A/N Hey guys! Welcome to chapter 21! Wow… I never expected to get this far… Awesome! I've got plenty of trivia in the second Author's note for those interested! I thank everyone who's supported me so far! And I thank Exotos135 for the nice art he made for the previous chapter!

R&R!

Story Summary/Prompt: Some information on the hunters, and fallout from the previous chapter. (Planned)

Story Twenty-One: A Hunter's Quarrel

"Come out, come out wherever you are." A strong, masculine figure jumps down from a pseudo cliff created by a destroyed building, "You've been running for a long time Nell! I'm gonna catch up to you eventually!"

A few yards ahead of them, a young, blonde-haired woman, clad in the anomaly hunter's blue uniform and accompanying cloak, rushes through the ruins of dimension EX-196, hoping that maze-like setup her home dimension would be enough to stall the hunter chasing her.

"You are aware that the Anomaly Elimination Task Force hates when one member fails!" The figure goes, before jumping up and running after her, "Though, I have to admit, you're making this hunting game fun!"

Nell ducts under a mound of rubble and jumps over a pile of burnt trash. "You'll never get me!" She then turns and bolts down yet another alleyway, but to no avail- her pursuer easily turns the corner and keeps up the chase.

"Come on!" The young woman desperately thinks, before turning down another corridor… only to be met by a wall of leftover rubble. The young woman's heart races in fear. She is caged; though less like a rat and more like an ant in a tiny metal box.

"No where left to run Nell." The hunter pulls out his Holo-Gear and secures it to his arm, "I suggest you come quietly. After all, no wants to be carded tired."

"No thanks." Nell grits her teeth and hardens her gaze, "But I'd rather not." She then pulls out her own Holo-Gear and secures it as well.

The hunter gives a devious smile in response, "Well then Nell, you know the deal." They then pull of their hood revealing her medium-length blonde hair and her telltale bucktooth. Her skin is fair, almost baby-like. She wears a white cloak with golden highlights, "Under the authority of the Anomaly Control and Elimination Task Force, I challenge you."

Nell removes her hood, letting her long, blonde hair flow out, "Ok then." She steels her gaze.

Generating Hunting Field: Sogen

Immediately, the two Holo-Projectors emit waves of pure light, transforming the destroyed cityscape into a lush prairie. The once dried-up river flows with hardlight water, while the bombed out buildings and barriers now appear at rolling plains. No doubt, this is a fitting place for a climactic battle.

"Well Nell Uold of Dimension EX-196, any last words?" The hunter asks, as a hardlight shield appears over the holo-gear and a hardlight sword appears in her free hand.

"Class three or not, I am not gonna let you turn me into a card!" Nell's device projects the same, "En Guarde!" She shouts, before jumping at the class three hunter. Said hunter simply smiles, before raising her shield and blocking the attack with ease.

"There's a reason I'm class three Nell!" She goes, before forcing the young woman back and jumping at her as well, "I am fully prepared to turn you into a card, even if you resemble my second-youngest sister."

Leni holds up her shield as well and attempts to block… only for the hunter to quickly sideswipe her, knocking her Holo-Gear shield offline.

"This is too easy." She quips, before stepping towards Nell, "Goodbye Nell."

"I gotta think fast!" Nell thinks, before hitting the red button on her device. "I was told that using this was a horrible idea cause it can tear a hole in the fabric of space-time... Well if I don't wanna end up in a card, I have no choice!"

Immediately, the Holo-Gear displays the message, "Emergency Teleport Activated! Dimensional Designation Of Destination?"

With the Class three hunter mere feet away from her, Nell weakly shouts, "Dimension sixty-three I, apostrophe backslash!"

And with that, the young woman's body glows with soft, white light before vanishing, leaving the hunter behind. "So, she wishes to continue the hunting games huh?" She begins to tap away at her device… only to receive a call from command.

"Lyle Loud, what's the problem command?" She asks.

"Command requests status update. What's the status of the disavowed hunter?" The man on the other end responds.

"Still runnin'," She chuckles, "She's gone off to a Dimension sixty-three I, apostrophe backslash. Continuing pursuit in-"

"Lyle, stand down." The man's voice is filled with a genuine concern, "That dimension is currently off-limits to class one hunters and is filled with anomalies. You are too valuable as it stands, to risk a trip there."

"I see." Lyle the shrugs, "Understood command, preparing to return to base. Dimensional jump in T-Minus ten minutes, will continue to survey ruins for survivors."

"Good luck." And with that, the same light-white light overtakes the hunter, causing her body to disappear.

Meanwhile…

A fierce expression overtakes the young man's face, as he holds his rifle at the newly freed hunters, "Talk now or I will blow your brains out!"

The hunters stand across from him, unfazed, no doubt they had been in this situation before.

"Answer me! Who the heck are you?!" He clicks the weapon's safety off, pulls the bolt back and loads up, "I am not afraid to shoot you idiots!"

