Author Note: Wow. What can I say but apologize whole heartily for the long over due update once again. It seems I am getting into a habit of not updating this story on a regular basis. If some of you are curious why it takes me forever is unforantly after I got so boggled down with school (did not think that would happen) we went into what retail considers to be hell, or maybe that’s me. Christmas season. But that is over, and it looks like I won’t take more classes this winter so I might actually feel better in writing.

Also I have to admit, I really did not know where to go with this story I had an idea but was not sure how to put it on paper or computer. I do have good news, I think I finally figured out how I want to finish this story so kind of a good cliffhanger at the end or maybe I think it is lol. The story is going to get even more interesting hopefully and hope I didn’t lose anybody in the long wait for the next chapter.

Thanks go out to Boscogirl, you sat there and listened to me complain about this story all in the span of an hour and I think every detail I complained about so thanks for listening. Also Etherweil, thank you for allowing me to bounce off ideas I appreciate it (hugs both of you).

To my wonderful reviewers, once again I am sorry for the long update and here the shout out to you guys who left me a reply, I love hearing from you so thanks again!!!!

JadeRazor, TwilightWind, Etherweil, Elizabeth the Bathog, Jak-Daxter, PutMoneyInThyPurse, Vampy.

Chapter 7 – Looking for Answers

Jake Clawson felt his fingers go completely numb as they loosened their strength and he had to quickly clench his fists to make sure he didn’t loose his grasp on the baseball bat. As he stared at his best friend all Jake could think was, ‘what should he do, what should he say, say something!’

Part of him wanted to grab his big burley friend, his brother and hug him until there was not a breath left in him. The other part was scared. Frightened that any moment T-Bone, would attack him without a slight hesitation. If anything had taught Jake from their last encounter, do not trust the tabby unless you’re willing to get bit in the process.

The silence was like a vacuum sucking all the air out of the room, and Jake was afraid to inhale for fear that some how the entire room would explode. Or worse, T-Bone disappeared because of Jakes sleep deprived mind was playing tricks on him. How many nightmares started out this way? Hade him reunited with the lost Swat Kat only to have him brutally ripped away from him in some horrific death or worse T-Bone himself dealt the killing blow.

“What is this?” T-Bone flicked his wrist. A shiny piece of metal caught Jake’s line of eyesight and he caught in the last minute with his quick reflexes. As the bat came to his side he began to turn the object around in his hand and within a heartbeat he recognized it. He should, only because he had put his heart, blood, and tears into making it into what it was now, the powerful but deadly Turbokat. Funny and she was the root of all their problems. ‘If only T-Bone had just ejected out of the jet instead of being so bullheaded and stubborn. If only he hadn’t tried to land the plane with half the back gone and nothing working but gravity as it had pulled the jet into a suicide dive. If only…’Jake stopped this train of thought once again as he continued to rotate the piece of metal in his hand.’ It was now the past unfortunately and there was nothing he could do but live in the present as the one searching for answers right now was standing in front of him. Going on a hunch he threw it back at T-Bone who caught it with no problem.

“You tell me.”

“You tell me.”

Jake knew there was a reason he was here and it wasn’t because T-Bone so happened to find just some plain old piece of metal. No he had found part of their jet a piece Jake had missed while cleaning up the wreckage on the beach. Going on a hunch when T-Bone had found that metal, he had remembered something leading him to Jake.

“Look,” T-Bone’s voice low as he took a step towards him, “I’m not here to play stupid games with you, just tell me what the damn thing is.”

Jake studied the tabby in front of him, and even though his mask was still on, he could see his friend was worn out as though he had not slept for days on end. All in all it really looked like at any moment the tabby was going to drop in a dead faint from pushing his body to the limit and not taking care of it. Going on a limb he simply said “No.”

The growl that came from T-Bone surprised even Jake and T-Bone himself. T-Bone was tired, he was hungry and plus he really had to go to the bathroom and this was not helping. He felt like taking a couple strides reaching over and snapping the kat’s neck but once again a feeling had come over him that suppressed that primal urge. What he could not understand is why this smaller kat in front of him could not give him a straight answer.

He was pissed that no matter how hard he tried to remember his past it was nothing but a big black empty space in his mind. The only time he did have flashbacks it was of the Turbokat and of Jake and the other kat he had fought back in the Mayor’s office.

Closing his eyes for a second putting his one hand to his face he rubbed his temples then let it drop back down again as he finally decided that this kat in front of him wanted to play games as well. Quite frankly T-Bone just did not care anymore. Obviously whatever he was suppose to know, was not meant to be and he just have to do without the memories until they came back or he got some new ones. Taking one more look at the kat in front of him he turned around to walk away, giving up.

Screaming inside Jake tried to think of something to stop the tabby without alarming him by making him go into attack mode. Going on a hunch and hoping he was right he spoke up quickly. “You remember me don’t you? You remember the Turbokat,…flying her?”

