Hatoralo: "LoudAutomata16 has a writing partner now, called Hidden717. Like we two!"
MamaAniki: "And they do Notes in the same style I do."
Hatoralo: "We have only one thing to say about this:"
MamaAniki: "Our lawyers will soon speak with you."
Hatoralo: "What? No, we want to congratulate them to their partnership and feel honored to be inspired their way of writing notes!"

Mama Aniki: "We want to thank ultrablud2 for proof-reading this chapter as well as almost all the others so far."

Hatoralo & MamaAniki: "Now for the questions of our readers:

LoudAutomata16: Bobby surviving? We will see and we are happy to hear that you liked all the backstory. And Rocky is the straight man here, somebody has to show how insane all of this is.

Tziput13: Hatoralo: "I like C&C too… Well, the cutscenes.^^" " MamaAniki: "We are happy to hear that you like our work and the world building we do."

Keeper of Worlds: You want to know the Observer's endgame? Then you have to continue reading this story, we will not spoil it here but the Louds will eventually confront the Observer."

And without anything further to add:
Please enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 20: Le Roi, c'est moi - Part 3

Don'tbedeaddon'tbedeaddon'tbedeaddon'tbedead…" Lori repeated in a quick manner while she dragged the lifeless body of the Hispanic boy out of the danger zone. Total chaos had erupted around them as the shot struck Bobby, coloring him red. Luna was besides her, screaming that she should just drop him, but her sister wasn't listening to her. Groaning, she grabbed Bobby by his feet and helped her older sister carry the unconscious teenager to cover.

The cover in question turned out to be a little shack where equipment needed for football was stored. They carried Bobby to the back of it and placed him on the ground.

Not knowing what to do, she started to wipe away the red stuff on Bobby's head with her handkerchief.

She was so snared in her desperate cleaning of Bobby, she didn't really notice that the chaos around her was getting worse. Kindergarteners ran on the football field, screaming, shooting around with toy-weapons, swinging toy-weapons around and attacking everything in sight. One was walking with quaking steps on the football field. Quaking because she was using two large hydraulic-powered fawn brown mechanical legs with several joints connected to her natural feet. There was also a large water-cannon toy pistol connected to the two legs, manned by the little "pilot" of this strange monstrosity.

"What the fit?!" shouted Luna as she behold that monstrosity peeking around the edge. "Where did the little boggers get that thing from?!"

Lori noticed nothing of this while she tried to aid Bobby's wounds. Her head wasn't able to accept that Bobby Santiago could be….

"NO!" she suddenly shouted. "Don't be dead, I lo…. I lo… I lo…"

She tried to say "I love you" out loud, but she wasn't able to do for reasons she didn't understand.

Instead she buried her head in Bobby's chest and sniffed. The memories hit her, all the good times she had with Roberto Alejandro Martinez-Millan Luis Santiago Jr.

The thought that he was gone now, that she wasn't able to make new memories with him, that this beautiful young man was dead now only because he tried to win back her heart was so…

"I wasn't worth it Bobby…" she cried. "Why didn't you search for somebody new? I am not good enough for you, I never was, I…. I smell color."

She took a sniff at the red stuff on Bobby's head.

"This is just red paint."

She searched for his pulse and he still had one, plus his body was going up and down in a rhythmic movement, indicating that he was still breathing.

"You are alive!" she expressed in pure joy while hugging him, before her visage became a lot darker. "But this sniper wannabe will be literally not alive very soon."

"Could we perhaps worry about us first before we make any plans regarding a potential assassin?" she heard Luna ask her from behind. The musician was looking around the corner, watching the girl on steampunk stalks blow a couple of second graders away with her water gun. "I don't plan on dying in an escalating schoolyard fight."

"You are right," Lori confirmed, "we are not safe here." She looked down on Bobby. "He is not safe here."

Luna didn't like the sound of that. "You know, I doubt whoever shot, Bobby was not the intended target."

"What makes you think that?"

"Have you looked at your top?"

Slightly confused about what Luna meant, Lori looked down. Her lightly blue top was soaked in red stains, indicating that whoever had shot Bobby once shot her multiple times too. She brushed two fingers over the spot, getting them soaked in paint.

"I… they hit me too?"

"Not just you," Luna stated and showed her left side. The stains on her top indicated at least three successful hits. "I know this sounds weird, but I think we are being targeted."
Lori was confused. "Who would literally have it for us?"

The aforementioned sniper bit its lollipop in annoyance, making it crack. "Dang it," she cursed under her breath, swallowed what remained of her sweet treat and spit the stick out.
Her orders were clear: Shoot down the two Louds one of Le Roi's people spotted on the sport field till they get so scared, they would leave school grounds. A simple order made complicated by the fact that just when she was about to unleash a round of paintballs on them, whatever was going on in school expanded to the sport field.
In the ensuing chaos, she didn't get any more good shots and now the Louds were hiding behind a shack.

"What the heck is going on here?" she cursed and pulled out her phone. She was aware of the "distraction" the boss had asked the kindergarteners for to get the Loud Boy, but this was getting ridiculously out of control. Alexandra would have never been okay with this, especially seeing how some of her own agents within the hall monitor force were fighting against some of her allies in kindergarten right now. With one eye focused on the shack, waiting for the Louds to reemerge, she dialed up the number of "The Cardinal". Seconds later, she heard his voice.
"Hey Lionel, how are you doing? Listen, I know Alex is the one who always has a plan, but does that plan also involve self-made railguns that shoot water at hall monitors? No? Then boy, do I have something to show you!"

Lionel Hagen, fourth grader, consigliere of Alexandra Dumas and as such second in command of CDR, did not like what he saw. "The Executioner" had just called him, informing him of some ruckus at the sport field she had been sent to in order to deal with two older Loud sisters and, to make her point, sending him a video of what was going on.

Excusing himself from the table while Alexandra was busy explaining to the Loud boy just how much influence she really had at school, he went to a corner of the room to make a call to one of the other field agents. Two minutes after that, he returned to the table and tapped Alexandra on the shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked.

"We need to talk."

"Can't it wait a bit? I am just at the part where I took over the middle school lemonade stand operation."

"Now."

Next to her boss, Julia raised an eyebrow. As Alexandra's personal adviser, Lionel was privileged enough to talk to her in a sterner voice than some other kids in the group. But in the year he spent being a member of the CDR, he never raised his voice against her in a meaningful manner. Now he sounded like an older sibling that was about to ground her.
"Fine," sighed Alexandra and stood up. "Julia, Richie, keep them entertained."

