The TurboKat chased the glowing silver disc high into the atmosphere, with T-Bone skillfully dodging the blasts from the fleeing craft that had been terrorizing MegaKat City, while the Disc evaded Razor's attempts at nailing it. Dogfighting in the upper range of the TurboKat's speed was putting a definite strain on the plane, though T-Bone had no doubts she'd pull through as always.

"How high can we go before we have to engage Speed-of-Heat, partner?" T-bone asked after his eye briefly caught the steadily climbing altimeter.

"Technically, when the engines cut out." The gunner-engineer growled, his own frustration starting to show. "Any time now would be good."

"Okay, lets see how fast that Terror Disc can really go." T-Bone growled, as he engaged the TurboKat's fastest mode, Speed-of-Heat. The burly pilot really didn't like dogfighting in the special mode, since he had to fly on instruments due to the heavily shielded canopy. "I think the flying saucer wants to play in space." He muttered, as he kept chasing the still accelerating disc, doing his best to give his partner a good opening for a shot.

Abruptly, the Disc dove back toward the planet, its hull glowing cherry red with the heat of reentry. T-bone followed expertly, not even looking at the speed indicator on the console. Suddenly, three spheres were ejected from Disc, showing briefly on radar before they exploded surrounding the hot glowing plane with a sickly phosphorescent green mist that clung to every surface.

"What the hell just happened, Razor?" T-bone growled, as the controls became uncharacteristically cranky.

"Cruddy hells! Get us down, now." Razor ordered, more fear in his tone than his pilot had heard in years. "We're dissolving."

"I'm trying, Razor. Control system isn't paying me much attention." He growled as he fought to dump speed and altitude with some measure of control. He was only slightly relieved when the Speed-of-Heat canopy finally retracted, though less pleased when the extra engine flew off. "See if you can get the emergency braking chute to deploy, would you? We need to get subsonic." He asked, as he focused on keeping what little control he had and gaining more at the same time.

A steady series of curses, most of them new or just unintelligible, warned the pilot that help wasn't likely to be coming. Half a heartbeat later he felt the sharp jerk of the landing chutes deploying for a few moments.

After several long moments of fighting with the controls and cursing, T-Bone felt the characteristic rumble as the plane came back across the sound barrier. His relief was only momentary, as the fire sensors in the main engines lit up. He looked at the altimeter and noted that they were still a good fifty thousand feet up. Serious worry crossed his face, as it really began to hit home that he might not be able to bring the TurboKat down in one piece.

"We have to eject, buddy." Razor's voice held both the utter demand of an unquestionable order and a promise of a fate worse than Dark Kat's when the owner of that saucer was caught. "Frame integrity just went critical."

T-bone nodded, and with a great deal of regret pulled the ejection lever. That action merely resulted in him holding the broken lever in his hand. "Okay, partner. What's plan B?" He asked with the odd calmness that comes when it hits you that a situation has completely gone to hell.

The silence behind him held long enough for the pilot to fully comprehend what 'we're dissolving' actually meant, and then the reality that he no longer had a jet around him to fly in.

"Don't fight." Razor's order was the last thing that came over his helmet radio before he felt himself go into full freefall without a piece of metal on him.

"Fight?" T-Bone muttered, as he realized that his uniform wasn't entirely intact. "What would I be fighting, gravity?" He shook his head, as he absently wondered how long it would take to fall forty-five thousand feet, and how long the recovery period from that kind of injury would be. That was assuming it didn't force him to reincarnate, which would be annoying.

A boom, like one from a huge expanse of fabric larger than any parachute, snapped his attention around to go face to claws with a brilliant red dragon larger than the one Past Master had ridden as it closed both clawed hands around him. The bump of an abrupt slow in his descent distracted him even as the warmth of the creature's flesh and the glow all around him registered.

"A dragon." T-bone muttered quietly, as he considered fighting, and then realized that whatever had eaten his jet, had also eaten his equipment leaving him unarmed. He made a quiet mental note to really ream someone at HQ for not mentioning dragons in the planetary survey, since they were a bit big to overlook. "I wonder if there was one to catch Razor?" He wondered quietly, as he waited to find out what would happen next.

