A reviewer pointed out that I made a BIG mistake in the characterization of
the Pastmaster and I wanna apologize. I feel really stupid. Its true that
the Pastmaster would not use energy guns. Without really thinking about it
I threw these in to help heighten the suspense, and now that I think about
it I should have used something else. I will defend myself on the cameras
though. I wrote it (although I guess I didn't make it quite clear) as the
cameras were security cameras ALREADY INSTALLED IN THE BUILDING. The
Pastmater used them (however grudgingly) to his advantage because they were
already there.
Having said all this I would like to point out that there is a nice disclaimer at the beginning of the story saying I didn't claim to remember any of the characterizations, and so they would pretty much be my own. I will admit my mistake though. I should have been smart enough to figure out that a bad guy with the name Pastmaster wouldn't be using futuristic type stuff.
Also, I would like to point out that because this story is published in serial form (one chapter released every now and then) I will not be making any changes to this version of the story to fix the mistake. If, however, I go on to publish this at another fan fiction site, or at a SWAT Kats site, I will make appropriate changes
Big thanks to the reviewer who pointed this out! (I think : )
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chris lay gasping for breath. She felt so weak. Her limbs were heavy and she wanted noting more than to fall asleep...maybe take a bath.
"How'r you doing?" Jake asked.
"Tired."
"The adrenaline spike just wore off. That's what the powerbar is for. You didn't lose it, did you?"
Chris grinned and pulled the slightly squished package out of her pocket. With shaking hands she tore it open and began eating, it tasted awful but she was grateful for it.
"Is this the only flavor? Tastes like sawdust."
"It was that or tile scum. Just relax a few minutes and you'll feel better."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
T-bone sighed as he whipped across the city. That was close.
The subway system wasn't operational yet, it was planned to be opened sometime next month. The trains had been built and furnished a few months ago and they were now in the last stages of testing. They were stored here an there in un opened stations around the city. The closet one was the main street station, near City Hall.
He came to a halt near the upper stories of City Hall and engaged the VTOL to lower the jet to the street. Something caught his eye as he descended. He turned just in time to see Callie cowering against her desk, turning away from some unseen danger.
'Callie' T-bone thought, 'gotta save Callie'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chris sat up feeling stronger. She stood and made her way towards the stairs. She pulled open the door and realized for the first time that she had 83 flights of stairs to descend. She sighed and started down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Callie looked from her smashed SWAT Kat alarm to the creature in front of her, some sort of dragon or dinosaur from the past. There was a fire extinguisher in the hall, if she could get to that then-
She didn't get a chance to finish her thought. Suddenly she found herself being pulled into the air and onto the shoulder of a large kat.
'T-bone!" she shouted because, well, it was the kind of thing you shouted when somebody saved you from lizards of the past. She would know. She found herself shouting things like this more often then she would like to imagine.
"Hello Ms. Briggs," he said easily as he shot a rocket from his glovatrix at the large, floor to ceiling window, smashing it.
He ran full speed towards the broken window and jumped out, landing on the wing of the Turbokat. The plane tilted sideways with the extra weight then righted it self when T-bone sat in the pilot seat, dropping Callie into the seat behind him.
He closed the hatch and flew off, narrowly avoiding the dinosaur jumping out the window after them.
"Thanks," Callie said.
"You know its no problem. And your racking up frequent flyer miles. Frequent flyer miles can be exchanged for valuable merchandise such as-"
"Where's Razor?" she interrupted, "Is he ok? I saw what happed on the news."
"He's a little banged up but otherwise ok. I made him stay at home though."
"What are you going to do about the Pastmaster."
"We're on it."
"We? But I thought you said that Razor was at home."
"It's a long story."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Razor I'm on the second floor," Chris said into the radio.
"Alright. Be careful," came Jakes response.
She pulled her gun and edged the door open. She saw a sparkling white hallway lined with wooden benches and security cameras. She took a moment to look at the pattern of the camera and realized with a little luck she would be able to move down the hall just outside of the cameras field of vision. Moving swiftly she made it to the end of the hall. From here the hallway turned left. She pressed herself against the wall and turned around the corner.
Suddenly a hard object slammed into her head and she fell to the ground. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a pair of black shoes then nothing.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ms. Briggs, where do you want me to drop you off?" T-bone asked.
