Enforcer Headquarters, early morning...
Sunsinger and his second, Clawfur, swept through the Enforcer lobby headed for the elevators. He had to admit that Enforcer Headquarters was a very impressive place. He already knew Feral's offices were at the top floor which overlooked the high rise flight line. The elevator decanted them to a busy floor. Officers and admin personnel were bustling about as they made their way down a short hall to a small reception area just in front of a huge door.
"May I help you?" Asked the middle-aged secretary.
"Yes ma'am! We have an appointment to see Commander Feral. I'm Tye Sunsinger and my second in command, Chris Clawfur." He said politely.
"Yes sir. Commander Feral is expecting you. Please go on in." She said.
They pushed open the door and found themselves in a huge office with many windows. Feral sat at a gleaming, massive desk set atop a two-step pedestal. The Commander looked up at them from a file he was reviewing. He frowned briefly before clearing his expression to a more professional mask. He rose from his desk and came down the steps to greet his unwanted guests.
"Good morning, Commander." Sunsinger said politely.
"Morning." Feral said blandly showing no expression as he gestured to a small conversational area against one wall of the massive office. The Commander took a wing chair while Sunsinger and his second took the couch.
"I'll get right to the point, Commander. We need you to brief us on everything you know about the omegas, the various strategies you've used to try and defeat them, and your defense capabilities. This information will help us plan different methods that the omegas will not expect and aid us in helping you and the SWAT Kats form a cohesive team to finally defeat these criminals." Sunsinger said briskly.
"Work with the SWAT Kats?" Feral barked angrily. He jerked to his feet and stalked to the windows overlooking his flight line trying unsuccessfully to rein in his temper.
"Yes, work with them. I'm sorry Commander Feral but you are seriously outgunned. From what I've been able to observe, your military defense capabilities are sadly inadequate and badly need updating. I understand more up to date jets and equipment is being developed but are months away from doing you any good and that new designs that had been in production were dropped due to your Mayor's fiscal mismanagement." Sunsinger said bluntly. He got up from the couch and moved closer to Feral. "I know that just bites your ass too." He added quietly.
Feral turned sharply to stare at this bold kat. "You know an awful lot for someone who just got here." He said tightly.
"I always make it a habit to know everything about a job before I take it Commander. It saves a lot of unnecessary grief and keeps my team alive." Sunsinger said looking Feral in the eye, raising an eyebrow at the grudging respect he saw there.
"And this is the reason you want us to work with the SWAT Kats. Because their jet and weapons are far beyond anything I have at present?" Feral asked even though he knew the answer already.
"Of course." Sunsinger confirmed.
Sighing angrily, Feral conceded that the Phoenix Squad Leader was correct. If he truly wanted to put an end to the constant war the omegas waged on the city, he'd have to work with his worst antagonists.
"Fine, what do you want to know first?" He asked bitterly and still a little uneasy in this kat's presence.
"Why don't we start with the profiles on the omegas then take a tour of your defenses?" Sunsinger said relieved Feral was being reasonable.
Feral nodded and went to his desk and asked his secretary for the files. While they were waiting, he began to give a thumbnail sketch of each criminal. More than two hours later, they went on a tour of Enforcer Headquarters. Finally, as day was ending, they returned to their hotel to recap their findings.
Maximilian Hotel, early evening...
Dinner was ordered from room service as the team gathered in their Leader's room to begin final planning of Dr. Viper's capture.
"Well, Feral did throw a fit but finally conceded to cooperating with the SWAT Kats. I've got a good idea now how to utilize the enforcers for this mission. How are you coming on Operation Viper, Darren?" Sunsinger asked.
"Everything's set, Tye. All we need now is to do our discreet scanning to find Viper's location, get the SWAT Kats briefed and the time you want to begin the mission." Tigler reported.
"Perfect! Tomorrow, early, I'll brief the SWAT Kats on their part in this and instruct Feral to have his enforcers form an outer ring of protection to prevent any of the mutations from escaping. While I'm doing that I want you, Byron, Chris and Tommy to locate Viper's lair. The rest of you be ready to strike as soon as we find him." Sunsinger said pleased that they were moving forward so swiftly. Hopefully, if all went well, the first of the omegas would be in custody or dead by the end of the day.
Early the next morning, Sunsinger walked out onto the balcony of his hotel room. He set off the device the SWAT Kats had given him to contact them. He calculated it should take them about five minutes to respond. He went back inside and joined his team for breakfast.
The search team was packed and ready. Just shy of eight minutes the SWAT Kats were heard arriving. Darren went to the door to allow them in. They nodded at him and walked in to join the others sitting at the table.
"Good morning, SWAT Kats. Would you like some breakfast?" Sunsinger said politely as he finished his coffee.
"Naw! Were good, thanks." T-Bone said as he took a chair one of the team vacated. "So what's the word?"
"To the point! I appreciate that. Okay, the team you see getting ready are going off to find Viper's lair. He's the first omega on our list. Now, once my team has succeeded in finding Viper's location our plan of attack is as follows: Commander Feral with his enforcers will form a ring around the location to catch any mutations that try to escape. You two will swoop in to distract Viper while my team and I sneak into his hideout from the swamp itself. We figure Viper would never expect a water entry to his lab because of the indigenous creatures living in it. We are counting on Viper being surprised that his hideout has been found and sending every mutation he has to cover his escape. He shouldn't have more than a mutation or two with him when we take him out." Sunsinger explained. "You have time to get fully armed and fueled. As soon as we've got the location we move out immediately. Any questions?" He asked the pair.
