The Stone's power had stopped the bleeding and partially healed the wounds. It had also kept Elena alive. She was still very weak, but alive. What the stone hadn't done, was regenerate the large amount of blood she had lost. The stone was still very dark, the two colors difficult to distinguish from each other.

Jake and Chance cleaned up the blood as best they could, then bandaged her wounds. They hadn't returned back down to the hangar since bringing Elena up to the apartment above it. They knew that soon they would have to clean up the large amount of blood down there. Worse, they would have to do something with the felynthrope's body. But not yet. They didn't want anything to do with the thing until Elena woke up.

Jake finally went to bed sometime after 1 am. Chance eventually fell asleep as well, laying on his bed next to the still unconscious she-kat.

When Chance awoke the next morning, he hadn't slept very well at all, he was relieved to see that she was not only alive, but also conscious. Barely. She was still very pale, and probably would remain this way for several days. He was almost tempted to actually take her to the hospital. She certainly needed it.

Chance sat up and had to wipe away a small tear, hoping she didn't see it.

"Elena? How are you feeling?"

"Tired..." Her voice was soft, weak. Her eyes were dull and partially closed.

"Where did those... those things come from? How did that one get in here?"

She spoke softly through ragged breaths. "They're from... the Shadow Relm. A portal... somehow... Strong magic..."

"But how did it get in here?"

"It was... sent here..."

"What?"

"Sometimes... evil sorcerers... will create... felynthropes... as assassins."

"Assassins? You mean... it was after us?"

"No... It was... after me..."

Chance clenched his fists. Bad enough someone could try to kill him and Jake. After all, the were the SWAT Kats, though he would give his life to protect his partner. But for someone to come after the she-kat he loved... Knowing where she was... Luring him and Jake away by having the other felynthrope attacking at the other end of the city... It was just too much for him. His palms began to bleed as his claws dug into his own skin.

"Chance...?"

He opened his eyes and looked down at her. Worry shown in those beautiful emerald eyes. Gently, she placed a hand on his clenched fist. Chance looked down and saw the blood dripping onto the bed beside her. He calmed down, unclenched his fists.

"I'm sorry, Elena."

"No... there wasn't... anything... you could do..."

She turned her eyes towards the door. Chance followed her gaze.

Jake was standing in the doorway, leaning on the frame. His expression was grim. He'd obviously heard the conversation, and was more adpt at putting information together than as was his friend.

"If those things were from the Shadow Relm, why would they have been sent to this world to kill you? What would someone there gain from it?"
Elena could only think of one possibility. "Revenge..."

"But who? Shade Kat's dead? Isn't he?" A sudden thought occurred to the ginger kat. Shade Kat was a sorcerer. The chosen of the Sun Talisman. Jake had seen magic bring Elena back from death, thrice now in such a short time. What if Shade Kat was still alive?

"He... should be..." She had the same thought. She knew the power of magic. Knew the power of sorcerers. She knew the head had to be removed, or there was a chance they could come back. She'd killed Shade Kat. Ran him through the with her sword, and threw him off a balcony from one of the highest towers of his citadel. She saw him hit the stone ground far below. But there was still a chance... a small chance... that he could have survived it.

"The body... did they... ever find... the body...?"

She couldn't remember. Birman had never told her if they did or not. Neither did Mau. She couldn't remember anyone saying if they'd found Shade Kat's body, or what was done with it if they did.

"I... I don't know."

Jake looked to Chance. Maybe he knew.

The tabby shrugged. "I don't remember anyone saying anything about if the body was found or not. But if it wasn't, surely Birman or Mau would have said something?"

"Yes... " She knew that was true. One of them surely would have told her if they body had not been found. "They would have..."

Elena stayed in bed for two full days and nights. She had told them to burn the body of the Felynthrope. They ended up having for divide most of their time between their jobs in the garage, repairing several cars damaged by the drone jet a few days ago, and cleaning the large amount of blood from the hanger.
On the second day, another drone jet had appeared. The SWAT Kats managed to defeat it, but without Elena's help they had taken damage to the Turbokat, and were still no closer to figuring out who was controlling it.

The morning of the third day after the attack, Chance awoke to find that he was alone in bed. "Elena?"

Chance got up, pulled on a pair of cargo pants, and walked out into the main living area. Elena was sitting at the table, eating a breakfast wrap, a glass of water on the table beside her. Chance smiled and walked over to her. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"Yeah. Thankfully I still heal fairly fast. A side affect from not aging, I think."

"Or the magic."

She smirked. "The magic's the reason I didn't age."

Something then occurred to the big tabby. "If you're still healing fast, does that mean you're still not aging?"

She had to pause and think about that one. "I honestly don't know. From what I've heard from Mau, the chosen ones of the Moon and Sun talismans don't age, until the talismans are combined into the Astral Stone. Supposedly, the keeper of the Stone then begins aging again, but more slowly."