Alex and Aeif look at each other and nod… Only for the older man to step forward. "I am class one hunter Trevor Mcfield of dimension CX-135. Current-"

"Shut up!" Loki's voice becomes more desperate, "That's all I wanted to hear," then he turns to the twins. "Now you two, who are you?"

Aeif then steps forward, "Now Aoki, we need you to calm-"

"I'm perfectly calm." The young man responds, "I want answers, and I am perfectly fine with shooting you to get it. I don't care if you resemble my brothers."

The girl looks at her twin's counterpart and sighs, "Fine, I'll talk. Just put the weapon down."

Loki responds by aiming it at the little girl, "No, now talk or I will fire!"

"Is that thing even loaded?" Alex asks, gritting his teeth as he does so.

"Yes." Loki then turns and jams the barrel into a nearby pillow and fires, sending a cloud of feathers flying out. Then, without missing a beat, he pulls the bolt out, ejecting the used cartridge and loading a new one, "This is the rifle I earned from the academy when I graduated, any other information is irrelevant, all you need to know is that I have it and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Alex then fights the building fear in his chest and answers with a weakly determined voice, "I am Alex Aoud of dimension RX-64."

Then Aeif speaks up, "And I am Aeif Luod of dimension TX-121."

Loki doesn't weaken his stance, "Good, now where are you from, and why the heck are you here? I don't care if you have to tell me your life's story, I want to know why everything is going on, got that?!"

Trevor looks the former class two hunters at his sides and sighs, "I come from a reality in which war-"

"Was I talking to you?!" Loki growls, immediately aiming his rifle at Trevor. "No, I freaking wasn't, I was talking with the twins, so shut up and stay in your Lane!"

A few miles away, Lane jolts, and wonders, "Did someone just call me?"

Loki aims the rifle at the male twin, "Now you, tell me what's different about where you came from!"

Alex takes a step back in fear, "We-well… I come from a reality in which my mom, dad, sister and two of my brothers died after a home invasion… you-your counterpart raised me and…"

"Let's just say, he did some bad things to him." The girl speaks up, her voice filled with an understanding strength.

Loki doesn't hesitate to train the rifle on her, "And how about you little missy?! Where did you come from?!"

"Where I come from, my genius older brother and sister Aoni and Aeni accidently created a device that caused an anomaly surge, said surge made my dimension too unstable to live in, and happened too quickly for the AEU to handle it. I was the only survivor.

"Good. Now why the heck are you after me and my siblings?"

Meanwhile…

Linka groans in pain for a moment, before leaning back against the wall. Her elder 'brother' Luke sits at her left, while Lars sits on her right.

"You're gonna be all right Link…" Luke rubs the young girl's back, "just… you're gonna have to take it easy for a bit… after all, with two shiners like that…"

"Don't mention it Luke." Linka groans, "I've now gotta worry about Linka going out of her way not to come home, I don't think I need anything else to worry about."

Lars then pulls out his notebook and begins to write; no doubt the revelation that his sister had abandoned him was more than enough for inspiration, "Well…" His voice is filled with a soft, meekness, "we still have to figure out a way to explain your injuries to the guys…"

"Dangit…" both Linka and Luke mutter, while the older boy continues, "How the heck are we gonna do that?!" He leans back, against the same wall, while holding his head, "Dangit, why did they have to give you two black eyes?! If they were just bruises, we'd be able to simply hide them, but nope!"

After that, Luke's annoyed yelling devolves into incoherent ramblings.

A few moments of silence pass, with nothing, but the sound of Lars trying to write his latest story and Luke mumbling about their currently unfavorable situation filling the air.

Linka leans back against the wall as well simply thinking in an attempt to clear her mind, "Dangit! Why is any of this happening?!" She sighs, "I started out of curiosity and now I'm trying to save the multiverse from falling apart!" She takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, "And now the person who I replaced now wants me out of the way so she can steal my life!" She painfully opens her eyes, "I hope Lisa finds a way to hold Linka down until then… I need as much time as I can get if I am to finish this stupid Macguffin in time…"

With one more sigh, Linka speaks up, "So uhh… Dad doesn't have an actual human sized habitat in the basement, does he?" Linka nervously asks.

"Huh?" Luke turns to her in confusion.

"Linka mentioned that dad probably had a small habitat set up in the basement in case something went wrong with me… is that true Luke?"

"Of course not!" The young man awkwardly rubs the back of his head, though Linka simply stares at him. He sighs and continues, "Well… he might have mentioned, once or twice, about Linka well… being home schooled and never being allowed to leave the house again… ever." He rubs his current sister's back, hoping to keep her calm.

Linka remains quiet.

He immediately turns to her and puts up his arms in surrender, "But that was ages ago. And both Loki and mom shot it down pretty quickly so don't worry. We'll just…" He sighs, "We'll just have to think of a reason for why you look beat up."

