Chance came back down to the hangar, absolutely heartbroken and sad. Jake was standing near the ladder when he came down. "I heard yelling. What happened? You okay buddy?" Chance put his thumbs through his belt loops on his coveralls, shook his head, and sighed. "No, I'm not okay pal. Vivian just broke up with me."
"What?! Why?!" Jake asked as his mouth dropped open. Chance got a concerned look on his face. "She said I'd be in danger if we stayed together. She said she was being watched and they know we're the Swat Kats. She said if she broke off things with me, they promised her my safety."
"Wait, wait. Someone knows we're the Swat Kats?! Chance, this is bad. If word gets back to Feral, our Swat Kat days are over and we'll be going to jail, or worse, Alkatraz with all the other scum we've sent there. We won't last a day, let alone a few hours." Jake said, obvious panic and worry on his face.
"She didn't say they threatened to out us. As long as Vivian isn't Shadow Kat anymore and she stays away from me, it'll apparently keep me safe, according to her." Chance said, obviously trying to piece together who may be watching her and them. "Who else would know that she's Shadow Kat other than us and Callie?" Jake asked and Chance shook his head and shrugged. "Her sister, maybe? I don't know, I didn't ask. She ran out of here before I could ask anymore questions." He scratched the back of his neck and shook his head once more. "I'm uh...going to have some time to myself for a while, if that's alright, buddy?" Chance said, obvious sadness in his voice. Jake shrugged. "Sure pal. I understand. Go do whatever you feel you need to do." Chance nodded and went upstairs to go change.
A while later, he made his way back down to the hangar in basketball shorts and a tank top. He basically marched his way to the punching bag. He didn't know what else to do other than punching holes in things in their apartment with his fists but that seemed like a bad idea, as Jake already patched up a bullet hole from his now ex-...he didn't even know what she was let alone if he could even call her an ex now. 'It's been so long since I've had a girlfriend or anything close to it, that I forgot how much it hurts when it ends. This sucks!' He thought as he started taking out his anger and frustration on the punching bag, starting out like he was just practicing boxing and kickboxing. Trying to focus his imagination on one of the many villains of Megakat City, but his thoughts kept betraying him with those of Vivian.
The more he thought about the situation, the harder he went. It got to the point of Chance thinking about her eventually being with another tom. He growled and starting punching harder, enough to start drawing blood from his knuckles. He didn't even register that pain. Then he started thinking about the moments and memories they had together over the last few months.
The day he met her, the day he patched her up when she tripped on the closed hangar. The first time he met her as blonde Shadow Kat at the bank and getting flipped on to the floor by her. The time he shielded Shadow Kat from gunfire in the mint and the time he saved her after being thrown out a window by Dr. Viper. Their first kiss as vigilantes. Protecting her from Zombie Max at Enforcer HQ and helping her put him back to rest, even though he was slowly and painfully being killed himself. Their first kiss in Vivian's room as themselves. The many looks and smiles shared between them. The times he'd make her blush. The kisses and the times they made passionate love to each other.
Chance bared his teeth at the thought of anyone else doing those things with her. He roared out of frustration, anger, and pain and punched right through the punching bag, sending it off the chain and flying to the other side of the room, hitting the wall. It lay torn open with sand falling out of it and onto the floor. Dust was in the air around it.
Chance was panting with an angry look on his face. Jake came to check on him since he had been alone down there for a good while. He saw the broken punching bag against the wall and Chance's bloodied fists. "Uh, is it safe to come near you, buddy?" Jake asked, a little fearful he'd be broken in half next. He turned to look at Jake, his features softening a little.
Jake recognized the pain in Chance's eyes. It was almost the same pained look he had that day when it had settled in on him that his Enforcer career was over. Almost the same look of sorrow one of the few times they had to sacrifice his love, the Turbokat, to save their fair city. Chance sighed deeply and looked away from Jake. He sat down on a nearby bench. "I've never been this torn up about a she-Kat before in my life, Jake, ever." Chance said, shaking his head. Jake came to sit next to him, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on buddy, let's go patch you up, clean this up, order some pizza, and go watch Scardy Kat. I won't even complain if I miss Litterbin tonight." Jake says with a smile. Chance once again sighs and shakes his head. "Okay." He says as Jake gets up to go find the first aid kit.
