He stalked across the glossy wooden table, shoulders and head lowered as his tail swept to and fro. His fur complimented the dark interior of the room, his splotches a great touch. His green gaze swept the room in one... no, two swift glances and he spotted nothing of the ordinary.

"Where the hell is it," he purred. Cats purr for various reasons. And right now, he did it to comfort himself from losing his temper. He was getting impatient. The young stud had been searching for some time now and found nothing of importance.

He had a sensitive nose. In fact, fourteen times better than an average person. Fourteen. And so by now he should have known that there was no use being here from the moment he walked in. But his partner convinced him that he was looking wrong. Or was it that he wasn't looking hard enough?

Imagine that. A cat, whose sight greater than a human's, was told he wasn't looking hard enough. Rookie mistake but he knew it wasn't the time to demand respect from that... that imbecile.

Ooh, he felt himself seethe with displeasure at the memory and thought of the guy. Why, God, couldn't you have given him a better partner to deal with? He huffed and leapt from the wooden table, landing gracefully on the plush carpet. With a lax tail, he headed for the door and leapt to press down on the handle.

The door unlocked and... wait, what? Why wasn't the door opening? He refused to be neurotic about it immediately. He supposed he should try again.

Click.

It was still no use. He scratched at the door, stretching himself out as he dulled his claws before calling out to his team.

"Jackson! Jackson, come here!"

He cried out for his partner, then to the others. But no-one came to his help. The Bengal was helpless... no. He wasn't helpless.

Who was he?

Alexander the Great! And he was great. He was intelligent and remarkable, no other feline was as smart As he! Well, perhaps besides Atticus Claw. He didn't waste anymore time, he headed straight for the windows and tried them all. He tried them repeatedly until he realised he had no way of working them out.

And so he curled in the arms of his own warmth, tail tightly curling around himself. He shivered as the draft started to come in the later hours. He used to have a warm bed to curl in, a loving person to be with, warm meals and milk.

But now?

He was sure he had nothing. Alexander the Great... giving up so easily... this was so not him.

His ears pricked at the sound of distant voices and shuffling of calloused shoes against the rubble. Humans? People? No, this could be his hallucination or a dream.

His stomach growled in hunger and he felt too disturbed for another wink. Having no other choice, the feline stood and stretched himself out from back to front. Afterwards, a large yawn escaped and he smacked his muzzle. It was worth a peek, he guessed. He clambered the shelves and leaped to the desk, making an astounding leap for the windowsill.

Teenagers?

Great, from experience, some weren't worthy of his attention. He opted to watch them from the window, still as a statue as he watched them chattered excitedly amongst themselves. Although two of them were fearful and neurotic... wait, did they think this was a haunted house or something?

"Dude, this is going to be so good!"

"I don't know, Cameron. Doesn't seem so... safe."

"What are you afraid of? Beetlejuice popping out of nowhere?" Snarky, that Cameron kid. "Shh! Don't say his name, or he'll come!" Cameron laughed boisterously at the nervous blond. "You idiot, he comes after his name's spoken three times in a row. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Be-"

"Cameron, don't!" What a jerk, Alexander huffed to himself and continued to train his sight on them. He watched as they approached the front door, Cameron taking the lead in the self-asserted tour. These kids... they were infiltrating a crime scene. This was a private investigation! Well... at least that was the idea. Jackson and his small team left him. How could they forget him?

Something smelt fishy... and how he yearned for his person's disgusting sardine treats now. A saddened look crossed his features, she must have worried for him. The force should always update her on his activities and whereabouts. Now that he was gone, how would she know if he was alright?

A crash and a shout grappled his attention and he turned his head, making haste towards the door. He sat in front of the door and listened as there was arguing, something about Cameron and disrespecting the dead in that house.

The cat scoffed. Teenagers.

Wait, this was his chance! By God, if he made a sound before the teenagers got too spooked, he'd be out of here!

And so the howling began. To be frank, it was something he had never done before. He was too professional for generic feline rituals. He was a show cat, howling was not a good trait for one. Although his breeder did say... at some point it was possible...

No! Focus!

He listened in as he heard hushed whispers and David's comment of wetting himself. "Adam's mad at us! Barbara's gonna come for us!" He whimpered. "Shut up, dork." Cameron hissed and stalked up the stairs to prove his point.

Ghosts didn't exist in that house, as eerie as it was.

Alexander would know, for he was a cat. "Oi, whoever's howlin' better come and square up!" Basic teenage idiocy. He'd say it was only white teenagers who do this, but he had witnessed Vietnamese films and... it was safe to say that a good number of teenagers do this regardless of race.

Alexander shrugged and clawed at the door, yowling a cry for help. He heard footsteps and stood aside, looking up when the door swung open. He could tell Cameron was brave for he was not hesitant when he opened the door.

Brave and stupid for not giving a warning. If he wasn't as good as he was, he would have gotten a fright and launched himself out the next window. He looked up at the young teen, curious and patient greens staring.

