I glanced to my right as Orion stirred slightly. He moaned and rolled his head to the other side. I swallowed roughly and looked away. I couldn’t let myself think about what was going to happen if he back soon. Heavyside knew I was hardly even capable of moving. How could I keep him from hurting Orion or myself? I couldn’t.

I must’ve slipped into a dozy sleep because the next thing I knew, the door was opening. I forced my eyes open and stared numbly at Otto’s hulking form. He looked around the room with disgust, then strode over to my side. He knelt, his face close to mine. I looked down at the ground.

“Well, Macavity, how’s it going?” he asked.

I growled. “You bastard! Leave me alone!” I licked my lips, even though I was too dehydrated to do any good.

“If only...”

Without warning, he struck his paw across my face, making me sprawl to the ground. I gasped in pain as my injured paw landed under me and bit my lip. Turning my eyes up to him, I refused to give him the satisfaction of showing him how badly I was injured.

“This was all your fault.”

“What was?” I managed to growl. My head was spinning and I felt sick to my stomach. I closed my eyes briefly to steady myself.

“Her leaving.”

“Who, damn it?” I asked, my eyes still shut. “How the hell am I-”

I stopped as he pressed his paw against my throat. I could hear his breath noisy in my ear and shuddered. He growled wordlessly, then spoke.

“I loved her, Macavity. I loved her and you ruined everything we could’ve had.” He struck me again and I did cry out this time. “You selfish-”

He paused, trying to regain his temper and composure. I could see what an effort it was for him. I struggled to sit up, but he simply shoved me back down with a hiss.

“Demeter,” he continued softly. Dangerously. “You made her leave. We could’ve had a future together, but you...” He shook his head sadly. For a moment, I could remorse on his features. “You had to go and mess everything up, didn’t you?”

I drew in a gasp of air as black blurriness crept into the edges of my vision. He glanced mildly at his paw, but didn’t loosen it. In fact, he actually tightened his grip further.

“I don’t feel bad for you at all, Macavity. The sooner you’re dead, the better off everyone else will be.” A very small smile crept over his lips and I shivered in horror. “You do realize that, don’t you?”

I nodded, too weak to protest. He seemed satisfied that I had agreed with him and loosened his grip at last. I felt my own body relax a little. He stared at me, then released his paws and stood. I shut my eyes, breathing in deeply, trying to catch up on the air I had missed.

I groaned as rough paws grabbed onto my shoulders. I wanted to shove him away, but allowed myself to be hauled onto my feet. I swayed unsteadily, thrusting my arms out, hoping to steady myself. Otto grabbed one of my arms and steadied me.

“Come with me, Macavity.”

“Where are we going?” I closed my eyes again, fighting back the urge to attack him.

“Does it really matter? Just follow me.”

I stumbled forward as he yanked my arm forward. Opening my eyes, I cradled my broken wrist against my chest and hurried to keep up with him. Not that I could’ve stopped; he had my other arm and I would’ve fallen if I tried.

“Please, Otto,” I gasped. “Slow down. It hurts.”

“What does?” he asked, not looking back.

“My arm,” I whimpered. It felt like he was trying to pull it out of the socket. “I... please...”

“Let me help,” he replied, spinning.

I stood there dumbly as he crashed his fist into my nose. I flew backwards and onto the ground. My paws flew to cover my face, which I was sure was broken. I squeezed my eyes shut in pain as he began to smile.

“Concentrate on that instead,” he laughed.

I was hauled back onto my feet. I let out a cry of pain as he grasped my broken wrist and tugged me forward.

“Stop,” I heard myself whisper weakly. He didn’t seem to hear me or notice and kept pulling me forward.

Abruptly, he stopped and I nearly crashed into him. He turned and grabbed me by the shoulders, forcing me to look at him. He smiled slowly.

“Here ya go, Macavity. Have a nice last night with your brats.”

He shoved me backwards into a dimly lit room. I tripped over my own feet and fell flat onto my back. My head hit heavily on the ground and I felt myself pass out again.

~*~

“Daddy? Daddy, please wake up?”

I moaned and rolled over. I covered my eyes with my arm, trying to ignore the voice. It was probably another hallucination. Again.

“Daddy! Please!”

Small paws suddenly rested on my chest and I felt a tiny, rough tongue touch my cheek. I struggled to pull my eyes open and found myself staring up at Pippen. He let out a happy whimper and laid his head on my chest.

I wrapped one arm around his tiny body and used the other to push myself upright. The kitten wrapped his own arms around my waist and began to cry.

“Oh, Pippen,” I murmured, stroking his fur. “Everything will be all right. Daddy’s here now.”

“I’m scared, Dad,” he whimpered. “Otto’s gone crazy. He hurt...” For a moment, the poor kitten collapsed into hysterical sobs of grief. “He hurt Gissy! And he hurt Skeet!”

