Chapter 4: The Ratcatcher

Gotham City, the day before…

Mrs. Milligan hummed quietly to herself as she opened up one of the rat cages and filled the rat's bowl up with pellets for it to eat. The little rodent's nose twitched eagerly as it registered that breakfast was here and it scampered over to eat. It grabbed one of the pellets with its tiny paws and held it delicately as it feasted away. Mrs. Milligan smiled, glad to see that the rat was eating. A rat with no appetite was no good to any customer after all. She closed the cage and headed over to a hutch containing rabbits to put some food in the bowls for the two bunnies leaving in there.

Mrs. Milligan was the owner of Gotham Pets, a modest little pet shop in the centre of Gotham City. It wasn't large and the selection of pets on offer was hardly anything unique or special. She just sold rats, Guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, parrots and tortoises. But it had good business nonetheless, selling good pets at good prices and attracting customers all around the city. Mrs. Milligan had been running the place for years, having inherited it from her father before her. She loved working there for she loved working with animals and enjoyed bringing happiness to people. Every time a customer left with a pet she'd sold in their arms, it meant another smile she'd brought to people's faces. The bond between animal and human was always something special and she liked how she would bring them together with her little pet shop. If only her husband and son were here to run the place with her. Her husband worked away as a builder and their son had left to pursue his own life, not wanting to be stuck selling pets for a living. She missed her son and wished her husband could be around to run the shop with her. Still, at least she had the pets for company.

Mrs. Milligan was a homely looking woman with a kind face and a soft personality. She was the sort of person who seemed to have patience with anyone, even children, and loved every animal that she saw, even if they were poisonous or deadly. Animals were her passion and she'd wanted to work with them upon leaving college. The woman imagined she'd inherited all that love from her father when he'd been running the pet shop.

Mrs. Milligan had just finished feeding the Guinea pigs, watching them scamper over to see what good they'd been given and squeaking in excitement. She put down the food bag and was about to get out some food for the parrots but she heard the jingling of a bell that signified that a customer was here. Her feathered friends would have to wait. She turned away and headed over to the counter quickly. What animal of hers was about to find a new home today? She looked forward to seeing what it would be.

"Good morning, welcome to Gotham Pets, home of many fabulous, furry and feathered friends hoping to be your friends for life, how may…"

She stumbled over her last words as she finally got a sign of what her customer looked like. Mrs. Milligan's eyes bulged as she saw quite possibly, the strangest looking man that had ever walked into her shop.

"…help…you?" the pet shop owner blurted out at last as she took in what she was looking at.

The man she was faced with was like no person she'd ever met. He was dressed in the strangest of clothes, nothing that any ordinary human being would wear. He wore a long, brown coat, leathery brown gloves, thick brown boots and a brown flat-topped, wide brimmed hat. What made this combo even stranger was the mask he wore. It had glass eyes that made it hard to see what his actual eyes looked like and in place of a mouth, there was a sharp beak protruding from it. He carried a black cane with a round, spherical silver head in one hand. All of this made him look like a plague doctor, the kind of thing that might appear in a history book on the medieval years in history classes. The only thing that separated him from history was that the clothes had a slightly more modern look, especially the mask, as if the man had wanted to adapt the plague doctor look for a more modern age.

Mrs. Milligan didn't like him at all. Even the other animals seemed to hate him, running away and hiding in their butches or cages so they didn't have to look at him. The parrot squawked wildly. There was something unnerving about the way he stood there, still as a statue with his glass eyes bearing into her like he was trying to read her. With his beaked mask, he was like a vulture waiting for its prey to collapse dead so it could scavenge on it. She was tempted to gasp at the sight of this man but she bit her lip for the time being and swallowed. She had to remember her manners and not show any insensitivity towards this man. Customers were customers and she couldn't judge by how they looked. Clearing her throat, Mrs. Milligan spoke again.

"Do excuse me." she said meekly, "Um, how may I serve you sir?"

The man simply turned his head and looked over at the rats, which seemed to suddenly lose interest in their food and sit up on their hind legs and stare at him inquisitively. They looked like obedient dogs begging for treats. The man turned his head back to the woman at the counter.

"Such wonderful rats you have on display here." he purred, "I'm quite fond of the little rodents. I'll take every one you have."

His voice was soft and weaselly, something that made him even more unnerving to the woman. He didn't talk like any normal person would, his words measured out and his tone of voice sinister. It sounded like he was quietly observing everything around him, like a mad scientist concocting a particularly interesting experiment. Mrs. Milligan nodded.

