First there was pain, then black. I passed out from the loss of blood and because of the pain. I remembered everything that had just happened a small time ago: being in the TurboKat to fight Viper, and then being launched from it. I remembered killing the albino creature that Viper sent. I remembered being shot and falling to the roof, crawling to the door and breaking it down. I remembered falling down the staircase and seeing all the blood. Then blacking out. I felt so much pain that parts of me had went numb. But that could of been hours ago...

    I wasn't seeing or feeling anything. I felt no pain. I tried to move, but all there was around me was darkness. I couldn't see myself and all I felt was void; an eternal nothingness. I'm dead I thought. But shouldn't I see something? I waited, and then it all came back to me. I felt binding. I felt trapped.

    Feeling rushed back to me, and I realized I was blindfolded and tied up just tight enough not to move. I couldn't see and I stayed as still as possible. I didn't feel anything on my beak, but I didn't want to risk being found conscious. I listened and waited. Had Viper captured me? Probably. Had he taken away the pain, or merely numbed it out? No, I would feel the drugs if he had used them. Had he then healed me? No idea. I felt no pain. Just completely normal, or as normal as possible while being scared witless. What was there to do?

    Finally I couldn't stand it. I struggled to free myself and let out a cry in anger. I managed to rip off all that was binding me and then remove the blindfold. Before I could look up, I heard a high pitch cackle. I snapped my head up. Viper had a tube in one hand, and an eyed dropper in the other. He smiled at me and and then put down the objects he had been holding.

    "It worked! My new biological cellular inhancer worked! The Griffin's wounds have fully healed, with nothing more then a scar left," Viper said, talking to himself. He continued noting the chemical improvements to my injures, as if I wasn't an intelligent creature, "I wonder where those blasted Swat Kats conjured this creature to serve them. It's as if... No, the Past Master would never give a fair treaty..." Viper went on and on, finally lowering his voice to a murmur in intense concentration.

    After awhile, I ignored his ranting. My back leg was bound to the wall with a crude chain, and there was little I could do to break or pick the insanely large lock. Viper had finally left the room I was in, and wandered off into his lair. Somewhere in all the fighting, Viper had gotten me and taken me to his swamp "home". Whatever he had did in this place, was a complete mystery to me. I wondered what the Swat Kats thought became of me. If they thought I was dead, I was on my own. Well, it was probably best to assume the worst, if I were to escape. Viper thought I was a "dog" of the Swat Kats, so therefore, wouldn't expect me to be intelligent enough to use tools and either beat him, or make a run for it.

    The chain on my leg was several feet long, and almost every link in it had extensive rust. In the place where the brace of the chain held my leg, the fur there was damaged, and the skin slightly swollen. The chain connected solidly with the wall, where it was firmly welded on. I yanked on the chain, but it didn't make any difference. I could of probably been twice as strong and not been able to break the shackle. In frustration, I stared at the only piece of furniture and tried to make my way to it. Standing, I could see the notes Viper had been working on. If I stretched out completely, I could just grab the desk with one of my paws. Finally, the answer came to me; it was simple. This chain was something used for a creature like a Griffin, but as I kat, I should be small enough to wriggle lose.

    I demorphed and felt the almost familiar sensations of grinding organs and bones. In the same time it had taken me to go from dolphin to kat, about thirty seconds, I had gone from Griffin to kat. When I was all kat, the chain on my leg became lose. I lifted my foot, and the chain slid off. I quickly exited the room I was in; it barely could fit me and a single desk. I walked into a hallway, it being barely three feet across. Everything seemed cramped, but luckily I didn't suffer from fear of tight spaces, actually, I was comfortable with them, and the same with wide open spaces.

    The hallway had several doors and then finally, what looked like a staircase going to the first floor. I didn't fell like leaving right then and decided to explore a little. I went in the closest door, opened it and found a large quantity of Katilists going from 1-2489, all lined up in perfect order, then another cache of formulated chemicals I had never seen before: Aggression Series, X23-45. This was something to take note of. I left the room and slowly closed the door. The next room came as a complete surprize to me. The door itself gave no hints what was inside, but I should of known Viper was the kind of person do things like this.

    In the third room were prisoners. Underfed kats of many descriptions, different breeds, each a victim of Viper's experiments. They all huddled at the corner at my presence, and begged me not to hurt them. After asking for mercy, they began to curse at me and shortly after, quieted down. They stared at me with agony as I left the room and closed that door.

    The forth room I went in was full of caged animals. Lizards, frogs, fish, and also failed experiments were stored in here. Animals that didn't deserve this cruelty. Some tried to hide or slammed at the walls of their cages, trying to attack me. Others seemed to not even notice me. Some were dead, others just too tired to make any movement. The room smelt of decay and I didn't stay here more then a few minutes.

