Reversal of Fortune Chapter 15: Catching Up, a loud house fanfic

Reversal of Fortune: Chapter 15: Catching Up

(Scene Change: Sweetwater Manor)

As Brian saw Melissa walking into the dining room with her navy blue tote bag strapped across her shoulder, he warmly greeted her, "Ah, Melissa Fletcher. Come in, have a seat."Melissa politely shook Brian's hand before sitting directly across from him.

Brian started, "So… how was school today? Becky told me that the Loud sisters are school celebrities now because they spent some time with Marcus Quick."

Melissa giggled, "Oh, like you wouldn't believe," making her & Brian laugh.

Brian then joked, "I hope you've been going to all your classes, staying out of trouble, keeping your grades up. Do I have to talk to your dad about that stuff?"

Melissa jokingly pleaded, "Please don't! I've been a good girl this year."

Brian joshed, "I bet you have," before asking, "Any boys?"

Melissa laughed, "No, not right now. Just trying to focus on my grades, graduate, and get into a good college. Then we'll see what happens then."

Brian laughed loudly, "Good, good. And that's part of the reason I called you here."

Melissa smiled, "Go on."

Brian explained, "I've been hearing rumors around town and around my office about your work. Sometimes, I hear my daughter, Becky, and her friends, curse your name whenever you girls play video games online. Is that true?"

Becky immediately heckled the two from down the hall, "MELISSA'S A HACKER! A NO-GOOD, CHEATING HACKER!"

Melissa chuckled before admitting, "OK, yeah, so maybe I did hack into a few of my friends' gaming sessions to try & win."

Becky continued to half-jokingly scream, "SEE, SHE'S EVEN FRIGGIN' ADMITTING IT!"

As Brian and Melissa laughed, Brian jokingly scolded Becky, "Becky, this is a job interview! Be professional!"

Becky laughed while yelling, "Professional? Your candidate is talking about cheating in video games against your own daughter and you want me to be professional? I need some support here, dad! Jeez!"

After Brian and Melissa stopped laughing, Brian continued, "Moving on. So, as my daughter clearly established, you've been able to hack into video games across several operating systems, and manipulate the outcome so you can win most of the time. That's very impressive."

Melissa replied, "Thanks. I started out by producing mods for The Sims. I created a mod that allowed my friends and I to add more traits to our Sims so they could be more like our real-life selves."

Brian recalled, "Oh yeah… I remember that. And speaking of The Sims, Becky also told me about your MYP. You know, the one where you created a Sims-like video game showcasing the entirety of Royal Woods High School. I played it, and I thought it was amazing."

Melissa laughed, "Don't get me started on that. The girls wouldn't talk to me for weeks over their starting ratings! Carol went on and on about how she got a higher overall rating than Lori. I don't know, what was it, like a 97 or something? I tried to tell everybody… I graded it on a 0-99 scale, not a 50-99 scale! Becky still teases me to this day about how she deserved a rating in the 90's! Hey… I went off my scale & code. You don't like it, level up so you can get better ratings!"

After Brian and Melissa shared a good laugh about Melissa's MYP, Brian continued, "And then, Becky told me some stories about how, in her words, you 'worked with some science supergenius named Lisa Loud on a few projects'. Is that correct?"

Melissa confirmed, "Yes, yes it is."

Brian sighed, "OK," before asking, "What kinds of projects did you work on?"

Melissa disclosed, "I helped code the database for Lisa's fecal study on her siblings. I also helped to code her brainwave detector, worked on expanding her cloud to a 100TB capacity, and…", before gulping.

Brian encouraged Melissa, "Go on."

Melissa sighed, "I worked on the code that helped Lisa establish her tracking system amongst her siblings."

Brian cringed, "OK… uh… I hope that means you have an extensive knowledge of Lisa's methods and preferences whenever she wants to work on a new invention."

Melissa attested, "Yes, I do."

Brian questioned Melissa, "So tell me: with all of your knowledge of Lisa's systems and your previous working relationship with her, why do you want to work for us in an expanded role?"

Melissa explained, "When Becky told me Lincoln's story, I was outraged and horrified that the Loud sisters could do such things to their only brother. As an oldest sibling in my own family, I couldn't imagine treating my little sister, Dana, or my little brother, Skippy, the way the Loud sisters treated Lincoln. They treated him as an object to fulfill their own desires and as an obstacle, instead of as a person with his own wants, needs, and feelings. Reflecting on everything Becky told me, I felt like they would have killed him if their obsession with bad luck was allowed to continue. So when Becky told me of your family's plan to save Lincoln's life, I was interested. I also regretted that Lisa used my code to hurt poor Lincoln. And I have some personal beefs to settle with the Louds."

Brian asked, "Personal beefs?", before recounting, "Wait, I think Becky told me about this. There were two of them. Remind me what those were again."

Melissa revealed, "Three years ago, for April Fools' Day, my family & I woke up to find the exterior of our house, along with the rest of the neighborhood, painted completely red. It took us months to get the paint completely off the house. At first, we didn't know who did it. But when Becky told us about Luan's history on April Fools' Day, it didn't take much to put two and two together."

Brian gasped before asking, "And what's the second?"

Melissa sighed before reminding Brian, "You know when I expanded Lisa's cloud to the 100TB capacity?"

Brian nodded, "Yeah," before asking, "What about that?"

Melissa grumbled, "When I was done helping Lisa, she asked me to come over to the Loud House to receive my payment."

Flashback: Late August

The typical constant booming of the Loud House could be heard from outside as Melissa stepped onto the front porch. Heeding Lori's recent warning about the house's doorbell wiring going faulty, she decided to knock on the door instead of ringing the doorbell like she usually did.

