Chapter 7: No way there
Hacker glanced curiously at her partners. They were expressionless.
"Is it just me or am I the only one who doesn't know what the hell is going on?" Kitten asked splitting the silence.
Razor looked at her blankly. "Huh?"
"Let me put it another way then, what the hell are we doing, flying around in the sky when we know the Enforcers will start shooting their bloody tails off once they see us?!" questioned Hacker almost shouting.
"Chill out, will ya? Razor's planned something, haven't you?" T-bone said with a faint note of uncertainty in his voice.
Razor, who was fidgeting with a box, looked up and then continued to join certain wires together. Soon, the black box became a temporary part of the Turbokat.
Hacker watched with anxiety building up in her body.
"What in the world is that?" she finally asked as her curiosity had reached the limit.
"It's the new and improved radio scrambler," Razor replied with a hint of pride.
"I thought you built one of those little gadgets the last time?" T-bone asked.
"That was last time. Remember it was busted because someone thought it was some leg rest?" retorted Razor angrily as he pushed the little red button on the top, activating the scrambler.
Hacker giggled uncontrollably.
"That's because it didn't have any buttons on it to tell me it was one of your gadgets!" cried T-bone defensively.
"And that's why this one is new and improved. It's got a small button on it to remind some people it's no leg rest."
Quickly Hacker changed the subject before they waged World War Three over some radio scrambler. "What does it do?" she asked innocently.
"It scrambles the Enforcers radar system if any of their radio waves come near us," said Razor taking out a silver pen. Carefully he wrote in bold, 'Radio Scrambler not Leg Rest!!'
"Alright," continued Razor, "let's take her to speed of heat."
"Speed of Heat it is," repeated T-bone flicking a couple of switches.
The extra metal canopy swished closed, and now T-bone had to fly with the help of radar. The Turbokat's wings retracted slightly as the extra boosters burst to life.
"Wow! This is way cool," said Hacker as she calculated their speed. "We really are travelling at the speed of heat."
"Yeah, thanks to our good friends, the Aquakats, from who-knows-what dimension and who-knows-which quadrant in space," said Razor.
"Aren't they the ones who almost suck the world dry? " Hacker asked doubtfully.
"Bingo! It's them all right. After we solved their problem, they gave back our waters and the Turbokat was given the Speed of Heat. A token of appreciation from the little green kats of outer space...I mean...blue kats." Razor grinned as he corrected himself.
After a couple of minutes later, Hacker sited a faint blimp on her radar. This indicated the approximate location of Darkat's hideout.
"Hey, T-bone we're almost there. Knock out of Speed of Heat," said Hacker.
T-bone acknowledged the instruction and flicked off a switch. The wings of the Turbokat tract back to its original position and the metal canopy swished back into a compartment as the Turbokat dropped out of speed of heat.
"Touch down!" exclaimed T-bone when he landed the Turbokat beside the jungle.
"What do we do now?" asked Hacker, "For all we know, Darkat may be anywhere."
Razor snapped his finger. "Of course! You'll have to hack into the police records for all the plans that cover this area. This is a wild guess but I doubt Darkat would bother to dig a new base. There must have been one here already."
"Hacker, do your stuff and Razor, ready the Thunder Truck. Once the location has been detected, dislodge the truck from the jet and I'll take us there," said T-bone with confidence.
"Alright! Now we're getting somewhere!" cried Hacker as her fingers flew across the keyboard.
"You always know how to make the worst situation sound so good," admitted Razor with envy. "How do you do it without making silly jokes?"
"It's all in the grey cells, my dear Watson," Hacker replied in her best Sherlock impersonation without looking up from her work.
When she had gained access to the police mainframe, she went straight to the files where all the maps were kept. By using a searcher she had installed early, all she had to do was wait for the computer to pull out maps with only the area of the part beneath the forest. Seconds later, Hacker was presented with five maps. To her irritation, the first three maps whose dates showed that they were the most recent, revealed nothing but water pipes.
Reluctantly, Hacker viewed the two other older maps expecting to find more water pipes, however she was caught unaware when she found what she had been hoping to find. There were series of tunnels; most of them were used to hide secret government projects, which had likely turned out to be failures. The government had hid these tunnels later on because they didn't want any one to find them. And, of course, over time they were forgotten.
Hacker skimmed through the history of these tunnels and then gave T-bone the nearest entrance to these tunnels. Razor dislodged the Thunder Truck with a push of a button and the Swat Kats were slowly lowered to the ground from a large opening beneath the Turbokat. They did not have to move to a separate vehicle as the Thunder Truck was the interior of the Turbokat.
"Alright guys, I'm taking her down," announced T-bone.
"Did you 'lock' the Turbokat?" asked Hacker as she felt a sudden jolt as the Thunder truck drilled its way down into the earth.
"Of course. I'm not going to have someone sabotage the equipment. It'll take me years to rebuilt her," confirmed Razor.
Minutes later, they found themselves drilling past the metal covering of a concrete tunnel twice as big as the truck. Above was a shaft leading back to the surface and behind them was a hole, which they had drilled. Razor sighed as he flicked on the powerful lights of the truck.
"We should have took the easy way down," he said regretfully. "Surely everybody down here knows that we've arrived."
"Hey, we wanted quick and fast, I gave us quick and fast," T-bone said in defence to his plans.
"Which way now, fearless leader?" Razor asked glancing first to the left then to the right. Both seemed endless tunnels leading into pitch-black darkness.
