Lincoln was not in the best frame of mind after what he just saw, "Bad, really bad, Lynn vs Lynn bad, please stop with the past bad-" He quickly ducked behind the front yard tree and listened in very intently on the conversation.

And at first, Lynn was amused, "Really? My better half? There ain't no other me than...me!"

"And I don't doubt that," Strong Suit nodded, "It's just that...I've taken over as you now."

"Oh? And what does that make me?"

"Just an illusion," Strong Suit made some questionable hand motions, "Gone with the wind."

"Oh, yeah? Prove it," Lynn fell for it, "Prove you're the me me right now!" She got into position for her signature Cossack dance. Then, she fought through the pain in her legs and performed the ritual, "Hutta-hut! Hutta-hut! Hutta-hut!~~~"

Strong Suit analyzed Lynn's movements and sounds in less than five seconds, "Hutta-hut! Hutta-hut! Hutta-hut!~~~" and mimicked her perfectly. Slowly but surely, the movement from both girls got crazier and crazier, until the deciding moment when they had to land a backflip squat.

They tried to flip and land flat on her feet, but when they hit the hard wood-

-CRASH!-

"AGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!..."

Lynn's leg nerves were shot, and the Strong Suit plowed her heels through the hard wood and landed on her bum.

"Grrrrrgh..." Strong Suit gritted her teeth, "Does not want..."

"Ow! Ow! Ow! My legs!" Lynn scrambled out of the wood. Strong Suit noticed her pain and rushed her into the house.

The ruckus was so loud, they didn't hear Lincoln banging his head against the garage wall.

"Extremely bad...this is not going well at all..." Lincoln deployed his wing units and floated into the tree.

Meanwhile, Strong Suit wrapped Lynn's legs in ice packs and bandages, "Ow...dangit, I thought I was ok for that..."

"So do a lot of meatheads," Strong Suit came from the kitchen with a corn dog for Lynn, "The kind of effort you put in ain't gonna go away at all."

"What effort?" Lynn asked while eating the corn dog.

"Effort that sidelined you for the last few weeks," Strong Suit bluffed, "I still remember how the big guys throttled you across the field."

"Whoa..." Lynn marveled; she didn't think Suit would actually know, but she quickly figured out that her lookalike wasn't a hallucination, "How'd you know?!"

'I did?' was what Strong Suit thought, but she actually said, "How else?"

"Naw, you're not me, you're just a construct," Lynn nagged, "And speaking of which, where do you rank on the pecking order of the sidekicks?"

Strong Suit grinned, "Actually, I was the first hero he thought of. It was a heat of the moment type thing."

"The first?!" Lynn jolted, "You're the first hero?!"

"I got the number 1 for a reason."

"Wow..." Lynn's mind started wandering into personal territory. She deduced that she was actually the first sidekick that Lincoln called upon in the first official battle of the school year. She thought of any possible reason why her counterpart was the first to join the roster, given that ISs were basically functioned by thought and that this was before the photo and memories came to Lincoln, "Why was I the first?"

"Who knows?" Strong Suit cleaned up Lynn's legs, "It all depends on whoever's the captain."

"You mean, Lincoln?"

Strong Suit never got used to that name, "Not the title I use, but...yeah."

"But if you're here...then, Lincoln's here! He has to be!" Lynn brightened.

"Yes he is, but I wouldn't recommend going after him," Strong Suit shook her head and went to the sink, "He's still shaken by that costume thing you pulled."

"Oh..." Lynn murmured, "So, he is..."

And then, Strong Suit went off the rails, "Yeah, you should've seen the look on his face when he found out he'd have to go under the costume again. Just that look of pure shock like, "This isn't real. This can't be real. I absolutely refuse to believe that this is real." Then, two minutes later, "Oh, it's real..." I'd love to see that look on his face when you made him put the mask on the beach in full view of the entire party! I bet it's priceless!"

"Shut up."

"Huh?" Strong Suit turned behind her, and instantly caught the corn dog stick, "Oy!"

"SHUT UP!" Lynn snapped, "Don't you dare say anything about that!"

"What?" Strong Suit said, "I'm only saying what Ace told me."

"And stop calling him Ace! He's Lincoln! He's a Loud!"

"Not what he tells us. I keep hearing about what'd happen if he stayed here and just let things slide: you'll keep some mentally blah blah cycle going, only you'll chain him to the wheel."

Lynn got worried, "What th-we don't do that! We'd never do that!"