Across town, Vivian sat on her couch in her lounge pants and hoodie. Tears stained and matted her face fur. She was eating from a carton of ice cream and watching sappy rom-coms. She heard a knock at her door. She glared and put her ice cream tub down, and came to the door. 'I'm not expecting anyone. Then again, my Dad and his goons literally broke into my house last night.' She looked through the peephole to see her sister, Lilian standing there. 'Oh, I guess she's forgiven me for calling her out a while ago now. I have no one else to talk to now, so might as well.' She thought as she opened the door to her sister. "Hey, can I come in?" Her sister asked cautiously. Vivian shrugged and stepped aside to let her in. She closed the door and Lilian turned to her. "Wow...you look like hell Vee-vee. Are you okay?"
Vivian pursed her lips and shook her head. "No, no I'm not okay. I broke his heart, Lil. He didn't say it, but I could see it in his eyes before I ran away. I broke mine too, by breaking his." She said as she finally let go and cried some more. Lilian wrapped her arms around her older sister. "Oh Vee-Vee...whose heart did you break?"
"Ch-Chance's." She said with a pained hiccup. Lilian's eyes go wide. "Chance?! You guys ended up being a thing?" She asked as Vivian shook her head. "Not officially, but we were on the way to it." Lilian's ears folded back. "Were you in love with him?"
Vivian looked at her sister with more tears welling in her eyes and nothing but pain. Lilian shook her head. She didn't even have to say anything. She knew her sister had fallen in love with Chance, even if she wouldn't admit it herself. "Why'd you end things?" She asked as Vivian sniffled. "I had to. Dad threatened to kill him."
Lilian's eyes went wide. "What?! Why?!"
Vivian didn't know if she knew Chance and Jake were the Swat Kats so she decided to ask her another question. "Lil, did you tell Dad I was Shadow Kat?" Vivian asked, pulling back a little. "Well..." Lilian blushed and looked at her sister sheepishly. Vivian threw her hands up in the air and walked past her to the couch. She sat down and stared at her still standing in the front door area. "Why did you do that?" Vivian asked, a bit perturbed with her now. "I...well...I was so worried that you were gonna get killed doing things as Shadow Kat, especially messing around with Dad's mafia, I had to! What if you got caught in the crossfire of rival mafias and died? Do you know how that would make me feel? How that would make Dad feel?"
Vivian shook her head. "Lilian, I've been shot before and survived doing my old job. Dad is evil. He broke in here last night because he knows I'm Shadow Kat, or at least I was until last night." Lilian came to sit next to her. "So...what does that have to with him wanting to kill Chance?" Vivian had to choose her words carefully. Obviously Lilian didn't know that Chance and Jake are the infamous Swat Kats. "He uh...had me followed and figured out Chance and I were dating. He doesn't like him and doesn't think he's worthy of me. The Enforcer debt thing is the big factor. He can't take care of me or any kits we would have on his own." Lilian gave her a suspicious look. "Viv, I've dated guys waaay worse and waaaay more broke than Chance who even I knew weren't worthy of me. Why would Dad specifically wanna kill him? He's basically harmless." Lilian asked with a confused look.
"Uhm...Dad's evil? He doesn't need a valid reason. He's killed kats for a lot less." Vivian responded, picking up the carton of ice cream again. Lilian shook her head. "So? Date him behind his back. Move to another city to be with him. You were a much happier she-Kat when you were just talking to Chance." Vivian shook her head after she took the spoon out of her mouth. "Chance can't leave Jake behind with all that debt. It's his debt too and the shop is their's. Dad will track me down. He's obviously very capable of that. It's hopeless." Vivian sighed and Lilian shrugged. "So you're giving him up, just like that?" Vivian only nodded. "I have to, Lil. I have no other choice." She said with her ears folded down in sadness.
