feral had a chance to look down below… just in time to see a car headed towards a nearby building. They were getting torn apart down there by that other brute- he had to take this one down and help the others out, and quickly.
The gargoyle saw them approach and snarled as it rushed forward, wings beating furiously. Poised for a head-on collision, it looked like the gods had decided to use a too-big bowling ball on too-small pins. Small pins that shot small needles at a beastie with an iron hide.
"Break formation! Break now!!"
They broke formation… but not all of them made it. Six more were smashed against the massive forehead, utterly destroyed. Eight remained.
"This is Feral. Get me all the firepower you can muster- these bastards are giving us a headache over here!" The remainder of the choppers dispersed and turned back towards headquarters, executing evasive maneuvers in order to get out of the gargoyle's path. Of course, the beastie suddenly had more problems to worry about as it was rocked with a series of explosions.
If the missiles were seen first, and not the aircraft, there was only one explanation.
Four jet-black Sea Harrier FA2s roared over Commander Feral's head as the gargoyle went back to nothing but stone, crumbling to rubble from the impact of the missiles. He smiled as he looked up at them, circling around for a pass at the other living gargoyle.
"Sorry we're late, Commander."
Feral shook his head and said, "Negative, Lieutenant. You made it to the party. Do you have any more of those missiles left? We certainly could use the help right now."
Felina nodded and said, "Plenty of 'em. Don't worry about the target, I know what it is."
With that, the four jets pulled a turn, aiming a few more missiles at the second gargoyle. "Hold still and lemme shoot you…"
Unfortunately, they had managed to get close enough for a car to fly towards them. "Break formation!"
They did. The others banked hard while Felina hit the jump jets, moving straight up instead of forward. The car passed through the hole they had presented for it as they turned and dodged around buildings. Before the car had come flying at them, Felina had made the observation that the others were pretty much toast by now, only a few cars left and they were on the run.
It was a sad sight, really.
The jets took formation again a minute and a half later before they caught up with the creature again.
"Okay, let's try this again. Lance, Rick, back me up."
Missiles locked.
"Tiger One… Fox Three!"
"Tiger Four, Fox Three."
"Tiger Two, Fox Three."
Boom, boom and boom. Three long range missiles hit, and the gargoyle reverted from flesh to rubble.
"Target neutralized, area is clear. Good work, gentlemen."
The Commander's quite annoyed voice sounded off on the radio.
"Not all that goddamn good, Lieutenant; the Pastmaster is gone from the scene! They did what they set out to do- distract us."
Felina cursed vehemently. Her uncle was right- the diversionary tactic had been successful. One could only imagine what was going to happen now.
"You gotta be kidding me! They interrupt David Litterbin for this crap?"
Jake's favorite show was suddenly cut into by a Kat's Eye News flash. Ann Gora was on the screen, standing near a couple of decimated Enforcer vehicles. She had a stern expression on her face as her clear voice rang out over the speakers of the television, explaining the scene behind her.
"I'm standing in the streets of Downtown MegaKat City, amidst the wreckage of multiple Enforcer cruisers and helicopters. From the information that this reporter has gathered, it is evident that a battle between peacekeeping forces and the terrorist known as the Pastmaster has taken place barely two hours ago."
Their ears perked up and their fur stood straight.
"What the hell?"
The report continued onwards, after having captured both kats' attention.
"Although the threat has been effectively taken care of by Lieutenant Felina Feral and her Unconventional Tactics squadron, the criminal is still at large. Kat's Eye News will have more to report on as the situation develops. We now return you to your regularly scheduled-"
Click.
"To hell with Litterbin," Chance said, "We got some ass to kick."
Jake grimaced and said, "We can't take the TurboKat- the Enforcers are probably still in the air. I wouldn't be surprised if Feral shot us on sight, as much as he doesn't like us. Besides, they probably have the section of the city near the combat zone cordoned off. Not like they'll ever find him."
