AN: If there are any sudden scene changes in this chapter, I tried adding line breaks to this chapter and they might have gotten eaten up when I formatted it on different sites.

I apologize for my lack of introduction in the previous chapter - I was indisposed at the time, a word which here means recovering from a bout of the common cold. As it was, my editor had to handle that section without my traditional narration. I am aware that some of you happened to miss that, and I once again apologize for being unable to dictate.

As for the woe-filled tale of the Baudelaires, they continued on with their efforts to investigate VFD. Their aunt, meanwhile, attended to her bizarre and at times seemingly impossible duties as a member of the Federal Bureau of Control, which I will save describing for my colleague. Somewhat humorously, it appears that neither party seemed to realize that the other was investigating something that the public didn't know existed. Strange, but reality rarely has to make sense.

Of course, that didn't mean things didn't slip through the cracks.

XXXXX

"What's this about a Village of Fowl Devotees?"

The siblings shared a glance before Klaus answered. "Oh, we'll, we were looking into the town - we thought it might have something to do with Count Olaf."

"Really?"

"Yes," confirmed Violet.

Jesse took another bite out of her chicken before continuing the conversation. "May I ask why?"

"Count Olaf smuggled the Quagmires out of town using a statue of a Red Herring that had been put up for auction, but he tricked us into thinking they were in a different lot containing VFD - very fancy doilies. He...has an interest in the topic. We thought he might be using it as a hideout."

Jesse thought for a moment, then nodded. "Makes sense. I'm not sure how much I can help you there, though - I'm not a police officer."

But if Olaf is involved with VFD, then maybe I could arrange something to help them.

A Few Days Later...

"So," asked Shiore, "do you have any interest in athletics?"

The Baudelaires did not have to think hard on that question. "No," answered Klaus. "Bad experiences at our previous boarding school cast a black mark over sports for us. What about you? Are you a fan of, we, soccer?"

"It's football."

"...Huh."

Shiore sighed, but it was Victoria who answered. "You Americans may call it soccer, but it's football to the rest of the world. Association instead of Grid Iron, but it will always. Be. Football."

Each word was punctuated by Ms. Michaelis leaning toward her companions until she was practically in their faces.

"...Wow," noted Hibiki, "you really looked like a demon when you said that."

Victoria gave him a flat look. "I'm a Cambion."

The Japanese boy raised an eyebrow. "What kind of demon is that."

Victoria continued to give him a flat look, but did not deign to answer. At least, not with a genuine answer.

"Didn't you say that two of your friends were joining you at this school?"

"Five," corrected Hibiki, somewhat annoyed at the diversion. "They're coming over tomorrow."

"Oh, really?" asked Coraline.

"Yes. Our teachers aren't the only ones with a hectic arrival schedule."

"I'll say," agreed Shiore. "It hardly speaks well of an educational institution to have the staff only fully arrive shortly before the schooling season begins."

"I just hope that Count Olaf isn't among the staff," muttered Violet perhaps a bit too loudly.

"Oh, who is that?" wondered Victoria. "A former guardian of yours who has made it his goal to kidnap because of a hypothetical fortune you have and has murdered several of your past guardians in his efforts to do so, following you closely and disguising himself with the flimsiest of masquerades thatstill somehow manage to fool others?"

"And despite always being unmasked, he manages to slip away before the authorities can arrest him?"

Master and servant shared a laugh at that, clearly finding their rhetorical question funny. So did everyone else at their table.

Everyone except the Baudelaires.

Eventually, Shirore noticed the siblings' silence. "I apologize if our joke was in poor taste."

"Eepwu," babbled Sunny, which meant "got it in one."

"Got it in one?" muttered Victoria as Shiore raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean-wait."

After taking a moment to process Sunny's response, the girls froze up. "You mean you are being chased by a former guardian of yours who wants a fortune you possess, has murdered your previous guardians, and manages to keep up with you in disguises that somehow fool everyone except you and maybe a few others?!" inquired Victoria.

