Back at the monitor, Z-29 watched with rapt attention as things seemed to be moving towards a climax. Multiple groups were now converging on a single spot. Lemy was on his way, with the Russian in pursuit. Lyra was headed that way, as were Lina and Gloom. And, at the same time, so was…
Huh. How'd that group get together? Must have happened while Lemy was getting throttled.
Hmmm…why not see what was going on over there? One last detour before the big show. A tap of the console rewound time a bit and focused on the park by Leia's elementary school, as two feeds converged, one group already being in attendance, with the other arriving…
...
"So…she's ok, right homies?"
"She'll be fine." Marsha fanned the still K.O.'d Leia with the paper fan she had pulled out of her bag, as the younger girl rested on her lap. She and Vikki were sitting on the bench near the table they had just been at, so that Leia could lie down until she recovered. "Just a bit over-stimulated."
"Man, that shit was cray. Kid just fainted outta nowhere." Vikki watched the younger girl sleep, the mellow look on her face unabated. "Wonder what spooked her?"
"She said, oblivious." Gwen muttered under her breath as she wrung out a towel, which she had just soaked in the water fountain, before placing it on her tiny boss's forehead.
"Hmm? Whatchu mean, girl?" Vikki gave Gwen a quizzical glance.
Gwen returned the look with a withering glare, but as Vikki was completely unmoved, eventually just sighed and grumbled, "Nothing, nothing…"
Vikki just shrugged before going back to watching Leia snooze. With a sigh, Gwen looked up at her partner and muttered under her breath, "Hey, Marsh. Since she's, y'know, technically 'family', you think we're gonna have to go all nice guy with her, or…"
"I'd assume she'll be one of the special cases like Lemy." Marsha replied as her fanning continued without pause. "Still, we should probably wait until we hear it out of Leia's mouth, just in case."
"Right, right. I hear ya." Gwen sighed as she took a seat to Leia's left. "Well, it's hard to tell with these 'surprise' siblings of Leia's, so waitin' until we get her say-so to mess with her isn't the worst idea. Still…reeeeeaally wanna give this slut some payback for making my shit look weak earlier, y'know?"
"I hear you." Marsha nodded casually at the violent intent coming off her partner in waves. "You'll just have to keep you powder dry for a bit longer. At least until Leia wakes up, or the two kids we're looking for get…"
"THERE you are, Vikki!"
Gwen and Marsha looked up, as new arrivals had shown up at the playground. A pair of twins led the way, kids that were familiar to Marsha, as she had been passing around their photo to her information network. The searched-for Reina and BJ Santiago had arrived, the brother staying a step or two behind his sister as she stomped towards their platinum-haired associate.
"Ah, theeeere you guys are." Vikki's smile widened a bit as she turned towards Reina's voice. "Was wondering where you got off t-gaaagh."
As Vikki was mid-sentence, Reina had walked right up to where she was sitting, grabbed her cheeks and started pulling them with all her might, which, considering her size, probably wasn't the strongest pinch in the world, but, more than likely, got the point across. She yelled, "And just WHAT were you THINKING? I turn my head for one second and you up and disappear! YOU'RE supposed to be the one watching out for us, right?"
"Das…Das righd…" Vikki replied in spite of the pinching. "Ah waz…fo'owin' you, buh…"
"Huuuh? What was that?" Reina kept pulling at Vikki's cheeks as she leaned in further. "You were following us, were you? That can't be right, because if you WERE following us, you wouldn't have disappeared like five minutes after we got off the bus, now would you?"
"Meh…mehbbe nod…" It was getting harder to make out intelligible parts of Vikki's speech, as her little sister kept pinching away.
"R-Reina, I can't…" Bobby tugged at his twin's arm gently as he tried to join the conversation. "I mean, if you keep doing that, Vikki can't answer…"
Reina glanced at Bobby, then fixed her gaze back on Vikki for another moment before relaxing her iron grip…not RELEASING it, but easing up on the pull…before she asked, "So? What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Wehh…you shee…" Vikki's speech was still a bit obstructed as she answered, "I was fo'owing you whe' we got off the bush…but I, uh, shaw this aweshome little bakery, and got a whiff of shome incredible cookiesh, and I kinda…drifted towardsh it."
