You tap Tommy, figuring he’ll be the fastest. “Go with Claire and tell her to regroup. Change of plans.”
“What’s going on?” Bobby questions. “You chickenin’ out?”
“What if they got a pen like mine?” You point at him and Jake, then to the back. “Block the back door any way you can. No one gets in or out.”
“Alright.” That seems to cheer them up, as Bobby slaps Jake’s shoulder. “Dude, this’ll rock!”
As you split, you sneak a peek at the window. Your first part of the plan goes too late – Ashley's returning to the door, opening before – you suppose – Tommy could alert her. You do notice the other girl’s moving away to the bedrooms, letting you observe the situation. You can’t listen to what they’re saying, but it seems Claire’s buying some time.
Without hesitation, you click. Ashley deflates before your eyes, but you don’t stop to see it finish. You dash to the front, where Tommy and Jimmy are waiting at a distance. “What happened?” you ask.
“Tommy was telling me,” Jimmy explains, “but she opened the door and I couldn’t get her out in time.”
“Davey?” Claire notices you, worried. “What’s going on?”
“Jimmy?” You point at the door. “Hold that thing close. Tommy, I need you to check on Bobby and Jake. Claire, come with me.”
“Why--?” You shush your sister as you drag her back to the window.
“They were gonna turn you into skin once inside. I’m not risking it – the moment I see that other girl, I’m zapping her.”
“But what if she escapes?”
“Bobby and Jake are covering up the back door; Tommy’s with them. If she’s trying to escape, we'll trap her.”
As you sneak another peek at the window, you notice your fears were true. The other girl drags Ashley’s body, then instinctively looks at you. You hide, moving away from the window. “Claire,” you whisper at her ear. “Go to the back and tell one of the guys to check the other side of the house.”
“Right!” She dashes away while you hide in the shadows. If the other girl has a pen, she’ll have to look out – enough time for you to strike back.
Soon, you notice Tommy rushing back at you. “Hey, your sister told me--”
“Quiet!” you hiss.
He draws closer, squatting. “Jake’s checking the other side. She’s asking if you can give me the pen.”
“Why?”
“You two seem connected. If someone tries to escape, I can reach and zap them in time.”
Though you’re loathe to drop the pen, you have to admit – Claire had a very clever idea. You hand it to him, and he rushes back. As you hide, you notice Claire’s head peeking out at you, gesturing to her eyes. You suppose it’s to check if you’ve seen anything, so you shake your head; she nods furiously, then points beyond you. As you point in that direction, she nods again, pointing at her eyes.
I think she wants me to check on Jimmy. You sneak towards the front, noticing as Jimmy’s holding the door shut. You make gestures of a closed and shut door, and her curt nod of acknowledgement tells you everything.
After tense moments of silence, you hear a faint scream - “over there!” Claire hides on your side of the wall, and after a while, she rushes to approach you. She’s hyperventilating, but excited. “We caught one, but it seems you were right.”
“Why?”
“Tommy says it’s like an onion. Let’s check inside.”
No longer needing to sneak, you meet up with Jimmy. “We caught ‘em,” you tell him. “Let’s get inside.”
--
“Don’t worry,” Ashley tells her neighbor as you hide. “I’ll keep them bound – it's so good that the kids around the neighborhood were keeping watch.”
“You should be careful,” the elderly woman tells her. “Don’t let them take advantage of you just because they helped.”
“I know their parents,” she mentions. “If they try, I’ll call them and get them in trouble. And don't worry – I'll notify the police about this.” After sending her off, closing the door shut, she shrugs proudly. “Well? How did I do?”
“Yo, that was--!” You shush Jake, but you can’t help but be as excited. After you heard the ring at the door, Claire offered to become Ashley to distract them. She did ask for a favor, though – to wake up one of the guys, knock him off, then bind him.
You chose the one wearing Ashley – the same creep that tried to wear her before. You’ll zap him later, but for now, he’s your scapegoat. She did mention you’d get a good chewing at leering at women like her, but she dismissed it with the old excuse of being “boys’ things”.
Though, it seems being a pervert isn’t exclusively a “boy thing”, as she lifts her breasts and holds them, even kissing them, as if they were babies. “Oh, how I missed you so!”
“This’s the guy?” Jimmy asks, and as you nod in confirmation, he shudders. “Yeah, he’s a creep.”
“That explains why he’d want to become her,” Bobby points out. He’s grabbing the other pens – because, besides the black one, you notice there’s a brown one as well. “Dude, we hit the jackpot!”
