Hello Y'all. I don't know what to sa- no wait, I thought of something. This story… Uh, the first chapter of this story is set like… A number of months after the first… World event? The thing that set this universe off in a different direction from the one that you can't prove isn't consistent with canon? Yeah, whatever; a thing happened, months prior to this chapter, that set off a chain reaction that led to the point that Lincoln and Lori got involved. That point is set about a month and a half prior to this chapter. I could have told you the whole story, but I honestly think it would have interfered with my ability to tell the story I'm trying to tell. Like everything that happened prior to this chapter is just the set up needed to get to the important parts.

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The one benefit of living in such a large family was that she'd become extremely good at navigating a crowd. Lori slipped between strangers on the sidewalk, keeping a passive eye out for anything interesting.

"Lynn!" Mom called over the din of people, even as she kept her hands on collars of the twins shirts. "Can you watch your younger sisters?" She asked the athlete. "I don't want them to run off and get lost."

"Yeah…" Lynn sighed, her shoulders slumping in disappointment as she moved to take over their mother's task.

Heh… Lori felt the corner of her mouth twitch upwards, amused. Normally Lynn was just as much of a flight risk as their youngest sisters, but she wouldn't abandon a responsibility. It was smart of mom to give her the job.

"I thought you already got your school supplies?" Her brother raised a quizzical eyebrow at her, even as they split to go around either side of someone coming the other way.

"Yeah." She went out with Luan, Luna, and Sam, the other day. "But I had nothing else to do today, and I was bored." Plus she couldn't let Lincoln go out into the city alone, though she wasn't going to tell him that. She wasn't sure how he'd react, but negatively seemed like a good bet.

"Alright, here we are." Their mom called a stop, and they all clustered in front of the entrance to the office supply store. "Alright, Lynn. Remember that you're in charge of the twins and Lily, and they need to get everything on this list." She handed a lined piece of paper to the sporty Loud, and turned away as Lynn began herding her assigned siblings into the store.

"And you wouldn't rather have hung out with Carol, or Becky?" She tuned their mother out as she thought about his question…

"Honestly, no." And that was true. She couldn't pin point exactly why that was, but it was true. "Why, you trying to get rid of me?" She challenged.

"No." He looked thoughtful, before smirking. "If I was trying, I would have already succeeded."

Her frame shook with silent laughter. It was funny because it was true. He pushed the door open, and held it for her as she stepped past him into the store. Oddly enough, it was a comforting thought. He didn't have to hang out with her if he didn't want to. She was one-hundred percent certain that there was literally nothing she could do to stop him if he decided he wanted to leave, or he wanted her to leave… Well… No, if he wanted Her to leave, there were certainly things she could do. Still-

Her thoughts were cut off when she heard a bang in the distance. They froze and locked gaze with each other. Then his took their telltale glaze, and she started off towards their mom.

"Hey, Mom." She put a hand on the older woman's shoulder, turning her around by it. "Lincoln and I will be right back. I forgot something in the van, and Lincoln is going to help me search for it, okay?" She fought the urge to shift from foot to foot, or glance back over her shoulder to see if Lincoln was still there. She just had to trust him.

"Okay." Mom nodded. "Just be back soon, okay?"

"I'll be back literally as soon as I can." Turning on her heels, she saw that Lincoln was already opening the door, but he didn't leave.

He held it for her, and waited just long enough for her to cross the distance, before setting off in a jog. She followed him down the street, in the opposite direction of the parking lot, and kept pace as he turned down an alley way between buildings. As soon as he was ten, or so, feet in, he reached down to untie the arms of his hoodie from around his waist. With a practiced motion, he turned the hoodie inside out, and slipped it on. It was all a dark grey, except for a spot of color where his upper arm met his shoulder. There was a patch, patterned after a kings face card.

Her view of him was interrupted as she repeated his motion, though with far less grace. When she looked back up, he was already at the other end of the alley, his jog turning into a flat out sprint. God! She picked up her own pace as well, because she didn't want to lose him, even as she pulled her flexible face mask from her back pocket and put it on. Another shot rang out, this one closer.

She could already feel the burn from sprinting, it was easily her least favorite part of dealing with random issues in the city. She followed her brother across the street and into another long alley way. This one had a fence half way through though, and Lori couldn't help but wonder how Lincoln was going to get over it.

