09- The Mad Titan

The nuclear clock's proximity alarm sounded in the middle of the night, waking Lisa from one of her four-hour naps.

Not eager to leave her bed, the little girl activated the touch screen with her laser pointer and linked it to the camera that responded with the activated alarm; she yawned, rubbed her good eye and put on her glasses.

She was still half asleep when she decided to get out of bed and approach the small monitor, however what she saw on the screen woke her up completely: a girl with black hair was slipping through the ventilation ducts, so far everything was normal, an ordinary night with Lucy prowling around the house. Everything was normal until she saw her goth sister trying to go through the grille that led to Lincoln's room, when Lucy finally gave up trying to go through there, the gothic girl went back a few steps and twisted her back and threw up an object in a corner.

Alarmed, Lisa put on her biohazard suit and ran out of the room.

-o-

Several children's voices shouting and singing distracted Lisa from her cell phone screen. Rarely did any of her classmates venture to the games farther away from the playground. Since the accident in Vanzilla the little scientist chose to spend her break there for just that reason, she didn't like interruptions of any kind when she was researching, which she always did.

The brunette kept the mobile device connected to her small cylindrical laser pointer attached to her backpack. The device contained a number of miscellaneous gadgets; one of them was a remote control to a camera drone, which she moved to a convenient area and aimed the camera to get a full view of the area surrounding the small wooden tower where she was hiding.

A group of three elemtary kids was led by a girl that Lisa knew all too well, the children accompanied their smiling leader to the base of the slide.

"I doubt she wants to help you," said a fat boy with a cardboard crown.

"I bet you won't even be able to talk to her," replied an asian girl with huge front teeth.

The girl with short hair didn't pay attention to her companions, she advanced on her own a few more steps until she approached the wooden stairs of the play tower. An alarm went off on Lisa's cell phone screen as soon as the girl touched one of the rungs to go up, without thinking the brunette pressed a button on her pointer and turned it off.

Although the visitor already knew that Lisa was aware of her presence, she tapped the metal handrail several times with a coin to make a final warning, her response was three electronic beeps.

With a calm pace, the short haired girl climbed a few steps until her head peeked out onto the platform protected from the sun by a small roof. There was Lisa, sitting on the top level of the tower, using her mobile lab.

"Darcy, whatever your problem is, I can assure you that I won't be able to help you if you stay there." The girl soon approached her best friend with a smile, without asking permission she sat down next to Lisa and kept silent. She knew there was no need to ask the Loud girl what she was doing.

"I'm analyzing some samples," Lisa answered to the unspoken question, "give me a second to finish this and we can talk more calmly."

The cell phone display showed a progress bar, the device indicated that it was about to finish the analysis process.

"May I know what you are analyzing?"

"No..." Lisa quickly answered, "I know I've told you tirelessly that it's always good to find out new things, but this is personal. Sorry for not being able to show you."

The screen flashed blue and green, Darcy knew enough of the symbology Lisa used to interpret the result.

"So... you were analyzing samples of an insect that doesn't match any terrestrial bugs, something like an alien bee?"

Any dumb kid knew it wasn't a good idea to get in Lisa Loud's way or interrupt her. If the kid wasn't dumb he might even guess that it was a worse idea to insist on interrupting or getting in her way.

Darcy might be adorable, but not dumb.

Lisa always showed the air of smugness and apathy in public, but the matter was different when the only one around was Darcy. Now they were both alone, on the highest and farthest set in the school's courtyard, the sun's rays bathing them with a comforting warmth, relaxing them.

"I got this sample at home, so unless there is an organism that can only live in my backyard... we are onto something big Dars..."

Darcy kept silent and thought about the problem before her friend, the girl only knew about insects was that they are pests that live on destruction, devouring everything they can until they leave everything dead and then they simply move to another place to continue devouring everything. She said nothing, sure that Lisa had already arrived to the same idea on her own.

