Disclaimer: The SWAT Kats are owned by Hanna Barbera and the Tremblay Brothers. I own the OCs.
Thank you MisaRae for all that you do.
Havoc watched as a lone tom left the restaurant behind the shooters, making his way to a sedan and getting it, driving off after having a quick glance at the scene that was unfolding. Immediately suspicious, Havoc grabbed her communicator with her right paw and said, "Razor, Caliber, Pirouette has been shot. The perpetrator has been subdued, but another suspect has just left the scene in a black sedan. Follow it and report back once it has reached its destination."
Caliber scowled when she heard that Pirouette had been shot. She slammed her fist on the dashboard, thinking that if she had been down there, she might have been able to prevent it from happening. She then heard Havoc's plea to follow the black sedan and find out where it was going. Caliber said to Razor, "Who the hell does she think she is, ordering us to go and follow some sedan when our friend has just been shot?"
"Easy, Caliber. We are the only ones in a position to do so. Everyone else is down there helping Pirouette. If Havoc needs us to tail a sedan, then that is what we are going to do," Razor replied as he hit a few switches and buttons on the panel in front of him.
"That still does not excuse her from talking to a senior member of SWAT like that. We might be family, but there is still a hierarchy here," Caliber said, as she placed the jet into a left turn.
"No there isn't, Caliber. This is not the Enforcers. We are all on equal footing here. If one member sees the need to request that someone else do something, then we should carry out that request as best we can," Razor said, then looked at one of the screens and noticed a Lincoln Town Car leaving the area at a decent rate of speed. He then said, "Found our car. Caliber, turn eight degrees to the right and maintain an altitude of 4000 feet. I'm going to place a tracker on that car, so we don't have to tail it where ever it goes."
"Roger dear. Wait until I get my paws on that tom who shot my friend. He is not going to like meeting me at all," Caliber said as she shook her fist.
"You are going to have to wait in line to get your paws on him, dear. I have a feeling that Adonis is going to want first shot at him. Once Pirouette is on the road to recovery, that is," Razor said.
Caliber adjusted the flight path of the TurboKat 2 in the way that Razor had asked. Once her adjustments were completed, she said, "It's all up to you, now. You are only going to get one shot at this, so make it count."
"You have nothing to worry about. Making this shot is going to be as easy as making you moan and groan as I make love to you," Razor replied, and almost instantly regretted saying those things, especially to his fiancée.
"You think it's easy to make me moan and groan? Wait until tonight when we are alone in my apartment, honey. You are going to find out exactly how hard it is to make me moan and groan. Since you have deprived me of my daily quota of love for quite some time, you are going to have to make up for it. Empress told me earlier that she and T-Bone did it six times, and he just got back from the hospital. I expect at least eight times out of you."
Razor blinked, then firmly set the images his fiancée had conjured in his mind off to the side as he lined up his shot, stuck his tongue out of the right corner of his mouth as he concentrated, and when the time was right, he said, "Tracer missile, deploy."
The missile fired from the jet and took off at twice of the speed of the TurboKat 2. As the missile bobbed and weaved through the traffic and streetlights of the city, the nose of the missile opened up and fired a much smaller object at the undercarriage of the Town Car. The object magnetically attached itself to the chassis, and welded itself to its attachment point. Then it started sending signals back to the systems in the TurboKat 2 and in the hangar, showing its location with pinpoint accuracy.
Razor saw the blip appear on his navigation screen and said, "Bingo, all done. Let's head back to the restaurant and check in on Pirouette. I need to make a phone call to a good friend of SWAT and have him meet the ambulance at the hospital."
Caliber cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Who is this friend, love?"
"Dr. Feldman. He is the Chief of Surgery and T-Bone's doctor. He made many concessions for me and T-Bone while he was there, and to top it all off, he is the only one there that I trust." He used the cell phone built into the weapons panel of the TurboKat 2 and called the doctor.
"Dr. Feldman speaking," he answered.
"Doc, this is Razor. I need a favor. Another one of our members has been shot. I don't know the extent of her injuries, but she is going to need medical attention," Razor replied.
"I understand, Razor. I'm on my way in. However, you are going to have to explain to Mary why I am heading to the hospital instead of the romantic picnic I promised her," Dr. Feldman said.
"I will explain to Mary as best as I can, Doctor, and thank you," Razor replied.
"I hope this isn't becoming a routine," Dr. Feldman quipped. "Not that I mind helping you, but money doesn't grow on trees.
