Leni's troubles plagued her the following day. Her favorite pastime barely served as a distraction. Shopping was reduced to window-gazing, since Leni didn't have a income flowing in anymore, she had to save what money she had. And clearance was a bust on top of it all.
The mall trip served more as a breather for everyone else. By their parent's insistence, the Loud family went out to the mall to stretch their legs. Lincoln was practicing walking without his chair, and Lana was getting a little less self-conscious about how she looked. The only other people home were Lynn and Lily, the latter needed more careful observation, while the former was set to do yard chores that'd keep her busy for the day.
Leni felt a hand rest on her arm.
"Hey. Dudette," Luna called for her, "You okay?"
Leni reluctantly nodded. She had too much on her mind to be truthful, and Lincoln needed Lori's supervision.
"Just thinking," Leni answered.
"I'm sure it's going to be okay," Luna tried to assure her. "We can get through… all of this."
"Hope so," Leni put down the blouse she wasn't really looking at.
"Anything you want to talk about?" Luna offered. There was a brief pause between the girls. "I mean, I know you tend to bottle this stuff up, but I just-"
"I know," Leni agreed. She looked up and around. No one in immediate proximity to them.
"I need to talk with Victoria Grace," she confessed.
"About what?" Luna questioned. Then the pieces began to click together. "About Fiend? And the prison?"
Leni nodded.
"Leni, that's a bad idea," Luna explained. "If she is who we think she is, she's never just going to admit it to us. Plus, she might have seen your face. What if she knows who we are?"
Leni shook her head. "I have to do something. I can't just pretend everything is okay."
"I get it," Luna sympathized. She pretended to busy herself with the racks. "But we can't just go into her office and be like P!nk "I Want to Start a Fight." We have no idea how she operates, and if she's getting into the criminal game, she could be more dangerous than any of those other guys we fought already. We have to pick our battles."
Then she snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Jeez," she complained, "Now I sound like Master Splinter."
Leni gave a small smile. She knew Luna was right. That didn't mean she liked it.
Leni looked up at the hanging television by the cash register. She grabbed Luna's shoulder and wordlessly pointed at it. It didn't have any sound, but the subtitles gave an idea of what was going on.
"-that turned into a violent shootout with police. No casualties have been reported, but all suspects have been apprehended by authorities. Including Franklin Diggs, a man with a long history of felonies, and holds the number five spot of the FBI's most wanted list. He's been charged with assault, homicide, arms dealing, drug trafficking, and even human trafficking. Police had this to say-"
Leni watched the screen as a restrained man struggled on the gurney, trying to lash out at the EMT's and police trying to save his life. The criminal spotted the camera filming him, and before the screen cut away, he mouthed something. Leni wasn't sure, but she turned to Luna to check.
"What did he say?" Leni asked the musician.
"It looked like…" the girl hesitated. She wasn't too sure herself. "It looked like Grace. Like he was saying "Grace, get me out!" or something like that."
Leni felt a shiver run up her back. That settles it.
"Leni, don't-"
The girl was already gone.
Leni was in her costume almost the second she was in the bathroom, and up in the air not long after that.
She flew in the direction of Victorious industries office. Honestly the top three floors looked more like a condo, and it was undoubtedly the building she and Lynn had been trapped in.
She felt a ringing in her pocket and she instinctively pulled it out and answered.
"Leni what are you doing?" Lori called out. She sounded panicked.
Leni didn't answer immediately.
"Leni," Lori pleaded, "Just come back. Come home. We'll figure out how to-"
"I just… want to talk," Leni interrupted.
"About what? Leni…" Lori sighed. "This is a bad idea."
"Lori," Leni felt the tension rising inside her throat. It threatened to choke her, but she couldn't let it. "Victoria Grace has always been, like, a role model to me, ever since I was little. I've read every article about her. Every design I made… I have to know. I have to look her in the eyes."
Lori didn't answer.
"I'll be back soon," she promised. "Bye."
She put her phone away. She readjusted her mask, making sure it was firmly on her face, and flew towards the building.
