Mostly a talk chapter, but this is it, the big reveal, Leon's childhood and how he was raised in Camp Flyaway. Revelations and realizations both, how will they be accepted? Well, read this chapter and find out, it's pretty good.
Disclaimer: I, Lord Genesis Shadow, do not own the rights to SWAT Kats, the Radical Squadron. Thank you, and have a nice day.
…
"Leon, spill it, now." The commander said sternly. I sat down in the chair and gestured. "If you're in league with them…" I looked at him and he stopped instantly, and the room seemed colder by at least three degrees.
"You'll want to sit, for this." I said. "Do you have a SCIF mode for the office, sir?" He slowly went behind his desk as the others sat, all moving to look at me. The doors closed and sounds were heard, until he nodded.
"Should I be recording this?" He asked.
"No." I said. "The files we recovered a few weeks ago, particularly the thirteen that detail personnel, list a particular soldier, always initialed M with his rank."
"You." He said. I was silent for a moment, but I nodded.
"Me." I said. "Camp, was not a mere year long camp that I went to for ten years. It was a secret initiative to train pilots unaffiliated with any form of government or military. I never learned the true name, because to me, it was simply Camp, and later on 'Camp Flyaway'. I was taken in at the age of six, kidnapped, but we were told right away that it was in the middle of a desert, and that we were at least two weeks from civilization on foot, but we were free to leave, on foot, whenever we wanted to." I pulled out the small bent badge, and I tossed it onto his desk. "Over the course of fifteen years they worked, finding children from six to ten that have certain attributes that they look for. Sharp eyes, quick reflexes, anything that shows potential in a soldier or a pilot, or a driver, or whatever role they need filled someday. The earlier you train a soldier, the better they can get, or so they said." They stared at the symbol. "The first year is all about finding out how good the kids are at the various 'games', flying, tank driving, even miniature submarines. Whichever one you're best at, you get sent to another place. I set the last new standard for the flight games, every time I set foot in it." I looked at the emblem. "Year two was learning controls for fighters, and how they worked. It was the same stuff I went through in the academy, and more. If I couldn't get a jet working, I had to spend an extra hour reading about it before I would be allowed to go to bed."
"They pushed children to become pilots, soldiers, and criminals." Commander Feral said.
"The first two, yes, but the third could not be further from the truth." I said. "When I turned eight, I was already working my way up the ranks, literally, and it was then that I flew into my first battle. Many were shot down, it was expected, but with the older kids being better pilots, every mission was a success, and we had cleanup crews to take care of the destroyed fighters, tanks, and other combat vehicles. Since we were safe in the desert outside of the city, no one knew where we were. We were hidden well enough that no one could really find us, even by accident." I looked at my hand for a moment. "The controls were realistic, the systems designed to mimic realistic combat, making the air thinner inside so we would need masks, shaking when damaged, even rotating within to mirror an aileron roll, down to the slight jolt of leveling out again." I looked at the emblem. "By the time I was thirteen I was a major, with a lot of battles behind me to back up my rank, and then some. I'd been shot down only a handful of times, but it had been three years from the last time then… They gave me a few things, shots that I was told were immunizations, but I never really believed them. Just as I was turning sixteen, I was finally made a Lieutenant Colonel, hence the title they call me by. I was still the best, and not one kat could get close to me in any squadron, as no one had better accuracy, better success rates on solo missions, or better win/shot down ratio, which would work out to several hundred against a meager five times. It was all I could do not to develop a peacock strut and a swagger to make Graves look like a humble priest." Steele scoffed quietly. "Then came the last day, the one talked of in the day they surrendered the facility. We had been found out, somehow, none of us knew. They figured, our biggest mission ever, taking on a drug cartel down in Mexico, outside of Chihuahua."
"That yappy little dog?" Steele asked.
"Look at a globe or a map of Mexico." I said. "It is a city, rather nice from the view I got for the last three minutes. Anyway, the head of the cartel was moving a massive shipment north, to the states, destination, unknown. We had ships in the area to take off from, loaded with a hundred and eighty fighters apiece, among ten carriers. We took off, five main wings and a few jets coming in opposite us to make sure we wiped the cartel out all at once, including his home."
"How did this not start a war?" The commander asked.
"Simple, as I said, we were unaffiliated with the government or military." I said. "We answered to no one but our own, and we were taught to be loyal, completely and utterly, to the cause. Due to this, we could do what the UN and US government could not. We could go to war zones, strike hard, fast, and with brutal efficiency, and no one was able to take credit. Our jets were silver, the tanks black, and the ships with special blue that blended with the ocean completely, with special covers to let them dive underwater just in case. We had technology so ahead of its time, those jets we found, the ones I'd flown for years, are still more advanced than anything we have access to right now." He quietly mumbled to himself. "We could go in heavy, do massive damage, and retreat. Tanks went underground into bunkers, jets vanished from view, submarines, well, you can't see them anyway, and they absorb sonar. We went in, fought, pulled back, and if the government was questioned, they could say in full honesty that they did not authorize the ops." I leaned back a little, smiling just a bit. "They taught us high school math at early ages, making sure we devoted ourselves to our studies. If I wanted, I could take a special graduation exam for high school and pass it, right now, in less time than I would be allotted. I could even do the same for several degrees, including mechanical engineering for cars, trucks, motorcycles, commercial or fighter planes of all types, even several types of boats. I do not need a high school education, because I received the equivalent of a four year college education, with only a few breaks in the years."