Her eyes tracked as he seemed to pick up even more speed, until he jumped. A grin spread across her face as she watched him taken several steps up the wall, he'd previously been running beside, and leap off. Coming down on the top of the fence, he used it as another step, and jumped in a wide arch. Hitting the ground, he rolled to his feet in a smooth motion, and easily fell back into a sprint.

Honestly, it made her tired watching him do that. It also made her wish she could do the same… Though, being able to run straight through the fence without slowing down… The metal screeched for an instant, before breaking around her. That was nice too.

She looked up to see him skidding to a halt at the other end of the alley, and she slowed down to a jog. He was standing still, and Lori knew what that meant. She just had to wait.

Two seconds later, she was reaching the end of the alley, when he took off like a shot. Across the street again, but not down another alley. He wove between startled and panicked pedestrians, with an almost supernatural grace. Coming to the end of the block, he rounded the corner without slowing down, and he was out of sight.

God… She hoped he stopped before he made another turn… Maybe she should pick up her own pace a little. Her lungs protested, but she pushed herself harder, because of what might happen if she didn't. He could taken care of himself, she knew that, but one lucky shot was all it took.

Skidding around the corner herself, she was relieved to find the fight in sight. She was less relieved to find that Lincoln was already almost there. He wouldn't enter the fight, on purpose, without time to prepare; he wasn't quite so reckless as that. But what if one of the people fighting saw him?

She pushed herself even harder, to cross the distance, even as she tasted pennies in her mouth, and her throat felt like it was on fire. Her muscles too, come to think of it. She stumbled to a panting stop next to the car that her brother had stopped behind, and he acknowledged her with a glance, before his eyes glazed again.

Another shot rang out, followed by a pained shout, and she straightened up. Right, she had a job to do. Taking a deep breath, she relaxed her mental grip, and felt her power unfolding until it covered everything. Then she stepped from cover, and surveyed the scene. The front of an auto repair shop was burning, preventing people from using the sidewalk to hide behind the cars parked on the curb. In the middle of the street, people brawled while a man with a gun stood on top of one of the cars on the other side of the street. He looked like he was trying to take pot shots at some of the people brawling, without hitting any of the other guys, and someone was already slumped on a car further down the street. His white t-shirt stained with the blood coming from a bullet hole in his arm.

Right, she had to take down the guy with the gun first. He'd done the most obvious damage so far, and he was the most dangerous. Skirting around the edges of the fight, she stepped past her oblivious opponents, until she reached the car the gunman stood atop. She circled around the the hood and climbed on, stepping up the windshield until she was behind the man. He was lining up another shot. She quickly stepped forward and wrapped her arm under his chin. With her other arm, she slipped it under her first, and around the back of his head, to push it forward. Then she squeezed.

Of course, he didn't go quietly. Once he realized that someone was trying something, he turned the gun on her, for all the good it did. Still, she grimaced at the hole he put in her pants leg, and the sharp stinging from the bullet flattening against her skin. She hated it when her clothes got damaged on these things. It happened way too often.

"Holy shit!" As his struggles weakened, he used the last of his strength to shoot another shot into the ground beside the car, though Lori was fairly certain that was an accident. Still, it attracted the attention of the people around it. "Where'd SHE come from?!"

Turning she locked her sight on the two men now looking up at her. She narrowed her eyes in concentration as she used her power. The best way she could describe it was like she had a mental weight, that she could apply to everyone equally, with literally no effort. But she could also concentrate on single targets, by straining a mental muscle she didn't have before. She pushed, feeling a slight ache, until the two men looked away, confused.

"What were we just talking about?" Though the other one never answered, as they were quickly drawn back into the ongoing fight.

Looking out, it looked like Lincoln had just joined as well. She watched him dash from cover, and place himself between two men. One with a knife and the other with a bat. He twisted around a stab, grabbing the offenders hand and twisting to drop the knife into his own waiting hand. He ducked under a bat swing, he couldn't possibly have seen coming, and flashed the blade across his attackers face, without making contact. They jerked back in surprise and he stepped forward to kick them in the chest, launching them back into a car, even as he whipped the knife the side, and it found itself in the leg of another rushing attacker, who crashed the the ground.

"Where did he come from?" The two combatants from before stood watching her brother dominate. "Is he part of the plan? Why isn't Greg shooting him?" She guessed Greg was the name of the guy she put to sleep. "Oh, Shit! Greg's unconscious!" They finally noticed. Jumping to the ground, she circled around to reach them. "Uh, you go keep that guy occupied, I'll grab the gun."