"You thinking about staging an accident?" Linka tilts her head towards him.

"Read my mind sis. Read my mind." He leans back, trying to calm himself down just enough to think of solution.

"Well how about the door knob excuse?" Linka suggestions, her voice filled with a desperate exhaustion.

Luke immediately responds, "Do you like having door knobs?"

"Tripped and fell down the stairs?"

Lars closes his notebook and responds, "The basement gets cold in the winter." The boy rubs his chin, "How about she got punched by that girl who hates her?"

"Dad would be pounding on her door within the hour." Luke shakes his head. "Plus, once they figure out the lie, we'll have even more to worry about than just the two black eyes.

Linka continues, "Kitchen accident?"

"Not even we could live on nothing but take out." Lars flatly goes, "And I personally don't like Uncle Rudy's cookin'."

She rubs her chin, "I climbed a tree and fell?"

Luke shakes his head again, "I don't know about you, but I like having trees nearby. It makes the street interesting."

The girl sighs and turns to her little brother, "How would you write this scene Lars?"

Lars shrugs, "I'd have my character try to hide the injuries with make-up or magic or something along those lines."

Linka sighs, "I don't wear that much make up. Even if dad doesn't notice, mom definitely will." She throws her arms up in annoyance, "And you know how she'll react when she finds out I've got two black eyes! Ron Andy is definitely gonna be the first casualty."

"Ugh." Luke groans, pinching the bright of his nose as he does so. "No matter what we think of, we'll have to explain the truth! Say a doorknob hit you? We lose our already broken doorknobs! Say the remote smacked you in the face? We lose TV! One of us hit you by accident? They get shipped off!" He flails his arms back, "Heck! Even tripping over one of the pets might get them put up for adoption or put down!" He sighs, "There has got to be something around here that we can pin it on that dad wouldn't get rid off or we could live without!"

Linka rubs her chin, "How about the trophy case fell on me?"

Lars and Luke turn to her in surprise, "What?"

"It's an old case with more trophies inside than most families ever get, it's not to hard to imagine it giving up and falling over. I hardly think dads will blame you for being winners."

Luke rubs his chin, "That can work... plus, it could be an excuse to replace the old thing…"

The girl smiles, "Great…" She hesitates and sighs, "Now the only thing we-"

Lars cuts her off, "No, you're not talking to Loki."

"If this is about the black eye..."

Luke cuts in, "No duh it's about the black eye!" He motions towards her with both arms, "Linka, he was threatening to waterboard you. Waterboard, you!"

Linka rubs the back of her head, "Yeah… but I understand why! He was just scared and angry that something had happened to his sister."

"Yeah. And now he's scared and angry that the person our lives have revolved around for all these years hates us, and the one who's replaced her wants to abandon us." Luke finishes.

"Luke, I don't want to abandon anyone…" Linka goes, "I love you guys.

Luke nods, "I know that, but it still hurts. Loki probably knows it to, but it probably hurts him even more because of everything that has happened." He places a reassuring arm on her shoulder, "Look, someone does need to talk to Loki, but it can't be you. I'll talk to him ok? You need to let Loki come to you."

Linka sighs, "Ok then… fine." She then stands up, "I guess, Lars and I will go work on the trophy case… though it's still hard to see with my eyes… well…"

Lars grabs hold of her hand, "I'll be your guide Linka."

The girl nods, "Good luck Luke."

And with that, the two step out of the room, leaving Luke alone.

"Dangit… why does everything have to be so difficult?"

Just a few dimensions away Lisa rests in her seat, the newly completed dimensional watch, version 2.0 resting snug in her hand.

"Dangit…"She whispers, "I find it difficult to believe that Lincoln's not Lincoln… but that would explain my male sibling's erratic behavior in the past few months…" She hops to her feet and yawns, "When was the last time I suspended consciousness?"

The young scientist shakes her head and walks over to her coffee maker, "No matter… I can't waste anymore time." With a soft, yet deliberate turn, she pulls out a poured cup of black liquid, "Caffeine isn't addictive my Gluteus Maximus." And without another word, she downs the liquid… only to spit it out in disgust, "My mistake, I forgot to add the sugar and milk…"

"Knock, knock." Lincoln greets, causing the four-year-old to turn to him.

"The impostor… it can't be true, can it?" She quickly thinks, before responding, "Hello Lincoln. What brings you to my room?"

He smiles, "I was just wondering if you could build me another device capable of travelling between dimensions."

"Why though? Why now? After the supposed counterpart of my sibling appeared?" Lisa simply shakes her head, "I apologize elder sibling. I'm afraid I am currently unable to do so."

Lincoln stares at her in annoyance, "Care to tell me why sis?"

Lisa wordlessly steps over to her computer and boots up. Within moments, an overly complicated diagram of the multiverse appears on the screen, "This is a simple simulation of the multiverse."

"Yeah?" Lincoln steps to her side.

