BEHIND THE FACADE
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a short GMD drabble (& I use "drabble" in the informal sense of the word) regarding Basil Of Baker Street's thoughts on my fanfic character Dr. Heinrich Fremdeliebe (a.k.a., the villainous mouse version of Dr. Strangelove). I sincerely hope you enjoy.
And now, for a brief copyright & disclaimer:
All "Great Mouse Detective" characters, properties, & elements (C) Disney.
All "Dr. Strangelove" properties & elements (C) Stanley Kubrick & Columbia Pictures.
Lyrics to "Facade" (C) Leslie Bricusse, although I did make some changes to the phrases featured in the fanfic.
Dr. Heinrich Fremdeliebe & the above fanfiction (C) The Mouse Avenger (that's me).
When you're finished reading, please be sure to leave feedback when you're done. I'll take anything from comments to constructive criticism, as long as they're not flames or delivered in an overly-harsh, stern, or mercilessly-nitpicky manner.
There's a beast at the door,
And he's wild & he's free,
But we don't let him in,
'Cause we don't want to see
What is lurking
Right behind the facade!
He was a real sly one, Basil Of Baker Street (or one of the members of his illustrious crime-fighting family) would always say whenever they discussed about the mouse they referred to as the "mad scientist of Mouse London". Next to Mouses Fiennes, Dr. Heinrich Fremdeliebe was considered by the Baker Street Family to be the second-greatest villain in the city, nearly matching the Master Of Evil in cunning & intelligence. For all the pompous egotism that Dr. Fremdeliebe displayed on a regular basis, the Baker Street Family had to agree that their rival was actually very deserving of the compliments that he was constantly showering upon himself...perhaps, a little too deserving.
From what Basil & the Baker Street Family had learned about Dr. Fremdeliebe during their first encounter, Fremdeliebe hadn't been a villain for very long; he actually spent the first few decades of his life as a kind-hearted, law-abiding citizen who used his intelligence & his marvelous skills in inventing & engineering to improve the lives of others. Unfortunately, the benevolent being that Fremdeliebe once was had been transformed, for reasons not yet known to the Baker Street Family, into a sinister & terrifying monster that used his gifts for evil purposes.
As soon as he & the family had returned home following that first meeting, Basil declared that he would immediately begin a fursonal investigation of the "mad scientist of Mouse London", & over the next few days, the Great Mouse Detective was gradually able to get more information on Dr. Fremdeliebe, his background, his accomplishments during the last few decades, & whatnot. It wasn't long before Basil decided he had found all the pieces of this most peculiar puzzle, put two & two together, & came up with a (very accurate) theory about Dr. Fremdeliebe's downward spiral into insanity; basically, Basil deduced that after several harsh years of receiving rejection & scorn from his fellow rodents, Dr. Fremdeliebe finally snapped & became the furson he is today.
During those bouts of extensive research, Basil had pored through a number of press articles (& television news footage) covering Dr. Fremdeliebe's invasion of the 1898 end-of-year exhibition at the Crystal Palace, as well as an interview with Fremdeliebe that had been conducted shortly afterward by reporter Anastasia McCheese for the "Daily Brie" newspaper--but they mentioned nothing about Fremdeliebe's status as a villain or of the deadly nuclear experiments he conducted in his massive laboratory, which explains why Basil & the Baker Street Family were completely caught off-guard when they were first introduced to Dr. Fremdeliebe.
At that time, the Baker Street Family were helping Fidget & his girlfriend Cecelia Green (who had recently been masquerading as superhero vigilantes, but that's another story) investigate a crime that they were originally trying to solve on their own, & at one point, while searching for possible leads, they discovered that Dr. Fremdeliebe was involved in the current scheme. The Baker Street Family & Cecelia decided to interview Fremdeliebe at his house in the hopes of obtaining further information about what was going on, but not wanting to be impolite by showing up uninvited, they disguised themselves as pizza-delivery rodents & pretended to be bringing a few "Gouda-cheese pizzas with sauerkraut & bratwurst". Fremdeliebe, of course, didn't buy the act, but just laughed good-naturedly & welcomed Cecelia & the Baker Street Family into his house, before going over to greet his guests.
The Baker Street Family & Cecelia were originally surprised when they took their first look at their interviewee, a mild-mannered, meek-looking mouse slumped down in a wheelchair, but they were quickly won over by his affable manner & his gentlemousely charms (he even took a moment to kiss Ratigan's stepsister Eliza on the paw)! It wasn't until later, near the end of the interrogation, that Fremdeliebe started to display his true fursonality (well, the darker side of his fursonality, anyway) to Cecelia & the Baker Street Family, & it was at that turning-point that the heroes of Mouse London realized they had found another rogue to add to their ever-growing list of adversaries...
Look around you!
We have found
You cannot tell by lookin' at the surface
What is lurking there beneath it!
See that face?
Now, we're prepared to bet you,
What you see's not what you get,
'Cause mice are mouseters of deceit!
So, what is the sinister secret,
The lie folks will tell you is true?
It's that each mouse you meet
In the street
Isn't one mouse, but two!
The more Basil thought about it, the more Dr. Fremdeliebe reminded him of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde; it seemed that he was a living oxymoron, a paradoxical paragon of two different fursonalities residing in the same mouse. On one hand, Dr. Fremdeliebe was an evil genius, a villain to be respected & feared...yet, many times, Fremdeliebe seemed to display genuine compassion, kindness, & generosity towards others. He was a charming & polite gentlemouse who did his best to treat everyone with respect, & whenever other rodents came to visit him, he would always stop his lab work & go out of his way to make his guests feel comfortable in his "humble abode". Fremdeliebe could easily comfort a crying mouseling or donate some of his money to charity...but when he was alone & went back to his work, he would have no qualms about continuing his endeavors to unleash the lethal power of his nuclear inventions upon the towns & cities of the mouse world.
So, in a very ironic way, Dr. Fremdeliebe did still have some good in him...but as much as he showed it, it could not completely disguise the fact that he had been changed--for the worse--by the negative experiences he had endured throughout the years of his existence. He was a fallen angel who had succumbed to his inner demons & abandoned many of the things that were most important to him in life, opting instead to turn to his nuclear inventions for comfort & feed the monster that raged inside of him with dark, consuming thoughts of the vengeance he hoped to seek one day against the rodents who (he felt) had wronged him.
Dr. Fremdeliebe was indeed a tragic villain...but, even so, he was a villain nonetheless, & unless he was willing to give up his criminal lifestyle, redeem himself, & atone for his past actions, the goodness he had left in him didn't amount to anything. But Basil feared that it never would, for Fremdeliebe felt that his wicked deeds were justified, & he expressed quite openly that he had no desire to change his ways. It was a crying shame, Basil thought, that such a benevolent, intelligent, & talented mouse as Fremdeliebe would 'throw it all away' & turn to a life of crime...that someone like Fremdeliebe would stoop to the level of thieves & murderers in order to quench his thirst for unholy revenge. But in spite of how much Basil loathed Dr. Fremdeliebe's actions, the detective couldn't help but feel just a little bit sorry for the poor mouse...
The "mad scientist of Mouse London" was a complex character--one that did not completely belong to the side of good or evil, but walked the fine line between stable sanity & rabid psychosis--& by becoming acquainted with Dr. Fremdeliebe, Basil & the Baker Street Family learned two very important lessons: that things are not always in 'black-&-white', & that even the nicest & most charming of rodents may not be entirely as they seem...
There's a face that we hide
Till the nighttime appears,
And what's hiding inside,
Behind all of our fears,
Is our true self,
Locked inside the facade!
THE END