Title: The Kat's Eye Amulet
(Sequel to Dark Kats Revenge)

Author's Note: HEY THERE! I HAVE RETURNED! This is my sequel (as mentioned above), and I'm very excited about this one. I hope you guys like the first chap. If there are a few grammar and mechanical errors, I apologize. I'm trying to upload this story 10 minutes before my 6th period, so please be patient with me. And, I'm just forewarning you guys that some of my chaps may be a month or so in coming. My homework load has been overwhelming, and free time is scarce, so if I don't update for a month or so ,please don't think that I've abandoned the story. I would never do that.:) Anyways... I hope you guys enjoy this chap, and I hope I get reviews on it soon! Till the next update! Enjoy! Etherweil

The eve of Egypt’s fall to the Romans…

The ginger glow of lit candles danced across the temple's auburn stone walls as their tiny tongues of flame trembled in the room’s thick atmosphere. Agonized screams pierced the night with abhorrent clashes of metal against metal and the bloodcurdling war cries of the warriors that swarmed within the palace's burning courtyards. The girl’s raven black fur glistened as if wet in dark crimson shades as she sat still on her knees, looking up imploringly at the glorious image of one of Egypt’s most powerful gods, the lioness goddess Sekhmet. She prayed reverently for her divine mercy and deliverance as her body trembled with unspoken fear. Held tightly in her clasped paws was a startling amulet of mystical beauty. Gripped in the middle of its cold, glistening silver body was a flawless opal of the darkest shade of blue and violet that seemed to churn with an eternal abyss of cerulean mists that concealed its powerful internal fire. The precious gems that encrusted the amulet's body seemed to loose their luminous luster in its presence. She breathed in the scent of frankincense that permeated the room’s air deeply, trying to sooth her trembling body. She was going to carry out the honorary assignment that was given to her by the great priest himself …despite the fact that she was probably going to lose her life.

Further down the corridor, she heard the massive teak door slam open against the temple's walls and the cries of the Roman soldiers grew louder in velocity as the seconds passed. Taking one last glimpse at the frozen image of Sekhmet, she jumped to her feet and ran towards the hidden passageway that would take her under the temple and towards the Nile River. Her retreating shadow against the wall gave her away, and the soldiers quickly pursued her down the inclining tunnel.

Ragged breaths tore from her throat as she ran out into the night. The abrupt change of the hard stone floor to the unsteady sandy shore of the Nile made her lose her balance, and she fell hard onto her stomach, completely knocking the air from her lungs. The war cries of the approaching soldiers crashed down around her as she scrambled to her feet and ran unsteadily down towards the black water of the Nile. Arrows whizzed past her head and the heavy pounding of feet chased unnervingly close behind her. As her body crashed into the water, a well aimed arrow found its mark and embedded itself in her back with a sickening thud. With a dying gasp she fell into the river as several more arrows found their mark. Her limp body was carried away by the Nile’s flowing waters as her lifeless paw let go of the amulet. Her glazed amber eyes watched unseeingly as the amulet descended towards its dark watery grave amidst flowing white veils of silk and snaking ribbons of scarlet. With a final flash of radiant prisms, it disappeared into the darkness of the Nile, its existence forever marred by the innocent blood that was shed for its legendary majesty.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Present day, one month after "Dark Kat's Revenge"…..

Calico Briggs stared out into the massive steel jungle of MegaKat City from her massive mahogany desk. Her high heel shoes lay discarded underneath her black leather chair as she sat, feet tucked underneath her body, relaxed in the chair’s plush back. She cradled a cordless Panasonic on her shoulder as she listened to the excited voice on the other end. “Well, you always did have a knack for finding things.” She smiled into the receiver as her finger traced circles into the desk’s glossy, cherry surface.

“This amulet IS the most important discovery of my career yet! Oh, I can’t wait till you see it, Callie; t’s so breathtaking, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” Dr. Abi Sinian, curator of the MegaKat Museum of History, exclaimed excitedly in one breath.

Callie laughed lightly. “I’m sure it is, Abi.”

Abi was silent for a moment. “Okay, Callie, who is it?” demanded Abi teasingly.

“Who is who?” Callie asked innocently.

“The guy? Who’s the guy?”

“What guy? I didn’t mention any guy!”

Abi sighed in exasperation. “The guy that has you all day dreamy and stuff.”

Callie laughed half-heartedly. “There is no guy, I can assure you.”

“Liar,” Abi bluntly accused.

“What?” Callie asked incredulously.

“You heard me! You are a liar! Or better yet, you’re in denial that you’ve fallen for someone.”

Callie sighed. Looking around her office as if afraid someone would overhear her, she whispered,“Is it that obvious?”

