Warriors: Clockwise

<------ Chapter Eleven ------>

Blaze here! I hope you enjoy.

"There it is." Hero murmured, scanning the building in front of him. It was a large, dilapidated building desperately clinging to life. It's walls were unstable and practically swayed with the wind. Entire chunks were missing from the roof of the structure. Weeds and wild plants had managed to grow in the huge cracks in the concrete near the building, and they seemed to be overtaking every entrance.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Jayflight questioned. Hero shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure it is. The trail led to this area, and that one cat was an awful liar so this must be the place." He explained. He padded around the corner of the building before pulling back sharply upon hearing a small movement at the mouth of the large entrance of the warehouse.

"Are they over there?" Lilypool whispered, stepping up beside him. Her sharp vision scanned where Hero had spotted the movement, and she ducked behind him after gathering information. With a flick of his tail, they wandered back a few buildings over where the rest of the group was waiting.

"I saw at least four cats there. Two brown tabbies, one gray she-cat, and a black and white tom." Lilypool informed them.

"So... how are we going to do this?" Snowpaw asked. "We could probably-"

"No. You and Swiftpaw are going to stay very far away from the action." Jayflight interrupted, "We have no intention of letting you get hurt."

"What?" Swiftpaw hissed dangerously. "We can probably help Hero more than you can!"

"Yeah, we're small and light on our feet. It could be an in-and-out thing, the rogues won't even know we were there." Snowpaw chimed in. Hero sighed as Jayflight stood her ground with a contrite look on her face. This was not going to go well.

"You are apprentices; barely trained young cats who should not even be here right now. You should feel happy that we didn't send a cat to walk you back to camp when we first saw you." Jayflight stood firm in her resolve, and Lilypool nodded in agreement behind her.

"We want you to be safe, and sending you in the middle of a group of rogues is not the best option for that." Smokewhisper spoke up, trying a different argument. Hero watched as Snowpaw literally stomped on Swiftpaw's foot to stop her from speaking.

"Hmph!" She muttered, walking off. The Warriors watched them settle in a corner not too far away before all turning to Hero.

"Well?" Lilypool snapped.

"I have a plan," Hero revealed. "All we have to do is this..."

-- 

Hero watched with bated breath as Lilypool and Smokewhisper wandered over towards the entrance of the warehouse. He ignored the twinge of unease that he felt, watching his ignorant Clanmates wandering into an unfamiliar area. They spoke softly, fur flat and tails relaxed as they pretended that they belonged in the area, but Hero's trained eyes could still catch the way that they limped ever so slightly from the pain in their soft pads from the hard concrete. But he had to work with what he had. Even if it wasn't much.

"Hey Smokewhisper, I haven't ever been here before." Lilypool mewed, walking into the warehouse. "I wonder what- oh, hello!" Hero cringed as she cheerfully greeted the rogues in front of her. Could she be any more obvious? Smokewhisper followed behind with a warning falling from his lips seconds too late.

"I'm sorry." Lilypool said. "Do you live in this, uh, building? It looks very, uh, nice?" Hero rolled his eyes. She stepped further into the warehouse, peering around eagerly. Hero crept forward, Jayflight on his heels. They were on the opposite side of the entrance, waiting to creep in and search for the necklace. From where they were crouched, they could just make out the aforementioned tabbies that Lilypool described earlier. One battle-scarred she-cat stepped forward to intercept Lilypool.