37. Chapter 37

AN: Happy to see so many first time reviewers giving their two-cents. It's always nice to see that people are still enjoying this thing.

So, this was a difficult chapter to write, for a number of reasons, but mostly because I'm working outside my usual...area of expertise here. But I think I did the best I could with it. Enjoy.

"You got that out your system, Sonic Youth?" Luan deadpanned.

Luna simply stared back at her sister, knowing she wouldn't have to wait long. True to form, very little time had passed before Luan's lips quirked upward ever so slightly. The younger girl's eyes widened ever so slightly before she composed herself once more. Staring resumed, both parties still as stone.

"Ged—" Luan clamped her mouth shut, clenching her fists as she concentrated on maintaining her stoic silence.

"Geddi—" she grit her teeth, slamming her fists upon the table. She had committed to this. She had been wronged! She refused to compromise her righteous indignation by-

"Geddit?" —showing weakness in the...face...of...

Luan's jaw silently swung open as she processed what had just taken place. With as much dignity as she could muster, she untensed her body, and let out a soft, exasperated sigh.

"Yes." Luna remarked at last, looking extremely pleased with herself.

"...Right." Lincoln concluded at least, once the hubbub had died down. "So Luna just blasted Lori and Luan. Also, Carol? Your special ability entitles you to a free counter attack against each person who fails to hit you in melee combat. Luan was already unbalanced from her failed attack, and Luna's blast would have compounded that by knocking her prone, so why don't we just skip right to rolling for damage..."

"Actually!" Carol interjected, her voice pitched slightly higher than usual. "I think I'm going to forgo the counter attack, and exit the melee entirely. Back away a bit, you know?"

Lincoln blinked in surprise. "But it costs you nothing to wail on them." He gestured towards his bereaved sisters. "Why would you willingly give up the advantage?"

"Because..." Carol began, trailing off momentarily before seemingly finding her focus once more. "...it wouldn't be fair?"

"Fair?" Lincoln repeated, confused.

"Sporting!" Carol corrected herself. "It wouldn't be sporting for a villain of my caliber to crush the heroes so effortlessly. Better to let them stew in their own helplessness as the last vestiges of hope are snatched from their grasp at the last possible second."

She looked around the table. "Um, right?"

Lincoln took a moment to consider this. "Fair enough." He said, shrugging. "That's par for the genre."

Lincoln gestured towards his sisters. "You guys get another round. Make it count."

"I'm backing up towards Luna." Lori said, eyeing Carol suspiciously.

"Me too." Luan quickly added. "Maybe we could just have Luna wear her down from a distance..."

"Hey Lincoln!" Carol interjected, much louder than normal. "I forget, which hand am I wearing my Sonic Repulsion Gauntlet on? The one that absorbs and redirects sonic blasts while dramatically amplifying their effects."

"Aaaand apparently that's out of the question." Luan concluded, softly sighing in annoyance.

Lincoln turned to Carol, frowning. "Carol!" He admonished her. "You're not supposed to just give away information like that! That gauntlet was your ace in the hole!"

"Speaking of Ace-Holes..." Luan muttered under her breath

"Whoops." Carol holding out her hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Sorry Linc, totally slipped my mind."

Lincoln sighed and turned back towards his sisters. "Alright, you've got lucky there. What are your actions?"

The girls glanced among each other, each clearly waiting for someone to propose a new course of action.

"We're gonna need a new plan." Lucy said, when no alternatives were offered. "Pass me your character sheets, I need to see what we're working with."

"Good luck." Lincoln scoffed. "You're going to have to strategize in real time, and I don't think—"

"I'll allow it!" Carol announced. Lincoln threw up his hands in frustration and jerked his head back towards the blonde.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because...villainy?" She replied. Lincoln's eyes crossed as he tried to process this.

"And..." She added. "Because I needed a time out anyway. I have some really, really important questions I need to ask you...about..." Carol floundered ever so slightly. "...comics!"

"Comics?" Lincoln asked, one eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Ace Savvy comics!" Carol added, nodding eagerly.

Lincoln glanced to his sisters, waiting with baited breath, then back to Carol, clearly hungry for knowledge that only he could impart to her. Calling a timeout in the middle of a battle would be an extremely unprofessional thing to do. But on the other hand, a very pretty girl wanted to talk to him about comic books...

