Bad. They're doing very bad.
"WAAAAAAA-" BABABABABABABABAM! "-OOOGH-" POW POW POW! CRASH! "-AAAAGH!"
Lincoln was struggling against Margo and her Silverio Gospel. He knew the Gospel was insanely strong, but he hadn't expected to be feeling beaten up in the five minutes time. His most recent exchange was barely holding off a bombardment of energy blasts before a white fist sent him flying across a city, and right into a mountainous valley, crashing into an abandoned cabin.
"Ugh..." Lincoln wavered, "It's nowhere near overclocking it's capacity..."
Suddenly, Clarissa commed over, "You mean that it's fighting at a fraction of its power?!"
"How far are you?..." Lincoln asked before being swatted away again.
"I'm two minutes out!" Clarissa shouted, "Try to hold position!" Then, she disconnected.
Lincoln crashed into the bank of a lake, then rolled over into a tree trunk, "OOF! Uhhhh...not possible..." Just then, Margo descended upon him. When she was just three feet above him, he started to stall for time by trying a conversation, "Margo, why?...You don't really wanna do this, do you?..."
"Really, dude?" Margo taunted, "All this pummeling, all this philosophical BS we've been flinging at each other..." her wings stiffened and prepared to slice at the Savvy Suite, "...and it STILL!" slash "HASN'T!" slash "SUNKEN!" slash "IN!" energy bomb
Lincoln was again flung away. This time, he was sent crashing through a narrow valley road, barely missing a car and digging up a trench before coming to a halt.
"Ugh...dangit..." Lincoln muttered, "She's got the feels..." CRASH! "YOW!" He narrowly dodged a giant tree trunk, "What hasn't sunk in again?!"
He saw Margo rushing to him and threw several cards at her, but she easily dodged them. He then prepared a roundhouse kick, but the instant she came within his kicking range she caught his foot and drove him into the dirt. Then, she threw him upward and let loose another set of energy blasts from her wings, but he was able to block most of them with his wing shield.
"Wow..." Margo muttered, "and I thought you had the most common sense."
"About...what?!..." Lincoln panted, "Just tell me... what I was...supposed to...figure out!..."
"*SIGH* You really haven't internalized everything, have you?" Margo shook her head, "Fine." Then, in a split second, she had elbowed Lincoln in the back of the neck.
"GUHACK?!" Lincoln wilted.
"Maybe this'll kickstart your gears," Margo said and kicked his back.
Lincoln was slammed into the lake, where he was thankfully given some time to mull over everything that has happened thus far. His mind replayed Margo's words over and over, trying to find a connection between them and what was happening now. But no matter what he thought of, none of it made sense. If she really was cast aside because of his sisters, why would she resort to physically harming him? What wasn't he thinking about?
Lincoln broke out of the lake gasping for air. Margo was right behind him.
"Have you finally figured it out?" Margo asked.
"No..." Lincoln muttered, "No I haven't," before engaging in a brief CQC scuffle with Margo, where for a solid minute she effortlessly blocked every single one of his attacks. But that didn't stop him from trying, "And I'd like an actual clue about what you're trying to force down my throat!"
Suddenly, Margo caught his shield, flipped under it, and grabbed both his arms and immobilized him, "Fine. Since you're that much of a dunce, I'll tell you why we're happening." She then kneed his gut and slammed one of her wings against his head, taking his shield energy to dangerous levels and leaving him on dock.
"Ugh...uhh...hhh..." Lincoln was almost done; he and his IS were completely winded from that last attack. The only thing that kept him going was the pack of energy cells Chandler gave him. He took one out of his pocket and crushed it, and that gave him a bit of energy back.
But it wouldn't matter if someone didn't come to save him from Margo. Thankfully, someone did. A random shot came down at Mach-speed, but Margo was able to avoid it, "Who in the-"
Clarissa came down in her own IS, along with Night Club and High Card. They landed on top of the surface of the lake, preventing Margo from taking direct action for the time being.
"Herr Loud, are you well?" Clarissa asked.
"I think so..." Lincoln muttered.
"Ace!" Night Club and High Card jumped back and knelt beside Lincoln.
"So, that's how far you're willing to go, Herr Robins," Clarissa looked at the trio, then turned to Margo, "What reason have you to cause sigh a high degree of pain to someone?"
