Title-MegaKat City Tails part5, To a Distant Place Author- Cheese Danish Summary- The Jaque-Tabby thing finally comes to a head in this partial finale. And there's a lot of crying. ****************************************************************** Well....one more part...and this thing'll pretty much be over with. Hope you liked part four, BTW, I did. This series was originally s'posed ta be longer, but I'm sure you don't wanna read that much of me stuff, so.... Remains, in short- Cheese "Kit/Tigra/Have you seen my mind? It's awful!" Danish ****************************************************************** The phone rings loudly, stirring Feral from a dreamless sleep. He feels hot, and there is a pressure on his chest. As the phone rings again, he opens his eyes to find himself sitting-slouching-on the sofa, a small, rose coloured she-kat leaning against him, her arms wrapped around him. The late afternoon sun beats gently through the blinds, illuminating only her. He can smell the sweet scent of her wafting from her silky, pumpkin-hued hair, and his breathing falls precisely in time with hers. Reluctantly, he is shaken out of this sweet sense of serenity by another ring of the telephone. "Feral." "Commander, this is Pennloiz." "Yes, Detective?" Feral answers softly, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Gina stirs minutely, and tightens her hold on him. "Jaque-Tabby somehow caught wind of the fact we found his headquarters." "What's happened?" The same feeling that built in his chest when he spoke to the doctor about Anna begins in him now, but he tightens his arm around Gina and, with the warmth of her touch, pushes it back down. "He's kidnapped Mayor Manx and baracaded himself into his hideout, guards at every door-" "What?!" Feral yells. Gina's eyes flick open, and Feral stands up, throwing the phone back at the reciever and grabbing his coat off the back of the couch. "What happened?" Gina asks groggily. "Benny's taken the Mayor hostage," he replies, heading for the door. "I'm coming with you!" Feral spins around and looks back at Gina pleadingly. "Please, promise me you'll stay here." Gina hesitates. "I...promise." Feral walks back a few feet and glares Gina in the eye. He is almost two feet taller than her, and casts a shadow down upon her. Looking at her hard, searching her eyes, he kisses her quickly and powerfully on the lips. Then he spins around and stomps out, slamming the door behind him. "This is Ann Gora, Katseye News, here at the scene of the Jaque-Tabby/Enforcer showdown. Commander Feral, apparently retaking command, has just arrived on the scene. So far, the Enforcers have established a barracade around the hide-out, and the Commander is beginning negotiations. Soon they will attempt to infiltrate this base. An obvious question here is, where are the SWAT Kats?" "Brent. We, Chance and I, are the SWAT Kats. Aunt Streak is gone...somewhere. Will you be alright here yourself?" Jake stands from his kneeling position and takes the helmet Chance is handing him. The small kitten considers them both for a moment. They are both dressed in full SK garb...T-Bone and Razor, there before him. He bites his lip gently. "Yes." Razor smiles ruefully. "Alright." He heads off toward the plane. Chance ruffle's the kitten's jet-black hair gently and follows suit. Brent stands back toward the wall as the engines flare to fiery life and a panel of doors yawn open a few hundred yards down the extended runway. The jet taxis out at near sound speed. Brent runs after it, and makes it almost halfway down the way as the jet takes off out the doors and into the goldenrod sky. A gust of hot air from the engines and just summer in general blows away the few tears the kitten lets himself shed. The feeling is distinctly like the one he felt upon leaving his mother's house almost a week back...that even though they said 'temporary', something remarkably devastating is about to happen. Brent walks back out of the underground place and into the abode Jake, Chance, Streak, and he calls home. He sits on the couch and watched the live coverage of the Jaque-Tabby/Enforcer War. She had only had to kill three kats to make it up to the bedroom at the top of the stairs, but for some reason that bugs her more than ever. She asks the Lord-and just what lord *is* that?