"You want every rat in the story, got it. I can do that for you." she said quickly, keen to serve this stranger so she could get rid of him already, "It'll tally up to a big price though, these rats aren't cheap…"

She yelped as the man pointed his cane at her like a rapier. He had moved so fast that it was like one minute the cane was down, the next it was up.

"You fail to grasp my meaning." the masked stranger crooned, "I didn't say I'll BUY everyone you have, I said I'll TAKE them. I don't buy rats. I feel it unfair that the poor creatures get to be sold for worthless amounts of money against their will because some ignorant, shallow-minded charlatan wants to buy one and shove it in a cage where it's just there to be looked at for the rest of its life."

He whipped the cane away from the pet shop owner and saw to opening every single cage with a rat inside. Mrs. Milligan watched with anger as the man opened the cages. It wasn't often she got angry but there it was, white hot and flowing through her veins. Who did this freak think he was just barging in like this and freeing her contents?! The man turned to her again, standing still with both hands on his cane while all the freed rats clambered down to the floor and scurried around his feet. Why they seemed interested in him was anybody's guess.

"Put yourself in their place dear woman." the man purred again, "Can you imagine how awful it would be if somebody put YOU in a cage and put a price tag on you? Imagine a customer coming in here to buy you for whatever price you're being sold for? You would consider that…unlawful wouldn't you? It sickens me what hypocrites mankind can be. These poor animals, my beloved rats, treated as pests and vermin yet sold in stores to be kept as pets while humans are never put through such scrutiny and injustice. Rats should be free, just as humans are. That is why I have come here, to free all rats imprisoned in your shop to be sold at whatever sick profit you wish to make."

"Now you listen here, your delusional ranting has gone on long enough!" Mrs. Milligan cried, storming over to him, "I don't know who you think you are but you can leave this store right…"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before the masked man struck her in the side of her head with his cane. He had once again moved so fast that she didn't even catch his movement. One minute he was standing there, the next she was staggering against the counter and clutching her head in pain. Mrs. Milligan winced as her head throbbed terribly. The man lowered his cane and spoke again.

"Rats are treated as a pestilence and a plague." he muttered, "People love to kill them for what little crimes they commit. Humanity commits far worse atrocities every day and yet they're never treated as vermin to be exterminated. My little furry friends have been abused and mistreated for far too long, that is why they need me…the Ratcatcher. I am their saviour, and I am here to pass judgement on mankind and avenge every rodent that has ever been unfairly slain or held captive by their hand."

"I swear sir, I'll call the police!" Mrs. Milligan cried out, still clutching her head.

"To do what exactly? Arrest me for pointing out the truth to mankind's ways?" the Ratcatcher sneered, "All you'll be doing is proving me right, that mankind is nothing more than a plague of hypocrisies, hate and lies. My furry friends won't approve of this at all…"

Just as he said that, several other rats began to file in to the pet shop behind him. Mrs. Milligan stared in disbelief as a whole horde of rats came scurrying into the shop, all varying in breeds and colours. It was like seeing a sea of brown, white, black and grey waving about on the floor. The rats he'd just freed from their cages joined in the swarm. All the other animals stayed hidden nervously, hoping that none of these rats were interested in them. The strange thing about them was that they all seemed to be obediently following the orders of the masked man they swarmed around. He didn't say anything but they were clearly under his control for they didn't do anything to him and kept surrounding him. Mrs. Milligan put a hand over her mouth in astonishment.

"How…what even ARE you?!" she exclaimed.

"A plague to wipe out mankind. I am here to finish what was started back in the Middle Ages so long ago…" the Ratcatcher explained.

Then suddenly, without any visible commands given, the rats all stampeded towards Mrs. Milligan and began climbing onto her. They moved in a flurry of scuttling feet and excited squeaks as they clambered onto her and scuttled around her. Mrs. Milligan screamed in terror as the rats climbed onto her, scratching her all over with their tiny claws. She tried to swipe them away but there were far too many rats to handle. She had no chance of getting them all off. What made things worse for her was that they began biting into her. She cried out in horror and pain as hundreds of tiny mouths full of sharp teeth bit into her. It was like being in a piranha tank, a swarm of hundreds of mouths biting into you from all over. Mrs. Milligan fell over onto the floor as the rats feasted on her, showing no signs of relenting. She squirmed helplessly on the floor, blood seeping from her wounds. The Ratcatcher just watched, silently observing the hideous scene before him with gruesome interest.

"STOP IT, STOP IT PLEASE! GET THEM ALL OFF OF ME!" the poor woman howled feebly.

