T-bone and Razor arrived at home after their run-in with Viper, Pastmaster, and Zombie Max. Also, learning Shadow Kat's real identity kept re-playing in T-bone's mind as he parked the jet. It lowered down to the hanger and they got out. T-bone walked towards their lockers and Razor followed.
"How are you handling finding out Shadow Kat is Vivian, buddy?" Razor asked as T-bone took off his helmet and shook his head, tossing it into the top of the locker. "I'm not sure pal. Just...so many questions, plus-"
"The fact that you had sex with her unknowingly?" Razor said, folding his arms over his chest. T-bone considers for a moment. "That too. Vivian is so against dating me or anyone because she doesn't think she's over her dead fiancé and she doesn't know if she'll be here long term."
"But she's over him enough to bang T-bone?" Razor asks as he also gets out of his uniform next to him, raising an eyebrow at him. T-bone shrugs and takes off the mask and slips out of the flight suit. He turns it around to see the claw tears from zombie Max. He picks his shirt from his chest, seeing the tears through it too.
"Crud, the this is second one I've had to throw away in a week!" Chance says as he takes it off and tosses it into the nearby trash can. "Think you can get Callie to fix this, pal?" He says as he puts a finger through the cuts on his flight suit. Callie recently started sewing things for the both of them. Cuts, the occasional bullet holes, things like that. Jake comes over and looks at it. "She can try. You're down to one g-suit now?" He asks as Chance nods. "Yeah, I'll try to be more careful." He said, now only in his boxers. "It's late, I'm gonna hit the hay." Chance said as Jake nodded.
"We'll figure everything out, pal. We'll take down Viper, The Pastmaster, and her zombie fiancé." Chance smiles at his partner. "Copy that, buddy." He says as he takes the trapdoor ladder back up to the garage area to get to the apartment area to go to sleep. He had trouble that night falling asleep, having thoughts about Vivian being Shadow Kat the whole night and what this would mean now that he knew her secret.
The next morning, Chance expected Vivian to show up at the garage, but to his slight surprise and dismay, she didn't. He used the garage phone to call her cell phone number he had. She didn't answer. After a couple of rings, it went straight to voicemail. 'She's ignoring me on purpose.' Chance thought to himself as he hung up and tried again, but he got the same result. He decided to leave her a voicemail this time.
"Hey Vivian, it's Chance. I thought I'd give you a call seeing as I haven't heard from you since yesterday and you're not here yet. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Give me a call back, please." He finished his message, hanging up the phone and sighing, rubbing the back of his neck. "No answer, huh?" Jake said, noticing Chance at the phone. He turned to look at him and shook his head. "Not sure if she's avoiding me now, or she's just still in shock over her fiancé." Jake pats him on the back. "Well come on Chance. You can distract yourself with work. The Kat gods know we have enough repairs to do right now to occupy us for at least a few hours."
At that moment, Callie rolls in. Her car making an obvious clunking noise. She parks in the empty bay and gets out. She goes to Jake first and gives him a kiss. It took him a while not to make faces when they would kiss, but Chance got really good at not doing it anymore once he settled with the fact that Jake and Callie were always meant to be.
"Hey honey, how's work going?" She asked, smiling at Jake. "Oh, it's going." He smiled back. She turned to Chance, leaving Jake to hug Chance real quick. "How are you? You don't look happy right now, Chance." He shrugged, plastering on one of his smiles. "I'm doing alright, Callie. Congratulations on the engagement, by the way. Jake's a real lucky Kat." She smiled back at him. "Thank you. Jake said you had something for me to repair or at least try to?" She said as Jake appeared with both of T-bone's g-suites. One that had the slash in the back from Dr. Viper and the one with the claw marks from zombie Max. Callie took a look at both, sticking a finger through one of the holes. "Being a little more reckless lately, Chance?" She asked with her eyebrow lifted. He scratched the back of his head, having a sheepish grin.
"Distracted is more like it." Jake said as Callie gave Chance a concerned look. "Distracted? By what?" Jake chuckled a little. "You mean by who. You know that Shadow Kat she-Kat that recently popped up?" Callie nodded. "I've seen her in the news and caught her on TV a couple of times. Did you guys figure out if she a bad Kat or not?"