Reina's stare bored into Vikki. "…you took your eye off your 9-year-old cousins in an unfamiliar town because...you smelled some cookies?"
As usual, the obvious ill-intent pouring out of the person in front of her completely went over Vikki's head. Instead, she nodded, only slightly, as she was still impeded by Reina's pinchers, before saying, "Uh huh, and they were damn good too, buh then I noticed thad you and Bobby didn't fo'ow me, even though I thod I tod you I wash ow ow ow owwwww, Reeeiinaaaa shtoooop…"
Apparently, Reina had heard enough to pass judgment, as she was now pulling on Vikki's cheeks at full strength once again, this time fully ignoring both her and Bobby's pleas for leniency.
A couple feet away, Gwen and Marsha watched the whole spectacle in near silence, until Gwen leaned over to her partner and whispered, "Starting to like this new girl. I dunno why, just something about her style."
"Heh." Marsha chuckled back, as a sly smile curled across Gwen's face. "Can't imagine why. Certainly can't be the way she's stretching the hell out of that idiot's face.
"You know, hadn't been thinking of it, but yeah, I guess that's pretty cool." Gwen followed up Marsha's sarcasm with a bit of her own. Before she and her compatriot could continue their snark-off, however, Gwen noticed there was another pair of familiar faces who had arrived at the park, and pointed them out to Marsha, saying, "Hey, what do you think those two are doing here?"
"Mmm?" Marsha glanced to the edge of the park and saw who Gwen meant. Standing there were Lyle and Marla, shaking their heads at the scene the twins were enacting in public. "Ah…those two? That is odd…I had spoken with Lupa, so I had assumed she would be leading the twins here, if not just pointing them to us and leaving their fates in our hands. Don't know how those two might have gotten roped into this…"
"Might as well just ask, instead of tryin' to guess." Gwen cut to the chase, raising her arm and waving over to Lyle and Marla as she called out, "Hey, you two! You planning on joining us, or are you just gonna gawk at us like a couple of creeps?"
That quickly got the others' attention. Marla fixed a glare on Gwen, looking like she might snap back at her, but Lyle stepped forward before she could, a smile on his face as he replied diplomatically, "Sorry, we were just a bit thrown by that little scene. I was expecting more of a heartfelt reunion and a little less in the way of recriminations."
"Yeah, I get where you're coming from. On the other hand, having dealt with that little pain in the ass for about twenty minutes, I can totally understand the kid's reaction." Gwen smirked, glancing over to soak in a bit more of Vikki's distress, before she turned back to the approaching pair. "So, how'd you two get roped into this horseshit?"
"Bad luck, unfortunately." Lyle shrugged as he walked over to where Gwen and Marsha were sitting. "We were with Lupa…or, rather, being accosted by Lupa…when your call came in, and…."
"She bailed on us and told us to bring the kids to you." Marla, who was trailing about a step behind Lyle, finished his thought.
"That. Right." Lyle pointed back towards Marla, his comic timing on point. "She said she was going to get the boss and it was her problem now, which I'm going to assume is code for her trying to foist the rest of whatever is going on over to Lyra."
"Sounds about right." Marsha nodded. "That tends to be Lupa's modus operandi when presented with something mildly troublesome: try to wriggle out of it. Not to say that isn't the proper course of action for this situation, but still."
"That doesn't shock me in the slightest, really." A wry smile flashed on Lyle's face for a moment. He then glanced down at the still-out-cold Leia and asked her handlers, "What happened to your fearless leader there?"
"Overstimulated, is all." Marsha replied as she glanced down at Leia, still fanning the sleeping girl.
"Yeah, by how much she wants to kill Blondie McStonerTits over there." Gwen followed up Marsha with the blunt truth. "And trust me, I'm right there with her, but annoyingly…seriously, it is just so FUCKING annoying…that's probably not gonna happen."
