BOOK TWO: ENTER DARK KAT "Come in, guys!" Callie Briggs said in a frightened voice. "Go ahead, Miss Briggs!" T-Bone said as they flew over Megakat City. He was a little depressed. He hadn't seen Katareena in all the six month she was supposed to be in the city. Oh sure, he'd seen her 'first' solo flight on Cat's Eye On You and he'd seen her on David Litterbin. But he'd never seen her personally. After she'd given him that 'later' in his ear. "I'm on Megakat Memorial Bridge. Two explosions tore holes in front of us and behind us! We can't drive away! It's sending some sort of tentacle out - I've got to get out of the car!" She broke off. "Callie!" The SWAT Kats cried in unison. They were almost there and could see the two cars on the little 'island' of cement. Callie's car was being dragged toward one of the holes. T-Bone saw Callie back away from the hole her car was being pulled into. Several little tentacles came from the hole behind her, wrapping themselves around Callie. The owner of the other car - a red convertible - jumped from her vehicle and raced to her trunk. "What do you say, Razor? Where do we land this thing?" "Put it over there, away from the holes.." _____________s_____________w_____________a____________t____________ There was an explosion and Reena's sports car was thrown back several feet. Katareena opened her eyes to see a huge, gaping hole where her car had been. The bridge was a four-lane over deep waters. There was a second explosion behind her. Reena unbuckled her seat belt and turned in her seat to see if the scene in front of her was also behind her. It was. Reena saw that she had company. It as night - about eleven p.m. - and most of the lights on the bridge had gone out because of the explosions - but call her blind if the driver of the other car wasn't Deputy Mayor Calico Briggs! Miss Briggs was on some sort of car phone - probably a direct link to Enforcer headquarters. Good. That would be great. Reena hoped they brought guns. Big guns. Something was coming out of the first hole! The thing felt its way down the right lane - directly for the Deputy Mayor. Katareena stood up in her seat and shouted and pointed to the tentacle. It got Miss Briggs's attention and she jumped from the vehicle. "Back up!" Reena yelled. The other she-kat did. The tentacle wrapped itself around the car and started dragging it toward the hole. A faint sound caught her attention - the TurboKat. For a second she remembered everything about their first meeting - and forgot to watch the holes. When she looked back, small tentacles were emerging from the other hole. They wrapped themselves around the Deputy Mayor. Reena wasn't sure - but she figured the things could be cut - so she raced to the trunk and rummaged through her tools. She passed up wrenches and screwdrivers in favor of a hacksaw, then she ran to help. As she ran to the edge of the hole - the tentacles had dragged the she-kat that far already - Reena noticed the TurboKat landing on the other side of one of the holes. By then she had reached the struggling Calico Briggs. Katareena wrapped one arm around Miss Briggs's waist and used the other to use the hacksaw. Everytime she cut one off, the squirming thing dropped into the water. By the time Calico's bonds were cut, Reena had several of her own. Her feet were balanced half on the bridge and half off. She dropped the hacksaw and shoved the Deputy Mayor away from the hole. Then she felt herself being dragged over the edge. ____________s_____________w_____________a_____________t____________ T-Bone landed and jumped out - Razor just behind him. They ran the hundred odd feet to the edge of the hole, and were just in time to see a she-kat dragged off the edge into the water. Callie had been shoved away just in time and was now getting shakily to her knees. They looked up to see Callie's car dropped by the tentacle. It was now teetering on the edge. Each groaned at the damages to the car they could just see. It would cost them a lot of time and work if she didn't decide to get a new car. "She didn't make it, did she?" Callie asked. They shook their heads silently as they made their way to her. Then they waited for the Enforcers to arrive - they were landing now. Callie went with Lieutenant Feral. After talking to Callie, Commander Feral stormed over to them. "Your recklessness cost this city a citizen! Someday it might cost more than *one* life - it could be hundreds!" The SWAT Kats gritted their teeth and Callie protested that they had barely arrived when it happened. Feral grunted and moved away. "What do you say, buddy? Do we see who Miss Briggs's heroine is?" T-Bone asked. Razor nodded and followed his partner to the sports car. The trunk was open, showing two tool boxes. In the passenger seat was a purse. "Lieutenant! Could you come over here?" Felina