jeremiahkelly93: Is "great chapter" all you can say? I would appreciate it if you put a little more meat in your reviews.
Chapter 6
Lincoln and Jenny were asleep, cuddling under a blanket on an air mattress on the floor of Lori and Bobby's living room. A very faint sound from three floors below them that would ordinarily go unnoticed caused Lincoln's eyes to snap open. A developing power of his was an acute sense of when others were in danger. As quietly as he was able, Lincoln slipped out from under the blanket.
"Lincoln? Where are you going?" Jenny slurred drowsily, and Lincoln cringed.
"Just to the bathroom, honey. You know how I am with spicy food," he lied.
"M'kay. Come right back, though."
"I will." Once he was sure Jenny had fallen back asleep, Lincoln tiptoed to the shadow-cloaked hall that led to the door of the apartment. He momentarily winked out of existence as he passed through a shadow, only to emerge as his alter ego, the Boogeyman. He slipped out of the apartment and into the hall so silently that Lucy would have been jealous. He walked to the end of the hallway and opened the window that led to the fire escape on the outside of the building. He stood on the rickety metal grid that was badly in need of repair, and a large blob of his black body fluid formed between his shoulder blades. From that blob came four tendrils that stretched to nearly twice the length of Lincoln's body. The tendrils hardened in some sections to form joints and came to a sharp point at the very tip, forming a quartet of spindly spider-like legs. The pointed ends of each leg dug into the mortar between the bricks, allowing Lincoln to lower himself to the ground floor.
Someone had forcibly entered the Casagrande Mercado (of which Bobby was now manager and proprietor) in order to gain access to the apartments. Lincoln was able to deduce this because the Mercado was empty and the safe had been left untouched. He could hear murmuring coming from the hall, so he retracted his spider legs and followed the sounds to their source.
"Gee whiz, how many apartments are there in this joint?" a man complained rather loudly.
"Quiet, you fool! We need to find that white-haired zombie and make sure he stays dead this time. Maybe the boss will let us keep his girlfriend," a second man said more discreetly. "Let's keep looking until we find the folks they're visiting."
Lincoln was impressed. The fact that these guys were willing to go to such lengths as to follow him and Jenny all the way from Royal Woods meant that the story of his coming back to life had more of an impact than he initially thought. Even so, he had to stop them before any of the Casagrandes' tenants got caught in the crossfire. Lincoln shadow-slipped to the staircase in front of the gangsters, making them stumble backwards in response to the jump scare.
"I will not kill you, given that this is not Royal Woods, and the people here will cause more of an uproar upon discovering two strange bodies on their proverbial doorsteps. However, it doesn't mean I can't have some fun," the Boogeyman stated in his gravelly disguised voice. Forming a blunt club-like appendage at the end of his arm, he knocked them both out and dragged them outside. Summoning his spider legs once more, he scaled the nearest streetlamp and left them dangling from the top by the waistbands of their underwear. Lynn would've referred to this as "the Ultimate Wedgie." Lincoln then shadow-slipped back to the apartment and slipped back under the blanket with Jenny.
...
Lincoln insisted on cooking breakfast the next morning, and Amanda was excited to taste the recipe for omelets that he had invented for the first time. Into a pan went eggs, tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms. The finished product was covered in sliced avocado, Hollandaise sauce, and Swiss cheese. Everyone hummed in appreciation of Lincoln's cooking.
"You're the best cook in the world, Uncle Lincoln! Besides Daddy and Mama Rosa," Amanda cried.
"Why, thank you, little lady," Lincoln replied in a false Western accent that made his niece giggle.
"Hey, Lincoln, if it's not too much trouble, can you take Amanda to the park? Jenny and I need to talk about the baby," Lori asked. Lincoln agreed, and after breakfast he and Amanda walked to the park nearby. The two of them played Hide-and-Seek, Tag, and on the playground equipment. Soon they were joined by Ronnie Anne, who still lived with the Casagrandes, and Sid, who still lived in the apartment above Ronnie Anne. Of course, the first thing Ronnie Anne did was slap Lincoln across the face just like Lori.
"Hey! Don't hit Uncle Lincoln!" Amanda protested, but Lincoln was quick to reassure her.
"No, no, it's okay. I deserved that..." SLAP! "...and that." The second slap came from Sid, who apologized profusely afterwards. Lincoln let Ronnie Anne vent her anger at him until she ran out of steam, then hugged both her and Sid as he hadn't seen either of them in person for over a year.
"Just don't scare us like that again, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne said, under the mistaken impression that he had faked his death without having a reason to do so. The peaceful moment was interrupted when Amanda screamed.
The two gangsters from the night before both had a hold on her and were carrying her to a waiting vehicle. Without a place to change into the Boogeyman unnoticed, Lincoln leaped straight into action, foregoing the use of his powers. The men released their grips on Amanda when he karate-kicked both of their faces, and Sid quickly swept the little girl into her arms and ran away from the fight.
"Ronnie Anne, stay back! I recognize them from Royal Woods!" Lincoln commanded as the gangsters picked themselves up.
"And let you fight them alone? No way!" Ronnie Anne objected and swung her skateboard into the side of one of their heads. This had little effect, however, as she wasn't nearly as strong as Lincoln. The gangster she hit scowled and drew a machete. She just barely managed to block it with her skateboard, and the blade bit deep into the wood. Lincoln had already knocked out the one he was fighting and came to her rescue. Putting his hands on either side of the gangster's head, Lincoln tapped into his superhuman strength and snapped his neck. "Thanks, Lame-o," Ronnie Anne said. She then looked behind him, and her eyes widened. "LOOK OUT!" she screamed. Lincoln whirled around, only to get a bullet between the eyes from the other gangster's pistol. He slumped to the ground, seemingly dead but in reality, only momentarily stunned.
"Dang, you're a fine-looking gal," the gangster said, licking his lips as he moved towards Ronnie Anne. The teen started backing away in fear until she saw Lincoln flop onto his stomach and struggle to his feet. It was then that she realized that the liquid pouring from the wound on his forehead was black when it should've been red. Lincoln formed an obsidian blade at the end of his wrist and thrust it through the gangster's back so hard that the tip protruded from his chest. Allowing the body to slump to the ground, Lincoln squinted in concentration. The black blood on his forehead seeped back into the wound before the wound itself closed. He then moved his tongue around a little before spitting the bullet out of his mouth. Looking down at the body, he picked up the machete and shoved it into the hole left by his own blade to hide the evidence of the Boogeyman.
"Come on, Ronnie Anne. I have some explaining to do, both to you and the police," he said to the gaping girl.