Chapter 18: Chance Get's a Surprise
It was tough going trying to raise a fast growing Sabren kitten and still manage to work. Feral had returned to his office with great relief some two weeks earlier and was still trying to juggle his motherly responsibilities with his enforcer ones.
One thing he was eternally grateful for was the daycare he'd had the foresight to set up a few months after he'd mated and had begun to feel better about himself and his new situation. It was a Godsend! He felt less stressed knowing Jeremy was nearby and safe from harm.
His thoughts were interrupted by his second in command.
"Here's the Munitions Theft report, sir!" Steele said briskly, laying the report in front of Feral.
"Thank you. Anything more I need to know?" Feral asked as he picked up the file and began to read it.
"Only that we've finally cracked the perp late last night. He sang like a canary and confirmed what we'd suspected."
"Good...excellent! So glad we've been able to close that constant leak at last," Feral grunted, pleased with the results of the six month long investigation.
Feral had been hardily tired of criminals managing to get their paws on the new tech coming out of Pumadyne. He'd ordered an undercover investigation into the reason it was happening, ...suspecting a mole somewhere in the development process. He had been right. They had finally uncovered a mole in the munitions plant where the new weapons were being built. The creep had been leaking the information to the highest bidder during special auctions he would hold once a month for years.
"What is even more great news is we discovered a couple more lower level minions trying to get a piece of this lucrative pie under the nose of the mole. Hopefully, we've managed to truly plug the leak completely with the new security measures that have been instituted and a tighter background check being done at the plant and at Pumadyne," Steele said with satisfaction.
"Very good news!" Feral murmured as he put down the report and gave Steele a considering look.
While he had been on maternity leave, he had been forced to leave Steele in charge. To his surprise, Steele had done a complete turn around in attitude. When he returned to work, he was pleasantly amazed to find his desk free of work. Asking Sgt Fallon, privately, what he thought of the reports leaving the Commander's office, the response was, 'to my surprise, sir, Lt. Commander Steele put out very concise and complete reports and on time. Made my job easier.'
Feral had been stunned by that report but within days of returning to work, he saw for himself how efficient Steele had become and was very pleased and relieved.
"Great job monitoring this and handling the interrogation, Steele. You'll get an commendation for this work," Feral told the slim built tom.
Steele blushed a bit at the compliment and the promise of a good mark in his record. "Thank you, sir but I was only doing my job."
"And that's what I'm rewarding you for. You've been a pain in my tail since your arrival under my command...incompetent and cowardly as well as arrogant. I'm pleased to see a totally different officer standing before me. I feel much more at ease knowing you are my second than when you arrived. Keep up the good work and you will certainly earn the right to become Commander some day," Feral said warmly.
Steele flashed a smile of pleased and embarrassed pleasure. "Thank you, sir," he said bashfully. "I'd better go...uh...I have work to do on my desk."
Feral grinned and waved a dismissal. Steele briskly saluted and turned about, walking quickly out of the Commander's office.
Feral shook his head, still amazed by the turnaround of his second. Sighing, he got back to work himself. Glancing at the time, he found he would be able to get this work piled on his desk done before going down to spend a few minutes with his son at lunch time. He tried to do that everyday. It eased his protective instincts as well as reassured his Sabren son.
At the moment, Jeremy was one of three Sabren kittens in the daycare. Though they really didn't require any special care, the kittens were more aggressive and bigger than their Kat kitten companions so had to be monitored so they wouldn't accidentally harm the Kat kittens in the nursery. Even at two months old, Jeremy was already sitting up and beginning to crawl when the Kat kittens could only roll over.
Over at the city's salvage yard, a tabby tom was hauling an engine out of a pile of spare parts to be used in someone's recently blown engine. A loud honk greeted him as he was crossing the yard toward the garage where he and Jake made a little extra income.
Scowling, Chance continued on to the first bay of the garage to lay the engine carefully on the ground as a huge dump truck trundled into the yard. It halted beside him, massive air breaks blowing foul air at him.
Murray poked his head out of the passenger window and called down to the tabby, "got some more work for you guys!" Then he turned back to his large companion and said, "hit it Burke!"
