"Lincoln!" Lori called for her little brother.
"Lincoln!" Lynn Sr. called for his only son.
"Little Bro!" Luna called.
"Elder Brother!" Lisa called.
"Buddy!" Clyde called for his best friend.
"Wincoln!" Lily called for her big brother.
Both Lincoln's family and friends had formed a search party to find him after his magic show ended in complete disaster. They wanted to talk and make sure he was alright, because after a catastrophe like that, he needed some support and comfort from the people dearest to him. However, searching for a sad preteen boy with white hair in a huge mall was proving more difficult than they thought.
"Poor Lincoln," Lucy said with pity in her voice. "What happened back there was dark and depressing even for me."
"One out-of-control magic trick and now everyone hates him," Lana said sympathetically.
"How was he able to pull something like that off anyway?" Lynn Jr. curiously asked.
"I've been trying to deduce that myself," Lisa replied.
Clyde and the rest of Lincoln's friends glanced at each other nervously. They knew exactly how their friend was able to perform all those tricks.
"What about what all those people said? Do you think he could be…" Lola was about to suggest.
"That is highly unlikely," Lisa dismissed knowing exactly what her sister was going to say. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for this."
Clyde didn't like keeping important information from the people he cared about. He felt he had to tell his friend's family the truth.
"Guys," he addressed the family. He took a deep breath in preparation for what he was about to tell them. Hopefully they would take it a lot better than the crowd did. "About Lincoln. You see… just recently we found out… he's a…"
"Look!" Leni interrupted when she saw Ernie, the mall cop she was friends with. "Hey, Ernie!"
"Hey, Leni," he greeted her. "I heard what happened at the center of the mall. Are you and your family okay?"
"Well, we lost our brother, Lincoln. Have you seen him anywhere?"
"I recently saw him walking somewhere with your sister right there," he answered pointing to Lori much to the confusion of everyone except Leni.
"Hooray! Lori, you found Lincoln!" the silly second eldest Loud sibling praised her older sister. "Wait. If you found him, then where is he?"
"Leni, I've been with you guys literally the whole time," Lori said.
"Well, if that's true, then who was the person I saw your brother walking with?" the confused mall cop asked.
Meanwhile, Lincoln had followed Lori to the mall's parking lot. Lincoln was curious as to why his eldest sister would lead him all the way out there, but after what happened, he was willing to trust her if she said she had a way to help him.
"Lori, what are we doing here?" the white-haired preteen asked.
"Don't worry, little bro," the blonde teen assured. "Today is the luckiest day of your life."
Lincoln was starting to grow suspicious. Lori had been acting much nicer than she usually did, and he noticed she didn't use her favorite word 'literally' at all since she found him.
"Lori?" Lincoln was about to ask her something.
"Finally!" he heard a male voice with a British accent. "Now that we have the kid, we can get outta here."
Leaping out from behind a car and landing on its hood was the man with the greenish skin and the goggles. He was known as Toad. He had ditched his coat and was wearing a black and green jester-like spandex suit. He had no shoes which revealed his big frog-like feet, each consisting only of three toes. Coming out from behind another car was the huge overweight man Lynn had argued with earlier. He was called Blob. He wore a black leotard and boots. Following him was his blond-haired Australian friend. He was called Pyro. He wore goggles, a red and yellow suit, and a device on his back with two hoses attached to it. The ends of the hoses were attached to his gauntlets. Lastly, the tall, muscular, blonde man emerged from his hiding spot. He was known as Sabretooth. He wore an orange and dark brown bodysuit with a light-colored mane.
Lincoln was started by the sudden appearance of these bizarre-looking people while Lori didn't look bothered at all.
"Nice to meet ya' Squirt," Sabretooth said walking over to the boy and staring down at him with a bloodthirsty grin. Lincoln started to tremble when he saw fangs amongst his teeth.
"Lori, let's get of here," Lincoln suggested and tried to make a run for it while holding his sister's hand. However, she didn't budge. He looked up to see what was the matter and saw her looking down at him with a malicious smile and yellow eyes.
Suddenly, her appearance morphed into a woman with blue skin and red hair. She was known as Mystique. She wore a white leotard with a long skirt slit on both sides, a belt of tiny golden skulls, white gloves and boots.
