Dimensions By James L. King FreakaZ@Aol.com Authors notes: Sixth try's the charm. Since I basically offed the MetalliKats in my 'starter' fic, I realized that 'A Bright and Shiny Future' couldn't happen. I also needed to play with the Alternate Dimension a bit, too... Rated PG for some violence and language. Legal idiocy: SWAT Kats, MegaKat City, etc, belongs to Hanna/Barbera. Table of contents Prologue Chapter 1: Alternate Fun Chapter 2: Flashback Chapter 3: Razor on the Edge Chapter 4: Echoes of Time Prologue Desert outside of MegaKat city, just after midnight, June 28, 1995 "Dropping from Speed of Heat. OK, controls testing complete, Razor. The TurboKat II handles just fine. Razor?" T-Bone looks back to see Razor unconscious. He flies towards the target range, still calling Razor's name. "Razor, RA-zor, RazorRazorRazor, RAAAAZOR!!!" "Oohhhh, my head." Razor shakes his head, as if to try to clear it. "Time to shoot some drone targets, Razor." "Heh, yeah, hold on." Razor shakes his head yet again and aims at the targets. His aim, as usual, is true. "Two for one!" he shouts as a Slicer missile goes through two drone interceptor jets. After a few minutes of shooting at targets and hitting them, Razor declares the targeting systems fully operational. T-Bone flies toward the City and calls over the comm, "Felina, you copy?" "Yeah, T-Bone, I'm ready." "Thanks for helping us out with testing tonight, 'Lina," Razor says. Felina takes off in the TurboKat and starts to tag them. Razor and Felina use an RF channel to link the two TurboKat's computers together so they can engage in a simulated dog(Kat?)fight. Razor activates the Dimensional Radar as T-Bone starts playing canyon tag. Felina and Razor start firing simulated missiles at each other. Razor manages to strike Felina twice, while Felina manages to hit Razor and T-Bone once. Razor cuts the link and reactivates the real weapons systems as he notices a Pastmaster vortex opening. Felina follows suit and flies off to the Hangar, as she doesn't have any real missiles loaded in the TurboKat. The Pastmaster comes through and summons another vortex as the first collapses, then allows himself to be pulled through. The TurboKat II closes and gets struck by lightning from the vortex. It disappears with a flash, as the second vortex closes. Chapter 1: Alternate Fun "Felina, this is T-Bone, where are ya, babe? What happened to the Pastmaster vortex?" "T-Bone? The SWAT Kats? I thought you two had died! Well then, prepare to die," he hears her voice over the comm. "TurboKat II to TurboKat, 'Lina, what in the..." Razor starts, then a laser blast comes close to hitting them. He looks at the Dimensional Radar and sees a Blue Manx Enforcer jet closing on them, fast. "T-Bone, we must've hopped dimensions again. Felina was in the TurboKat for our simulated fight, now she's in a Blue Manx!" he says, comm still open. "What?!" T-Bone and Felina say simultaneously. "Lieutenant Feral, this is the TurboKat II, we're heading to Enforcer HQ, we'll explain when we get there," Razor says. T-Bone takes his partner's prompting and banks towards HQ. They make a VTOL landing and wait for the trailing Blue Manx to land before they get out. Commander Feral and half a dozen armed Enforcers train their weapons on T-Bone and Razor as they dismount the TurboKat II. T-Bone and Razor hold their paws up. "We're unarmed fellas, put those down, willya?" T-Bone says. "What's this about us being dead, Commander?" Razor asks. "The MetalliKats killed you two in your jail cells when they escaped last month." "We deactivated them last month. Professor Hackle is reprogramming them," Razor states. "What, uh, is the date?" T-Bone asks. "June 28, 1995. Why do you ask, Furlong?" Cmdr. Feral replies. "We did hop dimensions again, Jake." T-Bone takes off his mask. "Are you the same good SWAT Kats that were here last December?" Felina asks as she walks up. "Yeah, that's when we hopped dimensions the first time," Razor says as he pulls off his mask. "What happened to Ms. Briggs?" Chance says. "She's still Deputy Mayor, as there was no evidence linking her to the SWAT Kats or to Dark Kat," Felina replies. She pauses, then continues, "Your doubles wouldn't even tell us anything about her involvement with you or Dark Kat." "The only evidence we could provide would be minimal, not even enough to indict her for anything," T-Bone says. "Enough talk for now. I'm assigning you two guarded quarters. We'll meet with her in the morning." "Catch Dark Kat yet?" Jake asks as they are escorted off the roof. "We found Dark Kat's corpse in MegaKat bay last week, his body was riddled with bullets," Felina says, levelly, not even looking at the diminutive