New York City bustled and teemed as any other day, the citizens of the streets and vehicles going about their mornings. Amongst the crowd stuck out a tuxedo-clad man with a briefcase in one hand and cellphone to his ear spoke into it, "Look, Chief, it's a tough case to crack, cut me some slack."

His hair was black and slicked back, a red tie with blue, diagonal stripes adorning his neck. "I don't want more goddamn excuses, esquire." the angry man belted out on the other end.

"Why are you calling me esquire?"

"It feels weird when people call you by your job title instead of your name, isn't it? I bust my ass in this city for 13 years and it's always just 'chief.' I got a name, too!"

"Alright, Jesus, calm down, Rich."

"Don't tell to calm down. I mean it this time! If that scum fuck walks then it's your ass, I'll feed you to the hounds that are the media in this town. And, trust me, they're starving to eat someone alive."

"Look, he's got an iron-tight alibi, big shocker."

"Well keep digging. He's got to have something we can hold him on. Tax evasion. Unpaid parking ticket. Hell, I don't care if you have to comb through traffic light footage of every intersection in this town to find him jaywalking. We are not going to let him walk away."

"So, let me get this straight..."

"No, you're not going to get this straight. You keep your mouth shut, do you hear me, Wright? I will have your ass and your soul if you breathe a word of this out loud and the wrong person hears you."

Mr. Wright lowers his voice and head slightly, muttering barely above the volume of the ambient noise of cars, horns, and people, "Okay, let me get this straight. You are holding a man, despite being a very highly suspected and dangerous kingpin, on no charges?"

Rich lowers his voice to a low, hissing whisper, "You're a genius, you fucking moron. Everyone in this town knows Lewis Murphy is more crooked than an art museum in an earthquake."

"Well, his boys will tell ya otherwise. And he can't have many of them left, right? Just let him go, somebody's gonna whack him anyway."

"Marvin, you may be a lawyer but you're a goddamn fool if you believe that bullshit you just spewed, even for a moment."

"What? He dies, crime family goes down with him, everybody wins and nothing of value was lost."

"Or, if you read those big textbooks instead of licking the covers because they're colorful, you'd have a clue. Lewis dies, someone else takes over, and we're back to square one on taking them down. We don't know the members, we don't know what they're up to fully, and we don't know who's next in line. Better to have a known enemy than an unknown, Marv."

"Alright, you've made your point, Rich. What's your plan then when we nail him with something?"

"Keep your goddamn voice down and your nose clean, Wright. Like I said, your ass and soul are on the line so play 20 Questions at your own risk."

"Okay, Ch-I mean, Rich, I've already turned my office at work into Vietnam and my home office might as well be an avalanche from all the files I've got pulled on him. Believe me, I'm digging but I at least need a shovel."

Rich paused on the other end, pondering the lawyer's words for a moment before quieting his tone, asking, "What do you need, Marv?"

"How about some help? I don't have a secretary or anything. It's just me, a paid-off house, and enough paper to keep every stoner in America stocked from now until the last 4/20."

"I think I have a group of girls that will be up to the task. They're a unique bunch but, by God, can they read the fine print with the naked eye. I'll send them your way this afternoon."

"So, you're finally putting those secretaries to more use than nice legs in short skirts?"

"Shut up, Marv. They're high school girls, get any funny ideas and I'll cuff you in both ways and knee cap you after I report you for going for my gun."

Marvin froze in his footsteps, unable to process what he just heard."Please tell me you're not serious. You're not actually doing that, right?"

"Marv, it's my final offer, take it or leave it."

"Well why don't you just kick me in the balls and force me to thank you for it. Rich, they're fucking kids!"

"I'd prefer to tar and feather you if I could. But these girls are sharp, Marv, as a goddamn razor. We'll mark it for whatever credit or credentials they need, pay out the ass to their future tuition, and tell them to keep quiet for obvious reasons."

"Yeah, can't really have a corrupt operation exposed by a bunch of high-school girls."

"Or have them figure out what size concrete shoe they wear the hard way."

"You've got me there, Rich."

"Alright, it's settled. I can get them pulled out of school easy enough, teacher has more DUI's than he's got students this year, so I can work him like a damn ox. I'll have them drop by your office in a bit."

"Thanks, I guess, Rich, I appreciate it."

"You're welcome as soon as you nail this bastard, Marv. I'll be in touch."