"Well, that's truly a tragedy that Leia won't be able to commit murder quite yet," Lyle deadpanned. "Anyway, based on what we gathered from the twins on the way here, am I safe in assuming that the twins' relation to this 'sister' of theirs is through their father…"
"Oh, you already know the story. Speeds things up then." Gwen chuckled as she glanced back at Marla. "Hey Marl, guess who's got more siblings? Surprise! It's you. Again."
"Yeah, I know. Fuckin' record time, amirite?" Marla's mocking tone belied the clear venom in her voice as she grabbed Lyle's shirt by the shoulder and pulled him over, pointing at him as she continued, "Barely had time to get used to this guy yet."
"Mmhmm. And I've gotten to experience being shocked by yet more of Lincoln Loud's spawn so soon after BEING the shocking spawn to appear. Pretty quick turnaround for this guy." Lyle pointed to himself, ignoring the fact that he was still in Marla's grasp for a moment before he glanced over to her and muttered, "Also, any chance of you letting me go soon…?"
"Right, right." Marla released Lyle before she continued, "Anyway, yeah, that's the hell that MY life is today. Made even worse by the fact that I'm probably in too deep already, so if I tried to slink off and leave Lyle alone to deal with it, I'll probably catch shit later from Lupa, or Lyra, or, god forbid, Dad. So, yeah."
"Sounds rough. Well, I'd love to say it'll get better for you here, but now you're gonna have to deal with that idiot." Gwen chuckled dryly as she motioned her head towards Vikki, who had finally been released from Reina's grasp and was now getting back to her feet younger girl continued to scold her. "So, have fun with that, because damn, am I glad she's off my plate."
"Gonna be honest, she doesn't seem to be that much trouble…", muttered Lyle as he glanced over towards Vikki and the twins.
"She doesn't, does she? Well, get that idea out of your head because bitch is trouble with a capital Fuck Off." Gwen spat some more venom as she also looked over to said trouble girl. "I swear, if I could get my hands on her without her limbo-ing the fuck away every time, she wouldn't have lasted long enough for the twins to bitch her out."
"Uh huh…really…" Lyle mumbled, sounding rather uninterested in Gwen's urge to kill.
"Or, well, for the girl to, in any case. Poor boy looks like he's watching his two pet dogs fighting and can't decide what to do." Gwen glanced over and chuckled at Bobby's plight as he tried to calm his still-partially raging twin. "Kid's gonna have to toughen up if he's stuck with those two as siblings, right?"
"Uh huh…sure…"
Something about Lyle's response seemed odd to Gwen. She glanced up at him and asked, "'Sure', what? What are you…"
However, as she looked up, she (along with Marsha and Marla, who had noticed his odd replies a bit earlier than Gwen) realized that Lyle's thoughts were elsewhere. Specifically, Lyle's thoughts were probably focused on Vikki, considering his eyes were locked on her. And there was something…off about the look on his face, too. He was oddly focused on…something about her. Gwen and Marsha couldn't quite place it, exchanging a glance as Gwen shrugged her shoulders.
Marla, however, recognized it fairly quickly. The look on her face soured instantly as she grabbed Lyle by the collar again, but significantly less playfully this time, as she growled, "The fuck do you think you're doing right now?"
"Me?" Lyle's voice remained calm, as though he had barely noticed the situation he was currently in, while his eyes remained fixed on the platinum blonde girl a few yards away. "I'm assessing the situation. Analyzing, if you will. Taking in the full scope of…"
"You're fucking eye-raping this chick, ya horny fuck." Marla cut off Lyle's bullshit as she shook him lightly. "That's the same look you have when you start drooling over Gloom with Lina. So cut the crap."
"Ah…I see. Looks like the poker face needs more work." Lyle nodded as he made that mental note. "Still, what would you have me do? Am I not supposed to appreciate what art is set before me? Were I at the Louvre, would you criticize me for being moved by the Mona Lisa's smile?"
"There is so much fucked up there I don't even know where to start." Marla was unable to keep the look of disgust off her face, assuming she was even making the attempt to do so. "For starters, how about you just stop ogling girls in public, ya frigging weirdo. And after that…"
Marla continued to squawk at Lyle, who returned his gaze to Vikki, somehow ignoring his half-sister. Gwen watched them for a bit longer before turning her gaze back to her partner in crime and muttered, "Not gonna lie, after today I'mma need at least a week without dealing with any non-Leia Louds. This has been enough fuckery to last me a while."
