When Worlds Collide: Part 4 by Mikazo Author's note: The action content of this chapter isn't great, but it's gonna get more intense soon. Try not to lose interest. This is where some of the elements of Half-Life come in, and they'll get more numerous later on. Stay tuned. ************************************************************ Deep in his cavernous domain, Dark Kat watched the news on T.V.. He was looking with clenched fists at Ann Gora and Commander Feral publicly giving the reason his goon squad never made it back. "Those incompetent nincompoops!" yelled Dark Kat, pounding his large fist on the armrest of his chair. His creepling servants scattered in all directions. "I suppose if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself!" "Jusssst what did you have in mind with the itemssss in that ship?" hissed a voice. "Viper! What are you doing here? I'm very busy!" "If you consssssider watching your pathetic armies fail at a simple tasssssk 'busy'," retorted the reptilian Dr. Viper, chuckling. Dark Kat huffed impatiently. "Were you going to make valuable use of your time here, Viper, or give me another reason to put your head on my wall?" "Take it easssy," hissed Dr. Viper. "We would've had no ussssse for what wasss in that ship." "Of course we wouldn't have, you imbecile," said Dark Kat. "I just wanted to keep it out of the hands of our enemies. Whoever has it now could threaten our efforts at dominating MegaKat City!" "Relaxxxxx," said Dr. Viper. "I'm working on a weapon. It could ssssstop the enforccccers and the Ssssswat Katssss cold! And yet, it'ssss very sssssimple!" Dr. Viper tended to hiss more severely when he was speaking passionately. "It'sssss a marveloussss desssign! You would never imagine how much it will..." "So shut up and build it!" roared Dark Kat. "I WILL," hissed Dr. Viper. "But I need another katalyssssst before I can. Megakat Biochemical Lab has it. I'm going to sssssneak in there tonight and get it. We'll sssssee how the enforcers hold up against my new weapon!" "Quiet!" a security guard barked to a biologist at the Megakat Biochemical Lab. "Did you hear something?" "No," the biologist said. "I'm going to go check it out. You stay here." He drew his gun and flashlight and walked out into the hall towards the noise. He examined the area. Nothing. Silence. "Hmm..." he said, walking back into the room. "I could swear I heard something." Dr. Viper, moving swiftly and silently, slithered through a drain in the bottom floor of Megakat Biochemical Lab. The simple ingredient for his katalyst was kept on the bottom floor in minimum security. It had nearly no danger potential, but would perfect Viper's new weapon. After he created the substance, he would find a way to genetically breed his plantimals to use it. It would be a nice addition to his arsenal. Dr. Viper stopped dead in his tracks when he heard something. He turned his head in the direction it came from. The door to the room he was in was open, and outside was a strange creature he had never seen before. "What an interesssssting sssspecccimen..." he said. The creature was only a few inches tall, and not much wider. It was yellow and fat, and it had four clawed legs, which it seemed to be using to maneuver around. It crawled towards Dr. Viper. "Yesssss," he said, very interested. "Come closssser!" His interest turned into anger, however, when the creature jumped up and bit him on the nose. "Gaaah!" He covered his hurt nose, and charged the creature. He smashed it against the wall with his tail, leaving a yellow slime trail on the wall. The creature limped around before Viper picked it up and examined it. The creature wriggled in his hand, making strange, high-pitched noises. Yellow slime leaked out its side from the open wound. "How sssssstrange," he said. The underside of the little round creature was composed of what looked like a large mouth with pointed teeth. Its little legs wriggled helplessly. However, his curiosity about the creature was answered a few moments later. Another one of the creatures wriggled outside the door. It crawled down the hall. Somewhere in the hall, a voice was speaking. "Why, what a strange little bug. It... augh! Ugh!" A body dropped. Silence. Dr. Viper poked his head out the door. The small creature had clearly attacked and maybe even killed the biologist... by encompassing itself around the kat's head! It wriggled around and settled down. "Fassssscinating!" Viper hissed. A sudden noise drew his attention. He looked past the dead creature and saw another creature, this one stranger and far more