Rank and File
By Chella "Klawz" Reaves (e-mail)

Rating & Warning: PG-13 for violence. (Violence is mostly implied.)

Disclaimer that still applies: "SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron", its characters and concepts are copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Inc. and I have used them without permission. All concepts and characters not found in the show were created by me and I appreciate you asking permission or not using them! (I don't bite unless provoked. :) )

~Klawz

Razor watched the back of his partner's head as T-Bone scanned the ground and the Enforcer frequencies for trouble. He'd noticed that his friend had been jumpy all day, and he'd finally insisted on going on patrol.

Privately, Razor thought it was just going to be a waste of jet fuel, but he didn't protest, even though salvaging it was tedious at best, and difficult as well as tedious at worst. T-Bone obviously needed an outlet for his frustrations, and if flying through the city's artificial canyons helped him, Razor wasn't going to complain.

Lost in his musings, Razor didn't realize something significant had come in over the Enforcer bands until T-Bone gunned the engines and pulled his precious TurboKat in a tight U-turn. Razor yelped and grabbed for a hand hold as he waited for the G-forces to settle some. "What is it, T-Bone?"

"Just tuned into an Enforcer band that called some cars and an ambulance. They said something about an officer being down."

"Think it's our case?"

"Feral just called for his chopper, so yeah, I think so." By the time they'd finished the exchange, they had found the building in question. The base of it was surrounded by squad cars with their flashing lights and an ambulance was just arriving. Razor looked at his radar, "Chopper incoming."

A spurt of static prevented T-Bone from replying as they were hailed. "SWAT Kats," Feral said, his voice harsh with emotion. "If you want to make yourselves useful, land that bird and join me on the roof."

"What do you think, T-bone?"

He grunted in response. "I'm landing the bird." He guided the jet to a nearby rooftop and the two climbed out. Razor pressed a button on his GloveaTrix and the canopy closed and locked. It'd take people far too long to break into it, if someone even tried while they were gone.

The space between the two buildings only required that the SWAT Kats get a good running start before jumping the gap, and they were at Feral's side by the time the chopper blades had ceased whirling.

"Follow me," the commander grunted, clutching his walking stick and his stray hand reaching up to where his holster must have been under his jacket. He patted it as if to reassure himself.

The SWAT Kats gave each other a worried look and hoped it wasn't as serious as it felt like. It had to be case related, they knew, or Feral wouldn't have invited them to look. But from the way Feral was grinding his teeth, it sounded as if Felina was the one in trouble.. but surely not - didn't she have a room at headquarters?

They trooped down the stairs with Feral, followed by someone who appeared to be an Enforcer medic and two other Enforcers. The door to the apartment was already open and Feral shoved aside some grey looking rookies.

Feeling even more apprehensive, the two vigilantes followed Feral into the bedroom. They went white under their fur, seeing Lieutenant Feral posed in a typical way the serial killer posed his victims. Her face was covered in blood, her Enforcer uniform was carefully folded at the foot of her bed, and as a photographer took a photo of the scene, the flash glinted off the badge in her hand.

Razor tried to control the queasiness in his stomach as Feral bellowed for the photographer to take one last shot before he brought in the medic who hovered by the bed with his kit. The photographer obliged and escaped out of the bedroom to photograph the rest of the apartment.

The medic checked her heartbeat as a rookie called feebly from the doorway. "I already did that, sir. She's alive and her heart's goin' strong otherwise the photographer would have let the medic do his thing.. Sir"

Feral and the SWAT Kats looked at the medic for confirmation. He nodded and looked over the wounds. "Nothing here's going to kill her, though she should get into a hospital fast before she loses too much more blood" He forced open an eye and shined a penlight into it and he continued after noticing the reaction. "She's been drugged, so she'll need to go through de-tox in case she has a bad reaction to it, but her pulse is good. " He paused and looked up at them, gaze slipping from Feral to the vigilantes, eyeing them curiously. "It seems as if he made cuts that would bleed a lot and look very bad, but didn't go for anything serious."

"I don't think he had enough time," Feral growled softly, but seemed to relax slightly.

"He might come after her in the hospital, Commander," Razor found himself saying, surprising himself a little. "I think he's altering his pattern to cause the most uproar possible."

Feral nodded shortly, as if uncomfortable hearing sound advice from vigilantes he professed to dislike so much. "I'll post guards on her room." To the room in general he said, "Get her to the hospital."