"How slowly?"

"He said one kat lived to about three hundred, but I think they can choose the speed at which they age."

Chance paled. He realized that she could potentially age slower than, and drastically outlive, him.

Elena obviously knew what he was thinking. "In our line of 'work', I doubt any of us would live too long. And, to be honest, I don't want to live that long." She had already seen nearly eighty years, even though she still appeared to be in her late twenties. She certainly did not want to see another hundred or more years.

"That's not very comforting." But he knew it was also true. For him, Jake, and Elena. Every time he and Jake went out as the SWAT Kats, there was the possibility that they would never come back. And he knew that Elena wouldn't stay cooped up in the hanger forever. She and Jake had already started drawing up plans to rebuild her SilverHawk.

Elena took another bite of her breakfast and decided to change the subject. "Have there been any more incidents while I was out of it?"

Chance decided he was hungry too, and went to grab a bowl and some cereal. "Yeah, another drone showed up yesterday."

"Another one? Same kind?"

"Identical. Same machine, same moves, same lightning quick reactions."

She could hear the frustration in his voice. "And...?"

He sighed as he set down the bowl and cereal box on the table. "And, we took it down. But it did some serious damage. Both to the city... and to the jet."

Elena winced. She knew that heavy combat weaponry, such as fighter jets, often took damage. But still, pilots didn't like to see their jets get damaged. She had been the same way with her SilverHawk. But in a way, part of her old jet was still around, since it had been used to rebuild the Turbokat back in the Shadow Relm. One of the Turbokat's current engines was in fact one of the SilverHawk's two main engines, as was the front rotary thruster and the landing gear.

"How bad is it?"

''Gonna take a few days to repair."

"Not good. Let's just hope no more of those things show up in the meantime."

Chance and Jake spent most of the day working on the Turbokat, the rest of it working on still more damaged cars in the garage. Sometimes they wondered if they were too good at their job as mechanics, as it could make their 'other' job a bit more difficult time-wise.

Elena finally removed her bandages to find that her wounds were now nothing more than light scars. Satisfied, she spent most of her time that day on her computer, trying to collect as much information as she could on the mysterious drone jets. As well as any other "unexplained" incidents that may have happened in the past few days. She was sure the two different situations were not connected, but the timing was horrible. She kept the Astral Stone around her neck the entire day, absorbing it's power to speed her healing as well as to 'feel' for any other magical energies, such as what she had felt when the felynthropes had shown up. The Stone's color was finally back to normal, the sapphire and crimson bands vivid against each other.

When night finally came and they had all finished their work for the day, they ate dinner in relative silence. They were all three exhausted. The guys physically, Elena mentally and emotionally.

Elena was actually first to go to bed. Usually she was the last. She lay down on her side, her head resting on her hands and upper arms. She closed her eyes and let out a long, slow breath, her method of relaxing. Releasing tension. Chance had another method. She felt his weight in the bed beside her. Felt his strong hand rub her shoulder and arm ever so gently, lightly tracing the lines of her dragon tattoo. She was still not at full strength, and needed to rest. But something about him had drawn her to him from the beginning. She had always kept her heart shielded. Kept others out. Yet he was different. She needed him.

Elena rolled over onto her back, her eyes meeting his. She smiled to him softly, then he leaned down and gently kissed her. That's all it took. She gave in to him.
She lost herself in the moment. Shut down her mind. Gave in to her senses. Gave in to the passion. But then something went wrong.

She didn't feel right. Her fingers and toes burned. It felt as if her claws were growing. Her fangs too. She felt the muscles in her lower arms and legs spasm and burn. A shock of energy ran through her body. Something was very wrong! Elena's eyes opened wide in sudden shock and panic. Her pupils were dilated.

On the dresser nearby, the crimson bands of the Stone gave a pulsating glow.

"STOP!

With a sudden hard shove, she virtually threw him off her, then flipped over onto her hands and knees, breathing hard.

Chance was taken by complete surprise by her reaction.

"Elena? Are you okay? I'm... I'm sorry..." He knew he had messed up. She was still needing to recover.

"No. No it's... it's not your fault. I'm sorry, Chance. It's okay. I'm just... I just still need to rest. I need to finish healing." Her breathing slowed. She had control of herself again. What had happened? She had an idea, and it terrified her.

The stone's glow faded as she had regained control. Chance had never even noticed the Stone.

Carefully, Elena laid back down on her side once more.

Chance moved over, putting a small amount of space between them. He lay on his back, arms behind his head, and exhaled slowly. What had happened? What had he done? Was she mad at him for something? She gave him the answer when she closed the space between them.

Elena curled up against his side, her head on his shoulder. She was still weak and hurting, but she wasn't mad at him. It wasn't anything he did.

Chance smiled softly and put his arm around her. They both soon fell asleep.