"You see, I have attempted to create a replacement for the watch you lost, but due to the high volume of anomalies present I am currently unable to complete it without endangering the stability of our universe." Suddenly, things start to clear up, "Wait… an anomaly is caused when something that does not belong enters an alternate reality… the anomalies started appearing after Lincoln returned from his trip to an alternate universe… meaning that shouldn't have been any anomalies present…"

"I see…" The boy goes, "Is there anything you can do to fix the issue? I mean, there has to be something you can do to fix the issue!"

"Why does he suddenly want the Interdimensional Matter Transporter finished?" Lisa's heart races as her mind rushes to find the words to answer him.

"You ok Lisa?" He tilts his head in confusion, "You seem really antsy all of a sudden."

The scientist girl shakes her head, "It's nothing, I just had a cup of coffee and the effects of caffeine are staring to take hold." She motions towards the empty coffee mug next to her.

Lincoln shrugs, "Well… if you need any help, feel free to ask me." He places a soft hand on her shoulder. "I wanna be able to visit alternate universes too, cause it sounds like fun!"

"Fun… no… it can't be…" Lisa thinks, before she speaks up once more, "Hey Lincoln… I would like to ask you something, if you do not mind of course."

The boy shrugs, "Sure sis, what's the question?"

"A while ago I asked you to test my glow serum, do you remember how it felt?" Lisa turns back to face her computer and begins to typing, "I believe I could be able to modify the formula to make interdimensional travel safer."

"Hmm, well, if I remember correctly it made me feel a bit queasy. Like, umm, someone shoved some vinegar down my throat."

"Thank you Lincoln. I will get to work on the formula right now."

And with that, the boy nods and walks out of the room.

Lisa sighs, "It's true… he isn't my brother…" The pieces begin to fall into place in her mind, "The erratic, pseudo-feminine behavioral changes can now be explained as Lincoln is not in there, but is rather the girl Lincoln swapped places with." She adjusts her glass and walks over to her work desk.

"I cannot allow her to get her hands on my completed Interdimensional Matter Transporter, or else who knows what she will do?" Lisa sighs with that thought, before walking over to the door. The upstairs hallway is dark for the night, with most of the siblings in their rooms, preparing to go to sleep. She quickly checks her surrounding before crossing the hallway and knocking on the door across from her own.

"Hey Lana, Lola, you still awake?" She whispers… only for the door to immediately fly open and four hands to pull her inside. "G'ahh!"

"Be quiet woman!" Lola goes, placing her hand on her little sister's mouth, "Do you want that imposter to hear you?"

Lisa moves Lola's hand, "No."

"Well then be quiet." Lana adds.

"I know elder siblings." The scientist stands up and dusts herself off. "We have to begin preparations to fix our sibling's current situation."

"Besides the fact that he's in another dimension and the person in his place is currently screwing his life over?" Lola mutters, doing her best not to make her rage audible."

The scientist nods, "Yes." She pulls out the newly finished watch, "I have completed the Interdimensional Matter transporter required to travel between dimensions, but I am worried more must be done before I can test it."

"So what do you want us to do Lisa?" Lana asks, taking the device in her hands.

"I fear that our current male sibling is planning something drastic in order to keep the status quo." Lisa adjusts her glasses, "Please, I need you to hide this device. We cannot allow them to get their hands on this. If they do, there is no telling what could happen!"

The twins nod in affirmation.

"Thank you." Lisa goes, before turning, "And please, watch over them, make sure they don't do anything drastic."

For one of the very few times in their lives, the twins nod in agreement.

And with that, Lisa turns… only for Lana to grab her arm, "Why can't we tell Lori or the others? They deserve to know that Lincoln's not really Lincoln too!"

Lisa sighs, "I agree, but if our current sibling's previous behavior is any indication, they want to stay." She adjusts her glass once more and looks Lana in the eyes. Unlike her typical monotone… Lisa's voice fills with a soft, almost mother-like heat, "I fear that if word gets out, they'll do something drastic to get their way."

She then breaks from Lana's grip and steps out of the room, hoping that there was still time to spare.

"Ok, here we go." Luke takes a deep breath, mentally preparing himself as he stands before the room of his eldest brothers, "No matter what he does, he's still our brother. The only reason he's acting the way he is is because he feels neglected and he'll calm down after we explain everything to him." With one more sigh, he calmly opens the door… only to find Loki still standing in front of the released hunters, holding them at rifle point.

"Uhh… what's going on here?" Luke nervously asks, causing the three hunters to turn to face him, while Loki doesn't move.

"Glad you could join us Luke." Loki angrily greets, his gaze, suspicious of the three standing before him, "How's the sister imposter doing?"

Luke simply nods, "She's fine bro, she's fine…"

The cadet remains silent, simply waiting for his brother to continue.

"So uhh… What's happened?" Luke nervously asks.

