After being reunited with Luna, the group ran into Lori with Lily and Lisa in the food court. Lori was giving Lily some baby food, but Lisa was only eating French fries.
"Lisa," Lori told her, "You need to eat the chicken nuggets, too."
"I'd be healthier starving," Lisa ate another fry, "But these starchy, salted imitations of the commonly cut solanum tuberosum are too addictive to deny!"
"You don't get the toy if don't eat the nuggets," Lori warned her.
Lisa paused and looked at the plastic package with the mystery toy inside.
"…There better be uranium in that packaging," she stuffed a nugget into her mouth.
"I wouldn't count on it."
Lily squealed as she spotted her other siblings behind Lori.
"Hey guys!" she greeted. "You look good, Lincoln!"
They got their food and sat down just as the remaining three girls joined them. With all of them across two to three sets of tables, they were responsible for most of the uproar you'd hear at a mall food court.
"So," Lynn said through her burger. "I'm hedging to bet that you're a sports fan. Baseball? Football? Track?"
Luna was at the corner of his vision. She looked away and distracted herself with Lily.
Lincoln shrugged. "Sorry," he answered. "Only running I do is from ladies with white haired babies."
Lynn's cheeks puffed out, and she turned her head to hide her snorting laughter. The twins looked to each other and shrugged. Luan looked nervously from the older girls to the younger.
"Uh, Lincoln," she leaned over to his ear, "Maybe… ixnay on the exsay. Little ears are here."
Lincoln blinked. He'd known about that sort of thing forever now, it never occurred to him to watch his mouth.
"Why would the babies have white hair?" Lola demanded.
"Because, sister," Lisa began to explain. "Our brother is implying that he has-"
"Hey, Luan!" Lori interjected. "Why don't you take Lincoln and go look at some shops? We need some stuff to fill up his room."
She palmed the piece of plastic that she took from Leni. Luan gave an overenthusiastic thumbs up.
"Sounds good!" she declared. She turned to Lynn and clapped her shoulder. "Come on. Let's go."
"But I'm still eating!" Lynn muffled through her food. She swallowed her bite and still had a third of the burger left. She managed to shovel the rest in, along with a fistful of fries.
Lincoln watched her with equal parts of disgust and admiration. They got up and followed Luan. As they joined her, Lincoln felt a cold presence by his arm. He turned and yelped as Lucy had suddenly appeared there.
"I'm here too," she stated plainly, "in case you forgot."
Lincoln coughed and kept walking.
"So wear are we headed?" he wondered.
"Sports gear!" Lynn declared, mouth still full.
"We're going to look around," Luan clarified, correcting Lynn, "And see what Lincoln likes."
"Oh, all right," Lynn finally swallowed and laced her fingers behind her head as they walked. "Tell us what you want Linc. Just please- oh, please- don't make us go into Hot Topic again."
Out of corner of his eye, Lincoln spotted Lucy fold her arms and grit her teeth. That must be her store. Go figure.
Lincoln looked around, looking for something he liked. It was strange that he didn't have an answer. Like he said, most of his time was spent trying to find some way to feed himself or run away from the rough crowds in the city.
And he wasn't a great runner.
He spotted one store with Superhero posters plastered over the glass windows. Spiderman, Avengers, Justice League, and a couple others he didn't recognize. He slowed to a stop when he saw them.
Lynn sighed behind him. "I had a feeling…" she noted.
A few years ago, a classmate of his brought a comic book to school to show his friends. The kid threw a tub of playdoh at Lincoln's head the week before, and he liked the design of the guy on the cover of the book, so he stole it while everyone was at recess. That other boy cried when he realized he would never see it again. Lincoln felt guilty about it, and he fully intended on giving it back (when he was done with it, and he'd give it back without incriminating himself), but his step-brother found it first and tore it to shreds right in front of him. Lincoln cried because his plan had failed, among other things.
