Disclaimer: I own NOTHING from the Loud House.

Shortly after the last bell had rung, the student body had stampeded out of the front entrance with thunderous cheers and shouts. Some got in the buses waiting for them, went with their parents, or simply walked with groups of friends. One of the last few students to walk out after the stream of bodies had thinned, was Lincoln and Clyde with their circle of allies. The two boys weren't in much better spirits as depressed frowns were evident on their faces; their friends had neutral, but concerned looks for them. All of them were shown to have food stains on their clothing at various spots; but Lincoln and Clyde appeared to have the most with the front of Lincoln's orange polo smeared in mustard and ketchup whilst Clyde's pants and shirt were covered in grape juice one side and pieces of greens on another.

"Well, this day hurt somethin' fierce..." Liam muttered.

"And why did we have to help clean up the cafeteria?" Stella threw her arms into the air. "We weren't even the ones who started that food fight!"

"I'm just glad no one decided to throw hot sauce..." Rusty added, rubbing his hands on his face. "I can't face another break out like that."

"At least you didn't have to bear the brunt of it..." Clyde stated. "I think I have food in places they shouldn't go..."

Lincoln managed a sigh. "And it's obvious this was planned...and we," He gestured to himself and Clyde. "Were the targets..."

Zach grunted as he pulled on a popsicle stick that was stuck in his hair. He gave one final tug, managing to not only free the foreign object, but also take a few strands of red follicles with it. Staring at the hairy stick, "Who knew people would get this upset at a cat being stolen." He tossed the stick to the side. "And I doubt some of those guys even like cats."

Stella shrugged. "I'm not too fond of cats myself, but this is going overboard!" She looked to Lincoln and Clyde. "How can you guys even withstand this? I'd have changed schools by now."

Lincoln furrowed his brows. "I'm not exactly enjoying this either Stella." He folded his arms. "And I doubt the worst is over in my case..."

Clyde raised a brow. "Why's tha-" He stopped upon realizing what Lincoln may have been referring to. "Oooooooh...right..."

"What?" Liam asked.

Lincoln stared in one direction, as if he were eyeing something. "I still have a ten-headed beast to deal with..."

The other kids looked in the direction Lincoln was staring, spotting three of Lincoln's younger sisters standing by the sidewalk; since they weren't getting on a bus, they likely assumed they were waiting for their parents to come pick them up.

"Glad I only gots one sister." The farm boy spoke as he scratched his cheek.

"Gee, thanks..." The Loud muttered.

"Lincoln." A younger, somewhat ominous voice called out from behind the group, eliciting a yelp from the older kids.

Rusty, Zach, and Liam jumped away a few feet from the voice whilst Stella, Lincoln, and Clyde nearly tumbled down the shallow steps. Any other students who were nearby turned once they heard the shouts, soon pointing and laughing at the group before continuing on their merry way. The group made uncomfortable shifts in their movement at having been embarrassed for the 4th time that day as they turned their attention towards the person who called for the Loud.

"Sorry." A black haired girl whose bangs covered her eyes, with dark clothing to match, hung her head slightly. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Lincoln gave an irate look at his sibling, already feeling he had suffered enough embarrassment to last a lifetime. "What do you want Lucy?..."

Lucy didn't make any visible movement in spite of the clear anger on her brother's face. "I..." Her voice began to betray her stance. "Just wanted to s-see if you were ok..."

Lincoln bit his cheek. "Gee, I dunno." He shrugged in a faux, nonchalant tone. "I got pranked this morning by Luan, got hit in the face by a soccer ball, then got stuck in the bathroom because the door handle broke." Lucy widened her eyes at that new information. "THEN, I was forced to crawl through dusty vents when I had just taken a shower because no one was around to help me get out the bathroom; at which point I THEN find out my own sisters left me behind this morning for who knows why." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "And when I finally get to school, I find out someone stuffed cat litter in my locker as a prank; along with poop of all things in one of my books. Dodgeball was no better, and after THAT, we get caught up in a food fight and get forced to help clean it up." In spite of the smile on his face, the irritated inflection in Lincoln's tone was quite transparent. "So, how do you think I feel?"