It was something pretty serious, if Lisa who was always surrounded by cool gadgets of her own invention: special boots that could make her walk on any surface, a backpack with mechanized arms in case she needed more strength or to use several tools at the same time, and the greatest and most useful of all the inventions, a small chrome cylinder with multiple functions powered with the almost unlimited energy of a very controlled nuclear fusion, and all that hidden with a laser pointer case that Lisa was passing from hand to hand while she was thinking. Yes, if Lisa was nervous even with all her ability and ingenuity, it was serious matter.

"And… tell me Darcy, what interrupted your play session on the swings?" Lisa wanted to change the subject. "Did one of those troublemakers force you to...?"

"No girl... here's the problem."

Darcy showed her friend a broken Tablet, a part of the casing, painted with the best imitation gold that the chestnut remembered having seen in her short live, was bent and the screen was buckled. Seeing the damaged device, Lisa fixed her familiar apathetic expression back on her face, for a moment she had been genuinely worried about her friend.

"Darcy, please go away, I won't fix your toys again... or at least look for me when I'm not busy with something so important."

The brown-skinned girl's eyes filled with tears.

"Please Lisa, I don't have money to pay someone to fix Skeets and my daddy asked me to take care of him and I..." Suddenly, almost as if she hadn't been smiling from ear to ear just moments before, Darcy struggled not to cry.

Lisa raised an eyebrow and, for the first time that day, felt her will falter.

"If it was such an important matter, why did you bring the device to school?" Lisa answered, trying to hold her ground.

"It was an accident! I took it to the swings to show off a game I had just downloaded and one of the kids pushed me and the screen hit the ground and I know I should have obeyed my daddy but I..."

"Yes, you should have. It was a foolish decision to surround a device as fragile as your new Tablet with a horde of hyperactive children," replied Lisa, carefully taking the now useless golden rectangle.

"So... What are you going to do, Lis?" Darcy had reached over to put one of her hands on her friend's knee, a smirk appeared on her face. She was no longer talking about her Tablet.

"Well, there's nothing I can't fix, right?" Lisa smiled back, understanding perfectly what her friend meant.

-o-

As soon as classes were over that Monday, Lisa walked slowly home, she needed all the time available to prepare a plan to face that thing that was making Lucy sick.

Besides, she didn't really care about the outcome of the science fair; she knew Darcy would win and not just for using a device designed by Lisa herself but for the exceptional skill with which her friend had built it. She simply had the contest in the bag and both she and Lincoln knew it, which is why she was surprised when her older brother asked the twins and her via text message to cover for him from Luna and Luan. Wasn't her older brother planning to take advantage of this event as well to bet on the safe side?

The worst part was that this unforeseen event brought more problems to the little genius as she now believed that it would be virtually impossible to convince Lola and Lana to cover for her with their older sisters too but, surprisingly, the pair of blondes happily agreed to stay alone with Lisa's friend, Lola even gave her a ten dollar bill for the little brunette to pay for a taxi to get her home without complications.

In the end, Lisa didn't use the money but she would never tell the young beauty queen that.

As soon as she opened the door of her home, Lisa found that Luna and Luan were going out to the movies with Lily. Nervous at this unexpected nice gesture, and foreseeing that she would be invited too, the girl genius invented a long and not very credible story about her premature presence in the house; the two older sisters ignored her while they made sure to bring everything they needed. At the last minute the chestnuts invited her to accompany them more out of politeness than out of enjoyment of her company and as they foresaw, the little one with glasses declined the offer.

"Lisa, don't burn the house down," Luna said as she wrapped Lily in sweaters, "you and Lucy are on your own until Lynn gets here... I mean it, girl, don't do anything stupid while we're gone."

Without waiting for an answer, the three sisters walked out into the street after slamming the door, leaving Lisa alone.

There was no longer anything to stop her, she mentally reviewed her improvised plan of action and set off. Wielding her laser pointer and connecting it to the screen of her cell phone, she checked through the cameras distributed throughout the house that her target was not hiding in another room and, plucking up the courage, she opened the basement door. A breath of cold air was the first thing that greeted her, and although it was the freezing days of early winter, she could only feel nausea and revulsion at something that should have seemed the most common given the circumstances.

Half overcoming her dizziness, Lisa tried to turn on the light of the stairs by means of the damper, as she expected nothing happened.