"AAAGGGHHH!" Lincoln freaked out and fell on his bottom. "Who… Who are you people?" he asked nervously backing away.
"We're your family, boy," the blue shapeshifter answered. "Your true brothers and sisters."
"What?!"
"Name's Pyro and this big guy is Blob," the blonde Australian introduced himself and his partner. "Over there is Toad and Sabretooth."
"And I am Mystique," the blue-skinned woman concluded.
"You're all mutants, aren't you?" Lincoln said standing up.
"We're the Brotherhood of Mutants," Mystique replied. "Our goal is to inspire our fellow mutant brothers to use their powers and rise up against the humans who fear, hate, and oppress us. Together we can create a new world order where mutants will take their rightful place as the dominant race on Earth."
Lincoln nervously backed away slowly. Mystique's speech sounded an awful lot like terrorism and world domination, something a comic superhero fan like himself would want no part in, even if they were fellow mutants who may have experienced much worse than he did recently.
"I really should get back to my real family," the nervous boy said trying to be as polite as possible. "Sorry I can't join your… group."
"My dear boy," Mystique said with an amused chuckle. "It's not like you have a choice."
Hearing this, Lincoln wasted no more time and made a break for the mall entrance.
"Get him!" Mystique ordered the others.
Toad and Sabretooth immediately began pursuing the fleeing boy, leaping from car to car. Lincoln ran as fast as he could, but his two pursuers were gaining on him. He looked ahead and saw the entrance to the mall. He extended his hand and reached for the door as he drew closer and closer. But then he felt something wrap around his waist and pull him back. He found that he had been caught by Toad's long, prehensile tongue. Lincoln struggled to break free, but the tongue was wrapped tightly around his waist.
"You're coming with us, boy," Sabretooth said sporting a sinister grin.
Lincoln shook fearfully as Sabretooth stared at him with his cruel eyes and let out a small, sadistic chuckle. The malicious mutant stopped chuckling when he sniffed the air. He caught an unexpected scent. A scent he was very familiar with. He turned to see a shorter man wearing a yellow and blue sleeveless suit, blue gloves and boots, and a yellow and black mask lunge at him with metal claws protruding from his knuckles. It was Wolverine. The X-man tackled Sabretooth against a nearby car and plunged his claws into his chest causing him to howl in pain.
While Toad stood in surprise by the arrival of the X-man, Shadowcat, now dressed in her outfit, rose up from the solid ground and sucker punched the creep causing his long tongue to release his captive whom the young mutant heroine caught in her arms.
"Are you okay?" she asked the boy as she set him down on his feet.
Lincoln looked up at his savior unsure what to think or say.
"Kitty, get the kid outta here!" Wolverine ordered while grappling with his opponent.
Not wasting a single second, Shadowcat took the boy's hand and made a run for it.
"Toad, get them!" Sabretooth ordered his accomplice.
Toad got back up and started hopping after the fleeing youngsters. His powerful legs allowed him to leap great distances and he was gaining on them. Shadowcat was heading for the mall's entrance when she got an idea and decided to turn left right before they reached the doors.
"The doors were right there!" Lincoln told her.
"Trust me!" she responded.
The two ran until they found themselves surrounded by walls on both sides with their foe in hot pursuit.
"Dead end!" Lincoln yelled as he saw that they were running towards another wall in front of them.
"Keep running!" Shadowcat told him.
"But that's solid brick!"
Unsure why they were still running toward a dead end, Lincoln closed his eyes and prepared for what he thought was coming. They would crash into the wall and their pursuer would get them.
"Give me that kid!" Toad yelled as he lunged toward the fleeing kids.
Suddenly, they ran right through the wall as if it wasn't there leaving their pursuer to crash face first into the hard brick. Lincoln and Shadowcat found themselves inside a clothing store inside the mall. Customers who had just witnessed two people enter right through the solid wall began fleeing in terror. Lincoln stood in shock as he tried to figure out what just happened.
"That was a close one," Shadowcat said relieved but accidently startling Lincoln.
The white-haired boy nervously backed up against a wall.
"It's okay," the teenage mutant gently assured the scared boy. "I'm not with them. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Did we just run through a brick wall?" Lincoln asked shocked.