"She's not bad, but she's not good for T-bone's concentration." Jake said as Chance rolled his eyes. "You check out Callie's car, Jake. I'll be there in a minute." He said as he went towards the desk with the phone. "Is he okay?" Callie asked as Jake shook his head. "I think the poor Tom's fallen for someone he can't have." He said as Callie's eyes went wide. "Oh no! You don't think he's fallen for Shadow Kat?!" Jake crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head. "He's possibly fallen for the she-Kat behind the mask. We found out her secret identity last night by accident."
"Oh...who was it? Anyone I know?" Callie asked. Jake shook his head. "I don't think so, but she is the new hire at Enforcers HQ." Callie thinks for a moment. "Ah, I did see they hired someone new. Maybe I'll go talk to her." Jake grabs her arm, gently. "Callie, she doesn't know that we know and she doesn't know we're the Swat Kats either. You have to be careful." Callie raises an eyebrow at him. "Are you kidding? Careful is my middle name."
Jake almost makes a comment but then drops it. 'The many times we've had to save you determined that was a lie.' Jake thinks to himself, looking at his girlfriend, now fiancé. 'Man, I'm a lucky tom.' He thought to himself with a smile.
Meanwhile, Chance was standing over the check in desk, trying to use the phone again. He dialed her cell phone, half crossing his arm over his chest while the other hand held up the receiver to his head. He looked up the ceiling while it rang. "Come on...come on...crud!" He said after it went to voicemail again, looking at the phone, nearly breaking it when he slammed it down to hang it up. He shook his head, obviously a bit frustrated and mad.
Meanwhile at Vivian's apartment, she looked down at her phone. Yet another missed call showed on the ID as Jake and Chance's garage and a not yet read voicemail . She sighed, denying the call again.
"Chance trying to call again?" Lilian asked, coming to sit next to her on the bed. Vivian looked at her sister and sighed, nodding her head, wrapping her arms around her legs, sort of in a balled up position on the bed, sitting up. "Why are you ignoring him? Weren't you guys hanging out and getting along great?" Lilian asked as Vivian turned her head away from her. "We were Lil, but...something happened."
"I know." She said as Vivian's head turned to her and looked at her. "What? How do you know?!" She asked as Lilian smiled. "You're not as slick as you think, Vee-Vee. I caught you closing the door to your room as you tried to hide him. You guys were in here about as long as me and that tom were out there. Don't think I didn't hear that thud with your bedroom door either. You had relations with Chance in here, didn't you? Don't lie either!"
Vivian shook her head. "No, but we came close. I pushed him away and told him I couldn't...because of Max...It wouldn't be fair to Chance." Lilian resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Vee-vee, I don't mean to be that kat, but Max is dead. Has been for a while now and he's not coming back. You're still here. He wouldn't want you to be alone and sad all the time. He'd want you to be happy. If Chance is who makes you happy then-"
"Lil, he's only after one thing, and I already have that covered with the other tom." Lilian shook her head and glared at her sister. "Vivian, Chance may say that, but he isn't acting like it. If he was only after one thing, he wouldn't be calling you to check up on you. Here, let's listen..." She says as she pulls up the voicemail Chance left on Vivian's phone. Her heart sped up at the sound of his voice and his concern for her. "You know what that is? Genuine concern and worry for you. All the toms I've been with who I knew for sure only wanted one thing from me never called unless it was for you-know-what. You need to snatch him up before someone else does Vee-Vee. You'll regret it if you let that tom go."
"Max is alive." Vivian said, looking at her sister. Lilian gave her a small smile. "He is alive Viv, in your heart and stuff, but he's not physically." Vivian slapped the bed. "No, Lil, he's actually alive! I saw him last night!" Lilian looks at her sister with concern. "Okay, so you've moved on to full on hallucinations now..." She said as Vivian took her phone back. "No! It's real! Lilian, what I'm about to tell you is super secret and you can't tell anyone. You got me?" Lilian looked at her sister with the same concern but only nods.
"You know...that Shadow Kat they've been talking about in the news and on TV?" She asked as Lilian nodded. "Well you're not going to believe it, but...I'm...Shadow Kat." She said as Lilian just stared at her. "Uhm...no? Shadow Kat is a blonde." Vivian stares at her. "It's a wig, or at least it was until I lost it last night." She said as she pulls up a news clip, the same one of the detective showed her in the interrogation room. Lilian watched the clip and covers her mouth, looking up at her sister.