"Indeed," Marvin said, ending the call and pocketing his phone as he mumbled, "Jackass."

The elevator doors before Marvin opened to the high-rise office he worked in. The cubicles were in disarray, the phones were ringing off the hook, people were chasing after and attempting to flee one another, the entire floor deafeningly loud from all the chatter. Marvin had barely stepped out of the elevator before he was caught by a black man with a clean shave and bald head in a blue dress shirt, suspenders, and black tie with thin, red, diagonal stripes. "Marvin, thank God you're here. This place is a disaster." he began.

"In other news, the sun is bright." Marvin quipped.

The man slugged him in his briefcase arm, making Marvin recoil and yelp in pain, "The hell was that for?!"

"For being a smartass. Someone leaked to the press we're holding onto Lewis Murphy and the phones have been nonstop ringing. They want answers we can't give even if we had them."

"Whoa, Stefan, keep your voice down." Marvin hushed.

"Oh, come on, Marv, everyone in this office knows what's going on. Everyone outside it doesn't. So, let's get down to business." Stefan began.

"Alright, look, let's get to my office and have a quiet chat." Marvin insisted.

The duo strolled down through the office and waded through the sea of people, finally making it to an adjoining hallway that looped past a few cells. In one sat a man on his bed in jeans, black cowboy boots, and a blue-and-white checkered shirt. His left ear was pierced by a simple golden loop and his head was bald with a thick, black goatee around his lips. His dark, haunting eyes looked up from his twiddling thumbs and let a chilling grin crack his face as he saw the D.A. and lieutenant. "Gentlemen, so nice to see you." Lewis greeted.

"Go to Hell, Murphy." Stefan retorted.

"Already there, Lieutenant. Now, I know you're busy because everybody's worried about how little ol' Lewis Murphy is doing and I'm apparently the talk of the town, let alone this circus of a department. But, in all of this craziness, you guys forgot to bring me breakfast."

"You're seriously stopping us to chat about how hungry you are? Fuck off, Lewis, we're staking our case against you. And, trust me, we've got all the evidence we need to put you away." Marvin coldly stated.

Lewis let out a chuckle, revealing his perfectly aligned, strikingly white teeth. "That's rich, that really is. If I had done anything wrong, I'm sure my ass wouldn't be in a holding cell right now, I'd be shipped off to the big house, wouldn't I? You guys have nothing. But, right now, you're in more trouble than an honest, good Samaritan like myself will ever be in because you're breaking the Eighth Amendment."

Stefan sighed, relenting, "Alright, you win, Lewis. I just have to talk to my partner here. Any food allergies I should know of? Peanuts? Lactose intolerant? No crust on your PB&J?"

"I'll take anything you throw in here at this rate, but maybe a breakfast sandwich wouldn't hurt."

"Beggars can't be choosers, Lewis." Marvin mocked, he and Stefan continuing on their way.

"Real fuckin' funny, fellas." Lewis griped, leaning against the wall and scowling.

The duo reached Marvin's office, his name adoring the mottled glass pane in the door. Inside were veritable castles of paper, four tall stacks forming the towers looming over the corners of his desk and a shin-high stack around the front forming a wall. Every filing cabinet was flung open to varying lengths for him to access and his desk was covered in an indeterminate number of loose-leaf papers. Stefan's eyes widened at the spectacle, slowly turning to face an indifferent Marvin, his head tilted. "Marv, how much of this have you gone through?" Stefan questioned.

"This is what's left. You should have seen it last week."

"How many documents was that?"

"I lost count around 300. Around four separate times."

"Ah."

Marvin snapped out of his trance and placed a chair before his desk, going around to his own cushioned chair and placing his briefcase flat on the desk. "So, what've you got on him?" Stefan asked, leaning in his seat with clasped hands and elbows on his knees.

Marvin leaned back in his seat and began to rock nervously as he stared at his lap. Finally, he looked back to Stefan, still rocking a bit before ceasing and throwing up his hands, "Nothing! I can't even find if the guy's ever been stopped by a cop before this, his record's spotless. No warrants, tickets, not even a damn overdue library book. He's got his tracks covered."

Stefan's head lolled forward, facing the ground before picking it back up and asking, "Look, Marv, I don't think I need to remind you how big this is, do I?"

