Zela stared at him in awe at what he had said to her… A henchcat had left her speechless… The tortoiseshell tom quickly turned away from her, pulling Griddlebone up and carrying her out of the cell. He closed the door of her cell from behind... The gold-red female was left alone, and was about ready to burst into tears. She wanted to go home…

~^..^~

How does one find someone they love when they don't want to be found? Munkustrap had been silently asking himself this for a day more now. The same theme repeated in his head throughout all his relationships. He sighed deeply as he thought back on the events unraveling in his mind. The silver tabby knew he had an idea that could help him, but if he could trust himself was uncertain. He shook his head, vaguely thinking over the thought of simply patrolling the city, maybe just trying to catch a trace of either Zela or Macavity. Perhaps then, Munk could bring her home to the Junkyard… maybe receive forgiveness from his mate.

He sighed and walked into the empty meeting room, pondering what Skimble and Jelly and the rest of the elders would react to him sending a few Jellicles out with him. Was there a way around their judgment so they could take some action? Munk shook his head, and suddenly figured how doubtful half of his plans were becoming. But to defeat Macavity… well…that was easier said than done. So saying that his plan was doubtful of succeeding was basically making the bricolage of beating his half-brother ten times as difficult. Munkustrap blinked, suddenly looking up at three Jellicles entering into the meeting room. They appeared neutral, but with slight glints of confusion in their eyes. Tugger, Coricopat, and Tantomile stared at Munkustrap curiously. Despite this, Munk let out a sigh of relief. Tugger came in first as the twins slunk together behind him. "What's this all about, Straps?" The Curious Cat asked him.

The silver tabby walked towards his siblings he cleared his throat. "I need your help. All of you." He told them.

Cori and Tanto glanced at each other for a moment before looking at him. "You want to go out and search for Zela." They concluded.

Munkustrap rolled his eyes and grimaced at the twins. "You could at least let me-"

"-Get out a sentence?" The finished simultaneously.

He glared. "Yes. You know I hate it when you two read my mind."

They smirked slightly, both giving an innocent shrug. Munkustrap rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I think if we retraced their steps from when they left, perhaps we'll find her and find out what happened ."

The twins nodded impatiently, which annoyed the silver tabby tom since they already knew everything he wanted to do…

Tugger, however, seemed more eager than impatient… actually, he seemed like a combination of both. Munk blinked in uncertainty as the Curious Cat took a step forward. "So what's the plan then? We walk near to the Warehouse? Then what?"

Munkustrap shook his head. "No. We'll stay away from the Warehouse. But we do need to search near it. We'll ask around. We can't risk getting capture by Macavity, but cats outside of the tribe could know things about Macavity's operations as much as a henchcat would."

Cori quickly added to his statement: "You think someone might've seen Zela."

Munk sighed, "Yes. Cats that know about it on the west side will probably be the best subjects."

"Wait a second!" Tugger finally spoke up, "Why can't Cori and Tant just find her with mind reading? We wouldn't even need to leave the Junkyard!"

Tantomile quickly shook her head. "We can't get our minds in the Warehouse. We don't know why. We never have."

Munk blinked. "Misto said he couldn't either..."

"Well Munk, there are only three mystics in the Warehouse."Coricopat explained, "Macavity blocks his mind. Zela's mind is on mute, somehow, and the third doesn't answer back."

The silver tabby raised an eyebrow at his half-brother and stepped forward. "Who's the third?"

Tantomile shrugged. "Probably someone with powers who doesn't realize they have them. Doesn't matter that much."

"We always know about mystics." Coricopat told him, "We can sense them. We knew that about Zela. We knew that about Cassandra's kit when she was born. I knew you were going to ask how we knew about the mystic." The male half of the pair grinned sheepishly.

Munk rolled his eyes and sighed. Then he raised an eyebrow slightly at one thing Cori had said. "What do you mean about Cassandra's kit? Vitalee's… a mystic?"

Tantomile blinked. "We thought everyone knew by now."

Munk blinked, wondering if Misto knew this or not. His mind blanked a moment as he tried to think over what that would mean. A kit. A mystical kit that had been attacked with the poison yet was completely fine and recovered well. He wasn't sure why, but somehow, he felt like this was important. "No… no I didn't… alright, we're going outside into London. Meet me by the gate in five minutes."