Callie thought a second, "Where are you going?"
"To the subway. We have a plan."
"You need an access code to get down there. I'm coming with you."
T-bone didn't argue. He was running late already.
They landed and ran to the subway entrance. Sure enough it was sealed off. Callie punched a code in and the doors opened immediately. They jogged down the stairs into the subway.
"T-bone," Razors voice cracked over his head set, "Chris is almost in position. How's everything on your end?"
"Just getting down into the subway"
"Good. Now remember to...." Razors voice was lost in static.
T-bone halted, "Come again?"
Nothing but static.
"Razor I didn't copy that," T-bone took a few steps backwards.
Razors voice came flooding into the head set, "T-bone? T-bone do you copy?"
"I'm here. Your radios don't work as well as you say they do. Reception in the subway is going to be if-y."
"Oh-no."
"I'll contact you as soon as I can. Over and out."
He took off down the subway with Callie close behind.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chris opened her eyes to see a circle of blurry faces surrounding her vision. She blinked and squinted into the light. God her head hurt. What had happened?
"She's awake!" the voice sounded distant.
She shook her head, trying to bring everything into focus. "Where am I?" She asked groggily.
"Megakat towers," a male voice said, "I was looking for a way to escape when I came across you. I didn't realize you were a SWAT Kat. I'm very sorry."
Chris propped herself on one elbow and rubbed her head, "SWAT what?"
"A SWAT Kat. The clothes give it away."
"Oh, um. I'm not a SWAT Kat. I didn't quite make the cut."
"Who are you then?"
She sat all the way up and offered her hand to kat who was talking, "Names Chris," they shook hands, "I'm working with the SWAT Kats, one of them anyway. We have a plan to get you out of here. You are the hostages, right?"
The kat nodded.
"Who's in charge here?" Chris asked
"My name is Devin. I think the kat your looking for is over there, Mike. He's been keeping everybody's moral up and organizing a kind of defense."
Chris tried to stand but lost her balance and began to fall again, Deven caught her just in time. Good god her head hurt.
She took a moment to find her balance then thanked Deven and introduced herself to Mike.
He eyed her warily as they shook hands, "Tell me," he asked, "Are you a new member of the SWAT Kats? I was unaware that they were recruiting new members."
She sighed and briefly outlined who she was, then she filled him in on the escape plan.
He listened intently then asked, "How do I know I can trust you?"
She wasn't ready for that, "Um, well..." she said the first thing that came to mind, "I haven't shot you yet," she shrugged.
Mike laughed, "I suppose that's worth something."
"Besides, who else are you going to trust?"
Mike shrugged, "I guess I don't have any choice."
"How did you end up as hostages?"
"Office party. Were the only ones in the building."
"How many children?"
"Three. There were three anyway. The Pastmaster took one of the children and I can only assume the worst..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
T-bone forced the door to the subway train open then trotted into the cockpit. He looked at the array of buttons and levers in front of him.
"Any idea how to drive one of these things?"
Callie snorted, "Funny. I thought you were supposed to be the pilot."
"It can't be too hard. Lets see, lets start with...this button."
Lights flicked on in the passenger cars.
"That's a good start, now then, this is an electrically run subway so there must be something to press to make the contact," T-bone said as he looked for what to do next.
Callie leaned over and pressed a button, a low humming suddenly began beneath them. T-bone raised an eyebrow. Callie held up a book, "Training manual. Somebody must've left it in here by mistake," she flipped through the pages and pointed at various controls as she read, "Break, emergency break, blah blah blah, here we go. 'To accelerate, slowly press the acceleration lever forward.'"
T-bone pointed, "That's this?"
Callie nodded.
He put his hand on it, "Here goes nothing." He pushed it forward and the train began to lurch forward. There was just enough time for them to exchange a triumphant glance before the lights went out and they screeched to a halt.
"Crud!" T-bone shouted and slammed his fist down on the control panel. Immediately the lights came back on and the train began moving forward. He looked around in confusion then shot a lopsided grin an Callie.
Suddenly the train died again, screeching to a halt.
T-bone slammed his fist again, "Crud!"
Nothing happened.
He slammed again, "Crud!"