"Please, go ahead. I've had Rich up my ass the past week since they made the arrest, even though I had to talk the judge into signing the damn warrant for nearly the entire week before that. Then I had to pull the biggest rabbit out of my ass to get the judge to double the length of his jailing. Stefan, we could lose everything over this. You, me, Rich, and that judge."

"What is it with you and not giving people names? Do you just call Randy 'janitor'?" Stefan griped.

"Fine, you, me, Rich, and Sierra all go down. It took me all last week to get through all that shit, we've got 24 hours to find something in all this. I'm nowhere near halfway done after a week, Marv. And this is just my office, you should see my place."

"Sorry, Marv, I don't think I see you the way you see me." Stefan chuckled.

Marv leaned back in his chair and exhaled the whole way, letting out a laugh before Stefan continued, "Marv, I know it's rough but you got until tomorrow morning for anything we can hold him on. Hell, even possession would give us a few more weeks. And didn't Rich say he was gonna help you get some high school secretaries or something? He said that on his way out to go patrolling."

"I wish. He's getting me a bunch of fuck-off, high-school girls to do this. My guess is honor students who want to be lawyers or cops someday, I have no idea. Rich's fucking insane." Marvin relented, placing his elbows on the desk and resting his face in his hands, exhausted.

Stefan rose from his seat, getting up and reaching across the desk to put a hand on his shoulder, "Marv, I don't want to put any more pressure on you than you already have. I get it. I was once the hotshot, young-blood rookie fresh on the force, too. Rich always busts our balls when we're knew. You just got outta law school so it's a lot you're putting on right now, I get that. But we're wasting precious time by talking and sitting around moping. Five heads are a hell of a lot better than one, as full of big, bright ideas as that one of yours is. Just make me a promise that you're going to do everything you can. Win or lose this case, that's all I ask."

Marvin slowly slid his hands down to his mouth, mumbling through his fingers, "That I most certainly can."

With that, Marvin and Stefan shook hands, Stefan turning for the door and saying over his shoulder, "That's what I like to hear. If you need me, I'll be runnin' out and grabbing our peckish friend a bite. Any ideas?"

"Get him a raw potato and tell him I said to shove it up his ass and clench it til it mashes."

Stefan let a laugh loose as he pulled the door open, "We'll see."

Stefan slammed the door shut, knocking the four towers around his desk to the ground and cascading all over the floor. Marvin leaned back in his chair and groaned in frustration, pleading, "Please, God, just kill me now."

2 Hours Later

Amidst the chaos sat a secretary indifferent to the mayhem, lazily typing away at her computer and ignoring all else around her. Her wide, wire-frame glasses were adorned with a silver chain the hung over her shoulders and wrapped around her neck. Her cheeks wrinkled and drooped with age, yet her curly, Afro-like hair was still as black as in her youth. She merely stopped typing for a moment before returning to her task, interrupted by the ding of the elevator. Soon, her ears were greeted by a sweet, upbeat girl's voice. "Excuse me, we're here to see Mister Wright? The District Attorney?"

The woman merely rose a hand and pointed in the direction, not even bothering to look up as blandly stated, "Head down that hall at the end of the office, keep to your left so no one in the holding cells can grab you, and take a right after that. He's the door at the end of the hall."

"Thank you so much, ma'am!"

The girl led her friends through the office. Her long, brown hair was tied back into a pony tail by a large white bow, though two strands cascaded over her shoulders and down her front. Behind her were her three companions, wall dressed in identical school uniforms, save for her own pink-and-white shoes with black thigh-high stockings. Behind her stood a girl slightly shorter than her, her hair a dark pink with a red bow in it, wearing knee-high white socks with blue-and-white shoes like the others. Beyond her was an even shorter girl with even pinker hair, an hourglass-shaped hairclip in her bangs. The last girl stood taller than all of them, peering over their leader. Her hair was dark purple, a pair of purple barrettes in either side of her hair by her temples. As they approached the holding cells, they just managed to witness Lewis spitting a mouthful of sausage, egg, cheese and croissant at Stefan's tie. Before the lieutenant could even react in disgust, he was nailed in the face by the sandwich, Lewis berating him, "You call that a sandwich?! Jesus, that's drier than a mouthful of sand, you asshole!"

Stefan seethed as he stared at him, "I swear to God, if I weren't on the clock, I'd..."

