It didn’t take long for Mr. and Mrs. Roja, the Roja Sisterhood (meaning Thrax’s and Klepta’s other mothers) and all the other Roja siblings to find out about Thrax’s latest achievements, especially with Jackson, what with his accident making it worldwide in the news. By means mysterious even to Thrax and Klepta, the latter suddenly received a message from his mother when one of the Black Death relative dropped by into the dog city for a while telling him that the Roja family has found out about Ozzie’s existence and his condition and will be paying a visit soon. In fact, they even found out where they were and got together to meet up in the dog city Klepta was running through whatever vessel they were travelling on, may it be rats, cats, dogs or bugs, and also the occasional dirty street bums that reached over to touch the dog.
Ozzie got to meet the Roja Sisterhood first—Ursula Lyssa, Klepta’s mother, from the Rabies family, Trixy Salmonellosis from the Salmonella family, Andie Mycobacterium from the TB family, Flazen Rubella from the German Measles family, Gertrude Flaviviridae from the Yellow Fever family and Marushka Filoviridae from the Ebola family—and the other siblings that followed. It was a little hard trying to keep track of all their names, but Ozzie managed call them just right with what little training he in the immunity force on memory-enhancement. Most of them were decently friendly to him, but the cell could tell that not all of them seemed approving towards having him in the family. All the time, Thrax kept Ozzie close to his side, not allowing anyone to even think of trying to do anything out of the ordinary to his intended mate.
While he tried to get to know each and every one of the Sisterhood and the siblings, Ozzie’s observation skills kicked in as he studied each of their features. Each member of the Sisterhood had their own unique features, but one thing they shared in common was the fact they looked younger than they should. Ursula Lyssa was the main reason Klepta got his dirty blonde hair but he definitely did not inherit her bluish-grey skin. She had beautiful red eyes with snake-like pupils, just like Klepta had, and she stood just a head shorter than her son. She had a long tail that had a little bit of dirty blonde fur in the end, indicating her lineage as a canine virus, and in fact, if you were to ignore the snake-like eyes, you could tell that her facial features are slightly canine in nature. In her wake, she had 3 other children, a boy and two girls, all of them probably a difference of 1 or 2 years from each other. The boy—Kurt was his name—looked more like Ursula with his canine features and his hair and skin. You could consider him like a male version of his mother, while the girls—twins Khora and Kincaid—were almost like Klepta with the skin and the looks, but their hair would probably be inherited from Mr. Roja.
Trixy Salmonellosis looked like someone who just graduated from high school for someone who had 4 children. She had blood-red hair that was shoulder-length and she was below Ozzie’s eyebrow in height. Her skin was the same colour as the virus Ozzie saw riding on the oyster back in Frank, only it was a shade lighter. The only odd one out about her was that she had 4 legs, two on each side, and when she held out either hand to get some finger food to eat, an extra hand would automatically pop out of her wrist to take another extra. Her 4 children—boys Ambrose, Alexi and Antoine and girl Amrita—were all taller than her (as tall as Thrax and Klepta) and it seemed that the boys were the one inheriting most of the physical features of their mother than the girl.
Andie Mycobacterium was someone who looked like she had a distaste for anything and everything. With her aquamarine eyes, she looked at Ozzie from head to toe as if he was a stain on her coat and did not want to talk to him the rest of the way. Her long flowing silver-blonde hair that reached all the way to her ankles reminded Ozzie of Serione’s, only unlike Serione in attitude, she was colder and crueler. She had tan freckle-like spots all over the backside of her white body, from the nape of her neck all the way down to the tip of her heels, but the freaky thing was that her hair had a life of its own. When her two twin boys Rouge and Rodeo tried to approach Ozzie to talk to him, her hair suddenly reared up like a snake and wrapped around their necks, dragging them away from the cell, and when they tried to protest, she gave them a look that could kill someone a thousand times over. Ozzie swallowed just by the look of it.
Flazen Rubella, on the other hand, was a jovial and happy-go-lucky woman. She had a very thick German accent courtesy of her lineage and she had her onyx elbow-length hair tied up partially into a bun while the loose ends were tied into a long braid. She’s as tall as Ozzie and was a little bit round around the edges, most probably because of her slightly gluttonous way of eating and also because she was a mother of 6 children—boys Hugo, Hershey, Holmes and Harold and girls Henrietta and Harriette—under her tow. Her skin was a shade redder than Thrax and it felt quite warm to the touch, being that part of her viral symptoms was heaty rash and fever, and she was the only one in the Sisterhood who didn’t have claws.