Feral nodded and walked over. "What is it guys?" "We need somebody official to search the purse for identification of the she-kat who saved Miss Briggs's life," Razor said. "Sure thing." Lt. Feral picked up the purse and drew out a wallet. When opened it, her eyebrows shot up and her jaw dropped. "What is it, Lieutanant? Do you know her?" T-Bone asked worriedly. "Never officially met her - but you have. Do you remember her?" Slowly, she turned the wallet around so they could see the driver's license picture. Katareena Perkins's blue eyes and big smile showed even through the graininess of the picture. _____________s___________w____________a______________t______________ They flew back to the hangar after that. Razor half-expected T-Bone to again head for the weight room, but he didn't. As soon as the TurboKat landed, T-Bone went to the locker room to change. Then he climbed the ladder to upstairs and sat in front of the TV. Chance sat there all night, watching Ann Gora and other reporters almost gleefully relating the story to home viewers. When Jake came down in the morning, Chance as still in front of the TV. Jake brought him milk. Chance took it, brought it halfway to his lips, and set it down on the table in front of him. His eyes never left the screen. Determined to make Chance talk, Jake started speaking. "Ya know, Chance...I was wondering what a movie star was doing with two tool boxes full of equipment-" Without saying a word, Chance cut him off. He reached over to the table and picked up the newspaper. Then he pointed to the front page. Jake took the pro-offered paper and began to read. ____________s____________w_____________a_____________t____________ Katareena caught one last look of the SWAT Kats before she hit the water. The water was cold - even the thick coveralls she wore didn't help any. Reena didn't think she could hold her breath one second longer. Then she was drawn into an airlock. The water was sucked from the room quickly. She was chattering while taking deep breaths of air when the voice came over an intercom. "Welcome, Miss Briggs! So pleased you could join us! My kreeplings will escort you to me in a moment for a more formal introduction." A door slid open and four pinkish-purplish creatures tottered into the room. Reena cried out and kicked the first one to reach her away. "There, there. Is that any way for a guest to act? Surely my cabin is warmer than the airlock." Katareena allowed herself to be led from the room. The first thing she saw was the back of a tall chair. She ducked her head, knowing he wasn't going to like grabbing the wrong person. It was better to delay him for a few moments while the SWAT Kats got Miss Briggs out of the area. The chair turned around. "Miss Briggs! Oh my, you do look a sight! You seem to have lost your glasses too! Here I was thinking a wetting wouldn't hurt anyone." He paused for a second, then continued. "Oh, come now! Really, Miss Briggs, I can't believe you'd forgotten the sound of my voice already! Very well then, sulk. Kreeplings, escort her to her...room." As she was being led away, the voice called after her. "I'm calling the media tomorrow, Miss Briggs. I will tell them I have their Deputy Mayor and ransom you for a couple million dollars in gold." The kreeplings left her in a small, lightless room - but not before the one she had kicked had bitten her. The solid metal door closed and she was in the dark. A warm trickle slid down her arm as she pounded on the door, telling her of a deep gash on her paw. Katareena hoped the kreepling's bite wasn't poisonous, and wondered what punishment her captor would give her when he found out he had taken the wrong she-kat. __________s_________________w_______________a___________t___________ Jake passed the first paragraph which told how Callie had just come from a town meeting and was going home. He skimmed the next, which informed the reader someone had planted a remote control device on her car which set off the two bombs on the bridge. "...By pure chance, actress Katareena Perkins was driving to her apartment from her hangar. A statement from her agent to us said, '...Katareena asked to post phone the first week of the movie so she could fix her helicopter - one that was going to be used in one of the scenes. I told her I'd send a mechanic to her this weekend and begged her to be on time. Now I wish I'd let her tinker with the crummy 'copter!" The rest of the article told of how Katareena had 'bravely used a hacksaw to cut the tentacles away from the deputy mayor' and how she had 'met her fate in a watery grave'. He folded the newspaper and set it back on the table. "Look, Chance... You-" "Good morning, Megakat City!" Dark Kat's voice oozed from the TV. The picture of the talking anchorkat vanished to be replaced by Dark Kat's face. "Are you missing