Chapter Five: A Person in Need
Lincoln had to be back before sunrise tonight. He almost always was. But he needed to get some sleep and then be up in time to take a shower for his date with Jordan and Stella. He hadn't seen Clyde in a while. So, he was excited to see him again. For now, though, he focused on patrolling the town. Lisa had gotten involved tonight. She had free time and had gone down into his basement and ensured that he had an android who acted as Lincoln's behind-the-scenes counterpart. The android would monitor the screens in the basement and correspond with Lincoln, feeding him the information he needed.
It was a closed-circuit correspondence and was protected by multiple high-level encryptions and scramblers so it would be almost impossible to listen in. And even if somehow managed, the scramblers also made it impossible to back trace. The signal would register as having come from over fifty different locations around the world, which changed every three seconds to fifty other locations. Lisa really had thought of everything.
*Loud Knight. You have a robbery of a mini mart at Gibbs Street and a break in at 68 Market Street.* The android said. Lincoln nodded. He contacted Agent Bubblegum. Though he didn't want to put other people in danger, they had already chosen to do this. Lincoln still had trouble accepting that progress had happened this fast. Already there was a city with much higher crime rates than just ten years ago and already vigilantes had risen to protect the city.
"Agent Bubblegum. There's a robbery at a mini mart on Gibbs Street. Careful. The robbers are likely to have guns. Who do you have who has a bulletproof vest or something like that?" Lincoln asked. He was already running towards Market Street, heading towards the home, looking in on two criminals making their way out of the house with jewelry, a television and some other stuff. They had a truck outside. They'd clearly planned this well. They'd put the truck on the street with the least number of people who could look in on it. They were going in through the back where the fence could block their sight.
"Damocles and Garda generally wear armor of some kind. Probably wouldn't guard against much more than low caliber bullets. But it's better than nothing." Agent Bubblegum said.
"Good. Make sure they scope out the place first. I'm heading across to take down some other criminals." Lincoln said, cutting her off before she could say anything else. He headed down and took the one who seemed like the leader's back.
"You have ten seconds to put this stuff back." Lincoln said. He'd already sent a message to the police on both crimes. He trusted his new allies. But he wasn't going to solely trust them. There was a chance that someone could still get hurt and he didn't want that. He kicked the leader in the head, immediately dropping him. The man crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Lincoln was definitely stronger than he remembered being. He hadn't meant to drop anyone.
"Five seconds. Four. Three… Two…"
"Okay! We surrender!" One of the robbers said, putting the jewelry and other valuables down on the ground and backing away. There were police stations nearby. Lincoln bound the other criminals and brought the valuables inside, seeing the family tied up. The kids were clearly terrified.
"Hi, I'm the Loud Knight." Lincoln said.
"I brought your stuff back." He said, putting it on the table for them and untying them.
"I'm sorry this happened." He said, immediately leaving, heading across town to investigate suspicious activity. He hoped that it was just someone walking around in the park or a homeless person lurking. He dropped down and found a young-looking man. He was haggard looking and dirty. He looked hungry. Lincoln stood down. He'd been ready to fight if necessary. But this man didn't warrant fighting.
"Stop. What's up?" Lincoln asked. The man jumped heavily, curling his hands into fists.
"Stop. I'm not here to fight." Lincoln said. The man sighed. He seemed so defeated.
"What are you doing out here. It's not cold right now, but shouldn't you be home? You're too young to have left home." Lincoln said.
"I don't have a home. I was kicked out when my parents found out I was gay." He said angrily. That gave Lincoln pause. He couldn't imagine his parents kicking out Luna or Luan. Luna was an LGBTQIA+ rights activist.
She and her band frequently gave their proceeds to organizations who helped the LGBTQ Community. Luan was married to Maggie. They'd met after Luan performed at her party and they didn't seem to have much in common. But Maggie made sure that Luan was hired again to perform at other events of hers. Then she invited Luan to have lunch with her. Luan had been dating Benny at the time. But they slowly grew apart as Luan grew closer to Maggie. It hadn't been anyone's fault
"Hey, why don't I take you somewhere you can get cleaned up and get something to eat?" Lincoln offered. The young man tensed up. He had trouble trusting people now. He'd been on his own for months and he'd been beaten a few times. People didn't exactly take kindly to the homeless. Some people didn't anyway.
"What's your name?" Lincoln asked.
"Jared." The young man said. Lincoln sighed.
He'd hoped that the country would have progressed further than kicking someone out for being gay.
"Let's get you somewhere safe, Jared." Lincoln said, helping Jared pick up his few possessions and took him to Clyde's house. He knew it was a big favor to ask. But Howard and Harold loved cooking and Lincoln knew that they donated frequently to help the underprivileged.
"Oh, wow! It's the Loud Knight!" Harold said, shaking Lincoln's hand. He didn't necessarily approve of someone taking the law into their own hands.
But he knew that the Loud Knight had good intentions and had read that those he took on were surprisingly unhurt when the police came.
"And who's this?" Harold asked.
"This is Jared. I'm sorry to bother you so late at night. But I found him at the park. He was kicked out of his home. He just needs a shower and some food. And if you can find a safe place for him to stay, I would appreciate it." Lincoln said.
"I think we have a place he can go." Harold said, inviting Jared into the house.
"So, let's get you up into the shower. We have shampoo you can use." He said, getting delousing shampoo. The sticker had come off since they hadn't used it in a while. But Jared took a shower, cleaning himself all over, feeling much better. It had been months since he'd had a shower or eaten a good meal. When he came down in some of Clyde's old clothes, which were really loose on him, he saw the Loud Knight sitting with the McBrides.
"I can't stay. But thank you for helping Jared. If you ever need anything, call me here." Lincoln said, giving them the number for his suit, which had its own number so nobody could connect Lincoln with the Loud Knight.
"Okay." Harold said as Lincoln left through the front door.
Lincoln sighed as he snuck back into his home through the backdoor, turning on his invisibility as he got near the house. He pulled off his mask and helmet as he got into the cave, turning on the AC, relaxing in the cool air. The suit had climate control, but it was still hot and he needed to cool off once he got home, sitting there for fifteen minutes before fully getting out of his suit and going up to take a shower. He then went to bed.