"Pain...Pain?!..." Margo started quivering once she heard that line, "What the hell do you know about pain?!" She was about to launch another barrage of energy blasts, but she was suddenly grabbed by six wire-guided daggers, coming from Clarissa. Margo engaged in a brief tug of war, "Ugghhhhrrrghh-ASK ME ABOUT PAIN!" She suddenly increased power output, grabbing the wires and violently yanking them, propelling Clarissa towards her. When they were mere feet from each other, "ASK MEEEEEEEE!" She slammed her wings against Clarissa, knocking her against the bank hard enough to make a crater.
"Clarissa?!" Lincoln recovered enough strength to fly at Clarissa's side.
"Oh my..." Clarissa stuttered, nearly winded by the Gospel's insane power output, "What have they been doing?..."
Margo released another energy barrage. Clarissa tried to save them by holding out her hand and emitting an AIC, but all it did was drastically slow down the energy balls. It didn't stop them from phasing through the barrier and exploding the ground around her. Margo concentrated her energy on a single point in front of her and fired off a huge laser. Lincoln jumped in front to shield Clarissa, with High Card and Night Club temporarily amplifying his defensive abilities. They deflected the laser into multiple beams, which spread out and decimated the nearby roads and forest.
Clarissa got up and fired off several railgun shots, one of which Margo didn't see coming and hit her square in the head. The impact lasted only a split second, however, as Margo immediately retaliated by closing ranks and rushing towards the group. She intended to grab Lincoln, but that stray shot allowed him to get away from her grasp, trapping her in Clarissa's AIC.
"What'cha got, High?!" Night Club asked.
"Nothing!" High Card looked at her new phone, "It's cyber defense is crazy!"
"Get your Axe ready," Lincoln said, "We'll have to beat some sense into her."
"Alright, duncauf," Clarissa demanded, "Tell me why you're trying to kill him!"
"Why do you think?!" Margo snapped, "This bastard's been the root of all my crap from over three years ago!"
"Me three?" Lincoln suddenly became intent on the conversation, "The hell are you talking about?!"
Margo swerved her head towards Lincoln. One look in his eyes and she figured out that he really had no clue what he was supposed to know. A sort of evil smirk slowly appeared on her face, "Oh? Lori didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Lincoln asked, then recalled what Margo said recently, "Three years? That was...how did you know about that?"
"Because I was hiding in the trees, out of your field of vision," Margo explained, "I saw everything that happened that day. I'm guessing they didn't tell you anything about that brutal scapegoating for a reason."
"I know," Lincoln engaged in the conversation while Nigh Club and High Card took Clarissa's rear guard, "It's the cause of my torturous adventures, right?"
"Well, there's a little bit of an epilogue..." Margo went on, "You know that person whom you and your sisters accused of beating you and Lynn up?"
"What...what about?" Lincoln said, then sensing a small disturbance in the air coming from Margo.
"Something's coming..." Night Club panicked.
"Clarissa?" High Card saw the AIC wavering.
"I don't know!" Clarissa grunted as she struggled to keep her AIC intact, "It's pure beam energy! But...how?!"
"The person of whom you took the hit..." Margo muttered, "the person your stupid sisters sent to juvie..."
Lincoln instinctively threw his shield at Margo, but it simply bounced off an invisible force field emitted by the pure energy. The force field then exploded, breaking the AIC and allowing Margo to fly high in the sky, "...WAS MY BROTHER!" and let loose an enormous amount of energy balls to decimate the entire valley.
Clarissa defended herself with her AIC, amplified by Night Club and High Card's weapons, while Lincoln hid beneath a huge boulder for cover. Once the blasts stopped, he left his cover and sent several cards skyward, only to find Margo no longer in the sky. He panicked and threw a fist behind him, and sure enough, Margo caught it.
"We were this close to catching the real culprit!" Margo threw him upward, "We could have vindicated him! But you!..." and then fired off a laser, "...YOU HAD TO MAKE HIM A CRIMINAL!"
"What the..." Lincoln was aghast. He did not know that she had a brother. No one did. So many questions ran through his mind, but the most predominant one was: Why was his familial relationship with Margo kept a secret?
But there was no time to think, as Clarissa was on the move, firing her railgun while taking the laser to shield Lincoln, "Focus, Loud! We cannot allow sentimental memories to cloud our judgement!"
"Thanks to you and your not-harem, I'm all alone!" Margo rushed forward, pelting them with energy balls until she got to Clarissa, "You went and framed my brother, and the real bully's still out there ruining more lives!" She screamed as she easily got through Lincoln and Clarissa's combo assault.
"How was I supposed to know that guy was your brother?!" Lincoln said before his neck was caught in her grasp, "ACK-guh...I didn't see you in elementary school...what part of "brother" was I supposed to know?..."
