Author's Note: Hey everyone! I had a bit of an interesting time with this chapter, and honestly, I'm mostly walking away from it a little proud of the terrible puns I've been able to throw out there. Please leave a review, I love hearing from y'all!

The life of a hero was not an easy one. Not only did every hero face the potential for pain and injury, but even worse was the weight of responsibility. Some had made it sound easy, like true paragons of virtue they spoke of simply acting without thought. They saved the day, they fought injustice and crime, they were stalwart and brave.

If Lynn decided to be honest with his situation, he'd reveal the terror that had bubbled up in his throat. No one had ever told him just how scary this kind of thing could get!

The man stood dumbfounded and shaking in the center of a large laboratory. On all sides, glowing beakers and beeping machines kept him in a constant state of anxiety. Why the heck did he think he'd be able to handle a rescue mission? And against a real-life supervillain?!

Stumbling and clumsy, he forced his feet to take the necessary steps forward, reminding himself that he was already there in the thick of it all. Continuing his search around the room, hoping to find the victim soon, he once again attempted to follow the events that had led him to this place.

"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?" Rita said, readjusting the backpack hanging off of her shoulder.

"I'm positive, you don't need to worry about me," Lynn said, tossing a large number of diapers and various sets of clothing in the baby bag. The girls had been better, but Luan was nowhere near ready to potty train and Luna still had her accidents.

"You won't be lonely?" Rita said, some slight concern in her voice, "You know we've been all set for money ever since I started going out again. Especially after Katherine left for that Great Lakes League, better publicity and all that."

"I know, Rita, but I just feel like I've been..." Lynn searched for the words as he packed away Lori's fake phone, Leni's blanket, Luna's radio and Luan's bottle, "I don't know...like it's just been nothing but taking care of the girls for a while."

"Well, we are parents," Rita said as she felt a grin creep onto her face, "I hear that's usually a full-time job."

"I know, I know," Lynn said, waving his hand through the air in hope of finding the proper way to say it, "It's just that I'd like to be able to work a bit again. You know, get out of the house. Maybe even start saving up in case..."

"In case we have another?" Rita said, poking her husband in the chest with a teasing expression. Lynn felt his cheeks redden.

"W-well, you never know!" Lynn said, trying not to sound so flustered, "It's just, it's already feeling crowded in this apartment, a-and I thought we might want to look at getting someplace a bit...roomier?"

"I think you're just looking for an excuse to try for another one, stud," Rita said, and her smile grew wider as her husband grew more unbalanced.

"I-I would never!" Lynn said, then muttered, "...well not so elaborately anyways..."

"I'm just teasing, sweetie," Rita said as she leaned over to her husband and kissed him. Lynn relaxed from the brief embrace, grabbing hold of Rita's hands before they parted. Lynn smiled at her, running his thumb over her fingers affectionately.

"I know you still want to be close to the city, in case of an emergency. But I think it'd be good for the girls to have some place where they could finally be a bit more active, really stretch their legs. Heh, literally in Luan's case."

Rita shook her head at the bad pun, but she did agree with the idea. "I know, and if this job ends up being good for you then we can start looking. Just don't overwork yourself, okay? I'll still need you for a while."

"I promise I won't," Lynn said, pulling his wife in for another big hug.

"Alright, we should get going. I need to get the girl's over to my father's soon if I'm going to make the conference on time. I still can't believe AEGIS is trying to set up another base all the way out here."

"They've been popping up all over, especially after they began that weird soldier program."

"And people wonder why I wanted them to stay away from Royal Woods. They were looking for child volunteers, you know. They thought they'd be more 'adaptable' to the procedure. Honestly..."

Lynn nodded and patted Rita's hands, picking up the bag filled with their daughters' various essentials. "Girls! It's time to get going!" he called out to them.

Leni was the first one out, though she wasn't exactly prepared. Currently wrapped up in various pieces of clothing, she once again had decided to simply float herself out along the hall instead of adjusting any of the articles she wore. The pair of adults couldn't help but roll their eyes as Leni looked to them, her doe-eyed expression obscured as she wore a dress and two shirts, having only pulled them past her eye line.

