Hey, everyone!

Just got back from my Ten-Day break to France last night, and it was INCREDIBLE! The whole time I was teeming with ideas for this story, and as soon as I got back to the school, I started typing, and what you see below is part of that.

This is going to be a three-part arc, meaning that this Halloween story will end in the next chapter. And, of course, after that is Thanksgiving and Christmas, which can only mean more adventures for young Max and his feline friends, since evil never rests! Please Favorite and Follow, leave a Review if you like, and enjoy this chapter!

NOTE: There is ONE F-Word in this story, so beware.

-aggiefrogger


Halloween: Part 2

T-Bone and Razor were bored.

For the first time in a long time, the Swat Kats didn't have any crime to stop. Sure, there were a few robberies and muggings, but the Enforcers had quickly stopped them, leaving them to just partrol the city; there wasn't even a major super villain threatening anykat anywhere, so they had spent the past couple hours driving through the city streets, waiting for the night to end. They were even considering of going home and watching the fourth Harry Potter movie with their friend when-

"Swat Kats! Come in! Do you copy?" Felina Feral's voice cackled over the intercom, and Razor quickly pressed the button to answer it.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Razor answered. "What's wrong?"

"You might want to check the Kats Eye News; it appears we have a duo of unannounced newscasters! They have hostages, and we're working on tracking their location now! We'll let you know when we find out, and I hope you can help us catch them!"

"We're on it!" They had a small screen on the dashboard of the Cyclotron, so they pulled over, tuning it to the Number One news channel, gasping when they saw the faces of the Metallikats staring back at them.

"Mac and Molly," T-Bone growled, clenching his fists with anger. "What are those tin cans up to now?"

"As I was sayin'," the female robot continued, grinning evilly at the camera, "we demand that the entirety of Megakat City's gold reserves be given over to us as a payment for ransom of these three citizens! And we also demand safe passage with said gold, or else-"

"You have until midnight to decide, or these three get it," her husband called from off camera.

"Shuddup, Bolt-breath," she snapped, glaring off-camera for a few moments before looking back. "And if ANY of you's think that we have no right to ask, we've captured your precious reporter Ann Gora, her camerakat, and-" She looked off camera, and it turned around, revealing two kats and some sort of oddly costumed character sitting next to them in a large cage. "Who are ya supposed ta be again? Their little latchkey kitten? I can't even tell what your costume's supposed to be!"

"Fuck you, Bucket-head," the costumed kat shouted, and the camera's view changed as it was quickly dropped, and they soon heard scuffling off screen, followed by a scream of pain.

"There," they heard Mac snarl out of view, his tone dripping with rage. "That'll teach ya ta talk to my wife like that!"

"You idiot, ya dropped the camera," the female gangster kat growled, the view now showing a view of the interior of some sort of warehouse, along with abandoned boxes of some hair care product stacked nearby. Then, the transmission cut off, and it went back to a stunned newscaster as he sat at the studio, trying to piece together what had happened.

"Swat Kats," Felina's voice cackled over the intercom. "We found where the transmission was coming from, and the boxes from the broadcast confirm it! Are you meeting us there? Guys?"

The two kats sat in shock, staring at the screen. Even without recognizing the human's voice, they could tell it was Max.

"How did he," the burly kat started to ask.

"No time for that now! He and the others are counting on us!" The cinnamon kat floored the engine, and they shot off into the night, returning Felina's call as they raced towards the warehouse.

..

"Well that was dumb," Ann commented, tearing up a handkerchief from her bag and tying it around Max's leg, which was bleeding from where the gangster hat clawed it several times, leaving a mess of bleeding scratches. She wondered how deep the wounds were, if he was bleeding through his full-body costume, but she ignored that as she tried to stop the bleeding, finally succeeding.

"But pretty brave," Johnny added, trying to find some sort of weakness in the bars of the large cage they were being held in. "I don't think I've ever seen anykat stand up to those two bullies!"

"Thanks," the young man hissed, gritting his teeth through the pain; he'd broken his leg in the past, and this was like a tickle compared to that. "But why would they want gold? How would they even get away with it?"

"Well, they never were the brightest super villains," the kamerakat answered, shivering slightly without his sweater; he'd given it to the human to wear in an effort to dry off and stay warm from his quick dip in the ocean. He didn't need to fear of the gangsters hearing them; they were in the next room, 'making plans.' "But this cage looks practically indestructible; probably made out of Agracite. There's no way out."

"Great," he muttered, slumping back against the bars. The teen just wanted to go home (his real home back on his Earth, though he would also settle for Jake and Chance's garage), and wondered how tonight could have gone south so quickly.

After being dropped off the pier, he'd hit the water, the cold shocking him to his core, freezing him in place as the water covered his head. Instantly, he panicked, and ended up choking on water as he tried to breathe in. This time, there were no friendly mechanic/superhero kats to rescue him now, and he slowly sank into the ocean, his lungs screaming for air. It was scarier than any monster that Halloween could come up with, and the terror made him want to cry.

