As Cristina continued to walk back to Royal Woods, a voice seemingly spoke to her.
"What can I do now? Ronnie has betrayed me. Lincoln has betrayed me. The Four Lovers were more useless than I expected. The only good thing to come out of this mess is that Tetherby is now part of my garden."
Then, she smiled.
"Well, at the very least, I can pay a visit to my dear friend. I wonder if she missed me? I certainly haven't missed her. Why would anybody miss a dirty backstabber, after all?"
The irony of the statement was lost to the redhead.
At the Santiago Household...
Ronnie watched some television, which was currently showing a pair of friends-one brunette and the other a redhead-fighting and beating each other to a pulp. Why was she watching such a show, since it undoubtly brought bad memories of her and Cristina's deal, was beyond her. But luckily, her attention was caught by something else.
She turned around after hearing a knock, and saw Cristina standing outside, head tilted to a side, eyes practically bulging from her head, and sporting what could be best described as a demented smile.
"Hello, Ronnie Anne," Cristina greeted in a friendly, and almost casual, tone.
The tomboy just closed the curtains and walked away, only to find Cristina looking at her through the next window. "Do you remember me?" the redhead inquired. "I'm Cristina, I'm your best friend."
The tomboy closed the curtains again as Cristina added, "I have a question for you."
Then, without warning, Cristina crashed her arm through the window and grabbed Ronnie by the neck of her shirt. "Do you remember," she slowly pulled her forward as her calm tone suddenly turned into a loud, frenetic one, "What you did to me!?"
She pulled Ronnie Anne through the window, then threw her right at a tree, breathing heavily all the while. Then, as Ronnie got up and dusted herself, Cristina took a deep breath before slowly walking towards the tomboy, sporting a murderous, bloodshot look. The tomboy, however, wasn't all that fazed by the sight.
"Cristina, it's so nice to see your ugly mug again," Ronnie said as she dusted herself.
"Am I detecting sarcasm in your speech?" the redhead asked with a smug grin.
"You don't need to sense what's plainly in front of you," Ronnie and Cristina then exchanged glares once the redhead was close enough. "Now tell me, what the heck are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"
"Oh right, I definitely used to be in the hospital," Cristina answered, narrowing her eyes. "But I wasn't along, you know? I had a roommate."
"I pity the poor bastard who wound up sharing a room with you," Ronnie scoffed.
"I'm not sure Lincoln would've liked to be called a bastard," the redhead chuckled.
The moment Cristina revealed that, Ronnie grabbed her by the neck, pinned her against the three and held her tight as she said, "You and Lincoln shared a bedroom?! What did you do to him!?"
But Cristina wasn't fazed. In fact, she wasn't even afraid. She simply rolled her eyes-her smug smile remaining in place-before answering in a matter-of-fact tone, "All I did was reveal the truth to him."
"The truth?!" Ronnie thought.
And then the tomboy felt a sharp pain in her crotch. The pain itself came from the kick in the groin Cristina gave her, forcing the Hispanic girl to release the redhead and grab her crotch, upon which Cristina kicked her hard enough to send her flying into a wall. Then, as the Hispanic girl slid down and hit the ground, Cristina walked to her, grabbed and held her arms and started to kick her groin repeatedly.
"Don't worry, though, I made sure to save him from seeing the very worst of the truth," Cristina remarked. "Including your dirty, backstabbing, traitor face!"
Suddenly, Ronnie returned the favor-or at least tried to-and swung her kick. While she missed Cristina's crotch, she at least hit her legs and caused her to lose balance, making the redhead release Ronnie. The tomboy took the chance to roll away and catch her breath.
"I'm no longer part of your mess of a plan, Cristina!" Ronnie spat. "Go ahead! Just replace me like you replaced the other Lovers, it's not like they mean a damn thing to you anyway!"
Once Cristina returned to Ronnie, however, she wasn't mad, or even angry. In fact, the best way to describe her would be disappointed.
"You're mostly right, Ronnie. I didn't care about your brother, Carol, and most definitely not Tetherby. But I actually had a soft spot for you. I needed you to get together with Lincoln, so you would save him from his sisters and anybody else. But alas, we both know how that went down. And now here we are, with you by my heels, still defying my righteous will."
Then she grabbed Ronnie's chin and made her look at her.
