12-. The Will of Lightning
For a moment, Lucy saw the murderous determination on Lincoln's face and her heart was afraid, it had been a long time since she had felt an emotion as intense as that.
Luckily, just as Lincoln set out to end the conflict once and for all, the military finally intervened; an army helicopter fired three rounds of large-caliber bullets, momentarily distracting the lightning champion and allowing the receptacle of The Deadly Enemies of Man to escape, his beast-transformed jock sister scurrying off in terror on all fours.
Then, for the third time that day, Lucy witnessed something she could never have imagined on her own; her brother, blindly driven by rage, had consciously attacked the helicopter that had shot him in the face, bringing it down on the spot with a magical bolt of lightning. Seeing the albino so determined to finish off his enemies in such a decisive manner, the goth worried deeply about Lynn's fate if Lincoln were to confront her again without being present herself. Lucy would have to act first if she wanted to save her older brother's soul and Lynn's life.
Raising one of her hands, the black-haired girl channeled the power of lightning and fired at the building below her. In less than a second after the helicopter was shot down, the "Grand Central" mall began to collapse as one of its pillars was destroyed.
Taking advantage of the din of the mall collapsing, and of the destruction caused by the few remaining homunculi, thanks in part to the dark color of her clothing and her own ability to escape unseen, Lucy took to the air away from her older brother as she headed towards where she had seen the Sins escape.
-o-
Without a moment's hesitation, Lincoln launched himself towards the collapsing mall, barely making it in time to catch the building and keep the glass and iron roof from crashing to the ground. There shouldn't be that many people left inside, he and Lucy had already evacuated the vast majority before taking on the The Deadly Enemies of Man so he hoped only the few remaining cops inside would make it out.
Although he knew that transformed he was surprisingly strong, Lincoln was surprised to discover that he could carry so much weight on his shoulders without even feeling fatigue. Completely convinced of his physical ability, the albino waited patiently for the few people who had remained hidden on the top floor of the mall to come out, and after only a couple of seconds, a rather large group of men in suits, people in expensive clothes about to faint, and several policemen he hadn't seen before came out together, forming a small shoal.
When they found themselves in open space, the bodyguards dispersed in an instant and began to search the area, looking for possible dangers and positioning themselves in strategic places, leaving the wealthy men they were protecting alone with the policemen.
Among the rich men being escorted by that squad of cops, of course Lincoln didn't recognize most of them, was Mayor Amanda Waller and the same officer who had arrested his mother two years ago and who always seemed to loyally follow around Highsmith. Seeing him carrying the mall, almost as if he were just another building pillar, the plump African-American woman gave Lincoln a very different look than he was used to seeing at town meetings. After a simple wave of one hand, Waller had the half-dozen of his private guards form a half-circle around Thunder and point their guns at him.
"I don't think you're in the mood for conversation, are you?" Lincoln joked.
"Let go of that building, there's no one left inside." Waller's voice sounded monotonous and authoritarian, as if having a guy capable of flying and throwing lightning bolts in front of her eyes wasn't something surprising, "The only ones inside were us."
"But ma'am, 'cause of the structural damage, if he lets go, the whole building will collapse," Mercy Graves interjected, "I don't think it's a good idea to take down a local landmark like the Grand..."
"Obey! Only you can protect those of us who are still around," Waller insisted. It was obvious that the mayor would not listen to her assistant and that her words were not just a suggestion to Lincoln. "What are you planning to do, big man? Save the town carrying building on your back?"
Although the tone in which she was speaking to him didn't please him in the least, Lincoln had to admit that the obese woman was right; the helicopters that were starting to fly over the area weren't really a reliable barrier to protect people against the homunculi of Sins, only he was completely effective against those monsters.
Without responding with words, so as not to give the mayor that gratification, Lincoln nodded his head and waved the bodyguards and the town's moneyed people away.
When everyone was far enough away from the mall, Lincoln closed his eyes, breathed in slowly to convince himself that allowing the building to be destroyed was the right thing to do, and lifted the square over his head a little more. He was about to let go of the column he was holding when he heard something, at first it was so faint that he thought he imagined the noise, but as the seconds passed the gasp became louder; someone was running towards him.
"What are you doing? Those things could attack us at any moment!" Amanda was getting impatient. "Just let go of the damn building once and for all!"
"No, there are still people inside... I hear them approaching."
