COMES THE PHOENIX
Chapter 4: The Battle for Megakat City Begins
Six months later...
"This is the fifth time we've been called out this week, Razor," T-Bone grumbled. "I don't know about you, but I'm wasted. Who is it this time?" He asked his partner as he launched the Turbokat from its hidden base.
"It's only Hard Drive.....shouldn't be too difficult to corral him and I agree with you buddy.....I'm tired too," Razor sighed in response.
"Oh goody, someone easy this time," T-Bone snarled sourly as he guided the jet to Hard Drive's last reported location.
A little more force than necessary was used by the pair to capture the high tech criminal as both fighters were too tired to be careful. Handing the criminal over to the equally tired enforcers and getting grateful smiles for a swift capture, the pair departed rather swiftly for home so they could catch whatever meager down time they could get.
Making a not so perfect landing, T-Bone shut down the engines. Razor wisely made no comment as the pair jumped down from the jet. Dispiritedly, they changed clothes and went up to a simple dinner.
They hadn't had too much work in the garage lately due to the increased attacks around the city. People were too frightened to travel far from their homes which meant the running of the city was slogging down as well as many felt it too dangerous to even go to work.
The enforcers and the SWAT Kats were stretched to their limits these past few months trying to stay ahead of the avalanche of violence happening nearly every day now. Ms. Briggs was reduced to literally living at city hall to keep the city running during the crisis as the Mayor had cowardly retreated to his estate outside the city limits.
So the city's defenders were losing sleep and making mistakes as they failed to get enough rest to be on top of their game. This was the situation the SWAT Kats were in as they didn't bother to stay up despite the early hour.....catching sleep was now a desperate commodity they hoarded as much as they could.
As Chance and Jake sought sleep, at Enforcer Headquarters, Commander Feral was finishing the report on Hard Drive's capture while grimacing at the still rather large pile of other reports on major and minor crimes needing attention that sat on his desk.
Though not tired physically due to his true nature, he was emotionally strung out by the stress he was under. He sighed and rubbed his face as he thought about the crime wave that was beating them down. As he had warned T-Bone those many months ago, Dark Kat was stepping up the heat, wearing the defenders out, making them use up everything they had to keep the city safe while he sat directing all the mayhem he could. Like a spider in its web, the evil Kat was biding his time and waiting for the right moment to launch his full attack. And he was succeeding, as the reports on Feral's desk clearly indicated; high losses of enforcers due to injuries or death, equipment losses exceeding the ability to replace quickly enough, exhaustion and depression among the ranks due to excessive hours on duty, and, more worrisome, the SWAT Kats were showing signs of irritability and exhaustion as well.
He stood up and moved to one of the huge windows of his office overlooking the flight line. As he stood watching evening fall, he couldn't stop thinking about how badly he wanted to seek out the unholy trio and taking them out his way. But the problem with that was they still hadn't a clue where their enemy was holed up at so they were forced to play this game Dark Kat's way and that grated on him.
And the Phoenix was no good at fighting this type of game since there were no single incident it could concentrate its formidable energies on. All the acts of violence were scattered around the city forcing the defenders to spread out, thinning their ranks even more which allowed the criminals to pick them off more easily.
Sighing he moved back to his desk and sat down, unfortunately, waiting means even more casualties and damage to the city but what choice was there? Shaking his head to clear it, he returned to the scut work waiting for his attention.
As another day dawned, the SWAT Kats were surprised to finally get a full, undisturbed night's sleep.....that was very rare. Waking with the sun shining in his eyes, Jake sighed and rolled out of bed. Yawning and stretching he padded to the bathroom noting that Chance was still asleep, as he passed his door. The sound of the shower woke Chance who grumbled and covered his head to try and catch a few more zzzs. Steam poured out of the bathroom as Jake walked out and headed to his room to dress. As he passed his partner's door again, he shook his head.
"Up and at 'em Chance. Those cars aren't going to get done with you lying there and I want to reload the Turbokat. Don't want to get caught short when a call comes in," Jake announced.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm getting up," Chance grouchily answered. Smiling, Jake moved on to get ready for the day.
Jake was making a light breakfast for them when Chance came in yawning. He grabbed a milk for himself and Jake then sat down at the table. Jake served them and sat to join him. It was quiet for a while as each concentrated on their food. Finished, Chance rose and took his dishes to the sink. He turned and leaned against the counter, a troubled look on his face.
"Ya know Jake, it's just going all to hell faster than we can prevent it. I mean, several times a week now we or the enforcers or both have been pressed to the limit to keep things under control. Remember, a couple of months ago, all those short vicious fights between drug gangs that turned whole blocks into war zones?" He asked rhetorically, shaking his head in concern.
