So now the Loud family have discovered the cause of the children's powers. As well as the gravity of their situation being permanent. Let's all take a nice look at how their...
...coping.
Oh, and 1 more thing. Ink-Dub, thanks for the critique. Though I still like my opening chapter, I can see how others may see it start to drag out and get boring. But I assure you, you won't have to wait much longer for them to go hero.
Chapter 4: Origins pt4: Where there's light…
"*yawn* Man, I haven't slept that well since when we went on vacation." Lincoln said groggily as he awoke from his sleep. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and started to move around more. He blinked and his eyes widened when he realized that he was no longer in his bed. Instead, he woke up on the ceiling of his room with the blanket he was originally under strewn about on the floor. He hollered from the shock and abruptly dropped to the floor. He rubbed his head and groaned. "Oh yeah, I can fly now." He recalled as he got back up and stretched his back until he heard a small pop. "I hope that my sisters are having a better time adjusting to this."
Lincoln opened the door to his room and was welcomed by screaming coming from Lynn and Lucy's room. He quickly ran over to their door and was quickly surrounded by his other sisters. They all gasped at the sight of Lucy, who was thrashing around in her sleep and producing dark shadows that clutched Lynn and shook her in the air.
"Make her stop! MAKE HER STOP!" Lynn pleaded desperately. Lincoln and Leni ran inside and shook Lucy.
"Lucy wake up, it's us!"
"Wakey wakey, fangs and blood pudding." Lucy grumbled and woke up startled, the shadows dissipating and dropping Lynn on her bed. The girl looked at her family through the bangs of her dark hair and sighed heavily.
"I had the worst nightmare. I dreamt I was a princess dancing at a royal ball in a fairy tale. It was so disgustingly sweet and cheery I thought I was going to throw up." She explained. Lynn let out long, exasperated breaths as she recovered.
"Well next time you have a nightmare, I'm sleeping downstairs." She retorted. Luan stepped forward with a cheerful smile on her face.
"You'd be better off just making a run for it!" She laughed a clone popped out of her, catching her by surprise.
"And you'll need to be quick on your feet too." The clone joked as a third popped out and followed up with another joke.
"But she needs to be brave in the race of danger." All 3 Luans laughed as their siblings groaned in annoyance. The original caught her breath and wiped a tear from her eye.
"OK, that was fun, but I need to practice not making you randomly. So how about you just get back inside me?" The other 2 Luans shrugged in response with a disappointed look on their faces.
"Alright, fine."
"Let's go back inside me, me. She's raining on our parade." The pair of clones laughed as they merged with the original once more. Luna pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed angrily.
"I don't know what's worse. The fact we're all mutants, or that Luan can clone herself." She complained.
"Come on, sis. 3 heads are better than 1." Luan laughed, causing a groan of frustration to erupt from everyone else. Lori looked down at Lisa and tapped her shoulder, catching the genius tyke's attention.
"Hey Lisa, last night you said you would work on something that would help with my… problem?" Lori asked in nervous anticipation. Lisa pushed up her glasses and nodded with a neutral expression.
"Indeed. I'm working on a device that looks similar to a wrist watch but would allow you to temporarily counter the molecular density in your arms. Not a substantial amount, but enough to allow needles to pass through into your veins. Also, it is still in its design phase and won't be ready for a while." Lisa explained. Lori sighed in defeat over the proposition.
"Well, it's literally better than nothing." She reasoned. The siblings' conversations were soon interrupted when their father called them from downstairs.
"Kids, breakfast!" The children came downstairs and saw various plates of eggs, bacon, and toast. Leni picked up Lily and placed her in her high chair as they ate, the usual chatter and chaos was not present. The anxiety brought up by their new abilities made acting normally rather difficult. As they ate their breakfast, their meal soon became interrupted when Lola groaned.
"Lana, keep your dirty animal and mud thoughts out of my head!" She yelled.
"It's my brain, you stay out of it. And take your ribbon dance twirls with you!" Lana countered. Agitated, Lola raised her hand and conducted a small amount of electricity that she used to zap Lana with. In response, Lana made her own lightning and the twins broke into a small scuffle of sparks. As the scrap grew larger, Rita panicked and ran inside the kitchen, coming back out wearing a pair of rubber gloves. The mother bravely dove into the middle of the fight and pushed the twins apart. The girl's hair was all messed up in a curly mess of frizz.