That stopped the Swat Kat dead in his tracks as he turned back around to face Jake Clawson once more. He looked at the object in his hand and finally speaking, “This is the Turbokat.” Then turning it in his hand once again he looked Jake right in the eye, “you’re the one I’ve been fighting for the last couple of weeks.”

T-Bone saw the flinch cross the kat’s face, the pain, the hurt that showed only for a brief second and then disappeared under a well trained mask of hiding emotion of needed to be. He had struck a nerve this time and suddenly it was a game of chess.

“I’m not your enemy.” Jake spoke making T-Bone lose his train of thought.

“Oh yeah, then who is?” T-Bone said sarcastically.

“Dark Kat.” Jake winced a bit, he wanted to ease into that, not just throw cold water over the tabby. He saw the look that crossed T-Bone’s face, whether he meant for it to show or not it was very obvious T-Bone was shocked by such a comment.

“I don’t believe you.”

This was outrageous or so that is what T-Bone thought. Or maybe it made sense. ‘Argh’ His head was beginning to pound from the headache that was forming at the back of his brain and slowly crawling to the front to make him close his eyes. Breathing in deeply he shook his head. For a split second T-Bone heard the distinctive voice of Jake speaking to him in his mind as a memory had resurfaced from the depths of his mind, “There’s enough military salvage to build our own jet….get back in the air and get back at Dark Kat, and all the other criminals scum who rear their ugly heads in MegaKat City.”

“It just doesn’t make sense, why would he…” T-Bone stopped in mid sentence and just shook his head and then turned around walking away which sent Jake into a panic mode.

“What do I have to do to make you believe me?” Jake asked.

T-Bone stopped and turned around, pain ripping through his body at the sight of Jake’s sadness. His face maybe stoic but it was behind his eyes that told another tale and it made T-Bone guilty.

“You don’t, I have to figure this out on my own but I’ll try not to shoot you down till then.” Winking at him, T-Bone then turned around and left the way he had come so silently leaving Jake to stand there.

---

It only had been a few hours since T-Bone had left the tiny apartment and Jake looked down at the car that he had just finished. It was the car that he and Chance had promised would only take a few days and it would be fixed and working properly. Those few days had turned into weeks and Jake had finally began on the mess that had build up to the point he was really thinking about asking for help. But he knew that would be ludicrous because there would be no way of hiding the fact they were the Swat Kats, or at the moment just the Swat Kat.

Jake could just see it now, ‘No that was not a sound of a jet passing, that was just a really big nosey truck. Ignore that sound of the klaxon going off, that just means lunch time even though its midnight.’

Shutting the hood of the car, he glanced at the clock expecting it to read a different time then what he assumed it would be. Surprised it was only nine, he knew he could give the owner a call and tell them their vehicle was finally done and apologize for the delay. Jake was surprised at himself that he had not realized sooner if he had just thrown himself into his work by concentrating on getting the cars done he would not think about T-Bone and the situation that seemed was spiraling out of control and he was only in the backseat along for the ride. The fact is, he had nobody to talk to about this and it was just starting to eat him up and he was pretty sure soon or later he was going to lose his mind.

Grabbing a rag he wiped down his hands making sure to get all the grease off he then threw it into one of the bends and then grabbed the phone. Looking down at the number he then listened, hoping to just get the answering machine.

“Hello?” The other one answered on the opposite end.

At first he forgot what he had planned to say and then he cleared his throat, “This is Jake Clawson from Jake & Chance’s Salvage Yard to tell you your car is done and its ready to be picked up whenever you find time.”

“Really? Well dang, I just bought another one.” Felina said with sarcasm in her voice.

The heat that came into Jake’s cheeks could not be helped, as he looked down as though she could read right through him just by listening to him on the phone. “Yeah I am truly sorry about that it has been hectic the last couple of weeks. How about this, for taking as long as we did, its on us.”

Felina was quiet on the other end, as though she did not know what to say to the offer of taking the cost on them. Instead of responding to the proposal she just “I’ll be over there in thirty minutes.”

Before Jake could even utter an okay, she had hung up leaving him to stare at the phone wondering what just had happened. Rubbing his eyes he glanced back at the other cars and shaking his head he then walked back to work on some more till the Lt. got there.

Right on cue Felina showed up at the Salvage Yard. Jake brought her out to the garage he then grabbed the keys and handed them to her. He looked at them in her hands and then back at her face.

“Our apologizes again for taking so long.”

Felina shook her head and gave a soft smile, “Its okay I know what its like to be boggled down from work.”

In awkward silence came over the two and Felina then asked where Chance was.

“You know I haven’t seen him in a couple days, he took off and I haven’t heard from him for a while so your guess is as good as mine.”