"I guess you're right. I mean, he just made a mistake back in Japan, and now-well, they're not saying it, but everyone's demanding an apology from him...Sound familiar?"

Yes it did. Lynn could recall several occasions where the sisters and Lincoln had made a mistake that caused them to be ostracized by the family, forcing them to apologize and make it up to them just to stave off some of their wrath. She couldn't allow her counterpart to catch on, but she was struggling with herself to not admit defeat, "Well...not...really...I mean, we had our share of mishaps, but-wait, why am I talking about this? Shouldn't you already know?!"

"Oh, I know," Strong Suit said, "I just wanna know if you know, or you're pretending to know."

"Ok, enough with the vagueness and the brain-taxation puzzle speak!" Lynn had enough, "What is going on with Lincoln?!"

"Hey, that's why I'm asking you," Strong Suit shrugged after finishing her cleaning.

Lynn gave up and threw the towels nd ice packs through the window, "I don't know! He hasn't called back in ever! He's just responded to a few emails, nothing more!"

"Oh...so you don't know..."

Lynn couldn't take it anymore and hissed in Strong Suit's ear, "Know...what?..."

"He's thinking about changing his name altogether," Strong Suit casually blurted out like it was nothing, "How does...Kichirou Orimura sound?"

Lynn froze, eyes widened and somewhat grayed out, "What?...Why?..."

Strong Suit ignored Lynn and rambled on, "Lori once questioned whether or not they'd have to contend with even more sisters," She grabbed a cup of milk, then sat at the kid's table, "Yes. Yes, she will. You spoke with Rin Fan before. Twin tailed, green-eyed..." she peered an eye at Lynn, "...your older, more mature body double?" and drank.

"B...body double?!" Lynn was shaken. The thought had never crossed her mind that she would be replaced by someone who looked like her.

"Oh, yeah," Strong Suit drank and nodded, "And this Ichika guy? Turns out he'd be older Ace, only with blue hair and half the common sense. And everyone else that Ichika's friends with? They're you and your sisters if they grew a pair. How crazy's that?"

Lynn stood still. Time stood still for her. In hindsight, she probably should've seen that coming since she and her sisters effectively replaced Lincoln with Clyde. Whether Lincoln asked him to or not was completely irrelevant, because he ended up having to do double duty; caring for every individual Loud's needs in addition to his dads' well-being, having to balance his own personal life against the fervor and breakneck pace of the war... he was essentially Lincoln. If it weren't for the glasses and the black skin, he would be Lincoln, and none of his sisters would recognize the switch.

It became clear to Lynn that the people changed...and that's it. Nothing else changed. After they Clyde to get over his crush on Lori, they used him as a mule for their own petty wants, while Lincoln himself...well, she wasn't sure what he was doing in Japan, and she was even less sure of what he's doing back in Michigan.

There was one thing she was sure of: Lincoln called Fleemco to make some changes, and he was very happy with the results.

"Ha...hahaha...so that's it..." Lynn muttered, veering her body towards the door.

"Yep," Strong Suit noticed, "Hey, where you going?"

"Um...I'm gonna go visit a friend..."

"Right," Strong Suit waved and went to the basement, "Hey, if you see Margo, tell her not to go near any spooky phantoms!"

Lynn didn't hear her. She shut the door and trudged her way back into the street. "Should've taken the hit..." she whispered, "I should've taken the hit..." She never once turned back.

If she had, she would've seen Lincoln in the giant tree, just as lost for words.

"Good god..." Lincoln whispered, "Is that really what's going on inside me?..." He climbed down and made his way to the front door, stowing his own inner conflict for later. He put one finger on the door, and it creaked itself open, as if it was waiting for him. "I'll just take the memories I need," he said to himself, "I don't need all this...stuff," as he walked inside.

What he saw inside wasn't normal. The house was sparkling clean and dustless, save for a few crumbs and a small glass. The master bedroom was clean to the point of looking like it hadn't been touched in years. The kitchen was thoroughly cleaned and wiped; every single utensil received an extensive wash.

"What's going on here?" He wondered, "The house is never this spotless..."

"You're telling me."

"YAHAHAHAHAAAA!" Lincoln jolted upward due to Strong Suit's sudden scare.

"The basement is not dirty," Strong Suit said, "Even the gutters were rinsed out. What the heck?"

"Strong Suit?!" Lincoln shivered before regaining his composure and slapping her upside the head, "What was that bit with you and Lynn?! Didn't we say DON'T get caught?!"

