In the deep center of the Loudiverse, there are but multiple tales of darkness, terror, and psychological madness waiting to be told in one way or another.
Maximum presents; Green and Black, Part One.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The first fight with them ended badly for her, and she couldn't see it. In simple terms, she had thought herself invincible up until now. The ones she went up against was Lemy and his gang of cruel, vulgar fools with different, rivaling ideals, many of them within the Loud bloodline. These were Lemy, the leader of the pack with the greaser fetish; Bobby Jr, the Mexican hoodlum who followed him everywhere, a sort of right-hand man to Lemy; Laika Letenko, the muscle of mixed race who would never hesitate to speak her mind or throw punches; Allie Taggart, the orphan taken under Lemy's care, and the fighter equal to Laika in terms of strength; Lyle Loud, the effeminate one of the group, but was part of it nonetheless; Lilith, the lover to Allie, and a goth girl who was more fit to be Lucy's daughter rather than Lupa; Lyra, the older sister to Lemy who stuck around to make sure he never got into trouble; Gloom, the second goth girl and Lyle's girlfriend, was the third recent addition to the group; and then, right before their latest addition, Lupa tagged along thinking that she could see the boys publicly humiliate themselves, but Lupa was wrong.
The one who got the bad end of the deal happened to be Lynnette Loud, the middle child born to Lynn and Lincoln Loud, sister of Lacy and Lynn III. They integrated her into their group for a short time, until they casted her out when some wise soul had gotten some of them into trouble.
The little club of shits had Lynnette cause property damage in disguise, choosing Flip's Food N Fuel to target. And by golly, the mindlessly brutal brunette with a ponytail and bangs had done it while sporting a Ghostface costume. And oh, would they not have been caught if someone didn't blab on them. And someone from their club had, giving the right names of Lemy's little thug-like pack. This was enough for Lyra to drop out, believing herself to have failed her younger brother.
The law had indeed caught up to them, but where they really crossed the line was when Allie, the one who had no right to be around, was taken in by child protective services, hurting Lilith's heart in that regard.
All of that amounted to Lynnette being summoned to the woods outside of town late one late night a week later. She came jogging there somewhere around eleven, on the notice that Lemy wanted to find their little leaker, the culprit responsible for Allie's sudden departure. And Lynnette, having her fists ready to do the pounding for justice, was all for it. Only-
Laika and Bobby Jr held Lynnette by her arms, revealing themselves when Lynnette was told Lemy was the only one who'd be here tonight. "Hey! Hey, what are you-?!"
Lemy came packing with knuckle dusters on each hand, having planned to beat the living shit out of a girl. A girl. Do- Do you see the problem? He surely didn't, and had no care for her well-being in any way. Why he was really doing this was because he earned a rap sheet with the pigs, and that he did not want. This girl, the one he believed had fed them the info, was the object of his merciless torture.
"Hold her the fuck still, kiddies!" Lemy, a teenager with no visible soft side, was glad that Lyra wasn't here to see this. It wasn't everyday that he got to hurt people, but tonight was a truly special occasion. A girl, and not just any girl, but the one responsible for this crap; of course he'd want payback.
Lynnette had never thought to bring anything resourceful, despite having enough of a stomach to accept some edgy, graphic stuff. That alone made her different than Lacy, and, as far as she knew, Lynn III. Lemy found it suiting for her to have a place among his gang, and did it with no regret up until this point. This point where the beast was coming out to play with a new victim. This beast in the form of a teenager who was about to punish the girl for the sins he believed her to have committed.
Lynnette was not the one they were looking for to begin with.
"Lynnette, was it? How funny is it that I let you run with my pack, and what should I get in return but...?" He moved close enough to insinuate fear and nervousness through Lynnette's veins, keeping her stiff and speechless in that way. He liked what he saw from her, motivated to simply laugh in pride of his capability to control her through fear. "That's good. That's good, Lynnette! I like that, now..."
