A/N: ATTACK OF THE CHILDREN!! And a familiar bat…
Anette was very happy knitting in the chair by the warm fire. Lauren was pacing the floor. The clock was ticking. The fire was crackling. The landlady just delivered them herbal tea. The doors were locked.
Unfortunately a window was neglected and unlocked.
A small bat hung in the neglected window, muffling his hacking cough with a dirty striped scarf. As silently as possible he was unlatching the window, waiting for Lauren to start ranting loudly.
"I'm so…worried! Anxious! I feel like something's going to happen!" The worried young mouse said. Anette sighed, Lauren's worries turning her little smile into a frown again as she knitted a scarf.
The bat licked his lips, anxious.
Wait till I tell Ratigan! Then I'll be happy and he'll get me money! Then I be happy! The bat thought and drooled, gravity making it go upside down. He flapped as he choked from the loogie going up his nose.
Meanwhile five mice, ill dressed and nasty were coming across the street to the residence.
"Who could that be?" Anette said as she heard heavy boots tramping up the stairs.
"I don't know…and I don't like it!" Lauren huffed and backed away to the large arm chair.
There was a pause…heavy knocking…and a fake accent.
"Um…Misses Gypsy and Bunny…we gots the mail! Let us in!" A male's voice was heard.
Obviously since no one knew besides Basil, Olivia, Dawson and Thomas that there were two women here with those stage names…that definitely wasn't the mailman!
"Stick it up your ratty noses!" Lauren yelled.
The door was pushed down with a CLANG and the thugs burst in!
"Ulp…" Lauren gulped and dove under the chair.
Anette glared at them.
"We gots you now!" The head thug smirked and fingered his piece of plank. The gypsy mouse backed up, staring him down.
"And you know what we're gonna do? Huh? Eh? Heehee…" A skinnier one drooled as he circled.
"I can only imagine…that it involves something with your stupid brains and your lack of intellect." She sighed. Lauren whimpered.
"Wrong bitch!" A fat one snorted. "We're gonna do bad things! With our mouths…"
"Not if those children claw your eyes out first."
And that was when, indeed, children ran into the room screaming and leaping upon the offending brutes. They were rag-tag street urchins of all sizes and colors, mice and a salamander and a shrew. The two women couldn't really gender much, for the thugs were snarling and swearing as the children were dragging them down and beating them with sticks and slingshots. It was wild, strange looking ruckus of the most childish sorts. How and why these orphans were and got here was a mystery, but they seemed to do a pretty good job of quickly tying up the thugs. The rope was jump rope, old nets and other assorted pieces of crude material. They had already come prepared.
So they stood parading around with sticks and old rags as the thugs were struggling in their bounds with cuts and bruises. Anette and Lauren stood dumbly watching the procession.
"Um…who are you?" Lauren said perturbed at these young children that saved their lives.
"We're da Baker Street Irregulars Missus!" A young one blurted.
"We were a guarded this place like Basil said fa two shillings each!" Another squeaked.
"We'll getcha…we'll…GRR!" A thug roared and unsuccessfully struggled out of the ribbons that had him tied up. He especially didn't like them because the pink clashed with his ugly stained brown shirt.
"Well thanks for the, um, rescuing…" Anette scratched her head…and in came the bat!
One of the Irregulars came in holding a flapping small bat. Cursing and waving his peg leg around, the strange bat wore a dirty scarf and hat and soon got free of the little mouse's hold.
"NO TOUCHY! OFF BRATS OFF!" The bat hacked and screeched. He flapped unto a table and hissed and cursed at the children and the girls.
"Intriguing…a drunken bat." Anette mused aloud.
"When I tell Ratigan you here I get money! And I be rich!" The bat hacked.
"Ratigan? You work for him?" Lauren said with renewed interest.
"I did…but I will again! I heard women escape and found ye!" The creature chuckled.
The children were about to grapple him but Basil strode in with a pistol cocked. His beard was off and his clothing in disarray, but he still was formidable.
