*Chapter 4: Look Who's Coming to Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner*

As twilight descended upon Acme Labs, Brain was at work drawing up the blueprints for his latest world domination device while Pinky assisted him with a ruler.

"There, finished." Brain declared. "I've put in the final specifications for my universal satellite remote."

"Oh, I do hope so." Pinky whimpered as his limbs shook. "My poor arms are falling asleep. NARF."

"We have most of the materials here." Brain continued, almost not paying attention. "Perhaps I should run down a checklist before-"

Suddenly there was a tentative knock at the front door of the lab, catching both of their attention.

"Now who could that be at this hour?" Brain asked, glancing at a nearby hourglass. "I don't recall Miss Roth informing us that she would be visiting."

"Maybe the UPS man? Poit." Pinky suggested.

"Really, Pinky. What postal service worker would show up this late at night? The shipment people won't be showing up for another ten hours."

Brain marched over to the door and threw it open, expecting it to be a bum or a crazy time share con man. To his surprise and shock, it happened to be somebody completely different yet very familiar.

"...hey, pops."

"...Roman Numeral One?!" Brain exclaimed.

A big wide grin appeared on Pinky's face once he saw who was standing at their doorstep.

"ROMY!" the taller mouse cried with sheer joy. In his rush to get to the door, he conveniently forgot that he was at least quite a few feet up on the table and fell like a rock straight down to the floor. That didn't stop him from stampeding towards the younger mouse and wrapping him in a tight bear hug. "EGAD, WE'VE MISSED YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!"

By the time Pinky relinquished his grip, Roman was gasping for air and trying to ascertain if any of his ribs weren't broken. Brain meanwhile stood there with his fists at his hips.

"Well, this certainly is a surprise." Brain said, flabbergasted. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

After a brief silence, Roman's eyes filled to the brim with tears.

"...buh...Bunny left me!" he wailed, dissolving into sobs, making Pinky gasp in horror.

"Oh no..." Pinky exclaimed softly, attempting to console Roman. "That's terrible. Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that, Romy."

Brain on the other hand wasn't very sympathetic. He had seen this scenario coming a long time ago but declined to go into it.

"I suppose that means you'll want to move back into our cage." Brain probed.

"Oh, Brain. Of course, we'll let him move back in." Pinky exclaimed, placing his paws onto his hips and becoming rather fatherly. "We're not about to let our clone go out into the cold! ZORT."

"...Don't worry." Roman sniffled, wiping his face. "I won't be staying long."

"Oh?" Brain replied, feeling a touch skeptical.

"I'm going to go job hunting first thing in the morning for another lab."

"Well, it's good that you at least have your priorities in order."

"Oh, don't mind him, Romy." Pinky insisted, pushing him towards their cage. "You can stay as long as you like."

"AND REMEMBER! OUR CAGE, OUR RULES!"

While Brain was trying to get the last word, Pinky and Roman weren't listening.

XXXXXX

A few days passed since Roman's unannounced return. At first, his presence was not as intrusive as Brain feared it to be. That was of course, until Roman started to really look and listen to Brain's current plans for global conquest. Particularly details surrounding the universal satellite remote. The cloned mouse scrutinized the materials used to create the device as Pinky and Brain put it together.

"Don't you think you oughta use some other material than just your common circuit boards?" Roman asked curiously.

"Oh certainly. Tell me what you suggest?" Brain replied sarcastically.

"Have you ever heard of shape memory alloy?"

"Oooo, is that the stuff that changes into funny shapes when you cook it, or freeze it?" Pinky inquired.

"Yes, we're quite aware of that material." Brain said impatiently. "Are you aware of how ridiculously difficult it is to get a hold of it?"

"Oh, like that's ever stopped you." Roman responded dismissively. "I mean, you guys somehow managed to procure an electric eel of all things to provide your electricity."

"Terrance pulls his weight around here." Brain bit back defensively. "And he's quite useful when we have blackouts."

"Not to mention all the ticklily jolts he gives you feed him." Pinky cheerfully added. "Ha, ha, ha! ZORT!"

Annoyed, Brain grabbed ahold of Pinky's muzzle.

"Be quiet Pinky, or I shall have to hurt you." the large craniumed mouse growled.

Roman was slightly aghast.

"Are you still bickering?!" he bemoaned in dismay.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Romy." Pinky assured the younger mouse, rubbing his snout as Brain marched off in a huff. "It's just how we get along. Poit."

Roman heaved another heavy sigh. Their constant jibing back and forth often got on his nerves and one of the reasons he ran away from Acme Labs to begin with.

XXXXXX

Just as the sun was setting, Brain was going through a final round of equations for his plans.

"Alright, we're almost ready to begin." he declared. "Pinky, do you have that final microchip?"