"How could I not?" Strong Suit twirled her sweatband, "Just looking at her gives me the bad vibes."

"You're the one who said we should go for a clean win!"

"Oh, I did..." Strong Suit made her way upstairs, "...ah, well. I guess we're playing on a higher difficulty now." ...without a care in the world.

"What is wrong with you?!" Lincoln followed Suit, "You know, sometimes I wonder if I should've turned Chifuyu down and stayed home."

"Really?..." Strong Suit cringed, "You've been flip-flopping between getting over it and not this whole time?..."

"It's more complicated than you think, mind you-PLABPH!" Lincoln bumped into Strong Suit, who suddenly stopped, "Ok, what am I gonna have to witness this time?" He clammed up when he saw what she pointed to.

It was his room. When he walked in, he noticed a faint scent of freshness. He also noticed that his knickknacks that he chose to leave behind were neatly arranged in order of rarity and size. His clothes seemed like they were recently ironed, all neatly folded and hanging in their proper place. His furniture had just been polished, and the sheets smell like they just came from the laundry.

Lincoln ran into the other bedrooms to see if they've been given the same care and attention as his room. Long story short: they have. Lola and Lana's room was sparkling clean on both sides. Lisa and Lily's room had no strange smells whatsoever. Luan and Luna's room was de-cluttered and de-pranked. Lori and Leni's room was completely organized. The only room that hadn't changed was Lucy and Lynn's room, but that was only because Lynn hadn't been in her own bed for a long time, meaning her own little corner hadn't been touched in over four months.

"Ok, kagami no sekai..." Lincoln sighed, "What's the big elusively obvious lesson for me today?..."

"Heck of a clue, this corner," Strong Suit inspected Lynn's bed, "Look at all these clothes just lying around."

Lincoln recognized them, "These are all Lynn's lucky jerseys," He tried to pick one of them up, but he felt the crustiness of the leftovers, "Blegh...did she bother taking them outside at all?..."

"Naw, these smell just the right kind of lucky?" Strong Suit was basking in their musty smell when she caught wind of the L-word, "Dangit, I haven't dinged her for lucky!"

"Is that what you harassed Lynn for?" Lincoln asked, "Haven't you gotten over that by now?!"

"Like you haven't?" Strong Suit smirked.

"Of course I-...-...-..." Lincoln couldn't finish his sentence...

("I took a hit for Lynn?!")

("...HE KNOWS! HE KNOWS EVERYTHING!")

("Wait, that actually happened?!")

...because he hasn't gotten over it. He still thought that the 6th Grade battle started the lightning rod crud which resulted in the...well...

Back in Japan, Houki was meditating in the Suicide Forest, thinking about a couple things she said...

("They say the spirits of the fallen still guide the course of Japan even today.")

("And to make things worse, after Tabane created IS, I was separated from my parents while my sister was whisked away to kingdom come!")

Did the ghosts of the fallen guide Tabane to separate from Houki? Did they force the two to walk parallel paths?

"Ugh..." Houki lost her serene concentration, "What's going on with me?..." she kept thinking about the July 7th of this year, the day she spent in complete isolation. No company except a small cupcake with a single glowing candle. She could see why letting go of her emotional baggage was complete crap. She didn't even notice the cackling of fallen leaves and branches creeping up from behind.

"So, this is where you've been hiding this whole time," it was Chifuyu, "The spirits aren't going anywhere, so can you give me your attention?"

"Um..." Houki stood up, "Yes, ma'am..."

Chifuyu led Houki on the path back to the resort, "You've been distracted for quite a while now. Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Well..." Houki sighed, then put aside her emotions for just this one conversation, "It's about Tabane."

"What about?"

"She, uh...she sent me a text saying she was making something for me."

"So that's it..." Chifuyu looked to her left and found the trees slowly giving way to civilization, "She also had the pleasure of contacting me this morning about the exact same thing."

"Oh..." Houki acknowledged, "Miss Orimura? Do you really believe that? That Akatsubaki business?"

"You should know your sister by now, Shinonono. She's literally capable of anything."

"I know, but...she's so wild, I can't tell if she's really toying with me."

"Well, there's really only one way to find out. Are you willing to take that risk?"

Houki and Chifuyu emerged back onto the main road. Houki took a couple deep breaths to calm herself down, "I...guess. If I have to see it through to the end...and she's the end...then I have to."

