A/N: Thanks to those who are glad to see me back! Makes me really happy. I will do my best to make this a great story. I was planning on updating sooner, but if you knew the week I had...! Anyway, enjoy the chapter...

Chapter 1:

When Munkustrap entered the junkyard the next day, the feeling of tension was palpable. He could only hope that the rain, which had now slowed to a drizzle, was soaking everyone's fur, and that was the cause of the tension. But, no…it was more than that. He could practically smell it in the air. There was something odd about the junkyard.

Immediately, he went to investigate. He walked with caution towards the center of the junkyard, looking around for anything out of the ordinary. He came up to the edge of the old ford. Something wasn't right… Munkustrap sniffed the Ford, and could tell right away. No amount of rain could wash away the scent of a foreign cat in the junkyard.

Munkustrap jumped on the Ford, sniffing the metal, and found another scent, mingled with the scent of a cat that was familiar. The pouring rain washed away most of it, and it was hard to pinpoint. Munkustrap sneered, trying to discern the smell.

"Munkustrap!" The tom glanced back to see Jennyanydots walking swiftly up to him. She was soaked to the bone, but didn't seem to mind for some reason. "Thank the Everlasting Cat you're here, dear. Jellylorum is out of her mind with worry! She thinks something has happened to Gus."

Munkustrap looked back at the spot where he could smell the other cats. He sniffed again, and with the new information, was certain. As the silver tom looked forward, he saw fur that had come off on a corner. One of the cats must have rubbed up against it, the rain collected it in a corner. Now water steadily trickled down the clumped fur. "Strange cats," Munkustrap said. "They must have taken him."

"What was that?" Jennyanydots asked, climbing up to where the tom was. "The water, dear, it's splashing into every nook and cranny. I couldn't hear a word of what you said."

"There were cats here watching us last night," Munkustrap said, sitting down on the Ford, looking at the fur, baffled. "That's what Demeter sensed." Finally, he looked directly at Jennyanydots. "And they've taken old Asparagus…"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Alonzo loved the rain. Most cats hated getting drenched, but Alonzo was an exception. There was something cleansing about it to which a sunny day held no comparison. He sat on the pavement, ears back, face pointed up to allow the drizzle which was slowing to a stop to wash his face. He turned around and smiled at Cassandra, who was watching him from the window, bristling.

"It's not that bad!" he said, laughing.

Her voice came muffled through the glass. "It will take you weeks to dry!"

"Hardly!" He got up and shook off a significant amount of rain water. His fur stood awkward in most places, but he didn't cared. He was an alley cat – who was he trying to impress? "It's stopping. If you have any hopes of coming to the junkyard, now is the time!"

"The streets are wet," Cassandra said, looking out towards the road. "Puddles…damp feet…wet dogs…"

"You live with a dog!" Alonzo said, setting himself down beneath the window. "I'm sure he's soaked to the bone right now!"

Cassandra scoffed. "Lazareth hates storms. The sitter last night had to push him out with her bare hands. He's absolutely useless, really."

"Are you going to make me walk to the junkyard by myself?" He put his ears back. He didn't much like the thought.

"If you can dry yourself off in two seconds, as well as dry the streets, then I'll walk with you."

"Hmm," Alonzo muttered to himself, "I'm going to need to find Mistoffelees for that." To Cassandra, he said, "I'm just going to make a quick appearance, then."

Alonzo turned to go on his way. "Alonzo!" He looked up at Cassandra. She jumped from the windowsill, and in a few moments poked her head out the cat door flap. Alonzo smiled, thinking the queen was daring to join him. Instead, she asked, "Why are you so determined to stay near me?"

This question made the tom jerk his head back. Imagine, asking him a question like that! "Well, I thought that was obvious," he said, sitting down on his haunches. "I kinda really like you, Cassie."

Cassandra allowed the hint of a smile to show. "I can see that, but…" She took a moment, trying to consider how to say this. "You don't really seem like the type of tom who…stays around for a long time."

"What do you mean?" Alonzo asked while scratching his ear.

"Well…you're an alley cat."

"Right."

"A tom well liked by other queens."

"I like to think so."

"You…don't seem the type to stay in one spot." She let that sink in, but when it was obvious Alonzo wasn't sure what she meant, she sighed. "Or one queen, for that matter."

