The sun had set on Royal Woods and the moon rose in its place, at this late hour most folks were relaxing at home or were already tucked in for the night, except for three kids. They had one hell of a long and lousy day, yet it was far from over.
"Five thousand bucks? You forked over five thousand bucks to those judges?" Ryan asked incredulously. Lincoln and Lynn sat on his bed, the former trying to recover from a state of shock, the latter looking positively distraught.
They had just inadvertently acquired an alarming tidbit from their mother, that Leni had snatched the wrong envelope! They had learned that Lola's application was still at home, while their mother was looking for something else that they now knew to be very far away from the Louds' residence.
Lincoln feebly nodded, still staring off into space. "That….they…mom was supposed to deposit that…."
"For what exactly?" Ryan questioned. "Did Blondy make a lot of long-distance calls?"
"No….no, that cash was supposed to pay for…for damages." Lincoln explained. Lynn visibly winced at the mention of that.
"It took them months to scrape all that money together. They had to sacrifice their savings, including the money we saved for our summer vacation, work long hours, do side jobs…" Lincoln voice trailed off and he buried his face in his hands.
"And what were those damages?" Ryan asked shrewdly, making Lynn tremble and bite her lip.
"I….I may have done some not-so-nice stuff…" she blushed shamefully.
Flashback
January 3rd
Lincoln was strolling up the stairs reading a comic when Lynn suddenly jumped out of her room holding a football. "Lincoln, think fast!"
Before the boy could react he was struck in the head and fell down.
"Hey, guys, what do you think of my new scarf!" Leni was merrily skipping after her brother when he collided with her and they tumbled down the stairs, which ended with a loud crash.
Cut to Lynn standing sheepishly in a hospital hallway with her parents, Lincoln, who is now in crutches and with a leg cast, and Leni, now wearing a neck cast and arm sling, all glaring at her.
"Upps….my bad?"
February 5th
"I win! Ha! In your face, LOSERS!" Lynn yelled triumphantly as she won another board game against Lincoln, Luan, Leni and Lana respectively. Her siblings sat around her looking exasperated when Lynn abruptly grabbed the legs of the table. They all scrambled away as she flipped it and it wound up colliding with a closet, knocking it down and causing a massive chain reaction within the living room.
Cut to the house looking scorched, and Lynn Sr. and Rita, the latter holding a fire extinguisher, glaring at the five siblings. Everyone swiftly pointed at Lynn, who growled.
"You two-faced traitors!"
February 26th
Lynn basketball team rushed out of the school gym, the first two players carrying a massive trophy while the rest of the team followed suit cheering and carrying their star player.
"Yeah! Lynn-sanity rules!" Lynn gloated loudly and, still pumped to the brink with adrenaline, threw her basketball, which struck her school's trophy case, breaking the glass.
Her team halted in their tracks and Lynn's face paled, even more so after hearing her principal yelling furiously down the hall. The jock gulped."Oh-oh…."
Cut to her parents glaring at her in the principal's office. Lynn chuckled nervously in her chair. "Heh….I got carried away?"
March 10th
Lynn was boiling with rage and clutching her bat, nearly splintering it, as she watched the Hazeltuckcy Hawks carrying off their team captain, who was holding a trophy.
"Ha, suck on it, loooosers!" she shouted mockingly at Lynn's team. Lynn gritted her teeth.
"Take it easy, Lynn. We'll lick them next time." Margo patted her back reassuringly but promptly backed away when Lynn cried with unbridled fury and started clobbering the first object she could reach with her bat.
By the time she calmed down she realized, much to her horror, that she had trashed the hood of a car, a police car! And the officer was standing there, glowering at the girls. Margo and the rest of the team quickly pointed at Lynn.
"Grrrr! You traitors!"
March 21st
Mr. Grouse walked up to the sidewalk to grab his morning newspaper.
"Move it, fatso!" Lynn skated down the street for her roller derby tournament, knocking the old man down. Grouse yelped as he heard sickening crunch upon impact.
"AH! My hip!"
April 4th
"C'mon! Just follow my lead, Paula!" Lynn shouted jubilantly at her friend's home, as she encouraged her to practice sliding down the staircase.
After Lynn slid down the banister, Paula followed her example, with disastrous results.
"MY LEG!"
April 12th
"And that's how I taught that punk in Albuquerque a lesson for trying to jack my car." Albert was telling a story to his grandkids at his nursing home.
Sitting on the other side of his bingo table, Lincoln, Lucy and Lana listened keenly. "Wooow…."
"Woohoo!" Lynn cheered while riding on Scoot's shoulders, as the two speed through the bingo hall, knocking down one chair and/or table after another.
"Lynn! Don't encourage her to give you joyrides!" Albert shouted. "Her eyes aren't what they use to-"
The four winced upon hearing a loud crash.
May 9th
During softball practice, Lynn aimed to one-up everyone else by hitting the ball the farthest. Spitting into her hands and clutching her trusty bat, she did just that…..and wound up shattering the glass at Flip's store. The enraged Flip stormed out holding the ball.
"WHO'S THE YAHOO WHO DID THIS!"
"Aw crud…." Lynn shrank.
May 15th
"I win! Lynner, Lynner, Chicken Dinner! Woohoo!" Lynn was doing her victory dance during kickboxing practice until she was stopped by her coach, who pointed at Lynn's battered opponent laying in the middle of the ring, dizzy and giving them a toothless grin.
Lynn chuckled awkwardly as she shrank under her coach's glare. "Heh…..I…may have gone overboard?"
May 29th
"What did I do!" Lynn lamented on the soccer field as the referee gave her a red card.
"I just roughed her up a bit! She had it coming, taunting me like that!"
Behind her, a battered and unconscious girl from the opposing team was being carried off on a stretcher.
"ALRIGHT! WE GET IT! Stop with the freaking clip show!" Lynn yelled before burying her face in her hands. "What have I done…." She struggled not to weep in front of the boys.
"Wow, were you really that much of a pain-in-the-ass for everyone?" Ryan asked with amazement.
"You didn't see what she did during our last visit to the mall." Lincoln shook his head.
"Can it, you mooks!" Lynn cried lividly before exhaling with frustration.
"Chill, Lynn." Lincoln reassured her, knowing how much this hurt her. "I'm sure if we just make a call, we can clear up this mess."
"Hah! You poor, naïve soul. If only things were ever that simple in life." Ryan snorted and shook his head. "You seriously think that Dufresne guy is gonna hand over that much cash if he's already found it?"
"What are you getting at?"
Ryan rolled his eyes. "He's the only one besides the three of us who knows about the accidental cash transaction. Wake up and smell the coffee, it will be his word against ours; three kids nobody's gonna listen to. He'll have little reason not to keep his jackpot, so he'll probably play ignorant if anyone confronts him on the matter."
Lincoln frowned. "I'm sure he will be reasonable; you gotta have more faith in the inherent goodness of-"
"Oh, get your head out of your behind, Lincoln! Ryan's right." Lynn snapped at him. "If I stumbled upon five grand people would have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands, and so would you! And you know it!"
"Me too." Ryan shrugged. "The law of "finders keepers" is a very biased one."
Lincoln sighed. Lynn's argument, while simple, sounded shamefully true. "Okay, okay. But the girls are still at the hotel, and so is Kathleen? She practically owns the place, and if we just call Lola and explain things, we can straighten it out right away."
Lynn grimaced, she didn't feel as optimistic but was willing to give it a go. "Alright, then call the little twerp, the clock's ticking." She urged him.
Lincoln did so but quickly ran into a hurdle. "The number I've dialed is no longer in service?!" he blurted, utterly bewildered.
"What do you mean?!" Lynn started to panic.
"Our favorite rich bitch must have bought the bimbo squad a brand-new phone each." Ryan quickly concluded. "With brand new numbers."
"Oh for the love of-" Lynn pulled on her hair in despair.
"Don't panic, Lynn." Lincoln nervously reassured her. "I'll try to call the others, and maybe the hotel." He mused and got off the bed to face Ryan. "Do you have a phone book?"
"It's in the living room." Ryan rolled his eyes, already knowing this would be a futile effort.
"Just stay calm, guys. I'll be back in a minute." Lincoln told them and rushed down the stairs. Lynn watched him go with a bleak expression.
"Oh, Ryan, what are we gonna do?" she clutched her head. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so bone-headed…."
"Well….yeah…it is your fault for leaving your folks in debt." Ryan shrugged, earning a death glare from the girl.
He swallowed and stepped back. "But…eh….at least you weren't the one who snatched the wrong envelope?"
Lynn's glare faltered and she slouched dejectedly. "What are we gonna do? I know we won't be able to reach anyone…."
Ryan contemplated and grew a determined look. "Take matters in our own hands then."
"What?" Lynn looked at him incredulously. "What are you saying? That we should break into the hotel and grab the envelope?"
"Not even close." Ryan shook his head and headed towards his closet. "We'll pay that fashion judge or whatever he is a secret visit, and snatch the envelope without him or anyone else noticing."
Lynn's eyes widened. "So you wanna break in? Are you nuts?"
Ryan stopped as he opened the closet and sighed. "It's the same to me, Lynn. It depends if you wanna do it? We can sit back and let your folks scrape together another five grand, though it sure would be a pity if they lost that much doe due to your sisters' stupidity."
