"When the Junkyard realizes that we're not coming back, they'll come after us." She told him…The ginger tom could only grin…

"We'll find out, daughter…"

With that, the two cats left the Hidden Paw's quarters. He was glad that he could finally rest, because for some reason, he felt a bit winded, but at the same time, Macavity was bubbling in enthusiasm. His daughter was finally in his grasp, and this time, he wasn't going to make any mistakes…

~^..^~

Sunrise dawned over the Junkyard, and obviously, Munkustrap was nervous. There was no sign of Zela or the tiger tabby mates anywhere. He paced impatiently around his den. Tugger was twiddling his thumbs on top of the old pipe, looking just as anxious as he was. He couldn't even look at his brother. He was too focused on trying to stay positive. That was becoming an issue in itself since daylight was creeping out so quickly, "Dammit, where are they…?" he muttered, mostly to himself.

However, it seemed to be loud enough to reach Tugger's earshot. "You need to quit panicking." He advised, but still sounding nervous himself.

"Zela said the job wouldn't take longer than sunrise. It's well-past that time…"

Tugger bit his lip, "You think that… maybe something went wrong, Munk?"

The silver tabby suddenly paused as he thought about the question. What was his answer to that? He had no clue whether their group had been caught or not by the Hidden Paw. "I don't know… Let's hope not…"

The Maine Coon grimaced and stared at the floor. Munkustrap continued his fantod pace as they waited. Time was running short and passing so quickly that the silver tabby's patience and calmness was hanging by a thread. "You know, I'm sure we're overreacting." Tugger commented.

The silver tabby shrugged, "You might be, but I think I'm a little entitled to this stress…"

His brother slightly grinned at him. "You're not that much of a workaholic, Munk."

"It's not about that, Tugger..." he looked up at the leopard-spotted tom and sighed, "Did you hear about what happened to Etcy earlier this morning? Jelly said she's been taken over by the same thing that's diseasing Plato. I never saw our medical cat so broken up…"

Tugger paused a moment, "Yeah… I went to check up on the kit and Jelly was working harder than ever. I think Misto was watching Etcy… Plato doesn't look better."

"I know…" Munk closed his eyes, "But now it's somehow contagious… Not good… at all…" He grimaced at the ground, feeling a tad overwhelmed.

"Munk, you need to quit being so negative." The Maine Coon replied. "Look, Jelly's a skilled medic and Misto's the best conjurer here. They'll find a way to treat both of them before something worse happens."

Munkustrap grimaced, "You think that something worse will happen?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tugger rolled his eyes, "Heavyside, Munk! Relax a little while!"

The silver tabby blinked and slightly grinned, "I know… It's just… I'm stressed with Macavity, and taking care of the tribe…I just can't keep up…"

Suddenly, Munkustrap sensed someone come into his den. By the perking of Tugger's ears, he had too. Munk quickly twisted his head around to see who was at the den entrance. It was his mate wearing a sulky face. The silver tabby stepped forward, "Deme?"

The gold queen gazed at him with a dull look in her green eyes. She looked just as anxious and worried as he was. Of course, he couldn't compare his concern for Zela as much as Demeter could. She was her daughter, after all. All he could show was the love for his step-flesh and blood. Demeter blinked at him, forming a small grimace. She was obviously still miffed at him. "Munk… it's about a half-hour after sunrise… Where is my daughter?"

Munkustrap groaned, brushing his head-fur with his claws. "I don't know." He said in frustration and impatience. "Deme, we've been waiting for her here all night, and-"

"I've been waiting at the entrance of the Junkyard all night, Munk!" The gold queen growled at him agitatedly, looking like she had more fire power directed at her mate than ever before. "You assured me that nothing was going to happen to my kit, and you lied! She means the world to me and you just let her run off to the Warehouse to run your little errand! If she's harmed at all, Munkustrap, you're taking the blame!"

Munkustrap took a step forward and wavered his paws to ward off her concern. "Deme, you're overreacting. She's probably on her way right now!" He looked away from his mate. Tugger was sitting awkwardly in the corner, looking like he was waiting for the conversation to be done with. The silver tabby turned again to his mate. "But, if it makes you feel any better, we can go talk to Quaxo, okay?"

The gold queen blinked once, still slightly glaring at him. Wordlessly, she turned around and headed towards Jellyorum's den, where the conjuring tuxedo tom was assisting Jellyorum in finding a treatment for the mysterious disease. Munkustrap sighed quietly. Tugger quickly stood up and met his brother by his side, "You know, she's just worried about her daughter, Straps." Munkustrap turned to his brother, and gave him a sad smile.