"Yep," Shadowcat confirmed. "My power allows me to move through solid matter."
"Then that means you're a mutant."
"That's right, kid. I'm a mutant just like you."
"Who are you?" Lincoln asked for her name.
"My name is Kitty Pryde, but I'm also known as Shadowcat," she introduced herself. "I'm a member of the X-Men."
"Well, hi Kitty. My name is Lincoln Loud," the white-haired boy cautiously, but politely, introduced himself. "Who are the X-Men?"
"A group of mutants dedicated to fighting for peace and equality between humans and mutants," Kitty explained.
"So, you're basically like superheroes?" The boy was really interested now.
"You could say that. The group was formed many years ago by Professor Charles Xavier, the most powerful telepath in the world," Kitty explained.
"A telepath?" Lincoln asked intrigued. "As in he has the ability to read other people's minds?"
"That's right," Kitty confirmed. "That's how he was able to find you. He also founded the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. It's a school where mutants can learn to control their powers and find ways to use them for the good of mankind and the world."
"A school for mutants?" Lincoln said in surprise. He never thought such a place could even exist. His curiosity was peaked. "Do you think I could learn how to control my powers?"
For a moment, Kitty stared down into the young boy's desperate eyes as he waited eagerly for an answer. This answer was his last hope.
"Absolutely," Kitty confirmed with a warm and comforting smile.
Lincoln almost shed tears of joy. If he could learn to control his new powers from this school, then he could avoid a repeat of today's disastrous performance. However, his smile faded as he remembered what happened in the parking lot.
"What about those other guys in the parking lot?"
"That's right, you've just met the Brotherhood," Kitty said. Her friendly smile turned into a serious frown.
"They wanted me to join their group. They talked about rising up against humans."
"The Brotherhood is a violent group that believe mutants are superior to humans," Kitty explained. "They're always looking for new recruits to aid them in their goals for mutant domination over the world."
"And they came here for me!" Lincoln said feeling his anxiety rising. This day was getting worse by the minute. First his disastrous magic show and now terrorists are chasing him down trying to force him to join their group. "I don't want to go with those people! I don't want to hurt anyone again!"
"Lincoln!" Kitty said grabbing the boy's shoulders and trying to calm him down. "It's okay. That's why the X-Men are here; to protect you."
"What about my family? I need to get back to them."
"I'll help you find them," Kitty said and held out her hand. "You do trust me, don't you, Lincoln?"
For a moment, Lincoln stared at her hand and then looked up at her face. He was still a little reluctant to trust someone he had just recently met. Although, she did save him from those Brotherhood thugs and the things she told sounded legit. Looking at her, he saw that her friendly smile was genuine and her eyes were devoid of any deception. Smiling warmly, he finally took her hand.
"Wait, what about your friend?" Lincoln asked suddenly remembering.
"I wouldn't worry too much about Wolverine, it'll take a lot to beat him down," Kitty assured. "Now let's go find your family."
"Lincoln!" Leni called.
"Lincoln!" Luan also called.
"Baby Bro!" Luna called as well.
"Where could he have gone to?" a concerned Lynn Sr. asked.
Lincoln's family and friends were still looking around the mall for their missing boy, and after hearing he had gone off with a girl who looked like Lori, they were even more worried than before.
"I'm confused," Lana said. "If Lori was with us the whole time, then who was the girl Ernie said he walked off with?"
"I don't know, but I'll give her a piece of my mind," Lori angrily declared. She did not like the idea of someone stealing her look.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Clyde said concerned.
"He's not in here either," a disappointed Leni announced as she looked in a nearby trash can.
"Can I help you with something?" she heard a deep male voice with a Russian accent right behind her. She turned around to see the tall, handsome young man Lori, Lynn, and Lola had met earlier.
"Ba… ba… ba…" she stammered while blushing.
"You sound like you are looking for someone," the young Russian man said observantly. "Perhaps I can help?"
"That would be like totes wonderful," a still blushing Leni replied.
"Leni, what are you doing?" Lynn Jr. called to her second eldest sister. "We still need to find Lincoln."