Chance grinned and said, "They can't, but we can. Let's move!"
Soon, their gear was donned; Glovetrixes at the ready, flight suits and masks strapped on, helmets atop their heads, and the canopy below the TurboKat was opened to reveal the Cyclotron. As the hangar opened and they got on the motorcycle, Jake looked behind his right shoulder. "So then buddy, did you like lunch this afternoon?"
Chance nodded and said, "Yeah, it was pretty nice. But I still think you did a pretty crazy thing back there by giving her an invitation just to chat. She finds out who we are, and it might blow our cover. Or even worse, put her in danger."
Jake smirked and said, "You mean more danger than she's in almost every day? And besides, she'll be the last and least likely to find out- unless of course, you tell her."
Chance grimaced and said, "Of course I won't tell her. And I'm serious about that little talk we had during burgers and fries hour. Quit trying to hook us up."
Jake sighed and said, "If you say so."
With that, the Cyclotron roared out of the hangar and into the night of MegaKat City.
The Pastmaster looked out upon the city in disgust, the lights causing his vision to become slightly blurred. Or… was that just him? He shook the thought out of his head as he looked at his pocket watch, the very focus of his remaining energies. He might have been entirely mad, but the kat was not stupid.
He did not use the pocket watch too often these days, for more reasons than one. He realized that without his book of spells, the Tome of Time, he could not properly summon the portal that would merge the Dark Ages with this era. The only thing he had left of any power now was the pocket watch, fueled by his own life force.
There was a problem with using one's own internal energy reserves- it made one weaker and weaker as time passed. A good piece of his soul was in the watch now, and if it were destroyed he would be half the kat that he was now. And frankly, there was not much of him left.
It was why he had recently become so obsessed with it, and its limited use.
'But its uses,' he brooded to himself, 'are running out.'
This meant he either needed to make this last use a good one, or be crushed.
He smirked to himself. "Or I could just get a new watch. That is why I came to this wretched time period in the first place. But it can't just be any old timepiece- it must reflect the glorious age that I intend to return to."
Oh, but he was not making a plan- he was reviewing it. Going over the details of what needed to be done. The time spent jumping back and forth from one era to the next gave him a deep insight about a great many things. This time, he did not go about causing anyone's destruction or wreaking havoc or altering time periods, or even trying to destroy the SWAT Kats.
No, he would have enough ammunition for that when his plan was set into motion.
The thing he realized about all the epochs he had visited was the one thing they had in common: The Clock Tower. It was City Hall, it was the literal and figurative center of the city, and it was MegaKat City's biggest time piece. And once, he had attempted to use it to bring back the Dark Ages. But without the Tome of Time, the lynch pin of the elaborate spell that would merge the two time periods, he could not do so.
Or at least, that's what he thought.
Then, he visited the Dark Ages, the time period from which he originated, and paid a visit to his old master- the one who had taught him magic in the first place. The creator of the Tome of Time itself, as well as the pocket watch. He was the man who the Pastmaster had stolen the book and the watch from in the first place, and had attempted to use them in order to tear down Megalith Castle and rule the world of the Dark Ages.
But of course, he was not there to rule that world, at least, not yet. That would come later. He was there to secure his victory.
Via forceful coercion, he had his master explain how to use the pocket watch to its full potential, and what it would cost to do so. But it was something that was already known to the twisted magician- every time he used the watch, a piece of his own soul was the bargaining chip. He had no need for his soul- he had all the power he wanted. Without a soul, he would be immortal. He would live forever as long as that watch remained carefully preserved.
And so he left, silencing his old master- not by killing him, but by putting him in suspended animation, something that the old teacher himself knew how to do. If he killed him… well, he would not exist in the same manner. No, he would be a different kat altogether. It had to happen the exact way in which he remembered it.