tom. "Whoa, Dark Kat's dead?" "Yes," both Ferals state. Chapter 2: Flashback 10:02 AM, June 28, 1995 "Commander, why have you brought me here?" Callie angrily says. "You'll see in a moment, Ms. Briggs." Commander Feral walks to a door and opens it. She walks up to it and freezes in shock as she looks in. "Go inside, Ms. Briggs," Feral demands. "The SWAT Kats? I thought they had died," Callie manages to stammer out. "They are the quote unquote good SWAT Kats, from another dimension," Feral says. Jake and Chance stand as she walks in. "He doesn't really believe us and has us under guard at all time," Chance says. Jake half smiles as he sees Callie, then the smile is replaced with a wistful look. Callie notices the ears on this Jake; they are untorn. She walks up to Jake and runs her fingers along his ears, feeling them. He can't help but purr as she does so. Her mouth opens, then she says, "This is some kind of trick." "No trick, Ms. Briggs. We're both real, but from a different dimension," Chance says. "I don't believe you," she retorts. "Then believe this." Jake takes her in his arms and kisses her, just like his Callie likes it. When he stops and lets her go, she says breathlessly, "I've never been kissed like that before." "I've been dating my Callie and kissed you like I would her," Jake softly replies. "Callie, were you involved with Dark Kat?" Chance asks. "I..." She looks at them and at Feral, then hangs her head and says, "Yes, but not romantically." She looks at Jake and is about to ask something when he interrupts, "Tell us, Callie, how, no, when did we become bad Kats here?" "It was that first time anyone saw you two," Callie starts. She continues, "You had said that you were monitoring the comm bands, when Dark Kat came on and said he had katnapped the Mayor. He said that he would kill the Mayor if he wasn't paid all the money in the treasury. The only catch was, I was to be the one to deliver it all to him." "I remember that - he captured you, we tracked him down then beat him, and got you and Mayor Manx out alive. Dark Kat spent six weeks in prison before he escaped." "No, it didn't happen that way. He captured me when I was delivering the money, and you two tracked him down..." ************************************************************** An abandoned warehouse in the industrial sector of Megakat City. "Welcome, I've been expecting you two," Dark Kat says regally. He points to an unconscious Mayor Manx and a scared looking Calico Briggs. A heap of money sacks lay nearby. "No doubt you're here to rescue him and the Deputy Mayor from me, as well as recover the money, no?" "Yeah, Dark Crud," T-Bone says, leveling his Rocketpistol^ at the creeplings, while Razor levels his glovatrix prototype^ at Dark Kat. "I have a better idea - I'll let all of you leave, and the City keeps the money, if you work for me. I know about your grudge against Feral, and her desire to rule this City, so this is the deal I propose." Razor and T-Bone lower their weapons, as they are obviously listening. Callie perks her ears up at Dark Kat as he outlines his plans. They all agree, and Dark Kat leaves. The SWAT Kats head back to their Hangar for a further meeting with Dark Kat, and the Enforcers arrive to find the Mayor and Deputy Mayor safe and sound with all the money. ^from 'Metal Urgency', the weapons they used to defend themselves in the Hangar against the MetalliKats... ************************************************************** Jake replies, "It didn't go that way, Callie, at least, not for us..." ************************************************************** An abandoned warehouse in the industrial sector of Megakat City. "Welcome, I've been expecting you two," Dark Kat says regally. He points to an unconscious Mayor Manx and a scared looking Calico Briggs. A heap of money sacks lay nearby. "No doubt you're here to rescue him and the Deputy Mayor from me, as well as recover the money, no?" "Yeah, Dark Crud," T-Bone says, leveling his Rocketpistol at the creeplings, while Razor levels his glovatrix prototype at Dark Kat. "I have a better idea - I'll let all of you leave, and the City keeps the money, if you work for me. I know about your grudge against Feral, and her desire to rule this City, so this is the deal I propose." "No deal Dark Crud!" T-Bone fires his Rocketpistol before Dark Kat can continue, hitting a creepling and killing it, as well as injuring many other creeplings in the blast. Razor fires a net on Dark Kat as he rushes them. Dark Kat falls to the ground and cries out, "Get them, my little creeplings!" Razor fires a net on a few creeplings, then switches to an explosive rocket while T-Bone reloads his pistol. They fire