March 20th. The Day before Election Night.

'Is this on? Are you focusing? Focus on everyone, focus on everyone! Our lives depend on it!'

Mark the Cameraman was usually quite cynical, thanks to working with an egomaniac like Katherine Mulligan. There she was, berating him like some dog sled rider, as if her little ol' local news show meant anything to anyone.

But, well… It kind of did now.

'You really think she'll be here? She took quite the beating 6 days ago, and it wasn't exactly a success.', Mark, eyes wide, searching for her, for the one everyone was searching for nowadays. He thought he caught a glimpse of her, but it was just some light blue pajama bottoms on a clothesline hanging from one of the shoddy apartment buildings above them.

'She has to. And if she isn't, it's one hell of a story too.', Katherine, applying more makeup and desperately trying to look aesthetically pleasing in a rundown looking street, smiled brightly at the camera to see if she brushed her teeth well enough.

'As would you being drenched, there's a mud puddle right near you.', Mark pointed out, and Katherine moved backwards a bit, ruining her lighting.

'Sigh. The Mid-West. Oh, sure, mom, I can make it as a news reporter, I'm pretty enough, right? Gah. She must be laughing into her double cream mocca latte.'

Mark continued adjusting the camera, hoping the alarm wouldn't interrupt Katherin's audio. 'Well, think of it this way, they'll all be thinking about this and not that horrible tragedy.'

'I guess.', Katherine mumbled, but she didn't care, clearly.

Mark got all introspective as he wiped the lens again, making sure it was just right. 'I wonder how she's doing. It can't be easy.'

'My mother is enjoying my failure, trust me.', Katherine retorted in despair, dramatic as ever.

'Not you!', Mark groaned. 'Her!'

'She has a name!'

'Whatever. I'm just saying. She's trying to do so much. At one point, it gets hard. Too hard. Just hope she knows she's making a difference.', Mark whistled happily as he looked through the lens at the gloomy sky.

'Ugh, you've never made THAT horrible noise. Don't let me get used to it.', Katherine remarked, leading to an eye roll from Mark. 'Now, let's get this shitshow on the road.'

Katherine stepped aside into the 'light', called out orders, and Mark began filming her in front of the crime scene.

'A special News 3 alert for all you early birds on this delightful Friday morning!', Katherine lied through her teeth. Mark almost found it impressive.

Almost.

'Now, no one thinks that an old family jewelry store being robbed is special, no siree!', Katherine somehow made that sentence not sound cancellable. 'But, I think we all know who might be showing up to this particular scene!'

Mark looked up eagerly, moving his camera slowly, panning up to make her reveal as grand as he felt she deserved. Still nothing, though. He grimaced, remembering Katherine stimming about her possible rant to him last night, on the event of no Guardian showing up to the ever present crime wave. 'Come on.', he whispered, almost like a child at a wishing well.

Nothing. And the robbers were starting to exit the store, guns still pointed at the mother and son owners, the police still not arriving, oddly.

'Oh, well, now, isn't THIS strange? It seems like it's a no show.', Katherine said with not a hint of self awareness, and she began diving into her prepared rant. Mark sighed. 'Childish. Like falling for a magic trick.'

He began to pan down, as Katherine garbled out buzzwords. 'Does she NOT care for local business? I thought heroes helped the little guy! Clearly, we need to set up a whole debate panel starring ME…'

Mark sighed again, and noticed a lack of light suddenly, a shadow falling over the shot. 'Ugh, weather report's fuckin' useless. There's not supposed to be rain until…'

WHOOSH!

A gust of wind passed, but not like any gust of wind any of them had felt. Mark barely held onto his pink dyed curls, and he shot his camera and eyes up. Katherine did too, as did all the rest of the crew, as did another camera crew from another town in Michigan that had gone to Royal Woods for one reason and one reason only.

The Guardian, in her slightly updated costume (now she had slightly dark blue trouser sleeves with light blue patches on her knee caps, slightly dark blue gloves, and slightly dark blue boots, an effort to look less scary, and to ease everyone's minds with all the recent tragedies) was landing in front of the teeth chattering, scared out of their wits robbers right now.

Looking back for a moment, she caught Mark, and gave him a personal wink. 'Abracadabra.', she quipped.

Mark smiled back, genuine. What a concept.

'Oh poo poo.', Katherine muttered, but immediately prepared her positive rant.

The two criminals, waving pistols that looked like toy guns next to her might, shivered. She was just standing there, in that cliche heroic pose. It was almost too good to be true.

'Mind if we hurry up, sirs? I have some other really important stuff to attend to, and you're kinda cramming my schedule and vibe, ya know?', Guardian said loud enough for everyone to hear, and some laughs could be heard, even from the store owners. Good, she thought. They feel a bit better.

'Just my entire family and the rest of the city to go.', Guardian whispered to herself, trying to settle her beating heart.

'Um…', the two robbers just didn't know what to do. Might as well put up a fight, no?

The first one shot two bullets in quick succession, making the camera crews gasp and duck. There was no need, though, as The Guardian quickly yanked both out of the air, holding them between her thumbs and forefingers.

'I still can't believe it.', the first one exclaimed in shock.

'I believe you've lost these, here, I'll put them back in place!', Guardian cried out, and by taking both bullets and striking the gun, destroyed all of it. The robber simply lifted his arms up, preparing to be arrested.

The second one booked for it.

'I'll be back in a flash. Simon says don't move!', Guardian ordered jokingly, but the robber didn't dare believe it was a joke.

The second robber was so panicky, though, that he was running right at Katherine and Mark, with his armed gun.

'Hey, careful where you aim that!', Katherine cried, while Mark stood, frozen in fear. What if something went wrong? Anything could happen with a gun. But he just couldn't budge, no matter how much his brain screamed for it.

Just when all looked lost, and Mark closed his eyes in trepidation, The Guardian zoomed to the other side and took the bullet to the chest, only feeling slightly winded from the force.

'Oh, I didn't mean…', the robber blurted out, but Guardian held him up by the scruff of the neck, like a wet cat.

Cheers erupted from the camera crews, while Katherine and Mark stared in awe.

Guardian, now holding the gun, emptied its bullets. The police were finally arriving, and the two thieves could be arrested.

But first…

'You okay?', she asked, softly, leaning down to Mark's level.

Mark nodded, speechless.

'Great!', Guardian smiled warmly, offering a business card. It read 'Dr. Lopez, psychiatrist.' 'A friend of mine highly recommends her. Times have been tough lately. Not a shame to talk it out at least once.'

Mark took it slowly, struggling to take her in. Her cape flowing in the wind, her symbol seemingly shining even now in the morning, her eyes, obscured by eye shadow, yet deep and blue, like a soothing sea.

'Take care now.', she waved goodbye, then marched off to hand the robbers to the police. One looked all alarmed when she arrived, raising his weapon, but the others shook their heads at him.

'Strange. They really should have been here sooner. Must be part of the plan, for whatever reason.', Guardian thought, scratching her chin in puzzlement.

It got even stranger when she turned around, met by camera flashes and curious reporters. Among all the questions about her new costume of sorts, her real identity, her motives, her brand of perfume, she thought she spotted…

'That guy… Who kidnapped all the kids?'.

She looked beyond the grey blue sky at the alley she thought she saw him at, but he wasn't there at all. What did this all mean? Royal Woods was in danger from The Raven, yet every day brought forth more and more mysteries to solve. And still no breakthroughs.

'I have to talk to Lyberti today, before I go to my fam.', Guardian thought, feeling another weight on her shoulders. And it wasn't the half of it. She heard her phone alarm screech out 'Boyz Will Be Boyz', and gasped.

'Sorry, really late, gotta go, I use Blake Bradley's 'Hottie on that area of '!', Guardian cried out, and she leapt into the sky, flying as fast as she could towards home, more than a little relieved she didn't have to talk to the reporters, it didn't feel… Earned.

'I won't be late, oh no! I'm gonna prove that I'm there for my family!', Guardian declared to herself determinedly, hell bent on proving her progress.

'Well, um… I always believed in her?', Katherine said sheepishly to the camera, and the TV broadcast cut off.


'Enough of that. It's time to get serious!'

Lyberti, wearing a bright red and light green jacket with a journalist-esque trench coat over it, bopped happily as she tidied up her room in preparation for her very special guest.

She dusted to and fro, cartwheeling from one end of the room to the next, bounds of energy in her every movement.

'Take that, messy room! Your reign of terror is nothing but dust… in the wind!', she laughed at her music pun, then made a loud kung fu noise and smacked the feather duster at the wall corner. She then bounced into the air, spinning like a ball, and landed at the other corner, where she attacked the dirt again. 'Stick to the wall, dirty coward!'

Lyberti wiped her brow, and stood with hands on her hips, proud of the work she had done. The room looked spotless (mostly) and it was ready for the big moment. She turned around to look at her bed, upon whose surrounding walls and ceiling adorned two things: glow in the dark star stickers she made herself (they didn't work that well but it still rocked).

And a framed picture of her mother.

Wearing a trenchcoat not dissimilar to the one Lyberti was wearing right now, down to the mustard stain that had camouflage in years near the second bottom button, the bent, limo breast pocket, and the collar that stuck up in defiance no matter what.

She gazed upon the visage, taking a deep breath. 'Today, I'm taking my biggest step yet, mom, I just know it! You won't believe this is your kid!'

Lyberti was super duper excited, so when she suddenly heard a sharp knock on the window to her left, she nearly leapt out of her own skin. 'Nobody's home! No one but us… Fridge magnets.', she cried out, realized how dumb that sounded, and face palmed.

'Lyberti! Lyberti!', a voice crackled from the two new and homemade star shaped earrings Lyberti had on. Realizing it was time, she actually looked at the window, and ran up to it to open for her guest.

The Guardian.

Flying slowly inside, making sure not to break anything, the costumed hero landed carefully, finding the room to be almost a little small for her, except in the attention of her heart. The place looked pretty, well, shabby, as did the rest of Lyberti's building. Her window was practically the only one that wasn't broken. She remembered her pledge to help fight this poverty issue, and it burned even brighter now. 'I must talk to Captain Griffin or someone about this. It's not enough to just punch criminals.', she thought.

She then bonked her head anyway, looking annoyed at the ceiling, almost wanting to lecture it on 'personal space', before cringing at how dumb and petty she could be. 'Sigh'. She was pretty tall in comparison to Lyberti, truth be told. Making sure not to bang her head on the ceiling a second time, she greeted her fidgeting host. 'Sorry to arrive on such short notice!'

Lyberti giggled, hands all bouncy. 'Sorry? Are you kidding? I'm just glad you even called! I was getting a little worried that you'd never need my help!'

She then backed up a little, realizing what that sounded like. 'NOT that I want bad things to happen, of course! Just want to help stop them, is all!'

Guardian, who took a seat on the bed, giggled too, which reassured Lyberti immensely, her heart hammering ever since the hero had stepped in. 'No worries, I know what you meant! I've been meaning to talk to you, but a lot's happened in the past week or so.'

Lyberti nodded, her glasses joining in the bobbling of her head. 'Oh, yeah, tell me about it! I've been covering it!', she bragged a teeny bit, eyes closed in pride.

'Covering?', Guardian tilted her head, curious, only to suddenly notice the room around her proper, her eyes widening and her mouth gaping a smidge.

It was a pretty simple room, in fact, a pretty poor looking room. The place was like the rest of the apartment, shoddy looking, clearly in need of repairs. It would have made Guardian sad to see, but there was an extra detail that was a tad distracting.

The room was full of pictures of her.

Well, not exactly like that, it wasn't the scary kind of full of pictures. But there were a LOT of pictures, of her, of The Guardian. There were news snippets, photographs, though mostly blurry, with some screenshots from the news that were a lot clearer, and what looked like drawings.

Lyberti hadn't seemed to notice Guardian's surprise, she simply took her hand and walked her up to the wall, explaining what she had meant, pointing at the pictures and snippets. 'See, I've decided to try a different, better direction for my journalism career, you know, start a little smaller, so I took the open position at the 'Royal High Gazette', and thanks to my past experiences and normal level of adoration for you, I got tasked as the official 'Guardian correspondent' for the school!'

Guardian couldn't believe she hadn't noticed. 'I literally go to the same school!', she thought. Yet, here it was, right in front of her eyes. Headlines such as 'Guardian helps Police robots save kidnapped kids!', 'Tragedy at the Museum minimized thanks to Guardian's endurance! Who is Barbed Wire?' and 'Crime wave crashes at the shores of The Guardian once more!' filled the room, big bold black letters proclaiming feats Guardian wasn't sure deserved that much hype, with so much work left to do. Pictures of her, flying, barely in sight, or of her staring somewhere else, cape flowing, blue hood and black eyes piercing, her G symbol standing out with a sort of magnetism, they really made it sink in that this was actually happening. Each article was written by Lyberti, and one could tell, full of enthused exclamations and poetic panegyrizing about…

'Me.', Guardian gasped just a little, struggling to understand, struggling to accept.

'Yeah, you! You've been doing SUCH an awesome job, look at all the people you've saved!', Lyberti enthused, throwing her arms up to the air.

Guardian refused to let any of this go to her head, but she was in a different way. Her breathing felt quick and rapid, and her eyes squinted. 'So many 'successes', but what did they mean if I can't help my own family? I have to succeed, have to! But every time I have to succeed, I seem to fail! Or at least, I only solve part of the problem! And besides, the problem's because of ME, Lincoln was hurt thanks to ME, god I have to do something, I have to, I HAVE to, I HAVE TO, I HAVE TO MAKE IT UP FOR LINCOLN, FOR MY FAMILY, FOR EVERYONE IN DANGER FROM THE RAVEN, I HAVE TO, I HAVE TO SAVE THEM, I HAVE TO SAVE THEM FROM MY MISTAKES…'

'G…Guardian? Are… Are you okay?', Lyberti asked, noticing Guardian was having a… Panic attack?

Guardian heard Lyberti's voice, felt her hand touch hers, and slowly, surely, breathed slowly, calming herself down. She thought of how Lyberti was not in danger. At the very least, she was safe. A rare good thing she had done. She'd take strength from it, from seeing her alive, so that she can hopefully do it for the rest.

Calming down, she nodded. 'Yeah, I'm… I'm okay. I…', she smiled, offering Lyberti a genuine kindness. 'I like your drawings. Very pretty.'

She meant it, truly. Beautiful pencil sketches and bright digitally painted paintings also filled the walls, pictures of her other exploits, like when she stopped Heist, of her saving civilians from criminals, of her flying through the air, saving and carrying Lybe…

'HEH HEH HOW DID THAT GET THERE, WHOOPSIE DADDLES!', Lyberti grabbed the drawing and hid it somewhere else, anywhere really, just that it wouldn't be seen by her idol. Guardian saw the discomfort on Lyberti's face, one that she shared from feeling unworthy, and she pretended not to have noticed. 'What, I didn't see anything.'

Lyberti smiled in relief, and Guardian felt a little better from seeing that. 'Anyway, yeah, I've been working on it ever since you motivated me, I think I'm on the right track! It's a start, at least!'

Guardian, sitting back on the bed, gave her a thumbs up. 'Well, that's great to hear! Good job, ace reporter Evans!'

Lyberti shyly grinned, hiding how she had longed to hear the praise from the hero. Suddenly, she snapped back to reality and face palmed. 'Oh, darn! You come here with something important, and here I am, yammering, I'm sorry!'

Guardian WAS in a hurry, but she tried to remain patient. 'No worries. I'm the responsible one, I should have gotten on with it. Speaking of, is your dad home? I wouldn't want him to worry.', she said in her typical big sister way, like she was a babysitter and not a vigilante.

'Oh, he knows you're coming! I told him NOT TO LISTEN IN!', Lyberti suddenly leapt at the door, opening it to spot her dad, holding a plate of his usual not that well made but still yummy cookies.

'Star light! Hey! What a coincidence!', Mr. Evans smiled sheepishly. Lyberti gave him a hairy eyeball stare while Guardian simply waved sheepishly too.

'...Look, I can explain…'

'Dad, I specifically asked you not to interfere with this business meeting!', Lyberti explained. 'Heck, this could become an interview with some luck!'

'Not happening.' Guardian shut it down.

'With some luck, I said!'

'Hey, she saved me too! Thank you for that, btw!', Mr. Evans thanked her with a wave. Guardian felt a blush sting her cheeks, all this praise was a lot. She tried to smile back, but she looked quite awkward.

Lyberti looked at the cookies, then back at her father. '...Thank you for the adequate bribe, you've earned my forgiveness.'

She was clearly joking, and Mr. Evans 'bowed' in exaggeration, leaving the room, though still listening out in concern, looking out for his daughter.

'Ugh, he does that a lot. Sorry for the cringe.', Lyberti explained, placing the plate down on the bed and offering Guardian a cookie. The hero took one with a little hesitation. This, again, all felt like a lot for little old her.

'Wow, thanks. I'm… Flattered?', Guardian trailed off, ignoring the shame. How could she feel flattered, she was hori…

'No, not now. Let me at least try today. We can cry in bed later.', she whispered to herself.

Lyberti, meanwhile, took a big bite, and spoke with her mouth full. 'So, what did you come to tell me? Is it about that Barbed Wire dude, they were so cryptic, like, what's the deal?'

Guardian chuckled and pointed at Lyberti. 'I'll answer when there are less cookie crumbs flying at my face. It's my secret weakness, you know.'

Now it was Lyberti's turn to blush, and she closed her mouth and swallowed. 'Heh, my bad.'

'Nah, it's fine, just keep it in mind.', Guardian ruffled Lyberti's hair and offered her half of a cookie they shared, Guardian eating it quite enthusiastically thanks to her sweet tooth for chocolate, making the two laugh again, and for a second, she just felt like she always did back home, like the version of Lori Loud she liked, like the one that she hoped she could somehow be.

Maybe today…

'Anyway…', Guardian got serious, knowing she had to hurry up or she'd be late. She pointed at the article about her fight with Barbed Wire. 'Barbed Wire might be involved. I really don't know. All I know is that a lot of strange things have happened ever since I've started being The Guardian, and nothing connects so far.'

Guardian's eyes narrowed, Lyberti gazing into them with curiosity and seriousness. The two could feel they were at the foot of something BIG. 'All I know, really, is that a series of strange crimes and attacks have occured. The kidnappings, the museum, the crime wave's even bigger spikes.'

Guardian averted her eyes, sad to report the next bit. 'Y… Your kidnapping.'

Lyberti gasped, shooketh. 'Oh my god. I don't know if I should be excited or… Scared.'

'Scared, Lyberti. Definitely scared.', Guardian corrected, and Lyberti nodded.

'Why me?'

Guardian swallowed. 'I think it was more about getting me out of the way. If I got my hands on that Mr. E, I swear…'

Lyberti shook her head. 'No, it's okay, this is normal superhero stuff. They want you out of the way because then you'll stop them! The question is… Who is they?'

Guardian took a deep breath, determined. 'It's NOT okay. I created The Guardian to make sure that stuff like that NEVER happens again. At all. And for that, I need to stop they, Him, specifically. And all I know so far is that he has power, enough to hire that horrible person who kidnapped the kids, enough to attack Melanie Pingrey and her company, enough to have every criminal in town under his thumb.'

She looked right at Lyberti, vigilant, like a knight preparing to battle dastardly foes. 'And his name… Is 'The Raven'.'

Lyberti nodded, trying to pretend that didn't sound pretty damn cool. 'A mastermind. A criminal mastermind.'

'Exactly. And with that much power, who knows what he could do? I'm not waiting to find out.'

Guardian shook her head, frustrated. She bit the cookie in anger. 'But I've hit dead ends instead of his evil face. I still have nothing but questions. That's why I came here. I need your help.'

Lyberti could have exploded. She was practically vibrating. 'M…My help? My investigative help?'

'Exactly!', Guardian grinned, pointing at the bow-wearing girl. 'You told me about Heist! You stopped a catastrophe!'

