Never Expected This: Live and Let Live

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! This story is ©SynjoDeonecros. SWAT Kats and all related characters are ©Hanna Barbera. Hardin, Red, Patch, Tony, and the Syndicate are all ©Fur and Fantasy. Do not change or redistribute this story in any way without my express permission. Also, as this is a fan-sequel of the series I Never Expected This by Fur and Fantasy, you would be wise to read that series first, before reading this story. This story also contains graphic depictions of sexual activity between male anthro felines, as well as mentionings of death and other graphic images. If you are underage or uninterested in such content, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!!!

SWAT Kats: I Never Expected This - Live and Let Live

by SynjoDeonecros

Feral looked at the address scrawled on the crumpled piece of paper in his hand, comparing it to that of the large mansion in front of his car. He hate having to do this, and would've preferred to have just left them alone, or at least waited for a less pressing opportunity to confront them, but he had no choice; he needed their help, and he had a court order to force them into complying. He just wish it was under better circumstances. Steeling his nerves, the large kat got out of his car, and headed up to the mansion's front door, mentally preparing himself for what was about to transpire, next.

Inside, Chance, Jake, Alex, Hardin, Red, and Patch were all whooping it up with a movie night, the long list of videos rented about as eclectic as their renters. Currently, they were watching one of Patch's favorites, a high-action war flick that he had always rented, during such nights, despite the others' protest. Just as the movie ended, however, a knock at the door pierced the jovial air, sending all parties into confusion.

"I wonder who that could be," queried Jake, looking at Hardin.

"I didn't invite anyone else over," Hardin exclaimed, equally as curious. "Anyone else?"

The rest of the group shook their head, then jumped when the knocks turned to soft bangs.

"Jake, open up. It's Feral, on Enforcer business."

Those words sent Jake into a snarling fit. "Go away, Feral! You're not welcome here."

"'Fraid I can't do that, Jake," Feral yelled back, indignant. "I've got a subpoena to talk with Patch about his part in a case we're working on."

Jake looked at Patch in befuddlement, only to see a brief glimpse of recognition on the burly tom's face flutter over his otherwise hate-twisted features. "Patch? What's going on?"

Patch gritted his teeth in anger, but didn't elaborate. "Send him in."

Jake nodded, still unsure exactly why Feral, of all people, was here, and what he had to do with Patch at the moment. "No tricks, Feral, or you'll be carted out of here by the Protectors in a body bag, got it?"

"Why you ungrateful..." started Feral, vehemently, before he regained his composure. "No tricks, I swear. I just need to get Patch's statements on something."

Jake looked back at his friends in silent debate, before getting up and walking to the front door, opening it for the Enforcers Commander. He looked the large tom directly in the eye, unbridled rage barely held in check. "Make it quick, Feral."

Feral nodded silently, following Jake into the living room, stopping just at the threshold. He was a bit unnerved by all of the angry eyes staring at him, but he was on business, and he would not be deterred. "Patch?"

Patch inclined his head, drawing Feral's attention to him. "Right here, Feral. What do you want?"

Feral grimaced, unable to collect his thoughts for a moment, before speaking. "Where were you during the night of your arrival to our dimension, immediately prior to your confrontation with me?"

Patch blinked in surprise, his eyes growing wide as realization dawned on him. Mumbling a curse under his breath, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously and turned his gaze from the Commander, as if trying to hide something.

Both Jake and Red looked at Feral, then at Patch, unable to understand what Feral said to make Patch react the way he did. "What's that got to do with anything, Feral?" Jake asked, stubbornly.

"Everything," Feral said, simply. "That night, after I returned to my apartment, I found two dead kats stuffed in my closet, the door sprayed with scent neutralizer. I wouldn't have noticed it as quickly, had I not have gone to put up Chance's clothes."

Patch let out another curse, this one a bit louder than the last, but said nothing.

"Two kats stuffed in your closet, and you're assuming that Patch has something to do with it?" Red growled, unable to believe what he was hearing. "What kind of game are you playing, Feral?"

"No game, I'm afraid," Feral responded, frowning. "He wasn't as thorough in cleaning up evidence as he thought he was; we found scent particles of two Chances at the scene of the crime, as well as blood particles from that clone of yours, Tony. The thing is, that those two kats that he killed weren't from the world, or any world that the Alliance knows of, for that matter."