The silver tabby left his three befuddled siblings, and headed quickly into Jellylorum's den, wanting to be sure that Misto could put at least one part of this puzzle together. Vitalee's life had hung in the balance for a short time, but had healed more quickly than the regular kit would. Then Misto had told them he had been injected with the toxin, and yet he was as right as rain. Munkustrap rushed in to find a tired Mistoffelees hunched over on his desk and scribbling notes down to what he saw in a makeshift microscope…

~^..^~

Morning came and passed faster than Marceth could realize it. He kept the cell doors locked and decided to stay with Griddlebone for the night. Jezabella was there, guarding at the doors, so Zela would be safe and Macavity wouldn't have many means to punish him if he found out Marceth left his only prisoner by herself. Still, the tortoiseshell was continuously kicking himself for kissing her like that. He felt ashamed to do something so forceful just so he could prove a point. Hell, what did he have to prove to her anyway? That he was tough and wasn't different from the other henchcats?

He sighed heavily as he sat next to the sleeping Persian queen on a green sofa in the queens' room. It wasn't too long that he realized that he was making a terrible mistake, trying to make Zela think that he was something he knew he wasn't. In fact, he felt more like an idiot. He wasn't the kind of cat that just did the things that Benthelo or Macavity did on a whim. But it was the cat that his boss would want him to be. The boss, his parents, Ben and Ramlowe… they all had the same expectations of him. Maybe Zela didn't deserve to be told off for simply making an assumption. In fact, it was the most decent thing that he'd been told about himself; he wasn't like the others. For some reason, it made Marceth feel like a regular feline now in a normal home where he could be with parents that cared about him… Perhaps someday he'd start a family of his own. That's the way he would want it. But the Tortoiseshell tom soon realized that that would never be his life, no matter how much he wanted it. In the end, fate ruled over the destiny he pictured. And his boss, the tom he now realized was not what he had appeared as for too many years, was controlling fate now.

A sudden gust of wind sent a shiver down the tom's back as he felt the Persian queen twitched. Marceth sat up as his gaze traveled towards her. "Mmmm…" she mumbled quietly. Her eyelids opened to only show slits of her dark irises. She didn't pay much mind to him until her tail brushed his arms. Her eyes slowly moved to him.

Marceth leaned forward. "Griddlebone?" She just blinked at him. "How are you feeling?"

The slits in her eyes grew large as her jaw elongated to make a sound. "Maarr…" she whispered in a raspy voice.

He nodded, "Marceth. Your friend? You remember…."

She tilted her head to the side of her shoulder and stared at him. It took a few seconds before her eyes fluttered and sparkled in brightness. "Marceth…" she murmured lowly. "W-… Where are we?"

"Queens' room." He told her shortly. "I guess you've been out for quite a while…"

"Zela…" she breathed, "I heard her voice… I saw her face… I haven't seen her since…"

Marceth's forehead wrinkled above his brow. He was confused over this topic. "Griddle, how do you know Zela?"

She groaned and slightly sat up, rubbing the part of her head behind her ears. "That was a while ago…Her father brought her here. She was accepted by everyone, and she loved being here, as well. She worked with henchcats that were much older than she was. Everyone wanted to see her use her powers, but she mostly liked being with the queens in the queens' room…"

"…Zela was… one of us?" he summarized, sounding befuddled.

The Persian queen nodded. "Once…" she told him, shifting into a more comfortable position, "She left because she didn't believe in what her father preaches to us. She went to live with her family in the Junkyard, but that was the last I ever heard of her… Macavity wanted her back, though. He tracked her down and plotted this whole thing so he could find her…"

"Why? Because of the powers? That's not a big surprise…"

Griddlebone nodded solemnly, "Yes… but it's also because she's his flesh and blood. His daughter…he wouldn't want anyone else to take over his empire when he passes…"

Marceth stared at her with enlarged pupils. "You're kidding…" he said in a quiet voice, feeling this news was ineffable to him, so he couldn't really produce a good reaction.

She shook her head, "If I was, he wouldn't have done so much to get her back. It's a shame that he found her…."

"A shame?" he asked, still in some shock. This was not good. He kissed the boss's daughter. If she so much as Griddlebone implied it, he was dead. "…Why is that?"