someone?" Chance clenched his fists and ground out, "How *could* he?" Dark Kat continued, "I have her. And for five million dollars in gold, I will return your Deputy Mayor. Futher instructions later. Dark Kat out." "*Deputy Mayor*?" They said, looking at each other. "He thinks he's got Callie!" Jake said excitedly, knowing Chance would snap out of his misery. Chance wrinkled his brow. "But Callie and Katareena look nothing alike! How did he make the mistake?" "Well...they're both blondes and are the same height. We saw her hit the water, so she was probably wet when Dark Kat saw her. Everyone knows hair darkens when wet, so Dark Kat might not have thought anything of it," Jake said as they raced for the TurboKat. T-Bone was silent until they were in the air. "Razor, what will Dark Kat do to Katareena when he finds out his mistake?" "Hopefully, T-Bone, we'll have her before he finds out!" ____________s_____________w_____________a_____________t____________ A screech in her ear woke Reena up. A kreepling eyed her clumsily bandaged paw gleefully. She glared at it, deciding it must be the one who bit her last night. The chittering kreeplings led her through the hallways as she rubbed her arms. Reena had to use her sleeves to bandage her paw. Now she was cold. Again Katareena entered the room where the owner of the deep voice sat. She stood in the shadowy doorway trying to prolong the discovery as long as she could. "Come in, Miss Briggs! Today you will be a movie star!" His statement brought an involuntary giggle to her lips, one she valiantly fought away. Reena looked up to see him for the first time. His brow was furrowed in thought. He was tall and frightening. He was purple. She bowed her head and stepped out of the shadows. "Your hair is darker than I remembered..." Tired of waiting for the inevitable, Katareena looked him full in the face. He bellowed in his rage and grabbed her, bringing her face to his. Katareena's feet dangled far above the floor. After a moment he put her down and spoke, his voice as even as it was the night before. "No matter, I recognize you Katareena Perkins. They'll still pay." He looked her up and down again. "You seem to have lost your sleeves...and cut your paw." Reena pointed to the kreeplings. "One of them bit me!" She decided to play low and lowered her voice accordingly. "They aren't poisonous, are they?" "They are normally, but I suspected you'd hurt one and they would retaliate. I suppose I'll have to go on-air again and change my statement. Kreeplings!" At his word, the creatures herded her onto a well-lighted spot in the center of the room. The kat sat in his chair in front of a camera and pressed a button. "Good morning again, Megakat City. There is a slight correction on the earlier broadcast. I hold not your Miss Briggs, but everyone's favorite action movie heroine, Katareena Perkins." He turned the camera on Reena and told her to smile for the camera. _____________s__________w_________a___________t_____________________ The SWAT Kats were about to land on the bridge where Katareena had been dragged under when Dark Kat's next broadcast flooded the small screens they had in front of them. "Goodmorning again, Megakat City. There is a slight correction on the earlier broadcast. I hold not your Miss Briggs, but everyone's favorite action movie heroine, Katareena Perkins." The camera turned away from Dark Kat's face to Katareena. She was standing in some sort of control room surrounded by kreeplings. Her hair was a mess. She wore a sleeveless coverall suit. Her left paw was bandaged with a bloodstained piece of material. And a scowl replaced her trade-mark smile. T-Bone thought she'd never looked so beautiful. "All right! She's okay!" Razor said behind him. "Smile for the camera, Miss Perkins," Dark Kat said in his oily voice. Very deliberately, Katareena lifted her foot over a kreepling's tail. "NO!!!" T-Bone and Razor yelled together. They knew the kreeplings were poisonous. It was too late, her foot landed on the kreepling. The camera whirled around back to Dark Kat's face. He waited for the kreepling's screech and Katareena's scream of pain before speaking. "There is hope for her yet. Five million dollars in gold dumped in the river under Megakat Memorial Bridge will grant her her freedom and the antidote. Hurry, you have only one hour. Dark Kat out." Razor hurriedly spoke. "Come on, buddy! I can't save her myself! Don't shut down on me now!" "Shut down? Me? You heard him, he said we had an hour!" Razor smiled weakly and hoped they got to her before that hour was up. ____________s_____________w_____________a_____________t____________ Katareena screamed as the kreepling bit her. The pain was worse than the last time. The blood rushed to her head and she felt herself falling as she greyed out. The last thing she heard was the kat she