As Lincoln opened the door, he greeted, "Hey, Melissa!"

Melissa smiled and waved, "Hey, Lincoln! What's up?"

Lincoln smiled, "Oh, nothing much," before smirking, "Ready to get your butt kicked in Total Turbo XII again?"

Melissa mockingly gasped, "Me? Get my butt kicked? Has Lisa wiped your memory lately?", before laughing with Lincoln. Melissa then asked Lincoln, "Speaking of which… where is that girl? I worked on a project for her and she told me to come here to get paid for it."

Lincoln deadpanned, "R-right," before informing Melissa, "She's in her room."

Melissa smiled, "OK. See ya, Lincolnovich! And remember… I'm player 1," while pinching his cheek.

Lincoln smirked, "In your dreams!", as Melissa headed to Lisa's room.

When Melissa knocked on Lisa's room door, Lisa yelled, "It's open!"

When Melissa opened the door, she asked a lab coat-clad Lisa, "So, what's going on? Are you going to pay me?"

Lisa told Melissa, "Yes, I will. But before you get it, there's one more thing you need to do for me."

Melissa gulped, "What do you need me to do?"

Lisa pulled out a syringe and told Melissa, "Just test this experiment out for me, and you should be good."

After thinking it over, Melissa sighed, telling Lisa, "OK, fine. Just one shot in the arm, and I'm done."

Lisa creepily smiled, "Oh, don't worry, Melissa. You'll only need one shot."

Melissa sat down in a chair and pulled her sleeves up, allowing a masked Lisa to inject the syringe's content into her right arm. As Melissa felt the needle prick her arm, she muttered to herself, "125,000 dollars, 125,000 dollars."

When the syringe's contents finished draining into Melissa's bloodstream, Melissa noticed that she felt perfectly fine with no side effects. She asked Lisa, "What did you inject into me?"

Lisa shiftily smiled, "Oh… you'll find out soon enough."

Melissa then asked, "Alright… when are you going to pay me?"

Lisa sneered, "Oh… don't worry about your payment. Your experience is your payment."

Immediately afterward, Lisa activated a suctioned version of the emergency exit slide in Lincoln's room that sucked Melissa out of the Loud House. As Melissa was sucked into the tube, she gasped before screaming in anger. When she emerged in front of Mr. Grouse's house, Melissa yelled, "LISA... I'M NEVER COMING TO THAT HOUSE AGAIN! AND I'M TELLING DANA & SKIPPY NOT TO COME BACK, EITHER!"

Immediately after Melissa's outburst, Mr. Grouse slammed his front door open and shouted, "Hey! Shut up! We all got problems with the Louds! You ain't the first, and you won't be the last!", before slamming his door shut.

After listening to Mr. Grouse, Melissa clenched her fists and growled in incensed rage as she practically stomped her way back to her white car.

Flashback ends

(Scene Change: Sweetwater Manor, Present Day)

Melissa seethed, "That girl injected some unknown substance into me & didn't even pay me for it! And with how dangerous I now know that girl to be… who knows what she could've injected into me?"

Brian gasped lividly before growling, "Thanks for letting me know about that. I'll keep that in mind the next time any of us have to deal with Lisa. Now, if you'll excuse me, sit tight, I'm going to go look for something."

(Scene Change: Royal Woods Hospital)

As Lincoln woke up from his brain surgery-induced coma, Dr. Chase greeted him, "Well, good morning, sleepyhead."

Lincoln yelped, "GAH!", before stuttering, "D-Dr. Chase? What are you doing here?"

Dr. Chase chuckled, "Oh, just checking up on my favorite client! Now, come on, we're going to have to run some tests to check for any complications. This'll give you a timetable as to when you can return to your friends, and school, and all that. I know your classmates miss you."

Lincoln quipped, "Oh, au contraire. Between school and that madhouse I used to call home… I've been needing some time off for a while," as he got out of his bed.

Dr. Chase laughed as he and Lincoln walked to Lincoln's post-surgery checkup.

(Scene Change: Sweetwater Manor)

When Brian came back, accompanied by Becky, he told Melissa, "Alright, so here's where I'm going to see if you have the technical skills to assume more responsibility on our team. I've given you Becky's laptop. We have all of Lisa's equipment here with us, and we haven't changed the settings or anything else on them. You have 2 hours to hack into Lisa's systems using Becky's laptop. Go."

Melissa immediately opened Becky's laptop and got to work.

Meanwhile, upstairs in Linda and Brian's bedroom, the phone rang. Linda tiredly picked it up before noticing the caller ID said, "Royal Woods Hospital."

Immediately, Linda's eyes shot open as she picked up the phone and answered, "Hello?"

Dr. Chase answered, "Hello, is this Linda Sweetwater?"

Linda chuckled, "Yeah, Chuck. So, what's Lincoln's status?"

Dr. Chase said, "Since your Lincoln's listed contact person, I would like to inform you that Lincoln is awake from his coma."

Linda gasped, "He's… he's what?"

Dr. Chase continued, "Yup, Lincoln's awake."

Linda gushed, "Oh… oh… oh my god! Thank you! Thank you!"

Dr. Chase laughed, "No need to thank me, Linda. However, I need to inform you that as part of our medical procedures, you can't visit him at least for the next hour."

Linda asked, "Why?"

Dr. Chase explained, "Standard medical procedures. Lincoln's been in a coma for nearly 2 days. He's going to have to go through checkups and tests to see if there's anything wrong with him due to his coma, and it's recommended that he take those tests alone."

Linda trembled, "Thank… thank you. I'm going to inform Brian and the kids right away."

