((I want to thank all of you for being so kind and supportive of this first effort of mine. I am so very pleased people are enjoying this fic. Please comment how you like this chapter.))
SWAT Kats are property of Hannah-Barbera and are used without permission. Various named and unnamed OCs that do not appear in the cartoons are owned by me.))
Summary: A serious explosion lands the SWAT Kats in Megakat Memorial, Razor to the burn unit and T-Bone in the ICU. The Metallikats decide this is a 'poifect' opportunity to get even with those meddlesome SWAT Kats. How is a burned and battered Razor to protect his comatose partner when able-bodied Enforcers can't?
"We're almost through, alright Razor? The worst of it's almost over," Rosie chirps in that perky-bright way she has. She's swathed in plastic protective gear and her face is covered by a surgical mask. Razor's in a tub full of steadily dirtier water as dry blood and dead skin are sloughed off. The worst burn was third degree, his foot nearly up to the knee and while the ET nurse kept assuring him it looked better every day, it was still pretty disgusting. And painful when debrided. His other burns, which were mostly scattered over his lower body, were gonna take less to heal.
His hands were burnt as well. Not as bad, but they kinda hurt more at times. Partially because the burns were shallower than the full thickness on his leg, which meant fewer destroyed and senseless nerve endings. But mostly because you try to use them! With his leg wrapped up he barely remembers it.
Nearby, similarly swathed in protective gear, is Felina. Why she'd come every day for this, he didn't know. Nor why Commander Feral allowed it. But he was grateful for the company. She was settled in a wheelchair, hands back behind her head as she tries to describe the firepower of the missiles Dark Kat had stolen. Pumadyne hadn't been real forthcoming with that info but with Feral and Mayor Manx breathing down their necks they'd finally shared the specs.
The nurse was being as gentle as possible but it didn't help. Peeling away the dead skin was excruciating, despite pain meds. He focused on Felina's voice until Rosie, the nurse speaks up. "Done, let's get you out." She gives Felina a pointed look, who smirks behind her mask, covering her eyes with her hands.
Rosie activates the table lift and hauls Razor out of the tub, covering him with a dry bath blanket. Rosie was an old hand at this and has him wrapped up in a moment. "Okay Lieutenant my modesty is intact," Razor says wryly.
"I think protecting my innocent mind is her bigger concern," Felina says sweetly.
Rosie sniffs a tad prissily but keeps her mind on her work. She carefully dries the burns before applying ointment and clean dressings.
"Your hands are looking a lot better," Felina murmurs, and Razor holds them up.
Rosie nods. "Yes, the blisters are almost all down, on all your burns 'cept the leg. We'll keep them wrapped yet but they won't need the debridement again," she states, and cuts a piece of tape.
"Great, no more of this crud," Razor grins.
"In a day or two" Rosie cautions. "After you get the skin graft to your leg, then no more soaks."
"Eh. Guess I'll put up with it huh? Lieutenant, your Uncle still camped out with T-Bone?" Razor asks, already knowing the answer.
Felina nods, absently patting down a wrinkle in the sleeve of her isolation garb. "This morning he left for a bit and got in some sleep. But he's back now."
Razor shakes his head, wondering what's happened in this crazy life for Feral to become a nursemaid. 'It should be me down there, with him. Not Feral,' he thinks to himself. "I still don't understand why he's doing it but… I appreciate it."
She shrugs idly. "I don't think he'd appreciate it being said aloud, but I'm sure he knows."
Four days previous, the Turbokat had been struck by a missile. Razor's partner T-Bone was thrown out of the cockpit and was now in the ICU. He hadn't woke up since the blast. Razor was allowed to see him that night, then he'd been trapped in the burn unit ever since. "Infection control" they called it. So he had to get his updates on T-Bone second hand. Third hand, sometimes. He was demanding frequent updates. That wasn't the same as being with him, but they all told him there hadn't been much change. He'd admit that Feral was taking his promise to 'stay with T-Bone' seriously. He'd barely left the ICU, and Felina reported that she'd walked in on his reading the newspaper aloud to him.