"If something is approaching I don't think its civilians, the only ones left inside were the mayor's men and a few policemen." Officer Foster would never give up on helping people, but the chances that what was coming out of the building was actually people were very slim. "Listen to me, I want everyone with a gun pointed at the door where we came out, but anyone who dares to shoot without my orders will lose their job!"
After hearing the shout from the fat policewoman, and waiting for the mayoress to confirm the order, everyone, police and bodyguards alike, drew their duty weapons and dutifully pointed them at the glass door they had just exited through. But as the cops and guards waited with bated breath for whoever came running through, the rest of the building began to rumble. Though Lincoln was still holding up the roof, the walls were not designed to take that much punishment and hold up, so after they began to crack and shake, the entire building began to fall as the bricks that comprised it up began to loosen and fall. The roof was beginning to cave in faster and faster just as all the armed men caught a glimpse of two women running towards the exit.
Finally, the construction couldn't take any more and collapsed. Thinking inhumanly fast, thanks to his improved reflexes and wisdom, Lincoln ran as fast as possible to the pair of refugees... and when the dust of the collapse settled, everyone saw the white-haired hero in the middle of the ruins with the red-haired inspector sent by the town's hall and a blonde girl in her arms. The red-haired woman was weak and blood was dripping from her forehead, and from her serious expression she didn't look too pleased to be alive.
One of Lincoln's worries had also been solved, the girl accompanying the inspector was Lana.
"I'll call an ambulance to take care of your wounds as soon as possible, Inspector McCann, and for the Loud girl... I'll keep her with the rest of the victims," Foster, along with everyone else, could sigh at last, "I think I saw her sisters in one of the groups of refugees that had just left the area."
The little plumber approached the other police officers, and without replying with words to the fat woman, took her hand, completely satisfied to know that she could be reunited with her sisters.
"And you, Thunder, was it? Well I hope you can help locate and escort the other victims while a safe and definitive shelter is established, there's no telling what else is flying overhead."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, officer, but I already have an urgent matter to attend to."
-o-
The cold wind whipped through Lucy's body, howling wildly as it passed between her firm legs and arms. Under normal conditions the goth would be shivering, yet it didn't surprise her at all to notice that she could barely feel the cold biting her body.
The few trees surrounding the black-haired woman as she chaded after the The Deadly Enemies of Man grew more numerous as she flew further away from the village; she now had to fly slower and higher to avoid colliding with the vegetation. Though plentiful, the trunks of those trees were fragile and grey, it was actually a patchy little forest that, in Lana's opinion: "that's not much like the big pine forest that was in the area, of course that was long before the town was founded a long time ago".
In the distance, Lucy made out a homunculus snaking through the birch trees, fearful of rising too high against the night sky and being spotted. As she tried to pick up her pace and catch up to the creature, a knot of exhaustion tightened in the blackhead's stomach. Lucy wanted to drive her fist through the wraith's body, but she did nothing, exhausted as she was it wasn't smart to give her presence away to enemies without a plan. She was tired of this fight of resistance, now it was her turn to stick to a different tactic; she would follow the creature until the thing led her to the avatar of Sins.
After following the homunculus for some kilometers, Lucy managed to observe how the creature fell fulminated, victim of some attack or evil that Lucy couldn't identify. The black-haired girl came down from the sky and approached the body uncertainly. The eyes of the monster were opaque and empty. There was nothing there that was capable of feeding the vermin's body of death and pain, nothing and no one to hunt or corrupt. With nothing to consume, the apparition dissolved into a small cloud of mist, a body remained on the ground; it was Flipp, unconscious but alive.
Nervously, Lucy looked up through the shadowy forest, looking around, thinking, «If there is someone here, maybe there are more people bodies nearby.» But to her eyes there was only the dark grey of the sickly copse.
Luckily, Lucy wasn't guided by the sight of the earthly world alone, she was following a specific trail of magic. The magical trail of The Deadly Enemies of Man continued in a straight line and as Lucy progressed the signs became clearer, a rotten egg stench here or a small accumulation of mist there, she was getting closer to the source and soon she would have the creature that had produced it in her hands.
Her magical instincts told Lucy that the chase wouldn't last long, in fact she was almost completely sure that it would end not so far away, the Sins had just fled, passing through the dead trees and broken branches she could see ahead. As she approached that place, the black-haired girl peeked her head around the corner of a rock at the side of the dirt road and her sharp eyesight noticed something that forced her to crouch down a little more. It was Lynn, the huge creature was stumbling and bleeding profusely; the helicopter had indeed wounded her with its shots when she was weakened after her encounter with Thunder.
