Chapter One:

“So, they haven’t moved at all?”

“No, Miss Briggs. Although they did take out a few enforcer jets before they settled down and started circling,” replied the nervous looking enforcer.

Just then, the cab pulled up containing T-Bone and Razor, and a traumatised driver.

“So, how much do we owe you?”

“Nothing – consider it a favour!” was the reply as the driver leant over, pulled the door shut, and sped off as fast as possible.

“Nice guy.”

“Uh-huh.”

The two toms strode over to where Callie, Dessy and Luck were hovering around Callie’s car.

“Anything happen?” asked Razor.

“Not recently. Apparently, they took out a few enforcer jets before they settled down and started circling, but it’s as though they’re waiting for something.”

“Us?”

“I should think so,” replied Luck “Their orders were to distract you. So, they’ll be waiting for you to appear before they try anything. I think I’d better disappear now, before they spot me. If they see me, they’ll know something’s up.”

“You’d better get back too, Miss Briggs, and you, Dessy. We don’t want anybody getting hurt if we can avoid it.”

“Right. Good luck,” said the she kats before they got back into Callie’s car and pulled off.

“Oh, and stay as far back as possible. Once you can’t get any further away, get out of the car, and stand back from it. If the charge catches the car, it’d at least give you a nasty shock, if not kill you!”

“We’ll remember that!” replied Dessy as she leant out of the window and waved.

“OK, T-Bone. How are we going to do this?” Razor asked as he held out the box covered in wires in front of him.

T-Bone looked at his partner. “You’re the smart one.”

“All right then, T-Bone. I knew it was too much to ask you to have a few ideas.”

Razor looked up. In front of him was a tall building with a conveniently flat roof. It also happened to be one of the tallest in the area. Perfect.

“T-Bone, they haven’t spotted us yet. Let's get up to the top of that building,” (he pointed upwards) “and we can set this thing off from up there.”

“Won’t it shock the building?”

“I hope not. There’s no way of telling. This thing is really unpredictable.”

“So, we could die?”

“Well, when I was testing it, it always sent the charge towards the nearest metal object. So, if we take off our glovatrixes, then there is very little to attract the charge, and we should be OK.”

“Should?”

“Just come on.”

The two entered the building, and went straight to the elevator. Looking at the people around, the clothing and the briefcases, it seemed that it was an office building. The door opened, they entered, and pushed the button for as close to roof as possible. It made them feel awkward to be surrounded by suits and ties and briefcases, when they were standing there in flight suits (which hadn’t been washed in quite a while) and carrying a rusty, dusty, strange looking box. They could feel all the people around them crushing against the side of the elevator, trying to get away.

We may be the city's protectors, thought Razor, but people still don’t seem to trust us.

T-Bone wasn’t really bothered. He was eyeing up a small group of she kats at the front of the elevator, who were giggling, and wearing amazingly short skirts for the office. When it was their floor, Razor had to grab T-Bone to stop him following them out.

“T-Bone, we have work to do.”

“I hate working.”

“Yeah, me to,” Razor replied, glancing in the she kats' general direction.

They continued up the elevator until they reached the highest floor that they could. There was no direct access from the elevator to the roof, so they had to use the stairs for the last couple of floors.

“T-Bone, carry this for me would you, for a while?”

“Do I have to?”

“Please?”

“Come on Razor. I’m as tired as you are…”

“You’re the brawny one! You’re supposed to carry the heavy stuff!”

“Fine.”

T-Bone took the box from Razor with a scowl, and they began the ascent.

“Razor, you never told me why it looks like this. I mean, you couldn’t exactly call it aerodynamic. It’s not a proper missile, is it? Well, not yet anyway. I guess it’s like a baby missile. You know, chubby at first, but when it grows up…”

“T-Bone, you’re babbling. About what, I’m not sure. But, you’re definitely babbling.”

“But, it’s not…”

Razor rolled his eyes. The one thing he hated about T-Bone was that he had some really strange personality changes sometimes. It was only something that had been happening recently. He had always been surly previously, but recently, he had been almost childlike. Maybe the years of trying to keep up a tough facade were finally wearing him down.

