This chapter tackles a little Historical Disease - YES! - just for me. I'm not just the Queen of Tragedy, you know. All you have to do is ask my husband: Rats, Lice, and Pestilence paved the way to my heart. I couldn't resist having the guys look into this one.
Lucius creates a vaccine for the plague even though he's not a virologist. But it works anyway because he's an intellectual badass. The black plague was caused by a bacterium, I know, just hang tight, I'm going somewhere with this . . . Remember he discovered/isolated the Tetch virus, formulated a vaccine for it, and somehow made enough doses for all of Gotham within a week even though the city was in a state of crisis? (reminding people all the while that he wasn't a virologist) Yeah, he's got this one. Yersinia Pestis? Piece of cake. (although I strongly suspect he's not a bacteriologist either)
Ed enlists the help of Lee Thompkins (because she's a medical doctor - not because, well, never mind) to find a cure for the plague even though it's very awkward and uncomfortable working with her because of all the stabby-stabby that went down that fateful day in The Narrows. But they do end up succeeding. Unfortunately, their results are almost immediately forgotten due to lack of funding.
Jeremiah invents a time machine, steals Lucius' vaccine, gives it to himself, goes back in time, locates the most rat-infested city in the medieval world and jumps into a pile of plague. After getting thoroughly bitten – by the rats and their fleas - he returns to our time to make sure the vaccine has been effective on him. And it has! Next, he tests the vaccine on some of his followers, utilizing the fleas that had made the journey back with him. Even his control group lives! It's a bit unconventional, but yes, he had set it up so that they were all infected and his control group only received the vaccine AFTER infection. But this reveals that Lucius' vaccine is also a cure! (Intellectual badass indeed). Jeremiah now pumps his body full of it, goes back in time, and jumps into piles of rats with glee in the most plague-infected cities of the past, spreading Lucius' prevention and cure through the bites of their fleas, effectively stopping it in its tracks.
Oswald astutely 'picks the right horse' and rejecting Ed and Lee's grant proposal with glee, he instead finances Jeremiah, taking all the credit for his near-miraculous feat. However, now there are city-wide issues he has to deal with due to the sudden surge in population and he confiscates Jeremiah's time machine to prevent further mishaps. And he remains popular with the citizens of Gotham due to his ability to yet once again 'get things done.' His re-election is assured.
Next time our guys will tackle that age-old mystery . . . Who exactly was Jack the Ripper?
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The Smartest Men in Gotham
FanfictionFollow the adventures of the four smartest men in Gotham: Ed Nygma, Jeremiah Valeska, Lucius Fox, & Oswald Cobblepot as they work to solve history's greatest mysteries/puzzles/problems. And don't forget to have fun! ;-)