Gertrude Flaviviridae and Marushka Filoviridae seemed to be always close together, never apart, even though they looked nothing like twins. They looked more like they were the yin and yang of each other. Gertrude had dark brownish-black hair while Marushka had light reddish-white hair, almost like light pink. While Marushka had very dark blue, almost coming to black, skin, Gertrude had skin almost the same colour as Serione. While Gertrude was silent and soft-spoken, Marushka was lively, bubbly and did most of the talking, and Gertrude only added in whatever she thought Marushka was missing out in her conversation. The only thing that they have in common was they had the same amount of kids under their tow, but even that, the gender of their children were the polar opposite of each other: Gertrude had 3 sons Emmett, Eden and Edison and is pregnant with an upcoming 4th son while Marushka had 3 daughters Natasha, Nooka and Nefertine and is pregnant with an upcoming 4th daughter. Ozzie suspected probably being under the ‘Viridae’ family had something to do with their closeness and their yin and yang nature. Just as Klepta had mentioned before, Marushka had a strong sense of grandeur of her heritage as one of the deadliest virus next to AIDS, and didn’t miss the opportunity to brag about it to Ozzie, much to Thrax’s disgust.
“Hey, Jones,” Drix nudged Ozzie a little to catch his attention.
“What is it?” Ozzie asked in a soft tone, noticing the way Drix gestured him was trying to ask him something private. Thrax leaned in a little to listen as well.
“Do you realize that none of the Sisterhood’s children are with a mate? It seems as if Thrax is the only one here that is planning to settle down.”
“Well, now that you’ve mentioned it,” Ozzie muttered as he scoured around some more, “you’re right. They don’t seem to have a mate or a girlfriend/boyfriend with them. Is there some sort of an unwritten rule or something that you must be the first, Thrax?”
“No, there is no such thing,” Thrax admitted as he held Ozzie closer. “Well, not that I know of, anyway. I’m not sure why it is this way, actually.”
“Maybe it’s coz they’re afraid of the ritual and wanted to see how bad it is on you, wimp,” Klepta, who also caught wind of the conversation, muttered his reply.
“For once in your miserable life, runt, can you not be such a smart-a…”
Before Thrax could finish his berating over his half-brother, Mr. and Mrs. Roja came in at last. When they came in, the whole scene in Klepta’s mansion was silent and solemn. Ozzie cringed at the sight of the heads of the Roja household, and could almost feel the fear everyone felt, especially towards Mrs. Roja, the matriarch of the sisterhood. Mr. Roja had the skin Klepta inherited from and his black dreads were as long as Klepta’s. His greenish eyes traveled across the room and rested on Ozzie, regarding him a little, while Mrs. Roja literally scrutinized him with her black orbs from head to toe in a manner much worse than Andie while she flicked her chin-length purplish-red hair and adjusted the strap of her dress that hugged her reddish body just right. Seeing her features and her claws, Ozzie knew that Thrax had inherited almost everything except the eyes and the hairstyle from this she-virus.
Everyone knew the drill as soon as they showed up. They all went into the guest hall of Klepta’s mansion and arranged the seat in a circle, with the seat in the center meant for Ozzie to sit on and had Thrax be with him as well, while the rest of the family, Klepta and the other siblings included, sat on the circle of chairs, which is where the situation was right now. Drix, who was not part of the family, knew this was not his party to crash. He stayed out of this by hanging around at the study room and watching TV of the outside world, babysitting Kiaran at the same time, but after 5 minutes of watching, he couldn’t resist. He hid at one corner and listened in to the conversation between the members of the Roja family.
“So, son,” Mr. Roja, who had a deep, rich voice with a bit of a southern accent, broke the ice, “this is the person you wish to take as your mate?”
“Yes, Pops,” Thrax replied dourly, and Ozzie felt a slight squeeze on his shoulders, not sure whether it was to reassure the cell or himself.
“I believe he is with child? Your child, in fact?”
“Yes, Pops.”
“And this cell was formerly someone you have taken from a city you destroyed and made into a sex slave?” Mrs. Roja asked, making the cell shiver a little. She sounded cold and unemotional, with eyes that can pierce through the very depths of a soul, and Ozzie could tell she was a no-nonsense woman.
“Yes, Big Mama. That was our original relationship.”
