"Is this the place?" Lori asked as the van pulled up toward the mansion-sized workplace. The entrance fence however was chained shut, and not just by one set of chains, but dozens.
"Yeah, this is it. I think we gotta use the side entrance," Lincoln stated. Lynn and Lucy found this very odd and suspicious. Lori was more nervous about what they might find once they did get in there more than anything. Lincoln had learnt about the two alternative entrances into the building during his stay here the other day. The four siblings all got out of the van before following their brother.
"How do I do this again…?" Lincoln wondered, the four standing in front of a scanner that had been hidden behind several bricks. The preteen had been left completely out of the loop when it came to this information. He had no clue how to get past it.
"Maybe it's an eye scanner," Lucy suggested.
"It's worth a shot," Lincoln shrugged, leaning in. He saw the red line run across his face. A few seconds later, a giant red X appeared on the screen, indicating denial of entry.
"No, it isn't that," Lincoln scratched his head, trying the more obvious option by using his hand, and placing it on the scanner. Again, denial of entry.
"Think it might just be busted," Lori claimed. They might be better off trying to climb the fence more than anything. Their brother turned his back to the scanner, leaning on it, his elbow being placed on the monitor by accident while he tried to think.
"Maybe they don't have me registered yet or something… that or I'm fired, in which case if I suddenly vanish one night, just let me say this in advance, I love you all very much," Lincoln told them. If this was a sign of his terminated employment, then he was dead with no other routes to go through, but he had not had either of his fingers chopped off yet, so that was a good sign. The bee ring was not even merged with his flesh yet.
"Looks like an elbow scanner," Lynn could not help but laugh a little. Lincoln quirked an eyebrow, looking at the monitor to see a big green circle of approval. Some of the bricks moved aside to reveal a doorway.
"Getting creepier by the minute," Lori said as they all went inside, the doorway closing behind them seconds after they entered. A few minutes of walking led them into the actual building itself, where they noticed a lot of his co-workers around, either resting, eating or doing various other tasks within the building. All the security guards normally stationed outside were now inside.
"What's going on here?" Lincoln questioned a nearby guard. Lori, Lucy and Lynn all noticed watchful eyes on them. Everyone had taken notice of their hands without any rings on them. With their brother leading them though, the three were safe from being thrown out or worse for the moment.
"Lazzerson is here, and to ensure everyone's safety, we go into lock down mode so that no one outside of our group attempts to sabotage the meeting," the guard explained.
"Oh…" Lincoln was stunned. Lazzerson was one of the rival mafia gang leaders. All he remembered hearing about him was that drug addicts were his puppets, and that he was able to capture those marionettes with such ease. The young boy was thankful for not seeing anyone from the green plant emeralds group, at least not yet, but now the boss was supposedly on their territory.
"I need to see Nora. Please, it's really important…" Lincoln was about to continue when someone else called out to him.
"Lincoln! Hey!" Ronnie Anne ran over to him, panting. She was happy to see her boyfriend again, worried that he would not arrive.
"Ronnie Anne! Am I glad to see you," Lincoln exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend instantly into a tight hug. She was happy to return this embrace, but then noticed the other loud siblings standing right nearby, watching the two's embrace.
"Lincoln, what's going on?" Ronnie Anne quirked. She was suspicious that Lori might inform her older brother, Bobby, of what she was doing. Lincoln caught onto her fear pretty fast, understanding why. However, his sisters spoke before him.
"Lincoln told us everything," Lori stated, aware of their ongoing relationship.
"We're here to help you two out," Lynn claimed.
"We promised to keep things secret too," Lucy added. Ronnie Anne gained a smile, relieved to know her boyfriend had finally pleaded for help to at least a few of his family members. Lincoln noticed a new ring on his girlfriend's other hand, resembling a small bird carrying the ruby in its talons. Lincoln received a quick kiss to his lips that made him blush a little.
"Heheh… Thanks, Ronnie Anne. Can you tell me where Nora is? I need to talk to her. Do you know what happened?" Lincoln asked. His girlfriend pointed toward their boss's office, the usual place their rude leader resided.
