The Twolegplace: there were many words to describe it, but none of them were good at all. It was disgusting, vile, hideous, and more; the whole place was a life or death situation. Cats fought over scraps of rotten prey, eyes seemed to be peering out everywhere, watching with traces of fear and eyes full of wariness as others passed. The cats of this place seemed to believe in one rule: kill or be killed.

In my eyes, the whole area needed the honor of being torn apart, burned, and never rebuilt again, just to make it slightly okay. Yet, I still stayed. I ate the trash of twolegs, I used others to get me prey, I tried to live the most luxurious life I could in a horrid place like this, besides becoming a kittypet, of course. To me, to live a soft life like that was a complete disgrace to cats.

But, maybe it wasn't. Because the only reason cats other than myself lived so terribly, in such fear, was because of Scourge, the pathetic excuse for a cat.

And it was my job to take him down once and for all. He had ruled over the feral cats in the Twolegplace far too long. These cats needed to sort themselves out, to regroup; to be with their families instead of relying on him.

I could see the coward who had hired me, a scrawny, brown-furred tom with ragged brown fur with wide green eyes that peered out from his box den. He spotted me, and both awe and fear lit in his gaze as he recognized my long tortoiseshell pelt. Flicking his tail, the tom stepped back, allowing space in his box for me to sit in it. But I refused to sit in it. I would be trapped in there in case this was some kind of ruse to get me killed, which I expected to happen, since I had made quite a few enemies in my business.

My business: to kill cats, or put them in their place, in exchange for a period of free food. That was how I lived luxuriously, getting close to my targets, and dealing with them as quickly as possible so I could get from their stinking selves and claim my reward.

The tom, Rat, seemed to understand, and coughing to get my attention, even though he already had it, began. "Are you really, Shard?" He asked me, his voice quivering slightly, but he was at least trying to be brave. But, this cat was obviously a coward, or Scourge was really as terrifying as everyone said he was.

But how would I know? I had never tried to get to know the small black leader of Bloodclan. It had never been my goal; I only went into his territory every once in a while. But every time I saw him, I was never impressed. I watch his feats of "valor"," if that's what they called it. He was never strong, powerful, or someone to be trifled with in every single one.

I watched him take a tooth that fell from an old hound while crossing the rooftops to get to my home; saw him fight off a dog, but he never fought it at all. I actually paid attention to the dog. It wasn't scared of that little scrap of fur. It was scared of his shadow. Yet Scourge took full credit at that time, and soon gained leadership over the dumb cats of this dumb place, he ruled over them by fear, for they believed he was greater than anyone they'd ever seen before.

Watching that kit rise to power filled me with disgust. But watching everyone else submit to him actually filled me with fear, to know that any cat like him could take over a large amount of cats so easily doomed any hope I had for them. But back then, I was only a kit too, a moon or so younger than Scourge. I was powerless to stop him then, but now, I'm not. Especially now that I'm doing it for business, and my reward: Scourge dead, and a whole moon of free food.

I focused my attention once again on Rat, noticing he had been waiting for my answer. "Yes, as I have said the last time we met, cloudbrain." I said; my voice tinged with annoyance. This cat just never seemed to learn that I was the notorious Shard: hired killer of the Twolegplace. But then again, he didn't look like the brightest.

"My apologies!" He said quickly, noticing that he had annoyed me before going on uneasily. "It's just- you're barely bigger than Scourge himself! I didn't believe it when I saw his ability to kill so easily; I thought it was one of a kind! But-"

With that, I frowned at him, flattening my ears against my head and giving him a cold glare, which shut that mange-eater up. "Sure, I may be short," I began icily. "But never compare me to my target, I am nothing like him, got it?" I finished, my voice rising to a hiss of anger, my eyes flashing with fury.

So he may be right, I was a little petite for a cat, being about a head shorter than the normal cat. But the leader of Bloodclan was even smaller than me, most likely the runt of a litter. And I wasn't a weak phony like him; I was actually the real deal.

