Lincoln glanced at his clock after catching his breath. It was still early, but he was certainly not going back to sleep anytime soon. Not when Leni the assassin was waiting for him. Which, he realized, she could be in the waking world as well.

He threw his sheets off of his bare legs and shuffled off the edge. The draft chilled his feet as they touched the floor through his socks. His room had a nasty habit of being colder than the rest of the house, considering it wasn't meant to be a bedroom in the first place. He wracked his brain trying to figure out what he and Lisa were going to do about their sister's double life. He hoped Lisa was having an easier time devising a plan than he was.

Unable to go back to sleep, he opened his door and peered into the hallway. Everyone was still asleep; normal for a summer day in the Loud household. They all appreciated the extra sleep until their father woke up to cook breakfast. Once that happened, it was a free-for-all to get to the breakfast table first.

Lincoln turned to his dresser and grabbed a shirt and pants. He started down the hallway, the rising sunlight pouring through the downstairs windows provided the only illumination as he stepped around toys, power-wheels and soccer balls. He reached Lisa's room and gently tried the handle. It turned and he slowly opened the door. He poked his head into her room, only to find Lily and Lisa both sleeping peacefully.

Lincoln sighed as he closed the door. It looked like he'd have to bear the burden of this knowledge alone for a little while longer. He hoped Lisa wasn't having the same terrifying dream he had. He crept quietly down the stairs, when he noticed the television in the living room was turned on.

The familiarity of this scenario to his dream worried Lincoln as he considered simply going back to bed. He stood, frozen at the top of the stairs until a brunette ponytail popped up from from the back of the couch, a fist pumping in victory.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked closer at the television. Lynn was watching soccer at five in the morning for some reason. Lincoln uprooted his feet from the carpet and began down the stairs. Lynn had the television muted so as to not wake up their parents, and if he knew his sister, she was probably having trouble containing her own excitement.

Lincoln rounded the corner of the couch to see his sister glued to the match at hand.

"Lynn? What are you doing up this early?" he asked.

"Duh, I can't watch euro-league soccer if I'm asleep!" she replied as though the answer was obvious.

That made sense. He climbed up on the couch next to her and tried to take in the action, although he knew next to nothing about the sport itself. As he watched them kick the ball seemingly endlessly back and forth to each other, he felt compelled to ask the obvious question.

"So, does anyone ever score in this game?"

"Yes," Lynn replied angrily, upset that he would even dare to ask.

Lincoln stayed silent and continued to watch as two players battled each other for control of the ball. It seemed as though one player nudged the other during the struggle. The victimized player instantly fell to the ground, as though his opponent had given him a haymaker to the face.

Lincoln couldn't help but laugh.

"Are you serious? That guy barely touched him!"

Lynn shot a glare at him, tired of her criticizing one of her beloved sports. "Why are you up this early?"

Lincoln thought for a moment. He could share his knowledge in a veiled manner, couldn't he?

"Lynn... can I ask you something?" he said earnestly.

His sister's glare softened, a bit taken aback by his forthrightness.

"Uh... yeah, sure," she said, turning away from her scoreless soccer match and giving him her full attention.

Lincoln paused, a moment of doubt clouding his mind.

"Well... what if someone you thought you knew, did something so horrible, you could never look at them the same way again?"

Lynn studied her brother's face. He was seriously distressed about whoever he was referring to. She thought for a moment. Who could have betrayed his trust like that?

Then it hit her. The anger returned tenfold.

"Just wait till I get my hands on Ronnie Anne! I don't care what Lori says, I'll shave her head for cheating on you and then I'll—"

"No, it's not Ronnie Anne!" Lincoln said quickly. He most certainly didn't want to bring Lynn's wrath down on a girl he genuinely liked.

"Then who is it?" Lynn asked, her anger beginning to simmer down.

"It's just a hypothetical question, but what if you thought you knew someone, and then you found out that they did something you never in a million years thought they were capable of?"

Lynn paused to think about his question. "Uh... like what? Like take your spot on the team or steal your lunch or something?"

"Well..." He knew he couldn't outright say murder, but he had to talk to someone other than Lisa about this. "What if they were doing something to help out their family, except what they were doing was totally and completely wrong?"

"If they're doing it to help their family, I guess it depends on how wrong we're talking."

"Really wrong, like the most wrong thing you can think of," Lincoln replied.

"Well then you should probably tell them to stop. Even if they're helping their families, wrong is wrong."

Lynn narrowed her eyes. "Are you selling drugs or something?"

"No!" Lincoln insisted again. "It was just a hypothetical!"

Lynn continued to study him. "Is it Clyde?"

Lincoln sighed, getting off the couch. "Thanks for the advice, Lynn."

He turned to leave right as his sister couldn't help but shout 'Goal' at the top of her lungs, earning an angry shout from her parents bedroom to 'keep it down'.

Lincoln climbed the stairs, his conflicting feelings about what he and Lisa had discovered still unresolved. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he took a glance towards Leni and Lori's room. He just couldn't believe that his nice, kindhearted sister who tried her best to care for her siblings and parents when they had the flu during flu season, could be capable of murder.

He went back to his room and laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. As he lay there, he contemplated his options. He could tell his parents, but that would only escalate things, and might even end up with Leni in prison. The very idea made him shudder. Leni couldn't survive in prison, that much he knew.

His only other option would be to confront her about it. That idea simply terrified him. After all, she's already killed five people. What trouble would a six or seventh be? Thoughts raced around in his mind for what felt like hours before he finally heard the normal commotion of his house fill the hallway.

Lincoln headed out into the hallway, walking towards the stairs when he spotted Leni coming out of the bathroom. His heart beat faster in his chest as she walked towards him, oblivious to his newfound knowledge of her side job.