"You…" Basil hissed. Dawson stumbled in with the panting and frazzled Thomas behind him. Basil's gun was at the ready.
"Stand down Fidget…" Dawson said exasperated, and the bat named Fidget got off the table with his hands up.
"Don't shoot no shoot!" Fidget squealed.
"I won't yet you scoundrel…and I had even thought you dead! Now why are you here?"
"Fidget trying to work for Ratigan again! So Fidget find where ladies are! And fidget get reward!" The cowardly bat stammered and wheezed out, trembling on his foot and peg.
Basil relaxed the grip on his weapon while Thomas locked the door.
"Get in that closet." Basil directed with the pistol. Fidget immediately flapped into the closet whereupon Basil locked it. With that done he collapsed against the door and gave a long breath.
Lauren and Anette were standing, watching as Thomas threw off his disguise and fell into an arm chair while Dawson helped drag Basil to his favorite arm chair. The Baker Street Irregulars stood watching with smiling yet street dirty faces.
"What happened? You look like the entire world had fallen in!" The worried Lauren exclaimed and went over to Basil. Basil was pouring himself a glass of wine with a sad hollow look to his eyes.
"It almost did. Ratigan was expecting us, Thomas and I were ambushed and we were running for our very lives! And Elizabeth…" Dawson paused and dabbed his brow with a handkerchief.
"Did you try to rescue her?" Anette questioned.
"I did…and discovered what had happened between her and Ratigan last night…and what is happening to her now…" Basil said as he drank the liquor all down.
Lauren gasped.
"What? You mean…really…he…"
Basil stood up, renewed from the wine and straightened himself out. "Yes Miss Lauren, it is unfortunate that she is being subjected to horrors I thought not possible!" He looked at the children, striding over to them. "Tomorrow we shall storm the place with search warrants and arrest him and his thugs! Not to mention those in the corner…"
"You filthy mouse!" One of them hissed, and was promptly hit on the head by a vase.
"Tonight we can only hope Elizabeth is strong, tomorrow justice will be served! And now to put patrols of my spies…"
The ladies and Thomas were a bit confused, but soon it became clear who these 'spies' were.
"AtttttttttenSHUN!" Basil stiffened. The children stood in a line and saluted. Inspecting his street-rat troops he went back to his earlier position.
"At ease gentlemen." The children slouched and one blew their nose.
"Now, you have done a good work protecting these fine ladies from Ratigan's forces. Two shillings each!" Basil drew some money from his purse, the children eagerly clambering over to get their pay.
"Is that all Mr. Basil?" A young shrew squeaked.
"Not at all! Now for three shillings…" The eyes of the children lit up. "I need you to patrol stealthily and secretly around Mickey Finn's Entertainment, on Down on Dunham street. Report back to me if a big bad rat, some women, a young golden rat and some men start to leave. If they do, some of you try to follow while the rest report back to me. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir!" They all said at the same time.
"This is very important! But first, take these thugs to the police station." Shooing them away, the children in their vast number were dragging off the tied up mice. Fidget was flapping around in the closet. Basil went over and locked it.
"He'll be fine over night…he might be of some help. Now…BED!" Basil bellowed and went over to Lauren.
"How can you sleep when my friend is being molested?" Lauren stammered.
"We can do nothing at the moment. Tomorrow at early dawn we'll get him…I hope…and we'll keep watch so you'll be safe…" Basil was acting energetic, but his eyes were sad…brooding…as he held Lauren's hand.
She bit her lip as he looked at her.
"Don't worry…be strong." Basil whispered.
With that he quickly kissed her hand and flew up the stairs to his bedroom, leaving Dawson watching the strange thing Basil had done and Thomas who was leading Anette up stairs to bed.
Did he just…Lauren rubbed her hand, looking at it.
I guess he did. She thought. This completely baffled her.
Dawson thought Basil had truly gone crazy. He's never seen Basil kiss a young lady's hand before…
A/N: Well well…soft aren't we Mr. Basil? I can't stop giggling!
Shoys.