Saturdays were usually one of the loudest days, if not the loudest day of the week; however, this Saturday is not the case. The Loud house was mostly quiet though sounds came from the living room from a broken Lori Loud, dealing with the aftermath of being dumped by Bobby. After finding out about Lincoln being Shazam and being told that Ronnie Anne was going to tell bobby everything. Lori decided to bite the bullet and do it herself. Everything turned out worse than Lori ever dreamed it could. Bobby was angry after finding out about the luck incident. Still, after finding out how Lori and her sisters tried to manipulate Ronnie Anne pushed him over the edge as he began verbally bashing Lori for her actions. Lori tried apologizing, but Bobby wasn't having it; trying to hurt his sister crossed a line. Bobby then did the unthinkable he broke up with Lori despite her begging him not to do it. Bobby then hung up on her, although she tried to call him back. Lori soon learned she was blocked and unfriended and blocked on every social media page she and Bobby used.
"Bobby, Booboo bear, I'm sorry." cried Lori.
The rest of the Louds tried their best to comfort her, even Rita and Lynn Sr., but there wasn't much her parents could say since this was her own fault, plus they had errands to run. Lincoln didn't help either as he left early, ignoring her as she cried on the couch to do his business. Transforming Lincoln went to the Royal Woods Police Department and spoke with the chief about the white dragon organization. Thankfully he didn't have to do much convincing as the chief remembered them too and was going to make sure his department was on alert. As Lincoln was about to leave, the police chief informed Lincoln of how a large crew working for the Sivana Corps. was coming to remove Mr. Atom's body from the lake. And would appreciate it if he were there keeping an eye on them in case it gets back up. Lincoln wasn't planning on that today but agreed to help before flying off. Back at the loud house, Lori was still crying. Still, all her sisters were there comforting her, even Lily, despite knowing Lori brought it on herself.
"Lori, I'm so sorry. This is my fault. If I had just listened, none of this would have happened." Said Luna.
"no, Luna, it's literally all our fault, bobby warned me, but I didn't listen. Now we lost our brother and I lost my booboo bear."
The girls felt the weight of hearing about Lincoln; while they were still depressed about him disowning them, they were still shocked about him being Shazam.
"I still can't believe Lincoln is Shazam." Said Lana.
"I wish I knew how this metamorphosis happened." Said Lisa.
"Well, from what I remember, he said Shazam, then that lightning bolt hit him, then he was Shazam." Said Lola.
"*sigh*, I wish we knew more, but mom and dad aren't telling us anymore and told us to keep quiet about what we know," Lucy said.
"guys, I was terrified watching Lincoln fight that thing; I started thinking, what if this was the last time we saw him? Now we lost him anyway." cried Leni.
"Well, maybe if Lynn and Lola had put some effort into that card, we wouldn't have lost him!" snapped Luan.
"is that supposed to be a joke, little Ms. Puns R' Us!?" Lynn snapped back.
"no, the joke was letting you two write that card for us!"
"what would you have done? Write some stupid pun!? Argued Lola.
"at least I would have put some effort into it if I wrote it!"
"Yeah, like actually saying the words 'I'm sorry.'" Lucy added.
"If you put as much effort into your pageants as you did that card, Lola, no wonder you're slipping!" Shot Lana.
"you little!" roared Lola.
"Enough!" Luna roared, making several of the girls jump. "No more fighting! No more going at each other's throats just because we're angry! That's what got us into this in the first place!"
The girls were kowtowed into silence for a bit, unwilling to break the ice after that.
"If I may, I do have a relevant question to ask," Lucy spoke up and got a nod from Luna. "Lynn, Lola, are you not sorry?"
"Excuse me?" Lynn asked, not sure if she should be confused or offended.
"We trusted the two of you to write that card on behalf of all of us. To speak for all of us, and you didn't actually apologize. So now Lincoln thinks none of us regret anything except our failure. So I ask you, are you two not sorry about what we did to our brother?" Lucy clarified.
"Are any of us?" Lori asked quietly, mainly speaking to herself, yet everyone heard her clearly.
"Lori?" asked Leni.
"Are any of us sorry for how we treated Lincoln?" she said out loud.
"of course we are." Said Lisa.
"no, we're not, we had every opportunity to stop, but we kept making it worse for 3 months, mom and dad warned us, but we kept pushing it, and now look where I got us."
"We were trying to make things right with the card." Said Lynn. "I mean, he's always accepted our apologies in the past, so why wouldn't this be any different."
"ask yourself, Lynn, has Lincoln really accepted our apologies? Or just made us think he did because he expected the minimum effort from us."
"Hey, we put effort into our apologies; remember when we got him his Zombie Bran Cereal." Said Lola.
"you mean after we invited ourselves on his trip to the grocery store to shop for mom, promising to help, then left him to do all the work while we ran amok." Reminded Lori.
"oh right," replied the girls.
"then how we caused a fight that got us all banned from the supermarket over wanting a treat despite not earning it, mom blamed Lincoln and he got grounded for a whole week while we didn't get punished." Finished Lori.
"well, we tried to make it up to him," said Lana.
