Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Ten reasons
Chapter twelve: Mad Science part three- A confirmed hypothesis
Lincoln Loud was resting at home after he and his older sister Lori were escorted home following an incident the previous afternoon. He was sitting on the sofa in the living room, reading one of his comic books. Sitting on the sofa with him was his older sister Luna; their younger siblings Lucy, Lana and Lola were all sitting on the floor. Apparently, there was some breaking news story on the news that Luna, of all people, wanted to watch, as it involved her idol Mick Swagger.
As the five of them sat in the living room, their younger sister Lisa came walking in. Letting out a small yawn, Lisa said, "Good morning, my sibling units. I don't suppose you all slept well last night, did you?"
"Well I did have a weird dream last night where I lost one of the many pageants that I usually compete in," Lola remarked.
"Wait a minute," Lana interrupted, "Wouldn't that normally be a bad dream for you, sis? Why would you say it was a weird dream?"
"I lost the pageant to Luna," Lola explained to Lana as she pointed to the musical Loud sibling, "Although I did beat out Bobby, Principle Huggins, Flip, Mr. Grouse and Pop-Pop for second place." Hearing the explanation from Lola about why the dream she had was weird prompted the other Loud siblings, other than Lisa who seldom ever does so, to laugh out loud. Luna found what Lola said to be particularly funny, given that she apparently won the pageant in the dream.
After the laughter simmered down, Lincoln noticed that his brainy little sister seemed a bit tired. "Hey Lisa, you seem kind of bushed," Lincoln said in a concerned tone, "Are you okay?"
"I…had trouble sleeping last night," Lisa began explaining to her older brother, "It had to do with the fact that you and Lori were involved in that traffic incident. Since I was finding myself unable to get some sleep, I decided to try out some experiments that I've been aching to give a whirl." Lisa's explanation was true; she didn't get a lot of sleep the previous night, and the incident that Lincoln and Lori were involved in did, in fact, have something to do with it.
…However, Lisa's story is just a very basic summarization of why she was up late the previous night. Long story short, Lisa got revenge on the man responsible for blindsiding Vanzilla, the Loud family's van, while Lisa's siblings Lori and Lincoln were in it. Lisa also managed to get ahold of the man's cohorts, and when her business with the men was done, she wiped their memories with a more recent invention of hers before knocking them out and dropping them off in front of the local police station; the five men in total were shortly arrested after that. At least Lisa got some valuable information out of the experiments she did last night.
"Note to self," Lisa thought as she turned around to walk back up the stairs, "Do research on what the fat man from last night said after I take a nap."
Something that one of Lisa's…voluntary test subjects…told her during the previous night before she wiped his memories stuck in the young genius's mind, so after a quick nap to catch up on some rest, Lisa fired up her personal computer to do some digging around. What the brainy Loud sibling found out from her research on this matter actually disturbed her.
A couple of months ago, a man working at the local sewage treatment plant rose to a very high position, allowing him power over most of the plant's other workers. In this position of newfound power, the man fired a number of employees at the sewage treatment plant. The man gave good reasons for all of these firings, but a bit more digging around by Lisa confirmed that, in reality, the man fired every last one of those workers for petty, shallow reasons, none of which were even related to work. One of the employees who was fired, which turned out to be Wallace of all people, was fired by the man out of revenge for a perceived wrong.
Exiting out of all of the programs she had running before shutting off her personal computer, Lisa pushed back away from her table that she had her computer on. Lisa pinched the bridge of her nose, pushing her glasses up slightly in the process, as she sighed in a resigned tone; so that's why those men were in the process of making bombs, that's why Royal Woods Elementary was attacked close to two months ago.
That's why Lincoln's left leg was now horrifically bruised and covered in scars.
Although it by no means justifies what the men were trying to do, it does not change the fact that, if it hadn't been for a petty, conceited man rising to a position of high power in the management hierarchy of the local sewage treatment plant only for him to abuse his power, then the attack on the school would not have taken place at all. Lisa didn't find out, nor did she have any idea, why the bombers decided to attack the elementary school, though.