However, she did not let that discourage her. By means of her multipurpose laser pointer she deployed a pair of metallic arms, designed to hide in her backpack and without wasting any more time she activated the LED lamps installed at the ends of each extremity, between both light sources an intensity of almost 8000 lumens was achieved, enough light to dive in the deepest waters or to inflict a permanent blindness to anyone.

The brunette quickly went down the stairs until she reached the intermediate landing, from there she deployed a pair of arms thicker than the previous ones, for 'subject containment' and focused her two headlights towards the wall where she had been working with Lucy, as she had expected, there stood the gothic girl; writing in the middle of the circle formed by the arcane symbols, inscribed during the weekend by Lisa's machines, with what looked like red paint.

Having located her, Lisa slowly descended the last steps without speaking and without taking off the halo of light from her sister's back. When she was closer she could distinguish what Lucy was writing, seven runes of smaller size in six different sets, each group contained the same runes as the others only that these were arranged in completely different orders. The black-haired girl was barely finishing the fifth symbol of the seventh set when Lisa reached the concrete floor.

"Lisa Loud... Do you know what was the first question I asked myself when I arrived to this horrible place you mortals call 'home'?" Lucy said in the voice she always used when she thought no one was watching her, a higher pitched, more vulnerable and much more human tone... but you could also distinguish a different tone of voice speaking as an echo, a husky and much deeper voice. "My first question was; when the old gods return and discover that the order they established was forgotten, what can men do then? What can mortals do when a god reclaims his old place?"

As she said those words, the black-haired girl finally turned to face Lisa without seeming to be bothered in the least by the intense light. When the goth girl stopped talking she stretched out her right hand, the same one that was stained by 'red paint', and said a single word, one that Lisa didn't know, and suddenly the beam of light from the brown girl's backpack flickered for an instant before turning off completely. Startled by that unforeseen failure, Lisa activated as fast as she could the self-defense mode of her laser pointer and pointed the small cylinder forward; in the area where she expected Lucy to be. A burst of energy shot out from the far end of the cylinder and thanks to the burst of light that came out along with the shot, Lisa was able to distinguish that her sister had gotten too close to her considering the short time that had passed.

In less than a second after the lights went out, Lucy was already standing right in front of Lisa, only to be ejected an instant later. By receiving the full blast of energy expelled by the pointer from so close, the black-haired girl's body flew in a straight line until it crashed into the wall of the portal, staining all the lower part of it with her blood.

Just as the goth's back hit the wall, the light from the scientist's backpack glowed just as brightly as before, revealing the twisted and limp body of Lucy Loud. With her expression unhinged by fear and anguish, Lisa ran over to her badly wounded sister and when she was close enough she dropped the laser pointer and took off her backpack to be able to kneel next to the black-haired girl more easily. The little chestnut let out a hiccup of relief as she verified that the goth was still breathing. Killing one of her sisters was, for obvious reasons, not in the genius's plans.

Lisa had trained herself to face any problem and to be just as efficient under the greatest pressures and demands, however this time she was facing a new scenario, one she had never thought of before; one of her sister's arms was bent backwards at a perverse angle and her body, arms and legs, had several wounds and cuts that were bleeding profusely.

It wasn't until after a couple of seconds of seeing that disturbing scene that Lisa forced herself to look elsewhere, it was then that she noticed Geo's plastic sphere completely empty and Walt's metal cage with only a few feathers inside resting in a corner. Even more startled than before, the brunette turned to look at the wall where both, she and Lucy, had been working on the portal, the blood stain left by Lucy had the same color as the symbols she had been writing a little above... the privileged mind of the scientist did not take long to tie up ends.

The little girl was so engrossed in watching the blood-stained wall of the pets and her sister that she didn't notice the mangled body next to her begin to move its lips, speaking mute words that no mortal mouth should ever utter.

When Lisa finally turned around, she was confronted with another nightmarish scene. Her older sister's battered body struggled to stand upright, making monstrous movements.

"Well, dead are all your gods... I killed them" The crooked arm settled into place with a creak after Lucy whispered another strange word, "and none of you silly mortals cared... now, I know you'll ask yourself another question..."