I tightened my hug around his body. “Where’s your brother? Where’s Gissy?”

“I dunno where Gissy is,” he moaned. He leaned back to look up at me. He seemed to examine my face carefully. “Skeet’s in the corner. He won’t even talk to me.” His bottom lip trembled. “I want Momma!”

“I know, kiddo.” I rubbed the fur between his ears. “Sit here a moment, OK? I want to see how your brother’s doing. Will you do that for me?”

He nodded sadly. “All right.”

I released the shivering kitten and he huddled up on the floor. It hurt terribly to move, but I forced myself to my feet and glanced around the room. Sure enough, a second red-furred kitten was huddled in one of the corners. I swallowed roughly and walked forward.

“Skeet?”

He tensed visibly, but didn’t look up. I could see the gashes on his legs and arms from where I was standing. I could also see the patches of fur missing from his coat. His eyes were swollen from crying and one was discolored, no doubt from Otto’s fist. I got down on all fours and peered silently at him.

“Skeet?” I finally said softly. “Come here, kit. It’s me. It’s Daddy.”

He shook his head frantically. “No!” he cried. Then he began rocking back and forth nervously, not taking his eyes from the ground.

“Yes, Skeet. It’s only Daddy. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Liar!” he suddenly screamed, jerking his head up. I heard Pippen gasp and moved away from us. “That’s what Otto said, too!”

I reached out and touched his leg. Skeet’s mouth dropped open in horror and his eyes widened. He slammed back against the wall, a scream escaping from his lips. I leaned back quickly, showing him my paws.

“It’s OK, Skeet! I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to.”

His mouth suddenly snapped shut and he stared at me with wide, worried eyes. Suddenly, a light seemed to brighten in his head.

“Daddy?” he whispered.

“Yeah, kid. It’s me.”

He suddenly threw himself forward into my arms. I bit back a cry of pain as he hit my broken wrist. Using my good paw, I stroked his back. He flinched the first time, obviously terrified, then buried his face against my shoulder.

“He hurt me,” he managed to sob.

“How? What did he do, Skeet?”

He shook his head. “Please, Daddy. No. Don’t make me talk about it. Please. I don’t... I can’t...”

“Skeet, are you all right? You have to tell me what he did to you. I need to know how badly you’ve been hurt.”

He moved back and pointed to his legs, wordlessly informing me of the painful looking gashes on them. He met my eyes.

“He said that if I could beat him at a wrestling match, that he’d let Gissy go and leave her alone. Only... he didn’t fight fair, Daddy. He used his claws and kicked. And he pined me. Only...” He shook his head, eyes filling with tears. “Don’t make me say, Poppa. Please, don’t. It-it hurt too much. I can’t talk to you about it. You wouldn’t understand...”

“The bastard,” I growled under my breath.

I scooped Skeet into my arms. The tiny kitten cringed at the physical contact, burying his face against my chest with a shudder. I paid no heed to his obvious terror and carried him over to his twin. Pippen looked up at his brother expectantly.

“Skeet? You OK?”

Skeet shook his head, peering down at Pippen with wide eyes. I set my son down on the ground and he didn’t try to escape as Pippen crept over to him and nuzzled his head against his twin’s.

I watched them for a moment, then stalked over to the door. While the kittens comforted each other, I felt my temper rise. Frustrated and angry, I slammed my fist against the door, struggling to hold back any cursing.

To my surprise and horror, the knob turned and the door swung open. Skeet let out a breathless scream, covering his face with his paws. I saw Pippen wrap an arm around his twin protectively, teeth bared.

I took a step back as Otto practically dragged a half conscious Orion into the room. My friend could barely hold his eyes open. Otto tossed him forward.

“I thought Orion would make a nice addition to this little family scene,” he growled.

I hissed, crouching to see if Orion was all right. He moaned in pain, covering his eyes with one paw.

Pippen hissed angrily, extending his claws. He moved away from Skeet, fur bristling on his back. “Get out of here, you jerk!”

Otto narrowed his eyes dangerously. “What did you say, little brother?”

He took two, quick strides forward and struck Pippen in the face. The kitten stumbled backwards from the blow, but Otto grabbed him and pulled him forward again. Skeet screamed, scrambling back to his corner as Pippen’s tiny body lurched backwards again as Otto swung a fist at him.

I lunged forward. No way was this monster going to hurt my children anymore.

Otto must’ve anticipated my move because he turned slightly to strike me as I lunged forward. I was flung against the wall, stunned. I slumped down to the ground, too dazed to get back up again. I watched dully as he flung Pippen against the opposite wall.

As he began to approach the trembling kitten, who jutted his chin forward in a gesture of defiance, I caught a blur of movement off to one side. Before either of us knew what was happening, Orion slammed his fist against Otto’s jaw. The larger tom staggered backwards and tried to retaliate, but Orion was quicker and punched him again. He glanced at me.