Lucy stood unmoving for a moment as she ingested all the new information. There was a subtle dip of her head. "S-Sorry...I didn't know..." She spoke a little quieter than normal. "And I apologize about what happened this morning. I didn't know why-"

"Did you try to at least stop them?..." Lincoln cut in, dropping his smile entirely.

"I tried, but..." Lucy paused, staring at her brother for a few seconds. It seemed she felt whatever she wanted to say next wouldn't change his mood, seeing as she took a defeated stance. "Sigh. Never mind..." She walked past the group, heading towards her younger sisters.

Stella eyed Lincoln cautiously. "Don't you think you were a little harsh Lincoln? I mean, she was just checking on you..."

Lincoln flared his nostrils. "After everything that happened today, I don't feel like being around any of my sisters right now..." He shuffled his bag straps on his shoulders. "And knowing Lucy, she was probably looking for some 'dark' inspiration for her poems."

Clyde squinted an eye. "It didn't sound like that from how she talked."

Lincoln tilted his head towards his best friend. "Clyde..." He turned to him. "Lucy's always been the 'dark and spooky' person in my family. And she's always talked like she works at a morgue since she first learned to speak. I mean, no one else I know actively looks for someone to play corpse for a funeral every week." He glanced at his moody sister's retreating figure. "And the fact she always keeps her eyes hidden so no one knows what she's thinking doesn't help, at all..."

"Well," Liam leaned on the railing. "It sorta almost felt like you were yellin' at 'er..."

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Look. I've had a long day...and it's still not over." He gripped his bag straps. "After what I went through with the video contest, I learned my sisters can hold a grudge for a looooong time." His frown increased slightly. "And this isn't something I can just easily erase..."

What Lincoln didn't know, was that Lucy remained just within hearing range to pick up the last bits of conversation. The goth nearly halted in her movement at his assumption she was simply looking for another grim source for poetry; while Lucy would admit that Lincoln himself might be able to turn his day into a dread-filled poem, her brother was well off-base. Pursing her lips as Lincoln continued, she started to become self-conscious of her hobbies. Yes, she was the one person in the family more invested in the supernatural and relatively creepy things; but much of the time she was more invested in her poems or literature. And the only times she asked for anyone to play corpse was when she was preparing to host an actual funeral at someone's request.

Practice made perfect, and Lucy didn't want to seem like she was being inconsiderate of the dead; especially since most of the time, it was for a pet or some complete stranger she barely cared for.

When Lincoln mentioned her eyes, the black-haired child quickened her pace slightly whilst bringing a hand to her face. She lifted her bangs a little, squinting as direct sunlight met her eyes. To most, it was normal to shield your eyes from the midday sun as the light was somewhat unbearable. To Lucy however, it was much more than that. Everything appeared to be cast in such an extreme luminosity that it was hard to see objects past a certain distance; she could barely make out the position of her sisters aside from Lana's signature cap, and they were only twenty five feet away.

Glancing back, she could still see her brother and his friends were still talking amongst each other; but they too were nearly obscured in the excessive brightness. "He doesn't know..." She let her bangs drop, reducing the sunlight to more tolerable levels and allowing her to see more clearly. Turning in the direction of her sisters, "And they don't either." Her nose flared slightly. "But I'll tell him some day..."

Instead of catching a ride home with his sisters, Lincoln opted to walk; not that they would've cared either way. As he watched his younger sisters climb into the van, he read the movement of their lips, one of which was Lori asking where he was. The twins shrugged and Lisa stated that she didn't know. He saw Lucy raise her hand as if she were about to comment, but Lori stopped her short and just thumbed at the seats behind her. The gothic girl made what he assumed was a dejected sigh and just climbed in.

"Do you think tomorrow will be any better?" Clyde asked him as they neared Lincoln's house.