"Yeah..." he whispered, "I know… Come on; let's go see what Quaxo says..."

~^..^~

Quaxo grimaced when he looked into an enlarged magnifying glass. He was quickly comparing the sample of Vitalee and his blood. They had the same blood type, which could have been obvious with them both being mystics, but when he compared Plato's blood type, it was a darker color of red. Mystic blood was just a shade brighter than a normal cats' blood, but then taking some of Jellyorum's, who was a completely healthy cat, all three samples were different. Ug… this would be so much easier if Zela was here… He thought quietly. Zela and the twins were the only mystics in the Junkyard not injected with Macavity's little poison. He hadn't been able to catch up with the Tantomile or Coricopat yet, and now, Zelaphelia was off somewhere for Munkustrap. The tuxedo tom grimaced, not really sure what to make of this.

Suddenly, he heard something stir from behind or at least somewhere in Jellyorum's den. Quaxo quickly stood up and left the private room of the den. Jelly decided to have Plato and Etcetera separated, simply to see if they being together would make an even worse effect. Jelly was sleeping on one of the beds. He figured the old tabby queen needed her rest. She'd been working all night to take care of her daughter. The fact that Etcy caught the virus was even more frightening, but the tuxedo tom was surprisingly not sick yet, which he had yet to understand.

Quaxo blinked when Munkustrap, Demeter, and Tugger entered in the den. Deme had a grimace on her face. Munk and Tugger looked completely blank in expression. The tuxedo tom gingerly took a step forward. "Hey, guys… what's going on?"

Demeter blinked at him. She was giving him a serious look that could have chilled him if he wasn't so focused on the subject of why they were there. "Zela's missing." The gold queen blurted.

Munkustrap came up behind her, shaking his head, "She's not missing." He corrected, giving his mate a disapproving look. "We just want to make sure she's okay. We're worried why she and the Teazer and Mungo aren't back yet."

Giving all the cats in the room a good, long stare, Quaxo cleared his throat. "Well… I could contact her for you? See if she's on her way." He was already preparing himself mentally to communicate with Zela.

Demeter instantly nodded and Munk had followed. Tugger was just staring at the tuxedo tom hopefully. He sighed, "Okay…" he murmured. The conjurer cleared his throat and sent out a simple message to Zela: Zela, your parents are concerned about where you are, so…just for clarification, where are you?

Quaxo blinked at Demeter and Munkustrap while he waited for a receiving mental message. After a tremendously long pause, nothing came. "What…" he whispered quietly to himself. Why didn't she answer back? The tuxedo tom tried again with his message, but after nothing came, he continued calling her name through telepathy. The line was completely dead. He looked between the faces that were staring at him, unsure of what to say. "I… she… she's not answering…"

This generally caused an uproar from the three of them. Demeter had been the loudest:"What are you talking about? How can she not answer? Why wouldn't she answer you back?" The gold queen's eyes were filled with panic and concern, which was why Quaxo wasn't very afraid of her lashing out on him.

Munkustrap seethed and put a firm paw on his mate's shoulder. "Deme… calm down."

She simply shrugged him off and waited for an answer from the conjurer. Quaxo cleared his throat again, trying to think of a way to break the hardest of news in the gentlest of ways. "Well… there are only two reasons why she wouldn't have answered me… One… she would be in a deadly state of unconsciousness… or two… well… she's… uh… not alive."

Demeter stepped back, practically bumping into her mate. Munkustrap had a bit of a shocked expression that matched hers. Tugger was just as awestruck. "You're kidding." The Maine Coon murmured.

Quaxo shrugged, hating to see them look this way. It wasn't until his pause on trying to figure out what else to say to them that he realized what he had said himself. Could Zela really be dead? "Well… the whole mental communication was… completely negative. I… I don't know what to say…"

Demeter almost fell backwards, looking like had nothing really to say either. Munkustrap kept two supporting paws on her shoulders and stared at the tuxedo tom, "Are you sure? Is there any way of knowing if she's... … gone?"

He swallowed hard, staring at the silver tabby. "I… have no way of telling… but if you want me to be perfectly honest… I..." He stared over at Demeter, wishing that he didn't have to believe the words coming out of his mouth, "I'm sorry Deme… I… I don't want to think that she's dead. I'll try contacting her again every few hours… but that's all I can do for her."

Quaxo witnessed the golden female's green eyes well up in despair. "It can't be true…" she whispered. "Would something have happened to her, Quax?"

The tuxedo tom cleared his throat. "If she didn't answer me… I think so."

