HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Chapter 7: Caught!
The next day, Razor left his partner to run the garage while he pursued his research into finding a way to detect magic users and the possibility of temporarily negating it. He went to see Dr. Sinian first.
Visitors to the Megakat Museum of Natural History got a rare treat, the sight of one of the SWAT Kats. Razor garnered many a look and excited whisperings as he strode through the main doors of the museum.
"Can you tell me where I can find Dr. Sinian." He asked of the security guard at the entrance.
The guard blinked. Normally he didn't see these guys unless there was trouble but he knew for a fact the museum was blissfully peaceful for once. Shaking himself, he quickly answered the colorful figure.
"Oh, certainly. She's on the third floor, right hall after you get off the elevator. She's monitoring the set up of the new Babylonian Exhibit." He told Razor.
"Thanks!" The smaller of the SWAT Kats said gruffly.
He moved off quickly for one of the elevators. Getting on he had to pretend to ignore all the looks he was getting by the other riders on the car. When it reached the third floor, he quickly moved ahead of the group sharing the car with him and strode down the appropriate hall. He soon reached a door that was closed but had a sign telling of the new exhibit that would soon be opened.
He opened the door and slipped in. The vast room was noisy with hammering, sawing, calls for equipment, and the voice of Dr. Sinian directing someone. He zeroed in on that voice and soon found her behind a huge display board talking to a sturdy, grey male tabby wearing work clothes.
He walked up behind her. The grey tom gaped at him in surprise which made Dr. Sinian realize someone unusual was behind her. Turning around she too blinked in surprise.
"Ah...Razor...what are you doing here?" She asked.
"I need your help urgently. Sorry to pull you away from a project. " He apologized.
"It's alright, Razor. You guys only ask when it's an emergency anyway. Just a moment." She said with a small smile then turned to the grey tabby and gave him some instructions. "Alright, shall we go to my office?" She asked him.
"Yes. This is pretty hush hush and not for everyone's ears." Razor said seriously.
Dr. Sinian's face creased in a frown as she quickly led the smaller of the SWAT Kats to her fourth floor office. She told her secretary that she was not to be disturbed and went into her office with Razor. Insuring the door was locked, she made her way to her desk and sat down. Razor took a seat in front of it.
"Okay, here's what's going on..." Razor began telling her what he and T-Bone had witnessed, the fact they had been in contact with Feral and what he hoped to accomplish.
"Oh my, this is serious. What kind of help do you need from me?" She asked.
"I thought with the information you have access to on all things magical that you could help Professor Hackle and I come up with what we need to find these guys and perhaps neutralize them." Razor said.
"Hmmm, well there are a couple of books from Queen Callista's time that might be useful. I'm assuming we need to do this quickly so I'm going to have to bring my assistant up to date with the project I'm already involved with so that we can go see the Professor. If you'll wait here for a bit, Razor, I'll hurry as fast as I can." Dr. Sinian said, coming to a rapid decision.
"Thanks for doing this. I know its tough to leave a project. It's always disruptive." Razor said in commiseration.
"Yes, well it certainly can be but I don't think I would have it any other way when my expertise can make a difference in protecting our city." She said with a smile then left.
Less than a half hour later, Dr. Sinian was getting a breathless ride on a cyclotron racing through city traffic and heading for Professor Hackle's more remote home/lab. As he reached the gates, the security system recognized him and opened them allowing him to drive up to the huge rolling doors of the Professor's lab. They had to wait a few minutes but soon the door rolled up and Razor drove in. Stopping the bike just inside, he got off then helped Dr. Sinian to dismount. Leaving the helmets on the seat, they walked up to where the Professor was just arriving.
"Razor! You should have called my boy, I would have had the door open for you." The Professor said reaching them.
"That's okay, Professor. It's an emergency. Have you met Dr. Sinian before?" He asked.
"Why no. But I've heard much about you my dear." He said warmly shaking her paw.
"Thank you! I know a lot about you to. Impressive lab facility you have here." She said looking around.
"Thank you. To what do I owe this unusual visit?" He asked leading them to a small worktable area where they could sit and talk.
They took seats and Razor explained again what was going on.
Professor Hackle's eyes widened in worried concern. "Oh my! This is serious. Magic is the one things I've always dreaded since we have no defense against. That's because it defies any form of logic I could apply to it." He said shaking his head.
