Chapter 2

"Sit down and eat your breakfast, 28," Ortensia ordered, glancing down the table at her children eating.

"It hurts," 28 whined, sitting down nevertheless.

"Why did he all of a sudden start being the liar?" Ortensia asked in a whisper to Oswald. "There's no way yesterday's spanking still hurts."

"I know," Oswald said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. Swallowing he added, "If he's still complaining tomorrow, we'll see if there's something wrong."

"I'd hate to waste a trip to the doctor's if he's lying again," Ortensia whispered over her glass of milk. She took a sip and sat the glass down before asking, "When is Mickey picking you up?"

"He said 8:30 to nine, depending on when the boys got ready," Oswald offered. "We have to be out on Grandma Duck's farm at ten and it takes an hour to get out there."

"Finish eating then, it's almost 8:30 now," Ortensia said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Is Clara going with you?"

"No, she developed a bug in some of her tools so she's been in the garage deactivated since Thursday," Oswald admitted. "She threw a hammer at me."

"Sure she wasn't just mad at you?" Ortensia asked with a smirk.

"I hope not," Oswald said, giving her a smile back.

"Hey Unca Mickey," a young voice from the other end of the table announced, drawing eyes to the doorway.

"Do you have anymore of that Goop-B-Gone?" 335 asked, quickly jumping out of his seat to walk over to the mouse. "The banister's still sticky."

"Yeah, in my truck," Mickey offered, throwing a thumb over his shoulder. "Ask Morty or Ferdie to help you find it, I think it's in one of the buckets."

"Thank you," 335 said, walking around the mouse and towards the doorway.

Oswald downed the last of his milk, placing the glass down as he rose to his feet. "Guess this means I'm off," Oswald said, planting a kiss on Ortensia's head. "See you all after work."

"Love you," Ortensia offered, looking up at her husband.

"Love you too," Oswald replied back. He made his way to Mickey, the mouse still in the doorway wearing his normal blue collared shirt and red pants, a red bow adding to his old-school charm. Oswald glanced down at himself, seeing the same turtle neck and blue pants he had worn the day prier, and asked, "You have a dress code, boss?"

Mickey let out a laugh, the two heading down the hallway to the front door. "As long as you don't mind it getting dirty, it works."

"Thanks again," Oswald offered, giving his brother a smile.

"Oh don't thank me now," Mickey warned, reaching for the door. He pulled it open and led the way out of the house to show Oswald the freshly painted green work truck with "Mickey's Fix-It" written on the side with a phone number below it. "You'll be earning your pay, you know that right?"

Oswald pulled the door closed behind him as he said, "You're not gonna make me do all the dirty work, are you?"

"Maybe not all," Mickey said with a laugh.

"You know how to ride a horse?" 335 asked, drawing the brothers' eyes over to the back of the truck where three small bodies stepped out of the truck.

"Yeah, back went we played Cowboys and Indians," Morty said only to get an elbow in the side from his brother. "I mean natives."

Ferdie elbowed him again.

"Ow! What else am I supposed to call them?" Morty asked.

"Indigenous."

"I can't even say that."

"Daddy, I wanna learn how to ride a horse," 335 said, noticing the two walking over. In his hands he held a bottle of the orange liquid.

"We'll see," Oswald offered, wondering if it would be a one time fluke for his son. "Go ahead back inside and finish your breakfast."

"We'll have the banister clean for when you get back," 335 promised before turning back to the house.

"In the truck," Mickey ordered more at the twins as he thumbed at the work truck. "Grandma Duck wants us to fix her fence."

"I hope the whole summer isn't going to be work," Morty grumbled as he pulled open the passenger door.

"No, not the whole summer," Mickey said, giving Oswald a look before going around to the driver side door.

Oswald waited until both the kids were in the middle of the old bench seat, putting on their seat belts, before hopping up into the passenger seat. He pulled closed the door as Mickey took his seat behind the wheel, starting up the engine as he closed his door.

"So what other adventures have we missed out on?" Ferdie asked as Mickey started driving them out of the neighborhood.

"Well, the Phantom Blot showed up again."

"What? I thought we had taken care of him!" Oswald exclaimed.

"Oh no, not that blot," Mickey quickly corrected with a laugh. "This one's a man that wears a black cloak and just happens to have the same name."

"Wait, they're not the same people?" Morty asked.

"They couldn't be if Mickey created the one in Wasteland," Ferdie chastised. He turned to the older mouse and asked, "What happened this time?"

"He tried creating a robot uprising," Mickey explained. "Ever heard of Avantgarde City?"

"That's the future city, right?" Ferdie asked.

"I wanna see that place one day," Oswald commented, stealing a glance out the side window as they left the neighborhood. He turned back to Mickey and asked, "Wasn't that when the robot police force went haywire?"

"Yap, the Phantom Blot was behind the whole thing, hoping to take over the city," Mickey offered.

"That was in 2012, wasn't it?" Oswald checked, getting a nod from his brother.

"Why weren't you there, Uncle Oswald?" Morty asked.

"Finishing up with the video game," Oswald said.

"Any news on if they'll finish the story?" Ferdie asked.

"Probably not, the studio making the games got closed down," Oswald admitted with a sigh.

Ferdie gave Morty a glance before Morty said, "At least we've got you two to tell us what happened."

Oswald gave the boys a smile, it slowly fading away as he looked out the front window.

Mickey threw the rabbit a glance before returning his eyes to the road. "Boys, why don't you tell us what you've been doing. Any big adventures without us?"

"Not really, we started playing after school soccer," Morty offered.

"Got to make a soda rocket," Ferdie tried.

"Ferdie got a girlfriend," Morty said with a laugh.

"What? Morty!" Ferdie exclaimed, his face flushing a bright red.

"What's her name?" Mickey asked.

"Where'd you meet her?" Oswald asked, a snicker in his voice.

"There is no girlfriend," Ferdie stated, looking down at his lap. "She's just a girl in our class I talk to sometimes." He glared at his brother and said with force, "Millie and me're just friends."

"Okay, you say so," Morty said, holding up his hands in defense.

Without any warning, something blurred by them fast and knocked them away from the road.

"Hold on!" Mickey cried out, struggling with the wheel as they slid into the ditch.

Oswald quickly flung out an arm to protect Morty and Ferdie, the other holding the door handle. He watched as they tipped farther in the ditch only for gravity to win over the wheels. Oswald closed his eyes as his seat belt locked him in place as metal crunched above him.