"Well...promise me you're not going to mope around for the next two years like you did with Max-" Lilian started, but Vivian cut her off. "Max died, Chance's life was threatened because of me and he's still alive. Huge difference, Lil." Lilian resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I know, but what I'm saying is go out and get someone on the rebound. Try to forget about Chance."
Vivian shook her head. "That's not fair to whoever would want to date me and it would further hurt Chance if he saw me out with some other tom." Lilian only rolled her eyes and eyed Vivian's ice cream container. She lifted an eyebrow. "You gonna share any of that?"
The next day Vivian had to go to the garage for her job. She sighed as she begrudgingly drove to the garage. 'I honestly thought about resigning, but then what would I do for income? I can't go back to the Army and I'm not sure what else I could do. I could transfer over to being an Enforcer like Commander Feral suggested, but that still wouldn't get me away from Chance. I'd still have to deal with him as T-Bone from time to time. If Feral made me arrest him, dear God that would kill me.' She thought to herself as she pulled in. She grabbed her things and headed into the garage. 'Just act like you did when you first got here, uncaring and indifferent. Chance broke through all that in a matter of a couple of months. Now, I'm forcing myself to be without him.' She thought sadly as she found her resolve and walked into the garage. She put her things down on her desk, trying to only keep her eyes on her things and not anywhere else.
"Morning Vivian." She was almost relieved the voice didn't belong to Chance, almost. "Good morning Mr. Clawson." She said, slightly turning as she went through some paperwork. Jake gave her a funny look. 'Oh, right. The break-up. I guess she can't be more than cordial to me either. It wouldn't be fair to Chance. Maybe it's for the best.' He thought as he kept walking back into the garage. Chance was buried underneath the hood of a car, trying his best to ignore Vivian.
"Well, she's reverted back to the Vivian she was when she first got here. She started calling me by my last name again." Jake said, picking up a wrench to work on the car again with Chance.
"Tch, like I care. I'm surprised she even came in to work at all since she's supposed to stay away from me to keep me safe." Chance said with a scowl on his face.
"Maybe whoever's watching her knows this is just part of her job. Just keep your distance and keep working." Jake said, trying to keep his friend and partner calm. Chance was mad and heartbroken, but he still couldn't help sneaking glances at her. He heard a sizzling sound and then felt pain. "Ack! Crud!" Chance cursed loudly as he jerked away from the hot piece of the car his hand accidentally slipped to. He threw his wrench in both anger and pain, making a loud reverberating clanging noise from whatever it hit in the back of the shop, followed by a string of curses Jake wasn't used to hearing come out of his friend's mouth regularly.
Vivian looked up when she heard Chance's first use of crud, then came the string of curses and the flying wrench, which made her duck slightly, even though she was nowhere near him.
"Hey, come on buddy. Let's go make sure you're okay and then finish with this customer's car." Jake said, patting him on the shoulder as Chance happened to look Vivian's way, a scowl plastered across his features. She looked down quickly and he just shook his head, following his friend to make sure he didn't burn a piece of himself off.
A few minutes later, Chance was looking towards the doorway, not paying attention to Jake checking him over. "It looks like your fur took most of the burn. You're probably going to have a blister there like a bad sunburn, but you'll be okay. Good think it didn't go that deep. We still need a pilot." Jake said, looking up and noticing Chance wasn't even the least bit concerned. "How can she just sit there and act like it was nothing, Jake? I don't get it."
"Huh?" Jake asked as Chance continued to look towards the doorway where both the garage and Vivian were. "Her and me. She just acts like we were nothing. Like we never happened. It irks the hell out of me." Chance said, his eyebrows furrowed. Jake shook his head. "It's not like she broke it off with you because she didn't like you anymore or found another guy to be with, Chance. She's doing it to protect you. Us, really if you think about it, buddy."
