The tiger tom cat looked at the heavy wooden door. He laid his sack of stolen goods on the ground as he felt his stomach turn. He sighed to himself, wondering why he hasn’t left. ‘Quit and become a true Jellicle...’ He thought to himself. ‘You’re better off with them...’ although if he left the group he was sure to be killed. No matter how skilled he was; he knew too much to be freed. He tried to groom his white fur with broad black and orange strips a bit; may as well look respectable for the Boss. He felt his stomach turn faster as he knocked on the door. His heartbeat began to pound in his ears but not loud enough to drown out the Boss’s voice; inviting him inside. He picked up his bag and walked into the large room; his brown eyes found the superior on the other side lounging on a pile of pillows. The tall, thin red tom got up and met the tiger in the middle of the room.

“Hello Sir” The tiger said as he bowed slightly.

“Mungojerrie,” The red tom nodded. “How did it go?”

“Don’t worry Macavity,” Mungojerrie said confidently although the look he was receiving scared him out of his wits. “I got it all”

Macavity began nodded approvingly as he continued to look at the slightly smaller cat. “May I see it then?”

“Yes, of course, sorry” Mungojerrie apologized as he dumped out the continents of his bag. Macavity looked it over, his brow lined in though; some rings, money, fish, and credit cards.

“Wonderful,” Macavity said as he gathered up the items. Mungojerrie felt his stomach unclench. “Now for tomorrow, I’ll need you to-”

Macavity was cut off by a rather loud banging on the door. A world different from the one Mungojerrie had done. The cat outside banged once more and began to yell;

“Come on Cavie, I don’t have all day!” The cat informed rather rudely. Mungojerrie was shocked, any cat that did that to Macavity would surely be asking for a death wish.

“One moment,” Macavity called as Mungojerrie heard the cat, he could tell it was a queen by the sound of her voice, laugh.

“Would you rather I kept it for me self?” she asked through the door as Macavity scowled.

“Do you mind if...” Macavity asked as he looked at Mungojerrie.

“No, by all means go ahead” Mungojerrie said as he backed up to one of the side walls, out of the ginger cat’s way.

“Come in,” Macavity called as the door swung open. A tiger queen stepped inside with a bag hanging over her shoulder. She was mainly white with narrow orange and black stripes. Her head fur was pushed back on an angel from, what Mungo assumed, was running in the wind and made her face look slightly pointed.

“Hello my dear Mac-a-million” The queen smiled as she approached the red tom who smirked.

“Hello my little Teazer-terror” he greeted warmly. “What did you get today?”

“Oh nothing fancy” She bluffed as she began to pull random things out of her bag. “Just a wallet; a diamond necklace; gold earrings; some house keys, I scratched the house number in them; and a collar I swiped off of some stupid sleeping Pollicle.”

“Very nice... Where did you get those pearls?” He asked as he fingered the bracelet she had around her neck.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she giggled as she began to walk off.

“I would,” He said simply as if he was commenting on the weather.

“Screw you” the queen insisted as he grinned.

“Why should I when I have cats to do that for myself” Macavity asked as the queen turned around making a face.

“You’re so disgusting” she retorted as Mungojerrie tried not to laugh at the look she was giving him.

“You’re weird,” He said as her eyes narrowed. The queen took off and plowed right into Macavity’s gut and causing them to fall over. Mungojerrie felt his eyes grow large as the small cat sat on the tom’s back pinning him to the ground.

“Take it back,” she hissed into his ear.

“Never” Macavity yelled jokingly.

“Take it back now or I’ll lick you” the queen repeated in a serious voice.

“Alright, you’re not weird” The Napoleon of Crime apologized.

“Damn straight, now give me back my pearls!” The queen yelled as she felt that her chest was bare. He threw the across the room. She got off of him and shoved him roughly back into the ground. She walked over towards Mungojerrie and picked up her bracelet. She looked up and became evidently stunned when she spotted Mungojerrie. “I didn’t know we had company...” She said apologetically.

“Yes,” Macavity said as he stood up, his coat dustier then ever. “Rumpelteazer, this is one of my agents Mungojerrie. Mungojerrie, this is my little sister Rumpelteazer.”

“Hi,” Rumpelteazer said as she extended her paw towards Mungojerrie who did the same before she slid her pearls back on. “Well, I’m going to the park for a walk.”

“I hope you fall in to the pond” Macavity said bitterly.

"Go sleep with a Peke you filthy piece of scum. Maybe cats would like you better if you were more presentable.” Rumpelteazer shot back as she left. “And you’re a lousy host at that!”