He slammed three times in rhythm to his shouting, "Crud! Crud! Crud!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ok," Chris said, "My partner, T-bone, the real SWAT Kat behind all this is going to meet us in the subway. He's probably down there as we speak. All we have to do is get from up here to down there. What can you tell me about what kind of surveillance you're under?"
"There are a few cameras out in the hall, you probably saw them on your way in,"
Chris nodded.
"It's a simple matter to get one or two people by them but as many people as we have-"
"How many are there?"
"Fifty-two. There is also a guard, a pair of dragon-things, who come around every twenty minutes or so. They came and went just before you woke up."
"Any idea why they don't stay?"
"No. I've been trying to work that out myself. How do you propose we get everybody down the hallway?"
Chris grinned, "That's the beauty of it. We don't go down the hallway."
Mike raised an eyebrow.
"I've seen the blueprints of this building. There's a fire escape," she stood and looked around, "there. It drops right down into the subway."
"I've thought of that. The problem is we can't open that door without setting off the fire alarm."
"Hold on a sec, Mike," she spoke into the radio, "Razor? Can you help me? I need to know how to turn off a fire alarm."
*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
T-bones legs stuck out from underneath the console. Callie leaned over and held a flashlight, shining a blast of light into the dark space.
T-bone was mumbling something about badly done wiring.
"Can you fix it?" Callie asked.
"Sure, but its going to take some time," he paused, tinkering and yanking on the wires, "You don't have a pair of wire cutters by chance, do you?"
"Sure," Callie said sarcastically, "I keep an extra pair in my purse."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Alrighty," Razor's voice cracked over the radio, "Just disconnect the main transfer line from the transformer box..."
"Do the what-huh to the what-y what out of the what now?" Chris said staring in confusion at the control panel in front of her.
"Yank the green wire out of the little black box."
"Oh, right," Chris yanked the green wire, "Why didn't you just say so? Mike!" she called across the room, "The fire alarm is off."
Mike jogged across the room, "Are you sure?"
"Only one way to find out," she put her hand on the bar, closing her eyes she pressed it open. It clicked softly. "Success!" Chris grinned, "No alarms, no flashing lights. I did something right!"
"You don't instill much confidence."
She smirked, "I thought that was your job."
"And I do it well. Everybody's ready to go. I split everybody into 5 groups of about 10, each with one leader. We'll all move together of course, but this keeps everything a little more organized. You'll be in front, leading the way. My group will bring up the rear, we're the fighters. The guard came and went while you were working on the door, so if we go now, we'll be long gone before they know whats up."
"Lets hope."
Mike turned to the crowd, "Alright folks! Lets move out."
The crowd pushed forward with eager enthusiasm. They were ready to be out of there.
The trip down three flights of stairs went quickly and without a hitch. Coming to the bottom of the stairs, that was the hitch. The bottom landing opened into a large hallway. Chris jogged down in and found a door. She grabbed the handle and pulled. It didn't open. She pushed, it still didn't open. She swore and kicked it. In frustration she pulled her gun and shot at the lock. Holstering her gun she grabbed the handle and shook. Still the thing remained firmly closed
"Uh, Razor," Chris said into the radio, "I've hit a slight snag."
"Whats that?"
"A very large, very thick, and very locked door."
"Have you tried shooting it?"
"Of course I shot it, this is me we're talking about. The thing is built to withstand bombs."
"What kind of lock?"
"I dunno, there's a keypad. Electronic I guess
There was a stirring in the hall behind her, she whirled around to find a tall kat standing behind her, "Chris," he panted, "Mike says to tell you that they're onto us. The guards are right behind us on the stairwell. We've managed to lock them on the first floor landing, but they're not going to stay there for long."
"Tell Mike to hold them as long as he can, the door to the subway is locked."
The tall kat ran back through the crowd. A young kat with white fur stepped forward, "Is there anything I can do?"
"No. Wait, yes. See if there are any other ways to get down here and if there are then seal them off. Shove whatever you can through the door handles, pile stuff against it, whatever you have to do."
The kat nodded and ran off, taking another kat with him.
"Razor, tell me how to get through this door..."
"I'm working on it..." came his stressed reply.
