Hey, readers!

Here's Chapter Two! Max learns more about these mysterious kat creatures, including a certain secret they've kept under wraps for years.

Favorite and Follow, Review if you'd like to, and enjoy!

NOTE: I do NOT own Murder, She Wrote, Batman, DC, or any of their character/actors/ideas in ANY way, shape or form.

-aggiefrogger


The Strange Creature:

"Is he still out," Chance asked, walking back into the living room, now cleaned up and wearing a fresh uniform.

"Yep," Jake replied still examining the contents of the human's backpack while the man in question lay on the couch, unconscious. "And he wasn't kidding about being from the future; according to his license, he was born in the year 2000, and he's from some country called 'The United States of America.'"

"Weird name," the large kat commented, going over to the fridge and grabbing a can of milk. "And a long one, too. Anything else ya learned about him?"

"He goes to some college in someplace called 'Tex-as,' and he has a family; check out this photo I found." The cinnamon cat held up a picture for his friend to see; it consisted of a small family with the human, two sisters, and two parents, all of them with the same red hair and green eyes. The mysterious human seemed to be the only brother in the family.

"What's his name?"

"Max Greenwich."

"Funny name."

"Probably not to him," the small kat said logically, examining a large plastic device that folded open to reveal a computer keyboard. "And he probably thinks we're the weird ones. Any ideas how he got here?"

"Has to have been a portal," Chance answered, picking up one of the notebooks and flipping through it. "I dunno how else he could've gotten here. Pastmaster, maybe?"

"Doubt it. He can only travel through time, but this 'human' seems to be from another dimension entirely. Maybe someone on his end created the-"

"Oww."

The two kats looked over, at the human, who was moaning and starting to wake up. They watched it rub its face, obviously still in pain from where it had gotten punched. Finally, he spoke up, muttering something to himself.

"I knew it! I knew it was just a dream! Imagine, talking cats saving me from drowning… crazy!"

"Yeah," Jake commented, snickering a little. "Pretty crazy."

The student's eyes flew open, and he quickly sat up, his eyes wide open. He looked around at the room, confused, eventually spotting Chance and Jake.

"What the-" he yelped, falling off the couch, becoming tangled in the blanket the kats had thrown over him.

"Calm down, kid," Chance said, walking over to help the student up.

"Stay back," the teen shouted, scrambling away from the blond kat, kicking him in the face.

"Dow!" the kat yelped, falling back and holding his nose, blood tricking between his fingers. "Yeah… I probably deserved that."

"Calm down, Max! We're not gonna hurt you!" Jake helped his friend to his feet as Chance grabbed a handkerchief from his back pocket, trying to stop the blood.

The red-haired college student looked at them fearfully, still breathing heavily, but he stopped trying to run away. "How… how do you know my name?"

"We found your wallet," the shorter kat answered, gesturing over to the table. "We also took all of your stuff out to let it dry, along with your shoes and backpack."

"You punched me," the human said accusingly, pointing at the large kat.

"You were freakin' me out with that crazy laughin'," Chance replied, trying to staunch the flow of blood. "And ya didn't believe that we were real; whaddaya think now?"

The teen looked around the living room, taking everything in, his face anxious and a little frightened. "Where… where am I?"

"Our apartment," the cinnamon kat answered, offering a hand to help the young man up. The student looked at it suspiciously, but upon seeing the kat's smile, he tentatively took it, and Jake helped him to his feet.

"So... you're not gonna hurt me? Or eat me?"

Jake snickered at that. "We don't even know what humans are, so I doubt we'd enjoy your taste! We mainly eat fish, and right now, we're fine with that!"

Max nodded slowly, looking over at Chance. "Sorry for kicking you."

"It's fine," the kat grunted, sitting down and leaning forward, letting the blood drip into the tissue. "Jake!"

"Got it!" The other kat ran to the mini fridge, grabbing an ice pack, tossing it to his friend, who caught it without looking.

"Okay…" Max stared at the two; they were obviously close friends, and wondered how long they'd rehearsed that trick.