"Leni, we talked about this, if you need help getting dressed you should ask us," Rita said, but Leni shook her head.

"But I like these ones," the young girl said simply.

"Yes, we know, but you can't get all of your clothes dirty. And you don't even have them on all the way!" Lynn said, kneeling down and beginning to pull the extra pieces off.

"But I can, like, see?" Leni said innocently. Rita almost laughed, three years old and Leni was already trying to find workarounds with simple things. She wondered if her adoptive daughter would always be such a card.

Luna and Luan both left their room together, with the older girl holding onto the still baby Luan. They were two and one now, respectively, but Luan was still having some trouble with walking. All the girls had been shaky on their feet for a time, but Luan had a tendency to...unwind a bit.

"There you two are, ready to go to Pop-Pop's?" Rita asked, leaving her husband to readjust the remaining clothes for Leni.

"Yes," Luna said simply, and Luan made a happy giggle in response. Rita was happy they had been able to stop wearing those earpieces as Luna gained more control over her abilities. She still lapsed into accidental bleed off whenever she got excited or fussy, but Luna was learning to speak quickly and with it seemed to understand when to use her gift.

"Where's your older sister?" Rita asked, and was happy when Luan piped up.

"Phone!" the youngest girl said, pointing a chubby finger at Lori and Leni's room. Rita raised an eyebrow, then looked back at her husband. He had just finished adjusting the lavender colored dress over Leni as he looked back to his wife.

"What is something wrong? Did I rip the back on Leni's spine ridges?"

"I have lime bridges?" Leni asked, turning her head and beginning to spin in a circle, attempting to see this new feature of hers.

"Oh, your father's only teasing you, Leni. Lynn, do you have your new cell phone?"

"Of course I do! It's right..." Lynn patted the sides of his pants and, when he found nothing in either of his pockets, got a panicked look on his face, "Oh no! I can't have lost that thing, we still have so many payments on it!"

As she watched her husband begin to frantically dig through all the kitchen drawers and couch cushions, she called out to her oldest child. "Lori! Can you come out here, please?"

There were a few minutes before Lori stepped out of her room, leaving enough time to get Luna into her shoes and adjust the onesie Luan wore. As Lori did make her way down the hall, Rita noted that her attention seemed to be elsewhere as she held the simple flip phone up to her ear. "Lori, sweetie, can you give your father his phone?"

"Oh! Lori had it?" Lynn said as Rita heard the oven door close, "Well that makes way more sense than cooking it with last night's roast."

Lori stepped up to her mother and snapped the phone shut, handing it up to Rita. "There's a lot of people talking on dad's phone." She said simply, though it gave Rita pause. Her husband didn't have any contacts, and as she quickly opened the phone she found no log of calls. Shrugging her shoulders, she figured that perhaps her daughter was simply playing make-believe.

"Well let's get your shoes on sweetie, we need to be going soon. Mommy's got a meeting in an hour and Pop-Pop gets very chatty when we go to visit." The whole family began to gather together all of their final necessities, and Luan played her same joke. As Rita took the baby's hand and made her way to the door, she heard the faint giggle still coming from down the hall.

Turning back, Rita saw once again Luan sat flat on the floor ten feet away, and the tiny baby arm still in Rita's grasp stretched between the two points. Lynn took notice and hopped behind Luan.

"Don't worry honey, I've got her!" he said, wrapping his finger under her armpits. Hoisting her up, he quickly realized her tiny midsection also elongated, and her rear was still sat firmly on the floor. Luan giggled happily, saying her favorite and most frequent words.

"Geddit, geddit?" Luan said joyously between giggles.

"Oh dear, Luna? Can you come help daddy?" Lynn asked as he slowly set Luan back down, the young girl's torso returning to shape.

"Yes, dad!" Luna said, skipping over. Everyone instinctually plugged their ears up except for Luan, and Luna leaned down to eye level with her younger sister.

The first act the young empath performed was scrunching up her face. She began humming out an unpracticed little growl, the reverberations seeming almost visible as she evoked her abilities. This specific kind of trick she had done often when Luan decided to play silly.