"And the mission you mentioned?" The captain asked.
"The Delgado Cartel, out of Chihuahua, one of the bigger suppliers of catnip, and other drugs." I said. "Known for the strongest catnip outside of the Muerte Cartel in South America, but having a much larger supply, bigger shipments. They seemed to be pulling out of Mexico directly that time, selling off assets to fund the move, likely because we had just hit up the Reynosa Cartel not far away. A few survivors we couldn't get to due to interference, or perhaps bad luck, whichever you prefer to call it." I looked at the emblem for a moment. "They were ready for us. Turrets set up, anti-aircraft, and anti-tank. We were getting hit, hard, but our vehicles were tougher than normal, with the AA flak doing less than it was meant to, while the tanks were meant to take hits like that, though not to many in one area. By the time we started after the train, their trucks were smoldering wrecks. Eventually though… They were shooting us down like flies, or so I thought. They got away with a third of their supply, because…"
"Because, what, major?" Steele asked sternly. The commander held his hand up.
"The US Government uncovered us somehow, without us knowing." I said. "We were a shadow op to end all shadow ops, something that never had any paper trail whatsoever. Cash only, never the same kat twice in one year, always in disguise with different accents and attitudes, and nothing ordered over the phone, five to ten vehicles to and from the base, finishing with a helicopter." I crossed my arms slowly. "That day, we were hit, hard and fast, given one warning, to let it end peacefully. The 'councilors', who never gave their real names, and they were sure to tell us as much, for our protection… Anyone over eighteen was killed on site, bodies taken away, blood cleaned but the ammo left behind, as it had no markings." I sighed quietly. "I got out of my pod, I was the last to be shut down. We could have fought, cost them millions of dollars, and we had the numbers to make it last months if we had to, and we could even have escaped. But the councilors knew they'd still seek us out, so they made conditions. They were up front about the secret nature, anything that was asked for from key members, no clue where they are now, by the way. The conditions were that any child under seventeen gets to go free, if we never go full public with the details." I looked at the commander as he stared, genuine surprise and concern visible. "I was a special condition. Five kats were given full freedom, no oversight, no one watching out for us for any reason, and we were told as much, on the condition that we be allowed to talk about it, if we feel it's absolutely necessary. Camp Flyaway was my home for ten long years, and in that time I became an ace pilot."
"That's why you tore the academy a new one." Steele said. "You already knew everything they could teach you and more." I nodded. "Unreal…"
"I was their pride and joy, the kid that took to the program like a fish to water." I said.
"It's 'duck' to water." He said.
"Yes, but they don't swim like fish." I said. He was silent. "I was such a great pilot for the program, it was decided that they not waste my potential, the good that I could do."
"Why did they start it?" The commander asked.
"We never learned." I said. "We knew of our facility, and not even where we were. Up to the last day I didn't care where we were. All I knew was that there was a city northwest of us and another to the southwest. Other than that, I knew the base inside and out better than the men that built it. I took to the teaching fast, I took to flying fast, and I took to being a leader, fast. It was decided long before I was thirteen that someday I would be a colonel, if not a general, and I would be the head of the facility someday if we weren't found out. Now… Now I am simply a major of the Enforcers. And this is where I make a point that I need to make, one you must hear before you decide what to do with me." I lowered my arms and stood. "When I took the oath of service for the Enforcers, I meant every word, because when I take an oath, when I say the words that make it, I am loyal to those in command until I either retire or die. There was no oath for the camp, but there is my oath, and the officer's oath, that I took, that I swore to uphold, and I swear to you now, commander, that if you need me in the Falcon to protect this city from Dark Kat, if you need me in a car watching for a criminal, if you need me to carry a mop and bucket and clean the floors of this entire building top to bottom, I will not once question you unless I know a way to do the job better." I sat down as they stared, and after a moment, they looked at one another, though Mayor Briggs looked at me after only a moment.
"Leon, why didn't you come to the commander with this on day one?" She asked. "Obviously, this is extremely important, something you shouldn't have hidden from him, or Steele, or Felina."
"It had no bearing on anything." I said. "When I said that my past had nothing to do with the present I meant it, because Camp Flyaway, though not even shut down a year ago, is in the past, and had nothing to do with me being an Enforcer, apart from my skills. I may not have told the entire story, but I did say that I was a good pilot because of camp, that I learned to fight there, and a great many things, and that was the truth."
"Just not the whole thing." Steele said. He suddenly produced a set of cuffs. "And for that, you're going to tell us all about what they…" Commander Feral held his hand in front of the advancing kat.
"Don't even think about it." He said. "He may have kept this from us, even when he should have come forward, but I assume there are reasons. If he knew where the kats that attacked us were hiding, he would have told us, if he thought we'd believe him." He sat down and looked at me. "Right, Leon?"