Paramedics who had been waiting for a few moments in the hall rolled their stretcher into the room and started to transfer her to it. Felina began to struggle and Feral place a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Get a hold of yourself, Lieutenant!" The voice was soft, though, filled with an uncle's love.

"Uncle?" was the thin whisper of sound from his niece. Everyone instinctively fell silent, not making a move in case the sound of their clothes rustling drowned out her words. "Uncle, they have Briggs" She lapsed into silence and closed her eyes. With a nod from the Commander, the paramedics rushed her out of the room.

Razor felt as if a ball of ice had been deposited in his stomach and Feral twitched as if to grab the phone, but his policing instincts told him not to destroy potential evidence. Feral whirled to the SWAT Kats and barked, "Go!" He pointed to the door and neither vigilante misunderstood what he meant.

They pushed past the Enforcers and up the stairs. They leapt across the gap between the two buildings and scrambled into the TurboKat within a minute. T-Bone gunned the engine and they had started to take off by the time Feral and his fellow Enforcers had flung open the roof's door.

Neither wasted breath on speech. The buildings flew by in a blur as they whisked their way to the building Callie lived in. The TurboKat was quickly, but carefully landed and abandoned as they kicked open the door to the stairwell and took the stairs to Callie's floor in leaps. Had they been less physically adept, they probably would have broken bones in their haste.

By the time they made it to Callie's floor, they were puffing with exertion. Her front door was open and the lights were on. They threw themselves through the door, just in time to see Gren Burbank swagger out of the bedroom.

Razor remembered T-Bone's theory that Burbank and the murderer were the same and felt as if time had slowed. He turned, reaching to restrain T-Bone, but his friend was across the room, grabbing Burbank by the collar and shoving him against the wall. The moment Razor heard the thud of the other kat's body against the surface, time returned to normal. "T-Bone!" he shouted, rushing forward to prevent T-Bone from doing Burbank serious harm before he could speak.

He looked into the bedroom and noticed that the bed was empty. And that meant what? Razor looked back at Burbank as T-Bone growled, "Where's Callie?"

Burbank turned mild eyes on them both and didn't answer. Razor sensed T-Bone tensing up for a punch and was about to restrain him when he noticed a bloody mark on Burbank's sleeve. "T-Bone, wait!" Razor grabbed Burbank's arm and shoved the sleeve up to reveal a puncture mark. "He's been drugged"

Burbank nodded in response to Razor's announcement and seemed to drift off a moment. T-Bone visibly restrained himself from shaking the other kat as they waited. "Killer's got 'er" He tried to give them a stern look. "Grendel Burbank. FBI step off my case, vigilante" He drifted off again, apparently victim to the drug.

T-Bone looked over at Razor, who interpreted it correctly as a request for him to find the badge. Razor fished through Burbank's pockets and did indeed come up with an FBI badge. The two looked at each other with an expression of helplessness. Where did they look next? Should they go to protect Feral? Or the Mayor?

Feral made it up to the roof in time to see the SWAT Kats take off, and started to move towards the chopper when he changed his mind. "Take the chopper and go protect the Mayor. I'm going to ride with the Lieutenant."

The Enforcers with him made hurried salutes and dashed towards the chopper; Feral turned back and rushed to the elevator. He fidgeted as he rode it to the lobby, and just managed to catch up because the medics were having trouble with the stretcher. He rushed up and helped them with the legs and announced he was riding with his niece. They nodded and closed the door behind him.

Feral reached out and held his niece's hand. He reassured himself that head wounds bled a lot, just as the medic had said. So wrapped up in his worries, he didn't notice when only one paramedic got into the ambulance and drove off towards the hospital.

The sirens blared and the vehicle roared through traffic, darting between cars and trucks with even more of a recklessness than such vehicles usually did. After a few minutes, Feral realized they were getting into thinner traffic, which didn't compute since the area around any of the hospitals was usually congested even this late at night. He looked up and peered through the windshield and didn't immediately recognize the area they were in.

Feral didn't have time to formulate a query because the medic turned his head and gave a demented little laugh. "Oh, Commander! I'm very pleased I predicted your movements so well! I suppose if you'd gone after the SWAT Kats I would have had to end the Lieutenant's life in a less dramatic way. But rest assured you'll both go down together!"

The Commander growled and started out of his seat. The driver - the murderer - spun the steering wheel so that Feral stumbled and had to brace his hands against the walls of the vehicle in order not to land on his niece. "Tut tut, Commander! No fair distracting the driver. Don't make me do that again."