"Don't you dare!" Chance bellowed, leaping to the running board of the salvage truck then reaching in and yanking Burke's arm from the dump switch.
"Hey! You get out of my truck!" Burke bellowed, slamming a big fist toward Chance's head but missing as the tom leapt down quickly.
"You dump that stuff here again and I swear I'll break your arm, Burke," he shouted, his fists clenched, teeth bared.
Burke was about to shout back with a nasty threat but Murray beat him to it. "Oh, we're so scared! Get real, Furlong. You're nothing but a has-been and always will be," he said nastily.
Seeing red, Chance reached into the cab again and snatched Murray out by his shirt and tossed him in a stack of salvage, knocking him out. With a roar of anger, Burke came lumbering out of the truck and grabbed Chance. Undaunted and unafraid, Chance gave the huge Kat a hard one two punch that would have thrown Dark Kat off his feet. As it was Burke was no match for the solid hit the powerful tabby delivered to his stomach which doubled him over in agony then another punch, this time to the jaw, that sent the garbage Kat flying to land unconscious on the ground near the garage doors.
Heaving for breath, Chance stared down at his vanquished foes. Wiping the sweat from his face, he climbed into the dump truck then drove it to where he wanted the salvage placed, released the handle that raised the bed of the truck and dumped the stuff to the ground. Returning the truck bed to normal, he reached out and grabbed the salvage receipt clipboard, signed for the delivery, ripped his part off then drove the truck back to the pair just waking up and trying to stand. Parking the truck beside them, he picked up Murray and dumped him into the passenger seat then he 'helped' Burke into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind the still groggy tom.
Smiling, pleased he had finally succeeded in getting even with the two pain in the tails that had badgered and taunted him for years, he spared them only a disgusted but satisfied look before returning to the garage, pausing to place the receipt on their office desk then picking up the engine again and carrying it to the rear of the bay where the car waited for it.
"Well, you're in a good mood. Was that Burke and Murray I heard?" Jake asked, coming from a rear storeroom with a box of parts in his paw.
"Yeah, and I finally had it out with them. They were going to dump in front of the door again and I just snapped. I yanked that smart mouth Murray by his shirt and threw him into a pile of car parts knocking him out then gave Burke a quick one-two punch sending him to la-la land. While they were counting stars, I simply drove the salvage to where we wanted it, dumped it and returned the truck to them then stuffed the two back in their vehicle while they were still trying to figure out what had happened to them," Chance told his partner, feeling not the least bit guilty for what he'd done.
Suddenly, there was the sound of the dump truck roaring off, the noise of it fading rapidly into the distance. Chance just grinned. "Guess they decided leaving was a better idea than confronting me again."
Jake could only groan and shake his head. "They will make trouble for us you know," he said in resignation. "So, I take it we've got a pile to sort later?"
"Yeah, not too much stuff though. Should only take us about an hour to sort it and we won't get into trouble. Uly will just ask me what happened, I'll tell him what we've had to put up with and he'll deal with it," Chance said with certainty.
"Huh! Yeah, I guess you're right about that. Now maybe we won't have to put up with their stupid behavior anymore. Glad there's not much salvage either because I have plans for this evening... I want to work on a new invention," Jake said pleased.
"It also means I'll get home on time tonight, if no troublemakers show up," Chance grunted as he hefted the new engine into its new home.
"Ever since we got rid of Dark Kat, Viper and Turmoil, things have been nice and quiet lately," Jake reminded him.
"Yeah, ain't it the truth!"
"I never thought I say it, but I'm kinda glad things are finally quieting around here. We could really use the break."
"You got that right."
Conversation lapsed after that as the two concentrated on their work. It was lunch time when they finished with the intake for the day, a perfect time, they figured to eat lunch then go sort the salvage.
Ordering some sub sandwiches from a favorite eatery, they sat in their break room and watched TV while they waited.
"Hey buddy, are you still thinking about finding a new home for you and Ulysses?" Jake asked thoughtfully after a few minutes.