Getting up from her chair, Lisa decided that she should look into this matter more. However, it could wait for the time being as far as she was concerned. After all, the brainy Loud sibling had a few more pressing issues of business that she wanted to get to.
"Mmm," Lori hummed in an amazed and genuinely surprised tone; Lisa had gotten yet another batch of her experimental dog biscuits ready, and her siblings were taste-testing them. "These are literally some of the best snacks that I ever had," Lori said to Lisa, "And these can be enjoyed equally by both humans and dogs, you say?"
"Affirmative," Lisa replied in her usual dry tone, "As I've told everyone who asked about it, I got the idea for them from observing the many times Lana ate one of the dog biscuits from the boxes that we usually get for Charles."
"I'm glad someone decided to go through the trouble of making a snack that humans and dog can both enjoy," Lana remarked after she polished off another one of the biscuits, "I was getting tired of Charles always getting all of the good stuff."
"Although I…wouldn't agree with Lana in that regard," Lincoln said to Lisa, "I have to admit that these biscuits you've created are pretty good. Personally, I'd have to say that caramel is my favorite flavor of the biscuits. Are you considering marketing them?"
"Lincoln, you'd be surprised by how many times I've had to make trips to the patent office over my four years of life so far," Lisa replied with a hint of amusement in her tone, "But still, I'm glad that you and the rest of our sibling units approve of them." Turning to see Charles, the Loud family's dog, lying on his back in a content slumber, the brainy Loud sibling continued, "And I have no doubt that Charles approves of them as well."
"Speaking of dogs," Lori said, "Allison told me that she wanted to get another box of these biscuits for Fenrir."
"Heh," Lisa chuckled in an amused tone, "It seems that the biscuits already have a customer base. I think it is safe to say that this experiment is a success."
Lisa was up in her and Lily's room, making more progress on one of her latest projects, when she heard one of her sisters make a commotion downstairs. Seeing as how she had reached a safe place to stop for a break, the brainy Loud sibling decided to head down stairs to see what was going on. Upon arriving in the living room, Lisa found all of her siblings currently in-house in the living room. From what Lisa could tell, it had been Luna that was making the commotion.
"What is going on?" Lisa asked, sounding just a tiny bit annoyed that she had been dragged away from a project that she had been putting pretty much all of her free time into.
"It's a news report about the airlines out in California, dude," Luna remarked in a clearly peeved tone to her brainy little sister while pointing to the TV, "Apparently, they're going to be having even more delays!"
"What?" Lisa replied in a surprised tone as she immediately turned her attention to the TV.
"…Costing airline passengers hundreds of thousands, if not millions, due to a constant stream of canceled flights and delays," the news reporter said, "Someone who was representing the airlines apologized for the consistent inconvenience that they keep imposing on passengers, but they cannot afford to take any chances due to reports of a supposed domestic terrorist living and operating in the city of San Francisco. Local law enforcement is hard at work trying to track down the domestic terrorist in question. And now onto sports. Roger?"
As Lana and Lynn wrestled with each other as Lana wanted to change the channel but Lynn wanted to watch the news's sports section, the rest of the Loud siblings all turned to each other. "A domestic terrorist living in California?" Luna said in a mildly worried but mostly confused tone, "Well that would certainly explain why the airlines are being so damn slow."
"Hold on," Lola began, "The news said something about San Francisco. What city was mom and Lily going to again?"
"Mom said that her friend lives in Sacramento, which is the capital of California," Lisa stated, "That would put mom and Lily at least eighty miles from the potential dangers that are taking place in San Francisco at the moment."
"Hey Luna," Lincoln began in a worried tone, "Didn't you say that your friend who lives in California lives in San Francisco?"
"Oh yeah, he does," Luna remarked, "Granted, I forgot what suburb he lives in, but I know for a fact that he lives somewhere in San Francisco."
"You know," Lori said in a wishful tone, "I've always wanted to go to San Francisco. To see the sights, go to one of the local restaurants, and do a bit of shopping."
"That sounds, like, totes awesome," Leni remarked, "We should go to San Francisco right now!"
"Do you have any idea how long of a drive it would be from Royal Woods to San Francisco?" Lisa stated.
"We can always, like, fly out there," Leni offered.