Alonzo's ears perked up, finally understanding what she meant. "You think I'm some sort of seducer of queens!" Cassandra grimaced, bracing for him to get angry with her. Instead, he laughed. Cassandra replaced her grimace with annoyance.

"Well, I saw the way you were with the other queens at the ball. You can see why I would assume such things! " she said.

"No, I can't," he said, getting up and turning to go. "Cassie, you've flitted around with the toms you wanted while I flitted around with the queens I wanted. In the end, I was just looking for the right queen to share every night with." He was about to go, but decided to add, "I'm hoping you feel the same…"

He didn't wait for her reaction. He wasn't sure he wanted it yet. He just trotted off toward the junkyard. He would meet with Cassandra later.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

When Alonzo entered the junkyard, the sun was breaking through the clouds, making the day muggy as the water evaporated around them. Normally, this made the cats prefer to stay inside or laze around, drying off in the sun. Instead, they were running around frantically, in quiet discussion with one another - a mild form of chaos that radiated with Munkustrap as the epicenter.

Alonzo sighed.

He walked up to the cats, catching bits and pieces of what they were worried about. Cats missing? Cats in the junkyard? He couldn't tell. As Munkustrap noticed his arrival, he excused himself from an in depth conversation with Skimbleshanks and raced over to Alonzo. "We're taking a head count. We just need to account for a few cats...have you seen anyone on your way here?"

"I just left Cassie," Alonzo said. "Why?"

"No one else?"

"No. What's wrong, Munk?"

"Some cats took Gus last night."

Alonzo eyes widened. Then he looked around at the other cats who were nearby. "And…you felt the need to get everyone in a frenzy?"

"No," Munkustrap said, rolling his eyes. "Jennyanydots interrupted me when I was trying to figure out what happened. She ran over to Jellylorum to tell her what happened, screaming the news the whole way."

"You could have stopped her."

"What was I supposed to do, tackle her?" Munkustrap asked, exasperated. "I've been trying to figure out what happened, and told her to get together a head count to make sure no more cats are missing."

"Well, wait a moment," Alonzo pulled Munkustrap to the side and talked in a whisper. "What makes you think that cats took Gus in the first place?"

"There was a distinct scent…some fur…Gus' scent mingled with it. I can make out around fourteen different cat scents in the junkyard so far."

"Fourt—so, Macavity was here last night?"

"No," Munkustrap said, shocked at the news himself. "He and his cats have a very distinct…odor. I would have known it the moment I smelled it. These cats…they're not from around here."

Alonzo looked at the cats who were frantically trying to figure out who else might be missing. "Why would foreign cats want to take an old, helpless theatre cat? And why so many? It's not like he was going to put up a fight!"

"I don't know," Munkustrap said. At this, Plato came bounding into the junkyard. He looked around momentarily, caught sight of Munkustrap, and raced up to him.

"Old Deuteronomy is still at the vicarage," Plato said. "Pouncival is staying with him. I thought it was best for him to stay there until we figure out what's going on. He told me to tell you to keep the cats calm," Alonzo snorted, "and said that you might have to ask help where you don't want to - whatever that means."

Munkustrap thanked and dismissed the young tom. Plato walked over to Victoria, who seemed upset about the elder cat gone missing. Munkustrap shook his head. "Might have to ask help where I don't want to…"

Alonzo shook his head. "Why would he jump to that conclusion?"

"He knows something that we don't," Munkustrap said. Then he shrugged. "If the first thing he says is that, he must have been expecting this." Munkustrap looked up. "But why wouldn't he tell me before?"

"Maybe you should ask him."

"No," Munkustrap said, getting up. "His response was too quick. This needs to be done now."

Alonzo's ears went back. Munkustrap had a determined look on his face. "Hey, you know, I could go over to Old D's and ask him what he's thinking while you go take care of things."

Munkustrap gave Alonzo a glance. "That could work. But be tactful." Alonzo nodded. Munkustrap took a deep breath. "And I'll go talk to Macavity."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Macavity was not a patient cat. Oh, sure, when he was hatching a plan to make someone's life a little more miserable, he had all the patience in the world. The same went for doing long-division and having multiple escape plans. For things of such importance, it was imperative to have patience. But for minions who couldn't quite say exactly what they wanted to say when they needed to say it, well…he had very little patience.