Claire snatches the pens from him, leering. “These ones are mine.”
“Hey - we helped!”
“True, and that’s why you’re sharing Davey’s one. But if I didn’t push him to do this--”
“Are you gonna discuss over that,” you say as you point at the creep, “while this guy’s awake?” You zap him, calming him down. “You know what this means, right?”
“Yeah,” Claire recognizes – the only one that does so. “That means there’s more of these, and more people using them. Maybe people that know each other.”
“And we need to get more info about them, so...” You look at the other guy – the one inside the blonde girl that you’ve seen in Ashley’s family photos. He’s ugly and lanky, with a protruding nose and a slight overbite. “We should wake the other guy and interrogate him.”
“I don’t like that idea,” Claire confesses. “But you’re right. I vote to do so.”
Everyone seems to agree. “Yeah.” “That’s the guy wearing the blonde chick, right?” “Uh-huh.” “Yeah, checks out.” “Seems the more easy-going type – maybe he won’t lie to us.”
“Then find something to wrap him up,” you order them, and nobody hesitates. As the other boys besides Jimmy leave, your sister confesses something you’d never expect.
“Y’know what, Jimmy? I get why you do this now.”
--
“Ugh...” The lanky guy wakes up, now fully reflated. He’s being held by Jimmy and Bobby, even though you taped his arms and legs together. He winces at the light, resigning to the truth. “I got caught, right?”
“Whaddya think?’ Claire tells him. “Who are you, and what were you doing with my sister?”
“Shit,” the guy laments. “So they woke you up?”
“Yeah. That doesn’t answer my question.”
He waits until his eyes acclimate, looking at you. He snorts. “Fuck. I got punked by a bunch of schoolkids?”
“Hey,” Jimmy warns him. “The lady’s speaking. If you don’t wanna get gut-punched, you better talk.”
“You know I work for the mob, right?” His excuse seems so pathetic, it causes most of the guys to laugh. “No, seriously! If I call my boss, you’re fucked. You know she has hundreds of these pens, right?”
His second claim, however, doesn’t seem like an exaggeration. “Yeah, but we got two and you got none. Who are you, and what were you doing with her sister?”
Your insistence brings fruit. “Like I’d tell you who I am. You’re gonna screw me – I know that. But all i wanted was to have a good time with that chick Cammie.”
“You’re a prick.” You notice Tommy’s trying to warn Claire, but she ignores him. “Why with my sister Camille?”
The guy snorts, prompting Tommy to reveal her mistake. “Her name’s Cassie. He was trying to check if you were the real deal.”
As your sister’s eyes grow wide, the prisoner cackles. “No way. You were trying to do the same thing? Shit, not only did I get punked by some schoolkids, I get punked by pervs?”
“I’m not a perv!” your sister howls.
“Then why are you wearing that chick? I’m surprised you knew it was her sister – then again, I suppose the photos were clues enough. Gonna admit, though – you're pretty smart. Catching us unaware, blocking all escape routes, keeping an eye on the other ones...”
“That’s not gonna help,” Claire argues, invoking all her sass to the extent it almost feels like a more mature woman’s berating him. “What’s your relationship with that other guy?”
“Working together, basically. Not like I appreciate him – always had the hots for the bitch you’re wearing.” Your sister slaps him hard, and he snorts. “Ow. Hey – I didn’t mean ‘bitch’ in a bad way!”
“Didn’t sound like it.”
“Look - I bet I know what’re you gonna question me; who I work for, where can you get more of these pens... I bet one of them’s gonna be how the brown one works, right?” You look around, seeing very slight nods. “Yeah, I figured. Can we make a deal?”
“No deal,” Claire insists, but Jimmy stops him.
“She’s not talking for all of us. Let’s hear what you have to say.”
“Alright,” He takes a deep breath, his demeanor turning very professional. “If you were the cops or somebody else, I wouldn’t make it, but since you’re fellow pervs...”
“Out with it,” you bark at him.
“Alright, alright! I’m gonna play your little charade, but I have an offer. You let me go, let me keep Cassie. If you do, I can get you an upgrade.”
“Then,” your sister deducts, “while you’re there, you rat us with whoever you’re working with.”
“If you keep being that anal, maybe. All i want is a little fun with this gal – I like her life. It’s like a vacation for me. I suppose you want the same with her, so... Why not help you with that? Wouldn’t you want to be her as much as you want?”
If the offer were made to you, you’d probably feel tempted, but it’s your sister you’re talking about. Maybe she should make that decision. But what if she chooses wrong?
un: 
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