"Alright you 2, break it up. You better not fight like this and destroy the house while your father and I are at work!" She scolded. Luna's eyes widened in alarm.
"Wait, you 2 are leaving? You can't go when we all have to deal with this crazy mojo!" Luna cried in a panic. As she complained, the Earth shook a little bit and the plates on the table started to rattle towards the edge as well. Luna's father rushed over and bent down on a knee, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Luna, calm down. Everything is going to be okay." Lynn Sr. reassured. Causing the quakes to settle and the Loud siblings to sigh in relief. "Your mother and I would love to stay and help you through this. But we already took off our remaining sick days while you kids were in that coma. If we miss anymore, we could get fired." He explained. The children murmured and chattered amongst themselves as they understood. The parents walked over to the front door and started to walk out. But before Lynn Sr. left, he turned to his offspring 1 more time. "Lori, Leni, and Luna, you 3 are in charge. Keep your younger siblings out of trouble and try and squeeze in some extra practice with your powers. We'll be back around dinner. We love you." With that and a couple of waves from his family, the door closed and the Louds were left with the sight of the family van driving away.
When the van was gone, Lori took a deep breath in and clapped to signal her younger siblings' attention. "OK. We all have our own problems to work with, so I'll make it simple. Raise your hand if you had plans on leaving the house." Lori instructed. Lincoln, Lynn, and Lana raised their hands in response. "You're fine since I doubt Lola would want to go to any of your hangouts." Lori reasoned pointing to Lana. "You 2, on the other hand, wait right here." Lori left the room and into the basement. When she came back up a minute later, there were 2 large black spheres in each of her hands. Lynn looked at them for a moment and snapped her fingers.
"Hey, those are my shot puts!"
"Well now they are restrictive weights. And you 2 need to have them on you at all times when you are out in public." She sternly ordered as she shoved them into each of their pockets. Her brother raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Why do we need to carry these?" Lincoln asked while eyeing Lana, a little envious of Lana's absence of a limiter.
"Because without them, you guys are going to run off, or in your case fly off, and literally blow our cover." Lori explained. "Just keep them in your pockets and keep things slow and at ground level." She insisted.
"Fine." Lincoln and Lynn agreed reluctantly as they went into the living room. Lincoln opened the door and started to walk outside but stopped when he noticed Lynn was walking back upstairs. "I thought you said you were going outside for something?" He asked a little confused.
"I was going to hit the roller derby rink and I need my gear. Where are you going?" She countered.
"Clyde and I wanted to hang out at the arcade for a little bit. He was really nervous about me being in the hospital, after all." Lincoln answered as he left the house and walked down the sidewalk into town. As he went down the gray path, he couldn't help but start to day dream about being a hero like in his comic books. The scene formed clearly in his mind as he was dressed in a traditional suit and cape befitting that of a hero. In his fantasy, he drifted through the sky on the lookout for danger. As he flew overhead, he heard the praising cheers of citizens below him.
"There he is. Up in the sky!"
"That brave boy putting his life on the line for our city."
"Have no fear citizens. I will bring justice wherever it is needed" Lincoln said to the imaginary crowd with a noble, tough voice and a grin. He soared higher and continued to be on the look out for crime and danger. Then, he heard someone call out into the city.
"Help!" Lincoln stopped flying and looked downward to try and find the source of the cry, but couldn't find anything. The voice called out several more times. "Help! Help!"
"HELP US!" Lincoln snapped back to reality and looked over to the other side of the street and was horrified at what he saw. Right in front of him was an apartment complex that was ablaze with dark red flames. Vile black smoke billowed up from the roof and windows as people stuck their heads out and cried for assistance. Lincoln wasn't the only one looking upon the chaos, as a small group of civilians were gathered around the building as well. Some had phones, trying to contact the fire department. Unfortunately, the red trucks were nowhere to be found.
"Oh my gosh! What the heck happened here?" He asked himself in disbelief. Concerned, he ran over to the crowd and listened in on their conversations.
"How did this start?"
"Some sort of electrical short circuit. The building just got roasted from there."
"Where is the fire department?"
"They are on their way, but the truck blew a tire. Don't think they'll be able to save that many people at this rate." Lincoln shuddered at the gossip amongst the crowd.