"Fine." He grumbled. "Five minute time out." He waved towards the kitchen. "You guys can go have your team meeting over there."

Lori, Luna and Luan stood huddled around Lucy, all fidgeting anxiously as their little sister poured over their shared resources. Of the group, Lucy had been the one who'd most readily taken to the game's myriad systems, so it had seemed logical to put her in charge of planning their counter attack. Leni had taken it upon herself to make smoothies for everybody.

"Vrrrrv" Leni sang, imitating the sound of the blender as it transmogrified solid matter into delicious beverages.

Lori grit her teeth in irritation, the sounds of the blender and the Leni intermingling with the ticking of her internal clock, coalescing into a big bundle of annoyance.

"Well?" She growled impatiently

"Hold your horses." Lucy muttered, not bothering to look up. "I wasn't seriously expecting to come up with something on the fly. We're woefully under-prepared for this battle, and I suspect that was intentional."

"Meaning?" Luan prompted.

"Meaning, that I suspect Lincoln wasn't particularly happy with the direction this campaign has taken." She shrugged. "I can't blame him, Sam and Lynn have clearly things pretty far off the rails."

"You think he's setting us up to fail?" Luna asked, frowning.

"Not as such." Lucy corrected her. "I believe this is merely an attempt by Lincoln to assert some control over his story once again. Removing Sam from the occasion while pitting us against a villain specifically designed to counter our abilities is a calculated effort to rein things in, to get us to play by his rules. I would imagine that..." The little girl trailed off, her body frozen in place. Suddenly, she jerked back to life with a burst of movement, and started frantically shuffling through the pile of character sheets.

"Lucy?" Lori asked. Concerned, but also curious at this uncharacteristic level of energy being displayed by her little sister.

Finally Lucy stopped, having apparently found when she was looking for. She read the page before her. Then again, just for good measure. And then, she smiled.

"Get Lincoln." She ordered. "I might have something."

"No." Lincoln growled, his voice brooking no room for argument.

"But why not, big brother?" Lucy asked innocently.

"Because it's ridiculous? Nonsensical? Physically impossible!"

"There's a fight going on between our two giant sized teammates only a few blocks away, and I was set on fire by a bee." Lucy deadpanned. "To say nothing of the fact that some of the parties involved in this altercation have actual super powers. I think sense stopped being a factor some time ago."

Lincoln groaned, rubbing his temples in frustration. He, Lori, and Lucy had the kitchen to themselves. Lucy had opted to send the other girls away, wanting to keep the details of her plan to as few people as possible until they could clear things with him. This appeared to be a sign of respect, which Lincoln appreciated, but at the same time, he could recognize that this was clearly a calculated maneuver. Fewer people in the know minimized the risk of inadvertently giving something away, and as Game Master, Lincoln was obligated to refrain from sharing out of character knowledge with other players, Carol included. Lincoln was both impressed, and mildly disturbed by how quickly his little sister had taken to the cut-throat world of metagaming.

"It's just..." He began, choosing his words carefully. "That can't possibly have been how that rule was intended to be used."

"In the absence of official errata, all rules are meant to be played as written." Lucy recited, a wry smirk on her face. Lincoln grimaced. Apparently, someone had taken the time to read the rulebook.

"We've already checked, and there's no errata on the subject." Lori added, a wan smile on her face. "So by the rules of the game, we're well within our rights to to try this."

"But we won't without your permission, big brother." Lucy interjected, her face the perfect picture of innocence. Clever girl, putting the ball in his court.

Lincoln rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You realize that even if I allow this, the odds are stacked against you. The skill checks Lori will need to pass are going to be crazy difficult."

"Yes, though not quite to the extent that you'd think." Lucy replied, handing him a sheet of notebook paper. Lincoln quickly scanned it, his eyes widening in surprise. Lucy had done her homework, squeezing every circumstantial modifier she could out of the situation. It still wasn't that much better than a straight roll, but it took the scenario from completely impossible to merely improbably.

"And I would be the one making the rolls, correct?" He asked, one eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Of course." Lucy smiled beatifically at him. "We trust you to be completely impartial in this matter."

Lincoln sighed in resignation. He had the power to stop this, as they'd already pointed out, but that wouldn't be very fair. And, in spite of himself, he was legitimately curious to see how this might play out.

