"Jeez…" A bemused Z-29 mumbled as she watched Lyra leave the school and make her way into town. She minimized the feed again, having it join the others she had been monitoring, which at this point was nearing double figures. "…this sure was a whole thing, wasn't it?"
The alternate Lulu scanned the feeds for a moment, reviewing each one until she finally muttered, "Well, I guess I should probably check and make sure Lemy made out okay…". A few more taps on the console, and one of the feeds enlarged, projecting an image of Lemy running down an alley…
...
Lemy zipped around the corner, pressing himself against the wall as he listened for any sounds of pursuit. His mad dashing had brought him closer to the center of town, so the sounds of busy traffic and some chatter from passersby on the sidewalk was filtering in. Still, as far as he could tell, he couldn't hear the girl who had been chasing him, so…maybe he was in the clear?
He held his position up against the wall for a moment longer, just in case, but eventually exhaled and leaned back against the wall. He took a few deep breaths as he rested, muttering, "Jeez, that crazy girl was committed. Shit, dad, what'd you do to piss her off so much…?"
The obvious answer popped up in Lemy's head for a second, before he shook it off. "Nah, she's not his type. Unless she's, like, a distant cousin or something. That'd probably get him into her, the horny fuck. Or she could…nah. At least, I don't remember any of Dad's flings who sounded like they hailed from Mother Russia…"
Lemy sighed, pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "Almost 4 already? Shit, that psycho was chasing me for like an hour and a half? Goddamn."
Lemy took another deep breath before standing up straight again. "Better head home. If I don't get back before Lyra, she's gonna absolutely lay into me. Guess I better make sure the girls are okay, too, but since that bitch kept coming after me, I'm guessing they're probably…"
"Oh yes…they are fine. Could not chase both of you, after all."
Before Lemy could look for where this voice came from, an arm slammed against the wall above his head. Lemy let out a deep sigh as he looked up and asked, "Seriously? We're still doing this?"
The Russian girl glared down at him as she walked into his field of vision, her arm up against the wall right above him. "Да, we are. You still have not answered question."
"Uh, no, I answered you. Told you I didn't know anything, and I still don't know anything." Lemy replied with fast talking as he slowly edged away from the girl's arm. "See, I told you before, this is all just one crazy big misunderstanding, and once you take a sec to think about it you'll see…"
"Дурь несусветная! Enough of your lies!" The Russian barked out as she slammed her arm against the wall again for emphasis. "You know, and will tell me: where is Lincoln…"
She leaned forward in an attempt to intimidate Lemy a bit more, but as soon as she did so Lemy moved in response, dropping down and sliding through her legs. As soon as he was through, he darted out towards the street, yelling, "Today is the ONLY day that I'll ever be happy I'm short!"
"Gah…Ублюдок!" The Russian girl tried to grab him, but he was already out of her reach before she could move. She gave a growl as she turned to follow him once again, yelling, "Вернуться сюда!"
The two ran down the street, getting a few cross looks from passersby as they dashed past them. Meanwhile, just a few blocks behind them, a pair of girls poked their heads out from the sign they had been hiding behind as they gauged the situation. After watching the two runners go for a bit, the elegantly-dressed gothic girl turned to her compatriot and asked, "So, what's your plan to tell Lemy where to go, Lina?"
"Yeah, still kinda working on that, Gloom." Lina sighed as she straightened up. "I thought I had one, and then Russian Red over there caught up to Lemy before I could even get close. That girl is determined, I'll give her that."
"So what do we do then, Lina?" Gloom asked with a teary look on her face. "That girl really is threatening to hurt Lemy! We have to hurry and tell him to get to P and P!"
"Yes, Gloom, I know what the situation is, thank you." Lina gently admonished her sister as she rubbed her temples. Gloom was right, of course, but that didn't mean she was being helpful. Lemy was too caught up in his running to notice any of the texts Lina had sent him, so she had to get Lina's instructions to him face to face. Which, of course, meant finding a way around the Russian.