again, killing and injuring several more creeplings. They run out of ammo, and start paw to paw combat with the little imps. Shortly, the creeplings are dead or dying. Dark Kat manages to get out of the net, but Razor fires another on him, knocking him over. The impact knocks Dark Kat out cold. T-Bone tosses Callie a small triangular device. He says, "Call us when the city is in trouble." "Who are you?" Callie asks as she puts the communicator in her pocket. "The Special Weapons And Tactics Kats team, or simply, SWAT Kats. He's T-Bone, I'm Razor," Razor says as the Enforcers arrive. They rush out of the building and leap into a black jet, then take off as Commander Feral gets out of his car. "Who are they?" he asks Callie. "They call themselves the SWAT Kats, Commander. T-Bone and Razor are their names." ************************************************************** "That's how we started, Callie. We..." Commander Feral's radio squawks, 'Commander, Pastmaster time vortex appearing above MegaKat Museum of History, please advise.' "I don't care what you say, Feral, we're going to help take him out," Chance states as he dons his mask. "You stay here, SWAT Kats..." "No way, Commander." Jake and Chance run out before they can be stopped. By the time guards appear on the roof, the TurboKat II has already taken off. T-Bone and Razor approach the museum and see the Pastmaster on the roof, clutching a book. He shouts, "I have learned to travel dimensions, SWAT Kats, and have learned that my Tome of Time still exists here. Too long have I been separated from such power!" The Pastmaster raises his watch and creates a vortex. "Deploying grappler! Let's see what we kind of fish we can catch today," Razor says. The grappler grabs the Pastmaster by the cloak, and they tow him along, away from the vortex. They start to reel him in and his cloak rips. Razor quickly drops another grappler and grabs him again by the cloak. The vortex closes, and Razor re-drops the first grappler and it grabs the book, just as the cloak rips again. Razor reels the grapples in and tries a third time to grab the Pastmaster, but he uses his watch and summons a vortex right beneath him, then he falls through it, and it closes after him. The Tome of Time, however, gets caught between the grapple that snatched it and the winch that the grapple was attached to. "Crud. Did we get the book?" "I can't be sure. I didn't see him with it when he went through, if that's what you mean." They bank towards HQ, unaware of the magic book in their cargobay. They land at HQ and appraise Feral of what happened. Feral states, "I thought he was banished when your doubles destroyed his watch." "He might be our Pastmaster. He said something about being able to cross dimensions," Chance says as he re-unmasks. "He might be one of many Pastmasters, if that's the case," Jake says, having already unmasked. "I didn't see him holding the Tome of Time as he fell through his vortex, and I only saw it on the grapple for a minute, so I can only assume that it's somewhere along our flight path." "I'll have someone check. Now, you two will go to the quarters assigned to you, and we'll talk later." "Yes, sir, Commander," Chance says disgustedly. Chapter 3: Razor on the Edge Several hours later, Commander Feral asks Jake if he'll go to the Hangar and try to break into the computer system there, for evidence against the Deputy Mayor. Jake reluctantly says yes, and Felina is assigned to him as a guard. They fly off, and, several minutes later, they land in the Hangar. Jake takes off his helmet and leaves it in the TurboKat II. Jake tries to login his name, but the password is different than his current one. He tries several passwords, and finally is able to log in. With Felina watching, he goes over all the data he can access from his login, but finds no evidence against Callie. He tries the root login, and, after a few tries, figures out the password there. He doesn't even find a reference to Callie's existence. He tries T-Bone's login, but he only knows a handful of T-Bone's passwords, none of which work. He asks, "Can you call HQ and get Chance to give you all his passwords, 'Lina?" "Don't call me that," she says darkly. "What? You mean, don't call you 'Lina?" he asks. She backpaws him, knocking him out of the chair, and he lands on his back with an 'Oomph!' "What did I do to deserve that?" he shouts as he scrambles to his feet. He looks at her, and she glares back at him with a hateful sneer on her face. "You left me, that's what! Then, you tried to kill me when I transferred here," she starts slowly, then starts screaming at him. "I *loved* you, and you *left* me!" "You loved me? Dammit, Felina, why didn't you