The Raid of Lincoln's Room

"Gregory and Catherine. The gruesome twosome. If I'm going to get past them, I'm going to need help. Little did I know where the help would come from…"

After listening to the one son speaking candidly to his lasso roping friend through the crystal ball, most of the family was feeling quite somber. To some of them, this was a wake up call in the form of a slap in the face. To Lynn, it was more weight dragging her ever further down. All was silent for a moment before the unbearable quiet was broken by a ding from downstairs. "...my timer. Dinner must be ready…" Lynn Sr said, almost emotionlessly as he departed from the twins' room.

"...I'll help you out, Dad." Lori said after a few seconds, following him out.

"Come on, girls. Let's all head down to dinner…" Rita requested of her children.

"Why not? I don't think much will happen while those two are just talking, plus it's not like our presence will affect much presently." Lisa voiced her opinion, strolling out of the room, the rest of the family starting to follow her.

"...I'm not feeling especially hungry." Lynn said dully, remaining in her seat by Lola's bed, where Lincoln's body lay. "I think I'll stick around here…"

"Are you sure, dear?" Her mother inquired in concern, to which the ponytailed athlete simply nodded.

"Should one of us go wake Lucy?" Lana suggested, pointing to the room where the goth girl slept within her coffin.

"No. Give her some time to rest. The poor girl exhausted herself trying to find Lincoln…" Mrs Loud responded, gently corralling the tomboy twin downstairs, leaving Lynn Jr alone with her thoughts and her unconscious brother.

As much fun and as restful as it was to just lay on the roof and hang out with the younger of the two living cacti, Lincoln knew he couldn't do this forever. He had things that needed to be done, so after one last, heartfelt farewell and embrace, Cactus Girl helped him sneak back into the house through a broken attic window. Fortunately, no one was up there (though it was so cluttered with stuff, he didn't think he could tell if there was), so he was able to make his way down to the second floor. It took him some time to traverse the upper level, as he had to make sure the way was clear. Gregory and Catherine, he suspected he knew where they were, but Mama was still on the prowl, and she may very well be more dangerous than both of them. Fortunately, his path to his first destination, Dog Mummy and Mummy Poppa's room, was unimpeded. He knocked on the door and gave a hasty, but sincere goodbye to the bandaged up duo once the father answered. Dog Mummy was, of course, saddened to know Lincoln was leaving, but wished him a fond farewell regardless. Now came the hard part in Lincoln's eyes; getting into his room.

Getting to the door wasn't an issue. Mama didn't seem to be patrolling around there. However, this all looked too easy to the one son. He slunk his way over to the door and pressed his ear against it. "Are you sure he'll be here, Gregory?" He heard Catherine ask. She sounded quite annoyed and bored.

"He'll be here, Catherine." Gregory responded, trying to sound reassuring. "He has to come sleep sometime."

"I suppose so…" The lizard nurse replied. Judging by the sound of springs creaking, one of them sat down on his bed. "...I suppose this is the closest you'll get to getting a lady in bed~" She taunted Gregory, earning an annoyed grunt from him. The white haired boy wasn't sure what she meant, but had to stifle a snicker regardless.

'Ok...they're still in there...how am I going to get them out?' He wondered mentally.

"Hey Lincoln!" The middle Loud cringed before he looked down the hall, seeing James skipping up to him while waving his arms. Thank goodness the duo hiding out in his room didn't hear the little pest. "Whatcha doing!?"

'For the love of...it just had to be James.' Lincoln thought in irritation as the little rat boy approached him. But then, an idea hit him. 'Hmmmm. Perhaps I can knock out three birds with one stone here…' He moved away from the door and asked the little boy quietly. "Hey, James. You want to play a little game?"

"A game!? Oh wow! What kind of game!?"

"You've heard of vikings, right?" The human lad asked, praying Gregory's grandson had.

"Uh huh." James replied, excitedly nodding his head.

"Well, you're about to become a viking king." Lincoln told him, which brought a look of awe and eagerness to the little rodent's face. "I'll go into more details in a little bit. First we need to get a ship…"

"I have a wagon." The troublemaking mouse kid offered, pointing back where he had come from.

"That'll work. Come on, your highness. We have a raid to prepare for." The one son said as he followed after James, hardly able to believe his luck in getting the bad little boy on board with this idea.

A couple minutes later, the white haired boy and mischievous mouse child were riding along the corridor slowly in James' little wagon, with the former rowing along with a broom and carrying a wooden sword at his side and the latter standing boldly up front, a toy battle ax in hand and a horned helmet on his head. Lincoln had a bit of a smirk on his face, not only because of what he believed was going to happen, but also he imagined what Lisa would say about the historical inaccuracy of the helmet. "Hehehe. This is going to be great, isn't it, Linc?" James said with a snicker.