"Fine." He grumbled, rolling his eyes at his sisters shared a discrete high five. "But for your sakes, I really hope you have a backup plan ready for when this blows up in your faces."

"So whats the news?" Luna asked as Lori, Lucy, and Lincoln took their seats once more.

"We've gotten Lincoln's approval to try my plan." Lucy said, laying out her character sheet in preparation for the game to resume.

"And do we get to know what this plan is?" Luan asked, prompting the younger girl for explanation.

"It's on a need to know basis." Lucy replied, coolly. She jerked her head meaningfully towards Carol, who, seeing this sudden attention on herself, smiled nervously and waved to them. "Just follow my lead."

"Whatever you say, Luce." Luna shrugged, seeing the matter was out of her hands.

"And with that, I think we're ready to start again. Top of the round, girls." Lincoln announced. He turned towards Lucy. "Last chance to back out of this."

Lucy simply turned to Lori. "Do it."

"R-right." Lori coughed nervously. "I'm going to use the entirety of my turn to head back towards the stairs. Once I'm there, I exit the battlefield entirely, and start descending the building."

This raised a few eyebrows on both sides of the table. "Fair enough." Lincoln replied. "Let me know when you start doing your thing."

The table lapsed into silence, presumably from those not in the know waiting for some kind of explanation as to what was going on.

"So...what are we doing?" Luna asked Lucy, when no explanation seemed to be forthcoming. The younger girl jerked her head towards Carol once again.

"Keep her busy." She said.

"Taking another swing at her with my guitar, Linc." Luna growled, not bothering to pick up her dice.

"Trump Card dodges the attack with little visible effort." Lincoln replied, confirming her suspicions. "Her expert footwork making it seem like she's gliding across the floor. Carol, you get to reposition within one square."

"I'll go here." She moved her piece, removing herself from the pincer attack being set up between Night Club and Joker. "And I'll take my counter attack against Lina."

"Nice!" Lincoln congratulated her, confirming the attack roll. "And that's going to knock Luna prone. You'll need to spend your next turn trying to get back on your feet, Luna."

"Nuts." The rocker grumbled. "I was hoping we might be able to pin her down if we boxed her in. You're on Luan."

"Wonderful." The comedienne rolled her eyes. " Lucy, we're getting killed over here! What's the hold up?"

The younger girl didn't reply. Instead, she tore off a scrap of notebook paper, scribbled down something on it, then slid it towards Lincoln. He picked it up and covertly checked the contents.

What's our status?

Oh, right. It was that time again. Lincoln discretely reached tor his dice and rolled them behind his screen, wincing at the result. This was statistically impossible. He sighed, and scribbled his own message.

She's hanging in there.

Technically, he should have been conveying this information directly to Lori. But she was going to share it with Lucy anyway, and the younger girl had a better grasp of the rules involved.

Lincoln blinked in surprise as another message landed in front of him.

How much longer?

Lincoln ran the numbers in his head. They were...close. Way too close. At this rate, they might actually pull this off. But he didn't want to get their hopes up.

Soon. Possibly. I'll let you know.

Lucy frowned as she read his message, but seemed to accept it, albeit grudgingly.

"We need more time." She told Luan.

"For crying out loud." Luan grumbled to herself. "How about our B-plan?"

"Leni could potentially get it off as early as next turn." He reported. "Depends on her next skill check."

"I'm working as fast as I can, Luan!" Leni's fingers worked furiously, the knitting needles held within clacking together in a rapid staccato as she shaped the yarn before her. They'd explained to the older girl that the plan didn't call for her to physically knit anything, but she'd insisted. Frankly, it was impressive how much progress she'd made in such a short amount of time, and Lincoln appreciated how invested she'd become in the affair.

"Fine!" Luan grabbed her miniature and slammed it down, very deliberately in a space adjacent to both Night Club and Trump Card. "Taking another swing at blondie."

Carol frowned at the board, puzzled by the maneuver. Then her eyes widened in surprised, and she smiled. "Oh. I see. You're forcing me to back up so Luna has time to get up. Nice one, Luan!"

"Yeah, well..." The brunette chuckled mirthlessly. "Hate the player."

Carol's smile froze just a bit. "I don't think that's how that expression..."

"Top of the round, Linc!" Luan shouted, cutting her off.

