Stepping over vines and foliage, watching their footing, the SWAT Kats advanced through the newly-sprung rain forest that used to be a large portion of Downtown MegaKat City. Greenery as far as they eye could see was lost in a sea of thick, purple smog; a deadly mixture that had been unleashed upon a violent explosion. It would not dissipate or fade- it simply hung there, denying even the sunlight above access. They could see nothing but the chemical smoke before them.
"Fuck," T-Bone said as he cleared yet another branch out of his way, "Can't see an inch in front of me with all this crap! And I don't even wanna know what that was earlier…"
Razor shook his head and said, "Well we'd better get moving if we don't want to find out. Too bad we can't drive through here- it's not exactly safe to do so. And our jets would blow this whole mixture to hell, as well as half of the city. We gotta hoof it."
Lioness was simply checking for threats, not bothering to respond to anything they were saying. Talking was not in the cards right now for her. Right now she was wishing for some kind of light as well, but it didn't matter- they would get to where they needed to go, sooner or later.
But of course, all of this was silenced when she heard something from the alley to her right. "Check right, check right!"
They turned their Glovetrixes towards the source of noise, and for a while they heard only a slight rumble. Then, something… or rather, someone came leaping out at them. Two of the three vigilantes were able to move out of the way, but T-Bone decided to forego evasion altogether. Mid-air was not a good place to be for someone, seeing as they could easily catch a punch to the face.
With explosive force, the big tom set out to break the mutated kat's face. Better a broken face than a loss of life, truthfully. The kat flew backwards as if a car had exploded a few inches away from him, but managed to roll back on his right shoulder. With a snarl, it extended claws that were most certainly poisonous.
"You want some, ugly?!" T-Bone asked with a savage grin behind the nose cup of his mask. "Come and get it!"
Suddenly, they heard more growls and snarls around them.
"Why the hell did you have to go and say that, T-Bone?" Razor asked with a groan as his radar pinged multiple hostile targets closing in on their position. "This was going so well, too."
Lioness however, simply smiled and said, "I don't mind. If this is what you guys get into every time you go out, then I'm glad I signed up for the job! Let's kick some ass!"
As if that were some kind of signal, five other identical kats… well not exactly identical, but they certainly were just as ugly, came stomping out of the mists towards the SWAT Kats. But of course, they weren't exactly unprepared for it- they assumed fighting positions and opened fire with their Glovetrixes. Within seconds, .68 caliber, less-lethal grenades flew forward, ramming into their targets.
The little things packed a punch though, especially this close. And while they were staggering backwards, the SWAT Kats moved into action.
Things were about to get very ugly, very quickly.
Kanto the Slayer presents
A SWAT Kats Fanfiction
SWAT Kats: Endgame
T-Bone was currently in a wrestling match with an oversized toadie of a kat, holding him… or rather, it… in a guillotine choke with his right arm while he delivered one knee strike after another. He'd see how this crazed beastie have its insides turned to mush.
"You guys doin' all right over there?" he asked into his radio before ramming his opponent's head into a nearby wall.
Razor responded, sounding a bit haggard, "Not really, but we'll manage!" He was currently striking into three kat-monsters that managed to surround him. Fists and feet went flying, ramming into anyone he could. All the while, he dodged and turned, evading claw swipes and tackle attempts. He managed to shove one kat into another before he was finally beset upon by the third…
And then, with what sounded more like a roar than anything else, Lioness came in with a flying side kick, knocking the airborne mutant out of the air and into the two that were trying to recover. They ended up in a neat pile, down for the count.
Razor looked towards her for a moment, smiling as he did so. "Damn, not bad!"
Suddenly, they saw another kat flying towards them from the alley, and their eyes widened as they ducked underneath. Behind them, they heard the sound of the other two kats getting slammed into by the living projectile- well, half alive anyway- and looked towards T-Bone as he dusted his hands off.
"Make out later," he joked, "We got a mad scientist to beat the shit out of."
But then, they heard more howls. Their eyes widened as they looked around, entirely stupefied. How the hell had so many snuck up on them? Razor checked his radar and said, "Holy shit, they're everywhere! I can't count 'em all… but we got a few of 'em coming our way, and fast!"
