Whitethunder growled in anger and tore at the cage again. Everything was going completely wrong wrong wrong! They were supposed to be tracking Cherry down and helping her with her mission. He was supposed to apologize to Cherry and see his kit! 'My kit,' he thought sadly, staring down at his paws. 'If I don't get out of here u won't see my kit!' "Mudfur! Longclaw! Autumnspot!"

A long yowl answered him back. "Whitethunder?" The white tom gave a relieved sigh.

"Longclaw, are you alright? What of the others?"

"We are fine! Stop acting like a Queen!" Mudfur scolded from her cage. The constant banging on top of Longclaw's cage told her that Autumnspot was alright, and very angry.

"Of all the things that happen to us we have to get captured by humans! Why didn't Skyclan warn us?!"

"That what we get for straying from our mission! If we had followed our Rīdā orders none of this would have happened!" Longclaw spat, yellow eyes glaring accusingly at Whitethunder through her cage.

Whitethunder gave her a threatening hiss. "Shut your mouth Longclaw, because if you don't you won't have a mouth to talk with!"

"I'd like to see you try 'oh fearsome' deputy!"

"Calm down you two! Yowling at each other isn't going to get us out of here!"

Whitethunder growled, his fur bristled as he stared directly into Longclaw's cold eyes. "You're right. We have to find a way out of here." All cats yowled in surprise as they were jostled and the cages slid to one side.

"Humans and their moving cages!" Autumnspot spat. "When I get out of here I'm sinking my claws into their face!"

"You and me both," Mudfur muttered lowly. "We can't get out of here until they open the cage doors. Until then we are stuck."

"Mudfur is right," Whitethunder continues on. "We have to wait. Who knows how long though?" The grumbling four moved to get comfortable, hissing every now and then to when the cages jumped and slid. Whitethunder's acted calm, though his mind was not. He had to find a way out and to his mate. 'But Longclaw,' he thought with narrowed eyes. Longclaw was starting to be a problem. 'And if she keeps it up, she won't be a problem anymore.' Sharp black claws scraped the bottom of the cage. Oh yes, not problem at all.

~ooo~

For days the group had been going from building to building, switched from cage to cage. Whitethunder lost count of how many times he had fallen to sleep after he had eaten to food they'd given him. 'I can't do this anymore!' He staggered as he stood, trying to stay still enough for the world to stop spinning. "Autumnspot, Longclaw, Mudfur." He yowled out weakly. He heard low hissed and grumbles if other cats, but played with the idea to just lie down and sleep. 'No! I can't! I have to get to Cherryblossom!' Whitethunder yowled out their names again, this time with more strength in his voice. Autumnspot answered a few heartbeats later, his voice as weak as a kit.

"Autumnspot! Wake up!"

"Nuuu. T'sleepy," the spotted tom slurred. Whitethunder was able to locate him three cages above two other cats.

"Autumnspot get up! Don't go to sleep!"

"For Skyclan sake Whitethunder leave me alone!"

Whitethunder grinned. His travel mate sounded annoyed, and that's not exactly what he wanted. It was close, but he didn't need an annoyed Autumnspot, he needed an angry one. "You lazy ground mole! Get up, or would you rather leave your sister alone!"

"Cherryblossom is fine."

"She won't be when I find her," Whitethunder murmured, though he said it loud enough for the male to hear.

"What did you say?"

Whitethunder looked up to see glaring green eyes looking down at him, despite them being hazy. "You heard me! Since you are so lazy to get up, it makes it easier for me to find her and take her back to the clans!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Autumnspot snarled, his claws now at the edge of the cage and glinting dangerously. His eyes weren't hazy anymore; it were almost as if they had fire behind them.

"Are you awake now mouse brain?" Autumnspot's glare turned into confusion. "Good! Use your paw to flip that latch on your cage!"

"What? Why can't you do it? And I'm not helping you! You just said-"

"I said that to wake you, now do as I say and flip the latch!"

"Why can't you do it?" Whitethunder raised his paw in the air and spread them out. "My paws are too big to reach through the holes. You're smaller than me."

"Actually I'm smaller than both of you," came a groggy reply.

"Mudfur," came the two toms' excited yowl.

"Yea yea hold on a bit. My head is killing me."

"Hurry! We don't have much time!"

There was a moment of groaning, and then staggering was heard. A loud clang if the cage made them jump, in which a pained groan followed after. "Sorry. Hit my head." The cage made another noise, and Whitethunder's heart raced as he recognized the sound of the latch being fumbled with. "Come on Mudfur come on," Whitethunder muttered to himself. After an excruciating amount of time the telltale sound of the cage door's squeaky hinges nearly made Whitethunder prance around like a kit. Autumnspot gave a happy meow as the sound of a cat falling to the floor was heard.

"Mudfur! Quickly! Get us out of here!"

