For Buddy, who the author was blessed to have shared their home with for ten years, and whose like they shall probably never see again.
Meekus Labs, Gotham
December 3rd, 07:25AM
Meekus Labs was a place of utter filth in a city which was mostly filth to begin with. It sat on the edge of town, a dilapidated building on a street that was badly in need of repair, sandwiched between what appeared to be an abandoned shack and a day spa which had been closed down for twenty years yet still stood as some vague reminder that this was once a good place to do business.
It was a place for mad people, who weren't interested in being watched. Indeed, they were very intent on the opposite. Most people took a different street to avoid the place entirely.
Kids tended to think it was haunted, but the fact was that there was a man there, which was why there were lights. And the odd noises the place was so famous for had their origin in the natural world as well. But Dr. Meekus and his project were anything but natural.
Superficially it was, as there was no magic involved. But beneath that veneer was something diabolical and twisted and... well... mad.
If people didn't avoid the street as though it had the plague, they might have wondered why a limousine was parked in front of the lab. They might also have wondered what could possibly bring Lex Luthor of Metropolis all the way down to the grimiest part of Gotham city. They might have, but they didn't, and for one very good reason: there was nobody on the street to wonder.
Luthor eyed the street with open disdain, he was a neat freak if ever there was one, and preferred to have other people do his dirty work, both literally and figuratively. But Dr. Meekus was a special case. It was he who had developed the serum Luthor had been experimenting with. It was he who made changes to it every time a flaw became known.
For some time now, Luthor had been expecting some kind of update as to when the latest version of the formula would be delivered.
He despised Dr. Meekus, if only because the man was as filthy as his surroundings. Dr. Meekus also seemed to enjoy the sound of deadlines going by, and ignoring Luthor's requests for status updates. Then of course there was the man's utter lunacy.
But Luthor couldn't cut Dr. Meekus out of the project, mainly because his own scientists were either too stupid or too sane to understand the formula in the first place, much less replicate it.
Stepping inside the shabby structure, Luthor was hit by a plethora of awful smells and a wave of muggy air. Steeling himself, he stepped into the darkened building.
He was greeted by a gale of cackling laughter, which startled him until he realized that the sound was coming from a white parrot who was perched on a high bookshelf. The bookshelf contained no books, but instead had a collection of vials of liquid and boxes of equipment which Luthor couldn't even begin to imagine the function of.
"Edith," he hissed, recognizing the parrot.
The bird threw its head back, touching the brilliantly yellow crest on its head to the snow white feathers of its wings. From this position, it proceeded to cackle even louder than before, stopping now and then to imitate the gasping sounds a person filled with that much hysteria would have to make. Wobbling side to side, the parrot swung its head up and down so hard it seemed like it should get whiplash. Luthor wished the foul creature would break its fool neck.
Moving past the bookless bookshelf, Luthor came to an arrangement of cages, most of which were open. Their owners were mostly perched on top of the cages, gazing out of bright black eyes at the newcomer, tilting their heads to listen to the mad guffawing of Edith. These too were parrots, twenty or thirty of them in all, of varying sizes, shapes and colors.
They croaked and made cawing sounds to one another, crackling their powerful beaks in a thoughtful manner. The detestable Edith spread her wings and flapped noisily to a new perch ahead of Luthor so she could laugh at him some more.
Her actions caused a flurry of activity on the cages. The parrots squawked loudly, ducking as if they thought she might strike them as she swept past, then standing up very straight and whooping as though cheering her on.
Luthor hated parrots. They were untrainable and left messes wherever they went. Between their droppings and their habit of chewing anything they could get their beak around, parrots made short work of all one's worldly possessions. As if to prove what Luthor was thinking, Edith swung around in a circle, striking her tail against a glass bottle which wobbled, then toppled and plummeted to the linoleum floor, hitting it with a crash and shattering into an irreparable number of pieces.
In response, Edith began to chortle and hop up and down.
"Vile thing," Luthor couldn't help but say.
There was no charm one could use to stifle a parrot, and no threat to which they would answer. They were eternally noisy and destructive and there was nothing to do about either annoyance save for not having one in the first place.