"But I will fix that. I will fix you."
Finally, just to further mess with Ronnie, Cristina leaned closer and gave her a kiss in the lips. The redhead in particular played with Ronnie's tongue using her own, all while giving the angry, crying tomboy bedroom eyes. By the time Cristina and Ronnie's kiss finished, Ronnie looked like she was ready to murder Cristina at any time.
Good thing the redhead knocked her out soon afterwards.
"Now, how about we go to somewhere else?" Cristina said as she grabbed the unconscious girl and dragged her on the ground. "Somewhere you will see the error of your ways..."
Back at the Loud House, with Lucy and Lisa...
The poet and the little genius sat on the latter's bed, with Lisa looking around with worry while Lucy held a couple of pictures.
"Okay Lisa, I asked Lola and Lana to refrain from joining this therapy session until you felt a bit more comfortable," Lucy explained. "Now, we'll start with something simple. I'll show you pictures with black blots of ink in them, and you must tell me what you think you see in them."
"That... sounds fine, actually," Lisa remarked. "Let's give it a shot."
Lucy nodded and showed Lisa a picture with about 3 large, slender blots of ink.
"I see... a group of people. And they're shrouded in the shadows," Lisa said before the blots turned into large versions of herself, sporting ear-to-ear smirks and bloodshot eyes. "A-And they look like me! They're giggling! And-"
The goth quickly threw away the picture and went to the next one. "Okay, let's go to the next picture," the poet said hastily.
The picture was basically a bunch of black polka dots. "A bunch of blood stains in the floor," Lisa said, trying to hold back the desire to cry. "And they come from Lincoln, who is crying in pain nearby-"
"Something tells me this has affected you more than I previously thought," Lucy remarked as she threw away the picture. "What do you say we try a different approach?"
"What do you mean?" Lisa inquired.
Literally seconds later, Lisa and Lucy were on the floor, with a pen and paper in front of Lisa. "I want you to try and write something," Lucy explained as Lisa grabbed the pen. "Try to not focus on either Lincoln, or the stabbing, or anything like that. Focus on what you like. Something like... science."
Lisa smiled, immediately getting an idea of what to write. But the instant she tried to write anything at all, images of a stabbed Lincoln flashed in her mind. Not only that, she also got images of Lincoln in the hospital, and... Cristina? The third one wasn't really anything specific, but going by the redhead's grin, it wasn't anything good. But the genius pressed on and started writing.
She started to shed tears as she wrote her note, with the images flashing faster as she continued writing. That is, until Lucy grabbed her hand and stopped her.
"I think that's enough," the goth stated.
The letter she wrote was basically repeated chantings of "Hurt Lincoln, served Cristina" with the letters getting bigger and bigger until they just... dropped into the bottom of the paper. And then Lynn literally kicked the door open.
"Hello everybody!" the athlete cheerfully greeted.
Her excitement was cut shot when she saw Lucy holding Lisa, who was shivering in fear. "Did I come in at a bad moment?" Lynn asked.
"No, I was just trying to help Lisa deal with her trauma," Lucy answered, though her tone made it difficult to tell whether she was being sarcastic or not. "What do you need, Lynn?"
Lynn twiddled her figners. "Well, two things: I was wondering if you would like to see what we'll do about our relationship-"
"Right now, there are far more urgent matters than our potential relationship," Lucy answered, her tone having a subtle hint of anger in it.
"And that's when the second thing comes in!" Lynn cheerfully added. "I have a way of helping Lisa deal with her trauma!"
Later, at the backyard...
Lynn presented the duo with a punching bag modeled after Cristina, with Lucy and Lisa looking at it with confusion, at least in Lisa's case.
"I don't get it," Lisa said.
"Cristina is the main reason all of this madness has happened," Lynn explained as she walked to Lisa's side. "So, all you have to do is punch it to your heart's content!"
"Yeah, I get that, what I don't get is why you think such a physical approach will help someone who's more mental?" Lisa answered.
"Hey, it doesn't hurt to try," Lynn shrugged.
So, not really having anything else to do, Lisa walked forward to the redhead-shaped punching bag and cracked her knuckles... only to hurt her hands in the process. Then she took a deep breath, and looked at the bag while she charged up her punch. And once she released it... the bag barely moved.
