It was day time. The many buildings reared up over one another, blocking most of the sunlight. Monsters rumbled by every now and then through the black pavements. Twolegs stepped by back and forth. Through this whole event stalked a small black cat. A gleam came from his collar, studded with teeth. He ignored the Twolegs as they walked by him, and as such they ignored him.

The hot cement walk underneath the black tom was hot and hard, with small pebbles digging into his pads. But over the moons of walking by them many times since he was a kit, his pads grew hard and more durable to compensate for it.

At the moment Scourge was prowling his territory: Twolegplace. He trusted Bone to give him the news of any events, but it never hurt to check himself. And he could have some fun along the way.

Scourge peered through an alleyway as he padded by and froze. Through the dark shadows of the narrow space, two cats were talking quietly together beside the glittering rubbish cans; one was a large brown she-cat and the other a pale gray tom. They were beside a glittering silver trashcan, it's load full to the brink with scraps. Evidently they found something useful within these lids, for the she-cat had a piece of half-eaten chicken by her paws. The tom beside her was scarfing down a chewed up burger from a bright red box Scourge saw Twoleg kits eat out of during family visits to places called "restaurants."

The small black tom stared at them, his eyes narrowed in thought, shifting through the large memory of names, placing them beside each cat within his mind.

Teddy and Hyper.

Scourge could see why the tom would be named hyper. His tail was flicking back and forth in a fritz gesture while he talked. Food dribbled down his chin. Teddy sighed and pointed this out to the tom, using her tail to wipe his chin.

The Bloodclan leader blinked, then moved on. They weren't related to each other, and he already knew they slept in that alleyway. They weren't breaking any rules.

He soon came upon a row of houses closest to the forest. Scourge's lip curled as he remembered vividly the dark brown tom that nearly killed him. He leaped on one of the fences and peered out the forest. There was no one except trees and bushes that greeted him. But beyond it was something much more.

Very Soon, you're next...

He looked on for a moment longer, then turned his back on the over-powering vegetation and stalked on his fence on a narrow trail between two buildings, his eyes roving around his territory. All looked well here. No kittypets out and about. No prey of birds or mice to hunt. He was about to continue onward, possibly around a different route, when he paused.

When he had crossed between the two buildings, they opened up to a yard on either side of him. On the yard below his right lay an ancient gray she-cat. She was perfectly content, allowing the sun's rays to shine on her ragged pelt. It amazed Scourge that there were still cats today that would show no fear for even leaving a housefolk's den. But then again, he had come across a cat just like her the other day who had never heard of him or Bloodclan.

But he remembers now, and vividly, Scourge thought with amusement. His missing ear would remind him.

Scourge bunched his hind legs, about to leap down and confront the elder, when a scent came to him. He felt confused. Why would a scent make him hesitate like this? It smelled familiar, but at the same time distant.

He released the tension in his back legs and sat on the fence, carefully tasted the air to confirm his suspicions. He stared into space thoughtfully for a moment, mulling the scent over.

It reminded him of warmth. Milk and a feeling that he would always be protected...

The realization hit him so hard he nearly fell off the fence. He recognized that scent!

Scourge looked down at the now snoozing she-cat, her muzzle flecked with white hairs. A content look on her old face as she dreamed. One gray ear flicked quickly a few moments before stilling itself again. His mother, Quince, looked so peaceful sleeping under the sun. Bitter memories came to him of her always trying to protect him, teach him, love him.

Love...

Scourge looked down at the she-cat one more time, drinking in her scent. He was about to leave the she-cat alone and continue on. But his claws scrapped the side of the wooden board. Scourge flinched when, as if on cue, the she-cat suddenly jerked awake. She looked wildly around herself, fur bristling. Her eyes quickly caught the tom and held him there.

For a long moment Scourge stared down at his mother, and she looked back up. There was a wary look in her eyes, one Scourge was all too familiar about whenever a cat looked at him these days. Fear.

But instead of the usual feeling of satisfaction, he felt angry. Something's wrong.

Without thinking he leaped down and fell on the soft cut grass, to stand before the old she-cat. She yelped in surprise and padded back a few paces. Now that he was closer, the scratches in her flank were more evident.

"Y-yes?" she mewed nervously.

Scourge blinked. He should have known she wouldn't recognize him. Though he was shorter than her, his long claws and teeth-studded collar probably gave him a demented look he knew instilled fear on others. And living in the alleys for seasons had long since shed his original scent he used to own as a kit, now replaced by the blood and fear of other cats. But for this she-cat he didn't want that.

He flicked his ears at the scratches on her pelt. "Who did that?"

The she-cat looked confused. "What does it matter to you?"

"It matters because I want to know," Scourge growled. Her eyes widened. He quickly lowered his voice. "Just tell me who did it and I promise you they won't do this again."

Quince blinked. She shrugged a little, still bemused, and answered, "Well, he did tell me he was from something called Bloodclan..." she paused, looking at him sideways.

"Go on," Scourge urged, anger rising within him. "What did he look like?"

"He was black and brown," Quince murmured, struggling to remember. "He had these green eyes and a collar of teeth... I think he called himself Torture before he attacked. Said that he'd come back and give me deeper cuts to think about if he found me off my nest... again..." She shuddered suddenly, eyes reflecting the painful experience and what may soon come.