Abi laughed on the other end. “Yes. I haven’t heard you this distracted and sad since that real estate jerk dumped you like 8 months ago.”

Callie closed her eyes. “PUUHLEEZ don’t bring him up.”

Abi laughed. “Okay okay, sorry … so, who’s the guy?”

Callie groaned as she leaned farther back into her chair. “You're not going to give up, are you?” Callie smiled as she heard Abi’s stifled giggle. “Well, I can’t really tell you who he is because I don’t even know who he is …”

There was an uneasy silence that followed. Callie bit her bottom lip, waiting for Abi to answer. “Okay ….awkward.”

Callie groaned as she put her bare feet on the floor and sat all the way down in her chair. “Okay, so that didn’t sound right… I know him, but I don’t…. do you even get a sense of what I’m saying?”

“Yeah …. sorta….. so, what you’re saying is that he is mysterious or something?”

“Yeah, he’s mysterious……. and I haven’t seen him …. well, I have seen him, but I haven’t really talked to him in about a month.”

Callie heard Abi click the roof of her mouth. “Does he even know you like him?”

“Yes,” Callie replied immediately, but then started to doubt herself right after. “I’m just waiting for him to … you know …”

“Wow, really awkward for you… NOW TELL ME HIS NAME!” Abi exclaimed in playful exasperation.

Callie giggled at her friend's undying curiosity. “Well, it’s going to give you something to think over on your flight back here, and then maybe I’ll tell you.”

“You’re cruel.” Abi smiled.

“I know, I know.” Callie sighed as she looked at the picture of Razor she had just pulled from the drawer.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“HEEYYYYYYYAAAAAAACCCCHHHOOOOOOO!...UGH.” Chance gingerly placed the wrench on the car's hood and reached for the tissue that was in his pocket. “Wut are duh oddz uf me dettin a told?” he moaned.

“Since you decided to tackle Viper without a face mask on,” Jake reminded him as he walked into the garage with a clipboard in one paw and a cup of water and some pills in the other.

Downt start wid me.” Chance sniffed as he took the pills and water from Jake. Chance downed the pills in one big gulp of water. “Huow ded he det out of Alkatraz enyways?”

Jake shrugged. “This is Dr. Viper we’re talking about; he probably found a sewer pipe or something of that nature.”

Chance shuddered. “Tat is so distusting.”

“Anyways, on to a more pleasant topic… I’ve finished ‘Shadow’,” Jake informed his friend in a monotone voice as he handed the clipboard that contained some Enforcer oriented paperwork over to Chance’s reluctant greasy paw.

Chance grudgingly began to sign his part of the paperwork. “Wut was wrong with the old cyclotron?”

Jake shrugged. “I just had an epiphany of a better design,” he replied matter-of-factly.

Chance shook his head as he walked over to their crude wooden desk and set the clipboard down. Jake had been, for the past month, distracted and remote, as if his previous energetic intellect was in an endless mode of compelling and die-hard drive… as if it was trying to escape the troubling issues that he knew, deep down, had to be sorted out and fixed. And number one on that stockpiled list was Calico Briggs. Chance knew he was going to have to bring her up soon, since Jake hadn’t brought her up since that day she had passionately kissed his alias, Razor.

“I want ta go look at this ‘Shadow’ bike of yours.” Chance smiled as he wiped his paws off on a clean shop rag.

Jake smiled at Chance’s cold dialect as he led the way to the hanger.

With a sharp click, the hanger lights blared to life, reducing the absolute darkness into sly shadows that lurked upon the concrete walls. Chance’s eyes immediately fell upon Jake’s new creation, ‘Shadow’, as it was aptly named. Its sleek metal and fiberglass body of glossy black streaked with slivers of chrome seemed to crouch eagerly forward on its front tire. Its tinted windshield slanted sharply over the control panel and handlebars, completely shielding the driver's head and upper back from the wind that it was designed to cut through. Chance’s jaw unconsciously dropped in awe as he walked slowly up to the creation of Jake’s ingenuity.

“So …what do you think?” Jake asked as he walked up slowly behind his friend.

“Holy Kats,” Chance murmured as he circled ‘Shadow’. He shook his head as a smile emerged from his startled face. “Jake …. It’s amazing!”

Jake shrugged modestly. “You know that engine prototype I’ve been working on for the past year?”

“Yeah,” Chance mumbled distractedly as his hand glided over Shadow’s leather seat.

“It’s the engine that’s in there… I think I’ve finally perfected it.”

Chance looked up at Jake in astonishment. He knew that all the late nights Jake had been putting in for the past month weren’t for nothing, but the fact that he had accomplished almost 6 months worth of work in a 3 week period amazed him.

