InsaneJournal

Dr. Viper's Girl (2/?)
Title: Dr. Viper's Girl (2/?)
Chapter Title: Collateral Damage
Rated: PG13
Pairing: none
Fandom: Swat Kats
Swat Kats belongs to Hanna Barbera and it's partners

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This story is an idea that's been bouncing around my head for about a decade.

This story was written March 2010. It has been edited.

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A 200-foot Dr. Viper was not my concern. The sound of 7.5-cm guns was not my concern. The Turbokat falling out of the sky was not my concern. The cloud of purple mist was my concern though. It frightened me. I dove. I dove into the swamp and tried to hide under the surface of the slime until the purple went away.

I caved first. I had to breach or I’d drown.

The purple gas seared my lungs as I inhaled. My skin started to burn. I knew something was very very wrong.

I dove again. I swam through the streets, trying to find the one place where I could get fresh, untainted air.

Swimming grew harder. I was losing my strength. I opened my wings and flapped, flying under the surface like a penguin. They burned as I used them.

Panic filtered up through my mind as I kicked my way into a window and found a small area near the ceiling. A bubble enough for a few minutes.

I didn’t realize my mind was fogged until it started to unfog. It scared me, it scared me as much as the prospect of losing my wings had scared me. I held my hands in front of my face and watched as the rough warty skin softened, smoothed, as my fur grew back in. My face lost its giant mouth full of teeth. My mind unfogged completely.

But it was never the same.

My air was going bad. I took a few last deep breaths and submerged.

This time when I opened my wings I purred. I hadn’t lost them.

I bounced from bubble to bubble in the building as the swamp receded. Whatever method Viper had used to flood the city was breaking down.

I wondered if I’d still be able to fly after all this. Or if by avoiding a full dose of the anti-mutagens I’d condemned myself to a lifetime of freakishness. Maybe both.

A landbreeze was blowing the purple fog out of the city by the time I had to surface. The swamp was only ten feet deep. I hid underneath it until I couldn’t stand it, I had to give it one good try. I spread my wings and propelled myself forward through the muck.

I built up speed under the surface before breaching and trying to throw myself into the air. And it worked. I purred as wind blew by beneath my wings, as I could inhale cool morning air without the burning taint of purple gas.

I flew home. I just wanted to go home. I flapped up to the tarmac of Enforcer Headquarters and landed with a bit less grace than I’d have liked. And found myself in the midst of shocked and wary kats, some holding weapons on me, some shouting into radios, some just staring.

“What?” I asked. Oh right, the wings. I was still a mutant. I folded them behind me and tried to look normal. A well-placed breeze reminded me that my clothes didn’t magically unshred with the antimutagens. I made myself not care that I was naked and a mutant as I strode calmly toward the hangars.

My uncle burst out of the elevator in the hangars and tore out onto the tarmac, stripped to the waist and a swearing field medic trying to keep up. I winced at the evidence of my transformation across his shoulders and arms, deep claw gouges I’d made in the agony of the change. I wondered if he felt them at all. I heard him shouting for me.

He didn’t care that we were still on the tarmac in front of half the Force. He didn’t care that I was naked or mutated or anything. I didn’t care either. I didn’t even care that he was crushing the wind out of me as he held me tight and purred into my neck, whispering my name. I held him too, careful not to touch anything painful. “I’m back, Uncle,” I said. “Forgive me?”

“Felina, you’re back, I forgive you, don’t scare me like that again, your father’s going to kill me, Felina,” Uncle whispered. Then he stopped crushing me and held me at arms length to look at me.

My heart broke. His face went from happiness and relief to confusion then shock then fear then sorrow. “Oh, Felina,” he whispered. “No…”

I was ashamed. His fear, his sorrow, made me feel ashamed. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. I was sorry, I was sorry he was ashamed of me. I wasn’t sorry for what I’d become. I couldn’t be, not when I remembered that first moment of flight.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled, enough to tell me he wanted me to go somewhere. “Dr. Conway’s still in the biotech lab,” he said. “Maybe he can fix this. It’ll be okay, Felina. Dr. Conway will fix this.”

I let him lead me inside, wondering who exactly he was trying to convince.

Dr. Conway indeed was in the biotech lab. So were the SWAT Kats. I saw their eyes go wide under their masks. My glare dared them to say anything. Conway was too engrossed in his electron microscope to notice me. Uncle’s field medic sat him down and started trying to stitch together ragged edges of claw marks.

“Dr. Conway,” Uncle said.

The biochemist turned, a look of self-important disdain etched on his features, a look that melted to shock when he saw me. “I see we have another case of a kat being affected by Katalyst X63,” he said.

“How do you know it’s…” I trailed off. Wait… “What do you mean ‘another case’?”