Feral glared towards the killer and met his cold eyes in the rear-view mirror. His blood chilled at the absolute hatred in his gaze. "We're headed for the bridge. Then I'm going to drive this ambulance off and the two of you" he made a whistling sound and took one hand off the wheel to make a diving motion. "Take a bath."

The SWAT Kats helped Burbank to the couch and crouched next to him. Burbank's eyes slid from one to the other and he laughed softly. His voice was low as he began to speak. "Been working this case for seven years. Always wondered what the victims felt like when that drug was in their system I wondered if they saw colors or had trouble focusing"

His eyes looked up into theirs and bored holes into them. Very softly he said, "Now you tell me."

Burbank lunged at them, a hand seemingly producing syringes from nowhere. Razor, caught by surprise was jabbed by one and stumbled back over a table. T-Bone just barely avoided receiving one himself. "Sure-shot??" he asked, not daring to move his eyes from Burbank with the remaining syringe and the wild eyes.

Burbank laughed. "Oh, he'll live. But I gave him enough of a dose that he'll be no help."

Confused, T-Bone crouched, ready to leap or dodge as necessary. "I thought you were FBI."

Burbank's eyebrows shot up. "But I am! Oh! This!" he said, taking in the room with a sweep of his arm, but referring to his actions. "Well, I couldn't let my little brother take the fall himself"

T-Bone choked and Burbank laughed. "That was my reaction too! I spent years in the Academy studying to take down murderers, but I was ignoring my family. My little brother. He lived for my attention." He paused, seemingly sad for a moment. "I suppose he thought that starting his own murder spree was the only way to get my attention. I didn't even get the case until he'd already been doing it for years!"

Burbank made a feint with the syringe and T-Bone jumped back. "So you figured it out and decided to help?" He asked, playing for time.

"Not at first no. But I didn't tell my superiors what I suspected. It took me awhile to figure out why he did it. He killed law enforcement officials to prove how good he was. To prove they couldn't match him - working his way up the ranks and then starting over in a new city. He did it to impress me! So that when I brought him down I'd be famous! I love my little brother. He was doing it all for me."

T-Bone still didn't understand, nor did he think he could if Burbank tried more. He lunged for the arm with the syringe and was rewarded with a kick in the stomach. He stumbled back, doubling over slightly, but not taking his eyes off the weapon.

"You don't get it, do you?" Burbank closed in. "Partly.. this is all your fault, you know. The SWAT Kats are what made this game of my brother's so dangerous. I've seen the records - he was no match for you" With a laugh, Burbank shrugged. "But I am."

T-Bone circled until he reached where Razor had collapsed. He touched his shoulder and whispered, "You okay, Little Buddy?" Razor groaned faintly in response.

"It'll take at least another twenty minutes for that dose to wear off enough for him to be able to talk," Burbank informed him. "Then again, he's such a shrimp that it could be an hour before the toxin flushes itself out of his system."

T-Bone growled. He looked closer at Burbank and finally realized that this wasn't the guy who hurt Katie. He wasn't the ex-boyfriend and he wasn't her murderer. However, he did know where Callie was. And if she was still alive. "What about Miss Briggs?"

"The Deputy Mayor?" Burbank asked, his eyebrows raising as if he were surprised for the first time. "In the other bedroom, of course. I had to make it look real until I could catch you two off your guard, and I couldn't do that if one of you was slugging me in the gut and the other was checking on the divine Miss Briggs."

"You think you're so smart, Burbank. But you forgot about the FBI," T-Bone hazarded. He got a laugh in response.

"No, I didn't. I was legitimately assigned to protect Miss Briggs without her knowledge. Though, you're right there are times I suspected that they were on to me But I checked over everyone that I or Callie came into contact with. No one knew enough to have been fellow agents, and we weren't shadowed. No, the Enforcers are too busy fishing the Ferals out of the bay by now and protecting the roly-poly little mayor of yours to wonder what became of the Deputy Mayor and the SWAT Kats. And by that time I'll have finished with you three and my brother and I will move on to another city. And this time we'll work as a team Just like he always wanted."

"Whuzza matter, Commander?" Felina said softly, softly enough that Feral had to lean forward to hear it.

"How are you feeling?" he rumbled as softly as he could, hoping the growl of the ambulance's engine masked his words and his niece's.

