Ink-Dub: Hi everyone and happy 2021! Ok, so TheCoffee and I was discussing on how this chapter was coming about and TheCoffee sent me a portion of this final chapter since it was taking so long and after looking at the latter portion of the chapter...yeah, it was decided to be split into two parts.
TheCoffee: First of all, happy 2021! Now with that out of the way as Ink said we've decided to split the original chapter into two parts due to its length. But don't worry the next chapter after this is not far behind and it will be the conclusion to what i call the 'Intro Arc'. I'll be talking more about what comes next after the conclusion.
So here's part 1, everyone. Reviews and thoughts are appreciated!
The sky had already darkened as the loud kids went to the van aptly named Vanzilla and it couldn't be soon enough. Despite being bundled in their winter jackets, the cold air was creeping up on them the few seconds they were outside.
Lori is the first to get in. She started up the van while Lisa placed herself on the seat next to Lori with a rectangular device with a screen on it. A GPS is what most common households would call them and Lisa wasted no time punching in the location and setting it up at the front.
"As you observe Lori, we'll be driving mostly in a straight line." Lisa explained. "My calculations tell me that it's about a 15-minute drive there and that's without interruptions."
"What about the blizzard, won't that be a problem?" Lori asked as Lisa put on her seatbelt.
"It'll take some time before it becomes a problem to us." Lisa said. "As long as we stay on path, we should be there in the nick of time."
Lori nodded and looked back at everyone fastening their seatbelts. "Alright guys, I want everyone to literally shut up while I drive. No bickering or anything annoying, got it?" Lori inquired sternly.
Everyone agreed on that and once everything was ready, Lori drove out the street where the ice had already formed making the road extra slippery. Thankfully, it didn't prove too much of a problem as Lori was used to driving to Bobby at Christmas time where almost every road was ice and snow.
Lori exhaled a hot breath that warmed the car slightly and wondered what Bobby was doing now, probably ending his shift at the mercado and preparing to hang out with his family. Like she used to do before all of this supernatural stuff happened...
Lori looked at the road at front before tilting her head slightly to Lisa.
"I miss when we were normal." Lori told to Lisa who was gazing out the window watching the snow fall out of the now dark purple sky.
"I would be lying if I said otherwise." Lisa agreed. Lori knew a lot about Lisa, and she knew that a liar she was not. It calmed her that someone agreed with her on that, but it also made some questions for the young prodigy.
"Why? I mean you don't seem opposed to having them." Lori pointed out a good point. Lisa switched her gaze to Lori and scratched her chin before having an answer.
"That's because I've already accepted this as a part of me. This is now as much of me as I'm of it. After you and Luna revealed your powers to us, I automatically prepared myself to accept that the same was going to happen to me."
"Then why miss the normalcy if you're used to this now?" Lori questioned. She heard Lisa sigh as she began to explain.
"Because we humans are simple. We like that which is simple and hate that which is not. We are still in the beginning stages of our new changed lives and find it hard to adjust." Lisa said to Lori.
"But you – all you think about is what it would be like to be normal. You might learn how to use your powers but that won't matter if you don't learn to live with it." Lisa said with a slightly hard-hitting tone.
"So you're saying I should give up on being normal?" Lori asked, confused at Lisa's wording.
"No, just realize that this is the new normal." Lisa finished, looking back out the window leaving Lori to suck the words in.
...Meanwhile in the back of the van...
"*Huff, huff*. It's getting really c-cold out there." Lola complained wrapping her arms around herself. "Couldn't we at least waited for the van to heat up?"
"Come on, Lola; you have a jacket on. Suck it up." Lynn talked back. Lola is usually a complainer but it can't be THAT cold...
"Ain't a-anything to suck up when this p-princess freezes to death." Lola said back as she starts to shiver.
The sweethearted Leni noticing Lola's plight, offers her generosity. "You can hug me if want, Lola." Leni said. "That way we can be warm together."
Normally, Lola would deny the request and say something along the lines of 'Princesses don't need hugs.' But she was really cold and now was not the situation to test Lori's patience. And how could she refuse that face Leni was giving her?
"Fine then." Instantly she was wrapped in a hug by Leni who had luckily taken a seat right next to her. She felt warmer but she was still shivering cold and felt like she would freeze any second.
As Lynn watched Lola tried to keep warm, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Lucy looking straight ahead to the seat in front of her; gloomy and quiet as always. But she seems to be not moving at all... Was she sleeping?