'Of my own making.', Lyberti said, ashamed. Guardian, knowing the feeling, was quick to cheer her up. 'True, but it's not just that! You also wrote all those other articles, and you made up for it! You can really help me do some good, I know it! You can use your skills to do some snooping, safely please, like, don't get in danger, but you can find out some info, and give me some locations to go to, and we can stop Raven from hurting our city!'

Lyberti could have cried. The hero, standing up, her head seemingly in the frame of the photograph above her bed now, offered her gloved hand, her cape and symbol like inviting beacons of hope. 'What do you say, Ace Reporter?'

Lyberti's grin couldn't be wiped by any super powers. She gripped the strong yet soothing hand and shook. 'You've got it, Captain!'

'Great!', Guardian exclaimed, smiling proudly. Lyberti felt like melting. 'Now, if you don't mind, I gotta fly and run. Got someone else I REALLY have to help.'

Opening the window, Guardian prepared to go out, before spotting the star helmet Lyberti had worn when they met during the Heist event. Picking it up, she placed it on Lyberti's head. 'Contact me on the radio. You got this!'

And so, she flew away, leaving a very 'aiming to please' Lyberti, who now too had a second chance to do right by a family member, in a way…


Landing at the Loud House, Guardian went into the garage and changed into her Lori clothes. Taking a rake (her hair had seemingly sucked in some of her powers, and it was a little harder to shape nowadays, though the hoodie was oddly influencing it a lil), she combed her hair and looked at her body for any signs of injury. 'Nothing serious… This scratch here can be blamed on a trip, my palm isn't too noticeable anyway. My bruises from Barbed Wire are all basically gone. I'm not getting any shocks at night, ugh. That was LITERALLY annoying, it ruined my latest selfie!'

Lori weighed the sentence in her mind again, looking at herself in the little mirror she had hung on the wall, and let out a dry chuckle, shaking her head at herself. 'Wow. And here I thought I could never worry about something so relatively small again.'

It made her feel really good, to be so grounded for a moment.

'Well, if you think that's good, wait until today's over!', she spoke quietly to herself, as she did some quick push ups and pull ups, her light (but still quite impressive and noticeable) muscles glistening in the early morning light. She flexed one bicep, and imagined she was cracking all her obstacles with it. In her mind, it broke like an egg. 'Please may it be that simple.', she prayed.

Lori took a deep breath, sprayed some deodorant, then quickly took a peek at her secret selfie collection on the cork board. This time, for her picture with Lincoln. Or, well, the lack of one thereof.

Not that she and Lincoln had no moments, of course! 'It's not like we've never had fun together!', she thought with a little relief. Still, she stared at the empty spot with a melancholic sadness. 'My little bro deserves a spot too. After everything I've done… It's literally the least I can do.'

The guilt, as ever, swept up like a river in the tide, threatening to engulf her whole, drown her in the recesses of her heartbroken mind. But Lori surfaced up for a breath of a fresh chance.

'Today, more than any other day, I can take a step towards that impossible goal. I can make it up for Linc.', Lori declared with determination, like she was tasked with a holy quest, like a knight out to fight a dragon and save a princess. Only, in this case, the dragon was her own sins, and the princess was her little prince, the angel she didn't deserve.

'But maybe I can earn his love a little today. I cannot, I will not fail him. Not today. Today, he needs someone far harder for me to be.', Lori thought, with a resolved nod.

'Today, Lincoln needs his big sister.'

Walking out the garage and into the house, holding, conveniently, a carton of eggs, Lori waved at the chaos of the Loud House. 'Hey guys! I'm back from the store!'

'I'M GONNA LOSE THIS PAGEANT, I JUST KNOW IT!', Lola screamed as she covered herself with makeup from head to toe.

'Ugh… I shouldn't have bowled on a stomach full of egg salad…', Lynn moaned, before puking into a bag again.

'How do I reject my customer by saying she's really attractive but I already have a boyfriend? I mean, just saying that outloud, that's could be a CRUSHING blow to her! Ha ha ha! But seriously, why the fuck is this a problem for me right now?', Luan muttered to herself as she filled her suitcase with comedy pies.

Lori listened to all this with a determined nod. They needed their big sister too, and she would try to help them too.

She had to try.

And she wanted to.

'I love them, after all.', she thought, with a simple smile. There's not much more to elaborate there. Love is love. Lori loves.

For all her flaws…

Lori loves.

Lynn Sr. and Rita, her parents, popped up from the struggle they were having getting Lana to go to the bath. 'Hey, sweetie! Great work!', Rita waved, as Lana bit her shoulder like an alligator.

'Nice stuff! Come, I'll help you with the picnic! Oh, wow, pumpkin! Those walks you're taking aren't just improving your health! Lookin' ripped!', Lynn Sr. complimented, flashing a thumbs up, and Lori laughed sheepishly. 'Yeah, I guess I'm gonna really improve my swings with this!'

'Thank god that excuse works on them.', Lori thought, happy that for once she had come up with a good lie. 'Finally, a step forwards without a step backwards!'

Feeling so good with herself, Lori felt like stimming with a happy little dance.

'Bruh, are you… Floating?', Luna asked, playing her amp on the stairs, cocking an eyebrow as high as someone on 4/20.

'...Nooooo…', Lori slowly landed down. 'You… Must be really tired.'

'...Yeah, I am, damn, you mind reading? Cool!', Luna replied, impressed.

Lori face palmed. 'Never mind. Step fucking backwards.'

Still, at least she knew Luna had a problem, and she could try and help. THAT was an improvement from last week. 'You okay? You usually sleep quite peacefully.', Lori asked gently, moving a little towards the stairs.

'Eh… I don't know. Guess it was thanks to yesterday. Little Bro and I went to some magic museum. He really wanted to go, you should have seen his face.', Luna smiled wistfully. Lori smiled too. 'He deserves it so much.'

'Totally, bruh. But, well… Man. It's just… Not easy, to know how much he can do and all. Found myself breathing harder than a fish in a mosh pit!', Luna remarked, before calming down again.

'Oh, wow! That's… A little worrying.', Lori admitted. She had enough concerns just making it right for Lincoln. She hadn't really prepared herself for that. In fact, she was almost avoiding seeing him on his two feet. There was just this… Fear. 'Fear that he wouldn't be on them for much longer again.'

'Yeah. Good you asked, to be honest. And not just cause you're looking out for me.', Luna smiled, showing Lori she noticed her efforts. Lori felt a little better because of that. 'Be careful, ya know? Fine line to walk. You're too careful, he might get angry, but if you're not careful enough…'

'Literally. Gotta try and balance it.', Lori replied, gripping onto the bannister. 'Not exactly my area of expertise lately. Or ever.'

Luna noticed Lori's changing mood, and offered a fist bump. 'Chin up, Lori! I believe in you, and I'm sure Lincoln is thrilled to hang out with you today at the park! I may or may not have heard him say that.', she grinned.

Lori felt a pang of happiness battle the ever present pang of sadness in her heart from hearing that. She was looking forwards to it too. Last time she and Lincoln had hung out ended up being real fun, with a few bumps. 'Could we recreate that?', she wondered hopefully, as Lincoln wheeled onto the top of the stairs.

He looked down. Daunting. Something he never imagined it could be. Once, when times were ever so simpler, he would have simply dashed down the steps, racing for the next adventure, the steps just a doorway he had to pass.

Now? Now it was a wall, reminding him of his own mortality. Of how dangerous this beautiful world could be.

The wooden steps… Had they multiplied? Lincoln's vision doubled. He wanted to try. He really wanted to.

'I… I wanna try to take one step, at least one, just to see if I can… I can always ask for help later. First, just one test. I'd be careful. I'm not… I'm not broken. Just a little fragile.'

He tried…

But he didn't get to.

'Don't worry, Linc! I'll literally help you!', Lori reassured, marching up the steps two at a time, trying on her most reassuring smile.

Lincoln sighed. He knew Lori meant well, but this kinda killed his attempt.

His hand hung limply by the side as Lori lifted him for a piggyback ride down the steps.

She noticed his sordid expression, and the two both gulped.

Hopefully, that would change by the end of the day…


'The horrific attack at the Royal Woods observatory/science museum left none dead, but many injured, including rich industrialist Lord Alan Tetherby, brother to surprise mayoral candidate and runaway favorite Bertrand…'

CLICK!

'It was terrifying. The big thing, it was like a lightning monster, and it nearly hit me! I'm afraid of electric shocks, ever since mama got hit by one. She's better now, no singes. But for a second, I thought I'd know the feeling. But Ms. Guardian, she took it better than mama did! I'm a little less scared now. I'm still scared. Lightning is strong. I'll be on the lookout. But it's nice to know Ms. Guardian is also on the lookout!'

CLICK!

'Them dang aliens are taking over, I tell you! You really think this big for her britches SJW GIRL is from here? Nah, that's gotta be an alien to have such balls to come here, to man country, and try and prance around like she's fuckin' Hercules! She coulda killed everyone there! Heck, how do we know if she means well? And if she does, she shoulda just killed that monster from the first minute! It's unrealistic, for one! Must be the emotions clouding her brain…'

CLICK!

'Maybe if you spent less time trying to glory hunt her for views, Katherine, you'd get some real reporting done!'

'Mark, you're just the cameraman, okay? This viewhunting is what keeps us out of the streets!'

'Katherine, your mic is on!'

'OH FOR FU…'

CLICK!

'GRAMMARLY IS AN ONLINE…'

'I DON'T NEED IT!', Lyberti screamed out from exhaustion, her head bumping lightly next to the keyboard, her glasses reflecting a well of information that was utterly unnecessary to her investigation. She took another cookie and bit into it with frustration, but also hunger. 'Struggling to dig up evidence makes me snacky.'

Lyberti felt extremely frustrated. Sure, it had only been an hour, but Royal Woods wasn't exactly news central, even with such a scary event. The scant few videos and articles she could dig up for clues had provided ('how fitting) scant few pieces of information. 'I already know all this! People got hurt, Guardian kicked ass, good stuff happened, no one knows anything about Barbed Wire, sexist guy has the crappiest video, grammarly is my arch enemy!'

Lyberti sighed, her hair almost seeming to droop. Her helmet, which also donned her journalist hat, drooped accordingly. She looked down at the crumbs of her angy cookie bite, and blew on them softly to make them dance. 'The only crumbs I can locate so far.', she groaned. Her eyes grew wishful, like a kid at a wishing well. 'Do you happen to lead to the head of a city wide crime/corruption scheme?'

When no reply came, Lyberti rolled around on her chair, letting out one dramatic sigh after another. She hated to whine, but it was REALLY off to a bad start, her helping The Guardian. 'She didn't kid about how little we knew.', she mused, staring at the blurry image of her mom coming back into her vision every once in a while. 'Not only is Barbed Wire a complete unknown, but The Raven is, somehow, even more so unknown!'

It was true. Not a single useful search had popped up, though Lyberti DID find a really cool rendition of the poem, and had been listening to it on loop to at least side stimm as she researched. 'It's quite the mood right now. Nevermore. Nevermore. Never stinkin' more.'

Lyberti stopped spinning when she got too dizzy, and as she did, her mom came into focus. How tall the picture seemed to be. So far away, like she was a goat at the bottom of a snowy mountain, the top obscured by fluffy white clouds. 'I know. It's not like me to… Not barge into the wall with another plan. Butttt, in my defense, last time I tried that, I unleashed a supervillain. Sort of.'

Lyberti grunted, as if she were under trial by the picture. 'Still working on making up for that. Oh, retractions!', she blurted, clicking her tongue in annoyance. 'Look at me. Going nowhere, but circles.'

With not much else to do, Lyberti strengthened the signal on her earrings, listening in to the police scanner Guardian used.

Not much was happening. It was kind of a slow day, actually. Lyberti hated it. 'I HAVE to make up for my dumb mistake! I can't if no one is going to crime!'

Lyberti face palmed at that last sentence. 'Great, really learn your lesson, huh, me?'

All she needed was a stroke of luck, just one, and she had a chance to be like her heroes.

And sometimes, you just get one. It all depends on how you use it.

'This is Captain Griffin, reporting from the industrial district, Sullivan boulevard.'

'Sullivan boulevard? That's where Heist was!', Lyberti sprung up like she was a bouncy tiger, and listened intently, taking notes and doodles instantly. Out of nowhere, a break!

'Oh, to find our missing person, I assume?', a voice Lyberti didn't recognize staticed. It sounded very real, yet also not, a contradiction symphony.

'Yes. I guess I'm relieved it wasn't bail for once. Not that anyone would for that…'

'Shh!', the other voice silenced, surprising Lyberti. 'You don't want to send a panic, right? If the people knew they were out there…'

Lyberti's eyes widened. 'Not bail? That's rare. Very rare. Anyone who's no one knows that you can get away with literal murder in this city.', she thought with a dissatisfied and all too knowing frown. But no bail? She could only think of three candidates.

'Heist, that magician guy who kidnapped those kids, and… Barbed Wire.'

Lyberti gulped. Those last two seemed to be connected to The Raven, according to Guardian, and while the former wasn't, she could very well end up being, what with her power set. Regardless, this was a lead, if a very small one.

'And I'll hunt it like it was the size of the sun!', Lyberti declared, rushing off to gather her journalist gear and hit the road.

But as she left the room and tried to hurtle out of her apartment, her father stood in her way.

'Lyberti, why do my dad senses tell me you're off on a dangerous journalist quest?', he asked, eyebrow raised and arms crossed, like some sort of mall cop, but you know, one that actually tries.

Lyberti raised an eyebrow in response. 'Cause you listen in to my room, and have no comprehension of the concept of privacy?'

Mr. Evans pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. 'Okay, you've got me there. But after what happened last time…'

Lyberti huffed. She REALLY didn't need multiple reminders of that a day. 'I know, I know… But Leo's got other stuff today! I don't wanna impose!'

Mr. Evans smiled at that modicum of character growth, but still shook his head. 'No, sweetie, I need some serious adult supervision, especially if you're traversing this neighborhood.'

'I've lived here all my life? Duh?', Lyberti pointed out, swishing her hands like she was serving a backhand at her dad in this tennis match of a debate.

He had a response swing, though. 'That was BEFORE all the crazy super villains!'

'Darn. Got me there.', Lyberti admitted, snapping. Still, she had a small smile on her face. 'Well, I guess it COULD be fun to go the two of us!'

Mr. Evans, however, had no small smile. He bit his cheek and avoided Lyberti's eye contact. 'Uh oh.', she thought, disappointed.

'Star, after what The Guardian did for us, of course I'd want to help! Heck, I'd do that in general!', he flung his arms up in the air to illustrate how serious he was, and then they limped by his sides, weighed down by reality. 'But with how tight things are… We can't afford for me to skip work.'

Lyberti pouted, her body language now small and let down. Even with the recent days off the school had offered after the observatory attack, her dad couldn't take a breather. It made her mission all the more important. How could she support her family without succeeding today?

'Then who will go with me? Dad, this is not just important for my career, or for the city! It could allow us to live instead of, well, work to live!'

Mr. Evans tapped his chin in thought. It really WAS a pickle. 'Maybe we can look outside?'

The two Evans went out to the hallway of their building, trying to consider their neighbors. 'Mr. Shanks is not exactly friendly, though he'd scare off anyone. Ms. Beet is too old. Mx. Danson, nah, they're too busy making that life size mold of me. Which… I don't know if I find that hot or not.'

Lyberti tried to ignore that sussy statement, and making binoculars with her hands on her eyes, she searched for an answer, a lifeline in the sea of opportunity she was drowning in.

And, like a lonely raft, there it was, reaching out, with unknown foundations, but necessary risk.

'Look!', Lyberti pointed triumphantly, at a little poster on the bulletin board. It was written with beautiful glitter, on purple construction paper, and little cats were dancing around the words.

'Babysitter?', Mr. Evans asked out loud, taking the notice off. When he saw the name of the babysitter in question, he nodded thoughtfully. 'Hmm… Not bad…'

'Totally not bad! She's always so nice when we check on her! She even helped me with my science homework once!', Lyberti was quick to remind, practically vibrating from the success in her mind's eye.

Mr. Evans chuckled, and patted her helmeted head softly, making a little bonk noise. 'True, true! Oh, I guess it could work. She's a little odd, but I trust her.'

'Yes! And now I can repay The Guardian's trust! Look at all this beautiful circular storytelling! A veritable kaleidoscope of progression! This HAS to work!', Lyberti made circles with her arms, spinning around to really emphasize her point.

Mr. Evans stopped her spinning with a simple tap, offering a gentle reminder. 'Lyberti, honey, you know, it's okay if it doesn't work out EXACTLY the way you imagine, right? Progress isn't linear!'

Lyberti scoffed. 'That's weak talk, dad. With that mindset, I'll be right back to where I was!'

Mr. Evans shrugged. Can't win them all. He was at least, less worried, thanks to the babysitter solution. 'All right, I won't keep you. Come on…'

Lyberti burst forwards like a train, excitedly knocking on the door of the apartment she needed.

Mr. Evans laughed affectionately again at his daughter.

'...Let's ask Ms. Pepin what she thinks.'


'Bones, sinking like stones

All that we've fought for…

Homes, places we've grown

All of us are done for…'

A light spring rain, the kind that's short, that doesn't ruin a fun sunny day, in fact, the one that kickstarts a beautiful day by creating a rainbow, cascaded on the windshield of Vanzilla, but when Lori stared at the droplets, seeing her reflection, it was small and big at the same time. Today could be good. Today, she could do some good. Just maybe…

Just maybe…

'Eh? Eh?' Lori turned around in her seat, an expectant smile on her face as she stared at Lincoln, who stared back quizzically. Not exactly the response she expected to the somehow sad and happy melody gently echoing off the rain.

'You know…', she sang while lightly bopping her head from side to side. 'We live in a beautiful world… Yeah we do, yeah we do…'

Lincoln blinked in response. He tilted his head and drawled a slightly impatient and confused 'So?'

The surprise was etched on Lori's face, and her brows knitted in a frowny kind of way, an odd revelation. 'You really don't remember? Coldplay's Parachutes!'

'THAT'S Coldplay?', Lincoln asked incredulously. He scratched his head from his extra padded and danger proof seat, which kinda ticked him off, but he didn't say anything.

Lori nodded, stifling a giggle. 'Yeah, first album. Definitely a different sound. But I'm really surprised you don't remember!', she remarked, as she took a left turn, taking them closer to the park. A picnic basket on the seat next to her got a soft pat, the red and white blanket soothing to the touch. 'Oh, you used to dance to this all the time when mom and dad drove!'

'I was a baby.', Lincoln pointed out dryly.

'Okay, yeah, but like, it literally helped you smile again when you had an ouchie, and then you'd tucker yourself out, and aww, you'd fall asleep in the car, it was soooo precious!', Lori explained, getting misty eyed from the memory. She stared at Lincoln with a watery smile, but Lincoln looked the same as before.

'Eh. All it makes me feel now is kinda weird. Anywho, are we there yet?'

Lori sighed, not out of frustration ofc ('I can be petty, but not that much'), more just sadness. 'I was sure he'd really enjoy that. Oh, well, not gonna let that slow me down, there's loads of fun left.', she thought determinedly, clenching her fist, and Vanzilla took another turn. 'Almost, Lincoln! Don't worry!'

Lori's mouth twitched into another small smile. 'I would have flown you if you asked, it would have been faster.'

Lincoln grimaced, nose twitching down. 'Nah, it's… Fine.', he didn't mean to sound annoyed or insulted, but it kinda came out by accident. Truthfully, he looked forward to flying with Lori again. I mean, who wouldn't? 'The fact I can even think of that sentence…', he thought with a small, invisible chuckle. But he still frowned at the idea. 'No. I have to get back to normal. I can't let anyone carry me today.', the words tumbled around inside his mind, like the wipers on a car.

That hadn't stopped Lori from carrying Lincoln down the stairs, or wheeling him into the car. But he was going to work on it for the rest of the day, that was for sure.

