Chapter 16: House Hunt
Another week, another chapter. This time we see what happens when Lincoln is confronted at his house by his old friend (or foe) from Pushover or Payback. Naturally, things should get tense as this has been in the building for quite some time. Of course, Viribus will have to get past the whole family before he can get his hands on the boy responsible for his defeat. But will they be able to stop him?
Lincoln's heart trembled in fear as he stared up at the fearsome foe who was at his doorstep. He knew the man had an intent to maim and hurt, and he was the primary target. He slowly took a step back in fear of the vengeful being.
"STAY BACK! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Lincoln screamed in fear as he fell to the floor in fright, still looking at Viribus as he got closer to the boy.
"Yo, dudes! What's going on with Linc in there?!" Luna asked as the rest of the family heard the commotion coming from the front door.
The 9 sisters quickly approached the front door to find Lincoln's life in danger…
"YOU!" the sisters collectively yelled towards Viribus.
"How tiresome." Viribus remarked, knowing he would have to deal with the girls first before reaching his target.
"Get away from him!" Lori shouted.
"If you want our bro, you're gonna have to get through all of us, dude!" Luna threatened.
"YEAH!" the twins both yelled.
Viribus then let out a cocky and condescending smirk, before replying…
"Alright."
He then continued to walk towards Lincoln, who was cornered in the living room. But before he could lay his hands on the boy, Lola and Lucy had jumped on top of him…
"GET HIM!" Lana shouted as she pointed towards the intruder.
Lori and Leni also tackled Viribus, and they were closely followed by the remaining sisters. All of them were clinging onto the large man, trying to bring him to the ground, or at least slow him down and gradually subdue him…
…but their efforts were futile. Even though it was 9 on 1, beating Viribus was no easy feat. He was tough enough before, but his time inside prison only allowed him to become physically bigger and stronger than before. He was a hugely muscular man with a lot of raw strength and power, and a lot of general size and weight against the generally petite Loud girls.
Just as it looked like the girls were close to successfully dogpiling him to the ground and subduing him, Viribus used a burst of power to break out of the grip the girls had on him. As he powered out, the sisters went flying off of him in various directions.
"Stay down if you know what's good for you, little girls!" Viribus simply responded as he resumed his pursuit.
At that moment, he saw Lincoln had just ran upstairs while he was preoccupied with the girls.
"Poor choice of actions, kid. Now you have no escape!" Viribus said to himself as he approached the staircase.
"We're not through with you yet!" Luan told Viribus, as she, Luna, and Lana were all holding the table.
The three girls then charged at Viribus with the table as he casually and calmed stood in place. As the girls reached him, he raised his leg and performed a push kick on the table, knocking it back into the 3 girls and knocking them over.
Lana and Lola then ran for his legs, and each bit him in the leg…
"Argh! You little…!" Viribus cried.
Viribus then picked both 6 year olds off him and held them in each hand. He then threw each of them towards the other sisters like they were human bullets.
Lynn Sr and Rita then entered the room after hearing all the commotion from the next room, and let out an audible "gasp" in horror of what they were seeing. Entering protective mode, the parents launched themselves at the intruder who was attacking their children…
"HANDS OFF OUR KIDS!" Rita shouted as she tackled Viribus.
"HOW DARE YOU COME INTO OUR HOUSE!" Lynn Sr furiously told him.
Viribus was quick to subdue them, however. Rita grabbed onto him from behind, but Viribus managed to use her momentum against her and execute a powerful hip toss to the ground. Lynn Sr then punched Viribus in the face as the Loud sisters, watching from the ground, cheered him on…
"Go dad!" Lana shouted.
Viribus then retaliated with a headbutt, two knees to the gut, a fury of quick punches, and a roundhouse to the head that made short work of the Loud father…
As all the sisters were picking themselves up off the ground, Viribus quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch. He then violently threw it on the floor, causing it to explode in a large and thick puff of smoke that engulfed the entire downstairs area.
"Where did he go?! *cough*" Lori cried.
"I can't see a thing in here!" Lola yelled as she tried to swat away the smoke, but to no avail.
But as the family were trying to recover from the blows they took and regain a sense of visibility in a smoke-filled room, Viribus had already walked upstairs in pursuit of the boy. His obvious first effort was to check Lincoln's own room…
He couldn't see anyone there upon first glance. He checked all obvious hiding places, such a under the bed, but nothing.
"Where are you, boy? I came all this way to play with you!" Viribus teased, hoping Lincoln was listening.
Viribus then began to listen for very faint noises as he lastly went into Lynn and Lucy's room. He could hear breathing, ever so slightly, so he decided to walk in further for a closer look.
"I know you're in here, Loud! Why don't you just make it easier on yourself and hand yourself over to me?" Viribus requested.
He then noticed Lucy's coffin was shut, and thought to himself that Lincoln was in there. As he listened out for noise again, he realised that's where the breathing was coming from. He then approached the coffin…
"Don't go in there just yet, child. I want to make you suffer before I end your life." Viribus joked, before he opened the coffin.