"Understood," Chifuyu walked Houki into a morning gathering of the locals, "by the way, how are you coming along with the assignment?"

"Oh, that," Houki said, "I know that the rumor's true, but I'm gonna try to prove it false."

"Oh?" Chifuyu smirked, "And what gave you that idea?"

An hour later, back in Michigan, Lincoln and Strong Suit were walking around in the park, this time with disguises that rendered them completely unrecognizable.

"Gotta admit," Strong Suit said, "This introspection stuff is more fun than I gave it credit for!"

"Guh..." Lincoln groaned, "Will you get off my back for one goddamn day?..."

"What're you getting so angsts about?" Strong Suit asked.

"Why'd you have to go and say that crud to Lynn?"

"Well, since you're asking me, because I'm trying to bring a form of closure to this overly dragged story arc you got going on."

"How do you expect me to just drop something like that?" Lincoln asked.

"I dunno," Strong Suit shrugged, "With time?"

"Time, Huh?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow, "Ok, come here," before dragging Strong Suit to a concession stand...full of squirrel boy figurines, "Tell me, can time fix that? Can time fix a meme?"

"*SNICKER*...nope..." Strong Suit tried to contain her laughter, "but it can sure promote one, hahaaaa..."

"Ugh...you're unbelievable..."

The concession stand owner noticed the two, "Hey, kids! You want a squirrel boy action figure? Only $5!"

"Five bucks for this?..." Strong Suit was nonplussed, "Where's the deal in five bucks?"

"It's actually a 2-for-5," the concession stand owner explained, "You get that, and the New Era Ace Savvy figurine!"

"Sold!" Strong Suit quickly surrendered her five. After fifteen minutes of showing off her new toys to the locals, she returned to Lincoln, "Check it out, bro! I got me a ton of sick autographs!"

Lincoln gritted his teeth, "Great to see everything checks out here..."

Meanwhile, at the mall, High Card and Night Club made a full round and found nothing suspicious or Margo-like, save for a few chants about the upcoming Thanksgiving game. Once they confirmed nothing out of the ordinary, they took a few minutes to rest at the food court.

Or rather, Night Club did. High Card found a phone store and upgraded her hardware (and her abilities) at the cost of breaking Lincoln's mobile allowance in half.

Night Club was playing a calming haunting tune with her guitar when High Card approached from behind.

"Check it out, Night!" High Card showed off her new phone, "What do you think, huh?"

"I think you just flushed a grand fortune down the crapper, dude," Night Club shook her head, "What's the use of something you'll replace nine months from now?"

"Because, this!" High Card tapped an app on the screen, and all of a sudden...

["No, the price tag was $799! I saw it for myself!"]

["My sincerest apologies, madam, but that price tag is wrong. It should be $1,099."]

["This is absolutely unacceptable!~~~"]

Night Club grew concerned, "Ok...so, we're gonna spy on some peeps?"

"Not just any peep," High Card typed several words in her phone, and out came another voice...

["Whaddaya mean, you didn't go? They're your family, Lynn."]

["I mean, I wimped out, Margo. I can't bring myself to face them."]

"Get out!" Night Club suddenly marveled, "You can get a hit on that woman?!"

"Yes indeed, I can," High Card winked, before suddenly running her thumb across the screen, triggering a switch in surveillance-

["No problem! I'll just find Houki-Pouki the old fashioned way: with my Houki-tracking device!"]

-CRSH!-

High Card instantly recognized that voice and broke her phone to cut off the signal.

"Uhhhh..." Night Club seemed to recognize that voice as well, "Was that who I think it was?..."

"So..." High Card scratched her head, "How about that favor I asked about?"

"My music ain't for cheap pennies!" Night Club reacted.

And yes, that was Lynn inside Margo's Royal Woods residence. Currently, Lynn remained oblivious to Margo's involvement with Phantom Task; she was only visiting to offer encouragement, and hopefully receive in return. Though that didn't look possible because they were both affected by the ongoing war, which was scheduled to reach its climax the next day, with the onslaught of Thanksgiving events.

"Geez..." Lynn gasped after hearing what all she left behind for Margo, "Soccer, a marathon, and an open swim meet? All tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Margo drank a huge glass of milk, "Hazeltucky's pulling out all the stops to try and cap a win this semester. All the nerds and musicals have done their part, sowhat the heck are they dragging me under the bus for?"

"Sorry I left such a huge black hole, man," Lynn gave Margo a napkin.