Sidestepping the glass, Luthor walked on into the next room through an open doorway. Here were more exotic birds including, in one corner, a male ostrich of all things.
It was in the back of this room that Luthor found Dr. Meekus.
"Birds. Birds. It's all the birds. About the birds. For the birds," Dr. Meekus was muttering to himself.
He was hunched over some experiment, wide eyes behind giant goggles and one pudgy finger stuck thoughtfully between his teeth. He squealed in delight suddenly and flapped his arms.
"The birds!. The birds!," he squeaked in elation.
He undoubtedly knew about Luthor's presence, if only because Edith had followed him into the room and was now whistling Dixie for no readily apparent reason.
"Dr. Meekus, you have been ignoring the people I've sent to visit you," Luthor began as pleasantly as he could manage given the circumstances.
"Oh bah!," Dr. Meekus waved a hand in Luthor's face, then scurried off to fetch something, returning a few seconds later and pouring the blue contents of one test tube into the green contents of another.
Laughing as madly as his parrot, he quickly set the tubes down so he could clap his hands.
"Dr. Meekus," Luthor attempted to gain the man's attention.
"Oh please, all that matters are the birds," Dr. Meekus scampered over to the ostrich, who bent its head so he could pet it, looking as tame as any horse.
"If you can't deliver the results I require, then I shall have to cut your funding," Luthor threatened "then where would your precious pigeons be?,"
"Not pigeons," Dr. Meekus ran over to a cage, flung it open with zeal, reached in and pulled out a bird, holding it carefully in both hands "Doves!," he thrust the beast into Luthor's face.
It cooed politely before disappearing back into the cage from which it had come.
"I don't care," Luthor said, brushing himself off in case the molting bird's feathers had gotten on him "you still have certain responsibilities, duties I expect you to perform,"
"You don't understand," Dr. Meekus looked over his glasses at Luthor, squinting his eyes in the poor lighting "all that matters are the birds,"
"You said that already,"
"You're not a bird," Dr. Meekus said "you don't matter,"
Luthor knew at these words that he had lost all control of Dr. Meekus. The man had been breathing the fumes of his experiments too long. It was time to cut his losses and leave this freak show behind.
"Did you know there are birds in Gotham?," Dr. Meekus asked as Luthor attempted to retreat in a swift but dignified manner.
Edith flew down to the little man's shoulder, chortling to herself as if she thought what had been said was a joke and she found it extremely funny.
"Wild birds, soaring above the rooftops," Dr. Meekus went on, ignoring his pet.
By now, Luthor had backed his way into the parrot room.
"One of a kind creatures. The world will destroy them, you know," Dr. Meekus scratched under Edith's chin, assuming parrots had such a thing "the world is full of people like you. Who hate free things, things of the wild. I have to protect them from people like you,"
Edith howled with laughter at this, then eyed Luthor suspiciously as if suspecting he didn't get the joke at all. She managed a look of pity, then cackled some more.
"You see, I need to clear the way for the birds. They're all that matter,"
"I will cut your funding and burn this place to the ground. With you and your birds inside if I have to," Luthor tried to break into the man's monologue.
"The world, Mr. Luthor. The world will burn. Ashes, ashes, it'll all fall down. All that will be left will be the glorious birds. But first I have to catch them. Oh they won't like captivity, but it won't be for very long. Then I can let them go, and they can live free forever,"
"That's very nice. Goodbye, Dr. Meekus,"
Luthor opened the door and exited the building hurriedly, startled by how ruffled he was. It was the second time in recent memory he'd stared into the eyes of someone else and seen something more dangerous than himself there.
As the limo pulled away, he swore he could hear Edith cackling all the way down the street.
"What do you think, Edith?," Dr. Meekus asked "Do you think we should begin with hawks or robins?. Or maybe we'll just wing it?,"
Edith cackled and Dr. Meekus scratched her head thoughtfully, staring up into the sky, grinning like the mad man he was. The world had no idea what it was in for. No idea at all.
A/N: As with previous stories, Recollection is meant to be capable of standing up on its own, but the reader will likely enjoy it more if they read parts 1-5 beforehand. Just sayin'.