Sorry for the super late updates, people. I've been making notes on new story ideas and completely got sidetracked, been trying to update one story regularly to keep up the flow, especially ones that are more popular with readers. But don't worry, I could never forget about Losing Him, especially since I have a storm of ideas for how this whole mess will resolve itself, speaking of, the last time we left things off, the cops managed to track down the source of the poison that killed Lynch, the guy who shot Lincoln in the first place. Woman on the counter was scared out of her mind and before she could give the detectives the answers they were looking for, she got shot herself and so, one of the detectives pursued the shooter through the town of Royal Woods.

I gotta say, nothing makes a story more then a good old fashioned mystery, so many twists and turns and theories, really makes you think long and hard to figure out the answer. When I first started writing this story, it was meant to vent out my frustrations over how the episode went, and now we have so much death happening and all that.

Now, I can't really say when the next update will be, all I can say is that I won't take too much time on the next chapter.

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Enjoy!

You ever had those days when what you assumed to be cut and dry eventually revealed itself to be part of some convoluted plot and conspiracy that started with the shooting of an 11 year old boy living in a Michigan town. They managed to catch the shooter, but then the guy went and died from poison that was dipped into his drink, proving his claim that someone hired him to shoot the boy in the first place and just when the cashier lady was about to give them answers, she herself was gunned down in her own plant shop. While Brookes tried to support the woman, Stone went ahead to pursue the shooter who was making a hasty getaway.

"Stop right there! Police!" Stone waved his badge so that the pedestrians present would pave a way for him to chase after the shooter. Turning around, he shot a few rounds, causing a panic to occur, everyone started running away or ducking for cover to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Stone narrowly missed being shot and promptly fired back, but the bastard was too quick. "Detective Stone to dispatch, I am in pursuit of a shooting suspect, requesting immediate backup and a medical bus pronto!" he spoke through his radio.

The shooter knocked over various things to stall the detective, but Stone would be damned if he were to let him go so easily, he may not be as young as his partner, but he was spry enough to keep up, especially when the perp jumped up and climbed onto a fleet of stairs with Stone following suit until the shooter made all the way into the roof. He looked down to see Stone still climbing up and shot down, making Stone let go for a second before resuming his climb to all the way up. A chase through rooftops was ensued, with Stone jumping from close buildings to catch the perp and get to the bottom of this whole debacle once and for all. He fired with his gun once he saw the perp hold his up which shot it off his hands, giving Stone the chance to tackle him to the ground, with the perp wrestling to get away.

"Get your fucking damn hands off me!"

"No way in hall, ya prick!"

He grabbed Stone's gun, leaving both of them to wave it around at all directions, the perp pulled the trigger, shooting at the empty air and scaring a few birds away. Breaking away from him, Stone tried shooting but found that he ran out of bullets, with no other option, they both had to resort to good old fashioned fisticuffs to settle things. Stone made the first move with a right hook, followed by left fist aimed at the gut but his opponent grabbed it and kneed him right in the cop's own gut. Gritting his teeth, the detective grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him to the ground where he proceeded to punch him repeatedly at his face. "Why'd you shot that woman?! Who hired you!" he punched again. "Answer me!"

The perp managed to muster enough strength to push him off and tried running but Stone managed to grab him from behind, leading the perp to elbow him off and continue his attempted escape, but soon found that one more leap would lead to his entire body kissing the pavement bellow and a pool of blood staining the streets, but then he saw a garbage truck. "It's over." he turned back, taking his gun and reloading it. "There's no way out of here, backup's on their way, just give it up." the perp moves to engage but Stone took aim. "Take one more step and I'll shoot! You wanna get out of this alive, right?"

All the shooter could do was stay where he was, he looked down to see the garbage men begin to unload a trashcan of its contents into the compactor, then back at the cop. He could turn himself in, tell them all the he knew, he'd stay quiet all he wanted but eventually, they would've managed to make him crack, and then, he'll have to face his wrath. "There are things worse than death."

