Chapter V: Meta
Inside the Large Magellanic Cloud...
The large corvette soared through the emptiness of space, cruising on through a local solar system in the dwarf galaxy. An enormous gas giant, covered with swirling green and blue clouds, passed by as the ship continued its journey. The spacecraft itself was huge, stretching well over two hundred meters long and colored a deep metallic black which blended in with the darkness surrounding it, pocketed with red bands of deep red light along the midsection stretching to the arrow-shaped forward deck. A quintet of equally red, hexagonal thrusters glowed brightly as the ship continued, passing by a pair of stars that served as the lifelight of this system.
Inside the ship the two occupants were currently conversing in the navigation room. It was filled with red screens that displayed various other planets and systems from all over the universe. Currently, the two occupants of the ship were looking at a holographic projection of the Milky Way, tinted a deep red.
"So where are we headed this time? Treguna? Or how about Rabulun Four?" The female voice asked, leaning on a metal swivel chair as she looked at the red-colored light show in front of her. Her mechanical friend pressed a button on the holo-pad, which caused the holographic galaxy to suddenly expand, revealing a solar system with eight planets.
He reached out, pressing his finger against the third world presented above the projector, causing it to grow in size and reveal their target world. A familiar world for both of them.
"That's... Earth." She wondered out loud. She stood up to get a better view of the little world. "The seed landed there? Are you sure?"
"It's interstellar trajectory matches Earth's position. The seed must have arrived on this planet not too long ago, which means that its genetic cargo has already been dispersed into the population." He responded, watching as a thin line drew itself across Earth's surface towards an impact zone on one of the northern continents. The end of the line held a blinking circle where it indicated the seed's impact zone, right on an inland peninsula located next to a large lake. "Good for us."
"So we're going to Earth, huh? Let's get to it. I'll be in my room if you need me." She stood up and left the nav-room. Her ally stayed behind, watching the indicator's position on the globe. His yellow optics narrowed as he focused on that blinking circle, wondering just who had been transformed by the seed's mutagens. Whoever they were, they would be found, no matter who else got in their way.
...
Royal Woods.
"So she just fainted when she saw you use your powers?"
"Was that what I was doing? I thought I was just making a skirt for Lynn."
"Hold on dudes, Lori's waking up," a muffled voice that she recognized as Luna said in the darkness. Lori pried her eyes open and blinked a couple times to clear the fuzz from her vision, and saw the ceiling of the living room above her. Her siblings must have brought her down after she saw Leni do that crazy power of her's. Speaking of whom, the fashionista was dawdling with Lily, bouncing the giggling baby on her knees surrounded by infant toys. Lincoln, Lynn and Luna stood around their dear older sister, the rockstar holding a small bowl of water. The rest of her family was sitting around doing their own thing.
"Wakey wakey, Lori," Lynn said-sung, using her heat powers to warm up the wet towel in her hand to dab it on Lori's forehead, "How are you feeling?"
"How am I feeling?" Lori asked incredulously, like it was the most insulting question that her sporty sister had ever asked her. She started to raise her voice as she stood up, "Oh, I'm just feeling literally dandy Lynn! Absolutely fantastic! Not like my siblings are growing superpowers or anything, oh no! It must be weather then!"
"So," Lynn drawled, "is that a no?"
"OF COURSE IT IS!" Lori screeched, and then flopped back down on the couch with her hand on her forehead, "I take it Leni told you what happened?"
"You mean how she's got powers too?" Lincoln said, taking a look at his older sister playing with Lily's blocks as the baby watched on. She couldn't decide which block fits through the shape she wanted to put it in, despite it being a simple triangle. "Leni was freaking out because she thought her powers actually ended your life."
Lori allowed a single chuckle to escape her lips. It was enough to get the immediate younger sister's attention.
"Oh Lori, thank goodness!" Leni rushed over and gently grasped Lori's hand, "I thought you were dead! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Leni, really," Lori said as she rose up to a sitting position, "So, your powers Leni. Mind telling me what that literally was?"
