TIME TRAVEL, PART 5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIME UNKNOWN Mayor Manx walked onward carefully, making sure that no one was looking as he quickly and discreetly knocked the golf ball out of the rough with his shoe. He doublechecked to make sure that no one had seen it and gave a sigh of relief that no one did. "Let's just keep that between you and me," Manx said to the golf ball as he selected another club from his golf cart. He noted the distance he was from the green and decided to use his wedge. He steadily positioned himself next to the ball, lined up his club, and took his swing. He connected evenly and managed to get the ball onto the green. "Yes!" Manx cheered as he hopped back into his cart and drove forward. "Ah, nothing like a good game of gaalf," Manx said to himself as he drove forward. He arrived at the green and stepped out from the cart, taking his putter with him as he did. Once again, he noted the distance to the hole, about 2 ft. "No way I can miss this shot," Manx said confidently as he positioned himself next to the ball, lining up his club as he did. He briefly licked his thumb and held it in the air, wanting to take into account any compensation that he'd have to make for any wind. Not noticing any, he once again grabbed onto the handle, taking a swing at thin air to get a feel for the club. "Paarfect, no wind, my club is evenly balanced, and I'm one shot away from making par - this could just be my lucky day," Manx said as he lined up the club with ball. He then took a nice gentle swing, not wanting to over shoot. The ball rolled forward, seemingly on target. "Come on," Manx said as he watched the ball, seemingly in slow motion, head for its predetermined destination. The ball rolled on, inches away from the hole. Manx saw that it was going to make it and was tensing up to give one of his private victory dances when a bright flash of light temporarily blinded him. "Ack! What is that?" Manx asked no one in particular as he moved to cover his eyes. He got no reply, only a loud screeching noise, like metal on metal. He covered his ears and took a few steps back. The light finally subsided, and Manx blinked as his retinas gradually widened so that he could see what had happened. He blinked again as what had caused all the noise was directly in front of him. "Haaaaalp!!!" he cried out as he ran away, not using the golf cart as it had been crushed by the grounded nuclear submarine that had appeared out of thin air. ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN Dark Kat opened his eyes to find that he was laying on the ceiling of the sub's control room. He sat up and realized that the entire submarine was upside-down, and the controls were all sparking as shorts occurred in the wiring and computer systems. He heard numerous growl-like moans and found that his creeplings were strewn all about the interior. "Get up, my Creeplings," Dark Kat ordered as he did so himself. The ones that could obeyed, while others had difficulty doing so. Dark Kat ignored their pain as he continued to bark out orders. "Check to see if we're still above water; we may have capsized during the time jump," Dark Kat said as he grabbed a nearby uninflated life raft. He then checked the still operating instruments and found that he was in fact not still in the water. "Come, my Creeplings, we must vacate the premises quickly," he said as he headed for the main hatch. ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN "Hang on!" T-Bone shouted as he tried to keep the jet steady. Everything from the compass to the radar was going haywire, and all that he could see outside of the canopy was a near blinding bright light. Razor made no reply and merely hung on, trusting in his partner's flying abilities. The Turbokat continued to rock back and forth, up and down in all directions, while at the same time maintaining some sort of balance in a single place. Razor knew this because their speed was at zero, which was pretty impossible as they had the speed of heat engines still engaged. "I think I see something!" T-Bone said. "I'm gonna go for it!" At first, Razor couldn't see what T-Bone was looking at, and all his scopes showed nothing. After a few seconds of searching, he found a darker colored circular portal in the blinding white light. Before he could even think about objecting they were through it and surrounded by the familiar blue sky. "Looks like we.... Ah! Look out!" Razor shouted a warning. T-bone saw it too; an entire skyscraper filled the canopy, and they were streaking toward it at a steady mach 7. "Crud!" T-Bone shouted as he threw the jet into a sideways loop, sending them careening around the building, missing it by mere inches. "Whoa, that was too close," T-Bone said with half relief as he struggled to get the jet out of the hard turn that he had made. "Yeah, at least we didn't damage the..." Razor began, but then stopped as the massive sonic boom that had followed in their wake hit the building, shattering all the windows. "...building." "That building isn't our biggest problem at the moment, sureshot," T-Bone warned as emergency lights and buzzers sounded in the cockpit. Razor could suddenly see that they were in the downtown area of Megakat City, and at a relatively low altitude. "I can't slow us down - gonna have to go thru em'." Razor clutched the restraints as T-Bone dodged other skyscrapers, zooming past at their incredible speed. Their sonic boom followed them, shattering windows and cracking streets in their wake. "Crud, Feral ain't gonna like that," Razor remarked as he struggled not to vomit at the G-forces that T-Bone was pulling. the Turbokat itself creaked at the immense pressures that were being forced upon it, and he hoped that the jet would hold together. "I don't believe this!" T-Bone said incredulously as he tried to get into the open skies, but was blocked