Lynn annoyingly elbow nudged her which snapped the superpowered poet out of her sleep.
"Huh?"
"Don't fall asleep on us now. We need you." Lynn said to a now awake Lucy.
"Oh… okay." Uttered Lucy, acting stranger than she normally would which Lynn picked up on.
"Everything alright? I brought some protein bars if you're feeling out of it." Lynn dug in her pockets before pulling out two protein bars.
"Why do you- "
"I had them from before. Lori didn't really give us much time to pack or prepare." Lynn explained, she waved the bar in front of Lucy with a smirk. "So you want one?"
Lucy's lips curved up by just a small fraction but enough for Lynn to notice and give the bar to Lucy.
"Thanks." Lucy said as she ate the bar; the gesture was nice but Lucy knew it wouldn't help.
She didn't fall back asleep moments later. She felt something… she didn't know what. It flew past her mind like a blur apparently making it look like she was asleep. It was strange yet made her feel more energetic, whatever it was made Lucy feel like she ate 20 protein bars without the bad side effects. Lucy though didn't dwell on it too much as she noticed the snow fall at a more rapid pace and in large masses...
...
6 minutes in with their travel and snow was coming down hard on the glass making Lori's vision more obscure as time went. Lisa sat and calculated in her head, Lola and Leni were still hugging, Lynn calmed her breathing, and Lucy sat there quietly as usual looking out the window which is also beginning to succumb to the frost.
"Lisa, didn't you say that we would make it before it got bad?" Lori asked over her shoulder.
"This is certainly weird. My calculations indicated that this shouldn't happen until at least later." Lisa examined in utter surprise. "It's almost as if the blizzard is growing at a rapid pace."
"*huff-huff.* H-hopefully, Vanzilla doesn't turn into a i-i-ice cube w-w-when we get here." Lola shivered.
"Of course not. Our van might be old and have a weak structure, but I know for a fact that it can handle this weather." Lisa said.
"Lisa's right, Lola. We aren't giving up. It's just literally a pain to drive like this." Lori then turned on the headlights of the van and squinted her eyes trying to see farther than two feet in front of the van. From her vision, he sees nothing but white. Later on, there is a bit of yellow shining in the distance. Now it's two pair of yellow lights, and it's growing brighter...and brighter...and then blinding-
CRASH!
The whole van has taken impact and it leapt them of the road barreling down while spinning violently. The windows broke, the doors bent and everyone inside went out like a light.
At the observatory, Elizabeth stood and watched the city being ravaged by the cold. She smiled to herself knowing that her goal was complete, she won.
"- the storm has seen no signs of stopping and it only keeps getting worse." The reporter had a face of fear and worry as she reported on the weather. "FOR EVERYONE'S SAFETY. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE. WE REPEAT, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOM-."
Mike turned the tv off with a lazy click.
"Welp, too bad for them." Mike said walking over to the frozen prisoners.
When he reached Lana's imprisonment, Mike saw her shaking violently from how cold her self-made ice prison was; given up on trying to free herself and was focusing on keeping warm as possible. And her eyes were wide; filled with horror and disbelief as she'd heard what the news had to say about the storm.
"What do you think, kid?" Mike asked leaning his back next to the ice sphere. "It's pretty nice what science can do."
"W-w-wh-why?" Lana asked in between shaky breaths. Mike pursed his lips and shook his head.
"Not my place to explain. But I'll say that this is partly revenge." Mike said with a smirk. Lana gave him a confused look which translated to 'what did we do?'.
Mike scoffed. "Not everything is about you. Hell, I didn't know that people like you existed until a couple of weeks ago." Mike admitted. Lana sat there, arms crossed looking dryly at him as she continues shaking.
"T-th-they'll c-come for m-me." Lana blurred out.
"Are they really though? In about half an hour, nobody will be able to leave their homes without freezing to death," Mike wore a smug expression on his face. "odds are either they're dying as we speak or like any sensible person: staying indoors."
"W-Won't you fr-fr-freeze too?" Lana said weakly. Mike smiled that he was already prepared for that.
Before he could start explaining, Elizabeth also known as Queen Freeze entered the room with an annoyed expression on her face when she saw Mike next to Lana.
"You aren't telling her things she shouldn't know, are you?" She asked tapping her foot impatiently waiting for an answer.
