trigger warnings: child trafficking mentioned, suicidal attempt mentioned

- CHECK OUT DETAILED LAYOUT OF CLARENCE IN "EPISODE 3"! -

There were tons of cars parked around the driveway of this borderline mansion in a rich neighborhood. There weren't a lot of old buildings in New London. Everything was new and so it all had that sleek modern cyberpunk feeling to it much like their own compound. Sometimes she wished she could go to a place with actual history but for now, it was city life for her.

She walked up the steps, eyeing two girls in a tree making out before just going for the door that was opened, kids coming in and out a lot.

She was wearing something that made her blend right in with this crowed; short black shorts over fishnets, a crazy strappy black top that showed off her stomach, and an oversized black leather jacket of a new popular brand called Hypnotic. This was paired with high heal, short, thick souled black boots that were also very in, as nineties punk had made a comeback hardcore. She had rhinestones on her face and dark crimson eye makeup, her hair down as it brushed her shoulders just barely.

It wasn't really popular to have purses unless you needed one. But was in style were thigh pouches with straps around the hips and one thigh. She had her gear she needed in there.

She scooted past someone who was already getting sick and going outside to puke, hearing loud booming electronic dance music inside but with a low and slow beat, the only lights being neon colored ones in the house.

The smell of alcohol and all kinds of narcotics filled her nose upon entry. The guests were drinking from red Solo cups and walking around moderately wiped from substance abuse already despite it being early in the night for the party. Runa did arrive a couple hours after it began, though.

She saw people she recognized from school here and there, and some she hadn't seen before. But being observant, she knew a decent chunk of all of them as her eyes scanned the sea of faces in every direction.

Roody Jones. Red hair. Head of the hockey team. In a polyamorous relationship with desperation and overindulgence. Only child.

Erica Smith. Blonde hair. Conceited. Sex addict. Parents half a country away and disapproving of nearly everything she does. Know-it all. Decent grades.

Owen Riley. Black hair. One breakup away from trying to find happiness at the other end of a trigger. Comes from money. Probably wants to be the bad boy of women's dreams. Classic.

She immediately scanned the house's layout as well, remembering the blueprints and mapping it out in her head with what she was seeing.

She looked over at the back corner of the house where kids were all playing a hologram game with each other, turning it into a drinking game because... naturally.

In another corner of the house, kids were playing poker and gambling money but other things as well in the pot, laughing as one guy tossed in a half eaten burrito, one of the girls smacking his hand away.

But she put on that popular girl face and strode into the kitchen area. "Hey Jax, didn't think you went to stuff like this," she remarked to a guy her age with glasses and a mild mannered stance.

"What?!" he asked over the sound of the music.

"I said you look sexy!"

"What?!"

"I said you don't usually go to parties like this!" she replied even louder and stepping closer to him.

"Oh! Well neither did I but I figured I should try and go get a life like my sister keeps telling me to do."

"How are you finding it?"

"A drunk jock spewed digested Doritos on my shoe so... great," he replied plainly with sarcasm.

She laughed. "Well you can add that to memory bank for life experience I guess. Now you are free to go home."

He chuckled but frowned when someone stumbled in and burping. "How wasted am I?"

"On a scale of one to Leo?" Runa asked as she glanced down at the guy who was passed out on the ground.

The dude was tripping hard, staring at something with fear suddenly. "Do you see that leprechaun or is it just me?" he asked with his eyes wide.

"No I see him too, buddy, it's okay," Jax said with a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh good..." he breathed.

Runa smirked and left him after having a pizza roll and taking a shot of angel piss (yes that's what it's called but it's good).

"Hey! How wasted am I?!" a girl shouted at her when she breathed in her face.

She was already annoyed but just dodged her and kept walking. "Have you seen Nora?!" she asked a girl named Tammy that was already trying to take her top off because someone dared her to.

"What?!"

"Nora!"

"I don't know any Mormons!"

"Grayson!" she asked instead.

He seemed a bit dazed but looked her way.

"Where is Nora?!"

"I don't know! He stopped and his eyes went wide when they met titties and his face was red, another person quickly putting Tammy's shirt back on her before she embarrassed herself.

And to think she considered life in Clarence to be chaotic... She won't take it for granted again.

"I'm gonna go find her!" Runa said and moved past people, one of the men smacking her in the ass as she went by but she kicked him hard with her heavy boots in the shin and he fell to the ground in pain, no one batting an eye, aside from the ones who just laughed.

She continued along, pretending like she was scanning the borderline laser rave for Nora, but really she was trying to find out where Greg's room was, and planning on how she would sneak into it once she found it.

She had to move past crowds of people who all smelled like perfume, cologne, beer, liquor, and all kinds of drugs. It was rather an assault to her nose but she was used to it. She walked by them and saw the stairs, knowing there were bedrooms up there, but she was unsure of whose.

She eyed the downstairs bathroom, watching two guys run in there and shut the door, one of them wearing cyber-ears and a collar.

Whatever.

She kicked something and looked down to see a butt plug on the hard floor. She made a face to say she wasn't surprised one bit but it didn't really phase her.

She took this opportunity to run up the steps, finding herself on the second floor that overlooked into the large living room with two hallways beside her. One that led to a bedroom and the other to another bedroom. But before she could even look to find out which was which, she saw Nora with a girl named Jem leaving her room and laughing. "Oh hey!" she said to Runa.

"I was looking for you! You're really gonna leave all your guests down there alone? What a terrible host," she joked with her.

Nora laughed but before she could reply, they both turned to see an older man with olive skin and black hair come from the other bedroom that Runa caught a glimpse of a computer setup in. He smiled politely, wearing swim trunks and a wet shirt. "Don't mind me, I'm going to the small patio—"

"Where you and dad promised you'd stay right?"

"Yeah so you and your friends can break more of his stuff—?"

There was the sound of pottery breaking somewhere on the first floor as if on cue, followed by a "my bad!"

He gave Nora a look.

"I'll take care of that—"

"Uh-huh," he added with sass before walking down the steps.

"Ignore him. That's my dad's boyfriend Pedro. He's been living here since the divorce," she told Runa.

"Why did your dad even get married? Like who does that anymore?" Jem asked as she fixed her fake eyelashes.

"I don't know. Old people, I guess," Nora joked. "Come on, let's go join the fun. I am so good at Never Have I Ever."

"You realize that if you drink the most during that game you're losing, right?" Jem replied skeptically as all three girls went down the steps, Runa glancing over her shoulder at Pedro and Greg's room...

As the sun had set and left behind a deep blue sky, Muiredach parked his bike beside the Speedy's Pizza, the red and blue neon lights from its sign reflecting in the ground that was damp from a recent sprinkling.

He pulled off his bike helmet and set it on the seat, the security setting turned on when he walked away from it and to the front door.

The look on everyone's face inside when he came through the delicate glass door with that little ding sound was hysterical. The small neon lit cafe with vintage Italian tables and chairs went dead silent. The people that were talking at their table and the people behind the counter stared at him with hesitantly wide eyes.

Muiredach's height didn't help as he strode in wearing his vigilante gear and mask covering his mouth and nose.

The employee behind the tablet looked terrified. Most ordering was done on a digital screen but he seemed to be fixing something at the moment. "Look dude, I didn't do anything! I swear. It was—"

"Cops!" the man behind him said when he came into the room from the kitchen, immediately ducking back as if guilty of something. They both heard the back kitchen door fling open as he fled for his life.

"Do I look like a cop?" Muiredach asked the teen in front of him.

"No, but you look like someone who could hurt me..." he said as he was practically shitting his pants.

"I'm here to discuss a crime that was committed here not too long ago but I request to do so in private. Is your manager here?" he said plainly to him.

"Kyle!" he called. "Someone's here about your browsing history!"

"What?!" a voice asked from the kitchen.

Muiredach tried his hardest not to roll his eyes. "Thank you," is all he said before he just walked past him and into the kitchen himself, seeing the manager who wasn't much older than the teen, throw his phone and let it spiderweb against the tile. "I wasn't building a bomb! I was just curious!" he defended.

Muiredach just walked to the owner's office where the computer was. "I need to talk to you about a car that was reported stolen from here September twenty-third."

"Oh... uh... wh-who are you?" he asked nervously as he came in, a bit scared still.

Muiredach's intimidating look helped him most of the time but sometimes he wished he could just skip all these pleasantries. "Nevermind that. I'm someone who thinks this car was involved in a kidnapping. And if you have any desire for this child to be found, you'll show me how you track those cars," he told the man.

He didn't want to believe him but that sense of trustworthiness in this stranger's eyes surprised him. Clearly he was some kind of masked vigilante and he wasn't the first one in this city, as they had had a few, especially on the subject of child trafficking. So he came over to the computer and pulled up their little map with the car emojis moving around on it. "We watched the car on this when we called the cops. They went this way until they were out of range of our sensors. So we have no idea where it is now. The cops aren't really interested in stolen cars so... the case didn't really go further."

He studied the map, marking in his brain which street he pointed to and where it could lead. He then looked at the manager. "What kind of signal does your tracking device send out?"

