Deep beneath London, ‘Jago’ and a woman called Xiu Xiu are exploring the sewers looking for valuables that they can pawn off. They open a steel gate and Xiu Xiu leaves Jago to go further inside alone. He enters an area filled with numerous rats, and a loud screech indicates a much bigger rat is among them…
Jago and Litefoot are living in a house share with another family. With no money and jobs to call their own, both men have resorted to pawning items that they can find and hunting food off the street. Litefoot theorises that somewhere in this world are two men who live the exact same lives and have the exact same faces and voices. Jago suggests that they could try and track them down and ask for charity by claiming to be long lost relatives.
Elsewhere, ‘Litefoot’ is being examined by Dr. Logan. Logan claims that ‘Litefoot’ had collapsed in the mortuary while working. He diagnoses that ‘Litefoot’ has overexerted himself at work and suggests that he take a few weeks to rest at home. Logan also offers to send a former nurse to act as his housekeeper by the name of Hannah Price to take care of him during that time.
Litefoot is walking around the city. He is surprised to see a manhole cover open before him to reveal ‘Jago’ emerge from it. ‘Jago’ hurriedly asks Litefoot to help close it before the rats can escape. Litefoot asks ‘Jago’ what he is doing here as he only just met him at their temporary house. It quickly dawns on him that he has found this universe’s ‘Jago’ as this ‘Jago’ does not recognise him, which also means this ‘Jago’ has not met this universe’s ‘Litefoot’. They introduce themselves to each other and Litefoot learns that this ‘Jago’ used to work in the Palace Theatre before falling on hard times. ‘Jago’ invites Litefoot to come to his house and meet his wife.
At his house, ‘Litefoot’ is pleased with Hannah’s help around the house. He notices something moving outside the house in the shrubbery, but it seems to have disappeared. He prepares to retire for the night and heads upstairs to sleep. Once Litefoot is gone, Hannah hears a tapping on the window and finds a man called Dicky Twist waiting for her. She chastises him for nearly being seen, but tells him the place has a lot of loot…
‘Jago’ takes Litefoot to a rough-looking pub, ‘The Rock of Gibraltar’. ‘Jago’ tells Litefoot that he and his wife live in an attic room above it. They enter the pub to find Xiu Xiu hard at work behind the bar. She is pleased to see her husband back from the sewers. ‘Jago’ introduces her to Litefoot and learns from ‘Jago’ that Litefoot is a professor of pathology. Xiu Xiu is pleased as they need a man handy with a scalpel for their upcoming job. She shows Litefoot a huge rifle and they would like him to carry out an autopsy on the victim of their job. The gun suddenly discharges in ‘Jago’s’ hand, thankfully nobody is hit, and everyone simply laughs it off. Xiu Xiu warns ‘Jago’ in Chinese that the landlord is coming…and he is a violent sort. He takes Litefoot out to hide in another pub.
The next day, Jago is looking for Litefoot as he did not come home. He hears someone call his name and a furious Chinese woman comes marching towards him – Xiu Xiu. Jago is understandably confused as to who the woman is, which does not help matters as she angrily slaps him across the face. She chastises him for leaving her to explain the damage to their landlord (which the other ‘Jago’ accidently caused) and asks him where he was during the night. Jago points out his and Litefoot’s temporary lodging. Xiu Xiu does not believe him as she spots Litefoot passed out in a doorway on the street. Jago is pleased to see his friend again, who stirs from his sleep. Xiu Xiu tells Jago that she managed to hide their gun but warns him that they must carry out their job soon while they still can. Believing the temporary home is where Litefoot lives, Xiu Xiu promises to return to get Litefoot later and leaves. Jago stirs a disorientated Litefoot from his sleep and carries him to their temporary house.
At ‘Litefoot’s’ house, ‘Litefoot’ catches Hannah inspecting a huge, black cabinet. He claims that he bought it along with many other strange objects from an auction. It was all procured from a police raid on a gang hiding out beneath the Palace Theatre. Hannah inspects a strange, crystalline object and suggests to ‘Litefoot’ that it must be the key to the cabinet. She slots it into the cabinet, but it does not open, but she does feel a strange vibration. ‘Litefoot’ notices it too, believing it to be a sense of déjà vu. Even stranger is that Hannah had just brought in a hot pot of tea for ‘Litefoot’…which has just gone cold. Suddenly, Hannah spots a rat on the floor and impales it on a poker. She tells ‘Litefoot’ that she knows a ratcatcher who can help with his his rat problem by the name of Dicky Twist.
Litefoot awakens from his stupor in their temporary house with Jago explaining that he found him asleep on the street. Jago tells Litefoot how he was assaulted by a Chinese woman who claimed to know who he was. Litefoot explains that the woman is the wife of the ‘Jago’ of this universe and he tells Jago about his meeting with the other ‘Jago’. Jago is incredulous to learn that his counterpart makes a living as a scavenger in the sewers. Jago shows Litefoot a newspaper article which details the purchase of a huge collection of Chinese paraphernalia by ‘Professor George Litefoot’, procured from beneath the Palace Theatre. Both men deduce that the Chinese paraphernalia in question must be from Weng-Chiang when he arrived in this universe. What is more is that it proves that the ‘Litefoot’ of this universe is wealthy. Jago urges his friend once more to try and befriend his counterpart to help them get back on their feet. Litefoot has another plan however. He orders Jago to visit ‘Litefoot’ in his stead and gives him a jade frog, a lucky charm Litefoot carries around and a gift from the Chinese emperor. He instructs Jago to offer the jade frog to the ‘Litefoot’ of this universe for a large sum of money.