Lori, meanwhile, stared sadly at that. 'Did I say something wrong?', she wondered, as she saw them approach the park. 'I hope not. He's been through more than enough. Thanks to…'

She gritted her teeth and clenched everything hard. 'No! Shh! Not now! I won't ruin this day!'

Lincoln noticed how suddenly pained she looked, and bit his bottom lip. 'Did I say something wrong? I better be careful. Lori's trying really hard. She only wants to help me.'

Parking now, the two Loud kids ended up staring at each other, and both wanted to color the mood a little brighter, but weren't sure how.

Lori then noticed the comic she had bought Lincoln on the day she revealed her secret to him, lying on his lap.

'Hey, isn't that the 'Red Flashlight' I bought you?', Lori asked, turning around to stare back at Lincoln.

Lincoln, looking a little surprised, rubbed the back of his neck. 'Um, yeah! It is! I already read it, it was great!'

'Nice! What happened in it?'

Lincoln looked even more surprised now, raising his eyebrows so high, he wondered if they'd fly off like Lori. 'You… You wanna know?'

'I mean, if you wanna tell me! Don't wanna force anything!', Lori reassured, waving her hands.

'Like, yeah, I'd like to tell you! You just… You were never interested before.', Lincoln commented, a modicum of melancholy spreading on his face. 'You girls kinda made it seem like it was… You know… Childish.'

Lori nodded, regretful. 'Yeah, we can be jerks sometimes, I know. But putting aside what a grade A hypocrite I'd be if I wasn't interested…', she ribbed herself, making Lincoln laugh a little. '...Well… You always give our interests a chance. Only fair we do the same in return. Plus, it's a special day for you, not for me! If this makes you happy, then okie dokie, artichokie!', Lori saluted.

The two then burst into laughter. 'Okie dokie, artichokie?', Lincoln asked, and Lori shrugged. 'My humor's all weird recently. I'm giving Luan a run for her money.'

The two laughed again, then smiled affectionately at each other, love filling their hearts. 'Well, maybe we can read it at the park together! That would be more fun than just talking!'

'Great! Oooh, maybe you could also show me that new magic trick you've been practicing?', Lori asked.

Lincoln smiled again, eyes slightly sparkly. Lori had noticed? 'She really is getting better.', he thought happily. 'Sure!'

'Sounds like a plan, man with the plan!', Lori winked, and she got out of the car, taking a little stretch, her decently toned and muscled body reflecting in Lincoln's sight. 'She's so strong, despite everything she's gone through. I gotta overpower too.', Lincoln mused determinedly, and he opened his belt, only to find Lori opening his door and reaching in.

'Here, little bro, let me help you get out!'

Lincoln grunted a little. 'I'd rather go out myself.'

'Oh, but your…'

'I gotta try and check, right?'

Lori fought the urge to protect for now, and moved a little back. Lincoln, glad he had the moment, tried to move out on his own, but accidentally brushed a little too fast. 'Ow…', Lincoln uttered, not as quietly as he hoped, and he clasped his mouth.

Lori, out of pure familial instinct, went back to lifting him. 'Oh, it's okay, this is too hard for now, I'll help!'

As she placed the stiff Lincoln down on his chair, he mumbled a little. At the very least, he didn't need to be carried or moved. Unless it was steep, or uphill, or long.

'...Dang it.', Lincoln thought of himself, as he wheeled with Lori towards the park. Lori, basket with all the things they needed bouncing back and forth from her hand, sighed sadly at Lincoln. 'I hope you'll feel better, Linc.', she thought. Slowly turning her vision back to the road and park in front of her, she gasped as she thought she caught the sight of…

'Barbed Wire?', she wondered, almost aloud, a tiny whisper. It wasn't them in the end, rather just actual barbed wire, but she was sure she felt a pair of eyes burning holes in the back of her head. When she turned around, she again saw nothing but barbed wire.

'I better call Lyberti. Check on how it's going for her.', Lori smartly deduced, and she tapped her earring to contact her friend.


'You know, when I decided to get into babysitting, I pictured taking a client to the arcade, the mall, the park.'

Pepin Fenrisulfer, her bangs all fried up and on ends like she just shocked herself a few times (for science!), and her lab coat adorned with now with a rainbow scarf, held the hand of her charge, Lyberti, who puffed up her chest, trying to be brave in the face of an old, painful place.

'I didn't really picture going to a regular ass street to look around for clues of the whereabouts of a supervillain.'

Lyberti glanced at Pepin, pouting a bit like Kermit the Frog. 'So is that a… No?'

Pepin, with a wild grin and kooky stare from her goggled eyes, clapped her hands. 'DUH, OF COURSE NOT! THAT'S SO COOL!'

She withdrew her notebook, writing with one of her cat pens, tongue sticking out in concentration. 'I'd been meaning to research that Heist anyway! Such awesome tech! EEEE! Curious that it took on that birb form, but neat! I'd LOVE to ask those two some questions!'

Pepin then added on a memo to herself, recording 'Plus, if they could help me build some sort of better werewolf locator…'

'A what?', Lyberti asked, curious, trying to look over Pepin's shoulders. Pepin hid the notebook and shook her head. 'Oh, um, nothing important. Let's just get this started, buddy!'

Lyberti clicked her tongue. 'Doesn't take a journalist to know that was utter bullpoopoo.', she observed, but let it slide. She had more important things to do, after all. 'Okay, let's start asking around then!'

Suddenly, her earrings buzzed, The Guardian's voice crackling out. 'Lyberti? One two, how are you?'

'Three four, I… Kick ass on spore?', Lyberti tried to think of a rhyme, smiling a :3 smile.

'Oooh, samesies!', Pepin cried out, high fiving, then her eyes widened. 'Wait, who are you talking too? Is there an invisible person here? HELLO? DO YOU WANT AN INVISIBLE HUG?'

Lyberti giggled, then put on a slightly smug and proud pose, hands crossed, eyes closed. 'Oh, well, see, I'm talking to The Guardian. We're kinda best friends, family, partn…'

'Lyberti…', Guardian 'told off' affectionately, shaking her head back where she was. 'I see you've got someone with you?', she noticed, happy to hear. Safety came in numbers, after all.

'Yeah, we're investigating at Sullivan Boulevard!', Lyberti excitedly shared, flapping her arms. Pepin, who was still super excited from the presence of the Guardian, gave a thumb's up she couldn't see.

'Sullivan Boulevard?', Guardian asked, concern hitching her throat. 'Lyberti, I thought you'd mostly stick to your place! Things are dangerous out there right now!'

Lyberti grimaced, leaning on a poster for Bertrand Tetherby that covered over a Mayor Volte reelection poster. Her tone and body language took on a decidedly less confident nature. 'Oh, um… I know, but see, that's why my dad got me Ms. Pepin here to, um, babysit. Ugh. I prefer supervise, but you get the picture.'

Guardian considered aloud, hmm'ing. 'Hmm, well… What's she like? Does she know the threat?'

'Ms. The Guardian, ma'am, I am quite familiar! We met, too, REMEMBER?', Pepin asked a tad too loudly, making Lyberti and Guardian cringe. 'You landed all so cool next to me while I was dealing with the werewolf, BTW, SPEAKING OF THAT, DID YOU SEE WHERE HE…'

'Ms. Pepin, please!', Lyberti blurted, covering her ears.

'Yeah, my ears aren't indestructible, ya know?', Guardian complained.

'Oops. Sorry.', Pepin said, eyes drooping, but she raised them up quickly. 'Point is, did you see where he went?'

Her high hopes were sadly melted by The Guardian's warm, apologetic voice. 'Oh, sorry, Pepin. I was so busy with Barbed Wire, I hadn't even noticed. Did you get any progress on him? I think he works for The Raven too.'

The Raven. The name kinda sent chills down Pepin's spine. She had never seen him, she stayed at the lab most times, and she was told to avoid any one who knew him or mentioned him. 'Oh, wow. This is way more serious than I realized, and Lyberti told me about the potential escaped convict.'

'Escaped convict?', Guardian asked, sounding a little panicky. 'Do you need my help?'

Lyberti panicked too, but for different reasons. 'NO! I mean, no, it's okay, girlllll, we're chill, we're cool, we're bazinga.'

You didn't need to see Guardian to know she was cocking an eyebrow.

'What I mean is…', Lyberti took on a decidedly more serious and determined tone. 'It's nothing Ms. Pepin and her inventions can't handle, and besides, I'm not going anywhere dangerous, I'm not tracking down the convict! Just getting info!'

Lyberti explained her hypothesis, how one of Heist, the magician, or Barbed Wire could be out and about, and relayed the conversation she heard between Captain Griffin and a mystery voice. Guardian found it all very interesting. 'This could certainly lead us to some answers. The latter two seem to work for him, or at least know him, and the former at least might have heard of him, could get some intel.'

Guardian's voice took on a higher note. 'It's weird… I was sure I saw those latter two today. My eyes might be playing tricks on me, or they might not. Be on high alert, all of us.'

Lyberti and Pepin nodded affirmatively. 'Yes!'

'And if you need me, do NOT hesitate. My job is to protect you, Lyberti. You can help, but you will NOT be hurt under my watch. I want that to be VERY clear.', Guardian authoritatively commanded. She may have seemed bossy to an outsider, but it was clear she was just trying to be her namesake.

'Okay.', Lyberti said a little less assuredly. 'Hopefully, I do well enough NOT to need that.', she mused.

'Okay. Hey, um, thanks guys.', Guardian said, a little adorkably. 'I've been… Really struggling to find out what this guy wants. It's REALLY important, and if we can stop him, we can do a whole lot of good for the city. So, like, it's literally so awesome of you two to lend a hand and all. For what it's worth, I have full faith in both of you!'

Lyberti and Pepin couldn't control the widening smiles on their faces. 'Oh, wow! Thanks!', Lyberti said. Pepin enthused 'Anything to help! That's all I try to do!'

'Great! Call me if you need anything!', Guardian bid farewell, and hung up the radio call.

Lyberti turned around, feeling a little more confident now. Still worried, but confident, hell bent on not letting her hero down. 'Okay, let's get to work then!'

The two girls snapped into action, going around the street, searching for any and all clues.

They examined every citizen that passed them, asking if they had seen anything or anyone suspicious, but no dice. Outside of the jewel store robbery that morning, it had been a surprisingly quiet day, at least according to the people.

'I saw a cool picture of a raccoon today. Look at him, he thinks he's people!', one man said, showing the two a picture of a raccoon filing in tax returns, then stealing a lady's lunch.

'I WOULD LIKE TO ADOPT.', Pepin exclaimed, cooing, while Lyberti scowled. 'Let's keep looking. When they say it's a quiet day here, you know it's true.'

Every store they went into, stores that had been robbed by Heist, all reported no suspicious activity, no warnings, no nothing.

A barren wasteland.

'Hey, Lyberti, look!', Pepin waved from next to a big hot dog mascot who was spreading condiments on themselves. 'I guess you could say they're WEENIE hungry! Maybe they want some more SAUCEage with that sausage! Something something blowjob joke!'

Pepin let out belly laughs, but sadly, Lyberti didn't muster a smile, even though she kinda wanted to. Pepin glanced sadly at her. 'Hey, um, maybe we should get some foodie? Or drinks? I can get you a decaff! I don't share coffee, nothing personal.', Pepin commented, only to turn around and find her face on a 'Don't serve coffee' poster. 'Shit.'

Lyberti stood up, shaking her head. 'No way, no how! I, we, have more important things to do!'

'But maybe you'll be WEENIE happy!', Pepin offered, but Lyberti just walked off.

Pepin sighed. 'Oh, I hope I'm not failing you, Lyberti.'

The owner then came up. 'Can you leave Mx. Weenie alone?'

'YOU NEVER SAW ME!', Pepin screamed and with a smoke bomb, ran off, totally visible.

The owner stared at her, then Mx. Weenie.

He slowly began to open his mouth at the head of the mascot…

The police scanner offered no clues too. Griffin wasn't talking, and everyone else didn't even seem to know about the escapee.

'9-5-6-7-4-3-5-6-7–8-4-3'

'What does that code mean?', Lyberti asked, energetic, frantically searching on her phone. 'Taking the laundry out? Like, laundered money?'

Pepin glanced down. 'No, I think it means actual laundry.'

'Dang it! I hope their socks get wet and it's all squelchy!', Lyberti cursed, making Pepin gasp. 'Okay, okay, too harsh. But still, this sucks.'

'Don't worry, chin up!', Pepin said, using a 'chin up' device to push Lyberti's. 'We'll find something!'

But since the two couldn't just break into Heist's apartment, and also didn't know where it was, it left one option in Lyberti's mind.

'Which is?', Pepin asked, as Lyberit led them back to the main street. She examined the place and registered disgust and pity. The gutters were faulty, the stone walls broken, even the leaves were torn. It seemed like Royal Woods got worse and worse every day.

And if that wasn't bad enough…

'The Fox's Den…', Pepin murmured in concern, while Lyberti took it in with a mixture of regret and steadfastness. 'Not a fan! It sounds SUPER scary! My boss (Bertrand Tetherby by the way, I'm so proud of his election campaign!) told me this place was real dangerous!', Pepin informed, shaking a little. 'I mean, it SOUNDS epic, I bet they all have cool nicknames and backstories and maybe there's a little piano guy like in the westerns my brother loved OKAY MAYBE I DO WANNA GO COME ON LET'S GO BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!'

Lyberti gulped a little. The place WAS dangerous, which Guardian AND her dad wouldn't like. She didn't want to repeat any mistakes.

But she DID have an inventor with some scarily good defense weapons on her (hence why dad had agreed to this in the first place, really).

And she wanted, no…

She needed this.

So bad.

She needed to make up for it so bad.

'...Here goes nothing.', Lyberti self deprecatingly remarked, as the two entered the Den, ready to do all they could, hoping that was even close to enough.

The bar, as ever, was filled to the brim, and the people occupying it were going on with their lives as normal. They chatted, they drank, they laughed. Lyberti knew that living in this neighborhood made you desperate. She didn't judge.

'But when this has to be where we all gather, then the city has failed us.', she thought, then ooh'd at the line and wrote it down for a future article.

Slowly, the patrons observed the open door and their new guests. Some coughed and carried on, some seemed reflective. One got up and immediately sat down when Pepin raised a giant ray gun with the sign 'Hot Pizza sauce and cheese'. No one who was that cruel would mess with them now. But a decent number barely seemed to mind. 'Ain't that the kid that got Heist all riled up and stuff?', asked one thug. 'Aye, that's her.', an older criminal replied, barely awake from his grey mess of hair and beard.

Lyberti lashed at the guilt inside her mind. She had to focus. 'I am a journalist now, not just a kid, and my associate…'

'Babysitter!', Pepin 'helpfully' informed.

'...Sigh. Babysitter and I, well, we need some answers.'

The criminals laughed, of course. Lyberti felt a little embarrassed at how silly she sounded. 'Oh, yeah, sure, ask the criminals for info! What is this, a directory? First The Guardian, now this!', remarked a weapons expert.

Lyberti and Pepin gasped and almost squeed. 'A breakthrough!', Lyberti thought, and she cleared her throat, trying to sound tough. 'As a matter of fact, The Guardian sent me, so there, buster!', she said like a cowboy, leaned on nothing, and fell. Pepin, to make her feel less bad, fell too. 'Ow, my spleen, I need it to filter my blood and help with immunity, though it CAN be removed and I could live, so it's not a major need, but still, like, ow!'

Everyone at the bar silenced. They didn't take HER not seriously anymore. 'Why would she send you?', a petty thief asked, hoping she could convince the girl this was a bad idea. 'What makes you think we'll answer?', another one asked, downing a mug of Carlsberg.

'Because this is about all of us!', Lyberti explained, getting all glowy. Pepin was impressed by her bravery.

'Kid, that's cute sentiment, that's a real nice gift card, slap it on a t-shirt…', Rocky the bartender exclaimed, rough but almost kind in his reality check. 'But this is a dog eat dog world. That woman stops some of us from getting by every day. Why should we risk our necks, especially if it's about what we think it is?'

'...You know?', Lyberti asked, confused. Pepin lowered her hot pizza cheese and sauce ray down, and suddenly looked away, at the werewolf scanner she already had. It didn't give her any info at all. He hadn't been here. Dang. Lyberti herself was a little frustrated by that. She needed Pepin to make her look serious, it was bad enough everyone treated her like a kid.

Sonia and Dolly, manicuring their nails, didn't even look up. 'Duh! It's about The Rav…'

The lockpicker silenced them harshly, which caused a chandelier to drop on them, then an anvil. #Justice for Olivia. Then the lockpick turned, fear of god in his eyes. Lyberti seemed concerned AND frightened. 'Don't even SAY his name!'

'...I don't understand. Why is everyone so scared? I know The… I mean, he's…', Lyberti corrected as everyone gave her wild looks. '...I know he's been behind some serious stuff recently. I should know.'

Those criminals, those who stole because they had to, all remembered their humanity, and offered a gentle 'Why?'

'I got kidnapped, or, well, held hostage, by one of his workers.'

Pepin gasped and offered a comforting hand. Lyberti shook it off, trying to get serious, ignoring the sympathy. 'Look, it's not about me! It's about doing what's right, after I fucked up so badly! Whatever all this crazy stuff has been, it's leading up to something! If you have ANYTHING about him, or those who work for him, please, speak up!'

The asshole criminals, they just went back to what they do. The ones that had reasons, they looked apologetic. Only Rocky dared speak. 'You remind me of a friend. She's better than this. I wish I could help. No kids should be hurt by crime, no matter how desperate.'

He wiped his eyes with his apron, and walked up to Lyberti, offering her a chocolate milkshake on the house. 'Honest, there are good people in here, who just got bad breaks. And those good people would want to help, even if it meant things stayed the same. But we don't know anything, because if you do…'

He made a throat cutting sound, and Lyberti nodded, eyes glowering in fear. She tightened her helmet. Pepin lifted a hotter pizza ray.

Just as they began to leave in regret, Rocky added one more thing, whispering in her ear.

'Worst part is, well, there are rumors.'

'Rumors?', Lyberti asked, getting her pen and pad out.

'...They say that perhaps… He might make things better for criminals.'

'By letting them steal all the time?', Lyberti asked, worried.

'By making it that we won't need to.'

Lyberti tilted her head, confused. 'How would that be bad?'

'Kid, anyone with that much power… Is usually a bad sign.', Rocky explained, and Lyberti gulped, leaving now with even more questions than answers.

The Raven wanted to stop crime?

He wanted that much power?

What would be his gain?

What did he actually want?

And worse…

'If he's someone with good intentions, ready to do all this… He might be worse than we thought.', Lyberti thought, gripping her pen so hard it broke.


Lori and Lola Text History:

LORI: (Smiling emoji) Hey, Lola! How's it going with the pageant?

LOLA: Lori? Why are YOU texting me?

LORI: Can't a big sister take interest in her little sister's competition?

LOLA: I suppose. I AM very interesting.

LORI: (Laughing emoji)

LORI: Anyway, what's up? You seemed kinda… Worried.

LOLA: Worried? Mwah?

LORI: You were spreading makeup all over your face.

LOLA: I always do that!

LORI: You looked like a deranged clown eyeing me for lunch.

LOLA: No, I looked like a FABULOUS clown eyeing you for lunch!

LORI: (Eye roll emoji) My point is, do you need any help? Letting the stress take over you never helps, I can vouch for that! Like, when I fou That is, um, when I take a test, taking things easy and segmenting every part of the test into easy pieces makes it go smoother! Like, I can literally encourage you! Wish you luck!

LOLA: LORI!

LORI: W…What?

LOLA: DON'T SAY THAT!

LORI: Say… What? Wish you lu…?

LOLA: HUSH, WOMAN!

LOLA: Wishing me… I mean, saying anything like that is bad lu I MEAN IT DOESN'T HELP!

LORI: Oh, yeah. Superstition, right? Bad luck?