"You'd what? Beat me up, incriminate yourself, and let me go free. Your ass, Lieutenant. For the next day, you're my bitch. Now, be a good boy, head down to the Micky D's and grab me a McGriddle, would ya?"

The girls strolled between the men, Stefan barely noticing them for his glare was locked on Lewis. Lewis, on the other hand, was taken so aback by this that he could only turn his head and look at the spectacle, getting up and grasping the bars as he watched them walk by. "The hell was that all about?" he pondered aloud.

The lead girl stood before the door and took a breath, closing her eyes to gather her thoughts before looking back at her friends with a blank expression. They all smiled and nodded at her, giving her the same smile before turning and knocking on the door. "Come in." called the man from the other side.

The four girls piled into the room, the purple-haired girl going to close the door before the man snapped, "Gently!"

She jumped and let out a yip of fright, Marvin reassuring, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I just got all of my stuff picked back up not even five minutes ago so I don't want it falling over again."

"Greetings, Mister Wright!" the brown-haired leader said, extending her hand to shake his.

"Please, call me Marvin." he said, returning the gesture.

"Sure thing! Chief Rich told us you could use our help and we couldn't be more delighted to help. My name's Monika. This is Sayori..."

The girl with the red bow smiled warmly at him, cheering with a high-pitched, squeaky voice, "It's so nice to meet!"

"This is Natsuki..."

The shortest girl merely crossed her arms and frowned, shrugging her shoulders and speaking with a child-like monotone, "Yep, that's me."

"And this is Yuri."

The tallest girl merely looked at the floor, holding her hands behind her back and rubbing her thumb against the opposite palm as she mustered in a somewhat deep, very quiet tone, "I hope we can do all we can to help you, Mister Wright," her eyes shot open wide as she corrected herself, "I mean, Marvin! I'm sorry!"

"It's nothing, really. I get it, you're in school and have to call all the adults that. So call me whatever you like. As long as it's not asshole," Marvin broke off, laughing at his joke before slowly stopping as he realized they weren't laughing, "Sorry. So, what made you gals get sent to me by Chief Rich? You hoping to pursue law degrees someday? Join the force?"

"Oh, no," Monika answered, "we're members of our schools literature club. We have a real passion for reading!"

Marvin's expression dropped from intrigue to despair, slamming his face into his palms as Monika added, "Come to think of it, we're the only members of our school's literature club."

"Goddamn you, Rich." Marvin muttered.

"Mister Wright," Yuri began, pausing until Marvin looked up from his sorrows, "If you don't mind me asking, what was your methodology in organizing these papers. That'll give us the utmost efficiency in completing this task."

Marvin was taken aback by her intellect, the pause making Yuri uncomfortable as she apologized, "I'm sorry, I know I talk too much and Natsuki says I need to stop seeming like such a know-it-all."

"Hey, I do not!" Natsuki interjected.

"Girls, it's fine. Yuri, I didn't really organize anything beyond these stacks of paper in my office."

"That's all we needed to hear, Mr. Wright," Monika began, ordering to the girls, "Alright, girls, pick a stack and start reading. Is it fair that we leave you all those papers in front of your desk, Mr. Wright? We can split those up too if you need a break."

"Uhhh...what, no that's fine! You sure you girls can handle all that?"

"Don't worry, Mister Wright! We love to read, this'll be like just another genre to pick up. Oh, we finally get to read true crime, girls!" Sayori cheered.

With that the girl took an armful from the top of their stacks. Natsuki struggled to reach hers and attempted to leap up and grab it, to no avail. Her face started to flush with anger before Yuri grabbed it and handed to her, Natsuki grimacing and blushing as she took her stacks and sat in a corner. "Do you girls need a chair or anything?" Marvin offered.

"No, it's fine, Mister Wright. This is how we conduct our club meetings anyway. We just break off, find a few comfortable spots, and get to work." Monika assured.

Marvin cocked his eyebrow and loomed back over his desk, mouthing, "Okay."

Just as he was finished with his first sentence, the girls all turned the pages of the first documents in their hands. Marvin bit his lip and looked around the room, perplexed. As he did so, the girls once more put their first documents on the floor beside them, all in-sync. Marvin placed his hands on his desk, gently drumming his fingers as his eyes darted between the girls. Their heads were all stooped, intently scanning the pages and not sparing even a glance for one another, let alone him. Once more, they all put their papers down again. Sayori and Natsuki placed them on the previous papers, Monika put hers underneath her prior reading, and Yuri placed hers separately altogether. Marvin's eyebrows shot up his brow with intrigue, getting up from his seat and going to Monika at his right, kneeling down and catching her attention, looking up with worry as she asked, "Is there something wrong, Mister Wright?"

