Meow~ Watsoncat and company belongs to Thecaptainsideways. Leave them both questions on tumbler ! (But not the same questions)

I was woken up by a rattling noise at the window where Sher-cat had been sitting and a chilly breeze circulating through the room. I opened one eye and peeked into the darkness, praying that it was only Mycat's human.

No such luck: the window was open and Sher-cat was missing. I deduced that he had discovered how to open windows and had finally earned his escape. I lay down to continue sleeping, but Mycat's voice billowed up out of my deep thoughts, completely shattering any dream-like calm I had left in me.

"Nine. There were nine." It whispered a threat that clutched at my stomach like an icy hand. Sighing I picked myself up out of bed and stretched. I had to follow him and make sure he was alright, even if there was nothing wrong. The last time I followed him I saved his life. I was a cautious cat at heart.

I silently snuck up to the window sill, which was several feet off the ground and with a tremendous effort I grabbed onto the ledge with my front paws and kicked hard with my back paws, just barely managing to pull myself up.

I jumped down from the window sill behind a small assembly of trash cans, and thank goodness I did! I went to step into the streetlight when I saw Sher-cat bathed in the harsh orange glow. I ducked behind a trash can just in time, for he turned around and cast a piercing glance into the dark shadows, sensing me but not seeing me.

He might have investigated, and I might have been caught had he not been distracted at that same moment by the pretty purring of another kitty.

"I thought you were going to keep me waiting for a few more days." Another black kitty stepped into the circle of light cast by the streetlight.

"The door was locked." He said calmly, not turning and facing the female kitty that was meandering at his back.

"Sure it was." She said flashing a brief, charming smile at the back of his head.

I was shocked. Sher-cat knew a GIRL! And what's more he was IGNORING a girl! That was shocking!

I was in for an even bigger surprise. Sher-cat turned to face the kitty, still sitting calmly, if not stiffly. His face betrayed absolutely nothing of what he could be feeling. He looked like a stone statue of a cat.

In comparison the other cat was like velvet, her entire body lithe and crouching as she rubbed up against my friend.

I had the sensation that I was intruding on something deeply private that Sher-cat would not want me to know about, but it was too late to try and jump through the window and I was too late to confront him and tell him I was here, so I watched with apprehension as they scented each other.

I explained scenting once before; I'll do it again briefly: Scenting is when a cat rubs up against something activating scent glands in their face that leaves their mark on whatever they rubbed against. It's a way of saying "I've been here, this is mine." And it feels really pleasurable to a cat.

That is what Sher-cat and the other black kitty were doing. The black kitty approached my friend slowly and purposefully, her eyes locked onto his face and wavering slightly with her every movement, like a dancing snake. She nudged Sher-cat's cheek with her forehead and caressed his face down to his neck, pushing against him and purring slightly. Her lips parted in gentle ecstasy revealing spotless white teeth. Sher-cat for the most part stayed immobile, but surprised me by nudging back slightly, brushing against her body as it came to pass. It might have been a reflex, but it incited more purring from the she-kitty. For that moment they were the only two cats in the world cast within the ring of harsh light, pressing against each other with the darkness closing in on every side. Even I forgot myself; I was so lost in their moment

I couldn't see Sher-cat's face, so I had no idea what was going on until he stood up and took a step back, ending that tender moment with stark, shattering burst of reality.

"You sent me to be killed." He said in a grating voice. The kitty purred on, undeterred and almost unhindered. She stepped forward to continue scenting Sher-cat, but something in his gaze stopped her short. I kind of wish I could have seen his face then.

"Do you blame me?" she asked in a seducing, mocking tone that was both annoying, and somehow very beautiful.

"Not if you make amends now. Who was he working for?" Sher-cat demanded.

The kitty sat down, smiling eerily as the street light played over her soft features. Once I got over my initial surprise I really got a good glimpse of her: her ears were rounded and smooth like perfect wedges and her fur was extremely thick and fine. It framed her face perfectly.

"Tell me." he said angrily. "Where is he, who was he working for?"

"I think I like you." She said in a girlish soprano "So I think I'll help you."

"Help me by giving me what I want." He said.

"Never." She said.

For several seconds there was nothing passed between them except disbelief and silence. Finally the girl-kitty broke the silence with laughter.

"You are a smart cat, but you are not a wise cat." she said. "I'll repay my deceit with a piece of advice."