LOLA: (ANGRY EMOJI) UH, YEAH! DUH! SHUT UP ABOUT IT!

LORI: OH, SORRY, SORRY!

LOLA: Sigh. Look, I have enough nerves as it is. I need QUIET. SILENCE.

LORI: Right, right!

LOLA:

LOLA: Lori?

LORI: Yes, little princess?

LOLA: Silence from you. NO TEXTING. Here, get yourself something nice.

LOLA: (Money emoji)

END OF CONVO


Lori sighed, staring at the text history. 'Emoji money doesn't buy anything, Lola.', she muttered, annoyed, though not at Lola. 'Geez, I really messed that up. I totally forgot about all that superstition stuff!', Lori cupped her chin, worriedly glancing at her phone. 'I hope Lola will be okay… No thanks to me.', she felt let down in herself, and as if that wasn't bad enough…

SMACK!

Lori had walked right into a tree, accidentally uprooting it slightly.

'Gasp! Lincoln, cover me!', Lori cried, and Lincoln tried his best, though frankly, Lori was kinda bigger than him, and his noodle arms could only hide so much from, especially from a seated position. Still, Lori managed to set the tree back in place with only a squirrel serving as witness, and it seemed not too bothered.

'Sorry, Tree.', Lori apologized, stroking the tree's leaves. 'I was just distracted by my sister, she's struggling and…'

A gale of laughter hit Lori's ears, and she turned around to see Lincoln, shaking in his seat, giggling at the silly spectacle. Lori, turning a little red, grunted. 'Oh, come on, as if you've… Never spoken to a tree before.'

Lori face palmed at her own ridiculous display, though she admitted that seeing Lincoln happy made it a tad more tolerable. 'All right, all right, that was QUITE silly.'

'Nah, what, silly, nooo.', Lincoln barbed, smirking at Lori. The blonde smirked back and put on a haughty, sarcastic voice. 'Why, you are so right, Linc! Talking to tree's is all the rage nowadays, you know?', she then took a selfie next to the tree, making a kissy face. '#TBT: Trees, bitch, trees.'

The two then both burst into laughter at the silly gag. Calming down, they smiled small smiles at each other. It was nice to just laugh together.

'Speaking of tree trunks, let's test yours, okay?', Lori offered, digging into her backpack. Lincoln hid a small gulp. He needed this to work. He couldn't handle this crap anymore. 'The faster I can get past this…', he thought, not finishing the sentence. He knew what he wanted, his heart screamed for it.

Trying to appear more confident, he barbed 'My tree trunks are faster than yours even were, Lori! Even now!'

'My P.E teacher would agree, to be honest, and you HATE exercise!', Lori remarked, struggling to hide an excited smile. Lincoln grimaced. True, he really DIDN'T like to work out. It was part of his worries this week, and why he was still working on his physiotherapy. 'Yeah… It's been… Hard.', Lincoln choked out, hating to admit that.

Lori, practically giddy, dashed to him, floating here and there. 'Well, that's about to change! I've literally got you, little bro!'

Out of nowhere, Lori slapped down a helmet of sorts onto Lincoln's head. The boy's head moved around, a little confused. 'Who turned off the sun?', he asked, waving around. 'Lori, is that you?'

'Bark!'

'Lori?', Lincoln asked, legitimately confused.

'Hey, I'm not THAT kind of bitch!', Lori joked self-deprecatingly, making Lincoln laugh. 'Sorry, girl, we can't play with you right now. Run along!', Lori led the doggo away, and returned to Lincoln, practically beaming. 'He seems happy!', she thought, feeling a little more sure of herself.

'So, what IS this?', Lincoln asked, trying to remain balanced, though his legs shook ever so much. Lori held his shoulders, calming him down. Gently whispering, she directed. 'It's a special VR game added to your headset, I bought it yesterday when I borrowed it from you.'

'I thought you were gonna play Mario Odyssey!', Lincoln said, surprised.

Lori laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. 'I might have done that too, while I had it.'

'Lori, my homework words are dancing again, I think I need some focus help…', Leni was asking, when she saw Lori in their room, jumping up and down, silly grin on her face.

'Wahoo! Hiyah! Take that, Madam Broode! Your Chain Chompkins is only really adorable! Come on, Cappy, Cascade Kingdom is our BITCHHHHH!', Lori chorused, letting out a big 'Woooo!', pumping her fists, then skipping to the next stage.

Leni giggled, sitting down to watch, and snacking on some popcorn.

'Look. Cappy is my son and Mario is my fwiend.', Lori explained, enjoying the twinkling of Lincoln's giggle, enjoying him back into her a bit to feel a little steadier, enjoying being the source of joy for once.

When she felt him, she felt love. Felt this great need, to tell him what he meant to her, to tell him that she was so sorry, to tell him…

'My heart is yours

It's you that I hold on to

That's what I do

And I know I was wrong

But I won't let you down'

She ignored the rest of the verse reverberating in her mind, and chose to simply ruffle Lincoln's hair, hoping she could somehow transmit so much love, that he would never be hurt again. 'I'd rather fill all the oceans with my tears if your eyes remained dry.', she mused, affection ringing across her mind.

'Now… You ready?', she asked, moving away a little. Lincoln nodded, having traversed the main menu, and opened up the game he needed to put on.

It wasn't that much of a game, of course. More of a fun way to complete his exercises. What Lincoln needed to do was a toe extension exercise. As Lori explained (having read up all night about the physiotherapy), Lincoln needed to remove his shoes and have his feet flat on the ground. After lifting the leg of his choice, and resting its ankle on his other leg, he'd need to flex his toes up towards his shin, hold for five seconds, relax, then repeat ten times. Then, he'd do it all over again with the other leg.

Lincoln greatly struggled with this, and the past few days hadn't seen much progress, despite his family's attempt. The hope was that the VR set would make it easier, distracting. Lincoln would still have to do the exercise, but thanks to the illusion, his movements would make it seem like he was leaping from one platform to the other, trying to reach the clouds in the sky. Simplistic, but an escape.

Lincoln took a deep breath, and moved his leg. 'OW!', he winced loudly, then blocked his mouth.

'Oh, wait, my bad, let me help you…', Lori started, but Lincoln protested. 'No, no, it's… It's fine…'

Lincoln tried again, he wasn't even at the exercise, just the prep, and he was failing! 'Come on, dang it, come on…', he yelled internally, begging for relief, but getting more explosions shooting up his legs, his body. Lori could see him visibly shaking, and, not able to hold it back, helped move his leg gently.

Lincoln didn't get angry, but he huffed and puffed a bit, frustrated (and out of breath). 'Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do better with the extending!', Lori tried to cheer him on, but Lincoln scoffed. 'You sound as shaky as my legs.'

Lori bit her bottom lip, and stepped away a little, giving him room. Lincoln took another deep breath, and looked at the platforms. 'This shouldn't be hard at all. I don't even need to actually hop. Just lift my toes. Anyone could do it, Lily could do it!', he cried out internally.

And he tried, he really tried so hard.

He tried to ignore the pain.

Tried to avoid its slings of fire.

More so, the chill it sent and the pounding it permeated through his heart, how it pillaged his soul of any ember of happiness or warmth. How it invaded every part of his being, as if his life was a threat, an insult.

But he could not.

When tears of struggle began beading at his eyelids, Lori couldn't help it anymore, and she tried to help again. When Lincoln lifted the headset to complain, he saw how red her face and eyes were, how she was shaking too.

He thought better of it.

Lori sat down, to be at his level, and they stared at each other, with nothing else to say, really. There was just the music of the park around them, and their silence crossing a direct line, as if to emphasize just how WRONG it all was.

Lincoln's hands, edging towards his legs, shivered like a tree branch in the wind. He closed his eyes, lips pouting, enraged at himself.

He only calmed down when a hand, Lori's, of course, reached out to hold, to share in the feeling.

Together, they slowly balanced each other.

Lori offered a kind, watery smile, and squeezed. Lincoln squeezed back. He removed his hand, 'I am not weak', he thought. But he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

With Lori's love coursing through his veins, he tried again.

And again.

And again.

He tried more than just the toe extensions, but the knee raises sent alarm bells in his head, the shoulder retractions made him so tired he almost wanted to sleep, and the overhead stretches were like a final straw. Was the damage worse than the doctors said? No, surely not. They had him long enough to know.

'Maybe… Maybe I'm just not strong enough.', Lincoln thought gloomily, and the raincloud only grew as he pondered it. The looming shadow of what had happened was spreading over him. 'I just want to walk away from it.', he didn't finish his thought as he stared at his legs.

When Lori again moved in to help, or comfort, or whatever she was trying to do, Lincoln reacted, moving his chair away, looking pissed (though really it was at himself). Lori, letting out a small gasp, looked down, and clasped her hands around her body, looking forlorn. 'I still can't save him', she thought. Lincoln looked regretful, but said nothing.

So they just sat there, feeling grounded together.

As if to add to the pain, Lori caught another odd glimpse. Was that… Mr. E?

Lori was sure she saw his hat, his cane. She could feel his stare. She could hear his thoughts. How she was proving him right. She couldn't change anything.

Then, suddenly, Lori and Lincoln heard a bump, then a cry from somewhere not far from them.

Both swiveling their heads, they spotted her: A young girl, with ginger pigtails and freckles as far as the eye could see, on the ground, holding her knee and bawling. No adults seemed to be near her as supervisors, and one could see it was a pretty nasty scratch. She'd need first aid before it could get infected.

Oh, and just to add to the matter, she was wearing a cosplay of none other than The Guardian.

Lori gulped, worry etching across her face immediately, as if the girl was one of her own. In a way, that was how Lori saw everyone these days. She stared back at Lincoln, apologetic. 'I… I didn't want to leave at any point, but there's no one there to help her and…'

Despite all the pain Lincoln felt, he was quick to reassure Lori. 'No worries, I get it! Go to her!'

Lori again seemed doubtful, biting her finger. 'Lincoln, you can be honest…'

'Lori, I'm not a monster! She needs help, go!', Lincoln urged her on, and Lori, agreeing on what was more important, dashed off to her backpack, disappearing into a restroom and reappearing asap as…

(Undertale: Fallen Down (on loop)

'The Guardian!', a park janitor cried out, and the little girl looked up, tears glistening in the sun, as her similarly clad hero floated down from the clouds, landing as gently as the water droplets from her eyes.

Lincoln stared intently, wheeling a little closer. He had seen Lori as her hero self mostly from the POV camera in her earrings, which was cool, of course, he had no complaints of the insane level of fanservice he had gotten as a fan of the genre.

And he HAD seen her a few times live: When she had saved him from Mr. Stone and his men; and when Barbed Wire had attacked the museum.

But this was different. There was no villain, no panic, no battle.

Guardian didn't need to raise a fist, simply raise a first aid kit she had added to her backpack, a sort of first gadget for the girl. There was no threat to stop, just a wound to cover. And her voice did not need to intimidate or declare anything, or even just get all adventurous.

Instead it was that specific tone, that musical bridge he had heard when she had saved him, that he heard here and there every time Guardian did something that meant so much more.

Maybe it was the smallest thing he had seen The Guardian do.

But it felt like the biggest.

'I like your costume.', Guardian commented first, to break the ice, to distract the girl from her pain. The girl, still grabbing her knee, sobbed out 'Thanks. It's not up to date. I saw you added some blue to your gloves and your pants, but mama said that I can't color my boots blue, so they're yellow like always.'. She seemed disappointed, like she was worried she wasn't doing a good job.

Guardian grinned and shrugged. 'I think they're literally stylish.'

The girl's spirits raised a little, though her eyes widened as she saw the gauze and band aid. 'Is it gonna sting?'

'Quite.', Guardian admitted, sympathetic. 'But we don't want you to get anything inside the wound.'

'I don't like stinging.'

'Neither do I.'

'You don't sting. You're inVINCIBLE!', The girl said, throwing her arms out wide to illustrate it.

Guardian chuckled warmly, which again made the girl feel good. 'Now, that's not true. Why, just a few days ago I got a lot of stings at the observatory. I was so smokey, you could have literally cooked an egg on me!'

The girl laughed, a wonderfully ringing laugh, like a bell.

'Yeah. And from that woman with the birb.', she said, after calming down.

'Mmhmm.'

'You saved me from her.', the girl said, shy, looking away.

Guardian nodded. 'Happy to help.'

'...You were very brave.'

'Thank you.', Guardian bowed exaggeratedly, making the girl laugh but also smile, thinking she deserved the gratitude.

'...You think I can be brave like you now?', she pointed at her knee.

Guardian's face was so genuine that the girl believed her sentence before she said it. 'I don't think. I know.'

'...Can you hold my hand when you do it?'

'Absolutely.'

Guardian held her hand as she applied the gauze with the other. The girl winced, letting out a few more tears, but she closed her eyes and held on with all her might. Not too soon after, Guardian placed a cute blue butterfly sticker on the wound.

'I like butterflies.'

'Same!', Guardian said, as sweetly as if she were talking to a new friend. 'I guess I kind of am.', Guardian thought, feeling soft.

'They're not made of butter, but it's fun to say.'

'Yeah.'

'They fly. You fly too.'

'I do.'

'Could I ever fly?', the girl asked, a simple question with so much desire behind it.

'I can fly you, if you want. You seem kind of lonely.', Guardian offered her hand.

The girl looked surprised and amazed, eyes twinkling. 'But you're so busy! You have time to fly me?'

'I'll ALWAYS have time for my friends.', Guardian said, and soon, the girl reached up, her own cape now not drooping, her own G now looking bright in the shining sun.

And as Guardian flew up to take her on a short spin, Lincoln watched on, feeling more love for his sister than ever before.

But also feeling envy.

'If only I was brave like them.', he thought, hugging himself close.

Guardian, meanwhile, as she gently held the girl and flew over the park, hoped with all her heart that she could see that same look of wonder and life on Lincoln's face.

'I just hope I'm brave enough.', she thought.

'Brave enough to finally be good enough for him.'


'She's carrying a pen, sir, should we 'yeet' her out the window?'

Lyberti had been in some precarious situations in her life, but admittedly, being held by the scruff of her shirt like a cat by two big beefy bald women was new. The bodyguards, as large as barges, swiveled her around to the sir in question, Rip Hardcore, famous actor and local celebrity. His own rippling biceps shimmered in the sunlight that emanated off his lumberjack shirt wearing self, but he was also carrying a plate of chili dogs and a stained apron that said 'Don't fucking mess with the cook', so…

'No! Please! No yeeting! I am a legitimate journalist!', Lyberti pleaded, waving her phone in the air, showcasing an article she had written for the school paper on how the school lunches were becoming a Geneva offense.

Rip studied the phone screen. 'A paywall? Oh, yeah, you're legit.'

The bodyguards dropped Lyberti onto the floor, but thankfully, Pepin had used her 'inflatable pool floaty in a pen' to save the girl. Lyberti huffed, feeling kinda silly.

'Well, come on, chop chop!', Rip clapped his hands, walking back into his seemingly shoddy apartment, looking from side to side with a bloodshot eye. 'Don't want to hang around for too long.'

He then gave the bodyguards a death stare. 'Keep an even closer watch. I got some bad news from Bertrand today. You don't want to lose your jobs like the last ones.'

The bodyguards shook their heads, looking a little nervous. Lyberti felt sorry for them, even though she had been made to look like a kid.

The group then walked into the apartment, Pepin staring around wide eyed at the place. 'Wow! An accurate replica of a shit, downtrodden flat! Modern art is SO confusing!'

Rip chuckled. 'Oh, well, that's more because I don't want to raise the little ones in some nice, posh place! I mean, sure, it's not as bad as other apartments, but it's no mansion, that's what's important.'

Lyberti nodded, though she felt a serious tinge of jealousy and confusion. 'If I had that money, I'd do anything for my dad and I to live properly.', she thought, just about stepping over some sort of doll.

Crossing the living room into the mini kitchen, Lyberti and Pepin took their seats at the table, which had a lot of bean stains as it is. 'I'm better at cookin' out in the wild.', Rip explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. 'But ever since my wife filed for a divorce, I've had to learn how to cook on an actual stove. It's kind of inconvenient, really. So fast! Taking things slowly makes it just taste better, I guess.'

The actor sat down as well, but not before making a really complicated whistle signal. 'Roscoe! Savannah! Come get it while it's pipin'!'

Two thundering pairs of footsteps raced down the stairs, and Lyberti's eyes were face to face with two of the kids that Lori had saved. Savannah, looking even more tired and frustrated than before, grunted a thank you, one assumed, then stomped away to eat at the living room, putting the TV on. Sounds of explosions and fight cries rang out and echoed across the apartment. 'Try and turn that down a pinch, sweetie!', Rip asked, but his request was met by deaf ears.

Roscoe, meanwhile, took the plate and rushed back, only stopping to also lift the doll that was on the floor. Lyberti, staring at the kid, suddenly noticed that it was some sort of Barbie doll, but with a blue cape…

'So, you're here for an interview, I assume? 'Local Celebrity tells all to local school'? Not super original, but I guess you could use interview practice for your career.', Rip mused, pouring out some sort of weird health shake. 'This stuff will really get your spines ready for the wild!'

'Thank you, but my grandmother was a health shake.', Lyberti excused herself, cringing as a drop spilt and burnt off some of the tablecloth. 'Anyway…', she stared around at the dark green, almost radioactive looking apartment. 'No, I'm actually here for a different interview.'

'Oh? Well, um, is it some sort of ACTUAL tell all? Because, I moved past my addiction to sniffing instruction pamphlets, I swear!', Rip looked wild eyed, but Lyberti reassured him. 'No, Mr. Hardcore, sir! I am referring to, well… What happened to your kids.'

Savannah stared back at Lyberti, daggers in her eyes, while Roscoe didn't pay attention, flying his doll around alongside his bunny plushie, Colonel Rabbit.

Pepin, who had been silent the entire time, gasped a little. The topic of, well, kids disappearing or being taken ached her a lot, and she quickly texted someone. The self care reminder from the someone helped, and she decided to drink some water real quick.

Rip, meanwhile, got very silent, and introspective. '...I see. I had wanted to keep that on the downlow, but well, nothing seems to work in that regard for my kids.'

'I'll say'.', Savannah snorted. 'Hey, no sass from you!', Rip cried out, and Savannah snapped 'Oh, shut up! Like your muscles do anything!'

Surprisingly, Rip didn't react further. He slumped his shoulders, worrying Lyberti. Her journalist mode off, she stepped closer to him, concern illuminating her glasses. 'Are… Are you all right?'

'No.', he said, refreshingly honest. 'No, I'm not. Ms…'

'Evans. Lyberti Evans.'

'Ms. Evans, the two most precious people in my life were taken by some… I don't even want to grace him with an insult… I don't want to know what could have happened to them, but they were taken. This city's crime rate is bad as it is, and I've received threats in the past.'

Rip's eyes, like two inky blots in the depths of space, received a small shine, wet from the thought of it all. 'I… I've tried to give them a quiet life, and this is what they're received in return. So, no, I am not all right.'

He stood up, feeling heavy. 'You're young, so you probably don't know how it feels. But when lives, actual lives, are on your plate? That's so much more than you can even… Even picture. I've faced cobras and pythons, scorpions and piranhas, and I can safely tell you I'd take all of them on right now instead of this… This feeling.'

Lyberti wondered what such weight felt like. If that's what The Guardian felt.

Rip bit his lip, a deep guilt washing on his face. 'Look at me, talking all about myself. I'm a real star, huh?'

Lyberti didn't know what to say, but Pepin did. 'A lost person isn't the only one who feels lost, I can tell you that.'

Rip and Lyberti studied Pepin curiously, and she jumped, realizing she had said too much. 'That is, I read so, in a magazine! It was, um… Yard Care weekly. Yeah, they like to… Branch out. Heh. Puns.'

The scientist then sat down and covered her face, hoping no one could see her, looking at her tracker. Still nothing. She kept fine tuning it, which frustrated Lyberti. Why couldn't Pepin help her with this?