"Oh, no, no, you're doing fine. But, uh...could you tell me what those last two documents told me?" Marvin inquired, skeptical.

"Oh, well the first was just a high school record of his. He was an incredibly unremarkable student and the other was a college transcript, he was kicked out of a university for academic dishonesty. Seems like he plagiarized for a freshman philosophy class."

Marvin's face spasmed in surprise, looking at Monika with disbelief as she once more asked, "I'm sorry, Mister Wright, are you sure I'm not doing anything wrong?"

"No," he paused, shaking his head as he continued, "No. Just checking in."

Monika's smile returned, beaming, "Alright, I'll be sure to do my best."

She immediately returned to work and turned over the document in her hands. He made his way to Yuri next, the girl drawing her knees more tightly to her body as she approached. He noticed that half her stack lie in several neat piles. "I'm sorry," she mustered, catching Marvin off-guard, "We just like to keep things organized in the group. For this, I thought it was best to do it on theme and keep those chronological. I hope that's how you like your catalogs. If not, I can change it!"

"No, Yuri, that's fine! It makes way more sense than mine, it's a mess. But what is each stack about?"

"Well," Yuri began, pointing to each stack as she went along, "This is just academic records. These are medical. Financial, family, and insurance. This one I'm reading is the first on taxes, the numbers aren't adding up so I hope I'm onto something."

"That's great, Yuri! I really appreciate that."

Yuri's eyes opened wide, unable to process the compliment as she stammered, "Th-thank y-you, Mister Wr-right."

Marvin's attention was drawn to the skid of a chair over the linoleum, turning to find Natsuki standing on it to grab another stack of papers. She turned with a grin at Yuri, sticking her tongue and gaining a smirk from the quiet girl. Marvin, meanwhile, sat frozen in his squatting position, bewildered. He dropped the whispering formalities and spoke aloud, "Natsuki, did you just finish your first stack already?"

"Uh, duh! It wasn't that hard, most of them were only one-sided." Natsuki gloated, gesturing to her own stacks of paper.

Marvin was beside himself, these girls were accomplishing more in their first few minutes than he could have in an hour. "How are you reading these so quickly?"

"What, can you not read this fast?" Natsuki teased, leaning forward and crossing her arms over the papers at her chest.

"Natsuki, that's not polite." a frowning Yuri chastised.

"Yeah, Natsuki, he's got his own skill we don't have. Just because we're good readers doesn't mean you can make fun of him when he can get on the rides at the fair. Unlike you..." Sayori quipped, a sly grin parting her lips.

Natsuki sputtered and blathered in response, her cheeks again flushed as she hopped from the chair and waded back into her corner, grumbling to herself.

The other three girls got up and proceeded to grab another large armful of papers before returning to their stations. No longer shocked by this, Marvin put his hands on his hips and said, "Well, it's about lunch time and I don't want to bother you girls. I assume you've all got to be starved?"

"Oh, yeah! Can you bring us some pizza?" Natsuki said, pouncing on the offer.

"That sounds fine by me, I know just the place. Any topping suggestions?"

"Pepperoni!" Natsuki chimed in.

The other girls agreed, Marvin making his way to the door and heading for the elevator. Just as he reached the ground floor, he found a thinning red-haired, mustached man standing outside in police uniform. Marvin would have attempted to hide in the elevator had the man immediately not seen him and scowled, gesturing him over with his index finger. Marvin begrudgingly obliged and exited the building, meeting the officer in the street. "What the hell are you doing?" the officer asked.

Marvin walked past him and went down the sidewalk, the portly officer trotting along after him, "Hey, I asked you a question!"

"I'm grabbing those girls some lunch." Marvin simply replied.

"So, you're leaving all your work to a bunch of girls in high school? I knew you were up to something. You just don't know when to stop dancing on the thin ice, do you?"

"Look, Rich," Marv said, turning and facing him, "You don't understand. Those girls knocked out more papers than I could in a day. They hadn't even been their five minutes. At this rate, we can get done with both my offices by this evening."