She pissed her black shorts, staining it while already feeling cold as it was. She came here with only a dark blue shirt and black shorts, basically showing off how sexy she was. The girl was fourteen, the youngest of the lot, while Lemy was a tall seventeen. No way she could fend off all three of them, even if she somehow managed to break away and hurt one. "N-no, I- I didn't do it! It wasn't me!"
Her begging played as music to Lemy's ears, leaving him satisfied, but not full just yet. "Oh? It wasn't? Laika, BJ, what's the consensus?" Of course, he was just being sarcastic.
"You've g-got the wrong person! I didn't- I wouldn't-" Lynnette them received the first blow just below her ribcage. She yelped like a hurt puppy and jerked back, shaking both Laika and BJ enough to make them reinforce their stance. He struck the breath out of her, as well as having taken a blow on her mental state. Her heart elevated, as did her respiratory system; she became the hen trapped by the fox in the henhouse, powerless and left with no move to make. She was the one who accepted that escape was inevitable.
"Look at her, guys! She went quiet..." Lemy grabbed Lynnette's face and picked it up when she had dropped it down, eyeing his feet. "Oh, are- You're looking at my cock, aren't you? Dirty girl."
Bobby Jr and Laika snickered like a pair of hyenas, amused at Lemy's type of fun.
Lemy began stroking her face, taking pleasure in the nice, creamy-smooth feel of her skin. He ran his hand down her face, rubbing at her neck while having that horny, levitating sensation in his penis at the same time. The moron was deliberately giving himself the boner he didn't want as he continued to touch her. When his hand made its way to her chest, he could not help but rip the darl blue shirt off to expose her breasts, the pair which had yet to develop completely. They were big enough in size to grope, but only barely.
At this point, Laika decided to speak up. "Lemy... What are you doing? This is sexual-"
He fired a death glare at Laika, which shut her trap after believing she had spoken out of turn. "The way I see it, you're both my accomplices. I fall for this, we all fall down."
Bobby Jr nearly lost his grip when Lemy had them wrapped around his fingers that way, looking away to collect his thoughts.
"S-sorry..." Laika dreadfully whispered. "You're right."
"Of course I am! Now..." Lemy went back at it, touching little virgin Lynnette's upper body after removing the last of her shirt, moaning with perverted arousement while Laika and Bobby Jr were letting it happen. "Oh, God, you are..."
And she could no longer stand it, hence she broke with a deafening scream of fuelled anger that spiked out of nowhere. She pulled the arm Bobby Jr was keeping lock on with all her might, dragging him off-balance and close enough to take a dirty bite at his cheek. She made him scream wildly, forcing him to let go of her hand. With that, she retracted her teeth and let Bobby Jr step back to tend to his bleeding cheek.
"Fuck-" Lemy took a step back, switching his eyes between Lynnette and Bobby Jr. "Laika-"
Lynnette went for a punch, aiming for Laika's face. The redheaded Russian let go of Lynnette and ducked her swing, quickly coming to counter it with a hook of her own, effectively hitting the younger girl square in the face. This paralyzed the brunette enough for a temporary concussion effect, rendering her immobile. Her ears rang out, an exchange for all the noise of the world around her. She looked right through Laika as if the latter was a brick wall, not taking notice that Lemy moved again for another blow.
"Fuck this!" He Thor'd it and went for the head, putting all his force into that one single blow, letting off a grunt right after. The young girl was knocked dramatically back by the hard force, stumbling onto the edge of a drop of twenty feet that led to a flowing river. Laika was the only one who made a move to try and catch her, only for Lemy to trip her. "Let her fall-"
"Lemy!" Laika protested, being too late to save the dazed Lynnette from falling. "Oh, fuck..."
There was a splash that echoed in the dark.
Bobby Jr had cupped one hand on his cheek, looking up long enough to see the half-naked girl fall over the edge of the woods. "Que carajo?!" He advanced over the small cliff, staring into a dark abyss. "Oh, God, she fell! I- I can't see anything!"
