EXTINCTION

Chapter 8: Attack on Enforcer Headquarters

So far things had been going smoothly for the Commander and Razor. Her pregnancy was progressing without any problems. The omegas had apparently taken a break and the city was basking in the unexpected period of peace but as always happens the peace was about to be broken yet again.

In a run down factory on the outskirts of the city near the M.A.S.A. Space Center some suspicious activity was going on.

"Get those electrical cables loaded quickly!" Barked a familiar cold voice.

Chittering, a small group of creeplings were busily loading a redesigned Fear Ship. Elsewhere in the factory, ninjas were preparing a strange looking gun for transport. It looked like an aircraft carrier machine gun. Standing at least five feet high and three foot wide with a heavy base to stabilize it on, the device looked formidable. Eyeing it in pleasure, Dark Kat directed his crew to cover the gun and left a group of creeplings and ninjas to guard it while he was gone.

"Once I add the Jewel of Avalon as the power cell my new lightning gun will take out anything that tries to stop me including those meddlesome SWAT Kats!" Dark Kat gave an evil laugh. Signaling to a small attack force of ninjas to get aboard the Fear Ship, he walked up the ramp and headed to his control console. "Now for the final piece. We need to obtain the jewel to make my gun work." He explained to his head ninja as he took the Fear Ship out into the night sky heading toward the Megakat History Museum.

Hovering above the museum, Dark Kat released a rope ladder down which his ninjas quickly slid to the roof transom leading to the airplane exhibit. From there they moved silently, avoiding the few guards roaming the halls, and heading for the rare gem collection room. As some kept watch the leader found the right jewel Dark Kat was wanting and liberated it from its case after disarming the alarm. Jewel in hand the group stealthily slipped back out the way they had come. Laughing in triumph, Dark Kat took his ship back to the factory to finish his gun.

His departure from the museum had not gone unnoticed. A security guard, fortunately smart enough to know when he was outnumbered, had seen a creepling peer out of the jewel room just as he was coming down the corridor. The guard ducked back into an open door and held still hoping the creepling had not seen him. Moments later he heard a small commotion from that room then silence. After waiting some ten minutes, he sneaked down the hall cautiously and was in time to see the last of the ninjas disappear through the transom window overhead. Quickly he called in the theft to the enforcers.

The SWAT Kats heard the call while on patrol and changed course for the museum. They and the enforcers intersected the Fear Ship's course.

"That looks like a new version of Dark Kat's Fear Ship." T-Bone snarled into his mike.

"Yeah, sure looks like it and it's coming from the direction of the museum so it's obviously what we're after T-Bone." Razor grunted trying to get a bead on the escaping craft. "Don't loose it!"

"I'm right on it's tail, buddy. You just get ready to take him down!" T-Bone said as he maneuvered the Turbokat in pursuit followed by a pack of enforcer choppers.

A furious Dark Kat slammed a fist into his control panel, "How did they see us?" He snarled not really expecting an answer. "Fire the laser cannon. Take out the enforcers while I lead SWAT Kats on a merry chase. I don't want them following us to the hideout." He ordered as he put the Fear Ship through some daring maneuvers.

His ninjas set up a barrage of energy bursts toward their pursuers knocking out two of the choppers, missing the Turbokat and damaging buildings in passing. They finally knocked the last chopper out of the sky. The SWAT Kats sent a barrage of various missiles at the ship with only minimal damage to Razor's disgust. A sudden burst of light blinded T-Bone for a critical moment allowing Dark Kat to elude them and disappear.

"Crud, he jammed my scope at the same time he blinded you, T-Bone!" Razor growled angrily.

"Dang it! Now we don't know where he's gone. I wonder what he wanted at the museum?" T-Bone snarled irritably.

"I don't know. Why don't we go and find out. I'm sure Ulera is already trying to find out that answer right now." Razor suggested. T-Bone grunted an affirmative and piloted the Turbokat back toward the museum.

As Razor had thought, Commander Feral was already at the museum trying to get answers. She'd already heard about the unsuccessful attempt to capture Dark Kat so wasn't surprised to see the SWAT Kats striding toward her and Dr. Sinian. Sinian had been summoned as soon as the alarm had gone out and had been checking to see what had been stolen.

As the SWAT Kats joined the Commander and her second in command, Dr. Sinian was getting ready to report her findings.

