MacVitie's first inclination as he returned to the warehouse was to call for Rumpelteazer. However, he resisted, reflecting how foolish that would be—seeing as the last time he'd burst into the warehouse screaming for his friends, he'd ended up conked over the head and thrown into a cage, which helped no one. Besides, who said the henchcats planned to rebel today? They might still be scheming and waiting an opportune time, which would only change if Mack let on that he knew. If only he could remember Carbuckety's exact words, but he'd found it difficult to pay attention to anything once he caught onto the fact that his daughter could be in danger. But if Carbuckety had his story straight, she ought to be safely away now—if Coricopat and Tantomile (for he assumed they would be the ones) had successfully got her to go with them, and if they had all got away undetected. Which shouldn't have been too difficult—if she'd cooperated. That's a lot of "ifs." He was beginning to regret not thinking to stop at the factory ruins and fetch Mungojerrie; but that would have caused an additional delay. Now if something did happen, it would be he and Teazer—and perhaps a few remaining loyal superstitious henches—against everyone. Not exactly good odds.

He glanced around, trying to decide where to go first, while at the same time trying not to look indecisive. Should he avoid his own quarters—would that be the most likely place for an ambush, if there were to be one?

What he wanted to do first was determine if Electra were really gone and if Teazer were safe—for surely they'd go after her next if they couldn't get Electra. Where is she at this time of day… With the kittens. It would look strange, the Leader coming to the kittens' play area, which was generally a queens-and-kits-only area; but there was nothing for it. If they already planned to overthrow him, did it much matter what he did at this point? Apart from delaying the inevitable by feigning ignorance…

As Mack entered the play area, he heard Teazer audibly gasp before recovering herself. She must realize that his being here most likely meant something was amiss. "Why, Vit—Milord Leadah! We…" She glanced round at the other nursery queens. "We's honored by yer visit. Kits're all 'ealthy, doin' well, thrivin', an'—fer the moment—behavin'." She looked again at the others as if to back up her assertions. "Righ'?"

The others mainly shrugged and murmured vague replies. But one spoke over the others, "I must say, milady, I'm beginning to feel some concern for your young one, the respected Young Electra. When was it you sent her on an errand—nearly an hour ago? She ought to have been back by now." Her tone was respectful and her expressions correct—perhaps too correct. Or was Mack simply paranoid? As he looked for who had spoken, he did a double-take.

Though her face still bore the scars of their battle, she was unmistakably the Lady Jezza.

While he'd known for some time that she had in fact survived, and more or less assumed she had remained a part of the henchcat gang, actually seeing her for the first time since that day sent a shock through his system. Forcing himself to meet her eyes, he saw there what he'd expected—hatred. But there was something else, as well: respect. Again he was reminded what mattered most here among the henchcats: sheer physical strength. Mack had injured Jezza, and so she hated him; but he'd proved himself a worthy opponent, earning her respect as well. Of course, he had yet to truly prove himself to any of the other henchcats; with them, it had all been manipulation through intimidation and magic tricks. According to Carbuckety, the effectiveness of those methods was rapidly wearing thin… Was Jezza mentioning Electra's prolonged absence simply as a matter of concern, or was this some sort of test and she was meant to report the Leader's reaction back to the others?

"Ay, that's true," Teazer nodded, allowing the briefest look of concern to cross her face before concealing it. "P'rap's I'd best go look for'er…"

"Lady Teazer," Mack interrupted in as firm and steady a voice as he could muster, "when are you going to leave off coddling that kit? She's not an infant any longer, and everycat here has got to be able to find its own way around and defend itself. I see no reason the kits shouldn't start learning that now." From the corner of his eye, he saw a kit lose its balance and come tumbling down off a pile of boxes. Automatically, his paw darted out to break the kit's fall. "Which one is this?" he asked, feigning unconcern, trying to buy time as he considered what to do or say next.

"Er, I calls'im George, Leadah." One of the first things Mack had done upon taking over the hench gang was to do away with Griddlebone's "no naming" rule. How am I to be expected to dole out orders or differentiate between a load of nameless nobodies? The other caretaker queens had yet to really take to this new development, so Teazer had become more or less established as the unofficial "namer."