" did we? We could've told mom the truth and gotten Lincoln off the hook, but we left him to be punished while we were free to go." Said Lori.
The girls looked among themselves, the memory of the event coming back to them, and it matched what Lori said, so they couldn't argue against her.
"Speaking of which, the same thing happened with the book in the toilet," Lori added.
"But he admitted that was his fault." Lucy pointed out rather quickly at that.
"Face it, Lucy, that wasn't his. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'm pretty sure he knew exactly who owned that book and was just taking the blame for her. Why would he spend all day trying to figure out who owned the book just to call us together and admit it was him all along? No, I think he figured it out and took the blame for her. What I want to know is, did he volunteer, or did the real owner make him take the blame?"
The girls looked at each other, wondering if Lori was onto something. Lucy was the only one avoiding eye contact, not that anyone would notice it.
"So if a card's not good enough, what is?" Lola asked.
"Actual effort," Luna spoke up, sounding like she was trying to work on overcoming stage fright more than anything. "Right now, Lincoln disowned us, and you know what the funny thing is? We're hurt by that, yet that's exactly what we did to him. We disowned him. First, he's just the first one to admit it."
"We never disowned him." Lynn objected.
Luna glared at her athletic sister. "Are you saying in front of everyone here that after treating Lincoln like crap for three months straight, you still thought of him as family? Is that what you do to someone you love, Lynn?"
"I was angry at him because I loved him! If I had hated my brother, I would have-!"
"Would have what? Murdered him? Because what other than that haven't we done to him lately?" Luna cut her off.
"What?" I would never do that!"
"Are you sure? Because of how we were treating Lincoln, either one of us would end up killing him, or he'd do it himself," said Lori.
"We didn't push him that far, did we? Asked Lana.
The girls only felt worse now, realizing their treatment could've driven Lincoln to suicide. Lynn then grabbed the remote wanting to take their minds off of Lincoln. However, as she turned on the TV, she saw Katherine Mulligan reporting as a salvage crew from the Sivana Corp. in the middle of a project. The camera panned out to see Shazam and Lady Shazam floating in the air, watching the crew work. As they took apart Mr. Atom's body and airlifted the pieces.
"so Ronnie Anne, how is bobby doing?"
"Last I saw him, he was taking all the presents Lori gave him to the Mercado's basement; Bobby said he can't destroy them, but he can't look at them either. He's really on edge."
"sorry."
"Lincoln, I've never seen him so angry mom and I were terrified." Said Ronnie Anne as she thought back to last night
Last Night
Ronnie Anne returned home after the fight with Mr. Atom and returned to normal. With a sigh of relief, she went into her home, only to hear some loud crashing sound coming from behind the bodega an hour after going to bed.
"BOBBY, STOP!"
'That sounded like Mom.' Ronnie Anne thought, rushing to see what was the problem. There, in the alley behind the store, was her older brother standing by some garbage, which was clearly spilled on the ground. But it didn't look like someone had tripped into the cans; no, it looked more like someone had picked them up and threw them against the brick walls of the building.
Bobby then started stomping around, fists clenched, eyes shut, and teeth gritted while he huffed and puffed, sounding like he wanted to scream but was choking on his own rage and looking like he wanted to punch something but couldn't find anything worth punching.
Maria stood from the doorway to the bodega, looking worried for her son. It was understandable since she so rarely ever saw Bobby get angry.
"Son, stop!"
Bobby just yelled and started pounding the walls, not enough to hurt himself or the wall, but it was enough to make him feel like he was doing something.
Ronnie Anne went to her mother. "Mom, what the heck happened while I was gone?"
"It's so strange; he got a call from Lori, but after a bit, he started yelling at her, and then this happened." Maria summarized.
Ronnie Anne frowned. "Wow, I'm actually surprised that she confessed."
Maria blinked. "You know what this is about?"
Ronnie Anne nodded. "Yep, and I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to get him calm and inside. We don't want to have him create a public disturbance, now do we?"
Maria nodded and carefully walked up to her son with her daughter beside her. "Bobby, I know you're angry, but take it to your room right now."
He turned and glared at her as if slightly tempted to take his anger out on her. Fortunately, he was too nice to give in.
"Just do it, bro. Don't make me use my powers to force you." Ronnie Anne commented. Then, to reinforce her claim, she made some sparks dance across her fingers.
Seeing that brought some sense into the teen boy's mind, and with a grunt, he went back inside, but not before giving a good kick to the downed garbage can, nearly sending it into the street. Ronnie Anne had to use Speed of Mercury to retrieve it before it risked hurting someone, and she went ahead and cleaned up the mess her brother had made.
"Phew, I almost forgot; using that without the Stamina of Atlas is tiring."
Maria led her daughter into the house. "Now tell me, what did Lori do?"
Present
"So now my mom knows, and I'd bet everything that everyone in my house knows now too." Ronnie Anne explained to Lincoln. "I bet Lori sure is sorry now."
