Chapter 9: Ace Savvy Investigates (Part 2/2)

Alright, here we go with part two. Lincoln will continue with his investigative efforts, though he might not find solving the case as easy a task as he had hoped. Meanwhile, Lynn will find out some very interesting things herself. Let's see what happens in chapter 9…

Lynn had just encountered a threesome of familiar faces during her hour of time to roam in juvie. The faces being those of Eddie, Sid and Hilary, three of the former disciples of Jake Kelly, alias Viribus. Obviously, this caused an alarm inside Lynn's mind to set off, and she approached the group with hostility…

"Give me one good reason not to pound you chumps into dust?!" Lynn asked with burning hatred in her expression and tone of voice.

"Well, for one thing, you've already got yourself into trouble with your little scuffle yesterday. I mean, just look at that messed up face of yours." Replied Eddie, one of the disciples.

And he had a point, Lynn still had gaps in her teeth and bruises all over as she stood and spoke that very day…

"And two, we mean you no harm anymore." said Hilary.

"Yeah, likely story! I can't believe I'm stuck in this place with all of you freaks! I mean, you're the same bunch of guys that took over Lincoln's school and held it hostage for days!" Lynn said.

"We know, but we're on the road to retaliation." replied Sid.

"What? You guys?! You're actually going to turn good? Pfft. Give me a break!" Lynn brushed off.

"Just calm down, Lynn. There's no need for an altercation. We're not the little monsters you once met! We've changed, in lots of ways!" Sid told her.

"And as I said, likely story. I don't buy it!" Lynn insisted.

"Well, it's true. We're all on the road to recovery. Juvenile confinement honestly was a blessing for us." Sid said.

"Yes. It really has given us a golden opportunity to turn our lives around." Hilary added.

"Oh really? A few months in Juvie have transformed you from complete psycho's to wannabe jesuses?" Lynn questioned cynically.

"That's the benefit of being in juvie. It's relatively less violent and more relaxed than adult prison. Not only that, but it has a whole range of programs in place designed around rehabilitative service." Eddie explained.

"That's right. Mental health services, special education. This place really goes out of its way to help the troubled youths that inhabit its walls to better themselves and become functioning members of society once again." Sid stated.

"Oh, really?!" Lynn asked, still sceptical.

"Yes. In fact, I'm sure this place will do the same thing with you. They'll give you all the help you need to overcome your mental weaknesses. I mean, that's what youth detention centres are for." Hilary informed her.

"That's good to know." Lynn dryly replied.

But while Lynn was communicating with her former adversaries, Lincoln and Clyde were approaching her old Middle School. Lincoln had a plan in mind that he was going to act on.

"Okay, what's the plan Lincoln?" Clyde asked.

"I'm just trying to find someone." Lincoln replied while looking around.

Lincoln then saw the exact girl he was looking for…

"Hey, Margo!" Lincoln said, rushing towards her.

"Hey, um, you're Lynn's brother, right?" she asked, vaguely recognising him.

"That's right." He replied.

"Shouldn't you two be in your own school?" she asked.

"Clyde and I called in sick. We have business to take care of here today." Lincoln said.

"Oh, right. Well, how's your family doing? I mean, with the Lynn stuff and all." she asked out of concern.

"Not too well, unfortunately. This stuff with Lynn has hit all of us pretty hard." He said.

"Yeah, I get that. Me and a lot of the girls in most of my sports teams have felt the same. Lynn was a star player in all of them." Margo said.

"Wow, she's really had a big influence on people, hasn't she?" Clyde pointed out.

"Well, yeah. She worked herself to the bone every day to be the best she could be at any sport she could." Margo said.

"She was certainly committed." Lincoln added.

"Honestly, sometimes it bugged me. She did have her moments where her competitiveness drove me a little crazy! But I always knew she had a heart of gold." Margo told the boys.

"Yeah, she did." Lincoln agreed.

"Also, she was a lot of fun to hang around with." She proudly told them.

"Eh-heh." they nervously chuckled, trying to show agreement while not being sure if they completely did.

"Anyway, nice seeing you." Margo said, intending to move on.

"Wait, Margo! I need your help." Lincoln requested.