While she and Lionel moved to another corner of the room to talk a bit more in private, her agents looked at the older hostages. Lincoln was obviously baffled about the things Alexandra had told him over the last minutes. The "funny" Loud, on the other hand…
"Boy, your boss likes to talk a lot," she stated nonchalantly, slightly bored out of her skull.

"She is pretty proud of her achievements," Julia said dryly. She didn't want to admit that it was slightly out of character for Alexandra to brag about her rise to power the way she did a few moments ago.

"Still, she could use a few funny anecdotes in her story," Luan proposed. "For example, what is the difference between the mafia and the government? One is organized!"

While Luan was trying her best to make fun of the situation she was in, Alexandra was taking a look at the video Lionel had received.
"I admit, this is…worrisome."

"Worrisome?" Lionel repeated. "This is a catastrophe!"
He leant in closer and whispered her in the ear a briefing on what was going on.
"Alex, things are out of control. Even with Fynn in custody, the kindergarteners are still fighting. Wasn't your plan that they would surrender sooner or later, so that our agents in the force could take them in?"

"It was. This… this is not what I had planned at all."

"Obviously," Lionel snared. "If you ask me, it seems that they have gone rogue for real. And frankly, I have no idea where this is going."

Alexandra sighed. "What about the agents in the hall monitor force?"

"They are trying to fight them off, but…"

"But what?"

"Well, you saw that stalk thing on the sport field? It seems the kindergarteners got their hands on actual, functional weapons."

Alexandra froze. "How in…"

"…the name of Schrödinger's pussy-"

"Dr. Sanchez!"

"-cat can these brats do that?" asked one of the professors in the lounge with a loud burp.
The man in question, a rather rude but highly intelligent expert on the field of quantum physics, pointed at the TV monitor with one finger, on which a live feed of the news aired, showing the ensuing chaos on Royal Woods Elementary's Sport field. On it, two huge fractions of school kids were fighting each other, with one side being equipped with what seemed to be jelly shooting slingshot guns. Only that if the jelly hit some kid, the kid would not just end up with a face full of desserts, but also on the ground, laughing their ass off. In another corner of the screen, two kids were engaged in a fight, wearing what seemed to be robot exoskeletons made out of scraps from the workshop class.

"What do you mean?" another teacher asked.

"Oh, come on, Hojo," the scientist in question said while sipping on a flask of whisky. "You see the stuff they use? You want to tell me that these neckless little devils with the IQ of a well-trained helper monkey could build those weapons on their own?"

"Rick is right," another scientist stated, though she really did not appreciate the helper monkey statement. "While I don't doubt that they built the stuff, considering the rather crude designs…"
While she said that, one of the exoskeletons' Papier-mâché legs broke down after getting hit by a well-aimed and thrown water balloon.
"…how could they be smart enough to even design those things?"

Because they didn't design them, thought Lisa Loud while her colleagues were questioning the absurdity of what they saw. It took her some time, but after the news crew managed to get access to better feeds of what was going on, allowing her to see more of the unfolding chaos, she had finally come to recognize the design of the kindergarteners' weaponry. At first, she didn't see the similarities 'cause they looked way less sophisticated than they should be. But after she saw the mood altering jelly being thrown around, it was crystal clear to her.

I did.

Someone must have gotten to her secret notebook and recreated her experiments.

"I don't know where they got the stuff," Lionel answered Alexandra.

"What about our agents in the kindergarten class?" Le Roi wanted to know. "Shouldn't they tell us what is going on?"

"That is the thing; I didn't manage to get in contact with them the entire day."

Alexandra's normally reserved face turned worried.

"Whoever is behind the kids continuing the fight, he or she may know about us. I got reports from Sarah of many of our agents in the force being taken hostage in certain assaults."
Alexandra was taking the information in calmly. But the fist she was making with one hand indicated that she didn't like to hear about it one bit.

He turned his glance to the Loud siblings.
"Additionally, we have input of Lola and Lana being on the run, supposedly with two other of their siblings and-"

His smartphone vibrated. He took a look. When he saw the Executioner's name pop up on the display, he directly gave it to Alexandra, who took the call.

"Alexandra here. What is it?"

A moment of silence followed.
"What? How did they escape?"

3 minutes earlier…

"Whoever it is, we should be glad they are only shooting us with paintballs," Luna replied to her sister's question. She was desperately pulling on the shack's door, thinking the two of them and their unwanted package,aka Bobby, would be save in there. Finally, after putting all her weight into it, the door's lock cracked. "Finally. Now all we have to do is sit, waitthe situation out and-"

"No."

Luna turned to her sister. "Excuse me?"

"I said no," Lori stated. She was still looking down on her red fingers, deep in thought. "We are going in."

Luna's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"Luna, whatever is going on here, it is literally after us. Someone kidnapped our little Thumber and shot us and Bobby."
Behind the shack, the scream of multiple kids flying through the air and something that sounded like whipped crème hitting the ground could be heard.
"And call it a hunch, but I think it is also behind the chaos here."

Luna could now see a mixture of determination and anger in her sister's eyes as she lifted her head. "If they are going to raise literal hell just to get to us, can you imagine how much danger our brother is in right now? Not to mention the others!"

Luna wanted to say something, but realized Lori was right. She couldn't give much of a damn about the twins, being sure that they were most likely safe in detention. But Lynn, Luan and Lincoln? Something needed to be done. "And how are we supposed to get in there without ending up looking like we just came from a live action reenactment of a Splatoon game?"

Lori glanced into the shack and saw a couple of things that could help her. "I have an idea."

The Executioner started to get restless. Behind her in the school floor, she heard the chaos unfold. In front of her,she had a perfect overview on what was essentially a literal class war. She rather wanted to be out there and help her fellow CDR members, but Alexandra's orders were clear. If only the Loud siblings would just…

Suddenly, she saw some movement. "Gotcha!" she shouted and shot a paintball at her target. A direct hit on its…pawn? "What!?"

"This is ridiculous," stated Luna.

"No, it is a start!" Lori exclaimed, waving her left arm around the corner of the building. She had just been hit in the palm of her hand by their assailant. Normally,that would have hurt like hell, but thankfully she had her hand protected by the rather thick material the left arm of Hazzle the Nutty Squirrel, Royal Wood Elementary's trusty mascot, whose costume was in the shack, was made out of.

"I felt absolutely nothing," she stated, glad that her theory they could use the costume for protection had just been proven right. "This stuff is literally going to save our lives."