"You really are taking liberties with those girls, aren't you? Need I remind you what I'll do to you if you lay a finger on them."

"Jesus Christ, Rich, it's one thing to ride my ass. It's an entirely different beast to sit their and make accusations about my character."

The two glared at each other for a few moments, Marvin turning and walking up the street as Rich followed, adding, "Well how do I know you're all about what you say you're about? A big, hotshot 25 year old gets the D.A. spot fresh out of law school and now he's surrounded by girls his age group doing his work so he can go grab a cold one. You tell me how that looks."

"It looks like they're getting an internship. How old are they, 16?"

"Eighteen. Don't get any big ideas."

"I didn't before and I don't now."

"Well that's good news, thank God I got them to help because they might have an original idea in their heads, unlike you."

"Yeah and you need me, what does that say about you, Rich?"

"Sad reflection of the time, Marv. If this was the golden age your ass wouldn't be fit to draw the chalk outlines at a crime scene I was investigating. Now look at us, letting little pricks like you get drunk on the job."

The adversaries entered a pizzeria, approaching the counter as Marvin rebuffed, "Well, this is why you're not investigating anymore, Rich. Leave the analysis to me and I told you, I'm grabbing them some lunch, get off my back."

Marvin turned and quickly ordered an extra large pepperoni pizza before Rich grabbed him by the elbow and haul him in, wagging his finger in his face, "You listen here and you listen good, rookie! You may be the D.A. and you may be handling the biggest case this city has ever seen. But don't think for a second you can talk back to me like that. I am your superior in every sense of the work, do I make myself clear? You will show me some respect or I can and will have you reassigned."

Marvin shrugged his arm free, threatening, "Go ahead. You go ahead and get me fired. You know how deep into this I am and you're not dumb enough to screw over someone who can take you down with them."

Rich's brow was deeply furrowed, a blood vessel bulging out under his fury. "Look, all I'm asking for is some time, space, and a little respect, alright? We'll have that case built by tomorrow, turn it over to a judge and, boom, Lewis sits in jail until trial."

Rich only continued to stare Marvin down, bluntly replying, "Respect is earned, rookie. Just remember what's at stake here."

The nervous cashier returned with a large, flat cardboard box, handing it to Marvin as he said, "I know, I'm already getting that nice silver platter to deliver my ass and soul to you on. Hope it comes with the silver spoon you've had shoved up your ass since you were born."

With that, Marvin brushed past Rich, the chief turning and looking in anger at the rookie leaving the building. "Sir," the woman called out, getting his attention, "That'll be 25 dollars."

Rich practically poked his tongue through his cheek, glowering at the floor as he dug into his pocket for his wallet, muttering cusses and threats to himself.

Marvin re-entered his office, greeting, "Hey, I'm back and good news, the Chief paid for the meal. Make sure to thank him when you see him."

Marvin struggled to close the door behind and, as he did so, he turned to find several stacks of paper at various heights before him. The girls stood on either side, arms crossed and pride showing in their faces. Marvin was awed, unable believe what he was seeing. "Mister Wright, we're happy you're back," Monika welcomed him before detailing, "So we organized these bigger stacks up here as irrelevant by alphabetical order of topic. Academic to medical, and everything in between."

"Then these ones in front," Yuri added, pointing to the diminutive stacks of paper in the front, "are all relevant to the case you're building. Academically, he was constantly in trouble for physical bullying and cheating, he's cheating his taxes somewhere, and he's failed any of the drug tests he's ever taken. And divorced twice for the spouses sakes."

"But it's not much," Sayori said, bowing her head slightly in embarrassment, "We still need just a bit more hard evidence. If we can see your home office and go from there, I'm sure we'll have something to give to the judge tomorrow."

"But...wait, how did you know I have a home office?" Marvin pondered aloud.

"Oh, well, Monika told us. Right, Monika?" Natsuki said, all turning to face her.

"Well, I...uh," Monika stuttered and stammered, finally finding the words with a smile, "Just a lucky guess! I mean, what district attorney doesn't take their work home? That's like our teachers only working on papers in school."

"I mean, you've got a point." Marvin relented.

"So let's go now! If we hurry, we can dig into the pizza and it'll still be warm!" Natsuki cheered.

