"Damn it."
Chance glared at the dead tom in his leather easy chair, a neat hole through his neck. The smell of blood hung fresh in the air, stifling his senses. Flash bulbs from cameras went off even as he reached over to the head of the thirty-year-old kat and closed the lifeless eyes. He heard the sound of footsteps on the hardwood floor and turned to face the kat that entered. "Tell me we got something to ID this one quickly."
Jake shrugged as he pulled off a pair of latex evidence gloves. "Looks like he ransacked the master bedroom before he left, took this kat's wallet, smashed his cell phone to bits. We won't know what name to cross off until a hell of a lot later." He shook his head as he adjusted his jacket. "He knows our SOP."
Chance growled. "While we're busy finding out who this is, this bastard could strike again." His hands tightened into fists at his sides. "We gotta get into that gate." The detective turned on his right heel and started to stride out of the living room.
Jake jogged after him, his expression tense and concerned. "Whoa, hang on! We don't even know how he can find these kats yet! How the hell are we supposed to stop him if we can't find out how he picks his targets?"
"I already know what I need to know," Chance shot behind him. "This kat's out for revenge, and so far he's doing a damn good job. We need to end this, now." He stormed out of the front door and climbed over the top of Jake's roadster. The big tom buckled up once he plopped into the driver's seat and started the engine. "You wanna come or not?"
Jake walked over to the passenger's side and hopped in. "This is a bad idea, buddy."
"Won't be the first time I acted on a crazy plan." He pulled away from the curb and headed back toward Enforcer Tower. "This kat's only armed with a pistol, but he can be damn near anywhere he wants. We need an edge, and we need it fast."
Jake nodded. "You're right about that. Do you really think we're gonna get it at HQ though?"
Chance peered over at the slim tom. "Well where else are we gonna get it? We don't exactly have our jobs back, so you don't have access to any R&D. We need what they have at the moment." He turned back toward the road. "Sucks, but we'll make do."
Jake scratched his right ear. "And if Feral doesn't give it to us?"
Chance's eyes narrowed, his mouth stretched into a hard line. "Then we'll have to improvise."
Jake's cell phone buzzed in its holster. "Crap, hang on…" He whipped it out, pressed in the receive button and put it to his left ear. "Clawson." The wiry kat raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? What'd we miss?" A grin spread on his features and his ears perked atop his head. "Clever guy! I'll let him know right away. Thanks!" He hung up and glanced aside toward Chance. "We know who he is."
Chance stopped at a red light. "Okay, gimme the name."
Jake smirked. "You gonna be reasonable now?"
His partner groaned, rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're holding it hostage because of that!"
"We're not about to go in there half-cocked, not unless the situation on this side is resolved." Jake looked toward the intersection again. "We find out who's next, find out how this kat targets them, and neutralize that method of tracking. Then we go after him."
Chance sighed and glared at the red light. "Okay, fine. But if someone else dies because we waited…"
Jake nodded as he put his phone away. "I'm willing to accept responsibility for that. Question is, are you?"
They both fell silent for what seemed to be a full minute. Then Chance shook his head. "No, I'm not. But I guess I'll have to live with it."
Kanto the Slayer presents
A SWAT Kats Fanfiction
MegaKat Shield
"What I want to know is how'd he get in this time? It was in broad daylight!" Felina slammed her hands on her desk. "The kat was taking his afternoon nap when he got shot!"
Jake shook his head. "Doesn't matter. He could've gotten in via any corner dark enough to let him pass through, and there were plenty in that building. No signs of a break-in, so…" Jake paced along the tile floor of Felina's office. "…So he picks the lock somehow without damaging it, walks in, gets just inside the shadow of that easy chair…" Jake turned toward Felina, made his right hand into a gun and put it to the side of his head. "You get the idea from there."
Felina groaned and flopped back into her leather chair. "Just how long has this kat been stealing things without our notice?"
Jake shook his head. "Could be years. He could've started planning this a few months after he got stuck there." The slim tom shrugged. "We'll never know unless we ask the guy, and I don't think he'll tell us. You want my honest opinion, he's too far gone."