"Actually, only one of us," Luna stated. She wasnow wearing a baseball catcher mask, another accessory from the shack. "There is only one costume. And it would only fit any of us if we were Lynn's height."

Lori looked at the separate parts of the costume. "Dang it. Okay, change of plan. I get the arms, Bobby gets the head and-"

"Wohoho, just wait a sec!" Luna said, interrupting her sister. "'He gets the head?"

"He is already wounded and he needs the protection while I drag him to the door."

"You what?"

"Do you think I am leaving him behind?"

Luna, now genuinely angry,had only the following to say: "Yes. Yes, I expect you to leave him behind."

Lori looked at her sister in utter shock. "What?"

"It's his own fault he is in the mess to begin with," claimed Luna. "He needed to impress you with how much he still loves you and ended up in the line of fire."

Lori couldn't believe what she was hearing. She just stood there, shocked.

"He is not your boyfriend anymore, Lori. So just-"

Whatever Luna wanted to say abruptly ended when Lori slapped her in the face.

"How dare you!" growled Lori. "How dare you tell me to leave Bobby behind, you heartless harpy!"

Luna was genuinely shocked. She had seen Lori angry before, but this? Any love she had for her older sister was,in this moment,replaced by genuine fear and sadness about the fact she had made her THAT angry.

"It is not his fault I have feelings for Lincoln," Lori continued. "He does not deserve to be hurt in the crossfire of whatever is going on here, just because of me!"

Luna stayed silent, feeling that if she said even just sorry, Lori was going to throw her to the kindergarteners.

"I always thought of you as the one of us who cared the most for others. But if you act like this, I am thinking of disowning you as my sister, do you hear me, you brat?"

Now Luna was shaking. Lori wouldn't do something that cruel to her, would she?

"Lori, I-"

She wanted to apologize, but the blond had already turned back towards Bobby. Putting the parts of the mascot on him before putting the glove and arm parts on herself, she took all her strength and lifted up Bobby so she could carry him on her back.

"Let me help you," Luna offered, trying to stabilize Bobby. But Lori rejected her.

"If you really want to help me, do what I told you to do the moment I am on the run, understood?"
Luna just nodded in shame and defeat.

"We will meet at the infirmary on the first floor. And Luna?"

"Yes?"

Lori sighed and tried to give her sister a compassionate look. At least as compassionate as she could in her current state. "I love you. But right now you areactinglike a brat."

The Executioner had expected a couple of things to see the moment the Loud siblings went out of hiding. What she did not expect was Lori Loud carrying the body of someone dressed in parts of a squirrel costume on the sports field, avoiding water balloons and jelly being thrown around by different children. Still, she should be able to at least get some hits on Lori. But just aswhen she was taking aim, she realized something.
"Wait? Where is the musician?"

Instinctively,she swung the scope further to the left. Only to see Luna Loud appearing from the other corner of the shack. Unlike her sister,she was only bearing some baseball accessories for protection. What made her freeze in surprise,however,was what she had in her hands.
"Are those fireworks?"

The Executioner remembered only now that for some reason,the shack was not just where the school hid part of its field equipment, but also some fireworks for the big game next week. Fireworks that were directly targeting her window. And like any good musician and Rock 'n Roll fan, Luna had a trusty lighter in her pockets, in case a slow song was meant to be played at a show.

"Oh dang it!"

"She shot you?" Alexandra repeated in disbelief.

"Yes," confirmed the Executioner. Multiple firework rockets had managed to hit the room she was staying in by going through the window.

"Are you hurt?"

"Thankfully no," the Executioner stated, much to Alexandra's relief.

"What about the Louds?"

"I think they managed to get into the building."

Alexandra sighed. "Do you want to tell me that former student body president Lori and Luna Loud are within our territory?"

"I do not just want to tell you, I already told you so," said the Executioner.

This was not good. If the stories about Lori Loud's temper were anything to go by…
"Alex, what shall I do? Go after them in a war zone? I-"

"Hold it," Alexandra told her. "I have to talk to Lionel."

Putting the phone down, she looked at her adviser.

"So, Lionel. What do you, as my consigliere, say?"

Lionel took a deep breath.
"Alex, we need to get this situation under control," stated Lionel. "Cause either Dagmar and Van Pelt will stumble upon our operation sooner or later, or whoever is attacking us will tear our foundation apart."

He turned his glance towards the Loud siblings. "And that is not even covering the fact that we now have pretty much the entire Loud clan against us."

Alexandra wanted to say something, anything to convince Lionel that she had it under control, but she couldn't think of something. She, Alexandra Dumas, of all people.

"I get that the Loud business is important to you," he added. "But right now the school needs its student body president and not the boss of CDR to get things under control."

"You are right," Alexandra began. "We-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly flinched, closing her eyes in pain.

"Alexandra?" asked Lionel, worried. "Are you okay?"
She opened her eyes. Much to Lionel's surprise, she suddenly looked more aggressive than before. "I am fine," she hissed at Lionel. She held the phone up again.

"Alex? Are you still there?"

"Yes. And you are ordered to still go after them."

Lionel raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What?"

"What?" asked the Executioner.

"You heard me. I don't care what is going on right now. The Louds are your only priority now."

"But-"

"No buts. I will send out Julius to support the hall monitors."

She turned her glance towards Lionel. "And you will send Eric's men out to support the troops on the battlefield. Use our go-carts and fireworks if you must."

Lionel was agape. "But kids could get hu-"

"I don't care!" barked Alexandra. "They decided to go to war against me. Now they shall face the consequences!"

Lionel was at a loss for words. The Alexandra he had worked for so far would never be that reckless.

"Understood, my Cardinal?"

"Understood," he replied between gritted teeth.

"Good," she turned her attention back to the phone. "As for Lori and Luna, if you somehow get the chance, lock them up somewhere where I can deal with them later."

No reply from the Executioner.

"Did you get me?"

"Yes, Alexandra," came a rather defeated response.

The chef of CDR smiled. "Look, if you get it right, I am inviting you to an afternoon of free games at Gus'. Okay?"

"Whatever you say," was the only thing the Executioner said before ending the call.
Alexandra turned her attention back to Lionel. "We are going to get everything under control again and establish once and for all that I am superior to the entire Loud clan in every way."

At this moment, Lionel realized for certain that something was terribly wrong with his boss. He wanted to talk some sense into her, but she just shoved his phone back into his hands.

"Get "Painter" and "Plumber" ready. And in the name of the National Crime Syndicate, get Eric back here."