Then, something was being wrapped around his waist, and he was yanked out of the water, back onto the top of the pier. He landed in a heap, soaking wet and coughing up water, shivering in the ocean breeze. Vaguely, he heard one of the gangsters say something about "three times the ransom," and soon found a cloth bag covering his head, and then he woke up in the cage with the two kats.

Ann and Johnny had told him that Mac had apparently changed his mind, and shot out his arm to capture him, claiming that they could use him as a way to get more gold. They were both sympathetic to his inability to swim, but they didn't escape the villains wrath; Johnny had a black eye (his sunglasses had fallen off beforehand, so they were spared of being broken), and Ann was cradling her arm, which appeared to have been broken by Molly when she tried to escape prior to being forced in the cage, where they had been for the past hour or so; most of it was in silence, but after being broadcasted on the news, they started to speak up.

"But the Swat Kats or the Enforcers should be here soon," the female kat said hopefully, staring up through the bars of the cage at the skylight far above them. "They always come through!"

"You really believe that we'll be rescued," Max questioned, still shaken from his near-death experience, and freaking out at being a hostage.

"Sure," Ann said, cocking her head at him, her voice calm. "They always rescue us in the end."

"So… you're not even a little bit frightened?" He couldn't believe how calm and nonchalant she was about their predicament; he expected her to be a least a little panicked, but she was a cool as a snowman in winter.

"Should I be?"

"They broke your arm," the human said incredulously. "They have guns coming out of their arms, and they're threatening to kill us if your Enforcer and the Swat Kats don't give them the gold! That doesn't scare you in the slightest?!"

"Eh, I've broken it before," she shrugged. "And death threats are a regular for me."

Max looked at Johnny. "Is she always this brave and reckless, or did I hit my head when Mac threw me off that pier?"

"You better believe it," he replied, smirking a little. "Our helicopter pilot Al refuses to fly with her, since she always wants to get close to the action!"

"And what's wrong with that," she said, glaring at her partner.

He instantly knew he'd said something wrong and quickly straightened up, running a hand through the fur on top of his head. "I... I didn't mean it like that-"

"Then how did you mean it," his co-worker asked cooly, her Halloween makeup making her fierce gaze more sinister and dark. Max looked between the two, waiting with bated breath, wondering who would come out on top (he had a suspicion it would be Ann).

"N-Nothing in a cruel way," the tan tabby replied quickly, withering slightly under the glare. "It's just… you're our top reporter, and I get… I get worried whenever you put yourself in danger. Like that time you were trapped in that Agracite mine… I thought… I thought you were dead, and… " His voice broke off, and the young man could almost feel the temperature in the room rise slightly.

Ann blinked at that comment, and Max was sure that if she wasn't covered with fur, he would see her face was blushing. "R… Really? You were… worried, about me?"

The kamerakat looked down at his feet, probably blushing as well. " … Y-Yeah."

"But you never mentioned this before!"

"Well… You never asked."

"I… I should have."

The two kats looked back at one another before Johnny slowly sat down next to her, cautiously holding out his hand to her, which she gratefully took. The human quickly looked away, moved by this sudden reveal of feelings, but also jealous as well; he'd never been this close with someone before, and was upset about how easily it seemed for them to just get together like this when he himself had struggled in the past to even talk to girls. Again, he was reminded of how quickly people hooked up in cartoons, and wondered if he was somehow trapped in one (thought he doubted it; who would watch a show about superhero kat people?).

"If you two start kissing," he finally spoke up, trying to hide his emotions, "I'm gonna throw up."

The two kats looked at him, opening their mouths to object, just as a loud crash sounded from the other side of the warehouse. Jumping slightly, they looked through the bars to find the Swat Kats jumping off their Cyclotron, shattered glass from the window around them.

"Swat Kats," Ann yelled, quickly getting up and waving through the bars of the cage. "Over here!"

"Miss Gora," Chance/T-Bone called out. "Are you all okay?"

"Yes, but-"

Suddenly, Mac and Molly charged into the room, arm cannons raised and pointed at the two vigilantes.

"Swat Kats," the smaller gangster growled, his gun whirring as it charged up. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"Smoke 'em," his wife shouted, and they started firing at the two kats, who quickly dodged the blasts, running and shooting something from their Glovatrixes, knocking the gangsters back but not denting their metallic skin.

Max had only seen Jake and Chance fight bad guys from their jet on TV, and was in awe of the speed and agility of the two tabbies. They dodged the bullets with ease, landing a few blows to the metal villains before falling back, shooting miniature missiles and cement blocks at the two gangsters. Even though they said that they had never done gymnastics before, the human couldn't help but feel that he wasn't the only one that was lying about his past.

..

The fight lasted about five minutes or so, and ended with Jake/Razor blowing up the villain duo with a bazooka he pulled from the interior of the Cyclotron after Chance/T-Bone used a bottle of shampoo to short out their guns. Pretty grim end, but at least the villains were gone. Chance used some sort of buzz-saw attachment to his Glovatrix to open the door to the cage.