Margo got really angry and blasted him, "Damned little-" BOOM! "-UGH!" Until a shot hit her wings and made her drop him.
"Confirmed hit, no visible damage," Clarissa muttered.
"Fire again!" High Card shouted.
Clarissa fired again, but Margo was able to grab the bullet and redirect it at Lincoln, knocking him out.
"NO!" Night Club lost it, "YOU MONSTER!" She let out a guitar riff that interfered with Margo's energy emission.
"Cover me!" High Card shouted.
"I guess ignorance really is bliss," Margo shook her head and rocketed towards Clarissa.
While that was going on, Lincoln was having a moment in IS subspace. In that same comatose state he was in three years ago, except there was no concussion to allow him to forget. He was just stuck on the black grass, among the blackened sky, with nothing and no one else but his memories, and someone happening among his unconscious body, with some very heavy cargo on her back.
"Holy wow!" It was her-him, carrying three giant bags of recyclables, "You will not believe what I found at the emotional center!" She looked over and saw Lincoln motionless, "Oh my god-dude!" She dropped everything with a hard thud and ran to Lincoln's side, "Dude, you're not supposed to be here! What're you doing taking a nap?! Don't you have a big battle to win?!" She tried to shake him awake, slap him, throw water on him, but nothing worked. He was still trapped in his own mind, "Ohoho, bad! Very bad! I don't like bad! Fix the bad!" Just then, she saw a small bag glowing and ripped it open, "Please let this go in a direction I didn't predict would go..."
The girl found a virtual reality headset and put it on to stop its glowing. When she clicked it in place and turned it on, she saw the Silverio Gospel wreaking havoc on the mountain valley, "Dangit...it's going where I thought it would go..."
Back in the real world, Lincoln's IS was down. Night Club and High Card tried various combination techniques to disable it and allow Clarissa to trap Margo in the AIC, all to no avail. No matter what they tried, the end result was the same: they had to dodge Margo's charges to avoid getting mauled. The only thing they could do was have Night Club keep playing to prevent Margo from properly charging her energy attacks, allowing Clarissa and High Card to engage in CQC just to try and disable Margo. It went on until Margo caught sight of High Card and made a beeline for her.
"Dammit! I'm not fast enough!" Clarissa kept missing shots with her railgun.
"High!" Night Club shouted, "Diamond Flush!"
"I'm good!" High Card set up a reflective barrier around her space when she saw Margo rocketing towards her, "Hold your fire!"
"And to you," Margo hissed, "The sad imitations of the people who started my downward spiral." She slammed her foot down on High Card extremely hard, but in doing so, she was hit with a force equal to that which she exerted, "GUGH?!-" which was enough to disorient her, giving Clarissa time to catch up and freeze her.
Sort of. Night Club's guitar riffs hindered both Margo's energy abilities and Clarissa's AIC. Margo had almost broken free when Clarissa shouted, "Ngh...Night Club, go in now!"
Night Club momentarily stopped playing and fired up her jet pack, "WOOOOOOAAAAAAHAHAHAH-" She hit Margo square in the head, but not before she was full-body slammed by the wings.
"Oh no!" Clarissa dodged the wing strikes, then tried several times to cut them off with her twin blades.
But Margo was able to take the brunt of that assault, as she eventually caught Clarissa's arms. Clarissa tried to launch her wire daggers at the wings, but Margo easily blasted Clarissa into oblivion.
Back in IS subspace...
"AAAAAAGH! THEY'RE GETTING MASSACRED!" The girl screamed and threw off the headset, then went to shake Lincoln's body some more, "Dude, get up! You can't be sleeping at a time like this! THEY NEED YOU HELPMEPPO HELLO?!" She heard even more clanking and screaming coming from the headset and decided to put it on to see more of the fight.
Meanwhile, Margo was engaging in a fierce 3-on-1 with Clarissa, Night Club, and High Card. And it seemed like the trio had found a viable weakness in the Gospel's sensory perception, and Clarissa proceeded to close ranks while firing her railgun nonstop, allowing Night Club and High Card to pin her down.
But then Margo decided to do an energy spray spin attack, spraying energy blasts everywhere and knocking them all down at once. "ENOUGH!" She didn't give them a moment's notice, leaping into the air and eviscerating the landscape with a gigantic green laser. She sprayed it across the forest, giving just enough energy to start a fire, take Night Club and High Card out, and pulverize Clarissa.
