Moving to Megakat City.
Chapter 5: Shopping for Humans.
Written By Jlargent.
Me: For those of you asking about the tech that Amelia is going to introduce to Magakat City you have to take into consideration that the series was written back in the nineties so you have to take into account that it has been twenty years since the series ended. Besides, some parts of the show are more advanced than ours so it balances out. That being said, I do not own SWAT Kats in any shape or form, typical disclaimers apply.
Amelia's POV.
I groaned at the sunlight hitting my eyes, I was contemplating trying to decide whether or not to return to the bliss that is sleep when the door to the living room was echoing with someone knocking on it. I slowly exited the bed and shuffled towards the door and open it to reveal Felina in her uniform holding a white paper bag and a Styrofoam cup which most likely was holding the blessed coffee that was in it.
"Morning sleepyhead." She greeted holding out the sustenance.
"Mrrrng." I mumbled as I slowly make my way towards the dining area, Felina places the bag and coffee onto the table I sit down and open the bag to reveal two breakfast sandwiches and hash browns, I eagerly tear into the food while Felina eats hers. Half an hour later I was feeling a lot better than I was earlier and I was dressed for the day.
"So where are we headed?" I asked my friend.
"Seeing as you don't have a bed or dressers we need to do a bit of furniture shopping, and don't worry about the money, it's all on Callie's tab so we should get you some good quality stuff." She replied as the two of us were heading towards one of the more industrial parts of the city. Finally, we arrived at a place called "Furniture for U." I could see a few cars in the parking lot as we entered the store, I already had an idea as to what style of furniture that I wanted but I also needed to watch the budget since I don't think Callie would appreciate me buying thousands of dollars' worth of stuff, I decided to get some modern yet stylish furniture. I could see Felina drift off to another part of the store, probably looking for a few items for her place.
As I walked through the store I could see a few Kats whisper and point at me but I decide to ignore it, if they can't handle my awesomeness that is me then screw them! I slip my earbuds on and turn the volume on the player to the max drowning out the whispers and I looked at the store directory picking out my destination I head towards to my desired location. Moments later I was standing in front of several types of dressers, I decided to look at them to see if any of them are affordable when I felt my shoulder being tapped, I jumped in surprise and swerved around to see an older male cat saying something but due to the volume of the music I could not hear him. I raised a hand making him pause for a moment while I stop the music and pull out an earbud.
"Um yes, can I help you?" I asked the gentleman.
He scowled at me "Yeah, the customers are complaining about you, so I would like for you to please leave the store at once." He replied shocking me, I mean sure I had the swagger going on but nothing that would warrant this type of behavior.
"Wait, wait, wait. Seriously? You're throwing me out because I haven't done anything wrong, have not in any shape or form vandalized anything within this store and just because I'm not a kat like yourself?" I asked him incredulously. He smirked and I could automatically tell that he was going to be an asshole about this, and before I could say anything else he casually knocks a lamp over breaking it.
"Looks like you did vandalize a rather expensive lamp." He mocks before reaching out to knock over another lamp.
"Is there a problem here?" Felina's voice calls out stopping the man. He gives her an obviously fake smile and turns to a scowling Enforcer.
"Yes there is officer. I just caught this vandal destroying a rather expensive lamp and she has refused to pay for it. Judging from her appearance I doubt that she could even afford it." He said.
Felina smiled just before replying "Really? Because from where I was standing it looked like you broke that lamp just to give an excuse to evict someone from your store because they weren't a kat." She said leveling a glare at the man wiping the smirk off his face faster than I thought possible "Now are we going to be nice to the non-kat or do I have to arrest you for vandalizing your own store?" she asked him. I was surprised that he was starting to sweat at the implications. While on the outside I was impassive on the inside I was laughing at the upcoming discount the man will give to keep this quiet.
"Um, today everything is 25% off, you and your friend are in for a good treat." He growls and leaves.
"Go Felina." I said to the cop.
"Just don't tell my uncle okay?" she asked me.
"Hey, you just saved my ass. As far as I'm concerned I didn't see or hear anything." I promised.
Felina sighs "I was afraid of this though." She said.
"What?" I asked.
"Discrimination. There hasn't really been a case of this since before Megawar 2." Felina replied, I could only assume that Megawar 2 was this world's equivalent of WW2 from my guess. Kinda hard to discriminate if everyone's the same species though.
"If there hasn't been a case then how is it possible for this to happen?" I asked her.
"It could be stemming from the constant supervillain attacks. I mean if you think about it any one of them can and will kill them without any regard for the consequences. That would put anyone on edge." She thought out loud.
"I'd rather not think about it if you don't mind." I said shuddering.
"Agreed, I'll have to talk to my uncle to see if he has any ideas." Felina spoke.
"So what now?" I asked my friend.
"Now we shop and then we get some lunch." Felina replied.
Three hours later…
After ordering the right furniture and making sure that it would get delivered we headed downtown to look for someplace with actual sustenance rather than fast food. When we entered the restaurant it became deathly quiet, I think even the radio that was playing was turned down to a low level Great, here too? I thought as we make our way towards the counter the guy manning the counter looked to be about sixteen if my guess is right, he looked nervous and was shaking.
"Umm, C-can I h-help you?" he stuttered.
I looked at the selection before answering "Yeah, I need a number seven, and a medium drink please. Felina?" I asked my friend.
She looked at the menu before replying "I would like a number four with extra fries and a large drink." She replied.
The kid nervously rang up the order "T-that'll b-be $1-15.2-27 ma'am." He nervously replied, got to give the kid credit, at least he managed to pull it off without too much trouble, Felina pays the cashier and we turn to the seated portion of the restaurant. When we started to approach the tables the other customers quickly parted out of our way, we ignore them and head to an empty booth while our order was being prepared.