“So, when this thing runs….” Chance began,

“You barely hear it purring.” Jake smiled as he completed his friend's thought. Jake reached over and started Shadow’s engine. With barely a whisper, it came to life, its headlights like glowing yellow eyes piercing the dark like a scarcely breathing predator, its metal body barely vibrating with suppressed strength and power.

Chance looked up at Jake with a playful grin on his face. “So… when’s mine going to be done?”

“It’s on the drawing board as we speak,” Jake replied seriously as he turned off the purring Shadow.

“Hey, there is no rush, buddy. I don’t want you ta keel over at the ripe age of 26.”

Jake laughed. “I’m in no rush, Chance.”

A moment's silence passed between the two of them. Chance studied Jake’s faraway expression, an expression that seemed to occupy his face more than he liked. As he shuffled his right foot on the concrete floor, Chance cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest.

“So, have you talked to Callie yet?” he inquired, trying to keep the tone of his voice as casual as possible.

Jake looked up abruptly from the floor at the mention of Callie’s name. “Why would I have talked to her?” he asked, trying pathetically to act like he didn’t know what Chance was talking about.

Chance sighed in exasperation. They were going to get this settled once and for all. It had carried on for too long.

“Don’t play stupid with me, Jake,” Chance warned, trying to be patient.

Jake’s eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend. “I don’t need to talk to her. I’m just going to forget about the whole thing.”

“You just can’t forget something like that.”

“Yes, I can!” Jake snarled, making Chance look at him in disbelief.

Jake turned sharply and walked over to his locker, frustration evident in every part of his body. Chance stood there, watching Jake, worried. Jake had never snapped at him like that… if ever to anyone. Jake had pulled on his Swat Kat suit and started to tie the black bandana to his head.

“Do you like her, Jake?” Chance whispered….. hardly loud enough that Jake could hardly hear him. But, Chance didn’t have to repeat himself. Jake transformed into Razor as he placed his helmet on his head.

He looked up slowly at Chance, pain evident in his amber eyes. “She doesn’t like Jake, Chance, she likes Razor, and Razor cannot give her what she needs. Jake is just a pathetic, washed up enforcer who has nothing to offer, and Razor, well, Razor is just a character that exists only in times of trouble and distress. That is no life for Callie. To put it simply ….she deserves better.”

An uneasy silence fell upon the two tomcats.

Razor walked up to ‘Shadow’ and turned on its whispering engines.

“Where are you going?” Chance asked quietly, finally breaking the stiff atmosphere.

Razor mounted onto ‘Shadow’ and without even a glimpse back at his friend gave the stiff reply, “Out.” And, without any further words, Razor guided the new cyclotron out of the hanger into the dark tunnel, instantly melting into the darkness like a silhouette of something that seemed to never exist, leaving Razor’s icy words hanging in the air and echoing loudly in Chance’s now guilty conscious.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Abi carefully placed her precious discovery into its hard leather carrier box. Securing its lid by tightening its straps, she then placed the smaller case into a larger box filled with shredded paper.

“Did you put enough confetti in the box?” her colleague teased as she watched Abi gently place the packed amulet in the middle of the stuffed box.

“I just don’t want it to get damaged; you can’t trust the airlines anymore with your possessions.” Abi smiled as she covered the leather container with paper shreds.

“If the airplane crashed, I doubt that thing would get scratched.” Her friend laughed as she helped secure the wooden crate by hammering its top shut.

Abi gasped in mock indignation. “Perish the thought.”

Once the two archeologists were satisfied with the amulet's packing, they left the cargo hold of the plane. As the sound of their footsteps grew distant, an airport employee shut the cargo bay doors.

The bay’s atmosphere grew thick with a loud silence, not even the sound of the plane’s engine’s could drown out the unnerving sound. The wooden crate seemed to dominate the rest of the cargo of the bay with its imperative presence. The bay became dark as the main lights were turned off, casting shadows of erect lines against the aluminum hull. Inside its protective nest, the amulet’s opal eye began to glow an icy cerulean, making its leather casing grow warm with its powerful heat. The luminous stone’s core slowly came to life, after centuries of an inert slumber. Its glossy surface began to churn like a restless sea of shimmering mists. Ghostly voices of a time long past seemed to surround the crate with hushed whispers and poignant chants, and it increased in velocity with each passing second. Shards of a blinding golden light suddenly broke through the crate's cracks in a silent burst, and with the same suddenness, it materialized into the air and the cargo hold returned to its dim environment, and the silence drowned out the plane's vibrating engines with a deafening pulsating drone that made the animals in their cages whimper and howl.