"Well, I hate it. She knows damn good and well I can take care of myself and I can protect her too, if need be." Chance said as Jake closed up the first aid box and shook his head. "She's probably hurting just as bad as you, pal. Maybe even more." Jake said as Chance huffed and shook his head. "You wouldn't know it from my end."
Meanwhile out in the garage, Vivian was up from her desk, considering going to check on Chance after getting hurt while working on the car and his display. 'I wonder if he would've been that dramatic about it if we hadn't broken up. I think that was about way more than just getting burned doing his job.' Vivian gasped slightly as she heard them coming back and ran back to her desk, acting like she never moved. She saw Chance coming towards her out of her peripheral vision. He made a sharp turn before he would've made it to her desk. She looked up to see him go to the fridge for a can of milk. He flicked his thumb claw out and poked a hole in the top and started to drink out of it.
When he started walking back towards the garage, she spoke up. "Are you okay, Mr. Furlong?" She asked and he turned to her, still drinking out of his can. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Pfft...what do you care?! Aren't you supposed to not be talking to me?!" He slightly snapped at her. Vivian flinched slightly. 'Okay, I deserved that.' She thought to herself, sadly. "I-I still care...you're my co-co-worker..." She stuttered. He just shook his head and walked away from her with a disgusted look on his face. "Whatever."
Vivian felt her heart breaking once more as he walked away. She knew he was hurt, badly. They both were. She wanted nothing more than to throw herself in his arms and feel his embrace once more. Kiss him and tell him she didn't care if it got the both of them killed. She wanted to be with him anyway, very much. It was killing her inside slowly that she couldn't. She looked down and saw the paper was wet. Her tears. She quickly wiped her eyes with her arm and headed for the bathroom to fix herself.
Jake saw the exchange between the two. "Did she finally speak to you, buddy?" Chance took a sip out of his milk can and shook his head. "Yeah. Gave me about the same treatment as you. Who cares?" He said, incredulously. Jake sighed and shook his head. "Chance, I know you're putting on this tough tom routine to try and deal with it, but that doesn't mean you have to be cold to her-"
Jake started, but Chance interrupted. "Oh, I'm supposed to be nice and sweet to the she-kat who literally broke my heart without trying to figure out a way around it first?! The she-kat who doesn't have enough faith or trust in me to protect her?! Yeah, alright..."
Jake's eyes went wide. 'Kats alive! Did Chance just admit he was in love with her?! Wow...' Jake approached his friend cautiously. "Chance...were you in love with her or starting to fall in love with her?" He asked softly. He could tell he hit a nerve saying the dreaded L word to him, twice. Chance sighed deeply. "Look, don't make a big deal about it. It's over. It's done. Nothing I or anyone can do about it now." He said as he walked away from Jake to go find the wrench he threw earlier. Jake just sighed and shook his head. 'Wish there was something I could do for you, buddy.'
Later, Vivian was leaving for the last half of her day at HQ. She saw her father's more unsavory Lieutenants, Luca Tailford, leaning against her car. He was a dark grey, nearly black shorthair tom. Vivian shivered when he looked her way with his bright yellow eyes, and not in the good way. 'Ugh, can't believe I dated that creep at one time.'
"Didn't your father tell you to stay away from him?" He asked with a smirk as she got closer. "This is part of my job with the Enforcers, Luca. I have nowhere else I can go for income right now and I sure as hell am not asking Dad for a job, especially if it involves stalking." She says as she starts to unlock her car and pull the door open, but he closes it. She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're gonna make me late for the second half of my job. What do you want?" She says, rolling her eyes. He puts his hands in his pockets and grins at her. "We'll, since I'm having to watch you anyway and you're back in Megakat City, and recently single, I thought maybe-" Vivian cuts him off there. "You thought wrong! Dead wrong! Now move!" She yelled at him, trying to jerk the car door open, but he once again closed it. "No. Not until you say yes to dinner tonight." Vivian was now annoyed.