"Depends on what's important." Mike replied. He knocked on the ice sphere mockingly before walking next to Queen Freeze. "She just asked why we're doing this." Mike laughed at the question while Queen Freeze didn't respond. Mike stopped laughing and gave her a questioning look before rolling his eyes. "I know that face. What now?" Mike asked slightly annoyed.
"Nothing, you are dismissed." Mike shot her a really confused look before shrugging and leaving.
Queen Freeze approached the ice sphere after the door closed and leaned her face in to see Lana backed up in the far end of the sphere. Suddenly, Lana's attention shifted towards Queen Freeze as she tapped her staff against the ice prison.
"So, you want to know why I did this?" She asked plainly. Lana raised an eyebrow at the question and nodded slowly. She had nothing else to do, so why not listen to her captors' story.
With the confirmation, Elizabeth used her staff to create an ice pillar that acted like a chair. Elizabeth's expression was blank as she looked at Lana.
"It started just a couple of months ago-"
The crash had been violent, and the van was mostly destroyed from the front. It laid off-road upside down with the siblings inside hanging on by their seatbelts.
Lynn's eyes fluttered open and she groaned as she processed what just happened. When her eyes adjusted from the crash, she looked around seeing almost all of her siblings out like a light except for Lucy who Lynn observed wasn't even in the van.
Lynn had no physical damage, thanks to her powers which is what probably allowed her to get up so fast. Ripping the seatbelt away, Lynn fell to the floor still dazed from the crash. She came towards Leni first.
"Leni, wake up." Lynn lightly shook her.
Leni moaned as she clutched her head. "My head hurts..." Lynn then freed the dazed Leni from the seatbelt and slowly put her down on the ground before doing the same to Lola.
"Leni, try to wake Lola." Lynn instructed. "I'm going to free Lori and Lisa."
Lynn ventured to the front of the van where Lori and Lisa hung. Lynn slowly let both of the down and within seconds, all three regained consciousness.
"What happened?" Lori questioned as her recent memories were a blur.
"I believe that in the midst of the snowfall, we may have hit another vehicle." Lisa guessed while checking herself for any wounds.
"Is everyone fine?" Lynn asked, trying to open the door.
A variation of "yes" sounded off to everyone and they all found out that no major injuries were sustained during the crash. As they all discovered that fortunate revelation, Lori noticed something only Lynn had previously thought of.
"Where's Lucy?" Lori asked with a hint of worry. Suddenly, a cold chill went down her spine as if on cue, Lucy phased into the van.
"Lucy, are you okay? What happened?" Lynn wondered. As Lynn looked closer, she discovered that Lucy has no scratches on herself; not even a single scuff on her clothes...
"I phased out before the crash." Lucy said, confusing everyone as none had seen the vehicle until it was too late. "It if it was some sort of instinct."
"Hmm, interesting." Lisa commented but didn't elaborate.
Suddenly, Leni piped up. "Wait, what about the poor guy we crashed into? We should help him."
Lori opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Lucy.
"The driver is fine," Lucy voiced away the concerns. "He lost consciousness from the cold. Don't worry, I turned on the heater so he wouldn't freeze away."
"Great job, Lucy." Lori praised with a nod. Lori looked at the gps for progress location, but its screen was too damaged from the crash to make anything out. "Great, the GPS is broken." She said frustrated.
Then the sound of metal being kicked caught their attention as Lynn managed to open the back doors which had been stuck after the crash. Lynn went out and instantly felt the cold go up her legs. She instinctively jumped back into the van shivering right after.
"Yeesh. It's really cold!" Lynn said rubbing her arms together.
"Don't worry. We totes can handle it." Leni said with an opportunistic tone while trying to warm Lola with a hug.
"Leni, no you can't." Lori said as she made a sigh. "Look, just go back home everyone, you won't make it to the department, but I can." Everyone else groaned upon Lori's saying.
"Lori, we started this and we're going to finish this." Lynn said.
"I know but what if you can't handle the storm? I mean, we're still not far from home, you guys coul-"
"*Ahem!*" Lisa coughed interrupting Lori. "If I recall my memories, we are in fact closer to our destination than to our origin point. Therefore, I would recommend we go thru with this." Lisa called out. Lori looked at the gps, still damaged...
Lori looked back before giving off a sigh. "Fine," Lori agreed reluctantly. "But we're literally not stopping until we reach our siblings, so no whining!"
As the sisters all re-established that they were following Lori to the end, they left the damaged van behind and started walking by foot in the tall snow that had built up.