T-Bone and Razor silently communicated a moment. "Sounds like you've got everything covered. But Viper is a very slippery creep and has always managed to escape. Beware of him suddenly mixing chemicals and throwing them at you and vines that unexpectedly alter and reach out for you. Favorite tactics of his when he's cornered." T-Bone warned him.
"Thank you for that information. We'll be alert for it. Anything else?" He asked.
"Nope, that's it." T-Bone said as he and Razor got to their feet to leave. "We'll be waiting for your signal. Good hunting!"
"Thank you, see you both later." Sunsinger said as he walked them to the door. After seeing the SWAT Kats out he turned to his waiting team.
"Alright, off you go and as T-Bone said, Good Hunting!" He told them. His team quickly gathered their gear and left. "Now we wait." Sunsinger said to the rest of his team.
Megakat swamp...south of the city...
The search team did a grid pattern of every inch of the swamp. It took three hours to finally pinpoint a possible location. Clawfur and Tigler went in cautiously to check it out. As they got close to the possible site of Viper's lab, they encountered some nasty mutations. Careful to leave them alive, the pair escaped the creatures and rejoined the search team.
"It's positive! Those mutations are obviously guarding Viper's home. Let's pull back to the staging area and report in to Tye." Clawfur said as his team quickly hoofed it back to their chopper.
Maximilian Hotel...just after noon...
Clicking off his communicator, Sunsinger turned to the rest of his squad. "It's a go! Load your gear while I contact the SWAT Kats and the Enforcers." He ordered.
An hour later, at the staging site, Sunsinger ensured everyone was in place before leading his squad into the swamp water. Some fifteen minutes later, The Phoenix Squad was within ten feet of Viper's hideaway when they encountered the first of its defenses. Meanwhile overhead they heard the Turbokat making its first strike.
The guards were some form of ugly misformed crocodiles. As the missile strike made the ground shake it startled them, the squad was able to kill the things with electro harpoons.
In the air above them the SWAT Kats were contending with the flying mutations that Viper was so fond of. He also seemed to have a fondness for the mushroom monsters because he was always creating more. One of them was, at that moment, protecting the entrance of Viper's Lab. Razor fired shredder blades at the thing taking it out. T-Bone had to swerve suddenly as vine monsters reached out to try and drag the jet down. Razor used slicer missiles to cut them but knew they regenerated quickly. They needed to burn or freeze them but couldn't with all the burnable material around and the squad in the way so they continued to just hack at them keeping them occupied.
Further away from the scene, Feral grumbled to himself as he and his enforcers stood by waiting for anything to come their way. It wasn't in his nature to just be standing by. His officers took care not to get too close as the Commander paced. They could see the Turbokat engaging Viper's mutations but weren't allowed to get any closer. Sunsinger impressed upon the Commander the importance of his perimeter position but it still didn't make it easier to just wait.
The Phoenix Squad succeeded in gaining entrance to the labs. They were an impressive sight and nasty too as they could see many mutation experiments in various stages of development. It looked like the mission was in time. By the looks of some of Viper's creations the good doctor was getting ready to attack the city very soon. To their disappointment, Viper had vamoosed already but they continued the search and destroy making sure the labs were completely obliterated. Sunsinger warned the outside defenders of Viper's escape.
The SWAT Kats were still wrapped up in the mutations. Feral alerted his enforcers to Viper's escape and to watch out for the lizard trying to penetrate their perimeter. Feral got lucky, Viper chose his position to try and slip out of the swamp. Viper was accompanied by more roving plant creatures that he hoped would allow him to get away. Feral's men began firing lasers and mini missiles at the creatures. Feral managed to head off Viper and engage him in a fist and tail fight. Feral was knocked against a tree but bounced back to return the favor by slamming a fist into Viper's face and knocking him back against one of his own mutations...a spiny plant thing. To Feral's shock and surprise Viper was impaled by one of the spines of his own creation. It killed him instantly.
Feral stood there a moment staring at the corpse. Shaking himself, he barked into his com that Viper was dead. Reports coming in told him the battle was nearly over. The SWAT Kats reported the sky finally cleared of flying critters and that they had assisted the enforcers in finishing the ground ones. The only ones Feral hadn't heard from was the Phoenix Squad.
The defenders gathered near the entrance of Viper's lab to find it totally destroyed. Sunsinger and his squad came walking up from the water to join them.
"The lab and its contents have been eradicated." Sunsinger reported.
"You weren't supposed to destroy the lab!" Feral barked angrily. "That's evidence!"
"It was the site of possible future trouble for the city. It had to be destroyed. Nothing would have been served preserving any of it. It was filled with abominations." Sunsinger said coldly.
"That wasn't your call!" Feral snarled back furiously at the Phoenix leader.
"I heard you killed Viper. Weren't you supposed to arrest him?" Sunsinger said silkily.
"He was killed by his own creation." Feral snapped.
"Convenient." Sunsinger said calmly walking away with his squad.
Feral stood stiff with fury his fists clenched.
"Hey, why be so upset Commander? It's a successful operation. Viper's dead and no one can resurrect his work. It looks like you didn't lose any enforcers. I call that a perfect end." T-Bone said with a pleased smirk walking away with Razor before Feral could snarl at them.
Unable to say anything more without blowing up, Feral ordered his troops back to Enforcer Headquarters and fumed all the way while his Sergeant drove. It wasn't so much that Viper had been killed and lab destroyed but the highhanded behavior Sunsinger had displayed with destroying evidence without any regard for due process that stuck in his craw.
He had a feeling Sunsinger had his own agenda for taking care of Megakat City's omegas that didn't include staying within the bounds of law.