frightening. This creature looked like one of the kat scientists. It walked upright and wore a lab coat... in fact, it WAS a scientist! However, long claws were poking out of the coat sleeves, and one of the strange parasitic creatures rested atop its head! The zombified scientist swayed, confused, and then hobbled over to Dr. Viper, ready to attack. Viper decided he didn't want to fight with the creature and promptly dove back into the sewers from where he came, back into the large drain to slither into the sewers. Above, a voice could be heard shouting. "My God, what is that thing?" "Kill it!" *BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM* A security guard fired at the zombie. The noises faded as Dr. Viper slid deeper into the sewers. Whichever one survived was uncertain to him. Upon reaching the sewer floor, Viper hissed angrily. "My katalyssssst! I forgot it!" But he suddenly remembered something and reached into his lab coat. He drew out the wounded creature. "There, there," he hissed. "You will be a fine ssssspeccccimen for my ssssstudiessss." The creature wriggled and squeaked. The snake-like doctor grinned and chuckled as he put the creature away. "Hey Torres, pass me that... whatever-the-hell-they-call-it stuff," said Campbell. Bright rays of sunlight streamed through the windows as Chance, Jake, and the mercenaries ate breakfast. Chance, Jake, Torres, and Campbell were seated at the small table in the kitchen, while Jackson and Tauer were in other seats. "Get it yourself," said Torres. "It's right in front of your face." Campbell shrugged and reached over to grab the box of cereal. He looked at Torres, who was eating out of an MRE. "Hey Torres, why aren't you eating this stuff?" he asked. "Don't know what's in that shit," said Torres with his mouth full. "It says right on the box," said Campbell. He looked first at one side of the box, then the other side, and then the bottom. He then looked again fruitlessly for an ingredients listing. He stared at the box, suddenly feeling uneasy. Maybe this city didn't have any regulations requiring the ingredients to be listed on the box. He put his hand on his stomach. "Okay, so I'm your goddamn guinea pig, huh?" he said. Torres grinned broadly and kept eating from his MRE. "Asshole," grumbled Campbell. Chance and Jake chuckled a bit. "Hey, this stuff shouldn't hurt you," said Chance. "We eat it all the time." "Yeah," interjected Tauer. "Besides, this isn't any way to treat our goddamn hosts. Show 'em some respect for chrissakes." "No shit," said Jackson, a little sickened by the commotion himself. "What do you think they ended up doing with those ninja guys we ran into?" asked Tauer. "They probably took 'em to jail," said Jake. "That's what they always do." "Yeah," said Chance. "Or put 'em to work." He and Jake grimaced a little. Torres finished off the MRE. "Is there any room in here for that stuff we made off with last night?" "Yeah," said Chance. "The garage." He pointed to the door leading to the garage. He wanted to tell Torres about where they kept the Turbokat, since it would've been a better place. However, he wasn't sure if he wanted the mercenaries to know about the Turbokat or anything having to do with the Swat Kats. He just couldn't trust them enough to let them in on their secret. "Cool, thanks," said Torres. He walked out to the truck and brought in the large ammo crates. He found a space in the corner of the garage that was suitable for storing the cans and set them down. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Campbell came out of the garage and helped Torres opened the crates. The first crate they opened contained the BDU's. Torres and Campbell found the patterns he had taken with him. He took out the chocolate chip desert pattern, the woodland pattern, and the straight black pattern. Quickly, he took off his boots and his urban BDU shirt and pants and put on the chocolate chip desert pattern. He then put his boots back on. Campbell decided to stick with his aggressive urban camouflage. Campbell opened another ammo crate, looking at the contents. "Hey, the satchels!" He grinned upon looking at the four olive drab burlap sacks packed with C4 explosives. He picked one of them up and examined it, being careful not to hit the button on the clacker, which would set it off. He placed the bag back in the ammo can, just before hearing a rumbling noise behind him. Torres and Campbell looked behind them. They saw a stream of light shine under the garage door, which got wider as the door went higher up. "Oh, shit!" said Torres. They looked