“What is your name, child, and what was your profession before you met our Baby Thrax?” Mrs. Roja asked Ozzie, ignoring the slight grimace Thrax gave at upon hearing that family pet name.
“My…My name is Osmosis Jones, ma’am,” Ozzie replied, his voice slightly trembling. “I…I was in the immunity force, stationed in the mouth.”
“I do not need to know how you met our boy, since it is pretty obvious at first glance, but I assume you had not been in good terms with our boy in the beginning,” Mr. Roja said in a matter-of-fact way.
“Yes, I admit. We were mortal enemies and I did try to take him down, and I was unwillingly taken from the city to be his sex slave, but…but that was in the past. I no longer have bad feelings for Thrax anymore. We’ve been through a lot and we’ve come to love each other very much and…”
“Save it,” Mrs. Roja warned, cutting off Ozzie’s words like they were rubbish. Ozzie shrank back again, holding his tongue.
“You had a good glimpse of him and mingled with him before us,” Mr. Roja addressed the family, mostly towards the Sisterhood. “What say you of his eligibility to this family?”
“He’s a little shy,” Ursula commented. “He’s got the looks, he’s got the smarts and the stamina, and the body of a physically well-trained man to boot, and he’s definitely got the quality of a quiet, well-spoken man, although I can tell sometimes he may act strong and outlandish at times to cover his insecurities, but aren’t we all that way when we were young? I think he’s good for Thrax and the family.”
“I disagree,” Andie replied. “He was from the immunity force. He was technically from a group whose very purpose is to fight the cause we’ve strived so hard to achieve throughout the history of medical espionage. Accepting him would be betraying our own heritage. He tried to stop Baby Thrax from taking over his city in the first place, so what’s stopping him from preventing Baby Thrax taking over other cities once he’s all cozying up with him? I would not let a white blood cell—even a partially infected one—enter my family if I were you, Big Mama.”
“True, but you have to see what he had accomplished with Baby Thrax over the months they’ve been together,” Trixy noted. “Not once had he tried to fight against Baby Thrax’s cause. In fact, he had been assisting Baby Thrax through and through in his mission to make it into the books, even though he was forced into it, but it’s not like he resisted. If he had done the opposite, they wouldn’t be here with us now.”
“I agree on that, Sister Trixy,” Flazen replied with a carefree laugh. “Look at that little cell. He is such a cute little boy, looking so forlorn and so in need of love and companionship, and yet at the same time he could be so feisty and energetic, seeming to be always on the go entertaining us all just now even though he knew he’d be tired out because he’s pregnant and all. And look how smitten he had gotten our Baby Thrax into. It’s about time Baby Thrax got a load off his shoulder for a while and live a little. He’d make a great daddy—I can just imagine now—and the cell is his perfect match. Who says opposites don’t attract, no?”
“He is really a sweet boy,” Gertrude replied quietly in a submissive tone, “I kinda like him.”
“He may be a sweet boy, Sister Gertrude,” Marushka voiced out, “but does he have what it takes to be a Roja? Sure, he was a cop from the immunity force of his city’s finest, I’ll give him that, but that’s no good enough. Has he got the guts to be willing to make sacrifices for the good of the family? Has he got what it takes to make it out as a Roja? He’s just a partially infected cell modified by Baby Thrax who can only walk around in the open air without the fear of coagulating, and he may have the ability to pierce his hand through barriers for Baby Thrax to get his prize, but that’s about it. Other than that, he’s just excess baggage, an inconvenient luggage carried around with nothing else to offer. We have to look at both sides on this, Big Mama, Pops.”
Ozzie found it hard to believe he was sitting there listening to all this as Thrax’s siblings carried on with their ideas of Ozzie after their mothers spoke their minds. Aside from Klepta who gave nothing but praise towards Ozzie, the rest were passing judgments directly at him and were wagging their tongues off over their opinion of having Ozzie in the family, as if the cell wasn’t sitting there to begin with. Although the good side was that he didn’t have to worry about them talking behind his back and backstabbing him or something, but downright insulting him in front of his face like he didn’t exist was a little harsh. He wondered if Klepta was right, that this ritual was the reason why all of Thrax’s siblings were still single. He could tell from the small movements Thrax made while he stood there behind him that the virus was also equally uncomfortable and that he wanted to rebuke at them for badmouthing his intended but couldn’t because of the watchful eye of Mr. and Mrs. Roja.