Luan slowly lost her giggly expression as Luna spoke, and began to take on a grumpy and defensive one instead. The young brunette suddenly curled her knees up into her chest, and Rita felt the girls hand snap out from her grasp as she drew herself into a solid and guarded ball.

Poking her younger sister, Luna stopped the more gravelly tone and instead began to hum out a lullaby, watching as Luan once again shifted away from the tiny glare. As Luan's eyes began to droop, Luna turned back and waved at the rest of her family, who unplugged their ears. Lynn reached back down and picked up the now sleepy baby, still solid though her limbs stretched slightly under their own weight.

"Thank you, Luna, what would we do without you?" Rita said.

"Probably have a noodle for a sister," Lori said quietly, though Leni giggled at that.

"You silly, noodles are food, not family!" Leni said, then paused in thought. "Right?"

"Yes, you're right Leni," Lynn confirmed, fussing up his alien daughter's hair. Holding Luan in his left arm and hoisting the final bag over his right, he nodded to his wife. "All set to go, honey."

The group of six slowly made their way down the hall to the elevator of their apartment building, pausing briefly as other residents gave their usual congratulations to Rita for her work as Anesthesia. Even though she would say they were in a rush, it still took an additional ten minutes to make it out of the building and down into the family Van.

Lynn adjusted the girls into their various car seats and booster seats, making sure everyone was safely secured. Rita sat in the driver's seat before turning her attention back to her husband.

"Good luck with the interview, honey. I hope it goes well!"

"Thanks, and good luck keeping that super-powered militia out of our town!"

The van rolled out of the parking lot next to their apartment building and quickly disappeared down the road. Lynn exhaled, letting the slightly nervous expression return to his face.

It had truly been years since Lynn had held down a job, despite the fact he kept checking the help wanted ads since before Luna was born. It hadn't been necessary as Rita's superhero work kept the entire family well off and well insured. There had been those times where funds were tight, like when Vanzilla's engine block rotted through its bottom, but they'd made it work.

However, given their current track record, Lynn wasn't entirely confident that they'd be done with children yet. He loved every one of his daughters, of course, but the apartment was beginning to become cramped again. What about when the girls grew up, or what if they ended up having another brother or sister?

No, Lynn needed to try earning a salary and saving up. If he worked hard and they stuck to a tight budget, then they'd be able to by a real house for the girl's to grow up in. They could develop and play, and eventually, they'd even have their own rooms!

Lynn made his way back up to the apartment, adjusting the t-shirt he had on. He should first worry about a shower, no way he was going to get a position if he showed up smelling of sweat and baby food.

What came next threw Lynn for a massive loop. As he cracked open the door, Lynn took notice of the small buzzing sound coming from the living room. He rolled his eyes, he must've left his phone lying around yet again. No wonder Lori kept getting a hold of it, he thought to himself.

Stepping over to the couch and reaching in between the cushions, his fingers brushed the against the erratically buzzing box. Lynn would have questioned the odd pattern in vibrations or the fact that it seemed a tad bit smaller compared to his cellular device, but that all died on his tongue as he recognized the small teal box he held.

It was Rita's personal distress signal. The same one she had received after she had begun her hero work again. "Oh no...!" Lynn said aloud, realizing this likely meant something major was going on. Slamming his hands against his pockets, Lynn cursed as he realized his phone truly wasn't on him. He'd have to have a serious talk with Lori later, but for now…

Lynn was unsure what to do. He had no way of getting a hold of Rita, and he knew that the communicator sending out this SOS meant whatever this was had to be urgent. Hesitating for a moment, Lynn finally pressed his thumb against the side of the small box and listened for the message.

"Ann!" said a hushed voice that Lynn recognized as the hero Collagen. His voice came across in a hushed panic. "Rita! God, I hope you're getting this, I'm in worse than my last family reunion..."

"Stan!" Lynn said aloud, fumbling with the buttons on the side of the small box. Dang, it, he had no idea how to send a return message, "Stan it's Lynn! I'm here, what's wrong?! Oh darn this thing!"

"Listen, Lori or Leni or whoever's holding this," the hushed voice continued, and Lynn realized that the hushed tones sounded less like whispers and more like exhausted breaths, "Get Rita, tell her something bad's happening. Tell her it's the GM, he's got me in a bad way...Tell her..."