know knew as Dark Kat laugh maniacally. Then Dark Kat said, "That couldn't have gone better if I planned it myself, Katareena, my dear. Brave, foolish girl! That kreepling was poisonous! You have one hour before the poison kills you." ____________s_____________w_____________a_____________t____________ The SWAT Kats were racing under the water in their water vehicle - the TurboShark. A big blip was on their sonar. They headed for it, knowing it would be Dark Kat. By the time they reached it, much of their hour was up. They ejected underwater and swam to the submarine vessel. T-Bone forced an airlock open and they entered. Together, they forced the doors closed again and the other door open. Water was everywhere - but no sign of any sort of defense. Silently, they made their way through the halls and into the room where Dark Kat had made his broadcasts. A screen flared to life; Dark Kat's face appeared. "Greetings, SWAT Kats. I counted on your finding me, so I made a challenge for you. We know that the Enforcers can't stop me. Together, you might. But here's the catch: somewhere on board, Katareena Perkins lays dying. In another room lies her cure. I am almost to the gold. Chances are you can make it here in time to stop me - but only if you leave Miss Perkins to die..." The screen went blank. "T-Bone, you take this hall, I'll take the other." They parted to look for the cure and Katareena. ________________s____________w___________a_____________t____________ T-Bone stormed through the hall, kicking the doors in. Halfway down the hall, he found the right room. Katareena lay sprawled in the center of the room. Her honey-blonde hair covering her face. Her left paw was bandaged, while her right ankle lay in a small pool of blood. T-Bone knelt and gently removed the hair from her face. Katareena stirred and opened her glazed eyes. "T-Bone?" she whispered weakly. "The one and only," he joked as he bandaged her wounded ankle with a clean strip of material from his own uniform. Her eyes slid closed again as she said, "I knew you'd come..." Katareena faded out. T-Bone was lifting her into his arms when she asked, "How much time do I have, T-Bone?" He looked down at his watch. Ten minutes were all that were left. "You have plenty of time." They were in the hall now. Razor came ripping around the corner. "Did you find it?" T-Bone asked. "Sure did!" He held out a vial of yellow liquid triumphantly. Razor began unwrapping her paw. He poured half of the liquid on her paw and the other half on her ankle. With a fresh cloth, taken from the room Razor had found the antidote, they re-bound her wounds. They made their way out of the hall, again emerging in the control room The screen flared to life again, and once more, Dark Kat's face appeared. "Dark Crud!" The SWAT Kats growled. "Well, I see you've found her - and the antidote since you're not in any hurry. Now...can you get out alive? There's a bomb set to go off in five minutes. Have fun." The screen blipped out, but none of them noticed, T-Bone and Razor were halfway to the airlock they had come in through by that time. Inside the airlock, they pulled air masks on and put one on Katareena's unconscious body. Again the doors were forced open. By the time their five minutes were up, the three of them were in the TurboShark and a half-mile up river. ___________s_____________w_____________a_____________t____________ They arrived at the bridge about a half-hour later. Katareena was awake by then and asking questions. "Do you think they really paid the ransom?" "Why not? Dark Kat was right, you are everybody's favorite action movie heroine. T-Bone here is probably your biggest fan!" Her blue eyes snapped from the control panel of the TurboShark to T-Bone. "Really?" Her gaze rested on the blushing T-Bone for a while before continuing. "It doesn't matter if it were an actress the Deputy Mayor who was taken: nobody can get five million dollars worth of gold packed up and ready to go in just an hour. Dark Kat knows that. The question is: 'just what did he want so badly to get the SWAT Kats out of the way on a rescue mission?' Most officials would be trying to get the gold - so they wouldn't be thinking about beefing up security somewhere along the river." "You're right! Where would he want to go?" Razor asked out loud as he checked the computer for places along the river. "Chemical factories, weapon storage, someplace that houses gold?" T-Bone offered. "How about a katatonium storage facility?" Razor asked, tapping the screen. "Katatonium! That stuff is the most explosive element in the world!" Katareena gasped. "That's right! It's not too far from here either." "Let's move, buddy!" T-Bone growled as he sped through the cold waters. When they arrived, the sight of a water craft floating on top of the river greeted them. Kreeplings were