tell me, and why do you blame me for shooting at you when it was my double?" "I got tired of hearing about 'Calico, the pretty blonde'! I wanted you, Jake. I had loved you since I was sixteen!" "How many times did I mention her name the last four months I was in Katscratch, huh?" he shouts at her. He wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth. When she doesn't respond he yells, "Answer me, how many times!" "I don't remember," she spits. "Liar, you remember. Now tell me," he says, slightly more calmly. "Don't call me a liar, you bastard." "Then tell me," he says in a normal tone of voice. "I don't have to tell you a thing." "Fine then, *Lieutenant*, I didn't. I wanted to try a relationship with you, but you were so cold I really thought that you didn't like me," he says angrily. "What? You wanted me?" she seems shocked. "For a small four month period, yes, then I got my transfer orders. I was glad to get away from you. You would barely speak to me, and I really thought that you had started to hate my guts." "I *do* hate you! You left me!" "That's your prerogative, Lieutenant, now get those passwords." "Bastard!" she shouts as she pounces. He sidesteps her, then backflips away as she tries to pounce on him again. He looks ready to pounce himself, but launches himself straight in the air and latches onto the ceiling with all of his claws. She pulls her gun and he drops on her, grabbing it. Her helmet flies off her head as they land on the ground. He manages to pull the gun from her paws and throw it away from them as they roll on the ground, struggling. She then starts trying to slash at him with her claws, as their bodies are still entwined, but he's faster and grabs her wrists. He applies pressure to the tendons that control the sheathing and unsheathing of her claws, forcing them to sheath. She gasps in pain as he digs his fingers into her wrists. He pins her down as well as he can, with her being much taller than he is, but she throws him off of her. She scrambles for her gun, but he tackles her, and they end up struggling again. She tries to throw him off her again, but she ends up face down with him twisting her arm behind her back and pinning her down. She eventually stops struggling and starts to cry. He gets off of her and crouches in front of her. "It's me, your partner Jakey, not Razor, the criminal who tried to kill you," he says as he unmasks. He offers his paw and helps her to her feet. She then lunges at him, but it's not an attack as she wraps her arms around him and starts sobbing into his shoulder. He strokes her hair and tries to comfort her. After a long while, when the sobs have subsided, she kisses him, softly at first, then passionately. He pulls away from the kiss and embrace and says, "Let's go back to HQ - there's nothing here except bad memories." She fights tears again as they get in the TurboKat II and take off. She takes the time to compose herself as they fly back. Upon landing, she reports that there was nothing in the computer regarding Ms. Briggs. Feral nods, and Jake is escorted back to his quarters. Jake spends rest of the day going over 'What ifs?'. Little does he know, Felina is two stories below in her quarters doing the same thing. Chapter 4: Echoes of Time While Jake and Chance are in the mess hall a few hours later, a call comes in over the radio, 'Commander the MetalliKats are back, and they're piloting some kind of robot. Hold on, wait a sec, there are more robots appearing. Sir, we're under heav--' Static blares from the radio. "Let's hit it!" Jake says as he pulls his mask out of his pocket. He and T-Bone rush up to the roof and take off. After a few minutes, when a robot comes in sight, Razor gasps, "T-Bone, those are some of the robots from the future!" "Yeah, I remember, from when we got sent forward, and it was MetalliKat City." They watch as an entire flight of choppers get destroyed. "Let's try to stop them, buddy." Razor launches drill bit missiles, to no effect. T-Bone dodges, but a missile hits the fuselage, and Razor's targeting systems go out. He activates the Dimensional Radar and locks on Scrambler missiles. He fires them, and they stop one robot. He fires baby-boomers at another, just as the robots fire a huge salvo of missiles at them. One of them hits, and the TurboKat II crosses dimensions, heavily damaged. To the native Enforcers, it looks as if the TurboKat II had been destroyed. ************************************************************** T-Bone manages to regain control and switches to the central engine only. He looks at the status MFD and sees the number one engine is inoperable, heatshields damaged or destroyed and airframe damaged. He manages to get