Story 2: "Black and White" [The Loud House/Marvel Crossover]

(Wednesday, September 21st 2016)
(7:00 PM)

("Girl, You'll Be A Woman" –Urge Overkill)

Moving away can be a stressful process for many, especially when this stems from the dilemma of making new memories at the expense of the old ones. In other words, our childhood shouldn't be replaced with adulthood just yet. We would always want to grasp on to our glory days before the realization hits us that we need to grow up. Don't we all? We all reach the peak of adolescence at some point, and sometimes much sooner than later for the rare few. For the common most, however, we would love to relive our childhood in our adulthood, either with our ancestors, our descendants, or both. We may be old in appearance, but we are young at heart.

Of course, this dilemma fell upon our protagonist much quicker than she expected. Ronnie Anne would make the best of it.

"Well, things are definitely gonna be different for me." Ronnie Anne lampshades this as she enjoys an orange ice pop, "My whole family just quadrupled in size. My backyard is now a fire escape, and I definitely need a lock for that bathroom door. It's gonna be quite an adventure, but I'm up for it. Huh. Lincoln was right. It does help talking to you guys."

"Who are you talking to, Ronnie Anne?"

Ronnie Anne's head shot up upon realizing two things:

• 1. That voice was definitely not my mother's.

• 2. This voice was definitely familiar.

• 3. The voice was right outside my window.

Ronnie Anne cocked her head, "Okay, THREE things, but regardless..." She sat up from her bed and hoisted open the window, her head poking out to find a sign of an intended (or unintended, depending on the situation as she saw it) intruder. After a few minutes, she shrugged and began to close the window. Just as she finished, a flash of white swung down and slammed face first into the glass.

"Eek!"

The figure in white on the other side of the window shook its head and locked eyes with Ronnie Anne, who was debating whether or not to alert her family. Her decision was made by the figure, who waved her hands about and motioned her to open the window again. The Hispanic girl followed this incognito individual, albeit without hesitance, and kept her guard up as she did so.

"D'oh! This was such a bad idea!" The figure muttered to herself as she hanged around. As she came to her senses, she faced Ronnie Anne again.

"Hey, Ronnie Anne! Good to see you again! BTW, that squeak of surprise was quite uncharacteristic of you."

I...squeaked? Ronnie Anne shook her head in disbelief before facing the stranger in return, "Umm...do I know you?"

"You should. Now...do you mind if I come inside? My head is getting nauseous from all of this blood...if you know what I mean."

"... Right. Sure."

The stranger swung inside and landed on her feet, but not so gracefully as she supposedly planned it. She stumbled backward but managed to regain her footing. Rubbing her head in disorientation, Ronnie Anne was slowly convinced to believe that this intruder...wasn't an intruder at all.

"Alright, who are you?"

"Well, it's simple: I'm an old friend of yours."

The visitor pulled off the white mask to reveal her true identity. She was certain the ginger curls would give it instantly.

"Cristina...?"

"In the flesh, girl. How come you couldn't recognize my voice?"

"Well, I can now. You had to be wearing a voice moduler or that mask is dulling that voice of yours."

The redhead rubbed her chin in contemplation, "Hmm. I don't think I was wearing a voice moduler; I don't have that kind of equipment yet."

"So...what's with the costume?"

"It's something of a codename for me. Call me White Tiger for now."

"White Tiger, huh? Catchy. So what's the stitch? Are we going to break into a place and steal some shit?"

"... Actually, yes. We are going to break into a place and steal some shit...for lack of a better term. It's for a good cause, of course."

Ronnie Anne made a 'Hmm' sound and nodded in understanding satisfaction, "Nice. Is there a chance that there are security guards or armed goons?"

"Possibly a combination of the two, but they're both working for the bad guys."

"All right, all right, all right. When do we start?"

"I'm not sure, but my sources tell me that the drop-off will commence around three hours from now."

"... So around ten."