The small voice ended as Lynn still fumbled fruitlessly to return a message through the simple device. At that moment, panicked and afraid were nowhere near enough to describe his feelings. The quiet pain that Collagen was going through made Lynn's gut drop right out.

Trying to think quick, Lynn ran through any way he could possibly contact his wife. Landline? No, they had gotten rid of it after they acquired their cell phones. One of his neighbors? Unlikely, he knew that most of the other residents on his floor were gone for the day. Maybe…

Lynn shook his head, it was too stupid. Too harebrained. Even if he was able to find where Collagen was being held, he wasn't prepared for anything like this! He hadn't even practiced the self-defense techniques he learned in years!

But still, maybe…

Lynn fully understood that he must have been crazy. This must've just been his wishful thinking, and he knew that it'd likely just make things worse!

But no matter how many times he tried to discourage himself, he couldn't help but think that if he did nothing when his friend was surely going to be lost. Despite requests for hero transfers from nearby agencies, it had been just Collagen and Anesthesia doing hero work. Any help that had been sent out left due to the lacking of a supervillain presence.

On shaking feet, Lynn briefly debated whether he should just go to that interview and simply ask to use the phone beforehand. He could show up early, try to find help, still mind his own business and let his wife and the police handle the situation. He didn't have to get involved.

Despite all that, as Lynn hefted up one of his heavy cart iron pans and made for the closet holding his unrefined attempts at a costume, he realized he wanted to get involved. It was stupid, he knew, but the adrenaline that had begun to fill his system dulled his reason. It was time to be a hero.

Standing ankle deep in the putrid waters of the sewerage system, Lynn was finally coming down from his adrenal high.

What on Earth was he doing?!

Lynn trudged deeper into the winding tunnels of the city's underground, adjusting the scrappy mask he wore. Honestly, it was just a bandana he had pulled over his eyes and cut holes through to see. The black and blue sweatshirt he wore on top of matching sweatpants felt easy to move in but were finally beginning to feel less than professional. He really debated just running himself back up to street level and deciding on calling proper authorities.

However, the haggard cough that he heard the faintest echo of sent a shock through his body. Hoisting up the heavy pan and holding it before him, half wielding the weapon and half shielding himself behind, he began to run along the underground pathways.

"Collagen!" Lynn called out, heavy splashing sounds filling the cavernous tunnels he snaked his way through. He cursed at his lack of a flashlight, squinting in the darkness as he said, "Stan! Call out or something, buddy, I'm down here!"

Another set of coughs, closer by still. Lynn thought he heard some groaned out words but couldn't quite discern what they had been. He actually heard more splashing and hoped beyond words that his family's friend had heard him and was making his way to his voice.

It was much too late before Lynn realized the speed of those splashes had to have been too quick for such a diminished voice. As Lynn rounded the corner, what he saw was not the muscular bone covered form of the hero Collagen. Instead, he saw the faint dark outline of some half humanoid, half many-legged monstrosity looming over him.

"Well well, what have we...hey!" That was all the words the hulking figure got out before Lynn swung the heavy pan like a baseball bat. The side of the tool connected with where Lynn approximated the torso should have been, and the solid crack against the almost snakelike figure helped him feel satisfied in his attempt.

Within seconds, though, the figure was scuttling itself around in the water, coiling itself and spitting out expletives. "Dammit!" said the figure, pain, and anger filling its tone, "Can't let a guy get out a solid starter?!"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Lynn exclaimed, holding the cast iron skillet up between the two of them. "Please don't hurt me!"

Lynn heard some guttural sound, followed by another clang of metal. Feeling the recoil travel up his arms, Lynn realized that this person had hit or maybe bit down hard on his weapon! The pain filled muttering of, "What the fuck, my fucking teeth!" confirmed it, and Lynn felt the slightest bit of confidence return to him.

"W-well, I'd say that panned out for me!" He said, a bit more lively.

"The hell did you just say?!" The figure yelled out, still sheathed in darkness.

"Ah!" Lynn yelled in response, hearing the explosion of water as his enemy rushed for him once again. "I'm sorry!" Lynn instinctually tried to bring the pan up to shield his face, curling his body in on itself.