around frantically for a place to hide. Torres saw a workbench against the wall. "Over there!" They pulled it away from the wall and then crouched behind it, their backs against it. Gritting their teeth, they both unholstered their sidearms and sat still, breathing steadily. Chance and Jake came through the door Torres and Campbell came through and tried to see what was going on. Torres listened to Chance say in a low voice, "I know who that is." "I'm sahrry, did we surprise you?" growled a raspy, nasty sounding voice in a mocking tone. "What do you guys want?" asked Jake. Burke and Murray came into the garage. The two ignorant and loathsome kats had some harsh words and business for Chance and Jake. "I knew ya'd set tha garage door opener where we could find it," said Burke. He snickered and held it up. Torres lowered his sidearm a bit and kept his eyes on his knees. "Give that to us!" said Chance, angrily. A small scuffle could be heard, followed by raspy snickering. "We just wanted ta know if ya knew anything about them aliens," said Murray. "Well, we don't," said Jake, sounding cross. "Yeh? Where'd all those green boxes come from?" "Umm... they were salvage from enforcer tanks." Jake was stuttering a little bit, trying to come up with excuses for his bosses. "Yeh? Let me take a look at 'em." Campbell sighed quietly, frustrated. Hearing the voices mock his hosts and hearing them talk about looking in the ammo crates angered him. Don't fuckin' go near those things, he thought. You fuckin' touch those boxes and I'll stand up and blow your goddamn heads off. I could take you. Yeah, I could take you. Both of you, just like that. No fuckin' problem. "They're the same things you see in the enforcer vehicles," said Jake, trying to stall them. "Oh yeah? We'll see about that." Just then, the sound of a horn could be heard. "Later then," sneered Burke. "Not gonna interfere with ya' womanizing!" The two snickered and ran out the garage door. "I despise those two," said Calico Briggs, stepping out of the limousine. She nearly tripped on a monkey wrench that was lying on the ground. Chance and Jake both blushed with embarrassment. "They're so rude. How are you guys?" Chance, who had calmed down, pushed his hair back and tried to act charming. "I'm doing pretty well," he said suavely. "How are you?" "I'm hearing a rattling sound in the engine," she said. "I need you guys to fix it for me. I'm gonna see if I can't catch a bus back to the mansion." "That's no problem," said Chance, smiling. "Are you sure you want to take the bus? I could drive you," said Jake. "No, that's okay," replied Callie. "But, thanks. I know you guys are busy." Meanwhile, Campbell and Torres were getting impatient. Campbell rolled his eyes and opened and closed his thumb and fingers several times, mimicking the talking. "When is she gonna shut up and leave?" he wondered, impatient and tired of hiding. "Stupid bitch." Torres continued to breath steadily, his head hanging low. He was also getting impatient. Chance, Jake, and Ms. Briggs continued to talk. "See you guys later!" said Ms. Briggs, needing to leave. She walked out of the garage, having declined Jake's offer to drive her home. Chance and Jake looked at her dreamily. "You must like her, huh?" said Torres, standing up from behind the workbench. Campbell got up after him. Chance and Jake both swung around, surprised. "Whoa," said Chance. "I didn't know you were back there." At about the same time, Jackson poked his head out of the garage door. "Is it safe?" he asked. Chance nodded, and the two other mercenaries entered the garage. "We had to hide when those guys came in," said Torres. "Who are they anyway?" "Burke and Murray," both kats grumbled in unison. "Our supervisors." "I figured that," said Torres. "Who was the other one, though? The female." "Oh, her? That's Miss Briggs," said Chance. "She's the deputy mayor of Megakat City." "Who's the mayor then?" "Manx," said Jake. "He's been the mayor forever. And then, there's Commander Feral, who runs the enforcers. I'm sure you already knew that. Then there's..." Jake told the mercenaries about all of the major figures of Megakat City. He even included details about major threats to Megakat City, such as the Pastmaster, Dr. Viper, Dark Kat, and the Metallikats. "Dark Kat?" asked Jackson. "Didn't Feral say something about Dark Kat on the news?" "He makes headlines," said Jake. "So, who are these guys again?" asked Tauer. "Supervillains?" The other mercenaries snorted a little bit with laughter. Chance and Jake nodded, however. "So where are the