Chapter 5

The sun filtered through the garage's window and pleasantly warmed the couch. Jake sat in the warm rectangle, enjoying the warmth on his aching shoulder. He stared at the TV with boredom and contempt. Chance had left one of his old Scaredy Kat cartoons on before he'd left to attended his wife's fundraiser event. Jake didn't hate the cartoon, but the month long marathon was driving him crazy. Not only that, but he'd had to shoo Cathy back to work several times. Like her father, Cathy seemed just as obsessed with the old show.

Things had been going relatively fine that morning, besides the pain of course. Tom had made some scrambled eggs with onion, green chilis, and garlic salt. Jake had been wary of the dish at first, but found it to be quite tasty. However, the pleasant morning was laid to rest when Chance and his daughter arrived for work.

Cathy, not knowing the mechanic trade, was having great difficulties learning the ropes. She hadn't been much help repairing any of the old junkers that had been brought in, nor could she help unload a shipment of sliding doors from HQ. She'd made the attempt, but the weight of the doors had caused her prosthetic's straps to painfully dig into her arm. Cathy had been forced to stand aside and mope as Chance and Tom worked. Jake worried about her. Cathy's new-found brightness had dimmed considerably after discovering her prosthetics limitations.

He settled back into the lumpy couch and closed his eyes, only to jolt up as the side door slammed open. Pain sparked through his shoulder as Cathy pounced next to him.

Tears were welling up in her eyes, "Uncle Jake, please tell me you can fix this!" She held out her prosthetic hand, earnestly. The pointer and middle finger were bent and popped out of their sockets.

"How did you do this?" Jake groggily mumbled, examining the joints.

Cathy bit her lip and glanced away, "I… I was using it to pull off the rubber from those doors."

Jake sighed and sat up. He'd hoped that Cathy would have been able to prep those doors for recycling without much trouble. Apparently, he was wrong, "You're supposed to use pliers, Cat."

"I know…" She said, looking dejectedly at the floor, "I just- I wanted to do something cool."

Jake shook his head and stood up. He had to take a second to stabilize himself as the painkillers were clouding his head and messing with his balance. He stretched out his hand and took Cathy's prosthetic, "Don't worry, I can fix it. I just need to hop down to the hanger real quick."

"Hanger?"

Walking to the back, Jake didn't register Cathy following behind him. He yawned and covered his mouth; his shoulder had kept him from sleeping much that night. His lack of sleep and the painkillers had made the day go by in a hazy fog, which hadn't helped the struggling Cathy. Reaching the bunk room, Jake turned to a standing lamp and flicked a hidden button. The bunk beds shook and rumbled as they slid away to reveal a hatch that lead to the hanger's lift.

"Whaaaaat?"

Jake, not fully recognizing the situation, hopped down the hatch and cringed as more pain shot through his shoulder. It wasn't until he'd pressed the down button, and heared Cathy land behind him, did Jake realize what he'd done. His tail shot between his legs and the fur on his back began to bristle.

"What is this place, Uncle Jake?" Cathy asked, looking around the lift.

"Oh, cheese and crackers," Jake said, under his breath. He quickly tried to come up with a lie, "It's, well, you know… our basement."

The two of them stood in awkward silence until the lift shuddered to a stop. Jake pursed his lips. Those elevator doors were about to pull back the curtain on their secret life.

The lift doors slid open to reveal one of the most beautiful sights Cathy had ever seen. A black fighter jet, with blue and red paint, stood before her as flood lights clacked on from the ceiling.

"Cathy, I know what you're thinking…" Jake placed himself between Cathy and the hanger.

Cathy smirked at her uncle, "You guys built a replica of the SWAT Kat's jet?"

Jake blinked at her with disbelief, "Uh…"

"Jessie and I painted a model one time, but I should have known you and Dad would go a huge step beyond." Cathy walked into the hanger, slipping by the astounded Jake, "Did you guys build this place?!"

"Your dad and I found this bunker underneath the scrapyard," Jake managed to say. He'd decided to roll with it since Cathy had practically handed him such any easy out.

"But, why is it here?" Cathy asked, placing her hand on the jet. It was spotless and sparkled in the overhead lights.

Jake shrugged, "It was probably built during Mega War 3. It must have been abandoned due to cost of upkeep."

"Yeah, most bunkers like this were abandoned after the invention of Orbital Cannons." Cathy raised a brow at him, "So, how do you afford to take care of this place?"

Jake smirked at her, "I don't exactly live in a fancy house. Your dad would be stuck here too if he hadn't married a prominent Enforcer. Plus, I also have a metric ton of scrap to keep this place running."

"What is that?" Cathy asked, pointing at the sim-pod in the corner.