The Ratcatcher didn't move. He continued to watch as the rats had themselves the biggest feast of their lives, staining the floor with the blood of their victim…


Barbara Gordon felt as if she'd had the longest sleep of her life. So long in fact that it genuinely amazed her when she finally crawled out from under the covers and saw that her bedside clock was telling her it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The red-head groaned tiredly as she slumped against her pillows. It was quite clear that last night's outing had worn her out more than she'd expected. She thought back to what had happened yesterday: the infiltration of the Gotham Rats hideout, the bloody massacre that had come out from it, Batman torturing a guy half to death to get him to talk, the big fight…and her leaving him. All of that in one night! It was amazing that the commissioner's daughter had even woken up at all after such an exhausting night. Barbara sat up in her bed and stretched. She winced as pain flared through the back of her shoulder and she clutched it instinctively. Her wound had been stitched up but that didn't stop it from hurting. She still felt pain whenever she moved her shoulder. At least the nutjob that had stabbed her wouldn't try it a second time.

Barbara rubbed her brilliant, blue eyes as she tried to get whatever sleep remained in them out. She wouldn't have much time to just have a quiet day to herself before she had to go out as Batgirl again. It was mid-afternoon already! Night would come in a matter of hours so she may as well put whatever time was available to her to good use before it was time to go vigilante again. She climbed out of bed and stretched again, still feeling a little sore from last night. At least the Batgirl costume was protective enough, otherwise she'd be feeling a lot sorer. Barbara quickly dressed herself and went downstairs to get, what she supposed could be considered closer to lunch than breakfast at this time of day. Her stomach was growling, pleading for something to digest. She wondered if her father was around at all. She had hoped to spend the day with him before both had to go on their respective duties. Barbara thought back to how Commissioner Gordon had comforted her while she let out all her grief over Batman's more violent nature and let him know she and him weren't going to be working together for a while. He had been upset to hear about it, also mentioning that he'd been troubled by Batman's more violent nature.

"I'm just glad he didn't hurt you." Gordon had said, "I think you've made the right choice in leaving his side for now Barbara."

"It's clear he's too messed up from Robin's death to think straight so it's best I give him time to get his head in the game, I guess." Barbara murmured, "Though I fear he might end up going too far and now I'm not around, there's no one to hold him back."

"Oh don't worry about that darling, I'll be there to reel him in if he goes too far." the commissioner declared, "I'd hate to have to arrest him despite all the good he's done in the past. I hope it won't come to that."

"You and me both dad…" the red-haired girl agreed.

Afterwards, she'd stripped off the Batgirl suit and the two had spent a few hours chatting about more pleasant things such as what they could do together and what places they could go eat at. The talking had gone on so long that Barbara had drifted off to sleep so her father had left her in her bed while going to sleep in his own.

Barbara entered the kitchen, which looked as if it hadn't been tidied from lunch. There was a plate containing a half-eaten sandwich and an empty mug of coffee. It seemed her father had had to leave in a hurry. He didn't seem to be anywhere else, the most telling sign being she couldn't smell any cigarettes. No smell of cigarettes meant no Jim Gordon. The computer whiz saw that there was a note on the table and she quickly scanned it. It read:

Sorry Babs, had to go. There's something going on at the Gotham Pets Store. It sounds gruesome. Hope you finally get out of bed!

Your father XXX

"No rest for the weary, hey dad?" Barbara sighed to herself.

It made her wonder as she picked up the rest of Gordon's sandwich and finished it off herself. What the hell was going on at a pet store of all places? She'd leave that to the commissioner. Barba had something else to ponder about instead. She thought over it as she walked over to the fridge and took out some components to make lunch for herself. She made a sandwich containing ham, cheese, lettuce, a dollop of mayonnaise and a sprinkle of salt and added a banana and a satsuma to go along with it. To perk herself up, she poured herself a mug of coffee to drink with her lunch. Barbara ate her meal and then went back up into her room, opening up her laptop so she could quickly do some research. The thought had been with her throughout her lunch and she decided now was a good time to look into it.

There was this name the Rat King had told her and Batman last night…the Ratcatcher. It still puzzled the commissioner's daughter. The Ratcatcher? What sort of name was that? It sounded more like an exterminator who took his job way too seriously! And yet, it was presumably the name of the Gotham Rats Gang's boss, or at least the name he went by. Luckily for her, Barbara had access to the GCPD records and could see them on her laptop. She was Jim Gordon's daughter after all so naturally, this kind of information wouldn't be hard for her to get a hold of. She got up the GCPD records once more and quickly searched for anyone going by the name "The Ratcatcher". Her results turned up with absolutely nothing, no files on any criminals going by that name. Barbara frowned. It wasn't like the GCPD to have no files on any crook in Gotham! She couldn't blame it on the system being corrupt; those days were long over thanks to her dad rightfully replacing that scumbag, Loeb, as police commissioner. The police force couldn't be more clean and reliable nowadays. Maybe this was a new face in the criminal underworld. This could well be the Ratcatcher's first foray into the dark underbelly of the city where Gotham's worst seemed to spawn from. Barbara didn't like this as it meant she would be going up against an enemy she wouldn't know about. It would make finding out about him very interesting indeed.