superheroes?" asked Campbell. "I mean, can those enforcers do any shit?" "Sometimes they can't," said Jake. "That's why the deputy mayor is so important. She can radio for extra help." "What extra help?" "There's a vigilante group that protects the city better than the enforcers can," said Chance. "They're called the Swat Kats. Nobody knows where they live or how they operate, but they always manage to save the day. Commander Feral doesn't like them one bit. He wants to take credit for saving the city and says the Swat Kats just got in his way." Chance had a hard time keeping a straight face as he talked about this. "And, I think Commander Feral is more interested in catching them than saving the city." Just as he finished talking, an alarm went off in the garage. Chance and Jake ran back into the house and disappeared. They had a separate entrance to the hangar in there. Soon, the sound of a jet engine rocked the house. "I wonder what the hell is up with them," said Jackson. "I don't know, but you know what I just figured out?" said Torres. "We've been had. Whoever assigned us this mission didn't want us to go to Xen in the first place." "What are you talking about?" asked Jackson. "I can't believe it took me this long to realize this," said Torres. "Look at what they gave us. You need an HEV Mark IV Hazard Suit, or a close equivalent, to be in Xen. They gave us Powered Combat Vests. These things are shields. They don't give you oxygen you need. And, the weapons. Those creatures can SMELL you, and they give us silenced MP5's. Like we give a rat's ass in hell about being quiet in Xen. Night vision goggles, heartbeat sensors... what the hell for? Those creatures probably don't even have hearts." "Are you saying that they didn't know how to equip us?" asked Tauer. "What I'm saying," said Torres, "is that they equipped us for urban warfare. Like the stuff we'd be doing here. They didn't equip us for a place like Xen. They never intended for us to be in Xen. They wanted us here, for some reason. I shoulda known some fuckin' stupid camel jockey, some goddamn ignorant rag head would be running this operation." "You're probably right," said Campbell, "But I think you're letting that Gulf War shit get to your head. There are no fuckin' camel jockeys anywhere. Just kats and scientists and shit. We just gotta figure out what to do." "Well, there's one thing I've pretty much figured out," said Torres. "What's that?" "We're gonna be facing those Xen creatures here pretty soon." "Yeah," huffed Campbell. "You're right." He then checked his alice pack to make sure he was fully loaded. He grabbed his M4 carbine and opened the ammo crate, which contained the satchel charges. He took one of them out, put it in his alice pack, and then walked out of the garage. Walking up to one of the small cars in the lot, he examined the fuel gauge from the window. The tank was full. Campbell opened the door and threw his alice pack and pistol belt into the passenger seat. He then got into the car and, reaching his foot up, proceeded to kick the ignition slot several times until he wrenched it loose. He pulled it off and started fiddling with the wires. "What the hell are you doing?" asked Torres. "I'm going into the city," said Campbell. He rubbed the two wires together, creating a spark and causing the engine to rev up. "What the... what the hell? Are you fuckin' crazy?" "I'm sick of sitting on my ass here wondering what the hell's going on," said Campbell. "I want some answers and some action for God's sake." "You don't even have a plan!" said Torres. "You want to just die out there?" "Die? Fuck, I'd rather risk dying out there than be stranded here. I'll come up with a plan. They taught us how to do that shit, you know. If you want to sit here with your thumbs up your asses and think and wait, you're welcome to do that. I'm gettin' out of here though." Campbell grimaced and put on a pair of Special Forces-issue Gargoyles sunglasses. He then backed the car out of the driveway and drove down the road towards the city. Jackson and Tauer walked out into the driveway where Torres was standing. "Well... fuck him," said Torres. "He's on his own. Just can't fuckin' wait, I swear to God..." Torres started to trail off. "Well... now what are we gonna do?" asked Tauer. "You're the Green Beret, Torres," said Jackson. "Figure something out." "I'm trying, for God's sake... in fact, I'm almost tempted to follow him." "Well, you've got the best decision out of any of us," said Jackson. "Fire away." "Get working on that radio," said Jackson. "I'll think of something."