Reversal of Fortune: Chapter 3: The Enemy of My Enemy

After Lincoln and the Sweetwater kids let go of their embrace, Becky sniffled, "I… I…. I have to use the bathroom. I've also got to take a shower."

Paige whimpered, "Yeah, me too."

Lindsay moaned, "Me three."

All three sisters bid Lincoln sad goodbyes. Immediately after they left the room, Lincoln's bladder told him he needed to use the bathroom as well, and he obliged. He also noticed that he stank after walking around in that sweaty squirrel suit, and decided to shower after doing his business. As Lincoln showered in the guest bathroom, he reflected on what he had just told Lindsay.

Until now, Lincoln deemed his family troubles an internal matter to be resolved within the confines of Sister Meetings and the occasional rant to his best friend, Clyde. And yet, he had just confided to the Sweetwaters his history with the Louds, and his desire to destroy them for everything they had done to him. He felt like the Louds ran roughshod over him because they had a sort of "reverse karma" going on: whenever they did something wrong, not only did they get away with it, but Lincoln ended up having to be the one to make things right. And he usually came through because he loved his family. But when the time came for them to return the favor, they never did. Sure, Lincoln's family had done some nice things for him, such as getting him a pity trophy, getting him Zombie Bran cereal, and showing him the time of his life at a SMOOCH concert. But the mean things they had done to him, and the negative effects they had on his life, not only far outweighed the positives, but had also become life-threatening at this point. The Louds outnumbered, outmuscled, and in many cases, even outsmarted him. As the runt of his pack, Lincoln got no respect. To this day, even months after the fact, they still made fun of him for reading Princess Pony. And the Louds never stopped.

In addition, Lincoln's sisters were complete psychos. Lori was the ringleader, beating up her siblings for whatever reason she could find, or in some cases, make up, while making goo-goo talk to seem sweet to her "Bobby Boo-Boo Bear". Luna would routinely blast him out of her room with the loudest speakers she could find for a mere quarter, or even just to get some privacy. Luan had that whole "Pranksgiving" thing going on every year on April Fools' Day, where she turned her house into a death trap. Lynn Jr. always beat Lincoln up, and threatened him with a baseball bat at the edge of his house's stairs if he didn't show up to her baseball game, which is how he ended up in this mess in the first place. After Lincoln "proved" to his family that he was "bad luck", Lucy suggested getting rid of Lincoln's furniture, including his school supplies, clothes, and cellphone. Lana both boarded up Lincoln's bedroom to keep him from sleeing there and removed all its furnishings so the Louds could sell his stuff. Lola was a manipulative, selfish, evil brat who belonged in Congress more than she did in a first-grade classroom. Regarding Lisa, God knows how many body parts she had stolen, how much creepy security footage of Lincoln she had, or who she had sold those things to. Not to mention, Lisa made the house more radioactive than Chernobyl. Lily's diapers created smells not tolerated in most biological WMD factories. Leni was too dumb to really do anything about it, and even if she wasn't, she routinely joined in on the teasing, anyways. Lincoln's parents were too cowardly to do anything about it, and like Leni, even joined in at times. Due to the Loud sisters' insane mindset and capabilities, a part of Lincoln couldn't really blame his parents for being too scared to stand up to them. And all of the Louds, of course, teamed up to lock him out of his own house, sell his furniture, and lock him in a squirrel suit, in addition to all the other times they beat him up, made fun of him, and disrespected him for no good reason. As if that wasn't enough, the pets also joined in on the plot, as Lincoln asked Charles to stay in his doghouse before he also kicked Lincoln out. And since no other Loud pets tried to bring Lincoln back inside, the Loud pets were also in on his misery.

Lincoln had tried everything to stop the bullying: telling his parents, begging them to stop, even the occasional crying. However, it kept egging the sisters on. In some cases, it egged his biological parents on as well. As Lincoln stepped out of the shower, he realized that the Louds would not be stopped until they were stopped, and that he had to be the one to stop them.

