Intermission
Hey everyone, here's your holiday gift that was promised, I hope you enjoy it. Quick heads up, it does take place in the Not So Loud universe. There are themes of (slight) drinking and (major) swearing, among other things, down below.
The Gift: Origins
If one were to ask when this all began, some of the Loud siblings would say three years ago, the night of Lynn's highschool graduation. The night everyone's lives had changed.
The day had started out fairly normal with everyone from Lori to Luan having come into town the day before and spending the night in their old rooms. The morning of that special day though, it was a mad dash for the athlete as she ran around the house getting ready. After finding everything she needed and heading out with her friends, the rest of the family got ready for the day with ease and made their way to the arena where the ceremony was being held.
The ceremony had gone by with ease and soon, after the closing speeches were made, the graduates turned their tassels to the opposite direction and the audience applauded them for having completed their journey.
"Oh I'm so proud of you, sweetie!" cried Rita as she crushed her sixth born into her chest. The eighteen-year-old graduate hugged her mother back as the rest of the family came up to them and offered their own forms of congratulations.
"Hey, Lynn!" came the voice of Margo, her best friend. Looking over, the athlete smiled as the brunette made her way over, "You still heading to the party later?" she asked.
"Course I am! Wouldn't miss it!" Lynn said as she smiled brightly at her friend as the two high fived. Once the girl left, Lynn turned to see everyone giving her rather cheeky smiles. Blushing heavily, the brunette felt her eyes widen as she shook her head vigorously, knowing what was about to happen.
"So a party, huh? Since when did Lynn-sanity go to parties that weren't sports related?" Luke asked with a smug grin on his face.
"Probably since she and her Franny-bear started dating," Lincoln replied, prompting Lily to make kissing noises at her older sister. The statement made everyone laugh, with Lynn soon joining them.
After getting home and dressed down, the older half of the Loud kids had promptly taken their sister away to Lori and Leni's room for their usual tradition.
Plopping the young athlete onto a chair, Lori swiftly brought out a bottle of top shelf vodka and a shot glass. Popping the cap off and pouring a double, Lori handed the glass to Lynn, who in turn looked incredibly nervous as she looked at her older siblings.
After Lori and Luke's graduation, it had become a tradition in the family for a recent graduate to take a shot of liquor as a way of saying 'Welcome to the Real World'. A tradition that the older kids had kept to and as of today, it was Lynn's turn to take it.
"It's okay if you're nervous Lynn," Leni reassured her, rubbing small circles in the brunettes' back.
"I'm not nervous...just pacing myself a little."
"For what? It's just a shot of vodka. It goes down a lot smoother than you think," Luna said simply as she took the glass from her little sister and downed it easily. "See!" the rocker said with a bright smile.
"I just...I don't drink..." Lynn confessed as she wiped her hands on her jeans.
"That's fair, most of us don't either," Luke said. The young adult gave his sister a warm smile as to reassure her. The room went silent for a bit but it was broken when Leni spoke.
"So when's the party?"
"Oh! It starts at 8 and ends around midnight!" Lynn explained excitedly as she smiled at her older sister.
"Then we've got time to get you ready for your boyfriend," Lori stated.
After pushing Luke out of the room, the four girls immediately began to get their sister ready for the graduation party. The remaining time they had was spent getting their little sister in and out of many different outfits before settling on a red, form fitted off the shoulder with a pair of black skinny jeans. Once she was dressed and made up in a fair amount of makeup, the sisters stepped back to admire their work. Before Lynn could ask if it looked good though, she was given her answer unexpectedly.
"Holy shit, sis. I see why Francisco likes you," Luna said as she looked at her sister up and down in admiration.
"Thanks, Lunes..." replied a blushing Lynn. She still wasn't used to compliments about things not related to sports, even as a young adult.
Soon, her date arrived and Lynn was gone with the promise of being back soon.
To say she expected this would be a lie. Lynn had not expected the party to be as extravagant as it was. Already there were people grinding on each other as the loud music shook the building and if she were being honest, despite her outgoing nature, parties like this often made the rising star incredibly uncomfortable due to seeing people be open with their touching.
"I'll go get us some drinks, babe!" Francisco said over the music as he planted a kiss on her cheek and walked off to his destination. Not too long after he was out of sight was Lynn bombarded by guys who were wanting to dance with the brunette.
Luckily, the guys got the message after Lynn gave them all a harsh glare that promised them pain. Soon, her boyfriend returned with their drinks and their night kicked off.
It was around 11 when Lynn felt as though she had her fill of the party. After shooting Lori a quick text, the athlete gave her boyfriend a quick kiss before leaving the party. Grabbing a seat in the van that Lori had rented for the weekend, she was off.
"So how was it?" Luke asked as he and the others four older siblings looked at her expectantly.
"It was...good?"
"Good? That's it?" Luan asked.
"I mean...it was kinda fun. Would've been more fun if everyone wasn't on each other so much, but whatever," Lynn said as she shrugged her shoulders. Lori was about to say something to that when she had to come to a sudden stop as a man ran out in front of the van. Getting out, Lori opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when the man brandished a handgun.
"Get back in the car, blondie!" he spat as he aimed it towards Lori's head. The blonde woman in question brought her hands up in surrender immediately, taking a couple of steps back, she did as she was told. The man followed her around to the side door, "Now, you're gonna take me to the power plant and not ask any questions!" he ordered as he climbed into the vehicle.
"Okay, okay. Just watch where you point that," Lori said as she carefully put the van in drive and began to drive to the location.