"Not disagreeing with you there." Marsha dryly nodded, before she glanced over at Vikki and made a mental note to add that nugget of information about his tastes to her Lyle file later. The secret one she started making based on her observations of the then-newest Loud, in contradiction to their earlier agreement. She figured Lyle was expecting her to break that agreement anyway, so why bother with the pretense.
"Mmm…uuuhh…"
Sounds of stirring snapped their attention back to their little boss, who did indeed seem to be pulling herself out of her shock-induced slumber. Leia squirmed in Marsha's lap for a moment, before her eyes slowly fluttered open. Gwen scooched closer and asked, "Ah, hey Leia. You feeling a little better?"
"Mmph…" Leia groaned as she slowly pushed her body up into a seated position with aid from Marsha, then glanced around at her immediate surroundings as she did so before sighing, "You're both here…and this is still the park. So…that wasn't an awful nightmare, was it?"
"I'm afraid not, Leia." Marsha smirked a bit as she took the still-slightly-damp towel off Leia's forehead. "If it will make you feel better, that girl was in pain for the last few minutes."
"Ah…that does cheer me up a bit, I suppose." A soft smile appeared on Leia's face for a moment. "Were you two the cause…?"
"Nah…figured we'd wait for your go-ahead on that," replied Gwen. "Fortunately, the two kids she was looking for took care of it for us. Or, well, the girl did, anyway. Dunno if the boy's done anything beyond whimper."
"The kids…ah, right. You found them, then?" Leia looked back at Marsha.
"We got a lucky tip right away. They got her a couple minutes ago." Marsha pointed to where the Santiago twins were standing, Reina still barking at Vikki, who had a slight look of penance on her face. "Full disclosure, however…that tip came from Lupa."
"Ugh…that's annoying. Well, not like she expects to get anything back from us in any case, so worst-case scenario is that I'll hear about it from her later." Leia studied the trio for a moment before the sight of Marla and Lyle standing nearby caught her eye. "And they're here because…?"
"They brought the twins. Lupa was with 'em and got 'em to bring the kids over," Gwen explained. "Dunno where she went after, but Lyle thinks she might have gone to get Lyra in on the situation."
"Ugh…great. I'm sure we'll be hearing from Lyra sooner rather than later." Leia sighed again, before glancing back at Lyle and Marla's…animated discussion. She looked at her lackeys and asked, "And what are they arguing about?"
"Ah, he was just being arrested for hor…ah, I mean, ahem…" Gwen started answering absentmindedly before realizing what she was saying in front of Leia when Marsha shot her a sharp look. "He was just…being a dumb boy, is all."
"Really…? Well, it is Marla, so it's not like she needs a reason to start getting argumentative." Leia accepted Gwen's half-answer easily enough. "In any case, I think I've rested long enough…Marsha?"
"Mmhm." Marsha nodded as she stood up, taking Leia's hand and helping the younger girl up as well.
"Thanks…woo, still a little groggy. I can deal, though." Leia shook off some cobwebs as she collected herself. Once she felt back into form, she clapped her hands together and called out, "Okay, everyone, sorry for making you wait for me. We can get this show on the road now."
"Hah?" Leia's declaration caught the attention of both groups in her vicinity, though Reina was the only one to reply. "What show…also, who are you, anyway?"
"Ah, of course. Where are my manners?" Leia turned to where the Santiagos and Vikki were standing and did her well-practiced curtsey. "Leia Loud. Charmed to meet your acquaintance. I've had the…pleasure…of working with your sister Vikki here to help locate the two of you."
"Working with…oh, right." Reina nodded and walked over to Leia's group, dragging Vikki along with her, with Bobby following not far behind. Once they were close enough, Reina bowed her head slightly, saying, "Sorry for the trouble…and for, y'know. Vikki. C'mon, Vik, you apologize too."