"His body was stolen by Dr. Viper and The Pastmaster. They somehow resurrected him and now he's like...a zombie or something." Lilian hands back the phone. "Is this why you came back to Megakat City? This is why you're Shadow Kat?" She asked, almost in shock. Vivian shook her head. "I came back to stop Dad from taking over Megakat City. I knew I couldn't do it as Vivian, so I took a page out of the Swat Kats playbook and started taking down Dad's empire, one goon at a time as Shadow Kat." She said as Lilian stared at her.
"I...I know...what Daddy does isn't good, but he keeps a roof over my head doing what he does."
Vivian snapped at her. "By killing innocent kats and taking money he didn't earn? Yeah, okay Lil. Why don't you go back to the roof he puts over your head then, instead of mine?" She said, slightly angry now. "Vivian..." Lilian started, sort of hurt.
"You should go, Lilian." She said as Lilian slowly got off the bed, tears in her eyes as she went to the living room and gathered up what was hers and left. Vivian heard the door slam and then the tears came. 'My life is such a mess right now, but all I can think about is Chance. All I want to do is be near him. Be in his arms again. Oh kat gods...am I falling for him?' Vivian thought as she felt a tingling sensation in her heart at the thought. She fell down into a ball on the bed. 'Damn you, Chance Furlong. I'm falling for you when I shouldn't be and my fiancé is walking the earth when he shouldn't be.' She thought as she cried into her comforter.
Back across the city, Chance and Jake had finished a few repairs together and went out on one tow job. Once again the old Kat Lady got stuck in a ditch. "Why they haven't taken that old lady's license away yet, I'll never know." Chance said as they were driving back to the garage as Jake smirked. "Yeah, but if it wasn't for kats like her, we wouldn't be in business." Chance shrugged. "I guess you're right." Jake looked over at his partner as he drove, trying to address the elephant in the cab.
"Any luck...with her calling you back yet?" Jake asked as Chance sighed and shook his head. "No. You think I should swing by her apartment and check on her?"
Jake shook his head. "No, Chance. Let her come to you. This is a really delicate and complicated situation. You don't want to accidentally scare her off, do you?" Chance considers for a moment and sighed again as he drove the truck. "Yeah, I guess you're right buddy."
'Meanwhile, I get to drive myself crazy waiting and hoping she'll call or that she'll come back to the garage.'
A few days pass, the weekend comes and goes without so much as a Swat Kats alert or anything from Vivian for Chance. It was now Monday. Vivian walked in to Enforcer HQ, not bothering to go to the garage. "Ms. Vanfang! I need to talk to you!" Vivian turns to see Lieutenant Steel. She resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, Lieutenant?" She asked, forcing a fake smile. "You've been out several days and you haven't gone to the screw ups garage either. We need your reports to be accurate. You need to go to the garage first."
"I want to switch to a monthly visit versus going everyday. I can get Mr. Clawson to email me the report." Steel smirked. "Ah, so you didn't read your job description throughly, I see?" He says as she gives him a funny look. "What do you mean? I thought I had the choice?"
"Only after you complete your first year of service. By my count, you're only at 3 going on 4 months. You have no choice right now, Ms. Vanfang." Vivian slumps her shoulders. "There's no way I can get to the garage right now with all this city traffic. By the time I got there, I'd have to turn right back around."
Steel keeps the smirk. "Fine. I'll let you slide today, but tomorrow, you better be at that garage, first thing."
"Yes, I will." She said.
"Yes, what?" He asked her. It took everything in her not to deck this little weasel.
"Yes, Sir." She said through gritted teeth. He smiles now. "That's better. Good day Ms. Vanfang." She made sure no one was looking and flipped him the bird as his back was turned to her. She made it to her office and closed the door. She turned on the work computer and scrolled through emails for a while, avoiding what she knew she had to do as part of her job; call the garage for the reports she had missed. She had to mentally prepare herself just in case Chance answered. Thankfully he didn't blow up her phone the whole weekend. She was kind of surprised though. 'Maybe he's found another she-Kat to mess around with.' The thought actually was painful for her to think about. She blew out a breath and called the garage. It picked up after two or three rings.