He stopped talking and let Lynn make her choice. His tone had been pretty even, he wasn't challenging her to a dare, he just said it as it was. It was a simple truth. Lynn got that and thought about her decision carefully.
She was a pretty daring person and was always up for a challenge, but breaking into a hotel in the dead of night was pushing it even for a daredevil like her. But she knew the consequences if they didn't do anything about this. Losing five big ones wouldn't do her parents' rocky relationship any favors, hell, it could easily undo whatever progress they had made these past few days. Her parents would have to start from scratch, and more importantly, it was entirely her fault that they needed this money to begin with, not for their family's interest but to clean up her mess.
This was all on her, Lynn knew it. She was the one who made the bed and had to sleep in it. It was her duty to fix the mess that she had created. Looking at it like that, the jock saw no other way.
"There won't be any other options, will there?" she asked grimly, having already made up her mind.
"I think we both know the answer." Ryan nodded.
"What do you mean Ms. Tisdale can't be bothered right now? This is important! What? No, wait! Please don't hang up! Hello? Hello?!" they heard Lincoln's voice from downstairs.
Lynn braced herself and faced Ryan with a determined look. "Let's do it. So what's your plan?"
Ryan smirked. "We get in, snatch the envelope and get out. The rest we'll have to improvise as we go along." He grabbed the first rod from which his regular clothes hung and pushed it aside to reveal another rod holing a row of identical red-and-black ninja suits. "But first we'll need to suit up."
"Naturally, a stealth mission such as this must be handled incognito, so slip into this." He tossed her one ninja suit.
Lynn looked at the costume in her hands and smiled with some excitement. She's been waiting for a chance at this. "Good call, if we gonna do this, we'll do it with style."
Ryan smirked in agreement.
One suiting up montage later, Lynn adjusted her short-sleeved tunic and her stash holding smoke bombs, placed her nunchucks into her belt and finally slipped on her mask.
Dead-set on getting the job done, she stepped out of the room and was met by Ryan, who was already dressed for the occasion. He was carrying a grappling gun, had rope wrapped around his shoulder and what appeared to be a bow staff strapped to his back. Lynn posed in a dramatic fashion for her big reveal and Ryan gave her an approving look.
"Looking good, pretty badass." He complimented her in a flirty tone, making the girl blush under her mask.
"But you're missing something." He handed her a pair of black sports gloves like the ones he was wearing. "Rule one of infiltration; never leave behind fingerprints. They will be your undoing."
"You're the teacher." Lynn quipped as she slipped them on. "I don't watch crime dramas as much as Linc does."
"What about me-ah!" Lincoln came back and promptly jolted at what he saw. "What are you doing?!"
"Retrieving your mommy's cash so she can pay your family's debts, you're welcome." Ryan answered snidely.
Lincoln's eyes bulged. "Have you two lost it?!"
Lynn glared at him. "Lincoln, don't try to stop us, you know it will be futile." She told him firmly. "This needs to be done. If you can think of a way to earn five grand in a jiffy so mom and dad won't have to slave away for another six months, be my guest. But I must do what I must do."
"Lynn, this is crazy. I know you feel bad about getting our folks into so much debt but this isn't the way to do it." Lincoln tried to reason with her.
"And what is the way to do it?" Ryan folded his arms. "All your calls were ignored if I'm not mistaken?"
"This isn't like stink-bombing Kathleen's clubhouse, you loon!" Lincoln confronted him. "This is breaking and entering! Have you even considered in how much trouble you'll get yourself and her into-"
"Ah, and that's where you're mistaken." Ryan told him lazily and slowly grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing Lincoln to look at their reflection in the wall mirror.
Ryan tugged on his mask. "You can't get into trouble if you're not identified. And as a big superhero buff, you oughta know that as long as we wear these nifty masks we're not Ryan, or Lincoln, or Lynn, we're mysterious phantoms who'll slip into that building in the dead of night and leave just as quickly without leaving a trace."
Suddenly he pulled something over Lincoln's head, the younger boy winced but soon saw that he was now wearing his blue ski mask, and Ryan shoved the rest of his homemade stealth suit into his hands.
"Aw, Linc. You held on to our first "luchador" mask after all these years." Lynn remarked while fondly reminiscing.
"Wait? How did you get hold of my costume?"
"No time to explain, times a waistin'." Ryan countered.
"I'm not breaking into a hotel!" Lincoln defied him.
Ryan chuckled. "It's not breaking and entering if you don't get caught. And not getting caught is a ninja's specialty."
"Lincoln, please, we need you." Lynn told him seriously. "We're not asking for you to infiltrate that place, but we'll need a lookout, not to mention someone who can supply us with walkie."
"Naturally." Ryan shrugged. "I'd be unfair of us to ask a geriatric 10-year-old to climb buildings." He quipped, forcing Lynn to elbow him in the flank in retribution.
After some deliberation, Lincoln sighed. "You're gonna do this no matter what I say to you?" he asked exasperatedly.
"You know me well, bro." she nodded.
"All this madness must be taking its toll on me…." Lincoln shook his head. "Alright, I'm in. I think this is bonkers but I'll do it."
Lynn smiled under her mask. "Thanks, Linc."
"Can I just suit up first?"
"Just don't take too long, pipsqueak. We're wasting moonlight." Ryan told him and strolled into his room to open the window.
"But how are we gonna get there?" Lynn realized. "It ain't exactly hopscotch to that hotel?"
Ryan rubbed his chin while crouching on the window. "Ah, I know. Just follow me to the discount store. I think we'll be able to hitch a ride if we're sneaky about it."
"How?" Lynn asked.
"You'll see." Ryan reassured her and leaped off into the night. "HYAH!"
"Show off!" Lynn scoffed. "I can make a better exit than that! Hurry up, Lincoln!" she told her brother and followed Ryan. "HYAH!"
Lincoln rolled his eyes, fearing that he was going to regret this. "I think I'll take the stairs….." He got dressed and followed them.
She wasn't even four, yet Lisa felt like she had reached the ultimate low point in her life, as far as one was humanly achievable. Actually, no human, not even the most brilliant minds in human history could possibly have dug a deeper hole than she had. She had almost doomed the human race; her brother now hated her for it, and so would the rest of her family if she pleaded guilty and showed them the evidence for it, and most horrifyingly of all, earning her family's unanimous contempt would probably be the least of her worries.
Her eyes were puffy, but she couldn't shed another tear as she was certain that she had emptied her tear sacks about an hour ago. All she could do is sniff miserably while hugging herself and rocking back and forth against her bed in total darkness. She was stuck in a lose-lose situation, if she didn't fess up her conscience would never be clear, but if she did fess up she would set herself up to lose everything that meant anything to her, including possibly her freedom.
"Do I even have a right to plead for freedom?" The toddler scared herself as some part of her flat out told her that she didn't deserve the latter. Lisa seriously considered if this one sin of hers was so irredeemable that she had effectively forfeited any rights she had as a human being? Maybe she had stepped the line of no return? Maybe her brother and Ryan were right that she deserved to be locked up like a rabid animal, and didn't deserve to be treated any better than one?
"But it was an accident!" she cried inwardly. No matter how selfish she felt for refusing to show her parents the self-incriminating footage, no matter how much she loathed herself for it, her self-preservation instincts wouldn't allow her to damn herself like she imagined she would in that scenario.
"Perhaps a round of three-dimensional chess would help. To soothe your inner turmoil?" she heard Fenton's voice. His eyes were glowing automatically now that there was no other source of light in the room, illuminating the chessboard he was holding.
"Go away and leave me alone!"
"Master, it goes against my programming. To commit diligence of duty. While you are still distraught."
"I said go away! That's an order." Lisa barked, though it came out more like a pathetic whimper. Of course the word "order" changed everything for the robot. "Go….go into hibernation until I tell you not to!"
"As you command, master." He agreed, unable to defy his programming. Lisa heard the mechanical sounds of him walking, away from her. She let out a small sigh but being free of his insipid prattling gave her little comfort. It didn't change anything.
After some time, with her mind still racing, Lisa got up and aimlessly paced around her dark room until she eventually ended up at the window. She looked at the bright night sky and the millions of stars that littered it. She thought about the endless cosmos; dark, cold and empty, just like how she felt like right now, like a small chunk of an asteroid floating aimlessly through the empty void of space.
Sighing, her gaze slowly shifted down to the yard, where she saw a rather peculiar sight; Lucy and Luan together, by themselves. Her eyes widened slightly, had her siblings returned? She only recalled hearing Luna's voice from the hallway once the rocker had returned. Lisa had overheard her talking to their mother, as Luna too had apparently found an excuse to skip the picnic.
Lucy was sitting on the tire swing and Luan was lightly pushing it. This would have been a fairly unremarkable sight, if it didn't involve the combo of a reclusive, introverted goth and a bombastic, ultra-extroverted joker? After much deliberation, Lisa tentatively made her way down the stairs. Should Lincoln be down there somewhere, she had no idea how to proceed, and it scared her.
The warm summer winds blew across the night, carrying various scents across the open plains. A lone, dark figure was trotting along the road, guided by his sensitive nose. He hadn't eaten for nearly a week and was growing desperate after two failed hunts in one day. Luckily for him, he could always resort to foraging through man's trash and knew exactly where to find it.
Tired and hungry, he took another whiff and could smell his destination, not too far away. He knew this territory like the back of his paw, and knew the exact route that would lead him there quickest. On his way, he stopped by a familiar water hole to rehydrate himself.
