As Feral dug into his work after being gone soo long, elsewhere on the outskirts of the city in a deteriorating mansion with dead lawns and a crumbling wall that made a sad attempt to protect the place but was failing as time and the weather chipped away at it mercilessly sat a dark figure going over some plans laid out on a huge oak desk in a magnificent library/den with a still functioning fireplace which was burning a large log, sending flames up the chimney. Decay had been stopped within the mansion so the new inhabitants could reside within it comfortably while its exterior discouraged anyone from wanting to approach.
The library held no books and the curtains were looking decidedly tattered but the carpets and furniture had been cleaned and gleamed with new life. However, the dark figure paid no heed to his sumptuous surroundings. His plans for conquest were all that mattered to him.
Suddenly his concentration was interrupted by a pair of Kats wearing black fur tight suits that covered them from head to toe except for their eyes with black boots covering their feet. One of them hurried forward and rapidly whispered an urgent message.
The dark figure roared with anger, tossing his pen down and getting to his feet so that he could pace. Anger poured from him making his minions back away fearfully but not daring to leave the room without permission.
Through the still open door two figures walked in having heard the roar of anger and wanting to investigate its cause.
"What'ssss wrong, Dark Kat?" Viper hissed, his forked tongue getting in the way of clearer speech.
"Yeah, what's all the hullabaloo?" Hard Drive asked, frowning.
Dark Kat turned to face them, a scowl on his odd face. "It seems Feral anticipated possible danger to his progeny and has found a way to have her whisked away with no one seeing how or who had done it nor where she is hidden while he's at Enforcer Headquarters."
"Seems your plan has run into a roadblock," Hard Drive said carefully.
The huge Kat gave the techno thief a cold look that caused the tom to cringe and step back. "No it only means it has been delayed a little. We will simply keep a closer eye on the Commander and if we must, you, Hard Drive may have to spy on Feral from inside his apartment."
Hard Drive grimaced at that option. Going back to jail was not high on his list right now. "Let's hope not since I have a suspicion Feral has insured he has a high tech security system in place to spot anyone trying to slip into his home," he said sourly.
Dark Kat eyed Hard Drive with a coldly calculating look for a long moment then growled, "That's the first time I've heard you voice an opinion that could be very accurate. Despite your reservations, if it comes down to you testing his security that is what you will do."
Hard Drive bit his lip to keep from snarling a negative to that order. He wasn't in a hurry to be made an experiment of Dr. Viper's if he angered DK too much. Hunching his shoulders, he just nodded and escaped when DK indicated they could leave. He hissed angrily to himself as he returned to the room he had made his own in this huge mausoleum of a place.
As he slammed the door behind him and set a security system he had stolen on his door that gave him a small amount of safety, he went to the bed and threw himself down on it. As he stared up at the ceiling, his mind ran itself in circles trying to find a way out of his present predicament.
After his last time in jail, he vowed to skip town and see about starting life somewhere else less hazardous to one's health. Unfortunately, those damnable ninjas of DK's had found him before he could make good on his escape.
He had been captured without effort, much to his disgust, and brought before Dark Kat. He was told what was expected of him and, though the deadly Kat didn't say so, he made it clear the techno thief had no options but to aid the big tom in his grand plan...refusal meant death and not necessarily a quick one either.
He grimaced bitterly at that last thought. He hated this! It wasn't like he had a pristine conscious but damn it...he didn't just kill people to get what he wanted. Evading enforcers was a lark to him and selling the stolen plans was just business. But DK's plan to kidnap a very young kitten and use her as a hostage against her mother's cooperation sat wrong with him.
Sure he hated Feral but that arrogant and annoying tom had done something truly amazing. Even now, Hard Drive was having trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that huge tom had actually given birth...a male giving birth...what a shocking thing!
From the things he'd been able to glean from the surveillance on the dark tom, Feral was a loving mother to his tiny kitten. That was even more amazing. No way did he want a part of harming a kitten nor causing agony to its mother. He drew the line at harming innocents!
But how could he stop DK's mad plan and get himself out of harm's way in one piece? He stared at the ceiling as he went through plan after plan.
Meanwhile, Dr. Viper quietly slipped to the old attached green house on the back of the mansion when he left Dark Kat's presence. He hated that ugly great tom with a passion but he didn't have the resources DK had. His swamp home had been flooded during a recent monsoon and was temporarily uninhabitable. He liked the water but too much of it interfered with his work.
So here he was making a deal with his enemy to get another chance at taking the city. Of course, once Dark Kat had implemented his plan, Viper would swoop in the take his victory out from under him and make that arrogant tom submissive to him for the rest of his miserable life. He vowed it! The delay was actually a boon to his own plans. Some of his greatest mutations were not yet old enough to do what he needed so having to wait was a good thing.
His hissed to himself with laughter as he checked the vats harboring his newest life forms. "Sssoon my prettiesss! Ssssoon!"
Back at Enforcer Headquarters, Feral was putting the finishing touches to the last report on his desk. He sighed as he tossed it into the out basket. At midday he'd called Professor Hackle and had learned Elora had a pleasant, trouble-free day. That had made him feel more relaxed and able to focus on his work.
Now it was time to go home. He wondered as he got his coat on and locked his office, how and when the SWAT Kats planned to bring his daughter home without the watchers they knew were at his apartment and on him wouldn't see them. He worried all the way home.
At the salvage yard, Chance and Jake were just finishing up their day at their garage. Jake filed the receipt of the last car just being driven off. Chance had gone out to the gate and was closing it behind the departing customer.
"Well that's it for the day. Want to clean up first before getting Elora?" Chance asked as he came back into their office and locked the door behind him.