There was a banging and clattering down the hall. Chris turned around to see two young kat running down the hall shouting, "They found another way in! They found another way in! We couldn't keep them back!"
"Razor! Door! Now!"
"I'm working on it!"
"Work faster!" the first of the dragon things came around the corner, "Faster Razor! We've got company!"
Having said all this I would like to point out that there is a nice disclaimer at the beginning of the story saying I didn't claim to remember any of the characterizations, and so they would pretty much be my own. I will admit my mistake though. I should have been smart enough to figure out that a bad guy with the name Pastmaster wouldn't be using futuristic type stuff.
Also, I would like to point out that because this story is published in serial form (one chapter released every now and then) I will not be making any changes to this version of the story to fix the mistake. If, however, I go on to publish this at another fan fiction site, or at a SWAT Kats site, I will make appropriate changes
Big thanks to the reviewer who pointed this out! (I think : )
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chris lay gasping for breath. She felt so weak. Her limbs were heavy and she wanted noting more than to fall asleep...maybe take a bath.
"How'r you doing?" Jake asked.
"Tired."
"The adrenaline spike just wore off. That's what the powerbar is for. You didn't lose it, did you?"
Chris grinned and pulled the slightly squished package out of her pocket. With shaking hands she tore it open and began eating, it tasted awful but she was grateful for it.
"Is this the only flavor? Tastes like sawdust."
"It was that or tile scum. Just relax a few minutes and you'll feel better."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
T-bone sighed as he whipped across the city. That was close.
The subway system wasn't operational yet, it was planned to be opened sometime next month. The trains had been built and furnished a few months ago and they were now in the last stages of testing. They were stored here an there in un opened stations around the city. The closet one was the main street station, near City Hall.
He came to a halt near the upper stories of City Hall and engaged the VTOL to lower the jet to the street. Something caught his eye as he descended. He turned just in time to see Callie cowering against her desk, turning away from some unseen danger.
'Callie' T-bone thought, 'gotta save Callie'
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chris sat up feeling stronger. She stood and made her way towards the stairs. She pulled open the door and realized for the first time that she had 83 flights of stairs to descend. She sighed and started down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Callie looked from her smashed SWAT Kat alarm to the creature in front of her, some sort of dragon or dinosaur from the past. There was a fire extinguisher in the hall, if she could get to that then-
She didn't get a chance to finish her thought. Suddenly she found herself being pulled into the air and onto the shoulder of a large kat.
'T-bone!" she shouted because, well, it was the kind of thing you shouted when somebody saved you from lizards of the past. She would know. She found herself shouting things like this more often then she would like to imagine.
"Hello Ms. Briggs," he said easily as he shot a rocket from his glovatrix at the large, floor to ceiling window, smashing it.
He ran full speed towards the broken window and jumped out, landing on the wing of the Turbokat. The plane tilted sideways with the extra weight then righted it self when T-bone sat in the pilot seat, dropping Callie into the seat behind him.
He closed the hatch and flew off, narrowly avoiding the dinosaur jumping out the window after them.
"Thanks," Callie said.
"You know its no problem. And your racking up frequent flyer miles. Frequent flyer miles can be exchanged for valuable merchandise such as-"
"Where's Razor?" she interrupted, "Is he ok? I saw what happed on the news."
"He's a little banged up but otherwise ok. I made him stay at home though."
"What are you going to do about the Pastmaster."
"We're on it."
"We? But I thought you said that Razor was at home."
"It's a long story."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Razor I'm on the second floor," Chris said into the radio.
"Alright. Be careful," came Jakes response.
She pulled her gun and edged the door open. She saw a sparkling white hallway lined with wooden benches and security cameras. She took a moment to look at the pattern of the camera and realized with a little luck she would be able to move down the hall just outside of the cameras field of vision. Moving swiftly she made it to the end of the hall. From here the hallway turned left. She pressed herself against the wall and turned around the corner.
Suddenly a hard object slammed into her head and she fell to the ground. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a pair of black shoes then nothing.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ms. Briggs, where do you want me to drop you off?" T-bone asked.
Callie thought a second, "Where are you going?"
"To the subway. We have a plan."
"You need an access code to get down there. I'm coming with you."
T-bone didn't argue. He was running late already.