"Uh... I don't... I don't know..." he replied hesitantly.

He glanced towards the front, remember seeing one of their cars parked out there... He looked at the man again. "For your own good, forget we spoke about this or that I was ever here," he said sternly, before moving past the man and pulling out a device from his side as he walked from the kitchen towards the front, the people at the tables now with their phones out trying to take a video of him but they couldn't figure out why their cameras weren't working.

He left out the door and held up his small palm sized device to scan the sign that was attached to the roof of the car, letting his small gadget work before it beeped. He then hooked that to his phone and watched the GPS device work with it, catching the calls of every car that was sending out that signal. He caught one on the outskirts of the lower city that was past the road in the right direction and just sitting still. "There you are," he muttered to himself before clicking on it and putting on his bike helmet. The screen of his helmet projected directions on where he needed to go in front of him and he mounted his bike and took off, the phones of the people inside working again when he was gone.

"Why are we here? Are you hungry or something? You never eat very much—you're not Cait. Wait a minute, did you watch Cooking Bitches again? That always makes you hungry," Uriah was saying to Raegan when they parked Cait's shitty car at the Speedy's Pizza outlet that Muiredach just left from.

She had trouble putting it in park as there was a dildo shoved into the console in place of the gear stick that had broken off. Caitrina happened to think that was funny rather than getting an actual replacement part...

Uriah frowned and picked up a broken hairbrush. "Why would she keep this? Why does it have black hair in it?"

"Uriah, I do not know, maybe it was someone she hooked up with?" she replied, leaning over the backseat to grab a huge bag full of items from the backseat. She pulled it into her lap and unzipped the bag, "Alright so I have many things to choose from," she said digging through the bag pulling out a sparkly lace bra. "You should wear this." she said, holding up the bra for him to see.

"Oh definitely," he replied without skipping a beat. "It does look a bit small for me though—is this yours?" he frowned as he put it up to himself.

"No- Uriah my boobs are bigger than that! Wanna see?" she said jokingly with a slight smirk on her lips acting as if she was going to pull her shirt up—

"As fantastic as they are I'm gonna vote 'no'," he chuckled as he grabbed the hem of her shirt to stop her. "Is there a Kermit hat in here?" He frowned when he looked into the bag.

"Weird bar that I had to go undercover for." she waved it off, dismissing it before digging back into the bag pulling out a hat with dildo on the top of it. "Dammit Cait!"

"How many of these does she have?" he asked with surprise.

"It's Cait." she replied, looking over at Uriah.

"So what's the plan? Are we going to dress up as Kermit and... ... Shrek?" he questioned when he saw the other mask in there.

"I'm sure they would kill to meet Kermit and Shrek but, no," she said digging deep into the bag to find what she was looking for, "we steal a car and dress as two dwits delivering pizza." she explained.

"Do—wait... we steal a car?" he said in alarm as she threw the t-shirt and hat at him.

"Yes. We steal a car, it's fine I'm a cop," she said waving her hand dismissively, "now put those on." she said pointing towards the shirt and cap she threw at him.

He sighed and pulled his shirt off over his head. "I don't think that means what you think it does," he replied with doubt.

"It'll be fine, I'll bring it back." she assured, directing her eyes to look in front of her rather than his bare chest.

Let's just say... working out there on the "battlefield" gave him a nice... appearance.

He sighed and slipped on the shirt. "Is this a medium?" he asked as it fit a bit snug.

She glanced over at him, her eyes slightly widening at how... tight it was on him. She could practically see the outline of his abs. "Y-yes that is," she managed out, trying to gather her thoughts on what to say next. "I usually only get mediums because they fit." she said, shrugging her shoulders playing it off like she hadn't just stared at his abs.

He frowned at her a little at the change in attitude with her but didn't really think much of it, assuming it was just awkwardness at how stupid he probably looked. "Well just put yours on and lets get on with this," he told her as he made it obvious that he was shutting his eyes by putting his shirt that he took off over his face.

She removed her shirt, not really caring if anyone around them saw. It was just a bra anyway, everyone had to wear one. She pulled the shirt over her head, pulling her hair from out of her shirt. "I'm not naked anymore. You can remove the shirt." she joked, grabbing her cap and placing it on her head.

"Well, I wanted to be careful. I wouldn't want my eyeballs to fall out of my head," he teased her as he put the other hat on.

"Oh please, I've got the best boobs in the whole house. Your eyes would be blessed." she teased, pulling her hair back in a ponytail. "Now, let's go steal a car." she clapped her hands together, opening her car door and stepping out of the car.

"Oh God forgive me," he sighed and got out as well.

Before Raegan completely departed from Cait's car she retrieved a device from out of her bag, shoving it in her back pocket. The device was small but it had programmable car types you could flip through on the small electronic screen.

She then made her way over to the lot of delivery cars, stopping in her place. "Hmm, now which one should we choose...?" she said, tapping her finger against her chin in a teasing manner. All of the cars on the lot looked identical, besides maybe a few that had an alternate logo, it looked as if they were updating the logo from its original look.

"Whatever, there are only three—just pick one and hurry—Raegan, I don't like this. You know breaking the law makes my rash come back," Uriah said nervously as he scratched his arm.

She let out a snort before holding up the device to one of the closest cars, the car unlocking with just a push of the button. "Am I driving or you?" she asked, making her way over to the car she unlocked.

"Me, please. I'd rather not turn down a lane against oncoming traffic again," he remarked with a story behind that, taking the device from her and going to the car to get in.

She rolled her eyes at his response, "That was an accident!" she replied, but got into the passenger's seat nonetheless.

"I would hope it wasn't on purpose or we would need to have an intervention," he pointed out when he shut the door.

"Don't we need a pizza since, you know we are delivery people...?" she asked.

"We have the bag. It's fine," he replied when he gestured to one in the backseat.

"Maybe we can fill it with dildos, pass them out like party favors."

"Raegan we're going to a party with minors."

"Oh, shit they're minors? Never mind."

"What did you think 'highschool freshman' meant?"

"Oh, I didn't hear that part, Cait was too busy showing me her boobs."

"Well that.... That doesn't surprise me." He started the car and whipped it out from the parking spot, some of the workers inside seeing them run off when he came out to take out the trash.

As the car left promptly, the employee stood there with a surprised look but then sighed. "Dammit not again..."

Adeline sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the coffee table in the common room, piecing together a puzzle. She had found it tucked away in one of the drawers and, out of boredom, decided to give it a try. She hummed softly to herself as she rested her head in the palm of her hand, eyes scanning the scattered pieces before her. She had a thing for puzzles and riddles—she was weirdly good at it. If she wasn't working forty hours a week or spending time with Klaus, she'd likely be lost in a puzzle or watching some game show until she drifted off to sleep.

"Yo! Adeline!" Cait said when she came into the room wearing black leggings, black t-shirt, and a black zip up hoodie. "Put on black and let's go. The others need our help."

Adeline's eyes glanced up to look at Cait, her brows furrowing out of confusion. "What do you mean? What happened?!" she asked, dropping the puzzle piece that was in her hand on the coffee table as she stood up from her spot.

"I'll explain in the car. Hurry!" she urged her, grabbing her arm and shoving her into her room.

Still feeling confused as Cait pushed her into her room, she hurried to change anyway. She quickly changed out of her clothes, slipping into a black pair of leggings and a long-sleeve shirt, then gathered her hair into a low ponytail.

"Please tell me everyone is safe?" she asked in a worried tone as she closed the door to her bedroom behind her.

"Oh yeah they're fine—let's go," she dismissed quickly and pulled her arm along towards the door.

When they got to the garage she stole Raegan's car and pulled out, driving down the road through the woods.

When they were driving, Adeline noticed a bunch of shrink wrap boxes in the backseat and spray paint.

"What is that stuff for? How is this stuff going to help the others?" she asked in confusion, pointing at the spray paint and wrapped boxes.

"It's not."

"Cait." she said sternly, "What the hell do you mean? I thought you said the others were in trouble."

"Nah they're fine. But we are gonna go show that snot-nose rich cheerleading slutbag that Castor is sleeping with a lesson," she replied with attitude, strangely passionate about this.

Adeline turned so she was now facing forward, "I thought you didn't give a damn about her?" she said with a small smirk, her arms now folded over her chest.

"I didn't say that. I just don't give a damn about who he sleeps with... well in this case... well—okay I do this time. But not for the reason you think. That girl used to treat me like shit in highschool. She stole my clothes and made me run naked to go get them. Granted, I got her back by putting a bee's hive in her locker but that was after a full night of crying, okay?"

"Uh-huh... so... why are you doing this now? Why haven't you done this before?" she asked, still not believing a single word that came from the redhead's mouth.

"I don't know where she lives. Plus it will teach Castor a lesson too. He'll have to pay an Uber to get her home. Stupid asscrack deserves it. Sleeping with my mortal enemy."

"Why do you care who he sleeps with?"

"Because Adeline. It's... ... it's white hot betrayal! White hot! We're... room...frenemies..." she stuttered, realizing she didn't have a really wonderful reason after all but she didn't care. "And it's a dick move to sleep with someone that shoved your frenemy's face into a curling iron at sleepaway camp."

