To say that Howard and Harold were flabbergasted over Lincoln's tale would be an understatement. Their son Clyde fainted at least twice! And then the three of them felt that they would be running up a terrible therapy bill. Now, Lincoln was a survivor. Punishing children was one thing, but what Lincoln's family did to him took things fifty steps too far and then some. He likely would not be standing with a proper roof over his head if it weren't for Leni and her sudden yet swift act of courage. Speaking of standing, Lincoln surprisingly recovered enough of his strength that he actually didn't have to be bound to a wheelchair as the doctor originally anticipated.

Dinner was silent back at the Loud residence. What started as a new norm for the family over luck spiraled downward in the past few days, which took Lincoln getting sick with pneumonia to open their eyes. And now, it was likely too late for them. The CPS ran an inspection and they were at the epicenter in a case of domestic abuse that labeled Lincoln as the victim. About a half-hour after dinner, there was a knock at the door. Leni answered it and there stood Officer Schoffner and a detective.

"Good evening, Louds," said Schoffner. "Officer Schoffner here. We received a call a few days ago. One of you confessed to what we've labeled as child abuse, negligence, and endangerment."

"Th-that was me," said Leni. "Our whole family... was involved." Schoffner nodded. She and the detective sat in the living room with Rita, Lynn Sr., and Leni while the other sisters listened in from the stairs.

"The reports of abuse we received from your daughter that involved your son included locking him outside of the house for two nights straight and forcing him to wear a mascot costume on the beach during a particularly hot day," said Schoffner to the Loud parents. "Is this correct?"

"Yes... officer," sighed Rita.

"Why did you do it?"

"The thing is, officer," said Lynn Sr. nervously. "We knew our son wasn't really bad luck."

"Whaaaaaaaat?!" stammered Leni. The other sisters at the stairs also looked aghast, especially Lynn Jr. She had insisted to their parents that Lincoln was bad luck and should stop attending their events, but something must have been amiss because otherwise, the parents would have actually believed her. And now, with an officer and a detective in the vicinity, it was time for the truth to come out.

"We believed... Lincoln was lying when he went along with Lynn Jr. saying that he was bad luck... because he might have been taking advantage..." said Rita.

"He smashed Lori's golf clubs," said Lynn Sr. "So we believed he was just trying to stay home and get out of going to any events rather than come and be supportive. When he showed up in that costume after Junior's softball team won that time, we decided that he would continue to bring good luck while he wore it. Long story short, we were teaching him a lesson for being selfish and for lying." Leni was in shock and horror. Things were worse than she thought! Her mom and dad knew the whole time that Lincoln wasn't bad luck and the only reason for his suffering was because he was... lying? No, that couldn't have been it. He confessed that after the first night he was locked out and Lynn Jr. and Sr. didn't believe him. Or was this all part of their ultimate plan to continue to teach Lincoln a lesson? And if so, how long would it have gone on for? Leni began to shake with fright. What if she hadn't taken a stand? Her little brother could have...

"Mr. and Mrs. Loud," said Officer Schoffner soberly, standing up. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you two to accompany us."

"What for?" asked Rita, standing up along with her husband. Schoffner and the detective restrained them, holding their hands behind their backs and slipping handcuffs on them.

"You're under arrest for committing domestic abuse against your son, Lincoln Loud," replied Schoffner. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be and will be used against you in a court of law." The other sisters raced down the stairs to protest, despite that what their parents said might have been a game-changer.

"Let Mommy and Daddy go!" bawled Lola. "Don't take them to jail!"

"Your parents have committed a crime, and against one of their own," said the detective. "They'll be lucky if this isn't considered a felony."

"Lori, you're in charge!" said Rita as Schoffner and the detective led them outside towards one of the police vehicles.

"Officer, please!" Lynn Sr. begged. "We didn't know he was sick! We didn't mean for him to-"

"Of course you didn't know!" exclaimed Schoffner. "Your daughter said he was wearing that stupid costume the whole time!"