She stepped up close to Sher-cat and suddenly her voice dropped into a low murmur, barely discernable from the distant roar of cars in the city. I strained my ears to listen, and I think this is what she said:

"Your name has been passed along in whispered voices on the shadows of the underground. Ripples are beginning to form on the surface of the pond. A wave will spell ruin for you. Someone has taken interest in you that is preparing to start a war, and here you are as oblivious as the infant bird in its nest."

Every so often she would glance from Sher-cat's feet to his face and when she did her eyes flashed like lightning, reflecting the glow of the half-moon that peeked over the building.

"That's all very well and poetic." He said angrily. "But WHO?"

"I don't know a name." she said.

"Then give me a description or a location." Sher-cat parried.

She smiled again, her pause was meant to be taken as reluctance to answer.

"You are cute. I sincerely hope that they do not burn you to death as well."

Sher-cat grimaced as he turned to face the kitty that had begun circling him like a predator ensnaring her prey.

"No thanks to you." He said. "If I relied on you I really might be dead. Coincidentally, why did you try to have me killed? I doubt you had much to do with the stray's murder; unless that pretty smile hides filthy teeth."

She cocked her head sweetly, "Ghost should have known better than to blatantly disobey. He knew what happens to failures and traitors."

I swallowed an exclamation of surprise. Ghost? This kitty had a connection to the murder of Ghost? Suddenly their dialogue made sense to me and I felt the thin ripple of rage float up from the pit of my stomach that I could barely suppress. SHE was the one who led Sher-cat back to the humans that had almost killed him with fireworks. Why then did he let her rub up against him? Was there something I was missing?

"And what about you, Adler?" Sher-cat asked.

Adler tossed her head defiantly. "Chatting is not treason, not yet; though you seem insistent on crossing that border. Anyhow, I can take care of myself. Thanks."

Sher-cat nodded, but still seemed displeased.

"You still haven't showed me that restaurant yet." She said almost pleadingly. Sher-cat silently ignored her.

"I know a great place myself." She said, her eyes flickering with mischief. "It's at the intersection of Wonderland Road at Oxford Street. You can find anything there."

Sher-cat looked at her for a minute. The emphasis she put on 'anything' made it seem like it had real significance. Could it be that she was telling him where to look for clues? It looked like he didn't want to rely on her and he didn't seem to trust her, but in the end it seems his curiosity got the better of him. He started down the street, checking over his shoulder before vanishing around the corner

She turned and ran in the opposite direction and quite suddenly I found myself alone.

Alone and a little bit confused. Who was Adlercat? How did Sher-cat know her? Why did Sher-cat trust her after she had misled him before? Where was Sher-cat going now? Should I follow him?

I waited in the dark for a few minutes, uncertain of what I should do next. When I finally decided to follow Sher- cat I stood up, only to duck back a moment later with my heart in my throat swallowing a cry of fear.

Adlercat was back.

She flicked her fluffy tail happily, staring at the empty road that Sher-cat had disappeared on.

"Try not to fall too far down the rabbit hole and soil your nice fur, Sher-darling." She said in her mocking tone.

I decided to reveal myself to her, but instinct took over when she jumped onto the trashcans above my head and made a tremendous clattering sound. I hid in the shadows and watched silently as she sprang lithely into the house from the open window.

Panic began to set in at about this point. She was in the house for goodness sake! I also jumped onto the trashcans and through the window, determined to figure out who she was and what she was up to.

It was a long fall into the dark room, and for a moment I was blinded from the afterglow of the street lights but I blinked away the smears of green light in my vision and saw a shadow racing into the hallway.

I followed silently, debating whether or not to wake Mycat and his human. If I did raise an alarm, Adler might freak out and want to fight me, and if she did that it was unlikely I could find out anything about her.

Also, I really wanted to avoid fighting a girl. If I was stronger than her, then I beat up a girl and would feel really bad; but if I was beat up by her, then I was beat up by a girl and would feel really weak. It's a no win situation for a chivalrous cat like me.

I stalked her silently through the hallway, dogging her every move from a safe distance away. She would sometimes glance around, but never behind herself, so I thought I was safe, until she sat down in the middle of the hallway and called back to me: "I know you're there, so you might as well stop pretending you're sneaky."

I was a flabbergasted and frankly a little bit frightened. I thought that I had been perfectly silent in following her, utilizing every skill I had acquired as a stray and she saw right through me! She was clearly extremely talented.

I reluctantly stepped forward until I was only a few feet away from Adlercat.

"Who are you, what are you doing here?" I barked quietly "If you don't tell me, I'll wake up everyone."

"Oh, so you're loud are you?" she said, laughing quietly.