"Why?" she asked.

"I need to ask you a couple of questions. Have you got 5 minutes?" Lincoln asked.

"Um, well…" Margo hesitated.

"It might be able to help Lynn." He told her.

"Okay, 5 minutes." She said as she agreed to his proposal for a few minutes of talk.

"Great." Lincoln and Clyde replied in unison.

"Under one condition." Margo said.

"What?" Lincoln asked.

"Please take off those costumes. They're a little embarrassing, especially in here." She told them, and she had a point given they were standing in the hallway of a middle school, where bullying was a probability.

While Lincoln was getting changed and preparing to fire questions at Margo, Lynn was having a lot of questions answered herself by her fellow juvie inmates…

"So, how long are you in for?" Sid asked Lynn.

"Well, I had a trial in court, and was sentenced to a year." Lynn replied.

"Oh, you'll be fine. With good behaviour, you'll probably get out before Christmas!" Eddie said.

"Gee, thanks. That makes it sound much better." She responded sarcastically.

"As for us, we were each given 2 years originally. Of course, the crazy and warped personalities we presented at the start of our time here increased them a bit. But, that's fine. We're happy to serve whatever sentence we need to make sure we come out better people in the end." Sid justified.

"That's a good point, actually. Weren't there 4 of you?" Lynn asked, referring to Wayne, the 4th disciple.

"There was Wayne. He was the oldest one of us who followed Viribus. He was old enough to the point where he was treated as an adult and put in prison. He's probably on the other side of that fence over there." Hilary stated as she pointed over to the fence separating adult prison with juvie.

Lynn then looked over with a sense of fear of intimidation at the fence. Only a small structure was separating her and the other underaged inmates from the adult criminals.

"I still can't believe the way this place is organised. I mean, don't you think it's a little dangerous that not only the male and female juveniles are grouped together, but also that we share the same building with the adult prisoners?" Lynn questioned.

"Not really. I mean, Grip the person who owns the local prison institution, is clearly saving on costs by combining the two into one. But while they save money in that way, they still manage to have a decent way of keeping all the prisoners, juvie and adult alike, in check. We don't get too much hassle around here, as long as everyone keeps to themselves and minds their own business." Eddie explained.

"Yeah, but isn't it just a wee bit dangerous. I mean, boys locked up with girls, and the adults only separated with one small, barbed wire fence?" Lynn asked.

"No. Males and females are only allowed to interact around here during this hour of free roam time. Other than that, male juveniles and female ones tend to be separated when it comes to being allocated cells. Besides, the guards around here usually do a good job at stopping any altercations. Of course, they arrived a little late for your scuffle yesterday. And the fence has never proven insufficient at keeping the adults separate from us. This building is basically two buildings, joined in the middle with this free roam area that we all share. But no adult prisoner has ever come into contact with any one of us in the institution's history." Sid said.

"Eh, I'd still say it's a little weird. Then again, why would I think that? Crazy, overblown and stranger things than that happen in my family all the time." Lynn concluded.

"Why are you in here anyway?" Hilary asked Lynn.

"I attacked some young kids and was caught with some sports enhancement pills." Lynn replied.

"Darn! I'd say you got off pretty lightly if you only got one year." Sid said.

"I could say the same about you guys, if you didn't get life for what you did!" Lynn bit back.

"Touché." Eddie said.

As Lynn continued her conversation, Lincoln was having his own with Margo…

"Margo, what can you tell me about your old baseball coach, Henry?" Lincoln asked her.

"Well, not much. I didn't really talk to him a lot. He wasn't even there for very long." She replied.

"How long was he the coach for?" Clyde asked.

"About a month. He came in after the coach before him was banned from teaching because of some really screwy stuff he did! He said he volunteered to take over because it was his mission to take control of the local baseball team or something." Margo explained.

"That's it? He only stuck around for a month, and then just left?" Lincoln questioned.

"Well, yeah. I mean, this stuff with Lynn really got to his head, at least that's what he told everyone." She claimed.

"Yeah, but still. To only stick around one month and then leave!?" Lincoln responded.

"It sounds a little suspicious to me!" Clyde stated.

"What do you mean?" Margo asked.