Talk pauses a moment as Rosie finishes the bandaging and while Felina obediently covers her eyes again she gets Razor dressed in sleep pants Callie had brought in, and another stupid open-butt hospital gown, with the help of his walker.
Razor had had a fit when he found out he was expected to use a walker. Along with the burns he'd fractured his pelvis during the impact. And since he couldn't put full weight on his legs with the fracture, he needed something to hold on to. But crutches weren't possible with the hand burns.
So the walker had these stupid little cushioned platform things above the handles. He has to lay his forearms in them and lean on those. Take a mincing step. Then push the walker forward, awkward when you're having trouble gripping anything. It took forever to go ten feet.
And yes the burns hurt, but the broken pelvis was an entirely different pain. Kind of one of those 'I didn't know I used that muscle' sort of things. And -everything- hurt. Coughing, turning, standing, sitting, taking the irritating deep breaths the RT was so fond of.
"Hunched old crab-Kat" he mutters, finally settled into the wheelchair. Rosie snorts back a laugh and Felina grabs the walker, both the she-Kats discussing their upcoming Friday plans, Rosie pushing Razor's chair.
They pick up the two Enforcer guards outside in the hall. Megakat Memorial has been swarming with them since the two vigilantes were admitted. Feral had ICU and the burn unit practically on lockdown. He'd gone so far as to get administration to restrict the staff allowed to work with the boys. He claimed it was to protect the SWAT Kats from unscrupulous staff and curious katizens who would try to unmask them. Felina admitted quietly to Razor that he also suspected someone might try to finish him and T-Bone off. It was a sobering thought. The whole city knew they were in there. The hospital had had to put up six tables in the main foyer for all the flowers, balloons, get well cards, stuffed animals, toy jets, and kittens scribbles and drawings that'd come addressed to T-Bone and Razor, the Swat Kats. This would be the perfect time for one of their old problems to show up, and Razor didn't have a lot of faith in Feral's ability to handle the problem.
And Felina... He glances slightly at her, unnoticed as she's describing the movie night she's planned. She'd called him 'Jake', that first day. Called T-Bone 'Chance'. She knew who they were. When had that happened? And since that startling comment she'd been entirely close lipped. He'd tried to bring it up to her but she always changed the subject, or left, pleading Enforcer business.
He'd almost convinced himself that he'd dreamed up the whole thing. Though he wanted suddenly for her to be trusted with their secret. But that was distinctly a risk, with Feral her uncle.
It takes maneuvering for Razor to get back in the bed, then his nurse Jamue is showing up with a dose of pain meds he's more than ready for, and Rosie changes the dressing in the PICC line disappearing inside his arm. Then she attaches new IV fluids, antibiotics and a "chaser" of saline as Jamue dryly calls it. She still insists he wear some oxygen when he's asleep. His cough from the smoke inhalation was still problematic and it was worse when he laid down. He'd learned swiftly these ladies knew what they were talking about. He only hoped T-Bone was getting care half as good.
"Alright Razor, I've got to head out," Felina calls from near the door. She was pulling off the paper gown and booties and throwing them into a waste receptacle. "I've got a chopper patrol shift starting in 45 minutes." She heads out the door calling "take a nap, and that's an order" over her shoulder, causing Razor to grin.
"That Miss Feral, she is soooooo sweet. Coming every day and all," Jamue says, eyeing Razor as she places the call light within his reach.
"Awww, Jamue, It's not like that," he mumbles, ears back. "Give it a rest."
Rosie grins as she finishes a clear dressing over the PICC site and gathers up the trash before starting out.
His nurse laughs and follows Rosie. "Call if you need something, hero."
