Feral stood outside the door of a distinguished looking mansion with three Enforcers, Ms. Briggs, Prosecutor Jaystar, and Ann Gora with her film crew standing behind him.
With a grim smile on his face, he raised his radio to his mouth and said only one word, "execute". After receiving exactly twenty confirmations only then did he raise a paw and ring the doorbell. A melodious sound could be heard notifying the occupants they had guests. As they waited each had looks of anticipation on their faces.
Feral felt vindicated at last. He was finally going to get the drop on the worst criminal of their city. Callie felt exactly the same way.
When Manx left from work (early as usual), she gave nothing away that she'd be seeing the tom again before the day was through.
"I'm off, Callae, to play a little golf before my evening with Mr. Young," he said, smiling happily. He hoped to get Mr. Young to consider buying a property he had. He might need the cash and since the city was now safe, he felt his odds of getting the reluctant investor to sign would be good this time.
"Will you be home later, Mayor? I might have some questions concerning the archivist's report and I'm hoping to close it finally by tonight," Callie asked innocently.
Manx scowled inwardly, but managed to keep a fake smile on his face. "Of course, glad that projects nearly done. I should be home by eight or so. Have a good evening and don't work too late, the overtime costs are going up you know."
"I won't. Have a nice evening," Callie said sweetly, pleased she had upset the tom's good mood, but really miffed at his parting words about overtime. I wouldn't be working overtime if not for your laziness, you toad!
"Good night." Manx hurried off as if his tail were on fire. 'Drat her. I wish she'd just let it go. Perhaps, I should speak to my backers about finding a new deputy mayor, one that's more biddable...' he mused.
She watched him go with a secret smile. 'Oh yes, revenge was going to be soo good.'
Her mind returned to the happy task awaiting her at this moment. The smile on her face was real but definitely not nice.
Jaystar's face was grim but his mood was triumphant. A huge stain against the city's good name was about to be eradicated. He could hardly wait.
Ann Gora had only been told the Mayor was about to be arrested. She'd been shocked and excited, but try as she might, no one would enlighten her on just why this was happening. All she got was, 'you'll know when he does,' answer.
Whatever it was, it had to be big to have all the city's top legal guns here including Ms. Briggs. This story would top the aliens visitors arrival, she was certain. So she and her crew stood waiting with excitement and puzzlement as the heavy door finally opened.
The butler stared in bewildered surprise at the large and important group standing on the doorstep. Clearing his throat, he asked, "may I help you?"
"Is Mayor Manx in?" Feral demanded.
"Yes sir. If you'll tell me your business, I'll go see if he's available," the butler said nervously.
"No, you may not. You will escort us to where Mayor Manx is but not announce us, now move!" Feral said brusquely as he and his Enforcers bulled their way in rudely, pushing the butler ahead of them.
Now scared and concerned, the butler did as commanded, leading them through a richly decorated foyer, down a carpeted hall with expensive paintings on the walls, to a set of twin doors. Before he could knock or reach for one of the handles to open it, the butler was gently but firmly pulled to one side by an Enforcer.
Feral reached for the nearest handle and pulled the door open. Obviously, this was a den, expensive furniture was scattered about, walls were covered with shelving containing books and expensive antiques and a fine stone fireplace was just ahead of them, a small fire going, and two plush, high backed armchairs sat before it.
A paw holding a drink, could be seen on the arm of one of the chairs but not the rest of the person as his chair was turned away from the door. A small TV was set on an ornate end table at the left side of the chair and the news was on which was why the occupant hadn't heard them open the door behind him.
Feral smiled broadly a moment, before letting his face return to its usual expression of stone. He stalked toward the chair with his entourage a few steps behind him. When he reached the chair, he grasped it and whirled it as if it weighed nothing, causing the occupant to yelp in startled surprise, dropping his drink to the expensive rug.
"Feral! What is the meaning of this?" Mayor Manx squeaked in shocked anger. He wore a well made and fancy emerald green bathrobe over what looked like green stripped, silk pjs with a plush pair of black bedroom slippers on his feet.
"You are under arrest Manx. Get to your feet!" The Commander barked, producing a pair of pawcuffs from his coat pocket.
"Are you mad?" Manx shouted, jumping to stand, glaring at the Enforcer.
"Mayor Manx, this is a warrant for your arrest signed by Judge Birman. You are being charged with malfeasance, fraud involving illegal attainment of government services, tax evasion, embezzlement of funds, and other charges that will be read to you later," Prosecutor Jaystar proclaimed firmly and loudly so everyone could hear.