T-Bone aimed his Glovetrix towards the nearby skyscraper and said, "Then let's get above this crap, now!"
The others followed suit, and three grappling cables fired upwards, latching into the side of the building. They reeled themselves upwards just before three mutated kats leapt out at them from the mists, one of them almost snagging Lioness's right boot. Unfortunately, they began climbing up after them when they were finished hauling themselves upward.
"Aww, fuck. Scale the building, now! Go, go, go!" Lioness shouted as she began to do just that, expertly hopping upwards from one window to another. T-Bone and Razor followed suit as they scrambled up the building, hoping to lose their pursuers. Vines trailed upwards for miles, and the mutants used those for passage… which made them faster.
"Damn, not working," T-Bone said as he fired yet another grenade downwards. It impacted cleanly in a kat-beastie's face, forcing it to fall back down again. With how high up they were, it was not going to be pretty when the ground floor was reached. "Got any other ideas before we're lunch?"
Lioness gritted her teeth and said, "We've gotta get above this cloud! That's the only way! We'll take the roofs to reach the labs from now on!"
It was a crazy plan, but it would more than likely work. Or rather, it would work if they weren't dead before they got up there. Speaking of almost being dead, Razor suddenly had one of them on his right leg. "Crap, they're attempting to climb on US!" The slim SWAT Kat fired his Glovetrix yet again, and a less-lethal grenade hit the mutated freak-kat square in the face. Down it went, up they went.
The smog cloud began to break at around thirty stories. "Almost there…"
And then, the worst case scenario happened. One of them leapt upwards, right out of the cloud. How high had it had to jump for that? Was someone actually smart enough to toss it? No matter, it was coming, and as all three SWAT Kats aimed and tried to fire, they heard clicks.
"Oh, hell," T-Bone groaned.
Razor did something crazy just then… he launched himself at an upwards angle from the wall, turned in mid-air, and executed a flying back kick. It meant that he had to turn a full 360 degrees, but it also meant that he had more stopping power with the kick. And stop the creature it did, making it fly right back down to earth again. The bad news was that once the kick was completed, Razor was just about in free fall.
"No, Razor!" T-Bone shouted with sheer dread behind his voice.
It was then that the Lioness's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't fucking think so."
She fired her grappling line with an almost foolhardy confidence, but really it was a desperate effort. She had to do something, anything. The thought of losing him… it felt like someone had twisted something inside her to the point of breaking. The line extended to its maximum reach… and then went taut. She reeled the line back in, and sure enough…
"Well look what I caught! And I didn't even need bait," she said in a half-haughty, half-relieved voice.
Razor was hanging on with his left hand, the right aimed towards the same spot that he had leapt from. He grinned towards Lioness and said, "I was hoping you'd catch on," once he finally got back onto the wall. "I don't do crazy shit without a plan behind it, and I was counting on you to pull me back in."
T-Bone's eyes widened as he gaped at his slim partner. "You mean you planned that shit on the fly?"
Razor shrugged and said, "Well, the first part. I didn't know if anyone would go for the second one."
Lioness suddenly felt the urge to make out with him, combined with the fierce desire to break every bone in his body. He had saved their lives, without thinking about what would happen after or who gave a damn. And it was the most reckless, hotshot, impulsive thing she had ever seen.
'My God, what a tom,' she mused to herself. 'I don't know if I want to kiss him or kill him; or both!'
When one was so ambiguous about their feelings, it meant something important. But there was no time to think about it now. "Let's get the hell out of here, before more of those ugly bastards show up!"
The others agreed and finally broke the cloud cover five minutes later. Hauling themselves up atop the roof, they saw open sky for the first time since… well, since they had started all this. For a moment, they took a rest from all their efforts, basking in the sunlight as they took their masks off and the parts of the suit that covered their heads. "Hoo, boy… that was some seriously fucked up shit," T-Bone said as he lay out on the rooftop. "We need to get this done ASAP. Let's take a break though, huh? We deserve that much after all that."
They heard the growls increasing in volume and wearily stood up again. "Come on guys," Razor said, "We ain't your best friends here!"