'All those people… Just going to die because of 1 little accident?' He asked himself mentally. 'I wish I could do something to help.' Lincoln's face lit up when that thought crossed his mind. 'Wait a minute, I CAN do something!' He thought excitedly. 'I'll need a disguise though.' Lincoln looked around and saw a dumpster tucked inside of an alley. Desperate, he ran over to it and rummaged around inside of it until he saw a paper plate and a broken bottle. He hurriedly took the bottle's sharp edges and cut eye holes in the plate so he had a make-shift mask. Satisfied with his craft, he slapped the mask over the face and tied in place using some rope.
"Still feels like something is missing." Lincoln looked at his clothes and slapped some trash over his shirt and hair so they were covered in stains and trashy sludge. "Gross, but should keep me disguised." Lincoln turned towards the building and took a deep breath. "OK, Lincoln. Just go in, fly everyone out, and save the day." Lincoln dropped the shot puts on the ground and leaped upward as he started to float inside the building. The massive heat swept against him and he raised an arm in defense. He coughed as the smoke drifted into his face. Lincoln knelt down lower to the floor and started to look around and get a feel for his surroundings. Eventually he heard a small child's crying and saw a little girl tightly hugging her mother. He crawled over to the pair and tapped on the small girl's arm.
The child looked at him with teary eyes and whimpered. "My mommy. She won't wake up." Without saying a word, Lincoln narrowed his eyes and grabbed both mother and child and grunted as he barely managed to lift them up. With both in his arms, he went outside through the window. The crowd was astonished at Lincoln's heroic act.
"This person needs CPR." Lincoln instructed pointing at the unconscious mother. "I need to save the other people." Lincoln flew back into the building and started to look for more people. The crowd was in awe at the display and 1 man started to give the woman CPR. As the woman was being revived, the daughter couldn't help but look back at the building and saw Lincoln carry out a couple more people. She smiled in delight at the sight of him.
"Thank you." She whispered under her breath. Inside the building, Lincoln was saving another man and he slung him over his shoulder.
"*huff* I never knew I was this strong." He said as he started to fly again. He was about to float back down to the ground when he noticed the flames around his takeoff point had gone out. The snowy haired boy blinked in confusion. Curious, he went and put the man outside before quickly flying back inside and floating around the flames. The fire died down and turned into nothing but a few flickering embers. "I can control the wind by flying?" Lincoln asked himself as another idea formed in his head. "Maybe we don't need the fire fighters right now."
Lincoln floated out the window again and started to fly in circles around the building, creating a gentle breeze that circled around the building. The weak cyclone started to blow out the fires. The inferno grew weaker and weaker until it stopped altogether. A small amount of smoke still flowed out of the windows, but the apartment complex was still standing when the breeze stopped. The crowd clapped and cheered for Lincoln's actions and the boy stared back and smiled before flying away.
But as he did… there was someone in the crowd who was reacting differently. A man dressed in a black coat gazed at Lincoln in a sense of infatuation. He smirked and chuckled as he saw the boy fly off into the distance.
When Lincoln felt the coast was clear, he descended to the ground and removed his disguise and threw it into the dumpster again. A grin slowly spread across his face as he picked up the weights, placing them back in his pockets, and he soon couldn't contain his joy any longer. He jumped and cheered for himself in pride. "I can't believe I actually did that! All those people safe, because of ME!" He laughed. "Now, I better get to the arcade. If I keep Clyde waiting any longer, he might get suspicious." With his goal in mind. Lincoln continued down his original path and eventually arrived at the local arcade. When he walked through the door, he was greeted by a dark skinned boy with curly black hair, glasses, and a yellow and blue striped shirt.
"Lincoln!" The child greeted with a smile. Lincoln waved in response as he gave his friend a high five.
"Hey, Clyde. Long time no see."
"I'll say. When I heard you and your sisters were in comas, I flipped!" Clyde responded. "I thought you were going to die and that I would lose my best friend. Not to mention Lori. Oh sweet, sweet Lori." He moaned in a dramatic fashion. Lincoln glanced at him awkwardly and cleared his throat.
"Well, we all got through it okay. How about we just play some games and catch up?" Lincoln suggested. Clyde snapped out of his day dreams and nodded.
"Yeah. You're not going to believe what Rusty has been trying to do while you were out." For the next hour and a half, the 2 friends spent the day playing games at their leisure and making up for the lost time. After a while, the pair got a pizza and started to eat it together. "It's nice to have you back, Lincoln. Things just weren't the same without you." Clyde said happily as he bit into a slice of pizza.
"Thanks Clyde. I missed the outside world." Lincoln remarked. Just then, his phone let out a chime and vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. "It's a text from Lori."