"It's a pilot simulation pod," Jake said, "You know your dad used to be a pilot, right?"

Cathy grinned and nodded her head, "Flying is in our blood!"

"I'm going to go grab some tools and fix this hand," Jake said, relaxing. One day they'd tell Cathy what this place really was, but he'd need to talk to Chance about it. He slipped down a hallway, leaving his niece to admire the hanger.

Cathy stared at the simpod as Jake repaired her prosthetic. Her heart began to race as a thought took root in her mind. This… this was her chance to fly again! Well, at least feel like she was. She wanted to hop right in, but she'd need her prosthetic first. Cathy turned to the rest of the expansive hanger. The place was like a large, chrome cavern that reminded her of the Enforcers' hangers. Directly across from the simpod, on the left of the hanger's lift, was a foam mat with weights, a punching bag, and gymnastic equipment. She walked over to examine them and found them to be well used. This stuff would replace the Enforcer gym nicely.

"Got it fixed," Jake said, sideling back into the main hanger.

Trailing behind Jake was Tom. The burly grey kat looked her over and sighed. He'd been disgruntled the entire day, but his sour expression seemed to get tarter.

"Thanks, Uncle Jake," Cathy said, slipping her robo-hand back onto her nub. She glanced at Tom and smirked, "What's the matter, Tumbleweed, mad I snuck into your boys only clubhouse?"

Tom shook his head and wandered over to the weights. He snatched up the largest set of dumbbells and started cranking away.

"Chance and I have told him not to tell anybody about this place," Jake clarified, "You weren't meant to find it, not yet anyway. We need you to promise that you won't tell anybody about the hanger, Cathy."

Cathy, after resyncing her prosthetic, performed a zipping gesture over her mouth, "Secrets safe with me, Uncle Jake." She quickly looked to the simpod, then back to Jake. She hoped her uncle would get what she was thinking.

Jake glanced at the sim-pod, then at Tom, "Hey, Tom!"

Tom looked up.

"Looks like you'll get some sim time after all. Think you can fill in the gunner position?"

The fluffy kat's face lit up at Jake's question, as if his parents had just told him they were going to a theme park for his birthday. "Well, boss, if that's okay with you!"

With Jake's confirmation, Tom hopped up and dashed over to the control panels beside the sim-pod. The pod hummed to life as he tapped away at the console. Pneumatic systems shifted in response.

"Saddle up, city slicker!"

"All right, Tumbleweed!" Cathy darted to the opening cockpit and leapt into the pilot seat.

Pressing some buttons, the cockpit's canopy slid over her, leaving Cathy in complete darkness. Despite not being able to see, Cathy's prosthetic hand wrapped around the steering column. Not even a year stuck in a hospital could dull her pilot instinct. Light flooded the cockpit, causing Cathy to flinch. She looked up at Jake, who'd pulled the canopy back. He handed her a red and blue helmet that she recognized from old pictures of the SWAT Kats.

"I don't think I need a helmet for a simulation," Cathy snarked.

"No, but you're going to need the radio in it," Jake countered, "Need a refresher course?"

Cathy glossed over the control panel. "Nah, I should be good."

The cockpit canopy slid back into position as Cathy slapped the helmet on. She maneuvered her ears through into position so that the majority of them comfortably poked out the helmet's sides.

Jake's voice crackled over the radio. "Alright, starting up the simulation."

The canopy started to glow, and the cockpit started to shift. Suddenly an expansive desert landscape appeared before her. Table like plateaus and rocky mountains speckled the landscape.

"Hey, Cathy, what's yer callsign?" Tom's voice crackled through her radio.

"Call sign?" Cathy asked.

"Come on now," Tom prodded, "Ya know what a callsign is, mine's Tex."

Cathy shook her head, "This isn't real, Tommy, I don't need a codename for a simulation."

Jake chuckled, "Don't tell me you don't want a super hero name, Cat."

Cathy leaned back in her seat and pondered the question. Callsigns were usually something given to you, not something pilots chose. Unofficially people would call her Big Cat. "Sorry, I don't have anything."

"Well, we can work on it later," Jake said, "I'll brief you as you take off."

Cathy clicked her oxygen mask into place and started flicking switches.

"Dr. Viper has teamed up with Dark Kat and mutated a creepling into a skyscraper sized monster. It's radioactive and headed straight for Megakat city."

The engines roared as Cathy pressed the accelerator, speeding down the artificial runway, "Wow, you guys really go over the top with the SWAT Kats power fantasy."

"Focus on the mission, partner, we're gettin scored on this."

Cathy rose a brow at Tom's words, "Scored? How are we being scored?"

"I'll tell you when you're done," Jake interrupted, "Now, neutralize the target!"