"Yeah, in the head."
They both turned toward Chance, who for the whole time, stayed silent. He pushed off of the far wall and walked toward the desk. "I still say we should go in there now before more kats bite it, but Jake here wants to find out how they're being targeted." The powerful kat grimaced. "You want my honest opinion? We'd be wasting time doing that when we could be locking him up."
The brunette shrugged. "That may be true, but we'd have to answer for anything else that happened while you were looking for him." She leaned forward over her desk. "We at least have a positive ID on that kat you guys found dead in his apartment. And we just got that list of scientists that worked on this project. We're on the right track, but we do need to understand how he's doing this."
Chance shrugged. "Just saying, while we try to understand…"
Felina sighed. "I know, Chance. But we're in the business of saving lives first." She shook her head. "I'm trying to help you guys get your badges back. And if I'm gonna do that, I need you to work with me." The captain looked up at Chance, her expression pleading with him. "Can you do that?"
The big tom slid his hands in the pockets of his leather bomber jacket. "All right, we'll do it Jake's way. I just don't wanna regret not going straight for the bad guy."
Felina smiled. "You won't, not this time." She handed them both a copy of the list of scientists. "You're both going to start by warning everyone left alive that they're being targeted. Whether they believe you or not, your job is to get them clear of their buildings. Hell, out of city limits if you have to."
Jake turned to leave the office. "On it!"
Chance waited for Jake to close the door before putting his hands on the Captain's desk. "I'm not sure that's gonna work, Felina."
"Well I'm open for suggestions."
Chance bowed his head, brows creased as he tried to come up with a plan. "He's gonna track these kats no matter where they are. We need to take out the main problem of how he's finding them in the first place." He paused for a few seconds, eyes narrowing to slits. "This all has something to do with those car parts he stole…"
Felina nodded. "Glad you're being rational about this." She cleared her throat. "Get outta here, Jake needs help. But keep me posted on what you find, okay?"
Chance nodded and pushed off the desk. "Will do." He headed for the door, stopped just in front of it. "Hey, uh… Thanks for putting a good word in for us."
The Captain shrugged. "Someone had to tell it to his face. Just don't make me regret it."
Angela peered at herself in the full-length mirror, turned to her right side as she examined the black cotton dress with a red and black striped cincher and sheer silk stockings. The skirt, just a few inches above the knees, displayed an inside panel of black ruffles. A pair of fingerless lace gloves stopped halfway up her forearms, accenting the dress. Her usual black leather choker, usually off-setting her other outfits, faded into obscurity with this one.
Good. She needed to at least keep that one thing simple.
"Now, that's more like it."
Angela grinned as she turned the other way. "Y'think? I thought this one was the cutest thing I could find without looking like I was a zombie." She turned toward Penny, clad in a black pinstriped suit with a dark red tie and white gloves. Three silver chains hung from her neck, each with a different pendant of some sort. The Goth boots were gone now, replaced by a pair of six-inch military boots, polished to a fault. "You look like you're ready to go to work or something, if it weren't for all that jewelry."
"Oh no, this is just rocker style. I'm too casual to wear this stuff to the office." Penny walked over and knelt to adjust the skirts. "I like the theme. You look like Alice from a dark, twisted Wonderland."
Angela nodded. "I always did like that book. Just…" She grimaced. "Don't ask me to dye my hair black."
Penny chuckled. "I like the hair just the way it is. It's a nice shocking shade of red already." She nodded and stood, placing her hands on the redhead's shoulders once she got back to her feet. "You're so ready for tomorrow night. They're gonna love you two."
"No, they'll like Callie." The auburn-haired lawyer smirked. "She can get anyone to like her, no matter how cold-hearted or insecure. I…" She sighed, looking down at herself. "I don't have a charming bone in my body. I just work really hard."
Penny stood silent for a few moments, her brown eyes searching. Then she reached for Angela's right ear and tugged, hard.
"Ow!" Angela pulled back, her tail squirming as she rubbed at the hurt. "What was that for?"
"You okay now?"
Angela's face went blank. "What?"
