Wow! Little did I know that stopping at a dramatic spot would get all y'all so riled up! (I am now officially a fiend and an infidel — just check out my review page if ya don't believe me!) I figured I'd better post again quick before someone started throwing things.

Anywho, you're not here to listen to me jabber. So I'll shut up now. Okay? :-)

Wait! One last thing, THEN I'll shut up: Please **review**. Thanxes! — Skybright
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Jake and Chance's eyes both widened, and they spoke simultaneously. "You KNOW?"

Maggie grinned smugly. "Come on, guys. I'm not *that* dense."

"How . . .?" Jake's eyebrows shot up. "What tipped you off?"

Maggie placed the mug on the table and began ticking off reasons on her fingers. "For starters, I *know* what a jet taking off sounds like. Then there's that weird way you guys have of stopping conversations in the middle — usually conversations having to do with the Enforcers or the Swat Kats. Add to that the fact that I've *never* been able to find either of you when the Swat Kats are making an appearance. And the 'forbidden hallway' which, I'm betting, contains the entrance to your hangar. You've got enough Enforcers scrap lying around outside to build *three* planes, and to top it all off . . ." She laughed. "Guys, eye masks do not constitute an impenetrable disguise."

"Hey!" Chance said defensively. "Feral's never figured it out!"

"Feral doesn't spend sixteen hours a day staring at your furry mugs." Maggie replied, grinning.

"Good point." Jake agreed. "So, how long have you known?"

"I've been suspicious about it for three or four weeks now — ever since you . . . well, ever since Razor and T-Bone broke up that katnip ring, and I noticed that you two resembled them. Finding all that scrap from the Talons is what clinched it." Her tail twitched."So."

"So." Chance echoed. "Now what?"

"I'll leave it up to you guys." Maggie said. "If it makes you nervous having me around, and you want me to leave, I'll bow out gracefully and leave town." She laughed. "Nobody will ever believe me if I say that the Swat Kats are really mechanics."

"What if you stay?" Jake asked.

Maggie shrugged. "I dunno. I guess we can just go on. I can keep on living upstairs, not say anything when you guys go out. It can't hurt to have someone else around — in case one of you gets hurt or something."

Chance nodded. "Sounds like a plan." Jake agreed.

"Good." Maggie smiled slyly. "So do I get to see her?"

****

"Wow." Maggie ran a paw along the sleek black side of the TurboKat. Then she turned to her housemates, grinning. "Chance, Jake, this is one fine lady you have here."

"Thanks." Jake grinned. "Wait 'til you see her teeth." He plopped down at a computer console and started calling up weapons schematics.

Maggie leaned over, exited. "Octopus missiles . . . buzzsaws . . . titanium nets. . . Jake, you designed all these?"

"Designed and built 'em." He grinned. "And you thought my specialty was replacing transmissions."

She laughed and glanced over her shoulder at Chance. "You're the pilot?" He nodded. "So tell me — she's got the looks, she's got the teeth — but does she have the legs?"

Grinning, Chance replaced Jake at the console and started showing Maggie the engines.

Maggie whistled in amazement. "Ho-ly kats."

"Faster than anything the Enforcers have." Chance said proudly. "You should see this baby run."

"I'll bet." Maggie turned, examining the hangar. "You guys have put a lot of work into this place."

"Yea, and it's not very often we get bragging rights on it, either." Chance stood up. "Come on. We'll show you the rest of it."

"Great!' Maggie smiled. "Okay, guys, one thing I'm curious about; where on earth did you find flight suits?"

"Well," Jake explained, "We've got this friend in San Franciskat . . ."

"He's an Enforcers surplus dealer." Chance added.

"And he owed me this favor . . . ."

******

It was three in the morning before Maggie finally half-fell into bed, exhausted and amazed at the same time. Her mind whirled with thoughts of heroes, jets, and villains.

It seemed she had barely fallen asleep, however, before she was awakened by someone pounding vigorously on the door to her room. She rolled out of bed, confused and still half- asleep. "Hello . . .?"

The door swung open to reveal a thin, night-black kat. Out of bed! He shouted impatiently in Canine. Hurry up, you MegaKat spy!

"Spy?" Maggie looked around, bewildered."What . . .?" Peering across the room, she could just make out the markings of a CIA uniform. "Wait a minute! We're not in Canis . . . ."

The kat hissed a Canine curse. Not just a spy, but crazy too! You'll be better off dead. Ignoring Maggie's vigorous protests, he grabbed her arm in a grip like iron and dragged her away.

***
The cold wind whipped across the scrapyard. Maggie, stunned into inaction, let the guard drag her in front of the line of Canine soldiers. *What's going on?* Maggie thought, bewildered. *What are they here for?*

Cold dread filled her as she suddenly realized the answer . . .

*A firing squad.*

"Wait!" She shouted, holding her paws out. "Hold on! I'm not a spy! I swear, I'm not a spy!"

"Well, of course you're not."

*That voice . . . .* Maggie turned to look at the kat who had spoken. That cold, lifeless voice perfectly matched the dead-white fur and electric blue eyes she had known she'd see. That voice could belong to no other kat. It could only be . . .

"MacClawed."

He smirked and turned to the firing squad. "Ready . . ."

"It was you all along."

