A Chilling Story (The Story of IceViper) by IceViper I guess I should fill in a bit of info about myself. IRL, I'm a friend of Kristen Sharpe, and Seeker. This is my first attempt @ writing a Swat Kats story. I got Kristen to read my story, and try and add her psycho twist to the story. ---------------- A heavy snow lay on the ground and more was falling steadily in the pale morning light. It was about mid-winter, and Dr. Viper was obviously up to no good. He had taken control of a run-down warehouse, a former hideout of Dark Kat's. The warehouse came equipped with everything he could ask for: cast-off bits of electronic equipment and, most importantly, a heating system that could never have originally been built for the warehouse. It was a quest for heat that had drawn Viper to the warehouse in the first place. The winter had been frigid for the subtropical MegaKat City, far too cold for his borderline cold-blooded body. Musing, Viper thought that his kat half had an ample amount of good and bad points. Had he been truly cold-blooded, he might have died... or merely gone into a state of hibernation for the duration of the winter. His warm-blooded side kept him from both, leaving him alive but suffering in the cold air that permeated even his swamp. Viper smiled, snapping from his thoughts. He was warm enough now, thanks to his on and off partner/enemy, Dark Kat, and he felt like he was finally ready to end the SWAT Kats once and for all. "Sssoon, I will have the Ssswat Katsss. They will have...a *chilling* end." said Dr. Viper. He had spent the last few weeks using the electronic equipment left in the warehouse to design a chamber in which to mutate a kat he'd hired. The plan was to change Alan Coolbyte into a mutant, serving Dr. Viper's every command. Fortunately, there was already a chamber of sorts in the warehouse. It wasn't Dark Kat's; Viper could tell that. Apparently, it had been used by the warehouse's first owners. Viper wasn't sure of its purpose and didn't really care; it would serve his needs well. "Let'sss sssee, jussst a little bit of thisss.....ah!" Viper hissed contentedly as he mixed the chemical compounds that would fill the mutation chamber. Seeing the liquid in his test tube turn the pale blue shade he had expected, Viper turned toward Alan. "Oh Alan!" the Doc called. Alan slowly stepped up onto the platform Viper had prepared and braced himself. Alan was a tall guy, about 6'5", and he was built enough to play football. Dr. Viper eyed him with satisfaction; surely, this big guy could finish his business with those interfering SWAT Kats. The Doc flipped the switch. Alan nervously adjusted the oxygen mask Viper had given him, looking up as a hum started overhead. He forced himself to stay still as a huge tube-like chamber lowered over him. The chamber touched the platform as another smaller tube rose from the platform to meet it. The two met with a hiss of gases as an air-tight seal formed at the base of the cylindrical tube. Viper flicked another switch and the tube began filling with the two liquids Viper had been experimenting with earlier. Viper eagerly leapt to the nearest ladder and scrambled up to the katwalk that looked down the platform. He watched as Alan slowly transformed. The device would take twenty-four hours to completely change Alan. Twenty-four hours.... and he would have his ultimate weapon. --------------- Sunset, at the Salvage Yard: Chance and Jake felt bored. *Really* bored! No one had committed a crime in a few weeks, and the deep snow drifts - only three feet at their highest, but enough for kats who had never seen more than an inch of the stuff - kept the guys from having a world famous snowball fight. That... coupled with the colds they'd gotten from their last world famous snowball fight. The joy of flinging snowballs out, the kats slowly played chess. Chance sat with his arm holding his head up, slowly nodding his head in a half asleep stupor. Jake watched him through his own sleep-blurred eyes. Lazily, he reached forward to move his chosen pawn, an Enforcer action figure, forward. "King me," he muttered, having learned long ago in playing with Chance never to say, "Crown me". Neither kat actually knew how to play chess, so their game was essentially checkers. The battered board came from a chess game as did some of the pieces, most of which were leftover kittenhood action figures and handy small objects. "Yeah, yeah," Chance muttered, smacking a battered helmet down on the action figure's head. "Hey," the yellow-furred kat perked up a bit, looking at Jake. "Don't you get to 'take'...or capture...or whatever... pieces in chess?" "Think so," Jake returned, puzzled. Did he sense a hint of mischief in Chance's eyes? Maybe the game was about to get interesting. "Okay, then," Chance abruptly snatched one of Jake's figures, "My Darth Vader captures your April O'Neill!" "Hey!" Jake yelped. He looked up to meet Chance's smirking face. "Alright," he scooped up one of his figures, "My Luke Skywalker comes forward to fight your Darth Vader!" The two moved their figures onto the board, sweeping others out of the