The Baudelaires just nodded.

"...I am so sorry-"

"You were just making a guess," noted Violet. "It's okay. I just hope Olaf doesn't find us here."

"As do I," muttered Klaus.

Coraline said nothing, but considering what she and Wybie had been through, she had her doubts that the siblings would elude their former guardian here. But at least now they had others to talk about it with.

XXXXX

The discussion had died down a bit after this, though in some respects, having their past accidentally revealed had made talking easier - fewer secrets to keep. Additionally, the reveal of their currently inaccessible wealth had made Shiore more open with them - while they were not of the same social class, their fortune acted as something of an equalizer for status. While trying to make some amends with the siblings (despite their insistence that they were okay), Shiore had revealed that she had a younger brother, only slightly older than Sunny. Victoria also had siblings, and from the sounds of it, quite a few - it seemed her parents had been interested in a large family. Or maybe they really just enjoyed their company, given how Victoria had said that their reasons for having so many children were 'not for children to hear'.

Eventually, the group's time together had come to an end, and they had parted ways. After that, they didn't see much of their newfound friends - and yes, it now seemed like they were friends. Most of them merely needed to continue working on getting settled in, though for Hibiki, he needed to help his friends get settled in as well. Their names were Io Nitta, Daichi Shijima, Airi Ban, Hinako Kujou, and Al Saiduq - apparently the last one was from the Middle East. The boys would be dorming with Hibiki while the girls would have their own dorm. Funnily enough, when the Baudelaires had been discussing this with him, they found out that all students, even those who didn't live on campus, were assigned dormitories. Weird, but the Baudelaires had dealt with weirder.

In the meantime, they had continued their efforts to compile information on VFD - the Village of Fowl Devotees might be a hint in the right direction, but they needed more evidence to be certain. For a brief time after Jesse had asked them about the village, the Baudelaires had considered letting her in on their plans, but ultimately they had remained silent - while their aunt didn't seem to be duplicitous like Esme, they had a feeling that even if she was trustworthy, she'd try to take the investigaiton out of their hands. And as much as they wanted the help of adults in sorting out this mire of secrets, they wanted to be part of the ones cleaning it, not on the sidelines - they didn't want to be forced to rely solely on others to succeed where many had failed.

They just hoped their aunt would understand.

Jesse gently knocked on the office door, trying not to disturb its occupant. "Clark, you here?"

Despite her efforts to avoid spooking them, Jesse heard several panicked sounds coming from inside the office before the door finally opened. "Eh, sorry, D-Director. I-"

"Look, I know, you've been swamped helping our agents deal with field work. Don't blame yourself, Colton."

"Ah. Um, t-t-thank you, Ms. Faden. Please, come inside and have a seat."

Jesse obliged.

Finding a new head for the investigations department had been tricky. Investigations had been sealed off for some time when the Hiss first arrived, so most of those within it were no longer among the living. And of those, many had been unwilling to take up the mantle of Head of Investigations - it was a great honor, true, but with how high the turnover of Department Heads could be, it also seemed to be a death sentence. Colton had been one of the few who'd expressed interest in actually holding the position, which had resulted in him claiming it by default. And even though he hadn't died yet, he was questioning if that was the right decision every day.

"Sorry you have to handle so much on your own, Colt-"

"Director, I've had to deal with reports of sea monsters, naturally occurring time portals, more aliens than I'd like to count, agents in Eastern Europe examining the Zone having to drop less detailed reports because their contacts either took up arms to defend their homeland or fled to avoid being conscripted into a stupid and pointless war, reports of activity by the flipping Slender Man, and people who keep mentioning sightings of Bigfoot. I have enormous piles of work on my plate-"

"Again, I'm sorry-"

"-and I like it quite a bit."

"...Still enjoying this, are you?"

"Yeah. Though the offer of help is appreciated - been pulling a few all-nighters."