Lincoln sighed. "Most likely not..." He glanced at Clyde. "How long did it take for everyone to forget the Girl Guru incident?"

Clyde made a low shrug. "I dunno..." Glancing at his best friend. "A few weeks maybe?"

"And the movie is coming up near the end of the year..." Lincoln surmised. "We're gonna be the laughing stocks of the whole town for MONTHS..."

Clyde squinted an eye. "I don't think it'll last that long. Very few other people in our class talk about Ace Savvy, and not to the extent that we do." Looking forward, "They might forget about it in a week or so."

"Maybe for you..." Lincoln muttered. "But I'll be reminded of it until the movie gets on the screen..." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "And probably for a while after..." As his house came into view, Lincoln spotted the van parked in the driveway. His brows slanted down a little. "Maybe it would've been better if we didn't tell them about the movie..."

"You think we could've won otherwise?" Clyde asked out of curiosity. "I mean, you said it yourself that we needed to stick out."

Lincoln pursed his lips. "I did...but if I knew it was gonna lead up to THIS happening, I would've rejected that idea right out the box." He scratched his head. "Maybe we could've found other costumes to use, or..." He mulled in thought for a moment.

As he went back over the events of the convention, the only thing that gathered his attention was how easily his siblings won over the crowd. In a way, he could understand it; they were new characters to the field amongst all the usual heroes and villains in the building.

"Still...if their characters were THAT popular, why didn't I know about it?..." Making a growl in frustration, "I don't know, just something that would've made winning the contest as easy as they did..."

Clyde felt a little nervous at how upset his friend was, deciding it might be better to try and make light of their situation. "Well...it can't be too bad." His tone was lighthearted. "At least we'll be able to meet the actors for Ace Savvy and One-eyed Jack."

The Loud huffed slightly. "You're an optimist, I'll give you that..."

Clyde placed a hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "Lincoln, we just gotta try and power through this." He patted the boy's shoulder before letting go. "I mean, we've been through worse. Remember the time we almost got eaten by a bear?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yeah...but, Clyde." He looked the other boy directly in the eyes. "We can run away from a bear; but you're lucky you don't have to deal with 10 siblings every day..."

Clyde tilted his head a bit. "Ok, but-"

"And, they threatened me to not try to get them to switch roles with them; and I had little reason to do it in the first place." He folded his arms. "I was gonna tell you this later, since I'm still unsure of it myself; but after what happened today, I'm seriously thinking about ditching the movie completely..."

Clyde let out a gasp as he stopped walking. "But Lincoln, we worked so hard to be apart of it!"

Lincoln raised in hands in irritation. "And look where it got us Clyde! Even though we admitted we got carried away with trying to be a part of the movie, it's just been nonstop teasing, pranking, and probably just outright bullying!" He put his hands down. "This isn't worth anything if it means thousands of people will be laughing at us for the rest of our lives..." He glanced to the side. "I get enough of that at home..."

Clyde stood a little rigid as he absorbed Lincoln's statements.

The Loud turned towards his house. "And I think you should think about doing the same..." The white-haired boy finished as he walked off.

Clyde watched his best friend turn onto the sidewalk leading to the front door, soon climbing up the steps and entering the house. The speckled child fixed his glasses before continuing down the sidewalk to his home. "Lincoln does have a point..." He glanced ahead. "Is it worth it now? But, he's taking it all pretty hard..." Looking back at the house, "Maybe something else is getting to him? I didn't think he'd be this upset about losing the part we wanted in the movie..."

When Lincoln opened the door, the antics of the Loud children were the same as always. Lori was lying on the couch, talking on her phone. Lily was near the couch, playing with her building blocks; or trying to eat them, seeing as she held them close to her mouth and occasionally licked them. Sounds of rough play were heard from the dining room, the source of which tumbled past Lincoln in the form of the twins once again fighting. He didn't know where his other sisters were, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

Upon shutting the door, Lincoln ignored the scuffle as he made his way towards the stairs. Right as he passed the couch, Lori finally noticed his presence. "Hang on Boo-Boo Bear." She tapped the 'mute' button. "Lincoln, where were you?"