And this was the tricky part: the whole reason Lemy was being chased by her was because he acted as bait so the girls could get away. So if Lina got close to Lemy and, in doing so, drew the Russian's attention onto her, Lemy's work would be wasted. And then he'd be pissed at her. And also she might get chased, cornered and/or beat up by a giant Russian girl, and not even one of those would be in the sexy way. So, whatever she did to alert Lemy of the plan, she had to do so in a way that would avoid the Russian changing her target.
Now then, with all that in consideration, how was she gonna…
"Oh! Hi, Kimmy!" Gloom broke up Lina's thought process by suddenly calling out to someone.
Lina glanced up, and saw Gloom waving to a girl on the street with light brown skin and very poofy hair. The girl glanced back at Gloom before smiling and waving back, saying, "Hi Gloom! What are you doing out here?"
"I'm on a mission!" Gloom replied nonchalantly. "I'm trying to save my cousin from a big scary girl!"
"Oh, that sounds cool! I'm on a mission too!" The other girl kept up the conversation like they were discussing the weather. "I'm supposed to track someone down!"
"Do you need any help?" Asked Gloom. "Maybe we could help you find…"
"Gloom. Gloooooom. We're focusing now, right?" Lina rolled her eyes as she glanced at her sister. "And who is this little spy you're sharing mission info with?"
"Oh, this is Kimberly! She's in my class for math and social studies." Gloom's cheerfulness didn't miss a beat as she introduced the other girl.
"Yeah, we're in a group together in math class." Kimberly had a similarly cheerful look on her face as she walked over to Gloom. "Ms. Walker said we might learn better if we helped each other out as math buds!"
And with that, Gloom and Kimberly clapped their hands, did a high five, bumped their hips together, and gave a v for victory as they called out, "Math Buds!", in a routine that had clearly been rehearsed more than a few times.
There were a few thoughts going through Lina's head here. The first being, "Oh god, there's two of them." The second, "Wait, Gloom's terrible at math, so if they're grouped together…" Following that, "That hip bump was kinda sexy, but then also very cute and innocent, which actually kind of spins it around the whole way and makes it INCREDIBLY sexy." And after that…
"Wait up…Kimberly, right?" Lina asked the newcomer. "You said you were asked to track down a boy? Who asked you to do that?"
"Oh, you mean Miss Leia?" Kimberly immediately outed the name of her employer(?) without a thought. "She's the leader of my scout group. She asked me if I could find a cousin of hers. Oh, hey Gloom, maybe he's your cousin too?"
"Yes, he is, and he's my cousin as well. I'm the one who asked Leia to help me find him, so I'm betting we have the same mission." Lina rubbed her temples again, now that she knew how much a 'favor' from Leia would actually get her. Still, at least it was something. "So, Kimberly, tell me, what exactly did Leia ask you to do?"
"She asked me…hang on, let me think." Kimberly rubbed her chin as she wracked her brain for a moment. "She told me to find out where her cousin…Limey? I had to find out where he is. But…she also said not to get too close, because he was…in trouble? And then I had to call Leia back once I found him, and…I think that was it."
"Right. Got it." Yeah, Lina was gonna have to have a chat with Leia about the meaning of the word "help" when this was all said and done. "So, Kimberly, do you have any skills we can work with? Karate? Espionage? Anything like that?"
"Um…I can run pretty fast?" Kimberly shrugged. "I don't really have cool skills like Miss Gwen and Miss Marsha…"
"Running, huh. Okay, I think I can work with that." Lina mumbled under her breath as a plan started coming together in her mind. Nodding to herself, she grabbed Gloom and Kimberly by the hands and started pulling them down the street, in the direction Lemy and the Russian had just taken off. "Alright girls, let's go save our boy!"
...