"Fabrication, elder sister," the voice of Lisa caught her attention as the small scientist made her way to the living room holding a clipboard, "Leni has the ability to take raw or otherwise useful nonliving materials, such as the fabric of her blanket, and turn them into objects of her own desire, such as the dress she made for Lynn. An utterly fascinating superpower that is quite fitting for our sister." Lisa explained to Lori, who found the name of her sister's power kind of entrancing. It was something that fit Leni.
"Not gonna lie, that power's kinda cool," Lynn nudged Leni, who beamed at the jock.
"Aw, thanks Lynn. I also made you a skirt before I almost killed Lori." Leni responded, and Lori let out a soft sigh.
"You didn't - ah, nevermind." Lori waved her complaint away.
"I hope you pardon my interruption to this content moment, but at this time I would like everyone's attention regarding the sudden bodily mutations that our sisters are exhibiting," Lisa announced, and all eyes fell on her. It was easy for the scientist to have the focus of her sisters and brother on this day. She flipped through the clipboard in her hands, "My tests conducted on the blood samples that the three of you had been so gracious to donate have been looked over, and I can conclude that I have the possible answer to whatever is happening to those affected."
"You've found it, didn't you?" Lincoln excitedly asked, and Lisa turned to face her brother.
"Yes Lincoln I have. The tests that I have done on Lucy, Lynn and Luan's blood have indeed revealed a brand new microscopic organ located inside their cells, the source of where they have developed their superhuman abilities, codename: metagene. I took the liberty to borrow the name from Lincoln's comics. This organ has in turn heavily mutated their DNA, allowing them to sustain and develop these powers within them." Lisa took the time to let the information settle in. For the sisters who had powers it was a stark contrast to what they were expecting.
"But you can still cure us, right Lisa?" Lynn dropped the one question they were all wondering. "Lisa?"
Lisa then dropped the other bit of news that nobody was going to like.
"No. I cannot. The level of mutation you now have is something not even the most advanced sciences on this planet can achieve, let alone attempt to fix. I'm afraid there is no sort of cure for this. I am truly sorry, Lynn." Lisa dejectedly said to her, stunning the family with her news. The fact that these powers were not something temporary, but rather permanent, was alarming. Lynn slumped down on the couch, looking like she had been totally defeated in one of her games. The sports star felt like the life she had known was now gone, replaced by the fact that she had become a fire-wielding mutant.
"Well, this sucks," Lynn sadly sighed, "Looks like I can kiss my sports careers goodbye forever."
"Hey, it's okay Lynn! There's more to you than just sports!" Leni assured, playing the supportive big sister she knew how.
"Yeah! Cheer up Lynn, it's not like you haven't burnt all your bridges yet! Think of the things you can do with your superheat. And with my powers," Luan said as she warped in a flash of light, and then came back with Mr. Coconuts in her right hand, "I can go wherever I want in this house and maybe even the entire neighborhood on a whim!"
"And I can finally utilize my spells for real this time," Lucy said as well, a smile on her face, "I'll become a necromancer and summon the undead."
"Lucy and Luan are right, Lynn. Just because you have powers doesn't mean that you can't play sports anymore, you just gotta learn how to master it," Lincoln said, slowly getting more excited as he went on talking, "But imagine if we all had superpowers! Think about it! We could... we could become superheroes!" Lincoln finished by putting a fist up in the air in a heroic manner. He saw it clearly, him and his sisters as the heroes of Royal Woods! Defenders of justice, and scourge of all evil!
"Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble Lincoln, but that comic book stuff is all fiction, as in not real," Luan said to her brother, "There's no way we'd be caped crusaders without people knowing who were are. Ten girls and a brother? Who else has that kind of family?"
"Plus only four of us have powers little dude," Luna pointed out as well, "We can't exactly be all superheroes when-"
"Five."
Luna turned her head to Lisa, who interrupted her. "What?"