Dr. Chase replied, "You do that. Oh, and by the way, say hi to them for me, will ya?"

Linda giggled, "I will. Bye," before hanging up.

Linda immediately hyperventilated in relief and joy before throwing on some pajamas and bursting out of her room to tell Paige and Lindsay the good news.

First, Lindsay slammed on Paige's door, "PAIGE! PAIGE! OPEN UP!"

Paige walked out of the room in her white and yellow patterned pajamas rubbing her eyes, grumbling, "What is it, Mom? You woke me up!"

Linda gushed, "It's Lincoln. He's awake!"

Paige gasped. But as Linda sensed Paige about to scream at the top of her lungs in joy, she immediately put her hand on her mouth, causing Paige to let out muffled cries.

Linda whispered to Paige, "Be quiet."

A disappointed Paige mumbled a muffled reply. Linda urged her, "That's it… calm down… breathe."

After a few deep breaths, Linda uncovered Paige's mouth, after which Paige immediately whisper-yelled, "Why?"

Linda explained, "Your daddy's in an interview with an important client right now. It's about Lincoln."

Paige sighed, "OK," before Linda comforted her, "But hey… at least Lincoln's awake. We can go and tell Lindsay the good news." Paige then followed Linda to Lindsay's room.

When Linda knocked on Lindsay's door, she cried, "LINDSAY!" Hearing no response, Linda knocked again, "LINDSAY! Lindsay, sweetie, time to get up!"

An irked Lindsay stumbled out of the bedroom in teal pajamas with a pretty nasty case of bedhead. She shouted, "What is it, mom? Can't you see I'm trying to get my beauty sleep?"

However, when Lindsay saw Linda and Paige's ear-to-ear grins, she nervously asked, "What? What's going on?"

Linda replied, "It's Lincoln. He's awake."

Lindsay immediately gasped before screaming, "LINKY'S AWA-", before Paige put her hand on Lindsay's mouth to clamp out the noise.

Paige told Lindsay, "That's it, breathe, breathe."

After Lindsay calmed down, Paige took her hand off Lindsay's mouth. Lindsay then hyperventilated for a second before whisper-yelling at her mother and older sister, "Why did you have to do that to me?"

Linda explained, "Daddy's having an important interview with a client right now, and about how she can help us in our revenge plan against the Louds."

Lindsay gasped, "O-M-Gosh! Then I can't be looking like this! I have to go get changed!"

When Lindsay rushed back into her room and slammed the door shut, Paige and Linda giggled before Linda told Paige, "Take your sister's advice. I suggest you get ready and get your teeth brushed, too."

Paige whined, "But Mom… Linky's all better! I wanna go see him right now!"

Linda teased, "I know, but a lady needs to look her best whenever she presents herself for a gentleman," while pinching Paige's cheek.

Paige blushed, "Stop it, Mom! He's just a friend!"

Linda smirked, "Mm-hmm. Now, go get dressed and cleaned up for your friend."

Paige groaned before slamming her room door shut, making Linda giggle before she, too, retreated to her room to brush her teeth and get herself dressed and ready for the day.

Meanwhile, back in the dining room, Melissa handed Becky's laptop back to a stunned Brian and Becky, "Here. I'm in."

Becky's jaw dropped in disbelief when she saw Lisa's apparent home screen displayed on her laptop. Meanwhile, Brian smirked, "The safe mode command prompt hack, huh?"

Melissa nodded, "Yup. Can't believe it worked with Lisa's system. Thought she'd be smarter than that."

Brian laughed, "You're just like me. Always looking for the simple solution. Thinking outside the box. You don't make assumptions. I like that about you. And that's why you're a perfect fit. Plus, 5 minutes? Not bad."

As Brian and Melissa stood up and shook hands, Brian said, "Welcome aboard."

As Becky squealed, Melissa beamed, "Thank you so much. And I promise you, you won't regret it."

Brian suddenly contorted his face into a serious expression and blankly said, "Believe me, as long as you keep the secret, I won't regret it," while staring down Melissa, who gulped. After a few seconds, Brian's face softened into a playful one as he, Melissa, and Becky laughed loudly.

Melissa then chirped, "So… what's our first assignment?"

Brian said, "Come with me to my office."

As Melissa and Becky followed Brian into his office, Becky and Melissa squealed, "EEE!", before Becky beamed, "Congratulations, girl! First tech internship, how's it feel?"

Melissa squealed, "Totes amazing!"

Becky cheered, "Yeah, girl! Googol, here you come!"

Melissa laughed, "I hope, but it's a long way before I get there."

Becky smirked, "If Dad puts in a good word for you? You might not have to wait that long." As Melissa and Becky laughed, Paige and Lindsay came rushing downstairs beaming with Linda desperately trying to keep up with them. Paige squealed before excitedly screaming, "GUYS! LINCOLN'S AWAKE!"

Initially, Brian and Becky would have scolded the three girls for interrupting them, but upon hearing that Lincoln was awake, they, along with Melissa, immediately broke out into loud cheers. When they calmed down, Becky asked her mother and sister, "Wait, who told you that?"

Linda gleefully explained, "Dr. Chase told me! He said our Linky woke up from his coma just now!", causing the girls present to squeal once more while Brian watched in amusement.

After letting the girls burn themselves out squealing, Brian turned to the giddy girls and laughed, "Alright, now if you girls are done, let's head over to my office."

Paige asked, "Why, what's going on?"

Becky smiled, "Our friend, Melissa, here, just got herself a job working with Brian directly."

Paige, Lindsay, and Linda applauded before a confused Lindsay asked, "What does that mean?"