As the two split, Lori came up behind the one climbing up onto the hood of the car. He yelled in surprise when she pulled him back by his shirt, but quieted down when she put him in her second sleeper hold of the day. He struggled, for all of five seconds.

Screaming, the second attacker swung his crowbar at Lincoln like it was a sword. Lincoln took a single step backwards, avoiding the crowbar, and a knife swipe from the guy in front of him, at the same time. With a high kick to the side, the sole of his foot crunched the nose of crowbar guy, and sent him reeling back. With a quick step forward, he avoided his attackers trust, and twisted inside their guard. His hip met his attackers, and with a deceptively simple motion knife guy met the ground. Knife guy's attempt to rise was stopped when Lincoln twisted his shoulder out of its socket. He didn't try to get back up again.

With eight people down, two of them unconscious, all at the apparent effort of one masked guy, the other five fighters weren't looking confident. Two of them broke and ran, which was all that was needed for the other three to follow suit.

Her shoulders slumping, Lori sighed and made her way over to her brother. Someone probably already called the police, but she stopped to search through the pockets of one of the fighters anyway. Pulling out a cell phone, she punched nine one one into the number pad and dropped the phone before anyone answered.

"Alright, let's go." She tapped his arm to get his attention, and nodded back the way they came.

As she picked her way back through the city, she couldn't help but think about how crazy her life had become. She literally couldn't even compare it to anything. Lincoln had always wanted to be a superhero, and now she was here along for the ride… Yay… At least his powers fit him really well. She always felt like her's might have been better suited to Lucy… Or, they were at least thematically suited to her. Lori supposed she was thankful for them though. If nothing else, they let her keep her brother safe. She couldn't stop him from being a superhero, and she'd tried, but she could at least make sure he didn't get hurt.

I'm better at writing fight scenes from the perspective of the person who's actively fighting.

Leni wasn't used to getting to sit in the front seat of the van. She looked at Lori, sitting next to Lincoln, through the rear view mirror. Usually Lori would want to sit in the front… Or, she used to, anyway. She didn't do it as much anymore. Now she was always sitting beside Lincoln.

Leni felt her eyebrows furrow, and she looked out her side window at Royal Woods rolling past. Not that Lori and Lincoln spending more time together was a bad thing… it was just weird… Especially all the time they spent away from the family, by themselves. She wondered if they knew that she'd noticed. She wondered if anyone else had noticed.

As the van pulled into their driveway, she sat up from her slouch and gathered up her bags of supplies. Shoving the door open, she hopped from her seat and started towards the house, absently pushing the car door closed as she left. She waited by the front door, even though she had a key, to look back.

Her siblings climbed from the car, with different levels of fighting, from not fighting, to pushing each other down so they could get out of the car first. Lori and Lincoln though… She wondered if they noticed. There were different levels of comfort with people, and at the highest level people relied on each other without thinking about it. She saw it in extremely close besties, and long lasting romantic pairings. Their parents were like that.

As Lincoln and Lori climbed from the van, Lincoln kept a hand on her shoulder and Lori shifted to support him better. As he stepped to the ground, he turned to help her too… It was reflexive, Leni could tell. She… She didn't know why things were different now though… It bothered her. She was used to not knowing things, but this was different. This was family.

She was confused, she thought. It wasn't a bad thing that they were closer now, but what about how they would occasionally sneak out at night. How about the fact that they spend more time in the city than Leni thought was safe, especially now.

She was worried for them. That was her only clear feeling on the subject. Everything else was mixed up with the uncertainty of it all. Were they in danger? Were they safe? Where were they going? What were they doing? Why always together? And why always away from the rest of the family? Were they hiding something? Were they in trouble? Leni didn't know, and that made her… She didn't like it.

They were closer than before, and that was good, but It was the only thing preventing her from demanding answers. She didn't like getting upset, but she'd do it if it helped keep her family safe. They were closer. They were happier. It helped sooth her nerves, but not completely. Not everything that brought you happiness was a good thing.

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Chapter notes:

I decided to actually start this one before I finish the Maggie arc on Pseudo Incest. I wrote the last chapter in her arc, but I'm not totally certain that I like it. I can't get into the right head space to write it with the level of quality that I usually do. I'm also somewhat divided on the matter of whether I should actually write another chapter before her last chapter in the arc. The more I think about it, the better an idea it seems, but I really can't muster the motivation to write it. Not right now anyway. So what I'm actually going to do is put it on pause, for now. I can't say when I'll finish it, but I'd estimate that I'll have it done by the end of the year… Probably…