But not before Lola whispered to Lisa.
"L-l-Lisa, I know for a fact w-we weren't closer. This was the same way mom took me d-d-during pageants," Lola whispered as the pageant looked at the road.
"I'm aware of that." Lisa muttered before picking up her pace to catch up with the others.
A few seconds later, Lola followed suit right after with a small determined smile on her lips.
...
Lori held out her arm with a fiery fist giving them some visibility. Leni held her hands up to have the crew not be assaulted by the snow by blowing it away, but they still had heavily limited vision. Thankfully, Lisa's sense of direction kept them from getting lost.
Time passed as they continued their walk, but their pace is slowing.
"Lisa...*huff huff*..how close are we?" Lori asked tiring out.
"J-j-just a little ffff-further. Just keep at this d-d-direction." Lisa said.
"It f-f-feels like we been walking forever." Lucy said.
Lola said nothing as she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering heavily.
"I don't know how much longer... I can k-k-kkeep this up." Leni said as she begins to slow and falls to the ground. By that, everyone begins being buffeted from the snow.
Lynn quickly comes towards her and tries shaking her awake. "Leni! D-don't give up on me now!"
"Huh?" Leni comes to and snaps back putting her hands back up to break up the snow.
As Lynn realizes how tired everyone is...
"All right, guys. *huff-huff*" Lynn spoke up as he huffed to gain warmth. "W-w-we're obviously f-f-f-f-freezing right now b-b-but we need to keep going. If we stop for 5 seconds, we'll end up freezing to death. And Glacier will have her way with our captured sisters and brother."
Lori took a heavy breath as she straightened her stance with determination. "Y-you're right Lynn," Lori said. "Come on guys, this is for our siblings."
With Lynn's motivation, They steeled themselves seemingly regaining a bit of energy before trekking forward.
...
After what seemed like an eternity, the remaining siblings realized that they're closing in their goal. Just barely, a dimly lit light could be seen in the distance; when they walked closer, they came across a frozen sign with ice taps going downs its sides.
"We're closing.. c-c-closing in to our destination." Lisa said shivering.
"Yay," Leni gave a weak smile as she being carried on Lynn's back no longer being able to move.
The siblings had nothing more to add and moved onward but after a couple of steps...
"HELLLPP!" The Louds stopped upon hearing that shriek.
"HELLLPPP!" The noise sounds again as they searched around.
"W-Where is it c-coming from?" Leni said.
"I don't know." Lori said.
"G-g-guys, w-w-w-where's Lola?" Lynn said.
Upon this, the crew quickly turned around and sped to the sound of the screaming princess. As they finally caught up-
"LOLA!" They all screamed as they saw Lola's skin being light blue and icicles around her person, almost as is she's frozen to ice.
"C-C-C-C-CAAAAANTTTT-C-CANT-MOOOOOOOVV!" Lola cried out as her teeth was stuck in its frozen position, her form still as a statue.
"What's happening?" Lori asked the prodigy. "Skin s-s-s-houldn't freeze like that!"
"No time. Lori, u-u-use your power to h-h-h-heat Lola up!" Lisa instructed. Everyone looked at Lori who didn't waste any time to flamethrower the ice of Lola; strangely, the melting process is going slowly.
"C-Can you move?" Lynn asked. Lola regained some movement as she started to move her legs and arms but slowly.
"I..I C-CANNNNN'T." Lola's movement slowed quickly as her form is being frozen again and ice crackled around her.
Lola then suddenly felt herself being picked of the ground and held by Lori who felt cold to the touch and even colder holding her. Lori's form had a weak flame burning around her body in an attempt to warm Lola but she still felt cold. Lori grunted as she turn up the heat gradually making her flames more visible. Lori was about to tire out until she felt Lola's body becoming less stiff. Lola slowly folded her arms together to get warm as she now shivered like a leaf; Lori held her current flame level as she need to save her strength. Everyone else looked at the scene.
"What are you all looking at?" Lori asked tiresomely. "W-w-we need to get to that building."
The siblings all moved on, now with a shivering Lola and and a flamed Lori, towards the building which became more and more noticeable. It's windows shined indicating that there were people inside.
As they were approaching the entrance, a man with a lab coat looked out the window and was shocked to see people walking outside in this kind of weather. He called out to everyone inside, but the Louds were unaware of this.
"There's th-the e-entrance." Lucy called out in her monotone voice but with added stutters.