"Thank you for calling Jake and Chance's garage. Jake speaking." Vivian was both relieved and disappointed Chance didn't answer. "Hey Mr. Clawson, it's Ms. Vanfang. I'm gonna need those reports for the garage for the last couple of days I was out, so if you would, can you email those to me?"
Jake pauses for a second and then answers. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you Ms. Vanfang, but the computer is down right now and I haven't had time to fix it. We just got a tow call in near Enforcer HQ. I could send Chance with the copies-"
"Can't you come instead?" Vivian blurted out. As much as she did want to see him, she didn't want to see him right now.
"Uh...I'm sorry Ms. Vanfang. I've got to stay here and catch up on work. I don't think he would mind."
'But I do.' Vivian thought as she shook her head and sighed. "Fine. When can I expect Mr. Furlong?"
"Uh...about an hour or so?" He says as Vivian answers back. "Thanks. I'll be waiting. Just tell him to go to the reception area and ask for me."
"Alright. Have a good day Ms. Vanfang." Jake said before he hung up. Vivian folded her arms on the desk and banged her head slightly up and down on them. She looked down at the floor and huffed. 'Well, at least I have an hour to mentally prepare to see him again.'
Back at the garage, Jake approached Chance as he got the tow truck ready to go. "Well, looks like you got your wish, pal." Chance turned to look at him, cocking his head slightly. "Huh? What do you mean?" He gave Chance a big envelope with what Vivian had requested. "You get to see Vivian today after your tow. She asked me to drop these off to her, but you're already going down there. Might as well, right?"
Chance couldn't help the big smile that broke out across his face as he took the envelope. "Gotcha. Thanks Jake." He said as he climbed up into the tow truck's cab and turned it on, a little more excited to get the tow done as fast as he could so he could see Vivian.
A while later, Chance arrived at Enforcer Headquarters, parking in front of the building. He looked to the spot where Feral had discharged both himself and Jake all those years ago. 'Ugh, I hate this building with a passion, but if it means seeing Vivian again, I'd walk through a pile of wet hair balls for her.' He took off his red cap, slicking his hair back and checking his teeth in the rear view mirror, making sure there was nothing there.
He grabbed the envelope and left the tow truck. He went to the receptionist area. A young she-Kat sat there and smiled at him. "Welcome to Enforcer HQ. How may I help you?" She asked. "Vivian Vanfang, please." He said with a smile. "Who may I say is here for her?" She asked. "You can tell her Chance. She'll know who I am." He said as she nods and goes for the phone, dialing something in. "Ms. Vanfang? There's a Chance at the front here for you. Said you'd know who he was? Okay, thanks!" She said, smiling as she put the phone down and smiled back at him. "She'll be up here in a few minutes. You can have a seat if you like." Chance walked away from the receptionist desk and looked around the main area he was in.
Of course, there were pictures of both Feral's everywhere. Commander Feral even had a gold bust of himself at the front. Chance rolled his eyes at the sight. Eventually, Vivian came out. She didn't smile when she saw him. "Good morning, Mr. Furlong. You have something for me?" She said, not even trying to be friendly towards him. This made Chance slightly sad, but he smiled at her anyway. "Good morning yourself, Viv." She tried to grab the envelope from him but he pulled back. "Mr. Furlong, I believe that's mine."
"I'll make a deal with you, you'll get these if you go to lunch with me, so we can talk." Vivian stared at him for a moment and shook her head. "I don't have time for your games, Mr. Furlong. Now, please give me those documents." She said, reaching for them again, but this time, he put them behind his back. "Not until you say yes."
Vivian didn't have time to answer as someone from further up the reception area screamed. Both Vivian and Chance looked towards the front and there stood Zombie Max. 'Oh, dear Kat gods...how did he find me?!' She thought as she looked on, now in fear. Chance had a glare across his features. 'Crud! What is he doing here?! My communicator is in the truck and I don't think he's going to let me get by without a fight!' Chance said as Max started tossing kats and Enforcers who tried to stop him out of his way, clawing at them as well as he made his way towards them.