"Don't worry about it. Just send any bills to Claw-Tek Industries, and if you thought that I was overprotective of T-Bone, wait until you meet Adonis. I don't think he is going to leave Pirouette's side for a minute, no matter what," Razor said.
"Adonis? Is he as big as his name sounds?" Dr. Feldman asked.
"He stands about six foot four, weighs close to 230 pounds of solid muscle, and he loves your new patient to death," Razor replied.
"Great. A muscle-bound tom who is in love. This is getting better and better. I will see you soon," Dr. Feldman said, and then disconnected the call.
"Dr. Feldman will be waiting for us at the hospital. How far are we from the restaurant?" Razor asked.
"About five minutes out. How are you going to explain to Mary about the picnic?" Caliber asked.
"I don't know, honey. I am hoping that once she sees how much Adonis is in love with Pirouette, and how great of a pair they are, Mary will forgive both him and us," Razor said.
Caliber landed the TurboKat 2 in a clearing about a block away from the action. She shut down the jet and opened the canopy. Razor released his seatbelt and jumped out of his seat to the ground below, followed by Caliber. They took off running towards the restaurant as fast as their feet could carry them.
Ulysses took Callista in his arms as soon as she was done putting Pirouette to sleep. She said to Ulysses as she looked into his eyes, "I owe her my life, Ulysses. If she hadn't tackled me to the ground; it would have been me, bleeding out on the ground. I don't know if I can ever repay her for that."
"She is your friend, Callista. I know you would have done the same for her," Ulysses said. He then retrieved his phone and called headquarters.
"Enforcers, how can I help you?" a dispatcher asked.
"I need an ambulance at Ambrosia for a 25 year old she-cat with a gunshot wound to the shoulder," Ulysses said.
"Please hold, I will transfer you to the right department," the dispatcher said, and placed him on hold.
Ulysses held the phone away from his ear and looked at it questioningly. He then said, "You have got to be kidding me! I tell her that I need an ambulance, and she puts me on hold? What is going on over there? When I get to the office on Monday, the first thing that I am going to do is find out who is in charge over there and fire him or her!"
Another voice came onto the phone and said, "Fire and EMS, how can I help?"
Ulysses brought the phone back to his ear, and this time he forcefully said, "If you transfer me to another department, you are going to be out of a job. This is Commander Feral. I need an ambulance at Ambrosia for a friend of mine that has been shot. If it is not here within the next five minutes, your entire department is going to be looking for new careers. Do I make myself clear?"
The voice on the other end went silent for a brief second and then replied, "Sir, it's on its way. Can I help you with anything else?"
"You can tell me the name of the cat and their supervisor that transferred me so I can fire them!" Ulysses barked.
"Sir, I have no idea who transferred you to this department. We only get a notification of the transfer, not who originated it. Sorry," the fire and EMS dispatcher said.
Ulysses disconnected the call in frustration and threw his phone against the pavement, watching it shatter into about fifteen pieces. He said, "I have spent the past 45 years building an elite fighting force, which every other city around us respects and envies. Yet, I can't get a simple ambulance without being transferred? Come Monday morning there are going to be some radical changes down in dispatch. No citizen deserves to be transferred in their time of need. Period!"
Callista felt his frustration, and reached up with her right paw to lovingly stroke the side of his face.
Ulysses felt a gentle, silky smooth touch against his cheek, looked down at his fiancée, and let his anger fall away.
Empress, on the other hand, was now more irate than ever. She pulled away from Havoc and confidently walked over to the tom with the bullet in his knee. She stood in front of him with her feet more than shoulder width apart and her paws on her hips. She then spat, "Who ordered you to try to shoot the cats I care about?"
"As much as I want to play twenty questions with a hot she-cat, I'm in a lot of pain right now. Care to help me make the pain go away, doll?" the tom said.
Empress was in no mood to play with him. She lifted her right foot and slammed the heel of her boot into the tom's knee, causing him to scream in agony.
She then asked, "I am only going to ask you one more time: who ordered you to shoot her?"
"Go scratch, bitch! I am not telling you anything!" the tom replied.
Empress removed her heel from the tom's knee, then crouched down beside him, bringing her mask-covered face within inches of his, and said, "Oh I do much more than scratch. In fact, if you do not answer me, I promise you that my face will be the last thing you ever see." She then reached back with her right paw, slipped on her Glovetrix, and brought her newly-armed hand up against his throat, the potentially deadly barrels pressing beneath his chin. "Now, who is your boss?" she demanded.