The entrance door suddenly swings open to show two scientists in specialized winter jackets motioning them to go inside. Without a second doubt, almost everyone walked towards them except Lori who had a shivering Lola in her hands and Lisa. They were both uncertain of the situation, until Lisa gave Lori a worryful frown telling her 'what other choice do we have?'.
Lori nodded at Lisa before turning off her flame and moving forward cautiously on her guard just in case something was to happen. They made it inside along with the others. One of the scientists quickly approached the louds.
"Oh my god, what were you all doing out there-" One of the scientists said before turning his gaze around the kids- "*gasp* GUYS, I'M TAKING THEM TO THE DORMITORY!"
The scientist in question was talking so fast that the kids had no chance to ask anything before being surrounded making things a blur.
..
The Louds then came to and noticed that they have covers on their bodies and laying down in what seems to be beds. It turns out that they were laying in some sort of sleeping quarters. Apparently, they were worn out from being out of the snow for too long based on the location. One of the scientists approached the now awoken Louds and then after some recuperation, they were led to the other side of the now confirmed to be departments sleeping quarters.
"My god, why would you be out at times like these?" One of the scientists exclaimed.
"We uhh-" Lynn tried to think of an excuse while shifting her eyes before Lori stepped forth.
"Me and my sisters were driving back from visiting relatives. Our van broke down about 20 minutes away." Lori lied.
Satisfied with the answer, the kids were then led to the other side to where Lola is.
She was covered in multiple blankets and got her temperature checked by multiple scientists. "S-s-so colddd." Lola shivered.
"Oh, my lord, you poor soul." The main scientist gasped at the low temperature.
The scientists in the room mumbled to each other after finding Lola's skin being frozen beyond belief. Everyone went over and checked her pulse and blood pressure while the rest of the siblings stood aside and told them that they were fine.
As the scientists were busy, the Louds chatted amongst themselves.
"I should probably sneak on by and heat Lola up some more," Lori whispered. "I'll try and be careful not to-"
"I don't think that'll be worth blowing our cover." Lisa chimed in. "Besides, I'll sure she'll come to quickly due to our powers having better healing properties than normal people."
"So Lis, what's happening to Lola? Why is she a living icicle while we're not?" Wondered Lynn.
"Shouldn't we all be like her too?" Lucy asked.
"Hmm, yes." Lisa hummed to herself and nodded. "I do believe I know why our pageant sister is more affected by this cold more than us."
"What are you waiting for, spill it!" Lynn called.
"To explain, it would be best to go back to yesterday where I learned more about how Lola's and in turn our powers worked." Lisa began.
(Flashback)
Lola had just followed Lisa up to her lab/room to examine her hand after trying to slap Lynn on the back of her head, forgetting that the sporty sister possessed invulnerability. Lola sat down on a chair Lisa pulled out and felt her hand being pulled by Lisa who put it under an x-ray machine.
"Lisa, I swear if I lose my hair again, I'll be expecting compensation." Lola called out.
"Don't worry, I've updated the previous model to improve user safety amongst other things, so the chances of hair loss are now reduced to 12 percent." Lisa explained, confident with her safety measures; Lola fearfully gulped however, not exactly confident to Lisa's safety measures.
The x-ray machine hummed for a couple of minutes before stopping to print out an image of her hand bones. Lisa looked at it under a light and got a curious look on her face.
"Huh, everything looks okay except of course the abnormal length of your bones." Lisa said at a quick glance. Lola looked at her hand and indeed it had gotten longer due to her mild panic of the machine.
"Sorry Lisa, you did kind of did threaten these pretty locks." Lola delightfully combed her hair, before stretching her hand back to normal length.
"*Gasp!* Actually, I think I may have just discovered a scientific break thanks to you." Lisa gasped and pulled Lola's still sore hand under a magnifying glass.
"Oww! What are you doing?" Lola whined.
The young genius ignored her question as she looked into the magnifying glass, "Lola. Stretch your hand, please."
Wanting this to be over with, Lola did as Lisa said. What followed after that was the scientific toddler, widening her eyes and opening up her smile like a kid opening a Christmas present.
"YES!" Lisa shouted, "Finally, I understand!"
"What are you talking about, Lisa?" Lola retracted her arm as Lisa began mechanically to work on writing her discovery down. Lisa was so excited that every machine in the room began to shake violently. After a couple of seconds, Lisa finished a stack of papers in record time and the machines promptly stopped shaking.
