Chapter 1: One Dark Night

The bloodless moon hung low over MegaKat City, bathing the city in pale moonlight. It was 12:30 a.m., and the sun had long before set. The city lights glowed dimly onto the slate gray pavement, and it was as quiet as the city could get at night. An occasional car would glide by barely making a noise, but it was not enough to disturb the peace that settled over the moon bathed city…but this peace was far from lasting…

Deputy Mayor Calico Briggs sat at her desk and stared sleepily down at the almost finished speech that she was writing for the Mayor. It was for the next day’s celebration of the grand opening of the newly completed high school. It had been almost a year since they started building it, and now that it was finished sometime that week the old high school’s supplies and furniture such as the desks and almost brand new couches and chairs would be moved in and into place.

The old high school had been on the brink of becoming so unsafe that it was just estimated that it would be better, and cheaper, to build a new high school instead of completely remodeling the old one. The old high school was to be torn down, and a new mall was to be built in its place with the fields to be made into a park, playground, and the track was to be a covered outside roller rink.

She gave a weary sigh as she rested her head on her left paw and ceased writing. She scanned over what she just wrote to make sure it was to her satisfaction, then laid down her pen and rubbed her forehead.

“Only one more paragraph,” she told herself as she straightened up to look at her watch. “12:35,” she moaned as she leaned back in her easy chair.

She stared at her unfinished speech, which glowed faintly in the firelight that flickered across the walls of her study, soaking everything in its reach with an essence of warmth and hominess. With a look of defeat across her tired, pretty face, she pushed away from her desk and walked over to the fireplace to put the sheer steel guard across the front, then walked towards the door leading to the hall.

“I’ll finish it morning before I have to leave,” she told herself as she walked out into the hallway.

After checking all of the doors and windows downstairs to make sure they were locked, she headed up to her bedroom to get ready for bed. After slipping on her long cotton pajama bottoms and a tank she settled in front of her vanity and brushed out the knots in her long blonde, silky hair that shone in the faint moonlight streaming into her bedroom. Her light blue eyes sparkled as she looked out at the big moon that seemed to smile down on MegaKat city.

Smiling, she walked over to her bed and slipped in under her down comforter and snuggled deep into her pillow. Letting out a sigh of content, she closed her eyes and fell asleep instantly.

It only seemed like moments since she had fallen asleep that she instantly awoke to a crash emitting from downstairs. With her heart beating like a frightened bird in her chest, she listened intently, hoping that the crash she heard seconds before was just a figment of her imagination. After a moment of an uneasy silence, her heartbeat had ceased thumping and she laid back into her pillow, but remained alert as she concentrated on hearing any small sounds.

Then, she heard another crash followed by an unmistakable twittering sound:

Creeplings…..

Her heart nearly stopped as the sounds increased and were accompanied by a low dark whispering that was unmistakably Dark Kat’s.

She threw back her covers and leaped silently up grabbed a sweatshirt and sneakers and quickly threw them on. Then, as she searched for her purse so she could call the Swat Kats, it occurred to her…it was downstairs on her table. Before being able to decide what she should do next she failed to hear the powering up of a bazooka, which blew off her bedroom door in a fiery explosion. She screamed in surprise as she was thrown off her feet onto the floor, with stars dancing across her eyes. Before she could react, she felt herself being picked up off the floor by powerful arms. Dark Kat’s grip was icy cold and menacing as he gave an evil cackle, seeing Callie struggle vainly against him.

“Let me down, you great lumbering oaf!” she growled as she came completely to.

“Save your energy Deputy Mayor, you’re going to need it. Your precious Swat Kats will never know where you disappeared too,” he purred evilly as he held up the triangle communicator the Swat Kats had given her from her purse.

She gave a faint gasp as she watched Dark Kat munch it up in his giant paw and release the squashed pieces, which crashed onto the floor.

Laughing a dark insane laugh, he threw the helpless deputy mayor over his shoulders and stalked out of her bedroom and made his way downstairs. She grimaced as she saw her destroyed downstairs. Everything was strewn about, nothing like what Dark Kat would originally do. Then it occurred to her that it was just like something the Metalikats would do. Dark Kat had made it look like the Metalikats had kidnapped her, and what made matters worse was that their parts had disappeared from Enforcer headquarters only months earlier. Suddenly, she remembered that her watch, which was given to her by Razor, had another communicator and tracker device in it and was activated when it was turned on. And, the nice thing was that it looked just like a normal watch.

Looking around to make sure that no one was looking, she pushed the silent button. She continued to kick at Dark Kat who was unaffected by her feeble kicks as he walked aboard his new Doomsday ship. As the strange craft’s doors slid shut, Callie hoped that the Swat Kats would find her soon.

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Meanwhile at the Junkyard inside the garage…

Jake Clawson was fast asleep in his warm bed, and, like the city, the junkyard was under the spell that the moon seemed to cast across the land. He purred quietly to himself as he cuddled deeper and deeper into his pillow, his body taking in every moment of sleep he was receiving.