"No, she's not," Lincoln said bitterly like he had bitten a lemon. "She doesn't regret what she did to me; none of them do. They're just upset that they can't keep doing it. None of them were glad to find out I was innocent the whole time; they actually wanted me to be guilty, so they could keep bullying me and taking it further. I think they had no intention of stopping until I was dead or out of the house for good. And now I've ruined their fun, so that's what they're sad about."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear your sisters actually hated you. I mean, genuinely hated you." Ronnie Anne remarked.
Lincoln scoffed. "It's not just them; everyone at school has been snide to me too. Even Clyde, I thought he'd have my back but nope. And Stella, that ship sunk so fast you'd think it was made out of led."
Ronnie Anne looked away, not wanting to risk him seeing any potential joy she might show at hearing about that.
"At least you still have me."
"Yeah, I do. Thank you." He said, sounding a little happier. "Say, you teased me about your body earlier, yet you got a good look at mine the last night."
Ronnie Anne blushed considerably at that and kept looking away.
"Does that mean my adult body is sexy to you too?" He asked.
"We both know you like my body a lot more than I like yours." She said defensively.
"And yet you were the one to show it off to me first chance you got." Lincoln joked.
"Hey, I'm proud of this stunning figure. Girls our age can only dream of getting curves like this someday, and I can have them whenever I want." Ronnie Anne defended.
"Careful on anything regarding our ages," Lincoln whispered, resulting in her nodding. "Still, I bet if I wore a swimsuit, you'd be like... well, Clyde around Lori."
Ronnie wiggled her eyebrows. "And if I wore a bikini, your eyes would pop out of your head."
Lincoln just chuckled and nodded a little, making her feel a little flattered but confused since she wasn't used to flirting like this. "You know, Ronnie Anne, since we have these bodies and powers, maybe we can have fun like that one day. Just go to the beach and hang out."
Ronnie Anne lost her smile, just staring at him in shock. "What do you mean?" Was he saying what she thought he was saying?
"We can go anywhere, so one of these days when there's no crime to fight, how about we go somewhere and just have some fun? Especially now that we're not limited to just stuff to do in kid bodies. We could go to R-rated movies, restaurants that don't serve food in paper bags, and yeah, go to the beach and see if you're as good surfing as you are skateboarding."
Ronnie Anne still looked surprised by this. "You... you mean... like... a date?"
Lincoln paused but looked right at her. "You know what, yes, that's what I'm asking. Would you like to go on a real date Ronnie Anne?"
Ronnie Anne felt her heart skip a beat; her lips curled into a grin. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."
Later
After Lincoln and Ronnie Anne oversaw the salvage operation, two departed; Lincoln mentioned that he was going to Gus's to play a new game. Ronnie Anne was tempted but decided that she would head back to the Mercado to check on Bobby. Turning back to his usual self, Lincoln walked to Gus's; he noticed many men jogging or doing some exercise. Confusing him as Lincoln watches Clyde across the street jogging with his dad Harold. He then bumped into Rodney Spokes, Rusty and Rocky's dad, who was jogging too.
"Oh, sorry, Lincoln," said Mr. Spokes jogging in place
"uh, hey, Mr. Spokes, why is everyone exercising today?"
"We gotta get in shape if we're gonna compete with that jerk, Shamaz!" he replied while doing some jumping jacks.
Lincoln raised his eyebrow. "I think his name is Shazam, and what do I, uh, does he have to do with this?"
"didn't you see how he was flaunting his near-naked body last night after fighting that robot?"
"uh, he did get blasted; that might have something to do with him looking like that.
Rolls his eye "a likely story; I've seen his type before; well, I'm not gonna let some pretty boy steal my girl from me; that's why I'm going to join the Gym in Hazel Tucky."
"why not join a Gym here?"
"all the Gyms here are packed; all the other guys in town who didn't get to join a Gym are making do with this, but I'm heading to Hazel Tucky later to join their Gym."
"I see."
"welp, gotta get going; got another 10 miles to run." He said, running off, leaving Lincoln to think.
Considering how Ronnie Anne reacted to seeing him in that state, Lincoln thought to himself, he never thought about how others may have responded.
"Great, I gave most men in Royal Woods body issues." He groaned, walking away.
Great Lake City
Ronnie Anne made it back to the bodega, but there was a slight problem. The streets were crowded, and she could see people going in and out of the store. She could say the word on top of the roof, but that surely would be noticed and cause some commotion. So right now, Ronnie Anne didn't have a clear chance to power down and return to normal.
"Eh, I'll wait a bit for things to clear up, then go back to normal." She told herself, getting on the roof without being seen and entering the building from the top doorway. It was fortunate that people barely look up when out in public, making that the easy part.
The house was empty due to everyone being busy one way or another. Lalo noticed someone entering and quickly went to her, recognizing her scent but not recognizing her.
"It's me, boy; yeah, I've had a bit of a growth spurt." She said to the dog, petting him. That calmed him down and made him lick her like usual.
"Is someone there?" Bobby could be heard calling out.
"Just me, Bobby." Ronnie Anne called back.
"Who?"
"What? Don't you recognize-?" Ronnie Anne asked back, only to realize her voice wasn't exactly her normal one right now. "It's me, Bobby, but I'm not exactly myself right now."