"Do you remember anything from before Chance's sleeping aide," Jake asked, dodging a swat from the injured kat, who was numbing his nose with the ice pack.

The human looked around the room, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Kinda… I'm in some… Mega-something city, in 1995… and I nearly drowned-"

"Can humans not swim," Chance asked.

"No, we can, but I've never been good at it; I'm terrified of water, ever since I nearly drowned when I was twelve."

"Really? Chance here nearly drowned once, too."

"Hey! I can swim pretty well now; I saved his life, didn't I?"

"Thank you for that," the human said quickly, still a little scared of the two kat creatures, deciding he'd better be polite to them.

"No problem! We weren't just gonna let you drown," Jake said kindly, going over to the fridge. "Want some milk?"

"O... Okay. Wait, it is cow's milk, right?"

The cinnamon kat chuckled. "What other kind of milk is there? Of course it's cow's milk! 2%."

"That's fine." To his shock, the kat creature pulled out a red soda can, handing it to the confused teen.

"Wait," Max asked, looking at the label, which had the word 'milk' on it. "It's canned?"

"Of course," Chance cut in, getting up and grabbing his own can from the fridge, still holding the ice pack to his face, which muffled his voice. "Freshest milk there is!"

"Oh." The human cautiously opened the can, still not believing that this was happening, and took a small sip. It tasted like cold, regular milk, but he still hesitated before taking another sip. "We don't drink milk back in soda cans back where I'm from."

"Then what do you drink milk from, then," Jake asked, leaning against the wall as he sipped his drink.

"Usually a carton; we pour it into glasses, though I sometimes drink straight from the carton."

"That's weird," Chance muttered.

"Again, he's from another universe," his friend cut in. "At least you seem similar to us, based on what we found in your backpack. We have universities here, too."

'But… I'm sorry," Max finally said, looking between the two kats. "You're both giant, talking cats! How are you both so… so-"

"Smart," Jake asked, smiling a little. "I take it that the kats in your universe aren't as… articulate, as us?"

The human nodded, looking down at his feet. "Yeah. Where I'm from, cats are kinda… our pets." He couldn't even look the talking cat in the eyes, he was so embarrassed, and could only imagine what they must be thinking. "They're about the size of microwaves, and, if I'm being honest, I'm not a big fan of them; I'm more of a dog person."

"What's a dog?"

"Never mind. The point is… I don't hate y'all; I mean, its kinda hard not to, after you saved my life. I'm grateful for you saving me, by the way, I really am, and I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier; I had a long shift at work earlier, and I had nearly drowned a minute earlier. It's just… a lot to take in." He finally looked up, once again examining the room around him, including the posters of kat musicians and movies. "I mean, I'm not dreaming, so… how did I get here? And how do I get home?"

Chance and Jake looked at one another, not sure of what to say. They felt sorry for the kid (despite the whole kat situation in his universe); heck, they'd been trapped in another time before (twice!), and they knew what it was like being somewhere different, with nothing familiar in sight. But they also knew that they couldn't help the human as themselves, but that the Swat Kats could.

The only problem was, they couldn't just reveal their identities; the guy already looked freaked out at the whole 'different universe' thing, so adding the fact that they were vigilante heroes would probably make things worse. Besides, they'd never revealed their identities to anyone, so they figured that they should keep it that way.

The sound of a truck approaching interrupted the two kats from their thoughts, immediately filling them with dread as they recognized the noise.

"Great," Jake muttered, glowering towards the entrance to the garage. "Looks like Burke and Murray with another delivery."

"Let's get it over with quick," the blond tabby said, his eyes narrowing as he and his friend went through the garage towards the noise, tossing his ice pack off to the side. "Stay here; we'll be right back."

"But-" Max started, but the two kats shut the door behind them, heading towards the entrance to the garage. Hesitating for a second, Max quickly followed, creeping out through the door, keeping his distance and staying hidden, watching the scene unfold.