"What? You can't do this...I'm innocent..." Manx bleated, eyes widening in fear as he struggled to get away from the huge tom's grasp.
Feral roughly jerked the pudgy tom around and applied the cuffs. "Shut up and listen!" he ordered then spoke the familiar words of the Miranda Rights, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been given to you?"
"Let go of me..." Manx screamed.
Feral jerked the tom around to face him. "Do you understand your rights I've just given you?" he repeated.
Manx, panting, his face sweaty and red, eyes bulging, and his body shaking with fear, wanted to be anywhere but here right now. However, he knew he was well and truly caught with no way to escape. He tried to avoid Feral's harsh stare and pulled uselessly against the tom's cruel grip on his arm but the Commander was unrelenting and still waiting for an answer.
"Y-y-yes I understand," he finally stammered out.
"Good!" Feral kept his fingers firmly around the Mayor's arm and tugged him out the door of the den.
"Call my lawyer!" Manx shouted to his butler as he passed the shaken servant.
He was unceremoniously shoved down the hallway, his steps stumbling, while the glare of camera lights followed him all the way outdoors into the late evening air. The whole trek out, Ann peppered everyone with questions but no one was answering least of all the Mayor himself.
His only response was to turn his face away from the cameras rather than seeking them out as he once did and kept his mouth firmly shut. He was marched down the steps of his home then stuffed into the back seat of the police cruiser, an Enforcer on either side of him. Feral took the driver's seat while the last Enforcer rode shotgun.
Ann was shocked by what she'd heard as well as ecstatic as her long held suspicions about the Mayor were proving true. This was the story of the year...the Mayor's raping of the city's treasury was now coming to light and the people of Megakat City were getting a front row seat at his humiliating arrest. There would soon be a crowd of irate people waiting when Feral hauled him to jail she was very certain of that.
Heart pounding with excitement, she quickly hopped into her news van and ordered the driver to follow the Commander's cruiser as the car bearing the former mayor took off at a sedate speed for the city.
Behind them came Ms. Briggs with Prosecutor Jaystar riding shotgun in her sedan. He was on the phone to all his people who had been serving their warrants at the exact same time. He received excited reports of success from each of his staff. He thanked them for their hard work then hung up after the last call.
"Well, Operation Clean House, went off without a hitch, Ms. Briggs," he said, grinning, as he put his phone away.
"Wonderful, so glad this part is over. I know Feral is prepared to process them all quickly so everything should be done in a couple of hours for which I'm glad as I'm bushed," Callie sighed, a look of satisfaction on her face.
"Too bad we can't wear earplugs when we get there. The hue and cry from so many whining ex-government officials is going to be deafening," he snorted.
Callie chuckled darkly. "Oh, I don't know, I think it will be more like music to my ears." Jaystar laughed.
About halfway to their destination, Feral pulled off into a huge parking lot where a big transport chopper sat waiting. The cars following, pulled in beside him and halted. Ann was surprised they were stopping until she realized what was surely going on.
"Jonny, come with me. Danny go on to the Enforcer Building and set up, we're flying with the Commander," she said hurriedly, as she climbed out and ran to the chopper with her camerakat on her heels.
One of the officer's sitting with Manx pulled the prisoner from the rear of the vehicle while the other officer went to Ms. Briggs' sedan. The officer that had been riding shotgun got into the driver's seat. The officers would drive the cars to headquarters for their owners. By this method, any mob that might be waiting would be unaware the Mayor had been transferred to a chopper.
Feral followed his officer controlling Manx as they walked to the chopper while behind him, Ms. Briggs was handing her keys off to the Enforcer waiting for her and nodding her thanks before she and Jaystar made for the chopper as well.
There was room for everyone as they boarded the chopper. The pilot started the engine and moments later it lifted into the air and zoomed toward headquarters. Only ten minutes later, they were landing smoothly on the flight line. A small squad of Enforcers were standing by so when the chopper cut its engines, they marched up and waited to take the prisoner.
All over the flight line, other choppers were landing and disgorging their own load of prisoners from all over the city. About half of the males were still dressed in day clothes while others were in night wear. All were angry and shouting as they were hustled off into the building. Processing was done in a large conference room where they were segregated from the main intake area for criminals, in small deference to their important positions in government.
The noise was deafening from all the complaining and verbal abuse being hurled at the Enforcers, until Feral whistled shrilly to get their attention.