"I have to admit this is a first for me." I said to Felina.
"Which part? The unwanted fear or the discrimination?" she asks me.
"Both actually, I mean it's one thing to learn about discrimination in school but to actually be the target of it? It's rather depressing and frightening to be honest." I answer.
"Depressing?" Felina asks me.
"It makes you pity them just because they are unnecessarily hating someone because they are different from everyone else." I reply just as our order was called, we stand up and head towards the counter where our food was. I was just about to grab the tray when Felina stops me.
"Hey kid." She called out to the cashier, he nervously comes up to her.
"Y-yes? Is-is there a problem with y-your order?" he asks her with a stutter.
"Yeah, did any of your cooks decide to try to put something in Amelia's food before you brought it out?" she asked him with a glare in her eyes.
"N-no ma'am." He replied and I could somehow tell that he was being honest. Maybe because they feared more for their job than to try something with someone with an Enforcer escort.
"I believe you kid, just being cautious ya know?" she asked him, he shook his head quickly in agreement, I grab the tray and we head back to our booth, I sat down and opened the wrapper of my chicken sandwich while Felina ordered a fish fillet basket.
"So what happens now?" I asked her.
"To be honest I have no clue. I suspect that Callie is working on immigration papers for you as well as other documentation so you're good on that. As for the discrimination? That's beyond my paygrade." She answered "For the moment you should stay indoors as much as possible until Callie knocks out the paperwork and you're declared a citizen here, in addition you should carry some pepper spray for when you do step outside." She advised me.
I nodded in agreement "I took martial arts lessons when I was younger, I never really had a reason to use them. But I think I can handle myself if it comes down to a confrontation." I tell her, she nodded in agreement.
"You should practice your moves just in case you're rusty and needed work." She tells me.
"Right, so should we leave?" I indicated to the nervous patrons of the restaurant and the now empty trays of food.
She nodded "Yeah, I'm just about done anyway." She agreed and we leave the place. We enter the patrol car and she takes me back to Callie's and she tells me that she was going to help the movers place the furniture in my bedroom. Soon the delivery truck arrives and Felina helped the movers place the furniture in the right locations and before I knew it the once empty bedroom had a more modern bed, dresser, bookshelf and other amenities, I sighed as I lay back into my loveseat and I move my hand to grab the remote to my TV thinking about what Felina said. I should look into this Megawar 2 and see how it compares to World War 2, Felina had left to report to her uncle leaving me alone in the apartment so I decided to watch the local channels to see if there was anything good on I casually flick through the channels when I spotted a news report showing Felina's uncle, I turn the volume up on the television.
"This is Ann Gora Kat's Eye News here with Commander Feral at the scene of a hostage situation that has been going on for the past few hours. According to Enforcers the hostages are located on the fifth floor of this building" The camera shifted to a ten story building surrounded on all sides by the police, you can see a few kats staring out the window heavily armed, the camera shifts back to the reporter before she talks to Ulysses "Commander what are the demands of the group holding the hostages?" a Kat with a short pixel cut hair style asked the commander.
"They demanded several million dollars in cash and a private jet at the municipal airport fueled and ready to take them to an undisclosed location." He replied. Just then a loud explosion echoed and the camera suddenly shifts to the building and smoke was coming from one of the third floor windows, they must've booby trapped the other floors so if the Enforcers try to storm the place then they would easily get killed. Just at that moment a black and red fighter jet suddenly flew over and I could swear that the pilots jumped out and landed on the roof.
"It's the SWAT Kats! They jumped from their jet and landed on the roof and are making their way towards the hostages." Ulysses seemed to take this as a signal and ordered his Enforcers to storm the building." I could hear gunfire and for a moment there was silence, all of a sudden the jet reappeared above the building and the camera zooms in onto two kats in blue and red flight suits wearing black masks that hide their identities appeared in the window, one was well muscled indicating that he can tank most physical blows and his partner was thin but athletic. He looked like that he relies on speed and dodging his opponents wearing them down gradually.
The heavy hitter dodged a clumsy punch only to be hit in the solar plexus crumpling him and the other one kicked his opponent in the jaw easily knocking him out and they continue fighting the kidnappers rendering them out cold and just then the door to the apartment busts open to reveal the Enforcers arriving onto the scene, and in a shocking move they literally jumped out of the window and I almost missed them raising their hands noting the strange gauntlet on their arms, all of a sudden a grappling hook shot from them and attaches itself onto the lip of the roof bringing them up to the roof.
Commander Feral barks orders to arrest the pilots and rushes off, I presume so that he could catch them before they could get away, the pilots make their way to the roof and the jet lowers itself so that they could climb aboard, there was nothing else seen, but you could hear the sound of the engines and then the jet rises so it could be seen and it flies off the opposite direction and Commander Feral was leaning against the edge of the rood shouting but the roar of the jet engine was drowning out the noise.
The camera switches back to Ann "The hostages are now safe thanks to the efforts of the SWAT Kats who single handedly rescued them from certain death. This is Ann Gora reporting live on the scene, back to the main desk." She spoke, I decided to turn off the TV, I sat there stunned at what happened.
"Well. That just happened." I said to myself stunned at what happened, apparently this is going to take a lot of getting used to, and I don't mean the vigilantes but with all the fear and hate directed at me. But I can and will overcome it. It will take a while but it can happen.
To be continued…
Me: Now that was some good writing! Looks like Amelia is in for an interesting time in Megakat City. Next time: Meeting Mayor Manx and a date?
As always Hoody Hoo!