Chance dropped the envelope and took a fighting stance. He made the first move and punched him square in the face. Max barely registered the punch and glared at Chance with his one remaining eye. He grabbed Chance by his fist and flung him easily across the room, sending him into the wooden stand holding up the gold bust of Commander Feral, smashing the wooden stand into splinters and the gold bust hitting the floor with a loud clang. "Chance!" Vivian cried out as she started trying to get to him, but Max grabbed her by her wrist and whipped her around to face him. "You're...coming...with me..." Max said in a strained voice Vivian didn't recognize as his. Vivian looked at him in horror, frozen to the spot as he began to drag her out of the building.
He suddenly let her go as the damaged gold bust of Commander Feral came down on the back of Max's head. "Not today she's not, maggot trap!" Chance said as he dropped the bust and grabbed Vivian's hand and made her run. He found the door for the stairwell and they ran up as the door closed behind them. They ran up a couple of flights before they stopped for a minute. "Are you okay?" Chance asked her, panting a little. Adrenaline running high for him. "I should be the one asking if you are. You went through a wooden pillar!" She said, pulling on the lower lapel of his light blue coveralls to bring him closer to her. "Nothing's broken?" She asked as her emerald green eyes met his blue ones and her heart skipped a beat. He gently took her wrists in his hands, smiling at her slightly. "Vivian, I'm fine. I promise."
Without realizing it, they both leaned in towards each other, but stopped when they heard the click of the door two floors below them. "Crud, maggot breath is still after us. Come on!" Chance said as he took to the stairwell and Vivian followed. 'I've got to figure out a way to contact Jake and get him to bring the Turbokat and my g-suit. I don't know if I can take on undead Max by myself without weapons. He's super strong and it seems like he's getting stronger the longer he's up walking around!' He thought to himself as they kept running.
Meanwhile, back at the garage...
The Swat Kats alert blared through the garage while Jake was working on someone's car. He put down his wrench and slightly jogged over to the alarm, hitting it. "Razor here, what's going on Callie?" Jake said as he waited for her response. "I just received a distress signal from Enforcer headquarters. It seems they're being attacked by some unknown assailant from the inside. The Enforcers can't seem to stop him. They said it was a zombie like Kat creature that isn't the Pastmaster."
'Chance should be down there by now.' Jake thought to himself as he answered Callie. "On my way, Callie." He said as he ended the call and ran to the trap door to the hangar. He pulled out his communicator from his pocket for Chance as he climbed down. It beeped and kept on beeping but no answer. 'Huh? Must have left it in the truck.' He thought to himself as he went to the lockers and changed from his coveralls and into his alter ego, Razor. He jumped into T-bone's pilot seat, being raised by the lift and taking off towards the city.
Meanwhile, back at Enforcer HQ...
Chance and Vivian reached the top of the stairwell. If they went out to the runway at the top of the building, both of them would be in danger of falling to their deaths and without his gadgets, he did not feel good with that possibility. 'Guess I'll make my last stand here. Maybe if I can get him to attack me, Vivian can make a run for it back down the stairs.' He turned to her and told her his plan. "I'm going to get him to attack me. Once that happens, you make a run for it back down the stairs, got it?" Vivian looked at him with concern in her eyes. "Chance, no! He probably will kill you!" Chance shook his head and smirked at her a little. "Better me than you. Please, promise me you'll make a run for it?" She stared at him for a moment, imagining a mask over his eyes, and a blue and red helmet over his head. 'T-bone?' She thought to herself as he brought her back to reality. "Vivian, did you hear me?" She shook her head and gave him a determined look. "Yeah, I promise."
At that moment, Max made it up the stairwell to them. "Come on, ugly. You wanna party?! Let's do this!" Chance said, giving him the "come at me" signal with his hand, almost looking forward to the fight. He went for them, but stopped when he smelled something. "Viv...ian...you smell...of another." Max said, now really angry, looking at Chance. "It's...him! You've mated...with him?!" He asked angrily as Vivian gave him a confused look. Chance wasn't confused though, he knew. 'Great, he knows I banged Vivian as T-bone, but she has no clue.'
"I've been gone...two years...and you're already...with another?!" Max strained out angrily.
"Don't listen to him Vivian. It's The Pastmaster's magic that's doing that to him. The real Max would never say things like that to you. I'm sure." Chance said to Vivian as he put her behind him, protecting her. She wanted to cry, but knew she couldn't at this moment. Max lunged at Chance, taking him by the throat, easily picking him up, and breaking a nearby window with him, holding him above about 20 stories off the ground. The wind blew his red cap off his head. Chance watched as the cap floated towards the ground and disappeared. He struggled against Max's grip, choking him as Max glared at him. "How dare you...touch something that's...mine!"