"And the fact that you were punishing him this way just for telling a lie, regardless of how it was fabricated, makes this even worse, especially doing it to this extreme," said the detective.

"But who will take care of our children?" asked a now tearful Rita. "Can we please just tell my baby boy that we're sorry?"

"Oh, you'll get that chance... in court!" snapped the detective. Back inside the house, the sisters were devastated. Lily started crying and it took the combined efforts of Lori and Luna to try and soothe her.

"Who's gonna take care of us?" asked Lana, her voice slightly choked. Lola suddenly got angry.

"This is all your fault!" she shrieked at Lynn Jr. "You started this whole 'bad luck' thing in the first place! We lost Lincoln and now we lost our parents!" Then Lola got frightened. "And now it's only a matter of time before it'll be the rest of us... one by one!" Feeling terrible enough as is, Lynn Jr. ran upstairs in tears and shut herself in her and Lucy's room, which brought out a fresh howl and more tears from baby Lily.

"That's not fair!" said Lana. "She didn't know our parents were playing along! We didn't know!"

"Oh, that's right," said Lola sarcastically. She then glared new daggers at Leni, who was already petrified as is. "It's you who called the police, you tattletale!" Leni started to cry, but Lola went on. "We had everything under control until-"

"You're one to talk!" Lana interrupted. "You're the tattletale in this family!" The other sisters aside from Leni and Lori began to bicker and argue about who did what, and some of them involved their only brother.

"Everyone, just SHUT UP!" hollered Lori. "RIGHT NOW!" That got everyone to cease and even made Lily and Leni stop crying. Yet they still heard Lynn Jr. sobbing upstairs. Lori took in a nice, deep breath. "Now that that's off my chest... Listen up! No one is going to abandon us. We don't know what's gonna happen to Mom and Dad, but we do need to pull ourselves together." She lowered her head. "We literally brought this upon ourselves. Lincoln was never to blame. We all literally overworked him and all he wanted was some free time. Instead, he got the short end of the stick. So Leni... did what she had to. Lincoln slept outside all alone in the cold for two nights straight and we all forced him to wear that... that thing... for two weeks. None of us knew how long this charade would be kept up, especially since we now know Mom and Dad were pretending. It wasn't about luck at all. It was about punishment. Lincoln trying to get out of attending our activities was never a selfish motivation. We were literally wearing him down to his last nerve... all of us."

"Now I never wanna see that costume again," said Luan.

"It's still in Lincoln's room," Lori reminded her. "On top of that, Lincoln got sick and had to go to the hospital because he got pneumonia. Thankfully, he got better, but since Mom and Dad literally let this happen to him, it's not gonna help their case. There's..." She sniffled. "There's no denying that they could go to prison... possibly for a year, perhaps more."

"And now it's just us," lamented Lucy. "And look at us. We're not doing so well ourselves."

"Hey, wait," said Lana. "Why can't we just call Pop-Pop and have him come?"

"He's old, Lana," said Lori. "He literally can't look after us forever, or at least until we're all old enough. We could have him over for a week at most, but that's prolly about it."

"Are we gonna get sent to an orphanage?" asked Lola in tears. Lori sighed in defeat.

"We might," she said. "Listen, girls. I'm not gonna lie, but it's gonna take us getting lucky if we're allowed to stick together should we find ourselves going to foster care."

"And if not," said Luna. "This could be the end of the Loud family." The sisters all huddled together to share a moment while listening to Lynn Jr. continue to cry her eyes in her shared room upstairs.

The following morning, Leni used her own cell phone to dial Lincoln's cell phone number. She knew that there was a chance Lincoln would not answer, but she had to try. She had to inform him of what happened, even if Lincoln could figure it out on his own with a mere educated guess. And then there was the big reveal that her parents confessed to Officer Schoffner - they knew there was nothing wrong with Lincoln the whole time and continued to punish him because he lied and tried to get out of attending all their family activities, events, and such... all because he just wanted some time off and to himself. Was that such a crime in the Loud household, especially in a family of 11 kids? As the only son of Rita and Lynn Sr. and the only brother among 10 other sisters, Lincoln was easily the most overwhelmed of the bunch.