She didn't even give him the time to respond as she turned around and went back to the table to talk with the Loud siblings again. Lionel really wanted to talk to her, but he was already getting new messages on the phone from some of the "soldiers", asking what they were supposed to do against the kindergarteners.
I am not a freaking war consigliere, he thought bitterly and took the next couple of calls. If Alexandra was not going to give the command, it was up to him to keep things under control, at least till she finally snapped out of her sudden act of cliché villainy.

The Executioner looked at her phone in disappointment.

"Dang it, Alex," she cursed and put it away. For the next couple of seconds, she was busy dismantling her weapon of choice and hiding it away in her backpack. "Have you finally gone crazy with power? I swear, when this is over, I am going to slap some sense back into you."
Having gotten herself ready, she waited a couple more seconds at the door, leaning on it to listen if anything was going on outside. When it seemed it was clear, she stepped outside, ready to go on the hunt while still hoping her friends can get the situation under control.

The mood in the cellar had become incredibly thick.

Neither Lincoln nor Luan had heard what Alexandra had discussed with her Consigliere, but it seemed to be something important.

Lincoln was shocked about the fact that Alexandra, Lola and Lana knew each other. Then again, maybe it wasn't all that surprising, because he thought he remembered seeing her once at their home, but he wasn't too sure. He wasn't sure what Luan was thinking and he couldn't read her expression.

Alexandra didn't look all that concerned about her discussion with her consigliere as she returned to her chair.

"Where was I?"

"You were telling us about how you brought down half of Lucilla Van Pelt's staff by exposing them as bullies as well as the skeletons in their closets."

"Literally in the case of that one disturbing kid and their stuffed hamster," Alexandra added with a shudder.

"And Lola helped you in all of that?" Lincoln wanted to know. He still had a hard time believing it.

"It was fun for her," was all the second grader stated as if to change the subject.

"I can believe that," stated Luan. She was far more willing to believe in the darker nature of her sister. "But you know, there is just one thing I find weird."

"What?"

"How come Lola is not here?"
Julia and Richie could be seen exchanging worried glances, while Alexandra's left corner of the mouth flinched.
"I mean, she must be rather high in the ranks of your group if she helped you-"

"SHUT UP!" ordered Alexandra, slamming her fist on the table and startling Luan in the process.
Lincoln didn't need any elaborate backstory to realize that the tale of her and Lola didn't have a happy ending.

"Did I hit a nerve?" Luan wanted to know, genuinely worried about Alexandra's emotional state right now.

The absolutely livid expression on Alexandra's face indicated that she didn't just hit one, but cut through it.

For the last couple of minutes, Lola had told her captive audience about Alexandra's steady rise to infamy and power after she managed to get Advisor Michael out of office. To make a long story short, it involved Alexandra exposing quite a number of bullies on ThouDuct, to the point other students decided to either follow in her footsteps or get into contact with "the White Fox" , asking him for help or to join "his" cause. Alexandra, at first, did not expect this turn of events, but eventually decided to seize the opportunity to do something "for the greater good" of the school.

A cause that would also require for her and her ever-growing group of friends and followers to play dirty. Younger kids got bribed to spy on their older siblings, bullies who considered themselves "privileged" because they had easy access to toys or candies got blackmailed into either playing nice and/or becoming more "generous" to the less fortunate, lest their darkest secrets got exposed in the school newspaper's tabloid section.

Soon, "The White Fox" and his "pack" were the most respected, but equally feared and mysterious group of juveniles known to Royal Woods Elementary.

"Kids respected me," claimed Lola proudly. "They feared me! The look on the faces of second graders who were forced to go to Alex and I's tea parties when she was talking about business? Priceless!"

Lana could be heard snaring from the other side of the room, her hands folded over her chest in disapproval and leaning against the wall.

"You were nothing but a bully."

"We stopped bullies, Lana!" protested Lola. "You know how much dirt "The Foxes" got on some of the worst bullies of this school at the time? We had them all in the sack! Either they stopped taking other kid's lunch money, or we were going to reveal all their dirt on the internet."

"And to do so, you became bullies yourselves? "Asking" them to share their goods?"

Lola blinked in confusion before adding, though a bit less proudly, that they never went overboard with that part of the business aspect.

Lynn raised an eyebrow. "How did you handle all of that? You were three years old."

"You know me," Lola replied. "If I set my mind on something, I can do it. Also we watched a lot of gangster movies to teach us how to build up our group."

Ronnie Anne could be heard chuckling. "You know, when I was at that age, I just wasted my time watching Yo Gabba Gabba!"

"Bottom line, we were close. "The Foxes", as we liked to call ourselves back then, were the heroes of the school and spread into all sorts of businesses to grow stronger."

Lola went silent for a moment, her expression becoming slightly sadder before she continued. "But then, summer last year, when mom and dad were busy testing Lisa's intelligence and handling the papers for her job at university, we had a fallout."

Lucy, who was silent up 'til now, asked the question that was on everyone's tongue: "What happened?"

It was a day like most days for Lola at a weekend. Play with Lana, fight with Lana, do something with another sibling, do some chores, train for her next pageant and go toa casual meeting with Alexandra over at her house for some playtime. It was not a long way for her to that house and she greeted her friend with something only her siblings, parents, Pop-Pop and afew otherssaw: A genuine smile. Alexandra wasn't in such mood, her expression was serious and a little exhausted as she opened the door for Lola. "Hi, Alex.How are you?"

"Fine. I'min the middle of the preparation for the meeting with the other Dons," Lola's friend responded. "I hope you are prepared for this meeting."

"Oh, I

am. I will charm them, though if that doesn't work,I will break some knees."

Alexandra shook her head. "I would prefer to avoid a mafia war,Lola."

"If you say so, I will hold myself back. For the most part." Alexandraled her friend down into the cellar. "Just don't screw it up like you didwith our negotiations with the 5th-grader Underground."

"They tried to give me a wet fuzzi. Driving over their feet with my car was the appropriate response." The two entered the cellar which Alexandra had decorated for the occasion.Several boxes were organized to being used asa long table, on which laid the most fashionable assortment of napkins Alexandra was able to find. Several old chairs from the cellar werecleaned and positioned at the table. Placed on the table were a number of snacks, unhealthy and healthy ones,as well as a few electric candles (her mother wasn't willing to give her real ones) and some nice bouquets made of plastic flowers. On the walls hung a few posters of different GTA characters, as well as an especially good one of Don Corleone and under the picture of Corleone,a small audio equipment on a little table was playing music from an Italian opera.