“Is that everyone?” Mr. Roja asked, and when everyone nodded quietly, he turned to his main wife, “Well, darling, what do you think?”
“He needs to work out a little more,” Mrs. Roja said as she got off her seat and circled around Ozzie, pushing Thrax gently aside while running her hand along the cell’s shoulders in an almost seductive manner, “but that won’t be a big issue. Surprises come in small packages, anyway, and I have always wanted to know how it would be like to have a cell-virus hybrid for a grandchild. I had expected the others spawns to get started on settling down since my Baby Thrax here is such a lone ranger, but seems like I’ve been mistaken. But Sister Marushka is right,” she bent down to trace along Ozzie’s chin with her claw, “we gotta know if this little baby here got what it takes to be a Roja.”
“What do you plan to do, Big Mama?” Thrax asked, his tone slightly worried for a moment there. “He is with child. If you’re gonna give him the ritual, please do it in a way it won’t harm my child.”
“Oh, we’ll think of something, alright,” Mrs. Roja replied as she came close to Thrax, standing just below Thrax’s chin in height, caressing the virus’ cheek and making him flinch just slightly, “Big Mama Plexia will think of something to test your little mate-to-be here, but it’ll have to depend on him to survive this.”
After Mr. and Mrs. Roja nodded in acknowledgement at Ozzie, giving them their initial welcome, the meeting was adjourned. Everyone left to their designated guestrooms in the mansion to retire for the day, leaving Thrax and Ozzie looking like as if they’ve just remembered to breathe.
--:--
“That was a close call, doll,” Klepta said as he patted Ozzie’s shoulder. “I’m surprised she didn’t ask you to start it on there and then.”
Thrax, Klepta, Drix and Ozzie were in Ozzie’s room talking about what had happened a few hours ago. By Mr. Roja’s orders, Thrax and Ozzie were requested to stay in separate rooms before the ritual next day, but since Drix was not part of the family, he was allowed to stay with Ozzie to watch over him. Later in the middle of the night, Thrax couldn’t resist and snuck into the room to check on his beloved, and Klepta, who saw Thrax sneaking in, joined him as well a few minutes later, much to the elder virus’ disgust but grudgingly welcomed nonetheless.
“This was worse than being on trial or something,” Ozzie heaved a sigh of relief as he groomed Kiaran. “I guess I understand how our convicts feel when we interrogate them.”
“Hey, at least some of our mothers and about half of our siblings seemed to like you. That’s a good sign, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess…” Ozzie said, his eyebrows creased to a frown as his hand flew to his mouth, holding back his urge to puke.
“You feeling alright, baby?” Thrax asked, concerned.
“Well, after all that gathering hype and tension I kinda forgot my morning sickness, well, sorta,” Ozzie replied quietly. “Once it was over, I started feeling a little nauseous again and Miss Flazen from the Sisterhood gave me some old wives’ remedy for morning sickness,” he showed him a small bag of sour mints before popping one into his mouth, “and she’s right. I do feel a little better now. Your Big Mama came in to see me for a while. We didn’t say much, really. She just asked me if I was doing OK and we gave each other a staring duel or some kind before she told me to go to bed early to prepare for tomorrow.”
“Damn it!” Thrax cursed under his breath. “Damn it, that bitch! She knew my baby is pregnant and she still wants to carry on with the ritual. This is the main reason why I don’t want to go through this! It’s all your fault, runt!”
“My fault?” Klepta exclaimed incredulously. “Hey, it was your fault for knocking our doll up in the first place! Besides, it’s just a matter of time before they knew anyway. I told you Big Mama will find out one way or another.”
“Pardon my intrusion but,” Drix intervened the conversation, “I know I’m not part of the family and not supposed to have anything to do with it, but I couldn’t help but hear that Mrs. Roja said something about depending on Jones to survive their test. What do you suppose it is?”
“Not something you should know if you are aware of your outsider situation.”
They turned around in shock to see Andie standing there looking at all of them with a facial expression of someone who just caught students playing truant. Thrax frowned at the sight of her.
“What are you doing here, Mommykins?”
“You shouldn’t be here, Baby Thrax,” Andie replied. “Big Mama had forbidden you to visit the cell until tomorrow.”
“It’s none of your business, Mommykins. Go away, and don’t call me that pet name. You know I hate it.”