"I'll be alright in a minute though the cuts sting" The strength was returning to her voice, and her uncle and commander took her word for it.

"We might have to swim in a moment. I'm going to undo your straps, alright?"

Felina nodded, setting her jaw and craned her blood-caked head back to look at the driver. The 'medic' seemed intent on threading his way through the traffic approaching the bridge, and wasn't watching them closely. Feral carefully unbuckled the straps that kept Felina bound to the stretcher, but had the sense enough to let the straps look as if they were still attached. He stroked the hair out of his niece's face and turned a stony look towards the front of the vehicle.

"Almost hee-rrre!" The murderer chirped. "I hope you two enjoy cold baths!" He laughed shrilly at his own 'joke' and gave the ambulance gas as they accelerated up the slight incline.

"Be prepared, Lieutenant," Feral muttered under his breath. He had his gun still, but he hadn't thought of using it until then. Before then he realized that if he shot the driver, Felina would be left to the mercy of Fate whether she survived. But now with her strength and consciousness returning, she could be counted on to make sure she was safe.

Feral reached inside his jacket and pulled his gun out. "I hate to leave you here - wait, what am I saying, I'm enjoying this!" The kat laughed maniacally as he reached for a bar to use to wedge down the gas pedal and while his head was turned, Feral shot at the glass of the windshield.

The windshield cobwebbed except for a bullet hole in the center. The murderer looked up and shrieked in anger at not being able to see anything. "I'll go with you if I have to, but one way or another you're going in that bay!" he screeched and wrenched at the steering wheel.

Commander Feral threw himself on the driver, both of them struggling for control. "Commander! Look out!" Felina cried.

Feral looked up to see the street was canted at an odd angle and realized they were going to flip just an instant before they began to roll. He shoved himself away from the driver and grabbed for something to hold on to as he noticed his niece flinging herself off the stretcher.

There was a loud screeching of metal, the cracking of glass, and he heard screams that he weren't entirely sure he wasn't making. The ambulance rolled a few times, flinging the occupants and objects inside against each other. The ambulance stopped rolling and simply skid on its side for several dozen yards. Feral could just see out of a side window that they were approaching the barrier. Within a heartbeat of that awareness, he felt them collide with it and he hoped fervently that the guardrails would hold the weight

T-Bone felt the dull thump of his pulse in his ears as he thought furiously. He could do nothing for the Ferals at the moment. Callie and Razor were technically okay, or Burbank would have bragged about it, and he even implied that the Mayor wasn't even a target. So his priority was to make sure he didn't feel the sting of the syringe and to take Burbank down.

He needed to get Burbank off-balance. His weak spot "Your brother has already been captured, Burbank."

The other kat's eyes narrowed. "No. He's too good for that."

"Why do you think we didn't bring Feral with us, huh? He was too busy taking your little brother, the failure, to jail. Feral was too good. You underestimated us all."

"No," Burbank growled, lashing out in anger rather than with forethought and planning. "You're lying!"

"I saw Feral leading him off in cuffs. He was whimpering like a whipped child," T-Bone jeered, putting himself more under control as Burbank lost his.

"You gave it all up, Burbank. You don't even have the glory of capturing your brother, now. You're going to wind up in a cell on Al-Kat-Traz and you can comfort your brother as he cries into his pillow every night."

With an inarticulate yowl, Burbank threw himself at T-Bone. And T-Bone - stronger, under control and prepared - was ready. He grabbed Burbank by the collar and by his wrist and shook it until the syringe fell to the floor. He dragged him close and growled softly.

"The first time I met you I told you that you looked like someone I didn't like, and that if you hurt Callie, I'd hurt you." He drew back a fist. "You should have listened." He took satisfaction in the bewildered expression on Burbank's face just before his fist connected with his chin. The FBI agent went out like a light.

T-Bone firmly tied Grendle's hands behind his back and left him slumped against the wall. He then went over to Razor and helped him to the couch.

"Check on Callie," Razor advised in a groggy sort of voice.

"Will do, buddy," T-bone replied and searched the apartment until he found the second bedroom. Callie was carefully placed on the middle of her bed, her hands folded over her stomach and her long hair spread out over the pillow. Her glasses were on her nightstand and it looked, more than anything, as if she'd simply taken an afternoon nap and hadn't yet woken up.

He sat on the edge of her bed and checked her arms for puncture wounds. His brow furrowed until he noticed a rag that smelled of chloroform laying next to her. He carefully touched the side of her face. "Callie?" he asked softly.