Brian explained, "It means Melissa will be able to provide more support for our plan for Lincoln. She's very good with computers, so she'll be able to provide tech support for our operations. And, with any luck, if she does this well, which I know she will, I'm planning on bringing her in as an intern next summer."

As the Sweetwater family continued to applaud Melissa, she giggled, "Stop, stop, you're too kind."

Becky gasped, "Are you kidding?", before telling her family, "This girl here managed to hack Lisa's systems in 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES! We didn't even change anything inside of it!"

This caused Paige, Lindsay, and Linda to applaud and cheer in astonishment while Melissa blushed at the praise. Melissa blushed, "It was nothing, really. A simple hack whenever you start up the computer."

Paige begged Melissa with puppy-dog eyes, "Can you teach me? Please? Pretty pwease with a cherry on top?"

Brian laughed, "Maybe Melissa can show you some of her cool tricks later. Even so, no trying them on our computers! And you know the rule… you break it, you buy it!"

Paige lowered her head a little in disappointment before Melissa told her, "Hey, chin up, girl. You'll have plenty of time to learn my tips and tricks when this is all over. Heck… maybe I'll even teach you how to beat your big sister here," turning to Becky as she did so.

Becky lightly glared at Melissa before chuckling, "Stop it! Paige is already good enough without your help… I don't need her dominating me."

Paige gibed, "Hey, girl, you don't like it… step your game up!"

Becky devilishly grinned, "Mario Kart. Tonight."

Paige matched Becky's grin, "Oh, it is so on!"

Melissa chimed, "Hey, I want some of that action, too!"

Lindsay yelled, "ME FOUR!"

Brian chuckled, "Alright… I can see this sisters' quarrel is gonna go well, but we've got a mission tonight. Come on… let's go over to my office and start watching the security footage of the Loud House."

When Linda noticed Paige nervously stop in her tracks, she asked her middle daughter, "What's wrong?"

Paige asked, "Uh, Mom… can I sit the first few videos out?"

Linda implored, "Why, sweetie?"

Paige sighed, thinking of an answer, before quickly saying, "I want to go visit Ronnie Anne at her house."

Linda suspiciously asked, "Why?"

Paige confessed, "I want to see if maybe we can start over and be friends. I feel like her and I… we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. I really want to make things right."

Linda pointed out, "You two apologized and made up… that should be good enough. Besides, isn't she still suspended from school?"

Paige explained, "No, Mom. She just returned from ISS today. Look, this is really important to me. I know Ronnie Anne would like to make up with Lincoln. Plus, imagine having her on our side."

Linda sighed before acquiescing, "Fine. I'll talk to Dad and see what he can do."

Paige fist-pumped, "YES! Thank you, Mom!"

Linda giggled, "Any time," before calling out, "Brian, honey?"

Brian told Becky, Lindsay, and Melissa, "Stay back," before approaching Paige and Linda and asking them, "What do you want, sweetie?"

Linda explained, "Paige here wants to go over to Ronnie Anne's house."

Brian, Becky, Lindsay, and Melissa gasped before Brian asked, "Why, sweetie? You know that girl almost got you suspended! She's nothing but trouble if you ask me."

Paige sighed, "I know, but I want to make things right with her."

Brian reiterated Linda's point, "You apologized to her. That's good enough."

Paige shook her head, "No, it's not. I can tell she cares deeply about Lincoln, and she snapped because she didn't know all the facts. Maybe if I tell her everything that's going on… we can start over and become friends."

Brian and Linda glanced to each other before Brian asked Paige, "Sweetie, can you let us talk?"

Paige nodded before Brian and Linda walked away from the group. However, unbeknownst to them, Becky, Paige, Melissa, and Lindsay followed right behind them, well-hidden so they could listen in on the Sweetwater parents' conversation without being detected.

Brian said to Linda, "I don't know about this, honey. I feel like we're taking a huge risk here."

Linda tried to convince Brian, "I know. Ronnie Anne may seem like a wild card, but believe me, outside of Clyde, she, out of anyone in that school, knows Lincoln the best. She might be one of the best resources we could get regarding information and context on Lincoln's home life."

Brian whispered, "Are you telling me we should let Paige go to Ronnie Anne's house? With her home alone? What if she tries to beat up Paige again?"

Linda countered, "Paige can defend herself."

Brian muttered, "I don't know. I just don't feel comfortable with this."

Linda reminded Brian, "Look, like you said, Ronnie Anne and Paige apologized to each other. And you saw how they were talking to each other in the office the other day." She then proposed, "Look, how about this: we'll tell Paige to text us every so often to let us know she's OK. Say… every 30 minutes."

Brian enunciated, "15."

Linda conceded, "Fine. 15."

Brian added, "And you will drop her off and pick her up."

Linda asked, "Why?"

Brian explained, "I've got to watch the security footage of the Loud House with Melissa. I have reason to believe Lisa encrypted it in case they were stolen, and Melissa and I are the only ones in this house that can crack the code. Let me do my job."

Linda sighed, "OK. Now, let's meet up with our girls."

As Brian and Linda walked back to the office, they caught their daughters and Melissa out of the corner of their eye, and chuckled to themselves knowingly. However, Linda and Brian played along and pretended like nothing happened while telling Paige, "OK, so your father and I have agreed to let you visit Ronnie Anne."

Paige gasped, "Really?!", before Linda interrupted, "But… you will text us every 15 minutes to let us know you're safe. And, as always, no funny business. Got it?"

Paige immediately hugged her parents and gushed, "Thanks, Mommy! Thanks Daddy!"