It had been a long day in the junkyard, and they didn’t get a moment’s rest. Burke and Murray had made their usual destructive dump runs that set them back a couple hours behind schedule, which, in turn, set them into a repairing frenzy. But, amazingly, they managed to finish everything, even though it was around 12:00 am before they were completely done.

And, during their frantic workday, he had to use every ounce of power he had left to stop Chance from beating the pulp out of Burke and Murray…and that in itself wasn’t an easy task. They had finally hit the hay around 1 and were not intending on waking up before 7 the next morning. He shifted on over onto his other side, his caramel colored fur shining in the moonlight that illuminated his bedroom. Letting out a contented sigh, he then continued to purr.

Suddenly, the loud blaring noise of Callie’s alarm set him sitting upright in his bed in alarm, his amber eyes wide in surprise. A loud thud followed by a muffled groan coming from Chance’s room signaling that Chance was awake too.

Sighing, he threw his covers back and walked over into Chance’s room to find his large friend lying on the floor next to his bed, rubbing his face with his large paws as the bold tiger stripes on Chance’s arms stood out against his light blonde fur.

Jake leaned against the doorframe as he acknowledged to his clearly tired and agitated friend. “Duty calls, Hotshot.”

Chance answered him with a moan followed by some undistinguishable mumbles as he got up and gave Jake a fixed glare with his dark blue eyes. “Let’s just hope Callie didn’t bump the communicator again on accident like she did last time.”

Jake rolled his eyes as he turned and made his way down the stairs and headed towards the trap door located in their living room.

He knew all too well that Callie wouldn’t bump the communicator this late at night. She had apologized over and over when they had come rushing to her aid at City Hall during a press conference. He smiled as he remembered the look on Feral’s face as they came crashing through a glass dome, landing in a fighting stance right in front of all the press. Callie’s dismayed face immediately told them that it was a false alarm. The incident had dominated the front pages of the newspapers and had been main topic of all the reality shows for a week throughout the city.

He cleared his mind for the current task at hand as he opened the door and peered down into the dark abyss of their hanger. He looked up to see Chance clamber down the stairs sleepily.

Jake slid gracefully down the ladder and turned on the lights, which lit up the hanger brightly. He jogged over to the computer console and looked down at the screen, which displayed a beeping red dot traveling rather fast across the screen, which had a layout of MegaKat city.

“Strange,” Jake said loud enough for Chance, who had just made his way down the ladder and was now walking over to him, to hear. “Callie’s signal is a silent distress call from the watch I just gave her. And, it looks like whoever has her is taking her towards the mountains.”

Now fully awake, Chance leaned over the console and joined Jake in studying the screen intently. “Well, let’s get in our jumpsuits then and get a movin’. No telling what kind of danger Callie is in now!”

Jake smiled at Chance’s recuperation and ran over to his locker and quickly pulled on his jumpsuit, mask, gloves, and glovatrix.

Razor grabbed his jet pack and leapt into the TurboKat where T-Bone was drumming his fingers along the side impatiently.

“Took you long enough, Sureshot. My grandma could move faster than you!” T-Bone bantered well naturally as he closed the cockpit and started the TurboKat, which roared to life.

Smiling, Razor answered back. “Well, I wasn’t the one who took their time in getting down the stairs into the hangar.”
T-Bone snorted as he guided the TurboKat out of the tunnel and thundering into the air. “Where to buddy?” he asked, looking back at Razor through his rearview mirror.

Razor looked down at his computer screen, which made his face turn neon green as he worked out a position. “Head east towards the mountains. And, try to remain as far away as possible so whoever has her won’t pick us up on radar.”

“Roger that, buddy,” T-Bone replied as turned the TurboKat towards the mountains, which were dark and foreboding in the distance.

The TurboKat’s sleek black form screamed through the sky, its paint glistening in the moonlight, but it remained as dark as a shadow in the sky.

T-Bone looked down towards Megakat City's streets as he commented, “Let’s just hope that Feral doesn’t have any midnight urges for donuts, buddy… It would be kind of awkward running into him in his chopper at this hour.”

Razor smiled as he remembered their past confrontations. “Yeah, I don’t think he would appreciate you spilling his coffee all over him again, and in just 12 hours.”

T-Bone gave his mischievous trademark grin. “We couldn’t have that just before the annual 24 hours are up; I always behave myself till 12:00 everyday at noon.”

Razor rolled his eyes as he replied sarcastically. “Yeah, sure you do. Then I’m Mayor Manx!”

T-Bone smirked at Razor’s comment as stared ahead of them as the dark shapes of the mountains loomed closer and closer every passing second. Silence fell over the cockpit as the two Swat Kats sat alert to their surroundings. Razor’s sharp eyes scanned over the computer screen and stopped and stared at the strong red blimp that disrupted the stillness of the screen every four seconds.

After 45 minutes of this, T-Bone noticed a change from the ship in front of them. “Looks like they’re dropping their altitude…,” T-Bone acknowledged as he looked down at the faint image of the ship.