"Lazzerson waltzed in here. One of the enemy gang leaders. I didn't even know who he was at first, but apparently Nora called him over because our guards caught someone hanging around the building who would be working for him," Ronnie Anne explained what had happened, with no clue how volatile the exchange might be. Lincoln hated to imagine who Lazzerson was exactly. He sounded scary and a bit insane, using drugs to get free labor from addicts. But he would have find out what he looked like soon enough.
"Thanks, Ronnie. I'll be right back," Lincoln told everyone before heading off to Nora's office. His family and Ronnie Anne were awkwardly left here, the dark skinned girl guessing she could be relaxed when talking to them, presuming her boyfriend had told them everything already.
Lincoln did not take long to reach Nora's office, and he knocked.
"Busy, please! Return later!" Nora called out. The white haired boy guessed the meeting was not over yet. He hoped they had not arrived to the very start of it. He was going to return to his family and girlfriend before hearing another voice ring out.
"Nah, come on in! Things are boring when ya get left alone with this witch," a lighter tone called in reply. Lincoln heard arguing from his boss, but he decided to just barge in, not wanting to wait for them to decide on whether or not to actually give him permission to enter.
"Hey boss, sorry if I'm late," Lincoln apologized. Nora was behind her desk, looking as miserable as ever. Sitting across from her was a younger man wearing a pink shirt and white pants, his hair done into a spiky style which Lincoln would expect a friend of Luna's to have. The man had stacks of rings on both hands, depicting various types of flowers with emeralds.
"Mister Loud, I do not care about your tardiness. I care that you aren't at your assignment however," Nora stated, frustrated. Lincoln could assume why there was a little bit of white smoke in the room, and the source was a blunt in the visitor's mouth.
"Well, I came to talk to you about my family… uh, are you Lazzerson?" Lincoln guessed who the second individual was, the man giving a thumbs up.
"Lazzerson Cenvary. It's a pleasure to meet you," Lazzerson introduced himself. It was quite strange to be in the same room as a nemesis, since he was running a rival mafia. Lincoln recalled hearing David talk about it before on his first job, but Lazzerson seemed a lot more calm and nicer than he heard.
"Mister Loud, I do not care about your family discovering anything right now. I'm dealing with a man sending his cronies over to most likely attack our people," Nora repeated the situation angrily.
"Say it all you want, Nora. I don't control all my men, but I've never heard or seen a one matching that weirdo's description. Your paranoid guards have captured like twenty people in the last week 'aven't they?" Lazzerson retorted. His confidence was paramount, but he was not in his right mind. Lincoln couldn't tell who was worse, his own alcoholic boss or the other mafia boss who clearly smoked weed all the time.
"If you want to know who the guy works for, why not just check for a ring?" Lincoln quirked. It seemed like an obvious solution to the situation, no one was allowed in any of the groups unless they had their factions ring style and jewel embedded within them.
"He has none on. He also has two missing fingers," Nora declared. The person either cut their own fingers off in an effort to get closer without people's guards being as high, or some other crazy plan set up by the man with the blunt in his mouth.
"This is ridiculous! I haven't broken any rules of turf war. You should look at Jayzo about that. That lunatic will do anything to kill off either of us," Lazzerson declared, referring to the other mafia leader, he was not wanting to stay around here running in metaphorical circles for this conversation. He stood up and left. As he passed by Lincoln, he blew a puff of smoke in his face, making him cough.
"Cough! Wheeze!" The white haired boy tried to clear himself from the smoke. Once the office door closed, he returned to focusing his attention on Nora who had gotten her usual liquor bottle out from the desk, her head burning like a ticking bomb.
"Before you chug that down and pass out, can I talk to you, boss?" Lincoln wanted to hurry up and talk to her, so he could get to his next job before his temporary boss would get mad at him and demand a refund on their services. He was confused on what Lazzerson was talking about when he mentioned the rules of turf war.
"So about your family, correct? What happened? You need me to come make you another excuse?" Nora did not even get a shot glass, and just began chugging the alcohol straight from the bottle. A little disgusted, Lincoln pulled out his wallet, pulling out a picture of his entire family in a big group photo and resting it on the table for her to see.