Havoc caught what was going on out of the corner of her eye, and quickly made her way toward Empress to try and calm her down before she blew the tom's head off.
The tom knew that he would have no chance against a crazy, enraged, well-armed she-cat like the one currently threatening him. However, he was also fully aware that if he betrayed David, his entire family would pay the price. He had no other choice. He bit down hard on a cyanide capsule that he had sewn into his inner cheek, swallowing the liquid that escaped in desperation.
Empress was forced to shift her body away as the tom began to convulse. She began to tremble, her emotions at war with themselves. She wanted to scream at the way she had been denied both justice for Pirouette and information about their new enemies. Then the realization that she could have, would have, just as easily killed the tom made her blood run cold. She hugged herself, shivering, as the tom thrashed on the ground, frothing at the mouth.
Havoc reached them just as Empress backed up. She hesitated for a moment, then put a comforting hand on Empress' shoulder as the tom finally lay still. "You didn't kill him, did you?" Havoc asked.
Empress shook her head rapidly in denial. "No. I smelled something sweet after he bit down on his cheek. I guess he had a 'Plan B' all ready to go just in case. But I could have." She shakily rose to her feet, then practically flung herself into Havoc's arms, hugging her with all her might. After a few seconds, she composed herself enough to say, "I was so blinded by rage that I wanted to kill him with my own two paws." Empress shivered again. "I don't ever want to feel that way again, Havoc."
Havoc cradled Empress in her arms, and rocked her to try to get her to calm down. Empress calmed down just in time to pull back from Havoc's embrace and watch as Sniper crashed into Havoc's arms.
Sniper looked up into Havoc's mask-concealed eyes and asked, "How is Pirouette?"
Havoc wrapped her arms around Sniper and replied, "She is sleeping, thanks to Callista. But she has a nasty gunshot wound in her right shoulder."
Sniper turned her head to find the tom that shot Pirouette, and saw him lying on the ground, dead. She turned back to Havoc and cautiously asked, "Empress didn't..?!"
Havoc brought her right paw up to stroke Sniper's face and replied, "No, she didn't."
Sniper buried her face in Havoc's chest and said, "Thank heavens."
Razor went over to check on Adonis, while Caliber ran over to her best friend, threw her arms around her, and asked, "Are you ok?"
Empress locked her arms around Caliber and replied, "I honestly don't know."
Caliber brought her left paw under Empress' chin, gently pushing it upward until Empress was looking at her face to face, then said, "Talk to me. I am your best friend. Hell, we might as well be sisters. And if anyone knows what it's like to have a scumbag's life at the business end of your weapon, it's me."
Empress broke down after she heard Caliber speak. She replied through her sobs, "I have never felt so enraged before. The only thing I wanted to do was wipe him off the face of the earth because he hurt someone that I love." She cried into Caliber's chest for a minute before she lifted her head and said, "I don't want to ever feel that way again, Caliber. You have always been the rock that I turn to when I am feeling rotten. How do I get this feeling to stop and never come back?"
Caliber held on to her tighter and replied, "Oh Empress, I know you're not going to like hearing this, but there is no way to prevent feelings like that. Who wouldn't want to protect their loved ones by any means necessary? The key is not letting those feelings control you, and make you do things you might regret. What I do to combat them is focus on my family and my best friend. That is what you are going to have to do now. Redirect those feelings into something positive, like your unborn kittens. Just think how cute they are going to be. Between your beauty, and T-Bone's striped fur, they are going to be gorgeous. Besides that, having you both as parents is going to ensure that they grow up right and be both good and strong."
Empress pulled back from Caliber's embrace and said, "I needed that, Caliber. Thank you."
Caliber placed a kiss on Empress' helmet, right between her ears, and said, "You are welcome. Now, let's go and check in on Adonis. I have a feeling he is going to want to rip into something very soon, and he needs to focus on what's most important instead. Right now, that's Pirouette."
They walked arm-in-arm towards Adonis, Pirouette, Ulysses, and Callista.
Adonis was trying to maintain his composure, even with his bleeding fiancée in his arms. However, his resolve was quickly fading with each passing second. He buried his face in her left shoulder and inhaled the scent of her hair. He cried and softly said, "Don't you dare leave me, Pirouette. I have so many great things planned for us. I have this big wedding in the woods planned, just the way you always wanted. I have been scrimping and saving so I can buy that house we wanted, and most of all, I want you to be the mother of my kittens. I want that family we have always talked about. I want to be the doting husband that you desire. I can't have any of those things if you leave me."
