The Meeting

Scourge stood in front of a large mirror, reapplying bandages to his front right paw and left ear. Still sore from his treadmill accident, the tom winced as he strained his paws wrapping the bandage around his thin ear.

"Scurgy, I don't see why you can't be home on time tonight," Nightcloud whined, organizing her tutu collection. "I was going to invite Whitetail and Onestar over for dinner."

The tom sighed. "I told you! Now that I've been promoted to horrible henchman at Brokenstar's House of Evil, I'm required to attend weekly meetings. I'll be home around eight o'clock."

The black she-cat rolled her eyes. "But I wanted company! We never invite anyone over. Can't you skip the meeting?"

"No, I can't," Scourge informed her. "It's one of Brokenstar's rules. We can never ever skip a meeting or there are…consequences."

"What kind of consequences?"

The tom thought for a moment. "I don't know. No one has ever survived them."

Nightcloud pulled a purple tutu out of her closet and pulled it on. "My high school tutu still fits! Who would have thought…"

"Dear, are you even listening?" Scourge asked.

"Yes," the she-cat meowed. "And I don't believe you. Brokenstar's reformed, remember? He doesn't do anything evil anymore."

The tom snorted. "Except run a club for villains and plan for total world domination," he mewed sarcastically.

Nightcloud glared at Scourge. "You have no faith in Brokenstar. He's a good cat now. Haven't you seen how he is with Tansy's kits?" Her green eyes glazed over. "Kits…"

"We are not having kits!" the tom hissed. "I have bigger problems to deal with than a bunch of little munchkins running around!"

The she-cat snapped out of her daydream. "Whatever. And stop saying Brokenstar is evil! He is good now!"

Scourge sighed, giving up. "Fine. You don't believe me? Come to the meeting. Then you'll see how Brokenstar really is."

"Fine," Nightcloud growled. "I'll be there. And I'll show you that Brokenstar is a good cat!"

"Fine!" Scourge snapped. "I'm leaving. Be at the club at six!"

Nightcloud stood outside a large warehouse building, staring at it with a confused expression on her face. She was at the address Scourge had given her, but there was no sign outside that read "Brokenstar's House of Villains." Checking the address on her phone's GPS, it confirmed that this was where she was supposed to be.

Pushing the heavy, bullet-proof door open, Nightcloud stepped into the dark warehouse interior. There were no lights on, and the room was completely empty. Even more confused, the she-cat padded further into the room, looking around for any sign of life.

Suddenly, a dark tabby tom appeared in a doorway. "You!" he called, spying the she-cat. "You there! What are you doing here?"

Recognizing Tigerstar, Nightcloud sighed with relief. "I am at Brokenstar's House of Villains!"

Tigerstar glared at her suspiciously. "How do you know about that?"

"I'm married to Scourge," she replied. "He told me to come to the henchmen meeting tonight. Now where is it?"

The tabby hesitated. "Um…alright then. Follow me."

Tigerstar led Nightcloud down to the basement, where the she-cat could hear loud voices talking and shouting. The basement flooded with light, and a group of toms were sitting at a large circular brown table drinking Pepsi and eating pizza.

"Nighty, you came!" the smallest tom exclaimed. "I wasn't sure you would."

Brokenstar, who was sitting next to Scourge, turned to face the black she-cat. "Nightcloud! How good of you to join us! Come and sit down. Grab a Pepsi!"

"You're okay with her being here?" Tigerstar hissed, lashing his tail.

"Of course!" Brokenstar meowed. "Nightcloud's always welcome. Now let's get back to business."

Nightcloud sat down in a chair between Scourge and Darkstripe, who reeked of crowfood. Scourge cast her a surprised look. "Why'd you come?"

"To show you that Brokenstar isn't evil!"

Hawkfrost interrupted the couple. "So Brokenstar, what's the plan? What are we destroying next?"

Brokenstar nodded seriously. "Last month was a great month of evil. Darkstripe did a great job popping Fernkit's balloon. Snowtuft and Mapleshade did a wonderful job of making stink bombs and putting them in Bramblestar's and Mistystar's dens. The winner of last month's most evil deed was…Shredtail for telling Poppyfrost that Berrynose never loved her and he wishes he could die and be with Honeyfern! Excellent work, Shredtail!"

"Thank you," the tom meowed smugly. "It was no trouble at all."

"Now let's move on to this month," Brokenstar continued. "What are your plans for small acts of evil? Scourge, you can go first."

"Well," the tom began, "I am planning to cut off the air conditioner circuit at Icecloud's ice cream shop so all of her ice cream melts and she goes out of business. "

The toms nodded in approval. "That sounds perfect, Scourge," Brokenstar meowed. "Remember, villains, our goal to ruin someone's life. If we can ruin more than one, that's even better. Scourge's plan not only ruins Icecloud's business, but the days of every cat who wants ice cream. That's thinking outside the box!"

Tigerstar put his voice in. "What about our plans for total world domination?"

Shredtail nodded. "Yeah. When is that going to happen?"

"I was going to bring that up," Brokenstar meowed. "The last few months we've been doing minor damage to Firestar's Police Force of Morality. Now we need to do something bigger that will really get their attention. Any ideas?"

"We smash their computers!"

"We tell Hollyleaf that the Warrior Code is made up!"

"We break Cinderpelt's other leg!"

The leader narrowed his eyes, pondering his group's suggestions. "These aren't big enough. We need to do something really evil!"

Scourge nodded. "How about we get a bunch of canons from that canon store downtown and blast the police building until there's nothing left!"

Brokenstar's eyes lit up. "Now THAT is a big idea. I like that!"

Nightcloud's eyes widened. "Scurgy, that's evil! You can't destroy Firestar's Police Force of Morality!"

"Shut it, Nightcloud," Tigerstar hissed.

"Yeah. This is no place for good cats," Snowtuft spat.

"No!" the she-cat cried. "You shouldn't do something that evil! You have to be good and moral cats."

Scourge leaned next to his mate. "Don't embarrass me!" he whispered.

"And don't turn into Firestar!" Mapleshade snarled.

"But you guys are all so evil!"

Brokenstar stood up from his chair. "Yes, well, I think it's time for you to be going, Nightcloud."

"Brokenstar, you lied to me!" the she-cat cried. "You said you were reformed!"

"I am…sort of," he replied. "Now how about you just go home and drink some nice chamomile tea. And don't even think about calling Firestar. You wouldn't want your loving mate to go to prison, now would you?"

Nightcloud shook her head. "No, but…"

"That's a good she-cat," Brokenstar mewed. "I'll see you later. Good bye now!"

The she-cat, stood up from the table. "Well, I'll just go home then. You all have fun with your evil plans, I guess. Love you, Scourge!"

"Yeah, whatever," the tom replied dismissively.

"Have fun with your evil plans! I hope you don't get arrested. I'm pregnant! Want some chicken? I'll go bake a cake," Nightcloud mewed quickly as she scurried up the stairs.

"Whatev-" Scourge froze, his eyes widening. "Wait, did she just she's…pregnant?"