Lisa was terrified, a direct hit from her pointer and from so close was no less than deadly to the average adult human and her eleven year old sister was talking like it was nothing after receiving a point blank discharge, the raven-haired even continued to draw the last two runes missing from the last set of bloody squiggles.

"'What can men do against me?' you'll ask yourself," The basement began to fill with cold, frighteningly cold air, "you can think about it later, you like to think but you're not good at doing."

Lucy placed against the red runes a bloody pink handkerchief on which Lisa could read an embroidery that read "I luv Princess Pony", seconds later a small electric glow danced in her fingers. With deft and swift movements, the gothic girl shaped the magical energy into an ethereal sphere, the runes typewritten on the wall began to glow in response. There was a small electrical explosion and a lightning bolt struck Lucy making her disappear in front of Lisa's eyes, however the wall continued to expel energy uncontrollably. The situation had overcome the young know-it-all completely, so with trembling hands she reached for her laser pointer to activate the backpack and protect herself when she remembered that she had left them stranded after the surprise that the thing-Lucy had caused her.

Lisa was already running back to her backpack, ready to activate her self-preservation mechanism when a small bolt of lightning hit her directly in the face, curiously damaging only her glass eye, the little girl fell with fulmination. The last thing she could logically do was to think of a certain series of words:

"When the Gods return to claim what is theirs there will not be a single safe place" her conscience was beginning to fade "there will be nothing man can do to be safe."

An instant before the little girl lost consciousness completely, she thought she saw Lincoln kneeling beside her.

-o-

Lincoln Loud watched as his sister, after shouting the word of power, was surrounded by great arcane power in the form of lightning, magic much like his own but much, much, older.

There was a small electrical explosion that raised dust, and as the cloud settled, in front of Lincoln, now stood an adult woman, with long black hair, quite tall, wearing an outfit similar to Thunder's but hers was black. It was Lucy at her full potential.

And just as he expected, some things had changed in the gothic girl: the fringe of black hair was no longer long enough to cover her eyes, her irises were such a light blue that from far away they seemed completely white, they had always been like that and that's why the raven haired girl covered them so as not to disturb others but what she didn't have before were those thick veins covering her eyes, small rivers of blood that ran completely through the sclera.

Looking the tall woman in front of him in the eye, Lincoln understood that he was truly facing a soulless being who had infected and consumed Lucy and that there was nothing left of his shy younger sister.

Then, knowing he was cornered and at a disadvantage, Lincoln tried to use his gift of gab to buy time, but the being using Lucy's body did not want to speak.

There was a pop and Lincoln fell to the ground writhing in pain. Lucy had both arms outstretched, the posture for casting spells. In her slender pale fingers wriggled the leftover energy from the lightning bolt she had cast. Slowly, Lincoln looked down and saw that his chest had a huge, deep wound. Amidst a growing pool of his own blood, the albino lost consciousness before he could take a second hit from Lucy.

He felt as if his mind was split in half, an intense light filled his eyes even though they were closed and before he could do anything, he ended up getting lost in that sea of milk that was the only thing he could see now.

Gradually, Lincoln began to be able to make out some shadows, some outlines and figures that stood out against the white background. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was in the same room as the stone throne, still on the Rock of Eternity.

Everything looked shiny and new: the throne, the spiral staircase that curiously now lost their way down the floor, even Wizard Batson was there, sitting on the old throne in a robe that shone silver.

"Hello Lincoln" there was sadness in the old man's voice and something that Lincoln had trouble recognizing, "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't think this would happen to you, not so soon at least... I... I owe you an explanation..." now, Lincoln could recognize the feeling in Billy Batson's voice, it was guilt.

"I thought I was the one who should be held accountable," said the white-haired young man cautiously, "for not being able to fulfill the task you gave me."

"That's the problem, the champion's duties... they were really still my responsibility..." With the tip of his left hand, Billy drew a straight line in the air, leaving behind him a luminous trail. "Did you know that the first wizard remained in office for almost three thousand years? His name was Mamargan."

After completing the line, the light began to solidify, forming a golden staff.