Even as he did, his mind couldn't help but put together timing and location. It was hard not to realize that the dragon, when it caught him, would have been centered where Razor had been, and there hadn't been enough time for anything to move the Kat that much without killing him.

That left him with two options, either the dragon had killed Jake in the process of getting to him, or the dragon was Jake. The tabby had been in the service long enough to see things a lot stranger than shapeshifters whose forms were completely disproportionate. He'd even heard of dragons who liked to hang out in much smaller forms, as he recalled an odd report about a dragon hanging out as common pigeon. But still, until they landed it was really impossible to tell which option was the truth.

The ride, and the time to think too much, was far longer than he would have liked, but eventually the beating of the wings outside his flesh and hide enclosure changed to a much more rapid landing pattern, and the nip of cold wind entered his space for the first time.

Very slowly, and with obvious care, the hands opened up, tipped and moving so the burly tabby could climb out and get his feet with reasonable grace.

T-bone quickly got out, and turned to see just what had brought him down. Events in the air had been too quick for him to really get a good look at the monstrous glittering red creature that was now hanging off the edge of a sizeable edge outside a cave easily large enough for it to walk into.

The dragon's expansive leather wings, spread with three full fingers and connected well down the body, expanded out them as shelter, but also blocked T-Bone's view of the outside. His senses told him he was still very high up, and in the mountains somewhere.

"Some days buddy, you truly amaze me." The dragon's voice, deep and booming despite the obvious fact he was whispering, held faint similarities to Razor, or maybe that was wishful thinking, but it definitely talked like the gunner. "If you'd go inside, I'll try to explain."

T-bone paused to take a good long look at the dragon, concentrating on the beaked, horned and shimmering-scaled face and remembering his lessons on recognizing transformations. Rafe had said that you could tell someone you knew well, no matter the change of form. It was important he'd said, when you had to deal with people you might meet in three different forms on three separate occasions. After a little study, he smiled slightly, nodded and went inside. He might not have Rafe's experience, but his gut was telling him that his gunner had turned into a large red dragon. All in all, not the worst thing that could've happened. Hitting the ground at terminal velocity would definitely have been worse.

Seeing it happen to Jake would have been a lot worse.

He heard the rustle of wings and the heavy thump of the dragon's four clawed feet moving into the tunnel with him, and the air suddenly warmed to a comfortable temperature and light emanated from an area of the walls near the ceiling.

"If you don't mind civvies, there are real clothes in the Kat living space, on the left," Jake-the-Dragon swung his head a bit to guide the ragged looking tabby into a very comfortable living room.

"Thanks, Jake." T-Bone smiled to his larger than normal partner, and headed into the indicated space to look for something less ragged than what remained of his uniform. He was joined a moment later by a naked, cinnamon-furred Kat that guided him into the bedroom, in the left and behind the kitchen-like space.

"You have definitely been hanging out around me too long if you're this calm," Jake chuckled softly as he opened a remarkably modern looking dresser and handed the tabby a pile of clothes before setting some for himself. "Or you've got one hell of a background I haven't heard about." He added with a grin.

"Maybe it'll all hit me later." Chance suggested, as he got dressed. Part of him wanted to tell Jake the details, but one of the first rules of the Service was not telling outsiders about the Service unless necessary, or unless you had determined they were pre-incarnation Avatars. The first wasn't true, and the second he didn't have any reason to believe was true. "So are you a dragon who turns into a Kat, or the other way around?" He asked curiously.

"I'm a dragon," he said softly. "A Ka'athen Dragon to be specific. Kat society is just so much more interesting than hanging out up here and watching." He was clearly struggling to explain something he'd caught a fair amount of grief over.

"Yeah, I could see that." Chance nodded, and then walked over and put his hands on Jake's shoulders. "And guess what, it doesn't matter. You're my partner, my best friend and my lover, doesn't matter that you're also a dragon." He said sincerely. With friends in a dozen species that he could think of easily, one more didn't really make a difference.

"Thanks, buddy," he leaned into the contact. "Thanks."

"Hey, after all we've been through and the fact that you just saved my life, why would I let a little think like the fact that your natural form is bigger that most military transports bother me?" He asked playfully, putting his arms around Jake. "You know, we owe somebody big time for what just happened."

"Yeah, and they're about to get the surprise of their lives," he rumbled angrily. "That shift is going to catch all sorts of attention from the Court and my kin."