"Morning Linky!" She said happily.

"M-morning Leni," he stammered in reply. He found himself frozen in place as she walked towards him.

"Sleep well?" she asked, now right next to him.

"Yeah... fine..." he said staring awkwardly.

"Uh, you're like, blocking the stairs."

"Oh! Yeah, sorry," he moved out of the way so Leni could head downstairs for breakfast.

"Lincoln," A voice from behind him said, nearly startling him out of his skin.

"Lisa, geez!" he said, a hand on his chest as he caught his breath. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Lincoln, I've been pondering our predicament, and I think the best way to resolve the situation is to confront Leni about this in private."

He breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he and his sister had come to the same conclusion.

"Good, me too. When are we gonna do it?" he asked.

Lisa shot him a quizzical look. "We?"

"Yeah, WE," Lincoln replied, his expression falling. He already knew where she was headed.

"This strikes me as something you would be more suited towards, as opposed to me," Lisa stated plainly.

"Lisa, she kills people for money!" Lincoln reminded her.

"Precisely why I think it's best if you do it. No offense Lincoln, but the future needs my brains, and I wont risk having them splattered against a wall."

Lincoln already knew that arguing would be pointless. It looked as though he alone would confront Leni about her activities.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell her."

Lincoln headed downstairs for breakfast. No use confronting a serial murderer on an empty stomach. As he rounded the corner to the dining room, he watched in horror as Leni grabbed a knife off the counter and strode toward's Lily as she babbled happily in her highchair. Lily noticed her older sister moving towards her and instantly started to tear up.

"Oh, don't make that face!" Leni insisted, raising the knife. "You like, totes knew this was going to happen."

Could it be possible? Had Leni tasted blood and found it addictive? What if she was forced to kill again and again, starting with Lily, and ending with him and the rest of his family! Lincoln had always wanted to be in the newspaper, but not for being chopped up by one of his sisters! It seemed clear now that Leni had become a murderous demon woman bent on making the streets run red with blood!

Consequences be damned, Lincoln couldn't let Leni hurt his baby sister. He rushed over, grabbing Leni by the wrist that held the knife and yanked it away from Lily.

"Please, Leni, you don't have to do this!"

"Lincoln!" she huffed, raising her arm and lifting him up off the ground as he clung to it. "Don't you, like, know how dangerous it is to grab my arm when I have a knife? I could've hurt you!"

He raised an eyebrow and dropped back down to the floor. "But... you had the knife, and... you said—"

"Yeah, I have to cut up Lily's banana or she could like, totally choke!"

Lincoln paused. He had failed to notice the fruit sitting in front of his baby sister. "But, Lily looked terrified, and she loves bananas!"

Leni rolled her eyes. "That's because Lily hates having her fingernails clipped." she said, showing him the nail clippers in her other hand. "Honestly, what's gotten into you Lincoln?"

'What's gotten into ME?' he thought.

"Uh... nothing, sorry. I think I'm just gonna have a pop tart..." he left Leni to her business and headed towards the toaster. Maybe Leni wasn't a crazed homicidal lunatic, but that still didn't erase the fact that she had killed five people simply because someone paid her to. She was still dangerous, and he realized that.

He took his food to the living room and sat down on the couch, the warmth from the toaster pastry warming his legs from beneath the paper towel it sat on. How could he even broach a subject like this? 'Hey, Leni, I heard you've been killing people for money. I think you should stop.'

It wasn't exactly tactful, but then again, neither was putting a bullet in someone's face. Lincoln sighed before taking a bite. What if Leni reacted the way she did in his dream? What if her whole personality was just an act? What if she'd killed more than five people, but only started counting recently?

All these and more terrifying questions raced through his mind as he tried to eat. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, he found his appetite waning. The entire day seemed to drag on as he attempted to gather his courage and confront her. Unfortunately, that courage was nowhere to be found. This was an adult matter, and he was just a boy. Would she listen to him? Would she even care? What if she confirmed his worst fears, and told him she liked it?

Before he knew it, the clock struck 8 pm. Leni would be going to bed soon for her 'beauty rest'. If he was going to confront her, he'd have to do it soon.

Lincoln sat on his bed in his pajamas, still lacking the courage or stupidity to confront Leni about what he and Lisa had found. A soft knock at the door drew his attention. Lisa stood in his doorway, ready for bed.

"I take it since you don't have any extra holes in your body, you haven't informed Leni of our discovery?"

Lincoln shot her a glare. "No, I haven't. I'm... I'm scared, okay?" he spat. Where did she get off rushing him to do something she wouldn't even consider?

"Lincoln, bravery is not a lack of fear. It's realizing you are afraid, but pressing forward regardless. Just last week I was mixing volatile chemicals that had a 36 percent chance of creating a toxic cloud that would have poisoned our entire family, and possibly contaminated the neighborhood for the next decade. You bet I was scared, but did I let that stop me?"

Lincoln scratched his head for a moment during her pause. "Wait, you did what?"

"No, I didn't let it stop me!" Lisa continued. "I did it for the greater good," she went on, pacing his carpet as she usually did when delivering a thesis or in this case an inspiring speech. "Just like you, too, must confront Leni for the greater good. Not just for our family's sake, but also for hers. She won't survive on death row, Lincoln. We need her to quit while she's ahead. Besides that, I certainly don't need federal agents sniffing around."

He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Let's just say some of my experiments may have entered a moral grey area that the authorities may not be sympathetic towards."

Lincoln pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. How many lawbreakers did he live with?

"Fine, fine. I'll do it for her." Lincoln hopped off his bed and puffed out his chest before turning to Lisa. "And no more unethical experiments."

"Okay, okay!" Lisa insisted as she watched her brother march out of his room and down the hall.

"Godspeed you brave, brave idiot."