"Hmph, serves her right..."
"What...?" Bobby moved back from the dark pit, looking at his master with horror. "What have you done?"
Lemy grabbed the ripped shirt he tore off from his victim, moved over to the edge and threw it into the river below. "You hear a splash? I sure did." The pack leader was pleased with himself, whistling victoriously while removing his knuckle dusters, wiping them away on his leather jacket. "And to answer your question, I got rid of the evidence."
Bobby Jr and Laika shared darkened, scared glares at each other.
"Stop staring and get a move on! It's the middle of the night, and I so wanna get my sleep for dumb, fucking school! And not a word of this to anyone, got it?!" Lemy held up a fist to his minions, deadly serious. "We were never here, and don't worry about the bitch. Ain't nobody can survive a fall like that, and even if she did, can she possibly swim?"
"Y-yeah..." Bobby Jr began following Lemy, coming onto his side. Lemy locked hands with him and missed his cheek to relieve the fear his boyfriend was experiencing, but didn't drive it all way.
Laika, on the other hand, looked to where Lynnette had been moments ago, expecting her to climb back up again. Nothing at all, and Lemy had called out to her impatiently, breaking her away from checking. It looked like they had gone too far and killed the girl who was Lacy's sister. Nothing at all felt right and justified about this. Nothing. Not to her and Bobby Jr, no, but Lemy... Lemy was something else.
Lemy was truly a monster, and they were minions to this inhumanely evil wrongdoing.
As for Lynnette, she floated away, freezing in the cold waters of the river that took her away from there. Pretty soon, she'd die of hypothermia, and serve as a nobody best forgotten within the earth. The freezing temperature had sent her body into shock quite enough to undo her dizziness from the blows. Whether or not she sustained some sort of brain trauma had yet to be known, but for the moment, she felt fine... So to speak.
The monsters had gotten to her, revealing their true form hidden underneath all that detailed layers of human clothing and skin. Ravenous beasts who partook in sinful acts and bloodshed alike. She let her guard down and trusted that they were of rational, civilized types of humans, breaking maybe one or two rules down their lives. The notion and concept of such a cruel carnivore had never existed in real life before. Maybe she'd see it on the news from time to time, and moreso would see nefarious villains in tv and movies, but not like this. Not harmful, shameless abominations like that of Lemy and his gang of misfits who had appointed him the leader and followed him everywhere. There had to be something to remedy and counter that type of person. Something... Or someone.
She struggled to keep afloat, barely having the energy to stay up. Her eyes kept opening and closing, arms and legs moving in circles around the water, and it kept going until a pair of strong hands pulled her out of the water, saving her from drowning. "Oh, look at this! You white girls are crazy to go skinny dipping at this hour!"
A strong Mexican girl had the liberty of saving young Lynnette, carrying her away from river to a small campfire the girl had set up near the river. Lynnette had gotten the fair maiden wet when being helped, but the stiff coldness of the air proved to make it even more freezing. Her teeth chattered as her whole body shook for necessity of heat, with the touch of her angel barely conducting a sort of heat to her.
"Here," the Mexican goddess slipped Lynnette a purple towel for her. "It's all I've got, sorry."
Lynnette relaxed when meeting the campfire, at long last pleased to have her body showered in perfect warmth. She stretched her hands out, keeping the towel opened enough to reveal her chest. The Mexican girl had an eyebrow raised before looking away when Lynnette caught her staring. The wet brunette was able to see her more closely now; her savior was a black-haired teenager maybe two or three years older, dressed in black AC/DC shirt, gray jeans, and some white and red sneakers on her. The girl had also freckles, the signature trait for Lynnette's people, tattered on her face.
"Right, where are my manners?" The Mexican girl placed a hand on her chest and introduced herself after assembling on her left. "I'm Alejandra Santiago, but anyone can call me Alex, and that means you as well. Now... What of you?"