A herd of pronghorn was already there and upon spotting the predator emerging from the brush prairie, they scattered and ran like the wind, leaving One Eye with all the water to himself. Knowing better than to try and chase down the nimble antelopes he opted to lap up some refreshing water instead. There were much easier pickings up ahead.
Hearing an approaching vehicle, the wolf instinctively ducked behind the shrubs until the large truck drove past him.
Standing up again, One Eye resumed drinking. This was just a freak occurrence as humans were seldom active late at night.
The delivery truck parked at a nearby supermarket, and the driver started unloading the cargo. Once he took out the first crate and carried it away on his cargo cart, one crafty stowaway took his opportunity to sneak out of the trailer and gestured for his companions to follow, and they slinked off into the night.
There weren't many buildings around here, but with a gas station and a fast food restaurant both in close proximity, there were still some people driving and strolling around. Trying to stay under the radar, Ryan poked his head from behind the gas station before commando rolling his way into an alleyway and peaked from behind the wall of a building. Seeing that the coast was clear, he gestured for the others to follow.
Doing a cartwheel, Lynn cleared the distance between them and joined him in his surveying. Lincoln didn't bother being dramatic, and simply tippy-toed his way past the series of trash cans and caught up with them.
"Seriously, Lincoln? What kind of a maneuver was that? You're ruining our mystique." Lynn chastised him.
"Lynn, this isn't a contest and keep your voice down, someone might hear us." He whispered to her, pointing at the windows above them.
"Yeah, let's get on the rooftop; the view there will surely be lovely." Ryan quipped and climbed up the fire escape stairs, Lynn and Lincoln followed.
Once they were up, they saw what they were looking for; Tisdale Towers was in full view. They took their time to soak in the sight, mainly to look for any signs of activity within the towering building, which appeared to mostly be serene and low on activity at this late hour, as evident by the large number of unlit rooms.
"I don't see many lights, especially on the upper floors." Lynn noted.
"Fortunate for us." Ryan quipped. "You'll soon learn that darkness is a ninja's best friend."
Lincoln kneeled down and drew out his binoculars. "Hmmmm…."
"Well, what do you see, Linc."
"I….I feel rotten for spying on people." He commented uneasily. "Doesn't feel right."
Ryan rolled his eyes. "How very thoughtful of you, pipsqueak. But how about you just give us the status report, and save the moral lecture for when we can ignore you?"
Lincoln made a humph but did his job. "Most of the people I can see don't seem to be doing anything in particular; I think most are turning in for the night."
"Sweet." Lynn leaned on the brick wall. "But do you see any sign of that judge guy? You're the only one who saw him."
"I'm searching. There are hundreds of rooms here; his might not even be on this side of the building."
Lynn sighed and waited impatiently. She needed to atone for her mistakes, and saving her folks from losing a boatload of cash due to dumb luck seemed like an appropriate way to do it. Which is why she couldn't fail!
"Say, Lynn?" Ryan asked her casually, leaning next to her. "Why did your folks stash all their money into one envelope? And plan to pay all those debts on the same day? Seems like a "don't put all your eggs in one basket" kinda thing?"
Lynn sighed again. "They don't like standing in lines, they really don't like it. Plus, they can't afford to stay away from home for too long."
"Hmmm?" Ryan shrugged. "I see their points, especially the former."
"And I'm not sure that deposit covers all the damage I've caused." Lynn muttered under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing…." She grumbled and sought to change the topic. "So how are we gonna infiltrate?"
"First, we'll climb one of those trees." Ryan stated while pointing at the grove of tall conifers growing close to the building, before spinning his grappling gun in his hand. "Then this baby will help us close the gap."
Lynn rolled her eyes humorously. "And then?"
"Best bet, we find an air vent and use the ducts to navigate the place." Ryan continued.
"I've got some experience with that." Lynn smirked under her mask.
Ryan did the same. "Me too, plus I got some much-needed practice just yesterday, and in the same getup no less. If I had known better back then I would have loaded my arsenal more."
"Or we could just grapple our way to his room and get through the window while he's absent?" the idea dawned on Lynn.
"Ah, you're starting to use your noodle?" Ryan teased. "Feels good, doesn't it?"
Lynn chose to let that one slide and instead held up her nunchucks. "Where did ya get these toys anyway?" she asked cheekily. "Cuz they don't look like actual toys?"
"Now, that would be telling." Ryan replied mysteriously.
"Aw, and I thought I was special to you."
"I see him!" Lincoln spoke up, diverting their attention back to him.
"Where, Lincoln?" Lynn asked anxiously.
Adjusting his binoculars, Lincoln evaluated the position of the target room. "Wait a minute?" he mumbled and zoomed in again. "There's someone else in there? Someone short? And pink? It's Lola!"
"Yes!" Lynn pumped her fist and snatched the binoculars. "Lemme see!"
"Me too!" Ryan fought her over them, and they eventually settled on using them as a shared telescope.
Ryan snorted with one eye closed. "That's him? He looks like Mr. L cosplaying as Cruella de Vil?"
Lynn let out a dry laugh at his remark while focusing on the dwarf in the room. "Yup, that's defiantly Lola, and speaking from personal experience, I think Donnie-boy's about as enthusiastic about her company as we are. He has the same "please kill me" look on his face."
"Well, dorko? Can you evaluate his position?"
Lincoln scowled but kept on counting. "I'm doing it. Lemme see again? One, two, three…hmmm? He's on the fifth floor. His room…third one to the right!"
"Remember that, Lynn." Ryan told the girl. "Well, all that's left is getting there."
"Not so fast, guys. There's some activity down there." Lincoln pointed out. "I see a lot of lights near the pool." The trio soon noted the faint music playing in the general vicinity.
"Lemme see?" Lynn grabbed the binoculars to take a gander. "It's a small pool party. I see Kathleen, Amber and Jenny along with Lori, Bobby and Leni, and I recognize many of their friends. And many of our school mates, Ryan."
"You see anyone else there? Any grownups?" Ryan questioned. Lynn gave him a firm "nope".
"Hmmm…I guess Kathy booked the place so they could party without any fuddy-duddies around to spoil their under-aged drinking and the other inappropriate activities they might be doing." Ryan snarked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lincoln asked, growing concerned for his wayward sisters.
"Ignore him, Lincoln." Lynn told him as she lowered the binoculars. "We gotta be careful down there, or else we'll get spotted."
"I wouldn't worry too much." Ryan shrugged. "Hammered teens aren't very observant."
Lynn sighed. "Let's hope so."
"I see plenty of cover there, Lynn." Ryan pointed at the woodland around the building. "We better get closer, and wait a bit until the lights are out, then we'll strike. And you keep an eye out and warn us in case you spot any surprises." He turned to Lincoln, who sighed with resignation.
"I'll do that, do you have your walkie-talkie?"
Lynn answered by patting the device strapped to her belt before glancing back at the building. "Let's move out then."
"Good luck, Lynn. And please, be careful." Lincoln told her worriedly. "This is not a game."
"Don't fret over me, I've got everything covered." Lynn told him, with much less cockiness than she usually did. Sure, she was stoked about playing ninja, but this task felt much more personal and urgent to her than winning some trophy or beating a rival sports team. This was about her parents, not her.
With that, she jumped off. "Lynn!" Lincoln gasped and leaned down, quickly feeling relived upon seeing her hanging on to a branch and waving at them.
"C'mon, slowpoke! Unless you're scared I'll out-ninja you!" she taunted her partner and swung away.
"She's a natural." Ryan remarked proudly while Lincoln grumbled.
"Will you please remind her not to turn this into a contest? Or a stunt show?" he told the other boy seriously. Ryan turned to him, and even with his mask on, Lincoln could very much see the former's insipid smirk. Ryan raised his hand up, making Lincoln flinch.
"No, please not the head." He lamented while covering said head. Ryan patted his back instead.
"Don't get your tights in a twist." Ryan told him coolly. "With my guidance this will be a cinch. You just do your part." Cracking his neck, he braced himself for action.
"And quit whining about everything, especially when me and Lynn are doing all the real work." He added snidely before standing up on the ridge. "Later, gator!" he leaped off, following Lynn.
Lincoln listened to the rustling of branches below, which quickly faded out. He sighed; it was all up to them now. He could only pray for the best.
Ryan's parting words echoed back to him, and he felt cowardly and useless for sitting behind. If only he was tougher or more athletic. Lynn had tried to train him before, too bad that she had no clue how to coach and even less how to spar with anyone on a beginner level.
A few blocks away, One Eye patrolled the dark alleys, sniffing the ground. A familiar scent soon caught his intrigue.
"Of course ever since we were born I have always been the prettier one, I have no idea why people keep calling us "identical twins". Then again, Lana's horrendous sense of fashion and disgusting habits AND her non-existent sense of hygiene would cancel out any form of beauty she might have. Lynn is just as bad, though she's a plain Jane anyway. Not even the staunchest makeover artist could do anything to save her. And you should see Luna's haircut? Scandalous! And don't even get me started on Luan! I'm still trying to get my parents to take me to the city council so we can finally pass a law that will force her to wear a paper bag over her face whenever she steps out of our house. Lisa? She should be in every dictionary under the word "shut-in" and "fright wig". Lucy? You're better off not knowing! And Lincoln's just embarrassing, he has a horrendous combo of many of both Lynn's and Luan's blemishes, not to mention his mousy wardrobe and his complete lack of class or charm, I tell ya, he's gonna die a spinster!"