Penny placed her hands on her hips. "I asked if you were all right now." She raised her right paw before Angela had a chance to speak. "You say anything like that while we're there, I will do what I just did again. Consider our little outing a chance to be who you really are. No one's gonna mind, we're all freaks anyway."
Before the she-kat could respond, her cell phone buzzed. Angela sighed, headed over to the black purse on her bed, and fished the device out. "Hello?" Her face lit up. "Callie! You're just outside?" She nodded. "Yeah, we're ready to go up here. Be right down!" Angela hung up and headed for the bathroom. "Let's go, she's waiting."
Penny wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Relax, you'll be fine. Just be yourself. The way to stop being shy is to just go with the flow of things." They changed out of their party outfits and into something more suitable for work. "Accept people and all their warts, and you won't mind your own at all. At least, that's what I think it means. I think that Callie understands it better than I do, though. She's got what you'd call an old soul."
Angela shook her head. "I don't even know what that means."
Penny shrugged. "That's fine. You will, the longer you hang out with us."
"If I ever hang out with you at all after this." The redhead pointed toward Penny. "If anyone disrespects me or Callie in any way, I reserve the right to never speak to you again for a month, much less go anywhere with you. Got that?"
Penny put up a mock salute. "Whatever you say, Captain."
Angela rolled her eyes. "I'm serious! Don't make me use your real name…"
The Goth groaned as she slid into her halter neck top. "Okay, I got it." She pulled the streaks of pink hair from her right eye. "Besides, if I feel anyone's crossed a line, I'll kick their ass myself."
The two stepped out of the bathroom in variations of their usual outfits. Angela wore muted grays instead of reds for her blazer and skirt, and changed the top to something off-white. Penny seemed not to mind looking like she wore the same clothing day-in and day-out, but a pair of spiked bracelets gleamed on her wrists this time around. She'd changed her skirt to a cotton, ruffled lace pattern instead of the tight black leather, but otherwise her gear remained unchanged.
"Back to the grinder, huh?" Penny sighed as she pulled on her gloves. "Well at least it's for a good cause."
The lawyer nodded. "Yeah, and it could get us killed."
Penny beamed as she followed Angela toward the front door of her apartment. "Well that's what makes it fun, right? Besides, as long as we can take care of ourselves, nothing bad's gonna happen. At least, not on our end. I dunno if the other guys will be so lucky."
A tom dressed in a white, short-sleeved, button-down shirt and black slacks walked up to the double glass doors of the Westbrook Apartments, his blue-grey ears poking out of a baseball cap. His polished black dress shoes clicked on the pavement as he headed in, the tools in his belt clinking against each other as he made his way toward the building.
The truck just behind him read the name of a plumbing company on the city's records, Magic Fix. Wasn't much of a name, but it would do for his purposes. He passed through the front doors and lifted the pen from next to the sign-in sheet.
The guard dressed in Enforcer blues behind the counter peered at him as he wrote his name. "Hey, you here for the job upstairs?"
The tom nodded without looking up. "Got the call just this morning." And that was true. He had gotten the call. Only, it was a call that his higher-ups intercepted a few hours earlier. They gave the one who was really supposed to be here 'time off' for the rest of the day.
The guard sat up straight with a grunt. "Alright, which apartment?"
"Briggs, 305."
The guard raised an eyebrow. "Funny, I don't remember anything about her setting up an appointment with you guys. You sure that's the right one?"
A shrug. "Can't expect her to remember to tell you everything, she's busy these days. Or at least, that's what I hear."
The guard tilted his head slightly to the right, as if in thought. Then he nodded. "True enough. Just need to see your license and work order, and we'll be good to go."
The tom handed over his papers and, after two minutes of what looked like careful inspection, the guard let him through to the elevator. As the lift headed toward the third floor, he checked his tool belt for the ones he'd really be using. From one of the pouches, he withdrew a small plastic bag, three inches square, with several microchips and miniature cameras in them.
