The dreams just wouldn't leave him alone. To try and 'change the channel' as it were, Chance went to his she-he friend and spent some time with her. That helped a little, at least he could get some sleep at night...most of the time.
Feral had spent so much of his life denying his attraction to Chance that when his heat cycle was over, he was able to relegate it to the back of his mind once more.
And so it went for weeks then months, each avoiding the other. Mindful of what Jake had told him, Chance waited for the next time he and Feral came into close contact to see what would happen.
Unfortunately, that chance never occurred over that time as the next battles were fought in the air with them trading barbs over their radios. It was really annoying to Chance to not be able to test Jake's suspicion and put this nonsense to rest. All he could do for now, was just ignored it the same way a certain Chief Enforcer was doing.
It wasn't until nearly four months later, they finally had a face to face and things would never be the same again, at least for Chance.
In past era...
"I'm tired of being defeated by those irritating SWAT Kats. It's partly my fault though, since I have been far too predictable in my desires and actions. So that means I must do something they would never suspect...but what?" The one known as the Pastmaster muttered to himself as he looked through his books. "Hmm...perhaps..." He trailed off as he left the table strewn with old books and moved to his pool of time.
Peering into it, he called up the time period he was interested in and over the next few hours watched until he spotted something, quickly freezing the image.
"Yes! He's just what I need to succeed this time along with my new little creatures. This time, I can't lose," he cackled with glee as he opened a portal with his watch, signaled to some small creatures to follow him then stepped through.
Present day...
"Are you sure they said the Pastmaster?" T-Bone demanded of his partner as they flew rapidly to Pumadyne, all engines flaring.
"Well, someone there said they had seen him!" Razor growled as he monitored the enforcer band for anymore information.
"But what would he want there? It doesn't fit his MO at all!" The tabby pilot huffed, confused.
"Yeah, I know but something obviously is going on by all the radio traffic. Guess we'll find out when we get there."
As they arrived over the sprawling grounds that was the Pumadyne complex, they were presented with an another surprise.
"What the heck? How did Feral get here so quickly? We flew out the instant we received word and he usually takes far longer to respond!" T-Bone blurted in shock as he brought the Turbokat lower to scan the area before making a decision to land.
"Okay, this has gotten far too weird!" Razor hissed, uneasy about what this might mean.
"Ya think!" His partner snorted, unnerved as well. "Should we land?"
"Make a complete pass first!" Razor ordered.
T-Bone acknowledged the order by doing just that. Circling the whole complex only showed them empty enforcer vehicles, circling choppers, Feral's empty chopper on the ground and nothing else.
"Down it is. Apparently the action is inside," Razor decided, unhappily.
"Roger!"
Within minutes they were on the ground, jumping from the cockpit and running headlong for the front doors of the main complex. Once inside, they heard shouts and weapon's fire coming from down a long hallway. They raced toward the sounds and found Feral and a group of enforcers fighting some kind of creatures that were only a couple feet tall, gray in color, resembling stone, with horned heads, ugly features and mouths full of sharp teeth plus being very fast moving.
Wherever the creatures went they caused any type of tech to malfunction. The enforcers weapons were good for only a single shot before contact with one of the creatures made it useless. They were reduced to trying to bludgeon the things with their useless lasers, fists and whatever came to paw. Unfortunately, the creatures were tougher than that so many an enforcer was sent flying.
"Don't let them get close to our glovatrix, T-Bone!" Razor shouted in warning as he shot electrified nets over the things, shocking them senseless before they could get close enough to him to counteract it.
T-Bone heeded the warning and kept his distance as he fired a brace of tarpedoes and managed to splat several of the things to the floor and walls.
Getting a breather from the SWAT Kats interference, the helpless enforcers managed to pull back and allow those with still working weapons, like Feral, to continue mowing the things down.
The battle went on for another ten minutes before every one of the creatures were disabled. Silence fell as the defenders caught their breaths. Feral quickly called for back up to collect the things and take them to a secured facility that hopefully would hold them.
"What the heck are these things?" Felina asked no one in particular as she carefully looked at one as close as she dared.
"I think they are what used to be called a 'gremlin'," Razor commented thoughtfully, studying one closely, fascinated by the things.
"How did you know about the Pastmaster, Feral?" T-Bone asked the Commander, more interested in that than the creatures.