That was when he felt what had been the most solid connection so far. Hearing a crack and a strained, "Oof!" Lynn fell to his side as he felt the weight of whatever this thing was suddenly weigh him down.

Lynn yelled as he felt not only the wait but the twitching of many segmented legs against his body. Dropping his weapon to the side and placing his bare hands against the seemingly unconscious figure, and felt what he could only guess was some hard armor or...exoskeleton?

His stomach dropping at that thought, he quickly pushed the form the rest of the way off of himself and scrambled away. "Oh dang, oh gross, oh man, oh no!" Lynn said aloud, grabbing up the metal pan and rushing down the closest opening, not bothering to check and see if the creature was truly dealt with.

Rushing down the hallways, Lynn realized he saw a single passageway with the faintest bit of light in it. Praying this would be the end of this unprepared adventure of his, Lynn threw himself through the doorway and pressed himself against a wall, still peering out into the sewer tunnels.

"Holy crap..." came a strained voice from within the room, and Lynn turned to see where it originated. "That you, Lynn...?"

Before him was Collagen, the hero who so often was covered in a layer of super tough bone armor. Now, though, Lynn only saw the man's torso and lower body covered in the bony protrusions, his arms and head both uncovered. He was strapped down to a makeshift examination table, with an IV connected to one of his arms. Judging by the dark red liquid filling the bag next to the man, Lynn guessed his blood had been forcefully drawn.

"Stan!" Lynn called out, rushing over to his hurt friend, "Oh my gosh man, what has he done to you?"

"Lynn? Seriously, what's going on...where's Rita...?" The large man said. He looked paler than he usually did, with Lynn noting the man's usual mohawk had been shaved away.

"Oh, uh..." Lynn stammered as he undid the belts on the man's limbs, freeing him from the binds, "Well...she forgot her communicator at home, and I happened to, um...get the message?"

"What happened to long, dark, and skulking...?" Stan asked, pushing himself up to a sitting position and looking around.

"Oh, the scary guy..?" Lynn said, trying his best to support the much larger and heavier man. "Eheh, well I think I...pandled the situation?"

Lynn shook motioned to the large frying pan he had laid down next to the table, before letting out a light cough when the more experienced hero simply stared at him with disbelief. "Uh, sorry, probably not the best time for that, huh?"

"You took that freak on by yourself?" Stan asked in wonder, and the small light given off by the weak lightbulb overhead let Lynn see the impressed expression on his friend's face.

Standing a bit taller, Lynn nodded his head. "Yeah, I suppose I did!" he said confidently, before yelping loudly as he heard the sound of clattering metal from somewhere outside the room. Stan cursed under his breath.

"That's GMO, he's already back. Listen, Lynn..." Stan said, clasping his hand onto Lynn's shoulder, "I don't know everything, but I heard that maniac has some new experiment going on down here. Whatever it is, he'd got in the next room..." At this, the man stood himself up on weak feet and pointed a finger to the back corner of their current room, indicating a large metal door.

"Whatever it is we need to know at the very least. I really hate sending you in there, but..." grimacing, Stan took a small step towards the door, and Lynn saw the bony protrusions begin to poke through his arms and around his head once again. "We can't let him finish up whatever's happening. Figure out what it is, and tell Rita. Don't do anything stupid."

Lynn would have given an indignant look, after all, he was the one pulling the rescue off here, but he let the sentiment die in his thought as he made his way to the door. He may have been handling himself slightly better than anticipated, but he knew for a fact he didn't want to tangle with a real-life supervillain today.

Lynn hefted his frying pan and flung the metal door open, rushing inside and forcing himself to not look back at his weakened friend.

Ah, that's right, that's how he found himself in this position.

Lynn cursed himself, he was turning out to be such a glory hound. If he had just done the sensible thing and tried to contact the police, none of this would have happened! He'd be safe in a job interview, and properly trained individuals would be handling this situation!

Peering through the various beakers and test tubes filled with strange liquids, ranging from neon greens to irony reds, Lynn searched for any sign of some strange experiment. He saw no Frankenstein's monster or strange hybridization like he might have expected after all that was the GMO's usual plan.