Lucy took a deep breath. All the pieces were in place, figuratively speaking. There was still an element of luck in play, but she'd done everything she could to hedge their bets. All that was left, was to see how things would play out.

"Lincoln." She began, "I think we should start with Leni's skill check."

Lincoln raised one eyebrow, but didn't visibly react otherwise. "Fair enough." He turned to the blonde. "Go ahead Leni."

"But I'm not finished yet." Leni protested, shaking the pile of yarn in her hands for emphasis.

"It's fine, Leni." He gently reassured her. "Just take the big die and roll it. You need a fifteen or higher."

"Okay." The older girl set down her work, picked up her die with one trembling hand, and flung it. The table collectively held their breath as the polyhedron bounced across the table. One, twice, thrice, each time losing a little more momentum. The small object bounced once more before coming to a rest inside the nest of knitting material. Thankfully, without being prompted, Leni leaned forward and gently began to sift through her yarn, her face becoming more and more worried with each second. Finally, her expression changed, her perfectly formed mouth forming a small 'o', and Lucy dared to hope. Then...Leni's face fell. And with it, Lucy's hopes.

"Sorry guys." She apologized, mournfully, wincing at the groans that resounded from her nearby sisters.

"It's okay, Leni." Lori comforted her, gently patting the other girl's arm. We'll figure out something else.

Lucy sighed, a real one, and slunk down into her chair.

"Leni, move your yarn, we've got to get your die back."

It was...frustrating. She knew it was all just a game, but she'd wanted to win this. It an opportunity both to prove herself to her big brother, and to get some payback on the big blonde interloper who had crept into their lives and ingratiated herself to said brother entirely too quickly. It had been bad enough when Sam did it!

"Stop, we're making it worse! Look, you grab one end, and I'll grab the other!"

For a moment, she'd thought they'd had this. But they managed to stumble before the race had even begun.

"There, now we can...what the heck, Leni?"

All she'd wanted, was just one...

"...SIXTEEN, LENI!"

Wait, what? Lucy was abruptly snapped out of her inner monologue by Lori's outburst. Seeing that all eyes were on her older sisters, Lucy struggled to sit back up to see what was going on. And true to form, sitting all by itself, now freed of it's yarny prison, stood Leni's die. The number "16", clearly on display for all to see.

"Sorry, Lori." Leni said, clearly abashed. "I always get that one mixed up with forty-two."

Lucy grinned fiercely, her heart hammering in her tiny chest, and her mind working a million miles a minute. There was still a chance.

"Oh, look guys!" Leni squealed in delight. "My scarf is done!"

"Um. Not that I'm not happy for you guys, but I'm not seeing how this helps you." Carol confessed.

"Because we can do this!" Leni replied, and flung the garment in her hands at the older blonde. Lucy was mildly impressed at how effortlessly the girl dodged the projectile...

"Gah!"

...but less so when that caused it to hit Lincoln instead, the force of the throw tipping the boy's chair over, and him with it.

"Sorry Linky!" Leni called out.

Lucy's fists instinctively clenched as Carol helped Lincoln to his feet, more so when she began fussing over him, helping him straighten out his costume like a concerned...friend. Time to end this.

"That's more or less the idea." Lucy replied, coolly, trying to affect a calm facade that in no way reflected her inner turmoil. "Leni's been putting together a special scarf, just for Carol."

"It's blue!" Leni helpfully supplied.

"And really comfy." Lincoln observed, having retrieved the fallen garment. He held it out to Carol, who began poking at it experimentally.

"Yes..." Lucy growled, trying to keep her calm. "And thanks to her fibrokinesis, which allows her to manipulate clothing fibers with her mind, as well as alter their physical properties, it also possesses extremely high tensile strength."

This caught the duo's attention, causing them both to look up from their examination of the prop scarf with interest.

"Just like I told you, Leni." Lucy prompted, motioning at the older girl.

"Right." Leni nodded. "I throw the scarf at Carol, and then I make it wrap around her legs..."

"...Sealing her movements." Lincoln finished, his eyes narrowing.

"Precisely." Lucy affirmed. "If Trump Card can't move, she can't dodge."

"You're only mostly right." Lincoln corrected her. "But that was a clever move."

