Chapter Three: Assistance and Allies
Lincoln wasn't able to wait a full week to go back on the town. He called Lisa.
"Lise? Can I talk to you?" Lincoln asked. He was cracking up just sitting in his house at night. During the day, he worked out, he went running around town, he worked on his comics, he hung out with his friends, though many of his friends were in college or simply were working and couldn't take the time out. So much of his time he spent alone or with his family.
"Of course, Elder Brother. How can I help you?" Lisa asked.
"I need my suit as soon as you can give it to me. I feel fine. I want to start my work as a vigilante again as soon as possible." Lincoln said. Lisa sighed.
"Lincoln, it's not as simple as just 'feeling fine'. You have unique new abilities between your bionics and your… Awakening." Lisa said. She wasn't willing to disclose any specifics over the phone. Odds that they were being listened in on were low. But never zero.
"I know you're concerned about me. I appreciate that. But please. It's been five days and I'm going nuts.
"Having nothing to do at night is too much." Lincoln said. Lisa rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Go out. But you're on your own. I won't help you if you run into trouble you can't handle." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded. Lisa hung up and sent Darcy over with his new suit. She was working on some prosthetics that would revolutionize prosthetics. They would be even more advanced than the last ones she'd made. They'd connect to the shoulders and pelvis just like regular arms and legs, but they had artificial muscles that hooked up to the Central Nervous System.
They would be able to be controlled by the brain. At first, it would take work to control them. But over time, the control would be as unconscious as controlling organic arms and legs. And these arms and legs were able to produce over 15 times the strength of organic ones. They released energy to prevent the limbs or the rest of the body from being overwhelmed. In addition, when necessary, the hands could release intense bursts of kinetic energy that the limbs stored. Lisa had begun working on these as soon as she realized that Lincoln was a vigilante. She felt they may aid in his nightly crusade.
She had finished up the suit, modifying it to be that of the Loud Knight to prevent Lincoln from being discovered. Of course, even if they did manage to get his mask off with his new superpowers, he could change his face. Currently, she didn't trust his ability to consciously change his physical appearance safely or to be able to undo it once he had done it. But he could also attach it to his face so it couldn't be taken off and unhook it later.
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Darcy knocked on Lincoln's door.
"Hey, Lincoln. Lisa wanted me to give you this. I don't know what it is. But she said it's important." Darcy said kindly. Lincoln nodded.
"Thank you, Darcy. How are you and Lisa doing?" Lincoln asked. Darcy sighed.
"I'm not really sure. She's always so busy. She says we're dating. But we hardly ever go on dates and I still have trouble understanding what she's saying. She uses such complicated words." Darcy said.
"I'll talk to Lisa. Maybe I can bring her around. I am the man with the plan." Lincoln said.
"I gotta go." Lincoln said, heading back into the house and looking at his new costume. It was nice. It was a lot like his old suit, but it had some changes. Namely the color. The chest plate was gleaming silver in color and the fabric underneath was black. The chest plate had a large "L" on it for Loud Knight. He wasn't willing to change his name. That would just make people question why he'd change his name. Was there something about his old name that was wrong?
He put on his mask, a pumpkin orange piece with eye holes that latched into his helmet. It was largely featureless other than the eye holes. It was likely that people would ask how he'd gotten a new costume, especially one that looked so high-tech. There weren't many people who could afford such advanced technology. So far nobody seemed to have figured it out. It was starting to get dark. So he went out into the city, keeping to the back alleys mostly, wanting to stay out of sight unless he couldn't help it.
He climbed up onto a roof to look out over the city, gasping as he saw a young woman with pink hair and a leather mask and a strange costume with a cape. Lincoln didn't think the cape was a good idea. Though it was certainly stylish, it was more likely to get caught in something and hurt the person.
"Hello?" Lincoln asked cautiously. The young woman started, looking up at him.
"Oh my God! You're the Loud Knight! Such an honor to meet you! My name is… Well, people call me Agent Bubblegum!" She said, shaking his hand eagerly.
"Oh, my God! My allies are never gonna believe I actually met you! I mean, you're no Batman. But who is? Did you really escape from a full police department after they captured you?" She Agent Bubblegum asked. Lincoln had been silent for a while because he wasn't sure when she was going to stop talking.
"Um… Yes. I used gas to knock out the officer holding me, unhooked my cuffs and broke out." Lincoln said. It sounded more impressive than it was. His suit could do all those things for him.
"Wow! Will you come meet my allies? We have an entire vigilante league!" She said.
"Oh… Um… Maybe we'll run into them later in the night. I need to watch over the city." Lincoln said, using his suit to tap into police radio, into other transmissions that he could determine crimes taking place from almost anywhere in the city. He could tap into cell phones and hearing aids. It wasn't hard to get information on almost anyone in the city. He watched from the roof, aware that the girl was glancing back at him occasionally. He hadn't realized that he'd started things like this.
He didn't mind other people being inspired by him, but he didn't want other people to be put in danger, even if they were willingly going into it. Finally, he got information.
"If you want to help, there's a robbery in a jewelry shop on the next street over." Lincoln said, running to the ladder, sliding down it into the alleyway and leaping up onto the fence in the center, jumping down. Agent Bubblegum hurried after him. How had he seen that? That shop wasn't visible from their roof.
She followed along as best she could. When Lincoln got there, there were already three people in costume fighting the robbers. Lincoln analyzed from a slight distance, seeing their guns. The young vigilante rushed in, grabbing the man's gun arm, thrusting his palm into the wrist and knocking the gun out of his hand, twisting and kicking a second man in the chest, sending him to his knees, winded.
"You have two choices. Surrender now and wait for the police or fight me and lose." Lincoln said. Lincoln was shot from the side in the arm.
This time, the bullet was smaller caliber and didn't pierce his suit. He looked up and fired cords at the man's feet, causing him to fall over. He then stood back and fired a taser wire at another man. One of the other vigilantes tackled a third robber and wrestled his hands behind his back, holding him down while his ally wrestled the last one down. Finally, they stood up, two of them holding the two robbers.
"Thanks for your help, guys." Lincoln said.
"Yeah. We lived in this town just like you before it became a city.
"But things are getting a bit dicey in some places and we want to protect people. If you can do it, why not us?" He asked.
"What are your names?"
"Dark Night." One of the three said.
"Galacta." The second one said.
"Damocles." The third one said.
"Hm… Loud Knight." Lincoln said, introducing himself.
"Trust me. We know. It's good to finally meet you." Damocles said.
"Are there any more of you?" Lincoln asked as they heard the police sirens around the corner.
"A few. There's Agent Bubblegum. She was watching a different part of the city. We all agreed to work together to protect the city. The police can't be everywhere at once. And we're here to pick up the slack." Galacta said.
"Okay. Just be careful. Nobody is invincible. I found that out the hard way the other night." He said.
The police got out of their cars, arresting the robbers first.
"Hey! You kids… Stop!" The officer said as the four vigilantes dispersed.