"Yeah, me too but we've got to try and come up with some way to detect it and to defeat or neutralize it." Razor said.
"But, my boy, the only way to do that is to have someone or thing with magic so that we can use our equipment to study it then find a way to neutralize it. But without anything to go by we're only theorizing and that's really not going to help make what you need." Hackle said spreading his paws in frustration.
"Hmm, perhaps some of the artifacts I have at the museum will have enough residue of magic on them to help you." Dr. Sinian said giving them a questioning look.
"Perhaps..." Hackle said not completely certain it would help.
"It's a start. We've got nothing else. I'd suggest MadKats Jack-In-The-Box but its demon inside is far too dangerous." Razor said with a sigh.
"Well then, let's go back to the museum and see if I have anything that will work." Dr. Sinian said getting up.
"While you do that, I'll do some research on this and see what I can come up with." Hackle said distractedly.
"Right. Be back in a little while." Razor said also getting up and leaving with the doctor for his bike. Soon they were zooming back to the museum.
While Razor, Dr. Sinian, and Professor Hackle tackled the problem, Feral was having problems of his own. He was getting a nasty picture of how large a group of hunters were in his city.
Even though the hunter leader had only given him a small list of his people that were there, Feral could extrapolate just how many more were really there. He was really trapped and it scared him.
It was only a matter of time before one of the hunters got lucky and he got careless. It was extremely exhausting to be on alert at all times. So it was not surprising when the worst distraction that could happen now caused him to briefly reveal himself right when a hunter was near.
More than a couple of weeks after Razor began to work on the problem, the Pastmaster decided to roar into town. It was a mess of dinosaurs again and the kidnapping of the Deputy Mayor.
The crafty devil had snuck in from outside the city limits instead of at city hall. The dinosaurs were distractions at the nuclear power plant while the wizard went another direction and slipped up on Callie as she stood with the Mayor at yet another dedication of his honor, this time at a new commemorative garden for fallen enforcers (the old one was full). Feral was standing by the Mayor's side with some of his officers and a small crowd of interested Katizens as they stood near the statue of an enforcer in full armor.
Just as he was about to give his speech, the Mayor was rudely interrupted by the Pastmaster appearing suddenly aboard a pterodactyl. He swooped low and snatched Callie from the platform, knocking Feral over.
Fortunately, when Callie saw the Pastmaster she had just enough time to push the button on the communicator she carried. Before the wizard could make a clean getaway, the SWAT Kats were on the scene with a squad of enforcer choppers coming up in the distance.
They chased him back to the cemetery then shot his ride from under him. They flung a net missile at Callie and managed to catch her before she could hit the ground. The Pastmaster hit with a thud but jumped to his feet again in a fury. He shot his watch at the Turbokat and the enforcer choppers that were protecting them while they got the Deputy Mayor to safety.
Not having a lot of time, T-Bone arrowed the jet away a short distance and went low while Razor cut the lines to release Callie on the ground. The netting fell away so that she could escape while the Turbokat went back to the battle.
Knowing he was losing, the Pastmaster fired on them as he ran off through the cemetery using huge mausoleums and trees to hide behind. He was trying to get a clear space to open a portal but the SWAT Kats were harrying him too much. Feral managed to finally catch up to the battle site on foot. He took in the standoff and knew this had to end quickly before the Pastmaster managed to send someone back in time.
Looking around quickly, he noted he was alone. It was just as the Pastmaster succeeded in opening a portal, that Feral hurriedly cast a spell that shot the Pastmaster into his own portal without taking anyone else with him. He vanished with a scream of fury probably because he'd detected some other magic user had sent him into another dimension instead of his own past. He wouldn't be back for a very long time or maybe never.
Feral was relieved his spell had worked. He gathered up his troops and checked to see if Ms. Briggs was alright. He also checked to see if the dinosaurs his radio had informed him had been rampaging, were taken care of. He was relieved to hear everything was under control with the dinos knocked out with gas and on their way to the zoo. That done, he joined the others as they gathered again at the statue and continued the aborted ceremony.
No longer needed, the SWAT Kats headed home. Razor was frowning. Something about what happened bothered him.
"T-Bone did you notice something strange about how the Pastmaster managed to fall into his own portal?" Razor asked as he changed clothes.
