Author's note: Wow, I got so many reviews! Thank you everyone! Special hugs for Red Witch, Sparky Genocide, asha-man72, Theodore Hawkwood, L1701E, Raliena, GothikStrawberry, and Prophet-Song! Reviews make my day, you know! And special thanks to asha-man72 for pointing out the mistake of spelling "Jamie" with "Jaime"! ACK! I'll fix that in the earlier chapters eventually, but for now, I hope you all enjoy this chapter (that is, if you don't try to shoot me first!)

CHAPTER 3: Tale of Woe

Kurt then also gasped upon the revelation the minute it left Jamie's lips, muttering in shock, "Mein Gott!"

Jake suddenly had the most peculiar look on his face, and Jamie wasn't sure he would ever forget it. It was an odd yet brilliant mixture of horror, fear, confusion…and anger. And the anger was now starting to manifest into the primary feeling coursing through the kat's mind. Before anyone could stop him, Jake growled with an animalistic pitch, untamed and dangerous, as he rushed immediately towards the young adolescent and grabbed him roughly by the collar, and Jamie whimpered under the wrathful gaze of suspicion from Jake's glowing eyes.

"How the hell did you know my identity?" Jake rumbled roughly. Jamie was too frightened to even answer as he looked into the pools of anger and suspicion in Jake's brown pupils.

"Put him down! NOW!" Ray snapped warningly, instinctively protective, as he readied his powers and alongside him, Tabitha was forming a miniature energy bomb while Roberto clenched his hand into a fist. Yet Kurt then leapt in front of them in warning, trying to stop his friends from doing anything drastic.

"Wait! Don't hurt Jake! For God's sake, don't!"

"Are you mad? Can't you see he's going to hurt Jamie?" Piotr snapped heatedly, ready to shove Nightcrawler out of the way and grab Jake by the scruff of his furry neck.

Kurt then hurriedly begged them, his hands clasped in front of his body in a pleading manner, "Keine Chance! Jake won't hurt us! He's a good guy, he's a hero! He's just shocked that we know who he really is when we're complete strangers!"

Rogue however, wasn't having it, and she growled while tugging at the fingered-fabric of her gloves while menacingly stalking up to the kat, "Get your mitts off Jamie or the gloves come off, you flea-ridden hairball!"

"Just shut up! All of you! JUST SHUT UP!" bellowed Jake, snarling like a rabid, cornered cat, his fangs gleaming. It was pretty clear he was now close to having a mental breakdown due to the fear and stress of it all. He then roughly started shaking Jamie, his voice thick with emotion and rage.

"HOW THE HELLKATS DID YOU KNOW WHO I WAS? WHO ARE YOU? ARE YOU SPIES FOR DARK KAT? FOR FERAL? TELL ME OR SO HELP ME, I'LL WRING YOUR LITTLE NECK!"

"That's it!" Rogue warned as she made a move to extend her bare hand towards Jake's furred face, but then Jake automatically nudged the mouth of his glovatrix weapon to the fleshy part of Jamie's neck, right underneath the child's chin, plain for everyone to see. If the weapon discharged a shot, Multiple wouldn't survive.

"Back off!" he threatened, his narrowed eyes darting to Rogue and the others, not taking any chances, "Make any sudden moves, and the kid dies!"

Now the entire team of X-Men, save Storm and Beast and Professor Xavier, all three of whom were tending Amara and Sam, were now incensed and starting to gang up on the kat for the menacing intimidation. Jamie desperately grasped Jake's wrists, begging urgently, "Jake, it's not what you think! We're not spies for Dark Kat or Feral! We're not going to betray you! Please, just trust us!"

"Trust you? I don't even know you freaks!" Jake pointed out vehemently.

Kitty, phase through the ground discreetly, without letting Jake know, and extract Jamie from his grip, Jean telepathically told Kitty in her mind surreptitiously, once the both of you are clear, we'll be free to restrain him and take him down!

No! Kitty, Jean, let Jamie talk to Jake. It would be far better for the long run if we can show that there's no reason to mistrust us, that we are not his enemies, Professor Xavier responded as a telepathic intervention.

"But Professor, Jake will, like, kill Jamie!" Kitty urgently hissed. The X-Men mentor shook his head, convinced.

I sensed his mind, Kitty. Despite what he says, Jake will not harm young Multiple. Regardless of this assurance, Jean, Kitty and Scott were greatly convinced.

Meanwhile, Jake was still trying to keep the rest of the X-Men at bay while, at the same time, maintaining his grip on young Jamie as a hostage. It was an extremely shaky moment, and it could end in a very ugly and messy finale. The brown kat hissed at the child in his claws, "Just who the hell are you all? How is it that you know so damn much about me then?"

Kurt then tried calming Razor down by saying, "Jake, please, for God's sake, don't do anything you or Chance will regret!"