(End flashback)
"So, what did you find?" Lori asked with Leni and Lynn at the edge of their seats.
"C'mon, was it something cool?" Lynn asked.
"It was… interesting." Lisa began with a smile. "I found out that not only did my serum mutate our DNA and gave us the 'potentia' gene as I refer to it, but Lincoln refers to it as a meta gene, nonetheless my serum seemed to also mutate our bodies." Lisa then facepalmed. "I'm an imbecile for not noticing it before."
"Wait, what do you mean 'for not noticing it before'?" Lori asked, still processing what Lisa had said.
"Don't you find it weird that you're resistant to your own flames Lori? Or how Luan can handle emitting thousands of volts without hurting herself?" Lisa elaborated.
"Yeah, that is weird. So my skin is tough because your weird cocktail mutated my body?" Lynn asked as Lisa nodded from that crude description.
"Precisely, but please don't refer to it as a cocktail. Nonetheless, I did find that you Lori and Luan aren't immune to your different elements. Only partially resistant, which means until a certain threshold is met, you should be fine."
"That explains why I still feel warmth of my flames. My skin just makes the fire seem less warm and protects me from burns." Lori understood, finally gaining better knowledge of her powers.
"And that's where this all cuts back into Lola. You see to make the most out of her elastic powers, her body mutated her skin into something I can only refer to as a rubber-like material." Lisa told them and Leni seemed to perk up in knowledge.
"Oh, and rubber is like really bad in the cold!" Leni perked out.
Lisa blinked at Leni's sudden genius before giving a light smile. "Yes, Leni. That's why I believe our sister is more affected."
"Well, you could've told us!" Lynn exclaimed.
"Lynn, calm down. I'm sure Lisa was too surprised from the crash to remember." Lucy defended.
"Although what Lucy said was correct, I do apologize for not remembering that. And I completely owe up to it." Lisa frowned.
"Don't worry Lisa, even the best fall sometimes." Lori encouraged with a pat on the back.
...It was some time after Lola was placed on the bed taking some time to recover...
"By all accounts, she should have perished in the cold. Yet she didn't." One scientist rubbed his chin. "Still amazed any of them came in alive."
The second scientist nodded and checked her vitals, "Her stats are down to normal now. She'll probably wake up soon."
"mmm.." A groan sounds out. It was Lola slowly beginning to stir back into consciousness.
"Girls?" Lola spoke.
Everyone including the sisters gathered around her as she awoke from her slumber. Her skin had still some icy patches and was still relatively pale, but overall, she looked better.
They all reunited after that and caught up Lola with what happened and why she froze. After fully recovering, Lola was released from the blanket prison and stood up wobbly with a yawn as she stretched (not literally) her joints back to life.
"What are you doing?/Hang on, you shouldn't be walking in this condition!" Variations were sounding out from the scientists insisting that Lola shouldn't be walking and there could still be harm done but Lisa assured them otherwise.
"Not to worry, she can handle it." Lisa assured.
One of the scientists scrunched his face but he decided not to disobey wishes. "If you insist. Oh, my names Luck, nice to meet you people."
Luck and Lisa shook hands, "Thanks for your help, Luck, but I'm afraid we do have some questions for you."
Luck raised an eyebrow, "Sure, just nothing that's classified."
"What do you know about Elizabeth Glacier?" Lori stepped forward.
Scientists all around began to mumble in recognition of the name. Luck didn't seem to mind and pursed his lips trying to remember something.
"Oh yeah, her!" Luck snapped his fingers. "What about her?"
"For starters, you can say where you are hiding her!" Lynn snapped, only being held back by Lucy.
"If it's not any trouble." Lori stepped in.
"Oh, I'd love to lead you to her if that's what you desire but we don't exactly keep track of past employees." Luck explained in a calm and joking demeanor.
"You're telling us she doesn't work here anymore?" Lynn said.
"Yes, that is the case." Luck said, suddenly he is being held and lifted up by Lynn.
"Like we're gonna believe that. Now spill, where are they?" Lynn shook Luck while murmurs around them gawked at her shown strength. Lori instantly snapped.
"Lynn, put the scientist down, right now!" Lori roared as suddenly the temperature in the room started to weirdly rise.
"Um Lori, you're heating up!" Leni whispered as Lori caught on, she took a breath.
"Please put him down, Lynn."
Lynn groaned. "Fine," She said as she put him down. "Don't go crying when he lies."