"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" The girl screamed and rattled Lincoln even harder, "Wake up wake up wake up wake up please wake up you won't wake up sentient program ok BING BONG!" She couldn't take it anymore and decided to join the fight "virtually", by donning the rest of the VR gear: legs, arms, and all, and put her hands in front of her, "EMERGENCY CODE 266 OVERRIDE!"
Back in the real world, Margo was surveying the fruits of her battle. Amidst the trenches created, Night Club and High Card were immobilized, and Clarissa's IS was nearly destroyed.
Night Club was able to croak out her last line, "Dude...ain't that IS supposed to mirror LaBo's..."
"She damaged Valkyrie Trace before I could use it..." Clarissa grunted, "It needs time to self-repair..." She gasped when she saw Margo towering over her.
"This doesn't involve you," Margo said before aiming her gaze towards the unconscious Night Club. But just when she was about to fire off a laser, she sensed something coming for the back of her neck and blocked it with her arm, "Who the...Wha?!..."
It was Lincoln, face completely covered, walking through the debris to challenge Margo. Or so she thought. In actuality, the lookalike girl had hijacked his IS and taken full control through her VR gear. She took her battle stance and got the Savvy Suite ready for another fight.
"So, the Gospel has Byakugan vision..." the girl muttered, "No worries...just gotta expose that...teeny... tiny...weak spot...oh good gravy..."
"So, you couldn't stay down, could you?" Margo asked.
Lincoln said nothing, but the girl said, "And overpowered...let's see, what do I have to work with?..." she held her hand out, and an item screen popped up on her headset:
ENERGY CAPSULE: 9
DEALER CARD: STRONG SUIT
"THAT'S IT?!" The girl shrieked, "#FML!"
"It's cute you're trying to stick up for your own backstabbing sisters," Margo smirked, "but I don't have time for crap now." She leaped into the air, "I'll deal with these mockeries first!" The instant she fired the laser at High Card, the Suite was already defending her target with the wing shield deflecting the laser, and a flurry of card boms thrown at her, one of which hit her head and caused a misfire. The laser was directed upward, causing it to destroy a radio tower, and several power lines.
"Uhhhh..." High Card was in a daze before the laser hit, "Uh...Ace?..." After seeing the Suite take the brunt of the attack, she finally fizzled out of existence.
"He took that punch no sweat..." Night Club muttered before she too fizzled out of existence.
But somehow, Clarissa was able to see through that maneuver, "No...it's not him... but...how..."
Margo was enraged, "So, you're gonna take hits for her, too?! Fine! Take this!" She charged the Suite and pushed it across the valley.
But the girl was in utter shock, "Do you not see what you did to the world?!" She then opened her arms up, "Wake the hell up already!"
The Suite's arms opened up, allowing Margo to grab its neck and drag it across the grass. But as soon as they hit the main road, the Suite threw several cards at Margo's head, disorienting her and locking her in the 52-Card Pickup. The Suite was able to get in some very heavy hits, but on the final card barrage Margo was able to counter every single card that came her way. Margo then met the Suite punch for punch, kick for kick, until she was able to sneak in a powerful blast into its forearm. She kicked it away and fired another laser, which was deflected by the shield and blew all the way to Royal Woods Softball Stadium.
"Ugh..." the girl groaned, "I had ONE JOB..." then her POV was suddenly rattled, "AAAA-OH MY GOD!"
Margo had gotten a clutch on the Suite and threw it all the way across the field, and back into the urban landscape, where major damage was sure to be done.
"No no no no no!" The girl panicked, "Regain control! Regain control!" She table to keep the Suite from crashing into a car, but there was nothing she could do against Margo's Mach speed punch, which ended up destroying a major freeway, taking it into the slums and crashing into a housing complex. "Yep...Yep..." she winced, "I don't know how it can get any worse, but I'm sure you'll find a way," she said as she triggered the item screen.
Margo was standing over the broken bridge, eyeing the Suite, "Do you have any idea how much pain I was in the day you had your little concussion?"
"Wait-Huh?" The girl stopped and paid attention, "Sure, now you decide to tell me your deal..."
"Before the first day of school," Margo continued, "I was already a target of bullying thanks to my buck teeth and nose, and no amount of plastic surgery could fix them. But my brother had it even worse when he was in elementary school, especially with Lori, who was rumor prone, and when Bobby came into the picture, it got even WORSE!" She slammed her wings against the support beams of the freeway above her, putting it, and its cars, at risk.
"Oh my..." the girl grumbled, "It went way past where I thought it would go..."