Lynn was admittedly happy he kept up with some of the superhero worlds, otherwise, he never would have found Collagen in all those tunnels. The apparent villain of the day was the Genetically Modifying Overlord, who everyone thankfully shortened down to the GMOverlord.

He was some scientist that had worked in the field of bio-genetic engineering in the '80s when supers had first started to pop up. He had been a master in his field of super biology. That is until he began to exclusively experiment on the mutants of society. Those who had been physically transformed and altered, the GMOverlord began studying to learn how to properly alter and splice DNA to create his own crazed experimentations.

Lynn shuddered, that likely helped to explain the insectoid man he had to deal with back there. He'd hate to find what else was down here. Or find out what terrifying new experiment this guy had cooking up…

As he moved between the various shelves and tables littered with scientific equipment, Lynn's attention was quickly drawn to the metal door he had come in through. There was the sound of thrashing and banging from the other side, with muffled voices calling out. Distracted by the sound, Lynn didn't notice until it was too late that he knocked over one of the various vials that laid upon the nearby table.

Lynn quickly made a grab for it, but it was too late. The sound of shattering glass and splashing liquid had him gritting his teeth, eyes scrunched as he tried desperately to hear some sign of intrusion. Still, the same sounds outside and Lynn found himself thanking Stan over and over in his mind.

Looking down at the damage he had caused, he realized that the vial must have been one of the ones with a sample of blood in it. Feeling his stomach bottom out, Lynn quickly knew two things. One, he was not going to be able to find this experiment in time, and two, they were going to realize someone had gotten in here with this kind of a mess.

Unless…

There was only one thing Lynn thought of that could save his skin. Feeling queasy already, Lynn looked around for two specific items. Thankfully, both were easy in the makeshift laboratory setting. Rushing to the other side of the room, Lynn snatched up an empty vial comparable to the broken one and a syringe that Lynn severely hoped was sterile.

Rolling up his sleeve, Lynn attempted to stick himself in the arm and draw blood from himself. After he felt the terrible feeling of fruitlessly stabbing his arm, he finally forced himself to look as he fruitlessly jabbed at his arm. It still took a few attempts, but eventually, he saw the telltale signs of ruby red liquid filling the syringe.

Lynn drew enough blood to feel light-headed, though that admittedly wouldn't have been much, to begin with, and quickly emptied the contents of the syringe into the vial. Still feeling sick, Lynn placed the vial in the previously empty spot and quickly brushed the broken bits of glass away on the floor. Finally, he pushed himself to hide behind a small stack of boxes nearby the door as he heard the door click open.

"Well that was more trouble than I would have liked," said a small and reedy voice, and from his position, by the door, Lynn was able to tell it was the GMOverlord. He was short, wearing a simple acid green lab coat and wearing purple goggles, his slightly grayed blond hair sticking out in odd angles. Perhaps it was the scuffle he heard outside.

"Told you, you shouldn't have let Centi-Peter handle guard duty," said a second, gruffer voice. Lynn saw the hulking form of some overly hairy individual, carrying around a large lead pipe. They looked like a sasquatch mixed with a severely overbuilt bodybuilder.

"Yes, I'm afraid you might be right, Lion. We will have to discuss this matter with him once he returns from wherever he has run off to." The small scientist made his way to the other end of the room, and Lynn peered around the boxes he hid behind. The metal door was left ajar, and Lynn saw the form of Collagen laid flat on the floor. This might be his only chance…

"However, we are on the precipice of completing our task," GMO said, tapping away at a key panel next to a large metal tube that Lynn had largely ignored. Lynn had begun to tiptoe out of his hiding position...when he saw it.

When he saw them.

As the villain tapped on the keyboard, the metal tube dropped down into the floor, the entire room illuminating after the reveal of the chamber held within. Peering across the room, Lynn bit his tongue to keep from gasping.

Inside the chamber, there was a fetus, a developing child that looked fully formed and floating in the glowing goo that surrounded it. As he stared, frozen to the spot, he saw the scientist hold his hand out to the larger individual. "Let's start with that brute Collagen's sample, it will aid the subjects strength and defensive capabilities."