The goth approached silently and attacked the creature with a magical blast of lighting from behind. After being struck by the bolt of magic, the receptacle let out a menacing but weak growl. Lucy hesitated to launch a second attack; her sister's body was heavily wounded almost everywhere, most likely from the helicopter's gunfire, the creature's torso and neck bleeding excessively. Seeing the state of her sister, everything was obvious to the blackhead, Lynn was bleeding to death and the Sins had tricked her into following them so they could possess her as their new avatar, the worst part of the situation was that Lincoln, the only reinforcement that could help her, didn't know where she was and Lucy felt so tired that she didn't think she could fight for long «Master of let oneself being possessed.» her brother's voice chided her in her imagination.
Lynn, mortally wounded, threw herself against her younger sister and despite her physical state, she continued to fight compelled by the will of the Sins as her life slipped away, her legs trembled, her claws had lost their ferocious strength and her eyes were darkening faster and faster, Lucy's movements were also becoming limited by fatigue, her magic shields were getting shorter and shorter and the attacks she directed at her adversary were losing range after every second.
Finally, because of the wounds suffered earlier, it was Lynn who collapsed first, her body lying still on the snow-covered ground. Moments later, the image of the winged monster dissolved into vapor, just as it had done with Flipp, leaving behind the bloody body of Lynn Loud.
Lucy shivered at the sight of so much blood gushing from the brunette's body. Terrified, the goth took a few shaky steps towards her roommate and brought her imposing body close to the delicate face covered in freckles, barely feeling the breath of her sporty sister. Lucy also possessed the wisdom of Solomon, she knew her sister wouldn't survive those injuries if she didn't get help soon. She had just learned how to use real magic, mostly thanks to that caterpillar that had possessed her over the weekend, and it was obvious she wasn't an expert yet, but she was determined to do everything she could to not lose her sister.
Summoning what magic was left in her, Lucy's hands filled with a silvery light. The no longer so potent magical currents within her body began to stir as they were forced beyond their capacity. From the immense effort put into healing Lynn, Lucy had to bend over until her face nearly hit her sister's nose.
However, making an inhuman effort, Lucy abruptly straightened up, completely exhausting part of her power, and now it was her, her hands, her face, her whole body radiated a whitest light, as if it were a second dawn fallen upon the earth on that fateful night. Before her was an almost lifeless body, but she would not give up.
Lucy raised her hands and spoke.
Everything around him began to lose the warmth and movement characteristic of the world of the living, the forest was paralyzed by the power of the spell.
With all the skill her short life of training gave her, and with all the faith in her heart, Lucy strove to close the wounds, to restore her sister's body. And at the command of her voice and the movement of her hands, the torn flesh began to draw closer to each other, to join again. As she healed Lynn, the light that Lucy radiated grew weaker, fading from her face and her hands until only a small, faint glow remained. However, thanks to that faint light Lucy saw that her work was done. Lynn was not unharmed but at least she had stopped bleeding.
As the goth regained her breath, she noticed her sister regaining consciousness in her turn. Dazed, Lynn saw everything around her as if she had just woken up from a dream. Realizing that she was not alone in the forest, the athlete turned to look at her sister with her neck cocked to one side, almost as if she didn't recognize the woman who had saved her life, it reminded Lucy of the gesture of a puppy victim of curiosity. Aware that it was quite possible that Lynn might not recognize her in her current state, the goth was going to introduce herself to her sister, perhaps inventing a superhero name of her own as Lincoln had done, however in Lynn's eyes there was recognition and some disbelief, the sporty girl knew who had saved her! Then the sisters both smiled, aware that they had survived hell.
Lynn's cheeks and clothes were stained red, thanks to the blood and Lucy was on the verge of collapsing, yet they could spend a lifetime laughing and enjoying their victory, she had survived the horrors of mankind's past but they were not alone yet.
The demons that had created all that chaos were still loose in the world, and suddenly, above them, the sky subtly changed, a pale light similar to an explosion of fire shone through the clouds. The Deadly Enemies of Man had absorbed enough energy from their homunculi to create bodies of their own and were now ready for their revenge.
The first to approach to attack the sisters from above was Wrath, the oldest of the Sins and the most experienced in terms of fighting. He had seen the opportune situation presented by a completely exhausted Lightning Champion and decided to take matters into his own hands.
Lucy raised her guard in fury, ready to embrace violence in order to protect her sister.
"For one night, there will be a person without evil in her body!"
