When T-Bone and Razor entered the partly demolished building, they were dismayed to discover the basement stairs were blocked.
"Damn, I wonder if there's another way down?" Razor wondered aloud, looking around.
Over to the west, that wall was gone and the enforcers were there trying to unbury Dark Kat's body.
"Doesn't look like it," he grunted finally. "Okay, this way it is. Let's see if a small burrowing missile will clear this mess." Raising his glovatrix, Razor fired a missile then ducked away.
There was a deep rumble and a loud roar, dust flew to choke those nearby then finally it went quiet except for some small rocks falling.
Coughing, they waved the dust away to stare down the stairs that were now revealed. It was still choked with debris but a small path had been blasted through it.
"Right, let's go!" T-Bone said, using the flash on his helmet to see since it was pitch dark below.
Razor followed closely. It was hard going at first since they couldn't see much but finally they reached an area where the air was clearer. It was huge down here and there were a lot of closed doors.
"Crud! Do you have any idea where he might be?" T-Bone growled in dismay.
"The south wall is all I could determine from the image," Razor said with a shrug.
The tabby sighed. "Well you take this end, I'll start at the far end and we'll meet in the middle, okay?"
"Sounds like a good idea." Razor headed for the first door and had to break it open, getting a plume of dust and junk falling nearly on him. "Guess you better watch out when you open a door, buddy, " he choked ruefully.
T-Bone just snorted and headed across the dark basement. There were a lot of obstacles to go around before he could even get back to the south wall and begin his search. The first few doors opened to empty rooms, the next one dumped a bunch of broken furniture nearly on top of him. He cursed when his light was broken during that incident.
Now he had no way to see what he was doing. Using his arc welder cautiously, he would illuminate a door, check inside, then turn it off, feeling along the wall to the next door and so on. It was very tedious. He was dirty and exhausted when he reached door number ten and found a room that had broken wooden boxes scattered on the floor but seemingly nothing else. He was about to move on when a moan caught his attention. He quickly went inside and looked around more closely. There in a corner huddled was what he'd taken to be a pile of rags but was in reality, Feral.
Hurrying to the tom's side, he knelt down and tried to check the tom over but with having to hold the torch away and use one paw, it wasn't working so well especially when Feral cried out in pain when T-Bone tried to pull on him.
Hissing impatiently, he put out the torch and very gently checked the tom over. When Feral muttered in a slurry voice, he called to him.
"Hey, big guy, we need to get out of here. Are you badly hurt?" He asked, still trying to determine how badly Feral was injured.
Feeling familiar gentle paws on him, Feral thought his lover was touching him and he struggled to respond, his mind thick due to pain and probable infection but couldn't do more than moan some more.
T-Bone felt the broken arm and tried not to move it unnecessarily then searched the tom's body further, pushing his paws carefully down Feral's chest, sides, other arm, then down the belly where he froze. His breath stopped as he felt a large, smooth hardness just under the tom's ribs.
Swallowing hard, he continued his search, careful of any more injuries, but something tickled the back of his mind that insisted he knew this tom more intimately than he should. He didn't want to believe what he suspected. He had to prove to himself that it wasn't true so he did something he would never have done if Feral was in his right mind.
He pushed his fingers into the tom's sweatpants and checked Feral's equipment. The large cock that lay limp in his palm wasn't a surprise...most big toms had over large tools...but as he explored further he found what he'd prayed he wouldn't find...a clitoris and vaginal opening. He pulled out so quickly he caused Feral to cry out in pain. Heart pounding in his throat, T-Bone felt like someone had pulled a cruel joke on him. Gently he caressed that hard roundness again.
'OMG! No!' His mind screamed in denial.
As fingers caressed his belly, Feral jerked. "Ohhhh...I'm sorry!...should have told you...but couldn't...ashamed...scared...love...you...too...much to...lose...you!" He panted out, too delirious to monitor his words.
T-Bone felt his heart squeeze and shock choke him. 'Oh my God! Feral is my lover...my mate...oh this can't be happening...and he's pregnant too!' His mind refused to accept it at first.