Unable to talk them out of it now, Marvin merely shrugged his shoulders and began his trek home with them, Yuri collecting all of the relevant papers. They passed Lewis in his cell, fast asleep on his side with his back to them. Just as they passed, he looked over his shoulder and buried his head under his pillow, putting a flip phone to his ear as he whispered, "He's heading out the door right now."

As they made it through the office, Stefan called out and came up to them, saying, "Hey, Marv, how goes the work? These your new little interns?"

"Uh, yeah. This is Monika, Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki," Marvin introduced, each girl shaking his hand, save for Natsuki, "We actually just finished all of the documents in there and now we're heading to...my place...to read the rest of them."

It slowly dawned on Marvin what he was saying, finding Stefan looking at him with just as much shock and worry as he had feared. "O-okay then. Uh...you do that. Have fun girls." Stefan recovered, smiling at them.

The girls pressed on to the elevator as Stefan looked on with Marvin, asking in a hushed voice, "The fuck are you on?"

"I'm not lying, I left for a few minutes to get them lunch, they read everything and organized it."

"You're crazier than batshit and dumber than it too if you think I buy that."

"Go look in my office, they left all the unnecessary shit. Maybe we can use it to burn Lewis at the stake when we're done. Stefan, I'm not kidding you, we are this close to getting him!"

Stefan looked his friend in the eyes once more, bemused as he relented, "As long as you get that bastard and you keep your promise. Remember that, Marv."

"Thanks, Stefan. See you at the courthouse tomorrow."

"Mister Wright, hurry up, we saved you a seat!" Monika cried out, waving at him from inside the elevator.

The skyscrapers and traffic slowly gave way to more modest buildings and more sparse signs of life. "Are we there yet?" Natsuki complained.

"Natsuki! If we weren't there the last 20 times you asked that, why would we now?" Sayori whined.

"Girls, relax, I'm sure we have to be close by now." Monika comforted.

"My back hurts." Yuri quietly griped.

Marvin was a nervous wreck. The girls had been bickering and complaining as soon as the elevator doors shut. The pizza felt far heavier than it was, the cardboard beginning to become saturated and warp under the meal inside. "It's alright, we're about a couple minutes away. I just can't stand living in the city proper, ya know? I like a little solitude and quiet. Plus the walk is the only time I have to exercise and let my mind wander." Marvin explained.

"We get that, Mister Wright, we're from a big city too, so we can understand the need to escape it all." Sayori said.

"Really? Where are you girls from?"

Marvin and the other girls all walked past Monika, having frozen in place with a blank expression on her face. "Is everything alright, Monika?" Marvin checked.

Suddenly, a white van swerved across the street and skidded to a stop a few dozen yards ahead of them. Four men dressed in all black with balaclavas approached them, armed with a hammer, crowbar, knife, and revolver. "So, looks like you're the guy we're looking for." the knife-wielding crook said.

"Alright, I see what's going on," Marvin replied, stepping ahead of the girls, "Just let the girls go and you can do whatever the hell it is you want with me."

"Oh, gee, you here that, boys? We let four witnesses walk away and we don't have to worry about anyone calling the cops. Isn't that nice?" the hammer-wielding man scoffed.

"Look, just let them go, they're just high schoolers. I can take you to my office and you can destroy everything, just don't hurt them."

"How chivalrous," the gun-wielding man said, firing a shot that struck Marvin in the forehead and splattered his brains against the girls. His corpse immediately hit the ground, much to the horrified shrieks of the girls, the pizza splattering underneath him, "Too bad you can't do that now, can you? Now, let's make this easy...girls?"

The crooks looked on in confusion to find no sign of the girls. Wonder turned to fear as the sun rapidly moved from its high position in the noon sky and sunk over the horizon. The men were shrouded in darkness, only broken by the street light overhead. "What the fuck?" one gasped.

Suddenly, one of the men let out a quick shriek before it was replaced by his pained gasps for air. He was plucked up into the air, a long, thin object pulling him up the lamppost, dropping his crowbar with an echoing clang. He crashed skull-first into the metal arm of the pole, his skull cracking and neck snapping on impact. His corpse gently swung, the few fleeting moments when it swung back revealing it was hanging from a noose, the rest of the rope wrapped all along the length of the arm. Before they could recuperate, the ground began to shake rhythmically after a crash of something heavy hitting the ground, almost like footsteps. A gargantuan roar terrified the men further before a massive beast lunged from the darkness. The men scattered and ran for their van, the engine skipping as the behemoth effortlessly lifted it overhead and hurled it down the street.