Wrath ignored the goth's war cry and continued to descend, his humanoid figure gradually changing from a translucent white to a dark red like blood.
As soon as he was close enough, Wrath lunged at Lynn and Lucy. The demon was trying to take control of the brunette's body again to attack, not only physically but psychologically, the blackhead, but before it had a chance to even touch either of the sisters, a pair of thin, translucent arms reached across the forest floor and wrapped around one of his legs. The Sin let out a shriek as if it had been burned.
"Your kind have always hated human virtues, I'm right? That's why you must plunge people into despair in order to corrupt and eat them, I'm right?"
Leni finished going through the ground and released the demon's leg.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Lucy, but I had to 'walk' from the house."
Seeing Wrath come back to try to hit his new target, her, Leni slapped the Demon's face. Surprisingly, the monster began to stagger from the suffering. Unable to fight back the blonde, Leni dissolved the monster with one final blow.
As soon as the oldest of The Deadly Enemies of Man was vanquished, a dark mist began to form in the clouds and an incredible stench of sulfur came from the sky, enveloping the sisters, the other Sins began to materialize themselves in full readiness to avenge their brother. Lucy turned to look at her roommate, and seeing Lynn trembling in fear almost completely helpless before those creatures, the weight of responsibility to protect her made her feel more powerful. Ignoring the cry of her aching muscles, the goth forced herself to stand in the darkness around her.
"I don't think I can destroy them all, but I'm sure together we can do more than just contain them." The resolve in Leni's voice forced Lucy to act at last.
Rising almost to the level of the clouds, Lucy met the Sins with her bare fists. Pride stepped forward to confront her. With her claws she tried to pierce the blackhead's skin but all the beast's paw made contact with was a relentless lightning bolt. Throwing a punch, just as Lynn had taught her in the past, Lucy pierced the creature's body, diluting the Sin into mist.
A little further away, the black-haired girl saw three more of The Deadly Enemies of Man trying to catch Leni, and although they didn't manage to catch the blonde, they were getting closer and closer with each one of their attempts. Wanting to support her sister in some way, Lucy tried to launch a huge bolt of lightning, powerful enough to drive back the blonde wraith's pursuers, but instead of blasting her enemies with an enormous lightning all the gothic girl could get were a few sparks. Her magical forces were close to exhaustion, but Lucy refused to give in.
A third light grew beneath the stars. Lynn, unable to really participate in the battle, had lost her fear. Seeing the courage with which her sisters attacked the demons, the brunette began to feel an immense energy grow inside her chest, she began to be able to believe that her sisters could put an end themselves to all the evil that was invading the town.
"Come on Lucy, kick their asses!"
Slowly, the five remaining demons began to lose power as they lost their hold on the only human being for miles. The chestnut's scream alone was a challenge to evil, one that the Deadly Enemies of Man could not pass up; so completely cornered, the Sins called for reinforcements.
To the call for help from the Sins, all the homunculi left in the village responded. A horde of thousands of monsters swarmed over the sisters, forming a shoal of destruction and oblivion. Lucy again strained her magical reserves to rise herself even higher in the sky and intercept the cursed reinforcements before they could gather with the beings that had summoned them, slamming and electrocuting them, turning them one by one to dust. But more and more creatures kept appearing in front of her.
She would have to give it her all. Feeling every muscle in her body tremble with exhaustion, Lucy let out a cry of defiance and commanded the wind to transform into a storm. The storm of rain and lightning, formed thanks to the power of the first champion, forced the enemies to retreat, but few managed to get away in time, all the rest, including the Sins themselves, were thrown by the force of the wind against the ground and the trees. However, in the midst of the weather madness there was a small sanctuary free from harm, the eye of the storm.
On the verge of fainting, Lucy turned to look at her sisters, she wanted to tell them that that was all she could do but she couldn't say anything without her voice cutting out.
"We're in this together, even in the middle of this nightmare." Leni tried to rest one of her freckled hands on Lucy's shoulder, but the hand went cleanly through the goth's body. "Wow, I should have known this would happen."
The blonde's unintentional joke brought a laugh from Lucy, but the chuckle died in the blackhead's throat, for a bolt of magic lightning had escaped from her chest, and only moments later another one shot out.
«This drains my energy, soon I won't be able to resist anymore» Lucy thought on the verge of despair, but after concentrating a little more on her spell, the storm continued to roar almost unabated in its intensity, «It won't last.»