"Yes, King Berzerk." The middle Loud replied with his best viking accent (which was still pretty bad). Hearing the name the older kid had given him made James grin with pride.

"I think this calls for a good old fashioned viking song!"

"Great. Do you know any?"

"...no. Do you?" James asked, lowering his weapon and looking back at his oarman, his smile fading.

"Not a one." Lincoln admitted. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two before they returned to what they were doing before as if nothing happened, singing;

"Yo ho, yo ho! A viking's life for me!" Up ahead, in Lincoln's room, Gregory was pacing about the tiny room while Catherine was polishing her giant needle while humming to herself. The old rat was starting to get really antsy. With as long as this was taking, his mother could have already won already. He was about to look out into the hall when he heard something from outside. He placed his ear to the door for a listen.

"What is it, Gregory?" The lizard woman inquired with a smirk.

"I hear something...it sounds like singing." The elderly hotel owner replied with a bit of a frown.

Outside, the two kids parked their wagon a little bit from the door, Lincoln tossing a cardboard anchor out. "Alright, my king...here's the plan." The white haired boy whispered as the two hopped out of their 'ship'. "On three, I'll pull open the door and you'll charge in screaming, grabbing whatever you can and, if you can, taking prisoners."

"Got it." James responded quietly, a big grin on his face as he held onto his faux weapon.

"Meanwhile, I'll go in, pick off stragglers, and grab whatever's left." The little brat nodded again, barely able to contain his excitement. The one son tiptoed over to the door and started to count down with his fingers, his other hand on the doorknob. The moment he lowered his third finger, he pulled to door wide open, revealing a surprised Gregory.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" James screamed as he charged in, swinging his ax around. His Grandfather was so surprised that he ended up getting knocked to the ground, getting trampled by the little mouse.

"Ouch! Ouch! James!" The elderly rat yelled in pain, while the nurse just looked utterly shocked at what was happening.

"For Odin!" The little mouse boy bellowed as he grabbed Catherine and held her over his shoulder, stomping on his Grandpa on his way out of the room.

"Oh! Oh my...now why can't I get this kind of attention from men?" The pink lizard asked somewhat wistfully, playing along with the brat. Lincoln kept a low profile as James tied up the reptilian nurse, slipping into the room past the pained old rodent. He speed walked over to his suitcase, opened in and quickly pocketed the pop gun. He then grabbed up his clothes to continue the ruse of the game. He ran out of the room frantically, calling out to James.

"Yer highness! We're in over our heads!" The little mouse gasped as the one son ducked around the corner, running after him. When the 'viking king' rounded the bend, he found Lincoln laying on the ground, his sword under his arm, looking like he had been stabbed. "Cough cough...I...I fought them as best I could, my king…"

"Lincoln...are you...are you alright?" James said, kneeling down beside him, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Yeah...just-cough-a flesh wound." The middle Loud replied weakly, trying to get up, but failing. "...ah, who am I kidding? This...was my last battle.."

"No...a fierce warrior like you? I won't believe it!" Gregory's grandson cried out.

"See you...in Valhalla." The white haired boy groaned before he closed his eyes and went limp. The rat boy sniffled a few times, tears trickling down his face before he took hold of his toy axe, glaring back the way he had just come from.

"They'll pay for that…" He growled before running as fast as he could back down the hall.

"Good grief...where did he learn to tie knots like this?" The bruised Gregory inquired sourly as he attempted to untie Catherine, who was laying in the wagon looking pretty chill about the whole thing. "Hang on, Catherine. I almost have this."

"Take your time~" She replied calmly, while thinking 'Shame he isn't all grown up…'

"That little brat...I don't care what Mama says. I will give him a-" His gripings were cut off by the sound of wrath fueled bellowing from up the way. He turned just in time to see James storming right at him, axe raised over his head in both hands. The old rat screamed in fear and fled in the opposite direction. "James! Stop this at once! I'm your Grandpa!" He cried out in a vain attempt to get him to stop. Meanwhile, the bloodthirsty nurse just watched them from her place, chuckling a bit before looking at the bindings around her wrists and legs. She squirmed a little bit before blushing softly.

Lincoln opened his eyes after a few seconds of silence, looking around to make sure he was alone. He smirked a little, pleased he was able to get away with this. Plus it was kind of fun. But now he had to get out of there to meet up with Dog Angel. So off he went, not bothering so much with stealth at this point, headed for the front door.