...

…A new window opened, joining the crowd of video feeds already clogging up the monitor Z-29 was fixed on. Z-29 kept her eyes on it for a moment as she followed the other feeds. But, after a moment, she decided to enlarge this new feed and enable sound. She was interested to see how they played into all this…

...

"Feeling any better, Lori?"

"I'm fine, Leni…it's just a headache," Lori Loud reassured her sister as she rubbed her temples. They were in her car, driving back to Royal Woods after work, for Lulu's birthday celebration. Though, Lori's throbbing head dampened any sense of celebration, but hey, she could power through it. "I took some ibuprofen, just need to sit back and let it kick in."

"I can't believe that vendor kept you on the call for an extra half hour," Their sister Lola called out her dissatisfaction from the front seat. "What an absolute waste of time! I would have just hung up on him, if I were in your shoes."

"Duly noted. And, trust me, I thought about it a few times when he kept deflecting my attempts to end the call." Lori sighed as she continued massaging her temples. "Anyway, thanks for agreeing to drive, Lola. You're a lifesaver."

"I still don't get why Lola had to drive. I could have driven us back." Leni glanced at her sisters with a bit of a pout.

"'Could' and 'should' are very different things, Leni." Lori replied dryly.

"Aw, come on, Lori!" Leni's pout intensified into a full-blown protest. "I've gotten much better at driving over the last few years!"

"Oh, I'm sure you have, Leni. In the same sense that one is a much larger number than zero." Lola's response matched Lori's sarcasm.

"Yeah! Wait…" The sarcasm flew over Leni's head for a minute, though she seemed to be trying to belatedly catch it.

Before she could, though, there was a ring from Lola's cell phone in the cup holder. "Aw dang…Leni, can you answer that and put it on speaker?"

"Oh, sure!" Leni grabbed the cell and quickly opened up the call. "Oh, it's Lana! Hi, Lana!"

"Uh, hey Leni…Lola's there, right?" Their sister's confusion was evident at the different voice.

"I'm here, Lana. I'm driving, though, so Leni put us on speaker," Lola responded as her eyes remained on the road. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much, nooot muuuch…" Lana sounded a bit…off, in the way that Lola, being her twin, could tell was the 'I'm trying to hide something right now' voice. "So, anyway, how, uh…how far out are you guys right now? Like, what's your ETA looking like?"

"Maybe another…" Lola glanced around for road signs. "…I dunno, forty minutes or so? Maybe more if we hit traffic."

"Forty…ok right," Lana replied, again sounding a bit odd. Her voice got quieter, like she had pulled the phone away for a second to call out, "Hey Linc, probably another forty!"

That last bit of oddness caught Lori's attention, who stopped rubbing her temples for a moment to lean forward and ask, "Lana, it's Lori. Is something wrong there?"

"Wrong? No no, nothing like that!" Lana quickly responded with a denial. "It's just, whew, so many kids here, ya know? A little hard to keep 'em under wraps, so we could use all the hands we can get! Anyway, I should…get back to helping them! So yeah, bye! See you in a bit!"

The call ended, and there was a moment of silence in the car…well, aside from Leni saying, "Bye Lana!", to the already disconnected line.

"Hah…Lola?" Lori called out as she started to rummage through her purse on the seat between her and Leni. "Can you get us there in a half hour?"

"Within the speed limit? Probably not," Lola replied, with a smirk. "Of course, if you're willing to overlook a few things, then…"

"Oh, by all means, speed away, Lola." Lori pulled out her bottle of ibuprofen, poured out a pill…no, two pills, and downed them quickly. "Let's just get there quick, ok?"

...

Glossing over a slight bit of vehicular insanity…whew, just WATCHING this made Z-29 a bit queasy…

...

"Aaand we're here!" Lola turned and smiled at her sisters as soon as the car had come to a complete stop. "So, how'd I do, girls?"

"Oh…great job, Lola!" Leni gave her a thumbs up, although she was swaying quite a bit. "Where is…'here' again?"