As Lincoln searched for clothes to wear, he remembered that Becky and Lindsay were well-acquainted with Lori and Lola, respectively, who were some of the fiercest members of his family. Lincoln also had another potential ally in fellow classmate, Paige, who could stick with him and protect him from potential bullying. Despite Lincoln's previous negative history with Paige, she seemed more than willing to overlook that once she had heard Lincoln's story and allowed him to cry into her arms. The parents of the three Sweetwater siblings also seemed to take Lincoln's side when he heard them cry with their children on the other side of Lindsay's bedroom door.

Unbeknownst to Lincoln, the extra time he took in the shower allowed the Sweetwater siblings to gather in Lindsay's room and plot.

A few minutes after Lincoln put on a pair of pajamas that one of Paige's friends had accidentally left in his room after a sleepover, Lincoln heard a knock on his room's door. Suspecting that it might be a Sweetwater sibling, he answered, "Come in."

Lindsay opened the door before telling Lincoln, "Meet us in my room."

Lincoln obliged, and he & the Sweetwater siblings walked back to Lindsay's room together.

Once they were all seated, Lincoln asked, "So… what are we going to do?"

Lindsay sniffled, "We're going to get revenge. We're going to destroy them."

Paige and Becky nodded at Lindsay's speech before tightly hugging Lincoln. Meanwhile, Lindsay dragged a toy chalkboard out of the closet and into the main floor area, with chalk, a box of chalk, and an eraser resting on the bottom support. After Lindsay drew and wrote frantically on the chalkboard for a few minutes, she approached Lincoln, and firmly told him, "Lincoln, look at me."

Lincoln straightened at Lindsay's command.

Lindsay started, "Your sisters are an all-powerful, evil, tyrannical empire. They're a 10-headed, fire-breathing dragon. They outnumber, outgun, outsmart, out-talent, and out-clout you. They present a united front, usually against you, when push comes to shove. They have the benefit of the machine, which is your parents, favoring them over you. And they have a war-like mindset: they will stop at nothing to maintain dominance. With all that, they seem unstoppable. How do you overthrow an evil empire like that?"

Lincoln immediately answered, "You attack their weaknesses and cut off their resources."

Lindsay smiled, "Bingo, 'Man with the Plan'. You said it yourself: no one is perfect. Everyone, your sisters included, has weaknesses and vulnerabilities. And from what you told us, they have a ton of points of vulnerability. Let's start with the most obvious one."

Lindsay took a deep breath and used her toy scepter to point to a crude sketch of a misshapen house. When she did, she lectured: "Their house is a mess. One bathroom between thirteen people, eleven of them girls, and household appliances that consistently break down. Your parents can't even afford repairs to the point where your doorbell gives people electric shocks whenever they touch it. And that's not merely one of the consequences of Luan's April Fools' Day pranks. No one else in the family has bothered to fix it. You cut their supplies, you start to break them down, their faults truly start to show. If soldiers could do it to their hostages, so can you. But that will come later."

Lincoln nodded, remembering all the times he had to use the bathroom in "Old Slushie," all the long bathroom lines, and the numerous "quirks" signifying a house that was physically falling apart.

Lindsay continued: "Then, there are their flaws. If you target these effectively, you may not even need to destroy your old house. Your sisters will do a good enough job of that on their own."

She then used a piece of chalk to place a bracketed question mark beside her drawing of the Loud House before pointing to the top point of a long list on the chalkboard: Aggressive Competitiveness. "One: their competitiveness and aggressiveness. You can use their over-competitiveness to bait them to going for things that negatively impact them. They, along with you, destroyed a van just for a normal seat."

Lincoln shuddered, remembering the "Sweet Spot" incident the previous June.

Lindsay pressed the chalkboard again with her scepter to point to a white-colored Selfishness to make her next point: "Two: their selfishness. They may pretend to present a united front, but they will just as easily turn on each other if the situation calls for it. Case-in-point: the Sister Fight Protocol. The fact they didn't gang up on you and beat you up after you spilled their secrets shows just how easy it is to divide them, and keep them divided."