"I just hope I get to him before Bruce does." the redhead hissed, "If he finds him, the Ratcatcher will probably end up half-dead and lying on the streets somewhere!"

She tried something else. Barbara decided to conduct an internet search for the Ratcatcher. She typed the name in the search bar and glanced at the results that came up. The internet was no better for her. It didn't give up any results about crime bosses or goons in Gotham going by the name. All she got was several results relating to exterminators and advice on how to catch rats. She sighed in annoyance. Trust this "Ratcatcher" guy to use a name that could easily mean something else entirely! No one would ever attribute it to a codename used by a crime boss. Then she thought about something else. Barbara went back to the GCPD records and decided to try using fewer words to get a more specific result. How about just typing in the word "rat"? That could yield results. She tried that and was met with a result of some kind. There was a police report about an unsolved murder that had happened a long time ago. At first, Barbara wasn't sure what it had to do with rats but she read on, knowing it would make sense as she did. The report said:

Victims: Ben Richard Flannegan and Victoria Ruby Flannegan

Cause of Death: Multiple wounds all over the body, causing severe blood loss. What inflicted the wounds isn't clear but it's suspect that they may have been victims of a severe rat attack as some were seen scurrying around the bodies when they were found. Why the rats attacked them is unknown.

That made Barbara's eyes widen with interest. Two people were supposedly killed by rats, the reason for the attack being unknown. Her detective-like-mind automatically came to the assumption that there was a hidden connection somewhere. Why would rats kill two people like this, if it had been rats that had killed them? Had this been The Ratcatcher's doing? If so, how did he manage it? The report also mentioned their son had gone missing and hadn't been seen since, listing it down as other notes about the incident. That gave Barbara another thing to ponder. Why were the parents killed but their son had disappeared? Had the Ratcatcher taken him for some reason? If that was the case, she imagined it wasn't good. Maybe he'd fed him to the rats. And now her father was investigating something happening at the Gotham Pets Store. It was crazy to assume that this had anything to do with the Ratcatcher, but she knew full well what pet shops often sold…pet rats. Could the Ratcatcher have caused an attack like what killed the Flannegans to happen at the pet store? It was possible and Barbara was determined to find out. Of course, her father wouldn't want her here but she wasn't going to let that stop her from probing. She would join him at the scene right away!

The superheroine knew where the Gotham Pets Store was located so she'd be able to get there in no time. She shut her laptop down and left her bedroom to properly dress herself up for going out. Barbara wondered if her dad was still there now…


Commissioner Gordon had seen one of the most horrific crime scenes he had ever seen in his life. He had thought life in Gotham had left him permanently unfazed towards anything gruesome and grisly anymore…and he had been wrong.

Upon arriving at the pet store, he and his men had looked around the place and seen the disgusting remains of Mrs. Milligan's body behind the counter. None of them could even bear to look at it. Even the police who were on duty to wrap the body up in a body bag were struggling to look at it for more than five seconds and kept glancing away as they didn't want to take it in. It made the commissioner wonder what on Earth could possibly have happened to the poor woman. What sick, twisted monster kills a person, peels off some of their flesh and leaves whatever's left to rot away? He stood outside, refusing to look in again until Mrs. Milligan's body had been removed from the scene. Gordon looked relieved when he turned around and saw the body bag emerge from the pet store with two officers carrying it away to be taken to the nearest morgue. His right-hand man, Detective Harvey Bullock came out to join him, the fat officer as usual clenching a cigarette between his teeth. He puffed out smoke and turned to Commissioner Gordon.

"Sight like that's enough ta make even ME lose my appetite!" he muttered.

"That'll be a first." Gordon agreed, "What the hell went down here? It's almost like she was…eaten alive or something!"

"Yeah, but WHAT exactly ate dat poor gal is anyone's guess." Bullock murmured, "I'd have said piranhas but we all know dey don't walk on land. And also, I doubt they'd have left anything aside from the woman's bones. Dat corpse is half-finished."

"Whatever's going on here, I hope we don't get a repeat of it." the commissioner sighed, "I'm still trying not to barf like poor Officer Simone did!"