"We're home, Leni." Lori sighed and got out of the car. They had, indeed, arrived at the grand Loud residence, after only twenty-nine minutes of motivated-Lola-driving. Lori's attention went to the front porch, where a familiar face had perched itself.

Marla was sitting there, hands crossed with a typical sourpuss expression on her face. She glanced at her aunts walking in, waving weakly as she welcomed them, "Hey, Aunt Lori, Aunt Lola, Aunt Leni…er, you okay, Aunt Leni?"

"Oh, sure, Mar…la?" Leni continued to sway as she slowly got out of the car. "Just waiting for things to stop spinning a bit."

"Uh huh…" Marla raised her eyebrow, before shrugging and going, "Welp, hi and bye, I guess…I'm waiting for my mom to pick me up. I've said hi to everyone, so I'm done."

"Done already?" Lori raised her eyebrow. "Have you been here for a while?"

"Well…eh, you'll see." Marla sighed as she put her head down. "Let's just say I'm well and truly familied-out, and probably will be for a while."

That didn't really answer any questions Lori had asked or wanted to ask, but Marla's body language was pretty clear, she was not in an answering mood this evening. With a shrug, Lori just replied, "Alright then, I can understand where you're coming from. It was good to see you, Marla." With that, she walked past her niece up the step and into the house, her sisters following behind, though Leni stopped for a moment to give Marla a big glomp of a hug.

It didn't take long for them to realize something of what Marla was talking about. As she scanned the house, Lola muttered, "Ah…so this is what Lana meant…"

Clumps of kids were all over the first-floor living room. In one corner, drawing their attention thanks to the noise they were making, was the tall redheaded girl, who was growling loudly as she struggled to escape the grapple she was in. "Let…go! Проклятье!"

"Uh…hang on." The one grappling her, Lacy, gave a concerned look to the bespectacled girl sitting next to her. "Pan, she keeps asking me to let go. Are you sure I need to hang on to her?"

"Yeah, you can ignore her, Lace. Sure, she's being all grouchy about it, but I'm telling you, what this girl needs more than anything is a nice, strong hug. So, you keep hugging away, ok?" Panther Pain grinned as she rubbed her arms. "At least until I can rest my arms a bit…hanging onto this girl ain't that easy…"

"Huh…well, ok!" Panther's last mumblings sailed over Lacy's head as she 'hugged' Laika even tighter. "Here you go Miss Laika! I hope this makes you feel better!"

"It does no…rrgh!" Laika's complaints were quashed by the tightening squeeze. "Gah…Glasses woman, you will pay for…argh! Where is the little one getting this…power from…?!"

Not too far from the struggling Russian, four girls were chatting away on the couch. Lupa was leaned back, with a smirk on her face, as she asked, "So wait, what the hell were you planning on doing with like a hundred bottles of soda?"

"Well, for one, didn't know they were full. I thought they were empties." Terry replied with a shrug. "And I was GONNA stack them up and kickflip over them after a grind down the rail! It was gonna be the big finish for my new vid!"

"I mean, even if we ignore the whole 'maybe you should have checked if they were empties' part, I dunno if that's that big a trick, Terr." Lina was sitting on the arm of the couch as she replied skeptically. "I mean, there's tons of look-at-me-jump-over-this-crap videos out there. I see some kid try something like that at the skate park basically every other week."

"Yeah, maybe, but not with a sweet rail like the one we got between the football field and the school building," Terry replied. "Trust me, a grind down this big ass rail, hitting every corner and then finishing up with a trick over a pile of bottles? It's gonna be the tightest shit."

"It sure does sound like the tightest shit, homie." Leaning on the other arm of the couch was Vikki, her face looking mellow as ever, as she listened to Terry's description. "Makes me wish I could skate for like five seconds before fallin' flat on my white ass. You gotta let me be there to watch when you try that shit, homegirl."

"Hell yeah, I'm down." Terry smiled as she offered Vikki her fist, getting a solid bump back. "See, girls? She gets me. You want in when I do it?"