But to his surprise, he saw no one in there…
…that's because Lincoln was holding on for dear life to the lid of the coffin that Viribus had just lifted, hoping he wouldn't get noticed.
But Viribus was too observant for that trick to work…
"Nice try." Viribus said as he turned to face Lincoln.
Out of instinct, Lincoln quickly kicked Viribus in the face before running for his life. Unfortunately, his chaser was far faster and fitter than him. Even though he had put on a lot of muscular weight, Viribus still retained a solid level of cardio fitness.
Lincoln ran back down the stairs and into the living room, where the smoke from the smoke bomb had finally cleared and the family had recovered from the assault.
Before Viribus could grab the boy, the rest of the family launched themselves at him.
"Stop him! He's about to get Lincoln!" Lana yelled as the sisters and parents began to dogpile on the fearsome attacker.
"Lincoln, get out of here!" Lori yelled, as she and the others continued to struggle against the titan.
Lincoln looked over at the struggle for a second, not wishing to abandon his family and leave them at the mercy of the madman.
"Son, get out of here, now!" Lynn Sr pleaded with Lincoln.
Knowing he wouldn't be able to physically stop Viribus, Lincoln slowly retreated from the room while the family continued to hold Viribus back. Tears formed out of Lincoln's eyes as he saw his family fighting to protect him against an insurmountable foe, and while he wanted to stay and help fight back, he knew his efforts would be in vain. Lincoln made his way out of the front door and onto the streets…
"NO!" Viribus screamed as he noticed Lincoln escaping.
Lincoln began to make a quick getaway attempt, knowing he had only seconds before Viribus broke through his family. He was right to, as Viribus quickly managed to break free and overpower the Louds. He went straight after the boy…
As Viribus went in pursuit of Lincoln, he had already made his way across the street, and as far as he could tell, he was out of the chaser's reach…
But just as Lincoln was running away, he was grabbed by a large, burly figure in the shadows. That burly man stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself… it was Coach Henry.
Lincoln let out an audible "Gulp" as he knew he was screwed.
"It's going to be so satisfying what we do to you, runt, after all the trouble you've given me!" Henry teased towards the boy.
Lincoln tried to break free from his grip, but he had nowhere near the strength to escape Henry's clutches.
"Once again, you've done well, Fredericks." Viribus congratulated as he walked over.
"Nothing to it." Henry bragged to his master.
"I should have known! You were the one behind everything, weren't you?!" Lincoln spat.
"Yes, but we'll talk about it on the way back to our hideout. For now, let's make our escape!" Viribus said.
"I've got the van, let's go." Henry stated as the two entered the van after quickly dumping Lincoln in the back of it.
As the two quickly drove away with the boy in the back of their vehicle, the Loud family came out to witness the kidnapping of one of their own. They were too late to stop it. All of them looked on in sadness and despair as they saw their brother and son being escorted to his demise by the most fearsome adversary they had ever known.
"OH GOD!" Lynn Sr blurted with despair.
"Linky." Leni sadly cried.
"Quick, get in Vanzilla!" Lynn Sr said.
But as the family quickly approached the van so they could follow Viribus and Henry, they saw that the tyres were all flat.
"Gosh darn it! The tyres!" Lynn Sr cried.
"Argh! That dumb coach, he must have popped them!" Lola deduced.
"They're getting away!" Luna shouted.
"We can't follow them!" Lori said.
All of the sisters looked down in hopelessness as they realised their loved one was heading to his doom, and there was nothing they could do about it. The van was out of sight, and they couldn't find out where it was.
"Okay, Lisa. Now would be a really great time for you to tell us you put some kind of tracker on all of us, including Lincoln, and that you can use it to find out where he's being taken." Lori remarked.
"Sorry, sibling. I've been told I need to improve my social behaviour by not doing stuff like that." Lisa replied.
"Great!" Lola responded.
"But what about all the security stuff you have in this house?! Where were they when that jerk Viribus walked in?" Lana asked.
"Again, I've been informed those measures were highly inappropriate due to breaching privacy and being disproportionately dangerous." Lisa justified as she looked up at her parents, who were the ones who told her to stop.
"But what about all of Luan's pranks?" asked Leni.
"Yeah, we really could have done with those getting Viribus, home alone style." Luna said.
"It's not April. Sorry." Luan apologised, regretful that she couldn't have had something in place to stop Viribus from barging in.
"I doubt they would have worked on him anyway!" Lori claimed.
"Look, it doesn't matter! We'll find Lincoln, and we'll save him! I promise!" Lynn Sr reassured his kids firmly, though he really had no idea how that could be done.
"That's right. I mean, Lincoln managed to escape him last time." Rita added.
"Yeah, but this time, that wacko dude is out for revenge against our bro." Luna reminded them as the entire family grew a collective worried expression on their faces.