With an awkward pause, Demeter stared at him, slowly forming a scowl. She twisted around at Munkustrap. Quaxo quickly took a step back, not liking the looks of where this was going. "This is all your fault!" she growled at the Jellicle Leader, "If you hadn't asked her to go on this stupid job, she might still be here and not missing!"

Munkustrap was speechless for a moment, but then he suddenly returned his mate's glare. "Look, it's not my fault that something went wrong-"

"I told you that if anything happened to her, it was on you! You willingly put her in danger, and Jerrie and Teazer as well! You never even considered on how I felt about this. You-…" she growled again, "You disgust me." She sneered at him, and quickly walked past the entry of the Medical den. The silver tabby tom looked like he was going to follow her, but she twisted around again, "Do not follow me, Munkustrap!"

Quaxo quietly watched Demeter leave as the three toms were left in the infirmary. No one ever saw the gold queen explode often. This just chilled them all, seeing her like that. Munk had a look of anger on his face, but there was also a shimmer of guilt in his eyes. The tuxedo tom sighed quietly, not sure what to say anything else to them. He swiftly turned around and headed back towards the room he was occupying, though he knew he'd left Tugger and Munkustrap in a dazed confusion…

~^..^~

Zelaphelia had been waking up and falling asleep all night. And she could have cried when she saw the day was beginning to be brighter and brighter every time she woke up. But something was bothering her; she was having the strange dreams about the cells she was in. Sometimes it was focused on the henchcat guard, or it was a rat wandering around in the cells next to her, or it was just behind her own bars. When she woke up, she would know what was going on the cells. It didn't make sense to her. Why could she pick out visions in the cells, but nowhere else? This probably would have been a good question to ask the Hidden Paw, then again, he probably wouldn't have told her anyway.

The gold queen looked up from her sleeping state. The tiniest bit of sunlight was peeking through the window made from ground. She wanted more than anything to escape. But what good would it do? Macavity would just kill Mungo and Teazer, and she'd be going back to the Junkyard with nothing. She couldn't let Munk down like that, and partially because she didn't want to face Tugger. It was basically why she even took the job, just to get away from him and his arrogance. How dare he be with Bomba and mock her for being just a little suspicious from it? Any sensible queen would! The gold queen silently fumed, but sighed, remembering that this would be over with by the time Munkustrap realized that they weren't back yet. He'd find anyone he could to rescue them. As she looked up from the stone floor, Zela gazed at the henchcat resting in his seat.

He seemed so distant. Quiet even. The henchcats around the Warehouse jeered her; snickered at her as if to rub in her face that she had been caught after a year of running. But this tom was her guard. Not one word had been conversed between them. Well, excluding when she told him to stop breathing down her neck. The tortoiseshell tom wasn't especially talkative, which annoyed the gold-red queen a little, but she figured the second she tried to escape, he would immediately tell her father. Zela quickly blinked, wondering what would happen if she just tried to mess with him. She grinned, standing up near the bars, deciding she was being patient with rescuers, and would have enough time to do something as innocent as provoking a henchcat. She slightly grinned, "You never guarded a mystic before, have you?" she asked him curiously. She held herself up with the support of the bars.

The henchcat's golden eyes glanced up and down at her and the ground several times before they finally rested on her face. He looked surprised by her question. His only reply was a silent shake of his head. The tortoiseshell tom was trying to look stern in his eyes, keeping his prisoner in her place. Zela blinked amusingly, her expression not changing. "How impregnable is my cell from the inside?" she asked bluntly.

He flinched a bit from the question as his stern grimace turned into a fierce glare. His chair had only been standing by two legs, due to the fact he'd been leaning back on the wall. The black tortoiseshell let it tip back to all fours. He was looking more prepared than she thought. Zela grinned, backing off from the ball. "Just curious." She said to him, "…So you probably have a lot of faith in metal bars?"

He gave a quiet nod, staring at her with a suspicious eyebrow raise.

She chuckled mischievously. "Would you like to put your money where your gesture is?"

He blinked once, slightly looking past the walls. There was a glint of confidence stirring in his eyes as he grinned, "You think you can escape the cells?" he said, his tone sounding eminent and cocky. Actually, he had a young voice. It ranged perfectly somewhere between high and low.

Zelaphelia cleared her throat as she hid a smirk. She was quite enjoying the first words the henchcat guard ever said to her. "Well… probably." There was a hoax smile of innocence curled on the corner of her mouth.

The henchcat coolly leaned back in his seat, looking very relaxed. His chair went back to two legs as he did this. "Prove it then." He said. The tortoiseshell tom wasn't even minding her. Either henchcats belittled her so much that they didn't even pay attention, or this henchcat was smug enough where he didn't even have faith that she could escape with no hassle.