"And then, on the first day of my brother's seventh grade, Lori, Luan, and Luna decide to concoct a hairbrained scheme you ruin his social life...one last rumor," Margo said, "and guess what?"
"Oh lord," the girl said, "I didn't think that jealousy would be the high point of this fight..."
"It turned him into a bully himself!" Margo rammed her fist into the Suite's visor, sending it crashing through an abandoned apartment complex.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna let you rant a bit," the girl turned out and made the Suite use three energy capsules.
"He started changing his persona so much that we had to take him to therapy!" Margo walked to the Suite, "He was so far gone, it took years to finally get him back on the road to recover!" But then, she stopped, "But then...then..." she fires another all-powerful laser. The Suite avoided its blast range, but the city took huge damage, "YOU AND LYNN HAD TO RUIN IT ALL!"
"Is this what happens to people who desire power?!" The girl commented, "Dangit, calm down, woman! And, side note, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THEY DID IT?! I don't know how you know, so what the hell?!"
Margo plowed through the debris and locked the Suite in a power struggle, "It must be nice having a family who treats you like utter crap and loves you for doing so!"
"Yeah, ok," the girl had enough and made the Suite throw a knee, headbutt, and arm at Margo. And the slap actually hit.
That made Margo lose it and go ape all over the Suite, which couldn't do anything except dodge.
The girl braced herself for another laser blast, "Are you doing this because your thunder got stolen twice, or because Lori ruined your family life?!" The Suite was cornered between three buildings as she saw her POV becoming engulfed in a turquoise aura, "Make up your mind, Blahrgo Margo!"
Meanwhile, back at the Loud House, Lynn was curled up in bed while Strong Suit was watching the sparks fly from the living room window.
"Must be a killer fight up there," Strong Suit commented before calling out to Lynn, "Hey, you wanna check it out?"
"No," Lynn snapped, "And what about you? Aren't you supposed to help your precious 'Ace Savvy'?"
"I could, but you'd follow me out there," Strong Suit smirked, "Are you sure you don't wanna go? I mean, he is your brother after all."
"Not anymore , he ain't. That asshole can go suck it up to his new family!"
"Yikes...then, why are you still in his bedroom?"
"I dunno! Maybe I'm just confused!" Lynn blurted out before realizing what she had just said.
"Conf-wuh?..." Strong Suit caught that word.
"I mean...well, what I meant to say was that I..." Lynn couldn't come up with a good excuse to write off her remark.
"Ok, bro pono," Strong Suit suddenly jumped onto the bed, "What's going through your mind?"
"Well...it...a lot of stuff," Lynn gave up and tried to put her feelings into coherent words, "It's just...he's been my brother for my entire life, and I never thought of it except...well, siblings and...stuff..." she trailed off as she remembered that event on her second day of sixth grade.
"I know where your mind's going, but it ain't all ball like you think. I don't know how you didn't consider it coming back to bite you."
"I didn't think it would bite this hard! How the hell was I supposed to know what I was getting myself into?!"
"Because you're his brother?"
"Well...I just..." Lynn lost her trail of thought again.
"Then, why did you keep it a secret? Instead of...you know...telling him?"
"Because I was scared that he might run away from us," Lynn muttered.
"Well, technically, he already did. And he does hate the fact that you didn't tell him. Kind of a lame and redundant excuse to keep it a secret...eh, I don't buy it. There has to be another reason why you iced that event."
Lynn was stunned. To hear that load of bile coming from an extension of Lincoln's mind, it meant that he never stopped thinking about them. Even if it was in a bit of a negative light. Now, she had even more questions than she had the entire fall semester, "Wow...did he really-"
Just then, Strong Suit's wristbands started glowing bright, "Oh boy...Ace's in trouble," she said as she stretched her body and prepped herself for battle, "Yep, that's what happens when a level 15 goes up against a level 115...but, it's to save our little corner of the woods, so!" She hopped off the bed and triggered the emergency slide in Lincoln's room, "What else can you do?"
"Wait, you're not going out there, are you?!" Lynn stammered.
"I have to," Strong Suit climbed out of the window, "My peeps are in trouble. I'm not gonna sit here and let them take it. I'ma jump out!"
"Wait, but what about-" Lynn was too late to catch Strong Suit from sliding down, leaving her alone in the giant house once again. "Dangit! I'm tired of being left in the dark!" This time, she acted on instinct and tried to parkour her way downstairs. But when she landed on the first floor-
-THUD!-
"AAAAAAGH!"