Donnie Dufresne was on the verge of a mental breakdown trying to drown out his dinner guest's nonstop prattling. The child was even more self-absorbed and chatty than Kathleen, in fact, both of them would make better judges in his opinion than contenders, given their unanimous love for berating every person they know or meet. Dufresne's colleagues had nothing on them.
"I give Leni credit for at least trying to be presentable, but no matter how fashionable you might be, it can't hide your lack grace or wit, but to be fair to her, she's about as bright as a plank. The least Lori could do is take some fashion advice from her, they are both roommates after all. But she's way too busy chatting with her dullard of a boyfriend all day long so she can listen to him praising her nonstop. Egad, how could anyone be so vain or chatty, am I right? I at least I've earned my right to be spoiled and praised nonstop-eh Donnie? Are you okay?"
She finally stopped chatting after noticing him covering his ears while trembling, his teeth chattering as he did so. He stopped upon seeing that she had stopped talking and was now watching him with a confused expression. Finally, this could be his chance to excuse himself and get away from her!
"Eh-yes! Of course, Lola! Eh…this was a very…..interesting conversation. Your family is quite fascinating." The sweaty pageant judge answered hastily.
Lola scoffed and leaned back in her seat with folded arms. "I guess that's one way to put it."
Dufresne's eyes darted in all directions; the restaurant was basically empty by this hour. Listening to Lola felt like being trapped in limbo. There was nothing he could point her towards to distract her. He had to improvise fast!
"Yes, yes, and this has been a very lovely evening but now we should both turn in for the night, we both need our beauty sleep to look fabulous. It was an honor meeting you, Kathleen wasn't exaggerating when she said that you had a "winning personality", you sure know how to stay ahead in the game." He told her and followed it up with a wink.
Lola had no idea what that wink was for, but she didn't care. Donnie Dufresne had just praised her for having a winning personality! "Aww…Donnie? You're making me blush." She giggled effeminately. "But by all means, keep talking."
"Hey, Lola!" the princess froze upon hearing her twin's coarse voice. A drenched Lana waddled up to their table wearing her blue swimsuit, a diving mask and snorkel, and flippers, while carrying a beach ball.
"Lana, get out of here!" Lola hissed at her viciously but Lana's attention was fixated on the croissant that had been left on Dufresne's plate.
"Yummy!" She grabbed it and wolfed it down, after which she released a massive belch, much to the other two's disgust, before noticing Dufresne.
"Hey…you're that guy she keeps talking about! Who judges girls in sparkly towels!" she pointed at him. "Hey, I'm Lana!"
"Eh….charmed?" Dufresne nodded with a queasy expression.
"Lana, what do you want!" Lola jumped out of her seat to confront her.
"I wanna play ball with someone. All these big kids at the pool keep ignoring me, so I wanna play with you."
"Are you joking?" Lola scoffed. "In case you haven't noticed I have a very important dinner date!"
Dufresne grinned, seizing his opportunity. "Oh, no, no, no, Lola. Be my guest and go have fun with your sister. I understand how important it is for you children to spend quality time with your siblings." He insisted and stood up from his seat.
"No, Donnie, you misunderstand." Lola pleaded. "I don't want to play with her, I-"
"Don't be modest, child." Dufresne cut her off. "I insist! You go enjoy yourself. I've got errands to run anyway. By!" And with that, he bolted away, leaving Lola slack-jawed.
"Huh? For a dandy glamour boy, he sure can run when he wants to." Lana laughed.
"You, moron! You scared him away with your vulgar behavior!" Lola snapped at her.
"That's not true." Lana huffed. "He was charmed to meet me, he said so!"
"Don't you understand sarcasm, you twit!"
"You've been clinging on to him all day and talking boring junk! Don't you understand how to loosen up and have some real fun, you powder puff!" Lana retorted holding her ball.
"I do! But working at a manure factory would be more fun than playing with the likes of you!"
Lana's face scrunched up. "Oh, yeah? Well, just for that I'm gonna find Donnie and show him how I can belch the alphabet in one go! See if he's gonna favor you after that!" Lana huffed and waddled past her shocked twin.
"Don't you dare!" Lola grabbed her arm. Lana smirked at her.
"Well, I might change my mind if you go and play with me, now."
"No way, I gotta make amends with Donnie first!" Lola argued angrily.
"No deal then!" Lana frowned and let out a belching noise that vaguely sounded like "Hey, Donnie!"
Lola paled and started sweating. "Stop it, or I'll make you regret it!"
"You got no dirt on me! I've been extra cautious about it." Lana taunted her, fighting to free her arm.
"Alright, I'll play with you tomorrow. Okay?"
"I wanna play ball now!" Lana protested.
Lola boiled inwardly but was suddenly struck with an idea. She grinned evilly and her hair turned spiky and curled inward.
"How about this? You leave me alone and I'll tell you the whereabouts of a poor, little animal that you can adopt?"
"What are you talking about?" Lana asked suspiciously.
"Well….I…..I mean, me and Lincoln strolled by that creek between here and the park when we went to submit my application, and we spotted this poor, cute little animal that looked like it was nothing but skin and bone. It looked like it desperately needed a home where someone could love it and nurture it back to health." She explained, feigning sympathy for the nonexistent vermin.
Lana studied her shrewdly. "What kind of an animal was it?"
"Eh…..a snipe! Yeah, a snipe!" Lola responded hastily.
Lana narrowed her eyes at her, and Lola started sweating.
"Well that makes sense; snipes always stay near the water." The tomboy rubbed her chin.
Lola blinked. "They do-I mean, how do you know that?"
"Duh, I'm gonna try for the Bluebell girl scouts in July, genius." Lana retorted proudly. "You can't be a scout if you don't know the ins and outs of nature, plus I love animals!"
Lola sighed inwardly with relief. "Well, what are you waiting for? A small, fluffy critter is dying out there!"
"You're lucky that the welfare of a poor animal is way more important to me than getting my bore of a sister to have fun." Lana scoffed and ran past her. "Plus I need to earn by veterinarian badge!"
Lola chuckled evilly, unable to believe her look. "So long, dummy. Can't believe I got her to go on a snipe hunt, I defiantly got all the brains while we were sharing a womb. Now to make things right with Donnie!"
Elsewhere, in a patch of woodland, a dark figure parkoured her way through the canopy and stuck her landing in a patch of bushes, a second figure followed suit and landed next to her.
"I win." Lynn said proudly.
"By taking an unfair head-start?" Ryan snarked. "Way to be a good sport."
Lynn huffed indignantly. "And Snowy warned me you would try to one me up. You know this is isn't a contest?" Ryan added before she could get a word in.
"I know that, I ain't stupid." Lynn said firmly. She didn't need Ryan to tell her that, she knew what was at stake. But it didn't mean she couldn't do a little gloating when the time was right.
"Sure, let's see how the party's doing." Ryan whispered and pushed back some braches so he could spy on the guests, Lynn did the same. There was only a tall wire fence between the pool and them, giving them a clear view of what was going on. The music made it impossible to hear anyone speak from their vantage point but it didn't really matter, as long as the party kept the guests out of the building.
Lynn spotted some familiar faces and pointed at them. They saw Lori dragging Bobby behind the changing cabins. "Well, I'm sure they'll be occupied for a while." Lynn remarked dryly.
Not too far away, they found Kathleen together with her friends and Leni at the bar, surrounded by a large gathering of teens. Kathleen was at center stage talking about something, probably involving herself, though with a more downbeat look than usual. Leni seemed to be comforting her.
"Kathy's the center of attention as usual. She'll also be preoccupied." Ryan joked. "That just leaves the clones? We know where Pinky will probably be but where's Lana?"
"I see her." Lynn spoke up. "But why is she dressed in camo and carrying a butterfly net?" They saw the tomboy walking around and asking people, most of which ignored her or obviously declined whatever request she had for them.
"Who cares? Point is they won't be an issue. Only the brat might give us trouble." Ryan assessed the situation and slinked away. Casting one final glance at her traitorous sisters, Lynn followed him.
"Don't be sad, Kathleen. I'm sure Luan will come around eventually." Leni offered her host some comfort, as she had been quite glum ever since Luan's less-than-heartfelt departure."
Kathleen sighed and kept fiddling with the straw of her smoothie. A chorus of other voices quickly agreed with Leni and praised their host, something both Jenny and even Amber immediately recognized as sycophantic brownnosing, but Leni's heart swelled at everyone's apparent display of kindness and empathy.
"You people are too kind." Kathleen politely gestured for everyone to quiet down. "But we can't blame the poor girl for mistrusting me; you can't bully a person for a year and then suddenly expect them to forgive you in a day, if anything, it was my fault for letting that intrusive Mulligan report on my charity work."
Kathleen took a sip before sighing dejectedly. "She always knows how to say the wrong thing at the right time to stir up drama. But daddy always says that I can't allow setbacks to discourage me, no matter how severe they might be. One must always press on if they want to accomplish their goals."
Leni clasped her hands and shed a tear. "What beautiful words, if only Luan could have heard them."
"Hey, Leni!" someone tugged her hand but the teen barely heard her over the music and everyone else's talking.