Lola and Alexandra were not the only people downstairs,though. At least six other kids, some of them already in third grade, were there chatting with each other over business. These kids were all members of "The Foxes", which,within the last three months,had helped Alexandra turn from a ThouDucter making a fool outof a first grader into a force to be reckoned with. Not only were these kids keeping tap on all the bullies and digging up their dirt, but they used their influence within the different cliques of Royal Woods Elementary to help their boss slowly set foot in all sorts of schoolyard business. Andalready no one at school dared to bully any kid in kindergarten and the bullies' former foothold in dealing with test answers has been smashed. And if things went good today, Alexandra would soon be allied with the kids from the Royal Woods Creeks. Although it hadn't happened yet, it was stilla goodreason to celebrate. For Lola,though, everything looked kinda… off.

"Don't you think that is a little excessive?" Lola asked, taking her seat on the improvised table next to Alexandra.

"We need to make a good impression."

"I still think we could at least put up a tea set. Also, can we put up a pic of Tony Montana?"

Alexandra sighed. "Do you really think any of the Dons will take us seriously if we try to associate us as fans of this street rat?"

Lola was genuinely offended at hearing her favorite fictional character getting insulted. "Hey!"

Alexandra, realizing she made a mistake, apologized immediately. "Sorry. I am just a bit stressed. In six minutes,I am going to negotiate with the Sewer Queen herself about our men using the local ponds for swimming activities for the next weeks."

Lola wasn't too thrilled to hear that. "I prefer a saratized pool."

"Sanitized," Alexandra corrected her. "Nice to hear that you learn new words though."

"Hey, I want to keep up with you."

"Alex," a girl suddenly said. Lola identified her as Julia, a friend and neighbor of Alex who has joined the Foxes a month ago and had easily become Alexandra's personal bodyguard. "The call starts in three minutes."

"Okay then," Alexandra replied. She pulled two Venetian carnival masks outfrom under the cardboard table and gave Lola one.

"Masks?"

"I am not going to reveal my true identity justyet," Alexandra replied, putting hers on. Five seconds later,she realized that she should have not taken the one with the funny little bells.

"So it is decided,then," Alexandra said in a stern voice. Her gaze was fixed on a laptop, where the five other most influential Dons and leaders of Royal Woods children underworld/cliques were seen on asmaller screen. Alexandra herself would have preferred to work with five laptops simultaneously, but one was all she could organize. Simultaneously,she was also glad that Skype had not broken down so far. "We get a saying in the comic collector market and in return,we take down the bullies of middle school."

Lola has started to become bored by this. It was funny at the beginning as they exchanged courtesies and veiled threats,but afterwards,it became more business-like, as in REAL business. Crunching numbers, offers about different commodities, borderlines of territories and other boring/not exciting stuff.

She loved to play Mafia,but playing the accountant side of things was pretty boring. Lola stretched her body and yawned while looking over to Alexandra who seemed to be really engrossed in this.

"There is also the issue about the use of the Ketcham Park," a boy, 2 years older than Alexandra, said. He was called Don Claude Melville, founder and leader of the Capetian Coalition. "Too many of us use this area to play, meet and for business. I want it to remain as a neutral ground, so anyone can do business there."

"I willgive you some business," promised Lola. "The Ketcham Park will be our territory,and if you have a problem with it Captain Capetian,you will have to discuss that with me personally."

"Don't threaten me, Villefort Montoya," the Don with french heritage called Lola out on her code name which was created by a compromise between her and Alexandra. "Unless you want to fight me inperson."

"Say time and place."

"Montoya, stand back," said Le Roi in an authorian tone. "No reason to get violent."

"You are too polite," Villefort Montoya criticized her partner. "Show him that we are tough."

"We are,my friend, there is no need to daunt him," Le Roi assured her partner. "Everybody knows that nobody screws with you Villefort, or they will not see another day… without seeingblue. For a few days."

The two looked back at the French Don who tried the read the two. Le Roi had tried to bluff aboutthis aggression of Lola as part of an act to convince Claude he better didn't try to screw them.

"I want to guarantee you that I will not damage the neutrality of the Ketcham park," the Capetian Leader promised. "But if you areworried about the safety of our customers,I would advise that any of our organizations send an equal number of soldiers to the place at all times."

"That sounds reasonable," agreed Alex and looked over to Lola, hoping she wouldn't speak so out of line again. Those were important talks after all.

Behind the two, activity has increased. Several other children entered the cellar, ate stuff, talked aboutand worked on ideas and concepts of their bosses. Students and kids alikeworked on building little secret compartments in their lunch boxes to smuggle contraband into the school (an idea from Alex), sewed holster for small soft pellet guns in different articles of clothing (idea from Lola) and watched "the Untouchables" on their phoneswith headphones on(idea from both).

It was really like a little hive of scum and villainy with children drinking alcohol free beverages, eating, playing cards, the knife game (with knifes made of rubber, of course) and different card games.

The only thing lacking was a bar fight,but her parents would be upset of that and Alexandra wasn't keen on having one happening either.

Lola wouldn't mind, hoping some kid would step out of line one day so she could teach them a lesson.

"Now with the park being declared neutral territory, I would like to talk about the Fireside Girls situation, that-"

"Hold on a second," another kid suddenly demanded. Lola, who thought they could finally move on to some interesting topics, had to suppress her annoyance. "Half of my men are not able to do business in the park most of the time. I demand that a second loca-"

"Oh,shut your mouth, Don Dolnero!" Lola shouted, much to the surprise of the other Dons. "I don't care if you do your business in the park or the mall. I want to talk about those Junior Woodchuck wannabees who aretryingto set foot in Royal Woods!"

"Montoya!"

Lola turned to Alexandra. "What? I can't be the only one getting bored here. I want to get this over with this before Randal eats up all the strawberry jam cookies."

There were some chuckles from one of the screens. The matriarchy of the lemonade stand gang was highly amused by what she saw. More so than Alexandra.

"I have to agree with your passionate partner, Le Roi," the matriarchy said. "All this talk about territory details? Compared to the Fireside Girl situation, this isquite dull."

Lola grinned under her mask. "Perhaps we should discuss this first for the moment?"

"But I-" began Don Dolnero to talk, only to become silent when he saw the face of the matriarchy turningmore stern. "Fine."

"What do you say, Le Roi?"

