Hey, guys, what's up? Having a good week? That's good to hear...yeah, not my best material.

OK, well this is just a little one-shot I came up with. It explains how Fidget and the other guys became Ratigan's lackeys. Hopefully it's actually WORTH something LOL!

Of course, I don't own The Great Mouse Detective.

LONDON 1880

Jonathan "Fidget" Batson groaned as he dug through the large human-sized garbage can in the alley. He had been sent out by his mates to scrounge for food for the night, lest they all go hungry again, like they had many nights before. He hated digging through the trash alone at night, but he felt a sort of responsibility for the other boys he lived with. After all, he was seventeen and they were all between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, so he was the oldest...well, actually Bart was the oldest, being nineteen and all, but he was drunk most of the time, so he wasn't much help.

Fidget chuckled to himself as he dug up a large piece of cheese. "The guys'll love this," he told himself. He brushed the cheese off and put it in his large cloth sack. "OK, that should do it." He threw his sack over his shoulder and jumped out of the can...only to crash into someone on the way down, nearly knocking both of them over.

"OW!" the other man cried out as Fidget smacked into him and fell to the ground. "You clumsy oaf! Watch where you're going!"

"Oops, sorry, Mister," Fidget apologized. Then, the young bat got a good look at the guy he had just hit. It was a large rat with gray fur, black hair and yellow eyes. He wore a pristine suit and an opera cape and was carrying something wrapped in a black blanket. "I didn't mean to bump into ya...I'm just not great at landin'."

The rat rolled his eyes. "Well then I'd suggest that you work on your landings. You cannot just go around dropping onto mice like that, it's very rude and besides you could break somebody's neck doing that."

Fidget nodded nervously. Something about this rat made him feel like he had to obey his every command or else there'd be big trouble. "R-Right." The rat looked a little forlorn about something, so Fidget decided to ask him about it. "Hey, Mister..." He paused, looking for the rat's last name.

"Ratigan. PROFESSOR Ratigan," the rat gave him his name.

"Right, PROFESSOR Ratigan...whatcha doin' out here? A fancy-dressed guy like you don't belong in the alleys at night."

Ratigan frowned. "If you MUST know, I'm in hiding."

Fidget got excited "Hidin'? Like from the cops?" Ratigan nodded. "Why, what'd ya do?"

"I corrected a great injustice, that's what I did," the professor replied. "My younger sister was recently murdered by a drunken lowlife and the jury decided that just because he had a few beers in his belly and was thus "unable to make good judgements," he should be acquitted. Well I wasn't about to stand idly and let my sister's death go unpunished, so I hunted down the fiend and slaughtered him like the pig he was. And now the police are looking for the murderer, and I know that if they find me they'll have me locked away for the rest of my life, and I can't let that happen."

Fidget gazed up at the professor, a mix of fear and admiration in his large yellow eyes. "Whoa, that's some pretty heavy stuff there, Mister...I mean, Professor."

Just then, the black bundle began to cry. "Oh, no," Ratigan reacted, rocking the crying bundle. "Shh. It's all right, it's all right, just go back to sleep, sweetie, Daddy's here." Fidget craned his neck to look up and saw that the professor had a baby girl wrapped in the blanket. "Cute baby. What's her name?"

"Her name is Danielle, and she's just turned one year old," Ratigan answered the bat's inquiry. "She's the reason I can't go to prison. Who would take care of her if I were incarcerated?"

"What about her mama?" Fidget asked.

"Her mama died right after she was born."

Fidget nodded. "Ooh, that's tough. I know how that is. MY ma died givin' birth to me, too. There were a lotta complications, and 'cause of that my wing didn't develop right, so I can't fly. My pop didn't want a useless, flightless freak around, so he tossed me out when I was four. I been on my own ever since...well, now I live with some other guys, but it ain't nothin' fancy, just the five of us livin' together in a cardboard box." The bat then thought of something. "Hey, I gotta great idea...why don't you two come live with us? We can hide ya from the cops, and since you're a professor and all you could teach us some of that readin' and writin' stuff."

Ratigan looked at the young bat, confused. "Don't you already know how to read and write?"

Fidget shook his head. "None of us ever went to school. We was all either orphaned or abandoned as kids."

"Oh my, that's horrible." Ratigan thought about Fidget's offer. "I suppose we could stay with you boys just for a short time, if it's not too much of an inconvenience."

"Nah, it ain't an inconvenience at all," Fidget reassured him as he led him back to his box. "You're gonna get a kick outta the guys. There's Charley, and Mike, and Bill, he's a lizard, and Bart and me."

Ratigan smiled. "I'm sorry, my boy, I didn't catch YOUR name."

"My real name's Jonathan, but everybody calls me Fidget."

"Fidget. I rather like that, it's very unique. Very well, Fidget."

And so the young boys became Ratigan's loyal employees, Fidget serving as the professor's right-hand man. Over the years they performed many incredible crimes. Over time, the number of employees grew, so Ratigan had them move their operation to the sewers for more open room than an old cardboard box. They became a well-oiled machine of crime...until one fateful night in 1897, where trying to expand his empire by taking over the crown brought down the professor and his men once and for all.

Wow, I just seem to have a knack for writing semi-depressing backstories for Disney characters, don't I? I dunno, I just always had a feeling that Fidget's busted wing was either a result of something that happened to him when he was born or was caused by something his mother did while she was pregnant with him...as for the pegleg, I got no clue, maybe I'll write something about my theory on that, too.

If it's not obvious enough, the four other guys that Fidget pals with are the main thugs from the movie; Bart is Bartholomew, Bill is the lizard guy from Alice in Wonderland that ended up on the wrong side of the law, and Charley and Mike are the two other mice seen with Bill in various scenes (as to which one is Charley and which one is Mike, I'll let you peeps decide!)

Hope you guys enjoyed this little one-shot. I've got several ideas, and if you guys ever have any ideas, just PM me and I'll see what I can do for you.

All my best, DiscordantPrincess.