One of them broke the surface of the clouds, one arm first, then the other… and finally, when the head surfaced, the mutated kat's eyes widened in shock. It gasped for air like a fish out of water, and as one hand held on to its neck, the other scrambled for any sort of purchase. It found none.
Screaming in a guttural tone, it fell from its position. They were all lucky they couldn't hear the noise when that damn thing fell. "Lioness, you're a goddamn mad genius. These things can't breathe normal air anymore!" Razor said ecstatically. "How did you know?"
She was lucky that no one could see her blush. "You wanna know the truth? I didn't."
T-Bone and Razor looked at each other for a brief moment before they said in tandem, "A fuckin' mad genius." The big tom turned towards her and said, "That right there is thinking like a SWAT Kat."
Within the MegaKat Biochemical Labs, or rather, what used to be the labs, Dr. Viper heard the roars and howls. He laughed madly and said, "Ssseems like those SWAT Katsss have finally arrived. Shame that they won't see this city turned into my own personal playground. I think it'sss time to solidify my victory. I must admit, those explosivesss came in handy," he said as he began using his personal growth formula, this time combined with a dose of Katalyst Zero, to transform the plant life into his special breed of plant beasts.
They were, unfortunately, stronger, faster, even more resilient to weed killer, and most of all, resistant to Enforcer gun fire.
'Not like they would come into thisss area anyway- it's a bomb waiting to happen,' he thought maliciously. With all of the cards in play and a few pawns in position, he began making his exit. If there were reinforcements placed here, no one would suspect that he was elsewhere. And with the mutated kats in the area, it would take a while to completely infiltrate the building.
"Thisss is the point where I make my exit, and begin plansss for my swamp city. And this time, there will be nothing standing in my way!"
With a mad cackle, he made his way out of the general vicinity, opening a manhole that was still hidden beneath the mists. Soon, the plantimals began to patrol the area, those with wings taking to the skies. Sooner or later, they would find someone to snack on… and with any luck, the mists would start spreading again, aided by a good wind. By the time the second part of his plan was executed, the first part will have gotten entirely too big for anyone to handle.
Too big even for the SWAT Kats.
They were on the move again.
Leaping from one roof to the next wasn't a problem for them- they'd learned to handle just about anything. Still, it would be a while before they reached MegaKat Biochemical. If they could keep it up however, they would more than likely make good time. For the moment, they were having a hell of a time, launching from one building to another with almost effortless ease.
"So is this how you get around, then? A damn fine way to get moving," Razor said as he flipped from one roof to another, landing on the balls of his feet before taking off. T-Bone was having no trouble either, but his opinion still stood. "I'd rather take the sky, but there's that thing about everything being blown to hell if we did that."
After launching from one particular roof to another, grabbing the adjacent edge with their hands and their feet resting against the wall below, they kicked off of said wall and made their way up. Lioness however, managed to get one foot onto the roof and grip along the wall with the other, requiring less time to recover.
'She's been doing this for a while,' Razor thought to himself as he took note.
T-Bone suddenly skidded to a halt as he looked up and saw a horrifyingly familiar sight. "Awww, damn it all. We got a squadron of sap spitters headed our way, and they look hungry! You got any plans, Razor?"
The wiry SWAT Kat grimaced and said, "Just one… move your asses!"
And they did, just in time. Acid bolts rained down on them, melting through roofs. As they made their escape, they put their hoods and masks back on. Inhaling the fumes from that stuff wouldn't exactly be a good idea. Ahead, they saw what they were looking for- MegaKat Biochemical. But it was so far away… unfortunately, they didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
"We gotta keep moving! Head for some cover and regroup!" T-Bone didn't have to ask twice, and as they leapt down from the roof they were on, they smashed right through the windows of the adjacent building. Of course, they were followed in, but at least the plantimals had less room to maneuver. And that gave the big tom an idea…
He latched his grappling wire onto one of them, and it screeched in surprise and slight pain as the hook sunk in. After pulling himself up, he clamored on and tried to take control. "Damn you, listen to me for just one second!" He punched again, and though it didn't do much but stun the beastie, it gave him a momentary amount of control.
