WHAT'S UP DOC?
Chapter 8: Returning a Favor
The movie had been great and they were all in high spirits when they returned to the garage. No one had paid the Loonatics any attention, for which they were grateful. Chance's disguises had worked like a charm.
"That was great, Chance. Thanks. Now could you give us a lift back to the ship? We should get some sleep." Ace asked.
"Hey, no problem. Let's go on down then." Chance said grinning.
They all piled down the ladder and waited politely until Chance had changed to T-Bone then started to load aboard the Turbokat when Ace asked if they could take a real look at their jet first. T-Bone smiled proudly and gave them a tour. Duck and Slam thought the munitions were cool, Lexi liked the design of the jet and Ace was impressed with the cockpit.
When everyone had seen their fill and had watched how the glovatrix worked, they boarded the jet and were soon winging their way to their own ship.
As they suspected, Rev, Tech and Razor were deep into technical discussions. Shaking his head, T-Bone was about to pull his partner away when Ace forestalled him with a hand on his shoulder.
"I think this time we should leave them be, doc! I can tell they've made significant progress and might be nearly done. When these two are that close nothing but a criminal attack will get them to quit." He said wisely.
"Humph, you're right there but still, I'd prefer if you'd get him to rest at some point. He is part of my team and it would be dangerous for us to get a call when he's too tired." T-Bone warned.
"Understood, we'll be sure he gets some shut eye. Good night, T-Bone." Ace said warmly.
"You too. See you all in the morning." T-Bone said, waving at them and leaving. Soon the Turbokat was rising into the night sky and zooming for home, it's afterburners lighting up the sky.
Glancing at the hard working trio, Ace shook his head and sighed. "We'll we'd better get some sleep, guys." He told the others.
They nodded and drifted off to their rooms. With a final glance, Ace did the same.
The next day shone brightly, the morning sun spotlighting the three tech's where they had crashed, exhausted from their non-stop working. Tech was sitting in the pilot's seat slumped over the console, Razor was curled on the floor and Rev was just waking up in his seat when Ace came up to check on them.
"I see you worked till you dropped." He said shaking his head.
"Yes, but the computer is fixed and the ship is space worthy again." Rev said with a quick yawn. "All that's needed is for Tech and Razor to figure out how to use the SWAT Kats dimensional radar to get us home."
"Well that's certainly good news. How about we get breakfast and leave these sleeping beauties to get their well deserved rest, heh?" Ace said, pleased with the report.
"I'm with you. I'm starving. I mean I could eat a steak...or a whole cow right now and some eggs, potatoes, juice, pancakes..." Rev ran on, grinning excitedly.
"Easy there Rev. I think I get the picture. You're real hungry." Ace snorted in amusement leading the way to the galley.
They joined the rest having breakfast. Duck described the movie to Rev and they all talked about it then the discussion moved to what they were going to do next. Ace gave the rest of the team, Rev's report.
"So now all we have to do is wait for the two genius to figure out how to get us home, eh?" Duck asked, rhetorically. "Hope that doesn't take too long. What do we do now, fearless leader?" He said sarcastically.
"Wellll...I've been thinking about all the serious criminals Chance had mentioned. Especially, the one called Dark Kat. As a great farewell gift to the guys for being so nice to us and helping us get home, I thought we should do something really nice for them...like getting rid of this particular character." Ace said, eyeing his team to see what they thought about the idea.
"Wait a minute! You propose we go out and look for this creep and take him out?" Duck asked, annoyed.
"Yeah! That's about the size of it." Ace said easily.
"You're nuts!" Duck snorted irritably. "I think we've done enough for them already by getting rid of two of their headaches."
"Yes, but Dark Kat is the worst of the lot according to Chance." Ace told him seriously.
Duck just threw his hands up in disgust.
"I think we should do it!" Lexi said, giving Duck an angry look.
"Bririendngiends...So do I!" Slam said, slamming his palm on the table to emphasize his feelings on the matter.
"Good! Then its settled! As soon as Rev is rested I'll send him on a high speed search for this creep. Then we'll take him out." Ace said with a pleased smile.
Duck just snorted and left the room.
Some two hours later, Ace took Rev aside. He was surprised to find Razor and Tech already awake again despite having only slept a short time. He shook his head at the ways of inventors. The two genius' were already working on understanding Razor's dimensional radar over their breakfast. The rest of the Loonatics just shook their heads and left them alone.