Lincoln's face immediately paled as he imagined being hospitalized or killed if his sisters ever cornered him and beat him up. Paige noticed the terror on Lincoln's face and tightened her hold on Lincoln while rubbing his back.

Lindsay then continued, pointing to a white-colored Greed in the middle of the chalkboard: "This feeds into weakness number three: their greed and desire for glory, particularly fame and money. As soon as they sense an opportunity for 'stardom,' they will ditch and betray alliances they may have made at the drop of a hat to pursue these opportunities. As Luna demonstrated when she kicked the rest of the family out of her band for the chance to perform with Mick Swagger, this includes alliances and working relationships with each other. We will make them think they are headed to glory, only to snatch it away from them and make them suffer right as they feel like they're starting to achieve their dreams. Their biggest dreams will turn into their worst nightmares."

Lincoln gulped, remembering the time he and his sisters pulverized each other to find a box of money hidden by "Sharon DeMonet," which really turned out to be Lynn Sr.'s work bonus. As Lincoln shivered in Paige and Becky's arms, they made sure to gently stroke his hair to try to comfort him.

Lindsay continued, using her toy scepter to point a little lower on the chalkboard to Insanity: "These weaknesses are amplified by weakness number four: their insanity, mental instability, and general inability to handle criticism and pressure. They naturally deny and deflect all criticism against them onto you. If someone presented them criticism that is undeniably true, without you around, their denial reflex would shut down, causing them to break down. Your sisters would turn on each other like rabid dogs. They are already unstable. We just have to destabilize them even further."

Lincoln knew that while he also had these flaws, he didn't have them to the extent that his ex-housemates did. In that moment, he also realized that being out of the Loud family for the first time in his life, he could prove that he was more than the family environment he came from.

Lindsay then pointed to the bottom of the chalkboard, Haters, to make her final point: "All of these weaknesses have created an enormous threat to the Louds. There are a lot more people out there than you think that are annoyed with their antics and want revenge just as badly as you do. From what you told us, and from what we've heard, you weren't the only one on that street hurt by Luan's April Fools' pranks. Not to mention, all that noise keeping the neighbors up at night, and the numerous places they, and you, have been kicked out from over the years. We can form alliances with them to give us the numbers advantage, corrupt the institutions that run Royal Woods and bend them to our will. We can all agree that given their treatment of you, they're corrupt and biased enough. Just think of this as leveling the playing field. And you are the 'Master of Convincing,' so securing these people as allies should be a slam dunk."

As Lincoln fantasized about his ex-housemates' neighbors supporting him instead of meekly telling them to "turn it down", he let himself smirk evilly.

Lindsay continued to explain: "If you take advantage of these weaknesses properly, your sisters will weaken each other, which would give us the perfect opportunity to strike back. This is a winnable fight. We will be better than them at their strengths, and exploit their weaknesses mercilessly. We will turn them against each other. We will make them paranoid of every noise, every rumor, to the point where all they're doing is fighting each other. They will be too overwhelmed to even function properly, not noticing the threat rising against them. And finally, when they're least prepared to deal with it… we crush them."

Lincoln smirked widely and evilly when Lindsay said she and her sisters were dedicated to "crushing" his ex-housemates. Seeing Lincoln's enthusiasm, Lindsay walked up to Paige and Becky and told them, "Paige, Becky, you're going to be important parts of this plan. I want you to message all your friends, except the Loud sisters of course, and let them know what's going on. But make sure to keep your groupchats... uh... what's that word you use?"

Becky quickly told Lindsay, "Encrypted."

Lindsay continued, "Yeah, encrypted. Anyway, Lisa is frighteningly smart and can hack into anything. She is probably the biggest threat you will have to deal with. You stop her, it makes the Louds that much more vulnerable."