"Sure," Alexandra replied while eyeing her partner sternly. Not that Lola really cared about it, as it was now her turn to finally talk about a few nasty ideas she had in mind for dealing withthe Fireside Girls.

Around thirty minutes later, the meeting of the Dons was over. The important deals were made,and "The Foxes" were now officially the newest member of the "Six Families" of Royal Woods and itsneighborhood. Lola was pretty ecstatic about it, celebrating with the other henchmen in the cellar, snacking on lemonade and cookies. Alexandra,on the other hand,was not happy at all. In fact, ten minutes into the celebration, she pulled Lola to the side to talk to her in private.

"What were you thinking?"

Lola, who was pretty happy till now, suddenly became concerned about the dry tone in her friend's voice. "What do you mean?"

"You questioned my authority in front of the other Dons."

Lola was confused. "I didn't."

"And what do you call it when you suddenly start shouting at Dolnero and then at me?"

Lola sighed. "Okay, sorry. I lost my temper. You know I am getting bored of these details."

Alexandra stayed quiet.

"But I didn't make you look bad, did I?"

"Oh no, Lola. You didn't."

Lola was only four, but even she knew what sarcasm was.

"You just gave the other Dons the impression that you are not entirely on board with my plans. That you are a hothead with her own ideas for how to run this organization. Ways they could exploit for their own gain. A goal they could very well achieve, if, say, I got removed from this group."

Lola gulped. She had never seen her friend this angry.

"I have shown you parts of "The Godfather", haven't I?"

"Yeah."

"And didn't you agree with me that if Sonny had kept his mouth shut during the meeting with the Turk, things would have gone mostly different in the movie?"

Lola felt really unsure now. Her friend was just referencing one scene of the movie she really hadn't paid that much attention to. Mostly because it was too much talkativefor her taste.

"I think so?"

"Then why did you just go full Sonny Corleone on me, Lola?"

"Look, I am sorry, okay?" Lola replied. She just wanted to go back playing with some henchmen. "But what do you expect is going to happen? They don't know who you really are, Alex. And I doubt they are going to send some hitmen after you just to make me head of our organization."

Alexandra looked at Lola in bewilderment.

"I know this is important to you and these other Dons, but I'mstartingto think you'retakingit way too serious-"

"Ours?" Alexandra interrupted her.

"What?"

"Our organization?"

"Yeah."

Alexandra took a deep breath and said just one word. "No."
Lola blinked. "What?"

"No, Lola, it is not. The Foxes are not OUR organization. It is mine!"

Lola was aghast.

"Also, it is no longer called "the Foxes". I am considering changing it to the "Cour des Renards", which means-"

"YOUR ORGANIZATION?!"

Somewhere in the cellar,a kid dropped their game controller in fright. All of asudden, Lola and Alexandra had become the center of attention.

"I helped you!" protested Lola. "I helped you spy on these bullies. I glitter bombed these sixth graders who were onto us in Spring. I put Don Armage out when he thought he could step on our turf!"

"The Magic Card game trading business was dying out anyway!" argued Alexandra. "You almost caused a war with the local Waldorfschool!"

"What were they going to do to us? Dance an H with their eurhythmics?"

"That's beside the point! And all your accomplishments aside, it was still me who started this group! While you were still learning how to spell your name on the side, I was taking down bullies left and right! I established the sweet trade business!"

"And I came up with the plush animal "care service"! Do you know how hard it was to trick Leni into believing all the plushanimals she had to stitch up were mine?"

Alexandra snarled. "Considering the intelligence of your sister, I'm going to say it was easy as pie."

Some kids in the room felt the temperature drop.

"What did you just say, Alex?"

"Oh,you know what I am talking about," Alexandra replied.

"You take that back! Leni has a good heart."

"Which is proportionally inverse to the size of her brain."

"And your sister has awful taste in music!" Lola shouted.

"Well, that is something we can both agree on," thatwas the only reply she got.

Lola glared angrily at Alexandra, partlyabout the fact that her insult hadn't hadthe anticipated effect.

"Leni has not only a good heart but also talent as a tailor. In contrast to Randall!"

The entire room became silent again and somehow even colder than before. Everyone looked over to Randall, who was enjoying some Disco Remix of a Final Fantasy game soundtrack.

"You are lucky he didn't hear this," growled Alexandra in an icy tone. "If he did,I would make you beg for his forgiveness!"

"And I would do the same to himfor Leni's!"

"Gals?" a worried Julia said, not quite sure how to approach the two. She had seen Lola angry before. But seeing Alexandra like that was something completely new. "I think you should calm down," she stated diplomatically.

Alexandra took a deep breath. "Listen, Lola. You are dividing your time between this group and beauty pageants. I am putting more time and effort into this groupto expand it. To turn the Cour into a serious,powerful organizationin the life of elementary students. Ergo, I should be the primary leader. The Don, the Godfather,if you will… Or Godmother,in this case."

Lola threw her hands in the air and sneered. "If you think you can lead this organization without me, you are dead wrong! I am the social expert of this duo! I can make people eat out of my hands!"

"But you have no talent for administration," argued Alexandra. "You may bring people in, but they stay because I keep everything running."

"Meaning this "Cour" would stagnate without me," concluded Lola. "No new members, no way to expand. I am just as important as you are, if not more."

Everybody around them checked on their weapons. Julia was visibly sweating and

eyeing the other kids. She didn't know which side the others would be on.

"Don't flatter yourself too much, Lola. You can convince people, but

theyare also drawn in by power," explained Alexandra more calmly. "And this organization now has enough power to draw people on its own."

"And you think your measly amount of charm will make sure that our organization will prevail?"

"My "measly" amount of charm is enough. Not to mention that I am also more social than you."

Lola was taken aback. "What do you mean? I am very social!"

Alexandra shook her head. "You are brash, commanding and manipulative to most

of the peopleyou meet. The only people you respect enough to see as your equal are your family and people withpersonalities like mine, thosewho don't instantlybudge before your whims."

"I just have high standards, that's all" insistedLola. Sheturnedher back to Alexandra, walking through the room. "For real now,Alex, you take this game way too seriously."

Alexandra blinked, suddenly becoming more serious and somber. "Game? Do you really think this is still a game, Lola?"

"Well, I-" began Lola, slightly flabbergasted at her friend's shift in attitude.

Alexandra didn't give her a chance to properly reply. She put her hands behind her back and walked towards the poster of Don Corleone, studying it intensely. "This is more than just a game for me, Lola. This is the route I want to take in life."