    There was a final door on this floor with a small green organism on the doorknob. It looked at me and made a bubbling sound. At first I just stared at it, not knowing what to do, but I decided to take a chance and swipe it. The thing, for all its ugliness, made quiet a bitter. As soon as my paw neared it, it bit me, sinking in its half-inch teeth into my palm. I shook my arm furiously and finally pulled the small creature off and squashed it beneath my foot. I looked at my had and saw the gruesome imprint of the creature's teeth. Strange enough, only a little blood seeped out of the wounds even though they looked pretty bad. Then, after a few seconds, the hand that had gotten bit, seemed to go numb. After a little shaking, it seemed to be okay, but hopefully, when the little creature had bit me, it hadn't injected poison into my blood stream.

    I opened the door with my other paw and swung it open. I gasped in amazement and anger. In here, there were desks and tables full of chemicals and instruments, but they weren't what I was conserned about at the moment. A creature, not unlike myself, was lying on a table, bound by thick wire. Neck, wrists and ankles, all pinned to the desk the creature was on. The animal which was a griffin, looked up at me agressivly. It didn't struggle in its bonds and I found its piercing orange eyes to be rather disturbing. It looked at my form, calculating me as an opponent. Finally after a moment our eyes met and locked. Its orange eyes to my brown ones. We looked at each other for an eternity. Finally I looked away and the creature uttered a low screeching sound. What ever that meant I didn't know. This creature was only a foot shorter then me, but its build suggested not to undermine its capabilities. The bird's coloring was the color of bleached bones, and the bars on its wings were a dull brown. I walked slowly to this creature and extended a paw to it. It looked at it as if it were nothing and then glared at me.

    "Who are you?" I asked slowly, not knowing how much speech, if any, this Griffin knew.

    The Griffin looked at me, then tilted its head sideways. "I... I be BreakDance," it started out softly, then in a loud voice, screamed," I kill you!"

    "Nooo! No! Agghhh!!!" I yelled, as the Griffin launched itself from the table, breaking the bonds that had held it down.

    In a flash, the Griffin was going for my throat, trying to give me the killing wound. I tried to block it, but a Griffin, no matter what size, as long as it's almost matured, is stronger then a kat, and in this case, my fight was a lost cause. It would tear me to ribbons before I did anything. If BreakDance knew what he was doing. I had both its paws in my hands, and was trying to shove the bird away from me. At one point, it ripped free of my grip, and gave me a nasty wound on my arm, and then, as if finding this style of fighting wrong, leaped off of me, causing me to knock into another table. Tools, needles, syringes, all showered onto me as I broke the table they were on.

    I grabbed a random needle, noting that it contained a "put down" formula in it. A small kat skull and cross bones was the universal symbol for death, so I knew one little dose of this liquid, and the Griffin would be history.

    Seconds passed, and I reached for another syringe. This one had written on it "knock out," so I knew that one injection from this would put that evil Griffin creation of Viper's, to sleep. Just as I had grabbed the needle and realized what it could do, the Griffin had regained its stature, and was charging me. Its head connected solidly with my stomach, and I was thrown into the back wall. My vision blurred for a second, and then slowly focused. I gripped the needle in my hand tightly, as the Griffin prepared to ram again. I got out of the way and sunk the syringe into its lower leg as it jetted by. The Griffin, either to mad or to stupid to notice the needle, turned around and uttered a loud screech. I covered my ears and ran out of the room, as the Griffin plowed after me. Just as it was exiting the room, it collapsed and sagged onto the floor. I wiped my head with relief, just to see a very surprised and annoyed Viper glaring at me. I looked at him with slight embarrassment, and turned to look at the sleeping Griffin.

    "You!!!! How did you get in here?!" he bellowed.

    "Uh.... Well, that's a hard question, you see-"

    "Now! Tell me now or prepare to die!"

    "It's kind of hard to explain-"

    "My first Griffin is misssing, and I think you're resssponsssible for what happened to it! Never have I ssseen sssuch DNA, of a complex three rung variety. I want MY Griffin back, and I want it NOW!" Viper turned to check the pulse of the sleeping Griffin and then stood up again, fully of barely controlled rage.

    "Viper. Would it surprise you to know I am the Griffin, or no, I'm to STUPID to be considered an intelligent being! I don't know who you think you are, but that was MY DNA and I don't give a crap it's your hobby to screw around with things like that, but sure as day, you messed with MINE!" I said, pointing a finger at him.

Viper stepped back, amazed, but soon recovered. "Well I have you trapped, and you have no choissse, but to do asss I sssay!"

    "Uh hu. If you haven't noticed, I can fly outta here any time I want, but I'm not, because I'm trying to find out what your insane little mind is thinking of next!" I hollered, fully knowing that I was lying about being able to fly away. Three hours weren't up, and I knew that if I was going to get out of here, I would need a miracle.

    "You dare to insult me? YOU dare to insult ME?!" he repeated, and then turned to an angle to swipe his tail at me. I leaped out of the way and smashed into a wall because I had moved before thinking. Dazed now, I stepped back from the wall, just to hear a familiar sound. It didn't register right away what it was, but then I realized: jet engines, from the Turbo Kat.