Rumpleteazer grinned and hummed to herself as she walked the long way home, returning from a very successful solo heist. Her large and red Christmas stocking almost halfway full of assorted valuables, formerly belonging to the humans at Victoria Grove. Normally, Mungojerrie would be there with her, in fact, he almost always was... But on this particular winter night, Mungojerrie had a small cold and Rumple had insisted he stay behind and get some rest. It was a very cold night, every breath making a small bit of mist, and every step she took she thought her paws would freeze to the pavement. But, that wouldn't stop her from another burglary mission, which she and Mungojerrie usually did on the same days, three times in a month.

She continued on her way, entering through the usual alleys which would lead to the outskirts of the town, and to the old and now unused junkyard, where the Jellicles had made a permanent home. She was about halfway through the alleys when she noticed some small white flakes falling quickly from the sky. "Oh, great. Snow. Just what I need..." She groaned to herself and tried to hurry herself before any chance of a storm. She didn't hurry enough, for only about a few minutes later, the snow was now blowing harshly in all directions and making it very hard to see, not to mention, very cold. She could still manage to see some, and kept on her way home as fast as the orange and black striped tabby queen could go.

The snow seemed to get worse and worse, but Rumpleteazer knew she wasn't far from home, so she kept going, now literally having to drag her stocking of stolen goodies behind her. She was very cold and wished she had just decided to stay home in her nice and warm box, which she shared with Mungojerrie. Upon reaching the end of an alley, she heard some faint rustling behind her. As any cat would, she stopped in her tracks and looked around, searching to see if someone, or something, was tracking her. She looked around, spotting nothing but the now snow covered trash cans and debris which had accumulated in the alley. Shrugging to herself, she started on her way again. She finally made her way to the last alley, the one that would lead to the back entrance of the junkyard, and started down it. She smiled, her stocking still clenched in her paws and being dragged, as she caught a few glimpses of the junkyard just ahead. Just then, another sudden rustling came from behind her, this time much louder and closer than before. She, once again, stopped and went to look, but didn't have the chance. She felt something hit her in the back of the head and that was the last thing she felt before everything went black.

=^..^=

"Are you cozy? Nice and warm?" The voice was deep and that of a tomcat, in fact; it was a familiar tomcat at that. Rumpleteazer groaned from a pain in her head as she opened her eyes, at first seeing nothing but blur, then focussing on the large figure which towered over her. Her eyes widened as she recognized the cat and she hissed, "Macavity!" She quickly went to pull herself up, now realizing that she couldn't. She was tied down.

"No need for that, you aren't going anywhere soon." The mystery cat grinned slightly. "I couldn't help but notice you were lost in the snow, and without your little "Partner in Crime" So, I came to help you."

"Help me!" She yelled, with a bit of hissing, "You knocked me out and brought me here! That wasn't helping me!" She began to struggle in the ropes again, now meeting with a nice paw across the face. Meowing sharply from the stinging pain, she stopped her struggling.

"I told you to stop that!" he growled, "and you had BEST listen to what I say!" He held his paw up high, as if he were going to strike her again.

"No!" She shut her eyes, anticipating the blow, and cowering as much as she could in her restraints. Macavity merely laughed at her and rest his paw down to his side, starring at her again.

"That's what I thought. If you do not listen to what I say, you will meet a grim fate." He said as he took his paw and made her face him. She didn't want to, but she stared up at the massive tom, and she nodded.

"Okay, I will." She shut her eyes, not wanting to look at him. "Wh...Why am I here?" She asked quietly soon after.

"Because..." he grinned again, "You were the reason that Mungojerrie stopped working for me so long ago, did you know that?" He didn't give her time to answer before he continued, his eyes still gleaming as he stared at her. "He was a very good henchcat, but then some queen took up all his time and attention, and he ended up quitting his job working with me." His eyes suddenly narrowed. "...I didn't like that."

Rumple didn't know all of what he was talking about. She did know that, at one time long ago, Mungojerrie had worked for Macavity, but he quit because of her? She went to speak, but Macavity kept on.

"I raised that pathetic excuse for a cat since he was a kitten. He had no home and no family, so I took him in, as long as he worked for me. And how does that little brat repay me?" he roared, "...by quitting for some stupid queen! ...You!"

Macavity was very angry now and growled loudly. "You'll pay..." he mumbled as he started to approach her, "...you'll pay..." Rumpleteazer screamed but she knew that nothing was going to stop him.

=^..^=

The morning sunlight, extra bright from reflecting off the new fallen snow, began to creep through and into the hideout where Macavity made his home. Rumpleteazer sat totally awake, in pain and still tied. Macavity had done awful things to her, things no tom should do to a queen, all night. He sat in a chair, not too far away from her, eating a rat for his breakfast. He occasionally glared over to her a few times, before he finally got up and over to her. He took out his razor sharp claws, and with one swipe, slashed the ropes off.

"Go."

Rumple was indeed confused, wondering if this was a trick. "...Go?"

"Go, NOW!" He roared at her, pulling her up then pushing her harshly. "Go back to your stupid junkyard, with those stupid cats... I've done my damage, and you and your little love tom have and will pay. If you tell anyone, you will pay with your friend's and family's blood." And with that, he pushed her outside his hideout, slamming the door behind him. He went and sat down again, finishing up his rat. He grinned again to himself, for he knew that Rumpleteazer would tell her mate, and probably the other jellicles, what happened, only adding to the blow. Or so he thought.

Stunned and still very confused, she slowly pulled herself up, examining herself, and finding the only visible marks she had were a few scratches and a dark bruise on her cheek where Macavity had struck her. She paused a moment, trying to take all the events into perspective. What did he mean when he pushed her out of the hideout? She didn't know. All she knew at this moment was to get away and back to the junkyard. She started to run, still very sore, and her paws cold from the snow, back to the alley where he had caught her in the first place. She was amazed to find her stocking, full of valuables, was still there. It was buried by some snow, so she quickly dug it out and started running again.