Unfortunately, that seemed to be exactly the wrong thing to say, especially since at the mention of Chance's name, Jake became even more infuriated as he viciously dug the weapon of the glovatrix into Jamie's neck, bruising the adolescent's skin.

Jake repeated, froth building in his mouth, "Just who the hell are you?"

Jamie was now pained to see angry tears running down Jake's face.

Multiple then truthfully answered, "We're…we're the X-Men, a group of heroes from another…another dimension and, I…we know who you are because…well, where we come from, you and Chance were on a TV show called 'SWAT Kats: the Radical Squadron'. In our world, you two were fantasy heroes of a TV show, and the show displayed all your adventures you had trying to protect Megakat City as a vigilante team. That…that's how I knew. It just came to me: Feral, the Enforcers, the name 'Megakat City', and Chance, your partner…those were all things I remembered from the cartoon when I watched you guys. That's how come I realized who you really were."

Jake desperately tried to look into the kid's eyes to see if Jamie was lying, but the kid was sincerely serious. And that made it all the more harder to Jake to believe, to accept. For several quiet seconds, Jake and Jamie just kept staring at each other in disbelief and awe.

The SWAT Kat was numb with embarrassment and incredulity as he gently let go of the mutant child. Jamie, sputtering from the lessening of pressure on his neck, stumbled back a bit, but he was all right. All the other X-Men in the room slightly relaxed, though Rogue, Remy, and Logan still all looked as if they wanted to beat the snot out of Jake regardless. The kat asked in extreme disbelief, unwilling to take it in, "I…I was a TV show character?"

The other X-Men were now gaping at Jamie with crinkled brows and wide eyes. They weren't sure if this was funny or downright weird…even by their standards.

Kurt then nodded delicately, emphasizing, "Jamie is right. I remember it too. I watched that show obsessively while growing up. And…if it was any consolation, you guys were pretty popular. 'SWAT Kats' was a pretty big hit for a while. It showed everything about your lives: how you and Chance were friends with Callie Briggs and Felina, Feral's niece, how you two were demoted to the salvage yard and sent to work off the debt for the destruction of the Enforcer building that you were unfairly blamed for, and how you guys protected the city by fighting against villains as masked vigilantes. It…it even showed some private things like how Chance never learned to swim, and how Chance was a fan of the TV show 'Scaredy Kat', and how the both of you loved to eat Mongo chili peppers as a contest."

Jake stiffened; despite the best investigative reports from the news…only he and Chance knew of such trivial facts. Not even Feral and Callie knew of such private in their lives. So if these aliens knew such details about his life, then that meant the things Jamie said about him, about his friends…were true.

"I…I don't believe this," Jake murmured in a daze as his body heavily slumped against the brick wall, allowing him to sit weakly on the floor, his gaze falling on the floor in dead shock.

"Merde, could you ever imagine what would happen if our lives was a TV show?" Remy murmured at the idea. Rogue rolled her eyes at her Cajun boyfriend. (See Author's notes)

"Oh yeah right, swamp-rat! You might as well imagine that we're a famous science-fiction fantasy series that's generated millions of adulatin' fans who have nothing better to do than obsess over our adventures while you're already dreaming!"

"Well, it's possible!" Remy defended his belief, "After all, that was what happened when we went to Mojo's dimension, and we found out we were a popular entertainment show in his world!"

"Yeah, and we're in hundreds of comic books, fan websites, merchandise, video games in other dimensions as well," Roberto sarcastically added, "And the TV show about us is called 'X-Men'."

"More like 'The Uncanny X-Men', young Da Costa," Beast smiled half-heartedly as he was tending to Sam's bullet wound rather unsuccessfully, trying his best to stop Sam's bleeding with a torn piece of his sweater.

"How about 'X-Men: Evolution'? It seems to have kind of a ring to it," Bobby piped up eagerly, but Jean swatted her teammate's head in annoyance.

"Stop being so silly! That's the stupidest name I've heard yet! And will you guys stop this? Can't you see it's a little hard for Jake to be hearing this right now?"

Jake was still stunned and morose as he looked at the floor, unsure what to do next. Then whimpering of pain broke the lull in the conversation as Amara was trying to not to wince, tears running down her eyes, as Forge and Ororo were cutting away at her pant leg in order to expose the bullet wound on her outer thigh. It was a gruesome sight. The perfectly, bloody hole was lined with ragged edges of flesh, and though the bleeding had slowed down, the injury was still wet and flowing. And the metal object was still embedded into Amara's hip, and any movement of her left leg caused the shrapnel to excruciatingly jar against her muscle and bone, making it difficult for her to move, much less walk.

"How bad is it?" Amara sobbed in pain.

"Not too bad, but serious nonetheless," Hank sighed as he soon discovered that they needed better materials to help patch up Sam and Amara's injuries from the Enforcers. Sam had the bullet pass right through his body, but it left a messy and large exit wound from his back, and the gaping hole needed to stitched up. Quickly.