T-Bone's powerful thighs began to squeeze, as if he were trying to break the damn thing's ribs. That was, if it had any ribs in there. Sure enough, it panicked and sprayed acid in the direction it was pointed in. The acid sprayed onto the other plantimals before it… and ate right through. Regardless of what else they managed to shrug off, something that could eat through a tank was not one of them.
"Hell yeah! I got his slimy ass!"
Razor placed a hand on his chin and said, "Yeah… you did. And I think we've got ourselves a ride!"
Soon, they were back outside again, and this time they were ready for the rest of them. Lioness and Razor each got themselves a creature to ride on, and wrapped their grappling lines around their confiscated mounts. With that, they were back in the air. Unfortunately, they had seven more to take on. Though their opponents were two short, they still had numerical advantage. Still, it was good enough that they could fight back. Soon, they were mixing it up with their foes again.
"This is a weird-ass dogfight," Lioness said as she trained her ride on two that were trailing T-Bone, "But I ain't complaining any!" With that, she squeezed her thighs together, and the beastie she was riding opened fire. The acid hit those dead on, and they spiraled downward in a haze of acidic smoke. The two plantimals disintegrated before they hit the ground.
Razor managed to get two more to spit acid at each other as he banked out of the way. "Bingo! It's even odds, kats!"
T-Bone grimaced and said, "I prefer zero odds. Let's finish 'em!"
They turned to face the three that were coming up on their six, preparing to open fire. "Steady," T-Bone said in a rather calm voice, despite the situation, "We just have to be faster than they are, that's all. Keep it steady…"
They were within firing range. Their foes opened their mouths to spit, and that's when it happened. "Fire, now!!"
They fired, and the acid went right into their guts. The SWAT Kats went right over the plantimals before they outright exploded, bits flying everywhere. "That takes care of that… now all we have to do is make our way over to MegaKat Labs and nab us a snakehead!"
Lioness nodded and said in her throaty purr of a voice, "Roger that, but how the hell are we going to take care of that mess down there? No one's going to be able to get through that gunk unless we stop this right now."
Razor grinned behind his nose cup and said, "We won't have to. Doc Conway should have something cooked up by now to clear the air. I'm gonna give him a buzz- see if it's ready yet. Don't worry- he's good for it."
The slim SWAT Kat switched his frequency. "This is Razor to Enforcer HQ, target building is in sight and we are en route. What's the status of the cleanup crew?"
Dr. Conway responded instead- it seemed that Commander Feral was elsewhere. Hopefully he was getting a few teams ready to man the specially-equipped helicopters. "Situation is green, Razor. The special filters are equipped on the helos and ready for deployment. Commander Feral will be in the air in five minutes tops, but with him I would expect a shorter time than usual. He certainly is quick to jump on things."
Razor smirked and said, "That's what worries me most of the time, but right now it's a good thing. We're also going to need an airstrike at the following coordinates with the special bombs I mentioned. You got 'em set?"
Dr. Conway scratched the back of his head and said, "We have them prepped. Three F-16s are ready for launch on your go, but… are you positive this will work? Everything that sprung up just a few minutes ago could be immune to liquid nitrogen due to the various chemical compounds. This might do more harm than good."
Razor grimaced and said, "I know. But I can't think of a better plan. We burn it, and the inferno will most likely cover more than twenty miles- this is our only shot. Have the pilots on standby- we're going to need all the support we can get here!"
Dr. Conway nodded and said, "All right. I'm certain that Commander Feral won't be happy to hear that you're assuming control like this, but he doesn't have much choice in the matter. I'll have them ready when you give the word."
T-Bone raised an eyebrow and said, "Buddy, did you plan this out before we left or something?"
Razor nodded as he switched frequencies again. "Yeah, I did. It worked once- it'll most likely work again. Precedents are a good thing to follow sometimes."
Soon, they arrived above their destination, sooner than expected. Pulling their mounts low enough so that they could land on the roof without injuring themselves, they leapt of, retrieved their grappling lines, and scrambled for the nearest building entrance before their rides decided to double back and start spitting acid again.