"Margo, we believe Lynn was set up by Henry Fredericks. He forced her to take those performance enhancers she was caught with, and that made her become even more violent than usual!" Lincoln told her.

"Look, I would really like to believe Lynn is innocent, too. She's my best friend. But I think we have to face facts. The judge and jury declared her guilty, and all the evidence points to her being responsible for what she did." Margo reasoned.

"Yeah, but…" Lincoln tried to answer.

"Listen. I know you're just being a good big brother, trying to look out for his sister." She told him.

"Actually, I'm the little brother." He corrected.

"Oh, it's just that you're about the same height and she seems like the more childish of the two. Well, aside from the fact that you walked in here dressed like a cartoon hero." She pointed out.

"I just need you to help me interrogate the coach and try to get him to admit he made Lynn take those pills!" he told her.

"Lincoln, there's no point. I don't even really know the guy. Like I said, we barely talked at all, and he was only the coach for about a month. I'm sorry. I would love Lynn to be innocent, but we both know that she was prone to being really competitive and aggressive. To be honest, what happened with her isn't really that surprising." Margo said.

"She does have a point, Lincoln. Maybe Lynn… is guilty." Clyde uneasily told his best friend.

Lincoln then lowered his head, as the dreadful thought that maybe his sister was the monster she was made out to be in the trial became dominant in his head. He didn't want to believe that he was wrong, that his sister was a menace to society to the point where she needed locking up. But, even Lynn's best friend, and his own, were telling him that maybe Lynn was not innocent. He was beginning to regain the sense of defeat he and his family held after the result of the trial.

He knew they had a point, even if he didn't want to admit it. He knew that Lynn was far from a saint, and that she was capable of some deep lows when her aggressive need to be the winner took over her brain…

"I'm sorry. Lynn has always been a great friend, and I love her. But…" Margo started.

"But we'd be pretty dumb to just ignore the fact that Lynn wasn't above doing some pretty drastic things in order to fuel her competitive spirit." Clyde finished.

"Maybe, well… maybe you're right." Lincoln painfully admitted.

Lincoln then began to walk away, and his best friend followed him…

"Thanks for your time, Margo. I know this hurts for you, too." Lincoln told the girl as he began to walk away.

"Thanks, Lincoln." Margo said back as she stood there, sympathetic for the upset boy.

Back in juvie, Lynn wrapped up her conversation with the 3 former disciples…

"Don't you ever worry if he's on the other side of that fence?" Lynn asked the trio.

"You mean Viribus? No, I used to, but I don't anymore." Hilary stated.

"Honestly, we doubt he's even here! He's probably in Arkham Asylum or something!" Sid remarked.

"Or he probably got the chair!" Eddie said.

"We've moved on since then. We try not to think about it." Hilary told her.

"Well, nice talking with you, I guess." Lynn said before walking away.

As Lynn walked away, she turned her attention to the fence by the edge of the courtyard. She was the hot-headed and impulsive type, so of course, it was in her nature to defy rational thought and follow her gut instinct whenever curiosity took over. She decided to approach the fence…

Meanwhile, Lincoln was walking home with Clyde, utterly disheartened by the outcome of his investigation. He failed to get any answers out of the coach, and even a talk with Lynn's best friend did not generate positive results. He thought he could help prove his sister's innocence, but the more he dived into it, the more he began to question his own opinion of Lynn, and believe that she was in fact guilty. He knew, perhaps more than anyone, what drastic measures Lynn was capable of, after all.

"I'm sorry, Lincoln." Clyde said as he tried to comfort his friend.

"Do you really think Lynn is guilty?" Lincoln asked his friend.

"I… I don't know. I want to believe she's innocent…" Clyde tried to say.

"But you think she's guilty?" Lincoln interrupted.

"Buddy, I've always liked Lynn. She's a lot of fun and I always thought she was really cool. I remember when she took the time to help us with our introduction to Middle School." Clyde said.

"Then shouldn't she be given the benefit of the doubt?" Lincoln insisted.

"She also gave us some pretty questionable advice when she did. Remember?" Clyde replied.