At ‘Litefoot’s’ house, Dicky Twist the ratcatcher sends his dog to find the rats in his house. The dog returns with a dead rat in its mouth. Twist informs ‘Litefoot’ that he would like to look in the cellar to make sure there are no nests festering down there.
‘Jago’ and Xiu Xiu arrive outside Jago and Litefoot’s temporary house. Xiu Xiu is still mad at ‘Jago’, who tries to make amends to his wife, but can’t seem to make her see sense. They walk inside and ask a woman where Litefoot lives, to which the incredulous woman states that ‘Jago’ lives with him! Both ‘Jago’ and Xiu Xiu believe that ‘Jago’ may have a long-lost twin brother…
Litefoot is visited by ‘Jago’ and Xiu Xiu. They state that they have come to talk about their proposed job for him. ‘Jago’ tells Litefoot that beneath the streets of London lives a huge rat that is said to be the queen of all the other rats. He proposes that Litefoot should join them in the sewers to hunt the creature and kill it. Litefoot will then be tasked with gutting the creature for a taxidermist.
In the cellar of ‘Litefoot’s’ house, Twist is looking at all the antiques ‘Litefoot’ has in storage. It is clear that rat catching is further from his mind than robbery. Hannah sneaks in and asks Twist if there is anything worth stealing. Twist discovers several coils of copper wire from a strange, glass chamber. Hannah tells Twist that she can put a sleeping drug in ‘Litefoot’s’ tea so they can rob him while he sleeps. He instructs Hannah to head back up and pretend to say goodbye to him so ‘Litefoot’ will think he has left while he hides in the cellar for her return.
Hannah returns to ‘Litefoot’ as he wakes up in his bedroom. She informs him that Twist has left and has taken care of his rat problem. She makes him a tea and slips a drug inside unbeknownst to him. Before he can drink it however, the doorbell rings. Hannah answers the door to a man who introduces himself as Henry Gordon Jago. He asks if he could meet with the master of the house.
‘Jago’ and Litefoot wait outside The Rock of Gibraltar for Xiu Xiu to fetch the gun from the bar. She comes out with the weapon as well as a huge block of smelly stilton cheese. If they are going rat hunting, they need bait.
‘Litefoot’ has invited Jago into the house for tea and cake. He tells ‘Litefoot’ about how the jade frog was the last thing he recovered from the Palace Theatre when it was sold off at auction. As ‘Litefoot’ bought all the paraphernalia, he thought it wise to seek him out to see if he was interested in purchasing it. ‘Litefoot’ shows great interest in the frog, but would like to know its authenticity, so he quizzes Jago on where it came from. Jago claims it came from a Chinese man called Weng-Chiang, a Chinese man who travelled around the world with it. ‘Litefoot’ invites Jago to stay with him for dinner. Strangely enough, he mentions to Jago how he has only just met him, yet he feels like he has known him for years…
‘Jago’, Xiu Xiu and Litefoot enter a sewer near a market. ‘Jago’ reveals that they have laced the stilton cheese with opium, which will knock the rat queen out. Then they will execute it. Once the beast is dead, they plan to bring it’s corpse to Litefoot’s temporary house to dissect it. Litefoot is disgusted by their callous behaviour and refuses to go through with it. Xiu Xiu is not willing to take no for an answer. She reminds Litefoot that she is the one with the gun after all and points it at him to coerce him. Litefoot is not the least bit threatened by her as he knows they need him alive. He tells Xiu Xiu to give him the gun as he is more experienced with them. Suddenly, they hear a distant shrieking sound… ‘Jago’ fears that the Queen Rat is not far away…
At ‘Litefoot’s’ house, ‘Litefoot’ is regaling Jago with his adventures in China and how he wishes he could return there. He notices how open he has become with this stranger. Jago asks ‘Litefoot’ about the possibility of other worlds where they as individuals made different choices that lead to different paths in their lives. Jago notices the black cabinet in the back of the room and identifies it as Weng-Chiang’s Time Cabinet. Jago is horrified to see that the crystal key has been inserted into it and demands to know if ‘Litefoot’ has tried to use it. Jago explains how the Time Cabinet was killing Weng-Chiang and why he was kidnapping women to sustain himself. With the crystal key inside the cabinet, it may be the reason for ‘Litefoot’s’ illness. Litefoot refuses to listen and immediately accuses Jago of using the jade frog to try and get inside his house to steal the cabinet. With no other choice, Jago tries to pull the crystal key out of the lock. ‘Litefoot’ orders Hannah to call the police, but Hannah refuses to do so. Jago then picks up a fireplace poker and repeatedly stabs the crystal until it shatters into a blast of zygma energy that knocks ‘Litefoot’ off his feet…
In the sewers, ‘Jago’, Xiu Xiu and Litefoot are being chased by the Queen Rat. ‘Jago’ orders Xiu Xiu to deploy the bait to distract the rat. They turn the corner and watch as the Queen Rat chows down on the cheese. ‘Jago’ offers Litefoot the honour of executing the rat, which he does so reluctantly. They walk around the corner and Litefoot raises the weapon to fire…only to discover the weapon is jammed! The Rat spots the trio and pounces on ‘Jago’ and begins to maul his leg. Xiu Xiu takes the weapon from Litefoot and manages to shoot the rat, not killing it but wounding it enough to not be a threat. Litefoot looks at ‘Jago’s’ leg and finds that it is losing a lot of blood and is broken. With quick thinking, he uses ‘Jago’s’ scarf to close the wound and the rifle as a splint to hold the leg together. The Rat Queen begins to recover and screeches at them. With no other choice, Litefoot and Xiu Xiu pick up Jago and hurry to the sewer exit.