"How am I gonna tell poor Linky?" said Leni, in tears. Back at the McBride household, Lincoln saw that Leni was trying to reach him. Remembering that she might have saved him, Lincoln chose to answer.

"Hello?" he answered. "Leni?"

"Linky!" said Leni from the other end. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Yeah... I am. Is everything all right with you girls?"

"No, it's not!" she sobbed. "Mom and Dad got arrested last night!" Lincoln's eyes widened.

"They did?! Mom and Dad?!"

"Yes..." Lincoln heard Leni crying on the other end.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured.

"No, it wasn't your fault!" Leni insisted. "It never was!"

"But I... I..."

"Mom and Dad knew you weren't bad luck the whole time!"

"Wait... WHAT?!"

"They were teaching you a lesson... because you lied... They saw it as a means of you taking advantage just to get out of supporting us... and... y-you know the rest..." Clyde overheard the entire conversation, as Leni had raised her voice from being upset herself. Lincoln was in shock. "Linky? Linky?! ...Lincoln!"

"I... I-I-I..." Leni heard him stutter. Tears began to form in his eyes. "Wh-why didn't they just ground me for two weeks?!"

"I'm so, so sorry, Linky," she cried. "Mom and Dad are paying the price... and we're on our own for who knows how long. I know our family goes overboard... and I guess this takes the cake..." Clyde saw the tears falling down his best friend's cheeks and he knew just how badly Lincoln's parents betrayed and hurt him. If they weren't in a jail cell by now, he'd certainly march on over to the Loud residence and defend his honor. "I'm gonna let you go," Leni finished. "Okay, Linky?"

"Okay..." said Lincoln tearfully.

"Stay strong, Linky! I love you!" The call ended.

"I can't believe this!" Clyde fumed. And he went to tell his dads while Lincoln spaced out, tears falling from his face. He eventually stood up and made his way towards the front door.

"Lincoln!" came the voices of Clyde and his fathers, Howard and Harold. They quickly swept him up in a hug.

"We're so sorry, buddy!" said Clyde, on the verge of tears himself.

"What your parents did was lower than low," said Howard. "I'm personally glad they got arrested. No offense, Lincoln." Lincoln said nothing. He was shedding tears, but seemed to be too shocked to even cry.

"I-I'm... gonna go take a walk..." he managed to speak once he was released from the hug. Howard and Harold could have gotten the wrong idea then and there.

"Lincoln!" said Harold. "Surely your family didn't stop loving you! They must have been misguided... a-and it got... out of control!" Lincoln swung open the front door and walked out of the house.

"I was just their good luck charm," he moaned in misery and despair. "I wasn't even a person with them... I'm no one... I'm nothing... I'm... no good..."

"Lincoln... buddy..." said Clyde, watching him walk off to who knows where. Among Lincoln's worst fears from living in a large family was being ostracized and considered no good. Knowing that his parents punished him like he was an animal hit home for him and began to make these fears come to light.

"They say it doesn't matter
How you look or where you've been...

I'd probably have it easy
If I were the only kid...

I wish I could be
Someone extraordinary...
But I'm just me
I'm just too ordinary...

Am I always gonna be
Plain old ordinary me?"

Lincoln made his way to a nearby park as he wiped his nose with his sleeve.

"Plain old ordinary me...
Am I always gonna be
Plain old ordinary me?"

He could not stop the tears from running down his cheeks, so he collapsed from his own depression and laid on the soft grass, becoming a sobbing wreck.

"Ordinary Me"

original song from The Loud House Movie
composed by Philip White
lyrics by Oh Hush! and Grayson DeWolfe
performed by Asher Bishop