"...Does he know that she bullied you?" she asked curiously, her brow raised slightly.

She raised her hand as if to say "yes" but there was a pause. "Kind of... well... not fully but it doesn't matter. She is the one paying, okay? Stop using so much logic!" she said defensively.

She couldn't help but laugh a little at her response. "Cait. First off, why don't you just talk to Castor instead of..." she looked behind them at the items Cait had in the backseat, "...whatever you plan on doing with that stuff and secondly why am I being pulled into this?"

"You're gonna be my lookout while I trash her car. And talking? Yeah, I'll just talk about my feelings, that'll show her. You're just lucky I'm doing the toned down version of my plan," she pointed out.

"Cait— no I am not watching you trash her car," she sighed out, "let's go back home and you can trash his room or something." she said trying to convince her to turn back around.

"What? No! She's the one I want to pay not crusty Castor. Why don't you ever take my side?" she whined, as if this was something that happened all the time.

"Because! Karma? That stuff is real Cait! She might put my face into a curling iron!" she exclaimed.

"Karma? What are you, Hindian? Himdi—Hind... WHATEVER!"

"No! Last time I did something like this I was the one who got the blame and let's just say four men picked me up and tossed me into a pool—not to mention it was snowing out and the water was freezing!"

She snorted and then covered her mouth immediately. "I'm sorry—I shouldn't laugh—"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want— but karma is real I'm telling you... or maybe it's just revenge— still! I don't wanna be blamed!"

"Karma's like spiritual shit," she went off on a tangent.

"Then maybe it's just revenge for being an innocent bystander," she said thinking about it.

"Well you do have a rather drownable face," she said as if being honest.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, playfully smacking Cait's arm. "I do not!"

She laughed loudly. "Oh I'm joking!" she dismissed.

Klaus was laid back against the couch with his feet kicked up onto the coffee table in front of him. His eyes were fixed on the TV, engrossed in the game as one of his favorite teams played against their rival team. Just when his team was about to score a touchdown, the other team was quick to block them by knocking the player off his feet and sending the ball flying. He let out a groan, tossing his head back, "We really need to replace that guy he sucks." he mumbled under his breath as he wiped his hands down his face.

He heard footsteps from the only other person currently home, as she walked from the hallway, through the main room and to the entry way towards the door with a jar in her hand that had a paper under it, an insect captured. She stopped at the door, realizing she was using both hands and couldn't open it.

He glanced over the couch to look at her, seeing she didn't have a way to open the door. He pushed himself from off the couch, the pillow he had in his arms falling onto the couch cushions. "Need some help?" he asked, making his way over to her.

"No! No I do not need help. Not from you," she said stubbornly, trying to think her way out of this situation and refusing to look at him.

His brow shot up slightly in confusion, "So... without my help how do you plan to open that door?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to try and get her to look at him.

She purposefully lifted her chin and looked away to avoid meeting his gaze. "I'll figure something out. I'm crafty," she lied with a sharp tone, her jaw clenched like a child pouting. He looked down and realized she had a spider caught in the jar rather than just killing it. Of course she did...

He was confused as to why she was treating him like this, he tried to think back if he could've said anything but... nothing came to mind. Maybe it was because he opened the door shirtless? But to be fair, she came to his door.

"Alright, well," he said, crossing his arms, leaning against the wall beside him. "...if you end up needing a hand, let me know," he said, his tone holding a hint of amusement in it. He obviously wasn't going to just walk away and leave her hanging. With the short amount of time he knew Jody, he had come to the conclusion she was rather... clumsy, or maybe it was just around him that she seemed to lose her balance.

She was trying to think of a way out of this, contemplating putting the jar down to open the door but she worried it would release the arachnid and she would scream if she did.

She huffed. "Can you leave? You're in my thinking space."

"Why do you suddenly hate me so much?" he asked, ignoring her request for him to leave.

She finally looked at him, the fury of a tiny squirrel in her eyes. "I don't hate you. I don't hate anyone but you—you really cheese my biscuits! Sorry for the language."

He let out a low chuckle, finding her to be incredibly cute. "And why is that?" he questioned.

"Oh you would love for me to just tell you, wouldn't you?! No, you should already know. You and your stupid face—you can go... fall down the stairs and hurt... parts of yourself," she threatened... At least it sounded like a threat.

"Ouch," he responded, putting a fake look of hurt on his face as he pushed himself off the wall stepping closer so he was towering over her. He held her gaze as he reached over her and placed his hand on the door handle behind her. With a subtle press, a soft click was heard indicating that the door was now unlocked. He pushed it open for her, a small smirk on his lips.

She stayed there like a statue but slowly the blood rushed to her cheeks as she glared at him. She refused to say "thank you" even if she almost did out of habit and principle. But she clenched her jaw and lifted her chin before simply clearing her throat and walking out the door to deliver the spider to the garden.

He chuckled slightly, shaking his head as he watched her make her way out to the garden. He still wondered why she was so upset with him but he figured he would find out eventually. So with that, he left her to let the spider free, returning back to watching his game. But he cursed slightly when he saw that the opposing team had scored a touchdown since he left his spot.

As the party music got louder, Runa let herself pretend she was absorbed in the festivities, all but the sexual activity that was beginning to get more frequent around her. People got more wasted, more high, more loose and inebriated...

She laughed and told someone she had to use the washroom after seeing someone go into the one downstairs to start puking. She stood up from the drinking game they were playing and stumbled through the crowd, moving past people that were basically hip to hip in this large house... it was like the entire school was invited and then some.

She moved through the hallway on mission when she quit the drunken stumbling and walked up the stairs, avoiding the eyesite of anyone before she tried to open the door to Greg's bedroom. Finding it locked, she wasn't surprised as they had probably wanted to prevent people from going into their room to have sex.

She knelt down and pulled out a small device about palm sized, sticking it onto the door lock and watching it scan the inside before it extended its robotic pin to move the right tumblers. She pulled it off and opened the door quietly, shutting it again silently behind her and relocking it. She then moved to the computer on the desk.

Quickly taking out the other device she had in her bag, she plugged it directly into one of the computer's ports and the monitor came on from this, making her frown when she saw a playlist called "sexy cowboys" paused on the corner of the screen.

She watched the device work and then took out her phone that it was connected to, shifting through gigabytes and gigabytes of data a second to find anything that they would be able to use to prove their theory on him.

They could have been good at deleting footprints but nothing on the internet was ever truly gone once it was out there...

She heard footsteps running up the stairs and she looked up, hearing the door handle jiggle and she pulled out a lipstick quickly at this sound, preparing her next tactic if she was caught. But hearing the laughing from the other side of the door, she realized they were just teens who wanted to come in here to ruin their self esteem and self worth for a few seconds of mild drunken ecstacy.

They realized it was locked and ran off, leaving Runa to finish her work as she saw the bar slowly load through all it was searching.

Muiredach's bike slowed down when he got closer, noticing where he was now was a trailer park outside of the city. He drove more steady through it down the main road, watching the tracker as he did.

He stopped when he saw a janky broken down twenty-one ten model beside a car that seemed to have a tarp over the top of it, but it was clear with the bump on top that this was the stolen pizza car. How dumb was he to not trash it after what he did? What was this guy's plan?

The man inside was trying to get his telly to work but the thrifted antique was only giving him static. "Damn thing. Fine. I'm just going to throw you were you belong!" he said with rage and grabbed it, walking over to his door but before he could, his door was slammed open and it scared him half to death, falling over onto his back and dropping the television.

Muiredach had kicked the door clean off its hinges and he came in as it fell to the floor.

"Shit!" the man said as he scrambled, scooting back to try and reach for a weapon but Muiredach had already put up his arm and shot something at his wrist that stuck it to the ground, electrifying the man and causing his body to twitch as he cried out in pain and panic.

When his other hand went to this device to try and pry it off, he shot the second one that stuck his free wrist to the first and then stepped on his ankle hard, the man gritting his teeth. He shot both his legs with these same cuffs and now every limb was stuck to the floor.

And his muscles weren't working well enough for him to even try to yank like he wanted to, cursing over and over as the tall shadowed vigilante walked forward with a powerful presence and equal intimidation.

"What the hell do you want?! I don't have anything! My tooth isn't even real gold!" the man panicked.

Muiredach looked down at him as he managed to contain his anger for the man. "Where is he?" he demanded.

"Where's who?!" he pretended to look clueless.

Muiredach pulled up his bracer and shot a dart of something right into the man's groin, making him cry out in pain and curse again.

Muiredach then pulled out the small picture of the child he had with him to show it to him, calm hatred in his eyes as he did.

"What?! What is that? I don't know who that is?! I've done nothing!" he lied, sweating now and red in the face from pain.

Muiredached took something from his belt that was smoking with heat, and it looked like some kind of short blade with a base, the metal almost glowing from the heat. "I see we're going to have to take the long way..." he said plainly before stepping on his leg and threatening to stab that thing right into him before the man shouted, "W-wait! Okay! Wait! Oh God! Wait!" quickly in utter terror.