"Well Commander, Dark Kat has stolen the Jewel of Avalon and for the life of me I can't understand why. It was found in an ancient tomb from Medieval times. No one is sure what it was for. It has been suggested that it was one of the many jewels Queen Callista used in her magical spells but there is no proof of that. That fact might have made it a target of the Pastmaster but I haven't a clue why Dark Kat would find it useful." She said with a puzzled frown on her face.

"With Dark Kat it has to be something that can be used to make some kind of weapon but I can't guess what kind." Razor said frustrated.

"And he is probably putting it together as we speak." Ulera said equally frustrated. "We don't have a choice but to wait and see what it is."

"Unfortunately, that's very true." Razor sighed in disgust.

"We'll be ready for him when he does." T-Bone growled then signaled Razor that they should leave since there was nothing more they could do. Razor nodded but stopped to give his mate a brief kiss on the cheek and a warm hug.

Sighing Feral nuzzled him in return then turned back to Dr. Sinian to find her looking at her with an amused look on her face.

"He loves you very much, Commander." She said warmly. "Did I hear you are pregnant? You haven't registered that with my data bank." Dr. Sinian scolded gently.

Feral blushed and said, "Yes, I am and I'm sorry I'd forgotten to inform you. It makes Razor a bit more protective lately." Grimacing and sharing a small smile with the doctor on classic male behavior. "Well I need to finish my report on this. I have just a few more questions." She said turning the subject back to work. Dr. Sinian smiled but obliged and answered her questions.

Elsewhere in the city...

"Well, despite the interference, my weapon is finally complete. Now all that remains is to wait for just the right moment to strike." Dark Kat gloated, his evil laugh penetrating the chittering of his creeplings making his ninjas shiver.

Two weeks had passed since Dark Kat's raid on the museum. Everyone in law enforcement were tense and on heightened alert then Hard Drive put in an appearance of his own distracting the defenders.

The high tech thief did a little light fingered work at the Megakat Super Conductor late one evening. For the first responders, it looked like Hard Drive had caused a shut down of power for the north side of the city throwing the enforcers mainframe off line. Fortunately, Enforcer Headquarters had backup generators but there was still a brief time of interruption for some minutes before they were back online. During that crucial time, Dark Kat made his move.

While confusion reigned at headquarters and Hard Drive was being rounded up by the SWAT Kats and Feral, the Fear Ship appeared and landed on a building facing Enforcer Headquarters. His ninjas quickly off loaded the weapon, set it up and flicked its personal generator on. Dark Kat walked up to the weapon, sat down and engaged its targeting scope.

"Now to finally take down the Enforcer Building." He gloated. Set atop the device was the Jewel of Avalon. The weapons power poured through the jewel sending a devastatingly powerful beam of energy toward the flight line. In its hellish glow the flight line went up like a bomb. Debris flew everywhere and rained down onto the street in front of the building.

At Megakat Super Conductor, the SWAT Kats had captured Hard Drive and was just handing him over to the enforcers when a frantic call came over the radios.

"Commander Feral, Dark Kat is attacking Enforcer Headquarters. The flight line is destroyed and he's firing some kind of weapon on all the floors. We're evacuating as fast as we can. There is no air power except what you have with you and all the other patrols. They've been alerted and recalled to try and stop him. I'm outside in my vehicle. What's your ETA?" Shouted Lt Commander Steele. Screams and shouting could be heard near him.

Shocked and angry, Feral grabbed her mike. "We're leaving now. Where are you precisely?" She asked as she climbed into her car and her Sergeant raced them back to headquarters. She saw the Turbokat lifting off as she listened to Steele's answer.

"I'm at the base of the building Dark Kat has his weapon on. What do you want me to do?" Steele answered tightly.

"Wait for my arrival. Gather all the troops you can and have them evacuate that building without letting Dark Kat know you are there." She ordered. Steele acknowledged and signed off.

The Turbokat arrived at a horrifying scene. The Enforcer Building was on fire, the flight line was nothing but rubble and on an opposite roof a powerful beam continued to slice into the building.

"Razor! I hope you got something that can take out that weapon before there's no more Enforcer Headquarters!" T-Bone growled as he maneuvered the jet for Razor's targeting.

"I hope so too, T-Bone. Slicer missiles away!" Razor shouted firing at the weapon and watching in frustration as they bounced off something without getting close.

"Crud, he has a force field surrounding the top of the roof." Razor snarled. "Here's hoping my new improved scrambler missiles will get through that shield." He fired a spread of special missiles. "Bingo!" He crowed as there was a bright sparking and two of the missiles succeeded in taking down the shield and knocking out a batch of creeplings and ninjas.