"They'll need a hospital," murmured Scott worriedly.

Bobby scoffed, sarcastically pointing out, "Oh yeah, and never mind the fact that we've got hundreds of trigger-happy police cats who wouldn't mind shooting us full of lead before we can get treatment at any hospital in this city we can waltz into, regardless that we're freakish aliens in this dimension!"

"Can't we just heal them or something?" Ray asked in dread, "We could just get Lifeline from the Joes and…!"

Everyone gave Ray a deadpanned look of exasperation. Ray blankly looked back the sea of faces before he then caught on how stupid that suggestion was for obvious reasons.

"Sorry, I forgot," the electric mutant muttered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in an awkward fashion.

Jake looked on, troubled, at the two injured mutant teenagers before he briskly dashed over to a corner of the room before removing a smelly tarp draped over an odd bundle. With a grunt, the kat pullet out a huge duffel-bag decked in the military colors of black, green, and brown along with (surprisingly) the Enforcer insignia on its sides.

"Here," the kat said gently as he handed Hank the first-aid kit along with some potent medicines, "you can use this military medical kit to help your friends. I'm not sure about your kind's physiology and such, but it's better to risk it than wait for their gunshot wounds to grow worse."

Beast opened the duffel-bag gratefully, and to his relief and delight, some of the medicines were of the same types used back at the X-Mansion in their medical bay back in the human world, especially some of the vital ones such as the antibiotic penicillin and local anesthetics, lidocaine and procaine along with epinephrine. And along with vast, plastic bottles of saline and IV packets, there was an endless plethora of medical supplies such as bandages, sterile pads, gauze, syringes, and even a hemostat and a stethoscope.

"Thank you, my friend," Beast said with infinite thanks as he and Forge dove into the supplies and Storm prepared a syringe of epinephrine to slow down Amara's bleeding.

While Storm and Beast starting using the kit to treat Sam and Amara's gunshot wounds, Jake then narrowed his eyes at Professor Xavier, still suspicious (and who could blame him).

The brown kat then said in a hard voice, "All right…say that for a moment, I was actually dumb enough to accept what the kid, Jamie, told me was true. Say that for the moment, I'll be willing to believe you aren't trying to kill me or are part of some sophisticated plot by Feral or Dark Crud to draw me out into the open with my guard down. Then tell me what in my nine lives are you doing here and who the hell are you people."

"Does that mean you trust us, bub?" Logan rumbled lowly, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Tell me the truth, the whole story, and I'll decide on that. After all, it's a little unfair where I'm standing that you humans seem to know so much about my personal life, and yet I seem to know absolutely zilch on yours," Jake shot back rudely.

"Logan…" Professor Xavier said in a warning tone as he sensed Wolverine stiffening at the kat's comment, preventing another fight from breaking out. In a calm voice, Xavier then narrated to Jake everything he safely could.

For the past half-hour, Jake heard Professor X tell him about the X-Men and their world, on how in their dimension, they too were in the middle of a war of survival back on their planet. Humans and mutants, two separate species born from the same human lineage, grew fearful and abhorrent of each other back on their home planet, Earth, and the X-Men were a team the Professor created to establish peace between both groups. From what the awed Jake could comprehend, the mutant race were humans born of the genetic ability to do what normal homo sapiens could not, blessing and cursing them with great powers, some of which Jake could not even imagine were even possible.

Razor then also learned each of the individual members of the X-Men, their names, the aliases, and their respective powers. He learned of the structure of the team, with the main X-Men team being separate from the lesser-trained and younger team members, the New Mutants. Even though he had witnessed some of these things during the battle of the Enforcers back at the city hours ago, it was still a wondrous and mystifying sight to see such displays up close and in detail. Jake was especially awed with the mutant powers of Storm, Forge, Bezerker, Rogue, and surprisingly enough, Multiple. Jake even managed to let out a suppressed chuckle when he learned that Lockheed was not a mutant but actually Kitty's pet, baby dragon. The smile on his face actually uplifted Jake and made him seem more softened, more human, a sure reminiscence of Jake's happier times.

Professor X then told Jake more about the war, the one that the X-Men were directly in the middle of and their purpose and role in the battle of survival. Jake listened and learned about the Hellfire Club, Magneto, Trask and the Sentinels, and the various groups of anti-mutant propaganda from Creed and his Friends of Humanity to the Stryker and the Purifiers to the Church of Humanity to H.A.T.E. Razor frowned as he heard this, not sure if he was going to completely take the Professor's biased opinion as the entire truth, but for now, the sage mentor seemed sincere and honest enough.