Muiredach hesitated and looked at him.

"I-I-I don't have him! Not anymore! I..."

"Where is he?" he asked again in a low growl, almost between his teeth.

"I... I sold him!"

"Name," he added in a deep and threatening tone.

"Uh... shit..." he panicked as he didn't remember. "It was something Spanish? I can't remember."

"Then I'll help you remember," he said and pressed the burning tool against his thigh, making the man scream again and yank to try and get away from the pain. "Garcia! Pedro Garcia!" he said finally.

Muiredach pulled his device back and stuck it to his belt. He took out his phone and searched the name in a digital phone book thanks to access from Cait. He found several people in the area with that name and came back to him, kneeling down and showing him. "Which one?" he demanded. "You have four seconds or you can say goodbye to what you shouldn't even have anymore," he threatened.

"Th-the second one! That's him!" he told him, looking to be speaking the truth now as there was complete cowardice and fear in his eyes.

Knowing what he needed now, he put his phone away and stood up. He grabbed the gun the man had been reaching for and used it to shoot a hole through the criminal's phone before breaking the pistol's top half off with his bare hands and tossing it.

The man was grateful his private parts weren's sliced off and he thought he'd get to be let go but Muiredach stuck a device to the wall, one that was contacting the police from that location as the NLPD trusted Muiredach's calls now. And he added, "Don't worry... you'll still look normal at least," implying whatever he shot had chemically castrated the man and he turned and left him there to get back on his bike, the neighbors not even caring that he was screaming as the old man across the street was knitting a cowboy hat out of yarn in his rocking chair.

He mounted his motorcycle and took off with the coordinates programmed in.

Cait parked the car down the street from Castor's decoy house and put her hood on over her head and wild hair. She zipped it up a little bit more as well. "Come on, grab the cling wrap."

Adeline let out a loud sigh, turning so she could lean over the seat and grab the cling wrap from the backseat. "Can I just stay in the car and..." she paused thinking for a moment, "watch for intruders?..."

"No I need four hands on this—that's what she said—aha! I'm so funny," she replied and shut the door, going to the back end and pulling up a cage with her secret weapon. Adeline saw movement from where she was.

When she got out and looked, she saw it was a raccoon that Cait had trapped.

"Cait! What the hell are you doing with that poor raccoon?" she exclaimed, knowing that this whole thing was just a bad idea.

"I'm gonna put it in her car, obviously."

Adeline wiped a hand down her face, letting out a soft sigh. "This is not happening, This is not happening..." she muttered to herself, "We can't put a raccoon in her car."

"Why not?" she asked cluelessly.

"Because that thing might have rabies!" she exclaimed.

"Nah it doesn't have rabies. It's just a dick." She shrugged. "Now come on."

She sighed, staring at the raccoon in the cage. "This is a horrible idea Cait."

"It's amazing," she replied and walked down the sidewalk towards the house. "Be my lookout!" she added in a whisper.

She let out a soft groan but followed behind Cait anyway, needing to make sure she wasn't going to escalate this even further.

Klaus laid out across the couch, a pillow shoved under his head and a blanket draped over his body. His game was now over, the TV playing some random show that he was not paying any attention to. With the house being as quiet as it was, he was able to drift off, falling in and out of sleep.

Until he heard a weird sound almost like someone scraping a balloon with their nails, and then a crash like something heavy hitting the tile floor somewhere else in the house.

His eyes opened at that, a soft sigh escaping lips as he knew he had to go check on whatever made the noise. He moved the blankets off of his body and made his way towards where he heard the sound.

It was from Jody's corner of the house from behind her closed bedroom door.

Of course it was from Jody's room.

He brought his hand up, knocking on the door with his knuckles. "You alright in there?" he questioned, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest.

There was no answer.

He let out a soft sigh, debating on whether he should enter the room. "Jody?" he tried again.

"Ah! Butter biscuits!" he heard her say from somewhere in there, her voice carrying pain and frustration.

He decided to enter the room, pushing the door open carefully. "You alright?" he questioned, peeking his head into her room.

The first thing he saw were the socks and googly eyes with other craft supplies about the floor as she was working on sock puppets for the kids the next day. But he realized when he came in that the sound was coming from behind her shut bathroom door. It sounded like the shower was on.

He carefully stepped over the crafts laying out on the floor, making his way over to the bathroom door. "Jody? Are you alright?" he asked once more as he was now closer to her bathroom door.

"Yes! Yes I'm fine!" she lied in a panic, not sounding convincing at all.

His brow raised slightly at he reply, not finding it convincing in the slightest. "Are you sure?..." he asked.

"Ow! Y-yes! I don't need help from you!" she said angrily but as soon as that left her mouth she regretted it because she did indeed need his help...

"Well, it sounds like you do." he replied with a soft chuckle.

"No, no, I got this—Ah!" she shouted again when he heard the sound like slipping on porcelain and then popping like the shower curtain came down with her this time. "Hot corn muffins!" she cursed.

His face scrunched up at the sound, knowing that had to hurt. "It doesn't sound like you got it." he said before letting out a soft sigh, "Will you stop being stubborn and let me help you?"

There was a long pause that was the sound of her pride disappearing before she let out a quiet, "...Okay..."

"Are you... Are you covered?" he asked before opening the door, trying to make this less awkward.

"Well... technically," she said bashfully, spitting water because the showerhead was still spraying her practically in the face. She was lying in the old white clawfoot tub with the sunflower shower curtain pulled down on top of her.

He couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at her state. He leaned over and shut the water off, looking nearby to find a towel that he could give to her once she was standing. "Alright, grab ahold of my hands." he instructed, holding his hands out for her to grab ahold of.

"W-wait! Shut your eyes," she said with wide eyes.

He shut his eyes, doing as she asked. "There, now come on grab my hands." he instructed, mentally trying to remember where the towel was.

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" he questioned with a small shake of his head.

"I can't! My ankle is inside out! I fell and landed on it really weird and I can't move it!" she explained.

He sighed out at her response, wishing she had told him this before he closed his eyes. "Okay..." he said thinking of ideas on what to do, "Alright... I'm gonna lean down, can you wrap your arms around my neck? That way I can pull you up?" he asked, bending down enough for her to be able to grab onto him.

"Wait no! Don't touch my bum!" she said as if he was trying to.

"I'm not going to touch your bum, Jo." he said, mentally rolling his eyes. "Come on, grab ahold of me," he said his voice sounding pleading as he really just wanted to get this over with so he could actually open his eyes.

"Promise you won't open your eyes."

"I promise."

She tried to bind the curtain around her body better before she reached up and grasped the back of his neck like he said, the blood rushing to her cheeks with nervousness, embarrassment, and bashfulness because of how close he was while she was in such a state. But honestly, it wasn't the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to her...

He wrapped his arms around her waist, easily pulling her out of the tub in one swift motion. But she tried to get her leg over the edge of the tub and slipped again, nearly knocking him over because of this as she panicked and scrambled like a squirrel. "Ah! Wait! I—!" she was stammering.

He struggled to balance himself as he almost toppled over on top of her. He let out a soft breath of relief as he caught himself, "Jody! Stop squirming, you're gonna make us both fall!" he exclaimed as he regained his stance, pulling her back up.

"I'm trying to get out!" she argued, the shower curtain falling off her when she struggled and she panicked more. Even if his eyes were closed. Her face was as red as a tomato. She finally got her legs over the side but stepped on her bad ankle and almost fell again when she shouted in pain, his hands on her waist wholly keeping her from collapsing as she rebalanced herself on her good foot. "Okay, hand me the towel."

He held onto her waist with his left hand, using his right to blindly reach for the towel behind him before he held it out for her to take.

She tried to stay upright, her right hand holding his arm as she tried to put the towel around herself with one hand, balancing on one foot while she suddenly realized the situation they were in, with his hand on her bare waist like that, how close they were, and how... big he was... it made her swallow nervously and her skin shiver.

"I..." she stammered, trying to put a towel on with one hand as she was struggling to accomplish it. "I don't know how Bethany Hamilton did this," she said with frustration.

He let out a low chuckle at her comment, giving a small shrug, "Practice. I'm sure at the start she struggled." he replied, his eyes still closed as he spoke.

She tried to find ways to get the towel around her, letting him keep her up but then his hand was in the way and she had to clutch the side of the tub to keep herself up. "Ugh! This isn't working. Just grab my robe. It's on the hook behind you, just reach I'll guide you," she told him.

"Oh– I- okay." he said, turning slightly, "Am I facing the right direction?" he asked, leaning forward to see if he could feel the door or even the robe.

"A little to your left."

He moved his arm to the left a little as she instructed.

"I said left."

"Jody, that is left..." he replied.

"Oh I meant 'right'-sorry," she fumbled.

He shook his head slightly at her response, moving his hand to the right. "And your occupation is a teacher?" he teased, a smirk on his lips.

"I'm incredibly smart, you don't even know," she told him with equal attitude. "Right in front of you," she added.