"Well, to be fair; Luan's one thing, but you shouldn't feel too bad about that Ryan and Lynn not sticking around. They seem like an unruly bunch." Jenny spoke up. "I can't be the only one who noticed how both of them barely held back from saying all kinds of nasty things to you, Kath?"
"We can't be too harsh on them either. If my sister or friend was dealing with bullies I wouldn't treat those people too kindly either." Kathleen replied evenly.
"Yeah, but that hardly excuses that creep's very…crude parting gesture." Jenny pointed out.
"I'm sure he didn't mean to." Leni defended him. "He probably thinks that it's some rock and roll gesture, not that it means "get a nose job". It's a rude thing to tell somebody but he's just naïve. I'm sure if I explain that to him, he'll apologize and everything will be fine."
Everyone rolled their eyes at her sentiment; Kathleen raised her hand for everyone not to comment.
"You're probably right, Leni, I'm sure he doesn't know the meaning of that gesture." She humored her and slurped up the rest of her smoothie. She sighed. "But I wouldn't want to dampen anyone's spirit now; I called you all here to have a good time. Now I hope everyone's enjoying their stay at Tisdale Towers?"
Another chorus of people voicing nothing but glowing praise for her establishment ensued.
"Oh, it's totes wonderful here!" Leni was crying tears of joy. "It's like a palace, all the employees are so nice, everything's so sparkly, the food is totes divine! I didn't even know there were so many kinds of salad?"
Kathleen chuckled. "We usually don't serve such a wide variety of vegetables, but one of daddy's main finical backers for the hotel is also a major vegan activist, so daddy agreed to hold a weekly "Salad Sunday" on which we only serve dishes made from flora, not fauna."
"Bah, I hate vegetables!" Lana thought while still tugging her sister's arm.
"Are Flora and Fauna the two chief cooks?" Leni asked, prompting Jenny to cover her mouth while sniggering.
Kathleen tried to keep a straight face. "Eh no, Leni. I meant…..eh never mind." She opted to change the topic. "Speaking of that guy's pro-vegan campaigns, I've considered donating some money to his noble cause…."
Leni was once again captivated by Kathleen's speech, while a frustrated Lana opted to stop tugging and instead used the handle of her net to whack the teen on the head.
"Ow…" Leni whimpered and finally noticed her. "Lana, what are you doing-" she quickly forgot about her pain and cooed. "Aw, you look so totes adorable playing solider."
Lana rolled her eyes and grabbed the teen's arm. "Can we talk alone? I wanna ask ya a favor."
"Oh, anything for you. You don' need to ask for a favor." Leni said brightly and followed her until they were away from the crowd. Lana stopped her by a palm tree.
"I need help to save an animal. I asked everyone around here and they just ignored me. And Lori's too busy sucking face with Bobby behind those cabins."
"Aw, how romantic!" Leni gushed excitably.
"No, it's super icky!" Lana gagged with disagreement. "Ugh, never mind that. There's a critter at the creek that needs our help!"
"Aw, the poor little animal, how can we help it?"
Lana smiled with appreciation. Finally, someone else who cared about their furry, scaly, slimy and winged neighbors! "We gotta catch it and nurse it back to health."
Leni blinked for a second before agreeing immediately. "Okay, what are we gonna do?"
Meanwhile, atop a spruce tree, a small bang was heard and a grappling hook shot out of the tree and got snagged against the ledge. Ryan and Lynn pulled with all their strength to make sure the rope was secured and Ryan tied it to the thickest branch.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing. Cuz I can't become an Olympic athlete if I prematurely fall to my death." Lynn told him grimly.
"Don't you worry, I always get the best equipment for these jobs, and I've done this plenty." Ryan reassured her.
Lynn's heard the static from her walkie-talkie and picked it up. "Yes, Lincoln?"
"This is Wily Sleuth calling Sports Girl. Do you read me, Sports Girl?" she heard her brother's voice and groaned exasperatedly.
"For the last time, Lincoln, we ain't using such dumbo codenames!" she told him adamantly.
"If we do they ought to at least sound cool." Ryan mused absentmindedly. "Uhhh….like Black Mamba or…Night Hawk?"
"Ryan, shut it." Lynn gave him a tired glare.
Lincoln sighed with disappointment. "Alright….what's your position, guys?"
"We secured the rope to the fifth floor, now we just gotta climb in and retrieve the objective." Lynn answered. "Do you see any trouble ahead? Like guards in the corridor?"
"Negative. And Dufresne and Lola aren't present on the premise. This could be your best shot."
"Awesome, let's not waste time." Lynn told Ryan. "Just sit tight, Lincoln. We'll be back in no time."
"Roger that. Good luck." Lincoln told them before hanging up.
"Ladies first." Ryan gestured at the newly made tightrope.
Lynn braced herself and climbed down to grab the rope and let herself dangle from it, with her upper body strength being the only thing between her and a deadly drop.
"Easy peasy." She tried to reassure herself, trying not to look down as she pulled herself towards the window. Lynn never pegged herself as being scared of heights, but she has never done horizontal rope climbing five stories high.
"Did it!" she sighed with relief as she hauled herself up the ledge before crouching under a window with no lights. Ryan soon caught up with her.
"What now?" she asked him as he crouched next to her, the high altitude winds blowing at them.
"Let's try through the window. Remember, third one to the right."
Lynn nodded and started maneuvering along the ledge to her right, Ryan followed her. "And be careful of loose bricks. That could put a kibosh on this mission." Lynn felt a chill run down her spine but composed herself and kept moving until they reached the right window. Lynn carefully peeked in through the glass.
"You see him?" Ryan whispered.
"Nope, we're clear to go."
"And do you see any sign of the envelopes?"
Lynn studied the interior. "Nadda…..could be in that nightstand or maybe that dresser?"
"We'll find out soon." Ryan said confidently. "If you may?"
"Let's do it." Lynn tried to open the window but couldn't. "Dammit, it's locked." She grunted frustratingly.
"It's never that easy." Ryan stated unsurprised.
"Well, now what?" Lynn asked him impatiently.
"We'll have to find another way in, let's go." They continued moving along the ledge, looking for another opening.
"Damn, what else could go wrong?" Lincoln worried as he watched them from afar. They couldn't open any other window on that ledge until they wound up turning around the corner and disappeared from sight.
Lincoln sighed; any hopes of a quick and discrete heist were immediately smashed. He continued surveying the building, finding no sign of activity in the halls and most rooms had their lights off. Turning his binoculars back towards the ground he saw something unusual; Lana and Leni strolling away from the building, dressed in camo and carrying butterfly nets.
"What are they doing?" the boy wondered, hoping they weren't heading into any trouble when he heard a doorknob moving. Startled, his eyes darted towards the stairwell exit and saw the door opening. Lincoln bolted and hid behind the small construction and saw a janitor walking out with a broom. He started sweeping the roof while whistling in rhythm with his walkman. Lincoln looked for the fire exit stairs.
"I'm no use to them if I can't see them. And I can't be caught up here dressed as a midget burglar either." He hurried down the metal stairs but they soon shook and the boy lost balance.
"Whoa!" he cried as he found himself falling but luckily landed on something soft, and smelly, and full of buzzing flies. Lincoln frowned under his mask as he threw a rotten banana peel off his face but was at least grateful that nothing was broken.
"Note to self: if Lynn asks about the smell, tell her you had to dive into a dumpster so the bloodthirsty guard dog couldn't track your sent." He told himself as he climbed out and shook the remaining junk off him before running off to find a new hiding place.
Five minutes later, One Eye arrived at the dumpster and sniffed through its content. No meat. The wolf glanced up and spotted the towering building he was looking for. The dumpsters around the hotel always had good pickings.
Meanwhile, at the end of a dark corridor, the two ninjas finally found an open window. Lynn was hoisted up and jumped in, after which she reached for Ryan's hand and helped him up.
"Ahhh, in at last."
"So, on what floor are we?" Lynn asked.
"I thought you were keeping track of how many stories we climbed?" Ryan shrugged.
"Are you kidding?" Lynn glared at him.
"Shhhhhhh…take it easy, just follow me." Ryan whispered and walked ahead of her. Groaning inwardly, Lynn followed him until he suddenly stopped her.
"What now?"
"Can't be caught on camera?" he pointed up. Lynn squinted until she made out a security camera slowly rotating up and down. "It might set off an alarm."
Lynn smirked. "Child's play." She took a step back and just as the camera moved up; she sprang forward, planted one hand into the floor and cleared the distance with a cartwheel until she was safe behind another wall before the camera moved down again. She waved back at Ryan in a very "try it, if you can" manner.
Chuckling, Ryan took a few steps back and as the camera zoomed upwards, he leaped ahead and performed his own cartwheel and landed next to her. They high-fived.
"How'd ya spot that thing anyway? I can barely see my own hands in this darkness?"
"I do a lot of stuff at night. It heightens your senses after a while." Ryan said proudly. "Now let's get going, if I see another I'll warn ya."
They parkoured their way through the hallway, stopping at every corner to look ahead.
"So how are we gonna find our bearings in this place and find the right room?" Lynn asked as they peaked behind a wall.
"No clue, I've never snuck into a maze of a building like this." Ryan remarked coolly and leaped ahead.
"What?" Lynn blurted and followed him. Spotting another camera, Ryan shushed her as she caught up with him, and as the camera zoomed up, Ryan leapfrogged over the antique table sitting below a painting, dodging the camera again. Grumbling under her breath, Lynn awaited her turn and did a kong vault over the table.