A large dump truck was parked outside the garage, and was currently dumping several hundred pounds of metal scarp on the kats' front porch. Maniacal laughter came from the truck's front seat, where the two junk delivery brothers were just finishing dumping the metal out of the truck. Jake and Chance approached the duo, avoiding the metal that they'd have to spend the next hour or so picking up and moving to the proper dump site.

"Special delivery," Murray called sarcastically, leaning out the drivers side window and leering at the duo.

"Yeah," they heard Burke add, cackling from the passenger seat. "Feral sends his love!"

Chance and Jake gritted their teeth, trying their best to restrain themselves from attacking the two brothers.

"Sign here," Murray cat-called, holding out the delivery slip for Jake to initial.

"Is just me, or is your aim a little off with your dumping," the cinnamon cat asked bitterly, quickly scrawling his name on the paper.

"Still bettah than your aim," the larger of the brothers commented, glaring at Jake. "Next time ya crash a fighter plane, try not ta crash into a buildin'!" This comment sent the two brothers into hysterics, and made Chance's and Jake's blood boil. Max, however, was confused: they crashed a fighter plane into a building?! They're pilots?!

Are these cat creatures some kind of criminals being punished for a crime, he wondered, continuing to observe the scene from behind a broken car.

"Like they're gonna be flyin' anytime soon," the smaller brother added, sending them into more peals of laughter.

"Yeah, but at least we ain't literal junk kats," Chance snapped hotly, his fists clenched. "Born in junk, and you'll die in junk!"

The dump truck's engine suddenly cut off, and the two brothers glared at the feline with rage. Chance hesitated for a bit, some fear in his chest, before scowling back at them.

"Oh, really," Burke said, climbing out of the truck, quickly followed by his younger brother. "Bet we can take you both!"

"I'd like to see you try," Chance challenged.

"Easy, bro," Jake whispered to his friend. "We gotta keep cool, remember? Besides, your nose-"

"What's the matter," Murray asked, cracking his knuckles and grinning evilly. "Scared?"

"No," the cinnamon kat said calmly, though he bristled at the comment. "We've got work to do. C'mon, Chance."

"Fine," the blond kat grumbled, turning away from the grungy brothers. "But this ain't over."

"You bet it ain't," Burke said, and suddenly lashed out, pushing Chance into a nearby mud puddle.

The kat, who had just showered after ending up in the pool earlier, snarled angrily, climbing to his feet, his eyes full of rage and his claws brandished. However, Jake held him back while the two brothers laughed, struggling to hold his friend back. In the garage, the red-haired teen bristled angrily as well, though he didn't leave his hiding place; one of those junk cats looked bigger than Chance, so he figured he'd loose whatever fight followed.

"We'll send Feral your love," the small kat called, laughing as he climbed back into the truck, followed by his brother.

"Yeah, see ya soon, Fly Boys!" The engine roared to life, mixing with the kats' laughter as they drove off, leaving the two friends with the pile of metal.

"AARGH," Chance yelled, yanking out of Jake's grip and kicking a piece of metal near the pile, sending it flying. "Those cruddy jerks are the worst kats that I've evah-"

"Calm down, dude," Jake said, though he looked just as angry as well. "Won't do either of us any good to get mad. Besides, we're better than those jerks."

The large kat seemed to calm down a little, though he still flicked some mud off his hands. "Fine. Now let's move this crud before we do anythin' else."

"Need any help," Max called out, finally standing up and walking out of the garage. The two kats whirled around. "Who were those a-holes?"

"Burke and Murray," the small kat answered, not sure of what the human had called the junk duo, but figuring it was bad. "Brothers, and some of the worst kats you'll ever meet. They bring everything to the scrap yard, and we sort through it all, seeing what can be used for repairs and stuff."

"But now we gotta move this crud to the proper area, and we gotta sort through them."

"I can help," the teen offered. "It's the least I could do after everything ya'll've done for me."

"Don't thank us yet," Chance warned him. "This ain't easy work."