He'd slept almost two hours when a tapping outside the window and a familiar voice jolts him fully awake. "Gee Mac, I dunno about this. There's Enforcers all over this building!"
"Aaaaaaah, don't be such a sissy, it's poifect! We can take 'em both out, right from under Feral's nose. Hey, hold up a second. I see a open window. Lemme go take a look around."
"What, and just leave me out here?!"
"What's your problem?"
"I ain't gonna stay perched out here like a boid!"
"You have got to be kidding me," Razor murmured, slipping out of the bed. The IV clipped into the PICC was difficult to disconnect one handed, but he managed it. He grabbed the walker and hurried, well, sort of, to the window. It took the entirety of the Metallikat's argument for him to even get around the bed.
Step by painfully slow step he gets closer, hearing a distant "Found a computer terminal! Lemme get room numbers. Heeeeeey, dis'll be like takin' candy from a kitten."
"Yeah, yeah, big talk. Lemme at dem SWAT Kats den."
'She's right outside the window,' Razor realizes, eyes wide. "Well here goes nothing" he whispers, then shoves the partially open window wider with his forearms and sticks his head out. He comes face to face with Molly Mange, or her head anyway, perched on spindly legs. She's right below his window on a ledge.
"Woah! Mac!" she shouts, starting to scramble away. "There's one right-"
Unfortunately for Molly, Razor snatches at her and she loses her grip, starting to tumble end over end towards the ground. "...heeeeeeeeeeere…" she shouts, before making an impressive crash landing on pavement.
Two stories below, Mac's disembodied head taps its way out of a window, looking around. "Molly?!" He gasps, looking down at her then up to where she was last perched. He does a small jig of anger. "You'll pay for that, SWAT Kat! Molly, Molly, speak to me!" he shouts down at the inert metallic form.
Razor glances over at the bedside table, where he'd hidden his Glovatrix. Callie Briggs had snuck it to him and he'd felt a lot better having it on hand. But it was an impossibly far six feet out of reach. He pokes his head back outside, spotting Mac making his way back through the open window two stories down.
"So long, SWAT Kat! I'll just go pay your friend a little hospital call! Aaaahahahahah!"
"NO!" Razor shouts, then starts to turn and hobble towards the bedside table. He fumbles it open and grabs the Glovatrix, tucking it under his arm before turning back to make his way back around the bed. "Got to get to T-Bone before Mac does!," he gasps, taking too big of a step and toppling forwards to hit the ground with a clatter. Blinding white hot pain erupts in his low back and belly and he screams. When he opens his eyes he's surrounded by nurses and his Enforcer guards, with Jamue crouching next to him. "T-Bone!" he gasps, trying to raise himself up on his forearms. "The Metallikats are going after T-Bone!"
There's a shocked silence for a moment then a red-headed nurse speaks up. "The Metallikats are deactivated," she says dubiously.
"I saw them! Or their heads, anyway!" Razor snaps, the nurses glancing at each other. "Look outside!"
A guard, a grey tabby fellow called Barry, goes to the window and sticks his head out. "...There ain't nobody down there," he reports, but pulls out his radio.
"Think he's hallucinating?" the red-head asks Jamue bluntly.
Razor stares at her, starting to get his knee under himself. "What is wrong with you people?! My buddy's in danger!"
"Razor, just, calm down," Jamue says, placing her hand on his shoulder. "It's possible you're reacting to the pain meds-"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Razor shouts.
"Don't you raise your voice!" Nurse Redhead starts to lecture him on various items, such as proper respect towards the staff, his 'duty' as she puts it to follow a 'patients code of honor', and other sundry malarkey. Jamue looks distinctly uncomfortable and Barry is tugging at his collar to loosen it. Razor is just about to tell her where she can shove her precious code of honor when there's a commotion at the door.
"What's going on?!" Feral barks, stalking into the room. He's in his shirt sleeves, hand on his shoulder holster and looking around like he expects to see the Pastmaster swinging from the light fixture.