Lucy's body was slowly shrinking with each magical lightning bolt that was released from her being, she knew she would be powerless as soon as the last of them left her, it was only a matter of time.
"I couldn't protect you Lynn, I'm sorry."
Unwilling to look away, the goth gave one last apologetic glance to her older sister as she lost the power the parasite had stolen when it infiltrated the Rock of Eternity. Lucy knew that as soon as it was empty, they would both be dead.
Then, finally it happened, the last of the seven thunderbolts left her and the storm immediately began to subside. The pestilent mist suddenly returned and only two Sins, those who had weathered the storm, returned seeking to finish off their enemies. There was no emotion on their faces, they knew they had already won. But before they could take a step and claim their prizes, a bolt of lightning struck them, returning them to the sleep they should not have come from. Leni disappeared, across the forest floor, as soon as the The Deadly Enemies of Man were defeated.
Without noticing that the blonde was leaving the place, Thunder's voice thundered from the sky with an excessively low tone, as if it were the trite voice of a superhero in a bad nineties movie.
"Now you can rest assured, all this hell is finally over." Lincoln was surprised to see Lucy in her human form alone next to Lynn, also in her human form, "Good job girl I've never seen before..."
"Lincoln... she already knows," Lucy said before collapsing from exhaustion.
-o-
In the midst of her dreamless unconsciousness, Lucy began to become aware of a slight swaying motion and the sound of a hundred footsteps breaking the stillness of the night, dizzy from the constant swaying she opened her eyes. Her older brother was carrying her piggyback.
"Lincoln? What happened?" The albino was hobbling through the middle of the forest, surrounded by countless people, people Lucy knew from the town.
"It's a good thing you finally woke up, Lucy," Lincoln turned over his shoulder for a moment to look at his black-haired sister, "not much happened after you passed out in the forest, those who had been possessed by the Deadly Enemies of Man and transformed into those horrible winged beasts returned to normal as soon as the Sins were conquered and began to wake up within minutes... and now we're all heading back to Royal Woods together."
"We made them believe that we were possessed and transformed too," Lynn interjected, limping beside her brother, "and by the way, Lucy..."
"Yes?"
"I think we need to talk... alone."
They walked on, anonymous among the horde of people who accompanied them, until they reached the town. It was already past midnight when the siblings could finally make out the powerful lights on tall poles outside the town hall and the high school.
Upon arriving at the center of town, all the people who made up the crowd were met, aside from some specialists in strange ailments who had arrived with the army, by the Red Cross and the fire departments of different towns; all the communities near Royal Woods had sent help to search for and rescue the missing people. Great was the surprise of those rescuers, soldiers and volunteers when all the citizens they were searching for arrived in the same group and in its own.
The Loud siblings, along with a fairly large group of other minors, were quickly separated from the crowd and funneled into one of the many tents that had just been set up to house the homeless or missing ones. Once there, a few social workers began grouping all the children by the first letter of their last names.
As soon as the albino and his sisters gave their names to the people organizing the makeshift shelter, Lincoln discovered that only five other people with a last name beginning with the letter L were registered in that refugee tent; Luna, Luan, Lana, Lola and Lily. Thanks to that great coincidence, the siblings were quickly reunited.
The first thing that greeted the only male child of the Loud house was a pair of little and chubby arms. With her face dripping with tears and snot, Lily clung to her older brother's chest using her hands and legs, but Luna was quick to pull her off of Lincoln, not for fear that the combined weight of Lily and Lucy, who hadn't gotten off her brother's back, would be too much for the young albino to bear and end up tripping, knocking both her sisters off, but because Lincoln and his clothes were drenched in blood.
Beside the rocker, Luan diverted his gaze to his other sisters, both Lynn and Lucy were just like their brother.
Lola, who had just woken up and was just getting up from the lap of an equally sleepy Lana, collapsed on her twin's lap when she saw the color of the stains that had just soaked into Lily's clothes.
"What the fuck happened to you little fuckers?!"
"What the fuck happened to you guys?"
Both chestnuts spoke at the same time but from completely different emotional extremes; Luna was hysterical and Luan was about to faint herself too.
"Lincoln, we went to the elementary school to take you and the twins to the movies but you weren't there!"
"Lynn, Lucy, what are you doing here? Why aren't you taking care of Lisa?"
"That's a long story... one that I promise you, we'll end up laughing about," Lincoln interjected nervously.