The human crossed his arms, frowning a little. "I can handle it. Besides, looking at how much y'all have to do, I'd take the help."

Jake smiled, impressed with the teen's willingness to help. "Fine with me. Grab some gloves from the garage, and let's get to work!"


An hour and a half later, the trio had finished moving and sorting the metal parts.

Chance wasn't kidding about the work being hard; they had to sort everything based on the type and size of metal, and some of the items were so large, Jake had to use a small crane to move them. The gloves prevented his hands from getting cut, though he had to squeeze his fingers in (since they were made for the four-fingered cats), and he helped Chance load the metal onto another truck, which the kat drove over to another part of the scrap yard, dumping the metal onto a large mountain of parts.

The whole time, the two kats sorted through the parts, setting aside quite a pile for something they claimed was for auto repairs, though Max didn't know why they needed so many parts; based on the state of the garage, it looked almost abandoned, and it didn't appear to get much work. However, he didn't say anything, since they were being nice to him; plus, they were giant talking cats, who was he to judge?

By the time they finished, the sun was starting to set, turning the sky a brilliant orange.

"Another day, another dime," Jake muttered, wiping his brow with his sleeve.

"Yeah," Chance added, doing the same, smudging his forehead with dirt. The mud from earlier was now caked to his uniform and fur, making him look like he'd lost a fight with a five-year-old selling mud pies. "I gotta hit the showers."

"Max should go first," the small kat piped up, causing the human to start. "Bathroom's down the hall to the left. You can put those dirty clothes in the hamper, and we'll wash them for you later."

"Th-Thanks," the young man muttered, surprised by this further kindness, and quickly made his way to the bathroom. He was relieved to find it looked like a regular bathroom (with a toilet, not a litter box), and quickly showered, washing the grime and pond water out of his hair.

When he got out, he noticed that one of the cats must've dropped off some clothes for him to wear, since he saw a plain t-shirt and a pair of work coveralls sitting by the sink. They looked bigger than him, and he tried to ignore the large hole in the seat that was meant for a tail. To cover it, he folded the top part of the jumpsuit (from the waist up) down, tying the sleeves around his waist like a belt. He looked weird, but at least it covered the hole in the back.

Walking back into the living room, he saw Chance watching some cartoon show on the tiny TV while Jake rummaged through the fridge.

"Thanks for the clothes," Max said, adjusting the sleeves tied around his waist.

"No problem," Chance said, turning off the TV and heading towards the bathroom for his own shower.

"Poor Chance," Jake said, pulling out two microwave fish meals. "First he has to save you from drowning, then he gets a bloody nose, and then he gets shoved into a mud pit. It's just not his day today."

"Yeah," the human muttered, walking over to a table with his stuff laid out, a fan sitting nearby blowing them dry.

"Are you hungry? We've got fish for dinner."

"No thanks, maybe later." He picked up his laptop, some water still dripping out from the charger port. "Great," he muttered. "So much for finishing my English paper."

"What is that thing," the cinnamon cat asked, putting the two meals into the microwave; Max assumed that the second one was for Chance.

"Just my laptop." Realizing the cat probably didn't know what that was, he elaborated. "It's basically a portable computer."

"That weird plastic device with a computer keyboard?"

"Yep."

"Amazing," the cat murmured, pushing the buttons on the microwave before coming over to examine the device. "It's so small; how does it even work?"

"I have no idea, but it doesn't matter, if it doesn't work anymore. Do you have anyone in this world that fixes computers?"

"Yes… but I doubt that they could do anything to help, since this was probably made twenty plus years into the future. And its from another dimension."

"Oh, yeah." The boy looked over at his phone. Fortunately, he had paid extra for one of those cases that blocked out all water and was shatter-proof, so it still worked. "No cell service, though, but it's understandable; besides, who would I even call? I doubt my family exists in this universe."

"That's your phone," the cat asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

"But where are the buttons? How do you even-" The small cat gasped as the teen turned on the phone, tapping the screen, which changed to respond to his touch.

"It's a touch screen," the college student explained. "Most phones in the future are."