Razor placed his paw on Adonis' right shoulder and said, "She will pull through, I promise. I have already called in a favor over at MegaKat General. She will have the best care in the city waiting for her when she gets there."
Adonis turned his head toward Razor and said, "There is no way I can afford that type of care. I would have to take on a second shift in order to cover the bill. However, I really do appreciate it, Razor. I don't care what it costs me; I need for her to come back to me."
"You don't have to worry about a thing, just focus on Pirouette. I have this covered," Razor said.
"How can you afford something like that? You and T-Bone both live in a salvage yard. I highly doubt you two have big wads of cash just lying around," Adonis asked.
"That is not your concern right now, Adonis. Focus on getting her better, and let me worry about the hospital. Ok?" Razor replied.
Callista then said, "If he can't cover it, then I will. She saved my life, and if I can't pay for her hospital stay, then what type of friend would I be?"
Ulysses developed this strange look on his face and asked, "You live in an apartment above your antique shop downtown, which is located in the district with the highest rents in MegaKat City. That has to come with a hefty price tag every month. Not to mention, Persival isn't exactly kitten-sized, so feeding him can't be cheap. Where are going to find the extra money to cover her hospital bills?"
Callista chuckled and replied, "I will tell tonight, when we are alone."
The ambulance finally arrived, along with three Enforcer patrol cars. Three EMTs got out of the ambulance, carrying bags full of supplies that they were going to need to take care of Pirouette. One of the EMTs said to Adonis, "Sir, I need you to let her go so I can take care of her."
Adonis snarled at the EMT and said, "I am not letting her go, ever. She is my fiancée, and I love her too much to let her go when she needs me."
Ulysses went over to him and ordered, "Adonis! Let him do his job, or do I have to have you arrested?"
As much as he didn't want to let her go, hearing Ulysses' authoritative voice snapped him back to reason. He gently laid Pirouette down on the ground and backed away. However, he grabbed another EMT and said, "If you or your buddies hurt her, your faces are going to meet my fist."
"ADONIS!" Ulysses barked.
Adonis let the EMT go and backed away with his tail between his legs.
Both Sniper and Havoc went over to him and placed their arms around him.
As the EMTs examined Pirouette, they dressed the bullet wound as best as they could, started an IV to get fluids into her, but could not find a reason for her to be sleeping so soundly. One of them said, "Sir, we have bandaged up her wound and stabilized her, but we can't seem to wake her."
Callista was about to reply, but Empress stopped her and said, "I used my powers to put her to sleep so she would not feel any more pain or make her wound worse."
"Can you wake her? They won't operate with her in this condition," the EMT asked.
Empress knew she was not as powerful as her grandmother, but what else could she have done? She, at least, had the protection of a mask and the SWAT Kat name, so she had done what she had to. She quickly established a mind link with Callista and said, "I can't possibly break a spell that you have cast. I am not that strong of a sorceress. Now what are we going to do?"
"Once again you underestimate yourself, Callie. You most certainly can break one of my spells. You have to concentrate and have confidence that you can do it. Just be forewarned, a sleep spell is not something to be toyed with. You can inadvertently harm the cat you cast the spell on if it is not cast correctly," Callista replied.
Empress crossed her arms under her chest, cocked her hip to one side, and then replied, "Thanks a lot for the confidence boost, Grandma!"
Empress turned to Pirouette and concentrated on her waking up. Her paws glowed pink, and she said aloud, "Pirouette, your slumber is over. Time for you to wake and see your loving fiancé again."
As soon as Empress finished speaking, Pirouette's eyes fluttered open and she said, "Where is Adonis?"
Adonis broke free of Sniper and Havoc's embrace and ran to her. He dropped to his knees as soon as he was close enough to touch her. He brought his paws to her face and said, "I am right here, beautiful."
Pirouette reached up with her left paw and brought his face to hers, then kissed him. She broke the kiss and said, "You can't get rid of me that easily. I love you."
Adonis replied, "I love you, too."
One of the EMTs said, "We have to go. You can ride with her if you want?"
Adonis reluctantly backed up and got out of the way while they loaded Pirouette onto the stretcher and then started to wheel her towards the ambulance.
Adonis took her left paw in his as they walked towards the ambulance. The EMTs loaded her into the ambulance, and Adonis followed. He climbed up and took a seat next to her.
The EMTs closed the rear doors, jumped into the ambulance, and took off towards the hospital.
End of Chapter