“Sorry about that Mungojerrie,” Macavity said as the agent came back to his spot in the center of the room; regaining his normal demeanor. “I think I’ll change your assignment for tomorrow; this week I want you to watch over my sister... starting now.”

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Jerrie walked through the grass in the park. His paws were getting dampened by the dew on the ground. He surveyed the premises and saw Macavity’s little sister sitting by the water grooming herself. The dawn was breaking and was casting red, orange and yellow rays on to the pond. He walked up behind her, trying to look casual incase somebody else was up at the early hour. He felt his stomach clench again when he was few feet behind her, although it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was when he went to see Macavity.

“You’re Rumpelteazer right,” Mungojerrie asked as he sat down beside her.

“Yep,” She said as she turned to look at him. “You’re that guy from my brother’s room; Mungojerrie?”

“That’s right.” He smiled as birds began tweeting. “You actually remembered my name.”

“Cats are always messing up my name so I try to remember theirs, you know, for respect.” She said as she groomed her whiskers. “So did Macavity send you?”

Mungojerrie was slightly taken aback. “How did you know?”

“He always sends Toms to watch over me. Some of them aren’t as forward as you though. They usually watch me from the shadows until I tell them to sod off.” Rumpelteazer explained. “It gets creepy after a while.”

“Why does he do it then?” Mungo asked as he played with the minnows in the water.

“Protection” She said simply as she joined in the fun. “There’s this other Tribe on the outside of town that wants him gone. So they tend to catnap me from time to time and use me as ransom. I get out on my own though except for that one time when Prometheus decided to play hero. My brother was so grateful he promised me to him. Of all cats he could have given me to it had to be that pompous, ungrateful, pinheaded Prometheus!”

“He gave you away,” Mungo said surprised; it was different from the Jellicle tribe where you could mate the cat of your choice.

“Yeah,” she said glumly. “But believe me I gave him one hell of a talking to. After I threatened to take down the empire, run away, and become Jellicle he went back on his word to Prometheus. It took him a while though.”

“He doesn’t like Jellicles...” Mungo said, knowing that statement was all too true.

“And they don’t like him” Rumpel finished for him. “He knew that if I joined I wouldn’t be able to see him again, except for when he makes his little ‘visits’; and if they found out that I was related to him, he said that they’d kill me. I have a feeling that they wouldn’t do that though.”

“Yeah, they don’t seem to be the kind of cats that would do a thing like that.” Mungo nodded, thankful that someone else saw the good of the Jellicles.

“I always think about doing it though; you know, closing my empire and becoming Jellicle.” Rumpelteazer said in a far away voice, as if she was ashamed of herself.

“What do you mean by ‘my’ empire, isn’t it Macavity’s?” Mungojerrie asked as he gave her a quizzical look.

“No,” She giggled “Not quite. I’m the one who taught him how to steal and manipulate cats. I own the organization but he’s in charge. Mainly because the cats wouldn’t listen to a queen and because Rumpelteazer isn’t the kind of name that could strike fear into your heart.”

Mungo laughed as he agreed with the name part. “So what’s keeping you from doing it?”

“I’m not sure. I supposed it’s because I don’t want to leave my brother... I don’t quite know for sure. I suppose that I won’t know what to do with my spare time or something. There’s just something in the back of my head that just keeps telling me that it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Then you just gave to silence that voice,” Mungo decided.

“How do I do that,” Rumpel asked hopefully as she looked at him with shinning brown eyes.

“Simple; close your eyes,” he told her as she did so. “Take a deep breath and hold it.” She did and he shoved her roughly into the water. She popped up quickly gasping for air and shot the grinning tiger a death glare. “Did it help?” He asked as her glare intensified. “I suppose not huh?” He extended his arm to help her out. She gripped it and pulled him into the water as well. Mungojerrie felt the cold water hit him like a ton of bricks. He paddled to shore and climbed out with the drenched queen.

“What was that for,” she asked as she shook her fur in an effort to dry herself.

“I was trying to quiet the little voice in your head.” Mungo explained as he tried to dry as well. “That’s what my friends used to do to get my voice to shut up.”

“They threw you into a pond?” She yelled, obviously shocked.

“No. They’d surprise me or startle me.” He explained as he flattened down his fur.

“It sounds like your friends are a few pennies short of a dollar” She explained as she started to smoothen down hers.

“Trust me, they are” He agreed as he began to help her tame her coat.

“Thanks for the help Jerrie,” Rumpelteazer said as she finished grooming for the second time that morning.

“Hold on, you missed a spot,” He said as he smoothed out a piece of her fur on her face with his tongue. He felt her stiffen and it took him a moment to figure out why. He slowly backed up and saw the stunned expression on her face and he felt his become warm.