"Watch you try something that can fail spectacularly in like fourteen different ways? I'm always up for something like that." Lupa grinned at Terry. "Just let me know when I need to ditch class and I'll find my way there."

"Hard pass from me. Like I said, I see enough that I'm bored of it." Lina waved her hand. "Sides, didn't you get in deep shit for what happened to Sonnette today?"

"…ah. Riiiight…" Terry had clearly forgotten said deep shit. "So…maybe in a couple weeks then? And, uh…any chance one of you girls could do camerawork? I feel Sonnette's not gonna be that interested in helping me next time."

Speaking of Sonnette, she was in the dining room, opposite the living room where those groups had gathered. Sitting next to her was Liby, who seemed to be reading a book with her. "Seemed to be", mind you, because every now and then they'd lift their eyes from the book they were allegedly reading to look over to the other side of the table.

On that side sat Leia and the pair of twins. Reina seemed quite shaken, while Bobby kept looking at her, worried, while trying to keep up with Leia, who was giving them a sales pitch of sorts. "…and we're all over the city, having expanded our operation quite a bit over the last year or so since…well, not to brag, but since I took over the operation from previous management. And as you've no doubt seen, we're efficient, quick to respond, and able to roll with any situation that comes up that we must deal with. It's really a great operation we've got, don't you think?"

"Oh, uh…" Bobby glanced at Reina again, who still didn't seem like she was in the mood for talking, before he answered, "Yeah, it, uh, seems great…um, just to be sure. What you guys do is sell cookies, right?"

"That's correct. Cookie sales are our primary source of income." Leia nodded back to Bobby. "Now, granted, we do have a few secondary income streams, but they're…well, a bit more private than our cookie operation, so I try not to bring them up too much. Proprietary information, you understand."

"Pfft." Reina still looked upset, but finally joined the conversation, instead of being talked to. "And you're bringing this up why…?"

"Why, because I'd love to bring you aboard our enterprise, Miss Santiago!" Leia put on the top-tier smile for the hard sell. "Now, I know we've just met, but I can tell right away you've got just what we're looking for. Your style, the way you carry yourself, that never-back-down attitude…I'm sure you'd fit right in."

"Oh really? Yeah, no thanks." Reina turned away from Leia as she propped her head up with her arm. "Not gonna join anything that's all girls, anyway. Bobby can't come along if I do."

"Ah, I see…" Leia shot Bobby a glance, assessing him for a bit. "Well, you are right, this is a ladies-only outfit, but I'm sure I could find some way for Bobby to join in, if only unofficially…rules like these aren't hard for me to get around, you see."

Back on the other end of the table, Sonnette's eyes had, again, strayed from the book she was 'reading' with Liby to Leia and the twins, as she muttered, "このやくざ子…"

"本当に.本当," Liby replied in Japanese as she nodded. "We're lucky the Mom Squad told Numbers Two and Three to head home, otherwise she'd really but putting the press on them…"

Back on the step, Lori sighed and said, "Lola. Could you please distract your daughter? We should probably cut in before she literally recruits those two against their will."

"Yeah, okay." Lola started walking to the dining room to join her daughter. "Hello dear! And what have we been up to today?"

"Ah…Mommy!" Whatever sales pitch Leia had been planning faded from her head immediately as she quickly got up and hugged her mother tightly. "Welcome home! Come on, sit with me, I want to introduce my new friends to you!"

Lori grinned at how easily distracted Leia was when Lola was around. That was one problem solved, in any case. "Alright now, Leni…Leni?"

"Hmmm…hang on…" Leni was staring at the tall redhead still struggling against Lacy's bearhug. "I'm sure I've seen this girl before…"

"You have, Leni." Lori sighed as she shook her head. "That's your friend Becky's girl, isn't it?"

There was a moment's silence as the little hamster in Leni's head spun its wheel, until Leni finally said, "O-M-Gosh, you're right! Aw, little Laika's gotten so big!"