"Who are you?" I repeated, not at all understanding what was so funny to her. (Dear readers, I still don't. Help? Love Watsoncat.)

"Let me guess, you would have to be the infamous Dr. Watsoncat, Sherlock's fluffy side-kick." She said, still laughing under her breath at me.

"I'm not a side-kick. Who the heck are you?" I demanded, feeling increasingly irritated by her breathy giggling.

"I'm Adler, and I suddenly understand all of Sherlock's reluctance."

"Wait…what?" I exclaimed.

"I didn't peg him for it at all, but you? There's no mistaking it." She said haughtily.

"Lady, I don't know what you're talking about!" I exclaimed angrily. "What do you think you're doing here anyway? This isn't your house!"

"It's not yours either." She said, smiling sweetly again. Her laughter faded away instantly.

"I have permission to be here!" I growled. "You don't."

"Sherlock gave me permission." She said.

I wasn't about to fall for THAT. I shook my head "You're lying; Sher-cat would never do something like that."

"Woo." She stated unenthusiastically. "You know each other so well; defend your mate doctor, defend him!"

"What! Mate? I'm not gay!" I cried in horror.

"Right." She said.

"I'm not!"

"Sure."

"You're not allowed to be in here, get out now!" I said.

Adlercat sat perfectly still, not obeying me in the least little way, but not moving to challenge me either. I stood ready for action, but tense seconds passed without any noise. I was so primed for action that the delay frayed my nerves a little bit. I was extremely anxious.

"I said get out!" I whispered again.

"Or what?" she countered.

"I'll yowl and wake up the human." I threatened.

To my surprise she didn't move, but something in her eyes looked dangerous. I don't mean dangerous like, angry. I mean she looked almost happy, like a snake grabbing a mouse. I think at that moment I felt exactly like a mouse.

"If you were going to wake up the human, you would have done it by now." She said. "So either there is no human, though I know for a fact that there is, or there is something you want from me before I go. Am I right?"

In short, yes. She was very right. I had a lot of questions lined up for her, each more pressing than the last: Why did Ghost the stray die? Who ordered it? Who was the mysterious black cat that kept appearing in our investigations? How did she know Sher-cat? What was being planned for us in the future?

But all I asked was: "What did you come here for?"

The humor in her eyes vanished and she instead bristled against my question. I crouched down instinctively, just in case she decided to leap at me but she composed herself just as suddenly as she had lost control.

"I came here…to say hi." she said finally.

I stared at her, somewhat dumbstruck. She was lying; I knew that much for sure.

"Hi." I said to her, wondering what, if anything she could possibly be planning.

"Hi." She said avoiding my eyes.

"Okay. Now leave." I said.

"Alright, I will."

This conversation was not going at all like I was expecting. I had been expecting fire, and explosions and hair-pulling and teeth, but Adlercat was being…compliant.

"…via the window…" She added in a whisper walking past me to leave. I stood totally still watching her sauntering towards the room with the scratching-castle when all of a sudden she leapt up to one of the locked doors and clung to the door knob, much like I do when I'm trying to open it.

"…in this room!" she added to her fractured sentence.

"Hey, get down from there!" I shouted angrily "You can't go in there!"

To my amazement, she opened the locked door after apparently pawing the knob for a minute. There was a solid click and the door just swung open, like magic.

She leapt inside and I was right on her heels, trying to grab her ankles in my teeth and stop her from going where ever she was trying to go. If I could just hold her down for a moment I could shout out and the human would come and I could think of something from there.

We were in a room with a bed in it and pretty much nothing else. Adlercat jumped up on the bed and I followed after her swiftly. I tripped on the soft, unstable surface and landed on my face. I tried to pick myself up, but the bed was weird and I tripped again. I'm not clumsy, but the bed was really weird! It was like trying to stand on water!

Adlercat stood up right away with little difficulty while I fumbled around trying to stand on all fours without sinking into the bed.

Without any warning, Adlercat pulled up the sheet on the bed with a ferocious tug, and I knew what she was attempting almost a second before she succeeded. With a mighty bellow she tossed the sheet over my head, enfolding me into the ocean of white.

I kicked off the bed, hoping to free myself immediately, but the bed offered no leverage and just swallowed me a bit more instead.

I could feel the vibrations (or should I say waves) from Adlercat running around the bed and I rolled away, trying to distribute my weight and somehow learn to control the weird ground. I only managed to wrap myself up a bit more in the sheet.

After about thirty seconds Adlercat had wrapped me up tightly in the sheet, and my trying to roll free did the rest. I felt like a burrito (Separate but related matter: John had a burrito for dinner tonight and he gave me some. It was good!)

