About a month after the near takeover of London, and the brutal battle on Big Ben, Basil was continuing to solve cases, now accompanied by his two assistants, Dr. Dawson and the reformed Fidget.

The crippled bat was thoroughly enjoying his time with the detective, but the others couldn't say it was all crumpets and tea. Despite his good intentions, Fidget, 50% of the time, ended up either annoying Basil's household, or causing a mess of things, like last week when he'd concocted his own little chemical mix with Basil's chemistry set.

Both Basil and Mrs. Judson were equally mad, but managed to hold their temper, knowing Fidget was just curious.

"Curiosity killed the bat…" Basil had muttered under his breath as he helped clean up.

All in all though, everyone enjoyed having him around. His crazy antics and eager to please attitude could always make anyone laugh. Even so, they needed a break sometimes.

That break came one chilly evening that promised rain later. Basil had received an invitation to a party, and was taking Dawson along. Mrs. Judson had gone out for the night off.

"Alright Dawson, ready to go?" Basil asked.

"Indeed I am, we best be off." Dawson replied.

"Alright! Where're we going?"

Fidget dropped down from the ceiling, where he liked to hang from every once and a while.

Basil sighed. He'd been over this already about 5 times in the last 4 hours.

"Fidget, for the last time. We, as in Dawson and I, are going to a party. You, are staying here."

"Why can't I go?"

"Because, it's a very formal party, and you my dear fellow, aren't, eh, how should I put this so you'd understand…you can be a slob."

Fidget frowned at him.

"What Basil means to say is, this will be a rather long and boring dinner, and we wouldn't want you getting bored now would we?" Dawson asked.

Fidget cocked his head in thought. Dawson sighed, then thought of another idea.

"We need someone to stay here and guard the house while we're away. Think you can handle it?"

"Oh, I get it! Heh heh, no problem! I can take care of this place easy!"

"That's a good boy. Now, we'll be back later. Take care."

Dawson and Basil quickly made their way towards the door and left, leaving Fidget alone. He fixed a cup of apple cinnamon tea, which he'd come to love, and sat in one of the armchairs in front of the fire.

He sighed as he relaxed in it. Normally, he'd only fall asleep comfortably if he was upside-down, but he found himself dozing in the chair.

The warmth of the fire and tea was soothing in the chilly weather, and he slowly curled up against the armrest. His sharp sense of smell picked up burning oak and coal from the fire, the apple cinnamon of the tea, and something that smelt familiar, but he couldn't quite name it.

After a minute it came to him. Mint, that's what it was.

'Haven't smelled mint since I worked for Ratigan…'

Mint had been Ratigan's personal favorite herb to burn or chew.

Basil didn't care for it though, he preferred cinnamon bark. So why would Fidget be smelling mint in Basil's house.

He opened his eyes blearily, got out of the chair, and glanced around the room for the source, walking to the center of the area as he sniffed the air. He didn't see anything at first.

Then, a large shadow engulfed him. He slowly turned around, as he had his back to the fire, and his blood ran cold.

"Good evening, Fidget." Ratigan greeted as he rested his elbow on the top of the chair, drawing in smoke from his cigarette pole.

Fidget screamed and made a break for the front door, but Ratigan grabbed his ears and pulled him back and off his feet.

"Leaving so soon? That's quite rude. I just thought we could catch up."

Fidget swallowed a large lump in his throat.

"H-h-h-how a-a-are you…?" he stammered, trying to hide his fear, but he knew that was an impossibility.

"Alive?" Ratigan chuckled. "Well, you see, as I was falling from Big Ben, there so happened to be some humans on a balloon ride. I managed to catch the basket, and stuck around until we reach the ground. I returned to my lair to recover, and as it turned out, all my fellow henchmen were gone, arrested. And who do I have to thank for that?"

Fidget gulped a little with a nervous smile.

"I'll give you a hint, it's not Basil. Well, not entirely anyway. Fidget, out of curiosity, what in that crazy mind of yours made you think to suddenly turn against me, after everything I've done for you?" Ratigan asked.