'...Anywho, I guess you like a sensationalist story, Ms. Evans. I don't see why you'd want to dig up what has already been so traumatic for them, but go ahead.', Rip spat out venom with that, dunking the health drink down. His tongue loved the burning feeling.

'Wait, Mr. Hardcore, it's not like that!', Lyberti shook her hands, alarm bells ringing in her ears. 'I'm not like that anymore!'

'Well, why on earth do you…', Rip started asking, when Lyberti suddenly found the doll hitting her face. Lifting it up, she saw a familiar G.

'Oh, sorry, miss! The Guardian was just coming to calm you down!', Roscoe explained, taking the doll from her hands. 'Come on, let's go help Colonel Rabbit's dad! He could use some hugs! Up, up, and away!', Roscoe zoomed away, making the doll fly. Lyberti stared at the doll, then at Rip. '...His doll.'

'...Oh. Oh, I see.', Rip nodded, shrugging. 'I guess that makes sense. Bertrand HAD called me about that… Monster escaping. Makes me happy he's being proactive. At least she is too.'

Lyberti nodded in agreement, smiling. 'I think he'll be the first good mayor in a long time.'

'Me too. He's got my financial support, so he better!', Rip tried to joke, but he was clearly very serious about this. 'So…', he trailed off a little, unsure. '...You work for her?'

'Sort of. She wanted to investigate who you're worried about, the people he might be working for. We… I wanted to know if… If your kids remembered anything.', Lyberti said, starting to hear how fucked up that sounded. Maybe this was a bad plan.

Rip, however, nodded in agreement. 'Go right ahead, just be careful with how you ask. I've read a lot of wikipedia articles about child trauma recently. It's… A lot. I don't know… Just like… Be careful.'

Lyberti cautiously hummed a yes, and she inched slowly towards the kids. She too had read about how to interview victims of trauma, but she had never actually had to try to. She was wondering if she approached all this the wrong way. Oh, how was she going to make things right?

As she approached the yellowing couch, she found a small dustbin on the free cushion. 'Occupied.', Savannah muttered, continuing to watch her show, as the heroes on screen were being beaten by the monster of the week.

Lyberti looked down, despondent, but then a rabbit and a doll of her hero popped up. 'We can talk if you want!', Roscoe voiced the dolls, before his head popped up above them. 'I'd be happy to help! Friend of my friend and all that!'

'Friend? You're friends with The Guardian?', Lyberti asked, struggling to suppress her smile.

Roscoe and his plushes nodded. Savannah groaned and raised the volume.

Sitting down to the kid's level, Lyberti tried to find the strength. '...What's your name, kid?'

'Roscoe. This is Colonel Rabbit, and this is The Guardian! She's a Barbie doll, really, but Savannah made her this cape and…'

'Oh, Savannah made this?', Lyberti asked, and the older sister mustered a look. 'Yes. It made him feel a little safer after….'.

She trailed off, afraid of raising bad memories. Roscoe seemed fine, though, as he recalled that day.

'Yeah. It was scary. But we were rescued! So don't worry, miss!', Roscoe stated, making Lyberti feel warm. 'Daww, thanks! But, well…'

Lyberti bit her lip. She hated having to say this. '...She's… We… We would like it if you could… Talk a bit more about it. About him.'

Roscoe didn't cry like Lyberti expected. He seemed oddly calm about the whole thing, unlike Savannah, who was on edge, and gave Lyberti a mean look. 'Shut up about him. He's out of the picture.'

'But…', Lyberti started, before stopping herself. She couldn't add more to their worries.

'He had no smile.'

Lyberti and Savannah looked at Roscoe, who was still playing with his dolls. 'Colonel Rabbit remembers that his eyes looked empty too. He looked bored, and sad. I almost felt bad for him. How sad do you have to be to do what he did, and not react?'

Lyberti nodded at the wise words. 'Indeed, Roscoe. You and Colonel Rabbit are very clever.'

'Thank you. Is this because he's escaped?'

Lyberti didn't know what to say. Savannah looked at Lyberti with expectancy, it seemed.

'...I don't know, to be honest. I just want to help.', Lyberti said genuinely. She held the Guardian doll in her hands. 'Your friend helped me once.'

Lyberti stared into the doll's eyes. Why was someone this good believing in her?

'...She showed me a better path, but it's all twisty and rough. It's hard to trail. It's harder to get me to trail. I guess…'

Savannah stared intently as Lyberti sighed. 'I guess I just want to right it, not just write about it. I want to prevent it, not just inform them about it, ya know?'

Savannah more than knew. It was her failings that had led to Roscoe being kidnapped. Like Lyberti and Lori, she had felt a duty, for a brother, for people in general. And because of her, something that never should have happened, happened. A protector, a guardian, is meant to do more than react, but to go ahead and fix the tear so it never opens again.

When a guardian fails, then comes the real test: to right a wrong YOU caused.

But as those girls were learning, that was harder than any fight.

'I would too.', Roscoe whispered. Savannah watched as Lyberti stroked Roscoe's hair.

'...Roscoe, I promise you that everything is okay. You're not in trouble. What I am trying to do is find out who hired that bad man.'

'He has a boss? Like the bad guys in Savannah's show?', Roscoe asked. Savannah mused on that. 'That would make sense. I remember…', she shrunk a bit, but choked it out. 'I remember him mentioning some sort of… Person who he was doing this for.'

Lyberti swallowed hard. 'Well, yes. Guardian thinks this person has hired other people too. That he's dangerous. And she thinks she can stop him if she got some info. Please, did he say anything else? I know this is hard to think about, but…'

'But it's important! Guardian needs all the help she can get!', Roscoe declared. Savannah nodded. 'Yes, you can only get so far with two feet.'

On the TV, the heroes united and beat the monster.

Lyberti mused on this. 'True, I guess. I wish sometimes that it wasn't like that. Then maybe I could just do better already.'

'The Guardian asked you for her help, being her sidekick's gotta be a step up, no?', Roscoe asked adorably, head tilting. Lyberti bit her lip, blushing. 'Oh, um… I'm not her sidekick.', she muttered, though the very thought of it made her heart flutter a little.

Savannah sighed, and decided she had to say something. '...I don't know much else. Just that if anyone knows anything about it, it's Mr. Tetherby. Dad's been talking to him about it. There's barely been any progress, but Mr. Tetherby would know. He saved us that day too. The little I overheard…'

Savannah shuddered. 'The guy's a piece of work. They never mentioned a boss, but I know that Mr. Tetherby is at the museum today, where the attack was. Maybe that is connected too.'

'We think it might be.'

'...Sorry I couldn't do much.', Savannah muttered, and it was clear she wasn't just referring to info. She placed a hand on Roscoe, hesitant. Lyberti, lifting The Guardian doll, used it to caress Savannah's cheek. 'You helped plenty. Now we have someone even more informed to talk to.'

Lyberti smiled. 'Holes can be fixed.'

Savannah took a deep breath. 'But do we have the right tools?'

Lyberti sighed.

'I can only hope so…'


'So, our four main Red Flashlights, Hall James, Joan Steward, Kale Raider, and Gay Lawnmaker, all hide among the other Purple Flashlights, and they almost manage to sneak into the inner core HQ, but Hall sees Maliciousor and sneaks out to spy on him, but also because he's still concerned for his old ally, and wishes that he could somehow turn him back to the side of the Red, but he screws up and PA POW! A whole sector of Purple Flashlights can see him, and he's surrounded, his friends in a different place! What's he gonna do?'

Lincoln, sitting opposite Lori, waving his arms around all dramatically and narrating with the aid of his comic, paused to see his eldest sister's reaction. To his great joy (and relief), she was quite invested, a bite of her homemade burpin' burger style cheeseburger with caramelized onions hovering tantalizingly near her mouth.

Lori had never been one for superheroes, ironically enough. She far preferred romantic comedies, nintendo stuff, and disney movies and shows. She had never really tried the genre, admittedly, but she always found it kinda… Dumb.

But maybe it was the fact that she WAS a superhero now, that had her quite engaged in the story Lincoln was telling her about. She HAD been open to listening, of course, but she hadn't anticipated her reaction to it!

'Ooh! What's he gonna do? Oh, that must be so hard, to fight someone who you thought was your friend! But I have to criticize his tactics here, his friends need him! He can't protect them…', Lori finally couldn't handle it and took her bite, eating and talking, a little rude but she was too invested to care. 'When he's all emotionally distracted like that!'

Lincoln giggled at Lori's excitement, dodging a meat patty projectile. He took a bite out of his own burger that had peanut butter on it, and he popped in some mac and cheese bites. 'Yeah, it's a real pickle!'

'No, that's mac and cheese, geez, Lincoln, you leave your brain at home?', Lori joked, and the two laughed and sighed, content.

Lincoln smiled happily, barely containing his excitement. 'Gosh, Lori, I really didn't expect you to like it! I mean, not that I was worried or anything…'

'No, no, I get it!', Lori nodded, taking another bite, but not talking during it this time. 'Like we discussed, we don't always treat your interests the way you treat ours! I'm as surprised as you, to be honest. It was… Gripping!'

Lori then waved her face off, swooning. 'And that Hall is QUITE easy on the eyes!'

'Eww!', Lincoln 'exclaimed', sticking his tongue out. 'Lori, how dare you! You're taken!'

'Quite right, o brother of mine, my heart belongs to Bobby, the Masked Mercado Marauder! Oh, just the thought of his strong, firm hands sorting out cans of artichokes, I think I could faint!', Lori quipped back, getting all dramatic and 'fainting.' Lincoln cried out in 'alarm'. 'Oh no! My sister is dying of thirst!'

Lori choked from the unexpected joke, and the two siblings burst out laughing again, before smiling appreciatively at each other.

'Lincoln seems to be feeling better, now that's a win!', Lori observed, as Lincoln took another bite of his burger, the sandwich almost finished. 'It was worth staying up late last night learning the recipe. Sure, we've still got the physiotherapy problem, but at least he's in a brighter mood for it!'

'So, when's the next issue?', Lori asked, absentmindedly, catching a stray onion with her bottom jaw.

'Next month.', Lincoln informed matter of factly, making Lori actually gasp. 'NEXT MONTH?! WE HAVE TO WAIT A WHOLE ASS MONTH TO FIND OUT?'

'Yeah. All comics are like that.', Lincoln explained, making Lori actually fall down this time. 'I can't wait that long! And I thought TV show cliffhangers were bad!'

Lincoln shook his head. 'Streaming generation.'

Lori smirked at him. 'You liar, you're more streaming generation than I am!'

'I am wise and mature beyond my years.', Lincoln haughtily replied, taking one last bite of his burger. Suddenly, without any control, he let out a loud burp, fitting a burpin' burger, to be fair. 'BURP!'

He covered his face, a little sheepish. Lori wasn't exactly rowdy like, say, Lynn. Even then, Lincoln was concerned that any mistake could make things bad between Lori and him, or make him feel sad again. 'Excuse me.'

Lori raised an eyebrow, then hid a secret smile. She put on airs and pretended to be snooty, like she used to be. 'Oh, really, Lincoln? You should be ashamed!'

Lincoln gasped. Wait, was this REALLY a big mistake? 'Oh, dang it, Lori, please don't be mad, I didn't mean to be gross…'

Lori suddenly smirked competitively, eyes shining. 'That was WEAK.'

Downing the rest of her burger in one bite, Lori took a deep breath and…

'BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!'

Lincoln practically had to hold onto the ground, it was such an explosion. When it was over, he and Lori suddenly noticed that the tree behind them had fallen.

'...'

Unable to handle how silly that all was, the siblings burst out laughing one last time, as loud as their surname's namesake. They laughed until their stomachs hurt, and by the end of it, they sighed in relief next to each other, cheeks touching, looking up at the clouds.

'Damn.', Lori commented, finally.

'You can say that again.', Lincoln replied, blowing a strand of hair off his head.

'Damn.'

'Like, you think this is a power?'

'Super burps? God, I hope not, it's funny one time, but I am NOT interested in making that a thing.', Lori softly chuckled.

'No, I meant, like, sonic waves!', Lincoln corrected.

'Whas that?', Lori asked, raising both her eyebrows.

Lincoln spread his arms wide, diagramming in the sky. 'Well, it's like, you can emit these powerful sound waves from your throat! Think like, when Luna screams in her songs, but this could hit back bad guys, send them flying, like the tree, that we should probably put back in place.'

Lori quickly flew to fix that, then returned to the exact same spot. 'Really? That's a thing?'

'Well, in comics, but yeah, it COULD happen!', Lincoln got giddy just thinking about it. 'Imagine, maybe there's powers you have we don't know about! I could do some research, we can run some tests somewhere private, ooh, maybe I can draw some cardboard cutouts of your rogues gallery, and…', Lincoln stimmed, waving his arms around, growing more and more excited, off on his own world of planning.

Lori looked at Lincoln, and how utterly Lincoln he was, and the words were out of her mouth before she knew it. 'I love you.'

Lincoln, surprised by the sudden statement, swiveled his face towards her. His eyes seemed frozen at the top of his head, alongside his eyebrows. 'Why the sudden… Why?'

Lori gave him her softest watery smile, and ruffled the tufts of his hair. 'Because there's no one as Lincoln as you.'

Lincoln felt a cinder of happiness warm up his heart, and he gladly accepted the gesture, and sighed, feeling more of his tension slip away. 'I love you too.'

Lori could barely fight back the question in her throat, sadly. '..Why?'

Lincoln could feel it, the weight in her words, in her eyes. He tried to eliminate it. 'Because you make me feel safe. Safe to be as Lincoln as I am.'

Lori tried to ignore the hitch in her breath from the word safe. She felt her heart rate increase, but she managed to drown it for now. She'd just have to make him feel far safer. 'Far, far safer.', Lori corrected herself resoundingly.

'I wish we didn't have to do the therapy. Can't we just keep hanging out? It's been nice to hang out with you and the others like this.', it was at moments like this that Lincoln nearly sounded like a little kid again.

Lori wished she could say yes, honest. But she had learned a lot about responsibility recently, a lot more than most people her age. She couldn't be lax. 'Linc, I understand that you're struggling, and I don't want to make you upset, but we have to do this! You want to walk again, no?'

Lincoln sat up, scooching away a bit, hard as it was. He grimaced at his legs. 'I know, and I do! But… Dang it, it's not going anywhere! I still feel like my bones are on fire! And…'

Lincoln stopped himself. No, he couldn't say it.

Lori sat up, and stared at him, concern illuminating her blue eyes. 'And what?'

She immediately began to get all protective. 'Do you need me to support you more? Like, to hold you up and all? Is something else hurting? Do you need Bun Bun, I can fly back real quick and get him…'

'NO!', Lincoln bursted out, before realizing he was too loud. He toned it down a tad. 'I mean… It's just…'

'Hey, Lincoln! What's up?'

Lincoln jumped in the air from the sudden interjection from behind him, leading to Lori needing to catch him before he hurt his legs more. Lincoln wasn't a fan of it though, and gave her a miffed glance.

The source of the interjection and Lincoln's fear? His best friends: Clyde McBride ('Thank god he's not in love with me anymore. I'd rather fight all my villains at once', Lori commented internally), Liam Hunnicutt ('He smells like he slept in a barn. Which, admittedly, he probably did. He lives in one, after all.'), Rusty Spokes ('If HE starts trying to flirt with me, I'll make him fall down like that tree did, damn my secret identity'), Zach Gurdle ('He must be going cuckoo more than usual from all the stuff that's happened recently', Lori stifled a laugh), and Stella Zhau ('She's into techy stuff, if I remember correctly. Wonder if she'll have any ideas on how to help Lincoln!').

The friend group waved cheerfully at Lincoln, though they all looked just a LITTLE awkward too, for obvious reasons. Lincoln, meanwhile, very slowly got off of Lori's hands and set himself down, hiding his wincing. 'Hey, gang! I'm.. Fine! What are… What are you doing here?'

'We're just throwing a frisbee around a bit.', Rusty casually said, getting a nudge from Zach. 'What? Oh…', Rusty coughed sheepishly, realizing his mistake. 'That is, um…'

'It's fine, guys. I get it.', Lincoln muttered, though one could hear a cinder of resentment in his voice.

Lori, noticing the change in the atmosphere, tried to shift the conversation. 'Say, um, you guys hungry? We still have some food here, and maybe we could all do a fun activity that doesn't involve the usage of any legs?'

Lincoln tried to gesture no to Lori. The other kids also seemed a little hesitant. 'Oh, um, that's really nice of you, Lori, but…', Stella tried to get out of it elegantly, but just froze. Clyde spoke up 'I think what my friend is trying to say…', but then he froze up.

'...Shucks, it sure is mighty kind of you, but um… Ah… Fuck, Zach, help me out here.', Liam mumbled, and Zack blurted out 'WHO HERE AGREES THAT THE GUARDIAN IS AN ALIEN, I THINK SHE'S AN ALIEN, WHY ELSE IS SHE SO POWERFUL, THOUGHTS?'

'Oh, yeah, um, that would make sense, because, like, no human can fly…', Lincoln tried to continue the debate, but suddenly Stella noticed the VR headset. 'Oooh, is that a new game, Linc?'

'Oh, it's…', Lincoln tried to divert the attention away from it, but Lori didn't get the memo. 'Oh, it's for his physiotherapy, it helps him with the walking…', Lori explained, before getting a stink eye from Lincoln.

Everyone again looked very awkward and hesitant. 'Um, oh, is that my mom calling us?', Clyde suddenly excused them.

'...Clyde you have two da…', Lori started, but was cut off by the kids. 'Yeah, we should go, sorry for the awkward, Lincoln!', and the kids ran off, hoping they didn't make Lincoln feel too bad.

'They were being really weird.', Lori voiced, and Lincoln grunted in frustration. 'Yeah, it's because I asked them to ignore the elephant in the room. But now I looked stupid and weak in front of them.'

'What?', Lori said, confused. She tried to pat his shoulder, but he moved away from her. 'Lori, can you stop? You're… Oh, never mind.'

Lincoln crossed his arms and turned his back on her, then said 'Just… Can you give me a few minutes alone?'

Lori agreed, sadly, and she subtly flew off to the top of a tree, staring down at him from afar.

Feeling like she was that far away from helping him.

To make matters worse, her attempt to help Lynn went ajar too:


Lori and Lynn's Text History:

LORI: Hey, Lynn! (smile emoji)

LYNN: What did I do?

LORI: Huh?

LYNN: You don't text me unless I fucked something up XDD

LORI: Oh…

Lori stopped for a moment to face palm. 'God, was I really THAT jerky sometimes?'

She then resumed the convo.

LORI: Well, that's not why I was texting!

LYNN: Sweet! (Laugh emoji)

LORI: I wanted to check on you, see if you're okay! Since you're sick and all! (Sick emoji)

LYNN: Oh. Heh, well, I'm okay! No need to worry… JUST A SEC

LYNN: Sorry, had to chuck again (laugh emoji) fourth time today, gaining on my record!

LORI: Omg, that is SO gross! (barf emoji)

LYNN: Sick! (smile emoji)

LORI: Yeah, I know

LYNN: No, like, it's cool… Never mind.

LORI: Well, let me see what I can do. Are you covered up?

LYNN: Pfft, nah, not when there's roller derby this weekend!

LORI: Lynn, how are you gonna do that if you can't stop throwing up?

LYNN: I'll use it to stop my opponent, Mario Kart style!

LORI: You are NOT gonna use excellent references to not take care of yourself! At least tell me you've taken any medicine!

LYNN: Gosh, mom, chill! Actual Mom already gave me some in the morning!

LORI: You're supposed to take every few hours.

LYNN: Counter point: it's disgusting

LORI: Counter counter point: you're disgusting

LYNN: Counter counter counter point: I pride on that

LORI:

LORI: Shit.

LYNN: Got you there! You can't shame me to take care of myself, Lori! And don't baby me either! I mean, it's not like you're one to talk!