Razor was quiet as the Professor finished his tale. It was easy to declare it all as pure fantasy, something that couldn't possibly be real. Yet throughout all his times as a SWAT Kat, Razor had seen and witnessed things much, much odder than this. He sighed before replying, "To tell you X-Men the truth, I don't know what to believe anymore. I mean, can't you see where I'm standing? You're asking me to go along with the idea that there are parallel universes opposed to mine, that there are other worlds out there and that by some sort of freak accident, you all came here to my dimension. It's a little too much to take in at once. Yet…one thing I can say for certain is that none of you appear to be evil and a threat to national security. So I'll believe you when you say you guys aren't meant to cause any danger and just want to find a way back to your own world again. You aren't evil. You're annoying pains-in-the-tail, yes…but not evil."

Logan didn't miss the snide smirk Jake shot directly at him when he added that last part, and he had to furiously remind himself that for the kids' sakes to not overreact to the person who helped saved their lives.

Bobby then asked, "Hey, do you know where we can find some of the parts Forge needs for the alternator? Maybe you can help lead us to some lab or some research facility that has enough advanced technology stuff that we can easily use to fix our only ticket back home!"

Kurt was deeply thinking before the idea came to him, blurting out loud, "Mein Gott! Wait a minute! There is a place! Jake, can you lead us to Puma-Dyne?"

The kat's eyes widened as he exclaimed in surprise, "Holy kats! How'd you know about...?"

Remy then smirked, "Kurt and Jamie watched the TV show, remember, homme? I guess it might have shown the SWAT Kats escapades there, no?"

Jake shot Kurt a disconcerted look before he shook his head, saying, "It's too risky, though. With Feral and his Enforcers patrolling Megakat City and being on the lookout for us, to go out now just when those Enforcers are still geared up from fighting you X-Men would endanger everyone. Not to mention Dark Kat and his 'Invincible Alliance of Evil' would have gotten wind of this by now and would also be on the lookout for you guys…and for me."

Ororo then persisted, "But there is a chance that institution can help us, isn't there? There's a chance we could all be safe there and seek the help we could get, for both the students and for the alternator device that can bring us back home."

Razor nodded half-heartedly.

"Can you help us then? Could you show us the way there?" begged Jean, "Please, Jake, we need help, and if left untreated, Sam and Amara could possibly die. And we need to go back home. Will you help us?"

"Jake, please? We need help, and we can't depend on anyone else," Jamie added with puppy-dog eyes. Lockheed, in a very rare display of affection, then whimpered in its lizard-like raspy growling as it flew down next to Jake and caressed its head against the kat's legs, nuzzling against the SWAT Kat pleadingly.

Jake didn't say anything as he looked at Jean, looked at the X-Men, and then looked at the injured Sam and Amara. He didn't want to get further involved. He didn't want to put himself back on the line for these strangers. Why the hell did he even help them in the first place? Why didn't he just ignore their plight and tell himself that it was no concern of his?

Jake felt himself mentally kicking his own rear-end for his earlier, brash, stupidity.

With the smallest of movements, Jake nodded, saying shortly, "We'll leave in the early morning, before dawn."

"Thank you, Jake," Professor Xavier said gratefully as the relieved X-Men smiled back at the SWAT Kat. Razor then turned to Multiple.

"And Jamie…I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to grab you like that earlier, to threaten you," Jake humbly and gently apologized.

Jamie nodded, automatically forgiving, but then he asked hesitantly, "Jake, where's…where's Chance?"

Jake's face fell at this question, his eyes glazed with the look of a lost, homeless, and helpless child. Scott then leaned over and whispered to Kurt, "Who's Chance?"

Kurt, having an inkling of what happened, replied sorrowfully, "Chance was another SWAT Kat, Jake's partner in crime-fighting. In the cartoon, both he and Chance fought together against the bad guys to protect this city as a vigilante team. They're like the X-Men, but they use gadgets and weaponry instead of mutant powers, and it's just the two of them…or at least it used to be."

Jean felt tears spring up to her green eyes when she too guessed the truth, remembering how she and the Professor sensed Jake's mind earlier.

Jake then let out a strangled sob from his throat before he choked out his answer, not bothering to look at Jamie.

"Chance is dead."

Kurt felt his pity and sadness for Jake increase ten-fold as he murmured, "Dear Father in heaven…"

"Goddess," whispered Ororo to herself instinctively. Even though she had never watched the show or have known much about the friendship between Chance and Jake well, the death of any living creature was always a tragedy.

Piotr then knelt down and placed a hand on Jake's right shoulder, kindly saying, "Jake…I'm sorry for your loss. We all are, even though we don't know you very well, and we all really don't have a reason to give grievance. But our condolences to you…"

"I don't need your pity," Jake said coldly as he lightly brushed off Piotr's hand from his shoulder, "And even if I did, you strangers are the only ones, which makes me even more pathetic. Except for Callie and possibly Felina, the rest of Megakat City couldn't care less if Chance and I lived or died. Feral made sure of that."

Roberto seated himself on the floor, his legs crossed Indian-sitting style, before asking gently, "What exactly happened, Jake? Was Chance killed by one of your enemies, one of those bad guys that were always trying to destroy or rule over the city?"