"Come on, Lisa! You must have some built up anger for Cristina!" Lynn barked, making the little genius wince in surprise. "Use that to your advantage! Remember everything she's done up to this point!"
And then, memories flashed in Lisa's head. The first, of course, being the girl fleeing from her while mocking her.
"Cristina..." she muttered, forming a fist.
"Yes, that's right!" Lynn shouted, lifting her fist while Lucy started to get worried. "Channel all your rage in one punch!"
"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Lucy remarked.
"Lucy, she has to vent," Lynn replied. "Don't mind whatever Lucy says, just remember: beat the stuffing out of that punching bag!"
More memories flashed: Cristina spitting at her face, her sisters acting weird because of the chips, and more memories that made the genius clench her teeth and growl the redhead's name as she charged up her punch once again. She then swung it in a spiral manner until it resembled a spinning wheel, then promptly punched the punching bag.
How strong was the resulting punch? The punching bag was not only sent flying, but it was basically snapped in two, with the upper half exploding and making it rain stuffing on top of Lisa, who immediately turned back to normal post-punch. Lynn was amazed, but Lucy's worry had clearly grown worse.
"Good job, Lisa!" Lynn exclaimed as she ran and hugged the smart brunette. "Now remember to do that to the real deal and your trauma will be over! The catharsis should be enough to deal with it!"
The little genius seemingly missed how nonsensical that statement was, since she lifted her arm with Lynn in victory. All while Lucy watched with worry.
"This won't end well..." Lucy thought.
And then Lisa jumped off Lynn's grasp and went to punch the tree... only to hurt her hand. Lucy's thought said everything:
"Yep, definitely won't end well."
Back with the sisters...
Lori drove down the road, with the sisters on the back seat trying their hardest to ignore the teenager as she ranted on about the whole hospital fiasco. Leni, however, just looked out the window and watched the scenery somberly, due to the sisters' failure to get Lincoln out of the hospital.
Basically, despite doing everything they could to get him out, the doctors and nurses refused to let the sisters take the boy back home. In fact, the faculty had to kick them just to get rid of them.
"I just can't believe it!" Lori exclaimed as her rant went on. "All they needed to do was let us take our brother back home, that's it! They could've provided us with some life support system if they were so worried about Lincoln's condition worsening, but no! They literally kick us out instead!"
"Lori, shut up," Leni ordered. "You're not making this any better."
After flinching at the statement, Lori soon regained her composure and continued to drive silently.
Back with Lincoln...
Carol and Dr. Archer, now working together as a team, helped Lincoln stabilize himself as he hyperventilated. And why wouldn't he panic? His sisters not only came up out of nowhere, but Cristina escaped and he had no idea of where she had gone to. Luckily, however, it seems that whatever the duo did was working.
"He's stabilizing," Dr. Archer said. "But we need to be careful. If something this stressful happens again, he might have a heart attack. Or worse."
"You know, he and I actually know each other better," Carol remarked. "Maybe if he had some alone time with someone he knows, it would help him relax."
Archer wasn't exactly sold on the idea, but he couldn't do anything for Lincoln right now. So he left the room and gave Carol and Lincoln some time alone. "Now, Lincoln, how do you feel?" Caol asked, brushing Lincoln's hair. "Don't worry, you're with somebody you can trust."
"Can I? Lori is working for Cristina, you used to work for her too, heck, for all I know, even Leni could be in cahoots with Cristina as well," the guy answered, looking away. "The more and more time goes on, the less people I find that I can trust."
"Well, I'm not working for Cristina now, so you can definitely trust me," the nurse answered. "Come on, if you need to talk to someone, take the chance to tell me what's on your mind."
After thinking about it for a moment, Lincoln eventually caved in and asked Carol a couple questions: "Do you think Cristina will pay for what she has done? Will my family ever manage to turn back to normal, or move on from all this madness?"
The nurse was taken aback by the questions, though she quickly regained her composure. "Don't worry, either by my hand, or one of your sister's, or even your own hands, Cristina will pay for everything," was her first answer. "And though your family might never be the same after all of this, you'll manage to recover, and move on with your lives."
And then, Lincoln extended his arms towards Carol, clearly trying to request a hug. "I'm sorry, Lincoln, but I'm not allowed to get physical with the patients, hugs included," Carol sadly explained. "Plus, that would probably just worsen your knife wound."