-for forgiveness. Why in hell am I repenting? She kicks open the door. Manx yelps and almost falls backward in the chair he is tied to. Streak's gaze shifts from the Mayor to a large, curtainless canopy bed in the center of the room. Benny Jaque-Tabby sits naked on the bed, twirling the laser pistol in his paw by the trigger, his gaze fixed keenly on the wall straight in front of him. His black hair is longer and greasier than usual, his whiskers ungroomed, with nothing screwed to where his intimidating hook usually is. "Benny!" Streak growls. Manx shoots a terrified glance at her, and Benny's gazes slithers slowly from the wall to the tall, striped she-kat. With no word, just a small, satisfied smile, he moves the gun slowly up, aims it at Streak, and fires. Feral watches the Turbokat touch down and walks toward it. "Are you going in there?" He asks the smaller, caramel coloured one. "Yeah, why?" he asks aggressively. "Just so you know, there is a woman in there." "What?!" "We tried to stop her..." "What does she look like?" asks the larger, tawny-furred one. "Tall, grey and black, long blue hair..." Razor and T-Bone look at each other, both mouthing the name "Streak." Streak looks up weakly from the floor, just in time to see two kats in red and blue flight suits rush in. The SWAT Kats. I pray for them too. T-Bone rushes to Streak's side, and Razor looks at Benny on the bed, oblivious to both the new kats. He races over to untie the mayor, keeping him gagged. Razor looks down at Chance, who is checking Streak's pulse. His eyes close momentarily, but then he takes her up in his arms. Both Razor and T-Bone, having cleared out all of Benny's gang, race down the stairs and outside. T-Bone loads Streak onto a pre-ready stretcher, and a group of paramedics attend to her. While Razor returns the Mayor to the proper authorities, T-Bone follows the paramedics loading the stretcher into the ambulance. Before going in, she manages to choke out, "Tell Furlong and Clawson...to take care of Brent." Fighting back tears, he calls before the ambulance doors close, She never knew our identities.... "Ms. Phillips, you'll be fine!" Inside the ambulance, Streak just smiles and shakes her head softly. The pain in her upper chest has disapeared suddenly, and with one last breath, Streak breathes out, "I love you." The two paramedics in the back look at each other over Streak's body. "I wonder who that was meant for?" The other kat just shakes his head, and pulls the wires from the once-beeping monitor, the long, high pitched, monotonous whine ceasing suddenly, like a life too early snuffed. Gina makes her way up the stairs she's climbed too many times before. She is reminded of the bad, and, most resentfully, good times she's had with Benny. She looks at the large, fallen mahogany door to their once-shared bedroom. She sees Benny on the bed, and he immediately looks up to see her. With wonder, he gasps, "Gina." Brent watches in horror as they wheel a bleeding, grey she-kat to an ambulance in the background. His nose is glued to the television, as Ann Gora steps aside for the camera to get a shot of the ambulance taking off. Suddenly, Ann's paw floats to her ear. She looks up sadly and brings the microphone back to her mouth. Brent sits the, his forehead to the screen, shaking his head. No, no, no, he mouths over and over. "We have just received word- No, no! "that-" No! "the she-kat, now identified as 33 year-old Streak Phillips-" "No." Brent mutters. "has died on the way to Blue Manx Memorial Hospital." "No!" Brent cries, collapsing against the television screen. Suddenly, from the front door, T-Bone and Razor burst in. Brent runs to Razor and flings himself into the kat's arms, crying hysterically. "Shhh...it's alright." Razor murmurs. Brent just shakes his head and sobs. "How's Brent?" Benny asks, a far-away, melancholic look in his eyes. "Last I heard, Louisianna had moved from their apartment into a rented house..." Gina looks at Benny, puzzled, and moves closer to the bed. "Good." The look stays in his eyes. Benny's gone mad. "You're a bastard for leaving your son like that." "I know. Tell your sister I apologize." Gina sits on the bed. "She'll never forgive you. No one will ever forgive you. You're scum." Benny looks at Gina. "Give me your gun." the petite, busty pink kat demands firmly. "What?" "I said, give me your