"So why was she let go?" Lisa said.
"She was let go after having disobeyed what the chief wanted. Was working of something of her own, not what she was assigned to. Sad to see, she has a great mind." Luck explained.
Lynn balled up her fist. They'd gone all this way, from a car crash in the middle of a freezing storm to a random nerd center where she was promised her sisters would be...
"Does anybody around here know where to find her?" Lisa asked.
"Her brother might." Luck replied in a string of hope. "He was the only person who we ever saw talk to her, usually when he picked her up from work. She wasn't too keen on social interaction and was more focused on curing her condition as she put it."
"Condition?"
"Apparently, she had a condition which made her body think it was sick the entire time. So, her body combated the non-existent sickness with a constant fever. We even had to install a better air conditioner in her workplace because of it. She really likes…her… cold." Luck gazed out the window seeming to realize something and looked back at the siblings.
Then he sighed, "It's her doing, isn't it?"
!
'He figured out all that from this?' The Louds all thought in surprise.
"Ahem, yes you are correct in your assumption." Lisa adjusted her attitude to be more of intelligence.
"And you decided to go after her." Luck raised an eyebrow along with his co-workers. "Why might I ask?"
!
"Um...you see," Lisa stammered on, thinking of an answer, a phenomenon that hasn't happened to her since she was a year old. "the thing is that um, we, I mean our eh..." Her eyes shifted all over the place, thinking of something...
"She took our siblings, alright!" Lynn called out in frustration.
"She took your siblings!" Luck gasped but then questioned. "Well... not questioning why you didn't contact the police but I wonder, why would she kidnap your siblings?"
!
...The Louds simultaneously gulped trying to think of som-
"Alright, enough the 20 questions," Lynn threatened. "I want you to tell me where she is right now!"
"Calm down," Luck said. "you're not going to get anything done by yelling."
"I don't give a damn!" SNAP! Upon saying that, she then slammed her fist down on what was previously Lola's bed snapping it CLEAN in half!
The scientists are then surprised on the WTF'fery of what and how Lynn was able to possess that much strength! Lynn steps towards the scientists as they respectfully back off in fear for their lives.
"Stop with the bullshit and tell where she is in the count of 5.." She steps ever closer towards the scientists as Lynn begins counting.
The Louds realizes that someone has to stop Lynn from doing something she regrets but don't know if they could without the worst happening... A couple of seconds from the counting, Lori steps in front of Lynn. "Lynn, STOP!" But Lynn shoved Lori aside as if she's completely ignored! Lori gets back up and tries again except this time on the spot, Lori heats up her hands and grabs Lynn's shoulders. "Ahh!" Lynn then screamed from the heat; suddenly having lost balance, she is suddenly pushed towards the wall now facing Lori.
"Lori?!" Lynn said in surprise.
"Don't Lori me." Lori said. "What were you trying to do?"
"Umm... What do you think? Giving the scientists a little motivation to tell us where Elizabeth since all they're doing is stalling for her. I bet that's what they're doing."
"*growls*" "Lori fumed in Lynn's logic. "Lynn, in case you haven't noticed. you're literally a lot stronger than normal so I'm pretty sure that doing this," Lori then pointed to the broken bed. "would break the scientists especially since they've been helping us out so far."
"Umm, Lori?" Lynn said.
"Lynn for once, listen and shut up!" Lori screamed igniting her rage. "We have literally been through hell after these past few hours, from crashing the van, walking past the snow and having to thaw Lola out from being frozen. The last thing I want is you, Lynn, to come out here and scare off our one chance to find this bitch that kidnapped our siblings!"
"Lori!"
"No, I don't wan't to hear it. I don't want to hear any of it!" Lori couldn't take it anymore, Lynn's stupidity is putting her in a boil. " I wan't you to sit in the back and don't do anything else before I...I..."
"Lori, you're on fire!" The Louds said.
"What?" Lori snaps out of it as he took a quick look at herself. She gasps as she noticed her aflame. She panics a bit before quickly breathing in and out to calm herself down. She's back to normal but it's too late.
"Umm... "Luck took a few seconds as he pursed his lips on what just happened and then puts two and two together on the. "Hmm…...okay." Luck simply said. "I guess...that answers my questions."
The scientists also put two and two together as they figure about what just happened and also everything else. "This girl was on fire!\That amount of strength is unnatural, some kind of genetic mutation?/So it was the same fire girl who saved a pageant!/So it must mean the pink one must possess some sort of immunity to cold?/It must mean this family is..." They blabber about as the Louds look down on the floor.