He leaned forward a bit, grabbing the fabric from off it's hook and turning back towards her, "Right, of course, I'll just make sure to not ask you for directions if I'm lost." he said teasingly.

"I'm—I'm not... I'm not bad with directions! I'm really good at directions!" she protested, stomping her foot once like an angry bunny. "You'd probably just take your shirt off and... try to find the way back by looking pretty," she said as if that were an insult, talking with spite in her voice.

"So, you think I'm pretty?" he questioned with a mischievous smile.

"I...No! You're stupid! You're ugly and stupid and—... and..." she stopped, yanking the robe from his hand and then realizing she needed his help so she groaned with frustration and let him hold the robe up so she could slip her arm through it and grasp his arm to slip the other through. She pulled it over the front of herself and tried to tie it but she fell against him when she almost lost her balance yet again.

His eyes flew open when she collided against his chest, his arms reaching out quickly to catch her. A soft smile took over his features, helping her tie the robe tightly around her waist. "Well... If that was true then you wouldn't have openly giggled and lost your mind when my bare chest was on display, hm?" he asked.

Her face was red and she tore her hand away from his abs when he mentioned how he had been shirtless, her hand there to stabilize herself while he tied her sash, holding onto his arm again instead. "You—you think you're just such hot stuff, don't you? You think... you think you're just... just..." she said angrily as she couldn't think of a real insult and then just lightly punched his stomach before trying to get herself to her room out of protest, grasping the side of the counter as she hobbled on one foot.

"Actually I believe you think I'm the 'hot stuff'," he said, making quotation marks around the words "hot stuff". He watched for a moment, leaning against the counter, finding the whole thing rather entertaining.

"You know what? Yes, you may be attractive to the eye—but your personality ruins it," she spat, but her tone wasn't too convincing. "You're mean and arrogant and... and full of yourself... and you say mean things about perfectly good arts and crafts rooms with top notch color palette choices!" she tried to hop to the doorway but she fell forward when she was off balance and grabbed the doorknob on her way down, a scream leaving her body as she was stretched in a forward slanted angle, almost lying on the tile, her grip on the doorknob the only thing keeping her from faceplanting.

He sighed and reached his arms out once again, pulling her up so she was standing. "Even though this is highly entertaining to me, I can't have you hurting yourself again." he stated plainly, picking her up bridal style, being careful of her injured foot as he made his way out of the bathroom. He carried her out the door, placing her down carefully on the bed as if he had done it a thousand times (Which as a firefighter... he had done it a thousand times) before he looked down at her. "Now, where did you come up with a verbally expressed dislike towards your arts and crafts?" he asked, his tone laced with confusion.

She winced when her ankle rested on the bed, whimpering slightly in pain. When he asked her that she widened her eyes a little. "Wha—no one. I... I happened upon it," she lied horribly, panic on her face.

"You are aware that you are terrible at lying, correct?" he replied, grabbing a pillow from the other side of her before asking her to lift her leg up so he could place it underneath her foot.

She did so for him and looked away, blushing from nervousness. She was never good at lying. "So I've been told," she muttered. She was also starting to feel bad about being mad at him with all he was doing to help her right now.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, being careful of her foot, "So? Where is this all coming from?" he asked.

She put her hands to her face with embarrassment. "I'm sorry Klaus! I was overreacting—and honestly it wasn't even that big of a deal—it's not like you said it to my face—I can forget a lot that's said behind my back I mean that's how I got through middle school—" she rambled.

"Well I never said that, so I am confused as to where this came about." he said, his brow slightly raised.

"It was Runa. She said you told her my craft room was stupid," she confessed, confused at his confusion.

He let out a soft sigh, wiping a hand down his face at the chaos this house had brought upon his life. "Jody, I haven't even been in your craft room," he pointed out.

"Then how do you know it's stupid?" she asked with confused anger.

"I never said it was stupid, Runa is just making stuff up because well... she is Runa." he looked down at the scattered crafts she had on her bedroom floor, finding it endearing that she sat here and took time out of her day to make these crafts for her students and herself.

"What? She made it all up? Why would she do that? I trusted her! I wanted her to help me so I would stop being so—" she stopped herself before she admitted something and stared at him. "...so good a knitting..." she lied.

He chuckled at her horrible lie, "Knitting, hm?" he teased but stood up off the edge of the bed, "Stay here, I'm gonna fetch you an ice pack. When Adeline gets back we'll have her take a look at it," he said.

"Klaus!" she called him before he was completely out of her sight.

He had almost walked completely out of the room but stopped at the sound of her voice, peeking his head back into the room. "Yes?" he questioned.

"I... th-thank you," she said honestly, still a bit bashful.

A soft smile took over his features, "You're welcome." he replied before ducking back out of the room towards the kitchen to find an ice pack for her ankle.

Runa's eyes scanned the computer as it searched everything, glancing at her phone to see how far it had gotten and it was taking longer than she would want. Hopefully the party guests wouldn't miss her very much—

She suddenly heard heavier footsteps coming up the stairs and her eyes widened.

Greg opened the door after he glanced behind him at some kids putting a sock on the doorknob of his daughter's room... not even really caring as he rolled his eyes and went into his own room to fetch his swim trunks. But he heard sniffling before a meek female voice said, "Who is it? Shut the door."

He did so and his expression grew concerned when took a few steps into the room and he saw Runa sitting with her arms around her knees, her face streaked with tears and eyes red, her makeup running.

"Oh, are you alright?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm sorry I know I shouldn't be in here but I just needed to get away from everyone for a second—"

"Do you need me to fetch someone for you?"

"No, no it's embarrassing—"

"Do you need me to get Nora? Like is it a... female... woman problem?" he asked hesitantly.

She shook her head. "No, it's just about a boy. It's stupid really," she dismissed.

"Oh... oh... did... did some boy...?"

"No, no. He just broke up with me over text," she lied. "I guess it's right when they say long distance relationships don't last." She shrugged.

He sighed and scratched the back of his neck, his expression sympathetic. "Yeah... I had one of those once," he said before he came over to sit beside her on the floor, closer to the window that overlooked the backyard. "Then I found out she was cheating on me with her treadmill yoga instructor... and his wife... That was interesting," he said while he kept his eyes ahead of him. He looked at her then, soft sympathy in his eyes. "I'm sorry, though... that's really rough, especially at your age."

She studied him silently but she disguised this as her just taking in the kindness he was showing her. He didn't carry the same kind of hidden cruelty in his eyes she often saw with the people they took down. This man just seemed... genuine.

Cait was using the last box of cling wrap as she unfolded it little by little, letting it drag over the car to finish her work of making an absolute mess for this girl to have to deal with when she got out here.

"Alright. Give me the potato," she told Adeline.

Adeline gave her a plain look but passed over the potato to her, "What the hell do you need a potato for?" she asked, still not on board with this plan in the slightest. If they got caught she for sure would not be blamed for this, she would make sure of it.

She walked over and stuck the potato in the tailpipe of the car. "Older cars still have this. What a treat this will be," she sighed with satisfaction. "Right. Now let me just spray 'I know you had your butt done' on the windshield and we can get out of here," she added and shook the can of spray paint.

"What about the raccoon?" she said, pointing towards the raccoon who was still in the cage, the poor thing looking confused and scared.

"What?" she asked and then her eyes widened at the cage. "Wha—Addy! You were supposed to put that thing inside the car before I wrapped it!" she accused.

"You didn't tell me that!" she exclaimed, her arms extending out on either side of her to show how defensive she was being towards Cait's accusation.

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't! You just kept murmuring about how Castor is a hoebag for hooking up with this girl!" she defended.

"I said 'platinum slut' but sure," she argued.

"Whatever, same thing..." she dismissed.

"Well now what?" she demanded as if this was Adeline's fault.

"We let it go into the wild... where it belongs?"

"Stop sassing me," she told her with attitude.

She threw her hands up in defeat, "Just a thought." she mumbled.

"You can give a solution without saying it like that."

"Maybe we go back home and put the raccoon in Castro's room?" she suggested, at this point just wanting to leave before someone came out and found them.

"Nooo noooo we will set it free just like you want because you just can't leave it alone—" she said as if she was being ridiculous, taking the cage door and opening it before Adeline could say anything, the creature bolting immediately right for the door to the house and slipping inside the... opened door.

Cait sat there for fifteen seconds with a deadpan look staring at what just happened.

"You left the house door open?!" Adeline demanded.

"No I didn't!"

"You went on there to get beef jerky halfway through this prank so, yes, you did!"

"Oh yeah..." she realized.

Adeline blinked a few times before letting out a curse, smacking her hands against her face. "We are fucked! Fucked!"

"It's okay. I'll just get it. Raccoons love me. I'll sound like one of them," Cait decided and crouched to begin walking weird and clicking her tongue as she walked towards the house. "Get the cage ready!"

"Yes because it's totally going to come to you after you locked it into a cage!" she argued but grabbed the age anyway, opening the door to it.

"You think it knows that? Raccoons aren't that smart Adeline! They're not earthworms!"

"Earthworms?" she questioned, confusion on her face.

"Yeah Runa said earthworms were the most intelligent animals on the planet other than humans," she replied as she snuck into the house looking like a goblin roaming a dungeon.