"Shut up! You'll be given time to speak to your lawyers when you are through being processed. Until then, use your right to be silent now!" he barked. They gave him glaring looks but shut up.
The processing continued on more peacefully with only the quiet voices of the officers asking or giving orders to the prisoners breaking the silence. Soon the prisoners were being escorted to the cell block waiting for them, their grim-faced lawyers trailing behind.
Through it all, Ann and her camerakat were allowed to record everything going on while the rest of the press plus a growing crowd of angry Katizens, waited outside on the steps of the Enforcer Building. When the prisoners were safely in their cells, only then did Feral, Ms. Briggs, and Prosecutor Jaystar go outside to address the milling crowd dutifully followed by Ann. Once outside, she and her camerakat joined the other member of their team.
Since she was now the Mayor, Callie would be the one addressing the crowd. She took her place before the bank of mikes that had been set up much earlier and waited for the crowd to settle down. All three waited silently, faces grim which finally penetrated the crowds anger and made them go silent.
"Thank you. I know you are all angry and upset. As you have heard, Mayor Manx and twenty other city officials have been arrested for serious governmental misconduct perpetrated against you the people. It's taken this long to gather iron clad evidence against his honor and the others but I want to assure you, none of the accused will get off easy nor be released from jail until their trials. They will get their day in court but the evidence against them is hard fact, not circumstantial. With his arrest, I am now Mayor until our next election this November. I hope you will give me your support in helping us move forward away from this tarnished past toward a brighter future, one without the omegas and corrupt politicians," she said humbly.
There was silence for a moment longer than a ragged cheer went up, a very positive sign that the people weren't unhappy about the change in leaders, which relieved her immensely. One hurdle down. She spent the next two hours answering questions from the crowd and press before signaling the impromptu conference to be over.
People finally went on their way seemingly placated by what had happened, though, that could certainly change when they had time to think about this more.
She and Jaystar had gone back inside the Enforcer Building to wait until the area was clear before going home. Feral offered them a snack and coffee in his office and they accepted. It was very late but they were too wound up to go home yet. They took a seat on his couch in the conversational area of his office. A tray with coffee, tea, and selection of pastries sat waiting for them on the coffee table. They served themselves and talked quietly about the evenings work.
"That went well," Feral rumbled, as he leaned back against the couch, relaxing completely.
"Yes it did, thank you for your excellent assistance, Commander," Jaystar said, smiling, sipping his coffee. Feral nodded.
"The rest of this business is a slam dunk and with the trial being held by the end of the week, it should be all wrapped up by next Monday," Callie said, nibbling delicately on a sugar coated pastry...diet be hanged...it had been a tense night.
"You think it'll be done that quickly?" Feral asked, surprised.
"I made sure of it, Commander. With all the data you collected, their defense hasn't a leg to stand on so all that's really left is how long each will serve in jail," Jaystar said, confidently.
"Actually, thank Albert Menlur for his excellent historical and investigatory skills. He dug up much more than I had stashed away which is why you have such an air tight case," Feral corrected him.
"You're right, Commander, a toast to Albert!" Jaystar said, cheerfully raising his cup, the others copying him. "Here...here!" they murmured together.
"There's also one more person to thank, Captain Ing of the Wotan. Without his insight, we would still be blind to what Manx was up to," Callie reminded them.
"Oh, I didn't know that's how all this got started. Well, definitely a thank you to him as well," Jaystar exclaimed and they toasted again.
"So now that bit of nastiness is done, all that's left is the ton of paperwork, selection of replacement council members, law suits, and other things that have to be accomplished in the vacuum left by their removal," Callie sighed, tiredly. "But, it's worth it."
Feral grimaced. "I certainly don't envy you that. As for me, I'm finally able to go home at a decent hour everyday...no more overtime. Organized crime thinks they are going to try to fill the void left by the omegas but they don't know about the new robot force about to augment my Enforcers within a month," he said, a smile of anticipation and pleasure on his face.
"Really? That soon? I had no idea Professor Hackle was that close to being finished," Callie said, surprised.
"Well, you were rather busy yourself, Ms. Briggs. Speaking of which, you haven't had time to brief me on how well your training went aboard the Wotan." He eyed her curiously.
Blushing, Callie quickly filled him in, "...and it seems I'm far more powerful than they'd guessed which was the reason I had to stay so long. They wouldn't let me leave until I had fully mastered my abilities which I now have and declared me ready to take on any magical threat."