Running around another corner, she caught up with Ryan next to another table. "So what are you suggesting we do? Run around this humongous palace all night long till we bump into Dufresne's room?" she asked in an agitated tone.
"Don't be absurd, we'll just take the elevator." Ryan shrugged nonchalantly. "It will save us a lot of travel time."
Before Lynn could retort they heard a footfall. "Someone's coming."
A security guard appeared and pointed his flashlight to find…..just the table, nothing out of the ordinary. He scratched his head, being sure he had heard something. He moved on, unaware of the two ninjas who were wedged, with their limbs spread out, between the crossbeams on the ceiling opposite of each other.
"They never think of looking up." Ryan told his partner in jest as the guard walked on. Once he turned around a corner both of them did a three-point landing and continued on until they found an elevator. Ryan pressed a button and they entered the car. Once the door slid back, Lynn pressed the button with the number five on it and down they went.
"Ninth floor? We really strayed off course, huh?" Ryan remarked casually as the mellow elevator music played.
Lynn rolled her eyes. "I hate these stupid jingles…."
The door slid open and they casually walked out into another long corridor.
"Piece of cake, now we just gotta find the right room again." Ryan stroked his chin when the hall suddenly lit up, panicking the two.
"Yoo-hoo! Oh, Donnie-kins, I've got something for you!"
"Duck!" Lynn grabbed Ryan's arm and they dived behind a palm vase as Lola merrily strolled by, carrying a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolate. She stopped to ring the bell at Dufresne's suite. After receiving no answer, she pressed the bell again and tapped her foot impatiently while Ryan and Lynn peered from their hiding spot.
"Ugh! What's the matter with him!" Lola lamented. "He can't be asleep already!" She proceeded to knock on the door but still got no response. Lola tried to open it but found it to be locked. Seething, she eventually left her presents at the doorstep and stormed off.
"He better not be ignoring me! Otherwise, Lana's gonna pay! And dearly!" she ranted and disappeared from sight. The ninjas peeked again see her go until the lights suddenly went out, and Lola was heard bumping into something and promptly crying about it.
"UUGH! Stupid energy-saving lights!"
Lynn chuckled. "What'd ya know? The princess finally did something helpful for us?"
They heard another crash further down, followed by more whining. "Indeed…" Ryan replied in amusement.
"Now we just gotta get in somehow?"
"Way ahead of ya, Lynn." Ryan laughed and pointed at a nearby air vent.
"And that was your school life for seven years?" Lucy asked sadly, as they had come to the conclusion of a rather long and unexpected conversation on the goth's part, as she held on to the swing, with Fang perched on her head. Thankfully, their mother knew how to undo her braids, so Lucy finally looked like her regular, creepy self once more. It was a relief, but small potatoes compared to what she had endured today.
"Yes…" Luan sighed, continuing to lightly nudge the tire her sister was sitting on. "Pretty pathetic, right?"
"No…" Lucy said quietly but firmly. "That's impressive. You've been an outcast for as long as I've been alive. I don't think I would have lasted that long."
"I'm no trooper, Luce. I couldn't ditch school, could I? Even a clown needs a diploma." The young teen said with some levity.
Lucy contemplated on that. This evening had been a fairly emotional one for both of them. For as long as she could remember, this has been one of the first hear-to-hearts she has had with anyone not named Lincoln, and it was with the sister she least expected. Granted, she didn't see many of her sisters as shoulders she could cry on, perhaps Leni, maybe Lana and Luna too, but Luan? While hardly a contender for the title of "meanest sister" in their sea of siblings, Luan was her exact opposite in many ways, one of the last people Lucy gravitated towards. But by keeping her at arm's length, Lucy had avoided learning one crucial detail about Luan that has now fundamentally changed her view of the comedian forever. The clear line that separated the two of them had suddenly become much blurrier.
"But you are. In spite of your inner pain, you have managed to mask it for all these years. You always appeared so happy, so upbeat and vibrant; I always thought you had plenty of friends." She wasn't exaggerating. Perhaps she had viewed the world through a skewed perspective but Lucy had always envisioned her lot in life as being unique compared to her siblings. All her sisters had friends and were reasonably popular, even Lincoln, a boy most people labeled as a nerd had found plenty of other nerds at his school to fraternize with, but she was the exception, she was the odd one out. But she had been wrong all this time.
Luan felt much the same way, though she also saw herself a massive fool for remaining so blind for all these years. Granted Lucy hadn't attended public school for long and her prior life would have been free of any judgmental busybodies browbeating her, but then again, she did have several sisters who could have easily filled up that niche. Either way, a pro at alienating herself from her peers like Luan should have seen the obvious signs but had remained willfully ignorant. Or she was just a massive dumbass, Luan was inclined to believe either.
"Well, I am kinda an aspiring actor, though not a very good one according to most of my colleges." Luan sighed. "Lucy…I'm so sorry…."
"You don't need to apologize again, Luan. I hold no ill will." Lucy shook her head. "I'm no less blameless…."
"You aren't, Lucy. You're still just a kid, someone who's barely begun to live. An old cow like me has no such excuse. I've always been an ignorant dope; I told ya how Kathleen exploited that when we first met."
"I know about false friends." The younger sister replied poignantly. "That's why I don't trust Kathleen. I'm familiar with people putting on an illusion of faux-affability. Everything about her feels…. fake, insincere, a fraud with vile duplicity bubbling just below her thinly-veiled act of sincerity."
"You really are wilier than I could ever hope to be." Luan admitted. "If only I had half as much intuition when I was seven? But I'm too much of an idiot for that."
Unbeknownst to them, Lisa was watching them from the bushes. She had no idea about the context of their conversation but it sounded like both of them were hurting and were trying to offer each other comfort, as odd as it seemed for Lucy to exhibit genuine emotion or for Luan to exhibit any other emotion besides insufferable jubilation. Lisa couldn't recall the last time she had witnessed Luan holding a conversation without lacing her vernacular with insipid puns related to random observations.
"Sigh. Luan, stop it." Lucy said evenly and jumped off the swing. Fang swooped up and circled around until he landed on her shoulder as his owner confronted Luan. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over it."
Her sister showed no anger, but Luan still felt like dirt and sighed and slumped against the tree, hugging her knees. "I can't help it, I feel like such a moron."
Lucy kneeled down next to her. "You're not at fault. As you've said, in a family as big as ours it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. Neither of us tried to reach out to the other, none of us truly have, I think. It's always been like that."
Luan looked aside shamefully. "Perhaps that was a big mistake….."
"You tried, I know that much." Lucy gave her a sympathetic smile. "You've tried it with Lori, Leni and Luna, I reckon it didn't pan out as you wanted?"
"We're not birds of a feather, that's for sure. Lori's a mean one, that's no secret, Leni and Luna are quite the opposite, but me and them could still never click. Sometimes I feel like they only tolerate me because I'm their sister, and I've somehow managed to screw up what meager respect they had for me with my Prankmageddon."
Personal feelings aside, Lucy couldn't exactly blame them for being upset about the yearly Prankmageddon but didn't comment on it. Luan did claim that her Prankmageddon was a thing of the past now.
"I feel the same way with my faction, Lola's as vile as an adder while Lana's nice but I doubt she cares much for my company either."
Lisa frowned upon not being mentioned. She supposed she didn't deserve any acknowledgment given how little of it she had offered to either of them.
"Yeah, and Lincoln's the link between the big sisters and little sisters factions." Luan replied before tittering. "Heh, I made a funny."
Those "factions" were, of course, purely arbitrary and based solely on age, they didn't mean much in terms of familial bonds, other than perhaps for the two respective duets of blonde roommates, and even those were rather shaky. At least Luan was saddled with a chill and civil roommates but Lucy's relationship with hers, on the other hand, was a very different story.
"Sigh. Guess that's another thing we have in common. Wherever we might be, we're always the odd one out." Lucy concurred.
"Yeah, but maybe together we could….sorta make sense?" Luan mused. "Y'know, like yin and yang?"
"You mean how two seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent? Like light and darkness? The yin, the dark swirl, associated with shadows and the trough of a wave; the yang, the light swirl, represents brightness, passion and growth?"
Luan blinked but slowly smiled. "Well, I was just rambling but you made it sound like the most sensible thing in the world. We are a lot alike, two oddballs who don't have a place among "normies", both eccentrics always true to themselves and their passion."
"I guess we are." Lucy smiled followed by her bat chirping. "I think Fang agrees."
"So what do you say?"
"Say what?"
Luan smiled sheepishly. "Would you like me to be your big sister? I don't mean an inessential one, who just clogs up space for you, you got plenty of those, I mean one who'll be with you through thick and thin, someone you can rely on. Someone you can tell anything, since Linky won't know certain…girl stuff? Someone who gets what it's like being a weirdo, and being proud of it?"
"You're offering a pact for an alliance?" Lucy asked in a seemingly straight-laced tone but the small hint of a cheeky smile told Luan otherwise.
"If you wanna call it that, sure. Weirdoes gotta stick together, right?" She shrugged much more cheekily and stretched one arm out.
Lucy felt hesitant but soon accepted the gesture and leaned in for a hug. Fang flew away to avoid being crushed as Luan embraced Lucy's small figure. The two sat there simply enjoying each other's warmth, and for a moment Lucy almost forgot about their recent troubles. She was forced to soak in a lot today but it ultimately ended on a positive note, albeit one Lucy knew couldn't last for long.