"George," he repeated, setting the tomkit back onto his feet. George ran off and almost immediately tripped over thin air, knocking into another kit and bringing them both down into a tangled heap on the floor. "Well, teach the clumsy young thing better balance," he told the group in general. "Can't have the kits growing up into useless bumbling apes." He met Teazer's eye, and gestured to her to follow him. "A word, milady." If the henches were getting ready to make a move, it didn't seem likely to come from this quarter. The caretaker queens were either unaware of any plan or awaited some signal. Meanwhile he may as well do what he could to prepare Teazer.

As he and Teazer left the area, his ears flitted back to catch a few snatches of whispered conversation:

"Y'hear that, Jezz? Evidently you only knows how to produce 'useless bumbling apes.'"

"They's all useless bumbling apes till they grows out of it."

"Ay, but recall how yer last one got herself stuck in a drain an' drowned."

"What makes you think that'un was mine, or this George pipsqueak, for that matter? No one knows…"

"Oh, c'mon, no need for those games any longer, he's not like the Lady…"

"The understatement of the year."

"Soft's a feather pillow, that'un."

"So why d'we foller him?"

"Because he's unpredictable. There are times… Besides, it's only until we hear otherwise…"

"Bit o'restlessness in the ranks is all," Teazer shrugged with a rueful grin as they stepped outside. But her grin faded as she studied the expression on Mack's face. "Or…mebbe that's not all? Wot's t'do, Vit—" She glanced around and lowered her voice. "Leadah?"

"Well, we… may not have three more weeks like we thought. Evidently…some of the henches are no longer…convinced, and don't mean to just sit around and see what we plan to do."

To his surprise, Rumpelteazer took this much more calmly than he'd anticipated. "Well, 'tis unfortunate, bu'…'scuse me, I can't say's I'm shocked."

Mack's ears flattened. "How d'you mean?"

She reached out her paw to playfully flick at his ear, then quickly drew it back in case anyone should be watching. "Don' look like that, luv'. It's on'y as I've said all along: yew ain't no criminal nor never could be. 'Teach 'im bettah balance'? An' as if that weren't enough—breakin' the kit's fall? The Tiger'd've chucked'im in the Thames as soon's look at'im."

"All my fine frightening speeches…"

"I've'eard lectures fr'm Miz Jenny an' Miz Jelly that were scarier."

"Perhaps, being the experienced criminal you are, you should have become the new hench leader."

"Ay, an' I'd've been bloody good at it too. Bu' that's beside th' point. If'n they's gonna make a move, well—we've gotta be ready, that's all. On'y tell me…" She gulped. "Is 'Lectra safe?"

"She's safe. Coricopat and Tantomile have seen to that, or so I gather."

"Might've known they'ad sommat t'do wif it. All th' times we've tried t' convince'er," Teazer shook her head wonderingly, "an' then she goes off wif complete strangers? Wonder'ow they did it."

"Some mystical trick, no doubt." Or just the unaccountable propensity for kittens to listen to anyone but their own parents.

"Bu' now the thing is…d'we change our plans, er jus'…let wotever's to'appen…'appen, an' adapt as needed?"

"I say we…we don't lose our heads and be the first to let on that we know anything's changed," Mack rushed on, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "I mean, let's keep up the pretense as long as they do."

"Tha'…sounds a sensible enough plan. Bu' d'we know anyfin' as to times? Exac'ly wot've yew'eard?"

"I've—"

"Leadah! Look'ere, look'ere!"

MacVitie turned, startled, at the sound of Mungojerrie's voice. The tiger-striped tom skidded to a stop in front of the other two and leaned over, panting, to catch his breath. Meanwhile, he extended his arm to drop something into Mack's paw. "Quick, take it, take it!" he gasped, "b'fore they…"

"Jerrie," Mack frowned, "what in Heaviside is…"

"Lookit it," Jerrie urged. "Milord, Oi fink this's the one!" Lowering his voice, he leaned over to hiss in Mack's ear, "Lissen, change o'plans, you've gotta go, now. I've'eard…"

"I know," Mack interrupted, "and you can go if you like, but I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"But…"

"I'm not leaving the kits. And if they're carrying on with their plan to capture my father, I'm staying to find out as much as I can about it." He bent to examine the object Jerrie had handed him. Just an ordinary rock—or was it a piece of brick? "Fool!" he bellowed, "this is not the object we've been seeking!" Lowering his voice, "I take it nothing actually happened to make you think this was The One?"

"No," Jerrie whispered, "'twas jus' an excuse so's t'get away an' warn ya. I…'eard 'em talkin'… Say, Mack, why not let me stay an' create a di—diver-shun, an' yew an' Teaz' 'urry off an'…"

"And leave you and the kittens to the mercy of the henches? Very funny…"

"Talk sense, Jerr'!" Teazer hissed.