With Rev in tow, Ace took the team down to the cargo hold. They ignored Viper who had been left forgotten in his cell. In all the excitement, the SWAT Kats had neglected to take him to jail.
The lizard Kat scowled angrily at them and hissed. They just walked past, paying him no mind as they made for their Zoomatrixes. The group gathered round and waited to hear what Ace wanted them to do.
"Okay, guys and doll, our target is a creep called Dark Kat. This is an image of him." Ace said showing them a picture T-Bone had given him.
"Ohh, he's creepy!" Lexi said with a frown.
"Bbrrrringnntitneshth...Ugly!" Slam snorted.
"That's supposed to be a Kat? Man this place is sure weird!" Duck said studying the tall, powerful looking creature, with the glowing eyes, and not very Kat-like face. "Looks more like a demon of some kind." He observed.
"Yeah, he does...kinda...anyway this is who I want to find and capture. Rev, you do your thing and try to find this guy but don't engage. Return here and we'll go together...got it?" Ace ordered.
"Roger...I'm off to find a creepy Kat...see you soon!" Rev burbled and literally ran so fast he disappeared.
"While, Rev finds our target we'll board our Zoomtrixes and wait in the air for his return. I want to do this quick and quiet. Stay in communication with each other and make an effort to keep a low profile. We've already stirred up the populace with our first appearance." Ace warned them. "Let's jet!"
Within minutes the Loonatics were on their individual Zoomatrix, slapping their helmets on, and testing their comms. Converting to flight mode, they soared out of the cargo bay Slam had opened. It closed automatically behind them once they had departed. They hung in the air above their space ship and waited.
Just as Duck was about to complain about hanging about, Rev appeared abruptly. Through his comm he reported to his leader.
"Ace! That Dark Kat guy is already attacking the city and..." He was cut off by the arrival of the Turbokat overhead. It landed quickly and from their ship they saw Razor run out and make for the jet. In seconds, Razor had boarded and the jet was making for the city with all engines pouring on the power. From behind them, the cargo bay opened once more and out came Tech.
He flew up to join them. "Razor received a call from T-Bone that their worst enemy is attacking their space center." He reported over his comm.
"We were just going to look for that guy!" Ace told him. "Guess he saved us the search. Alright Loonatics, let's give our friends a hand! Let's jet!" He shouted, sending his machine flying toward the city.
"Follow me!" Tech shouted over his comm. "I looked up the location of the space center."
Without answering the rest of the team fell in behind Tech as they raced across the desert. As soon as they reached the city limits, Tech veered to the east, taking them over farmland then over the airport until they reached a large area that held the MASA Space Center.
As they got closer, they witnessed a huge battle taking place. A huge black ship that resembled some kind of multi-legged beetle had landed near a rocket launch tube. The enforcers were strafing it without much affect. The SWAT Kats were also trying their more advanced weaponry on the thing with only some damage being caused.
With supreme indifference, Dark Kat's ship continued doing something to a rocket standing on a launch platform. He used exterior mechanical arms to do his business. The SWAT Kats had managed to damage one of them but another had taken its place and continued to do something to the rocket.
"Don't know what that creep is trying to do with that rocket but it can't be good for the SWAT Kats city. Let's put a stop to this, shall we?" Ace ordered.
The Loonatics spread out and came at Dark Kat from all directions. Dark Kat quickly proved that he wasn't going to be as easy to take out as the other strange criminals had been.
Rev had raced toward the ship thinking to get a closer look and to divert the laser beams Dark Kat was firing, unfortunately, he encountered a force field. He hit it had high speed and it repulsed him backward, sending him flying high in the air at with the same speed he'd hit the barrier.
"T-Bone!" Razor shouted.
"I see him, buddy. Be ready to catch him when I get close!" T-Bone said tightly as he moved to put the jet between Dark Kat's ship and Rev. As soon as he got close enough, Razor shot a net out to catch the unconscious bird. He drew the net back up into the cargo hold, going down to check on their fellow fighter.
When he pulled the netting from Rev he was relieved to see him already regaining consciousness.
"Wow! What hit me?" Rev said, standing up and shaking his head.
"A force field at whatever speed you were doing. Glad we were nearby to catch you." Razor said.
"Thanks! Gotta go and rejoin my team though. Just open a door and I'll zip away." Rev told him.
"Are you kidding? We're miles above the ground!" Razor exclaimed in shock.
"No, really. I'll be fine. I move so fast it seems like I can fly." Razor reassured him.