way. "Hah! My Darth Vader cuts off your Luke Skywalker's hand!" Chance shouted, knocking Jake's figure away with his own. "Darth Vader eats my moldy peanut and gets food poisoning!" Jake pronounced, stuffing a raunchy peanut they'd found buried in the couch cushions in the action figure's face. "YUUUCCCKK!" Chance smacked the peanut from the table. "Aren't you glad I made you use the peanut now??" he demanded. "Yeah, thanks," Jake returned, scowling fiercely at Chance across the table. Suddenly, their alarm went off, saving them from further boredom-induced silliness. Chance leapt to his feet and punched the button to silence the alarm and cut on the speaker with enthusiasm, expecting the worst...eagerly. "SWAT Kats," the voice of Callie Briggs, MegaKat City's Deputy Mayor called urgently over the speaker, "I'm in the warehouse district - worst shortcut I ever picked - and I'm positive I just saw Dr. Viper. He ran into an old warehouse. I'm guessing that's where he's holed up during this cold spell." "Roger that, Miss Briggs," Chance returned, "The TurboKat's computer should've already locked in your signal's location. You get outta there and we'll be right over - T-Bone out." Turning to Jake, Chance announced, "Alright, looks like we've been saved by the Snake Man!," as he punched the button to turn off the intercom. Wtih Jake not far behind he bounded toward the hangar. The ran to their lockers and changed gear. Ever competitive, Chance had decided to make that a contest too and reveled in timing himself. "New personal best!" Chance pronounced, as he snapped his helmet strap, the final touch in his transformation into the SWAT Kat T-Bone, lifting his flared black glove to peer at his watch. Grinning wickedly, he grabbed the hanging ends of Jake's black bandanna as his friend turned to look at him. T-Bone's jerk, coupled with Jake's movement succeeded in pulling the bandanna around, covering Jake's eyes in its thick cloth instead of the thin layer of gauze-like mesh that protected the mask's eye-holes. "Hey!" Jake yelped, jerking his mask around right only to find himself glaring at T-Bone's retreating back as his friend bounded toward their jet, the TurboKat. "Yer gettin' slow in yer old age, Razor!" T-Bone bellowed over his shoulder as he leapt onto one of the jet's wings and clambered into the cockpit. "Ha, ha," Jake returned, joining his friend in the cockpit. As he strapped in T-Bone fired the engines and they streaked off, following Callie's signal to Viper's hideout. ----------------- "SssWAT Katsss!!!" hissed Dr. Viper as the warehouse's high-tech security systems, another plus Dark Kat had left, caught a glimpse of the kats flying above. "No matter! Only two more hoursss, and my creature will be finissshed!" ----------------- "So, where's ol' Snake Breath?" said T-Bone as the twosome cautiously approached the warehouse, expecting some huge monster or green glob to leap out of the door. Fortunately, it didn't happen. They kicked the doors open and, cutting on their helmet lamps, slowly walked in. "Ssso, we meet again! When will you ever learn not to messs with me??" said the Doc, his glowing eyes emerging from the darkness of the factory. "What???? No super huge monster???? No ravenous green glob???? No Viper-zilla??!" Razor demanded jokingly, looking first at Viper and then at T-Bone incredulously. T-Bone nodded his agreement. "You're falling behind, Doc!" he added, tsking reproachfully. "Ah, ssso you think! You sssee, in a short two hours, my creature will be complete!" "Your.... creature??" T-Bone asked. He didn't wait for an answer from Viper. "Ooohhhh," the big SWAT Kat waved his hands frantically before his face, "Razor, protect me - he's gotta *creature*!" he yelped, ducking behind his partner. "I'm afraid!" Razor looked back at his partner with a scowl. His cocky silliness spent, T-Bone straightened and stepped forward to face Viper. "Bring it on, Swamp Breath - I've been spoilin' for a good fight all day!" "All in due time. Catch me if you can!" Viper taunted. And with that, the Doc ran for his life. He knew that he needed to keep the SWAT Kats busy, giving his creature enough time to fully mutate. The kats chased him, coming so close they could smell his swamp-land stench on numerous occasions. Viper paused at the bottom of the ladder leading up to the warehouse's network of katwalks. A quick glance confirmed his fears that the SWAT Kats were gaining on him. Desperately, he scrambled up the ladder, slamming it with his powerful tail as he reached the top. The aging metal cracked at its welding points and the ladder clattered to the concrete floor below. "Yer gonna haveta' do better'n that, Viper!" T-Bone shouted as he reached the fallen ladder, raising his arm and firing a grappling hook from his glovatrix without missing a beat. The grappler caught onto the webwork of steel girders supporting the warehouse roof and T-Bone was jerked upward. Razor followed him seconds later. The eager T-Bone swung for the katwalk as soon as his feet were level with it, releasing his cable as he swung. He landed in a crouch, using the position to pounce at