"There a problem here?" They both heard a voice say and turned to look at the source of the angry voice. Chance was marching out towards them, wrench in hand. Jake was running close behind him. Luca smirked. "No problem here, unless you want to make it one?" Chance growled, and took a couple of steps forward. Jake grabbed his arm quickly. "Buddy, look. Lower left flank." Jake whispered to him as Chance took quick stock of the situation and saw that tucked under his left arm was a pistol pointing right at him. "Gotcha." He whispered back. Chance took a step back. "Just...let the lady be on her way." He said as both he and Luca stared each other down. Luca's smirk got bigger. "Fine. I'll see you later, Vivian." Chance glared at him as he pushed himself off the car, allowing Vivian to open the door. She looked back at Chance, giving him a slight head shake with obvious fear and concern in her eyes, silently warning him not to do anything stupid. Chance's heart caught in his throat. 'She truly does still care about me.' She got in and closed the door, started the car, and drove away.
Luca watched her drive away and then turned to look at the two mechanics. "Unless you have a vehicle to fix, I suggest you get out of here." Jake said to him calmly, still keeping a hand on Chance's arm. "Pft...I wouldn't fix his cruddy car even if he paid me a million dollars!" Chance quipped, growling. Luca shrugged, slipping his pistol back into his suite jacket. "Fine by me. You boys, have a good one." He said as he winked and made a gun signal with his fingers pointed at Chance, acting like he pulled the trigger on him and walking away, smirking. This made Chance more mad. Jake could feel his body trembling with anger. "Easy buddy. It's over. He's leaving."
"We end it and the next day, the wolves descend." Chance grumbled to himself as he walked back to the garage. Jake walked back with him. "It's not like that, Chance. That was one of whoever's goons that's probably watching her. You could've been killed or hurt badly today, pal. You have to be more careful." Chance shook his head. "You should've seen the way he was looking at her, Jake. It was more than that." Jake shrugged. "If you say so. Just be more careful next time."
Across the city, Vivian made it to her office. She closed the door and locked it. She then slid down against the door and let her emotions overtake her. She looked up at the ceiling, not able to hold back the tears. She wept silently as she kept imagining Chance's face from today over and over again. 'Even though I broke things off with him, he still wanted to protect me. He still cares about me despite me breaking his heart. He really is a special guy...' Vivian felt fresh tears stinging the corners of her eyes. 'A special guy I don't deserve. He didn't deserve me breaking his heart.' She balled herself up against the door and cried into her knees, trying to keep as quiet as possible.
Later on in the day, back on the other side of town, Chance had locked himself in his room. He was sitting down on the floor with his back pressed against the wall. He sighed deeply, knowing he was depressed. Even an eighty hour marathon of Scardy Kat wasn't enough to make him crack a smile or laugh. 'I need her back in my life.' He thought to himself.
A month later, Chance was still a bit depressed. He started slowly returning to the old Chance before Vivian. He even started watching Scardy Kat again and laughing hysterically, like nothing was wrong. It was getting easier for him to go longer periods of time without so much as glancing over at Vivian during work. He still did though and caught her from time to time looking at him as well.
The Swat Kats were patrolling around Megakat City in the Turbokat. T-Bone got lost in his thoughts as he flew through the city. 'If I could just figure out who has such a hold on Vivian, maybe I can...'
He heard something or someone yelling at him faintly, and then the faint blaring of an alert alarm from the Turbokat. "-Bone! T-Bone, watch out!" He started hearing Razor yell from his seat behind him. The close proximity alarm was blaring. He looked up in surprise to see he was heading straight for a skyscraper. "Aw Crud! Holy kats! Hang on!" T-Bone tried to force the jet away from the building, but reacted too late and clipped the edge of the left wing on the outer edge of a building, bending the wing. "I can't...get her...to climb! We're going down!" T-Bone said, fighting for control.