"Any injuries," he asked.

"Ann's got a broken arm, I've got a black eye," Johnny answered, "and Max here got his leg scratched up."

"You might want to wash it out," Ann cautioned. "I don't know what makeup you're using with your costume, but it might mingle with your blood and infect it." Razor and T-Bone gave each other a quick look; the two news kats didn't appear to know that Max wasn't wearing a costume.

"I will," the teen promised, wincing as he climbed to his feet.

"We'll drive you home," Jake pretended to offer, letting the young man lean on him for support.

"Don't worry," the kamerakat spoke up. "I picked him up earlier; I don't mind taking him home."

Max and the Swat Kats froze, and the two heroes quickly glanced at the teen, who closed his eyes, knowing that he was in deep trouble.

"You…" T-Bone asked, managing to keep his voice calm and even. "You picked him up?"

"Uh, yeah," the tan kat replied, putting his shades back on his face. "His family was out of town, and he wanted to go out into the town. Besides, he's my friend, and a good kat." He glanced over at the human, and even though Max couldn't read his expression, he knew that he had mad a good choice in trusting Johnny with his secret.

Jake gave a small sigh of relief that he quickly hid with a cough. "Well, thank you for the offer, but we don't mind; besides, you should probably report what happened and get checked out by the EMT's."

"Of course," Ann exclaimed, grabbing Johnny with her free hand, pulling him towards the exit. "C'mon, Johnny! This'll probably put us on prime time!" The kamerakat managed to give them a small wave goodbye before disappearing through the door.

As soon as the two kats had left, Jake and Chance turned to the teen, glaring at him. With their helmets and masks on, the teen couldn't help but feel a little scared at their sudden fierceness.

"So," Jake finally said, crossing his arms. "A kamerakat picked you up. From our home. And yet you somehow convinced him that you were a kat?"

"Uh… yeah," the young man answered, hoping that they believed him.

"And you risked revealing not only your secret, but ours as well," Chance growled, clearly the more angry of the two.

The ex-student looked down at his feet. " … Kinda, yeah."

They were silent for a few more moments, and Max wondered if they would actually beat him up. Finally, the blond tabby spoke up. "Get on the bike; we're goin' home."

The teen quickly looked up. "But what about-"

"NOW," T-Bone finally snarled, and the teen quickly made his way over to the bike, his heart racing with fear of the unknown.

..

Dr. Void stared at the television, the glare reflecting off his glasses as he paused the news broadcast at the right moment, showing the young human sitting in the cage.

He'd been working on his pets when the News bulletin came on, and froze when he'd recognized the anatomy of one of the victims. A few minutes prior, the newscasters had announced that all three of hostages were rescued by the Swat Kats, but that the third, "monster" kat had vanished.

His pet screamed in pain behind him, withering in the tank of green liquid, his face covered with an oxygen mask, but the scientist ignored him, reaching out and stroking the screen, tracing a black claw around the outline of the young human.

"So," he muttered to himself, "it appears that our young friend did survive the Transportation process." He straightened up and looked back at the human. "It appears that you will soon have an ally to help you, but for now, you will do nicely; he is more fit than you, and if I can perfect your Transformation, then I can certainly make him perfect!"

Gary continued to wither in the tank, barely recognizable. His hands, now sporting four fingers each, were contorted and twisted as he gave another scream, chains preventing him from escaping the tank of mutagen. He was naked, and while the process was slow, more and more fur was starting to cover his body, and the beginnings of a tail were emerging from his backside. He gave another scream of fear, his eyes open yet unseeing. Out of all of his pets, the mad kat was proud that his human specimen was advancing well along; the creatures he'd taken from the other worlds were changing as well, but not at this rapid a pace.

"Of course," Dr. Void said, walking over to the vat and examining the tortured creature with a calm expression, "if you are to be the perfect soldier, one that can even outsmart those Enforcers and damned Swat Kats, then you must be without fear. There are many ways to overcome fear, but I believe that facing them, endlessly until you are numb and no longer affected by them, is the best route to take." He stroked the outside of the tank. "But do not worry," he whispered, staring lovingly at his creation-in-progress, "only a day more of this, and then you get to rest for a while. Okay?"

Gary only answered with a scream, watching as every fear was played in his mind's eye on an endless loop as his body slowly transformed into that of a monster. Giving his pet a small smile, the doctor went over to the door, turned off the lights, and went up to bed; he was tired, and looked forward to a nice long kat nap.


Hope you enjoyed that little Dr. Void bit at the end. I promise that there will be more of him to come!

Also, I do NOT own Harry Potter in ANY way, shape or form!

NEXT CHAPTER: Max has some explaining to do to Chance and Jake, and secrets from ALL of their pasts are revealed! Favorite, Follow, and Review, and as always, have a great day, Readers!

-aggiefrogger