Becky stated, "I'll turn to our parents, particularly dad, to make sure our groupchats are totally encrypted. Dad is an executive at Mr. Loud's company, so he might be able to help us protect our electronic devices against anything those Louds come up with. He's probably seen numerous hacking attempts from Lisa before, so he'd know what to do to defend against them. When Lincoln gets a new cellphone, we'll also make sure that phone gets the same protection features as ours. And guys, be prepared to reboot the entire power & electronic grid of this house at any time. If Lisa hacks into our devices, it'll be our best defense."

Paige added, "Yeah, and make sure your groupchats' permission settings are completely private, and have nothing in their names or descriptions linking us to this mission. Knowing this, we'll have to go to the hospital to see if Lisa implanted tracking chips in any of us as well, and we'll also encourage any other participants in this mission to do the same. We may have to ask our parents to pay for some of their operations, but I'm sure they'd be more than willing to, given what's at stake here. Not just for Lincoln, but for all of us."

Lincoln suggested, "Lisa and Luan keep a ton of archive footage of everyone in that house, including me. Assuming they didn't delete that footage, we could use it to our advantage if we can gain access to it. We'll need to do a stakeout mission at the Loud House to find and retrieve that footage. And while you're doing it, stay on guard from my… uh… ex-housemates. They will be dangerous."

Becky offered, "I'll also turn to Mom to find incriminating evidence against the Louds. She's editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and one of the 'big bosses' of Mrs. Loud. She might not even need to meet with Mrs. Loud, because she can dedicate entire departments to exposing these scumbags for who they really are. Most of them might even live close to the Louds themselves. Heck, she might even be able to make Mrs. Loud write an incriminating article about her own family. Considering these factors, finding this evidence should be possible in short order. I'll also ask for security footage from both companies' cameras to look for any 'odd behavior' with them or any of their children. They have the Take Your Kid to Work Day event coming up at Dad's workplace, after all."

As Lincoln remembered the Take Your Kid to Work Day event at his biological dad's workplace, he concluded, "With all that footage, combined with the stories we'll hopefully put out through your mom's company, and the technology available from your dad, we can produce and distribute videos showing our side of the Loud Family's story, and get the word out very quickly. As Becky said, we'll 'expose these scumbags for who they really are.' I've got video editing experience from that 'video contest,' so this should be a snap."

Despite the tension of the situation, the four children couldn't help but laugh heartily when Lincoln mentioned the video contest.

After they calmed down, Paige contributed, "I will try to talk to Lincoln's… erm… classmates and let them know about the plan. I'd obviously have to convince them to not go so hard on him after certain… incidents, but if we can get that footage, they'll almost certainly come to our side. I'll look to form a team with Lincoln's classmates, particularly Clyde. He's always by Lincoln's side, anyways."

When Paige saw Lincoln grow angry at the mention of his classmates, she promised, "Hey, it's OK. No matter what, I'll be there for you."

Becky offered, "Yeah, and I'll form a team with Lori & Leni's friends." She then joked while pinching Lincoln's cheeks, "They probably still like Lincolnovich Loudinski", making the whole room laugh.

Lindsay added, "And I'll form a team with my friends. With all of this in mind, I figure that if all goes according to plan, 'L-Day', the day I anticipate will be our final battle with the Louds, should come in about 1-2 months."

Lindsay then stood up as she told everyone, "And as for all of us, we're going to pretend like everything is normal and cool with the rest of the Louds. We can't let them suspect that we are onto them, or else they'll turn on us before we're ready to do what we need to do. Don't underdo or overdo it. Just pretend like everything Lincoln told us never happened, and that the Louds are a loving, nurturing family made up of loving, nurturing, good people. As more people grow aware, obviously, we will need to do this less and less. But for the time being, keep your intentions secret."

Lincoln questioned, "How are we going to do that?", before explaining, "The others in my old house are pretty much all popular at school, and they can recognize the tiniest changes in anyone's facial expressions."

Lindsay proposed: "Among our allies, we will make sure each Loud has 1 or 2 'best friends' that maintain connections with them 'through thick and thin' and spread information that turns the sisters against each other. Maybe it'll be true, maybe it won't be. These best friends will pose as 'ride-or-dies,' but will really be our spies. To avoid suspicion, these friends will already be the sisters' actual best friends. Each 'best friend' will be assigned to 1 sister, and will only be able to talk to the sister they're assigned to."