"Way to go Razor! Now take out Dark Kat!" T-Bone shouted as he brought the jet back around for another pass.

"Roger! Bolo missile away!" He gritted tightly as he fired at Dark Kat.

Unfortunately, Dark Kat had leaped off the weapon's platform before the bolos reached him. It wrapped around the weapon instead. Furious, the powerful omega ran toward his Fear Ship followed by what was left of his minions.

Meanwhile at the ground floor of the building Dark Kat was on, Feral and her troops had just arrived. Steele, covered in soot, ran up to her vehicle surrounded by enforcers escorting civilians from the building.

"Enforcer Headquarters is evacuated sir and we've just finished evacuating this building too." He breathlessly reported.

"Good work Steele. See to the safety of the civilians and make sure the cordon around this area is secure." Feral ordered. Steele merely saluted and ran off ordering his troops to follow as he led them and the civilians away from the danger area.

"Alright, the rest of you follow me. We're going up to the roof and see what needs to be done. That is, if there is anything left to do after the SWAT Kats get finished with Dark Kat up there." She said as she led the way into the building and to the elevators.

In minutes, Feral and her enforcers burst out onto the roof and were confronted with a retreating Dark Kat. They were between him and his Fear Ship. Without pausing, Dark Kat charged into the group of enforcers. No longer hiding what she was, Feral extended deadly claws and fangs and met Dark Kat head on. They grabbled with each other for several minutes as Feral ripped at her opponent's clothes trying to reach the kat beneath.

Dark Kat was startled to see long, dripping fangs reaching out for him. He suddenly realized Feral was not a kat but something far deadlier. He shoved Feral away and jumped to his feet. He squeezed through an opening between creeplings and enforcers and was just a foot from his Fear Ship when another apparition jumped in front of him. It looked like that infernal SWAT Kat, Razor except for the alarmingly long, dripping fangs. Stunned, Dark Kat tried to back-peddle fast. He bumped into a hard body behind him. The hiss warned him it was the other horror and he was caught between them.

"Surrender, Dark Crud!" Hissed Razor, his words impeded by his fangs.

Truly frightened, Dark Kat drew a knife from under his robe and whirled stabbing Feral and knocking her down and leaping over her body. Razor screamed in fury at his mate being injured. Running frantically to try to escape the deadly danger behind him, Dark Kat raced for the stair door. He made it and ripped the door open and fled down into the dark. Razor was hot on his heels and moved like the silent predator he really was. He caught the omega just short of the bottom, knocking him down and plunging his fangs into Dark Kat's neck. The omega shrieked in pain and fear. He thrashed around violently before going limp and still.

Snarling to himself, Razor left his dead prey and charged back up to the roof. He burst out of the open door like a missile, his face a mask of snarling fangs startling the enforcers making them back up in shock and fear. T-Bone stared at his partner in surprise until he saw that Feral was down.

"Everyone stay back. Feral's been injured and Razor's too dangerous to get near. He came back up from downstairs. I think someone ought to go down and see if it was Dark Kat he caught. I wouldn't bet that he's alive if Razor got to him." T-Bone said grimly.

The Sergeant nodded and he and a handful of enforcers went down the stairs to investigate. T-Bone looked around the roof and found dead creeplings laying around and the still living ninjas in handcuffs. Satisfied, he went as close as he dared to his partner and softly called to him.

"Razor, is she okay? Do you need assistance?" He asked gently.

Razor had found his mate's injury, the knife had pierced her in the side. She was having some difficulty breathing. He nuzzled her to give comfort as she moaned in his arms. He startled at T-Bone's question. Forcing himself to be calm he looked up at his concerned partner.

"She needs help. The bastard got her in the rib cage." Razor said, his voice tight with fear.

"Okay, buddy. I'll get some paramedics up here quick." T-Bone said and moved off to speak to one of the enforcers who had a radio. Before he reached them, the Sergeant came back through the stair door with Lt Commander Steele at his heels.

Steele walked up to T-Bone. "Dark Kat is dead!" He said flatly then noticed the Commander in his mate's arms. "Is the Commander injured?" He asked concerned.

"Yes, took a knife to the ribs from Dark Kat. Call the medics quick!" T-Bone said urgently.

"Right!" Steele acknowledged and spoke quickly into his radio. "They should be here in a few minutes. Thankfully they are nearby!" He said quietly. T-Bone nodded and looked back at the pair worriedly.