Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

The Vile and the Villainous

   Ed and I are a couple of blocks away from the Flea when a muffled, sobbing sound comes from the drain below.

"Wait...that voice sounds familiar..." I realize, bending over to look down at the corner drain, "Ed, help me!"

With Ed on one end and me at the other, we both grab the grate leading to the sewers below. My end of the grate lifts much faster, with Ed struggling to keep up. I chuckle, "Ed, I got it from here."

He lets out a sigh of relief as he drops the end of the grate, sending me spinning with the heavy, unbalanced grate in my hands. I finally manage to set it down on the nearby sidewalk, and look down into the dark, open sewer hole.I look up at Ed, who begins shaking his head profusely. I sigh, of course.I jump down the hole into the sewers, where, with the small amount of daylight pouring in from the hole, I can make out a small figure huddled in the corner. Treading through the shallow sewer waters, I approach the familiar figure as slowly as I can.

"...Otis...?" I whisper.

The shadow is bathed in light as I grow closer, revealing a pale, starved Otis curled up in the corner. He's wearing the exact same clothes I last saw him in, except they're now covered in grime and there's holes in his shoes.

"Oh my gosh...what happened?" I ask, sitting down with him.

"Trixie!" Otis cries.

He reaches over to hug me, but then looks down at himself, and shrivels back into a ball, "Well...a little after my brother died, I was kicked out of our apartment. My money alone couldn't pay the rent. So...I've been living here."

Otis shifts to the side, and a large rat with messy gray hair, "Meet Mr. Sniffles, I found him in the sewers, and I trained him. He's not a picky eater, and he doesn't bite."

The rat, on all fours, scampers onto my leg and jumps up onto my shoulder. I jump, but his feet leave no scratches, and true to Otis's word, he doesn't bite.

"Wow, that's so cool Otis, but couldn't you stay at the Flea? I thought they let people sleep in the warehouse. They even provide food and blankets," I tell him, tentatively petting Mr. Sniffles on the forehead.

He scoffs, "Ha, I didn't realize you're that old, Trixie. The Flea hasn't let people sleep there for free ever since the fences took over. Now you gotta pay, and it ain't cheap."

Mr. Sniffles leaps off of my shoulder and trodes back to Otis as he feeds him a stale cracker. I guess I have grown out of the loop, "What ever happened to the Baron of the Flea?"

"I...I was too young to remember, but I think the Barons' rule ended when two guys started a whole bunch of in-fighting over the throne. After that, the fences took over. My brother told me, that for the longest time, the Baron was some little girl they called the Baroness, can you believe that?"

I chuckle, "It's hard to believe in hindsight, yeah."

"So, what brings you here?" he asks, taking out another moldy cracker from a plastic package.

I stop him from eating the cracker, grabbing it with my hand, "Uhm...how about first, I get you some new clothes and something...substantial to eat? I'll explain on the way."

  After wolfing down a cheeseburger and two orders of curly fries at a local diner, Otis, now dressed in typical black Flea garb "borrowed" from the precinct, smiles up at Ed and I.

"So, you guys are investigating the kids who go missing from Haly's Circus?" Otis recounts, tearing off a piece of cheese from the remainder of his burger and slipping it to Mr. Sniffles, hidden away in his deep coat pockets.