"I think someone lied to you..." she muttered, watching Cait sneak inside the house.

The steady humming of Muiredach's motorcycle filled his ears gently as he made his way down the street and turned off his lights to go into stealth mode before he swerved behind cars and parked his bike down one block behind one of the many vehicles the littered the street and driveway to this upper class home that was in the middle of... quite the party, loud music and talking heard from a mile away.

He took off his helmet and eyed the area, no pets about but he did keep an eye on the neighbor's dog, those being the hardest to sneak by.

Luckily this house had a stone wall that was built around the hill it was sitting on, and Muiredach used that to his advantage as he stuck close to it and ran down towards the side and back of the property. He stopped at a boulder and put his goggles over his eyes, switching them on and pressing a small button to turn on heat signatures. The house was full of kids as he scanned it, seeing blurs of reds and yellows mixed in. But he looked for any of them in isolation. If he was wrong about his assumption, he would have to try a different method, but he didn't give up just yet.

He saw the lights from the pool and walked around to scan the small poolhouse for anything, his goggles not picking anything up, however. He then went back to the house and spotted small amounts of heat coming from... a basement? Or something of the likes below the house...

He tilted his head to the side in thought, narrowing his eyes at this...

"So what are we waiting on again?" Uriah asked Raegan as they waited in the pizza car outside the house.

"A text from Veronica," she replied to him. "Or from Runa giving us the all clear."

"Who's Veronica?" he questioned.

"Uriah, keep up. It's the AI we use for hacking. It searches for specific things pre-programmed in and it sends us a text if it finds anything—"

"Oh that? You gave it a name?"

"Uh, yes. She's family," she joked plainly.

He snickered and looked away, loading his pistol and hiding it down the back of his trousers under his shirt.

"That's exactly what it sounded like," Greg chuckled, Runa giving him her fake laughter that she had mastered to sound convincing.

"I would think she would have played the trumpet with a voice like that," Runa added with amusement as they talked about her classmates that Nora had over sometimes.

"Oh yeah, for sure," he agreed.

She glanced down at her phone a the other side of him, the bar still loading but she shut it off just as fast. She was nervous. He was cheering her up and that was kind of him but he didn't seem to want to leave... which was a problem for her. She needed to get her info and get out of there, retrieving Veronica on the way out as well.

"You know... that guy is an idiot. You are way too cute to be going out with someone who doesn't treat you well," he told her.

This made her stop, internally thinking something... else... before she looked at him with that same soft and appreciative look she had been using this whole time. "Thank you."

"That's what it's like dating boys though..." he sighed. "Just wait... they get a little older and figure themselves out..." He looked at her again, something different in his eyes this time. "Men know how to treat women well..." he added.

She narrowed her eyes a little, knowing what he was trying to do.

Before she could think about what to say back, she got a buzz from her phone. She looked down at her screen to see who sent her a text.

Veronica.

Raegan pulled her phone out and her eyes widened at what it found.

"What?" Uriah asked.

"...It's worse," she told him... still hesitant.

"What is it?" he asked more urgently.

She turned her phone to him and he saw messages between two people about purchasing a child.

His expression shifted into one of shock and worry before they sprang into action and got out of their car immediately.

Muiredach knelt down by a door to a safe room under the house that was locked very well. But this wasn't a challenge for him. He pulled out two gadgets from his belt and snapped them together before sticking them onto the door, using the program to scan for the right code to open it. He watched it flip through hundreds of different combinations.

Pedro, Greg's boyfriend, was feeling the hot tub water with frustration. "Why isn't it getting hot?" He almost jumped, however, when someone threw their phone from Nora's room's balcony and it landed in the grass towards the back of the house.

"Sorry!" someone shouted.

"Really? he asked, throwing his hands up with exasperation. He then began walking over to retrieve it.

"Come on girl, why don't I show you how men do it? Trust me, you'll remember a night with me the rest of your life," Greg persuaded.

"Well I can't say I'm not intrigued," Runa told him with a flirtatious smirk, knowing that Rae and Uriah had been given the signal already and this would be hilarious to catch him in the act of doing.

He undressed her with his eyes and she got up, stripping out of her jacket and tossing it.

He got up as well and she let him pin her to the bed, making it difficult for him though because she stopped him from kissing her. "Really? Kissing is the best move you have for foreplay? I thought you were more mature than that," she messed with him.

Raegan and Uriah ran up to the door, not caring for their disguises anymore as they burst through the front door, startling the kids inside who were in the entry way, Raegan telling them to move immediately.

"Upstairs! This way!" Uriah told Raegan as he had Runa's location and they shoved their way through the crowds that clustered to move from their paths.

"Cops!" one of the students said and then charged full speed through the glass wall and into the pool with terror.

Muiredach's device clicked and he used another to open the safe door, letting the heavy peace of equipment swing to reveal a dark safe room that was much larger than he expected. What alarmed him the most was the stained mattress in the corner with a few scattered items about like a plush elephant and a collar and cat ear headband.

He head shuffling and he turned to the see in the corner closest to the door, huddled a dark skinned kid identical to the one that was in the pictures. The malnourished kid looked terrified of him at first but he raised his hands to indicated he wasn't going to hurt him.

He then slowly knelt down to eye level with the boy. "...Oliver...?" he asked carefully.

The kid stared at him, hesitating clearly as it was beaten out of him to say that this was his name anymore. He slowly nodded, though, as he was sure that this phantom standing before him would be able to do as he said, even if he didn't know why.

Despite how intimidating Muiredach looked, he felt more comforted by his presence than that of the men who captured him...

He glanced outside for a moment. "Stay here..." he told the child, the kid nodding and understanding it was for his wellbeing that he stay and hide for now.

Muiredach stood, walking out of the safe as his gaze connected to that of a familiar face who was picking up a cellphone from the grass, looking scared and hesitant.

Muiredach immediately matched the face with the one that was in his digital "phone book"... and he narrowed his eyes at him.

Greg started to take off Runa's clothes but before he could, Uriah and Raegan burst through the door and he jumped off her, looking startled and he froze when Raegan pointed her gun at him and said, "NLPD! Put your hands up!"

"Shit!" he said but he pulled out his own handgun as if he would do anything, Uriah and Raegan glancing at each other in a bored way as if he had them. "Yeah? What now, huh?" he bragged.

"I suggest you drop the gun." Raegan said, her voice stern.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"I mean, yeah," Uriah shrugged, not seeming worried. "We didn't really want to shoot anyone today—it kind of ruins our week."

"I'd like to know why I'm being threatened by cops." Greg narrowed his eyes.

"Does he really think he's going to get out of this somehow?" Uriah asked Raegan as if this was ridiculous.

"Apparently," she replied to Uriah before looking back at Greg, "Give it up, you're caught." she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh am I?" he said in a cocky tone. "...Here's what's going to happen. We're all going to put down our guns. I won't shoot either, but I'm not dying over something I didn't do. We'll have a nice conversation where I can take some major cash and—" he was cut short when Runa just stuck her lipstick into his neck, the shell of the lipstick just holding a sedative inside it and a needle to inject it where the lipstick itself would normally be.

Greg fell on his chest and collapsed into unconsciousness.

"I got impatient," Runa told them as she stood there before putting her jacket back on.

"That's one way to shut him up." Raegan said, shoving her gun back into the halter on the side of her belt.

"Wait, but Greg isn't the one here talking about this purchase," Uriah pointed out with his phone.

"Then who—?" Runa started but they suddenly heard the sound of someone being tased and then a thud, coming from outside.

The three of them exchanged a glance and Uriah and Raegan ran from the room to see what it was, leaving Runa with the unconscious man who was now drooling on the floor.

Uriah and Raegan ran down the steps and to the back door, running onto the patio and down the steps to see there on the grass by the fence that separated the yard from the lakeside woods behind the neighborhood, was Greg's boyfriend Pedro Garcia knocked out and Muiredach standing over him as plain as ever.

"Seemed like you three could use some help," he said in a snarky, emotionless tone as usual.

Uriah smirked a bit.

Caitrina continued to make "pst" noises in the house as she crept around but stopped. "Do you hear it anywhere?" she whispered to Adeline...

There was a moment of silence as they listened...

But then Cait frowned and stood up when she looked at the ceiling. "Is he seriously listening to EDM for sex?"

"Cait stop listening to them having sex, we need to find this raccoon and leave." she whispered, still looking for the raccoon.

"Fine. Then split up. I'll check the bedroom—" she said.

"Have you ever watched Scooby Doo? Nothing good happens if we split up!" she replied.

"You fucking nerd!" she whispered back. "Fine. But if we get caught, I'm telling him this was your fault."

"The fuck you aren't I'll tell him you wanted to join them." she shot back.

"Ew! I'm gonna puke!"

"Don't lie, you'd hit that."

"Which one? Castor or Amala?"

She gave Cait a weird look, "Castor?! Why would I suggest Amala? Are you bi?"

"You just said you wanted to tell him that I wanted to join them both!" she argued passionately.