Paige added, "Lincoln dated 4 separate girls at last year's Sadie Hawkins Dance, each of which is very friendly with a separate sister. If I can recruit them to fulfill our mission, it'll make things much easier."

Becky offered, "Yeah, and I could probably be either Lori or Leni's 'best friend,' since we already hang out together pretty often. If Whitney sides with us, she'll be Lori's 'best friend' while I'll be Leni's 'best friend'. Whitney and Lori are practically besties already. If not, I'll be Lori's 'bestie'".

Lindsay said, "Thanks, girls. We want to make sure the Louds get so paranoid they can't tell an enemy from a friend. Not like they'll have friends after this, but still. We will frame the sisters for everything bad that happens to them. Some of these things may be our dirty work, and some of these things… well… they'll just have already done themselves, with us happening to figure it out. And with our parents' access to photo editing software and information circulation, we should be able to beat anything Lisa can come up with that can detect our involvement. Lisa's a hack scheming and faking to get by. Our parents are well-credentialed, well-respected, trusted professionals. Keeping that reputation gap intact will be important as well. Our parents will be informed of these plans as well. Given their feelings towards Lincoln, I believe they'll agree to it."

Lindsay then sighed, "Lincoln, unfortunately, this means that you're going to have to go back to Huron Beach to retrieve the squirrel suit. Becky will drive you."

As Lincoln twinged in discomfort, Becky rubbed Lincoln's back while explaining: "Depending on what that coach saw, the cops might come looking for you for 'stealing' that mascot suit. If you can return it to the Squirrels, it might make things easier for you. He might agree to drop the charges, which will free you up to work with us."

Lincoln worried, "But if we have to visit the others again, won't they force me to wear the squirrel suit?"

Lindsay assured Lincoln, "No. Considering we or our allies will be supervising you whenever you'll be around your family, you won't have to worry about being forced to wear it around them. As a matter of fact, nicely returning the squirrel suit to its rightful owner might make them a little more inclined to let you keep it off."

Seeing Lincoln begin to perk up, Lindsay galvanized Lincoln, "Above all, Linky, stay strong. Your sisters and parents will use every trick in the book to get things back to the normal they're comfortable with. No matter what they try, remember: it's all an act. They want to maintain the status quo because to them, changing is an admission of defeat. Remember why you're doing this, and stay strong. We will be here for you every step of the way. Can you do it?"

Lincoln straightened before determinedly responding, "Yeah. I can do it."

Lindsay smirked and banged her right fist against her open left palm, evilly giggling, "OK, let's rock these bitches."

After that, Lincoln, Becky, and Paige retreated to their own bedrooms to get a good night's sleep before school began.

As Lincoln drifted off to sleep, the Sweetwater sisters pulled out their cellphones. Lindsay started a groupchat with Winston and Skippy labelled "Little Royals". Paige opened her "Cannonball Gang" groupchat consisting of herself, Girl Jordan, Mollie, Kat, Joy, Sadie, and Cristina. Becky opened her "Gal Pals 2" groupchat consisting of herself, Melissa, Whitney, and Carol.

They simultaneously sent the same mass text: "Sit 2gether 2mrw lunch. Emergency".

Immediately afterward, Becky clicked on her groupchat's profile picture, and scrolled through the member list until she clicked on the profile picture of Melissa Fletcher, a slim white girl with big, wavy brown hair, a dark green sport coat over a white button-up shirt, grey dress pants, and black boots. When Becky opened her text thread with Melissa, she texted Melissa, "Txt Dana & tell her 2 hav lunch wit us".

Melissa replied, "Kk". She then forwarded Becky's text to Dana & let her know, "Its Becky & her friends".

Dana texted Melissa back, "Aight bet".

Melissa then double-texted Becky:
"Danas sittin wit us"; and,
"Add her 2 da chat".