"But what are all those box things?"

"Apps. They have apps for everything; this one's for music, this one's for movies, this is how I call people, these four are games, and his is how I-"

"Wait wait wait." The kat held up his paws, shaking his head as he tried to wrap his mind around the futuristic phone. "You… can listen to music on that thing? And watch movies? AND play games?!"

"Yep," the human said, smiling a little at how much he was blowing the cat creature's mind.

"All on that tiny device," Jake asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Yeah. At least I still have my charger," Max noted, looking at the table of his stuff. "It might still work, and since I've downloaded several movies and books and music and stuff-"

"Seriously," Jake commented. "That's impossible! You can't store all that stuff on that tiny device; it'd need to be about the size of a filing cabinet!"

"Not in the future it doesn't," the human assured him. "Or at least in my future it is."

"Is the future nice," the cat asked, going over to the microwave, which had just gone off, the room now smelling of fish. "Wait, are you even allowed to tell us about the future? Or will it alter the future, like those movies with time travel and stuff?"

"I… I dunno… I think it won't do any harm, since we're from different dimensions or something; you should be good. And as for the future… it's okay. Some of it's good, some of it's bad; a lot more technological advances, but basic problems like world hunger, poverty, and global warming still exist."

"Oh," Jake said, his smile fading a little. "That's cruddy." He pulled out the two meals, taking them to the living room. "Chance, dinner!"

"Coming!" A few seconds later, the blond cat ran into the room, now clean and in a new clean uniform. He sat down on the couch, grabbed his meal, and took a big bite of the fish.

"Slow down, buddy, you're gonna choke on that," his friend warned.

"Hey, I've choked on bigger hairballs," the large cat said defensively, quickly swallowing the food. "Besides, I'm starving!" He noticed that Max wasn't eating. "Do you humans not eat fish?"

"No we do, but I'm not hungry right now," the student lied, sitting down on a chair nearby. "So I know you're Jake and Chance, but do y'all have last names?"

"Mine's Clawson," Jake said.

"Furlong," Chance answered, taking another bite of his fish.

"We found your wallet, too," Jake said, eating his meal as well, "so we already know your name. But according to the license, you're from some country called-"

"The United States of America. It's a large country with fifty states, ruled by a president that the people vote for."

"Interesting, we have a president, too. Do you have Enforcers on your Earth?"

"What?"

"They keep the peace in the city and stuff."

"Oh, you mean the Police?"

The two cats looked at one another, a little confused. "Yeah… I guess so."

"So what do you two do," Max asked, wanting a break from having to answer questions about his home and timeline. "I assume you both run this salvage yard and auto shop?"

"Yeah, but we used to be fighter pilots," Jake answered.

The student blinked. "Yeah, I remembered those two cats mention that. So… you went from being fighter pilots in your… cat army, I guess, to mechanics? Seems like a step down."

"We didn't want to," Chance said, growing angry at the thought. "We were forced to."

"Forced to? Is it because you crashed into that-"

Suddenly, an alarm went off on the wall, a red light flashing repetitively. The two cats jumped at that, and Jake ran over to a phone, picking it up. "Hello?"

Max couldn't hear the speaker, but the cinnamon cat's face became serious, and he nodded. "We're on our way." He hung up. "Chance, we gotta emergency!"

"Let's go," Chance agreed, jumping up, all thoughts of food gone.

"A mechanic emergency," the human asked incredulously.

"Uh, yeah," the blond cat said unconvincingly, following his friend towards the door. "We get a lot of them here in the city. Some one's car probably stuck on a highway; Jake'll tell me what happened on the way there. There's milk and fish in the fridge, plus some chips in the cabinet, and the TV's free for you to use. We'll be back in about an hour or two."

"Wait, an hour or two? For one car-"

"Stay hidden; most kats probably won't be as nice as we are, and try not to destroy the place," Jake warned, disappearing into the garage with Chance, slamming the door behind them. Max stared after them for a few seconds, not sure what to do now that the two cats were gone.