"You see Doctor, there is a reason I'm known as a dominatrix." She laughed patting my side through the layers of sheet as I angrily flopped around looking for a route to freedom.

"I don't care what religion you are," I shouted. My breath got caught in the sheet right in front of me and made the air around my face hot and steamy and I began to feel claustrophobic as I yanked my paws out of the folds of cloth. "What do you want?"

She laughed at me some more. I felt like she didn't take me seriously at all and it was discouraging.

"No offense, but it should not matter to you." She pushed me a little bit and I was having trouble figuring out where she was sitting. "You cannot stand in my way. If I was not on such a tight schedule I might play with you a bit more." She shoved me again.

Ice crawled into my stomach as I plunged off the corner of the bed onto the floor. I cried a bit, but the pain of slamming into the hard floor silenced any real complaints. My shoulder smarted from where it had smashed against the tile and I had been unable to protect myself. I also gasped as it had knocked a bit of the wind out of me.

"I could show you around and give you a bit of experience to give to Sherlock; but like I said, I'm busy."

I heard her giggling as the door closed with a snap, leaving me alone now that I was out of her way. Whatever she had wanted, it was elsewhere.

I decided right then and there that I hated Adlercat. I didn't know how she knew Sher-cat, but regardless I hated her.

But when she rolled me off the bed, the tightly wound sheets loosened and I started to stretch my way through the cocoon of linen. It felt like a long time, but before I knew it I crawled out from under the sheets and into the darkness of the empty room.

The only thing I had left to do was to open the door, which thankfully was left unlocked.

I staggered out into the hallway searching angrily for the mean cat. She was nowhere to be found, but I wasn't sure that meant she was gone. I listened closely to the silence, daring Adlercat to make a sound.

I heard a clattering coming from back towards the scratching-castle and I ran towards it with all my might. When I got there I found Sher-cat and Mycat huddled together and talking in hushed tones.

"Guys!" I said ignoring the sense that I should show more respect to the uptight cats "Adlercat is in the house!"

"I know. Shut up." Sher-cat said.

"I've already moved them. My human will never know the difference." Mycat said, ignoring my interruption and continuing with the conversation already in progress.

"Then we can ambush her while she's looking, great." Sher-cat nodded.

"Would you clue me in please?" I begged, sick and tired of feeling like the cat on the outside of the action.

Sher-cat waved his paw at me, as though trying to shoo my question away. "Later, later." He said and the matter was dismissed.

"Where?" he asked.

"Front hall, third door on the right."

"Watsoncat, you're going to be our back up. Don't let the cat out of the room. We might have a bit of a fight on our hands."

"Okay." I nodded.

Wondering why I didn't tell them about what Adlercat did to me? I'm sitting here wondering why I told you. I think I might stop typing and just go die of embarrassment. God forbid Sher-cat ever finds out.

Sherlock edit: "Do you think you're the only cat that can read?"

The three of us exchanged few words as we prepared for the ambush. Basically the whole of our plan was "Don't let her out of the room and if she tries to leave stop her." Which didn't sound impressive, but from what I had seen of Adlercat, could easily have gone much worse that it did.

We found that she had foolishly left the door open and from inside we could hear mumbling and the shuffling of papers.

Sher-cat threw open the door and we saw Adlercat up on top of a writing desk, digging like a dog through countless papers, apparently not finding the one she wanted.

"Looking for something?" Sher-cat asked.

She turned and hissed at him and I braced myself for a fight even though Mycat and Sher-cat barely moved.

"You are an incorrigible boy, you should be ashamed." She spat at him.

"Funny statement coming from a thief." He retorted calmly.

She moaned angrily, her eyes darted all over the room searching for a point of exit, but there was none. The only way out was to plow through us.

"It was never here, was it?" She asked in a low, hesitant voice which trembled with emotion.

"No." Sher-cat said.

"You're a fool." She said.

"No." he repeated.

"You've damned me." she said.

"No." he said for the third and final time. "I have something for you, call it a carrot-and-stick proposition. Tell me everything you know, and I do mean everything and I'll give you something to take back to your boss."

"Sherlock." Mycat said with a hint of alarm.

"I have a pretty good idea of the limits to your knowledge, so just start talking and we'll see if you can fill in the blanks."

She paused, her face full of contemplation. "I'll be killed. If word spreads, then they'll know it was me…"

"If you don't then you'll be taken to the pound, and chance will determine your future." He countered.