Chance kept his eyes on the TV as he answered. "I am at least...Ulysses however...he's still resistant to the idea but I might be winning especially after the episode when Jeremy climbed from his bassinet the other day and crawled into our bedroom while we were...um...occupied."
Jake stared at Chance in shocked surprise. Shaking his head, he said in disbelief, "crud, Chance. I know Sabren kittens grow fast but, I mean Jeremy is only two months old for goodness sake!"
His friend gave a snort and a shake of his head. "You don't think I find that a bit odd as well? My kid is already crawling around when I expected him to still be somewhat helpless for another four months at least. The doc wasn't kidding when he said Jeremy would grow quickly for the first six months before slowing down to match Kat kitten growth patterns."
"That's just incredible and scary. So, due to Jeremy being a bit too nosy, you think Ulysses will now consider getting a house?" Jake said, still shaking his head.
"Well, at least he's listening and not tuning me out now," Chance snorted in pained amusement.
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their lunch. Paying for it, they settled down to eat and watch some TV. Some thirty minutes later, they got up, stretched, tossed their trash then went to sort the salvage.
As they worked, Jake asked, "so, have you thought a little more about that place I suggested?"
Chance wiped his sweating brow as he hefted up a tank door. "Yeah I have. Maybe if we're done here early enough we could ride out and take a look?"
"Sure, good idea. I checked recently and found it's still for sale," Jake agreed readily, though it delayed him from his own plans.
After about an hour, they were finished. Sweaty and ready to close for the day, Chance went and put up the closed sign while Jake finished up the days paperwork. The two of them closed up their garage then went up to take turns getting showered before hopping into their tow truck and heading out of town.
The place Jake had found was just across the bay from Professor Hackle's lab home. It was hidden in the trees just above the bay. Other homes were scattered about, all some distance from each other, allowing a great deal of privacy. This home had been on the market for more than eight months because it required extensive repairs; the roof needed new tiles, the garage had collapsed, and a couple of windows had been broken out.
As they drove up, Chance was not put off by the work needed to be done on it. What he saw was adequate seclusion, access to the bay below the home, and an empty clearing with no homes nearby a few yards from the house's back yard. The clearing was filled with high weeds that would need to be mowed down but overall, an excellent place to land the Turbokat when necessary or Uly's chopper.
They got out of the truck as soon as he pulled up to the sad looking garage. The driveway was nothing more than a very rutted, dirt pathway...it would need to be paved. Paws in his pockets, Chance walked around the outside looking over the exterior and the grounds.
"It doesn't look too bad. The wood is still in good condition, fortunately. The roof appears sound and just needs to be recovered, windows need replacing as well. As for the grounds, a little landscaping, repaving the drive, and it looks like we could dig us an underground safety room as well, what you you thing?" He paused to ask his partner.
Jake studied the sloping ground behind and under the house for some minutes before answering. He had a device in his paws that allowed him to check the soundness of the grounds. It was similar to the one he used aboard the Turbokat to determine if the ground was safe to land on.
"You're in luck, Chance. Its firm bedrock underneath here. It will be tough to dig out but at least we won't have to shore up with cement and timbers to make the safety room," Jake said, pleased with the results.
"Fantastic!" Chance said, a happy grin on his face as he continued to look around. "I can see we'll need to make some better steps than these rotted out ones leading down to the dock and I'll want to put up a fence to keep Jeremy safe. I might even want to build a boat dock eventually," he mused.
"Sounds good. Let's take a look inside," Jake suggested as he went to the front door and opened it.
Besides the glass from the two broken windows, there was debris...leaves, pine cones, dust, etc...that had blown in as well. In the kitchen, appliances needed replacing as did the cracked tile floor but the cabinets were sound...if a little dirty. Jake checked out the electrical panel located near the stairs leading down to a mini basement and found it sound but he would be boosting it by adding more circuits so that a high quality security system could be installed.
Chance was pleased with the floor plan. The living room was large with a good-sized stone fire place and the dining room was straight ahead from the front door and had a set of sliding glass doors that opened to the bay side of the house. The kitchen had a skylight and was bright and airy with oak cabinets. Turning right from the main door was a short hall that lead to a medium bathroom also with a skylight in the ceiling. Down the hall were three bedrooms, the master being at the end with a huge bathroom containing a shower, soaker tub and double sinks. There was a very nice walk in closet as well.