The boy stopped as he planted a foot on the first step. "Oh, so now you're worried about leaving me behind?" He responded in a snarky tone.

Lori sat up, feeling a bit irritated. "Answer the question..."

"Answer mine first." Lincoln's hands were formed into fists as they remained planted at his sides. He walked over to the edge of the couch. "Why did you leave me at the house this morning?"

"Well, you were taking too long in the shower!" Lori answered hotly. "Plus, you could've just took your bike to school."

"I was only in the shower for five minutes! And everyone was gone before I finished!" The middle child retorted. "Doesn't help that you used up all the hot water..."

"Well it's not my fault you can't get up in the morning and shower faster!"

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "If I'm slow, then you must be slower since you overworked the heater."

The oldest sibling looked as if she was going to make another retort, but simply huffed. "Tch, whatever." She waved her hand. "Just make sure you clean your clothes and get whatever cat crud is still stuck in your hair." She lied back on the couch.

Lincoln's face changed from one of anger to confusion, before running a hand through his hair. He didn't feel any dirt or foreign debris lodged between the follicles. "What are you talking about?" He put his hand down. "My hair is fine..."

Lori didn't respond as she shoved her phone in his direction. A video was visible on the screen, to which Lori tapped the 'play' button. Once the video finished buffering, it was revealed to have been taken from someone's phone in a school hallway; it looked remarkably similar to his school.

Lincoln squinted an eye. "Isn't that?..." He stopped upon seeing himself come into view. He watched as he opened his locker, only to be buried in cat litter. The video stopped as a chorus of laughter was heard. The young boy started to become red in the face. Pointing a finger at his sister, "YOU recorded that?!"

"Pfff, as if." Lori took her phone back, taking the screen away from the video. "I don't have time to record you embarrassing yourself. It's on social media, FYI."

Lincoln put his hand down as she glared at her for a moment. As he turned away, he muttered, "But you have time being one of the worst sisters ever any chance you get..."

Lori narrowed her eyes as she looked up from her phone. "What was that?..." She replied in a threatening tone, turning her head towards him.

"You heard me." Lincoln spoke a little louder as he stomped up the stairs.

Reaching the top step, Lincoln immediately turned towards his room. He could hear some weird sounds coming from Lisa and Lily's room as he approached his door. Part of him started to wonder what kind of experiment Lisa was cooking up now, but this was overridden by the other half that wasn't in the mood to put forth an effort to actually care. Passing into his bedroom, Lincoln shut the door, throwing his bag onto the floor before collapsing onto his mattress.

A loud sigh escaped him. "Can't this day just be over already?..."

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Lincoln deadpanned. "Come on, I just got home..." He pushed himself off the bed, taking a step forward and opening the door. When there was enough space, someone stuck their arm in, the boy's confusion. He wasn't greeted by one of his sisters holding something in their hand; rather, it was a dummy.

"Heya Linc!" Luan's ventriloquist dummy, Mr. Coconuts, "spoke".

Lincoln deadpanned for the 9th time that day, pinching the bridge between his eyes. "What do you want Luan?..."

"Luan? Whatcha talkin' about, bub?" Mr. Coconuts moved around in the air before putting his hands on his wooden hips. "Can't an old friend say high to his client's brother?"

Lincoln gave a grunt in disapproval.

"Alright alright, I get the point." The dummy rolled his eyes. "Heard ya got pranked by some hoodlums today involving some kitty litter. Yeesh..." He 'shivered'. "Not my kind of taste if ya catch my drift."

Lincoln, already feeling irritated by this display of 'affection', threw his hands into the air. "Does the whole world know about that?!"

"Ehhhh, nah." The dummy waved dismissively. "Probably just the whole town. I mean, ya sorta had it comin' from stealin' that cat; but still-"

Lincoln grabbed Mr. Coconuts by the neck and pulled him off Luan's hand. "Hey! What are ya doin?!" The dummy cried out as Lincoln opened the door completely to meet his confused comedian of a sister. Winding his arm back, Lincoln chucked the dummy down the hall. "AAAAHHHH!" Mr. Coconuts shouted as he flew threw the air.