"Might as well. We're not picking her up for another hour anyway. Want to take a change of clothes and eat out after we've seen her safely home?" Jake asked as they headed upstairs to their apartment.
"Sounds like a good idea. We staying around for a bit when we drop her off?" Chance asked as he began to strip his clothes off and throw them in a hamper in his room.
"Yeah. I just know there are watchers around, I can feel them but not spot them anywhere when I'm there. Don't know how long we're going to be able to pull this off and keep her safe. I just wish they would make their move already so we can take the bastards out. However, just once I'd like to get the drop on them before they get the drop on us," Jake groused as he too stripped his clothes off.
"You and me both. You know buddy, we really need to do just that but damned if I know how we can uncover those creeps hidey holes!" Chance said in disgust as he turned the shower on. "Dips on it first!"
"Yeah, go ahead. I want to think a bit," Jake agreed, sitting down on his bed and letting his mind work on the problem.
A little under an hour later, the pair left their hangar on their cyclotrons. T-Bone headed to Feral's apartment while Razor went to Professor Hackles.
His security sensors warned him a cyclotron was approaching and he signaled the doors to open. He looked over at the kitten watching him from her swing.
"Your ride home has arrived, little one," he said warmly.
Some moments later, Razor strode into the lab carrying Elora's carrier. "Hello, Professor. How was she today?" He asked as he approached the kitten who was smiling at him.
"She has done very well and been quite happy. She is a true joy to have around, I must admit," Hackle said, smiling.
"Great, glad things are going alright so far. Feral call?" Razor asked as he lifted Elora from her swing, gave her a warm hug and nuzzle before putting her into her carrier.
"He called around lunch time. He sounded pleased and relieved," Hackle said with a light chuckle.
"Well, I know he's worrying himself sick right now waiting for her to be returned to him. So we better scoot. See you in the morning Professor," Razor said as he turned and left at a brisk pace for his bike in the other room.
"You too, my lad. Good night!" Hackle called then returned to his work.
Securing Elora's carrier firmly to his bike, Razor quickly took off for the city, taking a little known route. In about fifteen minutes he arrived near Feral's apartment. He had pulled up in an alley that allowed him a direct view of the building he was headed for. The smaller SWAT Kat sat unmoving for some minutes, his ears raised high to listen for anything amiss in the area.
T-Bone was hiding somewhere nearby also watching for anything that could be construed as a threat to the kitten.
Though still uneasy, Razor finally got off his bike, set its security system, then used all the cover he could to get closer to the apartment building. It seemed to take forever but soon he was in the shadow of Feral's home and still he hadn't seen anything suspicious though he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
In his apartment, pacing worriedly, was Feral. His mate was sitting on the couch watching him in concern but didn't offer any comfort. It would not have been welcome at the moment and, besides, he was just as worried.
He'd arrived before Ulysses was due to get off work and found a hiding place to wait. When his mate arrived in the parking garage he slipped into the elevator and waited, holding the car with the door closed. He counted to ten then opened the door, standing out of view, while Ulysses stepped in and blinked in surprise to see him.
"Good trick. Probably wouldn't work again but an excellent way to slip in unseen," Feral complimented Hadrian.
"Thanks love. I've been waiting for about forty minutes for you to come home," Hadrian told him as they rode up.
The doors opened and Feral stepped out but Hadrian again waited in the elevator until Uly had unlocked and opened his apartment door then he quickly scooted inside, closing the door behind him.
"So now we wait for our little one to be returned home. I think this wait will be much worse than the first one," Hadrian said, going to sit on the couch.
Feral could only grunt an acknowledgment as he took off his coat and weapon then decided to peel off his dress shirt as well. Though he was hungry, he couldn't think about eating until his daughter was safe in his arms again.
Down below, Razor prepared to rappel up the shadowed side of the building. Keeping on alert, the smaller SWAT Kat quickly zipped up to the roof then scurried to the door. Sighing in relief to be out of the open with his precious cargo, he peered out the stair door to the hallway. No one in sight.
He made the distance from his location to Feral's door in a lightning move then inside the apartment without anyone seeing him.
Hearing the door open Feral was hurrying toward it just as Hadrian was launching himself from the couch. Razor, knowing full well how worried the big tom was, wasted no time taking Elora from her special carrier and handing her over to her mother's open arms.
"Hello my precious one," Feral cooed in relief as he hugged and nuzzled his kitten close to his face.
Her father came close and smiled, equally relieved to see his daughter safe and sound. He looked over at the SWAT Kat who was already preparing to leave.
"Thank you. I know this is going to become really stressful as time passes. I hope you have some plan to rid us of the problem?" He asked anxiously.
"I've been giving it some thought, definitely. I don't see T-Bone and I doing this for a long time. Someone is bound to see us soon enough. My partner and I were talking about trying to find the omegas rather than wait for them to take us out. I'm tired of always being at a disadvantage," Razor growled.
"I agree but don't see how you'll accomplish it. With all my resources at my disposal, we've still not been able to find the creeps before they can cause trouble," Feral said unhappily, as he sat on the couch nursing Elora.
"Nor do I at the moment but I'll keep thinking about it. Something will come to me if I persist. Anyway, I've got to be off. See you in the morning," Razor said then made for the door, peered cautiously out before vanishing from view. Hadrian closed the door behind him then returned to his mate's side.
"I hope he does come up with something. I don't fancy being this stressed out about Elora's safety every day," he said heavily as he sat down beside Uly.
"I agree. It leaves me in a constant state of heightened awareness which is tiring," Feral sighed.
Hadrian had to agree with that assessment as he hugged his lover.