"What is it you want to tell me?" he asked to the sputtering black cat, whose head was lowered. The wretched little thing was visibly shaking.

"Well, you see, sir…there is…there is someone here to see you."

"And who is this someone?" he asked, looking at his nails. His coat may be dusty, his whisker uncombed, but his nails were vital for getting his point across. They were immaculately cleaned for doing just such a gesture. And after they were used, he cleaned them again until they shined.

"Well…it's a Jellicle, sir."

This caught Macavity's interest. "A Jellicle?"

"Er…the black and grey one, sir."

"Ah. That one," he said with distain. "Send him in." The little black tom crawled low to the ground as he made his way out of the room, and moments later, Munkustrap entered. The silver tom glowered at the cats on the other side of the door, before turning his look on the ginger cat. Macavity gave a low, dry chuckle. "Well, I see the rain has flushed out some sewer rats."

Munkustrap walked up to Macavity, still glaring at him. Macavity took pleasure in few things in life – the look on the other cat's face at that moment was one of those things. "I need to ask you something," Munkustrap said.

"The answer is no."

"I haven't asked yet!"

"I like to be succinct about these things."

"You don't even know what "these things" are!"

"Allow me to rephrase for you in words that are in your lower range of intelligence – Whatever it is that you, a Jellicle cat, want from me, my answer is no."

"Macavity," Munkustrap said, rolling his eyes. "I don't want to be here either, but Old Deuteronomy told me that I would need to come and talk to you about this issue."

"You mean he hasn't died of old age, yet?" Macavity asked, the semblance of a smile appearing on his face. "Wouldn't that make you king of human trash?"

"Alright," Munkustrap said, puffing out his chest. "First of all, it's junk in a junkyard. Secondly, it's Tugger who would be in charge, not me. And third--"

"Ah, yes," Macavity said. "That must make you very angry to know that someone so irresponsible in your eyes would be in charge of everything."

"Gus is missing," Munkustrap said. Smart, that he finally just came to his point, but that ruined Macavity's fun. "And Old Deuteronomy wants me to ask you for help. Unlike you, I respect my father's wishes, no matter how unpleasant they may be."

"How noble of you," Macavity said in a droll tone. "But I haven't had anything to do with - whatever that old cat's name is - disappearing, and I won't have anything to do with bringing him back. I think the old leader of the Jellicles is losing his senses as time passes."

Munkustrap sighed. "There were other cats involved. Fourteen whose scent I caught. Cats that aren't from around here. And I've been thinking the entire walk over here why he would tell me to take such drastic actions as to ask an unkempt relation of his for help. I can only assume that it affects you, too. That these cats are stronger than you, smarter than you, perhaps more violent than you. The only thing I know for sure is that they at least groom themselves more than you, if nothing else!" Munkustrap seemed satisfied with himself, but Macavity just smiled.

"Aren't you clever," he said. "Trying to make me concede by playing the 'ego' card. But I'm very good at playing cards. If I see you around here again, I'll tell the others to kill you on sight. Now, leave. You have the junkyard stench all over you."

Munkustrap glared at Macavity, ears slightly back, but said nothing. He walked towards the door. As he was halfway out, crossing paths with the lackeys at the door, Macavity called out, "And say hello to Demeter for me." Munkustrap stopped cold. "She didn't seem to mind the 'unkempt' fur one bit. Had other things to worry about."

Munkustrap turned and launched himself towards Macavity. Just as suddenly as he was on the attack, he was pinned to the ground by Macavity's henchmen. The ginger tom just laughed as Munkustrap struggled to get out of the grasp of the toms. The toms took him away, and Macavity could hear the sounds of struggles and possible punches landing. The struggle got farther away until he couldn't hear them anymore.

Alone, Macavity was determined to get back to what he was doing before the interruption, but he couldn't remember what it was. His mind was filled with the thought of why Old Deuteronomy would want him to be told about a missing tom cat he couldn't even remember?

A few moments passed. Then he called for one of his nearby lackeys.

A brown tabby entered. "Yes, sir?"

Macavity forgot for a moment to be threatening. His thoughts were on something else. "When was the last time anyone saw Griddlebone?"