Hardin's eyes grew wide in shock, as did Patch's. "So they weren't friends of yours?" noted Patch.

Feral shook his head. "No, they weren't. We're still trying to determine their ID and place of origin, but so far, we haven't had much luck. We also found some unique tech on them, designed to look like something that came from our world, but completely alien, in all other respects. Again, even the Alliance doesn't know who they are or where they came from."

Again, Patch spat out a curse, this one loud enough to startle everyone in the room. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"Wait just a sec, here..." Chance said, still trying to make sense of everything. "You're saying that you had nothing to do with Tony?"

"That's correct, Chance," Feral confirmed, crossing his arms. "Once we learned that Tony was one of the Chances in the room, things started to click. We're assuming that whoever it was that Patch killed meant to frame me for your death."

"And we would've fell for it," Jake nodded, revelation hitting him in the face. "Hell, that's precisely what I thought had happened, when we found Tony, that night. Either you, or the Syndicate."

Feral glanced at the smaller tom, thoughtful. "You may not be too far off your guess, then; we found similar tech at many of the Syndicate's warehouses, though most of it seems to have been removed shortly before our raid of the area." He dropped his head slightly, closing his eyes in pained remembrance. "It makes me hate them even more for what they forced me to do to you," he whispered, barely audible.

Patch, however, caught Feral's last sentence and perked up, perplexed. "What do you mean, what they forced you to do? You abused Chance all by yourself, you asshole!"

Feral snarled, his anger and impatience with the group's prejudice against him rising. "You idiot! Why in the hell do you think I had him on call, for most of the time he was working at the service? Why do you think that I allowed him to hook up with Alex? Why do you think I risked getting my tail beaten down to visit who I thought was him in the hospital?"

That stunned Patch into silence, as well as the rest of the kats in the room. Nothing about what Feral had just said made any sense, and Chance just glanced between Feral and Alex, not sure what to make of the Commander's second statement. Sighing in exasperation, the large tabby cleared his throat and started again.

"I learned about Chance's sister's debt to the Syndicate a few days after he appeared on the callkat docket. Despite out differences, I knew that Chance wouldn't do anything like that unless he had no other choice, so I hired a private investigator to tail him for a few days to see what was up."

Chance, now realizing what Feral was saying, growled low in his throat. "You knew why I was working as a callkat, and still you abused me? That's gratitude, for you."

Feral snarled, just about having enough of the group's attitude. "Did I EVER beat you within an inch of your life? Did I ever torture and abuse you to the point where you had to be hospitalized?" He turned to Alex, eyes sharp in fuming rage and righteous vindication. "Alex, do you know of any pet of mine who I've beaten and fucked so hard, they needed anything more than some mild home treatment? And be honest, here; you haven't been my pet for a while, now."

"Yes you did, Feral!" Jake snapped, struggling to fight the urge to tear Feral's throat out. "There were plenty of times when he came home, damn-near half dead after a night of your little games..."

"That wasn't him, Jake," Chance mumbled, half-audibly, just barely stopping Jake in his tracks.

"But you told me..."

"Yes, Feral was there, many times, but he wasn't the one who beat me that bad. It was some of his guests that did it. After he handed me off to them, they always took me to another room and tortured me, then patched me up, to make it look like they hadn't. I just assumed that Feral had allowed them to do that to me."

"He wouldn't," Alex corrected, putting an arm around Chance, comfortingly. "You might not have seen me there, but a lot of the times, I was among the pets, there, with you. After you left, he'd always beat those bastards within an inch of their life and tossed them into a jail cell on charges of aggravated assault. He's never hurt a pet that severely, even if they want him to."

Silence enveloped the room once again, as the group ruminated over this latest revelation. Finally, Patch spoke up. "So, you find out that Chance is a callkat to pay off the Syndicate, and make him your favorite pet to 'protect' him. If you really wanted to protect him, why didn't you just bring the Syndicate down, or at least take him and his family into protective custody?"

"No evidence," Hardin mused, smiling thinly. "The Syndicate makes doubly sure not to leave any traces of any debts or transactions entitled to them. Without definitive proof to show to the judge that Chance or his family were in any danger, he had no way of protecting them, legally."