Felina tried not to reveal anything in her face keeping her mouth straight. Jake Clawson had just lied to her. Last time she asked him where the big tabby was, he had told her it was a family emergency and now this tale he had spoke of as though he had no idea where his friend had gone. Why would he be telling her a lie? ‘This is not the best place to think about it Felina,’ she told herself.

“Don’t you hate that when friends will do that, makes it hard to run a business I would assume.” Felina joked and watched Jake. He agreed by nodding his head but his eyes got this lost look in them.

“Look here some money,” she had dug into her back pocket and pulled out some money. Jake was beginning to refuse but she would not hear of it, “no at least let me pay for the labor.” She then handed him the cash and then began walking towards her car.

“Thanks again Jake, take care of yourself. Hope Chance comes home soon.”

“Yeah….me to.”

Jake watched as she backed up the car and then as the taillights disappeared behind one of the giant hills of scrap metal from the planes they received, he had a distinct feeling that he had just goofed up his lie about Chance. He had been so tired, not eating properly, his mind just was not working and he had panicked and came up with the quickest thing that came to mind. Shrugging his shoulders, there was nothing he could do about it now. He then hit the closed the door to the garage, shut the light off and then went into the small apartment. Turning the sign around so it read ‘closed,’ he then shoved his hands into his pockets and then did what he did every night go sit on the couch and sit there and wait till his partner came back home.

(Unknown Location)

T-Bone walked into the place he had called home the last couple of weeks. He removed his mask without even blinking an eye. He had it on forever it seemed and rarely took it off and right now he was just not in the mood to have it on. He spotted Dark Kat where he always seemed to be, at his desk with his back to Chance working feverishly on something. Yet some how he always knew when somebody entered, always surprised Chance in how Dark Kat had awareness like that.

“Did you find the answers you were looking for?” A slight pause, “That’s why you left.”

Swallowing the lump in his throat Chance shifted his weight and contemplated on what he wanted to say to the big beast of a kat. Bringing his eyes to the ground he then brought them back up, “well I found out answers to one of them being that you’re my enemy.”

Dark Kat stopped working, looking up and then turning around to stare at Chance. If Dark Kat was surprised that T-Bone had taken off his mask he did not show nor care.

“So you think you are one of my enemies? If you were, you would not be standing here before me.” Dark Kat studied Chance for a second and then continued on, “I told you not to talk to him.”

Chance mentally shivered. He had been told that Jake, Razor, whoever was the true kat, would try and convince him that Dark Kat was the enemy. That he would say he was his brother and try and confuse him and detour him from his real task.

“I told you what he was capable of, have you already forgotten what I told you or you so absent minded?”

“No, I have not forgotten.” Chance replied.

Standing up Dark Kat made his way over to Chance and then put his hands on Chance’s shoulders. “ I know you want to believe him, he was your best friend, until he sold you out to the Enforcers. It was his plea bargain to make sure he did not go to jail but he had to give up you, surely you remember?” Dark Kat dropped his hold on Chance.

Dark Kat knew exactly who Chance was. He had seen the tabby take off his mask when he thought nobody was looking. It had plagued Dark Kat for only for a few hours in how he knew the alter ego of the Swat Kat, but he suddenly knew where he had seen him. It was the same pilot that had gone head to head with him when he tried taking out the new Enforcer building. The two Enforcers Officers had to bail out of the jet causing it to spiral into uncontrollable dive and take out the building. Even though Dark Kat’s plans had been spoiled, in the end the two kats had done millions worth of damage, so he had won that day.

The glee that had come over his body was far too much for Dark Kat. To not only find out the Swat Kat’s identity he could also ruin his reputation and get him to do his deeds for him. But Dark Kat could tell that Chance was now beginning to show the side of him that he was famous for, stubbornness. It was clear as day that Chance was beginning to gain some of his memory and it would be only time before he truly remembered the day he fell from grace of the Enforcers and dawned on the uniform that would make him a Swat Kat. Dark Kat had to act fast if he wanted to accomplish what he wanted from the tabby because this time he had all the right pieces in the right place.

“Either you believe me or don’t, but there is the door.”

Chance turned his body to give the door a side-glance, and then he then looked back at Dark Kat. It made sense, Jake trying to convince him that Dark Kat was the enemy instead his friend. But the sincerity of Jake’s voice made his heart skip a beat. Shaking his head finally, “Look, I don’t believe either one of you honestly but if I have to pick a side….its yours.” ‘For now,’ He thought the last bit.

The smile came over Dark Kat’s features as he then patted his shoulder and then turned back around. “Okay then, now do you want to hear my plan?”

Chance put his mask back on his face and then smiled his famous grin, “Why not, what do you have in mind?”

TBC…..

(I am worried I really screwed up the storyline because of how long it took me to update, so hopefully I didn’t and all of yeah don’t get to ticked at me the way I left this chapter…I promise you its coming down to the wire and its almost done!)