"The Pastmaster? We got a call that Hard Drive was here...where did you hear about the Pastmaster?" Feral asked in surprise, a frown of confusion on his face.
"We heard it over the enforcer band," T-Bone explained getting a bad feeling.
"I never sent any such notice out and heard none!" Feral growled.
"Crap! Hard Drive! He's done this before...you know...altering his voice with the help of that device Dark Kat gave him," the burly tabby exclaimed in sudden insight.
"What? But why would he make us think the Pastmaster was here?" Feral rumbled more to himself than anyone else, his mind racing to find an answer. Something more was going on here.
"We did get a report of Hard Drive and did find his handiwork here, Uncle," Felina reminded him, coming up to them to join in the discussion.
"Well, if Hard Drive is here then where does the Pastmaster come into it?" T-Bone asked aloud trying to get a handle on what the heck was going on.
"Kat's Alive! A diversion! He used Hard Drive to get us away from city hall where I'm certain he is at this very moment!" Feral shouted as the pieces came together in his mind. Yanking his radio up, he shouted for troops to converge on city hall asap.
"Crud! Callie! We've got to scoot! Come on, Razor!" T-Bone barked at his partner, turning to race from the building and across the grounds to the jet, Razor hot on his heels.
Growling angrily as he watched them run off, Feral prepared to leave too but paused to turn to his niece. "Felina! Search for Hard Drive and insure these...things...are secured properly." He didn't wait for her response as he ran out and made for his chopper, taking off and flying as fast as he could to city hall.
Being faster, the Turbokat arrived well ahead of Feral and were soon eyeing the clock tower of city hall in dismay. The tower section and landing pad presently looked like the conical top of a medieval castle, the rest of the building still looked normal. They were apparently just in time.
"Well crud! He's had plenty of time to begin screwing with our world. Got any suggestions, buddy?" T-Bone growled as he circled the altered tower, keeping a careful distance so as not to alert the Pastmaster. The chopper squadron and ground troops already surrounded the building with the jet fleet just arriving to distract the sorcerer. No one was getting too close yet as the Pastmaster was firing bolts at them occasionally to keep them at bay.
"Until we know what he's done, if anything, to Callie, we'll have to go in and cautiously check things out first," Razor told him.
"Roger! So the street...?" His partner questioned, turning the jet toward the ground.
"No, the park...keep the jet out of sight for now."
T-Bone quickly changed direction and lowered the jet by VTOL in a cleared space in Megakat Park. Just as they were landing, Feral arrived on scene, cursed when he got a look at what the SWAT Kats had seen then noted they weren't taking a direct route so landed next to them. They paused when they saw Feral's chopper come into a landing near them. For once, they decided to wait for the Commander to join them.
"I'm assuming you intend to sneak in and find out what is going on inside?" He asked sarcastically, not really expecting to be answered. In a more professional tone, he continued, "Manx and Briggs are still in there according to the last report I got. Apparently, the Pastmaster didn't care about the rest of the occupants and allowed them to escape."
"Well that's good news, sort of...won't have to worry about innocent bystanders," T-Bone growled in response to that bit of information. "Guess you're going with us, huh?"
"You got it! Now let's go!" Feral grunted, pulling his laser pistol out of his coat and leading the way.
Without making a smart remark, the pair fell in behind the determined Commander, running through the park, pausing behind a line of parked cars before dashing across the street and through the enforcer barricade of tanks heading for the main doors of city hall.
Oddly enough, there were no guards anywhere as they entered the main lobby. As a matter of fact, there was no one in sight and everything was eerily quiet. They opted to use the stairs, running steadily up them. It was a good thing they were all great in shape because it was over fifty floors up. They paused about halfway to catch their breath and to listen for trouble.
The only sound in the stairwell was their own harsh breathing.
"I don't like this!" Razor muttered softly. "Something about this is just not right."
"I know what you mean!" T-Bone huffed, keeping his voice low.
Feral was several steps further up from them when he'd stopped and was presently looking around carefully, ear pricked to try and catch any other sounds. "I would have thought there would be some of those creatures on guard here," He muttered more to himself then the pair with him.
Razor responded anyway. "They should be! I think he planned for that diversion to keep us busier longer. He also doesn't think much of your forces since he's not stopped whatever he's doing," he observed cautiously, his own ears stiff and twitching in alert tension.
"Huh! Nice to know he thinks were far more of a threat than your entire force, Feral," T-Bone needled the dark tom a little.