"Five of us have developed powers. Lucy, Lynn, Luan, Leni and myself," Lisa finished by sighing out, "It appears that I too have grown my own superpowers, coincidentally around the same time when I had found the resulting catalyst for our now shared mutation."
That certainly left her family stunned. Hearing that Lisa, their brainy, super-smart sister, also had a super ability was startling. That meant that half of the Loud siblings had powers, and the other half which consisted of Lincoln, the twins, Lori and Luna didn't.
"Woah, you've got powers too Lisa? What are they? Can you show us?" Lincoln ecstatically asked, his comic-loving mood coming back full force.
"Allow me to demonstrate my newfound abilities to you," Lisa said, putting her clipboard down on the table. Her eyes, accented by her thick-rimmed glasses, suddenly shot out a solid beam of white-yellow light, similar to that of a spotlight. The rest of the siblings let out a gasp as they witnessed their sister turn into a walking projector. Lincoln shielded his eyes from being blinded from Lisa's light-vision, but he could still see her irises on her glasses, little black spots that were looking right at him. Lisa then turned towards her sisters, who reacted the same way Lincoln did. They all let out a cry of displeasure when Lisa aimed her eye-light at them.
"I guess you really are as bright as they say you are!" Luan tried to crack a joke before she warped out of Lisa's light.
"Darnit, Lisa! Turn yourself down, would ya?!" Lola cried out as she put an arm over her eyes, "You're hurting my eyes with your stupid powers!"
"Apologies, Lola," Lisa said, turning off her vision with a hard blink, "I'm still getting used to my abilities."
"So you have vision-based superpowers? That's awesome, Lisa!" Lincoln said, his comic book fantasies coming back full force.
"Along with X-ray and thermal vision. Though I doubt that is the extent of my abilities." Lisa replied with a small smile on her face, wiping her glasses with her shirt as she did so. She was feeling a little humored by showing off her powers to her siblings, especially her brother, the comic fan that he was.
Back on the couch, Lynn crossed her arms and huffed, slumping further down as she scowled. Seeing and hearing what Lisa was capable of only made her think of what Lucy, Leni and Luan could do as well. Compared to her sisters Lynn felt like she got the short stick of the bunch here. Lucy had magic, actual magic, something that she'd been calling her out on being fake for years. Leni could pretty much make whatever she wanted with anything she had, like dresses and skirts, so the fashionista got her dream power. And Luan could teleport! The sporty Loud's superheat only gave her problems rather than being something awesome.
"Great, everyone else here gets cool powers and I'm stuck with something totally lame," she grumbled, "This is such crap."
"What do you mean, lame?" Lana shouted at her older sister, "At least you have powers, Lynn!"
"Yeah Lynn! Be grateful for once!" Lincoln said alongside Lana.
"Grateful?! The only thing my stupid power did is turn me into a walking candle! Everyone else here got lasers and spells and all that other stuff, and what do I get? I get to melt things! Hooray for me!" Lynn sarcastically cheered as she waved her arms like she was celebrating, and then went right back to frowning.
"That unfortunately brings me to my current hypothesis regarding these powers," Lisa said, but the seriousness of her voice drew her siblings attention. She pushed up her glasses before she continued. "My analysis of these microscopic organs that have modified our DNA have shown that they are an incredibly new development. These mutating structures did not exist prior to a very recent timescale. And with the current rate of visible mutation our family, there lies another possibility that everyone in this family has been afflicted in the same manner."
"So what does that mean?" Lincoln asked, slightly nervous. And Lisa dropped the bombshell.
"It means, Lincoln, that there is a good chance that we will all develop superpowers." Lisa replied. It took Lincoln a moment to register what Lisa said before a very big grin grew on his face. His sisters were a mixed bag: Lana and Lola were surprised, Luna was smiling like Lincoln and Lori looked horrified.
"So there's an actual possibility that we're going to have powers?!" He shouted, pure excitement laced in his voice. To say he was thrilled that he might actually have a superpower, something that he'd always dreamed of having, was a massive understatement. Lisa winced from Lincoln's jubilant shout before she answered.
