TBD

Two

Lex took off her vest and collapsed on the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car. "Hey babe, banana. Was today a good day or a bad day?" she asked, eyes closed.
"Good day," Hannah said happily. "Webby told me jokes during lunch since I was sitting by myself."
Ethan and Lex shared a smile. Hannah was always considered the weird kid, and no one sat with her. Her imaginary spider friend was all Hannah had to keep her company, but she didn't seem to mind.
"That's good," Lex replied, buckling her seatbelt. "Ethan, buckle your fucking seatbelt."
Her boyfriend rolled his eyes. "Jesus, mom. It's already buckled, anyway. Banana's started mother-henning me almost as much as you," Ethan complained as he started to drive.
Lex turned around for a high five and Hannah gave it to her. "As she should," she teased Ethan.
As they drove through downtown, Lex flinched as she saw a man on the sidewalk near Beanie's. "It couldn't be... babe, pull over," she muttered. Ethan glanced at her, confused, but obliged. Before he even parked, Lex jumped out of his car and ran down next to him. "Hey, you!"
He turned around, and the man next to him spilled coffee on his shirt. "Ah, shit..." he mumbled.
"Um... can I help you?" the first man asked.
"What's your name?" Lex demanded.
He looked at her nervously. "Young lady, I-"
The young lady in question got up in his face. "WHAT'S. YOUR. NAME?" she shouted.
"Foster! Ted Foster!" he exclaimed.
Lex's nostrils flared and she slapped him across the face. "Fucking asshole!" she yelled. "I was fucking ten!"
Ted backed up, holding his cheek where she'd slapped it. It was already turning red. "M-miss, I don't even know who you are," he said pleadingly.
"Exactly! Exactly! Fucking shithead!" Lex hissed.
The other man stepped forward. "Uh, hi. Paul Matthews, CCRP Technical. That's my coworker you just slapped. I promise that whatever he did, he's very sorry he did it," he said.
Lex barked a laugh. "He fucking left me and my sister with our asshole of a mother when I was ten," she replied.
Paul's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. Uh, he's very sorry for that, too," he added hastily.
Ted nodded. "A-alexandra?" he said quietly.
"Lex," his daughter replied. "No one calls me Alexandra anymore."
"Oh. Well, Lex, I'm sorry. I really am. I know you probably don't believe me, but-"
"Of course I don't fucking believe you! You said you loved me, but you fucking left," Lex exclaimed.
Ethan got out of his car and ran toward Lex. "Babe, who is this guy?" he asked quietly.
Lex glared at Ted. "It's my asshat of a father," she spat.
Her boyfriend narrowed his eyes at Ted. "Fucking bastard," he snapped.
Ted closed his eyes. "Look, man, I don't know who you are, but I promise you, I'm so sorry for what I did when I was younger. I didn't know what the fuck I was doing." He sighed. "Lex... I had no idea you were still here."
"You better be glad I didn't, either. If I had, you'd be fucking dead!" Lex shouted.
"Is Hannah with you?" Ted asked in a strained whisper.
Lex narrowed her eyes. "Yeah," she replied.
"Can I see her?" Ted pleaded.
Ethan stepped in front of Lex. "Can you fucking see her? Why do you wanna see her, huh?" he hissed.
Hannah was suddenly behind him, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "Lex?" she whispered. "Ethan? He's good. Webby says he's good."
Lex turned around. "Hannah, he left us when we were younger. He left us with Mom," she said gently. "He's an asshole."
"Webby says he's sorry. He wanted to see us," Hannah replied.
Ted looked at her earnestly. "Hannah?"
His younger daughter turned to look at him. "Yeah. I'm Hannah." She held her arms out. Ted kneeled down and gave her a hug.
Paul cleared his throat. "Uh... should I go?"
"If you go I'll fucking murder your friend," Lex threatened.
"Okay. Uh, I'll stay then," Paul replied.
Ted stood back up. "Lex, I know you won't forgive me... and that's fine. I wouldn't forgive me either. Just... think about it, maybe? Maybe we could talk sometime?"
Lex sighed. "Fine, whatever. I'll think about it. How can I contact you?"
"I work a little further uptown at CCRP Technical with Paul. You can call there," Ted replied.
"Okay," Lex said. "I'll think about it." She grabbed Hannah's hand and walked back to the car. Ethan glared at Ted before turning around and joining them.

Alice checked her phone. "Deb, I texted my dad two hours ago and he left me on read. I'm worried about him," she said to her girlfriend.
Deb set down her book. "I'm sure everything's fine." She looked over Alice's shoulder. "Look, he liked the message too."
"Maybe I should've gone with him to Red Lobster. He's never like this," Alice replied.
"Alice, your dad's a stable guy. I'm sure he's perfectly okay," Deb reassured her.
Alice nodded, still unconvinced. "Okay..." she muttered. "Yeah. He's fine."

President Howard Goodman was sat in the Oval Office playing with a yo-yo when suddenly, a man with long, curly brown hair burst in. He was dressed from head to toe in a black suit of some sort.
"Who are you!?" the president exclaimed, tossing his yo-yo to the side.
"No need to call security, sir. I'm General John McNamara of Paranormal, Extraterrestrial, Interdimensional Phenomena, we call it peep," the man said.
Howard backed up. "P.E.I.P.? I've never heard of you," he said cautiously.
"And you never will, not even a peep," the General replied. "So, Howie, can I call you Howie? Howie, the country is in severe danger." John threw an arm around Howard's shoulder, which he immediately shrugged off.
"Uh, listen, I'm aware that there are many things wrong with this country and I promise I am trying my hardest to fix them all," Howie replied nervously. "Now sir, I'm going to need you to leave, or else I'm calling security."
John pulled a little bottle out of his pocket. Inside of it, there was a nearly microscopic red beetle. "I'm going to need you to be a bit more open-minded here, Howie," he said gruffly.
"I'm plenty open-minded, sir. I'm a status quo Democrat!" Howie insisted. "But P.E.I.P. is not an institution we have in this country."
John sighed. "I'm going to need you to take a look at these records, Howie," he said, handing the president a Manila folder. "It'll only take a moment."
Howie opened the file skeptically. He shuffled through the papers, his eyes widening. "Wh- oh... oh gosh... P.E.I.P. is an institution we have in this country!" he muttered.
The general nodded. "Indeed it is, Howie. Now... about this bug," he said. "We found it just this morning. It's going around in the small town of Hatchetfield, biting people and turning them into... well, robots, essentially."
Howie's eyes narrowed. "H-how does it do that?"
John shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine, Howie. But what's important isn't how it does what it does, but how we can stop it."

A/N: these are way longer than anything I normally write... 1206 words this chapter, holy shit. Uh, I hope you enjoyed and I'll try to update again soon! - Varian