"Right, Laika…can't believe she named her that…" Lori muttered before turning to Leni and asking, "Anyway, Leni, could you maybe get in touch with Becky and…"

"Liena!" Before Lori could finish her request, Leni managed to get distracted again, this time by the appearance of her daughter out of the kitchen, carrying a large bowl of pasta. She quickly made her way to Liena and called out, "Hi, honey! I'm home!"

"Mama!" Liena quickly put the pasta down on the table just in time before her mother came in with a big hug. "You're just in time! Most of the food is almost done, so we'll be having dinner soon."

"Oh, that sounds great! Here, I'll come help you bring the food to the table!" With that, Leni and Liena quickly made their way back into the kitchen.

The suddenly alone Lori sighed, though the house was loud enough that no one but her heard it this time. "Well, Leni was about as much help as ever…where is everyone else…"

"Eight…Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen…"

Lori looked over to the sound of someone counting. Lisa had walked out of the kitchen to the dining room with a clipboard, making a quick note on the page as she tallied off numbers. Lori walked towards her sister and said, "Finally, Lisa, where is…"

"Abububut! No interrupting, please!" Lisa shushed her oldest sister before quickly resuming her count, walking over and glancing around the living room. "Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…eighteen, nineteen, twenty…ah, and Marla on the porch makes twenty-one. That's all of them, then."

"…all of them?" Lori arched her eyebrow. "We have…"

"Yes, all twenty-one of Lincoln's biological children are here in the house…well, at least until Marla gets picked up." Lisa glanced at her notepad, before a light chuckle escaped her lips. "I always find it funny how our Ace Savvy-obsessed brother managed to get his progeny to equal the top score in blackjack."

"Mhmm…well, now I get why Lana was anxious for us to get home…" Lori rubbed her temples. "Lisa, what's going on?"

"It would appear that the young Santiago twins arrived in town via bus along with Vikki. As for Laika, she arrived by plane a few days ago, but was keeping a low profile for some reason." Lisa glanced at the notes she had on her clipboard. "They all had run-ins with their siblings around town, and…"

"Not what I mean." The ibuprofen was clearly not going to be enough to combat Lori's headache today. "WHY are they all here?"

"I don't know that. I can't read their minds, after all." Lisa shrugged. "Well, I mean, theoretically I could, but you went and insisted I strip the telepathic monitoring from my observation drones, but if you…"

"No! No. No mind-reading, Lisa," Lori admonished her sister. "Where…where's everyone else?"

"In the backyard. Lynn is manning the grill, while the rest of us are discussing the current situation, while tagging in and out and making sure the situation in here doesn't get…combustible." Lisa thought for a moment, before adding, "Aside from Lincoln. He's watching Lulu and Lizy in the guest room. And Gloom, too, I suppose, though she should theoretically take less monitoring than the young girls."

"Hah…okay. Tell the others I'll be with them in a minute. I'm just going to take care of a couple things quick." With a shake of her head, Lori walked away from Lisa, heading towards the guest room. It was just off to the side of the living room, so it was the fastest walk. The door was shut, so Lori knocked, before announcing, "I'm coming in, Lincoln."

She opened the door and stepped into the guest room. It was one of the largest bedrooms in the house and was most often used by her parents whenever they flew up from Florida. But since it went unused more often than not, it also served as a playroom for the younger kids whenever they needed a more private space. As Lisa had mentioned, the children currently using the room were Gloom, Lizy, and Lulu, all being watched by their father, from the bed. Lizy was drawing with crayons, which Lulu was attempting to do as well, with Gloom helping her here and there.

Gloom was the first one to react to Lori's arrival, waving to her and saying, "Hi, Aunt Lori! It's good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Gloom. And you too, Lizy." Lori ruffled the girls' hair. "And of course, we can't forget the birthday girl! Are you having a good birthday, Lulu?"

"Brrrah!" Baby mumbles were the only response as Lulu glanced up at her for a moment before returning to her art.

"I'll take that as a yes." Lori chuckled as she looked at the older girls. "Has she been having fun?"

"Yeah! We've had lots of fun!" Lizy beamed at Lori mid-drawing. "She wanted to help me draw, so we've been coloring for the last few minutes and she's super good at it!"