Knowing what was coming next, both Sweetwater parents kneeled before Paige gave them big kisses on their cheeks. After breaking the hug, Paige and Linda bid goodbye to Brian, Becky, Lindsay, and Melissa as they walked out of the house.

Meanwhile, Brian, Becky, Melissa, and Lindsay walked back to Brian's office before Brian asked them, "Shall we?"

The three girls murmured in agreement before Brian opened the door to his home office. When Brian opened his home office door, Melissa gasped in shock while Brian, Becky, and Lindsay smirked, "Mm-hmm."

Brian went on, "Nice, right? You won't believe this, but Marcus Quick and his buddies convinced Lisa to give us security footage directly from the Loud House," motioning to a bag filled with USB keys to prove his point.

Melissa gasped, "Wait, Marcus Quick? The football star, Marcus Quick?"

Brian, Becky, and Lindsay smirked, "Mm-hmm."

Melissa gasped before asking, "Wait… so what Lori and Leni said about Marcus Quick coming to their house was true?"

The Sweetwaters' smiles grew even wider while they nodded, "Mmm-hmmm."

Melissa chuckled, "Dang… you guys are crazy as hell."

Brian, Becky, and Lindsay laughed before Becky said, "I know, right?", causing all four of them to laugh once more.

As Melissa looked inside the bag, she gasped. There had to be at least sixty-five USB keys inside the bag. As if that wasn't enough, each USB key had a specific label. Melissa, being the smart girl that she was, deduced that each USB key's label referred to the security footage from a specific incident within the Loud House.

Brian offered Melissa, "It's your pick what you want to watch first."

Because Melissa couldn't decide what USB key to watch first, she decided to close her eyes, dip her hand in the USB bag, and watch the footage from the first USB key she picked out. When Melissa opened her eyes, she saw that she had picked a USB key labeled, "Left in the Dark".

Melissa murmured to herself, "Left in the Dark? Hmm…", before showing the USB key to the Sweetwaters and suggesting, "Hey, let's watch this."

Becky, Brian, and Lindsay crowded around Melissa to get a closer look at the USB key's label. After reading it, Lindsay said, "Left in the Dark, huh? Let's give it a shot."

Brian, Becky, and Melissa murmured in agreement as the three of them inserted the USB key into an open port on Brian's computer. After navigating through some file folders, Melissa double-clicked on the first listed video file, entitled "Left in the Dark", and pressed "Play".

(Scene Change: Royal Woods Hospital)

As Dr. Chase and Lincoln walked back to Lincoln's hospital room, Lincoln asked, "Wow, so everyone really came back clean except the McBrides, and they're good now?"

Dr. Chase nodded, "Mm-hmm."

Lincoln then sighed, "Listen, about the video thing," before Dr. Chase interrupted him, "You don't have to apologize for anything. After what I heard about your… situation… at the house, those girls should be apologizing to you. But with what I heard, I don't even think a live private concert from SMOOCH themselves would have made up for what they did to you." Dr. Chase and Lincoln chuckled at that as they walked into Lincoln's hospital room. There, Dr. Chase joked as Lincoln stepped over the numerous gifts scattered across the room, "Whoa, watch your step!"

Lincoln laughed, "OK, OK, I will."

Once Lincoln lied back down on his bed, Dr. Chase informed Lincoln, "Alright, so everything seems fine. No complications, and again, the chip's out of your body and turned off. Just take the rest of today and tomorrow to rest. You'll be able to go home tomorrow, and you should be ready to get back to school by Friday."

Lincoln replied, "OK."

Dr. Chase offered, "I'll write you doctor's notes for both of those days. Have fun, but try not to cause too much trouble, kid. Now, get some rest. You've earned it."

Lincoln chuckled, "I will! See you later, Dr. Chase!"

Dr. Chase waved Lincoln goodbye and walked out of the room.

Back in his hospital room, Lincoln saw his phone on a side table, and decided to unplug it from its charger to catch up on and reply to the rest of his texts. When Lincoln grabbed his phone, the first two notifications he saw on his lock screen floored him:

"You have 46 new calls."

"You have 853 unread messages."

Lincoln chuckled as he swiped the "46 missed calls" notification before entering his phone's passcode. But when Lincoln saw his list of missed calls, he almost dropped his phone in shock. In addition to the expected deluge of calls from Clyde, there were a ton of calls, mostly from unknown numbers. There was also a surprising lack of calls from his friends, Liam, Zach, and Rusty. As Lincoln saw Girl Jordan's name in his list of "missed calls," he figured that he could sift through his unread messages before calling Girl Jordan, or anyone else on that list for that matter, back.

When Lincoln opened his "Messages" app, he also saw an overwhelming number of texts, mostly from then-unknown numbers. The first texts Lincoln saw were from the Loud family groupchat, causing him to immediately groan in rage. As Lincoln tried to swipe left on the chat to delete it, he accidentally pressed the arrows on the top right-hand corner reversing his text order from "Newest First" to "Oldest First." Lincoln groaned at this before muttering to himself, "Eh, I've kept my earliest texters waiting long enough. Why not."

As Lincoln scrolled through and opened his unread text message threads, he saw text message after text message of either the Sweetwaters, his classmates, his ex-housemates' friends, or people related to his ex-housemates' friends, introducing themselves to him, telling him that they had heard about what was going on his home, and telling him how sorry they felt for him and how much they loved him. Many of these texts also urged him to save their numbers and download an encrypted texting app known as "Scramble," with the promise that they would work with Lincoln to get revenge on his sisters for all the pain they had caused him. Some even sent him completed homework from the school days that he missed. The texts that were sent by girls were littered with kissy-face, heart, and lipstick emojis.