She walked to his room which had the door mostly closed but not completely. She opened the door a little and saw him lying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He didn't look tired or bored, more like he had no idea what else to do.
Bobby saw his aged up, sister. "Ronnie Anne?"
"Yeah, it's me. Still not used to seeing me like this, are you?" She replied, coming in.
"Why are you like this?"
Ronnie Anne shrugged. "Transforming back right now would just draw a lot of attention. And I don't think we want too many lightning bolts to hit this place. I can stay like this for a bit, then change back later."
Bobby sighed and looked back at the ceiling. "If only I could change back to before as easily."
"Don't say that, bro. You don't really want to forget what that... girl did to her brother, do you?" Ronnie Anne asked, leaning against the wall.
Bobby reluctantly shook his head. "No, but I don't know what to think anymore. How could she lie to me about all this? How could she do that to Lincoln for so long? And how could she actively try to turn you and me against him too?"
Ronnie Anne's eyes widened. She hadn't considered that if the Loud sister's plan had worked and they had turned her against Lincoln too, by extension, Bobby would have turned against Lincoln as well. She didn't know what that would have resulted in, and like her brother, she didn't want to know.
"I thought I knew her." Bobby bemoaned, sounding sorry for himself. "I can't believe she thought what she was doing was a good idea. Even if Lincoln was guilty of what Lori was punishing him for, the punishment did not match the crime. What she did was straight-up bullying at best and abuse at worse, and she honestly thought her brother hadn't suffered enough yet. What kind of person is she?"
Ronnie Anne said nothing, then her brother looked at her.
"Don't you have anything you want to say?" Bobby asked.
"Oh hell yes, but what can I say, Bobby? I can't tell you to break up with her, even if I think that's a good idea, and I can't tell you to forgive her if you're still angry at her. All I can say is what I think, and honestly, if I were a lesser woman, I'd be hitting all nine of those bitches with enough lightning to send them traveling through time."
Bobby looked horrified, though Ronnie Anne wasn't entirely sure what part of what she said bothered him more.
"Relax, I'm not going to actually do anything. I'm supposed to be a superhero, not a villain. I can't say I'm not tempted, but I'll let Lincoln handle what he thinks his sisters deserve."
"She did apologize, so it's not like she's a monster." Bobby defended.
Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes. "Is that what she told you? Because Lincoln told me that the words 'I'm sorry were never actually said. Not until he called them out on it."
Bobby blinked in surprise. "Really? She told me she said it several times."
Ronnie Anne shook her head. "Nope, her sisters wrote a card saying he was 'off the hook'; basically, they weren't going to punish him anymore and expected him to forgive and forget just like that. There was no actual apology. So Lori and the others aren't sorry for what they did. They just don't want to suffer for it."
Bobby looked like he had just been punched.
"So her calling you wasn't part of her trying to make things right; it was her confessing to you before I told you what she did, obviously hoping that doing it would redeem her. But if you ask me, she proved she knew that she was in the wrong. Because if she really thought what she was doing to her brother this whole time was right, why did she hide it from you?"
Bobby was surprised by this and thought it over; in the end, he nodded. "You're right. That..." He paused to sigh. "I don't know what to say. I'm just so hurt and angry, I want to do something, but I've done all I can do. What else can I do to make this pain go away?"
Ronnie Anne shrugged. "Search me. I may have the Wisdom of Solomon, but love isn't something you can have all the answers for. All I can say is make her earn it if you want to forgive her. Don't let her take you for granted like she did Lincoln. And if you can't bring yourself to forgive her, just stay silent and ignore her. Don't stoop to her level and destroy her reputation just to protect your own. The pain will go away in time."
Bobby looked at her, processing her words, then sat up with a bit of a slump. "You're right. In the end, those are my only choices on what to do. At least I don't have to choose right now. I need time to decide if she's worth letting back into my life, and if I do, then she owes you and me an apology. She tried to hurt you too, after all."
Ronnie Anne nodded. "Oh yes, I haven't forgotten that. Well, I hope you don't mind, but I'm not forgiving her until after Lincoln does, and I'm not going to be in a hurry for that to happen. And no double date to patch things up this time; I've already got a date with Lincoln on my own this time."
Bobby perked at hearing this. "Really? You're going on a date by choice?"
Ronnie Anne nodded. "Yeah, which means I need some clothes that fit me."
Bobby blinked. "Wait, you're going out... like this?"
Ronnie Anne smirked. "If you were me, wouldn't you? Don't think you can stop me because you can't."
Bobby ended up smiling too and standing up. "No, I guess I can't. Just don't do anything too adult."
"Like what? What's too adult?"
Bobby looked uncomfortable. "Just don't do anything Lori and I haven't done."
Ronnie Anne chuckled. "Relax, big bro, I'm not going to have sex with Lincoln."
Bobby sighed in relief. "Good."
"...Yet!" She added, making him go pale and making her laugh more.
Royal Woods
Sitting at Gus' Games and Grub, Lincoln was enjoying some pizza at his booth, finally having his day.