Razor blinked at that but shrugged and opened the bomb bay doors. "Okay, good luck and be careful. Dark Kat is one vicious criminal and dangerous."
"Gotcha!" Rev said as he leaped from the jet and sped so fast he was traveling the air currents to the ground.
Ace saw him and was relieved he was alright. Returning his attention back to the battle, he was unhappy to realize that even with their powers they hadn't been able to penetrate the force shield.
"SWAT Kats?" He called over his comm, switching to an open frequency.
"Yeah Ace?" Came the gruff voice of the pilot.
"Can you guys tell me where on that ship the force field generator can be found?" He asked.
"I don't know what you're planning but it's located near the power core of the Black Widow. That's just behind the area where you see that gun turret on its belly." Razor told him.
"Right! Be alert to take this thing out as soon as the field is down." Ace said. "Duck?"
"Yeah boss!" Duck said as he avoided a laser blast across his side.
"Land! I want you to Quack into that area just behind the gun turret and use your Power Orb to destroy the generator for the force field." Ace ordered.
"Roger! I'm on it." Duck said, heading for the ground quickly. Once he landed his Zoomatrix, he Quantum Quacked aboard the Black Widow. He quickly looked around for what might be the generator. He finally spotted a huge, humming machine and prepared to throw an orb when he was set upon by creeplings.
"What the heck are these things?" He squawked. Outnumbered, he Quacked back out quickly then back in with an orb ready in his hand. The second he reappeared and before the creeplings could jump him, he tossed the power orb and Quacked back to the ground.
"Gotcha." He crowed in triumph.
The blast shook the Black Widow making it wobble erratically for several minutes before Dark Kat got back some semblance of control but not for long.
"Great work, Duck!" Lexi shouted.
The SWAT Kats and the Loonatics took advantage of Dark Kat's distraction and pounded his ship. Razor shot a barrage of his specialty missiles while, Duck shot orbs, Tech fired his magnetic powers at the ship to scramble its electronics. Lexi, Ace, Slam and Rev waited their opportunity to attack. There were just too many combatants and Ace didn't want any good guys harmed.
As usual, Dark Kat fought hard against defeat. He fired his powerful lasers at his annoying attackers. One of the beams managed to catch Feral and one other enforcer's choppers across their tail rotors taking them out.
"Slam, catch them!" Ace shouted as he began to deflect the lasers with his own laser vision and his Guardian Strike Sword.
"Bldkasdifhekje...Roger!" Slam barked, already beginning to spin madly to form a funnel of air below the falling choppers cushioning them until they were safely on the ground. The occupants were dizzy but alive.
"Okay, enough of this!" Ace growled. "SWAT Kats back away and tell those enforcer dudes to do the same. We're going to stop this guy cold!"
"Roger, Ace!" Razor answered. He got some flack from the enforcers but they finally pulled back from the Black Widow.
"Rev...Slam...Take this guy out!" Ace ordered.
Slam built up a tornado with Rev forming another around him. Soon they had a funnel of high speed air whirling the Black Widow in a vortex...spinning it madly. Dark Kat's lasers bounced off the vortex surrounding him and shot back at him, doing even more damage to his ship.
Finally, after some ten minutes, Slam and Rev ceased their spinning, allowing the Black Widow to slam to the ground. It sat there for several seconds then simply fell apart. Within the ruins Dark Kat lay unconsciousness and his creeplings were staggering dizzily around.
The enforcers raced in and arrested the lot of them. Even Feral didn't do more than grumble as he watched the strangers and the SWAT Kats take off, privately relieved that Dark Kat had been stopped before he could do more harm.
Meanwhile, just out of view of the enforcers, Tech called a halt to his team mates.
"Wait! There's still the rocket that criminal was messing with. I think we should check it out first before we leave the area." Tech warned.
The SWAT Kats hung close by and had been listening.
"I take it you want to go down and have a look?" Razor asked.
"Yes. You willing?" He asked the SWAT Kat.
"Of course. I'm more familiar with Dark Kat's ways. Let's go take a look." Razor agreed.
T-Bone and Ace didn't need to say anything as they turned their ships around and headed back to MASA.
Feral frowned when he heard the jet coming close and saw it was the SWAT Kats and those strangers again. Confused, he saw them move close to the rocket Dark Kat had been fiddling with. MASA technicians were already looking at it.
What could these vigilanteess want? Curious and concerned, Feral moved toward their destination with a handful of his officers.