"I'm not saying that he, the first lightning champion, didn't make mistakes during his journey, I myself had to deal with most of them... and now you must face one of the few accidents we both made... a parasite that has already conquered and destroyed countless worlds."

"I don't understand where all this talk is going?"

"I'm asking you to forgive me, kid. When I accepted the powers of the champion no one told me that this would last forever, I didn't want to be in charge for as many years as Mamargan was before he retired... I wanted to be able to get rid of the responsibility early and that's why I hastily chose a replacement."

Lincoln's eyes opened as wide as the scars on his face would allow, now he understood Lucy's anger, it turns out that at the end of the day nothing made him special above the rest and yet he still got the powers of a god. Although he wanted to avoid it, he could not hold back the tears when he knew he was useless and dispensable.

"But all is not lost, son," the end of the newly created golden staff began to reflect a silvery glow, "in you I recognized myself... a person capable of the worst to make sure that those he considers worthy of trust and affection are kept safe. Yours is the violence and love needed to do what must be done, that is why I summoned you in the beginning and that is why I intervene now!"

With force, Billy made the staff fall to the floor; the silver light separated from the wizard, fluttered for a moment around Lincoln, brushing his chest and mouth, then the albino felt a terrible pain in the parts where the flash had touched him.

He began to feel surrounded by the sea of milk again, in the last moments he was able to spend in the white room next to Billy Batson, Lincoln noticed that the wizard's eyes were beginning to become just like his sister Lucy's: pale bone colored.

Back again on the cold floor of the other Rock of Eternity, the boy's body stirred amid the pool of blood and his mouth opened for air. Lincoln lay sprawled on his back, arms outstretched in the familiar gesture of the man run over. The loss of blood paled his face and fresh, intense stains of the life-giving fluid soaked his thermal shirt. The last spell of the wizard before Lincoln caused the albino's body to be surrounded by a dome as bright as moonlight for a few moments, and that distraction gave the boy just enough time to say a word with his last breath.

"SHAZAM!"

As the power of the lightning covered him, Lincoln felt charged with energy and vitality. His wounds, though all of them lethal, healed instantly and the spirit and will to fight returned to him. The creature with Lucy's body had lost its advantage 'cause now, before the parasite, stood another champion with the same powers.

Lincoln and the puppet-Lucy then clashed in a clash of powers the world had not seen for millennia. The black-haired girl burned Lincoln's skin with spells charged with the magical force of several generations. The rightful champion countered with a series of powerful lightning bolts and strikes, Lucy and the parasite could master magic but Lincoln could keep up with all ten sisters for hours. After an intense confrontation that barely lasted a few seconds but felt like several hours for both lightning wielders, the combined powers of both ended up cracking the floor of the throne room. After a new clash of powers both went through the thick vault and by the shockwave ended up breaking the seven pillars of the lower floor, the rest of the temple began to collapse on them.

Thunder, the rightful champion, crawled out of the rubble, managing to get to his feet just seconds before his sister. Thanks to Solomon's wisdom, Lincoln knew perfectly well the nature of what was inside his sister and what would happen if he let her recover or allowed the varmint to escape.

So without hesitation he jumped on the woman in the black suit and punched her in the face, knocking her down again. Holding her on her knees in front of him, he delivered a powerful kick to her stomach. The blow lifted her several meters off the ground and achieved its purpose; it made her vomit.

A large amount of white liquid, which reminded Lincoln vaguely of milk, spilled out onto the floor. Then he saw a green caterpillar wriggling in the remains of the substance that had come out of Lucy's mouth.

A voice in his head shouted to the white-haired man that he should keep the specimen. He didn't obey, the alien organism that aroused the curiosity of the two previous champions for Lincoln was only a loose end that needed to be tended to. So he stepped on it and although at first he felt it squirm, resisting the champion's strength, it finally yielded to the weight and died.

Only then did Lincoln become aware of the damage it took to control the parasitic caterpillar situation, the seven statues that once supported the Rock of Eternity had been destroyed and the evils they contained were now free in what was left of the temple... unless they had already escaped to the mortal world through the portal Lucy had opened.