Becky obliged and texted, "Dana u in?".

Dana replied, "Yup", before texting the Gal Pals, "Wassup girls".

Becky then reopened the Gal Pals' member list, clicked on Dana's contact card, and texted her: "Txt Bobby. Tell him 2 take Lori 4 lunch at Burpin. U know how she is", followed by sly and kissy-face emojis.

With these texts, Operation "Silence the Louds" had begun.

(Scene Change: Loud House, Lynn Sr. & Rita's Bedroom)

As Lynn Sr. and Rita got ready for bed, Rita fretted, "Honey, it's been 8 hours and they STILL haven't found Lincoln. Our good luck charm… my baby boy… what are we going to do? Should we call the police? What if he's…"

Lynn Sr. shushed her, "Honey, don't say that. Look, if it makes you feel better, the girl at the beach did say they'd find him and bring him home. Besides, even if he's out of that squirrel suit… wherever he is… he can't hurt us if he's not here. He can't help us, but he can't hurt us, either. And between you and me, I'm feeling lucky."

Rita giggled at Lynn Sr.'s flirtatious remark before kissing and beginning to undress him. This ultimately ended in them consummating their love as they had done basically every night for the previous 20 years.

(Scene Change: Loud House, Lynn Jr. & Lucy's Bedroom)

As the rest of her sisters slept soundly, Lucy struggled to fall asleep. Angry at her brother for lying about being bad luck, and wanting him back with the family, Lucy decided to summon the spirit of Great-Grandma Harriet to find her brother. A bolt of thunder then sounded like it came from inside the house, briefly stirring Lynn before she lapsed back into her obnoxiously loud snoring, muttering, "Stinkoln… bad luck… squirrel suit."

When Lucy saw Harriet's ghost, she smiled in relief. However, Lucy's smile quickly dissipated when she observed the furious look on Harriet's face. Lucy grew more unnerved when she saw a group of Loud ancestors & other spirits she had communicated with over the years surrounding Harriet, all giving Lucy the same furious glare.

Lucy asked, "Great-Grandma Harriet, what's wrong? Aren't you happy to see me?"

Harriet seethed, "I would be if you had everybody home with you, especially lately."

Lucy begged, "Please, talk to me. Find Lincoln. We need his good luck."

Harriet ominously warned, "No. I'm not going to talk to you anymore, and I'm not going to help you. You and your family are on your own. Not just with finding Lincoln, but with everything. The rest of us talked it over, and we've agreed to it."

The rest of the spirits accompanying Harriet angrily nodded in agreement.

Lucy implored Harriet, "But it's not our fault! Lincoln lied! And you said it yourself, he was 'bad luck!' Why would you not help us? Why would you not want us to have good luck? Why would you turn your backs on us after all these years?"

Harriet mockingly chuckled at Lucy before scoffing, "Figure it out. If you can summon my spirit, you should be smart and determined enough to do so."

Harriet's spirit and all the other spirits Lucy had communicated with over the years then departed from the Loud House. It would be the last time Lucy would see, let alone communicate, with them for the foreseeable future.

Lucy then sighed, "Sigh. Please let him be OK," before ultimately falling asleep.

Closing A/N: 21 favs & 31 followers and counting through 2 (formerly 3) chapters. Thanks!

A/N 2: Melissa Fletcher? She's Lori's brown-haired friend from "Friendzy". I figured she looked enough like Dana, and since I'm having Dana be in Leni's class, Melissa will be both Dana's older sister and the Gal Pals' same-age stand-in for Dana.

And now, for the reviews:

- Geo Soul: CPS may/may not get involved. We'll just have to wait & see.

- Fiction Realm: Oh, there'll be "consequences," alright. But I gave the fanfic its title for a reason.

- Alix: You're gonna like this chapter, then.

- BG: I'm gonna post an update explaining everything soon. This is going to take a while to get into, but I did this for a reason.

- Guest6973 & ClairCrystal: Thanks!

And with regards to the Louds… it's on now! Stay tuned!