-o-
They were allowed to return home after a few hours, after making sure none of the newly arrived siblings needed serious medical help. An out-of-service school bus dropped them and a dozen others off a few blocks down Franklin Avenue.
As soon as he saw again those houses that were already so familiar to him and all his worry and nervousness that he had experienced during the confrontation with the Deadly Enemies of Man began to transform quickly into tiredness, Lincoln began to feel ashamed. He had completely forgotten about Lisa and it didn't help him at all to remember that the last time he had seen the little scientist she was wounded and unconscious on the basement floor, the little girl could still be lying there, she could still be seriously injured with no one around to help her. Nervous, Lincoln hurried his pace leaving his sisters behind.
When he finally arrived at his house, the albino found that it was surrounded by a small group of firefighters and a few neighbors, all of them wearing orange reflective vests. In the middle of the group of improvised rescuers were, apparently unharmed, his parents and Lisa, the little girl had a little black patch over her left eye. The adults served coffee to the rescuers while the child prodigy coordinated some volunteer brigades while pointing to a map of the neighborhood, divided into quadrants with neat, firm lines.
When the girl saw her brother, she dismissed the men she was speaking to and turned her full attention to the white-haired young man.
"Lincoln... I think we need to talk urgently."
Before the little girl with glasses could say anything else, Rita and her husband wrapped their arms around their children, Luna and the others had just caught up with the albino. Because of the euphoria of both parents, the feet of Lincoln, Lynn and Lucy, left the ground for a moment... until Lynn Sr. noticed the dried blood covering his three children and fainted as well.
-o-
Hector and Carlos Casagrande sat silently in the dark waiting room, the autopsy was over and they would have to go in to identify the body; that would be the last time they would see her in their lives. As they watched a nurse walk out of the only door of the place and motion for them to follow her, the old man's back twisted with a monumental shiver.
"I never thought I'd live through something like this," Hector pulled a few hairs of his mustache out of his mouth, he wanted to distract himself with whatever it was, "son... please help me get back on my feet."
The old man's son's eyes, magnified several times over by his thick glasses, looked irritated and tearful. Without making a sound of any kind, at least as far as his barely contained weeping would allow, Carlos offered his left arm to his father by way of support, and bearing some of the old man's weight, both men advanced, following the nurse and without speaking, into a cold room that reeked of dampness.
Inside that room, on the wall opposite the door, there was only one large window and a bright blue plastic curtain that prevented them from seeing the other side. When they entered escorted by the woman in a robe and mask, the blue curtain was pulled back allowing father and son to see through a window into the room next to theirs.
All they could see through the thick glass was a body covered by a spotless white sheet, lying on a stainless metal plate. Without them noticing when, a team of two orderlies entered the room and carefully uncovered the corpse from head to shoulders.
There stood one of the most important women in both men's lives; Maria Santiago. The corpse of the Santiago's firstborn daughter looked pale, a pair of burns in the shape of hands could be seen at shoulder level.
The monotone voice of one of the men began to describe particular signs through a loudspeaker, but neither father nor son paid any attention to what he was saying.
After finishing the description of physical characteristics, the same man proceeded to talk about the clothes Maria was wearing at the time of her admission to the hospital. When he finished he waited a moment to allow the men to answer the important question.
"Yes, that's her." For the first time since he was no longer a child, Hector Casagrande allowed himself to cry, "That's my baby."
A heart-rending cry filled that cold room of the hospital morgue, it was the wailing of an old man completely broken, of a defeated father.
When they left the hospital, in an unexpected act, Hector grabbed his now only son by the collar of his tie and spoke to him in a hoarse voice.
"Carlos... son, I want you to promise me that you will return my granddaughter to me," the old man's eyes were beginning to accumulate tears again, "promise me that you will find her... I won't lose her too."
The man with the thick glasses didn't respond verbally, he couldn't speak without clamming up, so he just nodded his head.
When they got into the car, to avoid the recriminations that were beginning to invade his mind, Carlos Casagrande turned on the radio.
"My office and I, supported by all necessary government and private agencies, will continue to investigate the weird events that occurred just yesterday afternoon, in december 2nd. The number of dead is already five hundred forty and twenty-eight people are still missing. Of the victims, eighty-seven belonged to the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception".
The transmission was momentarily interrupted due to interference, but returned to normal almost immediately.
"The deceased will be buried on December 4 and 5 in two massive ceremonies. On the seventh, a religious act in memory of the disappeared will be held in the central square. People, you are not alone, my door will remain open for anyone who needs help." another static interruption cut the transmission again. "This is what Mayor Davis Waller said in the morning."