"Look," Razor says, through gritted teeth. He shifts until he's sitting on the floor rather than flat out on his face. "I'm not hallucinating. I'm not dreaming. And I'm not crazy. I -saw- them, and Mac's heading for ICU. Feral, you've got to believe me!"
Feral frowns for a long moment, then points at Barry, who'd radioed him. "Sgt. Bagheera! Stay here. Don't let the SWAT Kat out of your sight. The rest of you, follow me!" He turns and stalks out of the room, palming his radio which crackles to life. "All Enforcers on hospital duty, converge on ICU! And be on the lookout for Mac and Molly Mange, the Metallikats! Prepare for hostilities!"
Razor looks around. "Well?! Help me up!" he snaps, impatiently.
Jamue raises her eyebrow at him and places her hands on her hips. "You have NO idea how much paperwork I have to do when there's a fall, do you?" Jamue asks. They still don't help him up until they fuss at him with a blood pressure reading and carefully check for injuries. Then between her and Nurse Witch-with-a-B Redhead they get him to his feet again, and balanced with the walker. Nurse Witch spots the IV pump, which had merrily continued to administer antibiotics to the floor in Razor's absence. She shuts it down and throws a couple towels over the puddle, complaining about all the mess and waste and how inconsiderate he was and 'if he were my patient...' She finally stalks out of the room obviously in a snit.
"Alright, now sit!" Jamue says, pointing at the chair next to the bed. "I know what you're planning, but if you go you're just going to be in the way. You're not exactly at your best," Jamue points out.
"Gee, you think?," Razor replies. "But it doesn't matter! I'm not going to sit on my tail while the Metallikats are running around the hospital! Even if they weren't heading for T-Bone, someone has to stop them."
"Excuse me," Sgt. Bagheera interrupts, reaching up to adjust his cap. "But, didn't you say it was just their heads? What're they gonna do? I'm sure the Commander can handle them." He leans down and grabs up the Glovatrix from the floor, setting it on the overbed table.
"But... but who knows what the Metallikats have planned?" Razor growls. "Look. I'm alright. Can you just go? I need some time to think."
Jamue 's hands were firmly planted on her hips and she eyes him suspiciously. And points at Barry. "Don't let him do anything stupid! You just relax, alright hero? Let the Enforcers do their thing."
"Yeah, sure" he replies, trying to settle stiffly into the chair. The nurses finally stalk out and Razor straightens back up to his feet with a hiss of pain. He looks pointedly at Sgt. Bagheera. "Well? You gonna help me or not, Barry?" he asks.
"What?! Nuh uh. Don't you involve me in this!" he says, looking alarmed. "I don't want to be court martialed."
Then faintly, they hear it. An explosion. Barry rushes to the window and looks out, but after looking all about he shakes his head negatively. "Don't know where it was. ICU is on the opposite side though," he says darkly.
Razor tucks the trailing ends of the hospital gown inside his sleep pants and tightens the string.
Barry pulls his head back through the window and eyes Razor, who is trying to fit his Glovatrix over the bandages on his right hand. "You just don't quit do you?"
"Nope. Well, here goes nothing" Razor mutters, and tries taking a step without the walker. He makes a rather odd noise, and grabs at the walker desperately, but he manages the step. Sorta. Barry rushes over to steady him until he gets his balance back.
"There's no way you're going to…" Barry's lecture is interrupted by another explosion, a little louder, and the fire alarm begins to wail.
"Alright, that's it!" Razor hobbles to the wheelchair, getting settled. "I'm going whether you help me or not," he says firmly.
"The Commander's going to have me shot…." Barry grumbles. "This is gonna get my badge melted down… goodbye pension…"
Razor grins as Barry hands him his rifle, folds up the walker, and grabs the wheelchair handles. "Just look at it this way, Barry. They can't expect you to stay inside during a fire."