Lynn's legs flared up. She didn't realize how much of her body was beyond repair, but she didn't care. The only thing on her mind was getting straight to the point, through Lincoln. She grabbed a bike outside and pedaled her way to Clyde's house. Once she arrived, she knocked on the door hard several times before Clyde's dads came out to answer.
"Whoever's knocking, please keep it down," Harold came out without noticing Lynn.
"Harold, relax," Howard walked outside, "It's only Lynn."
"Whaddaya...mean, "only"...?" Lynn panted, "Never mind...where's Clyde...?"
"He's sleeping in his room," Harold answered, "Why do you ask?"
"I...need..." Lynn mustered up the courage to make her request, knowing full well of what it will entail, "I need a favor..."
Meanwhile, the lookalike girl was having a time of her life. She spent the entire fight getting the Savvy Suite thrown, thrashed, and throttled across the Detroit cityscape, having to use up all its energy capsules just to keep it from losing its energy to Margo. Almost all of her attacks were outright blocked, and the ones that did hit did not faze Margo in the slightest. The latest exchange brought a laser into the inner city, totaling the Suite's shield, its mobility, and so much of the city streets.
"What do I do now?..." the girl pulled on her hair, "We're gonna die, they're gonna die, freedom's gonna die, EVERYTHING IS GONNA DAAAAHAHAHAHAIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" Just then, she saw Margo on top of her, picking up the Suite by its neck and lifting it higher and higher, "No no no no bad bad bad bad!" She started flailing, "Do something, robot me! Anything!" But the Suite wouldn't respond.
Margo looked down and smirked, "You know, I honestly thought you'd be a good fit for Phantom Task. But, I guess it's true. Once a coward, always a coward."
"The hell did that come fro..." the girl moved her POV to behind the Suite and realized what was below it, "Uhhhh..." and started flailing even more, "RESPOND, DAMN YOU! RESPOOOOOOOND!"
Margo was hovering over the Detroit River, and was preparing to drop the Suite, and a giant laser, into it. "You're too scared to question your sisters, so you'd rather do anything for them instead of risking a small scolding for your freedom. If you won't see the light, then you will die in the dark."
The girl was flailing even more, but the Suite still would not budge. That's when Lincoln started murmuring an incoherent mumble, his mind dipping between conscious and unconscious.
"No mercy for you, horse buck," Margo said, "Now, begone!" and let go.
The Suite was in freefall for only a second when Margo charged up for a huge laser blast. The Suite was starting to regain movement, but it wasn't enough to escape Margo's line of fire. Margo let the energy out. It was coming at the Suite at breakneck speed, and it would wipe it out if it hit. But just as it was about to the Suite, something swept it away from the blast.
Margo saw the Suite escape, "What the-" and instantly got knocked upside the head by a dumbbell, "AGH! Ugh, who would-"
It was Strong Suit, who managed to hit her target from the river bank, "Over here, assface! NEEEEYH-HAWFAWFAWFAW!" And infuriate her to no end.
"GASP-" Lincoln suddenly woke up, "Oh my god!...Where am I?..." he found himself on a pasture, with only a pile of bags, and the lookalike girl.
"Oh good, you're awake!" And she wasted no time relinquishing control to him, "Do something about this confused creature!" She tore off her VR gear.
"Do what about-hey!" And in an instant, Lincoln was back in the Suite, inside the arms of a giant metallic black samurai, a samurai that resembled the Brunhilde. "Whoa!" He came back to his senses, "What is happening?!"
"A lot," Clarissa's voice came through the giant's head, "but there's no time to explain."
"Clarissa?!" Lincoln yelped, "Is that you?! How are you in this thing?!"
"The Valkyrie Trace System has been repaired," Clarissa said, "We now stand on equal footing."
"VT?..." Lincoln panted, "Ok, am I missing anything?"
"Yes," Clarissa veered the giant back towards the Silverio Gospel, "That."
Lincoln saw Strong Suit struggle against Margo, swiping shot after shot of the wings, but never dealing any damage. He shrieked when he saw Margo land a punch on Strong Suit. "NOOO!" He broke out of the giant's grasp and flew towards Margo as fast as he could, but Margo simply threw Strong Suit aside and landed her hands on his neck.
"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Margo growled.
"Ggck...Ugh..." Lincoln choked in her hands, "...take your inner conflict elsewhere..."
At that point Margo sensed a free weight and a sword coming at her, and released Lincoln to fend off against both attacks. She knocked away the free weight with ease, but she felt the weight of the world come down on her shoulders from the sword, "Ugghhh...where do that come from..."
"It comes from a place you have yet to fully understand!" Clarissa said as her VT-enhanced IS doubled down on the sword strike.