Hacker glanced curiously at her partners. They were expressionless.
"Is it just me or am I the only one who doesn't know what the hell is going on?" Kitten asked splitting the silence.
Razor looked at her blankly. "Huh?"
"Let me put it another way then, what the hell are we doing, flying around in the sky when we know the Enforcers will start shooting their bloody tails off once they see us?!" questioned Hacker almost shouting.
"Chill out, will ya? Razor's planned something, haven't you?" T-bone said with a faint note of uncertainty in his voice.
Razor, who was fidgeting with a box, looked up and then continued to join certain wires together. Soon, the black box became a temporary part of the Turbokat.
Hacker watched with anxiety building up in her body.
"What in the world is that?" she finally asked as her curiosity had reached the limit.
"It's the new and improved radio scrambler," Razor replied with a hint of pride.
"I thought you built one of those little gadgets the last time?" T-bone asked.
"That was last time. Remember it was busted because someone thought it was some leg rest?" retorted Razor angrily as he pushed the little red button on the top, activating the scrambler.
Hacker giggled uncontrollably.
"That's because it didn't have any buttons on it to tell me it was one of your gadgets!" cried T-bone defensively.
"And that's why this one is new and improved. It's got a small button on it to remind some people it's no leg rest."
Quickly Hacker changed the subject before they waged World War Three over some radio scrambler. "What does it do?" she asked innocently.
"It scrambles the Enforcers radar system if any of their radio waves come near us," said Razor taking out a silver pen. Carefully he wrote in bold, 'Radio Scrambler not Leg Rest!!'
"Alright," continued Razor, "let's take her to speed of heat."
"Speed of Heat it is," repeated T-bone flicking a couple of switches.
The extra metal canopy swished closed, and now T-bone had to fly with the help of radar. The Turbokat's wings retracted slightly as the extra boosters burst to life.
"Wow! This is way cool," said Hacker as she calculated their speed. "We really are travelling at the speed of heat."
"Yeah, thanks to our good friends, the Aquakats, from who-knows-what dimension and who-knows-which quadrant in space," said Razor.
"Aren't they the ones who almost suck the world dry? " Hacker asked doubtfully.
"Bingo! It's them all right. After we solved their problem, they gave back our waters and the Turbokat was given the Speed of Heat. A token of appreciation from the little green kats of outer space...I mean...blue kats." Razor grinned as he corrected himself.
After a couple of minutes later, Hacker sited a faint blimp on her radar. This indicated the approximate location of Darkat's hideout.
"Hey, T-bone we're almost there. Knock out of Speed of Heat," said Hacker.
T-bone acknowledged the instruction and flicked off a switch. The wings of the Turbokat tract back to its original position and the metal canopy swished back into a compartment as the Turbokat dropped out of speed of heat.
"Touch down!" exclaimed T-bone when he landed the Turbokat beside the jungle.
"What do we do now?" asked Hacker, "For all we know, Darkat may be anywhere."
Razor snapped his finger. "Of course! You'll have to hack into the police records for all the plans that cover this area. This is a wild guess but I doubt Darkat would bother to dig a new base. There must have been one here already."
"Hacker, do your stuff and Razor, ready the Thunder Truck. Once the location has been detected, dislodge the truck from the jet and I'll take us there," said T-bone with confidence.
"Alright! Now we're getting somewhere!" cried Hacker as her fingers flew across the keyboard.
"You always know how to make the worst situation sound so good," admitted Razor with envy. "How do you do it without making silly jokes?"
"It's all in the grey cells, my dear Watson," Hacker replied in her best Sherlock impersonation without looking up from her work.
When she had gained access to the police mainframe, she went straight to the files where all the maps were kept. By using a searcher she had installed early, all she had to do was wait for the computer to pull out maps with only the area of the part beneath the forest. Seconds later, Hacker was presented with five maps. To her irritation, the first three maps whose dates showed that they were the most recent, revealed nothing but water pipes.
Reluctantly, Hacker viewed the two other older maps expecting to find more water pipes, however she was caught unaware when she found what she had been hoping to find. There were series of tunnels; most of them were used to hide secret government projects, which had likely turned out to be failures. The government had hid these tunnels later on because they didn't want any one to find them. And, of course, over time they were forgotten.
Hacker skimmed through the history of these tunnels and then gave T-bone the nearest entrance to these tunnels. Razor dislodged the Thunder Truck with a push of a button and the Swat Kats were slowly lowered to the ground from a large opening beneath the Turbokat. They did not have to move to a separate vehicle as the Thunder Truck was the interior of the Turbokat.
"Alright guys, I'm taking her down," announced T-bone.
"Did you 'lock' the Turbokat?" asked Hacker as she felt a sudden jolt as the Thunder truck drilled its way down into the earth.
"Of course. I'm not going to have someone sabotage the equipment. It'll take me years to rebuilt her," confirmed Razor.
Minutes later, they found themselves drilling past the metal covering of a concrete tunnel twice as big as the truck. Above was a shaft leading back to the surface and behind them was a hole, which they had drilled. Razor sighed as he flicked on the powerful lights of the truck.
"We should have took the easy way down," he said regretfully. "Surely everybody down here knows that we've arrived."
"Hey, we wanted quick and fast, I gave us quick and fast," T-bone said in defence to his plans.
"Which way now, fearless leader?" Razor asked glancing first to the left then to the right. Both seemed endless tunnels leading into pitch-black darkness.