It was about a half hour until midnight as the lone figure made her way toward the ruined building. It was just over two weeks since she was here last, and the memory was not pleasant. Sarita landed on a nearby rooftop, overlooking the old factory. She folded her feathered wings and looked down, testing the air. In feline form, her keen ears were pricked forward. A sound overhead made her look up. She could barely make out the black jet in the dark sky. Last night was the new moon, and tonight Seline was just the barest sliver of light, making the night very dark on the outskirts of the massive city. The black raven was even harder to spot as he circled overhead than the jet. The cat looked down again. She thought she saw movement through the hole in the roof of the building.

Ange stood in the center of the building, watching the dark sky. Stephen stood beside her in crinos form. She watched the sky, this time knowing what to expect. As the silhouette of the fighter jet passed by overhead, she grinned darkly.

"Not this time. Stephen..."

The powerful werewolf grinned, his fangs showing beneath the blood red fur of his muzzle. He concentrated on the jet, calling on the gremlin spirits.

T-Bone could see the brightly colored wings fold against the golden jaguar's body as she landed far below. The upcoming battle really worried him. If it wasn't for the fact that his partner was probably down there as well, he would have simply blown the Hell out of the building with missiles. But he couldn't risk it, and Sarita was determined she was going through with the battle. Nothing could have prepared him though for what happened next. The Turbokat's systems began to all shut down, and the engines flamed out!

"What the... no... NO!"

He fought at the controls, doing everything he could to turn the engines back on, but the jet wouldn't respond. It angled down, and fell rapidly toward the streets below.

"Come on, baby! COME ON!"

Nothing worked. The jet's systems refused to respond. It plummeted fast, and he soon knew he had no choice. He had to eject. Thankfully the emergency release still worked, and the canopy flew off. T-Bone ejected from the jet only seconds before it crashed into an empty parking lot a block away from the warehouse. But the ejektor seat's thrusters wouldn't respond either. Fortunately, the parachute at least still worked. He unfastened himself from the seat as soon as he landed, and looked up to see two shapes flying quickly toward him. The winged jaguar and the raven.

The felis-form jaguar landed close by and ran over to him, folding her wings.

What happened?

"I don't know! Everything just shut down!"

He kneeled down and put his arms around the jaguar's neck as she ran up to him. Though the 'spell' Sarita had cast the previous night had worn off a few hours ago, the emotions it created were real. He was starting to fall in love with the werecat, and she with him. Sarita closed her eyes as she leaned her head against his chest. When she saw the jet crash, she was so afraid for him, and was very relieved to find he was unhurt.

It had to have been Stephen! He can cause technological devices to break down. That's a big part of why many of us don't use modern weapons.

"Great. Yet another reason to kill that bastard!"

Sar lifted her head to look up at him. She couldn't see his eyes through the mask, but she knew the tone in his voice. He meant it, but she feared for him. He was not a Killi, and no matter how strong he was, no matter how well he could fight, he still didn't stand much change against Angelida and her pack. But she knew she wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. They were all in too deep now. She turned, and looked back toward the building.

It's almost midnight.

"Right. Let's go."

Sawgrass had landed next to them, and now took wing again, circling overhead as the pair walked toward the ruined factory. As they were about to cross the factory's parking lot, Sarita suddenly stopped. She winced, and her rainbow-colored wings began to darken and shrivel. They dropped off, turning to dust on the ground. T-Bone looked concerned.

"What happened?"

I'm fine. The wings are not permanent. The Gift wears off after about a half hour or so.

He just nodded. Nothing much about her seemed to surprise him anymore. They crossed the parking lot quickly, not wanting to be in the open. Sarita's eyes began to take on a faint reddish glow in the darkness. The door of the factory was still kicked in, and obviously hadn't been trapped in any way that they could notice. T-Bone had his glovatrix ready and Sarita shifted up to her powerful chatro form, standing nearly five feet at the shoulder and her long saber-like fangs ready to tear into any opponents she came across. The two cautiously entered the building, looking around in the darkness. They couldn't see anyone. Sarita roared out, the sound echoing through the open space of the factory.

Above, Sawgrass perched at the edge of the large hole in the roof. The raven's sharp eyes looked down below as he scanned for any threats to his companions. However, he never noticed the dark shape moving stealthily toward him, until it was too late.

Sarita and T-Bone both looked up sharply at the raven's loud scream. The Hellcat roared out in her feline language.

"SAWGRASS?"