scurrying from the building to the vessel. "Where do you need me?" Katareena asked. To her delight, T-Bone pointed without hesitating. "There. Razor, give her that stuff you were working on." Razor pulled a gas gun from under his seat and handed it to Katareena. "This stuff *should* knock kreeplings out and be harmless to you." "Let's roll." ______________s__________w____________a___________t_________________ Katareena stole silently through the bushes that lined the river. When she came abreast of the line of kreeplings, she rustled the bush in front of her. Three pink-purple heads swiveled in her direction. Again she made the bush rock. The kreeplings scampered toward her. She moved back to give herself room. The SWAT Kats used the distraction to enter the warehouse. The kreeplings crashed through the bushes at the same time. They all met the same fate. Kat left the gassed kreeplings where they fell. Singly or by groups, the rest of the creatures were knocked out. Katreena knew better than to enter the warehouse and try to help the SWAT Kats. Her entrance could distract them or get her captured and used as a pawn. She'd had enough of that over the past year. Reena minced through the clinging bushes and began searching the ground. She'd seen a kreepling with a big bag. The bag would come in handy. After a few minutes search she found the bag. It wasn't empty though. Pieces of what looked suspiciously like katatonium poked through the opening of the bag's neck. She tried to remember all she knew about the explosive metal. Katationium exploded on contact with large amounts of nitrogen and dissolved in water. It is never found in the environment naturally and is a rare by-product of rusted iron exposed to Kata-rays radiation. Contact with fur was harmless, but it was deadly when ingested. For a second, she was tempted to filch some for her own bombs. It was rejected because it *was* stealing - and even in knowledgeable paws the metal was dangerous to work with. Reena carefully emptied the bag beneath a bush. Theoretically, if there was any excess nitrogen in the air, it would be absorbed by the bush. The gas gun was tucked in the belt of her coveralls as she collected the kreeplings. She gave them all another shot of the gas to make sure they stayed out of it. Katareena hid the bag full of kreeplings by the river and stationed herself in the bushes. _____________s_________w_________a________t_________________________ T-Bone and Razor used the distraction Katareena made to slip past the poisonous kreeplings. The warehouse door was open and scraping was audible from the door. Kreeplings rounded the corner and the SWAT Kats pressed themselves against the wall. The creatures bumbled past them, never realizing they were there. The SWAT Kats glanced around the corner and crept past the tall, stacked boxes. They spied two guards who were crumpled on the floor. T-Bone took one look at the guards' uniforms and snorted disdainfully. "You'd think they'd learn better than to post two or three rent-a-cops on stuff like this!" he muttered. After checking pulses, they moved on, looking for Dark Kat. Scrapes and muttered curses emanated from the office in the back of the warehouse. "KREEPLINGS!!! How long does it take to bring another bag from the ship!?!" The office door burst open and Dark Kat stomped out. The SWAT Kats were ready though. Before Dark Kat even knew they were there, T-Bone and Razor had fired restraints from their glove-a-trexes. Dark Kat was surprised as he tumbled to the ground. "So...you discovered my little plan, did you? You may have me now, but my kreeplings will overwhelm you! KREEPLINGS!!!" Razor laughed. "All ready taken care of, Dark Kat!" "NO!" "Okay, SWAT Kats. The Enforcers are here! We'll handle this!" Commander Feral barked through his megaphone. The SWAT Kats turned to see Feral marching down the aisle the stacked crates made. They gaped. Behind him, his niece was growling words at him. An unhappy Katareena followed. They could hear Lt. Feral hiss, "...You didn't have to strait arm her, Uncle! With what she's been through with this creep-" "Speaking of creeps...where's Dark Kat?" Katareena asked them. The SWAT Kats whirled around to see Dark Kat gone. The bonds that had held him were in a tangled heap on the floor. Both the Enforcers and the SWAT Kats searched for him. Both came up empty. "One consolation, though, is that Dark Kat didn't get away with the katatonium," Katareena remarked to the disappointed SWAT Kats. Lt. Feral insisted that Katareena be admitted to the hospital, much to T-Bone's and Katareena's separate and private wishes to the otherwise. _________s__________w____________a___________t______________________ It was the next day after her rescue. Visiting hours at Megakat General Hospital were over. Ann Gora, master news scooper, had