Hannah checks ‘Litefoot’s’ pulse and finds that he is still alive thankfully. Suddenly, ‘Litefoot’ springs back to life and proudly claims that he has felt much better than he has ever felt in weeks – the time cabinet seems to have healed him! He apologises to Jago for his accusations but asks Hannah why she refused to go to the police for help. Before she can answer, they all hear the faint sound of a dog barking in the cellar. Twist and his dog are still in the cellar, which cannot be as Hannah told ‘Litefoot’ that they had left! ‘Litefoot’ opens the cellar and finds Twist in the dark. Twist tries to claim that he is searching for rats…in the dark. ‘Litefoot’ is not fooled and tells him and his dog to come out. Hannah admits defeat and tells Twist they should give up trying to lie. Jago and ‘Litefoot’ head into the cellar and see that Twist has been trying to dismantle the glass chamber. Twist does not know when to quit and tells ‘Litefoot’ that he and Hannah are going to leave with the copper he has salvaged from the machine. Jago tries to tell Twist to step out of the machine, but Twist does not listen. Suddenly, the machine activates, and Twist and his dog are immediately transformed into rotting husks. The machine was a distillation machine. Hannah and ‘Litefoot’ are horrified by what they have witnessed. Hannah runs out to find the police.
In the sewers, Litefoot and Xiu Xiu manage to find a manhole cover to escape through, but the Rat Queen is gaining on them. Xiu Xiu manages to open the manhole cover while Litefoot ties a rope around ‘Jago’ to lift him up with. They manage to narrowly escape to street level, but the rat has their scent and is thrashing angrily against the manhole cover. Eventually it will escape and chase them again. Litefoot calls to a passing woman to fetch help for ‘Jago’. The woman turns out to be Hannah, who is incredibly confused as to how Litefoot can be here when she just ran from his house! Suddenly, the Rat Queen breaks through the manhole cover. Litefoot suddenly realises where they are…they are not far from his real house! He orders Xiu Xiu to run to a particular house and wait outside while he finds his door key…
Hannah rushes to two gentlemen on the street. She explains about the fate of Twist and his dog. The two men declare that it sounds like a case for them to solve…
In ‘Litefoot’s’ cellar, Jago and ‘Litefoot’ hear the house front door opening and assume Hannah has brought the police. As they walk up the stairs of the cellar, two men who look identical to themselves and a Chinese woman enter the room. Xiu Xiu points out to Litefoot that there are people already in here and they look just like them. ‘Litefoot’ fears that he is either drunk, gone mad or dead as he sees his identical imposter. Jago is horrified to see his twin bleeding out on the floor and close to death. Litefoot is horrified to see the cellar is full of Weng-Chiang’s tools of death, even more so when he sees the dead man inside the distillation chamber. Xiu Xiu orders the men to barricade the door with whatever they can find. Litefoot explains to Jago that Weng-Chiang’s giant rat survived the events of the Weng-Chiang case in this world and it has invaded ‘Litefoot’s’ house! Jago notices that the distillation chamber is full of energy after it sapped the life out of Twist and he and Litefoot theorise that they can use it to save ‘Jago’. Both men heave ‘Jago’ into the chamber and the device begins to power up and it immediately regenerates ‘Jago’ back to health. ‘Jago’ is amazed at the sight of his twin and the two Litefoots. Suddenly the rat manages to break through the barricade, and it prepares to maul the group. Suddenly a pair of lasers fire at the rat from behind and vaporise it to dust…
The group look at the top of the stairs and see two men standing in the doorway. The two men are surprised that Jago and Litefoot identify their weapons as the lasers from Weng-Chiang’s dragon statue. They are even more surprised that they know who Weng-Chiang is! Litefoot identifies Weng-Chiang is their oldest and most dangerous enemy. One of the men responds that Weng-Chiang is in fact their oldest enemy. The other man demands to know who the two men in the cellars are. Jago proudly introduces himself and Litefoot as Infernal Investigators. The strangers in turn introduce themselves as Aubrey and Betterman – Infernal Investigators. Betterman declares that Jago and Litefoot are on their patch…