"But how do you intend to capitalize on that?" He gestured towards the board. "Leni can't do anything else this round, Luna's still down, and Luan doesn't have the firepower to take Carol out before she frees herself."

Lucy allowed herself a small smirk. "I think you forgot that I've been hiding in the shadows all this time."

Silence fell upon the table as the players processed this sudden turn of events.

Lincoln's eyes widened in surprise, apparently realizing the implications of this. "So..."

"That's right." Lucy cut him off. Her eyes flashing unseen, hidden as they were deep within her raven-tresses. "Sneak attack."

Lucy produced her miniature from within the folds of her cloak, and place it on the board, directly behind Carol's, catching her in a pincer between Luan and herself.

"My 'Strike From the Shadows' feat allows me to accrue a stacking bonus to my next attack for every round I remain hidden." She explained. "Carol's immobile, flanked by Luan and I, and I've caught her off guard. All those circumstantial bonuses should make it nearly impossible to me to miss under normal circumstances."

"Under normal circumstances."

"Since I should have an excess of what I need to hit her, I'm going to take a penalty to my attack roll and go for a called shot."

"And where are you aiming, Lucy?" Lincoln asked, panic setting in as he realized where this was going.

A very uncharacteristic grin made its way onto Lucy's face. It was mildly unsettling. "A shot to the heart." She replied.

"And you're to blame!" Luna added, pointing at Carol.

"Lucy..." Lincoln pleaded, trying to stall for time. "That doesn't sound like especially heroic behavior..."

"I'll live with it." Lucy deadpanned, snatching up her die and rolling it in a single fluid motion. Lincoln's breath hitched in his throat and the small black object came to a stop, and he let out a small sigh of relief. It wasn't ideal, but he could work with that.

"Carol, I need an opposed roll." He nodded towards the older girl, who quickly complied.

"It was a pretty good, if somewhat unsettling try, Lucy..."

"Thank you." She coolly interjected.

"But it wasn't enough." He rolled his eyes, making a mental note to have a serious talk with the young goth at a later time. "Even though Carol's stuck in place, her reflexes are still sufficient to allow her to disrupt your aim. Eight of Spades rushes in and stabs at Trump Card with her spade, but at the last second Trump Card manages to jerk her body out of the way. The blow that was intended for her heart, instead landing in her shoulder."

He quickly rolled some dice behind his screen, wincing at the result. "It...uh, actually goes in pretty deep." He turned to his partner in crime. "T-twenty points of damage, by the way, Carol." The older girl was suddenly looking a little green.

"I don't think you're getting that back in the near future, Luce." He continued, turning back to his younger sister.

"You're saying I'm unable to disengage, because I've lodged my weapon within my foe?" The younger girl asked.

"Yeeees?" Lincoln affirmed, after a moment of consideration. "Actually, I think this backfired on you spectacularly. Carol's going to counterattack and smack you silly." He considered the board state. "In fact, I think she has a pretty good chance of outright knocking you off the roof."

"So you're saying that I'm in danger?" Lucy prompted him.

"That is exactly what I'm saying." Lincoln's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I wouldn't be if we could pull off The Plan."

"I'll give you that." He countered. "But the odds of that happening are statistically impossible."

The two sat there, staring at one another in silence. Lincoln was vaguely aware that his sisters and Carol were off on the sidelines, watching the altercation, and that somewhere even further away, Sam and Lynn were likely still having out their own epic battle. But he couldn't focus on any of that, because there was something strangely compelling about this particular stand-off.

"So, for clarification..." Lucy spoke at last. "I am in an incredibly perilous situation, and my only possible salvation lies in the occurrence of an incredibly unlikely event."

"Yes!" Lincoln had to keep himself from shouting at the small girl. "You are in imminent danger! Your life is in peril! You have very likely doomed your character with this incredibly, poorly thought out move!"

Lucy said nothing. Instead , she reached under the table, and withdrew a large, hard backed book. Lincoln recognized it as his rule book. Silently, Lucy slid the tome his way. Lincoln noticed that, unlike the last time he'd seen the book, a small black bookmark was sticking out from the pages, tiny plastic bat wings sticking out from the tip. Lincoln reached for the book and turned to the relevant page.