He put the bag back in as the elevator reached its destination, adjusted his hat, and stepped out of the lift as soon as it opened. The tom headed for the apartment in question, knowing full well what to expect. No one would have changed anything on the security system by now, unless someone was smart enough to figure out how to counter the jammer.
Once he reached the door, he fished out some lock picking tools and slid them into the keyhole. The goal was to leave as small of a footprint as possible, and breaking the lock would not do. In less than a minute, the tumblers clicked and he opened the door, eyes scanning for the control box as soon as he entered the living room.
He couldn't find it.
This presented a problem.
The tom gritted his teeth as he counted the seconds by in his head. He headed toward the door again, turned right, and opened the coat closet. The control box sat blinking with an amber-backlit keypad. He pulled the cover off, reached into his tool belt, pulled out a small half-inch wide metal disc, and put it on top of the circuit board.
He closed his eyes, bracing for any kind of alarm… and after five seconds, nothing happened.
The asset let out a sigh. A bit of a snag, but he was in.
He put the cover back on and closed the closet door, then made his way deeper into the apartment. Just above the table, mounted to the ceiling, was a smoke detector. He climbed on top of the table, opened the cover, and after a few seconds of messing with one of the microchips, closed it and got back down. One bug placed, several more to go.
Making his way toward the couch, the spy headed for the phone just to the right of the television and took it apart. Once he found what he was looking for, he placed another listening bug inside and put the phone back together in short order.
The spy walked upstairs toward the master bedroom and headed for the night stand to the right of the bed. He reached into his tool belt, pulled out a pen, opened the drawer, and tossed it inside. The pen itself was a camera on its own, complete with audio recording.
He closed the drawer, grabbed the phone just next to the lamp and bugged it as well. As he put the phone back together, the sound of the phone downstairs got his attention.
Okay, time to go.
After putting the phone back in working order he glanced around, looking for a quick exit before anyone decided it was the perfect moment to rush the apartment. Nothing caught his attention. He grimaced and made his way back down the hallway as if nothing were wrong.
The answering machine beeped as he walked past the couch. What he heard made him freeze in his tracks.
"Callie, it's Jake Clawson. Listen, you don't have to do anything about this, but someone's in your apartment right now that shouldn't be. Don't worry, I got everything under control already. If he's still there when this call is finished, he'd better get ready for company. See you later."
The tom went for the front door like all hell.
The sound of the elevator chime made him press himself against the wall across from the coat closet and peek out of the doorway. Three Enforcers stepped out of the lift, guns at the ready. The tom hissed and pulled his head back. His mind raced to figure out what he'd done wrong.
Security system disabled, jammer in place, no alarm…
His eyes widened. No alarm. Because it was silent. Apparently, this Jake figured the first time was enough to put up a countermeasure. He gritted his teeth as they came closer and ran back toward the hallway, leapt up the stairs, sprinted past the doorway, and closed it shut. He glanced around, looking for a place to set up shop until they went away.
His ears twitched as the sound of the cops shouting for him to come out and surrender echoed along the walls of the apartment. He threw open the closet door and looked up to find the top shelf empty. The spy slipped in, closed the door, and hauled himself up onto the shelf. Then, he made like a dead kat and tried not to breathe too hard.
The bedroom door opened.
"Spread out, search every nook in here. He couldn't have gone far."
Three seconds after that, the closet door opened from the right. One of the Enforcers shone a flashlight inside, checking for any sign of his presence. He lay stiff as a board, ready to fall right on top of him if he looked up with that thing.
"Clear."
He managed to keep his relief in check as the search continued. He heard them head toward the bathroom, and after a few seconds, another Enforcer stated the room was clear before they headed back downstairs. But he didn't move as he heard someone talking into a radio…
"This is Unit Twelve. We have a break-in at 305. No sign of the suspect, requesting a perimeter set up along the entire block, over."
The tom kept his groan to himself. He counted in his head to five before finally sliding down from the shelf and opening the left-side door. Empty room, save for himself.
He made his way toward the entrance to the bedroom, peeked out from the left side wall, pulled his head back around when he saw the police still in the living room. His ear piece chose that moment to annoy him with a buzz in his ear.
"What's your status?"