"I can relate."

"Nice to have someone who can."

Taking a deep breath, the black haired, green-eyed man focused on Jesse. "So, what did you want to see me for?"

"First, I need to ask: have you read anything about the Stain'd-By-The-Sea case?"

"The one involving VFD? Yes, though who that organization is and how they relate to the Paranatural Entity found near the town is still in the air."

"Well, I might have found a new lead for you to follow."

Clark perked up when he heard those words. "I'm listening."

"You might want to look up Beatrice Baudelaire, Bertrand Baudelaire, and a Mr. and Mrs. Quagmire. I have evidence that they were involved in this."

"Interesting. May I ask how you acquired this lead."

"From the Baudelaire children, who have expressed interest in the initials V, F, and D."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "And how did you meet them?"

"As of about a week ago, I now have custody of the siblings...who are also my nieces and nephew."

"...Wait, you have siblings other than Dylan?"

"I had an older brother who was kidnapped and vanished before Dylan and me were born. Whatever VFD is, either they were the ones who kidnapped him or he was recruited by them some time later, from what I can infer l, since Bertrand ended up being that sibling."

"Oh. I-I see."

"Yeah. Look, I know that this seems like a violation of Bureau directives, but Underhill insisted that I keep to this path - if VFD was involved with a paranatural entity, we need to know, and like it or not, my new charges might have a way to help us close this case."

"So it would seem." Clark took a deep breath before continuing. "You sure you can keep this a secret from them?"

"What? I haven't even implied that I'm interested in VFD to them, at least beyond wanting to know why they were reading about it."

"Perhaps, but you work for a government organization - can I presume you told them that?"

"Yes."

"Even if the Bureau is publicly tasked with aiding between cooperation between other agencies, that means we know some details not available to the public. So it wouldn't be a hard leap for them to think you know something they don't."

"...You have a point."

"Thanks. I just hope they don't try breaking into my home office to figure out if I know anything."

They're probably song that right now.

Carefully, Violet set aside the tripwire alarm that Sunny had chewed through and readied a new one. Even if they had only just gotten into their aunt's office, they needed to be sure they could leave this room as they had found it, so that Jesse would not suspect their snooping.

They had been apprehensive about abusing her trust l, but they needed to know if she had found anything about VFD, which had led them into her office. It had an alarm, which was expected, but the Baudelaires had managed to disable using a lock-pick (the second one Violet had made in their series of unfortunate events) to open the door ever so slightly) and Sunny and her teeth. Once inside, they had taken stock of the room - which was filled with all manners of files, tapes, disks, a set of monitors, televisions, shelves holding books, and even a bulletin board covered in papers, yarn, and string. It was a bizarre sight, to say the least.

The Baudelaires had swiftly divided up researching what they could between one another and set about trying to find something in this mess that would help them learn the truth of VFD, but after a few minutes of searching, they had started to lose hope - all of the files they found seemed like conspiracy theories of all things. While they had initially been hopeful upon learning this, since VFD was, for all intents and purposes, a conspiracy, their expectations began to fall after looking through more of the files. What they found was increasingly absurd - a living darkness that possessed people? A floppy disk that gave one telekinesis? Records on sightings of Bigfoot?! After a while, it became impossible to take anything in the room seriously.

They had just been about to give up when Sunny suddenly shouted "here!", which needs no translation. Surprised, the elder Baudelaires joined their sister, who had pulled out a folder labeled "Stain'd-By-The-Sea Incident Report". Curious, the elder siblings started reading.

"On , a Paranatural Entity was documented as appearing in Stain'd-By-The-Sea, . According to witnesses, the entity was documented as emerging from the ocean, devouring a man, then retreating back into the sea. Witnesses confirm that a strange sound was heard before the creature's arrival. Bureau containment procedures have been enacted. Continuing to monitor the situation.

- Agent Felix Boyle.