After watching her dummy land on the floor, Luan glared at her little brother. "What was that for?!"

The middle child returned an equally heated stare. "If you're serious about checking up on me, then talk to me directly and NOT through a dummy!"

Luan blinked in surprise before the door was slammed shut, making the 14 year old recoil a little. As she regained her composure, she couldn't help but feel irritated at having her act interrupted. "Geez," Luan turned around before walking towards her fallen friend. "I was only trying to help..."

"You think I'd want your help after that dumb water prank this morning?" Came Lincoln's muffled voice.

"Lighten up Lincoln!" Luan bent down and picked up Mr. Coconuts. "At least I'm not tasteless enough to embarrass my own brother!"

The door to the converted linen closet swung open. "Says the sister who keeps a collection of all my embarrassing moments in her closet!"

Before Luan could respond, the door had slammed shut once more. The comedian gave a low growl as she turned towards her room. The dummy landed in between the stairs and the door to Lucy and Lynn's room.

As she leaned down to pick him up, "He has a point you know." A low, monotonous voice spoke out, making Luan unleash a small scream with a jump in fright. Turning towards the owner of the voice, "You could've just let him cool down first."

Luan rolled her eyes. "Well, I can't help it if I wanted to turn his frown upside down." She retrieved Mr. Coconuts off the carpet.

"You still could've did without the dummy." Lucy pointed out.

"Hey," The comedian tucked Mr. Coconuts under her arm protectively. "It would've worked if he had a funny bone in his body." She turned away. "Besides, I doubt Ms. Doom and Gloom could do better..."

Lucy held her deadpan look, which did well to hide the irritation building inside her. "Way better than you at least..." She muttered before turning back towards her bed, closing the door with her foot.

"Lincoln's currently in the bathroom right now, so I'll be taking it from here." Present-day Lucy stated. "His fall from grace is more complex than he let's on; I have little doubts he'll bring it up later, but it definitely stretched further than losing a costume contest." There was a brief pause as some shuffling was heard in the background. "Something inside him broke that day, and it unleashed a tidal wave of jealousy and envy that many in my family passed off as some petty issue for a long time." A door could be heard opening. "After I got home from school that first day, I knew I had to figure out a way to get my other sisters to dump their roles. But if you lived with some of them for a few years, you'd already know that was a trial by fire..." The 10 year old sighed. "And to this day, I still wonder to myself if it even helped; especially after seeing the damage it caused..."

A tiny bat flew from its perch on the ceiling, coming to a rest on top of the goth girl's head; she was sitting cross-legged on her bed, appearing to be mulling over some thoughts.

Lucy moved her head up slightly, "Hello Fangs." She tilted her head back down. "You already heard of the movie my sisters talked about from the thin walls of our home. However, it's become clear to me that this movie is going to fracture our bond as siblings even more than what has already happened unless something is done about it." She looked towards the door. "When Lincoln saved me from having to reveal my secret, he claimed he had a thick skin, and could bear the embarrassment." She reached up and scratched the bat on his head, eliciting a purr from him. "Sigh. But it's clear my brother can only withstand being teased or embarrassed for so long; and it's getting to him by the hour. And because of this, I renounced my role in the movie; he doesn't deserve further humiliation, especially when he wanted all of us to land the same parts..." She folded her arms. "But getting my sisters to drop out of this movie for our brother's sake is the hard part..."

Fangs made a few small chirps as Lucy looked up at him.