Loki doesn't hesitate to respond, "I just had these idiots spill who they are and where they come from, now I wanna know why they're here."

"Well…" Aeif turns to her twin's counterpart, silently begging for him to answer, yet, her partner stands behind Trevor, a semi-fearful expression filling his face, "Fine, we'll tell you." She sighs, "We're Anomaly Hunters."

"Try something I don't know." Loki angrily, training the rifle on the child soldier.

Without missing a beat, Aeif responds, "That bar of slippery white stuff on the sink is called soap. Wet it and rub it against your skin until lather forms to prevent B.O."

Luke can't help but chuckle at the insult.

"Something that, oh I don't know, will convince me not to shoot your brains out." Loki nonchalantly responds, "They taught me how to quickly hide bodies so enemy personnel wouldn't get alerted to my actions."

"Yeah right." Trevor goes, "You're seriously going to shoot kids?"

Loki easily responds, "I don't see how me doing that is any less humane than you trapping us in cards forever. Now, talk."

"Loki…" Luke slowly stepping towards his brother, "I think you need to-"

"No!" He shouts, "I don't need to calm down! I need answers and he's gonna give me them!"

Alex fights passed his fears and steps forward, "We were recruited after too many anomalies appearing in our universe caused it to become inhabitable."

"Continue." Loki goes, he fierce gaze hardening.

Alex nods, "Yeah. Now it's our job to capture anomalies and keep their levels as low as possible so other realities don't end up like ours."

Aeif then speaks up, "The reason we're here is because your sister is an anomaly, a big one borderlining class three." She then points at him, "And so are you! We were just doing our job getting rid of a couple of dweebs like you to save everyone else. You're welcome by the way."

"Seeing as I'd be a card right now if you succeeded, I don't feel like thanking you." Loki responds. "In fact, after hearing that, perhaps shooting you and putting you out of your misery would be a far better option than letting you go-"

"Oh screw this!" Trevor shouts, before rushing Loki, "Your sister defeating me cost me my honor! I will do anything to get it back!"

Before the cadet could counter, the older man pushes the weapon down, causing the weapon to discharge. The bullet flies through the floor with that, just barely missing the kids downstairs.

Yet, Loki is more than capable of breaking the man's grip and forcing his fist into the former hunter's face, causing him to fall to the floor, "And stay down you filthy animal."

Downstairs…

Lars holds his injured arm, "Dangit, Loki!"

"Are you ok Lars?" Linka grabs onto her brother tightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got grazed." The Goth boy responds, "I'm ok… though if I were just an few inches over…"

"Don't focus on that Lars." Linka grips him tightly, "You're not too seriously hurt right? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you were!"

"I'll be fine." He goes, "I was raised to deal with the pain." The Goth then stands up and takes a seat on the couch, still clutching the cut.

Despite her weakened vision, Linka still stands as well and runs over to the kitchen, knowing full well where her parents kept the most important tool box in the house: the first-aid kit.

Back upstairs…

Trevor grits his teeth, "Your sister cost me my honor."

Loki quickly smacks Trevor's head with the butt of his rifle… then hits him again... and again... and again, "I don't know why, but this feels so satisfying!" Then, just to finish it, he smacks him across the face hard enough to knock out one of the man's teeth... as well as damage the rifle butt.

"Grr. Do your worst!" Trevor defiantly yells between the hits, "I come from a reality in which honor is the most prized aspect one could have. When I joined, I was promised I would be able to keep it!"

"Seriously?" Loki immediately pulls out his rifle's bolt, ejecting the spent cartridge and loading in another, "What honor? You set up your 'games' without warning." He aims at the hunter's head, "And the those two had an unfair advantage by being armed and catching us by surprise. Never mind what you probably did to get one up on my… sister. You guys never had any honor to lose!"

"It doesn't matter. We're dead anyway." Trevor answers, his voice getting low while he defiantly looks down the barrel of his weapon.

"Yeah, because I wanted answers, and you decided to try and attack me." He aims the rifle…

Only for a burst of purple light to engulf Trevor's body.

Loki turns to face the source.

Luke holds up a metal card, "While you weren't paying attention, I used the Holo-Gear to card his arse." Then, he drops his arms, "You need to calm down Loki. You almost shot a man!"

"I don't care!" He spits back, "I want to know how to fix everything! I want answers!" he points at the remain two hunters, "Like, why are you as good as dead now?!"

The male twin speaks up, "If you lose in the hunting field, you end up an anomaly yourself. It's either card yourself, or wait to be carded..."

"Or know that your very existence will contribute to reality collapsing around you." Aeif finishes.

Luke then speaks up, "Well… you guys still have your equipment right?"

The former hunters shake their heads; "We lost them when we got carded."

"Well… if I got you your stuff back, what's stopping you from doing your job in this universe?

"One, we're at gunpoint" Alex goes, and Aeif adds, "And two,

it's not our job anymore."