Going back to the kitchen, he went down the short stairs that lead to the mini-basement area. He pulled out a flashlight since the power was off in the home and looked around. The floor was a small cement apron which held a nice gas furnace, a good sized hot water tank, washer/dryer hookups that were next to a tub sink and, in that last small area of the room a shelving area had been put in for storage.
Nodding in satisfaction, he walked back upstairs just as Jake was coming in from the back yard. He apparently had been checking out the clearing nearby.
"There's a lot of work but it's nothing we can't do ourselves," he said confidently. "Well, what do you think?"
"I like it! I just hope I can afford to buy it," Chance said worriedly.
"Don't worry. If you want it then you'll have it," Jake said firmly then added, "I've been saving a surprise for you but didn't want to say anything until I was sure things with you and Feral were going to work."
"A surprise? What kind of surprise and how can you be sure I can get this place?"
Jake just smiled. "You know how I was blacklisted by all the weapons plants and labs here in Megakat City before I joined the enforcers instead?"
Chance scowled at the reminder. "Of course, I do. It was a lousy thing for them to do and you still haven't found out why it happened."
"Well they've lost their chance...permanently! Since I'm blacklisted as Jake Clawson, I'm most certainly not as Razor. I have them begging me to help them or sell them my designs but they can go hang themselves. From the many contacts I've gotten on my Razor website, I have more requests to buy my designs for top dollar prices than I have time to fill. So as soon as I say yes and send off my first order, I'll be wealthy enough to buy your home, remodel it, buy my condo, build our new lair, and pay off our debt to Feral!" He said in triumph. "We'll be free at last!"
His partner gaped at him in shocked amazement. It took him some moments to finally blurt out, "that's fantastic and why the heck didn't you think of that before? We wouldn't have had to muck around with the garage...squeezing out a living as we have for these past few years."
Jake shrugged. "Well, for one thing, I had to develop a reputation as Razor first, buddy and we were just too busy for me to even think about our futures. But with all this quiet time we've had recently, I've had time to really think and plan where we want to go from here, especially since we've been able to take out most of the omegas with the Sabren's help."
Chance just shook his head. "All I can say is, I'm glad you never stop thinking. I would love to be able to stop working at the garage. However, wouldn't paying off the loan put us out of the salvage yard? How would we access the parts we need to keep going and what about the hangar underneath?"
"Well, that's why I haven't accepted any offers yet. I needed to talk with you about what we plan on doing first."
"Oh, okay, but you're the thinker, I'm betting you already have some ideas perculating in that brilliant mind of yours."
Jake blushed at the compliment. "Well, yeah, I have had some ideas..."
"How about you start spouting them off to me on the drive back to the yard?" Chance said heading for the tow truck.
Nodding in agreement, Jake climbed into the truck and they were soon driving through the forested area for the main road.
"Okay, first of all we need a new hangar before we close the old one. Secondly, we need to find a new garage to take our customers so we can close the garage. Thirdly, once our new hangar is built and we've closed the garage, we pay off the debt to Feral."
"Callie isn't going to be happy about that," Chance interjected.
"Yeah, I know but I don't want to run a garage any longer...do you?
"Nope! She'll just have to get used to seeing someone else," Chance said quickly. "So did you have somewhere in mind for our new hangar?"
"Not yet! I haven't had time really, to check out some possibilities so that's something else we have to get done. If you're patient, Chance we'll get out of our present nightmare but it could take a couple of years to do it, okay?" Jake asked.
"Hey, if it means getting out from under the debt sooner than we'd hoped then I'm willing to wait for as long as it takes. It's easier to wait when you know there's an end to it unlike before."
"Exactly. Meanwhile, we'll continue to do what we've been doing except we will also be searching for a new home for our hangar, fixing up your new residence, and finding a new reputable garage for our clients," Jake recapped their discussion.