The nearest entrance happened to be the stairwell, and T-Bone kicked in the door with enough force to send it flying off of its hinges. They made their way downstairs, back into the mists, hoping for something, anything…
But as they made their way further in, he had a bad feeling- a sort of doubt. It was too easy… even with the limited resistance that had been encountered in the stairwell leading down towards the top floor, it was entirely too simple to penetrate the building. If the good doctor really were here…
'If he really were here, he'd have the damn thing locked up like his own personal Fort Knox.'
"Hold position," T-Bone said as he raised his right fist. The others stopped and looked towards him. "Situation's changed. We have to move out, now."
Razor raised an eyebrow, but Lioness nodded. "Can I guess? You don't think he's here anymore, do you."
The big tom nodded. "It'd be a hell of a lot more difficult if he were. Razor, call in the Turbo Kat for extraction. I hear the Enforcer choppers coming in now. Hopefully with a few passes, this idea of yours will work. Report back to the hangar- I don't want to be here when he finds out we missed our boat."
Within minutes, the TurboKat was on the scene, prepared for immediate takeoff. By that time, the helos were already making their runs, the filters equipped on the sides and bottoms of the aircraft sucking in the toxins and converting them into something breathable.
The kats below, mutated and deformed, gasped for air. They were pretty much drowning without the environment they were "born" in and slowly but surely they were dying. Unfortunately, it couldn't be helped… but there was one thing that could.
"Doc, we're clear of the combat zone," Razor said as he looked down at what used to be MegaKat Biochemical. "As soon as the choppers are done, the F-16s are a green light for the strike. Coordinates should be set into the fire control computers by now. Target is, unfortunately, MegaKat Biochemical Labs."
Dr. Conway nodded and said, "I understand. This whole mess started there, and it might as well end there. I'll request the strike as soon as they're finished. Hopefully, the blast radius of the nitrogen will take the entire rainforest network out- otherwise we'll still have cleaning up to do."
Razor grinned and said, "Don't worry about that- two bombs should do the trick nicely. Thanks for your help, Dr. Conway. Razor out."
Lioness was in the cockpit as well, and she had Razor sitting in her lap. "So then, when should we tell Feral that Dr. Viper duped us?"
T-Bone grimaced and said, "When we're good and ready to, Lioness. For now, we regroup."
With that, and a lowering of the TurboKat's grappling line, Lioness was escorted to the StealthKat and the SWAT Kats took off again, headed for the scrap yard to discuss their next options. Either way, the talk with Feral would not be good…
"I want you to explain to me why the hell," Feral asked in his usual fury, "Dr. Viper is not in that holding cell I have created specifically for him! Well? Answer me!!"
T-Bone was on the other line, and he sounded no happier than the Commander. "I told you, he got away. We didn't let him get away- he got away. Viper planned this out step-by-step. Everything he placed in front of us, including that cloud of toxic chemicals, was designed as a distraction. In short, he outmaneuvered both of us. So don't go blaming this shit on the SWAT Kats, like you usually do!"
Feral sighed haggardly. Yes, this was not the time to throw blame around. Losing Felina had… changed him, if only in a slight way. Besides, they'd saved his ass more than once and Felina's as well. "You're right. I'm… I'm sorry."
T-Bone raised an eyebrow. Was Commander Feral still rattled from the ass-kicking that he gave him a while back? Because it sounded like he just apologized for an obvious and misplaced burst of anger. He shook his head, pretending that he didn't hear, and said, "Well now we need to find his scaly ass, and soon. He might have another batch of this stuff, and more explosives. Hell, he might be making chembombs as we sit here and chat."
Feral nodded on the other line. "We'll search every square inch of MegaKat City if we have to. Of course, I'm expecting your full cooperation on this."
T-Bone nodded and said, "That sure as hell is affirmative, Feral. We'll have all scanners up and running within half a minute."
Not surprisingly, Feral replied with, "All right. As soon as you find him, contact me. I'll send in any available units to move in and-"
"That," Razor cut in, "Is a huge negative, Commander. The more guys you send out, the more he'll suspect the game's up. You still need a small, covert team to penetrate into wherever the hell he's at and get the information out of him. Soon as we get Viper out though, we'll give you the coordinates of his base of operations. From there, you should find enough evidence to hold Viper in that reinforced cell of yours for a while."