T-Bone suddenly looked sheepish. Interesting.

“He got bit by a worm and mutated into a giant frog,” Razor said dryly.

“That’s fun,” I said, sitting down on the giant specimen table next to T-Bone. “I see you changed back though.”

T-Bone eyed my naked appreciatively then seemed to notice my biggest feature. Envy was obvious all over his features. “Oh that’s just not fair,” he whined. “I get turned into a giant toad and you get wings?! And you still have them… At least tell me you can fly.”

“How else does one get from the street to the tarmac?” I said with the biggest grin I could manage.

T-Bone gaped. Then swore. Then gaped again. Then sulked. I heard him muttering something about craving flies and all he got was learning to swim. Razor patted him in sympathy.

“Interesting,” Dr. Conway said. He’d turned back to his electron microscope. “T-Bone’s DNA is still infected with fragments of frog DNA altered by Katalyst X63. He’s still a mutant. The antimutagens were a failure.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said dryly. To give the SWAT Kats credit I heard them trying not to laugh. Dr. Conway needed laughing at. This situation needed laughing at.

“And I definitely want a sample from you, Lt. Feral,” Conway said. I held out an arm with a long-suffering sigh. I got a cheek swab instead.

“You don’t look like a toad,” I said conversationally to T-Bone. “Any differences I should know about?” I let my eyes linger on his mouth long enough to show I was flirting with him.

“Yes, I need to know the differences between your previous form and your current form,” Conway said. “Especially the non-visible differences, instincts, thoughts, things like that.”

“Well… um…”

“C’mon, buddy, you can say it,” Razor encouraged. “It might be important. I promise you, no one’s going to judge you for it.”

“I…” T-Bone sighed and looked at his paws. “I couldn’t swim,” he admitted. “I didn’t know how. And now I do.”

“You learned how to swim,” Conway said, sneering. I glared at him.

“I didn’t learn! That’s the thing, didn’t know how to swim before I changed and now I do! It’s all… I dunno…” T-Bone seemed to give up. He just shrugged and kicked his feet against the specimen table like a guilty kitten.

“How do you swim now?” I asked. If Conway was going to be a dick then I’d put together some data at the least.

“There are different ways?” T-Bone asked.

“Like a frog,” Razor supplied. “His previous method of swimming included drowning and flailing.”

“Instinctual movement,” Conway mused, vaguely interested again. I really did not like that kat. “Anything else?”

“Food cravings,” Razor said.

“I said I was kidding,” T-Bone said, shoving his friend off the table.

“Ow! And he’s stronger than he was,” Razor pointed out.

“Sorry, buddy, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“What food cravings?” Conway asked.

“Flies,” Razor supplied.

“I said I was kidding!”

Their antics amused me. I could tell they were getting on my uncle’s nerves based on how he was clenching his teeth. At least the field medic was almost finished. Still, he was going to have some impressive scars. I felt guilty all over again.

“I see…” Conway was muttering at the electron microscope. He had a different slide up, a sample that contained a much more active set of cells.

“See what?” I asked.

“Lt. Feral, you must have gotten a reduced dose of the antimutagens. Your DNA is still actively mutated, mixed with kat-tailed bat DNA. I’ll place the order with Megakat Biochemical. The antimutagens should be ready in a couple of months.”

“Months?!” Uncle shouted.

“These are very delicate chemicals,” Conway pointed out. “And it appears the entire supply was used tonight. More will need to be synthesized. Then we can return Lt. Feral and T-Bone to normal. Until then I’d like you both to remain here for… observation.”

T-Bone and Razor looked at each other. I saw the expressions cross their faces before they responded with a synchronized “No.”

“Very well then, Lt. Feral, it appears I will be observing you.”

“When did I agree to this?” I asked.

“Felina,” Uncle warned.

“No, Conway,” I said. “I’m not staying here to be observed by anyone unless I know exactly what they’re going to do and I know exactly why they can’t just check up on me whenever while I continue to do my job!”

“I can certify you as unfit for active duty,” Conway warned.

“Felina…” Uncle pleaded.

“And why do you need to be ‘observing’ anyone anyway?” I demanded. “You know the antimutagens work when dosed correctly, you had the proof earlier tonight with that frog!”

“Felina!”

“No, Conway,” I said. “I’m not being studied like someone’s project.”

“That’s Doctor Conway to you, Feral,” Conway snarled. “And I need to study at least one of you to chart your mutations over time, to watch as your bodies reach an equilibrium between what you were and what X63 is capable of.”

“This looks like an equilibrium to me,” I pointed out.