"What're you apologizing for?"

"Uh...no reason," Lynn scratched her head, "I just felt like it."

"Ok, dude, that is so not like you," Margo said, "What did you bump into this time?"

Lynn sighed, "Ok... I ran into someone that looked a mirror me."

"Huh? Mirror you?" Margo questioned Lynn's judgement, "as in?..."

"As in "Hutta-hut, backflip, carried me inside and told me that Lincoln's gonna replace me" mirror me."

"What?" Margo was slightly taken aback by that statement, "Lincoln?"

"Yep..." Lynn responded, "and she carried me inside, so she's very real."

"Yeah, but...that can't be you, right? I mean...you're here!"

"Which means, that mirror me is a projection, something that only someone extremely close to her can manufacture..."

"So..." Margo rubbed her forehead, "you're telling me that...Lincoln's here in Royal Woods?"

"Yeah," Lynn looked away, "He's definitely come home."

Margo acted on Lynn's unenthusiastic revelation, "Why're you so down? Isn't this a good thing? Your brother came back home."

"Pfft...probably just to spite me in the earlobe," Lynn sarcastically tossed the notion away, "He's already replaced me with a much better version of me."

"You don't know that! That's just a figment of his imagination! He could've been thinking some weird things on the way over here!"

"Except it ain't weird," Lynn became confrontational, "Those ISs are powered by the pilot's mind. It's not a fabrication; it's their genuine thought. And whatever Lincoln put in that little me-whore to say whatever she said..." Lynn cracked a glass with her bare hands.

"Jesus, Lynn!" Margo rushed Lynn to the sink in an effort to clean up her newly shard-scratched hand, "Seriously, you need to take it easy, even if he is your brother! Why're you so obsessed with what the fake-you said, anyway? You just told me that she's just a fake!"

"But his thoughts are very real," Lynn said, "and she just spat out his thoughts."

"Well, if that's the case, why don't we go out to find him?" Margo suggested, "He can't be that far away if that...projection spat out his mind...right?"

"Well...I guess not..." Lynn didn't like the idea of confirming those very words that not-Lynn spoke. She knew what happens to those IS things once they become personalized, but she eventually settled with that idea. After all, what goes into an IS isn't necessary what comes out of it. She figured that she had to hear the truth from him no matter what, if only to quell this strange feeling of unease.

Margo, however, had other ideas. Lynn's decisions to stay at home and find Lincoln played very favorably in her quest for IS dominance as she had just been given an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. All she needed to do was to keep her mood and wait for the right time to strike, which would be when Lynn and Lincoln were right in front of her. Meaning that she had to play along with her "best friend" a little while longer.

"Then, it's settled," Margo said, "Tonight, we'll venture all across town and find him. And we're not stopping for anything unless it's him."

"Not what-ing for who?" Lynn's ears were fixated on that last sentence.

"Come on! What's the problem?" Margo nudged her, "Chances are if we find him, we'll get to see the other members of his new family!"

"What? That's not what I-"

"Ok, then!" Margo clapped her hands, "If you don't have anything else to do, why don't you stay here for the day?"

"Aren't your parents gonna ask some stuff?" Lynn asked, "And don't you have a gauntlet to prepare for?"

"Lynn, how long have we been together?" Margo brushed the dust off, "This is nothing."

With that, Lynn was persuaded to take Margo into the night to find her brother, completely unaware that Night Club and High Card were listening in from the mall's electronics outlet store on High Card's new tablet...

"Dammit, Suit..."

"When I find her, I'm gonna..."

"Not worth it, High..."

...utterly pissed at Strong Suit for effectively blowing their cover.

"Does she have any idea what she said literally a few days ago?!" High Card complained, "That does it! I have to tell Akina and Kim that we've changed all of our lemonade back into sour, rotten lemons!"

"Actually, don't do that yet," Night Club turned the tablet off.

"Hey! What gives?!" High Card snapped, "What'd you do that for?!"

"Margo just said that she was gonna find us," Night Club said, "We can ask her everything then."

"One, she's coming with the Four Leaf Bent-Over. Two, she could be watched by Phantom Task."

"Really?" Night Club piqued, "Saves us the trouble of hunting them down, huh?" And left, but not before giving the cashier a bank card. "It's mine," she winked, "Keep the change," and left.

High Card sighed, "You're just so cavalier with personal property...gross."