Barry glowers at him and slips his arm through the bars of the walker, hanging it over his shoulder.
Out in the hall it's a bit of semi-organized chaos. Nurses are moving patients out of rooms, and Barry pushes Razor down the hall, past the elevators which have already been shut down. They travel until they're on the skywalk to the main building, crossing a courtyard made by three sections of the hospital with the fourth side open to the parking lot. "Hey, look" Razor says, pointing out the window at a plume of smoke.
"Think that's the cafeteria. Could just be a coincidence and they've got a grease fire…" Barry muses.
Razor shakes his head. "Doubt it."
Barry pauses, staring at something. "Uh. Hard Drive is in AlKatraz, isn't he?"
"Yeah, why?" Razor looks up at him. They had paused right in front of a fire escape window.
"Good, then that can't be him I see on that A/C unit."
"What?!" Razor spots him and stares out at the familiar figure in the coat, with a wreath of lightning in his hands.
The overhead lights flicker and start to fade out. Razor and Barry glance up. "Oh no... That's going to affect the life support systems in ICU," Razor says.
"Hospitals got generators, if he don't short those too. What's Hard Drive got to do with this?" Barry asks.
Razor shrugs. "It's probably a distraction tactic but… crud, help me out here Barry." Barry helps him to his feet and shoves the window up. Razor leans on the sill and with difficulty he leans out, aiming his Glovatrix. "Range is pretty far…." he murmurs. A couple Mini-Megatons go flying towards Hard Drive, but fall short.
The bad kat is startled, glancing back towards them. "A SWAT Kat! Forget it, I'm not that easy to stop!" He cackles wildly and Razor yelps a "Look out!" as energy arcs towards the skyway. Barry drags him away from the window and the two crouch as plaster and lighting fixtures rain down from the ceiling, and they smell a hot, metallic burning of the wiring shorting out. Wires hang down among the rubble.
Razor squints one eye open, glancing up. "...Where is he?"
Barry jumps up and peers out the window. "I don't see… THERE HE IS!" he snarls and shoulders his weapon, sighting. He takes three shots in quick succession, and says a filthy word. He quickly helps Razor back to his feet, who leans against the sill staring outside again.
"Looks like he's gone... where'd he go now?"
"Wait a second… he jumped down but I'm not sure where…" Barry has his gun at the ready, watching the courtyard.
"Better get down there and finish him off... Well, if he's still there. Need to check it out anyway." Razor raises the Glovatrix and aims it at a light pole in the courtyard, sends out the grappling hook, and tugs experimentally, but makes a sour face. "I don't think I can risk supporting my own weight much less us both."
"Us both who?! I ain't a spider," Barry retorts. Razor looks upwards as Enforcer choppers come into view.
"SURPRISE!" Hard Drive is suddenly right behind them, laughing like the maniac he is. "Naughty, naughty, Sergeant, playing with guns!" He throws an arc of electric. Barry yelps as the weapon in his hands starts to crackle and he tosses it away frantically.
"Crud!" Razor shouts, and Hard Drive is thwacked in the face with cement from the mini cement launchers on his Glovatrix.
"That won't save you, SWAT Kat!" Hard Drive threatens, clawing cement away from his face. "Pffth! Hey, this is affecting my suit!" he shouts.
"That'd be because cement is non-conductive," Razor replies. He releases a veritable barrage of cement at Hard Drive, who awkwardly scatters to crouch behind some fallen duct work.
"Absolutely unbelievable!" Hard Drive snarls as he tries to scrape wet cement from his surge suit, before the specially treated substance hardens.
Razor quickly is removing the Glovatrix from his hand. "We gotta get out of here fast! And I've got an idea that's just crazy enough to work!" he says brightly.
"This is the damn dumbest stupidest thing I've ever done." Barry grumbles. He's seated on the windowsill, Glovatrix now on his hand. Razor is clinging to his back. "You got a better plan?"
