THE DEFINITION OF PEACE
Chapter 34: First one up to bat: HARD DRIVE!
More than three hours later the call they'd been waiting impatiently for came in. Feral and the SWAT Kats were drinking soda and eating a light snack for lack of anything else to do when the Chief Enforcer's comm unit went off shrilly.
"Feral!"
"Team three here, sir. Have a positive sighting on Hard Drive," the team leader told him. "We're following him to see if he'll lead us to anyone else. What are your order?"
Feral paused and thought a moment, then spoke into his comm, "continue shadowing him. If he leads you to more of the omegas that will be great but if he holes up then we'll take him out."
"Roger...out!" The comm went silent.
"Waiting again!" T-Bone sighed staring out at the evening sky in boredom as he sat with his feet up on a coffee table.
"That's the nature of the game, buddy.......hurry up and wait," Razor sighed, using the waiting time to rest his eyes.
Feral said nothing as he got up from his seat and went to one of the windows near his desk. Choppers were taking off and landing on the flight line below him as night shift went about its business.......life as usual.
Routine was sometimes a soothing thing and Feral looked forward to it being that way mostly all the time when the omegas were out of the picture. He intended to spend a lot of time with his wife to be.
His thoughts were interrupted when his comm signaled again. He pulled it out, "Feral!"
"Sir, Hard Drive has unfortunately, gone to roost. Orders?"
Feral sighed in disgust. "Fine......what's your location?" The team leader gave him an address uptown. "Right! We'll be there in ten......continue your surveillance until we get there." He cut the connection and turned to the SWAT Kats who were already on their feet.
"Okay, let's go. Suggest we go by cyclotron and take him on the ground. Don't want anyone to know you're out and about yet. The night is still young and we still have the others to find," Feral told them as he hurried across the floor, making for the door.
"Good idea but I have one special device that will snuff Hard Drive's power in nano second. I left it in the jet, so I'll grab it on the fly." Razor said, a smirk on his lips as the group raced to the elevators and took it to the flight line one floor below.
"Jump aboard, Feral. We'll have to take the Turbokat to the ground to release the bikes," T-Bone shouted to the Commander as they ran to the jet parked at the end of the flight line. Feral simply agreed by continuing to follow them up to the jet then leaping to the cockpit behind them.
As soon as everyone was secured, T-Bone took the Turbokat upward far enough to clear the flight line then headed to a dark field not far away from headquarters and set down again. They jumped down into the cargo hold and got out their bikes.
Razor had grabbed what looked like a small box before getting on his bike. Feral gave him a curious look but said nothing as he climbed on behind the smaller SWAT Kat then they were rolling down the ramp and off the jet. They paused a moment so that T-Bone could secure the Turbokat then they took off in the direction given by the team leader.
Reaching the area where the team was hiding, the SWAT Kats shut off their bikes and rolled them along as they made for their rendevous. A soft call attracted Feral's sensitive ears and he turned suddenly down an alley with the pair following him. Hidden behind two huge dumpsters, team three stepped out to greet the arrivals.
"Where is he?" Feral asked softly.
"Third floor, second apartment," came the quick response.
"Is he still wearing his trench coat?"
"Last we saw and that was five minutes ago, sir."
"Must mean he's not ready to settle for the night and is on alert," Feral muttered. "You stay here and guard our rear. If he makes a break we want to know where he's heading as fast as possible so we don't lose him."
"Yes sir!" The team leader said briskly in a low tone then he and his team melted back into the shadows.
Feral and the SWAT Kats quickly made their way to the front of the building and went inside. At this hour, there was no one about, fortunately. The foyer was plain with beige walls and white and black tiles on the floor. They skipped the elevator and made for the stairs, which were carpeted, running silently up them as fast as possible.
T-Bone and Razor stayed back and allowed Feral to use his sensitive hearing to listen at the door to see if the coast was clear. After listening intently for some five minutes, Feral opened the stair door silently and peered out, cautiously.
The hall was more of that boring beige color and the carpet was a brown pattern of some kind and worn in some places. Dim lights barely illuminated the hall which was to their favor.