"Hi, I'm..." She wasn't all there yet. Her mind circled back to Lemy and his goons, and what they've done to her tonight. Lemy himself had sexually violated the girl, and that was during him subjecting her to his fists, which all ended in- She gasped, reliving the blow that literally sent her over the edge. The fall... The fall was scary, but through it all, she hadn't the luxury to break down and cry. "The- The guy- They j-just-"
"Okay, what's going on?" Alex crossed her arms. "Take it slow, try again."
Lynnette pointed to the river behind her. "Th-there was a fight- They tried to..." She lost her handle on it, eyes going red from the trauma of it. Squeaking with a high-pitch tone, she continued barely enough for a few more words. "Oh, God... Oh, God, you s-saved-"
And when she snapped into the watery woodwork, Alex the stranger/savior was there, moving to comfort her like a close friend. "Alright, take it easy, friend. Whatever this is, let it out, man. We've got all night."
Lynnette cried heavily for the next few minutes, rubbed graciously on her shoulders by her new friend Alex. When it stopped for her, she explained what had happened, from her initiation, to Allie being taken away, to tonight's schedule of her being groped and attacked, which eluded reasoning and logic to her. Why or how such a person could ever do that was lost on her, but not on Alex. By the end of it, Lynnette was less twitchy around it, but still visibly scarred by the fear instilled onto her soul. As for Alex, the actions of this Lemy character had gotten her blood boiling, having her yearn for a sort of justice for young Lynnette. And not the type of justice the legal system were in charge of, no. Alex had another way of going at it; to fight fire, one needed fire, ergo...
"Revenge," Alex dropped. "Get revenge on them, punish them."
"What? N-no, I have to go to the police-" Lynnette was the goody two-shoes with the by-the-book mind set, believing there was only one right way to make Lemy and his two buddies pay. This was before Alex presented a different, custom approach.
"Well, guessing by their age, I'm pretty certain they won't be doing time," Alex believed. "They're teenagers, are they not?"
Lynnette shook her head. "Well, yes, but-"
"At most, juvie centers, or a sort of rehab. Or, if you're that lucky, they try this Lemy guy as an adult." Alex cracked her knuckles, while the fire kept cackling, shooting tiny sparks and embers into the wind. The news was to make Lynnette see how broken the system was. Not could be, not a definite possibility it could be, but a realization of how it worked in reality for the young Alex Santiago. One such fact that she applied to Lynnette to help her understand it. And why did Alex care to begin with? "You know, I've come to learn and accept something after this, um, thing went down a few years ago."
"A thing? Wh-what exactly-?" Lynnette exhaled cold breath, visible up until the fire burned it away from sight. The towel was dragged from her body to her hair, where she proceeded to dry her hair.
"Call it a wake-up call," Alex answered vaguely. "My eyes just went open ever since then, and you wanna know what it is I've learned?"
The brunette settled the towel around her neck, sniffing lightly. "I'll bite... What did you learn?"
Without warning, Alex grabbed a plastic cup half full of a liquid, which Lynnette hadn't noticed was there before. The Mexican girl tossed the liquid into the fire, creating a sudden steamy aftermath with a heavy hissing, making Lynnette squirm in response. And then in a quiet, serious tone, she let the brunette in on the understanding of one such rule she learned to live with. "You've gotta do it yourself."
"Do it... Muh-myself? You mean-?"
"Told you before, girly," Alex addressed. "If you get bullied by someone, what are you supposed to do? Absolutely can't report it to the teachers. It'll just prove that you were as weak as seen by that bully. No, you go-" She crushed the plastic cup in her hand. "-And hurt that bully right back. However the fuck, and in any way you can."
"B-but... It's not moral-"
Alex shook her head. "No, it really isn't, but the world is a free-for-all. You either know how to survive or become cannon fodder to someone far superior to you."