"No!" He grumbles, and pushes off from the window. They swing wildly towards the courtyard below, Barry hollering "AAAAAAAAAAHH THIS IS IDIOTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!"
At a right angle to the skywalk was the outer wall of another section of the hospital, laced with fire escape railings. They swing towards a section and Razor makes a grab but misses as a bolt of electricity flies past his head. They begin swinging back towards the skywalk.
"Forget about me, SWAT Kat?! Haaaahahahahah!" Hard Drive sends wild shots of electric power towards them. Barry yelps as his tail is zapped. Razor's grip slips and he goes to the ground, a drop of only four or five feet that normally, the agile SWAT Kat would have had no trouble with. However this time his intended roll is more of a skidded belly flop into the dust.
Barry is still hollering as he swings like a pendulum back the other way, his hat flying away to land on a bird feeder.
Hard Drive laughs. "Ahh, The Metallikats assured me that this would be worth my while! I'd say destroying a SWAT Kat qualifies!" He pulls out an arc of electric, preparing to throw. But a burst of fire from an Enforcer chopper splits the air, throwing up drywall dust and shattering glass as the rounds pierce the skywalk walls. "Another time, SWAT Kat!" The bad kat disappears down a wire.
Barry tumbles into a hydrangea bush, sinking in head first with his legs kicking the air. Razor is curled on the ground where he landed, panting for breath. "Okay… this…. isn't working…." he mutters, face in the dirt.
The Enforcer chopper hovers overhead, and over the rotors Razor can barely hear the sound of a winch. He glances up and spots Felina, hanging on a rope ladder and moving downwards. Great. He tries to grin confidently at her as she hits the ground and stalks towards him. "You are one idiot!" she shouts back, then waves the chopper off.
"Yeah well…. you want to go pull Barry out of the bushes?"
"I'm right here," Barry says irritably, walking a little crooked and brushing twigs and flower petals out of his fur.
"Of all the stupid stunts!" Felina seems entirely exasperated with them both, and crouches down next to Razor. "You're bleeding" she says shortly, noting the red blooming through the cloth.
"Yeah, I can feel it. Rosie will kill me," he adds.
He's helped to his feet and Felina and Barry just lock their arms and chair carry him, despite his grumbles. "Any sign of Mac and Mollie?" Razor asks.
Felina shakes her head. "Not Mac, but they found Molly, she'd wriggled or crawled or whatever under a bush. She's out of the game anyway. Hard Drive killed most of the power. Speaking of, ARE YOU GUYS SUICIDAL?!"
"Hey, we had to try to get him!" Razor says defensively.
"We didn't neither have to do no such thing," Barry mutters.
Razor ignores him. "Where we headed?"
"There's a staging area in the parking lot. They're evacuating patients there," Felina replies.
"What about T-Bone?" Razor asks. "They're evacuating ICU, too, but it takes a lot longer."
Exiting the courtyard, they can see the chaos. Ambulances are lined up taking on wheelchairs and gurneys. Personal vehicles and a school bus are being loaded with patients that can walk. The Enforcers have the parking lot cordoned off and a squad of Kats in riot gear are running into the main entrance.
"Johnny, get a shot of that!"
"Oh no…" Felina grumbles, as Ann Gora and her cameraman rush towards them.
"This is Ann Gora of Kats Eye News, hoping for an exclusive interview with..."
Barry turns a little, trying to block Johnny's line of sight. "Hey lay off, he's having a rough day," he growls, as Johnny backs away hurriedly. He's still filming though as an EMT waves them over to the fire marshal's pickup truck. Razor is settled on the tailgate and the medic tries to get a look at the wound under the sleep pants.