"This nice, and gorgeous, man just offered to help us," Leni introduced her new acquaintance to the rest of her family, much to the shock of the rest of her sisters.
"It's you!" Lori, Lynn, and Lola all said in unison as they recognized the man.
"Privet, my name is Piotr Rasputin," he introduced himself. "It is pleasure to meet all of you."
"Ba… ba… ba…" all the sisters, except Lily, stammered in unison with blushing faces.
"What seems to be problem?"
"Well, Mr. Rasputin," Rita explained. "Our only son tried to put on a magic show recently."
"Ah yes, I was there," he said with a sympathetic expression. "Bednyy rebenok."
"He ran off all that and now we're looking for him," Rita continued.
"We heard he ran off with a girl who looked like me," Lori explained snapping out of her love-struck state.
"Are you sure?" Piotr asked suspiciously. There was one person he knew who was capably to looking like other people.
"Guys!" they all heard a familiar voice. Everyone turned and their hearts filled with joy as they saw Lincoln walking toward them along with a brown-haired teenage girl wearing a strange outfit.
"Lincoln!" his family and friends yelled happily.
"Kitty?" Piotr said recognizing the boy's companion.
The twins were the first to tackle their brother and hug him tightly. Soon everyone gathered around him voicing their happiness and being reunited with him. While the family was having a touching reunion, Piotr approached Kitty.
"How is everything?" he asked concerned.
"They've made their move," she replied in a serious tone.
"Then we have to get everyone out of here."
"We were so worried about you, son," Lynn Sr. affectionately ruffled his boy's hair.
"What happened? We heard you ran off with some girl who looked like Lori?" Lana informed him.
"She better not had tried anything," Lori said threateningly.
"I'll explain later," Lincoln replied. He had a nervous and serious look on his face. "But right now, we need to leave."
"THERE YOU ARE!" a deep thuggish voice yelled. Everyone turned to see Blob and Pyro had found them.
"They're after me!" Both Lincoln and Lynn Jr. cried in unison. "They're after you?!" they said to each other.
The two Brotherhood members started advancing on them until Kitty and Piotr defensively blocked their path.
"Back off you creeps!" Kitty ordered.
"Not happening, X-Men," Pyro replied. "We came here for the boy and we're not leaving without him," he declared pointing toward the white-haired preteen.
Hearing this, Leni knelt down and wrapped her arms protectively around Lincoln.
"Look here," Rita spoke directly and assertively to the two weirdly-dressed thugs. "We don't know who you are but stay away from our son!"
"Yeah, or things will have to get rough!" Lynn Sr. added raising his fists ready to defend his only son.
"Right with you, Dad!" Lynn Jr. said joining her old man.
However, the two Brotherhood members weren't intimidated in the slightest.
"Isn't that cute, Blob?" Pyro tauntingly asked his partner.
"They think they can take us!" Blob replied with a mocking chuckle.
"I think it's time to throw some pain on the barbie!"
Pyro raised his arms and two streams of fire burst from the two hoses. The Louds and Lincoln's friends screamed and braced themselves for the oncoming flames. However, instead of consuming the group, the flames circled around trapping them as well as Piotr and Kitty in a wall of fire. Nearby people witnessing this began screaming and running away.
"What is literally going on?" Lori anxiously asked.
"Name's Pyro," the pyromaniac proudly introduced himself. "And I have the power to manipulate fire!" He further demonstrated by making some flames take the form of a bird which hovered in the air. "You stand no chance against me!"
"Well, that really burns me up!" Luan said with a laugh. "Get it?"
"Luan, seriously not a good time right now!" a nervous Rita told her daughter.
"All of you, stay back!" Piotr told everyone. Then he took off his jacket revealing his X-Man uniform. Suddenly, he grew a few inches taller and his skin and hair suddenly transformed into what looked like shiny metal.
Lincoln, as well as his family and friends, all stared in awe at their Russian friend's sudden and amazing transformation.
"Piotr has the ability to transform his entire body into a steel-like substance," Shadowcat informed them. "We call him Colossus."
"Lisa, any theories on what's going on?" Lori asked her second youngest sister.
"Sorry guys. I'm completely at a loss for words!" the brainy toddler confessed.
