"I said put her down." Munkustrap repeated.

Giving a nearly imperceptible nod to the mutant cat carrying Kumori, Macavity silently told him and several others to guard her. This was as much as to keep the Jellicles from getting to her as it was to keep Kumori from getting to the others. Not that she could get anywhere. The fight, though short, had taken it's toll on Kumori. She blacked out.

"Now leave." Munkustrap said, emphasizing the word leave.

"You know me brother, I never leave without a fight." Macavity replied, as if this was merely a game to him. He charged Munkustrap. Just as Munku jumped out of the way, Macavity changed directions. He viciously attacked Plato, who was too scared to move. Macavity was about to finish off Plato when Munkustrap's claws dug into his back. Playing like a dog, Macavity rolled over, effectively squashing Munkustrap.

The other toms engaged the rest of the mutant cats in battle, with the exception of Plato, who was trying to recover from Macavity's attack. Tugger, Misto, and Alonzo quickly defeated their opponents, and went to aid the others. The Jellicles were seriously outnumbered. Alonzo wondered ho so many got in without detection. They hung in there, desperately trying to turn the tide of the battle in favor of the Jellicles.

Meanwhile, Macavity and Munkustrap face each other. Munku was breathing hard, but Macavity hadn't even broken a sweat. Blood coursed down Munkustrap's body.

"Give up, little brother, you'll never win." Macavity chuckled.

"Says you." Munkustrap retorted, charging. Macavity merely sidestepped and tripped him. Munkustrap hit the ground on all fours and swung his left leg around to trip Macavity. He landed right next to Munku. Both rolled away from each other, and got to their feet. Circling slowly around, they both waited for the other to make the first move. Minutes passed, and still they circled.

The Jellicle toms had nearly given up. Most of them were too wounded to continue fighting. It was only Alonzo, The Rum Tum Tugger, Mistofelees, Skimbleshanks, and Asparagus (the 2nd) remaining, and they were still vastly outnumbered. Then reinforcements came. Leaving the care of the kittens to Bustopher Jones and Jennyanydots, the queens arrived. Macavity had his back to the newcomers so he didn't see them coming. Munkustrap sat down.

"What's wrong, do you give up?" Macavity asked mockingly. He couldn't see Exotica bearing down on him. Munku chuckled.

"They say that the mother of any species is the most dangerous for good reason."

A look of confusion passed over Macavity's face, but was quickly replaced by pain as Exotica landed, claws extended, on Macavity's back. In rage, Macavity threw her off of him. Exotica didn't care about Macavity's claws shredding her fur. She wasn't aware of pain, her surroundings, or even the fact that she stood no chance against the Hidden Paw. The only thing she was aware of was that Macavity hurt her little koneko. The only thing she felt was a deep hatred of Macavity. The only thing she cared about was avenging her daughter. Kumori had entrusted only her with her secret, what she had first seen. Afterwards, Exotica had to swear to Bast that she would never tell a soul. And she had honored that promise to this very day.

Munkustrap watched, impressed. He was ready to jump in if Exotica was defeated. Right now, she had Macavity on the defense, something Munkustrap had never seen before. Seeing that Exotica had things under control, he went to help the others fight off the mutant cats. Munku knew better than to try to help Exotica. She was in a true battle frenzy, and would attack everything that moved.

Macavity switched to an offense. If he could get this queen off of him, he could order a retreat. He would get the queen, eventually. Macavity saw his chance as he slammed Exotica into the side of a car, halfway buried under ground. There was a large pile of Junk precariously balanced on top of the car. Leaping up behind it, Macavity waited. When Exotica was less that 5 feet from him, he kicked the pile. It fell right on target. Exotica was buried beneath the avalanche of junk. Macavity laughed.

"This isn't over, Munkustrap. She will be mine!" He laughed again as the Jellicles swarmed over to the pile of junk where Exotica was buried. There were desperately trying to dig her out before she died. Certain that they would not see her, Macavity stole quietly away. Something bothered him. It was that young queen. Those golden eyes seemed so familiar, but he just couldn't place where he'd seem them before. With the exception of his brothers, all the Jellicles were usually scared out of their minds at the mere mentioning of his name. Judging by her reactions, he had probably killed somebody important to her. Macavity had killed so many cats in the past month alone, that it was no wonder he couldn't remember who he had killed and when. Maybe I should get somebody to write this stuff down. He thought to himself. The queen obviously wanted to avenge whomever he had killed. She would probably stop at nothing to accomplish this. Macavity smiled and chuckled to himself. It was always so much fun to break a cat's spirit. Especially when they were as pretty and as...untouched...as that one. Already a plan was forming in the twisted depths of his sinister mind to get the queen to come to him.

"Mungojerrie!" Macavity said loudly as he reached the entrance to this weeks hideout. Mungo immediately stepped out of the shadows where he was safely concealed. He threw a smart salute, and stood silently awaiting orders.

"You and your sister are going on a reconnaissance mission. I want to know everything about that young black queen. I'm sure you know the one I'm talking about. Report back to me in one week. Become close friends with her, and especially find out her previous connection with me. That is all."

"Yes sir." Mungojerrie said in a military fashion, melding back into the shadows. He knew rescuing that kit would come back to haunt him. It had taken him and Teazer forever to finally come up with an alibi. Luckily for them, it had taken Macavity a few hours to take care of the crisis that had come up. By then, he and Teazer had their lines well rehearsed, their emotions under control, and had masked the non-existent smell of cats blood with rats blood, as if they had gone hunting after 'killing' the kit. Teazer had insisted that they keep an eye on the kit. Mungojerrie was glad that they already knew about Kumori's past, and wouldn't have to pry it out of her. He cringed, reminding himself that he and Teazer would have to tell Macavity that they deliberately disobeyed orders, even if it was so long ago. Disobeying orders meant instant death, or slow torture.

A/N: whew! That was a long one! Okay... Thanks you guys/girls for your awesome reviews.

Chimalmaht: Koru and Yoru are both names that mean Black. They are solid black twin boys. You will soon see why they're named Black.