"A Million to One Odds." He read aloud. "Once per adventure, when circumstances are so dire that all seems lost, a player character may call upon narrative conventions to defy the laws of plausibility and...automatically succeed on a single skill check...the more contrived the solution would be...the better..." He trailed off, agog at the fact that his little sister had managed to chance upon such an obscure rule.

"I believe some deus ex machina is in order." Lucy said, seemingly inordinately pleased with herself.

Lincoln groaned, not even bothering to hide it for once, putting his head down on the surface of the table. He was vaguely aware of the confused, but delighted whoops of triumph coming from his sisters. Lucy had played him. And...he'd be lying if he claimed he wasn't proud of that.

"You...okay, Linc?" He turned to see Carol, her concerned face only inches from his own. It was a welcomed sight.

"I'm fine, Carol." He chuckled, and pulled himself off the table, straightening himself up. The celebration had stopped somewhat abruptly, his sisters now gazing intently at him.. Presumably, the girls were impatient to get on with things. Best not to keep them.

"I'm fine." He repeated, glancing at the older girl. "But...I do want to apologize in advance for what's about to happen."

"Come on, Linc." Carol tittered nervously. "How bad could it be?"

How bad indeed? He exhaled deeply, mentally preparing himself.

"Trump Card reels back, preparing to counterattack her assailant. It seems as though Eight of Spades is destined to meet a very painful and messy end, splattered across the pavement."

He paused for dramatic effect. "Then...you all freeze as you hear a very unexpected sound. A sound that makes..." he shot a glare at Lucy and Lori "...absolutely zero sense, to be heard on a rooftop 10-stories off the ground. The squealing of tires, and the roar of a high powered engine."

"Before any of you can process this strange turn of events, your startled by the sudden appearance of your team's van, careening up and off the vertical surface of the building. It hangs, suspended in air, in clear defiance of physics..." Another meaningful glare towards the perpetrators. "...before slamming down upon the rooftop, a short distance away from the melee. You can see that High Card is sitting in her customary spot in the driver's seat."

For a moment, nobody said anything. Then, Luan broke the silence.

"What the heck, Lori?"

Lori tittered nervously as all eyes were suddenly upon her.

"Lucy?" She pleaded, looking towards her little sister.

Lucy puffed herself up, seemingly pleased to provide the explanation. "Well, when I was looking through our character sheets, I noticed that High Card has an ability called Master Driver, which allows a vehicle she's driving to borrow her stat values for various skill checks."

"It's supposed to represent her expert driving ability." Lincoln droned, clearly still not especially happy at the way things had panned out.

"And it does." Lucy agreed. "She's clearly an amazing driver."

Lori chose to take that as a compliment, even knowing full well that it was in reference to her alter ego.

"Think I'm with you so far." Luna began. "But I don't see how that gets our car on the roof."

"The rule isn't very well worded." Lucy continued. "It says she can use her stat values. The intended idea is presumably to allow the driver to, say use her dexterity score to allow her vehicle to perform more nimble maneuvers."

"However!" Lucy was clearly relishing the opportunity to explain herself. "Per the relevant sections and subsections of the rule book, skill values fall under the category of 'player statistics.' Since vehicles have stat values, just like humanoid characters and the like do, they also have the same skills available to do, albeit locked at a value of zero, as they have no way of raising those stats. A straight value swap, however, means that a vehicle would suddenly have an actual rank in skills like...say, sneaking, acrobatics..." She lowered her voice. "Or the climb skill. Which High Card happens to have a respectable skill rank in."

"It's so she can climb up things and pose dramatically." Lincoln grumbled. "You all have it to some extent."

"So you finagled Lincoln into letting Lori make her car...climb a building?" Luan said, slowly, sounding out each word.

"That is exactly what we did, yes." Lori nodded, smirking.

"High-five, girl!" Luan whooped, slapping skin with her very satisfied older sister.

"It shouldn't have actually worked." Lincoln clarified. "Even discounting the fact that it doesn't have hands, it's still a heavy piece of machinery. The climb rolls were made at a severe penalty. But she managed to make several remarkable rolls in a row..."

"And that final clutch roll manage to seal the deal." Lucy interjected.

"That's...actually amazing." Luna said, still bewildered. "Sam's gonna be sad she missed it."

Lori glanced to the far end of the table, where the girls had apparently cast off all pretense of play fighting. Lynn now had Sam in a headlock, and was noogieing her relentlessly.

