HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Chapter 4: Trouble!
"Well this is just great!" T-Bone snarled as he tossed his helmet in his locker after they had returned to the hangar.
After witnessing the strangers disappearing, the pair quickly departed the area. They didn't want to mix it up with Feral. Viper was still stuck to the ground, snarling at them to release him.
Now they were home and trying to decide what to do about what they'd seen.
"Yeah, I know how you feel, buddy. I'm not exactly jumping for joy either." Jake said as he zipped up his coveralls and pulled his cap on.
"But what do we do about it?" Chance asked tightly, his fists clenched at his side in frustration. "Magic is the one thing we don't have any type of defense against. We've been plain lucky all those other times with Mad Kat and Pastmaster. By the sound of it, we have a large group here searching for someone."
Jake gritted his teeth at that. "We're just as helpless as Feral in this. A large magical group on the hunt is just a disaster waiting to happen." He said grimly.
"That's an understatement." Chance said flatly, shaking himself and heading for the ladder.
They were silent for a while as they made for their apartment. They ordered a meal then went to sit on the couch in their shabby living room to brood.
When the SWAT Kats had left the scene, Feral was pissed. It had taken them over a half hour to discover the scene where Viper and the SWAT Kats had fought. By that time, it was all over and all that was left was a crispy plant of some type and Viper glued to the ground.
When he approached the prisoner, he stopped in horror. He was quick to hide his reaction from his enforcers but inside he was shaken to the core. Viper had not been trapped by the SWAT Kats. This trap was magical in nature.
Swallowing hard, he looked around quickly, extending his senses to detect any trace of the perpetrators but there was none. Still he hesitated. Before he could make a decision, two of his enforcers reached down to try and pull off the webbing and were promptly stuck to it. The other enforcers immediately gripped their weapons tightly and searched around. This trap was like nothing they'd seen before. Most wondered how the SWAT Kats had done it.
Feral couldn't wait any longer, making sure no one saw what he was doing with his paws, he quickly weaved a counter-spell and muttered the words under his breath. Immediately, the glowing web vanished and the two enforcers were released. They snatched at Viper before the mutant Kat could take advantage of being freed.
"Who did this Viper? I know it wasn't the SWAT Kats!" Feral demanded. His officers stared at him in surprise.
Viper frowned. 'Feral was right but how had known that?' He wondered.
"I don't know!" He spat.
"Did you see who did it?" Feral pressed.
'Feral seems awfully tense about this,' Viper thought as he gave a flat 'no' in response.
Growling angrily, Feral barked, "Take him into custody!" His enforcers jumped to follow his orders and Viper was hauled away. Turning to his Sergeant, he said, "Have CSI do their thing in the lab. You stay with them and file a report. The rest of you return to base!" He snapped to the other enforcers milling around.
Within a few minutes, Feral was alone at the battle site. He began to search the area. At the edge of the swamp, he found what he was looking for...a warding circle had been hastily rubbed out. He went to the center and saw the wetness there.
'They were trying to scry my whereabouts.' He thought, chilled at how close they had been to finding him. 'Obviously, my concealment wards are working well.' He sighed in relief.
Searching around some more, he discovered two sets of footprints...bare footprints hidden behind some brush. This position afforded the hiders a perfect view of the action in the clearing.
'Oh no! The SWAT Kats know about the hunters! This has just gotten worse!' He moaned inwardly.
Picking up a broken branch with leaves on it, he quickly erased all the evidence, doing a thorough job of it. He quickly left the area before his CSI team came out to this scene to process it. He would insure they only checked where the battle was and no further.
As he made his way back to headquarters, he felt as if a noose had been placed around his neck and it was being drawn tight.