Bullock nodded. The gruesome scene they'd been met with had been enough to make anyone feel sick. He glanced over at Officer Simone, who was being comforted by other officers who could see she was in great distress. Nobody on any police force should have to see a crime this horrific and twisted.

"Ya know what else is weird commish?" the detective asked, "Looking around dat pet store, there were cages that were supposed to be selling rats. But dey were all empty while all da other cages were full."

"That doesn't mean anything Harv, the rats could've been sold before this attack happened." Gordon noted.

"Yes, but I didn't see any signs saying they'd been sold at all." Harvey pointed out, "The cages were still advertising the rats and saying they were for sale. Seems very suspicious dat the attacker stole a bunch of rats and didn't seem ta take any money…" he murmured cryptically.

"You sure no money was stolen?" Gordon asked.

"Oh yes, I may be no Batman, but I don't miss details like dat." Bullock insisted, "This wasn't a robbery or anything…this was something else entirely."

Gordon nodded, feeling his friend had a point. Who walks into a pet store, murders a woman and then doesn't take anything accept supposedly a bunch of rats? This sounded like something Batman should tackle, this crazed psychopath was clearly someone he'd have experience with. But Jim knew that Barbara would disapprove of getting Batman to investigate. The last thing they needed was to deal with another criminal Batman had beaten half to death. Having to sort out the Gotham Rats Gang last night was tiresome enough! He would tell Barbara about all this and make this her next job as Batgirl, she'd want to look into this.

Just as he thought of his daughter, Barbara approached the crime scene. She was dressed in a long coat that made her look like a detective out on duty. She could see the police gathered around the pet store and quickly walked over to them. As she approached, she failed to notice that someone was walking her way and she bumped into her. The redhead yelped as she staggered backwards while the person she'd bumped into barely even moved. She looked shocked over what had happened and quickly ran over to her.

"Oh I am SO sorry!" she exclaimed, "I didn't see you there."

"No, it's OK, I wasn't watching my surroundings!" Barbara said hastily, "It's OK, no harm done."

She then looked at the woman she'd bumped into, noticing her raven black hair and the Catholic cross around her neck. She also noticed she seemed to be bruised around the face and had a healing cut on the side of her mouth. It made Barbara stare for a minute. This poor woman looked like she'd been in a fight recently.

"Are you OK?" she asked, hoping not to sound rude, "What…what's up with your face? Has somebody been hitting you?"

"It's nothing, really." the woman insisted, "I'm rather accident prone. Say, what's happening over there?" she asked, glancing over at the police investigation at the pet store.

"Something terrible it seems." Barbara muttered, "My dad's working on this so I'm gonna ask him what's happening."

"Your dad works with the GCPD?" the Catholic girl asked with interest.

"More than that, he's the commissioner." the computer genius explained, "I think you should get going and don't worry about what's happening here."

She ran off towards the crime scene while the woman with the Catholic cross watched her go. Instead of leaving like Barbara had suggested, she instead headed towards the investigation so she could see what was happening. She didn't linger too closely, but was close enough to hear voices and was able to make out some of what was being said. She even saw Barbara approach what she presumed was her father and speak to him. Gordon looked incredulous to see her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Barbara, you should get out of here! This is official police work and we can't have you out here!" he hissed frantically.

He kept his voice down low so nobody could hear him. The sound of background traffic and the wind helped to further mask his voice from any prying ears.

"I can see that dad, but you can't keep me out of these things anymore and you know that." Barbara retorted, "I'm your daughter, this is as much my business as it is yours, especially…well, you know." she added. She didn't need to clarify what she meant by that.

Gordon nodded grimly, understanding his daughter's words.

"Before I got here, I started investigating a name that was brought up when we brought down the Gotham Rats Gang." Barbara explained, "One of them said their boss was a guy calling himself "The Ratcatcher". Name ring any bells to you?"

The commissioner thought for a moment.

"The Ratcatcher…no, I don't believe it does." he answered.

"Didn't think it would. I've looked into GCPD records and there's nothing on the guy." his daughter went on, "Must be new around here…I got curious since this attack here's happening at a pet store of all places. The Ratcatcher could be behind it."

"Well Harvey did point out that all the pet rats on sale were gone…" Gordon murmured.

Both he and Barbara nodded together, coming to the same conclusion between them. A man calling himself the Ratcatcher and an attack on a pet shop that has some pet rats missing? That couldn't be a coincidence…

"So we have some idea on what's happened here." Gordon declared, "This could be an attack on behalf of this "Ratcatcher" guy. It might even explain what became of the owner."

"What happened to her?" Barbara asked.