Silence. All she could hear for the next several seconds was the pounding of her own heart. An eerie sound, like the laughing-like call of a hyena, then broke the silence. The jaguar pinned her ears and snarled viciously at the spotted lupine as he stood on the edge of the roof, looking down at them through the hole. The dim light cast a green glow to his eyes, and in his jaws, was the lifeless body of the raven! T-Bone couldn't believe it. His blood boiled in anger. He may not have liked the Corax, but the young bird was still a useful ally, and a friend of Sarita and Nakela. He yelled out into the darkness.

"ANGELIDA! Get out here and face us, blood-sucker!"

A dark feminine voice echoed from the shadows ahead of them.

"Gladly..."

They watched as numerous sets of eyes began to appear in the shadows. A massive black shape stepped out of the darkness, followed by many somewhat smaller ones. Darian was in his chatro form, just slightly larger than Sarita. Behind him were more than three dozen of the mutated rats. He stood with his head down, a wicked grin on his muzzle. The giant skinless rats charged, and T-Bone aimed his glovatrix, waiting for them to get just a little closer...

Before he could fire, Sarita opened her jaws wide and gave a deafening roar. It created a powerful shock wave that hit the rats, sending most of them flying backward several feet, and stunning the ones that were in front of the pack. Before the rats could recover, a massive shape lept out of the darkness behind them. Nakela shifted instantly up to her large Archid form, slashing her powerful claws at the creatures, tearing thee of them apart in a single slash. Sarita then charged Darian as T-Bone also went for the rats.

The panther ran several yards away from the pack of rats, and more specifically, the dragon. It was the other Bastet that was to be his opponent. As Sarita approached, he grinned, and laughed. Sar slowed down, and stopped her charge about two yards from the black-furred werecat, snarling viciously, her short tail lashing and ears pinned. The two powerful beats began to circle each other, and Darian taunted her in their own language of Kheuar.

"Are you really playing a puss-in-boots to that 'kat'?"

She snarled viciously.

"Che... You're a fine one to talk, lap-cat!"

"HA! Better to be a 'lap-cat' to one of the most powerful creatures on this world, than to be a stray to be put down! Besides, it does have it's advantages..."

"Well, I think it's time that both you and your master got declawed!"

She lunged, her jaws wide, and the panther dodged aside, her long fangs barely missing tearing into his hide. He spun, and slashed at her with his sharp claws. They both for-went the use of any Gifts. They were evenly matched as far as size, strength, and speed. This fight would be a primal battle as it was meant to be between the two powerful cats.

Nakela swung her powerful tail, the bony spikes tearing into one of the rats as three others were sent flying from the impact. One rat lunged at T-Bone and he managed to catch it mid air, hitting it hard with his fist and sending the horrid creature flying several feet. They were large, but thankfully they weren't that strong. He had already managed to take out three of them in the very short time, but the real shock came when something hit him hard from behind, knocking him to the ground. He rolled over onto his back, his glovatrix aimed and about to fire at the enemy, but he froze in shock.

"Razor?"

The smaller SWAT Kat stood over his friend, a dark smile on his face.

"You made a big mistake, T-Bone. You think they actually 'captured' me? No! I chose this!"

The tabby slowly got to his feet, stunned at his friend's strange behavior.

"Razor... what the heck are you talking about? These creatures are evil!"

He shrugged.

"That's a matter of perspective. And personally, I'm sick of always having to put my neck on the line for this damned city, who really couldn't care less about us! I'm through with it!"

"No! This isn't you! Come on, buddy... Us becoming the SWAT Kats was your idea!"

"And a stupid one! I've finally decided where I really stand."

"NO! Razor, snap out of it! It's that damned vampire! You've got to break her control on you!"

"Control? Ha! No, Ange has shown me what I've denied myself to realize over these past years. And personally, I like the abilities she gave me!"

The smaller kat then jumped up with incredible speed, twisting in mid-air and kicking T-Bone in the chest, hard. The tabby was thrown back several feet, landing hard on his back. Before he could get up, Razor had closed the distance, and kicked him in the ribs, flipping him over from the strength of the impact. T-Bone yelled out in pain as the ginger kat then stomped hard on his back.

"I'm faster, and stronger than before. Stronger even than you, T-Bone!"

He kicked him again, in the face. T-Bone fought back the pain, both physically and emotionally. He slowly got up to his hands and knees, spitting out a small bit of blood from his split lip.

"Razor... you traitor..."