"One, it would be viciously expensive to fly a family of our size from Michigan out to California," Lisa replied in her usual dry monotone, "And two, as it is obvious that you have not been paying attention thus far, I feel the need to remind you that the airlines have their heads up their own rear ends at the moment."
"Lisa's got a point, Leni," Lori remarked to her fashionable sister, "Even though it would literally be awesome to go to San Francisco, flying out there right now would not only be dumb because of the airlines right now, but it would really cut into the ten grand that Lynn got."
"Yeah," Lynn said, "I'm sorry Leni, but I'm going to have to side with Lori and Lisa on this one." Out of the Loud siblings aside from Lynn, only Lisa could tell that the sporty member of their number was hiding something. Lisa wasn't sure what Lynn was hiding, but she opted to ignore it for now, deciding that it was a non-factor.
"Not to mention the fact that the news just said that there's some dangerous guy living in San Francisco," Lincoln stated in a concerned tone, "I mean, I would hate for anyone in our family to get hurt if that guy showed up while we were out at a restaurant or doing some shopping."
"Oh geez," Leni replied in a concerned tone to her siblings as a whole, "I'm really sorry about making you all worry."
Sighing in an understanding tone, Lori replied, "Leni, relax. No one's chewing you out. We're just pointing out a few things that, if we do the right thing concerning them, will literally save us loads of trouble in the future."
"Lori's right, Leni," Lincoln said to his fashionable older sister, "Other than the fact that the airlines are being really dumb right now, not to mention the fact that there's a domestic terrorist in the San Francisco area, a trip to San Francisco actually sounds really nice. Personally, I like the idea of one day going there."
"Aww, thanks," Leni said, touched that some of her siblings actually agreed with her. The fashionable loud sibling then proceeded to walk up to Lincoln and hug him, and that triggered a group hug in which all of the Loud siblings joined in on. Even Lisa, who is normally not one for human emotions, joined in on the group hug, although she was the last to join.
With encouragement from her siblings and father, Lisa went ahead to apply for a patent on the dog biscuits she had invented. The concept of a snack that can be equally enjoyed by both humans and dogs seemed to have something of an appeal to people, who got their first boxes, mostly out of curiosity. After that stage, the boxes started selling both in greater numbers and at greater speeds. And as the person who invented the biscuits, Lisa naturally got a fair share of the profits made from selling them.
…Did you seriously think Lynn Sr. and his wife Rita were the only breadwinners that the Loud family had? And this was far from the first time that the brainy Loud sibling patented one of the many things she had invented.
Lisa was in her and Lily's room shortly after her family got the first of the money that Lisa earned due to her special dog biscuits, working on a secret project that she had been trying to perfect for approximately a month. By the little genius's estimations, her project should take about a few more weeks, but only because of how much she cares about what this project will do for the person she had in mind while she was working on said project. Lisa wanted everything to be absolutely perfect.
After Lisa had finished saving some progress she had made on her project, she heard a knocking at her door. Deciding that she was okay to take a break for the time being, Lisa hopped off of the chair she was sitting on and answered the door. When she saw Luna and Lori standing there with questioning looks on their faces, Lisa said, "Is there a problem, my sibling units?"
"Dude, care to explain what this is?" Luna asked as she held up a dark-colored durable looking bag that looked large enough to hold a full-grown human being.
"That would be a body bag," Lisa stated in her usual dry monotone, "I fail to see why that would cause alarm for you."
"We're 'alarmed' because we want to know what a kid your age is doing with a body bag," Lori stated, "They're literally used in handling dead bodies, Lisa!"
"I have done work on people who had donated their bodies to science," Lisa explained, "Some of the demonstrations I have given to the students over at the local university were medical lectures that required going to a morgue to examine a cadaver." Gesturing to the body bag that Luna was holding, Lisa stated, "That would be one of the extra body bags from the morgue the last time I had to give a medical lecture there."
"You…" Lori began in a worried tone, "…You haven't done any work like that here, have you?"
"Of course not," Lisa stated in a reassuring tone, "I have not once experimented on, or otherwise bothered with, the deceased remains of human beings on the premises of our family's home." This was actually completely true; Lisa had never once experimented on, or otherwise worked with, a deceased human's remains on Loud family property.