"Court?" Chance asked curiously.

"Long story buddy, and not one that matters to you," he said quietly, the regret deep in his voice. "The price is too high to cover the rest right now."

"If you say so, partner." Chance agreed quietly, willing to let his partner keep his secrets on this. It wasn't as if Chance was coming clean on his. "So, how far are we from home?"

"Close enough to teleport there," he said softly, his mind working furiously over very limited options. "I have to stay, to answer questions. If you stay, you'll become part of this world. Or I can send you back and we never speak of this again. I am still Razor, either way."

"Jake, this is the truth. And you're my gunner, I stand with you no matter what." He said simply. "We've gotten as far as we have, 'cause we stick together."

Despite being troubled by it, Jake leaned close to his pilot and relaxed a bit. "You are right about that." He murmured. "We stick together. This is going to be for a lot longer than you signed up for, buddy. Joining my world means a supernatural lifespan, even if it's not as long as mine."

Chance nodded, and made a mental note to speak to HQ as soon as he got the chance. He needed to be able to tell Jake the truth. "As long as we're together, how long isn't important." He said quietly.

"As long as you understand, buddy." He murmured and relaxed in the tabby's embrace. "You're probably looking at a couple thousand years, and you won't die by natural violence."

"Natural violence has rarely been the danger." Chance chuckled slightly. "It's the more unnatural kinds that seem to be a problem. Like some smart guy erasing our plane."

"The impact is natural, buddy." Jake said softly against his fur. "I mean, the only way you'll die early is by one of us."

"Oh, well I think I can handle that." Chance said quietly, and got nuzzled supportively by his lover and partner.

"Just try not to take it personally when there's objections of all sorts, or the threats early on. I'm kind of a rebel, and this is a big one."

"I can handle myself, partner." Chance smiled, just a bit cockily. "When's the last time you really saw threats get to me." He asked, knowing it hadn't happened.

"When they're directed at me, or Callie, you get all riled up," Jake teased him playfully with a lick on the nose. "Though you're going to see some truly incredible jets now."

"That's different." Chance grinned, and grabbed a quick kiss. "Now that sounds interesting." He purred excitedly at the thought of even more advanced jets. Maybe there'd even be one like his old Phantom air-space fighter.

"Very soon I won't be limited to what I can pull off with their tech and what little magic I can hide inside it," Jake grinned back and wrapped his arms around the tabby's neck before claiming a long, passionate kiss. "And I can't even imagine what a thousand years will create."

"And just maybe we can fit a vacation in there somewhere." Chance grinned playfully, as he wrapped his arms around Jake and held him close. "We're well overdue."

"Perhaps," he purred. "If it ever really gets to you, I can make time for one."

"Let's see how things go." Chance grinned. "First we gotta scrub the nutcase who yanked the TurboKat our from under us. So you got plans lying around for the next jet?" He asked with a smile, 'cause he figured Jake probably had several.

"I have most of her built," he smirked teasingly. "But if you can stand to wait about a month, I can incorporate all the upgrades the frame can take."

"I think I can handle that." Chance grinned, not really surprised. "And I can do some snooping to pin down where that nutcase is." He said with a soft growl, a sure sign that Chance really had it in for someone. Loud growls were to warn someone off, but the soft, low ones meant he was 'thinking' about just what he was going to do to someone when he caught them.

"Don't plan on having much free time, buddy," Jake shook his head softly. "The next few months are going to be heavy on introductions, arguments, and enchantments."

"Partner, if we're gonna be totally out of contact, we ought to tell Callie something." He pointed out quietly. "And I ought to tell Dad something, he'll worry if he can't reach me for a long period of time."

"We won't be out of contact, buddy." He smiled reassuringly. "Just a lot of the time we used to spend on maintenance, TV and car repair is going to be taking up sorting things out with my kin. We won't have to work for a living anymore, at least."

"Does that mean we'll be getting Feral off our backs about that stupid bill?" He asked hopefully. Only restrictions on use of Agency funds, had kept him from simply writing Feral a check. He was so sick of having that Kat over him.

"Very soon," Jake purred with a nod. "I'll be coming into an unexpected inheritance shortly."

"Good. It'll be nice to be able to tell Feral to shove off." He grinned broadly as Jake nuzzled against his chest.