The vehicle landed flat on the roof, crunching it like a loaf of bread and sending it skidding several yards under a hail of sparks. The men, miraculously, managed to crawl out of the wreckage, all carrying various wounds. Their attention was once more caught by the beating of the beasts' fist and feet on the pavement, charging at them like a gorilla. The man with the gun opened fire, the round seeming to strike it but doing nothing to slow it or even register. As it came into the light of the flaming wreck, the flickering flames revealed the diminutive girl looking at them with crazed hatred in her now-red eyes. Her body was immensely muscular, every contour of the hypertrophy visible through her uniform, which miraculously stretched around her bulk. She seized the man around the waste and hoisted him up like a doll, crushing his pelvis in her grip. His agonized shrieks were cut short as she turned and slammed him into the pavement behind her, leaving him only to make out gargled, drowning cries as she began to tear him apart with her bare hands. The tearing of flesh, fabric, and panting filled the air.

The remaining men were petrified, looking on his the girl tore their friend to shreds. "I'm sorry," Yuri said, her hair masking her face, "She gets like this when she's angry."

Without hesitation, the man nearest her turned and plunged his kitchen knife into her chest, the girl not even reacting as blood ran down her uniform. Slowly, her rose and breeze parted her bangs, revealing her pupils had shrunken to the size of pinheads and her teeth had become triangular and predatory in her unnerving grin. She slowly began to chuckle, the chuckle growing into a frightening cackle as the terrified crook left the knife hanging in her. Just as he took a step back, he doubled over in pain, the knife now hanging from his chest. He looked up and found Yuri's face directly in front of his, her body and clothing showing no signs of the damage he had inflicted. He let loose a death rattle before flopping to his stomach, driving the tip of the knife out his back.

The final man's head flopped back and forth between the three girl closing in on him, dropping his hammer as he pleaded, "Please, don't hurt me!"

He wrapped his arms around his head and closed his eyes, trembling and weeping in fear for several moments. After nothing continued to happen, he lowered his arms and opened his eyes, finding himself in a classroom. The room was empty in all directions, out the windows was only the amorphous vacuum of space. "You really shouldn't have done this, mister." Monika admonished, her tone still as cheerful as ever.

The man's head whipped around to find her, a smile on her face with her arms folded behind her back. She took a step towards him, with him involuntarily taking one step back in response. This got a giggle out of Monika as she said, "I get it, we all make mistakes. But we learn so much from our mistakes, so much more than our successes. Trust me, you'll learn a lot from this."

She slowly walked towards him, the man matching her pace in backpedaling. "What's the matter, don't tell me a little high-school girl scares you?"

The man only continued to backpedal, tears strolling down his cheeks. "Oh, come on, cat got your tongue?"

"Stay back!" the man shrieked.

"Oh, come on, I won't bite." Monika mocked, her voice deep and growling.

The man's heel caught the floor awkwardly, sending him sprawling back into the wall on his seat and knocking the wind out of him. He gnashed his teeth in pain, opening his eyes and screaming in fear. He found Monika nose-to-nose with him, her hands on either side of the wall by his head and a crooked, malicious grin parting her usually cheery face. "I'll just have to teach you a lesson."

Marvin sprung upright, gasping for air. His suit was covered in cheese and pizza sauce, his chest heaving as it caught up on the oxygen he was missing. He began to pat around his head and found no signs of any damage. The sun was still high in the sky, if he had passed out, it hadn't been for long. He looked in all directions, finding no signs of the men, their van, or the girls. Panicked, he got to his feet and began to shout, "Monika?! Sayori?! Natsuki?! YURI!?"

"Hi." Monika beamed from directly behind him, nearly sending him spilling back into the mess of pizza again.

Marvin turned to find all four girls behind him with their usual expressions, as if nothing happened. "Are you alright?!" he asked.

"Never better. Don't worry, you won't have to worry about those guys again." Sayori assured.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, Mister Wright, we can explain all of this in just a bit. But let's get back to your house and let you wash up, we'll finish the rest of that reading for you." Monika offered.

Before he could protest, Yuri piped in, smiling softly as she did, "And don't worry, Mister Wright, the next pizza is on us."