East Harbour (Part One)
The Turbokat overflew Guildford Road, and the Swat Kats looked down on the scene below. It was certainly a strange sight, but not for the reason they had expected. The Guildford Road was always a busy thoroughfare; it ran between the busy market by the harbour side and the centre of the city. It had become known as bus alley to many residents on account of the large numbers of bus routes that converged on the road. But there were no buses anywhere to be seen, nor were there any cars or Kats on the pavement. Only an overturned Enforcer patrol car outside a military recruiting station gave any impression of some crisis.
T-Bone landed the Turbokat on a bus stand in a neighbouring road, the only area wide enough to accommodate the jet. The four of them clambered out and walked down the road to where the squad car lay on its roof. Razor ran over to it, and looked inside.
It immediately became evident why the unit had not responded to its controller. The roof had been crushed down onto the heads of the two officers inside, and they were clearly no more. Looking around to see what had caused this, the Swat Kats could find nothing. The area was a ghost town, the only thing moving being a newspaper that was blowing along the street. It was eerily silent, which unnerved Razor who was used to this being a very busy and noisy street. This was not to be the case long, however, as the silence was suddenly punctuated by a low growling noise.
"There's something here" Cody said, turning around to see where the noise had come from.
The other three Kats looked around as suddenly there was an immense crashing noise, followed by the sound of metal scraping along concrete. An overturned bus came skidding on its side out of a back street. It scraped along the road, gouging up the tarmac before it struck the front of a supermarket. Its destination display was still flickering "263 Feltham Station" when the growling noise came again, much louder this time. The group watched as two huge figures came lumbering from the street the bus had come from. They headed over to where the stricken vehicle lay, and were about to recommence their attack on it when they noticed the four Kats standing in the street. They abandoned the bus, and began to run down the street at them. Reflexively, T-Bone grabbed Cody and pulled him out of the way, just in time. The two giant figures missed them by inches, and, unable to stop, fell over in their attempts to turn at speed.
"You OK Cody?" T-Bone gasped, receiving only a vaguely affirmative nod in response.
"It's those two victims" Xenon said, looking down the road to the two figures trying to pick themselves up. "They appear to have been enhanced with more of The Pandemic, that's why Puma-Dyne took them."
The two former prisoners recovered themselves from having missed their marks, and began another charge. T-Bone grabbed Cody and pulled him into a nearby coffee shop for cover. Razor and Xenon had taken refuge in a bookstore across the road.
Outside, the two mutants had paused. Their limited cognitive functions unable to grasp where their prey may have gotten to.
In the bookstore, Razor was getting frantic. He was pinned down amidst copies of Delia Katter's 'How to Cook Mice' and Dark Kat's autobiography 'Malicious Me'. Xenon was rather more composed, lifting out of his bag one of the arrow heads, red liquid contained in its head.
"What's that?" Razor asked.
"This is the anti-mutagen, in its purest form. We will need to make up some more when we get back, but there should be enough to handle those two." replied the doctor.
Razor didn't need telling twice, activating the arrow launcher of his glovatrix, he slotted the first arrow into place, and took aim through the door of the shop.
The arrow fired, and sailed in a graceful rising arc straight into the chest of the first mutant, who let out a roar of pain. Hearing this, the second mutant turned around, and began another lumbering charge towards the bookstore. Razor jumped back inside.
From across the street T-Bone watched in horror as the second mutant made short work of demolishing the front of the shop, scattering copies of 'The Red Lynx: A Cut Above' across the street. He couldn't see the other mutant, but he knew he had to act to help Razor and Xenon, who were trapped behind the counter.
T-Bone stepped out of the coffee shop, took aim, and fired a scrambler missile at the back of the mutant. Just as he did so, a blinding light emitted from somewhere down the street, and he threw his arm up to shield his eyes. A few seconds later it was gone, replaced by the howls from the mutant he had hit. The missile had struck its mark, and was discharging an uncomfortable amount of electricity into the mutant's back. The creature fell backwards, crushing the missile and ending the electric shock as it fell, but it was enough.
In the time Razor had with the mutant occupied, he had loaded the second arrow and fired. Once again, his aim was true, and the arrow hit its mark. The mutant howled in agony once more, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then the skin of the mutant began to bubble, large blister-like sores popping up all over its body. These swelled to the size of bus wheels before popping, sending yellowish pus spurting everywhere. All the while, the mutant started to glow redder and redder, until a blinding white light made them all screw up their eyes and turn away. When they looked back, the mutant was gone. Where it had been now lay a rather dishevelled-looking Kat, wearing Enforcer prisoner's overalls, still with the word 'inmate' in black letters written across it.
It was only then that T-Bone noticed the sound of helicopters overhead, and looked up. Above him, two choppers were vying for the best view of the spectacular scene below them. One was the Kats Eye News chopper, with Johnny hanging out of the side with his camera trying to get a better view. The other was an Enforcer chopper, which now seemed to be struggling to stay airborne; it was rocking around and moving dangerously close to the buildings.
"Come on buddy, we've still got work to do" shouted Razor at T-Bone, who was still watching the movements of the enforcer chopper in utter bewilderment. Tearing his eyes from the bizarre spectacle, he followed Razor, Xenon and Cody back to the Turbokat.
In the chopper above, the reason for the erratic flying was evident. Upon seeing the mutants' prison pinstripes, Feral, who had been flying, had abandoned his seat mid-air and charged into the back of the chopper to where Steele had been sitting. Felina was struggling with the controls, but her task wasn't helped by the Commander crashing around in the back, trying to get his hands on Steele, who was now trying to avoid the wrath of his superior.
"You lying scumbag!" Feral was yelling at Steele "you conniving, deceitful little scuzzball!"
After a time, he was able to seize Steele by the collar. Feral opened the door of the chopper, and dangled Steele out of it. Over in the news chopper, Johnny was trying to ensure he caught the whole thing on film.
The commander, having caught hold of the object of his malice, had stopped yelling. With Steele now hanging out of the chopper, he told him in a level voice "I suggest you make the explanation you are about to give phenomenally good."
"Sir, I-I-I wasn't responsible, sir, I-I-I had to do it sir, they said I had to help them, sir..." His voice trailing off as he looked down. It was quite a long way.
"I don't believe you, Steele" said Feral. "You're going to be spending the rest of your nine lives in the slammer."
Feral pulled Steele back inside the chopper, and cuffed him, all broadcast across the entire city courtesy of Kats Eye News.
---
Across town in a boardroom, three Kats were watching the live footage.
"No, we shall be having no more problems from Steele" the first said.
"Indeed, he is rendered harmless to us now" added the second.
"Certainly, Steele is no longer a threat" chimed in, somewhat unnecessarily, the third.