Razor turned to T-Bone and began to carefully explain.

“It’s, um, ‘chubby’, because it was a very experimental missile. I tried it, found it wasn’t predictable enough to use safely in combat, and ‘shelved’ it. That meant that although I’d got the insides working, I never got around to putting it in a proper aerodynamic casing. You understand? It wasn’t worth continuing and making a case for it, because it didn’t work.”

“Oh, so it didn’t work, so rather than wasting your time by finishing it, you simply left it as it was, but in storage.”

“Yes. That’s it. That’s exactly it.”

T-Bone smiled. Now he got it.

They continued on their way.

They reached the roof as the jets were circling. They were by now, circling their particular building only. They knew they were there.

“T-Bone, bring the bomb thingy over here.” Razor pointed to the centre of the roof. “Put it there, and I’ll set it up.”

“And, in the meantime, what do I do?”

“Um, take a break.”

T-Bone put the bomb down. Then, he walked over to the side of the building.

There was a terrific view of most of the city.

“Wow,” thought T-Bone, “So, this is what we’re protecting. Wow. Kinda makes you think.”

He paused for a moment, as though savouring the sight.

“Darn it’s big!”

“Hey, T-Bone, I can see our house from here!” came a voice from the other side of the building. Apparently, Razor had finished setting up the bomb.

“Really?”

“No, T-Bone. We’re on the other side of town.”

T-Bone made his way over to where Razor was standing. The two looked up. They began to look for the Kats in the planes, to see who they were.

Each jet had enough seats for a pilot and a weapons officer. They saw, in the five jets, an evil T-Bone and Razor, several nameless male kats, and startlingly, a she kat, who really did resemble Felina Feral.

“Don’t those guys look like some from the academy?”

“Yes. They all look sorta familiar in their own way.”

Names began flitting in and out of the two kats' minds. Random names. Names of those they had vaguely known during their training…

But, the tom kats eyes came to rest on the two kats in their own likeness. And, for a moment, for one split second, the two thought. What would it be like to watch themselves being defeated? Or perhaps even killed?

It was something neither wanted to think about, and they quickly pushed the notion out of their minds. And armed the bomb. And ran.

Razor headed straight for the side of the building. T-Bone ran the other way to the stairs.

“T-Bone! Wrong way!” called Razor as he leapt from the building.

“Razor!!!!! Oh my god oh my god oh my god….” T-Bone yelled as he ran over to the side where Razor had been.

“Razor? Razooooooor!” he stared over the side of the building and saw Razor looking back at him.

“T-Bone! C’mon!”

T-Bone stared downwards for a moment. Razor was standing on the roof of the building next to the one he was on.
“Sometimes, I am so dumb…” T-Bone muttered to himself. He backed up a few strides, and leapt, easily making the gap and landing beside his partner.

“Run!”

The two jumped from one building to the next, faster and faster, and then the jets began to sit up and take notice.

They locked on to the pair as they jumped.

“Razor, I’m no genius, but somehow, leading these jets further into the city does not seem like a good idea…”

“Yeah. Let's split up and go in separate directions. We’ll be harder to target…”

The pair split up at the very next building.

The first few jets, led by the two kats' evil doubles, followed Razor. The last few jets, led by the anti-Felina Feral, followed T-Bone.

“Ok, guys,” Felina hissed, “let's have a little fun with this one… arm lasers! Aim! Fire!”

T-Bone was immediately surrounded by laser fire. One beam shot across the end of his tail, causing a deep cut to appear there.

“Yow! That hurts!” squealed T-Bone as he began to weave to avoid the fire. He reached up within his helmet and tweaked the switch that would activate the helmet communicator and enable him to talk to his partner.

“Razor, how are you doing?”

“Uuurm, well… Ow! Ow!”

" Razor? You Ok?”

“I think so, but it's gonna be hard to get them off my tail…”