Feral growled, both at the fact that he was interrupted… and the fact that the SWAT Kat was right. It was starting to become increasingly irritating that they were right most of the time. "…Fair enough," he agreed grudgingly. "I'll leave it to you, then. Besides, it gives the Enforcers an opportunity to actually capture one of these maniacs without them getting away. Get it done."
The transmission ended, and T-Bone turned towards the other two SWAT Kats in the roster. "Not much R&R for us, kats. Fuel up and let's move. He's out there somewhere, and we're gonna have to go get him before things get worse than they already are."
Lioness smirked and said, "What could be worse than a good portion of MegaKat City being turned into a temporary winter wonderland?"
Razor joked around as well, saying, "Or Feral when he has to clean up all that mess afterwards? Bet he's having a field day right now. By the way, you got any idea where Dr. Viper might be, so we can nail him and get back to our day? Seriously, this thing with the Commander actually asking for our help… it's starting to freak me out."
T-Bone grinned and said, "Roger that. But as far as I can tell, there are only two places he could be. Either the Chemical Factory, where he'd be most likely to strike next, or MegaKat Swamp, which is one of the few places I'd hang out if I were him. Fortunately for us, we can be in two places at once."
He pointed towards Razor and Lioness. "You two check the swamp. There's a lot of ground to cover, and it'll be better if there's more people searching the place. And remember to suit up; the smell of that place is fucking ridiculous, and there could be more than just methane in the air."
They could work with that plan. Lioness smirked and said, "Guess that leaves the rather unglamorous job of searching the Chemical Factory to you, then."
T-Bone scrunched up his nose and said, "Ha, ha. At least I won't be eating swamp fumes most of the time. Whoever finds Dr. Viper first will radio the others and rendezvous at his location. Understood?"
Razor and Lioness looked at each other for a brief moment before they saluted. When someone had a plan and a good one… well, others just happened to follow him. "We got it!" they said in tandem.
T-Bone nodded, thinking nothing of the gesture. That was all it was, after all. "Then get moving. Take a Cyclotron- the jet would be too obvious. Remember, radio in when you've got a bead on him. Move out, SWAT Kats!"
With that, they all scrambled to their respective vehicles, with T-Bone taking the Thunder Truck this time. Before he left the hangar, a two-seater Cyclotron roared out, boosters flaring before Razor gunned the engines. With that, the SWAT Kats split up, as they tended to do when needing to cover more ground.
With any luck, they would reach Dr. Viper before he got whatever he was cooking ready for deployment. If not… there really would be one oversized swamp for him to muck around in, filled with mutated kats. That was not a pretty thought, and it stood out in all their minds as they went out to search for their common foe.
Chapter 21: Welcome to the Jungle (Part 2) - Vanish like a Ninja
It occurs to me that I keep on making up these awesome titles for chapters. Why is that exactly? What compels me to do such things; to create sheer awesomeness off of the top of my head? I don't know, but whatever it is I hope I don't lose it.
Let's go straight to the meat and potatoes here, fans. It's once again time for Reviewer Appreciation. And yes, I'm capitalizing that from now on- it's a special section of the author's notes. It deserves a bit of a headline.
First off, we have Purple kat. Welcome back! Glad to see you again after such a long time. I'm glad that Dr. Viper is your favorite, but it's a shame that he'll be axed near the end of this one… still, once again, I'm going to off him in a more indirect manner. RaidenSilversword, thanks for commenting. I do so enjoy your amusing and informative reviews. Yes, Felina is fitting in quite well, as this chapter has hopefully portrayed. One can only wonder what she'll be up to next. Last, but not least, we have GeekGirl2! Oh yeah, bruised egos all around here, especially in this chapter. You'll want to take a closer look at the fic from now on, as Feral and the SWAT Kats will be working together on at least one more occasion.
And that's the news, sports and weather. We now return you to your regular, boring day. Well, at least until the next chapter arrives. And trust me; it won't be long before I drop the bomb again!
Hasta la vista, see ya when I see ya.