"T-Bone, we gotta eject!" Razor said, readying himself just in case he actually agreed for once. "I am not ejecting! Come on baby, you can do it! All three engines, thrusters to max!" T-bone said as he tried pulling out all the stops as the Turbokat started taking a half nose dive towards the busy streets of downtown. The citizens of Megakat City started to notice the jet coming towards them. They started screaming, and running away as T-Bone was trying desperately to pull up. "Come on, come on, come on! You never let me down, don't start now!" He said as he was gritting his teeth, half bracing for impact.
"We gotta eject, buddy! Now!" He heard Razor almost desperately begging again as the engines finally responded and barely avoided crashing nose first into the street below. "Yes!" T-Bone said triumphantly. "Bingo..." Razor said as he sat back in his seat, breathing a sigh of relief. T-Bone guided the Turbokat over to a nearby field just outside of Megakat City and landed safely. Razor was the first one out of the jet, thankful to be alive. T-Bone jumped out and down as well to assess the damage. As T-Bone was looking at the bent wing, Razor came to stand next to him, glaring at the now severely damaged Turbokat.
"Look, I didn't think I'd ever have to call you out on it, and I trust you with my 9 lives, one hundred percent most of the time. But this time...this time you could've gotten us both killed back there." T-Bone turned to look at his smaller partner, shaking his head. "Back when we first started this, death was always a possibility in my mind. It didn't bother me as much then, but now that I'm starting a life and a family with someone, that means something to me. I have to be more careful as a Swat Kat so I can be around for her and any future kits we might have." Razor continued. "Either get back with her and deal with the consequences, or move on from her with someone else. Until I'm sure you have your head back in the game, T-Bone, I'm not getting back in that jet with you again. I never thought that would ever be a possibility, but it is now." Razor said as he pulled out a remote and the cargo door dropped open.
T-Bone had no cocky remark or retort. He knew his best friend was right. He wasn't himself without Vivian anymore. He could act macho and act like nothing was wrong all he wanted, but in truth, he was miserable without her, and today, it nearly cost him both his best friend and his 9 lives. 'She's not coming back. I have to move on, for our friendship and the safety of Megakat City.'
Razor came out of the cargo hold, rolling out the Cyclotron. "I'm gonna head back to base to get some metal to fix the wing so you can limp it back. I'll be back as fast as I can." T-Bone only nodded as he watched Razor race back to the scrapyard.
Meanwhile, within the city at Enforcer HQ, Vivian was in the break room, eating lunch when a Kat's Eye News special report came across the screen, interrupting whatever mid-day show was on. "This is Ann Gora, Kat's Eye news with a special report in downtown Megakat City. Apparently the Swat Kat's infamous jet, the Turbokat had some sort of mechanical malfunction in flight. It hit the outer edge of a skyscraper and narrowly missed the citizens on the streets below." Vivian looked up at the mention of the Swat Kats.
The footage changed over to some cellphone footage caught from below as the Turbokat hit the outer edge of a skyscraper, debris falling down close to whoever shot the video. Then came the terrified screams of the citizens as the Turbokat started nose diving towards the streets. Vivian watched on as her heart pounded, knowing T-Bone was in there. The footage then went shaky as the Turbokat barely corrected before almost crashing into the streets below. The air whooshing from the Turbokat making the phone owner shake a bit as it took off and away from the city. The footage ended there and resumed with Ann again. "I'm here with Commander Feral of the Enforcers. Commander, any comment about this?"
Of course, there was Feral, pissed off as usual. "This is what happens when you let two reckless hotshots take the law into their own claws! Do you think the Swat Kats are going to pay for the damage their jet caused, or even show up to help with the clean up? I don't care how many times they've saved this city, they belong behind bars!" Vivian looked away as the news continued. 'This is all my fault because I broke up with Chance. Dad got what he wanted. A distracted Swat Kat.' She sighed. 'I need to move on. I can't have him, might as well give myself a distraction too.' Vivian thought to herself as she got up to go back to her office.