Feral just gave him a sour look before saying, "if he has any guards then they'll be surrounding him or just outside wherever he is! We'd better hurry before he finishes that spell!" With that, Feral turned and began running lightly up the stairs again, careful to not make too much noise. For a big Kat, he was light on his feet. The SWAT Kats caught up to him and kept pace.
Working to catch their breath and still remain quiet, the three finally reached the top floor. When his breathing was even again, Feral carefully opened the stair door a tiny crack and peered through.
He jerked his head back and shut the door carefully then signaled the pair behind him to move back down the stairs. Stopping halfway down, only then did Feral speak.
"You were right. The hallway is crowded with those gremlin things." Feral growled, worriedly.
"Crap! How do we take them out then? No matter what we do, it will get Pastie's unwanted attention," T-Bone cursed.
"Well we can try to put them to sleep. I have a fast acting gas that hopefully will knock them out. If it doesn't, I have no other suggestions except to what we did at Pumadyne which, of course, will get the Pastmaster's attention really quick," Razor growled.
They thought about that a moment longer then Feral nodded, "that's as good an idea as any and I can't think of anything else I could do...wait...let's do a diversion of our own. I'll have my jet squadron begin firing close to the tower to shake things up and distract that creep. At least if the gas doesn't work, he won't hear us storming his place," Feral said decisively, grabbing his radio and going a little further down the stairs before calling in his forces.
"Who knew he could come up with such a good idea," T-Bone muttered sarcastically to his partner. Razor just gave him a grunt of annoyance and waited tensely.
Feral finished his hurried radio call then hurried back up to the pair then went past them to head toward the stair door once more. They followed him up then while they waited for Feral diversion to happen, Razor collected all the gas grenades he and T-Bone had and prepared to fire them rapidly when Feral opened the door.
Some ten minutes later, an explosion was heard and the building shook, sending plaster dust raining on them.
"That's our cue!" Razor whispered as he prepared for Feral to open the door which he did seconds later. In quick succession, Razor sent all the grenades flying into the corridor then jerked back while Feral shut the door quickly and all three leaned against it to prevent anyone from trying to escape.
They waited tensely for another ten minutes until Razor felt the gas had time to dissipate then signaled for Feral to open door again.
Peering through the crack, they saw the gas had worked perfectly, much to their relief.
"Bingo!" Razor crowed triumphantly as he pushed the door open completely and hurried down the hallway through the many bodies heading for the Mayor's offices.
T-Bone and Feral followed closely with weapons drawn. Quickly glancing in Callie's office, they saw a mess but no blond she-kat. They moved on to the Mayor's office and found him unconscious under his desk, the gas having reached him.
Sharing a meaningful glance, the three guessed where the Pastmaster was and carefully went back out to the hall then snuck up the altered stairs to the tower. The stairs and the former clock tower now resembled a huge round room of stone and was decorated with all the trappings of the dark ages.
Suspended in the air in the center of the room, her arms held out in front of her stiffly, was Ms. Briggs. She looked furious and scared but was unharmed. Around her neck was a huge amulet that was glowed faintly. Watching her, the three could tell her body was frozen in place. Not far from her, near a balcony through which they could see Feral's jets buzzing the tower, stood the sorcerer who, at that moment, was staring in angry fury at the jets.
Snarling under his breath, the Pastmaster turned away from the annoying view outside and returned to a pool of water that stood on a pedestal nearby. He began muttering as he pointed his watch at the pool and poured energy into a spell he was obviously conjuring. From Ms. Briggs, the amulet glowed much brighter and the energy from it was adding itself to whatever he was doing.
T-Bone was about to charge forward to stop the ugly creep but was halted by Feral rather forcefully. The dark tom pulled the tabby back and shoved him against the wall of the stairwell.
Feral leaned close so that his breath stirred T-Bone's facial fur causing a ripple of heat to race down the startled tabby's body. He blinked at Feral in anger and stunned surprise. Not able to focus on two disturbing things at once, he ignored the odd sensation in his body and listened to what Feral had to say.
"You don't know what will happen if you disrupt that spell. It could harm Ms. Briggs or blow the whole tower or even leave us like this. Now think! What can we do to stop him, safely?"
Razor had moved closer so he could hear what was being said and had to admit Feral was absolutely right. Turning his mind to find some kind of solution, he had a bad feeling they were fast running out of time.