“Correction, they’re landing… They just lowered their landing gear. It appears like they are heading for that big cave,” Razor replied.

T-Bone stopped the TurboKat and left it in a hover as they watched the huge aircraft disappear in the vast cave opening.

“Land up there, T-Bone.” Razor instructed as he pointed at a ledge a couple feet from the top of the cave. “Then, let’s check it out.”

“Roger that,” T-Bone answered as he led the TurboKat gracefully up to the ledge. “Looks safe,” T-Bone observed as he slowly lowered the TurboKat onto the spot.

After the canopy slid back, they both jumped swiftly out and landed silently in a crouched position. After cautiously checking out their surroundings, they slinked off to the edge of the ledge and peered down at the cave.

“Now will ya look at that - he made his own landing strip and everything. He never learns, does he?” T-Bone snarled as they looked down at the newly constructed landing strip, its paint still glistening as if wet.

The irritable twitting of creeplings drifted up at them, making T-Bone wrinkle his nose in disgust. “Man, I hate those things.”

“It sounds like they’re farther back in the cave. I’ll lower myself down to see if the cost is clear. And, if we’re QUIET enough, we might be able to survey the situation without any bloodshed.”

T-Bone snapped his fingers mockingly. “NO Bloodshed, darn… that’s my favorite part though. It makes the whole super hero thing worthwhile.”

Razor rolled his eyes as he threw the end of his grappling hook at T-Bone and attached the clip to his harness. “Just shut your gob and secure this to something SECURE,” he teased as it bounced it off T-Bone’s chest.

“Secure this to something secure,” T-Bone mimicked in a high squeaky voice as he wedged the hook tightly between a crevice and a small pointed shelf that jutted out of the side of the mountain.

Razor smiled as he watched T-Bone yank on the rope to make sure it was secure.

“There, secure enough for ya, picky?”

“It will do,” Razor replied as he started to lower himself over the side slowly but surely.

“Be careful, Sureshot,” T-Bone called after him quietly as he watched his friend pick his way through the jagged wall of the mountain closer to the entrance of the cave.

Razor expertly turned himself upside down by grabbing the top of his rope and leaning far back, so that the top of his helmet and eyes were shown if visible at all. As he had guessed, all the creeplings were farther back in the cave, swarming all around Dark Kat’s ship like small pink ants, their high pitched chattering echoing off the solid cave walls.
After double checking that the coast was clear, Razor swiftly up righted himself and lowered himself onto a ledge just 5 feet from the top of the cave. Turning his radio down, he whispered into his mike. “Coast is clear, follow my lead.”

“Roger that,” T-Bone answered as he took out his grappling hook and secured it onto one of the rocks jutting out of the side. After snapping his clip onto his harness and giving the rope a good yank, he lowered himself likewise to Razor and dropped nimbly beside him a minute later.

As T-Bone detached his clip, Razor filled him on the details he had missed, while they both crawled farther down the ledge and laid on their stomachs right above Dark Kat’s ship.

“All the creeplings are right here by Dark Crud’s ship while the rest seem to be guarding the entrance of his lair. And, I’m not going to sugar coat this, but there are a couple thousand creeplings, around a thousand out here and maybe another thou on the inside, and that’s not counting the ones on his reproduction machine thing. All in all that outnumbers us a hundred to one.”

T-Bone gave Razor a searching look as he answered irritably. “What are you trying to say? I don’t need you to tell me our odds, buddy. I can kind of tell just by looking.”

“What I’m saying is that we can’t do this by ourselves; we’re going to need some help.” Razor replied in an exasperated tone.

“Help?” T-Bone, who was now looking at Razor questionably, repeated. “Who in the world would want to help us? No… even more importantly, who’s help would be useful?”

Razor glanced over at T-Bone with a pleading look across his face.

Suddenly, it dawned on T-Bone as his usually expressful face turned expressionless. “What!” he finally managed to growl in a menacing voice. “Razor, are you nuts? Have you finally reached your edge and just now decided to jump off! That is the most stupid idea you’ve ever had; it would be like us committing suicide!”

Razor groaned quietly to himself as he rubbed his head with his paws and replied in a muffled voice. “Well do you have a better idea?”

With a look of defeat across his face, T-Bone mumbled, “No.”

Holding his head up, Razor answered, “My point exactly. We don’t have any other choice, and no matter how much we don’t like this, it’s the only way to save Callie.”

T-Bone just moaned as he leaned his head against the cold rock.

Trying to look at the bright side, Razor commented somewhat cheerfully. “Anyway, what do we have to loose?”

“Hhhmmpp, just my dignity and pride and maybe even our secret identities.”

Razor snorted as he rolled over onto his knees and started to crawl back towards the entry of the cave. “Oh, don’t be such a wuss, T-Bone. Now, come on; we have to get moving.”

T-Bone growled in protest as he rolled over and started to crawl after his friend. “Now, why do I have the feeling like I’m going to regret this?”