Margo was able to escape Clarissa's attacks and fired off a max-power laser at Clarissa, who was able to shrug it off and return a sword slash that actually dealt some damage to Margo.
Strong Suit followed up with a fully loaded barbell to Margo's shoulder, "We gotta break its wings!"
Lincoln quickly jumped in and performed a chokehold on Margo, but it didn't last long as Margo broke free on pure strength alone. Margo launched another spread attack that left Lincoln and Strong Suit winded, but Clarissa took the brunt of the attack and engaged Margo in CQC.
Strong Suit knelt down beside Lincoln on the boardwalk, "Dude, what do we do? At this rate, we'll never ground her."
"I don't know..." was all Lincoln said.
"Whaddaya mean, ya don't know?!"
"I MEAN, I DON'T KNOW!"
They were then interrupted by several energy blasts, one of which hit the water tower behind them. The tower fell over and nearly collapsed them, but Lincoln was able to fly Strong Suit away from the impact.
"I coulda just jumped outta the way, ya know!" Strong Suit snapped.
"Get on my back!" Lincoln shouted while flying along the river, "I'm gonna get close enough for you to attack!"
Lincoln flew Strong Suit along the river to find Clarissa and Margo, and it didn't take long. Clarissa was struggling to keep the energy balls away from the drawbridge. Margo sensed Lincoln approaching from behind her and flew towards him. Clarissa capitalized on the distraction to ready her next strike. Margo and Lincoln were charging at each other, ripping the surface of the water in half. Margo was putting her concentration on one final laser blast. So much so, that she didn't see Strong Suit leap off Lincoln's back until it was too late to stop.
Margo panicked, then looked behind her and saw Clarissa coming from behind, and that split second made all the difference. She was decked in the head by Strong Suit's barbell thrust, which stunned her long enough to get hit by Clarissa's sword thrust. Clarissa and Strong Suit came back to Margo and rammed their weapons into the Gospel simultaneously.
Margo wilted. She clutched her stomach to keep herself from keeling over, "Ugh...dammit...what's with you people..."
"Margo, this has to stop!" Lincoln stopped a few feet in front of her, "We can't keep doing this any longer!"
"Shut up! What do you know?!" Margo screamed, "You're just a cushiony spoiled brat who couldn't really hurt even if a bug landed on your shoulder!"
"An extremely pale insult compared to the profanity-laced indignity you've handed out to southwest Michigan!" Clarissa shouted, "Look around you! This is very reason he would never harm a fly!"
"What are you..." Margo immediately reacted to Clarissa's words and looked around her. She stared at the cityscape that surrounded her...and the damaged she cause to it. So many roads and highways chipped into pieces, so many homes reduced to rubble, so many buildings smoking with holes. And she was the main cause of it.
"Yeah," Margo whispered, "I did all that. Wow."
"Listen to me!" Lincoln pleaded, "Phantom Task has turned you into something you're not supposed to be! You've been manipulated into becoming a monster, and they're just here to exploit you!"
"So?" Margo retorted, "What's your point? You have the same destructive power as I do!"
"I have this amazing power because I know how to control it!" Clarissa said, "You have just transformed the Silverio Gospel into an all-powerful killing machine! How is that supposed to put you on the same plane as the rest of us?!"
"I'd love to stay and chat about the power levels of the heart, but I still have some things to do," Margo took off to the sky and started to gather and immense energy surge within her body.
"Are you kidding me?!" Strong Suit screamed, "The Cross Thrust did jack squat!"
"Everyone behind me!" Clarissa prepared herself to take the full blast, "I'll focus the laser on me! When she fires, hit her from below!"
Lincoln and Strong Suit his behjnd Clarissa when Margo's laser reached maximum capacity. But just as Margo was about to fire, she sensed another object hurtling towards her backside; she turned the laser in that direction and fired there instead. The trio was stunned by that sudden maneuver until they saw what the laser was veering towards.
It was another IS. The laser was blasting towards that IS, but it was able to escape by kicking off an Ignition Boost. But the IS didn't stop its path towards Margo, and the laser didn't stop chasing the pilot. It wasn't until the pilot landed an uppercut on Margo's chin when the pilot was revealed.
The pilot was Lynn. She was the one who struck her best friend. She followed up with a kick to the gut, then finally finished by materializing a double-bladed staff and landing two slashes, breaking Margo's concentration and shutting off the laser.
Lincoln was flabbergasted. He didn't know what compelled Lynn to jump into an IS and come to his rescue, but he was even more flabbergasted by the fact that she hit her best friend.