Gordon filled her in quickly on what they'd seen in the shop, graciously sparing Barbara the details. The brainy girl took all this in and thought about what she'd been told.

"Sounds like that police report I read about the couple who's deaths were unclear…" she murmured, "They looked like they'd been eaten alive too, and it was said the likeliest explanation was that rats did it as they'd been seen around the bodies."

"So you think the Ratcatcher somehow got the rats to just eat the pet shop owner alive?" Gordon asked.

"It's a stretch but given half the lunatics that terrorize this city, it's likely." Barbara deduced, "I'll drop by the hospital tonight to ask his gang some questions about their boss. Maybe they'll be willing to talk."

"You better be careful out there Barbara." Gordon said, his voice full of concern, "You won't have Batman to back you up this time…" he whispered, making sure nobody could hear him say that.

"I won't need him dad." Barbara insisted.

She turned and walked away, leaving the commissioner to continue what he was doing. Unbeknownst to the two of them, the black haired woman had listened in on the conversation, though thankfully for them, she hadn't heard the more important details. She had wondered what Gordon had whispered to Barbara but didn't ponder long on it. Instead, she thought about what she'd heard about this supposed "Ratcatcher" character.

"A crime boss calling himself The Ratcatcher…he attacks a pet shop owner and takes the rats with him?" Helena murmured to herself, "Well I know it's nothing in relation to Mandragora. This isn't his style too. Still, a criminal's a criminal and I oughta investigate. I could silence another criminal and put him out of everybody's lives for good…"

With that said, the Italian-American woman walked away, deciding to leave before anybody could notice her. She didn't want to look as if she was spying after all. It seemed that as Huntress, she'd be looking into another criminal. She didn't care that it was somebody she hadn't heard of before. As far as she was concerned, it was another monster to put in the grave. Helena would find this Ratcatcher and, fittingly enough, carry out a little extermination…


The Ratcatcher strode back into his lair, surrounded by the very rats he'd used to kill Mrs. Milligan at the pet shop. Deep down inside, he felt great pleasure in what he'd done to that impudent woman who dared to imprison his beloved animals in cages to sell for measly profit but his body language showed none of that. He just walked in slowly with his cane tapping on the floor as if he was a ghost stepping out of his grave. It was unnerving how he could feel much joy and yet show little of it. With every step he took, his coat waved around and behind him, the ends flicking up and down as he walked. His lair was dark and uninviting with peeling wallpaper, cracked ceilings and no windows around in any of the rooms. The Ratcatcher had taken them out, preferring the dark as he liked to feel nobody could see what he was doing when shrouded in shadows. The dark brought great comfort to him and made him feel secure. What was left of the windows were just boarded up or filled in with bricks. There were lights, but even then when they were turned on, they only lit very dimly.

The Ratcatcher could see that there was one light on in one of the rooms and he and his rats walked up to it to have a look inside. The room was just as featureless as most of his lair with nothing but a single table and a chair filling any space in it. There was a woman sitting at the chair and working on something. The woman was German and wore a mask that concealed a part of her face and her nose. She was surrounded by chemistry equipment that was spread out all over the entire table. There were glass tubes, jars full of all sorts of colourful liquids that didn't look drinkable in the slightest, Bunsen burners, tri-pods and much more. Whatever work was going on here, it didn't look particularly enticing. It somehow looked dangerous and the stuff being produced here was lethal in some way. The woman was working hard on this project, her face showing pure concentration as she filled another jar with some strange liquid. She didn't even notice that the Ratcatcher was watching her. That was good for him, it showed she was working away and wasn't going to let anything distract her. The masked man also noticed that, as expected, the woman still had the shackles around her wrists that he'd clamped on her. The chain linking the shackles to the table was long enough to allow the chemist to work, but if she tried to run, she'd be going nowhere. The chain was wrapped around a table leg and padlocked so it would stay there and the table itself had been bolted to the floor, making it impossible to move. The table was also very solidly built so breaking it to get free was out of the question. The masked woman would only leave if he wanted her to, simple as that.

Not wanting to disturb her, The Ratcatcher walked on and left her in peace to finish her work. He really didn't want any delays after her previous failed attempts to replicate what he wanted. He just headed back to his room, the room which only had a desk and a chair, and walked straight over to his seat so he could relax until nightfall. His rats all gathered around him as he sat down with both hands placed on top of his cane. He looked down at his loyal followers as they sat upright and stared at him with beady black eyes and twitching noses.

"You've done well today my brothers and sisters." the crazed rat-lover purred, "Taking vengeance upon that despicable woman for daring to sell some of your own was a victory for you all. And what's best is that you have some more friends to join our nest…"

He beckoned for the rats he'd stolen from the pet shop to come forward. They did so, following his command like obedient dogs. They sat upright as he leaned forward and patted their heads softly.