The soft patter of paws alerted him, and light yellow eyes met his own darker ones. A flash of fangs and a flick of the latch and Whitethunder was free. He purred in pleasure as he stretched his body, curling his tail over his back. "Uh, a little help here?" Both cats looked up at Autumnspot. Without effort Whitethunder climbed the cages up to the tom and flicked the latch, letting go and landing on the ground silently. Autumnspot followed momenta later, giving his own purr of appreciation as he stretched.

"Now, we have to find Longclaw," Mudfur said lowly, trotting down the row of cages.

"I'll take the top, Autumnspot you take the middle." Whitethunder ordered. There was a nod and up they went, Whitethunder peaking inside cages here and there to find their sleeping friend. Autumnspot yowled, signaling to the others that he found her. Sadly, that woke all of the cats there, and the room was filled with panicked yowls.

"How did you get out?!" One cat mewed.

"Get me out of here!" Another screeched.

Longclaw wasn't given time to react as Autumnspot grabbed her scruff between his teeth and yanked her out of her cage, both cats falling in their side. "What are you doing?!" She yowled angrily. "You could've got us both hurt!"

Before the tom couldn't answer her back with a smart reply a loud, rumbling yowl filled the area. Everyone quieted down and turned eyes on a very agitated Whitethunder. "If you don't keep your voices down the humans will hear us, if they haven't already!"

"Then get us out!" A cat mewed.

Agreeing meows filled the area, and Whitethunder growled at them all. "If we let you go, you will have to help us escape. We don't know our way out of here."

"Neither do we!"

Yowls clouded the air. The group of four cats moved closer to each other, looking around in terror. "We'll never get out of here!"

"Shut up Longclaw!" Autumnspot hissed.

"Had you listened to what our Rīdā none of this would've ever happened! I told you so!"

"Longclaw, this had nothing to do with our Rīdā! We would have had to come here anyway in order to retrieve Cherryblossom, so for Skyclan's sake shut up!"

"Both of you shut up! I can't think if you keep bickering like kits!" Whitethunder hissed back at them. It was really hard trying to think of a way out while being in a room full of terrified cats. 'How am I supposed to get us out of this situation?! You are a deputy Whitethunder, think like one!'

"I can get you out of here."

Four pairs of eyes snapped to a cage to their right. A black cat stared back at them. "My name is Ravenpaw. I and my friend Barley got sent to the Catchers a couple moons ago because new Twolegs moved in. Let us out and we can lead you out a shortcut."

"How do we know we can trust you," Whitethunder mewed lowly. His ears perked as he heard the heavy footsteps of humans coming. Ravenpaw seemed to hear them too, because his eyes flickered up above him.

"Top cage is Barley. Free me and him and we can get you out! I swear on Starclan! Please?!"

Starclan? He didn't know who this Starclan was, but the cat swore, and that was all Whitethunder needed at the moment. With a silent flick of his tail he ordered Longclaw to free the cat while he climbed the cage to get Barley. He had to avoid clawed paws reaching out to try and grab him, and flicked the latch up when he reached the cage. A white tom was in there, black stripes running over his back. "Barley?" He whispered and poked the sleeping males face. 'How can he sleep through this commotion?' He wondered silently to himself as the tom woke up.

"Who are you?" He said grumpily.

"Your rescue! We are getting you and Ravenpaw out of her now let's go!"

"Another escape attempt? Oh boy..."

Quickly he rose and stretched, before hopping out of the age and landing neatly on the ground. Ravenpaw bumped his shoulder to his friend in greeting, but all froze as a large amount of light washed over them. A human stood in the door way, looking down at them and bellowing something. Without hesitation the six cats shot out of the room from between the human's legs and down a hallway. "This way!" Ravwnpaw yowled over his shoulder. A series of turns and climbing and they were outside under the midnight sky. They followed Barley as he took the lead. "We have to climb these fences quickly!"

"Why?!" Longclaw yowled. Barking was heard close by, and Whitethunder groaned.

"That's why!"

When they reached the fence they all jumped to climb. Autumnspot's eyes widened as he looked up. "How high are they?!"

"Very high!" Barley panted, and they climbed and climbed until they reached the top, and it was there that they froze. "Ok what do we do from here?"

"What do you mean what do we do from here?! I thought you knew what you were doing?!" Longclaw growled.

"We never got this far!"

"The trees!" Whitethunder hissed, jumping away from the fence with too much easy. One by one they jumped on a branch and clung to it. Whitethunder turned towards the two with an excited look. "Do you know how to run through trees?"

"What? No! We are cats not squirrels!" Barley hissed.

Longclaw gave Whitethunder a disapproving glare. "Only your clan does that Whitethunder, not anyone else!"

Ravenpaw's ears pricked. "Clans? You are clan cats?"

"No time! Let's just get going!" All of them jumped on the ground and tore through the grass, leaving the prison they were once in.