Viper's retreating back. His leap sent him straight into Viper's waiting tail as the Doc lashed out, smacking the SWAT Kat across the face painfully. T-Bone was flung back by the force of the blow, slamming into a stack of insulated boxes. The boxes skidded off the katwalk, unable to stop T-Bone's momentum as the big SWAT Kat collided with the metal guard rail, finally catching himself. The boxes tumbled down around Alan's mutation chamber. Most simply bounced off. One, open, collided with the rim of the open-roofed chamber, spilling its contents into the steaming liquids below before falling to the floor. Neither the SWAT Kats nor Viper noticed the kat inside, or the swirling vapors that abruptly swept out of the chamber. The mad chase continued until T-Bone rounded a corner to be met with an empty, dead-ended corridor. "Huh??" he muttered. "Hmmmm,...." Razor skidded to a stop beside him. The smaller SWAT Kat looked up at the ceiling, letting his helmet lamp sweep across it. It was as empty as the corridor. Dropping his gaze, Razor raised his right arm and punched a button on his glovatrix. The green screen of his tracker glowed to life. "Nothin'" he mumbled, studying it. "He can'tve just vanished inta' thin air!" T-Bone growled, punching the wall. Razor shrugged. "Tell him that." --------------- As the TurboKat shot away from the warehouse, Viper's mutation chamber exploded...with Alan inside. T-Bone's unknowing addition to Viper's chemical mixture, several pounds of ancient dry-ice, changed the mutation. Further, the explosion ended the process before Alan could become the brainless servant Viper had wanted. By now, Alan regreted the mutation. Even as he regained consciousness, buried in darkness, a burning fury consumed him. He wanted to kill the Doc for what *had* been done. With a powerful heave of his shoulders, Alan freed his upper half from the smoking remains of the mutation chamber. Methodically, he reached forward to pull some of the wreckage off his lower body. Only once he was free did he stop to survey the warehouse. Save the hissing gases, the room was empty and quiet. Alan scowled; his vengeance would have to wait. Refusing to even examine his new form, he got to his feet and strode from the warehouse. It was halfway to his apartment that it hit him. He was wandering down the street in the worst cold streak MegaKat City had ever known in nothing but his now-tattered clothes...and he hadn't shivered once. *That* in itself made him shiver. Shoving it aside, Alan slunk up the backstairs to his apartment, glad no one was there to see him as he slipped inside. Slowly, he wandered through his few rooms, looking around at the various items. Opening his bedroom closet, he yanked out an old leather coat, reaching back in to slowly remove his sword. Holding it lightly across both palms, now a startling pale green, Alan studied the sword. He had a huge history of fencing and various other sword-fighting techniques. His college major had been electronics; high-tech weapons had always fascinated him. Perhaps a combination of the two would serve him best.... Digging deeper into the closet, Alan produced a leftover from some of his early college experiments. It was a gun capable of freezing someone in a perfect cryogenic state. Unfortunately, it wasn't finished. Alan scowled in determination, heading for his kitchen table. Clearing a working space, he set to work on finishing the item. --------------- Meanwhile, back at the SWAT Kats' hangar: "Crud! If the little Swamp Rat didn't have that tail a' his, we would've had him!!" Chance growled, flinging his helmet into his locker one-handed as he rubbed his bruised jaw. "Don' worry 'bout it, bud!!" Jake returned, patting his buddy on the shoulder. "We'll nail 'im next time he sticks his slimy head outta the sewar!" "I know," Chance grumbled. Whadya s'pose he wanted with that warehouse??" "Maybe to open a bakery?? 'Mama Viper's'???" "Or ta' manufacture hair tonic??!!" Chance joined in Jake's joke whole-heartedly. "Hey, all he's got goin' up there is that funky carrot-top, plant-lookin' thing." Both kats roared with laughter. Jake was clutching his stomach in the welcome pain of a good laugh as he threw out another ridiculous suggestion. "Catfood??" "Or *kat*food??" They paused, silent for a moment, and looked at each other briefly before collapsing back into loud laughter. "Well, why don't we go and check out the place. We could find something!" Chance finally announced through giggles. "Roger that," Jake returned, sobering but still smiling. So, snatched their flight suits out again, dressing quickly and leaping into the TurboKat. --------------- "Ah, maybe my creature hasss finissshed," purred the Doc, quite pleased with himself for tricking the SWAT Kats. He sauntered back into the warehouse and looked around. "Alan!! Alan!!!! ALAN!!!!" Nothing. Viper's puzzlement turned to an angry frown. Suddenly, the roar of the TurboKat filled his ears. Feeling stuck in a hole, Dr. Viper panicked. --------------- "Ah!! Finished!" said Alan. He admired his work before hiding it under his huge leather coat. "Now, let's