In some of the apartment, a TV could be heard, a kitten crying, and someone yelling at someone else. The noise would make it easier for them to sneak up on their quarry.
He signaled it was safe then crept out first, staying close to the wall and moving silently.
Within seconds, they soon stood before the apartment Hard Drive was supposed to be in. The door was dinged badly and the paint was gouged here and there.
Feral leaned close and listened. He heard footsteps moving back and forth as if the occupant was pacing, which he probably was. He made positive ID when the one inside began cursing to himself. It was Hard Drive alright.
He stepped away from the door and went back down the hall a little ways. The SWAT Kats followed him.
"What's up?" T-Bone asked in a whisper.
"It's him alright. How does your weapon work, Razor?" Feral asked.
"It's a Faraday box. When Hard Drive becomes energy and tries to escape I'm going to hurl this at him. It opens in a nano second then closes around the energy snapping shut just as fast, trapping him inside.
Feral nodded. "So the plan is to scare him into turning to energy and escaping rather than attacking. I can do that but you need to be ready to spring your trap so I suggest as soon as I charge into the room, you slip to the side and try to get as close to him as you can. T-Bone and I will keep his attention on us but you're not going to get more than that nano second you mentioned," he warned.
"I know. I'll be ready!" Razor said grimly, holding the box at the ready.
"How are you going to scare him enough to make him run, Feral?" T-Bone asked, not to keen on getting crispied while he was acting as a distraction.
"You'll see," Feral said mysteriously then stripped off his coveralls and altered.
"Ah...yeah that will do it alright!" T-Bone said, grinning wickedly then all three of them hurried back down the hall.
Feral stood to the left of the door while T-Bone took the right. Razor hid behind Feral and waited his chance as soon as they charged into the room. T-Bone would have to be the one opening the door so he took a stance and slammed a foot into the door, kicking it open violently.
Hard Drive had been only ten feet inside the room and had been facing away when the door hit the wall. He whirled preparing to fire his devastating energy when Feral hurled forward and slammed the techno thief hard enough to send him flying into the far wall.
Razor slipped in and hurried along the wall as Feral galloped forward and roared loudly into Hard Drive's face then ducked to the side to avoid a reflexive shot from the omega. T-Bone was nearly struck by it but luckily, had been to one side when it went off. Instead it made a sizable hole in the wall that let them see out into the hallway.
Terrified, Hard Drive shrieked in terror and instead of trying to engage his energy fully he turned up the strength and turned himself into energy. Just what Razor was waiting for.
He tossed the box which sprang open then snapped shut around the thief before he could vanish through a nearby outlet. The box hit the floor and buzzed and rattle violently but none of the energy escaped the box.
"Bingo!" Razor crowed.
Feral altered back to his normal Kat form and T-Bone, who had stuffed Feral's flight suit in his belt, handed it over so the tom could dress before any of the residents came to investigate the racket, though, he felt fairly certain these apartment dwellers weren't curious enough to stick their noses in what could be trouble.
Pleased at the quick completion of their mission, Feral got on his cell and contacted team three, sending them back to their search mission once more.
"Okay, now that he's captured, I need the place searched for anything incriminating he might have here," he ordered.
"Roger!" The pair said then split up, Razor keeping firm control of the Faraday box.
After thirty minutes, they came up empty.
"Place is clean, not even a toothbrush," T-Bone growled.
"Then this was just a temporary stopping place," Feral said flatly. "Fine, let's go back to headquarters and wait."
Saying nothing more, the three headed back down the stairs. Feral had closed the apartment and would have his CSI check it over more thoroughly but he didn't expect much. Minutes later, they were zooming through non-existent traffic toward Enforcer Headquarters.
On their arrival, the pair stored their cyclotrons and flew the jet back up to the flight line once more.
Feral led them to the elevators and pushed the button for the cell block. "How long before we can get him out of there and question him?"
"Hmm, well it depends on how much energy he had stored and I simply can't answer that. It might be just a few hours or it could be all night," Razor said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Damn, I was hoping to make our search shorter by wringing some answers from that weasel. Now all we can do is wait until the teams scare up something," Feral said in disgust.
Growling to himself, Feral walked off the elevator and to his office followed by the quiet pair. The waiting began again.