"Yeah, sure. Let's go with that. Meet me on the rooftop around that time if you can." Cristina pulled on the mask and opened up the window to make her exit, but not before adding, "Oh, and don't forget your costume." She leapt out the window and continued her leaping, never noticing the dumbfounded look on Ronnie Anne's face. It was one that reverted to that of seriousness, prompting the Hispanic girl to turn to the readers:

"I honestly don't know what to make of this. Cristina suddenly shows up after a year or so and asks me to accompany her on a heist? And asks me to wear...the costume? That's really an added bonus right there." The thought soon comes to her, "There must be more to this heist than I thought."

Despite this doubt of hers, Ronnie Anne couldn't help but not resist a good old-fashioned brawl. With that, she dug out the box from beneath the bed and opened it up. A moment later, she was donning a bluish-black leather catsuit with a gold utility belt with a red hourglass symbol, dual holsters that held her electroshock batons / Glock 26 subcompact pistols, and a Blackhawk Serpa holster that holstered a stainless steel Walther PPK/S and extra ammunition. She made for the perfect foil to her redhead friend. If Cristina was the White Tiger...

Then Ronnie Anne was the Black Widow.

(10:00 PM)

Making sure that everyone was sound and sleeping in their beds, Ronnie Anne silently slipped out of bed, wearing the leather catsuit from earlier. She slowly opened the window and climbed out. She then climbed up to the rooftop where, just as she was instructed to do, Cristina was waiting whilst wearing her White Tiger outfit.

"Cristina."

The little-redheaded girl looked up from her nail filing to find her soon-to-be informant greeting her. She smiled beneath her mask and leaped up from her seat, "Ronnie Anne. So you came."

"Well, Cristina, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to beat down some assholes. Plus, it's Black Widow."

"Black Widow? Hmm. Catchy."

"I'd thank Lincoln for that. Seven months ago, it was."

"I will make note of that." Cristina pulled out a file and handed it over for Ronnie Anne to give it a read.

"What is this?"

"This is what we're looking for."

"A box?"

"No. It's the box."

"I'm guessing this is something very important to you?"

"Something like that. It's enough to save the city and possibly the world. As an added bonus, I'm actually subbing for my boss."

"Huh. Your boss sounds like a real hard ass."

"I barely know him, Ronnie Anne. Two years is too short for me. And language, please."

"Oh, suck a cock. I can't always talk like this; only on the rare occasions when I can."

"Even around...her?"

Ronnie Anne stiffened at the mere mention of her. Two months after this year's Valentine's Day went horribly awry, she ended up in the hospital during a date with Lincoln. Oh, Lincoln... I wonder how he feels about this. Not giving away any details whatsoever, however, she smiled to herself and shook her head.

"No, but she does take from me."

"Hmm. Good girl." Cristina's ears perked up at the familiar sound of police sirens in the night. "Speaking of take... Shall we get to it then?"

"Right."

Both girls leapt down from the apartment rooftop and on top of others before landing on Ronnie Anne's properly-sized motorcycle, speeding off in hot pursuit of the police cruisers. The vehicles in question were in turn in pursuit of a blue armored van which held armed bank robbers inside. They opened the backdoor and opened fire on the officers with their Heckler & Koch MP5KN submachine guns, causing them to blow off their hoods and flip over. The fuzz kept on coming, though, prompting them to cease fire as a means not to waste their bullets on the "worthless" officers.

At that moment, the crime-fighting duo had caught up with the van. Gesturing towards Cristina to take the wheel, Ronnie Anne leaped onto the side of the van. Rapidly climbing to the top, one of the bank robbers noticed this and drew a Mini Uzi, emptying it into the roof. Miraculously, she ended up managing to dodge the majority of the gunfire before falling through the roof. Landing on her back, she spun around and swiped the legs of her opponents, sending them tumbling down as they went. The ones who remained standing took a fighting stance and charged at her, who was much more trained than them. With an arsenal of Krav Maga, Kali, and Wushu up her sleeve, it wasn't until weariness crept up really quickly that she decided to pull out the big guns – well, small guns in this case. Yeah, she didn't condone killing, but they were the bad guys. Bad guys who seemingly shot down police officers in cold blood. But she could find a legal loophole, right? The answer was...Ronnie Anne shooting the robbers in the kneecap.