"Ew..." He mutters, and grabs a roll of cotton gauze. A ragged tear in the skin curls back from the edge of the burnt tissue. Basically the only unburnt part of his calf is now a bloody mess, and the dressing Rosie had placed earlier was soaked through with thin, pink tinged drainage, and speckled with dirt. In fact most of his bandages were soaking through. The EMT quickly wraps it thickly in gauze, and then starts adding layers of gauze to his hands. He glances up. "You alright? You look kinda green, there."
"Yeah, well, sorta. I think I may barf," Razor replies weakly.
The medic is out of the line of fire in a hurry, and says something about finding a 'barf bucket'.
Razor hears a shout, and then a loud thud. When next he opens his eyes, Callie is upside down above him, with her gold hair framed in the blue sky. He's laying in the truck bed and Barry is holding an IV up. The EMT from before and a paramedic are peering at the readout on a B/P cuff.
"What happened?" Razor mutters.
"You passed out. Hy-parvo-something," Barry replies.
"Hypovolemia," says the paramedic, reaching to fiddle with the IV attached to Razor's PICC.
"Yeah, what he said," says Barry.
"Oh. Just what I needed," he states, then realizes the reason Callie appears upside down is because his head is being cradled in her lap. He flushes and his ears go back in embarrassment. "Ms. Briggs, I- I'm sorry!" he stammers, and her cheeks pink up prettily.
"Really, Razor, it's no big deal. Just lay still" she adds.
'But it's a big deal to me' he thinks to himself. "Uh... They find Mac?" he asks.
Callie shakes her head. "Not yet. Hard Drive, he's out near Megakat Springs causing havoc, but Commander Feral thinks he's just creating a distraction."
"T-Bone?"
"Still in ICU. Which they have surrounded."
He stares at her. "They haven't evacuated yet?!"
She shakes her head, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Without knowing where Mac is and with Hard Drive on the loose, Commander Feral thinks if they evacuate now they could walk straight into a trap."
Razor nods slightly. "Yeah, but when they do show..." His eyes suddenly go wide. "The air ducts. Hard Drive was on the A/C unit. Barry!" he shouts, struggling to sit up, "Mac's in the air ducts!" He gets an odd expression for a moment, then his eyes roll back and he flops back into Callie's lap. The paramedic says a dirty string of words and directs the EMT to raise Razors' legs while he checks the B/P again.
"Oh no, Razor," Callie says worriedly, her hand stroking his cheek. "What could he have meant?" she asks, looking up at Barry.
He shakes his head, expression puzzled. "I don't know, I...oh. Oh yes I do know." His eyes suddenly go wide, he tosses the IV at Callie and practically flies out of the truck bed. "Sergeant?!" Callie calls after him, startled, but he's off like a shot.
Barry runs like he's being chased by all the bats out of Hades across the lot, shouting "Commander!" as he approaches.
Feral looks up, frowning. "What are you bellowing about, Sergeant?"
"Sir," Barry gasps, "the air ducts. The AIR DUCTS! Mac Mange…" He was puffing mightily for air..
Feral raises an eyebrow at him. "Where'd you come up with that ridiculous..." Then he stops, seeming to ponder. "Hmmm... FELINA!" He shouts.
A few minutes later, the ICU is fairly quiet in T-Bone's room, where a still figure lays in the bed, with his head entirely swathed in bandages. A screw twists bit by bit inside the frame of a vent in the air conditioning duct, and finally it falls to the ground with a tinkling sound. There's a red glow through the hole for a split moment and then another screw begins twisting and eventually falls to the ground as well. The third follows and then the vent cover pops outward a bit, just enough that it can be pivoted away on the remaining screw.
Mac creeps to the opening to peer down at the bed and grins with pleasure. "Poifect, he's a sitting duck. Wish Molly could see this. Poor Mol, I'm gonna go back and get that other SWAT Kat good," he growls. "But this is too easy! " He leaps from the duct onto the foot of the bed, and tappity taps his way to the head. He raises a foreleg, the light glinting off the sharp metal tip as he aims to plunge it into an eye. "Say goodnight, SWAT Kat!"