"What the hell," he muttered, walking over to the window that looked into the garage. The two felines were nowhere to be seen. He quickly walked outside, looking around for any sign of them, but found nothing, though he did notice their truck was still parked by the building.

"Okay… they're gone now, and they obviously lied about having a job emergency." The student looked around the living room. "Now what?"


An hour later, Max was sitting in the comfy chair, watching the Chance's and Jake's TV.

After they'd left, the human had gone through the entire area, exploring the cat's home. It was basically an apartment; each cat had a bedroom, a bathroom, and there even a laundry room. There was no official kitchen (besides a counter top stove), but a microwave oven sat on top of the mini fridge, which was full of cans of milk, along with two dozen packages of fish. Most of it was raw, so he made a mental note to ask the cats if they had normal food in this universe, like pizza, or at least a skillet to cook food with. But he did eat a bag of potato chips, which tasted as good as the ones in his dimension.

The garage outside was a regular auto garage, full of parts and tools and stuff. For a while, Max wondered if they were somehow hiding in the garage, but had found nothing. So the young man had quickly gone back to the living room to watch their TV, deciding to learn more about this new world. He tried not to think about being stuck here forever, but he still decided that he should study up on their culture… just in case the worse came to be.

Flipping through the channels, he saw it was the Nineties, but with cats. There were talk shows, game shows, and drama shows (he even saw a parody of Murder, She Wrote, starring one Jessica Clawsbury), but all with the anthropomorphic cats. It seemed that everyone had cat-related names, and they all wore human clothes, though the fashion was still very Nineties. He also learned that the when the felines said 'cat,' they really meant 'kat,' which probably meant some English teacher was rolling over in their grave.

Eventually, he ended up at a news channel, figuring he'd learn something there. To his surprise, it was the same date that it was back on his world, but only the year was different. Max watched the two anchors talking about the weather, sports (they had the same sports), and even talked about their economy, which was similar to the US'.

"So basically," Max said to himself, "it's the human world… but with kats. Kinda boring, but-"

Suddenly, the regular news switched to some breaking news bulletin, and it cut to an aerial shot of a giant bug monster wreaking havoc in Megakat City, roaring and stomping around.

"Finally," the Gen Z said, smiling a little. "Now it's getting interesting!"

The news lady (or would it be kat?) was talking about how the large creature had showed up an hour ago, but had just reached the Mayor's Office. She said that the Enforcers (they looked more like the military than cops, in Max's opinion), were trying to keep it back, but were failing miserably. The kats were shooting at it form a barricade, but it did little to stop the creature, which swiped at a building, nearly knocking it over. It was kind of interesting to watch; it was almost like some monster movie, but the human had to remind himself that this was real, and these kat creatures were probably dying.

Suddenly, some fighter jet flew by, shooting missiles at the monster; it appeared that the Enforcer air support had shown up. The missiles exploded against the creature, nearly knocking it over as the jet flew by, turning back around to face the creature.

"That seems pretty dangerous, shooting missiles so close to buildings," Max muttered, drinking the last of his canned milk.

The red and black fighter jet kept assaulting the monster, eventually destroying it several minutes later, the whole creature suddenly turning into water and splashing down to the ground. The jet, meanwhile, flew off, disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

"And another victory by the vigilante duo known as the Swat Kats," the news anchor said, obviously relieved that the monster was defeated.

"Swat Cats," the student mused, watching the jet plane fly off, and the news cat started to interview some of the Enforcers. Even without seeing the duo, he automatically knew who it was, all the evidence form earlier coming together. "It's Chance and Jake. I mean, who else could it be?"

So… he ends up in another universe with talking cats with a 'k,' and he, out of all the places to appear, ends up in the home of a pair of crime-fighting vigilantes masquerading as mechanics.

Damn, he wondered, crumpling the can and throwing it out. I sure have some interesting luck.


Back in their hidden underground bunker, T-Bone and Razor climbed out of the Turbokat, still celebrating their latest victory.