He looked out from the doorway again, tried not to mutter too loud. They were still there… "I've been compromised. Someone knew we were coming."
"Well did you get all the devices set up?"
"Affirmative. They're in place." He pressed his back along the wall. "I have no clear exit, please advise."
The voice on the other end scoffed. "If you did your job, it doesn't matter how you leave. Just make sure no one's alive to tell you were there, and clean up the mess afterward."
The tom grimaced. "I'd rather not be so… obvious, sir."
"Just do what you have to. Out."
He looked again and saw no one in the living room this time. The spy made his way down the hallway, crept along the stairs, sneaked his way toward the kitchen and crouched at the corner of the bar. He peered out again, toward the open front door. Clear.
The agent stood, straightened his shirt, and eased out of the apartment. He glanced down either side of the hallway, jogged around the corner to the left, and entered the stairwell at the end of the hallway. Three flights later, he ended up on the roof and found the fire escape. He finally let out the sigh of relief he'd been holding in as he made his way down the metal stairs, and once he reached solid ground he touched his ear piece again. "I'm out. Need a pickup on the west side of the building."
"Affirmative. What are you going to do about the van?"
The spy pulled out one more thing from his tool belt, a black detonator trigger with a red button atop it. "Use it for one last thing." He pulled the trigger, held it for two seconds until the light on the back of the device turned green, and then pressed in the button. A split-second later, his ears rang with an explosion and he pocketed the detonator again, walking down the alley as if he'd done nothing wrong. "Control, if you're going to pick me up, do it now."
Callie sighed as she closed the novel in her hands, her expression clouded with resignation. "Always the sad part, when the bad guys win for a time."
"Heroism is overrated anyway," Penny said with a smirk. "You get yourself damn near killed over people that only want you to pull them out when things get bad, when they can't help themselves." She shook her head. "I think we need villains once in a while, to give us a wake-up call."
The blond shrugged. "Maybe you're right. Doesn't mean we let them do whatever they want." She put the book back onto the board room table and slid it over toward the Goth. "This isn't too bad of a read, really. Where'd you get it?"
Penny stopped the book with her left hand. "Found it in my basement, covered with dust and spiders. I read through it a few times, kinda figured you'd like it." The smirk softened into a genuine smile. "Turns out I was right."
Callie nodded. "It is a dark piece of reading, but I think it's interesting." She stood from her chair and stretched her arms above her head. "Well, whatever. Let's get back to work." She made her way toward the exit, Penny in tow. "I think we'll do great with next week's rally in the West End. You're invited, of course."
Penny shook her head as she followed the mayor-candidate back out into the office. "Not my thing. I'll watch it on TV though, you guys have fun."
"Yeah, well you really should come to one. The few I've actually been to aren't really boring at all." They were just Mayor Manx's rallies, which meant she had to do most of the talking, most of the crowd involvement, and most of the planning. But when the crowd got into it, they were fun.
The Goth glanced over to Callie. "It's not that. I'm not into the whole political process, besides just observing it. I'm not one to vote, either." She sighed and stared forward as they headed toward the maze of cubicles. "If I vote and the kat I pick turns out to be an idiot, then that's on me for helping whoever it is get into public office." She looked at Callie again. "Then again, you're not an idiot. It's one of the reasons I'm helping you."
"Well…" Callie pulled at her neck tie. "Thank you, I guess."
Penny chuckled. "Okay, so that wasn't the best way to put it. Suffice it to say that I've got your back in this, but I won't be showing up at your rally. If you need any tech support during it though, have someone give me a call. I'll do what I can from the house."
They walked over to an empty table with a computer in front and Penny sat down, stretching her arms over her head before she rested her fingers on the keyboard. "So, what do we got?"
Callie leaned forward to peer over Penny's right shoulder. "Well, this Donovan kat is starting to get on my last nerve with this, and I want to know everything about who he is and why he's doing this."
Penny raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you already have someone look that up?"
"Yes, I did. The problem is they're tied up right now with something else." The pink-clad she-kat sighed, her expression frustrated. "Nothing I can do about that, so it's up to you. I want you to dig everywhere you can about this tom, and I want it done before we go anywhere this weekend."