"Y'know, Luce? Everyone says how scary you are but I honestly don't see it?" Luan spoke up. "You are the nicest and cutest little thing I've ever seen, like Casper the Friendly Ghost-"
"Don't push it." Lucy "warned" her, still clinging on to her.
"A little late for cuddling, don't you think?" a lispy voice made both sisters shot their eyes open. They glance to their right to find Lisa, looking a lot more withdrawn and tentative than usual.
"Lisa?" Luan stared at her while Lucy kneeled up and watched her suspiciously. "I hear you slept in today?" Luan continued, being civil.
Lisa winced inwardly, knowing she was conversing with two people who had almost paid the ultimate price thanks to her. Neither of them seemed particularly happy to see her, and Lisa had to remind herself that they didn't remember what had transpired last night since she expected them to lash out at her much like Lincoln. They didn't appear angry as much as indifferent about her presence, perhaps somewhat agitated that she had interrupted them.
"Yeah, insomnia and such, been working too much lately." The genius muttered, avoiding eye contact with them. She remembered all too vividly how some twenty four hours ago both of them were undead abomination who tried to pass on the virus to her and could have deteriorated into nothingness very shortly after fulfilling their sole purpose as flue zombies, whose transformations she had personally witnessed in all their gruesome detail.
"You okay? You seem a bit twitchy?" Luan questioned. Lisa swallowed and tried to compose herself.
"Well, insomnia has that kind of effect on someone whose mind works a mile a minute, as you can imagine. I require my mandatory ten hours of rest." She said matter-of-factly. Her older sisters looked at each other and shrugged nonchalantly, not thinking much about it.
"But the reason behind my visit is simple." Lisa adjusted her glasses, trying to maintain a façade of professionalism. "I've taken notice of my siblings' absence. The way I understand it, everyone sans me and Luna went on a picnic trip, am I correct?"
Luan's face darkened slightly. "Yeah….they…eh got a bit sidetracked."
"Could you elaborate?"
"We had another sibling fight." Lucy clarified, though neither her or Luan had any intention to talk about Lyle to the genius. Lucy had already agreed with Luan to keep quiet about that until Lincoln and Lynn could talk with them proper in the morning, which Lucy, after having calmed down, didn't mind, as waiting until the next day didn't mean much and she understood that their parents would be tired and ready for bed by this late hour, better to leave such news for when they have recharged their batteries.
"We met one of Luan's classmates, who offered us a stay at her family's hotel but us, Lincoln, Lynn and Ryan didn't want to stay so we left. The other two are still at Ryan's place, I dunno why, but Lori, Leni and the twins are staying at the hotel."
Lisa paused and studied the comedian carefully. She had no context regarding this most recent sibling feud or this financially well-off classmate of Luan's. But judging from Lucy's brief account and Luan's displeased look, Lisa could deduce certain details.
"And I take it you and the proprietor of the hotel aren't on good terms?"
"You could say that…." Luan's face darkened.
"Four of us sided with her, and three of us sided with you, Luan? Interesting?" Lisa mused idly. "It's an even divide; we didn't have one of those in recent memory. Though it depends on whether Luna chooses a side in the aftermath."
Luan glanced down bitterly. "Don't jinx it. I'm sure Kathleen knows Mick Swagger or someone else Luna adores, and she'll sway her to the dark side once they meet."
Lucy meanwhile wondered why Lisa was inquiring about this. As far as Lucy understood it, the youngest Loud was like a computer, cold and logical, and uninterested in sideshows within the nonstop circus that was their home that could distract her from her scientific endeavors. Sibling disputes were a prime example of this, unless they affected her directly and negatively. The genius' response, however, was rather surprising.
"That sounds alarming. But it that comes to fruition, I can even out the number by siding with you." Both sisters were taken aback.
"You would?" Luan blurted.
"Well, I might be ill-informed about this situation or about this Kathleen person, but you're my sister and I wager I'll be better off putting faith in your personal judgment, as you aren't the kind of person who would harbor a grudge against anyone, Luan." Lisa replied simply. "Also, I almost killed you and Lucy so the least I could do is back your side in what will probably be the next Loud Civil War."
"Plus, Lucy and Lincoln seem to agree with you, and I consider them among the more int-eh….rational of my kin, so statistically I have good reason to take their collective opinions to heart."
"Eh….thanks?" Lucy responded with uncertainty. Did Lisa call her smart? If sincere, that would certainly be high praise.
"Don't mention it." Lisa exhaled. "Well, I can see you two are having a moment, it would be rude of me to intrude on that. Goodnight." She excused herself and left just as quickly as she came.
"Did she seem weird to you?" Lucy turned to Luan.
"A little, but Lisa is smart." Luan shrugged. "I figure she wouldn't be fooled by Kathleen." Secretly Luan felt somewhat touched. In spite of everything, nearly half of her siblings had stood up for her when she needed them, most of which she never would have expected. Despite their problems with Kathleen and Lyle, today had not been that lousy of a day.
"I suppose…" Lucy tentatively concurred. Of course, Lisa suddenly being a bit compassionate hardly took up priority in her mind, not after what Lyle did to them, or the secrets that she knew her brother was still keeping from her.
"Girls! Come on! It's time for bed!" they heard their father calling.
"C'mon, Luce." Luan patted her shoulder. "I'll tuck you in if you wanna?"
"Brrrrr…..I hope this crawling through air ducts thing doesn't become a running gag until "the incident"?" Ryan's teeth chattered while he was leading the way through the shafts.
"I'm turning into a popsicle here." Lynn lamented, likewise shivering. "Don't they ever shut the air conditioning off?"
"Not when they have to air condition a whole hotel in late June they don't." Ryan rolled his eyes.
"Well, have you found him yet?" Lynn asked impatiently.
"I'm looking…nope…this looks like a honeymoon suite, let's keep searching…..uh, I got it!"
"You found him?"
"Nope, but I was thinking about my codename." Ryan said. "How about Rattlesnake? Has a very ominous ring to it, right?"
"Knock it off, lame brain." Lynn groaned, when her walkie-talkie started buzzing. She stopped to take the call.
Ryan meanwhile finally found what he was looking for. "There he is! I see him. Lynn?"
He turned around and found her lagging behind. "Don't worry bro. We're closing in on the finish line as we speak. Just stay close to the hotel." Lynn hung up and caught up with him. "That was Lincoln, said he had to flee the building. So you found him?"
Ryan nodded and pointed down at the vent. Lynn looked through the bars and saw their target, and they heard him talking on the phone. He was garbed in his pink bathrobe and both preteens sniggered.
"If his fabulous robe is any indicator, he'll be heading for the bathroom shortly." Ryan pointed out.
"Lucky us. If Lori and Leni have taught me anything, it will probably take him till midnight to apply his makeup to perfection." Lynn sniggered.
"A bubble bath is just what I need to calm my nerves. I'm not being hyperbolic when I tell you that this day was simply dreadful." Dufresne was venting out his frustration to a colleague of his. "I've been given a painful reminder of why it is unprofessional and more importantly, intolerable to consort with contenders. That Tisdale brat was bad enough, but I think this one was even worse. Her voice alone is like nails on a chalkboard!"
"Yup, he's talking about our Lola." Lynn said as the two shared a knowing look before resuming their spying.
"But of course I can't avoid her because Tisdale owns this place, and the blonde nuisance is good friends with her. If I say one unflattering about to her, I could get kicked out, and that wouldn't be good publicity for me. Not to mention how she would most certainly take back her bribe."
After his rant, Dufresne let out a long exhale. "I must give the girl some credit there. She knows how to stack the odds in her favor. Money talks, and she knows how to drive a hard bargain, and I'm sure Tisdale aided her there. They KNOW how showbiz works. And apparently, her real name is Rita? I presume "Lola" is her stage name? Makes sense, "Rita" doesn't have much…..pizzazz!"
Dufresne listened to his colleague, after which he chuckled and shook his head. "It might not be fair to all the other younglings who have undoubtedly trained long and hard, fueled purely by the desire to wear that tiara, but you would have to be a fool to turn the other way when you're offered five grand in exchange for bending the rules a bit."
"Ha! I called it." Ryan told his partner, who rolled her eyes. "Uhhhhh….I just love it whenever my cynical worldview inevitably prevails over the pipsqueak's misplaced faith in humanity."
"And remember, this is our little secret…" Dufresne finished in a sing-song voice and hung up. He stood up and strolled towards the bathroom.
"This is our chance…." Lynn said excitably, ready to spring into action. They heard the sound of water purring against porcelain but to their dismay, the door didn't get closed. Instead, Dufresne walked back in and sat on his bed, and started filing his nails while waiting for the tub to fill up.
"Rats…." Lynn shot her head up and leaned back to sit.
"Minor delay…" Ryan remained nonchalant and relaxed with his arms behind his head. "Once he takes his bath, we'll be free to rummage as long as we please."
"I'd prefer doing it now." Lynn grumbled. She didn't like waiting, especially when looking for some semblance of closure in relation to her past misdeeds.
"Ah, but patience is another ninja virtue." Ryan retorted in a bad oriental accent. Lynn rolled her eyes.
"You wanna talk about something to kill time?"
Lynn deflated. "Sure, shoot."
"Well, I was pondering how to go about our first date." Ryan shrugged, making Lynn blush.
