Monday afternoon, Mr. Palrick was sitting in the home office. He typed away at the computer, pausing every now and then to take a sip of coffee before continuing.

His focus was broken by the sound of the front door flying open, slamming into the wall.
He furrowed his brow, leaning back in his chair towards the doorway.
“Louise, watch it with the door!” He yelled. “I’m gonna make you fix the wall if you keep doing that!”
Louis skidded to a halt at the office door with a big grin on her face, Davis following not too far behind.

“DAD! Dad dad dad! Guessssss WHAT?”

She pulled out her phone, showing her father. On it was her school’s grading website.

It was the history test for today’s date, with a 92% score.
Mr. Palrick smiled, and sighed.
“Well, great job Louise!”
She nodded proudly. “And I bet you thought I couldn’t do it!”
“Davis?” He called out. The boy walked into the room.

“Y-yes?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Louise happy about her grades. How exactly did you do it?” The man said with a smile on his face.

“Oh uh… I mean I just think good grades are important for like, college and your time after high school?”
He rolled his eyes, looking at Louise. “That’s what I’ve been telling you all these years, and now you get it?”
Louise crossed her arms. “Davis didn’t constantly nag me about it.”
Mr. Palrick huffed. “Well, still, thank you Davis for showing Louise the way. Maybe you can help her with college applications too!”
“And well dad, since I did so well on the test today… You wouldn’t mind if Davis and I just chilled out today?”
Mr. Palrick glared at her for a few moments. “I suppose you deserve some reward for doing so well. But no leaving the house, all right?”
She jumped in the air full of joy. “Yesss, thanks so much dad!”
“Hey, and keep up the good work! Make sure she’s staying focused, Davis!”
He nodded. “Will do, sir!”

The duo shuffled off to Louise’s bedroom, Davis sat on her bed as Louise plopped her backpack on the floor. She opened it up, pulling out the crucifix Witchbane like a child with a new toy.

“My mom’s kept a close eye on me all day Sunday, so I didn’t have a chance to play around with this yet!”
“You’re not gonna swing that around in here, are you?”
“Well duh, of course not. But it talked to me when I first grabbed it, and I wonder if I could talk to it more?”

She grabbed it with both hands, falling to her knees as if she was praying. She closed her eyes, and focused.

She clenched her eyes tighter, focusing even more.

Her eyes flew open.

“I guess it was a one time thing? Man, would it hurt anyone to give us a bit more information?” She scratched the back of her head, sitting at her desk. “They told me something like, a shadow of some threat?”

“Maybe it’s what’s causing all this paranormal activity to pop up in our town?”
She shrugged. “Eh, maybe it’ll speak to me later. It’s got all sorts of cool stuff that I can’t WAIT to test though. Like it can become a crossbow as well too ya know! Considering it can slice through military armor like nothing, could you imagine what that’ll do? I bet they explode!”
“Yeah, but you’re still grounded…”
Louise grinned deviously. “It’s easy. Every night, after my parents go to bed, I’ll just hop out the window, and we’ll hurry over to the woods! Queen can track the monsters down, then I return and get some sleep before school in the morning!”
Davis grit his teeth, thinking about how little sleep he’d end up getting. “Man, that sounds a bit too risky. Plus if you get caught, your mom is gonna be even more mad…”
“Well P.A.I.N. is gonna keep working even when I’m grounded. We gotta stay ahead of them!”

Davis yawned. “I guess that’s true… Speaking of sleep, mind if I just take a quick nap? I’m still kinda worn out from like, everything.”
“Go on ahead. I wanna show you something cool when you wake up!”
Davis fell asleep, and Louise booted up her computer. Clicking through files, she loaded up an old retro emulator.

Deep in the Umbra Pine woods, steel clashed against flesh, and smoke billowed through the air.

Dom, with his Wonderbuilder fully revved, rushed forward and grappled his assailant: A massive, flesh-colored Louse. It hissed, showing off an open mouth filled to the brim with grinder-like teeth.