Lincoln walked into the store and looked around. The inside was brightly lit, and the walls were painted red, and there were rows and rows of boxes filled with paper back stories, with shelves deeper in containing thicker volumes.
"Let me know if you see anything you like," Luan told him.
The boy scanned the boxes and shelves. Was there any way…?
He looked for him. That strange hero in the red costume, what was it?
"Pfft," Lynn complained, "I think I figured out why guys like these things."
She held up a paper issue. The muscles on the guy were huge, impossibly big, and he had two bikini clad supermodels hanging onto his neck. Their lips were puckered, looking seductively at the audience, and the "man" they attached themselves to looked at the reader with a knowing look and a smirk.
Lincoln rolled his eyes.
"That's how you make a cheap buck," he told her. She snickered and put the book back where she found it.
He resumed his search. He thinks the cape was white, or was it yellow? Gold, maybe?
He felt someone tug on his arm. He turned to see Lucy holding up a volume of something.
"Are… these guys any good?"
He looked at what she offered. It was the X-men, featuring Cyclops on the cover with his glinting red gaze, with the other mutant heroes standing tall behind him.
"I think so," Lincoln took the book. "I think people hate them. Like, they're outcasts, or something."
"Cool," Lucy mumbled.
He took the book and continued his search.
"Woah!"
Lincoln looked over to Lynn, who had picked up a book featuring another team of heroes.
"Who're these guys?" she wondered. "What's with the rock monster?"
"That's the Fantastic Four," he answered. "They're… astronauts, I think?"
"Oh right," Lynn nodded. "I think I remember these guys."
Lincoln took a volume from that team as well. He knew these things cost money, and he doesn't think any of them will fit down his pants. Hopefully their not too expensive.
"Hey, Linc, who's this guy?"
Lincoln turned to Luan, holding up an issue of a muscly man with a lightning bolt across his chest. Lincoln's eyes grew wide.
"That's who I'm looking for!" Lincoln rushed over to her. "Shazam!"
"Really?" Luan flipped through the pages. She spotted a villain sending out a squad of clowns as minions. She sighed dejectedly. "Why can't there be any good-guy-clowns? Why do clowns always have to be evil? It's seriously killing my business."
Lincoln shrugged. He had nothing against clowns, but he didn't really have anything for them, either.
"Well," Luan laid the comic on top of Lincoln's stack. "You think you got enough?"
"Yeah, I think so," he nodded.
They paid for the issues and walked out of the store. They walked around looking at other shops.
"You see anything else you like?" Luan asked.
"Uh…" Lincoln looked around. He spotted a group of boys walking in their direction. It was the skater boys from earlier. Lincoln balled his fists at his sides as they walked by. They were horsing around and shoving each other as they walked along; being rowdy.
One of the boys saw him with the girls walking next to him. As they walked by, Luan suddenly yelped with a sharp clap.
"Geep!" she blushed.
Lincoln spun around, seeing the offending boy with his arm outstretched. His buddies were clapping his shoulders and laughing.
Lynn shouted. "Hey!"
Lincoln didn't even bother. He launched forward, shoving the kid down. The kid banged the back of his head against the glass display of a clothing store. He was wearing a helmet, and the glass didn't break or crack, but it did reverberate, causing many heads to turn and stare at the commotion.
Lincoln, still high on adrenaline, grabbed the kids skate board and brought it down over his head. The kid put his arms up to cover his face instinctively and he squealed in horror. The wheels of the skate board banged against the top of his helmet, and he cried out even harder when he brought them down a second time. There was a sickening crack, but not from the helmet, or the head under it.
"Lincoln, stop!" Luan hooked her arms around the boy, forcing him to drop the skateboard.
The white-haired boy was still breathing heavily. Lynn stepped between him and the other boys. Each of them wore varying expressions of horror. The main offender had tears and snot running down his face, and there was a wet pool under his legs. Lynn picked up the skateboard, noticing the severe crack that split it. It was ruined anyway, any amount of pressure put on it would make it break completely.