LORI: What do you mean?

LYNN: I mean, you're always tired, and late on homework and shit! I mean, not as bad as a while ago, but still! You're not gonna help me by calling me out! (Stick tongue out emoji)

END OF TEXT HISTORY


With that, Lynn ended the convo.

And Lori felt even worse.


Being at the observatory again was quite the odd feeling for Lyberti. She could still hear and see the events that literally flashed before her and other's eyes, but now it seemed even spookier. The whole place looked prime and pristine, like nothing had ever happened, like the sins were scrubbed clean. Everything sparkled and shimmered, the exhibits and scientific wonders exactly the way they were supposed to be. It felt as safe as it had when Lyberti had first entered back then.

But Lyberti knew better. Horrible things don't disappear when you can't see them. In fact, it's those horrible things that you can't see that are the scariest. Wiping this out quickly would not change the effect, or that it had to be attended to.

And Lyberti was hell bent on finding the one behind it, and removing him from his hiding spot, removing whatever fear and aura he used to hide in, and exposing his sins to the world.

She would reveal the dirt to clean the city.

To do that, though, she needed this new avenue to not be a dead end. Pepin seemed pretty confident, as they made their way towards the cleaning and repair crew, busy mending the shattered ceiling window. 'Lyberti, you have no idea how lucky we are!', Pepin clapped her hands joyfully.

'I really don't! I had no idea you worked for him!', Lyberti replied, surprise still etching her face.

'Yeah, I'm one of his scientists! I worked on that awesome police robot, and on a bunch of top secret surprises he has planned! Oh, Lyberti, Mr. Tetherby is one of the wisest, kindest people I know! In fact, he's the top of the list!'

Pepin then took out her list, which only had Tetherby and 'A nice barista that made me question my sexuality'. 'Admittedly, the list isn't large, BUT STILL!'

Lyberti chuckled, spinning a pen in her hand. 'Well, let's see if he can top the list of 'Helping us solve this mystery'!'

As they neared their target, they could hear loud buzzing noises and shouts, as people in overalls wearing hard helmets ran around in a tizzy, like an army of ants heading to their battle stations.

And there was the queen ant, or, well, king.

Turning around at the sound of footsteps, Bertrand saw the two girls holding their ears, and offered two helmets in a flash. They grabbed them gratefully, saving their ears from further pain.

'What a surprise! Aren't you supposed to be in the lab?', Bertrand asked, trying to be heard over the noise. 'What?', Pepin and Lyberti asked. Natch on that.

'What a surprise! Aren't you SUPPOSED to be in the lab?', Bertrand repeated, cheerfully smiling at Pepin, who bounced from foot to foot, excited to see him. 'Oh, no, today's my day off, remember?', she reminded, now hearing him.

'Ah, right! Well, what brings you here? Not exactly a fun place for children!', Bertrand commented, staring at Lyberti, who huffed at being called a child. 'I'm 14, and a reporter, thank you.'

'Right! That's why we're here, boss! We wanted to ask you some questions!', Pepin yelled.

'Oh? Is this about the election? I guess I could give you a few minutes for now, I'll be quite busy the rest of the time.', Bertrand explained, as a worker passed him. 'Ain't that the truth! He was here way before any of us, and he found the security breach, even though there was no camera footage! Ain't that somethin'?'

Lyberti had to admit, that was QUITE impressive. 'Damn!', she exclaimed. 'You're way better than me at that!', she voiced, sounding perhaps a little disappointed in herself.

Bertrand shrugged it off. 'Oh, it's nothing, let's not dwell on the past!', he said, looking to move on immediately. 'Let's talk about what you wanted!'

The trio moved away from the building site, sitting on the stage where Bertrand had delivered his speech. The mayoral candidate offered them some pomegranate seeds as a snack, but while Pepin happily took, Lyberti politely refused.

'So, is this about tomorrow? I'd be happy to tell you about all we're planning to do here in Royal Woods! Unlike some, we're not interested in just talking.', Bertrand practically advertised.

'I can definitely see that. As someone who lives in the heart of the industrial district, we've been through a lot of empty promises and nice sentiments. That stuff doesn't keep us warm and fed. It's refreshing to see initiative, like what you're doing today, Mr. Tetherby.', Lyberti started, and she did mean it, but she wanted to use that as a segway to her real question. Taking out her notebook, she began to jot down whatever Tetherby would send her way, alongside some stray thoughts about talking to Leo about the KISS ™ they had, and doodling herself with a cape. Just in case. As a fun little thought experiment. She kind of was a sidekick, like Roscoe said, really. Here she was, helping the Guardian get info. Isn't that what sidekicks do? At the very least, a best friend. Who is making up for her mistakes. Yeah. Lyberti liked the sound of that.

She looked up, trying to sound and appear as serious as possible, though her voice was clearly jittery at all her thoughts and possibilities. 'But I would very much like to ask you about some recent events that have made your… Mission far more pressing.'

Bertrand nodded, growing serious too. 'All too true, Ms. Evans.'

'Oh, you've heard of me?', Lyberti felt a little flattered, and she huffed in pride. 'I mean, I have been writing some BANGERS for the school paper.'

'Oh, yes!', Bertrand caught himself and chuckled. 'Very… Impressive work! I especially liked the piece about…', he scrambled for an excuse and went for a safe one. 'The Guardian! You know a hero when you see one!'

'Yes! Thank you! My best work!', Lyberti beamed, while Pepin gave her a sassy smirk. 'We're here for research, not praise, no?'

Lyberti shook her head and focused. She was failing like this! 'Right! Right! Ahem. So, Mr. Tetherby, can you tell my readers about all that's going on? Students are scared of the recent attacks, the kidnappings. Things are tougher than ever.'

'You are correct in saying that, Ms. Evans.', Bertrand replied, affirming Lyberti, who felt good about that. Normally, reporters who asked the tough questions in the city received fluff answers and pre-written reassurances that were as empty as the hearts of those who wrote them. Bertrand, on the other hand, seemed truly aggrieved and apologetic. 'As a rich man, I hold no illusions. Whatever modicum of suffering I have felt is a grain of sand compared to the desert of discontent the regular people have gone through. I benefited from my privilege, and that wasn't fair to everyone else. That's why I returned to my city, that's why I am running, because I've woken up, and I'm tired of hogging the ability to sleep soundly at night.'

Lyberti nodded, hiding how happy she was to hear such statements. When she stared at Pepin, though, she saw her distracted again, and frowned. How could she get info from her boss if she didn't help? ''That's good, and what's even better is that you have acted, not just spoken.', she said to Pepin as well, to try and get her to focus, but Pepin was busy looking at the signals from her device. The scratch marks of the wolf were still present in the observatory, but they didn't reveal any hidden truths.

Lyberti scoffed and went on. 'You're not even elected, and you've attended to the police's struggles, donated to charities, saved those kids, and helped repair this place.'

Pepin grinned, proud to be associated with this man.

'Let's not pretend that that's the tip of the iceberg, Ms. Evans.', Bertrand held both his hands in a sort of prayer, looking as tortured as anyone would with such a weight on his shoulders. 'I have been trying to do my part, but so far, I'm mostly reacting. It's the fact that the elite of this city have allowed us to get into such a situation that is the problem.'

Bertrand nodded his head up to the central window, where the shot had come from. 'You see that? That's where the terrorist who shot my brother was.'

Lyberti gulped, as she saw a man's reflection in the window, walking past and carrying some metal poles. 'I'm sorry for him.'

'It's all right. He's alive, that's what matters. In a way, I'm glad it happened. It's incentivized me to work even harder. I cannot stand by and simply react. You can quote me on this, send it to Katherine Mulligan anonymously so she can take the credit…', he winked, making Lyberti giggle. 'From now on, I will control this chaos, not let it affect me.'

Lyberti smiled, though she wondered why such rare words and phrases from a politician sounded so familiar.

'I see. Before I go, one more question.', Lyberti said, hoping she could get an answer, after being as nice as she could. She had to word this carefully, though. 'Rumors… Have been spreading, that, well… Maybe one of the criminals the Guardian stopped has escaped prison. People are scared. Could you give us any information? Like who might have released him, who he's working for? It might help stopping them!'

Lyberti had purposefully made herself sound desperate and scared, hoping a clearly guilt ridden and responsible man like Tetherby would at least give her a real answer. So far, he had.

Bertrand's eyes gleamed a little, before retreating to their sad state. 'Sadly, no. The commissioner likes to keep these things close to the vest. Between you and me…', he lowered his voice conspiratorially, making him sound like a true ally. 'He doesn't want to risk his reputation on another high level error. I've tried to get info, but he's told all officers to keep it hush hush.'

'So THAT was the man talking to Captain Griffin!', Lyberti eureka'd.

'Personally, I'd rather we helped the criminals of this city. I'm sure if they could all just… Not need to commit crimes, if I could just have the power to do that… I would do anything to make that happen.', his voice turned strong and firm, like he could will it into existence just from thinking it.

Bertrand then looked back. 'I really must be getting back, not that this hasn't been good. I'm happy to reassure some of our younger citizens.'

Nodding politely, Lyberti shook his hand, though she felt pained by the lack of progress she made. 'Thank you, Mr. Tetherby, for your time. It's a pleasure to hear and see that someone with power finally gives a shit, besides the Guardian of course!'

Bertrand chuckled, smiling widely. 'Oh, the pleasure is all mine. By the time I'm finished, The Guardian won't even be needed!'

'I'm sure you'll do great, boss!', Pepin said, finally looking up from her device, making Lyberti scoff again. 'By the way, I wanted to ask if the project was okay!'

'Hmm?', Bertrand raised an eyebrow.

'You know, the one I gave you yesterday? The Barbed Wire…', Pepin started, and Bertrand quieted her with a strong clearing of this throat and a firm, authoritative reply. 'The project will be fine. I'll return it once I'm done with it. The… Accident yesterday didn't help matters.'

Lyberti smiled back, pleased at the interview, not thinking too much about the whole project talk. It wasn't too surprising in this city that something like that could get lost. Thanking him one last time, she and Pepin began to go. Despite the good interview, she was disappointed at one thing. 'Not much info, though. I guess we know that the commissioner has the answers, but Idk how we'll get it out of him.' Suddenly, she noticed odd scratch marks on the floor. 'What's that?', she asked Pepin.

Pepin suddenly looked panicked. 'Um, nothing! Nothing at all! Let's… Let's get ice cream! For a good job!'

Lyberti raised an eyebrow at Pepin's odd outburst, but shrugged. She had to mull over what was turning harder and harder to do. 'Sure, he's helping the city, he's making up for not doing anything.'

Lyberti gulped.

'But am I?'


After some time had passed, Lori had flown back to Lincoln, and the two tried the physiotherapy again. The less said about it the better.

Lincoln just seemed… Hesitant. Any moment of uneasiness led to anger, frustration, rants about how 'pointless' and 'unnecessary' this was. 'You're supposed to rest to feel better! This is the opposite of that!', Lincoln remarked, refusing to let Lori lift him up, shaking his head like he was a little kid.

Lori didn't want to point out that that was the whole point of physiotherapy. She could tell it was a bad time.

And so, the two just sat there for a while longer, feeling kind of upset.

Lori's mood only got worse after texting Luan:


Lori and Luan Text History:

LORI: Hey, Luan, what's up?

LUAN: The sky! (Laugh emoji X3)

LORI: XD

LUAN: …Are you okay? You thought that was funny? You always groan at my jokes!

LORI: What can I say? I have grown an appreciation for witty banter!

LUAN: Sus…

LORI: IT IS?

LUAN: Just messin' with ya! (wink emoji)

LORI: Oh, ha ha, yeah, good one! (embarrassed emoji)

LUAN: Anywho, why you textin'?

LORI: Well, I just wanted to check on you! I heard you had a WHOLE thing with some customer who's crushing on you?

LUAN: Oh yeah! That! Ha!

LORI: It's not going well, is it?

LUAN: I've been trying to avoid it, really, in fact, it would really help me if you didn't talk about it at all, cause I'm wiggin' out.

LORI: Oh, no, I didn't mean to make it worse!

LUAN: CRAP, SHE FOUND ME HIDING IN HER CLOSET!

LORI: WHY WERE YOU HIDING IN HER CLOSET

LUAN: NO OFFENSE LORI BUT I CAN'T TEXT AND RUN

LORI: JUST TALK TO HER

LUAN: NEVER!

END OF TEXT HISTORY


So yeah, that didn't help matters. Lori felt like all she did was make things worse, just like with Lincoln.

The weather changed as this mutual sadness went on, the sunny day turning a little greyer, a little more reflective of the conflict in their hearts.

Lori didn't have any super vision, but she could tell that Lincoln was depressed. His back was stiff, nose sighs constantly emitting from him. He looked downright down.

'This isn't how it was supposed to go!', the 17 year old grunted, frustrated too. She was supposed to help Lincoln! She was supposed to finally make it up to him, or at least start the process of that!

'There's GOTTA be something I can do!', Lori pounded her free palm with her fist, eyes darting around for a solution, for the saving grace. If ONLY there was some sort of magic spell that could…

'A ha!', Lori exclaimed, and she waved at Lincoln to get his attention. The boy swiveled his head at her and raised an eyebrow in question. 'Yes?'

'You wanted to show me a magic trick earlier, remember? Maybe that will cheer you up!', Lori said, practically hyped at the concept like she would be if Blake Bradley passed her by and acknowledged she existed by saying 'Hey, blonde girl I never met'.

Lincoln, however, seemed less hyped, like if Blake Bradley passed by him and acknowledged he existed by saying 'Hey, white haired boy I never met'. This was because Lincoln simped for twinks and not hunks, thank you. 'Um… There's a bit of a problem with that…'

Lincoln stared at his stupid legs and felt fury coat his knuckles. 'I thought I'd be doing a lot better with the physiotherapy. It kinda needs me to… Stand.'

'Oh! Well, we can put you on the chair!', Lori suggested, but Lincoln shook his head, negative. 'No way! I'm tired of feeling embarrassed today!'

Lori bit her lip, sorry to hear that. 'Okay, well… It's not like you can't stand, you just need a little balancing. Here, I'll hold you up…'

'NO! God, no, please! That is even worse!', Lincoln bit back, a little harshly. Lori backed off a little, grimacing. Lincoln sighed, annoyed at his anger, and calmed down. 'Look, I… Maybe you can balance me a little. But then let me…'

He looked at her. His big sister. She was already pretty brave, and that was BEFORE she fought tons of super villains. On his phone, though Lori couldn't see, there was an assortment of social media posts in his sphere about her. Being brave.

If he could just be like her, for just a moment…

Maybe he wouldn't feel so bad about himself.

'...Let me try, okay?'

Lori nodded. 'Of course, Linky.'

Stepping forwards, she offered her hand. Thanks to her powers, it was way easier than it should be to lift Lincoln up, though even with that knowledge he still felt cranky about it. With a simple tug, he was on two feet.

Immediately, the wobbling began. Lori suppressed a gasp and the urge to just hold him, and instead waited for a signal. Lincoln muttered 'Okay, just balance me a little bit…', and Lori did so, placing one finger on his head, as if she were making a pot named Lincoln Loud.

It seemed to work. Lincoln wasn't wobbling at least. Pleased, Lori stepped back, and Lincoln roused his courage, took a deep breath, and began.

'Welcome, esteemed audience, to the greatest show on earth, starring me, Lincoln!'

Lori applauded wildly, whistling, making Lincoln smile softly. He attempted a very small bow. So far, so good. 'Yes, me, Lincoln the unprecedented, the inconceivable, the breathtaking…'

'The humble!', Lori called out, sitting on the picnic blanket. Lincoln allowed a laugh at his own behalf. 'Yeah, heh heh. Anyway!'

Lincoln silenced the audience, and produced a pack of cards out of thin air, impressing Lori, who ooh'd. 'As you can see, this trick requires only my hands and your eyes, so it REALLY shouldn't be a problem!'

Lori released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Lincoln shuffled the cards, then realized that Lori was sitting a little too far away than he wanted. He shuffled a little forwards, keeping himself as stiff as possible. Hard, but he got through it. 'Okay… Now, for my trick, I am going to show you these four Jacks.'

Lincoln did so, showing the four Jacks. 'These aren't just any Jacks, though, they are burglars!'

Lori nodded, smiling at Lincoln's showmanship.

'One night, they went into a house to steal some valuables. One went in through the back door…', he placed the Jack of diamonds at the bottom of the pack. 'One went in through the window…', Lincoln placed the Jack of spades two thirds of the way down. 'One through another window…', Lincolm placed the Jack of clubs a third of the way down. 'And one through the front door.', Lincoln placed the Jack of Hearts on the top.

What Lincoln hadn't shown was that there were three cards behind the jacks, and that the non jack cards were placed in the deck, while all the jacks were on top. That way, the trick would work.

'Now, they heard sirens! I, the magician, had found them, and would stop them!'

Lincoln then spread the cards, making it seem like the jacks hadn't been all together, and suddenly were in the middle of the picnic blanket. 'Safety in numbers.', Lincoln finished, bowing again, Lori applauding. 'Wow! How did you do that?', Lori asked, legitimately impressed. She hadn't noticed any trick! 'I had no idea how good you were at this!'

Lincoln blushed a little from the praise. 'Oh, it's not…', he started, bowing again. But that was his big mistake. It was one sharp movement too many.

His legs turned to jelly.

His back shook.

He let out a sharp cry of pain.

He was falling down.

It happened so fast that even Lori couldn't react. Lincoln crashed onto the floor, and she gasped in worry.

Lincoln rolled over, clutching his right leg. 'Ow!', he felt a tear force itself out thanks to the shock.

'Lincoln! Are you okay? Oh, what can I do? Please tell me, I'll do anything, whatever you want!', Lori panicked, lifting him up.

Lincoln finally had enough, and angrily shouted (more at himself than anything) 'Stop already, damn it! Can't you just stop?!'

Lori backed off, clouds of worry covering her mind. Had she fucked up?


Meanwhile, at a familiar ice cream place, one Lyberti had gone to the last time it had all gone wrong, she felt like she had back then. That was the worry.

'Running around in circles. That's all I've done today.', Lyberti muttered, world weary despite her age, stabbing a spoon into her watermelon/strawberry flavored ice cream. The spoon got stuck in, and she huffed, trying to remove it.

Pepin, licking a coffee flavored ice cream, shook her head. 'I wouldn't say that! Now we know that the commissioner was the one talking about the loose criminal!'

'Yeah, but does that bring us any closer to The Raven? No one said a word about who's in charge, outside of making him sound even scarier! Sure, maybe the commissioner knows, but he didn't imply that in the radio message I heard!', Lyberti complained, trying harder and harder to remove the spoon, but it wouldn't budge. 'Gah! Today was supposed to be the day that I actually did something useful!'

'Hey, now, you're useful! We still found something, it's not all bad!', Pepin tried to reassure, but Lyberti had enough. 'Oh, stop babying me! I don't deserve to be reassured! The city hangs on the balance, on my shoulders, and I failed! There's no sugarcoating this!', the reporter girl shouted out, before seeing a server in front of her offer a jar of sugar. 'Oh, no, you can totally do that!', he offered helpfully.

'BICH STAY IN YOUR LANE!', Lyberti lashed out, and Pepin sheepishly took her aside. 'Hey, there's no need to be rude!'

'Did you not hear me the first time? The fate of the city, my fate, is on the balance! And as ever, I've improved nothing!

'Lyberti, I get why you feel this way, but this stuff takes time, and…', Pepin tried to educate, but Lyberti waved her off, fuming. 'Oh, what do you know? Not like you helped!'

Pepin gasped, insulted. 'That's not true!'

'All you did was fiddle around with that device!', Lyberti accused. While both knew that wasn't true, they also knew it wasn't not true. 'Okay, a little, but I took you to my boss, he doesn't let most people see him, and I helped you get info from the pub! I struggled at the actor guy's house, but that's personal!'

