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.

"Who the hell are you?" She questioned.

The second the words left her mouth, Hero gestured to Jayflight. They stepped forward, Jayflight's steps as soft as they could ever be and Hero's pawsteps even quieter. They snuck forward, keeping to the shadows cast by the building itself.

"HEY!! We can see you two sneaking in the shadows. What do you think you're doing?" A different voice spoke. Hero watched as a different rogue, one they didn't even know was in the building, stepped forward with a sneer.

"Just following those stupid, er, housecats that have been messing with my yard all day! Thanks for stopping them for us." Hero babbled on the spot, mentally hitting himself for not scoping out the building thoroughly.

"I have never heard a housecat name like Smokewhisper. Your humans are so weird." The black and white tom commented.

"Shut up, Checkers. Your name isn't the best either!" A brown tabby responded.

"Well your name is Taz and at least that isn't some random human game! Besides, Smoke is a cool name. Well, nickname at least. And he looks kinda smokey, don't you think?" Checkers babbled.

"Silence!" The battle scarred gray she-cat yowled. Her tail flicked angrily and she stared at her partners in contempt. "You are all inept! I don't know why I stay with you, I really don't." She complained. She padded back and forth, ears flat. As she moved, Hero caught the glint of light shining off of something golden. Was that the necklace?

"I'll deal with you imbeciles later." She muttered. "You four are trespassing on our land! I don't care for what reason, and we'll let you go, but you have to pay us a fee." She demanded. "You housecats shouldn't have too much of an issue finding something shiny from your owners. I'll send an escort with you to make sure you deliver something in a timely fashion." The rogue decided.

"Who said this was your land? What if I don't care? I'm not giving you anything." Jayflight piped up from behind Hero. Hero let her talk, mind whirling. How were they going to get that necklace without getting into a fight?

As he thought that, a tiny form darted past him so quickly that it was a blur. They ran behind the gray she-cat, one stopping to snatch up the necklace. In that pause, Hero barely made out the familiar face of Swiftpaw.

"Don't you cats have anything better to do than sit around in a smelly Twoleg shack? Useless rogues." Swiftpaw spat, shoving Snowpaw into a run. They made it past the entrance of the den, the rest of the cats still frozen in surprise.

"Come ON!" She yelled, shoving the slower Snowpaw to move even faster. "LETS GO!"

Her words spurred every cat to action. The rogues jumped up with annoyed shouts as the four Warriors turned on the spot and ran as fast as possible out of the doorway. Hero spotted Snowpaw's tail as she turned the corner just a few fox lengths ahead of them.

The Warriors quickly caught up with the smaller cats using their long legs and greater strides.

"Where. Are. We. Going?" Snowpaw panted out. Hero shoved his way to the front of the pack, eyes scanning their surroundings.

"Follow me!" He took a sharp turn, startling the rest of the cats to follow.

He led them on a massive goose chase, dragging the Clan cats behind him and weaving his way through the alleys. Eventually they passed through an alley system that he remembered, and Hero managed to lead the cats far enough away that the rogues gave up.

The group walked their way back towards Bling, panting and tired but feeling exhilarated and eager.

"Apprentices are useless, right?" Swiftpaw snarked, staring at Jayflight. The she-cat sighed, tail flicking with agitation.

"I'm not going to say sorry for trying to keep you two safe. What you did was very dangerous." Jayflight paused for a moment as Swiftpaw opened her mouth to retaliate, and enraged expression on her face. "But you did help and your efforts did get us out of there. So... we will include you two in future plans."

"Damn straight!" Swiftpaw crowed. She looked down at the necklace that draped across her bellyher chest. "Why does that Bling cat want this gaudy thing anyways? I'd have been glad to lose it."

"Well necklaces and other such trinkets can buy a lot," Hero said thoughtfully. "Having something to buy your way out of a scuffle is important. Why do you think those rogues stole it? It's pretty valuable."

"That's part of the reason I wanted it back," a cat said, stepping from the shadows. It was Bling, with ruffled fur matted to one side from sleep. It was clumped together comically.

"What's the other reason?" Snowpaw questioned.

"None of your business," Bling responded. Hero pulled the necklace off of Swiftpaw and held it out towards Bling. When the cat made to swipe it from him, he pulled it back out of reach.

"Tell us where Whiteshadow is first, and then we'll give you the necklace." Hero demanded.

"Last I heard, he was headed towards uptown kittypet residence," Bling revealed. "He wasn't set on a person or 'nuthin, but he looked determined about something. Now can I have my necklace?" Hero handed it over.

"Lets rest a bit before we move on." Hero suggested. Snowpaw collapsed in a corner with the other cats quickly following. Hero followed Bling off to the side, just out of earshot of the Clan cats.

"Where did you get that thing anyway? It is a bit too gaudy for your pay grade." Bling snorted.

"It's not actually mine," he said. Hero's eyes narrowed.

"Then why...?"

"I wanted to see if you still had your skills after being in the forest all this while. Apparently, you got it. You know, after you're done fooling around with these forest cats, you can always come back to work with me." Bling offered.

"No thanks. I told you I'm not into that anymore." Hero's ears flicked back as he thought of Bling's offer. He was not about to try and use wealth to stir up the factions. They were dangerous enough without antagonizing them.

"Hey, lets get to uptown." Hero said, turning his back on Bling. "It's not too far from here, so we might still have some daytime left to search out Whiteshadow." After a moment of thought, he turned back to Bling.

"You... stay safe." He mewed before gesturing towards the other cats to move forward.

"...Good luck." Hero heard Bling sigh. Hero watched as the other tom disappeared in the shadows, leaving no trace of his presence.