With that, he returned immediately to the present time, and dealt with the bumbling Enforcers. What he did not expect however, as he escaped the tumultuous battle, was that they had stepped up their game. Yes, he had seen the Unconventional Tactics squadron and their new jets. He had seen how nimble and agile they were- unlike the rigid and easily broken units under Commander Feral.
He now had a second threat, equal in cunning and skill as the SWAT Kats themselves. And they would no doubt be looking for him.
"I must reach the Clock Tower before I am captured, or all is lost!"
Hence, he now stood before his objective, having bypassed the blockade and gone relatively unnoticed via darting from one dark alley to the next. A part of him believed it was beneath him to skulk around like this- he should be on the back of one of those prehistoric creatures that he called forth.
Alas, without the Tome of Time, it was impossible. And the Museum of History had doubled its security measures in recent months- he had discovered that early on when he tried to get himself a quick ride.
He could have stormed the place and gotten what he wanted, but even the Pastmaster knew when there were too many, and capture would mean his death. They would no doubt realize by now that the watch was his only source of strength, and destroy it. If it were gone, he was gone.
But now, he stood in front of a new watch. Bigger, better, and at the very center of the city that he wished to mold into his own. The grin spread, and it was no longer filled with malice, that intelligent, cunning killer instinct. Now, it was filled with desperation and madness.
Despite how obsessed he was with the past, he was intelligent- highly so. The problem at the moment was that intelligence was driven out of the window by sheer insanity. If this did not work, it would be his last plan ever. If it did… he would have everything he wanted.
This time, security was easily brushed out of the way as the diminutive kat made his way straight through the front doors, watch blazing an evil shade of purple. He cared not how much energy he spent now- it would all be over soon.
Making his way towards the elevators with brisk steps, he pointed his watch at the elevator call button, and sure enough one of them was already on the first floor. There were all of thirty floors here, not including the clock room itself. Of course, there was a way to get up to the top floor faster…. Once he reached the fifteenth floor, the Pastmaster casually hit the emergency stop button.
'Visiting the future is so convenient- I know what everything in this time period does now.'
With another blast of his watch, the top hatch on the elevator was blown upwards, and with a surprising leap he was atop the car. He hung onto the cables as he cut them from the elevator, and up he went while the elevator went crashing down. With a thunderous smash, the car and pulley system was destroyed as the Pastmaster headed towards the office of Mayor Manx.
The mayor heard the noise from where he was sitting- or rather, from where he was standing, trying to make his practice putt count. The crash almost made him jump out of his skin, and it made the Deputy Mayor, who was actually sitting at the desk working on the paperwork that he was supposed to be doing, snap her head towards the hallway outside.
"What the hell was that," The Mayor asked as he looked fearfully towards the office doors.
Callie's eyes narrowed and said, "If earlier this evening was any sort of example, trouble."
It was fortunate then that she had a little something in her purse, just in case…
She wisely got underneath the desk and reached into the pink leather purse, retrieving the signal transponder. Pressing the red light inwards, she placed it back into her purse… and waited. She hoped that it would not take long, because at that very moment the Pastmaster burst through the office doors.
"So, Mayor Manx, we meet again," he said with that same crazy grin, "for the last time."
Felina Feral and her team were patrolling the skies, busy looking for the Pastmaster. The little troll, as was her affectionate name for him, could not have gone that far. For a moment, she wondered what his angle was this time- from the report that she had on him, his spell book, the lynch pin for most, if not all of his ploys, was gone. The last time he had tried to kill the SWAT Kats, or rather, the last three times, he had been zero for three, though he did have the formidable ability to send them back and forth through time.
'All because of that watch,' she mused to herself.
The golden pocket watch was the last obstacle between them and victory. If she could get it, or more importantly, break it… he would never bother the city again. He probably knew this, and would hide himself away for as long as possible. Sure, ground teams were searching the city with a fine-tooth comb, but she knew that it was not fine enough.
'When in doubt, think like a SWAT Kat. Where would he go that would be of the most benefit to him?'