"Aim . . ."

"No, wait!"

"Fire!"

***

"MACCLAWED!"

Maggie sat bolt upright in bed, shivering with cold sweat. The room was warm and silent, silver-blue moonlight giving everything a luminous glow. There was no dark cell, no Canine firing squad.

No MacClawed.

Throwing back the blankets, Maggie took a deep breath and stood up. As safe as the room looked, the nightmare still lingered like a scent in the air. She headed for the study.
***

Maggie sank onto the couch in the study, head in paws. *The nightmares are back.* She had secretly hoped that sharing the story of the Hurricanes with Jake and Chance would banish them . . . .

"Hey."

Maggie looked up, startled. Chance was leaning in the doorway, concern written in his features.

"You okay?"

"Did I wake you up?"

Chance shrugged. "No big deal." He made his way to the drafting desk and sat down. "You look terrible."

Maggie snorted. "Thanks."

Chance was quiet for a moment, watching her. "You wanna talk about it?"

She shrugged. "It's just . . . bad dreams. They come and go. No big deal."

"Who's MacClawed?"

Maggie winced. "You heard that, huh?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "James MacClawed is — was — the head weapons designer for the Talon project — and the only kat on the project who would have known that the weapons weren't ready yet. *I* think he was working for the Canines, but nobody's ever been able to prove it." Maggie held her paws out, protesting against Chance's worried expression. "Look, Chance, it's just nightmares. Don't worry about it."

Chance shook his head. "It's my job to worry. Honestly, between you and Jake . . ." He rolled his eyes. "You'd think the two of you *like* being sleep deprived."

"I'm not the one wandering down the hallway to check on me at four A.M., am I?" Maggie grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "I thought Swat Kats needed their sleep."

He smiled grudgingly back. "So do you." He glanced at the rolled-up blueprints. "What are those?"

"Nothing special." Picking up the roll of papers, she slid off the rubber band and unrolled the plans.

"Whoa." Chance raised his eyebrows. "You really do know how to build a Talon."

"Like falling off a bicycle." Maggie grinned. "You never forget."

"I thought that was *riding* a bicycle."

"You didn't see me learn, obviously."

Chance grinned. "I see." He leafed through the blueprints. "Man, this is a beautiful bird."

"Thanks."

Chance examined the engine blueprints, running his finger down the list of parts. "You know, we really *could* build this thing with the stuff we've got out in the yard."

"Whoa, muchacho!" She held her paws up. "Let's just kill that thought right now, okay? It's not gonna happen."

"Why not?" Chance challenged. "You said it yourself — a life without flying isn't worth living."

Maggie leaned back, sighing. "Chance, in case you hadn't noticed . . . the last time I got into a Talon it got blown out from underneath me — and I was the lucky one."

"But that's the point!" He jabbed his finger at the plans. "You know exactly what went wrong! You could rebuild a Talon that didn't have any of the flaws from the original. You could improve it, make it better . . . ."

"What is this, The Six Million Dollar Kat?" Maggie rolled her eyes. "Okay, so what would I *do* with this Talon, once I got it built?"

Chance stared at her. "What do you *think* you'd do with it? The same thing me and Jake did with the TurboKat!"

"Ah. Let me think about that." Maggie tilted her head. "No."

"Ah, for cryin' out . . . why not?!"

"Because." Maggie shook her head. "Jake and Chance. Razor and T-Bone. Heck, even the sign outside says 'Jake and Chance's Garage!'" She stood up. "A partnership like you guys have is a self-contained thing. You don't need a third wheel — or a third Swat Kat — hanging around."

"What if we want one?" Jake's voice interrupted. Maggie turned to find him standing in the doorway.

"Huh?"

Jake took a seat on the couch and shrugged. "Look, the garage isn't the only place where we could use some help once in a while."

"No kidding." Chance agreed. "With Feral running things, the Enforcers are about as useful as a flat spare tire."

"When the Pastmaster or the Metallikats show up, we're pretty much the only hope that the city has." Jake continued. "And that can get nerve-wracking, let me tell you."

"So what you're saying," Maggie raised an eyebrow, "Is you don't just want me helping as a mechanic — you want me helping as a Swat Kat?"

"Hey, if you're as good a pilot as you are a mechanic . . ." Chance grinned.

Maggie had to laugh. "I might have been, once. But it's been years since I've been in the air."

"No problem!" Jake grinned. "You had the tour — we've got all sorts of training equipment downstairs."

Maggie looked from one housemate to another. "You're serious."

"Absolutely!" They both answered.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "With faces like those — how do I resist?" She took the plans from Chance and spread them out on the desk. "Okay. The first thing we'll need to find is this . . . ."
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TBC
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Okay, folkses — I need your help!!!!!
I had originally planned on Maggie's code name being Talon — after the planes, get it? (Well, *I* thought it was clever). However, during a visit to the SWAT Kats Archive I discovered that somebody else already had dibs on that name. And now I have writer's block! (Woe is me!) Anybody have a good idea for Maggie's code name, and/or the name of her jet? Send it to me at

skybright_daye@hotmail.com

Profuse thanxes go out in advance for any ideas and I promise if I use one you'll get credited for it. Remember -- only you can prevent writer's block! :-)

Skybright