The boy promptly lowered his hands, then smiled and blushed as Carol kissed his forehead and continued to caress his hair, giving him a reassuring smile all the while.
For the first time in a long while, Lincoln actually felt safe and sound...
Back with Lynn, Lisa and Lucy...
Lucy cooked something for dinner while Lynn and Lisa spent some time together at the couch. The reason why she was cooking, besides the remaining older sisters not being back home yet and Lynn knowing jack about cooking, the parents were mysteriously absent. It's almost as if... they had been taken away...
"So this is how mom usually starts the day..." Lucy thought before gaining a smile, "Mom, I admire you for lasting so long with this."
And as she continued to cook, Lynn and Lisa watched some TV. More specifically, they were watching Blarney Rangers with Lana and Lola. Currently, the episode had a brown Blarney Ranger-looking surprisingly similar to Lisa-fighting against a red Psycho Blarney Ranger-who looked similar to Cristina-in a fierce battle.
"Go, Blarney Ranger Brown!" Lana exclaimed, raising her fist.
"Don't give up!" Lola shouted.
"I don't get it, Brown is definitely weaker than Psycho Red, there's no way she's going to win," Lisa remarked, actually sounding like her smart self for once. "So why do Lola and Lana even bother rooting for her?"
"Because Psycho Red has been... a pretty terrible person," Lynn answered hesitantly. "Let's just say she tried to force several Blarneys together for her own amusement, and forced them to change into generic, bland cookie-cutter characters."
No doubt that reminded Lisa of a certain redhead. But then she got an idea, if Blarney Brown could fight a losing battle without losing immediately, maybe she could eventually manage to turn the tables around. And if she can do that, maybe Lisa herself could do that against Cristina. After all, the red rat had escaped for far too long, and it was time somebody fought her head on.
So Lisa got off Lynn's arms and went upstairs. "Hey, where are you going?" Lynn asked.
"I have to go do something! I'll be back soon!" Lisa answered.
Lynn simply took the little girl's word for it. After all, despite being traumatized and essentially changed by everything that's happened, Lisa was still Lisa, and she was easily the most trustworthy of the Louds behind Lori.
So, what did Lisa do once she reached her room? Escape through the window and run to look for Cristina, of course!
"Cristina, here I come!" Lisa whispered with determination.
Speaking of Cristina...
The redhead watched patiently as Ronnie Anne slowly woke up, only to find herself and Cristina in the middle of underneath the warehouse again, with the giant monitor displaying blue static.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Cristina greeted with a mocking tone. "Did you sleep well? Can I bring you something?"
Ronnie was quick to spit right at Cristina's face, "Yeah! Bring me something sharp so I can shove it up your eye and-"
Suddenly, the redhead took out a red cloth and wrapped it around Ronnie's mouth, with the tomboy complaining all the while. "Oh my, what a dirty mouth you got there, if only I had some soap to clean it with," Cristina remarked before tightening the cloth. "But I guess we'll have to use something far worse."
Ronnie became silent once she heard that, and her worry only grew bigger as Cristina went to a nearby table, and grabbed a helmet. A VR helmet, one that looked really similar to the helmets used in the VR sim date game the Louds did.
"Now, you will see the things I prevented you from seeing," Cristina said as Ronnie tried to break free from her restraints, with no success. "That's right, you'll be forced to live the same scenario for a week: You will meet Lincoln. He won't love you. He'll be taken away by somebody else. What happens next? I don't wanna ruin the surprise.
The tomboy tried even harder as Cristina walked to her before slowly putting on the helmet on her head.
"Don't worry, people say time flies when you're having fun."
Then, as she turned on the helmet, the redhead finished with a malicious grin.
"And I'm definitely going to have fun watching you being tortured!"
-Next Chapter Preview-
Cristina spoke with somebody on the phone while watching some Blarney Rangers in action. She was currently seeing the rangers, with their bracelets still in their arms, facing off against the person with the master bracelet, which was shrouded in the shadows.
"Come on, Blarney Rangers!" Blarney Red ordered while pointing at a door. "We must get to the garden of Captain Avast!"
And as she ate her popcorn, the Blarney Rangers went through the door, and found themselves in the middle of a garden filled with human heads, which were slowly being converted into vegetables.