Reina tugged on Vikki's shirt, which caught her attention. The old girl shrugged and said, "Kay…uh, sorry for the trouble, homies. And hey, thanks for the hand in findin' these little guys."
"Mmhmm. Of course." Leia could barely find the energy to pithily dismiss Vikki before she turned her attention back to Reina. "So, Miss Vikki here had mentioned a little bit about you two, but not too much…would you mind enlightening us?"
"Huh? Uh, okay…" Reina shrugged. "My name's Reina Santiago, and this is my little brother Bobby Junior. We're from Chicago, and this is our first time in town, but, as you saw, we got a little separated from our sister Vikki when we got here. And, uh…that's kinda it?"
"Uh huh, I see." Leia nodded, putting on a show of pretending to care about the twins' situation. "Well, we're glad that we were able to reunite you and your sister. What brought you three all the way out to Royal Woods today?"
"I mean, it's kinda this whole thing. And a little personal too, but…see, our dad apparently lives in this town, and…" Reina stumbled over her words as she searched for the right way to say what she wanted to.
"Don't worry, you can take your time." Leia's face brightened as she reassured Reina. "And if it's something you'd really rather not say, I'm alright with that."
A few steps away, Lyle, still in Marla's grasp but no longer being threatened and harangued, mumbled under his breath so only his captor could hear him say, "Please tell me you find this sickeningly sympathetic version of Leia as unseemly as I do."
"You don't even know the fucking half of it." Marla's hushed tone matched Lyle's. "This play-nice bullshit is just the setup before she starts sizing up the best way to knife 'em. Maybe if they're lucky she'll just try to make 'em lackeys instead."
Blissfully unaware of this conversation, Bobby Santiago was the one who perked up next, saying, "Um…s-sorry, Reina, I just wanted to ask something. You said your name was Leia Loud, r-right?"
"That's right," confirmed Leia. "That's not a problem, is it?"
"Oh, nono, I-I didn't mean…" Bobby apologized again out of reflex. "It's just…our dad, his name is Lincoln Loud, so…a-and Lyle already told us that he's…kind of our brother, so…u-um…"
"He did, did he…?" Leia rolled her eyes as she looked over to Lyle. "Was it really necessary to start complicating matters for these two so early, Lyle?"
"Oh, it very much wasn't. Sadly, Lupa started slinging around the terms 'brother' and 'sister' rather willy-nilly, so I had to do a bit of damage control." Lyle replied quite matter-of-factly for a boy being held up by the scruff of his neck. "I'm afraid all complaints will need to be directed to her department."
"Of course. Why am I not surprised?" A sigh slipped out of Leia's mouth before she put the happy face back on for the twins. "Well, to answer the question I'm sure you're thinking of, yes, I am related to your dad. I'd…rather not say HOW at the moment, but…"
"Wait, why not?" Reina's eyebrow cocked as she cut Leia off. "You guys have all been super sketch about something that's going on with our dad, and I'm getting kinda tired of it. Can't you just tell us straight-up what's going on?"
"Ah…that's a difficult subject, but…" Leia trailed off, looking unsure of what to say for the first time in a while, but before she was able to scrape together an answer, music started wafting through the air, coming from her pocket – a slow, haunting trumpet line. Leia's hand went to her pocket swiftly, as she apologized, "Oh, sorry about that…ah, I actually have to take this quick. Would you mind waiting just one second?"
Reina glowered at her, before sighing, "Fine, just…make it quick. I really want an answer."
"Of course, thanks for your patience." Leia opened the phone, cutting off the music as the trumpet was fading into a string group. "Hi, Kimberly, how is your assignment going?"
"Hi Miss Leia! I'm good!" An excited voice came through the other side, loud enough that Leia had to jerk her head away from the phone. "I just met up with Miss Lina and my friend Gloom and we got the whooole thing taken care of and now I need to tell you…something. It was…uh…"
"Ah…th-thanks, Kimmy." Leia gingerly brought the phone close to her ear again as she replied to Kimberly. "So, what is the current sit…"
"AHHH RIGHT I remember!" Kimberly's shout again blasted through the line once more, as Leia had to again recoil from the phone. "Miss Lina said that you should meet up with her at this place called, uh…Pages and something. I can't remember, but she said you'd know and also that Lemy boy you had me look for is heading there and boy that girl that's chasing him is super mad and following him so it might be a little dangerous but Lina said you have to meet her there because otherwise someone named Lyra will be mad? And…I think that's all!"