Their powers are exposed to the people that helped them recover and those people are scientists. Absolute nightmare scenario. They feel like any second they would get swarmed and get experimented on, dissected on or whatever else is going to happen.
The Louds has yet to move from this position, unable to explain or to skirt away whatever has happened away from the scientists. Lori then steps forward as she pleads...
"Luck, please." Lori pleaded. "We're not here to cause any trouble; we just want to find our brother and sisters and just go home."
Luck closed his eyes; probably collecting his thoughts. The air was tense as the Louds and the scientists don't know what to expect...
After a while, Luck opens his eyes and turns to the scientists.
"New guy." Luck said. "Go into our records closet and see if there's any location named on Elizabeth Glacier."
"Wha- We aren't allowed to do that. It's-"
"Yeah, yeah. Just get me those files then and I'll deal with it if something comes my way." Luck answered and watched the scientist leave.
"Wait, you're literally helping us!?" Lori said as she is sorta relieved but still surprised as with the Louds.
"What? Did you think we'd be some evil scientists wanting to experiment on you?" Luck argued with a smirk.
He returned a couple of minutes later holding a file with Elizabeth's name on it. Luck snatched it and skimmed thru it looking for anything particular. After a couple of moments, he closed the dusty file.
"Okay, so it doesn't say an exact location… but I did find something rather ironic that proves to me she is behind all of this." Luck said and handed the file back.
"Well, this better be good." Lynn crossed her arms.
"Lynn." Lucy warned, stopping her.
"It might. You see inside the file, it stated that Elizabeth had purchased grounds previously owned by us for whatever reason. It was an old observatory on that cliff we used before moving our facility here. Now she might be there but there's more to that. When we used our weather satellites to have a better understanding of this storm, we noticed a specific place being colder than the rest…" Luck paused waiting for the others to connect the dots.
"The Royal Woods observatory." Lisa said and Luck nodded.
"Put two and two together and I say there's a good chance she's there or whatever is causing the storm is there. Either way, this is where you need to go." Luck put up a map showing the path from where they were to the observatory.
"Wait, wouldn't we freeze up before we got there?" Leni pointed out.
"Based on the distance we went to so far and the distance to the observatory, I do believe that even this would exceed our limits." Lisa responded. "Maybe even Lori's for all I know."
"I wouldn't even last 5 seconds outside from that weather!" Lola said to her horror.
"Maybe not in those flimsy jackets. But don't worry, we got specially designed jackets from when Elizabeth used to work here. Her cryo-technology was always submerged in the freezer, so they were a must." Luck said and led them to another room where multiple jackets hung along with goggles. "You can take them; not like we need them to go out. The building has good enough conditioning to keep us warm."
"I- thank you. Thank you so much." Lori said heartfelt.
"What about me and Lisa? How are we supposed to fit?" Lola pointed out trying to put on a comically oversized jacket that swallowed her whole.
"For starters, you can just shift to match the size. As for me, I'll use my power since the suit does have a heater. But I do recommend you go with something shorter like Luna's height. Theoretically, you should be able to keep that form longer than something at Lori's height." Lisa explained.
"All right." Lola nodded and shifted her size into the same figure as Luna. Luck watched amazed and baffled; he'd just seen a kid break rules of physics and more.
Meanwhile, Lisa used her power and all of the machinery began to shake before parts came loose and clings onto her forming an armor that began to buzz like a heater with a small red tint glowing from the armor.
It was official, Luck had seen everything. And it was all at the cost of millions of dollars' worth of technology.
"I guess we shall depart now." Lisa said as a visor came down on her face.
Lori fastened her goggles and threw on the hood that came with the jacket and made sure everyone did too.
They followed Luck to the exit who looked unsure of their idea but knew it would be impossible to stop them based on what he just witnessed.
"Good luck to you." Luck felt the need to chuckle at the joke but found no time for it.
Lori responded back. "Thanks, we'll need it."
Luck then unlocked the door before being instantly blasted by cold winds and snowflakes.
Lori looked hesitant to go out where the snow was falling down at high speeds. She then looked at her siblings behind her and took a deep breath. Lori adjusted her goggles and began to walk forward with her siblings following behind.
They were going to save them.
No.
They were going to save them and Royal Woods from whatever Elizabeth was planning!
To be concluded...