"You are free my friends." The Ratcatcher cooed delightedly, "Free to mingle with the rest of my family. No longer will you be kept in cages and traded for money. Now you will play a part in our crusade against the true vermin of this world…"

The rats just looked up at him, not able to say anything.

"You may all go back to your nest and rest until night." The Ratcatcher said softly, "We must be prepared for whatever may come."

The swarm of rodents all obeyed and filed out of the room in a flurry of scuttling paws and excited squeaks. To anyone who was afraid of rats, this would be the most horrifying thing to watch, a swarm of rats all moving in unison from one room to the next. As soon as the rats had all left, The Ratcatcher leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of contentment. What a good day this had been! Killing a pet-shop owner and adding more rats to his "family", what could make this day any better? He still had the trouble of his stupid gang getting themselves caught and arrested after interference from Batman and Batgirl but he would sort that out, come tonight. He would send a rat to spy on the authorities and find out where his gang were being held, be it a prison or a hospital, and then he'd deal with them. He wasn't going to give anyone the chance to spill the beans on him, not when it wasn't time for his plans to come to fruition. For now, he could just take a moment to chill and just swim through his own thoughts. There was one in particular that he loved to reminisce on and he closed his eyes as he thought back to one of the happiest memories of his childhood…


Gotham City, an old household on the outskirts of the city, 30 years ago…

"You can go outside and play dear, but don't spend too long out there! And don't you get yourself all dirty too!"

The five year old boy didn't care what his overly-demanding mother had said. He wanted to go outside and have fun and he was going to do it! Getting dirty was just part of the fun as far as he was concerned. He toddled outside excitedly, laughing as he ran through the garden. He was the kind of child that seemed to carry a lot of energy despite being rather small. He was short for the standards of most five year olds but that didn't seem to slow him down as he ran through the garden, playing merrily on the swings and the slides that the family had in the garden. His blonde hair waved around whenever he ran and every time he smiled, he showed his most distinguishing feature, a buck tooth. His two front teeth were notoriously large for a boy of his size and they stood out quite a bit. Most of the neighbours that saw him jokingly said he looked like a beaver with those teeth. The boy hadn't appreciated that and had once threatened to bite one of the neighbours if she dared call him that again. She'd done so…and now spent her days with a finger missing. Nobody believed the neighbour when she told them what had happened, especially the boy's parents. Who in the world could possibly believe a five year old child could simply bite a person's finger off? Of course, the blonde boy had been delighted to get away with it and had kept the incident to himself ever since.

He noticed that that same neighbour was looking at him over the window and grinned smugly at her, showing his buck teeth. The neighbour immediately shrunk back, not wanting to see him after what he'd done. Glad she wasn't there anymore, the boy continued to run around his garden. He loved playing out here due to the garden's large amount of space, all the toys he had to play with outside and the beautiful plants his parents had grown out here. They were keen gardeners and loved growing all sorts of plants, especially roses. They were his mother's favourite and they were his favourite too…though not necessarily for the same reason as his mother's. He jumped on the rose beds and squashed the lush, red flowers flat. Oh how cross that old windbag would be with him! It made him giggle to think how angry she'd be. He hated flowers and loved squashing them whenever he could. How fun it was to flatten those stupid plants with his own two feet! He even made sure plenty of their petals fell off so he could scatter them around. The boy glanced over at his house to see if his mother had noticed what he was doing. It seemed she was otherwise engaged for she hadn't shouted at him to stop trampling on her roses. That was OK, maybe she'd notice later.

The energetic little kid jumped off of the rose beds and ran over to play with his football. He picked it up and kicked it around, kicking it anywhere he could. There was a goal net but he didn't bother using it. Everywhere was a place for him to score a goal as far as he was concerned. He even booted the ball into another patch of flowers and flattened them as it landed on top of them. He picked it up and kicked it around again. He then sent it flying over to the garden shed nearby. His eyes went wide with dismay as his ball smashed straight through the window and into the shed with a loud crash. This was not good at all. The boy didn't care when his mother got angry for she was too soft on him and was never any good at punishing him. The father on the other hand was something else to worry about. He was known around the neighbourhood to be violent and ill-tempered and he often suffered the worst of it! If he saw this, he'd beat him black and blue! The poor child thought on what to do, how to avoid getting punished by his dad. Maybe he could blame it on something else! Yes…he knew just what to do now.

