Chapter One:

The four Kats stood in the centre of the hangar. The two she kats gazed around in amazement. Neither of them had expected this. It was so big, so strange so…

"…Expensive looking, isn't it?" smiled Jake.

"Who'd think you could build this on your salary," replied Dessy with a nod. The size was the main thing. It was huge, and it was not something you'd expect to find under a junkyard.

"Well," said Jake as he made his way towards a pile of what looked like junk in one corner of the hangar, "Most of it is salvaged. We pay for very little. A lot of what we need is simply here anyway. So, it's actually not as expensive as you think."

Jake burrowed down beneath the junk and dragged out an item which looked worse than anything else in the pile.

"What is that?"

"A prototype missile or bomb. I haven't figured out which yet." Jake turned it over in his hands. It was a small metal box, with a network of wires crossing and wrapping around its outside. "I was fiddling around, trying something different. It was designed to disable a vehicle without being fatal to any people on board. What happened was weird. It was magnetic. It was also accompanied by a huge electrical charge. First, it would effect its computers, changing readings and such. Then, the charge would fry the computer, and it would get so strong and hot it would cause anything flammable to catch fire. Eventually, it would start to affect the mechanical parts, and if it wasn't already done for, it would totally destroy it."

"And, the kats in it?"

Jake swallowed. "Killed by the charge, almost instantaneously." He looked at the three as they watched him fiddle with the box. "I disconnected it from its power source because it was unstable. That's why we never used it. If something went wrong, and it went off, the Turbokat would be done for. There was also the risk that even if this thing hit another vehicle, if we were to close, it could affect us."

"Wow," said Chance as he made his way towards the pile, and began to dig through it. "I am so glad you never used that."

"Yes, but it might be just what we are looking for now."

"So," Luck ventured, "If you can get this near the jets, it could knock them out all together, all at once!"

"Yes! But, we couldn't do it in the Turbokat, because it would kill us too."

"I see," said Dessy, who was now feeling more than a little left out. "But, now you don't have it, so you could find another way."

"Think you can get it working again?"

"I suppose so," Jake said as he opened the top to take a look inside. "It would take a little work. It's been in storage for a while."

Luck looked the pile up and down "That is storage? What else do you have in there?"

Chance's tail and part of his behind were now visible sticking out of the pile. Dessy thought that if she looked carefully, she could just see some of his light brown fur through the tangle of wiring and odd shards of metal. The pile was moving slightly as he shuffled in deeper. "It's going to fall on him," she mumbled to herself. "Just wait for it all to fall down. Wait for it, waaaiiit foooor iiiiit…."

Bang.

"There it goes."

"Chance? Here Dessy, hold this." Jake pushed the object into Dessy's hands and made his way over to the pile "Chance? CHANCE!"

"Mpphhrrrrrrwwww."

"Is that a real word?" Dessy asked Luck.

"Does it sound like it?"

"Something fell on my head," came the voice from beneath the metal. "Ow."

"Get out, Chance. You could damage something," Jake said. "Or yourself," he added as an afterthought.

"Come on, Jake, you have some half-decent stuff in here. What is our toaster doing in here? Hang on, I'll bring it out."

Bang.

"Ow."

"Just leave it in there."

"No. It still works."

Bang.

"Chance!"

"You're going to kill yourself!"

"Or break something!"

Bang.

"Fine! I'll just get out of it then. Empty handed."

The three observing kats watched as his tail strained, and his rump wriggled a little.

"Little help?"

"Great, Jake. Your buddy is jammed," sighed Luck.

"He can't help it if he has a mental age of five," Jake replied. Not too unkindly, but just harshly enough to let Chance know how he felt about him doing stuff which was so obviously stupid.

Chance's tail relaxed. "Point taken. But, your partner is stuck headfirst in a pile of your failed inventions."

"They are not failed! They just, um, didn't turn out the way I expected."

"Failed! Trash!"

"Fine, stay in there then."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

There was a knock at the front door, and Jake started towards the hangar exit.

"You aren't seriously considering leaving him in there?" Luck asked

"Why not? He insulted me. Besides, I'll get him out later."

There was more knocking, and Jake walked out.

"Chance, we can't get you out ourselves, we're not strong enough," Dessy yelled from across the hangar, "But, don't worry. We'll get you out later!"

Chapter Two:

Callie knocked on the door again. It was the third time. Nobody was answering. Maybe she could have called ahead…

From the other side of the door she could hear slightly raised voices and snatches of a loud conversation.

"Is he OK…"

"He's fine…"

"That was really, really cruel…"

"You're his friend…"

"He was only looking…"

Weird, she thought. But, nothing too out of the ordinary for this place, and these kats.

Jake opened the door. "Hi, Callie."

"Hi."

Jake opened the door wide enough for her to enter and closed it behind her. Callie made her way to the main room, and was startled.

"It's… It's… Clean!"

"Yeh," Dessy replied to Callie's startled response. "Chance went on a cleaning spree; he did everything. Even the…" she shuddered, "…the bathroom."

"Not nice."

"No."

"You may want to take off your shoes," Jake nearly snarled. "Or he'll get grumpy."

"Okaaaaaaay…"

Jake took her shoes and let her make herself comfortable while he found somewhere to put them.

"So, Callie. What brings you here?" Dessy asked. She didn't really want to know, but it was getting uncomfortable. She could tell Callie resented the presence of Luck.

"Those jets are back."

"What are they doing?"

"That's what's weird. Nothing. They are doing nothing. They're in the air, but they're just circling, like they're waiting for something."

"Ah," Jake mumbled as he re-entered the room. "So, you were wondering whether the SWAT Kats could check it out?"

"Actually, yes."

"Be there in a while. I just have to get Chance out of his burrow, and we'll make our way there. You go ahead and keep an eye on them until we get there. Call us if they do anything different. Oh, and take Luck and Dessy with you."

"Us! Why?" they chorused

"So Callie isn't alone."

Chapter Three:

"OK Chance. Brace yourself." Jake lent back and pulled on Chance's tail as hard as he could.

"Ow! Ow!"

"Are your legs underneath you in there?"

"Yes."

"Well, push with your legs too."

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."

"Got it!"

Chance flirted out from where he had been trapped and sat on the floor of the hangar, breathing deeply.

"Much better."

"Now what?"

Jake thought for a minute. They had no transport of their own. So, how did they get there? The jet was down, the cyclotrons were broken after a previous encounter, and any use of the pickup truck could be traced back to the salvage yard, and so to them, and then…

"What about Callie's car? We could borrow it."

"She just drove off in it."

"So, that's what I heard."

"Uh-huh."

"Bus?"

"No."

"Cab?"

"Let's just get ready. We can worry about that later."

Chapter Four:

"TAXI!"

"T Bone, you don't think this is a little dumb?"

"Taking a Taxi? No! No. No…."

"Yes."

"Maybe a little. People are looking at us funny. But, we are dressed in flight suits, carrying a weird looking box, standing on the curb, yelling for a TAXI!"

"Ooooh, there's one!"

"TAXI!"

"TAXI!"

"TAXI!"

"TAXI!"

"They just drove off faster than before."

"Oh, I wonder why," replied T Bone sarcastically.

"There goes another one!"

"Run! Catch it, come on, I think it's stopping!"