"Another kill for the wall," T-Bone said proudly, stamping a skull and cross-bone on a wall full of several others.

"And another day of showing Commander Feral who's boss," Razor added, and the two of them high-foured. "Now let's change and get back to Max; what should we tell him we were doing for over an hour?"

"I dunno," his partner answered, going over to the locker and taking off his helmet. "Maybe we got caught in traffic on the way back?"

"Think he might believe that?"

"I think so; he's not from here, so he has to be pretty naive and stupid."

"Yeah," Razor said, changing out of his armor and back into the persona of Jake. "Think we should ask Ms. Briggs if she knows if anyone's been experimenting with portals to other dimensions? Maybe someone brought him here by mistake, and might be able to send him home."

"Call her tomorrow, buddy," the large cat said, heading towards the back exit (since their main exit was close to the living room, where the human was). "I'm beat!"

"Me, too! After all that work earlier, I could really use a kat nap! We'll prepare the Turbokat tomorrow."

They climbed up the ladder, ending up outside in the scrap yard. Quickly walking around the building, they walked into the auto shop, heading through the door to the living room.

"Hey, guys," the human said, looking up and grinning from the chair (Chance's chair, the blond cat noticed, bristling a little) he lounged in. "What's up?"

"Hey, Max," Jake said, heading to the fridge. "Sorry it took longer than expected; traffic was awful on the way back."

"Oh," the young man replied, sitting up a little. "Because of that monster on the news?"

The two cats froze for a second. "Y-Yeah," Chance said, catching the can that his friend tossed him. "Yeah; it was a mess."

"Mmhm," the human said, surveying the two. "I just watched TV while you were gone; your dimension isn't so different from mine. Just more… feline, I guess."

"Really," Jake asked, gulping down the milk.

"Yeah, but we don't have people that masquerade as mechanics when, in reality, they're a pair of vigilante superheroes that routinely take down bad guys."

The two cats choked on their drinks, sputtering and coughing as the human's words rang in their ears. They looked up at the human, who gave them an amused expression.

"Oh, come on; it was SO obvious! You both used to be fighter pilots, but, according to you, you were forced to work here. Most pilots, at least in movies and stuff, hate being grounded, and since you two aren't crazy, you've obviously found someway to keep flying, despite your low salaries." Chance and Jake looked at each other, but Max continued.

"You get an emergency call out of nowhere, and I doubt that mechanics, even in this universe, get emergency calls. Then, on the news, a fighter plane with two masked vigilantes happen to show up while you're gone, and five minutes after the monster's defeated, you two show up here, despite being 'stuck in traffic' for an hour." He looked at the two shocked faces, giving a short laugh. "Come on, I can't be the first person to discover your secret, right? I mean, how many trained pilots are there in this Megakat city?"

Chance and Jake looked at Max, then at each other, then back at Max. In all their years of being Swat Kats, no one had ever found out their identities, save for two robot thieves that later had their minds erased. They'd always discussed what to do if someone ever discovered their secret, but their inter-dimensional visitor was the last person they suspected to find out, and they were thrown off their guard. They were also shocked by how quickly the human had found out their secret, and gave each other another look, waiting for the other to say something.

"No… not really," Jake finally said, too surprised to even try and deny the accusation.

The student raised his eyebrows, surprised. "So I'm the first person to find out your secret?"

"Yeah," Chance answered, still shocked as well.

"Oh… well, I'm not gonna tell anyone; I don't know anyone else here, and I doubt if I do get home that anyone would believe me." The human smiled. "Besides, you've both been nice to me, and I can tell that Feral guy on the TV doesn't seem to like you. He seems like a dick."

The two kats blinked. This human was, by far, the strangest creature they had ever come across in their adventures. It was coarse at times, confusing, and a little cocky. They didn't know if they liked it or not, but they knew they couldn't just kick it out; it had no way back home, and they also didn't know how the other kats would react to seeing this man walking around. Besides, Megakat city wasn't a friendly place to anything that wasn't a kat (after going through an almost weekly attack from some monster, most kats got pretty scared whenever they saw something new), and they doubted that the teen would survive. At least the human didn't want to discuss the whole 'vigilante hero' thing further, so the two started to relax.