The gold-red queen casually walked up to the lock over the bars. She stuck her arm out in the open, and bent her elbow so her claw could get into the keyhole. She heard the tortoiseshell tom chortle when he noticed this. How little expectance henchcats had in prisoners. Zela quickly closed her eyes and hid her mind behind a vision that actually went into the keyhole of her prison: half-turn right, quarter turn back, press down and turn 90° over. Zela heard the tumblers activate as the bar door casually slid open. Zela smirked as she held the bars, feeling the exhilaration of an escape furrowing the red stripes wrapped around her body. She grinned at the henchcat, waiting for him to look up. When he did, his eyes became huge on his face as he tried to sit up quickly. This caused his chair to fall back, thus making him tumble to the ground.

Zela snorted in amusement as the tortoiseshell quickly stood up, shaking in some franticness. "How d-did you d-do that?" he stuttered in some sort of sharp tone that he mustered.

The golden-red female sighed quietly as she shut the door, thus locking her again in the prison of iron, cement, and stone. "Skill." She said simply, which wasn't a lie, just not fully the truth. "Unfortunately for you, I have some… escape artist blood in me, shall we say?" she grinned, finding herself extremely clever at the moment.

The henchcat blinked a couple times as he stood in front of her. "Well… then… just… don't do it again!" He glared, trying to look threatening.

Zela scoffed, sitting down in her corner. "No problem, Henchcat…" she muttered. She thought she'd feel better, but she was reminded that she wasn't free at all, though she could escape the stupid henchcat if she wanted to, and she did. But Macavity was more cunning than she had reckoned him to be. He took the opportunity of her running into town and made her look like a fool. And that was exactly how she felt about herself. She was the fool… Zela sunk back into her against the wall in a deranged feeling of hopelessness.

Suddenly, the henchcat spoke up: "Marceth."

The gold-red female looked up, "What?"

"It's Marcetheus." He stated flatly, "Not Henchcat. I'm not a henchcat, I'm a guard. Get it right."

Zela glared at him on the spot and just rolled her eyes, "You work for Macavity and are holding me against my will in the Warehouse. You're just a henchcat to me."

The tortoiseshell sighed, "Whatever, Jellicle…"

Zela looked up with a raised eyebrow, "If you were going for namesake, than you should know that mine isn't Jellicle. It's Zelaphelia."

"What does it matter?" he asked,. "You're a Jellicle to me. Why should the treatment you give me be anymore different from what I give you?"

The gold-red queen blinked, grinning slightly. "You know, you're not very eloquent when you're talking to me."

"Well, you're not very nice when you're talking to me." He retorted, avoiding her gaze.

Zelaphelia breathed silently as she laid her chin over her arms. This was a more clever tom than she had figured, even if his confidence had made him lose their little bet. Perhaps the fact that Macavity was helping in their training caused them to be less moronic than the tribe thought. When she was about to say something back to him, a slamming knock echoed through the cells. Zela froze in her spot.

"Marcetheus!" a dark voice screeched from behind the door, "The boss wants to see the queen in the cells!"

She quickly unfroze. It had been a God-awful night that she hadn't been prepared for, and the beginning of the day didn't really start off too well either. She was hoping Munkustrap would be here by now, and she had predicted this in front of Macavity. No doubt he wanted to see her so he could gloat…

~^..^~

Macavity had called Jezabella into his den as he waited for his henchcat guard to bring Zelaphelia back. The Tokinese queen couldn't have been happy, knowing that her rival was back as a prisoner. A simple utterance of disrespect would not provoke Macavity even once when she mentioned a list of complaints about his daughter. Jeza hated Zelaphelia in every sense of the word, but the actual thought of her being submissive and weak gave the beige female a tickled feeling. Unfortunately, Macavity had other reasons to demand of her that had to do with Zela. This made her less amused by the situation.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to train her?" Jeza's eyes were wide as she sat on the couch corresponding with Macavity's black leather chair. The Napoleon of crime chuckled at her.

"Yes, but not in all ways, Jezabella. She will be my prodigy, so you won't have to worry about the fighting or mysticism. However, there are certain… angles that I wish for you to teach."

The Tokinese queen's eyebrow rose, "Angles? Care to explain?"

"My daughter coming here was no accident, Jezabella." He said calmly, "I'm using her stay here to my full advantage. But last I spoke to her; she had full confidence that her captivity here would not last the night. She was wrong, of course. It's almost midday and there hasn't been a trace of any Jellicle. I have my own tactics to thank for that. But she's like a wild horse now, Jeza. She needs to be broken into this lifestyle. Just as all the queens of my Warehouse were. You're job is to make sure that she learns the basics of my hideout. She will, of course, start at the lowest level of training. Once she's up to speed, I'll give her a supervised mission. But that is awhile from now. I'm allowing you to use any methods you wish on her. I want to see that her spirit and rebellious disobedience die right in front of me, and you're the queen that's going to do ensure that it happens."