"Now, changing from the exploited topic of 'the invasion from hell' that the neighboring Royal Woods suffered just yesterday," Carlos moved the dial of the old radio to correctly tune in the news station. "During last night's intense thunderstorm, the largest recorded storm in the last hundred years by the way, a four story building that served as a shelter for street children suffered a fire that forced all the children and the resident staff to abandon their home. We'll bring you the story of how "The Hive" burned to the ground during a rainstorm with heavy rainfall, after the outage. This is Katherine Mulligan..."
After hearing that last piece of news and feeling the victim of a discomfort greater than anything he had experienced in the past, Carlos turned off the radio, interrupting the famous reporter.
-o-
Lisa paced back and forth in her room, without the old crib and Lily's other things it seemed like such a big space, too much space, terrifyingly cold and empty for a lonely little girl... the thought didn't help her to control her fears and insecurities. Finally her desperate mind settled on a resolution. Finally leaving her lonely room, the brunette opened her brother's door without bothering to knock, talking to him was the priority.
"Older fraternal unity..." There was no Lincoln there, there were only two empty beds in the bedroom that used to belong to Lori and Leni.
With a firm step and her head held high, Lisa walked towards Lynn and Lucy's room, talking to the three of them together wasn't the most recommendable thing to do... however she didn't have any option left. Without bothering to knock, the little genius tried to enter her older sisters' room, but the door didn't move when Lisa pushed it with her hand.
Finding that the door was closed, and after sighing to calm her nerves, Lisa knocked three times and stomped her feet a little while she waited for an answer from one of her older siblings, however neither Lincoln nor the owners of the room opened the door. Giving in a little more to her nerves, the little girl knocked again, only this time a little louder.
"Lincoln, it's imperative that we have a talk soon," Lisa barked, barely keeping her calm... at least in appearance, and since they still didn't open the door, the little girl decided to lean one ear on the wooden surface so she could hear what was happening on the other side. She only managed to hear something that sounded like a laugh.
Not that, no one would laugh at Lisa M. Loud.
"HEY, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I'M DR. LISA LOUD, I SPEAK MORE THAN FIFTEEN LANGUAGES, I HAVE FOUR DOCTORATES, I DON'T HAVE TO ASK YOU FOR ANYTHING!" Finally giving in to the shame and insecurity that had plagued her since she proved herself unable to really help during the attack of the Deadly Enemies, Lisa took off her glasses and tried to wipe the tears that were starting to wet the collar of her sweater. "I want to help, please, let me do it... I know that I can help," feeling humiliated, the little scientist leaned her forehead against the door and abandoned herself to her helplessness. "Science failed me, magic failed me... but... but my family? Please... let me through with you."
Her throat refused to continue articulating words so Lisa had to settle for crying with her head leaning against the door of her sisters' room, in moments like those she was thankful that her other sisters weren't at home so they wouldn't hear her behaving like a normal girl of her age.
Suddenly, the door opened leaving Lisa without a place to lean on. Without being able to help herself, the brunette fell into the dark room landing on her flushed face. A smiling face with white hair greeted her on the other side.
"Sorry for not opening up quickly Lis, but as you can see we're a little busy around here," Lincoln pointed towards the window, where Lily and Lynn were trying to get Lucy to let go of the frame so they could get her out, "You know Lucy behaves like a bristly cat when it comes to height."
Lincoln's joke went unnoticed by Lisa, who was rubbing her sore face, trying to recover her normal breathing.
"What are they doing?"
"We're going for ice cream!" Shouted Lily, who was pushing Lucy from inside the room in a completely futile attempt to get the goth girl out. "Or at least we'll go as soon as we can get Lucy to let go of the window fame!"
"And why don't you go out the front door?"
"Lisa... we're grounded, remember? For 'avoiding commitments'" Lynn's face was red with effort as she pulled her younger sister out of the room with all her strength "Come on Lucy, it's only ten feet to the floor, you've already jumped before!"
"My question remains the same. Luna and Luan aren't here, they took the twins to therapy... or something like that."
As soon as Lucy heard Lisa say those words, she let go of the window frame and ran down the stairs, pushing Lynn face first into the room's floor.
"Oh... I see..." Lincoln felt like a fool for coming up with an intricate plan to escape through a window with a much simpler option at hand. "So... will you join us for some ice cream, Lis? I bet there's an ice cream stand willing to open in the middle of winter, plus we can talk more comfortably like that."