Feral nodded, relieved that someone finally understood what was going on. "I may be a 'sadistic bastard who likes to use people', but I know where my priorities lie. I knew that if someone at least somewhat responsible didn't pick Chance up as their private pet, he would've died from the Syndicate's whoring long ago. Believe me, I liked having you as my pet, but I didn't like the reasons why I made you one."

Patch smirked, bitter irony etched in his features. "So you admit to wanting to use Chance, if he wasn't in trouble with the Syndicate. Nice."

"I said that I liked him being my pet. I never said that I was going to abuse him, if things were any different." Feral sighed, suddenly feeling tired of having to explain himself. "Since he was a callkat, I couldn't properly introduce him to the world of Master/Pet play, and had to work with what I got. Trust me, had things been any other way, you wouldn't have been subjected to any of the rougher stuff, until you were ready to try them."

Alex nodded in agreement. "That's what he did with me, after I became his personal pet, for a time. He actually treated me better than most of my past Masters ever did."

Chance grimaced, stomach roiling with uncertainty and sickened feelings. There was no way in hell that he was going to trust the bastard, especially after what he did to him as a callkat, but, try as he might, he couldn't deny that Feral's words had a ring of twisted logic and truth to them. He couldn't tell if Feral was really ashamed of his actions or not, but he tended towards not, considering his reputation as a kat user. But, he couldn't help but consider that his personal bias against the tom was clouding his judgment. After all, it was true that Feral had treated him better than most of the other 'Masters' he had to be a pet to. Was it really his past history with Feral that made it so unpleasant? Alex had began teaching him the finer points of a caring Master/Pet relationship, and now that he thought back on it, some of the 'abuses' that Feral gave him did feel rather pleasant, if not for the company. Finally, he looked up at Feral and sighed.

"Fine, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, here. I suppose you still want me to be your pet?"

Feral winced at the word, shaking his head. "Only if you want to be, in the future. Right now, I'd like to build back up a friendship with you, then move onto lover, when you feel comfortable with it."

Chance nodded, returning to his ruminating. Patch, however, didn't have such thoughts.

"Back at it, huh, Feral? Don't listen to him, Chance; the moment you start getting snugly with him, it'll be right back to whips and leather."

"Shut up, Patch!" Feral snapped. "I haven't had a pet, ever since I saw you at the hospital."

Patch glared at Feral, then glanced over to Alex for confirmation. The Tiger nodded. "I talked with the owner of Warlords quite frequently. Feral hasn't been in, ever since that day."

"It would be totally up to you, Chance," Feral continued, giving Patch a defiant stare, in the process. "I'm not going to push it, if you don't want it."

Chance looked at Feral, not sure what to say. Despite his better judgment, he wanted to trust the large gray kat. He honestly was half-convinced that Feral did want to be his friend and possibly lover, but the pain of his time as Feral's pet prevented him from making a definitive decision. Turning his gaze to Alex, he silently pleaded to the Tiger for help, which he got in the form of a sincere nod from his love. That did it, for him.

"Alright, Feral," he replied, begrudgingly. "We'll try it. But mark my words," he warned, pointing an accusatory finger at the Commander, "you try any of your old stunts, and you'll have two pissed-off Chances to deal with. Got it?"

Patch grumbled, still not liking Chance's decision, but nodded in agreement. Feral returned the nod, still tense but visibly relaxing significantly at Chance's words. "Agreed. Now that we've got that taken care of..."

"Hold on," Jake interrupted, a look of concern on his face. "You mentioned 'letting' Chance and Alex hook up. What did you mean by that?"

Feral sighed, shifting his feet, awkwardly. "If you think I set them up to fuck with Chance's mind, you're wrong. I trust Alex; he's a great guy, and a wonderful pet. I could see how much the callkat job was eating away at Chance, but didn't want to try and comfort him, considering I was part of the problem. When Alex showed interest in him, I figured he'd be the best person to help Chance get through this."

"How thoughtful," Patch snarked, but less sarcastically than before. "Who better person to console someone than one who truly knows what he's going through?"

"Alex is one of the kindest and most experienced pets I've ever been privileged to have," Feral nodded, smiling rather warmly at the Tiger. "Despite his annoying worship of me - no offense, Alex, but it is - I could tell that he was a decent match for Chance. I'm glad I was right."