by an overpass. He continued to duck and dodge buildings, while at the same time trying to gain some altitude. He quickly realized that wouldn't be possible as they were heading into the densest part of the city. "Hang on!" T-Bone warned again as he threw the jet into a dive, avoiding a pedestrian walkway. He quickly noticed that there was a dead end of buildings directly in front of him, leaving no room for maneuverability. He did the only thing that he could do and dove even lower, entering a railroad tunnel. T-Bone gave a sigh of relief as nothing in the tunnel obstructed their path, and he continued forward, but still shattering the interior with their now-slowed mach 6 sonic boom. Razor was about to give his own acknowledgment when the proximity alarm caught his attention. His eyes went wide when he saw what it was. "T-bone!" he cried. "I see it, I see it!" T-Bone replied. He then increased the throttle, going back to maximum. Directly in their path, a freight train was preparing to enter the tunnel at the other end. "We got about 5 seconds to exit before that train enters, buddy," Razor said as he put as much power into the engines as he could divert. "We'll make it, we'll make it," T-Bone replied, more to himself than Razor. The freight train blew its horn and, likewise, was unable to stop. "This is gonna be close!" The Turbokat rocketed forward, shattering more of the interior of the tunnel with its sonic boom. It then shot out of the other end, inches from colliding with the oncoming train. Razor heard the screeching of metal on metal as he realized how close that had actually been. "Alright, we're in the clear - shutting off mega thrusters," T-Bone said as he pulled on a lever next to the throttle. The exterior four engines shut down and retracted back into the Turbokat as the three primary ones took over. "That was *way* too close," Razor exclaimed as he checked all of his instruments. T-Bone actually smiled at that as he flew the jet back in the city's general direction. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 Feral awoke to find that he was surrounded in complete darkness, no visible light that he could see. The first sensation that he realized was occurring to him was pain, lots of it. His entire body surged with it, like electricity shooting through a wire. Well, at least I know I'm alive, he thought. He groaned as he tried to orient himself, finding that he couldn't. He tried to move his left arm, and found that he couldn't. He tried to move his legs and found that he couldn't move them either. The pain that raced throughout him began to become numb, and he began to notice that he couldn't really feel anything. "Help!" he called to no one in particular. The cry echoed around him, and he heard the sounds of distant rocks falling. He mustered up what little strength that he had left and reached out with his right arm and managed to grab hold of what he could only assume was a rock outcropping. With all his strength he pulled, dragging himself forward. Abruptly, his senses started to come back to him, and he noticed that he was actually hanging upside-down at a slight angle, facing total darkness. He heaved himself out of that position, so that he was sitting looking upward. He could barely make out a bead of light that had managed to seep through the rocks. The pain continued to flow, setting his senses ablaze with agony. He glimpsed again at the bead of light and cried out for help one last time. Again, he heard no reply. A darkness, even more devoid of light, seemed to encompass him as he gradually lost consciousness, unheard in the abyss that he was trapped in. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN Dark Kat surveyed the damage and was not surprised to see that the submarine, along with its remaining nuclear arsenal were now rendered useless. He also noted the fact that he had arrived right in the middle of a golf course, hole 18 according to the nearby sign. What mattered more was that he was in Megakat City, but was uncertain as to what time frame he had arrived in. He looked at the spherical device that he held in his claws, only to have it wink out and deactivate. "Strange," Dark Kat muttered. He then heard the distant sounds of sirens coming from the city. He looked and confirmed that thought as a dozen Enforcer Cruisers were heading in his direction. "My Creeplings, we need to dispose of the evidence. We are vulnerable now that the device is inoperable." His Creeplings chattered in reply and reentered the sub. After a few moments they came back, reporting what it was that they had done. "Excellent," Dark Kat purred as he left hole number 18, quickly vacating the premises. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ UNKNOWN Commander Feral was in a foul mood and seemingly always had been ever since he had been promoted to Enforcer Commander some short time ago. At first, he had reveled in his job, at first. Then, he met Mayor Manx for the first time as the Commander of the Enforcers. Feral had anticipated some difficulties from the Mayor, but not as many as the seemingly incompetent moron often caused. And now, here Feral was, once again responding to yet another of the Mayor's problems. "A large black object fell out of the sky," Feral repeated Manx's words to himself. He had neglected, although he wished that he hadn't, to question the Mayor if he had been drinking. It was hard to tell as the annoying accent had always prevented him from being able to tell if he had been intoxicated. "Bumbling fool," Feral commented aloud, thankful that one of the advantages of being Enforcer Commander was having your own private squad car. The golf course was now within sight, but whatever it was that Manx had described was nowhere to be seen. Feral was about to dismiss this seemingly pointless venture and was reaching for the radio to do so, when a bright fiery light caught his attention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN Dark Kat watched the once powerful submarine incinerate before his very eyes, leveling into nothing but ash as the intense blaze engulfed the vessel. Dark Kat still couldn't believe how fortunate he was to find, of all things on a submarine, napalm. He laughed, seemingly without reason. With no evidence of the sub other than a burnt out crater, the time frame would remain restored. "Now, time to discover exactly when we are, my Creeplings," Dark Kat said as they chattered back in response. Some carried the thick lead suitcase-like box that housed the nuclear material from the sub's reactor core. Always best to be safe; don't want a nuclear fire going up, Dark Kat thought. And, besides, it could always serve other purposes as well. Dark Kat left the flaming wreckage, heading for the city. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN Feral arrived on the scene shortly after his men did, pleased that they were already setting up yellow crime scene tape around the perimeter, and keeping civilians out of the way. Then, he looked at the fire, still brightly burning, almost as if it were fueled. To Feral's knowledge, there were no gas lines or anything overly flammable near the golf course. "Did you find anything in there?" Feral asked a nearby Enforcer. "Nothing we could identify, sir. Whatever it was it was big, but now it's nearly ashes." "Keep me posted," Feral ordered as he headed back for his car. How was he going to explain this one to the media? Feral shrugged and just decided that a plane crash would be the most logical explanation and would be accepted by the media for a little while. Feral continued to walk, but noticed one of his Enforcers staring at the fire. Feral walked up to him. "And, what do you think this is?" Feral asked. The officer looked back at him, and Feral realized that he was only a rookie. "Well, from the angle at which ground has been carved out, it would suggest that whatever this thing was didn't crash from the sky, but came here at an angle parallel to the ground," the rookie replied. Feral gave the ground a closer look and found that the rookie was right. "As a matter of fact, it does look that way," Feral said as he examined it closer, still staying a safe distance from the flaming crater. "What's your name, rookie?" "Clawson, Jake Clawson sir," as the rookie gave a quick salute. Feral returned the salute. "It's nice to have an Enforcer who is observant - keep up the good work," Feral said as he gave him a brief pat on the back. He then entered his car and made his way back to headquarters. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN Stacks upon stacks of broken cars, crashed aircraft, and disassembled technology lay everywhere, a welcoming sign to the SWAT Kats, a sign that signaled they were home. T-Bone withdrew his personal remote and preset the button so as to allow access to the underground runway. To his surprise, it didn't work, and then, he remembered that they were in a different time. "Looks like we park outside today," T-Bone commented as he put the jet into VTOL mode, and made a discreet landing behind a large pile of scrap. Both kats hopped out, trying to stay quiet as they both weren't really sure about when they were. "The first thing we need to do is find out what the date is, then we have to stop Dark Kat," Razor said, being careful not to make any noise. T-Bone shrugged as he replied. "No problem," he said. The body shop was within visual range now, and both could see that the lights were on. "Looks like somebody's home." "That's another thing - remember what that McGrath guy said. We can't mess up stuff if we're in the past, or else it'll mess up our future," Razor warned. T-Bone nodded in reply as he continued to make his way forward. ------------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN Dark Kat had taken refuge in an old abandoned warehouse and found it ironic that it was the one that he had used just days before. He sat on a wooden crate and examined the device that he held in his paws. It must've been damaged in that last jump, Dark Kat thought. He put the device away and looked out upon the city through the partially boarded up windows of the building. "No matter, I'm sure that there is still a way that I can take advantage of the situation," Dark Kat said to himself. He had taken careful measures to stay unnoticed, and with good reason. He had, in fact, confirmed that he was in Megakat City's past, but not too far in the past. "If I am not mistaken, I shall make one of my first appearances in this city within the next 24 hours," Dark Kat said. Another thought came to mind and he smiled. "except this time, I shall succeed," Dark Kat said confidently. -------------------------------------------------------------------- UNKNOWN T-Bone approached the window of the body shop and blinked as he did. The interior was totally trashed, garbage spread about, and numerous flies buzzing in the air. he had to breathe through his mouth, resisting the urge to vomit as he slowly backed away. "Well, there was only one time the body shop was like that, pal," T-bone said. Razor, who was likewise trying not to lose his lunch, nodded. "When we first moved in," Razor confirmed as the two backed away. "Well, now we know that the time isn't after 1993, so we're probably in 92' then," Razor guessed as the two made their way back to the Turbokat. "1992, you mean that?" T-bone began, pausing to jump over the hulk of a downed fighter. Razor stopped for a moment to look at the scrapped fuselage and couldn't help but smile. "What is it?" T-Bone asked, trying to see what his partner was looking at. "This, buddy - this is the fuselage that I started out with when we first built the Turbokat," Razor said as he looked it over. T-Bone began to notice the similarities and only muttered one word. "Weird." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 Feral awoke with a start, crying out in pain. "He's coming out of it!" someone shouted, rushing over to his side. Others followed, surrounding him. "Give him another one!" someone ordered as a kat dressed in field medic attire rushed over with two pads. "Clear!" he called and planted them on Feral's chest, sending a large jolt of electricity through his body. He convulsed momentarily and realized what was happening. I'm still alive he thought, then groaned and leaned over to the side to vomit. The field medic patted him on the back. "Easy there, Commander, you just had a nuclear bomb dropped on you," he said as he looked Feral over. Feral stopped, and lay back on his back, staring up at the sky. He felt his senses coming back to him, and he turned his head to try and see where he was. He felt sand underneath him and saw another injured kat directly beside him, severely burned and unmoving. He turned his head again and saw smoke and fire coming from across the ocean. He realized that it was Anakata, and he was on Megakat Beach with other injured kats around him. Seeing that he was alive, the medic continued on his way, going from kat to kat. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1992 T-Bone hopped back into his seat in the Turbokat, Razor doing the same, but stopping to wince as he sat on something. He moved aside to see what looked like a laptop computer in his seat. "What the, where did this come from?" Razor asked as he looked it over. T-Bone took and look at it, and remembered where he had seen it before. "That's that McGrath guy's computer," T-Bone said. He remembered him carrying it aboard when they had gone after Dark Kat over the ocean. Razor opened it up and jumped back as a holographic image of the now deceased kat came up. "SWAT Kats, if you are watching this, then I am either dead or unable to help you at the moment," the image said. "You must stop whatever it is that Dark Kat is planning to do, but, even more important, you must not disrupt the timeline. In doing so, you could change things, things that may depend on not being changed. Minimize contact of any kind with the time frame that you are in. Do not change anything, don't talk to anyone; the results could be disastrous." Both T-Bone and Razor watched as the image continued. "However, in the event that something is changed, you will be protected by the paradox prevention bands that you put on before you left Professor Hackle's, and, as long as you keep them on, you will be protected from any temporal changes." Both of the SWAT Kats looked to find that they still did have them on, both forgetting about them in the preceding chaos. The image then changed to that of the infamous IDTD device. "Included in the duffel bag that I myself had packed is the IDTD that I helped Professor Hackle construct. We were unable to test it, and it's power capabilities are somewhat limited, allowing for 2 time jumps at most. Hopefully, you should be able to stop Dark Kat in whatever time frame he is in currently, but, if you don't, then hopefully the device should be able to help you." Razor reached into a duffel that was shoved under his seat, and he withdrew the baseball-sized spherical device. "Remember, two jumps, use them wisely," the image of McGrath said, then disappeared. "Well, this just got a whole lot weirder," T-Bone muttered. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1992 Chance Furlong yawned and took another sip of his coffee as he sat in his squad car, his partner Jake in the passenger seat looking through a pair of night vision goggles. "So, he actually patted you on the back?" Chance asked as he stifled another yawn. Stake outs weren't his favorite part of the job, but they had to be done, and who better than him and Jake. "Yeah, he said that he appreciated me being 'observant'," Jake replied as he zoomed in on an abandoned warehouse. "So, you think that he's actually in there?" Chance shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. "Let me see, the most wanted terrorist in the world, Dark Kat, in Megakat City hiding out in an abandoned warehouse," Chance said as he put his styrofoam cup down on the dashboard. "Just point me in the direction of flying pigs and I'm there." Jake chuckled and knew how unlikely it was that he was there, but the Enforcers had taken up a more militaristic style as of late, and they had received rumors that Dark Kat was actually in the city. Only rumors, Jake thought, still watching through the goggles. "Oh well, at least we got air patrol tomorrow," Jake said. Chance grinned, always eager to fly one of the new Enforcer jets. Nothing could beat flying; it was after all the reason why Chance had joined the Enforcers. No where else could you do what you did as an Enforcer, he thought. He then reached for his cup of coffee again and noticed a lined piece of paper on the dashboard. He grabbed it and took a look. J Jake gave him a look over his shoulder as he leaned out the window, still looking for anything suspicious. Chance looked it over, seeing that it was actually what looked like a blueprint of some kind of aircraft. "Swing wing design, VTOL mode, 3 engines?" Chance read as he looked over the paper. "What is this thing? Something outta Star Wars?" Jake chuckled as he leaned back in the car and put the goggles on the dash. "Not quite, it's just something I do to pass the time," Jake said. Chance gave him a look. "No, counting to a hundred or watching TV is a way to pass the time. This," Chance said as he held up the paper, "This is what the guys over at the Research Facility do. I mean, a lot of this is way over my head and here you are just sketching it down on a piece of paper in your spare time." "Your point?" "You shouldn't be doing this, Jake. I mean, not to put myself down, but this occupation isn't exactly up to your 'genius' standards." Jake actually laughed at that. "Me? A genius?" "Alright, above average then, but still, I don't know if this is really the best place for you," Chance said as he took the night vision goggles, leaning out his window to observe. "I dunno, Chance. It's just something I gotta do," Jake said. Chance sighed and knew that's as far as he would get. Jake always avoided personal questions, and Chance respected that. Although, it would sure make understanding him a lot easier if he did, he thought. "Sure thing, we all got things we gotta do," Chance replied as his partner once again began sketching on the piece of paper. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They shall fall before me, burning in a hellacious fire of my own design, Dark Kat thought. Before him lay a large oversized bomb, not nuclear as he had wanted, but carrying enough explosive force to level the new Enforcer Building and all who would be in it. "The Enforcers shall fall at my feet, begging for mercy!" he said aloud, his creeplings laughing in tandem with him. He connected a cable together to see the interior status panels of the bomb light up. He grinned as he sealed the access panel, riveting it into place. "Soon, my creeplings, soon I will control this city!" "Not like that you won't," a voice from behind said. Dark Kat spun around. Finding no one, he grabbed a nearby rifle and pointed it into the darkness. He heard laughter coming from the shadows, a laugh that sounded eerily familiar. "Who are you?" Dark Kat asked as he edged closer to the shadows, rifle still raised. The figure stepped out from his hiding place behind a stack of crates, and Dark Kat froze as he saw who it was. "You're...you're...," Dark Kat began. "Yes, it's me," Dark Kat replied. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Razor sat in his seat in the Turbokat as T-Bone took them on a course outside of Megakat City, trying to stay as unnoticeable as possible. Luckily, their little streak through downtown Megakat City at mach 7 hadn't been noticed by too many, at least in the sense of the Turbokat having not been identified. "Anything yet?" T-bone asked over his shoulder. "Nope, nothing yet," Razor said. "Radar's clear of anything suspicious, Enforcer radio bands are clear of anything suspicious, and...," Razor paused as he looked. "...and newly appointed Enforcer Commander Feral cracked a smile on TV." T-Bone blinked at that. "Wow, we must be back in time!" he said, amused by the thought. Razor laughed at the notion himself and continued to scour the TV channels, when he noticed something on the news. The date to be more specific, he thought. He pondered for a moment and realized what seemed so strange. "T-Bone! Do you know what today is?!" "Umm...Tuesday?" he asked, a little bit confused. "No!" he nearly shouted as he pointed at his display. "This is the day before we get booted off the force by Feral!" "That means that Dark Kat is gonna attack MKC for the first time tomorrow...," T-Bone said as it all came together. "And, with the Dark Kat from our time lurking around here..." Razor began. "He wouldn't!" T-bone began, then thought for a moment. "Would he?" "He's got that sub and the remaining missiles somewhere around here. Who's to say that he won't give his past counterpart a helping hand?" Razor asked. "Good point," T-Bone said, the situation getting a whole lot more drastic. "But, what about what that McGrath guy said? About altering the past?" "Well, then we'll just have to make sure that he doesn't then," Razor replied. "You got it!" T-Bone said as he reversed course, heading back into the city. As he did, another thought came to mind. "Hey, buddy, what if we run into ourselves?" Razor didn't reply as the jet streaked back towards Megakat City. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Commander Feral sat at his desk, stacks of paper already piled on top of it. He sighed as he looked through them. My first month as Commander, and already I'm growing weary of the job. He looked at the reports and snorted at them. "Mysterious object flies through Megakat City, windows broken in process, what nonsense is this?" Feral said aloud as he skimmed through it and tossed it in the trash. "What kind of city is this?" he muttered to himself as he looked through another report marked 'Flying Saucer seen on outskirts of MKC'. He actually felt nearly amused by that, but tossed it into the trash as well. "Well, at least I have air patrol tomorrow," Feral said as he filed the rest of his papers into his 'to do' stack and got up to go and get some dinner. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Chance abruptly woke up with a start and noticed that he was being tapped on the shoulder. He quickly oriented himself and realized that he had fallen asleep on the stake out, and Jake was tapping him on the shoulder to wake him up. "Uh, how long was I out?" he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Jake was still at his position, observing through the night vision goggles. "3 hours," Jake said without turning, keeping his attention focused on the warehouse. Chance sat up straight and went for his cup of coffee, only to find it cold. "That long, eh? Did I miss anything?" "Not much, just a rather suspicious group of kats entering the building." Chance was now fully awake. "Didja get an ID on them?" he asked. "Nope, they weren't outside long enough, but they were carrying a long container with them, might've been a coffin," he said as he brought his head back into the undercover squad car. "A coffin? You sure?" "Well, I said it looked like one. It might've been something else, but whatever it was it looked heavy. It took about 8 of them to carry it." "So, a fat guy in a coffin then?" Chance asked, pondering out loud. Jake rolled his eyes and noticed another car pull up beside him. "Well, looks like our shift is up," Jake said as he yawned for the first time. Chance waved off to their replacements as he started up the engine and pulled off into the street. Chance yawned again, tired from doing standard traffic cop work all day, not to mention an evening stake out. I'm a pilot, not a traffic cop he thought to himself. Every Enforcer had to put in some standard policing duty every so often so as not to lose their acquired 'edge'. Chance laughed at that. It takes real skill to hand out traffic tickets, he thought. "Well, hopefully tomorrow will be more eventful," Jake said with a bored hint in his voice. "Who knows - maybe we'll get to see some action up in the skies," Chance said with a grin as he drove the squad car back towards Enforcer Headquarters. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark Kat stared in disbelief and wondered if he was hallucinating. There before him stood his literal mirror image. He aimed the rifle and began to question him. "Alright, you imposter, who are you?" Dark Kat demanded, aiming the rifle directly at the opposite purple kat. The 'imposter' laughed and took a few more steps forward. "There is no need for such distrust. After all, if you can't trust yourself than who can you trust?" "What are you talking about?" Dark Kat asked as he watched the presumed imposter walk about the room, almost like he owned it. "You are planning to attack Enforcer Headquarters tomorrow, aren't you?" Dark Kat froze again for a moment, still holding the rifle. No one aside from his Creeplings knew of his plans. "How do you know that?" he asked. The imposter once again chuckled, his amusement seemingly unwavered. "I told you," the imposter said as he spun around and knocked the rifle from Dark Kat's hands. "I am you!" Dark Kat took a step back, but managed to stand his ground, not fearing anything even though he was now 'rifle-less'. "You're not me - I'm me!" Dark Kat retorted, looking about the room for another weapon. "Oh, trust me, I more like you than you know," the imposter said. Dark Kat took another step back and noticed a piece of pipe lying on the floor, most likely left over from the construction of his bomb. Without thinking twice, he went for it, grabbing it and swinging it with one quick motion at his mirror image. The imposter smiled and ducked the pipe while at the same time removing something from his cloak. He jammed it into Dark Kat's torso, and he began to convulse momentarily before falling to the floor unconscious. "As I was saying, I'm more like you then you know," Dark Kat said, chuckling to himself as he tossed the tazer onto the floor. "Come, my Creeplings, we have a bomb to upgrade!" the 'imposter' Dark Kat said as nearly a dozen creeplings entered the room, carrying a coffin-like container with the RADIOACTIVE warning label on it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunrise over Megakat City was always a sight to be seen, rays of light streaking between the immense skyscrapers, reflecting off all the windows and giving the city a general peaceful feeling as everyone began their morning commute. Razor yawned and opened his eyes. T-Bone did the same, sitting up in his seat. They both saw the sunrise, and Razor checked the Turbokat's systems. They had landed on the roof of a building that ran parallel to Enforcer Headquarters from the direction of the bombing run they knew Dark Kat would take. "Alright, so now what do we do?" T-Bone asked as he heated up the engines into stand-by mode. "We wait," Razor replied. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A slight breeze blew over the roof flight deck of Enforcer Headquarters, the sun just starting to rise into view. Jake, carrying a helmet and note pad, walked up to an awaiting Enforcer jet, its canopy already open and welcoming. He smiled when he saw Chance already in it, doing the pre-flight checks. "Funny, I never see you up this early," Jake said as he hopped into the WSO's seat behind Chance. Chance stifled a yawn and managed to turn it into a laugh as he sipped from his cup of joe. "When flying is involved, I'd give up sleep completely," Chance said confidently as he warmed up the engines. Jake chuckled as he fastened his restraints and put on his helmet, flipping down the visor so that the glare of the sun didn't blind him. Chance did the same and radioed the tower for take off clearance. "Hey, is that who I think it is?" Chance asked as he looked out his canopy to the runway. A tall kat in similar flight gear was walking across to a vacant jet, seemingly getting ready to do some air patrol of his own. "Yeah, it looks like Feral to me," Jake said. "He's the only one I know who wears a tie when flying a jet." "We'll, maybe we'll get a chance to show off some of our collective skills to the good Commander," Chance said with a grin as he pulled up into take off position. "Chance..." Jake began as the jet swung around, its course parallel to the take off strip. "Don't get any ideas, pal." "What?" Chance asked humorously. "I wouldn't do anything to upset the Commander," he said with a smirk as he threw the throttle to full, pushing both of them back into their seats. The jet's single engine lit up and hurled them forward and into the sky. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- T-Bone and Razor watched as numerous jets took off and landed as the night air patrol shift switched with the morning shift. "You know, we're up there somewhere," T-Bone said as he watched the squadron break away, all going in different directions so as to cover more of the city. Razor watched too, then looked at the chronometer on his console. It was still not attuned to their time frame, but it still kept time. "Alright, if my memory serves me correctly," Razor said as he pressed a button on the chrono and it began to tick downward, "We've got exactly two hours until Dark Kat shows up." Two hours, T-Bone thought as he watched the numerous aircraft fly over Megakat City's sky. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark Kat took a seat in the cockpit of his Doomsday Express, his custom made bomber/fighter aircraft from which he had chosen to drop the bomb on Enforcer Headquarters so many years ago. Dark Kat smiled, actually happy to be back in his old aircraft, once again on his same mission of destruction. "Soon, all shall be made right again," Dark Kat said with a snicker as he powered up the engines. His creeplings had done a superb job with the bomb's upgrade, and now it had an explosive yield that could wipe anything within 30 miles off the face of the planet. "Megakat City will be no more," Dark Kat said confidently. He pulled on the throttle and felt the craft vibrate, then lift into the air. The Doomsday Express exploded upward through the roof of the warehouse and into the sky. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Lt. Goodson abruptly woke up, jumping out of his seat and hitting his head on the roof of the undercover car. Ever since he and Jackson had taken over for Clawson and Furlong nothing suspicious had happened, but now, as the two now very awake Enforcers looked, they saw an oversized jet fly out of the roof. Jackson quickly grabbed the radio. "We have an unidentified aircraft leaving the suspected location of wanted terrorist Dark Kat. Any aircraft intercept!" Jackson called into the radio as the jet was soon out of view. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Both T-Bone and Razor shot up in their seats as the Enforcer transmission came in over their radio. "Well, that didn't take too long," T-Bone said as he prepared to take off, only to have Razor stop him. "No, he's right on time, and, if my memory is correct...," Razor began. "...this is Furlong. We got the target on radar - we're going after him!" the radio crackled. T-Bone paused, hearing his own voice over the radio, the same transmission that he had sent over 8 years ago. "Lets just let 'ourselves' handle this one, buddy," Razor said confidently, both of them knowing what would happen next. "Weird," T-bone remarked again, wondering how much more he would utter that phrase. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Chance wove in and out of the numerous skyscrapers of Megakat City, trying to keep up with Dark Kat's jet. Two other fighters had joined in the pursuit, and he was in the lead. "Looks like we got some action today after all!" Chance said with a big grin. Jake couldn't help but feel the excitement either. This was their first actual combat mission, and neither of them was going to mess it up. "Just get us a little closer and I'll have a lock," Jake said as he watched his radar. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Pathetic," Dark Kat said aloud as he wove behind another skyscraper, the three fighters still in hot pursuit. "I'll just lose them in the densest part of the city," he said confidently as he dove lower and made a minor course correction. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Uh oh," Razor muttered as he watched his radar screen. "What 'uh oh'?" T-Bone asked, looking over his shoulder. "Dark Kat's not going where he was supposed to go. He's changed course. He's coming at Enforcer HQ from a different angle," Razor said as he watched the blips on his radar suddenly go the other way. "Do you mean that's our Dark Kat up there?" "I think it is," Razor said, changing from his radar screen to the long range Geiger meter and blinked when he did. "I'm picking up heavy readings of radiation in Dark Kat's jet!" T-Bone didn't wait; he threw the throttle up to maximum, sending them up into the sky. "We gotta stop him!" Razor said as he brought the weapon systems online. T-Bone switched the VTOL mode to standard and shot forward, going after a more deadly Dark Kat. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark Kat watched his radar screen and couldn't believe his eyes. "The SWAT Kats?!" he shouted, slamming his fist down onto the console. "How did they get here?" He put the craft into a U-turn and put the throttle to maximum, bringing his air to air weapon systems online. "No matter, I shall destroy them here and now!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jake blinked as he saw something on his radar. "Chance, look out!" he warned. Chance saw it too and threw the jet into a dive to get out of the way of the Doomsday Express as it flew past them, nearly colliding. "What does he think he's doing?" Chance asked as he pulled up and reversed course, still chasing after Dark Kat. Jake was about to answer when he saw something else on his radar. "I've got a better question - what the heck is that?" Jake said as he pointed out the canopy. Chance looked and couldn't believe his eyes. There, flying right past them, was the very jet that Jake had sketched. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "T-Bone, look out!" Razor yelled as the Doomsday Express nearly ran into them, firing a few missiles as it did. T-Bone threw the jet into a corkscrew, flying upward, confusing the missiles' internal radar, at which point they flew harmlessly past. "That was too close, pal," T-Bone said as he brought the Turbokat into an attack trajectory. Razor grasped his control stick and aimed the crosshairs to get a lock on Dark Kat's craft. Right when he almost had it, another jet got in the way. "What the...?" Razor began but was cut off by the radio. "I don't know who you guys think you are, but Dark Kat is ours!" a rather familiar voice said. The Enforcer jet, followed by two others, soon surrounded the Turbokat. "Uh oh, I've got multiple missile locks on us, buddy, They want us to back off," Razor said as red warning lights flashed. T-Bone growled and backed away as the Enforcers continued the pursuit. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really starting to hate 'myself,'" T-bone said. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Jake and Chance watched as the mysterious black jet pull away. Under normal circumstances they would have pursued it, but they were already preoccupied with Dark Kat. Chance brought them in for a shot, but Dark Kat managed to dodge behind another skyscraper. Once again, the megalomanic was heading for the densest part of town. Abruptly, the radio crackled with the voices of their fellow pilots. "Chance, Jake, let em' go - it's too dangerous!" one of his wingmen called. "Negative, we're bringing Dark Kat in," Chance replied as he swung around another skyscraper. "You guys get yourselves some donuts," he added. "You guys are nuts! We're breaking off pursuit," the other pilot radioed and broke off formation. "Roger that," Chance replied. "Leave it to us - we'll bring this psycho in even if it kills us," Chance said as he leveled out their course, Dark Kat's craft directly in front of them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From a higher altitude, the SWAT Kats watched as two of the pursuing fighters broke off, leaving only one still in pursuit. "Major deja vu here, Razor," T-Bone said as he watched. Razor was looking through his targeting scope and selected a scrambler missile. T-Bone saw the arming lights come on and looked over his shoulder. "What are you doing, buddy?" "Dark Kat still has that nuclear payload. If they fire a missile at him, it'll spread all over the city," Razor said as he locked it in. "Scrambler missile, deployed!" he said as he pressed a red button on his control stick. The bombay of the Turbokat opened and a sizzling red missile shot forward. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark Kat watched his radar and frowned. The SWAT Kats had fallen back and were seemingly hovering at a higher altitude while a lone Enforcer fighter pursued him. What are they up to? he pondered as Enforcer Headquarters came into view. Oh well, no matter, I've won anyhow, he thought confidently as he activated his targeting scope. "Soon, it will all end." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Chance, he's locking missiles on the new Enforcer building!" Jake warned as a warning light went off on his console. "We gotta nail him now, Jake!" Chance said as he matched Dark Kat's course. "No problemo," Jake said with a grin as his targeting scope locked on to the craft. "Missile deployed!" he said as a standard air to air Enforcer issue missile fired from the jet. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark Kat blinked, realizing that he had been distracted by the SWAT Kats. "No!" he cried as what had happened in the past happened all over again. This version of the Doomsday Express didn't have the force fields his later versions had, and the missile shot by the Enforcers had no trouble impacting his fuselage. "My weapons are gone!" Dark Kat shouted in rage, slamming his fist down on the console. He then blinked as he saw another blip on his radar coming in fast, another missile. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Impact in 3, 2,1...," Razor counted down as the Scrambler missile closed the distance and impacted the Doomsday Express's fuselage, sending a million megavolts into the unfortunate craft. "That should disable him." "I hope you're right, Razor," T-Bone said as he increased speed to catch up with the doomed craft. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark Kat fell back onto the floor of the cockpit as his console blew up, overloaded with electricity. As he did so, the spherical IDTD fell from his cloak pocket and rolled across the floor. "No!" Dark Kat shouted as he dove for it, but it was too late. An arc of electricity shot out from the destroyed console, hitting the IDTD. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "What the?" T-Bone asked as Dark Kat's jet disappeared in a flash of light. No explosion, no fire, just disappearing. "He's gone!" "I've lost him on radar - it's like he just vanished...," Razor said as he paused. "Wait, he's left this time frame," Razor realized as he brought up the temporal scanner that Hackle had given them weeks ago. "I think I got him," Razor said as he pulled out the makeshift time travel device that McGrath and Hackle had built. "You think that thing really works?" T-Bone asked. "Only one way to find out," Razor said as he entered in the coordinate that flashed on the temporal scanner. "Here goes nothing," he said as he pressed the 'on' button. The IDTD beeped and engulfed the Turbokat and everyone inside in a bright flash of light. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "What the...? Where'd he go?" Chance asked as he looked around. One second Dark Kat's jet was there and the next it was gone. "I don't know, Chance. I lost him on radar, and I was this close to shooting him down," Jake said with a sigh. He then noticed another Enforcer fighter come up beside him, both of them recognizing who it was. "Where's Dark Kat?!" a voice bellowed. Jake explained what had happened, and, to both of their surprises, Feral seemed not too incredibly angry. "Alright, you two did a halfway decent job. At least, you stayed in pursuit and didn't break away," Feral said with an obvious hint of disappointment in his voice for the other pilots. "You two keep this up, and I foresee that you'll be in the Enforcers for a long long time," Feral said as he cut the connection. "What's that supposed to mean?" Chance asked as he piloted the jet back for home. Jake shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe that's his version of saying 'thanks'," Jake said. Chance shrugged too and was just happy at having been in actual aerial combat. The two flew back for Enforcer Headquarters, neither of them suspecting that something had gone horribly wrong. to be continued...