"Who joins threesomes for both sexes? They usually only find one of them attractive... right?"

"What are you expecting? The three of them to be three different genders?!"

"Maybe! Have you seen the news?"

"You're a fucking doctor!" she said louder.

"First off— I'm a paramedic, it's different! Secondly, all logic is thrown out the window in this society."

"Shhh!" she stopped and looked up, the two of them getting silent for a moment as they realized how quiet the house was. "Did the music stop?"

"...Yes..." Adeline replied, having to stop and listen for a moment.

"Shit! Farts in a bucket! Shit!" she said as she scrambled, hearing them coming down the steps as she shoved Adeline into the walk in pantry to their left in a panic and shut the door.

It was pitch black in there and Adeline almost stumbled over a broom but Cait put her hand to her mouth to shut her up as if she were the loud one of the two.

Castor and Amala could be heard walking into the kitchen in the main room and talking casually but they couldn't make out what they were saying.

Adeline pushed Cait's hand off her mouth, wiping her mouth on the back of her own hand. "Why does your hand taste like cheese?!" she whispered quietly.

"I was eating cheese puffs in the car!" she whispered back. "Sorry I don't just eat celery like all of you asshats!"

"Just celery? What are we Guinea pigs?" she replied, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know! You tell me!" she said passionately but still whispering. It was pitch black in there so she couldn't see Cait's elaborate hand gestures.

"I hope that this isn't the last time we do this," Amala told Castor with a smirk as they stopped in the kitchen. "There are a few things I still want to try..."

"Hm, I'd certainly like to see your beautiful form wrapped in those body chains," he replied with a wink, hooking her by her belt and pulling her close to him gently.

She smiled. "Better save something for another time, or else you might not miss me enough," she replied before placing a kiss on his cheek.

Cait's ear was to the door. "I think they're about to leave," she whispered.

"Good I don't want to hear about their sexual adventures." Adeline replied, looking through the food on the shelf behind them.

Cait couldn't see what she was doing and she stopped, frowning for a moment and widening her eyes. "Addy... are you licking my toes?"

"Why would I lick your toes? That's disgusting."

"FUCK!" Cait cursed in a scream and flung open the door in terror as the raccoon hissed defensively, Cait knocking over the broom and then a barstool, falling clumsily onto the floor in the kitchen with a loud crash.

Adeline threw her hands up to cup her mouth as she started to laugh at Cait, not being able to contain her laughter.

Meanwhile the raccoon took off to somewhere else in the house in utter panic.

Castor and Amala looked at them both in shock. "What the hell?!" he demanded. "Why—? What?!"

"It's not what it looks like! We just came to borrow some milk!" Cait said when she scrambled to her feet, grabbing the stool that she had fallen over and tossed one of the legs. "That was broken before we got here," she said.

Castor put his hands to his face in utter stress and disbelief.

"It was Cait's fault!" Adeline yelled out before running out of the house.

"Hell! No Adeline! Get back here!" she said and chased after her. "Solidarity! What happened to solidarity?!" She practically tackled her to the grass when she got to her.

She let out a soft 'oof' as she hit the ground, squirming to try and get out from underneath her. "I don't want to be blamed for this!" she yelled out.

"What—what did you do to my car?!" Amala said in horror when she saw it.

Castor followed her out to see that and looked pissed, working a muscle in his jaw as he glared at Cait and Adeline wrestling on the ground.

"Get back on your feet and take it like a man! You're an accomplice! I was not alone in this!" Cait was saying as she had a hold of Adeline's shirt, stretching it out as she was sitting on her rear while Adeline was trying to walk away from her.

"Stop stretching my shirt! You forced me to come with bitch!" she said, swatting Cait's hand away from her shirt.

"Hey! Both of you! Stop!" Castor said loudly and angrily, grabbing Adeline's arm and then Cait's, pulling the redhead to her feet. "What the hell is going on?! Cait? You have five seconds to explain why you did this and you better have a damn good reason this time."

"What do you mean this time?!" Adeline said, ripping her hand from Castor's hold so she could fix her stretched shirt.

"I did it to his car once after he ate my Fruity Fruit," Cait muttered to her in a guilty way.

"And you think he wouldn't have caught on that it was you?" she asked.

"Hey! Cait, that's enough. What were you thinking?" Castor demanded in a serious tone, silencing them both as they looked at him. "I expect this kind of immature shit from you most of the time but this is getting to a new low."

"Huh, funny. That's what I was about to say to you when you decided to sleep with my highschool bully. What a new low for Castor—"

"Oh my God, Caitrina Fatcrack Miller? I thought I recognized you," Amala said in a spiteful tone, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't call me that!" Cait said between her teeth, Castor stopping her from punching the girl, keeping his hand on her arm.

"I cannot believe that after all of these years you are still bitching about how I treated you in highschool. That's pathetic. Doing something as juvenile as this? Come on, get over it."

"You know what—?" Cait started.

"No, Cait, seriously. You have to get over this anger and revenge thing. It's childish and not how you should be solving your problems. I mean really..." Castor said and pointed to the car. "Is this what you want people to remember you with? Do you want to just run around doing stupid infantile nonsense your entire life?"

She stopped talking but still looked angry as she glared at him.

"Can you really say this is the mature way to handle things? How much of a bigger person would do something like this? This is putting you in a way worse spot than she was in with this amount of a grudge. This is the kind of thing people in middle school pull. It's pathetic and you should be embarrassed at this, Caitrina—...but I don't know why I'm trying to reason with you. I'm already convinced you will never grow up." He looked away from her.

Cait looked down and couldn't think of a witty comeback, her mood shifting. From Adeline's perspective, it seemed like some of what Castor said got to her, as she didn't even seem like herself all of a sudden.

"Adeline, darling go home," Castor sighed. "Cait is staying here tonight and she's going to have Amala's car unwrapped by tomorrow... right?" He looked at Caitrina.

She looked down, feeling like she was being scolded by parents, before nodding and tossing Raegan's key fob to Adeline.

Adeline glanced over at Cait,a tinge of sympathy washing her from the look on her face. "I should stay and help... I mean I practically watched her do it." she replied.

"It's not your fault, Addy. Just go home and sleep. Let me do this, I'm fine. I once stayed up all night spray painting a bunch of white cats pink, I can handle this," Cait said to her in a more serious way than she was used to. She didn't even know the girl was capable of having a serious tone.

She let out a soft sigh, giving Cait a small nod as she held Raegan's key in her hand. "I'll see you both in the morning then." she said before turning and making her way to Raegan's car.

"Come, Alana. I'll drive you home," Castor told her and took her towards his expensive sportscar.

When they got in he started it and drove them down the street.

"I'm sorry again about that," Castor told her.

"I'm honestly surprised you're friends with her," Amala commented with a sigh.

"Well... coworkers more than anything," Castor said but that felt a bit... weird to say and almost... mean.

"I'm honestly not surprised she would still be holding onto this nonsense. I mean really. I hooked up with one of her boyfriends one time. Like it's highschool everyone does dumb shit, you know?"

"Yeah I... wait what?" he asked with a frown as they seemed to just gloss over that.

"Giving each other bald spots, soaking each other's retainer's in piss, telling everyone in school you have chlamydia—these are things that people just do in highschool! We all do those things to people in highschool," she went on.

Castor slowly almost got PTSD because unlike her, he was the one who was bullied in school and he simply couldn't relate to the things she was saying. "Right..." is all he said. He was slowly starting to feel bad for how he talked to Caitrina the more Amala carried on.

"She's always been jealous of me. It's honestly so stupid. She tries to act like I'm this bitch who just deserves all this bad shit but really she just wants to be me. What kind of person goes that far just for that? And completely juvenile. To still be doing stuff like this is just super immature..."

He passively agreed but the more she rambled on, the more he was thinking of how he might not call her up again...

"Honestly you'd think she would have grown up a little bit after she got out of that punk goth phase and certainly after the first suicide attempt," she sighed.

"What?" Castor asked, a bit shocked at what he was hearing.

"Yeah she said tried to commit suicide but honestly I think it was just something she said for attention," she rolled her eyes as it was nothing.

Castor took in that information in and swallowed, his expression slowly changing to a grim one before it then gradually hardened as the car slowed down. He pulled over on the side of the road in the neighborhood. "Do you have Drive-Me?" he asked her plainly when they were stopped.

"...Yes..." she replied, giving him a weird look.

"Good. Get out."

She gawked in offense.

Driving back to the house, he saw Caitrina there slowly peeling off the cling wrap from the car by herself, not looking like... well like her. She seemed depressed and she rubbed her nose with her hand.

He looked at her, guilt and sympathy welling up inside of him, not only because of what Amala said but from the whole situation tonight. Yes, what she did was immature but it wasn't like she was hurting anyone. It was just a prank...

He sighed and parked beside her in the driveway, getting out and grabbing a pocket knife.

She was surprised that he had come back and turned around. "Where's Amala?"

"Getting a ride from a paid stranger," he replied when he got out of the car.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm helping you. So... just... shut up and let me help you," he said stubbornly and walked past her to start cutting the plastic.