It had to be one of the tallest buildings in Royal City, and as she flew up to the window, past her reflection, she saw the vast and lavish room inside. Fountains sprayed up next to the windows. The marble floor was partially covered by the warm Mediterranean design on a rug. Further in revealed a massive desk in front of a waterfall at the center of the room.
The window started to move, scrolling upwards and opening towards her. Leni took the opportunity to slip in and see the room without obstruction.
"Sky Girl, Darling!" Victoria's bombastic voice filled the room. "What a wonderful surprise! What ever can I do for you?"
The woman was beautifully dressed, as always. Big hair, dark skin, golden amber in her eyes, and a stylish dress that had to be made from the most expensive materials in the world.
"Miss Grace," Leni set down and approached the woman. "I have… some concerns."
The woman laced her arm around Leni's side and walked her to her desk.
"Oh, that can hold a second," she waved her free hand. "Oh, Hubert! Get us some cucumber water, would you kindly?"
The more Leni saw of this room, the bigger it got. Hubert manned a small kitchenette on the other side of a lounge area with his large presence. He wasn't the only one, as Leni noted the other statues that were apparently living guards. She doubted the White House had this much beefy security.
"Miss Grace," Leni spoke as she sat down in a lush chair. "I think you might be in danger."
"Oh?" Victoria took the glasses from Hubert and handed one of them to Leni. "How so?"
"Yesterday," Leni began, "One of your employees, Doctor Fiend kidnapped me. And Ly… another young girl. And, I don't know what, but he's definitely planning something in the prison you just opened. He has a machine, under this very building! I don't know how many guys are helping him, but he's going to hurt a lot of people. And I need your help to stop him."
"Hmm…" Victoria enjoyed her drink from her own lush chair. "Interesting."
Leni watched her set her glass aside.
"I think, Darling, that you are confused," Victoria rested her hands on her crossed legs. "You should really try to educate yourself of the situation."
Leni blinked. "What?"
Victoria smiled at her. She stared off into a corner before standing up and smoothing out her dress.
"You know," She said to the girl. "I think we're a lot alike. Pretty girl, lots of friends, but not close to anyone, am I right?"
Leni didn't answer. She continued.
"I had a large family when I was younger. Middle child of eight kids, and the only girl. We only had one working bathroom, if you can believe it."
Leni nodded in sympathy.
"My father though… well, let's just say he had a problem with impulse control. My brothers weren't much better. You name it, they did it. Drinking. Smoking. Selling…"
She was facing away from Leni, and the younger girl saw as one of her hands clenched into a fist. One of her nails popped off, ruining an otherwise perfect manicure.
"Well, anyways," she continued. "It's all in the past now. After that… unfortunate fire, I got my life together. I started this company, I expanded my product. I became an inspiration for all girls everywhere."
Leni remembered reading about that. She always knew of Victoria's humble beginnings, but not many details were shared about that. Even less information was known about the fire. Leni had to do some internet searches to even hear about it.
"But fashion doesn't really… do it for me anymore. I got bored. And loathe as I am to admit it, I missed my family. So, I… went and built a new one."
Leni stared at her. It wasn't connecting in her head. Piece by piece fell into place…
"And then there was that one good friend of mine from the government. We made a deal that if I made things worse in the city, he'd let me keep some of the streets for my own operations."
"Operations?" Leni stood up. She realized she was still holding her glass and set it down. "You… you're a gangster?"
"Oh honey," Victoria smiled down at her. "I would prefer the term "Crime Lord." Hmm. Crime… Mistress? Hubert! What's the equivalent?"
"The term is a Moll, ma'am."
"Oh, is it really? That sounds old fashioned."
"It was popularized by the criminals Bonnie and Clyde, ma'am."
"Oooh. I like the sound of it though. Johnny! Make a note, fashion is a circle. Let's see if we can bring back zoot suits along with the suspenders."
"Now," she continued, "Where were we?"
"One of your men is in the hospital right now," Leni pointed out. "The police will interrogate him, and they'll know that you're the one behind it."