'Yeah, well, I'm enough of a failure myself, I don't need you to bring me down further! God, why can't I just be a good person, damn it!', Lyberti shouted out, alerting everyone to the two fighting girls.

Had Lyberti fucked up again?


The answer to both questions was: No.

Lincoln looked at Lori, but instead of disappointment in her or himself shining in his eyes, he closed them and took a moment.

'...I'm sorry.', he whispered, voice cracking.

Instead of being disappointed and angry with herself or with the world, Lori opened her eyes and leaned down to Lincoln's level, hugging him, letting him bury his face into her. 'I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to be overprotective. I just get so… Worried.'

'I know. It's only natural. I just… Wanted to be brave.', he looked up to her eyes, tears nearly bursting out. 'Like you.'

But when his eyes met hers, he saw that she was nearly crying too. Her face scrunched up in despair, and her nose twitched like a rabbit's. She looked like he did when he nearly fell. 'Lincoln… You already were brave. Far braver than me.'

She hugged him harder, squeezing him the way only those who truly love each other do. 'You've gone through something horrible, Lincoln. And you're still fighting so hard. It's okay. You can let it out. I would never think any worse of you.'

Lincoln nodded, letting it out a little, wetting her shirt. She didn't care. 'Yeah. I just… Not thinking about it helps.'

Lori nodded too. 'I know that all too well, Linc. But you can think about it with me, at least. I can only talk for myself. But… I just want to make it up to you.'

'...Even though it's taking me so long?'

Lori didn't even dare entertain that thought. 'Lincoln… For you, I'd bleed myself dry. Everything you do is yellow.'

Lincoln smiled at the callback to the song. 'My favorite song on that album.', he admitted.

'Mine too.', Lori chuckled back.

'It's so hard.', Lincoln admitted, clutching onto her. '...But maybe it can be less hard with you.'

So, the two siblings hugged for a while, just holding onto each other, to make it up to each other.

'I'm sorry.', Lincoln repeated after a while. 'I know you were just trying to help. And you did. I just wanted to be better.'

'You will be.', Lori reassured, kissing his forehead softly, making him giggle. 'It'll just take a little longer. We both just have to keep fighting.'

'Yeah.', Lincoln smiled. Lori, smiling back, stroked his cheek. 'Now THAT'S my Lincoln. Standing up, even after he falls.'

Lincoln and Lori both let out long breaths.

'...I'm happy we just talked it out for a change. I hate fighting with you.', Lori addressed.

'I guess we ARE getting better than, no?', Lincoln asked.

'...Maybe we are, Lincoln. Just maybe.', Lori, for a change, truly felt like she had taken a step forwards.

'...Ice cream?'

'You bet.'


Meanwhile, as I said before, both questions were a no. Lyberti and Pepin were solving their dispute too.

Lyberti huffed, and puffed, and then she saw Leo in Pepin's place, and she saw that she truly WAS running around in circles.

'Making the exact same mistakes.', Lyberti sighed, and she stopped herself. '...Sorry, Ms. Pepin. I didn't mean to… I'm sorry I shouted at you.'

Pepin, who was still calming down from the social anxiety of being shouted at, calmed down herself. 'It's my fault, I was distracted when I was supposed to help…'

'Nah, that's bull. You did help me, I was just frustrated with myself.', Lyberti got back onto her seat, still struggling with the spoon in her ice cream. 'I just wanted to… God.'

She buried her face on the counter, feeling like she could never get up. 'I just wanted to make it up to everyone. I was such a damn glory hound, and I hurt my best friend, AND unleashed a super villain! One that might be out now as we speak!'

She sounded so fed up with herself, her arms covering her head to protect herself from the truth. 'And despite that, The Guardian chose me, ME, to help! To find out the truth and save this place! To save people like me, that have been suffering since day 1!'

Sniffles echoed from her husk. '...All I do is dig the same hole and bury myself. How could I ever be good, like her? Like Bertrand Tetherby?'

Lyberti fully expected Pepin to leave her in her misery, as she deserved, but the scientist instead comfort patted Lyberti's hair, and lifted her up from the counter. 'Lyberti, you are not a failure. You're 14.'

She then took the spoon out by turning it sideways a little. 'And there's more than one way to solve a problem. You've decided that today was your only chance. That's not how it works! You've got time, and you're already doing well! You reassured those kids today, and you learned about the criminal and the commissioner! Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but eventually you'll get it right! I just know it!'

'How?', Lyberti asked, doubtful, but almost praying for an answer.

'Because no 14 year old cares this much, Lyberti.'

Lyberti laughed a little, seeing a wisdom in those words. 'I usually don't see these things properly. And those with me do. Maybe I'm just overreacting.', she settled back in her chair, creaking her back muscles. 'You're right. For what little info we had, we found something.'

'I'm still sorry about being distracted.', Pepin apologized. 'Just something really important to me.'

Lyberti, proving her development, turned her attention to Pepin. 'Is everything okay? You wanna talk about it?'

'Oh, don't worry, it's nothing!', Pepin seemed oddly perturbed, but Lyberti paid no attention to it.

And so, for a moment, it seemed, that would be all they had.

Until…

CRACK!

The TV screen turned on, showing Katherine Mulligan in her studio. 'And I nearly had a story! Why did The Guardian have to show up…'

'Katherine? You're on?'

'Oh fuck.', Katherine cursed her luck, before putting on a shithouse smile. 'Hey! Katherine Mulligan of News 3 here, with a city council issued reminder to vote tomorrow night! The candidates, as you know, are incumbent Mayor Volte, and the golden boy, Bertrand Theterby!'

'Woo!', Lyberti half cheered, making Pepin and her laugh.

Katherine then narrated over an old clip. 'And if I may say, it all started just a mere 8 days ago, thanks to an interview by yours truly with that Mr. Tetherby!'

Lyberti focused on her ice cream, while Pepin clapped. 'Oh, wow! I never saw this! Go boss!'

The interview went as it did, with Tetherby talking about how he couldn't stand by the sidelines. 'My family over the years has been known for its… Indulgence. I, however, felt the need to give something back.'

'See, this is what I want to do! He recognized that he sat by the sidelines, so he gave back! Heck, he came back to Royal Woods! That's truly impressive!', Lyberti exclaimed, starstruck.

Pepin, however, wrinkled her nose in confusion. 'Came back? Who told you he came back?'

Lyberti blinked twice in confusion. 'Um, he did? Duh? I thought you worked for this guy.'

'I do! And he's never left! Well, he kinda did a long time ago, if I remember correctly. But he's been back for a long time! About 13 years at least, that's when I met him!', Pepin corrected, shaking her head at the idea.

Lyberti pursed her lips in thought. 'That's… Odd.'

'Maybe he was just speaking metaphorically.', Pepin put it aside.

'Yeah…', Lyberti started, trailing off.

But Lyberti, for all her self doubt and negativity, was truly a brilliant mind.

And that one stray thought bugged her.

It bugged and bugged and bugged until she relented to letting it fly around her head.

'Why would he say that? It doesn't make him look good to have been gone for ages. He's been here? How come we never heard about him?'

Lyberti looked up about the Tetherby family on the internet real quick. Outside of the tragedy Bertrand spoke of in the observatory, there was no mention of the man himself. 'Well, Pepin isn't lying. Why would she? She's as innocent as they come, and has no gain. Tetherby has been at Royal Woods for years, yet no one knew. Why would he pretend he wasn't?'

That thought led to another, as she stared over at the ice cream menu, and saw a special flavor, 'Rip Hardnutscore'.

'Rip mentioned that Bertrand had warned him about the kidnapper having escaped. But that doesn't make sense, he said only the Commissioner knew. Sure, he could be assuming, but Rip said the monster escaped, not 'maybe escaped'. A coincidence, a bad choice of words, maybe, but… Weird.', Lyberti mused, the geers in her head turning as more and more thoughts began to collide.

'They said he was there early and found the security breach, without any camera footage. Why didn't he tell us what it was? Well, he said he didn't want to dwell on the past.'

'Oh, come on, Lyebrti, that probably doesn't mean anything, you're stretching.', she argued with herself.

'Fine, maybe. But then again…'

Lyberti remembered the window. She had seen a man pass it. It was clear from where she was, and she was about the same size as Bertrand. He was standing right there.

And when she checked the news footage of the attack, you could see that he was staring right where the sniper was.

'Why didn't he say anything?'

Question after question swam around in her head. 'He said he read an article I wrote. Why didn't he specify? I've written tons of articles about The Guardian. I felt flattered back then, but it took him so long to say. Why? All I asked was how he knew my name…'

'Those robots would take years to build. That explains the 13 years. Again, why would he lie? In fact, how come he doesn't just send his robots to find the criminal? He already knows they're out there?'

Lyberti and Pepin walked and walked and finally the girl couldn't keep the questions locked in.

'Why… why would he lie?'

'What do you mean?', Pepin asked, turning her head.

Lyberti began to pace around as they found themselves in the city square. People and cars rushed around them, making it all blurry and noisy, increasing Lyberti's hyper state.

'The 13 years! Why lie about that? It makes him look bad! If he's been here this whole time, why would he hide? Why did we NEVER hear about him? He's famous! Everyone knows who the Tetherby's are! No one recognized him this whole time?'

Pepin bit her lip. 'He kinda keeps to himself.'

'That much? And all those robots. Why doesn't he use them to find the criminal that he already knows is out there? In fact, remember what Rip said? He warned Rip about the kidnapper! But he said that he's out there, not maybe out there! Why make such a huge assumption?'

'Lyberti, I don't like where you're going with this…', Pepin started, feeling anxious. She began to bite a pen, hating how tense she felt.

Lyberti kept on pacing, though, voice growing ramblier, thoughts screaming from her mind. She was on the precipice, but of what? 'I'm on a breakthrough here… No, it's too many coincidences. He knew my name, but when I asked for details he got all vague!', she pointed at herself.

She then pointed above her, to the sky. 'The sniper! In the window! I looked up and could see people there, clear as day! He couldn't? You can see in the news broadcast, he's looking right up there, then his brother gets shot!'

'Lyberti! You think he'd let his own brother get shot?!', Pepin asked, outraged at the accusation. She felt sweatier and sweatier, and tried to sit down, but couldn't.

'I'm not saying that, but HOW did he not see the sniper? They said he found a security breach, that he went before everyone and found it. With no camera footage…', Lyberti slammed her fist in her palm. 'No explanation as to what it was, just that he found it? What even was it? And the… The Barbed Wire project!', she suddenly realized, jumping up and down. 'You made that! How the hell did something that dangerous and powerful get lost?'

'He said that he… Misplaced it…', Pepin started, feeling a little awkward. That sounded… Bad.

'And told NO ONE? That's at LEAST highly irresponsible!', Lyberti blurted out. 'And I should know!'

'Okay… That's true, but… But why would he want a criminal to wear it?', Pepin countered.

Lyberti nodded, tapping her chin in thought. 'You're right. He's not like that, he said that he would rather have the power to have criminals NOT have to… Do these things…'

Lyberti slowed down, realization filling her soul. 'That's… That's what the bartender said. At the Fox's den.'

Pepin remembered too. '...Another coincidence.', she shook her head refusing to believe, wanting to block her ears.

'One coincidence, two, that's nothing. But this many? Pepin, you have to admit, it's a little weird! Heck, how did he know where to find the kidnapped kids? Now that I think about it, The Guardian told me that The Raven seemed to have police insiders, and yet Tetherby managed to find the kids with the Commissioner and everything?'

'No… No, no, no! It can't be true! He's a good man! He's protected my family!', Pepin stomped her foot, and Lyberti shook out of her stupor, seeing how hurt she was. She stopped, and apologetically comforted the seated and shaking Pepin. 'Oh, Ms. Pepin, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to… It's just…'

'No, I understand. Yeah, it's… It's a lot of coincidences. But I KNOW he's a good man! He saved my family from poverty! And he promised he'd find my brother, and one day he will!', Pepin stated, before clasping her mouth. 'That is… I…'

'Pepin, what's wrong?', Lyberti asked, confused. Pepin groaned. 'I'm SO stupid! I promised my boss I wouldn't say anything!'

'You… You promised Tetherby you wouldn't tell anyone about… Your missing brother?'

Pepin heard the sentence out loud from someone else…

And it began to dawn on her.

'...That's… That's weird, right? I mean… I just took it for face value. He's like a father to me. But… Why would he…'

Lyberti searched for a reason, thinking about all she knew about Pepin. 'She's a scientist, she lives in my apartment building, she likes cats, she works for Tetherby. She's got a weird last name…'

Her eyes suddenly lit up like a birthday cake. '...Pepin, what's your last name again? Exactly?'

'Fenrisulfer, why?', Pepin answered, not following.

Lyberti could have fainted. '...Okay, look, this might be the BIGGEST coincidence yet, but… I have a science teacher with that exact surname! His name is on a tack board with club names for the school, the science club is right next to the drama club, and they have to go to him for advice!'

Pepin could have fainted herself. '...Is… His first name… What is it?', she practically grabbed Lyberti by the cuff of her shirt.

'Bruce, I think?'

Pepin dropped Lyberti.

Bruce Fenrisulfer.

'That is either the MOTHER of all coincidences, or…'

The two looked at each other.

'If his name is so easy to track…' they both started.

'Why hasn't he found him?'

Lyberti and Pepin's eyes locked in serious alarm. 'Pepin… Maybe I'm wrong, and there's a perfectly reasonable explanation. Heck, maybe The Raven has him compromised. But SOMETHING is fishy here. He's lying to you, and to the city. The Raven wants ultimate power. Tetherby is running for mayor. And even if he's just a stooge, that stooge is about to win by a landslide. And if HE wins…'

They turned towards the sunset bathed city square in horror, as poster after poster saying 'VOTE TETHERBY' colored the landscape, people walked around with buttons saying 'VOTE TETHERBY', newspapers predicted he would 'Clean sweep it', and a giant TV screen in the middle of the square showed his giant face looking down at the ants of Royal Woods.

'...I'm going to the school.', Pepin shouted, running hand in hand with Lyberti. 'They'll tell me where he lives, or they'll regret it.'

'I'm going to… No, wait, I don't have any CONCLUSIVE proof. I can't report it. No, I'm gonna tell the only person who can help us figure this out for real: The Guardian.', Lyberti announced, and as she ran with Pepin, she turned on her two way radio. 'Guardian? Guardian? Do you read me? Guardian! I think I know what The Raven wants! Guardian, please!'

Lyberti shouted out with all her heart.

'GUARDIAN! WE NEED YOUR HELP!'


Back at the park, it was growing dark. The silvery moon shared a very different light with the earth, one that seemed more mysterious than comforting.

It must be odd, to be a sun to so many, but feel like a moon, an enigma and a puzzle.

It must be hard, to feel like you don't deserve to become better.

Lori had had a far better end of the day that she originally thought she'd have. Sure, Lincoln hadn't made as much progress as he wanted on the physiotherapy, but mentally he was leaps ahead of where he was. She had also managed to have a great day with him as siblings, something she so longed for ever since her flaws had been laid out on the table.

Even better, Lola, Lynn AND Luan all texted her during the ice cream excursion. Turned out, Lori's simple gesture of care and advice had actually helped all three sisters! Lola had won her pageant ('I just approached every mission like you said! Naturally, I was always going to win, but… You helped too, I suppose, so thanks!'), Lynn had taken her medicine and rested in bed and felt far better ('Now I'll actually get to kick butt in the roller derby! I guess I shoulda known that, heh. Thanks!') and Luan had managed to talk the girl down ('Turns out, she's into a girl from my drama club as well! So I'm helping her ask her out! I guess just talking made more sense than running away. Thanks for the asSISt, sis! Ha ha ha! Get it?').

So even thinking that she caught a glimpse of Organized Chaos from some abandoned building didn't ruin her good mood.

At the little ice cream station in the park, Lori and Lincoln got indulgent flavors to cheer each other up, and spent the time eating on a park bench, watching one of their favorite Disney movies.

'Elsa, we were so close. We can be like that again.'

'No, we can't. Goodbye, Anna.'

'Elsa, wait!'

'No, I'm just trying to protect you!'

'You don't have to protect me! I'm not afraid! Please don't shut me out again. Please don't slam the door. You don't have to keep your distance anymore. Cause for the first time in forever, I finally understand. For the first time in forever, we can fix this, hand in hand. We can head down this mountain together. You don't have to live in fear. Cause for the first time in forever, I'll be right here.'

'Anna, please go back home. Your life awaits. Go enjoy the sun and open up the gates.'

'Yeah, but…'

'I know! You mean well, but leave me be. Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free. Just say away and you'll be safe from me.'

'Damn it, Elsa! Just talk to her! T-A-L-K! You didn't mean to hurt her!', Lori 'complained', making a crazy sign at Lincoln, who laughed. 'It's not easy for her. She'll realize that they can solve it together in time.'

'Gee, way to spoil it!', Lori joked, sticking her tongue out at Lincoln, who stuck back.

The two were practically cuddling (Lincoln wasn't embarrassed about it, thanks to no one being around), and he enjoyed Lori's presence right now. She made him feel, as he said before, safe.

'It's been up and down. But she's really improved things. She's always been a good big sister, but she's been buffed out the flaws. I just wish she could see that. She always seems one mistake away from crying.'

Lori noticed Lincoln beginning to cuddle a little closer, and smiled down at him maternally, as she was wont to do at times. She cuddled closer herself, ruffling his white tufts, a gesture that always made Lincoln feel good. He let out a happy hum, allowing himself to be taken care of, without feeling like he was a coward, and closed his eyes.

Lori had to hold herself back from squeeing at how adorable her little brother was.

There was something about being a big sister that had always made Lori feel wanted and important.

But recently, it was the feelings of others that meant a lot more to her. Seeing Lincoln happy because of her…

She closed her eyes, and felt this breathtakingly beautiful sensation: peace. Quiet. Simple joy at being good.

Was this the balance her dad had talked about?

Sure, she had a long way to go.

'But I feel like I'm really getting somewhere. After the whole deal with the kidnapped kids, I felt like a better Guardian. And today, I feel like a better Lori. Maybe… For the first time in forever… Maybe I can.'

Lori smiled a watery smile, and felt a happy tear trickle down her cheek.

She felt like maybe she could be…

A hero.

But sadly, Lori was still not there.

There was still one very big thing particularly that was drowning her soul.

And just like Lincoln, she wasn't able to recover just yet.

'...Sorry I got angry at you.', Lincoln whispered.

Lori patted his head, affection illuminating her words. 'It's okay. I understand.'

'Yeah, but… It wasn't fair. You were just trying to protect me.'

Lincoln placed his head in her hands.

'I mean, it's not like it's your fault I'm like this.'

And like that, something cracked inside Lori.

Her heart pounded like a drum, no, like a hammer, like Mjolnir itself, shattering a moon with its impact. Her eyes grew distant and hollow, like all the blue was sucked out, replaced with a clear emptiness. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. What could she say?

'It… It was my fault.', was the only words that she could think, let alone speak.

'Lori? You okay?', Lincoln asked, opening an eye and noticing her off putting behavior. She stood up robotically, and closed the phone.

'Lori?', Lincoln asked, weirded out even more. He waved at her, only to suddenly get scooped up.

Before he could even grasp what was happening, what was going on, Lincoln found himself next to the Loud House, on his wheelchair. Lori's phone was on the ground next to him, as was Vanzilla. How had she carried him and the car?

Lori didn't answer. She was removing her radio earrings, muttering about 'Noise, too much noise'.

'Lori, what's going on? Did something happen? Is everything…', Lincoln asked, but then he saw it, a look of utter panic and desperation as Lori took a deep, painful breath, and flew off like a jet, bursting into the air.

Lincoln knew it all too well.

A panic attack.

He tried to follow her, but she was too fast, already miles past when he tried to leave the gate.

And with no phone or earrings, he had no way to contact her.

Sighing sadly, he held onto the earrings like a treasure. 'I hope you'll be okay, sis.', Lincoln prayed.


