Kidnapped

AUTHOR'S NOTES: OK, I said I was going to be a little busy for the next three months, but for now, I'm back with a new fanfic for you! And plenty more on the way...

Remember "Ratigan's Story"? This is another version of the first chapter, that describes in full detail how Baby Ratigan was kidnapped.

Ratigan belongs to Disney, of course. Everyone else is mine—especially the McBrides & Mouses Fiennes. I would appreciate it if you asked me before using these characters in your stories or RPGs. Thanks in advance.

Enjoy the story! (And feel free to send a review when you're done!)

Cold snow blew all around the streets of the miniature city of Mouse London. The year was 1880, & all the micefolk were at their homes, warming in front of their cozy fireplaces.

All, that is, except for three...

"Sally, dear, did you have to take a gondola to the port?" whined Andrew McBride as he waited impatiently in the long boat, as it was paddled down the waters of the Thames River.

"Andrew, we can't take a cab!" Sally McBride scolded as she fed milk from a bottle to a small baby rat. "After all, it's too snowy for the hansoms to be traveling!"

Andrew sighed wearily, before leaning onto the side of the gondola, his face looking awfully vexed as he grumbled to himself, "Damn all this winter weather...I wish it was never made! After all, it interferes with my work as a photographer!"

"You'll live, dear," Sally said, smiling coyly as she held her baby in her arms, tickling the toddler under the chin, causing him to giggle even more. "After all, a little nippiness never hurt anyone! Even our new adopted son seems to be enjoying it!"

"Whatever you say, Sally," Andrew droned, rolling his bespectacled eyes. "Whatever you say..."

Little did Sally & Andrew know, that someone was spying them...

Mouses Fiennes struggled to stay warm as he shivered in the cold winter winds, clutching his binoculars with his clawed, ringed fingers as he peered at the gondola floating down the river. As soon as he saw the baby in Sally's arms, Mouses grinned a most wicked smile, & chuckled evilly as he said, "My boy...my criminal heir...you will soon be mine..."

Mouses laughed maliciously, before mounting his big black dog-steed, & whipping it with the scourge he had drawn out of his coat pocket. Immediately, barking madly, the dog ran down for the river's edge...

Unaware of the danger that was about to befall them, Sally & Andrew, carrying their child, docked at the entrance to the sea port, & settled onto the snowy land.

"That'll be about ten shillings," said the one-eyed gondolier, outstretching his palm.

Just before they could hand the gondolier his money, however, Sally & Andrew turned around, gasping in fright, as they saw a menacing figure in ornate clothing riding towards them on a large, black hound, with sharp white teeth that gritted in his mouth as he snarled viciously.

Mouses Fiennes jumped off his dog, & went over to Sally, smiling wickedly as he said, "Give me the child. Now."

Sally looked at her sleeping baby cradled in her arms, then glared at Mouses as she said, "No! This is my child, & I won't hand him over to you, you monster!"

Suddenly, Sally screamed as Mouses backhanded her, & she tumbled to the ground, dropping her baby into the soft snow. Immediately, Sally grabbed her son, & ran as fast as she could, somehow managing to outrun Mouses & his dog.

Sally ran through the empty alleys & streets for as long as she could, until she got to the welcoming doors of St. Paul's Cathedral. Immediately, she banged on the door loudly, crying, "Help! Please help! Someone's after me & my son!" Her tears falling down her face, Sally gazed up with pleading eyes as she sobbed, "Please give us sanctuary..."

Suddenly, Sally gasped in delight as she saw her husband rush to her rescue...but her elated expression turned to one of terror as she saw Mouses take a pistol from his pocket & load it.

Sally, unsure what to do, huddled into a fetal position, clutching her baby to her breast as she awaited her doom. Two loud shots...& then, silence.

Mouses pried the baby from the unconscious Sally's arms, & ran away on his dog, just as Sally & Andrew, still breathing & alive, were taken to the nearby hospital.

Mouses rushed as fast as he could, until he got to a nearby alley with a sewer grating. There, Mouses' motley crew of thugs were waiting with bated breath for their master.

When Snotty Sam saw Mouses arrive, he asked with a malicious smile on his face, "Well, did you get him?"

With a cold smile on his lips, Mouses sneered as he whispered triumphantly, "Say 'hello' to the newest member of our family, my criminal heir..." As soon as Mouses unwrapped the swaddling cloth, his green-&-golden eyes twinkled merrily...then went up in shock as he saw a screaming baby rat.

"Golly gee!" 12-year-old Bartholomew gaped. "It's a...it's a..."

"A RAT!" Mouses creeched, taking the baby & slapping it, not caring that it was crying even louder. "A hideous, heathen sewer rat! No wonder Alan didn't want it! It's a disgusting little bastard!"

"What are you gonna do to it?" little Miriam asked.

Mouses' eyes turned from disgusted to angry as he snarled, "What my minion Alan should have done before I killed him!"

"Look!" young Terry Farrell cried, pointing at a wishing well.

Upon seeing the well, Mouses smiled evilly once more. "Perfect!"

Immediately, Mouses went over to the well, & gazed deeply into the waters. With no remorse, Mouses took the baby, & was just about to drop him...

"STOP!" cried the Archdeacon of St. Paul's, as he rushed over to Mouses & snatched the squealing baby from his hands. "You miserable beast! How dare you try & kill one of God's angels?"

"He's no angel, you sodding old fool!" Mouses snarled. "He's a vile, disgusting sewer rat!"

"That doesn't matter!" the Archdeacon snapped. "He's still an innocent child, & he needs to live! That's what his parents, God rest their souls, would want for him!"

Somehow, he's right, Mouses thought to himself. I worked hard to find the perfect child for my criminal heir...& this is the one.

Mouses sighed wearily, & said, "All right, sir. I'll take him in with me & raise him as my own child." Smiling wickedly as he caressed the baby's hair, he added in a vicious whisper, "It's what Alan & Sheila Ratigan would have wanted, indeed..."

THE END