Tugger crept down the deserted fowl smelling hall. He cautiously peered into a room; empty, just like all the others. He slipped past it, moving on down the darkened area. The tiptoed over a sleeping Tom and looked into the room he was guarding, sleeping cats, none of them were the ones he was looking for. 'Last door, fourth hall' Tugger thought as he looked inside through the opened door. He could hardly see anything...
"Are you alright Love"
"No worse then usual"
His ears twitched as he heard the voices. He tried to block out the sound of his heart to hear them better.
"How long was I out for Jerrie?"
"I'm not sure Love, it was a while though"
Tugger gently walked inside, trying to follow the voices, unsure of what, or who else for that matter, was inside. He fell to the ground as he heard a squeak.
"Who's there" Rumpelteazer asked, even though he couldn't see her.
"It's just me, or I hope it is"
"Tugger" Mungojerrie asked mystified "what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to get you two out of here, just give me a minute to adjust to the dark and I'll untie you."
"We're not tied up"
"Chained?"
"No"
"Then let's go. I'll carry you if it hurts too much to walk" Tugger offered as he grabbed one of the paws. "We need to get you out of here."
"We can't Tugger..."
"Why not; there's nothing holding you back."
"Untrue" Mungo sighed. "We already took Teazer away from here and what did he do? Took me and got Teazer to come with him; abused her and... I don't want to think about what he'll do if he gets her again."
"We won't let him get her... or you. Everything will be fine" Tugger said, trying to reassure them. He could see their silhouettes and eyes with what little light was coming in through the window. "Come on..."
"No, you were right Tugger" Rumpelteazer muttered. "I heard you talking with the others a few times. I should just go back to working for Macavity freely. I don't think Macavity needs anything else from the Junkyard. We could start recruiting other cats for him..."
"You're not going to do that" Tugger pressed, mentally kicking himself. "I'm sorry I said that. You both deserve better then Macavity. What are you going to do? Have kittens and raise them to be his agents? What if you mess up? Will you be able to kill your daughter Teazer; what bout your son?" He stopped for a moments, realizing that she was crying. "I- I won't let you."
"We thank you" Teazer said through her broken voice. "But we can't... the risk if just too big. We could get caught, you could get caught-"
"He is caught" someone clarified as the light came on with a sudden flash. They shield their eyes as they saw the fire-like coat of the Napoleon of Crime. "And I must say that that was a rather touching speech you made. A wonderful one to go out with I must add."
Tugger growled and looked over at the two other cats in the room. Gone was the warrior like stances they have had when they last confronted Macavity and in their spots were kittenish cats, full of fear and terror. They clutched on to each other as if they were their life support and looked up helplessly.
"There's no reason to kill him" Rumpelteazer said meekly. "Well work off his freedom too if you just let him go."
"He has no reason to be here" Mungojerrie agreed as Macavity laughed.
"By coming here he has become a part of the ordeal" he sneered. "It was his choice." Macavity began to move towards Tugger, claws unsheathed when he stopped. "I suppose that you are right though. There is no reason to kill him since I can get you to work for his freedom too."
The three cats breathed a sigh of relief as Macavity's retracted his claws and moved away. "Rumpelteazer..." Tugger watched as she shakily removed herself from Jerrie and stood up. "Come with me"
"What, but we-" she protested. Tugger flinched as Macavity's paw struck her and she fell to the ground.
"Do not make me repeat myself" he hissed, bringing his claws back into his paw once more.
"Sorry Sir" she apologized as pushed herself upright. Macavity left the room, Rumpelteazer following him, head hanging and ears pressed flat against her head. Tugger breathed deeply, amazed at how willingly she went with him.
"Why didn't you try to stop them" Tugger asked, finally finding his voice.
"Because it's Macavity. There are a few things that you learn not to do while you're here, one of them is not to stop him."
"But you two did when he was going to kill me" he baffled. "Thank you by the way"
"We have to look out for our own kind here. It's when he's going to do something to give him pleasure that you don't try to stop him. He doesn't get pleasure from killing unless it in front of the cats it'll effect the most. We've seen him kill enough times to be immune to it."
"So if he was going to kill Old Deuteronomy he'd do it in public?"
"Right, why don't you try to go to sleep for now?" Jerrie suggested as he laid his head on the wall. "It's going to be a long night. The first one is always the longest."