“Neither do I hearing you call me the way my baby boys call me, but not as much as you would hate me going to Big Mama and Pops’ room right now and tell on you.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Thrax flexed out his killer claw, only to be held back by both Ozzie on his waist and Andie’s mind-of-its-own hair on his wrist.
“Wouldn’t I now?” Andie smirked cruelly. “Now go back to your room, or else.”
Thrax, seeing that Andie’s tone meant business, knew that it would be better if he didn’t stir up any trouble lest Ozzie became collateral damage. He retracted his claw and waited for Andie’s hold on his wrist to be released before he gave Ozzie a goodnight hug and a kiss. Andie gestured Klepta to leave as well, in which Klepta shrugged and obeyed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow soon, alright? You just try to get some sleep,” Thrax said as he caressed Ozzie’s cheek.
“I will. You too,” Ozzie replied, leaving a few butterfly kisses on the virus’ cheek.
With that, the two got up and left, but not before Klepta turned to Drix and Ozzie and whispered only for the duo to hear.
“I wouldn’t know what the test might be. It differs for each of our other mothers, but it’s definitely something we’ll find out soon enough.”
Klepta’s voice that was filled with dread over the thought of it was the same dread Ozzie was feeling at the moment.
--:--
“Big Mama, no! Anything but that!”
The Roja family, Ozzie, Thrax and Drix were all standing on the head of the stray dog while it was sleeping near the dumpster. There were a lot of roaches and rats scurrying by, but they were not looking at them. They were eyeing at a much bigger rat—probably bigger than the rest of the rats combined—sitting on a rusty old dustbin lid chewing what looked like bird carcasses. It was brownish-black in colour and probably heavier and dirtier than any other rats they had ever seen. Ozzie shrank backwards at the sight of it.
“I would assume this is the best way to test little Jones’ worthiness here and also rid of the bane of your father’s existence,” Mrs. Roja replied. “Killing two birds with one stone as you might call it. If he is infected as you have made him, he should have attributes pertaining to a T4 cell. If he can prove himself to be capable to live on his own without you, he is Roja material.”
“He’s only a partial T4 cell; this would prove too much of a test for him. Have you forgotten that he is with child, Big Mama? He can’t…” Thrax’s protests were caught in his throat by his mother’s glare.
“He can and he will. We virus live a harsh life with the certainty of death hanging in the balance of our life. I have lost 3 husbands before I married your father and had you, and even when I was pregnant with you, I managed to take down 5 bodies in a row. I lived out my life fine by forcing myself not to dwell on the loss and survived the odds. I will not have a future in-law who is not prepared to accept this sort of consequence and not be able to be independent and fight for both his life and his unborn child to survive. Have you forgotten about survival, Baby Thrax, or you’ve gone soft in the head over this little cell?”
“No, but…just…just let me do this. If you wanna test anyone, test me. I can…”
Both Ozzie and Thrax gasped as four claws wrapped around Thrax’s neck and slammed the virus down onto the ground below, the sharp claws embedded through it. Ozzie wanted to run forward to help him but he was held back by one of Trixy’s son Ambrose. Once Thrax got his mind bearings, he realized that it was his father Mr. Roja with his extended claws around his neck holding him down glaring at him with venomous eyes.
“Listen to your mother, boy. This is a ritual done by many generations before me and no one, I mean no one, is allowed to question it. It is a test meant for your intended mate, not for you. Even a partial T4 cell should have certain special attributes that he may not yet realize and it is our duty to find out what it is before deciding his eligibility to the family. It’s all about quality and elitism in the blood, boy, not some superficial thing you youngster call ‘love’ these days. I will not hesitate to kill you if you dare to make this any difficult for him and the rest of your family, especially for your mother who calls the shots around here, understand?”
Ozzie had never seen Thrax so vulnerable and helpless under the mercy of his father, forcing him into submission by his claws, and Mrs. Roja looking at her husband doing all these things to his son without a single expression of care at all, as if it was the right thing for her husband to do. The rest of the family seemed to be standing neutrally allowing all this to happen, some of them a little fearful and not daring to help him. Ozzie finally understood the extent of the reign of his ‘Big Mama’ and his desperation to leave the family and avoid the ritual. After seeing that his son was no longer struggling, he retracted his extended claws to let go of his hold on Thrax’s neck before standing aside, his facial expression looking as if the incident just had not happened at all.