pay the ol' Doc a visit!" --------------- "Hey,.... check it out," Razor called to T-Bone as his helmet lamp illuminated something before him. He pointed to the fumes and foggy smoke coming from the dry-ice buried under the wreckage of Viper's contraption. Both kats bent over to pick up some wreckage and see what was inside. A pair of yellow eyes glowed from the darkness above. Seeing his chance, Dr. Viper leapt off a katwalk above the twosome and elbow dropped both kats, knocking them out cold. --------------- "Huh??..... where are we??" T-Bone mumbled, waking up. The two kats slowly woke up and realized where they were. They were still in the warehouse. Viper stood before them, his mouth upturned in a toothy grin. "Hey, you didn't tell us you'd joined the NWO," T-Bone joked, eyeing Viper and trying to reach a hand up to rub the back of his neck. He found his hand pinioned firmly behind his back. A closer examination revealed that he and Razor were set in two chairs, tied together. "Oh, come on!!! Can't you do any better than two chairs tied together??" T-Bone demanded. "Hmmm....let'sss sssee!" said Dr. Viper. He reached back to jerk a sheet free of the bulky object it covered, revealing a set of four tremendous guns. "Isss that better?" "I dunno, what do they do?" "Ahhh, yesss, I forgot. The bad guy alwaysss explainsss hisss evil plot! Thessse gunsss are set to go off in exssactly twenty minutes. They will ssshoot both of you, freezing you in a sssolid sssheet of ice. You'll be two *cool* katsss forever!" "Hah!!! You know, Doc, you've got a good sense of humor...NOT!!!" a deep voice echoed in the empty warehouse. "Who sssaid that?" hissed the Doc nervously, knowing that he recognized the voice from somewhere. "I don't know, but he beat me to my punch line," T-Bone grumbled. "Ooooh," mumbled Razor, joking wryly, "Nobody beats the Bonester to his punch line." T-Bone shot him a sour glance. "Well, *I* did!" Alan announced, briefly glancing at the captured SWAT Kats as he stepped out into the light. His fur had turned a greenish color and a long snake-like tail curled about his legs. Further, he had a chilling aura about him. "I knew it! The mutation was a sssuccessss. Alan, take care of them. Put them out of their misssery!" Viper hissed with glee. "Actually, we're not in any misery," Razor put in quietly. Alan ignored him, his full attention focused on Dr. Viper. "Wrong again, Snake Man!! And my name isn't Alan anymore. It's IceViper." "Hu-?" Viper started, confused. He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because his mouth was met by a huge size twelve foot right to the chin. Viper rolled with the blow, flipping to land on his feet agiley. "Alan,... er...IcssseViper, what are you doing?!" the Doc hissed nervously through his throbbing jaw as he slowly backed away, looking for a defensible position. "Too bad I couldn't ask you the same thing! I didn't know you wanted to turn me into some *creature*!! You made me what I am, and I can accept that. It's kinda *cool*, if you know what I mean. But it's *permanent*! And, that's what I can't accept!!" He pulled out a large sword and advanced on Dr. Viper, cornering him. "Hey... uh... IceViper... could you give us a hand??" shouted T-Bone. He was pulling at the ropes with all his might, trying to break free. IceViper stalled for a moment, eyeing Viper. Growling in frustration, he searched the area for something to hold Viper. His eyes came to rest on a pile of thin cables. Holding his sword at ready, he backed to the cables and reached down to scoop one up. "Hold still, Doc, and maybe I won't tie it too tight," he growled, stalking to Viper and tying him up. Satisfied, he turned to untie the SWAT Kats. Casually, he walked up to the two, raising his sword. "Uhm, watch....," T-Bone started. IceViper swung, freeing the two kats in one smooth stroke. Then, he spun on his heel and turned to look for Dr. Viper. The cable lay on the floor in a tangled pile. "Crud!! He got away!" IceViper snarled. "He has a way of slithering out like that," said Razor. He suddenly jerked around as he heard a high-pitched hum. "The guns!" he shouted, bounding to the control panel for the freeze guns, eyes searching it for a way to disarm the guns. "Allow me!" IceViper calmly produced his sword, slicing through the power line. "Genius, pure genius!" T-Bone announced, slapping Razor on the back. "See, it doesn't take all that technical junk!" Razor shot him a dirty look. IceViper turned to leave, when the kats stopped him in his tracks. "Good luck in finding the Doc!!" T-Bone called after him. "Thanks..." IceViper walked out of the building, pausing to look up at the gray sky. His quest was far from over. Inwardly, he knew that someday he would again meet, and maybe help, the SWAT Kats. And, if he had his way, eventually kill Dr. Viper. --------------- "Man, that's some weird guy! Gives me the *chills*!" T-Bone muttered with a smile at his pun as he watched IceViper's retreating back. "Yeah," said Razor, "and I get the feelin' we'll meet 'im again!" ------------------------------------THE END------------------------------