She wheezed before looking straight into his face. "She doesn't want to be here, but he must be keeping her here with something… she would have gotten out if he didn't… but with her power wielded against her own kind… he could destroy them, combined with his own…"

Marceth stared down, nodding quietly. He wondered why she hadn't said anything about this before. "Tell me more about her…"

~^..^~

Zela stared down the empty hallway with similar cells like hers lined up over the walls. She sighed quietly, uncertain if she was bored or feeling sorry for herself. The self-sympathy wasn't actually helping in the least, but it still was good to know there was something she could do. The days were growing so long and going by so fast, she had barely kept track anymore. The gold-red queen blinked once, realizing that a key was being turned in the old door. Zela stood up in her cell and looked through the bars as she saw Marceth enter in.

A scowl was suppressed on her face, considering that she wasn't sure what she felt about him at the moment. Zela knew that she admired his bravery. He had only spoken to her a few times, and yet he found ways to talk to her every day; in the movement of his eyes, the facial expressions he gave her, the few reactions he would give if he did something embarrassing, or by the things he said. If they ever had a pleasant conversation, Zela was thinking that it was more than innocent banter.

However, all of the forbidden socializing between them had ended, and was replaced with a strange uncertainty of silence. They both stared at each other's faces. Zela gazed through the essence of awkwardness exposed in his expression, and focused more on the glint of curiosity in his eyes. Marceth seemed unfamiliar with her; as if this were the first time he had seen her face. Yet, why could she sense the countenance of astonishment? The tortoiseshell closed the door quickly, only breaking their gaze for a moment to lock it. He suddenly found recognition between them as he sat down in his chair next to the door. He cleared his throat. "Are you, uh… okay? …Calm?"

She nodded, not looking away from his eyes, which still held their strange glint. "…I'm fine… uh… sorry about… your cheek…" Zela didn't dare tear her eyes from him.

Marceth smoothed his paw over his cheek and grinned slightly, "Oh… believe me, you were fully entitled…"

She shook her head, looking down at the dirt shamefully, "I still shouldn't have done it… I'm not supposed to hurt henchcats, you know…"

"You didn't though." He replied, standing up and walking over to the bars. He bent down next to the edge of the cell where the gold-red queen sat. They were only inches away, with only the bars to separate them. Zela looked up, suddenly looking into his eyes, "I deserved it, and… I really didn't want to provoke you like I did.-" he sighed roughly and sat down on the floor, "I wanted to prove a point, Zela, but I forgot that it's a statement I don't believe in… You said I wasn't like the other henchcats, and I always thought I wasn't either, but I still wanted to be one of them… I'm just an outcast to them, being one of the lowest Warehouse statuses… I wanted to think I was just as good as them…

"But that's a mistake… I know I'll never be henchcat like them… I just didn't want to believe what you told me. That was different, when I've been trying to fit in so much… I'm sorry that I'm telling this all to you now… I'm sure it's against everything the boss teaches us, to trust in a Jellicle…" He turned to look at her, his knees bent up and his elbows propped up on them, "But you're not like them, nor are you like us…You're both."

Zela could only blink in response. All he had depicted from himself and from her… it made sense, or at least it significantly did. She nodded to express that she understood all that he said,. She could see herself being both from the Warehouse and the Junkyard. She was of both bloods, Macavity and Demeter, a deadly combination that resulted in her. They were two strong, bold, and idealistic cats that had given half of their strengths, and half of their weaknesses; Macavity's strength and magic, but a long with his cold, unforgiving scorn, and Demeter? She gave Zela warmth, perseverance, and kindness, but with that came the paranoia and uncertainty of life. Truly, a deadly combination… "… I know I am…" she responded shortly.

Marceth nodded quietly and stared down at the ground. "If we're being honest… I didn't think you were awful when I first met you too." He smirked faintly as he said this.

The gold-red queen chuckled, "I could imagine… am I now?"

"No…" he replied, finally meeting her eyes, "in fact, now that I know more about you, I think I'm more inclined to say that I like you now."

Zela, knowing that a week ago she would have been disgusted at this statement, smiled, "I'm afraid I have to say the same thing now, Marceth." And at that unexpected moment, they laughed together.