"Yeah, and how about Dr. Viper stealing chemicals from Bio Tech Labs again or the surprise when Rex Shard escaped from jail and got a temporary boost from some stolen tech to become a smaller, but still destructive crystal monster," Jake added a grim expression on his face.
"It doesn't help that Dark Kat is such a good strategist. He's made damn sure that anything he can set up to create havoc succeeds in wearing everyone down and when he thinks the time is right, he'll strike with everything he's been holding back, like keeping the Pastmaster under wraps. Believe me, buddy.....when he strikes it will be a war and many more innocents will be lost," he continued after a moment's thought.
"And he's succeeding. Mistakes are being made, too many enforcer lives are being lost, and look at us, pushed to our limits with no real break. The pace is going to get us killed," Chance observed soberly.
"I know, Chance! But what else can we do?" Jake growled in frustration. "We're already doing everything we can to hold back the tide but it's a losing battle."
"I know and I also know the Phoenix is no good in this situation because there's no large, set target for it. I hate to admit this, but it looks like we have to wait until the bad guys come out of the woodwork in mass before we can really take them down," Chance said gloomily.
"So many Kats will die before then too, but you're right buddy, there really is nothing we can do. There's no use talking any more about it. It will only depress us more. Let's just get to work, okay?" Jake said finally and got up, placing his dishes in the sink before making his way downstairs to the garage. Sighing in resignation, Chance followed.
Later that week, Chance's worries hit home with an incident that left him scared and exhausted. It had been a long day for both of them and Feral because of the Metallikats. The encounter was short, violent and over quickly. But not quickly enough to prevent many more dead enforcers, damage to the Megakat Mint (again!) and the successful escape by the robots. All in all a very frustrating day that had left them both cranky and, in T-Bone's case, bone tired.
Because of his exhausted condition, T-Bone couldn't allow the Phoenix as much 'out' time as it obviously wanted and that's when the trouble started. After only an hour's freedom, the tabby recalled the creature only to be met with serious resistance.
The Phoenix ignored its master's summons and continued to dive and swoop in carefree fashion through the many canyons and caves of the area, disappearing from T-Bone's view several times. Scared the Phoenix would try to head toward the city, T-Bone forced himself to concentrate hard and firmly ordered the Phoenix to return.
It continued to resist for some minutes longer before finally capitulating with ill grace. It reappeared from behind some high walls of sandstone and headed for the tom. Never allowing his concentration to falter, T-Bone waited tensely until the Phoenix landed on the ledge with him and had folded its wings before reciting the reversal spell. Only when Feral stood before him did he finally slump in exhaustion.
"That was bad. You didn't want to obey and I was afraid you'd take it into your head to fly off to the city," T-Bone groused, his voice reflecting just how tired he was.
"I'm not too happy either. You let your control slip and I could feel it. I'm bored with flying around these canyons and want to see other things. Maybe hunt game as well." Feral sighed in concern. "Perhaps it would be best if we go to the forest further North. It might ease my boredom and make it easier to recall me," he suggested carefully.
"How will I be able to monitor you in all those trees?" T-Bone asked exasperated.
"You should be in the Turbokat and in the air above me. You'll be able to keep me in sight more easily that way," Feral said reasonably.
"Well, you're right. I'd be bored seeing the same things all the time too. I guess we can do that next time. We'll meet at the old airfield. No one should see us coming and going," T-Bone sighed in agreement.
"Good! One more thing, we should cancel this outing when we've finished a day like today. I know you're tired and adding this on top of the excessive activity we endured was too much for you. I understand why you cut short our session and I agree though the Phoenix is most unhappy about it so I'm glad you were able to get it to obey finally so we ended early. Go home now and get all the rest you can," Feral urged his master.
"Right! Now if only the criminals will oblige us in taking a break from their constant attacks so we can get some rest," T-Bone grumbled sarcastically. Then relented and said "You were right, of course, Dark Kat is stepping up the attacks. Its only a matter of time now before he strikes. Razor and I are worried we won't be able to keep on top of it much longer."
"I know! I've been monitoring the situation. It bites that we have to play this waiting game with the crud. Until he attacks in full, we're stuck scrimmaging, " Feral sighed unhappily.
"Yeah we know. That's what we've told ourselves too. But it's hard to watch so many get hurt or die as we stand by helplessly." T-Bone said, his face clouded with distress.
Sigh "I know T-Bone! Just do your best! We will win in the end and avenge all those that must suffer until we can." Feral tried to be upbeat and encourage the depressed tom.
T-Bone just grunted in agreement and led the way to the cyclotron. He was anxious to get home and get some rest. They sped off into the deepening evening each buried in their own thoughts.