"Yes sir." I said. "Having said that, the night of the celebration in the retro bar, I met with three individuals, using the skeletons, and one threw me that badge. It was an old keepsake that was shot, to preserve my identity should anyone find the facility. Clearly, someone took it, and made sure it found its way back to me. I'd received calls, and the skeleton I defeated the other day, was there for me. When I said mistaken identity, that was the only lie. They were trying to re-recruit me, to start the camp up again… In fact, the soldiers at the same bar… They were from the camp, likely there just for my sake, to taunt me, or try to get me to admit something."
"The air show…" He said.
"Likely something to draw me out." I said. "To test my abilities yet again, to ensure they had the right kat."
"Why start it again so soon though?" Miss Briggs asked. I shook my head.
"It is possible it never was entirely shut down." I said tiredly. "A few buildings left untouched, many, perhaps, or just a few that were left that had not been spoken of despite the agreement, and there is no way they got all of the ships, there was simply too large of a fleet, in all the seas…"
"During the alien attack, the water pirates, there were ships found that weren't accounted for." He said. "I saw on the news, ships that were seen in the middle of the ocean that had no flags or markings, but no one knew quite what they were, apart from being 'possibly made of agracite based mega-alloys'."
"Theirs." I said. "Camp, sink or swim, I never found the names of the others. I can't unencrypt the files, I can't tell you where the bases are, and I can't, for the life of me, tell you just what kind of demonic fighters they made since my camp was shut down, but what I can tell you, is that they represent the best of the best, better than any military, on all branches reliant on vehicles, air, land, and sea, to be superior to it all."
"So even if Steele got to interrogate you…" The captain started.
"He'd get about the same stuff I just said." I said with a shrug. "My guess, Steele doesn't believe anything I have said after I said I used to be with them, so if I told the truth or a lie, he'd call it a lie, meaning that there is no pleasing him." The commander gave a short laugh as Steele growled. "But my loyalty is to the Enforcers, make no mistake. Call me what you will but if you think I'd betray any of my fellow Enforcers, you need to get your head examined thoroughly."
"Leon…" The commander started as he stood up.
"Before you say anything, Feral, I want you to know one thing." Miss Briggs said. We all looked at her. "Just from hearing how sincere he is, the way he's being so up front with this, I believe him. So if you want to arrest him or court martial him or whatever, he's got a pardon from me, directly, on any counts you can think up." They stared, but the commander walked around his desk and gestured for me to stand, so I did.
"What I was going to say…" He said. "Is that I have a pretty good track record for knowing when I'm being lied to, or when I'm being told a story. Based solely on the fact that the robot in the lab attacked him, I can tell that he no longer has ties to these, whatever they call themselves. Add in the letter that states that he's made his loyalty clear, I'm willing to trust his word."
"Sir!" Steele started.
"And no lip from you, Steele!" He said, turning and pointing. "He's demonstrated more loyalty in the last half hour alone than you ever have." He turned back to me and suddenly put the emblem in my hand. "Seeing as you've already proven both your skill and loyalty, this matter is to remain between us. It doesn't matter what made you the ace pilot you clearly are, and it doesn't matter where you learned it all. What does matter, is that when you pick a side, you stick with it. If this is the old initiative or a revival… We'll see about what needs to be done. Maybe we can make a deal, if they're willing to try, and if not, they steer clear of us, as per their agreement with you." He saluted, and I returned it. When I lowered my arm, the captain walked over.
"Just one thing, uncle." She said as we looked at her. "Do we call him Major Mane, or Lieutenant Colonel Mane?" He smirked.
"Major, in public." He said. "Colonel will be an inside joke." Mayor Briggs nodded. "Steele, if I get word that anyone else has found out about this in my house, I'm going to hold you responsible, and you will be stripped of your rank and put on chopper patrol until you retire." Steele swallowed hard, but nodded as the commander looked at him.
"Leon, one thing I want to know." Miss Briggs said. "The jets they flew, the, silver ones, and the one you flew? How different are they, exactly?" I thought about it.
"The model I flew went by several names." I said. "Designations, really. It was known as the Phantom, because it has no IFF tag, does not show up on any form of scanner, and disappears without a trace. The numerical designation was never chosen but the kids, and I in particular, knew them as the XL series, or 'Xtra Light', because they were so lightweight, obviously."
"Yes, they weigh just shy of six hundred pounds." The commander said thoughtfully.
"The metal was indeed a Mega-Alloy, an entirely new one." I said. "But the jets the others flew… I cannot truly tell you just how much more advanced they are, but, the jets we flew at the time the program was coming to a close, there was a little bit of reverse engineered alien technology from Mutilor's pirates. The engines, in particular. But, they couldn't make more of the metal they used, so the engine, which used to be a special hydrogen power cell, was replaced by an equal sized 'Fusion Core', which was… Basically nuclear, but only when active."
"You knew before I ever told you." The commander said. I just nodded. "Well then, seeing as we've gotten this all figured out, I'll turn off the SCIF and we can get on with our nights. If there's nothing more that was hidden?"
"Just a few personal things from the camp that took place off the clock." I said. "Friends, relationships, that sort of thing."