When Lincoln opened a text thread from Carol Pingrey, he began to cry tears of appreciation. In addition to the usual well-wishes, Carol's thread with Lincoln contained many pictures and videos showing most of the texters giving Lincoln some sort of gift while he was in his hospital bed. That explained the gifts scattered around Lincoln's hospital room now. Many of the videos taken even showed the texters vowing that they would cooperate with Lincoln to get back at his ex-housemates.

When Lincoln finally reached his thread with Clyde, he texted him "Ace Savvys back in action. So what did I miss?"

Clyde replied, "Yo check my text from yesterday afternoon" before texting him again, "rusty acted so beg and so extra".

Curious, Lincoln decided to scroll up to Clyde's texts from the previous afternoon, where he saw a couple of videos. An intrigued Lincoln loaded the videos before pressing "play" on the first one he found.

When Lincoln pressed play, he was horrified. Rusty slammed the door open much like Clyde the day before yesterday. He was wearing an orange-painted stereotypical Rasta dreadlock wig to match his natural hair color, complete with the tam with black, green, yellow, and red stripes on his head. He also wore a red, yellow, and green-striped tye-dye Rasta shirt, ripped navy True Faith jeans, and long red, yellow, and green-striped socks. Rusty topped off his new look by painted the Jamaican flag on his sneakers.

As Rusty stood in place for a couple of seconds to take in the entire school's reaction to him, the students gasped at his new outfit. They would be even more shocked at the first words out of Rusty's mouth:

"Eeh! Wagwan fam!"

Lincoln's eyes popped out of his sockets and his jaw dropped in disbelief as Rusty addressed the bewildered students in a nasally, raspy voice, "Wagwan to all di gyaldem! Wagwan to all di mandem! Ya dunnoe mi ah run tings roun here now, eh?", while pointing to the girls on one side and the boys on the other.

Lincoln was so astonished by what he was watching that he didn't even swipe up on the constant pulldown notifications on Instapic & Chirper informing him he had several hundred new followers.

The reactions in the Royal Woods Elementary School hallway were mixed between stunned, appalled silence and uproarious laughter. It got worse when Rusty approached Cristina at her locker and started loudly playing the instrumental to Shawn dePaul's "Temperature" on his phone as he walked up to her. By the time Rusty approached Cristina, he was ready to sing the chorus. Unfortunately for Rusty, his nasally voice and him being slightly off-beat completely killed the vibe:

Well woman, the way they time cold, I wanna be keepin' you warm
I got di right temperature to shelter you from the storm
Oh Lord, gyal, I got the right tactics to turn you on, and girl I
Wanna be the Papa, you can be the Mom, oh-oh!

A slack-jawed Cristina stood still for a second before glaring at Rusty, slamming the locker in his face, and running away screaming. A closer look at the video revealed that Cristina's glare was matched by many other students and teachers.

Despite the first video being utterly cringey for Lincoln to watch, it did not prepare him for the secondhand embarrassment he would feel watching the second video. The moment he pressed play on the second video, he almost wished he didn't.

In a dark Royal Woods Elementary School auditorium, Principal Huggins walked off the stage. Immediately afterward, the curtains opened to reveal a dimly lit stage before the music started playing. A bass-heavy, Afro-Brazilian, samba-like beat blasted through the auditorium.

When it did, individual spotlights shined on each member of a mixed group of 4 white college-aged guys and girls. These people wore backwards black baseball caps and were dressed in black hoodies and track pants, complete with black sneakers with white stripes from the same brand as the hoodies and track pants. Each of their hoodies donned white text reading, "Right-On Respect."

They entered the stage squatted down and stomping on the ground, each stomp timed to the strongest part of the beat. On the weakest beat of each of the next three loops, the performers chanted, "NO BULLYING! NO BULLYING!"

After that, the "Right-on-Respect" members leapt to their feet, cheered, whooped, hollered, and jumped up and down while pumping their fists in the air.

A man with a brown goatee stepped forward and introduced himself first while pointing his hands downward in a poor imitation of a gang sign, "What up, kids? I'm Corey!" Corey looked like a poor imitation of Fred Burst, the lead singer of Pimp Bitchsit.

This was followed by a blonde-haired, clean-cut young man who introduced himself as Justin, a woman with a brown ponytail who introduced herself as Courtney, and another woman with shoulder-length blonde hair who introduced herself as Sarah.

After doing that, they introduced themselves as a group: "And we're… RIGHT-ON RESPECT!", before cheering some more.

Corey then started, "And we're Right-on Respect because bullies. Hate. THEMSELVES!", screaming out the last word as if it were a major, enlightening revelation.

Immediately afterward, Chandler heckled Right-on Respect, "But I LOVE myself!", with the vast majority of the students in the auditorium cheering in agreement.

The video cut out right afterwards. Out of morbid curiosity, Lincoln decided to press play on the third video. When he did, he saw Rusty running onto the stage to try and hijack Right-on Respect's performance. However, instead of bee-lining for the front of the stage, Rusty ran to the back of the stage to plug his myPhone into the stage's sound system, unbeknownst to the crowd. As this was going on, Lincoln heard the mocking laughter of many of the students in the background.

When Rusty finally made it onto the visible part of the stage, Corey called out the Royal Woods Elementary School staff and students for laughing at Rusty, lecturing them, "You see that? THIS is why your principal told me your school has such a bullying problem! And we really don't want to be here, but this is why we have to be here!" He then shoved Rusty to the front of the stage and continued, "All this young man wants to do is express himself. Oh, and by the way, cool costume… uh… what's your name, kid?"