gun!" She holds a paw out. A shot rings out. "That SWAT Kat said Benny was the only one left in the place. Let's all move in!" The Commander leads the way in, up the stairs where Razor said Jaque-Tabby had been. He races through the doorway, kneels in a shooting stance, and shouts, "SURRENDER!" Gina jumps and spins around, her arms going up into the air, dropping the pistol. Feral's gaze shoots from Gina, to Benny, whose body is propped against the headboard, half his head blown in. "Hold your fire!" he shouts. He drops his gun and races to Gina, taking her up into his arms. "I told you to stay, you promised you would," Feral whispers into her ear. He tries to sound angry, but is too relieved for words. He picks her up and spins her again, and the other Enforcers move into the room to gawk and survey the damage. Feral pulls Gina into a firm embrace, and kisses her slowly on the lips. Lieutenant Felina Feral walks over to the Commander and Gina. "Er...Uncle?" Feral pulls away from Gina. "Yes, Felina?" "The news crews are requesting..."Felina looks confused at Gina for a second, but then back at the Commander. "...to be admitted." "Not until the crime scene is thoroughly worked through." "Right." Felina turns around and speaks softly into a hand held radio. "This is Ann Gora. We have just gotten reports in that the threat has been neutralized. And-" Ann turns around to see Feral and Gina, followed by a small group of Enforcers, walk out. Feral gets a mike stuck in his face. "Commander, what has just happened?" "Well, like you said, the threat has been neutralized, thanks to Ms.Lynx here. And the SWAT Kats. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Commander Feral picks Gina up into his arms, like he had the day she moved in, and carries her to his squad car. They both hop in, and the Commander speeds off. "You're not going to stay to help with the investigation?" Feral smiles and shrugs. "I'm technically not on duty. Felina can handle it, she's a wonderful commander." Feral smiles at Gina, who just smiles back and leans her head against his right shoulder. 3 Months Later "This is Ann Gora, Katseye News, reporting live from the very same courthouse that just three weeks ago, Detective Steven Pennloiz was accused of conspiring with the now all-dead Jaque-Tabby Gang. But it is now the site of a more festive occasion. It is here that Commander Ulysses Feral and ex-callgirl Virginia Lynx have been served their wedding license-" The shot of Ann moves to a shot of the Commander and Gina exiting the courthouse. Ann runs after them for questioning, but the Commander avoids them. Chance flips off the television and lies back into the sofa. Brent and Jake took off for the MKC Science Center nearly an hour ago, and Chance has the house to himself. What a shame, he thinks, that Streak died feeling responsible for the death of a woman who hadn't died... He is still confused as to his feelings for the late Streak "The Blue Streak" Phillips. More than anything, he felt a kinship to her...two kindred, half-lost souls, suffering more than half losses. She was a beautiful she-kat, with fur the colour of a cloudy sky, and eyes the colour of a clear one. But it was more than that. Chance just sighs, closing his eyes. Silently, he drifts into a dreamless sleep. *******************DISCLAIMER********************************** This is a disclaimer I am posting on all of my stories from now on...just in case. You know the multitudes of fanfics that are out there.....So if I stumble upon your plot a bit...I am SO sorry. If you have a problem, please mail me, and send me a link or whatever to your fic, so I can compare. I'm *very* willing to listen. *Note- I ONLY accept complaints from people with POSTED fics. Meaning, if you are in the process of writing a fic, and you read mine and it's very similar, that means The Partners have been watching *you* instead of me, and went back in time to deliver your idea to me in my sleep.(Hey it's happened to me...I understand) So...anyway. Oh yeah...The whole *official* disclaimer thing while I'm at it. It's a fan fic. I'm using previously created and used characters. If you don't like what I'm doing with them, go ahead and complain, but I ain't changing it unless you *own* The SWAT Kats....so.... ******************************************************************