The brunette groaned. "That's gonna take the rest of the day and all night!"
Callie nodded. "You're right. It may very well be like that." She squeezed Penny's right shoulder. "Can you do it?"
Penny's expression of grief changed slightly as she calmed herself. "There's nowhere I can't get to. Time frame's a bit short for this kinda job, though. I'll try, but I doubt I'll be done before the party."
The blond squeezed that right shoulder again. "I believe in you, okay? We need to get this done so we can take Manx and him out in one clean sweep. I said I wouldn't run a mudslinging campaign…" She stood and turned away. "…But I never said I wouldn't try to expose campaign fraud. And that's what's going on here." With that, she headed toward Angela's office. "Get going."
On the way to Angela's office, her cell phone buzzed in the right pocket of her dress slacks. She pulled it free and opened it to find she had a new text message from Jake. What she read when the message was opened made her stop dead cold. Everything else seemed to blur besides the phone as she focused on the tiny screen.
Someone broke into her apartment. Again.
Her left hand gripped the phone so hard it threatened to break.
"Shit." She shook her head, shoved the phone back into her pocket, and stormed toward Angela's office.
She didn't bother reading the rest of it, those first few words she'd read told her enough. She'd kick that bastard's ass if she ever saw him again, no matter how damn big he was! Callie almost wanted to break the door to Angela's office down as she reached it, but remembered herself and let out a harsh sigh as she twisted the door knob.
Angela looked up from her desk as Callie entered. "Hey, everything okay? You look like…"
"…Someone just shit on my day? Yes." Callie closed the door behind her and locked it before striding over toward the leather chair across from the desk and plopping down into it. "It happened again, Snowy."
Angela's eyes widened. "No way, another break-in?"
Callie nodded. "No telling what they did, what's broken, or what kind of message was sent. Either way, they have nearly scot-free access to my apartment at any time they want. Jake was supposed to have changed the security system somewhat, but…"
"Oh I'm sure he did." Angela scratched the back of her head. "How else were you able to find out about the intrusion from here?"
Callie blinked for a moment as the information set in, then pulled out her phone again and actually read the message this time. As she took a good look at what exactly Jake had done to change the system, she felt at ease. "I think everything's gonna be all right. They won't bother coming back."
"See, told you!" The redhead scratched behind her right ear. "But we still need to wonder what exactly they did before whatever countermeasures Jake installed went off."
The blonde nodded. "I'll have to check all over the place for anything that they put in. Who knows what they did to my stuff?" She wouldn't be surprised if they had the place wired for sound and video by now. She knew this kind of tactic, and she didn't like it at all. Mostly because she couldn't retaliate in kind.
Callie shook her head. No, she refused to sink to their level. She'd play this straight. It'd only be a matter of time before they were exposed. Just keep on fighting, Callie-girl. She looked up toward Angela. "We have to get everyone behind us at next week's rally. We just have to."
Angie grinned. "I'll do my best to help!"
"Good, because if we don't start gaining momentum, everything will have been for nothing." She wanted this over with quickly so she wouldn't have anyone disturb her home again.
Callie thought about that for a moment, then smiled. Well… anyone besides Chance.
Chapter 09—Fired Up, Wired Up
You can't imagine how much crap I've been through this month. I figure it's time for another chapter, and all of a sudden, life interferes. Plus that infiltration scene was one of the hardest I've ever had to do! But here it is. The finished product! Here's hoping you guys enjoy it.
Well, another hard scene coming up, the club scene! Not to mention we're getting closer to actually going after the bad guy. I'm not sure how that's going to turn out, but I'm going to have fun doing it. Or at least, I'll try to have fun doing it… Anyways, I have plenty of work ahead of me as far as this, and all my other stories. I'll try to keep in touch, now that I have some free time.
In any event, review, add this to your favorites, whatever else you feel you need to do to stop by and say hello. I've been getting good feedback from you guys, and I appreciate that. Keep 'em coming, they're always welcome!
This is your Slayer.