"Alright" Tugger said, trusting the Tom. He curled himself up when he though of something. "How did he get you here?"
"He jumped me. I left the Junkyard to get Teazer some daisies like I used to when we were young. I was coming back and he grabbed me from behind. Did some of the usual damage and took my collar, got his rats to bring me back here."
"Oh," Rum Tum said as he laid his head on his paws. "What if the others come for us?"
"Let's hope that they don't. Me and Teazer will just send them away; we've been in debt to Macavity for too long. We want to get out of it Scott-free. The only way we can do that is to work it off. You can go with them if you want to" he said through a yawn. "Night Tug"
"Good Night Mungo"
The two Toms lay awake, neither of them talked, each of them thinking that the other was asleep. Tugger looked around the room, trying to put his mid at ease long enough to drift off but it was proving futile. Mungojerrie, on the other paw, was waiting for the one who was just thrown inside. Jerrie gasped for breath as she fell hard upon him, the Tom who brought her back shoved her as hard as he could have.
"Tea, are you alright" Jerrie asked quietly as she rolled off of him.
"I've been better" she panted as she cleaned one of her cuts that ran along her paw. "He's treating me like he does with his newer recruits..."
"That rough eh? Oh, he got your face and everything" Jerrie said as he helped her clean her wounds. He began work on her face, neither of them noticing the Tom who was walking up behind them.
"Her shoulder too" Tugger said as he began to try to sanitize a rather nasty looking one. He could feel her flinching every now and then; he wasn't sure who was to blame for the current pain though. It could be either one of them, Tugger expected that it was him though, not the most skilled Tom in the art of healing.
"The rest are fine, minors" Rumpelteazer shrugged off. "We should really sleep though; Macavity will most likely come to see us in the morning." Jerrie agreed and curled up, waiting for Teazer to join him. Tugger began walking to the other side of the room when he felt someone grab his tail, causing him to whip around. "Sorry, I was aiming for your arm... sleep with us Tugger." Teazer said as she curled up on the ground. Tugger stood for a few moments, was that a question or an order? He reluctantly lay down with them, placing Rumpel in the middle of them. He could feel her breathing on his back, as she fell asleep and the warmth of their bodies taking away the chill that the room had. He began feeling at home, like when he was a kitten and used to sleep in heaps. His childhood and his future was at the Junkyard, it was more then his home, it was his life. He was soon sleeping, with a sad smile on his face, when he realized that this was their life.
Tugger was half awake; he could feel the sun on his face and Rumpelteazer's forehead resting on his back. His eyes were kept closed in an attempt of pulling a 'Mistofelees' and magically waking up in the Junkyard. He knew that he couldn't though but it was worth a shot. He felt her forehead moved, obviously beginning to wake up. He felt a kiss on the back of his neck and a rather masculine 'Morning Beautiful.' Tugger froze for a moment and slowly rolled over, finding himself face to face with a horrified Mungojerrie, although he was sure that it was nothing compared to the horror he was showing on his face.
"You're not Teazer..." Mungo stated silently.
"You're not gay... are you" Tugger asked, unable to get the display of affection out of his mind. Mungojerrie feverishly shook his head as the two Toms separated themselves.
"Where is she" Mungo asked as he got up. "I don't smell Macavity."
"How can you smell anything over all this fish" Tugger asked as he wrinkled his nose. "It's pretty overbearing."
"I know his scent," Mungo said, not turning around to face Tugger. "I smelt it one too many times to forget it. Most of the times I smelled it off of her..."
Tugger remained silent, biting his bottom lip. "Sorry; I... I don't know. I just never had to smell Macavity off of Bombalurina. I'm sure if I did I wouldn't be able to forget it." He raised his eyes and saw Mungo nodding his head sadly. "I'm sure that I would be scared out of my mind if I did too."
"Anyone would be" Mungojerrie comforted as he turned around. They faced each other for a rather quiet moment before pulling into a quick hug.
"Now, isn't that just the sweetest thing you ever saw?"
The Toms turned around and saw a group of Queens, Rumpelteazer among them, laughing in the doorway.
"It melts my heart" a grey one said as she placed a paw over her heart, sending them into another wave of laughs.
"Get off it," Jerrie said as he glared at them.
"What happened to you Jerrie, you used to be so much fun?" One of them asked.