Addendum 1: Entity has been confirmed to possess a name - it is called the . Examination continuing.

Addendum 2: An object has been found that emits the same sound as the one heard before the arrival of he creature had been discovered. The entity briefly emerged upon hearing the sound, but after a moment lost interest and retreated back beneath the waves. Before further testing could be conducted, a group of townsfolk attempted to investigate the situation, and the object was lost. I believe the object should not yet be counted as a lab Object of Power - it does not share many traits with other Altered Objects the Bureau has encountered so far."

There were several other addendums mentioned, but only these three were on the page - the rest were on files that were missing apparently. Yet there was one other page in this file, and it was this that had caught Sunny's attention:

"Addendum 31: Our acquaintance in VFD has been forced to go silent - the ongoing Schism is making it too hectic for them to provide further aid. As is, they are taking their family out of the country and preparing to change identities. They did, however, provide two items that they wished for the Bureau to hold on to: a sample of a highly toxic fungus, and a set of sugar seeds that they stated 'would hold the key to defeating the fungus'. I have managed to approve these samples for storage in the Oldest House's biological containment vault and have personally delivered them to their designated storage areas. For now, it seems time to close the book on this incident."

The Baudelaire siblings read the lines several more times as the words on it sunk in. Mentally, they noted that the document appeared to be rather old and worn, looking as if it had only been examined recently - as in, shortly before they had read it. Implicitly, this told them two very important things: their aunt knew something about VFD, but she had only learned this recently. This meant that her organization likely knew more about it, but wasn't exactly forthcoming with the details.

After briefly trying futilely to search for more information on the subject, the Baudelaires had restored the room to how it had been before they had entered, reset the tripwire alarm, and returned to their rooms. They mentioned nothing ileven hinting at their discovery to Jesse, and after a late night visit to the movies, went to bed with questions still on their minds.

But although Jesse hadn't discovered their duplicity, someone else had.

The Pattern gazed at the Pyramid, apprehensive about what happened next. "Is this a necessity?"

"The children/potential hires are too curious to manage otherwise. We believe it best if they are allowed/contained within our organization/domain."

"They are at most teens, at least infants. Highly skilled ones, yes, but they does not change their age and overall lack of experience."

"At their current rate of progression, they will eventually discover the truth. Best to indict/conscript them in now."

"Know that I cannot bond with more than one human simultaneously, and my kin are still arriving."

"They will have enough time."

"I hope you are correct. Also, did you tell the Janitor?"

"Yes. We informed him. He seemed happy to know that the children would be arriving soon."

"Not surprised - he may be perplexing to humans, but he is quite friendly."

A few days later, on the Friday before classes would begin, the Baudelaires found themselves looking through a set of mail that Jesse had picked up the previous night. Most of them were letters and spam, though there was also a letter from Mr. Poe's secretary, assuring the Baudelaires that help was on the way.

There was also one other letter destined for them from...The Federal Bureau of Control?!

After a moment of shock, the siblings had hastily started reading the letter.

"Baudelaire Siblings,

Greetings. We have heard about your time/misadventures with your previous guardians/employers/school faculty/wardens. We apologize for your misfortune/torture and would like to offer our aid in your efforts to see Count Olaf captured/contained. Please report to 34 Thomas Street, New York City, New York for an in depth interview so that we can further help you.

Sincerely,

Federal Bureau of Control Oversight Board."

Within his museum, the Curator froze up for a moment, then smiled. "It appears the stage is set. Now a new tale begins."

AN: Time for the Baudelaires to enter a new world of madness and misfortune.

Regarding the letter: yes, the Board wrote it. Somehow. The exact methodology doesn't matter, only that the siblings are headed to the Oldest House.

I planned for Ahti to join that conversation between the Board and the Pattern (Polaris), but I am still getting the hang of his dialog. He'll probably show up next chapter instead.

Read, review, do what you want! This is Flameal15k, signing off!