"Lori? What did she say?" Clyde asked curiously. Lincoln opened the message app and read what Lori sent. His face turned pale and his heart sunk when he read it.
"She said: "Come home now before we track you down and drag you back!"." He confessed. Lincoln got up from his seat and started to run off. "Sorry Clyde, this seems like it's going to get ugly. See you later." Lincoln ran off and out the door without giving Clyde a chance to say good-bye to him. As Lincoln ran down the sidewalk, he couldn't help but feel worried about what lay ahead for him at home. "I am never going to hear the end of this." Lincoln moaned. In a couple minutes, he was once again outside his house. He took a deep breath and braced for the worst.
Lincoln opened the door and saw what he expected to see; A mob of angry looking sisters. The only siblings not part of the horde were Lola and Lana, who were nowhere to be seen. Lincoln was about to say something, but Lori stopped him before he got a single word out. "Save it. Couch. NOW!" She snarled. Lincoln nervously sat on the blue sofa as he felt the icy glares of his family drill into him. Lisa grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to the news. On screen was Lincoln saving the people from the burning building.
"You saw it here folks. A mysterious flying child appeared in an hour of need and saved the day. Thanks to this stranger's efforts, everyone was saved from the fiery inferno. The building, while damaged from the blaze, appears to be salvageable. It should be re-opened within a few weeks." A commentator said as it cut to the daughter of the woman Lincoln saved.
"He came in and saved my mommy. Tee hee. He made me so happy." Lisa paused the TV and everyone stared at Lincoln. There was a heavy, tense silence among the household until Lori broke it with an authoritative tone.
"Care to explain what this was literally all about?" She asked clearly frustrated. Lincoln broke a nervous sweat and darted his eyes towards the walls.
"That could be anyone." He lied. Lucy leaned in and gave Lincoln a horrible glare that was hidden underneath her bangs. Eventually, Lincoln caved under the pressure. "OK. You win, that was me! But what's the big deal? I saved everyone from that fire." Lincoln protested. Luna shook her head in disapproval.
"Dude, did you get nothing from the warning last night? You almost had our cover blown away!"
"Yeah. Not to mention you could have gotten yourself hurt. Like, really badly." Leni added. Lisa nodded in response.
"I concur. Your arrogance nearly costed you your life, brother unit." Lincoln narrowed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Arrogance? What about Lynn? She's in love with her power!" He countered.
"You're darn right I do. But the difference between us is that I apparently still have a brain. Something that Mom and Dad are going to make painfully clear to you when they get home." Lynn taunted. Lincoln groaned and frustration and started to walk towards the stairs.
"Fine. I'll just go to my room then." Lincoln whined. But before he could get up the stairs, Luan made 2 clones that cut him off.
"Not so fast Lincoln…"
"…We aren't stupid." The clones insisted. Lincoln raised an eyebrow in response.
"What are you talking about?" He asked quizzically. Lori grabbed Lincoln's shoulder and dragged him back onto the couch.
"Alone all by yourself in a room with a window perfect for flying out of? Yeah, no dice. You are staying here in the living room with all of us until Mom and Dad get back!" Lori commanded. "And just to make sure you don't get any ideas…Lucy!" Lori snapped her fingers and Lucy made dark energy binds around Lincoln, keeping him tethered in place. Lincoln groaned as he tried to break free, but to no avail.
"How did you learn to do this so fast?" He asked in defeat.
"It was your idea to practice." Lucy spoke in an apologetic tone, a little sorry for her brother. At the top of the stairs, the twins had been spying on the whole situation. They went into their room and started to pout and fume.
"Unbelievable. Who does Lincoln think he is?" Lola growled.
"I know, right? Just charging in and saving all those people. What a show-off."
"Exactly. Why should he have all the attention when we can do just as amazing?" Lana was about to continue, but stopped herself after hearing the phrasing of Lola's complaint.
"When we can do what?"
"You heard me. If Lincoln can do hero junk, why can't we? Imagine it, Lana. You and me as Royal Woods' greatest heroes." Lola fantasized as she wrapped an arm around her twin and waved it in the air. Fortunately for Lola, her sister didn't need to do any imagining at all, since Lana could see Lola's thought directly. The vision of being dressed up in costume, going on adventures, and being beloved by the people tantalized the twins to no end.
"Well… I can't argue with any of that." Lana shrugged. "But wait, if we do this we'll just get chewed out like Lincoln did." Lana looked over at the animal tanks and frowned. "What will happen to my pets?" She asked worriedly.