“Look, you know the antimutagens work,” Razor said. “And I know that aerosolization through an explosion was a terrible delivery system. Residual mutations are to be expected in some of the victims. It just so happens that these are the only two victims. Waiting on the antimutagens isn’t going to change their equilibriums in any way, equilibriums I point out they’ve already reached. There really is no purpose in keeping either of them here except for your own personal… research… That’s it isn’t it?”

“What’s it?” I asked.

“He’s not doing this for you or T-Bone, he’s doing this to get published.”

I growled. My wings unfolded in an instinctual display.

“One of them stays here or I don’t treat either of them,” Conway said.

The entire room sat in stunned silence. I was the first to speak. “Fine.”

“Felina, be reasonable,” Uncle said.

I couldn’t believe he was siding with the PhD on this one. “No, Uncle,” I ranted. “I’m not going to let myself be blackmailed just so some power hungry scientist can see how I work inside. I can’t believe you’d even consider allowing him or anyone that kind of access! Not just to me, even to the damned vigilante! And not once has anyone even considered what we might want! Maybe I like to fly! Maybe T-Bone enjoys being able to not drown! Maybe we’re willing to live with the consequences!”

I gasped for air, furious. I must have looked a sight, wings raised, chest heaving, claws unsheathed, naked, tail lashing. Razor looked impressed. T-Bone gave me the tiniest smile and nod. The field medic resolutely didn’t look at me as he bandaged my uncle’s wounds. My uncle looked… scared. He was terrified. Dr. Conway looked indifferent. Completely indifferent.

“Fine then,” Conway said. “Neither of you will receive treatment.”

“Fine with me,” T-Bone said. “C’mon, Razor, let’s get some fuel and go home. I wanna know if I can bench-press an engine block.”

I stormed out of the room. And got stuck. I refolded my wings and succeeded in leaving, fuming at the loss of a dramatic exit.

Later I stood in the open hangar looking out over the tarmac. I wore pants but was forced to tie someone’s scarf over my breasts. Choppers were repaired behind me. The SWAT Kats hadn’t gotten their fuel yet so T-Bone was trying to lift various things. I had to laugh to myself upon hearing something about a motorcycle, Razor, lifting it, and the resulting crash as it all fell on T-Bone’s head. Hey, those helmets had to be useful for something. It sounded like they worked.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up into my uncle’s yellow eyes. “Dr. Conway followed through on his threat,” he admitted. “You’ve been taken off of active duty for medical reasons. Indefinitely. There was nothing I could do. I’m sorry, Felina.”

I purred to show I forgave him. I didn’t feel like words right then.

“Are… are you serious?” he asked. “Are you really okay with this?”

I unfolded a wing and wrapped it around his shoulders in a bat-like parody of a hug. “I am okay with the mutation,” I admitted. “I am okay with being able to fly under my own power. I am not okay with Conway’s posturing. I feel he’s an egotistical jackass and he’s letting his own ambitions get in the way of his job.”

“Aiding and abetting a crazy kat, Commander?” asked a familiar voice behind us. Steele…

“Depends on your definition of ‘crazy’, Steele,” Uncle said. “I aid and abet you more than you deserve.” Have I said yet that I have the best uncle in the world?

“I’m talking about that mutant next to you, Feral,” Steele said. “Rumor says it’s refusing treatment.”

“I didn’t know ‘unethical experimentation’ counted as ‘treatment’, Steele,” I said, turning to face him. “If you have something to say, say it to my face.”

Steele smiled. It raised all my fur to see a smile that disturbing. “Since Commander Feral’s obviously incapable of making an impartial decision in this case it falls to the expertise of Dr. Conway to determine what your orders are,” he said. “I’m merely the messenger. You are ordered to report to the biotech lab for, ah, treatment.” He pulled a gun on me. “Now.”

Uncle grabbed Steele by the neck and hoisted him a good foot off the tarmac. He was furious. I didn’t stay to hear what they shouted at each other, I ran off the edge of the tarmac into open air.

I had to think. I couldn’t stay flying for long, they’d find me. I needed to give Uncle time to straighten this out. I couldn’t go home; there’d be a stakeout on it within the hour if there wasn’t one already. Same with everyone I knew. I couldn’t stay with the SWAT Kats; I didn’t know where they were based.

I felt a stab in my foot. I reached down, found a tranq dart. I pulled it, fuming. Anger and adrenaline can keep a body going for a long time. I’d need it, too; when a flying creature passed out midair it tended to crash.

I flew straight and fast. There was only one place I could think of to hide myself and I kept losing my train of thought. I kept listing to the right.

The city passed under me. I kept getting distracted, I kept thinking how pretty it was. I was slowly losing my grip on consciousness.

I let myself land outside the trees. Marshy farmland held the two miles between the city and MegaKat Swamp. I stumbled into the trees and then my vision went black.

End Chapter 2