"So...as amazingly well played as that was...what exactly was the point of all this?" Carol asked.

"This." Lucy replied. "Get her Lori."

"I slam my foot down on the gas pedal." Lori said, resisting the urge to cackle with glee.

"The van careens forward, barreling straight towards Trump Card." Lincoln intoned, shaking his head, sadly.

"Don't suppose I can dodge this one, right?" Carol asked.

"Not unless you can make a saving throw against car."

"Well girls." Lincoln began, smiling in spite the insanity that had just taken place. "While I don't agree with the way you handled things, you still managed to pull it off. The villain lays broken and defeated...mostly broken..." He gave Carol a pat on the arm, earning himself a smile from the older girl. "And with her taken care of, it should be a simple task to shut down the mind control machine and return your oversized teammates to normal, thereby saving Ace. I think we can declare this adventure a success."

Carol giggled, and wrapped her hand around Lincoln's, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "That was fun." She said, giving him a smile. "I'm really glad you invited me to play with you guys." Then she turned to Lori. "You guys did great, it was really impressive how you turned that fight around." Carol held out her hand to Lori, offering a conciliatory handshake in spite of the hostility with which she had been treated. It was entirely expected of her. Carol Pingrey, class act. Gracious, whether in defeat or victory. A relentlessly forgiving person, no matter the situation. That aspect of her was a cornerstone of their friendship, a rather integral one given how often the two found themselves embroiled in bitter rivalry over the most trivial things. All Lori had to do was take her hand, return the sentiment, and things would go right back to normal. She wouldn't even have to apologize.

...Except...Lori wasn't sorry. She didn't see her friend's kind expression, or the proffering of friendship. What she saw, was another girl holding hands with her little brother. A girl who'd been talking with him. Laughing with him. Sharing quiet moments with him the entire time she'd been here. A girl that Lincoln had invited over, of his own free will. A girl...who was replacing her. Again.

"I back up the van." Lori said softly. Suddenly, all eyes were upon her, again.

"W-what?" Carol asked.

"I back up the van." Lori repeated, her voice low. "And then I run her over again."

"Lori..." Lincoln began.

"I run her over, again, Lincoln." Lori repeated, more forcefully this time, not taking her eyes off Carol.

"A-alright." Lincoln said at last, frowning. "You did it. Congratulations. Now she's hurt even more badly."

Silence fell upon the table. Lori, relishing in her petty victory. She could sense some small part of her brain screaming at her to stop acting like a child. To apologize to her good friend, and her family. But...

"Do it again." Luna rasped. Lori turned to the younger girl, seeing a hollow smile spreading across her face.

"Luna!" Carol exclaimed, her confusion now replaced by hurt.

"I believe, that rules call for you to roll for each and every one of her bones. To see which ones break." Lucy intoned softly, her expression even more blank than usual.

"Them's the breaks!" Luan chuckled darkly.

"Vroom, vroom." Leni whispered, so quietly as to almost be to herself.

Carol slowly withdrew her now shaking arm, and clutched it against her chest. "I-it was fun, Linc." She said, softly. "But I think I'm going to go now."

"Carol..." He started, reaching for the older girl, but this time, she shook him off. Carol didn't say anything more, she stood up, turned around, and left the room as quickly as possible. As she turned to leave, her perfect skin managed to catch the light just right, and for an instant Lori was able to make out a thin, glistening trail of wetness running down the girl's cheek. And then it was over. A door slammed from somewhere in the distance, and quiet settled back into the room.

Lori breathed a soft sigh of relief. She wasn't...particularly proud of how she had handled that. But now Carol was gone, and now they could get back to...

Lori's thoughts trailed off as her eyes met Lincoln's. Sweet, good-natured Lincoln. Who now looked anything but. He didn't look happy. He didn't even look disappointed. He looked furious.

"Hey, guys!"

Lori tore her eyes away from Lincoln's to see Lynn and Sam approaching the group. The pair had somehow gotten each other in a mutual headlock, their refusal to let go of one another forcing them to move in a jerking, wobbly fashion, the overall affect bringing Frankenstein to mind. Sam frowned as she ran her gaze across the group, taking in the situation.

"What the heck did we miss?"

SUDDEN GENRE SHIFT

...No, no its not. It's just plot happening. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Stick with it, things get better, I promise.