Luke's voice fills with annoyance, "So, what? You're just going to let us re-seal you, or go out and wait to get captured again? Send a signal; get a bunch of you guys swarming over us trying to get some 'honor' back?"

The hunters remain silent.

"Well…" Loki's voice begins to soften, "That's the awkward silence of understanding if I've ever heard it. What do you think?"

"Oh no doubt." Luke quips, "Totally gonna to get themselves and all of us carded as payback or redemption or whatever. Anything you guys want to say before you go back into the cards?" The young man raises the Holo-Gear.

Loki lowers his weapon slightly, the realization of his safety now confirmed.

A soft silence overtakes the room.

"I never wanted to be a hunter." Aeif finally admits, her soft voice breaking through the silence, "I just had no choice… and was thrown with a partner."

Alex looks away, "Neither did I… I just came along because it was… I was promised I'd never see… you." He points at Loki.

Loki takes a deep breath and looks at the twins, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry that your Loki was such a jerk to you."

Alex doesn't break his guard, "Says the guy leveling a rifle at my head."

"Says the kid who tried to essentially kill my whole family. Neither of us has the right to call out the other." Loki doesn't hesitate to clutch his rifle tightly, and begin to rub it… as if rubbing a cat.

And with that, a soft silence fills the room.

"Now that everything's at least slightly calmer…" Luke pulls out his phone and dials a familiar number, "Hey babe. How are ya? Good? That's great!" He goes, before his voice gains a soft seriousness to it, "Would you mind telling me where you're staying again? Uh huh. Listen we got two stragglers here. They look like Leif and Lexx if he wore a dress. You think you can take 'em in? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they wont do that. Look Loki's not the most stable right now. He's Dr. No'ing his rifle right now...yes that means petting it like a cat. Look it's either that or we… I know, don't worry they're clean! Just make sure they don't get your stuff... uh huh... you can take 'em then? Perfect!"

He quickly hangs up, "Good news you two. You're gonna go live with your big sister!"

Aeif rubs her arm, "Me and Alna were the only girls in my family…"

And Alex adds, "And my sister… left before I could meet her…"

Luke sighs, "It's either this or getting carded again. And I'm pretty sure you want more of a life than what they made you do."

Alex sighs, "True..."

Aeif sighs as well, "Fine... We'll go…"

"Good." Luke goes, before taking a deep breath, "Now why don't you two turn around and stare at the corner while I talk to Loki?"

"What? Why?" The twin hunters complain, only for a fierce expression to overtake the young man's face, causing them to immediately comply.

"What is it Luke?" Loki begrudgingly asks.

"How are you feelin' bro?" Luke sits on his bed.

"Is he seriously asking me that?" Loki stands by for a moment, awestruck by his brother's lack of understanding, "Are you trying to outdo Loni or something?"

"Right…" He looks away and rubs the back of his head, "Dumb question. My bad." He looks his older brother in his eyes, "So do you want to put down the loaded rifle? It's already gone off once man."

He shakes his head.

Luke sighs, "Well, we need you downstairs. We need to fake an accident for Linka..."

"You mean Lincoln." He corrects.

"She agreed to still be called Linka so we don't mess up and blow the secret." He stands up, "Anyways, we need to make it look like the shiners you and the real Linka gave her were accidents, so none of us get carted off to your old stomping grounds."

Loki hesitates, taking a moment to remember his own experiences at the academy. With a begrudging sigh, he goes, "Fine, I'll help."

The younger brother smiles, "Great. Now come down. We need your help tearing up the trophy case."

"The trophy case?" Loki's voice fills with confusion.

Luke nods, "Yeah, to make sure that none of us would get screwed over, we've decided that it'd be a good idea to use the trophy case as the scapegoat..."

The older brother pinches the bridge of his nose, "You are aware that's a dumb idea, right?"

Luke flails his arms up, "We've got nothing better!"

"How about instead we say that Linka opened the case and it fell out? Dad puts the trophies in remember?" Loki looks at his brother in annoyance.

"Oh…" Luke awkwardly rubs the back of his head. "Well… ok then!" He motions towards the twins, "If that's the case, I'll deal with these guys."

Loki nods, and head out of the room and down the stairs. And as he does, he leans Trevor's card towards his mouth, bites it and attempts to tear it in half… only to find it wouldn't break. "Dangit." In annoyance, he simply throws the card in the trash to be discarded later.

And a few moments later, he's downstairs.

"Loki, I need some help!" Linka meekly greets while she works on covering Lars' graze wound.

Loki stares at the young girl in contempt, his anger building, "Did she hurt Lars?! This… this monster, this liar this… this thing hurt my brother!" Before he realizes it, the rifle butt hits the young girl's side. Luckily, the quick, yet loose movement caused the weapon to not hold as much force as it would otherwise.

Linka falls to the floor with that, now clutching her injured side while Lars looks on in shock, "Loki... why?" She groans.