"Some might be easier to manage than others. I believe Leni, Lily, and even Lana could be easy to talk to. Luan, Luna, and Lisa may come second, as I don't see how being in a movie would line up with their overall goals." The goth glanced down. "But that leaves Lori, Lynn, and..." Lucy made a soured filled face. "Ugh...Lola. She'll definitely be the hardest since her vanity is disgusting to witness..." She looked at her roommate's messy bed. "Lynn might not be too troublesome, as appearing in a movie doesn't seem like something that would line up with her supposed sports career." Lucy rubbed her chin. "And Lori might be a little more understanding, but sometimes she can be almost as bad Lola; she's more into golf, but she isn't above using whatever means she can at a quick shot at fame."The 8 year old rested her hand under her chin. "She's shown to be vindictive if she loses anything; like her last golf tournament."

A brief memory was shown where Lori is seen snapping a golf club over her knee as her rival, Carol Pingrey, was awarded first place in her school's golf outing.

"Second place isn't bad." Lucy shrugged. "Maybe it was just her weird rivalry with Carol at the time. It's a little shocking she eventually friended her."

The door swung open, banging against the door stopper hooked near the baseboard. Lucy flinched from the sound, making Fangs flutter above her head for a moment before resettling. "You talkin' to yourself again?"

The goth turned to see her roommate walk in wearing her roller derby gear. "It's called Thinking Out Loud; it helps organize one's thoughts." She lifted her finger to her head, where Fangs licked it a few times before sitting on it. "You should try it sometime." She finished while lowering her hand, petting the nighttime mammal on his head.

"Psh," Lynn rolled her eyes. "Only weirdos do that." She kicked her skates off, not caring in the slightest at the rough impact they dealt to her bed frame.

"Smart people do it..." The goth muttered. "Guess I can start with her since she's already here." Lucy breathed in before asking, "About the movie, why are you interested in it?"

"What do you mean?" Lynn unstrapped her helmet before taking it off, shaking her head to let her hair wave around for a few seconds so it untangled itself.

"Ace Savvy isn't sports related; it's more of a crime drama than anything."

The jock chuckled. "Yeah, it's pretty lame." She started undoing her knee pads. "Don't get me wrong: the convention was fun and all, but I ain't going to the next one."

Lucy raised a brow. "Then what's the point of being in a movie if you think it's lame?"

"Cause it's money in the bank." The brunette tossed her pads over to her closet. "I mean, we are getting paid for this, right?" Lucy didn't know the answer to that, but Lynn continued regardless. "Plus, when I think about it, there are some pretty cool sports movies comin' up. Might be a chance to get a role in one of those if things go smooth; or as a stunt double."

Lucy pursed her lips as Fangs busied himself with chewing on his wing appendage. "Don't you need to look like the person you're taking the place of?"

Lynn rolled her eyes. "Uh, that's what computers are for? Duh."

Lucy was fairly certain that wasn't how movies worked; the time the family bought stunt doubles to take the brunt of Luan's pranks certainly was proof of that. Not to mention the doubles themselves weren't perfect copies; noses weren't the right size, a few had moles on their cheek, and Lincoln's double was just some short old man. No wonder Luan saw through their plan immediately; only an idiot would fall for that.

"What about you?" Lynn took her gloves off. "Dork Savvy isn't full on vampires."

Lucy let a moment pass before she answered. "...It has decent backstories and drama. That's good enough for me." It wasn't a lie, as she genuinely did feel that way about the series; but not enough to take up reading further into it like Lincoln does.

Knowing Lynn, she didn't press any further. "Whatever." She dropped her gloves on the floor, a smirk on her face as she headed towards the door. "Got a meatball sub calling for me downstairs."

The door was pulled open as Lynn walked out, leaving Lucy alone with her pet bat once more. "Sigh..." She said dejectedly. "This is more complicated than I believed. I thought Lynn's reasons were simple, knowing her. If it were just for fame or money, I may have been able to convince her otherwise. But it seems she at least thought it over if she's considering an acting career. Hmmm..." The goth tapped her fingers against each other. "Maybe if I were to appease more to her goal about being in the Olympics or a sports coach..."

