Chance looked in on Marc, who was sitting at his desk. Well, he knew his desk was there, just because that's where it normally was. But there were mounds of paper piled up on every part, on the floor in front, and on all the filing cabinets as well.

Marc looked up at Chance and attempted to smile. "Shoot me," he said weakly.

"That good, huh?" Chance said, sympathetically.

"You know, getting information on you guys was a breeze. There isn't a magazine in the world who hasn't run a story on the SwatKats. You'd think they'd give some more press to the bad guys." Marc slammed down the file he was holding. "No wonder they're so ticked at you - they almost take over the world, and they still can't get any ink."

Chance leaned against the doorway. "C'mon, it can't be all that bad."

"No, I'm serious." Marc looked around, then picked up a hefty file. "Did you know there was a death-rock band called Servants of Dark Kat?"

Chance sipped his soda and nodded. "Jake and I saw them play live last year, you know, just because. They stunk. If they were servants of Dark Kat, they wouldn't be for long."

"Probably so, but every time I look for information on Dark Kat, I end up with twelve times more stuff on that band than on the guy who gave them their name. They have a new album out, if you care." Chance grimaced. "Didn't think so." Marc tossed the file back behind him and sighed. "I'm getting a little information," he continued, slapping the papers in front of him. "It's just gonna take some time."

Chance was about to respond when Razor came up behind him. "You about ready?" he asked.

Indicating his clothes, Chance said, "Do I look ready?" He walked around Razor to change.

"How's it going?" asked Razor.

"Ask me any question, Razor, except that one," said Marc, leaning back and rubbing his eyes. "Where're you off to?"

"Selinda. I've set up a meeting with Dr Vostoy. Apparently, she might have found something on that lizard of yours."

Marc held up his hands in protest. "It ain't my lizard, sir. Please don't bring it back."

"Oh, and if Ed with Kats Eye News calls about the chopper, it won't be ready until next week sometime."

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear that."

Razor smiled, and turned to go. "Don't knock yourself out with that stuff."

Marc put his head down on the files. "Too late," was his muffled reply.

T-Bone set the TurboKat down near the abandoned farm north of Selinda -a place they jokingly referred to as "the Selinda parking lot". Razor got out on the Cyclotron, and turned back to T-Bone.

"So I'll meet you back here in two hours?"

"Yeah," said T-Bone. "But what am I s'posed to 'til then?"

"I don't care," said Razor, adjusting his helmet. "Practice your rolls. Go shopping. Fly through a fast food drive-thru."

"You know, I am kinda hungry," said T-Bone.

Razor smiled, shook his head, and took off down the dirt road. It took him just over a minute to get onto the highway. He settled into a fast but not overly dangerous speed in the leftmost lane. As expected, many drivers honked their horns and waved - although this happened every time he was out in public on the Cyclotron, Razor still wasn't sure whether it was better to wave back or ignore them. Generally, like today, he just waved to the kids - they always got a kick out of it.

Razor knew precisely where Dr Vostoy had her offices - as it ended up, it was just a few blocks from his sister's apartment.. It felt weird driving by her place and deliberately ignoring it. The Institute parking lot was only about half-full, allowing Razor to find a spot that he hoped would be somewhat inconspicuous. Nevertheless, he made sure the security system on the Cyclotron was armed before entering the building. He checked the building directory, then walked overtoDr Vostoy's office and let himself in, ignoring all the stares he received.

"Dr Vostoy?" asked Razor. She nodded. "I'm Razor. I talked to you yesterday."

"Certainly," she responded coolly. "Won't you please have a seat?" Razor closed the door and sat down across from her. He noticed that she had drawn the blinds, which he favored. He understood feline curiousity and all, but he didn't want anyone snooping in on this conversation if he could help it.

Razor took a second to gather his thoughts. It wasn't often he had to meet with someone in the general public in his SwatKat uniform, and there was always the fear that he could say or do something to give himself away. Over the years, he had found that being extremely polite was a decent way to keep "Razor" somehow distinct from "Jake".

"You mentioned on the phone that you might have found something," he began.

Dr Vostoy nodded. "I believe so, although your partner was not very explicit as to what we were supposed to be looking for."

"Honestly, Doctor, we really have no idea what to look for. Anything you might have found out could possibly be helpful to us."

"I understand." Dr Vostoy open the file in front of her. "The creature you brought in was, in essence, a garden salamander, probably no bigger than ten centimeters long in its original state. His mutated state was caused by a chemical mutagen into which he was immersed."

Razor nodded, then said, "Listen. How difficult would it be to come up with a chemical like that? Say I wanted you to make a salamander two meters long. How long would it take you to come up with one?"

Dr Vostoy looked severe. "That's an extremely difficult question, and the answer is probably never. For one thing, I wouldn't consider doing such a thing."