Stone raised an eyebrow. "What?" his eyes then widened when the shooter began to run towards the edge of the building with no hesitation, the poor bastard made his choice. "Wait, stop!" his calls fell on deaf ears once the shooter jumped down and landed right into the compactor which was just turned on. Stone was glad that he had a light lunch, otherwise, he'd have lost his lunch right there once he saw the compactor crush the shooter. The driver of the garbage truck didn't even know what was happening, blissfully unaware of the sound of crushing skin and organs.

"Christ." Stone shook his head.

Damn, when will this end?

Once he got back to the crime scene, Stone saw many police cars around the plant shop where the shooting took place, some officers were keeping the mass crowd out and saw CSI collecting evidence, including the gun of the shooter that was collected from the roof along, they also had to commandeer the garbage truck to observe what's left of the shooter. He grimaced once he saw Brookes standing silently over a sheet being placed over what was obviously a dead body, and he had a good idea on who it was. "The woman?

Brookes silently nodded somberly and let out a sigh. "Her name was Shannon, took over the place after her parents retired, most likely blackmailed by the person who ordered the poison. Heard what happened to the shooter, did he trip?"

"Worse. The son of a bitch jumped, knowing he would land in the truck." Stone shook his head, still reeling from witnessing such a thing, the kind of shit that would break many a person. "From the way he sounded, he preferred that over whatever would've happened to him if whoever he worked for caught wind of him getting busted."

"Can't imagine the kind of monster that would make his own guys so scared, they'd rather face death." Brookes noted gravely, such people are among the most depraved individuals in the world.

All this excitement made Stone pinch the bridge of his nose. "Three dead in a span of a few days. Jesus, we gotta get to the bottom of this, or who knows how many others will die, either if they're involved or getting caught in the crossfire."

"Easier said than done." Brookes responded, taking a walk with him. "Whoever hired Lynch to shoot the kid, also ordered poison to make sure Lynch doesn't rat him out. Once that was done, Shannon was just another loose end, as much as I want to lock this sick fuck away, he's pretty clever. The worst kind of criminals."

"The worst kind of scum." Stone replied in agreement.

"Abe. Matt." they both stood in attention when Captain Jenkins walked up to them, looking less than pleased. "Higher ups in the city council are crawling up my ass, demanding to know where we are on closing this case."

"Cap, we're doing the best we can."

"Apparently, it's not enough." another voice spoke up.

They all turned to see a woman in a business outfit advancing, she had long auburn hair tied up in a bun, wearing trimmed glasses and red high heels with a stern demeanor. "Detectives. Captain." she greeted with a curt.

"ADA Kennings." Brookes greeted back in surprise. 'U-Uh, good to see you again."

"Sandra Kennings." Stone crossed his arms with an almost bemused expression as opposed to his usually stoic expressions, along with a hint of familiarity as well. "Was wondering when you'd get involved, here I was thinking us grunts at the station were handling this alone."

"When word of you apprehending Simon Lynch reached to city hall, it was assumed that the case would be closed and we could move on." Sandra explained, staring the detective down with him returning the gesture, both shooting daggers at each other making Brookes a little uncomfortable and eventually Sandra formed a smirk. "What we didn't count on was a perp being poisoned at a precinct or two more deaths. Captain, I expect a full detailed review on what we know so far, same with all victims and possible leads, at least I'm assuming you have any to begin with."

Jenkins rubbed his head. "It's...a work in progress."

"I see." she turned to the detectives. "Do we at least have any suspects?"

"Unless you can thing of someone capable of making a whole mess of shit like this, we got nothing."

Nodding in response, Sandra proceeded to exit the crime scene to leave the police to their own devices, but took a moment to send one last message to them as she left. "We're on the same team here, gentleman, we all want this taken care of before more bodies pile up on our streets, it'd help if you put some more effort into it."

"Taking your own advice?" Stone cracked before leaving the scene herself. "If you need me, I'll be doing my job, tell her is she wants anything, she should try stepping down from her high horse."

Brookes shook his head. "I can never figure out those two."