Leia eyed the phone warily for a moment, waiting to see if Kimberly was really done or not, before slowly bring it back to her ear and replying, "Well…thank you, Kimmy for that very…full report. So…just to confirm, I'm to go to Pages and Pillows, then?"
"Uhhh…yeah! I think so. Yeah, pretty sure that's what Miss Lina called it. Maybe." Kimberly's response was a bit reined in. Just a bit, though. "Anyway, should I head back to the park now and meet up with you guys, or…"
"Nope, you're all set. You can head on home, Kimberly." Leia answered before Kimberly could finish. "Thanks for all your help today."
"Aye aye, sir!" The cheer…and volume…returned to Kimberly's side of the call. "Then I'll check in with you tomorrow. Bye, Miss Leia!"
"Goodbye, dear." Leia clicked her phone, before letting out a deep sigh of exhaustion. She loved that girl, but was more than aware that just talking to her could be exhausting at times. Turning to Gwen and Marsha, she called out, "I assume you caught most of that?"
"Yeah, and so did people the next two towns over." Gwen chuckled. "Girl can project, I'll give her that."
"She certainly can, though a bit of volume control could go a long way." Leia sighed. "I'm going to need to head over to P&P. Lyra's on the case, and considering the situation, it would probably be wise to at least appear concerned for Lemy's condition. You girls can go home if you'd like."
"What, and miss him getting his shit pushed in? Not a chance." Gwen got up and dusted herself off. Marsha rolled her eyes, looking less excited for that prospect than her running buddy, but apparently decided to join in as well as she got up.
"Hey…hey! Wait a minute!" Reina interjected. "What happened to explaining what's going on with…"
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten, dear." Leia, smiled and motioned for Reina to follow her as she and her clique started walking out of the park. "However, I am needed elsewhere, so we'll have to do a walk-and-talk. That's fine, isn't it?"
"Walk and…augh, fine!" Reina stomped off in pursuit, Bobby and Vikki trailing closely behind her.
Lyle and Marla watched the group start to leave, before the boy said, "That bit with Lemy probably has to do with the whole 'being chased by a giant Russian' routine that Lupa mentioned, doesn't it?"
"Gee, ya think?" Marla's response dripped with sarcasm. "No shit."
"While the possibility still exists that this is all an incredibly elaborate prank by Lupa…and I mean, like, A+ for effort if it is…it would probably be a good idea to follow along and make sure that he's doing okay."
"Yeeep." Marla nodded. "Can't argue with that."
A beat passed before Lyle turned to his half-sister and said, "So, I'm gonna need you to let me go if I'm gonna catch up with them. Any plans on doing that?"
Marla didn't reply right away. She did, in fact, still have Lyle by the scruff of his neck, having declined to relinquish her grip throughout Leia's awakening and taking control of the group in the park. She was now watching said group go, and was apparently debating with herself whether to follow or not.
"Yeah…just to reiterate, I don't know what the hell 'Pages and Pillows' is, other than an absolutely ridiculous name for a place, and I don't know how to get there myself." Lyle continued to make his please-put-me-down case. "Either I need to follow them, or you'll need to tell me or show me. So if you could decide on one of those options…?"
Marla stared at the group, following them with her eyes for a moment longer before she finally looked back at Lyle and said, "Y'know, the longer I stay involved in this shit, the more likely it is I'll have to deal with Lacy today."
"Really now." Lyle's eyes narrowed as his sarcasm now came to fore. "Truly, the devil himself could not have crafted a crueler fate."
Marla clicked her tongue, but didn't reply right away. Another moment passed before she finally let go of Lyle's shirt and started following the group led by Leia. "Just so you know, I'm just going to make sure you don't fuckin' perv out on that trash blondie, alright? That's all."