Fidget bit his lip and avoided Ratigan's eyes. The professor smirked and carried him over to the chair, dropping the bat into it. Fidget gulped as Ratigan circled him, and moved out of sight behind him.

"I've learned you've been making a name for yourself," Ratigan stated finally, causing Fidget to jump when he suddenly appeared on his right. Ratigan pulled out a cut out from a newspaper and held it out to Fidget, who hesitantly took it.

It was of the case Basil had solved last week, and it described how Basil and his two assistants, Dawson and Fidget, had stopped a weapons deal. There was a small paragraph about Fidget himself, describing his change of heart, and comments from Basil and Dawson about how they enjoyed working with him, and how they couldn't have solved the case without him. This was true, only Fidget had been small enough to fit into the vents to listen in on the dealers' conversations and plans.

"And I see you've been making new friends," Ratigan added, "Like, BASIL!"

Fidget flinched at Ratigan's growl.

"Uh, friend's a strong word, h-h-h-he's more like a, a, a, a room and board." Fidget stammered.

Ratigan chuckled softly.

"Anyway, back to my story. After a few weeks of recovery, that's when I started thinking up a plan for revenge. Of course, that was easy, with my brilliant mind."

Fidget couldn't help but snort at Ratigan's ego, but quickly regretted it when he was grabbed by the neck of his sweater and brought face to face with Ratigan. The rat was glaring at him, before taking a breath that seemed to calm him. He took a long draw of smoke from his cigarette pole, before blowing it in Fidget's face, causing the bat to cough while Ratigan spoke.

"As I was saying, I have a plan to get back at Basil. Now, I can be very forgiving, which is why I've included you in this plan."

"M-m-me?"

"Yes. I'm going to need someone on the inside to keep tabs on Basil, and when the time is right, I'll need you to lure him to a specified location. Are we clear?"

Fidget gulped slightly as he spoke.

"I-I-I-I'm n-n-n-not h-h-helping y-y-you."

Ratigan paused for a moment, before chuckling.

"Dear Fidget, I don't think you quite grasp the severity of your situation." He stated as he dropped Fidget back into the chair.

Ratigan wandered over to the fire, picking up the fire tongs along the way. He poked around the fire, until he picked up a rather large piece of coal that was a bright orange after being in the fire so long. As he turned back to Fidget, the bat's eyes widened at the sight of the hot coal.

"My patience with you is quite thin, and you should be thankful I've decided to give you another chance. My first idea involved tying you to cinderblocks and tossing you into the Thames," Ratigan stated.

Fidget shuddered, still eyeing the hot coal.

"All you have to do is help me take down Basil, and I can overlook your betrayal. Now, I'll ask you again, are, we, clear?" Ratigan asked slowly, pushing the hot coal towards him. Fidget pressed against the chair as far back as he could go, trembling.

The rock was close enough he could feel the heat radiating off of it. He swallowed another large lump in his throat as sweat poured down his face.

After a few seconds, he finally exclaimed, "Okay! Okay! Okay!"

Ratigan smirked, and tossed the coal back into the fire.

"That's a good boy." He said, patting Fidget on the head, before strolling towards the door. He paused at the shelf where Basil kept trophies of his success. A picture of Ratigan rested beside a small dinner bell. Ratigan plucked the bell from the shelf and pocketed it.

"I believe this is mine, anyway, I'll check in with you later. I've got to hire a few new helpers," Ratigan stated as he put on his top hat and opened the door, but before he stepped out, he turned back to Fidget.

"And Fidget, remember,"

Fidget glanced at him timidly from the chair.

"This is our little secret. So, tell no one about this, or I swear the pain I would cause you would have no earthly equal," Ratigan growled, before his tone turned cheerful, "Understand?"

Fidget nodded, crouching until only his eyes and ears were visible.

"Good boy. Now, ta ta." Ratigan tipped his hat, and laughed as he slammed the door. "Oh I love it when I'm nasty."

Fidget let out a breath that he felt like he'd been holding since Ratigan had shown up.

'Ratigan's alive! Whatta am I gonna do?'

Fidget shuddered as he watched the fire, eventually falling asleep…