Not a lot of things could take Lisa by surprise, as a child prodigy with an intellect that far surpassed many other intellectual minds of those much older than her, she made it a point to be ready and prepared for any eventuality and how to overcome it. That sort of intuition failed her in recent days, and once again, she found herself facing an unexpecting turn of events. She never intended on coming across that message, but once she did, the young 4 year old thought that everyone else had a right to hear it. She asked Lori to assemble the rest of the siblings for an ever important sibling meeting so that she could share her findings.

"mole in the police department...Lynch was hired to shoot that brat...intended for Loud to die...paying for hospital bills...my plans..."

It felt like the umpteenth time they replayed the message and yet, the shock of it all was still present, some like Leni covered their mouths to stifle a gasp of horror while Luna and Lynn tightened their fists in anger and the twins shivered in fear. With things the way they are, it almost makes you think the universe had it out for the Louds, perhaps whatever higher power exists was merely biding its time before delivering retribution upon them for their misdeeds of the past. It also seemed like nothing was enough to make their lives hell, their brother getting shot, their parents being arrested, and becoming the town's social pariahs, and now this. Perhaps, this was a blessing in a very convincing disguise, because for them, this just might be the only shot they'll ever get at redemption.

"Lisa." Lori began after a long moment of collective silence among the band of sisters. "Simon Lynch, that was the monster who shot Lincoln, right?" she recalled watching a news coverage about him and about his death as well.

Gulping, Lisa nodded in confirmation. "Indeed. As I'm sure you're all aware, the police made an arrest on a felon named Simon Lynch who by all right was the degenerate responsible for nearly taking our sole male sibling away from us. I should also note not long after his arrest, he died while in the police station as the news already covered, how he died is unknown, however."

"So,...someone hired him to shoot our bro." Luna surmised, trembling in fury.

"That is the most logical conclusion. Yes."

"Who?" Lynn growled.

"Before answering that, I must advise to keep your anger levels at a minimum. While I greatly understand how you feel, it is quite imperative to keep in layman's terms, a cool head." clearing her throat. "Now, I deeply apologize to say that the identity of the unnamed person that orchestrated the shooting is currently unknown. Truth be told, I came across this message by pure accident."

"Then why can't you just find more?!" Lynn demanded.

"Because the device hasn't been operational for some time and to get the complete message would take hours, perhaps days."

Lana hugged her shoulders. "B-But who would want Lincoln shot?"

"Seriously, none of it makes sense." her twin agreed. "A-And they have an inside man in the police!"

Lucy shivered a little but kept her composure. "Whoever's behind this...the message implied that he's paying for his hospital bills too, do we even know anything about that?"

"Interesting you brought that up, Lucy. I too was curious on how the monetary service would be handled following Lincoln's recovery while recuperating in the local hospital and oddly enough, I couldn't manage to find who paid, they were using an unknown account that was untraceable." she explained, scratching her chin in thought. "I thought it seemed suspicious, but I mostly wrote it off as some unknown good Samaritan who was kind enough to lend their assistance, it appears that once again, I made a mistake." she looked down in shame.

Leni tapped her chin. "Wait, but why would they pay?"

"Another question of which I have no answer, I'm afraid." she regrettably informed them. "Whoever this enigmatic mastermind is, they're exceptionally skilled at covering their tracks, which would make uncovering his or hers identity quite difficult."

"Well you're the smarty pants in the family!" Lynn pointed out. "Make some nerd thing or fix that old one and figure it out, so we can hunt down this prick and teach him a lesson?!" she punched her own palm with her fist, ignoring the pain, all she wanted was the pain of the mastermind and nothing more. Plus, she could prove it to everyone that's been giving them crap that all evidence to the contrary, they truly do love Lincoln.

"Ease yourself, Lynn." Lisa told her. "First of all, this device has been in the reject pile for quite some time, I'd have to do extensive work to perfect the bugs to get in functional order once more. And second of all, I know you're anger and temper tends cloud your common sense, but at least try to think more rationally. This person was willing to kill an 11-year-old child and while I'm merely theorizing, I can't help but assume they might also had a hand in Lynch's death as well in an effort to silence him."