With a fervent look on his face, he swung the louse over his head and onto the dirt floor.

From Wonderbuilder, the pile driver popped out, and Dom pinned the pointed end to the center of the monster. Letting the device loose, it smashed through its belly, the force obliterating its body.

“They have a strong shell, but the underbelly is weak!” He yelled, excitement tinging his voice.

The ground shook, and he steadied his feet.

Flattened beneath Isabella’s Inquisition was another louse, the beast’s shells pierced by the weapon.

“Not hard or durable enough!” Clarice called. “Stay close to me, there’s a strange amount of these things around!”
She whirled around, finding three more scuttling towards her, mouths agape.

A harpoon flew through the air, piercing the rightmost one in the mouth. The teeth grinded against the iron tool, but then the cable attached turned taught. Dom grabbed the base of it, and swung the louse into the other two, scattering them to the side.

He leapt forward, landing between his sister and the UMA. He punched his hand into his fist, eyeing them as they began to charge forward again.

A buzzsaw sprouted from Wonderbuilder, and he charged forward.

Not too far off, Kirino and Scott watched their friends fight off the bugs. Kirino was wearing her maiden outfit, the rower eying her.

“You know, maybe I should get a costume to wear as well. It’s kinda funny you’re the first of us to start doing that.” He put his hands behind his head, chuckling.
“It may be a costume now, but soon, it will become a symbol.”
“Yeah, I get that…” He watched as Dom grabbed two of the limbs of one of the louse. With his power saw, he cut straight up the middle, and then tossed the corpse aside.

“Yeah, you show em’ Dom!” He shouted. “Take em out with style!”

He glanced back at Kirino, who was still watching carefully.

Clarice was utilizing the full weight and power of her artifact to smash every approaching bug, barely even breaking a sweat.

“She needs to work on her form. It’s inevitable that she’ll encounter something that can take the full power of her attacks. Technique will be all that can save her then. As for Dom, he needs to fight without being under Inquisition’s christening. He’ll never work up the nerve to fight on his own if he relies on it.”
Tapping his foot and watching the twins continue their carnage, Scott spoke up.

“Weird timing, but I gotta know: Did you really expect Davis to pull that jailbreak off? My bet was that he wouldn’t even attempt it. At least, not without calling for a bit of help.” He grinned to himself.
Kirino raised an eyebrow. “Somewhat. I expected him to set her free, but the experience convinced him to stop his interference. But yet, the two return, almost more emboldened?”
“Pretty crazy, yeah? Guess that sets a new standard we should expect from em?”
The ground shook again. Clarice had used the full brunt of her blade to sunder the ground, entrapping five of the megalice.

“Sheesh, how many of these bugs are there?”
“Still, those three are of little concern. Their interference with the Collector has given me an opportunity as well. It can’t be a coincidence that such a destructive jailbreak coincides with The Collector suddenly leaving his stronghold. I’ve been ordered to stay far away until he returns.” She remembers the other order she was given.

“Those nuisances, Louise and Davis. I want them both dead by the time I return. Should you fail to kill two simple children, I’m afraid you will lose all future opportunities with me.”
Scott grinned. “So, when are we gonna go check it out? Sounds like something fun is over there!”
She turned to her friend, smiling. “This weekend. It’s quite the hike, and I would hate for it to impede on our education.”

From the ground, even more lice began to burrow upwards. Dom and Clarice found themselves surrounded, but still undeterred.

Scott turned the valve on the Teal Lantern, and ghastly flames shot forth. GG manifested from the flames, staring at the mess of monsters.

“It’s been a little bit, but we need to help our crewmates out!” Scott announced, charging into the fray. “We’re gonna get up close, give em a full broadside barrage!”
“Aye mate! Move at full sail, and prepare some grapeshot!”
Kirino, still retaining her stern expression, charged behind her friend, waiting for the perfect moment to draw Dragontail.

Waiting at Royalty Burgers was Queen, enjoying a Royal Combo. She nervously stared at the man behind the counter, waving at her.