"This new Shazam pizza is great; Gus really outdid himself this time."
Gus came up with a new pizza recipe with multiple lightning symbols cooked into the dough, not to mention that the tomato sauce was electric.
"shame Ronnie Ann and I can't collect royalties.
Lincoln then started thinking about Ronnie Anne; the thought of a date with her made him happy. She was the only true friend he had, even talking sense into him when he contemplated suicide at one point. Lincoln started thinking of Ronnie Anne in another way; he's always harbored a slight crush on Ronnie Anne. Even when he was dating Stella but was happy just being her friend. Lately, that crush started getting more robust, especially after telling off Stella. Lincoln thought back to the day after they got their powers when Ronnie Anne made Lincoln believe she would strip off her costume but was only messing with him. This made him laugh especially remembering how she reacted to seeing his nearly naked body. Lincoln then thought of the government removing Mr. Atom's body. Both he and Ronnie Anne have seen enough movies to know what happens when the government messes with something they shouldn't.
Lincoln thought as he took another bite of his pizza. "why does it feel like this will turn into a mess that Ronnie Anne and I will have to clean up?"
Suddenly Lincoln's train of thought was interrupted by the gang minus Clyde, who had walked up to his table. None of them looked happy to see him, yet that had stopped being surprising to him a long time ago.
"what do you want now?"
"you really think faking that picture is gonna make you look innocent?" asked Rusty.
"What are you talking about?"
"We're talking about this!" replied Zach
Zach then pulled out his phone and the school's social media page, showing that Lynn had posted the proof of Lincoln's innocence and that the picture was fake. Lincoln was a little surprised she did that but didn't show it. Lincoln also quickly realized that they still believed the photo was real. Why else would they be this hostile to him over it?
"manipulating your sisters like that is a new low for you." Berated Stella.
"Why do you seem to think that what goes on in my family is your business?" sighed Lincoln.
"you may have fooled Clyde and your sisters, but we're too smart for that." Said Rusty.
"I didn't manipulate anyone, you damn idiots; they got the pictures looked over themselves."
"a likely story," Liam scoffed.
"Look, you jerks, it's Saturday. I didn't make you come up to me; you did that on your own. I'm just trying to enjoy my weekend; I don't care whether you believe me or not; go ask them."
Suddenly Gus shows up; having seen the hostility, he decides to intervene before anything happens.
"hey kids, is something wrong?"
"no, Gus, in fact, they were just leaving." Said Lincoln.
The group then walked away but not before promising that the action news team would expose him.
"yeah, I'll believe that after Rusty gets that exclusive with Shazam." Lincoln mocked.
At the Loud House
Lynn sat on her bed, staring out the window. She felt a small amount of relief but nowhere near enough to alleviate the negativity within her. Lynn had hoped that posting the truth about the photo of her brother would make her feel better, but it hadn't. She had uploaded the photo, showcasing very clearly the details that proved the photo had been altered along with descriptions. Lisa helped to ensure the information was accurate and in detail. Now, all they could do was wait and see what would come of this.
"I hope this works." She muttered to herself.
"That depends on what you're trying to accomplish."
With a shocked gasp and a small jump, Lynn looked away from the window and saw Lucy sitting on her bed as well, looking up at the ceiling. "Lucy? How long were you there? I didn't hear you come in."
"It doesn't matter how long." Lucy sighed, sounding more despaired than usual. "But it was long enough for me to figure something out."
"Figure what out?" Lynn asked, confused.
"What was wrong with me? With all of us." Lucy replied.
Lynn blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Lincoln is more than a brother to me. He's the light to my darkness, a balance that I can't live without. The yin to my yang, or the yang to my yin, I forget which one specifically. But the point remains that Lincoln is... he's more than just another sibling. He's essential to me, to this whole family. Even you, though you won't admit it. Lincoln is the heart of this family. We can't function without him. But the problem is it's easy to take your heart for granted. Think about it, Lynn. Do you ever think about your heart until it causes you trouble?"
Lynn put a hand on her chest for a moment. "No, but that's an organ. Not a metaphorical heart."
"It still works. Lincoln is the heart of this family, the one who puts in the effort to make everything work in the chaos we create; you can't deny that he's always trying to make us happy. He does it all the time, and we know it. The problem is we've gotten used to it. We expect it out of him... I expect it out of him. I expect him to be the one who makes me happy, even if it's at his expense. To smile when I can't. To brighten my day... when it gets too dark."
Lucy's voice quivered, and Lynn could swear she was about to cry. Feeling compelled, Lynn got up and sat down beside her roommate, who did not deny her this.
"I think that's why we've been so harsh on him. He's the light, the heart. He's not allowed to betray us. He's supposed to be better than that. He's..." Lucy paused, sounding like she was trying not to cry. "He is better than that, but we refused to believe it. Why did we refuse? Why did we want him to be guilty? Why did we want our light diminished?"
"We didn't want him to be guilty, Lucy." Lynn countered.
"Then why did we wait three months to have the photo analyzed?" Lucy asked.
Lynn couldn't answer.