Lincoln couldn't argue with any of the points being made against him. He knew Clyde was right, as was Margo. He knew Lynn was a decent-hearted person behind all the roughness, but still far from perfect…

…but then, he had another thought.

"Clyde, remember yesterday when I got right up in the coach's face?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah, how could I forget? You were so bold and daring! I felt like I was gonna faint." Clyde said.

"Well, remember what he said to me before he slammed the door on us? He said that someone had told him about me!" Lincoln pointed out.

"Um, yeah, I do remember that." Clyde realised.

"Coach Henry is behind this, I'm sure of it! He was in league with someone to set Lynn up and get her in trouble with the law! Someone out there has it out for Lynn, and me, and they've set this whole thing up at our expense!" Lincoln concluded.

"Don't you think you're looking a little too deep into these conspiracies?" Clyde questioned.

"Clyde, why would he say that to me if there wasn't a conspiracy of some kind in place?!" Lincoln noted.

Clyde began to adopt Lincoln's thought process as he began to realise something was genuinely odd about the whole situation…

"Yeah, you're right. Also, the timeline's add up. Margo just told us that the coach was only there for about a month. It's like he was there just long enough to mess with Lynn, and then he left because his job was done." Clyde deducted.

All of the information they had collected from their investigation began to fit like pieces of a puzzle. A puzzle they were eager to crack as Lincoln began deducing things…

"Clyde, you and I both know that there's someone behind all of this. I may not have exposed Henry, but now I know that there's someone or something that's out there, that's responsible for everything that's happened to my sister! I promise, I'm going to save my sister from jail, and then I'm going to find out who's behind all of this, and then just to finish off, I'm going to bring them to justice!" Lincoln loudly stated, proudly and with strong determination.

He was on a mission, but while Lincoln was still far from knowing the whole truth, Lynn herself was about to discover everything…

After finishing her talk with Sid, Hilary and Eddie, Lynn was walking by the wall of the free roam area that separated the youths from the adults, minding her own business while reflecting on what had just happened.

"Maybe juvie isn't such a bad place after all. Those guys certainly have got better for it. They didn't even seem like the same people!" Lynn told herself.

Then suddenly, she could hear a faint calling, coming from the direction of the fence…

"Lynn."

Lynn turned around to face the fence. She started to wonder if she was hallunicating…

"Lynn Loud."

She wasn't. Her view was obstructed because of the barbed wire placed all over the fence and because she wasn't that close to it, so she decided to walk a little closer. She wanted to know who was calling her.

"Who's there?!" Lynn asked, trying to sound confident, but with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

She walked all the way over to the fence, and then saw the person calling her…

…it was a shock to say the least.

"So, Henry succeeded in his mission. He did well. Here you are, in the flesh, Lynn Loud Junior." the figure from behind the barbed wire structure said.

"It's… YOU!" Lynn shouted fearfully.

"How do you like it in prison, kid? It's not very nice, is it? Still, at least you now get to be graced with the presence of… LORD VIRIBUS!" he finished, before letting out an audible chuckle.

Lynn was shocked and scared as she realised who she was talking to. Only separated from her by a thin structure of metal, was the most terrifying being her family had ever known.

Viribus was back, and she was right there in front of him.

And with that, the 2-parter is concluded. As far as the overall story goes, we're now almost halfway, though there is still quite a bit to go, as you can probably imagine, given what's just happened. Hopefully you've all reasonably enjoyed what you've been given until now, and will continue to show interest as the story progresses further still.

I don't know what the frequency of new uploads will be from this point onwards regarding this story. I had written several chapters of this story in draft form before I began uploading, with a brief outline as to how the rest of the story would go, from chapter to chapter. However, it was the first 10 chapters that were written in draft, so that means the rest of the chapters after the next one will need writing from scratch. That's not too taxing, since I already know pretty much where I'm going with each chapter given my previous planning, but it will likely take a far bit longer between uploading each new chapter after the 10th one. Hopefully, that's not too big a deal for you readers. To be fair, my attention shouldn't be too divided, since the show itself is on an in-between season pause right now, so I should have the time available in the near future to make gradual progress.

Anyway, next chapter due in about a week, which will see Lynn's big confrontation with the returning Viribus…