For a long, breathless time, there was no sound except Feral's fretful moaning and his repeated words of...'I'm sorry'...said in a pathetic, begging tone which sent knives into T-Bone's heart.
Tears sprang in his eyes as he quieted his mate. "Shhh...its okay...its not your fault...easy...I'll take care of you..." he told the sick tom gently while tenderly caressing his face.
Some of that seemed to have reached Feral's wandering mind, enough that he quieted except for moaning in pain whenever he tried to move.
Before he could gather his wits, his partner suddenly appeared, his light illuminating the room.
"Hey buddy, you found him! Why the heck didn't you call me?" Razor said, irritably as he came close and knelt next to his partner. He halted in surprise at the look of shock and anguish on T-Bone's face. "What's wrong, T-Bone," he asked in concern.
"Oh God! Razor, this is my mate. I told myself...no...not possible...but I'd know that body anywhere having been intimate with it for almost a year and what's more, he's pregnant!" The tabby said in a tight, shaken voice.
Razor could only gape at his partner in shock. Then shutting his mouth, he turned to look closely at Feral. The dark tom was pale with shock and was sweating so he probably had a fever. His arm was broken and finally, he looked down at the bulging belly and shook his head in dismay and disbelief.
He looked back at his partner again. "It's yours, isn't it?" He asked quietly.
T-Bone could only nod, too choked to speak again.
Razor sighed. "We need to get him help quickly. He's very sick. We'll talk about this later." He reached for his radio and put in a call to the enforcers above them.
Some minutes later, a large group of enforcers with medics arrived. They hurriedly treated Feral then lifted him onto a gurney. His mutterings were ignored by everyone but T-Bone who could still hear his mate say he was sorry.
They followed the gurney back up to the outside and watched as he was loaded aboard a helicopter and raced to the hospital. A feeling of helplessness poured through the tabby as he railed at the fact he couldn't be with his mate when he needed him most.
Worried about his partner, Razor gently coaxed him toward the Turbokat and found himself flying them home as T-Bone was too distracted and upset to fly at all.
They reached home very quickly but T-Bone never noticed. Razor had to pull on him to get him to leave the cockpit, helped him undress, then dress and tugged him upstairs where he deposited his friend on the couch while he went to make a strong hot toddy to try and bring Chance back to himself.
Unfortunately days later and nothing Jake tried got his partner to open up or even talk. Helpless, all he could do was leave the tabby alone but keep watch over him until the tom decided to join the world again.
The news was filled with words of joy and relief as they announced the death of the worst omega next to Viper. Everyone was jubilant that two of the omegas was gone now all that was left was the Pastmaster (who really didn't count as he hadn't shown up for more than two years now) and Turmoil who was still in prison.
But along with all the celebration there was sorrow and quiet reflection on the death of so many, especially the kittens at the orphanage. Mayor Manx actually held a press conference to give a eulogy on the departed and promised to have a new orphanage built as quickly as possible. He thanked all the wonderful people who opened their homes to temporarily house the displaced orphans in the meantime.
He also gave a public thank you to the SWAT Kats and the enforcers for ending the menace as quickly as they had. Manx even had a special word about Commander Feral and gave his best wishes for the tom's quick recovery from the savage treatment Dark Kat had dealt him while in his clutches.
Jake sighed as he turned off the TV. Yeah, everyone was relieved and happy but his partner had received a shock so great, he was truly worried if Chance would ever be the same. It still shook him to think his friend had been having relations with Feral all this time and neither knew it but that had been the purpose of the club in the first place.
The truth of the matter was, what he thought was of no concern in this, as Chance and Feral were mated whether they believed it or not. Only death could change that. He remembered how happy his friend had been when he talked of his secret lover and how much they cared for each other. The body doesn't lie! They did love each other...they would simply have to get over the fact that they were originally enemies but even that had changed as they got along better with Feral now. For the sake of the kitten, the two had to accept what was and move on.
Nodding his head, Jake went to the stairs and up to his friend's room. It was time Chance was made to see this wasn't the tragedy he was making it out to be. He had found true love...he couldn't turn his back on it nor the wonderful life they'd created because of it.