"I woke up without any idea where my Mate was, that's what. Instead, I was practically spooning this oaf" Mungo said as he pulled Teazer out of the crowd.
"I defiantly wouldn't mind waking up with that envision of the Heavyside Layer right beside me."
"Play your cards right and maybe you can Babe" Tugger smirked, feeling as if he was talking with the kittens back home.
"So what will we tell Bomb" Rumpel asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Aw, he's taken..."
"Like that ever stopped you before" Mungo sneered as the Queens laughed again. "Next time you take my Mate let me know."
"Gees, all we did was catch up on what was going on with our lives. It's not like we brought her to Macavity. By the way, he wants to see you" They said as they went back down the hall.
"Who were they" Tugger asked, trying to keep a mental picture of the Leader from the group.
"That was my old crowd, I used to be in charge of them before I was paired up with Jer, and before Macavity" Teazer added sadly. "They're all smutty though."
"You're making it harder for me not to flirt with them" Tugger sighed jokingly as he followed them out the door and to where Macavity was waiting for them. He walked into the same room where Demeter was held captive earlier that month, Macavity on the same pedestal he was back then.
"Thank you all for joining me" Macavity smiled warmly which oddly sent cold shivers down Tugger's spine. "Rumpelteazer, you're looking simply ravishing this morning."
"So are we going to negotiate or not" Mungojerrie asked as he pushed Teazer behind him slightly.
"Very well" Macavity sighed. "I remember the old days when you found it customary to talk with me before getting down to business. Now what did you all have in mind?"
"Our weight in jewels" Rumpelteazer said, coming out of hiding.
"Diamonds" Macavity contradicted.
"Jewels" Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer pressed, talking at the same time.
"You have three seconds to decide" Mungo said as he held up three claws. "Or we go Scott free. One, Two, Thre-"
"Fine" Macavity said, obviously not to pleased that he was pushed around so easily. "But I want fifty percent of it to be diamonds"
The calicos looked at each other and nodded. "Deal."
"What about our guest though" Macavity asked, gesturing towards The Rum Tum Tugger.
"It's the same agreement; he's coming with us and will defiantly be pulling his share."
"Him" Macavity asked through laughs. "But he never stole a day in his life. Am I right" Tugger nodded, hair bristling with each laugh. "At least I'll get some entertainment out of this. Very well, be back here tonight for a weighing, and will see if you get to leave tonight."
The three left silently as Macavity continued to joyously laugh. Tugger shifted uncomfortably as he was lead to a room full of socks. "Guys, I don't even know the basics of stealing."
"We're going to teach you as we go along" Mungojerrie said as he handed him a sock. "You'll have the best teachers; we were two of his best thieves. You taught me about the Junkyard and I'm going to teach you about the Trade." He said with a smile. "This is a sock, it's going to be your best friend today. Without it you'd be juggling a dozen different trinkets and most likely dropping them, especially while running. You'll be doing a lot of that today too."
A/N: Happy Hallowe'en Everyone! It's time to go out, dress up, and get free candy! I love this holiday (obviously.) As a treat, I'm giving you this. And Happy Birthday to Henry and to Holly (tomorrow) And there will be som eTugger stealing next chapter.
And the Accents were here last night (A Maritime band) and I didn't get to see them because there was a bar at the dance. So I was ticked beyond belief. It's their last time playing in PHK; I saw them every time they were down besides this one time. They're splitting up this New Years, and, again, I won't see them play. Maybe they can sneak me in for the rehearsal, that's what they used to do. And, no, I am not obsessed; my uncle's in the band. And Natalie MacMaster's supposed to be coming down (with Leahy) for the Civic center opening. Another local I never missed (my 'Aunt'). You go to love it.
Chimalmaht – Yeah, no one's a bigger looser then Munkustrap. Poor thing. And yes, I'll have to talk to Stub about it next time I borrow one.
Jemima-luvah – Yes, the list shall go on and on. I answered some of them for you though. I do spell Hallowe'en with an apostrophe, I believe that's the Canadian way... if not, It's my way. Yeah, we are kind of different; like color and colour. Us Canadian and our quirky ways.... We're hoodlums I tell you. Adding 'u' in our words and everything...
Nanna Nanna boo boo, you can't catch me, even if you wanted to. Nanna nanna boo boo you can't catch me; nanna nanna boo boo to you.