"I'm going to be needing that back," Lisa said to Luna as she pointed to the body bag, "Also, I would like to know what you're doing with it."
"Lynn, Lucy, Lola and Lana were using it to play some sort of pretend game involving a zombie apocalypse," Luna explained as she handed the body bag to Lisa.
"How many times do I have to say it," Lisa said as her usual dry monotone took on something of an annoyed hint, "It is impossible for there to be any sort of quote unquote 'virus' or anything else along those lines that can raise deceased humans as undead."
"Try telling that to Luna's friend in California," Lori remarked dryly, "According to Luna, her friend in California as it written in his will that as soon as he dies, he wants his head to be removed from his body because he firmly believes that without a head, his body won't be able to rise as a zombie or some other form of undead."
Turning her attention to regard Luna, Lisa gave the musical Loud sibling a dry look. "You make friends with the most…interesting…people in the world, don't you?" Lisa asked, the annoyed hint in her tone gone.
With her hands on her hips, Luna asked her brainy younger sister in a mildly suspicious tone, "What's that supposed to mean, little dude?"
Later that day, the Loud siblings were all having lunch; Lynn Sr. was at work, so that left the siblings to try and fix things up for themselves. As they were all eating and otherwise enjoying each other's company, Lincoln said, "Hey, Lisa."
"Yes, Lincoln?" the brainy Loud sibling replied.
"Can you do me a favor?" Lincoln asked.
"What would that be?" Lisa said, admittedly at least a little curious as to what her older brother wanted to ask of her.
"Could you maybe not stay up so late so much?" Lincoln replied.
"…I beg your pardon?" Lisa asked, sounding completely confused.
"I can understand that you like to perform experiments," Lincoln replied in a mildly concerned tone, "And I can also understand that all of the recent incidents that I've been involved in has kept you up due to worry. But you really need to try to get some more sleep."
"Lincoln's right, Lisa," Luan remarked, "I mean, you of all people should be able to tell us how much sleep a person needs depending on how old they are."
"It…seems that in my efforts to finish up some projects and experiments, along with all of the worry that I have been feeling over the past several weeks or so, that I have in fact neglected to take my needs in to consideration," Lisa stated in a tone of realization.
"This is literally a problem that's been popping up since before the attack on the elementary school," Lori said to the brainy Loud sibling, "Lisa, you're only four. I don't mean to lecture you on anything, but it literally can't be good for anyone to not get enough sleep."
"You are correct in assuming that there are concerns with not getting enough sleep," Lisa replied in a matter-of-factly tone, "And if it helps, I was planning on taking a nap after lunch anyway."
"Good," Lori replied with a nod, "I'm glad to see that you're as smart as you say you are."
Giving her oldest sibling a suspicious look, Lisa said, "Are you implying that you believed me to be of lesser intelligence simply because I had made an error concerning the amount of sleep that I have been getting as of late?" A lot of Lisa's older siblings started laughing, finding it funny that Lisa was giving Lori a suspicious glare.
After a good nap, Lisa was back to work on her latest project, the one that she wanted to get absolutely perfect. The brainy Loud sibling took a look at her secret project, which involved some beakers containing various liquids, and a notebook with a lot of handwritten notes that was written on its pages.
At the top of the page that the notebook was open to, the words 'medicine to fully heal Lincoln's leg' could be seen, written in big, bold capital letters.
As she gave the notebook a gentle pat with her right hand, Lisa gave a mild resigned sigh. "Soon, my dear brother," Lisa said quietly to no one but herself, "Your leg is going to be fully healed."
END, TEN REASONS CHAPTER TWELVE
Author's notes:
I'm sorry that a lot of this chapter contained mostly filler scenes, but I felt that it was prudent to show that the siblings all cared about each other, and that they showed it in ways other than ducking, dodging, pushing and shoving. Anywho, as I was doing research on Lisa's character for her time in the spotlight, I realized that the first four sisters that were featured were all sisters that Lincoln doesn't feel as close to compared to some of the others. Well, I'm going to be changing that starting in the next chapter.
Next time: Gothic Shadows