Razor shook his head. "I'm sorry, you misunderstood. I'm certainly not interested in mutating anyone or anything. I'm just trying to get a general grasp on the situation - trying to figure out what it is that our enemies are using."

"Ah." Dr Vostoy leaned back in thought. "The more I ponder the problem, the more I think the original answer I gave you was correct. Most likely, I still could not come up with a suitable chemical solution. You see, most people think you toss a couple chemicals together and suddenly it mutates everything in sight. It's not at all that simple -which is a good thing, otherwise kats would be mutating left and right."

Razor smiled and said, "You know - I wondered why no insects and germs and so forth in the vicinity of these monsters weren't huge as well."

"Precisely. Mutagens must be created to fit a particular species. What works on salamanders won't work on kats, and vice versa. That's part of the reason why I probably wouldn't be able to concoct you one. I could tell you that I'd prabably use an alcohol or glycol base, and I'd need a radioactive component - plutonium, or a radioactive isotope of some sort - but then it'd be down to trial and error."

"How about an antidote? If you have the mutagen, could you develop an antidote to it?"

Dr Vostoy shook her head. "No. It perhaps would be helpful to see what was originally in the mutagen, because often the radioactive component is the same in the antidote. Otherwise, it's just a new problem. But instead of a salamander into a dinosaur problem, it's a dinosaur into a salamander problem. One can't simply 'reverse' this procedure or use 'opposite' chemicals. Chemistry and biology aren't as cut and dried as all that."

Razor looked puzzled for a second. "Wait a minute. I seem to recall a big fuss about Katalyst 100, though."

Rolling her eyes, Dr Vostoy sighed. "That's one thing I wish I'd never heard of. Apparently MegaKat BioChemical was working on a universal mutagen...still in the experimental stages, mind you. They had a few of us up there to help out. The experiments continued until they determined that it wasn't producing the results they would like."

"How so?"

Gesturing with her hands, Dr Vostoy said, "The more...universal the mutagen, the more unstable it became. Katalyst 100 was the closest they came to a universal mutagen. Unfortunately, someone leaked the story to the papers, and the next thing you know, the whole public was up in arms against this mutagen that was going to have every kat mutating before our eyes. Of course, Katalyst 100 was nowhere near that universal."

"And how universal was it, exactly?"

"It affected several types of insects. It doubled their size, gave them extra set of wings, stuff like that."

Razor sat back in his seat. "Hardly something which to terrorize the populace."

"You need to keep in mind that terrorizing the populace wasn't exactly foremost in the minds of the researchers."

"Understood." Razor cracked a quick smile. "You mentioned that you wouldn't be able to create a mutagen. Would that be due to...forgive me, I know I'm putting this poorly...would that be due to lack of experience in that area?"

"No, I understand, and yes, you're entirely correct. Perhaps if I had devoted my life to such a puzzle, I might be able to concoct a mutagen. But if I tried today, I'd be starting at square one."

"Would you know of someone who would be able to create such a mutagen? In your personal professional opinion, how many kats possess the...the wherewithal to do that?"

Dr Vostoy closed her eyes and sat silently for a minute. Her eyelids flicked open, and she answered. "Only two names come to mind - Doctor

Viper and Doctor Chung."

"Let's not go into Dr Viper, if you please. I know more about him that I want to. But tell me about Doctor Chung. Does he work here?"

Dr Vostoy shook her head. "Not anymore. Dr Chung was one of the pioneers in mutant research, and he worked here for many years. He died last year, though - he was eighty-seven."

"Ah," Razor said non-commitally, and stood up. "Well, I won't take any more of your time, Doctor. Thank you very much for all you've done. I wish I could pay you for your time..."

Dr Vostoy laughed. "Oh, please don't worry about that. Our staff was very proud to help out the SwatKats."

"I'm the one that's honored. Thank you again."

Razor left the office, pushed open the front door and looked around. He wasn't too suprised to see a small crowd milling around near the door. Quite often he would find curious kats looking to get a peek at him when he spent a chunk of time in one place. Razor was surprised, however, to see one particular kat in the crowd.

Kate.

Razor hadn't seen his sister since coming to Selinda about a year ago when his mother was in the hospital. He had talked to her on the phone a couple times briefly since then, but that was it. He'd always been very close to his sister, despite the differences he had with other members of the family. At least, he had been close to her, until his dual identity sort of forced him to keep her at a distance.

Darnit, he thought, when did I let this whole SwatKat thing start running my life?

Razor suddenly took a detour, and pulled up right in front of Kate. He smiled slightly, leaned forward, put his lips right against her ear, and whispered, "Say hi to Ma for me." He stood up straight, walked back to the Cyclotron and took off, leaving Kate staring after him with eyes wide open.