Rusty grabbed the microphone from Corey and addressed the crowd, "Mi name Rusty Spokes, mon. Mi ah sing a love song for all di bomboclat sweet gyaldem out dere."

Many of the girls cringed in disgust while many of the boys erupted into uproarious laughter.

Justin egged the crowd on, "Ooh… Rusty's got a little girlfriend he wants to propose to!", causing many of the students to snicker, "Oooooooooooh," in response.

Sarah and Courtney themselves giggled behind Corey, Justin, and Rusty. The two young women ran up to Rusty to show their support, "Well, let's hear it, Rusty! And let's hope that girl you've got your eye on notices you…", before noticing that Rusty had disappeared.

Courtney looked around the stage before asking, "Wait, where did he go?"

Corey joked, "Alright, folks, it looks like our friend, Rusty, is missing. Let's chant his name and get him back out here!"

He then led the chant, "Rusty! Rusty!" The rest of Right-on Respect, in addition to virtually every student and staff member in Royal Woods, joined in on the chant practically immediately.

Suddenly, a Caribbean-sounding beat boomed through the auditorium before Rusty ran back to the stage. After Rusty took the microphone from Corey, he began to sing in a nasally, horribly off-pitch voice, made even worse by both being slightly off-beat and his pathetic attempt at a Jamaican accent:

Uh, uh, uh, uh, oh ooh
Why'd you have to go-oh
Away from home, me love

See the first time me looking at your eyes
Me be tell you want a guy like me (guy like me)
We use to ave good times on the evening
Me and you chilling on the beach (on the beach)

Lincoln immediately winced in shock and horror at Rusty's singing.

We use kiss and caress an trust me
Girl it feels so sweet (feels so sweet)
Den one day you move
Now I'm feeling kinda blue
Cause we had to see you leave (you leave)

This verse was made worse when Rusty tried to grab Sarah by the hand and twirl her around, which after initial resistance, Sarah uncomfortably went along with. This caused many of the students in the auditorium to suddenly become uncomfortable themselves. This was made worse by Rusty's already sagging pants dropping to his ankles, which meant that Rusty had essentially pulled Sarah into a twirl while in his underwear.

I feel like I'm drowning in the ocean
Somebody come and take me away

Uh uh uh uh oh ooh
Why did you have to go-oh
Away from home, me love

As Rusty's performance continued, Lincoln began to inwardly wish Lisa would visit him in the hospital and give him a pill that would render him blind, deaf, and amnesiac for the rest of his life.

Now I'm sitting in a chair wit no one here and I'm feeling all alone (all alone)
Thinking to myself like damn why my baby up and gone (up and gone)
It's like I'm missing her and I know she's missing me (missing me)
Its been two years an a half in July will make it three (make it three)

Rusty mimed sitting on a chair and cupped his head on his face during the first two lines of this verse. During the last two lines, he lied down and lifted a leg up like he had seen female pop stars do in their music videos, unfortunately causing a small tear in his pants. This caused hysterical laughter amongst the Royal Woods students.

I feel like I'm drowning in the ocean
Somebody come and take me away

Uh uh uh uh oh ooh
Why did you have to go-oh
Away from home, me love

While Rusty sang this chorus, many of the Royal Woods Elementary School students began to boo him. The background booing in the video grew louder and louder as Rusty continued to sing the chorus. However, Rusty, being of the school that "haters make you famous," paid no mind to it, and took it as a compliment. But it was about to get way worse.

Why you leave me, w-why you leave me
Baby tell me, b-baby tell me
Why you leave me, w-why you leave me, why you leave me

When Rusty sang this verse, he began to twerk, thinking that it would get the students back to cheering. However, as the booing and mocking laughter continued, two incidents happened that would mark Rusty's school life forever. First, Rusty's pants fell all the way down to his ankles, leaving him in nothing but his underwear for the second time during his performance. Second, and far worse for Rusty, as he twerked, one pelvic thrust led to him releasing a loud fart… which quickly led to him also pooping in his underwear.

I feel like I'm drowning in the ocean
Somebody come and take me away

Pretty much everyone watching the performance winced and groaned in disgust as the brown skidmark on Rusty's underwear became more visible, but they were too awestruck by the sheer cringeworthiness of the performance to really do anything about it.

Uh uh uh uh oh ooh
Why did you have to go-oh
Away from home, me love

During this rendition of the chorus, the loud booing resumed. This time, though, it wasn't just from the Royal Woods Elementary School students. The RWES staff, and even the Right-on Respect crew themselves, began to join in. And as Rusty finished the song, the booing got louder.

Uh uh uh uh oh ooh (Why you leave me, w-why you leave me)
Why did you have to go-oh (Baby tell me, b-baby tell me)
Away from home, me love (Why you leave me, w-why you leave me)

The ending hook of the song was drowned out by childish booing voices before a frustrated Corey yelled, "Hey, Fraud Marley! Get off the stage and get yourself some toilet paper and clean underwear!"

Pretty much the entire Royal Woods Elementary School student and staff body laughed loudly at Corey taunting Rusty before giving him a standing ovation.

As an enraged and embarrassed Principal Huggins and Mrs. Johnson dragged Rusty off the stage, he defiantly yelled, "We di Black Revolution, mon!" Rusy then raised his right fist before yelling, "Black Power! Black Power!"

Once Lincoln recovered from his disgust at the video, he texted Clyde, "Hey… just saw the videos you sent me. Rusty… wow smh. What did they do to him".

Clyde quickly texted back, "A man got 5 day suspension. And he's not gonna enjoy it".

Lincoln harrumphed as he replied, "Serves him right".