The young man grits his teeth and clenches his fists. Pained tears begin to fall from his eyes as he leans down and takes the injured girl in his arms. Lars responds by standing up as well, "Come on Link... Lincoln. Let's get you and Lars to the hospital."

And with that, Loki walks over, opens the still intact trophy case, pulls out a certain dancing trophy, and drops it on the floor. The trio then step out of the home, mount Loki's motorcycle and drive off, leaving the others behind.

Meanwhile...

Nyla quickly secures her vest and open-fingered gloves. She had ditched the hunter cloak and uniform, after she realized that there was no need for it anymore.

Instead, she wears a pink tank top under a purple denim jacket, as well as a dark-purple skirt. Though, she found the hunter boots quite fitting, and decided to keep them. Luckily, the purple and white doesn't look too out of place.

"So... two more disavowed agents that aren't gonna be carded? That's pretty interesting." She quickly steps out of her small apartment and heads down the stairs. "Well... my apartment isn't that big... but if they're the twins' size, that should be more than enough... hopefully."

Once she stands in front of the apartment door, she checks her bag once more, "Holo-Gear check." Before she steps out into the late winter town.

Immediately, a gust of air blows in her face, which she doesn't hesitate to breath in, "Ahh." She smiles, "Ya know, being stuck in my hometown isn't as bad as I thought it would be." She smiles. "At least-"

"Warning!" Nyla's holo gear goes off. "Emergency Teleportation Device Activated! Incoming!"

"What the?" She drops her bag and pulls out her small shield-like device... only for it to release a small bubble, protecting her from… something.

"Ok... what the heck is going on?!" She shouts, only for a portal to open next to her, and from it, a battered Nell falls through.

"Nell?!" She shouts, while the slightly older blonde groans in pain. The younger woman kneels down and helps her to her feet, "Who did this to you?!"

"Lyle…" She goes, while the younger girl supports her.

"Dangit." She mutters, before helping Nell walk, "Welp, it looks like we're headed home."

And with that, Nyla begins helping Nell along the road to the Loud House.

An Hour Later…

*Knock* *Knock* the door goes.

"Coming!" Luke runs over and opens it, revealing both Nell and Nyla waiting for him.

"Hey Nyla… what's she doing here?" Luke tilts his head.

"I'll explain, but first, let's get her on the couch, she needs to rest."

Luke nods, before going under Nell's free arm and helping Nyla bring her over to the soft chair.

"What happened?" Luke asks, while the twins come down the stairs to join them.

Nyla turns to Luke with that, "First, are these the stragglers I was told about?" She motions towards the twins.

"Yeah, you mind takin' em?"

"Not at all." She goes, "My apartment's just fine." She glares at them, "So long as they don't touch my stuff, we'll be fine."

"Is that ok with you two?" Luke turns to the twins, and they both nod in a begrudging affirmation.

Luke then turns back to Nyla, "You sure you can handle them?"

Nyla nods, "Course, I had to deal with ten brothers after all!"

The twins' eyes go wide in shock, "You lived in a big family too?!"

"Yeah." She responds, "Now, if I take you, will you behave?"

The twins look at each other and sigh, before Aeif goes, "Yeah… you remind me of my brother, Auke."

"And my brother John…" Alex adds.

"Good." Nyla goes, before taking a deep breath as well. "Now, I have to explain what's going on, huh?"

Luke nods, "Kinda, why's Nell so banged up?"

"Well…" Nyla rubs the back of her head, "You see… our class three supervisor is coming."

"What?" Luke tilts his head, while the twins simply step back in fear.

"The Anomaly Control and Elimination Task Force is made up of thousands of thousands of hunters scouring the universe for anomalies." She takes a deep breath, "However, it's difficult to manage this many units at a time. So to do so, command breaks hunters down into classifications."

She then pulls out her Holo-Gear and types in a few commands, causing it to project the image of a small pyramid, "At the bottom, and the majority of hunters, are the class ones. They deal with minor disturbances and usually move to handle issues quickly."

Nyla then motions to the second tier; "Above class one are the class twos like myself and these two." She then motions towards herself, "If a threat is declared to be too much for class ones to handle, us class twos will take over, sometimes commanding a squad of class ones to help us contain and eliminate threats…. Then there are the class threes."

The air in the room goes cold, as a wave of fear overtakes the four hunters. The young woman motions toward the third tier on the pyramid, "No one knows much about how they're chosen, but they are the most skilled members of the AEU. They are only called in to handle disavowed hunters and serious threats."

"So what's going on with Nell here? Did she run into a class three hunter?" Luke leans closer to her.

The girl nods, "Yeah, specifically, our unit supervisor." She taps on the diagram, revealing a massive tree branch of command, "You see, every class three has a squad of class twos under them. Nell and I had the same one."

"So that's how she knew you when we met her?"