"Righty-O, Brain!" Pinky replied as he zipped to his partner's side.

Roman casually walked over to the pair, a bit curious as to what they were up to now.

"So, what's your latest plan, Napoleon?" he asked with a slight sneer in his tone.

"I will have you know that we have created a universal satellite remote which upon activation, every satellite orbiting the Earth will be under my control." Brain explained. "And with that, I shall be able to broadcast my message to every television, radio, and computer on all hemispheres!"

Roman wasn't very impressed.

"I seem to recall you guys trying something like that by trying to copy that whole War of the Worlds gig." he droned. "Couldn't you have come up with something...oh, I don't know, a bit original?"

As if that were the final straw that broke the camel's back, Brain stuck his face into Roman's.

"If you have anything better in our shared intellect, I should like to hear it." the shorter mouse hissed.

Before Roman could bite back, the front doors of the lab suddenly burst open.

"Hi, Brain! Hi. Pinky!"

Brain and Roman looked rather surprised by their teenage 'guest', but Pinky, as always, was delighted to see her.

"Hiya, Rem!" the taller mouse enthusiastically greeted.

"Sorry for barging in like this." she rasped. "But they're about to stream Trigun. So don't mind me, please."

Brain was a bit perplexed, but eventually wrote it off as Rem needing to borrow their internet access again.

"Not that I mind, but I would've thought by now your 'new' residence would have a working computer at the very least." Brain commented with a frank tone.

"Yeah, we would." Rem admitted before her tone became matter of fact. "Except I think they're holding off on getting one. For some reason."

"I see."

Brain, with slight amusement, probably already knowing the answer as to why.

"But I wouldn't have to wait too much longer." the teen insisted.

"Oh?"

"Dot loves the shit out of Solitaire; I mean I do too, but I don't think she can endure long periods of not playing it like I can."

"Oh, I just positively love Solitaire." Pinky piped in. "NARF. It relaxes me so."

The taller mouse's commented caused both Brain and Rem to arch their brows, because neither of them would even consider the card game as a relaxing pass time.

"But I swear that every time I choose the tropical deck, the sun sticks its tongue out at me." Pinky continued with a whine.

Rem gave a snort as she cracked a grin.

"...I completely forgot about that."

Now very curious, Roman approached the teen just before she put on the headset.

"Um, excuse me." he greeted awkwardly. "I don't think we've met."

Rem looked down to see a third mouse that she completely missed when coming into the lab.

"Oh...hi." she replied in the same awkwardness. "How you doin'?"

"Roman Numeral One." the younger mouse spat out, pointing to himself. "...a little dumb but..."

"Not really. It's sounds like Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager, so I'll buy that. Renezmae Roth; but I very much prefer to be called Rem."

"Interesting..."

"We like calling him, Romy!" Pinky cheerfully interjected.

"Anyway, since you gave me your full name, I felt it was only fair."

"Point taken."

"So, what's your story? Did the Lab like acquire another mouse or something?"

"Roman Numeral One is a clone of myself and Pinky." Brain explained.

"Ohhhhh. Well, now that he mentions it, I can see you have his head and Pinky's overbite."

Roman looked almost utterly embarrassed by the whole notion of being a clone at all, which Rem quickly caught onto.

"And I'm guessing you're not into that." she murmured.

"Well it's certainly doesn't win me any popularity contests..." Roman muttered.

"Why would you want to? Those things are lame, demeaning, and exploitative. Believe me, you're better off. And so what if you're a clone? So was Dolly the Sheep."

"Dolly the Sheep doesn't have a high IQ, or job security."

"Oh, you job hunting?"

"Either that or joining another lab."

"Well, I don't know about scientific labs, but I know the studio is on the hunt for technician assistants for their film labs. Mostly for restoration bits, cataloging and stuff. Or so the ad they printed in Entertainment Monthly tells me."

Roman tapped his chin in thought. While a film lab wasn't precisely what he was looking for, it was a start, and better than nothing.

"I suppose I could try that." Roman replied thoughtfully. "I guess that just leaves residency."

"Don't think I can really help you with that department." Rem told him honestly. "But, if you ever want to crash at the Water Tower, I can vouch for you."

Roman blinked in surprise and was struck by Rem's generosity.

"...Really?" he asked.

"Sure. I won't mind." Rem replied with a warm smile.

"Gee, thanks." Roman said, extending his paw for her to shake.

XXXXXX

The very next morning, Roman set out for the Warner Brothers studio clad in a business suit while Pinky and Brain saw him off. As their clone trailed farther into the horizon, Pinky teared up emotionally.

"Oh, Brain. TROZ." he blubbered. "Our clone is growing up!"

"Yes, Pinky." Brain replied with sarcasm in his voice. "Quite the Kodak moment."