"Oh, I think you'll find that Franklin has bled out by his serious injuries by now," Victoria nonchalantly noted. "Twelve years ago, I attacked the market with vicious creations and cutthroat tactics. For me, it was like a game. Now I'm playing a new game, with new rules. And you aren't even a player."
Leni stared at her. She suddenly got the feeling she got talking to the popular clique at her school. Effortlessly pretty and charismatic. And endlessly cruel while smiling to your face.
The girl fidgeted in her stance. She knew this feeling all too well. The feeling of being duped. Tricked. Someone flaunting their knowledge or authority over her.
Leni was sick of it. She gritted her teeth. There had to be something she could do. Some way she could hurt her.
Wait.
"I could go to the police," she realized. "I can tell them everything you just said."
"Oh darling," Victoria gave her a pitiful look. "You're not rich enough to be heard. Nothing said here would be proven in court."
"Maybe," Leni's hand drifted up to her head. And suddenly, Leni felt like she was smarter than the mean girl. "But what about a video?"
Leni looked up at her former role model. Her eyes darted to Leni's ear, then her mask, then back to her eyes. She watched the color drain from Victoria's face. Then she watched as her face contorted into something frightening.
"Why you little-"
Victoria Grace reached out at her, and Leni could feel the malice and intent coming off the older woman in waves.
Leni took to the air, and was out the window with a string of swears and curses following her.
She flew all the way back home with a smile on her face. It was barely noon and she already had a major victory on her hands.
Lisa records everything through my mask. So she can just fix the video, or print it out, or whatever, and we can give it to the police. And they'll arrest Victoria Grace! It's perfect!
After a long, leisurely flight, Leni landed in front of her house and walked through the door with a skip in her step. Just a few short minutes, and Leni will have everything she needs.
The house was quiet. Oh, right. The girls are still at the mall. Better give them a call.
Leni fetched her phone out of her pocket, and before she could dial anything, it rang.
"Lori?" Leni blinked in confusion. She answered it. "Hello?"
"Leni!" The girl sounded frantic. "Where the hell are you?!"
Leni balked at the girl's voice.
"W-what? What happened?"
Lori sounded like she was sobbing.
"They..." She struggled to find her own breath, while Leni's skin ran cold. "Luan. They took Luan!"
Lori went on to describe how some men just came in and left with one of their sisters. Lisa could be heard crying next to her. Luna apparently just showed up with the twins and were asking questions. This happened only seconds ago.
Leni sat in the desk across from Officer Hobbs. Lori was sitting next to her, and their parents behind them. Leni barely had the sense to change back to her civilian clothes.
Lori was barely holding it together. Luna tucked her hands under her shoulders to stop them from shaking. Lincoln and Lynn had been tasked with watching the younger girls in the waiting area.
"So you think the two events are related?" Hobbs questioned them.
"It has to be," Lori answered. "We get footage of-of the confession for a criminal mastermind! And they just…."
Lori was doing everything in her power to not burst into tears again. Leni herself was a dam about to burst under the slightest pressure. To avoid her own breakdown, she sat quietly, and with a expressionless face, waiting for more competent people to come up with a plan.
"For the reaction to be this quick," Hobbs surmised, "the kidnappers would have had to be watching you for a while. Have you been unmasked recently?"
"Yes," Leni stonily answered. "By Doctor Fiend. When he kidnapped me and Lynn."
"Did he know who you were, when he did it?"
"No."
"Then they were watching you for at least a few hours. They had to have figured out you were related after you escaped. When you showed that you had leverage over her, Grace sent out the order. And now, we're here."
"What do we do now?" Lynn Sr. asked the officer.
"Victoria is power mad, and desperate. She's going to make a call, or leave a note, demanding a trade."
The phone on the desk rang. It was Lori's, and the number wasn't listed. Hobbs had plugged it into a laptop with one of his coworkers sitting at the ready.
"Answer," Hobbs instructed, "Put it on speaker."
Lori obeyed, and swallowed when the call was answered.
"H-hello?"
"I would like to extend a formal apology for unnecessary roughness," a gruff voice said on the line. The policeman behind Hobbs plugged away at his laptop. "I guess you girls are with the police?"
Lori's face reframed her rage.