"Yeah. It didn't look like he had made the choice himself. Our magic users, you think?" T-Bone asked as he too pulled his g-suit off.
"Possible. It would make sense they wouldn't want a rogue around causing trouble while they are searching." Jake said grimly.
"It was nice they did it even though it still leaves us with a possibly more dangerous problem than the Pastmaster ever was." Chance said grimacing unhappily.
"You're right there." Jake sighed as he made for the ladder to get back to their interrupted work.
Later that evening, the SWAT Kats paid a visit to Enforcer Headquarters to give Feral an update and to mention what they thought they had observed during the Pastmaster mess earlier in the day.
They had parked their jet on a nearby building and rappeled down to the ground. They didn't try to swing across to the Enforcer Building due to the increased traffic around the flight line this evening. They slipped into the parking garage and were heading for the stairs when they heard an altercation somewhere in the garage.
Halting and listening, they determined it came from a section behind the elevator pylon. Hurrying toward it on silent feet they slipped close and peeked around the concrete wall. There was Commander Feral surrounded by more of those strangers the SWAT Kats had seen when they fought Viper.
They stayed hidden and made no sound, waiting to see what was going on before interfering.
"We have you at last. Come quietly and make no move to cast a spell." The squad leader of the group said coldly.
Feral stood frozen in terror. He couldn't allow himself to be taken but if he fought this group the rest would be alerted to her location. He frantically tried to think of what to do.
"Alter your form. It is unseemly for you to see your new husband in the wrong gender." The squad leader snapped.
'Husband?' He thought in shock. 'What was he talking about.'
He was too slow in responding. A signal from the Leader alerted two of his soldiers to send tendrils of potent magical energy at Feral causing immediate pain. Crying out in pain, Feral lost his magical seeming and his true form appeared.
T-Bone sucked in a breath. It was the female he'd met more than a month ago. 'That female was Feral?' Was his shocked thought.
Razor was shocked as well at the transformation of their hated antagonist. 'So this was who they were looking for and she was right under our very noses the whole time. Crud! She knew all along who they were hunting for and still didn't give me enough to help her. When we get her out of this, she has a lot of explaining to do.' Razor thought grimly as he nudged his stunned partner and signaled that now was the time to interfere. T-Bone nodded grimly and brought his glovetrix up.
The squad leader growled in pleased surprise. The prize was even more beautiful and resourceful than they had thought. The Red Force Leader would be very pleased. As he reached for Feral two things happened at once.
The first was a spat of magic sending him backwards and the second was an attack from the side from unusual weapons. Three of his soldiers had been stunned by a tarry substance that stuck to their faces. They were too surprised to magic it off at first. The next missile shot an electrical field that shocked the rest of the group. The squad leader was getting to his feet when he and his squad were encased in a glowing field and promptly vanished. The squad leader's face was a study in fury as he disappeared.
Turning quickly, Feral saw the SWAT Kats coming to her side. Before they could ask the questions she could see on their faces, she barked a question of her own.
"Where's your jet?"
"On the roof of the next building." T-Bone answered promptly pointing to the left.
Her eyes glowed, she raised her paws and muttered something. Seconds later they were on the roof next to the Turbokat.
"Woah! What a way to travel!" T-Bone gasped.
"We've have to leave now!" Aurora said urgently.
Hearing the fear in her voice, they didn't waste valuable time asking questions. Time enough later for that. T-Bone opened the canopy and the three of them leaped to the wing. Razor pulled her into the weapon's jump seat beside his own as T-Bone climbed into the pilot's seat.
In no time, they were airborne and heading away from the city in no particular direction.
"T-Bone head to the stratosphere now!" Razor ordered.
Not asking why, T-Bone tipped the nose of the jet to head for space. Razor engaged the speed of heat shield and insured their passenger was fitted with a radio and face mask as they went higher and higher. In about ten minutes they were above the planet and T-Bone placed them in temporary orbit.
"Okay, this as safe as we can make you. Now start explaining!" Razor demanded through his radio. T-Bone turned a little in his seat and had his radio tuned to their private channel.
She looked at them, unhappily. They had risked much to help her, more than they even realized. But would it be enough to save her? She sighed inwardly, really there wasn't a choice anymore. Her fate was now firmly in their paws. She began to tell them who she was and what they'd inadvertently gotten themselves into.