The Beginning of a Beautiful Romance | Basil x Reader

Bar Fight Breakout | Chapter 4

"Dawson, you've done it! This list is precisely what we need." Basil says with an overjoyed grin.

"What?" Dawson asks.

Basil puts on his deerstalker cap as he rushes to the window. "Quickly, back to Baker Street!" He says.

《↬.•.•✿•.•.↫》

"Ah, the uniforms. Oh Fidget, I knew I could rely on you. Now, you didn't forget anything?" Ratigan asks as he searches through the bag.

Fidget cackles with a malicious grin. "No problem. I took care of everything. Everything on the list." He opens his wing to display the list but it wasn't there. He frantically searches for it. "Uh-oh..."

Ratigan's grin falls, seeing something was wrong. "What's wrong?" He asks with a glare.

Fidget pats himself down in a panic. "The list...I know..."

"Where's the list?" Ratigan asks, becoming angrier by the second.

"The list, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well you see, uh, it was like this. I was in the toy store getting uniforms when I heard "A-roo A-roo" Fidget imitates a dog as he was explaining.

Ratigan, puzzled and impatient, rubs his forehead and grumbles, "You're not coming through."

"A dog came. I ran. I had baby bonnet, girl in bag and Basil chased me." Fidget explains.

Hearing this last piece of information, Ratigan snaps. "What? Basil on the case?! Why you gibbering little..." Fidget cowers in fear as Ratigan fights the urge to strangle him.

"W-Wait! I, I have some information that might be useful, against Basil!" Fidget suddenly says.

Ratigan quickly calms down and looks at him with a glare. "Well, what is it then? Spit it out." He growls.

"There, there was this (mouse/rat/other tiny creature) and, uh, they, they seem to be important to Basil." Fidget quickly says in a panic.

Ratigan pauses and looks down at the bat. "Who is this? I've never seen them nor have I heard of them before."

"I, I'm not sure, but they seemed to be, uhm, courting." Fidget nervously says, hoping this information will be useful to Ratigan.

"Courting, you say...? Hmph, I didn't think Basil was the romantic type." Ratigan thinks for a moment before grinning, a malicious idea sparking in his mind. "Yes... Yes. Oh, I just thought of the wicked idea." He chuckles, picking Fidget up by his cheeks. "Fidget, you delightful little maniac." He shakes the bat. "You've presented me with a singular opportunity." He drops Fidget. "Poor Basil! Oh, he is in for a little surprise." Ratigan grins maliciously with a deep chuckle.

⇜✾⇝

Basil lights a lamp and examines the list with his magnifying glass, you and Dawson next to him.

"Offhand, I can deduce very little. Only that the words are written with a broad pointed quill pen which has spattered, twice. That the paper is of..." Basil tosses the paper in his hand. "...native Mongolian manufacture, no watermark. And has..." He puts the paper to his lips and smacks it. "...been gummed, if I'm not very much in error..." He sniffs at the paper, and holds it at arm's length. "...by a bat who has been drinking Rodent's Delight! A cheap brandy sold only in the seediest pubs."

"You can determine all of that so quickly?" You ask.

"Hmm. Amazing." Dawson says.

Basil rummages at his desk. "Oh not really, Doctor. We still don't know where it came from." He pulls out his microscope and puts it on the desk. "Perhaps a close inspection will tell us something." He puts the list underneath the microscope, focusing the lens on the letter. "Hmm-hmm. Hmm. Coal dust. Clearly of the type used in sewer lamps."