"I want…" Lori bit back some anger. "I want proof of life. Or we're done."
"Fair enough."
The phone was quiet, before someone spoke. "H-hello? Mom? Dad? Guys?"
"We're here, honey!" Rita lunged towards the phone. "Oh baby, are you okay?"
"Alright, alright," the gruff voice returned. "No need to get the line sappy. There's your proof."
"What do you want?" Lori demanded.
"The video that superhero took," he answered, "of what was supposed to be a private meeting. And a guarantee that no copies exist."
"Where do you want the trade to happen?" Lori interrogated.
"The same place the intruder broke took place. Seven-o-clock. Two hours from now. That's plenty of time for you to complete the demands. No police. No surveillance. And no cheating. If there's a copy of the video that exists after the trade-off, we'll know. And after all…
"We know where you live."
The phone shut off when the call ended. Rita uttered an "Oh my God." Hobbs looked to his coworker, who shook his head.
"That scientist guy must've been screwing around with the phone call," Luna guessed in a shaky voice.
"Excuse me?"
The group jumped and turned their heads to the little girl that snuck into their conversation. Lola, holding Lana's scaley hand had seemingly appeared from nowhere.
"Lola," Rita commanded, "go wait with Lynn and the others."
"I have an idea," the seven-year-old offered.
Leni approached the window cautiously. It was open, and the lights were on.
"Sky-girl!" Victoria Grace's smile was more strained this time. "Come in! Don't be shy! I haven't told anyone our little secret. Not yet, anyways."
The room hadn't changed much. There were a lot more guards, and a few of the expensive glass adornments have gone missing.
Leni descended slowly and with purpose. She had her mask switched out with a black domino mask on a string.
"Honestly, it's so embarrassing!" the woman laughed off. "Spilling my secrets like some… amateur! Ugh. I'm going to have to make up for it somehow. I'm sure there's some group of thugs running around out there. Anyways. Onto business."
Leni's feet touched the ground. A weight was lifted off her shoulders. Though the stress still constricted around her throat.
"Bring out the comedian!"
A new set of muscles, identical to the rest of the sets of muscles around the room, appeared with a teen girl in tow. Luan had her wrists tied in front of her with a zip tie. Bruises dotted her right arm and her left leg. Her skirt and tear on its side, she was missing a shoe, and her scrunchy was missing, letting her hair loose around her head. Tears streamed down her eyes and stained the white cloth wrapped over her mouth.
Leni wanted to scream. When Doctor Fiend appeared with her, she wanted to lash out; to rage and… and…
God. She wanted to hurt him.
"Easy now," Victoria held out her hand. "Let's not get the wrong idea. Things happen when you get kidnapped so hastily. But aside from that, she has been treated with utmost geniality. If you think I left her at the mercy of despicable men, you are wrong. I may be a criminal, but I am not a monster."
"You're a criminal who kidnaps a child," Leni found the voice to argue.
"I do what it takes to survive," their hostess answered. "and to be on top of it all."
"Now," she moved on, "You have what I want?"
Remember the plan, Leni.
Lola was the most deviant sister in the loud house. Luan had her pranks, but Lola had cunning. Her pageants have molded her competitive spirit far beyond Lynn's hyperactive nature. Lola needs to win at life, she needs leverage on everyone; including- no, especially her sisters. So when the situation became apparent to her, she prompted the adults with a plan. Leni had to admit, it sounded pretty good.
"What's in it for me?"
The whole room stared at her. She felt a shiver creep up her spine.
"The little girl gets to live," Victoria's head tilted to the side. "Isn't that what you want?"
Leni swallowed a hard lump in her throat. "Th-that's short term. What do you have for long term?"
The woman stared at her. The scientist stared at her. The men around Luan stared at her. Heck, Luan was staring at her, and she couldn't blame any of them. The art of the trade was not her forte.
Leni stared straight ahead. She couldn't falter, not even for a moment. She needed to be every bit as cold and calculated as Grace was. If this was going to work.
Victoria's confusion suddenly twitched, and she started to smile.
"Eheh," she chuckled. "Eheh-he-he-he. Ha-hahahahahah!"