Fangs gave her a curious stare as he tilted his head. "No, I didn't lie about my interest in the movie; but I couldn't tell her I resigned my role." She sat Fangs on her bed. "She'd start asking questions, then think Lincoln had something to do with it. And after seeing how upset he is, that's the last thing he needs right now." Lucy rested her head on her hands. "Now...who among my sisters would have the least amount of interest in being in a movie?..."

Fangs made a few chirps, making the goth turn her head slightly towards him. Flapping his wings, the bat lifted himself off the bed and started doing Figure-Eights in the air. Lucy hummed in thought. "Lisa would be pretty low on the list." Her frowned deepened slightly. "Seeing as she dismisses anything fictional as a 'waste of time'..." Her eyes closed slightly in thought. "Then there's Lana, who will probably just see this as a cool opportunity; which I agree with. Same with Leni." Lucy pushed herself off the bed, moving towards the door. "But, Lisa will come first."

The goth opened the door, finding the hallway caught up in a rare moment of emptiness. Downstairs, she could hear Lori still on her phone while the screaming of the twins echoed up to the second floor intermittingly as they bumped into furniture. "Yeah...Lana will come later."

Lucy turned towards the room on the right side of the converted linen closet, only to raise a brow as she heard a rumbling coming from behind the door. Seconds later, an explosion shook the walls of the house; Lucy stumbled back slightly as it seemed whatever the young genius was doing had been strong enough to once again blow her door off its hinges.

Lucy eyed the door, which had split in two upon hitting the wall next to the twins' door.

"I'm still alive!" Lisa shouted to anyone who may have been concerned.

Lucy poked her head around the corner, her eyes opening up slightly to find the room covered with soot. Lisa herself was getting up from the floor, her entire body covered with the burned matter and slight burns as her hair was a hot mess.

"Should I ask what happened this time?" Lucy asked out of curiosity as Lisa rubbed soot from her protective glasses.

Lisa jumped upon hearing her voice, whipping around before calming as she acknowledged Lucy's presence. "Nothing to be concerned of, my supernatural-oriented sibling. Just a slight failure of keeping the nitrogen atoms of RDX separated long enough for my task, and being a little distracted by our sisters' squabbling on the ground floor."

This was one of those moments where Lucy was glad she kept her eyes hidden, as she would've been seen staring at Lisa like she was crazy; it might've been a little obvious given the way her mouth fell open though. The goth wasn't a science wizard, but she paid enough attention to remember that nitrogen atoms were very unstable. She went back to her usual frown as she deadpanned. "Thankfully you didn't blow up the roof again." She looked around the room, specifically Lily's crib, which was in flames and partially destroyed. "But I don't suppose you know how to rebuild your room..."

Lisa pointed into the air. "Not to worry." Turning to the closet, "Todd, execute Protocol 648."

Lucy glanced at the closet before a robot made out of junk and recycled parts came wheeling into the room with some sort of modified fog machine in its grasp. "AS YOU COMMAND!" It spoke before activating the machine.

Within moments, the entire room was covered in a soapy substance; Lucy lost her sense of positioning in the room as everything around her was covered in foam. She covered her nose when the smell of antibiotics was starting to become too much. "What...the..." She coughed.

Within moments, the soapy foam began to disappear, to the goth's pleasure. Her eyes opened up in surprise when the dissipating foam revealed to have removed all the soot and burns covering the walls and floors, even those on Lisa herself, whom was fixing her hair back into its usual style.

Todd then looked over at Lily's crib, which had the soot and burns removed, but remained splintered. "INFERIOR! INFERIOR!" The robot shouted as its eyes glowed red.

Lucy flinched upon seeing the robot literally vaporize the infant's crib into nothing but ash, somehow leaving the blankets and pillows intact. Turning to the closet, Todd wheeled over and put the soap machine back, then pulled out a few piles of wood. Rolling over to where Lily's crib was, it produced a vacuum and sucked up the ash from the previous crib before rapidly constructing a new one; all within the span of 10 seconds. Lucy bit her lip; the new crib looked just like the old one.

"Well, now I know how you're able to hide the mess from your weird experiments..." She muttered.