Suddenly, a fire extinguisher came down at the back of Max's head. He turned to look at who his assailant was this time. "Let him go now, Max!" Vivian said as she now aimed the fire extinguisher at Max, ready to fire. "Viv! I told you ...to get...out of here! Stubborn...she-Kat!" Chance said, still struggling against Max. He let Chance go at that moment, letting him fall.
"Chance! No!" She yelled as she turned her attention back to Max, coming at her.
Outside the building, Chance was hanging on to the edge of the window, trying to climb back in. 'I gotta save Vivian and myself!' The window had a slight curvature to it, so he was having some difficulty. The Turbokat wasn't far from the Enforcer building. "Now where in the building would he...huh?!" Razor said to himself as he spotted Chance hanging from a window's edge towards the top of Enforcer HQ. "I guess that answers my question. Hang on, buddy, I'm coming!"
Chance was trying to climb back in, but suddenly a platform appeared under his feet, giving him leverage to pull himself back into the building on the wing. He turned to see Razor at the controls. He slid the canopy open and smirked at Chance. "Forget your communicator at home, pal?" Chance smirked back. "Nah, it's 20 feet below me in the truck. Thanks for the backup, buddy." Meanwhile, Max had Vivian backed up to the corner. She hit him with the extinguisher foam in the face. It seemed to slow him down. She dropped the fire extinguisher and ran around him to Chance. "Thank the Kat Gods you're alive!" She said to him as he turned his attention to Max. "We're not out of this yet." Chance said.
Razor turned the jet and hovered just outside of the window. "Take cover!" Razor yelled to them as Chance pushed Vivian to the other corner of the small stairwell. "Get down and cover your ears!" He yelled as he pulled her down and crouched, protecting her with his body and covering his ears, knowing what was about to happen. She did as she was told. Razor started firing at Max, knocking him back and putting holes in him and the wall behind him. Razor stopped firing as Max was down. Both Chance and Vivian looked cautiously to see Max, almost worse than he originally started out as. He bolted for the window and narrowly misses landing on the Turbokat, only to fall to the pavement below. They both rushed to the window to see he had landed on his face below. He wasn't moving. "Maybe it's over?" Vivian said as Chance looked over the broken window with her. "Maybe. Gotta confirm if he's dead though...well...actually dead." He looked up at Razor, still hovering. He gave him a small salute as he turned the jet and left.
Both Chance and Vivian made their way downstairs and found the reception area was in complete chaos. Chance happened to notice the envelope he was supposed to bring to Vivian was still on the floor where he dropped it. He scooped it up as they walked out the door of HQ. They went immediately to the spot where Max's body should've been, but when they moved their way through the crowd of kats, he was gone. Vivian gasped, seeing there was no body and Chance glared. 'So even being riddled with shots from the Turbokat and taking a 20 foot fall drop didn't stop him. How the hell are we supposed to stop him?!' He thought as he turned to Vivian and she looked up at him with concern and worry in her eyes. He looked at her with seriousness. "Gonna have to take a rain check on that lunch. I gotta go. Here." He said as he handed her the envelope. She took it.
"Back to the grease pit?" She asked with a slight smile. Chance nodded. "Yeah. Stay safe." He said as he turned to leave. "You too." She said as he made his way through the crowd and back to the tow truck.
Meanwhile, at Dr. Viper's swamp hideout...
The now very mangled Max walked into the lair of Dr. Viper. Both The Pastmaster and Viper looked at him as he trudged into the lair. "And where have you been?" The Pastmaster came up to him, of course being significantly shorter than Max. "I...wanted...my fiancé." He manages to get out. The Pastmaster glared at him. "You're not supposed to 'want' anything unless we tell you to! You have too much free will and now we have to fix you up before you fall apart. I'm guessing this is the Swat Kats doing?" Max only nods.
"Soon we'll be rid of thossse missserable Ssswat Katsss once and for all, as soon as you finisssh your toxin." He looked Max over and considered him. "We'll need to fix you firssst before you ssstart loosing piecesss of yourssself." Viper smiled evilly as he lead him towards his plants.