Feral nodded, a pleased and relieved look on his face but Jaystar gaped at them both in confusion.
"Robots...Magic...what are you two talking about?"
"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot no one outside of Feral, myself, the SWAT Kats, Dr. Sinian, and Hackle know anything about what's been going on with our alien visitors and the archivist report. I'll be sure to send you a copy of the report in its entirety and not just the part you got about Manx," she apologized.
"Anyway, the report uncovered many things that hadn't been dealt with either at all or not completely. We had resources we never considered or Manx had refused to fund, but with the report and the advice of our visitors, we have been correcting those oversights. One of them is using robots to augment the Enforcers courtesy of Professor Hackle's robotic program, and the other was our lack of defense against magical enemies," she said, pausing a moment to wet her throat with coffee.
"When they arrived to our world, the Arcanians checked us out and discovered not only our problems but about our past. They uncovered that I'm a descendant of Queen Callista, our world's last known sorcerer. They told me if my genes had dormant magical energy they could unlock it then train me to be our world's magical defender. I was reluctant at first but I learned the Pastmaster wasn't just a threat to our world but to worlds out there in the universe as well..."
"Oh now wait a minute, all of what I'm hearing is pretty far-fetched, but this about the Pastmaster is just too unbelievable. How could the Pastmaster affect other worlds?" Jaystar interrupted, disbelief on his face.
"It turns out that when the Pastmaster bends time, it causes very destructive ripples in the space time continuum that sweep through the universe destroying whole worlds or altering them so badly, they are unrecognizable. The galactic community, that we hope to become a part of, have been searching for the culprit for a very long time and here he was on our world all along. Unfortunately, the way magic works prevents the magic users aboard the Wotan to take care of the problem for us..."
"Don't forget, they aren't allow to anyway due to their noninterference directive," Feral interrupted her.
"Oh yes, there's that as well so the problem is left to us to solve. The solution was to reactivate my genes which worked to perfection, so here I am ready to dispose of the Pastmaster."
"What do you mean dispose of him?" Jaystar leaped in to ask, but afraid he knew the answer already.
Callie gave him a steady, flat look. "His life is forfeited."
He gaped at her then shook his head. It took him some minutes to be able to absorb the enormity of what was being asked of her before he could ask an important question. "Could you do that? Take his life in cold-blood without a trial?"
"I have no choice so, yes, I'll do what's required to save this world and all the others out there. It's our duty," she said steadily.
"I find it hard to believe what you're telling me. It sounds almost like some kind of science fiction movie, however, I know you wouldn't make something like that up, so I have to accept it as truth. I just wish someone else could do this instead of you but it seems obvious that isn't going to happen so I'm grateful you have the strength of will to do it for us all but you shame me with your bravery," he said, upset and concerned for her welfare.
"No, please...don't think that way. We've been given a second chance at being happy and safe finally. The price I paid to become a sorcerer is small in comparison to what we gain from ridding the universe of this threat. Our world will be truly safe and hopefully, we'll become part of a bigger community if our UN accepts the offer it was presented. For all that, I've accepted what I must do, so please don't be distressed about it," she said, seriously, reaching out to touch his paw comfortingly.
Jaystar nodded but in his heart he would still feel shamed that he didn't have the ability to take this on for her instead. "You will make a strong Mayor and I would consider it an honor if you would allow me to handle your reelection campaign!" He said stoutly. "That way I'll feel I've done my part in making this grand future you envision come true."
She smiled warmly. "Thank you, that's very generous of you. I accept but right now the only thing that matters is finishing our cleanup of the government before we worry about the election months from now."
"Of course." He smiled, glad to know she hadn't refused to run at all. He would push hard to see that she kept the seat she now held...the city needed her leadership.
"I don't know if I'll still be here when the elections arrive, but I know you'll be a shoe-in Ms. Briggs. The city is familiar with you and with all the upheaval going on, they'll want the familiar to help them adjust and move on," Feral told her, encouragingly.
She frowned and sighed. "That is the only thing that saddens me, Commander...losing you."
Jaystar blinked in confusion. "What do you mean...losing him? Where are you going Commander?
"Space."
The prosecutor could only stare at the big tom in utter shock and dismay.
Callie felt for the poor tom. 'Just wait until he hears the SWAT Kats may also be going, he'll have a heart attack,' she sighed mentally to herself as she finished her cup of coffee.