The ride was tense, no one dared to say a thing. Everyone was silently panicking while Leni tried to hold her fearful sobs in. Lynn was occasionally glancing at the man, taking note of how only one of his hands was visible as well as how absolutely haggard and insane the man seemed to be.
Pulling up to the plant, the man spoke again, directing it at Luke, "You, boy, get out. You're coming with me."
"And why would I do that?" Luke asked defiantly.
"Lukey, please do as he says!" cried Leni as a choked sob escaped her, making the brunette glare at the man before leaving the car with him in tow. He paused long enough to demand everyone's phones before continuing towards the plant, gun pointed directly at Lukes' head.
Time passed in the van and soon the sound of thunder could be heard. Not a word was muttered and the only sound in the van was Leni's sobs.
"Damnit! What's taking so long?!" Lori yelled as she banged her hand on the steering wheel.
"I'm going in!" Lynn exclaimed, surprising everyone as she climbed from the car. Walking a fair distance away, she was stopped by Luna.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! We can't go in there!"
"Well what do you want to do? Sit here and wait for him to come back to kill us? Screw that noise!"
"Of course not! But if we go in there, then he'll kill Luke!"
"Stop it!" shouted Luan, prompting everyone to look at the usually happy young woman. "Look, we're in a damned if we do, damned if we don't situation right now," the jokester stated, running her fingers through her hair as she spoke.
"Then what should we do?" Lynn asked.
"We go in there, find them, kick his ass, and call the cops," Luan said simply as she moved past her sisters, towards the direction of the power plant. After a moment of looking at each other, the remaining sisters ran to catch up and were soon all on their way inside.
Making it inside, just as the rain began to pour down on them, the five sisters were surprised to see the amount of injured plant workers and security guards that had been helped by the uninjured. Walking up to one of the scared workers, Lori asked for where the two men went and after being given directions, made her way there.
Through a series of twists and turns, the five young women found themselves at the main area of the plant.
"Hurry up, damnit!" came the enraged voice of the man.
"I'm hurrying, jackass!" Luke shouted before a hard thwack was heard.
"Mind who you're talking to, boy! I still got one in the chamber!"
Lynn looked at her sisters at that statement. If he only had one round left, then they had a much better chance of putting the crazed man down. Looking down at where the two were, the athlete made her way down silently with everyone following her lead.
"Aaand there. It's connected, now let me go," Luke said as he turned to the man.
"And why would I do that?"
Staring blankly at the man, Luke responded, "Because we're standing on a metal platform, without insulated clothes mind you, in a power plant while its most likely heavily raining outside."
"While those are some good points, kid, I still can't do that. I have to make sure this thing works, I've only got one shot at this!"
"At what?"
"If you survive, then you'll see. Royal Woods is about to become ground zero for the next step in human evolution."
Hearing that put a bit of fear in Luke. He was scared, not for himself but for his sisters who were so close to this plant. If what the man was saying had merit, then his sisters were about to possibly be caught in a city-wide explosion. Just as he was about to try and reason with the man, he saw Lynn come flying in with a flying kick to the mans' head.
Having not expected the attack, the man dropped his gun. Lynn landed and took an immediate fighting stance with the others flanking her. Shaking the fog from his sight, the man looked at his attacker before smiling.
"Well isn't this nice. You all came to see the fireworks up close and personal."
The sisters looked at Luke who in turn said something that surprised them. "What the hell are you all doing here?!" he shouted.
"We came here to save you!" Luna shouted back.
"Get out! Now!"
"Why? What's going on?" Leni asked as she looked over at the small panel that Luke had attached to the main grid.
"This manic is planning to blow up Royal Woods! We gotta go before this place goes up and takes us with it!" Luke exclaimed. That statement had its desired effect on the siblings as they immediately looked around and realized how grave the situation was.
"Not so fast!" came the maniacs voice as the sound of a gun being cocked rang out. Moving their attention towards him, they saw that he had brought a second gun with him and was currently pointing it at them small group of siblings. "Why leave now? We've only got a couple of minutes before its all done."
Leni stepped forwards at that, "Please sir, just let us go! My little sister just graduated today and she's got so much to live for! We all do!" she begged as she moved forwards, toward him.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, sir. Now please...just let us go..."
"And why would I do that?" he asked before he looked at his watch and smiled. Reaching into his coat, he produced a small remote and pressed a button on it, lighting up the panel. "When the show's about to start," he said as he then turned the gun toward a generator and unloaded his magazine into it.
Sparks flew from the machinery as it was destroyed. Leni let out a scream before she was pulled back by Luke, who put himself between the generator and his sisters. While they were aware that they could run, they knew that they had wasted too much time arguing to have any chance of making it out unharmed.
Arcs of electricity began to shoot around them as the plant started to become overloaded. A beeping sound could be heard amongst the cacophony of buzzing and the Loud siblings saw the man look down at his watch to silence the beeping.
"It's time."
Those were the last words they all heard before lightning struck the plant, causing it to explode violently as it did. Unbeknownst to anyone, as the explosion happened, a mysterious energy mixed in with the electricity.
The city of Royal Woods was soon hit the largest pulse of mysterious energy it would ever know.
Forever changing many of its inhabitants in different ways...
And there's your gift folks! Truth be told, I've been wanting to write this for a while. I hope you liked it because if you did, I will gladly make this into a full-fledged story for you all to enjoy. Now as I've said before, Happy Holidays and Stay Tuned, Readers.