"Yes, it will. It'll be a blast not to hide my better skills from you anymore too."

"Guess that's the bright side to that lunatic vaporizing our jet." Chance smiled. "If you've been hiding your better skills, this is going to be really interesting." He said, more determined than ever to talk with the General as soon as possible.

"Buddy, I'm a two thousand year old dragon," Jake laughed brightly. "I may be young by those standards, but you pick up some serious magic when you've got a thousand years of total boredom to overcome."

"I bet you do." Chance grinned. He'd picked up some odd skills himself, and he wasn't even two hundred yet. The General supposedly had some serious magic, though that sort of thing had never really interested Chance. He preferred to play with over the edge tech.

"You're going to see some of the best techno-magic blending ever conceived of." Jake was nearly vibrating in excitement. "It's gonna be fun." He added with a dangerous growl. "Dark Kat will never know what hit him."

"So should we thank the psycho for making this possible, just before we pound him or her flat for what he did to the TurboKat?" Chance asked with a playful, wiseass grin. "You weren't allowed to just come out and tell me, were you?" He asked curiously, with no trace of anger or disapproval, but actually a bit of understanding.

"I could tell you, if I brought you in." He sighed unhappily. "There are some rules not even I dare ignore. Not with more than both our lives on the line. You seemed so happy as a mortal."

"Partner, I'm happy with you." He smiled softly. "As long as we're together, that's what counts."

Jake nodded, still a little uncomfortable with it all. "You're just not the personality type that usually takes to the lifespan well. Guess I've always been afraid that after a few centuries, you couldn't stand it anymore."

"I think I'll manage." Chance smiled reassuringly. "The planet may not be able to stand the two of us after a few centuries though." He smirked broadly.

"We won't be restricted to the planet that long," he shivered in excitement. "It's not going as well as I'd hoped, but the space program will make it."

"I used to joke that that wouldn't happen in my lifetime." Chance shook his head. "But I guess that doesn't really work now." He smirked, trying to keep up the appearance that the extended lifetime was a complete surprise. Fortunately, he'd had a lot of practice pretending to be nothing more than a hotshot pilot from an average family.

"Oh, it would have, if you lived to old age," Jake purred softly. "I'm far too interested not to push if I have to."

"That's not much fun, Jake." Chance grinned. "You know the restrictions on the space program. Even I'd be hard pressed to make the cut in old-age." He smirked, leaving it unsaid that he would make the cut.

"And you thrive on the challenge, buddy, and you know it." He smiled and pressed close.

"What was that?" Chance asked as the entire mountain vibrated with a roar, rattling both toms to their bones. He dropped into a defense stance reflexively, and silently wished for a blaster, any blaster. "Relatives knocking, or maybe the door bell?" He quipped trying to make light of what sounded like a wing of assault shuttles coming in.

"Relax," Jake kissed him softly before walking out into the main living space. "That's my daughter, coming to find out what happened."

"Daughter?" He asked, a bit surprised, and then chuckled. "Well, I guess at two thousand, a few kids are to be expected." He chuckled, and followed quickly.

"Only her," Jake chuckled softly before he turned into the dragon-sized cavern. As Chance watched the cinnamon-furred tom seemed to flow into the much, much larger mass of his hundred and fifty foot dragon form. "I am young by Ka'athen standards."

"Oh." Chance said, looking honestly surprised. He made a mental note to get his boys to visit sometime, after he got Command to let him break the security regs. "Kind of amazing, the shift in mass." He said as he continued following.

"Magic does much more amazing things, buddy." He promised before his step outpaced the Kat's by too much and he took the last couple paces at a run to launch himself forcefully into the air and spread a wingspan twice his length to catch the winds and swept up to greet a significantly smaller, though still enormous, golden-red dragon build much like him.

Chance stood at the entryway to the cave, and watched the two dragons dance in the sky in an aerial display completely at odds with their size and build. "Yeah, she does kind of look like him." He said quietly as he shook his head think about just how annoyed Rafe was gonna be at this kind of oversight in the planetary survey. Missing something the size of a cargo plane was never looked upon favorably. Not for the first time he wished that he could use implant gear like most agents, but that was something Avatars just couldn't use.