"It was because we didn't want to be proven wrong. You can deny it all you want, but you wanted Lincoln to be guilty. We all did." Lucy rued.
Lynn sighed and tried her hardest to come up with a rebuttal, but nothing was coming to her. Ultimately, she could only go back to looking out the window. As Lynn looked out the window, she wondered how the others were doing.
In Lori and Leni's room, the two lay on their beds face down while Leni looked up at the ceiling. Lori was not crying at the moment, not because she was over it but because she had no more tears to shed. Her eyes kept going to her phone, hoping that Bobby would message her, but it stayed silent, making her look away only to look back.
"Lori?"
"what is it, Leni?" Lori muffled.
"Are we really bitches?"
"What?" Lori asked, lifting her head. "Why would you ask that? What makes you think we were...?" She trailed off, mentally answering her own question.
"We knew how we treated Lincoln was wrong, but we kept doing it even after mom and dad told us to stop. We kept telling ourselves we were in the right, but we were wrong the entire time. Does that make you and me bitches?"
"I don't know." Said Lori rolling on her back. "all I know is mom, dad, bobby, heck even Mr. Grouse warned me, but I didn't listen. Bobby was right; I did fail as his sister."
"I failed too."
"Leni, I'm the oldest. I should have stopped this in the beginning. But I kept it going because... I dunno; it felt good to do it? It all made sense at the time? Honestly, But like Lincoln said, I'm the oldest, and I set the example, so if I do it, everyone else thinks it's okay to do it too."
"Lori, you didn't make any of us do anything. We all could have stopped at any time. And you won't be here forever; it was my job to step up when you went to fairway university, but I failed. Even though I blamed Sam more, I still held Lincoln responsible too. I never once defended him despite him defending me and getting my job back when Ms. Carmichael fired me, thinking I stole those scarfs. Even when you, Lola, and Luna were extra mean to him, I still didn't do anything. I even let Luna spit in his food and was gonna watch him eat it. Does that make me an ungrateful bitch?"
Lori didn't want to answer that; honestly, she felt they were all unappreciative bitches for how they treated Lincoln. She then wondered how Lola and Lana were doing.
The twins looked angry at each other in Lola and Lana's room. Ever since the argument with Lincoln, they have been yelling with each other when provoked, often requiring someone to separate them. Right now, though, Lana was tending to her pets and not looking at her sister while Lola sorted her fashion accessories. That is until one of Lana's frogs got loose and hopped onto Lola's head, startling her.
"GET THIS THING OFF ME!" Lola shrieked, batting the frog off. Fortunately, Lana was able to catch her pet before he got hurt. "KEEP THAT FILTHY CREATURE AWAY FROM ME!"
Lana glared at her twin. "Or what? You gonna treat him as the new Lincoln?"
"Hey, just remember that you're just as guilty as I am, Lana!" Lola accused.
"Oh, you are much worse than I was about our brother Lola. When I found out Lincoln was innocent, I was angry at myself but happy for him."
"Then why didn't you step up when he asked if any of us were happy he was innocent, Lana?" Lola challenged.
"Hey, at least I wanted to apologize to him. You, on the other hand, were angry at him and acted like he owed you an apology for not being a jerk."
"Look, just because I didn't say the words 'I'm sorry doesn't mean I don't regret anything." Lola protested.
"The only thing you regret is that you still want to hurt him but can't do it anymore." Lana countered. "I bet you came up with over a hundred ways to punish Lincoln, and you wanted to use each and every one of them. But now, no one will be on your side anymore if you do anything. You'll be the new hated target instead, and you won't allow that."
Lola glared in a way that promised retribution, which strangely made Lana smirk.
"Go ahead, do something to me. Anything. Prove me wrong. Prove that no one will call you a brat or worse."
Lola kept her glare for a bit, then huffed and left the room, slamming the door behind her.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
Lola walked down the hall and headed downstairs. Halfway down, she heard her mom's voice.
"Yes, Dad, Lincoln said it belonged to them."
Curious, Lola moved closer until she saw Rita on the phone, her back to her daughter.
"It's scary to think about, isn't it? The White Dragons might be back. No one would expect them to make a comeback, so who knows what they'll do. Lincoln is trying to warn the police; he's doing it as Shazam. They'll take an adult more seriously than a kid, even with proof. Especially a hero."
'Wait, does Pop pop know about Shazam?' Lola asked herself.
"I hope I'm just being paranoid, Dad. But I've got eleven kids, most not as mature as I thought they were, but I don't want to see the White Dragon go after any of them. I know Lincoln can protect us, but I'd rather he not have to. I'm not going to take advantage of my son having superpowers. However, I'm certain several girls are already trying to figure out how to."
Lola had to admit it stung to hear her mother admit to expecting that kind of selfishness from her children. What made it worse was Rita wasn't wholly wrong. Lola would be lying if she said that the thought of using Shazam to her advantage hadn't crossed her mind; she just didn't know how to do it yet. Lola decided to go back to her room and just ignore Lana. As she passed Luna and Luan's room, she heard what sounded like music coming from there, but it wasn't what she usually heard; she didn't stop to listen much as she kept moving.