"No. Three of them want to join. I told them the truth because I trust them a lot," Lincoln pointed out Lucy Lynn and Lori in the picture, his boss taking it and looking at the photo.
"You already recruited your girlfriend, Mister Loud. I don't exactly know how well people do if their co-workers are their family… Though to be fair, we are in need of more hands. Do they have any specialties or skills?" Nora recalled the entire family pretty well. She had been surrounded by them multiple times during her visit the other day. The young preteen scratched his head, trying to think on that.
"Lucy's great at sneaking around, as well as poetry and dabbles in dark arts. Lynn's really strong and athletic, and she's great at a lot of sports too. And Lori… she's good at multitasking?" Lincoln explained to the best of his abilities, doubting Nora wanted to hear from the sisters themselves. The young boy did not really have much in mind when it came to the eldest sister, but he had seen her doing lots of things while being on her cellphone simultaneously.
"Those are quite unique talents… but look, Mister Loud lets be real here; your family is giant. I let a few in, then they all might want in. No matter how hard you try to keep them in the dark, they will eventually figure it out…" the black haired woman stated while putting her liquor away, coughing slightly. Lincoln knew she probably had dug up as much information as she could on his entire family beyond just himself.
"Nora, I know the risk, but I made my mind up. I'm not going to get anything done without their help. I'll be able to work more efficiently and have less stress on me with them around. Look at what Ronnie Anne did. David might be dead if not for her," Lincoln hated having to talk like he was in some political debate. It wasn't like him. Sadly his choice of words needed to be picked a lot more carefully, if he could convince Nora that they all would be assets to their group, then he hoped that she would not hesitate on accepting them.
"Mister Loud, knowing your family's size, I can safely assume your mother and father have probably had well over ten abortions. I can presume most of you are accidents at best, and at worse none of you were ever really wanted. All I can see in the three you addressed, is someone who inevitably is going to commit suicide, another who will be paralyzed one day, and someone who will be macking on anyone in this group, like a prostitute. Judging by your natural hair color, you probably are adopted on top of that."
Lincoln felt his eye twitch, he cared nothing about the adoption statement. Implying that their parents wanted none of them, or that most of them were accidents. Lucy was gothic, but she was never depressed or suicidal. She just didn't express her emotions as much, just like most goths. Lynn knew the risks of overdoing it with sports and would never risk paralyzing herself. The comment about Lori was the top of the needle that hit his nerve.
"You can't insult us like that! We're Louds!"
"I don't care what your last names are. People can be read very easily, and I've had plenty of experience reading people," Nora claimed. Lincoln let out a long exhale of frustration.
"Will THIS change your mind about them?" Lincoln snapped. He reached forward, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her down hard. Nora's face hit the desk. Then with all of this strength, he tossed her out of her chair with his one arm, letting go of her hair as she fell. Lincoln stood there panting, infuriated. He couldn't believe what all he had done, he had acted on nothing but impulse and fury.
"Ough… your… confidence in them is quite high," Nora groaned as she stood back up. Her face had a huge gash across her nose, the alcohol did nothing to dull the pain. Lincoln did not reply, he would be glad to have his hands chopped off before he let anyone get away about saying anything bad about his family like that.
"Huh…?" Lincoln saw Nora pull out a box from her desk, resting it in front of him and opening it. Inside of it were dozens upon dozens of animal ruby rings lined up, standing perfectly and shining a little as if beckoning to be worn.
"You've talked me into it… and beat me into it. I'll let them in… mainly because if it weren't for you and your lover, another one of ours would have died, and you somehow got another insane one to commit to us and only us. I suppose that earns a reward," Nora claimed. She was only permitting this as a favor for him saving David's life and converting Maddison over to solely dedicate herself to their mafia, at the cost of some of her fingers.
"Thank you, ma'am," Lincoln bowed a little. She was going to let him pick what rings his sisters would receive. It only took a moment before he saw the three rings that he assumed they would like, and once he got the rings, Lincoln made his way to leave, thankful to have gotten his sisters into the group, even if it took some violence behind it. He would at some point be forced to apologize to his boss about this act, but he couldn't bring himself to stand for what she said.
"Ronnie Anne was right… Being assertive is great."