Mibbet felt a horrible crawly feeling in her gut as she realised they were surrounded, then she noticed something. “Why is there only one of you?” She asked.

Veggie Grey visibly winced at that. “they were too organised this time, they got Button, we didn’t expect Pintsize and ‘is boys to be so stupid, it’s bad business all around Princess. Without ‘im this city will fall apart.” Looking at Grey they couldn’t see the legendary timeless mobster. Now he was alone he looked like what he actually was. A tired old rat with more silver in his fur than grey. “I ‘ave a way to set this to rights, but it aint pretty.”

“Why should I help you do that Veggie Grey? What exactly do you plan to do?”

“I plan to let the worl’ see wot ‘as been going on all these years. all of it so they can do wot they’ve got to. It’s the only way to stop all this. Then I’ll disappear Princess, I’m tired. But I can only either fight pintsize and ‘is boys or do what’s needed to fix this mess.”

“What exactly do you mean fix this mess? You two were a huge part of why this city became this way, now you expect us to believe you want to fix it? HOW?”

“I plan to untwist the pinch.”

“Untwist it? You really are crazy it’s tonnes of stone bolted to tonnes more stone, it isn’t like retying a shoelace here.”

“Oh but it is, we were there when it was done, it’s how the wizards kept their secrets, but they don’ pay attention to an itty bitty set of lab rats, it’s amazing what we saw.”

“Yet suddenly you’re willing to fix a mess you covered up? What’s the catch. Remember we do have a hellcat out there watching, and an owl-bear, not to mention a construct who is capable of sending a message clean across the entire kingdom.”

“Then do it, without Button I’d just as soon be chow. But we’re trying to make righ’ ‘ere Princess, we want it remembered that the Grey’s didn’t leave the city a mess. This city has been our ‘ome for years, we want them to remember us as benevolent monsters if nuffink else.”

“Benevolent monsters?” Slinky snarled “compared to what, a dragon with a temper and a toothache? A drunken hydra? A demon lord on a bad hair day? We grew up hidden away in hell and now you’re trying to tell us you knew how to undo it in the first place? You really are monsters, and you deserve to rot for what you did.”

“Or you could destroy our empire, and make sure another like it will never emerge again, we’re done ‘ere, all I wan’ is to find a good place and retire. We did what we ‘ad to to get by back then, these new boys? They aint about that. They’ll keep taking and taking, and never stop. They’ll bleed the city dry.”

Mibbet thought for a moment, then sighed. “Tell me what I’ve got to do. and remember play me false and I’ll teach you about the real old firm.”

************************************************************************ Many years ago

Buttons and Veggie were two little grey rats. They had survived a birth in a lab, and for a time their mother did too. But all things must come to an end.

The wizard who had tested on their family all these years was looking desperate these days. Pacing back and forth determined to do whatever it took to defend their work. They had found the perfect spell, and they knew what they had to do.

Magic flared around him as he raised his staff and started to chant, determined to make sure his legacy didn’t fade away. There was a slamming sound as outside the ratty revolution did what revolutions always did. The door would only hold another few minutes at most, sweat beaded on Marvolo’s brow from the tremendous effort of the spell he was performing, while tucked away in their cage the duo saw him get weaker, and weaker. But it was actually starting to work. The shadows lengthened, and outside they could hear wails of confusion, as the tower did the impossible and twisted in on itself. Tonnes of stone twisting itself into an impossible form. Yet it held, as Marvolo sagged in on himself. His breathing becoming laboured under the strain, and relief. One day the wizards would reclaim this place, and when they did they would need to know how to fix things. He carefully noted down the spell and hid the tome as the hammering at the door started again.

They were far too late now, he had won. So he sat down beside the cage, as finally his heart gave out. The nurses had been telling him for years to take it easy, and he had studiously ignored them. Now it caught up to him, and by the time the door finally gave he was gone.

The revolutionaries gathered round trying to figure out what had happened, two little rats and a dead master, and yet they were wandering round as if they owned the place (Buttons had fished the keys from their erstwhile master’s corpse and freed them before he was even cold. They were at least used to death enough to handle that.)

From there things had gotten worse in the power structure (nature abhors a vacuum, power or otherwise.) So things got worse, gangs forming, betraying each other, falling apart. In that messy environment the firms had been born, their laws were simple, don’ start trouble. Look after the businesses. Don’t hurt my people or I’ll break your legs. Basic stuff. But it had been a start, and The Greys became the ultimate enforcers. Their particular brand of ruthlessness appealing to the masses. Eventually the rats figured out a new way. But still the old firm remained under the surface, hidden from sight by the spell the others forgot. Or pretended not to see, you know? Just in case. Yet to bring all that was left rotting at the core down all it would take is a simple twist.