Inside Luna and Luan's room, Luan was sitting at her vanity doing minor maintenance on Mr. Coconuts. While listening to Luna humming aloud, she sat in her bean bag chair. Luan, at first, didn't recognize the melody, but after listening to it for a while, she started remembering it.
"I haven't heard that melody in a long time."
"yeah, remember how I used to sing it all the time?"
Luan nodded. "Yeah, remember when mom was pregnant with Lincoln? And whenever he started stirring, you would hum that song and he'd calm down?"
Luna nodded in return. "Yeah, he really loved that song. I sang it for him all the time until I got into rock."
The two then sighed as a feeling of sadness and misery took over as Luna started to cry a little.
"why didn't I listen, Luan? Why did I have to be such a jealous and hateful bitch?"
"Luna-"
"I was the one who started all of this. I was possessive of Sam and resentful of Lincoln when all they were was just friends. I convinced myself that Sam was, well, something that I didn't have to share with anyone else. Seeing Lincoln with her was like seeing someone stealing all my guitars. I was so angry I couldn't listen to reason, and the only way I could feel good was to hurt him." cried Luna. "But it didn't work. Hurting him just made me angrier at him, and the angrier I got, the more I had to hurt him. I... I think I was becoming a legit danger to him. Maybe if we didn't get that photo looked at, I would have actually killed him someday."
Luan stared at her sister in horror.
Luna turned away, shedding more tears. "Now look at me, look at what I've become. I lost Sam because I saw her as a possession. I lost my brother because I saw him as an enemy. Our parents think I'm toxic, and soon everyone at school will think I'm an idiot if I'm lucky. Now, the only person I hate is myself."
"Luna, please."
"No, Sis!" Cried, Luna. "Don't tell me I don't deserve this! You and I know damn well that I am to blame for everything! Because of me, Lori lost Bobby. Because of me, I lost Sam. Because of me... because of me, we all lost Lincoln. I even went so far as to intentionally try to make Lincoln lose Ronnie Ann. Our family is broken, and it is all my fault! What kind of a bitch am I?"
Luan couldn't answer that question remembering what they did wasn't the first time Ronnie Anne was used against Lincoln. Luan remembered last April fools day when Lincoln tried hiding in his room. Still, she forced him out by tricking Ronnie Ann into coming over, forcing Lincoln to take all the pranks she set up. Leaving him badly injured, all for her entertainment. Then she revealed her whole plan mocking him for all her cruelty; all she got was a pie in the face realizing how unfair and unfunny that situation was.
"Lincoln was right. I am a bully." She thought, looking out of her window at Lisa's bunker.
Lisa was in her bunker looking over video footage from the night everything fell apart with her robot. She wondered why she couldn't find anything on the cameras outside the house and cursing herself for shutting off the ones inside the house that day for an auto-update.
"What kind of genus am I, Todd? If I had just helped when he needed me, none of this would be happening. Why did I treat this whole situation like it was just his problem when it was a family problem?"
"You were a little too obsessed with the whole 'evidence speaks louder than words' principle."
"Thanks, Todd; I needed to be reminded of my stupidity."
"I tell it like it is; it's how you programmed me."
"And yet you couldn't have told me before now?" Lisa asked.
"Would you have listened if I had?" Todd replied.
Lisa sighed. "Todd, the damage is done. Analyze and hypothesize, what outcome is most likely to occur to the Loud family from this whole endeavor?"
"Offended target Lincoln Loud is unlikely to take retaliatory actions against you and your sister units. Parental units, however, will have significantly less trust in you and the others for the foreseeable future and will deny you all privileges beyond most essential. Assistance from brother unit will evaporate, and he will most likely leave the residence permanently at earliest financial opportunity with no intention of reconnecting with family. Likely consequences will be strained relationships between sister units that will inevitably deteriorate or cease to exist, causing family unit to ultimately cease to exist beyond genetic links."
Lisa rubbed her temples, unable to come up with a way to disprove the robot's prediction. "With that in mind, what course of action will best prevent that and return the family to a more stable unit?"
"All instability links back to the emotional state of Lincoln Loud, in regards to both what he gives and what he receives. As long as he is perceived as unwanted or unloved, he will have no motivation to seek to stabilize the family unit beyond what doesn't make cohabitation worse for himself. He could, however, be given motivation to make things worse for others if victimization persists. Recommended action is cessation of segregation and punishment of Lincoln Loud, followed by attempts to earn forgiveness."
"Well, that's obvious. What if Lincoln doesn't forgive any of us?" Lisa asked.
"Then you will simply have to put up with whatever he deems you deserve until he moves out. Much like how you expected him to put up with what you deemed he deserved until he moved out."
Lisa sighed again. "What action will most likely earn his forgiveness?"
"An apology is usually considered the best starting point," Todd remarked.
"While it usually would be, however, I believe my sisters have exhausted that option to the point it no longer feels legit."
"then I suggest going back in time and stopping any of this from happening."
"another logical choice, but due to my siblings and I going back in time ruining our parents' wedding and nearly erasing ourselves from history, I swore off interfering with the Space-Time continuum. There has to be a way to fix this."