While Lincoln's team ended up exploring the whole of Royal Woods while somehow managing to remain undetected by Clyde or Lynn, Kim's team managed to get into the Casagrandes apartment complex without arousing suspicion that evening. They all managed to settle in a furnished apartment right next to the two rowdiest apartment spaces in the whole building.

The team was at the check in desk when they saw the Loud family enter the lobby, incredibly worn out from the long and obnoxious trip over.

Lynn Sr especially. "We...good...whew..." he patted as he approached the receptionist, "We have visitors' passes for the Casagrandes..."

"I'm gonna hurl..." Lola grabbed the nearest trash can and ran outside.

"Wait for me, bruh..." And Luna was close behind her.

"For the last time, IT WAS MY SHOES!" Lori screamed as she ran after them.

"Hey, you missed!" Luan quipped, "Now, that's beyond the pail! Hahahahaha-but seriously-" right before running outside.

"Gosh," Kim muttered, "It feels so weird seeing the actual family in person."

"I'll say," Akina said, "I can't even without the face masks."

"Miss Tachibana and Miss Hotaru?" The receptionist called over, "Your reservation is complete, but..."

"What's wrong?" Akane asked.

"Are you sure about 417? We've been getting complaints about the incessant noise from the two surrounding areas."

"Trust me," Akane answered, "That noise will make it easier for me to sleep."

"Very well," the receptionist handed her the keys, "417 is all yours."

"Thanks," Akane took the keys and the luggage, "Ok, you two. Let's head on up."

"Miss Akane?" Tomoya said, "Shouldn't we wait for them?" She pointed to the giant mass of Loud rushing inside to get away from the foul odor.

"Ohhhh..." Akane nodded while Kim and Akina hid behind her.

The Loud finally made their way upstairs onto the Casagrandes floor.

"Dang, that was some rancid loogies you guys hocked up," Lana said a little too gleefully for their liking, "Did it really kill the bushes outside?"

"Clearly, Lori's odorous fumes have influenced your cerebral cortex," Lisa shook her head, "You leave me no choice but to perform a comprehensive gastrointestinal inspection."

"Will you lay off?!" Lori protested, "My stomach is perfectly functional and not problematic!"

"To you, maybe," Lola butt in, "but my hair knows bad BO!"

"Guys, let's just take it easy," Lucy rubbed her hidden forehead, "We have enough fights back home. Let's try to not throw down, ok?"

"Lucy's right," Leni agreed, "I rather not have to throw anything to the ground or break anything just because our friends back home are doing it."

"We're here," Rita led the family into the target hallway, "Now, let's all try to relax and forget about everything-" She was interrupted by a pair of doors slamming open.

"¡Bienvenido a nuestra casa!" The Casagrandes came out of both doors to greet the Loud family.

"¡Hola, Hector!" Lynn Sr greeted the eldest Casagrande.

"¡Hola, amigo!" Hector greeted in return, "We weren't expecting you till tomorrow morning!"

"Well, things happen, and we had to bail out before we all lost our minds," Lynn Sr said as the rest of the Loud family was bombarded by the rest of the Casagrande family.

"Oh, I understand," Hector responded, "Come in, come!"

Frida came out to hug Rita, "It's been a long while, Rita! We haven't spoken in a month!"

"Well, there's so much directed at us, that there's no time to talk anymore," Rita said.

"We have a lot to catch up on!" Frida pushed them family inside, "Dinner and a show, just for two of us! If you know what I mean..."

"Actually, I don't-" Rita was cut off by being shoved inside and the door slamming on her.

Tomoya, Akane, Kim, and Akina stood there, absolutely stunned at what just happened in the last ten seconds.

"Someone's attacking them?...Seriously, them?..." Akina was seriously questioning the legitimacy of the mission.

"I'll explain everything once we get inside," Tomoya said, "For now, let's try to shower this craziness away."

After the team showered, Tomoya gathered Kim and Akina at the dinner table and showed them the very reason they were sent to watch over this very building. She showed a video of an IS demonstration that she recorded a couple days before the October class tournament, in which the entire Loud family went up to the giant metallic structure for good luck. Unsurprisingly, Lynn Sr and Rita were unable to move the IS.

But to the mortified shock of Kim and Akina, all ten sisters were able to command the IS to move, on an unheard of level for a woman with no prior exposure to anything IS-related.

"Oh my..." Akina gasped.

"Does this mean..." Kim couldn't finish.

"I'm afraid so," Tomoya nodded, "They're going to kill everyone, including the baby."