T-Bone hissed softly as he nodded to indicate Feral had a very valid point.
Certain the tom was heeding him, Feral pulled away from T-Bone even though his body cried out in dismay at being denied yet again. He ruthlessly ignored it.
While they were trying to come up with a solution, they heard the whine of lasers from Feral's fighter squadron hitting the balcony and causing the place to shake again eliciting an angry cry of dismay from the Pastmaster.
"No...they will ruin the spell!" He screamed.
All three peered around the doorway and saw the ugly gnome move away from his pool and go to the balcony again, beginning to fire his watch at the jets.
"Yes!" Razor hissed at the same time Feral barked "Go!"
They charged into the room, Razor firing an octopus missile at the watch while T-Bone fired a tarpedo at the sorcerer's body, meanwhile Feral had gone to Ms. Briggs' side and waited to catch her when the spell ended.
The SWAT Kats hit on target at the same time. The Pastmaster screamed in fury as his watch was sent flying from his skeletal paw then screamed again but was cut off when the tar plastered him to the balcony wall. Feral easily caught Ms. Briggs as she went limp and fell from the air.
As he was setting her on her feet but keeping an arm around her waist until she was steady, the room returned to normal around them. He reached into his pocket and dragged his radio out. He called off the attack and silence reigned again.
"Yes! We did it!" Razor said in relief.
"Are you alright Ms. Briggs?" Feral asked, releasing her to stand on her own.
"Yes, thank you all. He'd almost succeeded this time. Where were you all?" She asked, frowning.
"The Pastmaster is getting a bit more creative. He apparently made a deal with Hard Drive who set up a distraction at Pumadyne. We only just learned it was a trick in time to get here." Feral explained.
She shook her head in dismay. "That bastard! Well at least he doesn't have his watch to cause more trouble. By the way...where is it now?"
Frowning, Feral went to the balcony and looked down. Below the ground forces were standing down and awaiting further orders. Pulling his radio out, he called to the squadron leader to search for the pocket watch and to send up a detail to collect the Pastmaster.
The other three came to his side and look down as well, watching as the enforcers, looking like ants, were moving around searching for the watch. Another group was heading inside the lobby.
T-Bone was pressed rather close to Feral's side making the dark tom uncomfortable but he didn't want to call attention to his uneasiness not wanting T-Bone to know he was affecting him but it was very hard to ignore what his body was feeling with his mate so close.
Though his eyes were on the ground like everyone else, T-Bone couldn't ignore how strange it felt to be this close to Feral. Normally, he wouldn't be caught dead in the tom's vicinity much less right against him but as he stood there he was disinclined to move and was rather bewildered by the way his body was responding to the scent and feel of the dark tom...it felt unbelievably hot.
Suddenly, Feral's radio sang out. Relieved, he answered and was told the watch had been found. Using his time on the radio to give him an excellent reason to move away from the SWAT Kat, Feral sighed inwardly as he gave orders on what to do with the watch then the detachment he'd asked for arrived making it even easier to put distance between himself and his mate.
He quickly ordered the Pastmaster be carefully and thoroughly restrained to prevent escape then hauled off to a special cell just for him at Megakat Prison. With the details taken care of he turned to Ms. Briggs.
"The Mayor was knocked out by sleeping gas used to take out the creatures. How long does that work, Razor," he turned his head to ask the smaller SWAT Kat standing nearby.
"He should be waking up now. Those creatures had better have been wrapped up quickly before they wake up too," Razor warned.
Feral hurried down the short flight of stairs from the clock tower to see if his troops had arrived to take care of the creatures and was quickly relieved to see they had, already hogtying the things and removing them. Callie and the SWAT Kats had followed him down and watched as the last of the gremlins were taken away.
Going into the Mayor's office, they found the portly Kat just waking up and holding his head in confusion. Seeing that things were well under control now, Feral followed the detail hauling the Pastmaster off, carefully avoiding getting close to his mate again as they loaded aboard an elevator then closed the door before the SWAT Kats could join them.
Frowning, T-Bone with his partner took another elevator and headed down to the lobby. He felt acutely disappointed, his body bereft and feeling lost. He shook himself mentally, totally disturbed by these strange feelings running through him.
'This just couldn't be happening!' He told himself tightly, shoving the unwanted feelings away as he and his partner headed back to their jet.