"'M sure I c'ld manage…somefin'…"

"Enough of this nonsense, Jerrie!" Mack cut him off. "We're in this together. If this is still about some ridiculous notion that you 'don't belong' among the Jellicles simply because you were used by the Tiger like everyone else…quit being daft."

"'Ow c'n yew be so…so bloody calm about it?"

"We always knew this day—or some variation of this day—would come eventually. It's just a bit sooner than we thought, is all. And I already heard from…Well, never mind from who, you can guess. Only he didn't know when. Do you?"

"No-o… On'y…they said sommat'bout….no' long now, an' so I thought… An'…" Jerrie trailed off, shuffling his paws, as if reluctant to tell all he knew.

"This'ere's no time t'clam up, Jerr'," Teazer said impatiently. "If'n y'knows sommat more, tell us!"

"I…didn't wanna…"

"Get off me!" snarled a familiar voice.

Oh, Great Heaviside, no. Not this on top of everything else… Mack glared at Jerrie. "So you wanted me to hurry off before I found out? Don't tell me—you had a plan to deal with this too?"

"I'd've figgered out somefin'," the tiger tom muttered.

A group of henchcats approached them, dragging the struggling figure of Admetus. Admittedly it cut rather a comical picture: the group of captors was made up chiefly of the younger cats, those who'd been in the kitten group not so long ago and were Carbuckety's age or a bit older. Mack had put them on "digging duty" under Mungojerrie. Most of them were smaller than Admetus, and it took all of their combined strengths to keep him from breaking free.

"See here, Leader," declared their spokes-cat, an orange tabby tom called Aristotle (the others had used it mockingly when he was younger, and no one had ever bothered to call him anything else). "Lookie what we've found!"

Mack folded his arms and assumed an air of disgust, forcing himself not to meet Admetus' eye. "Just what d'you expect me to do with this, then?"

"He's one of them Jellicles, Boss!" piped up a queen called Artemis. "We can force those dancing fluffy-faces to…"

Aristotle glared her into silence and continued, "We can force them to give us the Old One in exchange for getting this one back."

"I see. And what put it into your heads that we'll be needing the Old One?"

The young henchcats looked round at one another nervously. Artemis spoke up again, "With respect, Leader, the time is nearly up and we've not had any sight of the…the Great Stone, except false alarms." She smirked at Mungojerrie, and it occurred to Mack that the tiger tom had apparently been unable to gain his charges' fear and respect. That was yet another troubling thought. "So now we can be prepared if the Stone does not reveal itself and we have to retrieve the Old One instead," she concluded, looking pleased with herself and her fine speech. Her compatriots, on the other hand, glared at her and shot apprehensive glances at MacVitie. Clearly not everyone had completely lost their fear of him.

"I see," Mack nodded slowly. "And so you just thought you'd take matters into your own paws and go sneaking round that Jellicle place without any orders, eh?"

Artemis now began to look somewhat worried.

"Oh, no, Chief," piped up a tom called Vincent, "he was wandering the streets on his own! He was practically begging to be taken prisoner, he wandered right up to our dig site!"

"And it never occurred to you that that might be intentional? That he might be a plant by the Jellicles, a spy?"

"If'n he is," Vincent laughed, heedless of the warning glances his compatriots shot him, "the joke's on them. How much spyin' can he do if'n we lock him up an' cut off his ears?"

"Go on, then," Admetus spat. Everyone turned to stare at him. "D'you think I care what you rotten bounders do to me?"

He sounded so ridiculously dramatic, especially for one so young, that Mack could almost have laughed if the situation weren't so dangerous.

"Is them fightin' words?" Vincent demanded, going nose-to-nose with Admetus. He looked back at his comrades. "I think them's fightin' words! What shall we do to him?"

Mack raised a paw impatiently. "Enough! You'll do nothing to him until I say so." He nodded at Jerrie and Teazer. "Lock him up. We'll deal with him at our leisure." He desperately needed a chance to speak with Admetus alone. Whether he'd get that chance—or whether Adme would be willing to speak with him even if he did—was uncertain. Had he really left the Jellicles on his own, or had he been sent? If sent, what was the reason—the message? He'd little enough time to find out, if Carbuckety were right about the henches. Then again, Mack was beginning to think he'd been exaggerating or mistaken.