As he watched, the pair executed a graceful turn and roll to dive towards the ledge. Chance casually stepped back a bit to give the two plenty of space to land, and watched as Jake flipped to put his muscular hind legs down first and flatted the great wings to slow him down. Even before he touched down, Jake's form began to melt again into his Kat body.

Only a bit behind her father, the smaller dragon made a similar maneuver, though her biped form was still draconian, just on the manageable high of eight feet or so.

Chance watched the transformations with more than a little fascination. He'd always found shifters fascinating, especially the ones with the primitive forms, though that was kink he didn't tell just anybody about.

"Chance, this is my daughter, Krysa." Jake motioned to the obviously female dragon biped. "Krysa, my mate and partner, Chance."

"Welcome to the family," her deep, rumbling voice and reptilian smile were added to an extended hand.

"Thank you, Krysa." The tabby smiled, and shook the extended hand without hesitation. "It's a pleasure to meet my mate's daughter."

"You have delicious taste in males," She grinned at her father. "Share him?"

"Not until you lean not to bloody them." Jake shot back, his tail lashing sharply.

"Yeah, bloodsports is not a kink I'm into." Chance shook his head.

"It's not that," Krysa arched her slender neck back in distress.

"Seriously, it's not, buddy." Jake caught his partner's arm gently and led them inside. "Dragon hide, even in small form, is very tough. We use our claws and jaws to hold on. It takes a fair amount of work to learn how to handle a thin-skinned lover without hurting them.

"Oops, sorry about that Krysa." Chance apologized with a warm smile as they went inside.

"It's okay," she settled her wings in a neutral position, mostly along her sides. "We don't interact with mortals much."

"Your father does." Chance smirked, as he leaned in to nuzzle the lean tom playfully. There was something distinctly humorous and disturbing about being referred to as a mortal. Mostly disturbing, for the first time in a long time.

"As a mortal," she chuckled softly. "Not as what we are."

"Ah, I misunderstood." He smiled softly, remembering one of his earlier lessons in incarnation adaptation; 'Form isn't important, spirit is'. The second thing he'd learned was that a lot of shapeshifters didn't see it that way. Becoming flexible on points of view hadn't been easy for him, and he still had to watch himself.

"It's a damage ratio thing," Jake finally spoke up. "Even the form she's wearing can take more damage than the TurboKat could."

That quieted Chance for a little bit. "Impressive." He said quietly, wondering if the Dracons in the Agency could take that kind of punishment. "Speaking of the TurboKat, do you have any theories on just what we go hit with?" He asked curiously.

"A few," he nodded. "It was too fast and too effective to be a normal substance like acid. It was probably either magic, or nano-tech of some kind. Possibly something really exotic. I'll know more when I can examine the remains of your uniform.

"Probably a set-up then." Chance nodded. "Doesn't sound like something you'd just carry around."

"No, but when doesn't an Omega go up against SWAT in this city?" Jake chuckled softly and flopped on the couch.

"They usually don't go after us first. This was the first time we saw anything on this nutjob, and he was gunning for us." Chance said quietly. "This nutjob has it together at least a little. Doesn't feel like DK though."

"I doubt it, not his style." Jake nodded and relaxed back. "But anyone new who watches the news knows about how things work. I'm kinda surprised this didn't happen before. It's a long time for no one to catch on."

"That Disc was pretty impressive in the air." Chance admitted reluctantly, as he sat down next to Jake. "Was staying ahead of us, even at Speed-of-Heat."

Title:	Immortal Razor, Dragon T-Bone
Authors:	Fur and Fantasy [Website]
Rating:	PG-13
Status:	Closed-Unfinished
Timing:	Sometime with SWAT
Crossover_Fandoms:	SWAT Kats
Pairings:	Jake/Chance,
Category:	Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Slash
Codes:	None
Historical_Codes:	None
Summary:	The destruction of the TurboKat midair gives the guys a new problem, dealing with the fallout of how they survived.
Notes:	Writers: Rauhnee Ranshanka and Todd McCall
Disclaimer:	As everyone should know, none of us claim any rights or ownership of the characters and worlds belonging to others, including the SWAT Kats and any others we throw in the mix. We're doing this because we love them too much to see them be forgotten, or not have just one more adventure, and just possibly the reward they deserve.