"Now, let's get on with the deal." I said, noting the look of absolute terror I had given the mangy brown tom as he stepped back, pressing against the wall of the box, his fur bristling. I didn't enjoy scaring cats like him, but he needed to know I was not one to be trifled with or angered as he had done so foolishly. "I want to go over every detail of how I am to deal with him."

A heartbeat or two passed as the tom regained his courage, nodding wildly before moving from the wall, his claws digging into the floor instinctively, obviously not wanting to go to the source of his fear.

"Well, th-this takes time and patience, you see." He said. "You have to get in the group, become close to Scourge, gain his second-in-command: Bone's trust, find some way to kill him, and make sure nothing gets traced back to me. Then, I'll even give ya extra if you take down Bone too."

That certainly got me even more interested in the deal, taking down two horrid cats in one and get a bonus for it was definitely something to look forward to. But I didn't let Rat see it, remaining as calm and contemptuous as I could, which I did pretty well, as he didn't notice as he went on.

"Then, hopefully with him gone, some of us could rebel, go back to the old way. Not all of us want to live this way, where our lives are in danger under his gaze. We're not allowed to be in groups, controlled by his lackeys and commanders. But- we're too afraid of him to do anything ourselves. That's why you need to help us. With one cat able to kill him, maybe we could finally be safe!"

I nodded, but didn't feel the same hope as the brown Bloodclan tom did. There would always be another Scourge, always be another cat to take over this rat's hole of a dump. But there would probably never be another cat like me, someone who would take them down, whether it was because it was the right thing, or like me, for their own greedy selves. Normally, I wouldn't even think about taking him down. But, business was business, and I hated wandering the streets in search of my next meal.

"Well, Rat." I said; "a deal's a deal. I'll get close to Scourge, join and rise in his ranks, and take him and Bone out." His eyes widened; thankfulness and hope filling their depths, but was gone when I stepped forward threateningly. "But if I ever find out this was some way to trap me, to get me killed or hurt badly, or don't fill your end of the bargain, I promise I will find you and get my revenge, because unlike you, I have survival instinct, I can kill and hurt others and sleep soundly, and I have honor."

He nodded wildly, and with that, I swung around and stalked out of the box, climbing my way onto a twoleg den rooftop, looking out of the Twolegplace towards the stretches of land that held the four clans, filled with wild cats who were absolutely nothing like Bloodclan, or like the other feral cats who fought for survival every day, who followed under Scourge's cruel leadership, who ate from twoleg scraps and the occasional rat.

No, these clans were something special. They were good and honorable cats; they lived better lives than anyone here could, including me, no matter how hard I tried to live decently. And there was only one reason I could think of how they lived so well: they were free.

Not even I was free, though I strayed from other's clutches, because I was still in the clutches of the Twolegplace, to be forever stuck here because I had nowhere else to go, because I didn't know how to survive anywhere else. It was the same story with the cats here, they only stayed in Bloodclan was because they had some chance at living.

I sighed, turning my gaze from the outside world, and leapt from rooftop to rooftop in order to reach the place I rarely ever dreamed of going to, seeing the large park and stretch of Thunderpath that was known as Bloodclan territory. I was already creating a plan in my mind, I would go in, mingle with the cats, wait to become noticed by any higher ranked cats, and hope I would be seen to by either Scourge or Bone in order to join their clan and rise in ranks until I was either right below or beside them.

Then, I would kill the two cats that had plagued the Twolegplace for far too long.

What is this? A new story already? Even while I just started another story? Yes! Yes indeed! This is Shard of Hope, a story I've sort of been thinking for a long time, written and rewritten many times until it got to this stage while my mind wandered in Latin and Art class. Seriously, the plot line of this actually took me a while to think of. And what is this? First person? But I don't use first person! Whatever, I've been inspired by the Netflix series Jessica Jones. Thank you mind for not being able to comprehend my teacher trying to tell me how to understand tenses in Latin or not being able to listen to people trying to annoy me! Though I really wish you would work while studying for finals... Anyways, please favorite and review! it would mean the world to me if you do because this stuff takes time where I should be doing my homework instead!

And to those two who saw the story earlier, my computer glitched out and put in the wrong document, using anther story's chapter.