She turned to the boys with the skateboard, and slammed it on her knee, snapping it in two and causing splinters to fly. Luan was already shuffling Lincoln away from the scene.
"Respect, a-holes," the athlete told the boys. "Learn it."
They walked away. Lincoln saw Lucy clutching his bag of comics with her head down. They walked outside and sat at a bench. They all seemed to be catching their breath.
"Lincoln," Luan sighed as she ran her hand up and down his back. He shivered at the touch, scared now more than ever. "You can't just… do stuff like that."
"He smacked you," Lincoln answered in a huff.
"Yeah, he did," Luan agreed. "But you could have killed him. If he wasn't wearing that helmet…"
"I don't care," he dismissed it. "Why should I?"
The group remained silent. Lucy was shaking next to Lynn, and she put her arms around her.
Lincoln closed his eyes. "I'm sorry," he breathed.
"It's okay," Luan continued to rub his back. "That was sweet of you, to look out for me… But let's not make a habit out of it, okay?"
Lincoln didn't move for a minute but then nodded.
"Okay."
He gave a big, ugly sniff and wiped his nose.
"You've been in fights before?" Luan asked.
"Sometimes," he sniffed again. Tears escaped from his eyes and he had to wipe them away too.
"Is that wear you got the bruises?" Lucy piped up.
Everyone looked over at her, stunned.
"Bruises?" Luan brow creased in worry.
"I was with you when you went shopping with Leni," she told Lincoln. "When you changed your shirt out in the store, I saw them. I know Leni noticed them too. She was just being nice. And not asking you about it."
Lincoln didn't know he still had the bruises. He had some sore spots, but he never bothered to check in the mirror.
Luan looked back to Lincoln, a new brand of worry spreading over her face.
"Sometimes," he repeated, answering the earlier question.
Stunned silence permeated the group. Little more than rolling cars and wind filled the gap of conversation.
"Lincoln," Luan finally spoke. "I am so…"
She paused. She leaned over him and wrapped him in a tight hug. She planted a kiss on top of his head before just resting her cheek on it.
"Thank you," she told him. "for coming to the rescue."
Lincoln felt more ashamed than proud. In a few minutes, Lori walked out the door with the others trailing behind her. Lily was still on her hip, and she wore determined concern on her face.
"Guys," she stood in front of them, "What happened?"
Luan took charge and told her what happened. When she finished, Lori thought for a second. She glanced at the doors, and her eyes went wide.
"Everybody up," she ordered. "Lucy, skootch next to Lincoln. Lincoln, wrap and arm around her shoulders. Lisa, sit next to Lucy. Lola, Lana, sit next to him on the other side and hold hands. Just do it for five minutes, okay? Lincoln, here."
She placed the baby in his lap.
"Hold her, and don't say anything," she told him.
He nodded. He then realized what she was doing and turned her, so she was facing away from him, like a family portrait. The older girls stood around and waited for the security guard to approach them. When he did, it was just a bunch of girls looking concerned for their younger brother.
"Hey guys," the guard greeted, acting friendly enough. "What happened here?"
Lori took the lead.
"Some boys grabbed my sister," she explained, "Our brother… went a tad overboard. He's usually so well behaved. He just misunderstood. We talked to him already and we promise he won't do it again."
The guard raised and eyebrow, looking from her to (picture-perfect) Lincoln and back to her again.
"Alright," he decided, "No one got hurt this time. I got someone calling the boy's parents. Where are your parents?"
"On their way," Lori proudly proclaimed, showing the texts on her phone for a second.
The guard nodded. "I'll let it go this time but consider this a warning. No more fights, okay bud?"
He seemed to be talking to Lincoln more than anyone else. He cleared his throat.
"Yessir," he meekly nodded.
Satisfied, he looked back to Lori.
"You girls be careful," he told them. He went back inside.
Everyone let out a breath.
"Well," Luan said, still red in the face. "That was a full day."
"Definitely," Luna agreed.