"So what are we supposed to do? Tell the police about this?" Luna scowled. "There's a rat there, and we have no idea which cop we can trust! Hell, there might be even more than we thought!"

"Everyone, silence!" the sisters promptly did so once Lori raised her voice, and it wasn't her usual bossy big sister voice, it was a more commanding tone mixed with maternal strict, she only reserved that for matters that require her to act like the responsible oldest sibling she needed to be. Lori knew that sensitive information like this should be in the hands of the police, especially since this would help greatly in their investigation, but at the same time, there appears to be a mole in the department. Whoever the leak is, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist like Lisa to figure out that he or she would warn their boss about it, and then the whole family would be targeted, creating more devastation. Quite frankly, there's no telling who they could trust, but then she recalled when they were in the station being questioned.

Abraham Stone and Matthew Brookes.

Those were the detective names that interviewed them when they arrived at the police station following the revelation of their actions and were the ones handling the whole case in general. Stone made it clear that he thought very lowly of their actions, he practically spelled it out that their the ones at fault for Lincoln getting shot, but while he was blunt, she couldn't fault him for it because what he said was more or less true, it may have been harsh but it was what needed to be said. Brookes was a bit more sympathetic, he was just as disappointed but still saw that they regretted letting their superstitions get the better of them, and knew that they'd do anything to have another chance.

"Lisa. Make a call."

The rational side of Detective Stone's mind was reprimanding him for not bringing Brookes along for this, the man has been a dependable partner for years and in this side of town, it paid to have some reliable backup. But the other part kept saying that it would've been too risky, one detective in this shithole was tolerable, two at the same time would rise suspicion and paranoia that would make these clowns think it was some sort of police ambush that could then lead to a firefight. Sometimes, Stone thinks the reason why Royal Woods' crime rate is lower than most places was because the criminal element of the town is filled with crazy paranoid jokes. Almost makes it unsurprising that an outside source is masterminding a nefarious plot had to do the thinking for him and he probably doesn't have any priors.

When it came to the other side of town, it was a place that no sane person would ever want to be caught it, unless they preferred to be cornered and mugged right there and bleeding out in the sidewalk with no one batting an eye. Stone always hated having to come here, it reminded him of the ugy truth that humanity is guilty of many a sin, and people like him who try to correct them are but a rarity. Then again, that was the whole reason why he became a cop in the first place, to correct these wrongs which was hardly a simple task but he doesn't give up, no matter what happens. Might sound a little cheezy, but that's just who he is.

Not only that, but I just so happens that his criminal informant always hangs around these parts, where all the street fights, girls looking to party, and deals were going down. Just standing still here was making him sick but to achieve his objective, going to dark places was a necessary action in order to solve this complex case of twists and turns that seemed to have no end in sight. If he recalls correctly, that slippery little weasel should be at the alleyway nearby, just where he always is and he better pray to god that Stone wouldn't catch in some shady deals. Dear god, he really needs to find a better CI, one who's not a complete crew up."

And lo and behold, there he was attempting to act like top shit to a bunch of posers, he was a man in his early 30s with long brown hair and beard wearing a blue jacket and black pants that were a little torn. "I'm serious, the lights will be out, that buddy of mine I told you about can take care of the alarm, it's an easy job."

"Murray!"

The petty lowlife's eyes widened in panic when he saw the detective. "Ah shit. Hey, uh, let's talk some other time, I...gotta go to my cousin's 2nd wedding reception, my best man speech is gonna kill it. My people will call your people!"

Stone looked to a nearby African American teen with a football and put his arm up which he used to catch the ball the teen threw, happy to oblige and with great force, threw it straight at the running lowlife hitting the back of his head. "GAH! MOTHERFUCKER!" Murray didn't have time to resume his hasty getaway once Stone grabbed him by the collar and slammed him to the nearest wall.

"Thanks for the assist, kid." Stone said to the teen.

"Anytime, that punk ass bitch owed me fifty bucks." he scowled, picking up his ball. "Sick throw, old man."