They landed and ran to the subway entrance. Sure enough it was sealed off. Callie punched a code in and the doors opened immediately. They jogged down the stairs into the subway.
"T-bone," Razors voice cracked over his head set, "Chris is almost in position. How's everything on your end?"
"Just getting down into the subway"
"Good. Now remember to...." Razors voice was lost in static.
T-bone halted, "Come again?"
Nothing but static.
"Razor I didn't copy that," T-bone took a few steps backwards.
Razors voice came flooding into the head set, "T-bone? T-bone do you copy?"
"I'm here. Your radios don't work as well as you say they do. Reception in the subway is going to be if-y."
"Oh-no."
"I'll contact you as soon as I can. Over and out."
He took off down the subway with Callie close behind.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chris opened her eyes to see a circle of blurry faces surrounding her vision. She blinked and squinted into the light. God her head hurt. What had happened?
"She's awake!" the voice sounded distant.
She shook her head, trying to bring everything into focus. "Where am I?" She asked groggily.
"Megakat towers," a male voice said, "I was looking for a way to escape when I came across you. I didn't realize you were a SWAT Kat. I'm very sorry."
Chris propped herself on one elbow and rubbed her head, "SWAT what?"
"A SWAT Kat. The clothes give it away."
"Oh, um. I'm not a SWAT Kat. I didn't quite make the cut."
"Who are you then?"
She sat all the way up and offered her hand to kat who was talking, "Names Chris," they shook hands, "I'm working with the SWAT Kats, one of them anyway. We have a plan to get you out of here. You are the hostages, right?"
The kat nodded.
"Who's in charge here?" Chris asked
"My name is Devin. I think the kat your looking for is over there, Mike. He's been keeping everybody's moral up and organizing a kind of defense."
Chris tried to stand but lost her balance and began to fall again, Deven caught her just in time. Good god her head hurt.
She took a moment to find her balance then thanked Deven and introduced herself to Mike.
He eyed her warily as they shook hands, "Tell me," he asked, "Are you a new member of the SWAT Kats? I was unaware that they were recruiting new members."
She sighed and briefly outlined who she was, then she filled him in on the escape plan.
He listened intently then asked, "How do I know I can trust you?"
She wasn't ready for that, "Um, well..." she said the first thing that came to mind, "I haven't shot you yet," she shrugged.
Mike laughed, "I suppose that's worth something."
"Besides, who else are you going to trust?"
Mike shrugged, "I guess I don't have any choice."
"How did you end up as hostages?"
"Office party. Were the only ones in the building."
"How many children?"
"Three. There were three anyway. The Pastmaster took one of the children and I can only assume the worst..."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
T-bone forced the door to the subway train open then trotted into the cockpit. He looked at the array of buttons and levers in front of him.
"Any idea how to drive one of these things?"
Callie snorted, "Funny. I thought you were supposed to be the pilot."
"It can't be too hard. Lets see, lets start with...this button."
Lights flicked on in the passenger cars.
"That's a good start, now then, this is an electrically run subway so there must be something to press to make the contact," T-bone said as he looked for what to do next.
Callie leaned over and pressed a button, a low humming suddenly began beneath them. T-bone raised an eyebrow. Callie held up a book, "Training manual. Somebody must've left it in here by mistake," she flipped through the pages and pointed at various controls as she read, "Break, emergency break, blah blah blah, here we go. 'To accelerate, slowly press the acceleration lever forward.'"
T-bone pointed, "That's this?"
Callie nodded.
He put his hand on it, "Here goes nothing." He pushed it forward and the train began to lurch forward. There was just enough time for them to exchange a triumphant glance before the lights went out and they screeched to a halt.
"Crud!" T-bone shouted and slammed his fist down on the control panel. Immediately the lights came back on and the train began moving forward. He looked around in confusion then shot a lopsided grin an Callie.
Suddenly the train died again, screeching to a halt.
T-bone slammed his fist again, "Crud!"
Nothing happened.
He slammed again, "Crud!"
He slammed three times in rhythm to his shouting, "Crud! Crud! Crud!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ok," Chris said, "My partner, T-bone, the real SWAT Kat behind all this is going to meet us in the subway. He's probably down there as we speak. All we have to do is get from up here to down there. What can you tell me about what kind of surveillance you're under?"
