After shimmying a bit to rock the mattress closer to the driftwood, Vregory lifts it into the air triumphantly, "This will help."

With all his might he begins to row his makeshift boat towards the buoy, climbing up onto the structure as instructed. He looks around, not sure what to do now. He sits down, legs curled up to keep them out of the water, and waits.

Hours later...

The coastguard passes by, spotting Vreg floating on the buoy. After he picks him up onto his boat and hears the confusing story, he shakes his head, "Why didn't you just paddle the mattress to shore...? It wasn't that far away, it probably would have been quicker."

"Friends said this was a good idea and it was we got to spend time together, it was cold but fun. It's dry on this boat," Vreg nods with a small sneeze. He seems content with how this day went.

Taking a shortcut under the city with the crying robotic baby cradled in his arms, Vreg soon found himself in front of Valentina's workshop. He knocked, and waited.... and waited.... and knocked and waited again. There was no answer, prompting Vreg to shrug, "Humm... Must be busy."

With a squeak and a roll of his eyes, Eugene leapt forward, using the weight of his body to turn the doorknob open and causing the front door to swing open. Valentina was inside, mumbling to herself as she fiddled with some gadget.

"Oh!" Vreg smiled as he held the wailing machinery out in front of him. "Hello punny lady, I have a baby and-"

"Oh no time for that!" Val waved him off, "You're going to want a nurse for that! That's the only way you'll pacifier! And I'd hurry too, that crying is about to drive me stork raving mad!"

"But Eugene says it's not a normal baby and my friends said you'd know because you're smart and-" The baby begins to cry harder, shaking in Vreg's hands.

"Why thank you for noticing! But I'm an engineer, you see, and right now I'm missing an important capacitor I need to finish this- wow that baby is really causing a fuss!" Val finally turned to look at it as the robot's eyes suddenly began to flash red and beep.

"SELF DESTRUCT ACTIVATED. 10... 9..."

At this Val's eyes finally lit up, leaping across the room, "Well why didn't you just say that now!" Rather than concern, she seemed to be thrilled by this latest development, pulling out her toolbox and immediately opening up the back of robot, "Fascinating! This must be a top of the line model... No matter, no matter. Here we... go!" She snipped a wire just before the baby could count down to 1, turning to give Vregory a thumbs up, "Just in the lick of time, too! If we had hesitated another second, the power of that bomb could have caused some serious damage! Talk about an explosive temper tantrum!"

Vregory looked over to the baby lying on the workbench, not entirely sure what just happened but nodding in satisfaction, "Is napping now."

Eugene nods to the few who noted the center bottle, squeaking to Vreg to open it. Eventually jimmying the cap off the bottle with a satisfying 'pop', the contents clearly let out a fizzy sound, "Is good sign."

Setting it on the ground, Eugene and the rats sniffed the fluids, letting out a squeak of approval. Excited, Vreg lifted the bottle back up, pouring some into the soda lid to share with his friends before taking a drink. He sighed in satisfaction, quenching his mighty thirst.

Hearing mention of everyone discussing the beef broth, Vreg turned to his friends, "Let's find that one too." Eugene gave him a skeptical squeak, but nodded, waiting as Vreg opened another bottle. Sniffing the content, he gave a firm squeak of 'no', causing the young man to set it down before opening the other. Although apprehensive of its contents, Eugene gave this bottle the squeak of approval.

Curious, Vreg lifts the bottle to sniff it himself, a familiar scent of food in his nose. "Smells nice... is the beef I didn't know it came watery that's good." Vreg takes the bottle and brings it to his mouth, which Eugene tries to stop him again to no avail. After a sip he puts it back down, a hint of disgust in his face. "Not good."

Vregory nods along with the plan, knowing that food would help distract him, too. "Humm...." He sounds thoughtfully, a determined expression crossing his face, "Sounds serious. We need good seed."

Eugene squeaks, giving a little salute with his paw as he runs away. Vregory stays behind, trying to help keep the birds away from his friends the best he can, receiving a peck or two for his troubles.

Eventually Eugene returned, dragging a giant bag of birdseed back with him. It looks new, and it's unclear where exactly he found it, but it looks perfect for the job. As the rat nears his friends, the bag rips open, causing the seed to go flying.

With an excited chirp the birds descend onto the seed, gobbling it up greedily. Taking the opportunity presented to him, Vreg launched himself towards the birds, snatching the notes off their legs.

Each piece of paper had a single word written on it, and lying them out next to each other revealed the secret password to send them away. Concentrating, Vreg read them out carefully, "Go... Away.... You... Birds..."

The birds looked up from their seed from the phrase, cooing before taking off in flight. Vreg watched as they flapped away, giving them a wave, "Food and adventure just like us, is true they are rats."

Scurrying out of the alleyway, Vreg bolted towards the nearest convenience store, dashing past the bored employee to grab a carton of milk from the back case. With tears in his eyes he slammed a couple of volts onto the counter before ripping open the cardboard. Tilting his head back he took a mighty chug of the dairy drink, not stopping until he had drained it.

"Will that be all, sir?" The employee asked as Vreg wiped away his milk moustache with a sigh of relief.

"Milk is good. Made it hurt less," Vreg nodded with a lazy smile, before he glanced back towards the alleyway longingly, "Humm...."

It wasn't long until Vregory was in the alley once more, tears in his eyes as he regretted trying to eat them again. Still, he sniffled, wheezing out, "W-Was good..."

Vregory nodded to the suggestions given to him, "I'll try both should be good," he agreed, turning to Eugene, "You and your friends spread the word I'll find somebody to take these off me..."

Waddling as well as he could under the many layers, Vregory eventually found somebody walking down the street. As he got closer, he recognized the figure, trying to wave but unable to move his arm, "Hi ink man I need you to undress me."

Vyctor halted in his tracks, his face contorting for a moment before turning, sighing in relief as he saw the state Vregory was in, "Oh you need help getting out of that? Huh. How'd ya even end up like this anyway?" He asked, moving to help pull some of the outer layers off.

Vregory smiled, face beet red from the heat of the wool layers, "Is a gift! But it was too many so I'm going to give them to friends too, do you want one? Is good sweaters."

"Huh.. I'll pass thanks," With that, he stepped back, leaving Vregory comfortable in a single sweater, the rat boy waving his now free arms in victory and content. After handing Vregory a large pile of sweaters, he reached out to pat the top of his head and offered him a lazy smile, "Stay out of trouble now, will ya? You have a knack for finding it."

"I'm not going to trouble I'm going to hand out sweaters now. Bye ink man!" With that he wandered off to find his rat friends, ready to hand out the sweaters to the cold and needy.