Dimension Two...
After having a mini breakdown, Feral shook himself out. There was no more time to lose and hysterics would not get him home. He had to find a way back. He wracked his brain on what would be the best plan to accomplish this. Suddenly, it came to him...Professor Hackle...only he would be smart enough and willing to believe Feral when he explained what had happened.
Relieved to have a plan of action, Feral quickly left his apartment and rushed to his hummer. He was racing through town for the Professor's remote lab on the edge of town near the bay and praying none of his enforcers would pull him over for speeding.
It was a nerve-wracking thirty minutes before Feral drove up to the Professor's security gate. Opening his window, he pressed the call button and waited.
Several minutes passed before he heard the Professor's soft voice, "Yes, can I help you?"
"Professor Hackle, it's Commander Feral. Please it's urgent that I speak with you!" He said anxiously.
"Of course, Commander, please come on in." the Professor said quietly.
The gate swung open silently. Feral drove through quickly and parked near the front door. Professor Hackle opened it and greeted him. Stepping back from the door he gestured Feral in.
Once they were standing in his foyer, Hackle led him down into his living area and gestured to a couch while he took an easy chair. Feral sat down on the edge of the couch seat, too upset to relax.
"What I'm about to tell you may sound fantastic but it's the truth. I desperately need your help." Feral began. Hackle nodded for him to continue. He quickly explained what had occurred less than a few hours ago.
Hackle's eyes widened in shock. "If what you say is true then there is no time to waste trying to return you. Let's go to my lab where I can verify your claim then we'll go from there." He said urgently, carefully climbing to his feet. He leaned on his cane hard as he limped as fast as he could for his lab with Feral hard on his heels.
Flicking the lights on in one of his specialized labs, Feral saw it was a small medical room and standing nearby was a more robotic form of Medi.
"Please lay down on the exam table, Commander." Hackle instructed him. Feral quickly did as asked. "Medic One please scan this kat and tell me his distinguishing characteristics and anything you might find unusual about him." Hackle told his robot.
The robot moved close to the bed and ran a scanner over Feral's body. "This male is an hermaphrodite and in generally excellent health though right now he is a little run down. He has had multiple pregnancies and is presently eight weeks pregnant at this time. Also his body is saturated with a great deal of temporal energy." The robot stated flatly in its mechanical voice unlike Medi's more modulated voice.
"The kitten...is it alright?" Feral asked anxiously.
"Yes. I detect no problems or anomalies with the foetus." The robot assured him.
Feral sighed in relief while Hackle stared at him in shock. "You are pregnant and have been pregnant before? Well you are definitely not our world's Feral." Hackle said in astonishment. "So you are telling the truth. This is very serious."
"I have a kitten who is only a year and half old who will be very scared and unhappy if I do not return soon." Feral said worriedly.
"Oh that is terrible. Well I will do everything I can to get you returned, Commander but I'm going to need help. The only one able to aid me in this is Razor." Hackle said quickly.
"Uh, I can understand that. Razor is very smart but you need to know something else." Feral said unhappily. "My mate is T-Bone."
Hackle's mouth dropped open at that piece of information. "Oh my! That might cause a problem. I'm afraid this world's T-Bone hates you very much."
"I sorta got that when we saw each other earlier." Feral said painfully.
Sighing, Hackle said, "Well there's no help for that. Let me contact them now so we can get started." He limped over to his comm center. "SWAT Kats, this is Professor Hackle. It's urgent I see you immediately. Please come quickly to my lab." He said briefly.
"Now we wait. It will not take them long to respond." Hackle said.
Feral began to pace nervously. He felt lightheaded and nauseated. He really didn't want to confront that cold T-Bone again but there wasn't any choice. Professor Hackle watched this totally different Feral with concern. If his old eyes weren't mistaken, Feral was looking rather pale. The worry and fear could not be good for the pregnant kat.
"Please Commander, you must try to relax. You are making yourself more upset with all this pacing. I don't think it can be good for you in your condition." He said worriedly.
Feral shook his head and wrapped his arms around himself needing desperately to be comforted and knowing he would not get it here. He missed his mate terribly.
Suddenly an alarm went off and the Professor's roll door began to lift to allow the SWAT Kats and their dual cyclotron to enter. Feral felt his nerve break and he began to shiver. He did not want to confront this world's T-Bone again.
The SWAT Kats climbed off their bike and removed their helmets. They stared at Feral in shock and anger.
"What's he doing here?" T-Bone asked harshly.
That angry tone and furious body language hit Feral like a wall. Pain, anguish, loss slammed into him like a truck. It was more than he could handle and he felt the world suddenly tip out from under him.
The Professor exclaimed in alarm as he reached to try and halt the Commander's fall to the unforgiving cement floor. Fortunately, his medical robot, who had remained close, caught Feral before he could fall far. It gently cradled the unconscious kat in its steel arms.
"This male has suffered far too much stress over the last few hours, Professor Hackle. This is unhealthy for him and his unborn kitten. He must rest if he is to aid in his own return home." It intoned seriously, turning with his limp burden for the medical room.
"Unborn kitten?" Razor blurted in wide-eyed shock.
T-Bone gaped at the departing form of the robot carrying the Commander. Turning back to the Professor he demanded, "What the heck is going on Professor?"
"If you will calm down I will explain." Hackle said quietly. He told the pair what had transpired over the past hour, Feral's story, and the results of the tests done on him.
"So it is very important that we return this Feral to his rightful dimension. His little daughter needs him and I can tell he needs his mate badly." Hackle finished.