Lynn was just as shocked that she was forced to intervene in the fight, if only to stop Margo from hurting herself. She didn't care about how Lincoln felt towards her anymore. All that mattered to her now was getting everything back to normal, including Margo.
"I didn't wanna believe it..." Lynn panted, "Margo...is it all true?...You really hated my guts..."
Margo took a minute to regain her balance, then eyed the woman floating in front of her, "Whoa...congrats, Lynn-sanity. You finally got the stones to throw down."
"Don't talk like that! Answer me, Margo! You weren't really my friend...were you?"
"No, she's not!" Clarissa commed to Lynn, "Your friend is long gone, Fräulein Lynn! She means to tear your family apart!"
"Well, good on you for figuring it out before Mister Dunder and Miss Mifflin," Margo interrupted, "Seriously, Lynn? You didn't once consider that your own friend would try a stunt like this behind your back? Given that friend's previous backstory?"
"Yeah, I heard from Nerdface and Jerkface already," Lynn said, "But what I don't know is, why didn't you tell anybody? Why'd you hide it from me?"
"Tell anybody? Wha-like you?! In the face of the toughest girl in school?!" Margo laughed in disbelief, "Hahahahhahahahaaaaa, ohohooooo that is rich! As if my social standing couldn't get any worse than rock bottom!"
"Ok, I get it. But...just answer me one thing," Lynn said, "Is it your brother, or is it your passion for sports?"
Margo regained her composure upon hearing that question, "Wow. That's the first thoughtful line I've ever heard from you."
Lynn gripped her staff and braced herself for an impending attack. Clarissa moved away from Lincoln to give herself room to take off and remove Lynn from any possible danger, while Lincoln and Strong Suit prepped for a long pursuit.
But Margo...she no longer cared. She thought she was already so deep in the rabbit hole that she might as well dig deeper and try to create a sinkhole, "Both. I hated you for stealing my chance to escape being harassed, and I hate your sisters for manipulating and framing my brother."
"Huh?" Lynn heard how the person she thought to be the school bully of her initial sixth grade days was actually Margo's brother, but she was never told about anything else that could've tricked him into fighting her, "Where'd you hear th-UGH!" But she didn't have time to process it, as she was just socked in the face.
Clarissa moved in while Lincoln and Strong Suit flung cards and dumbbells at Margo, who effortlessly countered them all. Margo saw Clarissa approaching and tried to sway her away with a spray attack, but Lynn insisted on a CQC trade off. Margo blocked Lynn's strikes and pushed her back with a wing slam, far enough for Lynn to be caught in Clarissa's giant arms. Margo blasted them away with a volley of energy, but Lincoln got close enough for him and Strong Suit to pummel Margo and bring her to ground level.
Lynn just stared at the suddenly ferocious attacks that two people very close to each other were trading. "Whoa..." she gasped, "Is that really Lincoln?..."
"Listen," Clarissa tried to console her, "I am aware you just recently became a pilot, but get used to the Heavy Battler quickly. She will not wait for you to do so."
Lynn just watched Margo takedown Lincoln and Strong Suit without using a single bit of energy, "Yeah, you're right. We need to beat some sense into her." She flew off and interrupted Margo's winged slashes before it could finish Strong Suit off.
"Whoa..." Strong Suit marveled before jumping back into action, swinging around Lynn's shoulders to strike at Margo, only to be shunted into the water, "PLABLT-" SPLASH! "-CLARISSA!"
Clarissa performed a Full Force strike to force Margo away from her, when Lincoln and Strong Suit were able to get in a few ranged attacks. Clarissa was able to engage Margo in CQC until her sword was swatted away, opening her to a laser blast. But when the blast subsided, Lynn and Strong Suit were there to thrust Margo into an empty warehouse. Margo skid back to the middle of the warehouse, while Lynn and Strong Suit blocked the way out.
"Tch..." Margo spat, then taunted Lynn, "Feel good now that your precious little scapegoat's here to take the fall for you?"
"It ain't gonna end like back then," Lynn grunted underneath the intense pain the battle was causing her arms and legs, "This time, me and Lincoln are gonna walk outta this alive."
Strong Suit switched out her barbell with a pair of ping pong paddles, "Believe me, this'll hurt us more than it'll hurt you."
Margo looked ahead of her, at the two Lynns blocking the exit. Then, she looked behind her, at Lincoln and Clarissa surrounding her by entering through the truck loading area. She turned back to the twin Lynn and hissed, "On that, we agree."