"Sounds like fun. Well, don't let me interrupt you for too long, girls." Lori stood up and backed away, turning to her brother. "How about you, Lincoln? Have you been having fun today?"

"Heh…well…" Lincoln let out a pained laugh, looking rather tired. "I don't know if I'd really call it 'fun', exactly…"

"I can only imagine." Lori crossed her arms. "So? Could you explain what exactly is going on, Lincoln?"

"I really wish I could, Lori." Lincoln sighed and laid back on the bed. "I was wondering why most of the kids were running late, then Lupa came home with Liby's group from the high school, and gave me some cryptic comment, like…uh, actually, not something to repeat around impressionable ears. But anyway, a while later the rest all came back in one big group, and they brought…guests."

"Mmhmm. I know the ones you're talking about." Lori sat on the bed next to her brother. "Do we know why they're here?"

"We called Nikki…her daughter left her a note that she was taking the twins 'on a field trip', to Royal Woods, apparently. She's coming to pick them up," Lincoln explained. "As for Laika, well…"

"GRRAAH! Отпусти меня!" A sudden shout in Russian came bursting in through the open door. "I must find Lincoln Loud and end his life! Do not get in…gah! Ублюдки!"

Laika continued to shout, but Lori went to the door and closed it, muffling the sound. With a shake of her head, she looked back to Lincoln and said, "I think I see the problem there. Have you reached out to Becky?"

"I would, but we don't have her number. Or any other contact info, really." Lincoln sat back up. "I mean, officially. Lisa's assured me she could get in touch with her if we needed to, but her methods are…well, let's just say we figured it'd be easier for everyone if Leni could call Becky for us."

"Understood. Leni's catching up with Liena first, but we can check with her after she's had her mommy-daughter time." Lori nodded back to Lincoln. "In any case, I have a couple more things to check up on. Are you going to help Lisa keep an eye on the rest of the kids, or…?"

"Yeah, I…" Lincoln started a statement, but hesitated. After a moment, he finished, "I'll…I'll be out there in a minute."

Lori glanced back at her brother, her hand on the doorknob. With a slight smirk she joked, "I don't think you have to worry about Laika. Lacy and Panther literally had her held down well enough. Besides, you've heard worse from your kids before, right?"

"Oh, no, it's not that." Lincoln scratched the back of his head, a sheepish look on his face. "It's…I'm not worried about Laika, it's just…"

"The twins, huh…?" Lori finished the sentence, to which Lincoln nodded after a moment. Letting go of the doorknob, Lori walked back to the bed and sat down next to her brother, asking, "Wanna talk about it?"

Lincoln was quiet for a moment, the conflict in his head obvious by his look. "It's just…What do I even say to them?"

"You'd think that'd literally be the thing you have the most practice in, right?" Lincoln shot his sister a dirty look after her snide comment, which caused her to continue, "Okay, that was mean. But honestly, Lincoln, you knew this day would probably come, right?"

Lincoln was hesitant to respond, so Lori continued, "I know, they're a special case. But the fact of the matter is it doesn't change the big picture. You know what you have to say, right?"

"I know, just…" Lincoln was still clearly conflicted, but, slowly, resignation mixed its way into the look on his face. "I know."

A soft smile curled on Lori's face as she leaned in towards him and kissed him on his cheek. "It's ok. I believe in you. And if you need help, I'll be there for you. We all will."

"Thanks, Lori." Lincoln also smiled back at Lori, scratching his neck. "I'll be out in a few."

"Ok. I'll see you out there." Lori got up and headed out the door, closing it quickly to make sure that Laika didn't catch a glimpse of Lincoln. Fortunately, it seemed like she was still flailing against Lacy's iron bear hug, so no worries there.

With a nod once she had confirmed that, she walked across the living room, to the basement stairs. She was going to go down, but the boys at the landing next to the stairs caught her eye. She looked down and asked, "Lyle? What's wrong with Lemy?"

"Ah…hello, Aunt Lori." Lyle nodded respectfully to Lori. Lemy looked to be asleep, his head laying on Lyle's lap. Lyle glanced down at his brother before mentioning, "…it's been a bit of a day for poor Lemy here."