“Get the hell out of here, Macavity!”

I nodded, struggling to my feet. I ran towards Skeet and, despite his shriek of panic, I lifted him into my arms. Pippen saw us and scrambled to his feet.

“Uncle Orion!” he shrieked, turning to me for help.

“C’mon, Pippen! Orion can take care of himself!”

“But-”

The kitten glanced helplessly between me and Orion, then ran forward at me. He cast another terrified glance at Orion and Otto, then grabbed onto my paw firmly. I tightened my grip on him and practically dragged him after me.

Pippen cried out in shock as I ran forward and kicked the door open. He looked up at me with wide, awed eyes.

“Wow, Dad...”

We ran down the corridor, Skeet’s sobs echoing in the dimly lit hallway dreadfully. Pippen had to run at his full speed to keep up with me and kept stumbling and nearly fell over twice. When we finally reached the door at the end of the hall, I kicked it open, receiving another admiring look from Pippen.

The instant we were out the door, we were soaked with rain. Pippen let out a disgusted exclamation. I smiled a little. Well, at least he seemed to be all right. I mean, if he were able to be disgusted of a little bit of rain, then he must be OK.

I almost slipped and fell in the mud twice, nearly taking Pippen down with me. I had no idea where I was going and, suddenly, I felt panic sweep over me. Something looked strangely familiar, but I wasn’t sure what. I skidded to a halt upon seeing a tom standing in the alley. I felt my shoulders slump forward, exhausted.

He turned his head to face me and his jaw dropped.

“Macavity?”

“Oh, thank Heavyside,” I whispered. I stepped forward. “You have to help me, Jerrie.”

“What’s going on?” he asked, then seemed to notice the twins. “Why are Skeet and Pippen...” He squinted. “Dear God, what happened to Skeet?”

“Not now, Jerrie,” I replied. I set Skeet down, noticing him wrap his arms across his tiny chest and begin to shiver. “Please, just help me. Find my brother.”

Mungojerrie stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes, sir,” he replied, seeming to forget that he was no longer under my employ. He darted back into the junkyard.

~*~

“Let me get this straight: you need my help?”

I nodded dully as Munkustrap narrowed his eyes. I reached out and touched the wall, giving myself more support. “Yeah...”

“But you won’t say why, right?”

My chin dropped to my chest and for a moment, I was certain that I’d pass out. I nodded again, eyes shut.

“Please, Munkustrap,” I replied, hating to sound so pleading. “Can’t you just please forget everything that went on between us and everyone else for now? It’s your niece we’re talking about here. It’s an innocent kitten, for crying out loud!” I swallowed and opened my eyes. “And Orion. You never had anything against him, did you? Orion was never the problem, was he?”

Munkustrap shook his head slowly, looking at me cautiously. “No, I don’t have anything against him. Never did, I guess.” He looked down at the ground, then back up at me. “Fine. But only for them. It’s only right that I help for them.”

“I don’t care why,” I said softly.

I swayed unsteadily, very aware of how much sleep I had lost. Munkustrap grabbed onto my arm and I glanced at him quickly. He offered a small smile and he helped me to steady myself.

“You know, I kinda missed this you. The one that actually cares about people other than himself.”

I returned the smile weakly. “Thanks, I think.”

Munkustrap shrugged. “We’d better hurry if all you’re telling me is true.”

“Right.”

~*~

Tugger smiled at me, trying to cheer me up. I could barely keep from screaming at the thought of my daughter dead. And my best friend. My Gissy. I didn’t know what I would do if they were dead. I didn’t know what I could do.

Munkustrap seemed to notice the expression on my face. He shook his head gently in Tugger’s direction, signaling for him to leave me alone. Tugger’s face fell and he looked down at the ground. Mungojerrie paused outside the building and looked at me.

“I’ll find Gissy you for, sir,” he said quickly, darting inside before anyone else could say anything.

I turned to face the building. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I stared up at it, unable to move. I jumped as a paw touched my shoulder.

“Come on, Mac,” Munkustrap said softly.

We walked inside, Alonzo wrinkling his nose in disgust. I don’t know how Munkustrap had convinced him to come along, but he had and I was glad. Despite me feelings towards him, I was actually glad to have him on my side for once.

He started to say something, but stopped as we stopped outside of the room that Otto had put us into. I didn’t want to go inside. I saw Munkustrap extend his claws and look over at Tugger.

“You guys ready?”

Tugger nodded grimly, placing a paw on my shoulder. I looked up at him wearily.

“Hell, I’m ready,” he said and smiled. “It’s not every day that you get to kick your brother’s stepkid’s tail.”

I shook my head at his analysis of the situation.

“Then let’s do this,” Munkustrap growled.