"Lana. Lana. Lana. The reason Lincoln got caught is because he set his heights too high." Lola explained as she went over to their toy chest and fished around for some disguise material. "I mean really, a burning building? Of course people will talk about that. We just need to do something small and get swept up in the local grapevine." Eventually, Lola pulled out a floral bandana, some sunglasses, a brown wig, and a blue masquerade party mask.
"Well how are we going to do that?" Lana asked as she took the wig and mask. Lola smirked as an idea formed in her head. The pair snuck out of the house through the back door and eventually found themselves in the park. They grabbed some hot dogs from a street vendor and started to eat as Lola reminded her twin of the plan.
"So, we just wait around and mind our own business until an emergency happens. Then we swoop in and save the day, hero style!" She said as she chomped on her hot dog. Lana nodded in understanding.
"Gotcha. But what kind of emergency are we talking about? A cat stuck in a tree?"
"HELP! Some thief just stole my purse!" The twins looked up and saw a man dressed in black running off with a pink handbag into the streets. Lola chuckled.
"I was thinking more along the lines of something like that." The twins put on their disguises and they gave chase to the man. The pair managed to follow the thief through the crowds of people until they managed to corner him in a dark alley. "Alright, mister. Give back the bag!" Lola demanded fiercely. The thief turned around and revealed himself to the pair. His skin was a caramel tan, sharply contrasted by the white scar over his left eye. His slick black hair complimented the thin mustache on his lip. He looked at the children and scoffed.
"Leave now little children, I'm waiting for someone important." He spoke in a deep voice, with an accent befitting that of a mob boss. Lana stepped forward and stood her ground firmly.
"That someone is looking right at you, bub!" She remarked proudly. The man gave the twins a strange look and chuckled.
"I see that boy from the fire inspired you 2, eh?" He asked rhetorically. The man reached into his jacket and started to pull something out from an inside pocket. "I guess I have a few extra shots to spare on you." He laughed evilly. Out instinct from the danger, both twins shrieked and thrusted their hands forward, shooting a bolt of electricity that made the thief jump back in alarm. When he recovered from the shock, he looked back up at the girls he saw they had a newfound sense of confidence. "You 2 can create lightning?" Lola and Lana laughed and high-fived. The clap made some sparks jump out of their hands and onto the ground.
"That's right we can!"
"What do you have to say to that?" They bragged in dramatic fashion, expecting the man to surrender. But instead, he laughed.
"I'd say that this is perfect." He celebrated through a toothy grin. Before either twin could react, the man pulled out a gun from his pocket and fired. But rather than a *bang*, it shot out with a *pew*. Lana winced as she felt the sting of a dart hitting her in the arm. She and Lola looked at it in confusion.
"That wasn't a bullet. What's the… big… idea?" Lana slurred as she stated to fall to her knees. "…I feel tired." She moaned as her eyelids started to grow heavy and she began to lose her balance. Lola gasped as Lana fell down and her wig fell of, revealing her blonde pig tails again. Lola started to shake Lana vigorously.
"Hey, don't fall asleep. Wake up!" She pleaded. The man cackled and slowly walked over to the pair.
"I'm afraid the medicine in that dart will keep your friend down for a few minutes at least." As he laughed, Lola started to tremble as the gravity of the situation started to sink in. "Oh, Emilio. You really hit the big time now. Go fishing for a flying boy and you get a pair of electric toddlers. I'm rich!" He laughed evilly. Lola whimpered and backed away as fear kept rising within her.
"Lola…" Lola looked over and saw Lana weakly whisper to her. She seemed as if she was using the last of her strength to stay awake and talk. "Run." Lana spoke softly as she fell back to sleep with a long yawn. Lola slowly backed away and turned around the corner in a full sprint. Emilio tried to take another shot at her with his dart gun, but missed as the dart whizzed by her dress.
"Drat. Oh well, I can still get a fair profit for just one." Emilio reasoned as his shadow stretched over Lana's sleeping body. The girl blissfully unconscious as the man picked her up and cackled. As Lola ran back home with tears in her eyes, she swore she could still hear Emilio's sinister laughter.
0_0
That... escalated quickly. I know it isn't THAT concerning since the first chapter dictates everything will be alright. But I bet you are all wondering HOW things will get to that point. And you are just going to have to wait for that information.
And before I sign off, I would like to give credit to The Mysterious Mr. M for helping me give Emilio his name!