Torture!

Scourge's eyes gleamed. He knew that cat.

Quince tipped her head to one side. "What's your name?"

He blinked. "That's none of your concern."

The gray she-cat narrowed her eyes to squint down at the black tom. "You look familiar..."

Scourge padded away, ignoring the astonished look on the she-cat's face. He leaped on the fence, then looked down. "Any cat you see with a collar of teeth you stay away from," he called in his high pitch voice before padding away. Before the walls covered her from view, Quince said something else, but he wasn't listening.

His mind was reeling, thinking about what he had planned. His original intention before meeting Quince was to find any cat that was doing something wrong for him to sharpen his claws upon. But even the thought of shredding flesh, which Scourge revered, held little care for him at all at the moment. This was more important.

"Bone!" Scourge called when he arrived at his alleyway. It was full of BloodClan cats everywhere. some lolling beside boxes. Others fighting over scraps of food. And even two tiny heads of kits poking out of a box to his right. They ducked down as Scourge passed them, hiding behind a BloodClan queen. But they had nothing to fear; their mother was third in command of BloodClan, given the right to allow her kits in the Leader's alleyway.

The large black and white tom was eating with the other Bloodclan cats by the scrap-pill. But upon Scourge's screech he quickly leaped to his paws and padded beside his leader. "Yeah?"

"Send Torture for me," Scourge mewed coldly. "And bring every Bloodclan member here."

Bone dipped his head and quickly left. Scourge eyed the cats by the scrap-pile, then padded to the end of the alley, where he waited patiently in front of his sleeping green husk. Despite the warm weather and lazy activity now halted as the leader sat before them, Scourge ignored it. His body was stock-still, only the very tip of his tail twitched back and forth.

Bloodclan cats soon began to assemble before him, some confused while others scared at the sight of the black tom as if he might find fault in any of them and make them pay for it.

Just one today...

Bone came back with Torture by his heels. The black and brown cat dipped his head to his leader. He paused uncertainly before him. "You wanted to see me Scourge?"

"Did you see an old gray she-cat near the forest?" Scourge spoke without preamble. "A house cat. Amber eyes?"

Torture looked confused, but nodded.

"And what did you do when you saw her?" Scourge asked icily.

"I attacked her," Torture mewed as if he thought this were obvious.

"Really?" Scourge mewed, anger rising within him. The whole alleyway grew deathly quiet. "I'm curious as to why. Did she attack you?"

Torture shook his head. "She was just sitting on her fence. But when she saw me she tried to act neighborly! As if she didn't even know about Bloodclan!" Torture exclaimed. A few cats chuckled behind him. Bone frowned, looking from Scourge to Torture curiously.

Scourge narrowed his eyes. "Go on."

"So I attacked the idiotic house cat under the name of Bloodclan!" Torture mewed proudly through the few cheers he received from hid BloodClan members. "She didn't know about them until I came around. Now she'll fear us as well as-"

Torture didn't know what happened. One second the black and brown tom was telling about his fight with the old she-cat, the next he was on the ground, Scourge's claws unsheathed and to his already seemingly bleeding chest.

The small black cat gazed down at the Bloodclan warrior before him with such anger that his eyes looked lifeless and his fur fluffed up to twice their size. He looked around the assembled cats, those few who were cheering now quiet, and trying to look smaller. "Let this be a lesson to ALL of you who stray close to the forest borders!"

He slashed down Torture's chest, then stepped back to watch as his used-to-be Bloodclan warrior began bleeding in agony. He yowled in pain, writhing on the ground violently, spreading more blood. It's sour stench clogged the air as the tom continued to gurgle in his tortured state.

A fitting position, for a fitting name, Scourge thought with distaste.

Because Scourge did not cause the wound to be a death blow, it took a long time for the cat to die; Scourge imagined each second avenging for what this piece of filth did to Quince. He ignored the other cats, but made sure they watched; since he did not give the signal for the Bloodclan cats to disperse, they had to watch as their own comrade slowly bled to death. Smell as his blood pooled the floor. Listen to his agonized wails slowly die down. Torture's yowls of pain made some of the cats cringe, but Scourge stayed still as ice as he watched.

When Torture finally stopped breathing, Scourge looked up. He flared his nostrils, hungrily devouring the blood in the air.

"I don't care if it's a house-cat jeering at you, a piece of mouse or even the call of a mate: stay two houses away from the forest unless I say so—UNDERSTOOD?"

His last word was high pitch, but it was so cold that even Bone shivered. They all nodded to themselves, too scared to even ask why. Scourge waved his tail and the cats instantly dispersed. Those few chosen by Bone immediately retrieved Torture's body and dragged him away from the alleyway.

You don't have to worry about another cat harming you while I'm leader, mother, Scourge thought as he looked at the Bloodclan cats going about their activity. I'll protect you as you have protected me...

In a way, it makes sense to me, since I never saw a Bloodclan cat even seen near the forest. And if Rusty were indeed younger than Scourge, it explains why he never met any Bloodclan cats along with Smudge when it showed Rusty saying good-bye to all his cat friends in Into the Wild. Scourge, in order to inconspicuously protect his mother, forbade all Bloodclan cats from going near the forest. How sweet =3