“So since you’re being forced to baby-sit me do you want to make the best of it and get something to eat?” She suggested as he nodded. They began their trek to the fish market on the waterfront where they easily picked up a fish and brought it to a secluded area to eat.

“How can a sweet thing like you be related to a terror like Macavity?” Mungo asked between a bite of fish.

“Well,” Rumpel said as she swallowed her piece. “Macavity is Deuteronomy’s son; he’s the Jellicle leader. Well, one day our mom fooled around with another Tom and I was their offspring. Mom ended up dieing when I was two months old and Macavity was exiled from the Jellicle tribe at that time, which is one of the reasons he doesn’t like them, anyways; he ended up taking care of me and raising me.”

“I still don’t see how you’re so sweet and he’s... well... scary” Mungo said timidly before eating another piece of fish.

“He was just always protecting me from stuff and toms so he had to be intimidating. I on the other hand was often used as a lure to get more toms to join so he wanted me to be all sweet and innocent.” Rumpel said as they polished off the fish. “So what about you?”

“What about me?” Mungo asked as they began walking again.

“You have any family?” she asked as they waited for a car to go by.

“No,” He said as he shook his head. “But who knows maybe I have a half sister or something, I doubt it though.”

“That’s too bad” Rumpel said tenderly. “Although I suppose that you don’t have to worry about them embarrassing you.”

Mungo nodded as they cut through the park once more. They we walking through the wooded are of it when a burly tom stepped in front of them.

“Rumpelteazer,” he greeted happily.

“Prometheus” Rumpelteazer said rather coldly as he snaked an arm around her.

“I’m sorry that your brother had to cut off our relationship” He in a pitying way.

“I’m not,” Rumpel pressed as she tried to worm free of his grasp. Mungo’s eyes narrowed as he clasped the Tom’s wrist.

“Prometheus” He said in as calm of a voice as he could muster. “Get your stinking paws off of her.”

“And who may you be?” The brown tom asked as he looked him up and down.

“Rumpel’s bodyguard” he said as he saw an amused smile creep up on her face. “Now leave.”

Prometheus took back his paw, gave the two tigers a rather dirty look and left, heading in the directing of Macavity’s lair. Mungo turned to look at a giggling Rumpelteazer who threw her arms around his neck.

“That was awesome, thank you.” She said graciously. Mungo felt his face grow warm again as she gently nuzzled her head against his. Mungo started to think unhappy thoughts as he tried to keep his purr from rising up in his throat. “So what do you want to do now?”

“Actually in all honesty” Mungo said as he started to yawn. “I’m tired.”

“You want to sleep too,” She said happily. “Come on, let’s get back to the lair; I got an extra pillow pile in my room that you can bunk on.”

“Thanks,” He said as they made their way back to headquarters. They walked through an overgrown lot, stopping every now and then to play hide and seek before getting back on track. “Are you like this with all your babysitters?”

“No, just you. I don’t know why though. There’s just something about you that seems trustworthy. The other ones have this grimy feeling around them; yours is a lot more pleasant and open. Almost fun loving.” She said as she looked him over.

“Wow, you can tell that just by looking at me? You’re not magic like your brother now are you?” Mungojerrie asked as they reached the building.

“No; but Macavity thinks that I must be. He jokes that my ability to sneak in and out of houses undetected and not getting into trouble isn’t a skill, its magic.” She giggled. Mungojerrie was really starting to like her laugh and found himself smiling whenever he heard it. “Well, here we are. Welcome to my humble abode.”

Mungojerrie followed her inside the room; there were two piles of pillows, much like Macavity’s, and a rather odd looking machine. Mungo curiously walked up to it and sniffed it. It was adorned with buttons, a few knobs, and a metal stick that stood up. Beside it there where circular objects that showed Mungo his reflection.

“What is it?” Mungo asked as he picked up one of the round things and flipped it around.

“That is my crown jewel.” Rumpelteazer said as she patted it affectionately. “I had to get Macavity to help me get it but it was worth it. Humans call it a CD player.”

“What’s a CD?”

“You’re holding one,” She said with a smirk as he nodded. “They play music” She picked up one from the floor and slipped it inside. Mungo watched as she pressed a button and a rather lively melody came out of it. He jumped back in surprise but soon warded off; it wasn’t like it was going to attack him.

“Do you dance?” Mungo asked as he extended a paw towards his assignment.

“Not when I’m tired” She admitted as she a different button and the music stopped. The two walked over to the other side of the room, fell down into the pillows and easily fell asleep.