"As a Mafiosi?" Lola asked in surprise. It was fun to play but becoming a professional criminal was not something she saw in her future. "Do you want to go to prison?"

"I want power, Lola," explained Alexandra seriously. "Power to get rid of the bullies and other scum. And I will achieve it. Through the Cour and other means."

"What do you mean?"

Alexandra turned around. "After summer break, I am not just going into first grade. I am joining school politics."

Lola was genuinely surprised. She knew Alexandra was interested in school politics ever since shedealt with Van Pelt's minions. But this? "Why?"

Alexandra couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Have you seen the kind of state our last school president left the office in? Someone like me has an actual chance of getting a foot in there and change things up."

Lola couldn't deny that this plan sounded good. Still,she tried to oppose to the idea. "Do you really think you will win the next election?"

There is not much left in terms of competent leadership," explained Alexandra. "Linus doesn't want to run for president, neither does Deputy Solberg,and the only ones who seem slightly interested in running for that position are morons like Cartman and Grayson!"

You are five!" argued Lola.

Alexandra shrugged with her shoulders. "True. So I may not become school president. But class representative is a first step in the right direction."

"Boring!" blurted Lola who only knew about politics because pageant participants should say that they want world peace. "Politics is boring and useless. You will become boring, Alex!"

A female kid had a paint-ball sniper riffle on her shoulder, ready to shoot at any moment andswitching her crosshair between Lola and Alexandra every few seconds.

"Politics isn't boring!" defended Alexandra her choice angrily. "Just because you are too stupid to understand it doesn't mean it isn't important!"

"I am not stupid, you half-baked Governor of Michigan wannabe!"

"You peasant princess!"

"Anime Addicted Abomination!"

"Blarney Bulkhead!"

"Dumbest Don!"

"Princess in punk!"

"Lance Vance!"

Everybody gasped at the last

insultand stared at Lola in total disbelief.
After several seconds of frightening silence and even thicker atmosphere,Lola continued but with an ice-cold tone in hervoice.

"So, what are you saying? That you want me to become a stick in the mud, just so you can look more professionaland live out your fantasy as a supervillain?"

Alexandra had enough. She walked up to Lola, their foreheads almost touching when she decided to give her final piece of mind to the beauty pageant aficionado. "I want you to finally stop acting like a whiny, sissy, violent little brat, take responsibility and stop acting as if this is some stupid sandboxgame!"

Lola, taken aback by the way her friend was acting, stumbled backwards. Showing weakness for the first time.

"But-but-"

"But what, Lola? What?"

"I thought we were just playing," she answered,uncharacteristically meekly.

Every single member of "The Cour de Renards" had their hands on some kind of soft-pellet gun now. Everybody was ready for the final confrontation between Lola and Alexandra. Two alphas had started to fight for leadership and only one would succeed.

Randall, earphones in his auditory canals, wasdancing with his eyes closed through the room, past anyone and everyone, humming to the music coming from thelittle music player.

Alexandra sighed. "We may have started it off as a game. But now… well, it isn't anymore, okay? The Cour-"

"The Foxes-"

"I said, the Cour," she chastised Lola, "is growing. We are becominga pillar of prepubescent society in Royal Woods. This organization needs order. It needs loyalty. I need loyalty."

Lola was gulping. She did not like the direction in which this was going.

"So do me a favor: Either grow up and stop acting like a spoiled princess who thinks all there is to havingpower is acting like Tony Montoya on a rush, or do me and everyone in this room a favor and leave me alone!"

Julia expected a lot of things. That Lola would hit Alexandra in the face, that she would throw further insults at the Don, even that Randall wouldaccidentally bump into someone and initiate a chain reaction of people shooting at each other in the process.

What she did not expect was for Lola to shakenly run past Alexandra and her and up the stairs.

"Lola, where are you going?" Alexandra wanted to know. She knew her words were pretty damn harsh, but she expected more of a verbal fight.

"I am doing you your stupid favor and leaving," said the beauty pageant, already up a couple of stairs.

"What? You can't. We are still having a separate Skype session with kingpin Loogie! You can't just-"

"I don't care what the other Dons think of you, you dumb, Gambino fangirling meanie!" she shouted down. "And I don't care about you either!"

Alexandra was too shocked at that,she couldn'tsay anything.
"If I am such an embarrassment to you, I am glad to tell you thatyou don't have to worry about me ever again."
She opened the door to the basement and stepped out.
"I am leaving your stupid Foxhole! Forever!"

Now it was Alexandra's turn to be aghast. "What?"

"We are no longer friends, dumb dumb!"

With that said, Lola slammed the door shut.

Alexandra was speechless. And so were all the other kids currently in the cellar, including a perplexed Julia, who did not expect forthe fight to truly escalate like that. She was just about to put her hand on Alex's shoulder in support when the little girl ran up the stairs herself.

"Lola?"

The front door of her house was open and the sound of a certain princess' toy car having trouble getting started could be heard.

"Lola... Lola, come back!"

Alexandra realized that she had made a mistake. Not just for the group, which might suffer if Lola blabbed about them. But also for her personal friendship with the young Loud. When she finally reached the door, she could see Lola finally got her toy car to run. She tried to reach her…
"Lola, don't act like that. We-"

…But the little girl in the princess dress did not listen. She just stepped on the gas and drove off. Alexandra ran after her, shouting her name. But Lola ignored her, much to Alexandra's growing anger.
"Fine, who needs a brute like you anyway?!" shouted the head of the Foxes after her while she was driving off into the sunset. "Without you, I will achieve way more than with you, you… you… you bratty little Chicago fan!"

Julia and other key members of the Foxes had by now reached her. Most of them knew Alexandra was more in control of her emotions. As such,it was quite a shock for them to see her act like…well, a little kid.
"I will show you! You will beg me to take you back!"

A little kid that kicked the dirt in frustration and made pointless threats.

"Boss," began a boy

to talk, only to shut up immediately when he saw the anger burn in his boss' eyes.

"What?" barked Alexandra.

"About Loogie…"

That seemed to calm Alexandra down a little. She took a deep breath and rubbed her sleeves against her eyes. "Tell him the call is off. I willtalk to him tomorrow. I- I need a break."

She turned her attention to the other kids. "Anything interesting to see? Get back inside. Ask my mom for some juice and cookies, if you want."
The kids decided not to risk anything and just returned to their party. All except Julia.

"Alex… are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am fine."

Silence.

"Julia?"

"Yes?"

"Am I a bad friend?"

Julia had to think how she could formulate her answer in thebest way possible.