Before Lisa could contemplate anymore, she heard a knocking on the hatch to her bunker, much to her surprise.
"Who could that be? And why didn't my security system alert me?"
Opening the hatch to climb out, she was surprised to see that it was Lincoln's former friends waiting for her.
"Hello, Lisa." Said Stella, her tone firm and unfriendly. She clearly wasn't here just to say hi.
"Hello, Stella, how did you get over here? My security system should have alerted me."
"well, Lincoln showed us how to avoid your security, seeing that he knows where the holes are."
Lisa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed that she now had to fix that problem. "Well, if you're all looking for Lincoln, I'm afraid he's not here."
"we're not looking for him, but he is why we're here." Said Liam.
Lisa nodded. "what can I do for you?"
"We want to know about this," said Zach as he took out his phone, showing the posts that were made by Lynn and shared by Clyde.
Lisa instantly felt more annoyed, not wanting to see the image that started the whole thing and made her question her own intelligence.
"if you must know, my sisters Leni, Luna and I each sent the photo out to be examined by our friends. Who are skilled in determining whether the photo was doctored. Upon realizing our mistake, we posted the image along with a detailed analysis of the area that proves its falseness."
The gang's eyes went wide with shock realizing that they were wrong and had been in the wrong for the past few months. However, Lisa was not in the mood to watch them go through their realization, instead saying her goodbyes before returning to her bunker. The gangs stood there wondering what to do next; unknown to them, Rusty's realization wasn't the same as theirs. He knew that the tool he used to ruin Lincoln was gone. He then remembered what Ronnie Anne had threatened.
'Wait, don't panic; no one knows it was me. I'm still in the clear.' thought Rusty.
Back in the bunker, Lisa was annoyed with the task she had to do; however, as she passed the monitors, she realized something.
"That's why I don't see anything; whoever took that photo must have avoided the camera due to the blind spots."
Lisa rushed out of her bunker to the house, the uninvited visitors gone, and began asking her sisters if they all knew about the blind spots. Every sister confirmed they knew the blind spots in and around the house. Even told their friends due to her security system's buggy defense measure when it thinks someone is a threat.
"This can only mean one thing. Whoever created that photo in the first place was someone one of us or Lincoln trusted." Lisa thought out loud.
Later That Evening
After spending most of his day enjoying himself and stopping various crimes as Shazam, Lincoln finally returned home. As he walked in, he noticed the girls were in the living room. They all had a sad or somber look on their faces upon seeing him. For a moment, he thought they truly regretted how they treated him. Still, he brushed it off, sighting to himself that even if they were sorry, he could not and would not let them back in just because they were glum. Going to his room, Lincoln laid down, deciding to rest until dinner as he mulled over the looming threats that might be too much for just him and Ronnie Anne to handle alone.
"I need to find the other members of the council."
Elsewhere
In a maximum security prison, a man sits in solitary confinement, sitting up naked, as he thinks to himself.
"it's almost time."
Suddenly a knock on his cell door interrupted his train of thought, much to his annoyance.
"I wanted to tell you personally that you've got no more appeals to delay it. Your execution date has been confirmed. You're finally going to get what you deserve, Auggie, you racist son of a bitch!" said the warden.
"Oh, we'll see about that."
The man locked in the cell was August Smith, the founder of the White Dragon charity organization. However, this was a front to finance his white supremacist criminal empire known as the Aryan Empire and other like-minded organizations. Yet years ago, the people of Royal Woods exposed his organization to the world. As he was being taken away and tried for his crimes, he swore revenge on the town. After being sentenced to death, he managed to prolong his life using every appeal and legal loophole he could to buy more time but time was up. Suddenly he felt the whole prison starting to shake as he only smiled. Yet, despite being in solitary, he could hear panicking outside his cell, followed by the sound of grunts and cries of pain and the scream of someone yelling, "stop that thing." Moving away from his cell door, it was blasted open. Through the smoke, a man stepped through. His silhouette was intimidating as he resembled a demon with horns on his head. As the dust cleared, the man was revealed to be a red and white suit of armor as it opened up, offering Smith shelter inside it.
"took that bastard long enough to build you."
Stepping inside, the suit closed around him before turning over control; the warden and more guards had arrived at the cell too late.
"oh no!"
"That's right; the White Dragon is BACK!"
Blasting into the sky as he crashed through the prison. The warden ran as he watched Smith fly off; his men asked him what to do now. Getting to a higher altitude, he activated the built-in flame throwers and began burning the penitentiary. Causing mass panic, everyone evacuated, leaving other prisoners with the chance to escape.
"Call the police, tell them the White Dragon is on the loose."
End Of Ch 10
Author's Notes
1. Well, the sisters are feeling the aftermath of their actions. Can they get Lincoln's trust back? Who knows.
2. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne are starting to notice each other again,
3. Bobby and Lori have officially broken up. However, can he really forget about Lori when he still loves her and can Lori redeem herself?
4. The gang now knows Lincoln is innocent.
5. Rusty's days are numbered.