"So am I, I'm surprised to say," Chance concurred, nonchalantly. "Er...thanks, Feral."

"No need to thank me, Chance," Feral deadpanned, tiredly. "It's not like I deserve it or anything."

Patch smirked, genuinely amused. "Feral admitting that he was wrong. Who'd had thunk it? Guess I was wrong about you, too."

"I think we all were," Hardin agreed, contemplatively. "We all had past histories with you, and I guess we just let that cloud our judgment to what was really going on."

"A simple mistake, though admittedly one that I deserve," Feral shrugged. "Oh, before I forget, I'll need you to get a statement for me from Tony about the night in question."

Jake glared at Feral, surprised at his statement. "I thought you were here for Patch's testimony?"

"For the most part, I am. However, Tony was there, that night, probably with those two dead kats longer than Patch was, so he might have overheard them talk. I've given strict orders not to let any Enforcer, including myself, interview him about that night; if the evidence we've uncovered so far seems to indicate, he won't talk to anyone in the Enforcers."

Jake nodded, remembering the smell of Feral on the cloned kat. Was that smell from his being in Feral's apartment, or was it planted on him to give more credence to Feral 'killing' Chance? "I'll see what I can do. He's still really immature-minded, and doesn't like to talk about that night, but he trusts me implicitly, so I might be able to eke out a testimony for you."

Feral nodded, smiling graciously. "Thank you, really. You don't know how much this means to me."

"I can imagine," Patch quipped, half grinning, half scowling. "This must be a strange universe, when Feral, of all people, is a victim, here."

Feral smirked back at the tabby. "Yes. A strange universe, indeed. Anyway, I'll need you to recall every detail of what you did, that night, then I've got to get going; need to file your testimony, and get ready for the election, next month."

Hardin frowned, displeased. "At least that hasn't changed. Still thinking you're going to win a landslide, like last time, Feral?"

Feral glanced over to the former Dark Kat, quirking an eye inquisitively. "No, I'm not. I'm expecting Feline to win in a landslide vote."

That emitted a gasp from the group. "Conscience gotten the best of you, Feral?" asked Patch, coyly.

"More or less," Feral admitted, hanging his head low. "Partially, I've been getting pressure from Callie to turn in my badge and retire, but I had already decided to do so, long before then, right after I saw Patch in the hospital. Fuck any scandals it would've caused me, had my role in this whole mess ever got released; I couldn't live with myself knowing what I did to Chance, and still call myself and Enforcer."

"Boy, you have a convenient excuse for everything, don'cha?" Patch retorted, sarcastically.

"How's this for a 'convenient excuse'?" Feral snapped back, slightly miffed. "I was ordered to kick Jake and Chance off of the enforcers, and pull their pilot's licences."

Chance frowned, returning to disbelief. "Bullshit. We know how much you wanted us out of there, after the incident. We refused to let you handle Dark Kat on your own, and you got pissy."

"You would've been severely reprimanded and forced into community service for however long it took to repay the damages, but you would've kept your badges and your license," Feral growled, his temper flaring, again. "I have a policy with anyone under my command, whether it be as the Commander of the Enforcers or the Master of a pet: I only punish them as much as they deserve. You two are damn fine pilots, and I didn't want to lose you, but Manx insisted on it. That damned scaredy-kat was afraid that you'd fly straight into his bedroom window, next. If it were me, i would've told Manx to screw himself and put you both on probationary leave for a year."

That shut Chance up real quick. He could see Manx pulling a stunt like that, and of course, whatever Manx wanted Feral to do, he was under law supposed to do it. He'll have to confirm it with Callie, though, to make sure. He couldn't bring himself to give the Commander that much benefit of the doubt.

"Now, if you'd excuse us, please," Feral continued in slight irritation. "I really do need to get going."

Grumbling in agreement, the other kats allowed Feral to take Patch to a side room to conduct the rest of the investigation, while they quietly talked amongst themselves about letting the Commander back into their lives.

"You're really going to try it with Feral again," Jake jabbed at Chance, still unsure about his decision.

Chance just shrugged, nonchalantly. "Why not? What happened with the Syndicate's over, and he seems sincere. Maybe it's time to let bygones be bygones."