"Yeah, Feral's the reason we're stuck here," Chance finally grumbled, slinking over to the couch, still miffed that the college student was still in his favorite spot. "He was our old commander two years back, but he's a complete egomaniac. He caused us to crash into the Enforcer building, and fired us from the squad. Then, instead of fessin' up to what he did, he ships us out here, and we're stuck workin' as scrap mechanics until the damages are paid off."

"WHAT," Max gasped, staring at the two in shock. "He just- And that's legal here?! That sounds like forced servitude to me!"

"It is forced servitude," Jake said, sipping his milk as he sat down next to Chance. "But he had every right to sentence us here; at least it's better than jail."

"But don't you have courts? Isn't there a justice system that you could've gone to to protest this punishment?"

"There is, but it's run by the Enforcers."

"So… the military controls the Judicial system," the student asked incredulously.

"Pretty much," the large kat muttered. "It's cruddy, I know."

The teen couldn't believe it, shaking his head in disbelief. "That… that sucks, to be honest. How long will it take to pay-"

"At our salaries, at least 75 years, maybe more," the cinnamon cat grumbled.

"And our lifespans are only about 85 years, and we're both in our twenties," Chance added bitterly, "so we're stuck workin' here until the day we die."

The human stared at them, not believing what he was hearing. "Unbelievable. That would never happen in the US; at least, not today. Slavery and forced servitude was outlawed in the 1860's, if I recall correctly, after the Civil War."

"The Civil what, now?"

"Long story, well, not really-"

"So…," Jake asked, peering at the human curiously, "your 'police' force doesn't control the Judicial system where you're from?"

"Nope. Cops uphold the laws that our government comes up with, and the Judicial system punishes those who break them. However, the punishment must fit the crime, and cruel and unusual punishment is illegal."

"Kinda wish we lived there," Chance mumbled, still looking angry, crushing his empty milk can.

"Our governments are kinda different, since we have three branches, but I don't remember much. If my laptop worked, I could probably pull up my old high school US History and Government notes; I have them downloaded onto my hard drive."

"Let me look at it," Jake suggested. "I'm a whiz at mechanics; I even built the Turbokat jet you saw on TV, twice!"

"Hey, I helped," the large kat said indignantly, picking up his cold fish, putting it back in the microwave.

"Wait, I thought you said kats in your universe wouldn't be able to help."

"Yes, but that was before you found out our identities. No one knows who the Swat Kats are, so even if I told you, you wouldn't have been able to find them- I mean us. Feels weird saying that."

"You're tellin' me," Chance replied, watching his fish heat up through the microwave glass. "Also, we have someone we call call as the Swat Kats: Callie Briggs. She's the Deputy Mayor of Megakat city, and she's our biggest supporter." Based on the way he talked about her, it was obvious the mechanic/hero had a crush on her.

"Interesting," the human commented, smiling a little. "Does she know that it's you two?"

"Nope. Not even her."

"Damn, you guys sure take this whole 'secret identity' thing pretty seriously; even Batman told a few people his secret identity!"

"Don't you mean Katman," Jake asked, examining Max's laptop.

Max sighed; if he heard one more kat parody, he would probably go insane. "Yeah… yeah I guess so."

"Speaking of TV," Chance added, walking back into the living room with his food, "it's time for Scaredy Kat!" He turned on the TV, flipping to some cartoon cat show with waky music playing in the background. It didn't look particularly funny, but the blond kat seemed to enjoy it, laughing at the cheap gimmicks as he finished his dinner. Meanwhile, the cinnamon kat was taking apart Max's laptop, using a set of specialized tools as he carefully took it apart.

Well, Max thought, watching the two kats going about their lives, pretending they weren't super vigilante heroes. If this is like a Nineties cartoon, that better not make me Lois Lane. Or Robin.