The Tokinese queen blinked twice, nodding slowly at the statements that mentioned her involvement in Macavity's plan for his daughter. "But what if the Jellicles should come and help her escape? She'll know everything about our-… your territory and the tribe will take us down!"

The hidden paw chuckled quietly as he stood up. "Trust me, that won't happen. By the time the day is done. They'll know that their little infiltration mission was a failure, and be under the impression that their members are no longer with them." He smirked maliciously.

Before Jezabella could ask another question, there was a soft knocking behind the door. Macavity didn't hesitate to answer, "Let her in!" he shouted. Jeza's ears went flat. Loud noises were often very distasteful for her.

She decided not to face the gold-red queen yet, and kept quite low on the sofa. Macavity swiftly walked to the other side of his den as light footsteps entered into his den. "So glad you could make it." She heard him say with a smug tone.

A young female voice with a dark complexion spoke quietly, "What do you want…?"

He tsked, shutting the door from behind Zelaphelia. "Still no respect for your superior?"

"You're not my superior! When will you get that through your thick skull!"

Jeza almost gasped, unable to believe that anyone would talk to the Napoleon of Crime that way, even his own daughter. Macavity grumbled, not sounding exuberant in the least . There was a quiet zapping noise, and the young female gave out a sudden cry as a thump reverberated off the floorboard of the ginger tom's room. "I'm going to be your superior for some time, as it seems, Zela. So tell me, you said that your precious little gang of Jellicles would be here to rescue you, why is that not the case?"

There was a long pause between them. Jeza almost leaned over the arm to hear any trace of an answer. Finally, Zela spoke. "They'll come." She stated weakly, getting up from the ground.

Jeza could picture her boss smirking at that statement. "I doubt that, my dear. What I said was true, your tribe is too spineless to actually go against me, even if they were smart enough to come to the Warehouse in large numbers! We're all powerful on our own battlefields, Zela. You'll notice that mine is not tainted with the war cry of any Jellicle."

The gold-red queen's breaths couldn't even be heard. "They will come." She repeated firmly.

Macavity sighed quietly, "Yes, well, until that time-"

"Why won't my powers work?" Zela asked bluntly. Jeza shook her head mentally. This queen had some nerve!

Surprisingly, the only thing that came out of Macavity was a chortle, "I'm afraid that would be my doing. You see, Zela. I took the liberty of… blocking my property from Jellicles' mental games. I closed off any telepathic traces that were directed towards me, simply for the protection of my henchcats' knowledge, and my own. If I let just anyone in there, how else could I take over the city?"

Jeza could picture Zelaphelia narrowing her eyes at her father. "Then why can I see images of the cells, but nowhere else?"

He sighed again. "Unfortunately, some places are beyond my telepathic reach, but of course, I can still protect all my property from any mental disturbances."

"And that's why I couldn't communicate with anyone… Why can't I see Mungo and Teazer?" she muttered realizing her blunder.

Macavity cackled, "Because I contained their minds and locations so easily that not even a skilled, clairvoyant Mystic, such as you, could find them. Quite clever, if I do say so myself." He chuckled quietly. Jeza wanted more than anything than to see the gold-red female's reaction.

Surprisingly, she stayed quiet. The Hidden Paw continued, "But obviously, you're already breaking my rules. There is no magic from you, and I can easily trace a line into your mysticism to track your overpowered energy. Trust me, daughter, there will be consequences if I find that it happens again."

The gold-red queen was a grave. Not one sound passed her lips, as if she were pondering Macavity's statement. The ginger tom chuckled lightly. "And if I haven't told you before, I will be mentoring you, but since I can't monitor you around the clock, I decided to introduce a… lifestyle instructor. I'll leave you two to get acquainted." The ginger tom swiftly opened the door.

Zela sounded curious now, "Wait!" But Macavity had already left the room. Jezabella thought this was a good time to expose herself. She stood up and hopped over the couch.

Zelaphelia, who was looking much older from when the Tokinese female saw her, zipped around at the thud of the floor. She glared at seeing her old enemy. "Oh…You've got to be joking…" she muttered.

Jezabella grinned connivingly as she took a step forward, "It's so good to see you again, Zela!" she said in a mock cheery tone. "Macavity has appointed me as your 'instructor.'" The Tokinese queen smirked at her, "Welcome to Hell…"

~^..^~