She smiled back.

I smile at friends. That’s what humans do.

She saw a few people come through the entrance of the door, around the same age as Louise. They were chatting and laughing with each other.
They are friends. But are they friends like Louise and Davis are? Is there something more than friendship?

She had witnessed some humans fight with each other before. Some groups that looked like friends would hurt one another. They behaved inconsistent with what Louise told her about friendship.

Would the burger man protect me if I was in danger?

But Davis, Louise, Kirino, Clarice, were all outliers compared to normal humans. Unless the burger man was powerful, he would not survive against a cryptid.

She finished her meal, and stood up.

What builds the friendship I have with Davis and Louise?

Maybe Louise knew the answer. She knew a lot about friendship. Maybe she had other friends?

“That’ll be $15.95, thank you very much!”

Rex was back to double duty, as cashier and security guard. He smiled at the woman as she left with her groceries.

He relaxed the moment she left the door, wondering where the usual cashier was.

“Just leave all the work for me, huh? Yeah, we’ll see where that work ethic gets you…” He muttered to himself.

The front door jingled, and a man wearing a ski mask and holding a backpack walked in, making a beeline for the makeup aisle.

Rex rolled his eyes, watching as the man haphazardly began dumping several beauty products into his bag.

“You’re gonna pay for those, right?” He shouted.

The man ignored him, zipping up the bag and walked towards the exit.

Rex moved from the register, standing at the door, staring down at the thief.

“What’s your problem man?” The thief barked.

“Could you be any less subtle man? Aren’t thieves supposed to be sneaky?”
The thief tried to push past, but he didn’t budge an inch.

“Seriously, what’s your problem? Get out of the way!” He threw a sucker punch at Rex’s nose.
Rex didn’t feel a thing, staring down at the would-be thief. He grabbed him by the wrist.

“You suck at stealing, you can’t even throw a good punch, and yet you chose to be a petty thief?” Rex snarled. “You picked the wrong career path pal.”
The thief struggled to move his fist, but couldn’t. Rex saw the panic in his eyes as he tightened his grip even more. The thief dropped the backpack to the side.

Rex picked up the man, and literally carried him out of the store, placing him on his feet.

The man stood shivering, feeling a phantom grip on his wrist still.

“Go get an actual job, and never show your face here again!”
Re-entering the store, Rex sighed, feeling his retail demeanor return. He looked at the backpack full of beauty products, knowing he was gonna be the one to restock them all.

I should text Davis after this. Maybe they have a monster hunt I can join?

He paused for a moment.

No, they’ll be out too late… Maybe if he’s free from school we can squad up and play some games? It’s been a long time since I’ve played with friends…

Not a single lead. Detective Gold leaned back in his desk chair, speaking into a tape recorder.

“After finally being allowed access to them, I found the police records were phony. They had to be. First, somehow some random person got his hands on dangerous chemicals that required a specialized cleanup crew, and decided to go after a random school? They didn’t even outline how the school was contaminated…”
He took a deep breath. “Then comes the big thing. This assailant, Arthur Gerald, does not exist. No SSN, birth certificate, bank accounts, public records, anything. I would interview him myself, but he’s not even at the station. Some out-of-county PD handled all of this, including housing the supposed ‘assailant’. In fact, none of the men at the station were even aware of the attack until the day after!”

He tapped his fingers on his desk.

“Not a single member of the school faculty returned my calls asking about the attack as well. Only interview was from that one Louise girl. She mentioned a power outage and a fire, neither of which were mentioned in the police report. Maybe there was a call to the fire department?”

He remembered the strange trucks he followed, the night before the attacks even occurred.

“Am I sticking my nose somewhere it shouldn’t be?” A pause. “Make copies of these tapes, and send them to some friends as I continue.”
He grabbed his car keys and walked out the door.

Von Chad waited in the center of the Umbra Pine Woods, staring at the sky. A giant being flashed through, only being visible for a fraction of a second.

“Soon, everything will come together, my love…”