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It was Odette who first heard the siren call of the OWCA, but it was Otto who figured out what to do about it.
*****
There were rumors in the wild, of a secret group that would recruit extraordinary animals, train them as agents, and send them to fight against the evil human scientists of the world. Only the best and brightest were admitted, and if accepted, lived the high life with a host family by night and fighting crime by day.
To his siblings, who were already a bit better and brighter thanks to their time with Heinz, this sounded like The Life. They were at the age now (about two-and-a-half in human years) where their instincts were telling them to leave home and find their own territory. And OWCA sounded like a delightful territory.
Heinz just wanted to stay home with Mutti and Vati. He, better than either of his siblings, knew the cruelty of humans. But his siblings ignored his fears, and though his parents knew better, they too were urging their cubs – all of their cubs – to leave home. To an ocelot, they were now adults and it was time to move on.
*****
So Otto scouted out the dockyards while Odette tracked down information from any other animal she could find. To her luck, there happened to be an evil scientist a few miles from Gimmelschtump, so she laid in wait for his assigned agent – Charles the Chicken, apparently – who agreed to pass some messages on to the OWCA.
Otto dragged Heinz to the dockyards, given that he could understand both English and German, thanks to his original heritage. Together they found a large cargo ship that was understaffed and headed for the Tri-State area, where OWCA headquarters was located. It reeked of fish and rat – which meant plenty of food, and the large cargo hold would provide plenty of places to hide. Purrfect.
The next time Odette found Charles, he reported that the OWCA had received their request, and was expecting them for basic training as soon as they could reach OWCA headquarters.
*****
So it was with a heavy heart, a week later, that Heinz packed up his Ocelot-inator (he didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands) and followed his siblings down to the docks after midnight to sneak onboard the ship. Their parents came with them to see them off, marking each of them one last time with the family scent.
Mutti lingered on Heinz the longest, rubbing around him a few times, before licking a stripe up his face and rubbing her forehead against his one last time, purring all the while. Heinz knew the likelihood of him seeing her again was unlikely, so he purred sadly and rubbed his forehead against hers a few more times in farewell.
Finally, she gently nudged him away, urging him to go to his siblings who were waiting patiently nearby. He backed up, trying to memorize the sight of his Mutti and Vati as they sat there, purring, at the shore end of the old dock. Purring and proud of how their three little cubs had turned out.
Odette nudged Heinz’s shoulder, and finally he turned, following his sister up the ramp, with Otto close behind.
When he chanced a look back, his parents were already gone.
That night, neither Odette nor Otto teased him for his tears. They simply curled in tight around him, purring even as they slept.
*****
While he missed his Mutti violently, he had to admit, he simply thrived at OWCA. All the things that had made him a horribly lonely human outcast in Gimmelschtump – his thinness, his advanced intelligence, his squeaky voice – were highly valued traits for an ocelot agent-in-training. Well, maybe not the squeaky voice, but its not as if ocelots were known to be particularly vocal creatures, so no one needed to know.
His siblings performed exceptionally in training as well, all three siblings helping each others out in their weaker areas. Heinz, obviously, helped his siblings understand the complexities of humans and civilization and technology; Odette helped Heinz and Otto with their combat training; and surprisingly, Otto helped his other siblings master their stealth and endurance trials.
All three siblings graduated top of their class, purring all through the graduation ceremony. They spent one last night curled around each other in the dormitory, still purring, before they each were sent to their new assignments.
Apparently, ocelots were considered a vulnerable species, and so setting them up with a host family was near impossible at this time. His siblings were disappointed, but no OWCA agent was ever actually forced to live full time in the wild.
Odette was sent to the Northwest, to a special hidden OWCA base on a nature preserve near her target.
Otto moved far south, to another preserve and another base out in the grasslands.
And Heinz got a nice, cushy room reserved especially for full-fledged agents at OWCA’s East Coast headquarters, and a cubical. His nemesis, one Professor Destructicon, lived off-shore in a large, island fortress. Tomorrow Heinz would set out on his first assignment, to scout out the Professor’s territory and see if anything needed thwarting.
Heinz adjusted his fedora and purred.