The cockpit shook as they took to the sky. Cotton clouds and blue skies surrounded them, but Cathy couldn't shake the "fake" feeling of it all. It was close, but the acceleration of the engines wasn't anywhere close to accurate. The Gs weren't kicking like they should have. Oh, how she missed the feeling of her bones shaking and her organs compressing.

"Monster comin up on our left!" Tom said.

"You mean my ten? Because that's-" Cathy's eyes bugged out seeing the absolute monster crashing it's way across the desert, "CHEESE AND CRACKERS, HOW DID YOU EXPECT ME TO MISS THAT!"

"Hey! Ya don't have to shout, Jeeze," Tom groaned, "We've got creeplings on our six, by the way."

Cathy glanced down at the display. Sure enough, a lot of red dots were trailing behind their little yellow triangle, "Are they gaining?" She asked.

"They are at this speed. We could do a flip and hit 'em with a flashbulb missile," Tom suggested.

Creeplings… those were little winged, demon things, right? Nobody knew where Dark Kat kept getting them, but Cathy had heard they weren't very smart, "You ever hear of the Nekojin's divine wind?"

"Ugh, what?"

"Kamikaze, Jessie told me once that's what that word means."

"I'm gonna need some clarification on that!"

Cathy twisted the steering column and banked the jet towards the towering creature. Adrenalin pumped through her as the jet rumbled and shook. The creature got closer and closer until Cathy could see the individual pores on its body. But, at the last possible moment, Cathy pulled back on the stick and narrowly dodged crashing into the creature. She smirked as the red dots blinked out. Sure, creeplings won in a battle of numbers, but they were stupid enough to fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book.

The giant monster roared as the creeplings slammed into it at high speed. It reached out and swiped at the jet, however, Cathy expertly dodged out of the creatures reach,

"Woohoo!"

"All right, guys, you've got its attention, but what now? You still have a monster to take care of," Jake asked.

"Hmm, well, I've run this simulation before…" Tom mused, "trippin it up just ends with the cord breakin."

"Does the old-fashioned blowing it up technique not work?" Cathy asked.

"Problem is it takes a lot of RO Missiles to take it down. It gets close enough to Megakat and irradiates half the city," Soft clicks could be heard from Tom over the radio, "But, the Mega-Laser could do the trick!"

"Mega-Laser?" Cathy couldn't help but smile under her oxygen mask, "Are you trying to tell me, after all these years, the SWAT Kats wouldn't have figured out how to upgrade to the Omega-Laser system?"

"Omega-Lasers would build up too much heat for the Turbokat. I've been thinking about installing one on the Thunder-Truck, though," Jake rambled on.

"Ignore him, Cathy," Tom said, exasperated, "I've got the laser at 90% charge. Double back and we'll light up this monster, but good!"

Cathy nodded, "Roger, Joker,"

"Umm, it's Tex."

Just like that, Cathy's enjoyment took a dip, "Sorry… Tex," She glanced at the creature once more. None of this was real, it was just some video game she'd used to trick herself into thinking everything was fine. She glanced down at her robotic hand, and sighed.

"You okay, Cat?" Jake asked.

Cathy shook herself out of her thoughts, "Yeah, I'm… making another pass."

The simpod shifted as Cathy banked back towards the target.

"Firin Mega-Laser!"

Cathy shielded her eyes as a brilliant beam of energy shot from the jet and pierced the monster body. Green ooze leaked from the creature's chest as it fell to the ground.

"Great work, guys," Jake said as the simpod's canopy faded to black, "Not half bad, best score Tom's ever gotten, in fact."

The canopy slid open and Cathy pulled herself out of the fake cockpit. She hit the floor with a soft thud that echoed in her chest.

"Really, the best?" Tom asked, hopping out of the gunner seat. He turned to Cathy with a grin, a grin that faded upon seeing her sullen expression, "Hm? Somethin wrong, Cathy?"

Cathy glanced at Tom, then at Jake, "I just… miss my old partner."

"I understand, Cat," Jake said, walking out from behind the computer consoles, "How about you head back upstairs for some milk, okay? We'll be up in a second."

Cathy weakly nodded her head and meandered her way over to lift. Jake sighed as the sliding door closed, he wished Chance were here to help.

"So, how'd I stack up this time?" Tom sidled his way over to the console. He frowned and glanced up at Jake.

"What, did you really expect to beat Chance and my score?" Jake snickered, "You two beat the average Enforcer pilot, but Chance and I are on a whole other level."

Tom glared at the old kat, "Now you gotta make me sad too?"

"Oh, toughen up, Tom," Jake waved him towards the hallway, and one of the other hanger entrances, "That fundraiser Chance got dragged to is being televised and I don't want to miss him pretend to be smooth."