"Yes, but keep in mind that it might happen. We have no definite proof that it will, but with the evidence gathered today it is more than likely." She concluded, and Lincoln let out a whooping cheer. It was if he had seen something spectacular.
"I'm gonna have superpowers!" He cried out, putting his hands in the air. He began muttering to himself, "This is seriously the most awesome thing that's ever happened to me!" Lincoln wasn't alone in his excitement. Lana and Lola were smiling as well, and Luna seemed pretty chill about the whole thing. Lori however was definitely not as excited as her siblings.
"S-So that means we're all gonna become mutant freaks?!" She shrieked, standing up with her hands on her face. She walked over to the window where the mid-day sun still shined through. The horror scenarios that were running inside her head didn't help to soothe her mood. If any more of her siblings, or God forbid she herself, got a superpower she was gonna freak out hard, harder than right now. "What's gonna happen to us?! What will mom and dad think? What will Bobby think of me if he finds out?!"
"Woah, take it easy there Lori, it's not the end of the world. As long as we learn how to control our future abilities then nobody will ever know." Lincoln tried to calm his sister down, but she wasn't having any of it. In her frantic mood her feelings were all over the place and now she was definitely not liking Lincoln's attempt to soothe her. She rounded on him, teeth bared and eyes wide with anger.
"Oh, this is all just fun and games for you, ain't that right Lincoln?" Lori seethed, and the sole brother took a step back as the family began to witness another one of Lori's vicious meltdowns, "Just accept it and move on?" She crudely imitated Lincoln's voice, "It's not the end of the world, blah blah blah. Well it sure is for me, you little geek!"
"Lori, you need to cool your jets before you start something nasty here," Luna shot up, defending her brother from Lori's wrath.
"Cool my jets? What, is that one of your British slang terms, you knockoff?"
"Um, Lori?" Lincoln squeaked, but was drowned out by Lori's continued rant.
"Zip it, Lincoln! I don't know what's going on with us right now, and I sure as hell don't want to deal with anymore of this superpower nonsense! What if I get something that literally turns me into a monster? Or something worse? Do you know what that's like?" She continued raging, but the rest of the family sat there in silent awe at Lori. Not because she was angry but rather what was happening to their elder sister. Either she was ignoring it, or she was too engrossed in yelling at Lincoln to notice.
"Lori, you're-!"
"Not now Luna, not now! I am very stressed out at this point and don't need anyone on my butt this moment!" She yelled at the rock-star sister who shrank under her fury. Lori was just about done with today. All she wanted to do was hang out with her friends and now she was here trying to keep her sanity in check.
"But Lori-!" Leni tried to interfere, but with Lori's stress in high-gear and the constant interruptions Leni had unwillingly placed the straw that broke the camel's back.
"WHAT LENI?! What is so damn important that you keep getting on my nerves?! Just say it!" Lori yelled at her sister.
"You're growing."
Lori was not expecting that kind of answer from Leni, completely knocking out the anger inside of her for confusion instead.
"I-I'm what?" Lori fumbled out, and finally noticed what they had been seeing over the past couple moments of her rage. For her it seemed like everything had shrunk inside the house, but Lori realized that it wasn't the house that had grown smaller; she'd gotten bigger. Much bigger. She peered up and saw that the ceiling was barely an inch above her head, putting her at well over twelve feet tall, over twice as high as she was as a normal eighteen-year-old. Every step she took shook the living room floor. Lincoln, mystified as he was, only reached as high as her knees.
"Woah." Lola whistled.
"Guess you can say that Lori's now our biggest sister, quite literally!" Luan joked, and the siblings around her groaned.
"O-oh... oh my god..." Lori gasped as she witnessed what happened to her. "I'm giant! How is this-? What happened to me?!" She took a couple steps back in fright, nearly crushing the table underfoot. The siblings quickly made themselves scarce, backing themselves away from their now supersized sister. Lori quickly put her hands on the wall to stop herself from wrecking the room. Lincoln however was looking up with a shining smile.