Clyde then texted him, "watch this video... mans were vexed. Rust-man caught a deafaz & got merked", before sending Lincoln another video to watch in his hospital bed.

Lincoln, not understanding what a 'deafaz' was, decided to find for himself by pressing play on the video. He was astonished, satisfied, and a little scared at what he saw. The familiar WorldStarHipHop watermark was on the bottom right corner of the screen. In the video, Girl Jordan, Mollie, Kat, Joy, Cookie, Paige, Cristina, Irene, Rachel, Haiku, Tabby, Giggles, Polly Pain, Clyde, Chandler, Trent, and Lance were seen circled around Rusty in a secluded area of Tall Timbers Park. They were beating the living daylights out of him, punching, kicking, and stomping him on every area of his body. The sounds of a hand or foot colliding with a part of Rusty's body rung throughout the video. Rusty tried to cover himself up to avoid taking more damage, and was even seen attempting to grab Girl Jordan's arm to pull her to the ground. But it was to no avail, as every time Rusty moved, he felt a fist or foot collide with the exposed part of his body, which was usually the part he tried to move. Even while Rusty screamed, they didn't stop until Rusty was completely unconscious.

When the group beating up Rusty knew he had been knocked out cold, Connor, who was filming the video, yelled, "Run his pockets! Run his pockets!"

Chandler, Trent, and Lance obeyed. Since Rusty was still in his dirty underwear from earlier in the day, the trio held their noses with one hand while shaking Rusty down of everything of value with the other. In the end, they stole Rusty's cellphone, along with several keychains and broken friendship bracelets. For good measure, Connor also stole his backpack before the group ran off, leaving Rusty lying in a pool of his own blood.

Lincoln's jaw dropped as he texted Clyde back, "Holy crap that looks bad. Is he alive?"

Clyde quadruple-texted Lincoln back:
"Rusty's dad called Liam & Zach's parents";
"Liam and Zach told me Rusty finna be in hospital for time";
"Mans cheese me"; and finally,
"What a fuckin racist waste yute".

As Lincoln reflected on his relationship with Rusty, which usually involved Rusty shunning and making fun of him whenever he had an opportunity to look "cool", Lincoln couldn't help but agree with Clyde.

Lincoln then shrugged his shoulders before deciding to spend the rest of the evening catching up on his social media notifications, giving follow-backs to his new social media followers, and shuffling between text threads on multiple apps with his new friends. After accepting a request to join the Sweetwater family's groupchat, he even accepted requests to join the groupchats of the Cannonball Gang, now with his ex-Sadie Hawkins Dance dates added in for good measure, Jocks n' Goth, the Gal Pals, the Little Royals, and surprisingly, the parents of each group of kids. He even accepted a groupchat request to the "New Royal Woods Leaders" consisting of everyone in the Sweetwater & Pingrey families except for Connor. When this chat saw that Lincoln accepted their invitation request, every member immediately sent emoji-filled enthusiastic welcome messages in all capitals.

Closing A/N: We're close to 100 favs. So please, if you're checking in to see what new chapter I release, and you haven't faved & followed already, make sure to do so to show your support so we can get it up to triple digits!

(UPDATE: September 7, 2022: 100 favorites, everybody! WOOT! Thanks for all your support! But this is only the beginning folks... let's keep this gravy train going!)

A/N 2: Peep the "46 missed calls" and "853 unread messages." Wink wink.

A/N 3: Shoutout to Saccharine Melody for showing me the "safe mode command prompt hack". Saccharine, you've been an amazing help to me ever since you first found this fic. Go read his fic, A Life in Decline, if you haven't already, & be sure to give that a fav & a follow too! That said, if you don't know what you're doing, PLEASE don't try this at home! I do not claim responsibility for any computer-related mishaps that may occur as a result of attempting the techniques shown in this fic.

A/N 4: I fiddled around with a few ideas for how the co-conspirators would see life in the Loud House for themselves, to confirm their suspicions. I thought to myself… with all of Lisa & Luan's hidden cameras, why not pass off the canon show as security footage? It seems like something they'd do. I considered a cloud-based hack, but with a complete power outage planned for the raid on the Loud House, I decided that wasn't feasible. After thinking about it, I went with the stolen USB key solution. For those who haven't figured it out yet, each USB key is meant to represent a different episode of the Loud House. And I feel Lisa would probably back up her security footage of the Loud House with physical copies. So yes, a version of JTom09's Reacting to the Loud House will happen here.

A/N 5: I know, Rusty getting absolutely destroyed may seem a little extra. But I felt like Rusty's the kind of character that's ripe for something like that. He tries too hard to be cool, he thinks he's a ladies' man when he's clearly not… at some point, a guy like that's gonna have the rug pulled out from under him. Writing his humiliation was almost too easy. When even anti-bullying presenters heckle you, that's special.

And now, for the best of the reviews:

- ABC: We'll see. I've got something in mind.

- We live in a Society: Man, Clyde needs some love in these fics. It's always Lincoln's transformation. I wanted Clyde to be the cooler one of the duo for once.

- Omegahatchiyak12, LoudHouseFan88, Claircrystal: (smirks evilly)

- Mysterious Storm: Thanks! Appreciate you!

- Grant: Remember, that 4-year-old is Lisa. That should tell you all you need to know.

- Mysterious Mr M: I've been liking your reviews. Good insights!

- Davevad: I hope you're happy now.

- Anyone else who's wondering if Lori and Leni will get pregnant… just keep reading! No spoilers!

Anyway, what will happen once Ronnie Anne finds out about the "Luck incident"? Find out next chapter on… REVERSAL! OF! FORTUNE!