Jake paused a bit, not sure if he was entirely comfortable with baring his soul to a group of completely alien life-forms from another dimension. The SWAT Kat was obviously wrestling with the decision, frowning at the thought of trusting the X-Men. The mutants respectfully waited in silence.

Jake then spoke, hot tears welling up in his eyes, as he spoke, the memories suddenly ruthlessly playing through his head like a demented video player…

"Missiles…AWAY!" shouted Razor as the Turbokat jet fired off a volley of missiles directly at the huge, gargantuan mummies controlled by Pastmaster. The yellow torpedoes, stenciled with the message, "With Love, From Razor" in black spray-paint hurled themselves at the bandaged behemoths, exploding on contact with a fury of power. Yet to Razor and T-Bone's dismay, the mummies barely had a scratch on them as they continued to charge directly for the city, demolishing everything they could with their massive strength. Even the arsenal of the Enforcer jets and tanks weren't helping much.

"Holy kats! It didn't even phase them! The Pastmaster and Dark Crud must be using another power source than the pyramid to control these things!" gasped T-Bone as he narrowly avoided the iron mace of one mummy sentinel.

"Nothing's working!" moaned Razor, checking the list of missiles leftover, only to find that they had exhausted their entire supply, "The spider-chain missiles, the bolo missiles, the drop tops, the banshee missiles, the Turbo blades…we used everything! And yet nothing works! The Metallikats couldn't even be knocked over, and Dr. Viper's mutated vines that are sprouting from the city and tearing apart the buildings couldn't ever be scratched from the piranha missiles we built!"

"It's like Dark Kat and his goons got some sort of invincibility power-up, like in those video games we play!" cursed T-Bone, "Fur and tail, things can't get much worse!"

Like clockwork, the engines of the Turbokat suddenly died, ceasing their ascent in the skies, and along with it died every single computer and electronic device in the jet. Without any propulsion, the Turbokat toppled like a stone.

"Quick, bail out!" T-Bone yelled despite the increasing G-forces of free-fall.

"I can't! Everything's jammed! And I don't know how!" cried out Razor in panic, baffled at the sudden lack of response from the jet's computer. Undaunted, Chance leaned back and punched through the glass covering of the jet, his hand scratched and bleeding, leaving a gaping hole though the roof big enough for T-Bone and Razor to pull themselves out before using their grappling hooks from their glovatrix apparatuses to snag onto a nearby building safely. T-Bone mourned for the loss as he helplessly watched the Turbokat crash into the ground, exploding on contact and disappearing in a flaming whirlwind. From a distance, Razor growled as he spotted the kat, Hard-Drive, gleefully throwing the SWAT Kats an obscene gesture while holding on the Vertigo Beam, the same weapon Turmoil used to render jets useless. No surprise how Hard-Drive used it on the Turbokat, and with Dark-Kat's warped genius, it wouldn't have been difficult to build an entirely improved and more effective model than the one the SWAT Kats defeated when fighting against Turmoil.

T-Bone then cursed as he pointed down to the ground. There, Dark Kat was holding the Enforcers at bay, his creeplings overwhelming the Enforcers by the hundreds, despite their small size and weak strengths. For every one Enforcer trying to fight Dark Kat, at least five or six creeplings were keeping the officers busy, latching on to the kats' legs and arms, biting and scratching. Commander Feral, his niece Felina, Lieutenant Snow and several others were bravely trying to make their way through the sea of mutated servants. Dark Kat, meanwhile, was trying to hold Deputy Mayor Callie Briggs as a hostage, his arm in a chokehold around the female kat's windpipe, nearly strangling her.

"Let go of me, you jerk!" yelled Callie as she tried to claw and fight her way out of Dark Kat's arm, but the purple demon-kat was too strong for her. Dark Kat sneered as he took out a remote-control device from the folds of his cloak. Razor noticed it, and so did T-Bone who was started to become incredibly incensed at the sight of Callie being taken hostage.

"What the hell is Dark Kat planning? In the middle of the city? In front of all the Enforcers?" asked T-Bone is disbelief.

"Nothing good! We got to get Callie and that remote away from Dark Crud!" Razor yelled.

With that, Dark Kat was about to press the button to detonate the bombs he had his creeplings place around the city while the rest of the Enforcers were being kept busy by the forces of the Metallikats, the Pastmaster, and Dr. Viper when he heard a roar of two battle-cries above him. Before he could react, Razor and T-Bone collided with Dark Kat, brawling. Razor tried to keep Dark Kat busy with several missiles from his glovatrix while T-Bone managed to carry Callie out of danger.

"You all right, Ms. Briggs?" T-Bone asked worriedly.

"I'm fine!" coughed Callie roughly, air getting into her lungs, "Just get Dark Kat!"

Razor screamed as Dark Kat removed a hidden blade from his cane and caught the SWAT Kat in his side while dodging a flying kick from the vigilante. Razor fell to the ground in pain, his side severely lacerated and cut like butter from a hot knife, the blood pouring freely. Dark Kat then tried to push the button again, but a charging head-butt directly into his sternum stopped him.