"There are a few cameras out in the hall, you probably saw them on your way in,"
Chris nodded.
"It's a simple matter to get one or two people by them but as many people as we have-"
"How many are there?"
"Fifty-two. There is also a guard, a pair of dragon-things, who come around every twenty minutes or so. They came and went just before you woke up."
"Any idea why they don't stay?"
"No. I've been trying to work that out myself. How do you propose we get everybody down the hallway?"
Chris grinned, "That's the beauty of it. We don't go down the hallway."
Mike raised an eyebrow.
"I've seen the blueprints of this building. There's a fire escape," she stood and looked around, "there. It drops right down into the subway."
"I've thought of that. The problem is we can't open that door without setting off the fire alarm."
"Hold on a sec, Mike," she spoke into the radio, "Razor? Can you help me? I need to know how to turn off a fire alarm."
*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
T-bones legs stuck out from underneath the console. Callie leaned over and held a flashlight, shining a blast of light into the dark space.
T-bone was mumbling something about badly done wiring.
"Can you fix it?" Callie asked.
"Sure, but its going to take some time," he paused, tinkering and yanking on the wires, "You don't have a pair of wire cutters by chance, do you?"
"Sure," Callie said sarcastically, "I keep an extra pair in my purse."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Alrighty," Razor's voice cracked over the radio, "Just disconnect the main transfer line from the transformer box..."
"Do the what-huh to the what-y what out of the what now?" Chris said staring in confusion at the control panel in front of her.
"Yank the green wire out of the little black box."
"Oh, right," Chris yanked the green wire, "Why didn't you just say so? Mike!" she called across the room, "The fire alarm is off."
Mike jogged across the room, "Are you sure?"
"Only one way to find out," she put her hand on the bar, closing her eyes she pressed it open. It clicked softly. "Success!" Chris grinned, "No alarms, no flashing lights. I did something right!"
"You don't instill much confidence."
She smirked, "I thought that was your job."
"And I do it well. Everybody's ready to go. I split everybody into 5 groups of about 10, each with one leader. We'll all move together of course, but this keeps everything a little more organized. You'll be in front, leading the way. My group will bring up the rear, we're the fighters. The guard came and went while you were working on the door, so if we go now, we'll be long gone before they know whats up."
"Lets hope."
Mike turned to the crowd, "Alright folks! Lets move out."
The crowd pushed forward with eager enthusiasm. They were ready to be out of there.
The trip down three flights of stairs went quickly and without a hitch. Coming to the bottom of the stairs, that was the hitch. The bottom landing opened into a large hallway. Chris jogged down in and found a door. She grabbed the handle and pulled. It didn't open. She pushed, it still didn't open. She swore and kicked it. In frustration she pulled her gun and shot at the lock. Holstering her gun she grabbed the handle and shook. Still the thing remained firmly closed
"Uh, Razor," Chris said into the radio, "I've hit a slight snag."
"Whats that?"
"A very large, very thick, and very locked door."
"Have you tried shooting it?"
"Of course I shot it, this is me we're talking about. The thing is built to withstand bombs."
"What kind of lock?"
"I dunno, there's a keypad. Electronic I guess
There was a stirring in the hall behind her, she whirled around to find a tall kat standing behind her, "Chris," he panted, "Mike says to tell you that they're onto us. The guards are right behind us on the stairwell. We've managed to lock them on the first floor landing, but they're not going to stay there for long."
"Tell Mike to hold them as long as he can, the door to the subway is locked."
The tall kat ran back through the crowd. A young kat with white fur stepped forward, "Is there anything I can do?"
"No. Wait, yes. See if there are any other ways to get down here and if there are then seal them off. Shove whatever you can through the door handles, pile stuff against it, whatever you have to do."
The kat nodded and ran off, taking another kat with him.
"Razor, tell me how to get through this door..."
"I'm working on it..." came his stressed reply.
There was a banging and clattering down the hall. Chris turned around to see two young kat running down the hall shouting, "They found another way in! They found another way in! We couldn't keep them back!"
"Razor! Door! Now!"
"I'm working on it!"
"Work faster!" the first of the dragon things came around the corner, "Faster Razor! We've got company!"