All the while, Cristina fended off the men in the front whilst she was in the back. No, it didn't need to make sense, and it wasn't supposed to in the first place. Taking down the last man who attempted to hitch a ride on her motorcycle, she noticed the barricade up ahead and slightly made an expression that clearly expressed panic for a moment's notice. Thinking right on the spot, Cristina rammed the van to the side and attached a cable to the bumper before stepping on the brakes hard. Her risky gamble surprisingly paid off as the van slowed to a stop just a few feet from completing its collision course. Sighing in relief, she boarded off her motorcycle and rushed towards the van, pulling the door open and taking a glance inside.

"You alright, Widow?"

"Absolutely peachy, Tiger."

A rather blatant lie, Ronnie Anne was dangerously close to passing out and even vomiting due to moving too fast and too furious. Kudos for those who managed to get that too obvious reference.

Cristina made her way inside to help her friend, who noticed the metallic suitcase just a few inches away. Ronnie Anne snatched it up and shoved it in her friend's arms, "I think this is what we're looking for. After the ten minutes of gunfire and destruction."

"I think so, too. And I thought it was five minutes. Guess time really does fly when you're having fun."

"I don't think this qualifies as fun, but what the hell."

"Watch your language."

"Put it in the deck."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a polite way of saying be mindful with your choice of words."

"Like the way you do with your profusive profanity?"

"It has its limits."

"This is the police! To the bank robbers inside, come out slowly with the money in plain sight!"

Speaking of which...

(12 M)

Elsewhere In Another Location (The Casagrande Apartment). . .

Ronnie Anne and Cristina stared into the suitcase, their respective pairs of eyes focused solely on the object before them. With careful instructions not to touch it under circumstances, they were rather disappointed as they could not get a much clearer look at what they were dealing with here. Of course, this was pretty understandable from their standpoint, as they were only 11 years of age and approaching 12.

"This is "the box"? Looks like a regular, old box to me."

"That's precisely the point. It hides its real appearance from mortals. What, you were expecting it to display its true colors for all species to see?"

"... I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"There was something behind this heist of yours – something more than the usual smash-and-grab. What exactly were you planning to do with this...box?"

"... I'm not going to get out of this, right?"

"You're damn right."

"... Well...it's kinda hard to explain."

"Well, I'm kinda easy to understand."

"... Alright then. Have you heard of the existence of the multiverse?"

"... What?"

"I guess not. Okay, I'll try to be short and sweet. You see, when I began work with my boss, he entrusted me with his secrets and how these secrets deal with the fact that there are other worlds out there."

"... So these other worlds...are connected somehow?"

"Yes, apparently."

"... What type of worlds?"

"Well, there's our universe, the primary realm known as Earth 616... The secondary universe known as Earth-0... And there's the Dark Universe..."

"Ooh, the Dark Universe? What's that?"

"I honestly have no idea in the slightest. He just threw info on me faster than a speeding bullet. But you get the idea, right?"

"Yeah. I was gonna yell at you for ruining my good night's sleep until I found out the real reason why."

"You never do anyway."

Ronnie Anne and Cristina were still in their costumes, which were about to be stripped off. Yeah, there was a reason why this story earned its M rating...besides the gun violence and bloodshed. The former changed to only violet purple panties and a tank top, the latter changed to only navy blue panties and a nightgown; compare and contrast their clothing choices, will you? Both slipped into their source of warm comfort from the autumn winter: a bed for Ronnie Anne, a sleeping bag for Cristina.

Tomorrow would be a new day...

"So what's the play for tomorrow?"

"... I don't know. My instructions were to retrieve the suitcase for my boss, so unless he calls me for further more...nothing. Nothing at all."

"... Do you wanna catch some more bad guys?"

"... Ah, fuck it. What have I got to lose?"

"Language, Tiger."

"Oh, shut the hell up, Widow."