"You'll pay for what you did to my buddy!" snarled Chance as he exchanged blows with his nemesis, using every martial technique and every ounce of strength in his body to attack the purple, cloaked kat, doing everything he could to prevent Dark Kat from even having a moment of respite to detonate whatever the hell he was planning.

Commander Feral then shouted into his police radio, focusing in on the unique Enforcer radio-transmission frequency, "Snipers! Do you copy? Do you have a clear shot?"

One lone kat in black from a building afar answered, "Sniper-Theta, Sir. I'm the only one who could make it to his post! The creeplings and the Metallikats either killed the others or kept them busy from doing their duty, Sir!"

"Do you have a clear shot?"

"No, I don't!" whispered Sniper-Theta, nearly praying the worst wouldn't happen, "I can't get a clear shot! It's a fifty-fifty chance, Commander! I'll either hit Dark Kat or T-Bone, Sir!"

The Enforcer Commander took a brief glimpse at the situation. This was the only chance they had left. If Dark Kat did whatever he was trying to do, the untold consequences would be dire. And if they didn't kill Dark Kat now, it would be too late for another opportunity. Feral then came to a decision.

"Take the shot!"

Sniper-Theta was truly taken aback, his conscience screaming for intervention, as he weakly repeated, "Commander Feral?"

"Take the goddamned shot!" Feral repeated, shouting over the transmission.

Jake heard the words too late as he struggled to rise, one hand holding his bleeding side. He screamed as loudly as he could to T-Bone, "T-Bone! Get out of there!"

T-Bone was too busy trying to connect an elbow jab into Dark Kat's chest to hear Razor as he suddenly lunged for the remote in Dark Kat's cane. Sniper-Theta pulled the trigger at Dark Kat's head. The bullet left the silenced mouth of the rifle with a soft pffft, but for Jake, it was the most terrifying, ground-shattering sound that would forever be engraved into his brain.

Within a split second, the bullet ravaged the kat's head, burrowing deep into the frontal lobes of the brain, rendering the gray, vital flesh into useless gore and hemorrhaging thousands upon thousands of vessels and cells, snuffing out the kat's consciousness and life in slow, agonizing fire. The kat's eyes went wide and he gurgled weakly, thin streams of blood starting to leak out from behind his eyes and one nostril before his body, going limp, weakly swayed and hovered on his two back paws like a suspended wooden puppet an instant after its strings had been cut.

With the last choke of life extinguished from his body, T-Bone fell to the floor, dead.

The sniper had missed Dark Kat…and tragically killed Chance instead.

Jake heard screaming before he realized that it was his own, the yelling and horrified, tearful wailing of the lost and the devastated. Immediately, the image of T-Bone's body lying on the rocky ground in a growing pool of blood growing from his skull was blurred with tears as Razor howled every profane curse he could think of as he just squatted there, numb, on all four paws, unable to believe it.

Razor then saw through his blurred vision Dark Kat giving a look of triumph, of boastful cruelty, as he held up the remote in his hand and pressed the lone button. With a click and a beep, the electrical-pulses surged the cold-fusion bombs all over Megakat City, and in the distance, buildings and skyscrapers erupted into a firestorm of chaos, heat, fire, and death. Monuments of the city were turned into ashes in mere seconds. Metal and glass cracked and dissolved like wet sand, crumbling into charred remains from the intense energy released. Whatever Enforcers that were busy trying to evacuate the innocent kats living in the areas of the blast radii were instantly incinerated along with hundreds of thousands of civilian kats, male, female, and kittens. All along various parts of the city were orbs of fiery novas engulfing districts and counties in an instant, the energy flooding through the streets and structures and kats like water, relentless, unstoppable, a powerful force. And like the metaphorical tidal wave, the surge of cold-fusion energy sent much rubble, shrapnel and cars flying due the tremendous force of the explosions. Even outside the blast ranges, kats were still not safe as the very buildings above them crumpled and gave in, raining deadly hail of rock and cement, crushing many in the process.

It was a pure firestorm of death and destruction. The End Times of Megakat City.

Yet the screaming, the explosions, the absolute notion of Megakat City being reduced to the bowels of Hell was just a faint bussing to Razor, the blood roaring in his ears unbearably, as he just stared at the fallen, prone form of T-Bone on the ground, unable to do anything. Dark Kat sneered at the broken SWAT Kat, but seeing that he was still surrounded by a mass army of Enforcers, the evil purple kat decided to retreat safely while he still could.

Yet before Dark Kat and his creeplings managed to retreat into the shadows, Dark Kat crowed arrogantly, "I win…you have all lost, your city, your people, and now…even one of your precious SWAT Kats. And I shall enjoy watching your kittens and your kittens' kittens live and die under my iron paws next to your cold graves of futility. For this is a new dawn…a dawn of DARK KAT!"