"Sounds like a great plan and boy, will we be busy!" Chance said, a frown forming on his face. "As a matter of fact, it might be difficult to manage all that during the day. I can't stay after work any more. How do you think we'll be able to do all of this?"
"Hmm, you're right. Well then, perhaps we should just close up the garage sooner. That will leave us plenty of time to work on your house, first while we search for a new place for the hangar. Once your place is done, then we can begin building our hangar," Jake conceded.
"That means we only have the salvage yard to monitor which really doesn't take that much time out of the day...I like that idea better!"
"Great! Then what I need to do first is sell some of my designs and rake in the money. I'll open a bank account and begin depositing the money there and as soon as I have enough built up then you and I will open a direct payment system with the enforcer accounting office. They will just take the money out monthly to pay the bill and we won't have to worry about it until we're ready to pay it off completely. I don't want anyone getting suspicious about where we're getting the money so doing it this way just looks like we found more stable and consistent income to pay our debt without raising any alarms," Jake said musingly.
"Good idea, buddy! Doing it that way will keep my mate from being suspicious as well. I don't want to tell him about it for now."
"I was going to suggest that but didn't want to get you upset about doing something behind your mate's back."
"No, in this case, I want the house to be a secret, however, he will have to know we closed the garage because...remember he does send us vehicles to be repaired," Chance warned.
"Crud! That's right!" Jake exclaimed in annoyance. "I don't want him to know I'm selling my tech elsewhere though. What are you going to tell him we're doing to make the money for our payments?"
Chance frowned. He hadn't thought of that then his face cleared. "I'll just tell him you and I decided to do something else that makes better money...construction!" He grinned wolfishly.
Jake chuckled. "And its the truth too! Brilliant idea. It will also explain why you come home with plaster, wood dust, and other debris on you too."
"So true!" His partner laughed. "There still one other thing though that you didn't cover...how do we obtain the stuff we need to keep our gear updated and the Turbokat flying?"
"Oh, I thought I mentioned that...with the money I'll be making, I can purchase everything we need and it'll be top quality rather than salvage!"
"Cool, though I seemed to recall you managed to get some really rare stuff from the yard."
"Well, who says we can't go to the yard as customers and buy what we need," Jake said, grinning. "Or sneak in and take what we want as we've always done since some of it is not for sale," he finished with a smirk.
Chance could only laugh at that.
They pulled into the yard an hour later, just ten minutes before they usually closed for the day.
"Well, I'd better get home," Chance said, tossing the keys for the truck on the office desk. "Thanks, buddy. I feel so much better about our future now."
"Speaking of our futures...you need to think about what you want to do when you no longer have to care for the salvage yard and only have our SWAT Kat duties left...after we've built our hangar, of course."
"Hmm, that's true...though, at first, I wouldn't mind spending more time with Jeremy but then I'll get bored when he goes off to school so I'll need something else to do. I'll give it some thought! I take it, you already know what you're going to do?" Chance said, giving his friend a knowing glance.
"Yeah, I do. Be a freelance designer, of course," Jake said grinning.
"Of course," Chance grinned back. "See you tomorrow, Jake and thank you. It feels a little strange letting you make all the money and spending it on me but I have no way to do what you can do..."
"Don't...I don't want you to feel bad about taking my money. You've been my best friend and partner for years and all I want is for you to be happy and safe. Let me do this without you feeling your pride is stung...please?" Jake begged softly.
Chance smiled warmly and gave his friend a tight hug. "It may feel strange, but I promise not to let it bother me. This is something you've been wanting to do for all your life and now you can. I won't deny you the pleasure of finally earning the money and reputation you so richly deserve selling your designs. I feel privileged to be considered that important to you."
Jake sighed and hugged back. That had been the one thing that had worried him...hurting Chance's pride. He was relieved, his longtime buddy was okay with him doing this for them both.
They released each other and waved goodbye as Chance went down into the hangar to change to T-Bone and go home to his mate and son.
Grinning happily to himself, Jake went up to make something for dinner before going to work in his shop. He felt happier than he'd had for a long time and was looking forward to a truly bright and successful future.