"Guys, it's just a cat!"

He heard David call from below.

"It could be a ghost cat!" If only he could speak to them, he'd say 'boo'. He'd love to see the kid pull an Usain Bolt down the stairs. But he merely stood and brushed against the young man, purring in gratitude. For a reckless jerk, Cameron was gentle as he picked him from the floor and cradled him. "Let's see..." He inspected his collar and mused quietly, "Alexander, North Shore police officer..."

Realisation dawned on him.

"You're Alexander, the police cat. Holy heavens above us!" He carefully cradled the feline as he returned downstairs. "Cam, you can't take a ghost cat out!" David yelped. "Like hell he is that, David. Look!"

"He's a Bengal..." Dock murmured quietly to his twin, who nodded with curious hazels at the feline. "Well, I guess," shrugged Cameron but sported a bright grin as he held the cat out. "Look at his tag!"

"Dude, I know that tag! North Shore Police Department! That's a long shot from 'ere!" David squealed. He seemed to have forgotten his paranoia. That was good, Alexander liked cowards as long as he can actively communicate with them. He'd toy them like there was no tomorrow. But it was comforting, knowing the four knew him.

"How did he come here?" David asked as Cameron shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, scratching the feline under his chin. Alexander, being feline, lifted his chin and rumbled. "Must be work. But where's his team? I mean, you can't have a cat just... being here. He's an officer but a cat too."

"He could have been trapped here during his case..."

"Since?"

Since? Even he didn't know. It felt like a week or one stretching into weeks. "Dude, we're gonna be so famous if we make the news!"

"...but the thing is, why weren't there news about him? He could've gotten attention from being missing, right?" Cameron thought about it, and heard the feline's stomach growling. "We can think about that later. Right now, he's starving. Let's go." The blond teenager once again took the role of leader and headed for the exit, his friends tailing him closely.

Alexander was taken to one of the teen's homes, and was given a proper meal and everything a cat needed. He hadn't excreted in some time, as he didn't have anything to pass. While curling in his temporary bed, his longing mind trailed to the thought of his person and wondered how she was doing.

He wished to continue his thoughts but the warmth, fullness in his belly and a homey feeling lulled him to sleep.

Alexander woke to the sound of rustling and opening door, lazily opening his eyes to see that he had the four gathered near him. "Alex's awake." noticed one of them. David, the coward. "It's Alexander, mind you." He murmured but it only came as a soft meow to them. He kept his eyes open but he lulled his head on the plush pillow, eyeing them and wondering what they were up to. Homework?

"So what's our plan? When do we start filmin' and media socialisin' him?"

"We can't do that just yet." His friends seemed astounded and looked at him, questioning him with their gazes. "Obviously, something's not right. Alexander's been dumped in that house for who-knows-how-long. Dumped. And who would just dump a popular and mentally acute cat?"

Alexander purred. Ja, sterblich. Praise me more.

"Unless he's suddenly very dulled in the head."

He stopped purring. Excuse me?

"I think it's set up. No food or anything was in that room, if it was part of a stake-out, his team should have provided him food and water." Not to mention a nice toilet. "But who could just take Alexander away without anyone knowing?" David looked curious.

"It goes two ways. Either that person's very smart, or it's an inside job." A collective of soft gasps were the response. Alexander couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was it... plausible? It was but a disheartening thought to come across. "Judge Mike would love to have the favour returned." Poppy hummed, his twin chuckling. Judge Mike? Michael Cicconetti?

"So we have to do this right, guys. We can't just give him away like this, if the person finds out Alexander's alive and well... they'll come for not only him, but us!"

Cameron's right. Not only will his life will be in danger, but he'd endanger the lives of these kids too! Thank God that he crossed paths with intelligent children... and kind ones too. He studied all of them as they chattered amongst themselves.

Cameron was definitely the leader. Brave, smart, a jerk to his friends but kind, compassionate and... he forgot another word to describe him. Oh well.

David was the coward, and so was the twins. But they seemed to have their faith set in stone for their leader and that was nice to see. They seemed to be average kids, Cameron had a small room but he kept it nice and clean.

So he was responsible too, but that didn't fill the puzzle. He kept with his observation and thoughts about these quadruplets, only realising he was thinking too much when the group decided to switch topic and then do their homework. If only his person was this dedicated to homework, he huffed in amusement. She must be worried sick. There was this one time she had to leave him for just a day but she fussed over him so much that she ended up installing a camera to monitor him. He missed her and decided to not mind having to stay with the family for a while.

"Alexander, you coming?"

He looked up at Cameron, seeing the blond returning his gaze with curious blues. His eyes were nice to look at. Without a word (as he was not capable of communicating with him), Alexander stood and stretched himself out as per usual before following the young man out the door.

Yes, he definitely wouldn't mind staying for a while... as long as his Bengal needs were met.