"I wasn't even close," mumbled Marc, turning away and limping back towards the TurboKat.

The rest of the kats just stood dumbstruck staring at the now-unmasked kat. Finally, Commander Feral strode forward, pushed Razor out of the way, and stood directly in front of the mastermind.

"Mayor Manx?" he said, unbelievingly.

Mayor Manx smiled. "Correct, Feral," he said in his thick accent. "It is I."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute," said Razor, rubbing his face. "It was you who was in charge of this gang here." Mayor Manx gave a small bow. "But...but they were trying to take over the city."

"Correct, my boy."

T-Bone butted in. "But you're already top kat in this town."

"I used to believe that, too, my lad."

"What?"

"Oh, I had plans for this city. Big plans. That's why I got into politics, see. I found by smiling to the right folks, promising the right things, and - most importantly - playing it very very dumb, I could get elected to any position I wanted."

Miss Briggs crossed her arms. "Playing dumb?"

Mayor Manx gave her a rather nasty smile. "Had you all properly fooled, I did. Poor Mayor Manx - can't get anything done without his able assistant, they all said." He shrugged. "Oh, from time to time it would get to me. Having them all think I was a little soft in the head. And you have no idea how difficult it is to fake a real ineptitude for golf. It took many hours of practice to make the ball circle the cup every time."

"Wait a second, I'm not getting this," said T-Bone. "You mean you just pretended to be so clueless all these years? What th'heck for?"

"Ah, lad, you obviously know nothing of the ways of politics. The smartest politicians are the ones with the most enemies. As long as I played dumb, I hadn't a single political enemy in the city. Oh, a few thought we needed someone a bit more capable in the top spot, but most figured I was harmless enough, and easy enough to manipulate."

"All right, fine. Soyou faked it all those years," said Razor. Flinging his arms toward Dark Kat and their destroyed ship, he asked, "Then why all this?"

"Because it wasn't what I hoped. It wasn't enough. I had hoped to completely take the city over within two months of my election. I figured with some behind-the-scene machinations, I could make it happen as mayor. But city politics is not so simple. The city council, the committees, the PACs. Honestly, it's amazing anything gets done in this town."

"So how'd you link up with Dark Kat?" pressed Razor.

"I didn't 'link up' with him, my boy. I created him."

Pretty much everyone within earshot of Mayor Manx exploded with an involuntary "What!"

"Oh yes. I knew Dark Kat back when he was...well, perhaps I shouldn't mention his previous name. He was just a small-time crook back then - strictly penny-ante. And even that wasn't going to last - he was sick, you see. Inoperable. But I knew some people, and they did some work on

him...voila." He nodded his head towards Dark Kat. "He's a completely different kat."

"Wait a second," said Razor. "Dark Kat kidnapped you last year."

"On my orders."

"On your orders?"

"Oh, yes. To flush you out, you see. We knew you wouldn't abandon the mayor and his aide to the tender mercies of Dark Kat. Unfortunately, by sacrificing your plane, and by the intercession of the good Commander here," he bowed towards Feral, "the plan did not succeed. However, I helped trigger the explosion that enabled Dr Viper and Dark Kat to make their get away. That's my motto - always have an escape plan."

"You didn't this time." T-Bone was grinning.

"We were not prepared to do battle. No battle, no escape plan. We did have our craft there, but it did not work as well as we had hoped."

"You seem to be taking this awfully well," T-Bone said suspiciously.

Mayor Manx attempted to shrug, which was difficult with the hold Johnny had on him. "I attempted a final plan with which to take the city over. Unfortunately, it proved necessary for me to go to our little home down south - Dark Kat and Dr Viper were being rather lax in their respective projects. And, again unfortunately, that proved to be the day you chose to honor us with a visit. Bad timing." He sighed. "If nothing else, I am a good loser. I had my chance, and I failed."

Razor glanced down at the mask he had pulled off, then looked closer. "Hey, this isn't just a mask. There's some computer innards in here."

"I bet I know why," said T-Bone, taking the mask from Razor. "I bet this is what changed his voice. I mean, no matter what his disguise was, he'd give himself away if you used his regular voice." The mayor simply smiled, which rather enraged Commander Feral.

"Get him away from me," he growled, "before I cause some permanent damage to the ex-mayor."

"Hey, that reminds me," said T-Bone, turning to Miss Briggs, as the Enforcers led the Mayor to the helicopter. "With Mayor Manx headed for jail, doesn't that make you the new mayor?"

Callie started to speak, then stopped. Finally, she slowly said, "You know, you're right." She took a few steps away from everyone and stared off into the distance. "I don't know if I'm ready for that." She crossed her arms, as if she felt a sudden chill.

"You won't be tacklin' it alone, Miss Briggs," said T-Bone, trying to sound positive. He put his hand on her shoulder and went on, "You got your friends and co-workers in City Hall. Heck, you got the best team in MegaKat City. You know they'll always be there for ya."

"And what about you?" Suddenly, she wheeled around and faced him, putting her hand in his. "Will you be there for me?"

T-Bone stared at her with his mouth open. Razor looked flabbergasted as well. Commander Feral looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't. Only Marc, from a far distance, responded at all, and even he only gave a weak whoop.

Callie tilted her head to the side, and gave an awkward smile. "Well?"

T-Bone tried speaking three times before he finally got any words out. "M-miss Briggs...you sure you want someone like me on your team?"

"What - you mean a hot dog pilot?"

T-Bone shook his head. "No." He reached behind his head and untied his mask. "I mean a cruddy mechanic."

Callie's eyes got wider, and she reached up to embrace Chance. Razor stood watching them, a crooked smile on his face. Well, he thought, as long as I'm in pain here, let's do something even more painful. He turned to Commander Feral and untied his mask.

"You two," stated Feral. "I should have known."

"Yeah, probably, but you didn't," said Jake. He took his wristgun off, then reached his right hand out. "Thanks...for helping us out. We couldn't have done it without your help."

Feral looked at the hand, then reached down and shook it. "You...did well."

"C'mon, Johnny, we're missing all the footage!" cried Anne. Johnny picked up his camera, and they began recording. "This is Anne Gora, Kat's Eye News," she began, "coming at you from the roof of City Hall Annex."

Marc stood, blinking, and watched the news report begin. After about a minute, he turned and started limping back down the fire escape, studiously avoiding looking at the body of Dr Viper. When he reached the bottom of the ladder, he leapt to the ground, grimacing in pain as he landed. He stopped and stared at himself for a second. His jeans were torn to shreds, his shirt was soaked in the creature's goo, and he ached from head to toe. Sitting himself down next to a dumpster, he untied and removed his hiking boots, leaving them against the wall. Then he crawled to his feet, sighed and started limping home in his stocking feet.

I wonder if Tiny's still hiring, he thought.