Lincoln was stuck in the back of the van, with no way of escaping. He went towards the small window that was there between the 2 front seats and the back area of the van. He decided to find out a few things from his enemy…
"So, now that the cats out of the bag, you might as well tell me everything! Why did you set Lynn up to go to jail!?" Lincoln demanded to know.
"Simple. You!" Viribus replied.
"What? You got Lynn sent to juvie just so you could get even with me?!" Lincoln angrily asked.
"Yep, pretty much." Viribus confirmed.
"How low can you get?!" Lincoln spitefully questioned.
"Do you want me to go back there and shut him up, sir?" Henry asked his master.
"Oh, and as for you, why are you helping him!? What has this monster promised you in return, Henry?" Lincoln asked the coach.
"A place at the table." Henry stated.
"What does that mean?!" Lincoln questioned.
"It's simple, boy. Henry will become one of my new followers and together, we shall take anything we want, and do anything we please, and no one will be able to stop us!" Viribus explained.
"That's right. It'll be sweet." Henry said.
"When you and your family thwarted my plans and got me locked up for life, Henry was my cellmate. He was in sentenced to a few months for a minor offence." Viribus told Lincoln.
"Yeah! All I did was take a pack of cigarettes from a local convenience store and knock out the guy who tried to stop me, and I got 6 months jail time for it!" Henry said.
"Wow, a smoker and a big eater by the looks of you. And somehow, you were qualified to be a sports coach." Lincoln mocked.
"Many people with bad health habits can still be coaches, kid! Not that an unathletic runt like you would understand anything about it! Besides, I'm not fat, I'm big boned and full of muscle! About 90% of my body mass." Henry replied.
Lincoln scoffed in response to that sentence.
"In the cell together, we discussed many things. Mainly, we arranged a deal amongst ourselves; he would help me get revenge on you, and I would give him a position of power and privilege that he could exploit to his advantage." Viribus explained.
"Once I got out of jail, the plan was for me to become the coach of one of Lynn Loud's sport teams, and then manipulate her into doing bad things, like taking screwy sports supplements, so that she'd land herself in juvie!" Henry stated.
"It was easy. Your sister is so unstable, she was the easiest target for me to pick on." Viribus bragged.
"Punishing my sister to get back at me? You're a real piece of work!" Lincoln spat with venom.
"But… I think it was best that she went to juvie. Inside, she met me, and we got talking. You know, we have a lot in common. More than I thought I had with you! Nobody understands your sister more than I do!" Viribus gloated.
"Hmpf. Lynn is nothing like you! She's rough, but she's a good person!" Lincoln bit back.
"Really? Tell me, Lincoln Loud. Who the person is that I'm discussing… this person is a being who was wronged by society. They were mistreated and taken advantage of by all the scumbags that surrounded them. They tried to be nice and friendly and just be accepted for who they were, but the world was just too cruel. So they adapted, they evolved. They became tougher, stronger, better than everybody else! The ultimate winner! The supreme being among all the worthless losers among them! They also tried to teach you how to be a man who could stand up for yourself and one that needed to be tough and aggressive so that people wouldn't take advantage of you! Not that those lessons ever stuck with you! This person paid for being nice, so they became ruthless in order to thrive in such a hostile world." Viribus said.
Lincoln then developed a confused look on his face…
"Now tell me. Who did I just describe? Myself, or your sister Lynn?" Viribus asked.
Lincoln couldn't answer. The parallels were jarring. Indeed, while he hated to admit it, it was obvious Lynn shared some strikingly huge similarities to his arch nemesis…
…but he didn't want to admit defeat in the conversation.
"I don't care what similarities you THINK you have with Lynn! The difference is, she doesn't take it too far! She still cares about other people! She's not a monster like you! She's…" he carried on as he ranted towards the man he hated…
"Okay, Fredericks. Shut him up!" Viribus ordered as Lincoln's ranting could still be heard in the background.
"Gladly." Henry responded as he revealed he had so chloroform in his hand.
Henry then opened the window to the back part of the van, and with the chloroform, soaked into a rag, knocked Lincoln out by shoving the rag into his face.
"Sleep now, Lincoln. They'll be more time for words, later." were the last words Lincoln could hear from Viribus as he passed out on the ground.
Well, Lincoln's in quite the situation, isn't he? After almost escaping, he winds up in a van, captured by Viribus and the coach anyway. But time will tell what they have in store for the white-haired Loud brother.
This was a bit of a different chapter from what has preceded it. This is obviously a Lynn story, but this chapter specifically concentrates on the other characters (meaning Lincoln and the Louds, Viribus and Henry). The next chapters will now be about bringing everything together as everything becomes clear to the Louds. Plus, how will Viribus keep Lynn on his side if he's captured Lincoln? All will be revealed, soon enough.
As always, feedback is greatly appreciated, and support is valued. The next chapter is due soon enough, but the exact time it will take between each new chapter to be uploaded is a little uncertain at this point. I don't want to promise weekly uploads and then not stick to that. Let's just say, new updates will come about when they do.