Her eyelashes fluttered. "Mmm?" She started to sit up, but fell back. "Ooohh I feel ill.."

"It's the chloroform. Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?" His jaw clenched in anger. T-Bone turned on a light so she could see.

"Oh, T-Bone where's Razor? And and Gren?" She looked confused and he winced, hoping she hadn't fallen in love with Burbank.

As gently as possible he said, "Razor is alright Burbank he's the one who did this to you." Her eyebrows shot up and she fumbled for her glasses. "I'm afraid he and his brother have been murdering Enforcers And you were his next target."

It took her a moment to process the information, and T-Bone watched her expression reflect her inner turmoil. Finally she nodded. "But you've got him." He nodded.

"And his brother?"

"That's up to Feral."

Thankfully, the guardrail held. Feral shoved his way to the front of the vehicle again and grabbed the unconscious kat and began to drag him out of the window with him. "Felina?" he shouted over his shoulder.

"Coming, Commander!" she responded, managing to kick open the back doors and climb out herself.

Cars were few on the bridge at the hour of the night, but those few that were on it had stopped and concerned katizens rushed to help. "Anyone with a cell phone call the Enforcers!" Felina ordered, sitting down on the road, being still too much under the drug to do much else.

Feral in the meantime pushed the murderer over onto his stomach and read him his rights automatically as he cuffed him. The fact that the perp was unconscious didn't much matter to him. He'd have the rights re-read to him when he returned to the conscious world, but it was the procedure that mattered at the moment.

Faint sirens in the distance announced back up on its way, and Feral walked over to his niece. He sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Commander" she began.

Feral smiled and corrected her. "Uncle."

Two weeks passed before the Mayor was calm enough to make a speech on the matter - something on which he insisted. He had somehow convinced Miss Briggs to use her influence over the SWAT Kats to ensure they showed up for the award ceremony.

Feral had to attend because both it would have been his job to anyway, and because he was getting a medal as well. Miss Briggs looked over at him and gave him a look of approval, which surprised him. He shifted uncomfortably next to the podium and slanted a glance to the SWAT Kats. If anything, they looked more uncomfortable than he did, so he hid a smirk.

The shorter one, Razor, noticed his look and gave him a quiet nod of respect. Seemingly by accident, he nudged his friend, who looked over. T-Bone was looking grim until his eyes met Feral's. Then he gave Feral a wolfish smile - one warrior to another. Feral was surprised to feel himself returning it.

Feral couldn't help remembering the insistence of the fallen FBI Agent that he had met the SWAT Kats without their masks. Though many people questioned him, he just repeated in a mortified sort of way that he couldn't remember them, but he did remember that T-Bone had made it clear that he had. One of his former fellow agents taunted Burbank that the SWAT Kat had done so only to have the question torment him through all the years he'd be locked away in prison. After that, Burbank became hysterically insistent that he knew He just had to retrace his steps Everyone had vetoed the idea, knowing Burbank was wily enough that he might escape. Burbank then suggested hypnosis. Feral had been present at the time and firmly rejected the idea. "He'll try to use it as a bargaining chip and the only place it'd be useful is in this city - and I refuse to sell out the SWAT Kats for this monster."

His attention was brought back to the present by a sharp elbow from his niece. As he made his way to the podium to be presented with his medal, he thought, I don't like that these vigilantes are operating in my city. But if they're the wild card that keeps monsters like these from achieving their goals I'll learn to tolerate them Feral looked over the crowds of civilians and began his acceptance speech while the SWAT Kats silently slipped away.

T-Bone stood at the foot stone of the grave. Razor waited with the cyclotrons just out of hearing distance. T-Bone removed his helmet, and after a moment, his mask.

"Katie. I'm sorry we never Well, I'm sorry I wasn't mature enough to love you properly when I had you. But I'm glad we were friends even after we broke up. I'm sorry that I didn't make an effort to stay in touch with you I guess I still wasn't mature enough to love you properly. But I was proud of you, always." He laughed softly and looked at his feet. "I mean, you were obviously good enough for this guy to target you. And I guess I'm glad that I helped take him down. It doesn't make up for my neglect but I hope you could have been proud of me too. 'Bye Katie"

He replaced his mask and helmet and walked up the hill to meet his friend, leaving a small bunch of flowers on the plot. The flowers' white petals fluttered in the breeze caused by the departing Cyclotrons of the SWAT Kats.

END

~Klawz