arrived when visiting hours began and stayed until the heavyset head nurse shooed her and her camera crew out. Katareena couldn't be happier. Well, actually, she could...but two out of three wishes wasn't bad: they didn't serve rubbery chicken for lunch and Ann Gora didn't ask how she'd gotten the nerve to attack the 'creature' with her hacksaw. A soft knock came at her door. she thought before saying, "Come in!" ____________s_____________w_____________a_____________t____________ T-Bone entered the private hospital room. Katareena sat on the bed with an apprehensive look on her face. All around her were huge bouquets of roses and orchids. His bouquet was smaller and no where near as expensive. The first words out of her mouth surprised him, "Well, what do you know? Three out of three! Maybe I should play the lottery." Then she gave him the biggest, happiest smile he'd ever seen. "Oh! Violets and baby's breath! I *knew* you had sense!" She bounced from the hospital bed and joined his side. "Would you do me a favor and get the vase in my closet? Between the flowers and this dressing gown, I've got my paws full." She was right. The length of the grey and blue robe was almost ridiculous. T-Bone was surprised she hadn't tripped and broken her neck during the few moments he'd been there. He retrieved the vase from the closet and carefully set it down on a small table by the window. Katareena unwrapped the stems and slid them into the beautiful vase. "Kat-" he began. She shook her head and put her finger to his lips. "Listen," she said lowly. After a moment, she jumped guiltily. "Oh, crud! Hide!" Katareena gently pulled him away from the window and to the closet. "Not a sound," the actress warned as she closed the doors. In the darkness, he heard the TV being turned on. A soft 'crud' escaped her lips again and he heard her stumble over the dressing gown's hem. The bed squeaked as she hopped into it. Katareena was just in time too. "*What* on *earth* is going on in here?" A she-kat's voice demanded. "Head Nurse Katz! Was the TV too loud?" "I thought I heard a kat's voice." "Of course! My show's on! Lionell is *so* handsome." There was a pause during which T-Bone hd the urge to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "I want you asleep at a decent hour this time. I don't care *what* that agent of yours says: I'm not connecting his call." "Yes, Mrs. Katz," Katareena said meekly. T-Bone heard the door whisper to a close, slowly. "Dragon Lady," Katreena muttered rebelliously under her breath. "What?" the nurse called. "Dragon Lady! That she-kat just dumped Lionell!" Katareena saved. The door finally clicked shut. A second later, Katareena's grinning face appeared as she opened the closet door. "I snuck past *that*?" T-Bone asked with a grin of his own. "She saw the flowers, so she knows. I don't think she cares though, she likes me. Just don't let her catch you on the way out." Katareena pulled him out of the closet and shut the doors behind him. "I've got to get some water for the flowers." She began walking towards the small bathroom nd tripped again on the hem of the dressing gown. "And while I'm at it, I'm going to get out of this thing before I get killed! Be out in a flash!" He walked over to the TV and turned it off. Not a minute later, another she-kat emerged from the bathroom. Her face had been washed and a blue and white striped kat's pajamas had been put on. Her honey-colored hair had ben plaited in one long braid. The dressing gown was slung over one arm and a glass of water was in the other paw. "T-Bone? Are you okay? Your jaw just dropped to your knees!" It was Katareena's voice, alright - but *she* was different. She seemed more down-to-earth, touchable even. "I'm okay," he lied. She didn't look convinced, but let him be. The dressing gown was dumped on the bed as she went to the table with the flowers. Carefully, Katareena poured the water into the vase. With no warning - even to himself - T-Bone came up behind her and turned her around. When he looked into her blue eyes, there was an expression that sent waves of joy crashing over him. He kissed her on the lips. For those few seconds, he realized every crush or love he had before was a lie. *This* was what he had waited for his whole life. Even the lovely bad girl Turmoil paled in comparison. He had mistaken the excitement of kissing a 'bad girl' for love. They looked into each other's eyes, mute. That was the way Head Nurse Katz found them. She was happy for them. The uncatchable and the unobtainable together in love. She wished them well, but still...she had a job to do. "Turmoil. This is Head Nurse Katz. Your suspicions were correct: the actress and the fly boy are together." She listened to the jealous she-kat on the other end of the line. "Understood. Katz out." Next Book: Turmoil in the Sky