Hardin nodded, stoically. "It does explain why Red's Feral went nuts after he got free reign of the law, actually. I can bet there's been a bunch of Omegas and other criminals that he felt weren't given their comeuppance in court. Being given the power to finally give what he felt was coming to them may have made him snap. After all, he did turn on Calina, after he found out how much of a spoiled, sadistic bitch she was. Like Adolph Hilitter, he probably had good intentions, but just overdid it in the execution."

"For a while, the Enforcers did call him 'the next Fuhrer of the City'," Red whimpered, painful memories of his home dimension creeping back up with the conversation. "I never did understand why he kept on targeting the Resistance, after he turned on Calina, though."

"Probably saw it the same way he saw SWAT, a vigilante group that would only cause more problems than they solved," suggested Jake.

"Back on topic, Feral really is a good master," Alex spoke up, hugging Chance around the waist. "I've heard that he had put a clause in his contract with the callkat rentals to ensure he can buy a pet he's renting permanently, if he ever learns they were in an unsafe environment."

"Buying pets to keep them from being more abused that they are with him. Great." Chance rolled his eyes, bitter irony lacing his words.

"It's not like that, love," Alex assured him. "From what I heard, if a pet on his call list was ever in a dangerous environment for any reason outside of his own care, he'd pay to have the pet directly transferred to his permanent control, and have all the payments for the pet thus far siphoned into a bank account for the kat to use to get back on his feet. Essentially, if someone else was abusing the pet too bad, he'd pay the rental place to make sure that he and he alone would be able to rent the kat out."

"And how did you hear about this clause?" Jake asked, curious.

"Don't tell Feral, but I peeked into his call book and got in touch with a few of his past pets," Alex explained, a bit nervously. "Turns out, he helped them get back on their feet, after they turned to being rented to pay the rent. He still keeps in touch with them, to make sure that they're doing okay."

"Wow," Chance exclaimed, eyes widening in genuine surprise. "I didn't know Feral could be such a sweetheart."

"I wonder what he would've done with you, had we not interfered," Hardin mused, giving a hopeful smirk at the chocolate and sandy feline. "Just another example of Feral's good points, I guess."

"Still, hurting people just to get off sucks." Chance said, grimacing.

"Not if you do it right," Alex grinned, teasingly. "Feral has lots of experience with how to dominate a male, and how to hurt them so that they get off, but not severely injure them, especially in places that are meant to be pleasured. I'm assuming he gave you a safe word, hon?"

Chance blinked at the question, tilting his head in thought. "If he did, I can't remember it, now."

Alex frowned a little, but nodded. "Feral always made sure that we had a verbal and non-verbal way of telling him to stop, before we submitted to him. It was something subtle, nothing that would be yelled out spontaneously during sex, but was usually easy to remember. The non-verbal signal was always something dealing with head gestures and eye contact, that way we could tell him to stop, even when we're tied up and gagged. His way of ensuring we had a way out, no matter what."

A bang from the adjacent room broke the conversation, causing the kats to stare at its origin, puzzled. Another bang, and what sounded like a brief struggle, and all five kats were up and headed towards the other room. When they got there, they heard a muffled whine emerge from the room, , as well as Patch's voice, crying out, "Oh, yeah, Feral. How do you like a Chance taking you as his bitch, huh?" Scowling in rage, Chance was just about ready to kick the door down and stop Patch, when Feral's voice came in loud and clear: "Please, master, I deserve it. Beat your pet's ass raw!"

Chance nearly doubled over in a snicker-fit, imagining Feral getting his just deserts from Patch and enjoying it, as well. His snicker turned into a giggle when Patch exclaimed "That's right, bitch. And you've got three months to make up for. Maybe afterwards, I'll share you with your old pets, huh?"

Feral whined in response. "I'd like that, sir. Can I still keep them as pets, please?"

Patch growled, and did something to make Feral cry out in pain/pleasure. "I'll think about it. If you do, though, every lash you inflict on them I'll double on you, understand?"

Feral whimpered and gave something resembling "Yes, sir", before resuming his forced submission of Patch. Alex stared at the door, a look of horrified worry on his face, but Chance soothed him down a bit with a hug and pet.

"Looks like it won't be Feral we'll have to watch, now," the former SWAT Kat quipped, his grin growing wider with each whimper and yelp Patch wrenched out of Feral.