"Now," Lisa pulled her protective glasses off, swapping them out for her usual eye glasses. "Is there anything you require my assistance with?"

"It's more of a question, actually." Lucy started, momentarily watching Todd go out into the hallway to grab the broken door before directing her attention to Lisa. "It's been bugging me for a while, but why are you interested in being in the Ace Savvy movie? You always kept saying how much of a waste of time comics were." Her frown increased slightly. "And you usually don't shy from making that point known to Lincoln..."

Lisa pursed her lips. She momentarily directed her gaze to Todd, who was now fixing up the door hinges before rebuilding the door itself. "Usually I wouldn't discuss this out in the open, but..." She sighed slightly. "I can admit when I've been incorrect on certain matters."

"Rarely..." Lucy mentally fumed.

"I still believe that engaging in such recreational activities is only but to consume time and energy that could be used doing more meaningful tasks, but I did manage to enjoy myself at the convention."

Lucy squinted an eye. "...That sounds pretty hypocritical when you say it like that. If you enjoyed it, why do you still find it to be 'pointless'?" She stressed the last word with air quotes.

"I merely understand why Lincoln goes to those conventions every year, but I'm not too invested in the series to care." The young genius paused as the sound of a drill running echoed in the room.

Both girls glanced at Todd, who had now finished repairing the door. "CLEANING PROTOCOLS COMPLETE!"

"Thank you Todd." Lisa addressed the robot for a brief moment. "As for the movie, I may have been enticed at the prospect of being an actor initially; but over time, I realized it's not suitable with my goals."

"So, you don't really care about whether or not you're in the movie?"

Lisa shook her head. "Negative. However, after having unexpectedly found amusement at the convention, I will at least take part to see if I can be proven wrong again." She tilted her glasses down. "On the subject of your question, and knowing you had little interest in Ace Savvy and prefer horror stories, I assume you had the same ideals?"

"...You could say that. And, actually..." Lucy paused with a slight flinch.

Lisa raised a brow at her.

"...Never mind. It's nothing serious." The goth stated.

Lisa only shrugged. "As you say. Now, if that's all you needed, I would like for you to leave." She turned to her desk and started walking over. "I still have to complete this experiment, and I'd rather not risk anyone getting injured."

Lucy gave a curt nod before backing to the door, taking only a second to pull it open and close it behind her. "So Lisa doesn't care about the movie either, just like I thought she wouldn't. But she's still hanging onto her role just to see where it leads." She turned to face the hallway. "I wanted to tell her what I plan to do, but then again..." Her frown increased a little. "Lisa can't keep a secret...and it'd only be a matter of time before someone like Lola or Lori hears about it..." She glanced at the door to her right.

Curiosity got the better of her, and her quiet steps didn't utter a sound as she walked a few paces towards the room. Turning the knob slightly, Lucy pushed the door open a few inches. She saw her brother with a neutral expression on his face as he busied himself with his homework. Lincoln sighed as his brows slanted down a little in irritation. He brought a hand to the side of his head whilst sulking a little in his chair, though Lucy couldn't tell whether it was because of his workload or due to the stress he felt all day. The goth flared her nose slightly before silently closing the door back.

"I'm getting thrown off by my sister's reasoning..." Her fingers curled inward, forming tight fists. "But I can't stop now." She walked past the stairs, no longer hearing the twin's going at it; judging from the noise, it sounded like Lola won their 'argument'. She didn't go downstairs though, knowing the two most troublesome sisters would be present. Instead, she stopped by the room that was next to hers and Lynn's; Luna could be heard singing to herself from the other side, being drowned out occasionally by the riffs of a guitar.

"I hope she's more understanding; and that she's trustworthy." Lucy muttered to herself as she popped the door open.

A/N: And so, Lucy has begun her task of trying to convert her sisters into seeing the light and realize the movie isn't worth the suffering of one of their own. If the future implies anything, this doesn't go as well as she hoped; and indirectly it bodes even more consequences for Lincoln. But our little goth isn't willing to give up so easily.