"No, you are not. You are just someone who tries to do what is best for your court."
"Yeah, I know."

More silence.

"Alex?"

"Hm?"

"Do you need a hug?"

Alexandra just sneered. "Why would I need a hug?"
Instead of giving her a straight answer, Julia just hugged her from behind.
"I told you I don't need a hug."

"Yeah, I get that," said Julia. "But I just want to give you one, because you are my best friend."

Alexandra stayed quiet.

"That's okay, isn't it?"

It took some time, but eventually the boss of what would soon be known as CDR answered with a weak "yes", drowned in equally weak sobs.

The mood in the classroom was rather somber after Lola had told her siblings about the day she and Alexandra Dumas decided to no longer be friends. "I broke all ties with her and the Foxes that day," she ended her story. Lynn expected her to add something sarcastic to that statement, but she didn't. Instead, Lola rubbed her teary eyes and sniffed her nose.

In the other corner of the room, Lana couldn't help herself but look at her twin with slight pity.

She remembered the day of Lola's break up with Alexandra quite well. She was in their room, playing with Cliff when suddenly Lola stormed in, her make up running down her cheeks. Before Lana had a chance to ask what happened, Lola barked at her to get out. Minutes later, Lana heard some soft crying from the other side of the door.

Later that night, Lana and her parents wanted to know what happened, the tomboyish four year old being ready to give Alexandra the beating of her lifetime if it turned out she had hurt her sister. But Lola kept quiet. Only the next day did she open up a bit, stating both had fought over some sleepover plans, which escalated to the point of one of Lola's favorite tiaras getting broken.

Back then, that explanation sounded good enough for Lana, who didn't like Alexandra that much anyway. However, she still tried to confront the five year old about the fight a couple of days later, in the hopes of getting an apology for Lola out of her. Instead, she got stopped by Randall and Julia at the playground. Now thinking back to the way the two locked at her, she assumed now that she would have become a victim of the Foxes right then and there, if Lola hadn't showed up, grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her to the slides to play with a defeated and bitter look on the face.

"I am sorry to hear that your friendship broke down under such circumstances," stated Lucy in a monotone but sincere tone.

Lola just nodded. "Thanks."

From the other corner of the room, Lana sighed. "So you have really no idea what Alexandra is up to or where she could be keeping our brother?"

Lola shook her head. "All I know is that this is not like her. She can be manipulative and ruthless, but she would have never let things go out of control the way they are going right now."

"So what are you saying?" Lynn wanted to know. "That Lincoln's kidnapping is not her doing? That the kids just decided to act like savages all on their own?"

"No, I-" Lola held her head. "It- argh!"

Lana moved in closer. "Lola?"

"The kidnapping? That was her?!" shouted Lola. "But she would never do it in such a rush. And she would not raise an army of kindergarteners that tears down everything she has built as school president. And-"

Lynn leant in closer. "And what?"

"I don't know. I feel like I am forgetting something important…"

"Well, I am sure whatever it is, it may help us," threw Ronnie Anne her hat into the round. "But right now, just sitting here is not going to solve anything."

Before anyone could react, she went to the door and opened it. She looked out. The hallway was empty.

Lynn was furious. "Are you out of your mind, Santiago?"

"I haven't heard anything out there for over five minutes," defended the young girl herself, pushing Lynn to the side. The aggressive behavior of the tomboy was really getting on her nerves. "I say we get moving. 'Cause sitting here and listening to your sister's sob story is not going to save anyone."

In the confinement of their room, the Observer had to begrudgingly agree with the young Hispanic.

"Fine," said Lynn. She gestured to Rusty and her siblings to get up and moving. And so the Fellowship of the Linc, of which one member was very melancholic because of a tragic past event being unearthed in front of the twin she begrudgingly trusted the most in this world, went on.

The Observer did not want to admit it, but it realized that it had made a mistake by tampering with Alexandra Dumas. The young school president was harder to handle than expected. Which normally would have made for an interesting challenge, but in this case, it was now getting irritating. Primarily because as long as she was not dealt with, Lincoln was in constant danger. And the closest people who could help had just gotten an elaborate exposition dumped on them, but were otherwise still in the dark of the boy's whereabouts.

"This is a disaster," the Observer mumbled in its hand. "We need them to finally get a clue."

"And how?" the now evenly irritated voice of Yu-Bo asked, wanting to know. She had done everything in her power to manipulate at least the Bobby situation in the Observer's favor, and he was still pouting. "Are they just supposed to run into one of Alexandra's henchmen taking a leak and then follow him?"

"Too convenient," the Observer stated. It thought of a solution. And while the "leaking" thing was too dumb for its taste, the idea of them finding someone who could lead them directly to Alexandra before the latter was finished monologuing to herself in front of Lincoln and Luan was reasonable. But who to use?

"Yo-Bu? Give me a list of every member of that little wannabe mafia group."

"Just wait a sec," the voice said. Eight seconds later, a rather long file listing all the members' names and mobile phone numbers showed up on the Observer's laptop screen.

It read through it and stopped when a very familiar name popped up.

"He is a member of that group?" it asked in slight disbelief. Based on all it heard of Alexandra, it seemed a bit uncharacteristic to have him of all kids on the payroll.

"And he seems a bit higher on the hierarchy as expected," Yo-Bu added.

The Observer, now in a better mode, chuckled. "Whatever. He is absolutely perfect."

There was a short pause, before Yo-Bu had to dreadfully say the following.
"Please don't tell me you are going to make him the new enemy."

"No. But he will be the perfect pawn to get on with this stupid development."

The Observer coughed. When it stopped and talked again, its voice sounded eerily similar to Alexandra's. "Call him. "Le Roi" has some special orders."

Hatoralo: "A little bit of selfish promotion: MamaAniki and I are writing another Loud House Fanfiction in case you didn't notice but this one was uploaded on MamaAniki's account."
MamaAniki: "It is called "Crush on Big Brother" and has two chapters so far."
Hatoralo: "The idea is from MamaAniki, I am more of a helping hand with that one."

Hatoralo: "Until next time, hopefully sooner than later."
MamaAniki: "We know the gap from the last chapter is wide, we want to apologize for that."

Okay, before we go guys, without any banter from us separately, here is a question: Could we get a bit more feedback? We appreciate that our story has a lot of favs and followers, but it would be helpful to know a bit more when a gag actually works and when not or if we even should bother to continue writing, if otherwise no one is interested. We like writing on the story, but at this point we feel like we are trying to plant something in a salted desert.