Warriors: Clockwise

<------ Chapter Sixteen ------>

"We're not going anywhere with you mouse-brains," Swiftpaw spat, lashing her tail.

"Swiftpaw," Lilypool murmured sternly. She knew Hero already had a decision in mind.

Hero stared cooly at Tags while Snowpaw fell silent, and Swiftpaw continued to watch him, unwilling to break her gaze.

"Take us to your leader."

<——————>

The East Faction's camp was, to put it simply, vastly intimidating. The brick walls and arches were lined with patrolling cats, and the buildings cast long shadows across the street they walked down. Haven's courtyard and amphitheater paled in comparison to the enormity of this place, and Hero found it no less impressive than he'd always imagined. It was obvious from the sheer number of cats entering and exiting the camp that there could be any number of patrols and teams heading out at one time; Hero had always been curious as to the ranking system of Factions, though on all of his expeditions he'd never encountered anything quite like this.

"This place is huge," Snowpaw commented, nearly tripping over Swiftpaw for the third time since they'd left the comfort of the alleyway. Since Tags had threatened to take a bite out of him, Snowpaw had become oddly reliant on Swiftpaw's protection, and was now walking mere inches away from a cat half his size while simultaneously trying not to trip over her. Snowpaw had grown quite a bit during the days they'd been away from camp, and it quickly came to Hero's attention that despite Snowpaw's lighthearted nature, the tom was more than old enough to become a fully-fledged Warrior.

"Where exactly are we meeting Sunshine?" Hero asked Thug, who padded a few steps ahead of him.

"Just over there," Thug replied simply, nodding towards the gaping stone archway that marked the entrance to a large building with at least four stories, as far as Hero could tell. A large window depicting some sort of human scene cast colorful shadows onto the ground before him, and as he surveyed the area, Hero realized that many similar colorful additions had been made to the dim scenery. "This place used to be some historical building of some kind, it was condemned a while back by humans and the East Faction settled in soon after."

Jayflight stared at each dappled patch of colored light, seeming intrigued by the swirling patterns, and every time they passed one Zero would have to have to nudge her forward along with the rest of the group, much to her distaste. All of the cats were uneasy; not even the East Faction patrol knew exactly what was going to happen during this meeting, so the rest of the walk up to the building was relatively silent.

"Thug," greeted the large golden-spotted tom posted outside of the entrance to the building, along with a smaller but equally intimidating brown bengal she-cat.

"Teeth, Beak," Thug dipped his head respectfully to the two guards, "how are the kits?"

Beak, the she-cat, seemed to laugh under her breath. "They're a pawful, and Teeth is obviously no use," she teased, and the tom smiled back fondly, "he's too soft on them both. Bones convinced Chase to come on some exploration mission with him while we were on watch this morning, she got stuck in a barrel for two hours and Bones got lost and took half that time just to find his way back."

Hero's team shared glances. It was an odd feeling, knowing that cats you'd always considered your enemies had their own lives and trials and emotions.

"It's a shame you're not here more often, you're much better at watching your siblings than Shada is," Teeth began, and Hero realized that he was speaking directly to Tags, who had now ducked her head seemingly in embarrassment.