Meanwhile, Lori flew, erratically, rapidly, not caring if anyone saw her, not caring if anyone ever saw her again.

BA-DUM. BA-DUM.

'You failed him.'

BA-DUM. BA-DUM.

'It WAS your fault.'

Lori crashed through a tree, leaves sticking to her hair. She felt the wood chink her skin, try to leave marks, but she wasn't like that anymore, she doesn't get hurt.

'I just hurt others.'

BA-DU. BA-DUM.

'How could you have let him? How could you let that criminal go?'

The words were echoey and distant, yet also so close, giving Lori a headache that actually DID hurt. She felt the wind sting her face, eliciting tears. She bit down, relishing the pain. Just a little pain. Seas away from what she deserved, but it was something.

BA-DUM. BA-DUM.

'How could you hurt him? Look at him. His anger, his sadness, his struggle. You. ALL YOU. HOW DARE YOU EVEN TRY AND HELP! HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK THAT YOU CAN BE OKAY!'

BA-DUM! BA-DUM!

'AND MAYBE YOU CAN BE OKAY, BUT NOT LIKE THIS, YOU PRETENDING MONSTER!'

Lori chipped off a few bricks from a chimney. She crashed through a billboard for Tetherby. She felt her voice finally return, a quiet scream drowned out by the pounding in her head and heart.

'MY FAULT, MY FAULT, MY FAULT'

'I'M SORRY LINCOLN! I'M SO SO SO SORRY!', Lori screamed, crying out as hard as she could, as the blurry visions of the world before her cleared just enough to show an alleyway. Lori crashed into the wall, but her confidence was so low that this time, it really hurt.

As she laid down there, feeling blistering pain, her eyes fluttering shut, doctors surrounding her, she shed a second tear, a sad one.

'So then I took my turn. Oh what a thing to do. Cause you were all yellow.'


'Miss? Miss?'

'I think she's waking up!'

'Oh, the poor dear.'

As Lori's eyes fluttered open, she felt a hitch in her breath, and shot up. 'What's going on?', she cried, breathing heavily, not nearly as badly as before, but still.

'Shh, shh, it's okay.', the main doctor said, holding Lori's hand gently. Lori looked around, the shapes forming again. She was at…

'Hospital?', she muttered.

'Yes. You had a panic attack. Not a mild one, either. Thank goodness we found you in that alleyway.', a nurse said, offering her a drink of water. Lori gladly took it, surprised at how thirsty she felt, and her breathing turned slower, calmer. She could hear a staticy TV above her, speaking about… The election, she thought. The words were echoing. Next to her was another bed, and she could make out the form of a man in it.

'...Is he okay?', she asked. The doctor was surprised. 'I… No, he's in a…'

Lori shocked the room by getting out of the covers and shakily standing up, leaning on a small table to straighten. She was surprised that it didn't squash under her strength. 'Are you okay, sir?'

'No, he's not.', a voice from behind her spoke. Lori turned with alarm, and met face to face with Bertrand Thetherby. 'He's in a coma. Not a fatal one, but he'll be out for quite a while.'

The candidate offered his hand. 'It is quite encouraging to see one of our youths showing such noble concern, but you really ought to get back into that bed.'

Lori looked back at the man in the bed, then at Bertrand, and reluctantly, she got back into the bed. The doctors covered her up.

'Not for much longer, dear. Just wait a few minutes while your condition stabilizes, and you should be free to go. We already conducted a blood pressure test, and you're fine.'

Lori exhaled, relieved to hear that at least. 'I can't get seriously hurt, not when there's so much left to do.'

Leaving her with another cup of water, the doctors and nurses left, closing the door to give Lori and Bertrand peace.

And so, the two stared at each other, one standing, the other in bed.

'...Are you all right?', Bertrand asked, a mite of concern in his speech.

Lori nodded, slow but certain. 'Yeah, I… I just had a panic attack, like they said. Thank you for asking though.'

'Nonsense. If I'm to be mayor, I should care for the wellbeing of all our citizens. That includes you, Miss…', he trailed off. Lori sat up a little, introducing herself. 'Lori. Lori Loud.'

Lori then looked around in confusion. '...Didn't they call my parents?'. She tried to stand up again, and Bertrand moved slowly towards her to stop her. 'Couldn't find your wallet.'

'Crap. It must have fallen along the way.', Lori cursed. 'Another mistake.'

'Another?', Bertrand asked, raising a curious eyebrow. Lori's eyebrows jumped up a little in fright. She hadn't meant to overshare! 'Oh, um… I just… Never mind, I don't want to vent to some random person. No offense.', she added, hoping she didn't insult the politician.

'None taken. I'd like to think that anyone could come to me with their problems. Here, sit with me, we can talk about it.', Bertrand offered, sitting down at a plastic chair by the door, near the TV.

Lori bit her lip. She wasn't sure about this, but if it got her closer to leaving…

She kicked off the blanket, then placed it back on the bed, fixing it up nice for whoever came there next, and then, with a little trouble, she shimmied towards the plastic chair next to Bertrand, his hand helping her reach.

'Thanks.', she said, gratefully. He nodded in response. 'You're very welcome.'

The two sat for a moment, the awkward silence before a conversation can start. Someone had to make the first move.

It would be Bertrand. 'So, if I may be so bold, what caused this attack?'

Lori suddenly felt very cold. Why were hospital rooms always like that? A place to be vulnerable and weak, she thought. Exactly what I can't be. She hugged herself to stay warm, feeling better when she realized that her backpack was untouched by her bed. A close call. 'Well… I guess I…'

What could she say? How could she talk about it without talking about it?

'...I'm worried about my brother.', was all she could think of, the truth, at least, the beginning of it. Truly, that's what really worried her.

'Hmm. Like an old song on the radio. I've heard this a thousand different ways, but it's still quite fitting.', Bertrand mused.

'Oh, I'm sorry to hear! What's wrong?', Lori asked, surprising Bertrand yet again. 'I do believe I wanted to talk about you.'

'I'll be fine. Are you?', Lori pressed on, like it was the most important thing in the world. It was, at least, to her.

Bertrand couldn't suppress his smile. '...You surprise me once again, Ms. Loud. Though the subject is one you already know about. My brother is the one in the bed next to you.'

Lori gasped, feeling tears nearly batten her window-drape eyes how could she forget, she was there when the guy got shot! 'OMG, that is horrible! I shouldn't have mentioned it!', Lori apologized, but Bertrand shook his head to reassure her. 'No matter. You meant no harm.'

Lori exhaled through her nose, sinking her chin into her palm. 'Lot of good that does.'

Bertrand sighed in agreement. 'I know how THAT feels. It's like… Even with the best of intentions, it blows up in your face.'

'You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.', Lori added, getting all thoughtful. She felt like wringing her hands, and she did, sort of, expressing her frustration. 'And you don't know if you can fix it. You don't know if you can be that big sister they ask for. Not 'cause you don't want to. Because it's just so much more than who you are.'

'But you try, anyway. No matter how frustrating they are, or how frustrating your flaws are.', Bertrand raised, getting all philosophical himself.

'You just want to make it up to them. To give them what they deserve.', Lori whispered.

At the same time, they said 'You just want to help them soar.'

They looked at each other, and a small smile of recognition, of understanding, passed between them.

'...Mine never really listened. But really, I just chose to stop hearing him. Maybe if I had been better, this wouldn't have had to happen.', Bertrand explained, misty eyes. He felt a little choke, and drowned it with water.

'Mine just wanted me to listen. If I'd heard him earlier, maybe I would have more of a chance to fix it. But I don't know how. Every step forward feels like a thousand of them.', Lori let herself shed a few tears, relieved to be able to let some of it out, like she had found water after a week in the desert. 'Maybe I can't. Maybe I'm just doomed to being the one who doesn't hurt him, instead of the one that helps him.'

Suddenly, she felt a hand cup her chin and turn her head, and she saw Bertrand's kind eyes.

'It's NEVER too late.'

There was something about how he said it that just… Gave Lori a little more breathing room. She didn't nod, or say yes, or smile. She just… Breathed. '...Okay.'

Sighing, they both felt a little better.

'...I know this might sound weird, but I'm really glad you're running, Mr. Tetherby. I realized recently how hurt everyone else in this city is. I think they can recover thanks to you.', Lori offered him a warm and encouraging smile, and Bertand gave a little bow, making her laugh. 'Why, thank you, Ms. Loud, you flatter me. But please, call me Bertrand.'

'Okay, Bertrand. Please, call me Lori.', she curtsied. Bertrand let out a fond chuckle. 'As you wish, Lori.'

'Now, not that this wasn't nice, but I really must be going.', Bertrand said, standing up a little shakily himself, emitting a grunt from the effort. 'Got to get a good night's sleep before the big day.', he offered another smile, and tipped his hat. 'Good night, Lori. May your dreams be like your future: peaceful.'

Lori thought of the weak looking man, how frail and small he seemed at times. She knew better than most how dangerous the city could get, especially at night. And if she wasn't going to patrol even a little today, she might as well do this. 'Mr… I mean, Bertrand, wait! Let me walk you to your car!'

Bertrand waved her off, though he still moved a little awkwardly. 'Oh, no, I couldn't! You need to get back into that bed until they discharge you!'

Lori shook her head, resolute. She stood up and grabbed his hand. 'No can do! I'm real stubborn! I'll walk you, whether you like it or not!'

Bertrand again couldn't help but smile. 'Bossy?', he asked jokingly.

'For once, in a good way.', she added softly, and walked with him. 'Thankfully, no one's noticing us.', she thought, as she walked down the halls to the exit.

Unfortunately, she didn't notice Bertrand press a button on a remote, which sent a small robot to cut the cameras.

Or when he pressed a second button, that sent an alert…


As they got out into the car park near the entrance to the hospital, Lori found her wallet, stuck by a tree. She only just managed to reach it. 'Odd. Must be too tired to fly.', she thought, stifling a yawn. She rejoined Bertrand, who then walked with her to his car.

'Wow, real quiet.', Lori thought, admiring the night sky for a moment. 'It's beautiful, like someone painted the sky!', she mused, appreciating the aesthetic. 'Look at the stars! Look how they shine! They're so yellow and beautiful!', Lori gushed, clasping her hands together and grinning.

'Wonder if we'll see The Guardian fly by?', Bertrand asked nonchalantly, turning his back to her, fiddling with his keys.

'Heh. I wouldn't know.', Lori sheepishly chuckled, hoping she sounded convincing.

'Really? You'd think the vigilante herself would have the answer.'

Lori blinked three times, then rubbed her eyes. 'I must be way more tired than I realize.', she awkwardly laughed, wagging a finger at herself for being so silly. 'Why, for just a moment I thought you said…'

'That you're the Guardian.', Bertrand turned around, pressing a button. All the lights went off suddenly.

Lori let out a small gasp, not even thinking about the lights. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

'No worries. I'll answer the question for you.', Bertrand then pressed one final button.

'No.'

It happened suddenly, like a flash. Four sets of footsteps thudded from hiding places above her.

Lori turned with a start, seeing the glimmer of Barbed Wire's armor. She raised a fist in instinct, but got walloped. SMACK!

Dizzy, she turned around, now catching a flicker of Hocus Pocus' wand, which seemed to glow. FWIT! Two playing cards cut her cheeks, and the wand shot out a blast that hit her on the right side, making her breath out in pain, a stitch.

'Sto…', she cried out in pain. 'Why…'

PTINK! An arrow from Organized Chaos, whose shiny screen blinded her eyes, stuck her to Bertrand's car, the alarm turned off by the owner himself.

Lori, closing her eyes from how it hurt, so much more than it was supposed to, tried to fly up, or tear the arrow off, or do something, but she felt so weak. 'My confidence!', she realized, just in time to look up at the terrifying toothy smile of Mr. E.

POW! THUNK! BANG!

Three powerful punches and kicks by him, and then a BZZT! Of electrical energy from Barbed Wire, and she was practically out for the count.

'Why… This… You're supposed to save the city.', Lori sputtered and coughed out, tasting blood in her mouth. Fear surged through her faster.

Bertrand Thetherby stared down at her, caressing her face, stroking her cheek. 'Oh, I am, Guardian.'

On his shoulder was…

A raven…

'Literally no way…', Lori breathed out, paler than a ghost.

'On the contrary. This IS the way.', Bertrand echoed his speech, and with one final hit from him, she closed her eyes.

The yellow stars turning black.


Lincoln wheeled into the house, hiding the earring and phone in his pocket. This wouldn't be easy, but he needed to give Lori an excuse. It was what good siblings did.

'Hey guys!', he tried first, waving at the Loud family, who were just settling down (read: not settling at all) for dinner. Lynn, feeling better, waved cheerfully at Lincoln. 'Hey, Linc! I saved you a seat!'

Lincoln gave her a sly look. 'So you can steal my meatballs? I don't think so.'

'Hey, I was just gonna share!', Lynn pouted, and Lincoln smiled at her. 'Well, I suppose. But you gotta tell me about how bowling went BEFORE you got sick.'

Lynn smirked, Lincoln had been really cool to take more interest in her hobbies. 'Sure! If you want me to!'

'Hey, Linky!', Lola waved. 'Look at me, I won again!'

Lincoln wheeled up and patted her head, making her gush and coo. 'Great to hear, Lola! I know it was a REALLY big pageant for you! Sorry some of us couldn't make it.'

'No big. Lori managed to help even without coming, to be honest.', Lola smiled gratefully, before turning around in confusion. 'Speaking of, where is she?'

'Yeah! I wanted to show her my romantic mission! I bet she can HART-ley wait to hear about it!', Luan also turned to look, laughing as she did.

'Wasn't Lori with you, Lincoln?', Rita asked, feeding Lily. Lynn Sr., placing Lincoln's plate down and helping him up to the seat by Lynn and Leni, scratched his head. 'Gosh, she'd never be late for spaghetti night!'

Lincoln gulped. 'Oh, um… You see… Lori…'

'Did she go sleep in the garage again? Or run up to bed? Man, I like sleeping too, but she sure turned it into a sport!', Lana commented, stuffing her face. Lola squirmed.

'Nah, then I'd be winning at it!', Lynn joked, though she seemed a little worried. 'Is… Is she sleeping, though?'

Lincoln tried to ignore the pressure drumming in his ear, and just answered. 'Oh, see, she…', he got a eureka moment, and blurted out 'She got a REALLY bad text from Bobby!'

Everyone gasped, like they'd just been told a relative died.

'Yeah! She… Oh man, she was…', Lincoln remembered how scared Lori looked. How he wished he could hug it out of her. '...She looked scared. Worried. I think it was really serious, because she fl… Ran. To the bus.'

Luna looked at Lincoln, concerned. 'She didn't even take Vanzilla? Man.', the rock star looked doubly worried now, and turned to her father. 'Pop star, should we do something? I've been talking to Lori, and she seems to be dealing with a lot.'

'I haven't talked much to her. She seems kinda distant. But I don't think I can help, really.', Leni added sadly and quietly. Lincoln and Lucy patted her shoulders. 'Don't worry, Leni. Sometimes, the darkness is the only comforter. She just needs some space. I'm sure she'll be all… Horribly sweet with you once she feels better.', Lucy said in monotone, leading to a hug from Leni. 'My death has to be better than this, thank you.', the goth objected.

All the kids began to talk at once, worries about Lori filling the air. Rita chinked a glass, causing Lynn Sr. to stop screaming too. 'Kids! And you.', Rita said, making Lynn Sr. chuckle in embarrassment. 'I… Just worry about my little big girl, is all.'

'We all do. And I know this has been a hard time for all of us.', Rita stared sympathetically at her son, who pouted. Leni and Lynn now comforted him, and he smiled.

Rita sighed, and sat down, trying her best to stay strong. 'Lori has spent a long time trying to help you guys, be your anchor, like your father and I have. I know she's not always done the best job, but she deep down, we all know she means well, and we all know she's been better.'

The kids nodded. 'Sure, she's been a little absent. Maybe more than a little. But every time we HAVE talked, she's been really great!', Leni said, and the others again agreed. 'It was annoying at first, but she's working on it. I've spoken to her about it, and she said she's just a little distracted from… Well…', Luna tried to beat around the bush, but Lincoln freed her. 'It's okay, Luna. We all know why.'

'You're not the problem, Lincoln.', Rita reassured. 'That's right, squirt.', Lynn Sr. agreed, holding his wife's hand. The light of the dinner table was like a warm embrace for all of them, comforting them about the eldest Loud child. 'Lori… Well, it feels wrong not to eat with her right now. To hear her gossip, or tell us about Bobby, or chat about Vampires of Melancholia.'

Lucy sighed. 'I miss her unique viewpoints. She offers some fascinating alternative interpretations of the text.'

'Indeed. We all love Lori, she's always there for us. We have to remember to be here for her, when things are tough.', Lynn Sr. agreed, and Rita strengthened him. 'Very true. Let's not forget, Lori not eating with us will be a constant soon. She'll be going to college in 5 months or so. That may seem like a long time, but it's not.'

Everyone felt that foreboding sense, but shook it. '...Fact of the matter is… Lori took what happened to Lincoln a little differently. I think maybe, after so long of being the eldest, she's finally broken a little. It's only natural. Add the stress of college, and now whatever this is with Bobby… Who can blame her for being a little odd?', Rita asked, and it was hard not to agree.

'I don't know how I'd deal with that.', Leni voiced. Luan nodded. 'I'm finding my drama club hard. I can't imagine college.'

'I always knew, deep down, that Lori cared. She really helped me today. Please don't think she's off in her own world, guys.', Lincoln stated, and everyone was quick to agree with what Lincoln said, reassuring him.

'Okay, so we all agree Lori's struggling.', Lola said. 'What next, then?'

'How do we help her?', Lana added. 'It's not like fixing a leak!'

''No, we can't just fix her, that's true. But we can do what she's always done: Be there for her.', Rita stated. 'Exactly, honey.', Lynn Sr. smiled, and then turned to the kids. 'Once Lori comes back, let's all make it clear that we're here for her, okay? It'll take time. She probably won't accept it at first. But soon, she'll turn to us, and we'll give her what families do. Love.'

'I say we toast to that!', Lynn announced, and everyone clinked their glasses, even Lily. 'Love for Lori!'

The only one who had been silent throughout, only just clinking her glass, was Lisa.

She was fiddling with another gadget, a locator, and also staring at a copy of the school paper.

'Wherever she is, it's not Great Lakes City.', Llisa thought, shaking her head in anger. 'Lori's in danger. Who could have guessed. Me.'

She sighed and tried to remain strong. 'Calm down, Lisa. You can get her out of this mess, and make sure she learns her lesson. But you're gonna need some help.'

She circled the name on the paper, the writer of an article about her sister: Lyberti Evans.

'And I think I know JUST who to talk to…'


POST CREDITS SCENE:

Meanwhile…

In the lab/hidden HQ of Bertrand Thetherby…

Hanging inside a gigantic hanging glass cell…

A lone light in the darkness.

Lori Loud, The Guardian.

Arms chained to a wall.

Beaten and bruised.

Stared at by Barbed Wire, Hocus Pocus, Mr. E, Organized Chaos, and Mr. Stone.

With one man in the middle, sighing moresley.

'Oh, Lori. I wish I didn't have to do this.'

He walked away with the others, shutting the door. 'But for now, you'll be staying here, so I can save Royal Woods.'

And as the door closed and the dim green lights turned off, all that was left was Lori.

Defeated.


Yeah, I know, ANOTHER long hiatus. 2022 was a slow writing year for me, and I'm trying to make 2023 better. I just had a lot of personal projects that DRAINED me at the end of the year, and it's taken me some time to get going this year (plus I have other projects). BUT, this year I intend to give you guys more! I'm sure the audience of this fic is starving by now XD so I can promise two more chapters this month alone, and more by the rest of the year. Chapters 10 and 11 (which will be way shorter for once XD) form the halfway point of this season, so we're entering the final act of sorts. Get ready, things are about to get BIG!