Colossus leapt through the wall of flames. Thanks to his metallic skin, the flames didn't do serious damage. He lunged toward Pyro, but then his path was blocked by Blob. The huge steel man attempted to wrestle his overweight opponent out of the way, but he wouldn't budge.
"Nice try, Cream Puff. No force can move the Blob!" he mocked his struggling steel foe. Then he knocked him on his back with a single punch.
This didn't keep Colossus down as he got right back up on his feet and once again tried to grapple with his enemy.
"Final warning!" Pyro yelled to his trapped prisoners. "Hand over the boy and no one gets hurt!"
The wall of flames began to get closer and the fiery bird hover threatening overhead. Lincoln, his family, and friends fearfully embraced each other while Shadowcat stood defensively in front of them.
Lincoln nervously tried to figure out what he should do. Should he give himself up so that his friends and family will be spared? Are these the kind of guys that would honor their word? What would they do if he did surrender himself? His train of thought was interrupted when he felt a cold wind.
Suddenly, everyone turned to see Storm, who was dressed in her X-Man uniform, floating in the air with white eyes and pointing her arms toward the area. A strong cold wind was blowing where her arms were pointing which blew out the flames. Accompanying her was Cyclops and Jean, who were also wearing their X-Men uniforms.
"Colossus, move!" Storm called to her teammate.
Hearing her, Colossus quickly backed away from Blob. Then with a wave of her hand, Storm summoned a bolt of lightning which struck the immoveable enemy. His blubbery, bullet-proof skin protected him from any fatal injuries, but the shock was strong enough to knock him out. The overweight brute collapsed on the ground unconscious.
"Blob!" Pyro cried to his fallen comrade. "Why you…!"
The angry pyromaniac blasted more flames from his hoses and formed them into two big fireballs which he hurled at the new arrivals. Everyone moved to avoid the fireballs which hit a nearby shop setting everything inside on fire. Fire alarms went off and sprinkler systems activated. Cyclops looked over at Pyro and touched a switch on his visor. A red energy beam shot from the visor and hit Pyro in the torso sending him flying back and crashing into another nearby shop.
"Good shot, Scott," Jean congratulated her partner.
"Nice job, Storm," Kitty congratulated the weather mistress.
"Where's Wolverine?" Storm asked.
"He stayed behind to give us a chance to escape," Kitty explained.
"I hope he's okay," Jean voiced her concern.
"Knowing him, I'd be more worried for who he's fighting," Cyclops said. "Where's the boy?"
Shadowcat and Colossus both turned their attention to Lincoln. The other X-Men followed their gaze and all eyes fell upon the only son of Rita and Lynn. While Lincoln started the day wanting to be the center of attention, this kind of attention was making him a little uncomfortable.
"Guys, meet Lincoln Loud," Kitty introduced the white-haired adolescent. Then she looked at his family before turning to him. "So all these people are your family?"
"Yep, these guys are my closest friends," Lincoln introduced Clyde and the others. "And these are my parents and sisters," he introduced his family.
The five X-Men looked pretty surprised to see how large the boy's family was.
"I didn't think American families could get this big," Colossus commented.
"It's surprising only one of them turned out to be one of us," Cyclops said.
"What do you mean one of you?" Luna asked confused.
"Lincoln, what are they talking about?" Rita asked her son.
His mother's question caused Lincoln to become very nervous. How would they react if he confirmed what all those angry people said to him earlier? Would they react similarly? The last thing he wanted to lose was the love of his family.
"Buddy, you want me to tell them?" Clyde offered sensing his friend's anxiety.
"No Clyde, I need to do this," Lincoln graciously rejected his best friend's offer.
The nervous white-haired boy faced his family who awaited an explanation. Everyone else watched with tension. Lincoln took a deep breath and began to speak.
"You guys remember all the stuff about mutants that we've hearing about recently?"
"Yes," the family replied in unison.
"Well… I can confirm that most of it is true," Lincoln nervously continued. He noticed the surprised and confused expressions on their faces. "I know for a fact that the people who attacked us are mutants, and these people who just saved us are mutants too," he said looking over to the X-Men. "I know all this because I'm… I'm…" He trembled and shut his eyes tightly as he struggled to say the next words. "Because I'm a mutant too!"