"I see." Lori crossed her arms. "How about you? I've been getting the idea that a lot of us have been having a 'bit of a day'."

"Actually, I've come out fairly okay in that regard. A bit of bullshit here and there, but hey, what are you gonna do?" Lyle shrugged. "Also, I've had this weird feeling I'm being watched every now and then, but given there's like a million people in this house, I'm guessing that one of them keeps glancing at me here and there and that's it."

"Sounds…right…" The second part of Lyle's statement struck Lori as a bit odd, and she glanced down the basement stairs. She…had an idea of what he meant. "Say Lyle, I know you and Lemy are probably comfortable, but being in front of the stairs could literally block traffic. Would you mind moving somewhere else?"

"No, that's fine…could use the move, my feet are falling asleep…" Lyle nodded as he shook Lemy gently. "Sorry, bro, but we need to relocate. Let's go outside, you could use the fresh air."

"Guuuh…Sure, sounz good…" Lemy mumbled, half-awake as he was. Lyle slipped under Lemy's arm as he helped his brother out the door to the back yard.

Lori watched them go, until she was sure they were out of earshot. Once they were, she looked down the stairs and called out, "Could you come up now, honey?"

She was met with silence for a moment. Eventually, though, a girl entered her field of vision at the bottom of the stairs and started to ascend, her eyes looking down so as not to meet Lori's. She stopped about one step from the top, glancing up only briefly as she finally said, "…hi Mom."

"Hi, Loan. How…" Lori also hesitated…these interactions were always hard for both of them. She took a deep breath as she asked, "How have you been doing?"

"…m okay." Loan mumbled back, still trying not to look up at her mother.

"That's…good." Lori continued. "I know it's hard with so many people here, but…it hasn't been a problem, right?"

"N-no." Loan rubbed her arm awkwardly as she answered, "I've been fine."

"Right…good," Lori replied. There was a pause as she searched for the right words before she said, "Did you have something to talk to Lemy about?"

"Huh? N-no, I just thought he and Lyle were c…I mean, that's not…" Loan gripped her arm a bit tighter as she stammered out a response. "I…I didn't have anything to say, so…um…"

"R-right." Lori accepted her daughter's half-answer. "Um, have you talked to…anyone at the party?"

Loan didn't respond right away, still looking away from her mother before she quietly said, "…no."

"Okay…I understand, but…" Lori took another deep breath. "Can you give it a try? I know it's hard but…just for a moment? At least saying happy birthday to Lulu would be fine, and…it'd make your father and I happy."

Loan didn't say anything, still gripping her arm tight, but, after a moment gave a weak nod. Lori nodded back, searching for something to say until she finally walked up and gave Loan a hug. "Thanks, honey. I love you."

"Mmm…" It took another moment, but Loan slowly lifted her arms and hugged her mother back. "…you too, Mom."

The hug lasted a bit longer, until Lori pulled away. "Okay…Your father and Lulu are in the guest room. If you need me, let me know, okay?"

Loan gave another wordless nod as she shuffled off to the guest room, not looking up at the other guests as she crossed the living room, until she closed the door behind her. Lori watched her go the whole way, letting out a relieved breath as the door closed.

Once she had regained her composure, she walked across the living room again and up the stairs to the second floor. Now that Loan was…okay…she needed a clearer picture of what had happened in Royal Woods today. And the best person for that was…

"Lyra, are you here?" Lori knocked on her niece's door before slowly opening it. "Can we talk about…"

Lori's words faltered as she opened the door. Lyra was indeed in her room. She was standing in front of her desk, a glass of soda in front of her. In her hand was a bottle of certainly-not-soda. It actually looked more like a bottle of rum, which made Lori reassess the contents of the glass.

Lyra glanced back at her aunt stoically, before shrugging as she put the bottle on the desk and took a swig of her questionable drink, saying, as she finished, "Look, I'm not even going to bother explaining it after today. I've EARNED this one."