Of course, the museum was out of the question- security was tightened to a degree that no one who wasn't supposed to be in after hours would get in at all. With his only defense being a mere pocket watch enchanted with God knew what, he wouldn't be making any grand moves until he was sure that it was a coup de grace.
So then the question was, where would he go that would be the best place to…
It came to her almost immediately.
Ironic though that as soon as it did, her radio buzzed.
"All units, be advised- silent alarm tripped at City Hall. Reports of an elevator cable intentionally severed; proceed to the coordinates and investigate at once. Repeat, any available units investigate silent alarm at City Hall."
Felina nodded. She knew it.
"You heard the call team, let's move out."
With that, the four Harriers headed towards the clock tower with all due haste. Wouldn't it be a surprise when her team showed up instead of the SWAT Kats! That would be one for the history books as far as her uncle was concerned. But perhaps they would be there after all.
Secretly, in that place where no one else but her could reach, she hoped so.
T-Bone and Razor were patrolling the streets, still searching for their epoch-hopping adversary. By now, they had narrowed down the list of places to only two- the museum and the clock tower. Both were places where the Pastmaster could wreak some potentially irreversible havoc, even without his spell book. Though how was beyond them- the book was his main weapon.
Then again, he did use that watch pretty well. In fact, ever since they had destroyed the Tome of Time, it was all he had left.
"Hey, T-Bone, I think I have a way of stopping the Pastmaster once and for all."
Of course, T-Bone was split now between driving and listening, but he could do both fairly well right now. "You better explain quickly, because we just drove past the museum, and there ain't nothing broken yet!"
Jake began doing just that. "Okay, you remember how he uses that watch all the time to open those time holes? Well if that's the only thing he has left, all we have to do is take it from him, and we're good. Either that, or we break it somehow so he doesn't use it again."
T-Bone nodded, seeing the sense of it. "Well damn, if we had done that before, he wouldn't be able to use his book, and he'd be stuck here forever. Without a way to return back, he's toast!"
The bigger kat revved the engine. It was time to give it a shot. But before anything else, there was a distress signal from none other than Calico Briggs. T-Bone grimaced and said, "Figured so. And unless I miss my guess, she's at the top floor of City Hall! I'm hitting the boosters; hang on!"
With an outpouring of searing blue flame from the miniature side jets, the bike actually exceeded two hundred miles an hour as they raced towards City Hall.
Neither the SWAT Kats, nor Felina's four-kat team realized the true danger that they were throwing themselves into. For even as they approached, the Pastmaster was taking Mayor Manx to the clock room itself, where the gears and springs were still at play. This was the place where it would all begin… and potentially end for MegaKat City.
Chapter 4: The Bell Tolls (Part 1)- The Maelstrom
IT BEGINS. Experimental chapters are over; this is the real thing. Over the course of five chapters (including this one), I will attempt to replay for the audience in detail one of the final battles of the SWAT Kats. The Pastmaster has taken control of City Hall, and is about to unleash something unspeakable.
What will happen inside the bowels of the clock room? Who will reach the Pastmaster first- Felina's Unconventional Tactics squad, or our heroes? What is the devious magician planning to do with Mayor Manx? And will Callie find her own way out before all hell breaks loose?
Stay tuned adrenaline junkies. It's ON.
This chapter is dedicated, once again, to my reviewers. Raiden Snake has provided an excellent amount of support. And a good question- will Felina find out what Jake and Chance really are? Well, she's going to come close, that's for sure. Can't tell you anything yet, but she's not going to let it drop anytime soon.
Also, thanks to Purple kat for her support! Yet another fan joins the ranks of those eagerly salivating for more SWAT Kats! Well hell, here's some more. Strap in miss, because it's about to get really ugly, really fast.
As always, press that shiny review button down there before you go. It'd help a lot if you told other SK fans about this fic- it might change the way they think about the series forever. That's the goal, anyways.
Hasta la vista, see ya when I see ya.