She seemed to be rapidly considering her options. Finally she laughed, but it was nothing like her happy, mirthful laughter from before. It was a shallow, sad sound.

"I see. You've actually out done me… I know when to give in quietly…" she said, her eyes zipping from one cat to the next.

Finally her eyes rested on Sher-cat who was standing at the far right of the line we made and her expression became poisonous in a flash.

"Never!" She bellowed leaping at him suddenly and knocking him to the ground. Sher-cat might have been expecting it, for as soon as she was on top of him, his ears pulled away from her defensively and he used the force of her attack to kick her onto the wall in the hallway behind him. It was so smooth that for a moment I thought that Adlercat had jumped and just kept flying.

In the next second Sher-cat had Adlercat pinned against the wall and I was right behind him, pushing her onto the floor where she couldn't escape. She gasped and made several exclamations in some kind of weird cat-dialect that I didn't recognize, but ultimately we had her cornered.

"I curse the day you ever wandered onto my street you foolish house cat!" She spat at Sher-cat.

"Tell me!" Sher-cat insisted holding down her rolling shoulders.

"Moriarty, that's what he told us to call him!" she groaned through gritted teeth, foaming slightly in anguish. "He's a black cat, and he's someone's pet. I swear that's all I know."

"Moriarty…" Sher-cat whispered.

"He's someone's cat and he has a forever supply of food and nip. He contracts strays to work for him in return for provisions and favors. I swear that's everything!" she gasped.

Sher-cat nodded to me and I reluctantly stood up, letting Adlercat go. She angrily righted herself glancing from me, to him, to Mycat and back.

"I hope you're happy! You've spelled my ruin!"

"One good turn deserves another." Sher-cat said, almost lazily.

"You've killed me you fool!" she spat. "No one escapes from the grips of him! I can run, but his grip is far reaching! I'm damned!"

"Fine by me." he said.

She screeched and ran down the hallway. Sher-cat didn't move.

"Shouldn't we go after her?" I asked him.

"Why?" he said. "She's just going to escape out the window. It's the only logical choice. Besides, we have the information we wanted." He turned away from me and I couldn't read his expression. I would like to think it was something wistful, but knowing Sher-cat it he was probably smiling at the new clues he'd received.

I finally got some answers about Adlercat. Sher-cat wouldn't tell me where he met her, but he did say that she told him that she worked for Ghost's employer. He alluded to a little adventure that they had together while he was searching for clues, but he refuses to give me specifics. Apparently she was looking for something that Mycat's human had that she could give to her boss. I felt like I knew more about her at the time, and was satisfied; but now that I'm typing this up I see that I haven't really learned anything at all. I wish I was less gullible.

Anyway, Sher-cat acted a bit odd that day and he sat around mysteriously. I have a feeling that Adlercat meant more to him than he would admit, but I don't know how to confront him with that without him sitting on me. He's a little bit bossy.

Mycat tried to groom him again, he acted enigmatic whenever I asked him about Adlercat and what would become of her, and I had some more wet food. That was our last day in Mycat's house. That night we were picked up and tossed into the box we arrived in and Mycat's human drove us back to Baker Street.

It's taken me a long time to type this. Two days actually and we've now been home for a while. I've had to stop periodically because Sherlock (The human) has been using John's laptop off and on. I still don't want him to know I can write, just because.

Every day since we've gotten back Sher-cat and I have been scouring the streets searching for any sign or clue of this Moriarty cat. I have to keep asking Sher-cat how to spell 'Moriarty'. I wish his name was something simple like Bob, or Jim, or Keith.

We haven't found anything yet, but we've only been at it for two days. That's not a whole lot of time. If Sher-cat is onto something he hasn't shared it with me.

I spent a long time when we got back just letting John stroke me. At first he was reluctant, but in no time at all I had him into the rhythm of petting me. Humans are fairly easy to train.

I'll keep the world updated with what we find on Moriartycat, but I'm not promising anything huge. Something smells fishy and I don't like it.

Also, we haven't seen any of the escaped cats Mycat told us about and no cat has been lingering around our house, so for now we're safe, but I can't shake the feeling that something is waiting out there. Maybe it's just my fear of an uncertain future, maybe it's my delicate inner sense of danger warning me of impending doom, either way I have a feeling that something important is coming up. Something or someone is coming for Sher-cat. I want to be there to help him when it arrives.

Sherlock's edit: This is completely appalling! Have you been writing this drivel the whole time? It's no wonder no one reads these things! What about the analysis? How I work out problems? Honestly, I can't believe that all you gathered from our investigations was THIS.