"Do we know who's coming after them?!" Akina screamed.

"We don't," Akane said, "That's why we're surveilling them, so we can identify and stop the attackers."

"That'll be easy to do," Tomoya interrupted with the living room TV that showed the Casagrandes and the Louds doing...

["GOBBLEGOBBLOEGBBOLOLOBBOLOLOOEBEOLOGGOBOLOBGEGOLOOEGEBLOGOE~~~"]

...a turkey dance...of sorts...

"We just need to surveil whoever's not making a complete fool of themselves," Tomoya said while everyone else cringed.

At the same time, though, Hank, Hawk, Janice, and Juniper have just seen Kim's team follow the Louds into the building. They quickly went to the nearest alleyway and had a brief strategy meeting.

"Crap..." Hawk hissed, angry about the new obstacles to his perfect kill, "What do we do now?"

"We'll have to do it like that Snake game," Janice suggested, "One or two of us lures them out and allows the rest of us to sneak in for the kill."

"Not now, though," Hank said, "One of them looks ripe for the conquering. We need to wear them out somehow."

"You wanna take them on, bro?" Hawk asked.

"Guys, guys, remember what Autumn said," Juniper stopped them, "We need to wait until Autumn gives us the ok to act. And even then, we need to act first."

"Oh, I gotcha," Hawk nodded, "Wait till they're way too tired to act."

The group decided to hideout at the apartment building next to their target building and prepare a signal that would call Autumn to the coming fight.

Meanwhile back in Royal Woods, the search and counter search was going horribly. Lynn and Margo wasted hours scouring the city for any sign of Lincoln, while Lincoln and Strong Suit were scouring the city for Margo without getting caught; neither of them came even remotely close to finding each other. Margo and Lynn kept asking for anyone who saw someone with an overbite with a chipped tooth; they got several tips pointing to someone with that feature, all of them fruitless. Lincoln and Strong Suit couldn't rely on High Card since her phone can only track electronics and not living humans.

Ironically, they stopped to rest at opposite ends of the park.

At one end, Margo and Lynn were sprawled over the grass.

"This is pointless..." Lynn panted, "He's never...gonna show himself..."

"We gotta keep trying, though," Margo said, "There has to be a reason, a purpose for him coming back."

"I'd like to hear... what that purpose would be..."

"Come on, Lynn. You're being awfully pessimistic about this whole deal."

"Yeah...you're right..." Lynn rolled over into her stomach before pushing herself back on her feet, "I pretty much torched my calves and thighs, but I'm still good to go..."

"Gee, I hope so," Margo stood up, "Those could be your last steps."

"Worry about yourself, Miss Never Stopper," Lynn joked before continuing on.

At the other end, Lincoln and Strong Suit were sprawled across a park bench.

"What were we thinking?..." Lincoln panted, "We should've called...High Card for help..."

"No way," Strong Suit shook her head, "Lynn and Margo don't got any cellphone crud on them. We have to do this the hard way."

"We did..." Lincoln groaned, "We checked all their...favorite hangout places and activities...no one saw them..."

"Says you," Strong Suit said before pulling out her own cellphone, "High, any luck?"

"We've managed to get inside Margo's house," High Card commed back, "but it's all clean, no unusual objects of any sort."

"Dangit..." Strong Suit threw her phone at a light post, "Come on, let's head back to the hotel."

"Oh, thank god..." Lincoln slumped off the bench and followed Strong Suit, "Still, I can't believe that everyone in town's an absolute lunatic..."

"Me neither," Strong Suit commented, "It's infectious. They must really hold you on a high pedestal if they're going this far for hometown."

"I hate it. I missed the days when the most dramatic thing that happened was that freak storm tornado."

"Pfft...lame!" Strong Suit scoffed, "You act like you wanna stay 11. When was you birth..."

"High school ain't for middle schoolers, that for sh-OOF!" Lincoln suddenly bumped into a prone Strong Suit, "What's up? Did you find...Mar..." He locked up as well.

The park had only one bridge that carried pedestrians over a small body of water. That bridge was bordered by two lampposts, each occupying and guarding their assigned gate across the bridge.

Lincoln and Strong Suit occupied one. Lynn and Margo occupied the other. Both pairs were wide-eyed, completely lost for words.

Lynn recognized that white hair and chipped overbite, "Bro...I..."

"No..." Lincoln was done, "This can't...this isn't happening..."