The Enforcers and Feral immediately, in their rage and grief at their lost comrades and family, started trying to shoot at the monster, but before anyone could even comprehend it, Dark Kat disappeared after releasing a tear-gas bomb, and for a few minutes, the Enforcers could do little else except choke and cough from the harsh fumes. When the smoke cleared…Dark Kat, his creeplings, and his alliance were gone, leaving behind their proud handiwork of the ruined parts of the city. Even though Megakat City wasn't entirely destroyed…it was bad enough.

Commander Feral snarled at his surrounding Enforcer officers, "Damn it, search for Dark Kat! Leave no stone unturned, no alley and passageway unchecked!"

While most of the Enforcers were scurrying about the city, trying to find Dark Kat and his minions, Felina was busy kneeling next to T-Bone's still form, checking for a pulse on his neck. Razor was so busy being cold and paralyzed from witnessing T-Bone getting hurt, he didn't even comprehend what was happening until he heard Feral bark out his order, "Enforcers, seize the SWAT Kat immediately!"

Razor snapped back to consciousness, but it was too late as a half-dozen Enforcer kats tackled him to the ground, trying to bodily restrain the vigilante. Razor squirmed and bucked and tried to fight, but there were too many for him to take on at once, and the Enforcer kats were heavy and strong, not easily knocked aside. And due to Razor's deep laceration on his side abdominal, every movement brought such pain, Razor couldn't even brawl to his fullest effort as he was brought to his knees, with his front paws pinned behind his back by two Enforcer officers. Razor kept struggling as he gasped out, "What the hell are you doing? Let me go! Let me go! Get an ambulance for T-Bone! He's hurt! Damn it, he's dying! You have to let me help him!"

Yet a quick punch to Razor's jaw via Commander Feral ceased Razor's protest as the Commander of the Enforcers gave Razor an absolute look of hateful spite, of blame. Jake felt a trickle of blood leak from his mouth, dribbling down his furred chin. Callie then turned to Feral, outraged.

"What are you doing? Release Razor now!" she cried out.

Feral however was adamant, at his wits' end as he pointed a quivering, clawed finger at the Deputy Mayor and roared, "Ms. Briggs, for once in your goddamned life, just keep your mouth shut! I'm not letting this vigilante get away and turn his back on his part in this mess, this destruction, this screw-up! Not this time! You will not defend him and that dead partner of his and let them go off scot-free! Not anymore! I'll see to it that this remaining piece of lawless trash is locked away and executed for his royal hindrance of this operation!"

"It was not his fault!" Callie shrieked back.

"He's not dead! He's not dead!" Razor screamed hoarsely, nearly begging, "Look, I don't care what happens to me, but save T-Bone! Help him! PLEASE!"

"Lieutenant Feral?" Callie asked softly, almost brokenly, as she turned her attention to the female Enforcer, one shred of hope in her voice. Felina looked at Callie, speechless and white in the face underneath her tawny fur, before she turned her attention to her uncle and his kats and then resting her eyes on Razor. Feline closed her eyes, letting the tears fall down her face, as she shook her head meaningfully.

"I…I'm so sorry, Razor. He's gone," Felina wept softly, displaying a rare moment of emotion, of weakness. At this, Callie covered her face with her slim paws and started sobbing uncontrollably. Some of the other Enforcers were also displaying signs of grief and sadness, but many of the others, like Commander Feral, were glaring at Razor, blaming him for getting in their way, for causing the devastation of Megakat City. The metropolis would never heal from this event ever again; it was a permanent scar. The commander then barked out to the grizzled Lieutenant Snow, "Stats on the damage!"

"Over a hundred-thousands Enforcers lost in the blasts, Sir," Snow's voice shook with grief and loss as he maintained all of his self-control to report, "And more than a million civilians. Though the Enforcer headquarters and the Mayor's building and City Hall have all been saved along with the heart of the city and the suburban areas…by God, Commander, all of downtown and the industrial areas have been destroyed. Wiped out entirely, Sir. We still have fires, broken gas leaks, and remains of Dr. Viper's mutant plants…everything touched by the blasts in unsalvageable. At least forty percent of the city was ravaged."

Feral's face went dark, his fists clenched so tightly, the veins in his paws were popping out. He then strode over to the pinned-down Razor and growled with the purest feelings of hate, anger, disgust, and loathing, "Are you happy now, you damned son-of-a-bitch? All this happened because of you! Because of your troublemaking, inconsiderate acts of glory-hogging and reckless heroism! Had you let the Enforcers do their job, none of this would have ever happened! Innocent lives wouldn't have been lost, Dark Kat wouldn't have gotten away, and Megakat city would still be standing if it hadn't been for you and T-Bone! Your misfit heroics cost this city everything!"

Feral roared this last sentence as he gave a brutal punch to Razor in the stomach, now bubbling and insane with rage. Razor didn't say anything in his defense; no matter now painful the blows were, it still didn't ease the pain in his heart and soul.