But soon after they realized this had happened, there was a slam on the prison door. "Open up! We need the queen!" a rough voice growled, sounding very annoyed.

Zelaphelia tensed, and notice Marceth's lips curl back in hesitation. He finally came to, and stood up off the floor. He grabbed the keys off their nail and unlocked the door. "You'll get her," he replied flatly as he walked over to the cell and unlocked it, giving her a final look of friendliness before three henchcats walked in. To her displeasure, she recognized all of them; Jezabella, Barnabas, and Benthelo. Zela groaned as the door opened. She felt exposed to all of them. Barnabas stepped forward with a rotten smirk. "You're going on a little trip around London with us, Zelaphelia. A job for the boss." He said in a sleazy tone of voice.

Jeza stood up next to him with a stern look, but also seeming to have a dark, delighted glimmer pass through her eyes. "And he told us to tell you that any shenanigans from you, and there will be consequences of your actions… also that we're evaluating you."

Zela frowned, reluctantly standing up. She glanced at Benthelo, who had the same barbarous look on his face. A job in London… that just didn't sound good at all…

~^..^~

Coricopat and Tantomile could sense something strange around in their city. The four cats walked together, patrolling, just as Munkustrap had planned. But in their combined mind, the mystic twins could easily sense some sort of danger, though they feared telling Munkustrap of this, for fear that it might just lead him straight to it. Their foreseeing gift sometimes worked in that notion. If they saw something they felt would cause damage, they normally ended up not saying anything of it, because it could have been that they who revealed the future were the ones who caused it to happen in the first place. So the twins kept silence as Munkustrap began leading them around the bustling streets of London. Humans ignored them mostly, but that was because they kept away from tourist sites and were sure to not draw too much attention to themselves. The silver tabby kept them walking through alleys and interrogating suspicious characters. A couple hours into it, Coricopat began to get extremely annoyed with Tugger.

"Munk, this is taking FOREVER." The Maine Coon complained loudly. "We're not exactly getting anywhere either!"

Munkustrap sighed roughly as he paused and glanced at the Curious Cat, "Tugger, you're mane's fluffing up. Get a grip and keep walking!"

Tugger grumbled to himself and did as his brother told him. Tantomile could sense he was quite annoyed; more antsy than patient. If it didn't concern both the twins that he was so eager to find Zelaphelia, they would have said something else they had read in Zela's future. One Tugger would not enjoy knowing. They continued walking down the cracked side-walk, the thought of the Warehouse in the back of all their minds…

~^..^~

The darkened, more hazardous streets of London seemed to keep its eerie look, even in the day time. Why Macavity felt it was necessary to send his daughter out on a mission was beyond him, but it seemed to be enough evidence to see if she would learn to be completely obedient towards her superiors. He could feel that he was close to breaking her, and almost wished he could read deeper into her mind, but sadly, his powers of mind reading was not as strong as that of his half-siblings, Tantomile and Coricopat. If he had stronger mental powers, he wouldn't have any use of henchcat spies, but most of his power was used to block the Warehouse.

But he watched Barnabas and Jezabella lead the two young cats, and was actually proud that all of those sessions with Jezabella and himself were keeping Zelaphelia in line. But now, he was simply watching and waiting for the something to happen to test her. He was thinking about releasing a Pollicle on her, but decided that he didn't want to waste the pollicle. He still had plenty of ideas to break her spirit, though he had plenty to do, for instance, sending someone to the Junkyard and update him on the spreading of his toxin.

For now, the Hidden Paw kept himself deep within the shadows, watching his daughter intently as they wandered down the streets. Suddenly, he could spot small figures ahead of them. He raised an eyebrow slightly, but smirked, knowing that this could be useful to him…

~^..^~

As hard as it was to function with Benthelo glancing at her with his sick smirk, Zelaphelia was determined to stay focused. She was hoping that whatever this job was, she could get it done fast, or perhaps something would happen that would prevent them from doing whatever Macavity wanted them to do. She was secretly hoping for this to happen as they passed into the street.