Their boy, further on up the road, was finally nearing the end of his endurance. Lemy wasn't a sprinter, a cross-country athlete, or really a runner of any kind. He was just a really stubborn kid, and that stubbornness had allowed him to ignore the exhaustion in his legs for a while now, but even that was wearing thin. It was closing time at the Last Chance Saloon, and he had to find a way to get this chick off his trail now, before his legs gave out.
He turned a corner, blocking the girl from his sight, and saw an alley before the next turn. Instinctively, he ducked into the alley, pressed himself against the wall again, and did everything to silence his heavy breathing and keep himself dead quiet. He listened for the girl, hearing her dash past the alley before turning the corner, going down the street on the other side of the buildings.
Lemy stayed quiet for another moment, just to be sure, before exhaling and trying to get the air back into his lungs. "Dammit...well, guess I'm…getting my return on those…trainings with Aunt Lynn…today."
He sucked wind for about a minute, slumping to the ground as he got off his aching feet. Absentmindedly, he checked his phone for the time again. Quarter past 4. Yeah, he was getting chewed the hell out today, no doubt about that. Didn't even care at this point. He had an alibi and two witnesses who could back him up. Lyra was a bitch, but not a total asshole. Sure, she'd question the hell out of him with his "I was being chased by a giant Russian" tale, but he could…
"Found you, маленький кролик."
Goddammit, he took his eye off the ball again.
Sighing, he glanced up at the Russian, who was glaring down at him, barely looking like she had broken a sweat. His breathing still labored, he managed to grumble out, "How did…"
Before he could get the rest of the sentence out, the Russian motioned behind her, to the other end of the alley, which was…not as far as Lemy would have liked.
"…just came around…the other side, huh…" Lemy managed to get those few words out as he shook his head. This one was on him, thinking that she'd blast past him and not think to double back. He started staggering to his feet, muttering, "Alright, so what do we…"
He immediately tried to dash out of the alley, but this time his legs weren't fast enough. The Russian grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and effortlessly lifted him off the ground. His legs kicked in the air, in hopes that maybe he could shake loose, but she crushed that in an instance by shoving him up against the wall, leaning in close and growling, "No more games now. Tell me, where is the man known as Lincoln Loud?"
"Guh…" A grimace curled across Lemy's face as he struggled against her grip. "Keep telling you…I don't…"
"Enough pretending. You know him." The Russian shook Lemy pressing him tighter against the wall. "Now answer! Where is Lincoln Loud?"
"Mrgh…gah…" Lemy's continuing struggles were proving useless, as he was barely straining her grip, and he was too tired to try a counter attack. Finally, he managed to mutter, "What the hell…is the deal with…you and him…?"
"He has shamed my family. My mother. And he will pay for this." The Russian's stare was cold as her eyes bored into Lemy. "Where. Is. He? Tell me, or I will…"
"Iiiiiincoming! Move move move move MOOOOVE!"
A sudden shout from the end of the alley, the one the Russian had tracked Lemy down from, drew her attention from her captive. Coming in from the street were two girls on a skateboard, the one in front, with the blue stripe in her hair, was holding two backpacks in front of her like a shield as she kicked at the ground to pick up speed. The other one, wearing an insane gothic getup of some kind, was hugging the shield-bearer's back tightly as she held on for dear life.
"What is…черт!" The Russian girl shouted as the skateboarding duo speeded in towards her location. The alley was too small for her to maneuver out of the way…at least, if she was to keep Lemy in her grip. But without any time to consider a better course of action, she released the boy from her grip and pushed herself against the opposite wall, managing to avoid the battering skateboard-ram as Lemy fell to the ground with a thud.
And in the brief instance between her letting Lemy go and the girls whizzing by, a hand reached out from around the near corner, grabbed Lemy, and pulled him up off the ground and out of the alley.