He ran over to the shed and unbolted it. His father was never much for security so he never bothered to padlock it, even though it was the most sensible thing to do. The bolt was tough and required a lot of fiddling to get it open but he managed it. Now he went inside and was met with the sight of what one normally expects to see in a man's shed. There were toolboxes, gardening tools and bits of machinery such as the lawnmower, a chainsaw and a hedge trimmer. The shed was so cluttered that the child was amazed his dad could even MOVE in here! Why did everything have to be in such a mess? It was a miracle if he could get anything out in this place! He saw just the thing he wanted in the shed, a garden rake standing on end and next to the broken window his football had come through. He grabbed the rake and shifted it over to the window, putting the end with the tooth bar through the broken pane. That way, should anybody see the smashed window, his dad would assume the rake just fell onto it and broke it. The boy gathered up as much broken glass he could find and threw it outside just under the broken window to make the story look more convincing. It would seem awfully suspicious if a rake had fallen and broken the window yet the glass was INSIDE the shed after all. Finally, he grabbed his football and hurried out of the shed and bolted it back up. But just as he did so, something small and furry scurried out onto the garden. He saw it in the corner of his eyes as he closed the door. He turned around and saw the thing that had run out.

His eyes widened with interest as he looked at the thing he'd seen rush out of the shed. It was a rat, large and white with a plump body and red eyes. Its nose was twitching inquisitively, taking in the scents of the garden. The boy stood still and watched it nose around in the grass for any food. There was something about the little creature that attracted him to it. He'd never seen anything so cute in his life. Those little round ears, its beady, innocent eyes, its tiny paws and its sensitive little nose...it looked very appealing to him. He wanted to reach out and touch the rat, imagining its fur most feel very soft. He got down on his knees and reached out a hand.

"Hello little fella." the boy cooed softly.

The rat noticed him and quickly took off, scurrying through the garden and towards the fence to escape from this giant that was trying to touch it. The boy watched it flee and called after it.

"No, don't go away! Please come back!" he cried.

Then suddenly, impossibly…the rat did just what he told it to! The child gasped as he saw the rat not only stop dead in its tracks, but it turned around and ran back towards him! In its mind, its instincts were telling it to run away but somehow, this boy had overridden its thoughts and compelled it to come to him. The rat sat upright on its hind legs, looking up at the boy with interest. It looked more like a loyal pet obeying its master than a wild animal. The boy smiled to himself as he picked up the rat and stroked it, enjoying the feel of its fur. How had he done it? How had he managed to compel a rat to just come to him like that? Whatever it was, he was glad he could do it. It had led to this lovely moment with him and the rat, just sitting there stroking it as its nose prodded around his shirt. In this single moment, it was like the two had become the best of friends.

"You're adorable!" the boy cooed, "Maybe you can be my pet. I'll take good care of you and feed you every day. We could even be best buddies, you and me!"

The rat didn't say anything as the boy began feeling its tail. It wasn't in any position to object to the boy's wishes, not when it seemed to be under his spell. Against its will, it would be his forever and the boy didn't care one bit if the rat wanted to or not…


Gotham City, just outside Gotham City Hospital, Present Day…

Night had fallen and The Ratcatcher had found out from his little rat spy that his gang had been taken to the Gotham City Hospital to recover from the grievous injuries they'd received from their battle with Batman and Batgirl. He was heading there now, traversing the entire way on foot. He walked through the streets, ignoring the sounds of distant chatter, passing cars and honking horns as he made his way to the hospital. It was as if the entire world had faded out of existence and he wasn't aware of anything around him, except for his destination. He had his cane with him, carrying it more like a sword than a walking stick. He also had his rat spy sitting on his shoulder, its head glancing around every so often as it took in what was happening.

Very soon, the Ratcatcher came across the Gotham City Hospital, seeing it was just across the road with some busy traffic passing by. It couldn't look more obvious as a hospital if it tried with its fleet of ambulances on standby waiting to roll into action at the first sign of emergency and exterior that seemed to be 90% made of windows. Without looking at his spy, he spoke to it.

"Is this the hospital my gang is in?" he asked.

The rat chirped in response.

"Then pest control can begin my brother…" the Ratcatcher purred darkly.

He strode across the road just as the traffic lights went red to stop any oncoming vehicles. His coat flowed behind him like a flag as he walked. By the time he was finished here tonight, the hospital morgue was going to have a lot of corpses…


So that's the Ratcatcher for you. Creepy little shit, isn't he? So now he knows where his gang is being kept, will he get rid of them all before Batgirl can get answers? Will Huntress get to him at all? Is this what will soon bring the Birds of Prey together? All of this and more await next time as the Gotham Rats Gang will be "Ratted Out"...