The warm smile that Lincoln gave her managed to demolish all the insecurities of the little girl, Lisa allowed herself to smile and hug her brother.
"To hell with keeping up appearances! I'll go with you even if we can't find a confectionery that sells spinacia oleracea-flavored frozen treats," said the scientist, finally relaxed and happy.
Lynn and Lincoln's mouths dropped open at Lisa's reaction, Lily just grimaced, spinach flavored ice cream sounded completely disgusting!
-o-
Fortunately for the parents, and unfortunately for the children, one of the few areas that were unharmed after the attack was the school district. Although the elementary and kindergarten school yards had been designated as collection centers.
As soon as the transportation service was back to normal and the main streets and avenues were cleared, all that only a week later, the schools days resumed. And as Lincoln foresaw, the principal sent for him and Clyde.
Patricia Rivers, the principal, came out of her office the moment she saw them approaching. Jake Kurtzberg and Joel Simon, two good-for-nothing freshmen who were waiting their turn to be punished, clapped and cheered when they saw Lincoln.
"Come in at once," said principal Rivers briskly.
Over her shoulder, she glanced angrily at the boys who remained seated, and added.
"What are you two celebrating? Do you want a taste of detention?"
She closed the door and began to search through the drawers of her desk for some subpoenas.
"Boys, I'll be honest with you two. I've never liked brawlers and after the way you let the McCann boy and his friends all beaten-up... I will tell you guys that in the best case scenario you will be suspended for a few weeks."
"But principal Rivers," Clyde interjected, "they started the fight, you see, they forced me to hide a..."
"They told me about the camera themselves, their punishment in that matter was already decided Mr. McBride, and as far as I am concerned, between the fight and young Chandler's voyeuristic urges, we are talking about two unconnected things."
"Clyde let me do the talking," Lincoln whispered to his friend before turning back to the principal. "Miss Rivers, something tells me we're not seeing the whole picture and you know the damage that can be done by not stopping to look at the whole picture."
Patricia blinked and then nodded very seriously. All the students in the middle school knew that she tried to give off a 'good vibes principal' image as she went about her duties, even if it didn't work. The teachers usually called her 'nice Patty'. The students, on the other hand, called her 'the quack with an office'.
That's why at the time 'nice Patty' tried hard to be fair so she could give a 'cool' verdict.
"As I was saying, Principal Rivers, it seems to me that you are forgetting a fundamental rule in our society," Lincoln leaned closer to the edge of his chair to emphasize his words. "You're forgetting that it's impossible and frowned upon for a teacher to be 'seeing' one of her students."
His eyes sent her a signal that only she caught. The color left the young woman's face.
"You are dismissed."
Of course, Miss Rivers, whatever you say."
As they walked out Clyde couldn't help but ask Lincoln a question.
"What was that? What. Was. That? With whom is she..?"
"The thing about you, Clyde, is that you lack 'subtlety'."
When the two teenagers left, the fury had finally reached Principal Rivers' body, with wild eyes she turned to see the pair of students still outside her office.
"For you two...! A week's detention at the gym!" she said before slamming the office door shut.
-o-
The Loud family put the problems that were stifling them aside, at least for one day they would go back to being just a normal, happy family. In fact the parents took a day off, Dr. Feinstein even gave his assistant a whole weekend off.
Luna had dusted off her acoustic guitar and improvised a little tune, half carol, half birthday, half rock ballad, and after breaking the cake it would be Luan's turn to cheer up the guests.
"All right girls, gather around for the picture!" Lynn senior had dusted off his old Polaroid to take a picture of the moment. "Son, you'll sit with Lily and you Luan... you'll stay next to me, no way we'll repeat the disaster of the twins' birthday."
As the father shouted orders that no one heard, Lincoln hugged his little sister and sat her on his lap.
"Happy birthday sunshine," amidst the chaos his family was synonymous with, Lincoln gave the little girl a kiss on the cheek, "I hope you like your presents."
Lily let out a celebratory cry and turning her body around she gave her brother a kiss, like all the others, slimy and full of love.
Snip snap snout, this tale's told out.
Well, my dear strangers I would like to thank you for reading this story...
thank u so much
But... there are some unanswered questions, aren't there?
What happaned with Ronnie Anne and her mother?
Was she responsible for the fire?
Will you continue to read these questions with the tone of a telemarketer?
Find out the answers to these questions and more in the sequel to this story in my new fanfic "So be it on earth..."