She then shuddered as she saw something up ahead, and paused in her tracks. Perhaps this was the escape she was hoping for? Benthelo harshly nudged her forward. "Better keep up, Sweetheart…" he muttered, "Wouldn't want the boss finding out that you're slackin'…"

~^..^~

Tugger looked around London disinterestedly. Amazingly, this was supposed to be the sketchy side of the city, and all he wanted to do was leave! In his head, Tugger wanted to just find Zela and of course Mungo and Teazer and then go home! They had gotten to interrogate a few cats, but they had heard nothing about Zelaphelia, which didn't help their party much. What was going to help them, the Curious Cat was still thinking about. He stared forward raising an eyebrow slightly at four cats traveling in two rows. He blinked a few times before nudging his brother, "Hey, Munk…?"

The silver tabby glanced back at him. "What is it?" The Maine Coon pointed forward at the four figures, his eyes seemed to grow larger as their scent seemed to forward close to them. Henchcats. Tugger felt his lips curl back in a soft hiss…

~^..^~

Barnabas's eyes widened as he finally recognized faces he remembered spying on before. "Jellicles…" He hissed under his breath. The black tom looked at the other three cats in his group, narrowing his eyes slightly. He didn't truly believe that Zelaphelia would be able to attack her own kind, which would obviously be something he would report to the boss. He paused and eyed the Jellicles as they came closer. "I know who they all are, and I'm assuming you do too." He said, staring at Zela mostly, "Munkustrap, the silver tabby, is someone Macavity wants for himself. He won't be killed. Neither will the twins. Attacked, but not killed. The Rum Tum Tugger is a target for becoming deceased, however."

He saw a twinge of horror pass on the gold-red female's face. Barnabas smirked. "What you all waiting for? Have at 'em!"

~^..^~

Munkustrap saw the henchcats suddenly unsheathe their claws and stride over with their teeth bared in vehemence. The silver tabby quickly turned to his siblings and gave them short nods. "You know what we have to do…" he muttered, unsheathing his own claws and turning towards them with hostility. But he couldn't help but pause, only for a moment, when he caught Zela's bewildered and uncertain face. She was trudging forward but kept warily away from them.

The Jellicle Protector was about to call to her, but found the leading black tom leap at him bellicosely. His mind was lead away from Zela, but roughly called out to Tugger. "Get Zela!" he ordered…

~^..^~

Zela kept next to the alley, seeing that the twins were battling with Jeza and Benthelo, and Tugger was trying to get past them. She bit her lip, trying to distance herself away. She didn't count on any of the Jellicles coming, and was wishing they could rescue her now. The gold-red queen stared at them and tried staying far away from the ambush. Suddenly, a paw reached out and covered her mouth, pulling her deep into the shadows. She let out a scream through her nose, only to see her father's piercing eyes glaring at her. "What are you doing?" he growled at her, spinning her around to face him, "When you see Jellicles, you attack them! That is common knowledge!"

Zela stared at her father in slight shock before glaring at him. "I'm not going to hurt them." She stated firmly.

Macavity growled, gripping her arm tightly, his claws almost digging into her skin. "You'll hurt them because I tell you to, and if you don't, I'll run out there and kill each and every one of them painfully, and then go back and kill those tiger tabby sneak thieves just as slow as I killed them. If you want to see your little friends alive, you have to hit them with everything you've got! Now get out there!" He roughly pushed her out into the light with a glare.

Zela stared at Tugger, who was still not being attacked. He finally caught sight of her, and made his eyebrows jump up. "Zel?" he said, barely above a whisper.

The gold-red queen stared at him sympathetically before unsheathing her claws. "I'm sorry…" she muttered to the ground, then got a furious glare on her face and leaped at the Curious Cat.

"What are you doing?" he asked during the struggle, trying to push her off of him as they wrestled on the ground. Zela ignored his question and roughly dug her claws into the side of his shoulder. Tugger let out a pained cry and cringed as the blood on her claws was exposed. She detached her paw from him and roughly clawed the side of the face before leaping off of him and hissing.

The henchcats had harshly pushed the rest of the Jellicles off of them and backed away. "The Warehouse." Barnabas panted. "Now."

Zela stared the Jellicles, all looking exhausted and bloody, but it was Tugger's face that disturbed her the most. He was staring at her with a saddened face that expressed the betrayal he felt from her. As Jezabella nudged her forward Zela began running back with the henchcats, leaving a trail of her bloody paw prints and tears that streamed down her face. However, she could already see her father's smug face looking at her…

~^..^~