"We're not talking about dating now. This is so not the right place." She retorted adamantly, though truth be told, she was feeling uncomfortable discussing it so openly.
"But I was thinking? When that team you root for comes to play at the basketball stadium, we'll go to watch them, but here's the fun part." Ryan continued. Lynn groaned inwardly, when she suddenly remembered something much more topical in her mind involving Ryan and dating.
"Instead of wasting two month's worth of allowance on pricey tickets, we could just sneak our way in like we did here, and watch it from our deluxe seats on the beams, high up and free of charge."
"Sounds cool, but I gotta know…when do you plan to tell Luan to stop pining for you?" Lynn inquired.
"Huh?"
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, she's been longing to get your attention for a while, and I'm getting sick and tired of her meddling." Lynn pointed out.
"Yeah, I have noticed you two fighting over me." Ryan said smugly. Lynn's eyes widened before turning into a furious glare.
"Oh, so you've noticed but you didn't bother doing anything about it?!"
"What can I say, when you have two pretty girls fighting over you, you kinda wanna enjoy it while it lasts." Ryan shrugged when Lynn scooted closer to him, her glare more intense than ever.
"Excuse me? "Two pretty girls"?! Are you saying you don't think I'm prettier than that buck-toothed wretch?" That was probably far from the most pressing issue, even purely regarding her relationship with Ryan, but hearing him insinuate that she was in the same league as Luan riled her up something fierce.
Sweating, Ryan scooted back. "Wut-No,no, of course not!" he raised his hands, recognizing his poor choice of words. "You are pretty, very pretty. And prettier than her."
Lynn narrowed her eyes. "Then why are you paying her any attention, huh?"
"Well, when she's around me I….well, I can't just ignore her and…" Ryan fidgeted.
"You know what I'm talking about." Lynn barked. "You do like-like me? Don't you?"
"Of course I like-like you, Lynn. I said so just yesterday."
"Then why haven't you told Luan to buzz off yet?" Lynn pressed on. She seriously hoped that Ryan was indeed just falling prey to masculine stupidity instead of having a genuine attraction to her sister.
Ryan gulped and rubbed his neck. "Well…..eh….it's complicated…"
"What's "complicated"?" Lynn scoffed. "You like me, not her? So go and tell her that. You do realize the longer you string her along with false hope, the more she'll be devastated when she learns that her crush ain't mutual?"
Ryan swallowed. In the back of his mind he had always considered that but tried to convince himself that it wasn't that serious. "Now, Lynn…..you're exaggerating."
"Exaggerating? Ha! Just how dense are you?" Lynn asked snidely. "Even Lucy saw all the signs Luan was giving you."
"Really?" Ryan tittered nervously. "I guess my animal magnetism is stronger than even I thought."
"Yeah, it's a real curse." Lynn retorted sarcastically. "So are you going to tell her or not? I tried to tell her several times but she kept ignoring me."
"I….well…..I guess…But I dunno how to tell her?"
"How about this: "Luan, I have a crush on Lynn cuz she's cooler, prettier and overall way more awesome than you". There! Cut and dried! Simple and straightforward." Lynn folded her arms haughtily.
Ryan blinked. "I don't think that's the best way to put it."
"I don't give a crap how you want to phrase it. I just want you to tell her!" Lynn demanded. "She's bothering both of us, right? If you like me why wouldn't you tell her to stop badgering us? It's not this is helping us or her?" She narrowed her eyes. "Or am I missing something? Do you have a thing for her and you're just playing me?"
Lynn quickly regretted asking that. She didn't want to believe that Luan posed a serious threat to her, and she dreaded getting an answer that could prove her wrong.
Ryan froze; this was a very serious question coming from her. He could tell from her eyes and her voice that she wasn't fooling around with this. She demanded a real answer and he couldn't weasel his way out of giving her a straight answer. Not that he wanted to weasel his way out, because Ryan felt a strong hunch that he had upset her. Having chicks fight over you is all fun and ego-fueling until you start considering the chicks' feelings.
Looking back at it, he couldn't deny that perhaps he was attracted to Luan, and not simply in a shallow way. She was pretty, she was fun, she was kind to him and understood him in ways that most people and even Lynn couldn't. Was it possible to have a crush on two girls at once? Ryan understood the difference between actual feelings and hollow, casual flings. Growing to like both chicks in such a scenario was evidently not a smart move, since you would have to dump one of them in the end, and feeling sorry for her didn't help matters.
"I really screwed the pooch….." he realized his mistake.
But the moment he compared the two sisters in that regard it didn't really seem like a contest to him. He liked them both, but his connection with one of them was clearly stronger than the other.
He sighed. "No, Lynn. I would never do that." He shook his head in resignation, knowing that he had screwed up big time. "You're the only gal for, I'll…..I'll tell her."
Lynn noticeably calmed down. Although he couldn't see it, Ryan had a strong feeling she was smiling under her mask. Lynn slowly moved her hand to touch his but their moment was interrupted when they heard the door closing.
Looking down the vent, they saw that the room was empty, and they no longer heard water running. Lynn's expression turned serious again.
"Let's do it."
Outside, Lincoln snuck his way to the back of the building. It was close to midnight and the place was overall quiet and serene, apart from the pool party, which was still going strong with music and flashy lights, though the noise had somewhat died down.
Swatting away the remaining flies that were following him, Lincoln planted his arm against a dumpster and leaned on it to catch his breath. It was hard to breathe with this mask on but he didn't dare take it off, out of fear that someone might spot him. When you were a little boy with white hair, you were insanely easy to identify.
His mind drifted back to his sister. She was currently working to retrieve the envelope, and he could only hope that she and Ryan would make a clean getaway.
"I seriously need to get mom and dad to keep anything important to them out of the girls' reach." This mess had been more than enough incentive to make him gun for this policy until it was a hardened house rule.
He noticed how there wasn't just one dumpster but a whole cluster of them, at least seven of them in a row, with a long and wide pipe over each of them.
"Must be the rear end of the garbage chute?" Lincoln figured and noticed something odd. "How come these seven dumpsters smell much better than the one I fell in?"
Out of morbid curiosity, he peeked into one of them, and was surprised to find it stocked with vegetables. Not thinking much of it, Lincoln slumped against the side of the dumpster and thought about contacting his sister.
"No, you moron. She's probably grabbing the envelope right now; you'd just interrupt her at the worst of times." Lincoln hoped his guess was right. If it was, they might get away with their less-than-legal stunt this tonight.
He had to laugh somewhat at his predicament, if out of sheer disbelief. Their devotion to saving their parents' marriage was so strong; they were willing to run afoul of the law in order to achieve their goal. Their dubious actions tonight aside, they oughta get some kind of award for their loyalty to their family.
Suddenly, he heard one of the dumpsters far back in the row shake, rather violently. Lincoln was caught off guard; his first thought being that this must be the garbage men but how come he didn't hear their truck?
Things went quiet for a bit, with the distant sound of chirping crickets being all Lincoln could hear. Did his mind just play a trick on him? Then he heard panting, very canine-like panting.
"Stray dogs? I hope they aren't mean?" Slightly nervous, he took a cautious peek.
Lincoln squinted, trying to adjust his eyes to the low light, and made out a dark figure hunched over one of the dumpsters. The animal rummaged through the trash and shook the dumpster. A growing sense of dread and unease overwhelmed the boy, and he lost his voice as every fiber within him told him to stay quiet and motionless. This was a pretty big dog.
The ominous animal rang bells within his mind, but he couldn't quite pinpoint why. Then, the beast's head rose up, with one eye reflecting the moonlight, and glowing yellow. Lincoln's pupils shrank.
"ONE EYE!" his brain suddenly screamed and he ducked behind the dumpster, growing as stiff as a board. "How? Why? It can't be?!" his mind raced while his heart pounded rapidly. This couldn't be real? It just couldn't be real?
He heard a low growl from behind him, and Lincoln felt his body turning numb and as cold as a corpse once he heard the wolf walking towards him, claws scraping against the pavement. Then he saw a large shadow cast on it, and it was quickly growing larger.
Time seemed to slow down, as Lincoln's mind tried to process his predicament. He literally had his back against a wall, and was at One Eye's mercy….
Did I say this would be the last chapter for this arc? XD Just screwing with you all, I meant it would be the penultimate one XD Or maybe not even that, who knows? Just don't take anything I say for granted. And with a title like "Long, Lousy Day" perhaps it is suiting that this mini-story would be as long and drawn out as possible. Then again, this "arc" was more like four different stories than just happened within a twenty four hour time span, so it's not like I got stuck in one particular location or plotline forever XD
Retrieving an envelope from a foppish pageant judge should be a breeze. Surviving another run-in with the rogue wolf that nearly tore them all apart won't be so easy. Wolves are pursuit predators; they don't tire or give up easily, especially when they're truly hungry. If you read the story that first showed said wolf, you'll also know that Lincoln, by a long shot, suffered the worst during that attack, hence why seeing One Eye again in the flesh will be pretty traumatic for him, like literally seeing a ghost come back to haunt you.
Oh, and for the uneducated, snipes are real animals, specifically a family of birds XD Lana knows about them and that's why she fell for Lola's snipe hunt, not because she has contracted something from Leni XD
And regardless of the timeline, Luan and Lucy are destined to find comfort in each other (especially when others intentionally goad them into it).