"Wow! If it weren't you telling us this I'd say you were crazy." T-Bone said shaking his head.
"Well his explanation of what happened at the power plant could very well have caused his dilemna, T-Bone. That explosion did hit him and though at the time it seemed to have done nothing its now obvious it did so that means we need to reconstruct what happened. We have to figure out what Dark Kat and Hard Drive were attempting to do." Razor said thinking hard.
"Exactly! We need to do this quickly while the temporal energies are still within his body." Hackle said urgently.
"Yeah, you're right there Professor. Okay let's get to it." Razor said decisively.
T-Bone was still shaken by the thought that the Feral he just saw was pregnant and from another dimension and not the cold, arrogant Feral he knew so well. Shaking it off, he let Razor lead the way to what needed to be done. Over the next few hours, they went to gather all the information they could get their paws on about the explosion. Meanwhile, Professor Hackle worked on the problem of the actual return.
Returning to the Professor's lab, Razor worked with Hackle on trying to duplicate the accident. There was nothing T-Bone could do but wait. While they had been researching the scene of the explosion, Feral was being treated by the medical robot. He was given fluids and a mild sleeping drug to allow his body to rest. Now he was awake and restless. He returned to the lab where Razor and Hackle were working.
T-Bone was desultorily watching the Professor's big screen TV keeping the sound low. There were only a few stools around the lab and the tabby was sitting on one of them near the set.
Feral watched the two inventors for a little bit but couldn't make sense of what they were talking about or doing so wandered over to the TV. He couldn't bring himself to get too close to the sullen SWAT Kat. He glanced at the TV but didn't really care for what was on. He began to pace again making himself more nervous. His arms were hugging his body tight and his face reflected his distress.
T-Bone sensed the big tom behind him and tried to ignore him but when the Commander began to pace he couldn't shut it out. He turned his head only enough to see Feral from the corner of his eye. What he saw made his chest tighten in unexpected sympathy. He didn't see his hated antagonist instead what his eyes beheld was a very scared and nervous male whose body cried out for comfort.
He was shaken by that realization. He had to forcibly remind himself that this wasn't his Feral. This was someone's mother and mate as odd as that sounded. Clearing his throat cautiously made the nervous tom jump and gasp.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Come on you really should sit down. It can't be good for you to get this upset." T-Bone said trying to soothe the tense kat.
Feral blinked at the tom that looked like his love then turned his eyes away quickly and swallowed hard with pain. In a tight voice he said, "Sssorry...it's soo hard to look at you and see my mate and know you are not him."
T-Bone's mouth dropped, he blurted in shock, "Your mate is me...I mean..."
"Yes!" Feral said looking away again.
"Crud! How did that happen?...I mean...I'm sorry it's none of my business...but you gotta admit this is really a shock for me." T-Bone said uncomfortably. "Please sit down. I really don't want you fainting again." T-Bone urged now deeply concerned that the other dimension's T-Bone would be very upset if his mate came to harm. He knew he would be.
Shakily, Feral finally took a stool and sat uneasily. He continued to hug himself tightly.
T-Bone realized he had to do something to take this Feral's mind off his distress. "Tell me a little about your life, please. It will help you relax and keep your mind off what they're doing over there. Come on..." He coaxed.
"I...okay..." Feral murmured softly. He told T-Bone about what had happened to him and what his dimensional double had done to help him. T-Bone was shocked at what had been done to this tom and the grief he'd suffered. It was horrifying to know this Feral had been raped so viciously and then had a still born kitten. He could see now how that world's T-Bone could feel so much need to help the badly damaged Commander.
But it was the changes Razor had made in that dimensions SWAT Kats lives that he wanted to know more about. He questioned Feral closely trying to wring every bit of information he could get on what Razor had done.
"I don't know everything Razor did. All I do know is he sold his designs to other countries and made a lot of money. Enough to pay off the debt they owed and to buy new homes and start new lives. Razor, I know, has a beautiful ocean side home and T-Bone and I have a mountain home near Professor Hackle's lab that is completely secluded for our safety and our kitten's. They also have a new base that I know is in a mountain somewhere but don't know its exact location and is really something. He made a medical suite to take care of their injuries and ended up helping me with my pregnancies. My mate has a warm and comfortable bedroom there when he needs it. He tests new motorcycle designs in his alter ego and is really happy and Razor spends his time designing new jets and other inventions." Feral said his face reflecting the happiness he had found.
"Does that mean you know who they are?" T-Bone said suddenly on alert.
He recoiled a little at T-Bone's tone but answered readily enough. "Yes. But only after our daughter was born. I preferred to not know before but after Zira was born it was necessary to know. I had no problem with it." He said quietly.
T-Bone just stared at him in amazement. Feral had described a life T-Bone would desperately love to have. Perhaps it was still possible for them to have it. He would need to talk to Razor about it when this was all over. The part about being mated to Feral he knew would never happen in his world but that didn't mean he couldn't find a she kat to share his life with.
"Thank you for telling me. You've given me hope that perhaps Razor and I might have a chance at happiness too." T-Bone said relaxing his body so that Feral wouldn't be tense in his presence.
Feral did relax a little but was still anxious to get home.
"Don't worry! If anyone can figure out how to get you home, it's those two." T-Bone said encouragingly. Feral just nodded and rubbed his arms looking lost. T-Bone wished he could reach out and comfort the big tom but couldn't get past the image of his Feral to do that and besides it might do more harm than good so he sighed and returned his attentions to the TV and hoped Feral would watch too and distract himself.