She was dumbfounded and had to sit there for a second before she frowned to herself, trying to put the pieces together in her head about why he would possibly come back and help her...

"Are you going to help me?" Castor asked in his usual tone.

"Not until you tell me why you came back," she said when she turned around to face him.

"Just forget it," he dismissed stubbornly while sawing away on the plastic.

"Castor..." she said, trying to get him to talk.

He tore and ripped the plastic with his bare hands, frustrated. He then sighed and stood up straight, his gaze drifting away from her for a moment to collect his thoughts and adjust how he wanted to say this. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said those things," he admitted, not usually talking like this... ever. His eye met hers finally.

She hesitated, deciding against the comebacks that entered her head and instead kept a serious and soft look on her face, her arms crossed as she studied him for a moment rather than immediately answering back like she usually did.

He looked away again. "Sometimes I can be a real hypocrite... I yell and say ridiculous things rather than deescalating the situation like someone who was actually mature would do. And to get that angry over something as stupid as this is just as silly as doing it in the first place," he decided, turning and leaning his back against he car beside her, folding his arms over his chest and looking out into the dark trees in the distance.

"I'm sorry too... it was rather stupid," she admitted with a sigh of her own, resting her back against the car at his side in much the same position. "She's right... I need to grow up. I just got angry when you wanted to sleep with her... and I let that make my decision before I thought any of it through... I never think anything through..."

He looked down at her for a moment as she just looked at her hands, the cold breeze blowing back her wild auburn curls from her pale, freckled face. He looked up and away as he added, "I didn't know..."

She waited for him to explain further, looking up at him when he spoke.

"...that she said all those things to you and did all those things to you in highschool..." he continued.

She took in a quiet breath. "It's okay. I shouldn't let it bother me anymore..."

"Trust me, I know what it's like to be bullied. No one deserves to be treated like that."

"Hm... you did wear pleated trousers—"

"Okay," he said dismissively and stood up to leave.

She burst into laughter and grabbed his arm. "No, no! I'm kidding!"

He cracked a chuckle and let her pull him back, his smile showing off some dimples on his pale cheeks when he faced her again.

"No, I'm... serious though, thank you. I know I don't say that very often, at least not sarcastically. But I mean it." she looked at him with a grateful expression. "And I forgive you for sleeping with my mortal enemy—"

He chuckled a little again and looked away. "Well if it makes you feel any better I think it will be the last time... Can't have romantic interactions with someone who hurt a friend after all." He looked down at her with a glisten in his eye.

"...So I'm your friend now?" she asked with a little smirk, tilting her head to the side.

"Level one friendship—don't get cocky," he sassed her in return.

"Ha! Noooo you love me! You big softy!" she teased, poking his stomach and wrapping her arms around his waist as she treated him like a kid.

He let out a groan. "I take it back. I hate you—" he said with annoyance but didn't make any real attempts to push her away.

"No you don't!" she continued to say.

"No—we're not friends. You've been demoted back to co-worker—get off me," he continued to complain but she didn't get off him.

"Alright, here you are, love." Klaus said, walking back into Jody's room an ice pack in hand. He sat at the edge of the bed, wrapping the towel he had in his other hand around the ice pack to avoid damaging her skin from the cold surface. He placed it carefully on her ankle before speaking up. "Try not to move it too much until Adeline gets back," he instructed.

"S-so I shouldn't do an interpretive dance as an apology for my behavior?" she asked as if asking sincerely.

He let out a chuckle, his head dropping slightly as he shook his head, "No, your words are enough my love," he replied. "Just do me a favor and don't believe everything Runa says to you," he added with a soft smile.

She giggled a little and wiped her face with her hand softly. Her hair was wet but it was already getting curly again. Not as wild as Cait's hair but it was certainly tight golden curls that seemed to naturally form. "Well... at least it kind of worked..." she sighed. She looked at him as she added, "I'm not really super nervous to talk to you like I was—well I'm still nervous but the anger pushed me through that a bit," she stuttered but then laughed at herself again softly,

"So does that mean I don't get the privilege of watching you scrambling to leave the room when I walk in anymore?" he asked with a smile, sarcasm clearly evident in his voice. He was now looking at her, a few strands of his messy swept back hair falling onto his forehead from the slight movement. He never was the one for using much product in his hair, well, unless the occasion called for it. Usually he just tamed it with some water and minimal gel as he wasn't one to put a ton of product in his hair.

"Aw, does that mean you like it when I leave the room?" she asked with a pouting face, half joking with a fake sad tone, talking as if her feelings were hurt by that. She was sitting up against her pillows (she had entirely too many) and headboard now.

"No, I just found it rather entertaining seeing you stutter and lose all train of thought– not to mention the fact that your face became as red as an apple just by my presence..." His brow shot up slightly as he gave her a mischievous look.

"It did not!" she argued, knowing full well that he was right.

"Don't worry, I find it flattering you think I'm, well, in your words pretty and hot stuff." he winked at her.

She dropped her jaw. "That's not what I said! No!" she began protesting, slapping his arm but it barely felt like a hummingbird's wing.

He didn't even flinch when her hand came in contact with his arm. He let out a light laugh at how defensive she was being, but he found it to be cute. "Whatever you say." he replied, ultimately deciding on letting her win. His eyes shifted over towards sock puppets on her bedroom floor. "Are those for your students?" he questioned, tilting his head towards them, interested in whatever she was working on.

She hesitated for a moment, people not usually asking her about anything and most of the time busy telling her to shut up. "I—I... yes. Yes they are—" she smiled widely and then looked at them herself. "It's puppet show day tomorrow. Now I'm used to doing a one-woman-show because no one ever signs up to be in school plays except me but with sock puppets I think accomplishing it will be easier," she rambled. "That's Jack, the bad boy with a heart of gold. That's Peggy she's loud and obnoxious. That's Fred he's a total sweetie—that's Angela she's cool and chaotic—Oh and Lola! She's super bouncy and bubbly—of course the sock kingdom needs them all and the power of dance—it's a compelling story really and there's a lot of apple pie and I'm not really... sure... I... I..." she stopped. "I'm so sorry, no one ever lets me talk this long without telling me to stop and I just got lost," she said, shaking her head with a dazed look, her eyes stuck to his.

He kept quiet as she rambled, finding her passion and dedication for something like this adorable. He could picture her with the sock puppets making the small audience of children giggle and fall in love with her creations just as much. "Don't be sorry for voicing something you're passionate about. I think the kids will love it. Reminds me of when I used to visit schools for career day, I'd sit there and pass out dalmatians and make them talk to the kids. It made my week to hear the sound of kids laughing and hugging on them." he said thinking back on those memories before speaking up once more, "I just know you're going to make some kids' day tomorrow with those puppets."

She listened to him while he spoke, her eyes sparkling with interest. And her smile never left her lips. She loved listening to people talk about really anything but memories especially; things in their past that they remember with fondness. She looked down bashfully at the last thing he said, her hands fumbling together on her lap. "Or I'll end up falling again and going viral," she added with amusement at herself and this situation.

"Maybe we should get you some socks that grip to the floor, that way you can still walk but it'll hold your feet in place." he teased, snickering slightly, "Although, with that ankle, you might have to sit down." he said, glancing down at her foot.

She laughed. "Or maybe I just need you to hold me up all the time—" she stopped because of how flirty that sounded and her face went red. "Not that—I mean... as a friend of course—I... I'm just going to shut up," she decided, pulling her blanket over her head with embarrassment.

He laughed once more, bringing a hand up to pull the blanket down enough so he could see her. "So does that mean you are no longer mad at me? You want me around?" he asked.

She looked into his eyes sheepishly but bit her lip, looking away as she thought about it. "I think I'll survive," she said with a little teasing in her tone before her gaze met his again. "Friends?" she asked when she held out her hand.

He grabbed ahold of her hand, his warm hand wrapping around her colder one. "Friends," he said with a slight nod of his head.

"Geez your hand is so warm!" she said and clasped both of hers around it to heat them up.

"And you're freezing," he replied, placing his other hand on top of hers, "You're even under a blanket and still cold, how does that even make sense?" he added, not really understanding how women were so cold. Even with Adeline, anytime she was near she would shove her feet under his thighs in an attempt to warm her feet up. Of course, he would shoo her off, telling her to move her gross feet.

"It's a woman thing," she said with a sigh. "Once September hits I'm a block of ice," she added with a little giggle, kind of loving the feeling of such large, warm, and rough hands holding hers. She didn't know why. She just... liked it.

"Hm, I suppose we will have to supply you with an infinite amount of hoodies and blankets." he teased, his thumb running over the back of her hand carefully.

His hands were rough against her smooth skin, partly from all the scars that littered them. In his right hand there was a scar that ran down the back of his hand, cutting off right where his wrist was. On his left, the scars were littered all over the place, as if something had shattered and pierced different areas of his hand.

"I love hoodies and blankets!" she said with a beaming smile, supporting the truth of that statement. "I love getting them for Christmas! Oh and fuzzy socks! And knitting yarn!" she said as she began to go on about all the gifts that she liked to receive... and didn't stop.