"Yeah." Nyla continues, "Since we've been disavowed, our class three supervisor has no doubt been sent to round us up and card us."

"So... that's your fate worse than death huh?" Luke jokes, though Nyla remains deadpan, "Yes. Dealing with a class thee is extraordinarily difficult."

She looks at the twins knowingly.

"How come?" Luke tilts his head, "From what I've seen, beat them once and they card themselves."

"Class threes are exempt from that rule." Nyla's voice gains a harsh solemnity to it.

Luke's eyes go wide in shock.

"Yep, command tolerates their losses because most of the time, something interferes that they were not expected to handle." The young girl sighs, "Heck, that's just the stuff the rest of us are allowed to see!"

"Wow..." Luke goes, his voice filling with worry, "So... do you know how long it'll be before the class three comes along?"

"Well, seeing as we're not cards, I suspect command ordered her to stand down. For the time being, we're safe." She sighs, "But, if you or Link causes too much commotion, command will be forced to send my supervisor." Nyla gulps in fear, "Lyle."

"Understood..." Luke goes.

*Cough* *Cough* Nell goes, before pushing herself up, "Hey guys. What'd I miss?"

Without responding, Nyla throws her arms around the girl, "Thank goodness you're all right!"

"Heh, thanks for the help Nyla!" Nell puts her own arms around the young girl as well, causing the latter to blush, "After all, you know I'm tougher than I look!"

Nyla shakes her head, "Still, I was worried for ya!"

"Same sis, same." Nell's voice is filled with soft honey, "You've been disavowed for so long, I thought I'd never see you again!"

The duo breaks the hug with that.

"Now come on, let's head to my place, I'll get you guys more casual clothes to wear there." The young woman than stands up and motions for the disavowed hunters to follow.

"Kay Nyla, I guess I'll be seeing ya." Luke rubs the back of his head.

Nyla immediately throws her arms around him, and gives him a big kiss, leaving the young man in shock.

"Don't worry Luke. I'm free for our date next week." She breaks their kiss and smiles, causing Luke to blush harder.

"You got it Nyla!" Luke quickly goes.

"Bye, Luke right?" Nell tilts her head in curiosity.

Luke nods, "Yeah." Then he looks at the twins, "Behave now, or else Nyla here will turn you into cards again. You don't want that, do you?" His voice is filled with a fatherly care.

The twin hunters both look down and shake their heads.

"Good." Luke continues, before nodding at Nyla. The latter grabs the twins' hands and walks them out the door with, "See ya later!"

And with that the ex-hunters walk out of the Loud House, leaving Luke all alone.

"Well..." he sighs, "At least things could always be worse."

Meanwhile…

Lincoln paces his room, desperate to find a solution to his current situation, "How am I gonna stop that version of me from trying to take her life back?!"

"I think I may have a solution to your problem." A masculine voice goes, before a strange man appear before the child.

"W-Who are you!?" Lincoln cracks his knuckles and prepares to throw a punch. "I've practiced martial arts, and I'm not afraid to go Kung Fu up your butt!"

However, this only amuses the man. "I am the Guardian of Dimensions, and I have come to make a deal."

23-9-12-12-9-1-13 3-18-25-16-20-15-19 9-19 14-15-20 23-8-1-20 8-5 19-5-5-13-19! 2-9-12-12 3-9-16-8-5-18 23-21-26 8-5-18-5!

A/N Wow, 21 chapters, I can't believe it. Wow… this is for reference: the longest story, chapter-wise, I wrote at this point, was my second story: "Code Omega" (It sucks, don't read it) at 26 chapters. That took almost a year to write. The longest I've ever taken to write something was a year and 9 months, and that was a collection I lost interest in towards the end: Life's Choices. Next week, I'm posting last chapter to my one-shot collection, "The Broken House".

I started writing this exactly 21 weeks ago and I haven't changed the way I write still… wow. So much has happened and yet, so little at the same time. Man, I'm really getting philosophical aren't I? Heh, anyways, I've decided that to commemorate this story getting… everything that it has, that I'd tell you guys how this idea started.

First, let's get this out of the way: This wasn't intended to be a full-length story. The A/N in chapter 1 is proof, I originally wanted this to be a one-shot collection with an over-arcing storyline, hence the method of story telling, especially early on.

Another fun fact, the original title for this story was, "Legacy of the Shadowman." And would've involved Lincoln and Ronnie Anne searching for the 4 fragments of the Macguffin, in order to fulfill the deal they made with the titular character. That story never got passed a completed chapter 1. (If people want, I'll post it so someone else could use it). There's more, but I can't say without spoiling this story.

Anyways, I thank Wolvenstrom and Exotos135 for all their help! And as always, feel free to send in ideas for stuff you'd like to see! The next story involves another sibling who's name starts with L and ends with I!

Also, remember those boards I had to take a few weeks ago? I got my grade in yesterday! I got a 92%! The passing grade is 87.5%! I'm now certified!