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, little Jones,” Mrs. Roja continued as she flicked her hair again, “this will be your test. You will go into that rat there and look for Adam. Once you’ve got him, kill him. If you manage to bring his heart to us to prove that you’ve killed him, we will consider your worthiness to the family. Rouge and Rodeo will go with you, but not to help you. They will only observe you.”
“Are you sure you wanna do this, Jones?” Drix whispered warily in Ozzie’s ear. “She asking you to murder someone, and you’re not exactly a killer or anything, not that I doubt you, but…”
“I’ve killed before, Drips, well, sorta killed before,” Ozzie replied as he braced himself for it. “Like Thrax told me: Just close my eyes and get it over with; it’ll get easier every time.”
“Why not me?” Klepta asked when Andie’s boys Rouge and Rodeo appeared from the crowd, flashing their mischievous grin at the cell. “I’m closer to Ozzie than everyone and I’ll promise not to help him.”
“That’s exactly because you are close to little Jones than anyone else that you are not allowed to go with him, runt,” Mrs. Roja replied, giving Ozzie an idea of why Thrax would call Klepta ‘runt’ in the first place. “Rouge and Rodeo don’t know little Jones and therefore are able to observe him in a neutral and fair way. Oh, and boys?”
“Yes, Big Mama?” Rodeo and Rogue stepped up towards the matriarch.
“Here’s your communicator,” Mrs. Roja said as she handed the phone to Rouge, the elder of the twin. “Inform me from time to time whatever that goes on in the mission. It has three buttons in it that my other communicator will receive. Report to me using the white button. If little Jones succeeds in the mission, press the green button. If he fails, press the red button. Got it?”
“Got it, Big Mama,” the twins replied as the elder pocketed the phone into his slacks.
“Now go, little Jones. Time’s wasting,” Mrs. Roja said as she shoved Ozzie forward. Before Ozzie could turn to bid farewell to Thrax, Rouge and Rodeo exchanged naughty glances and grabbed Ozzie by each armpit without warning before running towards the edge of the stray dog’s head. With a loud “Geronimo~!” by the twins, they leapt off the head with Ozzie in tow, making Ozzie scream in horror, and while they were in midair, they elongated their hair and tangled it to each other before it formed a sort of parasail, keeping them in the air as they glided all the way down to the body of the big-ass rat they were supposed to infiltrate, landing on their feet. Ozzie doubled over and puked not only because the pungent smell the rat had that triggered his morning sickness he had long since forgotten because of all the hype, but also because of the shock he had thanks to the twin’s surprise sky-diving.
“Wh…What the Frank was that all about?!” Ozzie shouted as he keeled over and puked some more after that exclamation.
“Well, don’t say we didn’t help you just this once,” the twins replied simultaneously as their hair de-tangled from each other and retracted back to shoulder-length. No doubt it was an attribute inherited from their sourpuss mother.
“Help?? You call that crazy spit stunt that almost got me killed ‘help’?!”
“Would you rather walk and climb all the way down the dog to get here?” the twins asked, not missing a beat of each other’s words. “You’d be torn apart by the other rats on the way, and the ol’ wacko would kill us if anything happens to you and his spawn.”
Wacko, huh? Ozzie thought, finding out another insulting nickname Thrax was given. He spat out the last bile lingered in his mouth and stood up, wiping his mouth hastily, “Can you please don’t do that?”
“Do what?”
“Talking like this, like you guys are in a choir or something.”
“Sorry, it’s a habit,” the twins grinned before one of them spoke, “I’m Rouge, elder than Rodeo here by three minutes. The way to tell us apart is to look at our skin,” Rouge said as he rolled up one side of his double-sleeve to show him the back of his elbow and arm, lowered his collar to show the nape of his neck, “I got Mommykins’ spots, while Rodeo doesn’t.”
“Sorry we didn’t get to talk to you or anything last night,” Rodeo said. “Mommykins is a little bit overprotective. She doesn’t allow us to talk to strangers even though we’re already way past that stage.”
“No offense taken,” Ozzie replied. He straightened his clothes a little before turning to the rat, looking for an entry point. “Right, let’s get started.”
“Don’t you wanna have a heads-up first before you start barging all over the place?” the twins asked, genuinely surprised at Ozzie’s eagerness to work on his test.
“You can fill me in later once we’ve settled down somewhere properly. Let’s go, guys.”
The twins looked at each other questioningly before shrugging and followed after Ozzie as they entered the body through a half-opened scab on the rat’s left shoulder.
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