The ghosts of the wild around them cried out in unison through the nightly breezes. Some trees and leaves bellowed around, aiding to turn the conversation between them as an unsettling one before she could comprehend the nature of Alex's words. "No... No, I don't believe that-"
"You just lived through it, woman!" Alex locked her hands on Lynnette's shoulders and shook the girl like that. "What you've seen is purely an act of survival of the fittest! The superior predator drew first blood, and you barely walked away alive!"
"Yeah... I got lucky-"
Alex broke into a wild laugh. "No, no, no, no, girl! Luck is never a factor in this shit! It's all about willpower, like, how far will you go to hurt them? And you know you have to, they just tried to kill you! And you wanna go to the cops? Why, that's purely cowardice of an action to respond to this unethical deed, okay? I mean I get it, you're a girl who's scared out of her right mind, but... You've gotta do it. You've gotta stand up for yourself, otherwise you won't be able to handle it. And you surely don't want to let the madness define you, do you?"
"N-no..." Lynnette sniffed. "I want to be brave..."
"And you can be, plus more. Look, these guys did bad, so do bad at them. Come on, get angry. Remember what you felt, how scared you were. Bring back that fear, force it to motivate you, and don't fight it." Alex pointed directly at her chest, poking Lynnette with her fingernail. "You become that exact thing that harmed you to begin with."
"Why? Why are you telling-? I- I can't do it... He's scary-"
"Only as scary as you make him be! Be better, get meaner, let the ugly in! Whatever it takes for you tp put the fear of God into them. After all, wouldn't you want put a stop to his cruel bullshit? Think of it, girl! Think of how many people you'd spare from his terror! Isn't that enough fucking incentive to go out of your way to return fire?!"
Lynnette was speechless. The stone-cold girl had a point; Lynnette knew first-hand how evil the road warrior wannabe was. The monster in his skin needed to be toppled so that it could be punished for its crimes against her, and maybe anyone else it had ever harmed along the way. That's what Alex here was selling her, and Lynnette had begun to buy into it, but was still conflicted deep inside. This wasn't the right way to execute justice, and she knew it, but... Would the legitimate law reform someone like him? This was what Alex had doubted, eagerly forcing Lynnette to accept a solo crusade of justice to be the one and only way there was. And maybe... Just maybe, this was true. And that she most heavily feared for the sake of her morality and soul. Lynnette was never one to uphold violence.
When she said nothing, Alex dropped another wake-up call that only added fear into Lynnette. "Just so you know, you'll make a whole lot of enemies if and when you blab to the cops. Take that as food for thought."
"E-enemies?! B-b-but that shouldn't be-"
"It won't matter to them! And just think... Lemy himself will lead quite the brigade against you the moment they find you're actually alive. They're going to try and kill you, you know? Not scaring, not a prank gone too far, but actually fucking trying to kill you." She nodded as she fed Lynnette the coldest plate of traumatizing news.
"No... My parents- I can hide with-"
"Heh, never that simple, I tell you. The only truth here is to fight... Fight for your meaningless little life-" Alex reached underneath the back of her shirt and pulled out an object. It was a compact revolver that had the power to shove Lynnette back upon sight of it. "Take this-"
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE THAT FOR?! IS THAT LOADED?!" Lynnette wanted nothing to do with this; she scathed back up, dragging dirt onto her wet shorts and socks, freaked out by Alex's proposal. "I'm not killing anyone!"
"You say that now..." Alex poked the cylinder chamber out, spinning it with delight. "Oh, music to my ears."
"Y-you're crazy-" Alex closed the revolver with a flicking jerk of her hand upwards, and fired one round at Lynnette's feet, feeding more madness. Lynnette screamed and made an awkward dance move with her legs. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Take the gun, girl," Alex suggested, sliding the the gun at her with ease.
It stopped at Lynnette's feet, smacking against her left leg. "I can't-"
"You can't until you are forced to make that decision. Trust me, you'll feel stupid and naked without it."
Lynnette wiggled her fingers. "But... It doesn't have to be this way. A choice... I just want the choice..."