"That must be your power Lori! You can make yourself become huge!" Lincoln shouted, excited as can be. Yet another one of his sisters had been gifted with a superpower, and this time it was something that he had never expected.
"Huh, gigantism. What a peculiar power," Lisa said, her eyes flashing white as she took a look inside of Lori's body. The eldest sister tried to cover herself up as best as possible from Lisa's vision, "It appears that your body's molecular structure has expanded, resulting in your increased size and mass. Though I wonder how big you can actually get, Lori. It's fascinating to think about."
"You call this fascinating? This is literally a horror show!" Lori shouted. "I can't go to school tomorrow like this! Oh god, what if it's permanent?! I'm gonna be stuck as some giant freak for the rest of my life!" Lori sobbed, crashing down to her knees as she sobbed into her hands. The sisters watched as Lori continued to loudly weep, believing that her life was now completely over.
It was Lincoln who came to her aid.
"Snap out of it Lori!" Lincoln shouted, getting his giant sister's attention as she stopped sobbing. He walked over and put his smaller hands into Lori's bigger ones, revealing her mascara-stained cheeks which ran wild with tears. "If I know anything about superpowers, there's always a way to change back."
Lori sniffed, "A-Are you sure?" She whimpered.
"I'm positive! I told Luan earlier that powers are often related to emotions, so you must have activated yours when you were... in your moment, sorta speaking." Lincoln explained.
"You mean when I was yelling at you." Lori said, attempting to wipe off the mascara from her cheeks. "I'm sorry about that Lincoln. I'm just literally scared out of my mind right now with what's happening to us."
"It's okay Lori. You're just being a responsible big sister." Lincoln replied.
"Yeah, I'd freak out too if something like this was happening to me," Luan warped over next to Lincoln and brandished her trademark smile, "Y'know, when it was just Lynn and I who had powers, I told her that our family would have our backs no matter what, and the same goes for you too, Lori. Us Louds stick together because we're family, superpowers or not."
"Yeah!" The other siblings cheered, and Lori felt her enlarged heart swell with joy. Leave it to her beloved family to assure her that things were never as bad as they seemed.
Lincoln continued, "So if you try to calm down, you should be able to reverse your power and shrink yourself down to normal size. Right Lisa?" Lincoln finished with a smile on his face. It seemed to be a good enough answer for Lori.
"That does seem like a plausible solution." Lisa responded. "Perhaps it might work."
"Alright, I can do this," Lori huffed out and stood to her full height, "Okay Lori, take some deep breaths, just like your yoga," She said to herself, closing her eyes as she imagined herself back to normal. She took a deep, long breath of air to settle her nerves. And just like Lincoln said, it was beginning to work. Slowly but surely Lori was scaling herself down to her regular height, her body coated with a faint blue shimmering energy. Lori opened her eyes and witnessed herself shrinking, feeling utmost relief that she could reverse growing over four meters tall right back down to her previous five-foot-ten.
"Oh thank goodness," Lori said, putting a hand over her thundering heart as she returned to normal. She'd had enough superpowers issues for a one day. But she still had a couple more questions to ask.
"So Lisa, you said that we're all going to get strange powers?"
"There is a high possibility, but we can't be sure." The little scientist answered truthfully, "The only thing that we can do now is wait and see what happens."
Lori let out a sigh, "Well, you heard her. Keep your eyes open. Who literally knows what else might go on today."
As the siblings dispersed back to whatever they were doing, Lincoln remained on the couch with his thoughts. With what was going on with his sisters getting powers, there was certainly a lot to think about. He'd seen this many times in his comics when people would suddenly develop powers and go on crazy adventures, but he never imagined that it would ever happen to him and his family. Minus the adventuring part, his family didn't do that very much.
Lincoln also knew that there was always trouble that followed when this happened. His comics taught him that as well. The only question was, once they had their powers, how long would it be until they found themselves in trouble or when the trouble found them.
Lincoln got the feeling that he might find out soon.