the TurboKat II to the Salvage Yard and land it in the Hangar. They get out and check over the jet. Jake sees the Tome of Time caught between a grapple and its winch as he's checking the cargo bay. He retrieves it and shows it to Chance. "Chance, we had it. It was caught between the grapple and the winch." "Whoa, let me have it a sec, willya?" Chance asks. "Sure." Jake paws it to Chance, who upon touching it, jerks his paw back as if he had gotten an electric shock. "What?" Jake asks Chance. "Did you feel anything there, almost like electricity?" "No, why?" "I did." Chance touches it again, but this time fights his reflexes and takes it in his paws. The feeling of electric shock subsides to a faint tingle in his paws. He puts it down, and the tingle leaves. He picks it up, and he gets the shock and tingle again. "What does it mean?" "What?" "I pick it up and feel an electric shock, then a tingle in my paws, but when I put it down, I don't feel a tingle." "I don't know." "I'll figure it out later." Chance puts the book down near the computer. He then goes and helps Jake with checking over the TurboKat II. He notices the quiet pondering his partner is doing and asks him, "Wha'sa matter, Jake?" "Nothing," Jake says. "It ain't nothin' - something happened in the other dimension, didn't it?" Jake stops and hangs his head, "I learned that Felina loved me, and, now, I don't know if I made the right decisions in my life." "Jake, we all make mistakes. This ain't one of them. Callie don't love me, but she loves you. I know you love Callie. I love Felina, and she's starting to love me back. Don't make the mistake of second-guessing your choices." "You're right, buddy. Our choices make us." "As you are so fond of saying, 'Bingo.'" Jake laughs, but Chance sees that Jake is still a bit down. He decides to hide the Tome of Time so Jake won't be tempted to use it. After a while, they have unloaded all the ordnance from and drained the fuel tanks of the TurboKat II. While Jake checks over the damaged engine, Chance takes the Tome of Time and puts it in his locker while changing into his overalls. He puts it in the very back, behind his helmet, and makes sure the helmet is concealing it. Jake gets changed, then heads over to the engine and starts trying to repair some of the damage. Several hours later, they both head upstairs, and Jake orders a pizza. Chance takes off in the towtruck to go to a library before it closes. He finds a book about magic and mages and takes it home. He walks through the garage, and he sees that Jake is working on his motorcycle. Chance sits down in the office and starts reading it. He finds that his 'genetic aberration' is not a genetic aberration; it simply means he is a sorcerer and could cast magic. He goes down the hatch and retrieves the Tome of Time from his locker. He comes up the other hatch, the one in the living room, and heads up to his room. He hides the Tome underneath the mattress of his bed, then goes back down the living room hatch. He comes back up and takes the library book out to the towtruck and leaves. He comes back after dropping it off in the after-hours bin. Jake wonders why Chance had gone down the office hatch, then come back up a few minutes later, but he finds Chance's secretiveness about the book he had for a while disconcerting and confronts him with it. "What was with that book, Chance?" "My genetic aberration ain't a genetic aberration; I'm a sorcerer, according to that book. That why I felt the tingle in my paws, and you didn't. I hid the Tome of Time so we won't be tempted to use it for our own purposes." "In other words, you don't want me to change the past regarding me and Felina, right?" "That and I can't make Callie love me." "Felina telling her feelings for me shook me to my core, Chance." "A revelation like that will, buddy. Now, tell me everything that happened." Jake does so, and Chance simply says, "Change the past, and the SWAT Kats might have never existed. If we never existed, what would MegaKat City be like now, hmm? All you have to do is think of what that MegaKat City is like now." The thought scares Jake and he replies, "You're right, Chance. I wouldn't trade being Razor even for Felina." "And, now Razor is dating the Deputy Mayor of the city he protects. She'll make Mayor in a few years, I'll wager. T-Bone just gets the niece of the Enforcer Commander." Jake laughs, and they both sit down to watch TV. A while later, they both go to bed. Chance takes the Tome of Time from under his mattress and hides it in his closet, underneath his comic book collection. Jake is tossing and turning in bed with all of the 'What ifs?' still running through his mind. Finally, he falls asleep.