"Yeah? Choose to live by taking it! Come on, you don't have to die if you use the gun!" Alex held a fist out and high. "Fight for yourself! Defend yourself! No one else will be doing the hero stuff for you. And certainly not me, not a second time. I saved your ass once and gave you all that I can, now it's time for you to make a choice."
Lynnette hated that it had to be this way. Alex had all the reason, and yet it was of a dark reality no one wanted. The moment she'd come home in her current state, she'd attract attention if her parents were up around when she came home. Not only that, but her phone had died on her after being exposed to the water. No one to call for help or anyone of the sort. She tried to fabricate a lie, but it turned out harder than expected every single time she pictured herself falling. Falling from the face of the earth after Lemy had his way in the end.
And the beast still roamed around freely. That Lynnette didn't take too kindly to.
She picked up the gun, hands still shaking from the endless projection of fear. With this killing tool, if the time should ever come to use it... "Oh, G-God, please... I don't want to-"
"Too little, too late. Someone made it like that, so correct it. Learn a stuff or two on how to do it under the radar... Especially when I'm sure they think you're dead. My advice? Don't go home, go missing. Don't freak out these inhumans to give them reason to go after you. This is a huge advantage to you..."
"They w-won't know I'm coming...?"
Alex shook her head with a sinister vibe. "No, not at all."
Lynnette gripped the gun well and then held it against the campfire, aiming at it. She lined up the sights to the blaze, setting her finger on the trigger. "J-just like-"
"Don't actually fire another round. The five inside are all I- I mean, you have left."
"Y-you're serious about me keeping it? B-but... Then... You've used this before?"
Alex simply smiled, not answering the question, however. "Use it well, and use it only when you need to, got it?" She held out her thumb and tossed it over her shoulder. "Feel free to crash with me, I've set up a camp behind me with some space available for a bonus person, although I was hoping it would be some handsome dude, not a murder attempt survivor."
"Oh..." Lynnette lowered her hand, along with the gun. "Um..."
"Might as well, if you wanna stay under the radar for awhile."
"So... You've been living like this for awhile?" Lynnette wondered.
"More or less, and we're in the same boat as well, in a way, and that makes us connected."
"Connected... You're a scary person, Alex," Lynnette admitted. "But... I guess I don't have a choice, do I?" Lynnette just sighed, still holding the revolver. "Okay... Okay, I guess I have to... Don't I?"
"Now you're getting it!" Alex felt a little proud. She got up and began moving away from the river. "Stay as long as you need, my tent is just straight across from your spot."
Lynnette was left alone to her thoughts, with the cold grip of her deadly gift, the one Alex meant for little Lynnette to use against Lemy and his pack of thugs. The plan was simple; she was to strike them all with stealth before they got wind of her being alive. That meant she had to stay away from her family and friends for awhile until she delivered this sort of judgment onto them to the best of her abilities. That's right, Lynnette had an advantage through the element of surprise, and then there was her weapon, the second advantage as of yet.
She didn't consider it great yet, but the idea of making them pay had begun to taste delicious when she gave it thought. Lemy. Lemy was the main one, the worst one to take down. He knew no mercy, therefore she had no reason to be merciful to him the next time they'd meet. And that itself would soon become a mental promise she'd repeat in her head on a loop.
Lemy and his crew... Now was the start of a battle between a girl and a thug with his own minions. Who could possibly win?
AN: It doesn't take a degree of rocket science to know what this is based off- But only certain members will understand what this really is. I had this as a story idea since December of last year, just bouncing away in my head since then, and found it best fitting for this anthology-like fic. Maximum, the fic influenced by the imprint of Max Comics, the R-rated brand that belongs to Marvel, full of quite interesting graphic stories that don't hold back on edge or food-for-thought. Why, I've only read one such title, and ooof, it's quite something, glad to be honoring those guys this way. Next on Maximum; Lynnette's first strike against... Lilith?! Oh, crap.
