T-Bone felt Razor's hand on his shoulder. Looking back, T-Bone saw a really queer look in Razor's eye. "What's the matter?" he asked.
Razor turned around and sat down across from Vic again. T-Bone didn't understand what was going on, but he assumed his partner knew what he was doing. He turned to the guard in the doorway. "Give us a few more minutes here." The guard nodded, then closed and locked the door. T-Bone stood behind Razor, arms crossed.
Razor slowly leaned towards Vic, getting only about a foot away from his face. Vic looked at him expectantly. "What did you say?" Razor finally asked.
Vic nodded. "I didn't like working for Dark Kat. Not at all. It was wrong."
"Yeah, I got that. You said something about someone else."
Vic looked unsure. "Someone else? The voice?"
"The voice," encouraged Razor.
"The voice," repeated Vic. "He told Dark Kat what to do. He said Dark Kat should use the secrets I stole to help me fight the Enforcers. And it worked."
"Whose voice?" asked Razor.
"The voice," insisted Vic. "I heard it. It came from his computer. I like computers. It said we should use the secrets to help me fight the Enforcers. And it worked."
Razor nodded. "I know. The voice came from Dark Kat's computer? It told him what to do?" Vic nodded violently. "OK, was it...like a computer's voice? A robotic voice?"
Vic scrunched up his face in thought. "No, it was a guy. It was a guy talking. But he was talking through the computer. That's where the voice came from. Dark Kat's computer. I like computers. It told us what to do."
Razor turned around and looked up at T-Bone, utterly confused. T-Bone thought for a second, then mouthed the word "Viper" to Razor, who nodded. Turning back to Vic, Razor said, "Listen. The voice that told you what to do. Did it sound sort of...slithery? Did it have a lisp?"
Putting his head down, Vic murmured, "The voice...the voice...the voice..." He pulled his head up and looked straight at Razor. "It was a guy's voice. Just a guy. Like a guy. That's all. And he spoke out of the computer. I like computers."
Razor rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, I know. Well, thanks. And we'll see about getting you out of here a bit early." Razor got up and followed T-Bone out the door.
"What d'ya make of that?" asked T-Bone, but Razor only shook his head.
There was no time to discuss anything. Jake and Chance were finishing changing clothes when Marc came to the back. "Kate's here," he said. Jake nodded and tossed on a black t-shirt. He led the way out, followed by Marc and Chance.
"Hey," Jake said softly. Kate looked up and smiled uncertainly. Chance smiled, and Marc just nodded once.
"Are you set to go?" asked Jake. Kate nodded. Chance whistled quietly. When Jake turned around, Chance tossed him the keys to his truck. Jake half-saluted, then turned around and ushered Kate out.
He helper her into the passenger side of the cab, then got in his side and put on his seat belt. After putting the keys in the ignition, he breathed in and sighed. "So...where to?"
Kate furrowed her brow. "I don't care. How about the burger joint you like so much?"
Jake reached to turn the key, but then pulled short. "No. I don't want anyone listening in." He thought. "How about we get some sandwiches, then head to the woods up north?" Kate shrugged, which Jake took as a "yes".
A silence fell on them both, which lasted through the trip to the grocery store, the journey to the woods, and all while they set up a make-shift eating area in the bed of the pickup. It wasn't until after Jake had taken his first bite of his sandwich that he broke it.
"Kate, look, I'm sorry I...didn't say something earlier to you."
Kate put down her bag of chips. "I just...can't believe it. You and Chance?" Jake looked down and nodded. "And Marc is...?"
Jake looked confused. "Just Marc."
"Oh." She regarded her brother for a second. "And I guess you had your reasons for not telling me."
Jake took a sip of soda, then went on. "First of all...geez, Kate, how do you bring something like this up?"
Shaking her head, Kate said, "That won't fly. You could have always just said 'Hey, I have something to tell you', you know."
"Well, yeah, but you can guess how much I don't want Dad to know about this."
"Are you thinking I'm going to go right out and tell him? We've kept secrets from him before."
"Well, sure. About your boyfriend, and who broke the window at that party. This is a bit bigger, don't you think?"
"I still think you can trust me," said Kate, a bit hurt.
"Kate, think about it. The fewer people who know about this, the better. If anyone finds out you know, you're immediately a marked kat. I don't want to put anyone in any danger here, least of all you." He took another bite of his sandwich and chewed, lost in thought. "You know," he finally said, "all that aside, I'm glad you know. Marc was right. You do deserve to know."
Kate smiled a bit. "You should know you can tell me anything." She ate a chip, then went on, "Now I've got, like, a thousand questions for you."
"I guessed as much."
"First off, what the heck are you two thinking!"
Jake looked offended. "What are you talking about? You know what we're up against. And someone's gotta do it."
"Yeah, maybe, but you and Chance? Whose idea was this, anyway?"
Smiling a bit with pride, Jake said, "Mine."
"Yeah, right, Jake. This had to be Chance's idea."
Jake put his sandwich down. "What's that supposed to mean? You saying I can't come up with a good idea on my own?"
"Come on. You know you always do what Chance wants. Anytime Chance has an idea, off you two go, no matter how stupid the idea is."
"Hardly."
"Oh, yeah? What about that ice cream incident?"
Jake tossed his wadded napkin at Kate. "Geez, Kate, I was, like, eight! Will you let that die already?"
They laughed for a minute. Kate then said, "You know what? I gave this a lot of thought last night when I was trying, and failing, to get to sleep. And the more I thought about it, the less preposterous it seemed. You and Chance have always been..."
"Risk-takers?"
"I was going to say reckless, but whatever. Plus, you always had a real strong sense of right-and-wrong. You were always trying to set things right. And you were never afraid to jump into the fray when you felt you needed to." Kate sipped her soda, then said. "Now I sort of wonder why I never considered the possibility before."
"That's good."
"Why?"
"If even my sister didn't suspect, I guess our secret should be safe."
"No one's found out?"
"Just Marc."
"How'd he do it?"
"Aw, he's sort of a dweeb. He actually set out to track us down. 'Lots of research, several false starts, and a little luck,' I think he says."
Kate sighed. "Now I'll be up all night every night worrying about you two."
"Don't. We've survived this far."
"Which is no guarantee for the future."
"I know. We're not as reckless as you make us out to be, though."
"Speaking of survival, what happens to the SwatKats if, you know, something happens to one of you?"
"You mean if one of us...?" Kate nodded, and Jake looked thoughtful. "You know, I've never thought about it. I suppose we'd become the SwatKat instead of the SwatKats."
"You wouldn't pull Marc in to take over?"
Jake scrunched up his face. "Marc? He's not cut out to be a SwatKat. That's assuming he'd even want to, which I doubt." Polishing off the last of his sandwich, he added, "Besides, with any luck, we'll be...well, perhaps we'll be altering this whole SwatKats thing soon."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I won't go into details. Let's just say Feral gave me this idea - no more bad guys, no more SwatKats, he said. So I figure, hey, let's get rid of the bad guys, then Chance and I can go back to living normal lives."
Kate stared at Jake. "This sounds dangerous. Even more than normal. Please be careful."
"Relax." Jake smiled. "I'm not eight anymore, you know."