"Oh come on, Tyrell!" Murray complained. "Did that solid I did for you two weeks ago mean nothing?!" Tyrell merely flashed him the finger as he walked away, not wanting to get in the middle of this making Murray gulp as he faced the hardened detective that had a certain fury in his eyes that he grew accustomed to.

"Running away at the first sight of me? That almost hurts my feelings." Stone said with a steely gaze and kept a firm grip on the CI.

"Yeah, yeah, great to see you too, Abe." Murray dryly said with apt sarcasm. "What? Those guys down in the west weren't enough for you so now you hounding on us unfortunate souls."

"Unfortunate souls my ass. Rob from 2nd street caught you hitting it up with party girls in a freaking party bus of all things while singing along with that money song on the radio." Stone retorted.

Murray chuckled nervously. "W-What? Come on man, you know Rob always makes up bull about me, like when he said he caught me jumping out of Mr. and Mrs. Walters apartment window half naked when the old man came bursting in, claiming I was doing his woman. Or when I allegedly left the scene of some guys beating on another guy when I told them it was me giving me the chance to walk away with their money. Or when-" he gritted his teeth when Stone stomped on his foot. "Alright, alright! I'll talk, these are new shoes you know, damn!" Stone released Murray who dusted himself off. "Mattie's not with you this time?"

"Would've been too risky, had to leave him behind but only for this one time."

"Too bad, he's about the only pig I actually tolerate, mainly because unlike some people, he doesn't manhandle me or throw stuff right at my face and I'm serious man, this mug's roughed up enough as it is." he crossed his arms crossly. "So, what do you want this time?"

"Simon Lynch, you ever heard of him?"

"Lynch? Yeah, shared a cell in the station one time, can't say we were ever close, man tried to rip my jacket off thinking it was enough to buy him some more of the so-called 'good stuff', guy's a sick fool." Murray rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Well, was a sick fool."

"So, you heard about him dying." Stone noted.

"Hell, the whole neighborhood's heard about and are just losing it, man. I mean if he had died during a drive by or was cornered, no one would bat an eye but when a lowlife dies in a station, that gets everyone trying to get a gun to defend themselves."

"In this case, that fear's understandable." Stone stated. "Look, Murray, you are undoubtedly a buffoon when it comes to attempting to be some heartless criminal, but that buffoonery helps keep you out of doing stupid shit that could land you years to lifetimes. Not only that, but you always seem to know what goes on in the other side of things."

"While I take some offense to the buffoon part, I am otherwise flattered and you're lucky that's enough payment for me to tell you what I know and not because asking for money in exchange would lead to you socking me in the face. So, what sort of info do you want?"

"For starters, you wouldn't happen to have noticed anything shady going on?"

"Dude, shady stuff always goes on in these parts." Murray tapped her chin in thought. "Although, and you didn't hear it from me, but I noticed that some of the more professional types here have been missing lately, now I don't wanna start a panic, but it looks to me like someone's been collecting a lot of muscle but for what? Ain't got a clue but last week, I saw some fellas talking to some big guy, had on a fancy suit and everything."

"He got a name?"

"That's the thing, he only went by what I'm sure is fake name; Atlas. In fact, now that I think about it, I saw him talking with Lynch at the park and man, the wad of cash he whipped out was mouth watering, for a desperate guy like Lynch, it seemed like enough for him to shoot some poor little kid." Murray shook his head. "Hey, I'm raring to make an epic payday as much as the next guy but shooting kids? He's basically proving the bastards who call us animals right."

So, this Atlas is either the mastermind or more likely, works for the mastermind as he can't imagine the guy being stupid enough to walk in broad daylight hiring scum to do his dirty work. "Anything else?"

"Hmm..." Murray couldn't really think of anything else, but then he remembered how he eavesdropped a little and realized a word was exchanged between them that wasn't exactly random. "I did hear them say something."

"Tel me." Stone implored, ready to take anything at this point.

Murray stayed silent until he was absolutely sure. "Gemini."

Hmm, now what is Gemini?

I...can't tell you at the moment, I could reveal it next chapter or sometime in the future, that's for you read and find out.