The large figure leaned on the metal pipe it held, handing the bag of blood Lynn had seen drawn from Stan's body. Gulping, he saw the scientist siphon the bag into a small blinking box connected to the chamber. Slowly, he saw a tube that ran from that box's location into the form of the small infant fill with a much brighter colored fluid.

"Why're we waiting on yours again, boss?" The hulking figure asked with an eyebrow raised. GMO shook his head, looking exasperated at the need to explain.

"Because, my dear Dandy Lion, I have built this child from scratch," he said, matter-of-factly, "And while it is certainly capable of serving a function now...well, call me sentimental, but I'd like the next step for humanity to be based off my DNA."

Lynn's eyebrows shot up, disgusted by the tone and the intention this megalomaniac had for this baby. His eyes grew even wider, though, and he saw the man grab a vial off a nearby table. The same vial that Lynn had replaced mere moments before.

"The final DNA mix will be the one imprinting the most on the child," the scientist continued, focused entirely on the chamber before him, "And while it has gained various super abilities like enhanced strength or durability, it will be most connected to my DNA. Then all we'll need to do is artificially age my perfect little soldier, and she'll be the mother of humanities next stage."

Well, that tore it. This guy went from mildly evil and crazed to a straight up asshole. Looking back to the metal door, Lynn steeled himself for what he would next do. Holding his large metal pan close to him, he began to creep along the room.

"Whatever you say, doc," Lion said, still watching his employer as he once again entered the vial of blood and tapped out a new command on the board. The big brute watched as once again bright red blood flowed through and into the form of the small child, though this time significantly more of it. Slowly, Lion watched as the fetus rapidly went through slight changes, completing its development and slightly altering its bone structure. It even gained a small amount of hair, and it was...brown?

"What the…?" GMO began, looking down at the now empty vial in his hand, "No, no! Brunette, no one in my family had brown hair. Lion! You great buffoon, did you switch the samples?!"

The GMOverlord turned himself around and saw his Dandy Lion experiment before him. That would have been all well and good, except he currently stood their unconscious, and an unfashionably dressed man standing behind him. "Who in sam hell are..." The villain was interrupted by a large metal pan across the face, sending him reeling and bouncing on the ground.

"Sorry, you kid controlling hybrid making sicko, but you're..." Lynn paused for effect, "...under a-roast!"

Pausing for a moment, Lynn deflated. "Alright, that one kinda stunk..." he admitted to himself before he quickly made his way to the chamber. There was no way he was letting this kid stay down here with this freak for a second longer.

Once again using the pan, Lynn skipped the attempts to play around on the keyboard and instead decided to smash it up good and proper. Thankfully, the chamber opened up following the act, the fluid draining inside and the young baby slowly drifting and lying on the bottom of the chamber. Very carefully, Lynn scooped the child up and carefully made his way out of the chamber, all the while hushing and holding onto the tiny bundle.

"It's okay," he whispered to the already sleeping child, feeling their chest heave against his arm as it breathed, "Don't worry, junior, it'll be okay..."

When Rita had finished with the conference, slightly steamed at the proposals AEGIS had been trying to make, she was surprised to see the manhole cover in front of City Hall pop open. Even more surprising was when her colleague Collagen popped out, struggling through the small opening and...was he holding a frying pan?

The final event was most surprising though, and she saw the blue and black sweatsuit ensemble, the terrible attempt at a mask and the familiar if ruined shoes. "Lynn?" Rita said, pushing her way over to him.

Lynn whipped himself around and smiled brightly, looking positively relieved. "Oh my gosh, Rita!" he said, walking briskly towards her. Rita would have found it odd, but then she saw the bundle in his arm…

"Oh dear, honey?" Rita said, pointing to the tiny nude being in his arms, "Um, who is that?"

Lynn paused, looking down to the newborn girl. Thinking he didn't have a much better opportunity, and thinking on how she was mostly his DNA and the rest was a hodgepodge of different superheroes, Lynn said what he had always somewhat hoped to call one of his children.

"Honey, this is Lynn Loud, Jr.," he said, holding the small girl up for his wife to see, "And she was just saved by the Cast Iron Crusader!"