"Stop this now, Uncle! It wasn't Razor's fault! They were trying to help!" Felina shouted bravely at the Commander, unable to just stand idly by and watch this any longer. Yet Feral furiously turned on his niece with the utmost warning of not crossing him in this issue.

"Quiet, Lieutenant! In case you have forgotten, I outrank you, and if you say one more word, so help me, I'll throw you off the Enforcers myself!" Felina was shocked as she looked at her uncle in silence. The Enforcer Commander then strode over to T-Bone's fallen body before kneeling down, reaching for his mask. Callie then said with poisonous warning, "Touch that body and I'll have your job, Ulysses Feral!"

"I don't think so," Feral retorted back.

"You better damn well think so! I'm still Deputy Mayor! You take your orders from me!"

Feral shot Callie Briggs a determined glare, snarling, "Not for long you will. I'll personally see to that."

And before Callie or Razor could stop him, Commander Feral removed T-Bone's mask.

There was a unanimous, audible gasp as many of the Enforcers, Felina, Commander Feral, and Callie Briggs recognized the dead, peaceful face of Chance Furlong face still unmarred from the blood and bullet wound in his skull, his eyes closed and serene.

"Ch…Chance?" gasped Callie, threatening to cry again before her eyes went wide in sudden realization as she then stared at Razor, guessing the truth immediately. Razor knew he couldn't take it anymore; he had to act now. With all of his strength, Razor wrenched his paw containing his glovatrix free from the stunned Enforcer's grasp as he then fired a smoke bomb directly on the ground, the plumes of black, thick charcoal immediately surging throughout the area, surprising everyone. Commander Feral was apoplectic as he raged, "DON'T LET THE VIGILANTE GET AWAY!"

Yet there were apparent sounds of scuffling and punches before the clink of the manhole cover being tossed aside rang lightly amidst the chaos and confusion, and when the smoke was tossed away from the winds, the Enforcers finally discovered Razor was gone, and not too far away, was the exposed entrance into the sewers.

"Fan out! Search the sewers and bring that SWAT KAT to justice! I will be damned before I let him get away this time! Enforcers, forget about Dark Kat! Search the city and the sewers for Razor instead, and Lieutenants, arrange a team to search the Megakat salvage yard! That'll be the first place the rat will run too! And as for Razor, Enforcers, I want him DEAD OR ALIVE! Now move, damn it!"

Underground, sprinting as fast as he can from the Enforcers up above, one paw holding his bleeding side, Jake thought angrily through his grief and tears, "Damn you, Feral! I'll get you for this! If it's the last thing I'll ever do, I'll get you for what you did to me! For what you did to Chance!"

"…and I've been in hiding ever since," Jake said, his breathing ragged and his voice cracking from his resolve breaking into thousands of grieving souls, "With Feral and the Enforcers discovering T-Bone was really Chance Furlong, it didn't take much guessing for them to conclude that his close friend, Jake Clawson, was the second SWAT Kat, Razor. Almost immediately, the Enforcers raided the salvage yard where we used to live, and they discovered the hangar bay and the lab where we worked on the Turbokat and our weapons. It was pretty apparent that I couldn't safely go back to being Jake Clawson, especially since the Enforcers put a bounty on my head and broadcasted it over the entire country to see. Now everyone, including Dark Kat and his men, know my secret identity, and Feral and his Enforcers are still intent on trying to bring me to justice due to the Commander's doggedness, while at the same time, trying their best to prevent the city from being taken over. The entire town has turned against me, treating me as either a famous media sensation or a chance for some kat to get rich quick; since the bounty's well over a million dollars, Enforcer officers, gang members, mafia syndicates, all past criminals alike that me and T-Bone had dealt with before, want to try to get a piece of the proverbial pie. And so I've ran…for the past month or so before you X-Men showed up in the city."

Jake finished his tale, his head bowed, and all that could be heard in the dark, dusty room was a solemn silence of mourning, except from Kurt. The blue, furry mutant was too busy whispering the Serenity Prayer in German while Jamie was watching Jake with two rivers running down his cheeks, crying quietly.

Author's note: Yep, what Gambit said happened really happened; check out Red Witch's fanfic, "Another Week in the Lives of Mutants". And I'm sorry folks, but that is what will happen. Chance is dead, and it was the hardest thing for me to do. I loved the cartoon so much, and yet I had to plan the story out like this in order for it to work in the future. And if you think things are bleak now, folks, they'll be even bleaker (if that's possible). Next Friday, in the chapter "Side Developments", we will see how Dark Kat and his unholy alliance are faring while dissension and panic ravage the city, especially with the Enforcers and some recurring characters from the SWAT Kats universe. Until then, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome, and if you hate me for killing Chance, I really don't blame you. I actually cried a little when I finished writing this chapter; Chance was one of my favorite characters.