The events were all bewilderingly fast, and the Russian was left dumbfounded for a moment until she gathered herself, rushing out of the alley to assess the situation. The skateboarding duo, which she was now realizing were the two girls who had been with Lemy at the school, had turned the corner and were now skating down the street at a fairly rapid clip. In the opposite direction, Lemy was being pulled away from the scene by a new girl the Russian hadn't seen before, with darker skin and wearing a neat uniform.
The Russian wasted a moment looking back and forth at the two groups, unsure of who to pursue, before finally gritting her teeth and going after Lemy once more.
...
"She's looking…wait…yep, she's going after Lemy again!" Gloom was glancing back at the Russian and reporting to the mastermind of her scheme. "It worked, Lina!"
"Alright, yeah!" Lina gave a celebratory cheer. "Okay then, we're gonna head straight to P and P to meet with the Boss and wait for Lemy there!"
"Are you sure he'll be ok?" Gloom pressed up closer to Lina. "Shouldn't we follow him some more?"
"If we get too close, the Russian'll come for us. And she won't fall for this trick again." Lina replied, doing her best to ignore the great feeling of Gloom's boobs pressing against her back until the situation was resolved. "We'll have to trust Lemy to get there safe!"
...
"What is…who are you…supposed to be?" Lemy shouted in between breaths at the girl pulling him by the arm.
"Oh, hi Lemy! My name's Kimberly! I'm in the same scout troop as your cousin Leia!" Kimberly replied, her voice showing no exhaustion despite how they were dashing down the road. "I think we met a while back, at the last scout meeting, but I didn't introduce myself to you back then, but anyway, it's nice to meet you again!"
"What…you're with Leia?" This answer only begged further questions, but Lemy pushed most of those out of his mind so he could stay on topic. "Where are you taking me?"
"Just away from that big redhead girl!" Kimberly replied quickly enough. "Leia told me not to get too close, so Lina just had me get you away from her for a minute to…oh, right! I'm supposed to tell you to go somewhere so you'll be safe from her!"
"Really?" Lemy shot Kimberly an unsure look. "And where the hell is that supposed to be?"
"Some place called…hang on, I'm trying to remember. Lina said you'd know it…" Kimberly's pace didn't slow for a second as the little hamster wheel in her brain slowly spun. "I think it was Pages and…something else with P…"
"…Pillows?" Lemy filled in the blank with the only possible answer. "She wants me to go to Pages and Pillows?! Are you for real right now?"
"Oh, yeah, that's the one!" Kimberly nodded, apparently missing the fear in Lemy's voice. "Apparently your sister told you she can help you out if you go there!"
"My sister…?" That left quite a few options, but considering Lemy didn't recognize this girl, he was guessing she wasn't "in the know" yet. Which meant, to her, he only had one sister. These were Lyra's instructions.
"Okay Lemy, I need to go report back to Leia now!" Kimberly called back to Lemy, breaking his train of thought. "I'll see you later! Bye!"
Before Lemy could muster a reply, Kimberly had let go of his arm and started accelerating, blazing past the feeble pace Lemy could keep with his tired legs. She quickly darted down he road, turned the corner, and bam, she was gone.
Lemy kept running on instinct, the memory of being hoisted up still fresh in his mind. He glanced behind him, and sure enough, there was the redheaded terminator, keeping pace with him and chasing him down once again.
Welp. He was probably dying today then. At least now he had some options so he could pick how he wanted to die.
His tired legs kept his mind on running, as that rest he had in the alley—before getting hoisted up—was enough to let him get going again, but it wasn't going to last long. He had to make a call.
Lemy looked around to get his bearings. North Street…getting close to the turn to Packard. Pages and Pillows wasn't too far from here. His legs could make it. If that was where he wanted to die, instead of wherever the Russian caught him.
Goddammit Lyra…now? Really, of all times, she was gonna play him this way now?
"Ahhhgh…fuck it!" Lemy turned the corner, now heading down Packard Street, towards his new destination. As always, the Russian hounded after him, rounding the corner as she continued in hot pursuit.