She threw her head back and cackled, holding her hand up to cover her mouth in an old-fashioned mannerism. The room echoed with her laughter for a minute or two before she calmed down.
"Goodness. Me." She wiped a tear from her eye. "I didn't think we were this much alike. Well, well, well. What did you have in mind?"
"How about a promise?" Leni prompted. "I heard crime lords have this thing about honor."
"They do," Victoria agreed. "and what promise would that be?"
"You get the file. And after tonight," Leni worded. "the Loud family is off limits."
"Including you?"
"No." Leni answered.
"Huh," she lulled her tongue against her teeth. "Interesting."
She paced over to Luan. She reached over and pulled a gun from her henchman's coat. She pulled the trigger in the air, the sound ringing in everyone's ears. She leveled the gun to Luan's head.
The teen girl gave a whimper and was only kept from collapsing by her captors.
"And what if I just shot her in the head, right now?"
Leni took a short and silent breath.
"You won't." she answered.
"Why not?"
"I'll leave," Leni answered. "And I'll give the video to the police. And post it on every social media app I can download on one phone."
Victoria smirked.
And then she pulled the trigger.
Leni jumped, holding her breath while looking a wide eyed Luan in the eyes. Time seemed to resume when one of the guards fell over, groaning and clutching his leg.
"Well done," Victoria set the gun on the table. "I hate to admit it, but I was wrong about you. You are a player. So committed to getting what you want, that you'll do anything to obtain it. I admire that. I mean. I hate it right now. But I respect it.
"We have a deal," she agreed, sitting at the desk, and lacing her slender fingers in front of her face. "The Louds are off limits. If anyone so much as bumps into them on purpose, I'll take care of them. Was there anything else?"
Pretend to think it over, then be reluctant to agree.
Leni looked off to the side, then slowly shook her head.
"Good," the woman nodded. "Now, the video, if you would kindly."
Leni pulled a thumb drive out of her pocket. She tossed it at the woman, who plucked it out the air with the daintiness of a father dropping.
"Lovely," She handed it to the mad scientist. He plugged it into an apparatus on his arm, typing away on the screen on his wrist.
"The algorithm proves sound, Miss Grace," the Doctor reported. "No other copies found in any cloud or database. And no downloads to anything other than this drive."
"Well," Victoria said, "A deal is a deal, darling."
She snapped her fingers. The men cut Luan free and she reached up to remove the gag. After which she lunged forward towards Leni. Leni stepped forward and hugged her sister as she hysterically cried into her shoulder. Leni kept her eyes on the corner of the desk, where the gun rested. Fiend and Grace were in her peripheral vision.
A wash of colorful emotions colored such violent scenarios in her mind. She thought of… hurting everyone in this room. She thought of everyone hurting her, and her family. Suddenly, she felt the weight return to her shoulders.
"Are we free to go?" Leni asked as Luan pulled back.
Victoria Grace gave a despicably sweet smile.
"Of course," she answered. "Unless you want to stay for tea. We can braid each other's hair if you want."
Leni scooped up Luan, hooking her arms behind her back and under her knees, and took to the sky with a labored breath.
"Not very strong, is she?" Leni heard Grace mention to one of her cohorts.
Leni took to the sky, flying as fast as she can with her luggage.
"Everyone okay?" Leni asked after a few minutes.
Luan rubbed her head into Leni's shoulder. "Yeah," she huffed. "I'm okay."
…
"I'm cold," Lana complained, latched onto Leni's back. Her tail was wrapped around Leni's midsection for extra security.
"Ohmygod-whatwasthat!?" Luan jumped in Leni's arms.
Leni set down on the roof of a building some miles away from Luan's captors. The two older girls watched as the air in front of them shimmered, and Lana appeared. Naked, shivering, but otherwise looking awfully pleased with herself. She pulled the thumb drive out of her mouth, the one that was identical to the one left in Victoria Grace's office. The one she switched after Fiend had checked for copies.
Leni pulled out her phone and called Officer Hobbs.
"Hey," she took a breath, "We did it. We got it."
